We are Fed Up

I am still a big fan of today's independent Newspaper Elmasry Elyoum which is more better than the government nationalized newspapers, but there are Provocative articles and news that are very strange and appears daily, at the first page about the elections of the banned Muslim Brothers, banned, huh? The fact is I'm fed up of these stories every day talking about the primaries and the Office of Counseling and split and the next guide , as if they are talking about the presidential election and if the right to become a parallel state apparatus in all, and the fact that the banned group which tends to use religion slogans is responsible about the corruption of political life in Egypt since its dust inception in the 28th of the last century and till today, as infiltrated the group within a society and ruined everything, by working politics, but the argument and justification for any system in Egypt, disclaims any democratic changes in fear of this dress Community opportunistic destructive power, and I do not know why promote them as if they were on the Egyptian state within a state, and we can notice that from the intensive media to focus on what is happening within the group is aware we are conducting an alternative to a pending rule and if we get out of the destruction of another more serious, we still suffer so far from the fundamentalist Nasiriyah and what dragged into Egypt from ruin and destruction, the group was poisoned part by supporting the fascist regime of Naser during its inception and was soon turned against him, but arranged for the murder, and the fact that Egypt can benefit and take advantage of this group if they left political action, and moved into social work without any political purposes, and then we can accept it and it could be seriously Helpful to Egypt, and the date is not too distant future, there is a significant event known to the elders of the group well when the founder of the group waived his aspirations and ambitions to go to Parliament by the Department of Ismaili when he found that surrendering would save the nation from the problems is indispensable, and the impact safety despite the sweep of the elections and then, and this is the only respectable Action of this banned group.
Finally, I am addressing myself to the Egyptian newspaper Elmasry Elyoum, and the esteemed Professor Magdy El Gallad "this is enough, We are Fed Up "

Iran Protests Turn Violent

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian security forces fired on stone-throwing protesters in the center of the capital Sunday in one of the bloodiest confrontations in months, opposition Web sites and witnesses said. At least five people were killed.
Some accounts of the violence in Tehran were vivid and detailed, but they could not be independently confirmed because of government restrictions on media coverage. Police, who denied using firearms, said dozens of officers were injured and more than 300 protesters were arrested.
The dead included a nephew of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, according to Mousavi's Web site, Kaleme.ir. The clashes were sure to deepen antagonism between the government and a reform movement that has shown resilience in the face of repeated crackdowns.
The street chaos coincided with commemorations of Shiite Islam's most important observance, Ashoura, fueling protesters' defiance with its message of sacrifice and dignity in the face of coercion.
Still, many demonstrators had not anticipated such harsh tactics by the authorities, despite police warnings of tougher action against any protests on the sacred day.
Amateur video footage purportedly from the center of Tehran showed an enraged crowd carrying away one casualty, chanting, "I'll kill, I'll kill the one who killed my brother." In several locations, demonstrators confronted security forces, hurling stones and setting their motorcycles, cars and vans ablaze, according to video footage and pro-reform Web sites.
Protesters tried to cut off roads with burning barricades. One police officer was photographed with blood streaming down his face after he was set upon by the crowd.
There were unconfirmed reports that four people died in protests in Tabriz in northwest Iran, the pro-reform Rah-e-Sabz Web site said. Fierce clashes also broke out in Isfahan and Najafabad in central Iran and Shiraz in the south, it said.
Mousavi's Web site said the nephew, Ali Mousavi, was shot in the back on Azadi Street, or Freedom Street, during clashes in which security forces reportedly fired on demonstrators, and was taken to Ibn Sina Hospital. It said Mousavi and other family members rushed to the hospital.
A close aide to Mousavi, a presidential contender in a disputed June election, said Ali Mousavi died of injuries in the hospital. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisals from the government.
The protests began with thousands of opposition supporters chanting "Death to the dictator," a reference to hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as they marched in defiance of official warnings of a harsh crackdown on any demonstrations coinciding with Ashoura. The observance commemorates the seventh-century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.
Security forces tried but failed to disperse protesters on a central Tehran street with tear gas, baton charges and warning shots. They then opened fire on protesters, said witnesses and the Rah-e-Sabz Web site.
The site said that in addition to Mousavi's nephew, four protesters were fatally shot – Mahdi Farhadinia, Mohammad Ali Rasekhinia, Amir Arshadi and Shahram Saraji.
Witnesses said one victim was an elderly man who had a gunshot wound to the forehead. He was seen being carried away by opposition supporters with blood covering his face.
More than two dozen opposition supporters were injured, some of them seriously, with limbs broken from beatings, according to witnesses.
An Iranian police statement said five people were killed in the unrest. "Experts are seeking to identify the suspicious elements," the statement said.
Iran's deputy police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, said one person died after falling from a bridge, two were killed in a car accident, and a fourth was fatally shot.
"Given the fact that police did not use firearms, this incident looks completely suspicious and the case is under investigation," Radan said.
He said dozens of injured police were treated in hospitals, and more than 300 "seditionists" were arrested.
The clashes marked the bloodiest confrontation since the height of unrest in the weeks after June's election. The opposition says Ahmadinejad won the election through massive vote fraud and that Mousavi was the true winner.
Reporters from foreign media organizations were barred from covering the demonstrations on Tehran's central Enghelab Street, or Revolution Street. Video footage circulating on the Web could also not be authenticated.
Ambulance sirens wailed near the site of the protests. Police helicopters circled as smoke billowed over the capital.
Cell phone services were unreliable and Internet connections were slowed to a crawl, as has happened during most other days of protest in an apparent government attempt to limit publicity and prevent protesters from organizing.
The Dec. 20 death of the 87-year-old Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a sharp critic of Iran's leaders, has given a new push to opposition protests.
His memorials have brought out young, urban activists who filled the ranks of earlier protests, and older, more religious Iranians who revered the cleric. Tens of thousands marched in his funeral procession in the holy city of Qom on Monday, many chanting slogans against the government.
Opposition leaders have used holidays and other symbolic days in recent months to stage anti-government rallies.
Iran is under pressure both from its domestic opposition within the country and from the United States and its European allies, which are pushing Iran to suspend key parts of its nuclear program.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer, speaking in Hawaii Sunday, where U.S. President Barack Obama is vacationing, denounced Tehran's "unjust suppression of civilians."
Foreign Minister Carl Bildt of Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, expressed concern about the "increased repression" in Iran.
"A regime secure in its own legitimacy has no reason to fear individuals' rights to express their opinions freely and peacefully," he wrote on his blog Sunday.

Obama disappointment at Copenhagen justified

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that disappointment over the outcome of the Copenhagen climate change summit was justified, hardening a widespread verdict that the conference had been a failure.
"I think that people are justified in being disappointed about the outcome in Copenhagen," he said in an interview with PBS Newshour.
"What I said was essentially that rather than see a complete collapse in Copenhagen, in which nothing at all got done and would have been a huge backward step, at least we kind of held ground and there wasn't too much backsliding from where we were."
Sweden has labeled the accord Obama helped broker a disaster for the environment, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the summit was "at best flawed and at worst chaotic," and climate change advocates have been even more scathing in their criticism.
The talks secured bare-minimum agreements that fell well short of original goals to reduce carbon emissions and stem global warming, after lengthy negotiations failed to paper over differences between rich nations and developing economies. Some singled out China for special blame.
British Environment Minister Ed Miliband wrote in the Guardian newspaper on Monday China had "hijacked" efforts to agree to significant reductions in global emissions. Beijing denied the claim and said London was scheming to divide developing countries on the climate change issue.
Obama did not point any fingers, but did say the Chinese delegation was "skipping negotiations" before his personal intervention.
"At a point where there was about to be complete breakdown, and the prime minister of India was heading to the airport and the Chinese representatives were essentially skipping negotiations, and everybody's screaming, what did happen was, cooler heads prevailed," Obama said.
Obama forged an accord with China, India, Brazil and South Africa in the conference's final hours after personally securing a bilateral meeting with the four nations' leaders.
"We were able to at least agree on non-legally binding targets for all countries -- not just the United States, not just Europe, but also for China and India, which, projecting forward, are going to be the world's largest emitters," he said.

Obama to Republicans

Obama to GOP: 'Stop trying to frighten the American people'
President Barack Obama told House Republican leaders to "stop trying to frighten the American people" even as he and Democrats said they see a possibility for bipartisan cooperation on job creation legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters that Obama made the admonition during a bipartisan meeting at the White House on Wednesday, producing a chart to show Republicans that "things are a lot better."
Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said there was broad agreement on their side of the aisle about how to create jobs by aiding small businesses and boosting infrastructure spending. Pelosi said she thinks on those issues, "it's possible for us to find some common, bipartisan ground."
But moments later, Republicans made it clear that they want to see a "spending freeze" and a "no-cost" jobs plan that consists largely of tax cuts.
"We can't keep spending money we don't have," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said.
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) pushed back on Obama's request for an end to Republicans' scare tactics by saying that Obama's policies have led to a hiring freeze, and the GOP is simply telling constituents what is happening.
"[E]mployers are sitting there and they're frozen because they don't know what's really going to happen here," Boehner said. "And the president wants to blame us for informing the American people about what's happening here and how it will affect them, but it's not what we're doing; it's the policies that they're promoting here in Washington. "The Republicans presented a letter to Obama detailing how they think he should approach job creation, including by way of tax cuts and trade expansion.For his part, Obama also expressed hope that Republicans would support him on his proposals, particularly on items like a one-year elimination of the capital gains tax that the GOP has supported in the past.
"It's appropriate that I met with leaders of both parties," Obama said after the meeting. "Spurring hiring and economic growth are not Democratic or Republican issues. They are American issues that affect every single one of our constituents."
The president noted Republican opposition to his $787 billion stimulus package, but he said he hopes that he will get some GOP support for his attempts at job creation.
"It's no secret that there's been less than full bipartisan support for the recovery act and some of the steps that have broken the free-fall of our economy," Obama said. "But my hope is that as we move forward we can do so together, recognizing that we have a shared responsibility to meet our economic challenges on behalf of all Americans: those who elected us to make sure that we're doing the people's business."
Despite the GOP opposition, Democratic leaders seemed optimistic they can move quickly on a jobs bill that contains much of what the president outlined in a speech Tuesday.
Reid declined to say when a jobs bill might come up in the Senate, but he said after Tuesday night's "breakthrough" on healthcare reform that he does think the Senate will pass a healthcare bill before lawmakers leave for Christmas.

Black Iran Arrested 200 Student Protests

TEHRAN, Iran — Hard-line militiamen firing tear gas and throwing stones stormed a crowd of thousands of university students protesting for a second day Tuesday, as Iran threatened a tougher crackdown on the opposition after the biggest anti-government demonstrations in months.More than 200 people were arrested in Tehran on Monday during protests by tens of thousands at universities nationwide, and Iran's top prosecutor warned further unrest would not be tolerated. He hinted authorities could even pursue the top opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, an escalation the government has so far balked at in Iran's postelection turmoil.Masked motorcyclists – likely hard-line militiamen – harassed Mousavi at his Tehran office on Tuesday. An angry Mousavi confronted them, daring them, "Kill me!" before being hustled away by aides, according to pro-opposition Web sites.Authorities appear concerned that the protest movement could pick up new steam after Monday's demonstrations, in which students clashed with police and militiamen in the streets of Tehran.A fierce crackdown since the summer crushed the mass protests that erupted after June's disputed presidential election. But Monday's unrest showed how students have revitalized the movement. They showed an increased boldness, openly breaking the biggest taboo in Iran, burning pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and chanting slogans against him.The protests spilled over into a second day Tuesday. Several thousand students rallied in Tehran University, chanting slogans and waving Iranian flags in front of the Engineering College when they were assaulted by hard-line Basij militiamen, witnesses said. At least one student was dragged away, the witnesses said.Footage posted on the Internet, said to be from Tuesday, showed the crowd of students sitting in front of the college building, many wearing surgical masks and scarves over their faces against gas or to hide their identities. They clapped and chanted "death to the dictator" and insults against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters, saying "Ahmadi came up short, he brought out brainless youth."They are then seen fleeing as Basijis rush after them, firing tear gas and throwing stones. Students jostled in the crowd to get away, some crying out in warning, "Basiji, Basiji," while women screamed, "God is great." One student is seen staggering away, holding his eyes after being hit by pepper spray. Inside the college building, students lit papers in a bonfire in an attempt to ward off clouds of tear gas.About a dozen students also clashed with riot police on the streets outside the university, witnesses said. The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity fearing retribution. Foreign journalists, including The Associated Press, have been barred from covering protests.Tehran's police chief, Gen. Azizullah Rajabzadeh, announced that 204 protesters, including 39 women, were arrested in the capital during Monday's demonstrations and would be handed over to the judiciary. There was no immediate word on the number of arrests outside Tehran.Iran's top prosecutor, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, warned that the judiciary will no longer tolerate protests."So far, we have shown restraint. From today, no leniency will be applied," he said, according to the official IRNA news agency.When asked at a press conference if the judiciary will pursue Mousavi, he said, "We will not tolerate anyone who commits actions against security, and we will confront them," according to the Fars news agency. He also suggested prosecutors could go after Mahdi Hashemi, the son of the most powerful supporter of the opposition in the clerical hierarchy, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.Ejehi, a hard-line cleric, even snapped at Tehran prosecutors not to be lax. "If the Tehran prosecutor does not make its first priority (investigating) those who every day violate public order and damage public property, we will give it a warning and, if necessary, take action," he said.Hard-line clerics and commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard have called for Mousavi's arrest, accusing him of fueling protests and conspiring against Iran's clerical leadership. Arresting Mousavi or other top opposition leaders would likely spark greater turmoil.Up to 30 men on motorcycles, some in masks, swarmed outside Mousavi's office on Tuesday. They blocked him as he tried to drive out of the garage and chanted slogans against him, two opposition Web sites said, citing witnesses.Mousavi got out of his car and shouted at them, "You're agents. Do whatever you've been ordered to do, kill me, beat me, threaten me!" before aides rushed him inside, the Gooya News Web site reported. The men left several hours later and Mousavi was able to leave.During Monday's demonstrations, hard-line students mobbed Mousavi's wife Zahra Rahnavard at Tehran University, spraying her with pepper spray before her supporters took her away, opposition Web sites reported.The turnout in Monday's protests showed that months of arrests and government intimidation have failed to stamp out the movement, sparked by opposition claims that Mousavi was the rightful winner of the June vote and that Ahmadinejad won by fraud.In the crackdown, more than 100 politicians, activists and protesters have been put on a mass trial, accused of being part of a foreign-backed plot to overthrow the Islamic Republic. Five have been sentenced to death and 80 others to prison terms up to 15 years.Since the summer, the opposition has held major protests less than once a month – timed to coincide with the many political anniversaries and religious occasions that traditionally bring street demonstrations. The strategy aims to drum up as many people as possible and draw more attention.The coming months could heat up with several key occasions for possible protests.In mid-December, the Islamic holy month of Moharram begins – and throughout the month Iranians traditionally hold mass mourning ceremonies. Next comes the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which is marked by 10 days of celebrations in early February.

Pearl Harbor Day

three enduring mysteries
Washington – How did the Japanese do it? That question remains 68 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a day that spawned some of the greatest unanswered questions of US military history.The completeness of the surprise, as well as the enormity of the attack's destruction, have led conspiracy theorists to surmise that President Franklin D. RooseveltWorld War II. must have known what was coming, and allowed it, to rouse the nation forMost historians don't believe that. The conspiracy theorists generally premise their arguments on the notion that the United States had broken the codes of the Japanese navy and thus knew its carriers were steaming toward Hawaii. But that's not true, according to Robert J. Hanyok, a former historian with the US National Security Agency.In 1941, US code breakers had made only minimal progress in understanding encrypted Japanese navy messages, Mr. Hanyok writes in a recent Naval History magazine article."No intelligence about Pearl Harbor could come from this source," he writes.A better explanation for the enormity of the US defeat might be that the attack was a so-called black swan event: something so far outside the realm of expectations that Americans could not conceive of it occurring.This was true even of American servicemen looking at hints of what was coming their way."It just wasn't in their frame of reference," says naval historian Lawrence H. Suid.Today, a number of what-ifs, or enduring mysteries, about the Pearl Harbor attack continue to inspire debate. Among them:Why didn't the US see Japanese planes coming on radar? Actually, US Army radar operators did spot the Japanese air assault on radar. They just did not know what they were seeing.Radar technology was in its infancy, and an Army crew was training on a new radar installed at the northern point of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. On Dec. 7, 1941, this crew spotted a mass of incoming somethings larger than they had ever seen. They decided it was probably some expected US B-17s and reported it as such.But the radar return looked much different from what they were used to seeing."Why didn't this stir up their curiosity?" Suid says.Why did the US Navy ignore the sinking of a Japanese submarine prior to the attack? At 6:37 on the morning of Dec. 7, the USS Ward, an old four-stack destroyer, attacked and destroyed a Japanese mini-sub making its way toward Pearl Harbor.Crew members of the Ward saw a submarine periscope, dropped depth charges, and saw an oil slick and debris indicating they had destroyed a target. They immediately sent a dispatch saying that they had destroyed "a submarine operating in defense sea areas," according to a copy of the ship's report of the attack.This incident took place an hour prior to the arrival of the first wave of Japanese warplanes. But US military officials did not heed the warning provided by the Ward, or did not believe it, or simply were unable to react in time.Three years later to the day, on Dec. 7, 1944, the Ward was sunk by a Japanese kamikaze air attack off the island of Leyte.How did the Japanese fleet get so close to Hawaii without being spotted? The Japanese military's attempts to deceive its US counterparts as to where Japan's carriers were in early December 1941 succeeded to a remarkable degree.A radio ruse contributed greatly to this success. Beginning in mid-November, the Japanese ships pretended to be continuing with a routine communications drill – knowing that all the while US eavesdroppers were listening in.They then followed with a week of only occasional chatter, leading US analysts to believe that the carriers had entered home waters for rest. Instead, they were steaming toward Hawaii.Japanese operational security prior to the fleet's departure had been so tight that at least one foreign ship approaching a Japanese navy training area had been boarded and seized. Fleet plans for the month of December had been printed without an annex detailing the destination of Hawaii. Even senior Japanese officers weren't told of the attack until the last possible moment.In the end, the Japanese achieved almost complete tactical surprise. And in that might lie the key to understanding Pearl Harbor, writes Hanyok, the former NSA historian.The key could be not the surprise per se, but the skill of the Japanese. Most US analyses of Pearl Harbor probe for American mistakes, or they at least see the attack in an American frame of reference."But the key to understanding why the surprise assault was so successful lies in realizing what the Japanese did right," according to Hanyok.