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Friday, July 29, 2011

Islam Does Not Set a Minimum Age for Marriage

Saudi Cleric Muhammad Al-'Arifi: Islam Does Not Set a Minimum Age for Marriage
Muhammad Al-'Arifi: "There is no agreed-upon minimum age for the marriage of a boy or a girl. It depends upon their maturity. Let's assume that someone wants to marry your 20-year-old daughter. But your daughter's mentality and capabilities… She wouldn't know how to handle it. You feel that her marriage is bound to fail, because she has no understanding of how she is supposed to behave. You think that this girl is not ready to get married. It would be best to wait two or three years. 
"We don't want to marry her off, and then have her husband divorce her after 2-3 weeks, saying: 'What is this?! This girl doesn't know what to do, she has no appreciation of marital life. She knows nothing.' In such a case, it is better to delay marrying her off.   
"In the days of Prophet Muhammad and his companions, people would get married at a younger age. For example, how old was 'Aisha when the Prophet Muhammad married her? I will give you a hint." 
Member of panel of Saudi youth: "She was seven years old."   
Muhammad Al-'Arifi: "And how old was she when he had sex with her?"  
Member of panel: "Fourteen."  
Muhammad Al-'Arifi: "Fourteen?! No way, she was nine. You are getting married tonight and you still can't count…   
"She was nine years old. People might think it is strange that he married such a young girl. But this was the age at which they used to get married. The proof is that when the Prophet told Abu Bakr that he wanted to marry 'Aisha – what did Abu Bakr say? He said: 'You are more than welcome, oh Messenger of Allah, but my daughter is already married.' At seven years old she was already married. […]  
"If a girl's physical and mental build allows her to get married, it is okay for her to get married. There is no minimum age for a girl's marriage set by Islam." […]

Saudi Columnist: Obama – Get Out!

The following are some paragraphs from a new column in Saudi ARabia. I think it is quite clear how the Saudi cleric feels about Obama

"All last month, I kept my eyes out for Mr. Obama, who appeared so often at the outset of the 'Arab Spring' and suddenly disappeared, leaving the tyrants' armored vehicles to wreak havoc in the land. I sought 'Abu Hussein' [i.e. Obama] everywhere [and] wondered where he was hiding – this man whose [face] did not leave the TV screen throughout the Egyptian revolution, and who had asked [Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak to step down, appearing every five minutes to say to his erstwhile ally: 'Get out today, not tomorrow!'
"Obama got lost in the old neighborhoods of Damascus. He 'dissolved like a lump of salt,' as our brothers in Egypt say. [He did so] even though, [in contrast to] the U.S.'s [close] ties with Hosni Mubarak's regime, U.S. relations with the Syrian regime [are weak], and even though the number of victims in the protests of the Egyptian revolution [was far smaller] than the number of victims in the protests now sweeping Syria's cities.
"In Egypt, 'mother America' pressured Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately, while in Syria, 'mother America' has pressured the opposition to engage in dialogue with the regime.
"How is one to interpret this? Who supports whom, and who is against whom? What is Obama thinking? And why did 'mother America' become so hard of hearing the minute the cries broke out in Der'a, Hama, Homs, and Aleppo?
"Obama is not the only one who uses a double standard [vis-à-vis the revolutions in Egypt and in Syria]. The Arabs as a whole are toeing his line. The press, the intellectuals, and the revolutionary parties all tried to coordinate [their positions] with the cries of the revolution of Egypt's youth, raising Cain throughout the world when [Libyan ruler Mu'ammar] Al-Qadhafi began to oppress his people, and demanding that the president of Yemen step down when the revolution broke out there. [But] less than an hour after the bloody events began in Syria, they all fell silent, as if a raven were sitting on their heads and pecked at the bodies of the innocent.
"When [Hizbullah leader] Hassan Nasrallah praised the revolution of Egypt's youth and then became an enemy of the youth in Syria, by asking them to adhere to their regime – it was not difficult to understand [his motives], nor was [it difficult to understand Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei's stance. But the position of the U.S., which is not very different from that of Iran in both cases – the Egyptian and the Syrian – is difficult to understand. Where is Obama hiding?
"We do not want him to say a thing. This time, we want to say to him: Obama – get out!"
Endnotes:
[1] 'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), July 12, 2011.

US Foreign Aid

Week In Review 29 July 2011

This week I took a quick look at the UN Security Council. Being the principal apparatus of the UN for writing, declaring, and instituting security policy I thought it important to know who they are. At first glance it looked not so bad; however, it seems that the foxes, chicken hawks wolves, and bears are watching the hen house.

The structure of the UNSC is that there are five permanent members and 10 temporary members who are selected and voted in by a two-thirds majority. The temporary post is held for two years. The five permanent seats are held by the US, UK, China, Russia, and France. The current temporary seats are held by Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal, South Africa, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon, and Nigeria.

Membership in the UN comes with a regularly assessed fee, or membership dues. There is a long standing issue with the member states not paying their dues in full, if at all. The US has been in arrears with this, particularly in the ramp up and early years of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It is my belief that agreeing to pay the dues was a means of bringing “partner” nations to the table. In 2010 the US paid $7.7 billion dollars to be a member. That was 22% of the overall UN Budget. That needs to be repeated, 22% of the overall budget of the UN. Those dues cover 27% of the Peace Keeping budget. What did this get us? You pay some money and you expect to get something of value in return. This is what we got
·         Failure in Sudan
·         Failure along the Ethiopian/Eritrean border
·         Failure in Angola
·         Failure in Bosnia
·         Failure in Colombia
·         Failure in Israel
·         Failure in Iraq (recall, if you will, the corruption and abuse of the UN Oil For Food Program?)
·         Failure in Somalia
·         Failure to prevent Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, from expunging all white farmers
·         Failure to condemn, fine, or even mention the levels of corruption and abuses which are currently being practiced by its own members

I think that Obi Wan Kenobi had the most apt description as you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. Practices such as institutionalized pedophilia, slavery, rape, enforced disappearance, and torture are practiced with impunity and are, in fact, “public secrets”. The United States and United Kingdom have come under fire from these other UNSC states for torture and enforced disappearances in the war against terror; however, to date, very little outcry has been heard about these same abuses that are currently conducted daily within the borders and with the knowledge of these other UN states.

We are paying for these nations to vote against the US in Assembly. We are paying for these nations to have a venue in which to act against our interests. Our TAX dollars, from the budgets past to the budget currently being debated, pay for these other nations to commit crimes against their own people. Crimes which they have openly claimed to take a stand against.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

UNSC Membership Overview, South Africa

South Africa (Remeber, the First Lady just visited, paid for by our taxes)
Incidents of torture and extra judicial killings (read that as police sanctioned murders) in 2010 were up from previous years. Increased incidents of torture and extrajudicial executions by police were reported in 2010. Refugees and migrants continued to suffer discrimination and displacement in large-scale incidents of violence.

Advocates of housing rights were threatened and attacked with impunity. High levels of violence against women and girls were reported, along with failures by the authorities to provide adequate support to survivors of such abuse. An estimated 5.7 million people were living with HIV, with women continuing to be disproportionately affected.

High levels of violence against women and girls continued to be reported. In June, the South African Medical Research Council published results of a survey showing that more than two fifths of the men interviewed had been physically violent to an intimate partner.

Earlier this year heavily armed black South-African police stormed into a club with white patrons. It is clear that the purpose of this assault was to target the white patrons as can be seen on the video below. 15 of the assault victims were then loaded into a police vehicle and imprisoned until relatives arrived to pay fines (ransom) for them preventing the cops in their duty. Watch the horrible video. I do not know if the link below works, but the description should give enough of a taste.

http://www.rapport.co.za/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Polisie-skop-slaan-mense-20110226

An internal inspection of 430 police stations showed many were failing to comply with their obligations under the Domestic Violence Act (DVA).


Former National Police Commissioner and ex-President of Interpol, Jackie Selebi, was convicted on corruption charges in July 2010, for receiving (at least) R120 000 from alleged crime-syndicate boss, Glenn Agliott

Tenderpreneur is a local term that has been created to refer to individuals who enrich themselves through government tender contracts, mostly based on personal connections and corrupt relationships - although outright bribery might also take place - and sometimes involving an elected or politically-appointed official (or his or her family members) holding simultaneous business interests.

The State Department notes that South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Children are trafficked mainly within the country. Girls are subjected to sex trafficking and domestic servitude; boys are forced to work in street vending, food service, begging, criminal activities, and agriculture. The tradition of ukuthwala, is the forced marriage of girls as young as 12 to adult men and is still being practiced today. Nigerian syndicates dominate the commercial sex trade within the country, and send South African women to the United States for exploitation in domestic servitude. The most recent report from the State Department admits that the “Government of South Africa does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking”.

UNSC Overview, India

India
Here is a country that is growing exponentially and has several democratic systems in place. It seems that India is changing, slowly, from a caste system to one in which people are to be viewed as equal. This is not a change that is going smoothly, not at all.

Amnesty International reports
Tighter anti-terror and security legislation in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks was linked to reports of arbitrary detention and torture. Maoist violence in central India spread to West Bengal, with local communities being targeted and at least 300 civilians killed. Extrajudicial executions took place in a number of states and human rights defenders were threatened and detained arbitrarily. Judicial processes continued to fail to ensure justice for many victims of past human rights violations, violence against religious minorities and corporate abuses. Adivasis (Indigenous communities), small farmers and city dwellers living in poverty across India whose livelihoods were threatened by fast-tracked development and mining projects continued to resist moves to acquire their lands and natural resources. At least 50 people were sentenced to death but, for the fifth successive year, there were no executions.

The prisons and the police are in disrepair, are defunct, decrepit, and violent. The court systems are, most undoubtedly, corrupt and discriminatory. Among the abuses that the police are accused and by video evidence guilty, of are discriminatory arrests, arbitrary beatings, and torture. With those points playing out, I would assert that enforced disappearance is also a regularly practiced activity from the Bangladeshi border to the Nepalese border to Kashmir and down through the Thar Desert.  Reports are that police will question a suspect of a crime by tying their hands and feet then beating them to the point of unconsciousness. The water torture that one suspect underwent was being hung by the feet and having water poured into his nose and mouth until he passed out. This one individual who was tied, beaten, and tortured was a fruit vendor who might have had some information about a local street gang.

There is a decades old internal conflict between police, militias, and external extremist groups. The muslims in Bangladesh infiltrate into border regions for sabotage, kidnappings, and the like. Police and militias often move to protect against this. The two also fight each other in so doing. Kashmir is a region rife with conflict of both sectarian and secular roots. No amount of government presence has been able to prevent violence and atrocities from happening with frightening regularity.

Children are regularly sold into slavery for sex inside India and also transported to other regions as well. The sex trade runs rampant. Human trafficking goes with it. There also is an inability by the system to protect girls from being kidnapped by muslims, raped, and then put into forced marriages and forced religious conversions. These forced conversions occur more frequently in areas outside of the major metropolitan areas. There is little to no law enforcement presence and the locals, as well as missionaries, are left to their own devices of protection.



NASA Blows Hole in Global Warming

New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In Global Warming Alarmism

By James Taylor | Forbes – 18 hrs ago
Not that I follow Global Warming, one way or the other, I just love to see reports that poke holes in Algore.
NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth's atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.
Study co-author Dr. Roy Spencer, a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer flying on NASA's Aqua satellite, reports that real-world data from NASA's Terra satellite contradict multiple assumptions fed into alarmist computer models.

IRGC to Lead OPEC

Iran revolutionary guards' commander set to become president of OPEC

The IRGC is an arm of the Iranian military. The oil war is about to go to the next unpleasant level.
Rostam Ghasemi, who is blacklisted by western powers, could have major role in determining global oil price
Appointment of Rostam Ghasemi as Iran's oil minister and head of Opec would give him and the revolutionary guards access to an influential international platform. Photograph: Alireza Sotakbar/AFP/Getty Images
A senior commander of Iran's revolutionary guards, who is subject to comprehensive international sanctions, has been nominated as the country's oil minister, a position that currently includes the presidency of Opec.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, sent a list of four ministers, including Rostam Ghasemi, commander of the revolutionary guards' Khatam al-Anbia military and industrial base, to the parliament for approval, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Should the parliament confirm Ghasemi's nomination next week, the commander, who is targeted by US, EU and Australian sanctions, will be automatically appointed as head of Opec, giving the revolutionary guards access to an influential international platform.
Under Iran's constitution the president is in charge of appointing cabinet ministers, who take office after the approval of parliament.
Iran took the Opec presidency in October last year, its first time at the head of the oil exporters' cartel since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Unrest in the Middle East, especially the ongoing war in Libya, has given Opec a crucial role in determining the current oil price. Iran is the second-largest crude oil exporter in Opec.
The nomination follows an extraordinary power struggle between Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Ahmadinejad attempted to take over the oil ministry as its temporary head in May but his move was blocked by parliament. He then appointed Mohammad Aliabadi, a close ally, as a caretaker.
By involving the revolutionary guards – who are under the control of Khamenei – in his cabinet, Ahmadinejad might be trying to alleviate the tensions with those of Khamenei's supporters who have been threatening the president with impeachment.
The revolutionary guards have won significant economic power since Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. The organisation has signed contracts with the government in fields such as oil, gas and telecommunications. Khatam al-Anbia's involvement in the country's gas field developments exceeds $7bn (£4.3bn), according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.
In an interview with Fars on Wednesday, Ghasemi said the revolutionary guards would also work as a contractor with the oil ministry if his nomination were approved by parliament. "We have strong and skilful people working for Khatam al-Anbia who are capable of taking up oil-related projects and I don't have any concerns over the activities of the base," he was quoted by Fars as saying after the news of his nomination broke out.
Khatam al-Anbia, the construction arm of the revolutionary guards which is already in control of some of the country's most important recent oil and gas contracts, was mentioned in a list of Iranian institutions targeted by UN sanctions.
Revolutionary guards' assets, including those personally owned by Ghasemi and dozens of his colleagues, have been blacklisted by the US Treasury and western powers.
Other officials in Ahmadinejad's cabinet have been also subject to international sanctions including the foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, the defence minister, Ahmad Vahidi, and the vice-president, Fereidoun Abbasi Davani.
In a letter addressed to the parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, Ahmadinejad also nominated Mohsen Abadi as the minister for sports and youth, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami as the minister for co-operative, labour and social welfare, and Mehdi Gazanfari as the minister of industries, mines and trade.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Military Serviceman Arrested in Alleged Attack on Fort Hood

Fox News Gets It!!
By Mike Levine & Jennifer Griffin
Published July 28, 2011
| FoxNews.com
At least one U.S. military serviceman has been arrested after raising concerns over another possible attack on Fort Hood, Fox News has learned exclusively.
According to an Army source, one AWOL soldier is in the custody of the Killeen Police Department near Fort Hood. He was not captured on base. According to another source, two other U.S. soldiers were also arrested earlier today after authorities recovered weapons and explosives.
Fox News has obtained the names of the three suspects, but is currently withholding that information.
Sources say the AWOL soldier in custody is from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
It's unclear if any possible attack was merely aspirational in nature. 
On Nov. 5, 2009, Maj. Nidal Hasan, an American Army officer, carried out a shooting attack on the Fort Hood base in Texas that killed 13 people and wounded 30 others. 
Hasan, a military psychiatrist, was arraigned on July 20 and is currently standing trial. His civilian lawyer withdrew from the case as it began.

Quick News Overviews

We will not hear about these events on the U.S. MSM. Why do they ignore these events? I really do not know why some issues are ignored; however, here are some high points for this morning.

First, the Obama Interfaith advisor has openly stated that she is in support of global sharia law. He picked her!

Second, representative Peter King (R-IA) is talking about the threat of infiltration from within the United States.

Third, another round of rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israeli neighborhoods. This happens just after Obama had added then removed Israel from the list of terrorism supporters.

Fourth, we never are told when the UN does something. There is a summer camp in GAZA (if that location sounds familiar, refer back to the launching of the rockets FROM GAZA) being run by the UN and protected, apparently, by Noah Body.

 

Dalia Mogahed, appointed to President Obama’s faith advisory council, was a partner in an Islamic project whose stated goal was to define, interpret and implement the concept of the Islamic State in modern times. During an interview with a female member of Hizb-ul Tahrir, Mogahed defended and supported HT’s fundamentalist view of a global caliphate. Mogahed has Obama’s ear on ALL THINGS ISLAMIC in relation to Islamic communities within the United States.

In the opposite corner is Iowa representative Peter King who has paid attention to the barely publicized Somali muslims in the Midwest who have radicalized and sent 40 people to Somalia to fight with al Qaida affiliate al Shabaab.




[Arutz Sheva] NEW YORK - US Rep. King Warns of Al-Shabaab Infiltration, Slams NY Times
""Our investigation into this threat has led to alarming findings: Notably, that al-Shabab has successfully recruited and radicalized more than 40 Muslim-Americans and 20 Canadians, who have joined the terror group inside Somalia,” according to prepared remarks released by King's office before the hearing."

Sheva is hearing what Representative King (IA-R) is saying. This is what a few people have known for some time. Most of whom live in the area near the Somali enclaves in the U.S.



Israel National News carries the following article

US Rep. King Warns of Al-Shabaab Infiltration, Slams NY Times
Resuming his hearings on homegrown Muslim radicalization, Rep. Peter King identified Al-Shabaab as a major threat.
by Aryeh ben Hayim
Published: 27/07/11, 10:35 PM / Last Update: 27/07/11, 11:03 PM

Peter King
Wikipedia
The Al-Shabab in Somalia has already achieved notoriety for blocking relief efforts to famine stricken residents because the aid originates in the Christian West.
Today it received more publicity as Representative Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, began his hearings on Muslim radicalization by revealing that more than 40 Americans have been recruited to join the Islamic terror network in Somalia.
"Our investigation into this threat has led to alarming findings: Notably, that al-Shabab has successfully recruited and radicalized more than 40 Muslim-Americans and 20 Canadians, who have joined the terror group inside Somalia,” according to prepared remarks released by King's office before the hearing.
“Of those, at least 15 Americans and three Canadians are believed to have been killed fighting with al-Shabab, the Committee has learned. Not Al Qaeda, nor any of its other affiliates, have come close to drawing so many Muslim-Americans and Westerners to jihad.”

Behind these statements lies the ominous fact that these recruits are familiar with the United States and are willing to be martyrs, so they pose a threat to American security and have to be taken seriously.
According to ABC News, Osama bin Laden, prior to his death, was banking on al-Shabab precisely because of this factor. King concurred in an interview with the station that "These are Americans. These are people who have passports, they know the United States, they understand the United States, they know our weak points, they know where they can probe and thrust."
King has been criticized by liberals for focusing on Muslim terrorism when he should also be exploring other threats, such as the extreme right. The New York Times published an op-ed that drew attention to the fact that the Norwegian killer Anders Breivik had approvingly cited the King hearings as a source of inspiration (he also cited John Locke, Edmund Burke and Vladimir Putin, among others). King dismissed the New York Times editorial board as "vacuous ideologues".
King accused the Times of intellectual dishonesty for failing to realize that "there is no equivalency in the threat to our homeland from a deranged gunman and the international terror apparatus of al Qaeda and its affiliates, who are recruiting people in this country and have murdered thousands of Americans in their jihad attacks."

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune  (Hat tip Cliff):
A 20-year-old man told police he was hoping for prison or deportation after he threatened to blow up a downtown Minneapolis bank and then waited to be arrested, according to a criminal complaint.
Hassan M. Farah, of Minneapolis, was charged Monday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree aggravated robbery in the holdup Friday of the Wells Fargo branch at 8th Street and Park Avenue. He remains jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Farah gave a teller a note that demanded $33,000 and a threat to “blow the bank right away,” according to the complaint. After being given $1,805, Farah sat in a chair in the lobby, the complaint said.
Farah told police he robbed the bank and was hoping to be imprisoned or deported to Somalia, the charges read. He was unarmed.



[Arutz Sheva] ISRAEL - Kassam Rocket Lands South of Ashkelon
"Terrorists fired a Kassam rocket from the Gaza region at southern Israel early Thursday morning."
Read the full article:
Kassam Rocket Lands South of Ashkelon
Kassam rocket fired at southern Israel, lands near Ashkelon. No injuries.
by Elad Benari
Published: 28/07/11, 6:37 AM

Kassam  rockets
Israel news photo: Flash 90
Terrorists fired a Kassam rocket from the Gaza region at southern Israel early Thursday morning.
The rocket landed in an open area south of the city of Ashkelon. There were no physical injuries or damage. The "red alert" siren was heard in the area just before the rocket fell.
This is the first rocket that has been launched at Israel since last week. Last Tuesday evening, a Kassam rocket fired from the Gaza region landed in an open area in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. There were no injuries or damage.
In response, an IAF aircraft targeted a terror activity site in the northern Gaza Strip and scored a direct hit against it, the IDF Spokesperson said in a statement.
“The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and will respond with determination to any attempt to use terror against the State of Israel,” said the IDF Spokesperson’s statement. “The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.”
In the past few weeks, there has been a ‘quiet war’ in Gaza, with terrorists firing rockets at southern Israel nearly every day and the IDF responding by attacking terror targets in the Strip.



How is it that ten people can just walk into a camp area like this? Seriously, this is a summer camp for children and it is not secured or protected by the UN? Well, a statement was written and issued condemning the attack. Plans are still going forward for the UN to hold the world’s largest gathering of kite flying for kids. This time it was vandals. What about bombers, kidnappers, or others of that ilk?

[Ma'an] GAZA -  Vandals attack UNRWA summer camp in Gaza
"Ten men entered the camp shortly after midnight, when they burnt a UN flag, damaged a large billboard, and torched part of the camp stage. None of the UN security personnel at the venue were harmed, UNRWA said."

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A summer camp facility in north-west Gaza run by the Palestinian refugee agency was vandalized by unknown assailants at dawn Thursday, UNRWA said in a statement.

Ten men entered the camp shortly after midnight, when they burnt a UN flag, damaged a large billboard, and torched part of the camp stage. None of the UN security personnel at the venue were harmed, UNRWA said.

In a statement condemning the attack, UNRWA Spokesman Chris Gunness said the agency would repair the damage and go ahead with a world record breaking attempt for the largest number of children flying kites, planned for 6 p.m. the same day.

The arson "is an attack on the children of Gaza as much as on the United Nations," Gunness said.

"We call on the authorities in Gaza to investigate and bring those responsible to account."

At dawn on Wednesday, a group of 30 armed and masked men burned the Rais resort in Gaza and threatened employees.

In the summer of 2010, two UNRWA summer camps were torched on separate occasions.

Camp organizers say the UNRWA Summer Games is the largest recreational program in Gaza, putting on games and contests for an estimated quarter of a million children.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Lebanon: Bomb Wounds Six U.N. Peacekeepers

A bomb, anIED, that can likely be linked to a Hezbollah member or supporter just wounded six UN French Peackeepers. The simple line to draw is from Hezbollah to Iran. This is true, and I do not think anyone is going to truly argue that. This attack against a UN squad has resulted in what from the UN? Bn Kimoon has issued a statement. How much money on the US Budget is going to this organization? Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said yesterday that no U.S. funds should be provided to the newly-formed Hezbollah government in Lebanon, or to a Palestinian Authority that includes Hamas, as reported at examiner,com.
Without any further introduction, here is the article about how one group getting US Financial Aid has attacked, with deadly intent, another group that is getting US Financial support.

UPDATE: I wanted to note that this group, Hezbollah, as arm of Iranian president Ahmedinijad, is also attacking US Soldiers in Iraq. On June 10th there was a rocket attaack in Baghdad that killed 5 US soldiers. Hezbollah claims it.


BEIRUT -- A roadside bomb blew up next to a United Nations convoy carrying French peacekeepers in south Lebanon on Tuesday, wounding at least six of them in the second attack on the U.N. force in two months, the United Nations said.
The bomb went off at the southern entrance of the port city of Sidon as a U.N. convoy with several vehicles was passing by.
The U.N. Security Council called the bombing a "terrorist attack" and condemned it "in the strongest terms." It also condemned all attempts to threaten the security and stability of Lebanon.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also strongly condemned the attack and "is deeply disturbed" at the second major incident targeting the peacekeeping force in two months, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
U.N. Tribunal's Indictment
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. But political tensions are rising in Lebanon over a U.N.-backed tribunal's indictment last month of four Hezbollah members in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah is the most powerful political and military force in Lebanon today and it has refused to hand over the suspects. The tribunal is expected to publish details of the indictments after a 30-day deadline that expires at the end of the month.
There are also concerns that unrest in neighboring Syria, which has seen more than four months of protests against the autocratic government there, could spill over into Lebanon.
U.N. peacekeepers have been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978 to monitor the border with Israel. The force was boosted to almost 12,000 troops after Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in 2006. Under the U.N. resolution that ended the fighting, the force is monitoring a zone south of the Litani River where Hezbollah is banned from keeping weapons.
No Intimidation
The Security Council reaffirmed its determination to ensure that no acts of intimidation prevent the U.N. force from carrying out its mandate to monitor the Israeli-Lebanon border.
In a similar attack about two months ago, a roadside bomb ripped through a U.N. convoy carrying Italian peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, wounding six. The May 28 attack was the first since 2008.
UNIFIL spokesman Neeraj Singh said five peacekeepers were injured in the latest bombing and three went to a hospital. He did not say what nationality they were, but Lebanese security officials said they were French.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and the Security Council said six French peacekeepers had been wounded.
The discrepancy in casualty numbers could not be immediately reconciled.
Lebanese Investigation
In a statement, Juppe said he condemned the attack and demanded that Lebanese authorities conduct an investigation and do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice.
The Lebanese officials said at least one of the wounded suffered injuries to the face and chest. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.
A police official said this bombing appeared to be smaller than the May blast. Both happened in the same area. He said preliminary investigations showed the bomb contained around two kilograms (4.5 pounds) of explosive material.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced the bombing and ordered an immediate investigation, his office said.
The Security Council welcomed the Lebanese government's commitment to launch an investigation to bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack.
Singh said U.N. forensic experts were at the scene, adding UNIFIL was working in coordination with the Lebanese armed forces to investigate.
The deadliest attack on UNIFIL was in June 2007, when a bomb hit an armored personnel carrier near the Israeli border and killed six Spanish peacekeepers.
No group has claimed responsibility for any of the attacks

Today, class ...

Good morning, Class. Today we will review Brazil, Germany, and Lebanon as members of the UN Security Council. Brazil and Germany both have legalized prostitution. as well as a significant issue with protecting children. Brazil is currently practicing slavery. Class, when did Lincoln sign the Emancipation Proclamation? How frequently has the current President gone to Brazil? The last question was rhetorical ...

Lebanon, according to our State Department, is a right happy place. Unless you are Syrian, or another migrant. Then, according to Amnesty International and a host of other rights groups, you will likely be subject to enforced disappearance, rotten prison conditions, beatings and torture in aforementioned prsion, and no access to a lawyer to assist in getting you out.

UNSC Membership Overview, Lebanon

On December 23, 2010, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance will enter into force. Lebanon has not ratified this Convention which the country signed in 2007, adopted in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly.  The US State Department report on Lebanon indicates that there was one case of enforced disappearance, rather a politically motivated disappearance. The report makes no mention of the list of 640 victims of Syrian enforced disappearances in Lebanon. An official joint Syrian-Lebanese committee established in May 2005 to investigate such.

The law does not specifically prohibit torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, and there were reports government officials employed such practices. That is an understatement! The prisons are overcrowded, poorly managed, rarely maintained.

Now, to say that there is some angst in Lebanon towards Syrians is putting it lightly. Look again at the statement above. That list was made about 2005. How many Syrians have risked their lives by fleeing violence in Syria to go to Lebanon this year? Seriously, these guys. This country, gets to vote on US led resolutions at the UNSC?

UNSC Membership Overview, Brazil

Brazil
It is clear, from the US State Department and a multitude of news reports and human rights agencies, that Brazil can be quite brutal in the arena of human rights and following their own constitutional laws.

Slavery still is practiced in Brazil. Slavery and labor situations like depression era company towns still exist in remote areas in Brazil like the Amazon. Indentured Servitude, abandoned long before the British Colonies became the United States of America, is still practiced here. A recruiter known as a "gato," or cat, plumbs the slums and other poor areas of the vast country and gets people to agree to jobs in distant places. Once separated from home and family, workers are vulnerable to all sorts of abuses, such as being told they owe money for transportation, food, housing and other services. "This is known as debt bondage, which also fits official definitions of slavery,"

Darker-skinned citizens, particularly Afro-Brazilians, frequently encountered discrimination.

Prisons are overcrowded and unhealthy, and prison rape is not uncommon. There are over 400,000 inmates in the system. Beatings, torture and killings by prison guards occur throughout the system. Children are abused in the juvenile justice system.  According to the Ministry of Justice, 13,489 teenagers are in detention.

Prison conditions throughout the country often range from poor to extremely harsh and life threatening. Abuse by prison guards, poor medical care, and severe overcrowding occurred at many facilities. Prison officials often resorted to brutal treatment of prisoners, including torture.

Torture in Brazil is widespread and systematic according to the ex-UN Special Rapporteur. Occurrence of police torture accompanies murder or effecting intimidation and extortion. Torture has also been widely reported in detention centers and mental institutions. Although the constitution prohibits torture and provides severe legal penalties for its use, torture by police and prison guards remained a serious and widespread problem. The government's National Human Rights Secretariat (SEDH) acknowledged that torture existed in the country and related the problem to societal tolerance and the fear of retaliation.

Federal, state, and military police often enjoyed impunity in cases of torture, as in other cases of abuse. During the year an additional state (for a total of 13 of 26) adopted the National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Torture, which includes the installation of cameras in prisons and penitentiaries, taping of interrogations, and reversal of the presumption of innocence for those accused of torture.

State Department -- unlawful killings by state police (military and civil) were widespread, particularly in the populous states of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

In many cases police officers employed indiscriminate lethal force during apprehensions. In some cases civilian deaths followed severe harassment or torture by law enforcement officials.

Credible reports indicated the continuing involvement of state police officials in revenge killings and the intimidation and killing of witnesses involved in testifying against police officials.

UNSC Membership Overview, Germany

Germany has ratified most international human rights treaties. Reports from independent organizations such as Amnesty International certify a high level of compliance with human rights, while still pointing out several issues, in particular police brutality and mistreatment of refugees.


Police brutality appears to be wide spread. The court system offers little to no protection or recompense to the victims. At peaceful protests police have been videotaped attacking people who are already incapacitated.  This would include kicking people in the head after they are already on the ground and dragging people into custody by the hair.


The State Department has a kind view of Germany, stating that there is little in the way of human rights violations there. However, the UNHCR disagrees with Madame Clinton. Germany is a source, transit, and destination country for women, children, and men subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Approximately 85 percent of identified victims of sex trafficking originated in Europe, including 25 percent from within Germany, 20 percent from Romania, and 19 percent from Bulgaria. Non-European victims originated in Nigeria, other parts of Africa, Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. The majority of identified sex trafficking victims have been exploited in bars, brothels, and apartments – approximately 45 percent of identified sex trafficking victims reported that they had agreed initially to engage in prostitution. Victims of forced labor have been identified in hotels, domestic service, construction sites, meat processing plants, and restaurants. Members of ethnic minorities, such as Roma, as well as foreign unaccompanied minors who arrived in Germany, were particularly vulnerable to human trafficking.