Russian officials at the countries Foreign Ministry have proposed a plan to suspend all adoptions of children to United States citizens following complaints about the welfare of children brought to the United States.

The last time the country had an adoption stop towards the U.S. was in 2010 after a mom in Tennessee simply put her 7-year-old son on a plane back to Russia for acting out. Pinned to the boys pocket was a letter explaining why he was sent back to his homeland. In that letter mother Torry Hansen wrote:

“This child is mentally unstable” and “He is violent and has severe psychopathic issues/behaviors. I was lied to and misled by the Russian orphanage workers and director regarding his mental stability and other issues.”

That stoppage was short lived but led to various discussions about the state of the countries adoption policies and the U.S. ability to monitor those adoptions as needed.

That case is scheduled for a May hearing in which the Russian adoption agency is asking that Hansen pay for the child’s care.

A U.S. stopped for Russian children coming into the United States would deal a severe blow to the countries adoption agencies, in the last 20 years more than 50,000 children have been adopted by U.S. parents.

Do you think the actions of a few crazy U.S. citizens should lead to the complete closure of Russian adoptions in the country?

Russia Ready To Stop Exporting Children To United States is a post from: The Inquisitr

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, currently under house arrest in the UK, will be hosting an English-language talk show on RT, a Moscow-based channel formerly known as Russia Today.

Called “The World Tomorrow”, the TV show will have Assange interviewing “key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries”. Assange’s show is expected to kick off around the middle of March, and ten 30-minute episodes will be aired every week.

RT is keeping a tight lid on the specifics, such as Assange’s guests and the talking points, but the network did drop a few hints on what we can expect. According to RT, Assange will “get to talk about the issues of the day with those he believes will shape the world tomorrow”.

Assange himself also shed a bit more light on his TV show in a statement posted on WikiLeaks. He said:

“Through this series I will explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it. Are we heading towards utopia, or dystopia and how we can set our paths? This is an exciting opportunity to discuss the vision of my guests in a new style of show that examines their philosophies and struggles in a deeper and clearer way than has been done before.”

[Image credit: Reuters]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange getting his own TV show is a post from: The Inquisitr

Social networking is a hot sector and with that comes various Internet companies wanting to do it justice and roll out their own platform. More often than not, they tend to cone or take several cues from top dogs such as Facebook and Twitter.

A Russian Internet company by the name of Mail.ru, launched their Twitter alternative named ‘Futubra’. They hope to rival the success of Weibo, a social network based out of China. So far, the launch is going pretty well for them.

Via Reuters:

“The launch of Futubra, a Russian-language site which allows users to send short messages, videos and photos to its other users, attracted 17,000 users within the first 24 hours of its launch, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported.”

“We are excited by the opportunity facing Futubra as microblogging is a fast growing segment which fits well into the Mail.Ru Group vision of the growth in internet communications,” said Mail.RuGroup Chief Executive Dmitry Grishin in a statement.”

In November of 2010, Mail.ru raised a whopping $1 Billion for their IPO which happens to be the second largest since the financial crisis. The company is basically a web portal with their own search engine, email service, and more, and is very reminiscent of Yahoo.

As far as catching up to Twitter, that would take a long time considering Twitter’s massive growth and over 100 Million active users, however, they can carve out their own little niche if everything is right.

“Mail.ru owns two Russian social networks, My World@Mail.Ru and Odnoklassniki.ru, and owns a significant share of the social network VKontakte – the country’s largest social media platform and domestic answer to Facebook.”

Would you ever use an alternative to Twitter or do you even use Twitter to begin with?

Russian Company Launches Twitter Alternative ‘Futubra’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Vladmir Putin released a statement today on his website and in the Russian newspaper Izvestia.  In it he claimed that he is the only Russian politician who can lead Russia at this time because he (and only he) could fight the dangers of stagnation and instability.

In his statement Putin said that in Russia, making dramatic changes to the government often leads to the current system being replaced by one that is even worse.  It is the common rally call of the despot.  The Crooks you know are better than the ones you don’t.

He didn’t address a lot of the issues that have had thousands of Russians out in the street protesting.  He didn’t address the election fraud, the rampant corruption in the Russian business and political sphere or the massive flight of capital out of the country since his rule began.

In his statement Putin was quoted as writing,

“In the modern world, stability is something that can only be achieved through hard work, by being open to change and ready for long-overdue, well-planned and well-calculated reforms,”

He went a step further to say that it was mostly due to his platform of reasserting national strength that has caused the world to respect Russia again and even more important for Russians to respect themselves.  He cited the military moves against Chechnya and Georgia as examples.

He also took a few shots at the United States without mentioning his old Cold War rival by name.  He said Russians should be wary of countries who claim to “Export Democracy” because the programs they put into place often come with unforeseen and unintended consequences.

Do you think Vladmir Putin is good for Russia or just another thug?

Vladmir Putin: The Crooks You Know Are Better Than Those You Don’t 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

An Asian hooded crane, a rare bird normally found China, Japan and Southeast Asia, was recently spotted in southeast Tennessee, at the Hiwassee Refuge.

The Asian hooded crane, clearly quite a long ways from home, was spotted hanging out with a group of sandhill cranes that have made the refuge their residence for the winter. Asian hooded cranes are a rare enough site even in Asia, much less Tennessee – so, naturally, hundreds of bird-watchers have stopped by the Hiwassee Refuge to check out the rare crane.

“It’s a great thrill,” Melinda Welton, conservation chair for the Tennessee Ornithological Society, told Reuters. “People are coming in from all over the country to see this bird. He has had more than 700 people come and visit from all over the country to see this bird. People have come from 26 states and from two countries, including Russia.”

The majority of Asian hooded cranes normally do their wintering in Japan, and their nesting usually takes place in Russia or China. Welton says that this particular crane took a wrong turn, but he doesn’t seem too unhappy about his new environment – he’s even made a few friends.

“There have been other records of birds that take a wrong turn,” Welton explained. “And now that he’s on the North American continent, it looks like he’s associating with his closest relatives.”

Source: Reuters

[Image: Wikipedia]

Rare Asian hooded crane takes a wrong turn, ends up in Tennessee is a post from: The Inquisitr

Russia’s doomed Mars Probe, Phobos-Grunt is going to come crashing back into the Earth’s atmosphere in late January, and it is entirely possible that dozens of pieces may survive the reentry according to scientists.

Russian scientists are supposedly hard at work trying to figure out what is going to happen when the 14 tons satellite  comes crashing back to Earth.

Phobos-Grunt was launched in November but failed to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. Phobos -Grunt was supposed to land on Phobos, one of Mars Moon and bring back rock samples.

A big problem with the reentry is that a good portion of the Phobos-Grunt probe’s weight is highly toxic rocket fuel.  As of this point it is impossible to estimate what pieces of the probe will survive or where they will land.

According to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, most of the probe will not survive the heat of the reentry.  Due to the fact that most of the earth is covered by water or uninhabited land the likelyhood of damage is very remote. To date there have been no incidences of anyone being hurt by space junk.

The Phobos-Grunt probe is one of the costlier mistakes made by the Russian Space agency in recent times.  The cost of the mission was expected to exceed $250 million dollars.  By comparison, the United States’ Mars program is estimated ot cost around $8.5 billion.

The US had to shoot down a satellite before it reentered the atmosphere a few years ago due to the fact that is was carrying the same type of fuel that the Phobos-Grunt is carrying.  Like the Phobos-Grunt it was encased in a titanium tank which has the ability to survive reentry.

What do you think Russia and the US should do about the Phobos-Grunt?

Phobos-Grunt, Toxic Russian Mars Probe To Crash to Earth in January is a post from: The Inquisitr

Iran has always played the defiant country, claiming all along that Western economic sanctions have had little effect on the country however that tone changed this week when the countries oil minister acknowledged that a lack of investment in oil field development had caused declining oil production numbers.

The oil ministers announcement comes just after the foreign minister proclaimed “we cannot pretend the sanctions are having no effect.”

The countries realization that Iran central banking restrictions are causing problems began last week when a Polish natural gas company that had been working on a deal with the country for four years pulled out of the deal following Western sanctions on the countries banking system.

Iran attempted to rebound from those failed talks by offering a $1 billion deal to Russian oil company Tatneft however that offer was met with a rather embarrassing denial from the Russian company. Russian has historically been willing to skirt Western requests to do business in the region, however after years of attempting to be welcomed into the World Trade Organization the country was sworn in this past week and will likely work more closely with WTO nations and the objectives they set out to achieve.

Sanctions were strengthened last month when the United States and the European Union went after the countries central bank and oil industry in response to the countries refusal to end their nuclear program. Under the proposal by the United States, likely to be met with agreement by President Obama, countries that do business with Iran’s central bank could face severe penalties if they do business in the United States.

Iran Admits That Sanctions Are Hurting The Country is a post from: The Inquisitr

This announcement come on the heels of a US announcement that its last B-53 nuclear weapon has been dismantled. The B-53 was the largest bomb in the US arsenal.

Russian president Dimitri Medvedev walked out of talks with the United States back in November over US plans to set up a missile defense system in Europe. The European Phased Adaptive Approach plan is a intricate array of sea and land based missiles which were designed to be used against a missile attack from Iran. The US says that cooperation from Moscow  is needed to help the shield work. Moscow on the other hand claims the talks were useless because the US refused to guarantee the missiles would not be aimed at Russia.  At that point, Moscow decided to end their particiaption in the talks and shortly after announced it plans to build the Satan Nuke.

Russians Put New “Satan” Nuke Into Play is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry revealed on Sunday that 49 people are missing and four bodies are believed to have perished after an offshore oil rig began sinking in the Russian far east Sea of Okhotsk.

14  people were rescued from the rig which was being towed from Kamchatka and authorities refuse to call the four people spotted in the water as dead even though no signs of life were witnessed.

All together there were 67 people aboard the Kolskaya platform, a rig that was subcontracted to a company working with energy giant Gazprom.

The icebreaker ship Magadan and the tugboat Naftogaz-55 are on the scene and will work through the night in a frantic search for survivors and the bodies of the deceased.

Several helicopters were assisting in the initial search during the daytime hours until a strengthening storm made their efforts difficult, they will rejoin in the search on Monday morning.

According to news agency RIA-Novosti the rig was drilling 11,480 feet and poses no environmental danger because it’s fuel stocks were hermetically sealed and will therefore not spill.

According to reports the rig was being moved into position when pumps failed, causing the rig to take on water and ultimately sink.

Do you believe that better safety precautions need to be taken given the number of oil rigs failing in recent memory?

Oil Rig Workers Dead, Others Missing After Russian Offshore Rig Sinks is a post from: The Inquisitr

15 members of a Russian mountain climbing team will attempt a climb that no human has ever survived, a winter climb up the treacherous K2 mountain top.

Along the way the climbers will experience 50 below zero temperatures and winds up to 40mph as they attempt to climb the second-highest peak in the world.

The attempt is part of the groups wishes to successfully traverse the planet’s 14 “eight thousanders” (mountaintop higher than 8,000 meters).

While Mount Everest was successfully climbed in the winter of 1980 the K2 range is considered harder during the winter months because of colder temperatures and harsh winds along with vertiginous slopes.

In 1987 a Polish team attempted to climb the summit in the winter however after 80 days they claimed only 10 good days of climbing conditions and made it just 7,300 meters before scaling down the slope with frostbite and ripped apart tents.

Among other challenges the Russian team will face are more snow and therefore a higher risk of avalance along with less daylight than the  reason of the year.

The climb is expected to take nearly 2.5 months to complete and will begin around Christmas time.

Do you think the Russian teams attempt to climb K2 in the winter months is a daring feat that shows the capabilities of man or an act in utter stupidity that’s going to get people killed?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Russian Team To Attempt First Successful Winter Climb Up K2 is a post from: The Inquisitr

It took 18-years worth of requests but Russia finally managed to gain acceptance into the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The vote of confidence by the organization is expected to help the countries economy and the economy of their top trading partner, the European Union.

According to the Associated Press the latter could boost exports by $5.2 billion per year.  The acceptance will also require that Russia follow tightly monitored Geneva-based trading rules and marks the last of the G20 nations to join the 153-nation group.

In describing the occasion trade representatives from the U.S. said Russia’s admittance, ”represents a great cause for celebration” and that it will be ”good for all members of the WTO.”

Being accepted into the WTO required several important steps by Russian lawmakers including dropping their tariff ceiling by 7.8% and forming a bilateral agreement with one-third of the organization’s members.

The bilateral agreement proved to be the toughest decision for the country and was only met after they reached an agreement with Georgia during a Swiss-moderated meeting. Georgia had been blocking Russian’s attempts to join the WTO since the two countries went to war with one another in 2009.

As part of Russia’s agreement a neutral nation will monitor trade with Georgia.

Following news of the countries acceptance Russian journalists immediately began attempting to shake up the agency, suggesting that Russian be added to the organizations three official languages English, French and Spanish.

Do you believe that Russia’s acceptance into the WTO will have long-last positive economic effects for the country and their trading partners?

Russia Finally Joins World Trade Organization After Mediated Georgia Dispute is a post from: The Inquisitr

Yesterday, it was looking as if Russia’s Phobos-Grunt probe was as good as dead. Ever since its launch on November 8, officials were having difficulties making contact with the craft after it failed to fire its engines to propel itself out of Earth’s orbit.

Fortunately, things are starting to look at least a little bit brighter for Russia’s probe today as the European Space Agency reports that a station in Australia has been able to successfully receive and send signals to the craft.

The 29,000-pound, $170 million Phobos-Grunt probe was on a mission to land on Mars’ largest moon, Phobos, and collect a soil sample which would then be brought back home to planet Earth. Whether or not the probe can carry out its mission is still uncertain – and Russian officials admit that it’s unlikely it can – but today’s news at least brought some hope that the craft can carry on.

The craft is also carrying China’s first interplanetary probe, Yinghuo 1, along with it, so Russia isn’t the only nation holding out hope that full communication and control of the spacecraft can be established.

Both the ESA and NASA are working closely with Russian officials to come up with a solution to the problem, with the ESA going as far as to modify one of its satellite dishes.

“In the past few days, ESA’s Perth dish was modified by the addition of a ‘feedhorn’ antenna at the side of the main dish so as to transmit very low-power signals over a wide angle in the hopes of triggering a response from the satellite,” the space agency said.

via Space.com

[Image credit: AP/Russian Roscosmoc space agency, HO]

Russia’s Mars probe responds after week of silence is a post from: The Inquisitr

An FBI and US homeland security probe has been launched after a cyber-attack suspected of originating in Russia caused a water utility pump outside of Springfield, Illinois to be shut down for a short period of time.

The hacking of the water pump did not effect water supply in Central, IL however it did signal the first publicly known case of a foreign hacker successfully penetrating a US industrial facility.

The hack occurred on November 8 when a technician for the facility announced the attack.

The system was compromised when a hacker obtained supervisory control and the facilities data acquisition (Scada) software. During the hack the Scada system was turned off which in turn burned out the water pump.

In the meantime Homeland security spokesman Peter Boogaard  has not confirmed that the shutdown was necessarily the result of an attack since no critical infrastructure entities were targets and no threat was made to the public’s safety.

If the Scada system was compromised it could pose a greater risk to the public in the future since the software is used to control water treatment facilities, railway switches, chemical plans, gas pipelines and even nuclear reactors.

Concerns have been raised over the system in the past, last year Iran’s uranium enrichment facility was attacked by the virus Stuxnet which also targeted Scada systems.  When attacking the Iran facility the virus sped up uranium centrifuges while shutting off warning and safety systems.

The FBI and US Homeland Security continue to investigate the incident to determine the exact cause of the system failure.

Russian Hacker Temporarily Shuts Down Water Supply In Illinois, FBI Probe Launched is a post from: The Inquisitr

Vladimir Putin loves to stage the most ridiculous promotional shots of himself and this time he’s outdone himself. Putin on August 8, 2011 released footage in which he went “deep sea diving” and discovered treasure. There’s just one problem with the discovery, Putin was only six feet deep and he didn’t discover anything.

According to the New York Times Putin has his people take treasure that was discovered “several weeks or days before” and plant them in six feet deep water so the former/future President of Russia could “discover” them.

This isn’t the first time Vladimir Putin has tried to make himself “bigger than life” by stage fake acts to wow Russian citizens.

According to Putin’s own press secretary:

“Naturally, they either left them there, or they put them there,” while he added, “This is completely normal. It is totally not a pretext for malicious joy and so forth.”

His press secretary says Putin doesn’t hire image consultants or PR professionals to stage his ridiculous exploits, noting:

“Most of the time, he does it himself.”

Here’s a video of the fake dive:

Do you find Putin’s attempts to be “super human” to be as ridiculous and funny as I do? Politicians in America do the same thing, they just call them “polling results” which provide ridiculous facts based on their “track record.”

Vladimir Putin Fakes Treasure Discovery To Talk Himself Up is a post from: The Inquisitr

Concerns about the euro zone have resulted in drops across the board for the currencies of many less developed nations. Amongst others, the Hungarian forint, South African rand, Romanian leu, and Russian rouble have all seen drops against their developed market counterparts.

In some countries central banks have intervened to support their currencies. Poland’s central bank stepped in to support its currency, the zloty, and with good results: unlike other east European currencies, the zloty actually made gains against the euro. As in Poland, central banks in Romania and Russia have intervened to rescue the leu and rouble respectively.

Generally though, emerging currencies face a rather doom-laden scenario. The Hungarian forint declined massively against developed currencies, with the euro jumping about 1.5% against the forint to HUF297.82. Chile’s peso dove more than 1% against the dollar, the Mexican peso dipped about 0.8%, and the South African rand dropped 1.6%.

Meanwhile, Greece reported overnight that it would fall short of budget targets imposed by the International Monetary Fund, European Union and the European Central Bank as part of conditions for its bailout.

Guillaume Salomon, emerging market strategist at Societe Generale, summed the mood up:

“It’s not looking very good [for emerging markets]. There are a number of concerns, and we’re back to the same old game [the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis] here.”

Furthermore, a big drop in U.S. stocks and commodities caused mass selling of emerging market currencies.

Emerging Market Currencies Feel the Pinch as Euro-Zone Debt Crisis Takes Hold is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve all heard the “bridge to Hawaii” jokes that leave some people believing they can actually drive to the island state, well now a connection is being made, but it’s from Alaska to Russia. Russian officials this week approved plans to build an underwater tunnel that would cross the Bering Straight.

For anyone getting excited that they will be able to drive their way to Russian, the tunnel is being built for underground train use only, extending the entire 65 miles and making it the longest underwater tunnel in the world.

The tunnel will also be the most expensive at a cost of nearly $1 billion per mile.

At this time it’s still not clear where money for the project would come from, however the tunnel is expected to bring in $11 billion yearly according to some experts, enough money that investors looking to cash in may come forward in the near future.

While the tunnel will not allow automobile driven passengers it is expected to carry nearly 100 million tons of freight between Russia and Alaska on a yearly basis and Russian officials hope it will allow them to gain access to Arctic mineral and fossil fuels they have claimed.

The tunnel won’t be ready anytime in the near future with an expected 15 year build time, however once completed Russian may also end up delivering electricity to Alaska and parts of Canada.

Great just what we need, more of our energy coming from other parts of the world through a huge connected power line.

Do you think connecting Alaska to Russia via tunnel is a smart move?

Russia Gives OK For Underwater Tunnel Connecting Country To Alaska is a post from: The Inquisitr

For the first since 2001 the International Space Station may soon go unmanned. Last week a Russian spaceship crashed back to earth, leaving Russian engineers to determine what caused the crash with only a short term fix available if they decide to relieve the six astronauts currently aboard the space station.

According to Space.com, three of the six astronauts are scheduled to return home in November, however NASA will not allow their astronauts to board a Soyuz rocket until the issue is fixed and several unmanned launches have been successfully performed.

With three  expected to return home in September, astronauts currently have enough supplies to last for an extended stay.

According to  CNN the Russian space agency was planning to launch a manned mission on Sept. 22 and will now postpone that mission until early October, possibly early November.

NASA officials say that if the ship is left unmanned they will continue to operate it from the ground and the ISS will remain in orbit “indefinitely.”

Too bad NASA recently retired the Atlantis space shuttle, that sure could have come in handy at this point.

International Space Station May Be Unmanned Following Russian Space Failure is a post from: The Inquisitr

First it was the last launch, and landing, of NASA’s space shuttle and now we find out that our other bastion in space, the International Space Station will come to the end of its life in 2020 with the ignoble crashing into an ocean somewhere.

The reason given for sending it into the depth is this way it won’t end up becoming a huge hunk of space debris that could endanger satellites and any future space travel above the earth.

“Right now we’ve agreed with our partners that the station will be used until approximately 202 … After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it’s too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish” Vitaly Davydov, deputy chief, Roskosmos space agency

via SlashGear

This news of course comes on the heels of China’s announcement that they are preparing to build their own space station.

China’s new space palace, called “Tiangong” (or “heavenly palace,” see?) will be far smaller than the ISS, tipping the scales up here in zero-g at a mere 60 tons to the 450 tons or so of the ISS. It’ll consist of one primary module (the one in the above pic, launching before the end of the year) along with two experiment modules and some extra docking ports for cargo craft.

via DVICE

The International Space Station to join the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean in 2020 is a post from: The Inquisitr

The country of Belarus is currently experiencing their worst financial meltdown since the days of the USSR and now Russian has cut power to part of the country.

Belarus officials confirmed that they currently owe Russian $54 million and because of that debt Russia has stopped providing power to 10% of the country.

At this time Belarus is asking Moscow for a $1.2 billino bailout, while requesting $8 billion in emergency funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As part of their recovery efforts the country has raised their main interest rate to 16% up from 14% while the countries “staple foods” have experienced a price freeze until at least July 1.

An unnamed source at Russia’s energy export monopoly is giving the country until June 19 to pay their outstanding balance, although they have not said what will happen after that point.

Russian Cuts Part Of Belarus’ Power Over Debt Payments is a post from: The Inquisitr