EXTREME WEATHER:

End Of Days News

Severe heat-wave grips Japan: 12 dead

The Extinction Protocol at The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

July 13, 2013 – TOKYO – A severe heat-wave that hit Japan a week ago has claimed at least a dozen lives, reports said Friday. The mercury has topped 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in areas right across the … Continue reading →

Northern India hit by worst flooding in 50 years: 100 villages swamped in Bihar

The Extinction Protocol at The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

July 13, 2013 – INDIA – Flood waters entered over 100 villages in Bihar in the past 24 hours, forcing people to abandon their homes, as many rivers in the state rose and posed a threat to other villages too, … Continue reading →

59: New activity reported at Japan’s Satsuma-Iwo-jima (Kikai) volcano

End Of Days News

59: New activity reported at Japan’s Satsuma-Iwo-jima (Kikai) volcano

The Extinction Protocol at The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond 

June 7, 2013 - JAPAN - New activity seems to have started from Satsuma-Iwo-jima (Kikai) volcano. A steam-gas and possibly ash-containing plume has been observed on satellite images and a thermal anomaly was visible on recent MODIS satellite data. On … Continue reading →

Explosive activity of Vanuatu’s Mt Yasur volcano increases

End Of Days News

Explosive activity of Vanuatu’s Mt Yasur volcano increases

The Extinction Protocol at The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond

May 30, 2013 – VANUATU - Explosive activity at Vanuatu’s Mt Yasur volcano has increased in recent days. According to observations by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards department, the activity level of the volcano on Tanna Island is still … Continue reading →

Japanese PM prepares for war

End Of Days News

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s appeal last week to the example of the Falklands war to justify his tough stance in the island dispute with China is a chilling warning that the fault lines of a new and terrible global conflict are being drawn in Asia.

Abe quoted former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s cynical rationale for declaring war on Argentina in 1982 that the “the rule of international law must triumph over the exertion of force.” She proceeded to send the British military into a bloody conflict that cost hundreds of lives on both sides in order to secure a tiny remnant of the British Empire in the South Atlantic.

Abe’s remark is an unmistakeable declaration that his government is prepared to go to war with China to defend its control over the group of uninhabited, rocky outcrops in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The enormous dangers are obvious. Unlike Argentina, China is a substantial, nuclear-armed power with a large, increasingly sophisticated military. Any armed clash between Japan and China could spiral out of control and draw in other powers, in particular the United States, which has already stated that it would side with Tokyo in a war over the islands.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/03/05/pers-m05.html

By Printing Money Central Banks Have Already Begun the Next Stage of Warfare

End Of Days News

Since the Financial Crisis erupted in 2007, the US Federal Reserve has engaged in dozens of interventions/ bailouts to try and prop up the financial system. Now, I realize that everyone knows the Fed is “printing money.” However, when you look at the list of bailouts/ money pumps it’s absolutely staggering how much money the Fed has thrown around.



Here’s a recap of some of the larger Fed moves during the Crisis:

• Cutting interest rates from 5.25-0.25% (Sept ’07-today).
• The Bear Stearns deal/ taking on $30 billion in junk mortgages (Mar ’08).
• Opening various lending windows to investment banks (Mar ’08).
• Hank Paulson spends $400 billion on Fannie/ Freddie (Sept ’08).
• The Fed takes over insurance company AIG for $85 billion (Sept ’08).
• The Fed doles out $25 billion for the automakers (Sept ’08)
• The Fed kicks off the $700 billion TARP program (Oct ’08)
• The Fed buys commercial paper from non-financial firms (Oct ’08)
• The Fed offers $540 billion to backstop money market funds (Oct ’08)
• The Fed agrees to back up to $280 billion of Citigroup’s liabilities (Oct ’08).
• $40 billion more to AIG (Nov ’08)
• The Fed backstops $140 billion of Bank of America’s liabilities (Jan ’09)
• Obama’s $787 Billion Stimulus (Jan ’09)
• QE 1 buys $1.25 trillion in Treasuries and mortgage debt (March ’09)
• QE lite buys $200-300 billion of Treasuries and mortgage debt (Aug ’10)
• QE 2 buys $600 billion in Treasuries (Nov ’10)
• Operation Twist reshuffles $400 billion of the Fed’s portfolio (Oct ’11)
• QE 3 buys $40 billion of Mortgage Backed Securities monthly (Sept ‘12)
• QE 4 buys $45 billion worth of Treasuries monthly (Dec ’12)

The Fed is not the only one. Collectively, the world’s Central Banks have pumped over $10 trillion into the financial system since 2007. This money printing has resulted in a massive expansion of Central Bank balance sheets, spread inflation into the system, and done nothing to address the key solvency issues that lead up to the great crisis.



This competitive debasement has lead to increased tension between the world’s Central Banks. You will never hear their stated outright for the simple reason that the single most important responsibility of the Central Banks is to maintain confidence in the system.



However, underneath the veneer of goodwill and the occasional necessary coordinated intervention, tensions are rising between Central Banks. When the US debases the US Dollar it pushes the Euro higher. This hurts German exports which in turn angers the Bundesbank.



The Bundesbank fired a warning shot at the Fed last autumn when it announced it wanted to have its Gold reserves at the Fed audited. To be clear here: no one of major financial import has ever questioned the Fed’s trustworthiness before. However, at the time of this announcement Germany stated it had no intentions of actually moving its reserves.



Fast-forward to today and Germany has not only audited and checked its Gold reserves at the Fed but it is now moving them. In plain terms, Germany has told the world that A) it does not trust the Fed and B) it is through playing around.



This situation will likely be getting worse going forward. The fact that Germany will be removing all of its Gold reserves from France certainly doesn’t bode well for future German French relations if push ever comes to shove (it’s not as though Europe has a history of getting along well).



Look for increased tension to grow between the world’s Central Banks in the coming months and years. This tension will likely result in:

1. Economic warfare (see the recent situation in Iran)
2. Political infighting
3. Key players being sacrificed

Given that the financial system and economic “recovery” have been built on a house of cards, these political developments will have major impacts on the financial markets.



Outside of internal dissent, the power players in the global economy (the US, China, Japan, and Germany) are showing increasing signs of tension both internal (China and the US) as well as external (China vs. Japan, Germany vs. the US, the US vs. China).



These tensions will lead to economic warfare and very likely physical warfare in the coming years.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-02-03/printing-money-central-banks-have-already-begun-next-stage-warfare

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



US Fighters Join Japan's F-15s Over The Disputed East China Sea Islands

US and Japanese fighter jets on Tuesday carried out joint air exercises, an official said, days after Chinese and Japanese military planes shadowed each other near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The five-day exercise involves six US FA-18 fighters and around 90 American personnel, along with four Japanese F-4 jets and an unspecified number of people, the official said.
The drill is being carried out over Pacific waters off the coast of Shikoku, the fourth largest of Japan's islands.
It comes weeks after hawkish new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won an election landslide following campaign promises to re-invigorate Tokyo's security alliance with Washington and take a more robust line against Beijing.
The exercise also comes as a stand-off between China and Japan over the sovereignty of the disputed East China Sea islands shows no signs of letting up.
Tokyo reportedly scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to head off Chinese military planes in an area adjoining the airspace of the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.
A Chinese defence ministry official later said two J-10 fighters flew to the area to monitor two Japanese F-15 fighters that had trailed a Chinese Y-8 aircraft, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
On Tuesday, one Chinese state-owned Y-12 plane flew close to -- but not inside -- the airspace of the disputed islands, triggering the scrambling of Japanese fighter jets, the defence ministry in Tokyo said.
The row between Asia's two largest economies over the uninhabited, but potentially resource-rich islands blistered in September when Tokyo nationalised three of them.
Chinese government ships have repeatedly gone to the archipelago's territorial waters since then.
Beijing insists it is simply patrolling islands it has owned since ancient times. Commentators say China wants to prove that Japan does not have effective control over the chain and draw Tokyo into concessions.
On Sunday, Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force carried out the nation's first military exercise designed to recapture "a remote island invaded by an enemy force".
Some 300 troops took part in the 40-minute drill with 20 warplanes and more than 30 military vehicles at the Narashino Garrison in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo.
Some 80 personnel from the SDF's First Airborne Brigade rappelled from helicopters to demonstrate manoeuvres to counter an enemy invasion of a remote island.
In October Japan and the US dropped plans for a joint drill to simulate the retaking of a remote island, reportedly because Tokyo did not wish to provoke Beijing further.
There was no outward indication that the joint Japan-US exercise that began Monday and runs until Friday was aimed at China, and the area being used was a long way from any contentious zone.
The official told AFP the drill had previously been staged from Iwakuni in the far west of Honshu, but had been moved to Miyazaki in the south of Kyushu out of consideration for people living near the base.
While the security alliance receives wide public support in Japan, there are tensions between bases and their host communities, particularly over noise and the risk of accidents, as well as associated crime.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-f-18-fighters-japan-f-15-fighters-patrol-disputed-senkaku-islands-east-china-sea-2013-1#ixzz2I4eIW1C7

China Newspaper Says To 'Prepare For The Worst' After Military Confrontation With Japan In The East China Sea

 

After repeatedly flying surveillance aircraft into disputed airspace with Japan, which made Tokyo scramble F-15s in response, China sent fighters of its own on Thursday into the East China Sea.

A Friday press release out of China confirms the incident began when Beijing was flying a Shaanxi Y-8 on a "routine Thursday patrol" over the "oil and gas fields in the East China Sea."

The fact that the aircraft was a Shaanxi Y-8 is interesting in that the Y-8 isn't necessarily any one particular aircraft.

The Diplomat calls the Y-8 a transport plane, and it can be, but the aircraft has more than 30 variants.

The Y-8 performs everything from Mineral Research, to Geophysical Surveying, to Electronic Warfare to Intelligence Gathering and one variant is simply an innocuous but lethal fully loaded gunship, with two heavy cannons and three heavy machine guns.

Google Maps

Naha, Okinawa with bar scale and regional map inset (click to expand)

 

It's the perfect plane for a game of cat and mouse because if the Y-8 ever received fire from Japan's F-15s, China could simply maintain it was an unarmed transport model carrying troops, or the Y8-F model that carries only livestock.

In the meantime, the plane can perform all manner of sophisticated tests on the seabed floor, while eavesdropping on Japanese communications. China has been flying these planes consistently lately to surveil the contested island chain that's supposed to hold billions in oil and gas reserves.

So, again, on Thursday Japan spotted aircraft in its Air Defense Identification Zone (above the islands) that it believed to be Chinese J-7 interceptors, along with some J-10 fighters whose combat abilities rival that of Western jets. Japan responded with two F-15s scrambled from Naha, Okinawa — just a couple hundred miles away. There are minor variations from either side about who sent what first, but all agree the aircraft met above the islands.

The Chinese planes scattered soon after, but this marked the first time China and Japan flung military assets at one another over the East China Sea island dispute. A line was crossed and staying behind it in the future will only be more difficult.

Google

Air base Shuimen, China — disputed island chain — Naha, Japan

The U.S. assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell announced that he will be traveling to Seoul, and Tokyo. What he decides in Tokyo will filter south to Naha and the Japanese unit confronting the Chinese.

An interesting fact about Naha, aside from its proximity to the contested territory, is that while being fairly remote, it is also home to Alfred R. Magleby, a United States Consul General who holds a M.S. in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. This is appropriate, since the Naha Port (formerly Military) Facility is part of U.S. Forces Japan and the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is less than nine miles from where Japan's F-15s scrambled.

It looks like the islands everyone's talking about are a few dots in the middle of nowhere, but all of this is taking place close to the U.S. Consulate and a contingent of several thousand U.S. Marines whose former commanding general told Time in 2010: "All of my Marines on Okinawa are willing to die if it is necessary for the security of Japan."

In the future, when responding to China's fighter deployment, if Japan considers permitting its F-15 pilots to fire tracer bullets as warning shots against Chinese planes, it is now reasonable to assume that U.S. forces at Futenma may have an indirect say in that decision.

 

 

Wikimedia Commons

Tracer rounds from ground fire

Firing tracers, which usually contain phosphorous or some highly flammable material, sends a line of light through the air like a laser. Tracers are usually loaded in about every tenth round to let gunners know where they're shooting, but in this case they would be fired to show Chinese pilots they're being fired upon.

An editorial in China's state-run Global Times called this possibility, "a step closer to war," warning a military clash is "more likely" while its people need to prepare "for the worst." With a U.S. presence so close at hand to where these Japanese decisions are being made, and tactical practices employed, we can hope for at least a bit of immediate tempering.

The Chinese jets are likely flying from air base Shuimen, built east of the islands in Fujian Province, not too much farther from the islands than Naha, Okinawa. So both sides have assets equally within reach of the islands.

Satellite imagery of the base came to light in 2009, and experts believe it was completed late last year.

The Taipei Times reported in May 2012 that J-10 combat aircraft, Su-30 fighters, and various unmanned drones were arriving at the base.

In addition to aircraft, experts believe Russian made S-300 long-range surface-to-air missiles ring the 

 

Defense Updates

One of the many variations of the Y-8

airbase, providing some of the best missile protection in the world. The S-300 is comparable to the U.S. made Patriot missile recently sent to Turkey for its first line of missile defense against Syria.

The Shuimen airbase compliments China's East Fleet that maintains 35 ships in the region, including its newest warship the Type 054, seven submarines, and eight additional landing craft.

Among the subs are four Kilo-class diesel-electric Russian made submarines capable of the most advanced underwater warfare.

All of this located just 236 miles from the contested islands, which have been in dispute between Japan and China for some time. Han-Yi Shaw writes an interesting history of the dispute, for those interested in more background.

While the U.S. takes no official position on who owns the Islands, it would be expected to honor its U.S.-Japan security treaty signed in 1960.

Though this is a formal agreement that the U.S. will aid Japan if it comes under attack, there are few who believe the U.S. would risk a full-blown war with China over a few uninhabited islands, regardless of how much oil and gas lies beneath them.

But with a U.S. presence so closely intertwined in these events, and a contingent of Marines standing by, it seems that whatever happens could involve American input — one way or another.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-fighter-jet-flights-diaoyu-senkaku-islands-2013-1#ixzz2HyP31SgU



WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS!!!!Unchartered waters: Japan and China scramble fighter jets in island dispute

 

The standoff between Japan and China escalated to a new level after both sides sent their jets to tail each other in airspace near the cluster of disputed islands that has created tension between the two powers.
A Chinese Y-8 transport plane flew near the vicinity of the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands (as they are known by the Chinese and the Japanese respectively) on what the Defense Ministry in Beijing described as a “routine patrol” on Thursday. It was immediately tailed by a Japanese F-15. Chinese authorities then ordered two more J-10 planes into the air, to perform “verification and monitoring” on the Japanese aircraft.
"Aircraft from Japan's Self-Defense Forces have intensified their surveillance activities against China, and expanded the area of their scope, disturbing the normal patrols and training of Chinese civilian and military aircraft," said a spokesman from China’s Ministry of Defense.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman followed with another statement, accusing Tokyo of “creating tension”.
Japanese officials responded by claiming that Chinese planes have increasingly intruded into the airspace above the islands, which are currently owned by Japan. They noted that over the past year alone jets protecting the area had to be scrambled over 150 times, though it is not clear how many of those were a reaction to China’s presence.

Japan's Air Self-Defense Force F-15 jet fighter (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

The Senkaku Islands, located in the East China Sea, have been controlled by Japan since 1895, but China insists that it has historic rights to them dating back to the 16th century. The archipelago, which is halfway between both countries, is currently uninhabited, but the ground below could house significant mineral resources.
"Our stance that we will adamantly protect our waters and territories has not changed at all. As I said before, there is no room for negotiations," said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the wake.
Japan has just increased its defense budget for the first time in 11 years, while China’s has more than quintupled over the past decade and now trails that only of the US.
For some time the islands have proven a blight in relations, with nationalist politicians from both sides increasing their rhetoric in recent years, but tensions have grown rapidly since the Japanese government purchased all privately owned islands in September last year.
This provoked outrage in China, which turned into several violent demonstrations, with Japanese stores ransacked across the country. Some Chinese workers also organized strikes against Japanese employers.
Economic ties between Asia’s two biggest economies, which amount to an annual trade of $340 billion, have also been damaged, with Japanese businesses withdrawing investment, and Chinese ones looking for suppliers elsewhere. Some have estimated that Japan has lost up to 1 per cent of GDP as a result of the dispute.

http://rt.com/news/china-japan-diaoyu-senkaku-822/