1. (S/NF) In a September 26 meeting with the Ambassador, Israeli MOD Political-Military Bureau Chief Amos Gilad indicated that his September 25 meetings in Egypt to discuss the Rafah passage on the Egypt-Gaza border yielded no breakthroughs. Gilad said the Israelis prefer to open Rafah passage after six months, while the Egyptians prefer to open it by mid-January -- before Palestinian elections and the Haj. Gilad said the Egyptians are controlling the Egypt-Gaza border better than before, and praised them for quickly sealing the border when asked by Israel to do so. Requesting that his information and sources be strictly protected, Gilad said Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman recounted to him the details of a recent visit to Cairo by Syrian President Al-Asad. Gilad cited Suleiman as saying that Al-Asad "threatened" Egypt not to yield to U.S. pressure to isolate Syria, or suffer Syria´s playing the "Palestinian card."

2. (S/NF) Summary, cont.: Gilad said he warned Suleiman that continued terrorist activity on the part of Hamas will not be tolerated, and that Hamas participation in January 2006 Palestinian elections will "destroy everything." According to Gilad, Suleiman said Egypt will take steps to ensure that there will be no elections in January, but did not elaborate. [...]

Mission accomplished! Iraq poised to sign $12b gas deal with Shell 07 Feb 2011 Baghdad could sign a long-awaited US$12 billion (Dh44.07b) joint venture contract with Royal Dutch Shell this month to capture and market gas from Iraq's southern oilfields. The Anglo-Dutch company is awaiting approval to harvest about 700 million cubic feet a day of gas that is currently being burnt at the cluster of supergiant oilfields near Basra.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is threatening to sue The Guardian for libel after claims in a book published by the newspaper about its collaboration with him. The prospect of the defamation action comes as the 39-year-old Australian is due appear in court in south-east London this morning to fight extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about allegations of sexual assault against two women. Mr Assange's battle to overturn a European arrest warrant issued by the Swedish authorities will enter a crucial phase at Belmarsh magistrates' court when a judge begins hearing two days of evidence. Mr Assange's lawyers are expected to argue the Swedish prosecutors have incorrectly filed the case and that the proceedings are politically motivated.

Margaret Rees: Julian Assange condemns Australian Labor government at public meeting

The Huffington Post, which began in 2005 with a meager $1 million investment and has grown into one of the most heavily visited news Web sites in the country, is being acquired by AOL in a deal that creates an unlikely pairing of two online media giants. The two companies completed the sale Sunday evening and announced the deal just after midnight on Monday. AOL will pay $315 million, $300 million of it in cash and the rest in stock. It will be the company’s largest acquisition since it was separated from Time Warner in 2009.

Minimally explored in all the coverage of the momentous Egyptian uprising taking place over the last 10 days are the Israeli connections. A central and critical reality is that it is US tax money that has propped up Hosni Mubarak’s despotic regime over the past 30 years, and that this money has flowed, from the beginning, largely on behalf of Israel. Israel is generally a significant factor in events in the Middle East, and to understand ongoing happenings it is important to understand the historic and current Israeli connections.

President Barack Obama’s latest comments on Egypt, much as his previous comments, came mostly in vague references to reforms and change in the nation, while refusing to predict anything near term. “Egypt is not going to go back to what it was,” insisted Obama, who also made vague references to Egypt eventually having a representative system of government. US officials have called for reforms in Egypt, but have stopped short of calling for Mubarak’s immediate resignation. Obama likewise refused to make that call once again, insisting that he would not attempt to predict what was going to happen and that “only he (Mubarak) knows what he’s going to do.” Obama has previously lauded Mubarak as a “patriot” who “really cares” about Egypt, but has also insisted that changes must be made.

Frank Wisner, President Barack Obama's envoy to Cairo who infuriated the White House this weekend by urging Hosni Mubarak to remain President of Egypt, works for a New York and Washington law firm which works for the dictator's own Egyptian government. Mr Wisner's astonishing remarks – "President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical: it's his opportunity to write his own legacy" – shocked the democratic opposition in Egypt and called into question Mr Obama's judgement, as well as that of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The US State Department and Mr Wisner himself have now both claimed that his remarks were made in a "personal capacity". But there is nothing "personal" about Mr Wisner's connections with the litigation firm Patton Boggs, which openly boasts that it advises "the Egyptian military, the Egyptian Economic Development Agency, and has handled arbitrations and litigation on the [Mubarak] government's behalf in Europe and the US". Oddly, not a single journalist raised this extraordinary connection with US government officials – nor the blatant conflict of interest it appears to represent.

[Editor's Comment:] Frank Wisner is Jewish and apparently a covert agent for Israel. What he said was no gaffe. It was serious attempt to tilt US policy in the direction Israel wants. -It was treason. This is what Obama does too, only this time he tried to give the appearance of acting in accordance with genuine American interests. The Israelis would have none of it. They will be holding their American puppet president on an even shorter leash from now on.

The National: Israel’s post-Mubarak fears see it cut ties with Egypt

The trial of three Americans accused of espionage and illegal entry into Iran started in Tehran yesterday behind close doors. Sarah Shourd, her fiance, Josh Fattal, and their friend Shane Bauer were detained by Iranian border guards in July 2009. The three hikers and their families deny the espionage charges and claim they accidentally strayed into Iranian soil while hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan. Ms Shourd was freed on US$500,000 (Dh1.83 million) bail and returned home last September. She is being tried in absentia. Iran's judicial authorities denied access to journalists and members of the public to yesterday's proceedings. The Swiss ambassador to Iran, Livia Leu Agosti, whose embassy has represented US interests in Iran since 1979, told the official Irna news agency that she had gone to the court on her own initiative but had been denied admittance to the trial.

Bush @ Superbowl

Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano is asking Super Bowl fans in Dallas and around the country to assist in the effort to make Super Bowl Sunday safe.

Secretary Napolitano launched the campaign called "If You See Something, Say Something" earlier this week when she personally inspected the security measures taken at Cowboys Stadium. The campaign is in partnership with the National Football League. “The idea is simple,” Napolitano said at a press conference on Monday. “We are simply asking the American people to be vigilant, recognizing that our security is a shared responsibility that all of us must participate in.” We've all heard of first responders and now Napolitano wants to deputize first observers no matter where Americans are to watch the big game. Although not very different from the advice we get at large public places to report anything suspicious, this effort encompasses the whole country on what has become a national holiday.

First Observer: We do see something, Janet. -We've discovered a war criminal and torturer. In fact, he's right here in Arlington, Texas, at the Superbowl...please do something...and fast.

The founder of WikiLeaks begins a hearing that could send him to Sweden for a sex crimes trial. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his entourage of lawyers, supporters, protesters and journalists are headed back to a London court for a showdown between the secret-spilling computer hacker and Swedish authorities who want him extradited to face sex crimes allegations. A two-day hearing that begins Monday will decide Assange's legal fate. It will also keep the spotlight away from WikiLeaks' revelations and on its opinion-dividing frontman.

Assange is accused of sexual misconduct by two women he met during a visit to Stockholm last year. At Belmarsh Magistrates' Court, a high-security judicial outpost beside a prison, defense lawyers will argue that he should not be extradited because he has not been charged with a crime, because of flaws in Swedish prosecutors' case -- and because a ticket to Sweden could land him in Guantanamo Bay or on U.S. death row. American officials are trying to build a criminal case against WikiLeaks, which has angered Washington by publishing a trove of leaked diplomatic cables and secret U.S. military files. Assange's lawyers claim the Swedish prosecution is linked to the leaks and politically motivated.

The US is sending warships, including one with 800 troops, and other military assets to Egypt as the revolution in the North African country gains momentum. Officials in Washington have stated that the move is to be prepared in case of an evacuation of Americans from Egypt. Pentagon has dismissed widespread assumptions that military intervention in Cairo is being contemplated, asserting that the objective of the deployment is mainly for the evacuation of US citizens in case the situation in Egypt further deteriorates. Separately, a US aircraft carrier has been asked to abort its mission and stay in the Mediterranean.

Al Jazeera has received images which appear to show scenes of intense fighting in central Cairo on Wedesday night, and similar scenes in Alexandria from last week. The images that emerged on YouTube show a man being shot at at a close range by what appears to be police; it is not known if the man survived. The Egyptian authorities say 11 people have been killed in the unrest across the country. The United Nations says it is more than 300.

Al Jazeera: Journalist shot and killed by police in Cairo
AWIP: Egypt: Police shoot boy in cold blood [ Alexandria, 31/01/2011 ]

US-led forces have killed two Afghan civilians and seriously injured another one in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, a foreign company announces. The Central Asia Development Group (CADG) said Monday that the foreign forces killed two Afghan employees of the Singapore-based engineering firm last week. CADG added that another Afghan civilian hired by the company was injured by "friendly fire" from US-led security forces on February 3.

US-led coalition forces and NATO troops in Afghanistan have been frequently criticized for the increase in civilian casualties caused by their military operations in the war-torn country. More than 2,400 civilians lost their lives in violence across Afghanistan in 2010, marking the deadliest year for ordinary Afghans, a human rights watchdog said last week.

Japan's Prime Minister leads large rally demanding return of islands held by Russia since the end of World War II calling recent visit by Russia's president an outrage. The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and believed to have offshore oil/natural gas reserves/gold/silver deposits. The dispute over the southern Kuril islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, has long been a sticking point in relations between the two countries and has kept them from signing a formal peace treaty ending their World War II hostilities. Japan has designated Feb. 7 as "Northern Territories Day," saying that a treaty dating back to that day in 1855 supports its claim to the islands.

Floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka have forced 320,000 people to flee their homes and killed at least 11. The Disaster Management Centre said the evacuees are being housed in 759 temporary camps after heavy rains last week forced them to flee. In addition to the 11 deaths, three people are missing. Sri Lanka's air force and navy were dropping food and rescuing marooned residents, mainly in worst-affected eastern and north-central provinces. Schools in the area remain closed. The centre said more than one million people have been affected by the floods. Deluges in January caused flooding and mudslides that also affected more than one million people.