Iran test-fires new missile: media

Iran test-fired a new generation surface-to-surface missile on Wednesday, state media said, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated once again that the Islamic Republic would crush any power acting against it.
Iran’s latest missile test followed persistent speculation in recent months of possible U.S. or Israeli strikes against its nuclear facilities, which the West suspects form part of a covert weapons program. Tehran denies the charge.U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, like outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, has not ruled out military action although he has criticized the Bush administration for not pushing for more diplomacy and engagement with Tehran.

Iran test-fires new missile: media – Yahoo! News

Of course, we can think that this is another “photoshopped” missile…

Meanwhile Obama seeks Iranian help in Afghanistan. Don’t think these are the best allies in the fight against Islamofascism…

Hamas leader says he is ready to talk to Obama

Hamas is ready to open talks with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, who must deal with the Palestinian militant group if he wants to address the wider conflict in the Middle East, the group’s leader said in an interview broadcast Saturday.

Khaled Mashaal said that Hamas is ready for dialogue with Obama and his new administration “on the basis that the American administration respects our rights and our options.”

Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since seizing power by force in June 2007 from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.

The administration of President George W. Bush has boycotted the Islamic militants, as has most of the international community. Hamas refuses to renounce violence or recognize Israel.

“The American administration, if they want to deal with the region, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, they have no other option than deal with Hamas because we are a real force on the ground, effective,” Mashaal told Sky News from Damascus, Syria.

via Hamas leader says he is ready to talk to Obama – USATODAY.com

Great disposition to negotiate: menace with your force and announce you’re never going to change your positions…

Split Over Russia Grows in Europe

Russia sent President-elect Barack Obama a message this week when it threatened to “neutralize” the proposed U.S. missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. But analysts said the tough talk from Moscow had another aim as well: to exploit a festering divide within Europe.

Many Eastern European countries have become increasingly alarmed over what they consider Russia’s aggressive attempts to re-create a sphere of influence over satellite states of the former Soviet Union. Such concerns soared after Russia sent troops into Georgia in August, sparking a brief war.

The worries worsened Wednesday when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the Kremlin would move short-range missiles into Kaliningrad, a sliver of Russian territory on the Baltic Sea bordering Poland and Lithuania, if the United States proceeds to base parts of a missile-defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus called the Russian threat “beyond comprehension.”

In contrast, Germany, France and other countries in Western Europe play down any security risks posed by Moscow and instead see Russia foremost as a lucrative — if unpredictable — trading partner. These countries, which former defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld once derided as “Old Europe,” generally consider the U.S. missile defense project to be an unnecessary irritant.

via Split Over Russia Grows in Europe – washingtonpost.com

Background of this story here.

Former Secretary Of State Under George W. Bush, Colin Powell Endorses Senator Barack Obama

Colin Powell, a Republican who was President Bush’s first secretary of state, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Sunday and criticized the tone of Republican John McCain’s campaign.

Powell said both Obama and Republican John McCain are qualified to be commander in chief. But he said Obama is better suited to handle the nation’s economic problems as well as help improve its standing in the world.

“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that,” Powell, interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said of his longtime friend, the Arizona senator.

“But I firmly believe that at this point in America’s history, we need a president that will not just continue, even with a new face and with the changes and with some maverick aspects, who will not just continue basically the policies that we have been following in recent years,” Powell said.

“I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that’s why I’m supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Sen. John McCain.”

via cbs11tv.com – Former Secretary Of State Under George W. Bush, Colin Powell Endorses Senator Barack Obama

Two questions:

a) Is Powell asking Obama to be his Secretary of State?

b) Has race something to do with this support?

Read more in CentreRight.

Hillary Clinton praises Sarah Palin

Hillary Clinton Praises Sarah Palin

The New Media Journal

Hillary Clinton, who fell to Barack Obama in the primaries chiefly because of the DNC’s manipulation of the awarding of delegates in Florida and Michigan, has infuriated Obama supporters by heaping praise on Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, for her performance in last week’s television debate against Sen. Joe Biden. “It is amazing, you know, she’s been thrust in the spotlight with very little national preparation and I think, all things considered, you saw a very composed and effective debater,” Clinton said. Former President Bill Clinton recently paid glowing compliments of his own to Gov. Palin. “I come from Arkansas, I get why she’s hot out there,” he said. Mr. Clinton’s lukewarm endorsement of Obama was parodied on Saturday Night Live, and has been met with consternation by the Obama camp and hardcore Progressive-Leftists.

via The New Media Journal | Politics.

Bruce Bawer: “Who’s Sleeping More Deeply — Europe or America?”

A big part of the reason for this dismaying American response to the cartoon affair is, of course, that Islamization hasn’t progressed as far in America as in Europe, and there’s consequently an incredible level of ignorance in America both about what’s really going on in Europe and about the very nature of Islam. In the current presidential campaign, only a small portion of the electorate seems to think that the war with jihadist Islam is a major issue. The one candidate who understood best what we’re up against, and who took it most seriously, Rudy Giuliani, was ridiculed across the political spectrum for being obsessed with 9/11 — as if the events of that day had been some kind of fluke or accident that has virtually no meaning for us today.

In depressing numbers, in short, Americans seem not to grasp the lessons of 9/11 — which should hardly be a surprise, considering how many journalists and politicians keep repeating that the terrorists are betraying a great and peaceful religion, that jihad means doing good works, and so on. A while back, in response to rumors that Barack Obama is a closet Muslim, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof argued that it would be a matter of utter indifference if the president of the United States were a Muslim. Of the hundreds of people who commented on this article on the Times website, the overwhelming majority applauded Kristof.

via Who’s Sleeping More Deeply — Europe or America? | EuropeNews.

As ever, this is some Americans seem not to grasp the lessons of 9/11…