Jesus Malverde
Jesus Malverde's JournalHaiti, Grenada recognize Palestinian State
Source: UPI
Grenada and Haiti recognized the State of Palestine in a ceremony at U.N. headquarters in New York, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said.
Maliki said he signed separate agreements to establish diplomatic relations with both countries Friday, a move that will lead to an exchange of ambassadors, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported.
"This recognition highlights the collective international approval of Palestinian rights. It is a new success for Palestinian diplomacy," he said.
Grenada and Haiti join more than 130 countries that officially recognize the State of Palestine, the agency said.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/09/29/Haiti-Grenada-recognize-Palestinian-State/UPI-54541380457240/
Israel’s Netanyahu heads for the US with a warning to the White House: Don’t be fooled by Iran
Mortified that the world may be warming up to Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking an unpopular message to the White House and the United Nations this week: Dont be fooled by Tehrans new leadership.
Netanyahu contends Iran is using conciliatory gestures as a smoke screen to conceal an unabated march toward a nuclear bomb.
He will deliver those strong words of caution and fresh intelligence in an attempt to persuade the U.S. to maintain tough economic sanctions and not allow the Islamic republic to develop a bomb or even move closer to becoming a nuclear threshold state.
With the White House cautiously optimistic about its dialogue with Iran, Mondays meeting between Netanyahu and President Barack Obama could be tense.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israels-netanyahu-heads-for-the-us-with-a-warning-to-the-white-house-dont-be-fooled-by-iran/2013/09/29/0ce25558-293c-11e3-b141-298f46539716_story.html
Israel starts campaign to boost U.S. military aid
Israel's military chiefs are pushing for a bump in the $3.1 billion a year the Jewish state receives in U.S. military aid even though the 10-year agreement doesn't expire until 2017 and America is struggling with domestic economic issues.
Among other things, the Israelis are citing a 2008 U.S. law that for the first time legally committed Washington to maintain the Jewish state's technological superiority -- its Qualitative Military Edge, or QME, in military terminology -- over its regional adversaries, particularly Iran, which has been pursuing nuclear technology.
The QME, the cornerstone of the strategic alliance between the United States and Israel for the past few decades, was long viewed as a negotiating principle between the two allies, but was made law under the Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2008. The act requires U.S. military aid at all times ensures Israel is technologically capable of countering any array of hostile states and non-state combatants such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.
The $3.1 billion a year in military aid is by far the largest single package of its kind provided by the United States but the Israelis argue a new set of security threats in the Middle East -- such as the Syrian civil war, the turmoil in Iraq and Egypt, and the increased danger from al-Qaida now operating in Syria and Egypt-- justify an increase in foreign military finance, or FMF, grants.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2013/09/27/Israel-starts-campaign-to-boost-US-military-aid/UPI-52461380301963/
Netanyahu to Rebut Iran ‘Sweet-Talk’ in Speech to UN
Source: Bloomberg
Israels prime minister and the heads of two major Knesset committees expressed concern that a conversation between U.S. and Iranian leaders may signal that efforts to halt the countrys nuclear program will stall.
I will tell the truth in the face of the sweet-talk and onslaught of smiles, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters as he boarded his plane for the U.S., where he will meet President Barack Obama and speak before the United Nations.
The Israeli leaders spoke after a historic phone call between Irans President Hassan Rouhani and Obama, the highest-level U.S.-Iranian encounter since before Irans Islamic revolution of 1979. Netanyahu has in the past expressed skepticism about the motives behind Rouhanis initiative and suggested Iran is trying to buy time to develop the capability to make a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is aimed at electricity production and other civilian needs.
Every attempt to enforce UN resolutions on Iran to show transparency and offer proof that they have no plans for a nuclear arms program has failed until now, said Tzachi Hanegbi, head of parliaments House committee and a member of Netanyahus Likud party.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-29/israelis-raise-iran-concerns-as-netanyahu-heads-to-u-s-.html
Folsom Street Fair less kinky, more corporate
San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair, the sexually explicit celebration of bondage and leather now in its 30th year, has shaken off its kinky image, attracting mainstream corporate sponsorship from the likes of Marriott Marquis Hotel and American Airlines.
"It's a great, local, San Francisco-based homegrown event, so it's exciting for the San Francisco Marriott Marquis to be part of it," said Frank Manchen, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.
The LGBT market is "a diverse community with many different options" when it comes to travel, he said. "I don't think it's anything new that corporate America is figuring out how to woo those dollars."
Still, the role of the Marriott chain in San Francisco's most graphic public festival, set for South of Market on Sunday, raises eyebrows of some longtime political observers.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Folsom-Street-Fair-less-kinky-more-corporate-4851461.php
x-post from gd
Folsom Street Fair less kinky, more corporate
San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair, the sexually explicit celebration of bondage and leather now in its 30th year, has shaken off its kinky image, attracting mainstream corporate sponsorship from the likes of Marriott Marquis Hotel and American Airlines.
"It's a great, local, San Francisco-based homegrown event, so it's exciting for the San Francisco Marriott Marquis to be part of it," said Frank Manchen, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.
The LGBT market is "a diverse community with many different options" when it comes to travel, he said. "I don't think it's anything new that corporate America is figuring out how to woo those dollars."
Still, the role of the Marriott chain in San Francisco's most graphic public festival, set for South of Market on Sunday, raises eyebrows of some longtime political observers.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Folsom-Street-Fair-less-kinky-more-corporate-4851461.php
Obama, Iran's Rouhani hold historic phone call
Source: Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama and new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held a historic phone call on Friday, in the highest level conversation between the estranged nations in more than three decades.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama said both men had directed their teams to work expeditiously toward an agreement on Iran's nuclear program. He said this was a unique opportunity to make progress with Tehran over an issue that has isolated it from the West.
"While there will surely be important obstacles to moving forward and success is by no means guaranteed, I believe we can reach a comprehensive solution," Obama said.
Rouhani, in a Twitter account believed to be genuine, said that in the conversation he told Obama "Have a Nice Day!" and Obama responded with "Thank you. Khodahafez (goodbye)." He added that the two men "expressed their mutual political will to rapidly solve the nuclear issue."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/27/us-un-assembly-iran-idUSBRE98Q16S20130927
Go peace!
Wyden Opening Remarks at Q&A at Hearing on Surveillance Reform
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) pressed top intelligence officials on the problems of building "an intelligence collection system that repeatedly deceived the American people" during an open hearing held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Wyden Opening Remarks Answers in Surveillance Reform Press Conference
The NSA Used to Spy on MLK — and the Senator Who Forced It to Reform
For those inclined to be sympathetic toward the public appeal made by NSA chief Keith Alexander on Wednesday that the NSA stops terror attacks like the one in Nairobi there's a declassified document that outlines the agency's unsympathetic past, which includes spying on politicians, reporters, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
That spying took place more than four decades ago, years before the Church Committee reforms of the late 1970s that revised the agency's role, and before the clear delineation that the National Security Agency was prohibited from surveilling people in the United States. At that time, the NSA apparently had few qualms about keeping an eye on those the government considered "domestic terrorist and foreign radical" threats. George Washington University's National Security Archive obtained the documents and provides an overview.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/nsa-used-spy-mlk-and-senator-forced-it-reform/69876/
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Name: Jesus MalverdeGender: Male
Hometown: SF
Current location: Japan
Member since: Fri May 17, 2013, 11:44 PM
Number of posts: 10,274