FBI Chief: Muslim Brotherhood Supports Terrorism

Elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group whose ideology has inspired terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, are in the United States and have supported terrorism here and overseas, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House committee Thursday. Mueller joined seven other Obama administration intelligence and law enforcement officials at a hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. They spoke of the Brotherhood's U.S. ties as word spread in Egypt that President Hosni Mubarak was prepared to resign. Mubarak has repeatedly said his administration, in place since 1981, is the one thing keeping an Islamic state led by the Brotherhood from taking over Egypt.

AQIM: to our people in Tunisa

On January 26, 2011, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a second statement directed towards the Tunisian people, in which AQIM congratulated the Tunisian people for overthrowing Bin Ali and encouraged Tunisians to be ready to take down the entire system, asserting that "the tyrant has left and the system of tyranny and Kufr remains; you have won a battle but you haven’t won the war yet”. And AQIM noted that “America and France, alongside the disbeliever West, haven’t and will not accept any real change that would serve the interests of Tunisia. And now, they are busy planning to find the replacement cooperative that they would accept, and they will seek with all of what they have of power, deception and deceit to abort this popular revolution, and surrounded and manipulate it….the Crusader France is the one that supported the tyrannical rule of the criminal generals in Algeria and it is the one that supported and backed them up in slaughtering the Muslims and suppressing them until this very day. And accordingly, not for one moment do we doubt that America and France will play the same dirty role in Tunisia in the future, if the attacks of the Mujahideen and the rounds of the sons of Yusuf bin Tashfin, don’t deter them”.

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Cables: FBI trained Egypt’s state security ‘torturers’

Egypt's secret police, long accused of torturing suspects and intimidating political opponents of President Hosni Mubarak, received training at the FBI's facility in Quantico, Virginia, even as US diplomats compiled allegations of brutality against them, according to US State Department cables released by WikiLeaks.
One cable, dated November 2007 and published by the Telegraph, describes a meeting between the head of the SSIS, Egypt's secret police, and FBI deputy director John Pistole, in which the secret police chief praises Pistole for the "excellent and strong" cooperation between the two agencies. (Pistole has since been appointed head of the TSA.)

Venezuela-Brazil Cooperation Advances Following Talks

Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota met with his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro to advance their countries’ bilateral projects. The meeting was the first between the two countries since Dilma Rousseff became president of Brazil on 1 January 2011. Housing and agriculture projects currently under development between the two governments will be the priority in the new phase of bilateral relations since Rousseff took power, Maduro said, but the two ministers also discussed industry, energy, and border development.
Maduro talked with Patriota about Venezuela’s new Agro Venezuela mission – which aims to increase staple crop production and the amount of land under production as well as promote urban agriculture – and how the Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research (EMBRAPA) can cooperate with it.

Mubarak refuses to step down despite demands, hands power to VP

‘Kronstadt Revolt Raises the Issue of a New Ethno-national Policy (NEP),” United Russia Ideologist Says

In a comparison certain to attract attention among many Russian leaders, a United Russia ideologist says that the recent “’Kronstadt revolt,” a reference to street where ethnic clashes took place in Moscow recently, raises the issue of “a NEP,” the acronym in the current context for a New Ethno-Political Policy.” In an interview posted on the “Russky zhurnal” portal, Abdul-Khakim Sultygov, United Russia’s coordinator for nationality policy and relations with religious organizations, makes this historically charged comparison to the events of 1921 to underscore the urgency of change in this sector.

Putin Loyalists Occupy 73 of 75 ‘Key’ State Jobs, Elite Specialist Says

People loyal to Vladimir Putin occupy 73 of the 75 “key positions” in the Russian state, according to Russia’s leading specialist on elites, a number that means only two are primarily loyal to Dmitry Medvedev and a balance that gives Putin the whip hand in making arrangements for the future. In an interview with “Svobodnaya pressa,” Olga Kryshtanovskaya, the head of the Center for the Study of Elites at the Academy of Sciences Institute of Sociology, says that Putin is thus likely to return “like a mafia don” but that if Medvedev is kept for a second term, he won’t be willing to continue to play “a pawn’s role”. Kryshtanovskaya’s comments come in the wake of the latest public disagreement between the two Russian leaders, this time over whether the Domodedovo terrorist attack has been solved, something that has contributed to the impression that “the Russian elite is divided into two teams: the ‘siloviki,’ and the ‘liberals.’

China Investing Far More in the Russian Far East than Moscow Is, ‘Nezavisimaya’ Says

Chinese businesses have invested about three billion US dollars in the Russian Far East over the past year, more than three times as much as Moscow has transferred to the budgets of the Amur oblast, Primorsky and Khabarovsk kray and the Jewish Autonomous District, “Nezavisimaya gazeta” reports today. Picking up on a Xinhua news agency story, the editors of the leading independent Moscow paper argue that these Chinese investments “in Russian lands are not only the private initiative of enterprising neighbors … but are a clear state policy for the mastering of new territories”. And it quotes with apparent alarm Xinhua’s words that “with the permission of the governments of China and Russia, Chinese entrepreneurs can open in Russia industrial and agricultural zones including zones” for a variety of purposes on very favorable terms for the Chinese side.

Sudan Dictator: I’ll Use Facebook to Crush Opposition!

After Tunisia and Egypt, most Mideastern strongmen worry that social media will help their subjects dislodge them from power. One of them wants it to help him hang in there. Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, isn’t known for being a technophile. He’s more famous for being an indicted war criminal, owing to his role in the Darfur genocide. But like his northern neighbor Hosni Mubarak, he’s endured two weeks of protests by youths banding together through social networks and text messages. So now Bashir wants to beat them at their own game.

Intel Chief: al-Qaeda Affiliates Getting Stronger

There are nearly 100,000 troops in Afghanistan to prevent al-Qaeda from returning to the country and bottle up its leadership in its Pakistani safe havens. But the leader of the U.S. spy apparatus warned Congress this morning that its Yemeni and Somali branches are increasing in strength and importance to global terrorism. Sorry, Osama. “Absent more effective and sustained activities to disrupt them, some regional affiliates — particularly al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and al-Shabaab in Somalia — probably will grow stronger,” James Clapper, the director of national intelligence told the House intelligence committee Thursday morning in an opening statement.

Pakistan Building New Reactor

The Washington Post is reporting that Pakistan may be building another plutonium reactor. This could complicate both relations with the United States and Pakistan’s rival India. There are no other uses for plutonium except for the use in nuclear weapons. This also comes as Pakistan is thought to have doubled its nuclear arsenal over the past decade to about one-hundred weapons.
Pakistani officials in Washington, asked about a fourth reactor at Khushab, declined to comment. A U.S. counterproliferation official who reviewed the images declined to comment on the ISIS analysis but said that U.S. intelligence agencies have been monitoring Khushab for years and are “aware of this facility.”
This could be a nervous development. The only reason to build this reactor is to build more nuclear weapons faster or use as a nuclear deterrent to India. Both would be a destabilization of the region.

Iran's American Networks

The Iranian regime has extended its tentacles into the American homeland, covertly acquiring weapons technology, sources of funding and building terrorism-supporting networks. This gives Iran the ability to bring any war home to the U.S. if the regime decides its time to attack the “Great Satan” on its own shores.
Last month, three were arrested in Texas for using their Portland-based charity to transfer $1.8 million to the Iranian government with the help of Hezbollah. Donors had been led to believe that their money would help enroll children in schools in Afghanistan, Indonesia and Iran. In June, a couple was arrested in Ohio after they were recorded telling an FBI informant of their plan to finance Hezbollah with up to half a million dollars. One of the suspects even traveled to Lebanon to advance the plot.

Egyptian Army to Protestors: “All Your Demands Will Be Met Today”

President Mubarak will step down tonight and Vice President Omar Suleiman will take over. The NBC News report strongly indicates that the military forced him to step aside, as the decision was made after a full day’s worth of meetings by the supreme military council that Mubarak did not attend. The military commander in charge of Cairo announced to the protestors, “All your demands will be met today.” The Egyptian TV also reported that the supreme council expressed its support “for the legitimate demands of the people.”

Libya: cyber-activist detained after call for protests

In recent days, Facebook groups numbering several hundred members have been calling for "day of rage" protests in Libya on Feb. 17. An initiator of the call, Jamal al-Hajji, who has joint Libyan and Danish citizenship and has spent time in prison in the past for his criticism of the Moamar Qadaffi regime, was detained on Feb. 1 for an alleged hit-and-run accident, which he denies. International human rights observers say he has been targeted for his activism.

Handling Irregular Immigration in the EU

The two-tier system of national and supranational EU legislation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs has proven problematic for the implementation of measures designed to deal with Europe’s significant, but greatly exaggerated, challenge of irregular immigration. Irregular or undocumented migration in the EU is a multifaceted phe­nomenon. Its complexity arises from the fact that irregular migrants are an amazingly heterogeneous category, raising ques­tions about the adequacy of dealing with it without addressing its various intricacies. Irregular migration has also been highly politicized, both at the national and EU levels, with rheto­ric often depicting it as an ‘invasion’.

Peak oil review - Feb 7

1. Oil and the Global Economy
NY crude futures traded around $91 a barrel for most of last week before falling on Friday to close out the week at $89.03. In London, Brent crude continued to trade about $10 a barrel higher, closing out the week at $99.83 after touching a recent high of $103.37 on Thursday. The decline on Friday was attributed to a weaker-than-expected US jobs report, profit taking and rumors that Egyptian President Mubarak would soon be stepping down.

WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices

The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter, may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating, confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show. The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%.
The revelation comes as the oil price has soared in recent weeks to more than $100 a barrel on global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect that the Saudis and their Opec cartel partners would pump more oil if rising prices threatened to choke off demand.

End Of Indian Export Limits To Boost U.S. Trade

The United States said Feb. 8 an end to export restrictions for India's defense and space industries would help ramp up military trade with the South Asian country. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke said U.S. officials would hold talks Feb. 9 with state-run Indian firms which were previously on a so-called U.S. "entities list," which barred them from importing critical technologies. Nine Indian defense and space research firms were unshackled last month from the restrictions - imposed as a penalty on India for its 1998 nuclear tests.

Russia to unveil new air defense system at Indian air show

A Russian firm will disclose information about a new mobile short-range air defense system based on the Strelets launcher at the upcoming Aero India 2011 air show. "The [Kolomna-based] Engineering Design Bureau will present for the first time details of a new ultra short-range air defense system based on the Strelets launcher for the portable Igla missiles," Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation said in a statement on Friday. The Strelets multiple launcher unit was developed for use with the 9M39 Igla (NATO SA-18 "Grouse") and Igla-1 (NATO SA-16 "Gimlet") missiles. It provides an automatic remote launch capability in either single-round or salvo modes when mounted on various launch platforms. Aero India-2011, which will be held in the southern city of Bangalore on February 9-13, will attract the record number of over 600 manufacturers, vendors and suppliers from 63 countries. Russia will be represented by 35 companies, including MiG, Sukhoi, Almaz-Antei and Engineering Design Bureau.

France suspends arms sales to Egypt

France said on Saturday it had suspended sales of arms and riot police equipment to Egypt as fresh protests took hold of Paris pressing for veteran leader Hosni Mubarak to step down. The decision was taken by the prime minister's office at an extraordinary meeting on January 27, and was conveyed to those concerned the following day, an aide to Prime Minister Francois Fillon told AFP. With regard to equipment used to maintain public order, "export permits for explosive materiel, mostly tear gas grenades, are the responsibility of customs. These were suspended on January 25," the aide said. Egypt has been rocked by a popular uprising since January 25 seeking to topple Mubarak, in power for nearly 30 years.

Lawlessness spreads in N. Sinai as Hamas transfers al Qaeda cells

Intelligence updates reaching Israel reveal that Hamas plans to follow up its attack on the Egyptian-Israel-Jordanian gas pipeline Saturday, Feb. 5, with more large-scale operations against Israel, using Egyptian Sinai as its launching-pad. Since the uprising began in Egypt two weeks ago, more than 1,000 Hamas gunmen have infiltrated North Sinai from the Gaza Strip and seized control of the region. They were followed by Al-Qaeda cells which redeployed from Iraq in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has established a command center in North Sinai for coordinating its operations with the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.

Egypt nears military coup. USS warships in Suez Canal

A fresh surge of popular anti-Mubarak protest ripping across Egypt Tuesday, Feb. 8 has brought the country closer to a military coup to stem the anarchy than at any time since the street caught fire on Jan. 25.
Vice President Omar Suleiman warned a group of Egyptian news editors that the only choice is between a descent into further lawlessness and a military takeover in Cairo. The distinguished political pundit of the 1960s and 1970s Hasnin Heikal saw no other way out of the crisis but a government ruling by the army's bayonets.

Defense minister proposes new push against criminal groups

Colombia's defense minister proposes a strategy, including the creation of a Joint Task Force, aimed at destroying the infrastructure of criminal organizations throughout the country, El Espectador reports.
Rodrigo Rivera presented the new strategy, known as "D6," to President Juan Manuel Santos Monday.
The document, over 20 pages in length, is the result of a series of intelligence meetings involving key personnel from various government forces.

Could China Be Forced To Bring A New Global Recession by 2015?

Bloomberg cited a 28-page report--The Financial Crisis of 2015: An Avoidable History by Barrie Wilkinson, a London-based partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman. The report describes a scenario--spanned 2013 to 2015--when Western QE-induced inflation brings down China, creating a debt crisis in the commodity sector--inclusive of resource-dependent countries as well as commodity producers--which eventually plunge the world into another recession, and a new world order by 2015. "...the dramatic rises in commodities prices resulting from loose Western monetary policies eventually caused rampant inflation in China. China was forced to raise interest rates and appreciate its currency to bring inflation under control." Well, I think we are pretty much there already.

China Eyes U.S. Defense Contracts

The maker of China's new stealth fighter jet has teamed up with a tiny, unprofitable California company to try to launch bids for U.S. defense contracts, possibly including one to supply Chinese helicopters to replace the aging Marine One fleet used by the president, according to people involved in the partnership. Any Chinese bids for this or another contract under discussion would be certain to meet intense political resistance and would appear to have very little chance of success given mounting U.S. concern about China's military power and long-term strategic goals, and the often-prohibitive opposition in the past to Chinese attempts to enter other strategic U.S. sectors, such as energy and telecommunications.

Opposition Head Warns of "Egyptian Scenario" in Macedonia

“I hope that we are far from that. But this does not mean that it might not happen if these trends continue,” Branko Crvenkovski, the head of the Social Democrats, said in an interview for the local A1 TV late on Sunday. Crvenkovski made the remarks as his Social Democrats and other smaller opposition parties continue a parliament boycott that they began at the end of last month and step up calls for early elections.

Pole Shift Threatens To Cause Weather Chaos

According to some experts, the world’s weather is about to get even more chaotic as a result of natural climate change that we can do absolutely nothing to prevent – and even though global warming alarmists may exploit the consequences to advance their own political agenda, paying a carbon tax to Al Gore will not lessen the impact of a potentially catastrophic magnetic polar shift.

Pleno de las Farc en la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Camaradas mandos medios y guerrilleros del Bloque Martín Caballero
Saludos del Estado mayor del Bloque Martín Caballero.
Nuestro saludo fraterno, lleno de optimismo y animo de lucha.

Ha culminado la reunión de EMB en medio de una situación que a pesar de todas las dificultades la consideramos favorable para el desarrollo de la lucha revolucionaria, pues este año que comienza estará pleno de luchas populares y es nuestra misión articularla con el accionar político militar organizativo y propagandístico para que el gran esfuerzo de guerrilla y pueblo confluyan en una sola dirección.

35 animals freeze to death at zoo in northern Mexico as frigid weather grips region

Thirty-five animals at a zoo in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua have frozen to death during the region's coldest weather in six decades. Serengeti Zoo owner Alberto Hernandez says 14 parrots, 13 serpents, five iguanas, two crocodiles and a capuchin monkey died. He said Saturday that power failures cut off electrical heating at the zoo in the town of Aldama. Temperatures have dropped to 9 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) in the area, the coldest weather in 60 years. Power outages have affected much of northern Mexico, forcing factories and businesses to close. Dozens of people are in shelters. Schools have been closed in Chihuahua state but are expected to open Tuesday as the weather warms.

TV : L’histoire des services secrets français

Chaque dimanche, à partir du 6 février, France 5 consacre un documentaire passionnant aux relations entre politique et espionnage. C’est l’histoire d’un tango saccadé et affolant, où chaque partenaire cherche à entraîner l’autre à sa cadence sans toujours mesurer les risques de vol plané. Dans un documentaire de très belle facture, diffusé en quatre parties, à partir de dimanche soir (1), le journaliste Jean Guisnel et le réalisateur David Korn-Brzoza retracent les relations complexes et tumultueuses qu’entretiennent hommes politiques et agents de renseignement, disséquant les ressorts de cette cohabitation forcée entre l’ombre et la lumière. A partir des récits de grands témoins, ministres et espions de haut rang, sur fond d’images d’archives, ils chroniquent l’évolution des services français, depuis la création du BCRA par de Gaulle, à Londres, jusqu’à la refonte du dispositif et sa centralisation à l’Elysée par Nicolas Sarkozy, en 2008.

The total collapse of U.S. economy is inevitable

Dollar Collapse, One Scenario: China, Oil, Rationing

The truth behind Egypt/Tunisia Revolutions and protests in Muslim countries

Egypt’s Transformative Moment: Revolution, Counterrevolution, or Reform

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 there have been two further transformative events that have reshaped in enduring ways the global setting. When the Soviet empire collapsed two years later, the way was opened for the triumphalist pursuit of the American Imperial Project, seizing the opportunity for geopolitical expansion provided by its self-anointed global leadership as ‘the sole surviving superpower.’ This first rupture in the character of world order produced a decade of ascendant neoliberal globalization in which state power was temporarily and partially eclipsed by a passing the torch of lead global policymaker to the oligarchs of Davos who met annually under the banner of the World Economic Forum. In that sense, the U.S. Government was the well-subsidized sheriff of predatory globalization while the policy agenda was being set by lead bankers and global corporate executives. Although not often identified as such, the 1990s was the first evidence of the rise of non-state actors, and the decline of state-centric geopolitics.

Hezbollah: A State above the State

Two historical trends have been significant to the Middle East’s socio-political development and will continue to shape the region’s future: a long-term Muslim determination to resist Western hegemony, and a widening self-assertion by minorities within their own polities. Hezbollah – The Party of God – is the product of these political and psychological forces that, in one form or another, persist throughout the region regardless of sect.

Recent changes in the composition of the Lebanese government reflect the ascendancy of Hezbollah in Lebanese affairs over the past two decades. Through its forceful backing of Mikati, Hezbollah has clearly demonstrated that it is the dominant political and military force in Lebanon, while simultaneously helping Iran and Syria to gain more influence in the Lebanese theatre. Thanks to its smart positioning, successes against Israel, and social services network, Hezbollah has grown into an independent actor in the Lebanese political scene and this necessitates a sharp focus on the movement as an actor in itself.

As Tahrir Square Goes, So Goes the Middle East?

It is difficult to overstate the potential for Egyptian citizens advancing universal aspirations for freedom, dignity and basic human rights now spreading from the determination of those who for more than a week have risked their lives while inspiring much of the world at Cairo’s Tahrir (“Liberation”) Square.  Tahrir public plaza near central Cairo has been the traditional site for numerous major protests and demonstrations over the years, including during the 1977 Egyptian Bread Riots and the March 2003 protests against the American war in Iraq. Washington DC and Tel Aviv are reportedly shocked by the rapidly unfolding and unpredictable revolution.

Somalia / Piracy: India navy seizes pirate's mothership and detains 28 pirates

The Indian Defence Ministry reported on Sunday that 28 suspected pirates were detained on a Thai fishing vessel, used as a mothership by a PAG (Pirate Action Group) operating close to the Indian coast.
Reportedly, the pirates onboard the Thai-flagged Prantalay-11 were preparing to launch an attack on an unidentified Greek-flagged merchant ship when they were intercepted by two vessels of the Indian navy on Saturday evening. Following a brief exchange of gunfire, the pirates surrendered to the Indian coast guard some 160 kilometres west of the south-western Lakshwadeep Islands. The 24 crewmembers onboard the Prantalay-11 were rescued onboard the pirated vessel, which could indicate that they were used as human shields by the pirates. It is worthwhile recalling that the Prantalay-11 was among three Thai fishing vessels – the Prantalay family - seized in April last year and naval sources indicate that it has been used as a mothership in several pirate attacks reported in the Arabian Sea. The pirates have been taken to Mumbai for questioning.

Turkish minister clarifies “racism” remarks

EU officials said on Thursday (February 3rd) they had asked Turkey’s chief negotiator with the 27-nation bloc to clarify his remark this week that rising racism in Europe could lead to a replication of “the facist methods of the 1930s”. Turkish EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis made the statement during a Holocaust commemoration ceremony at the former Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland, on Tuesday. “The EU, founded in order to eliminate the threats of that period to peace, is today under the risk of being overtaken by a racist mentality that cannot internalise its own values and emulates the fascist methods of 1930s,” the Turkish official said. “Unfortunately, today Turkey and the Turkish people in Europe bear the consequences of being different … Turkish people, implicitly or openly, are being told this: ‘You are different and you have no place among us’,” media reports quoted the official transcript of his statement as reading.

Saakashvili Calls on West to Bring Moscow to Talks

President Saakashvili told the Munich Security Conference on Sunday that his call for a dialogue was responded by Moscow with further military build-up in Georgia’s “regions illegally occupied by the Russian troops.” In his speech at the conference he reiterated Georgia’s non-use of force pledge and called on the EU and the United States “to bring those who believe in military supremacy back to the table of negotiations.”

The Egyptian Stand-Off

During a CNN debate on February 5, 2011, an Egyptian affairs expert described the present situation in Egypt as a stand-off. It is. President Hosni Mubarak has remained defiant and has refused to quit now. He has told his people that he would quit only in September when his current term ends and a new President would have been elected. He has also totally revamped his National Democratic Party (NDP) executive.Hossam Badrawi, a reformer and top physician, who enjoys the confidence of Mubarak, has been appointed the head of the policies committee, a post held by his son Gamal Mubarak till now, and also the party secretary-general. This revamping, coming on the heels of the earlier reshuffle of the Cabinet, is meant to re-assure the protesters that people associated with the hated policies of his Government and accused of corruption would not stay in office in the run-up to the elections.

La Géorgie parie sur l’UE

Quels sont les objectifs de la Géorgie par rapport à l’Union européenne ?
L’objectif stratégique de la Géorgie est de se rapprocher le plus possible de l’Union européenne (UE) pour bénéficier des « quatre libertés » : la libre circulation des biens, des services, des personnes et des capitaux. Nous visons d’abord un Accord d’Association (AA) [1] UE-Géorgie pour fin 2012. À plus long terme, la Géorgie espère devenir membre de l’UE.

Wikileaks : silence, on tourne... la page

Trois éléments semblent se détacher des documents américains rendus publics par Wikileaks. D’abord, le caractère très intrusif des ambassades d’outre atlantique, qui ont tendance à s’ingérer dans tous les aspects de la vie publique des Etats d’accueil. Ensuite, la proximité, voire la confusion qui existe entre diplomatie et renseignement. Enfin, l’égocentrisme américain qui voit les diplomates plus soucieux d’intervenir dans les affaires des Etats hôtes et d’y promouvoir les intérêts américains que de chercher à comprendre.

South Korea To Deploy Guided Imaging Rockets On Border Islands

South Korea plans to eventually deploy precision-guided rockets jointly developed with the United States on islands near the disputed western sea border with North Korea, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Feb. 4. The deployment of the Low-Cost Guided Imaging Rocket (LOGIR) is aimed at thwarting a possible infiltration by North Korean combat hovercraft in the western waters of the Korean Peninsula, a JCS spokesman said. "Recent intelligence indicates that North Korea has forward-deployed its high-speed hovercraft to a naval base near the Northern Limit Line (NLL)," the spokesman said. "If that's true, there is a limit for us to responding to it only with coastal artillery guns. So we're considering the deployment of the 70mm guided rocket to the border islands."

France Suspends Arms, Riot Equipment Sales To Egypt

The decision was taken by the prime minister's office at an extraordinary meeting Jan. 27 and was conveyed to those concerned the following day, an aide to Prime Minister Francois Fillon told AFP, confirming a report on the website of the daily Le Monde. With regard to equipment used to maintain public order, "export permits for explosive materiel, mostly tear gas grenades, are the responsibility of customs. These were suspended on Jan. 25," the aide said. Egypt has been rocked by a popular uprising since Jan. 25 seeking to topple Mubarak, in power for nearly 30 years.

Syrian Activists, Rallying in Solidarity with Egypt, Attacked by Mob

There have been reports that Syrian activist Suhair Atassi and her fellow protesters were attacked by a Syrian pro-government mob.  Atassi says that a group of thugs assaulted her and her friends while they held a candlelight vigil in solidarity with the people of Egypt. During the melee, one of the attackers told Atassi that “[Bashar Al] Assad is your president, and if you don’t like it in Syria, you should move to Egypt.” A woman in the pro-government mob attacked Atassi with a belt and yelled expletives at the activists. Syrian police stood by and observed while the violence took place.

Turkey to Train Syria’s Army

While we are being told constantly how well things are going in the Middle East, still another dangerous development has been ignored by the Western media and policymakers. A pro-regime Turkish newspaper reports that the Turkish army will start training the Syrian army.

Mon, 31 January 2011 | Anatolia News Agency

Turkish army to train Syrian army

Turkey and Syria have agreed on training of Syrian army by Turkish military, sources said on Monday.

German state risks Muslim anger after becoming first in the country to ban the burka

A German state yesterday became the first region in the country to ban Muslim women from wearing burkas.
The country has been gripped for several months by an angry debate on multiculturalism with many Germans voicing their concerns over immigration. Hesse, a state run by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, has now became the first German region to ban Muslim face veils for public sector workers.
Hesse Interior Minister Boris Rheinsaid it was 'not acceptable' for a teacher in Frankfurt to wear a face veil because 'public sector workers are obligated to have neutral religious and political views'. The decision was prompted by a local teacher who had told her school she wanted to wear a burka in the classroom after returning from maternity leave. She had not previously worn one.

Jim Rogers: "I Expect More Currency Turmoil, More Social Unrest, More Governments Collapsing"

Israeli Spy Arrest in Egypt Points to High Stakes for Washington and Tel Aviv

An amateur video showing the arrest in Egypt of an alleged spy belonging to the Israeli General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, the Sayeret Matkal, indicates how worried Tel Aviv is by the turmoil engulfing the Mubarak regime and suggests that attempts are underway by outside forces to destabilise the popular revolution. Meanwhile, sabotage of a major Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline early this morning (Saturday) by unknown bombers in the Northern Sinai town of El Arish could be the beginning of a campaign to destabilise Egypt and legitimate further foreign intervention in that country – intervention that would advantage US/Israeli attempts to salvage the regime that has so loyally served their interests, but which is now slipping from its control.

 

European carbon market reopens but traders stay away Suspicion that carbon trading system is not secure enough remains after cyber attacks

Attempts to end the chaos inside Europe's emissions trading scheme (ETS) stumbled today when the market reopened, only for minimal trading to take place. Traders were said to be worried that business could remain polluted by the theft of carbon credits in Austria and elsewhere that forced a shutdown of the scheme on 19 January, at the estimated cost of £90m in lost business. The European commission has called on national carbon registries to beef up their IT security systems, but has upset traders by declining to publicly reveal the minimum standards now required. The ETS is seen as a vital tool in the fight against climate change and the fraud is a setback to attempts to sell the cap-and-trade scheme to the US, Australia and elsewhere.
Britain, France and three other countries resumed trading but it took three hours before any trades had been reported on the Paris-based BlueNext platform, while larger exchanges such as that of London-based ICE remained shut.

The Egyptian Tinderbox: How Banks and Investors Are Starving the Third World

Underlying the sudden, volatile uprising in Egypt and Tunisia is a growing global crisis sparked by soaring food prices and unemployment. The Associated Press reports that roughly 40 percent of Egyptians struggle along at the World Bank-set poverty level of under $2 per day. Analysts estimate that food price inflation in Egypt is currently at an unsustainable 17 percent yearly. In poorer countries, as much as 60 to 80 percent of people's incomes go for food, compared to just 10 to 20 percent in industrial countries. An increase of a dollar or so in the cost of a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread for Americans can mean starvation for people in Egypt and other poor countries.

Protesters Demand Early Elections in Serbia

Fears that the rally, organised by opposition party Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, of Tomislav Nikolic, would clash with a rival protest held by football hooligans failed to materialise, after just a handful turned up.
Some 1,500 football fans had been expected to vent their fury at sentences handed down to their fellow supporters for the murder of a French man before a match in the Serbian capital in 2009. But the biggest opposition rally seen in Serbia in recent years ended without major incident, and police, which had deployed more than 4,000 officers, said they detained just 20 football fans who were chanting songs. The rally began at 12.30pm in downtown Belgrade with the Serbian national anthem Boze Pravde, God of Justice. Some 55,000 supporters of the SNS and several minor opposition parties joined forces to call for the government to initiate early elections within the next two months. SNS President Nikolic said he and his supporters would be back in April with a sit-down protest if the demand was not met. "If thugs [Serbian officials] continue to behave as before, you'll find me here in April," Nikolic said.

WikiLeaks cables: US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets

Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week. Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal. The fact that the Americans used British nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on the so-called “special relationship”, which is shown often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic communications obtained by the WikiLeaks website. Details of the behind-the-scenes talks are contained in more than 1,400 US embassy cables published to date by the Telegraph, including almost 800 sent from the London Embassy, which are published online today. The documents also show that:

Underground world hints at China's coming crisis

There, in the city's vast network of unused air defence bunkers, as many as a million people live in small, windowless rooms that rent for £30 to £50 a month, which is as much as many of the city's army of migrant labourers can afford. In a Beijing suburb, beneath one of the thousands of faceless residential tower blocks that have carpeted the city's peripheries in a decade-long building frenzy, one of Beijing's "bomb shelter hoteliers", as they are known, agrees to show us his wares.

Hackers Penetrate Nasdaq Computers

Hackers have repeatedly penetrated the computer network of the company that runs the Nasdaq Stock Market during the past year, and federal investigators are trying to identify the perpetrators and their purpose, according to people familiar with the matter. The exchange’s trading platform—the part of the system that executes trades—wasn’t compromised, these people said. However, it couldn’t be determined which other parts of Nasdaq’s computer network were accessed. Investigators are considering a range of possible motives, including unlawful financial gain, theft of trade secrets and a national-security threat designed to damage the exchange.

Assassins fail to murder Egyptian Vice President Suleiman

Early Saturday, too, US intelligence sources disclosed that exactly a week ago, on Jan. 29, an attempt was made on the life of Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman in central Cairo as his convoy left the presidential palace. He had just been sworn in by President Hosni Mubarak as Vice President. Suleiman escaped unharmed but two of his bodyguards were killed. The sources said the attack bore the marks of professional, well-trained hitmen.

Sinai gas pipeline blast. Cairo diverts supplies to Israel, Jordan for domestic use

Egypt's suspension of gas supplies to Israel after the North Sinai pipeline was blown up Saturday, Feb 5 has suddenly cut Israel off from 25-30 percent of its gas neds and 80 percent of Jordan's. A few hours after the blast, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Shafiq announced the gas supplied to both countries under contract would henceforth be diverted to domestic requirements. With Egyptian gas cut off for the foreseeable future, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went into hasty non-stop consultations with ministers and energy military and security officials. Alongside the emergency declared by Israel's electricity corporation, those consultations centered on three additional facets of the crisis: The expanding occupation of North Sinai by Palestinian Hamas extremists from Gaza and anti-Egyptian Bedouin tribesmen, culminating in the gas pipeline explosion; the failure of joint Israeli and Egyptian military efforts to contain it and, thirdly, concerns that Hamas may cross into Israel and sabotage Israeli power stations or fuel reservoirs to bring about the collapse of Israel's electrical power system.

World of two halves! Map shows most of Northern Hemisphere is covered in snow and ice

At first glance it looks like a graphic from a Discovery Channel programme about a distant ice age. But this astonishing picture shows the world as it is today - with half the Northern Hemisphere covered with snow and ice. The image was released by the National Oceanic And Atmospheric Association (NOAA) on the day half of North America was in the grip of a severe winter storm. The map was created using multiple satellites from government agencies and the US Air Force. That Antarctica, the Arctic, Greenland and the frozen wastes of Siberia are covered in white comes as no surprise. But it is the extent to which the line dips down over the Northern Hemisphere that is so remarkable about the image.

Muslims must embrace our British values, David Cameron says

British Muslims must subscribe to mainstream values of freedom and equality, David Cameron declared that the doctrine of multiculturalism has “failed” and will be abandoned.

Entering the debate on national identity and religious tolerance, the Prime Minister declared an end to “passive tolerance” of divided communities, and say that members of all faiths must integrate into wider society and accept core values. To be British is to believe in freedom of speech and religion, democracy and equal rights regardless of race, sex or sexuality, he will say. Proclaiming a doctrine of “muscular liberalism”, he said that everyone, from ministers to ordinary voters, should actively confront those who hold extremist views.