Dry Run: Islamic Marine Corps Reservist from Virginia in Custody for ‘Suspicious’ Behaviour and Material Near Pentagon

Oh oh, turns out the suspect is a Muslim.  Authorities are saying that the tight-lipped reservist does not appear to have known ties to any terror organization, so it must be some kind of odd one-in-a-million coincidence.  And the fact that Melaku’s notebook contained a page containing the words ‘al Qaeda’, ‘Taliban rules’, ‘mujahidin’ and ‘defeated coalition forces’ is a head-scratching one-in-a-musillion …

“Yonathan Melaku, a Lance Corporal Marine Corps reservist who lives in Alexandria, Virginia and is Muslim, has been identified as the suspect arrested less than a mile from the Pentagon.

Mr Melaku, 22, was taken into custody early Friday under suspicion that he posed a potential terrorist threat to the Pentagon, a highly sensitive site in the post-9/11 world.

At first, media reported police ‘found ammonium nitrate, ammunition and al Qaeda literature’ in his car, which was parked in bushes near the Pentagon.

Later, FBI Special Agent Brenda Heck told reporters: No explosives were found in the vehicle, a red 2007 Nissan.

A backpack the detained man was carrying held bags labelled ‘ammonium nitrate’ and filled with five pounds of material. But upon investigation, it turned out to be ‘non-explosive unknown material’, according to Ms Heck.” Read more.

North Korea Tests ‘Super-EMP’ Nuke Capable of Disabling Power Grid Across Most of the Lower 48 States

By Ken Timmerman – “Gary Samore, a top Obama administration national security official, warned of new sanctions if North Korea conducted a third round of nuclear tests on Monday, as reports surfaced that North Korea has miniaturized its nuclear warheads so they can be delivered by ballistic missile.

North Korea’s last round of tests, conducted in May 2009, appear to have included a ‘super-EMP’ weapon, capable of emitting enough gamma rays to disable the electric power grid across most of the lower 48 states, says Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, a former CIA nuclear weapons analyst and president of EMPact America, a citizens lobbying group.

Samore, who handles arms control and non-proliferation issues, warned that “additional strong sanctions will be imposed on the North with the support of Russia and China.”

North Korea’s nuclear tests have been dismissed as failures by some analysts because of their low explosive yield. But Dr. Pry believes they bore the ‘signature’ of the Russian-designed ‘super-EMP’ weapon, capable of emitting more gamma radiation than a 25-megaton nuclear weapon.” Read more.

America’s Achilles Heel Exposed In Forstchen’s Novel – “I’m currently reading a book entitled ONE SECOND AFTER. The author is William R. Forstchen, but the foreward is written by former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. The novel is about what would happen to America if a nuclear weapon were to detonate, say 300 miles up, above Kansas. How would this impact our power systems, our computer-based society, our food and medical supplies if an electromagnetic pulse were to hit us from such a device?” Read more.

Pakistan: Muslim Students Try to Force Boy to Convert to Islam, Uncle Defends and is Accused of ‘Blasphemy’

By Jibran Khan – “The students of a madrassa try to force a child to convert. A relative is attacked for defending him, and accused of blasphemy. A priest: ‘This is a common practice in the region. Many cases of forced conversions are not made known’. The authorities turn a blind eye to the problem.

Ten Christian families were forced to flee from Chak 68, Arifwala, in Khanewal district, for fear of the consequences of an accusation of blasphemy. A Christian boy of eight years, Ihtesham, nicknamed ‘Sunny’ went to buy ice in a market, and was surrounded and harassed by students of a madrassa, an Islamic religious school. They asked him to recite verses from the Koran, those every Muslim reads the so-called ‘Kalma’, in short the statement that ‘there is no God but Allah ….’ They asked him to renounce his religion and convert to Islam.

An uncle of Sunny, Dildar Masih, seeing that his nephew was in trouble, because of the students, intervened. Sunny explained to him that they were bullying him to renounce his religion. Dildar addressed the boys, he rebuked them and told Sunny to go home. The boys told of the incident to the religious leaders at the madrasas. The latter announced that Dildar Masih had committed blasphemy, making fun of Koranic verses, and the loudspeaker of the madrasa urged all to punish the blasphemer, to set an example.” Read more.

China: The Sea and Waves Continue to Roar While ‘No One Else is Listening’

By Eunice Yoon – “Xintang, China (CNN) — The authorities here are obviously nervous. My crew and I are sitting in a local government building being questioned by six propaganda officials.

One of them is scribbling down our credentials in a worn pocket-sized notebook. My producer, Steven Jiang, is talking non-stop to one officer who looks especially nonplussed.

We traveled to the manufacturing town of Xintang to investigate why thousands of migrant workers suddenly took to the streets just a week ago.

We knew the unrest was triggered by what appeared to be a minor event — a pregnant migrant worker and her husband got in a scuffle with city officials and she ended up falling on the ground.

However, the ferocity by which this dispute exploded in a massive conflagration, pitting thousands of enraged workers against hundreds of riot police, took many by surprise.” Read more.

Two Russian Volcanoes Begin Spewing Ash, 400+ Tremors Registered

“MOSCOW, June 17 (UPI) — The Kizimen and Karymsky volcanoes on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula spewed ash and gas, accompanied by earth tremors, a Russian science agency said Friday.

A spokesman for the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said as many as 400 tremors have been registered, ITAR-Tass reported Friday.

The ‘orange’ aviation alert code was activated, warning of the danger volcanic dust and emitted gases can pose to aircraft, officials said.” Read more.

 

Holland: Professional ‘Moderate Muslim’ Turns Out to be Radical, Pro-Terrorist Jihadist

To the people of Holland: No need to worry, more political correctness and free smiles will eventually turn him and all like-minded Islamists into ‘true moderates’ …

By Barry Rubin – “Mohamed Azahaf, a 28-year-old immigrant from Morocco, was hired by the east Amsterdam district to build trust between Muslims and non-Muslims there. But a journalist did some careful research to discover he’s a supporter of Usama bin Ladin, said Muslim women who didn’t wear ‘proper’ clothing weren’t real Muslims, and even issued death threats against those criticizing Islamic doctrine.

His response? Only after this was exposed publicly did he claim his remarks–never changed by him until that moment–didn’t represent his current views. The district council’s response? To defend him, though it’s starting to get worried.” Read more.

‘Turkey’s Muslim Identity is Here to Stay’ as Citizens Are Becoming ‘Fanatically Anti-Semitic’

By MUSTAFA AKYOL – “There was an interesting story in the Daily News last week, about the cancelling of a Yuval Ron concert in Istanbul. Mr. Ron, an award-wining Israeli musician, was supposed to play his tunes in a Sultanahmet hall, but the event was cancelled at the last minute due to protests, and, allegedly, some ‘threats.’ The organization holding the protest – but denied any threat – was the famous Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, that organized last year’s controversial Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, which was lethally raided by Israeli commandos.

The İHH, of course, is an Islamic-minded organization. Therefore, I received a few emails from Western friends complaining how Islam and its ascendant role in public life are making Turks fanatically anti-Semitic. If Turkey had been dominated by more-secular minded Turks, these friends added, it would have been a tolerant and loving, and particularly Israel-loving, society.” Read more.