East Coast Quakes and the Sixth Seal: Revelation 6

Items lie on the floor of a grocery store after an earthquake on Sunday, August 9, 2020 in North Carolina.

East Coast Quakes: What to Know About the Tremors Below

By Meteorologist Dominic Ramunni Nationwide PUBLISHED 7:13 PM ET Aug. 11, 2020 PUBLISHED 7:13 PM EDT Aug. 11, 2020

People across the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic were shaken, literally, on a Sunday morning as a magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck in North Carolina on August 9, 2020.

Centered in Sparta, NC, the tremor knocked groceries off shelves and left many wondering just when the next big one could strike.

Fault Lines

Compared to the West Coast, there are far fewer fault lines in the East. This is why earthquakes in the East are relatively uncommon and weaker in magnitude.

That said, earthquakes still occur in the East.

According to Spectrum News Meteorologist Matthew East, “Earthquakes have occurred in every eastern U.S. state, and a majority of states have recorded damaging earthquakes. However, they are pretty rare. For instance, the Sparta earthquake Sunday was the strongest in North Carolina in over 100 years.”

While nowhere near to the extent of the West Coast, damaging earthquakes can and do affect much of the eastern half of the country.

For example, across the Tennesse River Valley lies the New Madrid Fault Line. While much smaller in size than those found farther west, the fault has managed to produce several earthquakes over magnitude 7.0 in the last couple hundred years.

In 1886, an estimated magnitude 7.0 struck Charleston, South Carolina along a previously unknown seismic zone. Nearly the entire town had to be rebuilt.

Vulnerabilities

The eastern half of the U.S. has its own set of vulnerabilities from earthquakes.

Seismic waves actually travel farther in the East as opposed to the West Coast. This is because the rocks that make up the East are tens, if not hundreds, of millions of years older than in the West.

These older rocks have had much more time to bond together with other rocks under the tremendous pressure of Earth’s crust. This allows seismic energy to transfer between rocks more efficiently during an earthquake, causing the shaking to be felt much further.

This is why, during the latest quake in North Carolina, impacts were felt not just across the state, but reports of shaking came as far as Atlanta, Georgia, nearly 300 miles away.

Reports of shaking from different earthquakes of similar magnitude.

Quakes in the East can also be more damaging to infrastructure than in the West. This is generally due to the older buildings found east. Architects in the early-to-mid 1900s simply were not accounting for earthquakes in their designs for cities along the East Coast.

When a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Virginia in 2011, not only were numerous historical monuments in Washington, D.C. damaged, shaking was reported up and down the East Coast with tremors even reported in Canada.

Unpredictable

There is no way to accurately predict when or where an earthquake may strike.

Some quakes will have a smaller earthquake precede the primary one. This is called a foreshock.

The problem is though, it’s difficult to say whether the foreshock is in fact a foreshock and not the primary earthquake. Only time will tell the difference.

The United State Geological Survey (USGS) is experimenting with early warning detection systems in the West Coast.

While this system cannot predict earthquakes before they occur, they can provide warning up to tens of seconds in advance that shaking is imminent. This could provide just enough time to find a secure location before the tremors begin.

Much like hurricanes, tornadoes, or snowstorms, earthquakes are a natural occuring phenomenon that we can prepare for.

The USGS provides an abundance of resources on how to best stay safe when the earth starts to quake.

The Pakistani Nuclear Horn is in Trouble: Revelation 8

Pakistan Crisis India: Pakistan equipped with nuclear weapons is in big trouble, how will India benefit from it?

BY BHAGYASHREEAPRIL 25, 2023UPDATED:APRIL 25, 2023

IslamabadIndia’s neighboring country Pakistan is currently facing difficulties on many fronts. The chances of this crisis reducing in the country are not visible at the moment. Apart from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), some countries like Saudi Arabia, China and UAE are also not showing any interest in reducing this crisis. At the same time, the biggest question for India is whether the situation in Pakistan can affect the relations with it. According to some experts, Pakistan is in deep crisis and today its future is looking dark. But after some time he is likely to recover and become stable.

Every time the country came out of crisis
In the last 35 years, Pakistan has taken loan from IMF 13 times. Because of this debt, he has come out of trouble every time. In such a situation, it is meaningless to call Pakistan a ‘failed country’ until the country breaks itself. But such incidents happen only occasionally. This happened with the Soviet Union in the year 1991 when many other countries have separated from it. If experts of Pakistan affairs are to be believed, before the breakup of the country, it has to be understood that the crisis in Pakistan will not have much impact on India as some people are believing.
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concerns about nuclear weapons
Another common concern is Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. A nuclear-armed country going through such difficulties is a matter of concern. There is little doubt that any of Pakistan’s political intentions will succeed with nuclear weapons. Obviously, it cannot use nuclear weapons to settle domestic political disputes. There is also little possibility that he can find a solution to his crisis by targeting India.

At the same time, there is also a concern that what will happen if the terrorists present in Pakistan gain control over nuclear weapons. These are people who do not have any political objective. In such a situation, it is also not clear what they will do with nuclear weapons. Obviously, there are some terrorist organizations which may have lakhs of such weapons. Besides, nuclear weapons are very costly for the Pakistani military. In such a situation, she will give her whole life to protect them.

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danger averted
India can get some benefit from the current crisis in Pakistan. For the time being, the threat of terrorist and conventional warfare on India has been averted for the time being. Reducing the threat of conventional war is very important because India is under pressure from two fronts to protect the border. On one side is China and on the other side is Pakistan. Pakistan’s current domestic political and economic challenges are such that it will prevent its military or political leaders from taking risky decisions. India can hope that the various current crises will prompt Pakistan to make better choices going forward. India is a huge country compared to Pakistan and it is difficult for the country to try to keep pace with it.

The Iranian Horn’s Criminal War: Daniel 8

Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via APAzerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev (C) meets with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) and President Hassan Rouhani, in Tehran, Iran.

IRGC’s secret project: Iran’s criminal war against Israel and its allies

Ariel KoganApril 25, 2023 at 05:40 AMlatest revision April 25, 2023 at 06:27 AM

Political analyst, Israel

Throughout the past decade, Iranian operatives have been engaging in a rather unorthodox recruiting campaign, forming ties with cartels, mafias and mobsters

Last week, Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant stated that a war of attrition is being waged by Iran against the Jewish state on several fronts and in many arenas, and there may be a real threat to all sectors from all directions at the same time. The declaration seems to reference the conflicts between Israel and the Tehran-backed proxies, chiefly Hezbollah and Hamas, which receive over $800 million annually. However, there are many underlying levels of this hush war. Other than targeting Israel on its own borders with proxy terrorist organizations and special operatives of the infamous IRGC’s “Quds force” unit, Tehran has set as a primary objective to destabilize, eliminate and damage Israeli assets and interests abroad by enlisting the help of the underworld and organized crime.

Throughout the past decade, Iranian operatives have been engaging in a rather unorthodox recruitment campaign, forming ties with cartels, mafias and mobsters in countries that are key adversaries of Tehran. Those ties allow the IRGC to use the assets of those underworld organizations in the same way the Iranian regime has been sending other minions to do its bidding around the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and the Caucasus.

Prime targets for the aforementioned criminals range from Israeli holdings to Jewish centers abroad to Iranian anti-regime activists who fled the country. The former head of the Department for Iranian Research in Israeli military intelligence (AMAN), Lieutenant Colonel Michael Segal, described how Tehran relies on terror and organized crime in different parts of the world.

For example, in South America, Iran is strengthening its ties with Venezuela. This allows the IRGC to use Venezuelan facilities to attack the U.S. from a different angle, such as utilizing cartel networks to hire assassins, smuggle illegal contraband and launder money made through drug deals. 

A recent criminal case pending in a New York federal court serves as another confirmation of Segal’s statement. The case of an assassination attempt on U.S. soil of Iranian-born journalist Masih Alinejad, which was sponsored by the IRGC and attempted by local gangsters, is a stern reminder of the lengths the regime is willing to go to in order to silence its outspoken enemies.

The apprehended gangsters hired by the IRGC to assassinate Alinejad turned out to be ethnic Azerbaijanis. That leads us to other examples: the assassins trained and sent by the IRGC to eliminate Israeli businessmen in Cyprus in 2021 and in Georgia in 2022 were also of Azerbaijani origin.

In the case of Cyprus, the main culprit was Russian-Azerbaijani dual citizen Orkhan Asadov. He was apprehended again in November 2022, in Azerbaijan, during a large-scale operation by the local secret services alongside tens of other Iranian agents.

Already in February 2023, IntelliTimes media resource, an informal mouthpiece of Israeli military intelligence, announced the arrest of another holder of Azerbaijani citizenship in Vienna, Magomed Dovtiev. He was sent by the IRGC to collect information about Iranian political dissidents in the EU.

According to the Telegram channel AZfront, one of the high-ranking officers of Sepah-e-Qods, a 54-year-old Russian-speaking Azerbaijani, Yair Taher-Imamkendi, a former close associate of Qassem Soleimani, is the main recruiter of immigrants from Azerbaijan living in the diaspora.

This “Azerbaijani trend” is of high importance to the IRGC. The reasons are obvious: geographical proximity and religious affinity with Azerbaijanis simplify the recruitment, and it’s easy for Azerbaijani nationals to visit former Soviet republics (like Georgia) and Arab states than it is for Iranians.

Moreover, an Azerbaijani passport holder can enter many more countries than an Iranian without a visa, reducing the chance of the paperwork appearing fraudulent and getting caught. Additionally, the fact that Azerbaijan and Israel are strengthening their ties plays an important role and is taken into consideration when sending Azerbaijanis to strike at Israeli targets.   

Any terrorist attacks abroad committed by such recruits might harm the reputation of Azerbaijan and hinder the tightening of relations between Israel and Azerbaijan, and in Tehran’s mind, could form a rift. It will also harm the image of the country in the West, the major market for Azerbaijani energy resources.

Recently, following the strengthening of the national movement of Southern Azerbaijanis who live in northern Iran, Tehran decidedly ramped up its recruiting campaigns of ethnic Azerbaijanis to do its bidding. The Ayatollah’s regime sees the South Azerbaijani movement for independence as a plot by Israeli clandestine organizations, so it believes it is justified in its escalation as a response. 

Last week, as the Israeli Foreign Minister made a historic visit to Baku, twenty local agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence were arrested in the country. Under the guise of religious activities, they were criticizing the governmental policy of rapprochement with Jerusalem, and promoting the idea that Israel is pushing “brotherly Shia Azerbaijan” towards confrontation with Iran. As a pattern – they financed their activity with the help of drug trafficking, exactly like their proxy, Hezbollah, has been doing in South America. 

Obama’s Team Slowly Leaves the White House

Susan Rice, Biden’s Domestic Policy Chief, Is Stepping Down

SIGNING OFF

Dan Ladden-Hall

News Correspondent

Published Apr. 24, 2023 10:56AM ET 

Susan Rice is set to step down as the White House’s domestic policy adviser, President Joe Biden confirmed Monday. In a statement, Biden said he “surprised a lot of people” when he appointed President Obama’s national security adviser to the job. “But what I knew then and what we all know now—after more than two years of her steady leadership of the Domestic Policy Council—it’s clear: there is no one more capable, and more determined to get important things done for the American people than Susan Rice,” the statement added. According to NBC News, which first reported the story, Rice will leave the White House on May 26. The outlet said Rice told colleagues when she started the role that she only intended to stay for two years.

The South Korean Horn Needs to Nuke Up Under Biden: Daniel 7

South Korea’s Yoon to meet Biden as doubts grow over nuclear umbrella

Reuters Published April 24, 2023

SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol set off on Monday for the for the United States and a summit with President Joe Biden at a time of rare questioning in South Korea of an alliance that has guaranteed its security for decades.

Yoon’s April 24-29 trip is the first state visit to the US by a South Korean leader in 12 years and will mark the 70th anniversary of a partnership that has helped anchor US strategy in Asia and provided a foundation for South Korea’s emergence as an economic powerhouse.

But as North Korea races ahead with the development of nuclear weapons and missiles to carry them, there are growing questions in South Korea about the relying on “extended deterrence”, in essence the American nuclear umbrella, and calls, even from some senior members of Yoon’s party, for South Korea to develop its own nuclear weapons.

A recent poll by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies showed that more than 54% of respondents believed the US would not risk its safety to protect its Asian ally.

More than 64% supported South Korea developing its own nuclear weapons, with about 33% opposed. Yoon has been pushing to boost South Korea’s say in operating the US extended deterrence but exactly what that might entail has not been spelt out.

Yoon’s deputy national security adviser said both sides had been working on measures to operate the extended deterrence in a more concrete manner, hopefully with progress to be a revealed in a joint statement after the summit.

“What I can tell you now is that people’s interest in and expectations for extended deterrence have been great, and there are several things that have been carried out over the past year in terms of information sharing, planning and execution,” the adviser, Kim Tae-hyo, told reporters.

“We need to take steps to organise these things so that it can be easily understood to anyone in one big picture, how this is implemented and developed.”

A senior US official said on Friday that Biden, during the summit with Yoon, would pledge “substantial” steps to underscore US commitments to deter a North Korean nuclear attack.

Help for Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which some in South Korea feel is distracting the United States from dangers in Asia, has also led to some rare friction between Seoul and Washington.

Leaked US military documents recently highlighted South Korean difficulties in dealing with pressure from its ally to help with the supply of military aid to Ukraine.

South Korea, a major producer of artillery shells, says it has not provided lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its relations with Russia.

It has limited its support to humanitarian aid. South Korea tries to avoid antagonising Russia, due chiefly to business interests and Russian influence over North Korea.

Suggestions reported in media that the United States had been spying on South Korean deliberations about its support to Ukraine have raised hackles in South Korea, though both sides have played the down the issue.

Yoon, in an interview with Reuters last week, Yoon signalled for the first time a softening in his position on arming Ukraine, saying his government might not “insist only on humanitarian or financial support” if Ukraine comes under a large-scale attack on civilians or a “situation the international community cannot condone”.

Yoon is due to meet Biden for their summit and a joint news conference on Wednesday. He will address the US Congress on Thursday then travel to Boston where he will speak at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Yoon is bringing business leaders to boost partnerships on supply chains and high-tech areas including chips and batteries. They will visit NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to discuss space cooperation.

Israel Threatens to Resume Assassinations, Hamas Vows ‘Much Bigger’ Response Outside the Temple Walls

Israel Threatens to Resume Assassinations, Hamas Vows ‘Much Bigger’ Response

Monday, 24 April, 2023 – 09:15

Flowers are placed on a grave at al-Sheikh Redwan cemetery during Eid al-Fitr in Gaza City, 21 April 2023. (EPA)

Ramallah – Kifah Zboun

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at the possibility of resuming assassinations against members of Hamas and other factions over any possible future escalation.

Israeli media focused on Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, as the number one target. Hamas commented on by warning that it would have a “much bigger” response.

During a Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu called on his ministers to avoid public talk about the option of returning to a policy of assassinations, reported Israel’s Channel 12. His request came after a discussion on the issue, within the framework of a broader debate focused on restoring Israel’s “eroded deterrence”.

The channel reported that the Cabinet deliberated on reactivating the policy of assassinations, even if it led to a new round of fighting with the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government concluded that Hamas leaders must understand that they would not be able to hide behind their activists in the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon, and that Israel intended to restore deterrence and respond in the future.

The leaks about Israel’s intention to resume the assassinations came at a time when Israeli media focused on al-Arouri, describing him as “the most wanted person”, as he stands behind the development of Hamas’ military base in the West Bank and Lebanon.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said that because of al-Arouri, a real war almost broke out during the Jewish Passover holiday. It described him as the most charismatic figure in Hamas, who has contacts with Tehran, Beirut, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, and planned to attack Israel from the different fronts.

Israel had accused al-Arouri of being behind the missile attacks that were launched from Lebanon during the month of Ramadan in response to the Israeli forces’ storming of the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem.

Former Israeli generals called for the immediate assassination of al-Arouri. Retired Major General Eitan Dangot, a former secretary for different security ministers, described him as the most dangerous Hamas figure.

Officers in the Shin Bet and Mossad, and former security and military experts agreed that he should be the first target, according to the newspaper.

Hazem Qassem, a Hamas spokesman, said the response by the Palestinian factions to any Israeli action would be “much bigger” than Israel would expect.

“The Palestinian people are not afraid of such threats and will continue their legitimate struggle against the occupation,” Qassem warned.

Autralian Horn Needs to Nuke Up: Daniel 7

Australian Assessment of Its Defense Suggests Overhaul Needed, Amid China Concern

A Marine helicopter conducts flight operations with Royal Australian Navy Canberra-class landing helicopter dock HMAS Canberra, during Exercise Rim of the Pacific 2022.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Isaak Martinez—Australian Defense Force/AP

BY ROD MCGUIRK / AP

UPDATED: APRIL 24, 2023 7:00 AM EDT | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: APRIL 24, 2023 1:30 AM EDT

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia needs to spend more money on defense, make its own munitions and develop the ability to strike longer-range targets as China’s military buildup challenges regional security, according to a government-commissioned report released Monday.

The Defense Strategic Review supports the so-called AUKUS partnership among Australia, the United States and Britain, which in March announced an agreement to create an Australian fleet of eight submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government commissioned the review to assess whether Australia has the necessary defense capability, posture and preparedness to defend itself in the current strategic environment.

“We support the strategic direction and key findings set out in the review, which will strengthen our national security and ensure our readiness for future challenges,” Albanese said.

He said the review was Australia’s most significant since World War II and was comprehensive in scope. “It demonstrates that in a world where challenges to our national security are always evolving, we cannot fall back on old assumptions,” Albanese said.

The public version of the classified review recommended that Australia’s government spend more on defense than the current expenditure of 2% of gross domestic product, improve the Australian Defense Force’s ability to precisely strike targets at longer ranges and make munitions domestically.

Other recommendations include improving the force’s ability to operate from Australia’s northern bases and to deepen defense partnerships with key countries in the Indo-Pacific region including India and Japan.

China’s military buildup “is now the largest and most ambitious of any country” since the end of World War II, the review said. It “is occurring without transparency or reassurance to the Indo-Pacific region of China’s strategic intent,” it said.

The strategic circumstances during the current review were “radically different” than those in the past, said the report, authored by former Australian Defense Force Chief Angus Houston and former Defense Minister Stephen Smith.

The United States, Australia’s most important defense treaty partner, was “no longer the unipolar leader of the Indo-Pacific,” a region that had seen the return of major power strategic competition, it said.

“As a consequence, for the first time in 80 years, we must go back to fundamentals, to take a first-principles approach as to how we manage and seek to avoid the highest level of strategic risk we now face as a nation: the prospect of major conflict in the region that directly threatens our national interest,” the review said.

The government immediately plans to delay or abandon 7.8 billion Australian dollars ($5.2 billion) in defense spending to reflect new priorities.

Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said as part of the new priorities, an order for infantry fighting vehicles has been reduced from 450 to 129. The savings from those vehicles and the cancelation of a second regiment of self-propelled howitzers will fund the acceleration of the acquisition of U.S. HIMARS rocket systems that are proving effective in the Ukraine war.

The maximum range of the army’s weapons will be extended from 40 kilometers (25 miles) to over 300 kilometers (185 miles) and, with the acquisition of precision-strike missiles, over 500 kilometers (310 miles), Conroy said.

“This is about giving the Australian army the fire power and mobility it needs into the future to face whatever it needs to face,” Conroy said.

Questioned about Australia’s new military direction, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing’s military buildup policy is “defensive in nature.”

“We are committed to maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific and the whole world,” she said. “We do not pose any challenge to any country. We hope relevant countries will not hype up the so-called China threat narrative.”

For the past five decades, Australia’s defense policy has been aimed at deterring and responding to potential low-level threats from small- or middle-power neighbors. “This approach is no longer fit for purpose,” the review said.

Australia’s army, air force and navy need to focus on “delivering timely and relevant capability” and abandon its “pursuit of the perfect solution or process” in its procurements, it said.