“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Being Warned Of God

Dear Friends,

Greetings! Most of us are familiar with the verse Jesus spoke in Matthew, chapter twenty-four, “As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be”, to indicate what world conditions would be like just before His return, often referred to as the Second Coming.

We are, of course, all aware of the great judgment God sent to destroy and cleanse the world from the iniquity that ensued in the days of Noah, saving only Noah, and his immediate family.

As we have said before, Satan is bereft of any original ideas and can only seek to duplicate what he has seen God perform, always for his own benefit and to the furtherance of his own agenda, to deceive and receive the worship of man and eventually to completely destroy God's creation.

Did you know that before the return of Jesus coming in the clouds, Revelation 1:7, that there is going to be another flood?

This flood is mentioned in Revelation 12:15. “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” 12:15

This flood that the serpent casts out is more often than not interpreted as a flood of lying disinformation, or lying propaganda. This is not necessarily a new technique of the serpent but this sounds like his greatest onslaught, as Jesus describes that if it were possible even the very elect would be deceived by this flood of lies.

The elect being the true Church, the Bride of Christ.

Just look at the multitude of contradictory and conspiratorial voices speaking and commenting today on the multiple crisis and flash points happening in the world. The flood of these voices is only going to continue to rise as time goes on.

C.H. Spurgeon said, “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”

We need to make sure our “spiritual ark” is prepared by immersing ourselves in His Word so that when the flood does come “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” and help you to rise above the flood. John 8:32

“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Hebrews 11:7

Have a great week ahead.

***

CNN

Putin: You better not come after a nuclear-armed Russia

By Greg Botelho and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

updated 6:05 PM EDT, Fri August 29, 2014

Source: CNN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: Putin: Russia doesn't want big conflicts, but it will be ready if they happen

NEW: Russia is a "powerful nuclear nation," he says

UK source: Up to 5,000 Russian troops are in Ukraine, 20,000 more on border

NATO chief says Russia is trying to "destabilize Ukraine as a sovereign nation"

(CNN) -- Don't mess with Russia.

That was President Vladimir Putin's message on Friday, the same day a British government source claimed that Russian troops had significantly ratcheted up their military incursion into Ukraine.

Moscow doesn't want or intend to wade into any "large-scale conflicts," Putin insisted at a youth forum, state-run Itar-Tass reported. A few breaths later, he made the point that Russia is "strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces and our armed forces," making them more efficient and modernized.

"I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations," the President said. "This is a reality, not just words."

He later warned, "We must always be ready to repel any aggression against Russia and (potential enemies) should be aware ... it is better not to come against Russia as regards a possible armed conflict."

The comments came the same day that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused NATO of using "images from computer games" to -- in his view -- falsely make the case that Russian troops are in Ukraine. Lavrov said "hiding the evidence is an outstanding characteristic of the U.S. and many EU countries" with regard to Ukraine.

See the NATO satellite images

The thing is, many in the West don't believe much of anything coming out of Russia.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that -- whatever the Kremlin says -- the reality is Russian troops are inside the Ukraine and have fired on Ukrainian military positions.

"Those denials are completely without credibility," Earnest said.

And Russia's military may be getting digging in deeper in Ukraine. The British government source told CNN on Friday that Russia has moved 4,000 to 5,000 military personnel -- a figure far higher than one U.S. official's earlier claim of 1,000 troops.

The soldiers are aligned in "formed units" and fighting around Luhansk and Donetsk, said the UK source. And they may soon have company: Some 20,000 troops are on border and "more may be on the way," the source adds.

So what's Russia's endgame? Does it simply want to protect civilians or ethnic Russians in Ukraine? Or does it endeavor to develop a land bridge between Crimea -- which split from Ukraine to become part of Russia months ago, amid the unrest following President Viktor Yanukovych's ouster -- and the Russian border? Or perhaps take over all of Ukraine now?

The UK source, giving his government's analysis of Russian troop movements, surmised that right now "the primary role of the current Russian deployments inside Ukraine is probably to assist, support and take the pressure off the separatist forces in order to maintain pressure on Kiev to decentralize.

"However, we are not ruling out more ambitious plans, including a land corridor from the Russian border to Crimea."

NATO chief blasts Russia's 'hollow denials'

Ukraine has been in crisis since last fall, when political upheaval preceded widespread violence that threatened to tear the Eastern Europe nation apart.

If anything, that violence has worsened the past several months -- as pro-Russian rebels dug in and Ukraine's military stepped up its offensive to retake its territory. The U.N. human rights office reports at least 2,593 people killed between mid-April and August 27, and that many innocent civilians have been killed, hurt or trapped in urban areas.

Predictably, both sides have taken the high road while blaming each other for humanitarian crisis and for perpetrating violence rather than having fair, sincere negotiations toward a cease-fire.

"When Kiev said that negotiations would begin only after the surrender of those whom they call 'separatists,' the militia are left with no choice but to defend their homes, their families," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Western officials say that Moscow hasn't taken any responsibility, whether for its military's on-the-ground involvement or how it can influence rebels.

Speaking after a meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said what he called "the serious escalation of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine" violates Ukraine's territorial integrity and "defies all diplomatic efforts for a peaceful solution."

"Despite Moscow's hollow denials, it is now clear that Russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and southeastern Ukraine," Rasmussen said. "This is not an isolated action but part of a dangerous pattern over many months to destabilize Ukraine as a sovereign nation."

Fighting raging on multiple fronts

Whoever is to blame, whoever is involved, two things that are not in question is that the fighting is continuing and that there's no end in sight.

Ukrainian troops have been fighting on two fronts: southeast of rebel-held Donetsk, and along the nation's southern coast in the town of Novoazovsk, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Russian border.

Mykhailo Lysenko, deputy commander of the Ukrainian Donbas battalion, on Thursday described the fighting in the south as "a full-scale invasion."

Analysts suggest that Russia may have sent its forces into Novoazovsk to secure a land route from the border to the Crimean peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in March, and in order to throw Ukrainian forces making gains against besieged rebel forces in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk off balance.

In a statement issued by the Kremlin, Putin said the rebels had halted a Ukrainian military operation in eastern Ukraine that he said had endangered the civilian population and caused many casualties.

The UK government source said Russian forces are fighting alongside rebels around Luhansk and Donetsk. It's too early to gauge their impact, though even if propping up the pro-Russian separatists for months longer so that Ukraine's military doesn't next turn its attention to taking back Crimea could be considered a victory.

"At the very least, the Russian deployments are creating the conditions for a frozen conflict going into winter and .. ensure that Kiev is sufficiently distracted ... to prevent it from refocusing its attention on Crimea," the source said.

Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Mark Hertling, a 37-year veteran who once commanded U.S. soldiers in Europe, thinks that Russia may be aiming higher than that. If Ukraine folds easily to Russia's military might, neighboring nations might have good reason to worry. On the other side, Moscow could lose sway if its efforts fail.

"He is trying to influence the Europeans, and it won't stop just with Ukraine," the military analyst told CNN, predicting more Russian military intervention elsewhere. "This is something where he is trying to counter the influence of the West, and he can't afford to lose in Ukraine."

***

ALJAZEERA AMERICA

Russian ‘invasion’ dramatically shifts momentum in Ukraine

Analysis: Despite Western and Ukrainian protestations, Moscow may view more confrontation as only way to save face

August 29, 2014 3:00AM ET

by Michael Pizzi

In what Western analysts and officials are calling an overt invasion, Ukrainian officials reported on Thursday that two columns of tanks and other military vehicles had rolled across the border from Russia into southeastern Ukraine. The development fed speculation that Russia was helping the country’s pro-Russian separatists open a new front in their uprising against Ukraine’s pro-Western government and heightened Kiev’s fears that the crisis could morph from a resilient but defeatable insurgency into an all-out war with its powerful neighbor.

As Ukrainian leaders were keen to emphasize, Thursday’s developments marked a sharp escalation in the months-long conflict. Many analysts deduced that Moscow may feel a more formalized invasion is strategically necessary to keep the separatist movement alive.

Ukrainian forces have beaten down on the rebels in August, gradually rolling them back in their remaining two strongholds, the eastern cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has seen his domestic popularity soar over the separatist crisis in Ukraine, which erupted after a pro-European uprising toppled Ukraine’s Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych. Russian patriotic fervor would be deflated if Putin emerged from the confrontation with nothing to show for it. Allowing the rebellion to fall by the wayside is not a palatable option, analysts said.

Western military officials framed Thursday’s apparent invasion along those lines and sought to paint Moscow as stubbornly digging in its heels. “What we’re seeing now is Russia trying to save face, trying to bail out those separatist fighters and trying to do so under the radar,” said Lt. Col. Jay Janzen, a spokesman for NATO.

According to Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group consultancy, Russia “called Ukraine’s bluff," shifting momentum in the months-long conflict in a jarring fashion.

Strategically, the opening of a third front in the strategic border town of Novoazovsk, which the separatists claimed this week after several days of fighting, seems to be aimed at carving a land bridge west to Russia’s newly annexed Crimean Peninsula. In the short term, another front will pull some Ukrainian forces away from Donetsk and Luhansk, where Kiev’s so-called counterterrorism operation has been succeeding.

Analysts say this strategy is aimed at improving Moscow’s short-term bargaining power as it prepares to negotiate with Kiev and its Western backers. A prevailing view is that Russia will pull out of Ukraine only after Kiev makes painful concessions that will hamstring the country’s westward momentum.

***

The American Thinker

CIA: America has no objection to physical elimination of Putin

Publication time: 25 August 2014, 02:09

The American Thinker published an article by Herbert E. Meyer, a Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council under Reagan administration.

In an article "How to Solve the Putin Problem", the senior employee of the CIA outlined the situation with Putin's crimes in Ukraine and his threat to world peace. He writes:

"Simply put, we should make clear to the Russian business executives and oligarchs who are the target of Western sanctions that Putin is their problem, not ours. These people may lack the spark of political genius or the high-minded patriotism that drove our country’s Founding Fathers -- but they aren’t stupid.

It won’t be long before a bunch of them get together for a quiet conversation -- perhaps in a Moscow board room, more likely on a yacht anchored off the Cote d’Azur -- to, um, decide what might be best for Russia’s future.

Since subtlety doesn’t work with Russians, the president and his European counterparts should also make absolutely clear that we have no interest whatever in how these people solve their Putin problem.

If they can talk good old Vladimir into leaving the Kremlin with full military honors and a 21-gun salute -- that would be fine with us. If Putin is too too stubborn to acknowledge that his career is over, and the only way to get him out of the Kremlin is feet-first, with a bullet hole in the back of his head -- that would also be okay with us.

Nor would we object to a bit of poetic justice.... For instance, if the next time Putin’s flying back to Moscow from yet another visit with his good friends in Cuba, or Venezuela, or Iran, his airplane gets blasted out of the sky by some murky para-military group that somehow, inexplicably, got its hands on a surface-to-air missile.

Russia after Putin may not be a Western-style democracy -- at least, not for a while -- but without Putin in power Russia won’t be a threat to world peace. That’s because today’s Russia is less like the old Soviet Union and more like a 1950s-style Latin American dictatorship.

The old Soviet Union was a top-to-bottom police state in which the Communist Party, led by the Politburo, dominated every aspect of public and personal life throughout the country. Not much changed when one General Secretary of the Communist Party replaced another.

The new Russia is more of a one-man show; although Putin likes to think of himself as another Joseph Stalin, he’s more like Argentina’s Juan Peron (well, Juan Peron with nuclear bombs) and it’s highly unlikely than any successor would pick up where Putin left off by continuing to go after Ukraine or otherwise threatening Europe’s political stability.

Putin’s immediate successor may not be one of Russia’s emerging democracy-minded superstars like Gary Kasparov, the former chess champion. But he’s more likely to focus on keeping Russia’s economy afloat than on recreating the old Romanov Empire".

***

THE INDEPENDENT

Israel-Gaza conflict: No victory for Israel despite weeks of devastation

Palestinians have won: they are still in Gaza, and Hamas is still there

ROBERT FISK

Wednesday 27 August 2014

’Twas not a famous victory – but that’s what the Palestinians of Gaza are celebrating. There was much shaking of heads in the international media when the fireworks burst over that shattered land on Tuesday night. After more than 2,100 dead – about 1,700 of them civilians – and 100,000 wounded, what did they have to crow about? An end to the killing? Peace?

Well, no. In fact, Hamas – the vicious, horrible, terrorist Hamas with whom “we” (as in “the West”, Tony Blair, Israel, the US and all honourable men and women) cannot talk – has indeed won a victory.

Israel said it must be disarmed. It has not been disarmed. Israel said it must be smashed/destroyed/rooted out. It hasn’t been smashed/destroyed/rooted out. The tunnels must all be destroyed, Israel proclaimed. But they haven’t been. All the rockets must be seized. But they haven’t been. So 65 Israeli soldiers died – for what? And from under the ground, quite literally, clambered on Tuesday the political leadership of Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) whose brothers were participating – much against the wishes of Israel, the US and Egypt – in the Cairo “peace” talks.

In Israel, significantly, there were no celebrations. The ever-so-right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu had once more over-egged its victory demands and ended up with another ceasefire as strong and as weak as the equally febrile truce that followed the 2009 Gaza war and the 2012 Gaza war. Physically, the Israelis had won; all those broken lives and all those smashed buildings and all that destroyed infrastructure do not suggest that the Palestinians have “prevailed” (to use a “Bushite” word). But strategically, the Palestinians have won. They are still in Gaza, Hamas is still in Gaza, and the coalition government of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas appears still to be a reality.

Many times has it been said that the founders of the Israeli state faced a problem: a land called Palestine. They dealt with that problem coldly, ruthlessly and efficiently. But now their problem is the Palestinians. Their land may have been taken for Israel, their surviving land may be eaten up by Israeli colonies; but the wretched Palestinians simply won’t go away. And killing them in large numbers – especially in front of the world’s television cameras – is getting to be a bit much, even for those who still shake in their boots at the mere whisper of the calumny “anti-Semitism”. Israeli spokesmen even ended up comparing their actions to bloody Second World War RAF air raids, hardly a propaganda strike in the 21st century.

But the world will reflect unhappily on other things. The Hamas spokesmen, for example, raving about the destruction of Israel and Zionism, their exaggerations as preposterous as the Israeli excuses. The greatest victory the world has ever seen, indeed! Hamas has achieved “more than any Arab army has ever achieved against Israel”. Indeed! Hezbollah drove the entire Israeli army out of Lebanon after an 18-year guerrilla war – with far more casualties on both sides than Hamas could ever imagine.

And then how quickly we have forgotten the Hamas killer squads who dispatched at least 21 “spies”, two of them women, in cold blood against the walls of Gaza over the past seven days. I notice that they do not appear in the total list of Palestinian dead. And I wonder why not. Were they to be treated by the Palestinians as even less human than the Israelis? Of course, they were. In a week in which Isis returned to its execution pit, Hamas showed that its old killer touch is also still intact. After three of its top military leaders were liquidated by the Israelis, what did we expect? But it’s interesting that not one Palestinian protested at this no-court-no-jury-no-human-rights “justice”. Nor did they protest at the execution of 17 “spies” in 2008-9 – forgotten today – and another six “spies” (also forgotten) in 2012.


And then we have the “military” casualties. Around 500 were Hamas fighters; back in the 2008-9 Gaza war, perhaps 200 fighters were killed. But in that earlier war, only six Israeli soldiers were killed. In this operation, however, 10 times as many Israeli soldiers died. In other words, Hamas – and, I suppose, Islamic Jihad – have learned how to fight. Hezbollah, the most efficient guerrilla army in the Middle East, certainly noticed this. And the Gaza rockets stretched across thousands of square miles of Israel, notwithstanding the “Iron Dome”. Once you had to live in Sderot to be in danger. Now you can find your flight cancelled at Ben Gurion airport.

Mahmoud Abbas, needless to say, is grovelling to the Egyptians and Americans in thankfulness for the truce. But in the new “joint” Palestinian government, Hamas is going to be telling Abbas how many “concessions” he can make. Far from isolating the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and sidelining Hamas by producing his own made-in-Cairo peace agreement for the Israelis and Americans – swiftly rejected by Hamas during the conflict – President Field Marshal al-Sisi of Egypt has been forced to acknowledge Hamas as the major Arab participant in the truce agreement.

An odd thing, though. Right now, Egypt is bombing the Islamists of Libya, and the US is preparing to bomb the Islamists of Syria after bombing the Islamists of Iraq. But in Gaza, the Islamists have just won. This surely cannot last.

The ceasefire deal: Who gains what

Israel and the Palestinians agreed to an Egyptian-brokered plan to end the fighting in Gaza after 50 days of combat. The following are the broad parameters of the agreement, provided by Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Some of the immediate steps

* Hamas and other militant groups agree to halt all rocket and mortar fire into Israel.

* Israel will stop all military action including air strikes and ground operations.

* Israel agrees to open more of its border crossings with Gaza to allow the easier flow of goods, including humanitarian aid and reconstruction equipment, into the enclave.

* In a separate, bilateral agreement, Egypt will agree to open its 14km border with Gaza at Rafah.

* The Palestinian Authority to coordinate the reconstruction effort in Gaza with international donors, including the EU, Norway, Qatar and Turkey.

* Israel will extend the fishing limit off Gaza’s coast to six miles from three miles, with the possibility of widening it gradually if the truce holds. Ultimately, the Palestinians want to return to a full 12-mile international allowance.

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip (Getty)


Some longer-term issues

* Hamas wants Israel to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners rounded up in the occupied West Bank after the abduction and killing of three Jewish students in June.

* President Abbas, who heads the Fatah party, wants freedom for long-serving Palestinian prisoners.

* Israel wants Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza to hand over all body parts and personal effects of Israeli soldiers killed during the war.

* Hamas wants a sea port built in Gaza. Israel has long rejected the plan, but it is possible that progress towards it could be made if there are security guarantees.

* Hamas wants the unfreezing of funds to allow it to pay 40,000 police, government workers and administrative staff who have largely been without salaries since late last year. The funds were frozen by the Palestinian Authority.

* The Palestinians also want the airport in Gaza to be rebuilt.

Reuters

***

REUTERS

Gaza truce holding but Israel's Netanyahu under fire at home

BY NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI AND JEFFREY HELLER

GAZA/JERUSALEM Wed Aug 27, 2014 8:39pm IST

(Reuters) - An open-ended ceasefire in the Gaza war held on Wednesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced strong criticism in Israel over a costly conflict with Palestinian militants in which no clear victor emerged.

On the streets of the battered, Hamas-run Palestinian enclave, people headed to shops and banks, trying to resume the normal pace of life after seven weeks of fighting. Thousands of others, who had fled the battles and sheltered with relatives or in schools, returned home, where some found only rubble.

In Israel, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire from the Gaza Strip fell silent. But media commentators, echoing attacks by members of Netanyahu's governing coalition, voiced deep disappointment over his leadership during the most prolonged bout of Israeli-Palestinian violence in a decade.

"After 50 days of warfare in which a terror organisation killed dozens of soldiers and civilians, destroyed the daily routine (and) placed the country in a state of economic distress ... we could have expected much more than an announcement of a ceasefire," analyst Shimon Shiffer wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper.

"We could have expected the prime minister to go to the president’s residence and inform him of his decision to resign his post."

Netanyahu, who has faced constant sniping in his cabinet from right-wing ministers demanding military action to topple Hamas, scheduled a news conference for Wednesday evening, expected to be his first public remarks since the Egyptian-mediated truce deal took effect on Tuesday evening.

Palestinian health officials say 2,139 people, most of them civilians, including more than 490 children, have been killed in the enclave since July 8, when Israel launched an offensive with the declared aim of ending rocket salvoes.

Israel's death toll stood at 64 soldiers and six civilians.

The ceasefire agreement called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean.

A senior Hamas official voiced willingness for the security forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the unity government he formed in June to control the passage points.

Both Israel and Egypt view Hamas as a security threat and are seeking guarantees that weapons will not enter Gaza, a narrow, densely populated territory of 1.8 million people.

Under a second stage of the truce that would begin a month later, Israel and the Palestinians would discuss the construction of a Gaza sea port and Israel's release of Hamas prisoners in the occupied West Bank, possibly in a trade for the remains of two Israeli soldiers believed held by Hamas, the officials said.

Israel has in recent weeks said it wants the full demilitarisation of Gaza. The United States and European Union have supported the goal, but it remains unclear what it would mean in practice and Hamas has rejected it as unfeasible.

COMPETING VICTORY CLAIMS

"On the land of proud Gaza, the united people achieved absolute victory against the Zionist enemy," a Hamas statement said.

Israel said it dealt a strong blow to Hamas, killing several of its military leaders and destroying the Islamist group's cross-border infiltration tunnels.

"Hamas's military wing was badly hit, we know this clearly through unequivocal intelligence," Yossi Cohen, Netanyahu's national security adviser, said on Army Radio.

But Israel also faced persistent rocket fire for nearly two months that caused an exodus from a number of border communities and disrupted daily life in its commercial heartland.

"They are celebrating in Gaza," cabinet minister Uzi Landau, of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party in Netanyahu's coalition, told Israel Radio. He said that for Israel, the outcome of the war was "very gloomy" because it had not created sufficient deterrence to dissuade Hamas from attacking in the future.

Nahum Barnea, one of Israel's most popular columnists, expressed concern "that instead of paving the way to removing the threat from Gaza, we are paving the road to the next round, in Lebanon or in Gaza".

"The Israelis expected a leader, a statesman who knows what he wants to achieve, someone who makes decisions and engages in a sincere and real dialogue with his public," he wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth. "They received a seasoned spokesperson, and very little beyond that."

Ben Caspit, writing in the Maariv daily, said there was no victory for Israel in a conflict that resulted in "a collapsed tourism industry (and) an economy approaching recession".

Israel's central bank has estimated the conflict will knock half a point off economic growth this year.

But with future diplomatic moves on Gaza's future still pending, there was no immediate talk publicly among Netanyahu's coalition partners of any steps to break up the alliance.

In a further sign of the truce's impact, Egypt eased restrictions at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, allowing World Food Programme supplies containing a shipment of 25,000 food parcels into the coastal territory for the first time since 2007, a statement by the humanitarian group said.

Israel has regularly permitted food and other humanitarian goods to be shipped into Gaza across its border, during the latest fighting as well. A government website says 5,359 truckloads of goods have transited the Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza since July 8, the day the seven-week conflict erupted.

Israel has said it would facilitate the flow of more civilian goods and humanitarian and reconstruction aid into the impoverished territory if the truce was honoured.

But, Cohen said: "(Hamas) will...not get a port unless it declares it will disarm. It will not get even one screw unless we can be sure it is not being used to strengthen Gaza's military might."

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said 540,000 people had been displaced in the Gaza Strip. Israel has said Hamas bears responsibility for civilian casualties because it operates among non-combatants and uses schools and mosques to store weapons and as launch sites for rockets.

(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Mark Heinrich)

***

THE DAILY BEAST

WORLD NEWS 08.24.14

The Gaza War Has Left Jerusalem More Divided Than Ever

A journey to both side of the Holy City’s ‘racist abyss.’

JERUSALEM — There’s nothing holy about Jerusalem. Its civility has been crushed; its fragile peace has been blown apart by the mindless toxicity of a summer of violence.

Nowhere is this chasm more jarring than along the broad avenue that scythes through the city dividing its Jewish and Palestinian parts. Here, indecency reigns, with residents of these rival neighborhoods tripping over one another to broadcast their racism.

“Most Arabs are just criminals. How can we live with them?” asked a man who identified himself as Binyamin from the poor, largely Ultra-Orthodox Shmuel Hanavi district.

Up the hill and into East Jerusalem, Sherif Hammoud is equally convinced of his neighbors’ intrinsic nastiness.

“There’s something wrong with Jews. They’re bad people. We hate them,” he said, from behind the counter of his family’s juice stall. In ordinary circumstances, he’d be swamped with tourists seeking sanctuary from the fearsome midday sun, but in their absence, bored youths lounge around and eagerly nod their assent.

Life along the Armistice line showcases some of the worst excesses of both sides. The city was divided by barbed wire and gun emplacements from 1948, when the line was drawn, until the June 1967 war, when Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza and the east of the city. Then the fortifications in “united Jerusalem” were taken down, but the psychological and political barriers remained.

Many of Shmuel Hanavi’s outer apartment blocks, which were built with walls three feet thick to withstand shelling, are pockmarked with potshots from across the road. Most recently, in early August, a Palestinian man drove an excavator into a public bus in an apparent terror attack within the district’s boundaries.

Some residents here are no saints themselves though.

On many afternoons, small groups of conservative Haredi Jews traipse through the neighborhood and congregate in front one of the main approach roads to East Jerusalem. There, against a backdrop of anti-Semitic graffiti and wary watching Israeli policemen, they scream obscenities in Yiddish at passing Arabs.

“The geography of fear, which has always existed in this city, has been compounded tremendously.”

Jerusalem’s religious significance has often acted as a siren call for extremists of all stripes, and it’s rarely been a paragon of interfaith cooperation. But seven weeks of intermittent war in Gaza, and months of simmering tensions in the West Bank have hardened attitudes and cast the conflict along even clearer communal lines.

“Jerusalem is at its most divided since 1967,” said Gershon Baskin, a longtime Israeli peace negotiator, and a relative anomaly among Jerusalemites in his willingness to stray onto the other side’s ‘turf.’

“The geography of fear, which has always existed in this city, has been compounded tremendously since the kidnapping and murder of the Israeli teenagers, and then the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir in revenge, and of course, the war in Gaza,” he said.

A cursory stroll through West Jerusalem’s buzzy commercial hub is enough to throw these community divisions into stark relief.

Until recently, many Palestinians worked in Jewish areas and patronized Jaffa Street’s frozen yoghurt parlours and shoe shops, but a fear of assault from extreme Nationalist Israelis has made hijab-clad shoppers something of a rarity.

It’s a similar situation on the other side, where the threat of violence—real and perceived—has long deterred most Jewish Israelis from setting foot in East Jerusalem. Nowadays, however, even those who sympathize with Palestinian grievances steer clear of the more inflamed areas.

“I don’t want to be a martyr,” said Daniel Seidemann, a lawyer who focuses on Israeli settlement violations in the West Bank. “I’ve never seen the mood so ugly,” he added.

This increasing self-segregation is tragic in more ways than one.

With fewer forums in which ordinary Palestinians and Israeli Jews might mingle, moderates in both camps have had a tougher time tempering the pyromaniac tendencies of their respective fanatics.

Avigdor Liebermann, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, has called for boycotting the businesses of Israelis of Arab extraction if they protest his government’s military action in Gaza. Meanwhile, in East Jerusalem, some hardline Palestinian officials now appear to be actively stoking the fires for political gain.

“The Palestinian Authority [PA] don’t have any control, so they don’t prevent the dissent, and in a way, it’s almost encouraged. It’s a window to the world, it’s a friction point with the Israelis,” said Gershon Baskin. Meanwhile, as he noted, settler-only roads and policing by the PA’s security forces has reduced the potential for serious clashes with the Israeli military in the West Bank.

If Jerusalem’s authorities are truly intent on mollifying aggrieved Palestinians then they’re going about it in a foolish-looking fashion. Periodic bouts of rock and Molotov-cocktail throwing have been met with rounds of arrests—600 young men over the last month, at the same time as Jewish settler crime in East Jerusalem has gone largely unpunished.

***

CHRISTIAN NEWS

Top U.S. Military Officer: ISIS Has ‘Apocalyptic End-of-Days Vision’ That Must Be Defeated

August 25, 2014

By: Heather Clark

WASHINGTON – During a recent press conference, America’s top military officer asserted that the Islamic terrorist group ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has an ‘apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision’ that must be defeated by a coalition of forces.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the statements on Thursday as both he and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel discussed concerns about the group.

“This is an organization that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated,” he said.

Dempsey remarked that ISIS must be fought in Syria, but that various groups must join together to defeat the terrorist organization.

“[C]an they be defeated without addressing that part of their organization which resides in Syria? The answer is no. That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a nonexistent border,” he said, referring to the Islamic group’s takeover of parts of both Syria and Iraq. “And that will come when we have a coalition in the region that takes on the task of defeating ISIS over time.”

“They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded,” Hagel added. “This is beyond anything that we’ve seen. So we must prepare for everything.”

As previously reported, Muslims believe that in the 10th century, the Islamic Mahdi—or redeemer—went into hiding, but will appear again to make all things right with the world. According to the website Answering Islam, Muslims also claim that Jesus will return as a follower of Islam and will establish the religion on the earth.

“Muslims believe that after Allah miraculously delivered Jesus from death, He was assumed into heaven alive in a similar fashion to the Biblical narrative regarding Elijah,” the site outlines. “Since then, Muslims believe, Jesus has remained with Allah and has been awaiting His opportunity to return to the earth to finish His ministry and complete His life.”

“While the Mahdi … is clearly seen as being a superior to Jesus, Jesus is still said to be a leader of the Muslim Community [upon His return],” it continues. “According to the Islamic traditions, Jesus’ primary purpose will be to oversee the institution and the enforcement of the Islamic Shariah law all over the world.”

Nadeem Walayat of the Market Oracle echoed these sentiments.

“What ISIS and virtually all Muslims anticipate is for Jesus to return on the white Eastern Minaret of Damascus (Syria) gliding in on the wings of two angels and then through much blood and carnage will convert the whole world to Islam including killing all of the Jews, break all of the crosses and live as a Muslim for 40 years, before dying and thus heralding the final countdown to Judgment Day when Muslims expect to enter paradise,” he explained.

ISIS specifically seeks to establish an Islamic State in the areas that it conquers, placing the regions under Islamic rule.

Earlier this month, VICE News released a video documentary showing Abu Mosa, a spokesman for ISIS threatening to retaliate if the U.S. interferes with its establishment of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“I say to America that the Islamic Caliphate has been established,” he said. “Don’t be cowards and attack us with drones. Instead send your soldiers, the ones we humiliated in Iraq.”

“We will humiliate them everywhere, Allah willing, and we will raise the flag of Allah in the White House,” Mosa declared.

***

WASHINGTON'S BLOG

MUSLIMS WHO PERSECUTE CHRISTIANS ARE VIOLATING A DIRECT ORDER FROM MUHAMMAD

ISIS and other Muslim extremists who persecute Christians are disobeying a direct order from Muhammad, the founder of Islam

Image Credits: ISIS video

AUGUST 26, 2014

ISIS and other Muslim extremists who persecute Christians are disobeying a direct order from Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

Specifically, in 626 AD, Muhammad issued The Achtiname of Muhammad, also known as the Covenant or (Holy) Testament (Testamentum) of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Achtiname – shown above – ordered Muslims to protect and defend Christians, and condemned as sinners Muslims who mistreated Christians:

This is a letter which was issued by Mohammed, Ibn Abdullah, the Messenger, the Prophet, the Faithful, who is sent to all the people as a trust on the part of God to all His creatures, that they may have no plea against God hereafter. Verily God is the Mighty, the Wise. This letter is directed to the embracers of Islam, as a covenant given to the followers of Nazarene [i.e. Christians] in the East and West, the far and near, the Arabs and foreigners, the known and the unknown.

This letter contains the oath given unto them, and he who disobeys that which is therein will be considered a disobeyer and a transgressor to that whereunto he is commanded. He will be regarded as one who has corrupted the oath of God, disbelieved His Testament, rejected His Authority, despised His Religion, and made himself deserving of His Curse, whether he is a Sultan or any other believer of Islam. Whenever monks, devotees and pilgrims gather together, whether in a mountain or valley, or den, or frequented place, or plain, or church, or in houses of worship, verilywe are [at the] back of them and shall protect them, and their properties and their morals, by Myself, by My Friends and by My Assistants, for they are of My Subjects and under My Protection.

I shall exempt them from that which may disturb them; of the burdens which are paid by others as an oath of allegiance. They must not give anything of their income but that which pleases them—they must not be offended, or disturbed, or coerced or compelled. Their judges should not be changed or prevented from accomplishing their offices, nor the monks disturbed in exercising their religious order, or the people of seclusion be stopped from dwelling in their cells.

No one is allowed to plunder the pilgrims, or destroy or spoil any of their churches, or houses of worship, or take any of the things contained within these houses and bring it to the houses of Islam. And he who takes away anything therefrom, will be one who has corrupted the oath of God, and, in truth, disobeyed His Messenger.

Poll-taxes should not be put upon their judges, monks, and those whose occupation is the worship of God; nor is any other thing to be taken from them, whether it be a fine, a tax or any unjust right. Verily I shall keep their compact, wherever they may be, in the sea or on the land, in the East or West, in the North or South, for they are under My Protection and the testament of My Safety, against all things which they abhor.

No taxes or tithes should be received from those who devote themselves to the worship of God in the mountains, or from those who cultivate the Holy Lands. No one has the right to interfere with their affairs, or bring any action against them. Verily this is for aught else and not for them; rather, in the seasons of crops, they should be given a Kadah for each Ardab of wheat (about five bushels and a half) as provision for them, and no one has the right to say to them this is too much, or ask them to pay any tax.

As to those who possess properties, the wealthy and merchants, the poll-tax to be taken from them must not exceed twelve drachmas a head per year [according to Wikipedia, about 200 modern U.S. dollars].

They shall not be imposed upon by anyone to undertake a journey, or to be forced to go to wars or to carry arms; for the Islams have to fight for them. Do no dispute or argue with them, but deal according to the verse recorded in the Koran, to wit: ‘Do not dispute or argue with the People of the Book but in that which is best’ [29:46]. Thus they will live favored and protected from everything which may offend them by the Callers to religion (Islam), wherever they may be and in any place they may dwell.

Should any Christian woman be married to a Musulman [i.e. Muslim], such marriage must not take place except after her consent, and she must not be prevented from going to her church for prayer. Their churches must be honored and they must not be withheld from building churches or repairing convents.

They must not be forced to carry arms or stones; but the Islams must protect them and defend them against others. It is positively incumbent upon every one of the Islam nation not to contradict or disobey this oath until the Day of Resurrection and the end of the world.

(This is the Haddad translation.)

***

the guardian (Edited from longer article.)

Islamic State militants seize Syrian airbase

Tabqa base almost entirely controlled by Isis, while in Iraq Shia Turkoman community north of Baghdad remains under siege

Sunday 24 August 2014 14.08 EDT

A militant announces that Tabqa airbase has been captured by Islamic State. Photograph: Reuters

Islamic radicals have seized most of an airbase in eastern Syria and are tightening a stranglehold on a minority Turkoman community north of Baghdad, as their pillage of the heartland of the Levant gains further momentum.

Militants from Islamic State (Isis) had breached the borders of the Tabqa base, which was the last base east of Aleppo still held by the Syrian regime, and now appeared certain to seize full control within days in another blow to all sides trying to slow the group's progress through Iraq and Syria.

About 300 miles to the east, a community of 18,000 Shia Turkomans holed up in the town of Amerli, north of Baghdad, said they were running out of food and hope after a two-month siege by Isis, which is trying to starve them to death or force them to convert to the militants' hardline brand of Sunni Islam.

In both locations, the bodies of fighters were reportedly defaced and displayed by Isis members, who have become feared and scorned for their unchecked barbarity.

Witnesses at the Tabqa base, not far east of the Isis stronghold of Raqqa, said that several captured Syrian soldiers had been beheaded.

Efforts to reinforce the base had failed, as had moves to evacuate up to 1,000 troops still stationed there as the extremists advanced.

Regime forces had fired at least one Scud missile, launched from near Damascus, at Isis forces nearby, but had failed to dislodge them.

***

The Telegraph

Foley murder video 'may have been staged'

Analysts believe the British jihadi in the video may not have been James Foley's killer, although it is accepted that the journalist was murdered

Still from video which shows the beheading of American journalist James Foley

By Bill Gardner

12:52AM BST 25 Aug 2014

The video of James Foley’s execution may have been staged, with the actual murder taking place off-camera, it has emerged.

Forensic analysis of the footage of the journalist’s death has suggested that the British jihadist in the film may have been the frontman rather than the killer.

The clip, which apparently depicts Mr Foley’s brutal beheading, has been widely seen as a propaganda coup for Islamic State miltant group.

But a study of the four-minute 40-second clip, carried out by an international forensic science company which has worked for police forces across Britain, suggested camera trickery and slick post-production techniques appear to have been used.

A forensic analyst told The Times that no blood can be seen, even though the knife is drawn across the neck area at least six times.

“After enhancements, the knife can be seen to be drawn across the upper neck at least six times, with no blood evidence to the point the picture fades to black,” the analysis said.

Sounds allegedly made by Foley do not appear consistent with what may be expected.

During Foley’s speech, there appears to be a blip which could indicate the journalist had to repeat a line.

One expert commissioned to examine the footage was reported as saying: “I think it has been staged. My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped.”

However the company, which requested anonymity, did not reach a definitive answer.

It concluded: “No one is disputing that at some point an execution occurred.”

***

HIGHER PERSPECTIVE

New DNA Study Shows Humans Bred With Unknown Species

A new study has revealed an incredibly discovery: the Denisovans, an ancient ancestor of ours, had a segment of DNA that doesn’t come from any species currently known to science. This study suggests that there was some pretty serious interbreeding between this ancient human species and the other unknown species approximately 30,000 years ago in Europe and Asia. Adding to the mystery is the fact that beer wouldn’t be invented for another 25,000 years, so it’s not like we were all drunk or anything.

Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropolist at the London Natural History Museum has admitted that they don’t have any idea what the mystery species could be.

According to Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London, this suggests that there may have been a great deal of hominid species living in Europe and Asia at the time. “What it begins to suggest is that we’re looking at a ‘Lord of the Rings’-type world – that there were many hominid populations.”

(And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose. Now the giants were upon the earth in those days; and after that when the sons of God were wont to go in to the daughters of men, they bore children to them, those were the giants of old, the men of renown. Genesis 6)

***

***

End Of The American Dream

Large Holes Forming Near The New Madrid Fault And A Giant Crack In The Earth In North Mexico

By Michael Snyder, on August 21st, 2014

Did you know that the number of big earthquakes during the first three months of 2014 was more than double the yearly average of what we have experienced since 1979? And did you know that the number of earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. has quintupled in recent years? If you do not believe this, just keep reading. We live at a time when earthquakes are increasing in frequency and severity. And we are starting to see some very unusual activity in places that have been quiet for a very long time. For example, large holes are starting to mysteriously appear in Indiana near the New Madrid fault zone. And a giant crack in the ground nearly a kilometer long has appeared in northern Mexico. Could these be indications that even greater earthquake activity is on the way?

Most Americans don’t realize that the greatest earthquakes in U.S. history happened along the New Madrid fault zone. Back during the early part of the 19th century, a series of immensely powerful earthquakes rattled the entire eastern half of the nation. Documents that we have from that era say that those earthquakes were so powerful that they were felt more than 1,000 miles away. And there are many that believe that if we had a similar earthquake today that the damage caused would almost be incalculable.

That is why what has been happening in Indiana is so alarming. According to reports, half a dozen mystery holes have been discovered on Mount Baldy…

More than a year after a 6-year-old boy was almost buried alive in a popular sand dune, more holes are appearing and scientists still aren’t sure why. The 126 foot sand dune, called Mount Baldy, in Indiana, remains closed as new potentially dangerous holes are appearing. Three geologists arrived last week with high tech equipment in the hope of using radio waves and core samples to see if they can determine what’s causing the holes. Their plan? To eventually build a three dimensional map of the dune to try and see it’s internal structure.

You can view a video news report about these mysterious holes right here…

So what should we think about all of this?

Well it could be something or it could be nothing.

But any weird activity near the New Madrid fault always gets my attention. This fault is so dangerous that it could literally change the shape of the country overnight.

Most Americans never even give the New Madrid fault a second thought, but the federal government considered it important enough to hold a major five day simulation known as “National Level Exercise 11″ just a few years ago…

In May, the federal government simulated an earthquake so massive, it killed 100,000 Midwesterners instantly, and forced more than 7 million people out of their homes. At the time, National Level Exercise 11 went largely unnoticed; the scenario seemed too far-fetched — states like Illinois and Missouri are in the middle of a tectonic plate, not at the edge of one. A major quake happens there once every several generations.

…

National Level Exercise 11, or NLE 11, was, in essence, a replay of a disaster that happened 200 years earlier. On Dec. 16, 1811, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit the New Madrid fault line, which lies on the border region of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. It’s by far the largest earthquake ever to strike the United States east of the Rockies. Up to 129,000 square kilometers [50,000 square miles] were hit with “raised or sunken lands, fissures, sinks, sand blows, and large landslides,” according to the U.S. Geological Service. “Huge waves on the Mississippi River overwhelmed many boats and washed others high onto the shore. High banks caved and collapsed into the river; sand bars and points of islands gave way; whole islands disappeared.” People as far away as New York City were awakened by the shaking.

More quakes, of a similar size, followed. But the loss of life was minimal: Not too many people lived in the area at the time. Today, there are more than 15 million people living in the quake zone. If a similar quake hit, “7.2 million people could be displaced, with 2 million seeking temporary shelter” in the first three days, FEMA Associate Adminsitrator William Carwile told a Congressional panel in 2010. “Direct economic losses for the eight states could total nearly $300 billion, while indirect losses at least twice that amount.”

And officials at the U.S. Geological Survey recently released a report that stated that the New Madrid fault zone has the “potential for larger and more powerful quakes than previously thought“.

That certainly sounds quite chilling.

In addition, retail powerhouse Wal-Mart is so concerned about the potential for a major quake that it “participated in an exercise to prepare for an earthquake on the New Madrid fault line” earlier this year…

Walmart Stores Inc., with its huge network of stores and facilities, has also taken note. “We are seeing increased earthquake activity in the central U.S. That is an area we are focusing on even more,” said Mark Cooper, senior director of emergency management at Walmart, in an interview. He explained that Walmart takes an “all-hazard” approach to emergency preparedness, but focuses on specific risks in areas of the country where those risks are particularly relevant, such as hurricanes in Louisiana. “A few weeks ago, we participated in an exercise to prepare for an earthquake on the New Madrid fault line,” he said.

You can read much more about all of this in my previous article entitled “Why Is Wal-Mart Preparing For A Major Earthquake On The New Madrid Fault?”

But the New Madrid fault zone is certainly not the only area to be keeping an eye on.

Down in north Mexico, a giant crack in the ground about a kilometer long has recently appeared. It is estimated to be approximately 16 feet across and 8 feet deep. You can view some stunning aerial footage of this giant crack in the Earth right here…

Some believe that an earthquake along the San Andreas Fault may be to blame for this giant fissure.

Others believe that it is being caused by an underground stream.

While footage of giant cracks in the Earth such as you have just seen can be quite spectacular, what is far more alarming to me personally are the cold, hard earthquake numbers.

For example, as I mentioned above, the number of big earthquakes that we have seen this year has been far higher than usual. The following is from a recent CBS News report…

If you think there have been more earthquakes than usual this year, you’re right. A new study finds there were more than twice as many big earthquakes in the first quarter of 2014 as compared with the average since 1979.

And this is not something that has just started happening. As that same article explained, this is all part of a much longer trend…

The average rate of big earthquakes — those larger than magnitude 7 — has been 10 per year since 1979, the study reports. That rate rose to 12.5 per year starting in 1992, and then jumped to 16.7 per year starting in 2010 — a 65 percent increase compared to the rate since 1979. This increase accelerated in the first three months of 2014 to more than double the average since 1979, the researchers report.

In particular, things really seem to be heating up in the middle portion of the United States. As I mentioned at the start of this article, the frequency of earthquakes in the central and eastern parts of the nation has quintupled over the past 30 years…

According to the USGS, the frequency of earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. has quintupled, to an average of 100 a year during the 2011-2013 period, up from only 20 per year during the 30-year period to 2000.

Most of these quakes were minor, but research published by the USGS earlier this year demonstrated that a relatively minor magnitude 5.0 quake caused by wastewater injection after conventional oil drilling triggered a much bigger, 5.7 magnitude quake in Prague, Okla.

“We know the hazard has increased for small and moderate size earthquakes. We don’t know as well how much the hazard has increased for large earthquakes. Our suspicion is it has but we are working on understanding this,” said William Ellsworth, a scientist with the USGS.

What we are watching happen is truly unprecedented. Oklahoma alone has experienced more than 2,300 earthquakes so far this year. Scientists don’t really know what to make of this alarming increase in seismic activity.

Could all of this be leading up to something really big?

And what will things look like if we do get hit by a magnitude 8 or a magnitude 9 earthquake in a very heavily populated area?

***

livescience
Escape from New York: City Dwellers Prep for Doomsday

By Tia Ghose, Staff Writer | August 25, 2014 08:36am ET

SAN FRANCISCO — Quick: In the event of a zombie apocalypse, how would you make it out of New York City alive?

If you're like most New Yorkers, you probably have no idea. But a small group of folks in the city are gearing up for the next doomsday scenario by prepping survival gear, planning escape routes, and training to get out of New York City — even by inflatable kayak if necessary.

These urban doomsday preppers look very different from the stereotype of the rural, gun-toting conservative depicted on shows such as "Doomsday Castle," Anna Maria Bounds, a sociologist at Queens College, City University of New York, said on Monday (Aug. 18) here at the 109th annual American Sociological Association meeting.

Instead of creating a self-sustaining fortress for their families, urban survivalists focus on getting out quickly.

"They simply don't have the space to build a bunker," Bounds told Live Science.

Urban survivalists also worry less about government conspiracies and end-of-days scenarios, and instead plan for threats, such as terrorist attacks or natural disasters, that have already materialized, Bounds said.

Urban survival

Bounds first became interested in urban survival after experiencing firsthand the disarray in New York after Sept. 11, and then again during Hurricane Sandy.

She and her colleagues began studying and attending meetings of the NYC Preppers, a group of people who help train others to survive emergencies ranging from terrorist attacks to hurricanes to a global pandemic. An upcoming meeting, for instance, is focusing on how to deal with a potential Ebola pandemic.

The researchers soon noticed that these "urban preppers" look very different from the pop-culture depiction of survivalists: The armed, white, male, conservative Christian militia members who fear the government, she said.

Urban preppers usually don't own guns, their political views are all over the map, and they are often people of color, Bounds said. Many have seen firsthand, in disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, how long it can take for local and federal government agencies to restore order, she said.

Urban survivalist culture also overlaps with sustainability and homesteading culture. Many preppers are interested in organic and local foods, farmers' markets and the reduction of toxic chemicals. Some meetings, for instance, have focused on such things as how to make deodorant and laundry detergent at home, she said.

Bug out

Few New Yorkers are going to cram their fifth-floor walkup with 500 pounds (227 kilograms) of food (one estimate of how much food a person would need to eat for a year). So survivalists focus on getting out of the city fast.

One simple step is to make sure the car (if you have one) is always filled with gas and that medical prescriptions are always filled. Urbanites should also look around their apartments and figure out what would work in different emergencies, Bounds said. For instance, is the stove gas or electric? What services would a power outage eliminate?

Another essential for a mass New York exodus is to have a "bug-out" bag ready. This bag is typically a backpack filled with several days' worth of survival gear that weighs between 20 and 25 pounds (9 to 11 kg). Typical items in a bug-out bag include water filtration systems, food and water, face masks and goggles to protect against airborne hazards, compasses and duct tape. Preppers go on long treks during all seasons to make sure they can carry them for extended periods, Bounds said. See The Items Needed for a Bug Out Pack

Urbanites should also plan their escape route, which includes knowing how to evacuate a tall apartment building when the power goes out, and how to get out on foot, Bounds said.

Manhattan is an island with just nine bridges and four tunnels off the island, and a workday population of more than 3.1 million, which means there could be several chokepoints in the event of a disaster, she said. Some people even have inflatable kayaks on hand just in case. The best escape routes will depend on someone's origin and destination, but preppers often talk about the Catskills or even Upstate New York as potential safe havens, Bounds said.

Either way, it's important to have a plan and to be self-sufficient — something that may not come naturally to many New Yorkers, Bounds said.

"What you have to understand about New Yorkers is we're used to convenience and we're used to immediate gratification," Bounds said. "So to get our arms around the idea that we may have to be roughing it? Roughing it, for us, is not having takeout."

***

ENENEWS

Japan Newspaper: “The seriousness of the current situation at Fukushima can’t be understated” — Report: Unmitigated radiation is pouring into Pacific Ocean — They don’t know how to stop the radioactive leaks… we’ll never know how to stop this

Yomiuri Shimbun (“The pro-nuclear Yomiuri Shimbun” -Source), Aug. 20, 2014 (emphasis added): Efforts to contain water contaminated with radioactive substances… are progressing at a snail’s pace. At present, dealing with radioactive water is the overriding issue in resolving a series of problems following the nuclear crisis… In May, TEPCO began… the “groundwater bypass program.” But this effort failed… The seriousness of the current situation cannot be understated… Another concern is the huge amount of highly radioactive water—11,000 tons—that has leaked and now remains in underground tunnels near the coast. The Nuclear Regulation Authority has pointed out there is a high risk of this water leaking into the sea and causing other problems. Simply pumping the highly radioactive water out of a tunnel will not work, as it would soon be replaced by more contaminated water flowing in from reactor buildings. TEPCO has tried to freeze water in a section connecting the tunnel to a reactor building, but the attempt failed.

***

RIA Novosti

Physicists Say Fukushima Reactors Pose Eternal Threat to Humanity

Japan matches severity level of Fukushima nuclear accident with Chernobyl disaster

20:55 23/08/2014

MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - The three molten cores at Fukushima plant, each weighing a hundred tons, are so radioactive, that no one can approach them, including robots, which melt down immediately, Dr. Helen Caldicott, the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, physician and anti-nuclear advocate, states in an interview to Radio VR:

“And no one ever will, and the contamination will go on for hundreds of years,” Ms. Caldicott cites top physicists as saying.

Initially, TEPCO, the Japanese power provider wanted to erect an ice wall around the perimeter of the Fukushima complex, as ground water underneath the reactor is absorbing radiation and then flowing into the ocean.

An ice wall is a silly idea given the circumstances, remarks the expert, as it would have to last at least a hundred years. Moreover, you would have to have electricity running all the time to keep the ground frozen, explains Ms. Caldicott.

Surprisingly enough, TEPCO is not consulting with anyone, says the expert, neither with Russia, after it survived the Chernobyl catastrophe, nor Bechtel, a US major engineering company. It is, conversely, “saving money, using paper coming from homeless shelters”, and the Japanese mafia Yakuza is hiring people to do this work.

The expert stresses they are witnessing an absolute catastrophe: 300-400 tons of radioactive water pour daily into the Pacific, and this has been going on for over three years now contaminating the ocean and its ecology.

Radiation cannot be diluted, as many isotopes, namely strontium, are concentrated in food chains, in algae for instance. The contamination then passes on to bigger fish typically caught on the east coast from Fukushima. Radiation in the ocean and its ecology has been detected as far away as the America West Coast. TEPCO has stated more than once, the expert says, that they know radioactive water is seeping into the ocean, however, they keep assuring that it is not at levels high enough to cause a significant threat.

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake swept across the Japanese coast in March 2011, triggering a devastating tsunami and killing more than 15,000 people and injured 6,000. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant consequently faced meltdowns at three reactors heavily damaged in the tsunami, which led to masses of contaminated water pouring into the ocean.

***

The Daily Caller

NSA Whistle-Blower: Obama’s Authority To Label ‘Terrorists’ Is The Same Rule The Nazis Issued In 1933

Posted By Giuseppe Macri On 2:49 PM 08/21/2014 In

Former National Security Agency crypto-mathematician Bill Binney was blowing the whistle on domestic spying long before Edward Snowden became a household name, and has gone on record describing the agency’s growing powers as increasingly “totalitarian.” Now the 36-year agency veteran is explaining the reason for its expansion — “power, control and money.”

“Look at the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] Section 1021, that gave President Obama the ability to define someone as a terrorist threat and have the military incarcerate them indefinitely without due process,” Binney said in a recent interview with DW while expanding on his testimony about NSA in Germany earlier this year.

“That’s the same as the special order 48 issued in 1933 by the Nazis [the so-called Reichstag Fire Decree]. Read that — it says exactly the same thing.”

Binney said such totalitarianism begins with governments expanding population surveillance and gathering intelligence on people and their various activities, before eventually transitioning to using that power and knowledge against them.

“That’s what’s happening — in terms of newspaper reporters, in terms of crimes,” Binney said. “That’s a direct violation of our constitution.”

Binney pointed to examples like New York Times reporter James Risen, who is fighting a Justice Department order to reveal a source, and former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who is serving a 30-month prison sentence for exposing torture and leaking the name of an undercover operative.

“[A]nd giving the torturers immunity? That’s what our country’s coming to,” Binney said. “That’s what we did. That’s disgraceful. The motives of totalitarian states are not exactly the same every time, but they’re very similar: power, control and money.”

Binney said that thanks to the dramatic expansion of the U.S. intelligence apparatus — both public and private — in post-9/11 America, the agency’s first priority has shifted from ensuring national security to guaranteeing its own sustainability, expansion and upward growth.

“If you have a problem, you need money to solve it. But if you solve that problem, you no longer have the justification to get money,” Binney said.

“That’s the way they view it — keep the problem going, so the money keeps flowing. Once you build up this big empire, you have to sustain it. … Look at the influence and power the intelligence community has over the government. They [the government] are giving them everything they want, they’re trying to cover up all their tracks and their crimes. Look at the influence and power they’re gaining.”

NSA’s bulk surveillance programs don’t just passively allow for domestic knowledge and influence — according to Binney, they’re the reason for it, as such programs make it even harder to surveil and prevent terrorist threats.

“They’ve had it for 13 years and they haven’t done it [caught terrorists],” Binney said. “Not in the mass domestic collection — in the targeted approach, yes. If you separate out all the targeted individuals, what did the rest contribute to anything? The answer is zero.”

“It contributes to law enforcement, not intelligence against terror. That’s the whole point. When you do the things that they do — dictionary select, like a Google query, you throw a bunch of words in and get a return. And if you do that for terrorism, you get everything in the haystack that has those words. So now you’re buried — by orders of magnitude worse than you used to be. So you don’t find them.”

As proof Binney pointed to secret interpretations of legislation and executive authority like Section 215 of the Patriot Act, Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, and Executive Order 12333, which say”you can collect and keep data on U.S. citizens if you’re acquiring them in the process of investigations for terrorism or international dope-smuggling.”

Such “incidental” collection lets the agency ”copy everything in the pipe.”

“That means everybody and all their content,” Binney said.

“We’re focusing now on everyone on the planet — that’s a change from focusing on organizations that were attempting to do nasty things. When you focus on everybody, you’re moving down that path towards population control.”

***

Natural News

Over 90% of USA's 'staple crops' now GMO - the killers of the 'New Frontier'

Saturday, August 23, 2014 by: S. D. Wells

(NaturalNews) According to the United States Department of Agriculture, genetic engineering of US corn, beets and soy has increased from 65 percent in 2006 to a shocking 90 percent in 2013. Why do so many countries around the world outright reject GMOs when America is forcing them down the throats of the general population without so much as a label for the victims to distinguish? If the word victim sounds drastic, it's time to consider just what it is humans are consuming on a daily basis, and how it shows up in hundreds of thousands of food items and ingredients sold in just about every store.

Consider this: What if confusion was for sale -- would you buy some? Most bees that touch down on pesticides end up unable to locate the honeycomb and they just die. Could GMOs be the culprit of most Alzheimer's and Parkinson's? Your food may be able to withstand heavy doses of herbicides and pesticides, but can you? Your cells may be mutating as you read right now, but there's a way to repair them. First, turn off the TV and throw away the newspaper. You won't find the "repair mechanisms" there. Throw away all of your "commodity crops" that are present in 70 percent of the processed foods found on grocery store shelves.

Next, if you have a smart phone, get the free phone app "Fooducate" (pronounced like educate) here and you can scan the barcodes of all food products to find out instantly if they are GMO. Yes, this is a great tool on the battlefield of the "Food War."

Then, check out GMO labeling laws in 64 different countries around the world, including China, Brazil, Japan, Portugal, South Africa and the entire European Union.

Last year in the USA, 52 GMO labeling bills were proposed in 26 states. Maine and Connecticut are two of those success stories requiring labeling of "Frankenfoods" and serving as beacons of truth about the health detriment of consuming pesticides.

Frankenfoods deserve that label!

The warning on all GMO foods in America should say, "Consume Frankenfoods at your own risk," and have the list of side effects that have already been proven on animals in laboratories, including cancerous tumors. Frankenfoods are foods that warp cells because they contain bug and weed killer. Frankenfoods are foods that contain DNA from organisms that would never normally "breed" or mix with crops, much less be fused into the genes. Frankenfoods grow pesticide in your gut -- instead of feeding healthy bacteria and turning on your enzymes, they're shutting them down with carcinogens! In 2012, French scientist Gilles-Eric-Seralini discovered that GM feed (corn) given to animals caused specific issues with kidney and liver function. Of course, "Big Food" tried to discredit him and his team's profound research, but they failed to bury it. Seralini's research is now part of history and vital information for consumers who want to know the truth about Frankenfoods like US corn, soy, canola, cottonseed, beets and alfalfa. Biotech wants to hide the truth -- they are heavily vested in the ultimate "Ponzi scheme" called the Affordable Care Act.

Americans are supposed to invest their hard-earned pay in sick care that prescribes chemicals for chemical food sickness -- GMO toxic blood. You can't "cut out" GMO, unless you stop eating and drinking it.

Still, GMO Propaganda Ensues

Did you know that the USDA, the FDA and the EPA do not perform their own independent research on GMOs, that they actually rely on the companies that create it?! Do you believe that Monsanto would ever say or report anything bad about the billions of dollars they stand to make each year off selling Frankenfoods that go completely unlabeled and invade most staple food? Guess what? You have a right to know everything that's in your food, no matter what! You could be allergic to GMO! Check now. Here's the allergy test -- take it: NaturalNews.com.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.sustainabletable.org

http://www.elonpendulum.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://fooducate.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

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Healthydebates.com

Science Confirms Turmeric As Effective As 14 Drugs

(Sayer Ji) Turmeric is one the most thoroughly researched plants in existence today. Its medicinal properties and components (primarily curcumin) have been the subject of over 5600 peer-reviewed and published biomedical studies. In fact, our five-year long research project on this sacred plant has revealed over 600 potential preventive and therapeutic applications, as well as 175 distinct beneficial physiological effects. This entire database of 1,585 ncbi-hyperlinked turmeric abstracts can be downloaded as a PDF at our Downloadable Turmeric Document page.

Given the sheer density of research performed on this remarkable spice, it is no wonder that a growing number of studies have concluded that it compares favorably to a variety of conventional medications, including:

• Lipitor/Atorvastatin(cholesterol medication): A 2008 study published in the journal Drugs in R & D found that a standardized preparation of curcuminoids from Turmeric compared favorably to the drug atorvastatin (trade name Lipitor) on endothelial dysfunction, the underlying pathology of the blood vessels that drives atherosclerosis, in association with reductions in inflammation and oxidative stress in type 2 diabetic patients. [i]

• Corticosteroids (steroid medications): A 1999 study published in the journal Phytotherapy Research found that the primary polyphenol in turmeric, the saffron colored pigment known as curcumin, compared favorably to steroids in the management of chronic anterior uveitis, an inflammatory eye disease.[ii] A 2008 study published in Critical Care Medicine found that curcumin compared favorably to the corticosteroid drug dexamethasone in the animal model as an alternative therapy for protecting lung transplantation-associated injury by down-regulating inflammatory genes.[iii] An earlier 2003 study published in Cancer Letters found the same drug also compared favorably to dexamethasone in a lung ischaemia-repurfusion injury model.[iv]

• Prozac/Fluoxetine & Imipramine (antidepressants): A 2011 study published in the journalActa Poloniae Pharmaceutica found that curcumin compared favorably to both drugs in reducing depressive behavior in an animal model.[v]

• Aspirin (blood thinner): A 1986 in vitro and ex vivo study published in the journalArzneimittelforschung found that curcumin has anti-platelet and prostacyclin modulating effects compared to aspirin, indicating it may have value in patients prone to vascular thrombosis and requiring anti-arthritis therapy.[vi]

• Anti-inflammatory Drugs: A 2004 study published in the journal Oncogene found that curcumin (as well as resveratrol) were effective alternatives to the drugs aspirin, ibuprofen, sulindac, phenylbutazone, naproxen, indomethacin, diclofenac, dexamethasone, celecoxib, and tamoxifen in exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative activity against tumor cells.[vii]

• Oxaliplatin (chemotherapy drug): A 2007 study published in the International Journal of Cancer found that curcumin compares favorably with oxaliplatin as an antiproliferative agenet in colorectal cell lines.[viii]

• Metformin (diabetes drug): A 2009 study published in the journal Biochemitry and Biophysical Research Community explored how curcumin might be valuable in treating diabetes, finding that it activates AMPK (which increases glucose uptake) and suppresses gluconeogenic gene expression (which suppresses glucose production in the liver) in hepatoma cells. Interestingly, they found curcumin to be 500 times to 100,000 times (in the form known as tetrahydrocurcuminoids(THC)) more potent than metformin in activating AMPK and its downstream target acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC).[ix]

• Another way in which turmeric and its components reveal their remarkable therapeutic properties is in research on drug resistant- and multi-drug resistant cancers. We have two sections on our site dedicated to researching natural and integrative therapies on these topics, and while there are dozens of substances with demonstrable efficacy against these chemotherapy- and radiation-resistant cancers, curcumin tops both lists:

  • Cancers: Drug Resistant

  • Cancers: Multi-Drug Resistant

We have found no less than 54 studies indicating that curcumin can induce cell death or sensitize drug-resistant cancer cell lines to conventional treatment.[x]
We have identified 27 studies on curcumin’s ability to either induce cell death or sensitize multi-drug resistant cancer cell lines to conventional treatment.[xi]
Considering how strong a track record turmeric (curcumin) has, having been used as both food and medicine in a wide range of cultures, for thousands of years, a strong argument can be made for using curcumin as a drug alternative or adjuvant in cancer treatment.
Or, better yet, use certified organic (non-irradiated) turmeric in lower culinary doses on a daily basis so that heroic doses won’t be necessary later in life after a serious disease sets in. Nourishing yourself, rather than self-medicating with ‘nutraceuticals,’ should be the goal of a healthy diet. [learn more at Sayer Ji's new collaborative project EATomology]


Resources

[i] P Usharani, A A Mateen, M U R Naidu, Y S N Raju, Naval Chandra. Effect of NCB-02, atorvastatin and placebo on endothelial function, oxidative stress and inflammatory markers in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled, 8-week study. Drugs R D. 2008;9(4):243-50. PMID: 18588355


[ii] B Lal, A K Kapoor, O P Asthana, P K Agrawal, R Prasad, P Kumar, R C Srimal. Efficacy of curcumin in the management of chronic anterior uveitis. Phytother Res. 1999 Jun;13(4):318-22. PMID: 10404539

[iii] Jiayuan Sun, Weigang Guo, Yong Ben, Jinjun Jiang, Changjun Tan, Zude Xu, Xiangdong Wang, Chunxue Bai. Preventive effects of curcumin and dexamethasone on lung transplantation-associated lung injury in rats. Crit Care Med. 2008 Apr;36(4):1205-13. PMID: 18379247

[iv] J Sun, D Yang, S Li, Z Xu, X Wang, C Bai. Effects of curcumin or dexamethasone on lung ischaemia-reperfusion injury in rats. Cancer Lett. 2003 Mar 31;192(2):145-9. PMID:18799504

[v] Jayesh Sanmukhani, Ashish Anovadiya, Chandrabhanu B Tripathi. Evaluation of antidepressant like activity of curcumin and its combination with fluoxetine and imipramine: an acute and chronic study. Acta Pol Pharm. 2011 Sep-Oct;68(5):769-75. PMID:21928724

[vi] R Srivastava, V Puri, R C Srimal, B N Dhawan. Effect of curcumin on platelet aggregation and vascular prostacyclin synthesis. Arzneimittelforschung. 1986 Apr;36(4):715-7. PMID:3521617

[vii] Yasunari Takada, Anjana Bhardwaj, Pravin Potdar, Bharat B Aggarwal. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents differ in their ability to suppress NF-kappaB activation, inhibition of expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and cyclin D1, and abrogation of tumor cell proliferation. Oncogene. 2004 Dec 9;23(57):9247-58. PMID: 15489888

[viii] Lynne M Howells, Anita Mitra, Margaret M Manson. Comparison of oxaliplatin- and curcumin-mediated antiproliferative effects in colorectal cell lines. Int J Cancer. 2007 Jul 1;121(1):175-83. PMID: 17330230


[ix] Teayoun Kim, Jessica Davis, Albert J Zhang, Xiaoming He, Suresh T Mathews. Curcumin activates AMPK and suppresses gluconeogenic gene expression in hepatoma cells.Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2009 Oct 16;388(2):377-82. Epub 2009 Aug 8. PMID: 19665995

[x] GreenMedInfo.com, Curcumin Kills Drug Resistant Cancers, 54 Abstracts

[xi] GreenMedInfo.com, Curcumin Kills Multi-Drug Resistant Cancers: 27 Abstracts.

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“And he (Isaiah) said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it upon the ulcer, and he shall be well.”
(2 Kings 20:7)