 Reuters is reporting here that the People’s Republic of China will not agree to additional sanctions on Iran. “This is not the right time or right moment for sanctions because the diplomatic efforts are still going on,” Chinese envoy Zhang Yesui told reporters.”The efforts aimed at diplomatic negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue still need some time and patience,” said Zhang, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council this month. “Trying to bridge differences and finding a settlement through diplomatic efforts — there’s still space for such efforts,” he said through an interpreter. Analysis. This is nothing more than a fairly blatant attempt to humble the United States.
The PRC is well aware that it is the United States that is leading the effort to sanction Iran over its nuclear programs. We are doing this to forestall an attack on Iran by Israel and the regional (nuclear) war that would follow. The 5+1 group has laid out a plan that would remove the bulk of Iran’s enriched uranium from the country. Iran has offered to swap part of its enriched uranium for an equivalent amount of nuclear fuel either on Iranian soil or in Turkey. I believe it is the PRC’s plan to force the 5+1 Group, of which it is a member due to its permanent seat on the Security Council, to accept the Iranian offer thereby trumping the position of the other five countries (even though Russia’s position is flexible). The PRC has two motives here. The first is commercial. The PRC has made some major investments in Iranian oil and gas projects that would be seriously impeded in a next round of sanctions. These projects include the building of refineries that would remove Iran’s dependence on outside sources for refined products principally gasoline and aviation fuels. Second this is a relatively cheap way to embarrass the United States and demonstrate our impotence to the rest of the world while increasing the influence of the PRC throughout the world without building carrier strike groups. The danger is that Israel will perceive that it is being set up for a sacrifice in a big power conflict. The Sunni states of the region may come to the same conclusion. Iraq and Saudi Arabia already have religious and secular problems with Iran. Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt have problems eminating from Syria undoubtably at the behest of Iran. Sooner or later, and probably sooner, some combination of Israel plus some or all of the GCC states and Egypt will come together to take on Iran before it is truly capable of a nuclear strike with its new solid fuel missiles. A successful Iranian revolution may overcome this scenario by events. There is equally as great a chance that the mullahocracy will precipitate the regional war to punish the Iranian people for rejecting them and to their way of thinking rejecting God (monafeghin).
This is a dangerous course to take. World Threats 
 The script has already been written. The Iranian government is closely following a plotline in its quest to become the next nuclear weapons-armed state.
And like most cliché thriller movies, the twists are predictable and yet a gullible bunch continues to fall for it. The first part of the script calls for developing the building blocks for a nuclear weapon while claiming such work is for a domestic nuclear energy program, completely in line with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Most of Iran’s work here can be done legally, although in an effort to speed up the process, the regime has been working on the “trigger” for nuclear explosions and long-range ballistic missiles, and constructing covert enrichment facilities, like the one in Qom that can house only 3,000 centrifuges — far from the 50,000 needed for energy but good enough for building the fuel for a bomb. Heck, they’re even permitted to build implosion devices minus the fissile core and are studying the use of EMP strikes that can disable the American power grid instantly with few fingerprints being left behind.
Working in this way allows for minimal incriminating traces to be found, giving countries like Russia and China maximum room to delay and demand higher levels of proof before supporting any meaningful reprisal. The words of Iranian officials expose this thinly concealed strategy. In his book Countdown to Crisis, Ken Timmerman quotes Homayoun Vahdati, a scientific advisor to then-President Rafsanjani, as saying on January 27, 1992, “We should like to acquire the technical know-how and the industrial facilities required to manufacture nuclear weapons, just in case we need them.
This does not mean that we currently want to build them or that we have changed our defense strategy to include a nuclear program.” More at Pajamas Media
 Yahoo! is carrying a Reuters story that indicates Russia might be a little bit upset with Iran’s announcement of ten new uranium enrichment facilities. MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will join any consensus on more sanctions against Iran, a senior Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday after Tehran declared it would expand nuclear activity in defiance of a U.N. rebuke. It was a thinly veiled Russian warning to Iran of waning patience with its failure to allay fears it aims to develop atom bombs in secret, and hinted that Iran could no longer rely on Russia to stop tougher world action against it. “If there is a consensus on Iran sanctions, we will not stand aside,” said the Russian diplomatic source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.. Analysis. I wouldn’t get my hopes up anytime soon. The Russians excel at chess and they are making a gambit here. They want to know what the West will give them in return for meaningful sanctions. They leave themselves an out with the “consensus” statement that usually means unanimity. If the People’s Republic of China doesn’t go along there is no unanimity and no reason for Russia to go along. SINOPEC has just signed some rather large development contracts with Iran. I doubt the Russians are interested in screwing the PRC at the moment. One of Russia’s current goals is to control all of the POL exiting the ‘Stans and going to the nations of the former Soviet Union and western Europe. Right now Georgia and Ukraine are the two primary areas of contention. Then again, the Russians are willing to hold up Iran on finishing Bushehr and delivering the S-300 systems. The Bushehr reactor is of no consequence as a light water power reactor.
It won’t make but very little plutonium. It is a red herring. The S-300 system is an entirely different matter. Iran is wide open to aerial attack and everybody knows it. That is why Iran has gone to the great expense of burying everything of significance to its atomic program where it could and creating lots of dummy launch silos for its missiles. These tactics may stifle an Israeli attack but won’t mean a lot if the US gets serious. Now for another ring around the maypole. World Threats
 If the West was hoping to use sanctions targeting Iran’s reliance upon imported petroleum products, they better move quickly. China and Iran have signed a $6.5 billion deal where Sinopec will build refineries in Iran. If the regime truly understands how such sanctions threaten their rule, I expect them to do everything they can to delay such sanctions, and expedite the construction of more refineries. This is a major vulnerability for the Iranians, virtually guaranteeing the collapse of the regime over the long-term unless something was done.
Maximum pressure needs to be exerted upon any company even thinking about making such deals with the Islamic Republic of Iran. World Threats
 The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration secured China's cooperation in dealing with Iran by holding out the specter of an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. According to the Post, two senior officials on the National Security Council - Jeffrey Bader and the ubiquitous Dennis Ross - told China that if it did not help the U.S. on the issue of Iranian nukes, Israel might well bomb Iran. This, in turn, would lead to a crisis in the Persian Gulf that would diminish China's access to oil, Bader and Ross warned. Following this warning, China said it would support what the Post describes as "a toughly worded U.S.-backed statement criticizing the Islamic republic for flouting U.N. resolutions by constructing a secret uranium-enrichment plant." What should we make of this? First, the perception that Israel is willing to strike Iran constitutes the best weapon the Obama administration has when it comes to rallying key elements of the international community to take steps aimed at dealing with the Iranian threat. So this option needs to be on the table. Second, even so, the best the Obama administration seems able to produce is a "toughly worded statement" criticizing something Iran has already done. What's the next step, an angry letter to the New York Times? Third, China's overriding interest in the Middle East is access to oil, and the same is true for all, or nearly all, key players. While this fact may, thanks to Israel, be useful when it comes to generating "tough" statements, it suggests that ultimately Iran may hold the trump card when it comes to more meaningful action. Powerline
 Russia and China, countries which have heretofore supported Iran's nuclear program, have joined up with the United States, Britain, France, and Germany in preparing a resolution critical of it. The resolution to be presented at the next International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting, is meant to confront Iran's approach to global concerns about their nuclear program.
It will likely call on Iran to be more transparent in the building and use of nuclear reactors, and to desist from enriching uranium, in accordance with the orders of the UN Security Council. Under a new UN plan, Iran would not enrich its own uranium, but rather export it to Russia and France, where it would be made into fuel rods (which can not be turned into weapons-grade material) and returned to Iran. This would deplete Iran of its uranium stockpile and decrease the ability of the nation to build a nuclear warhead. Iran has rejected the plan. It insists that the uranium exchange take place on its own soil. Iran says it distrusts the West, believing countries will not hold up their end of an agreement or provide Iran with technology. On its end, the United States and European countries accuse Iran of lying about its enrichment of uranium for military purposes. Reportedly, Iran currently has enough low-enriched uranium for up to two nuclear weapons. INN
 World powers including the U.S., Russia and China are teaming up at sea to tackle the pirates plaguing Somalia's lawless coast, as a sharp increase in attacks has forced nations who may be rivals on land to make unlikely alliances. Analysts say the shift from competition to cooperation is also helping to safeguard naval budgets in countries like the United States and Britain that are fighting land-based wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It's remarkable you have in what is generally considered not to be the most strategically important corner of the Earth, you have the Chinese, the Russians, the Americans, the Indians, all working together against a common enemy," said piracy expert Roger Middleton from the London-based think tank Chatham House. "They've been trained to fight each other, not small enemies," he said. Pirates have launched increasingly bold attacks against vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in hopes of capturing a ship and crew and collecting millions of dollars in ransom. They currently hold nearly 250 hostages from around the world, including a British couple taken last month. Three ships have been seized in the last week alone. Lt. Nate Christensen of the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet said 25 ships from 14 nations are now patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. Russia and China announced in September that they would be doing joint anti-piracy patrols under "Operation Blue Shield," and many nonaligned countries such as Japan or South Korea also have sent ships to the region. Russia is also supporting the NATO patrols. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 BEIJING — Nine men have been executed for taking part in ethnic rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in July, the first suspects put to death in the unrest, Chinese state media reported Monday. The worst ethnic unrest in decades began July 5 when minority Uighurs attacked Han, who make up China's dominant ethnicity, only to face retaliatory attacks two days later. Many Uighurs, who are a Turkic Muslim ethnic group linguistically and culturally distinct from the Han, resent Beijing's heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, their traditional homeland. Four months later, Xinjiang remains smothered in heavy security, with Internet access cut and international direct dialing calls blocked. The official China News Service reported that the nine were executed after a final review of the verdicts by the Supreme People's Court as required by law, but gave no specific date or other details. Earlier reports had identified those condemned as eight Uighurs and one Han. The timing of the executions was not especially fast for China, which puts more people to death than any other country.
Politically sensitive cases are often decided in weeks, especially when they involve major unrest. The nine had been convicted of murder and other crimes committed during the riots in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. China blames the rioting on overseas-based groups agitating for broader rights for Uighurs in Xinjiang. The news service said another 20 people were indicted on Monday on charges related to the deaths of 18 people and other crimes committed during the riots. All but two of the prisoners listed in the report had Uighur sounding names, with the others appearing to be Han. Overseas Uighur activist Dilxat Raxit condemned the executions as motivated by politics and the need to appease Urumqi's angry Han residents, who marched in the thousands through the city in September to demand trials of those responsible for the July violence and the perpetrators of a bizarre series of hypodermic needle attacks. "We don't think they got a fair trial, and we believe this was a political verdict," said Raxit, who serves as spokesman for the Germany-based World Uyghur Congress. "The United States and the European Union did not put any pressure on China or seek to intervene and for that we are extremely disappointed," he said. Source: FoxNews
 Harold Evans Judge Goldstone has been suckered into letting war criminals use his name to pillory Israel Aren't the British sickened by the moral confusions of their government? First, we have the weasel words to justify the unjustifiable release of the Lockerbie bomber. Now we have the sickening spectacle of Britain failing to stand by Israel, the only democracy with an independent judiciary in the entire region. It was to be expected that the usual suspects of the risible UN human rights council would be eager to condemn Israel for war crimes in defending itself against Hamas. If you treat people as the Chinese do the Tibetans or Uighurs ("Off with their heads!"); or as the Russians eliminate Chechen dissidents; or as the Nigerians tolerate extrajudicial killings, the evictions of 800,000, rape and cruel treatment of prisoners; or as the Egyptians get prisoners to talk (torture) and the Saudis suppress half their population … well, go through the practices of all 25 states voting to refer Israel to the security council for the Gaza war, and you have to acknowledge they know a lot about the abuse of humans. Anything to divert attention from their own atrocities. Only six refused to join the farce – Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Ukraine and the US. Britain didn't just abstain. It shirked voting at all (along with those beacons of civilisation Angola, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, and surprisingly, France). Of course, here the fig leaf for being scared of dictators, especially oil-rich abusers, is the report by the South African judge Richard Goldstone. Poor Judge Goldstone now regrets how his good name has been used to single out Israel.
The Swiss paper Le Temps reports him complaining that "This draft [UN human rights council] resolution saddens me … there is not a single phrase condemning Hamas as we have done in the report. I hope the council can modify the text." Fat hope. The truth is he was suckered into lending his good name to a half-baked report – read its 575 pages and see. He said that, as a Jew himself, he was surprised to be invited. He shouldn't have been, and should never have accepted leadership of a commission whose terms of reference were designed to excuse the aggressor, Hamas, and punish the defender, Israel.
The council's decision was to "dispatch an urgent, independent, international fact-finding mission … to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by the occupying power, Israel, against the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, due to the current aggression, and [it] calls upon Israel not to obstruct the process of investigation and to fully co-operate with the mission". Israel is not an "occupying power" in Gaza in either fact or international law. Four years ago it voluntarily pulled out all its soldiers and uprooted all its settlers.
Here was a wonderful chance for Gaza to be the building block of a Palestinian state, and for Hamas to do what the Israelis did – take a piece of land and build a model state. They didn't. Instead of helping the desperate Palestinians, they conducted a religious war. Read more here,,,, Source: The Guardian
 The world is against Israel because of its own moral weakness and not because of alleged human rights violations, according to Rabbi Yaakov Medan, rabbi of Har Etzion Yeshiva, located in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. “Islam is strong, and it is convenient for people to go with strength,” the rabbi explained in an interview with Arutz-7. He added that the world’s preoccupation with individual rights, as well as the infiltration of Western culture into Israel, are “illnesses” that have led to “an erosion of obligations to the country and of the significance of Israel as a nation.” He added that one way of solving the problem is for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "be more forceful” but added, "He is not strong enough.” The national religious rabbi pointed out that if the world really cared that Israel killed people and destroyed homes, it would have condemned China for its torture and murder of millions of people who believe in the Falun Gong religious movement. “What is important to the world’s countries is their need to identify with those who are strong, and today they are impressed” that Muslim dominance is growing. Rabbi Medan warned, “Islam is a real threat to Christian Europe, and the United States also is in danger, although further down the road.” He said it is not a coincidence that Turkey and the rest of Europe are on the attack against Israel, especially since the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign in Gaza. "After the Six-Day War, in which the victor [Israel] was clear, the world and applauded Foreign Minister Abba Eban in the United Nations when he said that Israel never again will return to ‘Auschwitz borders' before the war," the rabbi emphasized. “After the Yom Kippur war, when the unjustifiable feeling was that we lost, third world countries’ relations with us deteriorated. Now we are considered weak, despite our strong economy and army.” Rabbi Medan explained that world leaders speak with the “elite” in Israel who are "ceasing to believe in our own rights here. We feel like a Byzantine state whose time is limited and that our end is to integrate into the European and American cultures. “As long as this lasts, the Arabs will be justified and we will be blamed as robbers and murderers.” Source: INN
 A COURT in western China's Xinjiang region sentenced six more Uighurs to death over deadly ethnic unrest in July, bringing the total to 12.
Three other people were handed life sentences by the court in the regional capital Urumqi for their role in the July 5 unrest that rocked the city, pitting mainly Muslim Uighurs against members of China's dominant Han group.
On Monday, six defendants - all Uighurs - were handed the death penalty and another was given life in jail over the unrest, which left nearly 200 people dead, most of them Han, according to the government.
The riots were the worst ethnic violence to hit China in decades, and left more than 1,600 people injured.
The nine who were sentenced were part of a larger group of 14 tried a day earlier, but the two-sentence Xinhua report did not mention the five remaining defendants.
None of the nine convicted was identified.
A spokeswoman for the city government in Urumqi confirmed that verdicts had been announced, but said she had no further details.
Officials at the local court were not immediately available for comment.
Aside from the 21 tried this week, police have also detained about 700 other people suspected of crimes related to the unrest, earlier reports have said.
China's roughly eight million Uighurs have long complained of religious, political and cultural oppression by Chinese authorities, and tensions have simmered in the Xinjiang region for years.
Uighurs say the unrest was triggered when police cracked down on peaceful protests by Uighurs over a late June brawl at a factory in southern China that state media said left two Uighurs dead.
One ethnic Han man was sentenced to death and a second handed a life prison term over that brawl in verdicts announced on Saturday in southern China.
Authorities, however, have blamed the Xinjiang unrest on "ethnic separatists", without providing any evidence.
 Six people were sentenced to death for murder and other crimes in riots that killed about 200 people in western China, state media reported Monday. A seventh person was sentenced to life in prison, the Xinhua news agency said. The riots in July were prompted by long-simmering resentment between minority Uyghurs and majority Han Chinese.
The Uyghurs are mostly Muslims in western China's Xinjiang province. Some Islamists refer to the region as East Turkistan. Last month, China sent 7,000 officials to Urumqi to ease tensions after Han Chinese protested a series of attacks in which syringes were used as weapons.
The syringe attacks by Uyghurs started August 17. Source: CNN
 A leading Al-Qaeda militant on Wednesday called on Muslims worldwide to defend Uighurs in China's restive northwestern region of Xinjiang. He told Uighurs to prepare for a holy war or Jihad and urged a "vast media campaign" to raise awareness of their fate at the hands of "oppressive" China.
In the video posted to jihadist websites, Abu Yahya al-Libi appeared to launch a frontal assault against China.
"This massacre is not being carried out by criminal Crusaders or evil Jews who have committed crimes against our nation," al-Libi stated.
"Today, a new massacre is being carried out by Buddhist nationalists and communists against the Muslim population in eastern Turkestan," said al-Libi.
Islamists call Xinjiang East Turkestan. Uighurs are Muslims native to Xinjiang province, and have cultural ties to Turkic peoples in Central Asia.
"There is no way to remove injustice and oppression without a true return to their (Uighurs) religion and ... serious preparation for Jihad in the path of God the Almighty and to carry weapons in the face of those (Chinese) invaders," he said.
 By Simon Rabinotvitch and Wayne Cole ISTANBUL: Big oil producing nations denied on Tuesday a newspaper report that Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the U.S. dollar with a basket of currencies in trading oil. The U.S. dollar eased in response to the report, which was written by The Independent's Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk and cited unidentified sources in Gulf Arab states and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong. It said the proposal was for trade in crude oil to move over nine years to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, which includes Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But top officials of Saudia Arabia and Russia, speaking on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund meetings in Istanbul, denied there were such talks. Asked by reporters about the newspaper story, Saudi Arabia's central bank chief Muhammad al-Jasser said: "Absolutely incorrect." He repeated the same response when asked whether Saudi Arabia was in such talks. Russia's deputy finance minister Dmitry Pankin said: "We did not discuss this at all." Algerian Finance Minister Karim Djoudi told Reuters: "Oil producing countries need to stabilise revenues but...I don't see a need for oil trade to be denominated differently. "But we are at the IMF conference where all sorts of subjects are raised and discussed," he added. Read more here,,,, Source: Yahoo!
 By Robert Fisk In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar. Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars. The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years. The Americans, who are aware the meetings have taken place – although they have not discovered the details – are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies Japan and the Gulf Arabs.
Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China's former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. "Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable," he told the Asia and Africa Review. "We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security." This sounds like a dangerous prediction of a future economic war between the US and China over Middle East oil – yet again turning the region's conflicts into a battle for great power supremacy.
China uses more oil incrementally than the US because its growth is less energy efficient. The transitional currency in the move away from dollars, according to Chinese banking sources, may well be gold. An indication of the huge amounts involved can be gained from the wealth of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar who together hold an estimated $2.1 trillion in dollar reserves. The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank.
But it is China's extraordinary new financial power – along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system – which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states. Read more here,,,, Source: The Independent
 By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH SHANGHAI -- Authorities stepped up already heavy security in Urumqi -- the northwestern Chinese city torn by deadly ethnic riots in July -- after thousands of protesters took to the streets Thursday criticizing the government for failing to protect people after a recent spate of attacks by assailants wielding syringes. The demonstrators, who began gathering early Thursday, were members of China's majority Han ethnic group, Han witnesses said. They said the crowds were peaceful -- and shouted for the removal of the region's powerful Communist Party secretary, Wang Lequan. "There are people everywhere," said one woman working near the city's central People's Square earlier in the day. "They are chanting: 'Down with Wang Lequan.'" A brief report by the state-run Xinhua news agency late Thursday said "tens of thousands of people" had taken part in demonstrations at several locations in the city. "The overall situation is now calming," said the report. A separate Xinhua report said police closed main roads in the center of the city late Thursday, citing cellphone text messages sent out by the government. The report said the protests had crippled traffic in Urumqi and forced shops to close. Xinhua didn't report any violence or injuries. The demonstrations were an unusual public challenge at a sensitive time for China's political leadership, which has tightened security across the country ahead of celebrations for the 60th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party rule on Oct. 1. Tensions have remained high in Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang region, since the July riots, which left nearly 200 people dead and more than 1,600 injured in the country's worst episode of ethnic violence in decades. The bloodshed began when Turkic-speaking and predominantly Muslim ethnic Uighurs went on a rampage against Han Chinese, killing more than 130. Revenge attacks by Han followed. Read more here,,, Source: WSJ
URUMQI, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Foreign envoys visiting the riot-hit Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China called for closer cooperation among the international community to crack down on terrorism after watching an exhibition on the July 5 riot on Tuesday.  | | Diplomats watch weapons seized from terrorist cells while visiting an exhibition on the achievements of anti-terrorism and anti-separatism in Xinjiang at Xinjiang Public Security Department in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Aug. 11, 2009. Diplomats from 26 countries and regions to China visited the exhibition on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Sadat)
| "I have seen some photos (of the riot) before I came to Urumqi, but I still feel very shocked now for the tragic incident," said Pakistani ambassador to China Masood Khan. "Children lost their parents, wives lost husbands, the elderly people lost their offspring. This should not have taken place at all," he said. "We fully support the Chinese government's stand in cracking down on 'the three forces'of terrorism, separatism and extremism." Diplomats from 26 countries and regions to China began a five-day visit to Xinjiang on Monday, a month after the deadly riot in the regional capital of Urumqi which left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 others injured. At the invitation of the regional government, they are expected to, through the visit, acquire a better understanding of Xinjiang's development over the past several decades in various sectors, including its politics, economy, ethnic and religious policies, preservation of cultural relics and the livelihood of local residents. Murat Salim Esenli, Turkish ambassador to China, said the timing of the riot was not accidental. The image of Xinjiang is changing for the positive to the world, but some people did not want to see the positive image and tried to sabotage the development and stability of the region, he said. Esenli said countries should cooperate with each other in face of terrorism, separatism and extremism. The "three forces" have become a common threat to almost all countries in the world, said Esenli, adding that "no single country can deal with the problem alone, they should cooperate with each other." A large number of weapons seized from terrorist cells were displayed during another exhibition on the achievements of anti-terrorism and anti-separatism in Xinjiang. The diplomats who visited the scene of the exhibition said it's necessary for the Chinese government to take measures to fight against terrorism and protect the safety of the people. According to the regional public security department, the "three forces" had launched some 1,000 attacks in Xinjiang since 1990, killing more than 160 people. Some 648 terrorist cells and violent criminal groups had been wiped out by the public security forces. "We have to share information and technology in the field of fighting against terrorism," said Esenli. Afghan ambassador Sultan Ahmad Bahee said his country is also a victim of terrorist attacks, particularly suicide bombings. "We strongly request the international community to combat terrorism hand-in-hand," said Bahee. Source: Xinhua |
 The four members of China's Muslim Uighur minority began working last week to help prepare the lush, seaside Port Royal course to host the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in October. The hiring raised eyebrows in the British territory, where employers can only take on foreigners if no qualified local wants the job. Wendall Brown, chairman of the board of trustees for Bermuda's public golf courses, said the men replaced a group of Filipino workers who left at short notice. "They have been offered a temporary position at Port Royal until the Grand Slam," he said.
"There are still special projects that we need to do like cleaning up and beautifying the course ... All four of them have been given a job there. It's on a temporary basis. Two of them speak fairly good English." Mr Brown said the men were likely to still be working there during the two-day Grand Slam tournament, when golf's greatest champions of the year will be pitted against one another on the 18-hole course. Port Royal head superintendent Steve Johnson said the Uighurs were doing well in their ground staff roles. Their lawyer in Bermuda identified them as Khalil Mamut, Abilikim Turahun, Abdullah Abdulqadir and Salahidin Abdulahat, and said they had been known by a series of nicknames during the seven years they were held at the detention camp for suspected terrorists on the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Their imprisonment continued long after the US military and courts determined that they posed no threat. The United States said it could not send them to China because they faced persecution there, but US politicians blocked plans to settle them in the United States. The four landed on the 21-square-mile island on June 11 after Bermuda's premier, Ewart Brown, negotiated their resettlement directly with the United States. The move enraged the United Kingdom, which insisted the Bermuda government did not have the power to handle such foreign affairs and security matters. Britain and the United States are still in talks about the men's future. Expatriates make up a third of the work force in Bermuda, which has a population of 65,000 and requires permits to work. Mr Brown said the golf course worked with immigration officials to get the men permission to work. Source: The Australian
 Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer addresses a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Toorak.Mary-Anne Toy | August 8 THE Chinese Government has threatened to end Melbourne's 29-year sister-city relationship with the city of Tianjin if Lord Mayor Robert Doyle does not intervene to stop the screening of a film about Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer at the Town Hall today.Mr Doyle has rejected the Chinese demands - as well as intense pressure from his own councillors to stop the screening of the controversial film. The Chinese consul-general in Melbourne, Shen Weilian, requested an urgent meeting with Cr Doyle after the Melbourne International Film Festival on Wednesday moved the premiere of The 10 Conditions of Love to the 1500-seat Town Hall. The move sought to cater for unprecedented demand created by earlier Chinese attempts to ban the film. It is understood that Mr Shen told Cr Doyle in blunt terms at a meeting at the Town Hall on Thursday that he risked jeopardising the Australia-China relationship - including Melbourne's sister-city arrangement with Tianjin - if he did not intervene and cancel the screening. The Chinese Government has labelled Ms Kadeer a terrorist and accused her of inciting the ethnic riots that last month killed almost 200 people. It is appalled at any apparent support for her. Read more here... Source: The Age
 | Monday, 03 August | Standing on two feet doesn’t make a person human, only standing on principles does.
It is for this reason that I am saluting Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany: A German woman who has bravely divorced herself and her nation from the ignominious past of Nazi Germany. A German woman who is standing for principles at the risk of her nation losing considerable profits from recognizing the legitimacy of a fraudulent government of neo-Nazi Mahmood Ahmadinejad. Chancellor Merkel has unequivocally expressed her revulsion at the fraud and violence by the Islamic republic in reinstalling the maniacal Ahmadinejad in office for another four years. She has seen irrefutable evidences of heartless beating, torture, and murder of Iranians who aimed to free themselves and their country, by peaceful means and through the ballet box, from the mullahs’ suffocating medieval rule.
In contrast to the Russians Putin and Medeved and their fellow travelers, Chinese Commiserates, who lost no time tripping over each other in expressing their effusive congratulatory greetings to Ahmadinejad for his “reelection.”
Chancellor Merkel courageously voiced her repugnance at the election charade and its bloody aftermath. The Chancellor has further demanded that the murdering Mullahcracy unconditionally free all the political prisoners whose only sin has been their peaceful march to protest the shameless desecration of their votes. Read more here.... Source: Amil Imani |
Chancellor Angela Merkel
Latest recipient of The MASH Award
 |
|
|
Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
E-mail: info AT ReformIslam.org
|
|
|
Reuters is reporting here that the People’s Republic of China will not agree to additional sanctions on Iran. 
Posts
