By Samia Nakhoul. Iran’s top leader warned voters on Wednesday the West was plotting to influence elections pitting centrists close to President Hassan Rouhani against conservative hardliners in a contest that could shape the Islamic Republic for years to come.
In remarks reflecting an abiding mistrust of Rouhani’s rapprochement with the West, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he was confident Iranians would vote in favor of keeping Iran’s anti-Western stance on Friday in the first elections since last year’s nuclear accord with world powers.
Rouhani’s allies, who hope the deal will hasten Iran’s opening up to the world after years of sanctions, have come under increasing pressure in the election campaign from hardliners who accuse them of links to Western powers including the United States and Britain.
Those accusations seek to tap into Iranians’ wariness of Western motives and memories of a 1953 coup against nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh that was orchestrated by the United States and Britain and strengthened the Shah’s rule. (Read more from “Ahead of Election, Iran’s Leader Warns of Western ‘Plot'” HERE)
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Iran Arrests Elderly Father of Jailed U.S. Citizen
By Yeganeh Torbati. Iranian authorities this week arrested the elderly father of an American jailed in Iran since October, the man’s family said on Wednesday.
Siamak Namazi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, was detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in October while in Iran visiting family. Officials have yet to announce charges against him.
Baquer Namazi, Siamak’s father, was arrested late on Monday in Tehran, his wife Effie Namazi said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. The 80-year-old Namazi, also a dual Iranian-American citizen, was taken to Evin Prison, where his son is also being held, she said.
Asked at a Senate hearing about the elder Namazi’s arrest, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said: “I am very familiar with this and I am engaged on it specifically, but I am not permitted due to privacy reasons to go into details here.” (Read more from ” Iran Arrests Elderly Father of Jailed U.S. Citizen” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/hqdefault-43.jpg360480Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-24 20:28:202016-04-11 10:52:18Ahead of Election, Iran’s Leader Warns of Western ‘Plot’
North Korea has threatened to attack ‘mainland America’ if the U.S. carries out a planned military drill with South Korean troops next month.
The secretive state has reacted with anger after it was revealed more than 300,000 American and South Korean troops were planning to hold their biggest ever annual exercise following the North’s nuclear tests earlier this year.
It is said the parallel Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises will include a staged ‘pre-emptive strike’ against the North – apparently leaving leader Kim Jong-Un seething.
Pyongyang has said if there is even a ‘slight sign’ of such exercises taking place, it will use all its might to hit back – claiming the first target would be South Korea’s presidential Blue House, while U.S. military bases in Asia and in America would be its secondary targets.
The Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by state media: ‘All the powerful strategic and tactical strike means of our revolutionary armed forces will go into preemptive and just operation to beat back the enemy forces to the last man if there is a slight sign of their special operation forces and equipment moving to carry out the so-called ‘beheading operation’ and ‘high-density strike’.’ (Read more from “North Korea Just Issued a Terrifying Threat to the U.S.” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/6538671777_18216f0bfb_o-1.jpg388620Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-23 23:10:492016-04-11 10:52:20North Korea Just Issued Another Apocalyptic Threat to the U.S.
Belgian authorities fear the Islamic State’s next move after obtaining hours of surveillance footage of a senior nuclear official at the apartment of an alleged terrorist.
Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure Wednesday reported that the footage was found in a raid of Mohamed Bakkali’s Brussels apartment. Bakkali is held on charges of terrorist activity and murder for his alleged involvement in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, which took 130 lives . . .
Edwin Lyman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told The Daily Caller News Foundation that an attack on a nuclear power plant could have catastrophic consequences, but also, thankfully, require extensive knowledge of the target.
“A terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant could conceivably result in an event as catastrophic as a severe accident like Chernobyl or Fukushima,” Lyman told TheDCNF in an emailed statement. “It’s not clear to me what information they could glean from the surveillance of the home of a nuclear official alone, unless they were planning to kidnap him and extract information.”
It wouldn’t be the first time terrorists have considered an attack on a power plant. Several attempts in countries such as Argentina, Russia and South Korea have failed. The 9/11 Commission Report also reported that Al Qaida’s original plan included U.S. power plants. (Read more from “Alleged Terrorist’s Strange Surveillance Video Has Authorities Thinking the Worst” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/AQMI_Flag_asymmetric.svg-1.png15002000Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-21 23:13:552016-04-11 10:52:25Alleged Terrorist’s Strange Surveillance Video Has Authorities Thinking the Worst
The Islamic State’s branch in Libya is deepening its reach across a wide area of Africa, attracting new recruits from countries like Senegal that had been largely immune to the jihadist propaganda — and forcing the African authorities and their Western allies to increase efforts to combat the fast-moving threat.
The American airstrikes in northwestern Libya on Friday, which demolished an Islamic State training camp and were aimed at a top Tunisian operative, underscore the problem, Western officials said. The more than three dozen suspected Islamic State fighters killed in the bombing were recruited from Tunisia and other African countries, officials said, and were believed to be rehearsing an attack against Western targets.
Even as American intelligence agencies say the number of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria has dropped to about 25,000 from a high of about 31,500, partly because of the United States-led air campaign there, the group’s ranks in Libya have roughly doubled in the same period, to about 6,500 fighters. More than a dozen American and allied officials spoke of their growing concern about the militant organization’s expanding reach from Libya and across Africa on rules of anonymity because the discussions involved intelligence and military planning.
Islamic State leaders in Syria are telling recruits traveling north from West African nations like Senegal and Chad, as well as others streaming up through Sudan in eastern Africa, not to press on to the Middle East. Instead, they are being told to stay put in Libya. American intelligence officials, who described the recent orders from Islamic State leaders, say the organization’s immediate goal is to carve out a new caliphate in Libya, and there are signs the affiliate is trying to establish statelike institutions there. (Read more from “U.S. Scrambles to Contain Growing ISIS Threat in Libya” HERE)
Up to 5,000 jihadis could be at large in Europe after returning from Islamic State training camps in the Middle East, the head of Europe’s police agency has warned.
Europol head Rob Wainwright said that between 3,000 and 5,000 jihadis could have re-entered the continent after training with the terror group in Syria and Iraq.
Speaking to German paper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, Mr Wainwright said the risk of a terror attack on the continent was now the highest for many years.
“Europe is currently facing the highest terror threat in more than ten years,” he said. “We can expect Isil or other religious terror groups to stage an attack somewhere in Europe with the aim of achieving mass casualties among the civilian population.”
Mr Wainwright, who previously served as head of Britain’s National Crime Intelligence Service (NCIS) and Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), added that the growing number of militants in Europe “presents EU member states with completely new challenges”. (Read more from “5,000 Islamic State Trained Jihadis Could Be in This Continent” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/GettyImages-4612677521-640x480.jpg480640Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-21 23:09:002016-04-11 10:52:265,000 Islamic State Trained Jihadis Could Be on This Continent
Photo Credit: Deutsche Welle Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered an ancient settlement which dates back as far as 7,000 years, they announced on Wednesday. They are calling it the oldest discovery of its kind in the area.
“This is the first time we found architecture of this kind in Jerusalem itself,” said Ronit Lupu, director of excavations for Israel’s Antiquities Authority. “We are talking about an established society, very well organized, with settlement, with cemeteries.”
The excavation exposed two houses with well-preserved remains and floors containing pottery vessels, flint tools and a basalt bowl. Lupu said these items are representative of the early Chalcolithic period, which began around 5,000 BC.
In the Chalcolithic period, humans were “still using stone tools, but began to create high-level ceramics and for the first time, copper tools as well,” said Lupu.
Small settlements from the period have been discovered in parts of Israel and Jordan, but only a few remnants had previously been unearthed in Jerusalem. (Read more from “Archaeologists Discover 7,000-Year-Old Settlement in Jerusalem” HERE)
By Selcan Hacaoglu. There’s only one major group of combatants in the Syrian war that’s backed by both Russia and the U.S. — and now Turkey is attacking it.
Since the weekend, Turkey has unleashed its 155-millimeter heavy guns across the border with Syria. The targets are Kurdish forces, whose recent advance is a key part of the Russian plan to extend President Bashar al-Assad’s control over Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday refused to stop the shelling and said Turkey was acting in self-defense.
Syria’s five-year war has turned into a tangled web of proxy conflicts between global and regional powers, with a growing risk that some of them could clash directly. Right now the most dangerous flashpoint is between Russia and NATO member Turkey, which shot down a Russian plane in November. Since then tensions have steadily built as the Assad-Russia alliance — with help from the Kurds — threatens to surround Turkish-backed rebels in Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city.
“Both Russia and Turkey are looking to position for strategic advantage,” Tim Ash, head of emerging-market strategy at Nomura in London, said by e-mail on Monday. “The risk is of an actual Russo-Turkish military clash, which would then threaten to draw in NATO.” (Read more from “Storm Clouds Gathering: Turkey Viciously Attacks Only Syrian Group Backed by Both Putin and U.S., Risking Direct Conflict With Russia” HERE)
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Kurds’ Advance in Syria Divides U.S. And Turkey as Russia Bombs
By Daren Butler. The rapid advance of U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, taking advantage of Russian air strikes to seize territory near the Turkish border, has infuriated Ankara and threatened to drive a wedge between NATO allies.
Washington has long seen the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its YPG military wing as its best chance in the battle against Islamic State in Syria – to the chagrin of fellow NATO member Turkey, which sees the group as terrorists and fears it will stir up greater unrest among its own Kurdish minority.
Russian bombing has transformed the five-year-old Syrian civil war in recent weeks, turning the momentum decisively in favor of Moscow’s ally President Bashar al-Assad.
The Syrian army has come within 25 km (15 miles) of the Turkish border and says it aims to seal it off altogether, closing the main lifeline into rebel territory for years and recapturing Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war. (Read more from “Kurds’ Advance in Syria Divides U.S. And Turkey as Russia Bombs” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Press-Conference_of_Vladimir_Putin_2015-07-10_01.jpg11601880Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-18 23:07:002016-04-11 10:52:29Storm Clouds Gathering: Turkey Viciously Attacks Only Syrian Group Backed by Both Putin and U.S., Risking Direct Conflict With Russia
By Stoyan Zaimov. A diplomat with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed laboratory tests that show the Islamic State terror group has been using banned chemical weapons on soldiers in Iraq.
Reuters reported on Monday that the diplomat, who chose to remain anonymous because the OPCW report has not yet been officially released, said the findings point to IS using sulfur mustard gas on around 35 Kurdish troops last August, in at least one confirmed case.
The use of chemical weapons has been banned throughout the vast majority of the world, with sulfur mustard known to cause severe delayed burns to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract.
Although the OPCW concluded back in October that mustard gas has been used in the civil war raging in Syria, which IS is also a part of, the new findings show that.
The question also arises of how IS has managed to obtain chemical weapons. Another diplomat suggested to Reuters that the terror group might have obtained the sulfur mustard agent from the stockpiles of the Syrian regime, which had promised to dismantle its chemical weapons program by 2014. (Read more from “Confirmed: ISIS Using Banned Chemical Weapons in Iraq; U.S. Troops Moving Into Contaminated Areas” HERE)
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U.S. Troops in Iraq Move Into Region Where ISIS Just Used Mustard Gas
By Andrew Tilghman. U.S. troops in Iraq are setting up a train-advise-and-assist team at a forward operating base near the Islamic State group’s front lines outside of Mosul, not far from the site of recent chemical weapons attacks.
The Nineveh Operations Center in the farming village of Makhmour will be a primary base for the U.S. to support the Iraqis’ long-awaited battle to seize Mosul from Islamic State militants, also known as ISIS or ISIL, a U.S. military official said.
A large convoy of Iraqi army forces began arriving at the base in Makhmour in early February. Iraq’s military leaders plan to deploy about 4,500 soldiers to the area for the Mosul operation, Iraqi officials said.
“There’s a lot going on in Makhmour. That’s where one of our operations centers is located. So there are American advise-and-assist capabilities there,” said Army Col. Steve Warren, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman in Baghdad. (Read more from “U.S. Troops in Iraq Move Into Region Where ISIS Just Used Mustard Gas” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-18 23:06:422016-04-11 10:52:29Confirmed: ISIS Using Banned Chemical Weapons in Iraq; U.S. Troops Moving Into Contaminated Areas
By Lucas Tomlinson and Yonat Friling. The Chinese military has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system to one of its contested islands in the South China Sea according to civilian satellite imagery exclusively obtained by Fox News, more evidence that China is increasingly “militarizing” its islands in the South China Sea and ramping up tensions in the region.
The imagery from ImageSat International (ISI) shows two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers as well as a radar system on Woody Island, part of the Paracel Island chain in the South China Sea.
It is the same island chain where a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed close to another contested island a few weeks ago. China at the time vowed “consequences” for the action . . .
The missiles arrived over the past week. According to the images, a beach on the island was empty on Feb. 3, but the missiles were visible by Feb. 14.
A U.S. official confirmed the accuracy of the photos. The official said the imagery viewed appears to show the HQ-9 air defense system, which closely resembles Russia’s S-300 missile system. The HQ-9 has a range of 125 miles, which would pose a threat to any airplanes, civilians or military, flying close by. (Read more from “In Provocative Move, China Places Advanced Surface to Air Missiles on Artificial Island During Middle of Obama’s Asian Conference” HERE)
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China Has Raised the Stakes in South China Sea With Surface-To-Air Missile Batteries
By Dean Cheng. The U.S. government has reported that China has deployed several batteries of surface-to-air missiles (HQ-9) to Woody Island, Paracels, in the South China Sea. This is a significant military move, and it makes clear that China is prepared to employ military forces to support its expansive claims to the South China Sea.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has previously deployed some of its advanced fighters (J-11 fighters, the domestic version of the Su-27) to Woody island but did not apparently make this permanent. This surface-to-air missiles deployment appears to be for the longer term.
The HQ-9 is the Chinese equivalent of the Russian S-300/SA-10 SAM, a very advanced, very capable system comparable to the American Patriot SAM. Its deployment creates a 125-mile danger zone around the Paracels and marks a major increase in the scale and capabilities of forces deployed to the region.
While the Paracels are not the Spratlys (where China has built a number of artificial islands), they are part of the larger dispute underway about the future of the South China Sea.
Seized from South Vietnam in 1974, the Paracels remain a source of contention between China and Vietnam, which has not acceded to the Chinese seizure. In 1988, China sank three Vietnamese ships in nearby waters, to underscore its commitment to retaining those islands.
The Chinese have laid claim to a vast area of the South China Sea encompassed by what is known as the “Nine Dash Line” (recently revised to 10 dashes). The area includes not only the Paracels and Spratlys, but also Macclesfield Bank and Mischief Reef, as well as the Pratas island group (currently held by Taiwan). To administer these dispersed territories, the Chinese promoted the city of Sansha, on Woody Island, in 2012 to a prefecture level and vested it with authority over all of these islands. The Chinese have also sought to treat the region, which includes vital shipping lanes over which $5.3 trillion’s worth of trade transits, as virtually their territorial waters.
Chinese vessels have repeatedly sought to enforce these expansive claims. In 2009, for example, Chinese forces interfered with the operations of the USNS Impeccable and several other ships. Earlier this year, the USS Curtis Wilbur, in a recent freedom of navigation operation, sailed near Woody Island to underscore the American commitment to freedom of the seas. (For more from the author of “China Has Raised the Stakes in South China Sea With Surface-To-Air Missile Batteries” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Barack_Obama_at_Las_Vegas_Presidential_Forum.jpg20483072Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-18 23:01:462016-04-11 10:52:30In Provocative Move, China Places Advanced Surface to Air Missiles on Disputed Island During Middle of Obama’s Asian Conference
After a series of stunning declines through the month of January and the first half of February, global financial markets seem to have found a patch of relative stability at least for the moment. But that does not mean that the crisis is over. On the contrary, all of the hard economic numbers that are coming in from around the world tell us that the global economy is coming apart at the seams. This is especially true when you look at global trade numbers. The amount of stuff that is being bought, sold and shipped around the planet is falling precipitously. So don’t be fooled if stocks go up one day or down the next. The truth is that we are in the early chapters of a brand new economic meltdown, and I believe that all of the signs indicate that it will continue to get worse in the months ahead. The following are 21 new numbers that show that the global economy is absolutely imploding…
#1 Chinese exports fell by 11.2 percent year over year in January.
#2 Chinese imports were even worse in January. On a year over year basis, they declined a whopping 18.8 percent.
#3 It may be hard to believe, but Chinese imports have now plunged for 15 months in a row.
#4 In India, exports were down 13.6 percent on a year over year basis in January.
#5 In Japan, exports declined 8 percent in December on a year over year basis, while imports plummeted 18 percent.
#6 For the sixth time in six years, Japanese GDP growth has gone negative.
#7 In the United States, exports were down 7 percent on a year over year basis in December.
#8 U.S. factory orders have fallen for 14 months in a row.
#9 The Restaurant Performance Index in the United States has dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since 2008.
#10 This month the Baltic Dry Index fell below 300 for the first time ever.
#11 It is now cheaper to rent a 1,100 foot merchant vessel than it is to rent a Ferrari.
#12 Orders for Class 8 trucks in the United States dropped by 48 percent on a year over year basis in January.
#13 Due to a lack of demand for trucks, Daimler just laid off 1,250 U.S. workers.
#14 Even though Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze oil production at current levels, the price of U.S. oil has still fallen below 30 dollars a barrel.
#15 It is being reported that 35 percent of all oil and gas companies around the world are at risk of falling into bankruptcy.
#16 According to CNN, 67 oil and gas companies in the United States filed for bankruptcy during 2015.
#17 The number of job cuts in the United States skyrocketed 218 percent during the month of January according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
#18 All over America, retail stores are shutting down at a stunning pace. The following list of store closures comes from one of my previous articles…
-Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, including 154 inside the United States.
-K-Mart is closing down more than two dozen stores over the next several months.
-J.C. Penney will be permanently shutting down 47 more stores after closing a total of 40 stores in 2015.
-Macy’s has decided that it needs to shutter 36 stores and lay off approximately 2,500 employees.
-The Gap is in the process of closing 175 stores in North America.
-Aeropostale is in the process of closing 84 stores all across America.
-Finish Line has announced that 150 stores will be shutting down over the next few years.
-Sears has shut down about 600 stores over the past year or so, but sales at the stores that remain open continue to fall precipitously.
#19 The price of gold is enjoying its best quarterly performance in 30 years.
#20 Global stocks have fallen into bear market territory, which means that about one-fifth of all global stock market wealth has already been wiped out.
#21 Unfortunately for global central banks, they have pretty much run out of ammunition. Since March 2008, central banks have cut interest rates 637 times and they have purchased a staggering 12.3 trillion dollars worth of assets. There is not much more that they can do, and now the next great crisis is upon us.
Without any outside influences, the global economy and the global financial system will continue to rapidly fall apart.
But if we do have a major “black swan event” take place, that could cause the bottom to fall out at any moment.
In particular, I am deeply concerned about the possibility that World War III could be sparked in the Middle East. In an article that I published earlier today entitled “Turkey Is Asking The United States To Take Part In A Ground Invasion Of Syria“, I included a quote from Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu that reveals just how eager Turkey and Saudi Arabia are for war to begin…
“Some countries like us, Saudi Arabia and some other Western European countries have said that a ground operation is necessary,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Reuters in an interview.
However, this kind of action could not be left to regional powers alone. “To expect this only from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar is neither right nor realistic. If such an operation is to take place, it has to be carried out jointly, like the (coalition) air strikes,” he said.
The Turks and the Saudis very much want the United States to take a leading role in any ground invasion of Syria, but the Obama administration is not likely to do that.
So we shall see if the Turks and the Saudis are willing to go ahead without us. Let us hope that they do not decide to invade Syria, because that could start the biggest war in the Middle East that any of us have ever seen.
Unfortunately, Turkey is already attacking.
Turkey has been shelling Kurdish and Syrian military positions in northern Syria for four days in a row even though the Obama administration has been urging them to stop.
The first month and a half of 2016 has already been quite chaotic, and the stage is set for global events to greatly accelerate during the months ahead.
Sadly, the mainstream media in the United States is largely ignoring the preparations for a ground invasion of Syria, and they keep telling us that the global economy is going to be just fine, so most ordinary Americans are going to be absolutely blindsided by what is about to happen. (For more from the author of “21 New Numbers That Show That the Global Economy Is Absolutely Imploding” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/Earth-At-Night-Public-Domain-460x306.jpg306460Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2016-02-16 22:42:412016-04-11 10:52:3521 New Numbers That Show That the Global Economy Is Absolutely Imploding
