(Reuters) Turkish military have deployed armoured vehicles along the border with Syria as fighting intensifies between government forces and rebels.
Stray bullets and shelling from Syria that made their way into Turkey earlier in the week have left residents frightened and panicked.
Thousands have fled Syria into neighbouring Turkey to escape the fighting.
Saturday, at least 12 people were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
The United Nations says fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad has disrupted the lives of more than two million Syrians.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Fighting intensifies near Syrian/Turkey border, Turkey deploys armored vehicles
Russia: Regional governor to deploy Cossack patrols to tackle Muslim criminal invasion
(RT) The governor of one of Russia’s southern regions has been accused of discrimination and nationalism for a proposal to deploy patrols to tackle immigration issues in the Caucasus region. Human rights activists blasted the governor for his statements.
Governor Aleksandr Tkachev of the Krasnodar region came under fire after a meeting with regional police chiefs on Thursday, where he announced the establishment of a 1,000-member Cossack-staffed volunteer security force. With an annual budget of more than $20 million, the organization would assist police in upholding public order, beginning in September.
The force would consist of Kuban Cossacks, a multi-ethnic group descended from farmers, who historically acted as border guards for the Russian Empire. They enjoyed a great degree of political autonomy, both as gratitude for their service and in acknowledgement of their self-sufficiency and militant ethos.
Tkachev waded into the hot-button issue of ethnic tension, calling on police officers to embrace their future Cossack partners. The Krasnodar region is predominantly Russian, although roughly one-fifth of its population is of non-Russian ethnicity and have been residing there for decades.
Krasnodar borders Russia’s North Caucasus, a conflict-ridden region plagued by high unemployment, forcing its non-Russian Muslim population to head elsewhere to make a living. The influx of migrants has resulted in conflict ranging from cultural disagreements to organized crime and violence.
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Spy device disguised as rock blows up near Iran nuclear site
(Al Arabiya) A spy device camouflaged as a rock exploded when it came into contact with Iranian troops near an underground nuclear enrichment plant, The Sunday Times reported this week.
Last month, Revolutionary Guards at the Fordo nuclear facility, near the northern city of Qom, came across the rock and attempted to move it, according to sources who spoke to the newspaper.
The guards, who had been on patrol to check terminals connecting data and telephone links to the site, reportedly witnessed the disguised spy device exploding when they came into contact with it.
Experts who surveyed the scene of the explosion, according to the newspaper, analyzed remnants of the device and found it had been able to intercept data from computers at the nuclear plant, where uranium is enriched.
News of the explosion was reportedly first kept secret by the Iranians. But last week, Fereydoun Abbasi the Iranian vice-president and the head of the nuclear energy agency, revealed that the power lines between Qom and the Fordo facility were blown-up in August.
The finding has sparked speculation over whether the spy device could have been a significant source of intelligence for Western countries, which has now been lost.
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"Mosque - go!" Moscow residents rally against Muslim center project; project cancelled
(RT) Up to 2,000 people rallied in a Moscow neighborhood after local authorities announced the building of a Muslim cultural center and mosque in the area. The protest ended with officials being forced to cancel the planned construction.
The impromptu demonstration on Wednesday evening was gathered through social networks. Residents of the Mitino district came to voice their fears over the plans to build a Muslim cultural center and mosque in the neighborhood, which would be able to accommodate up to 60,000 believers during a service.
The would-be Muslim prayer house is subject to much speculation, even though construction project is far from being finalized. The rumor mill describes it as “a 13-story mega mosque,” which would broadcast calls to a morning prayer all over the neighborhood.
The protesters living in the residential area were concerned that its infrastructure would not be able to deal with increased traffic after the mosque is finished. This would result in terrible traffic jams during Friday prayers and large Muslim holidays, they said.
There are also fears that the inflow of worshipers, many of whom would be guest workers from Central Asia seeking their fortune in Moscow, would drive up crime rates. Disaffection towards Muslims was evidenced in some online comments on the event.
“I am firmly against it! We are flooded with those aliens, and now they want to have this insult standing virtually under my window… Let them build it outside of Moscow. There is plenty space there, so they all shove off there,” one of the comments read.
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Saturday, September 22, 2012
Prominent Salafi-Jihadi Cleric Issues Fatwa Sanctioning Killing Of US Ambassadors, Including Chris Stevens
From MEMRI:
Following the September 11, 2012 killing of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, a number of queries were sent in to the Salafi-jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad (MTJ) regarding the legitimacy of this action. Answering on behalf of the website's shari'a committee, Sheikh Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti issued a fatwa in which he approved of the killing of the U.S. ambassador and other U.S. diplomats, and refuted religious arguments raised by some Islamic scholars against such actions.
Video: Obama - The post-American president
Arizona: Outraged illegals protest immigration law enforcement
(AP) A day after the most contentious provision of Arizona's immigration law took effect, rallies were held around Phoenix to protest the mandate that civil rights activists say will lead to systematic racial profiling.
More than three dozen activists stood outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building along a busy thoroughfare Wednesday evening. They chanted: "No papers, no fear."
Carlos Garcia, an organizer with the immigrant rights group the Puente Movement, said the strategy is to urge people not to cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts _ whether they're in the country legally or not.
Tempe resident Beatrice Jernigan said friends who are in the country illegally are scared.
"They don't know what's going to happen. They're more cautious," she said. "Some parents who are illegal immigrants are not allowing their kids to participate in afterschool sports."
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'From Muslims with love' tweet
the jews are enemy of the world. atleast Hitler was right about them.
— Abdulahi Abiodun A. (@abdulayodele) September 22, 2012
Iran accuses Siemens of nuclear sabotage
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is accusing the German technology company Siemens of implanting tiny explosives in equipment the Islamic Republic purchased for its nuclear program.
A prominent Iranian lawmaker says the booby-trapped equipment was meant to derail Iran's uranium enrichment efforts, but security experts discovered the explosives and removed them.
Siemens denies the charge and says its nuclear division has had no business with Iran since the 1979 revolution.
Any sale of nuclear equipment to Iran is banned under U.N. sanctions, raising the possibility that if it indeed has some, it may have been acquired through third parties.
Iran claims it has been the target of a concerted campaign by Israel, the U.S. and their allies to undermine its nuclear efforts through covert operations.
Five nuclear scientists and researchers have been killed in Iran since 2010. Tehran blames the deaths on Israel's Mossad spy agency as well as the CIA and Britain's MI-6. Washington and London have denied any roles. Israel has not commented.
Tens of thousands protests Mohammed film in Nigeria, burn US and Israeli flags, images of Obama, call for war
(Ahram Online) Tens of thousands of people on Saturday protested in Nigeria's second city of Kano, burning images of Barack Obama and stomping on the American flag to denounce an anti-Islam film made in the US.
A crowd that included men, children and veiled women stretched for several kilometres (miles) through the city, the largest in Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, condemning the film that has stirred outrage across the Muslim world.
They shouted "death to America, death to Israel and death to the enemies of Islam," in a rally that ended with no reported incidents of violence but caused gridlock in the city of roughly 4.5 million people.
The demonstration was organised by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a pro-Iranian group that adheres to the Shiite branch of Islam. The group has operated in Africa's most populous country since the late 1970s.
"We are out today to express our rage and disapproval over this blasphemous film," said Muhammed Turi, a protest leader and member of the Islamic Movement which organised a similar rally earlier this week in the northern city of Zaria.
Some pictures of US President Barack Obama were set alight, while others were dragged through the dirt and stomped on by protesters shouting "enemy of Islam."
American and Israeli flags were also defaced and Iranian flags were waved in the air as the group marched towards a palace owned by the Emir of Kano, the top religious figure in the region.
Protester Husseini Ibrahim claimed that the "blasphemy" in the film regarding the Prophet Mohammed is "like an invitation to war."
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Pakistani government minister offers a $100,000 reward for the death of the maker of an anti-Islam film
(BBC) Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour told reporters that he would pay the reward for the "sacred duty" out of his own pocket.
He suggested the Taliban and al-Qaeda would be eligible for the reward.
His comments came a day after at least 20 people died in clashes between anti-film protesters and police.
"I announce today that this blasphemer who has abused the holy prophet, if somebody will kill him, I will give that person a prize of $100,000," the minister said.
Friday's violence occurred in cities throughout the country, with Karachi and Peshawar among the worst hit.
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Ultimate hypocrisy: Obama accuses Congress of ducking elected duties, amid criticism he's doing likewise at the UN
(Fox News) President Obama on Saturday accused Capitol Hill lawmakers of leaving behind both Washington and unfinished legislative business until after November because they are more concerned about their re-election campaigns, amid criticism he is side-stepping key United Nations meetings next week to hit the campaign trail.
The Senate closed the Capitol early Saturday after passing a spending bill that will make sure the government won't shut down Oct. 1, the start of the new budget year. The so-called continuing resolution passed by a 62-30 vote.
The Republican-controlled House left Friday after passing the Stop the War on Coal Act –- a bill to held the coal industry’s fight against administration energy and environmental policies and hurt Obama's political prospects in coal states such as Ohio and Virginia.
Obama accuses lawmakers of being "more worried about their jobs and their paychecks" than their constituents, in his weekend radio and Internet address.
Meanwhile the world's leaders are arriving in New York for next week's United Nations General Assembly meeting, but the president has no plans to meet privately with any of them.
However, he and first lady Michelle Obama will make an appearance on "The View," a freewheeling TV talk show more likely to reach voters than the president would with the diplomacy he is skipping at the United Nations.
Unlike presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did during their respective 1996 and 2004 re-election seasons, Obama is skipping the face-to-face meetings with counterparts where much of the U.N. works gets done, leaving Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to pick up more of those sessions.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said last week that Obama not planning to meet in with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "confusing and troubling."
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Egyptian presidential aide says he’s finalizing proposal to amend peace treaty with Israel
(Times of Israel) An Egyptian presidential adviser announced on Saturday that he will submit a proposal for amending the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in the coming days.
Mohammed Esmat Seif al-Dawla said the proposal will include major changes to the peace treaty’s fourth article, which governs the establishment of “limited force zones in Egyptian and Israeli territory” along the shared border with the Sinai Peninsula. According to the Camp David Accords signed the year before, Egypt may station “no more than one division (mechanized or infantry) of Egyptian armed forces” more than 30 miles from the Suez Canal.
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Netanyahu ‘determined to attack Iran’ before US elections, claims Israel’s Channel 10
(Times of Israel) Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is determined to attack Iran before the US elections,” Israel’s Channel 10 News claimed on Monday night, and Israel is now “closer than ever” to a strike designed to thwart Iran’s nuclear drive.
The TV station’s military reporter Alon Ben-David, who earlier this year was given extensive access to the Israel Air Force as it trained for a possible attack, reported that, since upgraded sanctions against Iran have failed to force a suspension of the Iranian nuclear program in the past two months, “from the prime minister’s point of view, the time for action is getting ever closer.”
Asked by the news anchor in the Hebrew-language TV report how close Israel now was to “a decision and perhaps an attack,” Ben-David said: “It appears that we are closer than ever.”
He said it seemed that Netanyahu was not waiting for a much-discussed possible meeting with US President Barack Obama, after the UN General Assembly gathering in New York late next month — indeed, “it’s not clear that there’ll be a meeting.” In any case, said Ben-David, “I doubt Obama could say anything that would convince Netanyahu to delay a possible attack.”
The report added that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak believe Obama would have no choice but to give backing for an Israeli attack before the US presidential elections in November.
There is considerable opposition to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the report noted — with President Shimon Peres, the army’s chief of the General Staff and top generals, the intelligence community, opposition leader Shaul Mofaz, “and of course the Americans” all lined up against Israeli action at this stage.
But, noted Ben-David, it is the Israeli government that would have to take the decision, and there Netanyahu is “almost guaranteed” a majority.
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Syria fires into Jordan, sparking fierce clashes
Syria moves its Golan Heights brigade to the Jordanian border.
(Times of Israel) The armed forces of Syria and Jordan clashed Saturday after Syria fired into Jordanian territory, where thousands of refugees have fled from an 18-month-long civil war between the Bashar Assad regime and opposition fighters.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, the Syrian army has moved its Unit 61 brigade — whose main function is to block any possible attack from Israel — from the Golan Heights to the Jordanian border.
In recent months, attacks by the Syrian military on the border region with Jordan have intensified, as part of an effort to stem the flow of refugees into the neighboring kingdom.
Syrian activists said rebels and government troops fought a fierce battle in the area, that lasted for several hours, overnight Friday.
The activists said the fighting in and around the Syrian border town of Nasib continued until dawn Saturday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that there were casualties on both sides, without giving figures.
Mohammed Abu Houran, an activist in the area, says the rebels first attacked an air defense base near Nasib, and as they were withdrawing they clashed with Syrian border guards.
Nasib is in the southern province of Daraa, where the uprising against Assad’s regime began in March last year.
Syrian rebel forces on Friday night attacked a Lebanese Army base near the Syrian border, Israel Radio reported. The Lebanese Army stated that there were no casualties in the incident near Arsal. The army mobilized forces to the area and pursued the assailants who fled into Lebanon.
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Why the U.S. has a culture of dependency
(CNN) -- For most of American history, the average farmer, shop owner or entrepreneur could live an entire life without getting anything from the federal government except mail service. But those days have gone the way of the Pony Express.
Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that 49% of the population lives in a household where at least one person gets some type of government benefit. The Heritage Foundation's annual Index of Dependence on Government tracks government spending and creates a weighted score adjusted for inflation of federal programs that contribute to dependency. It reports that in 2010, 67.3 million Americans received either Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Social Security, support for higher education or other assistance once considered to be the responsibility of individuals, families, neighborhoods, churches, and other civil society institutions -- an 8% increase from the year before.
These people aren't necessarily dependent on government; many could live (even live well) without their Social Security check, Pell grant or crop subsidy. That's not the point. The problem is that Washington is building a culture of dependency, with ever-more people relying on an ever-growing federal government to give them cash or benefits.
This is a growing and dangerous trend. The United States thrives because of a culture of opportunity that encourages work and disdains relying on handouts. The growth of the welfare state, a confusing alphabet soup of programs that are supposed to help low-income Americans make ends meet and do not include entitlements such as Social Security or Medicare, is turning us into a land where many expect, and see no stigma attached to, drawing regular financial support from the federal government. [...]
The national debt is at $16 trillion, more than the entire GDP of the United States last year. High as it is, that debt is about to soar. More than 78 million baby boomers are retiring onto Social Security and Medicare in the next 15 years or so. Under Obamacare, Medicaid is set to explode as well. Within just one generation, total federal spending could reach nearly 36% of GDP, and the Congressional Budget Office says debt held by the public could reach nearly 200% of GDP.
That will crowd out virtually all other government spending, including national defense. Future Congresses could impose deep cuts in social welfare programs across the board or raise massive taxes to support these exploding programs. The results would be chaotic and unpredictable.
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Friday, September 21, 2012
What do old Nazis do before they die in Egypt? Convert to Islam, naturally.
(Spiegel) For decades, investigators searched in vain for Aribert Heim, a notorious Nazi war criminal known as "Dr. Death." On Friday, a court in Baden-Baden officially declared Heim dead. He is believed to have lived for years undetected in Egypt, where he converted to Islam.
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XM25 'Punisher' Finds Home in Infantry Squads
FORT BENNING, Ga. (Military.com) -- The Army’s shoulder-fired 25mm airburst weapon that many soldiers call “the Punisher” is slowly winning the approval of the infantry after a decade of scrutiny.
The boxy, futuristic-looking XM25 Counter-Defilade Target Engagement System recently completed a 14-month battlefield assessment and is on its way to earning a permanent position in the infantry squad beginning in 2014, Army weapons officials said. [...]
The XM25 grew out of its predecessor, the XM29 -- an over-and-under system with a 5.56mm carbine on the bottom and the 20mm airburst weapon on top. It stalled in the face of technical challenges that made the 18-pound weapon too heavy and bulky. The program ended up costing about $100 million.
The current XM25 recently wrapped a 14-month battlefield assessment in Afghanistan. Weapons officials used soldier feedback from the assessment to incorporate “more than 100 improvements” to the ergonomics and reliability of the weapon, said Col. Scott Armstrong, who runs Project Manager Soldier Weapons.
Weapons officials have accelerated the production of 36 of these newer XM25s for a second battlefield assessment scheduled to begin in January, Armstrong said.
The goal is to have senior leaders approve “a production decision next fall and, a year later, begin fielding the system in the fall of 2014,” Armstrong said.
This new addition to infantry squad could cost close to $25,000 each, but weapons officials argue that XM25 is worth it.
“This brings an entirely new capability to the soldier for the counter-defilade fight; to be able to get the enemy soldiers that are behind walls, behind trees or in buildings,” Armstrong said.
Israel takes issue of Jewish refugees to UN
NEW YORK (JPost) -- Israel on Friday called on the international community in a special gathering at the United Nations to recognize the suffering of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and their material claims the same way it acknowledges the plight of displaced Palestinians.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, Israel's Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor and World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder presented the case of the recently launched diplomatic campaign in front of an audience of Israeli officials, foreign diplomats, activists and journalists at the headquarters of the international organization.
"Today's event is about the past but more importantly about the future," said Prosor. "Our purpose is clear and simple: To give justice for one million Jews whose stories have been hidden and left untold."
He added: "For 64 years the history has been distorted and white washed in the UN. Arab countries have never taken responsibility for creating more than 800,000 refugees. Yet not a single syllable --and listen to this-- can be heard in any of the 1888 of the UN resolution on the Mideast."
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