“And
I will give him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there
shall be none to speak against him: and I will give him the key of
the house of David upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and there
shall be none to shut; and he shall shut, and there shall be none to
open.”
(Isaiah 22:22)
Upon His Shoulder
Dear Friends,
Greetings! It has been quite a week with first Germany and then the Czech Republic warning their citizens to stock food and water to be prepared for a possible catastrophe.
Of course we have also seen the devastating earthquake that has hit central Italy with search and rescue still continuing at this moment.
The misery in the multitude conflicts involving Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, large parts of Africa etc. continues unabated. Again a sign of the times.
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” And, sorry to have to mention it but “All these are the beginning of sorrows”. Matthew 24:6-8
If the following information given in video below by Anthony Patch is correct, things may about to be taking a fairly drastic turn.
Earlier in the week our friend and colleague John Benjamin, who wrote the book EARTHSHAKER which we featured on this website some time back, sent us a three hour interview. The video Anthony Patch did was on the Hagman and Hagman radio program and he asked for our opinion on the subject matter.
After listening to the interview the following was our response.
Hi John,
Well, that took a bit of concentration.
What do we think? It's hard to say. In our limited knowledge of CERN along with what we hope is some discernment, we think for the most part he is correct in his investigations.
As far as his referencing D-Wave's Adiabatic Quantum Computers (AQC) 4096, etc. there is really no way we, or most of us, could corroborate this information. Years ago someone asked me if I really thought the USA had sent a rocket to Mars my reply was "who is going to double check it",
However, there is one area I would question and that is the idea of unlimited dimensions. Close to fifty years ago, after studying Eastern philosophies and religions in university and if memory serves correct, this idea would correlate more closely with eastern thought. There was one book that stated that each person was made up of ten different spiritual entities.
Of course that is possible thinking of Legion whom Jesus cast out.
We don't doubt that this is what the scientists and researchers at CERN believe, but along with the "revelations" they are receiving it is very possibly a sugar coated pill.
Jesus said unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved. Satan not only wants Christians eliminated but all mankind including his most trusted minions.
Also, we can think of no scriptural precedents that would support an unlimited number of dimensions.
We believe there is only one other dimension besides ours, what several others call the fifth dimension, the spiritual world, and these two will one day meld into one, Revelation 21 and 22.
John again wrote us in regards to the above response.
“Incidentally, Steve Quayle and Tom Horn seem to agree more with you on the other side being the spirit world.”
The video posted below is not the three hour interview from the Hagman and Hagman interview but instead is a one hour interview with Lisa Haven which covers basically much of the same material but in a somewhat simpler manner.
If you have enough interest in this subject you may want to go to the “anthonypatch.com” website and click on “Urgent Discoveries” which will bring up a page that may help you to understand terminology that may not be familiar.
The article following this video from ScienceDirect says. “A New Chapter In History: LHC To Reveal Possible Parallel Universe Next Week”.
In the mean time have a great week ahead.
Robert
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ScienceDirect
A New Chapter In History: LHC To Reveal Possible Parallel Universe Next Week
August 21, 2016
First scientists proved the existence of the elusive Higgs boson ‘God particle’ and they’re seemingly well on the way to nailing ‘dark matter’ also. But all of it pales in comparison to next week’s experiment.
Fired up to its highest energy level possible, the LHC might possibly create even miniature black holes. If the parallel universe springs into existence it will not only be outside of our own, but it could also be filled with some of our gravity. This will surely lead to another red alert aboard the USS LHC Critics (may be even rightfully so).
However, if successful CERN’s LHC will not only remain intact, but will open up a new chapter in history, eventually rewriting physics and philosophy books altogether.
Mir Faizal, one of the three-strong team of physicists behind the experiment, summed it up recently, stating that:
“Just as many parallel sheets of paper, which are two dimensional objects [breadth and length] can exist in a third dimension [height], parallel universes can also exist in higher dimensions. We predict that gravity can leak into extra dimensions, and if it does, then miniature black holes can be produced at the LHC.
Normally, when people think of the multiverse, they think of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, where every possibility is actualized. This cannot be tested and so it is philosophy and not science. This is not what we mean by parallel universes. What we mean is real universes in extra dimensions. As gravity can flow out of our universe into the extra dimensions, such a model can be tested by the detection of mini black holes at the LHC.
We have calculated the energy at which we expect to detect these mini black holes in ‘gravity’s rainbow’ [a new scientific theory]. If we do detect mini black holes at this energy, then we will know that both gravity’s rainbow and extra dimensions are correct."
Just in case you’re interested: fired up, the LHC’s energy output is measured in Tera electron volts – a TeV is 1,000,000,000,000 (that’s one trillion) electron Volts. The LHC managed levels just below 5.3 TeV.
To quiet the mind’s of those fearing the mini black holes, according to all models, the energy level needed to produce one would need to be at least 9.5 TeV in six dimensions and 11.9 TeV in 10 dimensions, respectively.
ajweekly.com
Jerusalem group’s first priority: Build a third temple
by andrew tobin , jta
Thursday, August 18, 2016
“It’s time to build” — a new tagline being employed by the Temple Institute — encapsulates the group’s controversial mission to rally Jews to reconstruct the Temple that was the heart of their religion until its destruction 2,000 years ago.
Over much of those two millennia, mourning the loss of the Temple and longing for its restoration has been central to Jewish thought and practice.
“Our goal is to raise the consciousness of the Jewish people and all humanity toward the central role that the Holy Temple plays in the life of mankind,” said Rabbi Chaim Richman, the Massachusetts-born co-founder and the international director of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. “We’re very much focused on getting the message out on all the channels of social media.”
Established in 1987 — 20 years after Israel conquered the Temple Mount and the Palestinian territories in the Six-Day War — the Temple Institute was one of the first groups to openly advocate the rebuilding of the two temples that once stood on the plaza.
The problem for supporters is that the Temple Mount is sacred to Muslims and Christians, too. The site includes the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aksa mosque, two of the most significant shrines in Islam. Israel chose to leave it under Muslim control in 1967, and Jewish prayer is prohibited there. Ever since, even rumors of changes to the “status quo” — let alone calls to build a third temple in their place — have drawn international Muslim ire and Palestinian violence.
Some Israelis have always opposed the government’s decision not to reclaim the mount. In the 1980s, the Jewish Underground, a Jewish settler terrorist group, plotted to bomb the Dome of the Rock, in part to catalyze the construction of a third temple in its place. The Shin Bet thwarted the plot.
Richman said the Temple Institute opposes violence, and works “within the confines of the human condition, [Jewish law] and the political reality.”
The Temple Institute focuses on preparing the objects and skills needed for the sacrifice of animals and other rituals that were carried out by kohanim (priests) in front of crowds of Jewish pilgrims before the last Temple’s destruction.
The group also tries to build support for its mission and itself. Richman’s weekly TV and radio shows are on the Temple Institute’s YouTube channel, which has more than 17,000 subscribers. The group has more than 24,000 subscribers to its e-newsletter and more than 186,000 “likes” on Facebook. Most content is in English.
Many evangelical Christians in the United States support the group; for many, the construction of a third temple fulfills a prophecy about the second coming of Jesus.
The Temple Institute’s aggressive outreach has helped make it something of an institution in Israel. In 2013, an exhibition of the group’s preparations for a third temple moved from a small side street to a larger space near the Western Wall plaza. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit each year, many taking a guided audio tour (available in nine languages) that ends with a life-size replica of the ark of the covenant.
The Israeli government provides some funding (though not reliably or significantly, according to its directors) and lets women to do their national service as institute tour guides.
The Temple Institute’s growth has coincided with increased mainstream support for Jewish access to the Temple Mount. A large minority of Israelis now oppose the restriction on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, according to polls. And leading religious figures, Knesset members and ministers have called for rebuilding the Temple.
For many religious Jews, actively seeking the rebuilding of a third temple is not just politically provocative but spiritually suspect.
“The rabbinic model developed after the destruction of the Second Temple [in 70 C.E.] is the one that has set the tone for Jews, regardless of denomination, for 2,000 years,” Marcie Lenk, a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, wrote in 2014. “The rabbis were responsible for creating the system of Judaism that would survive and thrive without a temple.”
Yuval Cherlow, a prominent moderate religious Zionist rabbi, said that while preparing to rebuild the Temple is a good thing, the first step is “re-creating society and yourself.”
“The prophets constantly emphasized that the pillars of the Temple are a society that is full of justice, charity and humanity, and without pride,” he said. “I really believe that if the Temple will be rebuilt in this situation, without those pillars, it will be destroyed again.”
CP
'Ben Hur' Actor Jack Huston Reveals Scene That Left Lasting Impact on Him (Interview)
BY JEANNIE LAW , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
August 16, 2016|4:49 pm
LOS ANGELES – Jack Huston, who stars in Paramount Pictures and MGM's reboot of "Ben-Hur" as Judah Ben-Hur, maintains that every time he watches the film he takes something valuable away from it.
"That was very emotional actually. The actual act is very effective, the crucifixion that is followed by forgiveness, everyone was affected up there on that mountain," Huston told The Christian Post at a recent screening, about the final scene of the film where forgiveness is put to the test.
"Forgiveness is not thinking that you have to be in control of everything [but more] so being able to let things go," the actor continued. "To forgive someone means you have to be in control of them in a sense, so I think understanding other people and it not being all about you [helps]."
"Ben-Hur" is the epic telling of Judah Ben-Hur (Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his own adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), who is a Roman army officer. Ben-Hur was removed from his position and was separated from his family and Esther (Nazanin Boniadi), the woman he loves, as he was exiled to become a slave.
But after years of traveling on sea and a sudden shipwreck, Ben-Hur encounters Ilderim (Morgan Freeman), who later on becomes his mentor. He tells Ben-Hur to take revenge against his brother through a chariot race instead of killing him directly. He then prepares him for the deadly monumental race. The overarching theme of the film, however, is forgiveness, as throughout his journey Ben-Hur encounters Jesus Christ and is changed by his example.
The 33-year-old actor describes that forgiveness is a mystery and although people can wrap their heads around miracles and the supernatural, the act of pardoning wrong is a very hard thing to understand.
"Retaliation and revenge is sort of the scariest part. I think forgiveness, there's something peaceful about [it] and revenge is driven by hatred and war. I think there always has to be a bigger person to say if we keep on retaliating and looking for revenge then there's no end," Huston explained.
The past tellings of "Ben-Hur" are known for the epic chariot races, some which have even proven fatal for some of the stunt horsemen involved. Riders have lost their lives in both the original movie in 1925 and the 1959 version. This new and improved remake does not disappoint and fortunately no one was hurt, but the English actor admitted that he faced many challenges while taping the action-packed film.
"Getting through this film was a hurdle. I mean surviving the chariot race was a hurdle. It was brutal to be doing this. There's a lot of times where you question everything and what you can do, but it was perseverance, a lot of hard work, amazing support and his journey is such an amazing one, that you can't help not be affected by it," Huston confessed.
"Ben-Hur" was executive produced by outspoken Hollywood Christian couple Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, and although it's not overtly Christian, the modern version of the motion picture is laced with the message of Christ. Jesus also does make a few appearances throughout Ben-Hur's journey.
Ultimately, the "Boardwalk Empire" star said playing Judah Ben-Hur made him reflect on life and he believes it's a story that everyone needs to hear in this day and age.
"It's got some of the great questions in this role. Questions that we all need to be addressing today. The most important thing I took away from it is that it made me question a lot of things about the world and what I would do in certain situations," Huston concluded.
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WND
IN FRANCE, 'THE JIHADISTS HAVE WON'
Professor: With Christianity dead, Islam is taking over
Published: August 22, 2016
World mourns 2015 terror attacks in Paris, France (Photo: Twitter)
WASHINGTON – With Christianity dead in France, there is no national political will to address the increasing attacks by radical Islam, says a professor at the University of Paris, which has brought the country to its knees.
The professor, Guy Millière, author of 27 books on France, Europe, the United States and the Middle East, makes some shocking charges in a new commentary for the Gatestone Institute, where he serves as a senior fellow.
“All political parties, including the National Front, talk about the need to establish an ‘Islam of France,'” he writes. “They never explain how, in the Internet age, the ‘Islam of France’ could be different from Islam as it is everywhere else.”
He attributes the capitulation of France to two major factors – the failure of the nation to embrace its own nation culture in schools and universities and the collapse of the Christian faith.
“The slaughter of French priest Father Jacques Hamel on July 26 in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray was significant,” he says. “The church where Father Jacques Hamel was saying mass was nearly empty. Five people were present; three nuns and two faithful. Most of the time, French churches are empty. Christianity in France is dying out. Jacques Hamel was almost 86 years old; despite his age, he did not want to retire. He knew it would be difficult to find someone to replace him. Priests of European descent are now rare in France, as in many European countries. The priest officially in charge of the parish of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Auguste Moanda-Phuati, is Congolese.”
He adds: “The French education system does not teach young people to love France and the West. It teaches them instead that colonialism plundered many poor countries, that colonized people had to fight to free themselves, and that the fight is not over. It teaches them to hate France.”
So the future of France, he writes, is more terror.
“The assassins of Father Jacques Hamel are what is coming,” he says. “One of them, Adel Kermiche, was born in France to immigrant parents from Algeria. His path looks like the path followed by many young French Muslims: school failure, delinquency, shift toward a growing hatred of France and the West, return to Islam, transition to radical Islam. The other, Abdel Malik Petitjean, was born in France, too. His mother is Muslim. His father comes from a Christian family. Abdel Malik Petitjean nevertheless followed the same path as Adel Kermiche. A growing number of young French-born Muslims radicalize. A growing number of young French people who have not been educated in Islam nevertheless turn to Islam, then to radical Islam.”
According to Millière, while the education system in France “describes Islam as a religion that brought ‘justice, dignity and tolerance’ wherever it reigned. Seventh-grade students spend the first month of the school year learning what Islamic civilization brought to the world in science, architecture, philosophy and wealth. A few weeks later, they have to memorize texts explaining that the Church committed countless atrocious crimes. Economics textbooks are steeped in Marxism and explain that capitalism exploits human beings and ravages nature. The Holocaust is still in the curriculum, but is taught less and less; teachers who dare to speak of it face aggressive remarks from Muslim students.”
He describes the pattern of national appeasement as “willful blindness, severely pathological denial, and a resigned, suicidal acceptance of what is coming.”
He faults the nation’s media as well: “French mainstream media do their best to hide the truth. Abdel Malik Petitjean and Adel Kermiche [the attackers in the church massacre] are described as troubled and depressed young people who slipped ‘inexplicably’ toward barbarity. Their actions are widely presented as having nothing to do with Islam. The same words were used to depict Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, the jihadist who murdered 86 people in Nice on July 14th. These words were used to depict all the jihadists who killed in France during the last few years. Each time, Muslim intellectuals are invited to speak, and invariably explain that Islam is peaceful and that Muslims are guilty of nothing.”
“For several days after the attack in Nice, it seemed that the country was on the verge of explosion,” writes Millière. “This is no longer so. The French population seems resigned. The anger expressed by political leaders after the attack in Nice has already faded. Some political leaders in France call for tougher measures, but speak of ‘Islamic terrorism’ very rarely. They know that speaking too much of ‘Islamic terrorism’ could be extremely bad for their future careers. Prime Minister Manuel Valls recently said that France would become an example – a ‘center of excellence’ in the ‘teaching of Islamic theology.'”
Millière says Jews continue to flee France as synagogues and Jewish schools throughout the country must be guarded around the clock by armed soldiers.
“Jews who are still in France know that wearing a skullcap or a Star of David is extremely dangerous,” he writes. “They seem to see that appeasement is a dead end. They often emigrate to the country that appeasers treat as a scapegoat and that Islamists want to destroy: Israel. They know that when in Israel, they might have to confront jihadists like those who kill in France, but they also know that Israelis are more ready to fight to defend themselves.”
He writes: “Many French Jews fleeing the country recalled an Islamic phrase in Arabic: ‘First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.’ In other words, first Muslims attack Jews; then when the Jews are gone, they attack Christians. It is what we have been seeing throughout the Middle East.”
“There will be no civil war in France,” he concludes. “The jihadists have won. They will kill again. They love to kill. They love death. They say, ‘we love death more than you love life.'”
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The Telegraph
A blood red moon behind the World Trade Center in Manhattan CREDIT: CATERS / JENNIFER KHORDI
Mark Molloy
24 AUGUST 2016 • 1:08PM
Is that Mars or the moon?
A photographer captured this stunning photograph of a blood red moon over the New York skyline.
Jennifer Khordi took the breathtaking image from 25 miles away in New Jersey, describing it as “one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.”
The semi-professional photographer, who is from New Jersey, shared a series of photographs of the incredible moon rising behind the World Trade Center in Manhattan on Instagram and Facebook.
“It was just absolutely amazing to see this,” she told Caters news agency.
“I plotted this shot and lined up with a lookout 25 miles from Manhattan.
“I think the best one is where the moon is directly behind the World Trade Center.
“I have always wanted to get this shot.”
She added: “The moon is a fickle beast!”
The sight of a blood moon is considered a bad omen by doomsayers, who have previously claimed it could signal the end of the world.
In September last year, sky-watchers around the world got a treat when the shadow of Earth cast a reddish glow on the moon, the result of a rare combination of an eclipse with the closest full moon of the year.
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BBC
Nooscope mystery: The strange device of Putin's new man Anton Vaino
By Olga Ivshina
BBC Russian Service
19 August 2016
A week ago Mr Vaino (right) replaced Sergei Ivanov (left), an old KGB colleague of Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin's new chief of staff Anton Vaino has reached the top shrouded in mystery.
He does not appear to have given any press interviews in his past career, and his official biography reveals little, beyond a steady rise over many years of service to the Kremlin.
Before his Kremlin promotion the Estonian-born high flyer served as a diplomat, including a stint at the Tokyo embassy.
But an investigation by BBC Russian into Mr Vaino's academic work reveals intriguing details about him and may offer clues about his worldview.
Like many officials of his generation, reports say he has a master's degree in economics and has contributed to various scientific publications.
In 2012 an article appeared in a specialist journal called Economics and Law written by an "AE Vaino" - widely believed to be one and the same person as Mr Putin's new chief of staff.
It was titled "The capitalisation of the future".
Levers of power
Written in a dense academic prose - which many Russian commentators this week said they found almost impossible to understand - and accompanied by even more complex charts and diagrams, the article outlines new ways of organising and understanding society.
Russians are scratching their heads over this diagram in Mr Vaino's article (Moscow Times translation)
Mr Vaino argues that the economy and society in general have become too complex to manage by traditional means. Governments need to seek new ways of regulating and controlling them.
The article describes a new device called a "nooscope" which, it says, can tap into global consciousness and "detect and register changes in the biosphere and in human activity".
The "nooscope" bewildered many in Russia this week. Does the device really exist, they asked. What does it actually do? Is Mr Vaino really serious?
BBC Russian tracked down Viktor Sarayev, an award-winning economist and businessman who has co-authored a number of articles with Mr Vaino.
He described the nooscope as "a device that scans transactions between people, things and money", and claimed it was an invention of parallel significance to the telescope and the microscope.
But he was less forthcoming about whether it actually existed, or was still under development.
'Utopian idea'
Leading Russian academics meanwhile expressed deep scepticism about the theories and solutions propounded by Mr Vaino and his collaborators.
"There isn't any science in this," says Simon Kordonsky, a philosophy professor at Moscow's Higher School of Economics.
He dismissed the article as indulging in "mythological" hypotheses about the future which, he said, contrasted with the genuinely progressive ideas explored by the first generation of Russian reforming economists in the early post-Soviet years.
"If we evaluate this article by its meaning, then without doubt it's a cause for concern," says another philosopher from the same institute, Prof Vitaly Kourennoy.
"It represents a utopian idea which has no connection to science. It's propounding some kind of all-embracing system of government that has to be enforced by top officials."
Viewed from this perspective however, Mr Vaino's theories perhaps begin to make more sense.
They could actually be seen as part of a pattern that has emerged in Russian politics over the past decade, as President Putin has sought to reassert control after the chaos of the early 1990s.
Kremlin spin doctors
Some observers also draw parallels with the approach of one of Mr Vaino's predecessors - former presidential adviser and deputy prime Dubbed by one Russian politician as "a puppet master who privatised the political system", Mr Surkov is credited with inventing the theory of "managed democracy", through which President Putin now runs Russia unchallenged.
Widely seen as a master of political spin, Mr Surkov specialised in manipulating information in a way which often left his interlocutors unsure as to where the facts ended and the fiction began.
This also appears to be an approach used by Dmitry Kiselyov, the powerful head of the state-run Russia Today media network, and a man often referred to as "the Kremlin's chief propagandist".
Tasked with broadcasting the Kremlin's point of view, both to Russians and the rest of the world, Mr Kiselyov told the BBC earlier this year that "the age of neutral journalism" had passed.
Blurred reality
In expounding his theories about the "nooscope" Anton Vaino seems to be echoing these more high-profile Kremlin colleagues.
There is no way to prove that the world "exists in reality and not in our imagination", he writes in the Economics and Law article, explaining why the nooscope is needed to interpret and manage world events.
Prof Kordonsky feels he has heard it all before.
"It's a state of mind," he told BBC Russian. "It's a rejection of the current realities. They want to change things but they don't want to understand what things are really like. They have a perception of potential greatness […] and they're suggesting a way of changing the country and building a better tomorrow."
If AE Vaino the political scientist and Anton Vaino the new chief of staff really are the same person, as most Russians presume, then the coming months may show if the nooscope can really deliver a "better tomorrow".
SPUTNIK
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stated that borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians.
19:50 22.08.2016
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — National borders are the world's "worst" political invention, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Monday.
"Borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians," Juncker said at the European Forum Alpbach (EFA) in Austria, as quoted by the United Kingdom's ITV news channel.
The forum discussion was focused on the refugee influx that Europe is currently struggling with. The top EU official stressed the necessity of showing solidarity with refugees, especially children, as well as expressing regret at the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union.
Juncker's words reportedly triggered a response from UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who expressed disagreement and said that the people of the United Kingdom consider the control over their country's borders to be important.
The remarks come as the leaders of Italy, Germany and France are meeting on Italian island of Ventotene to discuss the future of the European Union in the light of Britain's vote to the leave the bloc. The meeting is being held in preparation for an informal EU summit, which is to be held without Britain in Bratislava, Slovakia on September 16.
Earlier, a French government spokesman said that one of the main topics of discussion would be ensuring security in the European Union, as well as investments and economic growth, the problems of the European youth, cultural cooperation and the transition to renewable energy sources.
Zero Hedge
German Government Urges Citizens To Stockpile Food, Water "In Case Of Attack Or Catastrophe"
by Tyler Durden
Aug 22, 2016 5:20 AM
For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the German government plans to tell citizens to stockpile food and water in case of an attack or catastrophe, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper reported on Sunday.
Following Angela Merkel's proclamation that Islamic terrorism is not a function of the massive influx of muslim immigrants into Germany thanks to he immigration policy, we could not help but be a little surprised that, as TagesSchau reports, the federal government, according to a newspaper report wants to encourage the population to begin stockpiling food and water again, so that they temporarily can take care of themself in the case of a disaster or an armed attack. As Reuters details,
Germany is currently on high alert after two Islamist attacks and a shooting rampage by a mentally unstable teenager last month. Berlin announced measures earlier this month to spend considerably more on its police and security forces and to create a special unit to counter cyber crime and terrorism.
"The population will be obliged to hold an individual supply of food for ten days," the newspaper quoted the government's "Concept for Civil Defence" - which has been prepared by the Interior Ministry - as saying.
The paper said a parliamentary committee had originally commissioned the civil defense strategy in 2012.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the plan would be discussed by the cabinet on Wednesday and presented by the minister that afternoon. He declined to give any details on the content.
People will be required to stockpile enough drinking water to last for five days, according to the plan, the paper said.
...the precautionary measures demand that people "prepare appropriately for a development that could threaten our existence and cannot be categorically ruled out in the future," the paper cited the report as saying.
A further priority should be more support of the armed forces by civilians, it added.
Germany's Defence Minister said earlier this month the country lay in the "crosshairs of terrorism" and pressed for plans for the military to train more closely with police in preparing for potential large-scale militant attacks.
So apart from stockpiling enough food and water for 10 days; supporting the military; protecting yourself from "a threat to our existence," everything is awesome and Merkel's immigration policy has helped?
We ask - what do they know? Or is this simply more scare-mongering since "A nation in fear is even better influenced and controlled."
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KATEHON
A RUSSIAN BASE IN IRAN: A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE IN THE BALANCE OF POWER IN THE REGIONSLAMIC CIVILIZATION
17.08.2016
Russia has announced its military presence in Iran for the first time since the end of World War II. 16.08.2016 Tu-22M3 Russian strategic bombers made their first flight from the base Hamedan in western Iran. The aircrafts attacked targets of the terrorist group "Islamic state" in Syria. Previously, Russian strategic aviation had been performing combat missions from the base of Mozdok in North Ossetia. Now the distance to the targets in Syria has been reduced by 60%.
For the Syrian campaign, it means that Russian supersonic bombers will be able to bring a larger payload and at the same time carry out an increasing number of sorties. Accordingly, the intensity and effectiveness of the Russian air operations will increase significantly. Hmeymim airbase in Latakia (former civil airport) is not suitable for such heavy bombers.
The Middle East: total coverage
News agencies spread information that Russia and Iran have agreed on the deployment of Russian strategic bombers at the air base Hamedan on a long term basis. This information was confirmed by Iranian officials. Chairman of the Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani said that the Iranian side will provide its infrastructure for Russia to combat terrorism. Russian strategic bombers in Iran dramatically change the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
The combat range of the Tu-22M3 aircraft at supersonic speed is 1850 km and the maximum range is about 3000 km. This allows them to cover the whole of the Middle East. The area is now controlled by Russian aircraft includes Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Yemen, Iran, the waters of the Persian Gulf. Within range are US military bases, all strategic places of Wahhabi monarchies of the Persian Gulf and the terrorist infrastructure in the region. The flight time to Riyadh is less than half an hour.
The Tu-22M3 is designed to destroy large enemy military-industrial targets, centers of command and control, and communications, destroy buildings (including magazines) and units deep behind enemy lines. This aircraft can also effectively conduct aerial reconnaissance and engage in electronic warfare. The Tu22M3 is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear weapons. The maximum carry load is 24,000 kg.
Moreover, if Russia finds it necessary in a wartime situation, in agreement with Iran, can place better weapons at the air base in Iran, for example, the strategic missile carriers Tu-160, which are armed with atomic bombs and missiles with nuclear warheads. The combat radius of this aircraft is 7500 km.
The Moscow-Tehran Axis
Iran’s willingness to provide to Russia a military base Hamedan is a unique event in recent history of the state and evidence of a close strategic alliance between the two countries. This step links Russian geopolitics with Iran's interests in the region. There is no doubt that the Russian Aerospace Forces will protect the interests and security of both Russia and Iran. Iran strengthens its immunity against major opponents - the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, due to the Russian strategic presence.
At the same time, Russia defends itself at a distance, moving the confrontation with the United States from Russia’s own border areas, closer to the marginal part of the Eurasian Rimland, and directly adjacent to the major US and British bases in the Persian Gulf (Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates).
Breakthrough Atlanticist blockade
For Russia, this event is crucial. A "breakthrough to the warm seas" to the Mediterranean, Iran and India; this geopolitical expansion towards the south has been a major strategic imperative of Russian geopolitics since the XVIII century and the basic meaning of "the Great Game" from the Russian side. In contrast to her Atlanticist powers, Great Britain and the United States were trying to prevent full Russian access to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Russian strategic bombers in Hamedan mean a breaking of the Atlanticist blockade in this part of the Rimland. Russia now receives immediate access to the region and the possibility of a way to operate militarily in this area, to protect both its own interests and those of its allies.
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THEDURAN
Russian military deployment to Iran ends abruptly
ALEXANDER MERCOURIS
August 23, 2016
Sudden cancellation of the Russian deployment to the Iranian air base is the result of disagreements in a complex relationship and not likely to cause a major rift in relations.
The Russian deployment to Shahid Nojeh base in Hamadan in Iran has ended shortly after it began. The Russians have confirmed that all the Russian aircraft that were briefly stationed at the base have returned to Russia.
Officially the reason is that the mission the aircraft undertook is over. Unofficially the international media has seized on some words of Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier-General Hossein Dehghan spoken on Sunday as providing the explanation
“Russians are interested to show they are a superpower that can influence security trends. On the other hand, they are willing to show they have been influential in the Syrian operation to be able to negotiate with the US and secure their share of Syria’s political future. Of course, there is a kind of show-off and discourteousness in this regard.”
These words have been interpreted to mean that the Iranians were incensed by Russian bragging at the use by their aircraft of the Shahid Nojeh air base in Iran, which they found somehow “discourteous”.
That is extremely unlikely and in fact it makes no sense. The first media reports of Russian aircraft using the base did not come from Russia; they seem to have come from the Al-Masdar News agency in the Middle East. There have been some suggestions that Al-Masdar is an Israeli project. However it appears to be based in Lebanon and seems to take a pro-government line in the Syrian war. That suggests it obtained its information about the deployment from sources in Syria or Iran.
The Russians did inform the US of the deployment before it took place, as they are required by agreements they made with the US last autumn to do. It would in fact have been completely impossible to keep the deployment secret from the US given the sheer size of some of the aircraft involved (especially the TU22M3s) and the blanket US satellite surveillance of Iran which constantly takes place. In fact it took no time for satellite photos of the deployment to be made public, as they were bound to be.
The simple fact is that the deployment was bound to become public knowledge within hours of it taking place and it is absurd to think that the Iranians could have thought otherwise or could have seriously imagined that the Russians wouldn’t comment on it or would try to downplay it.
In fact Brigadier-General Dehghan’s words look like they are being misreported. They do not properly speaking read like a complaint about the Russians “showing off” about their deployment to the Shahid Nojeh base. Rather they read more like a complaint about the Russians’ habit of negotiating with the US in order to “secure their share of Syria political future”. The Iranians have made no secret about their unhappiness about the discussions the Russians continuously have with the US over Syria. Brigadier-General Dehghan’s comments simply appear to be a restatement of this.
Why then has the deployment ended so quickly? The short answer is we don’t know, just as (despite what the international media has been telling us) we don’t actually know that it was the Iranians who ended the deployment.
It could be that the decision to end the deployment was taken by the Russians. Despite what some have said use of the Shahid Nojeh base is not crucial to the Russian air campaign in Syria. TU22M3 bombers can reach anywhere in Syria with full loads flying from their bases in southern Russia.
The 4 SU34 fighter bombers that were briefly deployed to Shahid Nojeh base did benefit from the substantially shorter distance to their targets in Syria. However they could have been deployed even more effectively if they had been sent to the Russian base in Syria at Khmeimim, which if shortening flight times really was so important would have been the obvious thing to do.
It is possible that the Russians became concerned that what was intended primarily as a political statement of support for Iran was drawing a stronger international reaction than they might have anticipated. The US vigorously criticised the deployment, which cannot have come as a surprise to the Russians and which they must have anticipated.
However of more concern to the Russians may have been private criticism of the deployment coming from Israel and Saudi Arabia, two countries strongly hostile to Iran with which Russia is however anxious to maintain good relations.
The other possibility is that the decision to end the deployment was indeed taken by Iran. As I discussed previously, the Russian deployment to Shahid Nojeh base was not uncontroversial in Iran, with some criticism of the deployment being made in the Iranian parliament the Majlis.
It could be that this swayed the Iranian authorities into reversing their decision to grant the Russians use of the base. Or it could be that the Iranians are annoyed about private discussions between the US and the Russians that are underway, as Brigadier-General Dehghan’s words might suggest.
This episode does however underscore an important point: Russia and Iran are partners who are in the process of forging closer relations with each other, and they are working closely with each other in Syria. However they are not allies and their relationship is not trouble-free. On the contrary, as I have discussed previously, their relationship is historically complicated, and has been marked by long periods of outright hostility. This makes frictions and disagreements inevitable and it looks like we have just witnessed one.
This spat is unlikely however to result in any significant or long term cooling of relations. Despite Iranian resentment at Russia’s negotiating strategy in Syria the Iranians know perfectly well that without Russia’s help the Syrian government which Iran supports and in which it has invested so much would long since have fallen.
Indeed Iranian commentators and officials have actually said as much. With Iran’s relations with the US and the West still very fraught, it still makes sense for Iran to forge closer relations with Russia and the Eurasian powers, and there is no sign of any second thoughts in Tehran about that.
The Russians for their part still seem to be committed to forging a close relationship with Iran, which is obviously in their interest, and they too know that they need the help of Iran if they are to achieve their objectives in Syria.
If only for these reasons both the Iranians and the Russians have been careful to leave open the possibility of future Russian deployments to Shahid Nojeh base, and the Russians have even been hinting that they are in private talks with the Iranians for the use of other Iranian facilities for their Syrian campaign as well. It is not impossible that once this dispute (whatever its cause) has been smoothed over that we will be seeing Russian aircraft in Iran again.
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SPUTNIK
US Seeking Clarity on Turkey Offering Russia Use of Incirlik Air Base
© AP Photo/ Emrah Gurel
US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said that the United States is seeking clarification on recent comments made by the Turkish Prime Minister suggesting Russia could use the Incirlik air base.
Kremlin Presses Turkey for Access to NATO's Incirlik Air Base, Home to US Nukes
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States is seeking clarification on recent comments made by the Turkish Prime Minister suggesting Russia could use the Incirlik air base, US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday.
"I am aware of those comments and of course we have, in our private diplomatic conversations with Turkey, sought clarity on what the implications of those might be," Toner stated.
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim reacted to an alleged request from Moscow to use Incirlik base, noting it "could be used" by Russia.
The United States currently uses the Incirlik base for US aircraft involved in the anti-Islamic State campaign in Syria.
Russia primarily flies its aircraft out of the Hmeymim base in Syria in support of anti-terrorism operations in the country.
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CNN
What's the real size of Africa? How Western states used maps to downplay size of continent
By Sophie Morlin-Yron, for CNN
Updated 0756 GMT (1556 HKT) August 19, 2016
(CNN)On a typical world map, Canada is a vast nation.
Home to six time zones, its endless plains spread from ocean to ocean, dominating great swathes of the northern half of the globe.
But, in reality, three Canadas would comfortably fit inside Africa.
Our world map is wildly misleading.
It's all down to the European cartographer Geert de Kremer, better known as Mercator, and his 16th century map projection.
While a convenient way to chart the world, the map distorts the true size of countries.
"Somehow this map projection came to be used on most world maps, especially those produced for classrooms since the beginning of the 1900s," says Menno-Jan Kraak, president of the International Cartographic Association and professor of cartography at the University of Twente, Netherlands.
"Most of us have grown up with this world image."
Made for captains
The 1569 Mercator projection was made for navigating the seas -- drawing the meridians and parallels as straight lines that cross at right angles helped sailors to navigate some of the their first treacherous voyages around the world.
Mercator initially made globes. Later transferring his map from a three-dimensional curved surface to a flat sheet of paper was problematic. Taking the equator as the logical map center left big, confusing gaps near the poles.
Mercator's solution was to stretch out the northern and southern extremities of the globe to fill those gaps, producing an elegant and usable map.
While a revolutionary tool for captains and explorers, the projection distorts the relative size of the continents, to the advantage of the West.
The repercussions of this are still being felt today.
A map made by Europe for Europe
On the Mercator map, Africa -- sitting on the equator, reasonably undistorted -- is left looking much smaller than it really is.
But Canada, Russia, the United States and Europe are greatly enlarged.
The distortion is largest near the poles: Greenland, which looks about the same size as the whole of Africa on the Mercator, is a classic example. In truth, it is no bigger than the Democratic Republic of Congo.
That European and North American countries are enlarged is no accident. This system provided more space for Western cartographers to mark towns, cities, roads etc in their part of the world, Kraak says.
"If you would take a map projection with equal areas then there is almost no space on the map to display all [these details]."
There was, of course, much to map in Africa, too, but that mattered less to the cartographers up north, he adds.
A political tool?
One of the dangers of the Mercator map is that it can make enlarged countries seem unnaturally powerful and intimidating.
"The term 'power of representation and representation of power' sums up quite well how maps and the rise of the Western nation-state system -- and with that, empire and colonialism -- are linked," says Marianne Franklin, professor of Global Media and Politics at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Was subsequent European imperialism perhaps spurred on by a map projection that reinforced the notions of self-importance held by those nations?
"The world maps that prevail today have been embedded in Western imaginations since the British empire. They continue (to prevail) despite many challenges to their fairness and accuracy because they underpin the ongoing Anglo-Euro-American presumption that the world belongs to them, and pivots around these geo-cultural axes," Franklin says.
In more recent times, maps have been used for propaganda, adds Kraak.
Take Russia, for example.
"If you take the Mercator projection, where Russia looks huge, give it a bright red color and then compare it to the rest of Europe, you see how dangerous it can look," says Kraak.
No perfect map
Sadly, there is no such thing as a perfect map. Because the earth is a sphere -- more of a potato-shape, in fact -- it is impossible to map it on a flat surface without errors in proportion, explains Kraak.
Some schools have begun to use a number of alternative projections. In the US and Germany, for example, maps based on the so-called Winkel Tripel projection, which has a smaller skewness, started to replace the Mercator from the 1920s until the 1980s.
But it has never achieved the dominance of the Mercator.
A digital boost
The digital revolution has further strengthened the Mercator's dominance.
Today the Mercator projection is being used as a template at Google Maps, OpenStreetMap and Bing, says Kraak.
From guiding 16th century explorers on the high seas to helping people find Pokemons on their smartphones, Mercator's work continues to influence how people see the world centuries after his death.
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Natural News
Asthma and allergies are less common among Amish children because of exposure to animal microbes, scientists say
Sunday, August 21, 2016 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer (NaturalNews)
Earlier studies like the one conducted on Swiss children back in the 1990s, found that people who grow up on farms teeming with "germs" inherit an added layer of protection against asthma and allergies. Even as far back as the late 19th century, it's noted in the historical record that people who lived on farms fared better in the health department than members of the American and British upper classes, many of whom suffered from hay fever and other population-wide afflictions that were held up as badges of honor, believe it or not, because they indicated that an individual wasn't from the peasant class.
More recent science has uncovered precisely why cowshed environments seem to be far better for human health than urban environments, and it all has to do with microbes, and the animals and soils that harbor them. According to researchers, "sanitary" environments like freshly-vacuumed office buildings are entirely sterile, lacking the diverse microbiome that's present in the natural environment, which along with the floral community that lives inside our guts, helps build the immune systems of those exposed to it.
The new research, which looks at the health outcomes of the Amish compared to the closest known control – Hutterites who live in much the same way as the Amish, except that they're slightly more detached from their animals – is deeply telling. Hutterites, it turns out, live in communal-living environments where livestock are kept further away from people's homes, while the Amish live on smaller farms with cowsheds located directly next to people's homes.
Why is this significant? The microbial load to which the average Amish person is exposed is about 600 percent greater than that of the average Hutterite – likely even higher than that compared to the average American – which means that the Amish are encountering protective bacteria that stimulate their immune systems at a much greater level compared to practically any other population group. Their routine exposure to the microbial effects of raw dairy is likewise beneficial, researchers found, helping to create the so-called "farm effect" which European researchers have previously studied.
If you live in the city, your immune system is likely suffering from a lack of exposure to this "farm effect." That's why many urban-dwellers are starting to get their hands dirty with backyard farming projects like those made possible with the Vertical Garden Tower.
Environmental microbes stimulate the body's innate immune system
The secret appears to lie in the way environmental microbes stimulate the body's innate immune system. The innate immune system is fixed, responding to what New York Times (NYT) guest columnist Moises Velasquez-Manoff terms "ancient patterns in the microbial world." This contrasts with the adaptive immune system which learns through exposure to new germs and substances how to fight them.
Stimulating the innate immune system is critical to preventing asthma and allergies, the new research found, because the innate immune system is ultimately what determines the course of one's genetic expression, and how a person reacts to environmental exposures. If microbes are present from an early age, the exposed person is much more likely to avoid disastrous health outcomes that emerge from being too "clean."
Sources for this article include:
NYTimes.com
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