12.12.2009
12.11.2009
copenhagen: FAIL. turns out sociopaths suck at compromising and their propaganda gets more ridiculous by the day
BRUSSELS, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of European Union (EU) members reiterated their stance on climate change at a summit here on Thursday, but failed to put forward the exact amount of a "fast-starting" fund to help developing countries tackle climate change.
...European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also called on other nations to take action and reach an agreement in the ongoing UN climate talks in Copenhagen, saying it was "less expensive" to repair the world now than later.
He explained the EU's stance on climate change, saying it aims to put pressure on other key countries and urge them to take concrete actions, which could lead to a success in the Copenhagen conference.
However, although more than half of EU members have pledged to make contributions, the EU leaders didn't reach an agreement on the exact amount on the "fast-starting" funding to help the world's poorest nations to tackle climate change from 2010 to 2012.
2. EU scrambles through the night to find climate cash
BRUSSELS – European Union (EU) officials scrambled through the night to secure six billion euros in pledges Friday to help the developing world tackle climate change and provide a boost to United Nation (UN) climate talks in Copenhagen.
The first day of a European summit broke up late Thursday with the Swedish EU presidency still short of its goal but confident that more money could be squeezed out of the 27 assembled heads of state and government.
The leaders are determined to underline the EU's leadership role in fighting climate change and set the tone for the on-going global warming talks in Copenhagen, where money is a hot topic.
3. EU seeks to preserve united front
BRUSSELS —
Western European nations struggled to convince their poorer eastern neighbors Thursday to present a united front on climate change by helping pay developing nations to cut emissions and adapt to climate change.The European Union casts itself as the world’s leader of efforts to combat climate change. Two years ago, it was ahead of the pack when it pledged to cut 20% of emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 and to increase that to 30% if other big polluters made similar promises.
Japan and Russia have now outpaced Europe with 25% cuts and diplomats said EU leaders will discuss Thursday raising their own bar to 30%—even if climate talks in Copenhagen fail to agree a new treaty.
Eastern EU nations are reluctant to participate in costly emissions cuts or to offer help for a fund intended to help developing nations cope with the effects of global warming and start curbing emissions before a new climate treaty being negotiated in Copenhagen comes into force in 2012.
5. give back in boom times -- they think they should throw the people a little bone after all that money they stole
BRUSSELS - EUROPE on Friday urged the IMF to introduce a 'social' tax on banks, insurers and markets to repay taxpayers' support during lean years with a slice of boom-time profits.
Leaders of the European Union backed a fresh call by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to examine a global so-called 'Tobin' tax.
The 27 member states said that an 'economic and social contract' needs renewing 'between financial institutions and the society they serve... ensuring that the public benefits in good times and is protected from risk.
read more @ straits times6. Japanese emperor to grant audience to Chinese VP Xi -- what's this all about? sounds important.
TOKYO —
The Imperial Household Agency announced Friday that Emperor Akihito will meet with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, an arrangement finalized after considerable wrangling over the political implications of the decision. According to the government, the exceptional meeting was arranged in light of the importance of bilateral relations.A written request is customarily submitted for the agency to arrange a meeting with the emperor at least one month before. But China made the request on Nov 26.
Shingo Haketa, chief of the agency, told a news conference that he received the request from Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano and told him that granting a meeting ‘‘will generate considerable concern about the role of his majesty (as a symbol of state).’‘
The agency was thought to be initially reluctant to accept the request because it would go against the rule of protocol.
Asked if it would lead to political exploitation of the emperor, Haketa told the press conference he cannot brush aside such a view, saying, ‘‘I feel pain (about the development).’‘
read more @ japan today
7. they'll blind us with science: Hamburg unveils world's most powerful supercomputer
Scientists in Hamburg on Thursday unveiled the world's most powerful weather supercomputer that they hope will provide critical data on global warming for international efforts to combat climate change.
read more @ the local
8. and an 'electronic egg' is to be buried deep under the ice to 'reveal secrets' of global warming. oooh.
A hi-tech 'egg' to be buried deep beneath the Greenland ice sheets should reveal how high sea levels are set rise, climate scientists said today. The wireless 'Cryo-Egg' will be developed over two years, and is set to probe the changing behaviour of the ice sheets as the global warming takes hold. The University of Bristol won £225,000 in funding to build the egg which will be placed on the ice sheet bed and have "free range" of the environments it encounters.
read more @ daily mail9. further discrediting of the truth shall be accomplished by linking loathsome sociopathic airheads like Sarah Palin to the global warming resistance
At a critical time, the uproar over stolen e-mails suggesting scientists suppressed contrary views about climate change has emboldened sceptics — including U.S. congressional Republicans looking to scuttle President Barack Obama’s push for mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases.
The e-mail brouhaha dubbed “Climategate” by doubters comes as U.S. delegates to the international climate conference in Copenhagen are trying to convince the world the United States is determined to move aggressively to rein in heat-trapping pollution. To counter the delegates, a group of Republican lawmakers is going to Copenhagen to argue against mandatory greenhouse gas reductions.
The climate sceptics gained political momentum when former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Mr. Obama should boycott the negotiations in Denmark and “not be a party to fraudulent scientific practices” — a clear reference to the purloined e-mails from computers belonging to scientists at a British climate research centre.
read more @ the hindu10. blinding stupidity
murders, deaths, trafficking news
MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti) - A 57-year-old Russian beekeeper who shot dead three people, including two police officers, to avenge the deaths of his children was handed a 23-year jail term in maximum security prison on Thursday.
Alexandrovskoe resident Alexander Taran, who has consistently denied the charges against him, took up arms after first his 20-year-old daughter died of a heroin overdose in 1994 and his 25-year-old son was beaten to death by unidentified assailants at a nightclub seven years later.
Taran then swore on the graves of children that he would find and punish those responsible for their deaths. In order to carry through his pledge, he acquired a Kalashnikov assault rifle.
His first victim was local businessman Magomed Erkenov. Taran was convinced that Erkenov's nephew was responsible for his son's death, and that the wealthy businessman had used his connections to get him off. Taran waited for Erkenaov, and shot him "at least 12 times" as he was coming out of his apartment.
He next turned his attention to the head of the local hospital. Taran believed that Sergei Gresyev could have saved his daughter's life and broke into his house, intending to murder him in cold blood. But he took mercy on the doctor, shooting him in the shoulder instead. Police were unable to link the earlier murder of Erkenov with the attack on Gresyev.
Taran then decided that the drug dealers who had got his daughter hooked were being protected by the police and shot dead 38-year-old officer Oleg Tanchik. Six months later he gunned down Alexandrovskoe police chief Vladimir Shtana, shooting him in the back.
2. Scotland: escaped murderer found dead in Africa
A convicted murderer who escaped from an open prison has been found dead in a West African holiday resort, it was revealed today. John Burt Brown, convicted of murder in 1976, absconded from Castle Huntly open prison near Dundee after he was let out on home leave. The 57-year-old's body was found in the Gambia on November 29. He was reportedly found hanging.
...Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken branded the open prison system "useless" and demanded an investigation into how Brown managed to leave the country. He said: "There are clearly questions which have to be asked, the most obvious one being how did this man get a passport when he had been in prison for many years? "Secondly, how was he able to fund this trip to the Gambia? I am also intrigued as to why he should have gone there of all places. "But once again this now rather tragic matter illustrates how useless our open prison estate is in actually keeping prisoners in jail."
read more @ independent3. Scotland: murder hunt after radio presenter is found dead in her home
Police launched a murder hunt last night after a radio presenter was found dead in her home. Nasim Jamil, 54, was discovered by family members at her flat in Glasgow's Byres Road on Wednesday evening. The widow was a voluntary presenter for Glasgow-based Asian radio station Awaz FM. Strathclyde Police last night confirmed they were treating her death as murder following the results of a post mortem examination. ...
Mrs Jamil presented a show which dealt with true stories and a variety of different subjects. She joined the growing station shortly after it first started broadcasting. In her station profile Mrs Jamil described herself as an 'emotional person who loves helping people'. She added: 'When I joined the radio station I wanted to do such a programme where I could reunite broken families.
4. Irish priest murdered in Kenya
Taoiseach Brian Cowen has called for a full investigation by the Kenyan authorities into the murder of an Irish priest in a robbery there in the early hours of this morning. Fr Jeremiah Roche (68) from Athea in west Limerick, was a member of the Kiltegan Fathers and had been based in Kenya for more than 40 years. He was murdered during the robbery at his home in Kericho at about 4am this morning. Fr Tom Kiggins of the Kiltegan Fathers in Co Wicklow said the news had come as a terrible shock. Fr Roche's family in Limerick were informed of the news by the Kiltegan Fathers at about 7am this morning. It is understood he has brothers and sisters in Ireland and also family in Chicago in the US....Speaking in Brussels shortly after the end of a meeting with fellow EU leaders, Mr Cowen offered sympathies to the family of the murdered priest.
5. Africa turns into cocaine paradise
The UN Security Council called for greater international cooperation in fighting drug trafficking on the African continent, since in the last few years the countries of Western and Eastern Africa have been serving as the largest terminal bases for illicit drugs. The drugs are mainly supplied from Latin America and Afghanistan. UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon admitted that governments of different countries keep losing the battle with illegal drug trafficking.
Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Antonio Maria Costa presented a special report at the meeting of UN Security Council. He warned that drug trafficking is turning the African continent into the center of world crime. He said that the money gained from selling huge amounts of heroin and cocaine goes to terrorists and anti-government forces, not only in Africa, but other countries as well. UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon mentioned that drug trafficking reduces the effectiveness of peace-keeping efforts in Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar, Columbia, and other hot spots.
The scale of African drug trafficking is impressive. In November, a Boeing 727 transporting 10 tons of cocaine from Venezuela crashed in Mali. African drug traffickers are working on a completely different level, often using planes instead of camels in the Sahara desert.
Drugs here are gradually becoming a new type of currency. "It is scary that this new example of the links between drugs, crime and terrorism was discovered by chance," Costa said.read more @ pravda
6. South Thailand & Malaysia trafficking
excerpt:
Clothing, rice, farm animals, fireworks, electronics, wildlife, gasoline, automobiles and narcotics are all smuggled across the border, often to avoid tariff payments. According to Malaysian statistics, in the first six months of 2009, the General Operations Force, a paramilitary branch of the Royal Malaysian Police, seized almost US$2.9 million worth of contraband in Kelantan state. The Marine Operations Force, Malaysia's marine police, seized some $1.38 million in smuggled goods last year.
Narcotics have become a major issue, with large amounts of amphetamine-type stimulants, mostly produced in Myanmar, passing across the border. Despite severe anti-narcotics laws that include death penalties, drug use among Malaysians, particularly young people, is growing rapidly and the country is increasingly becoming a transit country for trafficking across the region, according to the US's 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report.
Malaysia was earlier this year placed on the US's human trafficking blacklist and was the subject of a report released by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April. Both reports alleged that Malaysian immigration and security forces were complicit with well-organized networks in human trafficking across the border with Thailand. Although the report focused largely on Malaysia, the cross-border nature of the networks suggests involvement by Thai security forces and officials as well.
read more @ asia times
this is just kind of funny
NEW DELHI - In an Indian environment, the Tiger Woods saga perhaps would have been a little different.
When the golfer crashed his vehicle outside his house, the police and ambulance would have been the last to know, given the sorry state of such services in India. Nobody would have bothered to call or inform them as they never arrive when needed. No one wants to be involved in a "police case" that could drag on for years, with innocents usually harassed the most.
Woods would have been carried back home by the otherwise usually helpful and also very nosy neighbors. "He is having an affair/s, so problems with the wife," they would all say - but only inwhispers as such things are never spoken about loudly, in public, to the media, and never in front of the wife.
Riots would soon threaten to break out outside Woods' house, presumably in congested Delhi or Mumbai, where roadside pavements are home to millions of homeless. It would soon emerge that the driver was in a state of intoxication and, to escape his wife, ended up driving his vehicle over beggars and construction workers sleeping on the pavement at night. A couple of people would have died without knowing what hit them.
After some time, the police would arrive anyway as they sensed that the accident involved a rich man, but not a politician or bureaucrat or an affluent businessman with connections. They would wonder how being a golfer could be a profession at all.
Over cups of tea, they would wait for Woods to regain consciousness then ask him to breathe into a dirty, bacteria and infection-laden instrument to test for alcohol levels. Then they would threaten to take away his driving license (never easy to procure, given the inefficiencies of the system) and vehicle unless he took care of the attending officers. Bribe and booze bottles accepted, they would step out and fire their guns in the air to disperse the crowd. The log at the police station would read: "No alcohol traced". The accident would not be mentioned.
read more @ asia times
big brass ones
(12-9-9) The man with the nickname "Dr Flu", Professor Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam Holland has been named by Dutch media researchers as the person at the center of the worldwide Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A 2009 pandemic hysteria.
Not only is Osterhaus the connecting person in an international network that has been described as the Pharma Mafia, he is THE key advisor to WHO on influenza and is intimately positioned to personally profit from the billions of euros in vaccines allegedly aimed at H1N1.
Earlier this year the Second Chamber of the Netherlands Parliament undertook an investigation into alleged conflicts of interest and financial improprieties of the well-known Dr. Osterhaus.
Outside of Holland and the Dutch media, the only note of the sensational investigation into Osterhaus' business affairs came in a tiny note in the respected British magazine, Science.
Osterhaus's credentials and expertise in his field were not in question.
read more @ conspiracy planet
2. new study shows HIV/AIDS vaccine can reduce infection rate by 40% -- note MODEST 30 year plan for distribution of this vaccine
KAMPALA, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- A new study to be unveiled here next week shows that an HIV vaccine with a 60 percent efficacy can reduce the infection rate of HIV/AIDS by 40 percent, an HIV/AIDS expert said here on Thursday.
Kihumuro Apuuli, Director General of Uganda AIDS Commission told reporters that the results of the study carried out in both Uganda and Kenya shows the importance of developing a vaccine to supplement the current prevention measures.
He said that if the vaccine is distributed to 30 percent of Uganda's adult population in a period of over 30 years, nearly 800,000 new infections would be averted.
"If this vaccine was available in 2015, between 2016 and 2050, we would stop 780,000 new infections and we would reduce the number of new infections that would have occurred in that period by nearly 40 percent," he said, flanked by other researchers.
In neighboring Kenya, if a vaccine with 60 percent efficacy is given to 50 percent of the country's adult population from 2020 to2050, 2.4 million new infections would be prevented.
The study is to be unveiled at the first ever three-day international conference on HIV vaccine research and development.
source: chinaview3. Czech researchers claim finding AIDS-stopping substance -- and they probably did but sadly they will give the discovery to big pharma who will use it to make lots of money
PRAGUE, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Czech researchers have claimed that they have found a substance capable of stopping the AIDS virus from propagating in human bodies.
The alleged finding was pronounced on Thursday by the Czech Academy of Sciences and the finding was published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
The substance belongs to the group of metallacarbones, chemical compound of boron, hydrogen, carbon and cobalt, according to the academy.
Czech researchers claimed that the substance can stop AIDS virus from propagating in other ways than known drugs.
The substance is said to be stable and comparatively low in toxicity.
But the researchers said that it takes time for the substance to be fully developed and incorporated into human drugs and that they are offering their finding to one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. But they did not reveal the name of the company.
The Czech Republic now has some 1,500 people living with HIV/AIDS among its population of 1.1 million. In the first 10 months of this year, 128 new HIV/AIDS cases were reported in the country.
source: chinaview
profiteering, or trying to anyway
No companies submit bids to work on Baghdad East oil field or Eastern Fields as part of auction.
By Prashant Rao - BAGHDAD
Iraq struck deals with consortiums led by energy giants Shell and CNPC over massive southern oil fields Friday, part of a two-day auction that seeks to dramatically boost the country's crude output.
The successful bids from the Anglo-Dutch and Chinese giants kicked off the sale, which aims to catapult Iraq towards the top of the list of the world's oil producers and bring in much-needed revenue to rebuild the country.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki highlighted the transparency with which the auction was being conducted, contrasting it with the "darkened rooms" in which now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein made deals over oil.
The contract for the enormous Majnoon field was jointly won Shell and its Malaysian partner Petronas, while CNPC led a group comprised of Petronas and France's Total to capture Halfaya.
read more @ middle east online
2. UAE 'containing' global meltdown
KUWAIT: The United Arab Emirates has successfully "contained" the negative impacts of the global financial meltdown on the back of its solid economy, the UAE president said yesterday. "We have been able to contain the negative impacts of the (global economic) crisis and overcome many of its results and consequences," Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan told Kuwait's KUNA news agency in an interview. "We have the ability and determination to continue to work in this direction... to remove all obstacles that prevent strong development," the president said.
Sheikh Khalifa, whose country is the third largest OPEC producer and which has huge foreign investments, said the UAE economy was based on strong foundations. His comments came with the UAE's stock markets still tumbling two weeks after real estate giant Nakheel, a part of state-owned conglomerate Dubai World, sought a freeze in payments on a $4.0-billion Islamic bond debt. The announcement raised fears of a Dubai debt default and shocked global financial markets. The main Dubai and Abu Dhabi stock market indexes have since plummeted by around 26 and 15 percent, respectively.
read more @ kuwait times
3. four digit gold 'magical' for investment psychology - Hathaway
RENO, NV -
Tocqueville Gold Fund manager John Hathaway suggests the effect of four-digit gold "has been magical for investment psychology. Day after day, the financial media publishes glowing reports on the metal's prospects while never failing to trash the beleaguered greenback."
In his recent commentary, "A Contrarian's Dilemma," Hathaway suggested "the world's perception of gold has changed and the pace of the bull market has quickened."
Hathaway said the decision of the central bank of India to buy 200 metric tonnes of IMF gold "shattered the long held investment assumption that official sector selling would supply the market forever."
4. Kazakh uranium boss trial to proceed
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A criminal case against Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the former head of Kazakhstan's state uranium firm Kazatomprom, will proceed to court.
...Prosecutor's office spokesman Nurdaulet Suindikov commented, "The investigation charges former Kazatomprom president Mukhtar Dzhakishev with theft by way of embezzling a state company's property." Suindikov added that Dzhakishev would be charged with embezzling 100 million tenge ($600,000) from Kazatomprom.
...Kazakhstan contains the world's second-largest uranium reserves, estimated at 1.5 million tons. The country in 2006 produced 5,279 tons of uranium, but as part of its plans to increase output boosted uranium output in January-September to 9,535 tons.
5. US mine firm pays historic $1.79B for cleanup
WASHINGTON – A bankrupt Arizona copper mining firm has paid $1.79 billion for environmental cleanup and restoration in the largest such payout in US history, US federal agencies said Thursday.
The funds, obtained through Asarco's bankruptcy reorganization, will be used to pay for past and future costs to clean up hazardous mining waste at more than 80 sites in 19 states.
The American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco), a leading copper producer based in Tucson, will remain liable for any environmental damage at properties it continues to own and operate, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the departments of justice, interior and agriculture announced....
The affected sites were in Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Washington. Federal officials noted that without the settlement, US taxpayers would have been forced to pay for the cleanup. The process is expected to take years.
6. UK issues new guidelines on labelling food from illegal West Bank settlements
Britain has acted to increase pressure on Israel over its West Bank settlements by advising UK supermarkets on how to distinguish between foods from the settlements and Palestinian-manufactured goods.
The government's move falls short of a legal requirement but is bound to increase the prospects of a consumer boycott of products from those territories. Israeli officials and settler leaders were tonight highly critical of the decision.
Until now, food has been simply labelled "Produce of the West Bank", but the new, voluntary guidance issued by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), says labels could give more precise information, like "Israeli settlement produce" or "Palestinian produce".
12.10.2009
resistance to Israel grows stronger
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stated that if Israel crossed over into Turkey’s airspace in order to bomb Iran then their answer to Israel shall be like that of an “earthquake“.
Erdogan’s response was due to a question, in an interview with Lebanese newspaper “Al Safir”, over information indicating that Israel had violated Turkish airspace in the process of spying against Iran.
Erdogan continued,saying that certainly “the information [stating that Israel was using their airspace to spy on Iran] is incorrect,” but he stated that, “if Israel did so, they will receive a response equal to that of an earthquake.”
read more @ political theatrics
2. analysis: tension between Israel & Turkey: temporary or permanent?
conclusion:
The question raised here is what would be the result of the Turkish positions on Israel? Will it amount to a strategic shift or would it just be a temporary tactical position? In reality, Erdogan has succeeded in reclaiming a vital role for Turkish diplomacy at the Arab and regional levels with these initial positions. It is noticed that despite internal (especially on the side of Turkish military forces) and external pressures (related to the necessity of preserving the vital interests of the US and Israel), the positions of the Turkish government have confirmed in the past its ability to keep the independence of its decisions. This was apparent from its refusal to allow the passage of the US forces through its territories during the Iraq war in 2003. It can be said that the current Turkish movements are still in its exploratory phases to identify the level of Arab responsiveness and assess the cost and returns. In order for the principled Turkish position over Israel to be successful there must be a corresponding Arab dimension to push this Turkish change into an Arab–Turkish strategic regional alliance. This alliance would restructure the regional formulas and balance of power in the region at a level that would penetrate and break the strategic Turkish–Israeli alliance. There is always the fear that Arabs would not avail this new opportunity, as unfortunately the Arab region still remains a region of lost opportunities. If the adverse Arab position persists, it is likely that a gradual Turkish retreat will happen with respect to the current position on Israel.
read more @ middle east online
3. Dalit Voice: Turkey becomes powerful Muslim country
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: After years and years of our campaign, Turkey has finally heeded our Voice and turned to Islam — bidding goodbye to the White “Christian Club” (European Union) to which it will never get admission.
After embracing its Muslim neighbours Turkey has gained its stature not only among its co-religionists but even among the anti-Muslim Whites.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the stature of Turkey which has started playing key role in the Islamic world.
His support to Iran and its right to nuclear power and giving full backing to the re-election of President Ahmedinejad will be a shock to the zionist Israel. Yet another big achievement is Turkey’s move to embrace the Kurds with whom it had years of fierce battle.
The most important is Turkey turning against the zionist Israel with which it had a long association because of Kemal Pasha, the founder of the modern Turkey who turned it against Islam and did a lot to destroy its Muslim identity.
read more @ dalit voice
4. Syria: accusations against us have backfired
Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said accusations by many against Syria saying it stands behind ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Assassination have "backfired on them." He told a Progressive National Front meeting in Damascus on Wednesday that Syria has succeeded in overcoming "all the crises that hit it since 2003."
He expressed hope that formation of a Lebanese national unity government would "open the way to build a positive Syrian-Lebanese relationship." Sharaa pointed out that Syria has worked to fill the "strategic vacuum" after the war on Iraq by strengthening ties with Iran and establishing a strategic relationship with Turkey.
5. Iran: Lebanese, Palestinian resistance seriously damages Zionism
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said the Zionist regime suffered a very big blow to its very existence by the resistance of Lebanese and Palestinian nations.
He made the remark in separate meetings with Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, Secretary General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
During the meetings, the Iranian minister stressed the need for all-out support for resistance of Palestinian and Lebanese groups against the Zionist threats, the Islamic republic news agency reported.
He believed developments in the past decades proved that the spirit of resistance has not only failed to fade in the Palestinian nation but also reached a point where it has already weakened the Zionist regime, thanks to the strength, vigilance and bravery of both the Palestinian people and its leaders.
Vahidi further said victory of people over Zionists in southern Lebanon and also in Gaza were clear examples of the divine aids.
The Iranian defense minister also underscored Tehran's support for the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon and said Iranians will stand by the Palestinian nation till the victory of oppressed Palestinians and liberation of the holy Qods.
6. Syrian VP: Israel won't attack Iran without US support
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa estimated that Israel would not be able to attack Iran without the support of the United States.
Speaking to heads of the ruling Ba'ath Party, al-Sharaa said Thursday that US President Barack Obama has tried to "restrain" Israel in order to prevent a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. "The Israelis, despite their (vast arsenal), were unable to force the Palestinian people in Gaza to surrender and wave the white flag," he said.
The Syrian vice president said that in 2003, when the US invaded Iraq, Damascus stressed its support for the "national resistance" and said that the "American-Israeli plan in Middle East could not succeed."
Addressing the possibility of renewed indirect peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, al-Sharaa said such a process would require the support of the US and Europe.
read more @ al manar tv
7. Iran views defense ties to Syria as deterrent to Israel
TEHRAN (FNA)- The defense ties between Iran and Syria serve as a deterrent to Israeli threats, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi stressed on Wednesday.
...Referring to the developing trend of defense relations between the two countries, Vahidi pointed out, "Today a new power pole is being formed in the world which secures the independence, freedom and interests of the nations and Iran and Syria play a unique and very good role in this process."
Vahidi also viewed Iran and Syria as strategic allies in establishing tranquility and stability in the region, and stressed that the two countries' responsibility for consolidating and strengthening security in the region indicates the importance of the cooperation between them.
read more @ fars news agency
8. Sweden warns Israel not to divide EU over Jerusalem
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt warned Thursday that Israel must not play "divide and rule" with the 27-member European Union over a recent resolution calling for Jerusalem to become the shared capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state.
Bildt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said Thursday the bloc was united and would not "remain shy" on so crucial an issue.
The EU's adoption Tuesday of the new resolution on Jerusalem sparked an angry reaction from Israel, which captured the eastern half of the city in the 1967 Six-Day War.
read more @ haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134160.html
Iranian nuclear scientist? never heard of him.
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday denied Tehran’s charges that it had handed over an Iranian nuclear scientist to the United States.
Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nugali said he was stunned by the Iranian allegations. In denouncing the Iranian allegations, Nugali said the Saudi government had conducted an extensive investigation after the scientist, Shahram Amiri, disappeared in May this year.
“After having been informed of his disappearance by the Iranian delegation (in Makkah), Saudi authorities undertook an intensive search in Madinah as well as in all the hospitals and hotels in the region of Makkah and even at his residence in the Kingdom,” Nugali said.
“This has raised a lot of questions about the circumstances that led to Amiri’s disappearance and his contacts,” the spokesman said, adding that the Saudi government had raised those issues with the Iranian delegation as well as with the Iranian Embassy in Riyadh. “But we have not yet received any official reply from Tehran.”
He said Saudi Arabia receives a million Iranian pilgrims every year who come for Haj and Umrah. “As with other countries these pilgrims are under the supervision of their own national delegations,” he said.
read more @ arab news2. Spain to take over UNIFIL in January. hissy fit by Israel didn't work.
General Asarta will replace Italy's Claudio Graziano at helm of UNIFIL from January 28.
MADRID - A Spanish general will next month take charge of the 12,000-strong United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the defence ministry said Wednesday. General Alberto Asarta Cuevas was nominated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, it said in a statement. He will replace Italy's Claudio Graziano who has held the post for the past three years.
...UNIFIL now has 12,341 soldiers from 29 nations. It was set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon and considerably beefed up in the wake of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Spain has 1,100 soldiers in the force, making it the fourth largest UNIFIL troop contingent. France is the largest single contributor.
Spain will hold the rotating presidency of the European Union during the first half of 2010, and political analysts say Madrid is keen to take control of UNIFIL in order to raise its Middle East profile during this time.
source: middle east online
enduring mystery: where DO all these terrorists and their weapons come from?
SHARIFF AGUAK, MAGUINDANAO—The continuing discovery of state-issued armaments hidden in purported estates of the Ampatuans has dumbfounded military officials.
On Tuesday night, missiles and ammunition with sufficient power to obliterate a small town were found by soldiers in a huge warehouse allegedly owned by Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr.
The missiles, including “illuminating rockets,” were stashed between two concrete walls of a storage area just a few meters from the province’s main public market in Barangay San Sebastian.
“We were really stunned by this discovery,” Lt. Col. Michael Samson, spokesperson of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Maguindanao, Wednesday told the Inquirer.
“Only government forces are allowed to have these high explosives. The supply of some of these is limited,” Samson said, adding that the seized items could meet the needs of a battalion of soldiers fighting secessionist rebels.
...“You can just imagine the damage it could cause if these rocket warheads are used by criminal elements to sow terror,” he said. [evidently missing the irony - ed.]He said the AFP had started looking into the firearms and bullets that carried the markings “Government Arsenal DND (Department of National Defense).”
“I’m confident that we will eventually trace the source of these explosives,” Samson said.
2. FBI questions US suspects held in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have started questioning five suspects who had been missing from Washington and were arrested in eastern Pakistan this week, police sources said Thursday.
...Earlier, it was reported that the U.S. federal investigators were searching for a Howard University dental student and four other Muslim men reportedly missing from the Washington DC area at the end of last month.
According to local reports, three of the men are Americans of Pakistani descent, one is of Egyptian descent and the other is of Yemeni heritage.
Local TV channels reported that an FBI team arrived in Sargodha early Thursday and started questioning the arrested men at undisclosed location. The FBI had been searching for the men since their families reported them missing and expressed fears they may have gone to Pakistan.
3. Swede held in Pakistan on terror charges
A Swedish national is reportedly among five terror suspects arrested in Pakistan on suspicions of plotting a militant attack, Pakistani authorities said on Wednesday. The five were arrested in Sargodha, south of Islamabad, at the home of a member of the banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, Pakistani district police chief Usman Anwar told AFP Wednesday.
Pakistani officials said the men were two Yemenis, one Egyptian, one Swede and a Pakistani-American. Muslim leaders in Washington said the men had been living in northern Virginia, close to the US capital, with their families until they disappeared last month.
An official at the Pakistani embassy in Washington said they are "all of US origin," but Federal Bureau of Investigations officials gave no confirmation of their nationalities.
everything's ruined. !!
excerpt:
There is only one question that counts: Is this current period of climate change truly different to every other period ie. with natural causes completely absent and humans being promoted to a status that would previously have been the very definition of hubris?
Given that previous climate change has been disappeared as have the natural causes that led to it,
Given that the people who declare that it's-humans-wot-dunnit have been caught flat out lying, have acknowledged that they're lying, and have discussed means of lying more effectively,
Given that these same people have been on the receiving end of staggering sums of money, promotions, Nobel prizes etc,
Given that the only solution on the table consists not of actually curtailing pollution so much as subjecting everyone to yet another contrived and convoluted means of exchange,
Given that this must necessarily be administered by the exact same geniuses who think it perfectly right that they receive world record bonuses in the middle of world record economic collapse (that they, sure enough, made),
Given that we're being stampeded into it like it was some kind of "Sponge-O-Matic! Three for the price of one! But only if you call now!" TV crap,
Given that the only reason that the lies-is-all-they-got death cult motherfuckers who rule us wouldn't do this is because they didn't think of it,
Given all these things... I'm going to call it! IT'S BULLSHIT! Of course they would do this! It's not like they've got anything better to do. A Rothschild can't spend every waking moment fucking kids and mind-control zombies, can he?
read more @ church of nobody
2. UN scientific community condemns "climategate" -- NO! not the lying and bad science, silly; their science mind-fuck-buddies are VICTIMS!
Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Rajendra Pachauri along with fellow scientists stood up for their colleagues allegedly involved in the ‘Climategate’ scandal, stating that they had been “unfairly targeted.”
“The persons who have worked on this report, and those who unfortunately have been victims of this terrible and illegal act, are outstanding scientists, and have contributed enormously over the 20, 21 years of the existence of the IPCC,” Mr. Pachauri told journalists here. “I believe they are being unfairly targeted,” he added.
In his opening statement at the UN Copenhagen conference on Monday, the head of IPCC called the incident as an “illegal act” done by those who continued to deny the existence of climate change.
read more @ the hindu3. Soros: finance gap could "wreck" climate talks
The $10 billion a year proposed by rich nations to help the poor adapt to climate change is “not sufficient” and the gap between what’s offered and what’s needed could wreck the Copenhagen climate conference, American billionaire George Soros said on Thursday.
The investor-philanthropist, one in a line of international notables visiting the 192-nation meeting, told reporters he had developed a partial solution. Mr. Soros suggested shifting some International Monetary Fund resources from providing liquidity to stressed global financial systems to a new mission of financing projects in developing countries for clean energy and adapting to climate change.
About $100 billion in a one-time infusion could be generated, said Mr. Soros, a major supporter of causes in the developing world.
But he acknowledged a major roadblock in Washington.
read more @ the hindudisease -- the gift that keeps on giving
MOST people who called the NHS swine flu hotline were misdiagnosed with the virus, a survey has found. Only one in five people diagnosed by the NHS hotline actually had the illness, according to an investigation by the Health Protection Agency.
This means that 800,000 packets of Tamiflu costing £15 each were given to patients not suffering from the H1N1 virus, while the economy lost millions of pounds from workers calling in sick claiming to have swine flu.
2. moving on -- plague reported in Russia
An outbreak of pneumonic plague similar to that recently reported in the Ukraine and Poland has killed at least thirty people in the city of Saratow, reports Germany's Der Spiegel.
Top Russian health official Gennadi Onischenko is reported as saying the outbreak is deliberate and part of a "conspiracy." But he does not know who is behind the action.
This is part of the Spiegel report translated into English.
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/medizin/0,1518,665238,00.html
Swine flu information disaster
Plague panic in of Russia province
By Benjamin Bidder, Moscow
Schools are closed, the bishop has masses read - 30 deaths because of the swine flu have triggered panic in a Russian Volga city. Conspiracy theories make the rounds, the authorities are concealing the truth about how bad things are: the plague is here.
3. Fort Detrick researches make pneumonic plague vaccine with Britian, Canada
A University of Illinois international law professor, Francis Boyle had first stated that a military laboratory expansion at Fort Detrick would plan a weaponized program that would include activities such “acquiring, growing, modifying, storing, packaging and dispersing classical, emerging and genetically engineered pathogens.”
Fort Detrick is a research laboratory which manufactures vaccines. It is located quite close to Washington, in Maryland, and it is attached to the National Cancer Institute at Bethesda, a suburb of the capital.
Boyle charged that those activities, as well as planned study of the properties of pathogens when weaponized, “are unmistakable hallmarks of an offensive weapons program.”
Boyle made his comments to Fort Detrick as part of its environmental impact assessment of the new facility. Boyle pointed out in his letter that he authored the 1989 U.S. law enacted by Congress that criminalized BWC violations.
The Fort Detrick expansion is but one phase of a multi-billion biotech buildup going forward in 11 other agencies since 2001.
A Captain and biologist of the US Navy at Fort Detrick, Neil Levitt, had previously reported the disappearance of 2.35 liters of an experimental vaccine. A dose sufficient to contaminate the entire world.
Now, a group of Fort Detrick researchers recently found out their 15-plus years of work to combat the plague would be the focus of a multinational effort to mass produce a vaccine.
...The Army hopes to have the vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by 2015. Already completed early human clinical trials indicate the vaccine is safe and does provide immunity to the plague bacteria, called Yersinia pestis.read more @ prevent disease
4. CIDRAP: anthrax vaccine strategy shift, good news on TB
BARDA shifts approach for developing new anthrax vaccine
The Biomedical Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Dec 7 that it is changing its approach for supporting the development of a next-generation anthrax vaccine. The announcement came as BARDA canceled its request for proposal for companies to develop a recombinant protective-antigen anthrax vaccine for the Strategic National Stockpile, after its technical panel determined none of the companies could meet the Project BioShield requirement to have a product licensed within 8 years.
...WHO reports good news in global TB battle
Over the past 15 years a rigorous approach to tuberculosis (TB) treatment has cured 36 million people and saved about 8 million lives, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in its latest TB report. In 1994 the WHO incorporated the DOTS strategy into its TB program, which added five elements: political commitment with sustained financing, case detection through quality bacteriology, standardized treatment with supervision and patient support, an effective drug supply system, monitoring and evaluation protocols, and impact measurement. In the past year, 87% of treated patients were cured, marking the first time the global target of 85% has been met since it was set in 1991, the WHO said. Progress is being made on addressing TB and HIV coinfections, but not all patients are receiving the treatment they should. Multidrug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB are still a persistent challenge in many parts of the world, the agency reported.
read more @ CIDRAP
military ocean technology
LONDON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The prospect of hostile forces aiming to attack Western targets by stealth through underwater channels is worrying defense planners so much that naval strategists have called a conference that will focus on the problem.
The conference, "Underwater Battlespace 2010," is scheduled to take place in London in January 2010. Conference organizers said specialist discussion panels will bring together naval experts from across the world to highlight security concerns that have been sidelined amid advances in airborne and ground defense systems.
Analysts said the changing threat perceptions meant a new emphasis on underwater military challenges and opportunities for more effective defense.
...Analysts said as failures of immigration control had demonstrated, with thousands of migrants defying stringent security systems to reach destinations for economic advancement, littoral security of states with long coastlines was now a major issue.The problem of long, vulnerable coastlines is more relevant to the Americas, but recent instances of uncontrolled human traffic between Africa and the southern Mediterranean's European countries and between Britain and mainland Europe have demonstrated that the threat can be transferred to more worrying forms of security breaches.
2. mysterious light show over Norway caused by failed Russian sub-launched missile test -- good news, it wasn't ET
The latest test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the White Sea in northern Russia ended in failure, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday. Wednesday's test was Bulava's seventh failure, according to official reports. Russia hopes the submarine-launched missile will be a key element of its nuclear forces.
"The first two stages functioned smoothly, but the flight faltered at the third stage. There was a technical failure in the third stage engines rendering them unstable," the ministry said in a statement.
The statement came after media reports on a mysterious light in the form of a spiral over Norway's northern areas several hundred kilometers from the launch site on Wednesday. Norwegian media suggested it could be a Russian missile spinning after a faulty launch.
was France involved in assassination attempt on Camera?
The Guinean junta has accused France and its secret services of being the brains behind the assassination attempt on Guinea’s president, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, in an alleged effort to destabilise the country. The junta, the National Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD) has also suspended its participation in the Ouagadougou negotiations under the auspices of Burkinabe president, Blaise Compaoré.
...The Guinean Minister of Communications and junta spokesman, Idrissa Cheriff, told the press on Tuesday that France could be hiding President Camara’s alleged assassin, Lieutenant Aboubacar “Toumba” Diakité, in their embassy. “I say that the French are guilty. The French secret service is involved in this affair,” he declared. He also accused French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, and the Guinean opposition of plotting to destabilise the country.
...In Paris, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Valero, “energetically” rejected the “absurd rumours." French authorities have not hidden the fact that they met in Paris with members of the Guinean opposition, Alpha Condé and Cellou Dallein Diallo. But they have formally denied having anything to do with an alleged coup d’état. On Monday, French authorities expressed their strong opposition after the Guinean military stopped and searched their ambassador’s car near the Conakry airport.
read more @ afrik.com
2. aangirfan: Deripaska, Kouchner and plots in Guinea
Who will get control of the mineral wealth in Guinea?
The Jewish oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and the Chinese, are among those with interests in Guinea.
France's Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, who has a Jewish father, takes an interest in Guinea.
The CIA takes an interest in Guinea.
read more @ aangirfan
3. China's monopoly on 'green' minerals
BEIJING, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- China's monopoly on "rare earth" minerals, essential for green technologies, may not keep up with increasing demand. While China has 53 percent of the world's rare earth deposits, it provides about 95 percent of the world's supply. In the last 10 years, a 40,000-ton per year global market for rare earth has grown to 125,000 tons per year, according to the U.K. Times Online. By 2014 demand is predicted to reach 200,000 tons per year.
...Most of the world's rare earth comes from a single mine in Baotou in China's Inner Mongolia. Much of the rest comes from small, often unlicensed mines in southern China. Outside of China, only two projects are expected to be producing rare earth in the next five years: Molycorp Minerals' Mountain Pass in California and Lynas Corporation's Mount Weld in Australia....But readying a rare earth mine to Western environmental standards is expensive. Mostly because of lax standards, China can extract the minerals for about a third of what it would cost in the West. Those living near China's rare earth mines and processing plants are paying a price.
read more @ upi asia
trafficking news & police work
European police agency Europol said today it had arrested 115 alleged child sex offenders, some of them teachers or caretakers, in raids across 19 countries in an operation against child pornography.
Europol said a two-year international operation targeting child sex offenders on the internet had identified five children in different countries, aged between 4 and 12, who were the victims of sexual crimes. A total of 221 suspects were identified.
...The investigation was led by Austrian authorities, who found an internet service provider being misused as a distribution channel for child pornography. Europol then analysed log files and reported back to involved countries.
Raids took place in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, [no countries starting with "I"...] Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
read more @ independent2. teenager detained wtih heroin in stomach at Moscow airport
Police at Moscow's Domodedovo airport have detained a 17-year-old Tajik national carrying some 800 grams of heroin in his stomach, a police source said.
...According to estimates, about 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. And the vast majority of heroin consumed in Europe passes through Russia on its way from Afghanistan, where illegal drug production has reportedly risen more than 40 times since 2001.Swedish police have arrested 40 people in a nationwide doping raid, according to a statement.The operation took place at nine locations across the country involving the police, prosecutors, Swedish customs, as well as Sweden’s tax and debt collection agencies.
Around 300 officers and a large number of civil servants from the other agencies were involved in the raids. Police carried out valuable seizures through a number of home searches, but a statement from the police doesn’t elaborate on what exactly was confiscated. The raids have also been carried out with the aim of securing assets and property which was financed with proceeds from criminal activity....The investigation has so far revealed the existence of a well-organized and wide-ranging trade in doping substances across the whole of Sweden, involving large sums of money.
read more @ the local
12.09.2009
trends and psyops of the future
Dubai govt ring-fences main assets - Kuwait Times
DUBAI: Dubai has ring-fenced prized assets such as Emirates airline from the $26 billion debt restructuring of Dubai World, denting fragile investor sentiment ahead of talks between the state conglomerate and key creditors. The firm that spearheaded Dubai's growth was set to meet with its main bank creditors later yesterday to discuss a request to delay repayments that has shaken global markets and damaged the reputation of the Gulf Arab business hub.
UK: it's worse than we thought, admits Darling - The Independent
The Chancellor admitted today the recession was far deeper than he had predicted as he announced a public sector pay squeeze to help curb soaring national debt. Alistair Darling laid out plans to slash public spending in real terms from 2011 - after the General Election - as he revealed the economy would shrink by 4.75 per cent in 2009 compared to his April Budget estimate of 3.5 per cent.
opinion - Gold's Enemies Multiplying - MINEWebThere's nothing like kicking a golden dog when it's down. Just as the metal's recent surge runs out of steam - temporarily perhaps - new voices are being added to the recently silenced crowd which never misses an opportunity of dissing the "barbarous relic". Among the e-mails being circulated by the anti-gold lobby is an interview in late October by Nouriel Roubini, or Dr Doom as he prefers to be called, who told Yahoo Finance you'll never find him among bullion's supporters.
2. disease -- it's gonna get you
severity of H1N1 may be less than previously feared say experts in study! - Chinaview
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- A new study from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the UK Medical Research Council projects that the severity of the H1N1 flu during the autumn-winter flu season in the United States will likely be less than previously feared.
but WATCH OUT FOR THE PLAGUE - Prevent Disease
A limited number of agents, if used as weapons, could cause disease and death in sufficient numbers to cripple a city or region. These agents also comprise the top of the list of "Critical Biological Agents" developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
3. cyber attacks, also gonna get you
smart grids may be prone to cyberattacks so install this meter and let us protect you (wink wink wink) - UPI Asia
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Smart-grid networks that depend heavily on technology both for energy efficiency and for better management of electricity consumers are vulnerable to cyberattacks that can endanger entire cities, industry findings show. Ann Whyte, a spokeswoman for Defense Support Services LLC (DS2), a Lockheed Martin and Day & Zimmermann company, said suppliers that are planning to install electricity smart meters in every home by 2020 need to adopt new power-line communications technology to ensure the grids remain safe from cyberattacks.
and btw, hackers will 'resemble drug cartels' (wink wink wink) - The Independent
According to new research, the future generation of computer data security companies will have to protect consumers from the industrialisation of hacking, identity theft and an increasing amount of attacks carried out on social networking sites. Data security firm, Imperva, released its study on December 8, stating the top five security trends they expect to see during the next ten years. Imperva believes cyber criminals will band together in the future, "forming a supply chain that starkly resembles that of drug cartels."
4. try not to go hungry
PETALING JAYA - PRICES of vegetables in Malaysia have soared by as much as 200 per cent in recent weeks due to inclement weather conditions. Additionally, floods and the short supply in countries like India and China have also caused the prices of some imported vegetables like onions, garlic, potatoes and cabbage to shoot up drastically.
5. people shuffled all over the globe
migrant numbers double in 30 years in UK: 10% now foreign-born - Daily Mail
The number of immigrants living in Britain has almost doubled in less than three decades, official figures show. More than 10 per cent of the population - 6.7million - were born abroad, the Office for National Statistics has found. The analysis shows that the count of those born abroad - now agreed to be the best figure for measuring the rate of immigration - is two million higher than it was just eight years ago.
6. the big kahuna psyop: aliens gonna get you?
bluish-green fireball sighted over northern Germany - The Local
Several eyewitnesses reported seeing a bluish-green fireball over northern Germany on Monday night – possibly a large meteor burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to experts at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).
mystery as spiral blue light hovers above Norway - Daily Mail
A mysterious light display appearing over Norway last night has left thousands of residents in the north of the country baffled. Witnesses from Trøndelag to Finnmark compared the amazing sight to anything from a Russian rocket to a meteor or a shock wave - although no one appears to have mentioned UFOs yet. The phenomenon began when what appeared to be a blue light seemed to soar up from behind a mountain. It stopped mid-air, then began to circulate.
multiple vectors to Iran war
GAZA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army on Wednesday prevented a European parliamentary delegation from entering the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the delegation said. The delegation, which comprises nine lawmakers from several European Union (EU) states, had held contact with the Israeli authorities to facilitate their entry to Gaza. "The visit was canceled three hours prior to the scheduled visit," the delegation said in a statement. Palestinian sources said the delegation had already arrived at Erez crossing point in northern Gaza Strip before Israeli soldiers turned the legislators back. The ban comes hours after the EU called on Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate on Jerusalem as the future capital of two states.
read more @ chinaview
2. opinion - Washington's new Lebanon policy by Franklin Lamb
excerpt:
Europe is expressing its support for Lebanon’s Unity Government as is Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the whole region. Plus the United Nations Sec-Gen Ban Key Moon and virtually the complete international community with two exceptions, the governments of Israel and the United States.
...Washington’s reaction to date has come mainly from two sources. The first and most predictable was an AIPAC drafted letter sent out by 31 of Israel’s agents on the House side of the US Congress. The members forwarded the particularly obtuse and nearly incomprehensible letter to Secretary of State Clinton urging the Obama administration to work toward disarming Hezbollah by threatening the budgets of UNIFIL and Lebanon.
It reads in part: "In light of the clear violations of UN Security Council resolutions, we ask what actions the Administration is taking to ensure the UN addresses these violations.” Presumably the reference is to UNSCR 1701 which according to the arithmetic contained in the seven UN Reports on UNSCR 1701 compliance, Israel has violated more than 1,600 times including near daily violations of Lebanese sovereignty, with cross border troop incursions and Lebanese airspace and territorial waters penetrations. If the members had in mind UNSCR 425, unanimously passed in 1978, demanding that “Israel immediately withdraw from all Lebanese territory”, it is true that this resolution has still not been complied with as Israeli troops still occupy Lebanese territory and it is doubtful the AIPAC language (“we ask what actions the Administration is taking to ensure the UN addresses these violations”) is meant to apply to the Israeli forces occupying the Lebanese territory of Ghajar, Kfar Khouba, and Shebaa Farms.
read more @ al manar tv
3. Ayalon claims Turkey foiled Hizbullah attack but it's all very mysterious, you know how it is with security concerns
Turkish forces have foiled a Hizbullah plot to attack an undisclosed Israeli target in the country, Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon as saying. Defense sources told Haaretz that the planned attack was aimed at avenging the killing of Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh in a car bombing in Damascus in February 2008. The plot was uncovered over a month ago, with Turkish media publishing a warning issued by the local police's senior command to its officers to take steps to prevent a Hizbullah attack on American and Israeli targets, according to Haaretz. According to the Israeli daily, Turkish reports said Hizbullah had set up a network of Iranian agents posing as tourists in Istanbul, with the cooperation of Iranian security agencies. Haaretz said U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation director Robert Mueller visited Ankara last month asking for access to the country's biometric database, in order to identify "terror activists" moving in and out of Turkey. "Israel believes the organization would like to carry out an attack against a distant Israeli target, without dragging Lebanon into another war with Israel," Haaretz said.
source: naharnet news desk
4. will Israel move the focus over to Syria now?
Asia Times: A recent article by the veteran and well-connected Israeli columnist, Alex Fishman, in the Hebrew language newspaper, Yediot Ahronoth, perhaps offers some insights into how Israelis may be speculating about such issues when he warns about "the approaching December winds”. These winds, Fishman tells us, will bring more and new revelations - not about Iran's nuclear ambitions - but about Syria's nuclear projects: the departure of Mohamed ElBaradei from the chair at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he states, will open the door to new IAEA demands to inspect two suspected nuclear sites in Syria.read more analysis of this possibility and the 'exploding tire' accident in Damascus @ twelfth bough
5. as if on cue, Baghdad car bombs blamed on Syria and Islamists by Iraqi government
For the third time in four months, coordinated bombers have defeated Baghdad's security and dealt a blow to the Iraqi government's claims to have made the country's streets safer.
Four car bombs early yesterday killed more than 110 people and injured about 200 throughout the centre of the capital in attacks that replicated two days of carnage in mid-August and late-October.
The bombs detonated within minutes near the city's main court house and the public works and finance ministries.
...The prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and his senior officials quickly blamed the devastation on senior Ba'athists living in exile in Syria and an alliance of Islamists and militants.Iraq and Syria have remained at diplomatic loggerheads since the bombings in August. Both countries withdrew their ambassadors after Iraqi officials accused Syria of harbouring enemies who had vowed to direct and fund a bombing campaign in the run-up to a general election, which is scheduled for 6 March.
Iraqi officials have offered only scant support for their accusations. However, they appear to fervently believe that Damascus has at least given implicit consent to a subversive campaign that was allegedly plotted on Syrian soil.
6. US behaved as terrorist in kidnapping Iranian scientist
Iran Parliament speaker Ali Larijani has said that the United States behaved like a "terrorist" by abducting its nuclear scientist who went missing in Saudi Arabia, state television reported on Wednesday. Labeling the kidnapping of Shahram Amiri "terrorist behaviour" by the US, Larijani said both Washington and Riyadh must be held responsible for his disappearance, the report added.
"Americans have done such things even in the past, but have never taken responsibility for their terrorist behavior," Larijani said. "It is clear that this move was done by Americans and organized by Saudi conspirators and such behavior harms their reputation."
However, the US State Department refused to make any comment on the matter. "We are aware of the Iranian claims," department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters on Tuesday. "I have no information on that." "I'm not going to say anything else," he insisted.
Shahram Amiri, a researcher at the University of Malek Ashtar, went missing in the Saudi holy city of Medina while on a pilgrimage visit earlier this year. He is among several Iranian nationals who Tehran says have been illegally detained by the US authorities.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki accused the US of abducting the researcher. "Based on evidence that we have at our disposal, the Americans had a role in kidnapping Shahram Amiri,” Mottaki said. "Therefore, we expect the US government to return him,” he added.
Earlier Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told Press TV that authorities in Riyadh have sent Amiri off to the United States. Mehman-Parast said 11 Iranian nationals are currently held in detention in US prisons, adding that "Shahram Amiri is one of these detainees."
The US revealed earlier in December that Amir-Hossein Ardebili, an Iranian national who went missing in Georgia two years ago, was being held in a prison in Philadelphia. The Georgian government handed him over to the US authorities in 2008.
7. Saudi Arabia sent scientist to US
An Iranian nuclear scientist who went missing in Saudi Arabia has been "handed over by Riyadh to Washington," Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday, quoting Tehran's foreign ministry spokesman. "Shahram Amiri, Iran's nuclear scientist who had gone to hajj in Saudi Arabia, was handed over by Riyadh to Washington," Ramin Mehmanparast told Mehr, referring to the Umra.
The spokesman said Amiri was one of 11 Iranian detainees currently held in US jails. His statement was the first acknowledgement by Tehran that Amiri was a nuclear scientist. Iranian officials have previously said Amiri went missing in Saudi Arabia soon after he landed there as a pilgrim earlier this year.