Saturday, March 5, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
666's are in the Seed......"Not Monsanto's fault....ever!"
Monsanto has an interesting clause in its seed contract. The Monsanto Technology Stewardship Agreement has a waiver that shifts all liability from any incidental, direct, indirect consequences from its seeds from the company to the farmer.
Apparently, Monsanto is so sure that their seeds are problem-free that they refuse to take responsibility for them...
Want to plant Monsanto's GMO seeds? Here is your cross to bear:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/not-monsantos-fault-ever_b_827924.html
Apparently, Monsanto is so sure that their seeds are problem-free that they refuse to take responsibility for them...
Want to plant Monsanto's GMO seeds? Here is your cross to bear:
GROWER'S EXCLUSIVE LIMITED REMEDY: THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY OF THE GROWER AND THE LIMIT OF THE LIABILITY OF MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER FOR ANY AND ALL LOSSES, INJURY OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OR HANDLING OF SEED (INCLUDING CLAIMS BASED IN CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, PRODUCT LIABILITY, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) SHALL BE THE PRICE PAID BY THE GROWER FOR THE QUANTITY OF THE SEED INVOLVED OR, AT THE ELECTION OF MONSANTO OR THE SEED SELLER, THE REPLACEMENT OF THE SEED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES.That means if your seed contaminates an organic field and the farmer sues you for ruining their certification, you can't blame Monsanto.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/not-monsantos-fault-ever_b_827924.html
666's are in the Seed......"Genetically Engineered Alfalfa brought to you by Land-O-Lakes"
I can't believe it's that butter. When most of us hear "genetically engineered (GE) seeds" we think of Monsanto. But the new Roundup Ready, GE alfalfa seeds that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) just deregulated were actually co-developed by Forage Genetics International, a subsidiary of butter producer, Land O'Lakes. And the company isn't shy about saying so, either: On January 27, Land O'Lakes posted Forage Genetics' press release announcing the deregulation.
Forage Genetics is leasing their seed to Monsanto, so the deregulation of GE alfalfa is probably good news to Land O'Lakes' cooperative members. This kind of vertical integration (GE seeds for alfalfa fed to cows that produce milk for Land O'Lakes butter) is good for their bottom line. But is it good news to consumers?
http://news.change.org/stories/ge-alfalfa-brought-to-you-by-land-olakes
Forage Genetics is leasing their seed to Monsanto, so the deregulation of GE alfalfa is probably good news to Land O'Lakes' cooperative members. This kind of vertical integration (GE seeds for alfalfa fed to cows that produce milk for Land O'Lakes butter) is good for their bottom line. But is it good news to consumers?
http://news.change.org/stories/ge-alfalfa-brought-to-you-by-land-olakes
666's are in the Seed......"South Africa dumping GM maize on Africa"
"In the last four months, South Africa has dumped almost 300 000 metric tons of GM maize on to Kenya, Mozambique and Swaziland," it said in a statement.
This was revealed in its study, "Good neighbour? South Africa forcing GM maize onto African markets and policy makers", ACB said.
The study contained the first documented cases of commodity exports of genetically modified organism (GMOs) from South Africa to the rest of the African continent, it said, describing this as a "a worrying precedent"
http://mg.co.za/article/2010-05-15-sa-dumping-gm-maize-on-africa
This was revealed in its study, "Good neighbour? South Africa forcing GM maize onto African markets and policy makers", ACB said.
The study contained the first documented cases of commodity exports of genetically modified organism (GMOs) from South Africa to the rest of the African continent, it said, describing this as a "a worrying precedent"
http://mg.co.za/article/2010-05-15-sa-dumping-gm-maize-on-africa
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Taqiyya, Islamic Principle Lying for Allah
The word "Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing, precaution, guarding.” It is employed in disguising one's beliefs, intentions, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions or strategies. In practical terms it is manifested as dissimulation, lying, deceiving, vexing and confounding with the intention of deflecting attention, foiling or pre-emptive blocking. It is currently employed in fending off and neutralising any criticism of Islam or Muslims.
http://www.islam-watch.org/Warner/Taqiyya-Islamic-Principle-Lying-for-Allah.htm
http://www.islam-watch.org/Warner/Taqiyya-Islamic-Principle-Lying-for-Allah.htm
African Americans respond to Obama's shift on DOMA
By Krissah Thompson and Hamil Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 1, 2011; 8:36 AM
Some say the decision is dismaying, though not damning. Others may be rethinking their views, given the influence Obama has in the African American community. And there are those who don't seem to care much at all.
"I don't think that this is a deal breaker in terms of whether we are going to support the president ... but it doesn't help," said Cheryl Sanders, pastor of a small church in the District, who described herself as fairly conservative theologically.
She is among the 68 percent of churchgoing African Americans who oppose same-sex marriage and among the 90 percent who support Obama.
As a question on its own, churchgoing African Americans are against same-sex marriage. But when the issue is wrapped up into a larger political context, it becomes just one of many and generally not the deciding one, said the Rev. Al Sharpton, an Obama ally.
"I remember in 2003 when I said I was for gay marriage. I got a lot outrage from my fellow ministers," Sharpton said. "I've been on my radio show and on conference calls with other pastors, and I haven't heard any outrage on this position."
Still, blacks remain the ethnic group least likely to support same-sex marriage. Only 30 percent say they back the unions, compared with 53 percent of all Democrats, 44 percent of whites and 41 percent of Hispanics, according to polling from the Pew Research Center.
Rev. Henry P. Davis, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, was lukewarm on the issue, saying the issue of gay rights doesn't resonate with his parishioners. "I know that there is a great wrestling nationally around this issue, but [here] people are still mainly concerned about their everyday economic existence, those issues are much larger," Davis said.
An open question, said J. Kameron Carter, an associate professor in theology and black church studies, is whether Obama's shifting policy on same-sex marriage will impact black attitudes on the issue.
"The fact that these initiatives are coming from the government - and not just that - from Obama and Holder, two African American family men, is going to generate conversation among African Americans," Carter said. "This can open a very fruitful and interesting dialogue."
Such conversation is already taking place, said black ministers and church leaders, who have watched Obama's gradual moves on the issue.
Since emerging on the national scene, Obama has carefully handled the issue, saying in 2008 marriage was between a man and a woman. On the eve of the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" last year, he found a new formulation: He was "evolving" on the issue as he met more same-sex couples.
"I think he's showing leadership here, and the leadership will certainly be shown in the [black] community," said Cornell Belcher, a pollster who advised Obama in 2008. "In the community, he's not simply a political leader for black and brown audiences, he's a cultural leader. It's something larger. So he gives [gay rights] a platform that it would have not tended to have."
Patrick Egan, an assistant political professor at New York University, said research indicates that President Bill Clinton was able to bring along a healthy share of his supporters on "don't ask" in the 1990s.
"Given that a subshare of black voters are so loyal to Obama, and he commands a fair amount of respect, my instinct is that a public change of heart on his part to support gay marriage could have a substantial impact on black voters," Egan said.
Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, which advocates for gay rights, praised Obama's decision, saying it makes clear "there is not just one moral authority in the black community."
Rev. Joseph Lowery, the civil rights leader who prayed at Obama's inauguration, has long supported civil unions and predicted black churchgoers will continue to support Obama even if he backs same-sex unions.
"The president has overwhelming support from the black church because people are looking at the bigger picture," Lowery said. "He will not be hurt by one issue."
Sanders agreed, remembering the 1996 political fight over the Defense of Marriage Act.
"I personally don't really remember a whole groundswell of support from African Americans for the Defense of Marriage Act [when it] passed. That was a white evangelical issue," said Sanders, who also teaches Christian ethics at Howard University. "We are tolerant and that might not be a bad thing. It may be ethically messy, but I think that's the best you can do."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/01/AR2011030102191_pf.html
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 1, 2011; 8:36 AM
When same-sex marriage was upended in California by popular vote in 2008, gay rights activists pointed to one factor: religious African Americans who came out in record numbers for President Obama but who also largely voted against the marriage proposal, according to exit polls.
Two and a half years later, religious African Americans are having a more nuanced response to an announcement last week by the Obama administration that the government will no longer defend a federal law banning same-sex marriage. Some say the decision is dismaying, though not damning. Others may be rethinking their views, given the influence Obama has in the African American community. And there are those who don't seem to care much at all.
"I don't think that this is a deal breaker in terms of whether we are going to support the president ... but it doesn't help," said Cheryl Sanders, pastor of a small church in the District, who described herself as fairly conservative theologically.
She is among the 68 percent of churchgoing African Americans who oppose same-sex marriage and among the 90 percent who support Obama.
As a question on its own, churchgoing African Americans are against same-sex marriage. But when the issue is wrapped up into a larger political context, it becomes just one of many and generally not the deciding one, said the Rev. Al Sharpton, an Obama ally.
"I remember in 2003 when I said I was for gay marriage. I got a lot outrage from my fellow ministers," Sharpton said. "I've been on my radio show and on conference calls with other pastors, and I haven't heard any outrage on this position."
Still, blacks remain the ethnic group least likely to support same-sex marriage. Only 30 percent say they back the unions, compared with 53 percent of all Democrats, 44 percent of whites and 41 percent of Hispanics, according to polling from the Pew Research Center.
Anthony Evans, a minister who heads the National Black Church Initiative, had a strong negative reaction to the announcement that Obama no longer believes the Defense of Marriage Act, called DOMA, is constitutional. After Obama told Attorney General Eric Holder to stop defending it, the minister put out a statement condemning the decision.
"The president has harmed himself on this issue," he said. "He has openly offended the black church, and he didn't need to do it." But Evans plans to continue to support Obama on other issues, such as preventing a rollback of health care reform. Rev. Henry P. Davis, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, was lukewarm on the issue, saying the issue of gay rights doesn't resonate with his parishioners. "I know that there is a great wrestling nationally around this issue, but [here] people are still mainly concerned about their everyday economic existence, those issues are much larger," Davis said.
An open question, said J. Kameron Carter, an associate professor in theology and black church studies, is whether Obama's shifting policy on same-sex marriage will impact black attitudes on the issue.
"The fact that these initiatives are coming from the government - and not just that - from Obama and Holder, two African American family men, is going to generate conversation among African Americans," Carter said. "This can open a very fruitful and interesting dialogue."
Such conversation is already taking place, said black ministers and church leaders, who have watched Obama's gradual moves on the issue.
Since emerging on the national scene, Obama has carefully handled the issue, saying in 2008 marriage was between a man and a woman. On the eve of the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" last year, he found a new formulation: He was "evolving" on the issue as he met more same-sex couples.
"I think he's showing leadership here, and the leadership will certainly be shown in the [black] community," said Cornell Belcher, a pollster who advised Obama in 2008. "In the community, he's not simply a political leader for black and brown audiences, he's a cultural leader. It's something larger. So he gives [gay rights] a platform that it would have not tended to have."
Patrick Egan, an assistant political professor at New York University, said research indicates that President Bill Clinton was able to bring along a healthy share of his supporters on "don't ask" in the 1990s.
"Given that a subshare of black voters are so loyal to Obama, and he commands a fair amount of respect, my instinct is that a public change of heart on his part to support gay marriage could have a substantial impact on black voters," Egan said.
Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, which advocates for gay rights, praised Obama's decision, saying it makes clear "there is not just one moral authority in the black community."
Rev. Joseph Lowery, the civil rights leader who prayed at Obama's inauguration, has long supported civil unions and predicted black churchgoers will continue to support Obama even if he backs same-sex unions.
"The president has overwhelming support from the black church because people are looking at the bigger picture," Lowery said. "He will not be hurt by one issue."
Sanders agreed, remembering the 1996 political fight over the Defense of Marriage Act.
"I personally don't really remember a whole groundswell of support from African Americans for the Defense of Marriage Act [when it] passed. That was a white evangelical issue," said Sanders, who also teaches Christian ethics at Howard University. "We are tolerant and that might not be a bad thing. It may be ethically messy, but I think that's the best you can do."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/01/AR2011030102191_pf.html
Leading Republican claims Barack Obama grew up in Kenya
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told a New York radio station on Monday that Mr Obama's youth led him to resent the West, which he said explains why Mr Obama's foreign policy differs so greatly from that of his predecessors.
"One thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, (is) very different than the average American," Mr Huckabee said, pointing to Mr Obama's decision in 2009 to return a bust of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
He failed to note that the bust was on loan from former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who offered it to President George W. Bush in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a symbol of trans-Atlantic solidarity. Mr Huckabee also did not mention that Mr Obama replaced the Oval Office fixture with a bust of one of his American heroes, President Abraham Lincoln.
"The bust of Winston Churchill, a great insult to the British," Mr Huckabee said. "But then if you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather. He probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather."
Mr Obama's grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was detained in a 1952 uprising against British colonial rule in Kenya. Mr Huckabee said childhood stories of the Mau Mau rebellion would lead President Obama to want to return the bust of Churchill, who ordered a crackdown against that uprising.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8356132/Leading-Republican-claims-Barack-Obama-grew-up-in-Kenya.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8356132/Leading-Republican-claims-Barack-Obama-grew-up-in-Kenya.html
Russian invasian of Japan's island: Preparing for the worst on the South Kuril Islands
Russia is backing up its rhetoric over the South Kuril Islands with action. In a surprise move that will no doubt further aggravate the long-standing territorial dispute between Russia and Japan, Russia's military-political leadership announced plans to modernize its armed forces in the country's Far East.
The plans to reorganize and bolster defenses at the Russian base on the South Kuril Islands are entirely justified and urgent. Forces there consist entirely of the shorthanded 18th machinegun-artillery division, with just 3,500 troops.
The proximity of the islands to Japan's coast makes them extremely difficult to defend. In theory, Japan could launch a massive sneak attack with considerable landing forces at night using small non-military boats (for instance, fast motorboats used for fishing) as well as inflatable attack motorboats and helicopters. By using such unconventional means, Japan would be able to keep preparations for the operation secret. In this case, the main thrust of the attack would be on Kunashir Island, the southernmost island of the chain. If the Japanese were bold enough, they might simultaneously attack Iturup Island.
Russia would do well to remember Japan's predilection for starting wars with sudden well-planned attacks, a tactic it has used in every war it has ever waged. Japan's proximity to the islands allows it to rapidly deliver cargo and reinforcements to landed troops, while backing them up with massive air support from attack helicopters. The Japanese could keep most of Kunashir under heavy fire using missiles and artillery (including precision weapons) stationed on its own shores.
The Japanese military are well trained and highly motivated. They possess huge quantities of the latest weapons and equipment. They have unique type-96 multi-purpose missiles and HATM-6 systems with hammer-like chassis, which could be delivered to the islands using light transport. These would be equally effective against tanks and artillery. This, combined with Japan's air superiority and wide use of precision weapons, would allow the Japanese to smash the defensive forces on the islands much faster and easier that we might think.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20110301/162818449.html
U.S. Central Command ‘friending’ the enemy in psychological war
The U.S. Central Command is stepping up psychological warfare operations using software that allows it to target social media websites used by terrorists.
The Tampa, Fla.-based military command that runs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan recently bought a special computer program that troops use to create multiple fake identities on the Internet. The military uses the fictitious identities to infiltrate groups and in some cases spread disinformation among extremist organizations such as al Qaeda and the Taliban with the goal of disrupting their operations, according to documents and U.S. officials.
The Tampa, Fla.-based military command that runs the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan recently bought a special computer program that troops use to create multiple fake identities on the Internet. The military uses the fictitious identities to infiltrate groups and in some cases spread disinformation among extremist organizations such as al Qaeda and the Taliban with the goal of disrupting their operations, according to documents and U.S. officials.
Computer hackers a top concern for Homeland Security
March 1, 2011, 4:20 p.m.
Reporting from Washington —
Cyber security is a potential "nightmare" for the Department of Homeland Security in the years ahead, as are concerns about homegrown terrorists and intelligence sharing, officials said Tuesday at a seminar marking the department's eighth anniversary.
"The nightmare that the DHS has," said Stewart Baker, a former head of policy at the department, "is that a very sophisticated hacker, perhaps working for Hezbollah, manages to infiltrate our electric grid and to bring down power to a portion of the United States, not for an hour or two, but for days or weeks. This would create a major humanitarian crisis."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-homeland-security-20110302,0,2881352.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fnation+%28L.A.+Times+-+National+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
"The nightmare that the DHS has," said Stewart Baker, a former head of policy at the department, "is that a very sophisticated hacker, perhaps working for Hezbollah, manages to infiltrate our electric grid and to bring down power to a portion of the United States, not for an hour or two, but for days or weeks. This would create a major humanitarian crisis."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-homeland-security-20110302,0,2881352.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fnationworld%2Fnation+%28L.A.+Times+-+National+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
"Obama administration joins critics of U.S. nonprofit group that oversees Internet"
By Ian Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 1, 2011; 10:04 AM
The California nonprofit organization that operates the Internet's levers has always been a target for such global heavies as Russia and China that prefer the United Nations to be in charge of the Web. But these days, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is fending off attacks from a seemingly unlikely source: the Obama administration.
Concerned about the growing movement to cede oversight to the U.N., the U.S. government, which helped create ICANN in 1998, has been reprimanding the nonprofit group to give foreign nations more say over the Web's operations.
The battle has come at a sensitive time for ICANN, which this month is meeting with foreign governments as it pulls off the biggest expansion ever of Web suffixes - including .gay, .muslim and .nazi. Also this fall, the nonprofit organization is seeking to hold on to its federal contract to oversee the Web's master database of addresses - a sweeping power that governments fear could be used to shut down foreign domains that the United States finds unsavory.
"There's a deeper question of how the world is reacting to a small company - even a nonprofit - completely in charge of a key part of the Internet. Is that acceptable? There's no 100 percent comfortable solution here," said Steve Crocker, ICANN's vice chairman, who lives in Bethesda and is the chief executive of Shinkuro, a technology company.
With some Middle East countries shutting down the Internet within their borders to curb uprisings, the question of who runs the Web is increasingly figuring into global foreign policy debates. Some fear that governments such as those of Libya or Iran could more easily crush rebellions if they gained more control over the Internet's inner workings.
ICANN quietly wields vast influence over the Web, a power unfamiliar to many Americans and elected officials. Based in an off-campus University of Southern California building, the company has more than 100 employees and is led by a chief executive and a board of directors comprised of private sector executives and technology experts. ICANN's core function: Decide which Web addresses get seen on the Internet.
In Washington, ICANN remains somewhat mysterious to elected officials, according to Nao Matsukata, a senior policy adviser to the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, a grass-roots organization in Washington. Matsukata's main problem, he said, is trying to explain what ICANN is to people on Capitol Hill. His group has met with more than 50 members of Congress.
"Sometimes, when we're in meetings on the Hill, they're just nodding their heads," said Matsukata, a former trade official in the George W. Bush administration. "Very few people understand where all these decisions are coming from and that this is something that impacts us every day of our lives. Someone is determining what is allowed, what is not allowed, and someone is profiting from these things."
The tiny nonprofit group can be especially provocative for a trade press that covers its every move, and for a rival U.N. agency, the International Telecommunications Union. When the ITU, a 145-year-old agency of nearly 200 nations and territories, held its annual meeting in October in Mexico, a Syrian emissary representing Arab states raged against ICANN as if it were an enemy nation.
"Do not surrender to the ICANN!" Nabil Kisrawi yelled during one of the conference's sessions, according to a story in the Register, an online publication on Internet governance. "There is even a representative of the ICANN in this room!" Kisrawi said. (Kisrawi recently died.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022803719.html
Concerned about the growing movement to cede oversight to the U.N., the U.S. government, which helped create ICANN in 1998, has been reprimanding the nonprofit group to give foreign nations more say over the Web's operations.
The battle has come at a sensitive time for ICANN, which this month is meeting with foreign governments as it pulls off the biggest expansion ever of Web suffixes - including .gay, .muslim and .nazi. Also this fall, the nonprofit organization is seeking to hold on to its federal contract to oversee the Web's master database of addresses - a sweeping power that governments fear could be used to shut down foreign domains that the United States finds unsavory.
"There's a deeper question of how the world is reacting to a small company - even a nonprofit - completely in charge of a key part of the Internet. Is that acceptable? There's no 100 percent comfortable solution here," said Steve Crocker, ICANN's vice chairman, who lives in Bethesda and is the chief executive of Shinkuro, a technology company.
With some Middle East countries shutting down the Internet within their borders to curb uprisings, the question of who runs the Web is increasingly figuring into global foreign policy debates. Some fear that governments such as those of Libya or Iran could more easily crush rebellions if they gained more control over the Internet's inner workings.
ICANN quietly wields vast influence over the Web, a power unfamiliar to many Americans and elected officials. Based in an off-campus University of Southern California building, the company has more than 100 employees and is led by a chief executive and a board of directors comprised of private sector executives and technology experts. ICANN's core function: Decide which Web addresses get seen on the Internet.
In Washington, ICANN remains somewhat mysterious to elected officials, according to Nao Matsukata, a senior policy adviser to the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, a grass-roots organization in Washington. Matsukata's main problem, he said, is trying to explain what ICANN is to people on Capitol Hill. His group has met with more than 50 members of Congress.
"Sometimes, when we're in meetings on the Hill, they're just nodding their heads," said Matsukata, a former trade official in the George W. Bush administration. "Very few people understand where all these decisions are coming from and that this is something that impacts us every day of our lives. Someone is determining what is allowed, what is not allowed, and someone is profiting from these things."
The tiny nonprofit group can be especially provocative for a trade press that covers its every move, and for a rival U.N. agency, the International Telecommunications Union. When the ITU, a 145-year-old agency of nearly 200 nations and territories, held its annual meeting in October in Mexico, a Syrian emissary representing Arab states raged against ICANN as if it were an enemy nation.
"Do not surrender to the ICANN!" Nabil Kisrawi yelled during one of the conference's sessions, according to a story in the Register, an online publication on Internet governance. "There is even a representative of the ICANN in this room!" Kisrawi said. (Kisrawi recently died.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022803719.html
"Ahmadinejad Stresses Iran & China's role in new world order"
"Iran and China are two great countries which cradle human civilization and they can have a role in the establishment of a just and humane new world order," Ahmadinejad said here in Tehran on Tuesday.
"The order and the system dominating the world at present is worn-out and rotten and its unfair nature has been unveiled to all," he said, adding, "Under the present conditions, the world needs a humane and fair new order and Iran and China can have fruitful cooperation in the interest of humanity to define and establish this order."
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8912100952
“Turkey Plans to Invade Libya?”
Statement from Walid Shoebat
For years, I have said that some day Turkey will invade Libya. Daniel 11 tells us:
“He will gain control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt with the Libyans and Nubians in
submission.” (Daniel 11:43)
submission.” (Daniel 11:43)
Turkey currently has its eye on Libya and is using Barack Hussein Obama to gain support for his invasion of Libya and he got it. Whether Turkey will invade or not is only a matter of time. But currently the plans are being discussed with full approval by the United States:
Diplomatic sources said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan relayed a plan in which the Turkish Navy would send ships and troops to Libya. They said the plan called for the European Union to immediately accept Turkey as a member after the downfall of Gadhafi, Middle East Newsline reported.
“It was not clear if Turkey could actually do the job, but Erdogan did make this offer,” a Western diplomat said.
The sources said the United States, particularly President Barack Obama, supported the Turkish proposal, believed to have also been endorsed by Saudi Arabia. Obama, regarded as a close ally of Erdogan, said Ankara deserves membership in the EU.
But Brussels appeared cold to the Turkish plan. The sources said French President Nicolas Sarkozy opposed the Erdogan proposal despite U.S. pressure.
“What Sarkozy said is unprintable, but basically that the United States is not a member of the EU and cannot dictate who should be a member,” the diplomat said.
Ankara has used its Navy to help evacuate many of the 30,000-member Turkish community in Libya. Turkey has been a major investor in the North African country, particularly in the construction and infrastructure fields.
So far, neither the European Union nor the United States appears ready for a military operation against Gadhafi. On Feb. 28, however, the U.S. Defense Department said it would move troops and military assets near Libya as part of contingency plans against Gadhafi.
The sources said Sarkozy and other EU leaders regarded Erdogan’s plan as a means to exploit the revolt in Libya. They said Sarkozy and others have become intractable opponents of Turkish membership in the EU, particularly given Ankara’s pro-Islamic policies and support for Iran.
“The feeling is that Turkey is looking to become the Ottoman Empire, and most of Europe does not want to go through that history again,” the diplomat said.
Source: WorldTribune.com
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/me_turkey0214_03_01.asp
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/me_turkey0214_03_01.asp
666's are in the Seed......"Monsanto...promoting itself as 'savior' of the planet while devouring nation after nation"
Monsanto rated among worst corporate lobbyists
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer(NaturalNews) New Internationalist Magazine recently released its Top Ten worst corporate lobbyists, and featured in this "hall of shame" list is biotechnology giant Monsanto. The report explains that the Obama administration is "littered" with ex-Monsanto executives, and that the company spends millions of dollars every year lobbying the U.S. government to further its own agenda.
At least three former Monsanto execs hold high positions of power in the Obama administration. Michael Taylor, senior adviser to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), used to be vice president of Monsanto. Islam Siddiqui, former vice president of the Monsanto-funded lobbying group CropLife, is now a negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative on agriculture. And Roger Beachy, the director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, is former director of a plant science center funded by Monsanto.
Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court was also another victory for Monsanto, as Kagan defended Monsanto's "right" to contaminate the environment with GM alfalfa in the case of Monsanto v. Geertson Seed. Perhaps Kagan's nomination was greased with a little bit of Monsanto lobbying funds, which in 2010 alone topped $8 million.
All around the world, Monsanto spends big bucks promoting itself as a savior of the planet, lying to governments and to the public about the supposed benefits of its GM crops and their extreme chemical dependency. Comprehensive evidence has shown, however, that despite all the lofty claims, GMOs have not improved yields, and they certainly are not better for the environment. They have also never been proven safe for consumption.
Current Monsanto efforts include pushing EU officials to accept its GM soy for use in biofuels, advocating "no till" farming methods that will advance its own agenda for gaining carbon credits, and actively chipping away at EU regulations that oppose wider cultivation and use of its GM crops as food.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.newint.org/features/2011...
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/cl...
"The bill board that profiles you and then flashes ads tailored to your tastes....."
By Daniel Bates
Last updated at 7:38 AM on 1st March 2011
It sounds like a scene straight out of Minority Report.
Advertisers are developing digital posters which will recognise people’s faces and respond if they are paying attention.
Cameras attached to the billboards will scan to see if passers-by are looking and immediately change their display to keep them watching.
Last updated at 7:38 AM on 1st March 2011
It sounds like a scene straight out of Minority Report.
Advertisers are developing digital posters which will recognise people’s faces and respond if they are paying attention.
Cameras attached to the billboards will scan to see if passers-by are looking and immediately change their display to keep them watching.
"Walnuts, milk and global tyranny...."
Squeezing America into the New World Order
by Berit Kjos
Global food and drug management is only a small part of today's methodical march into the New World Order. But this single issue helps us see the bigger picture: the massive and menacing web of control that's fast spreading over the nations. Keep in mind, our anonymous international rulers intend to micro-manage virtually every part of our lives. Are we prepared with the facts and faith needed to face the coming battles with confidence?
Remember, the world may unravel, nations flounder, corruption flourish, and tyranny loom, but in the midst of it all, our God reigns!
http://www.prophezine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=235:walnuts-milk-and-global-tyranny&catid=41:top-headlines
by Berit Kjos
Global food and drug management is only a small part of today's methodical march into the New World Order. But this single issue helps us see the bigger picture: the massive and menacing web of control that's fast spreading over the nations. Keep in mind, our anonymous international rulers intend to micro-manage virtually every part of our lives. Are we prepared with the facts and faith needed to face the coming battles with confidence?
Remember, the world may unravel, nations flounder, corruption flourish, and tyranny loom, but in the midst of it all, our God reigns!
http://www.prophezine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=235:walnuts-milk-and-global-tyranny&catid=41:top-headlines
Peace Agreement....Daniel 9, "Netanyahu wary of new international efforts in peace process."
Prime minister has yet to say whether or not he will cooperate with an upcoming Quartet meeting with Israeli, Palestinian officials, fearing Israel's participation could allow world to dictate peace-talks terms.
By Barak Ravid"Now government wants to control tidiness of churches..."
Posted: February 28, 2011
9:00 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
A New Hampshire city official has taken the old saying "cleanliness is next to godliness" one step too far in a battle now raging over the tax status of a church building, determining that cleanliness is godliness, according to a legal team in the midst of the fight.
The dispute concerns Liberty Assembly of God, now called Destiny Christian Church, over its decision to use its building to feed the hungry and help the needy, and the resulting impact on its building.
It appears a city official didn't like clutter, and concluded the church couldn't be religious with it there.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=269337
9:00 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
A New Hampshire city official has taken the old saying "cleanliness is next to godliness" one step too far in a battle now raging over the tax status of a church building, determining that cleanliness is godliness, according to a legal team in the midst of the fight.
The dispute concerns Liberty Assembly of God, now called Destiny Christian Church, over its decision to use its building to feed the hungry and help the needy, and the resulting impact on its building.
It appears a city official didn't like clutter, and concluded the church couldn't be religious with it there.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=269337
One World Economy: "Deutsche Boerse & take over of NYSE Euronext...."
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. Treasury official said he did not see any national security concerns with Deutsche Boerse's (DB1Gn.DE) planned takeover of NYSE Euronext.The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews foreign investments to ensure they pose no threat to national security and has the power to block business deals.
Chaired by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the panel is comprised of eight other voting members, including the secretaries of state, defence, commerce and homeland security.
In less than three weeks, Deutsche Boerse announced a bid for NYSE Euronext, London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) unveiled plans to take over Toronto Stock Exchange parent TMX Group Inc (X.TO), and BATS Global Markets said it would buy fellow privately-owned venue operator Chi-X Europe.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/01/uk-finance-summit-wolin-exchanges-idUKTRE72001W20110301?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters/UKBusinessNews+%28News+/+UK+/+Business+News%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
"Australian Company Blackstone to buy 560 US malls....."
Michael Smith, Reuters · Monday, Feb. 28, 2011
SYDNEY — Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP has struck a deal to buy nearly 600 U.S. strip malls and other properties from Australia’s Centro Property Group for about US$9.4-billion, people with direct knowledge of the transaction said on Monday.
Blackstone beat rival bidders that include Morgan Stanley Real Estate, which had teamed up with Starwood Capital Group and New York-based NRDC, according to a person who was not authorized to talk to the media and did not want to be identified.
The portfolio includes 560 U.S. shopping centres, whose tenants include grocery store operators such as Kroger C., Safeway Inc. and Koninklijke Ahold NV, which owns Stop & Shop and Giant.
http://www.financialpost.com/Blackstone+malls+report/4361756/story.html
SYDNEY — Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP has struck a deal to buy nearly 600 U.S. strip malls and other properties from Australia’s Centro Property Group for about US$9.4-billion, people with direct knowledge of the transaction said on Monday.
Blackstone beat rival bidders that include Morgan Stanley Real Estate, which had teamed up with Starwood Capital Group and New York-based NRDC, according to a person who was not authorized to talk to the media and did not want to be identified.
The portfolio includes 560 U.S. shopping centres, whose tenants include grocery store operators such as Kroger C., Safeway Inc. and Koninklijke Ahold NV, which owns Stop & Shop and Giant.
http://www.financialpost.com/Blackstone+malls+report/4361756/story.html
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Celente: "When the money stops flowing to the man in the street, blood starts flowing in the streets."
Trend forecaster Gerald Celente, of the Trends Research Institute, says that the further expansion of government austerity measures and impoverishment of the majority of the world’s populace will lead to more violence, riots and revolutions.
http://totalinvestor.blogspot.com/2011/02/celente-when-money-stops-flowing-down.html
http://totalinvestor.blogspot.com/2011/02/celente-when-money-stops-flowing-down.html
A time of lawlessness is coming over our planet....
"Greeks won't pay, no matter what"
"I won't pay" movement spreads across Greece ... They blockade highway toll booths to give drivers free passage. They cover subway ticket machines with plastic bags so commuters can't pay. Even doctors are joining in, preventing patients from paying fees at state hospitals. Some call it civil disobedience. Others a freeloading spirit. Either way, Greece's "I Won't Pay" movement has sparked heated debate in a nation reeling from a debt crisis that's forced the government to take drastic austerity measures – including higher taxes, wage and pension cuts, and price spikes in public services. – MSNBC.comhttp://www.thedailybell.com/printerVersion.asp?nid=1792
"I won't pay" movement spreads across Greece ... They blockade highway toll booths to give drivers free passage. They cover subway ticket machines with plastic bags so commuters can't pay. Even doctors are joining in, preventing patients from paying fees at state hospitals. Some call it civil disobedience. Others a freeloading spirit. Either way, Greece's "I Won't Pay" movement has sparked heated debate in a nation reeling from a debt crisis that's forced the government to take drastic austerity measures – including higher taxes, wage and pension cuts, and price spikes in public services. – MSNBC.comhttp://www.thedailybell.com/printerVersion.asp?nid=1792
Monday, February 28, 2011
Obama & DOMA (defense of marriage act)
Newsmax
Obama Not Just Above the Law; He Is the Law
Friday, February 25, 2011 09:46 AM
Islamic indoctrination at U.S. taxpayers' tab
This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=267417
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Posted: February 27, 2011
6:09 pm Eastern
WorldNetDaily
A large network of jihad-preaching schools dots the American landscape, and it's being paid for by taxpayer dollars.
The network of more than 100 facilities in 27 states is the result of the work of Turkish expatriate billionaire Fethullah Gulen, who lives in a heavily guarded compound near Saylorsburg, Pa.
Terrorism analyst, author and Family Security Matters contributing Editor Paul Williams explains that Gulen left Turkey under a cloud, and came to the United States carrying an agenda.
"Fethullah Gulen is a chap who fled Turkey in 1998. He was attempting to avoid prosecution from the secular government at that time; he wanted to set up an Islamic government," Williams explained.
"He moved to Pennsylvania and established a mountain fortress around Saylorsburg, which is in the heart of the Poconos," Williams explained.
Court records from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's federal courts indicate that Gulen won his removal case against Homeland Security by showing that he was an "alien of extraordinary ability," and that by staying in the United States he could pursue his work of "authoring articles and providing guidance 'to fellow scholar in the fields of theology, political science, Islamic studies, and education.'"
Williams says Gulen had help.
"The Department of Homeland Security uncovered that Gulen has over $25 billion in assets. That's more money than many countries have. Most of this money has been channeled to Gulen from the CIA," Williams asserted.
Koinonia Institute senior analyst Steve Elwart says Gulen was helped by a number of different factors.
"He was denied his visa the first time around by DHS by saying that he didn't have any experience since he was trying to come in as an educator. DHS said that he really didn't have the qualifications to hold himself out as an educator," Elwart observed.
Elwart says there was another concern.
"There were also concerns about his ties to the CIA and that as it turned out, those concerns were apparently valid, because when he appealed the decision, he got two letters of recommendation from the CIA," Elwart continued.
"That would strengthen the position that he did seem to have those ties," Elwart added.
Williams explains that U. S. officials may have had a reason for funneling money to Gulen.
"I'll tell you why the CIA is funding him. These countries (referring to the Middle East and former Soviet Central Asian Republics) have vast natural gas and oil reserves. They are afraid of where those reserves will go, so we want to gain some control over the supplies," Williams claimed.
Now his fingerprints are all over schools across Asia – and dozens more charter schools across the United States. Those are schools that are run on the taxpayers' money, but have private teaching agendas, often using the subtle inferences in social studies courses to advocate for Islam, observers report.
"He has these schools all over Central Asia and these counties, Tajikistan, Kurdistan, all have Turkish backgrounds. They speak Turkish. They share a Turkish culture. They share the same religion so it's really easy for him to establish these schools throughout Central Asia," Williams explained.
"They have prospered; they have grown and the countries where they are have become increasingly militant and increasingly anti-American," Williams added.
Williams says Gulen put his money to work, first in his home country of Turkey.
"He used that money to create this political party in Turkey and to take over the newspapers, and almost all of the Turkish media. He's also created a network of Islamic charter schools in Turkey that has spread through Central Asia, particularly in the newly created Russian republics," Williams also stated.
"Gulen's movement is so radical that it is outlawed in Russia and even in The Netherlands, a country that's known for its tolerance, would not allow any funding for the Gulen schools," Williams added.
Elwart adds that there was one still another factor influencing U.S. assistance to Gulen.
"There has been a movement in the last two administrations to promote what they call moderate Islam by bringing these people forward and financing them to get people inculcated into the Muslim culture," Elwart explained.
"In terms of following the money trail, part of it I think was from the United States government. There were a number of people out there that see him as a religious leader which in fact he comes from a family of imams, and people donate to him," Elwart detailed.
Williams asserts that Gulen's long-range plans are to re-establish an Islamic caliphate.
"He created a party which is called the Justice and Development Party. The prime minister is Tayyip Erdogan. He's severed relationships with Israel and he's allied himself with Iran," Williams observed.
MEMRI Turkish expert Rachel Sharon-Krespin writes in an article in Middle East Quarterly that Fethullah Gulen is a major player in Turkish politics. Besides the Justice and Development Party, he also owns, controls or operates a network of schools and universities in Turkey, as well as the major newspapers and television stations.
In an American Thinker article, Center for Islamic Pluralism Director Stephen Schwartz says that Gulen is the power not only behind a movement in Turkey, but is the controlling force behind what Schwartz calls a Turkish Diaspora.
Elwart agrees that Gulen's intention is to use his schools to indoctrinate the students into Islam at taxpayer expense.
"Gulen has started his school system in the United States through the charter school system, which of course is publicly financed. That is one of the big worries about the Gulen movement is that they're using the charter schools to educate these kids and give them Islamic indoctrination, so to speak, and it's being done at taxpayer expense," Elwart observed.
Williams says the indoctrination is subtle and administrators say the schools aren't trying to be Islamic.
"They'll say these schools are completely secular. These schools don't promote any Islamic doctrine; they're not political in any way. But according to Gulen himself these schools serve, in the shadows, the creation of a new Islamic order," Williams maintained.
"If you read about Gulen in the foreign press, they have it pretty well nailed down. In speeches he talks about the importance of stealth jihad, of infiltrating places and appearing very secular," Williams added.
Gulen's claim to be a secular educator whose interest is simply in promoting interfaith dialogue appears to have been successful, as the claim was used to support District Judge Stewart Dalzell's opinion in Gulen's case.
"The final requirement is that an applicant show that his or her 'entry into the United States will substantially benefit prospectively the United States.' 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(1)(A)(iii). The AAO did not find-and the Government does not contend-that Gulen fails to meet this criterion. Based on his unchallenged statement that the visa he seeks 'will allow me to continue to advocate and promote interfaith dialogue and harmony between members of different faiths and religions,' A.R. at 1053, activities that are certainly a benefit to the United States in these times of tensions between adherents of different religions, we find no basis for denying his application on that basis," Paragraph E of the opinion stated.
Williams disputes the judge's ruling and says that Gulen's own speeches say the opposite.
"In his own speeches he says you can really infiltrate a secular government in a place like the United States and wreak all kinds of havoc. That's what he's been doing. Once again the schools are funded by us. They're at least 140 of them. He's been called the most dangerous Islamist in the world and very little light is being shed on him and his activities," Williams stated.
Elwart says the potential indoctrination is very subtle, even though he believes it's intentional.
"There is a certain amount of an Islamic-centered slant to their teaching. One place they really start bringing in the slant is through their after-school programs and what they call their outside programs," Elwart observed.
"For example, they'll have Turkish festivals and the kids can compete in making costumes, writings and the like. Many times the prize for these in these competitions is a cultural trip to Turkey," Elwart also said.
Elwart believes that the Gulen charter schools are going largely unnoticed by the American public.
"This is a problem with the charter school system; it's fragmented. There is not a lot of oversight on the schools so people are disconnected from one another. If they see something that isn't quite right at their school they don't have any place to go to to raise the alarm," Elwart asserted.
Elwart says the schools are established and then each school brings in teachers from Turkey using H1B visas. These are visas granted to people with math and science skills.
"Most of the time these applications will say they need to bring in these teachers because of the lack of math and science teachers available locally. The teachers that do come in are Muslim and almost all of them are from Turkey," Elwart explained.
He explains that administrators are usually brought in on more temporary visas which explains the frequent turnover in the Gulen-connected schools.
The web site, Charter School Scandals, reports that the Pioneer Charter School for Science in Everett, Mass., is a Gulen School.
Pioneer Charter School of Science Public Relations Director Aimee Mott says that her school was started by a group of concerned parents.
"It was a community of really parents and other concerned members of the community who thought that in this area, Everett, Chelsea and Saugus area, that the public schools were not meeting all the needs of all the students," Mott stated.
"They decided to get together, submit a charter to the state for our school and that was in 2006. So, our first year in operation was in 2007 and 2008," Mott said.
Mott also says that the school's newness means it relies on taxpayer dollars.
"Because we are a new charter school, all of our funding at this point comes from the state. We are funded just like a public, we are a public school. We are a public charter school," Mott described. "We are working on applying for a grant to get some funding for some things."
The school's web site gives few details on the school's curriculum, provides no list of faculty members and lists only the principal and the board members.
The Massachusetts Department of Education school directory lists the head of the school as Barish Icin, and also gives the members of the school's board of directors.
Among the board members listed are Board Chairman Murat Kilic, Mustafa Ozdemir, Nuh Gedik and Ramazan Nigdioglu. A name origins web site, HearNames.com, verifies that all of the surnames are of Turkish origin.
Nigdioglu is also connected to the Cambridge Ridge and Latin School where he is on record as recommending that the best students at the Latin School be rewarded with a trip to Turkey.
Williams says that Gulen's school network is well-funded, well-organized and well-represented.
"He has set up lobbying groups and through his lobbying groups he has given millions and millions of dollars to both Republicans and Democrats. He has gained their favor and support so his schools are rubber-stamped," Williams observed.
Williams warns Gulen's compound in the Poconos is much like the one in Islamburg, N.Y., that Williams says he's visited.
"I went up there to take a look at his fortress and it is a fortress in the heart of the Pocono Mountains. Hundreds of Turks live there. According to all the neighbors there are helicopters constantly surveilling the area looking for intruders," Williams described.
"There are sentry posts there and the neighbors have complained to the FBI about gunshots and explosions," Williams added. "They have a foreign militia on American soil. If this doesn't get people up in arms, I don't know what will."
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=267417
Sunday, February 27, 2011
GLOBAL JIHAD
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Islamic indoctrination on U.S. taxpayers' tab
Founder of charter school chain called 'most dangerous Islamist in the world'
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Islamic indoctrination on U.S. taxpayers' tab
Founder of charter school chain called 'most dangerous Islamist in the world'
Posted: February 27, 2011
6:09 pm Eastern
WorldNetDaily
 One of the Gulen-linked charter schools |
The network of more than 100 facilities in 27 states is the result of the work of Turkish expatriate billionaire Fethullah Gulen, who lives in a heavily guarded compound near Saylorsburg, Pa.
Terrorism analyst, author and Family Security Matters contributing Editor Paul Williams explains that Gulen left Turkey under a cloud, and came to the United States carrying an agenda.
"Fethullah Gulen is a chap who fled Turkey in 1998. He was attempting to avoid prosecution from the secular government at that time; he wanted to set up an Islamic government," Williams explained.
"He moved to Pennsylvania and established a mountain fortress around Saylorsburg, which is in the heart of the Poconos," Williams explained.
Court records from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's federal courts indicate that Gulen won his removal case against Homeland Security by showing that he was an "alien of extraordinary ability," and that by staying in the United States he could pursue his work of "authoring articles and providing guidance 'to fellow scholar in the fields of theology, political science, Islamic studies, and education.'"
Williams says Gulen had help.
"The Department of Homeland Security uncovered that Gulen has over $25 billion in assets. That's more money than many countries have. Most of this money has been channeled to Gulen from the CIA," Williams asserted.
Koinonia Institute senior analyst Steve Elwart says Gulen was helped by a number of different factors.
"He was denied his visa the first time around by DHS by saying that he didn't have any experience since he was trying to come in as an educator. DHS said that he really didn't have the qualifications to hold himself out as an educator," Elwart observed.
Elwart says there was another concern.
"There were also concerns about his ties to the CIA and that as it turned out, those concerns were apparently valid, because when he appealed the decision, he got two letters of recommendation from the CIA," Elwart continued.
Williams explains that U. S. officials may have had a reason for funneling money to Gulen.
"I'll tell you why the CIA is funding him. These countries (referring to the Middle East and former Soviet Central Asian Republics) have vast natural gas and oil reserves. They are afraid of where those reserves will go, so we want to gain some control over the supplies," Williams claimed.
Now his fingerprints are all over schools across Asia – and dozens more charter schools across the United States. Those are schools that are run on the taxpayers' money, but have private teaching agendas, often using the subtle inferences in social studies courses to advocate for Islam, observers report.
"He has these schools all over Central Asia and these counties, Tajikistan, Kurdistan, all have Turkish backgrounds. They speak Turkish. They share a Turkish culture. They share the same religion so it's really easy for him to establish these schools throughout Central Asia," Williams explained.
"They have prospered; they have grown and the countries where they are have become increasingly militant and increasingly anti-American," Williams added.
Williams says Gulen put his money to work, first in his home country of Turkey.
"He used that money to create this political party in Turkey and to take over the newspapers, and almost all of the Turkish media. He's also created a network of Islamic charter schools in Turkey that has spread through Central Asia, particularly in the newly created Russian republics," Williams also stated.
Elwart adds that there was one still another factor influencing U.S. assistance to Gulen.
"There has been a movement in the last two administrations to promote what they call moderate Islam by bringing these people forward and financing them to get people inculcated into the Muslim culture," Elwart explained.
"In terms of following the money trail, part of it I think was from the United States government. There were a number of people out there that see him as a religious leader which in fact he comes from a family of imams, and people donate to him," Elwart detailed.
Williams asserts that Gulen's long-range plans are to re-establish an Islamic caliphate.
"He created a party which is called the Justice and Development Party. The prime minister is Tayyip Erdogan. He's severed relationships with Israel and he's allied himself with Iran," Williams observed.
MEMRI Turkish expert Rachel Sharon-Krespin writes in an article in Middle East Quarterly that Fethullah Gulen is a major player in Turkish politics. Besides the Justice and Development Party, he also owns, controls or operates a network of schools and universities in Turkey, as well as the major newspapers and television stations.
In an American Thinker article, Center for Islamic Pluralism Director Stephen Schwartz says that Gulen is the power not only behind a movement in Turkey, but is the controlling force behind what Schwartz calls a Turkish Diaspora.
Elwart agrees that Gulen's intention is to use his schools to indoctrinate the students into Islam at taxpayer expense.
"Gulen has started his school system in the United States through the charter school system, which of course is publicly financed. That is one of the big worries about the Gulen movement is that they're using the charter schools to educate these kids and give them Islamic indoctrination, so to speak, and it's being done at taxpayer expense," Elwart observed.
"They'll say these schools are completely secular. These schools don't promote any Islamic doctrine; they're not political in any way. But according to Gulen himself these schools serve, in the shadows, the creation of a new Islamic order," Williams maintained.
"If you read about Gulen in the foreign press, they have it pretty well nailed down. In speeches he talks about the importance of stealth jihad, of infiltrating places and appearing very secular," Williams added.
Gulen's claim to be a secular educator whose interest is simply in promoting interfaith dialogue appears to have been successful, as the claim was used to support District Judge Stewart Dalzell's opinion in Gulen's case.
"The final requirement is that an applicant show that his or her 'entry into the United States will substantially benefit prospectively the United States.' 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(1)(A)(iii). The AAO did not find-and the Government does not contend-that Gulen fails to meet this criterion. Based on his unchallenged statement that the visa he seeks 'will allow me to continue to advocate and promote interfaith dialogue and harmony between members of different faiths and religions,' A.R. at 1053, activities that are certainly a benefit to the United States in these times of tensions between adherents of different religions, we find no basis for denying his application on that basis," Paragraph E of the opinion stated.
Williams disputes the judge's ruling and says that Gulen's own speeches say the opposite.
"In his own speeches he says you can really infiltrate a secular government in a place like the United States and wreak all kinds of havoc. That's what he's been doing. Once again the schools are funded by us. They're at least 140 of them. He's been called the most dangerous Islamist in the world and very little light is being shed on him and his activities," Williams stated.
Elwart says the potential indoctrination is very subtle, even though he believes it's intentional.
"There is a certain amount of an Islamic-centered slant to their teaching. One place they really start bringing in the slant is through their after-school programs and what they call their outside programs," Elwart observed.
"For example, they'll have Turkish festivals and the kids can compete in making costumes, writings and the like. Many times the prize for these in these competitions is a cultural trip to Turkey," Elwart also said.
Elwart believes that the Gulen charter schools are going largely unnoticed by the American public.
"This is a problem with the charter school system; it's fragmented. There is not a lot of oversight on the schools so people are disconnected from one another. If they see something that isn't quite right at their school they don't have any place to go to to raise the alarm," Elwart asserted.
Elwart says the schools are established and then each school brings in teachers from Turkey using H1B visas. These are visas granted to people with math and science skills.
He explains that administrators are usually brought in on more temporary visas which explains the frequent turnover in the Gulen-connected schools.
The web site, Charter School Scandals, reports that the Pioneer Charter School for Science in Everett, Mass., is a Gulen School.
Pioneer Charter School of Science Public Relations Director Aimee Mott says that her school was started by a group of concerned parents.
"It was a community of really parents and other concerned members of the community who thought that in this area, Everett, Chelsea and Saugus area, that the public schools were not meeting all the needs of all the students," Mott stated.
"They decided to get together, submit a charter to the state for our school and that was in 2006. So, our first year in operation was in 2007 and 2008," Mott said.
Mott also says that the school's newness means it relies on taxpayer dollars.
"Because we are a new charter school, all of our funding at this point comes from the state. We are funded just like a public, we are a public school. We are a public charter school," Mott described. "We are working on applying for a grant to get some funding for some things."
The Massachusetts Department of Education school directory lists the head of the school as Barish Icin, and also gives the members of the school's board of directors.
Among the board members listed are Board Chairman Murat Kilic, Mustafa Ozdemir, Nuh Gedik and Ramazan Nigdioglu. A name origins web site, HearNames.com, verifies that all of the surnames are of Turkish origin.
Nigdioglu is also connected to the Cambridge Ridge and Latin School where he is on record as recommending that the best students at the Latin School be rewarded with a trip to Turkey.
Williams says that Gulen's school network is well-funded, well-organized and well-represented.
"He has set up lobbying groups and through his lobbying groups he has given millions and millions of dollars to both Republicans and Democrats. He has gained their favor and support so his schools are rubber-stamped," Williams observed.
Williams warns Gulen's compound in the Poconos is much like the one in Islamburg, N.Y., that Williams says he's visited.
"I went up there to take a look at his fortress and it is a fortress in the heart of the Pocono Mountains. Hundreds of Turks live there. According to all the neighbors there are helicopters constantly surveilling the area looking for intruders," Williams described.
"There are sentry posts there and the neighbors have complained to the FBI about gunshots and explosions," Williams added. "They have a foreign militia on American soil. If this doesn't get people up in arms, I don't know what will."
Pat Boone remembers the 'good old days', when men were men and women were women
This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows.
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=268217
Friday, February 25, 2011
Welcome to the nightmare
Exclusive: Pat Boone points finger at fundamental 'transformer' in White House
Posted: February 26, 2011
1:00 am Eastern
By Pat Boone
Is it just me? Am I dreaming something that never was? Or do you remember the same things I do?
Wasn't there a "once upon a time" when families all consisted of a mom, a dad and a kid or two? When most people went to a worship service every Saturday or Sunday, and many even enjoyed a midweek prayer meeting as well?
Do you remember a time when families – Mom and Dad and all the kids – actually went to the neighborhood theater on Friday night, bought some 25-cent popcorn and all watched the same movie, together?
I really seem to recollect watching TV, on one of the three networks, with my brother and sisters and parents, all laughing at the same things and enjoying the same dramas, and feeling closer to my family for the experience. There were no other options even thought of, alternative channels that continually featured things I didn't want anybody else to know I was watching.
When you were growing up, was abortion or homosexuality or even sex outside of marriage ever discussed, or much even considered? Weren't such activities just considered "wrong," taboo, not to be discussed in polite company, and never, never to be condoned?
Weren't most elected officials and representatives, from the president on down, respected and looked up to, even if your folks hadn't voted for them? Didn't it seem that almost all of them were trying to do the right thing, and didn't it seem that America would always come out on top? And even if Daddy had to work very hard; and Mama, too, seemed to work nonstop from early morning till after your bedtime – didn't it seem there was always enough, with maybe a little to spare for a neighbor who needed help?
Listen, as far back as most of us can remember, the house – the home – was the best investment a family could make. Combined with whatever savings and stock purchases a man could put together, his Social Security and the equity in his home would surely provide for his retirement. Real estate values always rose, right?
Didn't "liberty" and "freedom" seem real, tangible and just natural in this country? And even when the nation was at war, didn't it seem inevitable that we and our way of life would win out?
Am I crazy, or wasn't there the general, widespread and shared feeling that we were blessed by God and that He was pleased with us and our efforts to live life as He ordained it? Not that any of us was perfect, but that we expected the best behavior from ourselves and each other? That there are proven and accepted moral standards to live by?
If this wasn't all a dream, if you remember most of this like I do, what happened? How do we find ourselves in this nightmare of contemporary America? And how has it changed so radically, so fast?
As I reach back into this horrible nightmare, I seem to hear a loud, almost fanatic threat echoing in the night … "We are just five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America!"
And while the country was already in trouble in many ways, with the collapse of irresponsible financial institutions, almost nonexistent borders, runaway government spending and the expense of war on two fronts, after that five day span, when the current president and his eventual administration took over the White House, the United States has indeed been undergoing a fundamental, catastrophic transformation.
I pray regularly for the president and his advisers, asking God to guide their thoughts and actions on our behalf. Why? Because I read the directive in the Bible, 1 Timothy 2, "Pray for those in authority, that you may lead peaceable and godly lives." That's my goal, and I think most Americans share it: We want our government to assure us we can go on living our peaceable and godly lives in the America we've always lived in.
But what's happened since the new president and his appointed team took over, just two years ago? With full knowledge and intent, we have collectively been encumbered with trillions of dollars in new debt; we (supposedly the government) have seized control of two of the big three auto manufacturers and given 40 percent of that ownership to the unions; we have bailed out and rewarded the very banks and financial institutions that caused their own collapse, and that of our economy – with the result that our current annual deficit is $1.5 trillion!
Though the presidency is granted by the voting public and meant to serve their wishes, the incumbent gives little if any evidence that he cares much at all about the expressed wishes of the citizenry. He promised he'd try to cut abortions in half, knowing that the majority of Americans abhor the practice, but his first executive order was a $200 million grant to Planned Parenthood International, guaranteeing that abortions would increase, not diminish.
While the vast majority of citizens approved of the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by Bill Clinton, this president just ignored the will of the people and the decree of our Congress, signing an executive order (his will, not ours) ordering his Justice Department not to defend the DOMA when it is challenged in court by those who want to "fundamentally transform" even the institution of marriage itself.
Following the meticulously laid out agenda of Saul Alinsky, the Chicago Communist who wrote his infamous "Rules for Radicals," our leaders (including unconstitutionally appointed "czars" who only answer to the president, not to Congress), have rammed through a 2,200-page health-care bill, with an $800 billion price tag, over the strenuous objections of the people. Mr. Obama wants to "freeze" discretionary (his discretion) spending at current levels (the highest in history) for five years – telling us it will save $40 billion a year – when he knows the "savings" will be the billions that would otherwise be added over that period.
We appear to be living in George Orwell's "1984," in which the government says the exact reverse of the truth – and the poor brainwashed public has to accept it.
What will it take to wake us from this nightmare?
To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=268217
Friday, February 25, 2011
Welcome to the nightmare
Exclusive: Pat Boone points finger at fundamental 'transformer' in White House
Posted: February 26, 2011
1:00 am Eastern
By Pat Boone
Is it just me? Am I dreaming something that never was? Or do you remember the same things I do?
Wasn't there a "once upon a time" when families all consisted of a mom, a dad and a kid or two? When most people went to a worship service every Saturday or Sunday, and many even enjoyed a midweek prayer meeting as well?
Do you remember a time when families – Mom and Dad and all the kids – actually went to the neighborhood theater on Friday night, bought some 25-cent popcorn and all watched the same movie, together?
I really seem to recollect watching TV, on one of the three networks, with my brother and sisters and parents, all laughing at the same things and enjoying the same dramas, and feeling closer to my family for the experience. There were no other options even thought of, alternative channels that continually featured things I didn't want anybody else to know I was watching.
When you were growing up, was abortion or homosexuality or even sex outside of marriage ever discussed, or much even considered? Weren't such activities just considered "wrong," taboo, not to be discussed in polite company, and never, never to be condoned?
Weren't most elected officials and representatives, from the president on down, respected and looked up to, even if your folks hadn't voted for them? Didn't it seem that almost all of them were trying to do the right thing, and didn't it seem that America would always come out on top? And even if Daddy had to work very hard; and Mama, too, seemed to work nonstop from early morning till after your bedtime – didn't it seem there was always enough, with maybe a little to spare for a neighbor who needed help?
Listen, as far back as most of us can remember, the house – the home – was the best investment a family could make. Combined with whatever savings and stock purchases a man could put together, his Social Security and the equity in his home would surely provide for his retirement. Real estate values always rose, right?
Didn't "liberty" and "freedom" seem real, tangible and just natural in this country? And even when the nation was at war, didn't it seem inevitable that we and our way of life would win out?
Am I crazy, or wasn't there the general, widespread and shared feeling that we were blessed by God and that He was pleased with us and our efforts to live life as He ordained it? Not that any of us was perfect, but that we expected the best behavior from ourselves and each other? That there are proven and accepted moral standards to live by?
If this wasn't all a dream, if you remember most of this like I do, what happened? How do we find ourselves in this nightmare of contemporary America? And how has it changed so radically, so fast?
As I reach back into this horrible nightmare, I seem to hear a loud, almost fanatic threat echoing in the night … "We are just five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America!"
And while the country was already in trouble in many ways, with the collapse of irresponsible financial institutions, almost nonexistent borders, runaway government spending and the expense of war on two fronts, after that five day span, when the current president and his eventual administration took over the White House, the United States has indeed been undergoing a fundamental, catastrophic transformation.
I pray regularly for the president and his advisers, asking God to guide their thoughts and actions on our behalf. Why? Because I read the directive in the Bible, 1 Timothy 2, "Pray for those in authority, that you may lead peaceable and godly lives." That's my goal, and I think most Americans share it: We want our government to assure us we can go on living our peaceable and godly lives in the America we've always lived in.
But what's happened since the new president and his appointed team took over, just two years ago? With full knowledge and intent, we have collectively been encumbered with trillions of dollars in new debt; we (supposedly the government) have seized control of two of the big three auto manufacturers and given 40 percent of that ownership to the unions; we have bailed out and rewarded the very banks and financial institutions that caused their own collapse, and that of our economy – with the result that our current annual deficit is $1.5 trillion!
Though the presidency is granted by the voting public and meant to serve their wishes, the incumbent gives little if any evidence that he cares much at all about the expressed wishes of the citizenry. He promised he'd try to cut abortions in half, knowing that the majority of Americans abhor the practice, but his first executive order was a $200 million grant to Planned Parenthood International, guaranteeing that abortions would increase, not diminish.
While the vast majority of citizens approved of the Defense of Marriage Act, signed into law by Bill Clinton, this president just ignored the will of the people and the decree of our Congress, signing an executive order (his will, not ours) ordering his Justice Department not to defend the DOMA when it is challenged in court by those who want to "fundamentally transform" even the institution of marriage itself.
Following the meticulously laid out agenda of Saul Alinsky, the Chicago Communist who wrote his infamous "Rules for Radicals," our leaders (including unconstitutionally appointed "czars" who only answer to the president, not to Congress), have rammed through a 2,200-page health-care bill, with an $800 billion price tag, over the strenuous objections of the people. Mr. Obama wants to "freeze" discretionary (his discretion) spending at current levels (the highest in history) for five years – telling us it will save $40 billion a year – when he knows the "savings" will be the billions that would otherwise be added over that period.
We appear to be living in George Orwell's "1984," in which the government says the exact reverse of the truth – and the poor brainwashed public has to accept it.
What will it take to wake us from this nightmare?
Providence, Rhode Island 'fires' all their teachers, School District $40 mln short in next years budget
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The school district plans to send out dismissal notices to every one of its 1,926 teachers, an unprecedented move that has union leaders up in arms.
In a letter sent out to all teachers Tuesday, Supt. Tom Brady wrote that on Thursday the Providence School Board will vote on a resolution to dismiss every teacher, effective the last day of school.
In an e-mail sent to all teachers and School Department staff, Brady said, "We are forced to take this precautionary action by the March 1 deadline given the dire budget outline for the 2011-2012 school year in which we are projecting a near $40 million deficit for the district,"
http://current.com/news/93018621_providence-rhode-island-fires-all-their-teachers-all-1926.htm
In a letter sent out to all teachers Tuesday, Supt. Tom Brady wrote that on Thursday the Providence School Board will vote on a resolution to dismiss every teacher, effective the last day of school.
In an e-mail sent to all teachers and School Department staff, Brady said, "We are forced to take this precautionary action by the March 1 deadline given the dire budget outline for the 2011-2012 school year in which we are projecting a near $40 million deficit for the district,"
http://current.com/news/93018621_providence-rhode-island-fires-all-their-teachers-all-1926.htm
11.4.09: Giant crack opens in Africa in just days....
A crack in the Earth's crust – which could be the forerunner to a new ocean – ripped open in just days in 2005, a new study suggests. The opening, located in the Afar region of Ethiopia, presents a unique opportunity for geologists to study how mid-ocean ridges form.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18114-giant-crack-in-africa-formed-in-just-days.html
Large crack opens in the earth in southern Peru.... "the whole earth groans and travails, waiting for its redemption", Romans 8:22
The exact cause of the crack in the earth still unknown. Peru’s geophysical institute ruled out the occurrence of an earthquake in the region, but what is clear is that the ground opened up and large blocks of earth can be observed scattered throughout the area.
http://www.livinginperu.com/news-14238-outside-of-lima-puno-large-crack-opens-earth-southern-peru
"The Plan" - Agenda 21 and the death knell of LIBERTY, by Jim O'Neill, Canada Free Press
The revolution to take back America and restore it to being the future-oriented free republic it was designed to be, must begin at the state and local level. That is why I consider what the Commissioners of Carroll County, Maryland recently did to be so important, and a “glimmer of sunlight” in the darkness. (Link)
Carroll County is the first government organization in America to vote (unanimously) to withdraw from the UN’s International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). If you don’t know why Carroll County’s withdrawal is so important, hopefully by the end of this article you will. May God grant that many other counties across the United States follow Carroll County’s lead—the sooner the better.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/print-friendly/33852
Carroll County is the first government organization in America to vote (unanimously) to withdraw from the UN’s International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). If you don’t know why Carroll County’s withdrawal is so important, hopefully by the end of this article you will. May God grant that many other counties across the United States follow Carroll County’s lead—the sooner the better.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/print-friendly/33852
States eye end-run around Obama Care by Stephen Dinan, Washington Post
With efforts to repeal the health care law stalling on Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers in states across the country are turning to another tool in the Constitution to try to limit the law’s reach — interstate compacts.
To backers, it’s almost like discovering a secret weapon hidden within the Constitution. Compacts, which are roughly like treaties between states, have the force of federal law, and a coalition of lawmakers and conservative activists and academics say they could just as easily be used to pry back from the federal government some areas of responsibility, including health care.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/27/state-compacts-on-health-care-eyed-as-end-run-arou/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS
To backers, it’s almost like discovering a secret weapon hidden within the Constitution. Compacts, which are roughly like treaties between states, have the force of federal law, and a coalition of lawmakers and conservative activists and academics say they could just as easily be used to pry back from the federal government some areas of responsibility, including health care.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/27/state-compacts-on-health-care-eyed-as-end-run-arou/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS
Ireland's new government on collision course with the European Union
Ireland's new government is headed for confrontation with Brussels after the country's ruling party was wiped out on Saturday by voters in a huge popular backlash against a European-IMF austerity programme.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/8349497/Irelands-new-government-on-a-collision-course-with-EU.html
OBAMA QUIETLY APPOINTS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD TO KEY POSTS by Anthony Martin
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/report-obama-quietly-appoints-muslim-brotherhood-to-key-posts
An ex-CIA agent and counter-intelligence expert has revealed in a special report that Barack Obama has quietly appointed members of the Muslim Brotherhood to key posts within the Administration. Dr. Clare Lopez, professor at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies, wrote a policy paper in December of 2009 which details the systematic appointment of Sharia-friendly advocates within the State Department and other government agencies.
For example, the Tehran-born Dr. Vali Nasr was appointed to co-direct Obama foreign policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan. Former Saudi Arabian supplicant Charles Freeman was appointed by Obama to chair the Administration's National Intelligence Council, but withdrew his name when it was revealed he issued a 2-page screed in which he postulated a conspiracy theory claiming he had been 'victimized' by American supporters of Israel. In addition, John Limbert was appointed to direct U.S. policy toward the Islamist regime in Iran. Limbert, who was taken hostage during the Iranian upheaval of the late 70s-early 80s, is an Iranian sympathizer who advocates negotiation with one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world.
A video of Lopez's assessment of Islamist influence in the Obama Administration can be found in the top left column.
While it is true that some of the initial appointees have departed from the Administration, the fix was already in. The Obama Administration is manned by Sharia-friendly appointees who help steer American foreign policy in the Middle East.
Why is this relevant to 2011?
Events which are currently unfolding in the Middle East are a consequence of the behind-the-scenes work of Islamic advocates within the Administration.
According to reports issued by NewsRealBlog, RedState, and LaborUnionReport, secret documents released by Wikileaks indicate that the United States government has been in the process of planning social and political upheaval in the Middle East for at least 2 years--beginning during the waning days of the Bush Administration and continuing under Obama. The goal was to push moderate Muslim dictators out the door in countries such as Egypt, while advocating so-called 'democracy' which would then insure the rise of Muslim Brotherhood-supported Islamists to fill the power-gap.
How would such a grand scheme be accomplished?
The reports expose a consortium of Leftwing organizations, Islamic groups, labor unions, and Obama-friendly corporations which would organize and fund a 'youth movement' in certain areas around the Middle East which would then take to the streets in protest against current governments.
Some of the corporations involved are Google, YouTube, MSNBC, Facebook, National Geographic, M-TV, and Pepsi. In addition, the U.S. State Department, Columbia Law School, and various Islamic extremist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR, and others are central to the plot.
The goal is to set in motion a domino effect, hoping that regime-change in Eqypt would spread to other nations in the Middle East, and eventually destabilize Europe, and ultimately, the United States.
No sooner had Mubarak been ousted in Eqypt than demands were issued for war with Israel. Egypt's government and Constitution were abolished by the military. The Camp David Accords, which has kept peace between Egypt and Israel since the 1970s, was discarded.
Then, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi issued a call to the Muslim world to wage war with Israel. There is upheaval in Jordon and Lebannon as well--Israel's closest neighbors.
And while the Obama Administration rushed to jump out in front of the uprising in Egypt to praise its so-called 'push for democracy,' a similar uprising this week in Iran has been met with deafening silence.
Why?
Perhaps some basic facts will provide clues.
Obama's top national security advisor declared that the Muslim Brotherhood is a 'secular' organization, non-extremist, and dedicated to 'peace.' Obama himself, in an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, refused to refer to the Brotherhood as an Islamic extremist organization, in spite of the fact that the group's own charter, and recent statements made by its leadership, indicate exactly that.
And a Muslim board member of CPAC, of all things, declared in a news conference that 'there is no Muslim Brotherhood in the United States,' despite the fact that the group issued a document in 1991 indicating its North American objectives.
At the very least it is clear that things are not as they seem on the surface in Eqypt, Iran, nor within the Obama Administration and the American Muslim community. And, due to the fact that the mainstream media merely parrots the official Administration propaganda, the American people are being bamboozled.
Be sure to catch my blog at The Liberty Sphere.
A first taste of the New Middle East By Caroline B. Glick
(Note: we need to pray for a President that will continue to relate to Israel on a Biblical basis....one day God will divide the nations into 'sheep and goat' nations according to their treatment of Israel)
As our region is consumed by the flames of rebellion and revolution, the challenges and threats Israel faces multiply by the day. In these new and trying times, our leaders must shed their failed concepts of statecraft based on weakness and adopt new ones founded on strength. The PA is playing a bad hand wisely. We are playing a good hand foolishly.
The brilliant academic president who theorized that diplomacy-by-apology was more powerful than governing-by-strength is being outmaneuvered -- and outright humiliated -- by the Arab world: Hamas, the Muslim brotherhood and Fatah
Wednesday night, Israelis received our first taste of the new Middle East with the missile strike on Beersheba and Netivot. Iran's Palestinian proxy, the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood known as Hamas carried out its latest war crime right after Iran's battleships entered Syria's Latakia port.
Their voyage through the Suez Canal to Syria was an unadulterated triumph for the mullahs. For the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's warships sailed across the canal without even being inspected by the Egyptian, US or Israeli navies. On the diplomatic front, the Iranian-dominated new Middle East has had a pronounced impact on the Western-backed Fatah-led Palestinian Authority's political posture towards the US.
The PA picked a fight with America just after the Obama administration forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to surrender power. Mubarak's departure was a strategic victory for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and for its sister branch Hamas in Gaza.
As part of his efforts to neutralize the threat the Muslim Brotherhood posed to his regime, Mubarak sealed off Gaza's border with Egypt after Hamas seized power there in June 2007. The Gaza-Sinai border was breached during last month's revolution. Since Mubarak's forced resignation, the military junta now leading Egypt has failed to reseal it. The revolution in Egypt happened just after the PA was thrown into a state of disarray. Al Jazeerah's exposure of PA documents indicating the leadership's willingness to make minor compromises with Israel in the framework of a peace deal served to discredit Fatah leaders in the eyes of the Israel-hating Palestinian public. In the wake of the al Jazeerah revelations, senior PA leaders escalated their anti-Israel and anti-American pronouncements. The PA's chief negotiator Saeb Erekat was forced to resign.
The shift in the regional power balance following Mubarak's fall has caused Fatah leaders to view their ties to the US as a strategic liability. If they wish to survive, they must cut a deal with Hamas. And to convince Hamas to cut a deal, they need to abandon the US.
And so they have. Fatah's first significant move to part company with Washington came with its relentless bid to force a vote on a resolution condemning Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria at the UN Security Council. In an attempt to avert a vote on the resolution that the US public expected him to veto, Obama spent fifty minutes on the phone with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas begging him to set the resolution aside. Obama promised to take unprecedented steps against Israel in return for Abbas's agreement to stand down. But Abbas rejected his appeal.
Not only did Abbas defy the wishes of the most pro-Palestinian president ever to occupy the White House, Abbas told the whole world about how he defied Obama.
Abbas's humiliation of Obama was only the first volley in the Fatah leader's campaign against the US. Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and their PA ministers have sent paid demonstrators into the street to protest against America. They announced a boycott of American diplomats and journalists. They have called for a boycott of American products. They have scheduled a "Day of Rage," against America for Friday after mosque prayers.
While excoriating Obama and the US, the PA is actively wooing Hamas. Wednesday the PA accepted the legitimacy of Hamas control over Gaza. Three and a half years after Hamas wrested control over Gaza from Fatah in a bloody coup, on Wednesday Fayyad said that the PA is willing to end its objection to Hamas control over the area if Hamas agrees to participate in the general elections Abbas has scheduled for September.
At the same time as he publicly beseeched Hamas to join forces with Fatah, Fayyad announced that the PA is willing to forego US financial assistance if that assistance continues to come with political strings attached. The only real string attached to US aid is the stipulation that no US financial assistance can be used to finance Hamas.
The PA's announced willingness to end its receipt of US aid is by far its boldest move to date. With the Arab world going up in smoke Fatah officials know they cannot expect to receive any significant funding from Arab states for the foreseeable future. That makes them entirely dependent on US and Europe.
And make no mistake; the PA budget is entirely a creation of foreign aid. The PA is the largest per capita foreign aid recipient in the world. Last year it received $1.8 billion in foreign assistance. US direct assistance accounted for $550 million or nearly a third of that amount. The US gave the PA another $268 million in indirect assistance through UNRWA. UNRWA is the UN agency devoted exclusively to providing welfare benefits to the Palestinians while subordinating itself to the Palestinian political agenda.
Without US assistance, the PA would cease to be a political factor in the region. So by offering to forego the aid, Fayyad, Abbas and their colleagues are essentially threatening to commit political suicide.
The Palestinians' declared readiness to forego US aid is all the more remarkable when compared to Israel's refusal to countenance the thought of foregoing or even cutting back the assistance it receives from the US. Whereas the Palestinian economy will collapse without US assistance, were Israel to forego the $3 billion in military assistance it receives every year from Washington, the move would have little impact on the economy.
Economic analyses of US military assistance have noted that several factors degrade the value of the aid. The US requires Israel to spend 75 percent of the assistance in the US. Israel's inability to open its purchases to competitive bidding in the world market has forced it to pay inflated prices for much of what it buys.
So too, by buying US weapons systems, Israel has harmed its own military industries which are blocked from selling or developing systems for the IDF.
Moreover, because the US has tied its aid to Egypt to its aid to Israel and justified its military aid to Jordan and Lebanon through its military assistance to Israel, by accepting the aid, Israel is enabling its neighbors to upgrade their military capabilities. Their upgraded military capabilities in turn force Israel to invest still more resources in its defense budget to maintain its qualitative edge against its US subsidized neighbors. With all the hidden costs the military assistance entails, it is reasonable to discount the actual value of the assistance by fifty percent. That is, the actual value of annual US military assistance is about $1.5 billion.
The direct military cost of the Second Lebanon War is estimated at $2.2 billion. The direct military cost of Operation Cast Lead is estimated at $1.4 billion. The actual costs of both wars to the Israeli economy were several times higher. Those who claim that Israel cannot manage without US military aid ignore the fact that neither of these wars had any discernable sustained impact on the economy.
The political cost Israel has paid for US military assistance has been astronomical. As a recent study of US military assistance by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies demonstrated, the psychological impact of the US aid on Israeli and American leaders alike has had a disastrous impact on the relations between the two states. It has impaired their ability to understand the actual strategic rationale of their alliance. Israeli leaders have developed a subservient mentality towards the Americans and the Americans have forgotten that a strong Israel is the US's most valuable strategic asset in the region. The Palestinians' expressed willingness to forego their assistance from the US is no doubt a bluff. And Congress would do well to call their bluff and cancel US assistance to the PA.
Yet their behavior presents Israel with an important lesson about the fundamentals of diplomacy that appear lost on our leaders.
The Palestinians understand the rules of diplomacy far better than Israel does. Israel believes that diplomacy is about getting other governments to be nice to us. The Palestinians understand that diplomacy is a non-violent means of weakening your enemies and expanding your own power. They also understand that the starting point for any effective diplomatic strategy is a reality-based assessment of other governments' interests.
As the revolutions throughout the region show, in the real world the Arabs do not care about the Palestinians. Europeans and leftist Americans care about the Palestinians. European leaders need to support the Palestinians for domestic political reasons. US leaders support the Palestinians to maintain good relations with Europe and with the American Left.
Recognizing this, the likes of Abbas and Fayyad understand that no matter what they say or do the West will probably not abandon them. European leaders need them to continue carrying out their political war against Israel because that is what European voters demand. US leaders will continue to support the Palestinians because they follow Europe's lead.
On the other hand, given their newfound power, PA leaders have to bend over backwards to appease Hamas and Iran if they wish to survive.
Since they rightly assess that the West needs them more than they need the West, not only are the Palestinians unwilling to pay any price to maintain Western support. They are willing to initiate ugly confrontations with the US and humiliate Obama in order to win the approval of Hamas and Iran.
Facing this reality, Israel's best bet is to initiate a few confrontations of its own to demonstrate its strategic importance to the US and Europe. With the conflagrations raging in the Arab world essentially making its argument that a strong Israel is imperative for the West, Israel should be going on the offensive against the Palestinians and the international Left that supports them.
But instead, of pointing out the truth, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues maintain their posture as supplicants to Washington, making concession after concession in exchange for further abuse in the hopes of avoiding a confrontation. For instance, Netanyahu has defied his own party and broken his word to the public by maintaining an undeclared freeze on Jewish building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Since January 2010, Netanyahu has systematically denied Jews building permits in the area in the hopes of appeasing Obama.
And how has Obama repaid Israel for our government's willingness to deny Jews their civil rights? The Obama administration has branded all Jewish communities in post-1967 Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria as "illegitimate," and blamed Israel for the absence of peace in the region.
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