Hamas: Nuke Israel.

From JPost:

JP: Details released by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) on Tuesday revealed that graphics appearing on the Hamas website call for the destruction of Israel in a nuclear holocaust.

On the website, a red Star of David is encased in a black rectangle which is then obliterated in a nuclear explosion. ...

Manuel Quezon on Philippines Coup Rumors

Via Pajamas Media, here's Manuel L. Quezon III on those rumors of an impending coup in the Philippines (reported in yesterday's Morning Report):

I’d ask, not only what, but why, and add, further, it would be wrong that the country has reached its present, crucial, juncture, simply due to the egotism of the soldiery and the ambitions of some within the citizenry.

First and foremost, the President has brought it upon herself. ...

The opposition doesn't get of easy either. Full article at the link.

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Highlander: From the Rock

Don't forget to visit Libyan blogger Highlander at From the Rock. Her news and gossip will make you smile. And photos! Go to her homepage for the photopage link.

And while you're at it, check out Libyan bloggers.


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Libya bloggers

Plus Ultra: 'Toon Rage Toll

Plus + Ultra / Dragon Key Press has a few thoughts on the cartoon violence:

Over thirty people died this weekend, bringing the total death toll for toon rage to an estimated 45 so far, although I suspect that is slightly low.

Has anyone heard the US government condemn the arson attack on the US embassy in Indonesia this weekend? No? That’s not unusual. Jacques Chirac did not condemn the attack on the French embassy in Iran over a week ago. I guess whatever they do to any Western person or interest is justified now because of what Jyllands-Posten did six months ago.

And don't forget to bookmark the homepage ... you'll want to keep track of what all those CIA agents are up to!

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Chinese Communists vs. the Internet: China Youth Daily Editor Faces the Music

Via Just Some Poor Schmuck, here's a Washington Post article on the battle against censorship in China:

The top editors of the China Youth Daily were meeting in a conference room last August when their cell phones started buzzing quietly with text messages. One after another, they discreetly read the notes. Then they traded nervous glances.

Colleagues were informing them that a senior editor in the room, Li Datong, had done something astonishing. Just before the meeting, Li had posted a blistering letter on the newspaper's computer system attacking the Communist Party's propaganda czars ...

Read the rest at the link.

The PRC's goons aren't going to go away gracefully, though, and Sean LaFreniere links this disturbing story about Chinese government harrassment within America's borders:

Peter Yuan Li was beaten, tied up, blindfolded with duct tape and robbed of two laptop computers last week by three Asian men who burst into his suburban Atlanta home with a gun and knife.

He and other Chinese-Americans suspect it was no ordinary robbery.

Li, who works for a newspaper and Web site critical of the Chinese Communist Party, is one of several people tied to China's banned Falun Gong spiritual movement who say they have been harassed and hit with break-ins in the United States by Chinese agents.

They say China has carried its crackdown on dissidents to this country.

FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said the bureau is looking into the attack on Li for potential civil rights violations and refused to comment on whether the Chinese government was behind it. ...

Sean calls it an "act of war", and I agree. Here's more from the Epoch Times:

At noon on February 8th, two armed men forced themselves into the home in Atlanta of Epoch Times Chief Technical Officer Mr. Yuan P. Li, beating him and stealing two of his laptops. After Mr. Li managed to free himself from the extension cord used to bind him, he was taken to an area hospital for treatment. His statement describing this attack is published below.

This crime, occurring in a very safe area in Atlanta and done without concern for the taking of valuables, breaks new ground in the Chinese Communist regime's campaign against The Epoch Times.

That campaign has previously taken the form of arresting Epoch Times staff inside mainland China, and, outside mainland China, systematically stealing newspapers, attempting to intimidate advertisers, applying pressure to deny Epoch Times staff the opportunity to cover events at which Chinese government officials appear, and threatening the family members inside mainland China of Epoch Times staff living outside China. ...

Go to the link for the rest, and for pictures of the poor guy. Here's Li's statement:

My name is Yuan Li. I am forty-one years old and am an Epoch Times IT staff member. Today (Feb. 8) I was beaten up by thugs and my computers were taken away.

Around noon, someone rang the doorbell. I looked through the peephole and saw an Asian man in his 30s, and I opened the door. The man told me that he was there to deliver water. I said I did not order any water and asked if he made a mistake.

While I was talking, another man appeared from around the corner. The two forced themselves into the apartment. One of them pulled out a dagger, the other, a gun. And they ordered me not to move. I started crying for help and wanted to run away. They covered me with a bed quilt until I was almost suffocated. Then they took off the bed quilt and started beating me, especially in the temple area; they probably beat me with the gun handle, and I bled profusely. Finally they used the tape they brought with them to tape my mouth, my eyes and my ears; my arms were tied behind my back and my legs were also tied up. I couldn't move at all; I could neither see nor scream.

The first two men spoke Korean, which I don't understand. From what I could tell, another two men came in [later], one of them knows Mandarin, as he asked me in Chinese, "where is your safe?" He probably doesn't speak English. They searched upstairs and downstairs several times and left about half an hour later. ...

Epoch Times: Yuan Li beaten in his own home.

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The Political Machine

I haven't blogged on this issue before because I confess to being somewhat biased. You see, I grew up on the East Coast.

East Coast voting is a ritual. You walk into a "voting machine" surrounded by a curtain that draws shut when you pull the lever. The aura of power and mystery is palpable: at that moment, you are quite literally "the man/woman behind the curtain". As you face the seductively-shaped switches labeled with the candidates' names, you become aware that you are at the control panel of the world's mightiest democracy. You move a switch and it gives a satisfying click; your votes will not be made final, however, until you open the curtain and emerge from this "kodesh kodashim" of American politics.

Somehow this business of ballot cards, cardboard cubicles, or (heaven forbid) mail-in ballots never quite did it for me. So you can already imagine how I feel about electronic voting machines.

Feelings aren't at issue, though, for Armed Liberal at Winds of Change, who joins citizens from across the political spectrum in protesting the advent of electronic voting. Without further ado:

Right now is a four-month window before the June elections when many states are trying to decide how they will comply with the federal HAVA act. Here in California, we are about to be locked in a battle to decide if our votes will be processed - I won't say counted - by poorly designed voting machines and systems.

Friday, the California Secretary of State conditionally approved (pdf) the use of the fatally-flawed Diebold voting machines, subject to some rather sketchy conditions. Take a look at the attached report (pdf) for the testing he commissioned.

This independent testing that the SoS commissioned found still more flaws - but suggests that it's OK to use these machines anyway while we cross our fingers and hope.

I don't think so, and I'll be working hard to get as much attention paid to this as possible. Over the next few days, I'll post some specific suggestions about what can be done.

Among AL's previous posts on the issue is this one:

There are election-day issues in most elections (as we all can remember from 2000, right?) But e-voting machines are a particular problem, as presently constituted, because without a permanent paper trail, the votes - stored as records in a database - must be taken on faith.

In Florida, we could at least go back and try and figure out what happened. With paperless e-voting machines, there's just no way.

There are a lot of things that can make e-voting work; open-source software and ISO9000 audits are two of the ones that I support.

Now to to the link for full details - and take a gander at the testing that was done for California's e-voting machines (PDF link at the Winds post).

Night Flashes

From JPost, Ayman Nour appeals his prison sentence: 'The trial of Ayman Nour, who came in a distant second to President Hosni Mubarak in September elections - the first in which the longtime Egyptian leader faced challengers - badly strained US-Egyptian relations. Nour's lawyers told The Associated Press they filed their appeal Saturday on grounds that the court did not provide due process and that the trial was political not judicial. Nour, 41, was convicted Dec. 24 of forging signatures on petitions to register his party before the elections. He said he was brought to trial not because he broke any laws but to eliminate him from politics.' ...

In Israel, "Terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip fired a rocket into Israel late Sunday night, Zaka reported" - the rocket landed near Ashkelon but no casualties resulted ... to understand why those rockets from Gaza make Israelis nervous, read this JPost article linked at Israpundit on preventing disaster: "The Jerusalem Post quoted senior security and government officials who warned that this country must gird itself for “a large-scale disaster,” should the Kassam rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip hit one of the super-sensitive targets in Ashkelon’s industrial zone. These include the Rutenberg Power Station - which supplies electricity to nearly half of Israel (as well as to Gaza) - huge depots of fuel and potentially deadly chemicals, the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, a desalination plant and many more. Ashkelon is not only a large and very soft civilian target; it is of vital strategic importance. In this setting, even unsophisticated weaponry can cause environmental and economic catastrophes, to say nothing of the taking of innumerable lives." ...

Freedom for Egyptians covers Condi's upcoming meetings with Egyptian politicians and dissidents - FFE quotes Rice on the importance of democratic reforms, and adds: "I hope she won't miss meeting opposition leader Ayman Nour and the Egyptian Judges."... more here ...

Buy Danish. But don't buy Lurpak. Big Pharaoh isn't going to be happy ...

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"How We Betrayed European Muslims"

Miranda Husain of the Daily Times, Pakistan:

While no one can deny that the European press has offended Muslims worldwide with the printing and reprinting of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) caricatures, the violent response of certain elements in the Muslim world has done an even greater injustice to Muslims everywhere. Especially, those living in Europe.

It can be argued that the cartoons do not criticise the Prophet (PBUH) per se, but what the West believes Muslims have turned themselves into: terrorists and fanatics incapable of entering into dialogue with the ‘other’. ...

Indeed, in the words of New York Times columnist David Brooks, violent, rampaging Muslims have not only demonstrated that they and the West hold different ideas — they have demonstrated their different relationship to ideas.

Read it all.

"God bless Hitler."

Just in case you hadn't seen it already.

Afternoon Roundup

Israpundit follows ISM. Bill Levinson at Israpundit rebuts Huwaida Arraf in this latest post on the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Iran regime continues persecution of Sufis. Iran Focus reports the latest IRI brutality against Sufi Muslims:

Islamic mystics, or Sufis, focus on the direct perception of Truth or God through mystic practices based on divine love. Sufism, common to both Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, has its roots in Iran. Its followers oppose Iran’s ruling theocracy on spiritual grounds.

Police arrested some one thousand Sufis as clashes broke out after the place of worship used by the mystics was demolished Tuesday on government orders.

Hundreds were injured during the clashes after police fired teargas and used truncheons to attack the demonstrating Sufis.

Go to the link for a list of names.

Rice to Arab states: Isolate Hamas, Iran. Reuters via The Intelligence Summit reports that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called on Arab states to isolate islamist Iran and the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority:

Rice, who will visit Egypt on Tuesday and travel to Saudi Arabia and to a regional meeting in the United Arab Emirates, will lobby states to deny aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government and push Iran to curb its nuclear plans.

Arab powers such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia oppose Hamas' rejection of peace talks with Israel and fear a nuclear-armed Iran.

But they are reluctant to explicitly support America in the Middle East, where U.S. backing for its top ally in the region, Israel, angers many Arabs and clouds governments' cooperation with Washington.

Full article at the link.

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Fun with Search Terms

what does it mean when a woman wears a ring on her left thumb? I have no idea. (Now a ring on the RIGHT thumb ... well, I know all about that one, but unfortunately I can't explain it here. This is a family-safe blog.)

what terms of the "treaty of versailles" did germany find objectionable? Do your homework, kid.

irshad manji hottie She certainly is!

world's most dangerous lightning storm You've found it, baby!

ITM: US seeking to outspend enemy in Iraq?

New at Iraq the Model:

The Iraqi and American authorities had been trying several ways in dealing with the local insurgents including offering amnesty for those who drop their arms, offering more reconstruction funds for the hot spots and opening the doors for the sons of those areas to join the Iraqi security forces.
But al-Sabah published a report this morning about an alleged big change in the American strategies towards the local insurgents:

Instead of talking to the leaders of the militant groups in the western regions of Iraq, US forces now are trying to arrange for disarming the insurgents through talking to tribal sheikhs and community leaders.
It seems the new strategy includes providing the sheikhs with huge amounts of money to be distributed to great numbers of insurgents to persuade them to stop the violence since they say that they had to resort to violence because they were in need for money. A source with close ties to the insurgents told al-Sabah.

The source revealed that American forces are receiving good feedback which encouraged them to increase their support to the mediators to get more insurgents under the umbrella of this program, and mentioned that the US forces have so far distributed approximately 20 million $ out of 250 allocated by the US authorities for this program.
...
One might say that paying the insurgents to stop the violence means submitting to the pressure of the terrorists and that doing this is useless because they will keep asking for more every time they run out of it. And that makes sense.

But let's look at it from another angle (again assuming the report is accurate) according to the report the insurgents (at least many of them) are paid mercenaries fighting for money and when thinking about the possible sources for this money I can only think of Syria and Iran.
So who's capable of investing more in Iraq, the US or the fading regimes in Iran and Syria?
I think that if it's possible to buy the loyalty of local insurgents with money then we should consider this as an option. so we won't have to keep paying them for a pretty long time.

Remarks: Omar's assumption that "neither the Mullahs nor Asad will be in power few years from now" is important. I believe he is right, in fact I'm guessing they won't be in power even a year or two from now.

Whence this optimism? Well, for one thing, nothing the US and Israel are doing now makes sense unless Jerusalem and Washington are operating under the same assumption. The liberation and reconstruction of Iraq are, quite frankly, doomed to failure unless the neighboring regimes, which are doing their utmost to bring the project to ruin, will themselves fall first. The Israel/Palestine "Road Map" is a tragic and disastrous exercise in self-deception for America and Israel unless the regimes backing Hamas and Hezbollah are to be brought down. The entire premise of the Bush Doctrine will be for naught unless the dominoes continue to fall in Tehran and Damascus. I believe they will.

Based on everything I've been reading, I think it is very likely that the US and its allies will be at war with Iran - and probably Syria too - by the end of March. What happens after the balloon goes up is anybody's guess.


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