Stockup For 2012/ Earthquakes,Severe Weather,Emergency Tips,news

Iran Warns Saudis do not raise oil output!

2012-01-19T22:38:00.000-08:00

Iran warned Saudi Arabia against delivering additional oil to world markets to compensate for a drop in Iranian oil exports if they are hit by sanctions, as the U.S. continued to have mixed success in convincing Iran's major oil customers to reduce their purchases of Iranian oil.

The warning from Tehran came a day after Saudi Arabia's oil minister publicly pledged to boost the kingdom's production by as much as 2.7 million barrels a day, more than Iran exports, if there was market demand for more oil.http://www.wallstreetjournal

Shapiro: US has alternative plans to deal with Iran's nuclear program

US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said Thursday that Washington has prepared a set of alternative options to deal with Iran's nuclear program, should the financial sanctions prove futile.

Shapiro made the remarks ahead of US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey's first visit to Israel. Shapiro, who took part in Haifa University's America Day, reiterated the assertion that Iran's atom program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons, adding that financial pressure against the Islamic Republic must be stepped up in order to make Tehran understand that their actions have a price. (Maor Buchnik)

The ambassador noted that when it comes to the Iran, the ties between Washington and Jerusalem have improved since President Barack Obama came to power. "It's natural for friends to disagree occasionally," he added.Addressing the turmoil in Israel's neighboring nations, Shapiro said that the situation has turned unpredictable. He said that while the US cannot decide who will rule Syria and Egypt, there is a chance that the revolutions there will take a dangerous turn.

"We must make sure that Israel can deal with these changes," he said.

Shapiro also tackled the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, stressing that the two-state solution serves both sides' interests. He said that progress on the issue can only be made through dialogue, and that any such progress would reassert Israel's legitimacy within the international community.

story source.... http://www.ynetnews.com

Preparedness and Survival

2012-01-15T10:21:00.000-08:00

How to eat during The first 72 hours of A disaster....

It really is a small world ... especially in the preparedness and survival industries. With a community that prides itself on staying informed, you can't really keep things secret for long. So it's no surprise that we were among the first to get wind of some very unsettling news. In fact, it was so disturbing that we felt it was only right to share with you what we've learned.
One of the nation's largest suppliers of dehydrated food has cut loose 99% of their dealers and distributors. And it's not because of the poor economy. It's because this particular industry leader can no longer supply their regular distribution channels. Why not? Because they're using every bit of manufacturing capacity they have to fulfill massive new government contracts. Look, the government has always been a customer of the industry to some extent. But according to our sources, this latest development doesn't represent simply a change of vendor on the government's part. It's a whole new magnitude of business.
And that's not all.
Apparently, even though they've cut off their regular consumer markets, the industry leader I've just mentioned still can't produce enough survival food to meet the government's vast requirements. How do we know? Not long ago, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) put out a Request for Proposal, or RFP, for even more dehydrated food. The RFP called for a 10-day supply of meals - for 14 million people. That's 420 million meals. Typically, FEMA maintains a stockpile of about 6 million meals. Why the sudden need to increase the stockpile by 420 million more? (And that's in addition to whatever our aforementioned industry leader is supplying.) It almost seems like they're trying to stock a modern day "Noah's Ark," doesn't it?

By the way, just days after the RFP went online, it suddenly went "poof" ... vanished. Could it be that some high level official suddenly realized he was letting the cat out of the bag? That people aren't stupid, and would recognize the implications of 420 million emergency meals? Has the government removed the RFP from the public process and approached potential suppliers privately instead? We may never know.
But here's what we do know. This kind of oing to be enough? How long will it last you? Because let's face it, in a true emergency, forget about finding what you need at the store. You know what it's like when there's even a moderate snowstorm in the forecast - no bottled water, no toilet paper, no bread to be found anywhere. The shelves are stripped bare in hours. Most people simply don't realize how fragile the food distribution system is in this country. In order to squeeze out every penny of profits, most stores now use just-in-time inventory systems, which leave no margin for error. Any kind of natural or manmade catastrophe would cut supply lines to the stores and leave millions of people with no way of getting food. And it could be anything. Power outages. Riots. A terrorist attack. Flooding. Blizzards. Hurricanes.

If you've never gotten around to buying an emergency food supply,
now is the time.

If you've been putting off this decision, perhaps it's because there's a lot to consider. Things like shelf life, nutritional value, cost, storage space, portability, and even the packaging. The ideal storage food is shelf stable for long periods of time, nutritious, great tasting, easy to prepare, and easy to store. So where can you find the best emergency food supply for your money?

Won't you sleep better at night knowing you and your family will have food on the table (or in the pouch), no matter what may happen?

MyFoodStorage.com also offers emergency food and survival kits - perfect for grab-and-go scenarios.

U.S. Balances Israel Relationship

2012-01-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

U.S. Balances Israel Relationship as Tensions Rise Over Iran

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. coordination with Israel on Iran policy is intensifying as the Obama administration’s top military adviser prepares for his first trip to Tel Aviv since taking office in September.

President Barack Obama spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone on Jan. 12 about Iran and reaffirmed the “unshakable” U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, according to a White House statement.

Rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program has the Obama administration balancing how to dissuade Israel from military action against Iran without fueling doubts about its support for a politically important ally. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last week that continued pressure, not talk of air strikes, is the best way to forestall Iran’s nuclear program.

Next week, Army General Martin Dempsey, the top military adviser to Obama and Panetta, will make his first visit to Israel as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “He is not delivering any specific message to the Israelis,” said a Pentagon spokesman, Marine Colonel David Lapan.

A White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor, declined today to elaborate on Obama’s Jan. 12 call with Netanyahu.

According to a White House statement that offered no details, the two leaders spoke about Mideast peace talks and “discussed recent Iran-related developments,” including Tehran’s nuclear program.

Nuclear Weapon

The U.S., its European allies and the International Atomic Energy Agency have said that while Iran halted its formal nuclear weapons program in 2003, there are indications it may still be trying to build a nuclear weapon. They have challenged the government in Tehran to prove that its nuclear research is intended only for energy and medical research, as Iranian officials maintain.

U.S. sanctions imposed last year seek to cut off dealings with Iran’s banking system, making it difficult for consumers to buy the country’s oil. European Union officials meet Jan. 23 to discuss plans for an oil embargo that may be delayed by six months to allow some members time to find alternate fuel supplies, according to two EU officials.

In response to the possibility of an embargo, Iran said last month it would shut the Strait of Hormuz, a transit point for a fifth of the worldwide trade in oil.

Panetta and other U.S. officials have repeatedly warned Israel not to take action against Iran alone, including during the defense secretary’s October visit to Tel Aviv. Should Israel decide to undertake a unilateral military strike against Iran, Panetta said Jan. 8 on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” the first U.S. priority would be protecting American troops in the region.

No Decision

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in November that Israel “has not yet decided to embark on any operation” against Iran.

Even as the U.S. urges Israel not to attack Iran and instead let sanctions work, the Obama administration has been communicating with Iran’s top leaders, warning them against any provocative action in the Strait of Hormuz.

White House spokesman Jay Carney yesterday declined to offer details on U.S. messages that are being delivered to Iran or describe what kinds of actions the U.S. may take in the event Iran imposes an oil blockade in response to U.S. and European sanctions for its nuclear program.

“We have a number of ways to communicate our views to the Iranian government, and we have used those mechanisms regularly on a range of issues over the years,” Carney said.

The U.S. has a “strong interest in the free flow of commerce and freedom of navigation” for oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, Carney said. “We have consistently communicated our views on that subject and concerns on those issues to the Iranians and to the international community broadly.”

In the event of hostilities, “we take no options off the table,” Carney said. “But we are engaged in the kinds of diplomatic efforts that you would expect in a situation like this.”story source

(Bloomberg) -- No one should doubt that President Barack Obama is prepared to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon if sanctions and diplomacy fail, the president’s former special assistant on Iran said.

Obama has “made it very clear” that he regards a nuclear- armed Iran as so great a threat to international security that “the Iranians should never think that there’s a reluctance to use the force” to stop them, Dennis Ross, who served two years on Obama’s National Security Council and a year as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s special adviser on Iran, said in an interview yesterday.

“There are consequences if you act militarily, and there’s big consequences if you don’t act,” said Ross, who in a two- hour interview at the Bloomberg Washington office laid out a detailed argument against those who say Obama would sooner “contain” a nuclear-armed Iran than strike militarily.

The administration considers the risks of permitting a nuclear-armed Iran to be greater than the risks of military action, said Ross, who last month rejoined the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research group.

His comments came after Obama’s top civilian and uniformed defense officials warned that Iran developing a weapon would precipitate a U.S. strike.

‘Red Line’

“Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in an interview broadcast Jan. 8 on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” program. “But we know they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability. And that’s what concerns us. And our red line to Iran is, do not develop a nuclear weapon.”

On the same program, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he has been responsible for planning and positioning assets to be ready if ordered to take military action.

Clinton today condemned Iran’s move to begin enriching uranium to almost 20 percent U-235 at the underground Fordo underground site near the holy city of Qom, calling the step “contrary to its obligations” under United Nations Security Council resolutions. She rejected Iran’s assertion that it needs the uranium for its research reactor, and urged Iran to return to nuclear negotiations with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the U.S., France, Britain, China, Russia -- and Germany.

Peaceful Nuclear Energy

The U.S. “goal remains a comprehensive, negotiated solution that restores confidence in exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program while respecting Iran’s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,” Clinton said.

Iran, the world’s third largest oil exporter, says its nuclear program is strictly for civilian energy and medical research.

The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report Nov. 8 citing what the UN watchdogs called evidence of nuclear activities without a non-military purpose. The U.S. has said the IAEA report bolsters the case that Iran is seeking the capability to produce nuclear weapons even if it hasn’t yet made a decision to go forward with a bomb.

Ross said his conclusion from the IAEA report is that Iran has been careful “to not necessarily cross certain thresholds that they think could provoke responses, but I don’t think there’s a whole lot of doubt that they are embarked on a program that can produce at a certain point weapons.”

Containment Won’t Work

While some Iran analysts have suggested an alternative to military strikes would be to “contain” a nuclear Iran, much as the U.S. managed to live with a nuclear-armed Soviet Union, Ross said the analogy doesn’t translate to the situation in the Mideast. Nations in the region, he said, lack equivalent Cold War-era “ground-rules,” lines of communication and a protected second-strike nuclear capability, which deterred a surprise attack during U.S.-Soviet tensions.

A nuclear-armed Iran would set off an atomic arms race among neighbors, pose a risk of proliferation to other states or terrorist groups, and increase the chances of a nuclear strike resulting from miscalculation, he said.

“You don’t have any communication between the Israelis and the Iranians. You have all sorts of local triggers for conflict. Having countries act on a hair trigger -- where they can’t afford to be second to strike -- the potential for a miscalculation or a nuclear war through inadvertence is simply too high,” he said.

Serious Consequences

Ross acknowledged that a military strike would have serious consequences as well, including Iranian retaliation, either directly or through terrorist proxies around the world, a possible effort to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and a spike in oil prices.

Understanding those risks, “nobody uses military force lightly,” he said, and “nobody commits to using military force one minute before they have to.”

Crude for February delivery climbed 0.9 percent, to settle at $102.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid growing concern the dispute between Iran and western governments may lead to a disruption in Middle East crude exports.

Ross underscored that U.S. willingness to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons affects
decision-making in other countries that fear Iran, including Israel and Gulf states. If the White House abandoned a pledge to stop Iran made by Obama and President George W. Bush before him, the U.S. would lose all credibility, he said.

Israeli Action

“I wouldn’t discount the possibility that the Israelis would act if they came to the conclusion that basically the world was prepared to live with Iran with nuclear weapons,” he said. “They certainly have the capability by themselves to set back the Iranian nuclear program.”

Ross said he believes there is still time for diplomacy to work, as the financial pain of sanctions may yet persuade Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program.

“Force is not inevitable,” he said. “Diplomacy is still the desired means. Pressure is an element of the means.”

Coordinated efforts to tighten penalties, including the European Union’s preliminary agreement on an oil embargo, new U.S. sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran, and pressure on Japan and South Korea to reduce their imports of Iranian oil, may finally persuade Iran’s leaders to give up the program rather than suffer a shutdown of their economy, Ross said.

Hitting Oil Revenue

The latest measures are the first “really affecting the core of their revenue, which is their sale of oil,” Ross said. Historically, “when they’re really pressured, they look for ways out.”

The leaders of Islamic Republic of Iran only accepted a cease-fire with Iraq, halted the assassination of Iranian dissidents in Europe, and abandoned the enrichment of uranium in 2003 when “it wasn’t worth the cost” anymore, Ross noted.

The latest round of punishing sanctions target oil sales, which fund a majority of Iran’s government revenues, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Iran is “feeling pain in a much more dramatic way” than ever, Ross said.

He dismissed threats by certain Iranian officials to retaliate against oil sanctions by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil transits, as “bluster” aimed to send a message at home and abroad, as Iranian leaders vie for power in a struggle that Ross said is as intense as any since the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The IAEA yesterday confirmed that Iran has begun enriching uranium to as much as 20 percent U-235 at the underground Fordo underground site near the holy city of Qom, as Iranian leaders had pledged to do last year. The site is monitored by IAEA inspectors to detect any attempt to enrich uranium to the 90 percent level necessary for a nuclear bomb.

“There really is no justification for it,” Ross said of the latest enrichment activities. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of doubt that they are embarked on a program that can produce, at a certain point, weapons.”
story source

Why Store Food?

2011-12-30T18:21:00.000-08:00

For Emergency Food Kits, Survival Equipment, Prepare Your Family

Why Store Food?

Food storage isn’t a new idea, in fact, it was a very common practice not too many years ago. Canning and bottling were common practices throughout the summer and fall in many homes. Societies that rely on crops grown locally know that it is essential to store rice, beans, wheat, and corn whenever there is a good growing season, because a drought may be around the corner.

There is peace of mind that comes through self-reliance. Emergency Reserve makes sure that you won’t be caught unprepared and helpless, if the sources of food that we normally depend on become unavailable.

Affordable:
Emergency Reserve has teamed up with some of the biggest producers of emergency food to provide high-quality gourmet dehydrated meals at a low cost. This means you can get your family prepared at an affordable price.

With prices as low as $1.24 per serving, Emergency Reserve has a food supply that will fit any budget.

Great Tasting:
Emergency Reserve’s meals are made from quality ingredients, giving them a delicious taste that the whole family will enjoy.

All the meals were chosen based on food that families typically eat. With Emergency Reserve, you can be confident that your family will enjoy great tasting meals, regardless of the circumstances.

Easy to Prepare:
Hopefully, the time never comes that you’ll have to use your emergency food supply. It is nice to know that if you do you won’t have to waste a lot of time, effort, and resources to prepare your meals.

The meals already have all the ingredients in them. Through the dehydration process the water has been removed to give them a long shelf-life. To prepare our meals, all you need to do is add boiling water. In 10-20 minutes you’ll have a delicious gourmet meal. The only exceptions are the pancakes, which you add the water and then cook, and the granola, which can be eaten straight out of the package.

Long Lasting:
One of the hardest things about having an emergency food supply is storing foods that will last. Emergency Reserve is the solution to this problem.

Water and oxygen are the main causes of food going bad. Through the dehydration process all of the water is removed. The food is then sealed in Mylar pouches that keep the oxygen out. The Mylar pouches are then stored inside of heavy duty plastic buckets, which will protect your food from rodents and insects. Emergency Reserve guarantees our food for 25 years, making it a true worry-free, rotation free, spoilage free solution.

Prepare Now Click Here!

Convenient Storage
The meals come in easy to stack and store buckets. This makes it easy to keep track of your emergency food supply. Also, the buckets are lightweight and portable, making them ideal to take with you in an emergency evacuation.

U.S. Selling F-15s to Saudi Arabia

2011-12-30T04:44:00.000-08:00

The Obama administration said it has reached a $30 billion agreement to sell advanced fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia, part of a broader push by Washington to counter Iranian power.

The government-to-government deal announced on Thursday includes the sale of 84 new F-15 fighter jets and an upgrade of 70 others.

The package, which follows more than a year of discussions, comes amid escalating tensions between Iran and the U.S., and will help beef up the military of one of Washington's principal Middle East allies.

"This agreement reinforces the strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

U.S. selling combat jets to Saudi Arabia....

Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government has signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to sell nearly $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets, federal officials said Thursday.
The $29.4 billion deal -- announced against the backdrop of rising tensions with Iran -- calls for the production of up to 84 new F-15SA aircraft and the modernization of 70 current F-15s, along with "munitions, spare parts, training, maintenance and logistics," Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro told reporters.
The agreement, which was signed over the weekend by U.S. and Saudi officials, "demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a strong Saudi defense capability as a key component to regional security," Shapiro said. "This sale will send a strong message to countries in the region that the United States is committed to stability in the Gulf and broader Middle East."
Shapiro sought to allay concerns the sale could compromise Israel's military edge. "By law, all sales to the region must be evaluated for the impact on Israel's qualitative military edge," he said of the review conducted before the Saudi deal went forward. "We conducted that assessment and we are satisfied that this sale to Saudi Arabia will not (diminish) Israel's qualitative military edge," Shapiro said.

Administration officials first notified Congress of plans for a major new weapons deal with Saudi Arabia in October 2010. The deal is meant to further align the Saudi military relationship with the United States and equip the kingdom so it can better protect its security and oil structure, which "is critical to our economic interests," Shapiro said at the time.
The letters of acceptance will total some $24 billion in sales for the Boeing Company, which has produced more than 1,600 F-15s in various models since the first one was delivered in 1972, said company spokesman Dan Beck. He said the first upgraded aircraft in the Saudi Arabia package will be delivered in 2014, and the new aircraft will be delivered beginning in 2015.
Beck said he could not say how many F-15s are still in service, how long the average F-15 flies before being retired, or how much a single F-15 will cost.
Though the aircraft will be produced in St. Louis, it was not clear how many new jobs would result. "What this really does is it helps secure the 2,000-plus jobs in St. Louis right now working on F-15 fighters through the end of the decade," Beck said.
With some 600 suppliers in 44 states involved in making the aircraft, the program will support 50,000 to 60,000 U.S. jobs, he said. "It certainly certainly translates into sustaining existing jobs as well as creating new ones at Boeing and throughout the supply chain that helps produce this," he said.http://www.cnn.com

Sun Storms May Affect Radios, Cell Phones,Power Grids

2011-12-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Intense solar activity may affect Earth today, potentially disrupting radio and cell phone transmissions.

On Monday, the sun released a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is a "massive eruption of solar plasma," according to Space.com. The blast is expected to affect the Earth through Saturday.

"Coronal Mass Ejections from the last few days may cause isolated periods of G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm Activity on December 28-29," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center wrote in an update. "R1 (Minor) radio blackouts are expected until 31 December."

If the storms are powerful enough, they could temporarily interrupt radio frequencies, GPS signals and cell phone communication, and possibly affect power grids, according to Space.com.

NOAA estimated that there was a 20-40 percent chance of these disruptive polar geomagnetic storms on Dec. 28-29 in response to the impact of one or more CMEs.

Another potential result of these storms is impressive auroral displays, also known as northern lights. Skywatchers at higher latitudes, closer to Earth's poles, are being alerted to the storms and urged to keep an eye out for auroras.

Experts say the sun's increased activity is part of an 11-year cyclical pattern.The sun had a low rate of activity between 2005 and 2010, but has had several eruptions, powerful flares and CMEs this year.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory tweeted on Wednesday that two CMEs occurred within 24 hours earlier this week.http://abcnews.go.com

US warns Iran against closing key oil passage

2011-12-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

US warns Iran against closing key oil passage

Iran's navy chief warned Wednesday that his country can easily close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the passageway through which a sixth of the world's oil flows.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The U.S. strongly warned Iran on Wednesday against closing a vital Persian Gulf waterway that carries one-sixth of the world's oil supply, after Iran threatened to choke off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz if Washington imposes sanctions targeting the country's crude exports.
The increasingly heated exchange raises new tensions in a standoff that has the potential to spark military reprisals and spike oil prices to levels that could batter an already fragile global economy.
Iran's navy chief said Wednesday that it would be "very easy" for his country's forces to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the passage at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which about 15 million barrels of oil pass daily. It was the second such warning by Iran in two days, reflecting Tehran's concern that the West is about to impose new sanctions that could hit the country's biggest source of revenue, oil.
"Iran has comprehensive control over the strategic waterway," Adm. Habibollah Sayyari told state-run Press TV, as the country was in the midst of a 10-day military drill near the strategic waterway.

The comments drew a quick response from the U.S.
"This is not just an important issue for security and stability in the region, but is an economic lifeline for countries in the Gulf, to include Iran," Pentagon press secretary George Little said. "Interference with the transit or passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz will not be tolerated."
Separately, Bahrain-based U.S. Navy 5th Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Rebecca Rebarich said the Navy is "always ready to counter malevolent actions to ensure freedom of navigation."
Rebarich declined to say whether the U.S. force had adjusted its presence or readiness in the Gulf in response to Iran's comments, but said the Navy "maintains a robust presence in the region to deter or counter destabilizing activities, while safeguarding the region's vital links to the international community."
Iran's threat to seal off the Gulf, surrounded by oil-rich Gulf states, reflect its concerns over the prospect that the Obama administration will impose sanctions over its nuclear program that would severely hit its biggest revenue source. Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil producer, pumping about 4 million barrels a day.

Gulf Arab nations appeared ready to at least ease market tensions. A senior Saudi Arabian oil official told The Associated Press that Gulf Arab nations are ready to step in to offset any potential loss of exports from Iran. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the issue.
Saudi Arabia, which has been producing about 10 million barrels per day, has an overall production capacity of over 12 million barrels per day and is widely seen as the only OPEC member with sufficient spare capacity to offset major shortages.
What remains unclear is what routes the Gulf nations could take to move the oil to markets if Iran goes through with its threat.
About 15 million barrels per day pass through the Hormuz Strait, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
There are some pipelines that could be tapped, but Gulf oil leaders, who met in Cairo on Dec. 24, declined to say whether they had discussed alternate routes or what they may be.
The Saudi official's comment, however, appeared to allay some concerns. The U.S. benchmark crude futures contract fell $1.98 by the close of trading Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but still hovered just below $100 per barrel.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner played down the Iranian threats as "rhetoric," saying, "we've seen these kinds of comments before."

While the Obama administration has warned Iran that it would not tolerate attempts to disrupt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials do not see any indication that the situation will come to that. Nor do they believe that Iran, which is already under increasing pressure from sanctions, would risk disrupting the Strait because doing so would further damage Iran's own economy.

Instead, the administration believes Iran is playing the only card it has left: issuing threats and attempting to shift focus away from its own behavior.
U.S. officials have not said whether there is a concrete response plan in place should Iran seek to block the Strait. But the administration has long said it is comfortable with the U.S. Naval presence in the region, indicating that the U.S. could respond rapidly if needed.
The White House has been largely silent on Iran's threat, underscoring the administration's belief that responding at the White House level would only encourage Iran.
While many analysts believe that Iran's warnings are little more than posturing, they still highlight both the delicate nature of the oil market, which moves as much on rhetoric as supply and demand fundamentals.
Iran relies on crude sales for about 80 percent of its public revenues, and sanctions or even a pre-emptive measure by Tehran to withhold its crude from the market would already batter its flailing economy.
IHS Global Insight analyst Richard Cochrane said in a report Wednesday that markets are "jittery over the possibility" of Iran's blockading the strait. But "such action would also damage Iran's economy, and risk retaliation from the U.S. and allies that could further escalate instability in the region."
"Accordingly, it is not likely to be a decision that the Iranian leadership will take lightly," he said.
Earlier sanctions targeting the oil and financial sector added new pressures to the country's already struggling economy. Government cuts in subsidies on key goods like food and energy have angered Iranians, stoking inflation while the country's currency steadily depreciates.
The impetus behind the subsidies cut plan, pushed through parliament by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was to reduce budget costs and would pass money directly to the poor. But critics have pointed to it as another in a series of bad policy moves by the hardline president.
So far, Western nations have been unable to agree on sanctions targeting oil exports, even as they argue that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran maintains its nuclear program — already the subject of several rounds of sanctions — is purely peaceful.
The U.S. Congress has passed a bill that penalizes foreign firms that do business with the Iran Central Bank, a move that would heavily hurt Iran's ability to export crude. European and Asian nations use the bank for transactions to import Iranian oil.
President Barack Obama has said he will sign the bill despite his misgivings. China and Russia have opposed such measures.
Sanctions specifically targeting Iran's oil exports would likely temporarily spike oil prices to levels that could weigh heavily on the world economy.
Closing the Strait of Hormuz would hit even harder. Energy consultant and trader The Schork Group estimated crude would jump to above $140 per barrel. Conservatives in Iran claim global oil prices will jump to $250 a barrel should the waterway be closed.
By closing the strait, Iran may aim to send the message that its pain from sanctions will also be felt by others. But it has equally compelling reasons not to try.
The move would put the country's hardline regime straight in the cross-hairs of the world, including nations that have so far been relative allies. Much of Iran's crude goes to Europe and to Asia.
"Shutting down the strait ... is the last bullet that Iran has and therefore we have to express some doubt that they would do this and at the same time lose their support from China and Russia," said analyst Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland.
Iran has adopted an aggressive military posture in recent months in response to increasing threats from the U.S. and Israel of possible military action to stop Iran's nuclear program.
The Iranian navy's exercises, which began on Saturday, involve submarines, missile drills, torpedoes and drones. A senior Iranian commander said Wednesday that the country's navy is also planning to test advanced missiles and "smart" torpedoes during the maneuvers.
The war games cover a 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) stretch off the Strait of Hormuz, northern parts of the Indian Ocean and into the Gulf of Aden near the entrance to the Red Sea and could bring Iranian ships into proximity with U.S. Navy vessels in the area.
The moderate news website, irdiplomacy.ir, says the show of strength is intended to send a message to the West that Iran is capable of sealing off the waterway.
"The war games ... are a warning to the West that should oil and central bank sanctions be stepped up, (Iran) is able to cut the lifeblood of the West and Arabs," it said, adding that the West "should regard the maneuvers as a direct message."
___

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com

US Dollar Domination – Just Another Footnote In History

2011-12-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

The assumption among the majority of Americans is that the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency will maintain America’s political, financial and economic hegemony around the world for decades to come. But, if there’s one lesson to be taken from economic history, it’s that no currency survives the test of time.

As the economic crisis continued to deepen and affect nearly every nation on earth, many world leaders – from Europe to China – began discussing the replacement of the US dollar as the world’s monetary unit of trade. Dismissed by some as all talk, it should now be clear that the Russians, Arab nations, Japanese and especially China are actively moving towards reducing the dollar’s influence on global economic affairs, and in the case of China and Japan, replacing it altogether:

BEIJING — China and Japan have agreed to start direct trading of their currencies, officials announced during a visit here on Monday by Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda.

…

China is the world’s second-largest economy while Japan is the third largest, and the currency agreement is part of a move away from using dollars. Chinese officials have said recently they would like to broaden the global use of the renminbi, also known as the yuan, and want to see more countries move away from relying on dollars as the worldwide currency.

They hold the world’s largest foreign-currency reserves — China has about $3.2 trillion, while Japan holds $1.3 trillion — and any moves to reconstitute the makeup of those holdings could change the global currency map.

“Chinese officials have made it clear that they believe the international economy is too heavily dominated by the dollar,” said Charles A. Kupchan.

Source: NYT

The United States has enjoyed reserve currency status for nearly a century, but our time may be quickly coming to an end. Some of the world’s previous reserve currencies survived for hundreds of years, so some may argue that the US dollar still has some staying power. However, the very same reasons responsible for the collapse of the aureus (Roman gold), dinarius (Roman silver), solidus, gulden and pound will be responsible for the downfall of the dollar.

(image via Zero Hedge and Classical Numismatic Group)

t’s simply, really. When governments spend more money than they bring in via taxation they are forced to devalue, sometimes very slowly, their currency. The Romans did it by reducing the silver content of their coinage, with some 95% of the precious metal being stripped from their coins by the time the empire collapsed in the 4th century.
From a Historical Perspective: The US Dollar vs. The Roman Denarius:

Does the above chart look somewhat familiar?

It should:

What took the Romans nearly three centuries to accomplish, our Federal Reserve has done in less than one hundred.

Historical performance, of course, is not a true indicator of future results, but given that our nation’s central bank refuses to change its policies of quantitative easing and monetary expansion, and considering that the Chinese are attempting to completely discard the US dollar as a tradeable instrument, the dollar’s demise as the dominant global currency will come sooner than later.

On top of that, the United States has some $200 trillion in liabilities over the course of the next thirty years, making it the largest debtor in the history of the civilized world.

The fall of currencies and empires throughout history is a constant.

It is no different this time. Our fate, it seems, is sealed. In fact, the US dollar vs. Silver Dinarius chart comparison above suggests that a currency collapse is not some event that will take place in the future; it’s happening right here and now.

While we may not have yet reached a waterfall event in which the world as we know it comes to an abrupt end over a period of days or weeks, it’s really only a matter of time before complete confidence in the system is lost.

When that happens, expect the unexpected. A rapid meltdown of the US dollar will lead to an economic crisis never before experienced in the modern world, and will likely result in our worst fears coming to pass. Things like food shortages, interruptions to the normal flow of commerce, a breakdown in law enforcement and emergency response services, political upheaval and widespread social strife are unavoidable in such a scenario. As unlikely as it sounds, it is quite possibly the way it will all go down. Look again at the charts above. Do you think there is any way to avoid such an outcome?

The collapse of nations, especially super-powers, is never a pleasant affair

Author: Mac Slavo
Date: December 27th, 2011
Website:http://www.shtfplan.com

6.6 magnitude earthquake rocks Russia!

2011-12-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

A 6.6magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Russia, the US Geological Survey reported.

MOSCOW -- Miners in a swath of southwestern Siberia are being told to leave their shafts after a strong earthquake shook the region.

No injuries or damage have been reported from the quake, which had a preliminary magnitude reading of 6.6 and hit late Tuesday.

The epicenter was about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Kyzyl, capital of the Russian republic of Tuva that borders Mongolia, according to the U.S. National Earthquake Information Center and Russian seismologists.

Russian news agencies quoted Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying miners in the coal-producing regions of Kemerovo and Khakassia were being taken out of the mines.

In Kyzyl, residents of multistory buildings who were concerned about aftershocks were being allowed to spend the night in schools, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported.sourcehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com

IDF strikes two Gaza targets, at least three dead....photo by: REUTERS/Ismail Zaydah

Joint Israel Air Force and Shin Bet operations kill at least three terrorists, injure at least ten in Gaza Strip; Kassam rocket fired, lands inside Gaza.

The Israel Air Force, working with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), launched two missile attacks against terrorist groups in Gaza Tuesday night, killing at least three and, according Palestinian reports, injuring at least 11. Several hours later, Palestinians fired a Kassam rocket from inside Gaza but it exploded inside the Strip.

Hamas identified the man killed in the earlier strike as Abdullah Telbani, an operative of World Jihad's Saraya Al-Quds wing in his 20s. Two other Palestinians were also injured in the attack when the explosion ripped through their tuk tuk, a motorized rickshaw, according to medics in the Strip. They were taken to Amal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

The IDF Spokesman's Unit confirmed a second strike targeting terrorists planning to infiltrate into Israel.

One of the terrorists targeted was Rami Douad Jabber Kafarna, a Jebaliya resident born in 1984 who was active in the armed wing of Hamas and took part in firing high-trajectory weapons at Israel, the IDF said.

Another target was Hazam Mohammed Sa'adi Al-Shakar, an Islamic Jihad militant from Beit Hanoun born 1985 who had been a Hamas activist and hid munitions in Gaza.

The IDF confirmed directly hitting their target, but the fate of the men remains unclear; Palestinian sources did not report any additional deaths.

In a statement, the IDF Spokesman said, "The IDF will not tolerate attempts to harm Israeli citizens or IDF soldiers and will continue to operate strongly and decisively against anyone who uses terrorism against Israel," adding that it holds Hamas responsible for all terrorist activity coming out of Gaza.

Army radio reported that the defense establishment was preparing for rockets in response to the attack.

Palestinians fired two short-range rockets into Israel on Sunday and Monday, causing no damage. No Gaza factions claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Israel has also said it is on alert for attempts by Gazan gunmen to slip into neighboring Egypt and attack it from there.sourcehttp://www.jpost.com

Mob scene as crowds return gifts & hunt deep discounts !

2011-12-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

Shoppers take it all back.....Mob scene as crowds return gifts & hunt deep discounts

Goodbye, Santa. Hello, bargains!
With Christmas finally over, throngs of sale-crazy shoppers flocked to stores across New York yesterday in hopes of correcting Kris Kringle’s little mistakes and ringing in 2012 with huge savings.
“It’s crazy how chaotic it is,” said Alex, a 27-year-old college student who was exchanging a $230 sweater for a $200 button-down shirt at Saks Fifth Avenue. He declined to give his last name in an apparent bid to spare the gift giver’s feelings.
The Saks sale — in which many posh items at the high-end store were slashed up to 70 percent — led to “lots of pushing and shoving,” said one witness.

The crowd there got so large that worried workers had to close the eighth floor at one point.
“It’s scandalous, right?” said Rania Hallal, 26, who got stuck in the Saks crowd while trying to return $700 shoes.
”Hopefully, if they let us in in 20 minutes, hopefully, there’s still something left. It looks kind of scary. I’m, like, nervous to go down there now,” added the Brooklyn woman, who was there with a friend.
The crowds were also deep at Macy’s, where shoppers started showing up at 7 a.m. in hopes of exchanging unwanted gifts and capitalizing on discounts of up to 75 percent.
“We got here at 7 a.m. to beat the crowds, and thank God for that!” said Olga Borrero, 47, of Astoria. “Every year, I always tell myself, ‘Never again,’ but I always come back. I love a good sale.”
“I’m returning a Free People dress . . . probably just for another Free People dress,” said an exasperated Megan Harris, 22, of the East Village, who said the place was a “madhouse today, so I might just give up and go somewhere else.”

At Bloomingdale’s, a huge crowd showed up for discounts of at least 50 percent on many items.
“I got a Christmas bonus last week. I knew there was going to be a big sale after Christmas, so I waited to take advantage of it,” said Andrew Nestor, 25, who works in publicity in Manhattan. He said he saved more than $1,000 on shoes and two wool sports blazers.
“I’m happy with what I got. It’s good quality, so it’s worth it,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to buy all three at full cost.”
The mob scene at stores around the city mirrored a national trend this year, as a new poll found that 40 percent of Americans expect to go shopping early this week in hope of scoring huge bargains.
According to the survey by Consumer Reports, 82 percent of those who plan to go shopping are doing so to play Santa to themselves at discounted prices.

Another 47 percent are planning to redeem gift cards they got for Christmas, and 31 percent will exchange something they didn’t like.
The poll also found that the majority who won’t be shopping this week are simply sick of it after buying gifts for the holidays.
Despite the crowds, many shoppers who were out yesterday felt that those who stayed home were missing out on a great time.
“This is much better than Harrods!” exclaimed shopper Kim Calfe, a tourist from London, who was at Macy’s with her daughter, Katie.
“We’ve spent about $300 so far. We’ve bought Macy’s logo bags, Macy’s gifts for friends and lots of makeup and a pair of Converse shoes,” said Calfe.
Also at Macy’s, 39-year-old Octavia Joseph, of Brooklyn, said she hated one shirt she got as a gift so much that she had no hesitation about braving the crowd.
“I returned a slinky gold club shirt from BCBG because I realized I wasn’t going to wear it — and I’d much rather have the cash!” she told The Post.
“I got a lip pencil from Mac, and it was just the wrong color. It looked awful on me,” said Rhonda Harris, 48, who was at the store with her daughter, Meghan, 28. “So I exchanged it for the right one. Much better!”
At the Queens Center mall, Michelle Lopez, 31, was returning some panties to Victoria’s Secret that her brother bought her.
“My brother bought me some panties here in the wrong size. He didn’t want to offend me,” she said.
“I’m shopping for bras, because this is a buy-one-get-one-50-percent-off sale,” she said.
Reza Islam, 29, of Forest Hills, went to Macy’s at the Queens mall to exchange some perfume and jewelry for a purple leather jacket.
“I didn’t like it that much. I’m returning it for someone else,” she said. “They are back home in Bangladesh, and we’re going to take it there to them.”
Some were hungry for bargains, no matter how small.
“I came here last week, and I wanted sweats,” said Sarah Ramdhan, 15, of Richmond Hill, Queens. “Today, they are $5 less.”
Even “Santa” showed up the day after Christmas looking for a sale.
“The prices are excellent today on everything, especially clothing,” said Diego Santa, 48, of Jackson Heights, Queens, at Aeropostale at the Queens mall.
“I’m saving more than $400. Honestly, everything is at 50 percent off.”

story source....http://www.nypost.com

Apocalypse 2012?

2011-12-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

All of this will come to a head in 2012 ...

Startling new evidence that Washington is about to suffer an all-out attack by global investors that makes the European debt crisis look like a Sunday picnic by comparison.

Kiss America Goodbye in 2012?

An American Apocalypse
is about to leave the U.S. economy
a smoldering ruin and drive millions
of American families into bankruptcy!

American Apocalypse 2012 is free to watch, and while some of the content is disturbing ... no American family can afford NOT to watch it.Video

Crucial self-defense: How to get through this disaster with your wealth intact and your family protected ...

The high cost of bad advice: Why most people who think they’re ready to survive this crisis have made the wrong preparations and could be even more vulnerable than those who haven’t prepared at all .

America’s Judgment Day: The monumental event that now threatens to trigger the ultimate financial doomsday — and why it could plunge vast numbers of U.S. families into the nightmare of poverty, homelessness and hunger ...

North Korea: The Most Bizarre Country On Earth Is Now Even More Unstable....

A new era has arrived for North Korea and nobody in the western world really knows exactly what is going to happen next. Kim Jong-Il is dead, and now control over the most bizarre country on earth has been handed over to 29-year-old Kim Jong-Un. Many believe that he is even younger than that. North Korea was already quite unstable while Kim Jong-Il was leading it, and now we have a young man that is going to be eager to "prove himself" to the North Korean hierarchy. Unfortunately, a lot of young men under the age of 30 don't handle fame and fortune too well, and a lot of them tend to be hot-headed. Hopefully Kim Jong-Un will turn out to be a reformer that will open up the doors of North Korea, but he could also end up being worse than his father. We just do not know at this point. We know that Kim Jong-Un was educated in Switzerland as a boy, we know that he speaks French, English and German, and we know that he is reportedly a fan of the NBA. Other than that, we just don't know a whole lot about him. What we do know is that Kim Jong-Un is a product of a totalitarian society that is absolutely obsessed with destroying the United States, and that is a very frightening thing.

Today, North Korea has the fourth largest army in the entire world, and we know that Kim Jong-Un was named a four-star general in 2010. The United States has about 28,000 soldiers stationed in South Korea, but that number is absolutely dwarfed by the 1,000,000 soldiers in the North Korean army.

Most Americans do not realize this, but the Korean war never actually ended. A ceasefire brought the military conflict to a conclusion in 1953, but there was never a peace treaty. For nearly 60 years, the two sides have been staring each other down along the 38th parallel.All during that time, North Korea has been arming itself to the teeth. North Korea is a nation that is absolutely obsessed with the military and that is absolutely obsessed with destroying the United States.

Most Americans don't spend much time thinking about North Korea, but most North Koreans are focused on the United States every single day. We are constantly held up as the great enemy, and North Koreans are taught that one day they will defeat us.Today, North Korea has thousands of missile batteries and the largest artillery force in the world. If war with North Korea erupts, Seoul would be flattened within minutes.

Right now, there are approximately 24.5 million people living either in or around Seoul, and that makes it the second largest metropolitan area in the entire world. Even if North Korea did not nuke Seoul, the devastation caused by thousands of rockets and the largest artillery force on the planet would be unimaginable.

North Korea also has a navy with more than 700 vessels, the largest submarine fleet on the entire globe and a fleet of about 1,650 aircraft.

But most importantly, North Korea has nukes.

Everyone agrees that North Korea has conducted nuclear tests and that they have an arsenal of nuclear weapons, but nobody really knows how big that arsenal is.

It is believed that the latest long-range missiles that North Korea has developed have the ability to reach the west coast of the United States, which is a very frightening thought.

But North Korea is never satisfied with where they are at. They are always developing new weapons.

For example, there have been reports that North Korea has tested a "super EMP weapon" which would be capable of taking out most of the U.S. power grid in a single shot.

North Korea is no joke. North Korea has the ability to take out Seoul or Tokyo at any time. A military conflict with North Korea could plunge the world into a devastating economic collapse in just a matter of days.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to disarm. Thanks to recent treaties that the Obama administration has signed with Russia, the size of our strategic nuclear arsenal has been reduced by over 90 percent.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then again not much that the Obama administration does makes sense.

North Korea is a very powerful enemy and they should not be underestimated. Unfortunately, most of our politicians seem to be clueless when it comes to foreign policy these days.

And North Korea is constantly testing us.

There were reports that North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles off its east coast on Monday.

Was this Kim Jong-Un flexing his muscles?

Was it a tribute to Kim Jong-Il?

Was it just a test-firing that was regularly scheduled?

With North Korea you just never know.

At this point, the South Korean military has been put on a state of high alert. South Korea is hoping that the transition of power in North Korea will go smoothly, and they are certainly watching things very closely.

The North Korean media is most definitely backing Kim Jong-Un, but that doesn't mean that Kim Jong-Un is out of the woods yet.

Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the U.S. China Institute, says that there may be significant challenges to the authority of Kim Jong-Un in the months ahead....

"How does somebody who's not yet 30 win the loyalty and respect and command authority over the entrenched party apparatus, the entrenched military bureaucracy, and the senior party officials who may have been in their positions for a long time?"

That is a very good question. Could someone in the North Korean military rise up to challenge Kim Jong-Un? It seems unlikely, but you never know.

Meanwhile, most of the focus in North Korea is still on the death of the "dear leader". The passing of Kim Jong-Il has once again demonstrated why North Korea is widely considered to be the most bizarre country on earth.

The following comes from an article in the Telegraph....

State television, which delivered the shock news in a tearful announcement, aired footage from Pyongyang of hysterical North Koreans, young and old, pounding the ground in a display of abject grief.

People on the streets of the North Korean capital wailed, some kneeling on the ground or bowing repeatedly as they learned the news that their 'Dear Leader' had died of heart failure while carrying out official duties on a train trip.

"How could the heavens be so cruel? Please come back, general. We cannot believe you're gone," Hong Son Ok cried in an interview with the country's official broadcaster, her body shaking.

Video footage of North Koreans mourning the "dear leader" is posted below....

Of course it must be remembered that if you do not mourn the "dear leader" properly, you and your entire family could get shipped off to a prison camp.

Seriously.

In North Korea, if authorities even suspect that you are not thinking the right thing, you and your entire extended family could be sent to a gulag for the rest of your life.

It is that kind of fear and repression that enabled Kim Jong-Il to maintain such tight-fisted control.

Without a doubt, Kim Jong-Il was truly bizarre. Kim John-Il enjoyed endless luxuries while his people deeply suffered. It has been reported that he had a collection of more than 20,000 movies, and it is said that he composed six operas. It is also claimed that he shot 38 under par (including 11 holes-in-one) the first time he ever played golf.

But all of this leader worship started with his father, Kim Il-Sung. It is said that hanging up pictures of Kim Il-Sung is compulsory for every household in North Korea, and many Koreans apparently believe that Kim Il-Sung actually created the world.

So yes, North Korea is very, very weird.

And North Korea is also very, very evil. story sourcehttp://theeconomiccollapseblog.com

Cold and Snow Weather Watch South Western U.S.A.

2011-12-19T14:12:00.000-08:00

The forecast for Denver calls for 1-3'' of snow downtown during the day Monday with up to 4'' south and west of the city. The wind will pick up out of the north 10-20 mph during the day providing for a very cold and blustery day for eastern Colorado.

We are anticipating a 20-30 degree temperature drop on Monday versus the above average highs we enjoyed over the weekend. Temperatures will hold downtown in the upper 20s and could drop into the teens by late Monday afternoon.

Blizzard conditions are likely across southeastern Colorado where travel is not advised on Monday. Across Baca and Las Animas counties including the towns of Springfield, La Junta, Lamar and Kim, these areas could see 10-20'' of snow and gusty north winds 25-35 mph sustained with gusts to over 40 mph.

The low pressure system moving across the southwest will push moisture northward into southern Colorado. The moisture will combine with the cold air behind the second front moving our way from Wyoming. The heaviest snow and wind will concentrate south of the metro area Monday.

The south central plains are under a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY for 3-6'' of snow in areas like Burlington and Limon.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES also cover areas like Pueblo and towns along the Colorado New Mexico line for 5-10'' of snow.

Both storm systems will move out Tuesday afternoon. Mostly sunny skies are in store for both Tuesday and Wednesday with temperatures returning to seasonal highs, in the upper 30s and low 40s.

North Korea: Should we fear change?

2011-12-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

North Korea: Should we fear change?

'Will nuclear army of 5 mln support new Korean leader?'

Japan is voicing fears of a possible military escalation in the Korean peninsula, following the death of the North's leader, Kim Jong-Il. The warning follows a state of emergency and military alert declared by South Korea

How will the death affect military tensions in the region?
After Japan's defeat in World War II, Korea became a divided nation. The capitalist South was supported by the United States and its Western allies, and the communist North became an ally of the Soviet Union.

Cold War tensions erupted in 1950 as the North invaded the South, devastating the peninsula and killing up to two million people before the fighting ended after three years with a truce, followed by an armistice. Technically, the two Koreas remain at war, and while the North is believed to have a standing army of one million soldiers, with reserves estimated at more than seven million, few expect it to launch a general assault on the South.

Over the past six decades, skirmishes have flared repeatedly along land and sea borders. Deadly naval clashes occurred along the demarcation line in 1999, 2002, 2009 and 2010.
Washington also accuses Pyongyang of running a secret uranium-based nuclear program. The United States, along with the two Koreas, Russia, Japan and China, have been involved in what is called the Six Party Talks, but those negotiations have been slow and arduous.
Following Kim Jong Il's death, Pyongyang urged an increase in the North's "military capability," prompting Seoul to put South Korean forces on high alert. Martin Navias, from the London-based Centre for Defence Studies, said South Korea raised its alert because it feared Kim Jong Un could be forced to show his toughness with "saber-rattling" and flex the North's military muscles.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour said it remained to be seen how talks would be affected. "The issue here," she said, "is whether it will promote more hardline policies from some of the old guard. Whether they will circle the wagons around this young man and whether it will put a stop to the negotiations with the United States or whether they will go through nonetheless."
What, if anything, will change inside the country?

The state structure in North Korea, the police, security and military apparatus, is extremely strong, said Peter Beck, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "The idea of people rising up is hard to imagine," Beck told CNN.
Short-term, Beck said, the Pyongyang regime could hunker down and "remain stable and inward-oriented, sorting out who is in and who is out."
What is in store for North Korea?
North Korea's Stalinist government has survived mostly by closing itself off and defying the rest of the world. The question is, will this strategy continue to work in the years ahead for the third of the Kim dynasty to rule North Korea?

"The news of the death of Kim Jong Il opens a new chapter in the life of this isolated and repressive regime as it negotiates food aid to stave off starvation for its people and attempts to revive economy amid international concerns over its nuclear ambitions," said New York-based Vishakha Desai, Asia Society president who visited North Korea six months ago.
So will the country's Stalinist regime endure?
Kim's death could provide an opportunity for change, or trigger instability and even chaos. His son, the "Great Successor" Kim Jong Un, now inherits a reclusive, unstable regime confronting political uncertainty, diplomatic isolation, economic malaise and food shortages.

North Korea has been dogged by famine since the mid-1990s when it was hit by severe food shortage caused by floods, drought and economic mismanagement. United Nations agencies based in Pyongyang say the North is in desperate need of outside aid to feed its 24 million people.

What is life like inside North Korea?

In recent years, DVDs smuggled in from abroad showing South Korean soap operas have become popular, according to CNN producer Tim Schwarz, who has visited the country.
"The difference today is that North Koreans are no longer under the illusion they are living in paradise on earth. It is vital for the government to improve their economic prospects. But the state still controls people's lives to an extent almost unimaginable anywhere else.
"What may have an influence is Kim Jong Un's privileged upbringing. He has had an unobstructed view of the outside world that few in his country can have had. He was educated partly in a Swiss secondary school. His friends were ordinary European teenagers and he is reportedly a fan of NBA basketball. So it would be reasonable to think that this could give him a more modern outlook.
"It is hard to imagine that North Korea in the second decade of the 21st century will remain in the same kind of time warp as it seemed to be from in the last decades of the 20th. But don't expect Arab Spring-type changes. Even a move to Chinese style market socialism is a long way away."
What is China's role?
A significant number of North Koreans have fled to China to seek freedom and a better life. In recent years, economic desperation and diplomatic isolation have prompted Kim Jong Il to visit frequently close allies like China.
Why does China support North Korea?
Last May, Kim Jong Il visited China again to ask for continued economic and military aid and political support. On this trip Kim went with another urgent mission: to introduce to the Chinese senior leaders his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, as his heir apparent. As North Korea's major ally, experts say, China's support for the young Kim was important.
China-North Korean ties are so close they are frequently described "as close as lips and teeth," and the two neighbors were Korean War allies. Of all the regional powers, Beijing has the greatest potential leverage over Pyongyang. China supplies at least 80% of North Korea's oil and significant amounts of food, fertilizer and military aid. The two Communist neighbors have frequent political, military and party-to-party exchanges.
Foremost in Beijing's mind, North Korea serves as a buffer, keeping the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea away from the Chinese border.
China has a huge stake in North Korea's stability, experts believe. Former CNN correspondent, Mike Chinoy, a veteran Korea-watcher who has visited North Korea several times, said: "The Chinese have made it extremely clear that they are not going to let Korea go down the drain. They are going to do whatever they need to do to prop it up."

And how will Kim Jong Un fare?
Meantime, experts say, all eyes are on the young and untested Kim Jong Un.
Why Kim Jong Un remains an enigma
Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the Los Angeles-based U.S. China Institute, notes the young Kim's big challenge: "How does somebody who's not yet 30 win the loyalty and respect and command authority over the entrenched party apparatus, the entrenched military bureaucracy, and the senior party officials who may have been in their positions for a long time?"
Kim Jong Il had two decades to learn the ropes, develop his network of connections and establish his authority under his father, Kim Il Sung's tutelage and protection. Even so, Chinoy said, when Kim Il Sung died in 1994, the young Kim was dogged with speculations: "Was he going to last?" By contrast, Kim Jong Un only had two years to ascend last year as a senior party leader and four-star general.
The young Kim is expected to rely on powerful backers of close relatives, including Kim's sister and brother-in-law Jang Song Taek, who experts say will serve as regents, tutoring behind the scene.

So despite all the problems that Kim Jong Il left behind, some Korea-watchers do not expect North Korea to implode immediately. After his last visit to Pyongyang last August, Chinoy told CNN: "I was struck by the notion that succession was on track -- not a lot of internal discord about it."
Nor is any huge policy change expected. "Kim has not been put into his position by a group of young Turks hoping to change the system, but by an elderly and entrenched elite," said CNN's Schwarz. "Their interests lie firmly in continuing the current power structure.
"So while gradual change over time may be possible, if on a limited scale, the imminent collapse of the regime is unlikely."

Philippine storm death toll tops 900

2011-12-19T12:35:00.000-08:00

Philippine storm death toll tops 900

The death toll from a destructive storm that hit the southern Philippines has risen to 927 as bodies surfaced in the sea, the head of the government disaster monitoring council says.

The death toll is expected to rise even further as more floating bodies are recovered after sunrise, said Benito Ramos, head of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

He put the total of the dead at 927, adding that the council had lost count of all those still missing after tropical storm Washi brought heavy rains, flash floods and overflowing rivers to the southern island of Mindanao.

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"They (the dead bodies) were washed out to sea. They were underwater for the first three days but now, in their state of decomposition, they are bloated and floating to the surface," Ramos told AFP.

"The death toll will rise again (in the morning) when more bodies surface."

The huge death toll came as government relief workers recovered more bodies from Mindanao, particularly in the devastated port cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, which have borne most of the deaths from tropical storm Washi.

Whole villages perched on sandbars or on the shores of rivers were washed away when Washi struck Mindanao and nearby areas over the weekend.

Ramos's latest toll was a sharp increase from the council's previous figures of 662 dead and 82 missing issued mere hours earlier.

The Philippine Red Cross, which is doing its own tally, reported 713 dead and 563 missing in a statement.

Both Iligan and Cagayan de Oro are planning mass burials of their dead as scores of decomposing bodies have swamped the local funeral parlours, filling the air with an overpowering stench.

The disaster area, located about 800 km from the capital, Manila, is normally bypassed by the average of 20 typhoons that ravage other parts of the far-flung Philippine archipelago every year.

As a result, many residents were caught by surprise when floods suddenly hit their homes in the dead of night, before dawn on Saturday.

More than 88,000 people have been displaced by the storm with over half of them huddled in crowded, makeshift government evacuation centres, the disaster management council said.

President Benigno Aquino is also scheduled to visit the storm-hit areas on Tuesday after ordering a review of government disaster prevention measures.

Getting a full accounting of the dead and missing is difficult as most of the victims were "informal settlers" - a term typically used for slum squatters and internal migrants who are often unregistered by authorities.

Authorities likened the impact of tropical storm Washi to Ketsana, one of the country's most devastating storms which dumped huge amounts of rain on Manila and other parts of the country in 2009, killing more than 460 people.

AFP

THESE CITIES HAVE FIRED THEIR POLICE FORCES BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMY

2011-12-14T04:28:00.000-08:00

THESE CITIES HAVE FIRED THEIR POLICE FORCES BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMY

On December 1, Youngtown, AZ, joined the ranks of the many U.S. cities and towns that have fired their local police forces, reports 24/7 Wall St. In recent years, it has become somewhat of a bizarre and unsettling trend across the country for municipalities to disband their police departments, mostly because of financial restrictions.

Using information from the National Fraternal Order of Police and conversations with a number of police departments, 24/7 found nearly 50 cities and towns that either considered dismantling or have already dismantled their police forces in the past four years.

Researchers who compiled this data also received help from Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office—a department that has taken over law enforcement responsibilities for 16 police forces in the country.

The initial list was cut down to include only the largest municipalities and the most recent cases of police force termination.

There are a number of reasons that contribute to a local government dismissing its police department.

“Some cities, such as Pewaukee, Wis., face controversies revolving around questionable police actions,” writes Charles B. Stockdale. “Others, such as Pontiac, Mich., have exceptionally high crime rates, giving city officials additional incentive to take a different approach to law enforcement.”

However, the primary reason for laying off an entire police force is cost cutting. Every municipality on this list has disbanded its local police force in order to, at least in part, save money.

Once the local police have been relieved of duty, police work has been taken over by the county sheriff’s offices in every case. The economic recession has made matters much worse for police forces. According to a Justice Department report from October of this year, law enforcement is facing its first overall job decline in 25 years.

Millbrae, California

Date: 11/17/11
Population: 21,532
Size of former police department: 21

In November of this year, the Millbrae city council decided with a 3-2 split decision to dismantle the city’s police force. Law enforcement will now be handled by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, the same department that has taken over duties in San Carlos. And much like in San Carlos, Millbrae’s decision was made for cost-cutting reasons, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Millbrae has shrunk its police force by 26 percent since 2001 and, according to one council member, the city has considered outsourcing since 2003.

Maywood, California

Date: 6/30/10
Population: 27,431
Size of former police department: 41

The Maywood Police Department was disbanded in June 2010, after serving the community for 90 years. In addition, the city council voted unanimously to lay off all city employees. County police officers replaced the local cops, while workers from neighboring cities filled other positions.

“The city can’t have any staff because it can’t get liability or worker’s compensation insurance for them,” reports CNN.

So, instead of going bankrupt, the city decided to outsource all workers.

San Carlos, California

Date: 6/30/10
Population: 28,155
Size of former police department: 32

San Carlos is another city that decided to dissolve its police force to cut costs — the only one in the Bay Area city with its own police force to outsource its law enforcement.

Protecting the city has since been the responsibility of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. The city’s 2011 deficit was nearly $3.5 million, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The county police force hired San Carlos’s 32 officers.

Pontiac, Michigan

Date: 10/31/10
Population: 60,177
Size of former police department: 74

Pontiac voted on October 31, 2010, to outsource it policing duties to the Oakland County Sheriff. The change took effect in January 2011. Since the decision was spurred by the city’s $12 million budget deficit, according to Michigan Radio, Oakland County also made sure to protected itself.

Executive L. Brooks Patterson added a last minute amendment to the contract, allowing for Oakland to void the entire contract if Pontiac declares bankruptcy. At the time, dissolving the police force was expected to save Pontiac about $2 million a year. All the city’s police officers were hired by the county.http://247wallst.com/2011/12/13/cities-that-have-fired-their-police-forces/2/

Cameron: The build-up to his EU Treaty veto

2011-12-12T13:17:00.000-08:00

Cameron: The build-up to his EU Treaty veto

Euro pact faces UK hurdle, ebbing market faith

LONDON (AP) — Doubts rebounded Monday over Europe's ability to solve its debt crisis and rescue the imperiled euro, as investors worried that plans for closer fiscal unity will bring little immediate relief and exposed the continent's deep political divisions.
British Prime Minister David Cameron was the only leader among the European Union's 27 members to refuse last week to join a plan under which nations submit their budgets for central EU review and limit the deficits they can run.
As the rift between Britain, which has its own currency, and the 17 nations that use the euro created uncertainty about the deal's implementation, ratings agencies Moody's and Fitch warned the plan did not even properly address the problem of lowering existing European debt.
Stocks and the euro fell sharply Monday — to $1.3183 from $1.3370 — as market confidence in the plan and Europe's ability to end the crisis ebbed. In Italy, one of the continent's most troubled economies, workers angry about government austerity reforms went on strike and held nationwide rallies.
Germany's DAX ended the day 3.4 percent lower, Milan's stock index was down 2 percent and Italy's borrowing rates rose, indicating growing fears about its financial future. Italy's 10-year bond yield rose 0.52 of a percentage point to 6.76 percent, closing in on the 7 percent level that forced fellow eurozone nations Greece, Ireland and Portugal to take bailouts.
Cameron defended his actions in the House of Commons on Monday, telling U.K. lawmakers the fiscal pact that envisions using the EU's executive arm as a budget watchdog could face even more political hurdles. The British leader was greeted with cheers from his own euroskeptic Conservatives but jeers from opposition lawmakers.
"The choice was a treaty without proper safeguards or no treaty and the right answer was no treaty. It was not an easy thing to do, but it was the right thing to do," Cameron said.
Strikes idled some Fiat auto plants in Italy and forced Milan's famed La Scala opera house to cancel a performance. It was the first of days of union walkouts and demonstrations against spending cuts and tax hikes that Italy's new technocratic government is seeking to restore investor confidence.
Unions say Italy's austerity measures are hitting too hard on pensioners and workers and not hard enough on the wealthy. A rally was called for Monday outside Parliament, which is expected to pass the measures by Christmas.
"Fairness, fairness!" shouted workers marching in Florence.Italian public transport unions called walkouts for Thursday and Friday, bank workers were striking Friday and other public sector employees were to walk off the job Dec. 19.
Twenty-three European countries — including Italy — have said they are in favor of the fiscal pact announced Friday in Brussels, while three more say they are open to the idea.
Under the deal, a central European authority would oversee their future budgets and impose tougher spending controls. The participants would also agree to automatic penalties if countries spend too much.

Markets had initially rallied Friday on news of the deal — despite Britain's refusal to take part — but that optimism soured Monday as traders sought more short-term support for European financial markets. They were also disappointed that the European Central Bank sharply cut back its purchases of government bonds to only €635 million ($841 million) last week, underlining the bank's stance that indebted governments should dig out of their own debt problems.
Credit ratings agency Fitch said "it seems that a 'comprehensive solution' to the current crisis is not on offer." Moody's warned it still plans to review all EU governments' ratings for possible downgrades during the first three months of 2012.
Cameron's decision to veto an unanimous EU treaty to solve the crisis has already angered European counterparts — and will cause complications over how the pact is implemented and monitored.
The British leader insisted Monday that his stance was aimed at sheltering London's financial services industry from burdensome new EU regulation.
"This is new territory and does raise important issues which we will want to explore with the 'euro plus' countries," Cameron told the House of Commons, referring to the block of 17 eurozone nations and nine EU others who say they'll either sign up to or consider the new pact.
Even though the U.K. is not in on the plan, it can still torpedo it, since it does have a say in how EU-wide institutions are used."In the months to come, we will be vigorously engaged in the debate about how institutions built for 27 should continue to operate fairly for all member states, Britain included," Cameron added.
At issue is whether the countries that join the Europe's new fiscal pact can use EU institutions — such as the European Commission, the EU's executive based in Brussels — to implement their deal. Britain's resistance will certainly keep the plan from being approved on any fast-track method.
"There are issues that are raised by this, about institutions serving two masters — the euro zone and the European Union — and we need to look at those issues very carefully," Cameron's spokesman Steve Field told reporters.
Under a current EU treaty, the European Commission can declare a member to be in excessive deficit, a move that forces the country to spell out in detail how it will bring down its deficit and debt or face sanctions. In practice, no country has ever been sanctioned.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy again blasted Britain for dividing the continent.
"There are clearly two Europes," Sarkozy was quoted as telling Le Monde newspaper. "One that wants more solidarity among its members and more regulation. The other which is attached only to the logic of the single market."
In Athens, Greece's finance minister said the coalition government will cut spending further but won't impose new taxes as the country heads into a fourth year of recession.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos added that talks with international debt inspectors on a second bailout were at a "difficult and critical" stage, speaking after meeting with officials from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
"It's not a question of whether we can impose more taxes — we cannot. It is not a question of whether we must cut spending more — we must," Venizelos said. "There is much more to be done."
Greece, the country that kicked off the European debt crisis, is negotiating the details of a second bailout loan, this one at €130 billion ($174 billion).sourcehttp://www.google.com

41 Syrian civilians killed in one day say activists

2011-12-10T00:32:00.000-08:00

The UN estimates at least 4,000 civilians have been killed in Syria in the past nine months

NICOSIA — At least 41 civilians including seven children were shot dead on Friday by Syrian security forces in the capital Damascus and the restive central city of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
It said in a statement on Saturday that 12 people -- among them two children aged 10 and 12 -- were killed in Homs and that a 14-year-old boy was killed in Aqrab village in the Homs area where the opposition charges the regime is planning a massacre.
To the north, the Britain-based rights watchdog said five civilians were shot dead by security forces in the city of Hama, a focal point of dissent against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In Damascus province, 18 civilians including two children were shot dead in Duma, Saqba, Kafarbatna, Hamourieh and Dmeir.
The Observatory said that in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the revolt that erupted in mid-March, a woman and a young girl were killed.
And near the Turkish frontier in the north, in Idlib province, two civilians including a 15-year-old youth were killed in Maaret Numan town, and a taxi driver was shot dead in the same area.
The United Nations estimates that at least 4,000 civilians have been killed in Syria in the past nine months.
On Friday, the opposition Syrian National Council warned of a looming bloody final assault on Homs using the pretext of what the regime called a "terrorist" attack on an oil pipeline on Thursday.

"The regime (is) paving the way to commit a massacre in order to extinguish the revolution in Homs," said the SNC, a coalition of Assad opponents.
Homs, an important central junction city of 1.6 million residents divided along confessional lines, is a tinderbox of sectarian tensions that the SNC said the regime was trying to exploit.source....http://www.google.com

More rockets hit Israel after spike in violence in the Gaza Strip

2011-12-10T00:22:00.000-08:00

JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants fired at least 11 rockets into Israel on Friday after an airstrike against a Hamas target in Gaza that killed a Palestinian civilian and his 12-year-old son.

The rockets landed in Israeli territory but caused no casualties, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Air-raid sirens and bomb shelters have helped keep civilian casualties low in southern Israel over years of rocket fire from Gaza.

The latest exchange followed several days of violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Earlier Friday, Israel carried out multiple airstrikes against Hamas facilities. One damaged a house next to a targeted site, killing 42-year-old civilian Bahajat Zaalan and wounding several members of his family, according to Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmia. One of the wounded, Zaalan’s son Ramadan, died of his injuries later Friday, the official said.

Other houses were damaged by fire or shrapnel and a total of 25 people were wounded, Abu Salmia said.

Israel’s military released a statement Friday expressing regret for harm to bystanders but blaming Hamas for choosing “to operate while embedded within a civilian population, using them as a human shield to protect their actions.”

The military said the civilians were not directly harmed by the airstrikes but by the explosion of rockets stored at the sites that were hit.

On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike hit a group of militants in Gaza, killing one and wounding two others. Israel said it targeted militant squads preparing to fire rockets into southern Israel.

And on Thursday, Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a car near a crowded park in Gaza City, killing two militants, including a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and wounding five bystanders. Israel says the militants were planning to infiltrate Israel to carry out attacks.

The strikes Thursday touched off rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel.

In Gaza, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh condemned what he called an “unjustified and serious escalation by the Zionist enemy.”

Speaking Friday at a Gaza City mosque, he said Egypt was helping to mediate an end to the latest round of fighting.

In the West Bank Friday, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at a weekly demonstration of about 100 Palestinians, hitting one protester in the head with a gas canister, said Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli activist who joined the rally.

He identified the protester as Mustafa Tamimi and said he was severely injured.

The weekly rallies in the village of Nabi Saleh are in protest of Jewish settlement activity in the area.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers treated the Palestinian man at the scene before taking him to an Israeli hospital for further treatment.

The military is investigating the incident, the army spokeswoman said.source....http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Congress rebuffs easing of Iran sanctions

2011-12-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats determined to look tough on Iran and avoid any election-year challenges to their pro-Israel bona fides are rebuffing Obama administration pleas to ease proposed penalties on Iran's central bank.
The administration argues that the crippling penalties would undercut a carefully calibrated international effort targeting Tehran and would drive up oil prices, a potential economic boon that would help finance Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon while hitting cash-strapped Americans at the gas pump.
Just weeks after announcing a new round of restrictions, President Barack Obama on Thursday dismissed "some of the political noise out there" and said his "administration has systematically imposed the toughest sanctions on Iran ever."
Obama said he was considering all options for dealing with Iran, but declined to be more specific.
Lawmakers are pressing ahead with penalties against foreign banks that do business with Iran's central bank, a plan that the Senate resoundingly endorsed last week on a 100-0 vote.
"The administration does understand the centrality of this issue to forcing Iran. They would like to do it unimpeded by congressional mandates. That's true of every administration," Rep. Howard Berman of California, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview. "On this, we're not going to just roll over and take their suggestions."
The showdown between the administration and Congress encompasses policy realities and political maneuvering.

Tough economic penalties are the most viable option short of a military strike. Looking ahead to the 2012 elections, Republicans and Democrats are intent on presenting a record of hawkishness toward Iran and unwavering support for Israel, mindful of the importance on American Jewish voters and their financial contributions to the political parties.
The sanctions measure sponsored by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was added to a broader defense bill that's now the subject of closed-door negotiations between the House and Senate. Lawmakers hope to produce a final version of the policy legislation next week.
Few lawmakers, even Democrats, have argued the administration's case for weakening the penalties.

"I think Democrats are scratching their heads that the administration is leading them into a policy provision which not a single Democratic senator can support," Kirk said in an interview. He said he spoke to the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., on Thursday and he indicated that the House negotiators would accept the sanctions provision.
The Kirk-Menendez measure would go after foreign financial institutions that do business with the central bank by barring them from opening or maintaining correspondent operations in the United States. It would apply to foreign central banks only for transactions that involve the sale or purchase of petroleum or petroleum products.

The petroleum penalties would only apply if the president, in six months, determines there is a sufficient alternative supply and if the country with jurisdiction over the financial institution has not significantly reduced its purchases of Iranian oil. It also allows the president to waive the penalties based on national security.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in a Dec. 1 letter to senators, said the administration opposed the measure in its current form because it would undermine its effort to bring international pressure on Iran. He also warned that the penalties could actually boost oil prices and benefit Iran financially.
"Iran's greatest economic resource is its oil exports," Geithner wrote. "Sales of crude oil line the regime's pockets, sustain its human rights abuses and feed its nuclear ambitions like no other sector of the Iranian economy."
The administration is seeking both substantive and technical changes, including delaying implementation of all the penalties for six months. Berman favors speeding up the penalties to four months.
In arguing for tougher sanctions, lawmakers cite the recent International Atomic Energy Agency report that Iran is suspected of clandestine work that is "specific to nuclear weapons," its alleged role in the plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in the United States and the attack on the British Embassy in Tehran.
U.S.-Iranian relations have been put further on edge by Iran's capture of a high-tech, stealth CIA drone on a surveillance mission over Iran.
Two weeks ago, the administration announced a new set of penalties against Iran, including identifying for the first time Iran's entire banking sector as a "primary money laundering concern." This requires increased monitoring by U.S. banks to ensure that they and their foreign affiliates avoid dealing with Iranian financial institutions.
Arguing that it isn't enough, the pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and advocacy group American Jewish Committee, endorsed the tougher congressional penalties without any changes.
"Most of us know in the end that the forces in Iran are not going to go quietly into the night," said Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., in an interview. "We may have to send them into the night not so quietly.http://www.google.com/

Tyrannical “Health Standards” Of The New World Order

2011-12-08T20:51:00.000-08:00

As every nation in the world marches forward to a completely integrated and globalized society, the control of food is an absolute necessity for those who seek to accelerate amalgamation. It is for this reason that we see an increase in domestic legislation that mirrors the guidelines and demands of international standard-setting organizations. These attempts at harmonization of national laws, specifically those regarding food, are coming in daily from all sides of the globe.
Whether it’s the GMO fight in the United States, Mexico, and Europe, or the question of the level of vitamins and minerals in supplements, the Biotech Corporations are continually winning most of their battles with the help of mass ignorance, national governments, the World Trade Organization and similar entities.
Indeed, when one begins to examine many of the debates regarding food and food regulation, one name appears over and over – Codex Alimentarius.
For those who may be unaware of what Codex Alimentarius is, I refer you to my book Codex Alimentarius – The End of Health Freedom. Briefly speaking, however, Codex is an agency created under the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO)and thereby functions under direction of the United Nations (UN).
Codex Alimentarius sets the standards by which the World Trade Organization implements its dispute settlements and international trade policies. Codex Guidelines, once agreed upon, are enforced by the WTO and other related treaties. Essentially, Codex sets the standards for the world regarding food, vitamins and minerals, GMO’s, and almost everything else that humans consume.

Although the influence of Codex Alimentarius can be seen the world over, New Zealanders appear to be the latest targets of the international standard-setting organization via a food bill titled Food Bill 160-2.
Similar to legislation recently passed in the United States, the New Zealand Food Bill essentially turns the right to grow food and share it with others into a regulated and controlled privilege. Food Bill 160-2 would also allow for the control of seeds (specifically heirloom seeds), and the creation of Food Safety Officers that would serve to police the newly designated and loosely termed “food producers.” It would also effectively end the ability of individuals to become and remain self-sufficient.
For instance, the bill defines food so as to include any plant or animal (living or dead by the definitions set forth in the bill) intended for human consumption, as well as:
any ingredient or nutrient or other constituent of any food or drink, whether that ingredient or nutrient or other constituent is consumed or represented for consumption on its own by humans, or is used in the preparation of, or mixed with or added to, any food or drink; and anything that is or is intended to be mixed with or added to any food or drink.

Furthermore, giving broad and alarming levels of power to the Governor-General, “anything that is declared by the Governor-General, by Order in Council made under section 355, to be food for the purposes of this Act” will also fall under the jurisdiction of Bill 160-2.
So much is included in just the “Definitions” section of the bill one could almost write a twenty-page article just on the connotations provided by Section 8 alone. Regardless, as one can clearly see from reading the small portion of the bill quoted above, the terms of the bill are all-encompassing.
Herein, food is defined literally as anything that can be consumed by humans and it retains this definition at whatever the stage of its development.
Therefore, corn may be considered food whenever it is being sold at a market. It may be considered food when it is being shucked, and it may be considered food when it is being grown. It is also considered food before being grown — in seed form.
Not only that, but because many seeds themselves are consumed by humans, seeds naturally fall under this tyrannical legislation as much as anything else.
As a result of the new policies to be implemented as a result of Food Bill 160-2, anyone then engaged in producing and distributing food would be subject to the regulation and monitoring of the new authorization program. Of course, the classification of “food producer,” applies to individuals who grow two or three tomato plants for their own consumption as much as it does to major Agri-businesses.

That being said, there are clearly financial concerns with the new bill as well. Obviously, Big-Agra would easily be able to pay the monitoring fees for the new Soviet program while small farmers, where they still exist, could not. In addition, individuals would certainly no longer be able to continue selling their food at the local farmers market, local restaurants, or even to other individuals.
True to form, the questions regarding the new legislation are being brushed off by the New Zealand government, particularly those individuals in the New Zealand government who have been pushing the bill from the start.
For instance, Kate Wilkinson, New Zealand Minister of Food Safety recently stated to Campbell Live that concerns over the Food Bill were part of some kind of “conspiracy theory” and that she didn’t understand where all this “conspiracy theory” was coming from.
Before I continue, I must ask if all this doesn’t sound eerily familiar. It certainly does to me.
Last year, when the United States Congress was busy passing S.510, a bill that was very similar if not identical in scope to the New Zealand Food Bill, we heard the same cat calls of “conspiracy theory” launched at anyone who criticized the impending legislation. Now, in late 2011, after the U.S. government has publicly raided organic food shops, raw milk distributors, and the Amish with guns drawn by clownish looking SWAT teams, the name-calling is a bit harder to justify.
The similarities between the law in the United States and the one being proposed in New Zealand are quite striking, so much in fact that they can scarcely be considered a coincidence — especially when both of these bills are themselves disturbingly similar to Codex Alimentarius Guidelines and recommendations. Indeed, upon closer examination it appears that there is more of a pattern than some members of national governments would have us believe. No doubt this is almost always the case.

But back to Miss “Conspiracy Theory” Kate Wilkinson for a moment. To answer her question as to where all the “conspiracy theories” have come from, perhaps she should look at her own statements.
Indeed, in a letter to Green MP Sue Kedgley, who has expressed some attenuated level of criticism toward the bill, Wilkinson wrote:
The barter or selling of propagation food seeds and food seedlings is in scope [of the Bill] . . . However the sale or exchange of seeds for propagation, and seedlings (whether this occurs in the context of a garden centre, a market, or between those in a community of interest), is not intended to be captured. [emphasis added]
Wilkinson openly admits that seeds can and will be controlled under the new food bill. Hardly a conspiracy theory when the antagonist actually admits it to be true.
Notice also that her pathetic attempt to reassure Kedgley of the harmlessness of the bill is that it is not intended to be used against private citizens who share seeds with one another and their community. Indeed, Wilkinson’s response throughout her letter to Kedgley (pdf) centers around intentions, while, at the same time, openly admits that, “With such broadness, there is inevitably the potential for activities it was never contemplated as ‘in scope’ to be technically captured.”
Of course, before one gets their hopes up in regards to the Green Party, one should bear in mind that politics are politics and the theater of public opinion is much the same in New Zealand as it is in the United States. As New Zealand Food Security reports, the Green Party itself initially voted for this bill. The organization states, “Ignore the [Green Party] blog’s dog-and-pony show propaganda. The Greens, who voted for the Bill at first reading, know the truth is coming out now and are dissembling for extra election votes).” Obviously, the political climate is exactly the same in every country with exactly the same result.

In the end, there should be no mistake as to the goal of these new laws, whether they be in the United States, New Zealand, or anywhere else for that matter. As the world marches faster and faster toward totalitarianism, the ability of individuals to become self-sufficient must be destroyed before the control system can fully assert itself. This, in fact, is an integral part of the system in the first place.
National laws such as S.510 and Food Bill 160-2 are merely the domestic ground-level implementation of international policy handed down from Codex Alimentarius, the World Trade Organization, and the United Nations, entities that are themselves nothing more than tools in the Great Work known as the New World Order.http://www.infowars.com

East Coast Getting Ready For Snow

2011-12-07T03:01:00.000-08:00

East Coast Wintry weather on the way....

Snow Coats South & East

While heavy rain hugs the coast, short periods of heavy snow could hit the Interior Northeast.
A quick shot of snow is coming for parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The event will begin late Wednesday and will be over by midday Thursday. Along a stalled boundary draped over the Southeast, a new area of low pressure will take shape over the Carolinas by late Wednesday morning. On the eastern side of this storm system, soaking rains will fall. Travel in a large portion of the East could be slow with flight delays possible (see flight delays map). The rain will be heavy late Wednesday into Wednesday night along the I-95 corridor of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, which could result in some localized flooding problems.On the northwest side of this storm system, where a colder air mass exists, snow will fall.

This is not a major snow event but will definitely get people talking as it has been fairly mild as of late for many areas of the East.Rain will first change to snow beginning in the Southern Appalachians on Wednesday afternoon. Soon the snow will shift and expand east and north on Wednesday night. Snow will begin to accumulate over the mountains of far western Virginia and over the majority of the state of West Virginia.
We expect the heaviest snowfall from this winter event in the Central Appalachians to fall over southeast West Virginia (3 to 6 inches). This snow will have a moderate to perhaps even high impact on Interstates 64 and 77. Wednesday night into early Thursday, snow will quickly shoot north into western Maryland, eastern Pennsylvania, southeast New York State and New England.

The greatest snow totals will be found well west of the I-95 corridor. The cities of Harrisburg, PA, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA and Poughkeepsie, NY could all see a few inches of accumulation. Higher terrain locations such as the Poconos, Catskills and Berkshires should see the greatest amounts.As for the big cities along the I-95 corridor, heavy rain may turn to a brief period of snow from D.C. to Philadelphia, Newark and New York City with no significant accumulations expected. A slushy inch or so can be expected in Hartford, CT.

By mid-morning Thursday (the morning commute rush hours), snow will be finishing up in parts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Biggest snow totals will be found in the higher elevations of western Massachusetts. And just like that, snow will be exiting as early as 9 or 10 am ET Thursday.http://beta.weather.com

Iran, Facing New Sanctions, Warns of Oil at $250 a Barrel

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

Iran, Facing New Sanctions, Warns of Oil at $250 a Barrel

Alarmed by the possibility of new Western penalties that could abruptly reduce or even halt its oil exports, Iran issued a warning on Monday that crude oil prices could more than double to $250 a barrel if such sanctions were given serious consideration

The warning, issued by the Foreign Ministry, appeared to be part of an attempt by Iran to intimidate its adversaries as tensions grow. Western nations stepped up their efforts to isolate Iran diplomatically after mobs stormed and vandalized Britain’s diplomatic facilities in Tehran less than a week ago, evoking stark images of the United States Embassy takeover after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The assault was widely criticized, even by some of Iran’s friends.

Despite the Iranian warning, oil prices were little changed by the end of the day Monday.

Iranian leaders are increasingly concerned that oil sales, Iran’s main source of income, are now at risk in ways that they were able to avoid in earlier rounds of Western sanctions. Those sanctions were imposed to press Iran, so far unsuccessfully, to halt its suspect nuclear program.

Iran is the third-largest exporter of oil, after Saudi Arabia and Russia. Its biggest customers —China, the European Union, India, Japan, and South Korea — together account for more than three-quarters of total Iranian oil exports, according to an analysis published by the Energy Information Administration in the United States. Reduced orders from just one of those customers could be disruptive for Iran, where the economy is already suffering from the accumulated effects of other sanctions.

After the assault on the British Embassy, European Union ministers said they would give serious consideration to an oil embargo at a meeting in January, and the United States Senate voted 100 to 0 for legislation that would penalize any foreign bank that does business with Iran’s central bank.

The Senate measure, meant to use access to the United States market as leverage in isolating Iran, is not yet law and could be modified. But analysts said that such a measure, if enforced, could wreak havoc on Iran’s oil industry, because the central bank is the main conduit for receipts from oil sales.

“At some point, sanctions become an act of war,” said Vali Nasr, a professor at Tufts University and an expert on Iranian affairs. “If you cut Iran out of the oil market, this is no longer economic pressure.”

The situation has been heating up since the International Atomic Energy Agency, the monitoring arm of the United Nations, issued a report on Nov. 8 that said Iran may be actively developing a nuclear weapon and a missile delivery system. Iran, which has always asserted that its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes, denounced the report as a fabrication created under pressure from its Western enemies.

The United States, Canada and their European allies imposed new sanctions on Iran a few weeks after the United Nations report. But those measures were meant to limit Iran’s access to the international financial system and to penalize its petrochemical and oil products industries, not to affect exports of crude oil.

Iran’s warning about blocking its oil exports was issued by Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, in an interview with Sharq, a Persian-language daily, and was transmitted by the semiofficial Fars News Agency.

“As soon as such an issue is raised seriously, the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel,” Mr. Mehmanparast was quoted as saying. “I do not think the situation in the world and especially in the West today is adequately prepared to raise such discussions.”

Oil prices rose on the news but ended the day barely changed. The price of the benchmark grade of American crude oil closed at $100.99 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from $100.96 on Friday.

In a separate dispatch from the World Petroleum Congress meeting under way in Doha, Qatar, Fars News quoted the oil minister of India, S. Jaipal Reddy, as reassuring Iran that India would remain a faithful buyer of Iranian oil. The dispatch apparently was intended to give the impression that India, at least, would not be dissuaded by new Western sanctions. Other news reports from Doha, however, quoted Mr. Reddy as saying India was also looking for new sources of supply.

Another prospective threat to Iran’s customers came from Seoul, South Korea, where a senior American diplomat, Robert J. Einhorn, urged the government to suspend imports of Iranian petrochemicals. The Foreign Ministry said it was reviewing the request.

Mr. Einhorn, who is the State Department’s special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, said at a news conference that “the situation in Iran has become more and more worrisome over recent months.”

Without a diplomatic solution in the standoff, Mr. Einhorn said, “pressures will grow for a much stronger kind of action.”

Abbas Milani, the director of Iranian studies at Stanford University, said he thought Iran’s Islamic hierarchy may have miscalculated the strong global reaction to the British Embassy assault, which most Iran experts have said was done with the explicit approval of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader. Now, Mr. Milani said, the momentum for sanctions aimed at oil, Iran’s critical export, presents a new threat.

“They thought they could get away with it, by firing a shot across the bow,” he said. “It turned out to be much more costly.”source.....http://www.nytimes.com-oil.html

Winter storm blasts New Mexico with snow, cold

2011-12-06T04:47:00.000-08:00

Winter storm blasts New Mexico with snow, cold

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A severe winter blast has struck most of New Mexico, closing schools and shutting down major highways across the state.
Motorists sought emergency shelter overnight as state officials closed both directions of Interstate 40 from Albuquerque to Gallup — part of the historic Route 66 — after blowing snow caused near-zero visibility.
Authorities also shut down Interstate 10 in the southern part of the state, from the Texas line to the Arizona border, because of heavy snow and icy road conditions.
The storm was the third to hit the state recently and spread heavy snow throughout northern and southern New Mexico. It forced school districts to close or end classes early Monday, as motorists struggled with icy roads. Early Tuesday KOB-TV reported nearly 200 active closings and delays.

Julia Pardue, a front desk attendant at the Super 8 hotel in Grants, said a number of stranded motorists got rooms for the rest of the day after Interstate 40 was closed rather than wait for the highway to reopen.
"A lot of people just didn't want to be on the roads," she said.
Meteorologists said heavy snow wasn't to blame for the highway closures but rather strong winds brushing the light snow across roads, making visibility difficult. Some areas, such as Tajique, saw 2-foot snow drifts.
Kerry Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said most of the heavy snowfall ended by Monday afternoon and just around an inch or two was expected throughout most of New Mexico.
Jones said residents also should expect "bitter cold" weather with temperatures 15 below zero in some parts. Jones said temperatures will gradually warm throughout the week.
Severe weather even brought snow to southern New Mexico — a region usually spared the worst of winter blasts. Crews worked to clear snow and salted icy roadways in the region, especially around Lordsburg, Silver City, Socorro, Magdalena and Truth or Consequences. More than 700 employees and 500 pieces of equipment will be available to keep state routes clear."The NMDOT is out in full force to assist law enforcement with road closures, while treating the roadways in order to secure a safe roadway for the traveling public," said District Engineer Frank Guzman told the Las Cruces Sun-News. "Crews will continue to work throughout the evening into the weekend as this storm passes through our region."sourcehttp://www.google.com

Iran Says It Shot Down Unmanned U.S. Spy Plane

2011-12-05T02:13:00.000-08:00

Iran Says It Shot Down Unmanned U.S. Spy Plane.....

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's armed forces have shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that violated Iranian airspace along the country's eastern border, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
An unidentified military official quoted in the report warned of a strong and crushing response to any violations of the country's airspace by American drone aircraft.

"An advanced RQ-170 unmanned American spy plane was shot down by Iran's armed forces. It suffered minor damage and is now in possession of Iran's armed forces," IRNA quoted the official as saying.
No further details were published.
The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said in a statement the aircraft may be an American drone that its operators lost contact with last week while it was flying a mission over neighboring western Afghanistan.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the incident, said the U.S. had "absolutely no indication" that the drone was shot down.
Iran is locked in a dispute with the U.S. and its allies over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, which the West believes is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran denies the accusations, saying its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and that it seeks to generate electricity and produce isotopes to treat medical patients.
The type of aircraft Iran says it downed, an RQ-170 Sentinel, is made by Lockheed Martin and was reportedly used to keep watch on Usama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan as the raid that killed him was taking place earlier this year.

The surveillance aircraft is equipped with stealth technology, but the U.S. Air Force has not made public any specifics about the drone.
Iran said in January that two pilotless spy planes it had shot down over its airspace were operated by the United States and offered to put them on public display. In July, Iranian military officials showed Russian experts several U.S. drones they said were shot down in recent years.
Also in July, Iranian lawmaker Ali Aghazadeh Dafsari said Iran's Revolutionary Guard shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane that was trying to gather information on an underground uranium enrichment site.
Dafsari said the pilotless plane was flying over the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom in central Iran but the Guard denied the report, saying its air defenses had only hit a test target.
Iran publicly confirmed for the first time in Feb. 2005 that the United States has been flying surveillance drones over its airspace to spy on its nuclear and military facilities.
The Islamic Republic holds frequent military drills, primarily to assert an ability to defend against a potential U.S. or Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities.
Tehran has focused part of its military strategy on producing drones for reconnaissance and attacking purposes.

Iran announced three years ago it had built an unmanned aircraft with a range of more than 600 miles, far enough to reach Israel.
Ahmadinejad unveiled Iran's first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft in August 2010, calling it an "ambassador of death" to Iran's enemies.source....http://www.foxnews.com

The U.S. Senate Takes Action Against Iran

2011-12-01T23:25:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON—Acting on concerns Iran aims to develop a nuclear weapon, the U.S. Senate Thursday voted to impede that country's ability to process oil revenue by making it harder for it to access the world financial system.

The 100-0 vote came in spite of warnings from the Obama administration that the sanctions would alienate allies and drive up oil prices. The administration has been trying to use diplomatic avenues to persuade allies to avoid Iranian oil, which provides half of the government's revenues. But Congress, frustrated by President Barack Obama's reluctance to apply sanctions to Iran's central bank, decided to push him in that direction.To become law, the measure—attached to a defense-authorization bill that cleared the Senate on Thursday—must be approved by the House and signed by Mr. Obama to become law.

The Obama administration views sanctions against Iran's central bank as a blunt instrument, because they would force foreign financial institutions either to cut off dealings with Iran's central bank or essentially be shut out of the U.S. financial system. Any foreign central banks that completed petroleum transactions via Iran's central bank could face similar bans.

In theory, that could affect China—the biggest purchaser of Iranian oil and a big buyer of U.S. debt—though the measure would allow the president to waive sanctions for national-security reasons or due to a spike in oil prices.

But lawmakers see the matter differently than the White House—which has become a talking point in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, one of the contenders, called the Senate vote "a strong step in the right direction" and said that the president " should stop excusing Iran's dangerous behavior and drop his opposition to these strong economic sanctions again the rogue Iranian regime."The vote was meant to persuade banks around the world to adopt economic sanctions similar to those announced by the U.K., which block Iran's banking sector from the U.K. financial system. Such measures prompted Iranian students to ransack the British embassy in Tehran this week.

"I can't predict how China will react," David Cohen, the Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday. He emphasized that "the best way to work with our allies on this is not by threatening our most severe sanction against their largest financial institutions but to work with them."

But Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), one of the chief sponsors of the measure, described it as "the maximum opportunity to have a peaceful diplomacy tool to stop Iran's march to nuclear weapons,"

With the United Nations' nuclear agency now having expressed concern that Iran has been developing technologies needed for a nuclear weapon, lawmakers say the Obama administration needs to show a greater sense of urgency.Separately, senators on Thursday rejected a proposal by Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) to sell at least 66 new F-16 fighters to Taiwan.

An aide to Mr. Cornyn said Senate Democrats objected to a required procedural measure, so it never got a vote.

This marks the second time the measure has failed. In September, Sen. Cornyn introduced an amendment to a trade bill to mandate the sale of the F-16s, which are built in Fort Worth, Texas.
By SIOBHAN HUGHES Source...http://online.wsj.com