Jordan to Issue External Bonds Up to 1.5 Billion Dollars
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, SEPTEMBER 13 — Jordan government is seeking to borrow between 750 million and 1.5 billion dollars by issuing “external bonds” to fund state budget, Finance Minister Suleiman Hafez said. The minister said the government would plan to pay the debt back in 10 years and would prompt more private sector borrowing. Ministry of finance invited interested parties to manage the bond issuance, with several offers already on the table. The move has alerted economists of potential risks to the kingdom’s economy due to the high interests the country has to cough up.
Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s lowered the Kingdom’s foreign currency government bond rating twice in 2011.
But the government argues that with interest rates in international markets at low levels issuing external bonds would be more beneficial than delaying new borrowing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Monckton: Obama Crew ‘Existential Threat’ To U.S.
But warns GOP not in position to reverse socialism
Editor’s Note: John Griffing recently interviewed Lord Monckton, who is sounding the alarm that unless the current warnings are heeded, the West is on the precipice of financial and political collapse.
[…]
Monckton: As one of Mr. Obama’s campaign staff said during the last election run-up, the Constitution is to them a barrier (while to us it is a bulwark against them). In numerous ways, the Socialists (or Marxists or Maoists or Fascists or Communists: Legalism has many names) are working to dismantle the Constitution. The increasing power and wealth of the federal government and its various agencies at the expense of the people is growing and ought to be sharply diminished.
The willful expansion of your nation’s indebtedness under the present administration is a clear and present danger to the very independence which was the purpose of establishing the United States. Your national debt has grown by half in little over three years under Mr. Obama, having taken almost a quarter of millennium to reach its pre-Obama level. China and other foreign governments now — in effect — own the U.S.
[…]
…The euro was always intended not as a currency but as an instrument of political centralization, which is why it has failed as a currency and will now fail as an instrument of political centralization.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Irish Tourist Charged With Stealing Cannoli at Knifepoint in Boston
An Irish tourist has been arrested for attempting to rob baked goods at knifepoint.
The 25-year-old, Robert McTernan, from Newbridge, County Kildare, had just landed in Boston for a two-week holiday when the incident took place.
The Kildare man entered the bakery in a largely Italian neighborhood in Boston, grabbed a knife and demanded a cannoli from an employee, according to Associated Press reports.
An employee at Bova’s Bakery handed McTernan the pastry and called the police at 3.30am. Officers then found the Irishman and arrested him. The police could not find his knife.
The tourist was granted $2,000 bail and pledged not guilty. He was ordered to surrender his passport.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Man is Accused of Jihadist Plot to Bomb a Bar in Chicago
An 18-year-old suburban Chicago man, who the authorities say was enamored with Osama bin Laden and intent on killing Americans, has been arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a car bomb outside a Chicago bar, officials said Saturday.
There was never any danger that the suspect, Adel Daoud, would actually detonate a bomb. The plot, which ended with Mr. Daoud’s arrest on Friday, was proposed by undercover F.B.I. agents posing as extremists, according to a statement released by the United States attorney’s office in the Northern District of Illinois.
Mr. Daoud, a United States citizen who lives in Hillside, Ill., on the outskirts of Chicago, has been under surveillance for months, and in multiple conversations with agents expressed a desire to kill on a mass scale as revenge for what he believed was the persecution of Muslims by the United States, according to court papers.
In one conversation recorded by the authorities, Mr. Daoud said he wanted the attack to be “massive” enough to “make it in the news like tonight.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota “Fuel Banks” Enable Drivers to Save Big Via Futures Transactions
A gas company in Minnesota has implemented an innovative scheme which permits paying members to enjoy major savings on their fuel costs via futures transactions.
First Fuel Banks, owned by East Side Oil Companies, allows end users to pre-purchase gas in bulk as part of what essentially amounts to a futures transaction, with buyers pledging to purchase set volumes in the future for preordained prices.
Customers pay a nominal membership fee of $1, after which point they are able to make use of the company’s fully automated fuel banks and purchase bulk volumes of gas in advance
According to some customers the new scheme has enabled them to fuel their cars for less than $1.00/gal while the standard gas rate hovers at almost $4.00/gal.
The fuel banks have been in operation since the start of the 1980’s following the development of computer technology which made the possibility of a fully automated fuel bank feasible, and the company has already established several outlets in the city of St. Cloud.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Occupy and Arab Spring Both Obama Ops
Believe it or not, the biggest story of the day is not Kate Middleton’s invasion of privacy as she sought to sunbath topless in yet another Royal Family Lindsey Lohan moment. No, the biggest story of the day is how two Obama run White House Ops are imploding in a worldwide meltdown put in motion by Obama’s State Department.
In the United States, Obama & Co. designed, developed, funded and ignited the Occupy Wall Street movement through their established community organizing organizations, all operating under the umbrella known as NetRoots. Across the Middle East, the same organizations were on the ground months in advance, using the same Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals to topple numerous foreign governments and organize the so-called Arab Spring.
In both cases, Occupy and Arab Spring are brain children of community organizer-in-chief Barack Hussein Obama, using modern technologies and media minions to ignite civil unrest and class warfare across America and around the globe. None of it is at all accidental or organic in any way. All of it is the end game strategy for Alinsky radicals and their Marxist global agenda. They are a methodical means to an end.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Police Detain 230 Protesting Anti-Islam Film
Belgian police said Sunday they have detained 230 people in the northern city of Antwerp after clashes at a demonstration against an anti-Islam film that has sparked a wave of protests.
The protesters shouted anti-US slogans, and some also set fire to the US flag, according to television footage of Saturday’s unauthorised demonstration in an area that has a large Muslim population.
It degenerated into clashes with police after officers blocked the protesters from moving to a main thoroughfare.
One policeman was lightly wounded, local police spokesman Fons Bastiaenssens said, adding that a total of 230 people had been detained.
A leader of the Islamist group Sharia4Belgium was among those detained, according to television station RTBF.
Protests have erupted in the Arab and Muslim world over the low-budget US film “Innocence of Muslims” which portrays Muslims and the Prophet Mohammed in insulting terms.
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Blasphemous Film: 100 Arrests in Paris Near US Embassy
(AGI) Paris — Police arrested some 100 people in Paris after they started an unauthorized protest near the US embassy. The demonstration was triggered by a movie, “Innocence of Muslims” made in the Us and considered blasphemous by Muslims around the word. According to the French Police, the protesters are linked to Salafi integralist groups. Three agents suffered minor injuries. . .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
French Communists Party Down at Music Festival
Some 500,000 people are attending France’s annual Communist Party festival just north of Paris. The “Fête de l’Humanité” is a vibrant mix of left-wing politics rolled into a hugely popular music festival.
This weekend France celebrates all things left-wing with a vast festival outside Paris organised by French Communist daily newspaper l’Humanité.
The “Fête de l’Huma” has taken place every year since 1930, except for a brief hiatus during the Nazi occupation.
Originally organised as a means to raise funds for l’Humanité, the popular music event has become a major fixture of the French political calendar marking “La Rentrée” (the return to work after the summer break) of the Left.
Organisers expect 500,000 people to attend the event, which is made all the more popular by the low entrance fee (20 euros for three days) and a musical line-up which this year includes British band New Order, rocker Pete Doherty, US singer-poet Patti Smith and the French National orchestra, among many others.
The festival is a political movement in itself — posters throughout the festival, which has taken on the aspect of a small town, call for a referendum on the EU fiscal treaty and for an end to unpopular austerity policies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mondadori Backs Closer and Chi on Middleton Photos
(AGI) Rome — A statement issued by Italian publishers Mondadori today backs decisions to publish topless photos of Kate Middleton. With St James’ Palace already suing Mondadori’s French language sister magazine ‘Closer’ over the very same photos, a statement issued by Mondadori today clarifies that management “was made fully aware of Closer editor-in-chief Laurence Pieau’s plans to publish photos relating to William and Kate’s holidays in southern France.” The statement, likewise, confirms Chi editor-in-chief Alfonso Signorini’s plans to “provide excusive coverage on the same topic,” adding that both Pieau and Signorini rank the issue among “worthwhile current affairs coverage,” denying any “damaging consequences for the persons portrayed.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Police Detain 100 at US Embassy Protest
Police in Paris detained around 100 people Saturday for taking part in an unauthorised, impromptu demonstration near the US embassy against a provocative anti-Islam film, police said.
Dozens of men, women and children who police said were possibly linked to Salafists, “demonstrated violently around the US embassy and clashed with police” on Saturday afternoon.
Two or three officers were slightly hurt in the protest. Most of those detained were men, said police.
The president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) denounced the Paris protest.
“We regret that this demonstration occurred, especially if violent force was used against the police,” Mohamed Moussaoui told AFP.
“One should not associate all of France’s Muslims with marginal events like this,” he added.
“Muslims should use fair and lawful means to defend their religion. This message was relayed by imams at mosques during Friday prayers,” he said.
France is home to Europe’s largest Muslim community.
The last several days have seen a wave of anti-American protests across the globe, sparked by the US-produced “Innocence of Muslims” film.
The film, excerpts of which were posted on the Internet, have offended many Muslims because of its insulting depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
Islamic law prohibits any depiction of the prophet.
The protests, which started on Tuesday, have cost several lives and seen mobs burn US missions, schools and businesses as well as the embassies of some western countries.
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Right-Wing LNP Party Calls for Trento Mosque Closure
(AGI) Trento — The LNP’s deputy-chief whip Maurizio Fugatti issues calls for the closure of Trento’s new mosque. Fugatti explained his party’s stance as motivated by “the delicate international juncture” and by “rising fundamentalist intolerance against the West.” Fugatti went on to submit that the mosque “lacks all planning permits” and expressed fears that mosque may promote “anti-Western hatred and intolerance towards our culture” under “the false pretence of promoting peace.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: People Who Pay Cash in Hand to Tradesmen Are “Morally Wrong”
David Gauke, a Treasury minister, told The Daily Telegraph that home owners who allow workmen to evade VAT or income tax were forcing others to pay more.
His comments reflect growing concern in Whitehall about the cash-in-hand economy, which costs Britain billions of pounds a year in lost tax revenues.
However, critics accused the Government of being “unnecessarily moralistic” about ordinary people trying to keep their household bills down.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Use of Sharia ‘Courts’ Increasing in UK
The use of Sharia ‘courts’ is on the increase in Britain with thousands using Islamic law to settle disputes, according to the BBC. The news comes as a leading barrister claims that Sharia law is compatible with human rights, and beneficial to communities.
However, critics say the courts discriminate against women and should not operate as a parallel legal system.
Tripled
A Bill has been brought before the House of Lords by Christian humanitarian, Baroness Cox, to curb the growth of Sharia courts.
Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad, a representative of the Islamic Sharia Council at Leyton, told BBC Asian Network that his caseload at the east London council had “easily more than tripled” over the past three to five years — dealing with up to 300 disputes a month.
And earlier this week leading barrister Sadakat Kadri, also a Harvard Law School contemporary of Barack Obama, called for the UK to become more Sharia- literate.
Acknowledged
Regarding Sharia law councils, Mr Kadri said: “It’s very important that they be acknowledged and allowed to exist.”
He also told the Guardian that the courts were good for “the community as a whole”.
In 2009, think-tank Civitas reported that an estimated 85 Sharia councils could be operating in Britain.
Oppressive But Sharia opponents believe it discriminates against women as well as rulings falsely claiming legal jurisdiction over criminal and family law.
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, argued that the UK’s rule of law “must not be compromised by the introduction of a theocratic legal system operating in parallel.”
Last year Baroness Cox introduced the Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill to the House of Lords, which aims to tackle discrimination suffered by Muslim women under Sharia law.
Coercion If passed, it would firmly outlaw the practice of giving women’s testimonies half the weight of men’s and create a criminal offence of falsely claiming legal jurisdiction.
Speaking about Muslim women the Baroness said: “We must do all that we can to make sure they are free from any coercion, intimidation or unfairness”.
Under the 1996 Arbitration Act the rulings of religious arbitration tribunals, including the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, can be enforced in commercial and civil cases.
The BBC reports that Sharia councils have been operating in the UK since 1982, however these locally-appointed councils have no legal powers and cannot impose any penalties.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Voters More Likely to Back an Anti-Muslim Party Than Reject it — Poll
Research suggests that many voters are open to views associated with far-right groupsMark Townsend
More people would support a political party that pledged to stop all immigration or promised to reduce the number of Muslims than one that encouraged multiculturalism, a survey conducted in the wake of the Olympics reveals.
Despite London 2012 being heralded as a celebration of a diverse society, the research suggests much of the electorate remains open to views traditionally associated with far-right groups.
The survey, conducted by YouGov with 1,750 respondents, found that 41% of people would be more likely to vote for a party that promised to stop all immigration, compared with 28% who said they would be less likely to support a group that promoted such policies.
In addition, 37% admitted that they would be more likely to support a political party that promised to reduce the number of Muslims in Britain and the presence of Islam in society, compared with 23% who said it would make them less likely.
Matthew Goodwin of the Extremis Project, an independent group monitoring extremism and terrorism that commissioned the research, said that, although Britain lacked a successful extremist political party, much of the public was susceptible to far-right ideology.
He said: “The results clearly point towards enduring public anxieties over the performance of mainstream political and business elites, immigration and also the role of Muslims and Islam in society.”
In Europe, far-right parties have gained an increasing foothold, with Marine le Pen’s National Front recently polling 6.5 million votes and a poll in Greece indicating that support for the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn has grown to 10.5%, up from 7% at the last election. However, the fiercely anti-Islamic Freedom party of Geert Wilders won only 15 seats in last week’s Dutch elections, compared with its previous 24 seats.
The UK poll results suggest, however, that Britain may struggle to host far-right groups capable of such popularity, revealing a striking generational divide in attitudes towards multiculturalism. It found that large majorities of 18-to -24-year-olds rejected radical rightwing policies, with 60% saying that a party campaigning to halt all immigration would make them less likely to support it or that it did not matter to them.
Less than a quarter of 18-to-24-year-olds said they would be more likely to vote for a party that promised to halt all immigration, compared with more than half of those aged above 60. Similarly, 27% of the younger age group said they would vote for a party that campaigned to reduce the number of Muslims, compared with 49% of those aged over 60.
Goodwin, a lecturer at Nottingham University, said: “While we see further evidence of an emerging generation that is more tolerant towards — and accepting of — immigration and diversity, there remains clear potential for a party that … promises to halt immigration, reduce the number of Muslims and prioritise traditional British values over other cultures.”
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Film Protest: Egypt PM Urges US to End ‘Insults’
Egypt’s Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has said the US must do all it can to stop people insulting Islam.
In an interview with BBC Arabic, Mr Qandil said it was “unacceptable to insult our Prophet” but also not right for peaceful protests to turn violent.
His comments come amid protests in the Middle East and north Africa over an anti-Islam film made in the US.
A man suspected of being involved in making in the film is being questioned by US probation officers.
Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has denied involvement in the film, clips of which have been posted online.
The film has sparked violent protests in several countries, leaving at least seven people dead.
US embassies and Western businesses have been attacked, including the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, where the ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
The US has increased security at its overseas missions. It wants to send Marines to protect its embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, but Sudan has rejected the request, saying it was able to handle security itself.
Mr Qandil said the film had been made by “wicked” amateurs, but that while it was “unacceptable to insult our Prophet” it was also “unjustifiable to have a peaceful demo turned violent”.
The Egyptian authorities have taken measures to ensure the safety of foreign diplomatic missions in Egypt, he said, but all sides needed now to improve their view of each other.
“Egyptians, Arabs, Muslims — we need to reflect the true identity of Muslims, how peaceful they are, and talk to the Western media about the true heart of the Muslims, that they condemn violence,” said Mr Qandil.
“At the same time we need to reach a balance between freedom of expression and to maintain respect for other peoples’ beliefs.”
When asked whether he thought the US should change its laws governing freedom of speech laws, he replied: “I think we need to work out something around this because we cannot wait and see this happen again.”
“This is a small number of people doing irresponsible work and everybody’s paying the price.”
The link between the US and Egypt was, he said, “a relationship that we need to make stronger based on mutual interests and respect for sovereignty”.
He also called on the US, and other governments, to “take the necessary measures to ensure insulting billions of people, one-and-a-half billion people and their beliefs, does not happen and people pay for what they do, and at the same time make sure that the reflections of the true Egyptian and Muslims is well in the Western media.”
The US has historically had a close relationship to Egypt, but earlier this week President Barack Obama said of Cairo: “I don’t think that we would consider them an ally, but we don’t consider them an enemy.”
“They are a new government that’s trying to find its way….I think we have to see how they respond to this incident.”
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Militiamen Attack Egyptian Soldiers in North Sinai
(AGI) Ismaila — Islamic militiamen attacked the headquarters of the Egyptian security forces in North Sinai. The casualty toll is of at least 3 soldiers injured. The militiamen climbed onto the building and started launching grenades and mortar shells.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Day Obama Became Toxic: After Libya, We Cannot Trust Him — Barack Must Fall
Is it really possible the President of the United States was informed Muslim radicals were ready to strike American embassies, yet literally did nothing to warn them or bolster security? If so, Barack’s presidency is no longer tenable. If the US had credible knowledge of an impending Libyan embassy attack and took no defensive measures—this government must not stand.
If Obama knew of the threat, and was indifferent, he is therefore morally unfit to lead, and perhaps suffering from a grave mental or character defect. Or, Barack did not know, and therefore cannot possibly be actually in command of his position, and therefore—is likewise unfit to lead
There can be no other interpretation of events. The world is suddenly so dangerous, we Americans must return to our senses to save ourselves and the rest of the free world. It is time to end this diseased experiment in political correctness, and progressive fantasies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian-Iranian Intelligence Meeting Prompts Fears of New Middle East Terror
Axis U.S. intelligence agencies recently monitored a secret meeting between Egypt’s intelligence chief and a senior Iranian spy that is raising new fears the Muslim Brotherhood government in Cairo could begin covertly supporting global terrorism. According to U.S. officials, the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Maj. Gen. Murad Muwafi, met in early August with a senior official of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). Disclosure of the Egyptian-Iranian intelligence meeting comes as the Obama administration is planning to provide $1 billion in aid to bail out Egypt’s new Islamist government. The administration is said to be seeking closer ties to the new regime in Cairo, following the ouster in February 2011 of long-time ally Hosni Mubarak.
[…]
Since the revolution that led to the ouster of the pro-U.S. regime of Hosni Mubarak, a large number of radical Islamists have been released from prison and have gone back to preaching anti-Western and anti-Israel jihad, or holy war.
[…]
Many members of the pro-democratic, anti-Muslim Brotherhood opposition in Egypt believe the Obama administration has made a covert pact to support the Morsi regime.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Bank Invests USD 600 Million in Jordan
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, SEPTEMBER 12 — The European Bank for development and reconstruction will start two major projects in Jordan worth USD 600 million to boost trade and build electric power station in Amman, top bank official said Wednesday.
The project come after the kingdom joined the bank alongside Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco as part of an EU policy to boost cooperation with the southern shores of the Mediterranean.
According to Feril Freiman, first deputy chairman of the bank, Jordan is the first country from the region to benefit from the bank due to its infrastructure and chances of growth. “We see an economic opportunity in Jordan and we will continue in investing despite the difficult conditions,” Freiman was quoted by the official news agency, Petra.
The first project will be worth USD 300 million to increase trade cooperation and will be implemented in association with local Jordanian bank, Capital bank.
The bank is also looking into other project to help Jordan including revamping the water network in Amman and other cities to reduce amount of lost water in pumping.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Fuse Has Been Lit for Armageddon
This month, the White House declines Netanyahu’s request to meet with Obama, while Obama offers to meet with new Egyptian President Morsi. The damaged relationship between Israel and America has lit the fuse for Armageddon. From NEWSMAX: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ramped up recent threats to attack Iran, saying if the world powers refused to set a red line for Tehran’s nuclear program, they could not demand that Israel hold its fire. “The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” said Netanyahu. Netanyahu must stand up to Obama and Clinton and expose their Mideast pro-Islamic agenda. Obama and Clinton are interested in the Muslim Brotherhood coming to power by helping Morsi assemble his Egyptian Army to attack Israel.
[…]
The Islamic caliphate unity is now shaping. The attacks on America’s Mideast embassies were planned by the Muslim Brotherhood members and they struck on 11 September to commemorate the devastating attacks on America in 2001. This will advance their anti-West agenda and energize them greatly. Analysts see no turning back from warfare now. The Muslim Brotherhood controls the Islamic power throughout the Mideast. They can sense Obama’s weakness and they will manipulate his political situation. Their objective is the complete takeover of Jerusalem because Jerusalem is the third holiest site within the Islamic religious traditions. When the Brotherhood controls Syria, their takeover will be complete in the Mideast and they will focus all their power and military means against Israel and America.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Commander: Nothing Will Remain of Israel if it Takes Military Action
The top commander in Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Sunday that “nothing will remain” of Israel if it takes military action against Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.
Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari said Iran’s response to any attack will begin near the Israeli border. The Islamic Republic has close ties with militants in Gaza and Lebanon, both of which border Israel.
Iran has in the past made reference to the destruction of Israel but his comments at a Tehran news conference were unusually strongly worded and detailed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Foundation Raises the Reward on Rushdie’s Life
(AGI) Tehran — An Iranian Foundation has raised the reward on the life of Salman Rushdie, who has been struck by a fatwa. The fatwa was issued when he published “The Satanic Verses”. The Khordad Foundation added another 500,000 Dollars to the reward, bringing it up to a total of 3.3 million Dollars for anyone succeeding to kill the writer.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Troops, Weapons Sent to Syria
The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards has announced that elite troops have been deployed to Syria. A former Iraqi VP has also said Iraq is allowing Iran to deliver arms to Syria.
Speaking at a rare news conference in Tehran, Guards commander General Mohammad Ali Jafari said members of the Quds Force — the Guards’ special forces unit responsible for missions abroad — were active in both Syria and Lebanon.
He said they were there to “counsel” forces fighting the Syrian opposition. Iran was “proud of defending Syria,” Jafari said, declaring the country to be a member of the (anti-Israeli) “resistance.”
Jafari did not indicate how many Iranian soldiers were in Syria but said they were providing “intellectual and advisory help.” He stressed the Iranians were not active combatants.
Other countries and Syrian opposition groups had accused Iran of providing weapons and expertise to regime forces, but the country had denied this until now.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s fugitive vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, has said in an interview from Turkey that his country was allowing Iran to use its airspace to fly in weapons to Syria.
“My country is unfortunately becoming an Iranian corridor to support the autocratic regime of Bashar al-Assad, there is no doubt about that,” he said in an interview with the Reuters news agency conducted in Istanbul.
Hashemi also said Syria was also using “thousands” of Iraqi militia, saying they were “supporting Bashar al-Assad and killing Syrian innocent people.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli PM: You Want Fanatics to Have Nuclear Weapons?
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized certain American columnists saying that they “set a new standard for human stupidity” for writing that a nuclear Iran may “stabilize the Middle East”.
In interviews with CNN’s State of the Nation and NBC’s Meet the Press, both scheduled to be aired on Sunday, Netanyahu tried to rein in the flood of criticism expressed in American newspapers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Middle East Mayhem: Congrats Obama, You Built That
Remember back in the beginning of 2011 when Obama told us about the freedom lovers in Egypt and Libya living under the oppression of dictators and needing our immediate help to establish democracy in their fair lands? Anyway … it turns out that the “freedom lovers” Obama coerced lots of Americans to rally behind were bat crap crazy. I’m talking crazy on steroids crazy—and not just peaceful crazy like Joe Biden but rather hide-sharp-objects-from-them, menopausal wolverine sow crazy. Yep, these “yearners for democracy” turned out to be radicals of radicals who’d like nothing more than to eradicate the U.S. and Israel and establish a global bounce house for all things Muslim.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Naval Armada Massing in Gulf as Israel Prepares Iran Strike
Battleships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.
Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s petroleum traded by sea.
A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu: Leaders in Iran Are Fanatical
(AGI) Washington — Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stated that Iranian leaders are “fanatical”. The statement comes now that there is a divergence of views between the Israeli government and Barack Obama ‘s adminstration on how to tackle the nuclear issue of the Islamic republic. In an interview, Netanyahu said that from the beginning of nuclear weapons, when some countries had access to them, they were careful to calculate costs and benefits of their possible usage. “In Iran’s case, it’s different, this is a case of uncommon fanaticism.” .. .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
New Intel Shows Iran Advancing Nuclear Weapons Work
The U.N. atomic agency has received new and significant intelligence over the past month that Iran has moved further toward the ability to build a nuclear weapon, diplomats tell The Associated Press. They say the intelligence shows that Iran has advanced its work on calculating the destructive power of an atomic warhead through a series of computer models that it ran sometime within the past three years. The diplomats say the information comes from Israel, the United States and at least two other Western countries and concludes that the work was done sometime within the past three years. The time-frame is significant because if the International Atomic Energy Agency decides that the intelligence is credible, it would strengthen its concerns that Iran has continued weapons work into the recent past — and may be continuing to do so.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Iran Adds to Reward for Rushdie’s Death
Iranian newspapers are reporting that a religious foundation has increased a reward for killing British author Salman Rushdie to $3.3 million from $2.8 million in response to alleged insults to the Prophet Muhammad.
The Sunday reports in the hardline Jomhoori Eslami daily and other newspapers appeared to be a reference to an anti-Islam film that sparked a series of protests across the Muslim world.
The report said that the 15 Khordad Foundation will pay the prize to whoever acts on the 1989 death fatwa issued by Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini against the author of the novel “The Satanic Verses,” calling his book blasphemous.
The reward started at one million U.S. dollars and is occasionally increased.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Warns US on Syria
Russia has let the U.S. know it will not stand idly by if NATO forces lead a land invasion of Syria under the pretext of humanitarian intervention. Russia and China are economic/political allies of Iran. In a world that has reverted to a crazy quilt of alliances resembling pre-First World War Europe, it wouldn’t take much for conventional warfare to shade into unconventional annihilation, a point Rosenbaum makes with insistence.
Yet for the past two decades, the possibility of atomic war sparked by any of the Nuclear Nine (The U.S., the U.K., Russia, China, Pakistan, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea) has been overshadowed by other mass fears, from global warming to bird flu to underwear/shoe bombers to-ironically-Iran’s nascent nuclear program.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Munich-2
Following the President Obama’s “ground breaking” speeches and proposals on the Middle East, let’s engage in a seemingly innocuous experiment. We’ll reproduce here major portions of the infamous Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938 between Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy, with some modifications rendered boldface. This modified Munich Agreement (let’s name it Munich-2) would reflect precisely the dire consequences of the half-baked proposals for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, expressed repeatedly by President Obama and the so called Quartet:
Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy [United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia], taking into consideration the agreement, which has been already reached in principle for the cession to Germany [to Palestinian Authority] of the Sudeten German territory [the West Bank territory], have agreed on the following terms and conditions governing the said cession and the measures consequent thereon, and by this agreement they each hold themselves responsible for the steps necessary to secure its fulfillment:
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When Will Mid East Powder Keg Send Obama to Televised Promise to ‘Save America’ From Anarchy
With anti-American violence in the Mid East aiming at an all-time high, and the Obama administration sending billions in ‘foreign aid’ to the same countries, how long before a terrorist attack sends Obama to national television with an “I’ve-got-your-backs” pre-election message?
Staged spontaneity is the giveaway strategy that shows the violence at American missions on Muslim soil could be part of Obama’s election campaign.
Not only has the truth been outed that the public display by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama was not all that was going on during the 11th anniversary of September 11, 2001, last Tuesday with proof positive of the tweets calling for campaign volunteers, it now appears that ‘Christian’ filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was a government informant. (Times247.com, Sept. 14, 2012)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: 16-Year Old is Lashed for a Love Story
(AGI) Ghazni — an Afghan 16-year-old was lashed for being in a relationship with with a boy in a town controlled by Kabul. The victim’s name is Sabera, she was punished on September 9 in Jaghuri, in th eprovince of Ghazni, and is now in poor health conditions. The tows is under Kabul’s control, although the province is considered a Taliban stronghold. Sabera’s boyfriend had to pay 1,600 Dollars.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: UK Base: Taliban Destroyed 6 Fighters
(AGI) Kabul — The Taliban commando that attacked the Afghan base where prince Harry is stationed destroyed 6 fighters and damaged 2 more. The strike against Camp Bastion took place last Friday, the same day in which Muslim rage was provoked by a blasphemous film on Mohamed’s life.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Policeman Kills 4 NATO Soldiers in Southern Afghanistan
(AGI) Kabul — An Afghan policeman kills four NATO soldiers in the South of the country. This is the latest of a series of attacks coming from agents or police officers capable of penetrating into Alliance troops. Yesterday there had been another attack in Southern Afghanistan, where 2 British militaries were killed .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Remote-Controlled Bomb Blasts in North Pakistan Killing 14
(AGI) Peshawar — The blast of a remote-controlled bomb killed at least 14 people and injured another 10 in North-Western Pakistan. The explosion occurred in the city of Jandol, in the Lower Dir District, at 100 kilometers from the Swat Valley.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Protesters Trash Japanese Interests
In Beijing and other cities, protesters have besieged Japanese interests to express their displeasure with the dispute over islands in the South China Sea. Demonstrators have called for war and a “bloodbath” in Tokyo.
Police in Beijing turned out in heavy numbers to attempt to calm the crowd of several thousand waving flags and pictures and pelting the Japanese embassy with rocks and eggs.
In the southern province of Shenzhen, a local newspaper reported heavy clashes, with police using tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. Demonstrators have looted Japanese shops and attacked cars and restaurants in at least five cities. Some broke into Japanese-run factories in Qingdao, the Japanese broadcaster NHK reported.
“Regrettably, this is a problem concerning the safety of Japanese nationals and Japan-affiliated companies,” Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told a talk show on NHK. “I would like to urge the Chinese government to protect their safety.”
Hong Kong broadcaster Cable TV showed protesters in Shenzhen holding a banner calling for a bloodbath in Tokyo. In the city of Guangzhou, protesters burnt Japanese flags and stormed a hotel next to the Japanese consulate.
The dispute over the islands had escalated Friday, when Chinese ships began patrolling nearby waters. Japan had bought three of the five islets from a private owner for 2 billion yen (about $26 million dollars or 19.5 billion euros) last week. The purchase took place despite warnings from China.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japanese Govt ‘Forgot’ About Fuji: No Plan to Deal With Eruption
The Japanese government has no measures in place to ensure the safety of Tokyo’s inhabitants if nearby Mt. Fuji were to erupt. Some 12,000 tremors have occurred since the March 2011 9.0 quake, increasing the pressure in the mountain’s magma chamber.
“They always forget about the volcanoes,” Toshitsugu Fujii, the head of Japan’s task force on disaster response told Reuters. The Japanese government “never included Mt. Fuji in its earthquake scenarios,” despite the fact that the rise in tremors “greatly increases” the chance of an eruption, he said.
Pressure is building inside the volcano due to the numerous aftershocks following last March’s 9.0-magnitude quake. A recent 6.4-magnitude tremor left a 20-meter-long crack in the mountain, putting extra strain on Fuji’s magma chamber.
“We need to watch (Mount Fuji) very carefully for another two or three years,” Eisuke Fujita, a senior volcano researcher at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention said, adding that no irregularities have been detected at the mountain yet.
“The government has to prepare for a logistical nightmare. They’ve said they are going to do something but they haven’t got their act together so far,” Fujita said.
A volcanic eruption at Mt. Fuji could devastate the surrounding area and poses a serious threat to the nation’s capital, just 100 kilometers away.
The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention reported that Mt. Fuji’s last erupted took place in 1707, and was triggered by a quake of a lesser magnitude than the one in March 2011.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Girl: 8, Calls on Islamic Youth to Back Jihad
AS Julia Gillard struggled to explain how Muslim children could be used to incite violence, eight-year-old Ruqaya yesterday fronted a congress of Islamic fundamendalists in Sydney to espouse her love for jihad. Addressing a 600-strong crowd at the Australian chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Bankstown in the city’s west, the young girl urged all Muslim youth to fight for the restoration of the Islamic caliphate, a single global government for all Muslims established under strict sharia law.
“My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, as the world gathers against the believers in Syria … seeking to hijack our sincere and blessed uprisings, children in Sydney would like to send their message of hope and support to the Muslims of (Syria), especially to the children and mothers,” she read from notes. “These uprisings have demonstrated that this umma (global Muslim community) is alive and well, her love is for jihad, she is unshackled herself from the fear which she held, and she yearns to once again live under the banner of (the Islamic state).
“Children as young as myself can be seen on the streets joining the uprisings, risking their lives to bring food, water and medicine to their wounded family members, some of them never returning to their mothers … Nobody is too young,” she said.
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Ruqaya was the seventh of nine speakers at the “Muslims Rise” conference.
Organisers of the event invited the media to report on her address.
Julia Gillard yesterday expressed her horror at images showing Muslim children carrying inflammatory placards at a protest in Sydney on Saturday, including one that read “Behead all those who insult the Prophet”.
Another sign at the protest read “Our dead are in paradise, your dead are in hell”.
“I do not want to see in the hands of anyone, particularly children, offensive signs that call for the killing of others,” the Prime Minister said.
“This is not the Australian way.
“We believe in freedom of religion and we believe that every religion should be treated with respect.”
Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international political movement devoted to restoring a caliphate, the last of which collapsed in the 1920s.
The movement hopes Islamic fighters in Syria will replace the Assad regime with a caliph-led state that will eventually annex other Muslim countries and promote Islam in the West.
The caliphate would also threaten Western nations with jihad if they did not prevent their citizens from defaming the Prophet Mohammed or Islam.
It would be established under the same constitution imposed under Mohammed, which could not be reformed.
Ruqaya said: “We must work hard to achieve victory. It is enough that your generation and your parents’ generation were raised in the absence of the khilafa (caliphate). Do not allow my generation to be added to that list.”
Khaled Sukkarieh, the chairman of the Islamic Council of NSW, said images of children at the protest shocked many in his community. “Someone put that (banner) in the hand of a child.
“That is a poor, innocent child. It is abhorrent and a very sad way of using children,” Mr Sukkarieh said.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Weakness of the Elites No Response to Militant Islam
Returning home from a long and tiring training ride on Saturday, I was confronted by the aftermath of the Islamic violence in Sydney’s Hyde Park. A friend who also witnessed the aftermath described groups of young protesters seemingly quite happy after a “weekend outing of police bashing” in the name of a prophet.
These actions are disturbing, yet our politicians have not condemned them in anything but a generic way. There’s an unwillingness to tackle the elephant in the room. Many would see it as a failure to defend our values and condemn alternative ones. This is weakness.
It is another example of political and business elites growing adrift from the commonsense values of Australians. Last week, for example, billionaire Kerry Stokes said he was “physically repulsed’’ by the presence of US troops on Australian soil. This from a man I admire as a true patriot. Yet most Australians would not share his views on China. Many would see it as a weakening of our hallowed defence alliance with the US. Nor did any of Stokes’s peers care to differ. This too is weakness.
Similar criticisms were made about the United States President’s weak response to the American deaths in Libya last week. US columnist Mark Steyn wrote “On a highly symbolic date, mobs storm American diplomatic facilities and drag the corpse of a US ambassador through the streets.
“Then the President flies to Vegas for a fundraiser .?.?. “. Again: weakness.
I’m sure many, in weakness, would like to wish away this tension and have the world at peace. But Australians know that what we value must be fought for and protected.
Former US president Ronald Reagan said this best in 1983: “We know peace is the condition under which mankind was meant to flourish. Yet peace does not exist of its own will. It depends on us, on our courage to build it and guard it and pass it on to future generations.”
Now this peace is threatened by what military experts see as an asymmetric threat “grown on a foundation of instability and religious extremism” that has “leveraged technology, strategic communications, and divergent Western policies and priorities to enhance both its credibility and efficacy”.
Our “policies and priorities” — our values —must therefore be very clear. And they must be defended, not compromised in the name of a fictional, temporary appeasement.
A recent NSW survey found 70?per cent agreement with the belief that non-Muslim Australians have to make “too many allowances for radical Muslims”.
Here, the differences were explained in terms of fundamentalist Islamic teachings being at odds with Australian law or societal values, and actively threatening the freedoms of others. This included the right to express views on another faith and its Gods or, as with the film in question, ignore it.
As one focus group participant said: “Accepting beliefs and practices is all about compromise. (Other immigrant communities) do their thing without threatening or harming other people, but that’s not true of some in Islam here. It’s so in your face, unlike other cultures, and that part is contrary to our way of life.” Last time I checked, no?one was killed when controversial artwork Piss Christ was exhibited.
So most would demand that leaders do more than condemn the symptom, which was the protest, but actively defend and promote our values.
The last leader to do so effectively was former treasurer Peter Costello in 2006, when in reference to Sharia law he said: “All Australian citizens must adhere to the framework in society which maintains tolerance and protects the rights and liberties of all.
“If you can’t accept that, then you don’t accept the fundamentals of what Australia is and what it stands for.”
He added: “There is not a separate stream of law derived from religious sources (in this case IslaM] that competes with or supplants Australian law in governing our civil society.”
Costello was correct when he said there were some beliefs and values so central to Australian society that those who refused to accept them refused to accept the nature of Australian society.
What if Saturday’s Islamic rioters were somehow “misunderstood”, or “alienated”? As Costello also noted, there may be those who are so alienated they do not acknowledge our shared values. In that case: “Such alienation could become a threat to the rights and liberties of others.” On Saturday, it did.
Most Australians still share this concern. So it is critical to defend our values and revisit their importance politically. And we should expect our national, community and business leaders not to wimp out on this task.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Sudan Rejects US Plan to Send Embassy Guards
Sudan has told the US that it will not allow a Marine platoon to guard its own embassy in Khartoum after Friday’s riots over an anti-Islam film. The US has told its nonessential embassy staff to leave Sudan and Tunisia.
In response to protests on Friday, the United States had asked Sudan for permission to send in a platoon of US Marines to improve security at the embassy. Sudan rejected that request.
“Sudan is able to protect the diplomatic missions in Khartoum and the state is committed to protecting its guest in the diplomatic corps,” Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told the state news agency SUNA in reply.
The US State Department then issued a statement, saying it had ordered “all family members and nonemergency personnel” attached to the US diplomatic posts in Khartoum and Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, to depart.
US citizens were also given a travel warning that although Sudan had taken “some steps” to limit the activities of extremist groups, “elements” remained and had “threatened to attack Western interests.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Orders Non-Essential Diplomatic Staff Out of Sudan
(AGI) Washington — The U.S. issued orders to non-essential diplomatic personnel to depart from Sudan and Tunisia, where anti-American violence is on the rise, due to protests over an anti-Muslim film. 4 people died and 49 others were injured in Tunisia during a series of violent demonstrations, while 2 people were killed in Sudan in attacks against Western embassies. .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Stir Builds Over Actress to Portray Nina Simone
In the digital age Hollywood casting decisions leaked from behind closed doors can instantly become fodder for public debate. And when the decision involves race and celebrity, the debate can get very heated.
The online media world has been abuzz with criticism for nearly a month now over the news — first reported by The Hollywood Reporter — that the actress Zoe Saldana would be cast as the singer Nina Simone in the forthcoming film “Nina” based on her life.
Few have attacked Ms. Saldana for her virtues as an actress. Instead, much of the reaction has focused on whether Ms. Saldana was cast because she, unlike Simone, is light skinned and therefore a more palatable choice for the Hollywood film than a darker skinned actress.
“Hollywood and the media have a tendency to whitewash and lightwash a lot of stories, particularly when black actresses are concerned,” said Tiffani Jones, the founder of the blog Coffee Rhetoric. Ms. Jones wrote a blog post titled “(Mis)Casting Call: The Erasure of Nina Simone’s Image.”
“When is it going to be O.K. to not be the delicate looking ideal of what the media considers blackness to be?” Ms. Jones said in an interview.
Ms. Jones’s post linked to an online petition at the Web site Change.org that calls for Cynthia Mort, the writer and director of the film, and Jimmy Iovine, executive producer, to “replace Zoe Saldana with an actress who actually looks like Nina Simone.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
3 comments:
Please enlighten my ignorance: 15 Khordad appears to be a date in the Persian calendar. 15 Khordad 1391 corresponds to 4 June 2012, for example.
C. Cantoni submitted a report that the "15 Khordad Foundation" increased the bounty on Salman Rushdie's head. What is the significance of 15 Khordad? What is the mission of this foundation?
I'm answering my own question instead of eating lunch, as I should be doing.
Wikipedia identified the date, but the entry escaped my first attempt to find it. The foundation is named after the demonstrations in Iran that followed the arrest of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1963, after the ayatollah denounced reforms which the Shah of Iran had proclaimed. Visit for more.
Yow!!
Earlier, I asked what "15 Khordad Foundation" meant, got no answer, but finally found out that it was an Iranian "bonyad" named after a date in the Persian calendar. I posted a comment minutes ago answering my own question at the end of this news feed.
I just spent the rest of my lunch break discovering that a great deal of the Iranian economy fell under the control of bonyads after the overthrow of the Shah, and that at least eight of these foundations are under the control of the Supreme Leader.
In plain english, these bonyads are para-state organizations that answer only to the Supreme Leader, but as supposedly charitible foundations, their doings or misdoings can be held distant from the official Iranian government.
Naturally, the largest bonyad administers the assets siezed from the Shah and his family. The total assets bonyads administer amount to a significant portion of Iran's GDP, but as the bonyads are exempt from standard Iranian business accounting and reporting practices, the extent of their influence and their penetration of the Iranian economy is anything but transparent.
In case you don't have any Iranian acquaintances or friends, let me remind you that Iran has a hellacious brain drain. It seems to me that every educated Iranian who can leave will try to leave, even if it means leaving the family business behind, and even if it means moving to a much less inviting country than the US. As talent leaves, the private sector collapses, except for the bonyads.
More on bonyads is availabe at docs dot google dot com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:zAsXwVMo_sEJ:relooney.fatcow.com/SI_Peter-Iran/Bonyads_1.pdf+Bonyad-e+Panzdah+Khordad&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgMOzYzn_xX7prd8jreSQ3kdvbNNCOJRMCYm_LNKhE5fqAN9KFNMrqMPw2l0XrpaT1HLQbtXw9_YrJoJZh62l4QshqAryHh3BIVO6HAJFmb90MD0jjI8ns6hUUN_-lpSPlv_q_F&sig=AHIEtbRhB1LyOWTc7aVGjW5oSqfeGjDrVw.
I don't have the time to study the issue as deeply as I might wish. It seems bonyads are an Iranian peculiarity, as foundations in many Middle Eastern countries are restricted precisely because they can become too political. In Iran, however, they are encouraged—they are sources of patronage, and absorbers of once profitable companies. The assets the bonyads control make them the source of enormous slush funds, and they undoubtedly deposit tremendous amounts of cash into the mullahs secret Swiss bank accounts.
(The secret accounts of the mullahs makes interesting reading—but the articles on the subject I've bee able to find are all in German. Quell dommage!)
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