Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Vietnam Special Forces Prep for S China Sea Action: Media
Jun 23rd, 2015
Daily NewsWant China Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Two of Vietnamese Navy's four Tarantul-class corvettes.

To stop China's land reclamation activities in the disputed South China Sea, the Vietnamese military is preparing to attack the Chinese facilities in the region with special forces, according to Moscow-based Kommersant.

As military exercises held by the Vietnamese military since 2004 have shown, the People's Air Force of Vietnam's Su-22 tactical bomber will be used to launch the first strike against maritime targets with AS-10 air-to-surface missiles. At the same time, the Su-30 fighter is likely to provide cover for the Su-22 bombers during the strike. The bomber can attack the People's Liberation Army Navy's vessels from an attitude of 2,500 to 3,000 meters.

Next, the People's Navy of Vietnam will carry out an amphibious landing against the islands and reefs currently under Chinese occupation. The landing vessels are to be covered by aircraft, torpedo boats and corvettes. The Beijing-based Sina Military Network reports that the Vietnamese Navy's four Tarantul-class corvettes are equipped with Russian-built Kh-35 anti-ship missiles which are extremely dangerous for PLA surface combat vessels.

Vietnam is just the second nation in the world to have Kh-35 anti-ship missiles. It has an attacking range of 130 kilometers.

After that, Vietnamese special forces will initiate attacks against targets including merchant ships, supply vessels, radar stations, ports and storage areas on smaller islands or reefs with fewer Chinese troops stationed there. A Vietnamese special operations team has between three and five military personnel per unit, the Kommersant said.

U.S. to Supply Weapons, Troops for NATO 'Rapid Reaction' Force in Europe
Jun 23rd, 2015
Daily NewsSputnik
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday said the United States will supply weapons, aircraft and soldiers for NATO's rapid reaction force to help European states defend against what Washington imagines to be "security threats."

Under the plan, the US will contribute intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, logistics, transport aircraft, and a range of weapons support that could include bombers, fighters and ship-based missiles, the Associated Press reported.

Carter announced the new details about the US contribution while in Berlin, the first of several stops in Europe.

There has been no final decision on the number of troops that will participate, but the US says it will not provide a large ground force. However many US soldiers are committed will join troops from Germany, Norway and the Netherlands, which had agreed to provide the initial troops for the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF).

No US troops or equipment will move immediately, but instead would be made available within 48-72 hours if requested, and approved by American leaders, in response to a crisis, the AP reported.

Carter said the US is contributing aid "because the United States is deeply committed to the defense of Europe, as we have been for decades." Despite the expansion of forces in Eastern Europe, Carter said the US is not looking for a conflict with Russia.

"We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia," Carter said. "We do not seek to make Russia an enemy."

The West has long blamed Russia for interfering in Ukrainian affairs and posing a threat to European neighbors. Moscow has consistently denied the claims, arguing instead that it is Washington that is largely to blame for destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.

Over the weekend, Kremlin Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov reiterated Moscow's concerns over NATO expansion in Europe, calling Western expansion of defense spending "unnecessary."

"Why do we have to do this? Do you seriously think that we want to unleash war with NATO?” he asked rhetorically in an interview with the Financial Times.

Nonetheless, Carter accused Moscow of attempting to expand its sphere of influence: 

"Make no mistake: we will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us. We will stand up to Russia's actions and their attempts to re-establish a Soviet-era sphere of influence."

Carter also encouraged Germany and other NATO members to increase defense spending. Hours earlier, while on a plane to Europe, the Pentagon chief said the United States and NATO are in the midst of a standoff with Russia that could last years or even decades.

"The adaptations I was talking are specifically in anticipation that Russia might not change under Vladimir Putin, or even thereafter," Carter told journalists aboard the plane.

U.S. Nuclear Missile Commander Says Vladimir Putin's Actions Echo Those of Nazi Germany in the 1930s
Jun 23rd, 2015
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: One World Church;Contemporary Issues

Lieutenant General Stephen Wilson, commander of US Global Air Strike Command, said: “I don’t think we’ve ever seen so much power put in one person in Russia, and some of the things happening there are troubling and concerning for everybody.”

He added: “[They’ve] annexed a country, changing international borders, raising rhetoric unlike we’ve heard since the cold war times, and so lots of people are trying to figure out what is the strategic intent of Russia.

“Some of the actions by Russia recently we haven’t seen since the 1930s, when whole countries were annexed and borders were changed by decree.”

Lt Gen Wilson, who is responsible for US intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear-capable bomber forces, made the comments at a briefing in London attended by The Independent.

His outspoken remarks come amid rising tensions between the West and Russia. Yesterday, the EU extended economic sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, and the US Defence Secretary, Ashton Carter, declared that America’s Nato allies must join it in standing up to Russian aggression.

Lt Gen Wilson, also used the briefing to accuse Russia of risking lives when its military jets fly unannounced close to Western countries’ airspace, or near to corridors used by international commercial airliners.

“When we fly, we fly to a flight plan – we announce it, we ‘squawk’, our transponders are on, we are talking to air traffic control, we are following all international laws,” he said of USAF and other Nato missions. “That isn’t happening with Russia. You’ve got contested airspace with  people flying all the time, you’re unannounced, you’re not on a flight plan, you’re not squawking. We would not do that. It puts people at risk.”

In March last year, a Scandinavian Airlines passenger jet narrowly avoided colliding with a Russian military aircraft that had shut down its transponder – becoming invisible to civilian air traffic controllers. 

Speaking earlier this year, Jens Stoltenberg, Nato Secretary-General, said: “Last year, Allied aircraft intercepted Russian planes more than 400 times. Over 150 of these intercepts were conducted by Nato’s Baltic Air Policing Mission. That’s about four times as many as in 2013.”

The surge in Russian sorties is part of a wider picture of rising tensions, according to Lt Gen Wilson. “Right now, some of their actions are causing people to question what’s going on and why,” he said. “We want to bring Russia back into what we knew from years past – a relationship which was stable, with good dialogue, and understanding and communication to avoid any potential miscalculation.”

Demands on the US air force are greater than they were in 1963, at the height of the cold war, he claimed. “Our force is about half the size that it was. There were more than 600,000 in the late Eighties; today we sit at just over 300,000.”

He admitted that the US and its allies faced a challenge to maintain their armed forces.

“Defence spending for every country is certainly challenging. All of us are struggling with how we can both maintain the forces we have, in terms of their readiness, but also the modernisation of our forces,” he said.

Tupolev-95 bombers, known as Bear bombers have been observed in international airspace4

The US faces a $348bn bill over the coming decade to bring its ageing nuclear forces up to date, according to a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office. “I spend every day thinking about what we are doing to make sure that the force that we have is both ready and credible – to be able to assure our allies around the world that we are there for you,” said Lt Gen Wilson.

His comments come amid mounting concern about Russia’s ambitions, heightened by its actions in Ukraine, where thousands have died in fighting between Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces, and its recent overtures to Greece. In a sign of the rising tensions between the West and Russia, US Defence Secretary Carter called on Nato members to stand united in the face of Russian aggression. “We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia... we do not seek to make Russia an enemy,” he said.

But speaking in Berlin yesterday, Mr Carter added: “Make no mistake: we will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us all. We will stand up to Russia’s actions and their attempts to re-establish a Soviet-era sphere of influence.”

And he announced that the US will contribute weapons, aircraft, and forces to a Nato rapid-reaction force to help defend Europe against foreign threats. His remarks came as EU foreign ministers agreed to extend economic sanctions on Russia until January, maintaining pressure on Moscow to resolve the Ukraine situation.

Earlier this month, Mr Putin’s announcement that Russia would deploy more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles “able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defence systems” was condemned as “nuclear sabre-rattling” by Mr Stoltenberg.

But the Russian President remains defiant. Last week in St Petersburg , he said: “We’ve started defending our interests more and more resolutely and consistently.

“We calmly kept silent for a long time...  and proposed various elements of co-operation. But we were gradually pressed and pressed on and were ultimately pressed against a line we could not cross"

Major Money Manager Braces for Bond - Market Collapse
Jun 23rd, 2015
Daily NewsBloomberg
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Let the Headlines Speak
Jun 23rd, 2015
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

WikiLeaks Saudi cable says Iran shipped nuclear equipment to Sudan
Saudi diplomats in Khartoum believed Iran shipped advanced nuclear equipment including centrifuges to Sudan in 2012, according to a document leaked last week that WikiLeaks says is a cable from the embassy.  

Pope told to read scriptures on self defense
'Children of Israel commanded to make weapons and to use them when necessary' “Pope Francis is not thinking his declaration through considering what is said in the Bible, the same word of God the pope claims to represent to the world. The people of God have always had to possess weapons when they could do so.”  

Heat wave kills more than 400 in Pakistan's Karachi
A heat wave has killed more than 400 people in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi over the past three days, health officials said on Tuesday, as they set up emergency medical camps in the streets. One of Karachi's biggest public hospitals said all its beds were full, with more than 200 people dying there of dehydration or heat exhaustion.  

Pope Francis: Weapons manufacturers can't call themselves Christian
“It makes me think of … people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit a distrust, doesn’t it?” he told the crowd.  

Obama Logic? Racism is Genetic, Gender is a Choice
Our pro-cross dressing President apparently doesn’t think people have DNA that makes them male or female. But he has just told an interviewer that white people and others have DNA that makes them racist and that American institutions are racist, too. These claims are described by our media as “bold” rather than bizarre racial slurs.  

Ebola returns to Sierra Leone capital after three-week gap
Sierra Leone has recorded two new cases of Ebola in Freetown in the past few days, disproving the assumption that the capital city had already defeated the deadly virus, officials said on Monday.  

ISIS in Syria Hangs Two Boys for Eating During Ramadan
The Islamic State (ISIS) on Monday hanged two youths after accusing them of eating during daylight hours in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said. "Residents of the village of Mayadeen in Deir Ezzor province reported that IS hanged from a crossbar two boys aged under 18 near the HQ of the Hissba", the jihadist police, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told the AFP news agency. "The children have been suspended by ropes from a pole since noon, and they were still there in the late evening," he added. "Apparently, they were caught eating," Abdel Rahman continued.  

Iranian Ex-President: US Trying to Arrest the Muslim Messiah
In bizarre rant to supporters, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims 'evil' US gov't working to arrest the 'Hidden Imam'. Ahmadinejad claimed the US was putting an intense effort into capturing the Hidden Imam, whose imminent return is expected by followers of the so-called Twelver Shia sect of which the former president is a member. According to Twelver Shias the "Hidden Imam" is the "Mahdi" - the Muslim messiah.  

Another earthquake hits Sabah, 89th recorded
According to state Meteorological Department director Abdul Malek Tussin, the latest was a 4.3 magnitude earthquake, occurring some 19km northwest of Ranau, Sabah. Mild tremors were felt as far away as Kota Kinabalu, Ranau, Kota Belud and Kundasang.  

Syrian Kurds, on the offensive, push deeper into Islamic State territory
Kurdish-led forces advanced on Monday deep into territory in Syria held by Islamic State, showing new momentum after they unexpectedly swiftly seized a border crossing from the jihadists last week.  

Rare triple crescent moons orbiting Saturn caught by Cassini probe
The Cassini spacecraft captured a stunning image of three crescent moons orbiting the planet Saturn. It managed to photograph Titan, Mimas and Rhea all in the same shot.  

Greek offer to creditors stirs angry backlash at home
Greek lawmakers reacted angrily on Tuesday to concessions Athens offered in debt talks and parliament's deputy speaker warned the proposals might by rejected, puncturing optimism that a deal to pull Greece back from the abyss might be sealed quickly.  

U.S. to pre-position tanks, artillery in Baltics, eastern Europe
The United States will pre-position tanks, artillery and other military equipment in eastern and central Europe, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced on Tuesday, moving to reassure NATO allies unnerved by Russia's intervention in Ukraine.  

ANOTHER CME IS ON THE WAY
Big sunspot AR2371 erupted again on June 22nd (18:23 UT), producing a strong M6.5 class solar flare. X-ray and UV radiation from the flare ionized the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, causing a blackout of some shortwave radio signals over North America.  

SOLSTICE GEOMAGNETIC STORM
A series of CMEs hit Earth's magnetic field on June 22nd, producing a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm. Northern Lights spilled across the Canadian border into more than a dozen US states, including places as far south as Colorado, Georgia, Virginia and Arkansas  

European police team to take on IS social media propaganda
A Europe-wide police unit is to be set up next month with the aim of shutting down social media accounts used by key Islamic State militants to spread propaganda and recruit foreigners to their cause, Europol said Monday.  

30 killed in northeast Nigeria by 2 girl suicide bombers
Two girls blew themselves up on Monday near a crowded mosque in northeast Nigeria's biggest city, killing about 30 people, witnesses said. It is the fourth suicide bombing this month in Maiduguri, which is the birthplace of the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.  

The bond market is bracing for the worst and loading up on cash
The Federal Reserve has signalled that, barring some unexpected economic shock, interest rates will most likely rise this year. In a report Monday, Bloomberg's Lisa Abramowicz highlights that bond funds are now holding 8% of their assets in cash, the highest rate since 1999.  

Secret Talks Between Israelis and Saudis Reflect Regional Anxieties
Given the sorry state of affairs in the Middle East, it's easy to conclude there's no end in sight to the ongoing chaos, violence and upheaval. Yet it is also a land of miracles. How else to explain recent revelations about secret meetings between Saudi Arabia and Israel to address a common foe, Iran.  

Wounded Syrian killed as Druze attack Israeli ambulance: police
A wounded Syrian was killed on Monday when Israeli Druze attacked an Israeli military ambulance taking him to hospital for treatment, police said.  

So, the Catholic Church has a major problem right now. ...And the Pope is only a part of it
By now, you’ve probably seen the Tweets, read the quotes, or listened to the proclamations coming from the Vatican. The Pope has decided to embrace the global warming faith, attack capitalism, decry the successes of western nations, and rail against guns, gun manufacturers, and those who support the industry.  

Full Court Press is on to Pressure Supreme Court into Saving Obamacare
President Obama is once again telling lies about Obamacare while bullying the Supreme Court to decide in his administration’s favor in King v. Burwell, a court case which will likely be decided this month and which has the potential to gut the law’s subsidies. On cue, the mainstream media have marshaled their forces in defense of Obama and his signature legislation.  

Newly uncovered e-mails prove Jonathan Gruber key to ObamaCare design
If you’ve forgotten why it mattered that Jonathan Gruber was one of the key architects of ObamaCare - and why the White House tried so hard to pretend they had no idea who he was - let’s just bring it back to the top of everyone’s mind. Gruber said a lot of things about the American people being stupid, and about Democrats’ exploiting that perceived stupidity in the course of hiding the law’s true costs. All of that was politically problematic for the White House, but here’s the statement that was (and might still be) legally problematic for the law’s survival:  

Mexico Straddles the Fence Between the West and Russia
As the United States and Canada struggle with geopolitical challenges abroad, the potential weak link in continental defense sits at the U.S. southern border. For too long has Mexico forged a political path that often acts at cross-purposes to the goals of its democratic northern neighbors. And the problems run far deeper than just Mexico’s internal difficulties with the drug cartels. The nation’s true allegiances remain undefined.  

How Beijing May use South China Sea to Create Submarine Haven
Jun 23rd, 2015
Daily NewsThe Age
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Beijing: For months, China's visible construction of artificial islands and military facilities in the South China Sea has alarmed  US officials and many of China's neighbours.

What is happening under the water is also worrisome,  several defence and security analysts say.

China has a growing fleet of nuclear submarines armed with ballistic missiles. The expansion of its claim on the South China Sea may be intended to create a deep-water sanctuary – known in military parlance as a "bastion" – where its submarine fleet could avoid detection.

"The South China Sea would be a good place to hide Chinese submarines," said Carl Thayer, a US-born security specialist who has taught at the University of New South Wales and other Australian institutions. The sea floor is thousands of metres s deep in places, with underwater canyons where a submarine could easily avoid detection.

Conflicts in the South China Sea are expected to be a major focus of the annual US-Sino talks that begin on Tuesday in Washington, including meetings between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang.

China last week announced that it was winding down its expansion of artificial islands in the South China Sea, but the statement wasn't warmly received by US officials.

Daniel Russel, assistant US secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, noted that China continues to build facilities on the islands, including military installations, a move he said was "troubling".

"The prospect of militarising those outposts runs counter to the goal of reducing tensions." Russel said on Thursday during a briefing in Washington. "That's why we consistently urge China to cease reclamation, to not construct further facilities, and certainly not to further militarise outposts in the South China Sea."

The South China Sea – bounded by Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Malaysia – is one of the world's most important shipping lanes. China asserts it holds maritime rights to 80 per cent of the sea, a claim that other countries have vigorously contested.

According to Thayer, Beijing sees the South China Sea as a strategic asset because it guards China's southern flank, including a submarine base in Sanya, on China's Hainan island. The People's Liberation Army Navy has built underwater tunnels there to quietly dock some of its submarines, including those that carry ballistic missiles.

As of 2014, China had 56 attack submarines, including five that were nuclear powered. It also has at least three nuclear-powered submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles, and is planning to add five more, according to a Pentagon report released last year.

In an April media briefing in Washington, a top US Navy official said the Pentagon was watching China's ballistic submarines "very carefully".

"Any time a nation has developed nuclear weapons and delivery platforms that can range the homeland, it's a concern of mine," said  Admiral William Gortney, the commander of the US Northern Command.  He said China has a policy of "no first use" of nuclear weapons, "which gives me a little bit of a good news picture there".

In recent decades, China has worked to build up a nuclear deterrence capability in the shadow of that developed by the  US and Russia. Its submarine program is a major part of that push. Since submarines can often avoid detection, they are less vulnerable to a first-strike attack than land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear bombers.

China's JL2 submarine ballistic missiles  can't reach the continental  US from the South China Sea. But China hopes to improve the range of those missiles, which is why analysts think China sees the sea as a future "bastion" for its nuclear submarines.

Bernard D. Cole, a professor at the National War College and a retired US Navy captain, says the Soviets developed the submarine bastion strategy during the Cold War. A spy ring alerted the Soviets to the fact that the  US was easily tracking their submarines in the open ocean. So the Soviets created heavily mined and fortified zones for their subs to operate as close to the  US as possible. One was in the White Sea of north-west Russia and the other was in the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan, Cole said.

Chinese submarines are known for being relatively noisy – and thus easy to detect – making it difficult for them to slip into the western Pacific without being detected. But once China improves the range of its missiles, it won't need to move its submarines out of the South China Sea to pose a retaliatory threat to the US.

"My own conclusion, right now, is that China will adopt a bastion strategy in the South China Sea," Cole said in an email, noting he was expressing his personal views, not those of the National War College. China's bastion strategy, he said, will bank on fairly rapid development of ballistic missiles with the range to reach the US.

US officials are concerned that China might unilaterally declare an "air defence identification zone" in the South China Sea that would restrict military overflights, including US planes attempting to track China's submarines. Last month, when a US surveillance plane carrying a CNN crew flew over some of the islands, the Chinese Navy issued urgent warnings to back off, a possible sign of things to come.

At the two-day US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue officials will discuss trade and economic issues, and the US   is likely to raise concerns over recent cyber theft of federal employee data, thought to originate from China.

In the run-up to the meeting, Chinese state media has been playing down tensions between the two countries.

"Following months of diplomatic clashes over the South China Sea, Sino-US relations seem to be headed for calmer waters," the China Daily reported on Friday.

Thayer and other analysts say China has  many reasons for building its artificial islands in the South China Sea. One purpose is to intimidate neighbours, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines.

"China hopes to put pressure on the Philippines so it will not provide the US with a rotational (military) presence,"  Thayer said. In May, 2016, Filipinos will vote in a presidential election that could determine the future of US military access to the Philippines.