Thursday, July 12, 2012
Iran's supreme leader, is telling his nation that it must prepare for war and "the end of times" as it continues to develop nuclear weapons
(Jerusalem, Israel) -- My friend Reza Kahlili published this fascinating and sobering article <http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/iran-leader-we-must-prep-for-end-of-times/> this week and I commend it to your attention. Reza used to be an officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Then he became a double agent for the CIA. Now he is an American citizen who is using his contacts and sources in Iran to gather information to expose the evil regime in Tehran and bring them down before they acquire nuclear weapons and try to usher in the reign of the Twelfth Imam.
Excerpts <http://www.wnd.com/2012/07/iran-leader-we-must-prep-for-end-of-times/> :
* Iran's supreme leader, for the first time, is telling his nation that it must prepare for war and "the end of times" as it continues to develop nuclear weapons. State-owned media outlets <http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13910417000756> , in a coordinated effort, all ran a similar story Friday <http://www.basijpress.ir/9300> highlighting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's message on the coming of the last Islamic messiah.
* Until now, the Iranian media would mostly quote clerics from seminaries on the issue of the last Islamic messiah to avoid the regime being labeled messianic. However, the wide publication of Khamenei's statements on a need to prepare for the end of times as it confronts the West over its illicit nuclear program is alarming to Western leaders.
* "The issue of Imam Mahdi is of utmost importance, and his reappearance has been clearly stated in our holy religion of Islam," Khamenei said. We must study and remind ourselves of the end of times and Imam Mahdi's era. . We must prepare the environment for the coming so that the great leader will come."
* Shiite theology holds that great wars must engulf the Earth, during which one-third of the world's population will die in the fighting and another third from hunger, lawlessness and havoc. Israel is to be destroyed, and only then will the 12th imam, Mahdi, reappear and kill all the infidels, raising the flag of Islam in all corners of the world....
Joel Rosenberg
Syria's Chemical Secret: Israel Raises Alarm
Hundreds of tonnes of Syria's stockpile of deadly nerve gas could fall into the hands of terrorist groups if the regime of Bashar al Assad falls apart amid widening concerns that Israel could go to war to try to stop this 'Doomsday threat'.
According to Middle Eastern and other intelligence sources, Syria has the biggest stockpiles of the nerve gasses VX and Sarin, as well as mustard gas, in the Middle East.
Investigations by Sky News have identified four sites where the agents are produced: Hama, Latakia, Al Safira, near Aleppo and at the Centre D'Etude et Recherche Scientifique laboratories in Damascus.
Storage sites have also been found at Khan abu Shamat, Furqlus, Hama, Masyaf, Palmyra.
Biological weapons are believed to be stored at Cerin while there are also numerous 'dual use' civilian pharmaceutical laboratories which are capable of producing bio-weapons such as botulism and anthrax.
Al Qaeda-related groups are known to be operating inside Syria. Its leadership has frequently extolled members or followers to try to get hold of chemical weapons.
Much of the fighting in Syria's civil war has centred on Hama, Latakia, and in the suburbs of the capital - making the storage and production sites of chemical weapons vulnerable to being overrun by rebels.
The deadly chemical weapons have been successfully 'weaponised'. This means that conventional artillery and missile warheads have been fitted with delivery systems for VX gas. These include Scud B, C and D missiles.
These rockets are capable of hitting any location inside Israel and, Sky sources said, they are capable of spreading VX gas in bomblets similar to those seen in cluster munitions.
Syria has backed the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah for decades. In 2006, Israel launched a bloody invasion of Lebanon in response to Hezbollah rocket attacks.
Today, intelligence sources say that they conservatively estimate that Hezbollah has a stockpile of more than 40,000 new missiles.
Israel is deeply concerned that Assad may deliberately give Hezbollah chemical weapons - or that they could end up in the hands of other terror groups. In either case, this could lead to a regional war, Danny Yatom, the former head of Mossad warned.
Sky News
As islamist pledge to wipe out Christianity, government study says not to worry
In the wake of the news that an Islamist group affiliated with the United Muslim Nations International has announced their intentions to destroy Christianity and wipe it from the face of the earth, a U.S. government-sponsored study has been released that says "Muslim terrorists are widely misunderstood and don't wish to impose Islam around the world as is commonly believed in the West."
Back on earth, Islamist leader Sheik Farook al-Mohammedi has announced the "Revived Global Caliphate has set eyes on the West to once and for all rid the world of Christianity" and to "Islamize" countries like the United States. But never fear, the U.S. government-sponsored study says that Islamists are "not an aggressive offensive foe seeking domination and conquest of unbelievers, as is commonly assumed."
Nevermind that the one constant in Islamist history is conquest, and that even now, in the wake of the Arab Spring, Christians in the Middle East increasingly find that their options are limited to either recanting their faith, being whipped (or otherwise punished), or being killed.
By the way, our Department of Defense paid millions to fund this worthless study. Which is a shame when you think that they could have just spent $2 for a cup of coffee in Starbucks, surfed the internet for 15 minutes while drinking it, and discovered enough information in that one search to prove that Islamists are daily issuing the same ultimatum to Westerners the world over: convert or be conquered.
Breitbart
U.S. moving submersibles to Persian Gulf to oppose Iran
WASHINGTON — The Navy is rushing dozens of unmanned underwater craft to the Persian Gulf to help detect and destroy mines in a major military buildup aimed at preventing Iran from closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the event of a crisis, U.S. officials said.
The tiny SeaFox submersibles each carry an underwater television camera, homing sonar and an explosive charge. The Navy bought them in May after an urgent request by Marine Gen. James Mattis, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East.
Each submersible is about 4 feet long and weighs less than 100 pounds. The craft are intended to boost U.S. military capabilities as negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program appear to have stalled. Three rounds of talks since April between Iran and the five countries in the United Nations Security Council plus Germany have made little progress.
Some U.S. officials are wary that Iran may respond to tightening sanctions on its banking and energy sectors, including a European Union oil embargo, by launching or sponsoring attacks on oil tankers or platforms in the Persian Gulf. Some officials in Tehran have threatened to close the narrow waterway, a choke point for a fifth of the oil traded worldwide.
The first of the SeaFox submersibles arrived in the Gulf in recent weeks, officials said, along with four MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters and four minesweeping ships, part of a larger buildup of U.S. naval, air and ground forces in the region aimed at Iran.
The U.S. already has sent two aircraft carriers and a squadron of F-22 fighters to the Persian Gulf, and is keeping two U.S. army brigades in Kuwait. Though much of the buildup has been publicly acknowledged by the Pentagon, the deployment of the submersibles has not been publicly disclosed, apparently to avoid alerting Iran.
The SeaFox is small enough to be deployed from helicopters and even small rubber boats, but it also can be dropped off the back of a minesweeper. It is controlled by a fiber optic cable and sends live video back to a camera operator.
It can be used against floating or drifting mines, which Iran has used in the past. It operates up to 300 meters deep, and moves at speeds of up to six knots. But the $100,000 weapon is on a what amounts to a suicide mission. The “built-in, large caliber shaped charge” it carries destroys the mine but also the vehicle itself.
Chicago Tribune
The IDF’s future tank: Electromagnetic cannon
Imagine a tank that can shoot a laser or an electromagnetic pulse. How about one that can drive on a hybrid engine – partly powered by electricity – instead of the loud diesel engines used today? These technologies and others are under consideration for integration into Israel’s future tank which the IDF hopes will be operational by 2020.
Last year, the IDF Ground Forces Command set up a team of combat and technical officers – from the Armored Corps, the Weapons Development Branch in the Ground Forces Command and the Defense Ministry’s Merkava Program Office – to begin planning Israel’s future tank, the successor to the Merkava.
Development and construction of the Merkava began in the 1970s, and the most advanced model, the Merkava Mk 4, entered service in 2003.
Currently, two brigades are equipped with the Merkava Mk 4, purported to be one of the best-protected tanks in the world and capable of superior speeds and maneuverability.
The rest of the IDF’s armored brigades operate older versions of the Merkava or M60 Pattons.
“When we look at what the future tank will look like, we need to look broadly at all technology that exists,” Brig.-Gen. Yigal Slovik, outgoing commander of the Armored Corps, said this week. “There are such things as electromagnetic or laser cannons, but right now they are too big and not applicable. They might however be in the future.”
For power, Slovik said that the tank could potentially operate on a hybrid engine that burns fuel to charge batteries that can then independently power the tank for extended periods.
Slovik said that the crew of the future tank would also likely be smaller than today, and as few as two soldiers could operate it.
“The future tank will ultimately be faster, better protected, more interoperable and more lethal,” he said.
The decision to begin developing a new tank was sparked by the entry of active-protection systems such as the Trophy, which has been installed on an entire brigade of tanks and successfully intercepted a rocket-propelled grenade along the Gaza border last year.
The thinking in the defense establishment is that tanks no longer require thick layers of armor – which slow down the vehicle, and raise fuel and production costs – and could suffice with less armor and more systems like Trophy.
Jerusalem Post
Tehran gives ‘increasingly sophisticated’ weapons to Hezbollah
While the world focuses on Iran’s nuclear program, the Islamic Republic is also continuously improving and expanding its regular armed forces, including its arsenal of missiles that could strike Israel and other Western targets. According to a new Pentagon report, Tehran will be able to test intercontinental ballistic missiles within three years.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Times of Israel, also calls Iran an “active sponsor of terrorism” that continues to support groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah — which receives from Iran “increasingly sophisticated” arms.
Israeli leaders repeatedly call Iran the world’s greatest exporter of terrorism, blaming it for several attacks on Israeli and other Western targets.
“Iran’s conventional military capabilities continue to improve,” according to the Pentagon’s “Annual Report on Military Power of Iran.” “Beyond steady growth in its missile and rocket inventories, Iran has boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing systems with accuracy improvements and new submunitions payloads,” the report states. “Iran may be technically capable of flight-testing an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015.”
THe Times of Israel
New executive order hands the president too much control over the web
Barack Obama has signed an executive order that could hand control of the internet to the U.S. Government, in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
The order lays out guidelines government agencies should follow if there's a serious emergency, so they can maintain levels of communication.
But critics are concerned by a section of the order they claim gives the president and the secretary of homeland security control of 'the on/off switch to the Web'.
The order, signed by President Obama last week, stated that 'The Federal Government must have the ability to communicate at all times and under all circumstances to carry out its most critical and time sensitive missions.'
It explained: 'Survivable, resilient, enduring, and effective communications, both domestic and international, are essential to enable the executive branch to communicate within itself and with: the legislative and judicial branches; State, local, territorial, and tribal governments; private sector entities; and the public, allies, and other nations. Such communications must be possible under all circumstances to ensure national security, effectively manage emergencies, and improve national resilience.'
The section explained how the secretary of homeland security - currently Janet Napolitano - will 'satisfy priority communications requirements through the use of commercial, Government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate.'
According to The Verge, sceptics fear the clause gives Mr Obama and Ms Napolitano 'control over the internet' over and above the needs of the nation in extreme cases, like natural disasters.
White House officials have acted quickly to ease concern, insisting the order is just an update of an existing authority dating back to 1984 . The claim the government has been granted no extra powers.
A spokesman told CNBC in an email: 'The Internet is an international network of networks; no one person, organization or country can control or shut down the Internet.
'The United States relies on the Internet to perform essential functions including to operate critical infrastructure and to maintain essential national security capabilities. That is why the President has designated our digital infrastructure as a strategic national asset.
'This Order is about communications resilience — the Administration's goal is to maintain this connected environment during the worst disasters, even in circumstances when our adversaries may wish to deprive us of their use.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2172350/Can-president-switch-internet-Critics-fear-new-executive-order-hands-Obama-control-web.html#ixzz20Pv6gsFY
aliens 'might come here for holidays
Documents from the Ministry of Defence classified archives show staff believed aliens could visit for “military reconnaissance”, “scientific” research or “tourism”.
In a 1995 briefing now published by the National Archives, a desk officer said the purpose of reported alien craft sightings “needs to be established as a matter of priority”, adding there did not appear to be “hostile intent”.
The unnamed official said it was “essential that we start with open minds”, explaining “what is scientific ‘fact’ today may not be true tomorrow”.
Clarifying he did not “talk to little green men every night”, he said: “We have a remit that we have never satisfied. That is, we do not now (sic) if UFOs exist.
“If they do exist, we do not know what they are, their purpose or if they pose a threat to the UK.
“If the sightings are of devices not of the earth then their purpose needs to be established as a matter of priority. There has been no apparent hostile intent and other possibilities are: 1) Military reconnaissance; 2) Scientific; 3) Tourism.”
He added that “if reports are taken at face value” they showed extraterrestrial vehicles had “a very wide range of speeds and are stealthy”.
Thus, he suggested, “we could use this technology, if it exists”.
His briefing document lists possible reasons for UFO sightings, including mass hallucinations, US aircraft, “atmospheric events” and hoaxes, but indicated none provide a fully convincing explanation.
It adds there are “some indications that the reported incidents are only the tip of an iceberg and many people do not wish to risk embarrassment and so do not report sightings”.
He also noted that the number of reports of “strange objects in the skies” increased dramatically after the Second World War, with most sightings coming from “farmers, policemen, doctors and lovers”.
“Most people think that UFOs are a recent phenomena (sic) but they are not,” he said. “There are reasonably reliable reports of strange objects in the skies dating back hundreds of years.”
In 1979, an official briefing written by the MoD in preparation for a House of Lords debate on UFOs questioned why aliens would want to visit the Earth.
An unnamed intelligence officer said it would be prudent to consider the number of stars in the universe, the number which might have inhabitable planets and a list of interesting places in the universe that an intelligent community might wish to visit".
He said: “A visit to an insignificant planet (the earth) of an uninteresting star (the sun) would probably not occur more than once in a thousand years or so, even if one assumes that every intelligent community made say 10 launches a year.”
Thus, he concluded, “claims of thousands of visits in the last decade or so are far too large to be credible”.
Telegraph
Syrian ambassador defects, joins revolution against Assad
AMMAN - Syria's ambassador to Iraq Nawaf al-Fares said on Wednesday he had defected and joined the
Fares called on Syrian soldiers to follow his lead and turn their guns on the Damascus leadership, in a video statement posted on Facebook
"I ask ... the members of the military to join the revolution and to defend the country and the citizens ... Turn your guns towards the criminals from this regime," he added."I declare that I have joined, from this moment, the ranks of the revolution of the Syrian people," Fares said.
Fares was filmed speaking in front of the green and white Syrian flag from the era before the Baath Party took power five decades ago. He did not give details of his location.
He did not spell out his reasons for defecting, but repeatedly said government forces has been killing civilians during its crackdown on the 16-month-old uprising.
Nawaf, a Sunni Muslim tribal figure from eastern Syria, was appointed in 2008 as ambassador to Baghdad, a sensitive post after a three-decade freeze in diplomatic relations between the two countries.
He was seen as a safe choice, as he had previously served as the top official in Assad's Baath Party in the province of Deir al-Zor. He is also a member of the Ogeidat tribe, a major clan long allied to Syria's Alawite ruling minority.
Jerusalem Post
ILO warns eurozone risks losing 4.5 million more jobs
The eurozone could lose 4.5 million more jobs in the next four years unless the region shifts away from austerity, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned.
That rise would take unemployment in the 17-nation bloc to 22 million.
The ILO said a concerted policy shift away from austerity towards job creation was needed.
"It's not only the eurozone that's in trouble, the entire global economy is at risk of contagion," it said.
The report said that all 17 countries in the eurozone would suffer, both those currently under stress and their healthier counterparts.
"Unless targeted measures are taken to increase real economy investments, the economic crisis will deepen and the employment recovery will never take off," said ILO director-general Juan Somavia.
The report added that the consequences of a longer period of austerity would be particularly severe for young people.
It said that unemployment had not been as bad so far in the downturn as it might have been because some companies were hanging onto staff in the hope of an imminent recovery.
BBC
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