[Maghrebia] Tunisia is the second safest nation in Africa after Botswana, according to the 2010 Global Peace Index released in London this week by the Institute of Economics and Peace, Tunisia.com reported on Wednesday (June 9th). Among Arab states, Tunisia ranked third behind Qatar and Oman. The index uses 24 indicators, including military expenditures, respect for human rights, crime rate and levels of democracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
ION TOPIX > HOW SOMALIA BECAME THE NEW FRONT IN THE WAR AGZ AL-QAEDA?
A Pakistani man being investigated in a terror probe after being detained at the US Embassy told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he thinks it all must be a mistake.
"Lies! All lies!"
"Everything is so weird. I am still trying to think what happened," Mohammed Saif Ur Rehman Khan said in an interview in his public defender's office.
"Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!"
Khan, 28, repeated his denials that he has anything to do with terrorism, and said he can't figure out why Chilean police say they found traces of tetryl, a chemical used to boost the power of explosives, in his bag, on his cell phone and on clothing in his apartment.
It wasn't him, or even his friends, but a friend of those friends did sublet an apartment from this guy. I think his name was George. The chemicals spread, you know, like cocaine on dollar bills.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
A Pakistani man being investigated in a terror probe after being detained at the US Embassy
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee has asked the Department of Defense to submit a report by Dec. 1 on the transfer of full operational control of Korean troops to Seoul. The committee report is to describe "command and control relations on the Korean Peninsula," the committee said in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011.
The committee recently called for a review of when and in what situations the timing of the transfer, which is planned for 2012, can be adjusted.
It demanded the report include an evaluation of the preparations made by both South Korea and the U.S. to implement the agreement reached in 2006 and a plan to improve the efficiency of joint military operations. It urged Defense Secretary Robert Gates to cooperate with his South Korean counterpart when preparing the report.
The situation in the Korean Peninsula still remains unstable, the committee said, as North Korea has expanded its nuclear arsenal, launched missiles, launched missiles, carried out a nuclear test, and recently sank a South Korean warship.
The issue is expected to be a topic for discussion at the South Korea-U.S. summit at the end of the month, or the bilateral defense and foreign ministerial meeting next month.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
ION KOREA TIMES > EU SHOULD NOT STOP FOOD AID TO NORTH KOREA; + {ROK Official]NO RETURN TO NUCLEAR TALKS [by South Korea]WITHOUT [firstly]RESOLVING CHEONAN. Kimmie = DPRK must explain + apologize, etc. first???
and
* TOPIX > PRESSURE TO BOLSTER NORTH KOREA LEADER [might]MAKES WAR INEVITABLE, and despite any positive or proactive diplomacy/attempts to stop a new pan-Korean conflict by US, CHINA, + OTHER REGIONAL POWERS.
and
* DAILY TIMES > NORTH KOREA THREATENS [again] TO RETALIATE AGZ SOUTH KOREA, for UN = UNSC Referral to investigate + condemn CHEONAN attack.
----------------------
* CHINESE MIL FORUM > KAN WARNS OF GREECE-STYLE DEBT CRISIS; + TOPIX > NEW JAPAN PM KAN
WARNS OF NATIONAL COLLAPSE OVER GREECE-STYLE DEBT MOUNTAIN; + BHARAT RAKSHAK > JAPAN NEXT IN LINE FOR SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS?
* WMF > UIGHUR-TROUBLED XINJIANG IS LOCATED AT A STRATEGIC ENERGY CROSSROADS FOR CHINA IN CAUCASUS + CENTRAL ASIA [former Soviet SSRS], HENCE IS VITAL FOR RISING CHINA'S ANTICIPATED ENERGY REQUIREMENTS IN YEAR 2020 AND BEYOND. COVERT DESIRE OF THE US TO BLOCK/OBSTRUCT RISING CHINA-LED ENERGY, ECON DEV VENTURES IN XINJIANG AND CENTRAL ASIA.
* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIAN WORRIES OVER MYANMAR NUCLEAR AMBITION. Geopol threat to INDJUH from NUCLEAR CHINA, + ANTI-US, PRO-CHINA NUCLEAR PAKISTAN + now possibly NUC-WANNABE MYANAMAR/BURMA.
Actually FOUR iff one counts PRO-ISLAMISM NUC IRAN.
* DAILY TIMES.PK > "ROGUE WMDS" THE GRAVEST [existential]THREAT TO US:PENTAGON OFFICIAL.
AKA RISING NUCLEAR MILITANCY-TERRORISM, come 2012 [NucWeaps = Nuke Iran]or very shortly thereafter.
The Obama administration, which labored for months to impose tough new United Nations sanctions against Iran, now is pushing in the opposite direction against Congress as it crafts U.S. sanctions that the White House fears may go too far.
Administration officials have begun negotiations with congressional leaders, who are working on versions of House and Senate bills that would punish companies that sell refined petroleum products to Iran or help the country's oil industry.
Unlike the U.N. measures, congressional action would pertain only to U.S. policies and agencies and would not be binding on other countries. Other countries and groups of nations also are considering adopting measures to augment the U.N. action.
The sanctions are aimed at forcing Iran to giving up its nuclear program, which Western nations fear is geared toward developing nuclear weapons. Iran insists it is only interested in peaceful energy projects.
U.S. sanctions have strong support in Congress, and the administration backs them in principle as a way to strengthen the mild strictures adopted on Wednesday by the U.N. Security Council.
But the administration fears that the legislation also could damage relations with Europe, Russia and China, all of whom cooperated with U.S. efforts on the U.N. sanctions.
To avoid that possibility, the administration wants authority to waive U.S. punishment against companies from countries that have cooperated on Iran.
Many lawmakers are wary. Some say the Obama administration, like its predecessors, has been lax in enforcing existing Iran sanctions out of concern for good relations with other world powers.
"The administration doesn't carry out the laws that are on the books, and they want the new law to be as weak and loophole-ridden as possible," said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who has been pushing for years for such legislation.
Republicans have been ratcheting up their demands for Congress to hang tough, arguing that the U.N. resolution fell short of what was needed.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the senior Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the U.N. sanctions a "goose egg" and demanded that Congress impose "crippling sanctions against Iran."
Russia already has warned that penalizing Russian companies "could lead to retaliatory measures."
Russia said Thursday that it intends to go ahead with sales to Iran of a highly sophisticated surface-to-air missile that has been a source of U.S. concern.
There are serious issues with Europe, as well. Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign policy chief, reminded Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a recent letter that U.S. officials agreed in 1998 not to hit European companies with sanctions for doing business with Iran.
The pending legislation presents other difficulties for the administration. Since a petroleum cutoff would strike broadly at the Iranian population, such sanctions would be seen as undermining the Obama administration's argument that it supports only those sanctions that focus narrowly on the Iranian leadership, said Peter Crail of the Arms Control Assn., a Washington-based advocacy group.
Meanwhile, U.S. business groups have been complaining that the legislation could punish them by barring U.S. firms from doing business with any foreign firms that have commercial ties to Iran.
Many oil and trading companies already have halted sales to Iran because of the looming threat of sanctions. But some that still could be penalized are Shell, Total and China Oil, said Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute based in Washington.
BP, which is facing public relations problems because of the gulf oil spill in April, stopped selling gasoline to Iran in 2008, he said.
Both Congressman Keith Ellison and Andre Carson are scheduled to speak at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA]. The event entitled "Nurturing Compassionate Communities: Connecting Faith and Service" is scheduled to take place in Rosemont, Illinois from July 2nd to the 5th.
Among the radical speakers also in attendance will be Zaid Shakir, who has produced a CD entitled Jihad or Terrorism?" in which he blames the enemies of Islam" for equating the two, Siraj Wahhaj, an un-indicted co conspirator in the 1993 plot to bomb New York landmarks, and Tariq Ramadan [grandson of the founder of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood , Hassan al-Banna] who until recently was banned from entering the United States due to terror concerns.
#1
ION NEWSVINE > THE IRAN SUPREMACY MANIFESTO OF GREATER IRAN: HEZBOLLAH-IRAN SECRETARY LAYS OUT PLAN, STRATEGY FOR RE-ESTABLISHING A GREATER IRAN AS PRELUDE TO ESTABLISHING GLOBAL GOVERNMENT LED BY MAHDI [aka Hidden Imam].
IOW, ARTIC > MOUD + MULLAHS, + prolly OSAMA + AQ + TALIBS + RADIC ISLAM IN GENERAL [Leaders], know that 9-11 + GWOT = about OWG-NWO, among other - DO YOUSE???
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Physicians for Human Rights, a rights watchdog, says the Bush administration has run experiments on terrorism suspects.
Physicians for Human Rights released a report this week outlining allegations of illegal human subject research and experimentation on detainees during the Bush era.
On Thursday, the group said that along with seven other organizations it filed a complaint on Wednesday with the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Human Research Protections.
The group says that the declassified documents show "Medical personnel were required to monitor all waterboarding practices and collect detailed medical information that was used to design, develop and deploy subsequent waterboarding procedures."
The group claims that the procedure was not to safeguard the inmates' health but to make the techniques more efficient and provide them with legal alibi.
The CIA has rejected the allegations. There have been numerous reports of human experiments performed in the United States --dating back to the 1950s.
The reports allege the practices were often conducted illegally and without the knowledge or consent of the test subjects.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Did anyone publish the results on what happened when they installed those terrorists' gut backwards?
#7
There is a big difference between what scientists do and what doctors do, although a few doctors are true scientists.
Scientists do experiments to discover cause and effect, and to discover techniques and substances that will break the connection between the two. Doctors, like engineers, apply the learnings of science, the cleverer ones using the principles in novel ways -- when doctors do it they call it "off-label use of medicines". And no, trying a second thing when the first didn't work is not scientific experimentation, although it is art. I do not say this to denigrate doctors and engineers; it's just that the the drive is different.
The self-labelled Physicians for Human Rights clearly did not take full advantage of their expensive educations if they mistake observation for experimentation. Not to mention that having a doctor present during the waterboarding was a protection for the recipients, to prevent the activity from becoming dangerous or true torture.
Nearly four million people are living under Taliban rule in Pakistan's northwest, suffering human rights abuses from the extremists as well as the military, Amnesty International (AI) said on Thursday.
According to the report "As If Hell Fell on Me", more than 1,300 civilians were killed in fighting between the Pakistani troops and the Taliban in 2009 while more than one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are still in various towns.
"Over the last few years, Taliban have been able to assert their rule, their ideology through combination of violence and fear," Saman Zia Zarifi, the director of Amnesty Asia-Pacific said.
"They have killed anybody who can challenge them. They have killed hundreds of maliks (tribal elders), religious leaders, civil society workers, teachers," he said.
He said militants also used the civilian population as human shields against military assaults and often placed themselves in residential areas.
Pakistan went on an offensive last year to crush al Qaeda-linked Pakistani militants who wanted to impose Taliban-style strict Islamic rule in their strongholds in north-western Swat and the Tribal Areas. In their violent campaign, militants killed thousands of people in the country.
The military says the tribal lands have largely been cleared of militants in these operations, according to Reuters.
Zarifi accused government forces of not trying to protect civilian population in the conflict-zones and using indiscriminate artillery and air power against them. "The government acted as if its role is simply to kill the enemy as if it was not there to protect the citizens of Pakistan," he said.
"The Pakistani military is not designed to fight counter-insurgency. It's not designed to provide the rule of law. It's really designed to fight a mechanised war probably against India but that's not the situation in FATA and neighbouring areas," Zarifi said.
Detained: The international human rights watchdog's report says some 2,500 people are said to have been detained by Pakistani authorities without framing any charges against them. It fears the figures of enforced disappearance could be much higher.
The report also criticises the role of "unaccountable and untrained" tribal militia raised with the backing of authorities against Taliban militants.
"In some they seem to say they target Taliban but other cases they're simply carrying old vendetta or taking advantage of the situation to settle scores," Zarifi said.
"It's the opposite of enforcing the rule of the law. This is moving towards chaos," he added.
Insurgents increased the likelihood of civilian casualties by dispersing themselves in communities and blocking roads to prevent villagers from escaping "heavy bombardment by government forces".
But a Pakistani security official contacted by AFP challenged Amnesty to visit Swat, where commanders say a decisive battle last year returned much of the valley to relative normality.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
taliban areas are less dependent on Kashmir based water resources, than are the Punjab and Sindhi. if ever they are empowered to contaminate same, Pakistan would crumble. the current indulgence is beyond belief. We all need to think of Pashtuns as irredeemable savages.
#2
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM/NEWS KERALA > REPORT: TALIBAN IN 72% OF AFGHANISTAN + AFGHAN PRESIDENT [Karzai] DOUBTS US-NATO ABILITY TO DEFEAT TALIBAN.
* NEWS KERALA > TERRORISTS [e.g. TTP], CIMINAL'S NEXUS IN PAKISTAN PUNJAB POSE A SERIOUS SECURITY THREAT. Islamist Militants colluding and actively participating in VARI UNDERWORLD CRIMINAL SCHEMES in common $$$ profit
* SAME > TALIBAN TAKE AIM AT OFFICIALS, POLITICIANS [lower-level/tier] TO UNDERMINE GOVT COUNTER-INSURGENCY.
The Punjab government will strongly oppose any 'Rahe-e-Nijat style' military operation against extremists in the province, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Thursday.
Talking to reporters at the Punjab Assembly's Press Gallery, the law minister said search operations of law enforcement agencies were already underway in the area, and therefore there was no need for a military operation.
The minister stressed that Southern Punjab was not a 'no-go' area, saying the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government would not support any military operation in the area, as it could trigger a humanitarian crisis.
Sananullah also denied that the PML-N had any 'soft corner' for terrorists or extremists at any level in Punjab, saying the war on terror was a national cause.
Punjab budget: Referring to the upcoming budget for the province, Sanaullah said the Punjab government would follow the federal budget announcements and increase the salaries of the Punjab government employees by up to 50 percent.
"On the other hand, pays of the provincial ministers will be reduced as the federal government has already set such a precedent in the 2010-11 budget," the minister said.
Responding to a question about the police case registered against Pakistan People's Party MNA Jamshed Dasti, the law minister said the Punjab government had not ordered his arrest, as it did not believe in political victimisation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
ION NEWS KERALA > IRANIAN NEWS REPORTS PAKISTAN [PAK Security Forces]HARBORING MULLAH OMAR, in Karachi???
In a surprise move Thursday, the Palestinian Authority decided to call off municipal elections slated for next month in the West Bank. The decision came one day after the meeting in Washington between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama. The PA did not give any reason for the decision, but said a new date for the voting would be set later.
The decision, announced by the PA government in Ramallah, contradicts the Palestinian leadership's previous promises that the vote would take place on time. The elections were scheduled to take place only in the West Bank on July 17. Hamas, which had decided to boycott the vote, announced that it wouldn't allow the elections to take place in the Gaza Strip. Several other Palestinian organizations, including Islamic Jihad, also declared their intention to boycott the local elections.
The decision to call off the elections was announced on the last day set for candidates and lists to present their candidacies. Palestinian sources told The Jerusalem Post that the decision had been made due to deep divisions in Fatah and because many of the faction's candidates had been planning to run as independents, which was one of the reasons why Fatah lost the January 2006 parliamentary election. Fatah could not agree on the candidates who were supposed to represent it in the municipal election,' said one source. In the past few weeks, there has been increased tension in Fatah because of the election. Too many people wanted to run.'
Another source said that Hamas's decision to ban the vote in the Gaza Strip, as well as its intention to stay away from the ballot boxes, was another reason behind the decision to cancel the election. Holding an election in the West Bank alone would have consolidated the split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip,' the source explained. And because Fatah was running almost alone, it would have looked like a joke in the eyes of many Palestinians.'
The decision to call off the election drew angry reactions from many Palestinians, some of whom considered it an admission of failure on the part of Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad. The Palestinian Election Monitoring Committee criticized the decision as illegal and undemocratic,' adding that the decision would plunge Palestinian society into political turmoil and deepen social divisions. It called on the PA leadership to reconsider its position. Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, condemned the decision as a big mistake,: saying it was both unacceptable and harmful to democracy.
Hatem Abdel Kader, a Fatah legislator, told the Post that the decision was apparently related to renewed efforts to end the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah. He said Abbas and the PA leadership wanted to give Hamas another chance to accept an Egyptian proposal for ending the crisis with Fatah. Muhammad Madani, another Fatah official, said that the decision to cancel the election came in response to Arab and Islamic pressure on the PA leadership to wait until the crisis with Hamas was resolved. Denying that Fatah was afraid of contesting the vote, Madani said his faction had succeeded in forming lists of candidates in more than 80 percent of the areas in the West Bank.
#1
Wanna bet Obama gave the distinct impression he didn't give two shits about West Bank elections, and Abbas accepted it as a signal that he didn't need the beard with this administration?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/11/2010 15:41 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Why exactly do we not see convoys of humanitarian goods coming from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria or ships from the Gulf states to Gaza? In other words do the Arabs give a flip about Palestine other than to use it for propaganda purposes (to b*tch about Israel)? To stir the pot of discontent in the mideast?
#3
If you look at it from the perspective of the arabs keeping the "Palestinians" on life support only to be a pain in the @$$ to Israel in every way possible, it all makes sense.
Of course, the "Palestinians" think everyone loves them . . . .
Victoria filmmaker and journalist Chandler Vandergrift is now out of a Bangkok hospital, three weeks after being seriously injured from a grenade blast during violent political protests in Thailand.
Nicole Sorochan, who is co-producing a documentary about the unrest in southern Thailand with Vandergrift, said he was released Wednesday from Bangkok Christian Hospital where he had been recovering after undergoing at least two surgeries to remove the shrapnel and is now resting in a nearby hotel with his mother.
The freelance filmmaker has been in Thailand for several years working on a documentary about the Muslim-led insurgency. He was in Bangkok gathering footage for the film, which is close to completion, and also reporting on the unrest for the Toronto Star when he was wounded by the grenade.
Vandergrift was one of two Canadians injured in Bangkok during the unrest in May. Journalist Nelson Rand, also a former Calgarian, was shot three times while reporting on the protests just days before Vandergrift was hit. He is also recovering.
Director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali-Akbar Salehi has harshly criticized China over its yes vote on UN Security Council's (UNSC) new sanctions resolution against Iran.
In an interview with ISNA on Wednesday, Salehi described China's decision to vote in favor of the fourth round of UNSC sanctions against Iran as an indication that the West was "holding dominion" over the Beijing government.
"China used to call the US a paper tiger. I wonder what title is appropriate for China now considering its stance on the UNSC resolution for fresh sanctions on Iran," Salehi said in the interview.
The Iranian nuclear official went on to warn China about the consequences of its yes vote on sanctions, saying it would "lose its respected stance in the Islamic World and will wake up when it is too late."
Salehi also criticized members of the UN Security Council for their double standard policies.
"The double standard approach of several countries, in particular the UN Security Council members, have been revealed to the world [through this round of sanctions]," he stated.
The UNSC voted in favor of imposing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program on Wednesday. Of the 15 UNSC member states Brazil and Turkey voted against the new round of sanctions, while Lebanon abstained from voting.
The fourth round of sanctions was adopted against Tehran over its uranium enrichment program -- which has been portrayed as a threat in the West despite repeated assurances from the International Atomic Energy Agency on the non-diversion of nuclear material in the country.
This is while earlier on Tuesday, 118 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) voiced their support for Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Gee, I thought Iran said that these sanctions were about as important to them as a used hanky.
NEWS KERALA > KREMLIN: S-300 ADS ARE UNDER UN SANCTIONS [UNSC] ON IRAN. Russ admits it "technically" can't sell 'em to Iran but its up to MEDVEDEV to make the final decision; + RUSSIA TO SCRAP S-300 MISSLE SALE TO IRAN???
#3
TOPIX > GATES: IRAN COULD HAVE ENRICHED URANIUM FOR N-BOMB IN 1-3 YEARS. Estimate only applies to broad production of enriched uranium, NOT as per SPECIFIC WEAPONIZATION OF SAME NOR DEV OF A RELIABLE DELIVERY SYSTEM.
[Al Arabiya Latest] The European Union foresees going further than the United Nations in imposing fresh sanctions on Iran over its suspect nuclear program, diplomats in Brussels said Thursday.
The matter was discussed by EU ambassadors in Brussels ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday with a final decision to be made at a full European summit in the Belgian capital the following Thursday.
"That proposal is for the EU to come up with different sanctions, that we go further than the U.N.," one national diplomat said.
While there are still differences of opinion, "it is more likely that additional sanctions on behalf of the European Union will be imposed," she added.
"There are several options on the table," another high-ranking European diplomat said.
The EU nations now have "to find a common denominator to send a signal" to Tehran, he added.
A new U.N. Security Council resolution, the fourth of its kind, expands an arms embargo and bars the country from sensitive activities such as uranium mining. It also authorizes states to conduct high-sea inspections of vessels believed to be ferrying banned items for Iran and adds 40 entities to a list of people and groups subject to travel restrictions and financial sanctions.
In Berlin, British Foreign Secretary William Hague championed "further measures" against Iran in addition to new U.N. sanctions.
"I think it is very important that the European Union does take further measures to show that the European Union is prepared on this subject and others to use its weight in the world," Hague told reporters. "It is very important that we give that lead. But the discussion of specific measures is of course something we will have to do with our colleagues from other nations."
"The idea at the European summit is to welcome the U.N. Security Council resolution... and to consider a number of areas where it would be possible to adopt tougher measures," another diplomat said.
These extra measures could concern banking, insurance, asset freezes and transport as well as the oil sector, he added.
The European Union foreign ministers are expected to reach an agreement in principle for the enforced sanctions when they meet on Monday, with the EU heads of state and government formally adopting the agreement on Thursday.
However the EU is keen to get Iran back to the international negotiating table.
On Wednesday EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton offered to meet Iran's top nuclear negotiator "at the earliest opportunity."
Ashton's office said the U.N. Security Council resolution "keeps the door open for continued engagement" between the international powers and Iran.
Ashton wants to resume negotiations on behalf of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
A "very strongly worded" instead of a merely "strongly worded" memo?
Update on yesterday's post.
A confrontational hearing on Staten Island over a proposed mosque touched off so much emotion that it's prompted a closer look at the group that wants to build it: the Muslim American Society.
Thursday night at a packed hearing, a proposal to build a mosque on Staten Island ran into some heated opposition. The group that wants to build a mosque and community center on what had been a Catholic convent is the Muslim American Society. Founded in Virginia in 1993, they have built mosques and community centers in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn, they say, to promote understanding.
One of the people at the hearing challenged the leader of the mosque, Mohamed Sadeia, to denounce Hamas and Hezbollah. Those in attendance felt Sadeia twice avoided a direct answer, until he finally spoke out against terrorism generally. "There is no relationship, as we stand today, between MAS, the Muslim American Society, and any foreign entity," Sadeia said.
While the Muslim American Society is not on any government list of terrorist organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah are. Annemarie McAvoy, a former federal prosecutor, saw a video on the Internet, like many people at Wednesday night's meeting, which shows a current director of the Muslim American Society eight years ago cheering at a Washington rally when the crowd is asked, "Who supports Hamas?" and then "Who supports Hezbollah?"
Just the people one wants as neighbors.
Sadeia said that man's eight-year-old opinion did not speak for his group, but strong doubts about the Muslim American Society remain. "A couple of the founders apparently are members of the Muslim Brotherhood," said McAvoy. "Apparently the Muslim Brotherhood has a lot of ties to Muslim extremists"
There are indeed those who say that. Here at Rantburg, for instance.
CBS 2 made repeated efforts to interview Sadeia on Thursday or some other leader from the Muslim American Society, but messages were not answered. After facing such strong opposition Wednesday night, it is not clear if the group still plans to build the mosque.
The New York rabbi who videotaped veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas telling Jews to "get the hell out of Palestine" says he has received numerous death threats and thousands of pieces of hate mail in the days since Thomas' abrupt retirement.
Rabbi David Nesenoff said he is facing an "overload" of threatening e-mails calling for a renewed Holocaust and targeting his family a barrage of hate he said he planned to report to the police on Wednesday.
"This ticker tape keeps coming in," Nesenoff told FoxNews.com. "We got one specific one saying, 'We're going to kill the Jews; watch your back.'"
Nesenoff said he was shocked not only by Thomas' original remarks which he called anti-Semitic but by the wave of insults and threats he has received since his videotape brought about her public shaming and the end of her 50-year career at the White House.
"This is something that I thought was a couple of people here or there, [but] it's mainstream and it's frightening," the Long Island rabbi said. "[Thomas] is just a little cherry on top of this huge, huge sundae of hate in America."
Nesenoff approached Thomas with a camera on May 27 following a celebration of Jewish heritage at the White House. Asked for a comment on Israel, Thomas called Jews occupiers and said they should "go home" to Germany, Poland and the U.S.
Thomas apologized for her remarks last week after the video surfaced online and was posted to several prominent blogs. But even as Thomas backed off from her remarks, e-mailers have continued to assail Nesenoff, who has begun posting dozens of malicious letters and YouTube comments on his website, RabbiLive.com.
"We received a lot of positive reaction, beautiful letters from all over the United States," he said, but they have been outweighed by the attacks that have flooded in.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Both Congressman Keith Ellison and Andre Carson are scheduled to speak at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA]. The event entitled "Nurturing Compassionate Communities: Connecting Faith and Service" is scheduled to take place in Rosemont, Illinois from July 2nd to the 5th. 
In a surprise move Thursday, the Palestinian Authority decided to call off municipal elections slated for next month in the West Bank. The decision came one day after the meeting in Washington between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama. The PA did not give any reason for the decision, but said a new date for the voting would be set later.
Victoria filmmaker and journalist Chandler Vandergrift is now out of a Bangkok hospital, three weeks after being seriously injured from a grenade blast during violent political protests in Thailand. 
