The pressure on Iran is intensifying.  This week President Obama signed legislation tightening the sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran.  In addition, the European Union announced that by summer they will also be implementing a ban on oil from the Islamic Republic. The question everyone is asking though is are these measures enough to stop Israel from attacking Iran?

Iran has been enriching uranium for many years now.  They claim their uranium enrichment program is for power generation and medical research.  The Israelis, Americans and Europeans believe that Iran is enriching uranium to build nuclear bombs. Israel has repeatedly said all options including military ones are on the table to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

United State Secretary of Defense says that if the situation stays as it is right now, Israel could attack Iran as early as April.

The Iranians have a genocidal hatred of Israel and their leaders often refer to the Jewish State as a cancer that needs to be erased.  They have threatened to destroy Israel many times and “wipe them off  the map.  Iranian President Mahmood Ahmadinejad has said on many occasions that just one nuclear bomb would be enough o destroy Israel.

Today the Iranian Parliament said the country may withhold oil shipments to European Countries for their support of sanctions.  If they do the world may see a large increase in oil prices without giving other oil producing nations enough time to make up for the shortfall.  Iran has also threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.  More than 1/6th of the world’s oil passes through the strategic straits. Th US has said they will consider the closing of the straits an act of war.

Do you think the new sanctions and threats will deter Israel from attacking Iran?

New Iranian Sanctions, Will They Stop Israel? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal was in Jordan today for talks with Jordanian leader King Abdullah II.  This marks the first time a representative of Hamas has been in the Kingdom of Jordan since 1999.  Meshaal declared that the terrosit group had no intention of allowing Jordan to be a home for the Palestinians regardless of whether it was part of historical Palestine.

In a message to the Monarchy the Hamas leader said,

“Jordan belongs to the Jordanians and Palestine to the Palestinians,”

Jordan has a population which is 90% Palestinian.  Before the establishment of Jordan and Israel in the 1940′s the entire land of both countries was designated by the League of Nations as the Palestine Mandate which was to make up the Jewish National home. When the British were given the land as a mandate to create a Jewish State, they separated the land into two giving more than 50% of the land to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The Jordanian leadership and the Palestinians have a long and bloody history.  in September 1970, a month known as “Black September” to the Palestinians, King Abdullah II’s father launched a bloody crackdown to reassert control over the parts of Jordan that were being used by the Palestinians as staging grounds for deadly raids into Israel.  During the crackdown tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and the Palestine Liberation Organization was thrown out of the country.

Jordan had always been quite cordial with Hamas as a counterbalance to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.  in 1999, Meshaal along with the rest of the Hamas leadership was expelled from the country for not supporting King Abdullah II’s efforts to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

In 1997 Meshaal was almost killed in an assassination attempt by the Israeli Mossad in Jordan.

Hamas has been seen as needing to find a new home base die to the unrest in Syria.  The leadership of Hamas has been trying to mend fences with Egypt and Jordan in an effort to strengthen their standing ahead of Palestinian elections.

Israel and the United States regard Hamas as a terrorist group.  Hamas has stated repeatedly they will never make peace with Israel and categorically reject the right of the Jewish State to exist.

Watch a video of Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal with Charlie Rose.

Hamas Leader Meshaal: Jordan Is Not Palestine [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Israel is working on a high speed broadband network that will bring faster speeds and better access to the country and various business sectors. While many of us enjoy very fast Internet (30mbps myself) here in the United States and Europe to name a few, other people are still stuck with rather primitive technology.

A state-owned electric company is the one behind it and wanting to roll out faster speeds to everyone. With much faster speeds, more people can experience the Internet for what it is and more businesses such as hospitals and entertainment, can greatly benefit from it.

Via Yahoo! News:

“Experts say the fiber-optic lines can provide connections of 10 to 100 times current speeds, transforming the way the Internet is used in such areas as entertainment, business and health care.”

“All the developing countries that have a vision for 10 years ahead, or 20 years ahead, understand that the name of the game will be communications, broadband communications, very fast communications,” said Tzvi Harpak, the electric company’s senior vice president for logistics.

“The technology is known as “fiber to the home,” or FTTH. Using fiber optic lines, it can provide connection speeds of 100 megabits to a blazing 1 gigabit per second. Today, the typical broadband user in the developed world connects at five to 10 megabits using older cable and DSL connections.”

That’s quite the speed improvement and will be even faster than what most of us have. The company plans to roll out this new network in Israel over the coming months. Costs of this kind of network are expensive, but the benefits are great.

What would you do with a blazing fast Internet connection of over 100mbps?

Israel Working On Next Generation High Speed Network is a post from: The Inquisitr

A 21-year-old Palestinian woman has been rescued from a horrible situation.  Palestinian Police are reporting that Baraa Melhem has been locked in the bathroom by her father for more than 10 years.  He supposedly would only let her out in the middle of the night for a short time to clean the house.

When Melhem was asked by one of the social workers dealing with her case after she was rescued why her father would do this to her.  Melhem said her father would simply tell her “People are monsters.”

Palestinian police said they were alerted to her situation by an anonymous tip and when they went to her father’s house in Kalkilya they found the girl in the tiny bathroom. Her father is an Israeli citizen and was turned over to the Israeli police.  He is due in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

Melhem told Voice of Palestine radio that after her father had divorced her mother, when Melhem was 11, he put her in the bathroom and secured her in there with a chain.

Social worker Hala Shreim told the same station that Melhem was beaten with metal wires and a baton while enduring her time in the bathroom.  She was only given a single blanket for warmth.  According to Shreim, the bathroom was only 1-1/2 meters (five square feet) big, it was like a cell.  The only thing she was fed during this time was bread.

Palestinian Police said the man admitted to keeping his daughter in the bathroom  and the reason was a “family dispute”

In addition to the torture of being in the bathroom Melhem said her father would shave her head and eyebrows and only let her take a shower once a month.  She was unchained and let out of the bathroom from 1am-4am to clean the house. Melhem’s father would talk to her during that time and tell her that she should commit suicide because this was the best life was going to get for her.

Her father let her have a radio which was her only way of even knowing what day it was or what time.

Melhem is being cared for by her mother at this point and being completely overseen by social workers.

What do you think Israeli courts should do to Baraa Melhem’s father?

Watch this video to hear more about Baraa Melhem

Palestinian Woman Locked in a Bathroom for Ten Years is a post from: The Inquisitr

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the media in a press conference today that Iran has already made the decision to become a nuclear state and the time for action is now.

Netanyahu was in the Netherlands today to pressure the European Union countries to increase sanctions on Iran before the situation escalates and Israel is forced to use military force to halt their nuclear drive.

Netanyahu had this to say to the crowd,

“Nuclear arms in Iran are a threat to Israel, the region and the world. Sanctions should be applied to Iran’s central bank and its oil exports – and they should be applied now.”

Iran, Israel and the Unites States have been increasing tensions for the last few years over Iran’s nuclear program.  Iran claims that the program is for domestic power consumption.  Israel and the Unites States claim that the program is military in nature and there to provide Iran with the materials to make nuclear bombs.

In other business in Europe, Netanyahu urged Palestinian Mahmood Abbas to enter into negotiations with Israel without any preconditions.  He praised the Dutch parliament for having the courage to urge the Palestinians to accept Israel as a Jewish State.

The Israelis and Palestinians are currently holding talks in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with King Abdullah mediating between the sides.  Reports are that progress is being made but expectations for a breakthrough are extremely low.

Do you think the United States and Israel should use military force to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb?

Netanyahu: Iran Already Decided To Become a Nuclear State is a post from: The Inquisitr

Many of America’s leading political pundits have said that the Presidential election of 2012 may well be the most important election in American history. No matter who wins, the election will set a course for the future of the American Ship of State for years to come. The decisions made by the winner in 2012 will have a dramatic impact on every aspect of our lives and the lives of many future generations of our offspring. Beyond the borders of the United States, the President will be able to support or abandon long term allies and even change the political balance in entire regions of the planet.

With so much at stake and with a sitting President who has a vast amount of potential political baggage, one must wonder what exactly the Republican Party is trying to accomplish with their abysmal display during the Republican Candidates Debates. Not only has the thinking of the candidates been almost unfathomable but the endless circus that has gone on in the Republican party since the Presidential election cycle began has been simply ugly and bizarre.

President Obama, in the opinion of his opponents and even some of his strongest former supporters, has presided over some very questionable policies. Obama and his party forced a highly unpopular omnibus health care bill down the throats of American’s despite the significant majority of citizens that opposed Obama-care. He has not lived up to his promises of openness and honesty that were such a high point of his campaign.

Obama is also the sitting President during a near depression and he has done little but spout his rigid ideology while America is faced with a crippling 15 trillion dollar deficit and millions out of work. All from a president who said in 2006, “The fact that we’re here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. Leadership means ‘The buck stops here.’ Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.” Another shining example of political doublespeak at its best.

Making matters even worse is Obama’s aimless and misguided foreign policy. From his first week in office, when he offended our British allies by returning the Churchill Bust on loan to the American People, Obama has upset and abandoned our staunchest supporters around the world. He is almost universally disliked, if not despised, by most citizens of America’s strongest ally, Israel. Many Israelis fear Obama’s re-election would mean a “Yes Vote” for Palestinian statehood by the United States in the U.N. Security Council. Israelis are very concerned that when Obama is not longer worried about alienating Jewish voters and financial backers, he will throw Israel under the proverbial bus.

Around the world, Obama remained silent when the people of Iran were ready to rise yet he spoke loudly to help topple America’s strongest Muslim ally in Egypt. The lack of support for a partner of 30 years followed by the total abandonment of Mubarak has been a disaster for secular Egyptians and non Muslims. The Muslim Brotherhood is about to take political control of Egypt and they are chomping at the bit to impose Sharia and abandon the peace treaty with Israel. Coptic Christians are being burned out of their homes and butchered by Muslims in Egypt and hardly a peep has been heard out of the White House. More than 70% of Egyptians want their military to “punish” Israel yet Obama insists on claiming Egypt experienced a Democratic “Arab Spring.” Now the “Arab Winter” is at hand and Iran is making threats to cut off the flow of 30% of the world’s oil supply.

Everywhere Obama has turned his attention in the Middle East, governments are falling and Muslim theocracies are poised to take their place. Many of Obama’s opponents in America feel his support for the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi was a violation of the War Powers Act and since Gaddafi’s death, Libya’s vast store of high tech weapons is starting to pop up in the hands of Muslim Terror groups. To make a bleak picture even worse, Libya’s “liberators” have announced their intention to introduce a Constitution based on Sharia while allowing former al-Qaeda members to assume positions of power in the new government.

Compounding all the other foreign policy blunders, is Obama’s mishandling of the Iraq withdrawal and his constant interference with military tactics in Afghanistan. His Rules of Engagement in Afghanistan and Iraq were far better for getting American Soldiers killed than they were for killing the bad guys.  Surviving American soldiers and the families of soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq are rightfully wondering why their sacrifices were made if Obama intends to abandon Iraq to chaos or allow the Taliban to participate in a post American Afghanistan.  All of our enemies and even some of our allies are convinced that America is a useless paper tiger under Obama’s leadership.

Rounding out the Obama record, we have the on going dispute over potential criminal involvement in Fast and Furious by A.G. Holder and the various business scandals including Solyndra and Light Squared. We also have the Black Panther Voter Intimidation case, the bypassing of Congress to give selective Amnesty to Illegal Aliens and the Democratic Party’s support for the Occupy Movement. Listening to Obama and his allies, Reid and Pelosi, compare the OWS movement to the pro American Tea Party has simply stuck in the craw of the vast majority of American conservatives.

Obama’s critics are highly concerned over his unprecedented appointment of vast numbers of powerful White House Czars and his willingness to bypass Congressional authority by using Executive orders. The constant threat to use “an Executive Order A Day” has enraged believers in the American Republic who support a limited Federal government that follows the Constitution. The Administration has shown little respect for the rule of law and even managed to get cited for contempt of court by ignoring Federal Court orders to stop banning oil drilling in Gulf. In the words of U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman, “Each step the government took following the court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance. Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re-imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt.”

Despite the wealth of legitimate political issues for the Republican Presidential candidates, one has to be absolutely confounded by the behavior of Gingrich, Romney, Santorum, Paul, Perry, and the other Republican candidates. The Republicans have a full quiver of political arrows that they could use to tear apart Obama’s record during his first term in office but instead they have acted like a bunch of angry prepubescent Grade School kids engaging in a play ground shouting match. Rather than standing up for America and presenting the Republican vision for the future, the participants in the Republican primary debates have been  attacking each other on their religious beliefs or making uninformed blunders in answer to the simplest questions.

Another factor that is quite disconcerting to Conservatives and supporters of the Republican Party, is the way the candidates and the party have allowed the media to control the debates in an obviously biased manner. Week after week and debate after debate, strongly Liberal leaning moderators have slanted the questions to favor Obama and put the Republican candidates on the spot. It got so out of hand, that Newt Gingrich finally blew up in the most recent debate and lambasted George Stephanopoulos for focusing question after question on gay marriage and homosexual rights, when our nation is about to collapse into financial ruin. Gingrich’s point was made quite powerfully and should have stood for his party’s position on the issues. Sadly, Santorum and Perry were so afraid that they would be shown up that they had to add their own spin on the issue and turned a win for all Republicans into another acrimonious political sound bite.

If the Republicans don’t get their act together and start talking about the issues that really matter to the voters, Obama will be able to sleepwalk into a second term in office. There is a enormous list of serious, valid issues about which the candidates can confront Obama and the entire progressive movement. Issues that are important to every American and will have a major impact on our lives and our futures as well as the lives of our friends and allies.

The Republican party has to get its act together and put the good of the nation ahead of the bickering and sophomoric behavior. Otherwise, they deserve to lose and we will all suffer the results of four more years of Obama. They can rest assured that when Obama gets his chance to go after the Republican’s choice for 2012, he will use every single attack and sordid detail he can dig up. The Republicans need to rise above what promises to be the ugliest Democratic campaign in history and show the American people that putting the country back on the fast track to prosperity is the focus of the Republican Party. The American people deserve jobs and a balanced budget instead of a dismal future and politics as usual. It is time for the Republican Party to put the American people first.

The Republicans Bicker While Obama Bides His Time is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hamas leaders on Saturday said there is no truth behind plans to open a new office in Tunis. That denial comes after reports began circulating in which the group would move out of Syria as the country falls into further political crisis while Hamas refuses to take sides publicly.

According to Salah Al Bardwell, a Hamas leader:

“The movement has no intention to set up an office in Tunis,” and “There has never been talk within the movement about this issue.”

The rumor of a new Tunis office started after Abdullah Zouari, from Al Nahda, the Islamist party of the country’s prime minister said there was no doubt the Hamas would open the office.

Zouari told the Arab daily Al Sharq Al Awsat:

“We welcome the opening of a Hamas office in Tunisia.”

News of the office opening comes after Hamas’ prime minister in Gaza conceded that Israel will never give up arms, territory or its claims on Jerusalem on behalf of the Palestinians.Speaking to a crowd of 5,000 cheering Tunisian’s on Sunday Ismail Haniyeh said Israel faced hard times ahead as members of the crowd shouted anti-Israeli comments and walked on a large cloth with the Star of David at it’s center.

Hamas Denies Plans To Open Tunis Office is a post from: The Inquisitr

He warned Israel against a unilateral strike on Iran’s nuclear installations, and reiterated that the Obama Administration believes there is still time to use diplomatic and economic means to persuade the Islamic Republic to refrain from going forward.

Panetta has warned for months that if Israel unilaterally attacks Iran it could lead to retaliatory strikes against US targets in the region.

“We have common cause here” with Israel, he said. “And the better approach is for us to work together.”

Leon Panetta: Iran Has Not Made Decision To Build Nuclear Bomb Yet is a post from: The Inquisitr

Israel is taking hacking quite seriously after a hacker with the name “OxOmar”, said he had posted 11,000 credit card details online Thursday. This was also behind him saying that ”greatest Saudi Arabian hacker team” posted details of a whopping 400,000 credit cards earlier in the week.

Israel said that they “will respond to cyber-attacks in the same way it responds to violent “terrorist” acts, by striking back with force against hackers who threaten the Jewish state.”

Hacking continues to be a problem for countries and companies with various movements such as Anonymous and also hackers focused on exposing information for personal financial gain, such as what happened with the over 400,000 credit card details.

The good part is that despite the leak of such information, Israel’s three largest credit card companies reported only 6,050 of the 11,000 exposed being affected and just 14,000 of the 400,000 had been exposed.

Cyber attacks are starting to be viewed as a terrorist act and whenever you throw that word around, the consequences can become even more serious. Granted, no one is being killed in the process, but that doesn’t matter in the eyes of the government.

With that said, if the hacker “OxOmar” along with these supposed Saudi Arabian hackers are caught, they could face some serious jail time and won’t be touching a computer for a long time, that’s for sure.

“Hackers stand warned, Deputy Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon said. “They are putting themselves in danger and that they will not benefit from any immunity against reprisal actions from Israel.” Cyber-attacks amount to “terrorism that must be treated as such. In cyberspace, we have active capacities and we can hit those who try to hit us.”

Israel To Hackers: “We’ll Respond The Same Way We Do To Terrorist Acts” is a post from: The Inquisitr

The destruction of the Twin Towers changed America forever. The events of 9/11 made it abundantly clear to every single citizen that terrorism was about to become a major factor in their existence. However, it is doubtful that when President Bush announced America’s “War On Terror”, the average American could anticipate just how much this new war would change their lives. As we begin 2012, we are still living under the intrusive eye of the Patriot Act and Guantanamo Prison is still full of accused terrorists. The much despised Transportation Security Agency (TSA) continues strip searching grand mothers in wheel chairs and sticking their hands down the pants of 5 year old kids. To make matters worse, Big Sister Janet Napolitano hinted that Americans might be subjected to even more intrusive security with this comment on the Charlie Rose Show, “Terrorists are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through. I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?”

The American people have reached the boiling point over being exposed naked on potentially harmful body scanners while the even elderly and the very young are given physical searches that would lead to molestation charges in any civil society. Whether or not they are willing to continue to accept this on-going violation of their human dignity, not to mention possible violations of the Constitution, remains to be seen. We do know for a fact that the Airline Industry is going broke and the volume of flyers is falling steadily. Major carriers are filling for bankruptcy and certainly the TSA’s policies have not been helpful in convincing passengers to fly. Many Americans have decided to drive or take other alternative transportation and the struggling economy has led to many families cancelling their travel plans altogether.

There is an on-going debate about the effectiveness of the methods used by the TSA. Despite the fact that every single person boarding an airline in the United States is screened, there have been several alarming lapses in security, including the notorious Christmas Underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The very fact that this man was whisked through security in Amestredam, Holland exposed one of the biggest flaws in the TSA octopus. Air travel is international and until the TSA permits American carriers to be responsible for providing their own, additional security in foreign airports, American citizens are at the mercy of foreign governments when they travel outside the USA. Not only do we need private professional security of the highest standards to be used by American Carriers when they fly from foreign destinations, but all foreign carriers flying into the USA should be required to meet the same standards. The citizens of the United States should not have to suffer endless intrusions into their lives and risk to their very existence because some foreign governments or foreign carriers may refuse to properly secure their airlines. The FAA maintains a list of the safety of all foreign airlines and certainly lack of proper security should land any carrier on the banned section of the list.

When it comes to setting policy on how to protect travelers, the TSA has chosen what many many experts in the field feel is the least effective method. Despite a 2012 budget of 8 billion dollars and 58,000 employes, the TSA has failed many internal security tests with as many as 75% of the simulated bombs getting through screening. Even outside agencies, including newspapers and television stations, have exposed how they were able to repeatedly smuggle simulated contraband through security and find many alternative routes into secure areas of the airport that bypassed all the security checkpoints. To compound the problem, the TSA airport staff is composed of mainly low pay, hourly workers with little, if any, security training. There have even been documented cases of convicted criminals working the screening lines at our major airports. Reports abound of personal property disappearing from passenger’s luggage, abusive treatment by TSA staff and a general atmosphere of “Comply or Else.” We wonder how many Americans know that they can be charged with a felony if they object to the intrusiveness of the screening and attempt to leave the airport once they have entered the controlled security area. So much for the right to say “No” when a person feels their rights, their faith or their dignity is violated.

According to those who have worked in the field of Airport Security and terror prevention, there is a better way. It is called Behavioral Profiling. This method, which is in no way related to the politically in-correct and frankly in-effective method of Racial Profiling, has been used to perfection to protect the world’s most endangered airports in Israel. Behavioral Profiling involves using highly trained professionals at the security checkpoints instead of the vast legions of barely trained wage slaves, of which the TSA is so enamored. These professionals observe passengers and anyone else who happens to be in the area for any telltale indications of unusual behavior. They also ask direct questions of every single person about to board an airline. Simple, straight forward questions like “Who are you?, “Where have you been?”, “Where are you going?”, “Why are you going there?” and “Did anyone ask you to add anything to your luggage or carry on baggage?”. They observe the behavior and listen carefully to the traveler’s replies. If answers appear out of the ordinary or the passenger’s behavior does anything to indicate the need for a more extensive examination, they are then taken to a private area for an in-depth security screening. No one is putting their hands down the pants of a child in public at an Israeli airport. Respect for privacy and a calm, polite professional demeanor is expected of every member of the Israeli Airport Security Services.

The Israeli system works and it works well, because in addition to the fully trained security personnel at the airports, from the moment a traveler buys their ticket, Israeli security is checking for any factors that might indicate anything out of the ordinary. For example, someone who buys a one way ticket in cash, then requests a window seat over the wing, would be flagged, in advance, for a full security screening at the airport. Someone who enters an airport carrying an empty suitcase would be put through a high level screening because the Israelis would want to know if that person had already placed a bomb, if they were perhaps using the suitcase to try to conceal something they planned to steal from the airport or if they were trying to test the security. According to Shlomo Harnoy, the former chief of the Israel Security Agency’s Aviation Security Department, bloated agencies like the TSA, that spend billions on ineffective methods, are not the solution. He said, “Whoever is concentrating on stopping old ladies bringing a bottle of mineral water on to the plane will not find the terrorist, or the bomb. The old lady is not a suicide bomber and the bottle of water is not a bomb component.”

Of course, the TSA and  its enablers in the White House and Congress have some standard, pat replies to any attempt to bring the TSA back under control. Instead of taking steps to emulate the best airport security in the world, they moan the United States is too big to use the Israeli system and continue to treat all Americans like suspects. Rather than end the burden on the budget of 58,000 employees, 44,000 of whom are members of a union for Federal workers, the big spenders in Washington continue to roll out more and more costly programs to “protect” Americans from the threat of terror. Despite the fact that the TSA continues to fail at its mission and the Airline Industry is in the toilet, partly because passengers are sick and tired of being treated like criminals, there are no indications the TSA plans to change its methods and stop making travelers feel like actors in a bad porn movie. Many Americans have simply had enough and are quite happy to discover the charm and beauty in their own communities during vacation time, rather than go through another round of choosing between back scatter radiation or a “touch your junk” pat down. Meanwhile, we move another step closer towards a Police State and the economy suffers. We would hope the political elite who run the country might wake up to the fact that Americans are fed up, but then again, there hasn’t been a really good miracle since Moses parted the Red Sea and Jesus fed the 5000 with five loaves and two fish.

Airport Security In America – The TSA vs The American Citizen is a post from: The Inquisitr

January 26th is the deadline that the Quartet gave to both parties to submit their own proposals on territory and security.  The Israelis are refusing to submit any proposals until the Palestinians meet the first half of the Quartet’s plan which is to have a preparatory meeting to determine what should be included in the proposals.  The Palestinians have submitted their proposals on territory but are refusing to meet with the Israelis.

Abbas claims that he rejects any type of violence, but he said only that he does not expect there to be any in the advent that there are no negotiations.

“If nothing happens, then all options are open to us, and of course there are people who say there will be a third intifada, but I say that is unlikely and I do not accept it,” he said.

The Palestinians have refused to talk to the Israeli for more than year.  They say they will not agree to sit down again until Israel agrees to halt all construction west of the Green Line, the line that separated Israel and Jordan before the 1967 Middle East War.  They also say they will not agree to negotiate unless Israel accepts that line as the basis for nay talks.

The Israelis say they are eager to negotiate with the Palestinians anytime and anywhere without any preconditions.

This year, Abbas took his case for Palestinian Statehood to the United nations unilaterally (in violation of previous agreements) but under pressure  from the US and with their threat to Veto the measure, the Palestinians are unlikely to get a majority in the Security Council in support of their bid.

The last time talks deadlocked was in 2000 when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians a state of their own with East Jerusalem as its capital.  Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian President who preceeded Abbas, walked out and began a war of suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks which claimed the lives of thousands of Israelis.

What do you think is the likelihood of the Palestinians getting a state in 2012?

Abbas Warns World of Quartet Failure is a post from: The Inquisitr

“The only world I know is drowning in rage.”  Al Jourgensen, Front man for the band Ministry.

There are no words I can think of that sum up 2011 better than Al Jourgensen’s. Our planet, our world, our home is on the verge of chaos.  It is hard to conceive of a year that has brought more mayhem and misery to humanity than the last 12 months. Governments are falling like dominoes in the Middle East and Sharia is rearing it’s head in country after country. Israel and the Palestinians are now in their 63rd year of hostilities with no end in sight. Iran is on the verge of building an atomic bomb and no one seems to have the will or the desire to understand the risks of a nuclear Iran; no less the guts to do something to prevent it. Japan was racked by a massive tsunami and the near meltdown of several nuclear reactors. In Russia and China, it is the same old fist in a new glove. In Africa, there is famine, disease and death for millions. Europe and America are in dire financial straits and the politicians are unable to put aside their political differences to solve the problems. Protesters rampage and rant in cities across the globe with little purpose and no clear goals in sight. Al Gore and his ilk are still trying to sell the pipe dream of carbon credits while touring the world in their Lear Jets and milking the global warming scare for all it is worth.  It certainly has been a year to inspire doubt and fear while chilling our hearts about the future.

AMERICA IN DECLINE

It speaks volumes that to many in the Western World, May 2, 2011 was probably the high point of the year. That is the day that Osama Bin Ladin is supposed to have been killed by U.S Navy Seals. Of course, skeptics of American politics will be happy to remind us that no one in the public has ever seen any actual proof of Bin Ladin’s death. All we have is the word of Obama, who has not had the best record for honesty. Using the feeble excuse that he didn’t want to offend or incite Muslims by showing any evidence of Bin Ladin’s death, Obama sealed all the records of the raid and all the photos of Bin Ladin’s body. We should remember that Lyndon Johnson bombed North Vietnam into the stone age based on a previous government lie called the “Gulf Of Tonkin Incident.” Until proof is available to every single person who wants to see it, all we have is the word of a President who used the killing of Bin Ladin as part of his re-election strategy. Hopefully, Bin Ladin really is dead and buried but the way our leaders play so loose and easy with the truth, it is quite possible to believe that we will never know the entire story. Some people even think he was killed years ago and kept on ice until a convenient moment. Far fetched, but with politicians being what they are, anything is possible

On the economic front, the United States is now 15 trillion dollars in debt and there is no indication that anyone in political power is willing to do anything about it. The country is broke and yet the spending spree continues unabated. The only answers we hear from our leaders in Washington are laced with partisan political nonsense and outrageous attacks on the opposition. The Democrats and the Republicans have spent the nation into decades of debt and the only solution they have is to blame the other party or blame the rich and start a class war. The Republicans act like total cowards and instead of attacking the problem head on and calling the Democrats on their fiscal policies, they pull their punches and talk about working with the opposition. Democrats stick to their guns, blame Bush and continue to expand entitlement programs with no idea where the money will come from to pay for them. Conservatives, who are still the largest block of voters in America, are totally baffled as to why the Republicans will not stand up to Obama and his left wing cronies. It seems to them as if the Republican Party is determined to give Obama and the Democrats a pass and let everyone have free rein to spend America into oblivion. The Left wants to create a socialist state and turn what was once the world’s greatest economic miracle into a another failed European nation. Meanwhile many Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, their savings and their patience.

Politically in America, we are suffering under the non-leadership of President Obama, who may be on his way to becoming the worst President in American history. There is still a sizable percentage of voters who say they have no clear idea of who he really is or why he has a Connecticut Social Security Number. He continues to vacation, play golf and make one campaign speech after the other while we watch America’s AAA credit rating fly out the window. Meanwhile, the nation is experiencing the worst racial tensions since the 1960′s era of segregation and our society is on the verge of an Obama inspired class war. He has contributed to an atmosphere where people are looked upon as exploiters just for being successful or having personal wealth. Of course, if you are rich and contribute to the Democratic party, then you are forgiven. We have seen billions of Federal dollars given to questionable business ventures run by major fund raisers to the Obama campaign. Light Squared and Solyndra are just two examples of the new heights that political cronyism has reached on Obama’s watch. So much for what was promised to be the most honest, transparent, lobbyist free presidency in American history.

In the Democrat controlled U.S. Senate, party politics have taken over the functions of government. Bill after bill languishes on Harry Reid’s desk, never to be voted on, because they were sponsored and passed by the Republicans in the House. While the country is in dire need of effective governance to repair the damage that has been done by generations of political game playing, the Congress has ground to a virtual halt. Voters can barely remember the last bill that actually made its way through the Congress to end up on the President’s desk. The Republican controlled House is no better. The Republicans are caught up in a turf war between the old guard Rinos and the Tea Party. They can’t seem to decide if they would rather fight among themselves or attack Obama and the end result is a weakened Republican party that has no clear voice to present its plan for the future.

Out on the campaign trail, the Republicans candidates for the 2012 Presidential election have ignored every single opportunity to go after Obama on his record. Instead, they have engaged in an endless stream of ugly personal attacks on each other. When they were not clubbing Newt Gingrich over the head with the sordid details his divorce, they are busy making idiotic mistakes and political gaffes that would embarrass a ten year old. In 2008, it was Obama and the 57 states he visited. In 2011, it was the bad word that was written on a rock at a hunting camp that Rick Perry’s father acquired in the early 1980′s. If the current crop of Republican candidates doesn’t wake up and start to confront the real issues that plague America, we will see Obama re-elected. Maybe a Republican candidate of character and honor will surface before it is too late, but the time is getting late for a miracle.

The elephant in the room in the United States is illegal immigration. When the Democrats failed to pass the Dream Act, they decided to ignore the will of the people, 70% of whom are opposed to amnesty for illegals. The Democrats encouraged Obama to bypass the Constitution by Executive Order. In 2011, the Obama Administration issued one order after the other that reduced the number of illegal aliens who will be deported. Desperate to get re-elected and courting Latino voters, Obama has done everything he can think of to open our borders. Americans are struggling to pay their rent and put food on the table. True unemployment is estimated to be between 15% to 20% and yet the country is being overrun by 400,000 illegals a year, who are taking jobs away from legal citizens. The vast majority of Americans are simply appalled that there are close to 15 million illegal aliens and there is no end in sight. The American people have demanded secure borders and all they have gotten in return is politics as usual. Most voters are blissfully unaware of the real goal of the Progressives and the Democrats, which is to subvert the Democratic process by flooding the nation with new voters who will strongly side with their policies. To quote Eliseo Medina, international executive vice-president of Service Employees International Union, or SEIU,  “We reform the immigration laws, it puts 12 million people on the path to citizenship and eventually voters…. Can you imagine if we have, even the same ratio, two out of three? Can you imagine 8 million new voters who care about our issues and will be voting? We will be creating a governing coalition for the long term, not just for an election cycle.”  Voters who were bribed to vote for destructive, Socialist programs by giving them easy access to the gift of citizenship, all at the expensive of close to 300 million of us, who were either born here or came here legally.

And then there was “Operation Fast and Furious.” In what many commentators felt was nothing more that attempt to undermine the 2nd Amendment, the ATF allowed thousands of guns to “walk” into the hands of Mexican narco-terrorists, resulting in the death of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. No one will ever know how many innocent Mexican citizens died as a result of this debacle but the vast majority of the weapons still remain in the hands of violent criminals. Despite the fact that Attorney General Holder actually mentioned the operation by name in a speech 2 years earlier, he claimed ignorance when he testified before Congress on May 3, 2011, where he stated, “I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” Documents released by CBS News in October, 2011 showed that Holder had been receiving briefings on the Operation as far back as July, 2010. Other documents released by CBS showed that ATF Officials had openly discussed using Fast and Furious to to make the case for stricter gun regulations. Many on the Right are calling for the resignation of Holder yet Obama has remained silent and refuses to comment further on the issue. Obama’s opponents wonder if this will be his “Watergate.”

Rounding out the year in America has been the dubious rise of the Occupy Movement aka OWS or Occupy Wall Street. There has never been an uglier, more dis-organized and destructive group of malcontents to raise their collective, unwashed heads. OWS has been praised by the political bigwigs of the Democratic party including Harry “This bill is dead on arrival” Reid, Nancy “Insider Trader” Pelosi and Community Organizer Obama. Financed by their well funded union buddies, the Occupy movement has caused havoc in every city they have appeared. The mainstream media, always looking for something demeaning and negative to spike their ratings, transformed a small handful of professional agitators, disgruntled outsiders and a sprinkling of the homeless into what they have portrayed as a mass movement out to change the world. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that no one in the movement could agree on anything, drug use, robbery and rape was rampant and everywhere they went, they turned once lovely public parks into disgusting open air toilets. What made it even more despicable was that the media tried to portray these vermin as no different than the protesters of the Tea Party, who worked their rear ends off to elect new, responsible leaders to office, cleaned up after themselves, went home at the end of the day and showed up for work in the morning. It is a sad commentary on the state of education in America that the Occupy movement does not know the difference between the right to lawfully gather to protest and taking over public property without permission. The fact that these bozos think they have a right to do what ever they want, when ever and where ever they wish, shows how far we have fallen in our once proud nation. GIMME is the new mantra and Immediate Gratification is the new way of life. They think smashing in the windows of banks will restore freedom in America. Never mind finding someone to pay to replace all the broken glass.

EUROPE ON THE BRINK

Across the Atlantic, things are not any better. The European Union has finally shown itself to be the bad idea every sane person knew it was. Spain, Portugal and Greece are bankrupt. Italy is on the verge and the rest of Europe is footing the bill. The Euro is on its last legs and Germany is tired of paying for bailout after bailout. The misguided experiment of multiculturalism is proving to be the final nail in the coffin of the once great countries of Europe. While rampant socialism put a strain on Europe’s finances, the endless invasion of immigrants has taken Europe from the pinnacle of prosperity to the pit of crime and poverty. The invading masses refuse to assimilate and demand special treatment based on their religion while draining the coffers of every European nation. Jews are becoming an endangered species in Europe thanks to the rampant, unchecked hostility of Muslim immigrants towards the few Jews who survived the holocaust. When someone is brave enough to speak out about the problem, as in the case of Geert Wilders, they are faced with intimidation, ridicule, arrest, and trial. Political correctness has been taken to the height of true insanity in the European Union and people are being threatened with lengthy jail terms, or even killed, for saying anything against Islam or immigrants. The truth is no longer matters. The left leaning governments of Europe are so intent on their atheism and multiculturalism that they are cutting their owns throats while Europe is invaded by millions of impoverished immigrants who will change the very nature of everything Europeans ever held dear.

THE ARAB WINTER

No where are things more explosive than in the Middle East. Starting with fall of Mubarak in Egypt, we have seen one Arab nation after the other replace their government with a strict Muslim theocracy based on Sharia. The Muslim Brotherhood has taken over Egypt and is openly talking about canceling the peace treaty with Israel. Coptic Christians in Egypt are being murdered with impunity and their churches burned. Once the most modern country in the Arab world, 90% of all Egyptian women are now subjected to Female Genital Mutilation. LET ME REPEAT THAT FOR YOU. 90% of all Egyptian women are now subjected to Female Genital Mutilation. Fifty years ago, hardly a woman in Egypt wore a headscarf. Today the majority of Egyptian women wear head scarfs and burqas are becoming a common sight. Egyptian Muslim clerics, some of whom are considered the highest authorities on Islam in the world, have come out in favor of wife beating, female genital mutilation, slavery, taxing infidels and openly called for the death of every single Jew on the planet. Yet Hillary Clinton and Obama talk to the Muslim Brotherhood like they are just another political party and plan to give billions to Egypt in aid and military assistance. Even sadder, not a word has been heard from the Woman’s Rights Movement on Female Genital Mutilation and the 2nd class treatment of Egyptian women.

Libya, Yemen, Tunisia and Syria are in chaos. Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Kuwait and Oman are rumbling in protest. In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi was killed and soon after Libya’s vast stockpile of modern weapons began to disappear into the hands of terrorists in Gaza and the Sinai. Iraq is about to plunge into anarchy as the American troops head home for good. Afghanistan has seen decades of war and this year was filled with one assassination after the other of ranking members of the U.S. backed government. Pakistan continues to beg for billions in aid from the U.S. while constantly undermining American policy in the region. In every single one of these countries, there are common factors. There is the crushing poverty that the vast majority live under and there is an oppressive government that rules over the masses. But more importantly, there is a rejection of liberal, democratic ideals and a total embrace of all things Islamic. Without exception, every government that has fallen has been replaced by an Islamic theocracy and without exception, in every country where the government is under attack, the prime movers are the Islamists. There is no majority in the Arab world for democracy. There is no majority in the Arab world for tolerance and freedom. There is no majority in the Arab world to ever accept non-Muslims as equals who are entitled to all the freedoms and privileges that are granted to Muslims. The real question is why can’t the Western World understand this simple truth and stop trying to force Democracy on people who have no interest in Democracy? When will the Western world stop living under its delusions and understand that Islam has a 1400 year, unbroken history of aggressive expansion at the expense of all other faiths and peoples? Do politicians like Obama, Sazorky and Ashton really believe that Islam is a religion of peace or do they just think we are all such idiots that we should be happy to have them constantly mislead us about the intentions of Islam?

63 YEARS OF HATRED AND DEATH

March 11th, 2011 was the date of one of the ugliest acts of Muslim terrorism ever perpetrated on Israel. The murder of the Fogel Family by two Muslim teenagers aroused anger in Israel to new heights. “The victims were the father Rabbi Ehud (Udi) Fogel, the mother Ruth Fogel, and three of their six children—Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, the youngest, a three-month-old infant, who was decapitated.” As is typical of the leftist world media, these murders were barely mentioned outside of Israel, while the Jew hating, has been, Jimmy Carter, continued to place all the blame on Israel for every problem in the Middle East. Anti Israeli publications, like The New York Times and The Guardian in the U.K., were more interested in harping on the fact that the Fogel family lived in a Settlement. That a 3 month old child was decapitated in her bed, simply because she was a Jew, was not even considered. 63 years of agitation and hate towards any Israeli presence in the Middle East was not mentioned. The fact that Hamas has a charter that calls for the eventual death of every single Jew on earth was not mentioned. All the Israel haters in the mainstream media could do was to try to find a way to blame the Fogels for being butchered.

September saw the Israeli – Palestinian conflict taken to the heights of the absurd as a former terrorist, Abu Mazin aka Mahmoud Abbas, stood before the U.N. to demand statehood for Palestine, despite the continuous terror attacks and rocket attacks against Israel. The fact that the Palestinians are 100% dependent on foreign aid for every aspect of their so called nation’s budget made no difference to the corrupt minds of those who are determined to eliminate the one safe haven on earth for the Jewish people. For the moment, the Palestinian application for statehood has failed because of the threat of a U.S. veto in the Security Council. Obama was afraid of losing much needed Jewish financial support and votes for his re-election so he said he would veto any move for Palestinian statehood. If Obama gets re-elected, many fear that he will reveal his true beliefs and totally throw Israel under the bus by voting in favor of Palestinian statehood. It should be noted that Abbas, the so called “moderate” Palestinian leader, based his doctoral dissertation on denying the Jewish Holocaust of WWII, even accusing Jews of making a deal with the Nazis to allow the Holocaust to happen in order to gain sympathy for the re-establishment of the Jewish nation of Israel.

During the 12 months of 2011, hundreds of rockets were launched at Israeli citizens from Gaza. If the occupation or the settlements were really the cause of the conflict, then why are attacks coming, almost daily, from territory that Israel turned over to full Arab control several years ago. The truth is there are no distinct Palestinian people. There are Arabs who hate Jews and wish to destroy anything Jewish based on a religious agenda that dates back 1400 hundred years. Let’s remember the words spoken about Palestine by a leader of the PLO. The Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here’s what he said: ‘The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our arab unity. In reality there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct “Palestinian people” to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.” Let us also remember four of the points in the PLO’s charter: 1. Jews are the enemy of Allah. 2. Islam is fighting a continuous religious war against the Jews. 3. The killing of Jews is a religious obligation. 4. Palestinians are the vanguard in this war against the Jews, and all Islamic nations are obligated to assist in this war.  Finally let us remember the words of Mohammed himself who said, “The Day of Resurrection will not arrive until the Moslems make war against the Jews and kill them, and until a Jew is hiding behind a rock and tree, and the rock and tree will say: ‘Oh Moslem, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!’  Let us reply to this hate by saying ” Oh American, remember these words well the next time you hear someone say Jews are to blame for everything in the Middle East. It is the Jews who rebuilt Israel from rubble after 2000 years of exile and the death of the six million. Let the Jewish people have their own land, promised forever in the holy bible, by the G*d of Abraham. Let there be peace with their neighbors so that all nations may prosper”

AFRICA BURNS AND THE PEOPLE STARVE

Sadly, just like in the Middle East, Militant Islam is on the march in Africa. Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan have all seen death and destruction at the hands of Islamic supremacist groups like Boko Harum, al-Shabaab and AL Qaeda. Nigeria has borne the brunt of Boko Harum’s viciousness towards non-Muslims with hundreds of Christian civilians killed and dozens of churches burned or bombed. Millions face famine in Somalia, where the Islamic group al-Shabaab murders, kidnaps or expels foreign aid workers while the people starve. The influence of Islam has spread to Kenya where a new constitution based on Sharia is being proposed. Even the one bright spot, which was the recognition by the United Nations of the newly formed nation of South Sudan, is being marred by ruthless border violence and constant threats from Islamic Northern Sudan. The one never changing fact is that Islam is always at the root of the violence and the attacks are being made on predominately unarmed Christians. As usual, Islamic leaders in Africa responded to the bloodshed by denying it all as a plot to defame Islam. At a meeting in Istanbul in November, they “denounced the identification of violence with Muslims and Islam, stressing that Islam is a religion of peace, love and brotherhood and that associating it with terrorism cannot be accepted.” Islamic leaders continue to ignore the persecution of “infidels” and the beheading and church bombings while happily blaming everything but Islam for the last 1400 years of jihad against non-believers.

MADMEN AND MULLAHS

Then there is Iran; the hotbed of crazed mullahs who are waiting for the 12th Imam to re-appear from the well he has been hiding in since the Occultation in 869 CE. For those readers who don’t study Islam, the Occultation refers to when the 5 year old  Imam,  Muhammad ibn al-hasan al-Mahdi, disappeared into a well, where he has remained hidden without dying until he returns to usher in the Islamic end times. The Occultation or lack of Occultation is at the root of centuries of bloody fighting between the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam. Iran’s leaders are members of the Shia sect and are deeply devoted to the return of the 12th Imam. Now all this may seem like a great deal of religious silliness to some of you, but when you combine the desire to usher in the end of the world with Iran’s race to build an atomic bomb, things start to get scary. Really scary. Add into the mix the fact that the current Grand Ayatollah of Iran and supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, also claims to be the only human who is in direct contact with the 12th Imam and it is time to panic. Most experts on the Middle East and Islam, who are not apologists for Islam, will tell you in no uncertain terms, that keeping Iran from getting nuclear weapons should be the world’s number one priority in the foreign policy arena. Meanwhile, Iran remains oblivious to any and all sanctions and continues its steamroller rush towards joining the world’s nuclear club. G*d help us all if the rest of the world allows it to happen.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE : THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME

Certainly, Russia and China have done their part in 2011 to compound the world’s problems. Russia continues its retreat back to the good old dictatorial days of heavy handed oppression under the rule of Vladimir Putin. They are merrily supplying Syria and Iran with weapons and technology while constantly obstructing any effective sanctions in the United Nations. It is rather ironic that Russia has more than its own share of problems with terrorists from parts of what used to be the U.S.S.R and surprise, surprise, once again the terrorists are Muslims. Blowing up airports and subways is par for the course but now woman who try to swim in the Caspian Sea in a bathing suit are being blown to bits by intolerant Muslim men. The situation has gotten so bad that the Russian State authorities opened the first Sharia compliant beach, where women swim while covered head to toe, in an attempt to stop the reign of terror against women.

China continues to build its economy on the sweat of its people and by releasing more poisons into the atmosphere than any other nation on earth. While the economy is booming and billionaires are starting to become common place, the iron fist of old guard communist oppression still wins the day in China. Dissidents routinely disappear into prisons for decades, foreign businesses are stolen from and spied upon, religious groups of any sort are ruthlessly stamped out and woman are arrested and sterilized for daring to become pregnant for a second time. At a time when the world is on the edge of a major explosion, China spent billions this year to vastly increase the size of its military arsenal. They continue to make threats to attack Taiwan and one Chinese General even went as far as to mention the possibility of using nukes on the United States if we tried to intervene. It seems with China, the more things change, the more things stay the same.

WHAT SHALL WE DO ?

I wish I could have written a glowing report on what a wonderful place the world became in 2011 but I am not given to fantasy. Surely there has been much to be happy about and proud of in 2011, but the world is teetering on the brink and people need to face reality. If we have any chance to change things for the better in 2012, we have to stop telling each other fairy tales and start to face the truth. The religious divisions that are creating such havoc in the world are real. It is time to stop making excuses for any religion that tries to impose itself on humanity. It is time to stop giving aid, treasure and support to nations or religions that oppress and brutalize non believers or outsiders of any sort. You may wish to deny that Islam is at the forefront of terror attacks, oppression of non-believers and persecution of women but it is the truth and it needs to be accepted before it can be changed for the better. Being politically correct and making more excuses for bad behavior will just encourage more bad behavior in the future. Do we really need to see signs like we saw from Muslim protesters in London on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11. Signs that said “DEMOCRACY GO TO HELL” and “BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM.” The very fact that the British police allowed the public display of death threats against non-Muslims within a few hundred feet of where the Prime Minister of England was making a memorial address shows just how far we have fallen in the name of the dual evils of multiculturalism and political correctness. While it is mainly militant fanatics who are at the forefront of the violence, the utter silence of so-called “Moderate Islam” is alarming. When the supposed majority of “Moderate Muslims” start to make their voices heard against Islamic expansion, oppression and supremacist beliefs, maybe non-Muslims will start to see Islam as a true “Religion of Peace.” At the moment, the silence is deafening and the body count continues to rise is the name of Allah.

While religion may lie at the root of many of our Foreign Policy problems, we should also remember that politics in the United States have become an absolute disgrace. Republicans and Democrats alike put party loyalty ahead of the welfare of the people who elected them. They have replaced honesty, morality and ethics with cleverly written loopholes that allow elected officials to ignore the law with impunity while vastly increasing their personal wealth. The influence that lobbyists and special interest groups have on our elected officials is a gross breech of trust that should make every member of Congress hang their head in shame. The political elite in America have become the new royalty of the ruling class; throwing the working peasants scraps while they gorge themselves.

The men and women who run the major corporations in America are no better. Companies lose billions and the bosses still take home millions in annual bonuses and stock options. Executives get caught stealing and instead of going to prison, they quietly retire with a 20 million dollar golden parachute. Companies that are making billions in profits will close a factory in the United States that employs 2000 people in order to be able to pay slave wages in a Third World country. 2000 hard working Americans out of work so a company that already made 10 billion in profits can make another 100 million. Hardly anyone in business or government gives a second thought to all the lives damaged by such behavior. No one will say a word about it unless someone thinks it will gain them more votes or make a good ad campaign. While there is nothing wrong with capitalism, there is plenty wrong with the sort of greed and lack of business ethics displayed by many large corporations.

Passing more useless laws will not solve the problem. False flag movements like the OWS movement that are nothing but fronts for political insiders will not solve the problem. Letting manipulators like George Soros play puppet master while throwing around billions to impose his ideas on society will not solve the problems. The problems will only be solved when we finally realize that we are all Americans and we start to demand that government leaders and elected officials behave in a responsible manner and represent the will of the voters or they will be replaced. The problems will only be solved when we make it clear to big business that if they wont put the needs of their customers and their workers ahead of pure profit and greed, then we will spend our hard earned money elsewhere. We do need a movement but not one that is based on race, religion, status or political philosophy. We need a movement that speaks as one to say that we demand change. We demand an end to greed and corruption. We demand that our elected officials do everything in their power to improve our lives; not by enslaving us with endless handouts but by balancing the budget, reducing the deficit and rebuilding our nation. We will use our voices, our minds, our vote and our wallets to make sure that we are heard in 2012. Ignore us at your own peril.

[The views expressed in this political commentary are the sole view of Wolff Bachner and do not express the views of Inquisitr.com or the Inquisitr.com writing staff.]

2011 In Review – A Planet In Crisis [Political Commentary] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Obama White House today announced that a deal to sell $30 billion dollars worth of advanced f-15 fighter jets to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been finalized.  Obama has stated that the deal is meant to counteract Iran and provide job and export growth to the American Economy.

Congress approved the deal in 2010.  To fulfill the contract Boeing will provide 84 advanced F-15SA combat planes to the Royal Saudi Air Force.  In addition it will provide upgrades to 70 existing jets in addition to providing arms for the planes, spare parts and other resources for their upkeep.

White house Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that “This agreement will positively impact the U.S. economy and further advances the president’s commitment to create jobs by increasing exports.  According to industry experts, this agreement will support more than 50,000 American jobs, engaging 600 suppliers in 44 states, and providing $3.5 billion in annual economic impact to the U.S. economy.”

Additional military equipment being provided to Saudi Arabia as part of the $60 billion dollar deal approved in 2010 are 70 Apache attack helicopters, 72 Black Hawk helicopters, 26 Little Bird helicopters and assorted weapons systems for the aircraft.

The main reason for the arms package’s approval, at the time, was the insistence of both the Obama Administration and The Saudi Arabian government was that the Iranian threat  required a well armed Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia has stood side by side witht he US in opposing Iran’s nuclear program.

Press Secretary Earnest further stated “This agreement reinforces the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a strong Saudi defense capability as a key component to regional security,”

The Obama administration also sought to allay concerns that the arms package diminished Israel’s miltary edge in the region.

“All sales to the region must be evaluated for the impact on Israel’s qualitative military edge,” assistant Secretary of State Andrew Schapiro told reporters. “We conducted that assessment, and we are satisfied that this sale to Saudi Arabia will not detriment Israel’s qualitative military edge.”

Should America be so committed to improving the Saudi’s military?

Obama White House Selling F-15′s To Saudi Arabia, Worth $30 Billion is a post from: The Inquisitr

In Beit Shemesh, Israel a small town near Jerusalem, religious tensions are reaching a boiling point and it seems as if the government is starting to take notice.  What started as a protest against a girls school which opened up adjacent to an ultra-orthodox neighborhood is threatening to ignite a storm around fragile peace between the cities residents.

For months now, dozens of Ultra-Orthodox Jews have gathered around the Orot Banot girls school, in which girls up to 6th grade attend their classes, and spit at them calling them prostitutes and whores.  While this has been the work of a few isolated extremists, the tension in the city has grown. This week in Beit Shemesh it seems as if it has reached a boiling point.

On Friday, 7 year old Na’ama Margolis was getting out of her parents car when one of the extremists spit on her and called her awful names for not being dressed sufficiently “modest”.  This was all caught on tape and aired nationally on Israeli TV. It turns out you don’t have to just be from Beit Shemesh to care about the neighborhood.

The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed at a cabinet meeting on Sunday that women will not be treated as second class citizens in Israel.

He told the cabinet:

“We shall not let radical groups hurt women’s rights in the public sphere, which must remain open and safe for all,”

The mayor of Beit Shemesh, himself an ultra-orthodox Jew, has been hesitant to use the powers of his office to send in the Beit Shemesh police force to help the girls for fear of a violent backlash.  Israel’s Public Security Minister has threatened to have the mayor replaced by  an appointed representative of the national government if he doesn’t move to protect women in all spheres of public life.

Over the last few days the extremists have become more emboldened, attacking two separate news crews and a police officer for trying to document gender segregation in the neighborhood.

Watch a video of the extremists of Beit Shemesh fighting in front of the girls school.

In Beit Shemesh, Religious War Escalates [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave his first comments on the idea of Hamas joining the Palestine Liberation Organization and reconciling with Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas.

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that the Israeli Prime Minister, who was Speaking at the annual conference of the heads of Israel’s Delegations Abroad in Jerusalem, ruled out any negotiations with any Palestinian government that includes the Hamas Terrorist Organization.

He reiterated that while he supports the formation of a Palestinian State, Israel will not permit that Palestinian State to become like Gaza or Lebanon.

Israel unilaterally withdrew its army and civilians from all areas of Lebanon and Gaza years ago.  Since then, Hezbollah has amassed an arsenal of over 10,000 missiles pointed at the Jewish state and Israel has endured tens of thousands of rockets fired into southern Israel from Gaza since they withdrew all forces from the coastal strip.

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have reached several understanding recently allowing the two factions to unify.  Elections are being called for this spring and Hamas will be participating and running its own candidates.  The last time Hamas ran candidates in Palestinian elections they took a majority of the Parliament forcing Israel to suspend all contacts with the body.

Hamas reiterated to the press today, that although they are making strong attempts to unify the Palestinian population they have made no attempt to moderate their positions.  Hamas does not recognize the right of Israel to exist at all and calls for the violent destruction of the Jewish State.

Netanyahu also restated his desire to meet with Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas at anytime, anywhere to restart peace talks without preconditions.

The Palestinians have refused to meet with the Israelis unless they agree to halt all settlement activity and accept the 1967 borders as a start to peace negotiations.

Watch a video here of Netanyahu explaining to President Obama the dangers of using the 1967 borders to start peace talks.

Netanyahu: We Will Not Negotiate with Hamas is a post from: The Inquisitr

This discovery prompted the latest statements by Secretary Panetta and Gen. Dempsey.

Panetta told ABC News “Despite the efforts to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program, the Iranians have reached a point where they can assemble a bomb in a year or potentially less.”

Gen. Dempsey the next day said, “My biggest worry is they will miscalculate our resolve. Any miscalculation could mean that we are drawn into conflict, and that would be a tragedy for the region and the world.”

President Barack Obama and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met at the Gaylord Hotel in Maryland on Dec. 16. supposedly to discuss, at length, an American and Israeli response. Currently Israel and the US are scheduled to hold one of the largest joint military exercises in the history of their alliance shortly, supposedly to train for an impending attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Will Obama let Iran go nuclear?

Iran Starts Building a Nuclear Weapon, US and Israel Strengthen Resolve is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by both the US and Israel, refuses to accept Israel’s right to exist and has sworn to never negotiate a peace treaty with the Jewish State.

Israeli Government Officials reacted with alarm at the reconciliation moves.

Hamas took over the Gaza Strip and has ruled the area ever since.  Fatah, the dominant party in the PLO has ruled only the West Bank, which make peace talks difficult as the Palestinians do not speak with one voice.  With this agreement that seems to be changing.

Elections of the PLO Parliament will take a few years to prepare for.  The PLO represents all Palestinians, not just those living in the disputed territories.  Elections for the PLO include those living in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and elsewhere.

In addition to the steps involving the PLO, the Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas has called for local elections to choose the Parliament in the territories.  The last time elections were held in 2006, Hamas swept in a huge majority of legislators.

Israel has said in the past that they will not in anyway negotiate with Hamas.  Hamas is responsible for killing thousands of Israelis through suicide bombings and have launched thousands of rocket into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Should Israel negotiate with a group dedicated to its destruction?

Report: Hamas Terrorist Orginization to Join PLO is a post from: The Inquisitr

“Despite the efforts to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program, they have reached a point where they can assemble a bomb in a year or potentially less,” said US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in a CBS interview, he added: “That’s a red line for us and that’s a red line, obviously for the Israelis. If we have to do it we will deal with it.”

In a speech to the Brookings Institute less than two months ago Panetta warned Israeli leaders against a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities for fear it wouldn’t really work, and it could disrupt the world economy.  He had stated then that the US redline was Iran disrupting world oil shipments.

This all falls on the heels of some very interesting meetings around the globe that happened this week.  The first being between the US President, Barack Obama and the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.  It was said during those meeting the primary talk was about how to deal with Iran.

The second meeting involved Panetta himself and Turkish Military leaders where talks focused on a two front war with Iran and Syria.

Israeli Intelligence website Debka, lists six areas where the Obama Administration is seen as being headed towards military intervention and away from sanctions.

1.  Panetta is no longer referring to estimates that Iran is 3-4 years away from the Bomb and now acknowledges that they are less than a year away.
2.  During the interview he made reference to underground enrichment facilities which intimate that he believes they are accelerating enrichment in secure environments.
3.  He is no longer warning Israel against attacking Iran and even appears to be back a military solution to the problem of Iran’s “unacceptable” nuclear progressions.
4. It seems as if the US sees a nuclear arms race beginning to build in the Middle East.  Earlier this month former Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal said that if Israel and Iran have nukes, they will have to have them also.  Turkish leaders have been indicating also that if Iran has a nuclear weapon, so too will Turkey.
5.  Iran’s capture of the American RQ-170 stealth drone shows the US that Iran is on a war footing and so the US should not let it keep acting this way.
6.  The death of the North Korean leader Kim Jong II could potentially lead to Pyongyang stepping up its involvement in Iran’s nuclear weapon and missile development programs.

Now is the time to see if the world will stand idly by and let Iran get the bomb?

Panetta: Iran Months Away From Nukes, Obviously a US and Israeli Redline is a post from: The Inquisitr

With tens of thousand of supporters in attendance in Gaza City, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called for the formation of an arab army to liberate Jerusalem in the name of the Palestinians.  The rally was called to celebrate the Hamas Movement’s 26th year since its inception. Hamas, classified as a terrorist group by Israel and the United States, seized control of the Gaza Strip in a bloody coup against the leadership of the Palestinian Authority and has ruled there ever since.

Hamas is opposed to any sort of peace treaty with Israel and vows to destroy the Jewish State and eject every Jew from Israel.  Hamas was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Recently, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have tried to bury the hatchet between them and show some level of unity ahead of planned elections, which are scheduled for this spring.  The last time Palestinian elections were held Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian Legislature and among city councils.  This created a problem for the Palestinian Authority, who has had some level of negotiation with Israel.

Hamas is best known in the western world for being behind a gory spate of suicide bombings across Israel in the early 2000′s which killed hundreds of Israeli Civilians.  More recently Hamas has been fires thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, leading up to the Israeli Military action refered to as Operation Cast Lead. Hamas has remained committed to a military solution to their conflict with Israel.

Do you think Hamas belongs to be recognized as a legitimate government in Gaza or are they only a terrorist organization?

Hamas Leader Calls For Arab Army To Liberate Jerusalem is a post from: The Inquisitr

Iran is really asking for it…it being access to the United States stealth drone RQ-170 it managed to get  last week/ Russian and Chinese sent military intelligence teams to Tehran for access but it seems as if the Iranians wanted much more.  Israeli Intelligence website DEBKA is reporting that the price being asked for by Revolutionary Guards leader Gen. Ali Jaafari includes advanced nuclear and solid fuel missile technology. In addition, Tehran sought expertise  on centrifuges for enriching uranium to weapons grade and the immediate transfer of Russian made S-300PMU-1 air defense systems.

The S-300PMU-1 air defense system is capable of shooting down stealth warplanes and cruise missiles and would give Iran a huge advantage if the US or Israel decided to proceed with a military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent his  Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is originally from Russia, to Moscow speak Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the danger  of letting Iran have the S-300 batteries.  Intelligence Sources in Washington report that Netanyahu consulted with the highest echelon of US leaders before sending Leiberman.

The Russian prime minister, although cordial denied any deal with Iran and refused to discuss the issue further. At the conclusion of the meeting, Lieberman told reporters “Russia’s positions on the Middle East were not helpful.”. According to reports, American officials were no more successful in trying to press the matter with Russia’s president.

Washington and Jerusalem have information that the  Russians may have played role in Iran’s capture of the RQ-17o,  and may have even supplied Iran with the electronics necessary for bringing down the US stealth drone undamaged.

How do you feel on a possible US strike on Iran?

Iran Seeking Nuclear Know-How, Anti Aircraft Missiles For Access To Downed US Drone is a post from: The Inquisitr