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U.S. Fails to Brief Israel on Geneva Talks
Oct 17th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Israel’s government and military leaders were left grasping for clues Wednesday on the contents of the two-day six-power nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva. No Obama administration official relayed to Jerusalem any word of the proceedings.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 17th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Obama Secretly Signing Away U.S. Sovereignty
the Obama administration has continued secret negotiations to complete what is known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. "Only 5 of its 29 chapters cover traditional trade matters, like tariffs or quotas. The others impose parameters on non-trade policies. Existing and future American laws must be altered to conform with these terms, or trade sanctions can be imposed against American exports."  

Palestinian president Abbas invites pope to Holy Land
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Thursday said he had invited Pope Francis to the Middle East, during an audience in the Vatican. Speaking to Vatican foreign affairs official Dominique Mamberti after the talks, he said: "It was a pleasure and I invited him to the Holy Land". Abbas gave the pope a ceramic panel with a view of Bethlehem and a Bible as gifts, while Francis gave him a decorative pen with which Abbas said he hoped to sign a peace agreement with Israel.  

Chase Bank Limits Cash Withdrawals, Bans International Wire Transfers
Chase Bank has moved to limit cash withdrawals while banning business customers from sending international wire transfers from November 17 onwards, prompting speculation that the bank is preparing for a looming financial crisis in the United States by imposing capital controls.  

Netanyahu makes a case for a preemptive strike
Benjamin Netanyahu offered a thinly veiled defense of a possible Israeli preemptive strike on Iran during a Knesset commemoration Tuesday of the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.  

Senate Debt Deal Weakens Congress on Debt Ceiling
...The plan includes a proposal offered by McConnell in the 2011 debt ceiling crisis that allows Congress to disapprove of the debt ceiling increase, which means lawmakers will formally vote on whether to reject a debt ceiling increase until Feb. 7. Obama can veto that legislation if it passes. If Congress fails as expected to gather a two-thirds majority to override the veto, the debt ceiling would be raised.  

Obama to Supreme Court: Don't Take NSA Cyber-Snoop Case
Obama's administration is urging the Supreme Court not to take up the first case it has received on controversial National Security Agency cybersnooping. US government attorneys argue that the Supreme Court does not have the jurisdiction to take the case, filed in July by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). EPIC believes the NSA overstepped its authority by carrying out broad communications monitoring and surveillance worldwide, and demanded the program be stopped.  

Edward Snowden has more secrets to share, father says after Russia visit
The father of Edward Snowden said on Wednesday that the former U.S. spy agency contractor has more secrets to share and should stay in Russia "to make sure the true story is told."  

UN peace force in Mali 'needs troops and equipment'
The UN force, which took over security duties in July, has less than half of its mandated strength of more than 12,000 military personnel. Bert Koenders, the UN's special representative to Mali, said recent attacks had been a "wake-up call". He said the force, known as Minusma, needed more resources in order to stabilise the north of the country.  

Something Really Bizarre Happened on the House Floor After Vote on Budget Deal: ‘You Cannot Serve Two Masters!’
As she is escorted out , the woman can be heard shouting out bizarre phrases and claiming that the Free Masons wrote the Constitution, and therefore the U.S. is not “one nation under God.” “They go against God!” the woman yells. “You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God, Lord Jesus Christ!”  

Commission backs Albania-EU membership talks
The European Commission Wednesday said Albania should be given the green light to open EU membership talks. Presenting the EU executive's annual enlargement reports on Wednesday (16 October), commissioner Stefan Fuele said that the step, which comes three years after the commission rejected Albania's first application, was conditional on Tirana continuing to combat organised crime and corruption.  

Turkey's unprecedented act of betrayal against Israel
In April 2012, Iran announced that it had uncovered a spy ring numbering 15 operatives working at the behest of Israel. ...The announcement, which didn’t garner much attention at the time, takes on added importance Thursday just hours after The Washington Post reported that Turkish intelligence revealed the identities of 10 Iranian spies working for Israel.  

Trinidad rattled by earthquake, second within a week
Trinidad and Tobago was jolted Wednesday by an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 less than a week after the oil rich twin island republic was shaken by one with a 6.4 magnitude. 

Strong earthquake hits west of Crete
A very strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 has struck west of the Greek island of Crete.  

Gas Lines, Power Companies Targeted by Cyberattacks
After surveying more than 100 energy companies in May, Representatives Edward Markey and Henry Waxman said more than a dozen of the companies reported “daily,” “constant,” or “frequent” attempts of people trying to hack their networks. One utility reported it faced close to 10,000 attacks each month.  

China's Dagong Downgrades US To A- From A
Since all US rating agencies (Fitch is majority French-owned) have been terrified into submission and will never again touch the rating of the US following the DOJ's witch hunt of S&P, any US rating changes on the margin will come from abroad. Like China's Dagong rating agency, which several hours ago just downgraded the US from A to A-, maintaining its negative outlook.  

Strong Earthquake rocks Solomon islands
A strong earthquake with 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale rocked the Solomon Islands at 6.30pm today.  

Gold spikes up as dollar drops after US breaks budget deadlock
Gold rushed to a one-week high on Thursday, aided by dollar weakness and belief that a temporary deal to avoid historic U.S. debt default might also prompt the Federal Reserve to hold back from reducing its additional monetary stimulus.  

Keith Alexander, NSA Head, Stepping Down
According to US officials, the director of the NSA and his deputy are expected to depart in coming months, in a move that almost certainly would not have happened without the involvement of America's most infamous whitsleblower currently self-exiled in Russia, Edward Snowden in a development which according to Reuters, "could give Obama a chance to reshape the eavesdropping agency."  

How Turkey Shopped Mossad Spies to Iran: a Story Leaked By Washington to Caution Netanyahu
Oct 17th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Early last year, the Erdogan government blew the cover of up to 10 Israel agents in Iran who had been meeting inside Turkey with their Mossad case officers. This story was published in The Washington Post, by David Ignatius, who has excellent connections in the US capital, Thursday, Oct. 17 – the day after a two-day conference in Geneva between six world powers with Iran on its nuclear program. A chorus of Western powers led by the US hailed the event as “substantive” and “forward-looking.”

But on the quiet, the WP story was directed against Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a caution to him to drop his “lone voice” posture against trusting Iran to abandon its nuclear weapon aspirations. Instead, he must look forward and start getting used to the “new Middle East" and role Barack Obama has assigned for Iran. If he persists in his defiant attitude, Israeli intelligence may face more debacles like the Turkish betrayal.

The WP story reveals from “knowledgeable sources” that Israeli intelligence had apparently run part of its Iranian spy network through Turkey, which has relatively easy movement back and forth across its border with Iran. “The Turkish intelligence service MIT had the resources to monitor those meetings, but after 50 years of cooperation with Turkey, Israel never imagined the Turks would “shop” Israeli agents to a hostile power.

Ignatius reports:  “US officials assessed the incident as a problem of misplaced trust, rather than bad tradecraft.”

Still, the article presents Israel’s Mossad in an unflattering light, claiming that Israeli intelligence officers in 2010  complained to the CIA that Hakan Fidan Turkish intelligence chief was in fact “the MOIS station chief in Ankara.” MOIS is Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
He describes “Israeli anger at the deliberate compromise of its agents,” which he said may help explain why Netanyahu “became entrenched in his refusal to apologize to Erdogan about the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident" in which nine Turks were killed. He did apologize later but the “severe strain with Erdogan continues.”
debkafile’s intelligence sources underline five lessons from the WP article and its timing:

1. The US never protested to Ankara about over its deliberate compromise of the Israeli network because President Barack Obama was intent on cultivating Prime Minister Erdogan as a key Muslim ally.

2. Washington wasn’t sure of Turkey’s motives. According to one theory, Erdogan was settling a score with Israel for its commando raid on the Turkish Mavis Marmama which was leading the flotilla to Gaza with pro-Palestinian activists.

3. Netanyahu’s apology, forced on him by Obama, did not ease strained relations with Ankara.

4. Although US officials treated the exposure of the Israeli network as an unfortunate intelligence loss, they continue to work with Hakan Fidan on sensitive issues despite his suspected collaboration with Tehran.
“This practice of separating intelligence issues from broader policymaking is said to be a long-standing US approach,” the writer reported.

5. “Kaleidoscopic changes” lie ahead of the Middle East, says Ignatius, and countries like Israel, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are searching – openly as well as covertly - for alliances in the constantly changing Middle East.

The sixth lesson appears between the lines of the article. It is that if Netanyahu wants to escape more punishment over his bad relations with Erdogan and attitude on Iran, he must change his approach and acclimatize to the new Middle East, however cruel and cold, in which the US and Iran are beginning to cooperate.
The same message applies equally to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of which actively challenge Barack Obama’s approach to the region.

As usual in the covert world of intelligence and espionage, the WP story has another dimension. It is also the answer to a Wall Street Journal piece of Oct. 10 entitled “Turkey’s Spymaster Plots Own Course on Syria,” which quotes former US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey as saying, “Hakan Fidan is the face of the new Middle East.”
He accused Fidan of working against US policy by helping to supply arms and ammunition to the al-Qaeda-linked jihadis fighting with Syrian rebels. Jeffrey describes Fidan as one of three spy chiefs acting to shape the “new Middle East.”  The other two are Prince Bandar bin Sultan, director of Saudi General Intelligence, and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the notorious Iranian Al Qods Brigades intelligence and terror network.

Mossad chief Tamir Pardo did not make the list.

Geneva Talks Fail to Break Standoff on Iran’s Nuclear Program. Tehran Unclear on Concessions
Oct 17th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Two days of talks in Geneva between Iran, the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany ended Wednesday, Oct. 16, with little more than a decision, confirmed only by Tehran, to reconvene in the coming weeks for another attempt to break the standoff on Iran’s nuclear program.

Those governments will meanwhile evaluate whether it is possible to bridge the gaps between Iran’s proposals and the American position. Those gaps were so wide that the forum in Geneva suspended its multinational discussion after the first day and the delegations broke up into two camps Wednesday for bilateral meetings on the sidelines. The Western delegates conferred with each other, while the Iranians put their heads together with the Russian and Chinese delegates.

Although Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and his deputy Abbas Araghchi pumped out a stream of upbeat comments about the “positive” response to their proposals, their Western audience saw nothing more than partial frameworks lacking concrete details. The Iranian delegates were believed to be inhibited by uncertainty about how their performance at Geneva would be received by Supreme leaer Ali Khamenei and other Iranian radicals. He too is under radical pressure at home to put a stop to bridge-building with America and the West.
debkafile reports from Western sources close to the Geneva talks that Iran signaled willingness to consider seven partial concessions as “the last step” in a process – indicating that sanctions relief must come first:

1. Iran refuses to renounce uranium enrichment altogether under any circumstances.
2. A certain amount of enriched material might be given up within a given period of time.

3. Enrichment will be pegged to a low level – probably 5 percent.
4. Enrichment to 20 percent purity (close to weapons grade) would be partially scaled down, but enough medium-refined uranium would be retained for the production of isotopes for medicine and research. This section was not clearly phrased.
5.  After long hedging, Tehran would give IAEA inspectors access to the military facility at Parchin where Western and Israeli intelligence reported that nuclear explosions were tested.
6.  Tehran is prepared to address calls to sign the Additional Clause of the Non-Proliferation Treaty which allows more intrusive and unannounced UN nuclear watchdog inspections. However, the inspectors will not receive access to facilities that have not been declared nuclear sites.
Abbas Araghchi made it clear that this like all other concessions would depend on the lifting of sanctions.
7.  Tehran will promise not to construct a plutonium separation reactor at Arak. The plan to stockpile plutonium as an alternative to enriched uranium for fueling a nuclear weapon appears to have been set aside for now, but not the reactor itself.

The Geneva conference ended with all the main issues up in the air or too vague to be pinned down. The forum will most probably meet again as some future date.  This outcome has exacerbated the skepticism in Washington and Tehran about the prospects of further diplomacy achieving any real progress toward a deal for curtailing Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Former U.S. President G.w. Bush: Iran Remains Hostile to Israel
Oct 17th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Iranian hostility to Israel remains despite renewed diplomatic communication between President Barack Obama and Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani, said former President George W. Bush Tuesday. “The United States’ foreign policy must be clear eyed; and understand that until the form of government changes in Iran, it is unlikely that their intentions toward Israel will change,” Bush told an audience of more than 1,000 at event sponsored by The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Fund in New York City.

China May Seize Control of Entire U.S. Financial System
Oct 17th, 2013
Daily Newsking World News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Anti - Faith Sentiment Growing At Alarming Rate
Oct 17th, 2013
Daily NewsReligion Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Hostility against Christian Americans is growing at an alarming rate, according to a new survey from the Family Research Council and Liberty Institute, CBN News reports. The Liberty Institute's Jeff Mateer noted that while last year's survey was based on 600 cases, "this survey that we're releasing right now is almost 1,200. So we've almost doubled in just one year." One such case involved college student Audrey Jarvis, who was asked twice to remove her cross necklace, or at least hide it, at a student orientation. "My supervisor came up to me out of nowhere and asked me to remove my cross necklace because he thought it would be offensive to incoming freshmen," she recalled. In another case, Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk got in trouble with his lesbian commanding officer when she ordered him to answer how he felt about gay marriage. "This is about religious freedom because I expressly stated that I had a religious conviction that wouldn't allow me to answer the question the way it was posed to me," Monk said. Former NFL running back Craig James found himself a victim of growing anti-faith sentiment when just one hour into a new job as a FOX Sports analyst, he was booted off the air. James and the Liberty Institute insist it was because a top network manager disapproved of a statement James made about gay marriage 15 months before in a political debate. "They knew who I was, what I stood for," James told CBN News. "And I'm being punished -- I was fired -- for my religious beliefs." With some 1,200 cases like these documented in the new Religious Hostility Survey, Mateer says he's frightened for his country. "The threats are increasing at a dramatic rate, and this survey demonstrates that," Mateer said. He noted that when believers fight back, they almost always win. So only by meekly accepting defeat will they let the enemies of religion triumph. "They've stated their objective is to remove God from our public life," he said. "Well, if we remain silent, that's going to happen."