War Looms Over Gaza as Israel Mobilizes Troops Near Border (+video)

photo credit: stringsofasoulJERUSALEM – Both the Israeli military and militants in the Gaza strip continued relentless air strikes Friday as Israeli troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers massed near the Palestinian territory, signaling a ground invasion might be growing near.

Hopes of even a brief cease-fire were dashed after both sides accused the other of violating a proposed cease-fire during a visit by the prime minister of Egypt to Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told Egypt that Israel was prepared to suspend its military offensive in the Gaza Strip during Prime Minister Hisham Kandil’s three-hour visit there Friday.

However, Israel later said Hamas did not honor the deal, saying rockets fired from Gaza had hit several sites in southern Israel as Kandil was in the enclave.

Israel strongly denied it had carried out any attacks from the time Kandil entered Gaza, though Gaza militants claimed Israel had continued strikes during the visit.

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CIA: ‘Rise of the Oceans’ More Important than Rising Terrorism

The CIA opened the Center on Climate Change and National Security in 2009 to monitor the threats posed to national security by “desertification, rising sea levels, population shifts, and heightened competition for natural resources.”

When President-elect Barack Obama said climate change was a matter of national security in Dec. 2008, it seemed like just more talk from another leftist who was convinced humans were destroying the planet.

However, that narrative continued to be set forth by his administration for four straight years; now we’re learning that it went so far as the CIA devoting resources to this “problem” since 2009.

While Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah are ramping up to strike Israel, while the Taliban openly mocks Obama’s capitulation in Afghanistan, and while Al Qaeda regroups in places like Iraq and Libya, our CIA is worried about a “worldwide security risk” caused by global warming.

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Congressional Report Ties Middle East Terrorists to Mexican Drug Cartels

A new congressional report from the House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management ties Middle East terror organizations to Mexican drug cartels.

The report, released Thursday, is titled “A Line in the Sand: Countering Crime, Violence and Terror at the Southwest Border.” It found that the “Southwest border has now become the greatest threat of terrorist infiltration into the United States.” It specifically cites a “growing influence” from Iranian and Hezbollah terror forces in Latin America.

“The presence of Hezbollah in Latin America is partially explained by the large Lebanese diaspora in South America,” the report reads. “In general, Hezbollah enjoys support by many in the Lebanese world community in part because of the numerous social programs it provides in Lebanon that include schools, hospitals, utilities and welfare.”

The congressional report, prepared by the subcommittee’s chairman, Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, argues that the “explanation for Iranian presence in Latin America begins with its symbiotic relationship with Hezbollah.”

“United in their dedication to the destruction of Israel, Iran has helped Hezbollah grow from a small group of untrained guerrillas into what is arguably the most highly trained, organized and equipped terrorist organization in the world,” the report reads. “In return, Hezbollah has served as an ideal proxy for Iranian military force – particularly against Israel – which affords Iran plausible deniability diplomatically. Hence wherever Hezbollah is entrenched, Iran will be as well and vice-versa.”

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Russia Expands Treason Law, Critics Fear Crackdown

photo credit: mkooimanMOSCOW (AP) — Adding to fears that the Kremlin aims to stifle dissent, Russians now live under a new law expanding the definition of treason so broadly that critics say it could be used to call anyone who bucks the government a traitor.

The law took effect Wednesday, just two days after President Vladimir Putin told his human rights advisory council that he was ready to review it.

His spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies Wednesday that Putin would be willing to review the treason law if its implementation reveals “some problems or aspects restricting rights and freedoms.”

But what Putin might consider a problem is unclear. His opponents say a series of measures enacted since Putin returned to the Kremlin in May for a third term show he is determined to intimidate and suppress dissidents.

One recent measure imposes a huge increase in potential fines for participants in unauthorized demonstrations. Another requires non-governmental organizations to register as foreign agents if they both receive money from abroad and engage in political activity. And another gives sweeping power to authorities to ban websites under a procedure critics denounce as opaque.

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Israel Kills Hamas’s Chief Military Leader (+video)

Israel has announced that an early morning strike targeted and killed Hamas’s senior military leader, Ahmed Jabari. Palestinian officials claim six people in total have been killed by the Israeli airstrikes.

The Israeli airstrikes were a response to rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip, which was targeting Israeli civilians. Hamas security officials claim two Hamas training facilities were among the targets of the Israeli airstrikes.

Rather than the single-action responses from the Israeli military prior to the 2012 US presidential elections, this morning’s actions indicate a new attitude on the part of Israeli leaders. Read more from this story HERE.

Filmmaker Declines to Sell Footage of ‘Firenado’ to Al Gore Because ‘Science Isn’t Settled’ (+video)

(The Blaze) Filmmaker Chris Tangey was surprised when he was contacted by Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project as the organization hoped to use his footage of a fire tornado — or “firenado” — shot in the Australian Outback in September. Tangey explained to NT News that they would need to convince him such an event was caused by man-made global warming before selling them the rights to it.

TheBlaze brought you both the story of Tangey’s “firenado” footage and also his refusal to grant rights to the Climate Reality Project. Now we’ve talked with Tangey directly about his thoughts on the use of nature footage and the context of man-made global warming, as well as why he rebuffed Gore.

Tangey, owner of Alice Springs Film and Television, in an email interview with TheBlaze explained that the first time he was contacted by Gore’s team, they were seeking rights to the footage for five years to be used in PowerPoint presentations. The second time the Climate Reality Project crew reached out, which was last week, it was for a 24-hour webcast taking place this Nov. 14 through 15.

After this initial request, Tangey said he researched climate change for himself.

“I came to the conclusion there is climate change,” he wrote. “But I am yet to see definitive evidence on its severity; how much of it is human induced; how long it has been going for and how long it is likely to go for; how much is due to the solar cycle; how much is due to the all sorts of variables in oceans which cover 71 percent of the planet’s surface and for which there is no all-encompassing historical data, nor can there be, or how capable the planet is of self-correction (which seems to be the big surprise among scientists, although they seem to be constantly ‘surprised,’ yet can be so definitive on climate change…).”

See video below. Full footage begins at 3:15:

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Israel Under Siege

Islamic militants fired more than 110 rockets and mortars into Israeli territory over the past four days in attacks that injured eight Israelis, according to a report issued by the Israeli Defense Forces Strategic Division.

The unprovoked attacks have been dispersed throughout the Jewish state’s southern territory and have forced more than a million civilians into bomb shelters. One soldier has been critically injured in the barrage.

The Israel Project says that 898 rockets have fallen on Israel thus far in 2012—over 200 more than hit Israel in the entirety of 2011.

The Obama administration has yet to issue a statement about the attacks. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro recently expressed sympathy via Twitter to those affected by the near-constant assault.

The most recent barrage comes on the heels of a three-month calm between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Read more from this story HERE.

Iran Launches Massive War Simulation

Iran launched massive military “wargames” on Monday, involving thousands of troops, aircraft and surveillance equipment aimed at testing the country’s ability to repel an air attack against “hypothetical sensitive sites,” according to its state news agency.

The maneuvers seem to have been planned before Iranian jets reportedly fired on an unmanned U.S. drone earlier in November, and come on the heels of Austere Challenge 2012 in Israel, the largest ever missile defense exercise organized by Israel and the U.S. that began in October.

The Iranians call their surface-to-air system “Mersad,” or Ambush, says Gen. Farzad Esmaili, chief of the country’s air defense headquarters, according to Iranian state TV. It is modeled after the U.S. Hawk system, and reportedly can lock on to a flying object 50 miles away and hit it from 30 miles away.

“The Iranians are demonstrating to themselves and the world that their air defenses are at the highest state of readiness,” says Omar Lamrani, a military analyst with Stratfor.

“There’s a psychological propaganda aspect to that, but there’s also a real aspect to that,” he says. “These exercises also serve the crucial role of training their pilots and training their air defense forces.”

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Israel Fires First Shot at Syrian Military Since 1973 Yom Kippur War

IDF ground forces fired a warning shot at the Syrian military on Sunday for the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

They shot the guided missile after a stray Syrian shell from civil strife in that country exploded on the Golan Heights for the second time in recent days.

The shell hit as Israel suffered a barrage of missiles from Gaza, putting the IDF in the position of monitoring enemy fire along both the northern and southern borders.

“In the midst of Syrian infighting, a mortar shell fired by the Syrian Army struck near an [IDF] outpost at Tel Azeka,” IDF spokesman Brig.- Gen. Yoav Mordechai said.

The shell failed to cause injuries or damage. It was one of a series that hit Israeli territory.

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Obama’s America? Ripped Apart by Financial Crisis, Greek Society in Free-fall

photo credit: endiaferonATHENS, Greece – A sign taped to a wall in an Athens hospital appealed for civility from patients. “The doctors on duty have been unpaid since May,” it read, “Please respect their work.”

Patients and their relatives glanced up briefly and moved on, hardened to such messages of gloom. In a country where about 1,000 people lose their jobs each day, legions more are still employed but haven’t seen a paycheck in months. What used to be an anomaly has become commonplace, and those who have jobs that pay on time consider themselves the exception to the rule.

To the casual observer, all might appear well in Athens. Traffic still hums by, restaurants and bars are open, people sip iced coffees at sunny sidewalk cafes. But scratch the surface and you find a society in free-fall, ripped apart by the most vicious financial crisis the country has seen in half a century.

It has been three years since Greece’s government informed its fellow members in the 17-country group that uses the euro that its deficit was far higher than originally reported. It was the fuse that sparked financial turmoil still weighing heavily on eurozone countries. Countless rounds of negotiations ensued as European countries and the International Monetary Fund struggled to determine how best to put a lid on the crisis and stop it spreading.

The result: Greece had to introduce stringent austerity measures in return for two international rescue loan packages worth a total of €240 billion ($313 billion), slashing salaries and pensions and hiking taxes.

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