Does this video show the British Navy firing on an Iranian speedboat?
The recent faceoff that has American commanders worried about an accidental war with Iran:
A British warship fires warning shots at a fast-approaching speedboat - believed Iranian - in an unpublicized incident in April that adds to concerns about continuing tensions in the Persian Gulf, and the chance of an unintended outbreak of hostilities there.
The video shows the speedboat powering parallel to the British warship HMS Iron Duke, which was patrolling off of Bahrain, and then turning directly towards it. Foghorns blaring, gunners on the Iron Duke then fired 100 yards to the side of the speedboat, causing its two crew members to duck and stop – they then wave at the British sailors as they speed away.
While talk in region remains focused on whether the United States or Israel will attack Iran, another large fear is the possibility of an unscripted, accidental war, spurred by a small clash that spins out of control. In January 7, 2008, five Iranian speedboats darted around three U.S. warships in the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf; no shots were fired. Then-President Bush said it was a provocative act, the Iranians said there was no confrontation.
Posted Jul 5, 2011 by Michael Adler on The Daily Beast
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Friday, October 8, 2010
IRAN- RUSSIA ARMS DEAL CALLED OFF
What Ahmadinejad WON'T be getting for Christmas:
The S-300 Family of anti-aircraft missiles include the SA-10 GRUMBLE, SA-12 GIANT/GLADIATOR, and SA-20 GARGOYLE.
Russia has decided not to provide Iran with key military arms, complying with U.N. Security Council sanctions, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree banning the delivery of S-300 air defense systems to Iran, RIA Novosti reported. Moscow had signed a deal to provide Iran with $800 million worth of S-300 equipment.
The S-300 system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.
S-300PMU-2 64N6E2 BIG BIRD acquisition radar
According to western experts, the system would shield Iranian nuclear sites against military threats, amid ongoing Israeli warnings to launch military attacks against Iran.
Iran criticized Russia for canceling the arms deal and warned Moscow "not to enter US games" against the Islamic state.
The Kremlin announced last week that President Dmitry Medvedev canceled the sale of S-300 air-defence missiles to Iran because of United Nations Security Council sanctions against the country.
The presidential decree forbade the transfer of tanks, artillery, war ships, helicopters and missile defence systems to Iran.
Tehran had ordered the missile defence system two years ago.
- multiple sources
STORMBRINGER SENDS
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The S-300 Family of anti-aircraft missiles include the SA-10 GRUMBLE, SA-12 GIANT/GLADIATOR, and SA-20 GARGOYLE.Russia has decided not to provide Iran with key military arms, complying with U.N. Security Council sanctions, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a decree banning the delivery of S-300 air defense systems to Iran, RIA Novosti reported. Moscow had signed a deal to provide Iran with $800 million worth of S-300 equipment.
The S-300 system, which can track targets and fire at aircraft 120 km (75 miles) away, features high jamming immunity and is able to simultaneously engage up to 100 targets.
S-300PMU-2 64N6E2 BIG BIRD acquisition radarAccording to western experts, the system would shield Iranian nuclear sites against military threats, amid ongoing Israeli warnings to launch military attacks against Iran.
Iran criticized Russia for canceling the arms deal and warned Moscow "not to enter US games" against the Islamic state.
The Kremlin announced last week that President Dmitry Medvedev canceled the sale of S-300 air-defence missiles to Iran because of United Nations Security Council sanctions against the country.
The presidential decree forbade the transfer of tanks, artillery, war ships, helicopters and missile defence systems to Iran.
Tehran had ordered the missile defence system two years ago.
- multiple sources
STORMBRINGER SENDS
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Friday, September 3, 2010
IRAN TESTS ENHANCED SHORT-RANGE MISSILE
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad VahidiOn Wednesday, August 25th, Iran announced it had conducted a test launch of an enhanced version of its Fateh 110 short-range missile (Agence France-Presse reported. The domestically produced ground-to-ground weapon "works on solid fuel, so compared to previous generations it has an increased range and accuracy. Its preparation as well as launching systems are speedier," said Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi. "This missile, which is in the short-range class, has added new features to the country's missile system," he added.
The domestically produced ground-to-ground weapon "works on solid fuel, so compared to previous generations it has an increased range and accuracy. Its preparation as well as launching systems are speedier," said Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.
"This missile, which is in the short-range class, has added new features to the country's missile system," he added.
The launch was shown on television, but it was not immediately known when the test occurred.
Vahidi also did not provide details on the third-generation missile's maximum flight distance, AFP reported. An earlier iteration of the Fateh 110 had a range of 90 to 125 miles (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 25).
Vahidi said Iran's military would receive the new missile next month.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010
SHOULD ISRAEL BOMB IRAN's NUCLEAR REACTOR IN BUSHEHR?
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
AWESOME PSYOP OPPORTUNITY
From the Associated Press:
Iran Digging Mass Graves for US Troops
August 10, 2010
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has dug mass graves in which to bury U.S. troops in case of any American attack on the country, a commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday, warning that a military strike would spark an "extensive war" in the region.
The announcement appears to be a show of bravado after the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said last week that the U.S. military has a contingency plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea.
The deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Kan'ani Moghadam, said graves for any attacking U.S. troops have been dug in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, where Iran buried Iraqi soldiers killed during the ruinous 1980-88 war between the Islamic republic and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime.
Iranians digging in the first time around . . .
"The mass graves that used to be for burying Saddam's soldiers have now been prepared again for U.S. soldiers, and this is the reason for digging this big number of graves," Moghadam said, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.
This is a GREAT opportunity to produce and distribute psyops material via leaflet drops, Commando Solo transmissions, etc. All we have to do is remind the Iranian rank and file of the 500,000 to 1,000,000 KIAs they suffered going up against Saddam Hussein, the economic loss their country suffered (more than US$500 billion), all to achieve a tactical and strategic stalemate - and now their leadership has them preparing for the same thing all over again!
"Your leaders send you to the front and to the graveyard, while they live the good life with your wives and girlfriends."
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Iran Digging Mass Graves for US Troops
August 10, 2010
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has dug mass graves in which to bury U.S. troops in case of any American attack on the country, a commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday, warning that a military strike would spark an "extensive war" in the region.
The announcement appears to be a show of bravado after the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said last week that the U.S. military has a contingency plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea.
The deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Kan'ani Moghadam, said graves for any attacking U.S. troops have been dug in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, where Iran buried Iraqi soldiers killed during the ruinous 1980-88 war between the Islamic republic and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime.
Iranians digging in the first time around . . . "The mass graves that used to be for burying Saddam's soldiers have now been prepared again for U.S. soldiers, and this is the reason for digging this big number of graves," Moghadam said, according to the semiofficial Fars news agency.
This is a GREAT opportunity to produce and distribute psyops material via leaflet drops, Commando Solo transmissions, etc. All we have to do is remind the Iranian rank and file of the 500,000 to 1,000,000 KIAs they suffered going up against Saddam Hussein, the economic loss their country suffered (more than US$500 billion), all to achieve a tactical and strategic stalemate - and now their leadership has them preparing for the same thing all over again!
"Your leaders send you to the front and to the graveyard, while they live the good life with your wives and girlfriends.".
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
AWAITING ARMAGEDDON
By Alan Caruba
I do not know what it is about Islam and liberalism that causes both to turn logic and truth on its head, but we have been witnessing it in different ways in recent days.
First there was the “humanitarian” flotilla running the Israeli blockade of Gaza and then there was the appalling anti-Semitism of Helen Thomas, formerly of the front row in the White House press room.
Suffice it to say that the so-called Palestinians are not living in a state of “occupation.” They have repeatedly been offered a state of their own, but have refused it for some six decades. They exist as wards of the United Nations.
Israel is a sovereign nation and has been since May 16, 1948. Its ancient sovereignty dates back to the days of David and Solomon. I say “so-called” because Palestine was the name applied to Israel by a Roman emperor in an effort to make the world forget that Jews had been living in their own land for over a thousand years before being driven into exile.
Arabs who live in Israel are called Israelis because they are citizens there. They number more than a million and, while most are Muslim, about nine percent are Christian. So, while the enemies of Israel talk exclusively in terms of its Jewish population, they are ignoring a sizeable number who are Muslims. It need also be said they enjoy freedoms that their counterparts in other Middle Eastern nations do not.
What I have always found astonishing is the way the Arab nations surrounding Israel and who have attacked it repeatedly nonetheless regard Israel as the aggressor.
This is the same strange logic that says al Qaeda destroyed the Twin Towers and attacked the Pentagon, but is blameless because they did so in response to U.S. policies in the Middle East. It is the same sick logic and contempt for everything that is not Islamic that pursues the creation of a mosque within walking distance of ground zero.
Not surprisingly, after 9/11 the U.S. responded with military action against the Afghanistan base of Al Qaeda operations, followed thereafter with an invasion of Iraq, the second such military action after having initially driven the Iraqis out of Kuwait. The result was the end of the three-decade regime of Saddam Hussein. The Saudis and oil-rich Gulf states were the major beneficiaries.
There is not a single justification for the “humanitarian” flotilla, one ship of which was filled with men who violently resisted the boarding by Israelis under long established international law regarding blockades.
Tons of humanitarian aid is routinely delivered daily to Gaza after inspection. The inspection is necessary because, since having withdrawn from Gaza as a gesture of peace in 2005, the area has been used to launch thousands of rockets. Even the Egyptians who share a border with Gaza maintain a comparable blockade to ensure weapons are not smuggled into the Hamas hotbed of hatred for Israel.
So far in its short history, Israel has fought a 1948 War of Independence against several Arab armies. The famed Six-Day War followed in 1967. In 1973, the Israelis were attacked on one of the holiest days of their calendar, Yom Kippur, by a coalition of Arab nations. They also endured Yassir Arafat’s PLO Intifada of terror bombings
In 1982 the first Lebanon War was a response to constant terror attacks on northern Israel. It was followed in 2006 by a second Lebanon War in response to the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, a proxy Islamic organization funded and armed by Iran. The most recent Israeli 2009 military engagement against Gaza was a response to constant rocketing and attacks. The blockade is part of the way Israel must cope with a self-defined enemy.
In every case, the Israelis were accused of being the aggressors. Arab nations insisted they were “occupiers” in a land in which Jews had lived for 3,500 years and called their home despite an exile that had existed for 2,000 years prior to the reestablishment of Israel. It followed the Nazi Holocaust that killed six million European Jews during World War Two.
Throughout the Middle East and most particularly in the United Nations, Israel has always been called the aggressor. The same irrational hatred for Jews that has existed everywhere for centuries explains why Israelis are armed to the teeth and why Jews worldwide are experiencing a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.
What worries Israelis these days and should worry Americans as well is the policy of the Obama administration that has clearly turned against Israel, emboldening its enemies. It shames the history of friendship that has existed since Israel was reestablished over sixty years ago.
It is an invitation for war in the Middle East, one that has been joined by Turkey, a nation that has abandoned its history of secular governance in favor of the Islamism that threatens Western nations in particular and the world in general.
Allowing Iran to acquire nuclear arms will tip the world into a global conflict whose casualties are incalculable.
America needs to assert its support for Israel, if only in its own interest. America is being infiltrated by Islamic terrorists and it has a growing number of home-grown ones. Having elected a president whose stated preference is for Islam, the prospects are not good. In the words of Islamists, Israel is the “Little Satan” and America is the “Big Satan.”
Commentator, J.D. Longstreet summed up the threat. “I am not optimistic that hatred of the Jews will end, or even lessen any time soon. In fact, I expect it to get much, much, worse and eventually lead the nations of the world to a place known as the Megiddo Valley and the final battle known as the Battle of Armageddon.”
Will the armed might of the U.S., already present in the Middle East in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in the Persian Gulf, be used to thwart this? That question waits upon the decision of Barack Hussein Obama.
© Alan Caruba, 2010
Reprinted by permission from Alan Caruba's worthy blog WARNING SIGNS.
.
I do not know what it is about Islam and liberalism that causes both to turn logic and truth on its head, but we have been witnessing it in different ways in recent days.
First there was the “humanitarian” flotilla running the Israeli blockade of Gaza and then there was the appalling anti-Semitism of Helen Thomas, formerly of the front row in the White House press room.
Suffice it to say that the so-called Palestinians are not living in a state of “occupation.” They have repeatedly been offered a state of their own, but have refused it for some six decades. They exist as wards of the United Nations.
Israel is a sovereign nation and has been since May 16, 1948. Its ancient sovereignty dates back to the days of David and Solomon. I say “so-called” because Palestine was the name applied to Israel by a Roman emperor in an effort to make the world forget that Jews had been living in their own land for over a thousand years before being driven into exile.
Arabs who live in Israel are called Israelis because they are citizens there. They number more than a million and, while most are Muslim, about nine percent are Christian. So, while the enemies of Israel talk exclusively in terms of its Jewish population, they are ignoring a sizeable number who are Muslims. It need also be said they enjoy freedoms that their counterparts in other Middle Eastern nations do not.
What I have always found astonishing is the way the Arab nations surrounding Israel and who have attacked it repeatedly nonetheless regard Israel as the aggressor.
This is the same strange logic that says al Qaeda destroyed the Twin Towers and attacked the Pentagon, but is blameless because they did so in response to U.S. policies in the Middle East. It is the same sick logic and contempt for everything that is not Islamic that pursues the creation of a mosque within walking distance of ground zero.
Not surprisingly, after 9/11 the U.S. responded with military action against the Afghanistan base of Al Qaeda operations, followed thereafter with an invasion of Iraq, the second such military action after having initially driven the Iraqis out of Kuwait. The result was the end of the three-decade regime of Saddam Hussein. The Saudis and oil-rich Gulf states were the major beneficiaries.
There is not a single justification for the “humanitarian” flotilla, one ship of which was filled with men who violently resisted the boarding by Israelis under long established international law regarding blockades.
Tons of humanitarian aid is routinely delivered daily to Gaza after inspection. The inspection is necessary because, since having withdrawn from Gaza as a gesture of peace in 2005, the area has been used to launch thousands of rockets. Even the Egyptians who share a border with Gaza maintain a comparable blockade to ensure weapons are not smuggled into the Hamas hotbed of hatred for Israel.
So far in its short history, Israel has fought a 1948 War of Independence against several Arab armies. The famed Six-Day War followed in 1967. In 1973, the Israelis were attacked on one of the holiest days of their calendar, Yom Kippur, by a coalition of Arab nations. They also endured Yassir Arafat’s PLO Intifada of terror bombings
In 1982 the first Lebanon War was a response to constant terror attacks on northern Israel. It was followed in 2006 by a second Lebanon War in response to the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah, a proxy Islamic organization funded and armed by Iran. The most recent Israeli 2009 military engagement against Gaza was a response to constant rocketing and attacks. The blockade is part of the way Israel must cope with a self-defined enemy.
In every case, the Israelis were accused of being the aggressors. Arab nations insisted they were “occupiers” in a land in which Jews had lived for 3,500 years and called their home despite an exile that had existed for 2,000 years prior to the reestablishment of Israel. It followed the Nazi Holocaust that killed six million European Jews during World War Two.
Throughout the Middle East and most particularly in the United Nations, Israel has always been called the aggressor. The same irrational hatred for Jews that has existed everywhere for centuries explains why Israelis are armed to the teeth and why Jews worldwide are experiencing a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.
What worries Israelis these days and should worry Americans as well is the policy of the Obama administration that has clearly turned against Israel, emboldening its enemies. It shames the history of friendship that has existed since Israel was reestablished over sixty years ago.
It is an invitation for war in the Middle East, one that has been joined by Turkey, a nation that has abandoned its history of secular governance in favor of the Islamism that threatens Western nations in particular and the world in general.
Allowing Iran to acquire nuclear arms will tip the world into a global conflict whose casualties are incalculable.
America needs to assert its support for Israel, if only in its own interest. America is being infiltrated by Islamic terrorists and it has a growing number of home-grown ones. Having elected a president whose stated preference is for Islam, the prospects are not good. In the words of Islamists, Israel is the “Little Satan” and America is the “Big Satan.”
Commentator, J.D. Longstreet summed up the threat. “I am not optimistic that hatred of the Jews will end, or even lessen any time soon. In fact, I expect it to get much, much, worse and eventually lead the nations of the world to a place known as the Megiddo Valley and the final battle known as the Battle of Armageddon.”
Will the armed might of the U.S., already present in the Middle East in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in the Persian Gulf, be used to thwart this? That question waits upon the decision of Barack Hussein Obama.
© Alan Caruba, 2010
Reprinted by permission from Alan Caruba's worthy blog WARNING SIGNS.
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Sunday, May 16, 2010
LET ME SEE IF I HAVE THIS RIGHT ? ? ?
IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR.
IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU ARE DETAINED INFDEFINITELY.
IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU WILL BE SHOT.
IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU WILL BE JAILED.
IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.
IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.
IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT . . .
BUT . . .
IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU WILL GET:
1. A job.
2. A drivers license.
3. Social Security Card.
4. Welfare.
5. Food Stamps.
6. Credit Cards.
7. Subsidized rent or loan to buy a house.
8. Qualify for business loans that U.S. citizens can't apply for.
9. Free education from kindergarden through high school.
10. Extra money for special education programs and language learning programs.
11. Scholorship money for higher education.
12. Free health care, vision and dental included.
13. A lobbyist in Washington, and political groups that work to insure that everything America has to offer will be yours, without any commitment on your part.
14. Billions of dollars worth of public documents printed in your native language.
AND . . .
15. The right to carry your country's flag while you protest that you don't get respect and everything a citizen would be given.
I just wanted to make sure I had a firm grasp on the situation . . .
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Sunday, May 9, 2010
A CASE FOR MERCENARY ARMIES
Secret Blackwater Tape Exposed
Jeremy Scahill - The Nation - May 3, 2010
Erik Prince, the reclusive owner of the Blackwater empire, rarely gives public speeches and when he does journalists are banned from attending; recording or videotaping of his remarks is verboten.
Despite these attempts to shield himself from public scrutiny, The Nation magazine obtained an audio recording of one of Prince's recent speech delivered in a private venue to a friendly audience. The speech provides a stunning glimpse into his views and future plans and reveals details of previously undisclosed activities of Blackwater.
In earlier posts, I have insisted that private contractors operating within narrow constraints as security personnel are NOT mercenaries per se. In this post there is no fig leaf - we're talking private contractors deployed in full-mission profile; defensive AND offensive operations; employed as snipers, conducting raids and ambushes, the whole enchilada.
Prince proposes armed private soldiers (like Blackwater contractors) be deployed throughout the sand countries to counter Iranian influence and Iranian-supported insurgents, specifically in Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia and Saudi Arabia. There's a lot to be said for this approach.
He expresses disdain for the Geneva Convention and describes Blackwater's secretive operations at four Forward Operating Bases (FOB's) he controls in Afghanistan. He called those fighting the US in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan "barbarians" who "crawled out of the sewer."
Despite the disparaging things I said about Blackwater in the past - and I meant every word I said - I find myself agreeing with Prince here. The United States has employed private armies in every war we've fought, dating right back to the Revolution; they have a role, albeit a specialized one.
As far as the Geneva Convention goes - has it ever occurred to anybody that we are the only ones who abide by this anachronism? And even we don't go by it all the time; if we had lost World War II, Winston Churchill and President Truman would have been sitting in the dock for all those cities we vaporized.
Wars are won by doing what needs being done. In the former Yugoslavia I observed (Allied) Special Forces soldiers operating in civilian clothes, passing themselves off as journalists. By the time I retired I'd been operating in and out of uniform for about half of my career, and I made it all the way to Belgrade.
"War is simple, direct and ruthless." - General Patton's Maxims.
I'm not suggesting we lower ourselves to the degree of savagery displayed by our enemies on a daily basis, but think about it for a minute - if the Post Office could accomplish it's mission, UPS and FedEx wouldn't be able to survive as commercial enterprises. Why should we constrain ourselves in warfighting?
Once we decide to win this Hundred Years War we are currently fighting, necessity will dictate our conduct. To prevail against irregular insurgents and terrorists, we need irregular, unconventional counter-insurgents and counter-terror soldiers, and we should be open-minded and imaginative when the rule book gets in the way.
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Friday, April 23, 2010
CONNECT THE DOTS
Iran War Games Begin in the Persian Gulf with new 'Ultra Fast' Speed Boats
Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats attack an abandoned war ship, being used as a target, during a maneuver in the Persian Gulf, Thursday 22 April 2010.
Mystery Rocket Explodes in Jordan
BBC Thursday, 22 April 2010 17:07 UK
A rocket has exploded near the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba, damaging a warehouse but causing no casualties.
The rocket was one of two fired early on Thursday which landed in Jordanian territory - the other fell into the Red Sea.
There are conflicting reports as to where the rockets were launched.
Iran Boosts Qods Shock Troops in Venezuela
Pentagon Predicts U.S. Clash with Islamist Paramilitary
Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military.
The report on Iranian military power provides new details on the group known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Islamist shock troops deployed around the world to advance Iranian interests. The unit is aligned with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, North Africa and Latin America, and the report warns that U.S. forces are likely to battle the Iranian paramilitaries in the future.
Burning Oil Rig Sinks into Gulf; 11 Still Missing
U.S. Coast Guard photo shows fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon Wednesday April 21, 2010. 11 workers are still missing since a thunderous explosion rocked an oil drilling platform that continued to burn late Wednesday.
. . . One worker said he was awakened by alarms and scrambled to get on a life boat.
"I've been working offshore 25 years and I've never seen anything like this before," said the man, who like others at the hotel declined to give his name . . .
Me? I don't believe in coincidences . . .
- Sean Linnane
.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats attack an abandoned war ship, being used as a target, during a maneuver in the Persian Gulf, Thursday 22 April 2010.Mystery Rocket Explodes in Jordan
BBC Thursday, 22 April 2010 17:07 UK
A rocket has exploded near the southern Jordanian city of Aqaba, damaging a warehouse but causing no casualties.
The rocket was one of two fired early on Thursday which landed in Jordanian territory - the other fell into the Red Sea.
There are conflicting reports as to where the rockets were launched.
Iran Boosts Qods Shock Troops in Venezuela
Pentagon Predicts U.S. Clash with Islamist Paramilitary
Iran is increasing its paramilitary Qods force operatives in Venezuela while covertly continuing supplies of weapons and explosives to Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Pentagon's first report to Congress on Tehran's military.
The report on Iranian military power provides new details on the group known formally as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the Islamist shock troops deployed around the world to advance Iranian interests. The unit is aligned with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, North Africa and Latin America, and the report warns that U.S. forces are likely to battle the Iranian paramilitaries in the future.
Burning Oil Rig Sinks into Gulf; 11 Still Missing
U.S. Coast Guard photo shows fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon Wednesday April 21, 2010. 11 workers are still missing since a thunderous explosion rocked an oil drilling platform that continued to burn late Wednesday.. . . One worker said he was awakened by alarms and scrambled to get on a life boat.
"I've been working offshore 25 years and I've never seen anything like this before," said the man, who like others at the hotel declined to give his name . . .
Me? I don't believe in coincidences . . .
- Sean Linnane
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Thursday, April 22, 2010
WHEN THE IZZYs FLY THE STRIKE
IAF B707 refueling Israeli F-15sThis story exploded all over the 'Net today:
Would the U.S. Shoot Down an Israeli Jet? Top Officer Won’t Say
April 20, 2010
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- In a town hall on the campus of the University of West Virginia, a young Air Force ROTC cadet asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen to respond to a “rumor.” If Israel decided to attack Iran, the speculation went, those jet would need to fly through Iraqi airspace to reach their targets. That airspace is considered a “no-fly” zone by the American military. So might U.S. troops shoot down the Israeli jets, the airmen asked the chairman, if they breached that airspace?
Mullen tried to sidestep the question.
Read it all here
Here's the STORMBRINGER take: This non-answer does not necessarily imply that the United States will take drastic measures against our Israeli allies. The man is being as politically correct and tactfully discreet as possible - and though I ordinarily find the PC mindset repugnant, in this case Admiral Mullen must choose his words very carefully because he represents the military arm of the United States government.
Americans serving in Iraq have been on the receiving end of Iranian rockets smuggled to militants in Iraq for years. Iranian EFPs have also killed a number of Americans. I am certain of two things: there are American servicemen & women who would hesitate when given an order to fire upon Israeli targets - particularly enroute to bomb Iran; and the Command I'm sure is contemplating this scenario.
The sad fact of the matter is we had our opportunity to smash the Iranian Fundamentalist Islamic Revolution in it's infancy and we hesitated - or should I say Jimmy Carter hesitated. The ball was in his court and he balked. IF the day after our embassy was taken down on November 4, 1979, the 82D had jumped on to Tehran Airport and moved on the city . . . well, we wouldn't be having half the problems we're having with these people now.
But instead we've got what we've got going on now, and this thing is going to go on for the next hundred years.
- Sean Linnane
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
NOT IF BUT WHEN . . .
Former Israeli Defense Minister: Israel Will Attack Iran by November
"While Sneh is no longer in the Israeli government, his revelation of a drop-dead date for an Israeli military strike on Iran must be taken seriously, Israel-watchers in the U.S. tell Newsmax.
“Ephraim Sneh is a serious guy,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “He was deputy minister of defense and has long been focused on the issue of Iran.”
Shoshana Bryen, Senior Director for Security Policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), said that what struck her most about Sneh’s comments was the shift of emphasis from resolving the Palestinian problem to Iran.
“For 30 years, he’s been saying that solving the Palestinian problem is Israel’s biggest priority. Now he’s saying, forget about the Palestinians. Iran is the problem.”
Sneh “is extremely well regarded on the left and the right,” she added. “People respect him enormously.”
In his Op-Ed, Sneh argues that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needs to mend its bridges with the United States, and the only way to do so is by enacting an immediate and total ban on any settlement activity, including in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem."
A better Middle East . . ..
Sunday, February 21, 2010
THINGS JUST GOT INTERESTING . . .
Israel Unveils New Drone Fleet That Can Reach Iran
TEL NOF AIR FORCE BASE, Israel (AP) - Israel's air force on Sunday introduced a fleet of huge pilotless planes that can remain in the air for a full day and could fly as far as the Persian Gulf, putting rival Iran within its range.
The Heron TP drones have a wingspan of 86 feet (26 meters), making them the size of Boeing 737 passenger jets and the largest unmanned aircraft in Israel's military. The planes can fly at least 20 consecutive hours and are primarily used for surveillance and carrying diverse payloads.
At the fleet's inauguration ceremony at a sprawling air base in central Israel, the drone dwarfed an F-15 fighter jet parked beside it. The unmanned plane resembles its predecessor, the Heron, but can fly higher, reaching an altitude of more than 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), and remain in the air longer.
''With the inauguration of the Heron TP, we are realizing the air force's dream,'' said Brig. Gen. Amikam Norkin, commander of the base that will operate the drones. ''The Heron TP is a technological and operational breakthrough.''
The commander of Israel's air force, Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, said the aircraft ''has the potential to be able to conduct new missions down the line as they become relevant.''
Israel's military refused to say how large the new fleet is or whether the planes were designed for use against Iran, but stressed it was versatile and could adapt to new missions. The plane's maker, state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, has said it is capable of reaching the Persian Gulf, which would put Iran within its range.
Israeli defense officials said the Heron TP could be a useful tool against Iran. It could provide surveillance, jam enemy communications and connect ground control and manned air force planes.
The officials requested anonymity because they were discussing sensitive military technology.
Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear program, long-range missiles and repeated references by its leaders to the Jewish state's destruction.
Israel has hinted at the possibility of a military strike against Iran if world pressure does not halt Tehran's nuclear program. Israel and the U.S. believe Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons; Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.
In past conflicts, various types and sizes of unmanned planes have been used in missions like long-range surveillance and attacking enemy targets with guided missiles in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan, where anti-aircraft systems are rudimentary.
They have proven much less successful in conflicts where the opponents possessed better anti-aircraft weapons.
During NATO's aerial onslaught against Serbia in 1999, for example, Serbian quickly forces shot down 42 U.S. drones, drastically reducing the effectiveness of the bombing campaign.
''We are aware of the dangers such an aircraft can meet in the battlefield, and we do whatever we can to protect it,'' said air force Lt. Col. Eyal.
Eyal, whose last name was not disclosed in line with military guidelines, would not comment on how the plane could protect itself from anti-aircraft systems.
Israeli defense analyst Shlomo Brom, a retired general and security expert at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, called the new drone a breakthrough.
''Its staying power and the height it can reach means it is able to cover ground continuously and it is able to cover large territory,'' he said.
Israel's military was the first to make widespread use of drones in its 1982 invasion of Lebanon, according to Mark Daly, an expert on unmanned aircraft at Jane's defense publications in London.
Israeli companies are considered world leaders in drone technology and now export unmanned aircraft to a number of armies, including U.S.-led forces that have used them in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Heron TP has been in development for about a decade, but the aircraft first saw action during Israel's offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip just over a year ago.
Drones were seen as crucial to the Gaza onslaught by giving soldiers eyes in the air, keeping watch over rooftops and alleyways in congested urban areas -- notifying troops of threats or obstacles in their path.
Palestinian witnesses have long claimed that Israeli drones fire missiles in Gaza, both before and during the Israeli offensive. Israel has never confirmed that its unmanned aircraft are capable of firing missiles.
The military says the huge new drone will give an added element to Israel's ability to control its borders.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
GIANT LASER WEAPONRY AND THE FUTURE OF NUCLEAR POWER
Remember how the Liberals mocked the entire concept of "Star Wars", and swore that space should "never be weaponized"? Remember how even the threat of a then-undeveloped space-based weapons system drove the Soviets to the bargaining tables and ultimately caused the Evil Empire to fold?
The Soviet Union is gone, thanks in part to the threat of "Star Wars" weaponry. Now a new threat emerges; rogue nuclear states such as North Korea and Iran seek to develop their own nuclear arsenals, and Pakistan - an unreliable ally - already possesses such rocketry.
Thanks to the inspired vision of a B-grade Hollywood actor, just in the nick of time Star Wars arrives . . .
"Laser weapon knocks down test missile off California coast"
THANK YOU, RONALD REAGAN!
This image provided by the U.S. Department of Defense shows an infrared image of the Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser Testbed, right point, destroying a target missile, left point, on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010.
Meanwhile, in other laser news . . .
Ray Guns Real: Army Betting Big on Laser Weapons
Fox News January 21, 2010
Boeing is developing a mobile laser weapon for the U.S. Army. Mounted in an Osh Kosh armored vehicle, the weapon will will enable the military to fight at the speed of light.
Watch Laser Weaponry at work!!!
How Military Lasers Work
Illustration of a free electron laser. A beam of electrons is sent through an undulator -- an array of magnets with alternating north and south poles. The magnetic field in the undulator forces each bunch of electrons to oscillate back and forth, causing them to emit a laser-like beam of light.
"We have 3 missions: We're going to harness that energy and use it for the benefit of our national security, for enabling clean energy here on earth, and for advancing frontier science."
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's “Sun on Earth” opens for business . . .
NIF Laser “Sun on Earth” Opens for Business with the Hope of Humanity
So-called "green energy alternatives" are politician's pipe dreams; solar, wind, wave, geo-thermal, conservation and recycling simply cannot produce the amount of energy our society requires. The future is nuclear, but traditional nuclear reactors produce irradiated waste that lasts 10,000 years. Controlled thermonuclear fusion is the true future of nuclear power:
Fission vs. Fusion
“When all 192 beams are operational in 2009, NIF will direct nearly two million joules of ultraviolet laser energy in billionth-of-a-second pulses to the target chamber center. When all that energy slams into millimeter-sized targets, it can generate unprecedented temperatures and pressures in the target materials – temperatures of more than 100 million degrees and pressures more than 100 billion times Earth’s atmosphere.”
Credit for this STORMBRINGER post goes to guerrillas "Rider of Rohan" and "VA Shepherd" - Sean Linnane
.
The Soviet Union is gone, thanks in part to the threat of "Star Wars" weaponry. Now a new threat emerges; rogue nuclear states such as North Korea and Iran seek to develop their own nuclear arsenals, and Pakistan - an unreliable ally - already possesses such rocketry.
Thanks to the inspired vision of a B-grade Hollywood actor, just in the nick of time Star Wars arrives . . .
"Laser weapon knocks down test missile off California coast"
THANK YOU, RONALD REAGAN!
This image provided by the U.S. Department of Defense shows an infrared image of the Missile Defense Agency’s Airborne Laser Testbed, right point, destroying a target missile, left point, on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010.
Meanwhile, in other laser news . . .
Ray Guns Real: Army Betting Big on Laser Weapons
Fox News January 21, 2010
Boeing is developing a mobile laser weapon for the U.S. Army. Mounted in an Osh Kosh armored vehicle, the weapon will will enable the military to fight at the speed of light.
Watch Laser Weaponry at work!!!
How Military Lasers Work
Illustration of a free electron laser. A beam of electrons is sent through an undulator -- an array of magnets with alternating north and south poles. The magnetic field in the undulator forces each bunch of electrons to oscillate back and forth, causing them to emit a laser-like beam of light.
"We have 3 missions: We're going to harness that energy and use it for the benefit of our national security, for enabling clean energy here on earth, and for advancing frontier science."
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's “Sun on Earth” opens for business . . .
NIF Laser “Sun on Earth” Opens for Business with the Hope of Humanity
So-called "green energy alternatives" are politician's pipe dreams; solar, wind, wave, geo-thermal, conservation and recycling simply cannot produce the amount of energy our society requires. The future is nuclear, but traditional nuclear reactors produce irradiated waste that lasts 10,000 years. Controlled thermonuclear fusion is the true future of nuclear power:
Fission vs. Fusion
“When all 192 beams are operational in 2009, NIF will direct nearly two million joules of ultraviolet laser energy in billionth-of-a-second pulses to the target chamber center. When all that energy slams into millimeter-sized targets, it can generate unprecedented temperatures and pressures in the target materials – temperatures of more than 100 million degrees and pressures more than 100 billion times Earth’s atmosphere.”
Credit for this STORMBRINGER post goes to guerrillas "Rider of Rohan" and "VA Shepherd" - Sean Linnane
.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
THIS SHOULD BE INTERESTING
Iran Anniversary 'Punch' Will Stun West: Khamenei
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed Shah on February 11, 1979.
Courses of Action (COAs):
1. Successful Nuclear Detonation. - Unlikely - nations secretly developing nuclear weaponry NEVER announce test detonations in advance. Reason: A) Sheer shock value to adversaries and B) the test might fail, in which case they'd look like failures not only to their enemies but to their own people.
2. Conventional military strike against Israel and / or the United States. - Unlikely - if they were planning some kind of Pearl Harbor, the LAST thing they would do is put us on high alert.
3. Terrorist attack. - Possible - long before al Qaeda emerged, these people institutionalized modern state-sponsored terrorism, wrote the book on tactics, and own & operate a lovely little grass roots operation known as "Hezbollah".
4. WMD terror attack. - Possible - they certainly possess enough enriched nuclear fuel to create a 'dirty bomb'. It doesn't take much more than a highway flare stuck in the middle of a coffee can full of plutonium on a rooftop in Manhatten. The atmospheric conditions might not be optimal, however.
5. Domestic protester crackdown. - Most Likely Course Of Action. Incredibly, the street protesters pose the greatest threat to regime stability, and they are significantly more vulnerable to "Hammer-Down-and-Monkey-Stomp" than any target in Israel or the United States.
Indicators:
1. The Social Headquarters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (a resistance faction inside Iran) has called for an uprising on February 11. Protestors are called to chant the slogans: “Down with dictator,” “Down with Khamenei” and “Death to the principle of vali-e faqih (absolute rule of clergy)”
2. Iran to Suspend Google's Email - the purpose for this step is to clamp down on the Resistance' ability to communicate and spread their message directly to the people.
3. GARBAGE CANS: The Iran regime is replacing plastic bins with metal ones on Keshavarz Blvd before February 11th, to stop protesters from making fires:
I have studied revolutionary politics for more than twenty-five years, as a part of my professional development. Because of the modern phenomena of the electronic information era, we have a ringside seat to a people's uprising entering into the latent and incipient stages of revolution. Contemplating the kind of serious unrest the Iranian clerical regime faces on its domestic front makes their nuclear posturing on the international stage make so much more sense . . .
. . . S.L.
Scenes from a Revolution:
"De Oppresso Liber"
.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
"The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.
The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed Shah on February 11, 1979.
Courses of Action (COAs):
1. Successful Nuclear Detonation. - Unlikely - nations secretly developing nuclear weaponry NEVER announce test detonations in advance. Reason: A) Sheer shock value to adversaries and B) the test might fail, in which case they'd look like failures not only to their enemies but to their own people.
2. Conventional military strike against Israel and / or the United States. - Unlikely - if they were planning some kind of Pearl Harbor, the LAST thing they would do is put us on high alert.
3. Terrorist attack. - Possible - long before al Qaeda emerged, these people institutionalized modern state-sponsored terrorism, wrote the book on tactics, and own & operate a lovely little grass roots operation known as "Hezbollah".
4. WMD terror attack. - Possible - they certainly possess enough enriched nuclear fuel to create a 'dirty bomb'. It doesn't take much more than a highway flare stuck in the middle of a coffee can full of plutonium on a rooftop in Manhatten. The atmospheric conditions might not be optimal, however.
5. Domestic protester crackdown. - Most Likely Course Of Action. Incredibly, the street protesters pose the greatest threat to regime stability, and they are significantly more vulnerable to "Hammer-Down-and-Monkey-Stomp" than any target in Israel or the United States.
Indicators:
1. The Social Headquarters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (a resistance faction inside Iran) has called for an uprising on February 11. Protestors are called to chant the slogans: “Down with dictator,” “Down with Khamenei” and “Death to the principle of vali-e faqih (absolute rule of clergy)”
2. Iran to Suspend Google's Email - the purpose for this step is to clamp down on the Resistance' ability to communicate and spread their message directly to the people.
3. GARBAGE CANS: The Iran regime is replacing plastic bins with metal ones on Keshavarz Blvd before February 11th, to stop protesters from making fires:
I have studied revolutionary politics for more than twenty-five years, as a part of my professional development. Because of the modern phenomena of the electronic information era, we have a ringside seat to a people's uprising entering into the latent and incipient stages of revolution. Contemplating the kind of serious unrest the Iranian clerical regime faces on its domestic front makes their nuclear posturing on the international stage make so much more sense . . .
. . . S.L.
Scenes from a Revolution:
"De Oppresso Liber"
.
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