Israel fears that the area – largely quiet for almost 40 years despite the continued formal state of war between the two countries – is becoming a “hot border”. The Syrian Golan is now mostly in the hands of opposition forces, with large numbers of regime troops being redeployed to other battlefronts in recent weeks. But, say Israel and western military analysts, the presence of Islamist jihadists among the opposition forces is strong.
“We are seeing terror organisations gaining footholds increasingly in the territory,” said Lt Gen Benny Gantz, Israel’s military chief, last week. “For now, they are fighting Assad. Guess what? We’re next in line.”
Syrian conflict threatens to spill over from Golan into Israel | World news | The Guardian
Tag Archives: Large Numbers
Syrian conflict threatens to spill over from Golan into Israel | World news | The Guardian
Posted by Matt
on April 7, 2013
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The Global Economy Is A Giant Ponzi Scheme | The Global Mail
Posted by Matt
on March 16, 2013
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Essential for any healthy economy is the people to power it. And Europe, North America, Oceania — they’re all losing fuel. What will this mean for superpowers, national borders, and for xenophobia?
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“If you are looking to migration to offset the low fertility rate, you are talking absolutely enormous numbers. Way above any capacity to actually absorb them.”
It’s not just about prejudice. There are big practical hurdles to importing large numbers of people of different language cultural practice. They need infrastructure, they need services, they need help. Even with the best will in the world, it takes time to assimilate migrant populations.
And over the longer term, as fertility declines in ever more countries, immigrants are going to be harder to come by
In the longer term, the world will have to adjust its economic system to cope with the novel concept of less. Fewer people, less consumption, lowered need for resources, energy, housing, roads, you name it. And Australia is singularly ill-prepared for that medium-term future.
The Global Economy Is A Giant Ponzi Scheme | The Global Mail
China’s biggest problem? Too many men – CNN.com
Posted by Matt
on March 7, 2013
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Young men with poor prospects of ever starting a family spell danger to themselves and to their societies. Over millions of years of evolution, large numbers of women and even larger numbers of men left no offspring at all. Yet everyone alive today descends from ancestors who managed to avoid that fate. Our male ancestors were the ones who strove most frantically for status and the respect of their peers, and who won the chance to mate.
As a result, young men are hair-trigger sensitive to their circumstances, and when the number of men who will never find a mate rises, so does the intensity of the striving. Young men discount their futures and take ridiculous risks in order to improve their prospects. They also become more violent, rising more readily to perceived slights and insults, and starting more fights — often over trivial issues. These are the triggers for most man-on-man assaults and homicides.
China conducts mobile ICBM test days ahead of expected North Korean launch | Washington Free Beacon
Posted by Matt
on December 4, 2012
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China is known to use its missile tests to send political signals, as in 1996 when it bracketed Taiwan with missile flight tests that impacted north and south of the island prior to a presidential election.
Analysts say the DF-31A test likely was intended to bolster the Chinese military’s hardline stance toward the United States and particularly the U.S. military, regarded by Beijing as its main adversary.
The most recent DF-31 flight test occurred Aug. 30, also from Wuzhai, located in Shanxi province about 267 miles southwest of Beijing. That missile test involved a single warhead simulation.
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The DF-31A development “suggests that China may be building toward a ‘counterstrike’ strategy that would require the secret buildup of many more missiles and warheads than suggested by public ICBM number estimates made available by the U.S. Intelligence Community,” he said.
Fisher said China may be stockpiling large numbers of “reload” missiles for the mobile DF-31A launchers in its large-scale underground nuclear system, estimated to include 3,000 miles of tunnels.
China conducts mobile ICBM test days ahead of expected North Korean launch | Washington Free Beacon
China-Japan row over disputed islands threatens to escalate | World news | guardian.co.uk
Posted by Matt
on September 18, 2012
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The Asahi Shimbun newspaper quoted an aide to Yoshihiko Noda, the Japanese prime minister, as saying that the possible arrival of the fishing boats would take the dispute to a “new stage”.
He told the paper: “The government is taking a wait-and-see approach for the moment. But we will not be able to sit by idly if fishing vessels reach the Senkaku islands in large numbers. It could lead to a new stage.”
The coastguard could be forced to arrest the captains of any Chinese vessels that enter Japan’s territorial waters, in a repeat of an incident that soured relations between the two countries in 2010. If the coastguard is unable to cope, some have speculated that the defence forces could become involved.
China-Japan row over disputed islands threatens to escalate | World news | guardian.co.uk
Iranian intelligence agents target, arrest Christian converts | The Daily Caller
Posted by Matt
on May 11, 2012
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Iran’s ayatollahs are showing frustration with Iranians leaving Islam for Christianity in large numbers despite the threat of execution for apostasy.
A former intelligence officer in the Guards, who has now defected to Europe, told The Daily Caller that the country’s regime has ordered the domestic intelligence apparatus to use drastic measures to stop them — including imprisonment, torture and the mass-burning of Bibles.
Iranian intelligence agents target, arrest Christian converts | The Daily Caller
How Ecuador’s immigration policy helps al Qaeda | Shadow Government
Posted by Matt
on April 3, 2012
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In June of 2008, the Ecuadorian government opened its borders to foreigners and ended visa requirements to enter its territory. This opened the floodgates to nationals from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia (e.g., Afghanistan, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Kenya, Nigeria, Cuba, Pakistan, and Somalia). For example, according to statistics of its own National Immigration Office, in 2006 (before the policy change) there were 92 entries of Pakistani citizens, by 2008 were already 178 and in 2010, 518. This is an increase of 550 percent in 4 years. More significantly, just between 2008 and 2010 an estimated 60,000 Cubans entered Ecuador, according to intelligence sources.
Records shows that large numbers of these immigrants enter to obtain Ecuadorian nationality by naturalization and thus be able to travel freely throughout Latin America and eventually to the United States without arousing suspicion because of their original nationalities. The routes by which they enter the Americas generally include a first stop in Cuba or Venezuela, countries with highly subjective immigration controls. Two routes that are used repeatedly are Pakistan/Afghanistan-Iran-Venezuela-Ecuador, and Somalia-Dubai-Russia-Cuba-Ecuador.
How Ecuador’s immigration policy helps al Qaeda | Shadow Government
Italy: “Mosques Springing Up like Mushrooms” :: Gatestone Institute
Posted by Matt
on April 2, 2012
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After it came to light that the majority of the mosques in Italy are controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni called for a moratorium on the building of new mosques until a new national law could be written to regulate the phenomenon.
According to Manes Bernardini, a politician with the Northern League in Bologna, “Mosques are springing up like mushrooms, and mayors can do nothing about it because there is no national law to regulate the proliferation of these structures.”
Italy: “Mosques Springing Up like Mushrooms” :: Gatestone Institute
It would appear that Islam is an emerging problem – a descending dark cloud – on the western world. It turns out that Islam is more of a symptom for a much bigger problem. The real problem is the rise of modern liberalism. Modern liberalism is unable to recognize threats until it is too late. In this case, modern liberals are allowing Muslims to immigrate in large numbers, and is protective of them. The modern liberal cannot imagine losing his own country to Islam or other threats.
Massive debt, game changing immigration, military reductions, inability to confront threats (political correctness) and no concern for nuclear war all point to big problems ahead for the western world.
Russian Exercises In Caucasus Prepping For Iran War?
Posted by Matt
on January 23, 2012
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Russia will be holding a series of military exercises in the North Caucasus, Armenia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia this fall, reportedly in preparation for a possible U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. The exercises, called Kavkaz-2012, will be held in September and won’t be tactical/operational but strategic (i.e. won’t involve large numbers of troops). The exercises will, however, include officers from the breakaway Georgian territories. The focus on surveillance, air defense and logistics suggests that Russia is tailoring the exercise to prepare for a U.S.-Israel-Iran war, says Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta [9]:
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Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is ratcheting up the bellicose rhetoric (even by the high standards of the Caucasus) against Armenia, reports Bloomberg [12]:
Azerbaijan is buying up modern weaponry to be able to regain control of the breakaway Nagorno- Karabakh region quickly and with few losses should peace talks with neighboring Armenia fail, President Ilham Aliyev said.
Defense spending will rise 1.8 percent this year to $3.47 billion, which Aliyev said tops Armenia’s entire state budget.
“It’s not a frozen conflict, and it’s not going to be one,” Aliyev said today in remarks broadcast on state television channel AzTV.
Would war in Iran have any effect on the Nagorno-Karabakh situation? The mind reels
Russian Exercises In Caucasus Prepping For Iran War?, 23 January 2012 Monday 10:50
