Thursday, July 3, 2014
Judge Rejects Kentucky’s ‘Gay Marriage’ Ban, Says Constitution is Above God
Only satan and his followers want to be more than God
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A federal judge appointed by former president George W. Bush rejected Kentucky’s ban on ‘same-sex marriage,’ declaring that the U.S. Constitution is the final authority on marriage, not its author, God.
U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled Tuesday against Kentucky’s constitutional amendment that sought to protect marriage as being between one man and one woman and banned so-called marriage between members of the same-sex.
The preamble of Kentucky’s state constitution written in 1891 states, “We, the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky are grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy, and invoking the continuance of these blessings, do ordain and establish this Constitution.”
Voters in 2004 passed a referendum to protect the biblical definition of marriage within the state.
“Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Kentucky. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized,” reads Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1 of 2004, which was overwhelming approved by 75% of voters.
In his decision, Heyburn took a shot at those who hold to the historical and biblical belief that marriage comes from and is defined by God and those who voted for the amendment, expressing that such beliefs do not rise above the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“In America, even sincere and long-held religious beliefs do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted,” Heyburn declared in his ruling.
Heyburn also criticized Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) for arguing that the ban preserves the state’s birth rate, and therefore contributes to the economic stability of Kentucky.
“These arguments are not those of serious people,” Heyburn concluded.
Earlier this year, Heyburn ruled that Kentucky must recognize so-called “gay marriages” performed in other states.
Heyburn has stayed his ruling pending an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.
Kentucky has a long history of acknowledging God.
In March of 2002, the Kentucky Legislature enacted a law declaring, “The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God,” which later was amended in 2006 to require the Executive Director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to “[p]ublicize the findings of the General Assembly stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth” by including its provisions in its “training and educational materials,” and by “prominently displaying a permanent plaque at the entrance to the state’s Emergency Operations Center,” stating the text.
In February of 2011, a Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld the law in a 2-to-1 decision, and further appeals by a group of self-styled atheists were unsuccessful in attempting to overturn the mandate.
Credit to Christian News Network
The BRICs Are Morphing Into An Anti-Dollar Alliance
While numerous massively indebted administrations around the world hope to divert the attention of what's left of their struggling middle class away from its daily impoverished existence and distract it with flashing lights and glitzy animations showing another all time market high on a daily basis, a significantly more important shift taking place behind the scenes is appreciated by very few: the ongoing de-dollarization of the world. For the latest example of how increasingly more countries are setting the stage for the final currency war, we go again to Russia where VOR's Valentin Mândr??escu explains that slowly but surely the BRICS - that proud Goldman acronym which was conceived to perpetuate the great American way of life by releasing trillions in US-denominated debt in heretofore untapped markets - are morphing into an anti-dollar alliance.
BRICS is morphing into an anti-dollar alliance, From VOR
Before the crucial visit to Beijing next week, the governor of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina met Vladimir Putin to report on the progress of the upcoming ruble-yuan swap deal with the People's Bank of China and Kremlin used the meeting to let the world know about the technical details of its international anti-dollar alliance.
On June 10th, Sergey Glaziev, Putin's economy advisor published an article outlining the need to establish an international alliance of countries willing to get rid of the dollar in international trade and refrain from using dollars in their currency reserves. The ultimate goal would be to break the Washington's money printing machine that is feeding its military-industrial complex and giving the US ample possibilities to spread chaos across the globe, fueling the civil wars in Libya, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. Glaziev's critics believe that such an alliance would be difficult to establish and that creating a non-dollar-based global financial system would be extremely challenging from a technical point of view. However, in her discussion with Vladimir Putin, the head of the Russian central bank unveiled an elegant technical solution for this problem and left a clear hint regarding the members of the anti-dollar alliance that is being created by the efforts of Moscow and Beijing:
“We've done a lot of work on the ruble-yuan swap deal in order to facilitate trade financing. I have a meeting next week in Beijing”, she said casually and then dropped the bomb: “We are discussing with China and our BRICS parters the establishment of a system of multilateral swaps that will allow to transfer resources to one or another country, if needed. A part of the currency reserves can be directed to [the new system].” (Prime news agency)
It seems that Kremlin chose the all-in-one approach for establishing its anti-dollar alliance. Currency swaps between the BRICS central banks will facilitate trade financing while completely bypassing the dollar. At the same time, the new system will also act as a de facto replacement of the IMF, because it will allow the members of the alliance to direct resources to finance the weaker countries. As an important bonus, derived from this “quasi-IMF” system, the BRICS will use a part (most likely the “dollar part”) of their currency reserves to support it, thus drastically reducing the amount of dollar-based instruments bought by some of the biggest foreign creditors of the US.
Skeptics will surely claim that a BRICS-based anti-dollar alliance will not manage to deprive the dollar of its global reserve currency status. Instead of arguing against this line of thought, it is easier to point out that Washington is doing its best to enlarge the ranks of the enemies of the dollar. Asked by the Russia 24 channel to comment on Nabiullina statements, Sergey Kostin, the president of the state-owned VTB bank and one of the staunchest supporters of anti-dollar policies, offered an interesting perspective on the situation in Europe:
“I think the work on ruble-yuan swap line will finalized in the nearest future and the way for ruble-yuan settlement will be open. Moreover, we are not the only ones with such initiatives. We know about the statements made by Mr. Noyer, chairman of the Bank of France. As a retaliation for what Americans have done to BNP Paribas, he opined that the trade with China must be done in yuan or euro.”
If the current trend continues, soon the dollar will be abandoned by most of the significant global economies and it will be kicked out of the global trade finance. Washington's bullying will make even former American allies choose the anti-dollar alliance instead of the existing dollar-based monetary system. The point of no return for the dollar may be much closer than it is generally thought. In fact, the greenback may have already past its point of no return on its way to irrelevance.
Credit to Zero Hedge
BLOOD ON THE ALTAR Part Number 14
PART 14 - WHY ANTICHRIST BELIEVES -- WITH HELP FROM CHRISTIANS -- HIS WAR ON THE "BORN AGAIN" WILL SUCCEED
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At the time he was rising to global power, Hitler’s audience was Catholic, but his announcement of the Concordat with Rome (the papal agreement, July 5, 1933) had meaning to Protestants as well.
The message was obvious and clear: Friendly relations—relations that are inclusive of the church—must be the norm in a resurgent Germany. “The fact that the Vatican is concluding a treaty with the new Germany means the acknowledgement of the National Socialist state by the Catholic Church. This treaty shows the whole world clearly and unequivocally that the assertion that National Socialism [Nazism] is hostile to religion is a lie.”[i]
Hitler was even more effusive about the value of Nazism to benefit the church:
While we destroyed the Center Party [a Catholic political party[ii]], we have not only brought thousands of priests back into the Church, but to millions of respectable people we have restored their faith in their religion and in their priests. The union of the Evangelical Church in a single Church for the whole Reich, the Concordat with the Catholic Church, these are but milestones on the road, which leads to the establishment of a useful relation and a useful co-operation between the Reich and the two Confessions.[iii]
The German Church and the People are practically the same body. Therefore there could be no issue between Church and State. The Church, as such, has nothing to do with political affairs. On the other hand, the State has nothing to do with the faith or inner organization of the Church.[iv]
The National Socialist State professes its allegiance to positive Christianity. It will be its honest endeavor to protect both the great Christian Confessions in their rights, to secure them from interference with their doctrines (Lehren), and in their duties to constitute a harmony with the views and the exigencies of the State of today.[v]
So long as they concern themselves with their religious problems the State does not concern itself with them. But so soon as they attempt by any means whatsoever—by letters, Encyclical, or otherwise—to arrogate to themselves rights which belong to the State alone we shall force them back into their proper spiritual, pastoral activity.[vi]
In other words, both church and state must reassure its denizens the institution exists to provide for their well-being. But it is, from Hitler’s perspective, necessary that they split duties. Keep the church’s message personal and positive while the state should keep on its message of economic welfare for all (sound familiar as of late?). And of course, the supremacy of the state must be upheld. It was never to be questioned. The state dictated the role of the church. Furthermore, it mandated that any criticism of the state would not be tolerated.
Movement afoot for a new National Socialism between politics & religion?
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Moreover, upon close inspection, Hitler would “gerrymander” the territory of the state whenever it suited him. Some theological modifications would be necessary. In a Germany liberated from the “old-fashioned” faith, the church should dismiss any talk of humankind’s sinful inclinations and its need for repentance. Evil must be mitigated—more specifically, downgraded—and reduced in substance to “mistakes” and not the more menacing notion of sin. Defects in human behavior amount to little more than “poor choices.” Thus, with sin redefined and evil eliminated as a “metaphysical reality,”[vii] the gospel was compromised and the church complicit. It could then pray reverently with the Führer:
We want honestly to earn the resurrection of our people through our industry, our perseverance, and our will. We ask not of the Almighty, “Lord, make us free!”—we want to be active, to work, to agree together as brothers, to strive in rivalry with one another to bring about the hour when we can come before Him and when we may ask of Him: “Lord, Thou seest that we have transformed ourselves, the German people is no longer the people of dishonor, of shame, of war within itself, of faintheartedness and little faith: no, Lord, the German people has become strong again in spirit, strong in will, strong in endurance, strong to bear all sacrifices.” “Lord, we will not let Thee go: bless now our fight for our freedom; the fight we wage for our German people and Fatherland.”[viii]
Furthermore, while the Führer did not directly confront Christian sensibilities, his prayer led one to conjecture as to what “positive Christianity” involved, and exactly what its opposite—“negative Christianity”—would entail. No doubt his listeners let the matter drop without questioning the meaning behind his exhortation for accentuating a “positive Christianity.” In contradistinction, like observing a lit firecracker failing to pop, we should be very alarmed when such a loaded phrase lies dormant for too long. Observers must be asleep if they have no apprehension about when the firecracker will detonate.
To the wary spectator, Hitler’s statement anticipated a pause “for the other shoe to drop.” And yet, assuming nothing but good intent from the Führer, the audience did not worry one iota that another shoe would hit the floor. Instead, they were enraptured by Hitler’s acclamation:
MY LORD AND SAVIOR…IN THE BOUNDLESS LOVE AS A CHRISTIAN…HE HAD TO SHED HIS BLOOD UPON THE CROSS. My feelings as a Christian point me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them [Peter should take up his sword, rather than put it away]. This is God’s truth! He was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before in the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.[ix] (emphasis added)
The notion that the Messiah was himself NOT Jewish was a view propounded by Richard Wagner, the famous German composer whose operas were expressions of the nineteenth-century German zeitgeist(the “spirit of the age”). Unquestionably, Hitler’s favorite composer, Wagner, stirred Hitler’s soul to envision a revived, irrepressible, and vengeful Germany. During World War II, Wagner’s legacy lived on as his music filled the putrefied air of Holocaust death camps. As a result, survivors would forever associate Wagner with Auschwitz. This was no disservice to Wagner—for he believed that Christ was Aryan, not Jewish. And like Friedrich Nietzsche, the “Philosopher Emeritus” of the German people (a good friend of Wagner until their falling out), he believed the German soul must not be dragged down by the “slave mentality” of the Jew. Consequently, it logically followed that Jesus could never be considered a Jew. To the aspiring German mindset, the Jews were a millstone about their necks. The Hebrew religion bestowed nothing but restrictive laws and depressive guilt. It was time for Germany to cast aside the Jewish mentality and its stifling effect upon the soul of humankind, but especially their Aryan race!
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As to Nietzsche, he famously asserted a philosophy known as the will to power. To the extent Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified, to that same extent Jesus was Himself the anti-Christ. For Nietzsche, Jesus’ commitment to die for the sin of the world was nothing but a death wishto be condemned and repudiated. For him, Jesus’ willingness to lay down His life remains the source of so much nonsense contaminating the true purpose for religion. Instead, a “true confession” encourages struggle!(Mein Kampf, of course, means “My Struggle.”) For Nietzsche, suffering saves no one. Moreover, this must be the stalwart creed of all true believers. The gospel of Wagner, Nietzsche, and especially Adolf Hitler held in common a disdain for the Jew.
The duty to be a fighter for truth, justice, (and the German way) comprises, of course, the motto of Superman, the quintessential American superhero. Indeed, less feted translators often seek to convey the meaning of Nietzsche’s Übermensch with the expression “superman.” However oversimplified this one-word translation (especially vulgar to the sophisticated), nonetheless, it likewise urges those loyal to Old Glory—the red, white, and blue—to stand and be counted! America boasts the greatest military ever assembled. Any concept of redemptive suffering preached from the Bible by ignoble vicars of Christ surely misses the mark. Turning the other cheek (Matt. 5:39) cannot be what Christ actually meant. “Fight back! Don’t get mad—get even!” Of course, the German people in the 1920s and 1930s were a frustrated, defeated people, wearing anger on their sleeves right below their swastikas.
Americans do not feel compelled to take such overt military action. Discretion is the better part of valor. We much prefer to keep our battles on the “down low,” equipping our intelligence services to act covertly (witness the current, 2013 conflict regarding the National Security Agency’s mining of private phone and Internet data, spying on multiple foreign [friendly] governments, accessing and cataloguing private data of one hundred million Americans, as well as the intrusive behavior of the Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service), requiring our special forces to operate in darkness, and necessitating US sorties of the aeronautical kind be carried out in stealth mode. As the military is wont to say, “We own the night.” Unlike the saints to whom Paul addressed his letters, one could argue, that in the last one hundred years, the US government has seldom sought to be mistaken forchildren of the day.
Hating in the Name of Christ and Country
The unity of the church was important to Hitler. He could not consummate his grand plan without the support of the church. He required his backside be covered. Consequently, it was crucial that disputes in the church be silenced, if for no other reason than to keep quarrels from bubbling over into matters of state and distracting the populace from the bellicose but sacred duty before them.
It will at any rate be my supreme task to see to it that in the newly awakened NSDAP [Nazi Party], the adherents of both Confessions can live peacefully together side by side in order that they may take their stand in the common fight against the power, which is the mortal foe of any true Christianity [as Hitler would define it].[x]
This is for us a ground for satisfaction, since we desire that the fight in the religious camps should come to an end…all political action in the parties will be forbidden to priests for all time, happy because we know what is wanted by millions who long to see in the priest only the comforter of their souls and not the representative of their political convictions.[xi](emphasis added)
Furthermore, Hitler required that the church’s energy contribute to the Fatherland’s fighting spirit. Christ must not be seen as the Prince of Peace. Religious fires must burn brightly on his (Hitler’s) behalf.
So far as the Evangelical Confessions are concerned, we are determined to put an end to existing divisions, which are concerned only with the forms of organization, and to create a single Evangelical Church for the whole Reich… And we know that were the great German reformer [Martin Luther] with us today he would rejoice to be freed from the necessity of his own time and, like Ulrich von Hutten [1488–1523, an outspoken German scholar, poet, and reformer], his last prayer would be not for the Churches of the separate States: it would be of Germany that he would think…and of the Evangelical Church of Germany [Hitler loved putting words in the mouth of Martin Luther].[xii]
After all, to Hitler, the real enemy was the “international Jew.” Christianity must unite, Catholics and Protestants, laity and priesthood—“against the power”—i.e., the international Jewish conspiracy that, he argued, warred against the church of Jesus Christ and the German people. Not that this tactic was especially risky. His approach was tried and true: Unite around a well-defined, mutual foe. Foment hatred against the scapegoat. Exaggerate images to make plain their villainous ways. Build the faithful into the “hammer of God”—make it an instrument of righteous indignation such as is developing now against the viewpoints of Born Again believers around the world.
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So what is the method to achieve an ecumenical union? It involves reconstructing the Christian message. Building unity in the contemporary church comprises a modern-day equivalent to building the tower of Babel. The most relevant message, what will really bring us together as one, requires the church to substitute the content of the gospel with a message of confusion, which is what “Babel” means. How can this be accomplished? By creating confusion over the nature of good and evil. We could say that reaching new heights in cooperation with other beliefs and faiths is not based upon clear communication and seeing things eye to eye. It is about not seeing things at all.“Coming together” necessitates closing one’s eyes to see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil. The less said the better. Indeed, regarding traditional Judeo-Christian values, the nature of sin, and the reality of evil in particular, stand out like sore thumbs. Therefore, church leadership in its aspiration seeks to be mainstream. Americans must paper over the notion of sin and evil with platitudes of self-improvement, overcoming self-doubt, as well as proclaiming health and wealth to magically make their congregations (and especially them) wealthy. In today’s evangelical church, it is most certainly about expressing a positive Christianity! Hitler would feel especially vindicated if he attended the typical mega church and listened to the sermons there.[xiii] Christianity has been effectively shorn of biblical discernment and blinded to the reality of evil as it presents itself in our world today.
Diminishing doctrine as an essential element in “confessional Christianity” is hardly new. Liberal Christian churches dispensed with meaningful theological content decades ago. They embraced a social gospel, replete with platitudes of pluralism, while promoting the practice of social good works, unwittingly leading to greater government intervention and involvement in the church. When American theologians sentenced God to death in the 1960s, they simultaneously (albeit unwittingly) assigned their own ecclesiastical institutions to death row. Fifty years ago, they reduced the gospel to what was left over after so-called science ravaged the Bible. Theology became nothing more than existential philosophy. The meaning of being a Christian amounted to repeating holy words in ritual ceremonies. It did not matter how far out (i.e., how “supernatural”) the notions of the original creeds or “Psalters” were. Theology became applied psychology. It was reconstructed to be a frame of mind or, better yet, a mental state. Once the creeds had been ransacked of all calls to spiritual transformation and relieved of all genuine miracles recorded in the Bible, what remained was Friedrich Schleiermacher’s “feeling of absolute dependence,” Paul Tillich’s ruminations about God as the “ground of being,” or Karl Jaspers’ yearning for an “ultimate experience.” Consequently, today’s mainstream churches are now so emaciated it is a wonder they have not already given up the ghost.
In contrast, today’s evangelical churches (that proclaim that oh-so-positive message) swarm with “believers.” But the question is, “What do they believe in?” To be sure, there are many assemblies of faithful, believing Christians who keep science in its place and rightly esteem spiritual reality; who regard the Bible as God’s Word; and rely upon the Spirit of Christ to be an ever-present reality in their daily lives―not so much as an emotional impulse stimulating a mystical faith, but as an enabling power to conquer the challenging circumstances of everyday life. On the other hand, as we contend, the most well-known churches appear guilty of depriving their congregations of meaningful content—biblically based content. It is almost as if the gospel so successfully preached there today is derived from aphorisms in Poor Richard’s Almanac: “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Or to misquote a famous mega-church preacher: “It IS about you!” Or worse yet, the evangelical message transforms spirituality into a transaction: You do “x” and God does “y.” “Give and it shall be given to you”—not out of need but out of greed. God guarantees our destiny to be healthy, wealthy, and wise (although the last item in this threesome is not always requested). At issue is only whether you count yourself entitled to merchandise from the heavenly commissary, stocked wall to wall to assure your material needs are met in full.
Betraying the Meaning of the Kingdom of God
After the death of Pope Pius XI in 1939, the electoral procedure to seat another pope began. The election favored Eugenio Pacelli (1876–1958), and four days later, Pacelli made it clear that he would handle all German affairs personally. He proposed the following to Hitler:
To the Illustrious Herr Adolf Hitler, Führer and Chancellor of the German Reich! Here at the beginning of our Pontificate, we wish to assure you that we remain devoted to the spiritual welfare of the German people entrusted to your leadership.…During the many years we spent in Germany, we did all in our power to establish harmonious relations between Church and State. Now that the responsibilities of our pastoral function have increased our opportunities, how much more ardently do we pray to reach that goal. May the prosperity of the German people and their progress in every domain come, with God’s help, to fruition![xiv]
Pacelli was crowned pope on March 12, 1939 (becoming Pius XII). The following month, on April 20, 1939, at Pius XII’s expressed wish, Archbishop Orsenigo, the nuncio (ambassador) in Berlin, opened a gala reception for Hitler’s fiftieth birthday. The birthday greetings thus initiated by Pacelli immediately became a tradition: Each April 20 during the few years left to Hitler and his Reich, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin would send “warmest congratulations to the Führer in the name of the bishops and the dioceses in Germany,” to which he added “fervent prayers which the Catholics in Germany are sending to heaven on their altars.”[xv] The walls of the kingdom of God were thoroughly breached. The homogenization of church and state was complete.
In 1939, Adolf Hitler summarized why he was so confident that the Third Reich was imminent: “The National Socialist Movement has wrought this miracle. If Almighty God granted success to this work, then the Party was His instrument.”[xvi] In retrospect, the reader would be hard pressed to find a historical leader who levered faith, however skewed, more effectively as a power tool for REALPOLITIK. Hitler was almost unparalleled in the annals of leadership as a champion for the relevance of spiritual belief. He saw man created by God, rewarded for his reliance upon God, and sustained when cooperating with Him on a grand scale. In Hitler, we confront a leader who abandoned all self-consciousness—he was so tightly coupled with his constituency that they became of one mind. Yes, he learned the craft of public speaking like few others—maybe better than anyone. But we are dangerously mistaken if we regard his fervor as only an act. NO, he believed in what he was doing. He lost himself in his cause.
He was not tepid in faith, darting hither and thither, equivocating whenever the opportunity afforded itself. To the contrary, the leader of the Third Reich was a champion of conviction that was so “in your face” it was contagious. If faith wavered, Hitler reinstated it, bolstering public confidence in his program for a new Germany. His power hinged on claiming that a brilliant destiny lay at Germany’s feet. God’s providence guaranteed success. In every darkened pathway, he claimed God would enlighten the path and keep National Socialism on track because it fulfilled the Almighty’s plan. Hitler pleaded it, believed in it, and “owned” what he stridently confessed. All doubt concerning Germany’s mission fled from his presence, because, as far as he was concerned, God mandated that the German people be ultimately victorious. History would demonstrate divine preference. God would honor Hitler’s unfeigned devotion to his people. Listen to his confident faith:
In this hour I would ask of the Lord God only this: that, as in the past, so in the years to come He would give His blessing to our work and our action, to our judgment and our resolution, that He will safeguard us from all false pride and from all cowardly servility, that He may grant us to find the straight path which His Providence has ordained for the German people, and that He may ever give us the courage to do the right, never to falter, never to yield before any violence, before any danger…. I am convinced that men who are created by God should live in accordance with the will of the Almighty…. If Providence had not guided us I could often never have found these dizzy paths…. Thus it is that we National Socialists, too, have in the depths of our hearts our faith. We cannot do otherwise; no man can fashion world history or the history of peoples unless upon his purpose and his powers there rests the blessings of this Providence.[xvii]
In the final analysis, the Antichrist may be dangerous not because he is the best actor ever to mount the world stage or that he will hide insincere intent and cloak satanic motive. He will be exceptionally treacherous because, like Adolf Hitler, he will be utterly convinced that defeat is inconceivable. The thoughts of his mind will swim with confidence of triumph over Born Again believers in the upcoming war between Christian vs. Christian . . . and for a while it will appear he is right:
Credit to Raidersnewsupdate.comAnd it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:7-8).
Saudi Arabia Deploys 30,000 Troops On Iraq Border; Iraq Launches Airstrikes At ISIS Positions
While up until now the virtual war between Saudi Arabia, openly calling for the ouster of Iraq's Maliki (whose words in retaliation were just as harsh) was primarily of words, things appear to be escalating on that front too following an overnight report that Saudi Arabia has deployed 30,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported Thursday. The world's top oil exporter shares an 500-mile border with Iraq, where Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) insurgents and other Sunni Muslim militant groups seized towns and cities in a lightning advance last month. King Abdullah has ordered all necessary measures to protect the kingdom against potential "terrorist threats," state news agency SPA reported on Thursday.
Al-Arabiya said on its website that Saudi troops fanned into the border region after Iraqi government forces abandoned positions, leaving the Saudi and Syrian frontiers unprotected. The satellite channel said it had obtained a video showing some 2,500 Iraqi soldiers in the desert area east of the Iraqi city of Karbala after pulling back from the border. An officer in the video aired by al-Arabiya said that the soldiers had been ordered to quit their posts without justification. The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.
Iraq was quick to object to the stated reason for the troop buildup, claiming its border with Saudi Arabia is well protected: "We haven’t experienced or noticed any abnormal situation" along border area with Iraq, Major General Mansour al-Turki, Interior Ministry’s spokesman, says in text message responding to questions. In any case, there are now tens od thousands of Saudi troops just waiting for the order to cross the border and join what is now a feeding prozy war zoo involving the US, Iran, Russia, Syria, and - likely very soon- Israel. What can possibly go wrong.
Meanwhile, ISIS or IS as it is now known, is further clamping down on controlled territories. As reported earlier by Bloomberg, Sunni insurgents in Iraq have demanded that residents of at least 2 northern towns pledge allegiance or face death, citing Al-Mada Press reports. The website, quoting tribal chiefs, says group now known as Islamic State has threatened to kill residents of Hawijah, ~20 kms (12 miles) west of Kirkuk, and at least 1 other town if they don’t vow loyalty. Because what is more loyal than sworn allegiance at the barrel of a gun.
And in other news, as the map below shows, Iraq is finally putting those obtained Russian jets to good use and has launched airstrikes on militants between Baghdad and Kirkuk. Confirmed by the newswires, militants were killed in air strikes and artillery shelling of Islamic State’s positions in northern Babel, Falah al-Khafaji, head of security committee at Babel province’s council, tells al-Mada Press website.
The latest Iraq scenario map courtesy of the Institute for the Study of War.
Al-Arabiya said on its website that Saudi troops fanned into the border region after Iraqi government forces abandoned positions, leaving the Saudi and Syrian frontiers unprotected. The satellite channel said it had obtained a video showing some 2,500 Iraqi soldiers in the desert area east of the Iraqi city of Karbala after pulling back from the border. An officer in the video aired by al-Arabiya said that the soldiers had been ordered to quit their posts without justification. The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.
Iraq was quick to object to the stated reason for the troop buildup, claiming its border with Saudi Arabia is well protected: "We haven’t experienced or noticed any abnormal situation" along border area with Iraq, Major General Mansour al-Turki, Interior Ministry’s spokesman, says in text message responding to questions. In any case, there are now tens od thousands of Saudi troops just waiting for the order to cross the border and join what is now a feeding prozy war zoo involving the US, Iran, Russia, Syria, and - likely very soon- Israel. What can possibly go wrong.
Meanwhile, ISIS or IS as it is now known, is further clamping down on controlled territories. As reported earlier by Bloomberg, Sunni insurgents in Iraq have demanded that residents of at least 2 northern towns pledge allegiance or face death, citing Al-Mada Press reports. The website, quoting tribal chiefs, says group now known as Islamic State has threatened to kill residents of Hawijah, ~20 kms (12 miles) west of Kirkuk, and at least 1 other town if they don’t vow loyalty. Because what is more loyal than sworn allegiance at the barrel of a gun.
And in other news, as the map below shows, Iraq is finally putting those obtained Russian jets to good use and has launched airstrikes on militants between Baghdad and Kirkuk. Confirmed by the newswires, militants were killed in air strikes and artillery shelling of Islamic State’s positions in northern Babel, Falah al-Khafaji, head of security committee at Babel province’s council, tells al-Mada Press website.
The latest Iraq scenario map courtesy of the Institute for the Study of War.
Credit to Zero Hedge
Chinese media slam Japan's move to expand military role
Graphic comparing the military strength of China and Japan, based on an analysis by the International Institute for Strategic StudiesAFP
China’s state-run media launched a broadside Wednesday against Japan’s move to loosen the bonds on its powerful military, casting it as a threat to Asian security.
The harsh criticism came one day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his cabinet had formally endorsed a reinterpretation of a constitutional clause banning the use of armed force except in very narrowly-defined circumstances.
“The Japanese government is eager to break through the postwar system,” wrote the ruling Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper in an editorial penned under the name “Zhong Sheng”, a homophone for “Voice of China”.
It called the Abe government’s move “a dangerous signal, as well as a wake-up call”.
In a commentary late Tuesday, China’s official Xinhua news agency challenged Tokyo with a question: “Is China on your military agenda?”
“Japan has a history of making sneaky attacks, as it did in launching wars with China, Russia and the United States in the recent 100 years,” Xinhua wrote. “Now, Japan, with greater freedom to use military force, is making the world more worried.”
China, home to the world’s largest military, far outnumbers rival Japan in manpower, ships, aircraft and defense spending.
China’s official defense budget last year came to $119.5 billion, while according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance 2014 report, released in February, Japan’s total was $51 billion.
Tokyo and Beijing have long been at odds over islands in the East China Sea, and Beijing has argued that a reinterpretation of Japan’s pacifist constitution could open the door to remilitarization of a country it considers insufficiently penitent for its actions in World War II.
The state-run China Daily newspaper wrote that “the recalcitrant attempts by Japanese politicians, including Abe, to rewrite history and their country’s unseemly record in World War II are reminders that Japan doesn’t deserve being treated as a normal country”.
China’s nationalistic Global Times, which is close to the ruling Communist Party, ran a cartoon on Wednesday depicting Abe as the American action hero Rambo, with a Japanese flag bandanna tied around his forehead and wielding a large machine gun.
“Both Tokyo and Washington wish to see more disturbances in Asia, as the US hopes it will hinder China’s rise and Japan wants to seek opportunities to realize its rise both politically and militarily,” the paper wrote. “China needs to expose the Japanese rightists’ evil intent.”
JapanToday.com
BILL WOULD ALLOW POLICE TO CONFISCATE GUNS BASED ON ACCUSATION ALONE
A draconian gun control bill set to be voted on by the California legislature would allow police to confiscate a person’s firearms solely on the basis of an accusation made against the gun owner by a family member or a health professional.
Although the bill was amended after an onslaught of complaints, the legislation is still being labeled as the harshest gun control law in the country.
AB 1014, authored by Assemblymembers Das Williams and Nancy Skinner, would create ‘gun violence restraining orders’ that would allow police to proactively confiscate firearms and hold them for one year with no due process merely based on an accusation made by an immediate family member, a law enforcement officer or a health professional.
“This bill would allow a search warrant to be issued when the property or things to be seized are a firearm or firearms or ammunition that is in the custody or control of, or is owned or possessed by, a person who is the subject of a gun violence restraining order and who is presently known to have in his or her custody and control or possession, or to own a firearm or firearms or ammunition,” states the bill.
The accusation against the individual has to meet the standard of evidence, “to believe that the subject of the petition poses a significant risk of personal injury to himself, herself, or another by having under his or her custody and control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm,” states the bill, although the nature of this evidence is not properly defined.
The bill has drawn fiery criticism from gun rights advocates who see the legislation as an onerous assault on the Second Amendment.
“If for example, person A goes to a judge and files a complaint about person B, person B can have his/her guns and gun rights taken away without any idea why or even have the chance to plead their case. Only after law enforcement searched person B, their family, friends, place of work, and anywhere else police might have thought person B hid guns would that person have the right to defend themselves. Guilty until proven innocent,” writes Yehuda Remer.
“This bill goes too far,” Sean Doherty of California Assn. of Federal Firearms Licensees told a Senate panel. “AB 1014 shreds the right of privacy and right of property that has been jurisprudence for decades.”
Even David Warren, of Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety (a group that normally supports gun control legislation), spoke out against the bill, stating that it had “significant constitutional deficiencies” and would not be enforceable.
Having been passed by the California Senate Public Safety Committee, the bill now heads to the legislature for a full vote.
Credit to Infowars
AB 1014, authored by Assemblymembers Das Williams and Nancy Skinner, would create ‘gun violence restraining orders’ that would allow police to proactively confiscate firearms and hold them for one year with no due process merely based on an accusation made by an immediate family member, a law enforcement officer or a health professional.
“This bill would allow a search warrant to be issued when the property or things to be seized are a firearm or firearms or ammunition that is in the custody or control of, or is owned or possessed by, a person who is the subject of a gun violence restraining order and who is presently known to have in his or her custody and control or possession, or to own a firearm or firearms or ammunition,” states the bill.
The accusation against the individual has to meet the standard of evidence, “to believe that the subject of the petition poses a significant risk of personal injury to himself, herself, or another by having under his or her custody and control, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm,” states the bill, although the nature of this evidence is not properly defined.
The bill has drawn fiery criticism from gun rights advocates who see the legislation as an onerous assault on the Second Amendment.
“If for example, person A goes to a judge and files a complaint about person B, person B can have his/her guns and gun rights taken away without any idea why or even have the chance to plead their case. Only after law enforcement searched person B, their family, friends, place of work, and anywhere else police might have thought person B hid guns would that person have the right to defend themselves. Guilty until proven innocent,” writes Yehuda Remer.
“This bill goes too far,” Sean Doherty of California Assn. of Federal Firearms Licensees told a Senate panel. “AB 1014 shreds the right of privacy and right of property that has been jurisprudence for decades.”
Even David Warren, of Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety (a group that normally supports gun control legislation), spoke out against the bill, stating that it had “significant constitutional deficiencies” and would not be enforceable.
Having been passed by the California Senate Public Safety Committee, the bill now heads to the legislature for a full vote.
Credit to Infowars
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