Israel/Netanyahu has reluctantly, and even hesitantly, agreed to step back from the military brink with Iran to allow Obama a six-month window within which to win an agreement with Iran in which the latter would abandon it’s endeavor to create a nuclear bomb.

Here’s what DEBKAfile reported on May 19th: “Netanyahu and Ehud Barak have decided to stand back for Barack Obama to put his interim deal with Iran to the test, debkafile’s sources report. They decided to go along with it despite their reservations after receiving assurances from the White House that any Iranian violations would result in the immediate termination of all negotiations and bring military action forward as the sole remaining option for stopping a nuclear Iran. It was not clear if US intended to exercise the military itself. The Obama administration handed similar assurances to the G-8 leaders meeting at Camp David Saturday May 19.”

That same report from DEBKAFILE went on to say the following: ” Israel’s qualified acquiescence to the deal negotiated by Washington was accompanied by assertions by its ministers that Iran was lying about its nuclear intentions and playing the world for a fool. Tehran would therefore not stand up to the test.”

It’s not going well for Obama.

Iran is playing Obama like a Stradivarius

Iran is playing Obama like a Stradivarius. Plus, Obama, as the naive kid on the block, has invited Russia into the negotiation so than any deal with Iran will include Russia, thereby bringing a third party influence to the mix. (Actually, considering that Israel has given up none of its stake in the deal, there will now be FOUR countries involved in the negotiations even though Israel is silent.)

Read More at canadafreepress.com. By J.D. Longstreet.

Photo Credit: Dustin C. Oliver Creative Commons

More than two dozen gay and lesbian couples in Illinois plan to file lawsuits Wednesday arguing that it’s unconstitutional for the state to deny them the right to marry, a move advocates hope will lead to legalized same-sex marriage in Illinois.

The two lawsuits — backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the New York-based gay advocacy group Lambda Legal — include couples from the Chicago area, Bloomington and Marion. Both challenge a state law that defines marriage as between a man and woman, arguing that the Illinois Constitution guarantees the right for same-sex couples to marry under due process and equality clauses.

Legislation to eliminate the law’s language that prohibits gay marriage is pending, but a vote isn’t expected before the legislative session is scheduled to end this week. And although Illinois enacted same-sex civil unions last year, couples in the lawsuits said the limited rights and protections make them feel like second-class citizens.

The lead plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit, which includes nine couples, are Chicago police detective Tanya Lazaro and systems analyst Elizabeth Matos. The women, who’ve been together 15 years and have two children, reject the notion of a civil union.

“It’s not the same thing as a marriage. We want our relationship, our love and our commitment we’ve shown for 15 years to be recognized like everybody else’s,” Lazaro said. “When you’re growing up, you don’t dream of civil unions.”

Read More at OfficialWire. By Sophia Tareen, AP.

Photo Credit: forwardstl (Creative Commons)

The House will vote this summer on continuing wide-ranging tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Friday as the GOP sharpened its plans for confronting Democrats on one of the election’s top issues.

In a memo to fellow Republican lawmakers, Cantor said the House would vote on extending those tax cuts before leaving Washington for its August recess. Without congressional action, tax rates on wages, dividends, capital gains and other earnings will rise and most Americans will face higher taxes.

In one of the defining partisan disputes of recent years, Republicans want to keep those tax cuts — first enacted in 2001 and 2003 — for all taxpayers. President Barack Obama and Democrats oppose renewing the tax cuts for the highest earning Americans, though they haven’t agreed among themselves yet where the cutoff should be.

The House vote will be symbolic because Democrats running the Senate are sure to block a bill cutting taxes for the rich. Senate Democrats haven’t decided yet whether to hold votes this summer or fall on extending the tax cuts, and whether the reductions should be renewed for people earning up to $250,000 or $1 million annually.

The two parties are expected to get more serious about working toward legislation that would actually become law after the elections, with the details dependent on who captures control of the White House, House and Senate.

Read More at OfficialWire .  By Alan Fram, AP.

JERUSALEM — Members of the Syrian opposition are pressing to openly announce an affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood at a meeting scheduled to take place in Turkey later this week, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

The opposition has been plagued by infighting, with competing divisions sparing with each other even since the movement was created in September.

Just last week, Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun announced his resignation after major divisions within his council reached a climax two days after the coalition voted to renew his term for another three months.

Ghalioun has faced criticism from some opposition members of being too close to the Muslim Brotherhood and of trying to monopolize power within the SNC.

“I will not allow myself to be the candidate of division,” he said. “I am not attached to the position, so I announce that I will step down after a new candidate has been chosen, either by consensus or through new elections.”

Read More at Klein Online. By Aaron Klein.

Senator Marco Rubio criticized the Obama administration for cooperating with a Hollywood moviemaker on a film about the top-secret Navy unit that killed Osama bin Laden, warning such actions could “impact the ability to carry out similar operations in the future.”
It was “wrong” and “part of a troubling trend of chest- thumping” on the part of the administration, Rubio said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. The 40-year-old Florida Republican sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Pentagon’s top intelligence official, Michael Vickers, met with Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow and divulged the name of the typically secret Navy commando unit known as SEAL Team Six, according to a transcript of the July 15 meeting released May 22 by Judicial Watch, a Washington-based legal organization. The meeting, sanctioned by the White House, came after then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates and then-Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen urged military officials to stop talking about the May 2, 2011 raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.

‘Most Divisive’

In the interview, Rubio chastised Barack Obama on a number of issues and reiterated a charge that the president is more divisive than former Republican President Richard Nixon, who resigned under the threat of impeachment for his administration’s involvement in the Watergate break-in scandal.

On immigration, Rubio is crafting an alternative to a bill known as the DREAM Act that would grant a pathway to citizenship for military veterans and allow some students to stay and work legally on non-immigrant visas. A DREAM Act measure backed by Obama and most Democrats that would have given some students brought to the U.S. as children a path to citizenship was blocked by Republican congressional leaders.

Read More at newsmax.com.