The Philippines on Thursday warned that territorial rows in Asia are “causing considerable tension that could lead to conflict” as several countries face off with China over island claims.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, speaking at a Tokyo business conference, said China’s “nine-dash line claim encompassing almost the entire South China Sea” is “excessive.”
“In addition to the South China Sea, we have in Northeast Asia, home to Asia’s biggest economic powerhouses, several disputes that have adversely affected relations between and among Japan, China and the Republic of Korea.
“The competing territorial and maritime disputes are causing considerable tension that could lead to conflict,” he warned.
Asia tension could lead to conflict—DFA chief | Inquirer Global Nation
Asia tension could lead to conflict—DFA chief | Inquirer Global Nation
Muslim Acts of Beheading in the West :: Daniel Pipes
The gruesome murder yesterday of a soldier outside London by a Muslim convert, Michael Adebolajo, brings to mind that throat slitting and beheading are Islamically sanctioned forms of execution. Although these occur particularly often in the course of family-related crimes – think, for example, of the case of Aasiya Hassan in suburban Buffalo, N.Y., killed by her husband in 2009, stabbed with two hunting knives more than forty times in the face, back and chest, then beheaded – this monstrous form of violence is also used in non-family instances. Some of those that took place over the past decade in the West in chronological order include:
Israeli Air Force chief warns a multi-front war could be imminent | World Tribune
“It’s not as if we can say we have two weeks go prepare [for war],” Eshel said. “I am not sure we have two weeks to prepare.”
In an address on May 22 to the Fisher Brothers Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, Eshel said the next war with Hizbullah in Lebanon would exhaust the air force’s capabilities. He warned that the next war would include missile strikes on Israel’s cities, which would require a strategy to end fighting quickly.
“We have to be prepared to fight on three fronts simultaneously,” Eshel said. “We have to know to leap from one front to another.”
Israeli Air Force chief warns a multi-front war could be imminent | World Tribune
Iran could use a nuclear weapon against Israel and get away with it | The Daily Caller
Israel’s deterrent capacity is only effective against conventional nuclear attacks. If Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, or one of its terror proxies, detonated a suitcase bomb inside of Israel, it would be nearly impossible to prove that Iran’s leaders ordered the attack. And without conclusive evidence of Tehran’s direct involvement, an Israeli counterattack would be illegal, unjust, and unwise. Therefore, it is plausible that Iran could use a tactical nuclear weapon against Israel without a serious fear of an Israeli reprisal.
Iran could use a nuclear weapon against Israel and get away with it | The Daily Caller
I have argued in the past that the above scenario (the nuclear terrorism part) will actually take place. Except, it won’t happen in Israel. It will happen in Europe with Rome being the most likely target. Muslims are out to conquer Rome. This is based on my extremely violent interpretation of Bible prophecy. Rome is suddenly obliterated through nuclear terrorism. The Europeans eventually figure out who did it and retaliate. By that time Iran will be a nuclear superpower and obliterate Europe in the process. That will be the end of Europe and Iran. Hello new world led by Turkey.
Based on what I know right now that is how I see it. As we move into the future I may have to make changes.
U.S. Gov’t: Radical Muslims Approved, Moderates Shunned
In reality, solid evidence exists to the contrary – evidence ironically from the federal government’s own determinations as well as documents from the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood itself including a 1991 U.S. Muslim Brotherhood explanatory memorandum that explicitly states: “[O]ur work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.”
The Brotherhood memorandum lists “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” The list includes “mainstream” Muslim-American groups—the very same groups which appear to have influenced these very same Department of Homeland Security guidelines (see below).
Russia’s top military officer skeptical about further nuclear arms cuts – The Washington Post
Russia’s top military officer on Thursday voiced skepticism about deeper nuclear arms cuts, saying they should require parallel reductions in non-nuclear precision weapons.
The statement by chief of Russia’s military General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, appeared to signal the Kremlin’s reluctance to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with Washington.
Russia’s top military officer skeptical about further nuclear arms cuts – The Washington Post
IAF chief: S-300 en route to Assad – Israel News, Ynetnews
Maj. Gen Eshel says that Syria’s arming ‘will produce confidence, aggressive behavior’; IDF chief stresses ‘military faces real scenario of confrontation on multiple fronts’
Air Force Commander Major General Amir Eshel said Wednesday that S-300 advanced missile defense system will soon land in the hands of the Syrian army.
Speaking at a convention in Herzliya, Eshel added “there is a clear understanding that such capabilities will produce confidence and aggressive behavior.”
Israel to hold massive chemical warfare drill | The Times of Israel
The Home Front Command on Wednesday was preparing for a massive military drill next week, to focus on coping with chemical weapons attacks. The nationwide exercise will drill the civilian population as well as military and emergency services.
The exercise was originally scheduled to take place three weeks ago but was postponed due to tension with Syria. The simulation, which is being run in conjunction with the emergency response services, starts Sunday morning as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces a week of national emergency preparedness.
Israel to hold massive chemical warfare drill | The Times of Israel
Game Changer: When America Stops Importing Energy – NYTimes.com
The numbers tell the story: U.S. oil production has reversed its 30-plus year decline; U.S. imports from OPEC producers have fallen more than 20 percent in the past three years; U.S. natural gas reserves and production are up significantly and prices have dropped 75 percent in the past five years. The International Energy Agency forecasts that the United States could become the world’s largest oil producer by 2020 and may be energy self-sufficient by 2035. That’s a game changer.
While this is not a free lunch, it should not be feared. The production process is complicated and expensive, and if the industry is not careful there can be risks to the environment. But the potential is staggering. Significant domestic job growth and economic expansion has begun.
The only problem here is that it could destabilize existing oil and gas exporting countries like Russia and Venezuela. Since both are already unstable, decreasing energy prices could start revolutions. In the case of Russia, that might be very bad news for the rest of us.
How America became a third world country – Le Monde diplomatique – English edition
The streets are so much darker now, since money for streetlights is rarely available to municipal governments. The national parks began closing down years ago. Some are already being subdivided and sold to the highest bidder. Reports on bridges crumbling or even collapsing are commonplace. The air in city after city hangs brown and heavy (and rates of childhood asthma and other lung diseases have shot up), because funding that would allow the enforcement of clean air standards by the Environmental Protection Agency is a distant memory. Public education has been cut to the bone, making good schools a luxury and, according to the Department of Education, two of every five students won’t graduate from high school.
It’s 2023 — and this is America 10 years after the first across-the-board federal budget cuts known as sequestration went into effect. They went on for a decade, making no exception for effective programs vital to America’s economic health that were already underfunded, like job training and infrastructure repairs. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Traveling back in time to 2013 — at the moment the sequester cuts began — no one knew what their impact would be, although nearly everyone across the political spectrum agreed that it would be bad. …
How America became a third world country – Le Monde diplomatique – English edition
