Russian Defense Ministry sources told the semiofficial news agency Interfax that action plans are being finalized to react to an armed conflict involving Iran and its nuclear program. The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces “calculates” that military action against Iran will commence “in the summer” of 2012. Since Israel does not have sufficient assets to defeat Iranian defenses, the Russian military considers US military involvement inevitable (Interfax, March 30).Bits of information have been appearing, indicating the essence of Russian military action. Last December it was disclosed that families of servicemen from the Russian base in Armenia have been evacuated to Russia, while the troops have been moved from the capital, Yerevan, north to Gumri – closer to the borders of Georgia and Turkey. The preparation of Russian forces in Armenia for action in the event of military conflict with Iran began “two years ago” (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, December 15).After the short Russo-Georgian war in August 2008, break-away provinces Abkhazia and South Ossetia were occupied by Russian troops.According to Lt. General (retired) Yury Netkachev – former deputy commander of Russian forces in Transcaucasia – “Possibly, it will be necessary to use military means to breach the Georgian transport blockade and establish transport corridors, leading into Armenia (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, December 15). The geography of the region implies that any such “corridor” may go through the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.By one swift military strike Russia may ensure control of all the Caucasus and the Caspian states that were its former realm, establishing a fiat accompli the West, too preoccupied with Iran, would not reverse. At the same time, a small victorious war would unite the Russian nation behind the Kremlin, allowing it to crush the remnants of the prodemocracy movement “for fair elections.” And as a final bonus, Russia’s military action could perhaps finally destroy the Saakashvili regime.
An alarming part of the officials' assessments focuses on the apparent surveillance missions that Iranian diplomats and possible Hezbollah operatives have been seen conducting at sensitive targets such as New York subways and bridges, and at nuclear power plants and tunnels elsewhere in the United States in the past 10 years.The renewed focus on Hezbollah - which U.S. counter-terrorism officials regard as the most potent and disciplined of Islamic militant groups, even more so than al Qaeda - comes amid a growing confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.An Israeli or U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear sites could prompt Hezbollah to change strategy, moving from surveillance and fund-raising in North America to launching retaliatory attacks on either country, several U.S. officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.
In an ideal world, President Obama would far rather postpone the festering issue of Iran’s nuclear programme until well after the conclusion of this year’s presidential contest. Unfortunately, Mr Obama is not going to be afforded this luxury, unless there is a radical change in the way Iran approaches the deepening global crisis over its nuclear ambitions.The only reason we have not, in recent days, woken up to discover that Israeli warplanes have launched a devastating series of bombing raids against Iran’s nuclear facilities is because of the personal appeal Mr Obama made to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, when he visited the White House last month.It was only a few weeks ago, after all, when Israeli sabre-rattling was reaching fever pitch over deepening concern in Jerusalem that Iran was starting to transfer key components of its nuclear programme to its new underground facility at Fordow, on the outskirts of the holy city of Qom. The Fordow complex is built deep beneath a range of mountains, offering protection against even the most sophisticated bunker-buster bombs.But Mr Obama’s ability to hold off Israel’s dogs of war depends to a large extent on whether the recent round of UN sanctions on Iran has a salutary effect on the ayatollahs, and persuades them to demonstrate that they are serious about resuming talks. The omens are not looking good.Nor is there any suggestion that Tehran is serious about reviving negotiations – due to start on April 14 – with the West over the future of its nuclear programme.All this spells some coming bad news for Mr Obama. If, by the end of the summer, there is no significant change in Iran’s position, then the clamour for military action will start all over again. Israeli officials have already identified September as the best month to launch air strikes, when weather conditions in the Middle East are most conducive to a successful attack. And if that happens, Mr Obama could find himself campaigning for re-election in the midst of the war he has sought desperately to avoid.
Global food prices rose in March for a third straight month with more hikes to come, the UN’s food agency said on Thursday, adding to fears of hunger and a new wave of social unrest in poor countries.Record high prices for staple foods last year were one of the main factors that contributed to the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as bread riots in other parts of the world.“The food crisis has not gone away since then,” said Emilia Casella, spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Programme. “Prices are a big concern and have remained a large reason why people are food insecure.”“We will be 7.2 billion people on earth in 2015, and more than one million have died from starvation in 2011. The situation will not improve, and in fact the contrary will happen,” Pierre Reuland, Interpol’s special representative to the European Union, told a meeting of European security officials in January. “For poor people the struggle for life will not be better than it is today.”
A 17 year old Coptic Christian boy, Gamal Massoud, was sentenced yesterday (Wednesday, 4/4/12) to a three year prison term for allegedly publishing cartoons on his Facebook page that lampooned the Muslim creed, and its prophet.The Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) reported (on January 18, 2012) the circumstances surrounding the initial allegations against Massoud, and his resultant apprehension. Massoud, a resident of the village of Bahig and Adr in Assuit province,...was assaulted by his fellow students after the school social worker had printed and hung on a wall a web page from Facebook with the photo of Gamal and a drawing which Muslims regarded as that of their prophet. Although he denied the charge, violence and protests broke out in three villages. Muslims from the surrounding villages protested for two days. They torched his home, together with four other homes of friends and relatives.
Gamal Massoud was detained and put on trial. The following statement on the judgment was issued yesterday, 4/4/12, by a children's court in Egypt, as reported by Reuters:Assiut child's court ordered the jailing of Gamal Abdou Massoud ... for three years after he insulted Islam and published and distributed pictures that insulted Islam and its ProphetThis draconian punishment may foreshadow even stricter-including lethal-punishment for the "crime" of blasphemy should Egypt fully retrogress and re-institute the Sharia, unalloyed by non-Muslim legal principles, as recently supported by Muslim Brotherhood Presidential candidate, Dr. Khairat Al-Shater.
And then in 1998 a cooling cycle set in. It was hard to hide because the weather satellite data was indisputable, but try to hide it they did. Even then, however, there was a handful of outspoken meteorologists and climatologists who were trying hard to get out the message that the perfectly natural warming cycle was over and had been replaced, thanks to—guess what?—a lower output of solar radiation by the SUN.In 2009, the release of a huge cache of emails between the IPCC global warming perpetrators instantly became known as “Climategate” as the world learned that it was all a scam, a hoax, a fraud based on deliberately falsified computer models, and force fed to the public.Those who use global warming, i.e., the assertion that carbon dioxide emissions should be restricted and controlled, are the true enemies of progress, of freedom, and of humanity.
In the twentieth century intellectuals foisted Communism on the world, thus ensuring that millions of Russians, Chinese, Cambodians and others would be killed for their dissent. Intellectuals are always the first to embrace every dictator and to excuse their methods.
In Europe and here in America all their schemes to replace the real production of electricity with solar panels and wind turbines are being rejected. Their plans for herding populations into cities and onto mass transit meet with resistance. Parents are objecting to their eco-curricula in schools. Al Gore has become a joke.
Consider this, if they were in charge, anyone who voiced dissent from their global warming-climate change lies would be in concentration camps, undergoing “re-education”, being “treated” with mind-altering drugs, or dead.
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