‘Iran already past nuclear red line’

Iran has essentially crossed the “red line” set by Israel for its nuclear activity, and the coming few months will be a crucial period, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, a former head of IDF Military Intelligence, said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a security conference in Tel Aviv, Yadlin said that “for all intents and purposes, Iran has crossed Israel’s red line… in the summer, Iran will be a month or two away from deciding about a bomb.”

Unless there is a drastic increase in international pressure on the Islamic Republic, Yadlin said, Iran will continue to expand its nuclear program.

“There won’t be an agreement if there isn’t a price for [not] reaching one,” he added.

In a speech before the UN last September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out a “red line” for Iran, and in later interviews he clarified that Iran’s enrichment activities must stop before they produce enough 20%-enriched uranium for a single bomb, some 240 kg. (529 lbs).

Yadlin said that because of the June Iranian elections, Israel and the West had until then to decide on a military option to destroy or curtail Iran’s nuclear operation, and expressed assurance that Israel was up to the task with or without direct help from the US.

Also speaking at the Tel Aviv conference, former intelligence and justice minister MK Tzachi Hanegbi said time was running out.

“it’s now or never,” said Hanegbi, but “the option of never does not exist.”

Hanegbi addressed his comments to US President Barack Obama and said, “You cannot subject your considerations to our needs,” meaning that the US has many other considerations and Israel has to act according to its own imperatives.

The possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran gained additional traction on Monday, when US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon announced in Tel Aviv an unprecedented US sale of advanced military equipment to Israel, including radar systems, missiles, refueling planes and V-22 planes, which would greatly increase the IAF’s capacity to carry out a long-range attack.

The Times of Israel

US Debt Crisis Explained and Understanding the Financial Crisis

Boston PD's Ed Davis Slips Up and Calls Suspects ACTORS !

Merkel To Europe: "Prepare To Cede Sovereignty"

The liquidity tsunami that started in September of 2012 in the Marriner Eccles building and continued with the BOJ's own epic QEasing expansion three weeks ago, has so far provided the impetus for Europe to kick the can of its inevitable dissolution for a few more months, yet slowly but surely the market is starting to read through the artificial levels implied by Italian and Spanish bonds, driven by recycled ECB funding via bank and repo conduits and of course Japanese carry cash, and rumblings of a return to crisis conditions are back.

And as always happens, once the crisis talk is back, so is discussion of a fiscal union. Sure enough, earlier today Germany's Angela Merkel once again reminded everyone just what the stakes are in order to achieve a truly stable, and sustainable European union: nothing short of ceding sovereignty to Germany. And with that we are back to square one, because that has always been the trade off - want a unified, fiscally and monetarily, Europe? You can get it: just bow down to Merkel.

From Reuters:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that euro zone members must be prepared to cede control over certain policy domains to European institutions if the bloc is truly to overcome its debt crisis and win back foreign investors.

Speaking at an event hosted by Deutsche Bank in Berlin alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Merkel also defended her approach to the crisis against critics who argue she has put too much emphasis on austerity, saying Europe must find a way to deliver both growth and solid finances.

The comments came two months before European leaders are due to gather in Brussels to discuss moving towards a so-called "fiscal union".

The punchline:

"We seem to find common solutions when we are staring over the abyss," Merkel said. "But as soon as the pressure eases, people say they want to go their own way.

"We need to be ready to accept that Europe has the last word in certain areas. Otherwise we won't be able to continue to build Europe," she added.

Two conclusions here: Europe will be "staring over the abyss" very soon once again, and where Merkel says "Europe" she means Germany.

This is confirmed by the immediate denial of precisely this, adding "it would be "dangerous" if other countries in Europe felt Germany was imposing its own economic model across the entire bloc."

Oh, ok then.

So just what is Germany's vision for "Europe":

"We don't always need to give up national practices but we need to be compatible," Merkel said. "It is chaos right now."

"We need to be prepared to break with the past in order to leap forward. I'm ready to do this," she said.

So... just give up national practices sometimes. And yes, Merkel is of course ready to head the asset-stripmined continent. The question is who else in Europe is willing to hand over their liberties to the next iteration of the German Reich?

Zero Hedge

U.S. Expert Says N.Korea May Conduct More Nuclear Tests

North Korea could conduct its fourth nuclear test in weeks or months, said Dr. Siegfried Hecker from Stanford University, the last U.S. expert to visit the Yongbyon uranium enrichment facility, according to Radio Free Asia on Friday.

He made the comments during a seminar at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation held in Austria on Thursday and also discussed the North’s technological capabilities.

The North "would likely need several more tests to be able to make one small enough for a missile and have sufficient confidence that you can put a nuclear weapon on a warhead," he speculated.

Hecker visited the previously secret uranium enrichment facility in Yongbyon at the invitation of North Korea in 2010.

The North's "nuclear arms still are probably primitive" and its technology is not yet developed enough to mount nuclear weapons atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, he said.

The most serious possible threat would be delivery of a nuclear bomb by boat. "That would be the simplest delivery mechanism. However, it is very difficult to pull that off," he added.


Chosun Ilbo

Catholic rebel group begins criticizing new pope

A rebel Catholic group at the heart of major controversies that plagued former Pope Benedict has begun criticizing his successor Pope Francis for the popular approach he has taken since his election last month... While Benedict criticized some reforms of the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, Francis praised it on Tuesday as "a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit" that remained to be fully implemented although some wanted to turn back the clock. 

Benedict's wooing of the SSPX, part of a his wider plan to bring back many Catholic traditions sidelined after Vatican II, triggered several controversies during his eight-year papacy. 

His 2007 decision to allow wider use of the old Latin Mass met with a mixed reaction among Catholics and Jewish groups said it revived an old Latin prayer they considered anti-Semitic... Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, the top doctrinal official in Rome, told Germany's Catholic news agency KNA last month that all priests accept the [Vatican II] reforms as valid. "Whoever does not recognize this is not a Catholic," he declared.


(Reuters) - A rebel Catholic group at the heart of major controversies that plagued former Pope Benedict has begun criticizing his successor Pope Francis for the popular approach he has taken since his election last month.

In a letter to supporters this week, the head of the ultra- traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) asked whether the new pontiff's focus on serving people could be only "man-centered philanthropy" rather than true religious leadership.

Bishop Bernard Fellay's sharp criticisms of the Vatican attracted attention during Benedict's papacy because the now retired head of the Roman Catholic Church wanted to reintegrate the once-excommunicated group fully into the Roman fold.

Francis, the former Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, has upset many Catholic traditionalists by eschewing Vatican pomp, presenting himself as a humble servant of the poor and showing little interest in returning to centuries-old traditions.

In his letter, Fellay urged Francis "not to allow souls to perish because they no longer learn sound doctrine", by which he meant the ultra-traditionalist views the SSPX advocates.

"What good is it to devote oneself to serving people if it hides from them what is essential?" asked Fellay, whose group claims 500 priests and a million followers around the world.

Aiding the poor has always been a concern for the Church, he said, "but if it becomes merely man-centered philanthropy, then the Church is no longer carrying out its mission".

Fellay, who had long hoped that Benedict would give in and reintegrate his group without conditions, had avoided public comment on his successor until now.

Soon after his election, the SSPX head for South America, Rev Christian Bouchacourt, denounced Francis's simple style as humiliating and undignified for the Church.

Reuters/raidersnewsupdate

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