December 28, 2010
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Two years after war, Gaza border tensions flare - Adel Zaanoun – www.news.yahoo.com
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Monday marked two years since Israel's devastating invasion of the coastal enclave at a time of renewed high tensions with the Jewish state.
In Jabaliya, just north of Gaza City, about 1,000 people attended a rally organized by the Islamic Jihad movement to commemorate the start of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, chanting for "resistance" against Israel.
The Islamist Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip put on a musical and theatrical performance at Gaza City's main cultural centre.
"There were 366 sons of the police and security services martyred in the conflict," said Hamas interior ministry spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein, adding 70 percent of police stations destroyed in the conflict had been rebuilt.
Gaza's police chief laid a flower wreath at the police headquarters where Israeli strikes killed at least 230 people, most of them police officers, on the first day of the offensive.
Hamas said it would also plant 1,440 seedlings in northern Gaza, one for every Palestinian the group said was killed during the 22-day invasion Israel launched on December 27, 2008.
The anniversary comes after weeks of mortar shell and rocket fire from Gaza, retaliatory Israeli air strikes, and ramped up rhetoric from both sides.
On Sunday, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, one of the militant groups operating in Gaza, said it was prepared for a new war with Israel.
"The occupation will pay the price if they even think of carrying out an escalation in the Gaza Strip," Abu Ahmed told mourners at the funerals of two Islamic Jihad members killed Sunday in a exchange of fire with Israeli troops.
A day earlier, members of Hamas's military wing held a news conference and also announced their readiness for war.
"There is a truce in effect in the field... But if there is any Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip we will respond strongly," said a masked spokesman who identified himself as Abu Obeideh.
Israel has warned rocket fire will not be tolerated, after at least 23 mortar rounds and six rockets were fired from Gaza since December 19, including one that struck a kibbutz, landing near a kindergarten and wounding a teenage girl.
On Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Hamas "not to let the situation around the Strip deteriorate."
"In the last two and a half weeks alone, we have killed nine or 10 terrorists," he said while touring a military industry factory in Haifa.
"Due to our effectiveness, they react. So what we are seeing now is an escalation that is the fruits of the operational success of the army, which we intend to continue."
Israeli army chief, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi said his troops were ready for a new confrontation if it became necessary.
"Two years after Operation Cast Lead the situation in the Gaza Strip is different and calmer," he said at a meeting with his Italian counterpart in Tel Aviv.
"Yet, sadly, from time to time, rockets and mortar shells are fired at the Israeli home front. We will not accept this," he added.
"We hope that the security situation in the south does not deteriorate, however the IDF (army) is preparing for any scenario."
Despite the rhetoric, analysts said Gaza's rulers and Israel had no real desire for a new conflict.
Hamas "does not want a confrontation at this stage. It is doing everything to prevent the situation from degenerating," Amos Gilad, a senior defense ministry official, said on Israeli television.
He said Hamas wanted "to maintain the ceasefire so as to be better prepared for any Israeli offensive."
Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a professor of political science at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, said he believed neither side was angling for war.
"I think what is happening is psychological warfare and threats designed to reinforce the truce and force Hamas to stop the rocket attacks from Gaza," he told AFP.
"Hamas wants to send Israel a message by ignoring the rocket and missile fire from Gaza that it is able to retaliate against Israel if it chooses, but at the same time, it does want calm on the ground and is committed to it."
Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in response to hundreds of rockets fired into the Jewish state.
The war, which ended in a ceasefire on January 18, 2009, killed 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.
IDF: We’ll be ready if Gaza tensions escalate – www.jpost.com
IDF chief-of-staff meets with Italian counterpart in Tel Aviv; says IDF is "preparing for any scenario" in the Strip.
Israel “will not accept” rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip and is ready in the event that tensions further escalate in the area, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen.Gabi Ashkenazi said on Monday.
Ashkenazi’s comments came during a meeting with Italian Chief of Defense Gen. Vincenzio Camporini at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.
“Two years after Operation Cast Lead, the situation in the Gaza Strip is different and calmer. Yet, sadly, from time to time, rockets and mortar shells are fired at the Israeli home front,” Ashkenazi said.
“The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip. We hope that the security situation in the south does not deteriorate, however the IDF is preparing for any scenario,” he said.
Ashkenazi commented on the close ties between the Italian and Israeli militaries as well, saying that “relations between the IDF and the Italian military are very important and are based on mutual values and interests. Italy is a great friend of Israel and is one of the most involved forces in the region. It contributes great numbers of forces to UNIFIL and in Afghanistan, and in the war on terror.”
Camporini called the meeting “a great opportunity to further strengthen the excellent relations between the two militaries, as manifested in mutual training and technology. Italy is present in the Middle East and is dealing with the important issue of stability in the region.”
Camporini added that he had recently returned from a visit to his forces in Lebanon and said he could clearly see the influence of the international forces on the region.
He noted that his visit to Israel is one of several mutual visits demonstrating the good relations between the two militaries and commanders.
IAF commander: We are prepared to counter all threats – Yaakov Katz – www.jpost.com
Nehushtan says 2011 is a "critical year" for stopping Iran's nuclear program; "We are always tracking what is happening around us so we can be ready"; comments follow weekly training flight in South.
The Israeli Air Force is prepared to counter all of the threats and challenges that Israel currently faces including those from Iran, Israeli Air Force commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan said on Tuesday amid predictions that 2011 is a “critical year” for stopping the Islamic Republic’s race to develop a nuclear weapon.
“The IAF has an important job to be prepared for anything it might be required to do,” Nehushtan told reporters during a briefing at the Ramon Air Force Base in the South. “We are always tracking what is happening around us so we can be ready.”
Nehushtan was at Ramon for his weekly training flight like all IAF pilots in active service and the reserves who are required to fly at least once a week. His flight on Tuesday was in a F-16I – called “Sufa” (Storm) in the IAF – which he flew in a dogfight training scenario against another aircraft.
The IAF’s greatest challenge, he said, was the military buildup on all of Israel’s different fronts – by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hizbullah in Lebanon and in Syria and Iran.
“We prepare for the different scenarios on a daily basis by analyzing the different fronts and thinking what the IAF can do to counter each one,” he said.
Asked about the recent announcement that the United States was selling $60 billion worth of military systems including over 80 F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia and its effect on Israel, Nehushtan said that the IDF’s job was to ensure that it retained a qualitative military edge in the region. In October, Israel signed a $2.75 billion deal to purchase 20 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet.
“A guiding principle for the IAF has been to ensure that we have a qualitative edge,” he said. “To do this, we rely on our people who provide us with that edge as well as ensuring that we receive the most advanced planes and systems that exist.”
Nehushtan referred to Hamas and Hizbullah’s military buildup and the possibility that in a future, war missiles will land in IAF bases throughout the country.
“There have been developments in the amount of missiles and rockets that are in our enemies’ hands,” he said. “We assume that in the future, IAF bases will be a target. We are aware of this and are preparing accordingly.”
At the Hatzor IAF base, for example, airmen have carried out 25 drills since the beginning of the year, compared to just 12 last year. The drills vary and include scenarios that involve missile attacks on the base’s runway, living quarters and plane storage facilities.
During Operation Cast Lead last year, a number of rockets were fired in the direction of Hatzor, which is located near Gedera, as well as at Hatzerim, near Beersheba. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hizbullah also tried to target the Ramat David base in the north.
Palestinians: Obama no longer backs Palestinian state within 1967 borders – www.debka.com
Palestinian leaders in Ramallah, including Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad, are sunk in gloom over what they perceive as US President Barak Obama repudiation of his promises to them and greater sympathy for the Netanyahu government's side of the Middle East dispute. They also see a spreading push in Europe, the Arab countries and Moscow for them to bite the bullet and reconcile themselves to partial or interim accords, since no feasible solutions are visible on the outstanding core issues of borders, refugees and Jerusalem.
debkafile reports Palestinian dignitaries as going around Washington and the Middle East complaining that the Obama administration has gone back on promises on four issues:
1. It declines to endorse former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's 2007 pledge that borders of a future Palestinian state would be "very close to the 1967 boundaries." US officials have given them to understand at meetings in Washington and Ramallah that their claims on the West Bank must be moderated.
2. The Palestinians say Washington is now reneging on the promises given in late 2009 and early 2010 by Gen. Jim Jones, then National Security Adviser at the White House, for US forces or a combined US-NATO force to be posted on Palestinian borders with Israel and Jordan and other strategic areas after statehood is attained. However, on Dec. 15, when the subject came up in their talks with George Mitchell, the special US Middle East envoy, it Ramallah, this promise appeared to have evaporated. The US view now is that mounting regional dangers make it mandatory for Israeli military elements to be incorporated in the international force. In other words, the IDF would retain a presence in the Palestinian state.
This development drew forth Abbas' unequivocal statement in Bethlehem Saturday, Dec. 25: "There will be no Israeli presence in the Palestinian state."
3. Washington is leaning heavily on the Palestinian Authority to stop lobbying Latin American capitals for recognition of a unilateral Palestinian state. Uruguay Saturday joined Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay with such declarations. The Palestinians are being advised not to submit any unilateral resolutions to the UN Security Council because they would not be passed.
4. The Palestinians accuse the US government of caving in to Israel on the matter of a settlement construction freeze. Building is proceeding undisturbed at a rapid tempo, they say.
The Palestinian beef is not only with the Americans. In recent weeks, Saudi voices, having criticized the Abbas-Fayyad tactics on peace diplomacy with Israel as inept, have advised them to go for an interim deal as their only realistic option. Moscow too has joined the chorus jarring on Palestinian ears in Ramallah since the senior Russian emissary and lawmaker and close associate of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Margelov held talks with Israeli political and military officials in Tel Aviv last week.
Following those interviews, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman once again declared that the only possible and desirable deal with the Palestinians as things stand to day was an interim accord. He was addressing Israeli envoys from around the world gathered in Jerusalem Sunday, Dec. 26, for a three-day briefing and airing of ideas.
debkafile's sources report the Palestinians believe the tide turned against them in US thinking 10 days earlier on Dec. 15-16 when two senior White House advisers and David Haie arrived for visits to the region.
Most of the Israeli media are still highlighting a comment by Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer Sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday. He said he wouldn't be surprised if the United States recognized a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders before the end of the coming year.
According to our sources, Ben Eliezer is not clued in on the state of Palestinian - or even Israeli - relations with Washington.
US trying to force Israel to give up Golan Heights – Aaron Klein – www.wnd.com
TEL AVIV – The Obama administration is pressing Israel to enter into negotiations with Syria aimed at compelling an Israeli retreat from the strategic Golan Heights, WND has learned.
Syria is in a military alliance with Iran. The country twice used the Golan, which looks down on Israeli population centers, to mount grounds invasions into the Jewish state.
Informed Middle East security officials tell WND that Dennis Ross, an envoy for the White House in the Middle East, visited both Israel and Syria last week to discuss specifics of a deal in which Syria would eventually take most of the Golan.
According to the security officials, Ross is slated to become Obama's main envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian affairs issue, with the current envoy, George Mitchell, expected to step down.
With Israel, Ross discussed specifics of a deal with Syria, including which territory Israel would be expected to evacuate in both the Golan and the Jordan Valley, the security officials said.
The officials said that Ross told Syria it needs to scale back its relationship with Iran and stop facilitating the re-armament of Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah reportedly now has over 10,000 missiles and rockets, including a large number that can reach Tel Aviv and beyond.
During the 2008 Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah's rocket attacks against the Israeli north in 2006 killed 43 Israeli civilians and wounded more than 4,000.
The Middle Eastern security officials, meanwhile, told WND there were some signs U.S.-led economic sanctions against Iran are having an effect on the regime in Tehran. The officials said that in recent months, Iran decreased its funding to Hezbollah as well as to the Palestinian terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Jewish Golan
News media accounts routinely billed the Golan as "undisputed Syrian territory" until Israel "captured the region" in 1967. The Golan, however, has been out of Damascus' control for far longer than the 19 years it was within its rule, from 1948 to 1967.
Even when Syria shortly held the Golan, some of it was stolen from Jews. Tens of thousands of acres of farmland on the Golan were purchased by Jews as far back as the late 19th century. The Turks of the Ottoman Empire kicked out some Jews around the turn of the century.
But some of the Golan was still farmed by Jews until 1947, when Syria first became an independent state. Just before that, the territory was transferred back and forth between France, Britain and even Turkey, before it became a part of the French Mandate of Syria.
When the French Mandate ended in 1944, the Golan Heights became part of the newly independent state of Syria, which quickly seized land that was being worked by the Palestine Colonization Association and the Jewish Colonization Association. A year later, in 1948, Syria, along with other Arab countries, used the Golan to attack Israel in a war to destroy the newly formed Jewish state.
The Golan, steeped in Jewish history, is connected to the Torah and to the periods of the First and Second Jewish Temples. The Golan Heights was referred to in the Torah as "Bashan." The word "Golan" apparently was derived from the biblical city of "Golan in Bashan."
The book of Joshua relates how the Golan was assigned to the tribe of Manasseh. Later, during the time of the First Temple, King Solomon appointed three ministers in the region, and the area became contested between the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and the Aramean kingdom based in Damascus.
The book of Kings relates how King Ahab of Israel defeated Ben-Hadad I of Damascus near the present-day site of Kibbutz Afik in the southern Golan, and the prophet Elisha foretold that King Jehoash of Israel would defeat Ben-Hadad III of Damascus, also near Kibbutz Afik.
The online Jewish Virtual Library has an account of how in the late 6th and 5th centuries B.C., the Golan was settled by Jewish exiles returning from Babylonia, or modern day Iraq. In the mid–2nd century B.C., Judah Maccabee's grandnephew, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannai, added the Golan Heights to his kingdom.
The Golan hosted some of the most important houses of Torah study in the years following the Second Temple's destruction and subsequent Jewish exile; some of Judaism's most revered ancient rabbis are buried in the territory. The remains of some 25 synagogues from the period between the Jewish revolt and the Islamic conquest in 636 have been excavated. The Golan is also dotted with ancient Jewish villages.
Arab League chief: Palestine and peace process are top priority in 2011 – www.haaretz.com
Amr Moussa blames breakdown of Mideast peace talks on Israeli 'unilateralism'; Arab League plans to hold summit on topic of Jerusalem in Qatar in February.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said on Monday that, among the organization's top priorities in 2011, is the issue of Middle East peace and Palestine.
"The Palestinian issue and the peace process are a priority," said Moussa at a press conference in Cairo, where the 22-member Arab League is based.
The Arab League is gearing for a summit on the topic of Jerusalem to be held in Qatar in early February.
Speaking on the two-year anniversary of "Operation Cast Lead," Israel's three-week long offensive against the Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip, Moussa said that the Palestinian people "are steadfast and patient, but suffer a lot because of the occupation and repressive actions."
"I visited Gaza and saw the situation for myself. It was a painful thing to see," said Moussa, who reiterated the Arab League's position that Israel end its blockade on the Gaza Strip.
He said the peace process has lost momentum because of Israel's "unilateralism" and the continuation of settlement construction in the West Bank, a swathe of land to be at the cornerstone of any future independent Palestinian state.
"Negotiating under settlement expansion is a great deception, and how do we negotiate on land being eroded?" asked Moussa.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, earlier this year, sought the backing of the Arab League for a number of alternative measures to direct peace talks, including referring the issue to the United Nations Security Council.
Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority took place in September but stalled when Israel's 10-month freeze on West Bank settlement construction expired.
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South Korea predicts North Korea will ramp up attacks in 2011 - Donald Kirk – www.news.yahoo.com
Seoul, South Korea – South Korean intelligence analysts predict North Korean commanders will raise the tempo of shock strikes in the new year to enhance the image of leader Kim Jong-il’s son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-un, and prove their loyalty to the Kim dynasty.
A leading South Korean think tank affiliated with the South’s National Intelligence Service came out with that forecast this weekend – along with the prediction that Kim Jong-un, in his late 20s, would become vice chairman of the North’s powerful National Defense Commission. His father rules as commission chairman in addition to his post as general secretary of the Workers’ Party.
The Institute for National Security Strategy, an offshoot of the National Intelligence Service, warned of increasing “unexpected moves” as the North’s huge military machine of 1.1 million troops “scrambles to display its loyalty” to Kim Jong-un.
The institute says North Korea may strike anywhere, by surprise, from the Yellow Sea to outposts along the 160-mile-long demilitarized zone that has divided the two Koreas since the signing of the Korean War truce in July 1953.
The goal, says the report, will be “to increase special forces and develop strategies for dominance in limited conflicts.”
2010 attacks probably tied to upcoming successionAnalysts have often expressed the view that the need to promote Kim Jong-un as a strong military leader had much to do with the torpedoing in March of a South Korean navy vessel, the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, and the Nov. 23 bombardment of a remote island in which two marines and two civilians died.
Kim Jong-un, with no military background, was given the rank of a four-star general in late September and made his public debut in Pyongyang at a massive parade on Oct. 10 that marked the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party.
More attacks or more nuclear testing?The assessment of the intelligence think tank differs markedly from one issued earlier by the Institute for Foreign Affairs and National Security, affiliated with the foreign ministry.
The diplomatic think tank agrees that the need to promote Kim Jong-un lies behind the rising confrontation, but predicts the North will focus on staging a third nuclear test while holding off on attacks against South Korean targets.
North Korean attack on South Korea: 8 provocations of the past decade
Whatever the forecast, each reveals the nervousness here about North Korea’s strategy and tactics.
“Military provocations and nuclear tests are all options on the table,” says Choi Jin-wook, senior North Korea analyst at the Korea Institute of National Unification, which is affiliated with the unification ministry. “They want to increase tensions.”
The succession of Kim Jong-un to power, Mr. Choi adds, is “one of the major reasons they have a hard-line policy.”
South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak and his newly appointed defense minister, Kim Kwan-jin, have vowed a strong response to future North Korean attacks, but clearly no one has any real idea where or when the North will strike next.
North Korean attack on South Korea: 8 provocations of the past decade
South Korea's show of strength
South Korean infantry, armored artillery, and air forces staged a massive exercise last Thursday about 20 miles of the demilitarized zone, and South Korean naval vessels this week are again playing war games off the coast but far from North Korean waters.
Such large-scale exercises have become far more frequent in recent months than in the past few years – though they are not likely to be within range of the type of North Korean artillery that bombarded Yeonpyong Island in the Yellow Sea on Nov. 23. An exception was a brief artillery exercise one week ago on the island – a show of force intended to prove that South Korea was not intimidated by the attack.
North Korean restraint – for now North Korea did not respond to that drill, but North Korean soldiers bragged on television in Pyongyang of their success in last month’s bombardment. As one soldier, Kim Moon-chol, put it, “Our eyes were full of fire right after we saw the enemy's shells being fired into our sacred waters.”
North Korea contends that it opened the barrage after South Korean shells landed in North Korean waters.
North Korea has long challenged South Korean control over the Northern Limit Line, set three years after the Korean War and disputed in several bloody flare-ups in recent years.
North Korea continues to deny anything to do with the sinking of the Cheonan but has no compunctions about publicizing the Yellow Sea barrage.
“At the order of ‘fire,’” said Kim Moon-chol, “we poured our merciless thunderbolt of fire at the enemy.”
China has carrier-killer missile, U.S. admiral says – Bill Gertz – www.washingtontimes.com
China's military is deploying a new anti-ship ballistic missile that can sink U.S. aircraft carriers, a weapon that specialists say gives Beijing new power-projection capabilities that will affect U.S. support for its Pacific allies.
Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, disclosed to a Japanese newspaper on Sunday that the new anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is now in the early stages of deployment after having undergone extensive testing.
"An analogy using a Western term would be 'initial operational capability (IOC),' whereby I think China would perceive that it has an operational capability now, but they continue to develop it," Adm. Willard told the Asahi Shimbun. "I would gauge it as about the equivalent of a U.S. system that has achieved IOC."
The four-star admiral, who has been an outspoken skeptic of China's claims that its large-scale military buildup is peaceful, said the U.S. deployment assessment is based on China's press reports and continued testing.
The new weapon, the "D" version of China's DF-21 medium-range missile, involves firing the mobile missile into space, returning it into the atmosphere and then maneuvering it to its target
Military officials consider using ballistic missiles against ships at sea to be a difficult task that requires a variety of air, sea and space sensors, navigation systems and precision guidance technology - capabilities not typical of other Chinese missiles.
Asked about the integrated system, Adm. Willard said that "to have something that would be regarded as in its early operational stage would require that system be able to accomplish its flight pattern as designed, by and large."
The admiral said that while the U.S. thinks "that the component parts of the anti-ship ballistic missile have been developed and tested," China's testing has not gone as far as a live-fire test attack on an actual ship.
"We have not seen an over-water test of the entire system," he said.
Adm. Willard said he did not view the new missile as a greater threat to U.S. and allied forces than China's submarine forces, which also have been expanded greatly in the past decade.
"Anti-access/area denial, which is a term that was relatively recently coined, is attempting to represent an entire range of capabilities that China has developed and that other countries have developed," he said.
"It´s not exclusively China that has what is now being referred to as A2/AD capability. But in China´s case, it´s a combination of integrated air-defense systems; advanced naval systems, such as the submarine; advanced ballistic-missile systems, such as the anti-ship ballistic missile, as well as power-projection systems into the region," he said.
The new weapons can threaten "archipelagos" in Asia, such as Japan and Philippines, as well as Vietnam and other states that "are falling within the envelope of this, of an A2/AD capability of China," Adm. Willard said.
"That should be concerning - and we know is concerning - to those countries," he said.
Adm. Willard said the new weapons are "an expanded capability that ranges beyond the first island chain and overlaps countries in the region."
"For that reason, it is concerning to Southeast Asia, [and] it remains concerning to the United States."
Andrew S. Erickson, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, said the admiral's comments on the missile deployment confirm earlier reports that the Chinese are moving ahead with the DF-21D missile.
"China must have conducted a rigorous program of tests, most likely including flight tests, to demonstrate that the DF-21D [missile] is mature enough for initial production, deployment and employment," Mr. Erickson said in an e-mail.
Mr. Erickson estimates that at least one unit of China's Second Artillery Corps, as its missile forces are called, must be equipped with the road-mobile system.
"While doubtless an area of continuous challenge and improvement, the DF-21D´s command, control, communications, computers, information, surveillance, and reconnaissance infrastructure must be sufficient to support attempts at basic carrier strike group targeting," he said.
Mr. Erickson said, based on Chinese missile-deployment patterns, that the new missile system likely will be fielded in "waves" at different units to meet deterrence objectives.
Military specialists have said the DF-21D deployment is a potent new threat because it will force U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups to operate farther from hot spots in the western Pacific.
Currently, U.S. military strategy calls for the Pentagon to send several strike groups to waters near Taiwan in the event China follows through on threats to use force to retake the island. The lone U.S. aircraft carrier strike group based permanently in the region is the USS George Washington, whose home port is in Yokosuka, Japan. A second carrier is planned for Hawaii or Guam.
Carrier forces also provide air power in the event of a new war in Korea and are used to assure freedom of navigation, a growing problem as the result of recent Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Yellow Sea.
Adm. Willard did not discuss what U.S. countermeasures the Navy has taken against the new anti-ship missile. U.S. naval task forces include ships equipped with the Aegis system designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Wallace "Chip" Gregson, assistant defense secretary for Asian and Pacific security affairs, said in a speech earlier this month that China's new anti-access and area-denial weapons, including the DF-21D, "threaten our primary means of projecting power: our bases, our sea and air assets, and the networks that support them."
He warned that China's military buildup could "upend the regional security balance."
Richard Fisher, a China military-affairs specialist, said the new ASBM is only one part of a series of new Chinese weapons that threaten the region.
"When we add the ASBM to the PLA's [People's Liberation Army's] growing anti-satellite capabilities, growing numbers of submarines, and quite soon, its fifth-generation fighter, we are seeing the erection of a new Chinese wall in the western Pacific, for which the Obama administration has offered almost nothing in defensive response," Mr. Fisher said.
"Clearly, China's communist leadership is not impressed by the administration's ending of F-22 production, its retirement of the Navy's nuclear cruise missile, START Treaty reductions in U.S. missile warheads, and its refusal to consider U.S. space warfare capabilities. Such weakness is the surest way to invite military adventurism from China," he added.
Mr. Fisher said the Pentagon should mount a crash program to develop high-technology energy weapons, like rail guns and lasers in response to the new ASBMs.
Mark Stokes, a retired Air Force officer who has written extensively on the new missile, said the new deployment is a concern.
"China's ability to place at risk U.S. and other nations' maritime surface assets operating in the western Pacific and South China Sea is growing and closer to becoming a reality than many may think," Mr. Stokes said.
The wars of 2011 - By Caroline B. Glick
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | On Sunday thousands of Israel haters gathered in Istanbul to welcome the Turkish-Hamas terror ship Mavi Marmara to the harbor. Festooned with Palestinian flags, the crowd chanted "Death to Israel," "Down with Israel" and "Allah akbar" with Hizbullah-like enthusiasm.
The Turkish protesters promised to stand on the side of Hamas when it next goes to war with Israel. They may not have to wait long to keep their promise. Over the past two weeks Hamas has steeply escalated its missile war with over 30 launches. Last week, a missile that narrowly missed a nursery school wounded a young girl.
Since Operation Cast Lead two years ago, Iran has helped Hamas massively increase its missile and other military capabilities. Today the terror group that rules Gaza has missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv. It has advanced antitank missiles. As Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said Saturday, "We are now stronger than before and during the war, and our silence over the past two years was only for evaluating the situation."
That evaluation has not tempered Hamas' aim of annihilating the Jews of Israel. As Obeida's colleague Ahmed Jaabari said Saturday, Israel's Jews have two choices, "death or departing Palestinian lands."
IDF commanders are taking Hamas's new brinksmanship seriously. In recent days several have said that Israel's deterrence has eroded. Another Cast Lead is just a matter of time, they warn.
In the meantime, Fatah — Hamas's sometime rival and sometime brother — is preparing its next round of political warfare with its many friends around the world. Despite some recent tactical repositioning, its goal is clearly to proceed with its plan to declare statehood with maximum international support within the next nine to 12 months.
To this end, Fatah and its allies are operating on multiple fronts. On November 24 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to hold a Durban III conference on September 21. The first conference, held in Durban, South Africa in September 2001, is mainly remembered as a diplomatic pogrom against Israel and Jews which complemented the shooting war in Israel.
As Jews were being butchered in pizzerias in Jerusalem, Jew-haters gathered to deny that Jews have human rights. They used the UN's anti-racism banner to assert that it is not racist to kill and incite the murder of Jews. Jews were singled out and condemned as the only nation in the world whose national liberation movement — Zionism — is racist.
BUT EVEN more important than its service in glorifying suicide bombers and their political commissars just three days before the September 11 jihadist assault on the US, the Durban conference was the place where the blueprint for the political war against Israel was authored. At the NGO conference which took place as an adjunct to the governmental conference, self-proclaimed "human rights" groups from around the world agreed that their job was to criminalize the Jewish state to isolate it politically, diplomatically and economically. As key organizers put it, the "activists'" job was to conduct a nonviolent jihad to complement the work of the "resistance fighters" massacring children and parents in Israel.
The Durban II conference last year in Geneva was supposed to reinvigorate the political war that was launched in 2001. But it was a bust. The only head of state to address the proceedings was Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He used the occasion to again call for the eradication of the Jewish state.
To prevent another flop, last month the Palestinians and their supporters agreed that the 10th anniversary conference will be held in New York during the opening of UN General Assembly. Their goal is to piggyback on that conference to get heads of state that are in New York already to join in their anti-Israel political war.
And they have every reason for optimism. Although Canada and Israel have announced their plans to boycott the conference, the Obama administration has been noticeably unwilling to distance itself from it.
Given the swank locale of Durban III, the Palestinians and their friends trust they will enjoy a reprise of the virulently anti-Jewish NGO conference of a decade ago. The resolution clearly advocates such an outcome in its call for "civil society, including NGOs to organize and support" the conference "with high visibility."
For Fatah leaders like the Palestinian Authority's unelected president Mahmoud Abbas and its unelected prime minister Salam Fayyad, the Durban III conference will be the culmination of their current campaign to delegitimize Israel.
Last week the PA announced it will ask the UN Security Council to pass an anti- Semitic resolution defining Jewish building in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem as illegal. This move dovetails nicely with Abbas's statement over the weekend that "Palestine" will be Jew-free. As he put it, "If there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, we won't agree to the presence of one Israeli in it. When a Palestinian state is established, it would have no Israeli presence."
To date neither of these racist bids to deny Jews basic rights to their homes and land just because they are Jews has been opposed by any government or human rights group. And if the Obama administration allows the PA's anti-Semitic resolution to go forward in the Security Council, the move would be a massive victory for the political war against Israel.
That war has already won some other significant victories of late. The decision by five South American governments to recognize "Palestine" along the 1949 armistice lines, like the decision by a number of European states — following the US — to upgrade the PLO's diplomatic status are tactical gains.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signaled this month that the Obama administration is wholly on board Fatah's political warfare bandwagon. In her speech at the Brookings Institute on December 10, she said the Obama administration supports Fatah's plan to build facts on the ground that will make it more difficult for Israel to maintain its control over Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
After calling Jewish presence in the areas "illegitimate," Clinton pledged the US "will deepen our support of the Palestinians' state-building efforts."
Among other things, she pledged to continue training and deploying a Palestinian army in Judea and Samaria and pressuring Israel to withdraw the IDF from the areas.
As she put it, "As the Palestinian security forces continue to become more professional and capable, we look to Israel to facilitate their efforts. And we hope to see a significant curtailment of incursions by Israeli troops into Palestinian areas."
These then are the contours of the Palestinians' war plans for 2011. Hamas will launch an illegal missile war to provoke an IDF campaign in Gaza. Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Turkey, the UN and a vast array of NGOs and leftist governments from Norway to Brazil will support its illegal war.
Fatah will escalate its political war. Its campaign will be supported by the US, the EU, the UN and a vast array of NGOs and leftist governments.
The purpose of these two campaigns — which complement one another and which will likely culminate at the UN in September — is to weaken Israel militarily and politically with the shared purpose of destroying it in the fullness of time.
SO WHAT must Israel do? In the first instance, it must decide that its goal is not merely to weather this storm, but to win both of these wars.
In recent days we have been witness to a mildly entertaining fight between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and former prime minister Ehud Olmert. Olmert accused Barak of purposely failing to defeat Hamas during Operation Cast Lead. Barak, Olmert alleged, "did everything he could to defend Hamas and to prevent its downfall in the Gaza Strip."
Barak responded to Olmert's broadside by accusing the leader who failed to defeat Hizbullah in the 2006 war of "phony Churcillianism."
Ironically, of course, both are right. Both of them led Israel in war with extreme incompetence. Both refused to put together strategies for victory.
Now as the country contemplates a reprise of Cast Lead, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must ensure that when the IDF acts, it acts decisively and emerges victorious. If this means firing Barak, then he must be fired.
The same is true in the political realm. The Palestinian offensive must be met by a counteroffensive that is informed by a strategy for victory. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman demonstrated the starting point on Sunday when he told Israel's ambassadors that peace with the Palestinians is impossible. But this is not enough.
Any strategy for victory in political warfare must begin with a clear recognition of reality. Peace is impossible because like Hamas, Fatah is the enemy. Its leaders and rank and file reject our right to exist. They are building a state that will be at war with us. They are avidly working to delegitimize us with the intention of destroying us together with their brothers in Hamas — whom they finance with US and other foreign aid.
A political war against Fatah would involve actively discrediting its members and leaders. Today Fatah is running a campaign libeling IDF soldiers and commanders as war criminals. Israel must file valid war crimes complaints against Fatah terrorists and political leaders in the international and foreign judicial bodies.
Fatah uses the UN to delegitimize us. Our delegations at all UN bodies must daily submit resolutions calling for the condemnation of the Palestinians for their efforts to criminalize us and carry out war crimes against us.
Israel must also rally its allies to its side. We must ask our friends in the US Congress to defund the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA. The PA is a terroristic and criminal syndicate that uses US taxpayer dollars to finance terrorism and pad the pockets of terror masters and apparachiks. UNRWA, which is supposed to be a welfare organization, openly acknowledges that it employs terrorists, allows its schools and camps to be used as jihad indoctrination centers, training camps and missile launching pads. The Congressional Research Service has stated that it is impossible to claim that US funds to UNRWA do not at least indirectly finance terror groups.
At home the government must stop all tax transfers to the PA. It must prohibit the deployment of the US-trained Palestinian army in Judea and Samaria. It must rebuff US pressure to curtail IDF counterterror operations in Judea and Samaria.
The government must outlaw all organizations assisting the Palestinians in their military and political warfare operations. It should support class action lawsuits against the PA by terror victims in local courts. It should withhold diplomatic visas to representatives of countries like Britain where Israeli politicians and military personnel are barred from travelling due to Palestinian lawfare operations.
The government should implement Netanyahu's open airwaves plan and encourage the launch of a private all news network along the Fox News model.
The Palestinians clearly see the coming year as a decisive year in their war to destroy Israel. The Netanyahu government needs to muster its forces to battle. These are battles we can win. But to do so, we must commit ourselves to victory.
All the Power We Need – Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
— 2 Peter 1:3
Human history has been all about power: using it, and sometimes exploiting it. First there was manpower. Then there was steam power. Now we have nuclear power. But what we seem to lack is willpower. Human beings are able to harness the powers of the universe, but we can't seem to control ourselves.
But the good news is that we serve a mighty God who will give us all the power we need to live the Christian life. Some people may say it is kind of difficult to be a Christian. But I would disagree. I don't think it is difficult to be a Christian; I think it is impossible—without the help and the power of the Holy Spirit, that is.
It has been said that conversion has made our hearts a battlefield. The moment we put our faith in Jesus, we enter into a spiritual battle. We have an adversary, an opponent, an enemy known as the devil. And Ephesians 6:12 tells us, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."
Once a high-ranking angel in heaven, Lucifer, or Satan, rebelled against God. In that rebellion, he took one-third of the angels with him. Those fallen angels are what we know as demons. The purpose of demons seems to be twofold: to hinder the purpose of God and extend the power of Satan.
But we serve a God who has all power. Psalm 62:11 tells us that power belongs to God. And Jesus said He had been given "all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). All the power we need to live the Christian life is available to us through Jesus Christ.
As 2010 comes to a close and you consider your year-end giving plans, can I invite you to include Prophecy Update in those plans? The last few days of the year are a critical time, as we seek to finish the year in the black financially—with all of our ministry expenses from this year met. Your year-end gift, no matter the size, will help to meet this last challenge of 2010.
Prophecy Update like many ministries depends greatly on the support generated from Christmas and year in giving. We are in the process of upgrading much of our media software and hardware to take advantage of and keep up with the latest advances in technology and social media communication. The software and hardware as you know, is not cheap but it is a necessity and a worthwhile investment especially when it involves saving souls and keeping the world informed.
We are continuing to expand the media ministry; all the DVD's have been uploaded to watch for free on YouTube so that no one may be denied access to these life changing movies. In the first month we have had nearly 10,000 views from all over the world!
A few comments left by viewers:
Your work is Amazing, Be blessed and shower blessings to the needy always in this hour obscured by cloud of th Darkside. God Bless you always. Baruch Atah Adonai Elohinu Malech Ha olam. Baruch Atah Adonai Yeshua Ha Mesiach Ben Elohim Elohi Israyil. Amen.
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Thank you for what you are doing. The Bible says, in Hosea 4:6 God says, "my people perish for lack of knowledge" and thanks to your ministry we cannot say we don't know what is going on. Now we do and we will. Bless you for your work in the Lord.
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Your presentations are a great encouragement in these increasingly dark times. I tell people that political solutions are futile, that only those who have given their lives to Jesus can have any hope.
It’s your support that makes all this possible and you will share in the blessings and eternal rewards, thank you all so very much!
If ever there was a time to invest in God’s Kingdom, it’s now!
What on earth are you doing for Heaven’s Sake?
"Share in the Blessings and Rewards that will last Forever!"
“Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!” – Hal Lindsey
1) We need your prayers! – We proclaim the Truth of the Word of God and we are under constant spiritual and sometimes even physical attack.
2) We need your encouragement! - We need to hear from you, let us know how the Lord is blessing you through this ministry so that we can share it with others.
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I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to get the Word out and keep the world informed. Remember, your gift, no matter how small, does make a difference! You will be helping to touch lives, around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, thanks to the internet your generosity carries a global impact! – Thanks!
Our Prayer for You - "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:10-13
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The Rapture - Grant Phillips – www.raptureready.com
I have believed in the rapture of the Church since I was just a child, and still do. I realize that some Christians do not believe that this is an actual event, and that is okay. We are still brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
Maybe one huge reason that others do not believe in the Rapture is because it is such an unusual, one-of-a-kind event. The very thought of millions of people rising from the graves and those alive vanishing in thin air, all in the blink of an eye, is just too awesome to be real. Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened, or ever could, say some. Is that really true? I don’t think it is. Consider the following:
Long before we ever came on the scene, God created angelic beings. From just the little we know about angels, this was some accomplishment.
When God created the world we live in, nothing like this had ever happened before, at least as far as we know. When He created mankind, animal life, plant life, sun, moon, stars, and the galaxies, this had to be one whale of an event. The angels must have been standing around in amazement.
When God covered the entire earth with water and drowned every living being except those protected in the ark, that too was a one-of-a-kind happening. It has never happened since, and it never will happen again since God promised that He would not destroy the earth again with water. The people of Noah’s day did not believe there would be a flood. It had never even rained at that point of time. However, regardless of the impossibility of that ever happening, the flood came just as God told Noah. Every living being on earth drowned, except those God protected in the Ark.
When the Creator God stepped out of Heaven and became man by being born a human baby boy from a virgin girl named Mary, that had never happened before, and will never happen again. To top it off, He accomplished this feat without the natural male/female procreation method He Himself created.
These are just four obvious events that happened in the past, and are either beyond even the scale of an event like the Rapture, or at least equal to it.
In the future, probably the very near future, Jesus Christ will call His bride up to meet Him in the air. Only He knows the number, but they will come from the graves and from the living. All will be given new heavenly bodies within the twinkling of an eye. Here one second, gone the next. Especially considering the events mentioned earlier, does this now seem like such a difficult thing for Him to accomplish? I don’t think it does. To us it sounds impossible, but to God it’s “child’s play” so to speak.
Another reason given for there being no Rapture is that we who believe in the Rapture are just “copping out”. We think we are too good to go through the Tribulation and are not facing reality. I just don’t see it that way. Consider the following:
· Why does Jesus have Paul make it so clear to us in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 that His people will first be removed before He finishes the remaining years (seven) promised to Israel and also judges the earth?
· Why does Jesus tell us in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 that “…God hath not appointed us (the Church) to wrath (Tribulation) but to obtain salvation (Rapture) by our Lord Jesus Christ”?
· Why does Jesus tell us in Revelation 3:10, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee (the Church) from the hour of temptation (Tribulation), which shall come upon all the world, to try them (those without Christ) that dwell upon the earth”?
· When God judged the world by a world-wide flood, He removed His own from harm’s way first. Why are Noah and his family an exact parallel to the Church being removed from harm’s way first, before God judges the world a second time?
· Jesus reveals Himself in Revelation chapter one. In chapters two and three He speaks only to the Church. In chapter four verse one Jesus shows a door open in Heaven, and afterwards He is no longer addressing the Church, but the world that He will soon judge.
· In the last chapter of Revelation and verse seventeen, we see the Church mentioned again as the bride. The Spirit and the bride are inviting those from the Tribulation to come to Jesus Christ for salvation. Therefore, the bride is already in Heaven with the Lord.
· Is it not odd that God’s chosen people Israel did not see the signs in the Scriptures of Jesus coming as a Lamb before He would come as a Lion? As a nation, they missed His prophesied arrival on earth as God’s sacrifice for the redemption of mankind (the Lamb) because they were looking for Him to return and set up His kingdom on earth (as the Lion). Is it possible that many of God’s chosen people of the Church are misunderstanding the difference between the Rapture and the second coming of Jesus (His return as the Lion)? Even so, He will still arrive as prophesied (the Rapture first, then the second coming), just as He did two thousand years ago.
· I too find John 14:1-3 somewhat more difficult to understand. Is He referring to the Rapture or to His second coming? I think the key is in the phrase, “Let not your heart be troubled”. This is merely my opinion, but could He be providing comfort to His own (the Church, represented by the Apostles) by letting them know that He will come for them before He brings judgment upon the world?
· Another thought is that when Jesus’ wrath falls upon this earth, everyone upon the face of the earth will feel it. I simply cannot see Jesus, as our bridegroom, lashing out in wrath on His own bride, the Church. No groom would do that. Any groom would first move his bride out of harm’s way, before exacting justice on his enemies. Jesus said in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it, That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish”.
o Someone may say that the Church is being persecuted today and has been since day one. Therefore, why would the Church be removed to avoid persecution during the Tribulation? What is the difference? The difference is that the persecution of the Church is not coming from Jesus. It is coming from His enemies, Satan, to be specific. Satan administers persecution now, and will do so during the Tribulation. Jesus will administer justice during the Tribulation, but will remove His own before doing so.
o Someone else may say why will Israel go through the seven years of Tribulation, and not the Church, since they too are God’s people? This is a legitimate question. Christ’s true church has never rejected Him. Israel has, and still does. The Church was never promised any given number of years for God’s discipline. Israel has, and there are seven years remaining.
o Also, God works with mankind via dispensations. When the last person is brought into the Church by salvation through Jesus Christ, the Church Age dispensation will end. Jesus will then remove His Church, and the dispensation for Israel will continue where it left off with the remaining seven years that remain in God’s promised 490 years for Israel. Israel has completed 483 years of the 490, but they have seven more years to finish the total of 490 years.
o The Jewish betrothal and marriage experience is an exact parallel of Jesus and His bride, the Church, culminating with the Rapture.
These are some of the major reasons I do believe that Jesus will remove His Church prior to the Tribulation period. If you do not believe as I do concerning this wonderful prophecy, I certainly have no quarrel with you. As I previously stated, as Christians, we are brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, and will in the end, be with our Lord and Savior worshipping Him together for all eternity.
I also see striking similarities between our physical life/death and the Rapture. Keeping in mind that there are no signs for the Rapture, but all end time signs point to the Tribulation and beyond.
· As we age, our body approaches the time of our death in the future.
· In our early life, we do not see many, if any, signs pointing to our death at an old age, but the closer we get to the time of our body dying, more signs begin to appear. Read the 12th chapter of Ecclesiastes. Our vision fades. Our hearing fades. Our joints begin to hurt. Other body parts begin to fail. These would be signs that the end of life for our body is coming to a close.
· Since Jesus’ ascension, the clock started ticking for the world to end. From that point and for many years thereafter, the signs were either non-existent or slow to appear. However, in the last 62 years the signs have exploded on the scene in rapid succession and increasing in severity. The signs of physical human death are the same. In the beginning they are either non-existent or slow to appear, but as the end approaches, the signs come rapidly and increase in severity until death overtakes our body.
· This world as we know it is going to die just as our body ages and dies. Jesus has provided signs for us to know when the time of death, for the world and our body, is approaching. Just as our body dies in its final fight to live, the world will die beginning with the Tribulation and all that will follow. We are seeing these signs now. Daniel is no longer a closed book, but is open for understanding. Revelation has never been a closed book. We are rapidly approaching the final scene of death. All the signs are here.
· The good news (for Christians) is that life follows death, and not just life, but eternal, everlasting life. Jesus explains this to us in 1 Corinthians 15 through His Apostle Paul. In death our bodies are lowered in the grave, but in Christ our bodies are raised up to eternal life. After our body dies, we (in our spirit) are consciously alive with Jesus Christ. At the Rapture our bodies are changed from earthly bodies (that eventually die) to heavenly bodies (that never die).
As previously stated, there are no signs for the Rapture. The signs are for the Tribulation, which follows the Rapture of the Church. Since there are no signs for the Rapture, but we are clearly seeing the beginning signs for the Tribulation, we must be very close to our Lord coming for us.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20)
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Maranatha!
(Lord Come Quickly)
"On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
"Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"
YBIC-Randy
