The Israel-Gaza Conflict has existed for almost a decade and while there are many sides to this tumulus relationship, one young man took a stand when he posted a message on his Facebook page.

Waheed Elsamra is an Egyptian supporter of the Palestinian city of Gaza, wanting to do his part in informing people of the truth behind Israel’s plight with Gaza and dared them to respond to the Massacre.

“The destruction of Gaza is not about stopping Hamas, it’s not about stopping rocket fire in Israel, it’s not about achieving peace, the Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza by the use of lethal weapons of the modern battle field on a large defenseless civilian population is the final phase of the decades long campaign to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians,” Elsamra said.

The battle between Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinian militants is not a level playing field. “Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums. They attack a population who has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no army, no ground defense, no artillery units, no command, and they call it a war,” Elsamra said.

There is an ethic to war; this ethic states that one army is battling another army. “These people (Palestinians) have no army, so you target busy neighborhood streets and kill innocent civilians and pedestrians,” Elsamra said.

The reason that Israel has so much military power at its hands is because they are using American weapons. Elsamra noted that America gave Israel 300 billion dollars for the Gaza Massacre a few years back.

According to Congressman Paul Ryan, in an interview from 2009, he clarified the level of support the Bush administration has given Israel. “Certainly, the president has said nothing to diminish it. As a matter of fact, he justifies it on moral grounds, saying, oh, they have a right to do this, without ever mentioning the tragedy of Gaza.”

As far as the monetary support, Cong. Ryan had no issue speaking on that, “ you know, if Israel has a problem, they have to deal with it. I don’t think it should be any of our business. It’s just that it’s our business and we will be blamed because we support Israel blindly, so. And we give them the money and we give them the weapons. That should be the contention that we approach here and Congress should know about it and the American people should know about.”

The same battle that Israel and Gaza were facing three years ago are no different than what is going on today. Elsamra has been trying to do the Palestinian people justice by spreading the truth via social media and recently speaking out at a “Free Palestine” protest rally that took place in New Orleans, Louisiana.

“My duty right now is to educate the people that lack these facts and try to let them understand that I am an American and I’m not against them but I’m not for, what they are for, and what they are for is proven in these facts that I have stated,” Elsmra said.

The efforts to achieve a truce, as the attacks have ceased between Israel and Gaza,  have been somewhat successful but this is only the end of one battle, the war is still going on and it seems as if there is no end in sight.

Image Courtesy : Derivative work: Adambro (talk):Brocken Inaglory [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

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The big issues of the coming campaign are not in question. The economy, America’s growing debt, unemployment, and the role of entitlements (read: government) in Americans lives are crux of the 2012 battle for the White House. Highlighting the negative results in these areas is Mitt Romney, best hand for winning the election.

Nonetheless, foreign policy issues and threats are looming above America’s head in a big way, and will need to be addressed. The conventional wisdom is that Romney has little foreign policy and relations experience. President Obama’s own lack of experience in this area notwithstanding, his campaign zeroed in on this one reason that Romney is not the right man for job.

Governor and Romney advisor Tim Pawlenty addressed this viewpoint and other foreign policy concerns today in a symposium held by the Foreign Policy Initiative. Moderated by board member and Fox news analyst Bill Kristal, the event gave Pawlenty a forum to address how a Romney Presidency would look like in the area of foreign relations. The big take away from the event was Pawlenty’s view that Romney is on the right track.

“Romney has the right foundational and directional philosophy to make the correct decisions.” Pawlenty followed this up by reminding everyone in attendance that Reagan did not have extensive foreign policy experience. His worldview is what allowed him to be an effective foreign policy President.

Channeling Reagan is something that most, if not all, republicans attempt to do. It does not matter whether it is taxes, the economy, or dealing with America’s challenges abroad. Still, there is a large grain of truth to his statement. Governors of either party seldom have extensive foreign policy and relations experience. Their duties at times lightly touch the area, but their primary function is running their states. The lack of experience has to be made up with study and experienced, sound advisors.

Underlying it all, however, is the philosophy of the person in charge. The President can have a mindset like Carter or Winston Churchill. How he views Americas role and his mindset sets the agenda for who he has as advisers, what diplomacy targets he set, and what he will do and not do with America’s armed forces.

Pawlenty was critical of the philosophy President Obama has taken. “President Obama has decided to lead from behind. To have America take a less active role as leader in the world. That has not worked out well.” Examples given of this view were the “reset with Russia,” as the President calls it, and the missed opportunity in the Iranian uprising.

The financial challenges the country faces are grave, but the potential threats of Iran, Russia, and China are like a Damocles sword above the neck of Uncle Sam. Romney cannot afford to let the view of the President set America’s view of him in this area. The knowledge and philosophy that Pawlenty speaks of must be in full view to the American public. Foreign policy may not be issue one this election cycle, but it still cannot be allowed to be ignored.

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Mitt Romney has made a strong accusation against President Obama during his speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention; he accused him of leaking confidential information about the military operation that ended with Osama Bin Laden losing his life in order to gain political support.

President Obama, who spoke at the convention on Monday, also criticized Romney; according to the NY Times he painted his political adversary as a “national security neophyte with a dangerous affinity for failed policies of the past.” Even though Obama never mentioned Romney’s name and only criticized him in an indirect way, Mitt Romney has responded with some serious accusations against Obama.

Romney’s accusation was that leaked classified information had been used in recent news reports. In the speech he stated: “Exactly who in the White House betrayed these secrets? Did a superior authorize it?”

Mitt Romney said that these leaks endanger operations in foreign countries and put many Americans at risk. He said that “This conduct is contemptible. It betrays our national interest. It compromises our men and women in the field.” Romney even referred to these leaks as a “national security crisis.”

Romney was referring to two New York Times articles that seem to have come from leaks from the White House. One is called “Secret ‘Kill List’ Proves a Test of Obama’s Principles and Will” and the other is “Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran.”

Arizona Senator, John McCain, referred to these articles on June 5 in the Senate, clearly stating: “A really disturbing aspect of this is that one could draw the conclusion from reading these articles that it is an attempt to further the president’s political ambitions for the sake of his reelection at the expense of our national security.”

The White House hasn’t respond at the moment to Romney’s speech and President Obama has rejected these accusations.

Accusing an opponent of leaking information is not new for the Democratic Party, and even the Democratic leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein, said that it is possible that the White House has leaked some confidential information. However, she has defended President Obama by clarifying she does not think President Obama, who receives an intelligence briefing every day, is revealing confidential information for political purposes.

Obama defended the White House last month and affirmed that “The notion that my White House would purposely release classified national security information is offensive.”

Ben LaBolt , Obama’s campaign spokesman, said that Romney was using “cheap attacks” against President Obama instead of giving proposals and justifying his foreign policy agenda. Criticsm between both candidates has been a constant in this presidential campaign, from Bain issues to leaking information, and now it is president Obama’s turn to defend himself. Maybe tomorrow it will be Mitt Romney’s turn once again.

Image Courtesy of  Gage Skidmore

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After 31 years of torture and terror, China’s One-Child Policy has finally been brought up as an important issue in a U.S. presidential race. The reference to China’s coercive birth control policy surfaced in a new 30 second “super-pac” ad entitled “Happy”. The ad points out that Newt Gingrich co-sponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year to a U.N. program supporting China’s One-Child Policy.

With so much recent research highlighting the policy’s threat to America’s security and economy, and with abortion taking its place as a top issue in the 2012 debate, many have asked why this ad is the first mention of an issue of such critical importance to millions of Americans.

“It’s becoming clear that America wants to know where its next leader stands on China, its relationship to the U.S, and its brutality towards women,” says Chai Ling, former commander-in-chief of students at the 1989 Tiananmen Square Student Movement and founder of All Girls Allowed.

She continues, “Both pro-choice and pro-life groups have interest in this issue and it should be highlighted in upcoming debates. Mothers in China are given no choice and 400 million lives have been “prevented”, according to Chinese government statistics. Unfortunately, because of son-preference, most of these lives were girls, leading to a gender imbalance that deeply affects the U.S.”

The Economist recently reported that in China, today’s unmarried young men know there are five women for every six men (largely as a result of the policy and cultural preference for sons), and tend to save money to attract a wife. Unmarried men are un-spending men, leading to artificial inflation of China’s currency. This has helped generate the current trade imbalance and daily impacts the U.S. economy.

Historically, countries with an excess of men have attacked other countries, says this Newsweek article, which first brought China’s problem to national attention.  Just weeks ago, Chinese President Hu Jintao’s call  to “prepare for war” has propelled it to national concern.

“For years, it should have mattered in national presidential debates that millions of mothers were forced to abort, and that whole villages were being sterilized in China,” says Ling.  She points to two horrific and recent stories: the killing of Ma Jihong, second-time mother (at the hands of Chinese officials) and the kidnapping of infants (by Chinese officials) for sale to U.S. adoption agencies.

“But with the danger facing America in this hour, we cannot remain ignorant.  The One-Child Policy must be brought up as an issue in the U.S. Presidential election, ” says Chai Ling.  “Everybody wants to know what is going to be done with China, and where each candidate stands on the human rights atrocity that many have deemed ‘the greatest crime ever committed against humanity.”

The economy, foreign policy and abortion are in the top 5 issues for candidates.  Questions about the One-Child Policy in China and national security are absolutely vital for each of these three categories.

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Mitt Romney made his first major foreign policy address at the Citadel Military Academy last Friday, which tackled the threats to the country’s security and how he is planning to solve them. His foreign policy plan includes taking eight steps in his first 100 days in office as well as believing in the “American Century.”

Mitt Romney didn’t hold back as he discussed the threats facing America including President Obama’s shortcomings in his foreign policy. Critizing President Obama for ‘massive defense cuts,’ Romney stated, “I will not surrender America’s role in the world, this is very simple if you do not want America to be the strongest nation on earth, I’m not your president.

You have that president today.” On day one in office, Romney proposed to focus on rebuilding the economy, reverse massive defense cuts, and not weaken America’s military. Romney concentrated on the threats that the United States currently faces and potentially faces in the future.

The international threats included discussing a powerful nuclear Iran against the United States and the Taliban gaining power in Afghanistan again. He also included a vital issue directly facing America which is the Mexican border and the drug cartels in the region in combination with the failure to secure the border.

With these problems come solutions, and according to Romney the solution to a safer world is to make America the strongest nation in the world. He states, “God did not create this country to be a nation of followers. America is not destined to be one of several equally balanced global powers.

America must lead the world, or someone else will.” His plan to make America the strongest country in the world includes the eight steps he will take his first 100 days in office. The steps include the construction of a bigger Navy, which involves increasing ship building from 9 to 15 ships a year.

He aims to strengthen relationships with allies including Mexico and Israel. He also states he will enhance deterrents against Iran, commit to a robust national missile defense system, and use soft power resources in the Middle East. He plans on launching a campaign for economic opportunity in Latin America and conducting a full review of transition in Afghanistan.

Lastly he hopes to order interagency initiative on cyber security. Some people have commented that Mitt Romney’s foreign policy stance resembles that of former George W. Bush’s. Romney did an effective job at addressing the threats that face the country, where the Obama administration has lacked effective solutions, and the steps he plans on taking once in office.

With an attempted terrorist plot against the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Washington by two Iranian men, just days after Romney’s speech, there seems to be justification for Romney’s forceful policies on terror prevention and America’s security.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/

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With the failure of the Obama administration to extend its fiscal policy and redeem the American economical illness, people have now fervently placed their hopes in the lap of the Federal Reserve Bank. The American economy is currently going through a rough phase riddles with unfortunate events that has infused pessimism in the system.

Americans are believed to be as pessimistic about the U.S economy as they were during the Great Depression; this shows in key readings of the consumer confidence data. In august the consumer confidence index plunged to its lowest level since April 2009. Consumer confidence index is the degree of optimism consumers have about the overall state of the economy.

It generally indicates the financial situation of the people and their confidence about their future earnings. In a situation like this where rising unemployment and mild lob losses on a constant basis lowers the probability of stability in future income, consumers eventually lose buoyancy and start reducing their spendings.

The consumer confidence index, also sometimes referred to as the expectation index, that dropped 23 point from 74.9 to 51.9 in July. The month of August saw the steepest fall since the heydays of the early recession in 2007.

Jobs in crisis

The darkening outlook of US economy is due to the debt ceiling debates, falling employment, irregular stocks and the downgrade by S&P. With spending cuts and the gloomy jobs outlook, the chances of a sooner-than-expected recovery remains a distant dream.

In a top job-killing list, prepared by CNN Money, Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street giant, took second place; Goldman recently axed 1000 jobs as a part of their cost-cutting effort. Technology giant Cisco Systems also announced a cut of 6500 employees. Top defense supplier to pentagon, The Lockheed Martin said it has laid off 6500 employees and counting.

Research in Motion, maker of Blackberry, also slashed 2000 employees or nearly 10 percent of its workforce. Once the leader in North America Smartphone market, the company finds that sales are waning since Apple launched its new iPhone. With fiscal alternatives drying up there has been a diversion of attention towards the Federal Reserve (FED).

At the two-day FED annual forum at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Bernanke did not give any hints about another round of economic stimulus, but said that the central bank would do all to help boost recovery. Jesse Cole, head of Merlin Institutional group, said “Bernanke really indicated that the central bank has a lot more tools and weapons at its disposal to stimulate the economy.”

Hopes are sky high since the FED chief used his Jackson Hole speech last year to lay the groundwork for a second round of bond purchases. Earlier in December 2008, the FED chief expanded the meeting for two days and lowered the benchmark interest rate to near zero from 1%

Roller-coaster ride

Recent budget outlooks from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provided further proof that the U.S. should be serious about dealing with debt. CBO wants to make about about striking a balance in the efforts to tamp down the debt burden and tanking economic growth.

Not surprisingly, Bernanke echoed a similar voice when he said policymaker should be more careful with current economic recovery and fiscal headwinds that may come up in time. The macro economic situation is difficult with the current high unemployment rates, the high gasoline prices,the  debt mountain, and shrinking alternatives.

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The September 11 terrorist attacks brought more than the loss of American lives, they brought considerable impact on internal affairs of the United States. The CIA’s involvement with the NYPD is considered, by many, another stain on the Agency’s long history of scandals.

The CIA has been accused of infiltrating the police department and using its resources to conduct spying operations on a domestic level, mainly targeting the Muslim community in New York City. After a thorough investigation, the Associated Press has published an article revealing the relationship between the Agency and the NYPD in the past ten years.

Work have been done on two main levels. First, a veteran CIA officer was assigned to be in charge of training a police officer who would put into practice new espionage techniques inside the police units. This action allowed the CIA to influence and reorient NYPD towards serving intelligence instead of fulfilling its normal duty as a law enforcement institution.

Secondly, a senior CIA officer was sent to work as a clandestine operative inside the police headquarters, with the main goal of supervising and watching the progression of the project. Bookstores, cafes, bars and nightclubs are some of the public places targeted by the program which consisted of citizens’ surveillance, also referred to in the AP report as “human mapping.”

The same reports said that the NYPD has sent “rakers” into minority neighborhoods to spy and gather data. Police have also used informants, referred to as “mosque crawlers,” to report on religious sermons or gatherings in mosques, even in the absence of suspicious activity.

In his comments on the issue, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, admitted that NYPD is working with the CIA, but defended its practices saying, “If there are threats or leads to follow, then the NYPD’s job is to do it. The law is pretty clear about what’s the requirement and I think they follow the law. We don’t stop to think about the religion. We stop to think about the threats and focus our efforts there.”

In a response to the report, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights organization, asked the Justice Department for an investigation into the case. CAIR attorney, Gadeir Abbas, believes that “the first amendment protects our right to associate freely with one another.”

“An investigation of a community [rather than of a crime or a particular person] unlawfully chills the rights of persons within that community. Furthermore, the Establishment Clause requires NYPD to maintain neutrality between all religions. Their intelligence unit appears to be failing to maintain that neutrality by institutionalizing suspicion of all things Islamic,” Abbas said.

Police involvement in CIA activities has blurred the lines of domestic and foreign affairs as well as the limits between local and federal jurisdiction.

Some say that the CIA’s dependence on the help of the NYPD is because of the the agency’s inexperience dealing with a domestic environment. The lack of diversity among the CIA’s personnel may also play into its inability to conduct operations independent of the police department. The NYPD has both features; a direct contact with citizens, as well as a culturally and linguistically diverse staff that more easily blends into the community.

Others are questioning why the CIA doesn’t try collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) instead of NYPD. Whatever the reason, the issues surrounding privacy and freedom is not only found in the U.S. Many Arabs are currently fighting against regimes, where spying on citizens is routine. Meanwhile, many New Yorkers are unaware of the spying efforts of the CIA and police department.

Glynnis Jones / Shutterstock.com

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