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Russia: Ukraine's pursuit of Nato membership 'poses danger to European security'

Russia said on Thursday that Ukraine's pursuit of Nato membership posed a danger to European security and threatened to sever its remaining ties to the Atlantic military alliance.

Ukraine's parliament renounced the country's neutral status on Tuesday in a significant step towards joining Nato.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said the West was using Ukraine's Nato bid to fuel confrontation between Russia and its neighbour.

"There are a few Western countries that want to maintain the crisis in Ukraine and to maintain and boost the confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, including through provocative efforts towards membership in the Atlantic alliance," he said.

"The very idea of Ukraine's efforts to join Nato are dangerous, not only for Ukrainian people, because there is no unity over that issue, it is dangerous for European security,"

A Nato official, who asked not to be named, told The Associated Press it was solely up to Kiev to decide on its foreign policy.

"Should Ukraine decide to apply for Nato membership, Nato will assess its readiness to join the alliance in the same way as with any candidate. This is an issue between Nato and the individual countries aspiring to membership," the official said.

Nato has already boosted its military presence in eastern Europe this year, saying it has evidence that Russia orchestrated and armed a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine that followed the overthrow of a Kremlin-backed president in Kiev.

Representatives from the Ukraine government and pro-Russian separatists concluded "difficult" talks on Thursday without agreeing the date of a new round aimed at ending the uprising that began in April and has so far left over 4,700 people dead.

The five-hour preliminary discussion in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, had been tentatively due to be followed by a second meeting on Friday at which a final accord was to be signed.

But rebel representatives stressed that they could not yet promise whether the negotiations would resume as planned.

"We had a difficult preliminary meeting," Denis Pushilin, the Donetsk separatist region mediator, told a pro-rebel news site. "The date and time of the next meeting is still up in the air. It is under discussion."

A truce agreed in September has been regularly flouted by both sides, but violence has lessened significantly in December.

Credit to The Telegraph

Merry Christmas From the United Nations: The UN Arms Treaty Took Effect on December 24th

The Gun Ban Treaty took effect on December 24, 2014

35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.

36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.

Jesus view of gun control is made clear in Luke 22:35-36, in which Jesus commanded his followers to purchase a sword in defiance of Roman law. Within the Roman Empire, to carry such a weapon was a crime punishable by death. I submit that this represents Jesus’ view of gun control, for when a government is permitted to disarm its citizens, genocide is usually what follows next.

Gun control and Gun Confiscation Has Preceded Every Instance of Genocide In the 20th Century.

Twentieth century governments committed “democide” (i.e. genocide committed by government) to the tune of murdering 262 million of its own citizens according to a University of Hawaii study. Just to give perspective on this incredible rate of murder by government, “this democide murdered 6 times more people than died in combat in” all the of the wars fought in the 20th century.  

How quickly we forget the lessons of history. If we ever allow government to subvert the second amendment, we very well could be witnessing a prelude to an American genocide.

There is nothing as dangerous to a totalitarian regime as an educated and well-armed populace. No Child Left Behind and Common Core are taking care of the well-educated variable. While Connecticut is leading the way in stripping Americans of their right defend themselves from a tyrannical government as called for by the Founding Fathers and the Second Amendment, these gun confiscation laws are taking care of the well-armed variable.

Before we strip away our last line of defense from an increasingly totalitarian government, by acquiescing to the United Nations and American advocates for gun control, perhaps we should examine a partial list of  the end game resulting from past gun control efforts:

1. In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915-1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves against their ethnic-cleansing government, were arrested and exterminated.
2. In 1929, the former Soviet Union established gun control as a means of controlling the “more difficult” of their citizens. From 1929 to the death of Stalin, 40 million Soviets met an untimely end at the hand of various governmental agencies as they were arrested and exterminated.
3. After the rise of the Nazi’s, Germany established their version of gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, 13 million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and others, who were unable to defend themselves against the “Brown Shirts”, were arrested and exterminated. Interestingly, the Brown Shirts were eventually targeted for extermination themselves following their blind acts of allegiance to Hitler. Any American military and police would be wise to grasp the historical significance of the Brown Shirts’ fate.
4. After Communist China established gun control in 1935, an estimated 50 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves against their fascist leaders, were arrested and exterminated.
5. Closer to home, Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayans, unable to defend themselves against their ruthless dictatorship, were arrested and exterminated.
6. Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves from their dictatorial government, were arrested and exterminated.
7. Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million of the “educated” people, unable to defend themselves against their fascist government, were arrested and exterminated.
8. In 1994, Rwanda disarmed the Tutsi people and being unable to defend themselves from their totalitarian government, nearly one million were summarily executed.

The total numbers of victims who lost their lives because of gun control is approximately 70 million people in the 20th century. The historical voices from 70 million corpses speak loudly and clearly to those Americans who are advocating for a de facto gun ban as proposed by the United Nations. Governments murdered four times as many civilians as were killed in all the international and domestic wars combined. Governments murdered millions more people than were killed by common criminals and it all followed gun control.

Merry Christmas From the UN

Merry Christmas from the UN The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty took effect on Christmas Eve. Even though the theory has very little chance of being ratified by two-thirds of the Senate, Second Amendment advocates are concerned that the Obama administration will use a United Nations treaty as a basis for executive action on gun control as well they should be. Still, others feel that this leftist gun control treaty becomes binding international law and any Executive Action by Obama would merely be an endorsement of our nation’s contractual obligation to  support the UN ban on guns. Enough countries around the world have ratified it so the gun control treaty will now be enforced.

The founders included the words “shall not be infringed” for a reason. And they gave YOU the power to fight against any tyrannical government that would try to take your rights away.

 The Most Egregious Portions of the UN Ban

• Article 2 of the treaty defines the scope of the treaty’s prohibitions. The right to own, buy, sell, trade, or transfer all means of armed resistance, including handguns, is denied to civilians by this section of the Arms Trade Treaty.

• Article 3 places the “ammunition/munitions fired, launched or delivered by the conventional arms covered under Article 2” within the scope of the treaty’s prohibitions, as well.

• Article 4 places all “parts and components” of weapons within the scheme.

• Perhaps the most egregious threat to the rights of gun owners in the Arms Trade Treaty is found in Article 5. Under the title of “General Implementation,” Article 5 mandates that all countries participating in the treaty “shall establish and maintain a national control system, including a national control list.” This list should “apply the provisions of this Treaty to the broadest range of conventional arms.”

• Article 12 adds to the record-keeping requirement, mandating that the list include “the quantity, value, model/type, authorized international transfers of conventional arms,” as well as the identity of the “end users” of these items.

Sightings of these vehicles have been widely reported beginning last Spring. And this has led some to suspect that an occupation force is being mobilized.

• The agreement also demands that national governments take “appropriate measures” to enforce the terms of the treaty, including civilian disarmament. If these countries can’t get this done on their own, however, Article 16 provides for UN assistance, specifically including help with the enforcement of “stockpile management, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs.” A “voluntary” trust fund will be established to assist those countries that need help from UN peacekeepers or other regional forces to disarm their citizens. THIS MEANS MARTIAL LAW OCCUPATION BY FOREIGN TROOPS WHO WILL HAVE NO HESITATION IN USING DEADLY FORCE AGAINST AMERICAN CITIZENS. 

Conclusion

I would remind the reader that gun confiscation is not an end unto itself. It is a means to an end. For when the people are finally disarmed, the banking mafia that runs this country can have their way with this country with very little opposition. In the words of Jesus, we would be well-advised to never be without our swords (i.e. guns).

 DID YOU CONSENT TO HAVING A FOREIGN ENTITY ENTERING YOUR RESIDENCE AND CONDUCT A ROOM TO ROOM SEARCH FOR GUNS?

Credit to Common Sense

Iran holds 'largest military exercise in history', in bid to send 'message'

Iran holds the "largest military exercise in its history," or at least that was what Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadan channel reported Thursday.

The exercise, dubbed Mohammad Rasoulallah (Mohammad, the Messenger of God) involved all branches of the Iranian military and will last for six days, spanning 2.2 million square kilometers, Iranian news television Press TV reported.



Photo: AP



General Hashma Allah Malka said it was an "Important message of peace to our friendly neighbors, but also a show of force regarding our defense abilities which sends a message to our enemies."

As part of what Iranian media are calling a massive show of force, the army will maneuver from the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf all the way to the Gulf of Aden and even the parts of the Indian ocean. According to different reports, the Iranian Navy will be testing warships and submarines.



Iranian top brass


As part of the exercise, the Iranian will use the more most advanced technology. The first part of the exercise

Close to 13,000 personnel will take part in the drills, which will be the first time Iran has organized military maneuvers so far from its coastline.

The southeastern provinces of Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchistan will also be included in the tests, with the Iranian army, air force, navy and Revolutionary Guards participating.



"One of the aims of these maneuvers is to increase our defensive capability... and to transfer this experience to young" personnel, army chief general Abdolrahim Moussavi told state television.

The drills will finish with a military parade on December 30.

Last week Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayari called on foreign forces in the region to "leave the area" in order to avoid incidents.

The maneuvers will pose "no danger to foreign forces in the Persian Gulf," he added, in an apparent reference to the US Fifth Fleet, which is stationed in Bahrain.

Iran's navy has boosted its international presence over the past few years, in particular to help guard commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden from pirate attacks.



AFP contributed to this report
Credit to Ynet

‘Noah's Ark’: Russia to build world first DNA databank of all living things

Not quite the Biblical Noah’s Ark, but possibly the next best thing. Moscow State University has secured Russia’s largest-ever scientific grant to collect the DNA of every living and extinct creature for the world’s first database of its kind.

“I call the project ‘Noah’s Ark.’ It will involve the creation of a depository – a databank for the storing of every living thing on Earth, including not only living, but disappearing and extinct organisms. This is the challenge we have set for ourselves,” MSU rector Viktor Sadivnichy told journalists.

The gigantic ‘ark’, set to be completed by 2018, will be 430 sq km in size, built at one of the university’s central campuses.

“It will enable us to cryogenically freeze and store various cellular materials, which can then reproduce. It will also contain information systems. Not everything needs to be kept in a petri dish,” Sadivnichy added.

The university’s press office has confirmed that the resulting database will contain collected biomaterials from all of MSU’s branches, including the Botanical Garden, the Anthropological Museum, the Zoological Museum and others. All of the university’s departments will be involved in research and collation of materials. The program, which has received a record injection of 1 billion rubles (US$194 million), will promote participation by the university’s younger generation of scientists.




Moscow State University (RIA Novosti / Evgeny Biyatov)


Sadovnichy also said that the bank will have a link-up to other such facilities at home, perhaps even abroad.

“If it’s realized, this will be a leap in Russian history as the first nation to create an actual Noah’s Ark of sorts,” the rector said.

Russia is of course not the first to attempt something of this general scale - the quest to preserve biological life forms is one everyone should be engaged in. Britain has done just that with its Frozen Ark project, its venture into preserving all endangered life forms, also the first of its kind. They say it’s"the animal equivalent of the 'Millennium Seed Bank'," a project that encompasses all of the world's seeds.

Credit to RT

A Cyber War With North Korea And An Economic War With Russia

In addition to all of our wars in the Middle East and the war that has erupted on the streets of America, we are now engaged in a cyber war with North Korea and an economic war with Russia.  Without a doubt, the United States has the capability to do a tremendous amount of damage to both of them.  But what about the damage that they could potentially do to us?  We have a society that is absolutely teeming with soft targets.  Our Internet infrastructure is extremely vulnerable, our debt-based economic system is already teetering on the edge of disaster, and government officials freely admit that security at key facilities such as power plants is sorely lacking.  And these kinds of bitter conflicts have a way of escalating.  

The North Koreans and the Russians are both very proud, and neither one is going to back down any time soon.  If a foreign power wanted to really make us hurt, it wouldn’t take much imagination at all.  There are thousands of ways to do it.  So Americans should not just smugly assume that we are untouchable.  In a war, it is often those that are overconfident that get hurt the worst.

Last week, Barack Obama blamed North Korea for the nightmarish hack attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment and he promised that the U.S. would respond.

Well, it looks like that response began on Monday.  According to Bloomberg, North Korea’s connection to the Internet was totally cut off…

North Korea’s limited access to the Internet has been cut off, according to a network-monitoring company, days after the U.S. government accused the country of hacking into Sony Corp. (6758)’s files.

North Korea, which has four official networks connecting the country to the Internet — all of which route through China — began experiencing intermittent problems yesterday and today went completely dark, according to Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Needless to say, that got the attention of the North Koreans.

On their end, the North Koreans are still denying that they had anything to do with the attack on Sony.  And we may never know the actual truth.  In reality, Russia could have carried out such an attack.  Or it could have been the Chinese.  Or it could have even been a false flag cyberattack conducted by a three letter U.S. agency.  We just don’t know.

But what we do know is that North Korea is now vowing to take action against “the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland“…

“The DPRK has already launched the toughest counteraction. Nothing is more serious miscalculation than guessing that just a single movie production company is the target of this counteraction. Our target is all the citadels of the U.S. imperialists who earned the bitterest grudge of all Koreans,” a report on state-run KCNA read.

“Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism,” the report said, adding that “fighters for justice” including the “Guardians of Peace” — a group that claimed responsibility for the Sony attack — “are sharpening bayonets not only in the U.S. mainland but in all other parts of the world.”

So can North Korea back up those bold words?

We shall see.

But without a doubt our Internet infrastructure is very vulnerable.  As I have written about previously, our big banks are under Internet attack every single minute of every single day.  And in recent months we have seen a whole host of retailers and major corporations get hacked.

This is an emerging threat that should not be underestimated.  As a society, we have become extremely dependent on the Internet, and these attacks are constantly becoming more powerful and more sophisticated.

I think that Steve Quayle put it very well during one recent interview…

“Cyberwarfare is increasing dramatically as we speak. There are serious concerns about the ability of the United States’ banking system to whether extremely sophisticated cyberattacks. The Sony breach is just one example of how a detrimental cyberattack can bring one of the world’s most prominent entertainment giants to its knees.”

And we do know that the North Koreans take hacking very seriously.

In fact, it has been reported that North Korea has a small army of hackers that are continually harassing the western world known as “Unit 121″…

Just like in a Bond movie, an army of teenage geniuses tap away at keyboards in fortified complex tucked away from prying eyes in a rogue state, bent on bringing cyber-carnage to their Western enemies on the orders of their leader who is bent on revenge.

But this isn’t the plot line from a film. This is North Korea in 2014. And the cyber-warriors inside have diverted from their usual work of disrupting governments and big business to turn their collective fury on Sony.

The building, the Kim Il-Sung Military Academy, is one of four North Korean universities known to train children, hand-picked for their intelligence from all around the country, and turn them into recruits for an elite group of hackers simply known as Unit 121 or Bureau 121.

Meanwhile, the struggle between the United States and Russia over Ukraine has escalated into a full-blown economic war.

At first, both sides started slapping each other with relatively minor economic sanctions.

But then things started escalating.  I think that things really began to get serious for the U.S. when Russia started to make moves against the petrodollar.  This is not something that has been reported on much at all by the mainstream media in the United States, but it is a very big deal.  If you want to become enemy #1 in the eyes of the U.S. government, just start attacking the petrodollar.  So when Russia began cutting the U.S. dollar out of oil and natural gas transactions, that definitely got the attention of some folks in Washington.  You can read much more about what Russia has been doing in this regard in this article, this article and this article.

Of course Washington was not just going to sit back and let this happen.  The Obama administration has retaliated by going after two of the most important pillars of the Russian economy – oil and the ruble.  And without a doubt, a tremendous amount of damage has already been done.

At this point, Russia is facing a full-blown currency crisis, major banks are starting to fail and economists are forecasting a deep recession for next year…

The central bank bailed out its first victim of the collapsing currency, authorities announced a tax on grain exports to protect domestic stocks and a Reuters poll of 11 economists predicted that Russia’s gross domestic product would fall 3.6 percent next year.

Russia has been hit by what Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev recently called a “perfect storm” of plummeting oil prices, sanctions related to its military action in Ukraine, and a flight of investors’ capital — made worse by a lack of structural reforms that means the economy is overwhelmingly dependent on oil revenues.

But don’t count out the Russians just yet.

They are a very crafty people, and they are not afraid to fight dirty.

And it is important to keep in mind that the Russian Bear never forgives and it never forgets.  Most Americans don’t realize this, but right now anti-American sentiment in Russia is actually higher than it was at the end of the Cold War era.  Many Russians believe that this is a new Cold War, and that the United States is the greatest force for evil on the entire planet.

So while many Americans view this current conflict as a temporary foreign policy tussle about Ukraine, many Russians view this as a long-term struggle that is absolutely critical to the future of humanity.  If you doubt this, you should check out some of the things that their leading thinkers have been saying.

This conflict between the United States and Russia is not going to end any time soon.  And someday down the road, it could evolve into something more than just an economic war.  But before that happens, the Russians have a whole host of other ways that they can damage us.

Yes, the United States can hurt Russia.

But Russia can also hurt us.

In the end, this conflict is not going to be good for anyone.

Credit t Economic Collapse

Are We Already In the Time of Sorrows?