Grounded in Fantasy says Glick. Compliciots, says The Spleen.

She is far kinder than I am.
I say they are complicit idiots - compliciots, and the depth of this thing knows no end.



Grounded in Fantasy

By Caroline B. Glick


WHY are Bush and Olmert set to embrace Fatah and Abbas today? Why are they abjectly refusing to come to terms with the strategic reality of the Iranian-Syrian onslaught? Why are they insisting that the establishment of a Palestinian state is their strategic goal and doing everything they can to pretend that their goal has not been repeatedly proven absurd? Iran and its client state Syria have a strategic vision for the Middle East. They wish to take over Lebanon. They wish to destroy Israel. They wish to defeat the US in Iraq. They wish to drive the US and NATO from Afghanistan. They wish to dominate the region by driving the rest of the Arab world to its jihad-supporting knees. Then they wish to apply their vision to the rest of the world. Today, Syria and Iran are ardently advancing their strategic vision for the world through a deliberate strategy of victory by a thousand cuts.


Last week's Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip; Sunday's reopening of the Lebanese front against Israel with the Syrian-ordered rocket attacks on Kiryat Shemona; the now five-week old Syrian ordered low-intensity warfare against Lebanon's pro-Western Siniora government; last week's attack on the al-Askariya mosque in Samarra; the recent intensification of terrorism in Afghanistan and Iran's move to further destabilize the country by violently deporting 100,000 Afghan refugees back to the war-torn country — all of these are moves to advance this clear Iranian-Syrian strategy. And all these moves have taken place against the backdrop of Syria's refashioning of its military in the image of Hizbullah on steroids and Iran's relentless, unopposed progress in its nuclear weapons program. For their part, both the US and Israel also have a strategic vision. Unfortunately, it is grounded in fantasy. WASHINGTON and Jerusalem wish to solve all the problems of the region and the world by establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza, Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.


While Israel now faces Iranian proxies on two fronts, in their meeting at the White House today US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will gush about their support for Palestinian statehood. Creepily echoing LSD king Timothy Leary, they will tune out this reality as they drone on about the opportunities that Gaza's transformation into a base for global jihad afford to the notion that promoting the Fatah terrorist organization's control over Judea and Samaria can make the world a better, safer, happier place. Today Bush and Olmert will announce their full support for Fatah chief and Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas's new government. The US will intensify General Keith Dayton's training and arming of Fatah forces. Israel will give Fatah $700 million.


The Europeans and the rest of the international community will give the "moderate, secular" terror group still more money and guns and love. The US will likely also demand that Olmert order the IDF to give Fatah terrorists free reign in Judea and Samaria. Olmert and Bush claim that by backing Abbas militarily, financially and politically they will be setting up an "alternative Palestine" which will rival Hamas's jihadist Palestine. As this notion has it, envious of the good fortune of their brethren in Judea and Samaria, Gazans will overthrow Hamas and the course will be set for peace — replete with the ethnic cleansing of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem of all Jewish presence. FATAH FORCES barely raised a finger to prevent their defeat in Gaza in spite of the massive quantities of US arms they received and the military training they underwent at the hands of US General Keith Dayton. Bush, Olmert and all proponents of the notion of strengthening Fatah in Judea and Samaria refuse to answer one simple question: Why would a handover of Judea and Samaria to Abbas's Fatah produce a better outcome than Israel's 2005 handover of Gaza to Abbas's Fatah? They refuse to answer this question because they know full well that the answer is that there is absolutely no reason to believe that the outcome can be better.


They know full well that since replacing Yasser Arafat as head of the PA in 2004, Abbas refused to take any effective action against Hamas. They know that he refused to take action to prevent Hamas's rise to power in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. They know that the guns the US transferred to Fatah in Gaza were surrendered to Hamas without a fight last week. They know that the billions of dollars of international and Israeli assistance to Fatah over the past 14 years never were used to advance the cause of peace. They know that that money was diverted into the pockets of Fatah strongmen and utilized to build terror militias in which Hamas members were invited to serve. They know that Fatah built a terror superstructure in Judea, Samaria and Gaza which enabled operational cooperation between Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror cells. SO WHY embrace the fantasy that things can be different now, in Judea and Samaria? Rather than provide rational arguments to defend their view that Hamas's takeover of Gaza is an opportunity for peace, proponents of peace fantasies as strategic wisdom explain vacuously that peace is the best alternative to jihad. They whine that those who point out that Israel now borders Iran in Lebanon and Gaza have nothing positive to say. To meet the growing threat in Gaza, they argue that Europeans, or maybe Egyptians and Jordanians can be deployed at the international border with Egypt to stem the weapons and terror personnel flow into Gaza.


To meet the growing threat in Lebanon, Olmert pleads for more UN troops. Both views ignore the obvious: Gaza has been transformed into an Iranian-sponsored base for global jihad because Egypt has allowed it to be so transformed. Assisted by its Syrian-sponsored Palestinian allies, Hizbullah has rebuilt its arsenals and reasserted its control in southern Lebanon because UN forces in southern Lebanon have done nothing to prevent it from doing so. No country on earth will volunteer to fight Hamas and its jihadist allies in Gaza. No government on earth will voluntarily deploy its forces to counter Hizbullah and Iran in south Lebanon. This is why — until they fled — European monitors at the Rafah terminal were a joke. This is why Spanish troops in UNIFIL devote their time in Lebanon to teaching villagers Spanish.


SO WHY are Bush and Olmert set to embrace Fatah and Abbas today?


Why are they abjectly refusing to come to terms with the strategic reality of the Iranian-Syrian onslaught? Why are they insisting that the establishment of a Palestinian state is their strategic goal and doing everything they can to pretend that their goal has not been repeatedly proven absurd? Well, why should they? As far as Bush is concerned, no American politician has ever paid a price for advancing the cause of peace processes that strengthen terrorists and hostile Arab states at Israel's expense. Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton had Arafat over to visit the White House more often than any other foreign leader and ignored global jihad even when its forces bombed US embassies and warships. And today Clinton receives plaudits for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.


By denying that the war against Israel is related to the war in Iraq; by ignoring the strategic links between all the Iranian and Syrian sponsored theaters of war, Bush views gambling with Israel's security as a win-win situation. He will be applauded as a champion of peace and if the chips go down on Israel, well, it won't be Americans being bombed. OLMERT LOOKS to his left and sees president-elect Shimon Peres. Peres, the architect of the Oslo process which placed Israel's national security in the hands of the PLO, has been rewarded for his role in imperiling his country by his similarly morally challenged political colleagues who just bestowed him with Israel's highest office. Olmert looks to his left and his sees incoming defense minister Ehud Barak. In 2000, then prime minister Barak withdrew Israeli forces from Lebanon, and enabled Iran's assertion of control over southern Lebanon through its Hizbullah proxy. In so doing, Barak set the conditions for last summer's war, and quite likely, for this summer's war. By offering Arafat Gaza, 95 percent of Judea and Samaria and half of Jerusalem at Camp David, Barak showed such enormous weakness that he all but invited the Palestinian terror war which Arafat began planning the day he rejected Barak's offer.


For his failure, Barak has been rewarded by his Labor Party, which elected him its new chairman on the basis of his vast "experience," and by the media which has embraced him as a "professional" defense minister. Olmert looks to his right and he sees how the media portrays Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu and former IDF Chief of General Staff Moshe Ya'alon as alarmists for claiming that Israel cannot abide by an Iranian-proxy Hamas state on its border. He sees that Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu supported Peres's candidacy as president and have joined their fortunes to Olmert's in a bid to block elections which will bring the Right to power. ISRAEL HAS arguably never faced a more dangerous strategic environment than it faces today. Yet it is not without good options. It can retake control over the Gaza-Sinai border. It can renew its previously successful tactic of killing Hamas terrorists. It can continue its successful campaign of keeping terrorists down in Judea and Samaria, and it can continue preparing for war in the north. All of these options can be sold to the Left.


But today both Bush and Olmert will reject these options in favor of mindless peace process prattle. They will reject reality as they uphold Abbas as a credible leader and shower him with praise, money and arms. Their political fortunes will be utmost in their minds as they do this. And they will be guaranteeing war that will claim the lives of an unknown number of Israeli civilians and soldiers. Bush and Olmert should know that when the time for reckoning comes they will not be able to claim, along with Peres and Barak that their hands did not shed this blood. Reality has warned them of their folly. But in their low, dishonest opportunism, they have chosen to ignore reality and amuse themselves with fantasies and photo-ops.

DEMONTIA

Asked a similar question in October 1984 – whether he believed in Armageddon, President Ronald Reagan answered: "Yes, Armageddon could come the day after tomorrow."

Hamassholes, Abbassholes, Tomatoes, To-mahh-toes, let's call the whole thing off

AL FATAH

"Hamas or Abbas, It Makes No Difference,"
Rudy Giuliani said.

Well thank GOD someone in American politics has the balls to say it. But will he have the balls to IMPLEMENT IT should he get the job? And will it be too late?

HAMAS

Israel lets Fatah boost troops ~


500 trained in US program to counter Hamas
JERUSALEM -- Israel this week allowed the Palestinian party Fatah to bring into the Gaza Strip as many as 500 fresh troops trained under a US-coordinated program to counter Hamas, the Islamic movement that won Palestinian parliamentary elections last year. Fighting between Hamas and Fatah has left about 45 Palestinians dead since Sunday. The forces belong to units loyal to the elected Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate Fatah leader whom the Bush administration and Israel have sought to strengthen militarily and politically. A spokeswoman for the European Union Border Assistance Mission at Rafah, where the fighters crossed into Gaza from Egypt, said their entry Tuesday was approved by Israel. The troops' deployment illustrates the increasingly partisan role that Israel and the Bush administration are taking in the volatile Palestinian political situation. The effort to fortify the armed opposition to Hamas, which the United States and Israel categorize as a terrorist organization, follows attempts to isolate the Islamic movement internationally and cut off its sources of financial aid. Israel also carried out a series of airstrikes yesterday against Hamas targets across Gaza, killing at least six gunmen. Additional airstrikes early today killed four people, doctors in Gaza told the Associated Press.


Fatah, the movement formerly led by Yasser Arafat, has recognized Israel, in contrast with Hamas, whose charter calls for the creation of a future Islamic state across territory that now includes the Jewish state. The two Palestinian parties -- one secular, one Islamic -- have been fighting for control of various security services and, by extension, political power and patronage since Hamas won democratic elections in January 2006.


Hamas's militant brand of Islam has given it dominant political standing in impoverished Gaza, where many of its leaders were born or arrived as refugees, while Fatah remains strong in the wealthier and more secular West Bank. The Bush administration recently approved $40 million to train the Palestinian Presidential Guard, a force of about 4,000 troops under Abbas's direct control. But Israel and the United States, deeply unpopular among Arabs in the region, have been trying to avoid the perception of taking sides in a conflict that this week in Gaza has resembled a nascent civil war. Many within Fatah are avowed opponents of Israel, and any alliance with the Jewish state against the Islamic movement could damage Fatah's standing among Palestinians.

[SNIP]

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on Palestinians to refrain from internal fighting and to direct their guns only against Israeli "occupation."
1~ 11~ 07

Condolezza Rice Uses the “N” Word!

Condolezza Rice Uses the “N” Word!

Emanuel A. Winston, Member of the Board of Directors and Research Associate

Freeman Center For Strategic Studies

Negotiate - Negotiate - Negotiate and "N"ever recognize that your negotiating partner is an irredentist, irreversible, irrevocable terrorist.


Presently, Rice refuses to confront Iran until Iran is fully capable of responding with nuclear missiles which, of course, will be too late for everyone. No doubt, after she and Bush are out of Washington, the "N" lady will deny her Chamberlain role when those nukes begin to explode. Of course, the lady who preaches "Negotiate" is no longer able to negotiate "Peace in our time" ad nauseam, she and the Bush family will have to find a super deep bomb shelter while all else must suffer the radioactivity of her negotiating. Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollahs have time and again showed their contempt for negotiations.


Negotiations for Islamists are there only to gain time to develop the nuclear bomb and spread terror across the planet in the name of Allah. For the "N" lady this is unimportant compared to the need to leave George Bush an historic heritage as a great thinker. Regrettably, the articulate lady "N"egotiator is pathetically inept at projecting reality in real time and is actually "N"egotiating "N"othing. Chamberlain saved Hitler’s dream by bleating that he had achieved "Peace in Our Time" by surrendering the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia - even as Hitler was building tanks, Stuka bombers, V-2 buzz bombs to rain down on England and had a project in the works to make an atomic bomb. Hitler would have, of course, succeeded had he not worked to death many Jewish physicists after he captured them. Fortunately, some of the best scientists - like Albert Einstein - escaped to America.


Chamberlain was too easily deceived by Hitler. On his death bed, Chamberlain said: "Everything would have been all right, if only Hitler had not lied to me." So what does the "N"egotiating lady Rice have in mind for the Jews of Israel. Well, at the low end, she has also armed Arafat’s legacy, Fatah. Rice refused to see the many groups of terrorists taking shelter under Fatah. Rice portrayed Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen - his terror name) as a moderate. The only difference between Abbas and Arafat was he did not have that repulsive rat face. Abu Mazen was Arafat’s companion, assistant and financier for 40 years. Whenever Arafat promised peace in English, he promised War in Arabic. Even the dense State Department has some translators who deciphered Arafat’s speeches in Arabic, promising to follow Mohammed’s example, lie to the world and then massacre your opponents - as when Mohammed signed the Hudaybiya Treaty promising peace to the Qaraish tribe of Jews for 10 years. But, Mohammed came back in 2 years when his forces were stronger, massacred the men, selling the women and children into slavery.


Rice had all this information - as did Colin Powell before her but, as State Department apparatchniks, they continued to pay Arafat Billions of American taxpayers’ dollars and then continued the cash flow to Abbas when Arafat died. The Abbas contingent of terrorists demanded salaries paid by the U.S. and E.U. and they demanded weapons. They are still demanding after failing to defeat Hamas despite having more men and weapons then Hamas. When Hamas attacked Abbas, Fatah didn’t put up much of a fight - despite having U.S. arms, CIA training and an army three times as large as Hamas. Now we are informed that huge weapons caches of U.S. arms were taken by Hamas, adding to their weapons smuggled in from Syria and Iran. Hamas also confiscated Fatah’s immense collection of Intelligence documents, including computers with hard drives very full of vital information. All of this weapons’ and security accumulation has set Rice and her collaborators into a tizzy and back to hounding Israel to give up Judea and Samaria to Abu Mazen. (Keep in mind that Rabin, Peres and Beilin had already given up the seven cities on the high ridge areas to Yassir Arafat through the Oslo fiasco.) Now Bush, Rice and Baker, are pressing Olmert, Barak and Peres to fulfill their role as traitors and try to evacuate 450,000 Jewish men, women and children from the rest of Judea and Samaria to make it "Judenrein" and present it to those "moderate" Muslim Palestinians in Oslo territory.


You do recall them dancing on the roofs as Saddam sent 39 SCUD missiles into Israel? Do you also recall the street dancing in Jenin, Nablus, etc. when there were particularly successful suicide bombings in the Subarro Pizza Restaurant, the Dolphin Disco, Mike’s Place, the Moment Café, the Hebrew University cafeteria and so on and on - which killed and gravely wounded so many Israeli teens, young children and elder citizens? These murdering terrorists are what Rice calls "moderates" much the same as her "moderates" in Gaza who were supposed to take over the Jewish farms, grow crops and lead a peaceful life. Instead, they trashed the innovative greenhouses which Israel had left them. That was another bite of Rice’s poisoned apple she gave to Israel. Granted she had Sharon, Olmert and Peres working as insiders to complete her Chamberlain fantasy.


Do you have any idea how many terrorists sheltered under Abu Mazen’s umbrella. This information has been shared by first Powell and now Rice. The PLO (founded in 1964), Force 17 (Elite unit of the PLO), Hamas, Abu Nidal Organization - aka Fatah (founded by Arafat in 1959) (Al Aksa Martyrs’ Brigade - Fatah’s military wing), Fatah Hawks, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Armed wing in The Al-Quds brigades), Tanzim, PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), and PFLP-General Command, DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and the Abu Nidal Organization. (1) These were all loosely unified under Yassir Arafat who founded the and kept funded by American and European taxpayers’ as the donor nations fed the terror machine, despite the irrefutable fact that the Intelligence Agencies of all the donor nations knew this virtual army of terrorists was all intertwined - including Al Qaeda.


Perhaps Condi was out-to-lunch making empty intelligent speeches of how "Abbas is a moderate" and "Iran could be negotiated with." She didn’t seem as anti-Israel and ignorant of Middle Eastern Muslim history as President Bush’s National Security Advisor. Her change must have something to do with those who work in the State Department - or the air in that building. Surely, Chamberlain’s Ghost must have morphed into Rice. Now that Gaza has become a fully fledged operational global terror state, with terrorists from all over the world, presumably they will move on to the Olso cities in Judea and Samaria - of Schehem (Nablus), Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Jenin and Jericho who already operate as terrorist bases. Next, valuable territory Olmert, Barak and Peres intend to surrender is the Golan Heights to Syria. But, not to worry.


Olmert is visiting Washington next Tuesday, June 19th, to be dressed down by Bush, Rice and Baker. Olmert will be told to allow in weapons to Abbas (Abu Mazen) from Jordan and Egypt - with Israel’s army trucks making the delivery. They will be under the command and guidance of Olmert’s new Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Collaborating with the enemy in time of war is called High Treason and is considered worthy of hanging. So what can Israel do to save herself and her people? First, she can get rid of the plague before all are killed. This is "apropos" as we read the Parasha Shavua (Portion of Torah for this coming week).


Korach and his traitors challenge Moses for leadership of the Hebrews who have just escaped from slavery in Egypt and who are enduring a hard trek in the desert. G-d opens the ground and swallows Korach and his key followers. Then a virulent plague starts to kill those who agreed with Korach, killing off over 15,000 before Moses orders the High Priest Aaron who is also Moses’ brother, to intercede and stop G-d’s plague. I personally would have no objection to see Olmert and his crowd swallowed up and his cohorts in the Knesset killed by a plague but, of course, this is wishful thinking.


As for Rice, the Bush family and the oil boys that is G-d’s province but, like the plagues of Korach, the American people will, sadly, suffer the consequences - although they are not at fault. But, I fear both the Israeli people and the American people will suffer greatly for not removing those who would destroy their nations.

SO SORRY.....LOST POWER YESTERDAY !

AFTER ALL THAT.... WE LOST POWER YESTERDAY IN A STORM.

THE LORD MUST REALLY WANT ME TO GET SOME REST!
BE BACK IN A FEW HOURS WITH THE POSTS!

WE HAVE MORE LIGHTNING COMING TODAY...
IF I DISAPPEAR, THIS IS WHY!

Meantime, Behold the Mighty Glick:

Column One: James Baker's disciples

Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 7, 2007

Ahead of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trip to the White House on June 19, the Bush administration is pressuring Israel to endanger itself on at least two fronts.

First, the Americans are pressuring the Olmert government to agree to Palestinian Authority and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas's request to bring millions of bullets, thousands of Kalashnikov assault rifles, RPGs, antitank missiles and armored personnel carriers into Gaza from Egypt.

The government has yet to respond to the request. Those who oppose it argue that Fatah forces in Gaza are too weak and incompetent to battle Hamas, and so any weaponry transferred to Fatah militias will likely end up in Hamas's hands.

This logic is correct, but incomplete. It is true that Fatah forces are unwilling and presumably unable to defeat Hamas forces. But it is also true that Fatah forces use their arms to attack Israel. So even if there was no chance of Hamas laying its hands on the weapons, allowing Fatah to receive them would still endanger Israel.

The same limited logic informs Israel's strenuous objection to the Pentagon's intention to sell Saudi Arabia Joint Direct Attack Munition satellite-guided "smart bombs," or JDAMS. The government claims that while it has no quarrel with the Saudis, it fears for the stability of the regime. If the House of Saud falls, Osama bin Laden would get the bombs.

Yet like Fatah, the Saudis aren't simply vulnerable. They are culpable. In addition to being the creators of al-Qaida and Hamas's largest financial backers, the Saudis themselves directly threaten Israel.

In direct contravention of their commitment to the US (and the US's commitment to Israel), the Saudis have deployed F-15 fighter jets at Tabuk air base, located 150 km. from Eilat. On May 13, the Saudi Air Force held an air show at Tabuk for the benefit of King Abdullah and senior princes where the F-15s where ostentatiously displayed.

The timing of the show was interesting. It took place the day before Abdullah hosted US Vice President Richard Cheney at Tabuk.

The Bush administration is not just asking Israel to facilitate the arming of its enemies. It is also placing restrictions on Israel's ability to arm itself. As The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday, the Pentagon has yet to respond to Israel's request to purchase the F-22 stealth bomber. Moreover, the US seems to be torpedoing Israel's acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Pentagon recently voiced its objection to Israel's plan to install Israeli technology in the jets that are to be supplied starting in 2014. Israel's installation of its own electronic warfare systems in its F-16s and F-15s is what has allowed the IAF to maintain its qualitative edge over Arab states that have also purchased the aircraft.

THE ADMINISTRATION'S display of hostility toward Israel is unfortunately not an aberration. It is the result of a policy shift that occurred immediately after the Republican Party's defeat in the Congressional elections in November.

After the defeat, the administration embraced former secretary of state James Baker's foreign policy paradigm, which is based on the belief that it is possible and desirable to reach a stable balance of power in the Middle East.

As Baker sees it, this balance can be reached by forcing Israel to shrink to its "natural" proportions and assisting supposedly moderate and stable states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia to grow into their "natural" proportions. Once the states of the region (including Syria and Iran, which Baker wishes to appease) have settled into their proper proportions, stability will be ensured.

Baker fleshed on his view in the Iraq Study Group's recommendations that were published immediately after the elections. Although President George W. Bush rejected the ISG's recommendations, the day after the elections he sacked defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and replaced him with Robert Gates, who served on the ISG. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is a disciple of Baker's ally, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft.

The problem with the Baker paradigm is that it has never been borne out by reality. It collapsed during the Cold War, both as the Soviet Union worked tirelessly to destabilize countries allied with the US and when the states of East-Central Europe revolted against the teetering empire and gained their freedom with its collapse.

In the 1990s, Baker's stability paradigm failed to foresee the post-nationalist movements that swept through Western Europe and the Muslim world, and embraced the Soviet goal of weakening the US. Baker still denies the phenomenon and ignores its policy implications.

Today, the notion that stability is a realistic aim is even more far-fetched. Specifically, the willingness of Muslim secularists to form strategic relations with jihadists and the willingness of Shi'ites to form strategic partnerships with Sunnis was unimaginable 20 years ago. Aside from that, the specter of a nuclear-armed Iran throws a monkey wrench into any thought of regional stability. A look around the region shows just how absurd Baker's notions truly are.

In Lebanon today, Fatah al-Islam, which is apparently allied with al-Qaida, is fighting the Lebanese army in a bid to bring down the Saniora government at the behest of its sponsor - the secular Ba'athist regime in Damascus. Fatah al-Islam is also aligned with Hizbullah, which shares its goal of bringing down the Lebanese government, and with Iran, which gives the Syrians their marching orders.

This state of affairs is also the name of the game in Iraq, where Iran and Syria support both Muqtada al-Sadr's Shi'ite Mehdi army and al-Qaida's Sunni death squads. It repeats itself in Afghanistan, where Iran is arming the Taliban, and in the Palestinian Authority.

Furthermore, the paragons of moderation and stability in Egypt and Saudi Arabia that Baker and his followers are so keen to strengthen are neither stable nor moderate. Both Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah are old men of uncertain health. To "stabilize" their regimes, they wrought unholy alliances with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wahabis, the only forces in Egyptian and Saudi societies that have not been flattened under their jackboots.

This week, Channel 10 reported that the Bush administration recently informed Israel and the Gulf states that it has no intention of launching military strikes against Iran's nuclear installations. The Americans explained that they need Iranian assistance in stabilizing Iraq to pave the way for an American withdrawal from the country before Bush leaves office. Under Baker's regency, the administration apparently now subscribes to the belief that they will be better off out of Iraq and with a nuclear-armed Iran, than in Iraq without a nuclear-armed Iran.

For their part, the Arabs have demonstrated clearly that they do not share the administration's newfound faith that a nuclear-armed Iran will reach a stable equilibrium in a Bakeresque Middle Eastern balance of powers. Their stated aim to build nuclear reactors is a clear sign that they recognize the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran. The administration's support for the Arabs' quest for nuclear reactors makes clear that it is now willing to have a Middle Eastern nuclear arms race.

THIS BRINGS us back to Israel, which is situated smack in the middle of the regional chaos. How is Israel contending with this threatening state of affairs?

The IDF seems to be contending fairly well, at least with regard to Syria and Lebanon. The IDF's decision to have television crews film Israeli soldiers fighting in mock Syrian villages this week, like Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi's announcement that the IDF is prepared to fight on two fronts simultaneously, are signs that the IDF recognizes that its only safe bet is to prepare for all contingencies. Were the IDF to complement these actions with warnings to Iran and operational plans to attack Iran's nuclear installations and distribute gas masks to the public, the General Staff would go a long way toward proving that it is adopting the only reasonable strategic posture available, given the cards Israel has been dealt.

Yet not only is the IDF not warning Iran, the Olmert government is undermining the army's correct posture toward Syria and Lebanon. Indeed, on every front, including toward Israel itself, Olmert has himself adopted Baker's failed paradigm.

Rather than publicly explain that in light of Syria's position as an Iranian client state with regards to Lebanon, Iraq and Israel, there is nothing for Israel to talk to Syria about, Olmert announced Wednesday that he wishes to open negotiations on an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights to the Syrians.

The Syrians, for their part, cornered Olmert on Thursday by agreeing to his offer. As Karl Moor and David Rivkin explained in Thursday's Post, it is not true, as Olmert and his minions claim, that Israel has nothing to lose by negotiating with Syria. Given Israel's perceived weakness in the wake of last summer's war and Syria's perceived strength, speaking to Damascus about an Israeli surrender of the Golan Heights will only encourage Syrian belligerence.

And as with the Syrians, so too with the Palestinians, the Olmert government acts as Baker's water boy. Rather than waging a rational military campaign to defeat the jihadist front that has seeded itself in Gaza, Olmert issues near daily statements telling the Palestinians that Israel will cause them no harm. He defends this policy by declaiming on the importance of strengthening the "stability" of the Palestinian Authority.

Then there is the daily brown-nosing Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni engage in toward the Egyptians and Saudis. Israel praises both as "moderates" while Egypt vows publicly not to act to stop the transfer of weapons from Sinai to Gaza and the Saudis bankroll Hamas and demand that Israel implement their "peace plan" that calls for Israel's destruction.

Yet all of this incompetent bumbling pales in comparison to Israel's weakness toward Iran. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz's assertion this week to the Post that he does not "think it is right today to talk about military options" toward Iran because he thinks that sanctions can still convince the mullahs to give up their nuclear ambitions comes dangerously close to an Israeli collapse in the face of an existential threat. The fact that Mofaz made this statement the same week that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Teheran had crossed the nuclear threshold only exacerbates the perception of Israeli strategic disarray.

Sooner or later the US will pay a price for the Bush administration's decision to embrace the delusion of stability as its strategic goal. With jihadist forces growing stronger around the globe, if the Americans leave Iraq without victory, there is no doubt that Iraq (and Iran and Syria) will come to them.

But whatever the consequences of America's behavior for America, the price that Israel will pay for embracing Baker's myths of stability will be unspeakable.

Missing Links on Black Friday

Steely Dan ~ Black Friday

36 YEARS AGO TODAY:

At 4:30AM on September 5, 1972, five Arab terrorists wearing track suits climbed the six & 1/2 foot fence surrounding the Olympic Village in Munich, Germany. Once inside, they were met by three others who had gained entrance with credentials. Within 24 hours, 11 Israelis, five terrorists, and a German policeman were dead.

The Munich operation was ordered by Yasser Arafat and carried out by Fatah, Arafat's faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

The mastermind of the massacre, Abu Daoud, admitted his role in his autobiography, Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist, published in 1999. Although this was said to be the first public acknowledgment that the PLO was behind Munich, Daoud himself essentially admitted this when under interrogation by Jordanian police in 1972. The Al-Dustur newspaper quoted him at the time as telling them:

"There is no such organization called Black September. Fatah announces its own operations under this name so that Fatah will not appear as the direct executor of the operation."

FATAH TODAY IS HEADED BY ABU MAZEN / MAHMOUD ABBAS. FATAH HAS BEEN LEGITIMATIZED AND FUNDED BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT HAS ACCEPTED FATAH AS A MODERATE "PARTNER FOR PEACE" AND THEY ARE RIGHT NOW BARGAINING WITH THEM FOR OWNERSHIP OF JERUSALEM

Gaza: Fatah supporters 11/13/07

Members of Fatah's "Military Wing"
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
Gaza 6/13/07




Moderate members of Fatah caucusing peacefully in Nablus
January 2008



Arcadi Gaydamak, the billionaire candidate for mayor of Jerusalem, met on Monday with the Vatican's representative in Israel
Jerusalem won't need a real mayor if "Peace" is achieved. But this asshole seems ready to be the fake one:

"Jerusalem is the center for three religions, and the Jewish establishment must solidify constructive relations with Christians and Muslims," Gaydamak said. "This is the only way we will create understanding towards Israel and the Jewish people."

Oh fuck you. When the Israeli Christians start blowing your asses up let me know. Till then the masterflation of "Muslim and Christian" in that statement is designed to erase right and wrong. It is a vile statement, it is morally depraved.

Releasing terrorists for "Peace" is asinine and suicidal

ASSAD: Lebanon in "Fragile State"

Israel Sees Syria "Break out of Isolation"

Syrian President Assad Hosts Four-Party Summit
France, Syria, Turkey and Qatar

Iraq expects to gross $55 billion in China oil deal

Nasrallah explains the "accidental" downing of a Lebanese chopper

Sarkozy Says Iran May Provoke Israeli Attack, Causing Disaster

Sarkozy warns that Pakistan also at stake in Afghan campaign
Who died and made this guy boss of the world is my question - he's inside EVERYTHING lately running his mouth....

Apparently we already plan to move the Iraqi forces to Afghanistan

Officials declined to detail the recommendations (except to the NYT - see above), which come after a 45-day assessment conducted by U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus

Condi has no comment on the rumored Pakistani Incursion

Turkey sends observers to South Ossetia

Turkey to Build Gas Plant in Soviet Turkmenistan

EU welcomes Turkish president's effort to improve Turkey-Armenia ties

Iran and Bolivia Issue Joint Statement

RIOTS AND WRONGS IN INDIA

Muslims taking over parts of the Philippines thanks to the OIC

CAMBODIAN CALIPHATE

Over $700 million has been pledged to the nation over the last six months by land-hungry Arab nations, raising concern that their rising influence will radicalise Cambodian Muslims

Somalian Muslims Celebrate Ramadan with Blood

A Must Read: Somalia: Hunger and Terror

Even then, the Islamic Courts’ former military wing, known as the Shabab (meaning Youth), would fight on. Its men have been radicalised by the insurgency and have grown in confidence (or fatalism) since being classified as a terrorist group by the American administration. One of its commanders, Mukhtar Robow, wants to merge it with al-Qaeda.

It SNOWED (or something) In KENYA

UK Muslims offended by Christians praying during Ramadan
Naturally!

Dagestan: Yet Another Dissident Russian Reporter Shot Dead

Alishaev had been a long-time and outspoken opponent of Islamic religious fundamentalism, known in the region as 'Wahabbism.'

Spain moves to amend their strict abortion laws
Well just in case someone gets knocked up by an ape they must have recourse, nu?

QUEBEC: Father Raymond Gravel, a former gay prostitute who became a Catholic priest, is relinquishing his parliamentary seat in response to a directive from the Vatican
They should tear his collar from him and kick his ass out.
But they won't:

He provoked storms of outrage this summer when he defended the awarding of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest honor, to the country's leading abortionist.

An editorial in a Vatican-linked newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has called into question the concept of brain death

"The defense community is critically reliant on a technology that obsoletes itself every 18 months, is made in unsecure locations and over which we have absolutely no market share influence," said Ted J. Glum, director of the DoD's Defense Microelectronics Activity unit. "Other than that," he cracked, "we're good."

WSJ: McCain, Bush and the Dollar

Elton John ~ 1973
Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding

Floatin' Powa News Service: Serfs Us Right...

WE ASKED FOR IT.

The wicked shall be turned into hell,
and all the nations that forget God.
~ Psalm 9:17

HELL:
7585
שׁאל שׁאול
שְׁאוֹל שְׁאוֹל ‎ sh^e‘ôl sh^e‘ôl
sheh-ole‘, sheh-ole‘
From 7592: hades or the world of the dead
(as if a subterranean retreat),
including its accessories and inmates:
the grave, hell, the pit.

FROM 7592:
שׁאל שׁאל
שָׁאַל שָׁאֵל ‎ shâ‘al shâ‘êl
shaw-al‘, shaw-ale‘
A primitive root; to inquire;
by implication to request;
by extension to demand: - ask (counsel, on),
beg, borrow, lay to charge, consult, demand, desire,
earnestly, enquire, + greet, obtain leave,
lend, pray, request, require,
+ salute, surely, wish.

EGYPT: Police shut down Iran solidarity march

An attempt by Egyptians to march in solidarity with Iranian protesters and to honor Neda-Agha Soltan -- whose death earlier this month made her the icon of Iran's opposition movement -- was halted by security forces in Cairo over the weekend.

Ahmadinejad calls Iranian martyr Neda's death 'suspicious'
The Zionists did it. With the hair rays. On the Temple Mount.

Ahmadinejad vows to break 'global monopoly'
He wants to be the race car dammit! Do not pass go!

Iran frees five staff of British embassy

Life in Iran will be worse than before

The social repression of President Ahmadinejad's first term will look mild compared to what is coming, for that is the only way this severely weakened regime can now maintain power.

US soldiers leave Iraq's cities

Foreign Firms Bid for Iraqi Oil Licenses

Iraq auction terms deter oil firms, BP wins prize

A Caliphate of Toxic Assets

The Muslim organization Hizb Ut Tahrir capitalizes on Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna's 20th century derivative, encouraging followers to build a parallel financial structure. Al-Banna envisioned the resultant Shari'a-compliant finance as a “back door” into Western financial markets and institutions through which to supplant liberty and prosperity with Islam. Muslim clerics including MB spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi promote Shari'a finance as generally safer than Western investments, a diversification method to steady personal assets -- and a stable economic system that should replace capitalism. Call it “financial replacement theology,” if you wish.

Metka (Greece)to build power plant in Syria

France's Kouchner to visit Lebanon, Syria 'soon'

"Kouchner will also visit Damascus in July to preside over a regional conference for French ambassadors"

Israel says Sarkozy advised government to sack FM

Experts Voice New Hope for Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
WTF would we do without "experts'? American Pravda features here the expert opinion of Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine:

Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine, says initial movement toward that solution was stalled by Israeli hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term as prime minister from 1996 to 1999. But Asali believes President Obama's recent address in Cairo and other U.S. initiatives have revived interest in the issue by underscoring American support for the two-state solution and calling on Israel to freeze all settlement activities in the occupied territories.

Next up is Expert Mr. Ori Nir, Spokesman for PEACE NOW!

Ori Nir, spokesman for Americans for Peace Now , the U.S. branch of Israel's Peace Now movement, says Netanyahu's insistence on maintaining Israeli control of Palestinian air and sea lanes, ruling out the right of return of Palestinian refugees and rejecting U.S. calls to freeze settlements, all threaten progress toward the two-state solution. Nevertheless, Nir believes President Obama can persuade Prime Minister Netanyahu to back up his general acceptance of a Palestinian state with constructive actions.

Expert #3 - Samer Shehata, a fellow at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars:

"It is clear that President Obama has a very different perspective on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the U.S. role than the previous administration. He talked about Palestinian suffering, the daily humiliations of occupation, Palestinian dislocation, and also said that their condition was intolerable, and he talked about Palestine as a state. So this, I think, implies that the U.S. will have renewed efforts and possibly would be more balanced with regard to trying to address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, possibly put more pressure on Israel."

For a so called scholar dude is way stupid deluxe. "Daily humiliation of occupation" was a 2006 GWB nugget:
The Palestinian people have suffered from decades of corruption and violence and the daily humiliation of occupation

To wit....
TNR: JUST LIKE BUSH

But in fact, much of Obama's speech had a different sort of familiar ring. Most of his main arguments have been made before--not just by Obama himself, but by his predecessor. "Today I'd like to speak directly to the people across the broader Middle East," George W. Bush said at the United Nations on September 16, 2006. Like Obama, Bush explained that the United States is not at war with Islam.

Like Obama, Bush said that America respects the history and traditions of the Muslim world. Like Obama, Bush deplored the September 11 attacks and vowed to fight the tiny minority of Islamic extremists.

Bush also assured his audience that "freedom, by its nature, cannot be imposed. It must be chosen;" Obama said that "no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other." Bush lamented the "daily humiliation of occupation" suffered by the Palestinians; Obama said the Palestinians "endure the daily humiliations... that come with occupation." Bush assured Iran that he did not oppose their use of peaceful nuclear power; so did Obama.

Bush's 2006 speech, of course, was immediately forgotten--a non-event with no impact on America's image abroad.

PA official: Hamas planned to assassinate senior officials

The Palestinian Authority has recently arrested a Hamas cell that admitted to planning to assassinate senior Palestinian officials by July 7, the date set by Egypt for the signing of an agreement between Fatah and the Islamist group, the head of the Palestinian Presidency said on Monday.

Fatah accuses Hamas government of arresting dozens

Hamas Leader Khaled Mash'al:
"We Reject the So-Called 'Jewishness‘ of Israel"

Hamas stole more humanitarian aid

Palestinian families coping well with resettlement in Iceland

Oil prices jump on Nigeria troubles
MmmHmmmm.

Honduras tense as world calls for reverse of coup
Naturally the Glow Ball "outraged" over this thing, a communist was ousted:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Zelaya to meet with Obama, saying the US president's attention to the matter could "deliver a major blow" to those who ousted Zelaya.

Dude who was overthrown was completely allied with Chavez

Newly-appointed Honduran acting President Roberto Micheletti said on Sunday the country's armed forces are ready to cope with any external threats

In response to criticism by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Micheletti said the military had done what they should to defend the dignity of the country's constitution, brushing aside allegation that the army had staged a military coup.

Speaking via telephone from his home in Tegucigalpa on Monday, interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti again defended the actions of Honduran military officials in booting President Manuel Zelaya from power:

''We can't allow that this government take us to communism or socialism,'' Micheletti told a group of reporters at a telephone press conference organized by Honduran Unity, a Miami-based group of Honduran activists who support Micheletti.

Oil workers urge Chavez to Pay

Supreme Court Rejects Chevron Appeal Against Ecuadorian Oil Co

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it won't decide whether an Ecuadorian oil company can be held partially responsible in a $27 billion case against its former business partner, Texaco Petroleum Co., a unit of Chevron Corp.

Pyongyang's True Ideology

That country was the world's first self-proclaimed "national defense state." Japan's leaders demonstrated that a leadership cult, a repressive security apparatus and a command economy do not a communist country make. In 1945 former North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il's father, and his faction conducted a wholesale "Koreanization" of imperial Japanese propaganda, taking over everything from the cult of the parental Great Marshall on a white horse right down to the myth of a uniquely virtuous race surrounded by an evil world. The elder Kim paid lip-service to Marxism-Leninism even as he purged his young regime of Korean communists.

This ideological heritage is more obvious today than ever. Current propaganda extolling the ongoing "150 Day Battle," the most hysterical in a long line of production campaigns, likens every worker to a fighter. Signs reading "battleground" hang over the entrances to mines and factories. The nation's youth are exhorted, in ever more strident tones, to prepare to sacrifice their lives for the General, to become "resolve-to-die squads" (gyeolsadae) and "human bullets" (yuktan) in the "holy war" (seongjeon) against America. These are exact Korean translations of terms and symbols used in fascist Japan.

Zimbabwe Obtains $950 Million Credit Line From China

5.1 - TAIWAN

4.7 - TAIWAN

5.2 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

4.9 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

China bribed FARC to use land

A subsidiary of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Colombia bribed the FARC in exchange for permission to operate in guerrilla territory in the west of the country, an ex FARC hostage denounced.

Iraq Oil a Big Draw for Chinese

As Iraq Stabilizes, China Eyes Its Oil Fields

BP, China win right to develop Iraq's Rumalia oil field

China Plans to Raise Oil Reserves 160% Over 5 Years

China Increases Diesel, Gasoline Prices to Help Oil Refiners

China and Russia will cooperate on oil refinery

China makes surprise fuel-price hike

Putin Orders Banks to Lend $13Bl

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday gave state-controlled banks a tight three-month deadline to hand out at least $13 billion in loans to major companies — and he told the bank's CEOs that they couldn't take vacations until they had followed orders.

EU says Ukraine must reform gas sector

The European Union said Monday it will push Ukraine to reform its natural gas sector in return for an international loan package to help pay a multibillion dollar debt to Russia.

Ukraine and Russia started talks with international banks Monday, seeking some $4.2 billion to restock Ukraine's gas stores for next winter and help it pay for monthly gas imports from Russia.

EU brings Russia and Ukraine together for gas talks

Medvedev Seals ‘Milestone’ Gas Deal in Bid to Thwart EU Rivals

Today’s agreement is a “milestone” for future cooperation, Medvedev said after meeting his counterpart Ilham Aliyev, who said the agreement “turns the page” in relations with Russia. When Gazprom threatened to more than double gas prices in December 2006, Aliyev halted imports and used fuel oil instead to supply power plants. Gazprom will get priority treatment when the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan determines the buyers for the offshore field, said Alexei Miller, chief executive officer of the Russian company. Azerbaijan’s gas production will rise 11 percent to 30 billion cubic meters next year, Aliyev said.

Russia gas flows to Europe under threat: IEA
ya think?

Gazprom eyeing British markets

Gazprom announced major plans to expand into the British energy market over the course of the next few years, corporate officials told shareholders. Gazprom chief Alexei Miller told officials at the annual shareholder meeting the energy monopoly could ship more than 266 billion cubic feet of natural gas to British markets each year. "

Gazprom plans to account for 10 percent of the British market by 2011," he said.

Gazprom Neft acquires control in London-based oil company Sibir Energy

Gazprom Stays the Course Under Putin's "Manual Management"

Gazprom welcomes Shell back to Sakhalin

Russian army exercises near Georgian border

Russian exercises anger Georgia
I would think so.

Putin's surprise birthday gift for Communist leader

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has astonished the leader of the Russian Communist Party by presenting him with an unexpected birthday gift — an early Soviet edition of the Communist Manifesto.

Speaking to Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov and other party leaders, Putin described the ideas of the 1848 manifesto’s authors Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as “interesting” and “important”, the press reported Monday.

“Marx and Engels examined these problems and spoke about cyclical crises, They started to examine the problems that we today call globalisation,” Putin told the meeting at his country residence on Sunday.

He added that no-one had yet found an “antidote” to these problems, amid a global economic crisis that has hit Russia hard.

Obama Will Speak At Russian School Graduation

U.S. President Barack Obama will make a commencement speech to 1,000 guests at the New Economic School and hold talks with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, officials said, as details emerged of Obama's much-anticipated visit to Moscow on July 6 to 8.

Obama will discuss the economic crisis and security issues during the graduation ceremony at the school on July 7, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

"The speech will be an opportunity for President Obama to discuss areas of mutual interest between the United States and Russia such as nonproliferation, global security and economic growth," Gibbs said Thursday, according to a transcript published on the White House web site.

The graduation ceremony will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and be attended by about 1,000 people, said the New Economic School, a privately funded graduate school founded in 1992. "We are honored that President Obama will participate in our graduation ceremonies," school rector Sergei Guriyev said in a statement. "Our graduates, their families and the NES faculty, staff and alumni are looking forward to President Obama's address, particularly at a time when both the U.S. and Russian economies face such great challenges."

Gibbs said Obama would also attend a "civil society event" and a business forum during his visit. The forum of U.S. and Russian business leaders is scheduled for July 7 and is being organized by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the American Chamber of Commerce.

Gibbs said he did not know which U.S. business executives might accompany Obama on the trip.

Azeri gas deal brings Gazprom to the Caspian table

Gazprom seals contract with Azerbaijan

Israel's President Peres Meets With Azerbaijan Jewish Leaders

Iran recalls ambassador to Azerbaijan to protest Peres visit

Iran recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan for consultations yesterday, a day after President Shimon Peres visited the central Asian country.

According to the Iranian news agency INSA, the envoy was recalled due to both Peres' visit and unspecified "threats" it said Israel's ambassador in Baku had voiced against Iran.

"Both countries will remain faithful to the principle of brotherhood. These relations are integral for a grand union of Turks.”

Turkey's relations with Azerbaijan were in trouble due to speculation that Turkey would be opening its border with Armenia. As a reaction to Turkey, Azerbaijan's president, İlham Aliyev, cancelled plans to attend an Alliance of Civilizations meeting in İstanbul. Although Aliyev said he could not participate because of his busy schedule, a few days later he met with Russian President Dimitri Medvedev in Russia.

Kazakhstan Hosts Koom Bah Humbug Glow Ball Ho Down

Seventh meeting of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions opened in Astana today under the chairmanship of the Speaker of the Senate of the Kazakh Parliament and Head of the Secretariat Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

"We can make our forum not only main area of global interfaith dialogue, but also a universal platform for constructive dialogue on pressing issues of our time," Tokayev said.

Peres wraps-up visit to Azerbaijan, heads to Kazakhstan

Peres: 'Stop selling uranium ores to Iran"

4.7 - CENTRAL KAZAKHSTAN

Three die in Kazakhstan coal mine collapse

Israeli detained in Kazakhstan tells court he was weapons envoy

Dr. Boris Sheinkman, who has been detained in Kazakhstan for three months, has filed a petition with the High Court of Justice against the prime minister, foreign minister, and defense minister demanding that the court force them to recognize the fact that he was in the country as an envoy of the Israeli weapons industry. Sheinkman is also demanding that the court order the ministers to release documents testifying to this account.

OSCE Secretary General to visit Kazakhstan

WTF is OSCE you may ask?

Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office Sheikh-al-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh will leave for Kazakhstan on Tuesday

He will attend the Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional religions in Astana, Kazakhstan on July 1-2, 2009 as a chairman of the newly-established Council of Advisers of CIS Muslim Leaders.

The congress, initiated and supported by the government of Kazakhstan, aims to contribute to the cross-religions dialogue and solidarity. Traditionally the Astana congress will be dedicated to the "Role of religious leaders in building the world based on tolerance, mutual respect and cooperation". Allahshukur Pashazadeh expected to deliver speech on the subject at the congress attended by the number of leading religious figures, representatives of the international organizations, as well as honorable guests.

Pashazadeh will inform the participants about the contributions of the Caucasian Muslims Office to the process of dialogue and cooperation between the religions, traditions of tolerance in Azerbaijan, which could be an example for the world and results of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan.

Representatives of the Islamic world, including Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Indonesia, Pakistan, Libya and other countries will attend the congress in Astana.

Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGaz wholly acquires Rompetrol of Romania

The Kazakhstan Oil Rush

No comment could be obtained on this statement from the consortium itself. It emerged that the consortium’s press-service was dissolved and transferred to the press-service of the new operating company North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), which, in its turn, has just assumed the functions of the operator in the North Caspian (Kashagan) project. NCOC also declined to provide any comment to New Europe on the audit findings, saying that they had to agree on every phrase of a response statement with all of the operating company’s participants, including Shell, KazMunaiGas, ENI, ExxonMobil, and Total (each holding 16.81 percent), ConocoPhillips (8.4 percent), and Inpex (7.56 percent).

Oil major BP plans to leave Kazakhstan

Jordan: King holds talks with Turkmenistan President

His Majesty King Abdullah II and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov expressed their keenness to boost bilateral ties mainly in the economic field.

Major gas field of Minara opened in eastern Turkmenistan

Over 20 kg of heroin seized on Dushanbe-Moscow train

Russian customs officers have seized more than 20 kilograms of heroin from conductors on a train from Tajikistan bound for Moscow, the Federal Security Service said on Monday.

Regional conference entitled “Islam and Democracy” held in Tajik capital

DUSHANBE, June 29 (Asia-Plus). Although existence of democracy in Central Asia’s states is of declarative nature, however, it gives moderate religious political forces an opportunity to participate in the political arena, that is conclusion of the regional conference, entitled “Islam and Democracy,” which was held in Dushanbe on June 25.

Staged by Russia’s Center for Strategic and Political Studies jointly with the Rose Luxemburg Foundation and the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, the conference brought together representatives public associations as well as religious experts from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.

Speaking at the conference, Dr. Arne Seifert, former Ambassador and Spokesperson of former German Ambassadors' Initiative "Diplomats for Peace with the Islamic World," noted that Islamic movements active in the region could represent interests of believers in perspective.
He noted that social problems and dual standards of secular authorities might lead to radicalization of society.

Border officer gunned down in Kyrgyzstan

The Stans to clean up radioactive Soviet uranium mine waste

Officials from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan say they have agreed to work together in cleaning up millions of tons of radioactive waste left over from uranium mining during the Cold War.

First national oil company to be created in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan to maintain US base to defend interests

Kyrgyzstan will maintain a US airbase on its territory to defend its own interests, the Central Asian state's President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Monday.

US-Russia report on scrapping nuclear weapons to be unveiled

A three-step process for the phased elimination of nuclear weapons will be unveiled by a powerful group of former policy makers in Washington tomorrow. The report by the Global Zero Commission, formed last December to urge Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev to rid the world of nuclear weapons, is released ahead of a summit in Moscow between the two leaders next weekend. The US-Russia summit, Obama's first as US president, is expected to see a bilateral agreement cutting nuclear stockpiles through a pact to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Start-1), which expires this year.

Kamchatka Peninsula: Volcano sends up clouds of ash in Russia's Far East

President of Uzbekistan receives Chinese Vice Premier

Two cheers from the grave punctuate the nationalization of GM

The automaker General Motors filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, and there are surely two people rejoicing in their graves at the news. One of them is John DeLorean. The other is Clement Attlee.

GM makes case for 'new GM'

Regulators Are Natural Target

Jobless rates rise in all US metro areas in May

Obama Unveils Consumer Protection Agency Legislation
Protect the Gubbmints right to Consume you!

Supreme Court's Ruling A Blow To Big Media

The media conglomerates are trading down today, off more than the Dow. One factor pulling them down is the Supreme Court's decision not to consider their appeal to challenge Cablevision Systems new DVR service.

This is a direct blow to NBC Universal, CBS, ABC, and 20th Century Fox, who sued Cablevision in 2006. This decision will enable Cablevision to soon roll out a new kind of DVR, which requires much less capacity.

Corn, Soybeans, Wheat Plummet as US Farmers Boost Acreage
Remeber this when they tell you there is a shortage:

Corn plunged by the Chicago Board of Trade’s limit after a government report showed U.S. farmers planted more acreage with the grain than estimated in March. Wheat and soybeans also tumbled on signs of increasing supplies.

Warren Buffet's son stealthily taking control of Africa's grain?
Under the standard humanitarian pretext.

As soon as next year the world could resume consuming more grain than its farmers produce. That global trend earlier this decade is what drained world grain stockpiles, setting the stage for last year’s price shocks. The fear is that food prices will leap when the world economy recovers.

Uranium Poised to Trigger Scramble

For decades, Botswana has been renowned for its premier position in the production of high value diamonds, the country's economic backbone. The country has also enjoyed the international spotlight for its massive coal reserves which are conservatively estimated at more than two hundred billion tonnes.

However, an unglamorous and previously unexploited mineral is expected to trigger a stampede among investors and mining companies eager to leverage on its rising status as a cash commodity. Uranium, chiefly used in nuclear power generation, has for decades been viewed negatively as it can also be enriched and used for nuclear weapons, the fear of which drove the Cold War of the 1940s to 1990s.

US Renewable Energy: A Self-Inflicted Crisis in the Making

Summary / Conclusions:

• Government handouts and mandates won't work -- never have and never will, in any industry.
• The energy market is currently experiencing an interim period, from which a new energy market enigma has emerged; the renewable energy boom and bust cycle.
• The timing, force, and breadth of this renewable energy boom and bust cycle will be driven by anticipation, greed, and by innovation.
• Companies will reinvent themselves, will exit the business or go under, or will re-form into more capable models.
• Energy supply and demand will not rationalize for many years in the future, and it is likely, for some of the reasons stated, that at that time demand will again significantly overshoot supply.
• There will again be shortages, increased price (and fuel price) volatility, and a marked need for new power generation, primarily natural gas due to its moderate construction time, proven efficiency and security of fuel supply.
• The length of time-between now and when the need will again become evident-corresponds roughly to the design and construction stages of nuclear and large coal fired plants. Those plants, once in place and with their lower generation costs, will be very well placed to participate profitably in the energy markets.
• This is the opportunity before the energy industry today: to face the boom and bust cycle head on, with considered and careful strategic planning, as the industry moves into yet another era.
• Given the poor state of the United States economy, flawed economics of the renewable energy sector, there will be a large heap of distressed energy projects and companies for disciplined investors to pursue, as history has demonstrated.

Republicans Highly Critical of House Energy Bill

Another Step on the Long March to Global Climate Policy
The Whores of Gramsci are Long Marching with Joy to Glorious Victory!

When seen alongside victories on the stimulus bill and the budget, this climate and energy bill must be seen as another sign of a presidency that is beginning to show signs of success.

Feds to investigate the way FEMA drew flood maps

DHS announces $1.8 billion in grants

Napolitano seeks more global collaboration with DHS
Bruno does the Glow Ball.

Penn State researchers receive $1.2 million MURI grant
Dig the language in this thing:

The Center for Network-Centric Cognition and Information Fusion (NC2IF) in Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology received a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award (MURI) for "Unified research on network-based hard/soft information fusion" from the Army Research Office.

snip

"We have the capability to turn the whole campus into a laboratory," Hall said. "Everyone is using cell phones and posting things on social networking sites, so they all have the potential to act as data collectors and soft sensors."

2nd Brigade practices rescuing Americans
Why do they have to knock now, instead?

The fictitious nation was conceived amid the pine trees and sand of Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall. It served as the location for a three-day training exercise aimed at testing the readiness of the brigade, which is currently serving as part of the military's Global Response Force.

More than 1,000 paratroopers, 70 airmen, a dozen officials from the State Department and hundreds of role players took part in a rehearsal for a noncombatant evacuation operation. The scenario was developed by military and State Department officials, many of whom have been involved in the planning and execution of similar evacuations.

snip

One of the toughest parts of the training was asking soldiers who are used to kicking down doors to knock instead. Two other large-scale exercises earlier this year tested the brigade's ability to defeat a conventional military threat and an unconventional threat. But last week's scenario called for efficiency and speed, not fighting power.

snip

Gibson said his brigade would be prepared for any deployment scenarios. The 2nd Brigade Combat Team has deployed seven times since Sept. 11, 2001, with none of those deployments expected, he said. Now as a part of the Global Response Team, the brigade's soldiers must be on call in times of a humanitarian crisis, domestic attack or show of force against another nation. "There's a wide range of deployment scenarios," Gibson said. "For us, this is normal."

White House working on border troops plan

The Obama administration is developing a plan to seek up to 1,500 National Guard volunteers to step up the military’s counterdrug efforts along the Mexican border, senior administration officials said Monday.

The stopgap measure between the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department, and comes despite Pentagon concerns about committing more troops to the border — a move some officials worry will be seen as militarizing the region.

Senior administration officials said the Guard program would last no longer than a year and would build on an existing counterdrug operation. They said the program would be mostly federally funded and draw on National Guard volunteers from the four border states.

Officials said the program would mainly use Guard members for surveillance, intelligence analysis and aviation support. Guard units also would supply ground troops who could assist at border crossings and with land and air transportation.

The Texas National Guard didn’t respond to a request for comment, but a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry said no formal notification had been received Monday night from the White House or Homeland Security.

Geron, GE Unit Team Up In Stem-Cell Development Pact
In January, Geron received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the first-ever human trial of a medical treatment derived from embryonic stem cells.

Geron Corp. (GERN) agreed to provide stem cells to General Electric Co.'s (GE) GE Healthcare for use in tools that test drug treatments for their toxic effects on the body, particularly the heart and liver.

Elderly, kids urged to skip hajj over swine flu
HARRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!

WHAT THE FUCK! ? !
Everyone is clinically insane.

Health experts are warning parents against holding "swine flu parties" in the hope of infecting their children with the H1N1 virus.

Talk of swine flu parties has emerged on Internet forums. The idea is that exposing a child to the H1N1 virus while it remains relatively mild will give the child immunity if the virus returns in a more virulent form later on.

Drug stocks inch up; Vical, Geron soar

Drug stocks inched higher in early trading Tuesday while shares of Vical Inc. soared on news that animal studies have shown its experimental H1N1 flu vaccine to be highly effective.

Drug Industry Lobbying Efforts, Campaign Funds Tilt Toward Democrats

The pharmaceutical industry, which has long invested heavily in federal lobbying, is now on course to smash its previous records as it tries to shape the health care overhaul pushed forward by Democrats.

FDA panel considers measures for OTC acetaminophen-containing drugs
Render your Nyquil unto Seizer, MFers, shit is soon to be VERBOTEN.

Reclaiming Biblical Jerusalem

Biblical Archeology: Prophet and the Earthquake

Indian scientists seed clouds to bring on the monsoon
They shoulda just asked Honi the Circle Maker to speak to GOD. Whole lot easier.

Uranium Found on the Moon
GOD help the moon now....

Camp Quest UK

This first year is sponsored by the Richard Dawkins Foundation, and the theme is Evolution (since this is Darwin year). The associated activities all sound like fun, but I particularly liked this one, reported in the Guardian

On top of cooking, hiking and canoeing, activities for campers include a competition to disprove the existence of the mythical unicorn – with the winner receiving a £10 note on which Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion, has signed his name.

Have fun kids!

Obama: no "formal" decision yet about church, Gibbs says

Gibbs' answer used the word formal many times--a wiggle word, perhaps.

He replied, "No. He's -- there have been no formal decisions about joining a church. I think I've mentioned in here, in the past couple of weeks, that when he goes to Camp David, he has attended services at the chapel there. He enjoys the pastor there.

"They're not formally joining that church. And there have been no formal decisions on joining a church in this area. I will say, I think, one aspect of the article that is true, as I mentioned here in that same discussion, was the concern that the president continues to have, about the disruptive nature of his presence on any particular Sunday, in some churches around the area.