Sarkozy and Merkel-2012 to be "full of danger and risk"....
2012 will be 'full of danger and risk' warn Sarkozy and Merkel in their New Year messagesBy Ruth Sunderland
Last updated at 2:04 AM on 2nd January 2012
German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy have issued grave New Year warnings on the worsening plight of the stricken eurozone.
Their words marked a sombre tenth anniversary for the single currency.
Euro notes and coins were introduced on January 1, 2002, and were hailed by supporters as the start of a new era of unity and prosperity on the continent.
But a decade later, the leaders of France and Germany – the two most powerful countries in the single-currency bloc – delivered bleak messages to their people that the economic crisis will actually worsen, not improve, in 2012.
Mrs Merkel said this year will be even more difficult than last, and vowed to do ‘everything’ to save the single currency.
More...Cameron pledges to speed up crackdown on City fat cats’ pay
But she insisted the euro had ‘made everyday life easier and our economy stronger’, claiming Europe will emerge healthier from the current turmoil.
In a ten-minute televised address, Mr Sarkozy admitted that the French people were ending the year ‘more worried about themselves and their children’ and urged them to be stoical.
Mr Sarkozy, who has been trailing in the opinion polls ahead of a re-election battle this year, said 2012 would be a year full of risks and dangers.
But he argued it was also ‘full of hope, if we know how to face the challenges’.
Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy last year presided over a string of ‘last-ditch’ summits, all of which failed to halt the sovereign debt crisis sweeping the single currency bloc. Their grim utterances came as economists predicted a deepening of the eurozone crisis.
Forecasters at the Centre for Economics and Business Research said 2012 will be the year the euro starts to disintegrate.
It is predicting that at least one country will quit before the end of the year, adding there was a 99 per cent chance of a break-up in the next ten years. Professor Douglas McWilliams of the CEBR said: ‘I would expect to see most of the French and German banking systems bailed out to compensate for the write-downs on their sovereign debts.
‘They might even be nationalised as well. Many other European banks will go back into crisis.’
A BBC poll of top economists found most are forecasting Europe will sink back into recession next year.
The majority put the chances of a break-up at between 30 and 40 per cent.
The eurozone economy grew by a meagre 0.2 per cent between July and September last year and the single currency ended 2011 down sharply against the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen.
Fears over the health of southern European economies intensified when the sale of Italian government bonds last week failed to hit its targets, leading to worries that country will struggle to bring its mountainous debts under control.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2081088/2012-danger-risk-warn-Sarkozy-Merkel-New-Year-messages.html#ixzz1iGSiC4YT
30 Statistics that reveal the American middle class is dying!
Source-The Economic Collapse blog.com
Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most vibrant middle class that the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, that is rapidly changing. The statistics that you are about to read prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the U.S. middle class is dying right in front of our eyes as we enter 2012. The decline of the middle class is not something that has happened all of a sudden. Rather, there has been a relentless grinding down of the middle class over the last several decades. Millions of our jobs have been shipped overseas, the rate of inflation has far outpaced the rate that our wages have grown, and overwhelming debt has choked the financial life out of millions of American families. Every single day, more Americans fall out of the middle class and into poverty. In fact, more Americans fell into poverty last year than has ever been recorded before. The number of middle class jobs and middle class neighborhoods continues to decline at a staggering pace. As I have written about previously, America as a whole is getting poorer as a nation, and as this happens wealth is becoming increasingly concentrated at the very top of the income scale. This is not how capitalism is supposed to work, and it is not good for America.
Today I went over to Safeway and I was absolutely appalled at the prices. I honestly don't know how most families make it these days. I ended up paying over 140 dollars for about two-thirds of a cart of food. That was after I "saved" 67 dollars on sale items.
When the cost of the basic things that we need - housing, food, gas, electricity - go up faster than our incomes do, that means that we are getting poorer.
Sadly, if you look at the long-term numbers, some very clear negative trends emerge....
-The number of good jobs continues to decrease.
-The rate of inflation continues to outpace the rate that our wages are going up.
-American consumers are going into almost unbelievable amounts of debt.
-The number of Americans that are considered to be "poor" continues to grow.
-The number of Americans that are forced to turn to the government for financial assistance continues to go up.
After you read the information below, it should become abundantly clear that the U.S. middle class is in a whole heap of trouble.
The following are 30 statistics that show that the middle class is dying right in front of our eyes as we enter 2012....
#1 Today, only 55.3 percent of all Americans between the ages of 16 and 29 have jobs.
#2 In the United States today, there are 240 million working age people. Only about 140 million of them are working.
#3 According to CareerBuilder, only 23 percent of American companies plan to hire more employees in 2012.
#4 Since the year 2000, the United States has lost 10% of its middle class jobs. In the year 2000 there were about 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.
#5 According to the New York Times, approximately 100 million Americans are either living in poverty or in "the fretful zone just above it".
#6 According to that same article in the New York Times, 34 percent of all elderly Americans are living in poverty or "near poverty", and 39 percent of all children in America are living in poverty or "near poverty".
#7 In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
#8 Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation.
#9 The total value of household real estate in the U.S. has declined from $22.7 trillion in 2006 to $16.2 trillion today. Most of that wealth has been lost by the middle class.
#10 Many formerly great manufacturing cities are turning into ghost towns. Since 1950, the population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has declined by more than 50 percent. In Dayton, Ohio 18.9 percent of all houses now stand empty.
#11 Since 1971, consumer debt in the United States has increased by a whopping 1700%.
#12 The number of pages of federal tax rules and regulations has increased by 18,000% since 1913. The wealthy know how to avoid taxes, but most of those in the middle class do not.
#13 The number of Americans that fell into poverty (2.6 million) set a new all-time record last year and extreme poverty (6.7%) is at the highest level ever measured in the United States.
#14 According to one study, between 1969 and 2009 the median wages earned by American men between the ages of 30 and 50 dropped by 27 percent after you account for inflation.
#15 According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, America has lost an average of 15 manufacturing facilities a day over the last 10 years. During 2010 it got even worse. Last year, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities a day shut down in the United States.
#16 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
#17 Most Americans are scratching and clawing and doing whatever they can to make a living these days. Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.
#18 Food prices continue to rise at a very brisk pace. The price of beef is up 9.8% over the past year, the price of eggs is up 10.2% over the past year and the price of potatoes is up 12% over the past year.
#19 Electricity bills in the United States have risen faster than the overall rate of inflation for five years in a row.
#20 The average American household will have spent a staggering $4,155 on gasoline by the end of 2011.
#21 If inflation was measured the exact same way that it was measured back in 1980, the rate of inflation in the United States would be well over 10 percent.
#22 If the number of Americans considered to be "looking for work" was the same today as it was back in 2007, the "official" unemployment rate put out by the U.S. government would be up to 11 percent.
#23 According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United States will surpass the 1 trillion dollar mark at some point in 2012. Most of that debt is owed by members of the middle class.
#24 Incredibly, more than one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one out of every four American children is on food stamps at this point.
#25 Since Barack Obama took office, the number of Americans on food stamps has increased by 14.3 million.
#26 In 2010, 42 percent of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps.
#27 In 1970, 65 percent of all Americans lived in "middle class neighborhoods". By 2007, only 44 percent of all Americans lived in "middle class neighborhoods".
#28 According to a recent report produced by Pew Charitable Trusts, approximately one out of every three Americans that grew up in a middle class household has slipped down the income ladder.
#29 In the United States today, the wealthiest one percent of all Americans have a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined.
#30 The poorest 50 percent of all Americans now collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States.
Sadly, this article could have been much, much longer. There are so many other statistics about the middle class that could have been included.
For even more insane economic numbers that show just how dramatically the U.S. economy is declining, just check out this article: "50 Economic Numbers From 2011 That Are Almost Too Crazy To Believe".
What is even more frightening is that this is about as good as things are going to get.
We have already had "the economic recovery", such as it was.
Now we are heading for another major financial crisis. Just like back in 2008, the entire world is going to feel the pain.
But we never recovered from the last financial crisis. We are like a boxer that is not ready to handle another blow.
And who is going to get hurt the most? It will be those at the bottom of the food chain of course. Tens of millions of Americans that are living in poverty will experience a massive amount of pain, and millions more Americans will fall out of the middle class and will join them.
If you have a good job, do your best to hang on to it. If you don't have a job, do your best to get one while you still can. Jobs will become very precious in the years ahead.
But also try to do what you can to become less dependent on the system. Almost anyone can find ways to make some extra money on the side. Yes, it will likely cut into your television time. If someday you were to lose your job you don't want to be left with zero income.
Right now, the U.S. economy is slowly dying and as time goes by the number of middle class Americans it will be able to support will continue to decrease.
Yes, it is like a perverse game of musical chairs, but this is where we are at.
I encourage all of you to think about how you plan to make it through the collapse that is ahead.
Sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything is going to be okay is not going to help anyone.
But if we all start planning for the storm that is ahead, and if we get others around us to wake up as well, that is going to do a great deal of good in the long run.
U.S. and Israel to hold LARGEST EVER MISSLE DEFENCE DRILL in Israel with THOUSANDS of American Soldiers in Israel!
Source-JPost.com
US commander visits Israel to finalize missile drill
By YAAKOV KATZ
12/20/2011 18:04
Israel, US to hold largest ever missile defense exercise this spring; thousands of US soldiers will be deployed in Israel
Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.
Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.
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The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East.
The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel.
The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome.
Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division.
He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and the Israel Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation exercises.
The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located there.
The Defense Ministry has allocated a budget to manufacture an additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012. IAF operational requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen batteries along Israel’s northern and southern borders.
The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend against medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by mid-2012.
Israeli/Saudi Ties
Iran Now
Iraq Before Zionist Invasion and after....
Source-Breitbart.com Iran seeks peace with west and Israel-Zionist warmongers say no!
U.S./Israel Discuss Triggers for bombing Iran's Nuclear Infrastructure!
Source-The Daily Beast.com
U.S., Israel Discuss Triggers for Bombing Iran’s Nuclear Infrastructure
Dec 28, 2011 4:45 AM EST The Obama administration is trying to assure Israel privately that it would strike Iran militarily if Tehran’s nuclear program crosses certain “red lines”—while attempting to dissuade the Israelis from acting unilaterally. Eli Lake reports exclusively.
When Defense Secretary Leon Panetta opined earlier this month that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could “consume the Middle East in a confrontation and a conflict that we would regret,” the Israelis went ballistic behind the scenes. Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, lodged a formal diplomatic protest known as a demarche. And the White House was thrust into action, reassuring the Israelis that the administration had its own “red lines” that would trigger military action against Iran, and that there is no need for Jerusalem to act unilaterally.
Panetta’s seemingly innocent remarks on Dec. 2 triggered the latest drama in the tinder-box relationship that the Obama administration is trying to navigate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. With Republicans lining up to court Jewish donors and voters in America in 2012, Obama faces a tricky election-year task of ensuring Iran doesn’t acquire a nuclear bomb on his watch while keeping the Israelis from launching a preemptive strike that could inflame an already teetering Middle East.
The stakes are immensely high, and the distrust that Israelis feel toward the president remains a complicating factor. Those sentiments were laid bare in a speech Netanyahu’s minister of strategic affairs, Moshe Ya’alon, gave on Christmas Eve in Jerusalem, in which he used Panetta’s remarks to cast doubt on the U.S.’s willingness to launch its own military strike.
Ya’alon told the Anglo-Likud, an organization within Netanyahu’s Likud party that caters to native English speakers, that the Western strategy to stop Iran’s drive for nuclear weapons must include four elements, with the last resort being a military strike.
“The fourth element of this combined strategy is the credible military strike,” Ya’alon said, according to a recording of the speech provided to The Daily Beast. “There is no credible military action when we hear leaders from the West, saying, ‘this is not a real option,’ saying, ‘the price of military action is too high.’
The lack of trust between the Israeli and American leaders on Iran has been a sub-rosa tension in the relationship since 2009. Three U.S. military officials confirm to The Daily Beast that analysts attached to the Office of the Secretary of Defense are often revising estimates trying to predict what events in Iran would trigger Prime Minister Netanyahu to authorize a military attack on the country’s nuclear infrastructure. Despite repeated requests going back to 2009, Netanyahu’s government has not agreed to ask the United States for permission or give significant advanced warning of any pending strike.
The sensitive work of trying to get both allies on the same page intensified this month. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Washington last week to go over Iran issues; and the undersecretary of state for political affairs, Wendy Sherman, and a special arms control adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Robert Einhorn, were in Israel last week to discuss Iran as well. Panetta for his own part has revised his tone on the question of Iran’s nuclear program, telling CBS News last week that the United States was prepared to use force against Iran to stop the country from building a nuclear weapon.
The new diplomacy has prompted new conversations between the United States and Israel over what the triggers—called “red lines” in diplomatic parlance—would be to justify a pre-emptive attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Matthew Kroenig, who served as special adviser on Iran to the Office of the Secretary of Defense between July 2010 and July 2011, offered some of the possible “red lines” for a military strike in a recent Foreign Affairs article he wrote. He argued that the U.S should attack Iran’s facilities if Iran expels international nuclear weapons inspectors, begins enriching its stockpiles of uranium to weapons-grade levels of 90 percent, or installs advanced centrifuges at its main uranium-enrichment facility in Qom.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Kroenig also noted that Iran announced in 2009 that it was set to construct 10 new uranium enrichment sites. “I doubt they are building ten new sites, but I would be surprised if Iran was not racing to build some secret enrichment facilities,” Kroenig said. “Progress on new facilities would be a major factor in our assessment of Iran’s nuclear program and shape all aspects of our policy towards this including the decision to use force.”
Until recently, current and former Obama administration officials would barely broach the topic in public, only hinting vaguely that all options are on the table to stop Iran’s program. Part of the reason for this was that Obama came into office committed to pursuing negotiations with Iran. When the diplomatic approach petered out, the White House began building international and economic pressure on Iran, often in close coordination with Israel.
All the while, secret sabotage initiatives like a computer worm known as Stuxnet that infected the Siemens-made logic boards at the Natanz centrifuge facility in Iran, continued apace. New U.S. estimates say that Stuxnet delayed Iran’s nuclear enrichment work by at most a year, despite earlier estimates that suggested the damage was more extensive.
Last week in a CBS interview, Panetta said Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon is a “red line.” White House advisers have more recently broached the subject more specifically in private conversations with outside experts on the subject.
“There is no credible military action when we hear leaders from the West saying, ‘this is not a real option.’”
Patrick Clawson, the director of research for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said, “If Iran were found to be sneaking out or breaking out then the president’s advisers are firmly persuaded he would authorize the use of military force to stop it.” But Clawson added, “The response they frequently get from the foreign policy experts is considerable skepticism that this is correct, not that these people are lying to us, but rather when the occasion comes we just don’t know how the president will react.”
Henry Sokolski, the executive director the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, said “You don’t propose and go about doing an oil embargo unless you are serious about taking the next step, and the next step for the administration is clearly some form of military action, and people who have left the administration like Dennis Ross have made it clear that this is precisely what’s on this administration’s mind.”
Ross did not respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment.
Ironically, Panetta often is the official the Obama administration uses to engage Israel. “Panetta has been straightforward with the Israelis and they seem to appreciate that,” one senior administration official said. “The Israelis view Panetta as an honest broker.” In some ways that is why his remarks stung Netanyahu’s government so much.
Complicating matters, the Dec. 2 remarks also came at the same time a high-level delegation of Israeli diplomats, military officers and intelligence officials were in Washington for an annual meeting called the strategic dialogue. At the meeting, the Israeli side offered a new presentation on Iran’s nuclear program suggesting that Iran’s efforts to build secret reactors for producing nuclear fuel were further along than the United States has publicly said. Some of the intelligence was based on soil samples collected near the suspected sites.
Part of the issue now between the United States and Israel are disagreements over such intelligence. The Israelis and the U.S. both believe that Iran suspended its work on weaponization, or the research and testing on how to fit an atomic explosion inside a warhead, in 2003 shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
The Israelis, however, say the Iranians started that work again in 2005, according to Israeli officials and Ya’alon, who said this in his speech on Christmas Eve. The 2007 and 2011 U.S. national intelligence estimates for Iran say this weaponization work remains suspended.
The Israelis also say a recent document uncovered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that shows detailed plans for constructing a “neutron initiator,” or a pellet that sits at the middle of the nuclear core and is crushed by high explosives in a nuclear explosion, is evidence that Iran is continuing its weaponization work. The latest IAEA report released in November said members states had shared intelligence alleging that Iran had conducted explosive tests associated with nuclear weapons research.
A senior administration official told The Daily Beast, “Both Americans and Israelis agree that some research and design work is probably continuing in the event the Iranians decide to move ahead with weaponization.”
The intelligence disagreement is significant in part because one of the factors in drawing up red lines on Iran’s program is how much progress Iran has made in constructing secret enrichment facilities outside of Natanz, where IAEA inspectors still monitor the centrifuge cascades. In 2009, the Obama administration exposed such a facility carved into a mountain outside of the Shiite holy city of Qom. The IAEA has chastised the Iranians for not fully disclosing their work on the Qom site until the United States forced the regime’s hand.
Source-The Washington Times: The Coming war with Iran
KAHLILI: The coming war with Iran
Regional chaos might count as a win for the mullahs
By Reza Kahlili
-
The Washington Times
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Iran’s tyrannical leaders, determined to make the Islamic regime a nuclear-armed state, are preparing for war. That’s exactly what the United States and Israel might have to deliver, and soon. @-Text.rag:Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Revolutionary Guards in May to speed up the regime’s nuclear-bomb program and arm its missiles with nuclear warheads. Now, sources reveal, Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered the guards to prepare for war.
In a recent meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, it was decided that the possibility of an attack by Israel or America in 2012 is real and that the country’s forces need to prepare several contingencies for war. It also was concluded that in case of war, the regime could be victorious, though the cost would be high, but it would emerge as the one and only champion of the Islamic cause in the world.
The radicals ruling Iran have long believed that obtaining the nuclear bomb will make them untouchable and will facilitate the expansion of the Islamic movement in the region and the world in bringing the West to its knees. They also have concluded that because of the troubles in the world’s economy and financial troubles in America, even a limited confrontation with America would benefit the Islamic regime.
Just as Hezbollah outfought Israel in the 2006 war, Iran can claim victory against the U.S. in such a conflict, which could include attacking Israel from several fronts. But the real prize for the criminal mullahs would be that it would help the regime bring down the monarchy in Bahrain, create instability in Saudi Arabia and, most important, help the Islamists in Egypt undermine military rule. All this would occur by inciting uprisings for a war of Islam against infidels and Zionists.
The guards in their preparations have mapped out several options. One would be to disrupt the oil flow from the Persian Gulf. They know that about 40 percent of the world’s oil and the majority of oil exports of eight countries in the Persian Gulf pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that could be blocked by the regime’s forces.
The guards’ navy of speedboats armed with cruise missiles, Iran’s submarines and, most important, the guards’ missiles of various kinds could be launched from deep within Iran and still target the narrow strait
The guards also have mapped out an extensive list of U.S. bases in the Middle East to attack with their missiles, disrupting the movement of U.S. forces and the operation of the Air Force, which the guards believe will be the main thrust of any attack by America.
For that purpose, several U.S. bases have been identified that could be attacked either by short-range rockets with a range of up to 140 miles or with ballistic missiles with a range of more than 1,250 miles. The two air bases in Kuwait, Ali Al Salem and Ahmed Al Jaber, are less than 85 miles from Iran. In Kuwait, the U.S. camps of Buehring, Spearhead, Patriot and Arifjan, with distances of 65 to 80 miles, are all within reach of the guards’ various missiles.
The guards also are targeting four U.S. air bases in Afghanistan as the main launching pads for any attacks on Iran. The Bagram Air Base, home to most of the U.S. Air Force presence in Afghanistan, is just 450 miles from the Iranian borders and within range of all of Iran’s ballistic missiles. Other air bases in Afghanistan that would be attacked by the guards in case of war are in Kandahar, Shindand and Herat.
The super U.S. base, Al Adid in Qatar, which is home to a variety of U.S. bombers and fighters, is within 175 miles of Iran and a prime target for the guards, though because of favorable relations of the Islamic regime with the government in Qatar, the guards are not sure America can use that air base for its attack and therefore will be much more likely to use its other superbase at Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, also within range of various Iranian missiles. Other U.S. targets of the guards are the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain and Thumrait Air Base in Oman.
The guards also have drawn up plans to confront any uprising from within should one occur after the breakout of war and have mobilized tens of thousands of Basijis ready to put down any unrest against the regime.
The Islamic regime in Iran also counts on Russia and China, with which it has close relations, to come to its help and facilitate an end to war in time to save the regime. China, which holds billions of dollars in contracts and is said to have more than 11,000 contractors, mostly of a military nature, in Iran, has the most to lose in the downfall of the Islamic regime, and its officials already have stated openly that China will aid the Iranian regime in case of war.
Though the Islamic regime never should have been allowed to continue with its suppression of its people, its terrorist activities worldwide and its continuation of its missile and nuclear programs despite U.N. sanctions, one cannot imagine a world with nuclear arms in the hands of the jihadists in Iran.
With officials from both Israel and the U.S. calling a nuclear-armed Iran a red line, leaving the possibility of a military option on the table, we must realize that the only possible solution to this dilemma is a regime change in Iran, which a majority of Iranians support. The price we pay today to save world peace and security will be minuscule to what the world will pay in the not-so-distant future.
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the author of “A Time to Betray” (Threshhold Editions, Simon & Schuster, 2010) He is a fellow with EMPact America and teaches at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA).
KAHLILI: The coming war with Iran
Regional chaos might count as a win for the mullahs
By Reza Kahlili
-
The Washington Times
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Iran’s tyrannical leaders, determined to make the Islamic regime a nuclear-armed state, are preparing for war. That’s exactly what the United States and Israel might have to deliver, and soon. @-Text.rag:Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Revolutionary Guards in May to speed up the regime’s nuclear-bomb program and arm its missiles with nuclear warheads. Now, sources reveal, Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered the guards to prepare for war.
In a recent meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, it was decided that the possibility of an attack by Israel or America in 2012 is real and that the country’s forces need to prepare several contingencies for war. It also was concluded that in case of war, the regime could be victorious, though the cost would be high, but it would emerge as the one and only champion of the Islamic cause in the world.
The radicals ruling Iran have long believed that obtaining the nuclear bomb will make them untouchable and will facilitate the expansion of the Islamic movement in the region and the world in bringing the West to its knees. They also have concluded that because of the troubles in the world’s economy and financial troubles in America, even a limited confrontation with America would benefit the Islamic regime.
Just as Hezbollah outfought Israel in the 2006 war, Iran can claim victory against the U.S. in such a conflict, which could include attacking Israel from several fronts. But the real prize for the criminal mullahs would be that it would help the regime bring down the monarchy in Bahrain, create instability in Saudi Arabia and, most important, help the Islamists in Egypt undermine military rule. All this would occur by inciting uprisings for a war of Islam against infidels and Zionists.
The guards in their preparations have mapped out several options. One would be to disrupt the oil flow from the Persian Gulf. They know that about 40 percent of the world’s oil and the majority of oil exports of eight countries in the Persian Gulf pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that could be blocked by the regime’s forces.
The guards’ navy of speedboats armed with cruise missiles, Iran’s submarines and, most important, the guards’ missiles of various kinds could be launched from deep within Iran and still target the narrow strait
The guards also have mapped out an extensive list of U.S. bases in the Middle East to attack with their missiles, disrupting the movement of U.S. forces and the operation of the Air Force, which the guards believe will be the main thrust of any attack by America.
For that purpose, several U.S. bases have been identified that could be attacked either by short-range rockets with a range of up to 140 miles or with ballistic missiles with a range of more than 1,250 miles. The two air bases in Kuwait, Ali Al Salem and Ahmed Al Jaber, are less than 85 miles from Iran. In Kuwait, the U.S. camps of Buehring, Spearhead, Patriot and Arifjan, with distances of 65 to 80 miles, are all within reach of the guards’ various missiles.
The guards also are targeting four U.S. air bases in Afghanistan as the main launching pads for any attacks on Iran. The Bagram Air Base, home to most of the U.S. Air Force presence in Afghanistan, is just 450 miles from the Iranian borders and within range of all of Iran’s ballistic missiles. Other air bases in Afghanistan that would be attacked by the guards in case of war are in Kandahar, Shindand and Herat.
The super U.S. base, Al Adid in Qatar, which is home to a variety of U.S. bombers and fighters, is within 175 miles of Iran and a prime target for the guards, though because of favorable relations of the Islamic regime with the government in Qatar, the guards are not sure America can use that air base for its attack and therefore will be much more likely to use its other superbase at Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, also within range of various Iranian missiles. Other U.S. targets of the guards are the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain and Thumrait Air Base in Oman.
The guards also have drawn up plans to confront any uprising from within should one occur after the breakout of war and have mobilized tens of thousands of Basijis ready to put down any unrest against the regime.
The Islamic regime in Iran also counts on Russia and China, with which it has close relations, to come to its help and facilitate an end to war in time to save the regime. China, which holds billions of dollars in contracts and is said to have more than 11,000 contractors, mostly of a military nature, in Iran, has the most to lose in the downfall of the Islamic regime, and its officials already have stated openly that China will aid the Iranian regime in case of war.
Though the Islamic regime never should have been allowed to continue with its suppression of its people, its terrorist activities worldwide and its continuation of its missile and nuclear programs despite U.N. sanctions, one cannot imagine a world with nuclear arms in the hands of the jihadists in Iran.
With officials from both Israel and the U.S. calling a nuclear-armed Iran a red line, leaving the possibility of a military option on the table, we must realize that the only possible solution to this dilemma is a regime change in Iran, which a majority of Iranians support. The price we pay today to save world peace and security will be minuscule to what the world will pay in the not-so-distant future.
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the author of “A Time to Betray” (Threshhold Editions, Simon & Schuster, 2010) He is a fellow with EMPact America and teaches at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA).
New Year Earthquake Activity
Source-Tribtoday.com-Youngstown Ohio New Years Earthquake
January 1, 2012
By DAN POMPILI - Staff reporter (dpompili@tribtoday.com) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com
YOUNGSTOWN - The second earthquake to hit the area in eight days was the largest on record in Mahoning County.
The 4.0 magnitude earthquake at 3:04 p.m. is the 11th of a 2.0 magnitude or greater to shake the county since March 17.
The Ohio Geological Survey placed the epicenter of Saturday's earthquake about a tenth of a mile from brine injection well just off Ohio Works Drive on the property of D&L Energy Systems.
Many blame the series of minor earthquakes on brine injection wells. The brine wastewater comes from drilling operations that use the so-called fracking process to extract natural gas from underground shale.
But Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Jim Zehringer said during a news teleconference that fracking is not causing the quakes.
"The seismic events are not a direct result of fracking," he said.
Environmentalists and property owners who live near gas drilling wells have questioned the safety of fracking to the environment and public health. Federal regulators have declared the technology safe, however.
The Ohio Works Drive well as shut down Friday to study any possible connection. Zehringer and Gov. Kasich's office said Saturday that four other injection wells within a five-mile radius that shuttered well also will be closed while further scientific research is conducted.
Saturday's quake was felt as far away as Ontario, Canada, and Raleigh, N.C., according to United States Geological Survey reports. Locally, only minor damages and no injuries were reported. A chimney in McDonald is reported to partially crumbled.
Within minutes of the strike, calls began flooding area police stations and newsrooms. Residents report hearing a "boom" followed by anywhere from a few seconds to more than two minutes of shaking.
"It was a loud boom and then everything shook for a minute," said Tom Reynolds, 34, of Division Street.
Division Street runs perpendicular to Ohio Works Drive, and for residents like Reynolds, there is no question: "It's from all that (stuff) down the street there, that fracking and (stuff).''
In a Tribune Chronicle article published Saturday, ODNR representatives noted that quakes above a 4 magnitude are known to cause surface damage. Saturday's 4.0 quake ran more than 3 miles deep.
State Rep. Bob Hagan took the earthquake as an indication that natural gas drilling processes need to be placed on hold across the state until further study can be completed. He said he worked with State Rep. Sean O'Brien to petition Gov. John Kasich's office to issue the moratorium on drilling.
"If they're going to make millions and millions of dollars, they're going to do it right, as far as I'm concerned," Hagan said.
Official2012Countdown.com
Mayan Interactive Clock to doomsday
Oklahoma EarthQuake New Years Day
United States Geological Survey
Last Earthquake in ...
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 2.8 OKLAHOMA
Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 13:23:23 UTC
Magnitude 2.8
Date-Time Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 13:23:23 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 07:23:23 AM - Local Time at Epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 35.54N 96.76W
Depth 5.0 kilometers
Region OKLAHOMA
Distances 27 km (16 miles) NNE of Shawnee, Oklahoma
69 km (42 miles) SSE of Stillwater, Oklahoma
69 km (42 miles) E of OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma
70 km (43 miles) ESE of Guthrie, Oklahoma
Location Uncertainty Error estimate not available
Parameters Nst=0, Nph=0, Dmin=0 km, Rmss=0 sec, Gp=0 degrees
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usc0007fer
Oklahoma and The New Madrid Fault 2012!
New York Times
Oklahoma Continues String of Recent Mild EarthquakesBy ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
Published: November 27, 2011
The generally placid, well-mannered state of Oklahoma has developed a very West Coast habit of late: the state, it seems, has got the shakes.
Oklahoma has been hit by nine earthquakes since last Monday, most of them concentrated in the area just east of Oklahoma City, according to the National Earthquake Information Center, a division of the United States Geological Survey.
The recent tremors have all been slight — the strongest, which hit Thursday, had a magnitude of 3.7 — the sort of event that makes a water glass tremble, but will not knock the wedding china to the floor. Nonetheless, residents accustomed to more stable ground beneath their feet have been startled.
“It’s certainly getting a lot of people’s attention,” said Austin Holland, a research seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey.
Oklahoma lies in the middle of the North American tectonic plate, as opposed to more quake-prone areas like Japan or California, where plates rub together. But there are fault lines that run through the state.
Last week’s quakes came as part of a larger period of increased activity that stretches back at least six weeks, the National Earthquake Information Center said. This month, at least 23 earthquakes were recorded in a single weekend, one with a magnitude of 5.6. That Sunday, Oklahoma residents awoke to collapsed chimneys and sections of buckled highway.
“It’s been going on for quite a while,” said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center. “We don’t know exactly why it occurs, but it doesn’t indicate that anything huge and terrible is going to happen.”
But Mr. Holland said that increased earthquake activity in Oklahoma could be traced back as far as two years. Possible causes, including the process of extracting oil and gas from the ground below, are still under investigation, he said.
“It keeps me up at night,” Mr. Holland said. But Oklahomans should not be nervous, he added. “It’s because I’m curious.”
Source-Tribtoday.com-Youngstown Ohio New Years Earthquake
January 1, 2012
By DAN POMPILI - Staff reporter (dpompili@tribtoday.com) , Tribune Chronicle | TribToday.com
YOUNGSTOWN - The second earthquake to hit the area in eight days was the largest on record in Mahoning County.
The 4.0 magnitude earthquake at 3:04 p.m. is the 11th of a 2.0 magnitude or greater to shake the county since March 17.
The Ohio Geological Survey placed the epicenter of Saturday's earthquake about a tenth of a mile from brine injection well just off Ohio Works Drive on the property of D&L Energy Systems.
Many blame the series of minor earthquakes on brine injection wells. The brine wastewater comes from drilling operations that use the so-called fracking process to extract natural gas from underground shale.
But Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director Jim Zehringer said during a news teleconference that fracking is not causing the quakes.
"The seismic events are not a direct result of fracking," he said.
Environmentalists and property owners who live near gas drilling wells have questioned the safety of fracking to the environment and public health. Federal regulators have declared the technology safe, however.
The Ohio Works Drive well as shut down Friday to study any possible connection. Zehringer and Gov. Kasich's office said Saturday that four other injection wells within a five-mile radius that shuttered well also will be closed while further scientific research is conducted.
Saturday's quake was felt as far away as Ontario, Canada, and Raleigh, N.C., according to United States Geological Survey reports. Locally, only minor damages and no injuries were reported. A chimney in McDonald is reported to partially crumbled.
Within minutes of the strike, calls began flooding area police stations and newsrooms. Residents report hearing a "boom" followed by anywhere from a few seconds to more than two minutes of shaking.
"It was a loud boom and then everything shook for a minute," said Tom Reynolds, 34, of Division Street.
Division Street runs perpendicular to Ohio Works Drive, and for residents like Reynolds, there is no question: "It's from all that (stuff) down the street there, that fracking and (stuff).''
In a Tribune Chronicle article published Saturday, ODNR representatives noted that quakes above a 4 magnitude are known to cause surface damage. Saturday's 4.0 quake ran more than 3 miles deep.
State Rep. Bob Hagan took the earthquake as an indication that natural gas drilling processes need to be placed on hold across the state until further study can be completed. He said he worked with State Rep. Sean O'Brien to petition Gov. John Kasich's office to issue the moratorium on drilling.
"If they're going to make millions and millions of dollars, they're going to do it right, as far as I'm concerned," Hagan said.
Official2012Countdown.com
Mayan Interactive Clock to doomsday
Oklahoma EarthQuake New Years Day
United States Geological Survey
Last Earthquake in ...
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 2.8 OKLAHOMA
Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 13:23:23 UTC
Magnitude 2.8
Date-Time Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 13:23:23 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 07:23:23 AM - Local Time at Epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 35.54N 96.76W
Depth 5.0 kilometers
Region OKLAHOMA
Distances 27 km (16 miles) NNE of Shawnee, Oklahoma
69 km (42 miles) SSE of Stillwater, Oklahoma
69 km (42 miles) E of OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma
70 km (43 miles) ESE of Guthrie, Oklahoma
Location Uncertainty Error estimate not available
Parameters Nst=0, Nph=0, Dmin=0 km, Rmss=0 sec, Gp=0 degrees
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID usc0007fer
Oklahoma and The New Madrid Fault 2012!
New York Times
Oklahoma Continues String of Recent Mild EarthquakesBy ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
Published: November 27, 2011
The generally placid, well-mannered state of Oklahoma has developed a very West Coast habit of late: the state, it seems, has got the shakes.
Oklahoma has been hit by nine earthquakes since last Monday, most of them concentrated in the area just east of Oklahoma City, according to the National Earthquake Information Center, a division of the United States Geological Survey.
The recent tremors have all been slight — the strongest, which hit Thursday, had a magnitude of 3.7 — the sort of event that makes a water glass tremble, but will not knock the wedding china to the floor. Nonetheless, residents accustomed to more stable ground beneath their feet have been startled.
“It’s certainly getting a lot of people’s attention,” said Austin Holland, a research seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey.
Oklahoma lies in the middle of the North American tectonic plate, as opposed to more quake-prone areas like Japan or California, where plates rub together. But there are fault lines that run through the state.
Last week’s quakes came as part of a larger period of increased activity that stretches back at least six weeks, the National Earthquake Information Center said. This month, at least 23 earthquakes were recorded in a single weekend, one with a magnitude of 5.6. That Sunday, Oklahoma residents awoke to collapsed chimneys and sections of buckled highway.
“It’s been going on for quite a while,” said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Center. “We don’t know exactly why it occurs, but it doesn’t indicate that anything huge and terrible is going to happen.”
But Mr. Holland said that increased earthquake activity in Oklahoma could be traced back as far as two years. Possible causes, including the process of extracting oil and gas from the ground below, are still under investigation, he said.
“It keeps me up at night,” Mr. Holland said. But Oklahomans should not be nervous, he added. “It’s because I’m curious.”
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