Inside the Ring: Chinese Missile Defense Test?

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U.S. intelligence agencies are closely monitoring China’s missile facilities in anticipation of a test of China’s missile defense interceptor, which also doubled in the past as an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile.

The officials commented in response to reports that China is set to conduct another potentially destabilizing anti-satellite missile test in space. In 2007, China fired a missile that destroyed a weather satellite and resulted in tens of thousands of dangerous pieces of debris that threaten manned and unmanned spacecraft.

The Washington Free Beacon reported in September on new intelligence reports that indicate China is preparing to fire its Dong Ning-2 missile into space, this time at a high-earth orbit target.

Then last week Gregary Kulacki, a specialist with the Union of Concerned Scientist, reported on his blog, “All Things Nuclear,” that Chinese officials recently circulated an internal notice of an upcoming anti-satellite missile test in space.

A U.S. official said a test at this point does not appear imminent. However there are signs an interceptor flight test is being prepared.

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Glenn Beck Relaunching The Blaze As Global Libertarian News Network

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Glenn Beck announced plans Tuesday during his online television program to expand the news operation in his media company, The Blaze, and refocus it as a libertarian network, opening three foreign bureaus, debuting a nightly newsmagazine show, and relocating his New York staff to showy new offices.

Beck introduced his ambitious plans by standing in front of a split screen with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on one side and Fox News’s Sean Hannity on the other, and bemoaning the fact that cable news has devolved into the “far left [and] far right… yelling at each other.”

“We’re not gonna play in that crazy space as a network,” he said, adding, “I consider myself a libertarian… I’m a lot closer to Penn Jillette than I am to Chuck Hagel.”

He said over the next 60 days, The Blaze will open three foreign bureaus in cities that are “important to America.” He will also relocate his New York staff from their current midtown offices into a building that will “send a very clear message to everyone in New York… it will piss everyone off.”

Beck also showed a teaser for a new nightly 30-minute newsmagazine show called For the Record.

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China Mysteriously Quadruples Rice Imports, Continues to Stockpile Commodities

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Yesterday, it was reported that China – not currently suffering from any food shortages – is amassing rice stockpiles. This past year, the country mysteriously imported four times the rice over 2011 purchases:

United Nations agricultural experts are reporting confusion, after figures show that China imported 2.6 million tons of rice in 2012, substantially more than a four-fold increase over the 575,000 tons imported in 2011. The confusion stems from the fact that there is no obvious reason for vastly increased imports, since there has been no rice shortage in China. The speculation is that Chinese importers are taking advantage of low international prices, but all that means is that China’s own vast supplies of domestically grown rice are being stockpiled. Why would China suddenly be stockpiling millions of tons of rice for no apparent reason? Perhaps it’s related to China’s aggressive military buildup and war preparations in the Pacific and in central Asia.

Yesterday’s revelation follows reports over the past several years of the Chinese amassing commodities in warehouses through out the nation.

For example, Reuters reported last year that

At Qingdao Port, home to one of China’s largest iron ore terminals, hundreds of mounds of iron ore, each as tall as a three-storey building, spill over into an area signposted “grains storage” and almost to the street.

Further south, some bonded warehouses in Shanghai are using carparks to store swollen copper stockpiles – another unusual phenomenon that bodes ill for global metal prices and raises questions about China’s ability to sustain its economic growth as the rest of the world falters.

Several months ago, at least one analyst speculated that a commodities buying spree involving 300,000 tons of metals in another Chinese province was motivated by an attempt to keep local smelters running, thereby ensuring continued tax revenues to government. But that doesn’t explain the rice-buying.

What we do know is that the world may be headed – led by the United States – toward a period of significant inflation if sovereign debt crises lead to additional “quantitative easing” and other expansions of the monetary supply.

In other words, China may be hedging its bets. Better to buy commodities than U.S. Treasuries that may ultimately be worth pennies on the dollar.

Suspect in Benghazi Consulate Attack Freed Due to Lack of Evidence

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TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A man linked by officials to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi has been conditionally released by a Tunisian judge due to lack of evidence, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The release of Ali Harzi, a 26-year-old Tunisian, appears to represent a blow to the investigation of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The investigation in Libya itself has been stalled due to the weak central government in the face of the powerful militias, some of whom may have been involved in the attack.

Harzi was one of very few people in custody in relation to the attack. U.S. officials said in December that Egypt had also arrested a member of the Islamic Jihad group for possible links to the attack, but in general they lamented a lack of cooperation from local governments in their investigation and said most suspects remained free.

Harzi’s lawyer, Anwar Oued-Ali, said the presiding judge had “conditionally freed” his client Monday night and he has to remain in the greater Tunis area in case the court needs him. The lawyer described the release as “correcting an irregular situation” because authorities never had any real evidence.

Harzi was originally detained in Turkey and in October was extradited to Tunisia, where authorities had said he was “strongly suspected” of being involved in the attack. His lawyer said he was officially charged with “membership of a terrorist organization” – a charge punishable by six to 12 years in prison.

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Ed Koch on Chuck Hagel Nomination: Obama’s Reneging on His Conveyed Support for Israel Has Come Earlier Than I Thought

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In an interview with The Algemeiner, former Mayor of New York, Ed Koch, a lifelong Democrat who supported President Obama’s recent re-election, expressed disappointment with the President’s decision to nominate former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.

“Frankly, I thought that there would come a time when he would renege on what he conveyed on his support of Israel,” said Koch, adding, “it comes a little earlier than I thought it would.”

“It’s very disappointing, I believe he will ultimately regret it,” Koch said, “and it undoubtedly will reduce support for him in the Jewish community, but I don’t think he (the President) worries about that now that the election is over.”

The former mayor who is beloved among many in New York’s Jewish community, said that he believes the appointment will embolden Islamists and will be damaging to the U.S.-Israel relationship.

“It’s not good,” he said, “but fortunately, Congress, overwhelmingly both Democratic and Republican supports the Jewish state, so I’m sure they will defend it against the defense department when it ruptures the current good relationship which exists.”

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Oldest Swiss Bank to Shut After Guilty Plea in US Tax Probe

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photo credit: tambakothejaguar

Wegelin & Co., the oldest Swiss private bank, said on Thursday it would shut its doors permanently after pleading to a criminal conspiracy charge in the U.S. and admitting that it had helped wealthy Americans for years avoid tens of millions of dollars in taxes.

In the latest blow to Switzerland’s centuries-old banking secrecy laws, Wegelin became the latest bank on Thursday to reach a deal with U.S. prosecutors as they continue a crackdown on offshore banks suspected of helping American evade taxes.

As part of the deal, Switzerland’s oldest private bank will pay as much as $74 million in penalties to US authorities and has said it “will cease to operate as a bank” once the case wraps up.

The plea effectively marks the end for one of Switzerland’s most storied banks, whose original clients predate the American Revolution. It however, also marks a potential turning point in a battle by US authorities against Swiss bank secrecy.

Robert Fink, a New York-based tax attorney said: “It has an important symbolic significance in that you have a bank that has no branches in the U.S., but the U.S. government was able to reach them and get them to plead guilty. It puts other banks on notice as to the long arm of the U.S. law.”

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Pakistan Government in Jeopardy? 21 Soldiers Killed by Taliban in Brazen Attack

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WASHINGTON – The latest killing of 21 captured Pakistani troops by the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, has indicated a rising threat to the very authority of the Pakistani government, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

This followed an attack in early December on Peshawar Air Force Base which raised serious questions on the security of the country’s nuclear arsenal. While the attack proved unsuccessful, the brazenness raised further security and public concerns about the commitment of the militants to take down the government.

The air base itself is located close to the northwest tribal areas where Pakistani and U.S. forces have continuous firefights with the Taliban, who are attempting to threaten Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

The attack on the Peshawar Air Force Base isn’t the first such attack on a military facility. There also have been attacks on Minhas Air Force Base in Kamra where a squadron of U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jets is located.

Ironically, publicity of the attacks apparently has encouraged the TTP to launch even more brazen attacks, with the idea of seeking to undermine the stability of the government and its military and create doubt in the public’s mind on both institutions maintaining order.

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Saudi Arabian in US for Military Training Charged With Raping American Boy

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A member of the Saudi Arabian military in the United States for a training mission has been charged with raping a boy in a Strip hotel on New Year’s Eve.

Mazen Alotaibi, a 23-year-old sergeant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, was arrested Monday and accused of assaulting a 13-year-old boy in a Circus Circus hotel room bathroom.

According to a Las Vegas police report, Alotaibi was on the sixth floor of the hotel about 7:30 a.m. when he pulled the boy into his room. Three other men were in the room smoking marijuana, the report said.

The boy told police that none of the men spoke English.

Alotaibi later told police he offered the boy money for sex, and when he refused, he raped the boy, the report said.

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U.S.-Installed Iraqi Government in Danger?

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WASHINGTON – The Iranian-backed government of Shi’ite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is experiencing increasing opposition from what sources say are efforts by Sunni Saudi Arabia and Turkey to overthrow him and install a more favorable Sunni government, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Sources said that other Sunni regional countries of Jordan and Qatar also are involved.

Their efforts are aimed at diminishing the increasing influence that Shi’ite Iran is acquiring in the Arab countries as shown in Shi’ite majority Bahrain, its close alliance with Shi’ite Alawite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and now with the Shi’ite minority in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia where much of the country’s oil production takes place.

In effect, Iran, which has historical roots in the area, has sought to maintain its hold on a region that encompasses the Middle East to Central Asia.

Iraq has become the latest proxy war that has been simmering for some time between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia. Other areas where Shi’ite-Sunni proxy wars have been ongoing have been in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen.

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Top Pakistani Militant Commander Killed in US Drone Strike

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An American drone strike in Pakistan has killed top Taliban commander Maulvi Nazir, a senior intelligence official confirms to FoxNews.com.

Nazir, along with five close associates, was killed in a US drone strike, which took place near the town of Wana in Sar Kanda area of Birmil of South Wazristan Agency, one of seven federally administered tribal areas where militants thrive.

“The information we have received from our ground sources confirmed the death,” a senior Pakistan Army Intelligence official told FoxNews.com. “The vehicle in which the key Taliban war lord was traveling in was struck by two missiles.”

The Pakistani official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. rarely comments on its secretive drone program, and Pentagon spokesman George Little said he could not confirm Nazir’s death, but he added that if true, it would be “a significant blow” to extremist groups in the region.

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