Day: November 18, 2016

The Awful Hegemony Of Iran (Daniel 8:4)

Posted on November 16, 2016 by Craig Davison in Iran, Iraq, Middle East, News, Politics, Syria
Hussaein Sheikh al-Islam, advisor to Iran’s foreign affairs minister, has said that Iran’s manufacturing of missiles has expanded beyond Syria due to the “increasing Israeli threats in the region”.
Sheikh al-Islam did not provide extensive details of Iran’s missile manufacturing apparatus but did name Iraq as one of many countries in which ballistic missiles are produced, according to Mizan, Iran’s judiciary system-affiliated news agency.
“The road to Jerusalem passes through Karbala“, said Sheikh al-Islam in what is most likely coded language for Iraq.
“Manufacturing and producing Iranian missiles is not limited to Syria”, Sheikh al-Islam. “It includes areas surrounding Israel.”
He added that Iran has trained its allies in other countries to use the missile technology and produce missiles in their region, referencing southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. He said that the knowledge was disseminated because it is easier to have missiles produced on-site than to transport them from Iran to nearby countries.
The statement was issued just two days after Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri revealed that Iran had overseen the manufacturing of ballistic missiles in Aleppo during the past few years.
Bagheri said that Iran’s missile program was spearheaded by Hassan Tehran, who established a factory for missile production near Aleppo.
Bagheri also said that Lebanese Hezbollah fighters used Aleppo-produced missiles during the war in Lebanon in 2006.
The revelation also followed statements by an agency affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying that Houthi rebels in Yemen have used Soviet-era Iranian Scud missiles. These statements were, however, denied by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.
Iran has not yet officially acknowledged that it provides weapons to the rebels despite repeated U.S. interceptions of weapons shipments from Iran to Houthi fighters.
Sheikh al-Islam served as Iran’s ambassador to Syria between 1998 and 2003 before becoming advisor on Arab affairs to Speaker, and later on advisor to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Meanwhile, former chief of staff, General Hassan Firouzabadi revealed that the Iranian armed forces experimented with ballistic missile “Imad” of range 2,700 in October 2015, according to the orders of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Firouzabadi told Tasnim news agency, that no missiles are tested without the prior approval of the General Commander of the Armed Forces which is occupied by Ali Khamenei, according to Iran’s constitution.
Firouzabadi explained that after ballistic missiles are produced, a permission is required from Khamenei to do experiments and maneuvers, adding that Khamenei decides the time to do so.
The White House has threatened Tehran with economic sanctions after its second missile maneuver in November 2015, but the administration delayed the implementation of the sanctions which was disapproved by Republicans.
In response to the White House, Iranian President Hassan Rohani ordered the defense minister to increase the production of rockets and take the required measures “to enhance the missile defense program”.
Last July, United Nations Secretary-General said that Iran’s tests are “inconsistent” with the spirit of the nuclear deal, but he refrained from confessing whether these experiments represent a breach of Security Council resolution 2231.
Resolution 2231 was issued by the Security Council following the nuclear deal which stated that sanctions would be lifted in exchange for Iran accepting to halt uranium enrichment.
In Iran, ballistic missile “Imad” angered the supporters of the nuclear deal, saying the missile tests is an attempt to derail the nuclear deal, while Revolutionary Guards commanders continue to disregard Resolution “2231”.
Meanwhile, the Iranian opposition outside Iran(NCRI) called onthe UN Security Council to impose strict sanctions on Mahan Air and confirmed it’s owned by the Revolutionary Guards.
The opposition also said that the airliner transfers of weapons, equipment and Revolutionary Guards’ members to Syria adding that this was a flagrant violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

Nuclear Situation Escalating In Kashmir

By Juliet Perry, CNN
Updated 8:04 PM ET, Wed November 16, 2016
Raja Farooq Haider, the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the Pakistani-controlled part of the disputed region, said Tuesday the government has so far moved 8,000 people to “safer places” in the wake of ongoing “Indian shelling,” and plans are being made to move even more people.
Abdul Jabbar, a resident of the village in Bhimber, on the de facto border between the two countries, told CNN that all 10 members of his family had left their home at night. The next day it was hit by a mortar shell. “We don’t know what will happen to us,” he said.
When asked about the evacuations due to what Pakistan said was shelling from the Indian side, Indian defense spokesman Lt. Col. Manish Mehta told CNN from the Indian city of Jammu, “We always respond appropriately and effectively whenever there is a ceasefire violation from the Pakistan side.”
The evacuation came after seven Pakistani soldiers were killed Monday in an exchange of fire between Pakistani and Indian forces at the Line of Control, the name of the border between the two countries.
There has been a steady escalation in tensions between the neighboring nations over recent months, with reports of daily ceasefire violations and regular losses of life on both sides. Each nation has accused the other of provocation.
In October, India relocated more than 10,000 people from the disputed border area of Kashmir. Simrandeep Singh, magistrate of Jammu District in India, accused Pakistani troops of firing across the Line of Control in two separate incidents.
Two wars
Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region that has been disputed territory between India and Pakistan for the past 70 years.
Tensions have flared since 19 Indian soldiers were killed in September in an attack by armed militants on an army base in Uri, about 63 miles (102 kilometers) from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
In the aftermath, India launched what it described as a “surgical strike” across the Line of Control to attack what it described as a terrorist launching pad. Pakistan denied that the target was a terrorist base, pointing out that two of its soldiers were killed.

Even Stephen Hawking Is Talking About the Millennial Kingdom

(CNN)We’re all doomed. Unless we can figure out how to get the heck off this planet.
Don’t believe it? Then ask noted theoretical scientist and astronomer Stephen Hawking. He says humanity won’t survive another 1,000 years on Earth because of, you know, the usual suspects — climate change, nukes, robots.
Hawking, speaking earlier this week at Oxford University Union, says our best chance for survival as a species is to leave the only home we’ve ever known and establish colonies on other planets.
“Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next 1,000 or 10,000 years,” Hawking said in the speech, according to the Christian Science Monitor. “By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race.”
And the pace of space exploration seems to be ramping up. NASA is busy searching for “goldilocks” — exoplanets that might be able sustain human life. Meanwhile, Space X CEO Elon Musk has already laid out his plans to colonize Mars within the next century.
Despite all of his gloom and doom, Hawking did end with some positive notes, according to British newspaper The Independent.
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, wonder about what makes the universe exist,” he said. “Be curious. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”

The German Nuclear Horn (Daniel 7:7)

Roderich Kiesewetter, foreign policy spokesman for the conservative bloc in parliament, told Reuters that Germany could play an important role in convincing nuclear powers France and Britain to provide security guarantees for all of Europe.
“The U.S. nuclear shield and nuclear security guarantees are imperative for Europe,” he said in an interview. “If the United States no longer wants to provide this guarantee, Europe still needs nuclear protection for deterrent purposes.”
Kiesewetter’s comments reflect grave and growing concerns across Europe about what Trump’s election will mean for the United States’ commitment to NATO and to providing a strategic nuclear deterrent against a potential attack by Russia.
In his campaign speeches, Trump repeatedly called for Europe to do more for its own defence and said Washington might not defend a NATO member that had not shouldered its fair financial share of the costs of the alliance.
He also praised Russian President Vladimir Putin despite his annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and his intervention in Syria, where Russian air strikes have killed many civilians as well as insurgents.
Kiesewetter said he was not reassured by President Barack Obama’s comments on Monday that Trump would maintain core strategic relationships, including with NATO.
“That’s all fine and good, but we have to measure Trump by his actions,” Kiesewetter said. “Europe must start planning for its own security in case the Americans sharply raise the cost of defending the continent, or if they decide to leave completely.”
EXPENSIVE UMBRELLA
Kiesewetter said a Franco-British nuclear umbrella for Europe would be costly, but could be financed through a joint European military budget that is due to begin in 2019, along with joint European medical, transportation and reconnaissance commands.
He said he had proposed development of a European nuclear deterrent within security circles before the U.S. election, with little result, but believed the suggestion would be taken more seriously after Trump’s win.
Kiesewetter said Germany should not aim to become a nuclear power itself, so as to discourage any proliferation moves by other European countries.
“We have to plan ahead and cannot let ourselves be surprised,” he said.
German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen and other senior government officials have said it is clear that Trump’s victory means Germany and Europe will have to take on more responsibility for their own defence.
Rainer Arnold, defence spokesman for the Social Democrats in parliament, dismissed Kiesewetter’s suggestion as “off base,” saying Trump’s own U.S. Republican Party would never accept a weakening of NATO and would be sceptical about any plans to boost European nuclear capabilities.