By Diana West    
 I wasn't going to write about Ramadan in official Washington this fall season not again. But I just can't resist.
First, there are all the holiday trappings of this by-now annual column such seasonal staples as my all-time favorite "war on terror" quotation from Abu Qatada, the al Qaeda-linked cleric. I just love to trot it out around Ramadan after President Bush has said something utterly ignorant about Islam meaning peace, or, addressing the Muslim pooh-bahs he always has in to the White House for a fast-breaking Iftar dinner, about how the jihadists have "twisted" Islam.
"I am astonished by President Bush when he claims there is nothing in the Koran that justifies jihad violence in the name of Islam," Abu Qatada said about six years ago. "Is he some kind of Islamic scholar? Has he ever actually read the Koran?" Ah, me. Good stuff.
Then there's the holiday excitement of combing through the White House Iftar dinner guest list looking for unindicted co-conspirators. Since I had to put this column together before White House Iftar 2007, I turned to White House Ramadans past, reading through the president's old speeches-2001 through 2006 to see if I'd ...   more »

By JULIE MASON
In separate rooms on overlapping morning hours at the National Press Club this week, two very different groups were launching the next rounds in the simmering immigration fight.
In the Zenger Room, named for German immigrant John Peter Zenger, who helped establish free speech law, Californians for Population Stabilization released a study claiming there are 20 million to 38 million illegal immigrants in America, not the 12 million the federal government says.
"Immigration is in a state of anarchy," organization member James Walsh, a former Immigration and Naturalization Service lawyer, fervently told the room. "Not chaos, anarchy."
Two doors down in the Murrow Room, named for American broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, the Spanish-language network Telemundo debuted a series of upbeat public service announcements urging their audience to register and vote.
News anchor Jose Diaz-Balart said Telemundo wants to leverage the passion from last year's immigration rallies into a stronger turnout among Latinos, who historically vote at disproportionately low rates.
"Hispanics in the U.S. will now have a way to channel all that frustration and do some good," Diaz-Balart said.
Whether the two groups were aware of each other, neither side let on. But each represents emerging new ...   more »

Looking high and low, Robbin Thorp can no longer find a species of bumblebee that just five years ago was plentiful in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon.
Thorp, an emeritus professor of entomology from the University of California at Davis, found one solitary worker last year along a remote mountain trail in the Siskiyou Mountains, but hasn't been able to locate any this year.
He fears that the species — Franklin's bumblebee — has gone extinct before anyone could even propose it for the endangered species list. To make matters worse, two other bumblebee species — one on the East coast, one on the West — have gone from common to rare.
Amid the uproar over global warming and mysterious disappearances of honeybee colonies, concern over the plight of the lowly bumblebee has been confined to scientists laboring in obscurity.
But if bumblebees were to disappear, farmers and entomologists warn, the consequences would be huge, especially coming on top of the problems with honeybees, which are active at different times and on different crop species.Bumblebees are responsible for pollinating an estimated 15 percent of all the crops grown in the U.S., worth $3 billion, particularly those raised in greenhouses. Those ...   more »

Iranian news outlet claims nuclear experts packed their bags Friday, increasing speculation of imminent U.S., Israeli attack
Paul Joseph Watson
Iranian and Israeli news outlets are reporting that Russia has evacuated its entire staff of nuclear engineers and experts who were working at the Bushehr nuclear reactor, increasing speculation that the United States is preparing an imminent military attack on Iran.
According to the Khorramshar News Agency, which represents ethnic Arabs in opposition to Ahmadinejad's regime who live near the reactor, the Russians packed their bags and left on Friday.
DEBKAfile offers three different scenarios to explain the sudden withdrawal of the experts.
) Russian-Iranian negotiations about how work will proceed on Bushehr have again hit a roadblock. This is highly unlikely because Vladimir Putin is set to visit Iran later in the month to sign a set of nuclear accords.
b) The Russians have learned that an Iranian attack against American interests in the Persian Gulf or Israel is imminent. This is extremely doubtful because any preemptive Iranian attack would give Israel and the U.S. the pretext they are desperately searching for to launch a devastating bombing campaign.
c) Moscow or Tehran have been tipped off that an attack ...   more »

By Michel Chossudovsky
Note: Readers are welcome to cross-post this article with a view to spreading the word and warning people of the dangers of a broader Middle East war. Please indicate the source and copyright note.
Quoting official sources, the Western media is now confirming, rather belatedly, that the Bush Administration's war plans directed against Iran are "for real" and should be taken seriously.
According to official statements, "punitive bombings" directed against Tehran could be launched within the next few months.
The diplomatic mode has been switched off:  The Pentagon is said to be "taking steps to ensure military confrontation with Iran" because diplomatic initiatives have allegedly failed to reach a solution.
These diabolical statements come within barely a couple of weeks following the release of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report. The later confirms unequivocally that Iran's nuclear program is of a civilian nature and that Iran has neither the intention nor the capabilities to develop nuclear weapons: 
Article IV (1): These modalities cover all remaining issues and the Agency [meaning IAEA] confirmed that there are no other remaining issues and ambiguities regarding Iran's past nuclear program and activities.
Article IV (3): The Agency's delegation is of ...   more »

By Prof. Michel Chossudovsky
In a timely decision, Azerbaijan recently (mid-March) granted NATO the permission to use two of its military bases and an airport to "back up its peace-keeping operation in Afghanistan" including support for NATO's "supply route to Afghanistan".  NATO's special envoy Robert Simmons insists that the agreement has nothing to do with US plans to wage aerial bombardments on Iran.
Media sources in Baku have intimated that this timely agreement is directly related to ongoing US-Israeli-NATO war plans. Its timing coincides with US naval deployments and war games in the Persian Gulf. The airport and two military bases are slated to be "modernized to meet NATO standards". Washington has confirmed in this regard that it would "support the modernization of a military airport  in the framework of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) signed between Azerbaijan and NATO.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan released a statement to the effect that  "Azerbaijan's territory will not be at the disposal of any country for hostile acts against neighbours [Iran] " (See Mardom Salari (Farsi), BBC translation, 5 April 2007).
This announcement by the Azeri Defense Ministry was in response to an off-the-cuff statement by US Undersecretary of State ...   more »

by Dana Gabriel
The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) would essentially give United Nations control of what happens on, over, and under the world's oceans. This would include seven-tenths of the worlds surface. Former President Ronald Regan was opposed to it, but years later some changes were made and it was signed by then President Bill Clinton. He had hoped that it would be ratified, but because of intense opposition, it never made it to the Senate floor. After several attempts under George W. Bush's presidency, it now appears as if it has the support to go to vote and pass. President Bush, the State Department, and the Department of Defense are now all pushing for its ratification. Proponents of LOST insist that it is necessary in order to protect U.S. interests in the world's oceans. The truth is that the U.S. already honors many of its provisions and ratifying the treaty would seriously encroach on American sovereignty and give the UN more power and authority over our own affairs.
Currently, 155 nations have ratified LOST with the U.S. being the only one out of the major powers not to do so. LOST will establish a comprehensive set of ...   more »