Russia Furious With America Over Afghan Drugs, Terrorism Financing Un-Islamic, White House Food - News Headlines 19 May 2010

*** Russia Furious With America Over Afghan Drugs, Terrorism Financing Un-Islamic, White House Food - News Headlines 19 May 2010




From Denny: Seems like everyone is angry at Prez Obama these days - even the Russians. Sounds like they good reason too. America just can't win this drug war in Afghanistan without the cooperation of the Afghan people. As a result, the drug dealers have gone across the border into Russian territory, peddling their crime. Russia has enough to deal with considering the huge Russian mob factor as a parallel government to the official one. Russia is pressuring NATO to get serious and put some teeth into prosecuting a drug war effort to prevent cheap heroin from escaping over the borders, plaguing their country.

On another front, the Saudi Arabian monarchy seems eager to please the American government by declaring the funding of terrorism to be un-Islamic. Like the terrorists are actually going to take that seriously. Even the people of Saudi Arabia don't take it seriously and just roll their eyes at their monarchy. If the war of terrorism is going to succeed then countries like Saudi Arabia have to get serious and start executing those who fund terrorism at home and abroad. Until they do violence will continue unabated. It's really in the best interests of Saudi Arabia's government and monarchy to survive to deal with terrorists before they take down their government.

And the folks running the SEC are as tone deaf and clueless as ever. They claim to have some security fixes to prevent more wild cards like the last 1,000 point crash. Yet they claim they also still don't understand exactly what happened. Would it not go to logic that if you don't understand the process of how a crash came to be that you would not also not know how to put in place a firewall to prevent it? Somebody fire these incompetent government employees. How many are former Bush appointees set in place to sabotage the Democrats?

As to the Iran uranium swap with Turkey, Christian Science Monitor, who does some of the more detailed straight forward agenda-less news writing these days, had a detailed story about this international mess with Iran provoking the United Nations over nukes.

Check it out that our own American chef, a huge promoter of Mexican cuisine, turned out to be the chef of the hour at the White House when Mexico's President visited for the State Dinner. Talk about pressure for the chef! See what Rick Bayless chose to serve the visiting Mexican head of state. It sure wasn't Taco Bell fare. :)





Moscow furious, says US not pushing drug war in Afghanistan (CSMonitor)

Moscow's new drug czar, Viktor Ivanov, claims Russia is being flooded with cheap heroin and charges that the US and its NATO allies in Afghanistan are reluctant to pursue a drug war that could drive poppy farmers into the arms of the Taliban.


*** Click on the story link for the rest of the article.





Saudi Arabia religious leaders call terrorism financing un-Islamic (CSMonitor)

A government-appointed council of senior religious scholars in Saudi Arabia condemned terrorism financing and said it is forbidden by Islamic law.

Saudi Arabia’s top religious leaders have condemned terrorism financing as forbidden by Islamic law, giving added religious weight and potentially larger punishments to existing civil statutes.


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.





SEC unveils 'flash crash' fixes, but Dow plunge still mysterious (CSMonitor)

A report on the May 6 stock market 'flash crash' released by regulators Tuesday is thin on answers for why the Dow took a 1,000-point dive.

Regulators have issued a long report on the May 6 "flash crash" in stocks, but much of it boils down to this: We still don't know what happened. (There's a PDF file of the report if you click on the title link.)

The two agencies that oversee key US financial exchanges said several steps are being pursued or considered to reduce the risk of such crashes, including new "circuit breakers" when individual stocks become unusually volatile.


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.






Rick Bayless brings Mexico to the White House kitchen, by way of Chicago (CSMonitor)

Chicago chef Rick Bayless is a Decoder favorite, and Wednesday night he'll feed Obama and Mexico President Felipe Calderón at a White House state dinner.

How do you get to be the guest chef at a White House state dinner? Easy – run popular restaurants in the president’s home town......

It’s an unenviable task, really. Think about it – a US-born cook whipping up Mexican food for a powerful Mexican native. If President Obama went to Mexico, would they get the best US-style chef in the country to cook burgers and apple pie? It would be hard to top what Obama can get at home........


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.






Iran nuclear fuel swap deal: What it involves, and how it will affect US push for sanctions (CSMonitor)

The Iran nuclear fuel swap deal, brokered by Turkey and Brazil, was cast by many as a confidence-building measure. But Iran would still continue enriching uranium, in defiance of the UN Security Council.


Tehran has agreed to ship the bulk of its enriched uranium to Turkey, in an Iran nuclear fuel swap brokered by Brazil and Turkey that is certain to complicate American efforts to impose new United Nations sanctions on Iran.

Under the deal, Iran would ship 1,200 kg (2,640 lbs) of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Turkey, where it would be held. In exchange, it would be entitled to 120 kg of uranium enriched to 20 percent for its medical reactor, likely to be provided by France and Russia.........


*** To read the rest of the story just click on the title link.





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9/11

"The British are Coming!" "Remember the Alamo!" "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy" "9/11"

All of these phrases are now burned by history into the collective American consciousness, automatically bringing us back to times when our nation was under attack right here on our own soil. However, the first three are actually a bit misleading in that regard. Neither the British attacks in the Revolutionary War, the Mexican attack in Texas, or the Japanese attack in Hawaii happened in an official state of the Union.

In the first, the United States was not a fully formed, world recognized, independent nation, but instead was fighting for some type of independence from the British empire. It shouted a warning among the American colonists that British troops were approaching, and is usually specifically related to the midnight ride of Paul Revere. It also hearkens us back to a time when British 'red coats' were firing on Americans, burning homes and businesses, and marching across the land that we now know as the United States of America.

The battle at the Alamo mission also was not fought on what was then technically United States soil, but was fought between the Republics of Mexico and Texas in the aftermath of the Mexican revolution. It was a decade before Texas would officially become a U.S. state. The Texian forces fighting for their independence from the Mexican government where vastly outnumbered, yet fought off the Mexican troops valiantly before finally being overrun and massacred. The incident rallied Texians to eventual victory, and ultimately to statehood.

Again, the Japanese sneak attack in Hawaii did not technically take place on an official state in the Union. On December 7th, 1941, Hawaii was an annexed American territory and the site of an extremely strategic naval base located at Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese bombs and kamakazi pilots virtually wiped out the American Pacific Naval fleet that morning, it not only sparked our entry into World War II, but also showed the importance of Hawaii to our interests, resulting in full statehood by 1959.

Most people alive today know full well of the events of 9/11 as they relate to more attacks on American soil, attacks this time on an official state (New York) as well as on the seat of our government (Washington, D.C.), along with a thwarted attack that ended in the loss of American lives in Pennsylvania.

Here in Philadelphia and along much of the American east coast, today is a dark, gloomy day on which the rain pours from the skies. I will refrain from talk of it being tears for the lives of the nearly 3,000 victims lost that day. The only reason that I point out the bleak weather conditions today is to relate how stark the contrast it is with that absolutely gorgeous late summer morning, now eight years ago.

America awoke and began it's commute to work on that Tuesday morning with little thought of the radical Islamic assault that was fully planned and already operational. Despite repeated threats and actual attacks leading up to that day, most Americans had their heads in the sand regarding men such as Osama bin Laden and groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda. We were virtually untouchable and absolutely indestructible as a nation. All that went away in just a couple of hours.

Despite the magnitude and suddeness of those attacks, the loss of all of those lives, the televised attacks on and collapse of the iconic Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, a jet airplane ramming through the core of our national defense at the Pentegon, the grounding of American air traffic for almost a week, and the subsequent wars fought in Iraq and Afghanistan we seem to have learned little.

The radical Islamists who attacked us that morning were not representatives of any particular nation. We were not attacked that morning and at other times by Saudi Arabia, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Iran, or Libya, or Egypt, or any single Middle Eastern or Arabic nation or group of nations. We were attacked by radical groups operating within those nations who are inspired by the Koran and their faith to conquer the world on behalf of Islam.

In past wars and battles, whether fought to form the United States as with Britain, to expand the United States as with Mexico, or to defend the United States as with Japan the enemy was usually an easy to define nation-state. It had borders, populations, armies, resources, and allies that were usually easily definable. To win, you had to defeat the other guys in head-to-head physical combat. There was a measure of ideology that needed to be defeated as well, but ultimately if you won the physical battles and suppressed the enemy troops and their leaders, you were the clear winner.

I put it to you that it is no different now. We still need to win that physical battle. But as with those past conflicts, this is also a war of ideologies, and we must also win on that front to ever have a long-lasting peace. This war must be fought and won on two fronts, both of which we must be willing to support and sustain if we want to win.

On one hand we must support and sustain the ideological war that is raging within Islam itself. There are moderate forces within that religion, the 2nd largest on the planet with an influence over approximately 1.5 billion people, or almost 1 in every 5 people on the planet. The radical forces calling for that religion to control the world not only religiously, but also sociologically, financially, politically is growing. We must support in every way the forces within Islam that want to maintain it as a part of the whole where the world is concerned, not as a world domination ideology.

On the other hand, we must be willing to back that financial and rhetorical support up with our armed forces. The radical Islamist groups are heavily armed, well equipped, and train regularly. And their numbers and influence are growing, as is their technology. It is just a matter of time before nuclear weapons are in the hands of radical Islamic terrorist regimes. Once that happens, these groups will use these weapons to further their agenda in Israel, Europe, and here in America. Until such elements are effectively wiped out, we are going to have physical battles to fight.

There will be a number of remembrances across the country and around the world today on the 8th anniversary of those radical Islamic attacks on September 11th, 2001. There will be a few television programs this evening that will recall the events of that day. If you have not yet seen them, I can highly recommend four different films that you need to watch.

"9/11" was perhaps the best documentary on the day of the attacks, and is available by clicking on to the title of this article through Amazon. This and "United 93" are probably the two best films ever made to this point. "World Trade Center" is also a well made dramatic depiction of the New York attacks. Finally, the documentary film "Obsession" tells the full story of the radical Islamic problem across the world today.

9/11 was not the beginning of this world-wide ideological struggle, and we will not likely see the end any time soon, if ever. There will be further dates to remember, catch-phrases to live in infamy. Today we should remember those who lost their lives that day, as well as those who fought and continue to fight for victory in the continuing ideological struggle against the forces of radical Islam. Those forces are still out there, still bent on that same world domination, and the United States of America continues to stand as the best defense against their aggression.

The Pope and Islam

Pope Benedict XVI's outreach tour of the Middle East this week failed to placate critics still smarting from his riot-inciting comments in a 2006 speech at Germany's Regensburg University. The pontiff at that time quoted 15th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus who said: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The pope said he regrets any hurt feelings, but some Muslims want more contrition. Sheik Yusef Abu Hussein, mufti of Karak in Jordan, said, "We wanted him to clearly apologize. What the pope said about the prophet Muhammad is untrue. Islam did not spread through the power of sword. It's a religion of tolerance and faith." A recent post on a jihadist Web site took a somewhat different tone, denouncing "this cursed Pope" and calling on its readers to "strive to kill him, strive to slaughter him." That Muslim poster must have missed the sermon on tolerance and faith.

Paleologus, the Byzantine emperor, was something of an authority on Muslim military power. He spent much of his reign defending his hard-pressed realm from the predatory Ottoman Empire. Before ascending to the throne, he spent a year in the court of Sultan Bayezid I as an honorary hostage and was forced to accompany the Ottoman army that conquered Philadelphia, the last Christian bastion in Anatolia. The city was renamed Alasehir, the city of Allah.

Those who object to the idea that Islam was spread by the sword are not at war with Pope Benedict but with history. What are now called Muslim lands used to be Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian lands. Force was the key element in the rapid expansion of the caliphate in the century between the death of Muhammad in 632 and the Muslim defeat at the hands of the Franks in the Battle of Tours in 732 in what is now southern France. The rules of engagement were laid down in the Hadith Sahih Muslim 19:4294, which instructs Muslims to offer any unbelievers they encounter three choices: to convert, pay tribute or be forcibly subjugated.

The martial underpinnings of Muslim expansion conveniently are summarized in the flag of Saudi Arabia, which features the Shahada, the first pillar of Islam, underlined by a sword. According to the Web site of the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the sword was added in 1906, "symbolizing the military successes of Islam" as well as those of founding King Ibn Saud.

Muslims who object stridently to the implication they are not peace-loving would have a stronger claim if Islam's most ardent proponents did not resort instantly to violence over perceived slights. The Muslim world's supposed universal culture of tolerance also is open to question. Muslims in the West enjoy freedoms that frequently are denied in the Middle East, such as repairing their ancient houses of worship or publicly discussing their faith. Islam is the only major religion in which it is settled religious law that those who convert to another religion face the death penalty.

The pope is brave to stand by his faith. Mutual respect can only come when both sides face reality and embrace history, warts and all. It is plainly farcical to assert that Islam was never spread by the sword, just as it would be historically inaccurate to say Christians and Jews never raised the sword. If apologies are in order, we are still waiting for any apology from the Muslim world for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

WRITTEN as an editorial in the Washington Times on May 13th, 2009

Israel is Not the Problem

About a week or so ago we suddenly began hearing stories in the news about Israel bombing targets in Gaza, Israel attacking in the Gaza Strip, and so on. The picture that was painted was one of the State of Israel suddenly waking up one morning and deciding to attack, attack, attack for no particular reason. This perception was foisted on the American people by what has become a decidedly anti-Israeli American media. Think about it from any reasonable perspective. How would you feel if Mexico was lobbing bombs and missiles at targets in California or Nevada or Texas, destroying businesses and buildings, killing hundreds of Americans? Then one day the U.S. decided enough was enough, and fought back by attacking strongholds in Mexico where those who were attacking us were operating. Suddenly the world press is all over their broadcast news and in their newspapers with stories that the U.S. was attacking Mexico. How would that make you feel? Do you think that the Europeans and those in the Middle East, Asia, Africa who were reading these headlines and listening to the talking heads on the news broadcasts would get the full picture, or would they simply be left with the impression that the Americans were being bullies with the poor, little Mexicans? That is exactly what is happening with Israel, and it is a dangerous game. The 'Arab-Israeli conflict' as it has come to be known in modern times has no resolution. Despite what peaceniks and politicians will say, there can be no resolution, and the reason is very clear once you understand the two sides to the dispute. On one side you have Israel, which only wants to live in peace and would never do any aggressive harm to any of its neighbors. That is a fact and the utter truth. The only thing that Israel asks in return is not to be attacked, to be left alone and to allow itself to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people, which is the land of Israel's birthright since God Himself set aside the land for that purpose. Whatever your belief in God and His promises, the fact is that the modern State of Israel was formed thanks to an agreement brokered by that group that most liberals love - the United Nations. In 1947 the UN struck an agreement that partitioned what was known at that time as the land of Palestine into two sections, one Jewish and one Arab. A year later, the Jewish section declared itself independent as the State of Israel. The Arab nations surrounding Israel disagreed with the decision, and immediately attacked Israel. The Israelis prevailed in this fight, as well as in numerous other wars and battles over the ensuing three decades. Despite usually being outnumbered and surrounded, Israel has managed to defend itself successfully against the attacks of its Arab neighbors time after time. There remain disputes over sections of territory, notably what is known as the 'West Bank' and the 'Gaza Strip'. Israel sees these as strategically necessary to its defense, because the Arabs have frequently used these areas as launching pads for attacks. The Arabs see them as simply being Arab lands, with Israel having no legitimate claim. Israel has actually caused part of this problem in one way. They had control of these areas, but gave them up in previous 'peace' negotiations. They failed to remember their own lessons, that you cannot negotiate with groups that wish only to destroy you, and you certainly cannot give up land to them that only brings the territory they control even closer to your territory. Here is a basic fact that you need to understand. These Arab lands that surround Israel, from Iran to Egypt, from Saudi Arabia to Iraq, from Lebanon to Syria, do not recognize that Israel itself should even exist as a nation, and they ultimately want it erased from the map. That is a fact that you need to understand. It precludes any longterm peace agreement, because the fact is that no matter what deal these Muslim nations agree to from time to time, they have always returned ultimately to attacking Israel. There has been concern in recent years that Iran or some other radical Muslim group or nation will construct or obtain a nuclear weapon. Should that happen, there is no doubt in my mind that they will use that technology against Israel, it would just be a matter of time. You need to understand that despite the manner in which America's former 'mainstream media' presents the situation, Israel is not attacking anyone, they are defending themselves. Hamas is a radical Sunni Islamic political organization operating in the Palestinian region, and they are aggressively anti-Israeli. They had been lobbing bombs and missiles against Israel for some time before Israel finally responded last week. But you had not heard of those attacks in our American news, had you? That is the fact, and that is the attitude that much of the media here has towards Israel. This was no suddenly aggressive Israeli action, despite the suddenness of the situations appearance in our media. Israel is not the problem, the radical Islamists are the problem - again. Someday America may wake up to understand that we are truly in the middle of a World War, one that will continue against us and other western and non-Muslim nations, even if we pull out of the Middle East and cease fighting from our side. They will not stop, not against us, not against Israel, not against Europe. The radical Islamists are the problem, not Israel, and until we utterly destroy their ideology as we destroyed Nazi ideology, these problems will continue, this war will continue.

Islamism Series: Infiltration of America

Steven Emerson, one of the nation's leading terrorism experts, states it appropriately when he says that "only by knowing how the terrorists' networks operate...can we be vigilant in detecting any new activity." There are at least three significant foreign Islamic terror groups operating in America today: Hamas, al Qaeda, and PIJ (Palestinian Islamic Jihad.) These groups receive support from, and give it to, countries such as Sudan, Egypt, and Afghanistan. They are here for the sole purpose of attacking America and Americans right here in our homeland, and they were getting more successful at it until the increased efforts of the Bush administration in the post-9/11 world slowed them. But they have not stopped, they continue to plot and plan and make attempts, and without continued strong security and intelligence on our part they will succeed again, probably on an even larger scale than 9/11. Emerson has divided the terrorists activities into four categories: recruitment, fund-raising/money-laundering, networking, and direct organization. In recruiting, the Islamofascists love to find willing participants in Jihad who already hold American passports, at times finding these people among naturalized U.S. citizens of Middle Eastern descent. People who can generally travel freely into and out of the country, and within the country, with little suspicion. Other recruitment, orientation, and indoctrination can come from websites and newspapers, and the terrorists actively use our freedoms against us. We cannot stop anyone from preaching violence unless a standard of "clear and present danger" is met. As Emerson states, "We cannot stop groups from gathering to share their political views, even if one of those views is that the U.S. must be destroyed." In the areas of fund-raising and money-laundering, there have been conferences held right here on U.S. soil in which attendees were exhorted to directly donate at that time to fund the Jihad. Other times, charities such as the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development have made appeals for donations to support widows and orphans of the Middle East conflict, never telling the donors that the funds would go to fight and support continued Jihadist activities. They have smuggled contraband cigarettes for funding as well, participated in sham marriages to gain citizenship. Networking can be accomplished by using organizations such as CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) and MAYA (Muslim Arab Youth Association) among others with legitimate sounding names. These organizations may often publicly preach one message, while their members often exhibit what Emerson calls "contrary behaviors" in collaborating and facilitating the work of terrorists. Emerson rightly feels that these organizations must take responsibility for the things that take place at their conferences. Direct organizing has at times been accomplished by what Emerson has called "terror networks operating under their own names" such as the ARC (Advice & Reform Committee), formed under direct orders by Osama bin Laden to the man indicted in the bombing of the American embassies in Kenya & Tanzania back in 1998. Though ARC was never incorporated in the U.S., it kept two mailing addresses here in Denver and Kansas City. The fact remains that the vast majority of Muslims here in America are peaceful and genuinely moderate, subscribing to what Emerson describes as "the strong Islamic tradition of tolerance and human dignity." And yet it is the extremists who continue to have the most influence simply because they are the most active. That activism, combined with the funding of Saudi Arabian subscribers to Wahhabism, which supports the spread of Islam through violence, has led to what a prominent cleric has stated has been a takeover of "more than 80% of the mosques that have been established in the U.S." It is clear that the mix of radical idealism, Saudi cash, willing naturalized recruits, and modern technology are placing America in danger. Despite stronger intelligence capabilities thanks to efforts such as The Patriot Act, the infiltration of America is well under way, and it is important that we all both know this and remain awake and aware to any emergence in our own communities through schools, mosques, community centers, and other outlets. It is also important that we all recognize the successful role that this Act and other law enforcement and intelligence efforts have played in keeping us relatively safe since 9/11, and that we continue to support these efforts and the politicians who will continue their implementation.