North Korea warning as US and S Korea begin joint drill

US and South Korean forces have begun military exercises on the Korean peninsula amid warnings from Pyongyang that the drills should not go ahead.

The annual exercises, known as Key Resolve, have brought hundreds of extra US troops into South Korea.

They will be followed later in the week by another set of joint military exercises called Foal Eagle.

North Korea has called the drills an "unpardonable infringement" and threatened to wage "sacred war".

The exercises, it said, go beyond previous ones held on the peninsula and "envisage a pre-emptive attack on North Korea".

North Korea's state media has carried threats of retaliation saying its army would "smash them with a sacred war of its own", the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul reports.

South Korea says the annual exercises with its key ally are defensive. More than 2,000 Americans are taking part, including 800 based outside South Korea.

The US military said in a statement that the North Korean army had been informed of the exercises, which would be monitored by observers from other nations to ensure they did not break the armistice agreement signed at the end of the Korean War.

On Sunday North Korea's new leader Kim Jong-un visited front-line military units, including one said to be responsible for an attack on the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong in 2010.

Four South Koreans died when North Korea shelled the border island.

According to North Korean state media, Mr Kim pledged a "powerful retaliatory strike" if the US-South Korean exercises intruded on North Korean territory.

BBC

Magnitude-6.8 quake shakes Siberia

MOSCOW (AP) — A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 shook southwestern Siberia on Sunday afternoon, the second to hit the area in two months. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, emergency officials said.

Residents of multistory apartment buildings said objects tumbled off of shelves, windows rattled and chandeliers swayed during the quake, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The earthquake hit about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Kyzyl, the capital of the Russian republic of Tuva, which borders Mongolia.

A quake of similar strength hit the same spot in late December. That quake damaged dozens of buildings, including a bridge over the Yenisei River to Mongolia.

Sunday's quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey said was centered 11.7 (7.3 miles) below the surface, was felt across a broad swath of southeastern Siberia.

"At the moment we have no information about any injuries or destroyed buildings," said Stanislav Aivazov, an official with the emergency services in Siberia. "Our specialists are inspecting the situation in the region. "

Workers reported feeling the quake at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectic plant, the largest in Russia, located more than 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the quake's epicenter.

The temblor also was felt in Krasnoyarsk, a large city about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away, emergency officials said.

Yahoo News

Babylon Rising Part Three

Joseph Herrin (02-17-2012)

After viewing the post on the half-time show for Super Bowl XLVI, some saints have written that they have never seen such blatant and extensive Satanic symbolism in a public venue. I anticipate far greater messages of the arising of Satan’s rule and the re-formation of Babylon to be present at the upcoming 2012 London Olympics. Already, there are so many occult parables in evidence that I am led to write on these things months before the Olympics are to be held.

The 2012 London Olympics are officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad. These Roman numerals translate to the 30th Olympiad of the modern era. The Olympics originally began in ancient Greece. They consisted of athletic competitions held in honor of Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods. Zeus was the current incarnation of Satan as he appeared to the Greeks. He was worshiped among other titles as Zeus Aphesio “the Liberator,” and as Zeus the Savior. Every four years the Greeks would hold Olympic celebrations. The name Olympic comes from Mount Olympus which was considered to be the dwelling place of Zeus and the pantheon of associated deities. Thus, from the very beginning, the Olympics have served as the high holy days for Luciferian worship.

The ancient Olympics are recorded to have first been celebrated in the year 776 B.C. (You may see a semblance in this year to the establishment of America as a nation, and the year that the Bavarian Illuminati was formed; 1776 A.D.). The ancient Olympics “were celebrated until 393 AD when they were suppressed by Theodosius I as part of the campaign to impose Christianity as a state religion.”

[Quote source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Olympic_Games]

In the modern era, the Olympics were first held in 1896. Each Olympiad continues for a period of four years. Thus, the first Olympiad ran until the year 1900. The upcoming London Olympics are the 30th in the series, expressed by the Roman numerals XXX. This is significant as the repetition of a number three times denotes fulness and completion.

Satan ever seeks to copy and distort the things of Yahweh. The number thirty in the Bible is clearly associated with the beginning of rule. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was made ruler of Egypt at the age of thirty.

Genesis 41:42-46

Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph's hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, "Bow the knee!" So he set him over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh also said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt..." So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Similarly, David was thirty years old when he was crowned king in Hebron.


II Samuel 5:4-5

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

The Scriptures also declare Christ to be King, a position which He affirmed.

John 18:37

Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?" Yahshua answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world.”

Yahshua began His earthly ministry at the age of thirty.

Luke 3:23

When He began His ministry, Yahshua Himself was about thirty years of age...

It would be in keeping with Satan’s mockery of all that is holy to follow this pattern by associating the number thirty with the beginning of his world rule. As I have made mention of in the first two parts of this series, there are signs being given by Satan and his human subjects that the establishment of his rule on earth is at hand.

Babylon is the city that the Scriptures use consistently to denote Satan’s kingdom, while Zion is emblematic of the kingdom of Yahweh and His Son Yahshua. Satan, of course, would turn this on its head. Even as those in the highest levels of Freemasonry are taught that Satan is the good god, and Yahweh is the evil God, so too does Freemasonry call Babylon by the name Zion. I demonstrated this in the writing titled “Freemasonry, the Spirit of Babylon.” Following is an excerpt from that writing.

To demonstrate further the duplicity exercised by the architects of Freemasonry one need look no further than the pages of a Masonic Bible. As I was conducting this study a Masonic Bible was donated to the Macon Rescue Mission where I was on staff, and I purchased it. This Bible was published by the A. J. Holman company and is a very large family Bible that is filled with Masonic content at the front. One of the first articles is titled “The First Authentic Restoration of King Solomon’s Temple and Citadel.” The restoration is credited to John Wesley Kelchner and a statement precedes the article and following images.



Image of Solomon’s Temple from Masonic Bible

“Exactly the spectacle beheld by the eyes of Solomon when his artisans had finished.” Harvey Wiley Corbett, Architect


Following is an excerpt from this article.

How the Designs, Drawings and Pictures Were Obtained.

It is known to every reader of the Bible and student of Solomon’s days, that an amazingly exact description of the Temple and its associated structures has been carried down from the mists of antiquity by the Scriptures. Lineal measurements, materials employed, and ornamental detail are so graphically presented that restoration of the Temple at any time within a score of centuries past, awaited only the coming of a man with the vision to recognize its historic value, and the imagination to undertake the task.

Notwithstanding the universal interest in King Solomon’s Temple, a fascination which has created innumerable legends and romances during the intervening centuries, the incredible fact remains that no adequate effort to restore the Temple was made until John Wesley Kelchner, Archaeoligist, Bible Student and Lecturer, began thirty years ago to make real his vision of the scriptural description.

[End Quote]

It is espoused that the images created of Solomon’s Temple are accurate, having followed the Biblical details of its construction. However, the reality is far from the truth. What is depicted in this Bible are images of a Babylonian Ziggurat, the offspring of the original Tower of Babel, as well as numerous other Babylonian buildings and artistic images.

The image above shows the Masonic Bible’s depiction of the front view of Solomon’s Temple. Note that what is visioned here is a tower. Nowhere in Scripture is there any indication of a tower being incorporated in the construction of the Temple. The next image shows a more accurate rendering of the shape of Solomon’s Temple.






One immediately notices the tremendous difference between this Biblically accurate rendering, and the fantastic depiction of the Temple in the Masonic Bible. Absent is any tower, as well as the numerous Babylonian images that decorated the facade of the Masonic painting.

Very clearly we can observe the principle that Masonry utilizes, namely to present before her adherents images of pagan and occult origin and to deceive the viewer as to what they are actually seeing. In this way Freemasonry is even trying to pass off an image of the Tower of Babel as if it was a depiction of Solomon’s Temple. Yet there is much more of this subterfuge in the following pages of the Masonic Bible.

The next image purports to be a faithful depiction of the entrance of the great porch of Solomon’s Temple.



Entrance to the Great Porch of Solomon’s Temple

Due to the size limitations of presenting this image here, you may not be able to observe the fine detail. This painting which is purported to be another angle of the front of Solomon’s Temple is filled with Babylonian imagery. The artwork seen in the murals and statuary is clearly of Babylonian origin. In the next image I have zoomed in on one prominent image, that of the winged bulls with the head of a man which decorate the right side of the stairs leading up to the Temple.


Nimrod, Winged Bull

As the introduction to these pictures in the Masonic Bible has stated, the Scriptures provide precise details of the artwork, materials and dimensions of Solomon’s Temple. Nowhere in the Biblical account do we find any description of winged bulls with the head of a man. Where then does this image come from?

In Alexander Hislop’s classic book The Two Babylons, he shows an image of this same winged bull, and he gives the following account of its origin and meaning.

There was another way in which Nimrod’s power was symbolised besides by the horn. A synonym for Gheber, “The Mighty One,” was “Abir,” while “Aber” also signified “a wing.” Nimrod as head and captain of those men of war, by whom he surrounded himself, and who were the instruments of establishing his power, was “Baal-Aberin,” “Lord of the Mighty Ones.” But “Baal-Abirin” (pronounced in nearly the same way) signified “The Winged One,” and therefore in symbol he was represented not only as a horned bull, but as at once a horned and winged bull - as showing not merely that he was mighty himself, but that he had mighty ones under his command who were ever ready to carry his will into effect.

This symbol of Nimrod was copied by other kings of Mesopotamia, and images of it are still existing to this day. Yet we never read of such an image in association with Solomon’s Temple. Once more the Great Deceiver is seeking to convince the viewer of these images that they are looking at Solomon’s Temple when in actuality they are viewing images of Babylon.



The Masonic Bible then proceeds to show other depictions of Solomon’s works. The Bible describes Solomon building The House of the Forest of Lebanon, and once more an artistic rendering is presented that is supposedly accurate in its representation of the actual building.

As one looks at this image they can see numerous Babylonian images decorating the grounds and the face of the building, including once more the winged bulls of Nimrod. In the background is observed the Tower of Babel which we have been told is Solomon’s Temple. We should understand then that what we are seeing is none other than a further image from Babylon. Indeed, what the artist has done is to copy wholesale an image of the Ishtar Gate of ancient Babylon and to overlay it upon this building. The following image shows what the Ishtar Gate looked like.



Ishtar Gate, Ancient Babylon

As we observe these two images side by side it is clearly observed that the Masonic Bible is practicing great deception by presenting images of Babylon as if they were images of Jerusalem.



When seen side-by-side, it is easy to see what deceit is being used by these Freemasons who were involved in this project.

I included the preceding information that I might show you a great deceit of Satan that is evident in the London Olympics. Satan is constructing Babylon, his kingdom and rule upon the earth, but he is falsely calling it Zion. There has been much discussion of the logo chosen for the 2012 Olympics.



Olympic Logo

People have said that the image is downright ugly. Some have suggested that it resembles the Nazi swastika. Many have questioned why such a design would be chosen. I believe the answer is readily available. The leaders of the nation of Iran lodged a formal protest when they discerned what was signified by this logo. A simple rearrangement of the characters spells the word Zion.




A bizarre footnote to this detail is that the video posted by the Olympic committee that displays the 2012 Olympic logo caused epileptic seizures in a number of people who viewed it, leading to the withdrawal of the video. The video can be viewed on YouTube at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs0hfhSje9M

In the Scriptures, seizures are associated with demonic possession.

Mark 9:17-26

"Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not." He answered him and said, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me." Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. So He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Yahshua said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" When Yahshua saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him.

You can find an article on the seizures induced by this Olympic video at the following link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6724245.stm

Following is an excerpt from the article:

Charity Epilepsy Action said it had received calls from people who had suffered fits after seeing it...

"The logo came up on TV and I was thinking about the 2012 Games and then I was out," he said...

It said it had even triggered breakthrough seizures where people have a relapse after being seizure-free for a long time.

[End Excerpt]


Although the medical profession would describe such experiences as the result of a condition known as photosensitive epilepsy, I believe there is a spiritual parable to be discerned. The overall message being conveyed through the XXX Olympiad is the arising of Satanic power in the earth. Satan is an usurper. His goal is to seize control over all humanity, substituting himself as the ruler of man in place of Yahshua the Messiah.

Satan has ever desired to corrupt that which God calls holy. Observing that Yahweh chose the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be a people holy unto Himself, Satan has sought to corrupt this people more than any other. We see so many Jewish men and women in prominent positions in this fallen world system because Satan has chosen to mock Yahweh by turning God’s chosen people into his chief instruments in corrupting this world. Whether in television or the movies, in banking, politics, or many other realms, Jews have been recruited to serve as Satan’s instruments in establishing his rule over all the earth.

Kaballah is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. The knowledge provided by Kaballah is intended to be understood by only a small number of people who are initiated into its mysteries. Kaballah arose out of Judaism, being a corruption of it. (The singer Madonna is a student of Kaballah.) Jewish Kaballist adherents worship Lucifer as the god of this world. Henry Makow, Ph.D. states the following on his website:

The "god" of the Kabbalah is not god at all. It is Lucifer. Freemasonry is based on the Kabbalah. Illuminati Jews and their Freemasonic allies are stealthily erecting a New World Order dedicated to Lucifer.

[Source: http://www.henrymakow.com/david_livingstone.html]

The presence of Jewish symbols and teachings are very much present in Freemasonry. There is a Bible present in the Masonic Lodges throughout Christian nations, but it is only opened to the Old Testament, that portion that the Jews believe to be Holy Scripture. The influence of Freemasonry, Luciferianism, and Kaballistic beliefs is widely seen in prominent places in Israel. The Rothschild banking family designed and paid for the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem. You can see the occult influence in the following article:

http://vigilantcitizen.com/sinistersites/sinister-sites-israel-supreme-court/

I share this to proclaim to Christians that there is both a true and a false Zion. The true Zion is that which is heavenly, of which Yahshua the Messiah is the ruler.

Hebrews 12:22-24

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Yahshua the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

There is also the false Zion. This is that kingdom established by Satan in which numerous men and women have been recruited to bring forth in this earth. A secret cabal of super wealthy bankers, industrialists, politicians, and other powerful, beautiful, or talented members of society are utilized by Satan to bring forth this kingdom. How different are those members of Satan’s kingdom and those whom Christ has chosen!

I Corinthians 1:26-29

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Satan would take man in his pride and arrogance and raise up his kingdom. Satan’s kingdom is Babylon, but he would deceive mankind by calling it Zion. Already, there is great evidence of Babylon on the site of the 2012 London Olympics. The main arena where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held, as well as many of the track and field events, is Olympic Stadium. A key component of its design, and one which is filled with symbolic meaning, is the lighting system. The name Lucifer means “light bearer.” Satan promotes himself as the bringer of light to mankind. As I have mentioned frequently, the symbol of Satan’s rule is the pyramid with the all-seeing eye atop it with out-raying beams of light.



The Olympic Stadium in London is ringed with lights around its top edge which are all formed in the shape of pyramids.



It would be hard to conceive of a more telling symbol of Lucifer’s kingdom being established over mankind. The spirit of Lucifer is the spirit of anti-Christ (in the place of Christ). Satan would present himself as the light of the world. It is himself whom he would depict as the one who shines light in the darkness. Let it be known also that it is the true disciples of Yahshua the Messiah who will be characterized as evil, and whose teachings, beliefs and actions will be called dark and wicked in the coming hour.

On the grounds of the Olympic site is also a monument, the largest public piece of art in the United Kingdom. It is being built specifically for the 2012 Olympics. It is called the ArcelorMittal Orbit. It rises 115 meters into the air (377 feet). The Wikipedia article on this monument contains the following words:

Tom Dyckhoff of The Times, while calling it a "a gift to the tabloids" and a "giant Mr. Messy," questioned whether the Olympic site needed another pointless icon, postulating whether Orbit would stand the test of time like the London Eye and become a true icon to match the Eiffel Tower, or a hopeless white elephant. Suggesting the project had echoes of Tatlin's Monument to the Third International, and especially Constant Nieuwenhuys' utopian city New Babylon, he asked whether Orbit was just as revolutionary or possessed the same ideological purpose...

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArcelorMittal_Orbit]

Dyckhoff, I believe, is on the right track in his thinking. The Orbit is “possessed” of “the same ideological purpose” as Nieuwhenhuys New Babylon.

New Babylon is a Utopian anti-capitalist city designed in 1959-74 by artist-architect Constant Nieuwenhuys. Henri Lefebvre explained: "a New Babylon -- a provocative name, since in the Protestant tradition Babylon is a figure of evil. New Babylon was to be the figure of good that took the name of the cursed city and transformed itself into the city of the future..."

In the New Babylon, the bourgeois shackles of work, family life, and civic responsibility would be discarded. The post-revolutionary individual would wander from one leisure environment to another in search of new sensations. Beholden to no one, he would sleep, eat, recreate, and procreate where and when he wanted. Self-fulfillment and self-satisfaction were Constant's social goals. Deductive reasoning, goal-oriented production, the construction and betterment of a political community--all these were eschewed.

[Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Babylon_%28Constant_Nieuwenhuys%29]

Thus Satan comes as Zeus Aphesio “the Liberator.” He would set mankind free from all moral and societal constraints. Man would become a purely hedonistic creature, pursuing endless pleasure and self-fulfillment. In a strange twist, unlike Nieuwenhuys who called his kingdom by the evil name of Babylon while pretending it was good, Satan would take his evil kingdom and give it the name Zion.




Artist’s Depiction of ArcelorMittal Orbit

This monstrous construction was designed by Anish Kapoor, and financed by England’s wealthiest citizen, Lakshmi Mittal, owner of ArcelorMittal steel company. Anish Kapoor admits to being inspired by the Tower of Babel in his design (See Wikipedia article).



ArcelorMittal Orbit Under Construction

The impression one has in gazing upon this monstrosity is confusion. There is no symmetry. The mind has trouble perceiving any order or beauty in the tower. A sense of dissonance and discord prevails. This is fitting as the name Babel means “confusion.”

The opening ceremonies of the London Olympics will be held on July 27th, 2012. We are approaching the end of the age when the world must experience birthpangs as the kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of Yahweh are brought into their great conflict. If the Lord permits, I will write more on the symbolism of the XXX Olympiad in coming days. I will end this post by providing the following additional information.

The torch relay will arrive on 18 May 2012 from Greece. The relay will last 70 days, with 66 evening celebrations, six Island Visits with about 8,000 people carrying the torch 300 m (330 yd) each, starting from Land's End in Cornwall. The torch will have one day outside of the United Kingdom when it will visit Dublin on June 6.

[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics]

Note the preponderance of the number six in the torch ceremonies. The torch will arrive in the United Kingdom on the 18th day of May (6+6+6). There will be 66 evening celebrations, and 6 island visits (66 and 6). The torch will visit Dublin on June 6th (6th month, 6th day). Every detail of the Olympic events are planned with great care. They are impregnated with occult symbolism, and this Olympics stands to be the greatest occult celebration of the rising of Satan’s rule over the earth that has yet been seen.

Ticket sign-up, in Great Britain, was launched on 22 March 2010. This is the 3rd month and 22nd day (3-22). Those familiar with occult numbers will recognize these numbers. The Georgia Guidestones were dedicated on March 22nd, and they read as the ten commandments of the New World Order. See Link:

http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/deep-things-of-satan.html

This number is also part of the symbol of the secret society known as Skull and Bones of which many prominent United States politicians and corporate leaders have been members, including both Presidents Bush and John Kerry.




Why did the organizers choose March 22nd to begin selling tickets to the 2012 London Olympics? This was not an arbitrary date. Satan is declaring the rise of his kingdom. He pretends to be a savior to mankind, but he comes only to kill, steal, and destroy.

'US to announce aerial blockade on Syria'

The Pentagon is readying for the possibility of intervention in Syria, aiming to halt Syrian President Bashsar Assad's violent crackdown on protesters, the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Saturday, citing a US military offical.

According to the official, the intervention scenario calls for the establishment of a buffer zone on the Turkish border, in order to receive Syrian refugees. The Red Cross would then provide the civilians humanitarian aid, before NATO crews would arrive from Turkey and join the efforts.

The measure would pave the way for the US to declare an aerial blockade on Syria.

The intercession is to be modeled after NATO's efforts in Kosovo, which brought an end to the Serbian control of the region. NATO's plan of action included prolonged aerial shelling.

The US' diplomatic efforts have yet to yield an effective international resolution that would stop the bloodshed. More than 100 protesters have died over the weekend alone, human rights activists said.

Russia, China to join aid efforts?

According to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Pentagon does not anticipate a change of heart on the part of China or Russia, who have opposed foreign intervention or sanctions against Syria. But the US expects the two nations to join the humanitarian aid efforts, support a ceasefire between the Syrian regime and rebels and send special UN envoys to investigate the developments in the country.

The next step in the reported US Department of Defense plan would be to appoint a team of UN observers to monitor the humanitarian aid, and enter Syria. They would need aerial protection, which would eventually lead to an aerial blockade.

The military official said in the interview that the plan is a cautious one, and takes into account the Syrian air force's advanced capabilities.

In his most forceful words to date on the Syrian crisis, US President Barack Obama said Friday the US and its allies would use "every tool available" to end the bloodshed by Assad's government.

"It is time to stop the killing of Syrian citizens by their own government," Obama said in Washington, adding that it "absolutely imperative for the international community to rally and send a clear message to President Assad that it is time for a transition. It is time for that regime to move on."

As government troops relentlessly shelled rebel-held neighborhoods in the besieged city of Homs, thousands of people in dozens of towns staged anti-regime protests under the slogan: "We will revolt for your sake, Baba Amr," referring to the Homs neighborhood that has become the center of the Syrian revolt.


Ynetnews

Germans set to deliver advanced sub to Israel

BERLIN – One of the world’s most advanced Germanmanufactured submarines is slated to be sent to Israel this year. German media reported last week that the 68-meter Dolphin submarine, the largest post-World War II submarine to be built in the Federal Republic, was openly placed in the harbor of the northern city of Kiel.

The Dolphin submarines are mainly constructed in Kiel, located in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein on the border of Denmark. According to the daily Kieler Nachrichten, the submarine can now be viewed on the harbor compound operated by Howaldtswerke- Deutsche Werft. The highly sophisticated submarine, which is believed to contain secondstrike nuclear weapons capability, is the first of three advanced “Super Dolphin” vessels to be delivered to Israel’s navy. ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, the giant German engineering firm, owns the ship manufacturer subsidiary in Kiel.

The Kieler Nachrichten reported that a heavy police presence is guarding the Super Dolphin. Water-based boat patrols, including the police boat Vossbrook, are frequently circling the submarine.

The new Dolphin is a second- generation advanced underwater vessel. Germany’s government has previously furnished Israel with three earlier models of the Dolphin. A fifth Dolphin is slated to be delivered in 2013.

In view of the growing jingoism coming from Iran’s supreme leader, who recently declared that the “cancerous tumor” of Israel has to be cut away, the timing of the Super Dolphin’s delivery raises new questions about Israel’s strategy to confront Iran’s threats. German media noted that a spokesman from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems declined to comment on the Super Dolphin.

Germany and Israel have agreed to the delivery of a third Super Dolphin. The Federal Republic will subsidize the sale of the third vessel with a maximum of 135 million euros.

The delivery of the Super Dolphin to Israel is filled with some irony, largely because Iran’s regime as of 2010 maintains a 4.5 percent stock control of ThyssenKrupp. According to ThyssenKrupp’s 2011- 2012 corporate report in connection with Iran sanctions, “the executive board of ThyssenKrupp AG ordered a review of the business activities with Iranian customers in existence before the tighter trade restrictions came into effect to establish whether they comply with the new laws. In September 2010, it was decided that ThyssenKrupp will not enter into any new transactions with Iranian customers.”

ThyssenKrupp, which was involved in German efforts in World War II and used slave labor to advance Nazi Germany’s military aims, has refused to evict its Iranian government stockholders from its corporate ownership. Anti-Iranian regime critics have slammed the massive steel and engineering giant over the last few years for failing completely to slash its ties with the Islamic Republic.

Jerusalem Post

"Caliphate Conference" Seeks to Islamize Europe, U.S.

A Muslim fundamentalist group is organizing a conference focused on turning Austria and other European countries into Islamic states.

The "Caliphate Conference 2012" will be held on March 10 in the Austrian town of Vösendorf, situated just south of Vienna. The main theme of the event will be "The Caliphate: The State Model of the Future."

The conference is being organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir [Party of Liberation], a pan-Islamic extremist group that seeks to establish a global Islamic state, or caliphate, ruled by Islamic Sharia law.

Hizb ut-Tahrir -- which is banned in many countries, including Germany, but is free to operate in Austria -- is virulently opposed to Western capitalism and democracy and seeks to extend the future caliphate to Europe and the United States.

According to a promotional video (in German) for the conference, "the Islamic Caliphate is the only social and political system that has the right solutions to the political, social and economic problems of humanity."

Hizb ut-Tahrir has been banned from holding a similar conference in Belgium that had been scheduled for March 4. The group also organized a Caliphate Conference in Amsterdam last July, 2011, and well as a year earlier in Chicago in June, 2010.

Analysts say the open nature of the conference in Vienna indicates that Hizb ut-Tahrir is enhancing its recruiting efforts among European Muslims.

According to Steven Emerson, a leading authority on Islamic extremist networks, Hizb ut-Tahrir is emulating the three-stage process by which Muslims established the first Islamic caliphate after the death of the Islamic Prophet, Mohammed, in the year 632.

During the first stage, Hizb ut-Tahrir builds a party by cultivating a small number of supporters to engage in recruitment and propaganda. In the second stage (which Hizb ut-Tahrir is now entering in Europe and the United States), the group educates Muslims in order to recruit a larger group of people to join Hizb ut-Tahrir and support its revolution. Finally, having won the support of Muslims, Hizb ut-Tahrir moves to establish a Sharia-ruled Islamic government.

While Muslims are busy working to Islamize the West from within, they simultaneously insist that Westerners should not be allowed to criticize these efforts.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group of 57 Muslim countries that purports to be the collective voice of the Muslim world, sponsored an anti-Islamophobia symposium in Brussels on February 15 and 16, 2012.

The first-of-its-kind event was entitled "Smearing Islam and Muslims in the Media," and was "aimed at establishing information mechanisms to face up to the slanderous campaigns against Islam in the media."

The workshop was part of the so-called Istanbul Process, an aggressive effort by Muslim countries to make it an international crime to criticize Islam.

The explicit aim of the Istanbul Process is to enshrine in international law a global ban on all critical scrutiny of Islam and Islamic Sharia law.

Based in Saudi Arabia, the OIC has long pressed the European Union and the United States to impose limits on free speech and expression about Islam.

But the OIC has now redoubled its efforts and is engaged in a determined diplomatic offensive to persuade Western democracies to implement United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) Resolution 16/18, which calls on all countries to combat "intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of … religion and belief."

Resolution 16/18, which was adopted at HRC headquarters in Geneva in March 2011, is widely viewed as a significant step forward in OIC efforts to advance the international legal concept of defaming Islam.

However, the HRC resolution -- as well as the OIC-sponsored Resolution 66/167, which was quietly approved by the 193-member UN General Assembly on December 19, 2011 -- remains ineffectual as long as it lacks strong support in the West.

The OIC therefore scored a diplomatic coup when the Obama Administration agreed to host a three-day Istanbul Process conference in Washington, DC on December 12-14, 2011. In doing so, the United States gave the OIC the political legitimacy it has been seeking to globalize its initiative to ban criticism of Islam.

Following the Obama Administration's lead, the European Union now wants to get in on the action by hosting the next Istanbul Process summit.

Up until now, the European Union has kept the OIC initiative at arms-length. But Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the OIC, says the EU's recent offer to host the meeting represents a "qualitative shift in action against the phenomenon of Islamophobia," according to the International Islamic News Agency (IINA), the OIC's official news and propaganda organ.

According to the IINA, "The phenomenon of Islamophobia is found in the West in general, but is growing in European countries in particular, in a manner different from that in the US, which had contributed to drafting Resolution 16/18. The new European position represents the beginning of the shift from its previous reserve over the years over the attempts by the OIC to counter 'defamation of religions' in the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations."

The IINA report continues: "Officials in the Cultural Affairs Department of the OIC said that the European Union's offer to host the third meeting (the first was in Istanbul in July, and the second in Washington, DC last December) is considered a promising new possibility of solving this problem. The 'Istanbul Process' will have an added momentum by holding the meeting in Europe, which is more affected by the phenomenon of Islamophobia and hostility towards Islam."

According to the OIC, the anti-Islamophobia workshop in February was of "particular importance" as it was held only weeks before the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva from February 27 to March 23, during which time Resolution 16/18 will come to a second vote.

In September 2011, an OIC organ called the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IESCO),organized a seminar in Brussels on "how to deal with stereotypical images of Islam in European television programs."

The seminar was designed to help European journalists "identify characteristics of stereotypes about Islam in European television programs, highlight the dangers of defamation of religions, and clarify the distinction between freedom of expression and the right to cultural difference, the commitment to the Islamic cultural identity and the struggle against racism and hatred."

In her latest book titled "Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate," Bat Ye'or, a leading scholar on Islam in the West, writes that the OIC is essentially a "would-be universal caliphate" which exercises significant power through the European Union, the United Nations and other international organizations.

Ye'or describes an OIC strategy manual, "Strategy of Islamic Cultural Action in the West," in which the OIC asserts that "Muslim immigrant communities in Europe are part of the Islamic nation." The document goes on to recommend "a series of steps to prevent the integration and assimilation of Muslims into European culture."

According to Ye'or, "The caliphate is alive and growing within Europe…It has advanced through the denial of dangers and the obfuscating of history. It has moved forward on gilded carpets in the corridors of dialogue, the network of the Alliances and partnerships, in the corruption of its leaders, intellectuals and NGOs, particularly at the United Nations."


Stonegate Institute

Smartphone users give total access to spying apps

Every time you use your smartphone app your personal information – emails, phone numbers and even photos – is sent off to dozens of Internet companies all over the world. And you are the one who is allowing them access.

Most users are aware that Internet companies like to collect information on their clients so that they can target their adverts better. But the sheer extent of their spying is shocking. And it’s all buried in the small print of the license agreement few bother to read. Often the information collected has nothing to do with function of the application.

Despite being a social network, Facebook reads your text messages, while photo application Flickr raids your contact book. In turn, video portal Youtube can access and download all of the users’ photographs.

While it is bigger companies that get flak for the privacy policies, at least they are usually careful not to lose or sell their users’ private information. For less reputable outfits, this may not be a concern.

Chris Brauer, co-director of the Centre for Creative and Social Technology at Goldsmiths, University of London, told the Sunday Times many apps are mere “fronts” for data mining companies. Their main source of profit is selling personal information to advertisers.

Once the information passes down the chain, it is almost impossible to trace who will end up with it leaving smartphone owners open to anything from unsolicited advertising to identity theft.

While iPhone maker Apple at least tries to bind its application programmers with a common license agreement, according to Nick Pickles, director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, Android phone owners leave themselves in the greatest danger.
“Google’s name lends credibility to the Android market place, when in reality it is an unregulated Wild West with hugely intrusive applications being touted as innocent games,” he says.

Pickles points out that customer protection regulation lags years behind in a market that changes beyond recognition from year to year.

But even the most stringent regulation will not save users who voluntarily sign up to give away their most private data.

RT