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Iran will block Hormuz if attacked

EU Times — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:48:35 +0000

Top Iranian military official Brig. Gen. Ali Shademani

A senior Iranian military official says Iran will take full control of the Strait of Hormuz should Washington opt to launch aggression against Iran.

“The country’s armed forces which are under the (Islamic Revolution) Leader’s command are in the highest state of preparedness.” head of the Operations Department of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Ali Shademani was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying on Tuesday.

“Three measures are in store to counter any potential aggression against the country”, he said.

“The first action would be to take full control of the Strait of Hormuz whereby we wouldn’t allow any move by anybody”, the top military official underlined.

He said the enemy ‘will be brought to its knees’ as soon as it makes a move.

As for the second measure, General Shademani said, “We are keeping a close watch on all American military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

“With the slightest move against Iran, we will paralyze the troops stationed in those bases and won’t allow them to make any move.” he stressed.

The top general also elaborated on the third plan.

“Israel is the United States’ backyard”, he highlighted, “So we will disturb the peace there.”

“The US and Israel well know that we can do it”, he added.

Source

Israeli-US-Romanian military drill said simulating an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

EU Times — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:06:28 +0000

Romanian gendarmes guard a path leading to the crash site.

An open source intelligence report says the Israeli military helicopter that crashed in Romania last week was simulating a military attack on Iran.

On Monday, six Israeli soldiers and a Romanian flight captain aboard a CH-53 transport helicopter were killed when the chopper crashed in a mountainous region of central Romania.

The Jerusalem-based DEBKAfile cited a military source as saying on Friday that the crash had occurred in the last stage of a joint Israeli-US-Romanian military drill simulating an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

On a straight line, the distance between Tel Aviv and Iran’s nuclear facility in Nataz is 1,600 kilometers (1000 miles). The source said that the Israeli military is cooperating with counties like Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria, which have roughly the same distance with Israel.

The operations, which include risky dives into low altitudes and quick radar-evading maneuvers, are extremely hazardous, the source added.

The drills, dubbed ‘Blue Sky 2010,’ are underway based on Israeli allegations that Tehran is pursuing a secret military nuclear program, building a nuclear facility in deep tunnels beneath mountains with summits of above 2,000 meters.

Iranian officials reject both charges, stressing that Tehran is cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to keep its civilian nuclear program transparent.

They argue that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear technology.

This is while Israel — reportedly the Middle East’s sole possessor of a nuclear arsenal — has so far defied international calls to sign the NPT.

Israeli has openly threatened to bomb Iran’s nuclear installation for years. The likelihood of such an attack has significantly increased due to Tel Aviv’s growing impatience with the United Nations Security Council sanctions and similar unilateral measures adopted by the US and EU, which have failed to change Tehran’s stance on its peaceful nuclear issue.

Tehran says the sanctions are politically-motivated and stem from its refusal to give into ‘global arrogance.’

Iran Claims S-300 Air Defense Acquired From Belarus

EU Times — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:39:59 +0000

Officials quoted in Iran’s Fars News Agency say that the Iranian government has obtained four batteries of S-300 air defense missiles, the backbone of Russia’s air defense, despite Russia’s refusal to deliver them.

Russia had signed a promise to sell the missiles to Iran in 2007, but delayed the delivery for years before declaring in June that the S-300 sale was banned under the most recent UN Security Council sanctions.

With Russian delivery apparently no longer an option, Iran is said to have obtained the systems from Belarus and another as yet unidentified source.

The S-300 systems are entirely defensive, providing the ability to shoot down attacking aircraft and missiles. Israel and the United States had opposed the delivery primarily on the grounds that it would make threats to attack Iran less credible and the actual attacks far more difficult.

NATO Member Netherlands Quits Afghanistan

EU Times — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:21:23 +0000

The Netherlands became the first NATO country to end its combat mission in Afghanistan, drawing the curtain Sunday on a four-year operation that was deeply unpopular at home and even brought down a Dutch government.

The departure of the small force of nearly 1,900 Dutch troops is not expected to affect conditions on the ground. But it is politically significant because it comes at a time of rising casualties and growing doubts about the war in NATO capitals, even as allied troops are beginning what could be the decisive campaign of the war.

Canada has announced it will withdraw its 2,700 troops in 2011 and Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has promised to pull out his country’s 2,600 soldiers the year after.

That is likely to put pressure on other European governments such as Germany and Britain to scale back their forces, adding to the burden shouldered by the United States, which expects to have 100,000 troops here by the end of next month.

President Barack Obama has pledged to begin withdrawing American troops starting in July 2011. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC’s “This Week” broadcast Sunday that only a small number of troops would leave in the initial stage.

The end of the Dutch mission took place amid bad news from Afghanistan — including rising casualties and uncertainty over a strategy that relies heavily on winning Afghan public support through improved security and a better performance by Afghanistan’s corrupt and ineffectual government.

July was the deadliest month of the nearly 9-year war for U.S. forces with 66 deaths. U.S. commanders have warned of more losses ahead as the NATO-led force ramps up operations in longtime Taliban strongholds in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, which accounted for most of last month’s American deaths.

Two more international service members were killed Sunday in fighting in the south, NATO said without specifying nationalities.

The Dutch departure was sealed after Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s government collapsed earlier this year over disagreement among coalition members on whether to keep troops in Afghanistan longer. His Christian Democrat party suffered heavy losses at parliamentary elections in June.

Twenty-four Dutch soldiers have died in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2006. Most of the Dutch soldiers were based in the central province of Uruzgan, where they will be replaced by soldiers from the U.S., Australia, Slovakia and Singapore.

The Dutch pioneered a strategy they called “3D” — defense, diplomacy and development — that involved fighting the Taliban while at the same time building close contacts with local tribal elders and setting up numerous development projects.

Dutch troops, some of them riding bicycles, mingled closely with the local population and often did not wear helmets while walking around towns and villages as a way of winning the trust of wary local tribes.

“The international community and NATO are helping Afghanistan to stand on its own legs so the country can defend itself against extremists who want to use it as a breeding ground for global terrorism,” Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said in a message to Dutch troops.

NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz played down the significance of the Dutch move, saying it did not signal a weakening of coalition resolve.

“The overall force posture of (NATO) and of the Afghan security forces is increasing,” Blotz told reporters. He noted the surge of mostly U.S. forces that have recently taken control of key areas in Helmand and Kandahar provinces from British and Canadian forces.

The American move into those areas is part of a bid to bolster security in Kandahar city, the biggest urban center in the south and the Taliban’s former headquarters. The U.S. move into areas around Kandahar was largely responsible for the spike in casualties over the past two months.

An escalation in fighting is likely to lead to a rise in civilian casualties, undermining support for the coalition among ordinary Afghans. A minibus full of civilians struck a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan early Sunday, and Afghan officials said six of those on board were killed.

At least 270 civilians were killed in the fighting in July, and nearly 600 wounded — a 29 percent increase in civilian casualties over the previous month, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary.

U.N. figures show that the Taliban are responsible for most civilian deaths through suicide attacks and roadside bombs. Nevertheless, many Afghans still blame the coalition, arguing that without foreign troops, the Taliban would have little reason to mount attacks.

More than 200 Afghans marched through Kabul on Sunday to protest the alleged deaths of 52 civilians in a NATO rocket attack in the south. NATO has repeatedly disputed the allegations of civilian deaths, and Blotz said Sunday that a joint assessment team has only confirmed that between one and three civilians may have died in the July 23 attack in the Sangin district of Helmand province.

Protesters carried photos of children allegedly killed or wounded in the missile strike and shouted “Death to America! Death to NATO!”

“We should not tolerate such attacks. The Americans are invaders who have occupied our country in the name of fighting terrorism,” said 22-year-old Ahmad Jawed, a university student.

He said the Afghan government was equally to blame for failing to exert control over NATO troops.

“We don’t have a strong enough government to protect the rights of the Afghan people,” Jawed said.

In a letter to NATO-led forces, the top U.S. and coalition commander, Gen. David Petraeus, reminded his troops they cannot succeed in turning back the Taliban without “providing (civilians) security and earning their trust and confidence.”

“The Taliban are not the only enemy of the people,” Petraeus said in the letter. “The people are also threatened by inadequate governance, corruption and the abuse of power — the Taliban’s best recruiters.”

Petraeus told his troops to “hunt the enemy aggressively” but “use only the firepower needed to win a fight.”

“If we kill civilians or damage their property in the course of our operations, we will create more enemies than our operations eliminate,” he said.

Source

Revolution Warned Near As US Drug Shortage Points To War

EU Times — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:12:18 +0000

A grim report published in the United States yesterday by Ernest S. Christian, former deputy assistant secretary of the US Treasury in the Ford administration and Gary A. Robbins, an economist who served at the US Treasury Department in the Reagan administration, is warning that the actions of President Obama against his own citizens is leading to a Second American Revolution.

According to Christian and Robbins, Obama has pulled off the “ultimate switcheroo” by diminishing America from within and may soon bankrupt the United States and replace their current big merit-based capitalist economy with a small government-directed one of his own design. They further charge that Obama is undermining America’s constitutional traditions and state: “The rule of law and our Anglo-Saxon concepts of private property hang in the balance. Obama may be the most “consequential” president ever.”

Christian and Robbins also charge that “Obama is building an imperium of public debt and crushing taxes, contrary to George Washington’s wise farewell admonition: “cherish public credit … use it as sparingly as possible … avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt … bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be Revenue, that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not … inconvenient and unpleasant ….”

The scenario Christian and Robbins envision will start this new American Revolution against Obama’s destruction of their country begins with the Internet that they describe as a “large-scale version of the “Committees of Correspondence” that led to the first American Revolution — and with Washington’s failings now so obvious and awful, it may lead to another.”

Note: The Committees of Correspondence were bodies organized by the local governments of the Thirteen Colonies before the American Revolution for the purposes of coordinating written communication outside of the colonies. These served an important role in the Revolution, by disseminating the colonial interpretation of British actions between the colonies and to foreign governments. The committees of correspondence rallied opposition on common causes and established plans for collective action, and so the group of committees was the beginning of what later became a formal political union among the colonies.

As news during this period was typically spread in hand-written letters to be carried by couriers on horseback or aboard ships, the committees were responsible for ensuring that this news accurately reflected the views of their parent governmental body on a particular issue and was dispatched to the proper groups. Many correspondents were also members of the colonial legislative assemblies, and were active in the secret Sons of Liberty and Stamp Act Congress organizations.

The fears being expressed by these former high US Government Officials in believing Obama is destroying their country is, unfortunately, borne out by the facts, and which include:

• 83 percent of all US stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.

• 61 percent of Americans “always or usually” live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.

• 36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.

• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.

• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.

• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.

• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.

• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.

• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive’s paycheck to the average worker’s paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.

• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.

• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.

• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.

• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.

• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America’s corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.

• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.

• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.

• or the first time in US history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the US Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.

• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.

• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 – the highest rate in 20 years.

• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.

• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

To how long the American people have had to endure what many are calling the Great Recession newly released reports from the US Government yesterday show their economic downward spiral actually began three years ago as the gross domestic product (GDP) for the United States was downgraded for the years of 2007, 2008 and 2009, and which means they are not just suffering a short-term economic downturn, but are instead in the midst of their Second Great Depression of the past 80 years.

Though there are no firm definitions for either a Recession or a Depression the generally excepted rule is that a recession is a period of economic decline lasting 2 quarters. A Depression is loosely defined as an economic downturn lasting longer than 2 quarters.

A comparison between the economies of the Great Depression during the 1930’s and what is occurring today in the United States clearly shows the word Depression should be used to describe their true economic state and not Recession, and which the following facts bear out:

· Between the Great Depression years of 1930 to 1940 the amount of US Government spending as a percentage of their GDP was around 21%

· Between the years of 2007 to 2010 the amount of US Government spending as a percentage of their GDP was around 38%

· In the Great Depression unemployment in the United States peaked in early 1935 at 25%

· The “true number” of people unemployed in the Untied States today has reached over 22% and is still climbing. [Note: Record numbers of people no longer looking for work are not included in the unemployment figures touted by the Obama Administration]

· Home foreclosures in the United States in 2008 topped those of the Great Depression of the 1930’s

To how much worse it is going to get for those people living under the Obama regime we can glimpse from the warning issued last week by Neil Barofsky, who is the Special Inspector General for the US Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), that American taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 Trillion to bolster the economy and further bail out financial companies.

With the United States Government already over $13 Trillion in debt and fast approaching the staggering sum of nearly $110 Trillion in unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, Food Stamps, etc.), and the American people themselves holding over $16 Trillion in personal debt (Mortgage, Consumer, Credit Card and Personal Debt) it is no wonder that China (which yesterday became the World’s second largest economy) this past week declared that the United States was bankrupt and announced plans to ditch the US Dollar as a peg for their own currency.

And in what can only be called a shocking display of hubris, Obama’s official spokesman this week said that “The President believes raising taxes on the middle class during this economic time would not make a lot of economic sense.”, a statement which stands in sharp contradiction to what he has actually done, and includes:

· 156% Federal Tobacco Tax Hike (took effect April 1, 2009)

· 10% Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (took effect July 1, 2010)

· The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” (takes effect Jan. 1, 2011)

· The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (from 10% to 20%) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2011)

· The “Special Needs Kids Tax” ($2,500 cap on FSAs) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2013)

· The Obamacare Medical Prosthetics and Devices Tax (takes effect in Jan. 1, 2013)

· The Medical Itemized Deductions Cap (from 7.5% to 10%) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2013)

· The Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (up to $2,085 or 2.5% of AGI) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2014

And not just to taxes has the Obama regime begun attacking the American people with, they are now about to be deluged with what the MSNBC News Service calls a “paperwork nightmare” due to thousands of new IRS tax forms US businesses are being forced to fill out beginning January 1, 2011 that will cost them an estimated $19 Billion over the next decade.

Sadly, it must also be reported that aside from Obama’s wholesale destruction of the American economy for the benefit of their elite classes he has also begun implementing all of the police state provisions begun under predecessor President George W. Bush in order to establish, and in the words of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) a “new normal” for these beleaguered people who are systematically being stripped of not only their money, but also their rights to live as a free people.

In further moves against the American people Obama has also:

· Moved to make it easier for the FBI to obtain records of people’s Internet usage without a court order

· Begun a campaign to silence all opposition against him through the use of lawsuits

· Ordered the jailing of 9 US Federal employees who dared to look at his school records

· Teamed up the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with Internet search engine giant Google to invest in the “future” of web monitoring

· And ordered the CIA to be the “Executive Agent” on climate change

As to the future being planned by the Obama regime for the American people as they near revolt, and as another Middle East war is said to be imminent, we can, perhaps, glimpse from what is being described as a shocking shortage of emergency drugs in the United States which many believe are being stockpiled by the US Government as war and/or revolution appears ready to begin and has been confirmed by their Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Of those drugs most in short supply in the United States we can further read:

· It appears that several drugs used to treat emergency conditions such as cardiac arrest and/or shock such as Ephedrine and Calcium Chloride (both are used in cardiac resuscitation) are in short supply! Even drugs such as Mexiletine which is used to treat abnormal heart rhythms are listed. Think wounded soldier on battlefield with loss of blood volume, shock, and heart stopping as a result of wounds. Second, think surgery, what would you need? Perhaps one of the newer drugs used in anesthesia, or adjunctively in anesthesia, such as Protocol (the primary drug used for induction of anesthesia for surgery) and Atracurium besylate, Vecuronium or Pancuronium for muscle relaxation during the surgery.

· Get this – Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal is on the list! It is better known as “truth serum”. Sodium thiopental is used during interrogations, and can be used as anesthesia, but also has a much darker side!

· What about pain? I think that is covered by the shortage of Levorphanol (an opioid medication used to treat severe pain). The government has great stockpiles of morphine (Fort Knox), but why not have some newer opioids as well?

· What about Radiation? Vomiting and diarrhea would be the first area of concern. You would expect to see the government stockpiling an anticonvulsant to manage vomiting, since these drugs are used to combat vomiting. Several easily obtained and manufactured medications can be used to control diarrhea. Medications to control vomiting require difficult to manufacture components, but are critical to avoid dehydration. Fosphenytoin is such an anticonvulsant. It could be used to reduce vomiting brought on by radiation poisoning. It is also in short supply.

· Other drugs on the list such as Furosemide could be used to reduce swelling and fluid retention due to the unfortunate result of burns. Burns would be expected in any nuclear war.

· Powerful antibiotics such as Amikacin and Isoniazid are on the list, perhaps to tackle ever reemerging diseases such as tuberculosis, such diseases which would be common place in a post apocalyptic nuclear world. You might throw in Mitomycin, if you were thinking anti-cancer (antineoplastic or cytotoxic).

· When Dextrose 50% injection ( as a source of carbohydrate calories) and MVI injectable ( multi-vitamins) are added to the mix, it gives a bleak picture indeed. These types of drugs would be used in any, post apocalyptic world scenario, in which you wanted to treat malnutrition and starvation.

· Haloperidol is an old drug which is on the list. Haloperidol would be a good candidate for Post Traumatic Shock therapy, or just to control the unwary population at large? Haloperidol is an old drug which has seen great use in psychiatric hospitals, and is a first line protocol for combative psychiatric casualties in that it doesn’t depress respiration (breathing) as would morphine. It, along with newer drugs, are used every day to control patients in psychiatric hospitals. Can you see the masses wandering around in a drug induced stare?

· What about those Internment Camps? Most disturbing of all is that three of the drugs, in short supply, are used together for lethal injection. So is it Euthanasia or Execution?

· As mentioned earlier Sodium thiopental can be used for anesthesia, or as a “truth serum”, but most often when used with pancuronium bromide is used for Euthanasia. Sodium thiopental along with pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride (all three are on the list) is used to execute prisoners by lethal injection in 34 states. So what is it the government has in mind for the poor humble masses?

To the final outcome of these events it is not in our knowing, other then to note, as we had in our July 23rd report “Shock World Court Ruling Warned Will Destroy Obama, America”, that what lies in store for the people of the United States is much worse than what they are being told by their government/corporate/media masters, and should they not heed the warnings being shouted at them by us, and others like us, they will become like all of those peoples before them who “heard but didn’t listen” and “saw but didn’t see”….nothing more than dust in the wind.

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US-China Tensions Flare Over South China Sea Dispute

EU Times — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:23:17 +0000

Tensions are growing between the United States and China after Washington weighed in on territorial disputes between China and Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea.

China lays claim to maritime territories in the sea along with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. While most of the territory consists of small islands, boulders, and strips of sand, some of them are believed to be rich in oil and gas.

China, and the other disputing nations, have been developing tourism to some islands in order to justify their territorial claims.

Rough patch

Relations between China and the United States hit a rough patch after Washington offered to help resolve the decades-long dispute. Beijing described Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s suggestion to use collaborative diplomacy to resolve the thorny issue as interference and fear-mongering.

Clinton, in Hanoi for regional security meetings, said the U.S. was willing to help facilitate multilateral dialogue on the disputes. She said they should be resolved without coercion, threats, or the use of force.

“The United States, like every nation, has a national interest in freedom of navigation, open access to Asia’ maritime commons and respect for international law in the South China Sea,” said Clinton.

China’s Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, this week condemned her remarks as an attempt to internationalize disputes that China wants addressed bilaterally.

He issued a statement saying the comments were an attack on China designed to give the international community what he called “a wrong impression” that the situation in the South China Sea is a cause for grave concern.

The fiery words built on tensions over U.S.-South Korean military exercises in the Sea of Japan and Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan, which led Beijing to suspend military exchanges with the U.S. Beijing says Taiwan is Chinese territory that must one day be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Naval dispute

Last year, Chinese ships harassed a U.S. navy vessel in international waters off the southern Chinese island of Hainan. China claims the ship was in its territory without permission. Also last year, a Chinese submarine, apparently following a U.S. navy ship, collided with a sonar array it was towing near the Philippines.

In March, China declared the South China Sea a “core interest” of its sovereignty, raising concerns in Southeast Asia.

Carl Thayer, professor of politics at Australia’s University of New South Wales, points out that tensions have been growing in the region, especially between China and Vietnam.

“China has been declaring unilateral fishing bans over the last two years, chasing out Vietnamese boats, seizing their catches, fining them, holding fishermen hostage until fines are paid, seizing equipment and catches, declaring administrative control over islands,” said Thayer. “It’s done a whole series of activities that violate the letter and spirit of the declaration of conduct which encourages parties not to undertake unilateral actions, including naval maneuvers in the region.”

Defensive strategy

Thayer also said China’s naval build-up on Hainan and aggressive defense of its territorial claims is also raising concerns that Beijing intends to project its growing power. In response, he said, some nations are building up their own defensive capabilities.

“It’s caused Southeast Asian states, Singapore, which had submarines to acquire new, more modern ones; Malaysia to acquire the Scorpene Submarines when it had none; Indonesia, which has postponed for financial reasons, to say it wants them; Australia’s White Paper last year arguing for twelve more conventional submarine; and remarkably, Vietnam’s contract to sign on for six kilo-class submarines, which are the most modern, conventional ones,” Thayer said.

Washington’s involvement in the South China Sea dispute was welcomed by Vietnam, which fought navy battles with China in the mid 1970s and late 1980s over the Paracel and Spratly island chains.

Commercial interests

China in 2002 signed a declaration of conduct in the South China Sea with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, agreeing to resolve the disputes peacefully.

ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan last week said keeping the South China Sea’s important shipping lanes open, safe, and secure is in the best interest for all parties. He said more than 85 percent of energy resources shipped to China, Japan, and South Korea come from or through Southeast Asia via the South China Sea.

“Because, it is really a lifeline of our commerce of our transport, for all of us. China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, and the countries beyond to the west,” he said.

The territorial disputes have not interfered with trade but commercial interests have been affected. U.S. officials say China has been pressuring western oil companies not to work with Vietnam in disputed areas, threatening that their business interests in China could suffer.

Carl Thayer of Australia’s University of New South Wales thinks U.S. involvement will balance China’s power in the South China Sea and help ensure that international law remains the focus of resolving disputes rather than historical claims.

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Georgia prepares for war with Russia

EU Times — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:00:15 +0000

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has called on military top brass to build “total defense” and accused Russia of planning to “overthrow Georgian democracy.”

Not only has Russia not given up its “plan to control Georgia, but they are working intensively on that,” Saakashvili said, speaking at a meeting with army top commanders and senior Defense Ministry’s officials. The president said his assessment was based on Russia’s “rhetoric and information war carried out on daily, minute-by-minute basis against Georgia.”

The Georgian leader expects an attack of “the enemy force… from the ethnically-cleansed territories,” referring to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, recognized by Russia as independent states in 2008.

Saakashvili set the task for his military to “burn each and every square meter of the Georgian land” beneath an enemy if it decides to invade the country. For this, the country should develop not only armed forces, but also a civil defense system, he said. Defense of the country is “a matter for each and every citizen” and “each village should be able to defend itself,” he stressed.

Although Tbilisi had to cut military budget for 2010 because of the economic crisis, “money will be invested in education, training and the increase of professionalism,” Saakashvili said.

Meanwhile, the Georgian army is gaining experience in Afghanistan. The participation in the military operation in that country is important from a geopolitical point of view and it is “a good military school,” Saakashvili said. “We need experience, as we need total defense,” he added.

“Fear sees danger everywhere,” an anonymous source in the Russian Defense Ministry told Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily. “No one is planning to do anything against Georgia, unless its government repeats the cruel behavior it resorted to two years ago. The fruits of that mistake proved to be bitter for the Georgian leadership, and it should have learned its lesson.”

The president’s speech does not contain any real threat, believes Georgian political scientist Gia Khukhashvili. When speaking before the military, the head of any state tries to raise the army’s morale, because such are “the rules of the game,” he told the daily. And thinking of a military revenge against Russia is “simply illogical,” he stressed.

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Iran: U.S. will likely attack 2 Mideast countries within 3 months

EU Times — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:58:45 +0000

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a news conference in Tehran, June 28, 2010

In an interview aired on Iranian state television Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran expects the United States to launch a military strike on “at least two countries” in the Middle East in the next three months.

Ahmadinejad did not specify whether he thought Iran itself would be attacked nor did he say what intelligence led him to expect such a move.

The United States and Israel have refused to rule out military action against Iran’s nuclear program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran “the ultimate terrorist threat.”

Netanyahu’s deputy, Moshe Yaalon, has said Israel had improved military capability which could be used against foes in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria or Iran.

Ahmadinejad said Iran had “very precise information that the Americans have hatched a plot, according to which they to wage a psychological war against Iran”.

He also criticized the U.S.-led drive for international sanctions to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear program, which the West fears is geared toward the manufacture of a nuclear bomb, but Iran insists has only peaceful aims.

Ahmadinejad went on to say in the interview that Iran will only resume nuclear negotiations on certain conditions, reiterating a demand his envoy to the United Nations had indicated no longer applied.

Talks could only resume if further countries are involved, if parties say whether they seek friendship or hostility with Iran and if they express their view on Israel’s alleged nuclear arsenal, Ahmadinejad said, according to a voiceover on the English-language television channel.

Ahmadinejad’s reiteration of his conditions came after the European Union agreed a new round of sanctions, including a block on oil and gas investment, following a similar move by Washington and a fourth round of UN sanctions.

Talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1), aimed at addressing concerns about Tehran’s nuclear enrichment, stalled last October, leading to a toughening of international sanctions.

“The logic that they can persuade us to negotiate through sanctions is just a failure,” Ahmadinejad said in the interview.

But Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, handed a letter to the IAEA on Monday, detailing Iran’s position on a nuclear fuel swap which had been agreed in principle in the P5+1 talks.

He said it showed “Iran’s complete readiness to hold negotiations over the fuel for the Tehran reactor without any conditions”.

Russia, which backed the new U.N. sanctions, criticized the additional U.S. and EU measures, saying they undermined efforts to seek a negotiated way out of the nuclear impasse.

Iran, the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, but that has not assuaged fears in many countries that its uranium enrichment activities could be aimed at making a bomb.

Western diplomats say the fuel swap proposal – under which Iran would send some of its low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for higher enriched fuel for a medical reactor in Tehran – is no longer sufficient because Iran has significantly increased its uranium stockpile since October.

Israel on Monday praised the EU decision to impose further sanctions, saying it “sends a clear signal to Iran that it must abide by international demands.”

“The make clear to [Iran ] the price of its current behavior and that the international community will not tolerate Iran’s continual rejection of international norms,” said spokesman Yigal Palmor. “We hope these steps will be joined by similar sanctions from other nations.”

Source

North Korea Silent as US and South Korea Show Off Military Might

EU Times — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:31:50 +0000

US Navy and South Korean ships sail in a 13-ship formation led by the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Tuscon (SSN 770) on July 26. The US and South Korea are conducting the combined alliance maritime and air readiness exercise 'Invincible Spirit' in the seas east of the Korean peninsula from July 25-28.

In response to North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean navy ship early in March, the United States and South Korea staged their largest joint military exercises in years.

U.S. and South Korean ships, submarines, fighter jets, and helicopters have been maneuvering in the Sea of Japan near the Korean peninsula since Sunday.

About 200 aircrafts and 20 naval vessels are participating in the high-profile military drill known as the “Invincible Spirit.” The four-day exercise is intended to show North Korea that it is being watched.

North Korea has threatened to counter the maneuvers with a military show of its own. However, after two days, it has yet to make a move, according to U.S. government officials.

North Korean submarines are mostly restricted to shallow, coastal waters, Cmdr. Ray Hesser, head of an anti-submarine helicopter squadron aboard the U.S.S. George Washington, told The Associated Press.

“We’re not expecting to see them out here,” he said. “I would not think they would be willing or wanting to come all the way out here.”

The exercises took place after the March 26 sinking of South Korean corvette, Cheonan, near the border with North Korea, an incident that killed 46 sailors. South Korea’s military intelligence and the United States concluded that a torpedo from a North Korean submarine sank the ship.

North Korea has denied the allegation.

Source

US Forces Strikes China Over North Korean Gulf Oil Catastrophe

EU Times — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:47:33 +0000

A dire report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the foreign military intelligence directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU) is warning today that Total Global War may be “imminent” due to the United States “shock bombing” of 2 Chinese oil pipelines in retaliation for the Communist Chinese ally North Korea’s torpedoing and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, which we had previously reported on in our May 1^st report “US Orders Blackout Over North Korean Torpedoing Of Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig”.

According to this report, US Air Force “hypersonic space planes” (commonly referred to in America as UFO’s) based out of Guam began infiltrating Chinese airspace a fortnight ago for the purpose of “target acquisition” to retaliate against the Communists. One of these missions was in broad daylight and forced the closure Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan Airport.

Chinese authorities in Hangzhou reported that they had learnt what the “UFO” was after investigations, but said it was not the “proper time to publicly disclose” the information because there was a “military connection” to it.

Unfortunately for the Chinese, the “military connection” associated with these US “UFO’s” became apparent this Friday past (July 16^th) when the port city of Dalian, located in China’s Liaoning Province, was attacked by one of them when it fired “at least” 3 infrared guided missiles blowing up two oil pipelines. [photo 2^nd left]

The American attack was “successful”, this report continues, in that China, like the US, is now faced with one of its largest environmental catastrophes in history as oil from the two exploded pipelines has now covered an area of 165 square miles (430 square kilometers) forcing nearby beaches to close and prompting one Communist official to warn of a “severe threat” to sea life and water quality.

Even more troubling to the Chinese are their fears of this massive spill reaching International waters which they have recruited 800 fishing boats to help fight along with the 24 specialist ships already trying to contain it.

Worse still for both the American and Chinese peoples are that China and the United States have also “activated” their upper atmosphere “weather weapons” against each other which is forcing typhoons into an already storm shattered Chinese Mainland, that already has over 1,000 dead and missing from these storms, and a potential hurricane storm that appears destined for the Gulf of Mexico.

Note: Though not commonly known to the American people, the use of high atmospheric weather weapons among the Great Powers has long been known, and as we had previously reported on in our June 17^th, 2008 report ‘Weather Wars’ Pummel US-China Heartlands, India In Total Chaos”.

This report further warns that US and Chinese military forces are on a “direct collision course” after the United States announcing yesterday its Naval Forces would begin maneuvers in the Yellow Sea next week with its ally South Korea, a move quickly matched by Chinese Military Officials who ordered their East Sea Fleet to display a “show of strength” against this aggression.

Not being understood by the American people of all of these events is that as their Nation, indeed the World, enters the “Final Phase” of total economic collapse, the only way a capitalistic society can recover is through war. And the deeper the economic collapse is, the greater the war must be, this concept being called “Military Keynesianism.”

To how close our World has gotten to Total Global War can further be evidenced by the Baltic Dry Index, and which shows the status of our World’s shipping is grinding to a near halt, and which last occurred during the Global Economic Meltdown of late 2008.

Source

Future of War: US to Introduce the Laser Weapon System

EU Times — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:28:26 +0000

Watch the Navy shooting down an airplane over the Pacific ocean using the new LaWS (Laser Weapon System) guided by Raytheon’s Phalanx Close-In Weapon sensors. Welcome to the future, where we all die in the hands of angry laser-firing bots.

The LaWS is a six-laser cannon guided by the Phalanx Block 1B—the white structure that you can see here, mounted next to LaWS. Phalanx identifies and tracks the targets using electro-optical systems, measuring the range using radio frequency sensors. With that information, LaWS follows the target, and focuses the energy of its six beams on one point until it takes the airplane down because of the heat:

The plan is to test these systems until they become part of every Navy battleship.

Lieberman Says Pentagon Ready to Strike Iran

EU Times — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:19:32 +0000

WHILE SOME IN CONGRESS want to cut the military budget, Joe Lieberman, the “independent” Democratic senator who is supposed to represent Connecticut but seems to spend more time representing the Israeli lobby, continues to agitate for more war. In a recent public statement, Lieberman claims he has been told that the Pentagon is ready for war with Iran.

Ironically, Lieberman’s views were published only in The Jerusalem Post. Despite the fact that he was lobbying to commit our country to yet another war, his provocative threats were never aired in the mainstream press in Connecticut or in the nation’s capital.

Lieberman, along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), had flown all the way to Tel Aviv to confer with top Israeli war officials, which included former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, now the country’s “defense” minister. Because the junket has just happened, congressional authorities have not released who paid the travel bill.

AMERICAN FREE PRESS will be following up on this matter in the coming weeks, but as is often the case with trips to Israel, it is usually American taxpayers who pick up the tab. According to a study by USA Today in 2009, “fact-finding” trips to Turkey, Israel and other countries in the Middle East are almost always paid for by the taxpayers. On July 7, at a press conference in Tel Aviv, Lieberman, flanked by Israeli officials, openly threatened the Iranian government with war if it continues to pursue its legal nuclear program.

The “threat” from Iran will be handled “through diplomatic efforts and economic sanctions if we can, but through military action if we must,” said Lieberman. In the article, The Jerusalem Post editorialized, “Although U.S. officials often say no option should be taken off the table in relation to Iran’s nuclear program, this is one of the few times an official of Lieberman’s standing has explicitly used the term ‘military action’ while in Israel.”

As it is now, Iran’s program is legal. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under international law, Iran can develop a nuclear program as long as it is not for weapons purposes.

Compare that to Israel, which has never signed the global treaty and continues to maintain a secret nuclear weapons program that many estimates put at between 200 and 400 nuclear-armed missiles.

Despite this, the U.S. government continues to quietly hand Israel nuclear technology and armaments, evidenced by a recent joint U.S.-Israeli document leaked to the Israeli media, which shows new agreements have been made on nuclear weapons. This huge news item made headlines all over Israel, but a search of leading U.S. mainstream media outlets revealed the secret deal was never reported to American non-Jews.

Israel To Get Largest Ever Military Handout From US

EU Times — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:10:44 +0000

The United States plans to provide Israel with its most extensive military aid package in history.

The US Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew J. Shapiro claims that the increased US military assistance should help Tel Aviv reach tough decisions in peace talks with the Palestinians.

He said that there is “hope that the administration’s expanded commitment to Israel’s security will advance the process by helping the Israeli people seize this opportunity and take the tough decisions necessary for a comprehensive peace,” Haaretz reported.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, D.C., Shapiro said that the US plans to bolster Israel’s security by providing funding for the Iron Dome anti-missile systems.

Washington also plans to sell Israel new fighter jets.

Shapiro said that since Israel is facing some of the toughest challenges in its history, US President Barack Obama administration has asked Congress for nearly $2.775 billion in security assistance funding “specifically for Israel” in 2010.

“It is the largest such request in US history,” he added.

Source

US soldiers suicide at record high in Iraq and Afghanistan

EU Times — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:20:54 +0000

US soldiers in Afghanistan, file photo

The suicide rate among US soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan has escalated to a record high, with an average of one suicide per day in June.

According to US Army statistics, a total of 32 soldiers took their own lives last month, making it the worst month on record for Army suicides. Twenty-one were on active duty, with the rest being among National Guards or Army Reserve in an inactive status, CNN reported Friday.

Psychologists have blamed renewed deployments and prolonged tours of duty as the major factors contributing to the higher suicide rate.

Last year was the worst for the US Army in terms of suicides with 244 confirmed or suspected cases despite the adoption of a range of initiatives by the army to try to contain the problem.

The US Department of Defense reported that 160 active-duty army soldiers committed suicide in 2009 up from 140 in 2008.

A total of 4,326 American soldiers have been killed in the war-torn Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. Iraq has witnessed bombings and terrorist attacks on an almost daily basis ever since.

Iraq has witnessed bombings and terrorist attacks on an almost daily basis since 2003.

Some 140,000 US-led troops are currently stationed in Afghanistan. A further 10,000 are expected to be deployed there in the coming weeks.

McChrystal’s replacement does not signal a change in US strategies in Afghanistan. The former commander, citing a letter by US Ambassador to Kabul Karl Eikenberry, has said that should the American strategy fail in Afghanistan, it would be blamed on Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Russia to deploy S-400 missile system at its border with North Korea

EU Times — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:07:57 +0000

The S-400 long-range missile defense system.‎

Russia is planning to install two modern anti-missile defense systems on its border with North Korea, an employee of the Russian Defense Ministry says.

Russia has expressed “concern” since a row erupted between North and South Korea after the latter blamed the North of torpedoing its warship near the two countries’ disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea in March. Forty-six sailors were killed. Pyongyang has denied any involvement.

Russia is also uneasy about North Korean missile tests, noting that the test site is “alarmingly close” to the Russian border, Itar-Tass reported on Tuesday.

It said that the army will station two modern systems of the S-400 near the border, Itar-Tass quoted an employee of the Russian Defense Ministry as saying.

The S-400 system is intended to engage current and future air threats such as tactical and strategic aircraft, Tomahawk cruise missiles and other type missiles, including precision-guided ones, as well as AWACS aircraft, at ranges of up to 400 km.

It can also detect stealth aircraft and other targets at all altitudes of their combat employment and at maximum ranges.