Netanyahu, according to a source who participated in the meeting, was particularly surly and stressed. At the start of the meeting, he opened with a sharp attack on the Obama administration which according to him has not done enough on the Iranian issue. “Instead of effectively pressuring Iran, Obama and his people are pressuring us not to attack the nuclear facilities,” he said, and then moved on to a harsh criticism of the administration’s pronouncements indicating there is still room for diplomacy. “The time has run out,” he said resolutely.
Seven months ago, Israel and the United States postponed a massive joint military exercise that was originally set to go forward just as concerns were brimming that Israel would launch a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The exercise was rescheduled for late October, and appears likely to go forward on the cusp of the U.S. presidential election. But it won’t be nearly the same exercise. Well-placed sources in both countries have told TIME that Washington has greatly reduced the scale of U.S. participation, slashing by more than two-thirds the number of American troops going to Israel and reducing both the number and potency of missile interception systems at the core of the joint exercise.
“Basically what the Americans are saying is, ‘We don’t trust you,’” a senior Israeli military official tells TIME.
The reductions are striking. Instead of the approximately 5,000 U.S. troops originally trumpeted for Austere Challenge 12, as the annual exercise is called, the Pentagon will send only 1,500 service members, and perhaps as few as 1,200. Patriot anti-missile systems will arrive in Israel as planned, but the crews to operate them will not. Instead of two Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense warships being dispatched to Israeli waters, the new plan is to send one, though even the remaining vessel is listed as a “maybe,” according to officials in both militaries.
U.S. commanders privately revealed the scaling back to their Israeli counterparts more than two months ago. The official explanation was budget restrictions. But the American retreat coincided with growing tensions between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations on Israel’s persistent threats to launch an airstrike on Iran. The Islamic Republic would be expected to retaliate by missile strikes, either through its own intermediate range arsenal or through its proxy, the Hizballah militia, which has more than 40,000 missiles aimed at Israel from neighboring Lebanon.
In the current political context, the U.S. logic is transparent, says Israeli analyst Efraim Inbar. “I think they don’t want to insinuate that they are preparing something together with the Israelis against Iran – that’s the message,” says Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. “Trust? We don’t trust them. They don’t trust us. All these liberal notions! Even a liberal president like Obama knows better.”
Even a former Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Yousuf Bhailok, said it was ‘the best thing the BBC has done recently’. He added: ‘There is great humour among Muslims. I am glad it has been made.’The comedy is billed as a humorous take on the lives of an ordinary Muslim family living in today’s Britain. However, critics claim it stereotypes Muslims and is ‘disrespectful to the Koran’.(Daily Mail)
One scene that particularly provoked anger was where a heavily-made up girl, Mr Khan’s daughter, rushed to put on a hijab and pretended to be reading the Koran when her father entered.The six-part series, which aired for the first time on BBC1 on Monday at 10.35pm, has been created by British Muslim Adil Ray, who also plays the lead role. Read more: (more here)
Debut of BBC1 sitcom about an Asian family prompted complaints that it stereotypes Muslims and insults Islam Guardian, August 30, 2012Controversial: The firstepisode of BBC comedy series Citizen Khan attracted in the region of 200 complaints
Ofcom may launch an investigation into the BBC's comedy Citizen Khan.Ofcom is considering launching an investigation into BBC1's Citizen Khan, a comedy about a modern Asian family, after receivingcomplaints that it stereotypes Muslims and insults Islam.The TV regulator has received about 20 complaints about the sitcom, which debuted on BBC1 in Monday night, and is now assessing them.Ofcom will then make a decision as to whether the complaints warrant a formal investigation to see whether the BBC has broken any UK broadcasting rules relating to viewer harm and offence.The BBC had received 187 complaints by Tuesday about the show, which follows the life of a self-appointed "Muslim community leader" and his British-Pakistani family in Birmingham, following its broadcast.The number of complaints has almost certainly increased since then, propelled by media coverage of the show, prompting the BBC to decide not to release any updated figures.The show was groundbreaking for the BBC, the first Asian sitcom commissioned specifically for BBC1, created by and starring British Muslim Adil Ray.
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, hosted by WC and Always On Watch. The show broadcasts live for 30 minutes every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.
In lieu of airing speeches from former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis, a black American; Mia Love, a black candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Utah; and Texas senatorial hopeful Ted Cruz, a Latino American, MSNBC opted to show commentary anchored by Rachel Maddow from Rev. Al Sharpton, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes and Steve Schmidt.Racism on the part of MSNBC?
The outlet, which sells Western men's wear, opened 10 days ago in Ahmedabad city in the western state of Gujarat with "Hitler" written in big letters over the front and with a Nazi swastika as the dot on the "i".
"I will change it (the name) if people want to compensate me for the money we have spent -- the logo, the hoarding, the business cards, the brand," Rajesh Shah told AFP.
He put the total costs at about 150,000 rupees ($2,700).
Shah insisted that until the store opened he did not know who Adolf Hitler was and that Hitler was a nickname given to the grandfather of his store partner because "he was very strict".
"I didn't know how much the name would disturb people," he told AFP by telephone from Ahmedabad. "It was only when the store opened I learnt Hitler had killed six million people."
Members of the tiny Jewish community in Ahmedabad condemned the store's name, while a senior Israeli diplomat said the embassy would raise the matter "in the strongest possible way."
"People use such names mostly out of ignorance," Israel's Mumbai Consul General Orna Sagiv told AFP.
[Related: 11 Urban Outfitters clothing controversies]
Esther David, a prominent Indian writer in Ahmedabad who is Jewish, said she was "disturbed and distressed" by the shop, but added that some Indians used the word "Hitler" casually to describe autocratic people.
David said Jewish residents had sought to change Shah's mind about the store's name and told him about the Holocaust.
The row evoked memories of a controversy six years ago when a Mumbai restaurant owner called his cafe "Hitler's Cross" and put a swastika on the hoarding, claiming Hitler was a "catchy" name.
The restaurant owner eventually agreed to change the name after protests by the Israeli embassy, Germany and the US Anti-Defamation League.
Hitler attracts an unusual degree of respect in some parts of India, with his book "Mein Kampf" a popular title in bookshops and on street stalls.
Gujarat schoolbooks issued by the Hindu nationalist state government were criticised a few years ago for praising Hitler as someone who gave "dignity and prestige" to the German government.
Yahoo News Washington bureau chief David Chalian provided the perfect example of the pervasive anti-Republican bias Mitt Romney faces in his bid to unseat President Barack Obama.
In video broadcast Monday night by ABC and Yahoo over the Internet, Chalian can be heard claiming that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann are unconcerned about the fate of residents of the New Orleans area who are currently being hit by Hurricane Isaac.“They aren’t concerned at all,” Chalian can be heard on the live broadcast. “They are happy to have a party when black people drown.”That line elicits laughter from several employees listening in on the joke.
Analyst Sees Possibility of EMP Strike on Iran
U.S. sees signs Israel could use nuclear EMP attack against IranU.S. intelligence agencies recently reported growing concerns that Israel will conduct a strike on Iran using a high-altitude nuclear burst aimed at disrupting all electronics in the country.The intelligence worries were triggered by recent publication of anarticlein the Israeli press suggesting the Jewish state should carry out an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack.U.S. officials said the article likely reflects official Israeli government thinking about a possible preemptive response to Iran’s expected emergence as a nuclear weapons state in the near future.Asked about the EMP report, an Israeli government spokesman declined to comment. A U.S. intelligence community spokesman also declined comment.A U.S. official said the article in question appeared Aug. 6 in the news outlet Israel National News. The article stated that an Israeli nuclear burst over Iran could “send Iran back to the Stone Age.”It was the first time the issue of a nuclear EMP attack by Israel had appeared in a mainstream Israeli press outlet.
Op-Ed: Israel’s EMP Attack Can Send Iran Back to the Stone Age
There is no question that Iran is now a de facto nuclear state - a “casus belli” for Israeli military action.As Iran miscalculates Israeli resolve, it is clear that the diplomatic dance of deceit and empty bluster for years is over. The die is cast and Israel has crossed the Rubicon, since a significant spectacle of events is set to begin to work against Iran come October.While the onus is on Iran to abide by itsinternationalobligations, the wild card is in Israel’s hand - withElectrnonic Magnetic Pulse (EMP) inscribed on it. Since diplomacy and sanctions were an abject failure, war has become inevitable and preparations for preventing Iran’s rapid nuclear progress have, thus far, accelerated.Despite Israel’s highly advanced technology and strategic military advantage, Israel’s fear of an Iranian existential threat is understandable. In any case, Israel has done it the past with flawlessprecisionwhen it destroyed Iraq’sOsiraq reactor in 1981 and aSyrian reactor being built by North Koreans in 2007. Both surprise attacks were immensely successful and kept Israel’s enemies scratching their heads in disbelief, stunning the world.Iran has reached the ‘zone of immunity.’There are five solid reasons that Iran has now entered what Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak termed as the “zone of immunity”:First,Iran plans to ratchet up enrichment up to 60 per cent uranium which is now on the way to an 80-90 percent weapons grade.Second, Iran has accelerated its forced projection and tested ballistic missilesdeliverysystem in anEMP modewith North Korean assistance.Thirdl, Iran’s stockpile of low grade enriched uranium can be converted to five nuclear weapons if refined further, according to theInstitute for Science and International Security.Fourth, satellite imagery showsmega-fortification of underground nuclear facilities impervious to U.S. super bunker buster bombs.Finally, Iran has started the process of loading 163fuel rodsinto the core of Bushehr nuclear power plant reactor.In light of the latest developments, there is no question that Iran is now a de facto nuclear state - a “casus belli” for Israeli military action. Although the military option is unattractive and untenable, failure to act would be much worse if Iran got the atomic bomb.A large majority of Israelis and Americans believes that Israel would be better off if the U.S. would lead the attack on Iran.
Mia Love 36, daughter of Hatian immigrants who arrived with $10, republican nominee for congress in Utah.Sabah Hamamou recalls hoping for the best and giving Mohamed Morsy the benefit of the doubt when the longtime Muslim Brotherhood official became Egypt’s first ever elected civilian President earlier this summer.For Hamamou, a deputy business editor at the state-owned flagship daily newspaper al-Ahram, it was an opportunity to finally fix the institution to which she has dedicated 17 years of her professional life. Hamamou is one of the hardcore dissidents inside Egypt’s state media machine. Halfway through the January 2011 revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak from power, she and a handful of colleagues launched an internal revolt to chase out the Mubarak-appointed editor. So when Morsy came to power, she hoped for a fresh start and a new regime that would return the historic paper to something approaching respectability.
That optimism crumbled on Aug. 8 when the Shura Council — the upper house of parliament controlled by Morsy’s Muslim Brotherhood — announced dozens of new editors at a host of state-owned newspapers and magazines. The new al-Ahram editor, Abdel Nasser Salama, was just one of the hires that prompted a widespread revolt among Egyptian journalists.
Read the rest HERE.
In a move that could have chilling First Amendment consequences, the Obama regime this week showed that it's willing to use the full weight and power of the Justice Department to pummel any media outlet that doesn't toe the party line.
Within days of the Gallup Organization issuing, essentially, a veiled warning to the Obama gang about tinkering with unemployment numbers, Obama's DOJ jumped, jackboots first, into a multi-million dollar legal action against Gallup, in a case initiated by a former Obama operative.
Others have noted that the DOJ action occurred after Gallup had Mitt Romney ahead of Obama in its polling for a few days....
[...]
Twice this summer, Gallup has published a report calling into question discrepancies between its unadjusted research and what is being tallied in the adjusted O-fficial statistics....
The problem isn’t that Tingles is willing to presume racism; the problem is that his presumption is irrebuttable, with subconscious racism the inevitable fallback presumption in cases like these when the accused protests vehemently enough. You’re guilty, even if you don’t know it.
True. He always frames it as "have you stopped beating your wife?" and then talks over you as you try to make your point. And he's been doing it for decades.
But here's a little value-add over and above cribbing from Allah via James Taranto's WSJ column today. It's a point that never seems to dawn on Tingles and the rest of the dog whistle crowd as we laugh at them.
The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it's intended for somebody else. The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.
Prosecutor: Ga. murder case uncovers terror plot
Pauley said Aguigui funded the militia using $500,000 in insurance and benefit payments from the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. Aguigui was not charged in his wife's death, but Pauley told the judge her death was "highly suspicious."
She said Aguigui used the money to buy $87,000 worth of semiautomatic assault rifles, other guns and bomb components that were recovered from the accused soldiers' homes and from a storage locker. He also used the insurance payments to buy land for his militia group in Washington state, Pauley said.
In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself "the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet." He used the Army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group.
"All members of the group were on active-duty or were former members of the military," Pauley said. "He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned."
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state's apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia's goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
"Anarchist"? It's an old trick of the media to call Neo-Nazis "right-wing" but then simply call left-wingers what they identify themselves as. "Anarchists," for example.
Now, I initially thought these guys had to be right-wing (or what the media terms "right-wing") because I could not imagine a left-wing motive here.
But a commenter points out the left wing is extremely angry about poor Bradley Manning, America's Pluckiest Little Traitor.
So I guess that is an open possibility, and would explain the media not immediately calling these guys "rightwing."
I do find that very suspicious. I find it suspicious that this isn't the biggest story in the media. If it's not, there must be a reason the media is in "let's be restrained here" mode.
