It was a privilege to speak with Tommy Robinson from the United Kingdom on the matter of jihad in the streets on England. Hearing truths is rare and having the courage to do so is even more profound.
To better understand the proven history of what Robinson has endured see this video:
The Iranian Supreme Leader, Khamenei is throwing sand in the gear of the P5+1 framework agreement lead by U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry.
He is not only non-committal on the matter but what is worse he has taken the same posture as the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Zarif, stating that ALL sanctions must be lifted before anything will go forward. This is a morning after additional dynamic, putting John Kerry and the White House in damage control.
But it is actually worse.
Iran: We’ll Start Using Advanced Centrifuges After Deal Signed
Iran’s negotiator in the nuclear negotiations and its nuclear chief revealed on Tuesday that after a final deal is signed by a June 30 deadline on the framework reached last week, Iran will unleash its most advanced centrifuges for uranium enrichment, threatening a quick turnover in producing a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s semi-official FARS news agency reported on a closed meeting held Tuesday by Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) chief Ali Akbar Salehi, in which they briefed members of Iran’s parliament on the deal being finalized.
In their statements, they said Iran’s most advanced IR-8 centrifuges will be used as soon as the deal removing world sanctions against Iran begins.
The report noted the two said the advanced centrifuges enrich uranium 20 times faster than the current IR-1 models, meaning they would radically reduce the breakout time needed for Iran to obtain a nuclear arsenal.
In the meeting Zarif and Salehi told the parliament “that the country would inject UF6 gas into the latest generation of its centrifuge machines as soon as a final nuclear deal goes into effect by Tehran and the six world powers,” according to the report.
“The AEOI chief and the foreign minister presented hopeful remarks about nuclear technology R&D which, they said, have been agreed upon during the talks, and informed that gas will be injected into IR-8 (centrifuges) with the start of the (implementation of the) agreement,” Iranian MP Javad Karimi Qoddousi was quoted as saying by the site.
Qoddousi also said the Iranian foreign ministry will present a “fact sheet” showing Iran’s version of the agreement to parliamentarians in the next few days.
Iranian and US versions of the framework have shown numerous contradictions, with the issue of advanced centrifuges being primary among them.
The US version claims Iran agreed to not use its advanced centrifuges, including IR-2, IR-4, IR-5, IR-6 or IR-8. However, the Iranian text says “on the basis of solutions found, work on advanced centrifuges shall continue on the basis of a 10-year plan,” apparently contradicting the American version.
This point is crucial, as experts have anticipated that under the deal Iran will be able to develop its centrifuge technology and reach a point where it can make a three week dash to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Israel has pointed out that of the 17 states with peaceful nuclear programs, none enrich uranium as Iran is being allowed to continue doing by the deal.
The statements come after US President Barack Obama admitted in an interview that as a result of the deal, Iran will be able to reach a “zero” breakout time by 2028, meaning it could produce nuclear weapons immediately whenever it wanted to.
Some interesting notes:
1. Iran collectively owes an estimated $119 billion in restitution for past terror acts and refuses to pay it stating the Foreign Sovereignty Act.
2. Iran also states that there will be no monitoring of their facilities.
3. The base line standard on the Iranian nuclear program performed by the IAEA was so long ago that a current report on the uranium enrichment and centrifuges is impossible to report.
4. The inspections mentioned in the recent framework are to be performed by the United Nations Security Council, who are not only not qualified, but Russia has a veto vote on that council.
Meanwhile, the White House has taken to a satire agenda, mocking Israel. This does not make for good policy, good governance or good relationships. Shame on the Slight (White) House.
White House tweet pokes fun at Israel on Iran nuke deal
The White House is taking another swipe at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defending the Iran nuclear deal by posting a diagram of a nuclear bomb on Twitter similar to one used by the Israeli leader to warn against an agreement.
The administration’s tweet of a cartoon bomb is accompanied by a list of consequences of not striking a deal, including “resumed production of highly enriched uranium” and “no limits on stockpile of enriched uranium.” The supposed benefits of a deal include “no production or stockpile of highly enriched uranium.”
The sketch closely resembles one held up by Mr. Netanyahu during a speech in 2012 at the United Nations, when he warned that Iran’s push to develop a nuclear weapon must be stopped at all costs. His drawing of a bomb included a red line at the top to show how close Iran was to completing a nuclear device.
The White House diagram also includes a red line and proclaims, “Under the framework for an Iran nuclear deal, Iran uranium enrichment pathway to a weapon will be shut down.”
Mr. Netanyahu is an outspoken opponent of the framework agreement announced last week, in which sanctions against Iran will be lifted in exchange for scaling back Tehran’s nuclear program. President Obama’s push for an agreement with Iran has raised tensions in what was already an uneasy relationship with Mr. Netanyahu.
The West has gone back to the future, Cold War conditions when it comes to Russia. When it comes to Ukraine, the media refers to the conflict as coming from Russian separatists, this is a misnomer, they are ‘Soviet’ loyalists.
US aerospace command moving comms gear back to Cold War bunker
Washington (AFP) – The US military command that scans North America’s skies for enemy missiles and aircraft plans to move its communications gear to a Cold War-era mountain bunker, officers said.
The shift to the Cheyenne Mountain base in Colorado is designed to safeguard the command’s sensitive sensors and servers from a potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, military officers said.
The Pentagon last week announced a $700 million contract with Raytheon Corporation to oversee the work for North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) and US Northern Command.
Admiral William Gortney, head of NORAD and Northern Command, said that “because of the very nature of the way that Cheyenne Mountain’s built, it’s EMP-hardened.”
“And so, there’s a lot of movement to put capability into Cheyenne Mountain and to be able to communicate in there,” Gortney told reporters.
“My primary concern was… are we going to have the space inside the mountain for everybody who wants to move in there, and I’m not at liberty to discuss who’s moving in there,” he said.
The Cheyenne mountain bunker is a half-acre cavern carved into a mountain in the 1960s that was designed to withstand a Soviet nuclear attack. From inside the massive complex, airmen were poised to send warnings that could trigger the launch of nuclear missiles.
But in 2006, officials decided to move the headquarters of NORAD and US Northern Command from Cheyenne to Petersen Air Force base in Colorado Springs. The Cheyenne bunker was designated as an alternative command center if needed.
That move was touted a more efficient use of resources but had followed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of modernization work at Cheyenne carried out after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Now the Pentagon is looking at shifting communications gear to the Cheyenne bunker, officials said.
“A lot of the back office communications is being moved there,” said one defense official.
Officials said the military’s dependence on computer networks and digital communications makes it much more vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse, which can occur naturally or result from a high-altitude nuclear explosion.
Under the 10-year contract, Raytheon is supposed to deliver “sustainment” services to help the military perform “accurate, timely and unambiguous warning and attack assessment of air, missile and space threats” at the Cheyenne and Petersen bases.
Raytheon’s contract also involves unspecified work at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
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AMARI AIR BASE, Estonia – Russia is so close that the F-16 fighter pilots can see it on the horizon as they swoop down over a training range in Estonia in the biggest ever show of U.S. air power in the Baltic countries.
The simulated bombs release smoke on impact, but the M-61 cannon fires live ammunition, rattling the aircraft with a deafening tremor and shattering targets on the ground.
The four-week drill is part of a string of non-stop exercises by U.S. land, sea and air forces in Europe — from Estonia in the north to Bulgaria in the south — scaled up since last year to reassure nervous NATO allies after Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. U.S. and Russian forces are now essentially back in a Cold War-style standoff, flexing their muscles along NATO’s eastern flank.
The saber-rattling raises the specter that either side could misinterpret a move by the other, triggering a conflict between two powers with major nuclear arsenals despite a sharp reduction from the Cold War era.
“A dangerous game of military brinkmanship is now being played in Europe,” said Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network, a London-based think-tank. “If one commander or one pilot makes a mistake or a bad decision in this situation, we may have casualties and a high-stakes cycle of escalation that is difficult to stop.”
With memories of five decades of Soviet occupation still fresh, many in the Baltic countries find the presence of U.S. forces a comfort rather than a risk.
In recent months, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have seen hundreds of U.S. armored vehicles, tanks and helicopters arrive on their soil. With a combined population of just over 6 million, tiny armies and no combat aircraft or vehicles, the last time tanks rumbled through their streets was just over 20 years ago, when remnants of the Soviet army pulled out of the region.
The commander of Estonia’s tiny air force, Col. Jaak Tarien, described the roar of American F-16s taking off from Amari — a former Soviet air base — as “the sound of freedom.”
Normally based in Aviano, Italy, 14 fighter jets and about 300 personnel from the 510th Fighter Squadron are training together with the Estonians — but also the Swedish and Finnish air forces. Meanwhile, Spain’s air force is in charge of NATO’s rotating air patrols over the Baltic countries.
“A month-long air exercise with a full F-16 squadron and, at the same time, a Spanish detachment doing air policing; that is unprecedented in the Baltics,” said Tarien, who studied at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
In Moscow the U.S. Air Force drills just 60 miles from the Russian border are seen in a different light.
“It takes F-16 fighters just a few minutes to reach St. Petersburg,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said, referring to the major Russian port city on the Baltic Sea. He expressed concern that the ongoing exercise could herald plans to “permanently deploy strike aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons at the Russian border.”
Moscow also says the U.S. decision to deploy armored vehicles in Eastern Europe violates an earlier agreement between Russia and NATO.
American officials say their troop deployments are on a rotational basis.
Russia has substantially increased its own military activity in the Baltic Sea region over the past year, prompting complaints of airspace violations in Estonia, Finland and Sweden, and staged large maneuvers near the borders of Estonia and Latvia.
“Russia is threatening nearly everybody; it is their way,” said Mac Thornberry, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, during a recent visit to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.
“They want to intimidate the Baltic states, Poland, Ukraine and Romania, country after country. And the question is, do you let the bully get away with that or do you stand up and say ‘no, you can threaten, but we will not allow you to run over us,'” Thornberry said.
The Pentagon has said that some 3,000 U.S. troops will be conducting training exercises in Eastern Europe this year. That’s a small number compared to the hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops that have been withdrawn from Europe since the days when the Iron Curtain divided the continent. But the fact that they are carrying out exercises in what used to be Moscow’s backyard makes it all the more sensitive; the Kremlin sees NATO’s eastward expansion as a top security threat.
During a symbolic visit to Estonia in September, U.S. President Barack Obama said that the defense of the Baltic capitals of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius is just as important as defending Berlin, Paris and London — a statement warmly received in Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million and with a mere 5,500 soldiers on active duty.
Welcoming the U.S. fighter squadron to Estonia, U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey D. Levine said the air drill was needed “to deter any power that might question our commitment to Article 5” — NATO’s key principle of collective defense of its members.
On Wednesday, The Associated Press observed bombing and strafing drills at the Tapa training ground both from the ground and from the back seat of one of the two F-16s taking part.
On board the fighter jet, the pull of the G-force was excruciating as the pilot swooped down onto his target before brutally ascending to circle the range.
After dropping six practice bombs each, the two jets returned to Amari air base, flying so low over the flat Estonian countryside that they frequently had to gain altitude to avoid radio towers.
On the ground, Lt. Col. Christopher Austin, commander of the 510th Squadron, dismissed the risk of his pilots making any rash moves that could provoke a reaction from the Russians.
“We stay far enough away so that we don’t have to worry about any (border) zones or anything like that,” he said. “We don’t even think about it.”
The widespread global hacking goes unreported both by the victim and by the media. The depths of destruction are not only hard to measure but identifying the hack is just as difficult.
When hacking is visual for all the world to see, it becomes an epic event and more is expected. Hacking is dark, cheap, highly targeted and often leaves only traces that a full team of experts must investigate for months to find. Ask France.
ISIL carries out ‘unprecedented’ hack of French TV network
PARIS // French television network TV5Monde was forced to broadcast only pre-recorded programmes on Thursday after an “unprecedented” hack by self-proclaimed ISIL militants, who also hijacked its websites and social networks.
The Paris-based company, whose programmes are broadcast in more than 200 countries worldwide, was the target of a cyberattack that is “unprecedented for us and unprecedented in the history of television,” TV5Monde boss Yves Bigot said.
“Since 5:00am, we have only been able to put out a single programme on all our channels. For the moment, we are unable to produce our own programmes. We won’t be back up until 2pm,” Mr Bigot added.
“When you work in television… and you find out that your 11 channels are down, of course that’s one of the most dreadful things that can happen to you,” he said.
The hackers took control of the station and its social media operations late Wednesday, blacking out the TV channels and posting documents on its Facebook page purporting to be the identity cards and CVs of relatives of French soldiers involved in anti-ISIIL operations, along with threats against the troops.
“Soldiers of France, stay away from the Islamic State! You have the chance to save your families, take advantage of it,” read one message on TV5Monde’s Facebook page. “The CyberCaliphate continues its cyberjihad against the enemies of Islamic State,” the message added.
TV5Monde regained control of its social networks by 2:00am on Thursday but television broadcasts were likely to take hours, if not days, to return to normal. The attack would have required weeks of preparation, Mr Bigot added.
Its website was still offline at 11am and displaying an “under maintenance” message.
Prime minister Manuel Valls said the hack was an “unacceptable attack on the freedom of information and expression”, voicing “total solidarity with the editorial staff.”
Senior government members flocked to the station to show their support, with interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve saying: “We are up against determined terrorists … we are determined to fight them.”
Foreign minister Laurent Fabius said: “Everything is being done to find those who carried this out, punish them, re-establish the programmes and prevent cyberterrorists threatening freedom of expression in the future.”
The hackers had accused French president Francois Hollande of committing “an unforgivable mistake” by getting involved in “a war that serves no purpose”.
“That’s why the French received the gifts of Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher in January,” it said on the broadcaster’s Facebook page, referring to attacks by gunmen in Paris on the satirical magazine and Jewish supermarket that left 17 people dead over three days.
France is part of a US-led military coalition carrying out air strikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, where the jihadist group has seized swathes of territory and declared a “caliphate”.
Close to 1,500 French nationals have left France to join the militants’ ranks in Iraq and Syria, where they represent almost half the number of European fighters present, according to a report released last Wednesday by the French Senate.
Extremists have become increasingly adept at using the internet to spread propaganda and attack media outlets.
In February, the Twitter feed of Newsweek was briefly hacked and threats were made against president Barack Obama’s family.
And in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, hackers claiming to be Islamists hijacked hundreds of French websites, flooding them with militant propaganda.
“We are putting out an emergency programme so that we’re not left with a black screen. We don’t have emails. The whole IT system is down,” TV5Monde’s human resources director, Jean Corneil, said.
States across the U.S. share the common goal of economic prosperity, but they differ vastly in how they set out to achieve it. The latest edition of the American Legislative Exchange Council- Arthur Laffer Rich States, Poor States competitiveness index examines policies that maximize economic growth and assesses which states are on the path to prosperity and which are more likely headed to the poorhouse.
For the eighth consecutive year, Utah has remained #1. Rounding out the top 10 for 2014 are: North Dakota, Indiana, North Carolina, Arizona, Idaho, Georgia, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nevada. At the other end of the spectrum, New York obtained the lowest ranking at #50. Working backward, Vermont ranked 49, preceded by Minnesota, Connecticut, New Jersey, Oregon, California, Montana, Maine, and Pennsylvania.
The rankings are a combination of past economic performance (economic growth, net migration and employment) and forward-looking policy variables such as taxes, debt, and the presence of right-to-work laws.
States at the top earned their rankings by implementing policies that energized their economies, attracted businesses and entrepreneurs, and expanded employment and income. So what are these energizing policies that could help states at the bottom boost their economies? Based on both past and present rankings, low income taxes and right-to-work laws provide the most bang for the buck.
Analysis provided alongside last year’s rankings showed economic growth in the nine states with no personal income tax averaged 62 percent from 2003 to 2013 while the nine highest income tax states grew by an average of only 47 percent. And states with no income tax experienced twice the rate of population growth (14 percent) as the highest income tax states (7 percent).
The growth gap between high-tax and low-tax states translates into more than a $100 billion in lost annual output for big, bottom-ranking states like California (#44) and New York (#50). And while it may seem counterintuitive, tax revenue increased substantially more in the nine states with no income tax than it did in the highest income tax states. Lower taxes produce a larger economic pie, and a larger pie means bigger slices for all—including the state tax revenue.
States with right-to-work laws that prevent workers from being coerced to pay union dues attract more businesses and workers, which in turn grow their economies. Compared to forced-union states, right-to-work states experienced twice the rate of employment growth from 2003–2013, one-quarter higher income growth, and one-third greater output growth. What’s more, right-to-work states experienced a 3 percent increase in net migration, while forced-union states suffered a 1 percent loss in net migration.
Competition is inherent in any ranking, and competition among the states is a good thing. Fortunately for states at the bottom of the rankings, research and analysis such as Rich States, Poor States provides an open playbook for prosperity.