ROME-ing


Afghans: Obama wasting time talking to terrorists

A group of senior Afghan lawmakers says the Obama administration is wasting its time in trying to make peace with the Haqqani Network, aPakistan-based terrorist group that U.S. officials have accused of killing Americans and attacking the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan.

 

Pakistan schools teach Hindu hatred

“Teaching discrimination increases the likelihood that violent religious extremism in Pakistan will continue to grow, weakening religious freedom, national and regional stability, and global security,”

 

Defiant Berlusconi taken down by markets

Accusations grew that he was in politics not for Italy’s sake but for his own – to boost his business interests and change laws to shield himself from prosecution. As pressure for his resignation grew, he remained defiant, labeling opponents “communists” to be kept at bay and prosecutors as “terrorists” defying the will of the people who elected him.

 

No resolution on Greek power-sharing talks

In return for its bailout cash, Greece has endured 20 months of punishing austerity measures. The efforts by Papandreou’s government to keep the country solvent have prompted violent protests, crippling strikes and a sharp decline in living standards for most Greeks.

 

Nicaragua’s Ortega: No Dramatic Changes in Store

“Why change if we’re doing a good job,” said the onetime firebrand Marxist who in recent years has espoused a politics of personality based on Christianity, socialism and free enterprise.

 

Iran worked on nuclear bomb design: U.N. watchdog

Tehran’s history of hiding sensitive nuclear activity from the IAEA, continued restrictions on IAEA access and its refusal to suspend enrichment, which can yield fuel for atom bombs, have drawn four rounds of U.N. sanctions and separate punitive steps by the United States and European Union.

The report detailed evidence apparently showing concerted, covert efforts to acquire the capability to make atomic bombs.

(Really?)

 

 

Holder: ‘Fast and Furious’ tactics will not be tolerated

On Monday, Leahy tried to lower the heat on Holder by raising it on the Bush administration…

 

Holy cities face threat from polluting pilgrims

“Unfortunately, the issues of climate change and conservation are not a high priority for many Muslims, particularly those struggling with poverty in the developing world — for whom simply getting through the day is the main consideration,”

 

Your Questions: Kenya’s Campaign Against Al-Shabab

 Kenya also has never gone to war in another country (though they have been involved in African peacekeeping missions).  The next closest military power is Uganda, which is already contributing the bulk of troops to the African Union peacekeeping mission in and around Mogadishu.

 


Supreme Court Considers GPS Cases and the Future of Privacy

The cold, hard truth is that we can maximize privacy at some cost to national and individual security or we can maximize security at some cost to privacy. We can not simultaneously maximize both.

 

World Bank Avails U.S.$6.4 Billion to Avert Food Crisis

A statement issued by the World Bank office in Kampala revealed that last week global food prices remain high and volatile which has affected the poorest countries including member states of the East African Community (EAC) most.

 


Russia will be the only side to benefit from renewed Karabakh war

Renewed war in Karabakh will be disastrous to all parties involved, with Russia, in an attempt to bring its imperialistic ideas into fruition, as the only side to benefit

 


“Five grim and essential lessons for world leaders”

programme announcements that are vague and try to purchase stability on the cheap are more likely to exacerbate problems than to resolve them.

 


Iran ‘to integrate power grid with Europe’

Homayun Ha’eri, the head of the Iranian power generation, transmission and distribution management firm (TAVANIR) has said the country’s power grid will integrate with Europe’s

 

Kenya’s Military Operation in Somalia

 Kenyans have gotten increasingly alarmed about Somalia’s chronic instability, which has spilled over its borders. One manifestation of this instability is Dadaab refugee camp in northeastern Kenya, which receives Somalis fleeing the humanitarian crisis in their own country. Numbers at this camp have swelled to almost 450,000 because of the famine conditions in parts of Southern Somalia. The Kenyan authorities were dismayed in October when two Spanish aid workers were kidnapped from the camp and taken into Somalia, prompting relief operations to be scaled back. But probably the final straw was the series of raids on coastal resorts by Somali criminals that preceded the attack in Dadaab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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‘Mountain Wave’

UN cultural body weighing Palestinian membership – Yahoo! News

Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but because that effort is expected to take some time, they are separately trying to get membership at Paris-based UNESCO.

 

‘Occupy Frankfurt’ protestors highlight inequality – The Local

“In capitalism, the banks are nationalized only after they go bankrupt whereas under communism the banks are nationalized from the beginning and then go bankrupt.”

 

Bomber kills 13 Americans in Afghanistan – Washington Times

Underscoring the difficulties ahead, the brazen assault occurred on the same day that top NATO and Afghan officials were meeting elsewhere in Kabul to discuss the second phase of shifting security responsibilities to Afghan forces in all or part of 17 of the country’s 34 provinces.

It also was a blow to efforts by the U.S. and President Hamid Karzai to forge peace with the fundamentalist Taliban movement as NATO plans to withdraw all its combat troops from the country by the end of 2014, with support for the costly war reaching new lows in the West.

Saturday’s attack broke a relative lull in the Afghan capital, an area where NATO has already shifted security responsibilities to the Afghans. While checkpoints dot the central part of the city, attacks occasionally take place, with many blamed on the Haqqani network, an al-Qaida and Taliban-linked movement that operates out of Pakistan.

 

Assad: challenge Syria at your peril – Telegraph

“The problem with the government is that their dialogue is shallow and just a tool to gain time,” interviews, even some with minders present, revealed widespread and vocal discontent over corruption and living standards.

 

FrontPage Magazine » Turkey Turns on Assad » Print

The Syrian regime is a staunch enemy of the West, and no tears should be shed for it. However, the West must get a proper understanding of the composition of the Syrian opposition, and how Turkey’s involvement will affect it. A rescue of the refugees should be a welcomed event, but a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood should not be.

 

EDITORIAL: Obama’s spooky economy – Washington Times

The continued lack of new jobs and the housing market doldrums largely explain why consumers remain skittish. They see their homes, the major asset for most families, decline in value. Regrettably, subsidizing underwater mortgages, as Mr. Obama plans to do, will not help resolve the problems created by a housing bubble largely created by similar political manipulation of the marketplace.

 

EDITORIAL: Obama is better than you – Washington Times

More than any president of recent or even distant memory Mr. Obama enjoyed a rock-star persona.

 

EDITORIAL: Democrats cling to their guns – Washington Times

Violent crime has been on the decline as the number of people carrying guns has soared, so it’s obvious that the anti-Second Amendment crowd has been lying to us all these years. Crime cannot be wished away by enacting laws that only restrict what the law-abiding can do. As this truth sinks in, more gun grabbers will be converted into gun owners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Aristocratic Frack?

Vladimir Putin
From the interview with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, October 17

 

“One of the key goals will be to build a sustainable political system, which would use its own resources rather than act on advice and orders from abroad. Our country cannot live as a satellite. It needs a strong political system with a sustainable internal structure – modern, flexible, and reflecting modern challenges and realities, and at the same time relying on our national traditions.”

 

Turkey accepts Israel’s offer of earthquake aid

With offers of aid coming in from around the world, including Armenia and Japan, Turkey at first said it did not need foreign assistance.

But with the death toll at more than 400 and tens of thousands of people without homes, Turkey has reconsidered.

 

Baghdad pastors fear for future of Christian church in Iraq despite growth

“There will be no change for us in Baghdad,” Thompson predicted. “The defect is in the Iraqis, the defect is in our people.”

 

Structures of Peace: Identifying what Leads to Peaceful Societies

The Structures of Peace, derived from the analysis presented in the report, consist of the following elements:
1. Well-functioning government
2. Sound business environment
3. Equitable distribution of resources
4. Acceptance of the rights of others
5. Good relations with neighbors
6. Free flow of information
7. High levels of education
8. Low levels of corruption
These eight factors were found to be associated with peaceful environments and can be seen as both interdependent and positively reinforcing of each other.

 

 

The Left’s Worst Crime in the Middle East

The Arab Spring, with its purges of Coptic Christians and Africans, its outpouring of hostility toward Jews, is as perverse as if the left had suddenly decided that Africa needed proper Boer rule. It’s the senseless behavior of racist idiots and totalitarian hypocrites who think that if they call you a “racist” first then they win the argument.

 

Presidential Succession Scenarios in Egypt and Their Impact on U.S.-Egyptian Strategic Relations

with their history of Western domination, Egyptians would react angrily to any perception that the United States was “pulling the strings” about who should lead Egypt. In an episode well-known to educated Egyptians, in February 1942, British tanks surrounded King Farouk’s palace and the British Ambassador threatened to start shooting if the king did not appoint a pro-Allied Wafd government. The king relented in what was seen by most Egyptians as an act of national humiliation.57 Although the British justified their actions because they had their backs to the wall—German and Italian armies were in Egypt’s western desert, threatening the major cities of Alexandria and Cairo and the vital Suez Canal—to Egyptians this was an egregious example of foreign and imperial domination. Any suggestion by the United States that it would prefer a particular candidate would likely backfire.

 

Russia expects U.S. compromise on missile defense

“We expect that the United States and its NATO allies will, after all, make steps to meet Russia halfway,

 

 


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Simony?

Saudi heir’s death brings conservative to fore\

Moving Nayef to the top of the succession ladder would not likely pose any risks to Saudi Arabia’s pro-Western policies and, in particular, its close alliance with Washington. But Nayef cuts a much more mercurial figure than Saudi’s current leader, the ailing King Abdullah, who has nudged ahead with reforms such as promising women voting rights in 2015 despite rumblings from the country’s powerful religious establishment.

Cartoonist Faces Trial for Asserting that “Religion Is a Lie”

Many Turks see the cartoon case as a reflection of the governing Justice and Development Party’s desire to lower the wall between mosque and state, said Yildirim. “Many people see a trend towards Islamization;

Turkey’s Elephant in the Room: Religious Freedom

“Turkey may look like a secular state on paper, but in terms of international law it is actually a Sunni Islamic state,”

Turkey declines Israeli aid offer

“Both countries, which can be and were once, anchors of stability in the Mideast, have a joint interest in co-operating and I hope this returns,”

Politics Trumps Security in Obama’s Bungled Troop Negotiations with Iraq

The President sought to turn a dangerous outcome for Iraq’s security and the war against terrorists into a political boost for his reelection campaign

Clinton warns Iran on Iraq interference

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday implicitly warned Iran not to interfere in Iraq after the decision to pull all American troops out of the war-wracked state by the end of the year.

 

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Business as Usual

Business as Usual

Obama to UN: Consider Israel’s security | JTA – Jewish & Israel News
“Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations,”

U.S. DRAWDOWN IN AFGHANISTAN STIRS REACTIONS | Central Asia-Caucasus Institute Analyst
These reactions have at least two common themes that merit our attention. First of all, they all betray a lack of confidence in the ability of the Karzai government and the Afghan army to stabilize the country, bring about improved and legitimate governance, defend against the Taliban, and curtail the trade in narcotics.

NTI: Global Security Newswire – Senators Wary of U.S. Relationship With Turkey
“There is an understanding that the radar is a NATO system that is designed to protect NATO from threats from the Middle East. It’s understood that the U.S. has a separate and robust missile defense cooperation program with Israel,” according to one high-level administration official, adding that an AN/TPY-2 X-band radar like the one being sent to Turkey has already been deployed in Israel.
“Data from all U.S. missile defense assets worldwide, including not only from radars in Turkey and Israel, but from other sensors as well, is fused to maximize the effectiveness of our missile defenses worldwide; this data can be shared with our allies and partners in this effort,” another top-level administration official said.
However, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday asserted that Israel would not receive information from the radar station.

Interview: Understanding Turkey’s Foreign Policy
RFE/RL: Where do you see the Israel-Turkish relationship moving after the recent downgrading of diplomatic relations?

Yakis: Turkey has diplomatic relations with Israel. It has downgraded [them], but the diplomatic relations are still there. Instead of this being carried on by an ambassador, it is carried out at a second-secretary level, but the relations are there.

We have a very prosperous Jewish community in Istanbul that controls a lot of industry and we also have a good lobby in Israel composed of Turks who immigrated in 1948 to Israel and they still speak Turkish in Israel.

Iran, Pakistan Vow To Build New Gas Pipeline
Pakistani and Iranian officials have met and agreed to build a pipeline to bring natural gas from Iran to Pakistan.

Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center :: Homepage
Israeli security forces exposed Hamas terrorist cells in Judea and Samaria. One of them had exploded an IED in Jerusalem and planned to carry out a suicide bombing attack. This shows that Hamas is trying to rebuild its military infrastructure in Judea and Samaria,

Turkey Accepts Missile Radar for NATO Defense – NYTimes.com
The final legal and diplomatic building blocks fell into place this week for the Obama administration’s rejiggered defense of Europe against a potential Iranian missile attack. Romania signed a deal for 24 interceptor missiles to be based there, and Turkey officially agreed to have in its territory a sophisticated American radar system that could be on the watch by the end of the year.

 

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Stonewall

Stonewall

Michael Boskin: Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate – WSJ.com
But wait, things get worse. As Milton Friedman taught decades ago, the true burden on taxpayers today is government spending; government borrowing requires future interest payments out of future taxes. To cover the Congressional Budget Office projection of Mr. Obama’s $841 billion deficit in 2016 requires a 31.7% increase in all income tax rates (and that’s assuming the Social Security income cap is removed). This raises the top rate to 52.2% and brings the total combined marginal tax rate to 68.8%. Government, in short, would take over two-thirds of any incremental earnings.

Government scolded for data breach notification delays – Cybersecurity Report
In a report released Thursday, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration dinged the IRS for not notifying taxpayers in a timely fashion — or at all — when their personal information was inadvertently exposed.

Bernd Debusmann: America, Syria and Churchill
It took 106 days and more than 1,300 dead Syrian pro-democracy demonstrators for US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to change her description of Syrian leader Bashar Al Assad from “reformer” (March 27, 2011) to a leader “who has lost legitimacy” (July 11, 2011).

Neither Mrs. Clinton nor her boss, President Barack Obama, has yet directly called for the Syrian president to step down.

The snail’s pace in the change of language brings to mind an observation attributed to Winston Churchill: “The Americans will always do the right thing… after they’ve exhausted all the alternatives.” In his day, that may have been right. Today, one isn’t not so sure.

EDITORIAL: Obama stimulates Jakarta – Washington Times
President Obama now claims there’s only $2 billion he can cut out of this year’s $3.6 trillion in federal outlays. He’s not looking very hard. The administration’s trillion-dollar “stimulus” spending spree spread millions in U.S. taxpayer dollars around places like the president’s boyhood home, Indonesia. Money that stayed within the country often wound up in the hands of debt-riddled, fly-by-night firms. This week, the White House continued to stonewall attempts to get to the bottom of where our money has been going.

Asia Times Online :: Pakistan, Iran become ‘natural allies’
Zardari told Ahmadinejad that Pakistan considered Iran as an “important friend and player in the region”. A flavor of the growing intimacy between the two leaderships is available in the Iranian account of Zardari’s call on Khamenei. The Supreme Leader was expansive in his praise of the “Pakistani nation” – “a great nation with long and deep background of struggle”; “a nation which believes in Islam” whose progress and success pleases Iran.

Khamenei advised Zardari that the “real enemy” of the Pakistani people and their national unity came from the West – “and the US on top of it”. Interestingly, Zardari responded that Pakistan regarded Iran as a “model of resistance and path to progress”.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI shows the Middle East’s autocrats how to hold on to power. – By Shadi
The lesson Arab autocrats seemed to learn from Egypt and Tunisia was almost the exact opposite of what democracy advocates were hoping for. Instead of using less force, leaders across the region have been using more of it, reaching unusual levels of brutality. Shocking reports of mass rape and torture have emerged in Syria and Libya, where thousands have been killed. In Bahrain, a close U.S. ally and home of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, thousands have been arrested or dismissed from their jobs. Indeed, the “Arab spring” has turned into what political scientist Gregory Gause colorfully calls the “winter of Arab discontent.”

US Marines fight for security in Sangin as killing of President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother
“The key to success here is not just security, but improving the life of the people, who ultimately are our own best protection too,” said Capt Brock, standing near a bush-covered pathway that used to be a Taliban firing position. “We are trying to create order out of chaos here, and so the idea is to create community projects that people can organise together.”

 

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‘Bama Rules

The blowup with Israel – The Washington Post
This president likes to portray himself as a pragmatist in foreign policy. In this case, pragmatism would suggest that restoring trust with Israel, rather than courting a feckless Palestinian leader, would be the precondition to any diplomatic success.

Obama’s speech was bad for Middle East peace – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News
Instead of presenting the 1967 borders as the end of the process, Obama made them its start. Instead of tying them to the end of demands and the end of the conflict, they were tied to greater demands and continued conflict.

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel After Bilateral Meeting | The
This is something that we want to have accomplished.  Israel wants peace.  I want peace.  What we all want is a peace that will be genuine, that will hold, that will endure.  And I think that the — we both agree that a peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality, and that the only peace that will endure is one that is based on reality, on unshakeable facts.
I think for there to be peace, the Palestinians will have to accept some basic realities.

Toast to Karabakh with Borders of 1994 | Comments | Lragir.am – Armenian Online
We tend to think that the statements of great powers on us depend on their caprice, or their worldview, desires, perceptions, or at least their interests which underlie all the rest.

Based on this thinking, there is an approach that whatever we do or say, the world powers will do what they want. And it seems that the small states benefit from this arrangement.

In reality, the small states benefit when their feeling of being “doomed” is not already incorporated in their genetic code, when they believe that the interests of the great powers are shaped in the result of the behavior of the small states, otherwise in the world there would be ten to twenty states instead of the present 200 and more.
YEGHISHEH METSARENTS

Visegrad: A New European Military Force | STRATFOR
Uncertainty about European institutions and NATO, coupled with uncertainty about Germany’s attention, has caused a strategic reconsideration — not to abandon NATO or the EU, of course, nor to confront the Russians, but to prepare for all eventualities.

Tactical Implications of the Peshawar Attack | STRATFOR
That an attack targeting Americans took place in Peshawar is not surprising. Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the administrative center for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, occupies a critical location in Pakistan’s badlands. It is also known as a key post for the Americans for the administration of aid and the collection of intelligence.

Naval Aviation Base Attacked in Karachi, Pakistan | STRATFOR
Attacks are an inherent danger in Pakistan, where sympathy for and undercurrents of Islamism are felt broadly — increasingly even among elements in Punjabi areas in the south and east.

Obama Troop Surge Decision Ignored Pak-Taliban Ties | Truthout
It was al­ways un­derstood with­in the Obama ad­ministra­tion that any pub­lic re­cog­ni­tion that Pakis­tan was com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing the Taliban could be political­ly dan­ger­ous to the war ef­fort. As a re­sult, Obama’s nation­al secur­ity team de­cided early on to deny the com­plic­ity of Pakis­tani Chief of Staff As­hfaq Par­vez Kayani and di­rec­tor of the ISI in­tel­lig­ence agen­cy Shuja Pasha, de­spite the know­ledge that they were fully be­hind the poli­cy.

Human Security Gateway – Pakistan 2020: A Vision for Building a Better Future
without the urgent adoption of both remedial and innovative measures in all of these areas, the challenges facing Pakistan—including terrorism, religious extremism, underdevelopment, and chronic political instability—will become more serious over time.

It’s the human threat, stupid
It’s also probably no surprise that an attacker today is likely to start their attack with their web browser. “When you think of hackers, the hackers will spend some time social engineering their targets rather than spend hours of hacking,” he said. “If I were to try to steal from you, I would examine your personnel, and today I’d start on Twitter, Facebook, and look at as many people involved with you that I can find,” O’Neill said. “I would look for people who talked about how they hated their boss. I’d find out where they like to hang out and I’d go see what they had to say,” he said.

U.S. unveils global cyberspace strategy – CBS News
Cybersecurity experts have argued that the Internet cannot become a safer place until nations implement international agreements that better define and regulate cybercrime, provide oversight of the Internet, and set out new standards and rules for industry as it increasingly moves its business into the largely ungoverned online world.

AFP: Russia opens trial into ‘US spy ring traitor’
Poteyev is charged with tipping off Washington about a ring of 10 Russian spies, including the notorious red-haired ‘femme fatale’ Anna Chapman, who were deported last year in the biggest post-Cold War spy scandal.

Six indicted in plot to raise money for terrorism; 1 is held in L.A. – latimes.com
he indictment alleges that the six solicited and collected money and transferred it from the U.S. to supporters of the Taliban in Pakistan. They are accused of using bank accounts and wire transfers to move the funds, which were intended to purchase guns and other weapons to further the Taliban’s militant efforts to overthrow the Pakistani government and attack Americans there.
The indictment specifically charges the six individuals with conspiracy to murder, maim and kidnap people overseas, and with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

White House cybersecurity plan would give DHS authority over federal civilian systems — Government
One element not included in the White House proposal that has been included in other introduced bills is formal establishment of an executive branch cybersecurity officer. President Barack Obama has named Howard A. Schmidt as White House cybersecurity coordinator, but that position does not require Senate approval.
Rather, under the Obama plan, authority for coordinating and overseeing federal information security policy would be given to DHS,

How bin Laden evaded the NSA: Sneakernet | Privacy Inc. – CNET News
not all useful information is digital. Last week’s warning about train security from Homeland Security was triggered by files captured during the raid–not electronic ones: the source was “a set of handwritten notes,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Republicans stand firm against court nominee – Washington Times
“Mr. Liu holds a view of the Constitution that can only be described as an activist judicial philosophy,” said Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “His philosophy leads to an inevitable expansion of the power of the judiciary.”

“Peace With Honor” Ruse Awaiting Afghanistan? » Publications » Family Security Matters
within weeks after the Peace Accords, Hanoi undertook actions making clear its intent to invade the South contrary to its promises:  it began replacing some of the temporary bridges and roads along the Trail with permanent ones. Having used the peace agreement to get US fighting forces out of the conflict and confident Washington would not re-engage the North should it violate its terms, Hanoi returned to its original objective. What North Vietnam could not achieve against the US on the battlefield, it sought to achieve by negotiating US forces out of the war.

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Bin Laden Dead

Secretary of State Clinton Statement on Killing of Osama bin Laden | C-SPAN
“You cannot wait us out, you cannot defeat us,

Cleric: Jihad coming to ‘heart of America’
“There are many people who believe in the phenomenon of jihad which has been franchised as well from al-Qaida. … And these people live in the heart of Europe and they live in the heart of America.”

EGYPT: Islamic leader condemns Osama bin Laden’s sea burial | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times
U.S. officials said a burial at sea was chosen after Bin Laden was killed in a firefight in Pakistan because no country would accept the remains.

Osama bin Laden: Bin Laden burial at sea upsets relatives of Sept. 11 victims – latimes.com
How does a mother like Tallon explain such an event to three young children? How does Cain face what would have been George’s birthday on May 13 knowing that his killer got a better burial than her strapping son, who was lost beneath tons of dust, concrete and steel? How do any of the relatives who have redirected their lives as a result of the 2001 attacks move on after the person responsible for the deaths is gone?

In a sense, they don’t.

Libyan rebels deny al-Qaida involvement
“there is no al-Qaida in our ranks.”

BBC News – Syria: Army in Deraa arrests 500 men
“They are arresting all males above 15 years [old]. They only have old security tactics and they are acting on revenge,”

BBC News – German nuclear review throws up new problems
So Germany – like other countries repelled by nuclear power – now has some tough choices. Wind is not an easy, cheap and swift alternative.  Another unpleasant fuel may be easier – but it is one which green activists hate: coal.

BBC News – India says Pakistan ‘a terror sanctuary’
The killing of Osama bin Laden near Islamabad is proof that “terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan”, Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram says.

BBC News – Taiwan doomsday prophet’s blog sparks panic
Officials say Japan’s recent devastating quake and tsunami may have led fraudsters to exploit people’s fears.

BBC News – Bin Laden raid was revealed on Twitter
Even before President Obama confirmed the death of Osama Bin Laden, informed tweeters were speculating online about the reason for a hastily-organised White House press conference.

BBC News – Al-Qaeda’s remaining leaders

Al-Qaeda’s remaining leaders

After 11 September 2001, the US issued a list of suspected al-Qaeda leaders. Many have now been captured or killed, including Osama Bin Laden, while some new names have emerged.

Donald Trump: Obama Birth Certificate Should’ve Been Released Long Ago (VIDEO)
“it is rather amazing that all of the sudden” the document surfaces. He suggested it should be inspected to ensure its authenticity.

Federal Reserve Rains Money On Corporate America — But Main Street Left High And Dry
“The Fed simply does not have the appropriate tools to deal with the myriad of structural hurdles facing the economy, ranging from housing, to debt, to commercial real estate, to state and local government cutbacks and fiscal disarray, to excessive regulation, and the list goes on,”

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Lacking

Gaddafi looking for way out: reports
at least two of Gaddafi’s sons are proposing a transition to a constitutional democracy that would include their father’s removal from power.

IMRA – Sunday, April 3, 2011 Excerpts: Iranian interference in Gulf. Turkeys Erdogen to press Assad
“The statement ignores the Iranian interference in the internal matters of
the countries in the region violating the sovereignty and independence of
those countries. It also attempts to stoke sedition and incite trouble with
hostile policies contravening international laws and norms and principles of
good neighborliness. The latest instance of Iran’s brazen interference was
in Kuwait where it used a network, linked to the Iranian mission, to plot
against that country,”

Turkey: Ankara Wrestles with the Legacy of its “Dirty War” | EurasiaNet.org
“The lack of memory is a national feature of this country,” Aktar said. “You know, if you don’t have a memory of the Armenian genocide, you won’t have a memory of the killings of Kurds and others. So, I think the insistence for truth and reconciliation is extremely important to make sure the Turkish society will one day become a normal one, by being capable of facing its history.”

Japan, Turkey ink initial directive on nuclear power plant deal
“Japan could offer a lot to meet the needs in Turkey, particularly earthquake-proof technologies,” said the Japanese official.

Turkey attaches importance to development of economic ties with Canada – People’s Daily Online
Caglayan urged Canadian companies to hurry up and make investments in Turkey, and he offered Canada to hold talks with Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry regarding the construction of the second nuclear power plant in Turkey.

What Happened to the American Declaration of War? | STRATFOR
War is a serious matter, and presidents and particularly Congresses should be inconvenienced on the road to war. Members of Congress should not be able to hide behind ambiguous resolutions only to turn on the president during difficult times, claiming that they did not mean what they voted for. A vote on a declaration of war ends that. It also prevents a president from acting as king by default. Above all, it prevents the public from pretending to be victims when their leaders take them to war. The possibility of war will concentrate the mind of a distracted public like nothing else. It turns voting into a life-or-death matter, a tonic for our adolescent body politic.

Amnesty International USA – Protect Human Rights
These allegations fuel rising concerns that women, who were at the forefront of the protests that led to President Mubarak’s resignation, are being forced into the background in the development of a new Egypt.

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Bellwether

Beyond Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, the Middle East Crisis Has Just Begun – WSJ.com
nothing spells more trouble for a closed political system than a divided elite.

Syria unrest presents dilemma for Iran – World Watch – CBS News
Among the Arab states, Syria, and to some extent Lebanon, stands alone as an ally of Iran. Anything that happens in Syria is watched closely by Tehran for that reason. Syria has provided entree to the Iranians into a region that is normally suspicious of – if not hostile to – Persians, and Shia Persians at that.

Turkey and the Middle East: The Reshaping of Regional Relations
“We need to reconstruct and restore the political systems in our region, just as we would rebuild our houses after a tsunami.” The implication is that the tsunamis that destroyed the region are colonialism and Israel, and that the latter must become part of the region’s common destiny

Qaddafi’s Fall Could Provide Opening in Libya for Al Qaeda Affiliate – FoxNews.com
This week, one of Al Qaeda’s most important religious scholars, Abu Yahya Al-Liby, who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan, released a statement supporting the overthrow of Qaddafi. The question for counterterrorism experts is whether that will make it easier for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to get a foothold in northwest Africa.

Israel Nabs Terrorist Weapons Shipment From Iran
Neatly stacked beneath sacks of lentils and cotton in three of the containers, they found crates full of long-range mortars as well as C-704 radar-guided anti-ship missiles that would have given Hamas the ability to sink Israeli navy ships at distances of up to 35 kilometers.

Prosecutors: Somali Smuggled Jihadists into U.S. » Publications » Family Security Matters
they would fight against the US if the jihad moved from overseas locations to the US mainland,

Iran Continues to Change the Balance of Power in Middle East » Publications » Family Security
What Secretary Clinton needs to do is delist the MEK, protect the heroes in Camp Ashraf, and make sure that we support freedom in Iran as opposed to standing silent, and by our silence facilitating the murderous persecution by the Iranian regime.

Libya, the West and the Narrative of Democracy | STRATFOR
The alliance’s full intention is not clear, nor is it clear that the allies are of one mind. The U.N. Security Council resolution clearly authorizes the imposition of a no-fly zone. By extension, this logically authorizes strikes against airfields and related targets. Very broadly, it also defines the mission of the intervention as protecting civilian lives. As such, it does not specifically prohibit the presence of ground forces, though it does clearly state that no “foreign occupation force” shall be permitted on Libyan soil. It can be assumed they intended that forces could intervene in Libya but could not remain in Libya after the intervention. What this means in practice is less than clear.

Defense Secretary and Joint Chiefs Openings Allow Obama Rare Sway – NYTimes.com
“The challenge facing the president,” Mr. Bacevich said, “will be to identify leaders who will provide him with disinterested advice, informed by a concern for the national interest, and, in doing so, to avoid either the appearance or the reality of politicizing the senior leadership.”

Obama to address nation on Monday about Libya
nstead, the focus is on disrupting the communications and supply lines that allow Gadhafi’s forces to keep fighting in Ajdabiya and other urban areas like Misrata,

Obama OKs missile strikes on Libya – Seven News Queensland
“We must be clear: actions have consequences, and the writ of the international community must be enforced,”

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