| Animated Purim story (Aish) Posted: 07 Mar 2012 11:00 PM PST |
| Evidence Iran is hiding nuclear activities at Parchin Posted: 07 Mar 2012 07:15 PM PST From AP: Satellite images of an Iranian military facility show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the site, indicating that crews were trying to clean it of radioactive traces possibly left by tests of a nuclear-weapon trigger, diplomats told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The assertions from the diplomats, all nuclear experts accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency, could add to the growing international pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.
While the US and the EU are backing a sanctions-heavy approach, Israel has warned that it may resort to a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent it from obtaining atomic weapons.
Two of the diplomats said the crews at the Parchin military site may be trying to erase evidence of tests of a small experimental neutron device used to set off a nuclear explosion. A third diplomat could not confirm that but said any attempt to trigger a so-called neutron initiator could only be in the context of trying to develop nuclear arms.
The diplomats said they suspect attempts at sanitization because some of the vehicles at the scene appeared to be haulage trucks and other equipment suited to carting off potentially contaminated soil from the site.
The images, provided by member countries to the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, are recent and constantly updated, one of the diplomats said. The diplomats all asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
The IAEA has already identified Parchin as the location of suspected nuclear weapons-related testing. In a November report, it said it appeared to be the site of experiments with conventional high explosives meant to initiate a nuclear chain reaction.
It did not mention a neutron initiator as part of those tests, but in a separate section cited an unnamed member nation as saying Iran may have experimented with a neutron initiator, without going into detail or naming a location for such work.
In contrast, the intelligence information shared with the AP by the two diplomats linked the high-explosives work directly to setting off a neutron initiator at Parchin.
In explaining such a device, the agency's November report said that "if placed in the center of a nuclear core of an implosion-type nuclear device and compressed, (it) could produce a burst of neutrons suitable for initiating a fission chain reaction."
If Iran did try to trigger a neutron initiator, it would harden international suspicions by adding a nuclear component to a suspected string of experiments linked to weapons development that generally have not included radioactive material.
Iran has previously attempted to clean up sites considered suspicious by world powers worried about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran razed the Lavizan Shian complex in northern Iran before allowing IAEA inspectors to visit the suspected repository of military procured equipment that could be used in a nuclear weapons program. Tehran said the site had been demolished to make way for a park, but inspectors who subsequently came to the site five years ago found traces of uranium enriched to or near the level used in making the core of nuclear warheads.
The Iranians also embarked on an extensive redo at the Kalay-e Electric Co., just west of Tehran, before agency inspectors were given access nine years ago. Although the site was re-painted and otherwise sanitized, samples taken from Kalay-e also showed traces of enriched uranium, though at levels substantially below warhead grade.
Attention most recently focused on Parchin several days ago, when senior IAEA officials first spoke of unexplained activities at the site without saying what they could be and said an inspection of buildings there was taking on added urgency.
One of six diplomats who spoke with the AP said his country continued to reserve judgment on what the movements at the site meant but two others who had seen recent spy satellite imagery said the trucks and other equipment at the site almost certainly showed attempts to clean it of radioactive contamination.
They declined to go into detail but said radioactive traces could also be left by material other than a neutron initiator, such as uranium metal which can be used as a substitute for testing purposes.
IAEA expert teams trying to probe the suspicions of secret weapons work by Iran tried — and failed — twice in recent weeks to get Iranian permission to visit Parchin. Tehran then said on Monday that such a visit would be granted.
But it said that a comprehensive agreement outlining conditions of such an inspection must first be agreed on — a move dismissed by a senior international official familiar with the issue as a delaying tactic. He, too, asked not to be named because the matter was sensitive. You just know that the Juan Coles of the world are going to fall over themselves to say that there is no hard evidence here, that it is hearsay, that the story is unsourced, that it is not believable. They know Iran is righteous and no circumstantial evidence will change their minds (in public, at least.) But what this story proves (again!) is that Iran has been actively engaging in hiding critical information from the IAEA, and they have been doing that for years. Which means that Iran has something to hide from a nuclear watchdog agency. What could they plausibly be so intent on hiding that is innocuous? Did they design a nuclear-powered bunny rabbit that they are trying to patent? An atomic film making breakthrough that would crush Hollywood? Or maybe, just maybe, they are working on something a little deadlier? See also this excellent related piece by Michael Ledeen. 
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| The Shlomones - Good Groggin' (video) Posted: 07 Mar 2012 06:00 PM PST Nice! 
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| Bad (but original) Purim Torah Posted: 07 Mar 2012 03:20 PM PST Q: How do we know that Benjamin Netanyahu is Jewish from the Torah? A: Jeremiah 36:14: יְהוּדִי בֶּן-נְתַנְיָהוּ
"The Jew, Ben Netanyahu"
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| Islamist group threatens to kidnap Christian women in Nigeria Posted: 07 Mar 2012 01:15 PM PST From Bikya Masr: A Nigeria spokesman for the Islamist militant group Boko Haram told Bikyamasr.com on Tuesday afternoon that the group has plans to begin kidnapping Christian women in a push to "liquidate" the religious group from the country.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the spokesman said that "we are going to put into action new efforts to strike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women."
He added that they would not sexually assault or harm the women, "but we will demand as ransom that the families leave our Islamic areas."
The spokesman did not elaborate on when or how this new "campaign of terror" would take place, but it is striking fears in many Christians in the country.
"Kidnapping is very serious and dangerous. After all the bombings and violence, I don't know what we would do," Markos, a Christian living in Lagos, told Bikyamasr.com.
According to the same spokesman, speaking via telephone from northern Nigeria on Sunday, the group "will launch a number of attacks, coordinated and part of the plan to eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country."
Boko Haram have taken responsibility for a number of bomb attacks on Christian churches across the country since a Christmas Day bombing left dozens of people killed. 
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| Muslim states walk out of UN debate on gay rights Posted: 07 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PST From AFP: African and Arab states walked out in protest Wednesday during a U.N. Human Rights Council debate on gay rights, saying that they could not legitimize homosexuality.
The 47-member state council was holding a session on sexual orientation-based discrimination for the first time after a historic resolution seeking equal rights for everyone was passed in June 2011, to the consternation of Muslim states.
On Wednesday, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab group and the African group made their opposition clear, by walking out during the meeting.
"Licentious behavior promoted under the concept of 'sexual orientation' is against the fundamental teachings of various religions including Islam," Pakistan's envoy said.
"From this perspective, legitimizing homosexuality and other personal sexual behaviors in the name of sexual orientation is unacceptable to the OIC," he added. WaPo adds: On Wednesday the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva is to discuss the recommendations of a November report surveying the discrimination and abuse — often state-sponsored — that gay people endure around the world. Even those who disapprove of homosexuality on religious grounds are unlikely to object to the report's anodyne recommendations: that governments should decriminalize homosexuality, work to prevent violence against gays and recognize sexual orientation as a valid cause for asylum.
But not everyone welcomes the report's conclusions. The most vociferous opposition has come from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a group of 57 Muslim states. "We note with concern the attempts to create controversial 'new notions' or 'new standards' by misinterpreting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international treaties to include such notions that were never articulated or agreed to by the U.N. membership," Zamir Akram, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.N. office in Geneva, wrote to the president of the Human Rights Council on the Muslim organization's behalf. Notice how the AFP report refers to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as "African and Arab states." Which isn't even accurate, as there are some members of the OIC that are neither - like Iran and Pakistan. But AFP would never put the word "Islamic" in the first paragraph of an article like this. 
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| An amazing day for rhinoplasty stories Posted: 07 Mar 2012 10:45 AM PST From CNN: A lie and a nose job may cost an Egyptian politician his spot in parliament.
Anwar al-Bilkimy, a newly elected legislator, was forced to resign from the ultra-conservative al-Nour Party after lying about having plastic surgery, Ahmed Khalil, a party spokesman said late Monday.
Black and blue from his rhinoplasty, al-Bilkimy told parliamentarians that his face was bandaged because gunmen attacked him after he refused to get out of his car, Khalil said.
Suspicious, the al-Nour Party, who's hardline creed forbids plastic surgeries, formed a committee to investigate his story and found out that he had lied, a party statement said.
Al-Balkimy checked into Cairo's Selmi hospital on February 28 for plastic surgery on his nose and the next day checked into another hospital, where doctors said he claimed to have been beaten by gunmen, Egyptian media reported.
"Based on what the hospital officials said, we decided to expel him from the party, and so he submitted his resignation," a statement on al-Nour's official Facebook page said. Which brings up perhaps the only rocking music video about nose jobs by a band with a frontman who wears a kippah, with a band name appropriate for the day: I love all the Groggers songs I've heard so far. (h/t Muqata) 
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| A quick Purim poster Posted: 07 Mar 2012 09:30 AM PST |
| Hamas denies report; says it would hit Israel if Iran is attacked Posted: 07 Mar 2012 08:18 AM PST BBC reported earlier today: Leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, say they will not help Iran militarily in any conflict between Israel and the Islamic Republic.
There is speculation in Israel that if it attacked Iran's nuclear facilities, it could face rocket fire from Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Both are long-time allies of Iran.
But Mahmoud Zahhar, a senior leader of Hamas in Gaza, denied the group would get involved and told the BBC: "We are not part of any political axis."
"If Israel attacks us we will respond. If they don't, we will not get involved in any other regional conflict," he added.
Mr Zahhar questioned Hamas's ability to offer support from the Palestinian territory to the south of Israel, even if it wanted to.
"Don't exaggerate our power. We are still suffering from the occupation, the siege and two wars in recent years," he said. But Iran's FARS quotes Zahar as saying the opposite: Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior official of the Palestinian Hamas movement, strongly rejected a recent BBC report which quoted him as saying that Hamas would take no action in case of an Israeli invasion of Iran, and warned that any Israel or US attack on Iran will be reciprocated by Hamas's crushing response to the Zionists.
BBC Persian's website alleged in a report on Wednesday that the No. 2 Hamas official in the Gaza Strip has assured that his movement would not take any action in the face of an Israeli attack on Iran.
Al-Zahar strongly rejected the BBC claim as unfounded and a lie.
"Retaliation with utmost power is the position of Hamas with regard to a Zionist war on Iran," Zahar told FNA on Wednesday afternoon.
Zahar rejected the possibility of any Israeli aggression against Iran, but meantime, reiterated that Hamas will give a crushing response to not only the Zionists but also to "whoever helping them" in such an attack. Who is more likely to be lying: The BBC, Mahmoud Zahar or Iran's FARS news agency? That's a tough one. 
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| Lebanese Apartheid Week (poster) Posted: 07 Mar 2012 07:00 AM PST Palestine Times has a photo essay of how Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon live in squalor: If there is any issue that unites Lebanese - right or left, religious or secular - it is that these Palestinian Arabs must never become citizens of that country. There is institutionalized discrimination against them, as they cannot move out of these camps, they cannot expand them, and usually they cannot even build within them. This is all separate from the many jobs they are not allowed to take, and that they cannot buy land. There is even a religious aspect to this. Practically all Palestinian Christians did manage to become Lebanese citizens, mostly in the 1950s and 1960s. But the Sunni Muslims, for the most part, did not (unless they could convince officials that they had Lebanese ancestry.) This, ladies and gentlemen, is what apartheid looks like. 
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| Reporter for Iranian news agency arrested for India bombing Posted: 07 Mar 2012 05:30 AM PST From NDTV: An Indian journalist who allegedly works for an Iranian news agency has been arrested in Delhi for last month's bomb attack on an Israeli diplomatic vehicle in New Delhi. Israel has accused Iran of orchestrating the attack.
Syed Mohammed Kazmi, who is 50, was brought to a Delhi court today. He was sent to 20-day police custody. He has admitted to being part of the conspiracy, says the police. The police say its investigations show he had been in touch with a man on a motorcycle who planted the bomb using a magnetic on the car.
The police say it searched Kazmi's house over the past two days to gather evidence of his link to the February 13 attack, which wounded the diplomat's wife, her driver and two other people in a nearby car. Police did not say what evidence they found.
The blast came the same day a bomb was discovered on an Israeli diplomat's car in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The next day, three Iranians accidentally blew up their house in Thailand, and Israeli authorities said the similarity between their explosives and the two earlier bombs linked Iran to all three incidents.
Israel has accused Iran of waging a covert campaign of state terror and has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. But if you read Al Jazeera, you know that it was a Zionist false flag operation. As it always is. (h/t Philtheman) 
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| Failed suicide bomber complains that Fatah isn't paying for her surgery Posted: 07 Mar 2012 02:48 AM PST From ITIC: In the early morning hours of June 20, 2005, a 21-year-old Palestinian female suicide bomber arrived at the Erez crossing in the Gaza Strip, wearing (extra) stockings that contained approximately 20 lbs. of explosives. The female terrorist, who aroused the suspicion of the Israeli security forces, was taken to a security check during which the explosive stockings were uncovered. She att em pted several times to detonate herself at the crossing and, having been unsuccessful, was brought to questioning.
 The arrested suicide bomber is Wafa Samir Ibrahim al-Bass, a resident of the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, born in 1984. In her questioning, she admitted to being affiliated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (Fatah's operative wing). She also stated that she had been dispatched by the organization's infrastructure in the northern Gaza Strip to carry out a suicide bombing attack in an Israeli hospital, with the intention of killing Israeli civilians. In an interview granted to a Channel 10 reporter, Wafa al-Bass pointed out that ever since she was a little girl, her dream had been, and still was, to be a shahid ("martyr") and die for Allah's sake (Israeli TV's Channel 10, June 20, 2005) She was being treated in Soroka Hospital for severe burns from a previous gas explosion accident. Last year she was released in the Shalit deal. Now, Wafa al-Bass is complaining to an Islamic Jihad newspaper that she injured herself while trying to explode herself in 2005, and she needs surgery that would cost 16,000 shekels - and Fatah isn't willing to pay for it! (As far as I know, there was no explosion, so it is unclear how injured she could have gotten while trying to detonate herself.) Not only that, but while other terror groups have been giving jobs to former prisoners, Fatah hasn't offered her anything. She says that she is being treated with negligence and neglect as she gave her blood and years of her life to the cause. Maybe Fatah isn't paying because she is such a failure. After all, if she had managed to blow herself up in Erez, they wouldn't owe her a thing. 
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