“Major Provocation”: Vietnam Buys Submarine-Launched Land Attack Missiles to Deter China

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vietnam-navyVietnam is arming its expanding submarine fleet with land attack missiles that could be capable of reaching Chinese coastal cities, a choice of weapon likely to be seen as provocative by China in the ongoing South China Sea dispute.

The independent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently updated data on its website to show Vietnam’s acquisition of the Russian-made land attack variant of the Klub missile for its state-of-the-art Kilo attack submarines.

SIPRI arms researcher Siemon Wezeman said the entry was based on an earlier but little-noticed filing Vietnam made last year to the United Nations’ register of conventional arms.

Regional military attaches and analysts see the missiles as a further sign of Vietnam’s determination to counter the rise of China’s military and part of a broader trend of Asian countries re-arming amid rising territorial tensions . . .

While those would potentially target Chinese ships and submarines in the South China Sea, the land attack weapons are capable of precision strikes at a range of 300 kilometres, making China’s coastal cities potential targets in any conflict. (Read more from “Vietnam Buys Submarine-Launched Land Attack Missiles to Deter China” HERE)

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Nepal Quake Toll Passes 6,200, $2 Billion Needed for Reconstruction

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Mamta Gadal waits to hear from the rescue team of news of her husband, who is trapped under a collapsed building, after Saturday’s earthquake, in KathmanduThe death toll from Nepal’s devastating earthquake rose steadily past 6,200 on Friday as fresh aftershocks and the stench of rotting bodies made it hard for nervous survivors to return to their homes.

Disposal of the hundreds of bodies still being found six days after the 7.9 magnitude quake devastated the Himalayan nation of 28 million people was becoming a problem for officials, who have ordered immediate cremations.

“Morgues are full beyond capacity and we have been given instruction to incinerate bodies immediately after they are pulled out,” said Raman Lal, an Indian paramilitary force official working in coordination with Nepali forces.

Aid was slowly beginning to reach remote towns and villages nestled in the mountains and foothills but the overpowering smell of bodies trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings in the capital was making it hard for residents to return to their homes.

Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat said Nepal would need at least $2 billion to rebuild homes, hospitals, government offices and historic buildings and appealed for help from international donors. (Read more from “Nepal Quake Toll Passes 6,200, $2 Billion Needed for Reconstruction” HERE)

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U.S. Air Force Watching Falling Russian Cargo Ship

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International Space Station cargo spacecraft - Apr 2015The Air Force is watching an out-of-control Russian satellite tumbling toward earth that could reenter the atmosphere with some 3,000 pounds of toxic fuel within two weeks.

An Air Force center in charge of monitoring space threats at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., said the unmanned Space Station resupply cargo craft known as “Progress-M 27M” was initially determined to be in trouble at 3:04 A.M. on Wednesday . . .

“Currently, the [center] can confirm that the resupply vehicle is rotating at a rate of 360 degrees every five seconds,” Air Force said in a statement . . .

A defense official told the Washington Free Beacon that military commanders are aware of the potential threat posed by spacecraft. However, the official said so far there has been no immediate discussion of plans to shoot the craft down before it enters the atmosphere . . .

Another concern is that some 44 pieces of debris are also moving near the satellite and the upper stage of the rocket body that delivered the craft into orbit. The Air Force said it did not know if the debris is from the rocket body or the vehicle itself. (Read more from “Air Force Watching Falling Russian Satellite” HERE)

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Iran’s Zarif Says Congress – Even New President – Can’t Stop Obama’s Nuclear Deal

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Photo Credit: BLoomberg View

Photo Credit: BLoomberg View

If Iran strikes a deal with the West, all sanctions will be lifted very quickly and there’s nothing the U.S. Congress can do to stop it, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told a New York audience Wednesday.

In a set of blustery and self-righteous remarks, Iran’s top diplomat assured the crowd at New York University that President Barack Obama would be compelled to stop enforcing sanctions only days after any nuclear agreement was signed and would have to figure out how to lift congressional sanctions on Iran within weeks, no matter what Congress has to say about it. He also said that any future president, even a Republican, would be compelled to stick that agreement.

Zarif also took several shots at the U.S. Senate, just as it debated amendments to a bill designed to slow the lifting of sanctions against Iran and give Congress an oversight role on the deal.

“As a foreign government, I only deal with the U.S. government. I do not deal with Congress,” Zarif said. “The responsibility of bringing that into line falls on the shoulders of the president of the United States. That’s the person with whom we are making an agreement.”

Zarif said that if there is a nuclear agreement by June 30, the negotiators’ latest self-imposed deadline, then within a few days the United Nations Security Council would pass a resolution lifting all UN sanctions and requiring Obama to stop enforcing all of the U.S. sanctions immediately. (Read more from “Iran’s Zarif Says Congress Can’t Stop Obama” HERE)

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“Big Concern”: In an Uncontrollable Spin Towards Earth, Russian Spaceship Considered Total Loss

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Photo Credit: Click Orlando

Photo Credit: Click Orlando

The crew of the International Space Station says a Russian supply ship that went into an uncontrollable spin after launch has been declared a total loss.

American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko told The Associated Press on Wednesday that flight controllers have given up trying to command the cargo carrier.

The unmanned vessel began tumbling shortly after its launch Tuesday from Kazakhstan.

Kelly says the vehicle will fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere sometime soon. He’s not sure exactly when.

The cargo ship contains 3 tons of food, water, fuel, clothes and equipment for the six station residents. Kelly says everything and everyone on board should be OK, even without this shipment. But he says it’s still unfortunate. Kornienko calls it “a big concern.” (Read more from “After Starting in an Uncontrollable Spin Towards Earth, Russian Spaceship Considered Total Lost” HERE)

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Signs of the Times: Data Proves Earthquake and Volcano Activity IS Increasing

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a-eruptionsThe Costa Rica News (TCRN) – If it seems like earthquakes and erupting volcanoes are happening more frequently, that’s because they are. Looking at global magnitude six (M6) or greater from 1980 to 1989 there was an average of 108.5 earthquakes per year, from 2000 to 2009 the planet averaged 160.9 earthquakes per year: that is a 38.9% increase of M6+ earthquakes in recent years.

The conspiracy theorists have been sounding alarms for some time about this with fingers pointing to HAARP technology, geo-engineering, electromagnetic waves in the ionosphere, etc. Mainstream scientists simple say they are hand-picking data sets and that in reality our monitoring systems have become better as well as the fact that there is more media reporting so it only appears to be an increasing number of seismic events on the globe.

The image below shows statistics from the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program showing a significant increase M6 and greater events:

earthquake-data2

The graph below shows the cumulative number of earthquakes M3 or greater in the mid-continental United States. The number of M3 or greater earthquakes increases steadily at about 21 events per year until around 2000, when it increases about 50% to 31 events per year. By 2008, the number increased sharply to about 151 events per year . . .

earthquake-data3

Unrest also seems to be growing among the worlds super-volcanoes. Iceland (which is home to some of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet), Santorini in Greece, Uturuncu in Bolivia, the Yellowstone and Long Valley calderas in the U.S., Laguna del Maule in Chile, Italy’s Campi Flegrei – almost all of the world’s active super-volcanic systems are now exhibiting some signs of inflation, an early indication that pressure is building in these volcanic systems. (Read more from “Yes, Earthquake and Volcano Activity IS Increasing” HERE)

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Shift: Volcanic Eruptions Increasingly Becoming More Aggressive and Violent

By The Extinction Protocol. We are beginning to witness more aggressive activity from the world’s eruptive volcanic systems. Chile’s Calbuco, Peru’s Ubinas volcano, Indonesia’s Mt. Sinabung volcano, Mexico’s Colima volcano, and Costa Rica’s Turrialba volcano are not the only volcanoes ejecting high altitude ash plumes in more powerful eruptions these days – the list of volcanoes across the globe now experiencing similar simultaneous activity is growing. Volcanic activity as documented for April 27, 2014:

Karymsky (Kamchatka): (27 Apr) An explosion occurred this morning that was strong enough to produce an ash plume to approx. 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude (VAAC Tokyo).

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): (27 Apr) Strong activity continues from the volcano. This morning (14:24 local time), an explosion at the Showa crater sent a plume to 15,000 ft (4.5 km) altitude that drifted north.

Manam (Papua New Guinea): (27 Apr) Eruptive activity is taking place at the volcano. VAAC Darwin reported an ash plume to 8,000 ft from the volcano this morning. A pronounced SO2 plume can be seen on satellite data as well.

Dukono (Halmahera): (27 Apr) The volcano continues to produce significant ash emissions – a plume extending 20 nautical miles E was observed Saturday (Darwin VAAC).

Barren Island (Indian Ocean): (27 Apr) A pilot reported an ash plume rising to 10,000 ft from the volcano. Likely, eruptive activity which had produced a new lava flow in March is still going on or has resumed.

(See “Shift: Volcanic Eruptions Increasingly Becoming More Aggressive and Violent”, originally posted HERE)

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Nepal Death Toll Tops 5,000 as Rescuers Reach Hard-Hit Rural Areas [+video]

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nepal-earthquake-updateMore than 10,000 people are now known to have been injured in Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, home ministry national disaster management division chief Rameshwor Dangal told AFP.

Helicopters crisscrossed the mountains above the remote district of Ranachour Tuesday near the epicenter of the weekend earthquake, ferrying the injured to clinics and taking emergency supplies back to villages cut off by landslides.

Meanwhile, some 250 people were believed to be missing following a mudslide and avalanche in Ghodatabela, an isolated village not far from the epicenter of Saturday’s powerful earthquake.

District official Gautam Rimal said heavy snow had been falling Tuesday near the village. He said officials received initial reports of the disaster by phone but then lost contact.

The village, about a 12-hour walk from the nearest town, is along a popular trekking route, but it was not clear if the missing included trekkers. (Read more from “Nepal Death Toll Tops 5,000 as Rescuers Reach Hard-Hit Rural Areas” HERE)

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Top Iranian General: America Was Behind 9/11 Attacks

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150427_iranian_general_gty_629_956x519 (1)The commander of Iran’s ground forces said that American officials planned and executed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to justify military intervention in the region.

“These wars and these threats stem from a comprehensive American strategy. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Americans felt that a new force was beginning to materialize, namely the union between Sunnis and Shiites,” said Ahmad Reza Pourdastan in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam state news network.

“The basis of this force was the blessed Islamic Revolution in Iran. This force is Islam, or the Islamic world. In order to prevent this force from materializing, the Americans did many things,” Pourdastan said, according to a translation of his remarks by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“The first thing they did was to plan and carry out the events of 9/11, in order to justify their presence in Western Asia, with the goal of ruling it,” he said. (Read more from “Top Iranian General: America Was Behind 9/11 Attacks” HERE)

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Obama Appoints First LGBT Envoy in Effort to Convert the World Over to the Gay Agenda

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CORRECTION-US-POLITICS-WHCA-OBAMAWhen officials at the State Department began mulling the notion of creating a special LGBT envoy, there was some trepidation.

A few worried that designating an envoy expressly for the purpose of promoting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people around the world — an official goal of U.S. diplomacy since 2011 — would stovepipe the issue and lead others at State to neglect it. Others, according to a State employee involved in the process, wondered if including “LGBT” in the title would hurt the envoy’s ability to get meetings with senior officials in countries such as Uganda and Russia, where gays have increasingly come under legal attack.

In February, veteran U.S. diplomat Randy Berry was named to the carefully titled position of America’s “special envoy for the human rights of LGBT persons,” and it’s clear he has no intention of being isolated either at State or by any state.

In an interview with POLITICO, the 50-year-old, openly gay diplomat sketched out an ambitious agenda, one he hopes will mean forging ties with activists, companies and governments everywhere, including in places hostile to people such as himself.

Of the thousands of positive messages he’s received so far — he can’t think of a negative one — Berry points out that a big chunk came from the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose former president insisted the country had no gays. Surely, he argues, even the most ardent opponents of gays wouldn’t object to having a discussion on whether people in the LGBT community deserve basic human rights. (Read more from “Obama Appoints First LGBT Envoy in Effort to Convert the World Over to the Gay Agenda” HERE)

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Due to Widespread Global Warming Fraud, Scientists Launch Comprehensive Review

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LAGO PRETO LAKE an oxbow lake in Lago Preto Conservation Concession Amazonian Rainforest Yavari Valley Loreto PeruLast month, we are told, the world enjoyed “its hottest March since records began in 1880”. This year, according to “US government scientists”, already bids to outrank 2014 as “the hottest ever”. The figures from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were based, like all the other three official surface temperature records on which the world’s scientists and politicians rely, on data compiled from a network of weather stations by NOAA’s Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN).

But here there is a puzzle. These temperature records are not the only ones with official status. The other two, Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama (UAH), are based on a quite different method of measuring temperature data, by satellites. And these, as they have increasingly done in recent years, give a strikingly different picture. Neither shows last month as anything like the hottest March on record, any more than they showed 2014 as “the hottest year ever”.

Back in January and February, two items in this column attracted more than 42,000 comments to the Telegraph website from all over the world. The provocative headings given to them were “Climategate the sequel: how we are still being tricked by flawed data on global warming” and “The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest scientific scandal”.

My cue for those pieces was the evidence multiplying from across the world that something very odd has been going on with those official surface temperature records, all of which ultimately rely on data compiled by NOAA’s GHCN. Careful analysts have come up with hundreds of examples of how the original data recorded by 3,000-odd weather stations has been “adjusted”, to exaggerate the degree to which the Earth has actually been warming. Figures from earlier decades have repeatedly been adjusted downwards and more recent data adjusted upwards, to show the Earth having warmed much more dramatically than the original data justified.

So strong is the evidence that all this calls for proper investigation that my articles have now brought a heavyweight response. The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) has enlisted an international team of five distinguished scientists to carry out a full inquiry into just how far these manipulations of the data may have distorted our picture of what is really happening to global temperatures. (Read more from “Due to Widespread Global Warming Fraud, Scientists Launch Comprehensive Review” HERE)

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