Russia Wards Off "Provocative And Aggresive" US Warship In Black Sea

While we are used to hearing of the 100s of "close encounters" between NATO and Russian planes,but,as reported by state news agency RIA - citing an anonymous source in Russia's armed forces, Russian military aircraft were scrambled to head off a U.S. warship that was acting "aggressively" in the Black Sea.

We are used to plane-on-plane "close encounters"...

And now, as The Daily News reports, Russian attack jets were sent to warn off the American warship USS Ross from near the country's territorial waters in the Black Sea, 

The source was quoted as saying that the U.S. destroyer Ross was moving along the edge of Russia's territorial waters and heading in their direction.

"The crew of the ship acted provocatively and aggressively, which concerned the operators of monitoring stations and ships of the Black Sea Fleet," RIA quoted the source as saying.

“Su-24 attack aircraft demonstrated to the American crew readiness to harshly prevent a violation of the frontier and to defend the interests of the country."

"Apparently, the Americans have not forgotten the April 2014 incident when one Su-24 practically 'blacked out' all of the electronics on board the newest American destroyer Donald Cook," the source said.

Russia's Defence Ministry was not immediately available to comment on the report.

As RT notes,

Saturday's incident is the latest in a series of border surveillance confrontations between Russia and the West. Europeans, especially the Baltic states, have repeatedly sounded the alarm over Russian jets coming close to their borders.

The US is rotating several warships in and out of the Black Sea, where Russia's naval bases are located. The USS Vella Gulf, USS Ross, USS Truxton, and the USS Taylor – as well as warships from other NATO member states – were spotted in the area over the past few months.

*  *  *

This appears to be the first reported ship-to-plane 'encounter' and,
just as US and China tensions are escalating in the South China Sea, it
appears US and Russian military 'discussions' are shifting from words
and proxy-fighting.

Credit to Zero Hedge

US surveillance shows 'China positioning weapons' in disputed island chain

By David Blair,

China has delivered a pointed message to its Asian neighbours and America by staging a military parade on Hainan Island, the province closest to the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

The “Patriotism National Defence Weapons Exhibition” took place in Haikou, the capital of Hainan. The weapons on display - supposedly developed by China within the last 20 years - included a J-10 jet fighter, a WZ-10 helicopter gunship and a tank designed for amphibious operations.



China's frigate 'Yulin' in action in the South China Sea (GETTY)


Hainan’s position off China’s southern coast means the island would be the primary base for any military operations in the event of war in the South China Sea. Phoenix News, a Chinese state website, said the event “displayed the nation’s prestige”.

China has laid claim to 90 per cent of the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas. Beijing’s claim to the Spratly islands overlaps with those of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. This remote archipelago – which has no indigenous population – lies across some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

The rival claims have been outstanding for decades, but China has begun to change the status quo by constructing artificial islands inside the Spratly chain, which lies over 800 miles from its coastline. Neighbouring states fear these ambitious projects could herald the construction of Chinese naval and other military facilities.


Chinese dredging vessels in the waters around Mischief Reef

As if to confirm these fears, American surveillance has detected two motorised artillery pieces positioned on one artificial island, according to the Wall Street Journal. This particular island was completed by China inside the Spratly archipelago about one month ago.

If China has deployed military assets in the Spratly chain, this would mark a “substantial escalation”, said Jonathan Eyal, the head of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute.

“The militarisation of the situation would make it very clear that the Chinese objective is to impose physical control over some of the most sensitive international waterways in the world,” said Mr Eyal. “It would show China’s long term intention, which is a permanent, physical, military presence in these waterways."

Mr Eyal added: “We are moving to a far more dangerous phase where the Chinese are not merely asserting their claims, but cementing them in military terms.”

Credit to The Telegraph

Elites' Goal of Cashless Society Has Started War on Cash

PRISON OFFICIALS WANT TO BUY NEARLY 5 MILLION ROUNDS

Another branch of the federal government is poised to make a massive purchase of ammunition, including hollow points, an expanding bullet designed for “maximizing tissue damage and blood loss or shock.”

A new Federal Bureau of Prisons shopping list includes:

• 1 million 9 mm Lugar 124 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point rounds;
• 1 million 9 mm Lugar 124 Grain Jacketed Ball rounds;
• 1 million 9 mm Lugar 115 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point rounds;
• 1.5 million .223 caliber 55 Grain Full Metal Jacket rounds;
• 40,000 12 Gauge #4 Buckshot 27 Pellets rounds;
• 185,000 12 Gauge #7 ½ shot rounds;
• 10,000 12 Gauge Rifled Slug 1 oz.;
• and 55,000 Cartridge .308 168 Grain Boat Tail rounds.

The list was posted as an online solicitation at FedBizOpps.gov.

It specifies that the source of the millions of rounds can only be a “Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business,” and the ammunition must be delivered to various agency locations over a period of several years.

“All ammunition must be new initial load. NO RELOADED ammunition will be accepted, inclusive of factory or otherwise.”

The solicitation will be available about June 15 through the website, officials said.

“Faith-based and community-based organizations can submit offers/bids/quotations equally with other organizations for contracts for which they are eligible,” the site explains.

Previous bulk ammunition purchases by the government, which have raised concerns, including the Department of Homeland Security plan in 2012 to purchase 200 million rounds and another by the Social Security Administration.

Infowars.com has done extensively research on ammunition purchases by the federal government and has found even the U.S. Postal Service making huge ammunition buys.

The purchases are being made by non-military branches of the government and largely follow the election of Barack Obama to the White House. His support of gun control, ammunition limits and the like have left critics describing him as the best gun and ammunition salesman in history, as business for gun stores has soared under his administration.

The U.S. Department of Education also has been acquiring Glock pistols and Remington shotguns, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been acquiring ammunition, Infowars reports.

WND reported in March an effort by the White House to ban supplies for the popular AR-15 rifle failed in the face of a massive backlash.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest had claimed that the .223-caliber M855 ball should be banned because it can penetrate an officer’s soft armor and can be fired not just from sporting rifles but “easily concealable weapons.”

The term “easily concealable” was used to describe the AR-15 handgun. A bulky six pounds and 25 inches long, the semi-automatic version of the weapon, with a magazine, would be difficult to conceal, say firearms experts. And it would likely not be the first choice of any street thug or gang member, as it retails for between $1,000 and $2,000.

In fact, gun-rights advocates and law enforcement agencies contacted by WND say they have been unable to document a single incident in which a police officer has been taken down by a criminal using an AR-15 handgun in the 20 years since the M855 ball has been exempted from the federal ban on armor-piercing bullets. It was exempted based on its use for sporting purposes.

WND earlier posted a video demonstrating the impact of a 9 mm bullet, compared to a 9 mm hollow point, striking a melon:

WND also has reported the federal government’s ammunition purchases have attracted considerable attention, including from members of Congress such as Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan.

Credit to WND
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/prison-officials-want-to-buy-nearly-5-million-rounds/#V3tyZjBH8lXIrT40.99

Major Business Publication Sees Arrival Of “Implants In Your Hands For All Buying & Selling” In Near Future

Is it retail therapy gone mad? The dawn of a new cyborg age? Or a new meaning to going down under?

Whatever the case, a fair proportion of Australians are receptive to technology mixing with their precious human organic flesh, if it means making payments at retail stores is easier.

A survey, commissioned by global payments firm Visa, found 25 per cent of Australians were “slightly interested” in having a commerce-oriented chip implanted in their skin.

Research firm UMR conducted the survey for Visa, interviewing 1000 local consumers.

A subcutaneous chip would let consumers pay at a retail terminal without a wallet, credit card, smartphone or smartwatch. They would simply wave their bare hand over a terminal.

The finding was revealed as Visa and University of Technology Sydney announced a partnership to explore the future of wearable technology. Visa’s research looked at the wearable technology Australian consumers were interested in using for payments.

Thirty-two per cent would be interested in paying with a smartwatch; 29 per cent with a smart ring, and 26 per cent with smart glasses.

It is little wonder Visa regards Australians as adventurous with tech. “Australians are among the world’s earliest adopters of new technology,” said George Lawson, Head of Emerging Products and Innovation for Visa in ANZSP.

There’s nothing new about implanting tags under the skin. The US firm VeriChip obtained approval to do just that more than a decade ago.

Their chip consisted of a tiny antenna and an identification number. It was designed to be implanted in the soft tissue between the thumb and index finger and detected by a radiofrequency identification (RFID) scanner.

Before you see the human species morphing towards a cyborg future, there is a cautious note. Research in the past has linked subcutaneous chips to cancers in laboratory animals at the implant site.

Credit to http://www.theaustralian.com.au

Waiting For Monsoon: Over A Thousand Die From Heat In India

In most of the northern hemisphere, summer comes in June, July, and August. Not so in India. Here, summer begins in April and ends with the start of the monsoon wind shift– late May or June.

Deadly summer heat waves are not unusual in India; hundreds died in the events of 2002, 2003, and 2010. But this May has been especially brutal, with temperatures soaring to near 120 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of southeast India.

Following a cool (relatively) April, the extreme heat caught meteorologists, and most Indians, by surprise.

With much of India lacking air conditioning, and with power outages preventing those who have it from using it, residents were overwhelmed by the heat, and many (up to 1,800 by some reports) succumbed to it.

According to the International Disaster Database, this is the second deadliest heat wave in India, and the eighth deadliest in the world, going back to 1900.


Loo Delivers The Hot Air

A local phenomenon of the Indian subcontinent known as Loo, a hot wind from the northwest, is responsible for the high temperatures. Loo brings air from Pakistan and Afghanistan across India to the southeast coast. The dry, cloudless flow heats under the high spring sun as it moves southeast. Temperatures normally reach 100 degrees and higher over much of India in May.


This is the the average rainfall in India by month. There is a huge increase from May to June as the rainy phase of the monsoon begins. Graphic courtesy of NOAA.

Loo is actually one phase of the Indian monsoon, and the country will enter a different phase — the one people are most familiar with — in the next few weeks, as somewhat cooler, humid, and rainy conditions overspread the country.

We normally associate the word monsoon with this rainy phase, but the complete monsoon is a yearlong sloshing of air back and forth from land to sea.




Credit to decodedscience.com

US-Trained Special Forces Chief Joins ISIS, Vows To Bring Jihad To Russia & America

Meet Gulmurod Khalimov, the US-trained and funded former commander of Tajikistan's special forces, who,as Reuters reports, has now gone to Syria to fight with ISIS. He has a message: "Listen, you American pigs, I’ve been three times to America, and I saw how you train fighters to kill Muslims...God willing, I will come with this weapon to your cities, your homes, and we will kill you."

As Reuters reports:

Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov commanded the Central Asian nation’s special-purpose police known as OMON, used against criminals and militants. He disappeared in late April, prompting a search by Tajik police.

He reappeared Wednesday, vowing to bring jihad to Russia and the United States as he brandished a cartridge belt and sniper rifle, in a professionally made, 10-minute video clip posted in social networks.

Here is an excerpt of that video, in Russian

“The video, allegedly made in Syria, says that Khalimov joined the jihadists in protest against government policies that do not allow namaz (canonical prayer) or the wearing of Islamic dress,”the video’s Russian source states.

The Washington Post’s Ishaan Tharoor compiled some of Khalimov’s fun video soundbites:

“Listen, you dogs, the president and ministers,” Khalimov says in the video, “if only you knew how many boys, our brothers are here, waiting and yearning to return to reestablish sharia law there.”...

“Listen, you American pigs, I’ve been three times to America, and I saw how you train fighters to kill Muslims,” he said. “God willing, I will come with this weapon to your cities, your homes, and we will kill you.”

*  *  *

The big question is - was he 'recorded' as a moderate when America considered funding and training his elite special forces unit?

Credit to Zero Hedge