Wednesday, February 13, 2013

The Fema Camp Bill is Back!

End Of Days News

It looks as if Representative Alcee Hastings a Democrat from Florida has decided to reintroduce his FEMA Camp bill. A few years ago I was the first person to write an article about this awful piece of legislation. Fortunately, I was successful in exposing it to a much larger group of people via the alternative media and the bill did not move forward in the legislative process. The latest iteration of this bill has been introduced as House Resolution 390 otherwise known as the National Emergency Centers Establishment Act. This bill would authorize not fewer than 6 military installations as sites for the establishment of national emergency centers to be run by FEMA under the command of the Secretary of Homeland Security.
 
The Fema Camp Bill is Back!
 
I was extremely critical of an earlier version of the bill which was proposed in the 111th Congress as HR 645. The bill used vague language to give the Secretary of Homeland Security carte blanche power to use these facilities for anything that the Secretary felt was appropriate. In other words if the Secretary of Homeland Security felt like using them as death camps than potentially that could have been considered a lawful use of the facilities according to the language in the bill. In this new version it looks like Representative Hastings got the message and decided to remove the vague language even though the Secretary of Homeland Security would still be in charge of the proposed facilities.
 
One of the minimum requirements of a national emergency center as defined by the bill is that it is capable of meeting for an extended period of time the housing, health, transportation, education, public works, humanitarian and other transition needs of a large number of individuals affected by an emergency or major disaster. It basically sounds like a concentration camp. Similar types of facilities were setup by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II to house large numbers of Japanese Americans. In other words, there is historical precedence for the federal government forcibly relocating large numbers of people into government run concentration camps. There is an increasing amount of rhetoric from the federal government and corporate media that Constitutionalists, gun owners and other liberty minded people might be considered potential terrorists. Would it really be a stretch to think that these facilities could be used to house people that they consider to be enemies?
 
Considering how much the federal government has lied to the American people in the past, you would be absolutely insane to set foot in one of these proposed national emergency centers. For anybody who believes this is conspiracy theory talk, you have to understand that nobody in the federal government is going to openly propose that they are building facilities to detain large numbers of Americans during a martial law scenario. If they did they’d be widely criticized and the legislation would go nowhere. Instead they are going to make it sound as if these facilities are to be used for a beneficial purpose in order to conceal what they could ultimately be used for which is why they are called national emergency centers instead of FEMA camps or concentration camp facilities. It is the same concept used by the power structure in George Orwell’s book 1984 where the government agency called the Ministry of Love is in reality the Ministry of Torture.
 
Not only that, but why do we need the federal government specifically establishing national emergency centers on closed military installations? These are places that were designed to control who can enter and who can leave. Interestingly enough, one of the limitations included in the new version of the bill is that it does not authorize any federal officer or employee to force an individual to enter a national emergency center or prevent an individual from leaving a national emergency center. This is funny because a member of the U.S. military is technically not considered a federal officer or employee. So even though a federal officer or employee wouldn’t be able to force a person into one of these facilities or prevent them from leaving, it does not necessarily prevent a member of the military from performing these functions. Considering that members of the military would most likely be the ones responsible for the security of such a facility, it makes the limitation entirely meaningless.
 
To summarize, it looks as if the new bill has been changed to deflect the most damning criticisms posed towards earlier versions but it still is a dangerous piece of legislation. It is no secret that the federal government already has facilities that can hold large numbers of people if they have the need to do so. The Bush 43 regime approved the refurbishment of the old Japanese internment camps and in the mid-2000s KBR was literally given a multi-million dollar contract to build detention facilities.
 
In the 1980s, Lt. Col. Oliver North was questioned during the Iran Contra hearings about his role in the development of a continuity of government plan known as Readiness Exercise 1984 or Rex 84 for short. This plan involved the implementation of martial law which included the detainment of large numbers of American citizens who the federal government deemed to be threats to national security.
 
 Subsequently, the Miami Herald on July 5th 1987 did a story on this same continuity of government plan even going into how FEMA would run these internment facilities during a declaration of martial law.
 
In addition to what we just covered with KBR and the refurbishment of the old Japanese internment camps, there have been many people who have identified strange government facilities around the United States that appeared to be setup for the purpose of holding large numbers of people. As a result, this bill if passed into law would simply expand upon pre-existing facilities and create a more robust FEMA camp infrastructure. Keep in mind that the bill authorizes a minimum of 6 national emergency centers but that’s just the minimum. Potentially this bill could authorize the establishment of many national emergency centers or FEMA camps and that is not acceptable.
 
 

FEMA CAMPS : H.R. 360 National Emergency Centers Establishment Act (Feb ...

End Of Days News


113th CONGRESS
1st Session


H. R. 390
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 23, 2013

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned



A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers on military installations.
    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the `National Emergency Centers Establishment Act'.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS.

    (a) In General- In accordance with the requirements of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish not fewer than 6 national emergency centers on military installations.
    (b) Purpose of National Emergency Centers- The purpose of a national emergency center shall be to use existing infrastructure--
      (1) to provide temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance to individuals and families dislocated due to an emergency or major disaster;
      (2) to provide centralized locations for the purposes of training and ensuring the coordination of Federal, State, and local first responders; and
      (3) to provide centralized locations to improve the coordination of preparedness, response, and recovery efforts of government, private, and not-for-profit entities and faith-based organizations.

SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF MILITARY INSTALLATIONS AS NATIONAL EMERGENCY CENTERS.

    (a) In General- Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate not fewer than 6 military installations as sites for the establishment of national emergency centers.
    (b) Minimum Requirements- A site designated as a national emergency center shall be--
      (1) capable of meeting for an extended period of time the housing, health, transportation, education, public works, humanitarian and other transition needs of a large number of individuals affected by an emergency or major disaster;
      (2) environmentally safe and shall not pose a health risk to individuals who may use the center;
      (3) capable of being scaled up or down to accommodate major disaster preparedness and response drills, operations, and procedures;
      (4) capable of housing existing permanent structures necessary to meet training and first responders coordination requirements during nondisaster periods;
      (5) capable of hosting the infrastructure necessary to rapidly adjust to temporary housing, medical, and humanitarian assistance needs;
      (6) required to consist of a complete operations command center, including 2 state-of-the-art command and control centers that will comprise a 24/7 operations watch center as follows:
        (A) one of the command and control centers shall be in full ready mode; and
        (B) the other shall be used daily for training; and
      (7) easily accessible at all times and be able to facilitate handicapped and medical facilities, including during an emergency or major disaster.
    (c) Location of National Emergency Centers- There shall be established not fewer than one national emergency center in each of the following areas:
      (1) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions I, II, and III.
      (2) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IV.
      (3) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions V and VII.
      (4) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region VI.
      (5) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Regions VIII and X.
      (6) The area consisting of Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX.
    (d) Preference for Designation of Closed Military Installations- Wherever possible, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate a closed military installation as a site for a national emergency center. If the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense jointly determine that there is not a sufficient number of closed military installations that meet the requirements of subsections (b) and (c), the Secretaries shall jointly designate portions of existing military installations other than closed military installations as national emergency centers.
    (e) Transfer of Control of Closed Military Installations- If a closed military installation is designated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of Defense shall transfer to the Secretary of Homeland Security administrative jurisdiction over such closed military installation.
    (f) Cooperative Agreement for Joint Use of Existing Military Installations- If an existing military installation other than a closed military installation is designated as a national emergency center, not later than 180 days after the date of designation, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense shall enter into a cooperative agreement to provide for the establishment of the national emergency center.
    (g) Reports-
      (1) PRELIMINARY REPORT- Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report that contains for each designated site--
        (A) an outline of the reasons why the site was selected;
        (B) an outline of the need to construct, repair, or update any existing infrastructure at the site;
        (C) an outline of the need to conduct any necessary environmental clean-up at the site;
        (D) an outline of preliminary plans for the transfer of control of the site from the Secretary of Defense to the Secretary of Homeland Security, if necessary under subsection (e); and
        (E) an outline of preliminary plans for entering into a cooperative agreement for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site, if necessary under subsection (f).
      (2) UPDATE REPORT- Not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report that contains for each designated site--
        (A) an update on the information contained in the report as required by paragraph (1);
        (B) an outline of the progress made toward the transfer of control of the site, if necessary under subsection (e);
        (C) an outline of the progress made toward entering a cooperative agreement for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site, if necessary under subsection (f); and
        (D) recommendations regarding any authorizations and appropriations that may be necessary to provide for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site.
      (3) FINAL REPORT- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, shall submit to Congress a report that contains for each designated site--
        (A) finalized information detailing the transfer of control of the site, if necessary under subsection (e);
        (B) the finalized cooperative agreement for the establishment of a national emergency center at the site, if necessary under subsection (f); and
        (C) any additional information pertinent to the establishment of a national emergency center at the site.
      (4) ADDITIONAL REPORTS- The Secretary of Homeland Security, acting jointly with the Secretary of Defense, may submit to Congress additional reports as necessary to provide updates on steps being taken to meet the requirements of this Act.

SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.

    This Act does not--
      (1) affect the authority of the Federal Government to provide emergency or major disaster assistance or to implement any disaster mitigation and response program, including any program authorized by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.);
      (2) affect the authority of a State or local government to respond to an emergency; or
      (3) authorize any Federal officer or employee to--
        (A) force an individual to enter a national emergency center; or
        (B) prevent an individual from leaving a national emergency center.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated $180,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 and 2015 to carry out this Act. Such funds shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act, the following definitions apply:
      (1) CLOSED MILITARY INSTALLATION- The term `closed military installation' means a military installation, or portion thereof, approved for closure or realignment under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 (part A of title XXIX of Public Law 101-510; 10 U.S.C. 2687 note) that meet all, or 2 out of the 3 following requirements:
        (A) Is located in close proximity to a transportation corridor.
        (B) Is located in a State with a high level or threat of disaster related activities.
        (C) Is located near a major metropolitan center.
      (2) EMERGENCY- The term `emergency' has the meaning given such term in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).
      (3) MAJOR DISASTER- The term `major disaster' has the meaning given such term in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122).

ALERT! YOUR TIME GROWS SHORT!

End Of Days News

In our NOW COMMUNIST country of America, Christians protection is non existent. They burned a man in a cabin for less than what this MUSLIM DEMON did and he will get a trial and keep his life! Muslim Man Beheads Two Christians From New Jersey

End Of Days News

By Jeff Pegues, WABC – “JERSEY CITY (WABC) — There’s a gruesome double murder mystery in New Jersey.
Police say who did it’s not a mystery because someone is under arrest but the mystery is why the accused killer cut [off] two men’s heads and hands.
The victims are reportedly from Jersey City, but their remains were found buried in a town southwest of Philadelphia.
On the streets of Jersey City along Bergen Avenue, to the naked eye it’s not obvious.
But to members of the close knit Coptic Orthodox church the pain is real.
‘It’s a shock, something like this doesn’t happen to people like that,’ a resident said.
Now they know two members of the church have been brutally murdered.
But no one in this community seems to know why.
‘It was crazy what happened to these two. Do they deserve it? No. Was it expected? Never. And it’s just sad,’ a resident said.
The two victims were found buried in a back yard in Buena Vista, New Jersey last Thursday.
Monday, police announced an arrest.
28-year-old Yusuf Ibrahim is in custody.
Investigators say Ibrahim shot and killed the victims, severed their heads and hands, and buried the remains at a Buena Vista house.
Back in Jersey City, friends of the victims are praying that police will have the answers to the questions that now haunt them.
Privately some wonder if it had something to do with the victims’ religion.
‘I leave it for the police and the investigation,’ said Samy Hohareb, the victim’s friend.
So far, police have not revealed a motive for the grisly murders as the suspect sits behind bars, waiting for his day in court.” Source – WABC.
Flashback: Obama Administration Paves The Way For Sharia Law In America – “The most terrifying danger Americans face from a second Barack Obama term isn’t the economy, which is scary enough. The most harrowing prospect is the Obama Administration’s passivity in the face of attempts to introduce aspects of sharia law into our legal system. Now there is strong and open evidence of the Obama administration collaborating with Islamist activists to ensure the path toward sharia law is accelerated.” Read more.

Heightened volcanic activity reported in the Solomon Islands region

End Of Days News
 

February 13, 2013SOLOMON ISLANDS - The National Disaster Management Office in Solomon Islands says volcanic activity has increased on an island in Temotu province since the magnitude 8.0 earthquake several days ago. Sipuru Rove says the uninhabited island of Tinakula, which is about 50 kilometers north of Lata, has being making loud and strange sounds. He says help and information is needed from technical experts to assess the risk posed to the local community by the volcano as they are worried an eruption could be near. “The volcanic activity on one of the islands that is off Lata is alarming at the moment. And this will really require scientific special people to assist us in assessing this volcanic activity which is beginning to be abnormal.” Sipuru Rove says there are also significant aftershocks which meant a plane with supplies and medical staff couldn’t land and was forced to return to Honiara. –Radio New Zealand

 

When they say, Peace and Security; sudden destruction will come upon them! See all news headlines below from the past month!

End Of Days News
1 Thessalonians 5
King James Version (KJV)
5 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

This is only the tip of the ICEBURG!
NEWS within a month!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Obama signs executive order on cybersecurity

End Of Days News

US President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union speech on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 12, 2013. (Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)
 
Barack Obama has signed an executive order on cybersecurity aimed at boosting the defense of critical US infrastructure, while also avoiding the criticism over compromising civil liberties that its legislative predecessors suffered from.

­The legislative push continues, and will cover the same area and make the increase in security mandatory for the private sector. A new version of the controversial bill CISPA is expected to be introduced to the House on Wednesday.

President Obama revealed the long-expected executive order in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. He cited “growing threat from cyber-attacks” as the reason he used his executive power where legislators failed, adding that America must face this rapidly growing threat.

“We know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private e-mail,” he said. “We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, and our air traffic control systems.”

Years from now, Americans cannot look back and wonder “why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy,” Obama said.

The order directs government officials to come up with standards to reduce cybersecurity risks within the next 240 days, and to encourage companies to adopt the new framework. However, it has no legal power to force companies to adopt the framework of cybersecurity best practices.

The framework will be technology-neutral and aimed at addressing security gaps in the computer networks of crucial parts of the country's infrastructure – the electric grid, gas lines, water treatment plants and transportation networks.

Federal agencies are also being encouraged to share information with private companies on potential cyber threats. This would encompass technical data, such as identifying malicious code, and not private information, senior administration officials said.


Barack Obama delivers the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of the US Congress in the House chamber at the Capitol on February 12, 2012 in Washington (AFP Photo / Brendan Smialowski)
­

Not a substitute for legislation

­The executive order comes in place of cybersecurity legislation that failed to pass legislative scrutiny last year. The issue of protecting infrastructure from cyber-attacks was initially free of partisan divide, but became increasingly politicized as work on it progressed.

Democrats favored the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, a bill that would have the Department of Homeland Security identify private owners of infrastructure considered critical and force them to introduce tighter defenses against hacker attacks, as advised by the federal government. Business lobbyists and Republican lawmakers opposed and eventually killed the bill, saying it would over-regulate the private sector and cost too much.

The Republican-backed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, passed the House only to be later strangled in the Senate amid criticism from Internet privacy and civil liberties advocates. Among other things, the bill would allow legal blanket protection to companies volunteering private information to the government, and would allow the National Security Agency, which is normally restricted to foreign intelligence, to collect data domestically.

The new executive order has yet to raise any red flags from business owners or rights groups. The ACLU said it was "encouraged" by the move, and – in an apparent reference to CISPA – added that it shows "there are smart ways to bolster cybersecurity while protecting privacy."


Barack Obama (C), flanked by Vice President Joe Biden (L) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), delivers his State of the Union speech on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 12, 2013 (Reuters / Charles Dharapak / Pool)
However the administration does not view the order as a replacement for the legislative process. Obama urged Congress to follow his lead and pass legislation giving Washington “a greater capacity to secure networks and deter attacks.”

In a joint statement, Republican Senators John McCain, Saxby Chambliss and John Thune said the executive action could not "achieve the balanced approach" that a Congressional law would.

“The Senate should follow regular order and craft legislation that will have an immediate impact on our nation's cybersecurity without adding or prompting regulations that could discourage innovation and negatively impact our struggling economy,” they said.

On Wednesday, the key sponsor of CISPA, Republican Representative Mike Rogers, who also chairs the House Intelligence Committee, is expected to reintroduce the bill.

“We agree that our biggest barriers to bolster our cyber defenses can be fixed only with legislation,” Rogers said.

The executive order comes as the number of government agencies and companies targeted by hackers is growing. Over the past two weeks, the Federal Reserve, the Energy Department and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have all disclosed that their networks were breached by hackers.

Endtime News Updates 2-13-13 with Hummingbird027

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Insight: Divided Damascus confronted by all-out war

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A man stands in an empty street near a burning building hit by a mortar shell fired by Syrian Army soldiers, in the Zamalka neighbourhood of Damascus February 6, 2013. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
 
(Reuters) - MiG warplanes roar low overhead to strike rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad on the fringes of Damascus, while artillery batteries pound the insurgents from hills overlooking a city divided between all-out war and a deceptive calm.
 
Whole families can be obliterated by air raids that miss their targets. Wealthy Syrians or their children are kidnapped. Some are returned but people tell grim tales of how others are tortured and dumped even when the ransom is paid.
People also tell of prisoners dying under torture or from infected wounds; of looting by the government's feared shabbiha militias or by rebels fighting to throw out the Assad family.
That is one Damascus. In the other, comprising the central districts of a capital said to be the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, the restaurant menus are full, the wine is cheap and the souks are packed with shoppers.
Employees report for work, children go to school and shops are open, seemingly undeterred by the din and thud of war.
The two cities exist a few miles apart - for now.
For Damascus and its outskirts are rapidly descending into civil war and everything that comes with it - lawlessness, looting, kidnapping and revenge killings. Like the rest of the country, the capital and its suburbs are crawling with armed gangs.
"Anybody can come to you pretending he is security and grab you in broad daylight, put you in a car and speed off and nobody dares interfere or rescue you," says Lama Zayyat, 42. "A girl in the 7th grade was kidnapped and her father was asked to pay a big ransom. The same happened to other children," she said.
Nobody really knows who is behind the kidnappings. In one gang, one brother is in charge of abductions while another brother negotiates with the victims. The fear is palpable.
NO SECT HAS BEEN SPARED
The war has not yet reached the heart of the capital, but it is shredding the suburbs. In the past week, government troops backed by air power unleashed fierce barrages on the east of the city in an attempt to flush out rebel groups.
Most of central Damascus is controlled by Assad's forces, who have erected checkpoints to stop bomb attacks. The insurgents have so far failed to take territory in the center.
Just as loyalist forces seem unable to regain control of the country, there looks to be little chance the rebels can storm the center of Damascus and attack the seat of Assad's power.
For most of last week the army rained shells on the eastern and southern neighborhoods of Douma, Jobar, Zamalka and Hajar al-Aswad, using units of the elite Republican Guard based on the imposing Qasioun mountain that looms over the city.
The rebels, trying to break through the government's defense perimeter, were periodically able to overrun roadblocks and some army positions, but at heavy cost.
Jobar and Zamalka are situated near military compounds housing Assad's forces, while Hajar al-Aswad in the south is one of the gateways into the city, close to Assad's home and the headquarters of his republican guard and army.
Since the uprising began two years ago, 70,000 people have been killed, 700,000 have been driven from Syria and millions more are displaced, homeless and hungry. No section of society has been spared, whether Christians, Alawites or Sunnis, but in every community it is the poor who are suffering most.
Electricity is sporadic. Hospitals are understaffed as so many doctors - often targeted on suspicion of treating rebel wounded - have fled. Hotels and businesses barely function.
Outside petrol stations and bakeries, queues are long and supplies often run out, meaning people have to come back the next day. Those who can afford it pay double on a thriving black market.
The scale of the suffering can be seen in the ubiquitous obituary notices on the walls of Damascus streets - some announcing the deaths of whole families killed by shelling.
As if oblivious of these private daily tragedies, the government insists the situation is under control, while the rebels say the Assads' days are numbered.
NOWHERE NEAR OVER
Ordinary Syrians are convinced their ordeal is nowhere near over. While they believe Assad will not be able to reverse the gains of the rebels, they cannot see his enemies prevailing over his superior firepower, and Russian and Iranian support.
"The regime won't be able to crush the revolution and the rebels won't be able to bring down the regime," said leading opposition figure Hassan Abdel-Azim. "The continuation of violence won't lead to the downfall of the regime, it will lead to the seizure of the country by armed gangs, which will pose a grave danger not only to Syria but to our neighbors".
"Right now no one is capable of winning," said a Damascus-based senior Arab envoy. "The crisis will continue if there is no political process. It is deadlock."
Other diplomats in Damascus say the United States and its allies are getting cold feet about arming the rebels, fearing the growing influence of Islamist radicals such the al-Nusra Front linked to al-Qaeda, banned last year by Washington.
Some remarks recur again and again in Damascus conversations: "Maybe he will stay in power, after all", and, above all, "Who is the alternative to Assad?"
"At first I thought it was a matter of months. That's why I came here and stayed to bear witness to the final moments," said Rana Mardam Beik, a Syrian-American writer. "But it looks like it will be a while so I am thinking of going back to the U.S."
Loyalty to Assad is partly fed by fear of the alternative. Facing a Sunni-dominated revolt, Syria's minorities, including Christians and Assad's own Alawites - an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - fear they will slaughtered or sidelined if the revolution succeeds and Sunni fundamentalists come to power.
MINORITIES' FEAR
Many Christians are already trying to emigrate to countries such as Sweden, diplomats say.
"The minorities have every right to be frightened because no one knows what is the alternative. Is it a liberal, civic, pluralistic and democratic state, or is the alternative an Islamist extremist rule that considers the minorities infidels and heretics?" said Abdel Azim.
The government tells the minorities the only alternative to Assad is Islamism. Loyalist brutality against the Sunni majority is in danger of making this a self-fulfilling prophecy, by sucking in jihadi extremists from Libya to Saudi Arabia.
"I am not with the regime but we are sure that if Bashar goes the first people they will come for are the Alawites, then the Shi'ites and then us Christians. They are fanatics," said George Husheir, 50, an IT engineer.
At the Saint Joseph Church in Bab Touma, the old Christian quarter of Damascus, Christians in their dozens, mostly middle-aged and older couples, gathered for mass on a Friday morning.
"We don't know what the future holds for us and for this country," said the priest in his sermon. "The Christians of Syria need to pray more."
Nabiha, a dentist in her 40s, said: "Bashar is a Muslim president but he is not a fanatic. He gave us everything. Why shouldn't we love him. Look at us here in our church, we pray, we mark our religious rituals freely, we do what we like and nobody interferes with us."
The fear of the Christians extends to the Alawite and minority Shi'ites. "If Bashar goes we definitely have to leave too because the Sufianis (Sunni Salafis) are coming and they are filled with a sectarian revenge against us," said one wealthy middle class Shi'ite.
COSTLY WAR
Alongside sectarian hatreds, class and tribal acrimony is also surfacing. Wealthy Sunnis in the capital are already in a panic about poor Sunni Islamists from rural areas descending on their neighborhoods.
"When they come they will eat us alive", one rich Sunni resident of Damascus said, repeating what a cab driver dropping him in the posh Abou Roummaneh district told him: "Looting these houses will be allowed."
Yet many activists feel protective of the revolution, despite the brutal behavior of some Islamist rebels.
"People talk about chaos and anarchy after Assad, but so what if we have two years of a messy transition? That is better than to endure another 30 years of this rule," said Rana Darwaza, 40, a Sunni academic in Damascus.
Prominent human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni said the suffering is a price that had to be paid. "Those on the ground will continue to fight even with their bare hands", he said.
He said there are thousands of prisoners in horrific conditions in Assad's jails. Some suffocate in overcrowded cells while others die under torture or from untreated wounds. "They don't give them medical treatment or pain killers or antibiotics. They leave them to die," he said.
Close watchers of Syria predict that if there is no settlement in a few months the conflict could go on for years. Yet the economy is collapsing, leaving the government to rely on dwindling foreign reserves, private assets and Iranian funds.
There is no tourism, no oil revenue, and 70 percent of businesses have left Syria, said analyst Nabil Samman. "We are heading for destruction, the future is dark", he added.
Added to the religious animosity between the Sunni majority and the Alawite minority who took control when Hafez al-Assad seized power in 1970 are social and economic grievances fuelled by the predatory practices of the elite.
This resentment extends to young middle class Syrians who feel they have lost a way of life and that their country is being used by regional powers for proxy war.
"All the regional point-scoring is taking place in Syria. We have Libyan fighters and Saudis fighting for freedom in Syria, why are they here? Let them go and demand freedom in their own countries?," said banker Hani Hamaui, 29.
Two years into the uprising, Assad is hanging on. Some will always back him and others want him dead. But many just want an end to the fighting. They may have to wait for some time.
Signs daubed on the gates to the city by Assad's troops are a reminder that the battle for Damascus will be costly. "Either Assad, or we will set the country ablaze", they say.
 


NASA: Alarming water loss in Middle East

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Poor management, increased demands and drought costs region 144 cubic kilometers of stored freshwater
 
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — An amount of freshwater almost the size of the Dead Sea has been lost in parts of the Middle East due to poor management, increased demands for groundwater and the effects of a 2007 drought, according to a NASA study.
 
The study, to be published Friday in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, examined data over seven years from 2003 from a pair of gravity-measuring satellites which is part of NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment or GRACE.
 
Researchers found freshwater reserves in parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran along the Tigris and Euphrates river basins had lost 117 million acre feet (144 cubic kilometers) of its total stored freshwater, the second fastest loss of groundwater storage loss after India.
 
About 60 percent of the loss resulted from pumping underground reservoirs for ground water, including 1,000 wells in Iraq, and another fifth was due to impacts of the drought including declining snow packs and soil drying up. Loss of surface water from lakes and reservoirs accounted for about another fifth of the decline, the study found.
 
“This rate of water loss is among the largest liquid freshwater losses on the continents,” the authors wrote in the study, noting the declines were most obvious after a drought.
 
The study is the latest evidence of a worsening water crisis in the Middle East, where demands from growing populations, war and the worsening effects of climate change are raising the prospect that some countries could face sever water shortages in the decades to come. Some like impoverished Yemen blame their water woes on the semi-arid conditions and the grinding poverty while the oil-rich Gulf faces water shortages mostly due to the economic boom that has created glistening cities out of the desert.
 
In a report released during the U.N. climate talks in Qatar, the World Bank concluded among the most critical problems in the Middle East and North Africa will be worsening water shortages. The region already has the lowest amount of freshwater in the world. With climate change, droughts in the region are expected to turn more extreme, water runoff is expected to decline 10 percent by 2050 while demand for water is expected to increase 60 percent by 2045.
 
One of the biggest challenges to improving water conservation is often competing demands which has worsened the problem in the Tigris and Euphrates river basins.
 
Turkey controls the Tigris and Euphrates headwaters, as well as the reservoirs and infrastructure of Turkey’s Greater Anatolia Project, which dictates how much water flows downstream into Syria and Iraq, the researchers said. With no coordinated water management between the three countries, tensions have intensified since the 2007 drought because Turkey continues to divert water to irrigate farmland.
 
“That decline in stream flow put a lot of pressure on northern Iraq,” Kate Voss, lead author of the study and a water policy fellow with the University of California’s Center for Hydrological Modeling in Irvine, said. “Both the UN and anecdotal reports from area residents note that once stream flow declined, this northern region of Iraq had to switch to groundwater. In an already fragile social, economic and political environment, this did not help the situation.”
 
Jay Famiglietti, principle investigator of the new study and a hydrologist and UC Irvine professor of Earth System Science, plans to visit the region later this month, along with Voss and two other UC Irvine colleagues, to discuss their findings and raise awareness of the problem and the need for a regional approach to solve the problem.
 
“They just do not have that much water to begin with, and they’re in a part of the world that will be experiencing less rainfall with climate change,” Famiglietti said. “Those dry areas are getting dryer.
 
They and everyone else in the world’s arid regions need to manage their available water resources as best they can.”
 


Russia Vows To Continue Syria Arms Supply

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Russia's state arms exporter director Anatoly Isaikin
 
Russia’s state arms exporter says Moscow is still delivering weapons to Syria and has no intention to stop, despite the country's civil war.

Rosoboronexport director Anatoly Isaikin told a news conference on February 13 that the deliveries included antimissile air-defense systems but nothing that could be used as offensive weapons such as planes, helicopters, or armored vehicles.

He added that the exports did not break international law or United Security Council resolutions.

Russia, Syria's main arms supplier, has been criticized by Western and Arab nations for continuing to support President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The UN estimates that the two-year-old conflict in Syria has killed nearly 70,000 people.
 


Obama will stand by Israeli security and pursuit of lasting peace

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Provocations will only further isolate North Korea, said US President Barack Obama early Wednesday in his State of the Union speech, which was devoted mainly to domestic US affairs.
 
Likewise, he added, Iran must recognize that “now is the time for a diplomatic solution and we will do what is necessary to prevent them getting a nuclear weapon.”
In a radio interview Wednesday, US Ambassador Dan Shapiro, asked if the US president would urge Israel not to attack Iran in his coming visit, replied, ”Our full coordination on the military, intelligence and government levels will continue as before for the purpose of preventing a nuclear Iran – if possible by diplomacy, if not by any means on the table.”
Regarding that visit, the US president said the messages he would deliver were: “We’ll keep the pressure on a Syrian regime that has murdered its own people and support opposition leaders that respect the rights of every Syria. And we will stand steadfast with Israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace.” In Egypt, he said, “we can and will insist on respect for the fundamental rights of all people.”

On the US economy, Obama stressed “our first priority is making America a magnet for new jobs and manufacturing.”
 

High terror alert in Jerusalem for second day

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A police chase after a band of Palestinian terrorists Tuesday night is reported to have captured one of them on the Jerusalem-Modiin Route 443 highway. However, an earlier warning of an imminent attack placed Jerusalem on the highest alert level from Tuesday. Notices went out to security forces, police, first aid services and the fire brigade to stand ready.
 

Rights group accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza

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Human Rights Watch says Israel carried out unneeded airstrikes on Gaza; Israeli watchdog group slams HRW’s ‘baseless claims’
 
A member of the Abdel Aal family is rescued after his family house collapsed during an Israeli forces strike in the Tufah neighbourhood, Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18. (AP Photo/Majed Hamdan)
 
JERUSALEM — A US-based rights group says Israel violated laws of war in a series of airstrikes during an eight-day military operation last November against the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip.
 
Human Rights Watch says it counted 14 airstrikes in which there didn’t appear to be a valid military target, and four others that targeted militants but used disproportionate force.
 
HRW says the attacks killed more than 40 Palestinian civilians. It cites a bomb attack on a Gaza home that killed a father and two children, ages 4 and 2. The group released the report late Tuesday.
 
Israel’s air assault came after increased rocket fire and other attacks by Gaza terrorists on Israel’s south.
 
A previous report by HRW late last year accused Hamas of war crimes for firing over 1,500 rockets at Israel and causing the deaths of civilians in Israel and Gaza during Operation Pillar of Defense.
 
That report also blasted terrorists for putting Gaza residents in the line of fire. The nongovernment organization’s research in Gaza found that armed groups repeatedly fired rockets from densely populated areas, near homes, businesses and a hotel, unnecessarily placing civilians in the vicinity at grave risk from Israeli counter-fire.
 
Also in December, the group pounded Israel for journalists’ deaths in Gaza during the conflict.
The military had no immediate comment. In the past, it has accused Hamas of using civilians for cover.
 
The Israeli watchdog group NGO Monitor said, however, that HRW possessed “neither the military expertise nor the appropriate fact-finding methodology” to make its assessments and conduct proper investigations. “Such judgments require knowledge of the military intelligence possessed by Israeli commanders at the time of the strikes, and information on intent of the officers. In contrast, HRW’s ‘evidence’ consists solely of its inability to identify ‘indication[s] of a legitimate military target at the site at the time of the attack’ and Israel’s refusal to explain its operational decisions to the NGO.
 
NOG Monitor also noted that HRW’s latest press release was “its seventh document relating to the November 2012 fighting in Gaza and Southern Israel. The disproportionate obsession and political agenda are further seen by HRW’s decision to conduct ‘field investigations’ on that particular conflict, at a time when the UN estimated that over 10,000 people were killed in the Syrian civil war in the month of January 2013 alone.”
 
It also criticized HRW for failing to wait for a response from the IDF. Said NGO Monitor, “The real reason HRW does not want to wait for the IDF report is because it will demonstrate that HRW’s claims are baseless, as happened with Israeli responses to the 2009 Gaza conflict and the 2006 Lebanon War.”
 

SOUNDS LIKE GAZA WILL BE FORCED TO DEPEND ISRAEL! COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT! GOD IS IN CONTROL! Egypt floods Gaza tunnels, cut Palestinian lifeline

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A Gaza smuggling tunnel.
Up to 200 smuggling tunnels shut since Egyptian President Morsi took office; some 30% of all good reach Gaza through tunnels.
 
Egyptian forces have flooded smuggling tunnels under the border with the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip in a campaign to shut them down, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said.

The network of tunnels is a vital lifeline for Gaza, bringing in an estimated 30 percent of all goods that reach the enclave and circumventing a blockade imposed by Israel for more than seven years.


Reuters reporters saw one tunnel being used to bring in cement and gravel suddenly fill with water on Sunday, sending workers rushing for safety. Locals said two other tunnels were likewise flooded, with Egyptians deliberately pumping in water.

"The Egyptians have opened the water to drown the tunnels," said Abu Ghassan, who supervises the work of 30 men at one tunnel some 200 meters (yards) from the border fence.

An Egyptian security official in the Sinai told Reuters the campaign started five days ago.

"We are using water to close the tunnels by raising water from one of the wells," he said, declining to be named.

Dozens of tunnels had been destroyed since last August following the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers in a militant attack near the Gaza fence.

Cairo said some of the gunmen had crossed into Egypt via the tunnels - a charge denied by Palestinians - and ordered an immediate crackdown.

The move surprised and angered Gaza's rulers, the Islamist group Hamas, which had hoped for much better ties with Cairo following the election last year of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist who is ideologically close to Hamas.

A Hamas official confirmed Egypt was again targeting the tunnels. He gave no further details and declined to speculate on the timing of the move, which started while Palestinian faction leaders met in Cairo to try to overcome deep divisions.

Criticizing Cairo
Hamas said on Monday the Egyptian-brokered talks, aimed at forging a unity government and healing the schism between politicians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, had gone badly but had not collapsed.
While Gaza's rulers have been reluctant to criticize Morsi in public, ordinary Gazans are slightly more vocal.

"Egyptian measures against tunnels have worsened since the election of Morsi. Our Hamas brothers thought he would open up Gaza. I guess they were wrong," said a tunnel owner, who identified himself only as Ayed, fearing reprisal.

"Perhaps 150 or 200 tunnels have been shut since the Sinai attack. This is the Morsi era," he added.

The tunnellers fear the water being pumped underground might collapse the passage ways, with possible disastrous consequences.

"Water can cause cracks in the wall and may cause the collapse of the tunnel. It may kill people," said Ahmed Al-Shaer, a tunnel worker whose cousin died a year ago when a tunnel caved in on him.

Six Palestinians died in January in tunnel implosions, raising the death toll amongst workers to 233 since 2007, according to Gazan human rights groups, including an estimated 20 who died in various Israeli air attacks on the border lands.

Israel imposed its blockade for what it called security reasons in 2007. The United Nations has appealed for it to be lifted.

At one stage an estimated 2,500-3,000 tunnels snaked their way under the desert fence but the network has shrunk markedly since 2010, when Israel eased some of the limits they imposed on imports into the coastal enclave.

All goods still have to be screened before entering Gaza and Israel says some restrictions must remain on items that could be used to make or to store weapons.

This ensures the tunnels are still active, particularly to bring in building materials. Hamas also prefers using the tunnels to smuggle in fuel, thereby avoiding custom dues that are payable on oil crossing via Israel.




Judge, Jury, Executioner!!! The Execution By Fire Of Christopher Dorner

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