tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45423145893396196442024-03-05T21:04:22.048-05:00MSMII -- Important Issues that the Main Stream Media IgnoresMy intent is to look at topics that are not addressed at all, or minimized by, main stream media. I am glad that you are here. Please comment or click on one of the ads to help me keep this free.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.comBlogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-9561581589983441442012-11-24T16:54:00.000-05:002012-11-24T16:54:58.160-05:00Obama's Czars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">In this series we are going to look at the czars Obsma hass appointed to oversee snd answer for the security and well bring of the United States and her citizens. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Webster defines czar as one having great power or authority. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For America, this term identifies a person with great authority over a particular policy. This person is selected and appointed by and answerable only to the president. This is a person who tells people what to do in an autocratic way or who determines behavior in a particular sphere.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Who does this to Americans? It started with President Roosevelt and has accelerated over time. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As disturbing as it was to learn that Bush appointed 33 czars, it is even more so horrifying that Ovama has appointed 52 czars and has 18 slots awaiting czars now.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The following includes the position, the appointee, and some quick basics as to who these people are that have so much power and so little accountability.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Afghanistan </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Marc Grossman</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Marc Grossman was a career Foreign Service officer from 1976 to 2005. He retired as the U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, with previous service as a director general of the Foreign Service, assistant secretary of state for European affairs and ambassador to Turkey.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It also bears mentioning that this is the man chosen to hold meetings in Qatar with Taliban leaders from Afghanistan.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">AIDS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Grant Coffax</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Is the focal point for the administration's goal of "zero new HIV infections." That would entail stopping ALL unprotected sex (more government in our bedrooms?) and to end the reuse of dirty needles for IV drug use. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What are the HIV demographics? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Black America remains at the epicenter of the domestic HIV epidemic. Blacks represent only 13 percent of the nation's population but account for 44 percent of all new HIV infections, according (pdf) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Approximately 1.2 million people live with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. -- including approximately 545,000 who are Black.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Asian Carp</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">John Goss</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Overseeing federal efforts to halt the invasive and destructive Asian Carp, an $80 million (minimum) effort, to include the possibility of permanently shutting down the Chicago waterway system which links Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">BA Public Affairs; MA Economics</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Indiana Council Environmental Quality, </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Automobile </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ron Bloom</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Working closely with the National Economic Council, Bloom will provide leadership on policy development and strategic planning for the President’s agenda to revitalize the manufacturing sector. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> Habonim — “a progressive Labor Zionist youth movement that emphasizes cultural Judaism, socialism and social justice.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 1996 Bloom joined the United Steel Workers (USW) union as a special assistant to the president. At that time, the USW president was George Becker, a co-founder of the Campaign for America’s Future. Bloom retained his position as special assistant when Becker was replaced by Leo Gerard (who today serves as a board member of the Apollo Alliance) in 2001. Both Becker and Gerard have close ties to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A socialist teaching business to People's Workers Unions.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Auto Recovery</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Edward Montgomery </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Oversees the automobile industry for Obama, was selected and appointed by Obama to carry Obama's plans. What has happened in this vein?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Both the assembly and parts sectors display declining employment, with assembly recording a 8% loss since 1990, and an even more dramatic 14% since 2000, and the parts industry losing 17% of total employment since 2000. Parts in particular are likely to be affected by increased offshore production, as US imports have increased 309% to $92.2 billion dollars.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This increase in foreign investment, however, has not been enough to negate the decline in production by domestic firms, leading to ever-increasing rates of unemployment among auto workers. Even more cause for concern is the fact that jobs with foreign-owned firms are more likely to be non-union, thereby leading to probable decreases in benefits and possibly wages for American auto workers. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His financial contributions to Obama's campaign include $52,200.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Bank Bailout </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Herbert Allison (Senate Confirmed)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Quite simply put, Allison has both contributed money to Obama's campaign and testified to Congress that the $23 billion in tax dollars spent on "green energy" firms was going to be a solid and positive investment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Borders</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Alan Bersin</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">former failed superintendent of San Diego . Ultra Liberal friend of Hilary Clinton. Served as Border Czar under Janet Reno – to keep borders open to illegals</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Served as border czar under Clinton-Reno and now again under Obama-Napolitano </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Customs and Border Patrol commissioner during Eric Holder's Operation Gunrunner</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Also was at the top for the region when and where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered 15 miles inside the United States by a heavily armed Mexican gang.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-80300965514153654392012-11-24T08:50:00.000-05:002012-11-24T08:50:20.362-05:00The 45 Steps of Communism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For those unacquainted with Communism’s 45 Steps, I strongly advise that you study them. Many have already been accomplished. America has just elected a president who has more in common with communism than he does with America. If you love this country, fight to make sure Obama and his bots do not fulfill these steps. It is a fight too many of us are too late engaging in, but it ain’t over yet.</span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Congressional Record</strong></div>
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<strong>Appendix, pp. A34-A35</strong></div>
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<strong>January 10, 1963</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA</strong></div>
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<strong>IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES</strong></div>
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<strong>Thursday, January 10, 1963</strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:</span></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">18. Gain control of all student newspapers.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture–education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.</strong></div>
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Winston Churchill -- Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-10785585677032480262012-11-09T16:34:00.000-05:002012-11-09T16:35:39.870-05:00What We Pay Them To Kill Us<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b>Bottom Line Up Front: </b>In 2008 the countries that would be part of the Arab Spring received $1.9 billion dollars in U.S. financial aid, Saudi Arabia was among them was and is an OPEC top country. The Arab Spring states in 2010, including Saudi Arabian-U.S. oil revenues, received from U.S. tax payers $2.5 trillion. A 76% increase in U.S. monies and this week Saudi Arabian and Egyptian Islamic clerics said Muslims world wide should celebrate the damage brought by Hurricane Sandy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Last year I took a look at the Middle eastern states, talked about their hate for the West, and looked at how much U.S. tax dollars the Middle East was getting. This year I looked specifically at the Arab Spring states. Of the 14 countries participating in the revolution 12 are recipients of U.S. financial aid. One of those recipients, Saudi Arabia, has long been OPEC's leading earner in oil revenue, remains on the recipient list for aid. The following chart is a summary of information from U.S. federal reports.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2010 Aid Oil Revenue</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Saudi Arabia $1.8 trn $195 bln</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Sudan $100 bln</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mauritania $495.3 mln </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Morocco $135.1 bln</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Jordan $359.3 bln</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Lebanon. $43.8 bln</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Syria </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yemen $545.7 bln</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Libya</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Egypt $98.8 bln</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That is $1.8 trillion dollars paid to these countries. They all have something else in common, though, that comes back to Saudi leadership and their distribution of money. That is multinational terrorism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">First, Saudi Arabia provides funding and support to 70% of the Sunni terrorist groups globally, the top of that list is all-Qaeda. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Second, there is a group within AQ that is considered to be more extreme than AQ. This group is called Takfir wa Hijra. This sect believes that, basically, the world must go back to the lifestyle and developmental levels at the time if Mohammed. Some of the more notable members of this sect include 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, Aiman al-Zawahiri, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Third, there are a number of Islamic Jihad Groups throughout the region, simply insert the country of operation and you have the group. Libyan Islamic Jihad, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and so on. It feels franchised to me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That is the return on our investment in the world. We are funding, with American tax dollars, international terrorism. There are 535 congressmen and senators, start calling them until the tax dollars going to terrorists is paying off the American deficit</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-67835111391069638312012-11-07T17:58:00.001-05:002012-11-08T09:32:30.741-05:00Muslim Clerics Declare Sandy A Just Punishment For America<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>BLUF: </b>Leading Saudi Arabian and Egyptian clerics are calling Hurricane Sandy a just soldier (one of allah's weakest) taking vengeance against America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Saudi clerics. the Saudi prince, and Egypt have no respect or positive regard for our nation, none whatsoever. The US has given grants and funds to Egypt for decades. In 2009 the United States gave Egypt $3.5 billion dollars in grants and economic & military aid, according to US Census Bureau information. These monies from American tax payers when added to the money earned from the Suez Canal totals $8.2 billion dollars yearly revenue. We provide political support and billions in financial aid and they kick us while we are down. Typical, really, for the Middle East at large.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What about Saudi Arabia? Saudis must surely appreciate being the beneficiary of the largest transfer of wealth in world history. According to the Energy Information Agency (<a href="http://www.eia.gov/" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true">www.eia.gov</a>) in 2010 the U.S. imported approximately 1.2 billion barrels of oil which, at today's rates $84.62, is $203 billion dollars in two years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When a natural disaster strikes any one of the 190 countries in the world, America cries with those victims. What do the leading Islamic voices in these two countries do when America gets hit? The majority of the religious elites called Hurricane Sandy revenge from Allah against America.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Arabian and Egyptian clerics directly published on this include Saudi Clerics Nassir al-Omar, Sheikh Salan al-Odeh, Sheikh abd al-Aziz bin 'Abdallah aal al-Sheikh, Egyptian Cleric Al-Azhar Sheikh Salam abd al-Al Galil, and UK native Anjem Choudray (one group of his was banned in England) have all spoken about the damage to the East Coast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Al-Omar issued a fatwa to celebrate the death and destruction along the East Coast. He referred to America as "the spearhead of evil then asks why not celebrate? We are called arrogant and tyrannical and all Muslims globally should celebrate Hurricane Sandy's swath of death and destruction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Choudray chimed in that hurricanes are among the least of allah's army and that America deserves them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Aal al-Sheikh, the Saudi Arabian Mudti, was concerned only for the Muslims who were in the path of Sandy. He said that to celebrate the destruction and to "curse them is improper" as there were muslims in the areas hit. Real deep concern, right folks?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Galil was concerned about the image that Muslims would earn if seen celebrating. He is telling the muslim community that it is perfectly fine to dance, sing, and rejoice privately, just do not do it in the streets where you will be seen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Al-Odeh was even less obvious saying that America is, as Muhammad said, idolaters in Mecca "may their sons become muslim.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">These and other public statements should be shown all over American news. Our policy makers should penalize those countries. Pull our aid, get England to stop arms sales to these and other anti-West states (read as our enemies). If they rejoice at our pain then they are clearly not friends. Geo-Politically, not being friends in this manner equates to enemies. We have an obligation to not pay them.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/67" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/67</span></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/crude-oil.aspx86.htm" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/crude-oil.aspx86.htm</span></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-91687537249648014032012-11-06T17:27:00.000-05:002012-11-06T17:27:03.948-05:00Clinton-Rebels VS Obama-Iran <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>BLUF:</b> Hillary Clinton encourages Saudi backed rebels in Syria. She shows them more respect than she has ever shown to US military and veterans. Obama continues to provide tacit support to Iran by not calling them out over their supporting Assad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here we have American Secretary of State Clinton "directing" rebel groups in Syria. Or has she, as some reports state, suggested a different tack? Either way Clinton has put American suggestion out there publicly for the rebels, who are not just anti-Assad but anti-Iran. This would get them more support from, among others, Saudi Arabia. Obama, conversely, has shown by not acting that he supports Iranian ends in the region. Those of you who have read my blog have seen this illustrated already.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Unfortunately for US policy and the rebel groups, a house divided cannot stand. I say this as Assad and Obama have shown that they support Iranian goals. Now Clinton is showing support for Saudi goals. These two MUST be trying to start a regional war there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"There has to be a representation of those who are in the front lines fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's too bad Hillary does not feel the same way about veterans in America. We have all seen the authorized lists of the potential home-grown terrorists that include US Veterans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile, Russia and China both oppose any effort from the West. The two countries continue to work against the US in blocking resolutions, undermining Western policies, and isolating our few allies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Clinton directs rebel groups in Syria</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Syrian rebels open talks in Doha as bombing hits Damascus</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Top news: Syrian rebel groups began negotiations in Doha over forming a united political front. The talks come shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that the Syrian National Council has outlived its usefulness and should be integrated into a larger umbrella opposition group which would allow greater coordination between fighters in Syria, exile groups, and the opposition's foreign backers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The SNC, which has been frequently consumed by infighting over the course of the campaign against Bashar al-Assad's government, is attempting to reform itself to become more exclusive in order to head off a challenge from the new U.S.-backed coalition, the Syrian National Initiative. Expectations that the meeting will end in a successful resolution are low.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile, back in Syria, a massive bombing hit near an Army compound in Damascus. Opposition activists say the bombing was likely the work of the Ahfad al-Rasoul Brigade, an Islamist militant group. Rebels also captured an oil field in Eastern Syria on Sunday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/node/1409429</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">ZAGREB (Reuters) - The United States called on Wednesday for an overhaul of Syria's opposition leadership, saying it was time to move beyond the Syrian National Council and bring in those "in the front lines fighting and dying".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, signaling a more active stance by Washington in attempts to form a credible political opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said a meeting next week in Qatar would be an opportunity to broaden the coalition against him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes but who, in many instances, have not been inside Syria for 20, 30, 40 years," she said during a visit to Croatia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"There has to be a representation of those who are in the front lines fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Clinton's comments represented a clear break with the Syrian National Council (SNC), a largely foreign-based group which has been among the most vocal proponents of international intervention in the Syrian conflict.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">U.S. officials have privately expressed frustration with the SNC's inability to come together with a coherent plan and with its lack of traction with the disparate internal groups which have waged the 19-month uprising against Assad's government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Senior members of the SNC, Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other rebel groups ended a meeting in Turkey on Wednesday and pledged to unite behind a transitional government in coming months.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"It's been our divisions that have allowed the Assad forces to reach this point," Ammar al-Wawi, a rebel commander, told Reuters after the talks outside Istanbul.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"We are united on toppling Assad. Everyone, including all the rebels, will gather under the transitional government."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Mohammad Al-Haj Ali, a senior Syrian military defector, told a news conference after the meeting: "We are still facing some difficulties between the politicians and different opposition groups and the leaders of the Free Syrian Army on the ground."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Clinton said it was important that the next rulers of Syria were both inclusive and committed to rejecting extremism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"There needs to be an opposition that can speak to every segment and every geographic part of Syria. And we also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution," she said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Syria's revolt has killed an estimated 32,000. A bomb near a Shi'ite shrine in a suburb of Damascus killed at least six more people on Wednesday, state media and opposition activists said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">NEW LEADERSHIP</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The meeting next week in Qatar's capital Doha represents a chance to forge a new leadership, Clinton said, adding the United States had helped to "smuggle out" representatives of internal Syrian opposition groups to a meeting in New York last month to argue their case for inclusion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"We have recommended names and organizations that we believe should be included in any leadership structure," she told a news conference.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"We've made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice which must be heard."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The United States and its allies have struggled for months to craft a credible opposition coalition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has said it is not providing arms to internal opponents of Assad and is limiting its aid to non-lethal humanitarian assistance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It concedes, however, that some of its allies are providing lethal assistance - a fact that Assad's chief backer Russia says shows western powers are intent on determining Syria's future.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Russia and China have blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at increasing pressure on the Assad government, leading the United States and its allies to say they could move beyond U.N. structures for their next steps.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Clinton said she regretted but was not surprised by the failure of the latest attempted ceasefire, called by international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi last Friday. Each side blamed the other for breaking the truce.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"The Assad regime did not suspend its use of advanced weaponry against the Syrian people for even one day," she said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"While we urge Special Envoy Brahimi to do whatever he can in Moscow and Beijing to convince them to change course and support a stronger U.N. action we cannot and will not wait for that."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Clinton said the United States would continue to work with partners to increase sanctions on the Assad government and provide humanitarian assistance to those hit by the conflict.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE89U1AY20121031?irpc=932</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Russia, Syrian opposition slam US calls for new leadership against Assad</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">By Julian Pecquet<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> - 11/02/12 11:59 AM ET</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Russia joined Syria's main exiled opposition group on Friday in accusing the Obama administration of picking and choosing the people it wants to run Syria if President Bashar Assad falls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The comments come after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the United States will propose its own list of individuals and organizations as part of a multinational conference in Doha, Qatar, next week aimed at trying to create a unified rebel front. Clinton said the main exiled opposition group, the Paris-based Syrian National Council, was made up of people who haven't been in the country in decades and does not represent the various groups currently fighting on the front lines against Assad.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Syrian National Council denounced Clinton's statement on Friday, the Agence France-Presse wire service reported.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Any discussions aimed at passing over the Syrian National Council or at creating new bodies to replace it,” the group said in a statement, “are an attempt to undermine the Syrian revolution by sowing the seeds of division.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Russian Foreign Ministry also lambasted the United States, the AFP reported, saying Clinton's comments violated an agreement reached with Russia and others over the summer to support a transition government approved by the Syrian people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“We heard direct orders [from the United States] about what the Syrian opposition should do to form a 'government in exile,' and about who should join such a government – up to specific people," the Russian ministry's statement said. “They are bluntly making clear that they see the Syria conflict being settled exclusively on their terms.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The United States is expected to back a new coalition, called the Syrian National Initiative, during the meeting in Doha. The initiative is being pushed by Syrian dissident Riad Seif, a former member of parliament and businessman who has put forward a plan for a new leadership council.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/265593-russia-syrian-opposition-slam-clintons-calls-for-new-leadership-against-assad</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-41652181076726527562012-11-05T14:11:00.002-05:002012-11-05T14:11:49.217-05:00Anti American UN Vote Observers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>BLUF: </b>The voter observation team that had been requested by the ACLU, NAACP, and the group called Leadership on Civil and Human Rights, is supervised by at least three anti-American Soviet puppets. These three are Bolat Berselayev, Elchin Musayev, and Janez Lucarcic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While Clinton and Obama want to support the anti-Assad rebels in Syria, the UN is starting to look at those rebels for war crimes. These crimes include the video taped beating and execution of Assad forces after they had surrendered. Executing surrendered prisoners and watching the voting process in America where the concept of voting freely in a democratic-republic has been successfully proven for more than 200 years. It begs the question who are the vote observers?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The leading names on this list are pro-Soviet, anti-American hard liners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Khazakhstan, a recently added member to the UNSC (<a href="http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/i-wanted-to-take-quick-look-at-newest.html?m=1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/i-wanted-to-take-quick-look-at-newest.html?m=1</a>), is represented by Bolat Berselayev. Kazakhstan is part of the anti-West voting bloc at the UNSC. The last elections held in Kazakhstan were reminiscent of other KGB styled elections. It resulted in a 95% vote for the brutal, corrupt, lifelong Communist Party member Nursultan Nazarbayev. No doubt that Borislav was selected for his experience in voter fraud for Soviet sympathizers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Azerbaijani representative, Elchin Musayev, is another Soviet approved appointee in this cesspool of "observers". The Azerbaijani president, Ilham Alitev, was raised by a KGB officer, Hatdar Alieyev. Alieyev served under Joseph Stalin. It is no leap to conclude that the electoral process, as observed in Azerbaijan, was as pure as the driven slush in Chicago. The prodigal son of the KGB has, undeniably, given his approval to Musayev being part of this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The third nefarious character is Janev Lenarcic. Lenarcic also an ardent anti-American politician. He is the director of the UN affiliated group Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Europe, a social welfare state from ocean to sea to sea, is the model Lucarcic wants to enforce here. Lucarcic is also pro- muslim. He supports the same groups that have declared war on the United States. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This group of "observers" support the same entities that have declared war against the United States. This group follows the Communist Party Line. This group is setting the chess board for chaos and riots within the United States of America. They are doing so with the full knowledge of Obama, Biden, Clinton, and their advisory boards and czars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For Reference and Further Reading</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13324109-un-says-syrian-video-killings-very-likely-constitutes-war-crime" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13324109-un-says-syrian-video-killings-very-likely-constitutes-war-crime</span></a></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/13492-who-is-bolat-bersebayev-and-why-is-he-monitoring-our-elections" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/13492-who-is-bolat-bersebayev-and-why-is-he-monitoring-our-elections</span></a></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0976563); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(191, 107, 82, 0.496094); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">
<a href="http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=2921" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors="true"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">http://www.juliagorin.com/wordpress/?p=2921</span></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-61918850788757927442012-11-02T17:30:00.000-04:002012-11-02T17:30:05.623-04:00Foreign Pilicy Magazine: Brit In Plot To Sell Iran Missile Parts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img src="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/rsz_139650452.jpg" style="width: 280px;" width="280" /></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">British businessman pleads guilty to plot to sell missile parts to Iran</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A retired British businessman and millionaire Christopher Tappin <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001s9Qs9pIQHLYpNvsFf2GfYJw-EzVi50nFd58enRl6LEb0N1aBzPGkZDe7Bfdbhe1FYv-TYjkqYogxbFFhH8iEj7bdC7xWCL8AJy5Jq21VAzzyAXqqritETg5ke9tzg8QLpfiz7ed64RXtRGmI9ApOgoBjgVxumTsEvSyQl5IHyeQ=">has pleaded guilty</a> in a Texas court to charges of attempting to sell batteries to Iran for surface to air missiles. He admitted to aiding and abetting two business associates in attempting to sell "zinc/silver oxide Reserve Batteries" to Iran, which is used in Hawk Air Defense Missiles, defying export regulations. A U.S. federal indictment was filed in 2007 after a <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001s9Qs9pIQHLadqekIVBcnhrxbM4oi-eBeW6oDqf4tHkKpGDyTMbzuLHtMhulAuLjDKtcQH3iv5z3mb9zuxkTtn8-R_r_DBCFL5Uw4DSIecN5rJqmlzejzJyrQr9stCZcRDazSGvP2wvI6oUoisFiF-F9i0GZUOdpnPzznPpW73yb25Va6Tz3cZivNUJc2w_sSd_Ennl4psZNu9sNxZW9vsT1kxvrlt1zRS0Kowqe8obpvCj5DwP_3YOF4yRIBlWzhH9j_lo-SxIKAsQmVZR8v21u6WPx_a2jn">sting operation</a>. Tappin was extradited from Britain in February. The case has brought <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001s9Qs9pIQHLYnW5B0doke43BQjOozI_J0A1lG8rGjyGr5jXbn15-z-I7A8j3hilXgC3tlfGVXMvzGvuXLwc-t3xmyA3wiwXXItEw__7KtDc5ATIQ6mCbBSJLdxLnLR3N5rsgnykTM4gaFK53aMWXcl-H0kV50H2zX91L_9osZ_uyFzk8v0kc3IMsGkHecoexUurGrtNSdTOSAfgdYJX6M-g==">extradition arrangements under scrutiny</a> from opponents who claim harsh sentences force suspects to reach plea deals instead of standing trial. Tappin is<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001s9Qs9pIQHLbZeTj0KiAcUJnx2aWuL36kb7fsGo04-ttAJAMkG3zZn_QQst1Bd7Kpy7QDiZqFjfyU0r7UUAfmn0t3tDoeyheNKPlWseFxvh8EyV2FE4HYSVMsNV7DSJKdcnOjLvEGrJBI_LqCOst7OEfU9hOqOiT4">expected to be sentenced</a> <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://1" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors="true">on January 9</a>, and will likely be sentenced to 33 months. Prosecutors said they would not oppose him serving his sentence in Britain. Had he not pleaded guilty, he could have faced up to 35 years in jail</span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Georia, Times, serif;">.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-71849080438882806682012-11-02T14:21:00.002-04:002012-11-02T14:22:55.060-04:00Chaos and Oppression Reign After The Arab Spring<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>BLUF: L</b>ooking across the Arab Spring nations
anyone can see that these nations have leaped into chaos and more war.
Terrorist groups and terror affiliated groups are taking power across North
Africa. As a result the atmospherics for regional security has just plummeted.
The United States must carefully evaluate the terrain, the people, and all of
the related risks in the region. What have Clinton and Obama bought for the American people and the next president?<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
A woman in Tunis sculpted three
busts to display in an art show in Tunis. Her art was attacked, she fled with
two of her pieces. She is being investigated.<o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
Islamist
extremists have since posted photos of Jelassi and several other Tunisian
artists on their websites, calling for their death. Then the courts waded into
the controversy. Today, she is under investigation for "disturbing public
order and morals." If found guilty, she could face prison.</div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
Jelassi's is
not an isolated case. Increasingly, critics say, free expression -- a
cornerstone of Tunisia's 2011 revolution that kicked off the Arab Spring -- is
now under attack. A string of incidents have fueled an intense debate about the
role of religion, artistic expression and women's rights in this once staunchly
secular North African country.</div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Not surprisingly, hard-liners
are taking over in Tunisia after the Arab Spring led quickly to the fall of
what meager freedoms the people in those affected nations had. Unlike the
American Revolution, religion had not been discussed in these revolts. Now it
has to be dealt with by so many millions more as Salafist jihadists are now
running the political regimes. This Spring touted as so good by Obama has
turned into Terrorist States, not simply terrorist supporting states.<o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Across the Middle East being
anything but muslim has been growing increasingly difficult in the years prior
to the Spring. Coptic Christians in Egypt, Hindus in Pakistan, it seems that
everywhere Christians are on the defense.<o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
[I]n an
important essay <i>Citizens or Martyrs? The Uncertain Fate of Christians in the
Arab Spring</i>, RFP scholar Dan Philpott investigates the recent and dramatic
decline in minority Christians populations throughout the Middle East and
encourages Christians around the world to speak out in favor of religious
liberty for all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
In my opinion, Christians need
to begin using their voices at home, in their own communities. Across the
Middle East people are being killed for not being muslim enough or of the wrong
sect of islam. It reminds me of the Lilliputians’s over which end to open the
egg. Tunisia’s Rachid Gannouchi was touted as a moderate voice and a moderate
muslim. Take a look at Tunisia now. Bloggers and news writers are being
arrested for voicing opinions that are contrary to the State. It is very clear
that, not just in Tunisia, but throughout the Middle East there is a concerted
effort to remove other religions; as it is written within the Koran and the
hadith. The US was founded on the acceptance that one could believe as one
chose to, today, in the Arabian Fall, people are required to conform or die. It
sounds too much like Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Oh, wait, Hitler conferred with a
mufti often. The jackboots are deafening in the streets now.<o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
The State Department has acknowledged
this in its annual survey.<o:p></o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
annual survey of religious liberties around the world also warns against
deteriorating religious freedom in China and Iran, the increased use of
anti-blasphemy laws to restrict the rights of religious minorities and a rising
tide of anti-Semitism in Europe<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">"In times of transition, the situation of religious
minorities in these societies comes to the forefront," says the State
Department's first report since the Arab Spring uprisings. "Some members
of society who have long been oppressed seek greater freedom and respect for
their rights while others fear change. Those differing aspirations can
exacerbate existing tension." </span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">While the report notes Egypt's interim military leaders
had made gestures towards greater inclusiveness, it points to an uptick in
sectarian tensions and violence in Egypt, particularly against Coptic Christians.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Hillary knows it, but she will not say, much less do anything against it.
The Spring States received, according to CNN, $17,174,900(yes, 17 BILLION) US
Tax dollars in 2011. Some of that went directly to Libya, a nation that had its
assets frozen by the US and was not to be getting aid of any sort from the US. Clinton
and Obama bought the chaos and oppression of the new Middle East.<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
There were many analysts, me included, who were afraid that the outcome
would be like we saw in Iran after the killing of the Shah. Look at Iran now.
Our fears of Iran getting outside of its immediate area have just been realized
through the Arabian Fall. Libya had nuclear facilities. I do not think that
they would be so difficult to rebuild with Iranian, Pakistani, and North Korean
input. All this chaos draws muslim extremists like flies to … a light. Egypt,
Libya, and Tunisia are now governed by known terrorist groups.<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="color: black;">The
only magnet more alluring to Islamic extremists than weak central governments and
security forces is outright conflict and organized violence, especially
conflicts that break down along the region’s ethnic fault lines, whether
between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, or Muslims and religious minorities. For
instance, unrest coupled with the sectarian divide in Syria, between Sunni
Muslims and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite clan that runs
the country, has given al-Qaida and other groups that share its ideology a
“golden opportunity,”according to Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for
Security Studies at Georgetown University. The Syrian rebel group Jabhat
al-Nusra, suspected of links to al-Qaida, is gaining prominence as it brings
more-experienced foreign fighters to the front lines, making it “far more
active in recent months and far more consequential," Hoffman said.</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Yes, the threat to Western cultures has, indeed, gone from thousands to
millions. The West continues to pay for it. Not just in governmental,
financial, and military iad but also through continuing to purchase oil from
these regimes. <br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The memory of civil war and its substantial
oil revenues, which the regime has spread around as handouts to critical
segments of society, has bought a reprieve for the military-backed Algerian
government. But this is likely to be <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">temporary</span>
and Algeria may be in a "calm before the storm" phase. </span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Persian Gulf</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
American has a moral obligation to its own people and to those nations which
uphold and defend the basic inalienable rights to open up its own oil reserves
and update refineries so as to stem the enabling flow of cash to those states
and bodies which stand in direct opposition to what we hold true.<br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<o:p> In spite of the absolutely horrid results, which even the State Department has acknowledge, the US Tax Payer is facing larger amounts of our money goin to the East. Makes me wonder if we should also add Clinton and Obama to the State Department's list of terrorism supporting entities?(<a href="http://www.washdiplomat.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8239:short-on-money-us-digs-deeper-to-find-ways-to-support-arab-spring&catid=1484:march-2012&Itemid=497">http://www.washdiplomat.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8239:short-on-money-us-digs-deeper-to-find-ways-to-support-arab-spring&catid=1484:march-2012&Itemid=497</a>)</o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<b><u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p>Tunisians
Worry About Loss Of Freedoms Gained Under The Arab Spring</b><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
TUNIS, Tunisia (RNS) Three women
got Nadia Jelassi into trouble.<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
Veiled and surrounded by stones,
the busts of three women were attacked by Salafists last June for being
religiously offensive. The Tunis-area exhibition that displayed them was
hastily shuttered.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
"I wanted people to
interpret my art for themselves," Jelassi said at her studio, where
sunlight bathed two of the figures she managed to salvage. "But the most
obvious interpretation is of lapidation."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Islamist extremists have since
posted photos of Jelassi and several other Tunisian artists on their websites,
calling for their death. Then the courts waded into the controversy. Today, she
is under investigation for "disturbing public order and morals." If
found guilty, she could face prison.<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
Jelassi's is not an isolated
case. Increasingly, critics say, free expression -- a cornerstone of Tunisia's
2011 revolution that kicked off the Arab Spring -- is now under attack. A
string of incidents have fueled an intense debate about the role of religion,
artistic expression and women's rights in this once staunchly secular North
African country.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
"The question of what is
religiously sacred was never discussed during the revolution," Jelassi
said. "People were calling for liberty, dignity, not sacredness."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
The matter of
"sacredness" is being championed by hard-line Islamists, who are
taking their message to the streets. Like elsewhere in the Muslim world,
Tunisia was rocked recently by protests over an amateur U.S. movie that mocked
Islam's Prophet Muhammad.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Religious hard-liners have also
attacked other films and plays here, along with a tourist hotel serving alcohol.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
"Certain groups and
political parties are trying to take away what we fought for," said
Mokhtar Trifi, a senior member of the Tunisian League for Human Rights.
"Especially jihadist Salafists movements. They want to impose a form of
rigorous Islam that our society has never experienced."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Equally worrying, rights
advocates and artists say, is the reaction by the government.<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
In May, the owner of Tunisia's
private Nessma TV channel was fined for broadcasting a movie that ostensibly
offended Islam; earlier in the year two bloggers received prison sentences on
the same grounds. The courts have also imposed fines for drinking in public and
other behavior considered morally lax.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Critics complain the government
does little to rein in religious extremists. And more broadly, they fear the
ruling Islamist Ennahda party will capitalize on the religious divisions -- and
elections expected next year -- to pass a law to criminalize blasphemy.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
"They want to show they're
the defenders of Islam, but I say it's for electoral gains," Trifi said.
"The aim is to limit liberties in the name of what is'sacred.' But nobody
can define this in a way that is precise and clear."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
Ennahda's leader, Rachid
Ghannouchi, staunchly denies the ruling party is trying to curb free
expression, suggesting that political opponents have misinterpreted the draft
legislation.<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
"We are for free expression
and creativity -- but also respect of others' beliefs within society," he
said in a recent interview.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
"There are thousands of
artistic works critical of Islam that aren't attacked because they are by
serious academics," Ghannouchi added. By contrast, he said, works by
Jelassi and other artists at the June exhibition amounted to "a deliberate
provocation."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
For some in this fledgling
democracy, Ghannouchi's position has struck a chord. Tunisia's last two
strongman leaders -- who together ruled the country for more than half a
century -- cracked down on human rights, even as they sealed strong ties with
the West.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
They banned Ennahda's brand of
moderate political Islam, jailing many party members and sending others into
exile. Under the old regime, devout Tunisians, like university student Hajer
Ben Jemaa, faced daily harassment for adopting religiously conservative dress.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
"Ennahda has helped give us
liberty," Ben Jemaa said, touching her pink hijab as she strolled down
Tunis' tree-lined Habib Bourguiba Avenue. "Today, I am free to wear this
hijab. I don't have problems with the police or at school."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
But critics claim Islamists are
pressing many other women to conform to their views. On the streets of the
capital, hijabs and the face-covering niqab are more common than just a year
ago.<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
"I have no figures, I have
no scientific studies," said Khadija Cherif, Tunis-based secretary-general
of the International Federation of Human Rights. "But the assessment I
make daily is that the vast majority of women are veiling because of pressure
from their family or neighborhood or political manipulation."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
In a separate campaign, rights advocates
are pushing to scrap a clause in Tunisia's draft constitution that describes
women as "complementary" but not equal to men. Jelassi views the two
pieces of draft legislation, on blasphemy and on women's rights, as twin fronts
in the same battle.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
"There's a deliberate
effort to roll back our gains," Jelassi said. "It's very worrying."<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
"I'm obliged to become
politically active and defend free expression. If not, what we have achieved
from the revolution will disappear."<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/10/06/tunisians-arab-spring-loss-of-freedom_n_1944218.html"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/10/06/tunisians-arab-spring-loss-of-freedom_n_1944218.html</span></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b><span style="mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b><span style="mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Religious Freedom in the Wake of the Arab Spring</span></b></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
Despite the solidarity Egyptians
displayed in the Tahrir Square protests that sparked the Arab Spring,
subsequent months have witnessed a dangerous increase in violence against
religious minorities, especially the Coptic Christian community. As Egypt,
Tunisia, and now Libya seek to construct new democratic governments, their
respective approaches to religion-state issues will be critical to their
success. Can these and other democratic aspirants in the region hope for
stability without granting religious freedom to all their citizens? Or is the
notion of religious freedom a Western concept, inapplicable to countries with
different histories and cultures?<br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
The Religious Freedom Project
invites you to explore these and other related questions through the following
resources. First, in an important essay <i>Citizens or Martyrs? The Uncertain
Fate of Christians in the Arab Spring</i>, RFP scholar Dan Philpott
investigates the recent and dramatic decline in minority Christians populations
throughout the Middle East and encourages Christians around the world to speak
out in favor of religious liberty for all.<br />
<br />
Second, the RFP launched its first public symposium at Georgetown University on
Thursday, November 17, 2011, <i>What's So Special about Religious Freedom?</i>
At the center of the symposium was a keynote lunch-time debate between Harvard
Law professor Noah Feldman and Stanford Law professor Michael McConnell. How
the religion-state relationship is grounded and understood will have profound
consequences for the democratic development of Egypt as it did for the history
of the United States.<br />
<br />
Finally, to further reflect on the developing situation in the countries of the
Arab Spring, RFP scholars have authored essays that probe the possible
relationships between religious freedom and a peaceful, democratic society.<o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<a href="http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/subprojects/religious-freedom-in-the-wake-of-the-arab-spring"><span style="color: blue;">http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/subprojects/religious-freedom-in-the-wake-of-the-arab-spring</span></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">State Department warns of poor
religious freedoms in Egypt, China, Europe</span></b></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">By
Elise Labott</span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Efforts
to transition from dictatorship to democracy after the Arab Spring have
endangered religious minorities, the State Department says in its annual report
of religious freedom. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
annual survey of religious liberties around the world also warns against
deteriorating religious freedom in China and Iran, the increased use of
anti-blasphemy laws to restrict the rights of religious minorities and a rising
tide of anti-Semitism in Europe<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">"In
times of transition, the situation of religious minorities in these societies
comes to the forefront," says the State Department's first report since
the Arab Spring uprisings. "Some members of society who have long been
oppressed seek greater freedom and respect for their rights while others fear
change. Those differing aspirations can exacerbate existing tension." </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">While
the report notes Egypt's interim military leaders had made gestures towards
greater inclusiveness, it points to an uptick in sectarian tensions and
violence in Egypt, particularly against Coptic Christians.<br />
<br />
It denounces the interim Egyptian government's "failure to curb rising
violence against Coptic Christians and its involvement in violent
attacks," including one instance in which Egyptian security forces
attacked demonstrators, killing 25 people injuring 350, most of whom were
Coptic Christians.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">"On
other occasions, through inaction, the government failed to prevent violence
against Christians or stop the destruction of churches and religious
minority-owned property," the report says. "Authorities also failed
to investigate effectively and prosecute crimes against Christians."</span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">In
a speech extolling the virtues of protecting religious freedom, Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton urged the country's new president, Mohamed Morsy, to make
good on his promises to respect the rights of all Egyptians. The secretary
visited Egypt earlier this month, meeting with Morsy as well as with Christian
leaders worried about life under Egypt's new Islamic leadership. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">"I
am concerned that respect for religious freedom is quite tenuous" in
Egypt, Clinton said. "I don't know that this is going to be quickly
resolved."<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Clinton
warned an inconsistent effort by the government to investigate the perpetrators
of sectarian violence sends a dangerous message that there are no consequences
for such crimes. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">"That's
the kind of recipe that can quickly get out of control ... and undermine the
new democracy," Clinton said. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">In
an address to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Clinton said
religious freedom is "not just about religion," but also "about
the right of people to think what they want, and say what they think, and come
together in fellowship, without the state looking over their shoulder. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">"These
rights give our lives meaning and dignity, whatever religion we belong to - or
if we belong to no religion at all," Clinton said. "Like all human
rights, they are our birthright. They not granted to us by any government.
Rather, it is the responsibility of governments to protect them." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">In
its report, the State Department once again criticizes Saudi Arabia, Eritrea,
North Korea and Iran as chronic violators of particular concern. The report
says North Korea permitted no religious freedom at all and warns that religious
freedom in Iran "deteriorated further from an already egregious
situation." It cites the restoration of 20-year sentences in Iran for
seven Bahais charged with spying for and collaborating with Israel as well as
the imprisonment of Yousof Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor sentenced to death
for apostasy<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Blasphemy
and religious defamation laws are also highlighted in the report, which cites
Pakistan for issuing death sentences for blasphemy and Afghan courts for
interpreting Islamic law to punish non-Muslims for exercising their faith.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">In
China, the report says, there was "a marked deterioration during 2011 in
the government's respect for and protection of religious freedom," citing
greater restrictions on religious practice, especially in Tibetan Buddhist
monasteries and nunneries.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">"Official
interference in the practice of these religious traditions exacerbated
grievances and contributed to at least 12 self-immolations by Tibetans in
2011," the report says. It also criticizes China's "severe"
repression of Muslims in the far western region of Xinjiang.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Myanmar's
reformist government took steps to overcome intense religious oppression,
easing restrictions on church construction and allowing registered groups to
worship, but the report says authorities continued monitoring religious
activities.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
report also warns of alarming trends in Europe, where nations undergoing major
demographic changes are witnessing "growing xenophobia, anti-Semitism,
anti-Muslim sentiment, and intolerance toward people considered 'the other.'"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">It
points to a "rising number of European countries, including Belgium and
France, whose laws restricting dress adversely affected Muslims and
others," referring to bans on veils worn by Mulish women.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">It
also warns of a global rise in anti-Semitism, citing the desecration of Jewish
synagogues in France and Ukraine, anti-Semitic statements in Venezuela and the
Netherlands, and the rise of an anti-Semitic party in Hungary.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">Government
efforts against "violent extremists" also come under scrutiny. The
report criticizes Russia, Iraq and Nigeria for cracking down on peaceful
religious practice under the guise of fighting terrorism.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">In
Bahrain, where government forces crushed mass protests calling for political
reform, the report says there was "deterioration in the respect for and
protection of religious freedom, including mass arrests and detentions of
members of the Shia community and the destruction of Shia religious sites and
gathering places." <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
government blamed the uprising on Shia extremists. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
report cites "documented cases of arbitrary arrest, excessive use of
force, and detainee torture and mistreatment" while a state of
"national safety law" was implemented by royal decree under
constitutional authority. It adds that government demolished a number of Shia
religious sites and structures during the year.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN;">The
report finds some actions to commend as well. Turkey issued a decree
facilitating the return of property confiscated from religious groups in the
past. In Libya, the Supreme Court overturned a law that criminalized insults
against Islam, and the new government chose not to enforce some old laws that
limit religious freedom, the report says</span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/30/state-department-warns-of-poor-religious-freedoms-in-egypt-china-europe/"><span style="color: blue;">http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/30/state-department-warns-of-poor-religious-freedoms-in-egypt-china-europe/</span></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<b><span style="color: #333333; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><br />
<u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p>
<b><span style="color: #333333; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Post-Arab Spring States: Magnets for Extremism</span></b><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">When the Arab awakening swept through the Middle East last year,
with waves of democratic protesters swallowing tyrants in Tunisia, Egypt, and
Libya, no one could confidently predict what kind of political order would
emerge from the ruins. Certainly the stability of the old order of autocracies
was shattered, hopefully along with their characteristic corruption and
stagnation. In the long term, there is still reason to hope for a democratic
transformation similar to the one that eventually emerged in Eastern Europe at
the end of the Cold War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">The danger that most concerned many U.S. policy analysts at the
time, however, was a repeat of the Iranian revolution of 1979, which was
hijacked by Islamic theocrats. The anti-American protests that targeted U.S.
embassies throughout the Middle East last week suggest that at least in the
near term, the greater peril may come from the model of Lebanon: a weak
democracy with inadequate institutions and security forces that are unable or
unwilling to confront the Islamic extremists in their midst. In the case of
Lebanese Hezbollah, the extremists exploited that weakness to form a shadow
state that has become too powerful to uproot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">Of course, the common thread that runs through the anti-American
protests in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen is an anti-Islamic film made in California
that went viral on the Internet. Events of the Arab Spring have also driven
home the point that each of these countries is distinct, with different
cultures and ethnic tapestries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">Yet there are similarities that have emerged in the past year in
the fledgling democracies of the Arab Spring. In Libya, for instance, the
newly-elected government has been unable to enforce its authority over as many
as 200 private, well-armed militias. These bands, which have no shortage of
weapons looted from Muammar el-Qaddafi’s arsenals, range from ordinary Libyans
to virulently anti-Western Salafists to hard-core supporters of al-Qaida (such
as the shadowy Islamic extremist group Ansar al-Sharia, which some experts
suspect in the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other
Americans). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">“This [attack] didn’t come out of the blue,” said Barak Barfi, a
research fellow at the New America Foundation who spent six months in Libya
during the revolution. There were earlier attacks in the country this summer,
he noted, including a rocket-propelled grenade fired at the British
ambassador’s convoy and a bomb attack at the gates of the U.S. consulate. If
Libya doesn’t move to integrate its militias and create national security services
that can deal with these fomenting threats, Barfi said in a phone call from
Turkey, “there are going to be long-term problems with these Islamist groups
because they’re going to be able to grow, create an infrastructure, draft more
people. Then we’re not going to be looking at a couple hundred people ... but
thousands.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">While the assault on the American Embassy in Cairo appears to have
been spontaneous in reaction to the anti-Muslim video posted on YouTube, the
attacks there also highlight the security void that has developed since last
year’s revolution. Egypt’s security services, deeply unpopular after violently
suppressing protesters, have been largely marginalized—and jihadists have
responded by ramping up their presence in the Sinai and carrying out attacks
like last August’s deadly cross-border assault on southern Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">The U.S. Embassy was also overrun in Yemen, another Arab Spring
country and home to al-Qaida’s most active branch. Because security forces have
been focused on unrest in the capital for much of the past year, al-Qaida has
been able to seize significant territory in the south. Until the new president,
Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, directed a successful offensive there, militants
actually governed several major cities. Since the government’s offensive, the
group is suspected of a string of attacks, including a recent assassination
attempt that nearly killed the country’s defense minister in his convoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">The only magnet more alluring to Islamic extremists than weak
central governments and security forces is outright conflict and organized
violence, especially conflicts that break down along the region’s ethnic fault
lines, whether between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, or Muslims and religious
minorities. For instance, unrest coupled with the sectarian divide in Syria,
between Sunni Muslims and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite
clan that runs the country, has given al-Qaida and other groups that share its
ideology a “golden opportunity,”according to Bruce Hoffman, director of the
Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University. The Syrian rebel group
Jabhat al-Nusra, suspected of links to al-Qaida, is gaining prominence as it
brings more-experienced foreign fighters to the front lines, making it “far
more active in recent months and far more consequential," Hoffman said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">The fight against Assad affords jihadists a rallying point against
what they consider an Alawite infidel, according to <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/314685/syria-why-al-qaeda-winning-ed-husain"><span style="color: #01578a;">a recent op-ed</span></a>by Ed Husain, a senior fellow at
the Council on Foreign Relations. “In the event of Assad’s falling, al-Qaeda
will probably gain de facto control of parts of Syria to serve as a new
strategic base for jihadis in the Middle East, or at least enjoy tribal protection
in the broader regions with Iraq and Jordan,”Husain wrote in <i>National Review</i>.
“A new government in Syria not only will be indebted to these fighters, but
also will be in need of their cooperation to minimize the potential of militias
fighting each other.”</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="color: black;">Of course, the first Arab tyranny to recently attempt the
transition to democracy is Iraq, where political paralysis in the Shiite-led
government has breathed new life into Sunni Al Qaeda in Iraq, which has
launched a string of devastating bombings this year responsible for hundreds of
Iraqi deaths. As if any more evidence was needed, Iraq’s experience suggests
that the transition to democracy in the Arab world will continue to be
contested violently by Islamic extremists who sense opportunity in weakness.</span></div>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/post-arab-spring-states-magnets-for-extremism-20120917"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/post-arab-spring-states-magnets-for-extremism-20120917</span></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Assessing the Arab Spring
in its second year</span><o:p></o:p></b><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The "Arab Spring" is now over one year old. In much of the
popular analysis over the past year the term "Arab Spring" has become
the defining characteristic of the "new" Middle East emerging from
decades of authoritarian and repressive rule. However, one should be cautious
about inflating the importance of the democratic uprisings in several Arab
countries in shaping the future contours of the Middle East. This caution
applies especially to exaggerating both the prospects of democracy --particularly
the unhindered linear transition to representative rule -- in the Arab world
and the role of major Arab powers in determining political outcomes in the
Middle East in the short and medium-term future. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The major reason for this caution is the fact that the transition to
democracy in the Arab world is very much a work in progress that, after initial
successes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, seems to have ground to a halt. The
counter-revolution has succeed in Bahrain thanks to the military might of next
door Saudi Arabia, which is firmly opposed to any political opening in its
backyard and is not averse to sending in its storm troopers to crush democratic
stirrings in the Arab sheikhdoms and emirates of the Persian Gulf. Furthermore,
Syria has descended into civil war with Saudi Arabia, paradoxically, leading
the "democratic" charge against the Assad regime. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">As if to establish the fact that nothing in the Middle East is what it
appears to be, Iran, which did not engineer but certainly supported the
uprising in Bahrain, has stood solidly behind the authoritarian Assad regime in
Syria. The geopolitical rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, that has
dictated the actions of both countries toward democratic uprisings in the Arab
world far more than normative concerns or ideological affinity, has for the
moment contributed substantially to quashing the democratic aspirations of the
Arab populations both in the Gulf and the Fertile Crescent. Even where the
ancient regimes have been overthrown the success of the democratic movements
cannot be taken for granted and the democratic wave is far from irreversible.
Tunisia may still prove to be the exception to this rule, but both Egypt and
Libya betray characteristics that make one "cautiously pessimistic"
to put it in the mildest of terms. The overthrow of the Mubarak regime in Egypt
has not led to a smooth transition to democratic rule. Despite the
parliamentary elections and the plurality gained by the Muslim Brotherhood in
these elections, the military brass is still well ensconced in power -- an
outcome that was <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">predicted</span> by some observers of
the Egyptian scene at the time of Mubarak's fall. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">It is far from certain that the tussle between Egypt's elected
representatives and the military will be resolved in favor of the former. It is
more than likely that a compromise will be reached providing a transfer of
power to civilian rule in some spheres while the military will continue to
control the more important arenas of governance -- internal and external
security, foreign policy -- and also preserve a great deal of its corporate
interests. This will be akin to the situation today in Pakistan and to the
condition that prevailed in Turkey not so long ago. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Libya and Syria: Disintegration and Civil War?<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The situation in Libya is even more precarious than in Egypt with the very
unity of the state in jeopardy. Unlike Egypt, which is a relatively homogeneous
society, regional and tribal rivalries exacerbated by the chaos accompanying
the fall of the Qaddafi regime threaten to tear Libya apart. The writ of what
passes for the central government does not run too far and already voices have
been raised in the eastern part of the country demanding autonomy, a possible
code word for independence. The fact that foreign intervention played a
critical role in regime change in Libya also detracts from the legitimacy of
the successor government and makes it more susceptible to domestic challenges.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The lack of an overarching political formation with roots in all or most of
the country a la the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt could easily turn into the
Achilles heel of the Libyan polity. The </span><span lang="EN" style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Libyan Brotherhood</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">, which launched its own Freedom and Justice Party in March 2012 modeled
after its Egyptian counterpart, is but a pale shadow of the Egyptian
Brotherhood. The saga of Libya's democratic transition has become entangled
with issues of national unity and the very integrity of the state. The jury is
still out as to whether the new political dispensation will take root in Libya
and, even if it does, whether it would be able to sustain its democratic
character as well as preserve the territorial integrity of the Libyan state.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Syria, it is becoming increasingly clear, is headed toward a long-drawn out
civil war for four reasons. First, there is no sign of the Alawite-dominated
military officer corps abandoning Assad's cause, which is their cause as well.
Second, the opposition -- above all the Syrian National Council (SNC) -- is
divided between different bickering groups. One of the underlying disagreements
<span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">hobbling</span> the work of the SNCis
the divide between elements representing the Muslim Brotherhood and those
opposed to it. Probably even more important is the divide between the internal
and external elements of the Syrian opposition that prevents the emergence of a
united front that could act as an alternative and successor to the Assad
regime. Third, Syria has become an integral part of the regional <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">cold war</span> between Iran and Saudi
Arabia, which had already been accentuated by the Saudi intervention in
Bahrain. As a consequence, it has become impossible to disentangle the Syrian
conflict from broader regional balance of power issues, thus making the
situation conducive for a continuing stalemate. Fourth, external powers - the
United States and its NATO allies - for a variety of geostrategic reasons are
unwilling to launch a military campaign such as the one they did against
Qaddafi to bring down Assad. It is also doubtful, even if they did launch such
a campaign, whether it would topple the regime and could end up causing larger
civilian casualties and huge damage to the country's infrastructure without
achieving its goal of regime change. Current efforts by Kofi Annan, the U.N.
and Arab League envoy, to bring about a peaceful solution to the Syrian
conflict may be laudable but are unlikely to succeed -- especially given the
Assad regime's view of the situation as an existential struggle.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The remaining North African front</span></b><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">After regime change in Tunisia, largely absent from this discussion because
it remains the most optimistic case, Egypt, and Libya, the Arab states of North
Africa, especially Algeria and Morocco, seem to be in a state of high alert.
The Moroccan monarchy, adept at playing the game of electoral authoritarianism,
has adopted a twin-pronged strategy. The first prong consists of accommodating
the moderate Islamist party, the PJD, within the power structure by allowing it
to emerge with a plurality in the elections of November 2011 and by </span><span lang="EN" style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #003366; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">appointing<b> </b></span><span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">its head as the country's Prime Minister
without diluting the reserve executive powers of the monarchy. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The second prong consists of making common cause with the Gulf monarchies
led by Saudi Arabia, culminating in the <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">GCC
invitation</span> to Morocco, as well as Jordan, to join the exclusive club of
Arab monarchies (although neither of them qualifies geographically for this
honor). Membership of the GCC must have appealed to the Moroccan king as a
policy of reinsurance against popular revolt. The Saudi-led GCC intervention in
Bahrain was above all intended to carry the message, which must have been
pleasing to the ears of King Mohammed VI, that the organization is <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">committed to</span>, and capable of
defending, the monarchical regimes of member states under threat from forces
unleashed by the Arab Spring. While Morocco's geographic distance from Saudi
Arabia considerably dilutes the effectiveness of this message, the prospect of
economic aid from Gulf monarchies flush with petrodollars that can be used to
buy off dissent adds to the attraction for Morocco of membership in the GCC.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Algeria had experienced a brutal civil war in the 1990s between the
military-dominated regime and Islamist extremists frustrated by the army's
decision to abort Algeria's electoral experiment when it became clear that the
Islamist FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) would win a majority in parliament. The
shadow of that war which left 150,000 people dead still hangs over the Algerian
society and polity. According to </span><span lang="EN" style="border: 1pt windowtext; color: #003366; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">one observer</span><span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">: "This episode has taught Algerians the dangers of contestation. The
‘black decade' remains an open wound within the society, preventing it from
reproducing the next-door revolutionary model. In the collective mind, revolution
involves considerable risks that the current generation of Algerians are (sic)
not willing to take." This does not mean that Algeria is immune to the
democratic contagion. The memory of civil war and its substantial oil revenues,
which the regime has spread around as handouts to critical segments of society,
has bought a reprieve for the military-backed Algerian government. But this is
likely to be <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">temporary</span> and Algeria may be in a
"calm before the storm" phase. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The Persian Gulf</span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Arab states of the Gulf seem to fall in a category of their own because
of their oil and gas wealth and rentier economies that have turned the adage
"no taxation without representation" on its head. However, their
capacity to buy social peace differs greatly from one to another. Qatar and the
United Arab Emirates (especially Abu Dhabi) lie at one extreme with their
enormous wealth per capita from energy sources, providing them with more than
enough resources to buy off their relatively miniscule populations. Yemen,
which is poor, and Bahrain, which lacks oil wealth, lie at the other extreme.
Yemen has been in the midst of political strife for several years with multiple
secessionist movements and contenders of power slugging it out with each other.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh's recent departure is unlikely to make too much of
a difference to this <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">chronically unstable
country</span>. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Bahrain, with a politically aware population and little oil wealth, has
become the spearhead of the democratic uprising in the Gulf. The fact that it
has a Sunni monarchy ruling over a 70 percent Shia majority has allowed its
rulers to portray the democracy movement in sectarian terms. This was not true
at the beginning of the movement but is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling
prophecy as the regime's repressive policy persists. Nonetheless, Bahrain
continues to be the weakest link in the chain of Gulf autocracies and,
therefore, of extreme concern to the GCC's leading power, Saudi Arabia. While
the regime seems to have temporarily suppressed the democracy movement,
Bahrain's <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">revolutionaries</span> are unlikely to
give up the fight anytime soon. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">It is Saudi Arabia, the largest and the richest of the kingdoms, that is
the key Arab country to watch in the Gulf in the context of the profound changes
affecting the Arab world. Saudi Arabia, with its enormous reserves of oil, a
respectable demographic base, and a huge inventory of sophisticated weaponry
bought from the West, principally the United States, is located at the center
of the Arab Gulf system and is the predominant power in the GCC. Its
geostrategic competition with Iran and its self-proclaimed role as the
protector of Sunni interests against Shia Iran make it the logical pillar of
American policy in the Persian Gulf. However, Saudi Arabia is potentially a
colossus with feet of clay. Bolstering Saudi capabilities, principally by the
transfer of sophisticated weaponry by the United States, is unlikely to change
the balance of power in the Persian Gulf given the <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">vulnerabilities</span>
of the Saudi state, including its octogenarian leadership and lack of genuine
political institutions, as well as its lack of soft power (other than cash) to
influence events in the long term. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Despite much vulnerability the Saudi regime has so far been able to buy
time with its hefty financial resources to purchase the loyalty of its
subjects. Furthermore, it has cleverly played the anti-Shia card by pointing to
Iran as the primary cause of Shia unrest in its oil-rich eastern province. It
has also persuaded the Wahhabi religious establishment to denounce any form of
protest against the House of Saud as anti-Islamic, thereby portraying
supporters of democracy as enemies of Islam. Above all, as an <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">astute analyst</span> of Saudi Arabia
points out: "Saudi Arabia's experience of the Arab Spring demonstrates
that it lacks the structural conditions for mobilization, organization, and
protest, let alone revolution...Saudi Arabia does not have trade unions-the
majority of its working population is foreign, which has stunted the growth of
organized labor-a women's movement, or an active student population, three factors
that helped to make protests in Tunis and Cairo successful." The only
avenue left for any opposition, therefore, is violence that is likely to be met
with much greater counter-violence by the state. With Saudi Arabia's close
strategic links with the United States and its huge petroleum reserves, the
regime is likely to overcome such opposition at least in the short to medium
term as the preeminent status quo power.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What is clear in all cases is that the initial optimism regarding the
prospect of a region wide "Arab Spring" quickly taking hold was
clearly misplaced. In fact, given the current situation in Libya and prospects
of similar outcomes if democratic uprisings take place in countries with
brutally repressive military regimes such as Algeria, the Arab world maybe
heading for more turmoil, death, and destruction -- at least in the near term. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Regional Influentials</span></b><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Furthermore, the speculation about Arab countries such as Egypt playing a
larger role in the international politics of the Middle East in the wake of
democratic transformations now appear to be more a product of wishful thinking
than of objective analysis. Most of the energies of Arab governments, whether
authoritarian or democratic or in between, will be concentrated in tackling
issues of domestic order and legitimacy for the next few years, if not decades.
This would leave them with little inclination to pursue proactive foreign
policies except for tiny Qatar that is flush with gas wealth and sees a high
international profile as a strategy to enhance the legitimacy of its regime
among its tiny native population. However, given its limited capabilities, the
Qatari attempt to play a larger than life size role may eventually turn out to
be counterproductive and lead to unforeseen negative consequences for the
ruling house.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The only major Arab country likely to engage in active diplomacy is Saudi
Arabia, both because of its enormous oil wealth and because its regime feels
threatened by a nexus of external and internal forces that require an active
foreign policy especially to curb the growth of Iranian influence in the
region. However, as discussed above, Saudi Arabia's inherent vulnerabilities
and built-in contradictions in its foreign policy are likely to limit its
regional appeal and hobble its diplomacy to a considerable extent.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Egypt, the traditional leader of the Arab world, will remain politically
introverted for a long time to come, thus detracting from its capacity to
influence regional events. Despite more political openness and a public face of
civilian rule, it is unlikely that the fundamental power structure in Egypt or
its foreign-policy orientation will undergo radical transformation except in
the very long run, if and when civilian forces are able to chip away at the
military's domination of the country's political and economic life. It is worth
noting in this context that it took six decades for Turkey to assert a
reasonable amount of civilian control over its military, and that the process
is still far from complete. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Egyptian
revolution will have a major impact on the political and strategic landscape in
the Middle East in the short and medium terms.</span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The other traditional major center of Arab power, Iraq, is located
centrally in the Middle East connecting the Fertile Crescent to the Persian
Gulf. However, Iraq's power was drastically depleted and its influence
dramatically curtailed beginning with the Gulf War of 1991. Iraq's decline
became a full-blown reality following the invasion by the United States in
2003. Since then it has been mired in the domestic mess created by the invasion
and the attendant destruction of its state institutions and governing capacity.
Furthermore, the invasion has decimated it militarily as well as drastically
reduced its capacity to influence regional events diplomatically. In fact, it
has become more an object of influence -- by Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and
the United States -- rather than an autonomous center of power with the
capacity to influence regional events.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<o:p> </o:p><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The basic lesson that one draws from this account as far as the
international relations of the Middle East is concerned is that the Arab world
in general, and major Arab powers in particular, with the possible and partial
exception of Saudi Arabia, will not be in a position to greatly affect regional
outcomes for the next couple of decades. This leaves the non-Arab powers,
especially Turkey, Iran, and Israel, as major regional players whose actions
and relationships with each other are likely to determine the future of the
Middle East for quite some time to come. It appears that despite the initial
promise of the "Arab Spring", Ankara, Tehran, and Tel Aviv will
continue to dominate the regional political landscape far more than any of
their Arab counterparts. </span><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #1f1f1f; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Mohammed Ayoob is the university distinguished professor
of international relations at Michigan State University and adjunct scholar at
the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.</span></i><o:p></o:p><br />
<u1:p></u1:p>
<br />
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-30496460379632575752012-11-01T20:17:00.000-04:002012-11-01T20:17:26.137-04:00Clinton Calls For Overhaul of Syrian Opposition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Apparently Hillary Clinton has not learned the lesson that throwing US backing into rebel groups only leads to a terrorist group affiliated government. Perhaps she has learned that and she and Obama only want to further that trend. This article just came frm Foreign Policy Magazine.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Top news: </b>Speaking from Croatia on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001okAKyjYzc927LlID8cWRNUVuX8Ot679S8ui9rpHuDqYBuJxOqQfrLjcE4rpL-EI5m4vxoxaxYnyRDlcvhM2JH9YUs18F-CQyEcwjzedvmNThQVbJGtWxBrBqz1fGNmv_1__s2f-aXkRYUa69jBtT2zETtV37m_-_zkzSVOsJPM5he0hpHUd6KPqK05oBs5mq1acVrRqShTyvVz1udQseSvfdqHdtvBjIF1fwMeRd6qwzbChtW2LuureZSiKf0Ikb5OJHIv1-egszrd3nzHL13Qzx_BYVnT2PcK_aDwHYScU=" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">called</a> for an overhaul of the Syrian opposition, saying that the current leadership body, the Syrian National Council (SNC), is <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001okAKyjYzc92Sl5vxlBmvVKR6pRbAf3Sj_wcMNQD801U7DoM-WjL2S9Jc48yUjvE55H7Fgdbm3w5xJtfdlLj6wc0zy799kkoaJeNU5kOZMLAaKvlmMMpDUqmCJbHx2etMRqQQbQ1HEeCkJskbXJ7y3JZFgr97gntklpcRpcjZW5BPAYfdQ5y3KJ1EgZERsay34TEy2iHG4RShT4oZTXI3Pw==" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">out of touch</a> with fighters on the front lines. "This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes, but have, in many instances, have not been inside Syria for 20, 30 or 40 years," she said. "We've made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition." Clinton's remarks hint at a more active role for the United States, which has expressed dismay at the opposition's lack of discipline and perpetual infighting. Next week, members of the opposition are due to gather in Doha, where their leadership will likely be restructured.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Inside Syria, violence continued Wednesday amid renewed airstrikes and clashes between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. A <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001okAKyjYzc93lgpHD8ucTuQYixqZHWF25RqFXigjBemzrt9jbfM3P5-ERR9jVCKwYOD_17Rb-Zubz9cbVCM6Vm1eR76TTedrFf99IZy3zpGG7A5urK6QFcP0_hwdPSmOIZCWHT9JYEBk5pBS5SITwBcbT5Dvcv26cGuIPqNiMwc9HAUKGQPyhCK_IWII2JE0eFaKm4g934SUJJceuLKWj3Q==" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">bombing</a> in the Sayyida Zeinab area of Damascus left at least six people dead. Meanwhile, Syrian rebels <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001okAKyjYzc91MoaqDA74e07LzUO0lTbrIjJ747o8jlMc8q1WAa4CKJPop2LTKk2v_2743loaRTTRhyAZKEtli-N9_opluaJPYdC25XQaOlWJOcnknWkzYQBM7odsY1StLQKG-wwFmyQZsayDpJZegjjOnk-a4z1qC6waxsfvPRQDSjD6AHKxpGbsGf_rZjS0JlDdKfqtlrhoRX85dEU1qWqU-yevkvbX9" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">sai</a>d they had begun arming Palestinians living in the Yarmouk enclave of Damascus against Assad and fighting between rebels and Kurds in northern Syria<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001okAKyjYzc91M3ZZrjZYMmUJbUHxela43nPLqq4ieYu50hzY36V01QXac5j9OSQWo7DOAkTYuXcjoLW2okYpdeGpf383VwxrDZAPPfucxp3DboRAIRm3uRTm-vMCu7cuXVJFp_IQPXaQjJVeIeMiuFLQxJ2PLLfF8kYtCHfFYJaLGbvKYxXBd3ODwWxOrQ_DeAvTyn7Dl4yoQp8Ws0z50fSU3_fuQDo9ob5Wj3jZlK0HfLZluU3Lh3Cr0syvnBuK2DhHFCwt_0UBSGKaDV5AD8wAz1aRqzAH2e2Tx0H7CWHCf72DAbmfFIQ==" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">threatens</a> to open a new front in the war.</span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-12983064566799143992012-11-01T16:22:00.000-04:002012-11-01T16:22:16.802-04:00Libyan Foul Winds of No Change<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">BLUF:</span></b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> The profile of extremist groups in Libya
is, well, LIBYA! Even CBS reports that Ansar al-Sharia, an offshoot of al
Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack. Based on the long and inglorious
history of islamist, liberation fronts, and other anti-legitimate -government groups
have received training, arms, pay, and a place to hide in Libya, it is no shock
that the entire country crawls with groups of terrorists. Literally, this place
is an open sewer of terrorist scum and villainy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">What else do we need to know about the Islamic
groups in Libya? We know that the nation has not been receiving overtly
authorized funding from the US government. All assets that the US could reach
had been frozen. We know that the administration left those men to die. We know
the administration tried to minimize casualties in the attacker’s ranks by
ordering the US Governmental security officers to lay down their guns. We know
that the February 17<sup>th</sup> Brigade had the job of providing security at
the US Embassy in Benghazi. We also know that the February 17<sup>th</sup>
Brigade has a history with al Qaeda. They have even openly flown the al Qaeda
black flag of jihad. We also know that classified information has been
compromised. What many readers may not know is that classified information is
classified to protect the sources. Some of the sources may be electronic while
others may be from people. In any cases, as we saw when Carter revealed that
information to Iran, those sources are removed. Being removed in the Middle
East means that the person providing that information, having done so at grave
personal risk, now watches all the women in his family get raped, tortured, and
murdered. Then, the source watches the men in his family get the same thing. Finally,
after being tortured and raped himself, he is also killed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #4e4e4e; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Some
of the missing papers from the consulate are said to list names of Libyans who
are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist
groups, while some of the other documents are said to relate to oil contracts
(1)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Considering that there was also oil
contracts information enclosed, it might have included projections of how many
refineries are set to close in the US (currently we have 145, and the number is
dropping) and who may have been in consideration to get the refining business. It
may also have had information regarding who was to get agreements to drill in
the US territories. This kind of insider information would be highly valuable
to the right people who want to see the US lose more of our own wealth and
power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Let’s also consider the fact that insider
attacks are common against the US in the Middle East. Afghanistan, almost daily
attacks by terrorists working inside the security apparatchik <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;">But other indications that the White House’s early
narrative was faulty are also beginning to emerge. One current U.S.
intelligence officer working on the investigation into the incident told The
Daily Beast that the attackers had staked out and monitored the U.S. consulate
in Benghazi before the attack, a move that suggests pre-planning (2).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><a href="http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?tag=libyas-shield-brigade"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?tag=libyas-shield-brigade</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For further Reading and Reference<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Libya Shield Brigade - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">About that <a href="http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2275/Rosenthal-Marines-in-Benghazi-Supported-by-Jihadists.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">Libya
Shield Brigade</span></a> which 1) fought under the black flag of al Qaeda during the <a href="http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/2264/Benghazis-Real-Scandal-Uncle-Sam-Joined-the-Jihad.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">February
17 Revolution,</span></a> and 2) escorted the eight US Marines who arrived from
Tripoli to aid the Benghazi consulate under attack on the night of 9/11/12.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two Libya Shield Brigade leaders
met with US diplomat(s) on September 9, <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">according to</span> a US
embassy cable drafted by David C. McFarland, signed by Christopher Stevens and
dispatched on September 11. (It was posted online by the House Oversight
Committee.) This cable was first discussed in the Daily Beast on October 8 in a
story recounting the fact that generic militia leaders had threatened to pull
security from US interests in Benghazi, but it contains some interesting
details not previously noted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Just after
the death of Kaddafi Libya Shield commander Wisam bin Hamid declared that “The
Islamic shariah is a red line, we will not cede one rule of it, and Islam is
the only law-giver and not [merely] the foundation [of the law].” So, by all
means, Obama and Hillary left them in charge of security for our Embassy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here is the cable's Item 4 in toto:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Militia commanders discuss Muslim
Brotherhood, Jibril, their political aspirations, the economy, and security<b>:
</b>In a September 9 meeting, local area militia commanders <b>Wissam bin Ahmed
(Commander, Libya Shield 1)</b> and Muhammad al-Gharabi (Commander, Rafa'
al-Sahti Brigade, Libya Shield 2) discussed the <b>very fluid relationships and
blurry lines they say define membership in Benghazi-based brigades</b> under
the February 17, Libya Shield, and SSC umbrellas. They themselves were members
of multiple brigades, they said. They debated -- hotly and without resolution
-- about which brigades supported or opposed specific causes. They claimed to
exercise "control" over Libyan Armed Forces Chief of Staff Yusef Mangoush
who "depends" on them to secure eastern Libya. In times of crisis,
Magoush has no other choice than to turn to their brigades for help, they said,
as he did recently with unrest in Kufra. As part of this arrangement, Mangoush
often provides the brigades direct <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">stocks</span> of weapons and
ammunition, they said.<b>Al-Gharabi and <u>bin-Ahmed support the Libyan Muslim
Brotherhood's Justice and Construction Party backed candidate</u> Minister of
Electricity Awad Al Barasi for Prime Minister</b> and they said that. if
elected, Al Barasi would appoint Fawzi Bukatif, Commander of the February 17
Brigade, as Minister of Defense. Bukatif's appointment would open the MOD and
other security ministries and offices to plum-appointments for his most favored
brigade commanders -- giving February 17 and Libya Shield tacit control of the
armed forces. <b>They criticized the USG for "supporting" National
Forces Alliance (NFA) leader and Prime Mininster Candidate Mahmoud Jibril. If
Jibril wom, they said, they would not continue to guarantee security in
Benghazi, a crtical function they asserted they were currently providing.</b>Growing
problem with security would discourage <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">foreign investment</span> and
led [sic] to persistent stagnation in eastern Libya, but the US could play a
role by "pressuring" American business to <span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">invest</span> in Benghazi.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We know from John Rosenthal's
original<a href="http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/benghazi-marines-supported-by-jihadists/"><span style="color: blue;">
story</span></a> that Libya Shield fought under black flag of al Qaeda. Its leader
Wissam bin Ahmed -- I've seen Libya Shield's commander spelled "bin
Hamid";<s>seems to be the same guy </s>UPDATE: An authoritative source
confirms that Libya Shield commander "bin Hamid" and "bin
Ahmed" are one and the same -- it bears repeating, is a supporter of rule
by sharia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Rosenthal writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Moreover, according to
Arabic-language Islamist websites, already in October 2011 – just days after
the killing of Moammar al-Gadhafi – <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Arabic sources report that bin Hamid
commanded the rebel forces that besieged Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte and ultimately
captured and killed him. Per a glowing<span style="border: 1pt windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">biography</span> of bin Hamid
that appeared on the jihadist forum al-Fetn.com, <b>he is a veteran of jihad in
both Iraq and Afghanistan.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The jihadist inclinations of bin
Hamid and his Libya Shield forces are not unknown to the U.S. government.
Indeed, <a href="http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/LOC-AQ-Libya.pdf"><span style="color: blue;">a
recent study</span></a>prepared by the research division of the Library of Congress
links the Libya Shield Brigade to al-Qaida and even cites speculation that <b>bin
Hamid may be the leader of the al-Qaida network in Libya.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This man is not only meeting with
American diplomats, he is providing security for them and threatening to
withdraw security at the same time. Ansar al Sharia (Supporters of Sharia) may
have spearheaded the 9/11 assault on the consulate, but bin Hamid's philosophy
earns him at least honorary membership. A sharia supporter, a Muslim
Brotherhood supporter, seemingly a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan -- on the
OTHER side, it must be stressed -- and,according to US government research,
possibly a leader of the AQ network in Libya, bin Hamid is quite a piece of
work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why, oh why, is guarding American
interests? Why was he even meeting with American diplomats? What were we doing
in Benghazi? This is the result of the poisonous policy of "Arab
Spring." Uncle Sam joined the jihad, and it exploded is his face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It should be noted that<a href="http://world.time.com/2012/10/21/the-other-911-libyan-guards-recount-what-happened-in-benghazi/"><span style="color: blue;">
news accounts</span></a> make clear that the second-wave-attack on the secret annex
did not occur until after Libya Shield, escorting the 8 Marines, arrived on the
scene.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Diana West</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Death-Grown-Up-Americas-Development-%20Civilization/dp/0312340494/ref=ed_oe_p"><span style="color: blue;">The
Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down
Western Civilization</span></a>. Her arttcle <a href="http://www.dianawest.net/BlogArchive/tabid/56/Default.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">archive and
blog are here.</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="border: 1pt windowtext; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; padding: 0in;">Stock Investment</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">» If you liked this article, please<a href="http://rightsidenews.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=1cf0488db68779540d692466f&id=80b67972fb"><span style="color: blue;">subscribe
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/us-relied-on-muslim-brotherhood-for-benghazi-consulate-security/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">US Relied on
Muslim Brotherhood for Benghazi Consulate Security<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">September 21, 2012 By <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/author/dgreenfield/" title="Daniel Greenfield"><span style="color: blue;">Daniel
Greenfield</span></a> <a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/us-relied-on-muslim-brotherhood-for-benghazi-consulate-security/#comments"><span style="color: blue;">12
Comments</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/21/obama-s-shaky-libya-narrative.html"><span style="color: blue;">more
we learn about what happened in Benghazi</span></a>, the clearer things become.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two U.S. intelligence officials told
The Daily Beast that the intelligence community is currently analyzing an
intercept between a Libyan politician whose sympathies are with al Qaeda and
the Libyan militia known as the February 17 Brigade—which had been charged with
providing local security to the consulate. In the intercept, the Libyan
politician apparently asks an officer in the brigade to have his men stand down
for a pending attack—another piece of evidence implying the violence was
planned in advance.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/world/middleeast/attack-by-fringe-group-highlights-the-problem-of-libya-militias.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www"><span style="color: blue;">Martyrs
of the Feb. 17 Revolution Brigade is Islamist</span></a>and linked <a href="http://www.lbc.co.uk/islamists-rise-to-power-in-libya-60182"><span style="color: blue;">with the
Muslim Brotherhood.</span></a> It was repeatedly <a href="http://www.theatheistconservative.com/tag/february-17-martyrs-brigade/"><span style="color: blue;">accused
of engaging in atrocities</span></a> during and after the Libyan Civil War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many more-secular politicians in Libya
are suspicious of Mr. Bukatef and his brigade because of their own Islamist
reputation. He has been a member of Libya’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood,
and one of his group’s commanders reporting to him is Ismail al-Salabi, who
leads a group of Islamist fighters and is the brother of Libya’s most prominent
Islamist thinker, Ali al-Salabi.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The State Department puts its faith
in the Islamists… and the Islamists <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2012-09-16/world/33867264_1_militia-leader-benghazi-libyan-authorities"><span style="color: blue;">repaid
them the way they always do</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">US security officers and the Libyan
authorities did not call for help from any formal military or police force —
there is none to speak of — but turned to the leader of another autonomous
militia with its own Islamist ties.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘‘We had to coordinate everything,’’
said that militia leader, Fawzi Bukatef, recalling a phone call about the
attack that he received from the mission’s security team.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m sure there was a whole lot of
coordinating going on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-60516329264203990312012-10-30T15:29:00.001-04:002012-10-30T15:32:02.797-04:00Tunisian Winds of Political Change<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<strong>BLUF:</strong> The four prominent groups operating within Tunisian communities and the government include four main groups Hizb an Nahda (Ennahda), Hizb al-Tahrir, Tabligh wa Dawa, and the Tunisian Combatant Group. Under their majority control within the government basic human rights and freedoms continue to shrink as these groups move towards their goal of a caliphate.<br />
<br />
The season has changed to autumn. So much for the Arab Spring, recent events make it look more like the Arab Fall. Since these events started in Tunisia we felt it best to start looking at events there.<br />
<br />
The Tunisian Constitution has been written to indicate that, nationally, all religions and residents of the country shall have freedom of religion and basic human rights. In practice, this is hardly the case. In August of this year blogger Safiene Chaurabi and two of his friends were arrested one day after blogging their criticism of the government. Chaurabi was calling for protests against the government. One can only assume that a body that came to power by inciting protests first followed by violence that such a call would be seen as a rapidly growing threat.<br />
<br />
Any rights during arrest and detention in Tunisia are whatever the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) decides you can have. There have been, and continue to be, violations of human rights in spite of the aforementioned constitutional guarantees. Reports of police torture are regularly printed in papers where there is freedom of the press.<br />
<br />
"But, Tunisua is a democracy, they even have elections!" some say in disbelief. A 'democracy' is simply 'majority rules.' Whoever can convince the most people gets the most votes. Without a republic, a society under laws that provide for rules of conduct, a democracy is nothing more than mob rules and might makes right. Who are the majority groups voting and moving society there?<br />
<br />
We find four Islamic groups that come in at the top of the list. These groups are Hizb an-Nahda, Hizb al-Tahrir, Tabligh wa Dawa, and the Tunisian Combatant Group.<br />
<br />
Hizb an-Nahda, also found as Ennahda, is the praimary (largest) group in Tunisia. It uses the koran and hadith as "an anchor for political thought and practice," according to its founder Rached Ghannouchi. The group has a record of using violent means to achieve its goals. This group is Salafist.<br />
<br />
Some reports indicate thqat the group does not operate within Tunisia, but we are not entirely convinced. The Foundry, the blog of The Heritage Foundation, indicates that the group uses its moderate political position to push forward Gannouchi's current moderate voice. Sadly, it seems that in the violence of the Arab Spring this group stepped in with other Salafist groups to gain the majority. We believe that, as the moderate face of political islam in Tunisia the West would have an excuse to turn away and ignore reports and allegations of governmental abuse of prisoners. There are numerous reports regularly about the police and officers of the Tunisian Department of State Security torturing prisoners, failing to quickly alert the judiicary system that a person has been arressted and is awaiting trial. This delay would seem to allow for recovering from some of these alleged injuries. <br />
<br />
Hizb al-Tahrir, the Islamic Liberation Party, is the second largest islamic group to gain political recognition in Tunisia.. This group shares the political view of the Hizbul-Tahrir in Palestine and has until recently been viewed in Tunisia as a hard-line group. The group has allegedly renounced violence in Tunisia. This group shares its name with other pro-caliphate groups in 40 other countries.The stated operational plan, simplified, is<br />
1) Establish a community base. <br />
2) Build supportand spread thei political opinion throughout their community base. <br />
3) Once the localities are in line with the group's view, move to take over the country. <br />
<br />
Tabligh wa Dawa is a society for spreading the faith. That is what the title means, spreading the faith. This group pops up in nations around the world. Even the State Department reports that many of its members have been caught in terrorist groups world wide and conducting terrorist operations. The group had originated in Pakistan where it gained positions of prominence within that nation's primary military intelligence group, Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI. Reports over the past several years show that the ISI has been operationally invovled with terrorists in Afghanistan. <br />
<br />
That brings us to another salafist group, the Tunisian Combatant Group. The TCG is based upon the Libyan based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, SGPC. SGPC splintered off from the group that overthrew the Alferian government. The TCG was formed in 2000 and has well established connections withn al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). TCG is known to operate regionally, this includes Afghanistan, Italy, and Belgium. The Long War Journal reports that high level political members within the Tunisian Ennahda majority have been recorded conspiring to take full control of Tunisia. <br />
<br />
Are we here at MSMII the only ones to recognize the Barbary Coast membership?<br />
<br />
In Tunisia we are seeing several globally operating terrorist groups gaining "legitimate" control through democracy. Remeber your early government classes, please, a democracy without societal safeguarding laws is mob rules; whereas a republic has those laws and is called a democratic republic, which is what the United States is. Based on where Obama has "helped" power has gone steadily into the hands of groups using extreme violence to gain control of the masses. <br />
<br />
NOTE: This post was completed via iPod due to technical difficulties. In text citings were not possible. Those sites used are listed below<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.almanac.afpc.org/">www.almanac.afpc.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/">www.globalsecurity.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.blog.heritage.org/">www.blog.heritage.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.barenakedislam.com/">www.barenakedislam.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.longwarjournal.org/">www.longwarjournal.org</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/">www.wikipedia.org</a><br />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-79414728627664912272012-10-29T14:27:00.000-04:002012-10-29T14:27:04.325-04:00More Domestic Oil Than Saudi, Fewer Refineries <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">BLUF:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> As oil prices increase,
Obama touts the oil exportation capacity of the United States. Quietly, the
administration continues to cut off access to our petroleum resources and make
licensing more and more difficult, we continue to lose our national financial
blood paying OPEC nations for our energy. We MUST save our finances for our
nation while we open up and safely access the more than 200 years of oil and
natural gas within our own borders. We must cut off hostiles like Saudi Arabia,
Egypt, Russia, and the like from our money.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We have all watched our
finances suffer from the skyrocketing cost of gas. During the last two years we
have talked about the Keystone Pipeline and its importance in getting crude to
refineries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Keystone would bring oil
from the north Midwestern regions of America. The estimated oil reserves,
according to US Energy Information Administration (EIA), 317.6 billion cubic feet
which is more than 25 billion barrels of oil. This estimate only takes into
consideration what technology has been able to verify. That is important as
there may well be more oil than we have found. This report can be found
reported in Canadian newspapers. Why not in American news media? Someone does
not want the American public to know this (1).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A recent commentary that
has links back to Newsmax talks about how Obama is making it harder to access
our own natural resources. Additionally, America is ranked within the top 15
oil exporting countries. So, we are exporting oil, our own prices are going up,
and access to our reserves is being cut off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Reports state that we are exporting around 2 million barrels per day. At
the same time, we are importing 22 million barrels per day for our own
consumption. Shipping costs have gone up, prices for gasoline have hit
stratospheric levels, and we are selling oil. With the price of crude, this
would make sense, at first blush; however, it would be a wiser investment (rebuilding,
updating, maintaining our own oil infrastructure will put hundreds of thousands
of people back to work and paying into the national tax system thereby lowering
our national deficit) than selling crude as a cheap and unfinished raw product.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Think of it this way, finished
diamonds are highly sought after while raw, uncut diamnds are not sold in
stores. Why? What is the daily consumer going to do with uncut, unpolished, raw
diamonds? The value in any product comes from it being made into something more
valuable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Alaska’s
congressional delegation — Sens. Mark Begich (a Democrat) and Lisa Murkowski,
and Rep. Don Young — call the administration’s action “the largest wholesale
land withdrawal and blocking of access to an energy resource by the federal
government in decades.”</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Who
are we importing oil from? Each day, the U.S. uses about 21 million barrels of
oil-more than any other country in the world. It imports about 58% of it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of those countries <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is Socialistic Dictator Chavez’s Venezuela
where miners and oil rig workers die regularly in facilities that are
maintained at safety levels far below those of US standards, and are likely to
be far more hazardous to the surrounding environment. Another one is Saudi
Arabia, one to which Obama showed his (sadly our nation’s, too) servitude to by
bowing in front of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more than 30
other nations include a number of countries which have a record of internationally
opposing the US. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Someone at journalstar.com
has written a piece about how the Keystone Pipeline project is about to become
as useful as the pyramids. The pipeline that will transfer all that oil to
refineries and shipping ports is about to become obsolete? It seems to us that
the Alaskan Pipeline is not able to handle the full capacity of the oil
reserves in the Alaskan Wildlife Reserve. It hails the US prospect of exporting
oil. The piece ignores the facts that drilling into those reserves is becoming
more and more restrictive, made so by the current administration (3) (4).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The gross ignorance of
transporting that oil out coupled with some minor grammatical errors that are college
freshman mistakes and that the author completes missed the concept of HOW to
actually get the oil shipped out of those northern reserves tell us two
immediate things about the author. First, the author supports the restrictions that
are in place preventing our access to the oil reserves and the jobs that would
result from that access. Second, the author was writing out of reflex rather
than rational thought and research.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Our take, at MSMII, is that
the Keystone Pipeline is vital in that it would provide hundreds of thousands
of jobs in drilling, construction, facility maintenance, refineries, and the
thousands of other jobs that would develop around that jobs base. Another point
that MSMII feels is worth stressing is this nation’s capacity to refine that
crude and make it into usable, sellable products of value.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Please, do not take our
word for it, check the links below. After the bibliographic links we have also
included a number of statements and the sites through which we researched them.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(1) <a href="http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/48641"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/48641</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(2) <a href="http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/oil_exports.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/oil_exports.html</span></a>;
<a href="http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=95&c=us&l=en" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=95&c=us&l=en</span></a>; <a href="http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=us&v=95" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=us&v=95</span></a>;
<a href="http://www.infoplease.com/science/energy/us-oil-imports.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.infoplease.com/science/energy/us-oil-imports.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(3) <a href="http://journalstar.com/ap/otherstate/need-for-keystone-xl-may-be-shrinking-as-u-s/article_579f71bc-11a2-5bcc-beb3-60368bdf86d4.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://journalstar.com/ap/otherstate/need-for-keystone-xl-may-be-shrinking-as-u-s/article_579f71bc-11a2-5bcc-beb3-60368bdf86d4.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(4) <a href="http://politicalvelcraft.org/2011/02/22/united-states-now-has-more-oil-than-saudi-arabia-obama-bans-u-s-drilling-its-own-oil-forces-our-money-to-islamic-nations-for-oil/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://politicalvelcraft.org/2011/02/22/united-states-now-has-more-oil-than-saudi-arabia-obama-bans-u-s-drilling-its-own-oil-forces-our-money-to-islamic-nations-for-oil/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Further Reading for your
edification<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/oil_and_gas/statistics.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/oil_and_gas/statistics.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/energy/oil___gas_statistics/data_sets.Par.69959.File.dat/table-01.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/energy/oil___gas_statistics/data_sets.Par.69959.File.dat/table-01.pdf</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">United States Now Has More
Oil Than Saudi Arabia: Obama Bans U. S. Drilling: Forces Our Money To Islamic
Nations For Oil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The United States has
plenty of oil within US borders. We don’t have to rely on foreign oil anymore!
It is just a matter of drilling and getting the oil out. The oil is there!
Remember the song….”America, America God shed his grace on thee”? It is true!
God provided this country with more than enough oil for generations to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Did you know…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There is a massive 200
billion barrel oil field located in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. And
it even gets better! Because of new horizontal drilling technology, it is
estimated that this huge field may even produce up to 500 billion barrels of
oil! The Saudi’s are estimated to have only 260 billion barrels of oil, clearly
putting America in the cat bird seat!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news2.13s.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news2.13s.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">But the good news does not
stop there! <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/alaska" target="_blank" title="Alaska"><span style="color: blue;">Alaska</span></a>is just waiting to drill for oil. In fact the governor
of Alaska is suing the government for failing to drill for oil. Alaskan oil
fields are massive. At Gull Island, <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=70.3255555556,-148.711388889&spn=0.1,0.1&q=70.3255555556,-148.711388889%20(Prudhoe%20Bay%2C%20Alaska)&t=h" target="_blank" title="Prudhoe Bay, Alaska"><span style="color: blue;">Prudhoe Bay, Alaska</span></a>, there is
enough oil and natural gas to keep America going for the next 200 years! Yes,
for the next 200 years!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://www.pushhamburger.com/hidden.htm" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.pushhamburger.com/hidden.htm</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">There is even better news!
The US Outer Continental Shelf has 112 billion barrels of oil, not to mention a
whopping 656<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_foot" target="_blank" title="Cubic foot"><span style="color: blue;">TRILLION cubic feet</span></a> of natural gas! WHY are people
struggling to pay winter heating bills when we have natural resources like
this?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1424734/us_should_drill_for_oil_and_gas_in_arctic_offshore" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1424734/usoil_and_gas_in_arctic_offshore</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Oil shale is abundant in
the US. In fact, half of all the earth’s oil shale deposits are located within
150 miles of Grand Junction, Colorado! Shell Oil is working on new technology
which will make oil shale extraction financially feasible. They plan to open a
shale oil plant in 2010. It will provide a piece of the puzzle toward energy
independence for the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/publications/Pubs-NPR/40010-373.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/reserves/publications/Pubs-NPR/40010-373.pdf</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Then of course, just about
everyone knows that the United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. With 275
billon tons of coal! We have more coal than just about any other place in the
world. Enough coal for American needs for the next 250 years! Once again, new
technology is underway to make coal burning safe for our environment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://www.teachcoal.org/aboutcoal/articles/faqs.html#howmuch" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.teachcoal.org/aboutcoal/articles/faqs.html#howmuch</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So there we have it! It is
time for the US to get serious about energy independence and drill for oil. The
environmentalists should move to China and India where pollution is really is
out of control. With the new technology used in the oil fields of today, the
impact on the environment is there but it is controlled. With environmental
controls oil fields can be environmentally safe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When it comes to the
environment we need to understand that as long as there are billions of people
living on this planet, there will to be a negative impact on the environment.
That is just the way it is unless billions of people die, and even then
environmentalists would complain about rotting corpses creating a problem for
the environment. There is simply no way around problems with the environment
when you have billons of people to contend with. The human race needs to
protect this planet, yet we have to live too. Living without energy is not an
option. Until we have plentiful, green energy we will have to rely on the oil
based solutions of old. It will take time to convert to green energy and that
quest is just as important as drilling for oil is now. We can’t let the ball
drop in either arena.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Obviously we should have
been exploring our oil supplies 10 years ago. Now it will take at least 2 years
before oil and then gas will come back down to a livable price for most
Americans. 80% of all Americans claim climbing gas prices are affecting their
lives in a very negative way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And is it no wonder! Food
prices go up every time a barrel of oil reaches a new high. Add to all of this
are the flood woes of the Midwest which will mean even higher food prices yet
to come. This winter will be especially tough for most people as they struggle to
heat their homes with the highest projected heating costs of all time, and if
that is not enough, they will be hit with unaffordable food prices, making it
harder than ever to put food on the table for the family. This is not the
America I know, or want to know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Whoever wants to be the
next president can easily get elected if they take the bull by the horns, and
start drilling! We need to open the US oil fields in Alaska, Montana, and North
and South Dakota as soon as possible. And, once we have that oil flowing all
across America, we can tell the Middle East what to do with their oil. For too
long we danced to their tune. It was degrading to both President Bush and
Americans across the country when he went begging to the Saudi’s, hat in hand,
pleading for increased oil production, which the Saudi’s denied. No American
president should ever have to go through that again, especially when we have
billions of barrels of oil right in our own back yard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The next few years will be
a time of financial hardship, but once American oil becomes available, it will
not take long for the economy to turn around. This time of austerity is
beneficial in a way, because it forces us to seek new and better ways to do
things. And, new and better ways of doing things…..well that is a lot of what
this country is all about! In the face of adversity, we will prevail and
prosper in the end! We can do it! God Bless America!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Hub Pages<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The Obama administration is
continuing a ban on offshore drilling in favor of offshore wind farms at a time
when gasoline threatens to reach $5/gallon an economic nightmare the American
public might see develop in 2011.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">OBAMA
MOTTO ~ KEEP AMERICA OUT OF WORK</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2012/03/as_more_refineries_close_exper.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2012/03/as_more_refineries_close_exper.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The biggest wave of
refinery closures on the U.S. East Coast is raising the specter of gasoline
shortages during the peak-demand driving season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The region will have lost
almost half of its refining capacity in six months by July, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg based on Energy Department statistics. Requests to send
gasoline on Colonial Pipeline Co.’s link from the Gulf Coast to the eastern
U.S. have exceeded capacity since August, company data show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gasoline futures have risen
24 percent this year, the most of any of the 24 commodities in the Standard
& Poor’s GSCI index, on speculation that the closures will crimp supply in
New York Harbor, the benchmark contract’s delivery point, just as improving
U.S. economic growth and job hiring spurs demand. At the same time, shipping
rules limit the availability of tankers to supply the region from the Gulf,
while European refiners reduce exports in the face of lower profit margins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">"Domestic
infrastructure remains extremely constrained and there is not enough time for
that to be resolved by summer," Amrita Sen, a London-based analyst at
Barclays Plc, said Wednesday in an e-mail. "Gasoline supplies will be
highly constricted as a result and prices will have to rise to attract more
imports."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gasoline for April delivery
fell 0.5 percent to $3.3396 a gallon yesterday on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Spot prices for reformulated fuel in the U.S. Gulf Coast were 7.13
cents a gallon above Nymex futures, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Regular gasoline at the pump in the East Coast was $3.811 a gallon as of March
19, 7.7 percent higher than a year earlier, Energy Department data show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The risk of shortages
increases the prospect of record costs for motorists during a U.S. presidential
campaign. Pump prices may reach an average of $4 a gallon this summer and might
climb to near $5 in some areas of the East Coast, Stephen Schork, president of
the Schork Group, an energy-consulting firm in Villanova, Pa., said in an
interview with Bloomberg Radio March 5.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In its most recent gasoline
price survey, AAA reported last Friday that a gallon of unleaded in New Jersey
cost $3.63, up from $3.39 a year earlier. As prices inch towards $4, the
state’s motorists are paying an average of 20 cents less than drivers
nationwide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Sunoco Inc. and
ConocoPhillips have shut two plants in Pennsylvania and plan to idle a third
that together could process more than 700,000 barrels a day of oil. Hovensa LLC
closed a plant in the U.S. Virgin Islands that was the largest offshore shipper
to the region.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Colonial will expand a line
supplying fuel to New York Harbor by 125,000 barrels a day by 2014, the company
announced at a San Diego conference March 12. Cargoes arriving from abroad may
account for 36 percent of Northeast gasoline consumption this year, the Energy
Department said Feb. 27.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The closures reduce the
capacity to produce summer-grade reformulated gasoline, or RBOB, the fuel on
which Nymex futures are based, with the approach of the peak driving season
between the Memorial Day weekend in late May and Labor Day in early September.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">"It’s more difficult
to make than winter grade and you’ve got a lot of major producers out of the
market," Edward L. Morse, the global head of commodities research at
Citigroup Inc. in New York, said yesterday in telephone interview. "I
don’t know where the material is going to come from."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Refinery Capacity Report <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Data series include fuel,
electricity, and steam purchased for consumption at the refinery; refinery
receipts of crude oil by method of transportation; and current and projected
atmospheric crude oil distillation, downstream charge, and production
capacities. Respondents are operators of all operating and idle petroleum
refineries (including new refineries under construction) and refineries shut
down during the previous year, located in the 50 States, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and other U.S. possessions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The 2012 Refinery Capacity
Report does not contain working and shell storage capacity data. This data is
now being collected twice a year as of March 31 and September 30 on the Form
EIA-810, "Monthly Refinery Report", and is now released as a separate
report <a href="http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/storagecapacity/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Working
and Net Available Shell Storage Capacity</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_oil_refineries_are_there_in_the_United_States" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_oil_refineries_are_there_in_the_United_States</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Contrary to popular belief
there are many, spread all over. According to the EIA, 149 refineries are
operating in the United States. However, they are not all dedicated to refining
oil into usable gasoline, and 149 still aren't enough. The real problem,
however, is not that there aren't enough refineries (which, once again, there
aren't,) but that the refineries we have are not working at maximum capacity.
Regularly, their parent companies will shut them down or scale them back,
dramatically reducing their output. The oil companies say its due to refinery
age, repairs, etc. There is much debate, however, as to whether or not these
actions are actually deliberate in order to boost prices at the pump. It could
be argued that with problems occurring that increase expenses for oil companies
that their increase in profits recently makes those same statements of high
expenditures false. What adds further weight to the debate is the fact that
dozens of refineries have been closed in the past 15 years, which doesn't add
up during a supply shortage or price spike caused by the same, with increase in
demand. It is also widely known that in the mid-1990's some refineries were
closed as a direct result of refinery overproduction, during times of surplus,
which was due to a loss of profits by the relevant companies. This further
makes recent industry profit spikes quite coincidental, now that those
refineries are closed and production is strickly controlled, shortage or
surplus with every barrel with limited refineries, which can be slowed for any
reason. Regardless, production of gasoline and related products is affected,
and to be fair, 60% of U.S. oil is imported, and so conflicts in Iraq and
problems with Iran, Venezuela, long shipping times/distances all can also
dramatically affect the price of gasoline as well, and have been known to
hamper it in the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.factcheck.org/2008/05/us-oil-refining-capability/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.factcheck.org/2008/05/us-oil-refining-capability/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Q:</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Does the U.S. lack sufficient
oil refining capabilities?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A: </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We have half as many
refineries as we did in 1982, and they're not meeting demands. Regulations,
practical challenges and economic factors all play a role.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">FULL QUESTION</span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The lack of U.S. oil
refinery capacity keeps being blamed for some of the large increases in gas
prices. Do we lack refining capacity and, if so, why?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<b><span style="color: maroon; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">FULL ANSWER </span></b><span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Though oil refinery
productivity in the United States has been improving, the number of operating
refineries has been dropping steadily. In 1982, the earliest year for which the
Energy Information Administration has data, there were 301 operable refineries
in the U.S., and they produced about 17.9 million barrels of oil per day. Today
there are only 149 refineries, but they're producing 17.4 million barrels –
less than in 1982, but more than any year since then. The increase in
efficiency is impressive, but it's not enough to meet demand: U.S. oil
consumption is 20.7 million barrels per day. Refinery capacity isn't the only
factor in the price of gasoline, and according to the EIA it's not the most
important one either (that would be the cost of crude oil), but it's certainly
a contributor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Existing refineries have
been running at or near full capacity since the mid-1990s, but are failing to
meet daily consumption demands. Yet there hasn't been a new refinery built in
the U.S. since 1976. Why? Several factors: Building a refinery is expensive,
there are a lot of environmental restrictions on where and how they can be
built and nobody wants to live near one. One company, Arizona Clean Fuels, has
been trying to construct a refinery in the Southwest since 1998. Getting a
permit to build took seven years, and the company twice changed the plant's
proposed location because of environmental restrictions and land disputes. The
refinery is projected to have a $3.7 billion total price tag. The EIA recorded
per-barrel profits of $5.29 in 2006; at that rate, the 150,000-barrel-per-day
refinery would need to operate for almost 13 years before its profits
outweighed the cost of building it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In short, the reason for
not adding more refineries is straightforward: It's hard, and it's expensive.
The reason that we have so few in the first place is more complicated. In the
1980s and 1990s, there was a surplus of refining capacity. Then, over the
course of two decades, half of the plants shut down. In 2001, Oregon senator
Ron Wyden presented to Congress a report arguing that these closings were
calculated choices intended to increase oil company profits. Fewer refineries
means less product in circulation, which means a lower supply-to-demand ratio
and more profit. Wyden's report cites internal memos from the oil industry
implying that this reduction was a deliberate attempt to curtail profit losses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The economic pressures of
oversupply could have led to plant closings even without a more calculated
decision, of course. In 2005, the head of the National Petrochemical and
Refiners Association testified at a House hearing that the rate of return on
investment in refining averaged just five and a half percent from 1993 to 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gasoline shortages in
California<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Shortages in the Southeast<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0.5in 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">People
are talking about exporting oil? Refineries are closing ... We have greater oil
reserves than Saudi Arabia, the leading oil selling country today, but our
refineries are closing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-16823875820127803222012-10-26T17:54:00.000-04:002012-10-26T17:54:09.549-04:00Week In Review October 26, 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>BLUF:</b> Syria has progressed beyond where the United States needs to get involved. There are Sunnis fighting shi'ites, Hezbollah and Hamas are there, Russia has a fleet support base there, Iran has hopes for cruise missile launch sites there as well as aspirations to use the seaports there. The end of Assad is coming. The next administration had better have more than academics and the like of Albright and her failed North Korea nuclear disarmament talks, because Iran and Russia are not leaving the area unless Western allies comes in and bring some semblance of order. Who knows, Israel might be the first one to go in swinging.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: nowrap;">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/rebuilding-american-influence-in-middle.html?m=1</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: nowrap;">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/foreign-policy-debate-tonight-hot-live.html?m=1</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: nowrap;">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/obama-carter-clinton-power-plantsans.html?m=1</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: nowrap;">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/syria-failing-state-or-burgeoning-state.html?m=1</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: '.HelveticaNeueUI'; font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; white-space: nowrap;">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/syrias-major-supporters-and-why.html?m=1</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-28167560779889566872012-10-25T14:44:00.000-04:002012-10-25T14:56:02.775-04:00Syria's Major Supporters And Why<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There has been a lot of press and talk about the Assad regime and the violence that is spreading slowly out of its borders. We have seen Iran as a major supporter of Bashar al-Assad. Today we need to look at the top three political and material supports that Assad has. Those three supporting nations, in ascending order, are China, Russia, and Iran. This analysts will not take into account UN votes, but financial and material support. China has its trade route and an ideolgue supporting some of their territorial views. Russia maintains a stronger military presence in the eastern Mediteranean, profits from arms sales, and has invested billions into Syrian infrastructure. Iran, we can easily state that they are knee deep in the hooplah and they are in it for the full range of what happens.<br />
<br />
China has quite a financial interst with Syria. China, as of February this year, was Syria's third largest export country. Recall history, Syria was part of the Silk Road. Even today, china sees Syria as a trading and shipping hub. A rather important hub, at that. Ideologically, Hu Jintao and Assad have given support to each other on some views that have caused strong international angst over. Those views include Syrian support of China's claims and treatment of Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjang, and on China's application of human rights. China continues to support Assad on his claims over the Golan Heights.<br />
<br />
China and Syria find mutually beneficial financial and ideological support for each other.<br />
<br />
Russian support for the Assad regime includes military and financial interests as well. The depth of these interests goes far deeper than those of China.<br />
<br />
Financially Russia is looking to recover financial interests are closely tied to its military interests in the region. The port at Tartus provides a strategic foothold. The Black Sea Fleet uses the port facilities for ship maintenance, supply, and logistics. The facilities at Tartus and the power grud in the surrounding area infrastructure has benefitted from Russia's investing $19.4 billion dollars in 2009. As of 2011 the facilities and piers at Tartus can, and have, supported guided missile cruisers and Kuznetzov class aircraft carriers. Russia continues to act in ways that undermine American interestts.<br />
<br />
Russia may also be getting some isolationism ideas like the methods used during the Cold War. At that time the West made strategic allies in order to surround Russian expansion and stop their geographic spread. Current examples include US support to Bahrain and Uzbekistan. I believe that this gambit is one that will completely fail for the West.<br />
<br />
The Russian Liberal Democratic Party leader, Vladimir Zhimorovsky, has made some very strong statements againsty Western support to the rebels. Statements that indicate there is much more going on than is currently visible. Zhimorovsky has said that any US support to the rebels is "absolutely unacceptable" and would, in his eyes be, tantamount to violently toppling a regime.<br />
<br />
Russia gains a naval forward support base and earns billions from arms sales. Commercially, Russia has earned $5 billion in weaponss sales to Damascus.<br />
<br />
Iranian Support is all geared towards gaining a physical and very strategic position in the region. Iran has been so completely isolated from decent international contact for so long that the leadership is looking for any way to expand out of their isolation. By any means includes the blatant shipments by air and over land as well as the hardcer to see support through Hezbollah and in assisting Assad with the training and manning, as it were, of an army of children suicide bombers and fighters. This last group is known as the Basij, which Ahmedinijad claims to be. Judging by his age and grey hair, I openly declare him a failure in his service as a child soldier/suicide bomber. If Ahmedinijad could have done that right 40 years ago his poor judgement and mistakes wouldn't be an issue now.<br />
<br />
Seriously, Iran already has missiles that can strike Israel from inside its borders, but, I am guessing that the guidance systems still leve something to be desired. Iran has successfully launched mutlistage rockets and put sattelites into orbit, but, they have yet to demonstrate the capacity to deliver their paylods at range. Every missilt that Iran has, buys, and makes can carry a nuclear payload. Iran is even working on its own independent re-entry vehicle. This IRV makes enough people at the IAEA to start investigations, not that any inspection will receive compliance from Ahmedinijad or Khameini.<br />
<br />
Iran has the largest missile surplus in the Middle East. One of their missile production/storage sites was just bombed in Sudan earlier this week. Reports of this Israerli lead attack state that 300 Shahab III missiles there were destroyed. Iran is trying to put its own strike missile system in place in Syria. Why would they not expect to be allowed to? That is, should Assad not die in place. <br />
<br />
Just imagine the changes that would most undoubtedly take place if Russia and Iran had missile silos in Syria while the US missile defense system, which Obama unplugged and dismantled, absent from the region. Could we ever again have allies in Eastern Europe? Could we carry on trade theough that region? No, not at all. The US Naval Fleet coverage and the protections it guarantees would be stripped away from the Mediteranean, through the Gulf of Aden, off the Somali pirate coast, and into the Indian Ocean.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-3918842955701766742012-10-24T10:24:00.000-04:002012-10-24T10:24:50.219-04:00Syria A Failing State or Burgeoning State of Multitheism?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Syria truly is more of a keystone state than most give it credit for. I have several blog entires from more than a year ago looking at the mess there. Syrian sectarian and ethnic divisions into individual sovereign states would begin the rush for more similar states across the Middle East. <br />
<br />
Syria is now closing in on the end of its second year of fighting. It is in no way an internal fight. What started as an ethnic cleansing by al-Assad, who follows a Shi'ite form of Islam, has spilled over its own borders into Jordan and Turkey, thus threatening a broader internastional conflict. There are a growing number of deaths in both of these neighboring countries. These would include the assassination by car bomb of Jordian Intelligence office, Brg. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan in Beirut.<br />
<br />
While there is enough tumult going on in Syria, what is the view of the regional states? The London based editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabia, Abd al-Atwan, warns that no country isd immune to the risks of dividing into ethnic and sectareian lines. What? There is a <em>risk </em>of a country being a <em>mix of ethnicities and religious beliefs</em>? What if a country existed that allowed people to believe as they wanted? My goodness, that would mean no state religion and less control over peoples thoughts and actions! No, not that! Anything but a country with the American First Amendment protections! Seriously, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Iraq, and the other Arabian Street and Gulf State actors loathe the idea of this happening anywhere in the world. They will do anything to prevent it in their backyard.<br />
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Atwan warns his readers globally that if the Alawhites get to have a state, the Sunni's will get to have a state, the Kurds will have a stae, Saudi Arabia will have to provide a state for al-Aksa, the Coptic Christians in Egypt wouldf get their own sovereign state. I cannot stress how horrific an idea this is to the domineering views of Sunni and Shi'ite sects throughout the Middle East.<br />
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Almost all of the Middle EAstgern states have come together and voiced their commitment towards preventing Syria from falling into this abyss of partitioning with its sectarian and ethnic violence. How's that working so far? There is no sectarain violence or ethnic violence of any sort within these countries. Copts in Egypt, Kashmiris in between Pakistan and India, and so on. <br />
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How does Iran fit into this? Iran, a Shi'ite dominated country, plays into a number of issues that directly and indirectly impact Americans. <br />
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Iran is sending troops, <strong>Basij (child suicide soldiers)</strong>, heavy munitions, weapons, as well as financial and medical aid into Syria on a frighteningly regular basis. How they are doing this is by using both ground transportation, previously with the knowledge and highly probable assistance of Iraqi indicted PM Maliki, and via air transportation through Iraqi airspace. How is this going to impact anything in America? It's just regional, reight? It's contained within Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran, right? Really contained.<br />
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How this impacts the united states immediately is that these countries are also OPEC members. We are currently buying their oil. We are dependcant upon their oil right now, not our own greater resources available domestically and at far lower costs. Look at a map of the region and you will see the Suez Canal, Straights of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Aden. More than 80% of the world's international shipping goes through there. Going around the African continent takes far too much time, whih is why the Suez Canal was built. If this region degrades furhter into choas, conflict, and more violence, most everything we buy is goipng to skyrocket in cost. <br />
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I believe that we already understand that Iran is investing so much into the Assad regime that Iran expects to be able to expand into Syria. If this happens, we again come to the Suex Canal. I can see IRan charging for ships to enter or exit safely, just as Egypt chargesa for transit through the canal. Again, due to the risks and costs involved due to pirates, the Egyptian fees for transit, and the IRanian fees, it is clear how this will also raise costs on the massive amounts of global shipping through the region.What would Iranian missile silos and anti ship m,issiles along the coast look like? Suppose there was an Iranian nuclear cruise missile stationed there? That threatens more shipping and all of Europe. Even though Khameini and Ahmedinijad are at odds with each other regarding nuclear capacity of any sort, Khameini has proven powerless in stopping Ahmedinijad's nuclearv progress.<br />
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Syria truly is more of a keystone state than most give it credit for. Syrian sectarian and ethnic divisions into individual sovereign states would begin the rush for more similar states across the Middle East. There is already enough strife and tension between Sunni and Shi'ite, you can only imagine the carnmage and chaos that would result from Christians, Kurds, and other religious sects having their own states not answerable to Suadi Arabian, Iranian, or other powerful states in the region.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-64659502316766522222012-10-23T18:35:00.000-04:002012-10-23T21:21:50.819-04:00Obama Carter Clinton Power Plant and Plans Opinion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The agreement which Obama appears to be making a deal that would be shouldered by a future administration, not at all by him. Whether that was by plan in 1994 I cannot say with certainty.<br />
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Not all plans carry out in life as they were designed to on paper. Such is the case with President Clinton and former President Carter. President Clinton wanted to allow NK to have a light water reactor (LWR) so that Kim Jung Il could provide power for his country to improve their living conditions. After all, even Kim Jung Il has a right to peaceful nuclear power so that his people could have energy to power their cities so that the people could live at a higher standard. Right?<br />
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Lets jump to Cairo in 2009 when Obama says to the world that even Iran should be allowed to have nuclear power so that the Iranian people could have energy to power their cities so that the people could live at a higher standard. Sounds familiar? Yes, it should.<br />
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In between these two events of Clinton-Carter providing an LWR to Nirth Korea and the Cairo speech, there is a long history for North Kirea and Iran both violating every sanction against them as we'll a every agreement entered into insofar as non proliferation goes.<br />
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The Council on Foreign Relations makes reference to released diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks. Iran and North Korea were both benefitting from Pakistani scientist, A. Q. Khan. It was known that shipments between Iran and NK were going through China. The Kgan network collaborated on ballistic missiles.<br />
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Both NK and Iran have centrifuges which are similar enough that it is clear the Khan network brought these three countries together, in my opinion, for nuclear proliferation.<br />
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Should we be opposed to Iranians having energy that us more reliable than what they have now? No.<br />
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Obama is I the same mind that Clinton and Carter were. Only now, Obama I deliberately forgetting the years of violated sanctions, the years of threats against Israel and America from the same people he is cutting a deal with. It was a foolish and morbidly poor decision then. It is only worse now because Obama, allegedly educated, is ignoring a painfully recent lesson. This time.ir is Obama Biden Clinton. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-49374099500698994222012-10-22T16:23:00.000-04:002012-10-23T07:35:13.891-04:00Presidential Advisors on Foreign Policy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The president and Mitt Romney have a number of advisory boards. So, who has been serving on theadvisory board for Obama and for Romney's plans for foreign policy?<br />
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<strong><u>BLUF</u>: Bottom Line Up Front</strong>, Obama has four academics, three Madeleine Albrights, two Sam Nunn's, one retired veteran, one former intelligence specialiast, and a Joe Biden. By the way, Albright was part of the <strong>FAILED</strong> North Korea nuclear disarmaqment talks (emphasis is mine).<br />
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Romeny has six Hawks looking closely at Iran, vocal American exceptionalists, four highly qualified internationl intelligence professionals, and one former terrorist who is strongly anti-Sharia. This last man, Walid Phares, may seem dubious; however, I have met him, talked with him, and attended some of his speaking events. This man knows the world of terrorists like no one else inside the United State4s policy teams.<br />
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Since he is the winner of the last presidential electoral fight, in the Incumbant Corner we have President Obama, a former community coordinator, and his team of Foreign Policy Advisors. Obama's policy, according to Wikipedia (such a bastion of knowledge nuggets, eh?) is described "as a form of realism unafraid to deploy American power but mindful that its use must be tempered by practical limits and a dose of self awareness. <br />
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That team includes ...<br />
<u>Hillary Clinton</u>: Secretary of State; Former First Lady, former top level lawyer.<br />
<u>Tom Donilon</u>: National Security Advisor; Manager of Overseas Crises; 1993 he was the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs; A partner with the Washington office of the national law firm of O'Melveny and
Myers This man is described as the central figure of Obama's foreign policy. He seems to be a top go-to-guy and, it would appear, the most likely suspect in national security leaks of late.<br />
<u>Susan Rice</u>: 1993 Started her career with the National Security Council in Washington, DC, as the director of international organizations and peacekeeping; Was a \n ardent follower of Madeleine Albright on African Affairs under President Clinton; Currently Ms. Rice is the US Ambassador to the UN; Has likely lost her run for Secretary of State to John Kewrry due to her claims that the recent embassy attacks were from spontaneous protests about an anti-islam film.<br />
<u>Joe Biden</u><em>:</em> Vice President; Has not <em>made</em> foreign policy, but keeps in touch with world leaders; Was the Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; In 1990 predicted that the Soviet Union would cease to exist, how about that, Vladimir Putin, your Russia no longer exists. What dfo you have to say about that?; Nation building can prevent full scale war is one of his beliefs.<br />
<u>Dennis McDunough</u>: Was Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress; Former Foreign Policy Advisor to Tom Daschle; Outspoken proponent for energy and environmental concerns; Feels that the US Aid Packages are inadequate, "woefully insufficient", according to a report on <a href="http://www.cfr.org/">www.cfr.org</a>; Believes that American needs to set clear deadlines on troop withdrawal so that we c an focus on reducing the national deficit and solve our own economic problems.<br />
<u>Richard Danzig</u>: Sam Nunn Prize Fellow in International Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Consultant to the Department of Defense on bio-terrorism; Holds that Security Strategy should "aim to keep us and our allies free ... [and] protect as much as possible".<br />
<u>Jonathon Scott Gration</u>: Retired Air Force Brigadier General; CEO of Millenium Villages, based upon the UN Millenium Development goals to bring African villages out of poverty; Dirfector of Strategy, policy, and assessments for Europen Command (EUCOM); Supported withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but, to his credit, said that if the situation required it that it would "be crazy <u>not</u> to readjust"; Supports hunting terrorists into Pakistan.<br />
<u>Sam Nunn</u>: Former politician from Georgia; Lead the effort to reduce the global threat of nuclear arms; Served eight years as the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Voted against the first Gulf War.<br />
<u>William J. Perry</u>: Was Senior Fellow at Hoover Institute; Was a Professor at Stanford University; 1994-1997 Served as Secretary of Defense; Sent US Forces into Haiti; Oversaw military intervetion in Bosnia in 1994; Critic al of the US Invasion in Iraq; Suipports nuclear disarmament.<br />
<u>Sarah Sewell</u>: Lectured on Public Policy; Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance under Clinton; Called for a natinoal doctrine delineating the responsibilities of both civilian and military insofar as nation building is concerned.<br />
<u>Anthony Lake</u>: National Security Advisor to Clintonfor Bosnia and Somalia; Pushed for greater UN involvement in Sudan; Critical of the Iraq War.<br />
<u>Mark Lippet</u>: Served one tour in the Navy as an Intelligence Officer for the SEALs; Completed one tour in Iraq; Known as the closest daily advisor to Obama; Reported to have had a hand in every major speech and statement OBama has given on foreign affairs; Worked for the Senate Appropriations Committee on Foreign Operations Subcommittee and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.<br />
<u>Suasan Rice</u>: Was a Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute for Foreign Policy Global Policy, and Global Ecoonomic Development; Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairstowards the end of the Clinton Presidency; Critical of the Iraq War; Wanted tougher US response to the Darfur situation; Advocates fighting global poverty as part of US National Security.<br />
<u>George B. Craig</u>: Former Clinton Whitehouse Aid; Director of Policy Planning under Madeleine Albright; Partner in a Washington law firm; Criticized Bush for taking sides in some Latin American elections.<br />
Madeleine Albright: Secretary of State under Clinton; Former US Ambassador to the UN; Part of nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea; Believes that America has lost its moral authority. <br />
<u>Joe Biden</u>: A name that speaks for itself.<br />
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In short, Obama has four academics, three Madeleine Albrights, two Sam Nunn's, one retired veteran, one former intelligence specialiast, and a Joe Biden.<br />
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In the challenger's corner we have Mitt Romney, who has built a national level highly respected investment firm. His policy appears to be storngly hawk, and fiscally aware. <br />
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Romney's corner men include<br />
<u>Cofer Black</u>: Former CIA counter terrorism department head; Former Vice Chairman of controversial Black Water; Serves as in house intelligence for Romney; Has the dubious reputation of conceiving, planning, leading the CIA's war in Afghanistan; supported enhanced interrogation, yes, torture.<br />
<u>John Lehmon</u>: Former Secretary of the Navy under Reagan; Continues to vierw Russia as a primary threat to the United States.<br />
<u>Paul Dobriansky</u>: Began his career in the State Department, he was the Under Secretary for Global Affairs; Known as a staunch defender of human rights.<br />
<u>Mitchell Reiss</u>: Director of Policy Planning under Collin Powell; Integral part of the Northern Ireland Peace Proicess.<br />
<u>Robert Kagan</u>: Most vocal of the American exceptionalists; A thoughtful writer who is respected by both Democrats and Republicans alike.<br />
<u>John Bolton</u>: Former US Ambassador to the UN; Chastized Bush for not being hawkish enough towards IRan.<br />
<u>Elliot Cohen</u>: Pushed the case for toppling Saddam Hussein; Continues to push for a closer overwatch on Iran; Conmsiders military intervention in Iran as a possibility.<br />
<u>Walid Phares</u>: As a teen was recruited by al-Zawahiri extremism and terrorism: Active and vioolent participant in the Lebanese civil war; Nowe an ardent anti-Sharia speaker, teacher, and writer.<br />
<u>Michael Hayden</u>: Lead both CIA and NSA under G. W. Bush; Supports torture for getting information in order to prevent military and national security losses.<br />
<u>Dan Senor</u>: Has participated in debates about military action against Iran: Had previously said, in regards to Iraq, that "Off the record, Paris is burning. But, on the record, security and stability are returning".<br />
<u>Max Boot</u>: Hawkish; Supports showing US strength; Said that Iraq would have bennefitted from a long term commitment of 65,000 to 70,000 troops; Advocates staying longer in Afghanistan; Advocates bombing Iran.<br />
<u>Eric Edelman</u>: Hawkish: Former Cheney aid; Former Ambassodr to Turkey; Believes that a war with IRan is a better alternative than a nuclear capable Iran; Recently made some harsh statements against Obama in leaking classified material, but has been involved in doing so himslelf under Scooter Libby.<br />
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In short, strong advocates of American strength, leadership, and prominance in the world. This team has policy writing experience, and has gotten their lumps in the real world, not in academics.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-11800079908740542112012-10-21T14:55:00.004-04:002012-10-21T14:55:59.496-04:00Rebuilding American Influence in the Middle East is NOT a DIY Project<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On the 18th the NY Times published an OpEd by Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian diplomat. Mr. Muasher asked what can America do to rebuild influence in the Middle East. One suggestion was that our nation (that, by law, cannot have an official religion) must back "a dynamic change toward pluralism". Lets look briefly at pluralism in the east, shall we. In Egypt Coptic Christians are hunted and slaughtered with impunity. In Darfur there is an Arab tribe, Jinjaweed (Arabic for Devils on horseback) that are trying to cleanse the area of Africans so it can be an all Arabian region. Iran and Syria have spent the past several years trying to kill off all the non-Shi'ites within their boarders. Iraq has spent decades torturing and murdering non-Sunni people. This does not fit the definition of pluralistic.<br />
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Mr. Marwan acknowledges that there was a time when America had influence on the Arabian Street. He does not say when, in his opinion, that changed. I believe that shift happened during President Ford's time in office. The first sign of that was when the Arab members of OPEC started the oil embargo against America. Those members were, and these should sound familiar, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. That embargo bled us financially and showed us vulnerable. What does that mean? Consider now these two Arabian proverbs, "A falling camel invites many knives" and "When people see two horses and one is strong and the other weak, people naturally like the strong horse".<br />
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The Middle East is a harsh environment that has bred a harsh people. Weakness is a detriment to survival. Only here, in America, do people cheer for the under dog. Culturally, we see even the sickly runt of the litter as valuable. In the Middle East the scarce resources are saved for the strong, not the weak. This is a dichotomy that is completely the opposite of ours.<br />
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Fast forward past the list of attacked US Embassies (still an act if war according to Clinton's Stated Departmentt) to the time when Obama met the Saudi King. Obama deliberately did what President John F. Kennedy said that no leader of the free world should ever do. Obama bowed. The Middle East is not a dojo, bowing is a sign of subjugation. By bending over and exposing your neck you are saying that your life is theirs to take or to spare.<br />
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Apologizing for aging been a world leader, which is another sign of weakness. It says to them that we should not be better off than they. It makes America look like a falling camel.<br />
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So, how do we regain face, rebuild any semblance of power, in the Arabian Street?<br />
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Al Jazeera just posted a video, in English so we can clearly get it, that Clinton, Obama, and America are not welcome there. That video is titled "You Are Not Welcome in Egypt". This year alone has seen more than $250 million dollars given to the Egyptian banking sector to prevent a collapse, $90 million for democratic development, $100 million for economic recovery, and not with Obama's yearly $1 billion dollar gift. That comes out to $1.8 billion of our tax dollars given to one government that has openly opposed America for the last 39 years while profiting from us.<br />
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How do we regain influence in the Middle East? With backbone, swift, harsh responses to acts of war and opposition, with a clear message that we are stronger than they.<br />
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I have no idea how we can do this. We need the likes of Fenerals Abrams, Patton, Schwartzkopf, the business acumen of Lee Iacoca, JP Morgan, Carngie,and Presidents Reagan and Bush senior to formulate that plan. We need, as a nation, to be able to stomach what must be done. This must include developing our own sources of fuel and energy. We must revitalize our industrial souls. Other than that, I must leave it to those with bigger brain pans than I. <br />
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</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-71315049728933495742012-10-19T13:27:00.001-04:002012-10-23T18:39:38.876-04:00The Week In Review 19 October 2012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Obama has been privately supporting a nuclear Iran since, at least, May of this year. The Wasihngton Post caught it and did an article about it. This news was all over the news in the Middle East. Just this week news outlets like CNN, Fox News have begun talking about it. In 2011 I talked about how likely this was. Both Secretary and former President Clintom have openly said this is a very dangerous situation. Secretary Clinton fears an arms race in the East. My guess is she forgot about Pakistan and India and their nuclear tap dance.<br />
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In 2008 Obama stood on a stage in Cairo and promised that Iran would not go nuclear on his watch. This close to November Obama would be technically correct; however, he will leave the next president a bigger mess than he received. What will it look like with a nuclear Iran and Iranian nuclear weapons in Iran's proxy, Syria?<br />
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Won't the UN say something about this increasingly dangerous scenario? I am sure the UN will huff and puff before it finally says something like, "Hey, you kids! Get outta my yard!" The UN was impotent before. America is only going to come up against more blockades in the UN and internationally now that Russian allies Azerbaijan and Pakistan are on the UN Security Council. The next administration is going to be completely stonewalled with Russia, China, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Togo, Colombia, Morocco, and Guatemala voting against the US the next administration is going to have more of a mess than this one received.<br />
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Perhaps now is the time to redo an infamous picture fromSoviet history. Now it will show the profiles of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Obama.<br />
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The Appeasement Protocol did not work for London during WWII and it is proving disastrous now. According to the State Department attacking an embassy is an act of war against that nation. Appeasement resulted in nine acts of war against the United States that have gone unanswered, at best, ignored at worst. This response, which includes Obama and Clinton pointing fingers claiming it was not my fault, only makes our nation appear weak and disorganized.<br />
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One wonders why the charging station for a Chevy Volt at the US Embassy in Vienna at a cost of $108,000 was a more important investment than the loss of human life and millions upon millions of dollars lost in those nine embassy attacks.<br />
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Those countries in which our embassies were attacked continue to get tens of millions of our tax dollars yearly. Those countries which oppose us internationally, like Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, receive billions of our tax dollars yearly to develop their infrastructure while our infrastructure falls further into disrepair.<br />
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We, as a nation, must stop sending billions of dollars to nations that hate and oppose us, that produce and export highly sought after materials like oil and gold. We should not be paying for their despotism. This administration has shown that it is penny foolish and dollar moronic. The next administration is leaving a much larger mess for the next administration than it received.<br />
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That's this week. I cannot wait to see what Chairman MaiBama is going to do to us next week.<br />
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<a href="http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-10-16T17:49:00-04:00&max-results=7">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-10-16T17:49:00-04:00&max-results=7</a><br />
<a href="http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/foreign-policy-magazine-on-syria.html">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/foreign-policy-magazine-on-syria.html</a><br />
<a href="http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/iran-not-budging-on-nuclear-issues.html">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/iran-not-budging-on-nuclear-issues.html</a><br />
<a href="http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/on-cusp-of-nuclear-iran.html">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/on-cusp-of-nuclear-iran.html</a><br />
<a href="http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/embassy-security-lower-priority-than.html">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/embassy-security-lower-priority-than.html</a><br />
<a href="http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/embassy-attacks.html">http://msmignoresit.blogspot.com/2012/10/embassy-attacks.html</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-6315730738027316132012-10-18T18:13:00.001-04:002012-10-18T18:13:18.794-04:00Foreign Policy Magazine on Syria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
From my experience in east Africa and in the Middle East, I would factor in the flights of Iranianplanes going into Syrai, and thregional uses of ceasefires as rearming periods. After this three day holiday I expect Hamas and Iraian supplies will be brought out in full force against "the rebels".<br />
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I have written several entries on Syria in the past, please check them out.<br />
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<b style="color: #333333;">Syria</b></div>
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Syrian human rights groups say that at least <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ru_h1Vm0pES3Llb_XmLw-H21exY940_faihv99mbluaRnu_tBdD75ZOJocozso_05IyZ-vJ4SlXElEc6SnffA5LVBtXKVljoeevatzBeHUO7X2VhwUjZkzINSh3PI3jLFViMspWbM69JA31JXRORBsCDxaxqA7Gi" style="color: #000066; text-decoration: underline;">28,000 people have "disappeared</a>" in Syria since the beginning of the 19-month long uprising, and some estimate the number of missing to be as high as 80,000. According to a director at the online<a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ru_h1Vm0pETLowmRyas3zHxVos_uODO-CSnaikX5pjOE9KJE47JS_Q-KiiDaU9pIziiq3Q-TqMFwSe2HLv94_yf3E9bAyIb-5nvDzx1EynyIfnvSwCCf8bkueIS4hVQHQiLp5xpqwORXX-D4Be-Fwa8zI3GS8YiA02m45QDxWoBR2001FESPcWqG8IrFOHa7FWowfv9oFks=" style="color: #000066; text-decoration: underline;">activist group Avazza</a>, "Syrians are being plucked off the street by Syrian security forces and paramilitaries and being ?disappeared' into torture cells. Whether it is women buying groceries or farmers going for fuel, nobody is safe." The group plans to request an investigation by the U.N. Human Rights Council. <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ru_h1Vm0pESY-fJZEmtGIT1BoxkHaXoUk18oz9esWWMrYRAa-qt9b1Ww0ipFif6rBP7xxyb051uV3dG69Y1d0djk-_X_v5jFkpAa2s8FX6UibslfnK4PKfgMOIZP1karSLDmAdloOBpYCah0-x7Fe2ILsfZx0q4KFZ3eXrwOVGA5oLAwwWZqwugOyV_nrVH2Qett-o2TR1erboa3rtIPJgoHnAtkcvrLpB0OgVDD0_o=" style="color: #000066; text-decoration: underline;">Damascus</a> has started to feel the strain of the country's civil war, from which it had been relatively isolated until recently. Meanwhile, U.N. and Arab League envoy to Syria, Lahkdar Brahimi, has warned of <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ru_h1Vm0pETw_gGy6BpKGApXztkFfumi-pUAUke-62d1RbCq9lVdAzudGPlU2TLCynX6kYCm43L9vAuYireJ-FjtaH3RmOlcz_tDt4BtYdHaUK4gHlp2KAQagxYK2jjKzDtmQYu2EK3Hj0hAF7vGmFC0ODyyMFhgAsC-f6ncIfe_fDDa5xVWhTKWF9sY5ptZirPWjQkJ9fg=" style="color: #000066; text-decoration: underline;">regional spillover</a> of the conflict. After meeting with Lebanese officials seeking international support for a ceasefire over an upcoming holiday, which <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ru_h1Vm0pET8J6bbz3PTCPv9k7TePBsxxd2vlChE8z9sPv2n8uMvIUqmulE7yomTzotMqS2ls65gJ3IOjOilzHzj3rvqY0UMNjenYPoOwUsq7rSzzmezenCLAb-2UXjQG_T759jH2Jq8MAL4cl3RkraeFLXm9Rh5c89QCHNb3FrWyY7fRikd7ddpg8kYqKRpSWcABpfeYstXMVECCrq91Yf8pxyj5PFRxf1r0PKKJ5puB7Htvfs4fikmQJ8zDQegAzOm9yOxwsY=" style="color: #000066; text-decoration: underline;">Turkey and Iran have backed</a>, he said, "The crisis cannot remain within Syrian borders indefinitely. Either it will be addressed or it will increase ... and be all-consuming." Brahimi's remarks came shortly before reports of Syrian and Lebanese <a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ru_h1Vm0pES_v_w18L2eArOduLtYJoZcV_Ln2fV_-TO0UpNbKMpHP8sYuuL2vYAJl-y1ohFH-HQ67M0s1Ln6EMXXDfvArROdM2d-EJnKUHIh6y2B1avWXH4nIOBaPQc_VEAI4iembDSV3YPlnnI4KIfSC884Y9y1QOwO89lGtA0rQk5qh0eiaabfjov2tYAXTn5zsYOruazemESz5pQk1rPI4nais9xwULaKIA-_WdzBhcNgG2eEzz4fD9bzM-x7" style="color: #000066; text-decoration: underline;">border clashes</a>.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-51635566630342905802012-10-18T16:52:00.000-04:002012-10-18T16:52:01.837-04:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I wanted to take a quick look at the newest nonpermanent members of the UNSC. These are Azerbaijan (Former USSR), Guatemala (unable to control its own territories), Morocco (one of Obama's Arab Spring countries), Pakistan (Soviet ally), and Togo (a tiny and twisted nation). <br />
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The bottom line up fromt is that these countries are rife with human traficking, sex slave sales, oppression of their own people to include in the case of Pakistan ethnic cleansing against religious minorities under and Islamic rule, enforced disappearances, and many other crimes against humanity, I can say that last one as, under the UN description of crimes against humanity, these charges apply. These are crimes that the ICC has charged 29 people from six African nations. With twwo more allies on the UNSC I can confidently state that the US will have even less impact on the Council and with resolutions/sanctions than before. This is not good for US interests and activities abroad.<br />
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That being said, read through some of the exerpts and summaries below. The links I used to collect this information are included at the end.<br />
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Azerbaijan<br />
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In Azerbaijan it is easy enough to find human trafficking for sex and forced labor, restricions on media even the elimination/disappearance of stations and bloggers critical of the government. Victims are sent abroad into the UAE and Turkey for those who can afford to buy human flesh.<br />
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Governmental brutality goes hand in hand with enforced disappearances. Both of these rmain to be common occurances.<br />
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The State Department in 2009 reported<br />
"Azerbaijan is a source, transit, and limited destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children from Azerbaijan are trafficked to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Men and boys are trafficked to Russia for the purpose of forced labor. Men and women are also trafficked to Iran, Pakistan, and the UAE for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some men are trafficked within Azerbaijan for the purpose of forced labor and women and children are trafficked internally for forced prostitution and forced labor, including forced begging.- U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009[<a href="http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Azerbaijan-2.htm">full country report</a>]"<br />
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Now Clinton refers to Azerbaijan as venerable.<br />
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Guatemala<br />
Drug trafficking, drug violence that is at the top of extreme, official corruption, and an array of human rights violations including perpetrators at the higest levels of governemtn make Guatemala, in my opinion, nothing that I would want to see with any say on international laws or restrictions.<br />
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Aside from the severe police brutality and drug violence, the people of his country have to deal daily with the MS-13 and other severely violent international organizations.<br />
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Even the UN itself states that along drug routtes the murder rates are among the highest in the world.<br />
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The US Department of Treasury has added two persons and 24 entities to their watchlist under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).<br />
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Amnesty International wrote the below so well I am including it verbatim<br />
"Guatemala's 36-year armed conflict ended in 1996. The goal of the December 1996 Peace Accords was a state based on the rule of law, but today Guatemala continues to be crushed by the rule of impunity, as well as extreme social inequality, and one of the highest levels of violent crime anywhere in Latin America."<br />
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Amnesty International lists<br />
"Unbridled impunity threatening the rule of law, including failure to prosecute former president Efraín Rios Montt and other high officials for hundreds of massacres and other human rights crimes committed during the 1960-1996 civil conflict"<br />
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Over 2500 brutal killings since 2001, and the failure to investigate and prosecute these and other violent crimes against women and continues today. Assaults, death threats, and killings of human rights activists continues. Assaults, death threats, and killings of witnesses, members of the judiciary, forensic anthropologists, and others involved in investigations of human rights crimes continues. Social cleansing; killings by state and private security forces, targeting street children, LGBT people, sex workers, alleged youth gang members, and other crimes continue today.<br />
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Tacit state support of clandestine, illegally armed organizations linked to state agents and organized crime, and failure to support the UN-backed Commission for the Investigation of Illegal Bodies and Clandestine Security Apparatus<br />
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Why the UN failed to read its own reports on Guatemala (<a href="http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2010/March/unodc-assists-guatemala-to-fight-organized-crime.html">U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates</a>) before putting it into the SECURITY Council I will never understand. Unless it is raw, unmitigated corruption, then I will not understand.<br />
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Morocco<br />
Morocco is, like a number of other UNSC members, is a source, destination, and transit country for victims of human trafficking. Victimology includes men, women, biys, and girls. Internally ans internationally girls and women are bought and sold for sex slaves. Men and boys are sold for labor. External countries where buyers are located include both the EU and the Middle East. Some even wind up in Nigeria as slaves to the Nigerian drug gangs and terroristic groups.<br />
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Morocco does not comply with standards ro eliminate trafficking. This may change to some degree since the Arab Spring<br />
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Responding to the pro-democracy Arab Spring movements and to pro-reform demonstrations in Morocco, King Mohammed VI proposed in June constitutional amendments with substantial human rights guarantees but few significant curbs on the monarch’s own powers. The electorate voted the amendments into law in July.<br />
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The new constitution recognizes Amazigh, the Berber language, as an official language and prohibits torture, inhuman, and degrading treatment; arbitrary detention; and enforced disappearances. It also requires any person who is arrested to be informed “immediately” of the reason for his arrest, and to enjoy the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. However at this writing the amendments had yet to transform Morocco’s decidedly mixed human rights performance. But, I doubt it will change much.<br />
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There is not much data I could find about Morocco from November 2011 on. <br />
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Pakistan<br />
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Arbitrary detention, torture, deaths in custody, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial execution are rampant. The government of Pakistan has failed to protect individuals – particularly women, religious minorities and children – from violence and other human rights abuses committed in the home, in the community, and while in legal custody, according to Amnesty International. Pakistan’s human rights situation deteriorated significantly in 2011 as the military, which operates with impunity, <br />
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A dramatic increase in killings across the southwestern province of Balochistan was recorded as were at least 800 politically motivated killings in the southern city of Karachi.<br />
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Enforced disappearances prior to 2009 remain unsolved and the victims unlocated; however, 134 missing persons, interestingly all of these cases are people who recent were disappearance (in 2009-2010). <br />
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Pakistan is officially Muslim and Islam is its official religion. All other religions remain as viable targets of private and state sponsored violence. While Syria is busy killing its Sunni population, Pakistan focuses its angst on the Shi'ite, other religions, and school girls.<br />
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As it began its term as a nonpermanent member of the UNSC, human trafficking saw a sharp increase. Many fear that the trend will increase.<br />
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In Balochistan, reports include the following quotes<br />
“Even if the president or chief justice tells us to release you, we won’t. We can torture you, or kill you, or keep you for years at our will. It is only the Army chief and the [intelligence] chief that we obey.”– Pakistani official to Bashir Azeem, the 76-year-old secretary-general of the Baloch Republican Party, during his unacknowledged detention, April 2010<br />
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“Disappearances of people of Balochistan are the most burning issue in the country. Due to this issue, the situation in Balochistan is at its worst.”– Supreme Court Justice Javed Iqbal, commenting on the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry for Missing Persons on May 4, 2010. <br />
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“One of them pointed his gun at Abdul Nasir and shouted, ‘Get up!’ As soon as Abdul Nasir got off the ground the man walked him to their car. Since that time I have not seen Abdul.”– Witness to enforced disappearance of Abdul Nasir, June 2010<br />
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How is anyone going to benefit from this abuser of its own people, ethnic cleansing ally of Russia being on the UNSC?<br />
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Togo<br />
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What can I say about this tiny strip of land in West Africa? In short, more of the same reports of violence, oppression, police brutality, trafficking in children for servitude or sex, <br />
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Even though Togo has recently held a reasonably fair election there still is execessive use of security force, torture, life threatening prison conditions, official impunity, governmental corruption, and the like.<br />
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Togo, a small country with small reports, led by small people who paracitically live off their countrymen as hosts.<br />
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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/guatemala">http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/guatemala</a><a href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/guatemala">World Report 2012: Guatemala</a><br />
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<a href="http://sanctionswiki.org/Guatemala">http://sanctionswiki.org/Guatemala</a><br />
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<a href="http://sanctionswiki.org/Togo">http://sanctionswiki.org/Togo</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,FREEHOU,,AZE,,4fd5dd33c,0.html">http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,FREEHOU,,AZE,,4fd5dd33c,0.html</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/21/watch_list">http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/21/watch_list</a><br />
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<a href="http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/08/another_disputed_election_another_crackdown">http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/08/another_disputed_election_another_crackdown</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2011/af/186252.htm">http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2011/af/186252.htm</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/18/postcards_from_hell_2012#39">http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/18/postcards_from_hell_2012#39</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-years">http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-years</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95117/PAKISTAN-Sharp-rise-in-human-trafficking-in-Sindh-Province">http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95117/PAKISTAN-Sharp-rise-in-human-trafficking-in-Sindh-Province</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/asia/pakistan">http://www.hrw.org/asia/pakistan</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.statehoodandfreedom.org/en/moroccan-occupation/moroccan-human-rights-abuses">http://www.statehoodandfreedom.org/en/moroccan-occupation/moroccan-human-rights-abuses</a><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Morocco">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Morocco</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/morocco-and-western-sahara">http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/morocco-and-western-sahara</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/guatemala_2012.pdf">World Report Chapter: Guatemala</a><img src="http://www.hrw.org/sites/all/modules/contrib/filefield/icons/application-pdf.png" /><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Morocco">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Morocco</a><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Togo">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Togo</a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-71925469733531131412012-10-17T19:24:00.000-04:002012-10-17T19:24:52.136-04:00Iran Not Budging on Nuclear Issues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Iran not giving in on nuclear talks? Why should he with the support he gets from Obama?<br />
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iEzBHUEZ7mpCFrKVJtPay-3c850g?docId=CNG.baa915600d9ea8f2d7f38b8c90769d17.361<br />
<div id="hn-headline" itemprop="name" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.1em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
Iran won't give in at nuclear talks: supreme leader</div>
<div class="hn-byline" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #676767; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
(AFP) – <span class="hn-date" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">1 day ago</span> <span style="margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; top: 2px;"><span id="plusone-div" style="margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
TEHRAN — Iran will not give in to "bullying" at the negotiating table with world powers over its disputed nuclear programme despite new economic sanctions, its supreme leader said on Tuesday.</div>
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The West "keeps saying pressure against Iran is aimed at forcing the Islamic republic to return to the negotiating table" about the nuclear programme, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in remarks carried on state television.</div>
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"But when did we leave the table that now we need to return?" he asked during his visit to the northeastern province of North Khorasan.</div>
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"Their real objective is (forcing) the Iranian nation to surrender to their bullying at the negotiating table... (but) you are too weak to bring Iran to its knees," said Khamenei.</div>
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His remarks came a day after the European Union toughened sanctions against Tehran, targeting its dealings with Iran's banks, shipping and gas imports and banning trade in metals.</div>
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Without directly mentioning the sanctions, Khamenei accused the European leaders of seeking to bully Iran.</div>
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"European officials are still stuck in the bullying mindset of the colonial 19th century, but they will face many problems in the face of the resistance of the Iranian nation and officials," he said.</div>
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The measures announced on Monday add to a series of sanctions from Europe, the United States and the UN Security Council designed to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear programme.</div>
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Khamenei has termed the Western sanctions as "barbaric" and said they amount to "a war against a nation." But he has said Iran can overcome problems caused by the sanctions.</div>
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The West is involved in talks with Tehran on the nuclear impasse, but those negotiations have stalled for years.</div>
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Efforts to restart them this year failed, despite three rounds of face-to-face talks between representatives of Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council, plus Germany.</div>
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Western powers suspect Iran is using to the programme to develop atomic weapons capability. Iran denies that and says its nuclear activities are purely peaceful.</div>
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<span style="margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/copyright?hl=en" style="color: #0000cc; margin-top: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">More »</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-62993611697427858032012-10-17T12:36:00.000-04:002012-10-17T12:36:20.883-04:00On The Cusp Of A Nuclear Iran<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Iran has been pushing for nuclear capabilities for some time now, as we are all paimfully and frightfully aware. Even Obama has spoken to the world about not allowing Iran to achieve that level. While we all heard that statement, not everyone has heard about Obama's meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan about Iran. Which we will get to momentarilly. First, some background on this.<br />
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The nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty holds that all signees are permitted to enrich uranium to 3.5 to 5% for energy production and up to 19.7% for medical research only with IAEA approval and supervision. <br />
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In 2005 there was a moratorium issued by the IAEA on all uranium enrichment. This hits those countries that follow the rules and use nuclear power. Then head of the IAEA, Mohamed Elbaradai, pointed out that the world "cannot continue business as usual ,,, we are really talking about 30, 40 countries sitting on the fence with a nuclear weapons capability." This statement and the article it came from can be found at memri.org.<br />
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This moratorium also had to do with an agreement between Russia and Iran whereby Russia was to provide Iran with fuel rods to be used at the Busehr light water reactor. Iran would then return the spent fuel rods under the supervision of the IAEA for oversight.<br />
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Under IAEA supervision. Does anone really believe that Iran would comply and not obstruct the IAEA? For all these years Iran has been ignoring IAEA and international calls to stop their enrichment program. Neither Khomeini nor Ahmedinijad would follow any guidelines put on them by the IAEA or any other international pressure.<br />
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2008 comes along and the world watches and listens to Obama giving a speech in Cairo. In this speech he states that Iran will not be permitted to gain nuclear capabilities. Now we fast forward to April 2012. Obama, as reported in the Washington Post, Obama met quietly Obamahad turned Erdogan into a messenger. The message was that Obama supported Iran's roght to have nuclear capabilities. A complete and nealy unreported reversal on his promise to the world that Iran would never have those capabilities.<br />
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September 11th and 14th, 2012 the world watches as US Embassies are attacked. US Citizens are murdered. Classified material compromised. All the sources involved with providing that information are likely dead by now. How much worse would it have been if the attacks on our Embassies in Bengazi, Tunis, Cairo, and Sana'a were nuclear, either dirty bomb or small device like the oy treanes Russia has lost accountability of hundreds?<br />
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A nuclear Iran is frightening enough. But for them to get there with Obama's aid? I say treasonous.<br />
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<a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6729.htm">http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6729.htm</a><br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-signal-to-iran/2012/04/05/gIQApVLDyS_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-signal-to-iran/2012/04/05/gIQApVLDyS_story.html</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-84322506362371505982012-10-16T20:01:00.001-04:002012-10-16T20:01:18.458-04:00Embassy Security Lower Priority Than Chevy Volt In Europe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the months preceding the tragic and preventable attacks on US Embassies in Syria, Cairo, Tunisia, Yemen, and Libya, Clinton and Obama put higher priority to building a charging station at the US Embassy in Vienna and creating jobs in China.<div>
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Testimony before the House Committee on Oversight andGovernment Reform illustrated that Obama and Clinton care more about green energy than Diplomatic Security. Back in May, while Ambassador Stevens and the Special Forces detachment on site were 4 months into their daily requests for more security, Clinton reduced the number of security personnel. At the same time, Clinton also authorized the purchase of a $108,000 Volt charging station for the US Embassy in Vienna.</div>
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During this time we are also witnessing Clinton authorizIng the construction of another Chevy plant, this one being constructed in China. Early on in this blog I detailed some of the abhorrent, inhuman, destructive results China has achieved by producing lead batteries. Generations of Chinese in some of that nation's out of the way villages are dying from lead poisoning. Lead poisoning from working in the plant as well as living in the now toxic areas around the manufacturing plants.</div>
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Obama's "laser-like focus" on climate change, which includes hundreds o thousand of US taxpayer funding green sweep of Europe and manufacturing toxic cars in China, gives no notice to the environment or to the millions of unemployed Americans. It is clear, at least to me,that supporting the rest of the world is more important than supporting and protecting America and its citizens.</div>
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Referenced Articles</div>
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http://m.townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2012/10/13/priorities_chevy_volts_in_europe_trump_embassy_security_in_benghazi</div>
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http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/m-here_comes_the_made-in-china_cadillac.html</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4542314589339619644.post-29106004741820930262012-10-16T17:49:00.001-04:002012-10-16T17:49:26.179-04:00Muslims Demand Google Restrict Free Speech<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Good evening, all. I recieved the below by email from Dorrie O'Brien (dorrieobrien@gmail.com). Thank you, Dorrie!!<div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001oNBt1NmBF2jjqkMdN-c7HuV3R9GE3mQM4Te0MA6JAq1pcYlROfQdPUoXtA0-4R495GPbCKfBGVAhNSdADIy5cRTfQT1R38YLMtzL3MJrZNrrDQctGk0cgwdtv-9rztE5gbbn5i0kP08Hla_pe8z2Aw-wtxABYz9Wpjp6iNo4Cqn0l63KNDuBKexsehg6TX8amabT-hRE_8yFoSmsu6cv_cVBMSZS9MVN_da9R-u9AcA=" shape="rect" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9607763/Muslims-protest-age-of-mockery-as-thousands-descend-on-Google-HQ.html</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16pt;">Muslims protest 'age of mockery' as thousands descend on Google HQ</span></h1>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;">Thousands of Muslims have pledged a series of protests against Google HQ for a "hateful and offensive" anti-Islam video, saying they now live in an "age of mockery."</span></h2>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">By </span><a href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001oNBt1NmBF2g2rtPbXxAq2RiOOX3qjniySq-Ppc3YBoW7jGry8aOZ4jZy6KnnWxtN7WoSCpiqQpPL0mNNWSvoYob4lgxmmiMCAgLmS2BekTA8P2mDMtf4JnnbccuQwvc6_fv2B8KYZ5qo3tETZYDMX_iZFJ9rQnR9" shape="rect" target="_blank" title="Jennifer O'Mahony"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Jennifer O'Mahony</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">3:52PM BST 14 Oct 2012</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">A protest by 10,000 Muslims outside the offices of Google in London today is just the first in an orchestrated attempt to force the company to remove an anti-Islamic film from website YouTube in Britain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span lang="EN" style="color: red;">[Note: this was the last line in the article; I thought it deserved a bit more play, so I moved it.] </span><span lang="EN"><span style="color: black;">A YouTube spokesperson said: "We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions. This can be a challenge because what's okay in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video - which is widely available on the Web - is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube." </span><span style="color: red;">[Stand strong, big guy.]</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Thousands travelled from as far afield as Glasgow to take part in the demonstration, ahead of a planned million-strong march in Hyde Park in coming weeks. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Anger over 'The Innocence of Muslims', an American-produced film which insults the Prophet Mohammad and demeans Muslims, according to protesters, remains available to watch on the website YouTube, a subsidiary of Google.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">Organiser Masoud Alam said: "Our next protest will be at the offices of Google and YouTube across the world. We are looking to ban this film. "This is not freedom of expression, <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">there is a limit for that</span> </span><span style="color: red;">[?]</span><span style="color: black;">. This insult of the Prophet will not be allowed." The group's next action was a march Mr Alam hoped would be "a million strong" would take place in Hyde Park "in the next few weeks," he said. "Until it is banned we will keep protesting," he added.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Today's demonstration was the third organised in a month, and took place on the central London street where the website search giant has its UK headquarters. A demonstration outside the American Embassy in London last month drew little attention as protests in Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen dominated headlines, including the storming of embassy in Benghazi, Libya, that led to the death of the US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">Barricades were erected in front of Google's headquarters and a crowd bearing placards with the words, "We love our prophet more than our lives" and "Prophet Muhammad <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">is the founder of freedom of speech</span>" </span><span style="color: red;">[??]</span><span style="color: black;"> had amassed by lunchtime.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;">Speeches by more than a dozen imams in a mixture of Arabic, Urdu, and English urged Muslims to honour the name of the Prophet and not to back down in the face of Google's continuing reluctance to act, and were met with passionate cries of "God is Great" and "Mohammad is the Prophet of God" in Arabic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">One of the speakers, Sheikh Faiz Al-Aqtab Siddiqui, told The Daily Telegraph: "Terrorism is not just people who kill human bodies, but who kill human feelings as well. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The makers of this film have terrorised 1.6 billion people</span>. </span><span style="color: red;">[That would be funny, if their description of terrorism wasn't exactly that: This film is an attempt to keep Muslims from fulfilling Allah's command to submit the world to Allah, i.e., terrorism.] </span><span style="color: black;">"Organisations like Google are key players and have to take <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">responsibility for civility</span> </span><span style="color: red;">[Muslims don't, of course.]</span><span style="color: black;">. You can't just say it doesn't matter, that it's freedom of speech. It's anarchy."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">Sheikh Siddiqui, a barrister from Nuneaton, said he wanted to form a coalition with the Church of England, Catholics, Jewish groups, Trade Unions, and even Conservatives to encourage their ranks to join his "campaign for civility. We want everyone in society to recognise these people are wrecking our <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">fragile</span> </span><span style="color: red;">[note that this is the newest buzz word for the Islamists, and of course it's always Western society that's making society fragile]</span><span style="color: black;"> global society. We want the Church, the Synod, Jewish groups, and establishment figures involved," he said.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">As many as 800 imams in mosques across Britain helped to organise today's protest, which lasted four hours and blocked roads almost up to the Queen's doorstep on Buckingham Palace Road. Muslims from Blackburn, Birmingham, Glasgow, Luton, Manchester and Peterborough were in attendance. When asked where the women attending the protest were, one protester replied: "Right at the back." </span><span style="color: red;">[Unsaid: "Where they belong."]</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: black;">Self-employed businessman Ahmed Nasar said he was worried the video <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">could lead to violence</span> </span><span style="color: red;">[Well, maaaaybe, if you're not inciting to riot it wouldn't happen. . . .]</span><span style="color: black;"> in Britain in the same way as it had abroad. "If you push people </span><span style="color: red;">[code for "Muslims"] </span><span style="color: black;">too far," he said, "you will turn peaceful elements into violence."</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17855906764867442044noreply@blogger.com0