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Switzerland: an ardent hater of Islam and fighter with minarets embraced Islam

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:03:56 GMT

The Swiss politician Daniel Streich, who rose to fame as a result of his opposition to mosques in his homeland, has now embraced the faith he reviled. Daniel Streich was a member of then Swiss People's Party (SVP) in Switzerland. A well-known politician, Streich led the calls for a ban on minarets across Switzerland. He was active in building anti-Muslim sentiments throughout Switzerland. This sustained campaign led to him being given a high ranking position in the Swiss Army. Streich left the SVP in November 2009 calling his party's campaign against Islam as a 'witch hunt.' The date coincided with the second anniversary of Streich's conversion which he had kept secret from the party. With the party's campaign to ban minarets leading to a referendum, Streich said the situation had become unbearable for him. In the lead up to the ban Streich said "If the initiative passes, it will be an absolute deep blow for me. I would have to ask myself, why I applied myself professionally and politically for over 30 years for this political system. It is not worthy of Switzerland to force Muslims to practice their faith in back alleys." Streich is a military instructor in the Swiss army and was said to be a committed Christian reading the Bible and attending Church regularly. He was also committed to his party (SVP) and stood as a local politician in the commune of Bulle. Streich attempted to understand the Qur'an and Islamic teachings in order to argue against Muslims on tenets of their faith. In the course of his efforts the ex-Christian began to agree with and acknowledge the proclamations of the Qur'an. "Islam offers me logical answers to important life questions, which, in the end, I never found in Christianity," says Streich. He is now a committed Muslim, who attends the mosque, recites the Qur'an and prays five times a day. Streich has now focused his intentions on participating in the building of the new Conservative Democratic Party in the canton of Freiburg. Freich's new movement is in contrast to his previous one and he aims to promote religious tolerance and peaceful cooperative living, in spite of the fact that ban on mosques minarets has gained a legal status. He is vehemently opposed to the Minaret ban and is hoping to establish Switzerland's fifth mosque and the most beautiful in Europe. Meanwhile the SUV have raised concerns over Streich's position as Military Commander in the Army in the aftermath of his conversion citing him as a security risk. SVP-National Council member Alfred Heer cited the Fort Hood shooting spree as an example. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

Iran says to unveil air defence equal to Russia system

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:18:27 GMT

Iran will soon unveil a domestically-made air defence system with at least the same capability as Russia's S-300 anti-aircraft hardware, an Iranian air force commander was quoted as saying on Monday. Last month, Russia's state arms trader declined to say whether it would go ahead with the sale of S-300 to Iran, which could protect the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities from air strikes. Iranian officials have expressed growing irritation at Russia's failure so far to supply the missile system, which Israel and the United States do not want Tehran to have. "The only equipment we wanted to import from abroad was the S-300 ... which Russia, based upon unacceptable reasons, has not delivered yet," the official IRNA news agency quoted commander Heshmatollah Kassiri as saying. "In the near future, a new locally-made air defence system will be unveiled by the country's experts and scientists which is as powerful as the S-300 missile defence system, or even stronger," he said. Russia is under intense Western pressure to distance itself from Iran in the dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme, but has refused to rule out the delivery of the S-300 system. Analysts say the S-300 could help Iran to thwart any attempt by Israel or the United States to bomb its nuclear facilities. Last year, Russian officials said Iran was not under international sanctions that would restrict its purchases of defence systems, but left it unclear whether any parts of the S-300 had actually been delivered. The truck-mounted S-300PMU1, known in the West as the SA-20, can shoot down cruise missiles and aircraft. It has a range of 150 km (90 miles) and travels at more than two km per second. Washington has sought pledges from Russia for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear energy programme, which the West suspects is intended to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran denies any such intention. Israel has hinted it could attack Iran in an effort to prevent it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran has threatened to retaliate for any attack by firing missiles at Israel, which is believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal. "The country's air defences are strong enough to confront the enemies ... and we will never let them get close to our sensitive nuclear centres," Kassiri said. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

Election results show Ukraine is heading towards a political schism

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:50:04 GMT

The presidential election in Ukraine is considered to have taken place, the president of the Central Elections Commission Andrey Magera said. During a CEC briefing, he reminded that according to the election law, the election could be declared invalid if both presidential candidates gain an same number of votes. Magera said that a probability of such a scenario is about 0,01 %. "I do not have an impression that the election in Ukraine is invalid", he added. Yankovich leads in eight of Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Lugansk, Khar'kovsk, Dnepropetrpovsk, Zaporozhie, Nikolaevsk, Kherson and Odessa, and also in the Crimmia and in Sevastopol. Timoshenko won in 16 regions: L'vovsk, Ivano-Frankovsk, Ternopol, Volyn, Rovno, Zakapatie, Khmelnitsky, Chernovtsy, Zhitomir, Vinnitsa, Chernigov, Sumy, Kirovograd, Poltava, and Kiev. Timoshenko also won in votes from abroad. The Party of Regions believes Timoshenko cannot succeed in organizing mass protests as in 2004. But just in case, the "regionals" gathered its own supporters to "defend the results of the election" before the CEC. According to MIA, a crowd of up to 50,000 people was expected. The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc says it will not organize rallies until the official results are announced and a legal expertise is made. Lawyers at the headquarters of Yulia Tymoshenko began already to look for opportunities to dispute the election results of the second round in the courts, the media reports. The turnout in the second round of presidential elections in Ukraine made 69.07%. The data was received from all 225 regions and published by the Central Elections Commission. Meanwhile, some experts do not exclude a possibility of mass protests in Ukraine. The head of the Center for political studies (PENTA), Vladimir Fesenko, assumes that a small difference in votes would raise doubts about the legitimacy and honesty of the election and there would be mass protests by Tymoshenko's supporters. A confrontation between peoples once again real in Ukraine, he says. Meanwhile, Yulia Tymoshenko is not in a hurry to recognize her defeat. "The results, which were announced at the exit polls are only statistics. The difference of 3% is within the statistical margin of error. Therefore, it is too early to draw any conclusions". "We will not speak about final results till the last moment. We will fight for every vote", Tymoshenko warned. The first vice-premier Aleksander Turchinov commented on the scope of violations during the election, "We were not able to avoid mass falsifications", he said adding it would be possible to speak about the validity of the election only after receiving official reports about the violations. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

NATO prepares to repel Russian aggression

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:12:02 GMT

NATO would soon develop contingency plans to defend Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania against Russian attacks, said Stephen Herzog, an independent security policy analyst and an arms control consultant to the Federation of American Scientists, in his article published in the information and political portal of World Politics Review. Herzog noted that this is the first time since the end of the "Cold War" that the Atlantic Alliance had specifically pinpointed Russia as a threat. According to the analyst, similar offers were already put forward in 2008, but at the time, France and Germany disapproved them, out of fear that it would compromise relations with the Kremlin. Herzog himself does not believe in the military threat from Russia: The Kremlin, in his opinion, does not want to get involved in a nuclear conflict with NATO (it would be inevitable in case of an attack on one of the block member countries). The Kremlin, as political scientist said, uses the levers of oil and gas blackmail and cyber-terrorism, and NATO should think about how to confront these, quite real and tangible threats. At the same time, Stephen Herzog said, NATO and Russia should try to solve problems together, they should "finally exorcise the ghosts of the Cold War rivalry", which absolutely does not contribute to the expected "plan for the Baltic States". Meanwhile, the New York Times is reminding about an appeal not to supply Georgia with weapons, delivered by Moscow through South Ossetia to US Senator Richard Lugar. Senator Lugar has recently published a report which calls into question the validity of the actual termination of the American arms supplies to Georgia after the ) Russia's aggression in August 2008. The senator believes it is "a de facto arms embargo that contributes to regional instability". It is interestingly to note that the appeal to the senator was formally signed by 340 residents of South Ossetia. At the same time, Moscow sought the assistance of a US PR company. The appeal describes a "threat" from "Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to regional stability". Moscow via Ossetians has also encouraged the US Congress to consider the question of "how the Georgians used weapons provided by the US in summer o2008". The Russian aggression against Georgia in August 2008 confirms NATO's weakness and feuding, a columnist of the International Herald Tribune writes in a review of a book by Ronald D. Asmus "A Little War That Shook the World". This is a "good new book about Russia's invasion of Georgia", says reviewer Jon Vinocur, but it might well have been more naggingly and intriguingly titled "A Little War That Should Have Shaken the World but Didn't". "This wording comes closer to reality", he stated in his article. The materials in the book demonstrate NATO's weakness, the author says. He believes, the Russian aggression against Georgia in August 2008 was possible in a large extent because the United States, NATO and the European Union simply closed their eyes on it. "Russia maximized its capacity to exercise a veto over the West's security interests, while the West, divided and without clear leadership, sought to minimize the obvious importance of the event", the article says. "A country that a close partner of the United States and a candidate country for NATO was invaded, and neither Washington nor the Atlantic Alliance did much to come to its assistance", Vinocur cited Asmus. Russia tramped the basic post-Cold War rule that borders in Europe should never be changed again by force; and, it assumed it prepared to use force again against its neighbors, the author affirms. "The book's testimony documenting the Atlantic Alliance's feebleness and feuding with regard to Russia's threats against Georgia seem to serve as a massive encouragement to any group or country - "Al Qaeda", Iran, North Korea - thinking that West's rivalries could make it compliant", Vinocur writes. According to the author, Putin has taken note in red ink that the administration of President George W. Bush failed to win the Membership Action Plan (MAP), or official status, as a NATO candidate, for Georgia or Ukraine because Germany opposed. "In terms of Putin's view of Russia's self-interest, NATO's wobble was an invitation to a short effective war, and the West has done its best to suppress it", Vinocur writes. The current events continue to demonstrate that Asmus was right, the book reviewer says. Thus, the French started negotiations with the Russian Navy about selling modern helicopter-carrying assault vessels to Russia , and Germany tripled its funding for the Nord Stream. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Tensions rising in Ukraine ahead Sunday's presidential contest

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:55:07 GMT

Tensions are rising in Ukraine ahead of Sunday's presidential contest, with both candidates threatening to send thousands of supporters into the streets of the capital after the balloting. Kyiv authorities said Friday they have received a permit application from supporters of Russia-friendly opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych for a rally of up to 50,000 people around the city the day after the vote. Meanwhile, incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko instructed Interior Ministry troops to secure the Central Election Commission, which was surrounded by some 250 burly Yanukovych partisans who said they were there to protect the integrity of the election. Yanukovych's Kremlin-backed election as president five years ago was contested in the mass protests called the Orange Revolution, and his win was thrown out on grounds of fraud. He appears confident of victory and determined to protect it this time. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko accused Yanukovych Thursday of plotting to steal the vote and vowed to stage mass street protests in a replay of the 2004 Orange demonstrations. The fiery and glamorous Tymoshenko helped lead the Orange revolt, which rallied hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians demanding economic and political reform. Some analysts say Tymoshenko is trailing, and she is calling for demonstrations to protest the widespread fraud that she predicts will take place. But it's not clear whether Ukrainians, exhausted by years of political turmoil, will answer the call of their bitterly divided political leaders and take to the streets. "People no longer believe in politicians and they won't go to the Maidan," said 37-year-old businessman Pyotr Ridno, referring to Kyiv's central square where tens of thousands rallied for weeks in late 2004. "Brazen and flagrant fraud by Yanukovych could rouse the Ukrainians, but they are unlikely to go for that after what happened in 2004." Others said they would rally to defend the Orange revolt. "If we do not help Yulia to win, then dark days await Ukraine and we will return to the past," said Nina Krikun, a 70-year-old retiree. "My whole life was spent in Soviet poverty. And I will do everything to ensure my grandchildren live in a different Ukraine." Yanukovych won handily in the first round of voting last month, 35 per cent to 25 per cent. Tymoshenko is expected to close at least some of the gap by picking up votes splintered among candidates in the first round. Political observers say that Tymoshenko isn't likely to concede the race easily. "Regardless of what the gap between them is - one and a half per cent or 10 per cent - she will not accept defeat," said Mikhail Pogribinsky, director of the Kyiv Center of Political Research and Conflict Studies. "Then we will enter a new era of instability until a broad agreement is reached between the winner and the loser." Both candidates have strong geographic constituencies. Tymoshenko is popular in western Ukraine, while Yanukovych is the standard-bearer for the east, centre of the country's large ethnic Russian minority. "There remains a deep rift right along the Dnepr River - the southeast versus the northwest," said Sergei Markov, a Russian lawmaker and election monitor, referring to the river that runs through Kyiv. "The new president will need to mend these two camps in order to become not just the president of western Ukraine but all of Ukraine," he said. As opposing parties trade increasingly bitter accusations, Yushchenko expressed concern that Ukraine's democracy was eroding. "With every passing day, the situation is becoming ever more intolerable. Unfortunately, we are moving away from European democratic norms," Yushchenko said Friday in an unscheduled government meeting attended by top security officials. Ukraine's acting interior minister, a Tymoshenko loyalist, said Friday that about 2,000 former police and security guards have arrived in Kyiv to serve as muscle for Yanukovych. Acting Minister Yury Lutsenko said the massing of so many security veterans raises concerns about election unrest. Yanukovych's spokesman declined to comment on Lutsenko's statement. The campaigns of both candidates were to culminate Friday evening in rallies at two separate Kyiv squares one block apart. Both were expected to draw thousands of supporters, raising fears of clashes. Each camp has accused the other of planning to steal or disrupt the election. On Wednesday, Yanukovych supporters helped pass amendments to the election law repealing a requirement that representatives of both candidates be present to supervise the vote count. Tymoshenko charged that Yanukovych will use the new law to eject her supporters from the polls, opening the door for ballot-box stuffing and fraudulent counts. On Friday, Tymoshenko's camp appealed to the constitutional Court to have the law overturned, but no ruling is expected for several weeks. The head of the European People's Party raised questions about the amendment. "I am very concerned about the last-minute changes made to the electoral law of Ukraine," the party's president, Wilfried Martens, said in a statement Friday. Martens said the new rules were likely to increase opportunities for fraud in Sunday's vote. Yanukovych insisted the changes in the law were needed to prevent Tymoshenko's appointees from boycotting the count in Yanukovych's strongholds and invalidating the affected ballots. Yushchenko, who signed the law Thursday, said Friday it would prevent any attempted disruption. "I contend that this makes the electoral process more democratic," he said. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

Rabbi Weiner teaches, Judaism forbids Jews to harvest Jewish organs

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:37:12 GMT

In the midst of an international scandal in connection with the fact that, according to media reports, Zionist militants from the "Israeli army of defense" who were sent to Haiti to "assist earthquake victims" were accused of harvesting organs from living Haitian adults and children, Rabbi Yaakov Weiner, the head of the "Jerusalem Center for Medicine and Halacha", explained the crux of the matter. A US radio station, the PRI (Public Radio International), reported in a broadcast entitled "Global organ shortage": According to the Rabbi, the fact is that Judaism prohibits cutting out organs from the Jews, so Jews cannot donate their organs to other Jews. "I'm Orthodox, I cannot give," the Rabbi said. Rabbi Weiner emphasizes that under Jewish law he cannot donate his organs or those of his family members. Rabbis teach that it is forbidden harvesting organs from Jews who are medically brain-dead, since according to the Jewish faith they are actually "not dead but alive". So cutting organs from dead Jews is equivalent to murder. And killing Jews is not allowed. The Rabbi, however, points out that Judaism does not prohibit transplanting organs from a non-Jew to save the life of a Jew. Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reminded about the abduction of 25,000 Ukrainian children who were imported to "Israel" for organ harvesting as reported in the media: "A book of Elena Mazur and Nikolay Lativok entitled "1932-1933 years: famine in Europe and America. 1992-2009 years: genocide in Ukraine. Facts and documents. Analysis", was recently presented in Kiev by a Hero of Ukraine, Boris Oliyn, and Professor Vyacheslav Kudin. Boris Oliynyk told reporters about events preceding the project "Famine of the 1930-ies." In 1990, in a Plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee, he suggested to publish the names of all those who had been involved in creating artificial hunger of 1930-ies in Ukraine. But he was not allowed to do so because of the total domination of the Zionists in the government. In May 2008, the State Security Service of Ukraine issued a list of organizers of the Famine of 1930's. Most of them had Jewish names, which caused indignation of the Jewish community in Ukraine. In response to publication of Jewish names in Ukraine, Berel Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, accused the Ukrainian people in "taking part in the Jewish Holocaust together with the Germans". Berel Lazar said, Ukrainians were responsible for the murder of Jews. In his turn, Professor Kudin recalled terrible figures of Jewish crimes against children in modern Ukraine. He said that "Israeli" companies abducted 25 thousand Ukrainian children in Ukraine during the last 2 years only. He gave one scandalous example: when visitors came in "Israel" to an "adoptive parent" of 15 Ukrainian children to check conditions of their living, they saw no trace children at all. The "adoptive parent" refused to answer question where had all the children gone. Later it was found out that he sold all the children to a Jewish medical center to kill them and harvest their organs.� Iranian television channel Press TV has also reported on that terrible story: "An international "Israeli" conspiracy to kidnap children and harvest their organs is gathering momentum as another shocking story divulges Tel Aviv's plot to import Ukrainian children and harvest their organs. The story brings to light the fact that "Israel" has brought some 25,000 Ukrainian children into the occupied entity over the past two years in order to harvest their organs. It cites a Ukrainian man's fruitless search for 15 children who had been adopted in "Israel". The children had clearly been taken by "Israeli" medical centers, where they were used for 'spare parts'", Iranian TV reported. Organs hunter gangs hunting and abducting not only Palestinian, Ukrainian and Haitian children, but also Algerian children. Iranian television continues: "A story, published in the Arabic-language Algerian daily al-Khabar in September 2009, reported that Interpol, the international police organization, has revealed the "existence of a Jewish gang that was involved in the abduction of children from Algeria and trafficking of their organs". According to the story, bands of Moroccans and Algerians had been roaming the streets of Algerian cities in an attempt to hunt around for young children. They then trafficked the kids across the border into the neighboring Morocco. The children were then sold to "Israelis" and American Jews in Oujda, the capital of eastern Morocco, for the purpose of organ harvest in "Israel" and the United States. The story is based on statements made by Mustafa Khayatti, head of the Algerian National Committee for the Development of Health Research. Khayatti maintains that the abduction of children in Algeria is linked to arrests made in New York and New Jersey at the end of July, in which several Jewish men were among the 44 arrested in connection to an investigation into illegal organ trafficking and political corruption. The story comes in line with the article published last month in Aftonbladet, Sweden's largest circulation daily, suggesting that the "Israeli" army kidnapped and killed young Palestinians to harvest their organs. It shed light on the case of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, a 19-year-old Palestinian man, who was shot dead in 1992 by "Israeli" forces in the West Bank village of Imatin". Meanwhile, "Israeli rescuers" who left Haiti on Jan. 28 because of an international scandal and a rising interest of the Haitian police in their activities said, they were ready to "adopt" 150 Haitian children. "However, the Government of Haiti is in no hurry to give their children", a Zionist paper, "Yediot Aharonot", in the occupied Palestine, laments.� Department Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Ukraine catches 5 Russian FSB terrorists for spying

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:38:09 GMT

Ukraine's security service on Tuesday said it had foiled a Russian plot by arresting five of Moscow's intelligence agents operating in the south of the country on a mission to steal state secrets. Adding to tensions ahead of presidential elections on Sunday, the Ukraine Security Service (SBU) said four of the purported agents had been expelled from the country while one, a colonel, was still being detained. "On January 27, the SBU foiled an operation by the Russian agents in the region of Odessa" in the south of Ukraine, SBU chief Valentin Nalyvaichenko was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. He said the agents from Russia's security service the FSB "were trying to illegally obtain Ukrainian secrets through blackmail and threats." "They were caught red-handed," he added. In a statement released through Russian news agencies in Moscow, the FSB confirmed that its "employee" had been detained on Ukrainian territory. It expressed astonishment that its Ukraine counterpart had made the incident public "as usually such situations are resolved through coordination between the special services." The scandal is the latest incident to hit ties between Moscow and Kiev which have been ravaged by a succession of rows ranging from energy supplies to interpretation of history under Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. The pro-Western Yushchenko was eliminated in the first round of presidential elections and the candidates in the run-off, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich, are seen as more pro-Russian. The SBU operates under the control of the president, which also appoints its chief. The SBU found that the Russian agents were carrying a camera hidden inside a pen and other espionage gadgets, Nalyvaichenko said. In a rare insight into operational matters, the FSB defended its actions inside Ukraine, saying they were in response to espionage operations by Kiev. It said it had in October 2009 arrested a Ukrainian citizen working for the Ukrainian defence ministry's intelligence arm at a Russian military facility in Moldova with a digital camera and scans of documents marked "top secret". Apparently offering to work as a double agent, the man then offered to hand over information to the Russian side about espionage activities being carried out against Moscow. It was then decided to refrain from prosecuting him, the FSB said. On January 27, he had been due to meet Russian agents to hand over information about threats to Russian military objects in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestr, where it has a contingent of troops. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

Russian aggression against Georgia shows NATO's feebleness

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:19:18 GMT

The Russian aggression against Georgia in August 2008�confirms�NATO's feebleness and�feuding that seem to serve as massive encouragement�for any group or country: Al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, a columnist of the International Herald Tribune writes in a review of�a�book by Ronald D. Asmus "A Little War That Shook the World". This is a "good new book about Russia's invasion of Georgia", says reviewer Jon Vinocur, but it might well have been more naggingly and intriguingly titled "A Little War That Should Have Shaken the World but Didn't". "This formulation comes closer to reality", he stated in his article. Materials in the book�demonstrate NATO's feebleness, the author says. He believes, the Russian�aggression against�Georgia in August 2008 was�possible in a large extent because the United States, NATO and the European Union simply closed their eyes�on it. "Russia maximized its capacity to exercise a veto over the West's security interests, while the West, divided and without clear leadership, sought to minimize the obvious importance of the event", said in the article. "A country that has a close partner of the United States and a candidate country for NATO was invaded, and neither Washington nor the Atlantic Alliance did much to come to its assistance", Vinocur cited Asmus. Russia trashed the basic post-Cold War rule that borders in Europe would never again be changed by force; and, it asserted it is prepared to use force again against its neighbors, the author affirmed. The book's evidence documenting the Atlantic Alliance's feebleness and feuding in the face of Russia's threats against Georgia would seem to serve as massive encouragement to any group or country - "Al Qaeda", Iran, North Korea - thinking the West's rivalries can make it compliant", Vinocur wrote. According to the author, Putin has taken note in red ink that the administration of President George W. Bush failed to win a Membership Action Plan (MAP), or official status as a NATO candidate, for Georgia or Ukraine - Germany has opposed. "In terms of Putin's view of Russia's self-interest, NATO's wobble was an invitation to a short, effective war whose memory the West has done its best to suppress", Vinocur wrote. The current�events continue to�demonstrate that�Asmus was right, the book reviewer says.�Thus, the French�started negotiations with the Russian Navy�about selling to Russia modern helicopter-carrying assault vessels, and Germany tripled its funding for the Nord Stream. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Pentagon tells about its new military doctrine. U.S. wants to fight around the world

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:27:51 GMT

The Pentagon will no longer shape the US military to fight two major conventional wars at once, but rather prepare for numerous conflicts and not all in the same style, according to a draft of a new strategic outlook the Pentagon is announcing on Monday. The new mantra for military planners will replace the almost 25-year-old combat planning style of fighting and winning two major conventional wars in two different locations in favor of a fighting force that is capable of protecting US interests around the world from a range of threats, from "terrorism" to cyber attacks. The change will be addressed in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, a congressionally mandated document that looks at future threats and the military's requirements to mitigate them. "It is no longer appropriate to speak of major regional conflicts as the sole or even primary template for sizing, shaping or evaluating US forces," according to a draft first obtained by Inside Defense. The review will come on the same day the Pentagon presents its 2011 budget. According to Pentagon officials, Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be asking for $ 708 billion, including funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- $ 44 billion more the 2010 budget of $ 664 billion. The last major review was released in 2006 and the Pentagon's view of the world has changed dramatically in the four years since. The 2006 review was heavily focused on the threat of a large-scale conventional war with China and that country's saber rattling over Taiwan. It also stressed the need for more of and a greater role for special forces troops for use in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 2010 review still stresses the threats from China, but will look at the need to defend against a growing threat of cyber attacks -- without directly tying China to past cyber attacks, according to Pentagon officials -- and China's focus on preemptively striking and crippling an adversary's ability to tell what it will do next ahead of a large attack. "Prudence demands that future conflicts could involve kinetic and non-kinetic (use of explosive weapons and laser weapons) attacks on space-based surveillance and communications," according to the draft. The review will put heavy stress on quenching the insatiable need for more unmanned aerial vehicles, including Predator and Reaper, the Air Force's premier UAV's used by the military for both reconnaissance and air strikes. The aircraft are used in Iraq, Afghanistan and over Pakistan and Gates has said the Pentagon needs more. According to the draft review and US military officials, the Pentagon is looking at building up the number of aircraft in the air over combat zones from about 40 to 50 by 2013 and to 65 by 2015. The review also stresses learning better and more efficient ways to use the drones by improving operating effectiveness and using new technologies. The UAV category is just one way the Pentagon is shifting its priorities to position itself for current and future conflicts. Roadside bombs continue to be the number one killer of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The QDR roadmap continues to recognize the need to protect US troops by enhancing training and intelligence. Intelligence shows that "terrorists" have plotted to get their hands on biological, chemical or nuclear material to attempt and attack and the Pentagon foresees weapons of mass destruction to be a continued threat in the future and will push better WMD detection capabilities. "The Department will expand capabilities to counter WMD threats, strengthen interdiction operations, refocus intelligence requirements, enhance and grow international partnerships and thwart proliferation," the draft says. While special operations forces (SOF) continue to be a priority from the 2006 QDR, the new review places emphasis on improved support for the elite troops. That support is expected to include new gunship aircraft to protect the troops during combat missions as well as additional support personnel who would improve intelligence and communications for the SOF troops. The review will also push for more helicopters, something Gates has said the military never can have enough of. A key tool in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to move troops and equipment safely and faster across those countries, they are also a necessity in humanitarian efforts like those after Hurricane Katrina and most recently for the delivery of aid in Haiti. With the main military effort focused on Afghanistan, the review says a priority will be put on helicopters there. "As operations in the rugged terrain of Afghanistan grow in scope and intensity, more rotary wing lift capacity will be needed to ensure that coalition and Afghan forces can be resupplied at remote outposts and effectively cover their areas of responsibility," according to the draft. But as the Pentagon looks to its new planning for future conflicts, the report also says it can be done in an environmentally responsible way by using more solar power, biofuels and overall energy independence as well as pointing out that the Department of Defense, "provides environmental stewardship" at hundreds of bases around the country. However, a bigger challenge the Pentagon will face is future conflicts fought around and over reduced resources and environmental catastrophes. The review calls these climate change scenarios, "accelerant of instability" and suggests the military will have to plan on operations where climate (rising sea levels, reduced ice in the Arctic) would be a factor in planning. In addition to what climate change effects could bring in terms of the spread of disease, mass migration and a scarcity of resources. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

U.S. surrounding Iran by missile defense systems

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:51:00 GMT

Washington will deploy Patriot missiles in the Gulf region as a balancing force in the troubled region, the Guardian daily said on Monday. The United States raised arms sales to some Gulf states, such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, and deployed warships capable of shooting down missiles. US officials say the decision was intended to deter both possible attacks by Iran and to discourage Israel from striking Iran. "Our first goal is to deter the Iranians. A second is to reassure the Arab states, so they don't feel they have to go nuclear themselves. But there is certainly an element of calming the Israelis as well," the Guardian cited an unnamed senior administration official. The United States will deploy two batteries of air defense Patriots in each of the four Gulf countries. Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Israel already have older versions of Patriots. The chief of the US central command, General David Petraeus, said the region is concerned about Tehran's military ambitions and the prospect of it becoming a dominant power in the Gulf. "Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the Gulf front," he said. The move comes after Obama's failure to persuade Tehran to open its nuclear installations to international controls, despite the US president's attempts to emphasize diplomacy over confrontation in dealing with Iran. The White House is also drawing an agreement for sanctions towards Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which is allegedly in charge of the country's atomic program. The deployment was not announced officially; however, the information was leaked to US media. The latest version of the S-300 series, S-300PMU2 Favorit, has a range of up to 195 km (120 miles) and can intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles at altitudes from 10 meters to 27 km. It is considered one of the world's most effective all-altitude regional air defense systems, comparable in performance to the US MIM-104 Patriot system. US arms sales to Gulf allies have risen sharply in recent years, underscoring concerns about Iran. In fiscal 2009, UAE bought $7.9 billion in US arms, topping Saudi Arabia, which bought $3.3 billion, the Pentagon said. In 2008, UAE made $8.9 billion in arms deals while the Saudis had $7.8 billion, according to the Congressional Research Service. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

Mass-media in various countries accuse 'Israelis' of murders of Haitian children for organs

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:29:28 GMT

The American TV station CNS (Cybercast News Service) reported with reference to the Iranian newspaper Keyhan that Zionist militants who came to Haiti from the occupied Palestine "to help earthquake victims" are actually engaged in catching children in the devastated country and killing them to cut out organs. The Iranian newspaper reports about missing Haitian children and advises Haitians whom the "Israelis" allegedly "help" not to lose sight of their children and their body parts. The TV channel also said that an extensive coverage of the crimes commited by the "Israelis" in Haiti could be seen on the website of the Lebanese TV station al-Manar. The report says that the real aim of "Israel's help" to Haiti was to harvest internal human organs. The report partly uses the a black Americans' TV footage that warned Haitians not to trust Jewish "philanthropists". Information on the activities of "Israel" in Haiti caused a wave of indignation in the Muslim world, even among Muslims most loyal to the West. Asharq Alawsat, the largest English-language Saudi-based paper in the Arab world, writes in its issue dated January 31: "After the Swedish journalist Donald Bostrom wrote about the "Israeli" army killing Palestinian youth in order to harvest their organs, there were other media reports about "Israelis" stealing Ukrainian children in order to harvest their organs. Once again there are documented reports from Haiti that organs are being stolen by "Israelis" without international justice intervening to put an end to such criminal practices against innocent vulnerable people". Crimes commited by the Jews in Haiti also caused indignation of many American Christians. A newspaper of American dissidents, The Peoples Voice, says in an article by Stephen Lendman entitled "Focus on "Israel": Harvesting Haitian Organs": "The "Israel" Defense Forces' aid mission to Haiti left "Israel" overnight (January 14) with equipment for setting up an emergency field hospital. Around 220 soldiers and officers (were) in the delegation, including 120 medical staff (to) operate the hospital in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince." On January 20, the Lebanon's Al-Manar TV reported on the mission, citing accusing You Tube video by the American journalist T. West from AfriSynergy Productions. "The video presents something to think about while exploiting the horrible tragedy that has befallen Haiti where "Israeli" occupation soldiers are engaged in organ trafficking", the report of the Lebanese TV station says. In November 2009, Alison Weir published an article in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs headlined, ""Israeli" Organ Trafficking and Theft: From Moldova to Palestine." She cited an August Donald Bostrom article in Sweden's Aftonbladet suggesting that Israel illicitly removes body parts, including from Palestinians. She stated: "....Israeli organ harvesting - sometimes with Israeli governmental funding and the participation of high Israeli officials, prominent Israeli physicians, and Israeli ministries - have been documented for many years. Among the victims have been Palestinians." Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a UC Professor of Medical Anthropology in Berkley who unflinchingly honest in (citing) the "Israeli" connection writes: "Israel is at the top. IIt has tentacles reaching out worldwide. (It has) a pyramid system at work that's awesome....they have brokers everywhere, bank accounts everywhere; they've got recruiters, they've got translators, they've got travel agents who set up the visas. They pay "the poor and the hungry to slowly dismantle their bodies" or simply take what they want from fresh corpses. Body parts are commodities, to be harvested and sold to the rich, even though organ sales are prohibited in most countries, but not in international law". Meanwhile a Los Angeles paper, La Voz de Atzlan, in its issue dated January 29, 2010 hinted that nobody knew exactly how "Israelis" killed Haitian children before removing internal organs from their bodies and points out to possible ritual nature of these killings: "The trafficking of children for sex and for their organs is also presently occurring in other third world countries. Mexican children are most vulnerable because Mexico shares a border with a wealthy neighbor to the north. La Voz de Aztlan reported on the abduction of Mexican children by the USA "Organ Mafia" that operates along the US/Mexico border in clandestine clinics for the purpose of transplanting Mexican baby organs to wealthy but sick American children. Among the worst of the "Organ Mafias" are those belonging to Zionist "Israel" and to certain Jewish cults. Last year the FBI arrested 6 rabbis for trafficking in human organs between New York, New Jersey and Zionist "Israel". The "Rabbi Mafia" made tens of millions in human organs and laundered the money through phoney Jewish charities and synagogues. Arrested were Rabbi Mordchai Fish, Rabbi Albert Schwartz, Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, Rabbi Saul Kassin, and Rabbi Edmund Nahum. Thirty eight corrupt politicians controlled by the criminal Jewish rabbis were also arrested", American newspaper wrote. A number of American opposition media reported that a censored version of an interview with the Prime Minister of Haiti Bellerive by the CNN was placed in Internet. It confirms that Zionist militants from the gang "Israel's defense army" came to Haiti from the occupied Palestine to kill Haitian children for organs. A journalist, typical for the mainstream US media, played surprise: - Organ trafficking, now? - Yes, organ trafficking, now,- the Prime Minister said. A US website, Above Top Secret, comments: "Is anyone really shocked? Wonder why America hasn't set up a hospital in Haiti yet and "Israeli"/Jews rushed there rather fast? Some newspapers and lots of people are coming out and telling of Jews rushing down to Haiti to harvest organs, lots of money down their. The Haitian PM has admitted Jews are harvesting organs now, even live children", the American opposition website says. In their comments on the CNN video, ordinary Americans say that Zionists profit not only from organ trafficking but also from donations that TV-watching and mainstream-press-reading compassionate Westerners zombified by the zionized media send to "help earthquake victims", but in fact the money goes into the pockets of the Zionist "charity" mafia. The mainstream US press reports the same but in a censored form. The Huffington Post writes: On CNN on January 27 Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive talked to the network's Christiane Amanpour about the unsettling reality of trafficking of human organs from victims in the wake of the earthquake that struck a few weeks ago. "A lot of organizations - they come and they say there were children on the streets," Bellerive said. "They are going to bring them to the States -- we have already reports of trafficking, even of organ trafficking." AMANPOUR: And do you know for sure that children are being trafficked now? (dialogue censored as compared with the video - KC). BELLERIVE: There are children trafficking for children and adult persons, also. Because they need all types of organs. AMANPOUR: No, but I mean live children. Are they being trafficked now? BELLERIVE: The reports I receive; yes. Meanwhile, it is reported that the CNN accidentally filmed lots of human organ that were cut out from Haitians in the Jewish hospital in Haiti. The video footage could be seen using this link. It is also reported that the huge international scandal forced Zionists to urgently cancel its operation for the extraction of human organs from adult Haitians and their children, at least officially. "On Thursday, January 28, at approximately 8:40 am an El Al Boeing landed at the Ben Gurion airport coming from Port-au-Prince (Haiti). This special flight from Haiti brought 236 "Israelis" (218 soldiers and 18 civilians) back", an "Israeli" website said. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Moscow secretly tried to instigate Beijing to the financial war against the U.S.

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:40:41 GMT

Russia proposed to China that the two nations should sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds in 2008 to force the US government to bail out the giant mortgage-finance companies, former US Treasury secretary Hank Paulson has claimed. The allegation is in his memoir On the Brink in which he also suggests that Alistair Darling, the UK chancellor, blocked a rescue takeover of Lehman Brothers by Barclays Bank when he refused to support special treatment by UK regulators. Paulson said that he was told about the Russian plan when he was in Beijing for the Olympics in August 2008. Russia had gone to war with Georgia, a US ally, on August 8. "Russian officials had made a top-level approach to the Chinese, suggesting that together they might sell big chunks of their GSE holdings to force the US to use its emergency authorities to prop up these companies," he said. Fannie and Freddie are known as GSEs or government sponsored enterprises. "The Chinese had declined to go along with the disruptive scheme, but the report was deeply troubling," he said. A senior Russian official told the Financial Times that he could not comment on the allegation. Separately, Paulson makes it clear that he believes that Darling prevented a takeover of Lehman by Barclays out of fear that it would endanger the UK bank. Paulson said that Darling telephoned him on Friday September 12 - as the US authorities were scrambling to find a buyer for Lehman - to express concern about a possible Barclays deal. Paulson said that he did not realise at the time that this was a "clear warning". He was stunned to discover on Sunday September 14 that the UK Financial Services Authority would not approve the merger on an accelerated timetable or waive the requirement for a shareholder vote. Tim Geithner, then president of the New York Fed, called Callum McCarthy, the head of the UK's Financial Services Authority, to ask him to waive the vote requirement. "But the FSA chief put the onus on Darling, saying that only the chancellor of the exchequer had the authority to do that," Paulson said. He said that Darling "made it clear, without a hint of apology in his voice, that there was no way Barclays would buy Lehman". Lehman filed for bankruptcy the next day. Source: Agencies Kavkaz Center

Yulia Timoshenko: ''Kiev surrounded by militants ...!''

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:12:25 GMT

The prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Timoshenko, said that holiday hotels and vacation retreats around the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, are filled up with militants ready to seize the reins of government, told in the interview to 5 Channel TV. "Yanukovich is trying to do the same as in 2004. There are going to be cheats in the Central Electoral Commission and falsifications at ballot stations," stated Timoshenko, the press service of the government reported. "Once again there are ballot box stuffing, again voting at homes, with hundreds of thousands of false voting slips and, moreover, holiday hotels and vacation retreats around the Kiev, are filled up with militants ready to any variant of the seizure of power", Timoshenko said. "Since 2004, neither the methods nor the politics of [Viktor] Yanukovich have changed. Therefore, just as in 2004, we are going to be tough and tell him where to get off. Under no circumstances will he get power in Ukraine", Timoshenko emphasized. Being asked how she plans to fulfill her goal, Yulia Timoshenko said that "we need to act calmly, coldly and lawfully, using this possibility to convince people to unite and really defend Ukraine." Timoshenko also said that if she were elected the Ukrainian� President, the oligarchs "would become ordinary businessmen who would work according to rules equally applied for everybody". � "They will be subject to laws and not to the right of bribe. And the most important thing to know is that oligarchy is not business, it uses politics to allocate state resources for profits of definite families but not every citizen", the prime minister said. � She said, "clans must be removed from the government" in Ukraine . � "A puppet they are all now pushing forward as their single presidential candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, is a dangerous man because he advocates a tough anti-Ukrainian policy and tough anti-Ukrainian de�ds", Timoshenko emphasized.� Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center

Americans tried to abduct more than 30 children from Haiti

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:31:21 GMT

Haitian police have arrested 10 US nationals on suspicion of trying to illegally take 33 children abroad. They say the Americans were held on the border with the Dominican Republic. The group from Idaho-based charity New Life Children's Refuge told the BBC they wanted to take quake orphans to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. But Haitian police said the Americans had no papers authorising them to take children out of the country. They have not yet been charged. Haiti imposed new controls on adoptions to prevent child trafficking after the 12 January earthquake that killed up to 200,000 people. 'Abduction' The Americans are being held at a police station next to the airport in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. They told the BBC that their arrest was a mistake and that they were going to take a group of earthquake orphans to an orphanage set up across the border. They said they thought they had had a permission to travel to the Dominican Republic. "This is an abduction, not an adoption," Haitian Social Affairs Minister Yves Christallin was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. "What is important for us in Haiti is that a child needs to have an authorisation from this ministry to leave the country," Mr Christallin said. He added that the children involved were aged two months to 12 years. The earthquake destroyed a number of Haitian orphanages and crippled relevant government agencies. Local officials have expressed fears that child traffickers will take advantage of the situation to smuggle children abroad. We would like to remind in this connection that some time ago a TV station of black Americans, Afri Synergy, brodcasted sensational accusations of the Jews. A CNN-based report on the Afri Synergya, US television station of black Americans, disclosed that Jewish militants from the Zionist "army" who allegedly came to Haiti to "help earthquake victims", in reality set up a military camp in this country calling it a "field hospital" where injured Haitians are brought and slaughtered for organs under the pretext of "providing necessary medical aid". A TV moderator of the US channel reminded that "Israelis" had been already accused of killing Palestinians to slaughter them for organs that they later sell, and called Haitians to be vigilant. The TV channel Afri Synergy says that the crimes of the Jews in Haiti are thoroughly concealed by American US and other Western mass-media. The Afri Synergy has also says that during the flooding in New Orleans Jewish groups committed the same crimes on the territory of the United States. The first part of the program of the Afri Synergy can be seen with this link. In the second part of the T. West program "Round Table" devoted to black solidarity, the US channel Afri Synergy stressed that Jews from the occupied Palestine were the only "helpers" who brought to Haiti a "well-equipped hospital", and even the wealthy US did not do that. Once again T. Wes called for vigilance against the Jewish "help". T. West recalled the history of Haiti. "Historically, with the French, the ancestors of many of those who now rule in "Israel" played a huge role in Haiti and the enslavement of African peoples in the Western Hemisphere and elsewhere". The moderator of the Afro-American TV channel said that after the first part of his documentation of the Jewish crimes in Haiti had been aired, he received threats from certain individuals who call themselves Zionists but nevertheless he would continue to reveal Zionist crimes in this country. Kavkaz Center + Agencies

Obama made a speech and promised sodomites they will be able to serve their country

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:07:47 GMT

The US president Barack Obama made his first appearance before the US Congress with a report "on the situation in the country". He stated that the priority of his administration was to create jobs and support small business that would receive $ 30 billion from funds that had been returned by major corporations that got financial assistance from the Treasury during the acute phase of the crisis, the BBC reported. The US president urged not to abandon healthcare reform and to adopt laws that would help to get rid of energy dependence and to use ecological fuels. Obama declared that the war against Iraq would be finished and all soldiers would return home. He added that he would seek a revision of the law on the service of homosexuals in the US Army, "to allow gays (i.e. sodomites - KC) to serve the country they love." Obama also said the United States and Russia were completing negotiations on a new treaty to limit strategic arms. The US president announced that the future belongs to an economy based on clean energy. Obama stressed the need to create new jobs in the alternative energy sector, increasing the production of "clean" energy sources and improving energy efficiency. The development of an alternative energy is "the right thing because the nation that has a leading role in clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy", Obama said and expressed confidence that this country will be the United States. Obama said the US occupation troops would leave Iraq before the end of August this year. "We will withdraw all our combat troops from Iraq by the end of August, - he said. - We will support the Iraqi government (the puppet regime - KC)". Obama reminded that during his election campaign he promised to end the war in Iraq. "That is what I do as the president", he said. We would like to mention in this context that the so-called "non-combat units" and instructors would stay in Iraq. In other words, these would be special units with different goals and objectives. In his speech, Obama touched the topic of "nuclear security" and promised that North Korea and Iran will be isolated "if they continue to ignore the demands of the international community." Barack Obama said it was very important "to protect the rights of" sodomites in the US Army. He intends to seek from Congress the abolition of the law "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" that previously allowed sodomites to serve in the US Army but didn't allow them to speak openly about their perversions. "This year I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love..." Obama said in his speech. The initiator of the 1993 act "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was the 42nd president of the US Bill Clinton. The essence of law was that gays and lesbians were allowed to serve in the US Army but at the same time they were forbidden to disclose their "sexual orientation", and military commanders was forbidden to ask questions about it. 13 thousand people have been demobilized since 1993 in accordance with the law. Thus, according to opinion polls, the vast majority of Americans believes that sodomites of both sexes, having openly declared their sexual orientation, should be allowed to do military service. President Barack Obama repeatedly said the Congress should consider repealing the law. Meanwhile, the Republican Party expressed doubts about the prospects of Obama's course that he described in the speech on the situation in the country. The opinion of the opposition was expressed in a traditional reply to the President by the newly elected governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell. In particular, he expressed doubts about the government's policy in the public health area saying that Americans would like to use available medical services but would not want government's interference into the system. "Most Americans do not want to turn over the best medical care system in the world to the federal government...", McDonnell said. He expressed doubts in the effectiveness of the measures by the of U.S President's administration to combat "terrorism" referring to a recent bombing attempt onboard of an US aircraft on its flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. "We have serious concerns about the administration's treatment of suspected terrorists", he said McDonnell gave some advice to authorities. "Good government's policy should spur economic growth and strengthen the private sector's ability to create new jobs. We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world", said the governor of Virginia. Department of Monitoring, Kavkaz Center