(The Atlantic) One of the most enduring epithets for Hamas, right up there with "terrorist," is "proxy." If you Google "Hamas Iran proxy," you get 1,750,000 hits. The idea that the relationship between Sunni Hamas, the Gaza affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Shia Iran was merely a marriage of convenience and not a true love match is rejected by those who forget that most enduring maxim of Middle East politics: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." And implicit in that maxim are two more words: "for now."
This conventional wisdom is due for a makeover. On January 17, a Ha'aretz headline announced "Hamas brutally assaults Shi'a worshippers in Gaza." The article reported that Hamas fears "growing Iranian influence in Gaza." But for years, we have been told that it is Hamas itself that represents Iranian influence in Gaza. What gives?
Further down in the article, the picture begins to make sense when we read that Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) members in Gaza are "converting" to Shiism. For Hamas, the "Arab spring" does not lead to a "summer of roses and wine" (with apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan). A day later Khaled Meshal, the head of the organization, still based in Damascus, unexpectedly announced his resignation. The regional picture is changing, and Hamas is trying to catch up.
For years, Hamas, Syria and Hezbollah, all "proxies" of Iran, have been seen as Iran's vanguard in threatening Israel. But with President Bashar al-Assad fighting for survival against a Syrian popular uprising, of which Syria's majority Sunnis are an integral part, Hamas could not continue its close relationship with Syria. To Assad's intense anger, Hamas has declined to support him against his people. Reportedly, Meshal remained in Damascus only under immense Iranian pressure. Meanwhile, Hamas activists are streaming out of the city, and it is a good bet that Meshal's successor, yet to be chosen, won't be based there. The recent thaw between Jordan and Hamas leads to speculation he might be in Amman. Jordan can under no circumstances be turned into a base for attacks on Israel, but it would be an excellent venue for a change of policy as well as of leadership.
Already, Hamas has softened its image--and seemingly its political stance as well. It announced on December 29 it was ceasing attacks against Israel (but not renouncing violence). In the wake of the deal that freed Gilad Shalit and over one thousand Palestinians, it is also renewing its dormant "reconciliation" with Fatah.
If Hamas is distancing itself from Iran, its longtime patron, and Syria is not in a position to threaten anyone outside its borders for the foreseeable future, the organization needs to find a new patron--which may require an adjustment of its policies. Even if rapprochement with Jordan develops, Jordan is too small a player to be Hamas's main patron. The obvious candidate for the role is Egypt, home of Hamas's parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood. But Egypt, like Jordan, is at peace with Israel, and there is little likelihood that will change, even with the Brotherhood as the dominant political party. Thus, even though Hamas will not "recognize" Israel, (a process rarely demanded of a political movement), it will have to realize that it cannot be launching missiles against a country with which its potential new patrons have peace treaties that they value highly.
And this brings us back full circle to "Hamas's brutal assaults" on the Shia in Gaza. It is little recognized in Israel and the West that Hamas has a running battle going on with the PIJ within Gaza, which gains new adherents whenever Hamas makes a move towards moderation. PIJ has been linked to al-Qaeda, whereas Hamas has been supported by Iran. It now seems that Iran and PIJ are allied, and so Hamas viewed itself as really attacking its old enemy, PIJ. Hamas clearly understands that these PIJ members are demonstrating their loyalty to Iran by proclaiming themselves Shia. Its erstwhile patron is supporting its enemy.
Thus, Hamas could now be in serious trouble. The spring that has helped Islamists elsewhere in the region has deprived Hamas of its longtime patrons and emboldened and empowered its enemy at home--PIJ. It must somehow adapt--quickly--to the new climate. This helps explain its seeming moderation, though it has given hints of this possibility for years.
But here again we must remember, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Iran is Israel's foremost enemy and--what no one would have guessed--has apparently fallen out with Hamas, at least for now. This is clearly to Israel's advantage.
No one is forecasting warm relations between Israel and Hamas. But now that the two archfoes share a common threat--Iran--a repetition of Israel's Gaza War of 2008-2009 is appreciably less likely. And perhaps even the United States, now that it is talking to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, might also realize that Hamas, despite being a terrorist organization, is also a political player and hence must eventually be part of any Middle East peace.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Hamas Is in Big Trouble
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1/31/2013 11:02:00 PM
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Syrian revenge: Hackers attack Israeli guesthouse websites
(Ynet) What damage is caused to Israeli security by downing the website of an online furniture retailer? The connection between the two seems vague, however that was one of the targets of an Assad affiliated hacker group, who attacked Israeli websites in response to the alleged attack on their country.
A number of hours after Damascus admitted that an attack took place, the organization, which calls itself the Syrian Electronic Army, claimed: "We have hacked into 50 central Israeli websites."
Syrian officials were quick to claim that the attack would not go unavenged, however it is doubtful whether this is what they meant.
"After 'Israel' attacked (our) Center for Scientific Research in Rural Damascus (sic), we decided to respond, but in our way, (the) Syrian Electronic Army hacked dozens of the Zionist entity websites," the hacker group's website said.
The hackers, who are affiliated with President Bashar Assad's regime, claimed on their Facebook page that additional attacks can be expected, and that they will prove to the world that the Syrian Electronic Army is ready to take on anyone who threatens Syria's "pure" lands.
Despite the harsh wording of its statements, a small review of the websites attacked revealed that any connection between them and Israeli security is minimal at best.
In a list published by the hackers, they cited attacking websites affiliated with guesthouses in the north, the website of a northern moshav, sites offering diet and nutrition workshops, a site offering a course in online advertising, a portal for alternative medicine and even a site that shows the time in foreign countries.
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1/31/2013 08:22:00 PM
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Defiant Iran plans to speed up nuclear fuel work
VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran has announced plans to install and operate advanced uranium enrichment machines, in what would be a technological leap allowing it to significantly speed up activity the West fears could be put to developing a nuclear weapon.So, will this be followed by more talks and more useless sanctions?
In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran said it would introduce new centrifuges to its main enrichment plant near the central town of Natanz, according to an IAEA communication to member states seen by Reuters.
The defiant move will increase concerns in the West and Israel about Iran's nuclear ambitions, which Tehran says are entirely peaceful, and may further complicate efforts by big powers to negotiate curbs on its enrichment program.
The United States said on Thursday that installation of new Iranian centrifuges would be a "provocative step".
"This does not come as a surprise," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters in Washington. He said the introduction of these machines would result in Iran's further isolation by the international community.
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1/31/2013 08:13:00 PM
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'Assad transferred chemical weapons to Hezbollah'; UN unconcerned
(JPost) The Saudi-based newspaper Al-Watan on Thursday reported that the Syrian regime has transferred non-conventional weapons to Hezbollah.One might ask, now where was our intel on this? Well, they were too busy monitoring Jews building houses.
Al-Watan, quoting unnamed sources from the Syrian opposition, reported that Syrian President Bashar Assad has been transferring weapons to Hezbollah since the beginning of 2012, including two tons of mustard gas and long-range missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads and traveling 300 kilometers.
The Syrian opposition sources also claimed that the transfer to Hezbollah lasted 40 days, from mid-February to March 2012, the Saudi daily reported.
The chemical weapons transfer to Hezbollah was carried out under the supervision of a senior Syrian officer of Assad.
The Syrian source said that it observed these transfers since the beginning of last year.
The tankers drove through Damascus, Zabadani, and Serghaya, carrying the chemical weapons in blue barrels labeled “Chlorine Acid.” They took the material to “Hezbollah warehouses and delivered it to a person nicknamed “Abu Talal,” who was subordinate to the party leadership.”
Brigadier Ghassan Abbas oversaw the transfer operation of chemical weapons from the Syrian side.
The report also said that some of the chemical weapons were stored in a warehouse at the Mezze military airport as well as other locations around Syria.
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1/31/2013 07:58:00 PM
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Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Zionist Native Canadian says "Palestinians are not like us"
(The Métropolitan) I am a Métis from Northern Alberta. My father, Mervin Bellerose, co-authored the Métis Settlements Act of 1989, which was passed by the Alberta legislature in 1990 and cemented our land rights. I founded Canadians For Accountability, a native rights advocacy group, and I am an organizer and participant in the Idle No More movement in Calgary. And I am a Zionist.
Let me tell you why.
I grew up on a Métis colony in what many would say are rough conditions: we had no electricity, running water or telephone. When it rained, the dirt roads that linked us to the highways flooded and we were stranded. I lived in a bunkhouse with my two stepbrothers, while my father and stepmother lived in a small cabin nearby. We raised a garden, hunted and fished, picked berries and made the odd trip to town to buy supplies. My father worked construction and lived in camps for long stretches and I would often stay at relatives’ to escape my stepmother’s abuse. Still, I considered my childhood normal.
My interest in Israel started at a young age. My father gave me a set of Encyclopedia Britannica for my 5th birthday and, from there, a passion for history was born. I would sit and read whenever the weather was bad. In fact, it was a family joke that taking away my books for a few hours was a better way to discipline me than a spanking. One entry that caught my eye was that of Israel’s birth in 1948. It struck me as the ultimate David and Goliath story: Israel, a tiny country that had fought for independence from the British Empire, was forced from its first moments to defend its existence against the combined armies of the Arab world. Israel survived against all odds, and did so in a truly epic story of will and heroism. This story inspired me.
Growing up, I was a very small child. (I am called "Tiny Ryney" to this day, though I play defensive tackle for the Calgary Wolfpack). I was called a "half-breed" and other slurs by white kids while the children in my colony made fun of my paler skin. I didn’t belong anywhere. And I had to be resourceful to protect myself, since I was weaker than the others. Being the victim of bullying shaped who I am and my sense of right and wrong. It is one reason that I support Israel, a country that has faced bullying and manipulation since its birth. Israel too has had to be resourceful to defend itself against enemies that dwarf it. And, like me, it overcame.
Noticing my curiosity about Israel, my father bought me as a birthday gift a book about the 1976 Raid on Entebbe, a brilliant rescue by Israeli commandos of hostages taken by Palestinian terrorists to Uganda. Again, this impressed me. Israel was willing to do the impossible to rescue its people, regardless of the political fallout. This pushed me to read more about the Arab-Israeli conflict. In so doing, I learned about the ’72 Munich Olympic Games, where Palestinian terrorists massacred 11 Israeli athletes during an event meant to be a celebration of brotherhood and peace. I wondered why more people weren’t as upset as I was.
It was during this time, while visiting relatives working oil rigs, that I learned while watching a hotel TV of the horrific 1972 Lod Airport massacre where terrorists shot dead 26 civilians waiting for their flights, including 17 Christian pilgrims. I also remember the 1985 attack by Yasser Arafat’s forces on the Achille Lauro cruise ship, where an old disabled man was thrown overboard in his wheelchair for the crime of being a Jew. The more I saw, the more I needed to understand why such things were happening. The more I learned, the more I grew to appreciate Israel’s moral integrity in the face of brutal hatred. And I came to believe that the Jewish people and Israel should serve as an example to indigenous people everywhere. It is with the Jews – and their stubborn survival after being decimated and dispersed by powerful empires -- that we have the most in common.
My people, the Métis, came to Alberta after the American Revolution, at the government’s request, to prevent the settling of the Americans in western Canada. We settled the land and followed the white man’s rules. But we were eventually evicted, our homes given to white pioneers. No one wanted us. We were forced to live in hiding, on road allowances, in the bush. We had no rights, and we were killed out of hand, as "nuisances". Exile fractured our nation. Our people wandered with no hope and no home. Then, in the mid 1900's, our leaders managed to secure land for us, not the land we had wanted but land that would nonetheless allow us to build a better future. We took it, built our settlements and formed a government to improve the lives of our people. We still have many problems to solve, of course, but we also have more educated people than ever and are slowly becoming self-sufficient, as our leaders envisioned. In this, the Jewish people and the Métis have walked the same road.
The Jews also suffered genocide and were expelled from their homeland. They were also rejected by everyone and forced to wander. Like us, they rebelled against imperial injustice when necessary and, despite their grievances, strived for peace whenever possible. Like us they were given a tiny sliver of their land back after centuries of suffering and persecution, land that nobody else had wanted to call home until then. Like us, they took that land despite their misgivings and forged a nation from a fractured and wounded people. And like us, they consistently show a willingness to compromise for the good of their people.
I hope the Metis keep walking the same road as the Jewish people. Through their efforts, the Jews were able to preserve their identity despite terrible persecution and to revive their culture and language once back in their homeland. They never lost their sense of who they were, but neither did they lose sight of the importance of looking forward. Given their history, it would have been natural for them to become insular and reactionary. But instead, they work hard to be productive and are friendly even to countries that have caused them tremendous suffering. I want us to similarly make education and the preservation of our ancient culture a priority. I want us to continue to strive for peace and productivity.
Many claim that we Natives have more in common with the Palestinians, that their struggle is our struggle. Beyond superficial similarities, nothing could be farther from the truth. Beyond the facile co-opting of our cause, the comparison with the Palestinians is absolutely untenable. It trivializes our suffering.
Co-opting today’s native struggle to the Palestinian propaganda war is a fallacy. Though the Palestinians have undeniable ties to the land, first hand accounts by Mark Twain and countless other travelers to the Holy Land through the ages suggest that a large percentage of the Palestinian people immigrated to Palestine in recent decades. And for 65 years, the Palestinians have convinced the world that they are worse off than many other stateless nations, despite all evidence to the contrary. The Palestinians claim to have been colonized but it was their own leaders who refused to negotiate and who lost the land that they want by waging a needless war on Israel. They claim to have faced genocide but they suffered no such thing: their population has exploded from a few hundred thousand in 1948 to over 4 million today. They claim deprivation but their elites live in luxury while their people live in ramshackle poverty.
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1/30/2013 09:03:00 PM
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Israel Hits Syrian Weapons Convoy Near Lebanon Border
NICOSIA (AFP) — Israeli forces carried out an air strike overnight on a weapons convoy from Syria near the Lebanese border, security sources told AFP on Jan. 30, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The attack came after Israel expressed concerns that Damascus’ stockpile of chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah group, an ally of the Syrian regime, or other militant organizations. Israeli officials have said such that a transfer would be a casus belli and likely would spark an Israeli attack.
Sources differed on whether the strike took place on Syrian or Lebanese territory.
“The Israeli air force blew up a convoy that had just crossed the border from Syria into Lebanon,” one source said, adding that the convoy was believed to be carrying weapons, without specifying the type. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
A second security source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, also confirmed to AFP that Israeli warplanes had hit a convoy allegedly carrying weapons to Lebanon but said the incident occurred just inside Syria.
“It was an armed convoy traveling towards Lebanon, but it was hit on the Syrian side of the border at around 2330 GMT,” the source said.
As well as concerns about Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, Israel has accused Syria of supplying long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah. It has also warned about the dangers of other advanced weaponry falling into the Lebanese militia’s hands, such as anti-aircraft systems and surface-to-surface missiles.
Ahead of the strike, both sources reported a high level of “unusual” Israeli activity over Lebanese airspace, beginning the evening of Jan. 29 and continuing overnight.
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1/30/2013 01:16:00 PM
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Unintended Consequences: UN Officials Are Worried 200K Armed Libyan Rebels Could Join Jihad In Mali
(AFP) There are still 200,000 armed fighters in "revolutionary brigades" in Libya, a top UN envoy said Tuesday, expressing fears that Mali's conflict could spillover into the country.
Foreign governments have raised concerns about security in Libya and UN envoy to the country Tarek Mitri said France's military campaign in Mali had opponents in Libya.
"Opposition of armed radical groups to the military intervention in Mali may exacerbate the situation given ideological and/or ethnic affiliations as well as porous borders in Libya," Mitri told the Security Council.
He said that border security was a "concern" because of unrest in Libya, particularly around the eastern city of Benghazi, and "the possible impact of recent developments in Mali."
Mitri told reporters after the meeting there are up to 200,000 armed men in the revolutionary brigades that overthrew late dictator Moamer Kadhafi who are still not under government control.
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1/29/2013 09:25:00 PM
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Egypt 2.0: Black Bloc must die, say Jihad and Jama'a al-Islamiya
(Egypt Independent) The Islamist party of the Jihad Organization and Jama'a al-Islamiya has said the ways of dealing with banditry specified in the Quran must be applied to Black Bloc members, which means they must be killed."You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there."
“God orders us to kill, crucify or cut off the hands and feet of those who spread mischief on earth,” said Jama'a al-Islamiya Mufti Abdel Akhar Hammad, citing a verse from the Quran. “The president must give that order.”
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~Barack Obama on CBS' 60 Minutes, January 27, 2013.
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1/29/2013 08:52:00 PM
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Kirsten Powers: Obama vs. Fox News -- behind the White House strategy to delegitimize a news organization
(Fox News) There is no war on terror for the Obama White House, but there is one on Fox News.Obama is narcissistic. Every politician is. Obama is on another level though. His inability to deal with criticism, and his need to destroy the opposition betrays his extreme narcissism.
In a recent interview with The New Republic, President Obama was back to his grousing about the one television news outlet in America that won’t fall in line and treat him as emperor. Discussing breaking Washington's partisan gridlock, the president told TNR,"If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News...for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you’ll see more of them doing it."
Alas, the president loves to whine about the media meanies at Fox News. To him, these are not people trying to do their jobs. No, they are out to get him. What other motive could a journalist have in holding a president accountable? Why oh why do Ed Henry and Chris Wallace insist on asking hard questions? Make them stop!
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Bush might have joked about MSNBC's news coverage on occasion, but Obama's fixation with Fox News is unhealthy.
The guy actually stated that Republicans in Congress don't work with Democrats because of fear of retribution by Fox News. It makes one question his mental fitness.
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1/29/2013 04:16:00 PM
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Video: Jason Mattera asks pro-gun-control NYC mayor Bloomberg if he's willing to give up his 5 armed guards; gets harassed by said guards
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1/29/2013 08:58:00 AM
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Monday, January 28, 2013
Israeli sources reportedly confirm blast at Iranian nuclear facility; Tehran denies but suspects Mossad
(Times of Israel) Israeli intelligence officials have confirmed that a major explosion has rocked an Iranian nuclear facility, according to a report Monday in The Times of London.
The British daily cited officials in Tel Aviv who said the blast occurred last week, as originally reported on the website wnd.com.
Iran is not believed to have evacuated the area surrounding the Fordo plant, according to the same Israeli sources, who said that an investigation into the blast was ongoing.
“We are still in the preliminary stages of understanding what happened and how significant it is,” one Israeli official told the London Times. He did not know if the explosion was “sabotage or accident” and refused to comment on reports that Israeli aircraft were seen near Fordo at the time of the blast.
On Sunday, two senior Iranian officials dismissed reports of the explosion.
Deputy head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency Seyyed Shamseddin Barbroudi said there had been no explosion at the Fordo facility whatsoever, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
The chairman of the Iranian parliament’s Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, referred to rumors of the blast as “Western-made propaganda” and said they were “baseless lies” meant to impact ongoing talks on Iran’s nuclear program, reported IRNA.
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(Times of Israel) Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear plant was indeed hit by an explosion sometime last week, and Iranian officials suspect the Mossad or CIA as responsible actors, the former Iranian intelligence officer who initially broke the story said Monday.In an interview with Channel 2 News, Hamidreza Zakeri surmised, however, that an Iranian “internal action” could also have been at play.Some 240 people were working at the plant at a depth of 90 meters at the time of the incident, according to Zakeri. He said that the two elevators normally available for transfer to the surface are now out of order and it is unknown if workers were hurt or killed in the explosion.Channel 2′s Middle East analyst Ehud Yaari said that the IAEA would know within days if a blast had actually occurred at the plant. According to Yaari, the UN nuclear watchdog has cameras placed at Fordo, which it inspects every seven to 10 days.The explosion reportedly occurred last Monday, so if Iran doesn’t let the IAEA inspectors into the facility in the next two or three days “we’ll know something happened,” he said.The White House on Monday dismissed reports that there was a blast at the facility.“We have no information to confirm the allegations in the report and we do not believe the report is credible,” press secretary Jay Carney said. “We don’t believe those are credible reports.”Israeli intelligence officials confirmed that a major explosion had rocked an Iranian nuclear facility, The Times of London reported. The British daily on Monday cited officials in Tel Aviv to the effect that the blast had occurred last week, as originally reported on the website wnd.com.Iran is not believed to have evacuated the area surrounding the Fordo plant, according to the same Israeli sources, who said that an investigation into the blast was ongoing.“We are still in the preliminary stages of understanding what happened and how significant it is,” one Israeli was quoted by the London Times as saying. He did not know if the explosion was “sabotage or accident” and refused to comment on rumors that Israeli aircraft were seen near Fordo at the time of the blast.On Sunday, Israel’s Home Front Defense Minister Avi Dichter welcomed the report of the blast, saying, “Any explosion in Iran that doesn’t hurt people but hurts its assets is welcome.”
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1/28/2013 10:40:00 PM
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Chaos and Lawlessness Grow After Days of Unrest in Egypt
~Barack Obama on CBS' 60 Minutes, January 27, 2013.
PORT SAID, Egypt (NYT) — The police fired indiscriminately into the streets outside their besieged station, a group of protesters arrived with a crate of gasoline bombs, and others cheered a masked man on a motorcycle who arrived with a Kalashnikov.
The growing chaos along the vital canal zone showed little sign of abating on Monday as President Mohamed Morsi called out the army to try to regain control of three cities along the Suez Canal whose growing lawlessness is testing the integrity of the Egyptian state.
In Port Said, street battles reached a bloody new peak with a death toll over three days of at least 45, with at least five more protesters killed by bullet wounds, hospital officials said.
Such violence has flared across Egypt with increasing frequency since President Hosni Mubarak was forced out by the revolution two years ago.
President Morsi had already declared a monthlong state of emergency here and in the other canal towns of Suez and Ismailia, applying a Mubarak-era law that virtually eliminates due process protections against abuse by the police. Angry crowds burned tires and hurled rocks at the police. And the police, with little training and less credibility, hunkered down behind barrages of tear gas, birdshot and occasional bullets.
The sense that the state was unraveling may have been strongest here in Port Said, where demonstrators have proclaimed their city an independent nation. But in recent days the unrest has risen in towns across the country and in Cairo as well. In the capital on Monday, a mob of protesters managed to steal an armored police vehicle, drive it to Tahrir Square and make it a bonfire.
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1/28/2013 10:21:00 PM
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Sweden's moral decline
(Gatestone Institute) Just as Raoul Wallenberg remains as an example of courage, Sweden's Mayor of Malmo, Ilmar Reepalu, a Social Democrat who has held the office for 17 years, does not.
Last October, around 300 people assembled in Raoul Wallenberg Square in Malmo, to join in solidarity the few Jews of Malmo, now numbering about 600, whose community center had just suffered an explosion, and whose cemetery had just been desecrated by antisemitic graffiti. At the same time as this demonstration, on the other side of Malmo, a celebration was taking place to commemorate the birth of Raoul Wallenberg, who, in Hungary in1944, saved thousands of Jews, from being sent to their death in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. From July 9, 1944 until his arrest by the Soviet army on January 17, 1945 at the age of 32, Wallenberg issued "protective passports" to thousands of Jews and rented 32 buildings, which he declared diplomatic facilities. He used diplomacy, bribery and blackmail to provide Jews with immunity from arrest. He persuaded General Schmidthuber, the Commander of the German Army in Hungary, to cancel Adolf Eichmann's plan to attack the Jewish ghetto and slaughter the 70,000 Jews there. About 120,000 Jews survived in Hungary alone as a result of Wallenberg's efforts.
The courage of Wallenberg is disappointingly absent in Sweden today. Once a moral superpower, Sweden cannot now claim to be seen as even an open or tolerant place. Instead, it has become a haven for antisemitic behavior, as well as anti-Israel activity, by both Muslim activists and various political groups. Members of the Swedish parliament have attended supposedly "anti-Israel" rallies, which quickly descended into occasions for competitive antisemitic rhetoric.
Jews are being "harassed and physically attacked," by "people from the Middle East," according to Malmo resident, Fredrik Sieradzik, in an interview with the Austrian paper, Die Presse. "Malmo," he said, "is a place to move away from."
Sweden is now a country where orthodox Jews are afraid to wear a skullcap, and where the largest tabloid paper, Aftonbladet, libelously claimed, in an August 2009 article, that Israeli soldiers were taking the organs of dead Palestinians. When the city of Malmo in 2009 hosted a tennis match between Sweden and Israel, no spectators were allowed for "reasons of security."
The individual most conspicuous in the denial of this reality is the mayor of Malmo, Ilmar Reepalu,. This reality consists of attacks on Jews in a city where the Jewish population has been reduced from 2,000 to about 600; where Molotov cocktails are thrown at Jewish funeral chapels, and antisemitic graffiti is scrawled throughout the town. The mayor nevertheless denies the increase in antisemitism there. When he does allude to the subject, he argues that the violence comes from right wing extremists, not from Muslims who now make up a considerable part of his Malmo population.
Reepalu asserts that "We accept neither Zionism nor antisemitism. They are extremes that put themselves above other groups, and believe they have a lower value." Of the small Malmo Jewish community, he says: "I would wish for the Jewish community to denounce Israeli violations against the civilian population of Gaza. Instead, it decides to hold a demonstration [in reality a pro-peace rally] which could send the wrong signals." Reepalu speaks of Israeli "genocide" in Gaza.
Reepalu, as is common with people in other countries in Europe in their fails to consider that government, laws and human rights partly exists to protect the minority from the majority. He blames the local Jews' use of free speech and freedom of assembly for attacks on them: If only the Jews would stop speaking and gathering peacefully, the distorted logic goes, no one would be attacking them. Historically, the opposite is true: even when Jews remained quiet, and spent years in hiding, as many often did, the only acceptable form of behavior, apparently, was not to exist.
After years of unremitting antisemitic activity in Malmo, many Jews have either left or are thinking of leaving, largely for Stockholm, England or Israel. Reepalu's comment was : "There have not been any attacks on Jewish people, and if Jews want to move to Israel that is not a matter for Malmo." From time to time the mayor has claimed that his views were misrepresented, but the full recordings, published on the website of the paper Skanska Dagbladet, make clear that they were not.
One can only hope that the memory of Raoul Wallenberg, the exemplification of Sweden's height as a moral superpower, may lead some of those exercising power in Sweden to deal with the forces of accelerating bigotry at their doorstep, and their own bigotry inside.
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1/28/2013 10:06:00 PM
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You have to admire Obama's ability to pee on your leg and tell you with a straight face it's raining
"You know, when it comes to Egypt, I think, had it not been for the leadership we showed, you might have seen a different outcome there."Like maybe the country would be better off without the Bros flushing the country down the jihadist toilet?
If it wasn't for his "leadership", Egypt might still be a functioning country instead of a train wreck rushing towards out and out civil war.
He's got no choice except to present the changes in Egypt as good. But, it's hard to ignore the news of "apes and pigs", Christians fleeing, economic collapse, and a ongoing chaos and riots.
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1/28/2013 01:10:00 PM
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Sunday, January 27, 2013
Muslim Group Threatens Egypt's Coptic Christians, Tells Them to 'Pay Tribute'
(CP) An armed Islamic movement calling itself the "Brigade of Muslims" released a statement on Saturday threatening Egypt's Coptic Christians and asking them to pay tribute.
"Egypt is an Islamic country and will be ruled according to Shariah," the statement added.
The movement threatened all Egyptian media professionals who "mock religion and Islamic rule," adding that it has a special list of media professionals and their persistence in mocking will result in the "shedding of their blood in the ugliest way."
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1/27/2013 10:36:00 PM
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Iranian-Hezbollah convoy blown up on Syrian Golan
(Debka) At least eight officers were killed in a mysterious twin-car bomb explosion Friday, Jan. 25 at Syrian regional intelligence headquarters in Quneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. Some of the fatalities were Syrian, but Western intelligence sources disclosed to DEBKAfile that most were high-ranking Iranian Al Qods Brigades and Hizballah officers. The blasts sent tensions shooting up on the Israeli and Jordanian borders with Syria. Israeli, Jordanian and US Special Forces posted in the kingdom went on high alert. Heavy Syrian reinforcements were seen streaming toward the two borders.
Syrian regime sources said the explosive devices were attached to the intelligence command building’s outer walls. But the Western sources report that two large bomb cars were lying in wait on both sides of the road leading to the Syrian HQ and were detonated as the two-car convoy of Iranian and Hizballah officers drove by. There were no survivors.
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1/27/2013 10:29:00 PM
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Israel: Arabs shoot at Israelis, riot, and throw rocks at kindergarten children
(INN) Arab terrorists fired on a bus traveling in the Binyamin region Sunday evening. There were no injuries reported.
The number 172 bus, traveling from Jerusalem to the town of Anatot, was fired at as it passed near the Arab town of Hizme, north of Jerusalem. The bus was damaged, with several of the bullets piercing the bullet-proof windows.
Police closed the road immediately after the shooting was reported, and began a search for the culprits. The road closure caused a huge traffic tie-up, with traffic stuck in both directions for many kilometers.
Earlier, Arabs attacked a Jew in the Givat Shaul area of Jerusalem. The attack occurred outside the famous Angel Bakery, and quickly turned into a near-riot, with dozens of Jews and Arabs facing off against each other. Several scuffles broke out, and a number of Arabs were reported injured in thr fracas. Police arrived on the scene and used anti-riot techniques to break up the crowd, spraying tear gas on both groups. Magen David Adom rescue workers treated a number of people on the scene for light injuries. Police are investigating what set off the incident.
Meanwhile, in Hevron, a gang of Arab youths conducted a rock attack against a kindergarten in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood. The Arab attackers quickly retreated to the nearby Casbah. IDF troops stepped in to halt the attack.
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1/27/2013 01:35:00 PM
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Mass funeral held in Egypt after 37 people killed in riots in Port Said; Renewed clashes kill 3 more
PORT SAID, Egypt (AP) — Egyptian health officials say three people have been killed and more than 400 injured in renewed clashes between protesters and police in the Mediterranean city of Port Said.
They said Sunday's casualties occurred during a funeral procession for most of 37 people killed in clashes in the previous day and when gunmen exchanged gunfire with police at two police stations and the city's main prison.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The Port Said violence broke out after a court on Saturday sentenced 21 defendants to death for their roles in a mass soccer riot in the city's stadium nearly a year ago. The Feb. 1, 2012 riot left 74 people dead. Most of those sentenced were local soccer fans.
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1/27/2013 01:28:00 PM
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"Many history teachers in Europe don't mention the Holocaust"
(Israel Hayom) The Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated exactly 68 years ago by the Soviet army. On Sunday, the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day; millions made an effort to remember, at least for a little while.
The U.N. General Assembly, which set Jan. 27 as an International Holocaust Remembrance Day, has put a special emphasis on studying the Holocaust. However, according to some sources, not everyone around the world obliges.
"Many history teachers in Europe don't mention the subject of the Holocaust," said Manon Wilbrink, a Dutch history teacher. "Many classes are multi-cultural, full of immigrants, and [teachers] who teach about the Holocaust are often met with resistance."
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1/27/2013 01:21:00 PM
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UAE charges 94 people linked to Muslim Brotherhood in alleged Islamist coup plot
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates says 94 people face charges for allegedly trying to overthrow the state as part of widening crackdowns on Islamist groups with suspected links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sunday's statement by the official news agency WAM did not name the Emirati suspects, but authorities have been waging systematic arrests against perceived dissidents for months.
The crackdowns have brought complaints from rights groups and raised tensions with Egypt, which is led by Muslim Brotherhood member President Mohammed Morsi.
The statement quotes UAE Attorney General Salem Saeed Kubaish as alleging that the suspects built a secret network to plot the coup and raised money through real estate and other deals. It also claims the suspects had links to the Muslim Brotherhood and others for expertise and financial support.
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1/27/2013 01:01:00 PM
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Netanyahu links Holocaust lessons to Iranian threat
(Times of Israel) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday linked the threat of a nuclear Iran to the Nazis’ attempt to annihilate the Jewish people in an address marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“Anti-Semitism has not disappeared and — to our regret — neither has the desire to destroy a considerable part of the Jewish People and the State of Israel. They exist and they are strong,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting. “Holocaust-denial is being spread by one of the world’s major countries, not by a group or by individual countries or by marginal elements, but by Iran which, today, from the UN or any other platform, is the leader of Holocaust-denial while preparing for what they deem to be another Holocaust — the destruction of the state of the Jews.”
Netanyahu noted that Iran was not halting its “relentless and systematic” effort to gain a nuclear weapon. “We do not make light of these threats and we will prevent them. This is our primary mission as a government and as a people.”
“In the perspective of the almost 75 years that have passed since the Holocaust, what has not changed is the desire to annihilate the Jews. What has changed is the ability of the Jews to defend themselves,” said Netanyahu, referring to the Israeli military. “Nobody will defend the Jews if they are not ready to defend themselves; this is another lesson of the Holocaust…. Therefore, the root of the issue today, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, is not what happened, but how we can prevent it from happening again and this depends on the ability and the determination of the state of the Jews to defend itself against those who would destroy it.”
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1/27/2013 12:50:00 PM
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Lebanon: Series of blasts reported at Hezbollah weapons depot
(Ynet) A blast sounded Saturday in the area of a Hezbollah ammunition compound in west Lebanon, media affiliated with anti-Hezbollah forces reported.
According to the Lebanese Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, Hezbollah operatives surrounded the area where the explosion occurred, as smoke reached villages in the region. It is unclear whether anyone was injured in the incident.
Residents of the area reportedly heard a few consecutive blasts. According to an uncorroborated source, the compound serves as storage for missiles and arms previously transferred from the Syrian regime to Hezbollah.
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1/27/2013 12:45:00 PM
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Sequestration: Navy Orders Cuts to Begin; Thousands to Be Fired
(Military.com) Navy flag officers and top executives were told Thursday to begin cutting expenses -- laying off thousands of temporary civilian workers, reducing base operations and preparing to cancel maintenance work on more than two dozen ships and hundreds of aircraft.
Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, directed the reductions in a memorandum sent to senior Navy officials. The cuts are driven by uncertainty over how much a divided Congress and the White House might approve for the Pentagon's 2013 budget.
"We are making the following reductions, starting now, to ensure we can fund ongoing deployments and other mission-critical activities," the memo said. [...]
The cuts include:
-- Plans to cancel maintenance for about 30 Navy ships at private shipyards between April and September.
-- Plans to cancel depot maintenance for about 250 aircraft between April and September.
-- Terminations of temporary civilian employees and a civilian hiring freeze. This will reduce the shipyards' workforce by more than 3,000 people.
-- Reductions in base spending and plans to cancel most repairs and upgrades of piers, runways, buildings and other facilities.
Private ship-repair operators said last week they were already feeling the effects of the cutbacks, noting that new repair contracts aren't being approved.
"This is a big deal for all those yards here that have been hiring," said Craig Quigley, executive director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance. "They have been investing.... They have been doing advance purchases. This completely pulls the rug out from under them."
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1/27/2013 12:30:00 PM
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Think History Never Repeats Itself?
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1/27/2013 12:10:00 AM
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Saturday, January 26, 2013
Apes, Pigs, and F-16s: When you arm Islamists, you become a willing participant in your own undoing
(NRO) When Mohamed Morsi dehumanizes Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs,” there’s an elephant in the room. We find it here:
Those who incurred the curse of Allah and His wrath, those of whom some He transformed into apes and swine, those who worshipped evil — these are many times worse in rank, and far more astray from the even Path!You see, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood mahoff–turned–president did not conjure up the apes-and-pigs riff on his own. When Morsi fulminates that Muslims “must not forget to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews, and all those who support them,” he is taking his cues straight from the Koran. Or rather, from the Holy Koran, as “progressive” American politicians take pains to call it in the off hours from their campaign to drive every last vestige of Judeo-Christian culture from the public square. [...]
In Islam, to the contrary, the doctrine itself is the most daunting barrier against evolution. And now, with the self-defeating encouragement of the West, Islamic-supremacist ideology has, throughout the Middle East, broken out of the shackles that kept it in check. The result of this “democratization” (the regnant euphemism for sharia installed by popular vote) is an increasingly rabid rise of intolerance.
The answer to this challenge is to take the Islamists head-on. It is to show them for what they truly are: enemies of civil rights, totalitarian tormentors of women and non-Muslims. The answer is not to arm them — as the Obama administration, with the maddening support of some leading Republicans, is arming Morsi’s regime — with a score of F-16 fighter jets and a couple of hundred Abrams tanks.
When not manufacturing history, tears, and indignation this week during her long-overdue testimony on the Benghazi massacre, outgoing secretary of state Hillary Clinton stunned careful listeners by repeatedly mentioning the “global jihad” against America. These were stark violations of Obama-administration strictures against any reference to Islam in discussions of the threat to the West.
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1/26/2013 08:17:00 PM
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Blast hits key Iranian nuclear site?
(Ynet) WND, an American news website affiliated with the Right, reported Friday that a mysterious explosion has destroyed a significant portion of Iran's Fordo nuclear facility – considered Tehran's most fortified facility.
The website alleged that Hamidreza Zakeri, formerly with the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence and National Security, confirmed that the facility was hit, but the report has not been corroborated by any Western source.
The website further said that its Iranian source pegged the blast as taking place last Monday at the eve of Israel's general elections.
Tehran believes the blast was the result of sabotage, the report said.
Fordo is considered to be Iran's second-largest nuclear facility and the site of the 2,700 centrifuges, all enriching uranium to 20% level – at which it can be weaponized.
Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz has more than 10,000 centrifuges.
Fordo – which has been carved into the belly of a mountain – is considered impregnable to airstrikes and most bunker-buster bombs.
"The blast shook facilities within a radius of three miles. Security forces have enforced a no-traffic radius of 15 miles, and the Tehran-Qom highway was shut down for several hours after the blast," the report said.
WND stressed that "news of the explosion has not been independently verified," adding that Iran is "aware" of Israel and the West's desire to incapacitate its nuclear program.
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1/26/2013 07:08:00 PM
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Obama and Democrats launching immigration push to legalize millions of foreign law breakers
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will launch a campaign next week aimed at overhauling the nation's flawed immigration system and creating legal status for millions, as a bipartisan Senate group nears agreement on achieving the same goals. [...]
Administration officials say Obama's second-term immigration push will be a continuation of the principles he outlined during his first four years in office but failed to act on. He is expected to revive his little-noticed 2011 immigration "blueprint," which calls for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants that includes paying fines and back taxes; increased border security; mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants; and improvements to the legal immigration system, including giving green cards to high-skilled workers and lifting caps on legal immigration for the immediate family members of U.S. citizens.
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1/26/2013 04:30:00 PM
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France pushes Mali rebels back
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1/26/2013 02:20:00 PM
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Democrats may stand in Obama's way on gun measures
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Senate prepares to begin debating new gun control measures, some of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats are poised to frustrate his efforts to enact the most sweeping limits on weapons in decades.
These Democrats from largely rural states with strong gun cultures view Obama's proposals warily and have not committed to supporting them. The lawmakers' concerns could stand in the way of strong legislation before a single Republican gets a chance to vote "no."
"There's a core group of Democratic senators, most but not all from the West, who represent states with a higher-than-average rate of gun ownership but an equally strong desire to feel their kids are safe," said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. "They're having hard but good conversations with people back home to identify the middle-ground solutions that respect the Second Amendment but make it harder for dangerous people to get their hands on guns."
All eyes are on these dozen or so Democrats, some of whom face re-election in 2014. That includes Sens. Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
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1/26/2013 02:00:00 PM
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Anonymous hackers take over sentencing commission website
WASHINGTON (AP) — The hacker-activist group Anonymous says it hijacked the website of the U.S. Sentencing Commission to avenge the death of Aaron Swartz, an Internet activist who committed suicide. The FBI is investigating.
The website of the commission, an independent agency of the judicial branch, was taken over early Saturday and replaced with a message warning that when Swartz killed himself two weeks ago "a line was crossed."
The hackers say they've infiltrated several government computer systems and copied secret information that they now threaten to make public.
Family and friends of Swartz, who helped create Reddit and RSS, say he killed himself after he was hounded by federal prosecutors. Officials say he helped post millions of court documents for free online and that he illegally downloaded millions of academic articles from an online clearinghouse.
The FBI's Richard McFeely, executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement that "we were aware as soon as it happened and are handling it as a criminal investigation. We are always concerned when someone illegally accesses another person's or government agency's network."
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1/26/2013 01:07:00 PM
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Topless Ukrainian protesters take on elite Davos forum
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Three women angry over sexism and male domination of the world economy ripped off their shirts and tried to force their way into a gathering of corporate elites in a Swiss resort.
Predictably, they failed. The ubiquitous and huge security force policing the World Economic Forum in Davos carried the women away, kicking and screaming.
The women, from Ukrainian feminist activist group Femen, scaled a fence and set off pink flares in the protest Saturday. Their chests were painted with "SOS Davos," as they sought to call attention to poverty of women around the world.
Critics of the Davos forum say the business and political leaders at the gathering spend too little time doing concrete things to solve the world's problems and help the needy.
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1/26/2013 12:50:00 PM
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At least 26 die in Egyptian clashes over death sentences
PORT SAID, Egypt/CAIRO (Reuters) - At least 26 people died on Saturday when Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster, adding to bloody street turmoil confronting Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.
Armored vehicles and military police fanned through the streets of Port Said after the violence. The state news agency quoted a general as saying the military aimed to "establish calm and stability in Port Said and to protect public institutions".
Unrest flared with nationwide rallies on Friday to mark the second anniversary of the overthrow of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, a democratic revolution that protesters now accuse Mursi of betraying by ramming through an Islamist-hued constitution.
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1/26/2013 12:43:00 PM
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Sniper kills Al-Jazeera reporter in Syria
(Ynet) A sniper killed an Al-Jazeera reporter in southern Syria on Friday, the pan-Arab television network said, in the second such shooting of a journalist in two days in the conflict-swept country.
The killings take the death toll of reporters who have died in Syria's 22-month conflict to at least 20, according to a count by AFP and Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF.
"Mohammed was shot dead by a regime sniper in Basra al-Harir in the province of Daraa, while he was covering the clashes there," Al-Jazeera said in a statement.
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1/26/2013 12:38:00 PM
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Friday, January 25, 2013
Surprise! Feinstein Gun Control Bill to Exempt Government Officials
(Weekly Standard) Not everyone will have to abide by Senator Dianne Feinstein's gun control bill. If the proposed legislation becomes law, government officials and others will be exempt.
"Mrs. Feinstein's measure would exempt more than 2,200 types of hunting and sporting rifles; guns manually operated by bolt, pump, lever or slide action; and weapons used by government officials, law enforcement and retired law enforcement personnel," the Washington Times reports.
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1/25/2013 11:31:00 PM
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Syrian forces escalate offensive in Homs, at least 140 killed nationwide, refugees pour into Jordan
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's army unleashed a barrage of rocket and artillery fire on rebel-held areas in a central province Friday as part of a widening offensive against fighters seeking to oust President Bashar Assad. At least 140 people were killed in fighting nationwide, according to activist groups.
The United Nations said a record number of Syrians streamed into Jordan this month, doubling the population of the kingdom's already-cramped refugee camp to 65,000. Over 30,000 people arrived in Zaatari in January — 6,000 in the past two days alone, the U.N. said.
The newcomers are mostly families, women, children and elderly who fled from southern Syria, said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She said the UNHCR was working with the Jordanian government to open a second major camp nearby by the end of this month.
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1/25/2013 11:23:00 PM
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Egypt: 6 anti-Morsi protesters killed in clashes with security forces
(Al Arabia) Six protesters were killed after heavy clashes between protesters and security forces in Egypt, Al Arabiya correspondent reported on Friday.
Five protesters were killed after being hit with cartouche bullets in Suez city east of Cairo while one person was killed in Ismailiya province, Egypt’s emergency services reported late Friday.
As massive protests took off in Egypt against President Mohammed Mursi on Friday, to mark the second anniversary of the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak and brought in an Islamist government, the country’s security forces fired tear gas at protesters near the presidential palace on Friday.
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1/25/2013 11:14:00 PM
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British Liberal Democrat MP David Ward: Jews Didn't Learn the Lesson from the Holocaust
(INN) A Liberal Democrat MP in Britain faces expulsion from the party for saying Jews had not learned from the murder of six million in the Holocaust in their treatment of Palestinian Authority Arabs, the Daily Mail reports.
David Ward, MP for Bradford East, wrote on his own website that he was “saddened” that Jews “could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians…on a daily basis.”
“Having visited Auschwitz twice – once with my family and once with local schools – I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza,” Ward wrote.
He later defended his comments in interviews, saying they were a “just a statement of fact”, and adding that “it appears that the suffering by the Jews has not transformed their views on how others should be treated.”
His remarks were made ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday, reported the Daily Mail. He has been summoned to a meeting with party whips on Monday, but has insisted he stood by the statement and its timing and claimed it was “regrettable” he had been reprimanded.
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1/25/2013 11:06:00 PM
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UN: Syrians Face Starvation From Civil War
(INN) Syrians will starve this year and probably for years to come without international assistance, the United Nations warned Wednesday.And suddenly you realize that the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza you keep hearing about is just a made up BS. Besides, there are more pressing issues for the UN to deal with - like scrutinizing Israel for human rights violations on account of them building houses or something.
The international body said the country’s farming and infrastructure has been utterly destroyed in the savage civil war that has raged for the past 22 months.
More than 60,000 Syrians have been killed, and another 2.5 million Syrians left hungry in the devastation, said the U.N. in a statement to media.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said wheat and barley production in Syria was slashed in half, dropping in 2012 to 2 million tons from its normal 4-4.5 million tons in prior years. Agriculture, vital to the nation’s economy, accounted for nearly 20 percent of Syria’s gross domestic product before the war.
“The mission was struck by the plight of the Syrian people whose capacity to cope is dramatically eroded by 22 months of crisis,” Dominique Burgeon, director of the FAO Emergency and Rehabilitation Division, said in a statement. “Destruction of infrastructure in all sectors is massive and it is clear that the longer the conflict lasts, the longer it will take to rehabilitate it.”
Meanwhile, the prospects for any negotiated peaceful settlement to the war between loyalist troops defending President Bashar al-Assad from opposition forces who want to oust him from power have faded into the twilight.
The war has finally begun to ravage the capital as well, where residents said gasoline supplies ended on Sunday. Power cuts have become part of daily life in various Damascus neighborhoods, and suburbs of the capital are slowly being pummeled into rubble through government bombings aimed at rebel forces.
Earlier this week, Syria's largest benefactor, Russia, began withdrawing its citizens from the country as well in a long-avoided acknowledgement that Assad is unlikely to hold onto power despite Moscow's steadfast support.
The war has also further fractured the already divided opposition factions, which were sectarian to start with – making it impossible for Western nations to offer assistance to the helpless Syrians caught in the crossfire.
The watchdog Human Rights Watch organization said Wednesday the burning and looting of religious sites belonging to minority groups in recent months suggests a further escalation of sectarian conflict.
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1/25/2013 10:58:00 PM
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Turks threaten German soldiers defending... Turkey
Anyway, in true Islamic fashion, groups of Islamic males have become angry at having non-Muslims defending Islamic Turkey from fellow Islamic Syria. Which is why German soldiers manning one such Patriot missile battery in the southern Turkish town of Iskenderun found themselves corned and attacked by a gang of 40 Turks.
Yup, nothing new here, as it's in the Muslims' nature to stab those who are helping them in the back.
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1/25/2013 08:51:00 PM
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Yesterday was the Islamic version of Christmas day
In the Christian world we hand out presents and good tidings in remembrance of the day that Jesus Christ was born.
In the Islamic world they kill each other in remembrance of their blood thirsty founder.
Still think it's a religion of peace?
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pounce_uk
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1/25/2013 08:22:00 PM
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Taliban infighting results in 50 dead in Pakistan
I suppose that is a result in anybody's book.
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pounce_uk
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1/25/2013 08:08:00 PM
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Human rights laws prevent the deportation of an Islamic terrorist because he is... suicidal
Funny enough, the prick who made this judgement is also the same prick who allowed Al Qaeda henchman Abu Qatada to remain in the country. Everybody say hello to dicksplash Mr Justice Mitting, the best friend of Islamic terrorists. Wouldn't it be ironic if Mitting meets his end at the hands of a terrorist he allowed to remain in the country.
Mitting, traitor to the British people |
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1/25/2013 07:50:00 PM
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Born in Britain Islamic paedophile claims that due to his Islamic upbringing, he didn't know that having sex with a 13-year-old was illegal
However, he was caught with his pants down when the child's friends informed the police, and when he was stood in the dock he explained his actions were due to him having been raised in a mosque and thus he didn't know that having sex with a minor was illegal in the UK and that he was actually reluctant to have sex with the girl but had been tempted by her’. However, after he returned home, he still felt bad and so he went to the mosque to pray. The same mosque where he was taught that ‘women are no more worthy than a lollipop that has been dropped on the ground.’
So smitten was the judge by this worthless piece of garbage that he refused to send him to jail saying that sending him to jail might cause him ‘more damage than good’.
Welcome to the Islamic republic of Britain.
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1/25/2013 07:02:00 PM
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Gaza runs out of domestic gas, demands Israel sends more
Meanwhile in other news, Hamas’ Ministry of Economics announced this week its decision to ban the import of certain types of goods into Gaza through the Israeli crossings. These include office furniture, various types of foods, hygiene products, gas pipes, plastic, plastic bags and clothing. This is on top of Hamas's ban on other stuff imported in from Israel, including fuel oil for its power plant.
Can anybody point me in the direction of another country which actually supplies its sworn enemy with food, power and medicine during a time of war, which the other fellow started? Me neither, but according to the left and the Islamic world, everything is the fault of the Jew.
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1/25/2013 06:40:00 PM
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Muslims find fault with LEGO
It appears that in their complaint the groups focuses on the guard and claims that not only does he resemble a prayer leader but he has an axe and an assault rifle. How could LEGO get away with such a lie? Don't they know that mosques are sacred places of worship and that weapons are forbidden? Oh, and here is the offending toy:
Is there anything that Muslims can't find offence with?
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pounce_uk
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1/25/2013 03:02:00 PM
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Thursday, January 24, 2013
Pic of the day
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1/24/2013 10:41:00 PM
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American of Pakistani heritage gets 35 years for his role in Mumbai attacks, judge calls him 'terrorist'
(CSM) A federal judge in Chicago sentenced an American citizen to 35 years in prison on Thursday for his role in providing surveillance information and videos laying the groundwork for the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, India, that left more than 160 dead and hundreds wounded.
David Coleman Headley, a US citizen of Pakistani heritage, was arrested in October 2009. He agreed shortly afterward to cooperate with US investigators and intelligence officials, and he testified against one of his fellow co-conspirators.
Among other information, Mr. Headley told US officials of a link between the terror operation in India and Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI. He identified his ISI contact as “Major Iqbal,” according to court documents.
“Major Iqbal” helped plan and fund the Mumbai attacks, he said.
In light of his cooperation, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty for Headley. In addition, instead of a life sentence, prosecutors urged US District Judge Harry Leinenweber to impose a 30 to 35-year prison term.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Leinenweber called Headley a “terrorist” and rejected suggestions he had reformed his life.
“I don’t have any faith in Mr. Headley when he says he’s a changed person and believes in the American way of life,” the judge said, according to the Associated Press.
In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors acknowledged that Headley played “an essential role in the planning of a horrific terrorist attack.”
“There is little question that life imprisonment would be an appropriate punishment for Headley’s incredibly serious crimes,” they said. But they added that his extensive cooperation had been of “significant value” to US anti-terror efforts.
Headley, 52, is unlikely to emerge from prison until he is well into his 80s.
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1/24/2013 10:11:00 PM
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Dutch, Britons, Germans, Canadians Warned to Leave Benghazi
LONDON (AP) — Britain, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands urged their citizens to immediately leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Thursday, warning of an imminent threat against Westerners days after a deadly hostage crisis in neighboring Algeria.
European officials told The Associated Press that schools were among the potential targets.
The warnings came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testified to Congress about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. They also came as French troops battled al-Qaida-linked militants in the West African nation of Mali, and followed the deaths of at least 37 foreign hostages seized by Islamist extremists in Algeria.
It was unclear if those two events were linked to the latest concerns about Libya.
The foreign ministries of the three European countries issued statements describing the threat as specific and imminent but none would elaborate.
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1/24/2013 09:52:00 PM
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Syria: If anti-Assad groups can't fight Assad then they fight themselves
PJ O'Rourke summed it up best when we referred to the Arab world as "quarrels with borders".
(NPR) In a small border town in northern Syria, there are two groups that both oppose President Bashar Assad's regime. But instead of working in tandem, the Syrian rebels and a Kurdish militia have been battling each other in the town of Ras al-Ayn.
Sally Ali, a 26-year-old resident of Ras al-Ayn, told NPR by phone that the streets are completely empty. "It's a ghost town," she says.
She estimates about half of the town's residents fled to nearby villages; the other half are trapped in their homes by the ongoing violence.
The Kurdish militia is known as the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and it has exercised almost complete control in Ras al-Ayn since government troops withdrew last July.
However, the rebels of the Free Syrian Army are eager to capture the strategically important border town and are suspicious that the PYD made a deal with Assad's government to facilitate its withdrawal.
As we reported back in November, there were tensions and clashes as the rebels moved in. Eventually a truce calmed things down, but beneath the surface, those tensions simmered.
Renewed Fighting
Last week, fighting flared up again. Activists say the Free Syrian Army is launching mortars and using tanks to fire into civilian areas, and more than 50 people have been killed.
Kaniwar, who wouldn't give his last name for safety concerns, is a Syrian Kurd from Ras al-Ayn. He spoke to NPR by phone from the nearby village he fled to after the fighting intensified.
"I'm shocked. I'm shocked by FSA's behavior. ... We thought it is a national army, defending our homeland, not shelling civilians." he says.
Kainwar, 28, was a hairdresser before the uprising began in March 2011. He says that in the early months of the uprising he was with the opposition, marching alongside Arab Syrians in peaceful protest. But now, he has lost faith.
"I think we are all stunned," Ali says. She too once supported the FSA rebels, but not anymore. "It's obvious that the FSA is helping create conflict between Arabs and Kurds."
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1/24/2013 08:58:00 PM
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'Israel to boycott UNHRC despite US protestations'
GENEVA (Reuters) - Israel is expected to boycott the UN Human Rights Council next week despite the United States urging its ally to show up for an examination of its record, the US ambassador said on Thursday.
The Jewish state is scheduled to be in the dock of the Geneva rights forum on Tuesday, Jan. 29 as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, the council's regular scrutiny of all United Nations member states.
"They (Israeli officials) signalled that they want it postponed. It is very unlikely they will participate on the 29th," US human rights ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told reporters in Geneva.
"I'm fairly optimistic we will find a solution that does not undermine universality or cooperation. That is my hope."
Israel's last review was in December 2008, when it attended. A boycott would be unprecedented and diplomats fear other countries might follow suit to avoid scrutiny of their human rights records.
Israel suspended relations with the council last May because of what it called an inherent bias against it, and has informally told the council's president, Poland's ambassador, that it wants the session postponed, a UN spokesman said.
"A decision will be taken in the event Israel does not show up for its UPR, the council will decide on a course of action. States are working very hard behind the scenes to come up with a solution," council spokesman Rolando Gomez told Reuters.
Islamic states, often led by Pakistan and Iran in the forum, would have to agree to any postponement of the examination of Israel's record. The next UPR sessions are in April and October.
A team of UN investigators, set up by the council last year, is due to report soon on whether Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories violate international human rights law. Washington cast the only vote against the initiative brought by the Palestinian Authority.
The United States was re-elected by the UN General Assembly in November to the 47-member state forum, which it first joined in 2009 after the Bush administration snubbed it.
"We see a strong bias against Israel that has not gone away," Donahoe said on Thursday.
But Washington has urged its ally to take part in the UPR whose universality it does not want to see "broken", she said.
"We have encouraged Israel to come to the UPR, to tell its story, to present its own narrative of its human rights situation. We think it is a good opportunity to do that."
Donahoe added: "My feeling is members understand that it is not only about Israel."
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