Monday, June 01, 2009
N. Korea Preparing Missile Launch from New Base
As China Confidential reported on May 25, North Korea is preparing to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile from its west coast. North Korea has moved the ICBM to the newly completed missile facility of Dongchang-ni, about 40 miles from the Chinese border.
The missile, which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, is believed to have a range of up to 4,000 miles, putting Alaska within striking range.Venezuelan Missile Buildup Alarms Washington
Barack Obama's buddy, Hugo Chavez, is building up an alarming arsenal of advanced missiles. Click here for the story.
China Confidential analysts say the South American nation's purchase of shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles is just the tip of the iceberg. Venezuela's despot is cooperating closely with Iran and Hezbollah--and North Korea. The Crackpot of Caracas even dreams of developing his own nuclear deterrent with Islamist/Stalinist help.
The Axis of Evil is all too real.Obama's 'Piece Plan' for Israel
The outlines of U.S. President Barack Obama's plan for Middle East peace--meaning, the piece-by-piece dismantling of Israel and appeasement of Iran--are coming into sharp focus.
The President has basically accepted the Saudi scheme, which calls for the complete withdrawal of Israel from any and all lands it liberated during its defensive war of June 1967--the Six-Day War that won the world's admiration and ended "the Auschwitz lines" that facilitated ceaseless terrorist and sniper attacks on Israel by its Arab enemies.
That explains Obama's deep submissive bow to the Saudi King and June 3 overnight dinner date with the oil-rich monarch, who rules over a family business-disguised-as-a-country that has no human rights and is still known for slicing heads and hands off convicted felons. The Saudi stopover will be followed the next day by Obama's scheduled speech from Egypt to "the Muslim world"--an event that will essentially validate Islamist ideology by elevating organized Islam to the level of a global political power.
Obama has also decided that the United States can live with (but never formally "accept") a nuclear-armed Iran, in spite of his and his administration members' statements to the contrary. Obama's six-month minimum timetable for talks with the monstrous mullahocracy by definition gives it time to develop at least one atom bomb while continuing to assist nuclear-armed North Korea in nuclear arms and ballistic missile tests.
Obama's perfidious plan, in which his top Jewish advisers and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are apparently complicit, calls for constant, unprecedented, U.S. pressure on--and actual threats to--Israel over the so-called settlements issue (i.e. the right of the Jewish State to build housing in liberated Judea and Samaria and parts of Israel's present-day and ancient capital, Jerusalem. The pressure and threats--to reduce political support at the United Nations, and, more important, to cut off military aid--will be balanced by meaningless public pronouncements by the President and his helpers that the U.S. and Israel, regardless of their different positions on land, settlements, and Iran, remain allies and friends.
"Stalwart ally" is an Obama term that is likely to be used over and again .... on the way to a final solution of the Jewish problem in the Middle East ... the problem, of course, being the miraculous rebirth of a sovereign Jewish State in the ancient, religious and historical homeland of the Jewish people against all odds and expectations (except for the unwavering faith of the brave fighters and prophets and rebels and statesmen (and stateswomen) of the phenomenally inspiring and successful Zionist movement and their truly ... stalwart ... American supporters.
That the contemporary U.S. Jewish electorate overwhelmingly voted for Obama over a proven and trusted friend, John McCain, is beyond belief--a betrayal of Israel and the Jewish people that has no historical parallel.
Is there not one important American Jew, one rich-and-influential-enough Jewish Democrat--with the courage to stand up and be counted in defense of menaced and beleaguered Israel? Again this reporter asks: which side are you on, American Jewry, Obama and the anti-Israel (and anti-democratic) Democratic Party, or Israel and the Jewish people?
Given the threat to U.S. national security by everything Obama is doing, has done, and plans to do in the areas of foreign policy and counter-terrorism---from appeasement of Iran to the downgrading and demilitarizing of the war against radical Islam--the choice for concerned American Jews should be a no-brainer.
POSTSCRIPT: Members of the U.S. press corps accompanying Obama to medieval Saudi Arabia could be arrested if they dare to report on anything except the Obama visit. Jewish journalists are especially vulnerable. Huffington Post reports:TIME's Michael Scherer, who will be accompanying President Obama on his trip to Saudi Arabia Tuesday, reports that he has been warned by the U.S. State Department that, while in Saudi Arabia, he is not to report on anything except the President's visit lest he "risk arrest and detention by Saudi authorities."
Scherer writes that "by agreement between the Obama Administration and the Saudi government, the White House press corps will be severely restricted while in the country," and he shared with readers the instructions sent to him by the State Department:
The Saudi government is permitting journalists accompanying President Obama entry into the country without a visa or the usual customs procedures. While in Saudi Arabia, therefore, journalists are expressly prohibited from leaving the hotel or engaging in any journalistic activities outside of coverage of the POTUS visit. Those who do so risk arrest and detention by Saudi authorities.Terrorism Among Possible Causes of Air Crash
Investigators are not ruling out terrorism in the disappearance of Air France Flight 447, presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board.
A terrorist bomb is unfortunately a more likely explanation than a lightning strike, even though the plane ran into lightning and strong thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean.
Accident-causing lightning strikes of aircraft are rare; and modern jetliners have systems that dissipate electricity in the event of lightning strikes.
Except for the 1963 crash of a Pan Am Boeing 707, which exploded in midair when its fuel tank fumes were ignited by lightning, and the 1976 crash of a TWA 747 on loan to the Iranian military (before the Islamic Revolution), and used as a cargo plane, there is no known case of a jetliner crash caused by lightning. Although the Pan Am crash explanation has been accepted, the official explanation of the Iranian crash has always been suspect, as the government of Iran's Shah had a policy in those days of suppressing news of terrorist attacks by its Islamist and radical left-wing enemies. The Iranian operated TWA plane was destroyed near Madrid in a midair explosion, much like the fuel tank explosion that 20 years later destroyed TWA's passenger plane, Flight 800, off the coast of Long Island, shortly after takeoff from New York's JFK Airport.
In 1971, LANSA Flight 508, a Lockheed Electra L-188A turboprop, was struck by lightning and crashed in a thunderstorm en route from Lima, Peru to Pucallpa, Peru, killing 91 people--all of six crew members and 85 of 86 passengers. (The sole survivor was a 17-year-old German girl who fell two miles down into the Amazon rainforest strapped to her seat, remarkably survived the fall, and, despite suffering serious injuries, was able to walk through the jungle for 10 days until she was rescued by local lumbermen. Several other passengers are believed to have also survived the crash; but they died from their injuries while waiting to be rescued.)
Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 left Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at 7:00 PM local time (2200 GMT, 6 p.m. EDT) with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
About four hours later, the plane sent an automatic signal indicating electrical problems while going through strong turbulence.
There was no Mayday call from the pilot--an indication of a sudden, catastrophic event.
A government source in Brazil said the plane disappeared from Brazilian radar screens around three-and-a-half hours into the flight. That would put it closer to Brazil than France; but the jet's last location is not precisely known.
Brazilian air force planes on the island of Fernando de Noronha have been searching for the airliner.
France's ambassador to the west African country of Senegal said French military planes there have also joined in the search.
If no survivors are found, the loss of Air France 447 will be the worst accident in the airline's 75-year history and the worst civil aviation disaster since the 2001 crash of American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, which slammed into a New York City neighborhood (in the borough of Queens) after departing JFK for the Dominican Republic.
Tuesday 2 June 2009
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