IDF deputy chief: Israel's army needs faith in God more than tanks

Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Naveh said the events currently shaking the Arab world 'were ordained from above' by a guiding hand.

The events currently shaking the Arab world "were ordained from above" by a guiding hand, Israel Defense Forces Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Naveh said on Sunday. Naveh added that the Israeli army needed faith in God now more than its supply of planes and tanks.

Naveh made the statements while accompanying Israel's two chief rabbis, Rabbi Yona Metzger and Rabbi Shlomo Amar, on their visit to the chief military rabbi's office at the Tzrifin base.

In remarks during the visit captured by the pro-settler news outlet Arutz 7, Naveh called Israel an island of calm in the storm of the Middle East, turmoil that had not been foreseen by intelligence officials despite their good work.

"But it was ordained from above," he said, "and we don't know where it will lead, but it's clear to us that there is a hand from above."

Naveh said supposedly democratic forces in the Middle East have always been supplanted by negative extremist and religious forces. Addressing the chief rabbis, Naveh called the IDF a Jewish army, an army of believers and an army that from the beginning always "knew how to create the right balance among communities represented in it, all the religions represented in it, but always leading with the power of faith and adherence to mitzvot [religious commandments]."

He said in recent years, the army had become more welcoming to religious soldiers.

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Wheat Surges to Record in China as Drought Boosts Import Demand Outlook

Wheat Surges to a Record in China on Drought, Rising Imports

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat advanced in Chicago and traded at a record in Zhengzhou, China, as demand increased and on speculation a drought in the Asian nation, the biggest grower, may damage plants.

Snowfalls in China’s major wheat-growing regions failed to ease a drought and the dry spell is likely to affect crops, Chen Lei, deputy director at the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, said Feb. 12. Egypt, the biggest importer, and Bangladesh announced tenders last week, and hedge funds increased their bullish bets on wheat to the highest in more than three years.

“Reports of possible substantial damage due to the multi- month drought in the major growing areas in China are the main reason for” rising prices, Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report today. “While the situation could improve significantly now if enough snow or rain falls soon, concerns are currently determining the picture.”

Wheat futures for May delivery surged 13.75 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $9.125 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 10:24 a.m. London time. The price earlier touched $9.15 a bushel, the highest level since Aug. 22, 2008. The September- delivery contract on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange jumped as much as 3.7 percent to a record 3,110 yuan ($471) a metric ton.

Milling wheat futures for March traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris gained 3.25 euros, or 1.2 percent, to 276.25 a ton.

Getting Warmer

As drought threatens to damage the crop in China, also the top user of the grain, hedge funds and money managers increased in the week of Feb. 8 their net-long positions, or wagers on rising prices, by 19 percent to 51,787 contracts, the highest since August 2007, U.S. government data showed Feb. 11.

The dry spell is likely to continue to affect crops as the weather is getting warmer and winter wheat needs large amounts of water when turning green, Chen said in a statement on Feb. 12.

About 42 percent of the total area planted with the grain in China’s eight major producing provinces has been hit by the dry spell that may last into the spring, Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu said last week.

As of Feb. 10, the drought had affected 6.75 million hectares (16.7 million acres) of crops, leaving 2.8 million people and more than 2.5 million livestock short of drinking water, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Feb. 12. Rain on the North China Plain has been “substantially” below normal since October, the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization said Feb. 8.

Weather Outlook

The weather in China’s growing regions “is one to watch,” Michael Pitts, commodity sales director at National Australia Bank Ltd., said by phone from Sydney. “The drought will be very significant, if it continues,” he said, referring to its impact on global harvests and wheat prices.

China’s wheat harvest may drop by 4 million tons this year, Alex Bos, a London-based analyst at Macquarie Group Ltd., said last week. Output may have fallen to 114.5 million tons at the last harvest, from 115.1 million tons a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Demand also may be boosting prices. Egypt agreed to buy 170,000 tons of Australian, U.S. and Canadian soft wheat in a tender, General Authority for Supply Commodities Vice Chairman Nomani Nomani said Feb. 11.

“There’s been a bit of tender business and also private business through the Middle East,” Pitts said. “That’s highlighting the mid-term demand and the U.S. is one of the most competitive” suppliers, he said.

Soybeans for March delivery gained 0.2 percent to $14.19 bushel in Chicago while May-delivery corn increased 0.3 percent to $7.195 a bushel.

Bloomberg News


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In sharp reversal, U.S. agrees to rebuke Israel in Security Council

The U.S. informed Arab governments Tuesday that it will support a U.N. Security Council statement reaffirming that the 15-nation body "does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity," a move aimed at avoiding the prospect of having to veto a stronger Palestinian resolution calling the settlements illegal.

But the Palestinians rejected the American offer following a meeting late Wednesday of Arab representatives and said it is planning to press for a vote on its resolution on Friday, according to officials familar with the issue. The decision to reject the American offer raised the prospect that the Obama adminstration will cast its first ever veto in the U.N. Security Council. 

Still, the U.S. offer signaled a renewed willingness to seek a way out of the current impasse, even if it requires breaking with Israel and joining others in the council in sending a strong message to its key ally to stop its construction of new settlements. U.S. officials were not available for comment, but two Security Council diplomats confirmed the proposal.

The Palestinian delegation, along with Lebanon, the Security Council's only Arab member state, asked the council's president late Wednesday to schedule a meeting for Friday. But it remained unclear whether the Palestinian move today to reject the U.S. offer is simply a negotiating tactic aimed at extracting a better deal from Washington. 

Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, outlined the new U.S. offer in a closed door meeting on Tuesday with the Arab Group, a bloc of Arab countries from North Africa and the Middle East. In exchange for scuttling the Palestinian resolution, the United States would support the council statement, consider supporting a U.N. Security Council visit to the Middle East, the first since 1979, and commit to supporting strong language criticizing Israel's settlement policies in a future statement by the Middle East Quartet.

The U.S.-backed draft statement -- which was first reported by Al Hurra -- was obtained by Turtle Bay. In it, the Security Council "expresses its strong opposition to any unilateral actions by any party, which cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community, and reaffirms, that it does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity, which is a serious obstacle to the peace process." The statement also condemns "all forms of violence, including rocket fire from Gaza, and stresses the need for calm and security for both peoples."

U.S. officials argue that the only way to resolve the Middle East conflict is through direct negotiations involving Israel and the Palestinians. For weeks, the Obama administration has refused to negotiate with the Palestinians on a resolution condemning the settlements as illegal, signaling that they would likely veto it if it were put to a vote. The Palestinians were planning to put the resolution to a vote later this week. But Security Council statements of the sort currently under consideration are voted on the bases of consensus in the 15-nation council.

The United States has, however, been isolated in the 15-nation council. Virtually all 14 other member states are prepared to support the Palestinian resolution, according to council diplomats. A U.N. Security Council resolution generally carries greater political and legal force than a statement from the council's president.

The U.S. concession comes as the Middle East is facing a massive wave of popular demonstrations that have brought down the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and are posing a challenge to governments in Algeria, Bahrain, and Iran.

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Earthquake Shakes Up Suez Canal as Iran Warships Approach

AT THIS POINT THERE IS NO SPIRITUAL COINCIDENCE........

An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale shook up residents at the entrance to the Suez Canal early Monday morning, 48 hours before two Iranian ships, a frigate and a supply vessel, are expected to enter the canal.

The National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research reported that tremors from the 3 a.m. quake lasted for 27 minutes, but caused no damage.

The ships had originally been expected to enter the Suez today (Monday), but Egyptian officials announced the delay this morning, without explanation.

Iran inexplicably announced Sunday morning that two of its warships had crossed the Suez, a report that was thoroughly denied by Egyptian authorities. Iranian media did not mention the ships on Monday, and the false report may have been for local consumption.

No Iranian ship has been allowed to pass through the Suez Canal since Iran's 1979 overthrow of the Shah and Egypt's signing of a peace treaty with Israel the same year.Egyptian-Iranian Rapprochement?

Egypt’s agreeing to allow Iranian ships to pass through the Suez is seen by many analysts as a signal that the new regime in Egypt is leaning towards ties with Iran, but Suez Canal officials have pointed out that an international convention requires it allow passage to all ships.Egypt has reportedly agreed to allow the Iranian boats to pass through the canal en route to Syria. The Obama administration is concerned about “what’s the cargo on board, where is it going, to whom, for what benefit," U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. Iran has said that the ships are headed for Syria for training, Crowley commented, as laughter was heard in the audience: “My initial response to that would be that we’re highly skeptical of that claim.”

President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accused Iran of trying to exploit the crisis in Egypt to increase its influence in the Middle East.

“Iran wants to say to the world, to the United States, Israel and other countries in the Mideast that it has reached not only areas close to it but also farther away, including in the Mediterranean," Ephraim Kam of the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel told the Associated Press.

The Iranian maritime maneuver also signals it is prepared to protect the Hamas and Hizbullah terrorist organizations on Israel’s southern and northern borders.

Iran officials last month announced that its ships would be sailing through the Suez to gather intelligence, but analysts stress that the Islamic Republic’s ultimate goal is to establish Shi’ite dominance in the Muslim world, far beyond Lebanon and Syria.

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China hackers break into five oil companies

The "Night Dragon" attacks, as they have been dubbed, are now being investigated by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

Starting as early as 2007, the attacks were "coordinated, covert and targeted", according to a report by McAfee, the computer security company.

McAfee said the hackers targeted five large oil and gas companies, but did not identify them by name. The attacks successfully obtained information about oil and gas field operations, including the configuration of equipment, and financial documents relating to bids for oil and gas concessions and drilling rights.

Dmitri Alperovitch, a researcher at McAfee, suggested the attacks had been commercially motivated. "The information is tremendously sensitive and would be worth a huge amount of money to competitors," he said.

He added that the attacks had occurred strictly during working hours, Beijing time, and that the hackers appeared to be like "company worker bees".

The attacks were said by McAfee to be similar to the hacking of Google in December 2009, when attackers succeeded in stealing some of the search engine's valuable source code. They also resembled a China-based espionage network discovered in 2009 and nicknamed GhostNet, that broke into the computers of diplomats, activists and businessmen and transmitted information back to the hackers.

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied it is responsible for computer hacking and insisted that there are strong laws in China to punish hackers.

The Telegraph

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Israel PM on Egypt: Israel must ‘prepare for worst’

Netanyahu says leaders and policy-makers around the world must be alerted of possible dangers that may lie ahead.

Israel shares the world’s hopes that Egypt will succeed in its quest for genuine reform,but unlike other democracies it cannot just hope for the best, but must prepare for the worst, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

Speaking to the annual Jerusalem meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Netanyahu said that part of preparing for the worst was “to alert leaders and policy-makers around the world of possible dangers that may lie ahead, not because I want them to materialize – I don’t – but because I have a responsibility to do whatever I can to increase the chances that they don’t materialize.”


With these words the prime minister was taking on criticism articulated in recent days – most notably by New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman and Roger Cohen – that Israel has been on the wrong side of history in not fervently applauding the recent events in Cairo.

“No one knows what the future in Egypt will bring,” Netanyahu said. “People in Washington don’t know, and people in Tehran don’t know, and – this may be hard for some of you – but even columnists in The New York Times don’t know.”

Netanyahu said that while changing the status quo led to a much better situation in Europe in 1989 with the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the same cannot be said of the Russian Revolution in 1917, or the Iranian revolution in 1979.

Even more recently, he said, most of the world applauded the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon in 2005. But just a few years later, Hezbollah – “a terror organization that respects no human rights, that crushes human rights into the dust” – has taken over the country.

Ultimately, the Egyptians themselves will determine their own fate, Netanyahu said, “but Israel cannot profess neutrality about the outcome, because above all, we want the future Egyptian government to remain committed to peace with Israel.”


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All children to be registered in national biometric records

Below the radar of public opinion, Mexico has started to assemble the type of biometric national identity database that could be used to document names for a North American Trusted Traveler border pass card, a plan already being developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Mexican citizens.
It apparently would be similar to the program that has become commonplace in the European Union to allow free transit for EU citizens to move, live and work wherever they choose within the EU, disregarding nation-of-origin and national border restrictions.
On Jan. 19, 2011, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon signedan executive order requiring within the next five years all Mexicans 17 years old and younger have abiometricnationalidentitycard that would include a facial photograph, all 10 fingerprints, and an iris scan.
Discover the shocking truth about why the U.S. government doesn't really want to protect our Mexican and Canadian borders, in Jerome Corsi's "The Late Great USA."
To carry out the presidential executive order, the Mexican Directorate General of the National Population Register plans to go to all elementary schools in Mexico schools in Mexico to record the required biometric information and issue individualidentitycards.
The Mexican National Institute of Geography and Statistics estimates that in 2005, there were 10.5 million Mexicans between 5 and 9 years old, 11 million between 10 and 14 years old, and 10 million between 15 and 19 years old.


Read more:All children to be registered in national biometric databasehttp://www.wnd.com/?pageId=263797#ixzz1E2ROgVJt

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