The Prophecy is much more than seeing into the future. For the Prophecy sees without the element of time. For the Prophecy sees what is, what was, and what always shall be. 11:11 LLC
Alexander Gates, a geology professor at Rutgers-Newark, is co-author of “The Encyclopedia of Earthquakes and Volcanoes,“ which will be published by Facts on File in July. He has been leading a four-year effort to remap an area known as the Sloatsburg Quadrangle, a 5-by-7-mile tract near Mahwah that crosses into New York State. The Ramapo Fault, which runs through it, was responsible for a big earthquake in 1884, and Dr. Gates warns that a recurrence is overdue. He recently talked about his findings.
Q. What have you found?
A. We’re basically looking at a lot more rock, and we’re looking at the fracturing and jointing in the bedrock and putting it on the maps. Any break in the rock is a fracture. If it has movement, then it’s a fault. There are a lot of faults that are offshoots of the Ramapo. Basically when there are faults, it means you had an earthquake that made it. So there was a lot of earthquake activity to produce these features. We are basically not in a period of earthquake activity along the Ramapo Fault now, but we can see that about six or seven times in history, about 250 million years ago, it had major earthquake activity. And because it’s such a fundamental zone of weakness, anytime anything happens, the Ramapo Fault goes.
A. I found a lot of faults, splays that offshoot from the Ramapo that go 5 to 10 miles away from the fault. I have looked at the Ramapo Fault in other places too. I have seen splays 5 to 10 miles up into the Hudson Highlands. And you can see them right along the roadsides on 287. There’s been a lot of damage to those rocks, and obviously it was produced by fault activities. All of these faults have earthquake potential.
Q. Describe the 1884 earthquake.
A. It was in the northern part of the state near the Sloatsburg area. They didn’t have precise ways of describing the location then. There was lots of damage. Chimneys toppled over. But in 1884, it was a farming community, and there were not many people to be injured. Nobody appears to have written an account of the numbers who were injured.
Q. What lessons we can learn from previous earthquakes?
A. In 1960, the city of Agadir in Morocco had a 6.2 earthquake that killed 12,000 people, a third of the population, and injured a third more. I think it was because the city was unprepared.There had been an earthquake in the area 200 years before. But people discounted the possibility of a recurrence. Here in New Jersey, we should not make the same mistake. We should not forget that we had a 5.4 earthquake 117 years ago. The recurrence interval for an earthquake of that magnitude is every 50 years, and we are overdue. The Agadir was a 6.2, and a 5.4 to a 6.2 isn’t that big a jump.
Q. What are the dangers of a quake that size?
A. When you’re in a flat area in a wooden house it’s obviously not as dangerous, although it could cut off a gas line that could explode. There’s a real problem with infrastructure that is crumbling, like the bridges with crumbling cement.
There’s a real danger we could wind up with our water supplies and electricity cut off if a sizable earthquake goes off. The best thing is to have regular upkeep and keep up new building codes. The new buildings will be O.K. But there is a sense of complacency.
An Israel Air Force Boeing KC-46 tanker refuels an F-15 fighter jet in mid-air over an undisclosed desert location. Iran is “days or weeks” away from enriching uranium to the 90% military grade level required for the production of nuclear weapons. Photo Credit: GPO/Boeing Corp
Says Israel Must Prepare for Significant Attack on Iran
Edited by: Fern Sidman
Iran is “days or weeks” away from enriching uranium to the 90% military grade level required for the production of nuclear weapons and Israel should prepare for a significant attack on the rogue country, a former top official with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency warned on Saturday, the Washington Times reported.
Zohar Palti, a former intelligence director with Mossad, who recently retired from a 40-year career in Israel’s security establishment, said Israel’s military, has the capability to launch a successful strike on Iran’s nuclear plants. He noted that receiving American permission to conduct an attack on Iran would not be necessary considering the severity of the circumstances but that Israeli government officials and defense experts will have to make “serious decisions” in the near future.
“One of the things that the Americans appreciate most is our ability to make our own decisions, to ensure our security,” he added, referencing Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities in Syria and Iraq that it had carried out alone without active American support, as was reported by the Times of Israel.
A former top official with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, warned on Saturday that Israel should prepare for a significant attack on Iran. Zohar Palti, a former intelligence director said that uranium enrichment in Iran is close to the 90% military grade level and that taking an offensive posture would prevent the production of a nuclear weapon by the rogue regime. Photo Credit: i24News.com
Speaking to Times of Israel political correspondent Tal Schneider at an event in Ramat Hasharon, Palti said Iran “is at a more advanced level than I can ever remember when it comes to uranium enrichment.
“They are days or weeks away from enriching uranium to 90 percent, which is military-grade,” he said.
While speaking at the event that was hosted by The Times of Israel, Palti said, “I’m not implying that Israel is capable. I’m saying it is.” He acknowledged that enriching uranium to the 90% level doesn’t mean Iran is immediately able to construct a nuclear weapon “but, it’s very bad and we’ve never been closer to it.”
Enrichment to 60% purity is one short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%, TOI reported. Nonproliferation experts have warned in recent months that Iran now has enough 60%-enriched uranium to reprocess into fuel for at least one nuclear bomb.
Continuing concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions come as Israel prepares to return former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to office, the Washington Times reported. He will be at the head of a coalition of right-wing parties in Israel that are expected to take a hard line on a number of domestic and international issues.
TOI also reported Palti noted that the heated political atmosphere did not lend itself to the sort of societal cohesion needed for Israel to deal with a wartime scenario.
“If we do reach such a scenario… it won’t be a matter of politics or religion. Lebanon has more than 100,000 rockets and Iran possesses precision-guided missiles. The Israeli home front will suffer… Israel will need to function as one fist,” he said, as was reported by the TOI.
Last month, President Biden let slip to a group of Iranian-American protestors that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal isn’t going to happen, the Washington Times reported. “It’s dead, but we are not going to announce it,” Biden said in a video that surfaced in early November.
Speaking to Times of Israel political correspondent Tal Schneider at an event in Ramat Hasharon, Zohar Palti said Iran “is at a more advanced level than I can ever remember when it comes to uranium enrichment. They are days or weeks away from enriching uranium to 90 percent, which is military-grade.” Photo Credit: Facebook
The former Mossad intelligence chief added that policymakers did not have the luxury of dealing with the Iranian issue as disconnected from other regional security concerns.
“Iran is not a standalone issue,” Palti told the Times of Israel. “Everything is connected. We can’t make progress on the Iranian issue without noticing what happens in our region, in the West Bank, on the issue of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount and protecting the rights of minorities.”
In November, outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz trumpeted the prospect of an Israeli military attack on Iran’s expanding nuclear facilities, according to report on the iranintl.com web site.
Gantz told a press briefing in November that Israel had prepared “long-term processes I don’t want to elaborate on.” Gantz claimed the last time Israel was this prepared in terms of launching an attack on Iran was when he was chief of staff in 2012 and then prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the option, according to the iranintl.com report.
With Netanyahu set to return to office after the November 1 parliamentary elections, Gantz said he expected Likud leaders would now “act with judgment.” The iranintl.com report indicated that the outgoing government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid has, since taking office in June 2021, argued that Netanyahu had left Israel ill-prepared for an attack on Iran.
According to a November report on the breaking defense.com web site, Tzachi Hanegbi a minister in the last Netanyahu government said in a Nov. 4 interview with Channel 12 that Netanyahu “would act, in my perspective, to destroy the nuclear facilities in Iran” if Israel feels that Iran is going to achieve a nuclear weapon. “In my assessment, he’ll have no choice but to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities like previous prime ministers ordered to destroy a nuclear facility in Iraq in 1981 and like an order was given in 2007 to destroy the nuclear facility in Syria,” he said.
Hanegbi, a longstanding Likud MK and former minister who placed 46 on the party’s slate in the primaries has previously threatened an Israeli strike to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon. However, Hanegbi’s ties to Netanyahu — already viewed as a hawk on Iran — meant that his comments raised eyebrows, according to the breakingdefense.com web site.
Israeli senior defense sources told Breaking Defense that at this moment, Israel is very limited in its options for such a strike, but “things are being done,” as one source said, and it is expected that additional budgets will be allocated for this option, under the assumption Israel may have to act alone.
In June of this year, thedefensepost.com web site reported that the Israeli Air Force has acquired new capabilities to launch attacks on Iran and its nuclear facilities.
The air force has also equipped its F-35 aircraft with a new bomb that can be carried inside the internal weapons compartment to avoid jeopardizing the plane’s stealth radar signature.
Developed by Rafael Advanced Weapons Systems, the one-ton bomb is protected from jamming and electronic warfare systems, as was reported by thedefensepost.com web site.
The defensepost.com report also indicated that in May of this year, dozens of Israeli fighter jets conducted air maneuvers over the Mediterranean Sea to simulate attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The simulation included “long-range flight, aerial refueling, and striking distant targets,” according to the Israeli Defense Forces.
Israeli jets refueled twice during the drill, circled Cyprus, and conducted mock airstrikes in Israel.
Jerusalem’s elite helicopter search-and-rescue unit was also put on standby to simulate assisting pilots abandoning their aircraft, according to the defensepost.com report
In November, outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz trumpeted the prospect of an Israeli military attack on Iran’s expanding nuclear facilities. Gantz told a press briefing that Israel had prepared “long-term processes I don’t want to elaborate on.” Gantz claimed the last time Israel was this prepared in terms of launching an attack on Iran was when he was chief of staff in 2012. Photo Credit: AP
These recent developments are a major boost to IAF capabilities as it prepares for future strikes against the Islamic Republic.
According to Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the Treasury Department who now works at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Israel’s decades-long peace with Jordan is unraveling, a development that threatens to upset a fragile regional stability that is being challenged by countries like Iran, Russia, and China, as was reported in the Washington Free Beacon last week.
“Since 2020, if not before then, the Jordanian peace has turned decidedly cold,” Schanzer said, according to the WFB report.
The WFB also noted that while the relationship has been breaking down behind the scenes for some time, Jordan also began to publicly war with Israel in recent years, by refusing to sign the Abraham Accords peace agreements, attacking incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and threatening to fully abrogate the peace deal it signed with Israel in 1994.
Schanzer’s findings, published in a report two weeks ago, indicate the United States could be faced with a looming crisis in the Middle East that threatens to upset nearly 30 years of stability between the two former enemies. The fracture between Israel and Jordan could also empower American enemies like Russia, China, and Iran, which are all working in tandem to erode U.S. influence in the region, the WFB reported.
“Israel perceives the creation of a Palestinian state to be a security threat, while King Abdullah [Jordan’s leader] sees frustrated Palestinians dismayed by lack of progress toward a Palestinian state as an even bigger security threat to his own hold on power,” said Jim Phillips, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, as was reported by the WFB. “The king seeks to appease Palestinians, who make up roughly half of Jordan’s population, because he faces additional challenges from Islamists who also demonize Israel.”
Schanzer’s findings are likely to distress Jordanian officials, who have cultivated deep ties in Washington, D.C., since the Arab nation announced its peace with Israel in 1994. In many ways, Schanzer told the Washington Free Beacon, this latest analysis shatters long-standing taboos about Jordan’s fracturing peace with Israel that many in the U.S. foreign policy community have tried to ignore.
“The national security of each of the countries is intertwined,” Palti argued, according to the TOI report. It is in the interest of the State of Israel “for Jordan to be strong and unshakable. We have a strong and serious security system. The next IDF chief of staff, Herzi Halevy, will explain to the cabinet ministers what is at stake and what the meaning of violating the status quo on the Temple Mount is.”
He estimated that “incoming prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t want to change the status quo on the Temple Mount” as well.
In other Iran related news, on Monday, Channel 12 in Israel reported that American intelligence officials believe that Russia is on the verge of a huge arms deal with Tehran that includes supplying the Islamic Republic with two dozen of its advanced fighter jets, according to a report on the World Israel News web site.
The report indicated that Iranian pilots are already training in Russia on the Su-35 Sukhoi jets, cruise missile-carrying fighters that according to the Russians can reach a speed of Mach 2.5 and have a range of over 3,500 km, making Israel quickly and easily within striking distance from Iran.
World Israel News also reported that the planes are said to be part of a weapons deal Russia had had with Egypt, before the United States nixed the plan. Russia, under a tight weapons embargo due to its ongoing invasion of Ukraine, has been searching for customers for the $43 million jets.
The Su-35 was introduced a decade ago, and to date Russia has only 110 of them in service itself.WIN reported that the Iranians are very eager to improve their air force, as most of their fighter fleet is many decades old.
Besides the full squadron of planes, the deal is said to include the most advanced Russian anti-aircraft defense system, the S-400, as was reported by WIN. This system was deployed to protect Russian military sites in Syria, worrying the IDF, which regularly strikes Iranian and Iranian-backed targets in the country.
It has not been used against the IAF, however, as the deconfliction mechanism is still in place and the Israelis carefully stay away from the Russian bases when they attack in Syria in what is called the “war between the wars,” as was reported by WIN.
The Iranians’ desire to upgrade their air defense stems from Israel’s oft-stated readiness to consider a military option to take out their nuclear bomb-making program, which Jerusalem considers an existential threat to the Jewish state. The United States, angered by Iran’s sanctions-evading aid to Russia, is also closer than it has been for a long time to threatening Iran militarily, as was reported by World Israel News.
Tehran’s side of the deal allegedly includes supplying Russian forces with short-range, surface-to-surface missiles and 300 more “suicide” drones to go along with the 1,700 it sold Russia before its February invasion of Ukraine began, WIN reported. According to both Ukrainian and Western officials, these unmanned aerial vehicles are being used to great effect over the last two months to knock out vital electricity facilities and other infrastructure throughout Ukraine.
This is in addition to Iran signing off last month on Moscow producing its own UAVs based on Iranian designs. WIN reported that Ynet News at the time said that the Iranians agreed both because they need the cash from the deal and because “Russian scientists and engineers have a considerable ability to improve the range, accuracy and destructive capacity of the drone.”
The world seems too distracted by the Ukraine War and the Christmas season to have noticed the nuclear sabre-rattling by a near-bankrupt Pakistan against its thriving neighbour India. This was made worse on Wednesday when Islamabad allegedly sent armed terrorists across the border into the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Indian News Agency ANI reported the shooting began after Indian Security forces intercepted a truck for a regular roadside check. As soon as the truck was stopped, terrorists hiding inside it opened fire. Indian security present at the spot retaliated to the gunfire, immediately killing the three terrorists on the spot. The truck caught fire in the gun battle.
Seven AK-47 rifles, three pistols along with other ammunition were recovered. The truck owner is yet to be identified; it was going from Jammu to Srinagar.
Earlier on Monday, another terrorist was arrested in the Mendhar division in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch area in a joint search operation by police and the Indian Army.
Police said the alleged terrorist, Tayab Khan, was asked to stop by security forces while he was coming from a forested area.
And on Christmas Day, terrorists opened fire, targeting a civilian in the town of Shopian.
Senior police officers rushed to the spot on receiving the information. Preliminary investigation, according to police, revealed the terrorists had fired on a civilian, identified as Waseem Ahmad Wani, a resident of the Burihalan Heerpora area of Shopian in South Kashmir.
Had these been isolated incidents, one could ignore them as a natural outcome of a tense border between two countries that have gone to war many times since both were granted independence from Great Britain in 1947.
But in the context of Pakistan’s near-bankrupt economy, armed separatist insurrection in Balochistan and the absence of mature politicians, the clashes come in the shadow of nuclear sabre rattling by Pakistani politicians.
Just days after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari referred to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “Butcher of Gujarat,” one of his party’s leaders, Shania Marri, threatened New Delhi with nuclear war.
In an interview with Bol News, Marri said “India should not forget that Pakistan has an atom bomb Our nuclear status is not meant to remain silent. We will not back down if the need arises.”
She threatened India, saying if the [Narendra] Modi government fought, he would get the answer. Boasting about Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal, she said, “The status of a nuclear state given to Pakistan has not been given to remain silent. Pakistan also knows how to answer.
“If you will keep making allegations against Pakistan again and again, Pakistan cannot keep listening silently; this will not happen,” she added.
Khan, who is currently embroiled in alleged scandals involving extra-marital affairs and the profiteering from the sale of three gifted watches, including a Rolex Platinum watch gifted by a member of an Arab royal family that he sold and profited for Rs.5.2 million (85,000 CDN).
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas condemns in the strongest possible terms the colonial settlers’ seizure of the historic archaeological Palestinian land of Al-Hamra in Silwan neighbourhood in the south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Hamas deems this act a new Zionist crime aimed at Judaising occupied Jerusalem and expelling its citizens.
The Israeli occupation crimes and violations against our holy places will be resisted with all means possible. We call on the Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to shoulder their responsibility to protect sanctities and support the Palestinian people.
NEW DELHI – After a ruling party leader of Pakistan threatened India with nuclear war, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan has warned the neighbouring country and said that India has the capacity to deal with all such threats.
“India has the capacity to deal with all these threats. India is not a nation that will back away from anyone’s threats. India has the capacity to deal with all these threats. No one should have any doubts about that,” the minister said recently.
Pakistan People’s Party leader Shazia Marri made the threat at a news conference convened to defend the country’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s ‘uncivilised’ remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 17.
She has said, “India should not forget that Pakistan has an atom bomb. Our nuclear status is not meant for keeping silent. We will not back down if the need arises.”
The Pakistani leader threatened India, saying that if the Modi government fights, he will get the answer.
“If you keep making allegations against Pakistan again and again, Pakistan cannot keep listening silently, this will not happen,” she added. After retorting to Shazia Marri, Muraleedharan also gave a befitting response to Bilawal’s remarks against PM Modi.
The Pakistan foreign minister had labelled PM Modi as “the butcher of Gujarat”.
“Bilawal Bhutto’s remark reflects the culture of his country. The (Pakistan) foreign minister has insulted his country. India and Pakistan are neighbours.
“We want all neighbours to be cultured. But unfortunately, such people are ruling Pakistan.
“This is the most unfortunate and reprehensible remark to ever come from a Pakistan leader,” he said. Shazia’s statement comes at a time when Pakistan foreign minister is being slammed in India for unleashing a personal attack on PM Modi.
The External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “These comments are a new low, even for Pakistan. ANI
Russia which is on backfoot has raised fear that it could use its nuclear arsenal to achieve a breakthorugh ( Image Source : Getty Images )
Russia which is on backfoot has raised fear that it could use its nuclear arsenal to achieve a breakthorugh ( Image Source : Getty Images )
Russia’s February 24 invasion in Ukraine has renewed fear of nuclear war as Moscow currently is at the back foot raising fears that it could resort to its nuclear arsenal to achieve a breakthrough. Russia is among the five recognised nuclear weapons powers along with Britain, China, France and the United States who are also permanent UN Security Council members.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russian TV broadcasts have repeatedly discussed nuclear strikes on Western cities like Paris or New York, stated a report by AFP.
One former Russian diplomat was quoted in the report as saying that if President Putin felt threat to Russia’s existence, “he will press the button.”
The experts however still think that us of weapons remain “improbable”.
“It’s the first time a nuclear power has used its status to wage a conventional war under the shadow cast by nuclear weapons,” Camille Grand, a former NATO deputy secretary-general told the news agency.
“One might have imagined that rogue states would adopt such an attitude, but suddenly it’s one of the two major nuclear powers, a member of the UN Security Council,” he added.
Putin has criticised the West for attempting to “tear apart” Russia.
“At the core of it all is the policy of our geopolitical opponents aiming to tear apart Russia, the historical Russia,” Putin said.
By asserting that Ukrainians and Russians are one people and undermining Kyiv’s sovereignty, Putin has utilised the idea of “historical Russia” to support his 10-month onslaught in Ukraine.
“We are acting in the right direction, we are protecting our national interests, the interests of our citizen, of our people,” Putin said.
While the United States is excited about the B-21 bomber it unveiled to the public in early December, China has plans for a rival stealth bomber. The H-20, seen as a B-2 replica, is nuclear-capable and could attack targets in the United States. The aircraft will be a key piece of China’s nuclear triad in the coming decades and can place China at the forefront of the world’s air forces.
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The Xian H-20 could also bully China’s neighbors by reaching Japan, Guam, and the Philippines, not to mention pulling a surprise attack against Taiwan. It has an enviable range of around 5,281 miles, and with aerial refueling it could make it all the way to Hawaii – and even the West Coast of the United States. The H-20 could also have a weapons payload of 45 tons.
A heavy-payload, deep-penetration bomber would help China alter the nuclear balance with the United States. There is no current arms control agreement with the United States, and Beijing is always looking for a qualitative nuclear edge over Washington.
History of China’s Stealth Bomber Program
China has wanted a stealth strike aircraft since at least 1999, when it acquired pieces of a crashed F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over the Balkans. China is known for stealing and copying U.S. stealth aircraft design. In 2005, a Northrop Grumman design engineer was caught selling secrets to China about the B-2 Spirit’s engine system. The spy, Noshir Gowadi, was sentenced to 32 years in prison for his crime.
In July of 2014, Chinese state-run media published a report that the People’s Liberation Army Air Force was working on a long-range stealth bomber that could penetrate enemy air defenses. In 2016, a PLAAF general officially announced that China was working on the warplane. Other details emerged in 2018 indicating that the H-20 would have a flying wing design similar to the American B-2. That year, the Aviation Industry Corporation of Chinareleased a video of an airplane under a drop cloth that was believed to be the H-20. This could have been a mock-up, but it showed that Chinese plans were progressing.
The H-20 would replace the Xian H-6 group of bombers, which are becoming obsolete. The H-20 will likely have a crew of two, allowing one aviator to rest while the other flies the long distances required to reach North America.
New Nuclear Tool
PLAAF officers have claimed that China must improve its offensive and defensive air capabilities that include a nuclear deterrent.
The H-20 would be a major factor in achieving nuclear parity with the United States and enable a second-strike capability in a crisis scenario.
The H-20 is another example of China mimicking the United States in aircraft development. It shows the PLAAF is serious about becoming a fully modernized branch of service that can dominate its neighbors and challenge the U.S. Air Force.
China is likely alarmed about the American B-21 and wants to answer the fanfare and excitement that has been stoked by the next-generation deep strike aircraft. While many defense analysts have focused on China’s conventional force posture, the H-20 gives China another option for potential nuclear conflict. China is willing to upstage the U.S Air Force with more confident rhetoric about its nuclear weapons development.
A long-range stealth bomber that could reach U.S. airspace is another example of China’s efforts to achieve nuclear parity with the United States.
Author Expertise and Experience:Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
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