Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Emirate $59 billion on Defense Idiocy

The Abu Dhabi International Defense Exhibition and Conference, or IDEX, saw the signing of major deals between weapons-developing companies and states in the region.

On Tuesday, the Emirates government signed nearly $3 billion in deals at the show with Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. to buy military transport aircraft, the official news agency WAM reported.

The Emirates' military has committed to buying four C-17 aircraft from Chicago-based Boeing and 12 C-130 aircraft from Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed, said Obaid Ketbi, chairman of IDEX, who said it was part of a plan "to modernize and develop the country's air transport fleet."

The efforts in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to acquire nuclear technology was never far from the minds of participants.

The UAE also signed up to acquire a high-altitude air defense system to stave off concerns about possible missile attacks from Iran, he said in a telephone interview.
Idiocy.

The organizers of IDEX announced that the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates -- are expected to spend about $59 billion on defense this year.
Idiocy.

Raytheon, one of the biggest U.S. defense contractors, announced earlier at the exhibition that it had sold 224 advanced missiles to the UAE for its F-16 warplanes. The Emirates government has agreed with Washington on a letter of offer and acceptance for the purchase of Raytheon's advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles. The deal was described as "sizable" by company officials.
Idiocy.

Hillary Clinton Friendship Between the US and Indonesia.

Saudi Women Lingerie Stores Storm in Tea Pot

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7908866.stm

Miss Arab World

Gaza City Some Facts

Covering a land area of 360 sq. km (approximately twice the size of Washington, DC) with a population of nearly 1.4 million, the Gaza Strip is a narrow sliver of land in the westernmost portion of the Palestinian territories in Southwest Asia and borders Egypt, Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea. This region has a temperate climate with mild winters and dry, warm to hot summers. The terrain consists of flat to rolling, sand-and-dune covered coastal plains. The Gaza Strip's borders were originally defined by the armistice lines between Egypt and Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Gaza Strip was occupied by Egyptian forces until the region was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
From: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/w...

Gaza (Arabic: غزة‎ transliteration: Ghazza) is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, approximately 78 kilometers (48 mi) southwest of Jerusalem, with a population of 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.

Inhabited since at least the 15th century BCE, Gaza has been dominated by several different peoples and empires throughout its history. The Philistines made it a part of their pentapolis after the Ancient Egyptians had ruled it for nearly 350 years. Under the Romans and later the Byzantines, Gaza experienced relative peace and its port flourished. In 635, it became the first city in Palestine to be conquered by the Rashidun army and quickly developed into a center of Islamic law. However, by the time the Crusaders invaded the city, it was in ruins. In later centuries, Gaza experienced several hardships from Mongol raids to floods and locusts, reducing it to a village by the 16th century when it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. During the first half of Ottoman rule, the Ridwan dynasty controlled Gaza and under them the city went through an age of great commerce and peace.

Gaza fell to British forces during World War I, becoming a part of the British Mandate of Palestine. As a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt administered the newly-formed Gaza Strip territory and several improvements were undertaken in the city. Gaza was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, but in 1993, the city was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority. Hamas took over the city in 2007 after months of clashes with its rival Fatah, and since then it has been under a blockade by Israel.

The primary economic activities Gaza are small-scale industries, agriculture and labor. However, the economy has been devastated by the blockade and recurring conflicts. Most of Gaza's inhabitants adhere to Islam, although there exists a Christian minority. Gaza has a very young population with roughly 75% being under the age of 25, and today the city has one of the highest population densities in the world—refugees make up over half of the residents.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza
Source(s):
Additional Info:
http://www.israelshamir.net/shamirReader...
http://ancient-middle-eastern-history.su...
http://www.arabwashingtonian.org/english...
6 days ago

Homemade Bomb in Cairo bazaar kills 1

CAIRO – A homemade bomb exploded in a 650-year-old bazaar packed with tourists Sunday, killing a French woman and wounding at least 21 people, most of them foreigners.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090223/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_blast

Barack Obama Sending More Troops to Afghanistan is Wrong Approach

Barack Obama decision to send more troops to Afghanistan is a wrong approach. Negotiated settlment is the only sound one.
With eventual increase of troop casualities the support for president Barack Obama will startt to decline. This may derail his efforts and concentration on economic issues and this what people are hoping from him.

Israel Steals Big Chunk of Land in the West Bank February-16 2009

Israel has taken control of a large chunk of land near a prominent West Bank settlement, paving the way for the possible construction of 2,500 settlement homes, officials said Monday, in a new challenge to Mideast peacemaking.
Some 1,700 dunams of land in the northern part of Efrat were declared state land last week, paving the way for the West Bank settlement to start the process of seeking government approval to build there.
The Civil Administration issued the declaration after rejecting eight appeals by Palestinians against the move. A ninth appeal was accepted, and the land covered by this appeal was consequently removed from Efrat's jurisdiction.
However, construction is still a long way off. First, the Civil Administration must formally allocate the land to the Housing Ministry, which, under new rules adopted by Ehud Olmert's government, cannot be done without approval from both the prime minister and defense minister.
Then the Housing Ministry must give Efrat's local council a permit to start the usually long planning process, which involves securing permits from various agencies. Only then can the work of building some 2,500 housing units in the Givat Ha'eytam neighborhood begin.
Since the outcome of the elections makes it likely that the next government will lean more to the right than the current one, Efrat plans to wait until the new government takes office before submitting its request.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/WBank_Settlement_Gets_Green_Light_for_Major_Expans.html

Hillary Rodham Clinton Asia Trip February-16 2009

TOKYO – Hillary Rodham Clinton chose Asia for her first trip abroad as secretary of state hoping to engage the continent on a wide range of global issues but North Korea is threatening to steal the show. She began a weeklong tour of Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China in Tokyo on Monday with a pledge that the Obama administration would transform the traditional U.S.-Asia agenda into one that deals with climate change, clean energy and the worldwide financial crisis.

Female suicide bomber blows self up in middle of Shiite religious procession

This act is pure madness, madness and madness.
The most important thing is to figure how these suicide bombers reach the decision to blow themselves and kill other innocents.
What Shiite an Sunni religious division.

Female suicide bomber blows self up in middle of Shiite religious procession
A Shiite pilgrim inspects the scene of Friday's suicide bomb attack in Mussayab, south of Baghdad, Iraq. Dozens of people, mostly women and children, were killed in the explosion.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090213/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

Coordinated Taliban Attacks Kill At Least 26 In Kabul

KABUL -- Near-simultaneous suicide attacks targeting civilians and government personnel in the Afghan capital, Kabul, have left at least 26 dead and 55 wounded.

Eight suicide bombers are believed to have died while carrying out the midmorning attacks, for which the Taliban has claimed responsibility.

The incidents came one day ahead of a visit by the United States' special envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke.

The most high-profile of the attacks occurred when several armed militants wearing explosive belts stormed the Afghan Justice Ministry, situated next to the presidential compound in the center of Kabul.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Taliban_Attacks_In_Kabul_Kill_At_Least_19_/1491341.html

First-Ever Satellite Collision in Space February-11 2009

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA says two communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit.

The collision occurred yesterday nearly 500 miles over Siberia. The crash produced a pair of massive debris clouds, according to NASA. But officials say any risk to the international space station, which orbits below the collision course is low.

The collision involved an Iridium commercial satellite, which was launched in 1997, and a Russian satellite launched in 1993 and believed to be non-functioning. Each satellite weighs well over 1,000 pounds.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090211/BREAKING/90211062

Kyrgyzstan Closure of American Air Base

The government of Kyrgyzstan asked parliament to approve the closure of an important American air base, Manas, near the capital, Bishkek. The only American base in Central Asia, Manas plays an important role in supporting American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Fire in Australia Claims 170 Lives

The number of deaths from bushfires that have already claimed 170 lives in the Australian state of Victoria is likely to rise, officials have warned.

Biden Says US Willing to Talk to Iran

Vice President Joe Biden says the U.S. is willing to talk to Iran and Russia to repair relations but stresses that Tehran faces pre-emptive action if it continues on its current path. He makes the comments while addressing world leaders at a security conference in Germany -- the first foreign policy speech of the new administration.
http://news.aol.com/main/politics/

The Iraqi War is Barack Obama War Now

The Iraqi War is now the Barack Obama War. With the recent death of four young American troops in Mosul North of Iraq and it happened on his watch, then it is the Barack Obama war. President Barack Obama should take the iniative and anoounce shortly some troop brigades withdrawl. So be it if he does not do that than the Iraqi war that he had inherited will be his war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/09/AR2009020901339.html?nav=rss_email/components

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Benedict XVI Lock Horns Over British Bishop Richard Williamson

German Chancellor, Pope Benedict XVI have constructive conversation after Holocaust controversy Germany's government and the Vatican say Chancellor Angela Merkel and Pope Benedict XVI have had a constructive telephone conversation after a week marked by tension over a Holocaust-denying bishop.
A joint statement Sunday said Merkel initiated the call. She made a rare public demand Tuesday for clarification from the German-born pope after the Vatican lifted the excommunication of traditionalist British Bishop Richard Williamson.
The Vatican demanded Wednesday that Williamson recant his denial of the Holocaust before he can be admitted into the church as a bishop. Merkel welcomed that statement.
A German magazine reported Saturday that Williamson said he would correct himself if he is satisfied by the evidence, but it "will take time."
http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13888085

Holocaust denying bishop to examine 'historical evidence'

If these Jews were alive now they would have been massacring Palestinians right and left.

A bishop under fire for denying the Holocaust wants to examine the historical evidence before any possible renunciation of his belief that not a single Jew died in Nazi gas chambers, a report said.

"If I find proof I would rectify (earlier statements)... But all that will take time," Bishop Richard Williamson was quoted as saying by the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel.

The British-born bishop denied the existence of the gas chambers in an interview with Swedish television two days the pope lifted his ex-communication last month.

"I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers," Williamson said.

"There was not one Jew killed by the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies!"

Meanwhile, the bishop of Innsbruck in western Austria, Manfred Scheuer, said that the Vatican should learn lessons from the episode, which provoked a storm of criticism.

"The Pope's explanations (this week) were more than necessary and I welcome them. But we must now analyse the mistakes that have been made," Austria's Tiroler Zeitung daily on Saturday quoted him as saying.

"On questions as important as the lifting of an excommunication, the episcopal conferences should be consulted," he said, referring to official assemblies of bishops in different regions.

On Wednesday the Vatican said the 67-year-old bishop should "unequivocally" distance himself from his statements.

It also said that Williamson's remarks denying that the Nazis used gas chambers to eliminate millions of European Jews in World War II were not known to Pope Benedict XIV when he decided to lift the excommunication of four renegade bishops, including Williamson, last month.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090207/wl_afp/vaticanholocaustjewsgermanybishop_20090207153453

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Calling for 30,000 Troups in Afghanistan is Idiotic

President Obama has talked of sending three extra brigades to Afghanistan. That means about 12,000 combat troops. Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, talks of deploying 30,000 extra troops—doubling the 30,000 It is clear that Adm. M. Mullen is totally irresponsible person. President Barack Obama should turn down his advice. Enough adventurers. Keep the money home. The country does not need another General Westminster the monster of Vietnam.

George W Mitchell Special Mission to the Middle East Absolute Fail lure if He Does Not Negotiate with Hamas

George W Mitchell the special envoy to the Middle East should have the insight that if he does not negotiate with Hamas which is represented by the government of Gaza then his mission is complete failure.

Serbian general tried over Kosovo

Serbian general tried over Kosovo

Vlastimir Djordjevic is accused of trying to expel ethnic Albanians
A former Serbian general has gone on trial at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, accused of war crimes during the Kosovo conflict.

Vlastimir Djordjevic was allegedly involved in the murders of hundreds of ethnic Albanians and the deportation of 800,000 others from Kosovo in 1998-99.

He was a close aide to the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in tribunal custody in 2006.

He denies charges of deportation, murder and persecution.

The indictment alleges he was part of a joint criminal enterprise aimed at expelling the majority of the Kosovo Albanian population to ensure continued Serbian control over the territory.

His trial is the fifth and last case concerning war crimes in Kosovo to be held at the tribunal, which is due to wrap up its work by 2012.

The judgement in another case against the former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and five co-accused, for war crimes in Kosovo, is expected within months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7850000/newsid_7854500/7854521.stm

Nazi camp doctor Aribert Heim 'died in 1992'

Nazi camp doctor 'died in 1992'

ZDF said Aribert Heim died of cancer
Aribert Heim, one of the most wanted Nazi criminals, has been dead since 1992, German's ZDF television reports.

It says Heim, known as Nazi Germany's "Doctor Death", lived under a pseudonym and died in Egypt's capital, Cairo.

ZDF says it found Heim's passport and other personal documents in a hotel where he lived.

Heim was a concentration camp doctor and was accused of killing hundreds of concentration camp victims in WWII, using horrific medical experiments.

In its report, ZDF quoted witnesses, including Heim's son, as confirming that he died in 1992.

The German TV channel also said Heim had converted to Islam.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7870923.stm

International Criminal Court to consider Gaza investigation

February 4, 2009

The Palestinian Authority and others want the court to investigate alleged war crimes committed during the recent battle with Israel.


Reporting from Madrid -- In a move that could inject a new international actor into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the International Criminal Court will examine requests to investigate alleged war crimes during the recent combat in the Gaza Strip, its chief prosecutor said Wednesday.

Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the Netherlands-based court, said he had decided to consider an investigation after the Palestinian Authority accepted the jurisdiction of the court last week.

Gaza Strip and the West Bank are not Viable Geographically to Be One Country

Gaza strip and the West Bank are not viable together to be one country. They are separated by the land of Israel. No land corridor will be foreseeable allowed by Israel.

Israel Should Pull It's Troops From the West Bank

There is no excuse for Israel to have her troops to remain in the West Bank at this time.

Australia plans $26 billion stimulus package February 2, 2009

CANBERRA, Australia - Australia's leader unveiled a new stimulus package Tuesday to try to shield the economy from the global downturn, promising 42 billion Australian dollars ($26 billion) in spending that will send the budget into the red for the first time in nearly a decade.

The package comes on top of one launched late last year worth A$10.4 billion ($7.4 billion) and underscores the threat the downturn poses to Australia's resources-based economy, which has shuddered to a near halt since the worldwide financial turmoil began mid-last http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20090203&id=9515765

Iranians inaugurate space project

Iranians inaugurate space project

The rocket was launched from a secret desert location


Rocket launch
Iran has launched a research rocket to inaugurate a newly built space centre.
The test-launch for the country's first low-orbit research satellite was shown on Iranian state television to cries of "God is Great" from the announcer.

Correspondents say advances in Tehran's missile technology are likely to alarm Western powers, as Iran presses on with a controversial nuclear programme.

The White House called the launch "unfortunate", warning it would further isolate Iran from the global community.

The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says it is a highly symbolic moment for the launch, coinciding with the 29th anniversary of the Iranian revolution.

Reporting of the story on Iranian TV has been accompanied by a great deal of patriotic music.

'Important achievement'

The successful test-launch bodes well for Iran's low-orbit satellite project, with its scheduled launch date of March 2009.

We need to have an active and influential presence in space

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iranian president

The space centre, at an unidentified desert location, includes an underground control station and launch pad for the satellite which will be named Omid (Hope).

"We need to have an active and influential presence in space," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a televised ceremony before the launch.

"Iran took its first step very strongly, precisely and wisely," he said. "Building and launching a satellite is a very important achievement."

In February 2007, Iran said it had launched a rocket capable of reaching space - before it made a parachute-assisted descent to Earth.

In October 2005, a Russian rocket launched Iran's first satellite, the Sina-1, which carried photographic and telecommunications equipment.

Western countries also fear Iran wants to produce nuclear weapons.

Tehran denies this, insisting its uranium-enrichment programme is solely to generate electricity.

Tehran is already thought to have missiles which can reach Israel and this launch is seen as further evidence that it is developing its rocket technology.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7225699.stm

The Hamas Fighters Should Cease and Stop Firing Rockets at Israel

Israel had killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in the last 22-days fight. So what these irresponsible people doing by firing more rockets? Another Palestinians killed in retaliation bombing?