Gold-backed Currency Launches in Dubai

Gold-backed Currency Launches in Dubai 

• New gold-backed currency OneGram launched
• Backed by one-gram of gold, uses blockchain technology
• OneGram is first in wave of new Shariah, tech-savvy gold products
• 2017 sees big changes for gold thanks to Shariah gold and blockchain
• Gold investors should prepare for tightening in supply
• Bitcoin and shariah gold demand suggest change in retail investor thinking

Technology, shariah gold and bitcoin point to changing views

Ramadan Kareem rang out across Dubai and the rest of the Muslim World this weekend as the holiest month in the Islamic calendar began. For 29-30 days over a billion Muslims around the world practice sawm (fasting), charity (zakat) and salat (prayer). This period is a time of spiritual reflection, increased devotion and worship as well as a time to come together with loved ones for both the break fast meal (Iftar) and pre-fast meal (Suhur).

Ramadan is obviously observed in different ways around the Muslim world. Here in Dubai a non-Muslim will experience a place full of both celebration and reflection, with events happening every evening that are there to welcome everybody. The month also sees a number of companies launching Ramadan promotions ranging from bank accounts (free banking for six months, anyone?) to spa treatments (2-for-1 massage?) to huge packs of dates (the first food to break the fast).

As part of the celebrations, a new gold-backed currency has been launched, here in Dubai. It is a new currency known as OneGram (OGC) backed by one gram of gold and can be used for digital payments. There is a fixed number of OGCs and digital transaction fees (minus admin costs) will be reinvested to buy more gold. According to the managers, “the amount of gold backing each OGC will increase with time.”

OneGram has been launched by a private company of the same name. The company claims to offer a proof-of-stake blockchain that is ‘’further anonymized’ than Bitcoin. Reports state that ‘developers employ zero-knowledge dual-key stealth addresses and ring signature protocols toward ‘instant, untraceable, unlinkable, trustless transactions.’

Shariah Gold Standard

In December we witnessed the launch of the Shariah Gold Standard. Announced in Bahrain by the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the World Gold Council, the Standard is the first ever set of guidelines for the 2 billion Muslims looking to invest in gold-based financial products.

As we explained in December:

According to Islamic texts, gold is a ribawi item, which means that it must be sold on weight and measure, and cannot be traded for future value or for speculation. In order for a gold instrument to be Shariah-compliant, the precious metal must be the underlying asset in related transactions.

When the Shariah Gold Standard was launched, one of the world’s leading investors Mark Mobius labelled it as a “godsend” that was both “innovative and revolutionary”. Currently the Islamic Finance market accounts for 1% of the global GDP, and is growing at nearly 20% per year. The new AAOIFI issued guidelines are expected to propel demand for gold as more companies (such as GoldCore) launch Shariah-compliant gold investment products. The combined use of both innovative Shariah gold investment standards and new technology could boost demand by around 500-1000 tonnes per annum.

The launch of OneGram is part of the new wave of gold financial products that we are beginning to see as a result of the Shariah Gold Standard. Muslims have long looked for more gold products to be made available to them in the $2 trillion Islamic financial markets.

A gold-backed cryptocurrency is not just a positive sign for Muslim investors, it is also a positive sign for those who are looking to invest outside of the financial system. Of course, investing in physical gold has long been available for both Muslims and non-Muslims for many years, but this recent announcement says a lot more about the demands for safe-haven investing than previous changes in financial markets have.

A new safe-money standard?

Right now it seems the world is paying attention to a financial and geopolitical situation that is proving to have one too many cracks to fix and fill. But, in the background, there is a growing awareness of how we can protect ourselves when those cracks turn into canyons.

There is something in the air that suggests we might be seeing a turn in the way savers and investors are beginning to view their money. The launch of technologically advanced, shariah compliant gold-products is an early indication of this. But when one also considers the recent performance of bitcoin, then we see that the desire to hold money outside of the financial system with reduced counterparties is growing.

The size of the bitcoin market might be minuscule compared to gold, and gold’s market size minuscule compared to that of the dollar, but times are changing. The increased accessibility to these sound-money, safe-haven assets is a sign that the most powerful financial group in the world - the people on the street - are harnessing ways to gain control of their investment portfolios.

Ultimately we believe bitcoin is a complementary asset to gold, but time will tell. Whilst watching and waiting on bitcoin, gold investors should feel assured that launches of gold-backed products such as OneGram are not only validation of the modern approach to investing in gold, but also validation of their decision to invest in gold.

This is good news for gold investors who have chosen to invest in not only the ultimate form of financial insurance but also one that is finite and physical. As awareness and demand grow, it is not unreasonable to expect to see some tightening in the availability of physical gold, which will have a positive impact on the price.

Credit to Zero Hedge

Charles Nenner-Next World War Starts in Asia

What to Expect When the Deep State Fully Comes to Power

The Gun Ban Treaty took effect on December 24, 2014

Why would Obama and former Secretary of State, John Kerry, sign the UN Small Arms Agreement which banned private ownership of guns? Both men knew that they did not have a prayer of enforcing the ban during their time in office. So, why did they waste their time?  The fact is that they did not waste their time. They were both creating legislation for a future America, one that did not formally exist during the past administration.

The Deep State Is In Deep Trouble

The Deep State would prefer to remain in the shadows. They would also not like the attention they are receiving from the Independent Media for their money laundering derived from such schemes as drug dealing, gun running and child-sex-trafficking. It is on the later point that has the top minions and the Deep State, itself, in an absolute panic. In fact, and as I have previously reported Podesta is laundering Clinton Foundation assets through the purchase of Gold, art, etc., in anticipation of a RICO conviction.If you have not viewed my previous report on this topic, here is a copy ‘

Sessions, Trump and the Independent Media are closing in on these criminal activities of the Deep State. The Deep State is going to be forced to come into the light of day and execute a full blown coup following a massive false flag event that will provide the pretext to do so.

We must also consider that the first thing a totalitarian regime does when it come to power is to seize citizens guns in order to prevent any meaningful opposition to the ensuing dictatorial policies.

The Obama administration, in conjunction with Hillary Clinton set the tone during her campaign as they tipped their hand, and in anticipation of victory for Hillary, were engaged in a four part plot to eviscerate both the First and Second Amendment:

1. Criminalize certain groups as being terrorist simply because they belong to groups who oppose government policy of any type and then labeling these groups as terrorists (see Assistant Attorney General John Carlin).
2. Criminalize free speech which opposes any government program, action or official (eg Loretta Lynch).
3. Seize the guns of all the newly declared  “domestic terrorists” (eg the No-Fly List, Christians, etc).
4. Perpetuate more false flag attacks in an effort to disarm even more Americans through an ever-growing web of gun confiscation efforts.

Then there is the X-factor: Does anyone else wonder why the  Deep State is so determined to end the private ownership of guns when it has been clearly established that those areas who have the most stringent gun control (e.g. New York, Chicago, and Washington DC) also have the highest gun violence and homicide rates?

Gun Control Is About the Removal of All Opposition: Make the Populace Defenseless

We should examine 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 speudly and clearly to those Americans who are advocating for a de facto gun ban. 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.

Historically, American gun control legislation has been imitating Hitler’s Nazi Germany gun control legislation for quite some time. Consider the key provisions of the Nazi Weapons Act of 1938 and compare it with the United States Gun Control Act of 1968. The parallels of both the provisions and the legal language are eerily similar.

The Nazi Weapons Act of 1938		United States Gun Control Act of 1968
1	Classified guns for sporting purposes	1	Introduced term “sporting purpose”
2	All Germans desiring to purchase firearms had to register with the Nazi officials and submit to a background check	2	Exempted government agencies from the controls which applied to law-abiding citizens
3	The law assumed that non-Nazi German citizens were hostile and thereby exempted Nazi’s from the gun control law	3	The Law assumes that mentally ill people will turn their guns on innocents and the government is given the power to limit the purchase by people DEEMED to be a threat by labeling them as mentally ill.
4	The Nazi’s assumed unrestricted power to decide what kinds of firearms could, or could not, be owned by private persons	4	Authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to decide what firearms could or could not be owned by private persons
5	The types of ammunition that were legal were subject to control by governmental bureaucrats	5	The types of ammunition that were legal were subject to control by governmental bureaucrats
6	Citizens under 18 years of age could not buy firearms and ammunition	6	Age restriction of 18 years and 21 years were applied to anyone who wished to purchase firearms and ammunition

Thomas Jefferson was very clear in his writings regarding the right to bear arms. Jefferson knew that the preservation of the Republic ultimately rested upon a well-armed citizenry. Jefferson felt it was absolutely necessary for American citizens to be able to protect themselves. The protection that Jefferson spoke of was not from our obvious enemies of the day (France and Britain), but from our own government. Jefferson made this point quite clear when he admonished future generations of Americans to fulfill their duty to overthrow a government if they failed to serve the needs of the majority of its citizens.

Private ownership of guns is the necessary component needed to fulfill the Jeffersonian mandate for national self-defense.

The Deep State and Gun Control

What will the Deep State do once they have all of our guns? What are trying to accomplish? This will be discussed in detail in future installments of this serious. But for now, let’s allow ruthless leaders of the past to tell us why gun confiscation is a needed and necessary component of an overthrow of an existing government.

And of course, please allow me, one more time to remind everyone what Mao had to say on this topic:

Mao wrote the evolving Obama gun control play-book.

Loretta Lynch Set the Tone for Eviscerating the Rights of Every American

What many people forget is that before the guns are seized, they must first intimidate the people into silence. Once that is accomplished, the main goal, to seize guns will be realized.

Along these lines, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch attempted to silence the opposition to Deep State goals.

Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch

The Independent Media was relentless in their criticism of the heinous and unconstitutional proclamations by Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, as she promised to prosecute any journalist who dared to speak out about the folly of the Muslim-inspired, Refugee/Resettlement Program and for daring to criticize radicalized Muslims, estimated to be 10% of the Muslim population, who would do/have done innocent people harm. Lynch also went on to say that she was interested in preventing anti-government rhetoric as well. In other words, the First Amendment was put on life-support and it revealed the true nature of the Deep State that Lynch and Obama faithfully served.

Conclusion

There are several pillars to a coup that will result in the imposition of a Stasi type of society. Gun control and removal of fee speech are the first goals. The rest of the Deep State agenda will be discussed in this week-long series. Andin case you think that gun ownership is no big deal, I would encourage you to watch the following video.

 Credit to Common Sense

"Men in dark suits" rule the US - Putin on Deep State

Arch of Ba’al, With Shadowy Ties to New World Order, May Be Messiah’s End-of-Days Gateway: Rabbi

“For he built again the high places which Chizkiyahu his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal.” II Kings 21:3 (The Israel Bible™)


image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/gate.jpg

(Shutterstock)

A pagan arch erected in Italy one month before the meeting of the world’s most powerful leaders in the same country may be the portal whose opening could usher in the age of the Messiah – or a sinister World Order, a prominent rabbi has claimed.

The rabbi believes that the two events – the unveiling last month of a replica of the Palmyra Arch, a symbol of paganism and idol worship, and the recent G7 summit, representing the coming together of world powers – are deeply and troublingly connected.

“This arch brings together all the necessary elements for the New World Order,” explained Rabbi Daniel Assur, a member of the nascent Sanhedrin, to Breaking Israel News. “If you look at where this arch has appeared, it is clearly a pattern moving towards a specific goal: Messiah. The question is, whose Messiah will it be?”

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/arch.pngThe Palmyra arch being unveiled in Florence, Italy. (Screenshot)

The structure is a reproduction of a Roman victory arch built in Palmyra, Syria at the end of the second century CE. Originally it stood in front of a Roman temple where pagans worshiped the Mesopotamian god, Bel, also known as Ba’al, in a form of idol worship that figures prominently in the Bible. The original arch was destroyed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2015, but one year later, the Institute for Digital Archaeology used 3-D printing technology to reproduce a 20-foot full-scale replica.

The reproduction, which has traveled around the world to grace a number of events – each related to a concentration of global world power – was erected in Florence, Italy, one month ago as part of the first-ever Cultural Summit of the G7. This meeting was a prelude to the annual summit that brings together the leaders of the world’s seven major advanced economies. The seven entities, representing more than 64 percent of the net global wealth, came together last Friday in Taormina, Italy.

Rabbi Assur explained that this connection to Ba’al was essential to the New World Order, and was therefore necessary to elements in the G7 seeking world domination.

“The New World Order is not a secular, atheist movement,” explained Rabbi Assur. “They combine worship of Ba’al with worship of the Egyptian god, Isis, and also the true name of God. They need to bring together all of these elements.”

Rabbi Assur added that changes within Christianity, specifically Catholicism, are part of the battle against the New World Order. This was one of his motives for participating in the Sanhedrin’s trial against Pope Francis in 2015.

“The culture of paganic Rome is taking over Christianity,” he argued. “Christianity must be taken back from Roman culture, which is paganism.”


The arch, originally reconstructed for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Heritage week in England, also relates to the New World Order’s designs on the Holy Temple and the name of the Jewish God, the rabbi said.

“UNESCO, as part of the New World Order, has to usurp the true name of God,” Rabbi Assur explained. “It is towards this end that UNESCO is working towards changing the name and history of the Temple Mount, in order to control the original name of the Jewish God. That is why they made the most absurd claims about the holy places in Israel, but the power of the New World Order is real, so they were successful, despite their obvious lies.”

Rabbi Assur said that the arch’s role in bringing the Messiah was explicitly described in the Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin (78a).


The disciples of Rabbi Yossi the son of Kisma questioned him, asking when the son of David (the Messiah) will appear. And he answered: I am afraid you will request from me a sign as well. And they assured him that they would not. He then said to them: When this gate will fall, be rebuilt and fall again, be rebuilt again and fall again. And before it will be rebuilt for the third time the Messiah will appear.

Revered Jewish scholar Rashi, a medieval rabbi who authored a canonical commentary on the Torah, wrote that the arch mentioned by Rabbi Yossi was “a Roman arch in a Roman city”.

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/shutterstock_408254893-1.jpg

The Palmyra Arch reproduction in London’s Trafalgar Square (Shutterstock)

Rabbi Assur explained that when the Talmud describes the gate falling, it is not referring to an intentional act of deconstruction, but to the powers of evil triumphing over those who serve the true God, symbolized by the Arch of Palmyra.

“There is no question that the arch is the portal for a new world that the Talmud is speaking about. If the New World Order succeeds, then they will rule, God forbid,” Rabbi Assur said. “But if the Moshiach ben David (Messiah from the House of David) comes through the portal, he will rule over them, over the New World Order.”

The first modern reappearance of the Arch of Palmyra was in London’s Trafalgar Square in April 2016, when it was rected for(UNESCO) World Heritage Week. The unveiling coincided with the beginning of a 13-day period known in the occult as “the Blood Sacrifice to the Beast”, the most important holiday for those who worship the god Ba’al, celebrated with child sacrifice and bisexual orgies.

In February, the arch was assembled again as the centerpiece for the World Government Summit in Dubai, an international meeting of global leaders to discuss policy.

Credit to breakingisraelnews.com
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/88858/rabbi-warns-pagan-arch-end-days-gateway-will-walk/#h3gcCbAq0d5DXdXM.99

How Debt-Asset Bubbles Implode: The Supernova Model Of Financial Collapse

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

When debt-asset bubbles expand at rates far above the expansion of earnings and real-world productive wealth, their collapse is inevitable. The Supernova model of financial collapse is one way to understand this.

As I noted yesterday in Will the Crazy Global Debt Bubble Ever End?, I've used the Supernova analogy for years, but didn't properly explain why it illuminates the dynamics of financial bubbles imploding.

According to Wikipedia, "A supernova is an astronomical event that occurs during the last stellar evolutionary stages of a massive star's life, whose dramatic and catastrophic destruction is marked by one final titanic explosion." 

A key feature of a pre-supernova super-massive star is its rapid expansion. As the star consumes its available fuel via nuclear fusion, the star's outer layer expands. Once there is no longer enough fuel/fusion to resist the force of gravity, the star implodes as gravity takes over.

This collapse ejects much of the outer layers of the star in an event of unprecedented violence.

The financial analogy is easy to see: when rapidly expanding debt consumes a critical threshold of earnings (fuel), the equivalent of gravity (default, inability to service the enormous debt) triggers the collapse of the entire debt/leverage-dependent financial system.

As I explained yesterday, if earnings stagnate or decline while debt races higher, eventually earnings are insufficient to service the debt and default is inevitable.The other problem that arises as more and more of earned income goes to debt service is that there is less and less disposable income left to support consumer spending--the lifeblood of economies worldwide.

Once debt service absorbs a significant chunk of household earnings, recession is the inevitable result as spending collapses once more debt cannot be loaded on households. In other words, debt is limited by earnings. If earnings decline, or fall far behind the expansion of debt, eventually borrowers can no longer borrow more, or refuse to borrow more.

At that point, consumer spending falls and recession generates a self-reinforcing cycle of declining sales, profits, employment and wages. Recession further reduces the ability and appetite for more debt, and this acts as "gravity" in the super-massive debt-star.

Financial supernova collapse has two pathways which we call deflationary and inflationary. But the key point here is these are simply different pathways to the same result: the collapse of the financial system.

In a deflationary supernova, defaults--and the avoidance of additional debt--are the gravity that overwhelms the forces of expanding debt. Once the losses and risk are visible to all participants, the herd psychology changes, and participants no longer believe that central banks "are now the ultimate power in the Universe."

Central banks can create currency and credit, but they can't create earnings or productive real-world wealth. These are the limiting dynamics of any debt-dependent system.

The fantasy is that free money--limitless credit to corporations and Universal Basic Income to debt-serfs--will magically create earnings and expand productivity. But this FantasyLand exists only in overheated self-serving imagination: in the real world, free credit is used to buy back stocks and indulge in other financialization trickery, not invest in higher productivity.

And the debt-serfs scraping by on Universal Basic Income have no ability to borrow more and few means to generate meaningful productivity gains.

The other pathway to implosion is to print currency with sufficient abandon that debtors have enough money to service their debts. Emitting sufficient new free money to re-set all the unpayable debt destroys the purchasing power of the currency--a supernova implosion that is little different than the deflationary implosion. The inflationary pathway results in the destruction of the currency, impoverishing everyone holding the currency.

While the idea of debt jubilee is appealing to everyone who doesn't own debt-based assets (mortgages, auto loans, student loans,etc.), it is anathema to those who do own most of the debt-based assets--who just happen to be the wealthy and powerful who run our pay-to-play "democracy."

If history is any guide, the wealthy and powerful who run our pay-to-play "democracy" will never relinquish their wealth. Only a financial collapse can re-set the system.

The financial implosion triggers social and political upheavals. Recall that one person's debt is another entity's asset. When debt is blown off in either a deflationary or inflationary implosion, all the "wealth" represented by debt is also blown off.

So what survives a financial supernova? There are three classes of things that are still functioning after a debt/fiat-currency supernova: real-world tools/productive assets that were owned free and clear, and non-fiat-currency financial assets that are difficult for failed states and central banks to steal/expropriate.

The third class is human/social capital, i.e. the knowledge and experience in your head. Not only will my Skil 77 power saw still be around, so will my knowledge of how to be productive with this tool.

Proponents of precious metals and cryptocurrencies both see their favored assets as survivable assets that are difficult to steal/expropriate. It's difficult to predict just how desperate failing Status Quo institutions will get as their debt-fiat-currency dependent "wealth" and "power" implodes, but we are probably safe in assuming they will get fanatically zealous about stealing/expropriating everything they can get their self-serving hands on before the tides of History wash them away.

If they take my Skil 77 power saw, what are they going to do with it? Sell it for pennies to a crony of the central state? How will removing my ability to be productive help sustain their imploding regime? Removing productive capacity and suppressing my willingness to be productive will only hasten the collapse of their failed regime.

The Venezuelan Bolivar is the model of currency collapse: this is not some long-ago history--this is the present:

And how much did expanding debt boost productivity? Oops! Rapidly expanding financialized (i.e. unproductive) debt is Kryptonite to productivity.

Expanding credit has fixed everything! That's precisely what the Imperial managers think just before the debt supernova implodes.

Federal debt has tripled--no problem, let's triple it again, and then triple that.There is no upper limit on how much currency the Empire can borrow or print, right? "We are the ultimate power in the Universe now," etc.

Gravity eventually overpowers financial fakery. Central banks can add zeroes to currency and the super-wealthy can use their unlimited lines of credit to buy up everything in sight, but when the Empire collapses, the debt-assets of the super-wealthy are blown off in the supernova along with all the other artificial constructs of our corrupt, corrupting, rapacious, exploitive system.

Credit to Zero Hedge

Syrian Refugee Caught Plotting Suicide Bombing In Germany

Europe Is Becoming The Middle East

Pentagon Says It Has Successfully Shot Down A Simulated ICBM Attack

Update: according to the Missile Defense Agency, the test was a success. 

According to the just released statement, during the test, an ICBM-class target was launched from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Multiple sensors provided target acquisition and tracking data to the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system. The Sea-Based X-band radar, positioned in the Pacific Ocean, also acquired and tracked the target. The GMD system received the target tracking data and developed a fire control solution to intercept the target. 

Full statement from the Pentagon below:

HOMELAND MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY INTERCEPTS ICBM TARGET 

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force 30th Space Wing, the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense and U.S. Northern Command, today successfully intercepted an intercontinental ballistic missile target during a test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element of the nation's ballistic missile defense system. 

This was the first live-fire test event against an ICBM-class target for GMD and the U.S. ballistic missile defense system. 

During the test, an ICBM-class target was launched from the Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Multiple sensors provided target acquisition and tracking data to the Command, Control, Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system. The Sea-Based X-band radar, positioned in the Pacific Ocean, also acquired and tracked the target. The GMD system received the target tracking data and developed a fire control solution to intercept the target. 

A ground-based interceptor was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and its exo-atmospheric kill vehicle intercepted and destroyed the target in a direct collision.

A clip of the GMD taking off in California: 

* * * 

As previewed last week, on Tuesday afternoon the US began the first ever missile test involving a simulated attack by an intercontinental ballistic missile, firing off an interceptor from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, according to a Reuters witness located at the airbase. The long-planned experiment comes amid increased tensions over North Korea’s ballistic missile tests.

Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element launches during a flight test 
from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, U.S., May 30, 2017. 

As part of the historic attempt to intercept an inbound ICBM, a Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptor was fired from the Vandenberg. The target vehicle, designed to resemble an ICBM, was fired from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. 

The intercept should take place shortly over the Pacific Ocean. Reuters adds that it could be several hours before the U.S. military discloses whether the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptor struck its target. The Kwajalein atoll is approximately 8,000 km (4,972 miles) from Los Angeles, California. 

While the test comes as fears mount about North Korea's advancing program to develop an ICBM capability, Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Stars and Stripes last week said that Tuesday’s test was planned “years in advance” and is not a direct response to recent North Korean tests of ballistic missiles. 

Despite the denial, many are skeptical: while North Korea currently lacks the capability to hit the US mainland, the US military intelligence chief recently warned that such a development is only a matter of time.

The test interceptor is equipped with an Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), which is supposed to destroy the target vehicle with a direct hit. “This will be the first test of an upgraded kill vehicle, and the first test against an ICBM-class target,” US Missile Defense Agency spokesman Chris Johnson said in a statement.

Deployed in 2004 by the Bush administration, the GMD has never been used it combat. This is the first intercept test since 2014. There are currently 32 interceptor missiles in Fort Greely, Alaska and four at Vandenberg. Eight more are supposed to come on-line by the end of this year, AP reported. 

Credit to Zero Hedge

‘Tremors’ in Kiev: Moment of huge blast caused by pipe rupture caught on camera

ISIS Declares After Slaughtering Christians ‘May Allah Bless The Pure Hands That Shed Christian Blood, The Infidels Will Submit Or Die’

If it weren’t terrible enough that 29 Christians were slaughtered by ISIS terrorists for refusing to deny Christ, ISIS has made it a point to add insult to injury, where they bragged online about the massacre, calling the murderers “pure hands” that shed Christian blood, and boasting that the “infidels” will convert or die:

Islamic State sympathizers have written several messages in an encrypted chat room, celebrating last week’s killing of 29 Coptic Christians who were on their way to a monastery in Egypt, and warning of more such attacks on the minority, according to a report.

“May your jihad be blessed; you are sons of the Islamic State. Bless the pure hands that struck the strongholds of the Christians and the infidels,” wrote a user, Talha Alanssari, in a closed, encrypted chat group accessed by Breitbart Jerusalem.

The message continued, “Thank Allah who made our hearts happy with the heroic attack of the nation of Caliphs against the Christians in Egypt who should expect more attacks. The same Christians will not have the luxury of security and they will pay … the taxes of the Jizya (tax levied on non-Muslims) with the help of Allah.”

Another message by Oubaida Alsinawi reads, “Thank Allah who allowed our brothers to hunt these Christians as the hunter hunts his prey. The soldiers of the Islamic State will continue in an open-ended campaign with these Christians and traitorous Muslims in the Egyptian army and the tribes that help them in Sinai. I swear to Allah that our brothers in the field are demonstrating creativity as they reach these Christians and infidels and all those who help them. The attacks that have yet to come will be much harder with the help of Allah.”

Yet another chat user, identified as Hamza Alraqawi, wrote, “You warmed our hearts as our Mujahedeen brothers did who struck in England, Belgium, France, America and Russia. We say to you, continue with the blessing of Allah and increase your attacks and don’t allow them to continue harming the oppressed on the Earth.”

Another user, called “The Sheikh of the Caliphate,” wrote, “The war against the Christians is no less important than the war against the Shi’ites and against the infidels.”

Children, including a 2-year-old girl, were among the 29 killed Friday.

The Christians were traveling in two buses and a small truck in Minya, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority, when they were attacked. Masked gunmen stopped the vehicles on a road leading to the monastery.

New reports indicate that each person was asked to deny their faith in Jesus Christ. When they all refused, they were shot dead.

Hours after Friday’s attack, Egypt’s air force launched six strikes over its western border, targeting jihadist training camps in the Libyan port city of Derna, which is controlled by jihadists close to al-Qaeda.

Earlier this month, Islamic State’s local leader in Egypt issued a warning to Muslims, asking them to stay away from Christian gatherings and suggesting that it would launch new attacks on “legitimate targets.”

On Palm Sunday, bombings at churches in Alexandria and Tanta killed 45 Christians. Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, claimed responsibility for those attacks. IS also signaled while claiming responsibility that more attacks were coming: “The Crusaders and their tails from the apostates must be aware that the bill between us and them is very large and they will be paying it like a river of blood from their sons, if God willing.”

Sinai Province, the name of the local affiliate of IS in Egypt, is seeking to impose a hardline interpretation of Islam in the country.

Credit to Shoebat.com