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Turkey is calling for a jihad against Israel
Joshua Teitelbaum
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 June 2010 13.30 BST
Erdogan's bellicose support for the flotilla has sacrificed Israeli relations in the service of retrograde east-facing aspirations

Support for Turkey is at an all-time high in the Arab world. The last time Turkish flags were carried through the streets of Middle Eastern capitals was during the first world war, as people took to the streets in continued support for the Ottoman sultan-caliph against the western entente powers. The sultan-caliph had proclaimed a jihad. Thanks to Turkish government support of a blockade-running mission led by a group of Hamas sympathisers, they are flying once again. No ruling Arab leader is as popular as the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose discourse amounts to calls for a jihad against Israel.

Israel's relations with Ankara – military, economic, and tourist (Israelis once flocked to Turkey) – have been sacrificed on the altar of Turkey's retrograde aspiration to lead the Islamic world and establish itself along with Iran as an alternative to American power. Turkey is once again turning eastwards.

The Erdogan government's outrageous provocation of Israel could have been prevented. Israel begged the Turkish government not to let the Mava Marmaris depart with its meagre cargo of humanitarian aid (meagre compared to the aid Israel facilitates every day) and Islamist extremists armed to the teeth with clubs, wrist rockets that fire deadly projectiles, switchblades and military-style night vision equipment.

The provocation is all the more shameful since the Turkish government has proclaimed that all passengers were checked thoroughly. Is this the behaviour of a friendly country? Of the six ships, only the Turkish ship resisted violently; all the others were boarded without incident.

But the gall of Erdogan and his foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu knows no bounds. Erdogan's bellicose exhortations were beyond belief. "The heart of humanity has taken one of her heaviest wounds in history," he cried. "Bloody massacre" … "spilling the blood of innocent humans" … "in the history of humanity this has been recorded as a major shame" … "a despicably cowardly and vicious act." Turkey, unlike Israel, bellowed Erdogan, is not an "adolescent, rootless state". "As precious as Turkey's partnership is, so harsh will be her hostility." He concluded, no less: "Today is a turning point in history … Nothing will ever be the same again."

While Erdogan was engaged in war-mongering, Davutoglu was urging the west to drop sanctions against Iran. He next expressed his "disappointment" that the US had not condemned the Israeli raid, which he termed "murder conducted by a state". (In contrast, the sinking of a South Korean ship in May by North Korea, killing 46 sailors, was of "great concern" to the Turkish foreign ministry.)

It is difficult to imagine that Turkey would be engaging in this kind of behaviour were the US demonstrating world leadership and not abandoning the field to the likes of Erdogan. While the administration works to assure Israel's security with co-operation on missile defence, it has yet emboldened Israel's enemies by publicly pressuring Jerusalem at every turn, not taking decisive action against Iran, and caving to Egypt by singling out Israel – to the exclusion of Iran – at the nuclear non-proliferation treaty review conference last month. Post-conference palliatives offered up by US officials did little to ameliorate the impression in the region that the US was hanging Israel out to dry. Turkey was simply bandwagoning.

Israel will now be closely examining its relationship with Turkey. Turkish Jews are afraid to leave their homes. Israel has withdrawn the families of its diplomats out of fear for their safety. Israel has excellent relations with the armed forces of Turkey, but they have had their wings clipped by the massive assault against them in the murky episode known as Ergenekon, in which several military officers and others are accused of trying to overthrow Erdogan's party.

Turkey's over-the-top behaviour has Israelis scratching their heads. How would Ankara react, for instance, if Israeli "humanitarian organisations" decided to run aid missions to the terrorist PKK, the Kurdish separatist group in Turkey? Do the Turks really want an Iranian port on the Mediterranean in Gaza? And for that matter, do the western countries, which have so roundly castigated Israel?

There may be an international commission of inquiry into the incident. An unbiased commission must certainly also examine the possible complicity of the Turkish authorities in arming the militants.

There is still hope for Turkey. While old-style Kemalism probably needs to be revamped, the person to do it just might be Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the newly elected head of the Republican People's party (CHP). As the Washington Institute's Soner Cagaptay notes in the Jerusalem Post, he could bring about a "New Kemalism – Kemalism 2.0 – [which] would be updated and recast to preserve the liberal aspects of a Kemalist polity, while jettisoning authoritarianism and anachronistic aspects of traditional Kemalism."

Spurned by the EU, where it has applied for membership and ruled by an Islamist party with delusions of grandeur, Turkey is determined to lead the Muslim world once more and is promoting a clash of civilisations in order to compete strategically with the US. Turkey is no longer a friend, but not yet an enemy of the US. It is a "frenemy," writes Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations. Let's hope that Ankara's Islamist rulers pull back from the brink represented by its risky and irresponsible policies.

Turkey is calling for a jihad against Israel (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/08/turkey-jihad-israel-flotilla/print)

Abbas arrives for Obama talks amid Gaza raid tensions
Tue Jun 8, 7:34 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived in Washington Tuesday seeking "bold decisions" from President Barack Obama on the Middle East despite tensions after Israel's deadly raid on aid ships.

The Palestinian leader's first stop in Washington will be the White House on Wednesday, for talks with Obama that are certain to touch on the May 31 raid on a group of boats seeking to break a blockade on the Gaza Strip.

The raid left nine civilians dead, and Obama will be eager to tamp down regional fury and ensure the incident does not doom indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks that Washington spent months setting up.

The United States has joined other foreign governments and the United Nations in calling for an inquiry into the raid to have an international component, saying it was key to any investigation's credibility.

Obama will discuss American efforts to break through a "status-quo" on the blockaded Gaza Strip, which his administration described as "untenable" following the deadly Israeli raid.

"The president looks forward to receiving president Abbas to review progress in the proximity talks and discuss our common efforts to achieve Middle East peace," said Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman.

The visit comes a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his own White House trip to deal with the fallout from the Gaza crisis.

But tensions have barely eased since then. Abbas arrived in Washington from Turkey, which condemned as "state terrorism" the maritime raid, in which nine of its citizens were killed, including one who also held US citizenship.

Abbas last week set a clear rhetorical framework for his long-awaited summit with the US president.

"My message to Obama during our meeting in Washington next week will be that we need bold decisions to change the face of the region," he said at an investment conference in the West Bank.

But it remains unclear exactly what Obama can offer Abbas, other than a public embrace, a vow not to give up navigating the treacherous diplomatic thicket of the Middle East and some hope of future humanitarian gestures to Gaza.

Privately, Obama may commit to continue pressing Netanyahu and to seek a commitment from the Israelis to enter eventual direct talks, but relations between the White House and Netanyahu have been testy, leaving the US leader little room to maneuver.

In addition to White House talks, Abbas is scheduled to meet with US national security advisor Jim Jones, and with US lawmakers.

Abbas arrives for Obama talks amid Gaza raid tensions (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100608/wl_mideast_afp/uspoliticsdiplomacymideastarrive_20100608233431/print;_ylt=ArFteaZvdYsfUkhr.ge2eKebOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTBvajZzaTFyBHBvcwMxNQRzZWMDdG9wBHNsawNwcmludA--)

Obama to offer Gaza aid to Abbas in flotilla aftermath

In effort to contain fallout over Israel Navy raid, US president expected to offer Palestinian president fresh US aid for Gaza during Abbas' visit to Washington

Reuters
Published: 06.09.10
Israel News

President Barack Obama on Wednesday is expected to offer Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fresh US aid for Gaza as Washington seeks to contain the fallout over Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

Hosting Abbas at the White House, Obama will also try to ensure that heightened Middle East tensions over last week's deadly Israeli commando operation do not derail sputtering US-led peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians.

He will face a difficult balancing act.

Obama is likely to assure Abbas he will press Israel to loosen its Gaza blockade and allow in more humanitarian supplies, but at the same time the US leader wants to avoid further strains between Washington and the Jewish state.

Abbas' visit comes amid an international backlash against close US ally Israel after its forces boarded a Turkish aid ship bound for the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on May 31 and nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed.

The Obama administration has deemed "unsustainable" the three-year-old blockade, which Israel says is needed to stop weapons smuggling and Palestinians call collective punishment.

Expectations for a major breakthrough are low when the two leaders meet. But having pledged to help ease Gaza's plight, Obama will not send Abbas home empty-handed.

"The president and President Abbas will discuss steps to improve life for the people of Gaza, including US support for specific projects to promote economic development and greater quality of life," a senior Obama administration official said.

Obama's pledge will include a "long-term strategy for progress that we will advance through consultations with the Palestinians, Israelis, Egyptians and other partners."

Keeping funds out of Hamas hands

There were no immediate details on the amount and type of US aid to be offered for the impoverished coastal enclave, which since 2007 has been run by Hamas Islamists who seized control from Abbas's Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.

But any fresh infusion of funds would come with strings attached to keep it out of the hands of Hamas, which is on the US list of terrorist organizations.

In recent years, US aid to the Palestinians has been sent mostly to the West Bank, where Abbas governs, or funneled to Gaza through international agencies. Washington pledged $900 million for the Palestinians at a donors conference in 2009.

Seeking to boost Abbas's standing with his people, reporters will be allowed into the Oval Office to see the leaders together. Press coverage was barred during a tense visit in November by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Israeli media widely interpreted as a snub.

Despite heightened regional tensions, the Obama administration hopes to keep alive indirect US-brokered talks that have made little headway since starting in early May.

"We look forward to engaging with President Abbas to move the process forward so that we can get to direct talks to address all the final status issues, and to ensure neither side take provocative steps," the administration official said.

Obama's Middle East diplomacy, central to his outreach to Muslim world, has been complicated by the flotilla incident.

Abbas's meeting with Obama will take place a week after Netanyahu canceled talks in Washington and rushed home from Canada to deal with the crisis sparked by the flotilla raid.

Netanyahu's visit had been billed as a fence-mending session to move beyond discord over Jewish settlement construction on occupied land.

Abbas is expected to appeal to Obama, who has been more measured in his response to the flotilla raid than the broader international community, to take a tougher line with Israel.

Obama has little room to maneuver. With US congressional elections looming in November, he must be mindful that Israel is popular with US lawmakers and voters.

Abbas also backs a UN proposal for an international probe, but the White House leans toward Israel's insistence on its own inquiry with a role for foreign experts or observers.

Abbas will arrive from Turkey, a US ally that has condemned Israel's action and curtailed ties with it. Abbas called the raid a "massacre." Israel said its commandos defended themselves when attacked during the boarding.

Obama to offer Gaza aid to Abbas in flotilla aftermath (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3902463,00.html)

Iran Revolutionary Guard elusive sanctions target
By BRIAN MURPHY, AP
2 hours ago

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard is now in the cross-hairs of U.N. penalties over Tehran's nuclear program, and it's an elusive target — a master at the sanctions-busting strategies long used by the Islamic Republic.

Iran has used a combination of third-party companies, deals with deep-pocket allies such as China, and the financial cushion of its oil exports to get around sanctions. The Guard is the muscle behind the clerical rulers and has its hand in every level of the country's economic, military, foreign policy and nuclear planning. It also is at the center of evasive strategies.

Even with two of Iran's lifelines — Russia and China — backing the latest Security Council measures, Iran denied being boxed in. Commerce Minister Mahdi Ghazanfari said Thursday in Beijing that Iran would find "new ways" to overcome the U.N. action.

These could include simply setting up new companies to funnel equipment to Iran's nuclear and defense programs or leaning more on friendly states such as Venezuela and perhaps even neighboring Turkey to keep money channels open, experts said.

Mustafa Alani, head of security studies at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said he did not see the Revolutionary Guard suffering a lot.

"The Revolutionary Guard has developed an elaborate system to circumvent the embargo, maneuver illegal trade, bypass restrictions," he said.

The Revolutionary Guard — as a pillar of Iran's Islamic ruling clerics — has been caught up in previous sanctions. But the latest steps take particular aim at the Guard, whose reach would be like bringing the CIA, Pentagon and Homeland Security under one roof.

The Guard also has overseen the withering attacks on opposition groups after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who dismissed Wednesday's sanctions as "annoying flies." The Guard and its paramilitary allies are expected to stage a significant show of force Saturday on the first anniversary of the vote.

Just that seemed enough to rattle the opposition. A joint statement by protest leaders Mahdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, carried by the reformist website Sahamnews, said they were calling off plans for a rally Saturday because of fears of violence.

The leader of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, was quoted Thursday by Iranian media saying that the postelection turmoil posed more of a threat to Iran's rulers than the 1980-88 war with Iraq.

Jafari said the risks were greater because of support for the opposition by the "international community," which has been one of the pretexts for waves of arrests and attacks on marchers.

At least 15 of the companies and groups named in the new sanctions list are linked to the Guard. Nearly all the rest have connections to nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which are directly under the Guard's control. The Security Council also banned Iran from buying certain categories of military equipment that are under the Guard's grip, including attack helicopters.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran's Esfahan Nuclear Technology Center has been added to a list of 40 people subject to both an asset freeze and travel ban.

The measures seek to punish Iran for rejecting proposals to halt uranium enrichment and take its nuclear fuel from abroad. The West and its allies fear Iran could be on the path toward nuclear weapons. Iran says it only seeks nuclear power for energy and medical research.

But Iran said the sanction vote may not go unanswered.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of parliament's influential National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, described the sanctions as "political, illegal and illogical" and said lawmakers would review Iran's relations with the U.N. nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency. He offered no details of the possible fallout, but one option could be banning U.N. inspectors from Iran's nuclear facilities.

One hard-line member of the parliamentary committee, Mohammad Karamirad, suggested Iran should respond to Western "bullying" by quitting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty — as North Korea did in 2003.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said imposing new sanctions "is not constructive and will destroy the grounds for solving the current crisis" with the West.

The new sanctions do not affect oil exports, the lifeblood of Iran's economy, because targeting them would have cost the U.S. essential support from veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China, which have strong economic ties with Tehran.

Russia and China nixed any ban on gasoline imports, which would have struck a serious blow since Iran's refineries cannot keep up with domestic demand.

Iran also has room for more international jockeying even though its diplomatic push failed to block the sanctions. The resolution urges — but doesn't require — measures such as inspections of Iran-bound cargo and bans of financial transactions and other dealings.

This should give the Revolutionary Guard room to plan, said William O. Beeman, an expert on Iranian affairs at the University of Minnesota.

He pointed out the Revolutionary Guard and the ruling clerics must be seen as a single entity — with the Guard having all the tools to try to beat the penalties by shifting to banks not on the sanctions list or by being allowed to set up new shell companies.

"This is like a game of Whac-a-Mole," he said. "You hit them and they will just pop up in another place. It's like reflagging a vessel. You cannot really control something like the Guard."

A potential break for Iran came quickly from Moscow.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists that the U.N. resolution does not block Russia from selling Iran its S-300 air-defense missile system. Israel and the U.S. have urged Russia not to supply the missile systems, which would substantially increase Iran's defense capability.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the sanctions should not block efforts for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff.

The years of various U.S. sanctions — going back to freezing assets after the U.S. Embassy takeover in 1979 — offer a case study in Iran's networks. Third-party firms have been used to bring in parts for Boeing aircraft and other U.S. equipment from before the Islamic Revolution. American consumer products, including those from Gillette and Coca-Cola, make it to store shelves through licenses with franchises in the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere.

Iran also has significantly widened its economic footprint in recent years with oil and energy deals across Asia, including a planned gas pipeline to Pakistan and a growing export drive into the former Soviet republics. Record oil prices in recent years have provided a steady flow of foreign currency into Iran — one of OPEC's major producers — but many analysts believe Iran could suffer if prices stay below $80 a barrel.

Iran, meanwhile, had to become a quick study in self-sufficiency with state money. A standout has been the automaker Iran Khodro Co., which exports to Central Asia and other markets.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said new sanctions will pave the way for tougher measures by the U.S. and its allies. France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said European Union foreign ministers will be meeting Monday. While France would like tougher EU measures, all bloc countries must agree.

Iran Revolutionary Guard elusive sanctions target (http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-world/20100608/Iran.Nuclear/)

U.N. rebukes of Israel permitted in U.S. policy shift
Louis Charbonneau
Tue Jun 8, 2010

Under President Barack Obama, the United States no longer provides Israel with automatic support at the United Nations where the Jewish state faces a constant barrage of criticism and condemnation.

The subtle but noticeable shift in the U.S. approach to its Middle East ally comes amid what some analysts describe as one of the most serious crises in U.S.-Israeli relations in years.

Under Obama, the United States seeks to reclaim its role as an impartial Middle East peace broker which critics say it lost during the previous administration of George W. Bush.

"Israel became used to unconditional support of the United States during eight years of the Bush administration," said Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

She said Bush's "extreme position" makes even mild criticism appear dramatic to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet.

However, Washington continues to block what it sees as efforts to use the United Nations as a forum for bashing Israel -- which one U.S. official told Reuters was "nine out of 10 initiatives regarding Israel in New York."

Obama has also pushed hard to get a fourth round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, which Israel sees as its top security threats. A vote on new Iran sanctions is expected this week.

"There have been slight changes (in U.S.-Israeli ties), but they've caused a disproportionate reaction on the part of Israel," said Ottaway. "We haven't seen any drastic changes."

Last week the United States backed a Security Council statement on Israel's commando raid on an aid flotilla that tried to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine people on one of the ships were killed in the action.

The statement regretted the loss of life and demanded a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation conforming to international standards.

Washington, U.N. diplomats and U.S. officials said, worked hard to dilute the text so the 15-nation council did not call for an independent investigation and to ensure it did not explicitly criticize Israel.

UNITED NATIONS "LYNCH MOB"?

Israel was still unhappy with the statement and its supporters accused Obama of abandoning the Jewish state.

In an article called "Joining the jackals," Elliott Abrams, who advised two Republican administrations and is now at the Council on Foreign Relations, accused Obama of exposing Israel to a virtual U.N. "lynch mob."

"The White House did not wish to stand with Israel against this mob because it does not have a policy of solidarity with Israel," Abrams said. "Rather, its policy is one of distancing and pressure."

Abrams also criticized the White House over the recent five-year review conference of signatories to the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that Israel, like nuclear-armed Pakistan and India, has never signed.

Washington backed a call for a 2012 meeting of all countries in the Middle East to discuss making the region a zone free of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction -- a plan originally proposed by Egypt with Arab backing to add pressure on Israel to give up its nuclear weapons.

After allowing it to pass, the U.S. delegation criticized the NPT final declaration for "singling out" Israel, which neither confirms nor denies having atomic weapons.

This statement did not satisfy commentators like Abrams, who said Obama had "abandoned Israel in the U.N. and in the NPT conference in the course of one week."

Some analysts say Washington wants to improve ties with Arab nations and regain lost status as a neutral peace arbiter while being careful not to alienate pro-Israel voters.

"During the George W. Bush years, Washington's automatic siding with Israel on any issue seriously eroded what had been America's long-standing posture as an honest broker in the Middle East," said Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

"Obama has been trying to reclaim that status, while keeping in mind the domestic political need of not being seen as anti-Israel," he said.

Outside the United Nations, analysts say Obama tried to ease strains with Netanyahu after tensions spiked earlier this year over Jewish settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land.

He coaxed Israel into indirect talks with the Palestinians, his biggest tangible achievement in Middle East diplomacy.

But an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the jury is still out on the Obama administration's approach to the Jewish state.

"It's still difficult to decipher the intentions behind the changing U.S. policy at the United Nations, and not just in regard to the Middle East," the official said.

"If the Americans are convinced that, through adopting a softer approach ... they will achieve support from countries that heretofore opposed their policy -- they will discover that they are wrong," the official added.

U.N. rebukes of Israel permitted in U.S. policy shift (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6570SP20100608)

Arab states: Israel nuclear danger reinforced by its aggression
Arab states target Israel at UN nuclear debate, urge Israel to join global anti-nuclear arms pact NPT.
By Reuters
10.06.10

Arab nations backed by Iran urged Israel to join a global anti-nuclear arms pact at a rare and divisive United Nations atomic watchdog debate a day after new sanctions were passed against Tehran.

Israel, presumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear weapons arsenal, condemned the push at the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting on Thursday as being fuelled by countries which question Israel's existence.

Western countries warned that honing in on Israel could jeopardize broader steps aimed at banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.

"What the region needs is to come together in a cooperative, consensual way," Washington's envoy Glyn Davies said. "This is not going to happen if the parties of the region engage in name-calling, if they wag fingers at each other."

It was the first time the IAEA's policy-making board tackled the topic since 1991, coinciding with wider scrutiny of Israel after its raid on a Gaza-bound aid convoy and a UN conference which put its nuclear policy in the spotlight.

"Israel continues to defy the international community through its continued refusal to accede to the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," Sudan's envoy Mahmoud El-Amin told the 35-nation meeting in Vienna on behalf of Arab states.

"The Israeli nuclear danger is reinforced by [its] aggressive policies towards Arab countries," he said.

By shunning the 40-year-old NPT Israel has not had to reject atomic arms or allow the IAEA to probe all of its nuclear sites. India, Pakistan and North Korea are also outside the NPT.

Signatories of the pact - nearly all of the world's nations - last month called for a conference in 2012 to discuss banning weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. If realized, the zone could ultimately force Israel to join the treaty.

Iran, angered by a fourth round of UN sanctions passed against it on Wednesday over its nuclear program seized on the debate to accuse the West of "double standards" and discrimination.

Iran rejects Western allegations it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, arguing that its nuclear program has only peaceful aims.

"There is only one potential threat to the security of the region...which is the nuclear weapons capability of Israel," Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh said.

He said the West's reluctance to discuss Israel while pressuring Iran was "very worrisome" because it protected those outside the NPT and could provoke members to withdraw from it. He said Iran had no intention of doing this as of now.

Iran is seen by Western nations as an NPT renegade and bomb risk for hiding sensitive nuclear activity. They say Israel is not comparable because it is not in the NPT while Iran is. Many developing nations say that this is precisely the problem.

The IAEA debate on "Israeli nuclear capabilities" was on the agenda at the behest of Arab nations who want watchdog chief Yukiya Amano to help implement an IAEA resolution urging Israel to enter the NPT and put its sites under agency oversight.

Amano said he would report on his progress in September.

Arab states: Israel nuclear danger reinforced by its aggression (http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/arab-states-israel-nuclear-danger-reinforced-by-its-aggression-1.295362)

Tehran defiant as UN passes tough Iran nuclear sanctions
By Scott Peterson Scott Peterson Wed Jun 9, 4:30 pm ET

Istanbul, Turkey – Iran quickly dismissed a fourth set of UN Security Council sanctions, imposed on Wednesday to further restrict Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“These resolutions have no value…. It is like a used handkerchief that should be thrown in the waste bin,” Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told journalists while visiting Tajikistan.

The new Iran nuclear sanctions were hailed by President Barack Obama as "the toughest ever faced by Iran," but Iranian officials vowed to press on with their nuclear program.

UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said that “no amount of pressure and mischief” would deter the Islamic Republic from pursuing what it says is a peaceful nuclear energy program. “Iran is one of the most powerful and stable countries in the region, and never bowed – and will never bow – to the hostile actions and pressures by these few powers.”

As the latest round of UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions appeared increasingly inevitable in recent weeks, the Islamic Republic fought back with devil-may-care rhetoric—as well as frenetic diplomacy aimed at finding more friends.

“Politically, it will be a great blow,” says an Iranian journalist in Tehran who asked not to be named for security reasons. “We are now moving away from gray and moving into the black-and-white phase; the political alignments will become more clear now.”

"Iran is losing Russia, China, and all those countries that matter," the journalist says. "Its dollars can no longer buy political credit [because of] the great isolation it faces…. This has brought great, and visible, fear to Iranian officials.”

When the vote came on Wednesday, the United States blasted what it called Iran’s “continued recklessness” over its nuclear program, and spearheaded 12 votes in favor of sanctioning 40 more Iranian businesses, banks, and shipping companies – double the number of the three previous sanctions votes combined.

ToughestVoting “no” were Turkey and Brazil—nonpermanent UNSC members that had brokered a May 17 deal with Tehran to export half of its low-enriched uranium, as a confidence-building measure. Both nations prefer diplomacy to sanctions. Lebanon abstained.

In recent weeks, senior Iranian officials have been hurriedly dispatched to distant capitals, from Austria to Uganda and Turkey to China, to lobby each of the 15 members of the UNSC, with the exception of the United States, an arch foe of Iran for 31 years.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that brandishing the “stick” of a UNSC sanctions vote would mean that Iran would not take part in future nuclear negotiations. He said the nuclear swap offer, the full details of which have not been worked out, was a one-time “opportunity.”

Just hours before the sanctions vote, the US, Russia, and France presented the UN's nuclear watchdog agency with a list of nine concerns it had about the tripartite nuclear swap deal – an agreement very similar to one the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) put to Iran last October.

Iran has dismissed the impact of UN sanctions dating to 2006, which have targeted an array of institutions – from banks to universities, many with links to the powerful Revolutionary Guard – that are connected to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.

Sanctions have not so far forced Iran to comply with the key international demand: a suspension of its uranium enrichment program until the IAEA is satisfied Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran denies wanting to make a nuclear bomb.

Sanctions helping Iran? Iranian officials sometimes crow that sanctions have heightened the country's self-sufficiency. In addition to nuclear sanctions, the US has imposed unilateral sanctions on Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution ousted the pro-Western Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

“Iranian state media [has been] playing it up, with Ahmadinejad literally saying ‘bring it on,’ says a young Iranian professional who left Iran a few days ago, and asked not to be named. “They are saying: ‘This is development for us; we’ve gotten so far [despite past sanctions].’ And to be honest, we have.”

That can-do spirit stems from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. The men who now constitute Iran’s hard-line leadership believe that they repelled a 1981 invasion from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, which received US, Soviet, and European support over eight years of war, through ingenuity and faith.

“They used all their power, [and brought] all their resources to the battlefield to defeat or weaken the Islamic Republic, and what was the result?” Iran’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in a speech last Friday. “The world saw with amazement the emerging of the Islamic Republic with a much, much stronger defensive military capability."

“Whatever arm they’ve cut off [with sanctions], we’ve grown two; that’s the Iranian way,” says the professional. “State media was able to play this very well…. The public doesn’t know what [sanctions] cover, doesn’t remember what it covers, doesn’t know the effects – it just knows the US is bullying us.” (Right, they need to quit lying. DW)

Both Brazilian and Turkish ambassadors, explaining their no votes before the council, said further sanctions would not convince Iran to halt its nuclear programs, and were more likely to have the opposite effect.

But US Ambassador Susan Rice said the sanctions were “aimed squarely at the nuclear ambitions” of Iran, and provided “important new tools.” The purpose was to “change the calculation of the leadership of Iran."

“The animosity between Iran and the US – and the depth of it – has become quite clear now,” says the journalist in Tehran. “Khamenei’s speech [last Friday] clearly indicated what we already knew, that there will never be any mending of ties with the US, simply because [the Islamic Republic] was founded on the principle of US defiance. He clearly said: 'If we do anything that appeals to the US and the West, it means we have done something wrong and we should rethink our actions.' "

Tehran defiant as UN passes tough Iran nuclear sanctions (http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100609/wl_csm/306947/print)

Russia: Iran sanctions won't affect sale of S-300 missiles, will only impact deals regarding mobile missiles.
By News Agencies
10.06.10

Russia said on Thursday it was in discussions with Iran on possible new nuclear power plants in the Islamic state, the country's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

"We are discussing these [new plants] with our Iranian partners, we are practically discussing this now," Lavrov said.

Earlier Thursday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said that new United Nations sanctions against Tehran over its contentious nuclear program do not oblige Moscow to scrap a controversial deal to deliver surface-to-air missiles to Iran.

The clarification came after the Russian Interfax news agency cited an arms industry source as saying Russia would freeze its unfulfilled contract to sell S-300 missiles to Iran after the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on the Islamic Republic Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists, however, that the UN resolution does not apply to air-defense systems, with the exception of mobile missiles.

The report citing an unidentified source in Russia's arms industry contradicted Russian officials and others who have said the sanctions approved on Wednesday with Moscow's support would not affect the air-defense missile deal.

"The UN Security Council decision is binding for all countries and Russia is no exception," Interfax cited the source as saying. "Naturally, the contract to deliver S-300 missile systems will be frozen."

Russia has used its unfulfilled deal to provide Iran with S-300 missiles as a lever in its delicate diplomacy with Tehran and Western powers seeking to rein in Iran's nuclear activity, which they say is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons.

Israel and the United States have asked Russia not to deliver the missile systems, which can shoot down several aircraft or missiles simultaneously and could potentially be used to protect nuclear facilities.

Western diplomats in Moscow believe Russia is eager to keep the deal in reserve as a bargaining chip. Iran has expressed increasing frustration over the unfulfilled contract.
Russia's move toward support for the new sanctions against Iran has been accompanied by repeated assurances that the measures would not affect the S-300 deal.

The latest came on Thursday from the Kremlin-allied chairman of the International Affairs committee in Russia's lower parliament house. Konstantin Kosachyov said the S-300 is a defensive weapon and would not be affected, Itar-Tass reported.

In Washington, Republican U.S. Senator Jon Kyl criticized the UN sanctions resolution on Wednesday for excluding the S-300 deal and Russia's construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant near Bushehr.

Russia has close ties with Iran and has worked with China, also a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, to water down Western-backed sanctions resolutions against Tehran, including the latest one.

But Moscow has been increasingly critical of Tehran's rejection of a proposal to ease concerns about the purpose of its nuclear program by having uranium shipped to Russia for enrichment.

U.S. President Barack Obama has courted Russian support for the new sanctions, and administration officials have pointed to Moscow's backing as a positive result of a "reset" aimed to improve long-strained ties.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday warned Russia not to side with "Iran's enemies" by supporting the sanctions.

Officials said Ahmadinejad, unlike last year, would stay away from a summit of a Central Asian security organization led by Russia and China starting on Thursday in Uzbekistan.
Israel and U.S. hail UN vote, as Turkey calls it a 'mistake'

Israel and the United States hailed the United Nations vote to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran, which immediately vowed to continue with its nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the new sanctions a "positive" step, but expressed hope that it would lead countries to take broader economic and diplomatic measures, including sanctions on the Iranian energy sector.

"The UN Security Council resolution passed today, led by the determination of President Obama, is a positive step," Netanyahu said. "The resolution made clear to Iran that the world's leading powers oppose its nuclear program."

"The biggest danger to peace is that the most dangerous regimes in the world will use the most dangerous weapons of all. The international community needs to continue to keep the prevention of this threat at the top its agenda."

Netanyahu's words echoed an earlier statement by the Foreign Ministry that described UN Security Council resolution 1929 as an "important step." "It is of great importance to implement the decision fully and immediately," the Foreign Ministry statement said.

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, said the sanctions "can serve as a viable platform for launching very far-reaching sanctions by the United States or like-minded nations against Iran."

Those sanctions could be aimed at Iran's ability to import gasoline, he said.

"They have a lot of oil, but not a lot of refined oil or the ability to export oil abroad," Oren said.

Obama, meanwhile, said the new sanctions send an "unmistakable message" that the international community will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

Speaking shortly after the Security Council voted to impose some of the toughest sanctions on Iran so far, Obama faulted the Islamic state's leaders for failing to seriously address concerns about the country's nuclear activities.

"These are the most comprehensive sanctions that the Iranian government has faced," Obama said.

Turkey, which voted against the imposition of sanctions, called the UN move a "mistake" and said that together with Brazil it would continue to seek a diplomatic solution to remove concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
Iran on Wednesday rejected the resolution over its nuclear activities, vowing to continue enriching uranium. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed as "valueless" the resolution, which passed by 12 votes to two with one abstention, saying it should be thrown out.

"This resolution is not worth a penny for Iran and I sent a message to each one of them [UN Security Council members] that your resolution is like a used handkerchief which should go into a garbage can," the Iran Student News agency quoted him as saying.

"They [world powers] will not be able to harm us," added Ahmadinejad, who is currently on a visit in Tajikistan.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the UN Security Council vote to impose a fourth round of sanctions on Iran a "wrong move".

"It was not a constructive step...to resolve the nuclear issue. It will make the situation more complicated," Mehmanparast said.

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, said after the vote that Iran would not halt its nuclear enrichment activities. "Nothing will change. The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue uranium enrichment activities," Ali Asghar Soltanieh told reporters in Vienna shortly after the UN vote in New York

Russia: Iran sanctions won't affect sale of S-300 missiles (http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/russia-says-in-talks-with-iran-on-new-nuclear-plants-1.295321)
~~~~~~~~~~

Right.............
The Bible says, Russia WILL go against Israel. (in Ezekiel 38 & 39) The Bible tells me so, and I believe the Bible over man!!

Obama sees Mideast 'progress' possible this year - (Okay I give, what's he smoking now?? DW)
by Stephen Collinson
Jun 10, 4:00 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama is pledging unwavering commitment to forging significant progress in the Middle East this year, despite the furor whipped up by Israel's raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.

Welcoming Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to the White House on Wednesday, Obama promised the "full weight" of US diplomacy on the latest crisis and vowed to coax Israelis and Palestinians out of a "dead end" and into direct peace talks.

He also unveiled 400 million dollars of US aid for Gaza and the West Bank for housing, education and infrastructure, as part of a US commitment to improve the "day-to-day lives of Palestinians."

The president also called the humanitarian situation "unsustainable" and warned a Palestinian state was the only long-term solution.

The White House talks came with the Arab world still livid about the Israeli raid on the aid flotilla on May 31, which killed nine activists, and amid frantic US efforts to stop the uproar derailing peace efforts.

Telling Abbas he remained deeply committed to spending personal political capital in the Middle East, Obama said he still believes there could be "significant progress" in the peace process this year.

The US leader said it may be possible to take the "tragedy" over the Gaza aid convoy and turn it "into an opportunity to create a situation where lives in Gaza are actually, directly improved."

Abbas said that the aid package was "positive."

He told Obama in front of reporters the Palestinians were willing to proceed to direct talks with Israel, but only after progress in the current US-mediated "proximity" discussions.

The Palestinian leader urged the Obama administration to help implement a two-state solution "as quickly as possible."

"The two-state solution is no longer only a Palestinian interest or an Israeli interest or a Middle East interest, but it is also an American interest," he added on the televised "Charlie Rose" interview show.

As Obama seeks to inject new momentum into peace moves, both the White House and the Israeli government said they were trying to finalize arrangements for a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month.

The Israeli leader had been due here last week, to smooth over tensions that flared during his last visit, but the Gaza crisis forced him to cancel.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who attended the Oval Office meeting, meanwhile said US envoy George Mitchell would go back to the Middle East next week for more proximity talks.

Erakat said Abbas had come to the United States with the message that progress was urgently needed.

"Time is of the essence, that's his message, we need to see genuine movement in the direction of a two-state solution and ending the occupation," he told AFP.

Obama also called on Israel to live up to UN Security Council conditions on probing the flotilla raid, which laid out the need for "credible, international involvement."

"I've said to the Israelis directly... it is in Israel's interest to make sure that everybody knows exactly how this happened so that we don't see these kinds of events occurring again," he added.

But Israel has rejected any international inquiry into the affair, amid calls for an easing of the three-year blockade of Gaza.

Earlier, Netanyahu said he was in talks with "several members of the international community" but added that a probe should not focus on the role of Israeli soldiers in the raid.

While stressing Israel had a right to make sure arms were not smuggled into Gaza, Obama said a framework should be hashed out to allow some non-arms shipments to reach the tiny Palestinian coastal enclave.

The White House said the aid package for Palestinians would help "increase access to clean drinking water, create jobs, build schools, expand the availability of affordable housing, and address critical health and infrastructure needs."

The money will be mostly funneled through the US Agency for International Development and the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which deals with Palestinian refugees.

The United States avoids dealing with Gaza's ruling Hamas, which it deems a terrorist organization, and has worked to shore up the West Bank government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Obama's pledge of aid for Gaza and the West Bank drew an angry response from Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who branded it a "bailout of the Palestinian leadership."

The help "sends the message that standing in the way of peace and freedom can be quite profitable," she said, calling for cutting off US government aid to the Palestinian Authority and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Obama sees Mideast 'progress' possible this year (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100610/pl_afp/uspoliticsdiplomacymideastgaza)

'Follow the Islamic way to save the world,' Prince Charles urges environmentalists

By Rebecca English
Last updated at 1:46 AM on 10th June 2010

Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic 'spiritual principles' in order to protect the environment.

In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.

He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'.

Charles, who is a practising Christian and will become the head of the Church of England when he succeeds to the throne, spoke in depth about his own study of the Koran which, he said, tells its followers that there is 'no separation between man and nature' and says we must always live within our environment's limits. :o

The prince was speaking to an audience of scholars at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies - which attempts to encourage a better understanding of the culture and civilisation of the religion.

His speech, merging religion with his other favourite subject, the environment, marked the 25th anniversary of the organisation, of which he is patron.

He added: 'The inconvenient truth is that we share this planet with the rest of creation for a very good reason - and that is, we cannot exist on our own without the intricately balanced web of life around us.

'Islam has always taught this and to ignore that lesson is to default on our contract with creation.'

'Follow the Islamic way to save the world,' Prince Charles urges environmentalists (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1285332/Follow-Islamic-way-save-world-Charles-urges-environmentalists.html)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No thank you, I'll pass.

I won't, for will I even be bothered to listen ti islamic fools. The only thing they do know how to do is to terrorize innocent people, and force their garbage on everyone else.

Muslims Order Christians to Leave Village in Pakistan

Christians drew wrath by objecting to sexual assaults on girls and women.
KHANEWAL, Pakistan, June 7 (CDN) — The head of a Muslim village last week ordered 250 Christian families to leave their homes in Khanewal district, Punjab Province, local residents said.

Abdul Sattar Khan, head of village No. 123/10R, Katcha Khoh, and other area Muslim residents ordered the expulsions after Christian residents objected too strenuously to sexual assaults by Muslims on Christian girls and women, said a locally elected Christian official, Emmanuel Masih.

Most of the village’s Christian men work in the fields of Muslim land owners, while most of the Christian women and girls work as servants in the homes of Muslim families, said Rasheed Masih, a Christian in the village who added that the impoverished Christians were living in appalling conditions.

The Muslim employers have used their positions of power to routinely sexually assault the Christian women and girls, whose complaints grew so shrill that four Christian men – Emmanuel Masih, Rasheed Masih, his younger brother Shehzad Anjum and Yousaf Masih Khokhar – sternly confronted the Muslims, only to be told that all Christians were to leave the village at once.

“The Muslim villagers came to us with the expulsion order only after Christian women and girls raised a hue and cry when they became totally exasperated because they were sexually attacked or forced to commit adultery by Muslims on a daily basis,” said Khokhar, a Christian political leader.

Khokhar said the unanimous decision to compel the Christians to leave their homes and relocate them was possible because the Christians were completely subject to the Muslims’ power.

“The Muslims had been telling the Christian women and girls that if they denied them sex, they would kick them out of their native village,” Emmanuel Masih added.

Christians created the colony when they began settling in the area in about 1950, said Anjum. Since then the migration of Muslims to the area has left the Christians a minority among the 6,000 residents of the village, said Emmanuel Masih.

“There is no church building or any worship place for Christians, and neither is there any burial place for Christians,” Emmanuel Masih said.

He said that the Rev. Pervez Qaiser of village No. 231, the Rev. Frank Masih of village No. 133 and the Rev. Sharif Masih of village No. 36, Mian Channu, have been visiting the village on Sundays to lead services at the houses of the Christian villagers, who open their homes by turns.

Asked why they didn’t contact local Katcha Khoh police for help, Emmanuel Masih and Khokhar said that filing a complaint against Muslim village head Khan and other Muslims would only result in police registering false charges against them under Pakistan’s notorious “blasphemy” statutes.

“They might arrest us,” Khokhar said, “and the situation would be worse for the Christian villagers who are already living a deplorably pathetic life under the shadow of fear and death, as they [the Muslims] would not be in police lock-up or would be out on bail, due to their riches and influence, very soon.”

Couples Charged with ‘Blasphemy’
That very fate befell two Christian couples in Gulshan-e-Iqbal town, Karachi, who had approached police with complaints against Muslims for falsely accusing them of blasphemy.

On May 28, a judge directed Peer Ilahi Bakhsh (PIB) police to file charges of desecrating the Quran against Atiq Joseph and Qaiser William after a mob of armed Islamists went through their home’s garbage looking for pages of the Islamic scripture among clean-up debris (see “Pakistani Islamists Keep Two Newlywed Couples from Home,” May 27).

Additional District & Sessions Judge Karachi East (Sharqi) Judge Sadiq Hussein directed the PIB police station in Gulshan-e-Iqbal to file a case against Joseph and William, newlyweds who along with their wives had shared a rented home and are now in hiding. The judge acted on the application of Muslim Munir Ahmed.

Saleem Khurshid Khokhar, a Christian provincial legislator in Sindh, and Khalid Gill, head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance in Punjab, said that police were threatening and harassing relatives and close friends of Joseph and William to reveal their whereabouts.

Islamists armed with pistols and rifles had waited for the two Christian couples to return to their rented home on May 21, seeking to kill them after the couples complained to police that the radical Muslims had falsely accused them of desecrating the Quran.

The blasphemy laws include Section 295-A for injuring religious feelings, 295-B for defiling the Quran and 295-C for blaspheming Muhammad, the prophet of Islam – all of which have often been misused by fanatical Muslims to settle personal scores against Christians.

Maximum punishment for violation of Section 295-A, as well as for Section 295-B (defiling the Quran), is life imprisonment; for violating Section 295-C the maximum punishment is death, though life imprisonment is also possible.

In village 123/10R in Khanewal district, Anjum noted that it is only 22 kilometers (14 miles) from Shanti Nagar, where Muslims launched an attack on Christians in 1997 that burned hundreds of homes and 13 church buildings.

Yousaf Masih added, “Muslim villagers have made the life a hell for Christians at village.

Muslims Order Christians to Leave Village in Pakistan (http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/21375/)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Islam is showing their true colors, hate, lies, deceivers, and rapists. I don't think I need say anymore, so my temper doesn't boil over.

NKorea warns UN not to discuss warship sinking
Wed Jun 9, 7:26 am ET

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea sent the U.N. Security Council a letter warning the world body to not even open debate on the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang, state media reported Wednesday.

South Korea last week officially asked the U.N. Security Council to punish North Korea, after an international investigation said a North torpedo attack sunk a South ship in March, killing 46 sailors. North Korea flatly denies responsibility and says any punishment would trigger war.

Sin Son Ho — North Korea's permanent representative at the U.N. — sent Security Council president Claude Heller a letter Tuesday saying the council must not open a debate on the "the unilaterally forged" investigation results because that would fringe upon the North's sovereignty, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a dispatch from Pyongyang.

"No one would dare imagine how serious its consequences would be" over security on the Korean peninsula if the debate starts, Sin said in the letter, according to the KCNA dispatch.

Sin said the U.N. council instead should take steps helping South Korea and the U.S. accept North Korean inspectors to verify the investigation results, it said.

The ship sinking is the first inter-Korean provocation in which the South has taken the North to the Security Council, despite a history of attacks by the North since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Security Council has several choices: a resolution with or without new sanctions against North Korea, a weaker presidential statement calling for specific actions, or a press statement.

The Security Council earlier imposed sanctions against North Korea after its two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. These include U.N. embargoes on nuclear and ballistic missile-related items and technology, on arms exports and imports except light weapons, and on luxury goods.

NKorea warns UN not to discuss warship sinking (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_re_as/as_skorea_ship_sinks/print)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The BULLY of the area thinks he can force his way.................. ::)

More Active Sun Means Nasty Solar Storms Ahead
SPACE.com Staff

SPACE.com Space.com Staff

space.com Wed Jun 9, 6:00 pm ET

The sun is about to get a lot more active, which could have ill effects on Earth. So to prepare, top sun scientists met Tuesday to discuss the best ways to protect Earth's satellites and other vital systems from the coming solar storms.

Solar storms occur when sunspots on our star erupt and spew out flumes of charged particles that can damage power systems. The sun's activity typically follows an 11-year cycle, and it looks to be coming out of a slump and gearing up for an active period.

"The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity," said Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division. "At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we're getting together to discuss."

Fisher and other experts met at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum, which took place in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club.

Bad news for gizmos

People of the 21st century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. But smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity.

A major solar storm could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina, warned the National Academy of Sciences in a 2008 report, "Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts." [Photos: Sun storms.]

Luckily, much of the damage can be mitigated if managers know a storm is coming. That's why better understanding of solar weather, and the ability to give advance warning, is especially important.

Putting satellites in 'safe mode' and disconnecting transformers can protect electronics from damaging electrical surges.

"Space weather forecasting is still in its infancy, but we're making rapid progress," said Thomas Bogdan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo.

Eyes on the sun

NASA and NOAA work together to manage a fleet of satellites that monitor the sun and help to predict its changes.

A pair of spacecraft called STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is stationed on opposite sides of the sun, offering a combined view of 90 percent of the solar surface. In addition, SDO (the Solar Dynamics Observatory), which just launched in February 2010, is able to photograph solar active regions with unprecedented spectral, temporal and spatial resolution. Also, an old satellite called the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), which launched in 1997, is still chugging along monitoring winds coming off the sun. And there are dozens more dedicated to solar science.

"I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather." Fisher said. "We take this very seriously indeed."

More Active Sun Means Nasty Solar Storms Ahead (http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100609/sc_space/moreactivesunmeansnastysolarstormsahead/print)

Christian Woman in Pakistan Abused, Forced to Resign
SARGODHA, Pakistan, June 10 (CDN)

A Christian woman here said she has been falsely accused of theft, beaten, threatened with rape and forced to resign her job in a bid to keep her from obtaining full benefits as a regular government employee.

Razia Bibi, a 38-year-old sanitation worker known as Rajji of village No. 47-NB (Northern Branch), Sargodha, was due to obtain regular status as a government employee at Aysha Girls’ Hostel at the University of Sargodha at the end of May. On May 7, however, Muslim office worker Safia Bibi accused her of stealing 10,000 rupees (US$120) from her cubicle – and when Muslim hostel warden Noshaba Bibi learned of it, she called female police officers and ordered them to beat her until she confessed, Rajji said.

“Lady police constables subjected me to inhumane thrashing with bamboo sticks and kept saying that I must confess or they would not spare me,” she said, adding that she was beaten for four hours in one of the hostel rooms. “I said that, being a Christian from childhood, I had learned not to steal, therefore I told them the truth, but it seemed they were bent on making me confess a crime I had not committed.”

Her comment about being a Christian and therefore not having stolen anything seemed to especially enrage Safia Bibi and Noshaba Bibi, she said.

“Hostel officials turned violent, and they called Haaser Khan, the chief security officer of the university, accompanied by two junior security guards, and ordered them to take me into a cubicle and take off my clothes and rape me,” she said. “I raised a cry for help, but there was no one to help me.”

Her husband, Nayyer Aftab, told Compass that someone informed him that his wife was in serious trouble at her workplace. Rushing to the girls’ hostel, he said, he found the security guards dragging his wife on the ground as she screamed for help. When Aftab asked why they were treating her this way, Khan charged him with his baton and left him injured on the ground, Aftab said. The chief security officer took Rajji inside.

“Both hostel officers, Noshaba and Safia, told me that Rajji had stolen 10,000 rupees, and that because she didn’t confess her crime the security guards were going to teach her a lesson,” Aftab said.

Aftab said he knew that his wife would not confess to theft even to spare herself from rape, and he pleaded with the two accusers to stop the security guards, promising that he would pay them the amount of the allegedly stolen money.

“At this both Safia and Noshaba ordered to bring Rajji out and not rape her,” Aftab told Compass. “They gave me an hour to make payment of the allegedly stolen amount.”

He said he went to friends and relatives to gather up the 10,000 rupees and gave it to Safia Bibi and Noshaba Bibi, but Aftab said they still compelled his wife to resign by forcibly obtaining a thumb print from the illiterate woman on a resignation statement.

Rajji said she had been happily looking forward to obtaining regular employee status.

“In three weeks I was going to become a regular employee as a sanitation worker at the university, but as I am a Christian, the Muslim hostel officers Safia and Noshaba wanted a Muslim regular employee after their hearts instead of me,” she told Compass.

Noshaba Bibi initially refused to comment on the allegation that she falsely accused the Christian woman of theft in order to provide a job to someone of her choice. After repeated questioning by Compass, however, she became exasperated and used coarse language, yelling, “Yes, I have done it, do whatever you want!”

The Christian couple in the village in Punjab Province has an 8-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 9 and 5.

Christians Beaten, Jailed
In a village in southern Punjab Province, Muslim extremists on Saturday (June 5) attacked Christians trying to construct a church building, and then got police to file charges against them for defending themselves, according to the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA).

A club-wielding Muslim mob led by Muhammad Nazir Ahmed beat Christians who were laying the foundation for the church building in village No. 184/9-L, in Cheechawatni of Sahiwal district, seriously injuring several of them, said Javed Akber Gill, APMA district coordinator in Sahiwal.

Ahmed later enlisted Inspector Allah Ditta, station house officer at the Dera Rahim police station, to file charges against four Christians – Noreen Mumtaz, who is pregnant, and her husband Mumtaz Inayat, Aftab Inayat and Kashif Masih, Christian sources said. All four were charged with critically injuring others and attempting to kill or threaten to kill, they said.

Inspector Ditta refused to respond to repeated requests by Compass for comment on allegations that he colluded with the Muslim extremists to falsely accuse the Christian victims of the attack.

The accused Christians pleaded with police that they were innocent, to no avail. Gill said that he was doing his best to resolve the issue peacefully in an attempt to avert the kind of violence that hit the Christian communities of Gojra and Korian in July and August of 2009 and Shanti Nagar in 1997.

The Rev. John Rizwani of Cheechawatni city said the government had allotted a small piece of land to the Christians for the building and that they had permission to build. There are only 25 Christians’ homes amid the approximately 500 Muslim homes in the village.

Ferhan Mazher, chairman of Rays of Development Organization, Azher Kalim, general secretary the Christians Lawyers Foundation and Khalid Gill, head of APMA in Punjab, condemned the attack.

“Attacks on worship places usurp basic human rights and constitute a conspiracy to belittle the name of Pakistan worldwide,” Mazher said.

Christian Woman in Pakistan Abused, Forced to Resign (http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/21482/)

Egyptian Couple Shot by Muslim Extremists Undaunted in Ministry
CAIRO, Egypt, June 9 (CDN)

Left for dead, Christians offer to drop charges if allowed to construct church building.

Rasha Samir was sure her husband, Ephraim Shehata, was dead.

He was covered with blood, had two bullets inside him and was lying facedown in the dust of a dirt road. Samir was lying on top of him doing her best to shelter him from the onslaught of approaching gunmen.

With arms outstretched, the men surrounded Samir and Shehata and pumped off round after round at the couple. Seconds before, Samir could hear her husband mumbling Bible verses. But one bullet had pierced his neck, and now he wasn’t moving. In a blind terror, Samir tried desperately to stop her panicked breathing and convincingly lie still, hoping the gunmen would go away.

Finally, the gunfire stopped and one of the men spoke. “Let’s go. They’re dead.”

‘Break the Hearts’
On the afternoon of Feb. 27, lay pastor Shehata and his wife Samir were ambushed on a desolate street by a group of Islamic gunmen outside the village of Teleda in Upper Egypt.

The attack was meant to “break the hearts of the Christians” in the area, Samir said.

The attackers shot Shehata twice, once in the stomach through the back, and once in the neck. They shot Samir in the arm. Both survived the attack, but Shehata is still in the midst of a difficult recovery. The shooters have since been arrested and are in jail awaiting trial. A trial cannot begin until Shehata has recovered enough to attend court proceedings.

Despite this trauma, being left with debilitating injuries, more than 85,000 Egyptian pounds (US$14,855) in medical bills and possible long-term unemployment, Shehata is willing to drop all criminal charges against his attackers – and avoid what could be a very embarrassing trial for the nation – if the government will stop blocking Shehata from constructing a church building.

Before Shehata was shot, one of the attackers pushed him off his motorcycle and told him he was going to teach him a lesson about “running around” or being an active Christian.

Because of his ministry, the 34-year-old Shehata, a Coptic Orthodox Christian, was arguably the most visible Christian in his community. When he wasn’t working as a lab technician or attending legal classes at a local college, he was going door-to-door among Christians to encourage them in any way he could. He also ran a community center and medical clinic out of a converted two-bedroom apartment. His main goal, he said, was to “help Christians be strong in their faith.”

The center, open now for five years, provided much-needed basic medical services for surrounding residents for free, irrespective of their religion. The center also provided sewing training and a worksite for Christian women so they could gain extra income. Before the center was open in its present location, he ran similar services out of a relative’s apartment.

“We teach them something that can help them with the future, and when they get married they can have some way to work and it will help them get money for their families,” Shehata said.

Additionally, the center was used to teach hygiene and sanitation basics to area residents, a vital service to a community that uses well water that is often polluted or full of diseases. Along with these services, Shehata and his wife ran several development projects, repairing the roofs of shelters for poor people, installing plumbing, toilets and electrical systems. The center also distributed free food to the elderly and the infirm.

The center has been run by donations and nominal fees used to pay the rent for the apartment. Shehata has continued to run the programs as aggressively as he can, but he said that even before the shooting that the center was barely scraping by.

“We have no money to build or improve anything,” he said. “We have a safe, but no money to put in it.”

Tense Atmosphere
In the weeks before the shooting, Teleda and the surrounding villages were gripped with fear.

Christians in the community had been receiving death threats by phone after a Muslim man died during an attack on a Christian couple. On Feb. 2, a group of men in nearby Samalout tried to abduct a Coptic woman from a three-wheeled motorcycle her husband was driving. The husband, Zarif Elia, punched one of the attackers in the nose. The Muslim, Basem Abul-Eid, dropped dead on the spot.

Elia was arrested and charged with murder. An autopsy later revealed that the man died of a heart attack, but local Muslims were incensed.

Already in the spotlight for his ministry activities, Shehata heightened his profile when he warned government officials that Christians were going to be attacked, as they had been in Farshout and Nag Hammadi the previous month. He also gave an interview to a human rights activist that was posted on numerous Coptic websites. Because of this, government troops were deployed to the town, and extremists were unable to take revenge on local Christians – but only after almost the entire Christian community was placed under house arrest.

“They chose me,” Shehata said, “Because they thought I was the one serving everybody, and I was the one who wrote the government telling them that Muslims were going to set fire to the Christian houses because of the death.”

Because of his busy schedule, Shehata and Samir, 27, were only able to spend Fridays and part of every Saturday together in a village in Samalut, where Shehata lives. Every Saturday after seeing Samir, Shehata would drive her back through Teleda to the village where she lives, close to her family. Samalut is a town approximately 105 kilometers (65 miles) south of Cairo.

On the afternoon of Feb. 27, Shehata and his wife were on a motorcycle on a desolate stretch of hard-packed dirt road. Other than a few scattered farming structures, there was nothing near the road but the Nile River on one side, and open fields dotted with palm trees on the other.

Shehata approached a torn-up section of the road and slowed down. A man walked up to the vehicle carrying a big wooden stick and forced him to stop. Shehata asked the man what was wrong, but he only pushed Shehata off the motorcycle and told him, “I’m going to stop you from running around,” Samir recounted.

Shehata asked the man to let Samir go. “Whatever you are going to do, do it to me,” he told the man.

The man didn’t listen and began hitting Shehata on the leg with the stick. As Shehata stumbled, Samir screamed for the man to leave them alone. The man lifted the stick again, clubbed Shehata once more on the leg and knocked him to the ground. As Shehata struggled to get up, the man took out a pistol, leveled it at Shehata’s back and squeezed the trigger.

Samir started praying and screaming Jesus’ name. The man turned toward her, raised the pistol once more, squeezed off another round, and shot Samir in the arm. Samir looked around and saw a few men running toward her, but her heart sank when she realized they had come not to help them but to join the assault.

Samir jumped on top of Shehata, rolled on to her back and started begging her attackers for their lives, but the men, now four in all, kept firing. Bullets were flying everywhere.

“I was scared. I thought I was going to die and that the angels were going to come and get our spirits,” Samir said. “I started praying, ‘Please God, forgive me, I’m a sinner and I am going to die.’”

Samir decided to play dead. She leaned back toward her husband, closed her eyes, went limp and tried to stop breathing. She said she felt that Shehata was dying underneath her.

“I could hear him saying some of the Scriptures, the one about the righteous thief [saying] ‘Remember me when you enter Paradise,’” she said. “Then a bullet went through his neck, and he stopped saying anything.”

Samir has no way of knowing how much time passed, but eventually the firing stopped. After she heard one of the shooters say, “Let’s go, they’re dead,” moments later she opened her eyes and the men were gone. When she lifted her head, she heard her husband moan.

Unlikely Survival
When Shehata arrived at the hospital, his doctors didn’t think he would survive. He had lost a tremendous amount of blood, a bullet had split his kidney in two, and the other bullet was lodged in his neck, leaving him partially paralyzed.

His heartbeat was so faint it couldn’t be detected. He was also riddled with a seemingly limitless supply of bullet fragments throughout his body.

cont'd next post

Samir, though seriously injured, had fared much better than Shehata. The bullet went into her arm but otherwise left her uninjured. When she was shot, Samir was wearing a maternity coat. She wasn’t pregnant, but the couple had bought the coat in hopes she soon would be. Samir said she thinks the gunman who shot her thought he had hit her body, instead of just her arm.

The church leadership in Samalut was quickly informed about the shooting and summoned the best doctors they could, who quickly traveled to help Shehata and Samir. By chance, the hospital had a large supply of blood matching Shehata’s blood type because of an elective surgical procedure that was cancelled. The bullets were removed, and his kidney was repaired. The doctors however, were forced to leave many of the bullet fragments in Shehata’s body.

As difficult as it was to piece Shehata’s broken body back together, it paled in comparison with the recovery he had to suffer through. He endured multiple surgeries and was near death several times during his 70 days of hospitalization.

Early on, Shehata was struck with a massive infection. Also, because part of his internal tissue was cut off from its blood supply, it literally started to rot inside him. He began to swell and was in agony.

“I was screaming, and they brought the doctors,” Shehata said. The doctors decided to operate immediately.

When a surgeon removed one of the clamps holding Shehata’s abdomen together, the intense pressure popped off most of the other clamps. Surgeons removed some stomach tissue, part of his colon and more than a liter of infectious liquid.

Shehata could not eat normally and lost 35 kilograms (approximately 77 lbs.). He also couldn’t evacuate his bowels for at least 11 days, his wife said.

Despite the doctors’ best efforts, infections continued to rage through Shehata’s body, accompanied by alarming spikes in body temperature.

Eventually, doctors sent him to a hospital in Cairo, where he spent a week under treatment. A doctor there prescribed a different regimen of antibiotics that successfully fought the infection and returned Shehata’s body temperature to normal.

Shehata is recovering at home now, but he still has a host of medical problems. He has to take a massive amount of painkillers and is essentially bedridden. He cannot walk without assistance, is unable to move the fingers on his left hand and cannot eat solid food. In approximately two months he will undergo yet another surgery that, if all goes well, will allow him to use the bathroom normally.

“Even now I can’t walk properly, and I can’t lift my leg more than 10 or 20 centimeters. I need someone to help me just to pull up my underwear,” Shehata said. “I can move my arm, but I can’t move my fingers.”

Samir does not complain about her condition or that of Shehata. Instead, she sees the fact that she and her husband are even alive as a testament to God’s faithfulness. She said she thinks God allowed them to be struck with the bullets that injured them but pushed away the bullets that would have killed them.

“There were lots of bullets being shot, but they didn’t hit us, only three or four,” she said. “Where are the others?”

Even in the brutal process of recovery, Samir found cause for thanks. In the beginning, Shehata couldn’t move his left arm, but now he can. “Thank God and thank Jesus, it was His blessing to us,” Samir said. “We were kind of dead, now we are alive."

Still, Samir admits that sometimes her faith waivers. She is facing the possibility that Shehata might not work for some time, if ever. The couple owes the 85,000 Egyptian pounds (US$14,855) in medical bills, and continuing their ministry at the center and in the surrounding villages will be difficult at best.

“I am scared now, more so than during the shooting,” she said. “Ephraim said do not be afraid, it is supposed to make us stronger.”

So Samir prays for strength for her husband to heal and for patience. In the meantime, she said she looks forward to the day when the struggles from the shooting are over and she can look back and see how God used it to shape them.

“There is a great work the Lord is doing in our lives, we may not know what the reason is now, but maybe some day we will,” Samir said.

Government Opposition
For the past 10 years, Shehata has tried to erect a church building, or at a minimum a house, that he could use as a dedicated community center. But local Muslims and Egypt’s State Security Investigations (SSI) agency have blocked him every step of the way. He had, until the shooting happened, all but given up on constructing the church building.

On numerous occasions, Shehata has been stopped from holding group prayer meetings after people complained to the SSI. In one incident, a man paid by a land owner to watch a piece of property near the community center complained to the SSI that Shehata was holding prayer meetings at the facility. The SSI made Shehata sign papers stating he wouldn’t hold prayer meetings at the center.

At one time, Shehata had hoped to build a house to use as a community center on property that had been given to him for that purpose. Residents spread a rumor that he was actually erecting a church building, and police massed at the property to prevent him from doing any construction.

There is no church in the town where Shehata lives or in the surrounding villages. Shehata admits he would like to put up a church building on the donated property but says it is impossible, so he doesn’t even try.

In Egypt constructing or even repairing a church building can only be done after a complex government approval process. In effect, it makes it impossible to build a place for Christian worship. By comparison, the construction of mosques is encouraged through a system of subsidies.

“It is not allowed to build a church in Egypt,” Shehata said. “We can’t build a house. We can’t build a community center. And we can’t build a church.”

Because of this, Shehata and his wife organize transportation from surrounding villages to St. Mark’s Cathedral in Samalut for Friday services and sacraments. Because of the lack of transportation options, the congregants are forced to ride in a dozen open-top cattle cars.

“We take them not in proper cars or micro-buses, but trucks – the same trucks we use to move animals,” he said.

The trip is dangerous. A year ago a man fell out of one of the trucks onto the road and died. Shehata said bluntly that Christians are dying in Egypt because the government won’t allow them to construct church buildings.

“I feel upset about the man who died on the way going to church,” he said.

Church-for-Charges Swap
The shooters who attacked Shehata and Samir are in jail awaiting trial. The couple has identified each of the men, but even if they hadn’t, finding them for arrest was not a difficult task. The village the attackers came from erupted in celebration when they heard the pastor and his wife were dead.

Shehata now sees the shooting as a horrible incident that can be turned to the good of the believers he serves. He said he finds it particularly frustrating that numerous mosques have sprouted up in his community and surrounding areas during the 10 years he has been prevented from putting up a church building, or even a house. There are two mosques alone on the street of the man who died while being trucked to church services, he said.

Shehata has decided to forgo justice in pursuit of an opportunity to finally construct a church building. He has approached the SSI through church leaders, saying that if he is allowed to construct a church building, then he will take no part in the criminal prosecution of the shooters.

“I have told the security forces through the priests that I will drop the case if they can let us build the church on the piece of land,” he said.

The proposal isn’t without possibilities. His trial has the potential of being internationally embarrassing. It raises questions about fairness in Egyptian society during an upcoming presidential election that will be watched by the world.

Regardless of what happens, Shehata said all he wants is peace and for the rights of Christians to be respected. He said that in Egypt, Christians have less value than the “birds of the air” mentioned in the Bible. According to Luke 12:6, five sparrows sold for two pennies in ancient times.

“We are not to be killed like birds, slaughtered,” he said. “We are human.”

Egyptian Couple Shot by Muslim Extremists Undaunted in Ministry (http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/egypt/21405/)
~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pray, and hope that the Lord protects them, and allows their ministry to flourish.

Arab nations cheer Turkey for tough Israel stand
By Selcan Hacaoglu, Associated Press Writer
Jun 10, 7:20 am ET

ISTANBUL – Arab nations burst into applause Thursday as Turkey's prime minister walked to the podium at a summit, reflecting Turkey's meteoric rise on the world stage amid disputes over Israel's blockade of Gaza and U.N. sanctions against Iran.

The Turkish-Arab Economic Forum opened with calls for an international investigation into the May 31 Israeli commando raid on aid ships bound for Gaza, a topic emphasized by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Are we going to remain silent over the murder of nine people? We can't turn a blind eye to this banditry in international waters," Erdogan told the Turkish-Arab Economic Forum. "From now on, this can't continue as it is."

Arab league chief Amr Moussa also accused Israel continued "atrocity and assault" in violation of human rights and international law and praised Turkey for challenging Israel on the raid that left eight Turkish activists and a Turkish-American teenager dead.

Israel insists its commandoes acted in self-defense after being attacked by pro-Palestinian activists on the aid ships.

Moussa said the nine dead "are our martyrs as well."

Turkey's popularity in the Muslim world has surged as it led the world in condemning Israel for the raid on ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. Turkey — a non-Arab, predominantly Muslim country — also won favor among Arab allies for objecting to new sanctions against Iran, which the U.N. Security Council passed Wednesday after rejecting an Iranian nuclear fuel swap-deal brokered by Ankara.

"Arms, embargoes and exclusion are not working," Erdogan said, adding that the world was paying a heavy price as a result of such policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. "There are hundreds of thousands of widows, who will account for this? There are orphans, who will account for this? Those who turn this geography into this (mess) have to be held accountable."

Erdogan, however, said his country would still work to keep the nuclear swap-deal Turkey brokered to resolve the Iranian dispute on the table.

He strongly rejected allegations in the West that Turkey was shifting toward the East, describing such claims as "evil intentioned" and attempts to prevent Turkey from establishing relations with the Arab world.

Erdogan stressed Turkey's commitment to its membership bid in the European Union, but at the same time accused the EU countries of not being sincere and raising obstacles.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other foreign ministers from about 15 other Arab nations also attended the summit.

Hariri said the Middle East was suffering under Israel's "criminal and barbaric" attitude.

"We support Turkey's demands not only about the international investigation, but for Israel to apologize," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said. "We support Turkey's demand to try those behind these acts."

Turkey also says Israel's partial easing of its Gaza blockade was not enough. At another summit in Istanbul earlier this week, Turkey and 21 Asian countries urged Israel to join the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and place its nuclear capabilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Agency.

Turkey said Israel should not be left out from any scrutiny of its alleged nuclear arsenal, which Israel has never confirmed, and also said Iran should be able to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Although courting membership in the European Union, Turkey has also strengthened its ties with its Arab neighbors by mediating several conflicts, cultivating new relationships with former rivals such as Syria and Iran, forging free trade zones and gradually lifting mutual visa requirements.

The economic forum, set up in 2007, aims to build on a trade volume that soared to $29 billion last year between Turkey and Arab League countries, from $13 billion in 2004.

Erdogan said direct investments from the Middle East, Gulf and North African countries had reached a total of $8 billion in Turkey over the last five years — a figure that could be improved.

"These figures do not reflect our real potential, and we must work together harder to promote our economic and trade relations," Erdogan said. "We aim to create a free trade area with Arab countries."

Turkey already has free-trade agreements with Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Palestine and Tunisia, and is negotiating similar deals with Lebanon and Libya, he said.

Turkey also lifted entry visa requirements for Jordanians, Libyans, Syrians and Lebanese and would like to extend "the free-trade and visa-free zone" to other countries in the region, Erdogan said.

Arab nations cheer Turkey for tough Israel stand (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100610/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_arab_meeting/print)

Turks sent to break Gaza siege were paid, armed

TEL AVIV — Israel's military has determined that scores of Turkish Islamists were paid and trained by elements close to their government to battle Israeli soldiers in Ankara's effort to break the siege on the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli military investigation, which included the interrogation of nearly 1,000 passengers of the six-ship flotilla sent to the Gaza Strip in late May, has concluded that nearly 100 Turkish Islamists were trained and financed by elements close to or in the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan to abduct or kill Israeli soldiers.

"There were no innocents among the dead," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i said.

The investigation found that the Turkish-flagged Marmara was allowed to leave Turkey with firearms and other weapons for a confrontation with the Israel Navy in the Mediterranean Sea in which nine passengers were killed.

[On June 7, the Israel Navy was reported to have foiled a sea-based insurgency strike from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said a squad of four frogmen was detected and killed as they left Gaza's Nusseirat refugee camp toward Israel.]

Officials said the Turkish government, particularly the new intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, appeared to have collaborated with the Turkish Islamists on board Marmara. They said Turkish authorities failed to stop the Islamist fighters, nor seize the weapons, body armor and gas masks loaded on to the flotilla.

Most of the weapons and other military-related equipment were said to have been hurled into the sea as Israel Navy commandos boarded Marmara on May 31. The military said it recovered some of the equipment.

"This group boarded separately in a different city, organized separately, equipped itself separately and went on deck under different procedures," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 6. "In effect, they underwent no checks. The clear intent of this hostile group was to initiate a violent clash with Israel Defense Forces soldiers."

The military reported that several of the Turkish fighters fired toward the naval commando force, which took more than 30 minutes to commandeer Marmara. But the military determined that most of the shots were believed to have been fired from pistols and a rifle seized from the commandos. The exception was the use of a 9mm revolver not employed by the navy.

"We have credible testimony that the ship contained a range of weapons and possibly valuable components meant for delivery to the Gaza Strip," a military source said. "These items were thrown off the ship during the interception mission."

The investigation also determined that between 60 and 100 of the Turks aboard Marmara were trained and paid thousands of dollars each to battle the Israeli military. The sources said the money came through the Al Qaida-aligned Turkish organization IHH, a sponsor of the flotilla and linked to the Erdogan government.

The military identified five of the Marmara passengers as connected to Al Qaida and Hamas. They were Fatmia Mahmadi, a 31-year-old Iranian native who lives in the United States and sought to transport dual-use electronics to the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. Kenneth O'Keefe, a dual British-U.S. citizen, was said to have planned to train Hamas commando units, and Hassan Iynasi, who was reported to have helped both Al Qaida as well as Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

"[O'Keefe's] goal was to reach Gaza in order to help train and establish Hamas commando units," the military said on June 6.

In all, the sources said, at least 50 Turks were each found with an envelope that contained $10,000 in cash. They said none of these Turks carried passports or other identification.

"This is not the kind of money you get from your family," the source said. "This is the kind of money you get from a government."

The military investigation said the Turkish fighters, who employed axes, metal pipes, knives and saws, had tried to abduct at least three of the naval commandos and hold them below deck for ransom. But the commandos managed to flee their captors during the battle with the Israeli force and returned to the upper deck.

"We would have obtained much more information from them [Turkish Islamists] had we been able to hold them for a few days, but there was a political decision to release them immediately," the source said.

Turks sent to break Gaza siege were paid, armed (http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_turkey0500_06_07.asp)

Turkish opposition charges Erdogan exploiting, ramping up Israel conflict

ANKARA — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has encountered opposition regarding plans to suspend relations with Israel.

Opposition parliamentarians have accused Erdogan of engineering a crisis with Israel in an effort to mobilize Islamist support ahead of elections. The parliamentarians said Erdogan has been tainted by corruption and embezzlement in what has sharply reduced his electoral support.

"Erdogan uses the Ten Commandments as a tool," Turkish opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said. "But the Eighth Commandment says, 'Thou shall not steal.' What about that?"

Opposition sources said Erdogan has been discussing the feasibility of moving up elections, scheduled for July 2011, to capitalize on the crisis with Israel. They said the prime minister, who has proposed that the government hire 50,000 people over the next year, hoped that his Islamist constituency would mobilize behind the ruling Justice and Development Party.

The opposition charged that Erdogan sought a confrontation with Israel when he supported a Turkish-sponsored flotilla to break the Egyptian and Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip. Opposition deputies said Ankara could have defused the situation through diplomacy with Jerusalem.

"He [Erdogan] almost declared war against Israel in his party's meeting [on June 1]," Kilicdaroglu said. "The Turkish Foreign Ministry should publicly disclose correspondence made with Israel so that we may all learn whether Israel warned Turkey or not. Nothing should remain secret."

Erdogan also faced criticism for his anti-Israeli policy from pro-Kurdish constituents. At one forum, the prime minister was asked how he could condemn Israel for the bloody naval interception of a Turkish-flagged ship to the Gaza Strip when Ankara was killing Kurdish insurgents.

"How can you compare the two?" Erdogan asked.

The prime minister has accused the opposition Republican People's Party of supporting Israel. Erdogan said the opposition wanted to limit the pro-Islamist government to conventional diplomacy.

"Some people speak in the name of Tel Aviv, advocate for Tel Aviv," Erdogan said. "They question our way of diplomacy. The way you did things put us in this dire situation. As I said earlier, we do not work as the 'mon cher' diplomats do."

But opposition sources and independent analysts asserted that Erdogan faced opposition to his anti-Israeli policy from within the Justice and Development Party, which commands a majority of parliament. They cited statements by the deputy prime minister as well as defense and foreign ministers that Ankara wanted to defuse the crisis with Israel.

"If the prime minister wants to understand who is the advocate of Tel Aviv, he should look to his right and he will see [Deputy Prime Minister] Bulent Arinc making different statements from the government," Kilicdaroglu told Turkish television on June 7.

In June, the cleric deemed as the Islamic guide of AKP criticized the Turkish-organized flotilla to the Gaza Strip. Fethullah Gulen, who heads the largest Muslim movement in Turkey and now lives in the United States, issued a statement that Ankara should have first received permission from Israel before sending the flotilla. Later, senior AKP officials agreed.

"The government is purposely changing the agenda of the country," Kilicdaroglu said. "Some 114 Turkish soldiers have died since the AKP's move to end the terror problem in the country. Likewise, there have been recent developments in the CHP's agenda regarding unemployment and poverty. However, all discussion of these topics has ended. Nobody talks about them anymore."

Turkish opposition charges Erdogan exploiting, ramping up Israel conflict (http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2010/me_turkey0513_06_10.asp)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lord, I know you have said you would but, I'm asking anyway. Please protect Israel, the Jews, and Christians in Israel.

Thank you Lord Jesus.

Majority of Americans Still 'Believe' in Global Warming
LiveScience Staff

LiveScience.com livescience Staff

livescience.com Wed Jun 9, 9:05 pm ET

Three out of four Americans believe our planet has been warming as the result of human activity, down from the 84 percent who said so in 2007, according to survey results released today.

"Several national surveys released during the last eight months have been interpreted as showing that fewer and fewer Americans believe that climate change is real, human-caused and threatening to people," said Woods Institute Fellow Jon Krosnick, of Stanford University. "But our new survey shows just the opposite."

With funding from the National Science Foundation, Krosnick conducted the survey from June 1-7, including telephone interviews with 1,000 randomly selected adults.

When asked if the Earth's temperature probably had been heating up over the last 100 years, 74 percent of the respondents said yes. And 75 percent said that human behavior was substantially responsible for any warming that has occurred.

Behind the shifts

As for the decline between 2007 and now, Krosnick said it is "attributable to perceptions of recent weather changes by the minority of Americans who have been skeptical about climate scientists."

In terms of average Earth temperature, 2008 was the coldest year since 2000, Krosnick said, adding that these year-to-year fluctuations in temperature aren't meaningful in the overall picture of Earth's climate trends.

Even so, "people who do not trust climate scientists base their conclusions on their personal observations of nature," Krosnic said. "These 'low-trust' individuals were especially aware of the recent decline in average world temperatures; they were the ones in our survey whose doubts about global warming have increased since 2007."

The decline in those who support the idea that global warming is occurring is just temporary, Krosnic said, adding that if the temperatures on Earth increase again, so will this group's leaning with the large majority who agree our planet is on a warming trend.

Climate skeptics

The so-called climategate controversy, in which e-mail messages were hacked from the computer system at the University of East Anglia in England and characterized climate scientists as colluding to silence unconvinced colleagues, made headlines in December 2009 and had many suggesting it would negatively impact the public's view of the validity of climate-change science.

That didn't bear out in this survey, with only 9 percent of respondents saying they knew about the East Anglia e-mail messages and believing they indicate that climate scientists should not be trusted. Only 13 percent said the same about the controversial Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. There was some controversy over a few errors in the reports that scientists have said are minor in the grand scope of climate science and do not change the fundamental findings of the report.

"Overall, we found no decline in Americans' trust in environmental scientists," Krosnick said. "Fully 71 percent of respondents said they trust scientists a moderate amount, a lot or completely."

Results also suggest Americans support government action to combat global warming, including:

* 86 percent of respondents said they wanted the federal government to limit the amount of air pollution businesses emit;
* 78 percent opposed taxes on electricity to reduce consumption, and 72 percent opposed taxes on gasoline;
* 84 percent favored the federal government offering tax breaks to encourage utilities to use more alternative energy sources, such as making electricity from water, wind and solar power;
* 4 out of 5 respondents favored the government requiring or offering tax breaks to encourage the production of cars that use less gas (81 percent), appliances that use less electricity (80 percent) and homes and office buildings that require less energy to heat and cool (80 percent);
* And only 14 percent said that the United States should not take action to combat global warming unless other major industrial countries, such as China and India, do so as well.

However, a recent survey by esearchers at Yale and George Mason universities found that while most Americans like the idea of conservation, few practice it in their everyday lives.

Majority of Americans Still 'Believe' in Global Warming (http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/majorityofamericansstillbelieveinglobalwarming/print)

ChristiansUnite Forums

Theology => Prophecy - Current Events => Topic started by: Shammu on June 10, 2010, 04:05:23 PM