Pentagon Slip May Cause Israel to Fast-Track Plans to Attack Iran

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Analysts fear a dramatic advance in North Korea’s nuclear missile technology, revealed inadvertently during a Congressional hearing Thursday, will quickly find its way to Iran — forcing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fast-track a long-contemplated attack against Tehran’s nuclear-enrichment facilities.

Pentagon officials are playing down a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that North Korea probably has the ability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon and place it on an ICBM. U.S. officials say that miniaturization capability, if it exists, is untested and unreliable.

In February, North Korea detonated what is described as a “lighter, miniaturized atomic bomb.” At the time, there was speculation this could signal the Hermit Kingdom had developed a nuclear warhead that it could place on its long-range missiles. Pentagon officials, however, continued to insist North Korea was at least a year away from developing that capability.

Jerusalem Post defense analyst Yaakov Katz, author of “Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War,” tells Newsmax that U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials have generally agreed that it would take Iran six to 12 months to build a nuclear device once it tried to break out and enrich its material from the 20-percent to the 90-percent level required. Beyond that, intelligence experts have projected, it would then take Iran another year or two to produce a miniaturized warhead that could be installed on a missile.

Now, Katz says, the time lag between reaching nuclear capability and Iran’s ability to arm a missile with a nuclear warhead appears to have vanished. That means Thursday’s revelation could reduce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nonmilitary options against Iran, forcing the Jewish state to step up its timetable for attacking the Persian nation should it acquire enough enriched uranium to be a significant threat.

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N. Korea May be Able to Deliver Nuke, Pentagon Intel Says

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Photo Credit: CNN

The Pentagon’s intelligence arm has assessed with “moderate confidence” that North Korea has the ability to deliver a nuclear weapon with a ballistic missile, though the reliability is believed to be “low.”

Disclosed first by a congressman at a hearing on Thursday and then confirmed to CNN by the Defense Department, the assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency is the clearest acknowledgment yet by the United States about potential advances in North Korea’s nuclear program.

The surprise development comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea has unleashed a torrent of dramatic threats against the United States and South Korea in recent weeks, including that of a possible nuclear strike.

The Obama administration calculates a test launch of mobile ballistic missiles could come at any time. But a senior administration official said there is no indication that missiles believed being readied for tests have been armed with any nuclear material. Read more from this story HERE.

Lawmaker Catches Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff ‘Off-Guard’, Reveals Probable North Korean Nuclear Capability

By Anna Mulrine. The results of a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report indicate that “North Korea now has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles.”

That was the bombshell out of a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday.

It came when Rep. Doug Lamborn (R) of Colorado began quoting from what he said was an unclassified version of the DIA report, which has not yet been made public.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, the nation’s top military officer, appeared caught off-guard. The Pentagon has in recent days sought to strike a balance between words of warning to the North and attempts to calm the situation. General Dempsey’s reaction suggested that he was not pleased to have the DIA assessment made public, as it could further stoke anxieties over what is already a enormously tense international standoff.

Representative Lamborn read from the report toward the end of a defense budget hearing. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama and Cuba: 'Remarkable Cooperation on Many Issues'

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Photo Credit: flippinyank

Cuba and the United States may be longtime enemies with a bucket overflowing with grievances, but the fast return of a Florida couple who fled U.S. authorities with their two kidnapped children in tow shows the Cold War enemies are capable of remarkable cooperation on many issues.

Indeed, diplomats and observers on both sides of the Florida Straits say American and Cuban law enforcement officers, scientists, disaster relief workers, Coast Guard officials and other experts work together on a daily basis, and invariably express professional admiration for each other.

“I don’t think the story has been told, but there is a real warmth in just the sort of day-to-day relations between U.S. and Cuban government officials,” said Dan Whittle, who frequently brings scientific groups to the island in his role as Cuba program director for the Environmental Defense Fund.

“Nearly every time I talk to American officials they say they were impressed by their Cuban counterparts. There really is a high level of mutual respect.”

Almost none of these technical-level interactions make the headlines, but examples are endless. Just last week, Cuba’s top environmental official Ulises Fernandez and several island oil experts attended a conference in New York of the International Association of Drilling Contractors after the State Department expedited their visas.

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House Intel Chair: The Iranians, Russians and Chinese are Already on Your PC

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Photo Credit: AP

The House Intelligence Committee is warning that “time is running out” before the next major cyberattack: The Russians, Iranians, Chinese and others are likely already on your computer.

“You have criminal organizations trying to get into your personal computer and steal your personal stuff. And by the way, the Chinese are probably on your computer, the Russians are probably on your personal computer, the Iranians are already there,” House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R.-MI). told Fox News.

“They’re trying to steal things that they think are valuable or use your computer to help them steal from someone else,” he said. “That’s a real problem.”

Experts say Rogers may be stretching the truth: most people’s computers likely aren’t infected by agents of foreign governments.

“The Iranians, the Chinese, and the Russians are probably already on my computer? Sheesh … I guess it must be getting pretty crowded in there,” joked Graham Cluley, a consultant with U.K. Web security company Sophos. But the threat Rogers describes is certainly real, he pointed out.

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Obama Now Appears to be Allied With Al-Qaeda in Syria

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Iraq’s al-Qaeda wing has united with a kindred Syrian group in the front line of a struggle to oust President Bashar al-Assad, sharpening a dilemma for nations that back the revolt, but fear rising Islamist militancy. The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, said his group had trained and funded fighters from Syria’s al-Nusra Front — which is blacklisted by the United States — since the early days of the two-year-old uprising.

He said in a statement posted on Islamist websites and seen by Reuters on Tuesday that the two groups would operate under the joint title of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

“It’s now time to declare in front of the people of the Levant and the world that al-Nusra Front is but an extension of the Islamic State of Iraq and part of it,” Baghdadi said.

“We thus declare . . . the cancellation of the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the name of al-Nusra Front and grouping them together under one name, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” he added.

The militant Islamist element of the Syrian conflict poses a quandary for Western powers and their Arab allies, which favor Assad’s overthrow but are alarmed at the growing power of Sunni Muslim jihadi fighters whose fiercely anti-Shiite ideology has fueled sectarian tensions in the Middle East.

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Safe from Sequester: $704,198 for Gardening at NATO Ambassador’s Home

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Photo Credit: NATO website

Just over a week after sequestration took effect, the State Department allotted more than $700,000 for gardening at a U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Brussels, Belgium.

On March 11, State awarded a contract to provide gardening services at an “official residence” of the U.S. Mission in Belgium.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed to CNSNews.com that the contract is for Truman Hall, a historic property that serves at the residence of the Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The current U.S. ambassador to NATO is Ivo H. Daalder, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in May 2009.

The total award comes to $704,198.30, including $134,744 for the base year and four one-year option periods thereafter.

A State Department spokesperson said that Truman Hall regularly hosts visitors from the 28 NATO nations and other Alliance partner countries around the world and is a valuable platform for America’s diplomacy.

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Obama Screwing Up in North Korea

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photo credit: petersnoopy

After the Obama Administration publicly blamed the U.S. Military for “amping up” North Korea’s boy-leader last week, it is continuing its deferential posture toward the reclusive country.

Today, the Pentagon announced that it is canceling a previously planned Minuteman III ballistic missile test to avoid upsetting ‘Supreme Leader’ Kim Jong Un.

Despite the arrival of B-2’s and other significant U.S. assets over the last week, sources are continuing to report that North Korea is not only prepping for another missile launch but may also be preparing for another nuclear detonation.

Additionally, the Chinese have now reported live-fire maneuvers near the border.

If Obama wishes to put an end to North Korea’s games, he’s certainly going about it the wrong way. Publicly blaming your own military and interrupting long-planned tests upon which our national security depends plays directly into the little dictator’s hands.

Kim Jong Un now has bragging rights that he forced the world’s superpower to blink, something that has likely earned his hard-line military’s respect. Obama has almost certainly guaranteed that we’ll see the same type of scenario play out, yet again, in the not-so-distant future.

Iranians Jailers Brutally Beat US Citizen, Cause Internal Bleeding, Fail to Render Medical Care

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Photo Credit: Fox News

The Iranian-American Christian pastor jailed in Iran for his faith again has been denied bail as he awaits proper medical treatment for serious injuries and internal bleeding sustained from brutal prison beatings, according to the family’s attorneys.

Saeed Abedini, the 32-year-old U.S. citizen imprisoned in Iran since September, purportedly was taken to an external hospital, but he was not admitted for treatment, according to sources close to the pastor who report that the medical specialist who was supposed to examine him was not in. Instead of seeing a different doctor, Abedini was returned to Evin Prison without receiving any medical treatment.

“This is yet another example of psychological abuse,” said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, the organization representing Abedini’s U.S.-based family.

“They got his hopes up about getting medical help, and either the Iranian government is incompetent or just that ruthless that they would play with people’s emotions and health,” Sekulow told Fox News.

In March, the government promised the pastor access to proper medical facilities and professionals after his attorneys brought it to the attention of the Iranian government that Abedini’s health was in jeopardy.

Read more from this story HERE.

Secret Files Reveal World Elites' $32 Trillion in Hidden Financial Accounts (+video)

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Photo Credit: Tim Meko

Dozens of journalists sifted through millions of leaked records and thousands of names to produce ICIJ’s investigation into offshore secrecy ­

A cache of 2.5 million files has cracked open the secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con men and the mega-rich the world over. The secret records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists lay bare the names behind covert companies and private trusts in the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and other offshore hideaways.

They include American doctors and dentists and middle-class Greek villagers as well as families and associates of long-time despots, Wall Street swindlers, Eastern European and Indonesian billionaires, Russian corporate executives, international arms dealers and a sham-director-fronted company that the European Union has labeled as a cog in Iran’s nuclear-development program.

The leaked files provide facts and figures — cash transfers, incorporation dates, links between companies and individuals — that illustrate how offshore financial secrecy has spread aggressively around the globe, allowing the wealthy and the well-connected to dodge taxes and fueling corruption and economic woes in rich and poor nations alike.

The records detail the offshore holdings of people and companies in more than 170 countries and territories.

Here’s how offshore accounts hide financial assets:

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On the Eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Anonymous Conducts Massive Cyberattack on Israel

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Photo Credit: AP

Hackers launched a coordinated cyberattack on Israel over the weekend in an attempt to “wipe Israel off the map of the Internet,” defacing some 20,000 Israeli Facebook accounts and nearly 2,000 Israeli websites.

The anarchist hacking collective known as Anonymous formally launched “Operation Israel” on Sunday, the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The stated goal of the attack was to wreak havoc on Israeli servers, government websites, and Internet users.

The hackers penetrated and defaced multiple Israeli websites including government, schools, banks, and a website for children with cancer, according to regional media reports.

Among the government websites breached were the Central Bureau of Statistics, the Government Publications Office, the Haifa Sewage Treatment Plant, and the National Insurance Institute, which provides social security benefits to Israelis, according to a list of hacked websites posted on Hackers News Bulletin.

The hackers brought Israel-based web traffic to a crawl on Saturday and leaked the personal information of more than 1,700 Israeli credit card users, according to Hackers News Bulletin, which reported the Jewish state had lost some $2 billion as a result of the attack.

Read more from this story HERE.