Obama ’delusional’ on possible Iran deal: Senator McCain

Returning from Saudi Arabia, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain told CNBC on Wednesday he’s most concerned about the threat posed by Iran. 
'There’s a delusion that somehow we’re going to have an agreement with Iran ... [and] that we’ll all be working together,' the Arizona Republican said in a 'Squawk Box' interview. 'Iranians are on the march in the Mideast.' 
McCain said the Saudis 'perceive a lack of strong American leadership,' as Iran gains significant influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. 
McCain joined the president and other bipartisan U.S. dignitaries in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to pay respects to the late King Abdullah and to meet the new leader of the oil-rich nation, King Salman. 
The leadership transition is going smoothly, and Salman’s rule will be 'in keeping the Saudi policies' toward the U.S. and the region, McCain said. 
'The Saudis are more frightened, and I’m more concerned about the rise of ISIS [Islamic State militants] and even more about the incursions by Iran in different countries,' he added.
McCain offered solutions to these growing threats. 'We should arm the Free Syrian Army. We should have more American boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria in the form of forward air controllers, intelligence capabilities, [and] special forces.' He said the U.S. needs to understand that Iraq and Syria are not different conflicts.

Cairo demonstration demands investigation into protestor deaths

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Female protestors began gathering in downtown Cairo Thursday afternoon demanding an investigation into the deaths of activist Shaimaa Sabbagh and others who they say were killed by Egyptian security forces around the anniversary of the 2011 uprising.

The protestors gathered at the site of Sabbagh's death near Cairo's Tahrir Square, chanting "The interior ministry are thugs!" and holding signs with the word "Murderer" scrawled over Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim's face.

About 100 had gathered at the time the demonstration was meant to start at 2.00 pm local time, and protesters appeared to be avoiding blocking the streets by gathering on the sidew

The Iranian opposition is opposed to any alliance with Tehran

Source: Reuters, (Translated from French)
The Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (PMOI/MEK), a movement of exiled opponents of the mullahs in power in Iran, Monday warned Western countries against any alliance with Iran in the fight against the Islamic state (Daech) .

Shiite Iran is not involved in the coalition formed in the US initiative to combat the Sunni jihadists of IS in Iraq and Syria, but provides military support to Shiite regimes in Damascus and Baghdad.

"The participation of the regime (Tehran) in the coalition against Daech is a hundred times more dangerous than any Islamic fundamentalism under the guise of Shiism or Sunnism," said the president of the PMOI, Maryam Rajavi, at a hearing organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

While international negotiations over Iran's nuclear program resume in early February, she described as "simplistic" the idea that greater involvement of Iran in Iraq would cause the regime abandon its nuclear weapons.

"When the mullahs have more open hand in Iraq, they will not give up the bomb," said Maryam Rajavi.

"Fundamentalist" Shi'a power in place since 1979 in Iran is not the solution, she said, but they are the cause of Sunni fundamentalism.

"If there was not this cruel repression of Sunnis in Iraq and Syria by the Iranian regime and its allies and puppet governments Daech would have had no fertile ground for its development," she said.

PMOI that says is defending a secular and democratic conception of Islam, believes that in the fight against Islamic fundamentalism passes through the immediate overthrow of the Iranian regime and in the short run by its eviction from Syria and Iraq.

Mexico - Tortured then thrown to the Crocodiles

Translated for Borderland Beat from a Notinfomex article by Otis B Fly-Wheel

He was identified as Venancio Soberanis Pantoja , a youngster who was thrown to crocodiles in Larazo Cardenas, after being tortured and executed.

The body was on the point of being completely devoured by the crocodiles in the Santa Anna bar. However tourists and locals reported the situation to authorities , then elements of civil protection among others , attended the site and managed to snatch the body from the jaws of the reptiles.

The situation occurred around Midday just at the height of the bridge of Santa Ana , in the Boulevard of the Municipality of Lazaro Cardenas. The police suspect the killer or killers threw the body off the viaduct , and subsequently the reptiles ate his left leg.( Otis : id say that is his right leg )

Local officials , Military and bystanders fashioned a noose to recover the victim from the grasp of the reptiles, who hours later was identified as Venancio Soberanis Pantoja, 20 years of age , it was noted that his hands were tied behind his back with yellow cord , and his head had severe injuries.

A special kind of hate " Pat Condell " ?

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Iranian regime’s 1,800-mile range missiles are a world threat

The Iranian regime has missiles that can reach 1,800 miles, making the regime a 'world threat' whether they are nuclear or not, Ali Safavi, member of Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran told Newsmax TV.

Ali Safavi said: "With or without a ballistic missile, the Iranian regime remains from my view the number one in strategic threat, not only in regional countries, but also to the national security of the United States.

"When you talk about the agenda of the U.S. president, the focus has to be on the growing threat coming from Tehran."

He added: "You have to look at the situation in perspective. For the past 35 years, and particularly in recent years, as the Iranian regime has become more isolated, the problem with the Syrian regime, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the region is that the Iranian regime has continued to sponsor terror and has continued to finance terrorist groups.

"They spent billions of dollars helping Bashar Assad, up to $2 billion a month. They are helping to keep Assad in power and have been training and financing Shiite militants in Iraq and in Yemen, where Iranian trained, financed and armed rebels have taken over that country.

"The threat of Iran as a terrorist sponsoring regime is very real and the danger is thinking that if we are nice to them, they'll be nice to us. The Iranian regime and its leaders are bad actors in the region, and this calls for decisive and firm policy on the part of the US administration."

Suspicions Grow in Chile That Rustlers Killed 2 Police Officers

SANTIAGO – Chilean President Michelle Bachelet expressed her regrets Friday for the murder of two Carabineros – members of Chile’s militarized police – in a possible clash with livestock thieves this Thursday in the area they were patrolling near the Peruvian border, according to the deputy secretary of the interior, Mahmud Aleuy.

“We very sorrowfully learned of the death of these Carabineros while on duty guarding the security of our land. We very much regret their passing,” the president said at the signing of a bill that will toughen penalties for crimes of great social significance.

Bachelet said the bill “is a tribute to people who, like these murdered Carabineros, give their lives so we can live in peace.”

Aleuy also referred to the death of the two officers of the Carabineros and said that the “most reasonable” hypothesis up to now is that the killing was a result of a “clash with rustlers,” since there have been reports of vicunas being stolen in the area of the killings.

Though the motive of the murders is still unknown, the suspicion is growing that they were related to “the trafficking of vicunas on the nation’s border,” the prosecutor of Arica and Parinacota, Carlos Eltit, said in a statement on Radio ADN.

According to Aleuy, the only possibility discarded up to now is that the slaying of the Carabineros, who were patrolling the highway between Visviri and Tacora in Parinacota province, came as the result of a clash with uniformed Peruvian personnel.

Starting this Thursday, a special squad of the Peruvian National Police has been carrying out search operations on the Peruvian side of the border with Chile to try and find the killers of the two police officers and investigate the circumstances of their deaths.

The bodies of the two Carabineros were found this Thursday, after the officers failed to return from a patrol mission in the Chilluma sector, at some 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the Peruvian border.