Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday warned rising officers of the limits of USmilitary power and encouraged them to be skeptical of technological solutions to complex wars.
In a speech on "hard power" at the National Defense University, Gates also said the US military needs to strike a better balance between spending on high-tech weaponry and meeting the requirements for fighting low-tech wars in broken states.
The not so distant threat could involve a new terrorist weapon: the Thermobaric bomb
Canadian defense scientists are leading an international effort to devise protection against new and more powerful terrorist explosives designed to flatten buildings and rupture people's internal organs. This kind is of weapon, developed during the Cold War in the former Soviet Union, is known highly lethal in confined surroundings, such as underground tube systems and rail carriages.
According to Tom Burky, a leading explosives expert: " Thermobaric bombs, which the U.S. military is striving to perfect, may also be emerging as a weapon of choice for terrorists".
Termed "thermobaric," the relatively new explosive belongs to a class of fuel-rich compositions that release energy over a longer period of time than standard explosives, thereby creating a long-duration pressure pulse when detonated in confined spaces.
Thermobaric explosives (TBXs) are mixtures of conventional explosives and specific additives, such as aluminum, that undergo combustion after the detonation reaction. This secondary combustion phenomenon leads to specific shape and propagation characteristics in the resulting highly lethal shock wave. The burning plasma clouds can penetrate even the smallest cracks, and when the slurry is completely consumed, the resulting vacuum causes a massive back-blast that crushes everything in the area.
There are already signs that terrorists are trying to create thermobaric weapons.
For instance, in 2002 a tanker truck was used in a suicide attack on a synagogue in Tunisia, thought to be the work of Al-Qaeda. Some experts believe the way the fuel tanks were rigged with explosives shows a knowledge of fuel-air explosive techniques.
Designs for a fuel-air device were also acquired by the CIA from three alleged IRA members on trial in Colombia. The three are said to have been developing the bomb in conjunction with the local guerrilla group. The bomb detonated by al-Qaeda operatives on the Indonesian island of Bali, used the same principles that are behind thermobaric explosives, say scientists with Defense Research and Development Canada. "We just learned about thermobaric explosives in the late '80s when the Soviet Union was disintegrating," said Stephen Murray, head of the threat assessment group at the defense agency's Suffield, Alta., laboratories. "Those weapons later started showing up on the open market."
Thermobaric Weapons
The weapons he referred to apply to a wide range of thermobaric devices, which were used by Russia in the Chechnya campaign of 1999. A US Marine Corps study, based on interviews with Russian officers and Chechens, concluded that they were capable of killing troops in bunkers and destroying buildings that hadn't been reinforced. "Walls and surfaces do not necessarily shield victims," notes a US training manual.
Among the latest additions is the Russian thermobaric grenade--brought out on 23 July 2001 by the Bazalt Research and Production Center.
Western countries are developing similar weapons. The US created a bazooka with a thermobaric warhead called the SMAW-NE for the war in Iraq. China recently unveiled its own version, and the UK is also reported to be working on one - although the defense ministry insists that it is merely an "enhanced blast weapon". Such weapons are reported to have been used by US Special forces to rout out Taliban hiding in the Afghan Tora Bora mountain caves.
According to forensic experts, a Thermobaric explosive device is relatively easy to make. In fact, the materials to make a thermobaric bomb can be obtained without a license. And while an improvised bomb may differ from the military version, it can still have a devastating impact, said Burky.
Based on the knowledge published over the past years, in the so-called Terrorist Handbook, a notorious internet website, which depicts precise working instructions to bombmakers, it can be expected that in their search for more effective weapons in underground passages, tube and rail lines and other confined mass packed environments the terrorists will come up with more sophisticated measures.
Underground Transport Terrorism
Perhaps the most dangerous targets for Thermobaric terrorism are the big city underground networks, counter terrorist experts warn.
According to Alphus Hinds, head of secure risk at Interfleet "The underground rail system presents the terrorist with a composite choice of tactic and target permutations, from which a 'kill matrix' can be produced - that is an assessment of the likely number of casualties resulting from a particular combination of target and modus operandi".
Hinds, who specializes in the assessment of asymmetric and novel threats with particular emphasis on non conventional terrorism knows what he is talking about.
Between 1998 and 2004, there have been over 185 separate terrorist attacks on heavy rail, metro subway systems and light rail systems worldwide. Terrorists have targeted the full spectrum of the rail transport environment, including trains, ticket halls, passenger stations, train depots, railway bridges, tracks and signaling, resulting in around 700 deaths and over 4,000 injuries with an accompanying economic loss totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
On 15 March, 2004 British Transport Police Deputy Chief Constable Andy Trotter emphasized no specific threat to the London Underground or rail system had been received, "The Met's ongoing review of Tube security had been 'thrown into stark relief by those awful incidents in Madrid' he said, 'We are throwing everything we've got at this because it is the number one challenge for us'."
The two London Transport bombings only one year later clearly warned that it was not enough to impede terrorists from their gruesome task.
Training First Responders Against Themobaric IED
One area of concern, say counter insurgency experts, is the lack of adequate training available for first responders in how to identify and counter thermobaric weapons.
There are some federal agencies that have begun discussing thermobaric weapons related to terrorists, but the sensitive nature of the weapons has slowed the flow of information, warn counter terrorist officials.
Defending buildings against such an attack would be extremely difficult. The deadliest conventional car-bomb attacks have been those where the attacker succeeded in getting a vehicle packed with explosives very close to the target.
To prevent this, concrete barriers have been placed around many buildings regarded as potential targets. But the barriers would have to be much further away than at present to provide the same level of protection against fuel-air devices of a similar size.
Underground rail security and Emergency and law enforcement personnel should be instructed about safe standoff distances, how buildings might channel a thermobaric blast and how to defuse a bomb when they suspect its presence.
In simple but stark terms: The thermobaric bomb is just about the most vicious weapon you can imagine -- igniting the air, sucking the oxygen out of an enclosed area, and creating a massive pressure wave crushing anything unfortunate enough to have lived through the conflagration.
Underground transportation officials, being exceeding vulnerable to this new threat should lose no time finding answers to forefend another mass terror tragedy to their passengers.
************************************************************************************************ New al-Qaida threat: Thermobaric bombs Packs power like a nuke, but easier to build, blow up Posted: September 29, 2008 5:40 pm Eastern
Massive destruction from Islamabad terrorist attack
Investigators now believe the bombing on Sep. 21 that killed dozens and left massive damage at the Islamabad Marriott, including a gaping hole in the ground in front of the building, was a crude form of a device that intensifies and enhances an explosive – a thermobaric bomb, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
The bomb was delivered in a truck that contained what investigators believe was aluminum powder in addition to grenades and artillery shells. The aluminum power is believed to have been responsible for the acceleration and expansion of the impact of the bomb.
While barriers around the hotel kept the truck bomb at some distance from the structure, the devastation indicated that there had to be something capable of raising the devastation level considerably.
CCRKBA to Biden: It's Not Your Gun Obama Wants, It's Everyone Else's
Last update: 2:21 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2008
BELLEVUE, Wash., Sep 22, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden was trying to convince rural Virginians the other day that he's a devoted gun owner who will not allow presidential nominee Barack Obama to "fool with my Beretta."
"Senator Biden must think America's gun owners are dumber than rocks," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "Here is a man who has supported every restrictive gun control and gun ban law that ever landed on his desk, suddenly telling Virginia residents that he's a gun owner, and very pro-gun.
"Biden tried to sound folksy in Virginia, talking about his 'little over and under' Beretta," Gottlieb noted. "Senator, it's not your Beretta that concerns American gun owners, but their own Colts, Smith & Wessons, Kimbers, Winchesters, Marlins, Remingtons, Mossbergs, Springfields, Kahrs and Brownings.
"If Biden really does own an over-and-under Beretta, has he fired it lately," Gottlieb wondered. "What model is it, what's it chambered for, and where is it? Why does he think that's a more worthy gun to own than, say, an AR-15, or a Benelli semi-auto? What makes a Beretta shotgun more deserving of protection against Draconian legislation than a .45-caliber Model 1911, a .357 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk, a .50-caliber Thompson/Center or a .22-caliber Colt Diamondback? Would Joe Biden know the difference between any of these guns if he saw one?
"Joe Biden has spent the last three decades on Capitol Hill voting not merely against guns, but against the law-abiding American citizens who own these guns," Gottlieb stated. "He has voted against their civil rights, and against their traditional values, and now he is running as second fiddle to a Chicago suburbanite who has dismissed such citizens as bitter, and clinging to their guns and religion.
"And now we are supposed to believe that Joe Biden is a gun-toting defender of the Second Amendment, after years of trying to dismantle it," Gottlieb concluded. "This guy has spent a career in Washington, D.C. assaulting the civil rights of gun owners. Now he's insulting their intelligence."
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms ( www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.
SOURCE: Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Massive destruction from Islamabad terrorist attack
Investigators now believe the bombing on Sep. 21 that killed dozens and left massive damage at the Islamabad Marriott, including a gaping hole in the ground in front of the building, was a crude form of a device that intensifies and enhances an explosive – a thermobaric bomb, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
The bomb was delivered in a truck that contained what investigators believe was aluminum powder in addition to grenades and artillery shells. The aluminum power is believed to have been responsible for the acceleration and expansion of the impact of the bomb.
While barriers around the hotel kept the truck bomb at some distance from the structure, the devastation indicated that there had to be something capable of raising the devastation level considerably....
Bet on Israel bombing Iran
By Robert Baer
Monday, September 29th 2008, 8:44 AM
Are we going to have an October surprise, an attack on Iran by either the Bush administration or by Israel to stop the regime from becoming a nuclear power?
It could happen - and alter the dynamics of the presidential race in the blink of an eye - but only if Israel pulls the trigger. Don't expect the United States to drop bombs anytime soon. The reason: Iran has us over a barrel.
According to Britain's Guardian newspaper, Bush earlier this year nixed an Israeli plan to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Reportedly, the President said no because we couldn't afford Iranian retaliation against our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan or Iran closing down Persian Gulf shipping. Nonetheless, cynical speculation is now swirling in some quarters that with the financial collapse working against McCain - and Bush's legacy coming into focus - the President might reconsider. Could that tail really wag the dog?
YOU MUST CALL YOUR SENATOR OR CONGRESS PERSON NOW. YOU CAN NOT PUT A BAND AID FIX ON THE NIGHT MARE WE NOW FACE. YOU CAN NOT ALLOW GIVING SEVEN HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS, REMEMBER EACH BILLION IS 1000 MILLION TO A PERSON THAT HAS GOTTEN US INTO THIS FINANCIAL MESS ALONG WITH HIS CRONIES. ************************************************************************************************
Bailout 'doomed to failure'
Suzy Jagger in New York
Washington's $700 billion (£386 billion) bailout is doomed to failure and will see banks returning to the White House before Christmas for new funds, a leading debt specialist has told The Times.
At 07:18 UT (Universal Time), on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008, Mercury the cosmic trickster turns retrograde in Libra, the sign of the Scales, sending communications, travel, appointments, mail and the www into a general snarlup! This awkward period begins a few days before the actual turning point (as Mercury slows) and lasts for three weeks or so, until October 15, just after the Full Moon in Aries, when the Winged Messenger reaches his direct station. At this time he halts and begins his return to direct motion through the zodiac.
........................................................................ FBI hunts American citizens trained overseas for terror Feds launch dragnet to stop 'October surprise' attack Posted: September 29, 2008 1:00 am Eastern
Aafia Siddiqui, alleged al-Qaida "fixer" whose interrogation has the FBI on alert
As Pakistani investigators hunt the terrorists behind the massive Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad, FBI agents in the U.S. have begun aggressively hunting for Americans who have recently returned from trips to Pakistan where they may have trained at al-Qaida camps, WND has learned.
A coast-to-coast dragnet has been launched partly in response to leads developed in the arrest of one of al-Qaida's "fixers" in the U.S., say FBI officials. They report the bureau is in a race against time to identify Pakistan-trained sleeper cells and disrupt a possible pre-election "October surprise."
For the first time since 9/11, counterterrorism field agents have been authorized to spy on young Muslim men and women – including American citizens – who have traveled to Pakistan without any specific evidence of wrongdoing.
Controversial new investigative guidelines approved by the Justice Department allow agents to monitor suspects and conduct undercover interviews even before opening formal investigations.
FBI headquarters has ordered its field offices to aggressively pursue anonymous tips and report back any suspicious activities in their Muslim communities. The intelligence will be immediately analyzed and shared in a threat matrix to avoid a repeat of the so-called "Phoenix memo" intelligence failure, officials say.
In the weeks prior to 9/11, an alert agent in the FBI's Phoenix office noted that several radical Middle Eastern men were taking flying lessons. He drafted a memo and sent it to headquarters, which promptly buried it, missing an opportunity to act before the disastrous hijackings of 9/11.
The FBI's new rules and current sense of urgency follow the recent interrogation of al-Qaida operative Aafia Siddiqui, an M.I.T.-educated scientist who fled to Pakistan after 9/11. She was arrested this summer in Afghanistan and brought back to the U.S. after sustaining injuries from a gun battle.
According to a federal indictment, Siddiqui was found with handwritten notes that referred to a "mass casualty attack" and listed various locations in the U.S. including Wall Street, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Plum Island and the Brooklyn Bridge. In addition, certain notes referred to the construction of "dirty bombs," chemical and biological weapons and other explosives.
'Un-American' Bailout, Paulson Should Have Quit, Gingrich Says
September 28, 2008 12:46 PM
ABC News' Tahman Bradley and Arnab Datta Report: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., on Sunday described Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for billions of dollars to buy debt from struggling Wall Street financial firms as "un-American" and said the secretary should have stepped down.
ג וְאָמַרְתָּ, כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה: הִנְנִי אֵלֶיךָ, גּוֹג--נְשִׂיא, רֹאשׁ מֶשֶׁךְ וְתֻבָל. 3 and say: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal; ...............................................................................................
Bush Identified as Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal
The Scroll goes on to address Bush as, "The Honorable Mr. George W. Bush, President of the United States of America." Then, however, in a most shocking and prophetic manner, the Scroll of Bush, a document representing the entire Jewish nation both in Israel and dispersed throughout the world, a document composed by and authenticated by the highest religious rabbis on the planet, addressed Bush by yet another title: "Esteemed Mr. George W. Bush, the Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal (Ezekiel 38:1), Leader of the West!"
Gog, Magog, and the Scroll of Bush—Jewish Sanhedrin Honors President George W. Bush as "Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal".
There can be no doubt that President Bush knows exactly why he holds the satanic title of "Gog, of the land of Magog," also known as Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal.
The Scroll of Bush identifying the U. S. President as the "esteemed Mr. George W. Bush, the Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal (Ezekial 38:1) Leader of the West!" (Click to enlarge)
"Magog" of Skull and Bones
The Tomb, the mausoleum-like dwelling of the 15 bonesmen chosen each year to become favored alumni of the Order of Skull and Bones. Both President George Bush, Sr. and his son, President George W. Bush, were initiated into this secret society. Each was given a secret name and Senior Bush’s name was Magog.
Decades ago, as George Bush, Sr., lay naked in a coffin, inside the bowels of the Tomb, the macabre, mausoleum residence of the Order of Skull and Bones, located next to the old town cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, his fellows performed a hellish death ritual and raised George from his sarcophagus. They gave him, as they do all initiates, a new name. Hence more, George Herbert Walker Bush would secretly be known by the Brotherhood as "Magog."
« Palestinian worshippers pray outside the Dome of the Rock at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)
Jerusalem Watch: The Terrorist Foothold
September 26, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com
With Israel’s government in limbo, terrorists are gaining ground in the fight for Jerusalem.By Stephen Flurry
So many prophetically significant events in the United States and Europe have been dominating headlines that few have taken note of the alarming increase in terrorist activity around Jerusalem.
On Monday night, a 19-year-old Palestinian rammed his bmw into a group of Israeli soldiers and civilians near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, injuring 17 people before the perpetrator was shot to death. It was the third attack involving a moving vehicle since July.
Also on Monday, at the Hawara checkpoint outside Jerusalem, a Palestinian woman hurled acid into the face of an idf soldier, causing him to go blind in one eye. Hawara has seen several arrests over the past two months—including that of a 16-year-old boy with two pipe bombs and a 18-year-old Palestinian found with six pipe bombs. On Wednesday afternoon, also at Hawara, a Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli soldier. He let go of his knife once the soldier cocked his weapon; he was apprehended by the other soldiers at the checkpoint.
This week, idf forces also thwarted an attack by Palestinians planning to run over a group of soldiers near the West Bank. The men were driving three vehicles—including a bulldozer—and managed to break through an army roadblock.
On Wednesday, Israel’s Shin Bet security service located a terrorist cell in the capital city, consisting of seven Palestinians, six of whom reside in East Jerusalem. The cell has carried out two attacks in the past year, resulting in the death of two border guard officers. The terrorists had planned several future attacks before being nabbed. According to Ynetnews.com:
Since 2007, Israel has seen a significant rise in the involvement of East Jerusalem Arabs in terror activity, including a plot to assassinate a Shas party minister. During this time Israeli security services thwarted seven terror attacks in the capital. … Shin Bet officials attributed the rise in East Jerusalem terror to lack of enforcement and increased Hamas activity in the capital.
According to Jerusalem’s district police commander, since the beginning of this, 250 East Jerusalem residents have been arrested for their involvement in terrorist activities. The figure represents a sharp increase compared to 2007.
Haaretzattributes the sharp increase in terrorist activity within Jerusalem to the negative influence of propaganda playing on television and over the Internet. “Security officials are worried about what they say is growing Islamic fundamentalism in East Jerusalem,” Haaretz wrote this week.
At a press briefing in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Dr. Jonathan Fine of the International Institute for Counterterrorism said spontaneous attacks have happened before. But what worries security officials most is the increasing activity of Hamas around Jerusalem.
Today’s Christian Science Monitor posted a disturbing piece on the “The Islamization of East Jerusalem.” Ilene Prusher writes, “In Arab East Jerusalem, Islamist groups are gaining more of a foothold through charity, such as free iftar meals during Ramadan, opening schools, and offering services.” She notes (emphasis mine),
The trend comes against a backdrop of an upswing in attacks on [Israelis] perpetrated by East Jerusalemites, who had not been particularly active in the midst of the last intifada.
That has now changed—and Israel’s leadership offers little in the way of hope for ever eliminating the threat of terror in Jerusalem. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said,
No defense establishment can possibly predict a man going to sleep and receiving a visit from Allah, getting into a private vehicle, seeing a group of people and crashing into them. … Whoever talks in grandiose and bombastic slogans about Jerusalem should remember that there is no simple way to avoid this phenomenon, unless we tell the Arabs in the Arab neighborhoods: You live in your neighborhoods and stay out of ours.
Their only defense, in other words, is surrendering East Jerusalem to the terrorists. Yet, as weak as Israel’s current government is—as much as it wants to give away land for peace—East Jerusalem will not be given away. God says it will be taken by violence! “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh,” the Prophet Zechariah wrote, “and the city [Jerusalem] shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:1-2).
As we wrote earlier this year, we are possibly witnessing the early stages of violence that will result in half of Jerusalem falling into the hands of terrorists. God’s prophecy shall stand! •
Syria resumes covert nuclear projects in partnership with North Korea
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
September 28, 2008, 9:36 PM (GMT+02:00)
Nearby houses imploded from Damascus car bomb blast
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that it took Damascus a year to recover from the demolition of its plutonium project at El Kibar in northern Syria, but already the nuclear scientists and technicians who were to have been employed there have been hired for new projects. This time the installations are scattered in different parts of the country. North Korean nuclear experts are back too.
Our military sources describe rising tension between Syria and Israel in the wake of the car bomb explosion Saturday, Sept. 27, which killed 17 people and injured 14 outside a Syrian security installation at Sidi Kadad on the highway to Damascus airport. The victims were not officially identified.
Various Arab sources report that one was a Syrian brigadier who was not named. After the attack, DEBKAfile’s sources raised the possibility that it might have targeted people involved in Iranian/Syrian nuclear activity.
Damascus has been wary of accusing Israel of engineering the blast, but unofficial Syrian intelligence sources have indirectly pointed the finger at Israel claiming it was an attempt to spoil Syria’s improving relations with the West.
Western intelligence sources note that Syria has been hit in the past year with attacks associated with its clandestine nuclear activities.
The El Kibar reactor was knocked out on Sept. 6, 2007 while it was under construction. On Aug. 2, 2008, Gen. Muhammad Suleiman was shot dead by a sniper in Latakia. He was a key man in the Syrian nuclear program and acted as liaison officer for Damascus with Iran and North Korea.
If Saturday’s blast did indeed cause the death of a high Syrian officer involved in the program, it would have been the third consecutive operation against Damascus’ revived application to clandestine nuclear projects.
Backlash to Obama officials squelching political speech Law enforcement threats, intimidation likened to 'police-state tactics,' by Missouri governor
Following legal threats by Missouri state law-enforcement officials supporting BarackObama against presidential campaign ads that appeared to be false or misleading, Gov. Matt Blunt today likened the intimidation to "police state tactics."
"St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign," said Blunt in a statement released today. "What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment."
"If they're not going to tell the truth, somebody's got to step up and say, 'That's not the truth. This is the truth,'" McCullogh told KMOV-TV in St. Louis.
The effort appeared to be part of a move by the Obama campaign to block advertisements to which it objects. The campaign also sent "threatening" letters to several news agencies in Pennsylvania and Ohio demanding they stop airing ads exposing Obama's gun stance, according to the National Rifle Association.
"This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson," said Blunt. "I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson's thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election."
Blunt concluded: "Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts – not a free society."
Excerpt: For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the US military inside the US has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina). Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the "War on Drugs"), the bright line ban on using the US military as a standing law enforcement force inside the US has been more or less honored -- until now. And as the ARMY TIMES notes, once this particular brigade completes its one-year assignment, "expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one."
Nothing exposes the truth like a crisis. Witness Russia’s premeditated, bloody invasion of the democratic, Western-friendly nation of Georgia. The war quickly revealed some ulcer-causing realities, including: Russia’s return to aggressive imperialism; America and the West’s gaping geopolitical and military impotence; the ardency of the Kremlin’s opposition to former Soviet satellites embracing nato and the West and the extent (all-out war) to which Russia is prepared to go to maintain dominance of its periphery; and, importantly, the emergence of a strong, militaristic Russia, which, remember, has a nuclear arsenal.
Moscow’s invasion of Georgia also exposed another reality: the cumbersome, fragmented state of European leadership and foreign policy.
While Russian tanks steamrolled a pro-Western, strategically located European ally, all that European leaders could do was agree to conduct an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers, make ineffective remarks about how the crisis should be handled, and shuttle diplomats back and forth between Tbilisi, Moscow and the Continent. Russia’s invasion was met by a hodgepodge of reactions from European leaders. While leaders of Poland and the three Baltic states (all former Soviet bloc states) issued a strongly worded statement calling on the EU and nato to oppose Russia’s “imperialist policy,” Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini spoke out against allowing an anti-Russian coalition to form in the EU, warning that a strong condemnation of Russia would be negative for all of Europe.
Janet Stobart and Sebastian Rotella from the Los Angeles Times were among the few who reported on Europe’s impotent response: “The crisis in the former Soviet republic of Georgia exposes the problems and limitations afflicting Europe, particularly the dream of a strong European Union playing a key role on the world stage …. The European reaction has in some ways evoked the familiar stereotypes: The EU is rich but bureaucratic, sophisticated but timid, big but profoundly divided between the aging powers of the West and impatient newcomers of the East. Its main weapon when dealing with Moscow, analysts say, is soft power” (August 13; emphasis mine throughout).
In exposing Europe’s greatest weakness, Russia’s invasion of Georgia also revealed what an increasing number of Europeans must consider Europe’s greatest need, which is to become a mighty, united power capable of confronting Russian belligerency!
It’s easy to look at the disarray in Europe and say this will never happen. Just watch! Both Bible prophecy and history inform us that Russian nationalism will be a powerful catalyst for the emergence of a united European power operating under the vibrant leadership of a singular man!
Sweat has been beading on Europe’s brow since January 2000, when Vladimir Putin set Russia on the path—marked by the destruction of democracy and the consolidation of government control over virtually every sector of industry and society—toward nationalism and autocracy. “Russian elections have recently moved President Vladimir Putin much closer to becoming a dictator,” wrote Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry in January 2004, immediately after Putin was reelected. “This strikes intense fear in Europe.”
Europe’s fear has intensified tenfold since then! In the past eight years, Putin has transformed Russia into a nuclear-powered dictatorial state with phenomenal wealth and geopolitical influence, thanks largely to Russia’s massive oil and gas deposits. Europe is heavily dependent on Russia for much of its energy needs.
It gets worse: Putin’s strategic, well-timed, even brilliant, invasion of Georgia indicates that the Russian military has evolved into a highly competent, advanced fighting machine, capable of rapid offensive deployment—and willing to defy international opinion and wage war!
Europe must be terrified!
How will it respond? Will it cower and disintegrate in the face of the roaring, bloodthirsty bear? Or will it shed its divisions and disagreements, consolidate behind an accepted leader, become politically and militarily empowered, and stand up to defend itself from the Russian behemoth?
The answer is clear if we’re willing to believe European history and Bible prophecy. Both history and prophecy show that nothing is more terrifying than a terrified European continent!
Two thousand years of European history show us that when Europe is pushed, it always pushes back—often with ferocity and blitzkrieg warfare!
Remember the Roman Empire. Empowered by its highly organized, ruthless army, Rome conquered the continent of Europe—from the northern and southern rim of the Mediterranean, to Britain, to the frontiers of what is now called Russia. Remember the Frankish Emperor Charlemagne. It took him little more than a single generation to gut much of the Continent of non-Christians (particularly Muslims) and raise the Franks from a relatively small tribe of Europe to a single political, Christianized political unit dominating territory unparalleled in size since the days of imperial Rome. Remember the Crusades, a sickening series of violent offensive wars in the Middle East and the Holy Land by bloodthirsty Roman Catholic Europeans bent on curbing Muslim ambitions. Remember World War II, when Adolf Hitler and Nazism, embraced by millions of eager converts, blitzed north, west, east and south across the plains of Europe, pillaging towns and cities, erecting death camps, raping young girls, tossing infants in the air and shooting them, slashing unborn babies from their screaming mothers, and gassing and machine-gunning millions of men, women and children.
The postwar peaceful and benign Europe we know is a temporary anomaly. European history is stained with retaliatory strikes against opposing forces and unimaginable horrors!
Informed by this history, isn’t it logical that a revived, nuclear-armed, energy-rich, imperialist Russia might incite the resurrection of European imperialism?
This is something Herbert W. Armstrong warned about for years. “What Russia is doing will be the spark to bring the heads of nations in Europe together with the Vatican to form a ‘United Nations of Europe,’” he wrote in 1980.
For years, Mr. Armstrong warned that European nations would get the strong leadership they so desperately yearn for. In addition to history, Bible prophecy tells us Germany and the Vatican will provide this leadership. A resurrected imperialistic Russia will serve as a prod toward the fulfillment of a prophecy Herbert Armstrong and now Gerald Flurry have been warning about for decades: the resurrection of an imperialistic, German-led, Catholic European empire! •
Suffer me. . . my comment about Friday night's "debate"
1. A bailout of those crooked banks and mortgage wheeler-dealers will be a MAJOR DISASTER for America -- a super-repeat of the Savings and Loan scam on taxpayers.
Arrest the crooks, CONFISCATE THEIR PRIVATE and CORPORATE PROPERTY, ON-SHORE AND OFF-SHORE SAVINGS PROSECUTE THEM RIGHT INTO LONG RISON TERMS.
Ordinary Americans are BLEEDING --lost pensions, home foreclosures, job losses, dollar value loss, all going to escalate. I AM 93 AND LIVED THE LAST, MISERABLE DEPRESSION of the 1930s. This one, just starting fault of our CORRUPT, INCOMPETENT CONGRESS, is going to be worse.
2- Neither Obama nor McCain has a CLUE how to run an economy or how to solve the energy crisis.
Obama is going to 'tax the rich'. MORON. Did you ever hear of a poor man opening a factory and creating real jobs? "Rich" men, squeezed too hard by 'no business experience' politicians or heavy-handed unions --take their money elsewhere -- with the blessing of Congress -- to COMMUNIST China, India, all those other slave-wage countries.You can't coax them back because all our technology is OVER THERE. Why should they bring factories back? BE REAL!. . . Obama and his gang want to tax them right back to -- China.
UNLESS we have the guts to cancel those horrible 'most-favored-nation' treaties -- and become more isolationist we are well on the way to becoming a poor, third-world nation.
GOT ANY BETTER -- PRACTICAL - IDEAS? I said "practical" not "fanciful".
Obama also promises "alternative energy" in 10 years. How in hell are poor people going to keep warm for the next 10 years? I'm sure he's got plenty of oil to heat his palatial home in Chicago. McCain doesn't need home heat in Arizona. They're selling firewood like crazy in my area. Many poor people will freeze.
Obama also wants to put more $$$ into "education". Crazy! In over 200 years TEACHERS still haven't got it right? I personally would do a major overhaul of all school CURRICULA but the key to knowledge (and eventual wisdom) is LEARNING -- not teaching. If "parents" or teachers can't motivate a student to learn, education is a monumental waste.
Abraham Lincoln spent only 8 months in a wilderness 1-room schoolhouse. But, he LEARNED and loved to READ -- and went on, not only to teach himself law, become a great President, but the author of one of the most sublime pieces of literature ever written -- The Gettysburg Address.
Obama and tyrannical Teachers Unions demand and get ever-more $$$ to "improve" education.
Another huge scam perpetrated on taxpayers -- and heedless young parents (sports ueber alles).
It now costs $19,000 to "educate" a child in our Sports-atorium Educational Minisink Schools.
When they graduate you can hardly have a mature conversation with many of them other than about sports, sex, movie idols and rap crap.
McCAIN's ECONOMIC AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS ARE NOT ANY BETTER. But, I trust him more, realize we just can't turn tail and run out of Bush's disastrous war in Iraq and feel that Sarah Palin will not force her private feelings about abortion on a resistant America, especially that hideous provision "no abortion even in cases of rape or incest". You want to put such a rape victim through 9 months of torture? NEVER!
Unfortunately America has refused to win every single war she has fought after World War II. Our leaders have been more concerned about world opinion, sparing “innocent civilians” and “winning hearts and minds.” Israel has done the equivalent in her recent battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
This refusal to win wars is all due to the pernicious influence of the Left, which has gained a major foothold in the Democrat party in the U.S., as well as the European Union and Israel. Therefore, JTF is also opposed to domestic fifth columnists who attempt to undermine America’s and Israel’s will to defend themselves and to properly fight their wars. Barack Hussein Obama is an example of a fifth columnist. We have started Jews Against Obama to expose him as being just that.
Obama’s father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., was a Muslim from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and his step father was a Muslim from Indonesia.
Obama’s childhood mentor was a communist.
Obama attended Muslim Basuki School and a Catholic school in Indonesia and his religion was registered as Muslim in both schools. Despite this overwhelming evidence, Obama insists he was never a Muslim.
Obama has promised that in his first year of office, he will invite Iranian terrorist dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the White House in order improve relations and relax trade restrictions with Iran. This would certainly lead to the sale of advanced American technology, which would enable Iran to develop nuclear bombs much more quickly.
Obama is a supporter of Kenyan Muslim Raila Odinga, who recently lost in that country’s election, and who wants to institute Islamic Sharia law as the law of that land. Raila claims to be Obama’s first cousin.
Obama wants Muslim terrorists in Guantanamo to have access to the American legal system. Note that these Guantanamo attorneys [who represent these terrorists pro bono] are supporting Obama.
Obama’s foreign policy advisors from the Carter Administration are notoriously anti-Israel and antisemitic.
A non-profit organization with Obama on its board gave money to the terrorist-supporting Arab American Action Network, which favors Israel's destruction and is completely against America enforcing any of her immigration laws.
Obama helped raise money for Muslim terrorist refugee camps in the Middle East.
Obama has been endorsed by communist Daniel Ortega (former head of the Weather Underground organization), communist Tom Hayden, Jesse Jackson, and Muslim racist and antisemite Louis Farrakhan.
Obama’s National Campaign Cochairman is congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., a notorious racist and antisemite.
Obama’s Pastor, who Obama claims is his mentor, traveled with Muslim racist and antisemite Louis Farrakhan to Libya in 1984 to visit Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
