Ya Libnan – 4 Week Roundup – 9/23/09

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2009/08/wednesday_news_61.php

Wednesday News Briefs & Editorial
Published: Wednesday, 26 August, 2009 @ 12:04 PM in Beirut

Beirut – The Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad is back in action in Lebanon and is doing all it can to disrupt the formation of the cabinet through its allies the Hezbollah -led opposition. According to Syrian observers Syria is trying to make up for the loss of its allies in the polls by forcing on Lebanon’s majority the so called “ national Unity government “ in which the opposition will have the lion’s share of ministries through which they can control the country.

An Nahar political sources have reported that careful reading of the Syrian political stance towards Lebanon indicates that never before has an Arab country through its official media demanded that another Arab country should amend its constitution during the formation of a government .

An Nahar sources have also reported that Syria is allocating specific roles to its allies aimed at obstructing the formation of the cabinet unless their demands are met . While General Michel Aoun is charged with attacking the Prime minister designate and making impossible demands, Lebanon’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah is charged with attacking Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir who has been the most outspoken Christian spiritual leader against the obstruction of the Lebanese democratic institutions .

Yesterday Fadlallah slammed Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir over calling for a cabinet based on the outcome of the parliamentary polls. In a remark aimed at changing the constitution Fadlallah said : “We call for a popular majority and popular referendum … so that people would have their say.”

FP 2009 Update – Week 30 – The Cable

Week 30 at The Cable was wild.  Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner start off out the shoot on the U.S.-China Economic future in what can be considered an unprecedented Wall Street Journal oped piece focusing on bilateral relations and a new strategy forward in a multipronged approach to stabilizing world markets, with three main areas of concern for dialogue: maintaining economic relations, climate change issues, and complementary security issues.   Secretary Clinton then hits Meet the Press to discuss the North Korea slight on her person and she discusses Iran and Afghanistan frankly…not two days later Secretary Clinton hit Thailand and raised the possibility of a “nuclear umbrella” for the Sunni World to defend against a nuclear Iran, which led Israelis to worry over whether the U.S. was conceding the nuclear weapons issue to the Iranian Establishment.   Gates heads to Israel to let everyone in the world know that the military option remains on the table on the Iranian Nuclear issue, to do top-brass damage control for Mitchell’s focus on halting Israeli settlements to achieve a two-state solution.  More or less, Gates’ announcement made clear that Iran’s window for establishing diplomatic talks with the United States is shrinking and has time limits.  Secretary Clinton’s team announces its Africa trip starting on the 5th of August, designed to increase trade relations; while the nominees for Latin American Ambassadorships, Valenzuela and Shannon are pushed through to the Senate.  Obama’s meeting with the progressive American Jewish groups like J Street, whose anti-Zionist focus has led them to announce that three quarters of American Jews favor a two-state solution for the future of a Palestinian resolution.   Judah Grunstein of WPR notes the engagement policy espoused by Clinton on Iran seeks an Iran who respects its “right to nuclear energy” but not a nuclear bomb, and Trita Parsi makes the case for a diplomatic pause with the Iranian regime out of a “wait and see” attitude over the Iranian Islamic Establishment’s resolution of its opposition anger boiling over onto its streets since the June 12th election results.    By far, the highlight of Week 30 at Laura Rozen’s Foreign Policy blog is found in the activity of Holbrooke and McChrystal in the AfPak theatre.  Holbrooke, who is in charge of the AfPak at the Obama Administration,  announces that he is tearing up the Bush policy of poppy eradication in the AfPak.  It was important to note that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary for Britain, made the D.C. rounds and discussed the upcoming elections in Afghanistan in a State Department speakeasy with Hillary Clinton.   And McChrystal, who just assumed overall command in early June, discussed the US strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Afghani people, with a new focus on protecting civilians from harm, which is being put together in a Strategic Assessment group.  Laura Rozen immediately pounces and names the team of McChrystal’s advisors, which of course includes blogger Andrew Exum, who just happens to be a fellow over at the Center for New American Security (CNAS).   Holbrooke follows up his D.C. rounds with a Fort McNair policy shuffle for top insiders.   The week ends with more controversy on the settlement issue as the international community is angered by Israel’s eviction of 56 Palestinians from their East Jerusalem homes in preparation for demolition to increase settlement construction.

-Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (8/4/09, 8:57pmEST)

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

U.S.-China dialogue gets underway
Mon, 07/27/2009 – 12:05am
Tomorrow kicks off the first meeting of the U.S. China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the Obama administration’s twist on a process started under former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. That process, known as the Strategic Economic Dialogue (no “and”), was primarily intended to address bilateral economic issues such as the dollar-renminbi exchange rate.

The two countries — which have become known as the “G-2″ in foreign-policy circles due to their preeminent size and geopolitical reach — will still be tackling economic issues like the global financial crisis. But this time, a State Department official tells Foreign Policy, the agenda is “much broader and more comprehensive,” encompassing global issues such as climate change, and regional ones such as North Korea, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Two top-ranking Chinese officials, Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, will be in Washington for meetings Monday and Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has just returned from meetings in India and Thailand.

Ya Libnan 11 Day Roundup – 6/30/09

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2009/06/friday_news_bri_53.php
Friday News Briefs
Published: Friday, 19 June, 2009 @ 9:22 AM in Beirut
Beirut – The top story today in Lebanon is the meeting between Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc leader and head of the Progressive Socialist party ( PSP) MP. Walid Jumblatt. The meeting took place overnight according to PSP sources.

They discussed the past problems and specifically the May 2008 violence and both praised the efforts of Talal Arslan during and after that period .

They also discussed the future prospects for Lebanon and the region, and stressed the need to work together to move Lebanon and the region from the crisis state to the state of cooperation for the sake of the people of Lebanon.

They also confirmed to continue to work together towards full reconciliation, and agreed to continue communication and consultation during the next phase.

As Safir newspaper said Friday that the agenda of the talks included the stage that followed the Doha agreement and the challenges that emerged after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest speech.

According to As Safir, the two officials were also to discuss prospects of dialogue between Jumblatt and Damascus, in addition to relations between Hezbollah and the Progressive Socialist Party.

The location of the meeting will of course remain a top secret since Nasrallah has been hiding ever since the 2006 war begun

Losing the Buck

Since Obama took office, his policy of “Engagement” with the Muslim world has leaned toward the brink of submission through an ever widening circle of  dhimmipolitik thinkers.  The reason for this is due to his perception of the “right” war.  In the Obama frame, Iraq was the wrong war to fight and the goal is to extract American troops from the effort.  The Democrat Mantra of “no occupation” is a kneejerk position guided by far left peaceniks – the same peaceniks who were marching in the streets during the first Gulf War, chanting “No blood for Oil”.  Indeed, whenever the Iraq situation is brought up, one can’t help but note that for the entirety of the second Bush term the left wing of America and Europe published articles featuring the word “Occupation”, knowing that the Muslim World perceives any infidel presence in their lands as a crime against Allah if that infidel is not in complete submission to the aims and purposes of the Islamic Leadership.  Iraq may not have been the right war; however, it is instructive to consider the Obama line on the war being the “wrong war” in this “submission” based position.  Why is the Afghanistan campaign considered the “right” war to our young President?  It deserves analysis and consideration on the surface; however, the perception’s actual manifestations have ended in the new Iranian pickle. 

The Virginia Street is Awakening

Virginia: Bullying Mob Packs Govt Meeting in Support of Islamic Supremacist Institution

March 19, 2009

by Jeffrey Imm
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)
http://www.realcourage.org/2009/03/fairfax_600/ 
http://anti-jihad.org/blog/2009/03/fairfax-600/
http://www.unitedstatesaction.com/blog/imm-articles/132.html

Imagine facing the overwhelming odds of fighting for equality in Islamic supremacist Saudi Arabia or in the 1960s-era white supremacist Mississippi.

These were the same odds faced by a handful of activists in challenging the estimated 600 supporters of the Islamic Saudi Academy at Northern Virginia’s Fairfax County Planning Commission on the night of March 18, 2009. Many hundreds of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) supporters wore printed nametag badges reading “I Support ISA,” including ISA’s logo containing the emblem of Saudi Arabian government with its two crossed swords.

This is the same Saudi government that a few weeks ago the U.S. State Department condemned for its “significant human rights problems” in denying basic freedoms and human rights to men, women, and non-Muslims, and the same Saudi government whose courts recently sentenced a 75 year old woman to 40 lashes for “mingling” with men, and whose courts recently sentenced a pregnant gang-rape victim to 100 lashes for “adultery.”

The meeting of the Fairfax County Government Planning Commission was to consider a special exemption to a zoning regulation to allow for the building of an expansion to the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax, Virginia. The Fairfax County government has been leasing space for the existing Saudi Academy facilities for years now. As a suburb of Washington DC, Fairfax, Virginia is slightly more than 20 miles away from our nation’s capital. The Islamic Saudi Academy has been frequently criticized for its reported use of textbooks promoting hate and violence, its former students associated with jihad plots, reports of negligence on reporting female child sex abuse, and ISA’s former valedictorian convicted of joining Al-Qaeda and plotting to assassinate the president.

Islamic Saudi Academy Research – First Blush

This Research tab is lengthy…it shows my initial research into the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax, VA.  Interestingly, on the Ministry of Education website in Saudi Arabia, it notes that all educational materials shipped around the world by Saudi Arabia are the same except for Washington and London…these have special cultural exceptions.  The books the USCIRF utilized to determine if Jihad was being taught in the classroom were handed over freely by the Saudi Government.  The question is – why isn’t the UN going after the Saudi Academy system of indoctrination?  Where is Hillary Clinton on the Issue? 

Interestingly, not one book exists on Islamic Economic History.  I wonder why that would be?  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that Mercantilism in the Islamic, Muhammad, frame is forced vassaldom, slavery, and piracy…not to mention an ethical platform for the subjugation and pacification of reason to the bonds of Islamic Supremacy’s unending rationale of vice and virtue.

 

I welcome any research the counterjihad communities of reason could send my way on the topic…please leave in the comment box, and I will open up the discussion to the public…

Gary H. Johnson, Jr.

Note – the research begins at the academy itself…

http://www.saudiacademy.net/html/about_ISA.html

The Islamic Saudi Academy was founded in 1984 as a bilingual English-Arabic school with a dual American and Middle Eastern curriculum. The academy has two campuses, with Pre-K – 1st grade at the campus in Fairfax VA and grades 2-12 at the main campus in Alexandria, VA. The Alexandria campus is divided into Girls’ and Boys’ Schools. Girls and boys attend class together in second grade and are separated in third grade. The school day runs from 8:00 until 3:00 and is broken into eight fifty minute periods, including one period for lunch and prayer.

ISA prepares students for entry into American, as well as international universities and colleges. After graduating from ISA, over ninety per cent of our students go on to attend American universities, including such elite institutions as MIT, Georgetown, Princeton and Stanford University. The school also actively promotes relationships with local universities, such as the George Washington University, George Mason University, and American University by taking students on campus and inviting college representatives to speak at the school. Over the past five years, our students have received over a million dollars in college scholarships from American universities.

 

Catherine Martin Forges Ahead

Febuary 4th, 2009

Catherine Martin Forges Ahead

by Gary H. Johnson, Jr.
Hillary Clinton has officially been sworn in to replace Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State. And, now, Sharon Bulova has won Virginia’s Fairfax County Chair, left vacant by Gerry Connolly. The stage is set, and it will not be long before a public battle on behalf of America’s communities is waged by Virginia’s 10th District Representative Frank Wolf and ACT! For America’s Northern Virginia DC Metro Chapter Head Catherine Martin. Brigitte Gabriel’s ACT! For America may be the strongest new political grassroots movement to hit the American national scene in the wake of 9/11. With a 50,000 strong membership and a steady influx of new recruits and volunteers, ACT! for America’s chapters span across the United States and beyond. I recently had a chance to sit down and discuss the street level activities of ACT! for America with the NoVa/DCMetro chapter head Catherine Martin, who has made it her life mission to “educate United States citizens as to the threat of radical Islam”. With a volunteer staff of 70 committed Virginia and DC activists, Catherine Martin understands full well that her chapter is in the vortex of a brewing storm.
“The question of the legality of the Islamic Saudi Academy’s curriculum in Fairfax County is not going away,” Catherine says matter of factly. “As a mother and as an American, I find it outrageous that the school teaches children to hate Americans, Christians and Jews. Brigitte Gabriel’s ACT! for America is supporting us all the way on this mission as we continue our fight against ISA’s jihadi indoctrination right in our very own backyards – as we bring the issue directly to the people of Virginia and across America. Representative Frank Wolf has been an ally and strong advocate for us at ACT! for America. When a coalition of groups here in Virginia demanded that the Islamic Saudi Academy be investigated for having anti-American and anti-Israel teachings in their textbooks, Congressman Wolf sent four letters to the State Department requesting an investigation of the school and its curriculum. Since our grievance has not yet been fully addressed and the election cycle has ran its course, we will immediately engage the new leadership on behalf of our communities. A fifth letter from Congressman Wolf is waiting at the State Department for the incoming Secretary of State.”