USGS Evidence Shows Power of the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12)

New Evidence Shows Power of East Coast EarthquakesVirginia Earthquake Triggered Landslides at Great Distances

Released: 

11/6/2012 8:30:00 AM USGS.gov

Earthquake shaking in the eastern United States can travel much farther and cause damage over larger areas than previously thought.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists found that last year’s magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia triggered landslides at distances four times farther—and over an area 20 times larger—than previous research has shown.

“We used landslides as an example and direct physical evidence to see how far-reaching shaking from east coast earthquakes could be,”

said Randall Jibson, USGS scientist and lead author of this study. “Not every earthquake will trigger landslides, but we can use landslide distributions to estimate characteristics of earthquake energy and how far regional ground shaking could occur.”

“Scientists are confirming with empirical data what more than 50 million people in the eastern U.S. experienced firsthand: this was one powerful earthquake,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Calibrating the distance over which landslides occur may also help us reach back into the geologic record to look for evidence of past history of major earthquakes from the Virginia seismic zone.”

This study will help inform earthquake hazard and risk assessments as well as emergency preparedness, whether for landslides or other earthquake effects.

This study also supports existing research showing that although earthquakes  are less frequent in the East, their damaging effects can extend over a much larger area as compared to the western United States.

The research is being presented today at the Geological Society of America conference, and will be published in the December 2012 issue of the

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

The USGS found that the farthest landslide from the 2011 Virginia earthquake was 245 km (150 miles) from the epicenter. This is by far the greatest landslide distance recorded from any other earthquake of similar magnitude. Previous studies of worldwide earthquakes indicated that landslides occurred no farther than 60 km (36 miles) from the epicenter of a magnitude 5.8 earthquake.

“What makes this new study so unique is that it provides direct observational evidence from the largest earthquake to occur in more than 100 years in the eastern U.S,” said Jibson. “Now that we know more about the power of East Coast earthquakes, equations that predict ground shaking might need to be revised.”

It is estimated that approximately one-third of the U.S. population could have felt last year’s earthquake in Virginia, more than any earthquake in U.S. history.

About 148,000 people reported their ground-shaking experiences caused by the earthquake on the USGS “Did You Feel It?” website. Shaking reports came from southeastern Canada to Florida and as far west as Texas.

In addition to the great landslide distances recorded, the landslides from the 2011 Virginia earthquake occurred in an area 20 times larger than expected from studies of worldwide earthquakes. Scientists plotted the landslide locations that were farthest out and then calculated the area enclosed by those landslides. The observed landslides from last year’s Virginia earthquake enclose an area of about 33,400 km2

, while previous studies indicated an expected area of about 1,500 km2

from an earthquake of similar magnitude.

“The landslide distances from last year’s Virginia earthquake are remarkable compared to historical landslides across the world and represent the largest distance limit ever recorded,” said Edwin Harp, USGS scientist and co-author of this study. “There are limitations to our research, but the bottom line is that we now have a better understanding of the power of East Coast earthquakes and potential damage scenarios.”

The difference between seismic shaking in the East versus the West is due in part to the geologic structure and rock properties that allow seismic waves to travel farther without weakening.

Learn more

about the 2011 central Virginia earthquake.

Antichrist emboldens rivals after political retreat but could make a comeback

Iraq’s Moqtada Sadr emboldens rivals after political retreat but could make a comeback

Sadr’s decision to retreat may already be driving away some of the swathes of followers who helped propel him to the centre of Iraqi politics.

Monday 02/01/2023

Followers of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr withdraw from the streets after violent clashes, near the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, August 30, 2022. (Reuters)

BAGHDAD-

Moqtada al-Sadr, the Muslim Shia cleric who dominated Iraqi politics for two decades, seems isolated for now after his move to step back from formal politics emboldened his Iranian-backed rivals and raised the prospect of fresh factional flare-ups.

Iran, which already controls dozens of heavily-armed Shia militias in its oil-producing neighbour, may now have an opportunity to expand its influence over Iraq’s government, a worst case scenario for the United States and its allies.

Although Sadr won a parliamentary majority in a 2021 election, he chose to withdraw in August after his failed, year-long bid to form a cabinet without rivals close to Iran.

Sadr’s decision may already be driving away some of the swathes of followers who helped propel him to the centre of Iraqi politics in the chaotic aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein.

“Some of the followers who support his eminence Sayed Moqtada have started to complain that retreating from politics and parliament will leave the path more open for corrupt parties to control government,” said Ali al-Iqabi, a Sadrist activist.

“Unfortunately that has happened now,” he said.

New Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani has reshuffled several top security posts and installed officials who are close to Iran-backed parties, including in the critical position of chief of military intelligence, four security officials told Reuters.

The post was previously held by a more pro-Western official.

But Sudani has privately rejected calls by Sadr’s opponents to sack pro-Sadr government officials, fearing that would push Iraq back into violence, five Shia lawmakers and two senior Sadrist officials said.

This account was corroborated by four Shia lawmakers who attended meetings between Sudani and Shia politicians in October and December.

Sadr’s followers took to the streets after he stepped back from politics, and the country briefly slid towards civil strife between Shia factions until the bloody protests were called off.

“Sudani is struggling not to awaken the dragon,” said one Shia government official who attends weekly cabinet meetings.

Members of Sadr’s Peace Brigades fighters gather during clashes with the Iraqi security forces near the Green Zone, in Baghdad, Iraq August 30, 2022. (Reuters)

Likely comeback

Sadr, who has not made the kind of public appearances that once fired up supporters and intimidated rivals, has retreated from politics before only to make a return. Some of those close to the mercurial cleric expect this withdrawal to be temporary.

“As soon as there is a sign of a new election Sadr will sign up,” one of those close to him said.

Sadr, who has closed several of his offices since his withdrawal from politics, could not be reached for comment.

A representative of the cleric in the city of Kerbala said: “Sadr is watching closely the political developments and performance of Sudani’s government which he (Sadr) believes would not last much longer.”

A 2022 survey by British think-tank Chatham House found Sadr supporters were more likely to vote than other groups.

But, alongside losing some backing on the street, his hand may now have been weakened y his reluctance –when he had a chance– to show more pragmatism in forming a government with those backed by Tehran, which some see as an ally in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) extremist group.

“The failure of Sadr to form such a government and the collapse of his alliance in the face of pushback from Iran and its allies in Iraq has affected Moqtada’s political position and forced him and his movement to take back seats,” said Baghdad-based analyst Jasim al-Bahadli.

Pro-Sadr clerics, former legislators and analysts say Sadr has no clearly defined political role for the first time since 2005, leaving him at his weakest since entering Iraqi politics.

In August, Ayatollah Kadhim al-Haeri, a religious scholar in Iran who was anointed as a spiritual adviser by Sadr’s father, angered Sadr’s supporters by saying Sadr had split Shia forces.

Sadr officials, pro-Sadr Shia clerics and religious sources in the sacred Iraqi city of Najaf said they believed Tehran was behind the pronouncement.

Haeri told Sadr’s followers to seek future guidance on religious matters from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a scholar who is Iran’s Supreme Leader.

Sadr himself also suggested Haeri spoke under pressure without naming who was to blame. “I don’t believe he did this of his own volition,” Sadr wrote on Twitter.

Ghazi Faisal, chairman of the Iraqi Centre for Strategic Studies think-tank, said Haeri gave “momentum to Iranian efforts to consolidate the powers of its allies in Iraqi politics.”

When asked for comment, a representative of Haeri said the scholar did not comment on politics.

Many Shia Iraqis still view Sadr as a hero of the downtrodden. He inherited much early legitimacy from his father, a revered cleric assassinated by Saddam Hussein’s agents, before building his own powerbase and leading hundreds of thousands of followers in protests against everything from corruption to inflation.

Human rights groups accused Sadr militiamen of kidnapping and killing Sunnis at the height of Iraq’s civil war. Sadr says his fighters were hunting down Sunni extremists not civilians.

A Harsh Reality Outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Maram Humaid works as a reporter in Gaza, but as a local resident, also experiences the reality of daily life there [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Reporting in Gaza, a new year brings the same harsh reality

Life in Gaza has a recurrent theme, one of repetitive hardships, without the prospect of any improvement, writes Maram Humaid.

By Maram Humaid

Published On 2 Jan 20232 Jan 2023

Gaza City – “What are your wishes for the New Year?”

It is a typical question, but you do not ask it in the Gaza Strip.

If you did, you would open yourself up to strange or angry looks, or someone might think you were making fun of them.

So instead, I have asked the question to myself.

I am a journalist, but I am from Gaza; I have lived through its daily reality, its hardships, and its challenges.

Being a journalist here is a heavy burden.

You report news that can leave you despondent, but it is news that has been repeated for more than 15 years, since the beginning of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, about an ongoing human tragedy that my fellow Gaza Palestinians live through.

We have been writing about the same issues, the same circumstances, the same news of military escalations, and the same suffering, without anything changing.

Does this mean that the lives of the two million people living in Gaza are worthless?

Many Palestinians in Gaza are struggling to deal with the continued suffering and have lost the desire to talk and be interviewed.

Their answers to my questions always begin with the same response: “What are we going to say? Nobody hears or feels us.”

Gaza was not spared a military attack last year.

In August, Israel launched an offensive which ultimately killed at least 49 Palestinians, injured hundreds and displaced dozens.

It is a bloody scenario that keeps repeating itself, and only serves to worsen conditions in a territory that has already collapsed economically, environmentally and politically, an area the United Nations once predicted would be “uninhabitable” by 2020.

When I think back to the three days of the Israeli attack in August, I remember many painful stories of grief and loss.

I do not know how Umm Khalil Hamada would look forward to the New Year without the only child she gave birth to after 15 years of trying to conceive.

How about 11-year-old Rahaf Suleiman, who lost her hand and feet after an Israeli bombing?

How will the people of Gaza forget all this sorrow, sadness and bitterness? How do they carry on knowing that the truce that hangs over them could collapse at any time, with no political solution in sight? How, how, how?

In Gaza, a round of conflict may end, but people feel like they are living through a daily war. A fierce war fought against closed border crossings and travel restrictions, against high unemployment rates, against extreme poverty, and against daily power cuts.

Desperate search for medical treatment

One of the main effects of living in Gaza arises when seeking medical treatment.

During the past year, my mother suffered from pulmonary complications after being infected with COVID-19 twice. Her condition began to deteriorate significantly, and the doctors in Gaza, with their limited resources and dilapidated health system, could not help.

In Gaza, in this case, the best option is to think about treatment in Israeli hospitals. This, however, involves several hurdles: submitting medical reports, requesting a medical referral, security permits, and papers from a human rights organisation to prove that the case is humanitarian.

The Civil Affairs Department is where you go to when you are applying to travel through the Israeli-run Beit Hanoon crossing, known as Erez to Israelis.

Of course, we were not alone. There were tens, if not hundreds, of citizens who were crowding into the building to apply for medical treatment in Israel.

A state of great despair and helplessness afflicted everyone desperately waiting for a permit. Frowning faces covered with sweat, tiredness and anxiety, waiting for an answer that would usually involve a long list of security conditions, and most probably a rejection.

After weeks of waiting and trying, my mother’s request was approved by the Israeli hospital.

But the Israeli authorities refused to give her a permit to pass Erez. No reason was given.

In general, Israel says these measures are necessary for security reasons, but for Palestinians in Gaza, it feels like just another way to punish the population.

So, we turned to our other option – the Rafah crossing, and Egypt.

Here, another journey of complicated procedures began.

It is worth mentioning that the journey through the Rafah crossing is known as “a piece of torment”, as travellers spend long hours waiting on the Egyptian side, before passing through Egypt on a road that takes several hours, punctuated by checkpoints for travellers.

The distance between Rafah and Cairo should not take more than six hours, but with restrictions, it takes longer than 20 hours.

Eventually, my mother made it to Turkey, where the realisation of what life could be like outside of living under a blockade in Gaza.

In video calls, she expressed her sorrow for her children, for the young people who will have to live through what she described as the “cemetery” that is Gaza.

My mother told us that she had been facing death in Gaza, without medical treatment. After she was able to travel and go to Turkey, she had come back to life.

Our conversations would end when our power was cut.

It would leave me thinking about our situation, our reality, and the deterioration of our quality of life.

How do Palestinians in Gaza deal with this? And why is the idea of normal life a mere dream for them?

I do not have answers to these questions, but, with no hope of a resolution in sight, everyone in Gaza I speak to believes that what is yet to come will be even worse. The thinking is that if you are optimistic, you are only setting yourself up for disappointment.

In Gaza, people cannot stop talking about what they predict to be the inevitable explosion of the situation, another devastating war that most think will ultimately arrive one day.

And yet, the general sense is one of worrying ambivalence.

Biden is Repeating the Same Errors with Iran as Obama Did: Daniel 8

AP Photo/Middle East Images, FileFILE – In this photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, Iranians protests the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the morality police, in Tehran, Oct. 1, 2022. In a report published by The Iranian student news agency, Nezamoddin Mousavi, an Iranian lawmaker said Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022, that Iran’s government was ‘‘paying attention to the people’s real demands,’’ a day after another key official announced that the country’s religious police force had been closed following months of deadly anti-government protests.

By not supporting protesters, we’re repeating the same mistakes in Iran

BY GENEIVE ABDO, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR – 12/30/22 11:30 AM ET

Former President Barack Obama acknowledged in an October podcast interview that he made a “mistake” in not supporting in significant ways the 2009-2010 protest movement in Iran — at the time, the most significant challenge to the Iranian regime since its inception.

In the view of many Iranians, that “mistake” is being repeated in Washington within some influential circles, now that the current uprising in Iran enters its fourth month. Unlike the “Green Movement” protests of 2009-2010, the one underway now is a far greater threat to the regime’s modus operandi since the 1979 Islamic revolution. It is too early to say categorically that the regime will fall — but a change in its strategy toward its own people and the region is possible.

Yet, some leading Democrats, left-leaning think tanks and members of President Biden’s administration appear so confident the regime will remain as before that they are failing to seize the moment and aid the protesters. They appear to be banking on re-engagement at some time in the future with the Iranian regime over three key issues — the failed nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA), Iran’s ever-expanding militarization of the Middle East, and its human-rights violations. Just this month, Biden himself hinted that the nuclear deal is dead but then declined to announce it officially.

How many uprisings do the chattering classes in Washington have to watch before the “mistake” is no more?

I was on Tehran’s streets in 1999, as a correspondent for The Guardian newspaper, when the first significant uprisings emerged since the 1979 revolution. Yet the talk in Washington then was the same as it is now — murmurs of support for the Iranian people but no significant policy changes toward the regime.

It is important to understand that the very same experts and government officials, who claim to be advocates of human rights around the world, have other objectives when it comes to Iran. This seems to include such Biden administration officials as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the die-hard U.S. special envoy on Iran, Robert Malley.

The Iranian regime has provided zero evidence of addressing the three concerns mentioned above, each of which is important to Washington. Yet some left-leaning echo chambers in Washington continue to defend negotiating with the regime despite its torture, beating and execution of demonstrators since September. This defense comes in subtle forms, from op-eds arguing that sanctions never work and therefore the U.S. Treasury should not pile more on Iran, to false arguments that Iran is addressing the current crisis by taking steps such as shutting down its so-called morality police, which was tasked with beating protesters. Iran does not need a specific enforcement body to kill its own citizens; it has killed without pause since the fake announcement about the morality police a few weeks ago.

Some think-tank experts arguing against U.S. policy that might expedite the fall of the Iranian regime act more like regime advocates than impartial analysts. Some have not been to Iran in decades; others have never been there.

When journalists question their motives, the answer is often that engagement with Iran — and, therefore, no public criticism whatsoever of the regime — is necessary because Iran otherwise will develop a nuclear weapon. This argument has proven to be false. Even before the Obama administration began serious discussions with Iran (the process that became the JCPOA) in 2014-2015, under the pretext that a nuclear deal was absolutely necessary no matter the costs, U.S. intelligence officials stated in private briefings that Iran had no intention of developing a nuclear weapon. The truth, however, is that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon if the regime thinks it is in its interest to do so.

In addition, as the Iranians were then promising Washington future negotiations over other issues (such as its militarization of the Middle East) if a nuclear deal were struck, Iranian officials were giving private briefings (one of which I attended in Oslo) stating just the opposite — that they never intended to discuss other issues of concern to the United States and Arab Gulf states, then or ever.

Recently, I asked the president of one Washington-based think tank why he would hire an Iran “expert” who advocates for the regime’s interests in Washington when thousands of Iranians are being brutalized in the current uprising or executed simply for speaking out. He expressed concern about Iranian protesters but then defended his think tank’s hiring process as “vigorous,” without really addressing the issue.

Some think-tank “experts” have attended private briefings over the years in New York with former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, repeating his propaganda without question to U.S. media outlets. In effect, they have served as spokesmen for Zarif while presenting themselves as objective “experts” with “exclusive” information from regime officials.How Mike Pence can convince America he’s the president it needsWill 2023 be a better year for international peace and public health?

As for U.S. officials, it would seem logical that those focused on the regime — especially a special envoy for Iran — should work and be in contact with dissidents inside Iran and Iranians who have fled their country over the decades, not just with Iranian officials. Yet that seems not to be the case, in the past or still today. The Biden administration’s special envoy, for example, has incessantly advocated for the JCPOA, including in his previous role as president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, which itself has been a longtime supporter of the JCPOA and of entreating with Iran.

As more Iranians are executed, beaten or imprisoned, the U.S. government is failing again to respond effectively to an Iranian uprising which could change the regime’s post-revolutionary history — and too many in the Washington think-tank community are helping to keep the regime afloat, too. What Tehran understands from all of this is that Washington will do as it did before, in 1999 and again in 2010: Do nothing and wait it out. Thus, Tehran sees no retribution at the end of the tunnel and few risks in getting there.

Geneive Abdo is a fellow at the Wilson Center and the author of four books on the Middle East. Her fifth and forthcoming book is about Arab Shia communities.

Antichrist congratulates on the New Year’s Day

Al-Sadr congratulates on the New Year’s Day

31-12-2022, 16:57

Baghdad-INA

The leader of the Sadrist movement, Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, congratulated today, Saturday, the Christian world in general and the Christians of Iraq in particular, on the occasion of the New Year’s Day.

To receive more news, subscribe to our channel on Telegram Al-Sadr said in a tweet, followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA): “As we congratulate the Christian world in general and the Christians of Iraq in particular on the occasion of (New Year’s Day), we wish our beloved Iraqi Christians peace and security throughout their beloved country .”.

Al-Sadr added, “We also hope that the revival of this occasion will be in a way that pleases God Almighty and His Messengers, Muhammad, may God bless him and his family, and Jesus, may God’s peace be upon him, and to stay away from the sins that bring calamity and epidemic.”.

What Happens when Russia Attacks with Nuclear Weapons? Revelation 16

What Happens if Russia Attacks with Nuclear Weapons?

Story by Robert Farley • Yesterday 1:29 PM

Russia Nuclear War© Provided by 1945

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What will the battlefield in Ukraine look like?

The impact of the use of a nuclear device in Ukraine will depend on the details. 

Like any large-scale industrial army, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have obvious pressure points that would be vulnerable to nuclear attack. These include logistical centers, command and communications nodes, and concentrations of front-line forces.

During the Cold War the Soviet Union expected to use tactical nuclear weapons against NATO (and expected that NATO would use them in return) and it is therefore likely that the Russian armed forces have workable theories as to how they might best use tactical nukes to inflict damage on Ukraine’s fielded forces. At the same time, we should refrain from overstating the damage that such weapons can inflict on forces in the field, as most tactical nukes have limited destructive effects and rely on careful targeting.

Of the political effect on the war we can say almost nothing of use at this point. We don’t know whether the Ukrainian leadership and polity would become more or less flexible following a nuclear detonation. The only example of such an attack comes from Japan, and the differences in context are vast.

Note: Image is of a generic Russian mobile ICBM.

Russian Mobile ICBMs. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Russian Mobile ICBMs. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Russian mobile missile. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Hamas event in Jerusalem: Wage jihad outside the Temple Walls: Revelation 11

Hamas event in Jerusalem: Wage jihad to destroy Israel

The terrorist movement’s student organization said Hamas will not abandon the road of “resistance” until Israel is removed from the map.

A boy holds a Hamas flag at the Al-Quds University event, Dec. 11, 2022. Source: T.me/kotlaalquds via MEMRI.

(January 1, 2023 / JNS) At an event commemorating Hamas’s 35th anniversary at Al-Quds University in eastern Jerusalem, a call for jihad to liberate Palestine “from the river to sea” was issued.

Muhammad Hamada, Hamas’s spokesman for Jerusalem affairs, said in a pre-recorded address on Dec. 11 that “the [young] generation of the resistance is coming like a roaring river to free Jerusalem, and no occupier or invader will stop it,” according to a report by MEMRI.

On the anniversary, the Islamic Bloc, Hamas’s student organization. issued a statement asserting that Hamas will not abandon the road of jihad and resistance, regardless of casualties, until it “liberates all of Palestine” from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Hamada praised Al-Quds University, calling it “the university of martyrs and resistance fighters.”

The Islamic Bloc released a statement saying: “With a flood of martyrs, prisoners, wounded and resistance that grows from day to day, Hamas, on the 35th anniversary of its founding, is advancing towards the liberation of all of Palestine from the Sea to the River, along with its [Palestinian] people and its [Islamic] nation.”