WAR 08-22-2015-to-08-28-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

[Housecarl]

(177) 08-01-2015-to-08-07-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...07-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(178) 08-07-2015-to-08-14-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...14-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

(179) 08-15-2015-to-08-21-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...21-2015_____****THE****WINDS****of****WAR****

___

North Korea 'fires shots' across the border at South Korea
Started by Melodi‎, 08-20-2015 02:21 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...-shots-across-the-border-at-South-Korea/page4

China warns NK may already have an arsenal of 20 NUKE warheads; could double by next year
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...NUKE-warheads-could-double-by-next-year/page5

U.S. Marines "take down" armed gunman on high speed train in France.
Started by Yogizorch‎, Yesterday 12:01 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...ot-armed-gunman-on-high-speed-train-in-France.

Main Islamic State (ISIS) thread
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?451597-Main-Islamic-State-(ISIS)-thread/page148

Rockets fired from Syria hit Israel today; Israel strikes back; maybe: 41yr CEASEFIRE ENDS
Started by Lilbitsnana‎, 08-20-2015 10:00 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...-strikes-back-maybe-41yr-CEASEFIRE-ENDS/page3

ISRAEL heating up again...
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?461079-ISRAEL-heating-up-again.../page40

Main Russia/Ukraine invasion thread - NATO: Russian Tanks and Artillery Enter Ukraine
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...ian-Tanks-and-Artillery-Enter-Ukraine/page427

The Four Horsemen - Week of 08/19 to 08/26
Started by Ragnarok‎, 08-18-2015 09:42 PM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?473702-The-Four-Horsemen-Week-of-08-19-to-08-26


___

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150822/lt-venezuela-colombia-border-bd5faf56db.html

Venezuela extends closure of key border with Colombia

Aug 22, 12:56 AM (ET)
By FABIOLA SANCHEZ

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro extended indefinitely the closure of a popular border crossing with Colombia, while declaring a 60-day state of emergency in several western cities in an attempt to reassert control in a notoriously lawless where three army officers were shot.

Maduro earlier in the week announced a 72-hour closure of the normally busy crossing in Tachira state and the deployment of hundreds of additional troops in response to the shooting of three army officers— two lieutenants and a captain — while patrolling for smugglers.

On Friday night he said the Simon Bolivar international bridge would remain closed until the assailants are caught. He says the 60-day state of emergency, which can be extended for another two months, would allow security forces to reassert control over the long-volatile border.

The 1,400-mile (2,200-kilometer) border has long been plagued by violence stemming from Colombia's long-running conflict, the presence of drug-trafficking gangs and now by smugglers of cheap goods from Venezuela.

"We've been discovering a frightful reality about how the criminals and paramilitaries operate. I'm under the obligation to free Venezuela of all this," Maduro said in a televised address Friday night.

Opponents immediately denounced the move as an attempt to distract attention from a deep economic crisis that has led to a collapse in support for Maduro's socialist government. In a statement, the Democratic Unity Alliance called on the international community to take note of what it considers a clear provocation likely to generate economic losses and put at risk voting in December legislative elections.

"The decree of a state of emergency only 109 days before crucial parliamentary elections may be the escape valve used by the government to avoid a defeat that is both imminent and certain," the opposition alliance said.

As part of a government crackdown against contraband, the government already this year has closed the border in Tachira at night, deployed more troops and toughened jail sentences for smuggling. It also rolled out a fingerprint-scanning system to restrict the amount of any single product shoppers can buy.

In total, the government says more than 6,000 people have been arrested for smuggling in the past year and it says more than 28,000 tons of food were seized last year in anti-smuggling operations.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150822/af--somalia-violence-bc437dfe33.html

10 killed as extremist bombers hit military camp in Somalia
Aug 22, 8:19 AM (ET)
By ABDI GULED

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Islamic extremist suicide bombers killed at least 10 soldiers on Saturday in an explosion at a military camp in the southern port city of Kismayo, Somali security officials said.

The bombers rammed their vehicle into the gates of a former university campus that is now a military camp where soldiers are being trained to fight the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, said Somali police official Ahmed Ali.

At least 10 soldiers died in the attack, said a senior military official in Kismayo, Col. Mohamed Hassan.

The two militants in the attack were killed and two more suspected militants were arrested and are being interrogated by security officials, the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia said on Twitter.

Somalia's militant insurgent group, al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the bombing. Despite being forced out of many of their strongholds, the rebels are still able to launch lethal attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere in Somalia.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150822/af--boko_haram-ea698d670d.html

Boko Haram strengthens ties with Islamic State group

Aug 22, 9:05 AM (ET)
By MICHELLE FAUL

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's Boko Haram extremists are strengthening ties with the Islamic State group, as shown by reports that Nigerian militants are fighting in Libya, recent arrests in Lebanon and India and the blocking of thousands of suspected extremists from leaving Nigeria.

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS in March and in June was declared its West African province. More than 1,000 people have been killed in the insurgency since President Muhammad Buhari was elected in March and pledged to halt the 6-year-old Islamic uprising blamed for the deaths of some 20,000.

An estimated 80 to 200 Boko Haram fighters are in the Libyan city of Sirte, according to Nigeria analyst Jacob Zenn, in The Sentinel magazine of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.

Algerian security forces believe Boko Haram fighters have joined other militants in northern Niger, he wrote.

"The openness of migration routes from Nigeria through eastern Niger to Libya makes travel ... fairly straightforward, and the Islamic State can easily afford to pay smugglers to carry militants (and weapons) along that route," wrote Zenn.

Further evidence of Boko Haram's links with IS is the arrest on Aug. 15 by Lebanese authorities of hard-line IS cleric Ahmad al-Assir at Beirut airport. They said he planned to fly to Nigeria on a forged Palestinian passport with a Nigerian visa.

The Nigeria Immigration Service reported barring 23,472 people from leaving the country between January 2014 and March 2015. "There have been reports in recent times of some Nigerians departing to join terrorist groups especially in the Middle East and North Africa," said PR Nigeria, which publishes government news. Two Nigerians studying in India were arrested Aug. 7 as they tried to cross illegally into Pakistan, planning to join IS in Iraq, it said.

---

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed from Beirut.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150820/af--south_sudan-journalist_killed-47b5a4fedd.html

Journalist killed in S.Sudan after president threatens media

Aug 20, 2:06 PM (ET)
By JASON PATINIKIN

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — A South Sudanese journalist was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the outskirts of the country's capital, his father said Thursday, in an attack that came days after President Salva Kiir was reported to have threatened to kill reporters "working against the country."

Peter Julius Moi, a reporter for Corporate Weekly, was shot twice in the back Wednesday night, Moi's father, Julius Kilong Ramoi said.

The international journalists' rights group, the Committee to Project Journalists, quoted Kiir as threatening journalists on Sunday.

"If anybody among (journalists) does not know that this country has killed people, we will demonstrate it one day, one time. ... Freedom of the press does not mean you work against the country," Kiir was reported telling journalists.

Earlier this month, two newspapers said the government stopped their operations in an apparent crackdown on the independent media.

Moi was shot dead in the Jebel area of the capital, Juba. Otieno Ogeda, chief executive officer of Corporate Weekly, said the media house had not received threats over recent articles Moi wrote, including two that focused on the scaling back of operations of South Sudan's only brewery. The body was found near the brewery, but Moi also lived in the same area.

Nothing was stolen from Moi during the attack, Ogeda said.

"Everything was intact, even the money in his pocket was never stolen, even his phone was not taken away," he said.

Moi is the seventh journalist to be killed in South Sudan this year.

In December 2013, troops loyal to Kiir clashed with those loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar. Machar signed a peace deal on Monday to end the continued fighting while Kiir has promised to sign in coming days.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150822/ml--iran-missile-61186fd513.html

Iran unveils new longer-range solid fuel missile

Aug 22, 7:48 AM (ET)
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

(AP) In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian...
Full Image

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran unveiled a short-range solid fuel ballistic missile Saturday, an upgraded version that the government says can more accurately pinpoint targets.

The surface-to-surface Fateh-313, or Conqueror, was unveiled at a ceremony marking Defense Industry Day and attended by President Hassan Rouhani, who said military might was necessary to achieve peace in the volatile Middle East.

State television showed footage of the missile being fired from an undisclosed location. The missile is a newer version of Fateh-110 and has a quicker launch capability, a longer lifespan and can strike targets with pinpoint accuracy within a 500-kilometer (310-mile) range, the report said.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed a landmark nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers last month, has called on Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran says none of its missiles are designed for that purpose.

The resolution also contains an arms embargo against Iran for the next eight years, but it's not part of the historic nuclear deal. Iran has said it won't abide by that part of the resolution and Rouhani reconfirmed it Saturday.

"We will buy weapons from anywhere we deem necessary. We won't wait for anybody's permission or approval and won't look at any resolution. And we will sell weapons to anywhere we deem necessary," he said in comments broadcast live on state television Saturday.

Rouhani said Iran can't remain passive when instability has spread in neighboring countries.

"Can we be indifferent ... when there are special circumstances on our eastern, western, northern and southern borders," Rouhani said, apparently referring to fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the region. "How can a weak country unable to stand up to the military power of neighbors, rivals and enemies achieve peace?"

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150822/ml--yemen-6b960d7891.html

Yemen officials say al-Qaida seizes key areas of Aden

Aug 22, 11:02 AM (ET)
By AHMED AL-HAJ

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Al-Qaida militants have seized control of key areas in and around the port city of Aden, high-ranking security officials said Saturday.

Fighters took Tawahi district, home to a presidential palace and Aden's main port, and were patrolling the streets, some carrying black banners, the officials said. The militants also took Crater, Aden's commercial center, and parts of Dar Saad town, just north of Aden, including an army base that they turned into a training camp.

Security officials near the seized base, in Dar Saad's al-Lohoum district, say it is now training some 200 militants.

The officials, who hail from the military, security forces and police, spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to journalists. They said Al-Qaida's gains came in recent weeks in the wake of fighting in Aden between Shiite rebels and pro-government forces, after the front moved outside the city.

Al-Qaida also has a presence in Breiqa city, west of Aden, and nearby al-Khadra city, the officials added.

Washington considers al-Qaida's Yemen branch to be the most dangerous offshoot of the terror network.

Yemen's conflict pits the Iran-allied Houthi rebels and troops loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, against an array of forces including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants as well as troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Al-Qaida has gained ground lately in Yemen, profiting from the civil war which picked up in March when the Saudi-led coalition began a massive air campaign against the rebels and their allies.

Washington, meanwhile, has kept up its drone attacks targeting al-Qaida militants in Yemen, including one in June in the city of Mukalla that killed the group's top leader.

Yemeni transport Minister Badr Bassalma told The Associated Press that Aden's ports were secure and operational, without elaborating. He spoke from Saudi Arabia, where President Hadi fled to in March as the Houthis seized Aden.

A pro-Hadi force took control of Aden last month, after driving the rebels out, and are supplying their war effort partially from the area.

 

[mzkitty]

12m
Video: Riot police use tear gas and water cannons used against protesters in Beirut, Lebanon - @MahmoudRamsey

https://twitter.com/MahmoudRamsey/status/635123122174226432


15m
Photo: Riot police fire tear gas to disperse YouStink protesters in Beirut, Lebanon - @joellehatem


17m
Security forces use sound grenades, launch tear gas at YouStink protesters in downtown Beirut, Lebanon - @DailyStarLeb

 

[mzkitty]

Oh............. it's over garbage collection. I get it.


3m
Report: Protesters angry over trash problem in Beirut announce open-ended sit-in demanding new elections - @DailyStarLeb

BREAKING:

Security forces shoot rubber bullets at protesters, several wounded


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Le...-resignation-and-parliamentary-elections.ashx

 

[mzkitty]

Cops were using rubber bullets:

9m
Lebanese Red Cross says some injured demonstrators brought to area hospitals amid clashes in downtown Beirut - @RedCrossLebanon

 

[Lee Penn]

FYI. If this story - which seems to be from a reliable source - is true, then we came very close to all-out war in the Middle East on at least 2 or 3 occasions in the last few years.

http://world.einnews.com/article/282495873/Tlw563zkrBV5Bn8R

Planned Israeli Attacks On Iranian Nuclear Sites Said Blocked

August 22, 2015

Israel's Channel 2 TV reported August 21 that a plan for Israel to strike Iranian nuclear facilities was blocked on three separate occasions in recent years.

In an audio recording of former defense minister Ehud Barak obtained by the TV station, Barak said that he drew up the attack plans against Iran, and they were approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He said Israeli army chief Gabi Ashkenazi blocked one planned attack in 2010, by refusing to certify that the army was prepared to carry out the attack.

A second attack was aborted when hawkish Israeli ministers Moshe Ya'alon and Yuval Steinitz withdrew support, he said, while in 2012, Israel decided the timing was bad for an attack because of a U.S.-Israel military exercise.

The TV station said Barak tried to prevent broadcast of the bombshell revelations, but Israel's military censor allowed it.Ya'alon and Steinitz issued a statement expressing bewilderment at the military's decision to permit the broadcast.

The report comes as Israel has been strenuously lobbying against a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that aims to curb Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions' relief.

Based on reporting by AP and Jerusalem Post

-----------------------

Note: EINNews.com is a service that collects stories from the press worldwide, and redistributes them. It appears to gather news from authentic sites, not satire sites. It may be that einnews.com is worth following for TB2K news gatherers.

Here is the EIN Facebook news page: http://www.facebook.com/einnews

Lee

 

[mzkitty]

1h
Lebanese interior minister tells TV station he pledges to resolve trash crisis, which began with July 17 closing of landfill, at Cabinet meeting next week - @AP

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a563...se-fire-tear-gas-protesters-over-trash-crisis


1h
Red Cross says 15 injured, 1 seriously, in Beirut clashes; police claim 35 officers wounded - @DailyStarLeb


1h
Photo: Protesters are reported to be seen barricading the street leading to the governmental palace in Beirut, Lebanon, in this photo taken aid clashes with police - @niluso


1h
Photo: Trash is strewn around a downed street sign amid clashes between police and protesters in downtown Beirut, Lebanon - @halona

 

[mzkitty]

6m
Police say protesters detained in Beirut trash demonstrations have been freed by order of the Lebanese interior minister - @DailyStarLeb

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1925

8/20/2015
Analysts: China's Missile Program the Greatest Long-Term Threat to U.S. Security

By Allyson Versprille

The advancement of China's ballistic missile modernization program may pose the greatest risk to the United States' long-term security, analysts said Aug. 19.

"Deterrence of China is absolutely critical," said Mark Schneider, a senior analyst for the National Institute for Public Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. "It's not the largest current threat to the United States but it will in the foreseeable future become that."

According to the Pentagon's annual report to congress, "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2015," the current Chinese arsenal includes 1,200 short-range ballistic missiles and 50 to 60 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

"I expect all these numbers understate actual Chinese capability," Schneider said, noting that it is hard to pinpoint a precise number because most nuclear weapons are sheltered in a 3000-mile tunnel known as China's underground "Great Wall."

China has introduced double-digit increases in defense spending in 18 of the last 20 years, he said during a panel discussion at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

A 2013 report from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center found the Pacific nation has the most "active and diverse ballistic missile development program in the world," expected to expand in both size and variety. Within the next 15 years the number of Chinese ICBM nuclear warheads capable of reaching the United States could grow to more than 100, it said. Currently the nation boasts four types of ICBMs and two types of submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

The nation is also developing MIRV, or multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, variants of its ballistic missiles, Schneider said. These variants have a payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed at separate designated targets.

"We've got a very serious threat out there that we're not adequately dealing with," he said. U.S. policies on China are not working and there have been signs that the country would not adhere to its "no-first-use" doctrine regarding nuclear weapons, he added.

An important conventional capability that China has developed is the DF-21, or CSS-5 Mod 5, anti-ship ballistic missile, nicknamed the "carrier killer."

It "is clearly and specifically targeted at our carrier battle groups," said Henry Obering III, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton and former director of the Missile Defense Agency. "This missile is a formidable threat, which represents very advanced technology."

He also noted successful tests executed by China for its WU-14 hypersonic glide vehicle, which is capable of speeds at about Mach 10. The most recent and fourth test of the WU-14 was conducted in June.

To address these threats, the United States needs to invest more in next-generation systems such as "advanced kill vehicles, directed energy weapons and space-based capabilities," Obering said. The U.S.military also has to develop more integrated approaches across the entire defense architecture enabling the use of sensors to track enemy warheads from birth to death, he added.

In addition to the threats posed to the homeland, the dangers of Chinese missiles to U.S. forward-deployed forces and allies in the western Pacific cannot be overlooked, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

"We can't discount the threat to our forward-deployed forces when we focus on the ballistic missile threat to the United States," he said. "The Chinese objective, strategically, is to try to reinforce a belief on the part of our allies that we would not be able to come to their aid were the Chinese to pursue some aggressive act against them," he said.

Within the next few years the number of surface-to-surface missiles the Chinese military currently has, about 1,500, is expected to grow at a faster rate than the U.S. programs of record for missile defense. This growth "will overcome our ability to defend against it relatively soon," Clark said.

Chinese airstrikes are another concern because in the event of a war the nation would layer its attack, following up a missile assault with airstrikes, he noted. "Their strategy is to use missiles — both ballistic and cruise missiles — from long range in an attempt to paralyze U.S. bases and ships from places where we would project power and then follow up with airstrikes to annihilate."

Current U.S. strategy does not defend well against this approach because the Navy does not distinguish between airplanes and missiles when defending against an enemy system, Clark said.

"When an airplane or a missile comes at a U.S. base or U.S. forces, we treat them all relatively equally and we try to shoot them all down using the defensive systems at hand [from] as far away as possible," he said. U.S. forces "could end up in that situation using all of our best missile defenses against relatively cheap and numerous missiles that the Chinese could develop."

The U.S. military is also at a distinct disadvantage when shooting down enemy platforms — ships, airplanes and missile launchers — because Chinese anti-ship missiles tend to have longer ranges than U.S. anti-ship missiles, Clark said.

To address this problem the Navy should shift its strategy to better allocate defensive weapons against offensive threats, using larger, more expensive weapons to destroy platforms, and less expensive weapons to shoot down missiles at shorter distances, he said.

In certain situations, the Navy could use interceptors such as the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 or new technology such as electro-magnetic and directed energy weapons when engaging enemy missiles from shorter range, he said. These could be less expensive but still effective alternatives.


Photo: DF-21 missiles (Navy)

Posted at 8:52 AM by Allyson Versprille

 

[mzkitty]

Laying down the law:


20m
Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev on Japan's protest over his visit to 1 of 4 Pacific islands it also claims: 'We want to be friends with Japan, Japan is our neighbor ... but this has nothing to do with the Kuril Islands which are part of Russia and of a Russian region called the Sakhalin region... This is how it is and how it will be' - @RT_com

----------------

Moscow officials ‘are, were and will be visiting’ Russian Kuril Islands – PM Medvedev

Published time: 23 Aug, 2015 00:07

The Russian Prime Minister’s visit to the Kuril Islands has provoked predictable displeasure in Japan, which continues to contest the universally recognized results of WWII. In response to Tokyo’s rebuke, Dmitry Medvedev reiterated that the strategic archipelago is an integral part of Russia.

“We want to be friends with Japan, Japan is our neighbor ... but this has nothing to do with the Kuril Islands which are part of Russia and of a Russian region called the Sakhalin region,” Dmitry Medvedev said during his visit to one of the Kuril Islands – Iturup.

“This is how it is and how it will be,” Medvedev added.

“Our [Japanese] colleagues are getting upset for nothing,” he told Russian media, adding that Russian officials “have visited, are visiting and will be visiting the Kuril Islands.”

Medvedev paid a day-long visit to Iturup during his official trip to Russia's Far East region inspecting the island’s new airport, sea port, a fish processing factory as well as attending an “Iturup youth forum” where he met with young Russian scientists and inventors.

Continued:

http://www.rt.com/politics/313133-medvedev-kuril-islands-japan/

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/2015/08/21/russia-putin-violence-in-europe/

Contentions

While Obama Dithers, Putin Presses His Advantage

Max Boot | @MaxBoot
08.21.2015 - 12:30 PM

Vladimir Putin’s growing tyranny certainly has its surreal aspects, as the Wall Street Journal highlights with this article about how Russian food inspectors are competing to carry out the Kremlin’s edict to destroy foods imported from Western Europe in retaliation for Western sanctions on Russia following its unprovoked assault on Ukraine. Overzealous inspectors are destroying tons of fruits and vegetables, seafood, and cheese — this in a country where fully 15.9 percent of the population or nearly 23 million people now live below the poverty line. That Putin is proceeding with this masochistic food destruction shows – or, rather, confirms — that he values making a political point over the welfare of his own people.

Meanwhile, an Estonian security official, Eston Kohver, who was kidnapped while on Estonian soil and smuggled into Russia, has been sentenced to 15 years hard labor by a Russian kangaroo court for a variety of trumped-up offenses.

Estonia’s president, Toomas Henrik Ilves, has compared this to cases of Soviet troops killing Baltic border guards prior to the Soviet invasion and takeover of the Baltic states in 1940. A State Department spokesman said that this case “demonstrates a flagrant disregard by Russian authorities for the rule of law, and raises serious questions about Russia’s compliance with its international legal obligations.”

Meanwhile, too, fighting is escalating in Ukraine, where, a February ceasefire notwithstanding, Russian-controlled “rebels” are increasing their attacks on the Ukrainian troops who are trying to prevent more of the nation’s soil being wrenched out of the control of its democratically elected government. The State Department also protests these ceasefire violations, as if communiques can stop artillery shells.

What all of this suggests is that Putin has not, to put it mildly, been persuaded to take a kinder, gentler approach to governance since the imposition of Western sanctions. Instead, he is up to his old tricks — trying to grab as much of Ukraine as he can while signaling that the Baltics may be next. Little wonder that America’s senior military leaders now identify Russia as the No. 1 security threat we face.

The problem continues to get worse because the Obama White House, last seen trying to “reset” relations with Putin, still doesn’t do enough to stop his aggression. The U.S. is willing to train Ukrainian troops, but not provide them with offensive weaponry. The U.S. is willing to impose some sanctions on Russia, but not to deliver an economic death sentence by kicking all Russian firms out of dollar-denominated trades. The U.S. is not even stopping the military cuts that will soon make our army so small it will no longer be able to meet all of its commitments.

President Obama, you see, doesn’t want to “provoke” Putin or “escalate” tensions. To a man of Putin’s moral caliber, that can mean only one thing — that he has a green light for as much aggression as he can get away with. The opportunity is there for the taking, and, not surprisingly, he is taking it. But the price is being paid by Ukrainians, Estonians, and, above all, by his own people, while the U.S. and its European allies decorously avert their gaze.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

Gregor Peter ‏@L0gg0l 13m13 minutes ago

LARGE EXPLOSION AT U.S MILITARY FACILITY IN KANAGAWA, JAPAN -- WITNESSES (via @kozenipon )

 

[Housecarl]

Gregor Peter ‏@L0gg0l 13m13 minutes ago

LARGE EXPLOSION AT U.S MILITARY FACILITY IN KANAGAWA, JAPAN -- WITNESSES (via @kozenipon )

08.23 BREAKING: Reports Of Large Explosion At U.S. Military Facility In Kanagawa, Japan
Started by JohnGaltflaý, Today 09:36 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...n-At-U.S.-Military-Facility-In-Kanagawa-Japan

 

[Lilbitsnana]

08.23 BREAKING: Reports Of Large Explosion At U.S. Military Facility In Kanagawa, Japan
Started by JohnGaltflaý, Today 09:36 AM
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...n-At-U.S.-Military-Facility-In-Kanagawa-Japan

yep, that's the incident. we both posted at same time

 

[Housecarl]

And in other news......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150823/eu--macedonia-migrants-1455060325.html

Thousands of migrants head closer to EU from Macedonia

Aug 23, 2:33 PM (ET)
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

(AP) Migrants at the bus station in the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija, Saturday,...
Full Image

GEVGELIJA, Macedonia (AP) — Thousands of beleaguered migrants — mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans fleeing bloody conflicts — crammed into trains and buses in Macedonia that brought them one step closer to the European Union on Sunday, a day after they stormed past police trying to block them from entering the country from Greece.

On Saturday, about 2,000 rain-soaked migrants rushed past baton-wielding Macedonian officers, who had been sealing the border for three days. Police fired stun grenades and dozens of people were injured as the migrants leapt over barbed wire or ran across a field not protected by the fence to enter Macedonia.

After the incident, police decided to allow migrants to cross the border freely again from Greece, which is also overwhelmed by the human tide. Police officials said that the blockade was imposed to try and stem the overflow of people that had caused chaotic scenes at a railway station in the Macedonian town of Gevgelija as thousands tried to secure places on overcrowded trains.

On Sunday, the migrants — many with children and babies — orderly boarded trains and buses that took them to the border with Serbia before heading farther north toward EU-member Hungary, which is building a razor wire fence on its frontier to prevent them from entering. If they manage to enter Hungary, the migrants could travel freely across the borders of most of the 28 EU-member states.

(AP) A crew member of the MSF (Doctors Without Borders) ship {201c}Bourbon Argos{201d} takes a...
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The more than 5,000 migrants who reached Serbia overnight faced an overcrowded refugee center where they have to apply for asylum — the paper that allows them three days to reach Hungary. State Serbian TV said that a woman gave birth overnight inside the center and that many people are sick and injured from Saturday's clashes.

"A huge number of people have arrived and we expect the same intensity in the next day or two," said Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic, who toured the area on Sunday.

Emina, a migrant from Syria who boarded an early morning train with her 2-month-old baby, blamed Macedonian authorities for "harassing" the migrants, not giving them food or water, as well as holding them back at the border.

"It was very hard in Macedonia," she said. "I did not sleep or eat for three days. Just as we arrived to the border, they closed it. It was awful."

Both Greece and Macedonia have seen an unprecedented wave of migrants this year. More than 160,000 have arrived so far in Greece, mostly crossing in inflatable dinghies from the nearby Turkish coast — an influx that has overwhelmed Greek authorities and the country's small Aegean islands. Some 45,000 crossed through Macedonia over the past two months.

(AP) Children migrants look from a window onboard a train departing towards Serbia, at...
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Few, if any, want to remain in Greece, which is in the grip of a financial crisis, or impoverished Macedonia. Most of the migrants who enter from Greece want to head straight to Macedonia's northern border and then north through Serbia and Hungary on their way to more prosperous EU countries such as Germany, the Netherlands or Sweden.

Separately, Italy's coast guard said it coordinated the rescue of some 4,400 migrants off Libya's coast Saturday, the largest number so far in a single day.

The coast guard said 22 rescue operations were carried out for motorized rubber dinghies and fishing boats, all crammed with migrants desperate to reach Europe's southern shores.

So far this year, some 110,000 migrants have been rescued off Libya and brought to southern Italian ports. On Sunday, the Italian coast guard said it had asked three cargo ships to help in rescues, as more smuggler ships needed assistance.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed on Sunday for greater support for the migrants traveling through the Balkan route. A statement said that "as this emergency continues to evolve across the Western Balkans and beyond, greater levels of collaboration and collective effort are necessary in order to manage the humanitarian needs of those affected."

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the migrant crisis in Macedonia needs to be dealt with without delay. Speaking in Prague, Fabius said foreign and interior ministers of EU member states will likely have to discuss the issue as the number of migrants coming through Macedonia is on the rise.

---

Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

 

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150823/eu--italy-migrants-b27979e728.html

One-day record for migrant rescues in sea near Libya: 4,400

Aug 23, 6:41 AM (ET)

ROME (AP) — Italy's coast guard says it coordinated the rescue of some 4,400 migrants in a single day, a record-setting number, as smugglers took advantage of ideal sea conditions off Libya to launch a fleet of overcrowded, unseaworthy boats.

The coast guard on Sunday said 22 rescue operations were carried out a day earlier for motorized rubber dinghies and fishing boats, all crammed with migrants desperate to reach Europe's southern shores.

Italian coast guard, navy and border police boats pitched in, as did Norwegian and Irish naval vessels deployed in a European patrol-and-rescue force. Boats in distress use satellite phones to call coast guard rescuers or are spotted by patrolling Italian military aircraft.

So far this year, some 110,000 migrants have been rescued off Libya and brought to southern Italian ports.

 

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150823/ml--lebanon-ea1c7683fd.html

Dozens injured in second day of Beirut trash crisis protests

Aug 23, 5:14 PM (ET)
By BASSEM MROUE

(AP) Lebanese activists hold up a makeshift shield as they are sprayed by riot police...
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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese riot police battled in the streets of downtown Beirut for a second night Sunday after demonstrators rallied over government corruption and an ongoing trash crisis, violence that wounded at least 44 people and 30 police officers, authorities said.

The violence came hours after Prime Minister Tammam Salam hinted he might step down following violent protests Saturday that injured more than 100 people. The demonstrations, the largest in years to shake tiny Lebanon, seek to upend what protesters see as a corrupt and dysfunctional political system that has no functional Cabinet or parliament, nor a president for more than a year.

Protest organizers said they pulled their supporters out of the area after men they described as political thugs began fighting with police, trying to tear down a barbed wire fence separating the crowds from the Lebanese government building.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard in the capital's commercial district into the night as police fired in the air to disperse those who remained after officers used tear gas and water cannons against the crowds.

(AP) A Lebanese activist woman chants slogans during a protest against the ongoing trash...
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Lebanese Red Cross spokesman George Kattaneh told Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel that the violence wounded 44 people who required hospital care, while some 200 others received medical treatment on the spot. A police statement said protesters wounded 30 police officers, one of whom was seriously hurt.

The chaos continued into the night as police battled masked youths who set up barricades in Beirut's downtown and near the blue-domed Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in Martyrs' Square. A few remaining protesters set tires ablaze there, with some even pulling down trees and throwing them into the fire. Thick black smoke drifted over the capital. Others damaged traffic lights and other public property.

At first, the protest began peacefully, with thousands angered over Lebanon's political deadlock protesting. The demonstrators take root in the garbage piling up on the streets after the capital's main landfill was closed a month ago. An online group calling itself "You Stink!" and other civil society groups organized the rallies, calling on Lebanese to join them in a revolt against political corruption.

"We are ruled by corrupt losers! All of them — warlords, legislators and ministers — are working for their own interest and not those of the people," said Nada Qadoura, a retired woman who took part in Sunday's protest along with two of her friends. "The will of the people will eventually succeed no matter how long it takes."

The clashes broke out shortly before sunset when angry protesters tried to break through barbed wire in Riad Solh Square leading to the government's headquarters. Police beat back protesters with clubs and water cannons, occasionally hurling stones at protesters who threw rocks and water bottles.

(AP) Activists chant slogans as Lebanese riot policemen, left, stand guard in front of...
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Later Sunday evening, protesters broke through the first barbed wire after intense clashes with security forces. When the protesters got closer to the government headquarters, police fired tear gas, forcing thousands to flee.

The protesters set a police motorcycle ablaze. Some protesters carrying clubs also attacked police vehicles, hurling stones and bottles at them.

"Shabiha!" the protesters would shout, an Arabic term often used to refer to thugs.

At least four men were seen being led away by security forces, their hand tied behind their backs.

Sunday's protest was larger than the previous day's, with some local television stations saying about 20,000 people participated.

(AP) Lebanese activists chant slogans during a protest against the ongoing trash crisis,...
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Protesters now are demanding that the country's top politicians resign, saying they are not fit to rule to country. Salam, Lebanon's prime minister, said in a news conference earlier Sunday that if this Thursday's Cabinet meeting is not productive, "then there is no need for the council of ministers."

Lebanon has a sectarian power-sharing system that ensures equal representation between the country's main religious sects. The arrangement often leads to complete paralysis, though Lebanon has been relatively calm amid regional instability. A resignation by Salam would risk plunging the country into further chaos.

Lebanon managed to survive the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled Arab dictators, the onslaught by the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq and the fallout from 1.2 million Syrian refugees now straining its economy.

But political disputes have kept the country without a president for more than a year. Parliament has extended its own term twice and has not convened because lawmakers differ on whether they can continue working before voting for a president.

That deadlock led to the trash crisis, which has some residents burning trash on the streets, sending toxic fumes over the city's skyline and into homes. Lebanon's health minister has warned of a coming environmental catastrophe as some have started dumping trash in valleys, rivers and near the sea.

---

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report.

 

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150823/ml--israel-baraks_bombshell-bcff0e4c6e.html

Ehud Barak's Iran bombshell could shake up Israeli politics

Aug 23, 2:45 PM (ET)
By DAN PERRY and JOSEF FEDERMAN

(AP) In this Monday Jan. 17, 2011 file photo, Former Israeli Defense Minister Ehud...
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Defense Minister Ehud Barak's comments that Israel nearly attacked Iran's nuclear facilities but the plan was scuttled by military men and cowardly politicians could shake up Israeli politics.

The leaked interview, in which Barak also described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as indecisive and obsessively pessimistic, was the talk of the town Sunday in an Israel obsessed about Iran. But beyond the hand-wringing, the always calculating Barak may have been focused on the future, perhaps for a final run at the country's leadership.

Also a former prime minister, Barak enjoys respect as the last leader of the moderate Labor Party to win an election, defeating Netanyahu in 1999. But he also is seen by analysts as having squandered his opportunity, lasting just two years in a term that cemented his reputation as brilliant but arrogant, and prone to overcomplicated analysis and nonstop machinations.

Barak later returned to politics, serving as defense minister from 2007 to 2013, when he was aligned with a re-elected Netanyahu on the dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran. He left politics as the Labor Party was weak and torn between factions. Now 73, Barak may running out of chances for another comeback.

Barak's interview, leaked Friday to Israeli Channel 2 television coincide with the release of a new biography about him, immediately thrust him back in the limelight.

"I imagine he would like to return to politics," veteran commentator Rina Mazliach told the privately owned broadcaster. Barak wants "to return to the Israeli consciousness."

In the recordings, Barak addressed one of the country's deepest secrets — whether Israel really was prepared to take military action against Iran's nuclear facilities.

For years, both he and Netanyahu issued veiled threats to attack if the world did not take action. Those threats, while often dismissed by commentators as bluster, were widely seen as a key factor in rallying international sanctions against Iran.

Barak told his interviewer that both he and Netanyahu favored an attack in 2010, but the military chief of staff at the time, Gabi Ashkenazi, said Israel did not have the operational capability.

"You can't go to the Cabinet when the chief of staff will go and say 'Excuse me, I told you no,'" Barak said.

The following year, he said two influential Cabinet ministers had second thoughts and scuttled an attack. Then, in 2012, a joint military exercise with the U.S. and a planned visit by then-U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta got in the way, he said.

Channel 2 said Barak unsuccessfully tried to prevent it from airing the interview, but that the military censor's office permitted it. There was no comment Sunday from Barak, Netanyahu or Ashkenazi, the former military chief.

The Cabinet ministers singled out by Barak — Yuval Steinitz and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon — also declined to comment.

Avigdor Lieberman, then-Israel's foreign minister, appeared to support Barak's version in an interview with Channel 2. "If a prime minister cannot pass through his Cabinet a decision that he wanted, probably there is a problem," Lieberman said Sunday.

Danny Dor, one of the authors of the new book, said Barak knew he was being recorded and that there was never any promise not to publish them. And few have seemed to question that Barak knew what he was doing in giving the interview.

"What is certain is that there is a motive. Some hidden intent," wrote commentator Sima Kadmon in the Yediot Ahronot daily newspaper.

Barak may be intent on repairing his tarnished image and claiming a place in history. But the comments also come as Israel's dovish left desperately searches for a leader. Like other Labor figures, Barak — much more than Netanyahu — would prioritize disengaging from the West Bank and its millions of Palestinians chafing under Israeli occupation.

Isaac Herzog, a mild-mannered lawyer who lost to Netanyahu in Israel's March election that pollsters said was up for grabs, is sure to face a leadership crisis in the coming months.

Centrist Israelis are searching for a leader who can give Netanyahu a fight, mainly over the Palestinians but also the country's move toward conservatism and religion.

The seeming front-runner to replace Herzog is Ashkenazi, the former military chief singled out by Barak as blocking the attack on Iran.

Ashkenazi has been caught up in a scandal surrounding the appointment of his successor in 2010. At the time, Barak accused his army chief of improperly interfering in the appointment process.

But prosecutors recently determined there was not enough evidence to indict, preparing the way for what is expected to be a dramatic entrance into politics. Herzog already has voiced hope that Ashkenazi joins the Labor Party.

Barak and Ashkenazi remain bitter enemies and analysts say Barak's comments now may be timed to trip up his old foe.

Barak "wants to remind people where he was, what he did, how important he was, how rational he was," said Reuven Hazan, a political scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "When Ashkenazi starts doing the political lecture circuit, Barak wants to be able to create and raise as many obstacles as possible."

 

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Yemen officials say coalition bombs rebels at Bab el-Mandeb

Aug 23, 5:39 PM (ET)
By AHMED AL-HAJ

(AP) A boy walks near the rubbles of houses destroyed during fighting between tribal...
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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition targeting Shiite rebels in Yemen bombed insurgent positions near the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Sunday to weaken them in preparation for a ground offensive there, Yemeni security officials close to pro-government forces said.

The airstrikes were confirmed by security officials close to the rebels, known as Houthis, who said that 13 of their fighters were killed in the airstrikes. The airstrikes took place in areas Houthis control around the strategic Red Sea strait, including the port town of Mocha, which is connected by road to Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city.

A similar tactic of airstrikes preceding a ground offensive was used in other areas taken over by pro-government forces, including in the southern port city of Aden, which the Houthis lost to pro-government troops last month

Meanwhile, the Saudi military said a high-ranking general was killed along the kingdom's border with Yemen in the kingdom's southern region of Jizan. The Saudi Press Agency carried the statement saying Maj. Gen. Abdulrahman al-Shahrani, commander of the 18th brigade, died Sunday after coming under hostile fire. He is the highest ranking Saudi officer to die since Saudi Arabia began its air offensive in Yemen in late March.

Several dozen Saudi soldiers have been killed in border attacks since the airstrikes began, mostly by missiles launched by the rebels and their allies. Two Saudi pilots were killed Friday when their helicopter was shot down in Jizan.

Also Sunday, Yemeni officials said pro-government forces took over the eastern part of the town of Mukayris in Bayda province in an operation supported by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to brief journalists.

Yemen's conflict pits the Iran-allied Houthis and troops loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, against an array of forces including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Sunni Islamic militants as well as troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

---

Associated Press writer Abdullah al-Shihri contributed to this report from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

 

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http://www.stripes.com/us-forces-korea-vigilant-as-korean-talks-stretch-into-third-day-1.364325

14 minutes ago

US Forces Korea vigilant as Korean talks stretch into third day

By Ashley Rowland and Yoo Kyong Chang
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 23, 2015

SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. military said Monday it is closely monitoring the tense stand-off between the two Koreas as high-level talks stretched into their third day with North Korea reportedly readying forces for combat.

In a posting on its Facebook page around 10 a.m., U.S. Forces Korea said it is “observing the ongoing high level inter-Korean talks and understand its impact on the future of the Korean peninsula.” But that appeared to back off a more optimistic posting two hours earlier: “We remain encouraged by the ongoing high level talks and the potential for positive inter-Korean relations.”

Both postings said personnel should stay in close contact with their units for the most accurate and timely information.

North and South Korean officials were still holding talks at midday at the border village of Panmunjom that began at 3:30 p.m. Sunday and stretched through the night. They first began discussions Saturday evening after days of escalating tensions raised concerns about a possible conflict that could escalate.

South Korea began broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages across the border from loudspeakers after two South Korean soldiers were seriously wounded Aug. 4 by land mine explosions along the Demilitarized Zone. A United Nations Command investigation said the North had planted the land mines along a known South Korean patrol route, which Pyongyang has denied.

The North retaliated by starting its own propaganda broadcasts, and last Thursday — following an unusual exchange of artillery fire along the DMZ — told Seoul to halt its broadcasts by 6 p.m. Saturday. The two Koreas announced a few hours before the deadline that they would hold talks.

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the presidential Blue House would not say what issues were being discussed. The Ministry of National Defense said the South has continued its cross-border broadcasts.

Even as the talks continue, North Korea appears to be readying its forces for possible combat. An MND spokesman said more than 50 of the North’s submarines, representing about 70 percent of its submarine fleet, have left their bases. Their locations were not known.

North Korea recently claimed it has developed the capability to launch submarine-based ballistic missiles, but U.S. officials claimed the supporting video appeared to have been faked.


Yonhap News reported that the North has deployed special forces troops in about 10 amphibious landing craft to a naval base about 37 miles from the sea border. Yonhap also said the North had doubled the number of artillery troops at the border. An MND spokesman said he could not confirm either report.

The U.S. and South Korea are in the middle of their annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian computer command-and-control exercise. Approximately 50,000 South Koreans and 30,000 U.S. troops are taking part in the war games, which end Aug. 28. The allies took the unusual step of briefly halting the drill on Thursday following the exchange of artillery fire along the DMZ.

The North views military exercises as a threat, and, as happens during virtually every exercise period, has demanded a halt to UFG. A South Korean Unification Ministry spokesperson, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said Monday that operations were continuing as normal at the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex, with South Korean employees still able to cross the border to work there.

A series of threats from the North over the past two decades has left many in South Korea almost unfazed by new standoffs, and life continued as normal in Seoul through the weekend and on Monday. In addition, The Associated Press reported little sign of a crisis in Panmunjom.

rowland.ashley@stripes.com

chang.yookyong@stripes.com

 

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http://thediplomat.com/2015/08/could-north-korea-benefit-from-middle-east-shifts/

Could North Korea Benefit from Middle East Shifts?

Pyongyang certainly has an interesting history in the region.

By Samuel Ramani
August 24, 2015

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On July 29, 2015, a South Korean intelligence official announced that Yemeni rebels had purchased 20 Scud missiles from North Korea. These missiles were subsequently fired into Saudi Arabia, in response to Saudi aggression in Yemen. While Saudi Arabia initially believed that the missiles came from Iran, a former North Korean security official confirmed South Korean intelligence claims in an interview with the Seoul-based news agency Yonhap.

North Korea’s history of missile shipments to the Middle East is well known, with Iran, Syria and Palestine among its clients. Nevertheless, the longevity and relative consistency of the DPRK’s relationship with Yemen is striking. The Yemen-North Korea partnership is based on a combination of the DPRK’s desperate need for foreign capital and Yemen’s insatiable thirst for arms to combat instability at home.

In addition to these factors, North Korea’s recent wave of Scud missile shipments to Yemen is being triggered by Saudi Arabia’s enhanced security cooperation with South Korea. The Saudi-South Korean relationship premised on shared anti-nuclear proliferation efforts appears secure, but the diplomatic balance could change profoundly if Saudi Arabia attempts to become a nuclear power in its own right.

A Special Relationship

The Yemen-North Korea alliance was born out of South Yemen’s history of communist rule. South Yemen refused to establish diplomatic relations with South Korea until the former reunified with North Yemen in 1990. North Korea also backed South Yemen’s secession attempt in the 1994 civil war. According to a North Korean security expert who defected, the DPRK sold missiles to Yemen during the 1990s and even sent missile engineers to help strengthen Yemen’s defensive capacity.

While North Korea historically backed South Yemeni forces, North Korea attempted to thaw its relationship with President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s North Yemen-dominated regime during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Even though the Clinton administration supported Saleh’s Yemeni unity efforts in 1994, Yemen’s support for Saddam Hussein in the 1991 Gulf War deeply strained relations with the United States. North Korea sought to capitalize on this mutual discontent. Yemen was a viable market for North Korean arms at a time when the DPRK’s economy was ravaged by famine and the aftershocks of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The DPRK-Yemen marriage of common hostility became increasingly untenable after the Bush administration re-engaged Yemen on counter-terrorism efforts following the 9/11 attacks. When Spain intercepted a ship carrying North Korean Scud missiles to Yemen in 2002, Yemen announced that it would suspend all military links with the DPRK and justified its acceptance of North Korean weapons on the grounds that it was fulfilling preexisting contracts.

North Korea’s military support for Houthi rebels in Yemen is the latest manifestation of its support for anti-American forces. The Houthis overthrew the U.S. backed government in Yemen and have received significant support from Iran.

The DPRK and Saudi Arabia have had a historically tense relationship, given Saudi Arabia’s long-standing alliance with the United States and staunch anti-communist stance during the Cold War. While Saudi Arabia and North Korea collaborated in assisting South Yemeni separatists in the 1994 civil war, Saudi support for South Yemen was solely premised on its fear that a united, stable Yemen would upset the balance of power in the Gulf. As Saudi Arabia has not recognized North Korea’s right to exist, it is unsurprising that the DPRK will seek to undercut Saudi security interests by supporting the Yemeni rebels.

Saudi-South Korean Security Cooperation

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia signed a deal with South Korea to build two smaller nuclear reactors. This move grabbed the attention of the White House, as it symbolized Saudi dissatisfaction with U.S. attempts to forge a nuclear deal with Iran. The fact that the deal coincided with North Korea’s missile shipments to Yemen and North Korea’s defiant rejection of Iran-style nuclear talks with the U.S. is therefore intriguing. Pyongyang’s extension of assistance to Yemen could be its way of retaliating against Saudi nuclear cooperation with South Korea, which will probably increase should the U.S. Congress ratify the Iran deal.

It is important to emphasize that tensions between Saudi Arabia and North Korea on the nuclear issue will hold only as long as the Saudis are seeking to contain the Iranian nuclear program by upholding non-proliferation principles. The nuclear issue could actually be a potential source of cooperation between North Korea and Saudi Arabia, should Saudi frustration with the U.S. over the Iran deal reach the point that the kingdom decides to purchase nuclear weapons for itself.

Zachary Keck outlined this scenario in a recent article for the National Interest. Keck contends that North Korea is avidly seeking out foreign capital, as evidenced by Kim Jong-Un’s massive expansion of the DPRK’s policy of sending North Korean guest workers abroad. Saudi Arabia’s energy wealth would make it an ideal patron for North Korea. Also, the Saudis do not regard the North Korean nuclear program as a threat to their own security. Therefore, they could purchase nuclear weapons from the DPRK instead of from Pakistan should Iran breach the terms of the nuclear deal.

The changing nature of the North Korea-Yemen relationship adds an additional dimension to Keck’s scenario. North Korea’s alliance with Yemen is much weaker than it was during the Cold War, as common ideological bonds have evaporated. North Korea’s ability to impact the Yemen conflict is also more limited than in past wars as it is shipping relatively ineffective Cold War-era Scud missiles. Forty percent of these missiles were shot down by the Saudi military before landing on Saudi soil.

North Korea’s ability to expand its military shipments to more sophisticated forms of weaponry is stymied by crippling UN sanctions against the DPRK regime. In light of these shortcomings, it is definitely possible that North Korea will back away from its unprofitable venture in Yemen if it is given an offer of patronage from Saudi Arabia.

Therefore, the prospect of North Korea and Saudi Arabia transforming their relationship from adversaries to partners is improbable but not impossible. Western policymakers should keep a much closer eye on North Korean conduct in the Gulf. Should Saudi-U.S. relations deteriorate further over Iran, and Saudi-Russia ties strengthen, North Korea could be the unlikeliest benefactor from its spot at the center of a truly monumental geopolitical shift.

Samuel Ramani is an MPhil student at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford in Russian and East European Studies. He is also a journalist who is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post Politics and World Post verticals, and recently to the Kyiv Post.

 

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http://atimes.com/2015/08/afghan-wars-new-direction-after-omar/

Afghan War’s new direction after Omar

The emergence of the ISIS in Afghanistan is likely to give a new direction to the Afghan war

By Salman Rafi on August 21, 2015 in Asia Times News & Features

While he may actually have died two years ago, Mullah Omar did not actually ‘die’ until the news of his death was leaked to the world media. That the news was deliberately leaked to the media is quite evident from the fact that his death was initially kept secret for more than two full years.

Obviously, it was kept hidden only to be leaked at some ‘proper time.’ For more than two years, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor was the de facto head of the Afghan Taliban. Therefore, his appointment, within just 24 hours of the announcement of Omar’s death, did not come as a surprise.

Some important questions that must certainly be asked here are: how could Pakistan be not aware of Mullah Omar’s death? Why was his death announced at this particular juncture? What did Pakistan and Afghanistan want to achieve out of his death? Which direction Afghan war is now heading to?

To understand the entire phenomenon and to get answers to these critical questions, we must, to begin with, delve deep into the changing dynamics of Pakistan-Taliban relations. A lot is regularly written and spoken about Pakistan’s “double-game” in the so-called “war on terror.”

Notwithstanding the history of Pakistan-Taliban (good) relations, the argument that Pakistan was, and still is, collaborating with the Afghan Taliban against the U.S. acutely fails to grasp the very nature of their mutual relation and the change it has undergone over the years. Neither is it 1990s when Afghanistan was left on its own, nor does Pakistan want to see Afghan Taliban as the only ruling force in Afghanistan. Afghan Taliban, too, are aware of Pakistan’s policy: hence, Omar’s (or issued in his name) instruction to his commanders: nobody is to be trusted, not even Pakistan.

As a matter of fact, the story of Mullah Omar’s death should suffice to explain a lot of the mystery surrounding Pakistan-Taliban relations. Quite contrary to the prevailing perceptions, Mullah Omar’s death — possibly in a Pakistani hospital — is not a reflection of Pakistan’s perpetually good relations with the Taliban; rather, it offers us an x-ray to look deep and clear into the fractures it has suffered.

To demystify this enigma, we must understand the context against which this ‘death’ took place. There is no doubt that Mullah Omar was of supreme importance for the Afghan Taliban. His symbolic influence was far beyond the Taliban so that even the former leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, had sworn allegiance to him. Last year, his successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, renewed his allegiance to Mullah Omar as a sign of his opposition to the leader of the ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Not only is it a reflection of Mullah Omar’s importance as Taliban’s leader, but also signifies the immense increase in their popularity as a powerful militant force. And they are becoming stronger with each day passing. The extent of their politico-military strength can be assessed from the fact that even after 14 long years of warfare, Taliban’s major demands are till unchanged.

During the recently held (days before Omar’s death was made public) round of dialogue in Pakistan, it became evident for all parties concerned, especially Pakistan and Afghanistan, that the Taliban were not ready to compromise on any of their major demands that include not only full de-militarization of the country but also replacement of the current constitution with (their own made) a new one.

It is quite evident that the Taliban are strong on political ground because they are as strong as ever on military ground. A look at Taliban’s territorial gains in this year’s “summer offensive” would suffice to highlight their strength. Not only have they captured a number of towns by moving out of rural areas, but also forced Afghan military to withdraw from areas it had previously taken hold of after the U.S./NATO forces’ withdrawal.

An important question that arises here is: what were the contributing factors to the Taliban’s military strength? It is a matter of common sense that no war, especially a protracted guerrilla war, can be fought without enough supply of human raw material. For Afghan Taliban, the most important supply of human raw material came from Pakistani areas of North and South Waziristan agencies.

A lot of militant groups, including the notorious Haqqani group, which were previously using North Waziristan as their territorial sanctuary, were forced to withdraw from Pakistan due to Pakistan military’s Zarb-i-Azab operation, and consequently they joined hands with the Afghan Taliban.

The Pakistani military’s pressure on the various militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, al-Qaeda, Jundallah and the Haqqani network, forced a strong outflow of militants from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

It must be remembered that Mullah Omar was as much a supreme leader for Pakistan Taliban as he was for the Afghan Taliban. Leader of Haqqani network is now Afghan Taliban’s second in command after Mullah Akhtar Mansoor — reflecting a situation that can well be called the making of ‘great-alliance.’

The second important factor that contributed to the Taliban’s military gains was the crucial support they started to receive from Iran. Many Afghan intelligence officials have, in recent days, been found pointing out the funding the Taliban are currently receiving from Iran.

To quote one such official, “At the beginning, Iran was supporting [the] Taliban financially. But now they are training and equipping them, too.”

Afghan security officials have claimed that Iran is hosting Taliban militants at training camps in the cities of Tehran, Mashhad, and Zahedan, and in the province of Kerman. If true, it means that the level of cooperation between the two has moved to a whole new level.

The only factor that has made this co-operation a reality, forcing the erstwhile enemies into an alliance, is the emergence of a common enemy in Afghanistan: the ISIS.

Iran understands that the ISIS is, in effect, an arm of power projection of its regional rivals, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, both of whom have been primary instigators of the war in Syria and of the attempt to break the alliance of Iran-Iraq-Syria-Hezbollah.

Therefore, from the Iranian perspective, the Taliban’s war against ISIS in Afghanistan is essentially a new theater in the larger war against the ISIS and its backers. For the Taliban, this marriage of convenience becomes a good substitute support base and a territorial sanctuary that they now have lost in Pakistan.

It is precisely due to these factors that the Taliban continue to remain a strong force in Afghanistan. Leaking the news of Mullah Omar’s death by Afghanistan and Pakistan (both state’s intelligence agencies are working in collaboration now due to the recently signed agreement) was, therefore, a very calculated move to strike at the heart of Afghan Taliban’s unity. The impact of the death of the leader of the Taliban on this group in the form of subsequent weakening and fragmentation was a forgone conclusion, at least in Pakistan and Afghanistan’s calculation.

To an extent, they have certainly achieved this objective. Not only are the Taliban internally divided on the question of new leadership, but are also forming new groups. Some of them, such as “Fidai Mahaz”, have even re-branded themselves as the ISIS, making life for the Afghan Taliban even more difficult after Omar’s death.

By stirring rogue elements within Taliban, and by breaking their unity, what both Pakistan and Afghanistan wanted to achieve was forcing the Taliban into ‘submission’ in the form of compromise on some of their demands.

The primary reason for Pakistan to do what was considered to be unthinkable until a few years ago is its desperate need for peaceful environment to fully reap benefits out of Pak-China Economic Corridor. With terrorist organizations fully bounded in the country, Pakistan could never hope to fully exploit the umpteen economic benefits—hence: large-scale military and intelligence operations against all types of militant outfits.

Pakistan’s grand plans notwithstanding, the emergence of the ISIS in Afghanistan and the threat it poses to both Afghanistan and Pakistan seem to be working as an anti-dote to Pakistan’s political tactics against the Taliban.

Almost simultaneous with the revelation about Mullah Omar’s death, a report was released noting that a document related to the ISIS had been leaked (found inside Pakistan areas) showing the group pinning its hope on forming an army of Afghan and Pakistani militants, which under the present circumstances, can provide the ISIS with a unique opportunity.

This document, which has been dubbed “A Brief History of ISIS”, the original copy of which is in Urdu, can be described as the formal entry of the ISIS in Afghanistan-Pakistan. Not only does it vow to wage ‘jihad’, but also make an ‘undisputable’ claim to the ‘throne’ of ‘Islamic Caliphate.’

The emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan is, therefore, most likely to give an altogether new direction to the Afghan war. On the one hand, the ISIS’s expansion in the north of Afghanistan appears to be quite consistent with the U.S.’ Eurasian strategy that aims at destabilizing the Russian and Chinese borders. On the other hand, the presence of ISIS sympathizers on Pak-Afghan border region tends to force both states into an uneasy relationship, having mostly mutually conflicting interests.

With Mullah Omar dead, the Taliban’s unity considerably damaged, and the ISIS having clear presence, there is hardly any direction, at least at the moment, that the Afghan war would move to.

With Pakistan and Afghanistan wanting to establish ‘peace’ (on their separate and mutually conflicting terms), with the Taliban fighting the Taliban and the ISIS, with the U.S. aspiring to keep the region as much unstable as may serve its own interest, and with the ISIS ready to take over the entire Levant, Afghanistan is increasingly moving towards becoming what T.S. Eliot would have called The Wasteland.

Given this, we should not feel overwhelmingly surprised when the U.N refugee agency reports 65 percent increase just in 2014 in applications for out-migration from Afghanistan to industrial countries.

“Much more than lack of economic opportunities, it is the fear of loss of life that is forcing us out of our homeland”, said a 24-year-old Afghan street vendor.

Salman Rafi Sheikh is a freelance journalist and research analyst of international relations and Pakistan affairs. His area of interest is South and West Asian politics, the foreign policies of major powers, and Pakistani politics.

 

[Lilbitsnana]

A look at some of China's toys


SinoDefence ‏@SinoDefence 22h22 hours ago

PLA strategic missiles displayed during the WW2 parade rehearsal yesterday

SinoDefence ‏@SinoDefence 22h22 hours ago

This also appears to be a previously unidentified ballistic missile

SinoDefence ‏@SinoDefence 21h21 hours ago

@russiannavyblog @roger_cavazos @ArmsControlWonk this is only rehearsal. The missiles will be revealed on 3rd Sept


SinoDefence ‏@SinoDefence 33m33 minutes ago

Chinese http://Sina.com suggested that this missile is the DF-16 MRBM #Sept3rdParade

SinoDefence ‏@SinoDefence 28m28 minutes ago

http://Sina.com identifies this as DF-26 IRBM, 4000km range, with conventional or nuclear warhead

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150824/eu--ukraine-independence_day-02e26cf0c3.html

Ukraine vows to increase troops to fend off rebel attacks

Aug 24, 2:00 PM (ET)
By EFREM LUKATSKY

(AP) Ukrainian army soldiers march on Khreshchatyk street during military parade on the...
Full Image

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president vowed to increase troop numbers to fend off attacks by Russia-backed separatist rebels and warned his countrymen that there is still the threat of a "large-scale invasion," in an impassioned speech to mark Independence Day on Monday.

Speaking during a military parade, President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine must not be complacent even though hostilities have largely died down. In a show of force, thousands of Ukrainian servicemen marched in downtown Kiev to commemorate the country's independence from the Soviet Union on Aug. 24, 1991.

"We stand for peace, but we are not pacifists," Poroshenko said. "We must get through the 25th year of independence as if on brittle ice. We must understand that the smallest misstep could be fatal. The war for independence is still ongoing."

Poroshenko didn't say how many more troops he would send to eastern Ukraine. He claimed that Russia had massed about 50,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, still had 9,000 soldiers in eastern Ukraine and had supplied the rebels with about 500 tanks and 400 pieces of artillery. Poroshenko warned that Russia is wary of carrying out an outright invasion and is instead developing another strategy: sow discord across all of Ukraine and thus spoil its relations with its Western allies.

(AP) Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko hands over a flag of a military unit as a...
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Poroshenko compared the rebel-held territories in the east and their viability to the evil kingdom of Mordor from J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" novels.

Russia's foreign minister said Poroshenko's statements about Russian troops were "unsubstantiated and unscrupulous."

"It is difficult to escape the thought that their goal was to break the genetic code that guarantees the unity of our peoples," Sergey Lavrov said. "I don't think he will succeed."

The Ukrainian troops taking part in the Independence Day commemorations carried rifles, but, unlike last year, the parade didn't feature any of the more powerful weaponry. This could have been seen as provocative because of the conflict in the east, which has claimed more than 6,800 lives since it began in April 2014 and saw a major uptick in violence last week with nine civilians and soldiers killed in just one day.

Ukraine's military said Monday that the rebels violated a cease-fire 82 times overnight in the eastern part of the country, in some cases with large-caliber weapons that should have been withdrawn in line with a truce signed in February.

(AP) A Ukrainian serviceman kisses his girlfriend during a military parade marking the...
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Poroshenko later traveled to Berlin for an evening meeting with the leaders of France and Germany, in which the three reasserted that the ceasefire agreed to in Minsk, Belarus in February must be implemented.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said there are still hostilities and observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe observers cannot move freely to assess the situation.

"Everything possible must be done to ensure that the ceasefire is a reality," she said.

Poroshenko said that Ukraine is fulfilling its obligations on the ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons and on humanitarian issues.

"We clearly declare that today Russia and the fighters it supports are the only threat to the peace process. "

(AP) Ukrainian army soldiers march on Khreshchatyk street during military parade on the...
Full Image

Moscow did not send a representative to Berlin, but said it would watch the meeting closely, and Merkel said that there was still regular contact with Russia.

A top French official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't allowed to speak on the issue, said the gathering was planned as a three-party meeting and that talks also including Russia could be expected "in the next few weeks."

Poroshenko told reporters in Kiev that the meeting was crucial for Ukraine, Germany and France to "coordinate their positions" before a possible meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On front-line positions in eastern Ukraine, the mood was less festive.

"Today... is a happy day for Ukrainians, but it's an ordinary day for us here on the front line," platoon commander Roman Pikulyk said in the town of Avdiivka. "My heart longs to celebrate, but here the holiday feels different, because at war every day is a miracle when one has survived."

---

Sylvie Corbet and Thomas Adamson in Paris, Lynn Berry and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, and David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150824/eu--turkey-politics-4b19525b68.html

Turkey's president calls new election after deadline passes

Aug 24, 3:39 PM (ET)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's president formally called a new election on Monday, a day after a deadline passed for forming a new government following an inconclusive vote in June.

A statement released from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office didn't say when the new election would be held, but the president has previously said it was likely to take place on Nov. 1.

Erdogan was expected to re-appoint Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to form an interim government during a meeting on Tuesday.

The Islamic-rooted ruling party, which Erdogan founded, lost its parliamentary majority in June for the first time since 2002. Davutoglu's efforts to form a coalition alliance failed last week, setting the stage for Erdogan to declare repeat elections he is reported to have favored all along.

Erdogan is thought to have pressed for new elections to give the ruling party the chance to win back its majority and rule alone.

Turkey faces new elections as it is grappling with a sharp increase in violence between security forces and Kurdish rebels and is more deeply involved in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State group extremists. The Turkish lira has dropped to record lows against the dollar amid the political uncertainty.

More than 100 people — mostly soldiers and police — have been killed since July in renewed conflict between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and the security forces, which has wrecked a 2 1/2-year-old peace process with the Kurds.

On Monday, PKK militants detonated a bomb on a road near Semdinli town as a military vehicle was passing, killing two soldiers and injuring three others. Semdinli is near Turkey's borders with Iraq and Iran.

Two opposition parties have already declared they won't participate in the interim government, leaving Davutoglu with little choice but to form a government made up of independent figures and politicians from the pro-Kurdish party, who would be taking government posts for the first time in Turkish history.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150824/af--burkina_faso-attack-d1bab36451.html

Armed men launch attack in Burkina Faso near Mali

Aug 24, 3:50 PM (ET)
By BRAHIMA OUEDRAOGO

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Several suspected Islamic militants launched a rare attack near the West African nation's border with Mali on Monday, wounding at least two people as they said they were targeting Christians, a witness and a security official said.

Witness Alassane Hamidou told The Associated Press that he had gone to a police station in Oursi and when he knocked on the door, three masked gunmen inside told him to lie down on the ground.

"There are no police here now — it is Boko Haram from now on," the assailants said, according to Hamidou. "We are looking for Christians, and you are spared because you are a Muslim."

No extremist group immediately took responsibility for Monday's violence, and even though the attackers mentioned Boko Haram it wasn't known whether they had any connection to the Nigeria-based group that has launched attacks in Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to reporters said late Monday that the military is sending soldiers to the area near the Malian border to step up security. The attack took place about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Mali, which is home to a number of Islamic extremist groups.

Burkina Faso has largely been spared jihadi violence destabilizing nearby countries. However, a Romanian security officer working at a mine in Burkina Faso was kidnapped nearly five months ago.

 

[Housecarl]

Hummm.......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/08/24/mideast-crisis-turkey-idINKCN0QT1EH20150824

World | Tue Aug 25, 2015 12:41am IST
Related: World, Syria

U.S., Turkey to launch 'comprehensive' anti-Islamic State operation

ANKARA | By Nick Tattersall

Turkey and the United States will soon launch "comprehensive" air operations to flush Islamic State fighters from a zone in northern Syria bordering Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters on Monday.

Detailed talks between Washington and Ankara on the plans were completed on Sunday and regional allies including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan as well as Britain and France may also take part, Cavusoglu said in an interview.

"The technical talks have been concluded, yesterday, and soon we will start this operation, comprehensive operations, against Daesh (Islamic State)," he said.

The United States and Turkey plan to provide air cover for what Washington judges to be moderate Syrian rebels as part of the operations, which aim to flush Islamic State from a rectangle of border territory roughly 80 km (50 miles) long, officials familiar with the plans have said.

Diplomats say cutting Islamic State's access to the Turkish border, across which it has been able to bring foreign fighters and supplies, could be a game-changer. U.S. jets have already begun air strikes from Turkish bases in advance of the campaign.

Cavusoglu said the operations would also send a message to President Bashar al-Assad and help put pressure on his administration to come to the negotiating table and seek a political solution for Syria's wider war.

Ankara has long argued that lasting peace in Syria can only be achieved with Assad's departure. U.S. officials, meanwhile, have made clear that the focus of the coalition operations will be squarely on pushing back Islamic State.

"Our aim should be eradicating Daesh from both Syria and Iraq, otherwise you cannot bring stability and security," said Cavusoglu, using another name for Islamic State. "But eliminating the root causes of the situation (in Syria) is also essential, which is the regime of course."

A Pentagon spokesman said U.S. and Turkish military officials had held talks on Sunday to work out the tactical details of integrating Turkish combat aircraft into the air campaign against Islamic State.

"We're looking forward in the near future to welcoming Turkey into our combined air operations centre," Navy Captain Jeff Davis said in Washington.

Cavusoglu said Syrian Kurdish PYD militia forces, which have proved a useful ally on the ground for Washington as it launched air strikes on Islamic State elsewhere in Syria, would not have a role in the "safe zone" that the joint operations aim to create, unless they changed their policies.

Ankara is concerned that the PYD and its allies aim to unite Kurdish cantons in northern Syria and fear those ambitions will stoke separatist sentiment among its own Kurds.

"Yes, the PYD has been fighting Daesh ... But the PYD is not fighting for the territorial integrity or political unity of Syria. This is unacceptable," Cavusoglu said.

"We prefer that the moderate opposition forces actually control the safe zone, or Daesh-free areas, in the northern part of Syria, not the PYD, unless they change their policies radically in that sense."

Both Ankara and Washington had given this message directly to the PYD, he said.

PKK STRIKES TO CONTINUE

Turkey's relations with the PYD, whose forces control territory on the eastern fringe of the proposed safe zone, are complicated by what officials in Ankara say are the group's deep ties with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought an insurgency against Turkey for three decades.

Cavusoglu said Turkey's military operations against PKK targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey, where Ankara has been carrying out air strikes over the past month, would continue until the group laid down its weapons.

The government says it launched the action against the PKK in response to an escalation in attacks on members of Turkish security forces. Cavusoglu said 61 soldiers and police officers had been killed by the group in recent months.

Critics say Turkey is using what it calls its "synchronised war on terror", including its greater role in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, as a cover to attack the PKK and try to stem Kurdish political and territorial ambitions.

Ankara denies those accusations.

Diplomatic sources told Reuters last Friday that a second group of rebel fighters trained in Turkey by the U.S.-led coalition could be deployed to Syria within weeks as part of the strategy to push back the Islamic State.

The al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front said late last month it had detained some of a first group of less than 60 rebels, weeks after they were deployed, and warned others to abandon the programme, highlighting their vulnerability.

"In the second group we have around 100 (fighters)," Cavusoglu said, but made clear that the ground forces were only part of the strategy.

"The train and equip programme (alone) will not be enough to fight Daesh, that is why we agreed with the United States to start joint operations soon," he said.

Asked whether Iran's improving relations with West in the wake of its nuclear deal could help the prospects of a diplomatic solution in Syria, Cavusoglu was cautious.

"We are very happy to see that Iran has been normalising its diplomatic ties with many Western countries ... Iran has better dialogue with many Western countries and that is what Turkey fully supports," he said, noting Britain's reopening on Sunday of its embassy in Tehran.

"But the situation in Syria, or in the region including Yemen and Iraq, is totally different to the nuclear deal. What we expect from Iran is a more constructive role in Syria and Iraq, and in Yemen," Cavusoglu said.


(Additional reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Giles Elgood and Gareth Jones)

 

[Housecarl]

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Posted for fair use.....
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-deploys-three-b-2-bombers-to-guam-amid-korea-tensions/

U.S. Deploys Three B-2 Bombers to Guam Amid Korea Tensions

North Korean apology prompts Seoul to end DMZ broadcasts

BY: Bill Gertz
August 25, 2015 5:00 am

The Pentagon is deploying three B-2 nuclear-capable bombers to the Pacific island of Guam amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said on Monday.

“We are in the process right now of deploying three B-2s on a scheduled rotation,” Welsh in response to a reporter’s questions about the U.S. response to increased tensions in Korea.

Welsh said the deployment was part of the Air Force’s continuing bomber presence in the Pacific and that no additional force deployments were planned in response to the tensions.

Privately, defense officials said the bomber deployment is intended as a sign of American support for South Korean military forces. The strategic bombers are part of U.S. extended nuclear deterrence designed to bolster Seoul’s military in squaring off against nuclear-armed North Korea.

“On a macro level, [the bombers] are certainly directed at sending a message to North Korea,” a senior defense official said.

The senior official said it is “too soon to tell” whether an agreement between North and South Korea aimed at lowering tensions will succeed.

South Korea announced Monday that it had agreed in talks with North Korea to end propaganda broadcasts following an apology from Pyongyang for an incident earlier this month on the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone in which two soldiers were wounded by a mine.

Tensions appeared to ease after North Korea “expressed regret” for military provocations and promised that additional provocations would not take place, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

The official KCNA North Korean news agency said in a statement that both sides agreed to hold additional talks “at an early date” to improve relations.

“The north side expressed regret over the recent mine explosion that occurred in the south side’s area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), wounding soldiers of the south side,” KCNA said, adding that propaganda loudspeakers would be stopped at midnight Tuesday.

Additionally, North Korea agreed to “lift the semi-war state at that time,” the news agency said.

Military forces from both North and South Korea are on high states of alert and Pyongyang described its forces as being on a “war footing.”

On Sunday, State Department spokeswoman Gabrielle Price told Yonhap that the United States is firmly backing South Korea in the standoff with the north.

“We are carefully monitoring the situation. We will continue to coordinate closely with the ROK and remain steadfast in our commitment to the defense of our allies,” Price said.

Regarding the bombers, the Air Force announced Aug. 19 that the three bombers and about 225 airmen from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri began deploying to Guam on Aug. 7 for training in the region.

The B-2s are prepared for global strike missions and can strike “at the time and place of leadership’s choosing, any target set on the globe with precision, range, stealth and a massive payload, conventional or nuclear,” said Lt. Col. Robert Makros, the 13th Bomb Squadron commander.

A South Korean defense ministry official said Monday that possible deployments of U.S. strategic military forces, including nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and a nuclear missile submarine, have been discussed with the Pentagon.

“South Korea and the United States now continue to closely watch the Korean Peninsula’s crisis situation, and are flexibly reviewing the timing of the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets,” Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters.

North Korea has conducted three underground nuclear tests over the past several years and is believed to have a small arsenal of nuclear warheads for missiles, including medium-range Nodongs and long-range KN-08 and Taepodong missiles.

In its propaganda North Korea frequently threatens to use nuclear weapons against the United States and its allies in Asia.

The B-2 deployment is taking place as China has begun moving large numbers of military forces to areas near its border with North Korea.

Chinese reports posted online Monday showed photographs of Chinese-tracked artillery vehicles moving through the city of Yanji, China, along the border with North Korea.

The weapons included Type 89 anti-tank destroyers, Type 95 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and 155 millimeter self-propelled guns.

Chinese censors took steps to delete posts on the military movements, an indication of the sensitivity of the deployments.

China is preparing to hold a major military parade in the coming days as part of celebrations marking the end of World War II. Communist rule began in China in 1949, four years after the war’s end.

Analysts believe the increase in People’s Liberation Army military forces near the border is a response to Beijing’s fear that any military conflict on the peninsula will pose a security threat to northeastern China.

Some analysts speculate the forces were a subtle message to Pyongyang to reduce tensions.

The heightened tensions have included North Korea’s dispatch of submarines from ports and the movement of troop transport air-cushioned vessels.

President Xi Jinping is currently dealing with a major financial crisis in China as world stock markets tumble.

Welsh, in a briefing for reporters at the Pentagon, declined to provide details on the bomber deployments on Guam, but said it was part of a scheduled deployment to the island.

Welsh said North Korea has long-range missiles that can reach the western United States and all military facilities throughout the Pacific, including Hawaii, home to the U.S. Pacific Command.

The four-star general said North Korea’s military capabilities are “worrisome.”

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-Korea-or-South-Korea-give-away-the-most.html

Kim Jong-un overreacted, but did North Korea or South Korea give away the most?

Analysis: Kim Jong-un has been forced into an embarrassing climb-down from threats of 'all-out war', writes Julian Ryall in Tokyo

By Julian Ryall, Tokyo
9:17AM BST 25 Aug 2015

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, overreacted and over-reached in the recent confrontation with South Korea, according to the former head of South Korean intelligence. He has also lost a significant amount of "face" due to his blunders.

Seoul and Pyongyang reached an agreement after a hours of talks, Rah Jong-yil, who also served as South Korean ambassador to London, told The Telegraph. But the South must remain vigilant as Pyongyang has a history of going back on promises it has made.

Which side gave away the most in the agreement?

Both sides gained in a way because we have - somehow - avoided an armed conflict. Of greater importance is that there may be grounds for hope that there may now be some improvements in a relationship that has been completely frozen for some time.

But neither Seoul nor Pyongyang will be completely satisfied with the final agreement that was reached; the South, for example, is not happy that the North would not give a clear apology for the land mine incident that injured two South Korean soldiers. But this is much better than armed conflict.

How much of an influence was America on the agreement?

It was a big influence. The US military was already deployed on the Korean peninsula to take part in exercises with the South's forces. Washington also moved quickly and decisively to announce that it would defend South Korea.

China also deployed troops on North Korea's border; did that impact thinking in North Korea?

It certainly played a part. It is indicative of a change in attitudes in Beijing towards the Korean peninsula. Early on in the crisis, China served notice that the main responsibility for the situation lay with North Korea.

That is significant because in previous confrontations, statements from Beijing have held both sides responsible. The Chinese were also keen to avoid North Korea causing any disturbances just as it is preparing to hold a major event to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

The North Koreans chose to do the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Has there been any loss of face on either side?

Kim Jong-un has lost face more because they mobilised their military very quickly and immediately put the entire nation on a war footing. Four days later, they have achieved nothing and been given nothing.

Will Pyongyang keep the promises it has made to the South?

Doubtful. It would not be surprising if they go back on these commitments sooner or later. Pyongyang is notorious for breaking the promises it makes. They also seem to have a completely different understanding of commitments that are agreed upon, so no, not much optimism here.

Might this crisis have an impact on the leadership of Kim Jong-un?

It could do because it has revealed that he is not a strong leader. Mr Kim overreacted to the initial situation and immediately went beyond the limits of confrontations that we have seen in the past. The crisis has shown that he is far from brilliant at dealing with tactical and strategic situations and his handling could be described as ham-fisted.

 

[Housecarl]

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?474081-What-s-Scarier-Than-a-Strong-China-A-Weak-China

Hummm......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...er_than_a_strong_china_a_weak_china_nbsp.html

Aug. 24 2015 2:45 PM

What’s Scarier Than a Strong China? A Weak China.

By Joshua Keating
Comments 29

China’s “black Monday,” the Shanghai Composite’s largest fall since 2007, is being felt around the world today—from a tumble in the Dow Jones, to a drop in oil prices, to an alarming crash of the South African rand—as investors weigh fears that the Chinese economic downturn may be worse than originally feared.

All of this highlights the paradox of international competition in an era of economic interdependence: Americans may be alarmed by Beijing’s economic and political rise and know-nothing, populist presidential candidates can count on easy applause for pledges to “beat China,” but when China actually does take a tumble, Americans feel it in their pocketbooks and portfolios. China’s economy has proved its critics wrong before, but if the country is in for a prolonged downturn, Americans—and everyone else, for that matter—have good reason to worry.

The latest economic distress is happening at the same time as heightened geopolitical tensions involving Beijing. The U.S. is becoming increasingly assertive in challenging China’s activities in the South China Sea, which have alarmed its southern neighbors. And China has been ramping up its World War II-themed patriotic displays in what seems like an attempt to needle Japan’s nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a time when he’s pushing changes to his own country’s pacifist World War II-era constitution. Escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula also threaten to drive a wedge between South Korea and China, which is the South’s largest trading partner but also the North’s only significant ally.

These ongoing tensions are worrying enough in normal times, but are even more dangerous when China’s leaders feel insecure and challenged by domestic enemies. Which is how they must feel right now. The economic turmoil of the past few weeks has dealt a blow to the image of China’s leaders as competent stewards of the country’s economic rise, and President Xi Jinping looks powerless in the face of economic forces. Reports are already emerging about grumbling within senior ranks of the Communist Party over whether Xi and his advisers are up to the task of managing China’s next economic transition. If Xi feels threatened by a lack of support at home, he could ramp up his purge of potential rivals.

The bigger fear if there’s a long-turn economic downturn is social instability. Under the country’s unspoken post-Tiananmen grand bargain, China’s population hasn’t significantly challenged the autocratic one-party state, so long as the party continues to deliver economic progress and increasing prosperity. This is not to say that Chinese society is entirely harmonious—while the authorities have been adept at managing dissent, the country still sees tens of thousands of “mass incidents” every year, sparked by causes ranging from labor disputes, to environmental degradation, to land seizures. But thanks to steady growth, public anger over economic conditions hasn’t been a major problem over the last 25 years. It could be soon: Chinese investors, who were strongly encouraged by the state-run media to put money in the market during the country’s boom, are already venting their anger online.

In this context, an international conflict stoking nationalist sentiment, and taking heat away from the country’s senior leaders, could look awfully appealing to Xi and his team. The Chinese government has a somewhat complex history with nationalism: Nationalist protests, like the anti-Japanese demonstrations that took place throughout China, occasionally becoming violent in 2012, are covered in the Chinese media and are a rare form of “anti-government” dissent tolerated by the authorities. (They’re “anti-government” to the extent that they want the government to be more assertive in challenging Japan or another foreign target.) Chinese nationalism benefits the state to a certain extent, but public opinion is probably more hawkish than that of the elites when it comes to military confrontation. If regional tensions with either Japan or southern neighbors like Vietnam or the Philippines rise at a time of economic distress, Xi’s government will have even more incentive to allow the public to vent its anger at a foreign target, as well as more incentive to stoke that anger by ramping up tensions.

Xi certainly wouldn’t be the first leader to use nationalism and international tensions to deflect attention from domestic economic distress: Just look at Russia. Unfortunately, the risks of a major conflict drawing in multiple countries, including possibly the United States, are greater in East Asia than in Eastern Europe.

So, as alarming as many Americans may have found China’s rise to global power, a world with a China that feels uncertain and threatened is a lot more dangerous.

 

[Housecarl]

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Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150825/eu--spain-morocco-terror_arrests-a963501492.html

14 arrested in anti-jihadi raids in Morocco, Spain

Aug 25, 7:56 AM (ET)
By PAUL SCHEMM and CIARAN GILES

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — At least 14 suspected members of a cell that recruited jihadi fighters for the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria were arrested Tuesday in a joint operation in Morocco and Spain, authorities said.

Morocco's Interior Ministry said 13 people were arrested in raids in several cities across the country, including Nador and Hoceima on the Mediterranean coast close to the Spanish enclave of Melilla, as well as Fez and Casablanca. One of those detained had previously been arrested under the country's anti-terror law.

A Spanish Interior Ministry statement said one person was arrested in the central town of San Martin de la Vega, just southeast of Madrid. It said the members of the group, whose leader was among those detained, maintained close contact with each other in Melilla.

Both ministries said the network was aimed at recruiting fighters for the Islamic State to fight in Syria and Iraq and also to carry out IS-type actions in Morocco and Spain.

Moroccan and Spanish authorities have previously carried out joint operations focused on the two Spanish enclaves in North Africa, Melilla and Ceuta, and the surrounding Moroccan cities.

A heavily armed Moroccan, originally form the northern city of Tetouan, was subdued on a high- speed passenger train on Friday as it passed through Belgium, but there were no indications the raids were connected to that case.

Morocco is one of the main suppliers of fighters to the Islamic State and in July, Interior Minister Mohammed Hassad said 1,350 Moroccans had joined the group, of which 286 had been killed.

He added that 30 networks have been dismantled in the past two years, 12 of those just in the past six months.

Spanish police have arrested some 50 suspected jihadi militants and recruiters so far this year.

Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said last month that 126 people had left Spain to join the Islamic State group in recent years. Of these, he said 25 had been killed and 61 remained abroad. He said that of the 25 known to have returned, 15 were in prison and 10 were free, and there are arrest warrants outstanding for 15 others whose whereabouts are unknown.

Spain said the continual dismantling of cells showed the Islamic group's determination to attack those countries it considers enemies.

---_

Giles contributed from Madrid.

 

[Housecarl]

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/show...-court-declares-gangs-terrorist-groups-(MS-13)

Well this is definitely about to get interesting; akin to the 1970s and 80s....

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150825/lt-el-salvador-gang-violence-
6140946444.html

El Salvador's supreme court declares gangs terrorist groups

Aug 24, 10:23 PM (ET)
MARCOS ALEMAN

(AP) The relatives of inmates take photos of portraits of killed inmates as they wait...
Full Image

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador's supreme court declared the country's street gangs and those who finance them terrorist groups on Monday.

The court said the well-known Marasalvatrucha or MS-13 gang and any other gang that attempts to claim powers that belong to the state would be considered terrorists. It defined terrorism as the organized and systematic exercise of violence.

The court's declaration came as a denial to four attempts to declare the country's Special Law Against Terrorist Acts unconstitutional. The court found that telephone wiretaps and the freezing of funds belonging to third parties tied to terrorist groups are constitutional, among other issues.

The court spoke on the same day that El Salvador's attorney general said an order to kill gang members in a prison over the weekend came from inside another prison.

Luis Martinez said Monday that the slaughter of 14 gang members inside the Quezaltepeque prison in western El Salvador came from the San Francisco Gotera prison in the eastern part of the country.

The gang members were all strangled or stabbed to death on Saturday. They were members of the 18th Street Revolutionaries gang. Authorities said the killings were part of an internal "purge."

Martinez said authorities had information that a mass killing in a prison was coming, but they did not know where or when.

The murders were among 45 registered in the country Saturday and another 31 occurred on Sunday.

The gangs have intensified their attacks against authorities and public transportation in recent weeks in an attempt to pressure the government into negotiations. But the government has refused to bow to the gangs and has kept their leaders in maximum security prisons.

 

[vestige]

" It defined terrorism as the organized and systematic exercise of violence."

like the "knockout" game.

Suits me.

bump

 

[Housecarl]

From Friday.....

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://johnbatchelorshow.com/schedules/friday-21-august-2015

John Batchelor Show

Hour Two
Friday 21 August 2015 / Hour 2, Block A: Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, and Jerry Hendix, CNAS, in re: http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/08/confront-beijing-south-china-sea/119352/ ; http://www.nationalinterest.org/feature/the-interview-henry-kissinger-13615

Friday 21 August 2015 / Hour 2, Block B: Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, and Jerry Hendix, CNAS, in re: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/21/russia-s-got-a-mysterious-new-submarine.html ; The dispute over the strategic waterways of the South China Sea has intensified, pitting a rising China against its smaller and militarily weaker neighbors who all lay claim to a string of isles, coral reefs and lagoons mostly in the Spratly and the Paracel islands. Only about 45 of them are occupied. The area is one of the world's busiest shipping routes, rich in fish and potential gas and oil reserves, but it has now emerged as a possible flashpoint involving world powers and regional claimants. A look at some of the most recent key developments:
Divisions among Asean Members Water Down Anti-China Statement At a meeting of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, divisions over how to deal with China again split the regional bloc. The Philippines and Vietnam demanded a more robust statement condemning China's island-building in disputed waters close to their shores, while Beijing's allies Cambodia and Laos worked to dilute the tone of the final wording, according to diplomats present.

The ministers said in their joint statement that they "took note of the serious concerns expressed by some ministers" on land reclamations in the South China Sea, without mentioning China by name. They did say that the offshore constructions "have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and may undermine peace, security and stability." They also called on all parties to "exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes" – a standard line which have been used repeatedly in the past. The wording is a compromise between two ASEAN factions. Above all, the group wanted to avoid a repetition of a 2012 fiasco, when delegates for the first time in ASEAN history failed to come up with a common position on the South China Sea.

China Says No to U.S. Push for Freeze of Island Activities U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, also attended the meetings in Kuala Lumpur, but remained far apart in their views on what to do with the South China Sea. In a speech, Wang repeated China's position ("the South China Sea islands are China's territory"), and said that the U.S. proposal for Beijing to stop constructing artificial islands while their status remains disputed "is not feasible."

"For instance, what is to be stopped? As parties have different positions, what are the criteria for stopping? Who will set the specific criteria? There is no answer to these questions. That said, China still welcomes constructive suggestions from all countries on maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea. But such suggestions must be feasible and, more importantly, should not impose double standards," he said. He also said that singling out China for changing the status quo was unfair because others have been doing the same for years. Other claimants have upgraded their island facilities, however, China's recent work appears to have outpaced any other construction and could fundamentally change the features, in some cases enlarging them three-fold.

Beijing Imposes Limits on Navigation
In a sign that tensions with the U.S. could escalate, China's ambassador in the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, took issue with Washington's position that freedom of navigation in the South China Sea must never be questioned. While China said previously it has never threatened international navigation, Zhao said there are limits when it comes to military ships and planes, and referred to a recent overflight of a U.S. Navy P-8A. "Freedom of navigation does not mean to allow other countries to intrude into the airspace or the sea which is sovereign. No country will allow that," Zhao said. "We say freedom of navigation must be observed in accordance with international law. No freedom of navigation for warships and airplanes."

Last Word "In fact, China is a victim on the South China Sea issue. Yet, with a view to upholding peace and stability in the South China Sea, we have exercised utmost restraint." – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Associated Press writers Hrvoje Hranjski in Bangkok and Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_SOUTH_CHINA_SEA_WATCH

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcas...s-johns-hopkins-jerry-hendrix-cnas-gene-marks

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://johnbatchelorshow.com/schedules/monday-24-august-2015

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, the Great Voice of the Great lakes, and author of Liberty Risen; and John Fund, National Review Online.

Hour One

Monday 24 August 2015 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelym Long War Journal, and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal, in re:
The Islamic State wants Mokhtar Belmokhtar dead - The Islamic State's men in Libya have added Mokhtar Belmokhtar to their "wanted dead" campaign. The Islamic State has released dozens of online posters targeting its pro-al Qaeda opposition in North Africa. Some of the men have been killed. The campaign was launched as a response to the Islamic State's losses in Derna, Libya. "Wanted, dead" posters: al Q personalities. Posters are revelatory.

US says Baghdadi’s top deputy killed in airstrike - The White House announced today that Fadhil Ahmad al Hayali (a.k.a. Hajji Mutazz), the deputy leader of the Islamic State, was killed in an airstrike on June 18. US military officials previously reported that he had been killed in December 2014. Al Hayali was one of the most senior leaders in the "caliphate," and had wide-ranging responsibilities.

Islamic State attacks Iraqi troops near Fallujah - The attack near Fallujah coincided with the release of a video by the Islamic State shows the corpses of more than 30 Iraqi troops in Saqlawiyah in 2014. The jihadist group also seized a number of armored vehicles.

Islamic State branch says caliphate’s ‘soldiers’ bombed Cairo courthouse, national security building - The Islamic State's so-called Sinai "province" has claimed responsibility for a car bombing outside of a Cairo courthouse and an Egyptian national security building earlier today.

Ayman al Zawahiri discusses the importance of jihadist mediaa In his third media appearance this month, the al Qaeda emir discusses the Battle of Tora Bora and the value of a united jihadist media. The video is the seventh installment in Zawahiri's "Days with the Imam" series, in which he recounts episodes from Osama bin Laden's life. The first video in the series was released in November 2011.

Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan: offshoot: Islamic Jihad Union, members and leaders' claiming allegiance to Taliban in Kunduz. Others going with ISIS. Central Asian groups split over leadership of global jihad.

Monday 24 August 2015 / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelym Long War Journal, and Bill Roggio, Long War Jou0rnal, in re: . . . ISIS playing a home game: pedigree going back to Saddam so they know the turf and the local enemies. Was in a vehicle near Mosul [home to slave camps of women, mostly Yazidis and Christians]; sigint? ground-level humint? American suicide bomber killed himself at Baji? _____al Amriki, unconfirmed. Al Zawahiri has been invisible for along time, then issued three messages this months, esp claiming close friendship and collegiality with bin Laden. Goal is to unite jihadists via the media world rather than create rifts, the goal of ISIS.

Monday 24 August 2015 / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon G. Chang, Forbes.com, in re: Beijing invited PM Abe to the Chinese "Victory over Japan" parade in commemoration of the end of WWII. He declined. Meanwhile the market has been parachuting downward; today was a rout. Chinese economy falling precipitously, Beijing doesn't have the juice to stop it. "Market Leninism." Stats from China have been opaque, unlikely; now, the curtain is being drawn back. That 7% growth that Beijing touted is now seen to be 5%, which itself is bogus. Try 2% or maybe flat, at zero. Can the PBoC buoy the RMB? In Vietnam, two formal devaluations of the dong; also the Korean won has gone down. Economics mtg at Jackson Hole next week; Yelling can't raise rates yet in view of China's turbulence. This makes the world economy more dangerous and prone to collapse – we ought to see banks' doing the opposite. Because of the China factor, we'll see a lot of bad decisions. Acceleration of massive [humongous] Chinese capital flight – outrageous prices in London, West End - this week, faster even than last week. Chinese capital controls are fierce on paper but don't work. Chinese people are geniuses in avoiding regulation. Shanghai has just opened down 6.41%; Nikkei eke dow. Look for civil unrest – a Shanghai crowd detained a metals ___ and turned him over to the police; a sort of citizens's arrest. There could be no PRC by the end of this year, as Anne Stevenson-Yang said on this program last week. A theory for Beijing's seemingly inexplicable devaluation of the renminbi: http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2015/08/23/did-china-just-sucker... & https://twitter.com/ThatElJefe/status/635839484127526913 The Korea Parlor Games.

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcas...journal-bill-roggio-long-war-journal-thaddeus

Monday 24 August 2015 / Hour 2, Block C: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: . . . Iran has long been operating freely in Syria next to northernmost Israel, now brazenly flaunting the incipient end of sanctions. Israel was rocketed by Islamic Jihad ops in a car; Israel instantly retaliated by blowing up the car, and named the guys killed to clarify to Iran the level of Israeli intell. SA-22 air defense system and Cruise missiles from storehouses in Lebanon into Syria, which is critical to Iran – esp as a link from Iranian Iraq to the Med, along with Iran's aspirations to destroy Israel and take over Jordan. The Galilee of Israel is farmland; equally so on Syrian side. The people in between are Druse. Joint Syrian army, Hezbollah and IRGC, all working together to keep Israel off guard, esp b/c Israel can take out the Iranian nukes, also Iran wants to claim huge swaths of land. The real question is, since the West knows exactly what's happening, why does it do nothing? One-third of Americans (Gallup) think the US handling of the situation in Iran is poor. Seventy-five per cent vs 18%, Americans would vote against the Iran deal Houthis in Yemen killed 14 people on signals from Iran. Iran keeps testing the response of the Wes; wherever it's found lacking, Iran presses forward. Today, cite the [Obama] agreement as giving them license. Israel has to use all its means to protect that border – Hezb has 80-100K missiles, along w al Nusrah and al Q; Israel has no margin.

Monday 24 August 2015 / Hour 2, Block D: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Mahmoud Abbas tries to visit his sister in Teheran; wants to countervail Hamas efforts to establ close relations w Iran. Iran approached Saudis for money, angering Iran. Iran wants to bld up influence in the West Bank, dangerous for Abbas, who has little power, Theoretically the PLO executive is being replaced but only the PLO legislature can do that. Odd. Josh Ernest at White House remarks on Iran's guaranteeong its own site, with no IAEA inspector invited; so Ernest: "I'm confident they'll get all the info they need." Urgh. No American inspector is allowed in anywhere ever. Iran will provide videos and photos, and envtl samples using Iran's authenticated eqpt The criminal does all his own analysis and delivers the result to the authorities. How many side agreements exist? Dinno – and some may not be written down. Meanwhile, the Kurds of northern Iraq provide the only refuge for Yazidis and also sell [half?] of their oil to Israel.

http://johnbatchelorshow.com/podcas...author-liberty-risen-david-drucker-washington

 

[Lilbitsnana]

It seems like an excessively long period of time to me, the parade isn't until Sept 3.


Nathan J Hunt retweeted
George Chen ‏@george_chen 37m37 minutes ago

BREAKING: China to tighten control of #Internet via crackdown on VPNs during #WWII military parade - service provider