ex-MI6 chief, warns of Russia 'danger'

Russia has become a danger to Britain and the country must be prepared to take steps to defend itself and its allies, the former head of MI6 says.

Sir John Sawers, who recently retired after five years as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Russia poses a "state to state threat".

Sir John said dealing with such threats would require more defence spending.

But he called on issues with Russia to be addressed by "increased dialogue".

He said he was disappointed how, after the end of the Cold War, Russia's and Europe's paths had failed to converge.

Russia's threat was "not necessarily directly to the UK but to countries around its periphery".

"[Russia] keep on reminding us that they have nuclear weapons," he said.

"The one level in which Russia and America are equals is at the nuclear level.

"Now we don't want to have a repeat of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 where we got to the brink of nuclear war.

"We need to be able to address this through increased dialogue."

'Multi-polar world'

His comments come after a year of fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

"We shouldn't kid ourselves that Russia is on a path to democracy because it isn't," Sir John said.

"One of the aspects of the modern world is that we live in a much more dangerous world these days.

"The stability that we had during the Cold War, or the predominance of the West that we had in the decade or two after the Cold War - that is now changing.

"It's a much sort of flatter world, a much more multi-polar world and there are real dangers associated with that."
Ukrainian armed forces have been battling against pro-Russian separatists

Sir John described Russia as always having been an "issue of concern" for security services.

"Europe and Russia are not converging with one another so we're going to have to find a new way to coexist with Russia," he said.

"This crisis at the moment - it's focused on Ukraine but Ukraine is a symptom. It's not the real problem.

"The real problem is how we live with a Russia which feels very exposed. Putin's actions are ones of a leader who believes his own security is at stake.

"And here we've got nuclear bombers approaching the Cornish coast."

Credit to BBC

NATO Warms up Its Engines: German Tank Battalion to be Activated

In a magazine interview published on Friday, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said the tank battalion, based in Bergen in the state of Lower Saxony, would receive more equipment and personnel as part of efforts to redress what she called "an investment bottleneck."

She also told the magazine, which is published by the German Bundeswehr, that already existing units would be equipped with more material and that the already close cooperation with the French, Polish and Dutch armies would be stepped up still further.

This cooperation could possibly include integrating Leopard tanks discarded by the Dutch army into the Bergen tank battalion, German security sources have said.

'Depth and breadth'

Von der Leyen spoke in the interview of modifying the principle of "breadth over depth" that underlay a reform of the armed forces carried out five years ago, saying that although Germany required "an appropriate breadth of capability" to fulfill its military obligations, it "just as urgently needed more depth and staying power."

"The security situation has changed noticeably with the crises of 2014," she said, referring to Russia's alleged military intervention in neighboring Ukraine's pro-Moscow separatist insurgency.

"We have to give new and honest answers to the question of what we must really be able to do and what the army needs and what it doesn't," she added.

Among other things, von der Leyen called into question the ceilings for heavy weapons systems established by her predecessor, current Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who like her belongs to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats.

"As a first step, for example, we want to end the practice of giving away or scrapping good surplus material, for example Leopard 2," she said.

De Maiziere had planned to reduce Germany's contingent of Leopard 2 combat tanks from 350 to 225.

More NATO demands

Germany's plans to increase the flexibility and capability of its armed forces come amid growing demands from NATO for member states to boost their reaction speed.

In response to Russia's actions in Ukraine, the military alliance called in September for the founding of a new rapid response force based in eastern Europe, in which the German Bundeswehr plays an important role.

Germany's military obligations also include training missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A reform of the Bundeswehr was instigated in 2010 under the then-Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and partially implemented under de Maiziere. The reform measures included abolishing compulsory military service and reducing troop numbers from 250,000 to 185,000.

Credit to Russia Insider

Street Preacher Arrested California

More Giant Craters Appear In Siberia, Scientists Nervous To Investigate

In the middle of last summer came news of a bizarre occurrence no one could explain.Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive crater appeared in one of the planet's most inhospitable lands. Early estimates said the crater, nestled in a land called "the ends of the Earth" where temperatures can sink far below zero, yawned nearly 30 metres in diameter.

One of the craters in Siberia's so-called "ends of the earth"

The saga deepened. The Siberian crater wasn't alone. There were two more, ratcheting up the tension in a drama that hit its climax as a probable explanation surfaced. Climate change had thawed the permafrost, which had caused methane trapped inside the icy ground to explode. "Gas pressure increased until it was high enough to push away the overlaying layers in a powerful injection, forming the crater," one German scientist said at the time.

Video of the craters...

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Now, however, as The Sydney Morning herald reports, researchers fear there are more craters than anyone knew — and the repercussions could be huge...

Russian scientists have now spotted a total of seven craters, five of which are in the Yamal Peninsula. Two of those holes have since turned into lakes. And one giant crater is rimmed by a ring of at least 20 mini-craters,the Siberian Times reported. Dozens more Siberian craters are likely still out there, said Moscow scientist Vasily Bogoyavlensky of the Oil and Gas Research Institute, calling for an "urgent" investigation.

He fears that if temperatures continue to rise — and they were five degrees higher than average in 2012 and 2013 — more craters will emerge in an area awash in gas fields vital to the national economy. "It is important not to scare people, but to understand that it is a very serious problem and we must research this," he told the Siberian Times. "We must research this phenomenon urgently, to prevent possible disasters."

...

These objects need to be studied, but it is rather dangerous for the researchers," Bogoyavlensky told the Siberian Times. "We know that there can occur a series of gas emissions over an extended period of time, but we do not know exactly when they might happen. ... It is very risky, because no one can guarantee there would not be new emissions."

Making matters worse, the gas is extremely flammable. One of the methane bursts has already caught fire. Nearby residents in a town called Antipayuta say they recently saw a bright flash in the distance. "Probably the gas ignited," Bogoyavlensky said. "This shows us that such [an] explosion could be rather dangerous and destructive. Years of experience has shown that gas emissions can cause serious damage to drilling rigs, oil and gas fields and offshore pipelines."

When the news first broke last year, social media users pointed to everything from a meteorite to a stray missile to aliens to the Bermuda Triangle as possible causes. But the most plausible explanation seemed to be the explosive release of melting methane hydrate—an ice-like material frozen in the Arctic ground—thanks to global warming. But, as National Geographic reports, other theories are coming to light...

Now, scientists are arguing that the methane theory is unlikely, based on new satellite surveys released by Russian researchers that found dozens of new craters in Siberia.

"The jury is still out" on the cause of Siberia's craters, says Carolyn Ruppel, chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Gas Hydrates Project. But she and other scientists say the new satellite mapping suggests another explanation that has to do with the rapid melting of ice cores called pingos.

A pingo is a plug of ice that forms near the surface over time and has a small mound or hill on top.

When an ice plug melts rapidly—as many have been, thanks to unseasonably warm temperatures in Siberia over the past year—it can cause part of the ground to collapse, forming a crater. But that process alone isn't enough to explain the ejected rocks that have been found around the rim of the craters, which suggest some sort of explosion.

Instead, Ruppel theorizes that the craters were formed by a sudden release of natural gas that had been stored in the permafrost but was kept under pressure by the weight of the pingo.

This theory is bolstered by the Russian satellite data, which show pingos—they appear as small mounds—in the exact positions where the craters later formed.

*  *  *
So in conclusion - "No one knows what is happening in these craters at the moment."

Credit to ZeroHedge

China Just Sided With Russia Over The Ukraine Conflict

When it comes to the Ukraine proxy war, which started in earnest just about one year ago with the violent coup that overthrew then president Yanukovich and replaced him with a local pro-US oligarch, there has been no ambiguity who the key actors were: on the left, we had the west, personified by the US, the European Union, and NATO in general; while on the right we had Russia. In fact, if there was any confusion, it was about the role of that other "elephant in the room" - China.

To be sure, a question few asked throughout the Ukraine civil war is just whose side is China leaning toward. After all the precarious balance of power between NATO and Russia had resulted in a stalemate in which neither side has an obvious advantage (even as the Ukraine economy died, and its currency hyperinflated, waiting for a clear winner), and the explicit or implicit support of China to either camp would make all the difference in the world, not to mention the world's most formidable axis.

Today we finally got the answer, and the winner is... this guy:

Xinhua reported that late on Thursday Qu Xing, China's ambassador to Belgium, was quoted as blaming competition between Russia and the West for the Ukraine crisis, urging Western powers to "abandon the zero-sum mentality" with Russia.

Cited by Reuters, Xing said that Western powersshould take into consideration Russia's legitimate security concerns over Ukraine.

Reuters' assessment of Xing speech: "an unusually frank and open display of support for Moscow's position in the crisis."

At least it is not a warning to the US to back off or else. Yet.

Speaking in very clear and explicit language, something diplomats are not used to doing, the Chinese ambassador said the "nature and root cause" of the crisis was the "game" between Russia and Western powers, including the United States and the European Union.

He said external intervention by different powers accelerated the crisis and warned that Moscow would feel it was being treated unfairly if the West did not change its approach.

"The West should abandon the zero-sum mentality, and take the real security concerns of Russia into consideration," Qu was quoted as saying.

His comments were an unusually public show of understanding from China for the Russian position.China and Russia see eye-to-eye on many international diplomatic issues but Beijing has generally not been so willing to back Russia over Ukraine.

As noted above, China has long been very cautious not to be drawn into the struggle between Russia and the West over Ukraine's future, not wanting to alienate a key ally. And yet, something changed overnight, with this very clear language, warning some could say, that China will no longer tolerate Pax Americana, and even the mere assumption of a unipolar western world, let alone the reality.

Qu's comments take place just as talks between the United States and its European allies over harsher sanctions against Moscow.

On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western powers of trying to dominate and impose their ideology on the rest of world. The United States and European delegations slammed Moscow for supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Qu said Washington's involvement in Ukraine could "become a distraction in its foreign policy".

And then, Qu's slap in the face of Obama: "The United States is unwilling to see its presence in any part of the world being weakened, but the fact is its resources are limited, and it will be to some extent hard work to sustain its influence in external affairs."

Especially if and when China decides to send a few peacekeepers of its own into Ukraine. You know - just to make sure US influence in external affairs isn't "sustained" too much.

Credit to Zero Hedge

Shocking Admission & Denial from Alan Greenspan

The Odds Of A War Between Israel And Iran Just Went Way Up

Uh oh – Iran just got caught with both hands in the cookie jar.  It turns out that even while Iran has been negotiating a “historic peace deal” with the western world, it has been secretly operating a huge underground nuclear enrichment site that it didn’t tell anyone about.  But this is what the Iranians always do.  

They lie, lie and then lie some more.  So how in the world can you make a deal with a government that absolutely refuses to tell the truth?  These revelations about a secret underground nuclear facility just outside Tehran come at a time when it looked like the Obama administration was about to cave in and give Iran just about everything that it wanted.  

The “deal” that Obama was going to give them would have allowed the Iranians to keep all of the nuclear infrastructure that they have already constructed and would also give them permission to start building nuclear weapons in about a decade.  It would be a monstrously bad deal for the western world, and the Iranians should have jumped at it.  But now these new revelations could throw a wrench into those negotiations.  

But much more importantly, knowledge of this secret nuclear facility has got to be extremely alarming to the Israelis.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has always said that Israel will never, ever allow Iran to construct a nuclear weapon.  So what will happen if the Israelis determine that Iran is actually much closer to building a nuclear bomb that anyone originally suspected?  The truth is that the odds of a war between Israel and Iran just went way up thanks to these revelations, and that is not good news for any of us.

This new evidence of a secret nuclear facility that Iran had not told anyone about was revealed by the National Council of Resistance of Iran earlier this week…

Despite Iran’s denials that it is on the path to a nuclear bomb, new evidence charges that the Islamic republic has an “underground top-secret site” that is enriching uranium intended for nuclear weapons that has been hidden from the West for years.

According to the Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the complex, called Lavizan-3, is right outside Tehran, “buried deep underground in tunnels and underground facilities” with “radiation-proof doors” to prevent any leaks that could be detected by the United Nations International Energy Agency inspectors.

The revelations were unveiled during a Washington, D.C., news conference by the NCRI, which first exposed elements of Iran’s covert nuclear program in 2002.

The NCRI claims to have extensive knowledge of this complex, and it is even in possession of a photograph of a door that shields the facility from radiation which was smuggled out…

The NCRI describes the underground complex as having an elevator that “descends several stories, deep underground, and opens into a 650-foot tunnel, which leads to four parallel halls. Because the ground is inclined, the halls are deeper underground,” by as much as 164 feet below the surface.

The NCRI also said it smuggled out a photograph showing a 1-foot thick lead-lined door that shields the complex from radiation, and that the secret rooms and hallways are insulated for sound and radiation leaks so that they would remain undetected.

“If the United States is serious about preventing the Iranian regime from obtaining nuclear weapons, it must make the continuation of talks conditional on the IAEA immediately inspecting Lavizan-3 site,” said Soona Samsami, the NCRI’s United States representative.

So will Iran immediately allow international inspectors to go take a look at the Lavizan-3 site?

Of course not.

As they usually do, the Iranians will probably deny that anything is going on there.

But we have reason to trust the NCRI.  They have a track record of being right on the money when it comes to the Iranian nuclear program…

NCRI has a track record of accurately disclosing secret Iranian uranium enrichment sites. In 2002, NCRI revealed Iran’s top secret uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, some 100 miles north of Isfahan, and a second top secret Iranian nuclear plant in Arak, approximately 150 miles south of Tehran, designed to produce heavy water for the production of plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.

Amazingly, there will be people that will read this article and leave comments defending Iran.

How in the world can you defend a regime that habitually lies and deceives the rest of the world?

If the Iranians had just been honest, they could have gotten an overwhelmingly lopsided deal from the Obama administration.  And if they had actually stuck to the deal, the Israelis probably would not have attacked them for at least a few years.

But now all bets are off.  At this point, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that the Obama administration has totally given up on the goal of preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons.  Just check out comments that he made during a speech earlier this week…

“I respect the White House and the President of the United States but on such a fateful matter, that can determine whether or not we survive, I must do everything to prevent such a great danger for Israel,” Netanyahu said in a speech.

He said world powers had pledged to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, adding that “from the agreement coming together it appears they have given up on this commitment“.

So if the Israelis believe that the diplomatic approach is dead, what does that leave?

War is coming, and it might be sooner than most of us think.

It is not likely that Israel will attack Iran before the Israeli elections.  But after the elections are over, anything can happen.

And there are already reports coming out of the Middle East that Saudi Arabia has offered to let Israel use Saudi airspace for an attack on Iran…

Saudi Arabia is prepared to let Israeli fighter jets use its airspace if it proves necessary to attack Iran’s nuclear program, an Israeli TV station reported Tuesday, highlighting growing ties in the shadow of Tehran’s nuclear drive.

Riyadh’s only condition is that Israel make some kind of progress in peace talks with the Palestinians, Channel 2 reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed senior European source.

“The Saudi authorities are completely coordinated with Israel on all matters related to Iran,” the European official in Brussels said.

The Saudis hate Iran and do not want to see the Iranians get nuclear weapons either.  So an attack by Israel on Iran would serve their interests.

And if the Saudis can use this crisis to push for a Palestinian state, that is all the better as far as they are concerned.

But of course if a Palestinian state is established in the aftermath of a war between Israel and Iran, that will just set the stage for even more war.

We are entering a time of great geopolitical instability.  Wars and rumors of wars seem to be the order of the day.

And thanks to the duplicity of the Iranians, World War III could erupt in the Middle East at any time.

So would do you think of these developments?  Please feel free to share what you think by posting a comment below…

Credit to Economic Collapse