London warns of ‘perfect Mideast storm,’ calls for intense peace push

UK foreign secretary calls on Obama to launch renewed peace drive of type not seen since 1993 Oslo accords 

 

The British foreign secretary warned of the dire consequences of letting the current turmoil in the Middle East continue unabated Thursday, calling on the US to lead a renewed drive for peace of the type not seen in decades.

“2013 will be a crucial year in the Middle East,” William Hague said at the Menzies Research Centre in Sydney, where he delivered the John Howard lecture. “We could see a perfect storm of crises converging if the conflict in Syria continues, the Middle East peace process remains stalled, and if Iran will not enter into meaningful negotiations over its nuclear program.”

Hague said US President Barack Obama should take charge and launch an intense drive for peace matching that of the last major Israeli Palestinian breakthrough in 1993.

“Before long, a two-state solution could be made impossible by facts on the ground,” Hague said. “We recognize the immense obstacles to the peace process, not least of all the role of Hamas in Gaza. But still, we believe that it must be a priority for President Obama’s re-elected administration to launch a new effort to start the peace process, greater in intensity than anything seen since the Oslo Accords.”

“This is a tall order, but the situation is urgent and the consequences of failure extremely grave,” he added.

Hague also said the international community should be prepared to step up its response in Syria, including providing “life-saving help and assistance to the Syrian opposition”"

“2013 cannot be the year in which another 60,000 Syrian civilians perish,” he said.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/london-warns-of-perfect-mideast-storm-calls-for-intense-peace-push/ 

 

Algiers don't want US help! They probably don't trust us...DO YOU REALLY BLAME THEM?

US was not aware of raid to free hostages, says official

Pentagon chief spokesman calls Algeria incident a ‘serious and sensitive situation’; Algiers refused US offer of hostage-rescue teams

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration appeared to be in the dark Thursday about a hostage situation at a natural gas plant in Algeria, where Algerian forces launched a military assault to free dozens of foreign hostages, including an unknown number of Americans, held by Islamist militants.

An administration official said the U.S. was not aware of the raid to free the hostages in advance. The U.S. was offering no details about how many American hostages had been taken and whether they were still in captivity or even alive.

The U.S. condemned the militants for seizing the isolated plant 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) south of the capital, Algiers, in the Sahara Desert.

Militants with the Masked Brigade, a Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot that has been speaking through a Mauritanian news outlet, said the Algerians opened fire Thursday as the militants tried to leave the vast Ain Amenas energy complex with their hostages. They claimed that 35 hostages and 15 militants died but seven hostages survived when Algerian helicopters strafed their convoy.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said U.S. counterterrorism officials were in touch with their Algerian counterparts and that she planned to speak Thursday with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal for the second time in as many days. She made a vague reference to ongoing U.S. “planning,” without elaborating.

“The security of our Americans who are held hostage is our highest priority,” Clinton told reporters. “Because of the fluidity and the fact that there is a lot of planning going on, I cannot give you any further details.”

“This is a serious and sensitive situation,” Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in England. Little said military officials were actively seeking information, and that Panetta had been briefed by senior military officials.

Ahead of the raid, U.S. officials had been urging the Algerians to be cautious in their actions, but did not know a rescue mission was planned, said the administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Militants earlier said they were holding seven Americans, but the administration confirmed only that Americans were among those taken.

“We are deeply concerned about any loss of innocent life and are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

During her conversation with Algeria’s prime minister Wednesday, Clinton expressed Washington’s “willingness to be helpful,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. They also discussed what type of assistance might be needed, Nuland added, but declined to provide details.

A senior U.S. military official said the military offered Algeria hostage-rescue teams on Wednesdays, but the offer was refused. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the offer publicly.

Nuland said the United States also was in contact with American businesses across North Africa and the Middle East to help them guard against the possibility of copycat attacks.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-was-not-aware-of-raid-to-free-hostages-says-official/ 

US president and Israeli prime minister have never been as deeply at odds and for so long, says former top US diplomat

The relationship between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “the most dysfunctional” ever between an American president and an Israeli prime minister, a veteran former American diplomat said Thursday.

Aaron David Miller, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center who served under six secretaries of state in both Republican and Democratic administrations, added that while there had been strained personal relationships between the two countries top leaders’ in the past, this breakdown was unique in that it had not been corrected in four years, and would now likely be extended with Obama’s re-election and Netanyahu’s likely re-election next week.

Speaking on Warren Olney’s NPR show “To the point,” Miller noted that both Jimmy Carter and Menachem Begin, and George H.W. Bush and Yitzhak Shamir had difficult relationships, but in both those cases a common cause emerged to improve the connection. In the case of Carter-Begin, it was the opportunity to make peace with Egypt, and in the case of Bush-Shamir, it was the struggle against Saddam Hussein, where Shamir agreed not to retaliate for Saddam’s Scud missile attacks on Israel.

No such common cause had emerged to salvage the dysfunctional Obama-Netanyahu relationship, he said, noting that even the shared concern over Iran’s nuclear drive was characterized by the “significant difference” between the two men over how to handle the threat.

Miller said he did not share the consequent sense of “cosmic Oy Vey” felt by some over a potential drastic deterioration in ties between the two allied countries. The US-Israel relationship is “too important to fail,” he said.”

Still, he said, the two men “mistrust one another” and “have very little confidence in one another.”

He blamed both men for the situation, saying of Obama, “He looks at Israel and emotes more along the lines that Israel is a national security problem.”

Earlier this week, Obama was quoted as saying that Netanyahu does not know what Israel’s best interests are, and is a “political coward.” Netanyahu hit back by saying that only the Israeli people would determine where their best interests lie.

Obama’s reported comments and Netanyahu’s response have been widely highlighted in these final days of the Israeli election campaign; Israel votes on Tuesday. Critics of the prime minister accuse him of jeopardizing the alliance; his supporters argue that the friction underlines Netanyahu’s robust leadership.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-netanyahu-relationship-is-most-dysfunctional-ever/ 

Clips quote Morsi calling Obama a liar, urging Muslims to nurse hatred of Jews

Media watchdog group
MEMRI published Thursday additional statements made by Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi before entering office, in which he accused US President Barack Obama of lying in his 2009 Cairo speech and urged Muslims “to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews.”

“One American president after another – and most recently, that Obama – talks about American guarantees for the safety of the Zionists in Palestine. [Obama] was very clear when he uttered his empty words on the land of Egypt. He uttered many lies, of which he couldn’t have fulfilled a single word, even if he were sincere – which he is not,” said Morsi referring to Obama’s “A New Beginning” speech, which he delivered on June 9, 2009, in Cairo University and in which he called for improved understanding and relations between the Muslim world and the West and for peace between Israel the Palestinians.

Morsi’s remarks came from a speech he made in 2010 when he was a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure. The remarks were revived when an Egyptian TV show aired them last week to highlight and mock Morsi’s current policies.

In the same address, Morsi said: “Dear brothers, we must not forget to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews, and all those who support them. They must be nursed on hatred. The hatred must continue.”

The new quotes found, translated, reposted and transcribed by the Middle East Media Research Institute, came out hours after the Obama administration issued a statement saying the Egyptian presidency’s clarification over past anti-Jewish and anti-Israel comments is welcome but not enough to ease the White house’s concerns.

The statement by President Morsi’s office rejected discrimination and incitement to violence based on religion. The State Department called it “an important first step” but said the US continues to look for Morsi and other Egyptian leaders to demonstrate a commitment to religious tolerance and Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.

The US has said Morsi’s 2010 remarks — in which he urged hatred of Jews and called Zionists “pigs” and “bloodsuckers” while he was a leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood — are “deeply offensive” and need to be repudiated.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland would not say if Washington is demanding that Morsi personally repudiate the remarks, but she made clear the US needs to see more than the statement from his office to be convinced he no longer holds to the earlier views.

“From our perspective, that statement was an important first step to make clear that the type of offensive rhetoric that we saw in 2010 is not acceptable, not productive and shouldn’t be part of a democratic Egypt,” she told reporters. “That said, we look to President Morsi and Egyptian leaders to demonstrate in both word and in deed their commitment to religious tolerance and to upholding all of Egypt’s international obligations.”

On Wednesday, Morsi sought to defuse Washington’s anger over his past remarks, telling a group of visiting U.S. senators that his comments were taken out of context and were a denunciation of Israeli policies and not Israel itself or the Jewish people, according to a spokesman. The spokesman said Morsi told the lawmakers that a distinction must be made between the two.

Later Wednesday, after the State Department declined to comment on the spokesman’s explanation, Morsi’s office went further by releasing an English-language statement that said “the president strongly believes that we must respect and indeed celebrate our common humanity and does not accept or condone derogatory statements regarding any religious or ethnic group.”

Nuland said Thursday that her comments applied to that statement and not the spokesman’s remarks.

The flap is a new twist in Morsi’s attempts to reconcile his background as a veteran of the Muslim Brotherhood — a vehemently anti-Israel and anti-US group — and the requirements of his role as head of state, which include keeping the strategic relationship with Washington, which wants Egypt to continue to honor its 1979 peace deal with Israel.

Morsi has promised to abide by Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel and has continued security cooperation with Israel over the volatile Sinai Peninsula and their border. In November, Morsi brokered a truce between the Jewish state and Gaza’s Hamas rulers in November, a feat that won him warm praise from the Americans.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-clips-quote-morsi-calling-obama-a-liar-urging-muslims-to-nurse-hatred-of-jews/

Algeria’s hostage rescue operation is over with many dead

Algeria’s military operation at the remote gas field of Ein Amenas is over. Few of the 41 foreign hostages - Norwegian, British, Japanese, American, French – are thought to have survived although no definite numbers have been released. They were kidnapped Wednesday dawn by North African al Qaeda wing (AQIM) raiders who threatened to blow up the site with the hostages unless France ended its intervention in Mali. This first al Qaeda attack on an African energy site is feared the portent of terrorist strikes on oil and gas sites across Africa and possibly Arabia. Oil prices jumped 1.3 percent Thursday night.

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3472/

France in Mali fights the unfinished Libyan War

Easy understanding of the holy Trinity...This helped my 13 year old son understand....We have to minister to our children people! They are God's gift to us!

50 Questions QUIZ That You Should Ask To Anyone That Is Not A Prepper Yet

Share this list of shocking questions with everyone you know that needs to wake up.  Sometimes asking good questions is the best way to get someone that you care about to understand something.  When I attended law school, I became very familiar with something called “the Socratic method”.  It is a method that has been traditionally used in law schools all over the United States.  Law professors will bombard their students with questions, and the goal is to stimulate critical thinking and allow students to discover the answers for themselves.  Many times those of us that can see what is happening to this country get frustrated when we try to get others to see what is so apparent to us.  But instead of preaching to them, perhaps asking questions would be more helpful.  When you ask someone a question, they are almost forced to think about what you just said and come up with a response.  And without a doubt, the fact that America is in decline is undeniable.  Those that would choose to blindly have faith in the system are foolish, because it is glaringly obvious that the system is failing.  Our economy is heading for collapse and the world around us is becoming more unstable with each passing day.  So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the number of preppers in the United States is absolutely exploding.  Some estimates put the number of preppers in the U.S. as high as 3 million, and the movement continues to explode.
So exactly what is a “prepper”?  Well, the truth is that there is a tremendous amount of diversity among the people that fall under that label.

To me, you don’t have to move to Montana and store 500 cases of MREs in a nuclear fallout shelter to be considered a prepper.  I believe that anyone that can see a very serious crisis coming and that is taking steps to prepare for that crisis would be considered a prepper.  You might be living next to one and never even know it.  Many families have converted spare rooms into food pantries or are taking survival training on the weekends.  Others have renewed their interest in gardening or have started to invest in precious metals.  As far as I am concerned, anything that you can do to become more self-sufficient and more independent of the system is a good thing, because the system is rapidly failing.

Perhaps you are reading this and you are thinking that people who are “preparing for disaster” are being rather foolish.  Well, I encourage you to read the list of questions that I have compiled below and come to your own conclusions.

The following are 50 shocking questions that you should ask to anyone that is not a prepper yet…

#1 Why are sales of physical silver coins breaking all sorts of all-time records?  The U.S. Mint is on pace to sell more silver eagles during the first month of 2013 than it did during the entire year of 2007.

#2 Why has Germany announced that it will be moving gold from New York and Paris to its own vaults back home?  Is this a sign of a breakdown in trust among global central banks?

#3 Why is China systematically hoarding gold?

#4 Why have billionaires such as George Soros and John Paulson been hoarding massive amounts of gold?

#5 Why are billionaires buying up so much ranch land up in Montana?

#6 Why is Russia warning that we are rapidly approaching a global “currency war”?

#7 Why has Barack Obama chosen this moment to launch an all-out attack on the Second Amendment?

#8 Why does Barack Obama want doctors to ask their patients questions about firearms?

#9 Why is there an incredibly severe nationwide ammunition shortage all of a sudden?

#10 Why has a bill been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that “would ban Internet or mail order ammunition purchases“?

#11 Why are gun control advocates such as Piers Morgan pushing for us to become more like the UK when the UK actually has a much higher violent crime rate than we do?

#12 Why was a Forbes article that made a connection between the use of psychiatric drugs and the mass shootings that we have seen in recent years almost immediately taken down from the Internet?

#13 Why does the federal government want to start putting “black boxes” in all new motor vehicles?

#14 Why are some U.S. states now using computers to predict “future crimes“?

#15 Why are “black-clad federal SWAT teams” raiding farms and ranches all over the United States?

#16 Why are we all being trained to spy on one another?

#17 Why are highly advanced facial recognition cameras being put upall over the United States?

#18 Why have police departments all over America begun to deployunmanned surveillance drones in the skies over our cities?

#19 Why are schools all over America beginning to require students to carry IDs with RFID microchips in them wherever they go?

#20 Why are more Americans not outraged that nearly 400 TSA employees have been fired for stealing from travelers since 2003?

#21 Why are Americans not more outraged that TSA goons are manhandling the private areas of our women and our children in the name of “national security”?

#22 Why is an elderly survivor of the Nazi occupation of Austria, Kitty Werthmann, warning that America is heading down the exact same path that she experienced?

#23 If the economy is in good shape, then why are more than one out of every four U.S. workers with a 401(k) raiding those funds in order to pay current expenses?

#24 Why does the Federal Reserve continue to insist that the economy is “improving” when it obviously is not?

#25 Why can so few Americans explain how money is created in the United States?

#26 Why has the U.S. dollar declined in value by well over 95 percent since the Federal Reserve was created?

#27 Why is the U.S. national debt more than 5000 times larger than it was when the Federal Reserve was created?

#28 Why isn’t the mainstream media in the U.S. discussing the fact that the U.S. dollar is in danger of losing its status as the primary reserve currency of the world?

#29 Why don’t more Americans know about the quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble?

#30 Why did the U.S. national debt grow during the first four years of the Obama administration by about as much as it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that George W. Bush took office?

#31 Why is the middle class in America bringing home a smaller share of the overall income pie than has ever been recorded before?

#32 If the U.S. economy is producing a healthy number of good jobs, then why are we spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on welfare?

#33 If the U.S. economy is not collapsing, then why has the number of Americans on food stamps grown from 17 million in the year 2000 to more than 47 million today?

#34 If America is still an economic powerhouse, then why have we lostmore than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001?

#35 Why are we losing half a million jobs to China every single year?

#36 Why were one out of every ten homes sold in the state of California last year purchased by Chinese citizens?

#37 Why has the percentage of men with jobs in the United States fallen so dramatically?  Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs.  Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.

#38 Why are so many Americans poor today?  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either “poor” or “low income”.  Why is this happening?

#39 Why does the U.S. government have a website that teaches immigrants how to sign up for welfare programs once they arrive in the United States?

#40 Why has the number of gang members living in the United States risen by an astounding 40 percent just since 2009?

#41 Why does approximately one out of every three children in the United States live in a home without a father?  Can such a society prosper in the long run?

#42 Why are our supermarkets being flooded with genetically-modified foods when a whole host of studies have shown that they are potentially dangerous to human health?

#43 If the economy has “improved” during the Obama years, then why are hunger and poverty still absolutely skyrocketing in the United States?

#44 Why are more than a million public school students in the United States homeless?

#45 Why are more than 50 percent of all children in Detroit living in poverty?  Detroit used to be one of the greatest cities in the entire world.  How did such prosperity turn into such desolation?

#46 Why did a violent riot break out at an event where government-subsidized section 8 housing vouchers were being handed out in a suburb of Detroit earlier this month?  Is this the kind of unrest that we can expect to see all over the country when things get really bad?

#47 Why are cities all over the United States making it illegal to feed the 
homeless?

#48 Why is the UN trying to take control of the Internet?

#49 Why have global food supplies sunk to their lowest level in nearly 40 years?

#50 Why is global power concentrated in so few hands?  According to the Swiss Federal Institute, a network of 147 mega-corporationscontrol 40 percent of all the wealth in the world, and in a previous article I described how just six obscenely powerful corporations completely dominate the media industry in the United States.  Is it good for such incredible power to be concentrated in the hands of so few people?

http://endtimeheadlines.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/50-shocking-questions-that-you-should-ask-to-anyone-that-is-not-a-prepper-yet/ 

EU releases all data on GM corn linked to cancer

The EU’s food safety agency challenged its doubters on Monday, making available all the scientific information used to clear a genetically modified corn which a French researcher had linked to cancer.

The European Food Safety Authority said that “given the level of public interest … (it would) make all data on genetically modified (GM) maize NK603 publicly available on its website.”

While EFSA had previously provided such information on request, “any member of the public or scientific community will now be able to examine and utilise the full data sets used in this risk assessment,” it said in a statement.

EFSA, which reviews the use and authorisation of such crops and foodstuffs, in November rejected outright a report by Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen which had linked NK603 to cancer found in laboratory rats.

It said at the time that Seralini’s work failed to meet “acceptable scientific standards” and accordingly it had no reason to review its assessment of NK603, made by US agri-food giant Monsanto.

The EU also demanded that Seralini release more details of his work but he responded in kind, calling on EFSA to open up its data first.

The EFSA said on Monday that the NK603 data was being made available as part of an initiative to make its overall workings more transparent.

“Risk assessment is an evolving science and EFSA is always willing to review its past work should new robust science bring a new perspective to any of the (its) previous findings,” EFSA Executive Director Catherine Geslain-Laneelle said in a statement.

Monday’s move “aims to make data used in risk assessment publicly available,” Geslain-Laneelle said, by promoting research and working with scientists.

“This will make the conclusions of risk assessments even stronger when ensuring public health protection and further build confidence in EFSA?s work.”

Environmental groups have been very critical of the EFSA, saying it was not doing enough on its own to test GM foods and gave Monday’s announcement a guarded welcome.

“This sounds like a positive initiative to shine some light on the secretive world of EU GM crop authorisations,” said Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero.

“So far, EFSA has only published information on one specific GM product. We expect that the same level of transparency will apply to all GM products that have been and will be submitted for EU approval,” Contiero said in a statement.

“Confidential business information will continue to be kept secret, so it will be crucial to see how wide a definition EFSA will choose to use.”

http://usahitman.com/eradgcltc/



King meets EU ambassadors

AMMAN (Petra) -- His Majesty King Abdullah II on Wednesday met with ambassadors of the European Union members countries and stressed the need to cement ties with the bloc in various domains, especially in economic and political spheres.

King Abdullah hailed the continued support of the Union to programs and plans Jordan is working to implement in order to achieve reform and sustainable development in all fields.

He also underlined opportunities and prospects available to build on the close partnership and cooperation with EU countries in order to serve common interests of both sides.

His Majesty highlighted a package of comprehensive reforms Jordan has recently carried out, pointing out that the upcoming parliamentary elections, slated for January 23rd, will serve as the foundation stone for the next stage of the political reform process and will strengthen democratic approach. Active parliamentary governments will follow the elections, the King said.

His Majesty stressed that the elections, which will be held under the oversight of the Independent Election Commission, will be conducted according to the highest international standards of integrity and transparency in the presence of international and EU observers.

The meeting also dealt with the developments related to the peace process in the Middle East, where His Majesty stressed that political transitions taking in the region, and the aspirations of its people to live in freedom, dignity and security, no longer allow more delay or failure to reach a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of two-state solution.

King Abdullah stressed the importance of the European role alongside other actors in the international community, in rebuilding mutual confidence between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to return to the negotiating table on the basis of the two-state solution and in accordance with a clear time frame.

Jordan will continue cooperation with all parties to launch direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis to address all final status issues, and lead to the establishment of an independent and viable Palestinian state on Palestinian national soil on pre-June 1967 lines and with East Jerusalem as its capital living in peace and security alongside Israel.

The meeting also touched on overall developments in the region, where the King reiterated Jordan's support for a comprehensive solution to the Syrian crisis, a solution that ensures the unity of the Syrian people and territorial integrity and stops the bloodshed.

In this regard, His Majesty commended the EU countries and the European Commission for providing assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan and for supporting Jordan in its efforts to provide the best humanitarian and medical services for them.

The envoys commended Jordan's reform efforts led by His Majesty King Abdullah II and his endeavors to achieve peace and stability in the region.

http://en.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=19950

Obama Asks Doctors to Help Deal With Guns

According to a background briefer provided by the White House, President Barack Obama is asking doctors to help deal with guns. Here's the relevant passage:

PRESERVE THE RIGHTS OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS TO PROTECT THEIR PATIENTS AND COMMUNITIES FROM GUN VIOLENCE: We should never ask doctors and other health care providers to turn a blind eye to the risks posed by guns in the wrong hands.
 Clarify that no federal law prevents health care providers from warning law enforcement authorities about threats of violence: Doctors and other mental health professionals play an important role in protecting the safety of their patients and the broader community by reporting direct and credible threats of violence to the authorities. But there is public confusion about whether federal law prohibits such reports about threats of violence. The Department of Health and Human Services is issuing a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits these reports in any way.
 Protect the rights of health care providers to talk to their patients about gun safety: Doctors and other health care providers also need to be able to ask about firearms in their patients’ homes and safe storage of those firearms, especially if their patients show signs of certain mental illnesses or if they have a young child or mentally ill family member at home. Some have incorrectly claimed that language in the Affordable Care Act prohibits doctors from asking their patients about guns and gun safety. Medical groups also continue to fight against state laws attempting to ban doctors from asking these questions. The Administration will issue guidance clarifying that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit or otherwise regulate communication between doctors and patients, including about firearms.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-asks-doctors-help-deal-guns_696121.html



More proof that our KING of the US Barack Hussein Obama, does not care what the American people have to say!

White House now requires ‘We the People’ petitions to have 100,000 signatures for official response, instead of 25,000!

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/16/white-house-now-requires-we-the-people-petitions-to-have-100000-signatures-for-official-response/#ixzz2IGP3sFFm

Al-Qaida-linked militants seize BP complex in Algeria, take hostages in revenge for Mali

ALGIERS, Algeria — As Algerian army helicopters clattered overhead deep in the Sahara desert, Islamist militants hunkered down for the night in a natural gas complex they had assaulted Wednesday morning, killing two people and taking dozens of foreigners hostage in what could be the first spillover from France’s intervention in Mali.

The Algerian army has surrounded the complex and about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from the coast, there is no obvious way for the kidnappers to escape in their four wheel drive vehicles with their hostages.
A militant group claimed responsibility for the rare attack on one of oil-rich Algeria’s energy facilities, saying it came in revenge for the North African nation’s support for France’s military operation against al-Qaida-linked rebels in neighboring Mali. The militants said they were holding 41 foreigners from the energy complex, including seven Americans.

The group — called Katibat Moulathamine or the Masked Brigade — phoned a Mauritanian news outlet to say one of its affiliates had carried out the operation at the Ain Amenas gas field, located 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of Algiers, the Algerian capital, and that France must cease its intervention in Mali to ensure the safety of the hostages.

BP, together with the Norwegian company Statoil and the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, operates the gas field. A Japanese company, JGC Corp, provides services for the facility as well.

In Rome, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta declared that the U.S. “will take all necessary and proper steps” to deal with the attack in Algeria. He would not detail what such steps might be but condemned the action as “terrorist attack” and likened it to al-Qaida activities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Algeria’s top security official, Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila, said that “security forces have surrounded the area and cornered the terrorists, who are in one wing of the complex’s living quarters.”

He said one Briton and one Algerian were killed in the attack, while a Norwegian and two other Britons were among the six wounded.

“We reject all negotiations with the group, which is holding some 20 hostages from several nationalities,” Kabila said on national television, raising the specter of a possible armed assault to try to free the hostages.

The head of a catering company working on the base told the French Journal de Dimanche that helicopters were flying over the complex and the army waited outside. There were even reports of clashes between the two sides and a member of the militant group told the Mauritanian news outlet they had already repelled one assault by Algerian soldiers late Wednesday night.

It was not immediately possible to rectify the discrepancies in the number of reported hostages. Their identities were also unclear, but Ireland announced that they included a 36-year-old married Irish man and Japan, Britain and the U.S. said their citizens were involved as well. A Norwegian woman said her husband called her saying that he had been taken hostage.

Continue Reading: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/algerian-security-official-says-islamists-kidnap-8-foreigners-from-bp-oil-installation/2013/01/16/0db1c254-5fd2-11e2-9dc9-bca76dd777b8_story.html

Pre cursor to mark of the beast! The DHS REAL ID Act is in Effect!

As of Dec 20th, 2012; The DHS has determined that Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have met the Act’s requirements. The Department commends these states on the substantial progress in working toward these goals and the improvements in security for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards since 9/11.
Beginning January 15, 2013, those states not found to meet the standards will receive a temporary deferment that will allow Federal agencies to continue to accept their licenses and identification cards for boarding commercial aircraft and other official purposes.
DHS’s goal is to implement the REAL ID Act, as required by law, in a measured, fair, and responsible way. In the coming weeks and months, DHS will, in consultation with States and stakeholders, develop a schedule for the phased enforcement of the Act’s statutory prohibitions to ensure that residents of all states are treated in a fair manner. DHS expects to publish a schedule by early fall 2013 and begin implementation at a suitable date thereafter. Until the schedule is implemented, Federal agencies may continue to accept for official purposes driver’s licenses and identity cards issued by all states.
Secure driver’s licenses and identification documents are a vital component of a holistic national security strategy. Law enforcement must be able to rely on government-issued identification documents and know that the bearer of such a document is who he or she claims to be.
The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 enacts the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.” The Act establishes minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for official purposes those documents issued by a state unless DHS determines that the state meets the minimum standards.
Official purposes, as defined in statute and regulation, are accessing a Federal facility, boarding federally-regulated commercial aircraft, and entering nuclear power plants. DHS has twice modified the statutory deadline in order to allow states more time to meet the statutory requirements of the Act in a period of declining state revenues.
To assist states further in meeting this challenge, from FY2008 to 2011, DHS awarded $263 million in grants to improve the security of state identification credentials.

http://usahitman.com/dairia/



Endtime News Updates 1-17-13 with Hummingbird027

He is gonna judge us and you have got to get ready! People, please repent, God wants your heart! The whole heart! by Nate Pfeil

Indonesia: 6 Christian schools could be shut down for not teaching Islam

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Municipal authorities in Blitar, a town in East Java province, are threatening to shut down six Catholic schools "by 19 January" if the latter do not provide Islamic courses and readings of the Qur'an to their Muslim students, in accordance with regional bylaw n. 8 of 2012, which requires all Muslim students to receive Islamic courses in school. The latter is based on a national law, the National Education Act n. 55 of 2007.

The six Catholic schools at risk are the Diponegoro Catholic High School, the Catholic Vocational Training High School, Saint Mary KG, Saint Mary Elementary School, and Yos Sudarso Catholic Elementary and Yos Sudarso Catholic Junior High School.

The schools received the municipal injunction in the final days of 2012, but their administrators have refused to comply with the directive by 19 January, this according to the head of the local department of the Religious Affairs Ministry.

So far, school administrators have not released any official statement on the matter because of the sensitive nature of the issue. Before expressing any opinion, they are set to take part in meetings with Catholic leaders.

Sources within the schools note however that Muslim students and their families had accepted their teaching programmes "without complaining." No one has ever "objected on religious grounds".

In fact, it has been a long established practice that Indonesia's private Christian schools, including those run by the Catholic Church, are not required to offer courses on Islam or readings of the Qur'an as in public schools. Instead, they provide courses and seminars on Christianity and catechism.

Muslim students who attend these schools can for their part take courses on Islam sponsored by their respective Muslim group.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/East-Java:-six-Catholic-schools-could-be-shut-down-for-not-teaching-Islam-26877.html

Ice-T Defends Gun Rights: "The Last Form Of Defense Against Tyranny"

Agenda 21....You are dead....

47 states revolt against Obama gun control

Thousands of gun owners across America have had enough of the Obama administration’s attack on the Second Amendment – and they’re preparing to take their concerns to the capitols in at least 47 states this Saturday at 12 p.m.
Texan Eric Reed, founder and national coordinator of the “Guns Across America” rallies, told WND he’s irritated about all the talk of new gun-control regulations and overreach by the federal government in violation of our Second Amendment rights.
“I was trying to figure out why people weren’t being more proactive about this, Reed said. “Then I realized I’m part of the problem. It takes somebody to stand up and say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to accept this. We’re against it.’
“We want Americans who feel the same way to come out. We want to stand up, be united and get our point across.”

 

As WND reported today, President Obama announce a sweeping set of directives he intends will cut down on Americans’ access to guns, setting the stage for a constitutional battle with states where lawmakers already are openly defying the latest power grab by the White House.
Obama’s plan would demand federal access to the details every time an uncle sells a .22 to a nephew, would ban some weapons outright through a limit on ammunition capacity, would waive medical privacy laws in some cases so individuals can be reported, and others.
The president also listed 23 executive orders he is preparing to implement.
“He’s essentially restricting and punishing all law-abiding American citizens,” Reed said. “He’s taking people who have never committed a crime in their lives and he’s trying to tell them that these guns are ‘assault weapons.’ Well, I’ve got guns in my home. If they’re ‘assault weapons,’ then mine must be defective because they haven’t assaulted anybody.”
Frustrated by the narrative coming out of Washington, Reed noted that “assault weapons” have been banned since 1934.
“The aesthetics of a rifle do not determine what an assault rifle is,” he said. “That’s what our elected officials in Washington, D.C., are trying to sell to the American people. I mean, if you take a body of a Ferrari and stick it on a Chevrolet, it’s still a Chevrolet. It’s going to perform like a Chevrolet; it’s just a cool-looking Chevrolet.”
Reed added that the media contribute to misinformation and confuse the public about so-called “assault weapons.”
“Part of it is ignorance of the media because a lot of them may not necessarily have a good idea of what an assault rifle is,” he said. “Another part of it is, most of the media do push a liberal spin. They’re helping to push through the political agenda that the Obama administration wants to pass right now.”

     Thousands of Americans have taken to Facebook to support the pro-gun rallies this weekend.

“The people are pulling themselves away from their families and their personal obligations for one day because the Second Amendment is very important to them,” he said. “If these people are willing to take that kind of time out of their personal lives to try to tell Washington, D.C., something, those guys work for us. It’s their job to listen.”
While they may be tempted to sit the protest out, Reed warns citizens that time is running out.
“This is the most crucial time,” he said. “This is when all the laws and executive orders are coming down the pike. This is the time that we have to act, not next week, not next month. It’s now.
“If our Second Amendment rights are as important as we say they are, we need to come out and show it to the rest of America and Washington, D.C.”

Citizens are encouraged to bring pro-gun signs and their families to the rallies. A petition supporting Second Amendment rights will be circulated at each event.
Event organizers encourage attendees to follow all state gun laws.
So far, gun-rights advocates from at least 47 states are participating. All rallies begin at 12 p.m. local time:

Alabama
Alaska – organizer still needed
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida (This event is located in Hernando County to accommodate more people.)
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey – organizer still needed
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont (This event will take place at the Burlington Expo Center.)
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming – organizer still needed

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/47-states-revolt-against-obama-gun-control/#lExQXllH5baPGVuo.99 

Disarming Americans, Arming Terrorists

While the White House was busy drafting proposals to ban assault rifles, the last of the regulations imposed on Saudi travel to the United States after September 11 were being taken apart. While some government officials were busy planning how to disarm Americans, other officials were negotiating the transfer of F-16s and Abrams tanks to Muslim Brotherhood-run Egypt.

Obama is unwilling to trust Americans with an AR-15, but is willing to trust a genocidal terrorist group with Abrams tanks and F-16 jets. The F-16’s M61 Vulcan cannon can fire 6,000 rounds a minute and the 146 lb warhead of its HARM missiles can do a lot more than put a few dents in a brick wall. The Abrams’ 120 mm cannon can penetrate 26 inches of steel armor making it a good deal more formidable than even the wildest fantasies of San Francisco liberals about the capabilities of a so-called “assault rifle.”

While Obama has not been willing to respect the Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights, he was willing to arm a terrorist group whose motto is, “The Koran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader, Jihad is our path and death in the name of Allah is our goal.” If a High School student wrote that on his Facebook page, he would be in police custody within the hour, but an international organization and national government that trades in such rhetoric gets devastating firepower from our government… free of charge.

In addition to giving the Hezbollah-run government of Lebanon two hundred M113 Armored Personnel Carriers, Obama deliberately turned a blind eye while Al Qaeda and other Islamist rebel groups in Libya received arms shipments from Qatar. Those weapons included a good deal more firepower than anything you can buy at Wal-Mart and later made their way to Mali and Syria. More weapons made their way into the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Whether any of these weapons were used in the assault on the Benghazi mission is unknown, but entirely possible.
While the Al Qaeda attackers at Benghazi were heavily armed, with the complicity of the Obama Administration, the Americans had been forced to abide by Libyan gun control laws, because while Obama was willing to bomb a country and help arm its terrorists, he wasn’t willing to allow embassy security personnel to flout firearms law in a city ruled by terrorist militias. Instead the terrorist militia of the Muslim Brotherhood was hired to provide security for the Benghazi mission… with tragic results.
There has been a great deal of ink spilled about Nancy Lanza’s irresponsibility in keeping guns around the house; but what of Obama’s irresponsibility in sending guns to Mexican drug lords and jets and tanks to Muslim terrorists?
Based on his track record, Obama believes that it is safe to send weapons to Mexican drug lords, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda terrorists, not to mention the Muslim Brotherhood, but that it’s far too dangerous for an American to own a clip that can hold more than 10 rounds.
And that means that Obama doesn’t think much of the moral character of Americans, but thinks a great deal of Muslim terrorists.
This double standard is the defining motif of this administration. A handful of mass shootings is enough to deprive all Americans of their constitutional rights, but the worst act of mass murder of Americans is not enough to deprive Saudi Muslim students looking for a good flight school of their visas.
Even while Obama and Biden are pushing more background checks for gun owners, Saudi students will undergo fewer background checks. In The Audacity of Hope, Obama vowed to stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction. But when the political winds shift in an ugly direction toward gun owners, then Obama can be found blowing on the fan.

In Obama’s America, only some people can expect the protection of the Bill of Rights. And in a crisis, there are some people’s civil rights that we violate and some people’s rights that we do not.

There is nothing in the Bill of Rights that says you cannot profile Muslim travelers in airports. To use the same argument as the gun controllers, airports and airplanes didn’t even exist during the time of the Founding Fathers; therefore they couldn’t have possibly foreseen their existence or applied any limitation to any violation of civil rights that can take place in them.
The murder of 3,000 people did not in any way make it acceptable to single out a Muslim for special attention, despite the laws of probability, logic and common sense. That would be an overreaction. It would mean punishing large numbers of people and that would be unacceptable, no matter how many lives it might save. But depriving millions of Americans of the protection of the 2^nd Amendment after several shootings carried out by mentally ill teenagers is, for some reason, not an overreaction.
It’s not acceptable to single out the relatively small number of Muslims in the United States to save the lives of thousands, but it is imperative that we single out tens of millions of Americans to save a smaller number of people. The public safety logic of this does not hold up according to the numbers, the ethics or the law.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s arms dealer in the White House is operating under a glaring double standard. Either an act of mass murder is a valid reason for depriving people of their civil rights or it isn’t. Either dangerous weapons should be kept out of the hands of potentially dangerous people, or they shouldn’t. But what he can’t do is what he’s trying to do, which is have it both ways, granting special privileges to Muslims abroad and at home, while depriving Americans of their basic civil rights.
If President Mohammed Morsi, who only two years ago described America as an enemy, and who has since then tortured and murdered his only people can be trusted with Abrams tanks and F-16s, then surely the American gun owner can be trusted with an AR-15 and a clip that holds more than ten rounds.

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/disarming-americans-arming-terrorists/

Gun news compilation from www.arewelivinginthelastdays.com

DHS to 'Expand and Formalize Coordination' on Gun Control Efforts

• Obama Tweets 8-Year-Old's Gun Control Plea to Rally Support
• Gov. Perry: Using Massacre of Children to Advance Agenda 'Disgusts Me'...
• FLASHBACK: Tyrants Who Have Used Children As Props...
• Obama turns doctors into gun control snitches, and butchering the HIPPA law, running health care spy network
• Expect Obama to Be More Aggressive in His Second Term                            

www.arewelivinginthelastdays.com  

China's PLA to Troops: Prepare for War

As tensions between China and Japan escalate, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been told to prepare for war in a training directive issued by the General Staff Headquarters, which oversees the entire PLA.

“The PLA and the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force (APF) should focus closely on the objective of being able to fight and winning battle, vigorously strengthen real-combat-like military training, practice and innovate the training mode under information-based conditions and intensify efforts to cultivate new-type and high-caliber military personnel,” according to a reference to the directive on the English version of the People’s Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of the PLA. The directive was issued in Chinese and is entitled “Instructions on the PLA’s Military Training in 2013.”

Past directives have largely focused on coordination among the various PLA branches, in contrast to the strong language of this year’s version.

“What has attracted attention is that the directive has called on Chinese forces to be prepared to fight using a particular Chinese term,” said Taylor Fravel, an expert on Chinese foreign policy and security at MIT.

The term, according to a report in the South China Morning Post, is dazhang, which means “fighting wars.” The phrase did not appear in last year’s directive.

While the official directive does not mention Japan, a commentary about the directive also appearing in the People’s Liberation Army Daily makes clear that Japan is the would-be adversary.

Citing escalating tensions with Japan over the ongoing dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, the commentary claims the new administration of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is working to “draw” Vietnam, the Philippines and other East Asian countries together “to contain China.”

“Japan’s Self-Defense Forces have held very frequent drills focused on the Diaoyu Islands for the past days, and boasted of firing warning shots at China’s marine surveillance ships,” according to the commentary, which is signed by Guo Jianyue, a senior reporter at the newspaper. “This confrontation between China and Japan, which has been so rare since World War II, has escalated from the original air force mutual monitoring over the waters around the Diaoyu Islands to the verge of war.”

Despite the rhetoric, Allen Carlson, an associate professor of government at Cornell University, said China could be merely sabre rattling.

“I still think, and perhaps I am wrong, that most of this is bluffing, an extreme form of such an action, and not one that is not without the risk of escalation, but still falls short of an actual declaration of war, and from direct military engagement,” he said.

Carlson added that China has not engaged in direct military conflict of any sustained kind since 1979 with Vietnam.

“Now, past performance is no guarantee of future outcomes, but until this line is crossed, I will continue to think that Beijing is likely to want to stop short of it,” he said.

http://www.voanews.com/content/chinas-peoples-liberation-army-pla-prepare-for-war/1585348.html



Iran Navy to Deploy to Mediterranean





MOSCOW, January 16 (RIA Novosti) - Iran will deploy a fleet of warships to the Mediterranean Sea, Navy chief Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Wednesday.

“The Navy’s 24th fleet of warships will patrol the north of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb, the Red Sea, Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea for three months and will even sail as far as southeastern Asian countries,” Sayyari was quoted by Press TV as saying.

The 23rd fleet of warships will return to the country next week, he added.

Referring to the Navy’s recent drill, dubbed Velayat 91, Sayyari said the maneuver displayed Iran’s naval capability and its ability to counter any threat against the interests of the Islamic Republic.

On Friday, Iran Navy launched six-day naval drills codenamed, dubbed Velayat 91, to “defend its maritime borders and maintain lasting peace in the region.”

The exercises covered a vast area including the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman, north of the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Aden and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

http://en.rian.ru/military_news/20130116/178824364.html

Israel will last through all the nations lining up against her borders. They DO NOT NEED anyone to help them because they have ONE thing all other nations reject....GOD and his COVENANT with Israel! God said so and you Goldberg better get right with God!......."If Israel, a small state in an inhospitable region, becomes more of a pariah – one that alienates even the affections of the US, its last steadfast friend – it won't survive," Goldberg writes

Obama (CORRUPT TRADER) told his French counterpart in reference to the Israeli PM: “you’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg has an eye-opening piece for Bloomberg that reveals in stark terms what President Obama really thinks of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israel itself. As The Telegraph’s Middle East correspondent Robert Tait reports:

The damning assessment of the Israeli prime minister, relayed by senior White House officials to an American journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, is the most graphic sign yet of the toxic relationship between the two men, who have clashed continually over the stalled Middle East peace process.
Writing on the Bloomberg website, Goldberg quoted Mr Obama as repeatedly saying, "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are" in response to a spate of recent announcements for thousands of new Jewish settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank on land the Palestinians want for a future state.
… "If Israel, a small state in an inhospitable region, becomes more of a pariah – one that alienates even the affections of the US, its last steadfast friend – it won't survive," Goldberg writes, paraphrasing Mr Obama's words. "Iran poses a short-term threat to Israel's survival; Israel's own behaviour poses a long-term one." Mr Obama also believes the Israeli prime minister is a "political coward" who is incapable of making concessions to the Palestinians because he has "become captive of Jewish settler lobby".

President Obama’s contempt for Netanyahu is already well known, as he amply displayed in a private meeting with then French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the G-20 in November 2011, where he reportedly told his French counterpart in reference to the Israeli PM: “you’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!” Obama refused to meet with Netanyahu when he visited the United States in September last year, while finding the time to appear on the David Letterman show, and has a long track record of snubbing the Israeli PM.
Obama’s latest comments, conveyed by Jeffrey Goldberg, take the US president’s hostility against Netanyahu to new heights, and are a major diplomatic faux pas ahead of next week’s Israeli election, which Netanyahu is widely expected to win. It will undoubtedly set the tone for his entire approach towards Israel, and will further strain relations between Washington and Jerusalem during his second term. They also reveal a remarkable degree of antipathy towards America’s closest friend and ally in the Middle East, and an unhealthy willingness to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation state. There are echoes of the president’s unwelcome intervention in the British debate over membership of the European Union last week, when the senior State Department official for European affairs specifically warned Britain against an EU exit.
Barack Obama’s sneering reference to Israel as “a small state” that is already “a pariah,” and one that may not even survive unless it changes its “behaviour,” smacks of staggering condescension, and will be music to the ears of every enemy of Israel on the face of the earth. This is not a message the president of the United States should be sending to a brave ally that faces a huge range of threats, from Iran’s nuclear programme to a host of terrorist organisations, including Hamas and Hezbollah. President Obama claims to be a friend of Israel, but his words and actions strongly suggest otherwise. And as for Israel’s best interests, they are far better defended by Benjamin Netanyahu than the current occupant of the White House, who is much happier giving America’s allies the boot than he is standing up to his country’s adversaries. Mr. Netanyahu clearly understands the nature of the threat Israel faces. Mr. Obama evidently does not.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100198127/barack-obama-slaps-israel-in-the-face-yet-again/

Do not despair -- January 17, 2013

Evil & Destruction Comes Our Way

She repeatedly said hold Israel accountable...Ms. Butto God will be holding you accountable! This was the LAND GOD GAVE THE JEWS! GET OVER IT!