The Indian Panorama

Tag: ISRAEL

  • Status Quo in Israel

    The re-election of Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu after his Likud Party secured the first place with 30 out of the 120 seats in the 2015 Israeli legislative elections came as a bit of a surprise. Exit polls pointing to a better showing by the centrist-moderate coalition, the Zionist Union including the Labour Party, turned out to be wrong as the Likud emerged with far more votes than what was expected. While the Likud lacks a majority of its own, it now gets the right to form the government in coalition with other parties, and it is clear that Mr. Netanyahu will be Prime Minister for a fourth term.

    The Likud victory, belying expectations, can be attributed to the polarizing campaign led by Mr. Netanyahu who took a hyper-racist position denouncing Israeli Arabs and rejecting, in the run-up to the polls, the statehood demand by Palestinians. The triumph of the right wing also reflects the sharp change in attitudes in Israeli society that has become militantly opposed to any gesture of substantive peace with Palestinians. The silver lining in the elections was the emergence of the Joint List – a group of leftist and Arab parties – as the third largest grouping with 12 seats in the Knesset. Israeli Arabs have a larger and more inclusive voice in the Knesset than before.

    Globally, Mr. Netanyahu’s victory must frustrate even Israel’s closest ally, the United States, which was unable to dissuade the Israelis from the brutal bombardment of Gaza in 2014. A hardliner victory in Israel as the U.S. is battling the Islamic State hardly helps the larger strategic plan of easing tensions in West Asia. The U.S. has expressly supported a two-state solution and it must be worried by Mr. Netanyahu’s explicit rejection of Palestine nationhood during the election campaign. The U.S. could support a UN resolution explicitly defining a Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders as a response to Mr. Netanyahu’s change of views, but it is perhaps unlikely to happen.

    The U.S. is currently engaged in complex negotiations with Israel’s geopolitical rival Iran towards a nuclear treaty and would not want to upset its special relationship with Israel. Mr. Netanyahu’s allies go far beyond the White House and the U.S. State Department, with the powerful pro-Israel lobby spread across bipartisan lines in the U.S., especially in the resurgent Republican Party. However, Mr. Netanyahu’s uninhibited Zionist chauvinism might actually work to persuade western actors beyond the U.S. to see the Palestinian point of view on issues such as illegal Israeli settlements or the UN according statehood to the Palestinian Authority.

    (The Hindu) 

  • Defense Alert – Pakistan has more nukes than India

    Defense Alert – Pakistan has more nukes than India

    WASHINGTON: Pakistan had about 120 atomic weapons, 10 more than India, in its nuclear arsenal last year, according to a new interactive infographic unveiled by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

    Designed by the Bulletin, founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project, the infographic tracks the number and history of nuclear weapons in the nine nuclear weapon states.

    The Nuclear Notebook Interactive Infographic provides a visual representation of the Bulletin’s famed Nuclear Notebook, which since 1987 has tracked the number and type of the world’s nuclear arsenals.

     

    According to the infographic, the United States and Russia both have about 5,000 weapons each.

    France has 300, China 250, the United Kingdom 225 and Israel 80. North Korea has only conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

    “I don’t think people truly understand just how many of these weapons there are in the world,” said Rachel Bronson, executive director of the Bulletin.

    “The Interactive is a way to see, immediately, who has nuclear weapons and when they got them, and how those numbers relate to each other. It is a startling experience, looking at those comparisons.”

    The authors of the Nuclear Notebook are Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris, both with the Federation of American Scientists.

    In the most recent edition of the Nuclear Notebook, the authors discuss the Notebook’s 28 year history and describe how sometimes host countries learned of foreign nuclear weapons on their soil from the Nuclear Notebook.

    Over 28 years of weapons analysis, the Nuclear Notebook column has revealed surprise nuclear activity and spot-on arsenal estimates while becoming a daily resource for scholars, activists and journalists.

    “We wanted a way to communicate those numbers visually, because the world we live may be data-driven, it’s also visual,” said John Mecklin, editor of the Bulletin.

    “The new infographic makes this vital information even more accessible.”

     

  • US-Israel spat intensifies over Netanyahu speech

    US-Israel spat intensifies over Netanyahu speech

    WASHINGTON: The US and Israel escalated their increasingly public spat on February 25 over Benjamin Netanyahu’s Republican-engineered congressional speech next week, with the Israeli prime minister accusing world powers of rolling over to allow Tehran to develop nuclear weapons. Secretary of State John Kerry openly questioned Netanyahu’s judgment on the issue.

    The comments injected new tension into an already strained relationship between the close allies ahead of Netanyahu’s address to Congress next Tuesday. More Democratic lawmakers announced they would boycott the speech, which was orchestrated by Republican leaders without the Obama administration’s knowledge.

    Netanyahu hopes his speech will strengthen opposition to a potential nuclear deal with Iran, President Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy objective. US and Iranian officials reported progress in negotiations this week on a deal that would clamp down on Tehran’s nuclear activities for at least 10 years but then slowly ease restrictions.

    Netanyahu lashed out at the US and other usual staunch allies of Israel.

    “It appears that they have given up on that commitment and are accepting that Iran will gradually, within a few years, will develop capabilities to produce material for many nuclear weapons,” he said in Israel.

    “They might accept this but I am not willing to accept this,” he said in remarks delivered in Hebrew and translated. “I respect the White House, I respect the president of the United States, but in such a fateful matter that can determine if we exist or not, it is my duty to do everything to prevent this great danger to the state of Israel.” 

    Kerry, testifying in Congress, dismissed Netanyahu’s worries. He argued that a 2013 interim agreement with Iran that the prime minister also opposed had in fact made Israel safer by freezing key aspects of the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

    “He may have a judgment that just may not be correct here,” Kerry said.

    His comments, as well as statements from other top US officials, made clear the Obama administration had no plans to mask its frustrations during Netanyahu’s visit.

    In an interview Tuesday, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said plans for Netanyahu’s speech had “injected a degree of partisanship” into a US-Israel relationship that should be above politics. “It’s destructive to the fabric of the relationship,” Rice told the Charlie Rose show. “It’s always been bipartisan. We need to keep it that way.” 

    Netanyahu’s plans to speak to Congress have irritated many Democratic members, but also have put them in a difficult spot _ fearing they will look anti-Israel if they don’t attend. Still, a number of Democrats have said they plan to skip the session.

    Senate Democrats invited Netanyahu to meet with them privately while he is in Washington, but the Israeli leader refused the invitation, saying such a meeting could “compound the misperception of partisanship” surrounding his visit.

    “I regret that the invitation to address the special joint session of Congress has been perceived by some to be political or partisan,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter to Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Dianne Feinstein of California. “I can assure you that my sole intention in accepting it was to voice Israel’s grave concerns” about a nuclear deal with Iran.

    Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

    The White House has been weighing ways to counter Netanyahu’s address to Congress, as well as his separate speech to the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The administration is considering whom to send to the conference, with some officials pushing for a lower-level representative than normal.

     

  • ISIS EXPANDING ‘INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT’

    ISIS EXPANDING ‘INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT’

    The Islamic State, despite being driven by Kurdish fighters from its one-time Syrian stronghold in Kobani last week, nevertheless is extending its reach well beyond Iraq and Syria, military officials and analysts warn — represented, by some estimates, in nearly a dozen countries.

     ISIS History

    The Islamic State, despite being driven by Kurdish fighters from its one-time Syrian stronghold in Kobani last week, nevertheless is extending its reach well beyond Iraq and Syria, military officials and analysts warn — represented, by some estimates, in nearly a dozen countries.

     

    Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, delivered a grim assessment earlier this week in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, as he described how the group was surfacing in North Africa.

     

    “With affiliates in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, the group is beginning to assemble a growing international footprint that includes ungoverned and under governed areas,” Stewart said.

     

    ISIS continues to hold a wide swath of territory, bigger than the state of Pennsylvania, in its home base spanning parts of Iraq and Syria, propped up by more than 20,000 foreign fighters from at least three dozen countries. But the terror network’s tentacles, as Stewart indicated, are creeping into other nations; largely those with fragile governments.

     

    “ISIS, like Al Qaeda, has thrived in the failed states where there is a vacuum of power,” said James Phillips, Middle East senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation.

     

    A key worry is the group’s potential ambitions in Afghanistan, where the U.S. combat mission just ended and Afghan security forces are in control.

     

    Defense secretary nominee Ashton Carter, who had his confirmation hearing Wednesday, told Congress he is aware of reports that ISIS may try to expand into Afghanistan, and vowed to work with coalition partners to stop the group. He said he would consider changing plans for withdrawing the remaining 10,600 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 if security conditions further deteriorate.

     

    The Islamic State’s ambitions do not stop at Afghanistan, the so-called Graveyard of Empires. Militant groups in Pakistan, the Philippines, Israel and the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Indonesia and Jordan, among other areas, reportedly have pledged formal support for ISIS. New York Magazine, in a recent report, wrote, “Think of them as ISIS’s self-appointed foreign bases.”

     

    It’s impossible to know precisely how many members are involved in these groups, but analysts say the biggest groups generally are still affiliated with Al Qaeda, while others are starting to stand with ISIS – and execute attacks.

     

    An ISIS-tied group in Egypt, for instance, claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks on Jan. 30 that killed at least two dozen security officers in restive Sinai.

     

    The Caliphate Soldiers Group in Algeria, which pledged loyalty to ISIS in September, kidnapped and beheaded a French tourist the same month. Terrorists posted a video of the beheading, saying it was in response to French airstrikes in Iraq. Algerian Special Forces killed the terror leader late last year, which analysts say dealt a morale blow to the small group.

     

    In Libya, the Islamic State’s Tripoli Province took credit for a hotel attack on Feb. 1 which killed nine people, including an American.

     

    Published reports tie other groups to ISIS including The Jundallah militant group and the Tehreek-e-Khilafat groups in Pakistan; the Philippines’ Abu Sayyaf group; Sinai Province in Egypt; Lebanon’s The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade; Indonesia’s Jama’ah Ansharut Tauhid; and Sons of the Call for Tawhid and Jihad in Jordan.

     

    The Heritage Foundation’s Phillips said it’s not just groups like these that have declared loyalty. “There are an unknown number of self-radicalized militants in many different countries that may self-identify with ISIS and carry out ‘lone wolf ’ terrorist attacks in its name, without necessarily being members of the group,” he said. He cited the hostage crisis in Sydney, Australia, last December as an example.

     

    ISIS continues to get pounded by coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, where Kurdish forces recently took back the vital city of Kobani. Those strikes are likely to increase following the brutal execution of a captured Jordanian pilot (though the coalition is down a member, with the United Arab Emirates having suspended airstrikes after the pilot’s capture in December.)

     

    Phillips said the purpose of the group’s grisly propaganda videos – including of the Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage — is to change the subject, from recent setbacks in Kobani as well as some areas in Iraq, through “jihadist pornography.” He said the point is to show the group as an
    “invincible army,” psychologically attractive to European teenagers who might join the fight.

     

    Raymond Stock, a Shillman-Ginsburg writing fellow at the Middle East Forum, argued the message carries more weight with Muslims worldwide than most realize. He told Fox News the propaganda videos are “so well-produced and so well-targeted –extremely effective. We have nothing counteracting that.”

     

    Stock, who spent 20 years living in Egypt, sees the group’s ambitions as limitless and argues it is a mistake to believe the Islamic State is an organization seeking to control limited territory.

     

    He also suggested Al Qaeda and ISIS are not necessarily direct competitors. He cited an Arabic proverb, which he translates as: “Me and my brother against my cousin; me and my cousin against the outsider.”

     

    In Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for defense secretary, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pressed Carter on the need to have a strategy against ISIS.

     

    “I believe I understand our strategy at this time,” Carter explained. “I also have the intention, again if confirmed, to make it my first priority to go there, to talk to our military leaders there, to confer with you …I think a strategy connects ends and means, and our ends with respect to ISIL needs to be its lasting defeat.”

     

    McCain retorted: “Well, it doesn’t sound like a strategy to me, but maybe we can flesh out your goals.”

     

    (Source: AP)

  • ISRAEL BURIES SOLDIERS, SAYS HEZBOLLAH DOESN’T WANT CONFLICT

    ISRAEL BURIES SOLDIERS, SAYS HEZBOLLAH DOESN’T WANT CONFLICT

    JERUSALEM (TIP): Israel was burying January 29 two soldiers killed in a Hezbollah missile strike that triggered Israeli fire on southern Lebanon, raising tensions between the bitter enemies to their highest in years.

     

    But the Israeli-Lebanese border was calm, and Israeli officials played down the threat of a new war with the powerful Iran-backed Shiite group’s militia.

     

    In an unusual declaration, Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Hezbollah had passed on a message through the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon saying it did not want a further escalation.

     

    “We have received a message… that, from their point of view, the incident is over,” he told public radio.

     

    Analysts say neither side seems keen for a repeat of the devastating Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2006 and that any response is likely to be limited.

     

    The two soldiers were killed when Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at a convoy in an Israeli-occupied area on the border with Lebanon.

  • India-US strategic partnership

    India-US strategic partnership

    In future, India may be willing to conduct joint military operations with the US in its area of strategic interest in a contingency in which India’s vital national interests are threatened, preferably as a Chapter 7 intervention under the UN flag and failing that, as part of a “coalition of the willing”, says the author.

     

    President Barack Obama’s forthcoming visit as the chief guest on Republic Day is likely to give a fresh impetus to the Indo-US strategic partnership. While the relationship is substantive and broad based, the impressive achievements of the strategic partnership are to a large extent attributable to the successful implementation of the 10-year Defence Framework Agreement signed in June 2005. The renewal of this agreement will be a major item on the bilateral agenda during the summit meeting.

     

    During the Obama-Narendra Modi meeting in September 2014, the two leaders had stated their intention to expand defence cooperation to bolster national, regional, and global security. It was agreed that the two countries would build an enduring partnership in which both sides treat each other at the same level as their closest partners, including defence technology transfers, trade, research, co-production, and co-development.

     

    Prime Minister Modi and President Obama welcomed the first meeting under the framework of the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative in September 2014 and endorsed the decision to establish a task force to expeditiously evaluate and decide on unique projects and technologies which would have a transformative impact on bilateral defence relations and enhance India’s defence industry and military capabilities.

     

    For several decades, India’s procurement of weapons platforms and other defence equipment had remained mired in disadvantageous buyer-seller, patron-client relationships like that with the erstwhile Soviet Union and Russia. While India has been manufacturing Russian fighter aircraft and tanks under licence, the Russians never actually transferred weapons technology to India.

     

    The country has now diversified its acquisition sources beyond Russia to Western countries and Israel. From the US, India has purchased weapons platforms and other items of defence equipment worth around US $10 billion over the last five years. However, none of the recent deals with the US have included the transfer of technology clauses. There is now a growing realisation in India that future defence acquisitions must simultaneously lead to a transformative change in the country’s defence technology base and manufacturing prowess. Hence, it is imperative that whatever India procures now must be procured with a transfer of technology clause being built into the contract even though it means having to pay a higher price. The aim should be to make India a design, development, manufacturing and export hub for defence equipment in two to three decades.

     

    In September 2013, Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter, now the US Defence Secretary designate, had offered India a “Defence Trade and Technology Initiative” under which the US will share sensitive cutting-edge defence technology and permit US companies to enter into joint production and co-development ventures in India. Carter had then said, “We changed our mindset around technology transfer to India in the Department of Defence from a culture of presumptive no to one of presumptive yes.” 

     

    The Javelin anti-tank guided missile is another key candidate for joint production, though so far the US has been hesitant to offer its seeker and warhead technology. India is also looking for high-end counter-IED technologies. In future, the two countries will conduct joint research and development for new weapons systems and the US may offer even nuclear power packs for submarines and aircraft carriers and fighter aircraft engines. Cooperation of such a high order will raise India’s technology base by an order of magnitude and help the country move several notches higher in its quest for self-reliance in defence production. stepping down as Secretary of Defence, Chuck Hagel had nominated Frank Kendall, the Department’s Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, as the defence initiative’s American lead. With Ashton Carter soon to become Secretary of Defence, the initiative will get a fresh boost. The biggest boost will come from a show-piece joint development project like the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile jointly developed with Russia.

     

    The extended Defence Framework Agreement should take stock of the goals of the 2005 agreement that have not been fully achieved. For example, there has been no progress in cooperation on BMD technology. This needs to be rectified. Intelligence sharing is limited to ongoing counter-terrorism operations at present. It should be extended to the sharing of data bases as well, particularly the terrorism data base maintained by the US NCTC and India’s NATGRID.

     

    Prime Minister Modi’s government has raised the FDI limit for defence joint ventures to 49 per cent equity participation. It is likely to be open to modifying the offsets policy and amending export laws, which are considered a stumbling block. The agreement should take into account the Indian PM’s exhortation to industry to “Make in India”. The two governments should act as facilitators for their public and private sector companies to form joint ventures for the design and development, co-production and export of future weapons platforms.

     

    There is a mutual recognition of the adverse implications of China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea and in dealing with the dispute over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) islands with Japan. This has undermined international and regional confidence in China’s desire to resolve disputes peacefully. There is need to work in unison with the international community to uphold the unfettered use of the global commons. India is building robust military intervention capabilities and the armed forces are engaged in the process of formulating a doctrine to give effect to these capabilities.

     

    Though India values its strategic autonomy and recognises that each bilateral relationship is important in its own way, the policymakers realise that the geo-political contours of the 21st century and peace and stability, particularly in the India-Pacific region, will be shaped through cooperative security. In future, India may be willing to conduct joint military operations with the US in its area of strategic interest in a contingency in which India’s vital national interests are threatened, preferably as a Chapter 7 intervention under the UN flag and failing that, as part of a “coalition of the willing”.

  • Meet Padma Shri Dr. Dattatreya Nori – Featured Indian American

    Meet Padma Shri Dr. Dattatreya Nori – Featured Indian American

    NEW YORK (TIP): Dr. Dattatreya Nori, an internationally renowned Oncologist is a recipient of one of India’s highest civil awards, “Padma Shri”. The award was announced on the eve of India’s Republic Day, January 26, 2015.

    Government of India recognizes excellence and contributions of Indians within  India and abroad every year on the eve of Republic Day.

    Dr. Nori, Professor and Executive Vice Chairman of the Radiation  Oncology Department at the New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College in New-York City is passionately committed to help the less fortunate.

    Meet Padma Shri Dr. Dattatreya Nori, the renowned Oncologist

    Man does not live by bread alone. What else does one need depends on the thinking of the person.

    To Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori, it is a touch of spirituality that lends strength to him as a medical professional. A derivative of the spirituality that he possesses and practices is the desire to serve and help the less fortunate in society. In Dr. Nori one sees  a glorious combination of material success and spiritual excellence.

    Dattatreya Nori2

    Dr. Nori’s professional excellence and humanitarian approach have endeared him in both USA and India, the country of his origin. Here he is seen sharing lighter moments with President of USA Barack Obama. Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori M.D., FACR, FACRO, is Professor and Executive Vice Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department at The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. In addition, Dr. Nori is Chairman of Radiation Oncology at The New York Hospital Medical Center of Queens. He is also the Director of the Cancer Center at the New York Hospital Queens, in which capacity he heads that organization’s cancer program. Dr. Nori completed his undergraduate training at Kurnool Medical College and received his postgraduate medical degree from Osmania University in India. He then joined the staff of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where he became Chief of the Brachytherapy Service before accepting the current position as Chairman of Radiation Oncology at Cornell.

     

    Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori, Professor and Executive Vice Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department at the New York – Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City is passionately committed to help the less fortunate. In recognition of  his professional excellence and tremendous contribution, Government of India, on 66th Republic Day of India on the January 26, 2015,  honored Dr. Nori with “Padma Shri”, one of the highest civilian awards of the country.  We, at The Indian Panorama, congratulate Dr. Nori on getting the prestigious award and wish him many more honors in times to come.

    Dr. Nori has an international reputation as a pioneer and authority in radiation oncology and brachytherapy. He was instrumental in introducing the current techniques and clinical concepts of High Dose Rate Brachytherapy for gynecological, genitourinary, thoracic and head and neck tumors. His research also included efforts to improve the outcome for patients with prostate cancer, lung cancer, pancreas, breast and other cancers. Dr. Nori has served as principal investigator for numerous clinical trails sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and has received several national and international awards for his contributions to cancer research, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Alumni Society. He has been called “a recognized leader in his specialty” by the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. 

    Dr. Nori served in the American Cancer Society in various positions including Chairmanship of the Professional Education Committee. The American Cancer Society honored him with their highest prestigious award “Tribute to Life” for his accomplishments in cancer research.

     

    Dattatreya Nori4
    Dr. Nori inaugurated the Brachytherapy Department of Indo-American Cancer Institute

    Dr. Nori has trained more than 150 residents and fellows, some of whom have become Chairman of academic departments in the U.S. Dr. Nori is a Fellow in the American College of Radiology, Fellow in the American College of Radiation Oncology, past President of the American Brachytherapy Society, and a current member of several national and international oncology societies. He is also an Associate Editor of three oncology journals as well as a Visiting Professor to many universities in the U.S. and abroad. He has published three books and more than 200 scientific articles. He has given several prestigious lectureships such as the Probstein Oncology lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. He received a Gold Medal from the Indian Medical Association for his contributions to cancer research and training Indian physicians in the U.S. He also received the Excelsior Award from the Network of Indian Professionals in the United States and many Indian Organizations in the U.S., such as the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation and the Federation of Indian Associations have honored him for his contributions to cancer research.

    Dattatreya Nori3 Dattatreya Nori5Dr. Nori has provided technical and scientific help to many cancer centers in India, South America and Israel, and he is also the Founding Member of the Indo-American Cancer Institute for Women and Children, a state-of-the art 250 bed cancer and research institute located in Hyderabad, A.P. which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India in 2001. In addition, Dr. Nori is a Consultant to the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, advising on the formulation of guidelines for the treatment of cancer in developing countries. In a recent survey conducted by the reputable Castle Connolly Medical Ltd and published in America’s Top Doctors, Dr. Nori has been selected as one of the top doctors in America. In this survey, more than 250,000 leading doctors were asked to name the nation’s best physicians in various specialties -those “to whom you would send members of your family”. The most important criterion for physician selection was excellence in patient care, education, residency, board certification, fellowships, professional reputation, research, hospital affiliation, academic stature and medical school faculty appointment and experience. In a more recent survey done by the most popular woman’s magazine in the U.S., The Ladies’ Home Journal, Dr. Nori has also been named as one of the top doctors in America for the treatment of cancers in women. Dr. Nori was also honored by Senator Jon Corgine, Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Committee and by Council Speaker Gifford Milller for his contributions to cancer research.

    Dattatreya Nori8 Dattatreya Nori7 Dattatreya Nori6Dr. Nori continues to be active as clinician, teacher, researcher and administrator of two large Radiation Oncology Departments and the Cancer Center at New York Hospital Queens.

    As I write his profile here in New York Dr. Nori is away to India  where he is  addressing  a Global Health Summit in Kochi from January 2 to 5. Dr. Nori is there to talk about prevention of Cervical cancer in India. He is there to give out the message that it can be prevented in India just as well as it is prevented in USA. Dr. Nori is a visiting professor to many universities across the globe and is frequently traveling.

     

    In India, which is his country of origin, he has helped set up a number of hospitals. One  such hospital – Indo American Cancer Hospital  with 500 beds is state of the art cancer hospital in Hyderabad. It was founded in 2002 and was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee.

     

    Dr. Nori lives with his wife Subhadra in Scarsdale, New York. His wife is a physician, academician and chairperson of the Department of Rehabilitation at Jacobi Medical Center affiliated with Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. His son, Sateesh and daughter-in- law Joy, are both attorneys and his daughter, Priya and son-in-law Himanshu, are both physicians.

     

  • Political shadow boxing, threat & reality

    Political shadow boxing, threat & reality

    “The American invasion of Iraq cost the lives of millions of children. Whatever the changing definitions of terror, it is children that are so often the forgotten victims of conflict – regardless of the perpetrator”, says the author.

    Well, heaven preserve us: the most useless “peacemaker” on earth has just used an Arabic acronym for the greatest threat to civilisation since the last greatest threat. Yup, ol’ John Kerry called it “Daesh”, which is what the Arabs call it. It stands for the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant”. We prefer Isis or Isil or the Islamic State or Islamic Caliphate. Most journos prefer Isis because – I suspect – it’s easier to remember. It’s the name of an Egyptian goddess, after all.

    It’s the name of a university city’s river. Many an American scribe has questioned why Kerry should be using this goddam Arabic lingo – although we use Fatah for the PLO. It, too, is an acronym which, translated, means “the Party for Palestinian Liberation”. And in 2011, we called Tahrir Square in Cairo “Tahrir”, only occasionally reminding readers and viewers that it, too, meant “liberation”. None explained why the place was important: because this was the square mile of Cairo in which was based the largest British barracks and into which the Brits – during their much-loved occupation of Egypt – refused to allow any Egyptian to walk without permission. That’s why it was called Tahrir – liberation – when the Brits left.

    That’s why Hosni Mubarak’s attempt to prevent the protesters entering the square in 2011 placed him firmly in the shadow of Egypt’s former colonial masters. But why do we care what the great leaders of the West (or the East for that matter) actually say, when we all know it’s the kind of material that comes out of the rear end of a bull? Let me give you an example from Canada. Two years ago, the country’s Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, closed Canada’s embassy in Tehran because he feared his diplomats might be harmed. “Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today,” he quoth then – although CBC broadcasters have dug up a Foreign Ministry report which reported the biggest threat to the Tehran embassy was an geophysical earthquake.

    Since then, as the Toronto Star’s pesky columnist Thomas Walkom has pointed out, the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper – whose pro-Israeli policies might earn him a seat in the Israeli Knesset -has discovered more threats. Russia under Vladimir Putin, Harper says, “represents a significant threat to the peace and security of the world”. The aforesaid Baird, taking his cue, no doubt from our own beloved Prince Charles, compared Putin’s Russia to Hitler’s Third Reich. More recently, Canada’s defence minister, Rob Nicholson, described the men of Isis (or Isil, or the Islamic State, or the Islamic Caliphate, or Daesh) as “a real and growing threat to civilisation itself”.

    The war against Isis/ Isil/ IS/ IC/ Daesh, he informed the people of Abu Dhabi, was “the greatest struggle of our generation”. Well, blow me down.Wasn’t Iran the greatest threat, ever since 1979? Wasn’t Abu Nidal, the Palestinian gun-for-hire? Wasn’t that British prime minister chappie, with the habit of saying “absolutely” and “completely” over and over again, convinced that Saddam was the greatest threat to our civilisation or generation, what with all his WMDs and links to Al-Qaida and tubes from Niger, and so on? For that matter, wasn’t Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida – the very bunch which morphed into Isis/ Isil/ IS/ IC/ Daesh in Iraq – the greatest threat to our civilisation/generation? Yet now, when the Iranian air force has joined the battle against Isis/ Isil/ IS/ IC/ Daesh alongside the US, Britain, Canada, Australia, old Uncle Tom Cobley and all, Kerry, in “Daesh” mode, tells us that the Iranian military action in Iraq (in any other circumstances, a ruthless assault on Iraq’s sovereignty) is “positive”. And Kerry, remember, was the fellow who told us last year that America was going to attack the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the greatest enemy of Isis/ Isil/ IS/ IC /Daesh – whom Obama reprieved in favour of bashing Isis/ Isil/ IS/ IC/ Daesh itself – with its ally Iran described by Canada’s Baird only two years ago as “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world”.

    But what the hell … Don’t we live in a world where Save the Children (American branch only, you understand) gave an award to the same former British prime minister quoted above? Having given a prize to the man who encouraged George W Bush to embark on an Iraqi invasion which cost the lives of tens of thousands of children, surely this fine charity (again, the American branch only) must reinvent and re-name itself “Abandon the Children”. And by the way, one of the ex-PM’s supporters blandly told Channel 4 not long ago that our British “peace envoy” had travelled to the Middle East more than 160 times.Which means, doesn’t it, that our Middle East envoy had left his station in the Middle East more than 160 times! But again, what is a child’s life worth? In 2002, a Israeli missile attack on a Gaza apartment block killed a Palestinian militants but also 14 civilians, including several children.

    The Bush administration, draw in your breath here, folks, and grit your teeth, said that this “heavy-handed action” did not “contribute to peace”. Wow, now that was telling them. Killing kids is a bit heavy-handed, isn’t it? And I can see what the Bush lads and lassies meant when they said that eviscerating, crushing and tearing to bits a bunch of children didn’t really, well, “contribute” towards peace. It’s important, you see, to realise who our enemies are. Muslims, Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians, Russians, you name it. Not Israel, of course. Nor Americans. Think generational. Think civilisation. Think the most significant threat to global peace. Daesh. Isn’t that the name?

    (The author is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. He has been Middle East correspondent of The Independent for more than twenty years, primarily based in Beirut) British English. (Source: The Independent)

  • Woman’s selfie catches Bill Clinton ogling at her

    Woman’s selfie catches Bill Clinton ogling at her

    LONDON: Bill Clinton was recently caught in action when his eyes wandered off to take a peek at a woman’s cleavage. Unaware that the stunning brunette Ari’elle Avdali was taking a selfie, the former US president was clicked with his gaze aiming at her breasts at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl National Cemetery, which Avdali captioned “Billy boy checking on my tatas,” the Daily Star reported. In addition to that, the brunette’s friend posted the pic on Reddit saying that “Clinton did not realize that Avdali was taking a selfie with him.” The image instantly went viral and while one person said commented that Clinton, who had been previously entangled in a sex scandal with White House intern Monica Lewinsky during his term, would never change, while another commented: “Classic Bill.” Clinton was in Jerusalem to pay visit to the grave of the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995 after addressing a large rally in Tel Aviv. The snap also appears on Ari’elle’s Facebook page, which shows her in a low-cut dress and says she is from Tel Aviv in Israel.

  • Pope Francis pleads for dialogue to end extremism on Turkey visit

    Pope Francis pleads for dialogue to end extremism on Turkey visit

    ANKARA (TIP): Pope Francis on November 28 called for dialogue between faiths to end the Islamist extremism plaguing the Middle East as he visited Turkey on his first trip to the overwhelmingly Muslim but officially secular state. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who welcomed Pope Francis as the first foreign dignitary to his controversial new presidential palace outside Ankara, for his part issued a strong warning about rising Islamophobia in the world.

    The visit of the pope is seen as a crucial test of Francis’s ability to build bridges between faiths amid the rampage by Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Iraq and Syria and concerns over the persecution of Christian minorities in the Middle East. “Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue can make an important contribution… so that there will be an end to all forms of fundamentalism and terrorism,” the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics said after talks with Erdogan. He said the world “could not remain indifferent” to the causes of the tragedies in the Middle East and appeared to indicate military action could be permitted with the proper legal backing.

    While an “unjust aggressor” could be thwarted, the problem cannot be resolved solely through a military response, Francis said. Speaking in an overwhelmingly Muslim country which has a tiny but culturally significant Christian minority, the pope pointedly said all faiths should share the same rights. “It is essential that all citizens — Muslim, Jewish and Christian — both in the provision and practice of the law, enjoy the same rights and respect the same duties.”

    Turkey’s own Christian community is tiny — just 80,000 in a country of some 75 million Muslims — but also extremely mixed, consisting of Armenians, Greek Orthodox, Franco-Levantines, Syriac Orthodox and Chaldeans. Erdogan — long been accused by opponents of seeking to erode Turkey’s secular foundations with creeping Islamisation — chose the occasion to make a characteristically strong-worded warning against growing Islamophobia in the world. “Islamophobia is rising seriously and rapidly.

    We must work together against the threats weighing on our planet – – intolerance, racism and discrimination,” said Erdogan. He angrily accused the international community of “simply being spectators” in the face of the “state terror” of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza earlier this year. “There is a double standard and an injustice,” he said. Turkey’s top cleric Mehmet Gormez went even further in comments after his meeting with the pope, expressing concern that Islamophobic “paranoia that has already been spread among Western public opinion” was being used as a pretext for discrimination against Muslims.

  • Quran is not for Muslims alone

    Quran is not for Muslims alone

    The very first verse in Quran reads, “1:2 (Asad) All praise is due to God alone, the Sustainer of all the worlds (that exist),” and the very last chapter opens with this line, “114:1 (Ali) Say: I seek refuge with the Lord and Cherisher of Mankind,” and there is a whole lot in between. God chose to address the entire mankind, and rightfully so. Quran is for the whole humanity and not just Muslims exclusively. Hold your breath, I cannot pack the next 1200 words in one single sentence, or utter it in one single breath, but I promise you a better understanding by the end of this essay. First of all, God is not the God of Muslims and no where he claims that in Quran.

    He is creator of the universe(s), which is within and beyond our imagination. Quran is a book of guidance to preserve the cohesiveness within and what surrounds us; people and the environment. Darwin is right about survival of the fittest. Nothing in the universe will survive if it goes off balance and is not intact. Thank God everything is created in balance and harmony (55: 7-13) with billions of other elements interconnected and interdependent on each other to function cohesively. In fact, the entire creation can be broadly classified into Matter and Life.

    Planets, stars, seasons and plants are programmed to function obediently (55:5-6) with precision, whereas humans were not put on an autopilot, they were instead given a free will to manage and maintain their own balance, and of course there was the guidance for everyone. God’s says (49:13) that he has created us into many tribes, communities, nations and by extension faiths, ideas, shapes, and colors — and all of us can trace back our origins to a singular couple referred to as Adam & Eve. Given that diversity, we are bound to have conflicts and compete for the resources.

    So, he adds, the best ones among you are those who will take the time to know each other, he knows that knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to acceptance and appreciation of different points of view. God does not miss a beat in communicating with his creation, and tells us not to compel others to be like you (2:256) let it come from their hearts for common goodness, and let others be others and you be you (109:6). Indeed, when you respect the otherness of others, and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge to live in harmony.

    By the way, this is my definition of Pluralism. Had he willed, he could have made us all into a single community or created all of us precisely alike (5:48), but he chose to create each one of us to be unique with our own thumb print, eye print, DNA, taste buds, belief buds, races, nations and ethnicities. God loves us all, and n0 one is deprived of his love; he has reached out to every human through a peace maker, messenger, prophet, reformer, a wise man or simply a good friend that brings sense to living. The creator offers a variety of guidance to the mankind, no matter where you live, the guidance is there, the guidance that leads to live in peace, and without fear of the other.

    He says I have sent a peacemaker to every nation and every tribe. What does God want? Like a mother who wants her children to live well; a teacher who wants his students to do well; and the chef who wants his patrons to enjoy his food…. God wants every one of his creation to live in harmony. He emphasizes the idea repeatedly (over 18 times) — if you take care of his creation (neighbor), you need not worry; your rewards are with him. Just to make sure we understand this precisely, he says, whether you are a Jew or a Christian and by corollary other, if you take care of your neighbor, I will take care of you (2:62). Mind you, he is very clear, he has never said, “Muslim Neighbor,” but just neighbor to be inclusive of all humanity.

    The concepts of universalism are loaded in the phrases like God of the Universe, “Rabbul Aalameen” and Mercy to Mankind “Rahmatul Aalameen “as Prophet Muhammad is called. Indeed, the word Aalameen is the mother of the word inclusion, aka Pluralism. We have reduced Islam from a system to create harmony and peace in the world to an exclusive political entity, copyrighted and owned by the group. Please beware of the mistranslation and misinterpretations. Deeper study will lead any one to realize the Quran had been purposely mistranslated down through history.

    In the middle Ages, European leaders commissioned a hostile Quran translation to foster warfare against Muslim invaders (Monastery of Abbot 1143 CE). Later, Muslim leaders (Hilali Khan 1924 CE) produced another translation to inflame Muslims against Christians and Jews. It was all for politics. Thank God for the efforts of countless people, most of the mis-translations have been fixed since 2012, and I have contributed my personal share of work towards that effort and I will be happy to do a full presentation on it if needed anywhere in the world, one of them was done in Melbourne, Australia in 2009 at the Parliament of World Religions. Dr. Tariq Ramadan and I also presented the same topic again in tandem. Don’t panic, everything has checks and balances, as a seeker of the truth, you will look at least three different translations to grasp the inclusiveness of Quran.

    HERE IS THE FORMULA

    It may be worth your while to see the list of the mistranslated verses and how the fear mongers in the market have capitalized on those. The best way to understand Quran is to remember, “If it is not about justice, mercy and creating harmony”, then the translation is wrong. Go back and read it several times, three verse before the ‘wrongfully maligned’ verse and three afterwards, and read at least three to four translations. Quran in Arabic is precisely same and well preserved, but its translation and interpretations are not.

    The treatment of verses is at www.Quraantoday.com and the full story of Quran conference is at www.Quraanconference.com I recommend the translations by Muhammad Asad, Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Marmaduke Pickthall, they are not perfect but by far the best. Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar has fixed a few misogynistic translations in her work that were not handled earlier. More work needs to be done and God willing it will continue. I want to acknowledge the contributions made by Mr. Farooq Khan and Dr. Rehana Kausar of Texas, who convinced the Muslim establishments to accept and promote Muhammad Asad’s translation and have distributed many on their own.

    Once they bought the entire stock of books and freely distributed to right people. Farooq Khan adds, “Only through these translations Muslim and Non-Muslims, both, can have a true glimpse of what the Holy Quran says.” Here is a 17 minutes video about Abdullah Yusuf Ali shared by them, it is inspirational and worth watching. You may find a similar spark in you and I did. Here is the video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05CDGL qrWHM Thanks to CAIR for providing me some of the copies of Asad translations which I have personally given to pastors, Rabbis, Sikh and Hindu educators and even some Imams.

    A copy was also presented to my friend Sean Hannity – a great American (unless you know about him, you may not believe until you hear from me), Pamela Geller and others with a similar but one paragraph note as above. Yes, I have copies of Bible, Torah, Bhagvad Gita, Book of Mormon, and Book of Jaina, Guru Granth sahib, Kitab Aqdas, Rev. Moon’s World Scriptures and 12 Quran translations.Thanks to friends and Muslims from around the world for the encouragement they have given me in moving forward with presenting Quran as a document of pluralism. It is a manual to create cohesive societies and it is for all, don’t let Muslims monopolize it. To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker, one who seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence of humanity.

    Mike GhouseMike Ghouse : The author is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy.

    Mike Ghouse is a Muslim Speaker and head the think tank www.WorldMuslimCongress.com Follow Mike Ghouse on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MikeGhouse

  • IRAN STILL STALLING AS NUCLEAR DEADLINE LOOMS: UN AGENCY

    IRAN STILL STALLING AS NUCLEAR DEADLINE LOOMS: UN AGENCY

    VIENNA (TIP): Tehran has yet to explain away allegations it conducted atomic bomb research, the head of the UN nuclear agency said on Thursday, four days before a deadline for Iran and six world powers to reach a deal on the Iranian nuclear programme. As US secretary of state John Kerry flies to Vienna for what are meant to be final talks to clinch a deal with Iran, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano said he was still unable to provide “credible assurance” Iran had no undeclared nuclear material and activities.

    The talks — which have dragged on for more a year — are aimed at setting limits on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for an end to sanctions that have seriously hurt its economy. As one of the conditions, Western officials say Iran must stop stonewalling the IAEA investigation into concerns Iran may have worked on designing a nuclear-armed missile, although some experts feel this should not be a dealbreaker. “Iran has not provided any explanations that enable the agency to clarify the outstanding practical measures,” Amano told the UN agency’s 35-nation board of governors, also meeting in the Austrian capital.

    He was referring to information Iran was supposed to have given the IAEA by late August concerning allegations of explosives tests and other activity that could indicate preparations for developing nuclear bombs. Those allegations were set out in an IAEA report in 2011 based on intelligence from some 10 IAEA member states as well as the agency’s own investigation. It did not identify the countries but they are widely believed to include the United States, Israel and some of Washington’s Western allies.

    Iran denies any intention of seeking atomic weapons, saying its nuclear programme is aimed at generating electricity. “I call upon Iran to increase its cooperation with the agency and to provide timely access to all relevant information, documentation, sites, material and personnel,” Amano said. ‘Tactics of delay’ Iran’s IAEA envoy, Reza Najafi, said the allegations were based on “wrong and fabricated” information. To prove this, he told the IAEA board, Iran would be ready to give the UN agency “one managed access” to a western region, where, according to the allegations, explosives experiments took place.

    The IAEA’s priority for its inquiry has been to visit another site, the Parchin military facility, refused by Iran. While the countries in talks with Iran — the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China — want Tehran to scale back its uranium enrichment programme to lengthen the timeline for any covert bid to assemble nuclear arms, the IAEA is investigating possible research on designing an actual bomb. Even though it has long been clear that the inquiry would not be completed before the target date for a deal with the powers, Western diplomats had hoped for more progress by now.

    Israel and hawkish US lawmakers are likely to condemn any accord that they feel does not fully resolve the issue. Israel’s envoy, Merav Zafary-Odiz, said the IAEA investigation was “simply stuck because Iran has never abandoned its longstanding tactics of delay, concealment and reluctance to cooperate” with the UN agency. Iran says it is Israel’s assumed atomic arsenal that threatens peace and stability in the Middle East.

  • Why did I quit being a Republican?

    Why did I quit being a Republican?

    It is one of the most difficult decisions of my life to quit being a Republican. The more people I talk to, the more confident I feel that the GOP has completely lost its anchor values it was built upon, and the extremists have crept in and ruined it beyond repair. I have written over a hundred pieces about this, and all of them are listed in the links at www.TheGhousediary.com and http://CenterforAmericanPolitics.blogspot.com Finally, I have chosen to go independent.

    I am an American, and my loyalty is to America, and not the party. I am neither a Republican nor will be a Democrat. There are enough independents out there who choose the candidates based on the good they can do for America, all of America and not just a segment of America, I would rather be free than bounded by party politics. As an independent, I will be voting for Wendy Davis (D), Alameel (D), Marchant (R) and will be selective with local candidates.

    Why did I choose to go independent?

    I have been debating about remaining with Republican party ever since Bush and his cronies lied to the American Public about WMD, and in the process terrorized and killed nearly half a million innocent Iraqi’s and Afghans. If an individual wraps bombs to his waist and kills a bus load of people, we rightfully call him a terrorist; however, if a head of a democratic nation wraps missiles on our jets and bombs hundreds of thousands of people, we let him hide behind the word “war”, as if it makes him less of a terrorist.” It went in a different direction. The debates in mid-term 2006 elections and again in 2008 were shameful. There was no Republican in the forefront who would talk about peace – everyone was eager to bomb and terrorize others; it was sickening to hear McCain, Romney and the other insignificant men and women in the Presidential debates.

    They wanted Americans to support them based on hating and harming someone or the other, it was demoralizing to hear them all. How can we fall for such stupidity, have we lost our ability to see through the destruction they were causing to America? Millions of Americans lost their jobs causing thousands of divorces, home and business foreclosures, people lost insurance and several died for lack of it.

    Half a million innocent foreigners were massacred for no good reason, and thousands of women were put on the street to sell flesh. Thanks to the immorality caused by our president. Middle East was a pretty stable region except the Israel Palestine conflict – the Bush invasion gave birth to every damned conflict and evil we see including the ISIS. The Nation had a surplus when Clinton left, and in 8 years Bush screwed America by piling up $10 billion in budget deficit. Yuck, there was no accountability for the wrong doing.

    I shudder at the thought of Romney Presidency, he was too eager to Bomb Iran, too anxious to please his buddies Netanyahu and McCain. Of course he had nothing to lose and does not give a flip about the 47% of the Americans. He would have completed the destruction of America that Bush had left unfinished. There would have been massive unemployment, divorces, home and business foreclosures, increased crime rate and an unbearable budget deficit.

    Yet there was no significant dissent among Republicans, what do I take – that Republicans are war mongers? They are a bunch of gutless obedient conformists, and I am not and don’t belong there. I was sick of being a lone ranger in peace meetings, interfaith meetings and other community service meetings, peace talks are anathema to them and rarely do you find them in peace meetings. They don’t know nothing about biology or mathematics or polls and have made the dumbest remarks about these issues.

    They are opposed to same sex marriages – opposed to women making their own decisions about abortion. Do they know the meaning of liberty? I mean the hot heads representing the party, and not the good for nothing conformists. The turning point was when Republicans voted against equal pay for women. That is gutsy and hope the women will remember that. They claim to stick to the constitution which is the biggest joke of the century and goes to prove their hypocrisy. Facebook is loaded with their bigotry- check out the postings of Republicans undermining the president in discreet language.

    This week, they are showing their loyalty to a foreign leader over our president, that is disgustingly unpatriotic. Shame on them. This president has pulled the nation from the doldrums, despite the blatant opposition of Mitch McConnell and ugly acts of Ted Cruz and his racist father, blatantly going against him by declaring that he will oppose every bill Obama proposes and shutting down the government.

    Did any of the Republicans question that racist father Cruz who wanted to send Obama to Kenya; did anyone tell him to go to Cuba instead? Shame on us to a give a pass to these radicals. Thank God for Obama, gas prices are down and the average service person can afford to pay for a tank full of Gas. Unemployment will be low and by the time Obama is done he would have fully restored the economic prosperity that Americans enjoyed during the Clinton era, to be continued by another Clinton.

    Obama will also leave a legacy of updated roads and bridges to last for two more decades. We have to be open to immigration; this nation was built on immigrants. Sometimes the stinky Republican attitudes ( if the majority of Republicans did not approve that attitude, they did not condemn it either) and demonstrators at the border makes me wish, that the Native Americans had put an electric fence around America to prevent Columbus and his hordes from illegally entering America. Most of the mistakes made by our government are when the house, senate and the administration are all from the same party.

    If we can wise up for the sake of America, and give the Senate to Democrats and house to Republicans, but not give them big majorities, the SOB’s will become arrogant. Let them fight over the bills, debate extensively than slam dunk with a majority or go against each other. At the end, they will make good decisions for America with the checks and balances we build, it is in our hands. Finally, I have chosen to go independent. I am an American, and my loyalty is to America, and not the party.

    I am neither a Republican nor will be a Democrat. There are enough independents out there who choose the candidates based on the good they can do for America, all of America and not just a segment of America, I would rather be free than bounded by party politics. As an independent, I will be voting for Wendy Davis (D), Alameel (D), Marchant (R) and will be selective with local candidates. References, links to my articles on Obama, Romney, and some of the many stupid things Republicans have said will all be at : http://centerforamericanpolitics.blogspot.com/ and www.TheGhousediary.com

    THINGS REPUBLICANS HAVE SAID ARE HARD TO DIGEST

    ● “I think the right approach is to accept this horribly created – in the sense of rape – but nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you… rape victims should make the best of a bad situation.” Rick Santorum
    ● “Some girls rape easy.” Roge Rivard
    ● “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways of shutting that whole thing down” Todd Akin
    ● “As president, I will create 12 million new jobs.” -and within 45 minutes he said this, “Government does not create jobs. Government does not create jobs.” – Mitt Romney
    ● “White men who are in male-only clubs are going to do great in my presidency,” according to an audio recording of his comments provided to CNN. […]”Lindsey Graham,
    ● “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” ~ George W. Bush
    ● “Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.” ~ Rep. Michele Bachmann
    ● “Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.” ~ Rush Limbaugh
    ● “I went to a number of women’s groups and said: ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.” ~ Mitt Romney
    ● “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” ~ Pat Robertson ( do you remember a similar statement from a Saudi Cleric? He thought if women drive, they would become Lesbians – How stupid are these guys!
    ● “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” ~ George W. Bush
    ● “Abortion Leads To Cancer, Birth Defects, And Everything Else” – Richard Burgess
    ● “Evolution Is (Still) Out To Get Jesus” – Marco Rubio
    ● “Good Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions.” ~ Jerry Falwell
    ● “How did [the Holocaust] happen? Because God allowed it to happen… because God said, ‘My top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.’ Hagee
    ● http://www.addictinginfo.org/ 2012/12/16/60-ridiculously-stupidrepublican- quotes/
    ● http://www.politicususa.com/ 2012/12/29/top-ten-dumbest-republicanquotes- 2012.html
    ● http://www.uselections.com/tx/tx.htm
    ● http://www.politics1.com/tx.htm –
    ● Quiz- How Republican or Democrat are you?
    ● http://www.isidewith.com/political-quiz

    Mike GhouseMike Ghouse : The author is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, terrorism, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy.

  • INDIA VOTES AGAINST UN DRAFT RESOLUTIONS ON NPT

    INDIA VOTES AGAINST UN DRAFT RESOLUTIONS ON NPT

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP): India has voted against the provisions of draft resolutions that would have required it to accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), saying there is “no question” of it joining the treaty as a nonnuclear weapon state. Deeply concerned about the growing dangers of nuclear and other mass destruction weapons caused by proliferation networks, the First Committee of the 193-member UN General Assembly that deals with disarmament and international security issues approved a draft resolution yesterday urging all member states that had not yet done so to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

    Prior to approval of that draft as a whole, votes were polled on provisions, including on operative paragraph, by which the Assembly would call on all those countries that have not joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to accede to it as non-nuclear weapon states. The provision was retained by a recorded vote of 164 in favour, with Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India and Israel voting against it. In its explanation of vote, India said it cannot accept the call to accede to NPT as a non-nuclearweapon state. “India’s position on the NPT is well-known.

    There is no question of India joining the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. Nuclear weapons are an integral part of India’s national security and will remain so, pending non- discriminatory and global nuclear disarmament,” it said. The Committee then took four recorded votes on a resolution ‘Towards a nuclear weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments’. The text was approved as a whole by a vote of 166 in favour to seven against, with Korea, France, India, Israel, Russian Federation, the UK and the US opposing it.

    By another provision in the resolution, the Assembly would stress the fundamental role of NPT in achieving nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation and urge India, Israel and Pakistan to promptly accede to the Treaty as non-nuclearweapon states and place all their nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards. The provision was retained by a recorded vote of 163 in favour with India, Israel, the US and Pakistan voting against. In its explanation of vote, India said it remains committed to the goal of complete elimination of nuclear arms.

    “We are concerned about the threat to humanity posed by the continued existence of nuclear weapons and their possible use or threat of use. India also shares the view that nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation are mutually reinforcing. We continue to support a time-bound programme for global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament,” it said.

  • Jerusalem on edge after police kill Palestinian gunman

    Jerusalem on edge after police kill Palestinian gunman

    JERUSALEM (TIP): Clashes raged in east Jerusalem on October 30 after police shot dead a Palestinian accused of trying to kill a Jewish hardliner, prompting officials to close the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound. Israel said its closure of the shrine, which is holy to Jews and Muslims, was a temporary measure aimed at calming tempers, but Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said it was tantamount to a “declaration of war”.

    Wednesday night’s shooting incident and the subsequent killing of the suspected gunman sent tensions soaring to a new high, following months of almost daily clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police in the occupied eastern sector of the Holy City. “This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic nation,” Abbas said through his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, warning it would only fuel “more tension and instability”.

    Jordan’s Islamic Waqf, which has responsibility for the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, confirmed it was the first time such a measure had been taken since Israel seized Arab east Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War. But a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that the closure of the compound was a temporary measure aimed at restoring calm. “Closing the Temple Mount is temporary and meant to prevent riots and escalation as well as to restore calm and status quo to the Holy Places,” Ofir Gendelman said in a statement.

    Meanwhile, residents of the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Abu Tor were left reeling after the early morning police raid which killed 32- year-old Muataz Hijazi. Israel said he was behind the attempt to gun down hardline activist Yehuda Glick, who has lobbied for Jewish prayer rights at the Al-Aqsa compound. Police said Hijazi began shooting at officers who returned fire, killing him. But his family had a different version. “They burst into the house shortly before 6am, ransacked Muataz’s room and then shot him on the roof,” said his brother Khalil, 34. The radical Islamic Jihad movement said Hijazi was one of its militants.

    Abu Tor straddles west Jerusalem and the Arab eastern sector, and borders the volatile Palestinian district of Silwan that has been the focus of months of confrontations. Inside the house, the living room still reeked of tear gas from the raid, and on nearby sidestreets riot police were firing gas canisters and rubber bullets at around 50 stone-throwing Palestinian youths in clashes that erupted after the shooting. In a diplomatic development that the Palestinians claimed was related to the ongoing unrest in east Jerusalem, the Swedish government announced its formal recognition of a Palestinian state, becoming the first EU member in western Europe to do so.

    Abbas immediately hailed Stockholm’s decision as “brave and historic” and called for others to follow suit. Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman lashed out at the move as “deplorable,” issuing a sardonic statement noting that “relations in the Middle East are a lot more complex than the self-assembly furniture of IKEA”. In a bid to restore order in Jerusalem, Netanyahu ordered a “significant increase” in police deployments but called for calm on both sides after right-wing groups reacted furiously to the attempted hit on Glick.

    In the Old City, police could be seen fanning through the streets and alleyways, imposing a near lockdown in parts, an AFP correspondent said. “We must first of all lower the flames. No side should take the law into its own hands,” Netanyahu said. The assassination attempt followed months of tensions over the al-Aqsa compound, which houses Islam’s third holiest site but is also the most sacred spot for Jews who refer to the site as the Temple Mount. Although non-Muslims are allowed to visit the site, Jews are not allowed to pray there for fear it could disturb the fragile status quo.

  • THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF AN IDEA

    THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF AN IDEA

    Every big idea has a small beginning. Gift of Life has been no exception.

    In 1974, Rotary District 7250 brought a little 5-year old named Grace Agwaru on an intercontinental voyage from Uganda to New York. Grace suffered from a hole between the two lower chambers of her young but strong heart. On November 15, 1974 surgeons at Saint Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York successfully operated on little Grace. A big idea was born that day. The Gift of Life now includes Rotarians from all over the world, with independent chapters in countries as far away as Korea and India.

    Today, the Gift of Life is a worldwide Rotary International Service Program responsible for approximately 5000 heart surgeries for children from over 30 countries. The Gift of Life has gone global. Every good idea grows exponentially. In 2001, PDG of District 7250 Eileen Gentlecore had a simple conversation with a friend of hers and related the altruistic vision of the Gift of Life. Her friend, Past District Governor Ravishankar Bhooplapur, with the assistance of Past RI Director Sushil Gupta – Trustee of Rotary Foundation , Dr. Rajan Deshpande and many other devoted Rotarians, AC Peter, PDG Rajendra Rai, Rtn OP Khanna, DGE Kamlesh Raheja, took up the challenge to provide critical heart surgeries for the children of India.

    PDG Ravishankar Bhooplapur still serves as Honorary Chairman of Gift of Life, India today. Is it not amazing what can come of a conversation? The sole purpose of the Gift of Life, India is to secure life saving heart surgery for children in desperate need regardless of race, creed, color or country of origin. The Gift of Life, India is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation with no administrative costs. All of our team members work voluntarily; all of the monies are generously donated by caring donors and through the numerous matching grants disbursed by the Rotary Foundation.

    Gift of Life program in New York has the unique distinction of bringing children from all over the world to the New York Metro Area and providing free heart Surgeries to them. These children are housed in Ronald McDonald house which is specifically given to us for this purpose. Rotarians have significantly contributed to build the Ronald McDonald house and continue to give financial support on the local level in exchange our children are accommodated pre & post-operative their surgeries. The Gift of Life still grows. We reach more children in more countries than ever before. We would like to reach more. There is no limit to this idea as long as we remain committed to saving children’s lives.

    Mission:

    To further the cause of world peace and understanding by facilitating free medical services to children suffering from heart disease regardless of race, creed, sex or national origin and who otherwise lack access to such services.

    “A Crusade of the Heart”

    The Gift of Life is a crusade of the heart, touching children in peril. An idea born in 1975 to a group of Rotarians from Manhasset, Long Island, NY, is today a global effort. We reach out to many children, who would otherwise die, and heal their failing hearts with the miracle of cardiac surgery. Our outreach spans the world, nurtured by compassion for young victims we alone can cure. Each child whose future we restore is a tribute to humanity and love, helping build bridges of friendship and peace among people everywhere.

    History

    The lives of more than 10,000 children from countries throughout the world have been saved through the miracle of open-heart surgery, in medical centers throughout the U.S. and in participating Gift of Life hospitals in Russia, Israel, Malaysia, China, Ukraine, India, Dominican Republic and the Philippines. Dedicated surgeons and nurses donate their skill to the cause. American families assist Rotarians as hosts and interpreters, bringing warmth and comfort to children and their escorts.

    Board of Directors and Officers

    Gift of Life is a dynamic program of Rotarians of Brooklyn, Queens and Nassau in partnership with the Rotary members and physicians worldwide who evaluate children for treatment in our country. Foreign doctors may also receive technical training on these shores and return to help children in their own lands. We have since opened pathways to Korea, Poland, the Russian Republics, China, Caribbean Nations and to places as distant as Mongolia, medically screening many thousands of children for lifesaving surgery.

    The spirit of the Gift of Life ignores borders. Medically advanced countries are being encouraged to do as we do – to open their own hospital doors to imperiled youngsters from developing nations. With the Gift of Life as an international model, cardiac medicine will extend its power to save many who were unreachable before. The Gift of Life has also become more of a public presence through our fund raising program Save-A-Child. In addition we hold four annual fundraisers: the Crusade of the Heart Kick-Off Dinner and black tie Gala, the Agnes T. Funk Kids for Kids Memorial 5K Walk, and our new skydiving event Jump for Life.

    Partnering Hospitals

    The following hospitals support the Gift of Life program:

    ● Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, California

    ● Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center Valhalla, New York

    ● St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center Roslyn, New York

    ● The Children’s Hospital at Montefiiore Medical Center Bronx, New York

    ● The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, Canada

    ● The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York New Hyde Park, New York

  • Nepal closes trekking route after 38 die in storm

    Nepal closes trekking route after 38 die in storm

    KATMANDU (NEPAL) (TIP): Nepalese officials closed a section of a popular Himalayan trekking route on October 20 after rescuers, overwhelmed with last week’s snowstorms that killed 38 hikers, had to bring to safety new climbers who set out on the same mountain trails where the blizzards struck. The dead from the blizzards and avalanches that hit the upper section of the Annapurna Circuit in northern Nepal included foreign trekkers, local guides and villagers.


    Most among the hundreds of trekkers who had been stuck in the snow have been brought to safety, and government official Yama Bahadur Chokhyal said rescue helicopters were winding down flights. As the weather cleared, new climbers were already making their way up the same trail despite obvious dangers, prompting the government to close the route, Chokhyal said. “Our rescuers and helicopters ended up having to bring down these new people while we were still trying to reach the ones who were stranded by the blizzard,” he said. “It was burdening and confusing the rescuers so they had to be stopped,” he said. The route was deemed unsafe and invisible in many sections because of the snow dumped by the blizzard.


    The death toll from last week’s disaster — the worst in Nepal’s recent history — went up Saturday after a rescue helicopter spotted nine more bodies. Ram Chandra Sharma of the Trekking Agents Association of Nepal, who is also coordinating the rescue operation, said there were no immediate plans to retrieve the bodies believed to be of Nepalese porters at the Shanta pass area, located at an altitude of 5,100 meters (16,730 feet).


    The steep terrain made it impossible for the helicopter to land to pick up the bodies, said Yadav Koirala from the Disaster Management Division in Katmandu. So far, 25 of the fatalities have been identified, including those from Canada, India, Israel, Slovakia, Poland and Japan. Eight of the dead were Nepalese. Thirteen others have not yet been identified, The snowstorms were whipped by the tail end of a cyclone that hit the Indian coast a few days earlier. The blizzards swept through the Annapurna trekking route and hikers were caught off-guard when the weather changed quickly.

  • ‘Imperative’ to resume Israel-Palestinian talks, John Kerry says

    ‘Imperative’ to resume Israel-Palestinian talks, John Kerry says

    WASHINGTON (TIP): US secretary of state John Kerry on October 16 called for a resumption of the Israel- Palestinian peace process, saying the talks were vital in the fight against extremism. “It is imperative that we find a way to get back to the negotiations,” Kerry said at a state department ceremony marking the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha. Kerry has just returned from a tour of Europe and Egypt, where on Sunday he attended a conference on the reconstruction of Gaza, and where he told Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

    We need “to find a way to create two states that can live together side by side, two peoples, with both of their aspirations being respected,” Kerry added. “I still believe that’s possible, and I still believe we need to work towards it.” He said the unresolved Israel-Palestinian conflict was fueling recruitment for the Islamic State jihadist group.

    “There wasn’t a leader I met with in the region who didn’t raise with me spontaneously the need to try to get peace between Israel and the Palestinians, because it was a cause of recruitment and of street anger and agitation,” Kerry said. “People need to understand the connection of that. And it has something to do with humiliation and denial and absence of dignity,” he added. Kerry was the architect of the resumption of the Israeli- Palestinian peace process between July 2013 and April. Eid al-Adha, also known as the “Festival of Sacrifice,” celebrates the end of the Hajj pilgrimage.

  • Sweden to become first major European country to recognize state of Palestine

    Sweden to become first major European country to recognize state of Palestine

    STOCKHOLM (TIP): Sweden’s new centre-left government will recognize the state of Palestine in a move that will make it the first major European country to take the step, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Friday.

    The UN general assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in 2012 but the European Union and most EU countries, have yet to give official recognition.

    The conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be solved with a two-state solution, negotiated in accordance with international law,” Lofven said during his inaugural address in parliament.

    “A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to peaceful co-existence. Sweden will therefore recognize the state of Palestine.”

    For the Palestinians, Sweden’s move will be a welcome boost for its ambitions.

    With its reputation as an honest broker in international affairs and with an influential voice in EU foreign policy, the decision may well make other countries sit up and pay attention at a time when the Palestinians are threatening unilateral moves towards statehood.

    However, there is likely to be strong criticism of Sweden from Israel, as well as from the United States and the EU, which maintain that an independent Palestinian state should only emerge through a negotiated process.

    Within the EU, some countries, such as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia recognize Palestine, but they did so before joining the 28-member bloc.

    If the centre-left government fulfils its plans, Sweden would be the first country to recognise Palestine while being a member of the European Union.

    The Social Democrats and Greens hold a minority of seats in parliament and the incoming centre-left government is likely to be one of Sweden’s weakest for decades.

    The former centre-right government would not recognise Palestine as the Palestinian authorities did not control their territory.

    The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with its capital in East Jerusalem. While Gaza’s boundaries are clearly defined, the precise territory of what would constitute Palestine in the West Bank and East Jerusalem will only be determined via negotiations with Israel on a two-state solution, negotiations which are currently suspended.

  • Senator Tony Avella- the man you can trust to be on your side

    Senator Tony Avella- the man you can trust to be on your side

    Remember to vote for Tony Avella on Tuesday, September 9

    Senator Tony Avella has dedicated his life to fighting for middle-class families and progressive Democratic values. Senator Avella’s distinguished public service career began over 30 years ago as an aide to New York City Council Member Peter Vallone, Sr. Senator Avella later served as an aide to Mayors Koch and Dinkins and as Chief of Staff to the late State Senator Leonard Stavisky and to State Senator Toby Stavisky. Prior to seeking public office, Senator Avella served in numerous capacities as a civic activist and was a member of Queens Community Board #7. In 1997, Senator Avella was awarded New York State’s Community Service Award for his numerous volunteer and civic endeavors on behalf of all New Yorkers.

    In 2001, Senator Avella won election to the New York City Council in the 19th District – Northeast Queens and was re-elected with an overwhelming majority in both the 2003 and 2005 elections. As a member of the City Council, Senator Avella served as Chair of the Zoning and Franchises Committee and was a member of five Council committees: Higher Education, Housing and Buildings, Fire and Criminal Justice Services, Land Use, and Veterans.

    Senator Avella was also the founder and Chair of the first Italian-American Caucus of the City Council. During his tenure on the Council, Senator Avella authored several important pieces of legislation. Signed into law in 2005, his “Demolition by Neglect” bill enabled the Landmarks Preservation Commission to prevent the willful destruction of our City’s treasured landmarks by unscrupulous property owners. Senator Avella’s legislation was strongly supported by 46 preservation and civic groups including the Landmarks Conservancy, the Historic Districts Council and the National Historic Trust.

    As a trusted public servant, Senator Avella has made fighting over-development and protecting our quality of life his top priorities. In the City Council, Senator Avella led the fight citywide against overdevelopment, the proliferation of McMansions, and other major abuses of the City’s building and zoning codes. In an effort to preserve the unique residential character and quality of life in neighborhoods throughout the City, Senator Avella helped create new zoning districts such as R2A, which prevents the construction of McMansions, rezoned major portions of his district as well as numerous other neighborhoods in the City, and enacted citywide amendments to the “Community Facilities” section.

    Senator Avella’s hard work resulted in the first real changes in the City’s zoning code in over 40 years. In addition to his efforts to stop out-ofcharacter construction, Senator Avella was at the forefront of the battle to reform the City’s Department of Buildings and the Board of Standards and Appeals. Senator Avella was also the acknowledged leader in the City Council for landmark preservation, animal welfare, good government, and Veterans’ issues and benefits. As a member of the City Council, Senator Avella refused the “lulu”; an additional taxpayer funded salary increase in return for loyalty to council leadership instead of taxpayers.

    Senator Avella fought against and subsequently refused the 25% City Council pay raise, which he considered unethical. Senator Avella was honored by numerous fraternal organizations, civic associations, sports and school/educational groups. Senator Avella has received such honors as the “Friend In High Places Award” from the Historic District Council, the Community Mayor’s Humanitarian Award, the coveted Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and the Benefactors’ Award from the Alley Pond Environmental Center.

    In 2009, Senator Avella received the “New York City Human Rights Award” for obtaining the highest score of elected officials in New York City on the Human Rights Project’s report cards. A city-wide human rights coalition with over 100 groups from all over the City, the Human Rights Project is the lead organization of the New York City Human Rights Initiative.

    First elected to the State Senate in 2010, Senator Avella, as a freshman senator, was appointed ranking member of the Cities and Environmental Conservation Committees, and has served on the Education, Aging, Banking, and Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committees. His reputation as a staunch reformer has helped to bring real change to Albany.

    As a state Senator, he is proud of bringing ethics reform to New York’s Capitol, and has again refused any “lulus” for his committee positions. A strong advocate for reform and transparency in government, Senator Avella is fighting to transform the State Senate so that it works for the people once again. Senator Avella spent his first few years in Albany fighting for the people that elected him. He is proud to have voted for four on-time budgets without raising taxes. As ranking member of the Environmental Conservation Committee, he lead the fight in advocating for a ban on hydrofracking, an extremely dangerous drilling practice that poses a risk to local water supplies.

    He introduced and passed in the Senate legislation that would equalize co-op and condo property tax assessments with one-two and three family homes and help lower costs at the gas pump. Re-elected by an overwhelming majority in 2012, Senator Avella has continued his dedicated service to the people of the 11th Senatorial District. He has continued to fight for progressive legislation by working to increase the minimum wage, pass the SAFE Act – the toughest gun control laws in the nation, and implement Universal Pre-K. He has prioritized women’s rights by fighting for and co-sponsoring the Women’s Equality Act.

    He is an avid advocate for animal rights, having introduced multiple bills in support of the protection of animals, as well as sounded the alarm against animal rights violations. During this past legislative session, Senator Avella passed seventeen bills, four of which have been passed in the Assembly and two of which have been signed into law. He currently serves as the Chair of the Social Services Committee, Vice-Chair of the Environmental Conservation Committee, and is a member of the Transportation, Education, Codes, Housing, NYC Education, Insurance, Judiciary and Banks Committees. Senator Avella is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York.

    He is a lifelong Queens resident and currently resides in Whitestone with his wife Judith. Avella has been endorsed by a number of Unions which include Local 246 , SEIU Automotive/Mechanical, Motor Vehicle Operations Union Local 983, 1199 SEIU, United Healthcare East, Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 1 Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Plumbers Union Local 1, International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC), Uniformed Firefighters Association of New York (UFA-NYC), Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics & Fire Inspectors – Local 2507, FDNY, Fire Alarm Dispatchers Benevolent Association, FDNY, New York State Troopers, Council of Administrators and Supervisors, Nassau County Sheriff’s Correction Officer Benevolent Association, Correction Officers Benevolent Association (COBA), NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), Public Employees Federation (PEF), New York State Supreme Court Officers, New York State PBA, New York State Nurses Association, New York State Police Investigators Association. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Congressmember Steve Israel are among the elected officials who have endorsed Tony.

    The organizations which have endorsed him are League of Humane Voters; League of Conservation Voters, Empire State Pride Agenda, Citizens Union and Sierra Club.

  • US open to new Gaza resolution if it helps truce

    US open to new Gaza resolution if it helps truce

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP): The United States is open to a new UN resolution on Gaza but only if it contributes to sustaining the Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire, the US envoy to the United Nations said. Ambassador Samantha Power said that a resolution must “do no harm” to the ceasefire that has been holding in recent days and Israeli- Palestinian talks that are scheduled to resume in Cairo, and should “play a positive role in supporting a durable solution.” “Nothing underscores the urgency of securing … a negotiated two-state solution like the crisis in Gaza and the heartbreak that so many people on both sides suffered throughout that crisis,” she said.

    Hanan Ashrawi, a senior figure in the Palestine Liberation Organization, told a news conference here Tuesday that the Palestinians are demanding a commitment to the 1967 borders and a deadline for the end of Israel’s occupation, adding when pressed that “within three years, the occupation should end.”She also criticised the failed US peace initiative by US secretary of state John Kerry, saying it allowed Israel “to persist in policies” that she characterized as unilateral and abusive.Power defended Kerry’s mission and stressed that negotiations are the only way to achieve a two-state solution where Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace.

  • Steven Sotloff, U.S. hostage slain by ISIS, was also a citizen of Israel

    Steven Sotloff, U.S. hostage slain by ISIS, was also a citizen of Israel

    NEW YORK (TIP): The beheading of Steven J. Sotloff, the American journalist from Miami who had been held hostage by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, suddenly loomed larger for many Israelis on Wednesday, September 3, when it emerged that he held Israeli citizenship and had lived and studied in the country for a few years. Sotloff’s family broke a yearlong media blackout about his case two weeks ago after he appeared in an Internet video in which a black-clad, knife-wielding militant of the extremist group marked him as the next hostage to die after the American journalist James Foley.

    Yet the Israeli connection was kept well hidden. As long as there was a chance Sotloff was still alive there was fear that exposure of his Jewish roots and Israeli past could put him in further danger. As a freelance reporter, Mr. Sotloff contributed to the Israel-based Jerusalem Report magazine along with Western publications like Time magazine, The Christian Science Monitor and World Affairs Journal. ISIS terrorists released a video Tuesday that claimed to show the beheading of American journalist Steven Sotloff.

    In the gruesome footage, titled “A second message to America,” Sotloff can be seen kneeling in orange garb in front of his black-masked executioner after news footage of President Obama talking tough about the Syrian terror group. Sotloff, with his hands tied behind his back, stoically tells the camera that he is “paying the price” for US intervention in Syria. “Obama, your foreign policy of intervention in Iraq was supposed to be for the preservation of American lives and interests.

    So why is it that I have to pay the price of your interference with my life? Am I not an American citizen?” Steven said. The killer of Steven then said, “I’m back, Obama, and I’m back because of your arrogant foreign policy towards the Islamic State. “Just as your missiles continue to strike our people, our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.” As Sotloff struggles and tries to stand, his killer starts to slit his throat.

    The camera cuts out to black, then footage shows what appears to be Sotloff’s severed head placed on his stomach. The terrorist said a British captive, David Cawthorne Haines, would be the next. Footage of Haines, believed to be a security worker for humanitarian-aid groups, was shown in the same kneeling position as Foley and Sotloff before their executions.

  • Hamas ‘brought Israel to its knees’: Iran

    Hamas ‘brought Israel to its knees’: Iran

    TEHRAN (TIP): Iran said on August 27that Palestinian militants had emerged the victors and brought their Israeli foe “to its knees” during the bloody 50-day Gaza conflict. “The heroic Palestinian people have forged a new era with the victory of the resistance which has brought the Zionist regime to its knees,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “This victory prepares the way for the final liberation of all the occupied lands especially Quds (Jerusalem),” it said, congratulating the Palestinian people and the militant groups in Gaza that Iran supports.

    After seven weeks of the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in a decade, a long-term ceasefire took hold at 1600 GMT yesterday, sparking festivities around the Gaza Strip. The conflict, which began on July 8 when Israel began Operation Protective Edge in a bid to stamp out cross-border rocket fire, cost the lives of 2,143 Palestinians and 70 on the Israeli side. UN figures show nearly 70 per cent of the Palestinian victims were civilians, while 64 of the Israelis killed were soldiers. A Palestinian official said the Egyptian-mediated deal would involve an end to Israel’s eight-year blockade of Gaza. Ending the blockade had been a key Palestinian demand in truce talks, with the Islamist movement Hamas that rules Gaza hailing the agreement as a “victory for the resistance”.

  • UN chief urges meeting on nuclear-free Mideast

    UN chief urges meeting on nuclear-free Mideast

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP):
    Secretary-General Ban Kimoon warned that the failure to hold a conference on establishing a nuclear-weapons-free-zone in the Middle East this year could jeopardize the success of next year’s review of the landmark 1970 agreement aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear arms.

    Ban urged all parties to finalize arrangements for a Mideast conference to be held as soon as possible this year, in a report to the U.N. General Assembly circulated Thursday. At the 2010 conference to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the 189 member nations that are party to the NPT called for convening a meeting in 2012 “on the establishment of a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction.” It was scheduled to take place in Finland in late 2012, but the United States announced it would be delayed, apparently to save Israel, which is widely believed to possess a nuclear arsenal, though it has never confirmed having nuclear weapons.

    The final preparatory conference for the 2015 review of the NPT ended in May without agreement on final recommendations, and one of the two key issues was the failure to hold a conference on a Mideast weapons-free zone. One recommendation called for convening the conference this year. Iran, Israel and Arab states have taken part in several informal meetings, most recently in Geneva on June 24- 25, attended by veteran Finnish diplomat Jaakko Laajava, who is serving as facilitator of the proposed Mideast conference to discuss the arrangements and outcomes of a conference.

    these extended consultations, there continue to be differences among the parties on several important aspects of the conference, including on its agenda, and hence agreement on the modalities for the conference has not yet been reached,” the secretarygeneral said. Ban said he “remains concerned” that a failure to convene the Mideast weapons-free-zone conference before the 2015 NPT review conference “may frustrate the ability of states to conduct a successful review of the operation of the (NPT) treaty and could undermine the treaty process and related nonproliferation and disarmament objectives.”

  • Israel, Gaza violence defies truce ‘deal’

    Israel, Gaza violence defies truce ‘deal’

    GAZA CITY, Palestinian territories:
    Israeli jets bombed targets across Gaza on Thursday, retaliating to Palestinian rocket attacks in spiraling violence that left a truce extension teetering on the brink of collapse. The resumption of hostilities shattered nearly three days of calm over the skies of Gaza and southern Israel, raising fears that a new ceasefire announced in the Egyptian capital could quickly unravel.

    More than 1,950 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side have been killed since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive to destroy Hamas rockets and attack tunnels burrowing under the Jewish state. After days of shuttle diplomacy, the agreement clinched by Egypt had appeared to secure the longest period of calm in the five-week conflict and allow more time for talks on the thorniest issues that separate the two sides, the Palestinians said. An official at the Palestinian interior ministry reported four air strikes over open ground about 30 minutes into the extension of a new truce, from midnight.

    Israel said it was targeting “terror sites across the Gaza Strip” in response to rocket fire. The military “will immediately respond to any threat to Israel,” it added. A spokeswoman for the Israeli army told AFP that Palestinian militants launched eight rockets towards Israel late Wednesday, six of which hit open areas and one of which was intercepted. At least two of the rocket attacks were reported after midnight, the expiry of the previous truce and the continuation of the other.

    Millions of people had banked on Egyptian mediators to avoid a resumption of the violence. A previous three-day truce collapsed in a firestorm of violence on August 7.The new truce will last five days, senior Palestinian negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed said in Cairo, adding that more time was needed to discuss “some” remaining disputes with Israel over a longterm truce.

    An official told AFP that Israel was willing to extend the lull by three days, but also sounded a note of caution, saying that the Palestinians were digging their heels in.”The way things stand now, it doesn’t look like it’s going to stay quiet,” he said before an Egyptian official announced an agreement.