Putin approves sweeping new law as iron curtain descends on the heads of Russians

Since Putin's re-election, preceded by the largest protests in his 12 years in power, parliament has rushed through laws tightening controls on the Internet, increasing the penalties for defamation and expanding the definition of high treason. These laws are aimed at silencing his growing number of critics.

President Vladimir Putin has signed a law redefining treason in Russia amid fears it may be used to stifle dissent. Now not only Russians working for foreign intelligence can be convicted but also citizens who pass state secrets to any foreign organization. It is enough for defendants to provide consultancy or "other assistance" to a foreign state or international body "directed against Russia's security". 

 The maximum punishment for high treason remains 20 years in prison but under the changes, Russians can now be jailed for up to four years if they have obtained state secrets - even if they have not shared them. They can be jailed for up to eight years if they obtain them with the help of special surveillance equipment. Human rights campaigners believe the aim of the legislation is to scare Russians into cutting links with Western non-governmental organizations.

"There is an effort to recreate an old sense of fear," Denber said, adding that the new legislation was apparently aimed at discouraging Russians from joining protests. "One of the aims is surely to never have that happen again and to demonize any ... people or organization that might be associated with that." It is part and parcel a slide towards the fear felt by the people during the USSR.

One of the laws passed this summer required non-governmental organizations in Russia that receive foreign funding and engage in political activity to register as "foreign agents," which aims to destroy their credibility among Russians.In October, Moscow ended the U.S. Agency for International Development's two decades of work in Russia, saying the agency was using its money to influence Russian elections — a claim the U.S. denied.

As of November10, licenses held by companies who are at least 48 percent foreign-owned is forbidden. Liberty, known locally as Radio Svoboda, receives funding from US Congress and was set up to cater for countries where there are restrictions on information. “The aim is to inform people, because there’s no free access to information, there’s no freedom of speech. Everything is controlled by the Kremlin.

Radio Liberty will now concentrate on digital platforms, causing job losses for more than 40 people and, according to some, muffling criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Political Winter Descends on Russia  Putin seems to be taking a big political step back to the Soviet Union. For now, these conservative new laws seem to be having a chilling effect.  Lipman and others say the goal is to return Russia to the apolitical days during the boom years of the 2000s. 

During this decade, Russians largely traded their political freedoms for the freedom to travel, to buy, and to make more money. Oleg Kashin, a radio analyst for the Russian daily Kommersant, says get used to it. President Putin, he says, is taking Russia down the road of neighboring Belarus, a nation run for 18 years by Alexander Lukashenko, often called "the last dictator of Europe."

Russian's have much to fear but so doesn't the world. With the return of Putin to the Russian Presidency I am again very concerned and see an end to a partner country whose leaders words and actions we can trust and a return to a confrontational relationship with Russia. I do not like the man, I do not trust the man, and I am very concerned as to which direction Russia and the United States are headed now and at a time when China is surging militarily.

We must maintain a balance as we try to move progressively and successfully through the 21st century! Being in a superior position puts one in a unique position of power and that power must be handled gracefully, with humility, responsibly, and not abused. That is something I taught all my sons and America under Bush did a lousy job of handling.

We need Russia on our side. I am a little worried that China too is getting a little too heavy handed and abusive with her new position of power and beginning to take what she wants instead of being content with what she has which is what I constantly lecture has to be the case if we are to have a future. 

The time when man and the planet could handle war is over, period or else! Be very concerned for our future! Not just Russia but the world is headed to a very violent future and hopefully not a very violent end.


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma

http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Israeli Palestinian war continues with major Israeli offense, Live updates:

  Israel-Hamas 'Open War': LIVE UPDATES:   Israel Airstrikes hit Hamas Headquarters

 

 Palestinian militants kill 3 Israelis in rocket attack as Israeli military operation resumes:  The casualties were the first in Israel since it launched its operation on Wednesday with the assassination of Hamas' top military commander, followed by an onslaught of airstrikes and shelling by tanks and naval gunboats.

 Eleven Palestinians, including two children and seven militants, have been killed and more than 100 wounded in Gaza since the Israeli operation began. The fighting has deepened the instability gripping the Middle East. Egypt recalled its ambassador to protest the military operation. Just days earlier, Israel was drawn into Syria's civil war for the first time, firing missiles into its northern neighbor for the first time in four decades after stray mortar fire landed in Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.

  Israel: new major offensive in Gaza Strip:  Operation “Pillar of Defense” began with the killing of Hamas’ military commander using an air strike as he was travelling by car in Gaza City. This was followed minutes later by massive explosions throughout the area, as Israeli military forces blasted selected targets by land, sea and air. 

Around 10 people were reported dead, including three children, and some 40 were wounded by the attacks. The offensive shattered hopes of a truce brokered by Egypt following five days of violence which saw over 100 missiles fired by Palestinian militants and retaliations by Israel.

  Israel had agreed to cease strikes on targets in Gaza during Hesham Kandil's visit, but rocket fire continues; in public appearance with Haniyeh, Kandil denounces Israeli strikes, says Egypt will work for ceasefire.
 

 Although the Palestinians have failed in their attempts to strike Tel Aviv, they scored morale points with the pictures of frightened Israelis running for shelter. Although no one was hurt and there was no real damage – compared to the suffering in Negev towns -- the question is the influence those attacks had on Israeli decision-makers.

Israel's leaders launched the Gaza operation with the expectation that they wouldn't have to put boots on the ground. Now, with the rockets still flying, Israel’s leaders could be dragged in. Israel's forces building up around Gaza still have received no orders for a ground offensive, but the time to decide is approaching. If by the beginning of the week a cease-fire hasn't been agreed on and the air strikes have achieved all they can, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be closer to the moment of decision. 

* Hamas must stop launching missiles as it will only continue to antagonize Israel. This is what Hamas wants, hoping that Egypt and others will get involved on their side. We can not allow this to escalate if we have any say and we do. I know we have been saying the total middle east breakdown is coming for years but we must try to stop it if we can. I beliwve world leaders can prevent this but there seems to be no desire to. We must contain this and prevent the breakdown of the middle east from turning into world war three.

James Joiner

Gardner, Ma

http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017

 

US to be top oil producer by 2017, report says, America will be self-sufficient by 2030, study finds:   The consequences are ‘‘potentially far reaching’’ for global energy markets and trade, the report said. Birol noted, for example, that Middle Eastern oil once bound for the United States would probably be rerouted to China. US-mined coal, facing declining demand in its home market, is already heading to Europe and China instead. 

 

There are several components of the sudden shift in the world’s energy supply, but the prime mover is a resurgence of US oil and gas production, particularly the unlocking of new reserves of oil and gas found in shale rock. The widespread adoption of techniques such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has made those reserves much more accessible, and, in the case of natural gas, resulted in a vast glut that has sent prices plunging. The report predicted that the United States would overtake Russia as the leading producer of natural gas in 2015.

A headline on an old newspaper reads: Oil Shale Development Imminent,". That edition of the defunct Grand Junction News, was published at the dawn of the 20th century.

More than a hundred years later, instability is roiling world oil markets, and Americans are paying $3.50 a gallon for gas. And oil shale fever is again rising in the geologic region known as the Piceance Basin, part of the Green River Formation that stretches across the rugged plains of northwestern Colorado and parts of Wyoming and Utah.

There is no dispute that a thousand feet below the isolated ranch country here on Colorado's western slope lie almost unimaginable oil riches. It's locked in sedimentary rock -- essentially immature oil that given a few million years under heat and pressure would produce pools of oil easy to extract.

The Energy Department and private industry estimate that a trillion barrels are here in Colorado -- about the same amount as the entire world's known reserves of conventional oil. The entire Green River Formation might hold as much as 2 trillion barrels.

supposedly secretly Pushed by the Bush administration and legislation from Congress , and spurred by oil prices above $70 a barrel, the energy industry is mobilized to unlock the secret of oil shale. Now Obama has made retrieving shale oil a priority.

 

As it has before,  shale oil holds out the hope of a USA no longer dependent on foreign oil. Shell Oil is engaged in a multiyear test of a new technology for extracting the oil. Previous efforts that were uneconomical and environmentally destructive entailed mining the rock, crushing it and heating it above ground to release the oil.

Shell's new process involves sinking heaters deep underground, cooking the rock at 700 degrees and recovering the oil and natural gas with conventional drilling.

For a decade, Shell has been ramping up its research on private property here. It is also one of a handful of companies vying for research and development leases on larger tracts of federal land nearby. That could lead to full-scale development across 1,200 square miles of western Colorado.

Early results are promising, says Terry O'Connor, a vice president in the oil giant's unconventional resource division. But, he admits, "no one has been able to develop oil shale on a commercially sustainable basis.

That is $3.50 to $4 fuel that is here now, then I hear this a while back and more started making sense!

Legendary oilman T Boone Pickens says he doesn't believe that the oil sands are an effective substitute for our fuel needs. Pickens said  that huge development costs and a tight labor supply will prevent the Alberta oil sands and other unconventional means of production from covering the shortfall in supply. That said, Pickens holds a big stake in both the Canadian Oil Sands Trust [TSX:COS.UN] and Suncor Energy.

When Pickens was in the Alberta oil sand fields in the 60's somebody said this isn't going to work, it isn't possible. It'll all have to be subsidized to a level, said, before they'd make money you'd have to have $5 oil," Pickens says laughing. "We never thought it would happen."
 

Six years ago I did a story on shale oil and oil sand but it did not go over well because people felt it would never happen. Knowing all the research and development that has been put into these alternatives!

Knowing that T Boone Pickens has invested multiple millions in this! Knowing that between us and Canada we have the more reserves than the entire world combined! 

 

Knowing that he said refining it would not be profitable until fuel hit $5 per gallon, you have to believe that $5 gas wall be here before you know it or an equitable way has been discovered to capture it and bring it to the pump.

My question is have the oil companies purposely been driving up the prices in order to justify retrieving this huge reserves at our expense? Also at the expense of the environment and alternative fuel sources!
  
James Joiner
Gardner Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Karl Rove author of 3D Politics down but not out

                                   Karl Rove under fire

 Between the Lines: Karl Rove far from finished, even with big losses in 2012 campaign:  There’s talk that Karl Rove is finished, his days as a political guru are over, that after his election-night debacle he will slip off into the sunset never to be heard of again. Don’t count on it. If Mitt Romney was the biggest loser in Tuesday’s election, Rove was the second biggest.

His vaunted Crossroads super PACs lost virtually every race, after Rove helped build them from scratch and then spent two years actively soliciting millions from the 1 percent to retake the White House and win seats in Congress. Rove’s reputation as the Republican Party’s premier political mind helped him raise more than $200 million from a relative handful of millionaires and billionaires, some of them longtime allies from past elections. 

Don't forget what Obama's predecessor created making him worse than ever if that can ever be.   Karl Rove secretly pardoned by Bush 4 days before he left office 

 I remember getting wind of that and being very concerned that the liar who built his entire career on openly lying and being underhanded was now beyond reproach. He was set free to do as much damage to Democrats as possible. Obama got in the first time, it is going to take an act of God to override Rove and the Billionaire Koch brothers this time.

 
Unlimited amounts of money can now be spent no holds barred. Rove controls much of those millions and he is the master liar having made his entire career out of lying for Republicans. The master of 3D politics (deceitful, deceptive, divisive, politics) started with Nixon and worked for George W. too. He got George H.W. Bush elected, no one can question the danger of Karl Rove to the country and honesty and decency.

 
The die hard life long liar for the Republican party of course once again will say the right thing but for the party not the people as he wants you to think. Just look at his face he is a liar to the core. Be very concerned that he is fired up and free to lie and steal victory from Democrats and steal another election. He got the scum Rick Perry where he is. Be very, very concerned!

 
In case you missed it last time I discussed the liar I read about Rove's career and how he built his career on lying and that is why those aspiring to the Presidency wanted him on their side. He never told the truth and he will not start now.

 Read the link, the denials and BS lies he fed Matt Lauer during his 2 day interview during Bush were too much. Even Republicans called them out and out lies. I never even heard about his Mother committing suicide or the fact that he had a second father or he was gay until Rove just mentioned it for his gain.  Karl Rove: I did not pull dirty tricks BS! He is top class scum! He built his entire career as a Republican starting with Nixon because of his willingness and ability to pull dirty tricks and lie unabashedly.

First I was surprised to find out the purveyor of Bush's 3D Politics (deceitful, deceptive, divisive, politics) never Graduated from College. I find it amazing for two reasons. We, or I never heard that and he was so close to the top. And that is Bush's Brain! Go figure. remember, with life long executive privilege he can not be touched and is more brazen and dangerous than ever.
Karl Rove, 61, who served as chief strategist for President Bush's presidential campaign, managed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the Office of Strategic Initiatives at the White House.

 Before joining the campaign, he was president of Karl Rove and Company, an Austin-based public affairs firm. Rove attended the University of Utah, the University of Texas at Austin and George Mason University. He has taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and in the Journalism Department at the University of Texas at Austin.

After hearing on CNN that Rove attended numerous colleges but never graduated I went through numerous sites trying to find where that was mentioned and I could not find anything. Not even a mention of it in his White House autobiography. I found that surprising and that it was never mentioned. While I was digging besides the numerous interesting articles out there many which were never mentioned I found that he was "born" in 1950 and said he dreamed about being in the White House from that day.

Worse I found that his lying underhanded tactics is what got him his start in Daddy Bush's administration and the rewards for this started from day one and as you know continue today.
How Bush's Brain Hijacked Washington: Rove's ties to Bush the Elder commenced in 1973, when Poppy was the Republican national chairman and Karl aspired to be the president of the College Republicans.

 It was a post Rove could not win by the numbers. To circumvent them, he claimed that the organization was not adhering procedurally to the College Republican charter, and mounted credentials challenges to supporters of his opponent, Robert Edgeworth. In the end Rove essentially declared himself the winner of a separate election. The controversy got kicked upstairs to Bush, who awarded the election to Rove.

Later, in retaliation, Edgeworth leaked to the Washington Post that Rove was teaching dirty tricks seminars to young Republicans--and fresh off the humiliation of Watergate, no less.
Bush promptly excommunicated Edgeworth from the Republican Party for his disloyalty in leaking the story. Rove, along with his friend and College Republicans ally Lee Atwater, became favored Bush protégés.

 Rove moved to Texas in 1977 to toil as a fundraiser on George Sr.'s failed presidential-exploration PAC, the Fund for Limited Government. A year later he worked on an unsuccessful primary run for the Texas legislature by George W.

He was ruthless in chasing his goals, especially when it came to rivalries or power struggles with his own Republican cohorts. I was really surprised to see the well documented trail of underhanded Politics starting with Richard Nixon through his Fathers Presidency and then bush's and he continues to get away with it and be rewarded for it. Please read it. I wish we knew and made more of this years ago.

With Rove's proven record of lies and deceit going back to day one in the Nixon Administration along with the fact that even by Bush's father he has been rewarded for being a division causing underhanded Liar I refuse to believe he is even allowed to talk and should at the very least be censured to his destructive lies if doing the right thing for America mattered at all! Why do the Democrats continue to let Republicans in this case Rove with their obvious lies and are incapable of turning it around on them as it should be? Rove and the right are an easy target so what the hell is wrong with the Democrats? Is this another example of being complicit? I guess not, we beat him again.

Anyway I researched the above facts on Rove years ago   Here. 

 Don't for a minute think Rove has an honest bone in his body or that he would do anything that is right for the country. Everything is for the Republican party. Rove is down not out!

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Palestinian president rejects US pressure to drop UN initiative despite call from Obama

 

  Palestinian president rejects US pressure to drop UN initiative despite call from Obama:   A spokesman for the Palestinian president says the Palestinians will proceed with asking the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state, despite a personal call from President Barack Obama to abandon the bid.

 

The U.S. and Israel have opposed upgrading the Palestinian status at the world body to nonmember observer state. Israel and the U.S. say a Palestinian state can be established only through negotiations.

 

 While UN Security Council permission for a Palestinian state might be blocked by veto-wielding permanent members such as the U.S., approval by the UN General Assembly would be legally binding, Abbas said in an interview with Al Arabiya television today. Israel still might try to block recognition by lobbying the U.S. Congress, he said. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will cooperate with a Palestinian state only if it is established through direct negotiations with Israel’s government. That is because tthey know damn well they will continue to negotiate until the end of eternity. They will never agree to share Jerusalem, they will never agree to a 2 state solution.

Forget it, Israel in their eyes are the only ones that matter and they do not want our 2 State solution period! 

I wrote about it numerous times, to hell with Israel they are the problem. Netanyahu does not want peace until he gets everything he wants which includes all of Jerusalem. We have to take care of our own and let them hang themselves. Ahmadinejad was right in one thing when he said years ago that is Europe and the US felt so bad for what happened to the Jews in ww2 they should have given them part of their country. We would have no problem then.

I reiterate, Palestinian's have bent backwards: Lack of a peace solution to the Israeli crisis we created keeps being blamed on the Palestinians and I for one am quite sick of it! remember this? Israel could lease Palestinian lands in exchange for Palestinian Statehood   I am thinking this can be done after all my apprehension. With Palestine rebuffing Iran, Iran would be the one left out in the cold.

Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state shows they are not serious about two-state solution. What about Israel's refusal to go back to 1967 borders where they should be? to stop building settlements? or to let Palestine have a homeland free of Jews if they want? What about UN resolution 181 established in 1947? That should be made binding and without a vote by Israel.
remember this?  PLO wants map from US with future Israeli border Can you blame them? No bargaining make Israel adhere to UN resolution 181, no alternative! It is more than fair and equitable.

The only thing to do is to force the instigating war mongers Israel to adhere to 181 or leave them to their own demise and Iran would see to it. You know, first reading how Israel and Palestine was allotted their territories in 1948 I do not condone that Israel has not been forced to adhere to that resolution. We, the US Britain and Europe especially are as guilty as Israel for not insisting Israel adhere to  UN Resolution 181. UN Resolution 181

"In the eyes of Palestinians, the occupation began in '48 and not in '67," Ya'alon told Army Radio. "Not only Hamas thinks this – Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does too." I think that too! I refuse to believe we took it upon ourselves to displace the Palestinians and give their land to the Jews in 1948 because we felt bad for them. 

I hate to say it but I agree with Ahmadinejad that if Europe and the US felt so bad about what happened to Jews during WW2 then they should have given them part of their country. If they did we would not be in this situation. There will never be peace in the middle east unless there is an agreement to go back to   UN Resolution 181 that was established in 1947.

We should in fact take care of Jewish American's and American's and our interests in Israel and otherwise tell them in no uncertain terms they are on their own if they continue to instigate war not peace and expecting us to come to their rescue. I love the way this is gaining momentum and I finally believe there is a chance for a two State solution but not peace in the Middle East. * The ball is in Israel's court not the world court where it should be!

Palestinians for their part are doing their share for peace but it is futile: They are willing to let Israel control the wailing wall and just want East Jerusalem as their capital but there is no way in hell Israel is going to give that up as they swear it belongs to them. It does not belong to them. They do not want peace unless they get everything they want and they will not. This will only end in war and we will be dragged in. That is why Bush ignored Afghanistan to get into the Middle East. Right from the get go helping Israel against Iran was the goal. 

Again I reiterate there will never be peace in the Middle East, period! Israel wants it her way and Iran/Syria and others want Israel obliterated, period, seems like peace is in Palestinian hands and depends on how much they are willing to bend because Israel will not. Israel and Iran have long been in preparation for this confrontation. As you know, when asked by a journalist how he felt upon returning to Iran in 1979 after 15 years in exile.

 Khomeini’s curt, one-word reply was “nothing” Whoa! From day one of his return to Iran Khomeini expressed no love for Iran only a love of the atom bomb. The drive even then was to possess a nuclear weapon though that desire is still denied until Iran can get their hands on one.

 On the other side there is Israel who will give nothing and expects Palestinians to give up everything! I realized a long time ago that Israel is the world's chief war monger and we seem to do their bidding and fighting. If they get into a war with Iran we will end up coming to their rescue regardless of what they do or what Hillary says and that is sad! We should in fact take care of Jewish American's and American's and our interests in Israel and otherwise tell them in no uncertain terms they are on their own if they continue to instigate war not peace and expecting us to come to their rescue.

* The ball is in Israel's court and I do not like what they are doing with it as they want to hold the ball till they get their way. Well the heck with them, we have given enough!




James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Israel may send ground forces into Gaza over missile strikes as middle east breakdown progresses

 

 

 

  Politicians split on possible Gaza ground operation: Politicians drew lines in the sand Monday over the possibility of an IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip to tackle continued terrorism, as rockets rained down on Israel for the third straight day. 

 

Labor leader Shelly Yacimovich, on a tour of the rocket-hit South, positioned herself against intensive military action, telling Army Radio, "We are on the eve of elections, and operations beyond air attacks or targeted strikes require stability and national consensus at home.
 
 As you know I firmly believe there will never be peace in the middle east as no one wants it unless it is in their terms and you know what that means for Iran and Syria! You also know what that means for Israel and that is an Israel with all of Jerusalem. 

I reiterate there will never be peace in the Middle East, period! Only the US wants it, Israel wants it her way and Iran/Syria want Israel obliterated, period. Israel and Iran have long been in preparation for this confrontation. As you know, when asked by a journalist how he felt upon returning to Iran in 1979 after 15 years in exile. 

Khomeini’s curt, one-word reply was “nothing” Whoa! From day one of his return to Iran Khomeini expressed no love for Iran only a love of the atom bomb. The drive even then was to possess a nuclear weapon though that desire is still denied until Iran can get their hands on one.

I have tried to give Iran the benefit of the doubt when they say their nuclear desires are peaceful knowing they could use nuclear power as an energy source for their growing population. I have always asserted that perceived need could be cover for the real goal of developing a nuclear weapon.

The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program.[1] The support, encouragement and participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran's nuclear program continued until the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran. We are so concerned about Pakistan and Iran today in regard to nuclear abilities and nuclear weapons and security.

 I was blown away to find out that we built the first nuclear Reactors in both Iran and Pakistan. Nuclear program of Iran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia  atoms for peace

I would have to assume this was after we overthrew the democratically elected President of Iran Mohammad Mosaddeq to install our ruthless puppet the Shah of Iran. We built and supplied Iran's first reactor because we thought we were in control. What the hell is wrong with us? 

That makes us personally responsible for the 1979 Revolution in Iran, the capture of our hostages, the disaster in the desert after a failed attempt to rescue them, the rise of the Revolutionary Guard, the protesters dilemma, the nuclear issue in Iran today, everything!

You know, I have long said that Iran’s civilian nuclear program is a cover for their nuclear weapons program. Now I see that Arab leaders feel the same way. They fear a nuclear arms race and I can only conclude that knowing how far along Iran is and how they feel that they are hedging their bets and it is already under way clandestinely.

On the other side there is Israel! I realized a long time ago that Israel is the world's chief war monger and we seem to do their bidding and fighting. If they get into a war with Iran we will end up coming to their rescue regardless of what they do or what Hillary says and that is sad! We should in fact take care of Jewish American's and American's and our interests in Israel and otherwise tell them in no uncertain terms they are on their own if they continue to instigate war not peace and expecting us to come to their rescue.

Remember Mordechai Vanunu whistle blower of Israel's clandestine nuclear program? Uzi Eilam former head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission said Mordechai Vanunu did Israel a favor after revealing information about an illegal nuclear program at Israel's Dimona reactor. His information proved that Israel had broken the 1968 treaty on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

There is a US law that prohibits the support of countries that break the treaty in question. Vanunu's information led foreign experts to conclude that Israel had produced fissile material for as many as 200 atomic warheads thus warning other Nation's of Israel's military might. It was okay for Israel why the hypocrisy? Remember Mordechai Vanunu whistle blower of Israel's clandestine nuclear program? Uzi Eilam former head of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission said Mordechai Vanunu did Israel a favor after revealing information about an illegal nuclear program at Israel's Dimona reactor. His information proved that Israel had broken the 1968 treaty on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

There is a US law that prohibits the support of countries that break the treaty in question. Vanunu's information led foreign experts to conclude that Israel had produced fissile material for as many as 200 atomic warheads thus warning other Nation's of Israel's military might. It was okay for Israel why the hypocrisy? Remember this discussion? The US will pay the price for Israel and US nuclear lies and hypocrisy after Israel attacks!

I must admit Israel's hypocrisy and lies are a plan I have discussed often and I have to disagree with Eliam's final assertion. He says an attack on Iran's nuclear program would be counter productive. I beg to differ! The General hit the nail on the head though and does not know it. I have long asserted that Israel would attack Iran's nuclear interests and we would come to her rescue.

That said, Iran is preparing its people for war and you can not rule out Iran coming to Syria's rescue if Israel gets too involved and likewise you can not rule out Iran helping the Palestinians if Israel gets too deeply into Gaza.

Coming war with Iran is a fact that is why I find the General's final statement troubling and prophetic. He correctly said One strike is not practical. In order to delay the Iranian program for three to four years one needs an armada of aircraft, which only a super-power can provide. Only America can do it. Bingo! You know from numerous discussions here that Iran is involved in every Middle Eastern country not just Yemen, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia where they have corrupted elections for Shiite interests in Iraq, backing rebels in Yemen, and instigating attacks on Saudi oil fields. Bush freed Iran to instigate far and wide and they are. 

Israel is not going to back down. When all is said and done they know the US will be there for them. It is time for Iran to put up or shut up! I am sure the US plans to come to Israel's rescue and do it largely from the Gulf with numerous carrier fighter groups and they are almost finished with their 30000 pound bunker buster behemoth to take out underground facilities. Iran can negate that by paying for the Palestinian's power to help them and send food and medical supplies by accepted channels. If it is really war they want stop the blustering and get on with it!


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Radio Liberty ends Russia broadcasts as Putin stifles Democracy

  
Radio Liberty ends Russia broadcasts :  As of November10, licenses held by companies who are at least 48 percent foreign-owned is forbidden. Liberty, known locally as Radio Svoboda, receives funding from US Congress and was set up to cater for countries where there are restrictions on information. “The aim is to inform people, because there’s no free access to information, there’s no freedom of speech. Everything is controlled by the Kremlin.

Radio Liberty will now concentrate on digital platforms, causing job losses for more than 40 people and, according to some, muffling criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  Analysis: Political Winter Descends on Russia  Putin seems to be taking a big political step back to the Soviet Union. For now, these conservative new laws seem to be having a chilling effect.  Lipman and others say the goal is to return Russia to the apolitical days during the boom years of the 2000s.

During this decade, Russians largely traded their political freedoms for the freedom to travel, to buy, and to make more money. Oleg Kashin, a radio analyst for the Russian daily Kommersant, says get used to it. President Putin, he says, is taking Russia down the road of neighboring Belarus, a nation run for 18 years by Alexander Lukashenko, often called "the last dictator of Europe."

I told you, be very concerned. Remember when he was rallying and uniting the world to take on Bush and his drive to dominate the world? Absolutely as the world's mayhem ensues amidst its drive to dominate as we move through the 21st century is Putin's only agenda. It is an old thought.

 I remember when term limits made him have to leave last time. There was immediate speculation as to him taking back the Presidency after his term as PM. Well beware ,it is time and he will not be denied.

  From Russia: Of course Putin does not care but there was a sobering shock for Putin's party who has been intimidating and gaming the system for years in his effort to get his fascist hands on Russia again. This is proof positive of Russians' increasing suspicions of Putin's authoritarianism, ingrained corruption and falling living standards. Putin is not to be trusted and Russians have felt his grubby little hands around their necks for 12 years as he intimidates and tries to control Russia's future for his party.

Be scared be very scared! The USSR's Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that Russia risks six lost years when Vladimir Putin returns to the presidency, echoing rumblings of dissent over his Kremlin comeback. I always find myself agreeing with Gorbachev but that is putting it mildly. This is bad news for the US and the world!
This is very concerning. 

I remember back in 2008 when Putin was going to try and be President for life. He was not alone. Leaders aligned with Russia were all trying to get permanent leadership so they could be at the helm of their prospective countries to take on then President Bush when his war mongering hit the point where Russia, the 135 non aligned Nations, Iran, and others were prepared to join forces and take him and our allies on.

I remember when Bush first met Putin and he said he shook his hand and looked him in the eye and saw a man of compassion, a man who was true to his word, and a man he could work with. I shuttered at Bush's stupidity. I looked at Putin and saw a man deceitful to the core who was not to be trusted period.

We were too pompous then and were pushing the world towards WW3 with our take it or leave it, my way or the highway, interference around the world. Putin was determined to head us off, to directly confront us when we were on Russia's front door trying to instigate war by installing the so called missile shield in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and return Russia to the role of a world leader.

Personally we blew it when Russia broke up and the Berlin wall came down. We were the world leader and had the perfect opportunity to be humble, show we were the leader, and bring the world together to proceed successfully through the 21st century.We egged on the likes of Vladimir Putin who understandably chaffed under our we are the boss do what we say take it or leave it, it your face tactics of Bush and Cheney.

I had great hope when we elected President Obama who set the reset button with Russia and Russia who had elected Dmitri Medvedev who agreed to work with the US to proceed through the 21st century as partners instead of heading towards WW3 as adversaries. In Medvedev we see in his eyes and actions a man we can and do work with.

With the return of Putin to the Russian Presidency I am again very concerned and see an end to a partner country whose leaders words and actions we can trust and a return to a confrontational relationship with Russia. I do not like the man, I do not trust the man, and I am very concerned as to which direction Russia and the United States are headed now and at a time when China is surging militarily.

We must maintain a balance as we try to move progressively and successfully through the 21st century! Being in a superior position puts one in a unique position of power and that power must be handled gracefully, with humility, responsibly, and not abused. That is something I taught all my sons and America under Bush did a lousy job of handling.

We need Russia on our side. I am a little worried that China too is getting a little too heavy handed and abusive with her new position of power and beginning to take what she wants instead of being content with what she has which is what I constantly lecture has to be the case if we are to have a future. 

The time when man and the planet could handle war is over, period or else! Be very concerned for our future! Not just Russia but the world is headed to a very violent future and hopefully not a very violent end.


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Kurds seize three towns in Syria's northeast: A free Kurdistan?

  

Kurds seize three towns in Syria's northeast:  KURDISH residents have taken control of three towns in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey after convincing pro-government forces to leave, a watchdog said. The region's Hasakeh province has seen heavy fighting in recent days between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels, with 46 combatants killed in two days as the opposition seized the border town of Ras al-Ain on Friday. 

 

The Kurds took control of the towns of Derbassiye and Tall Tamr late on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. They were backed by militia from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has links with Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), it said.  

 

Remember, the Kurds want their oil as well as their freedom,they could be self supporting with that alone. That is only one small fact Bush ignored to attack Iraq so he could help Israel and instigate war with Iran.

Remember, the Kurds are Sunni and al-Maliki Shiite. Al- Maliki and Iran see Hashimi and the Kurds as a threat to their dominance in the new middle east order. The Kurds wanting a free Kurdistan are now a people without a country"

Kurds are a dispossessed people whose natural homeland stretches across much of the Middle East. A substantial number of Kurds live in Iran, which is as close to a mortal enemy of the United States as there is in the world today. American support for reclaiming those colonial possessions of Teheran and the incorporation of those lands into Kurdistan would roughly double the area of the Iraqi Kurds.

A significant, but smaller, number of Kurds live in Syria, an enemy of America and was a supporter both of the Iraqi insurgency and of international terrorism. If the Baathist regime did not give up its Kurdish lands, then the Kurds, with American military support, should smash the Syrian Army and force as humiliating a peace treaty as possible on Damascus.

The majority of the thirty million or so Kurds, however, live in Turkey – almost one quarter of the population of Turkey. That, more than anything else, has stayed our hand so far. Kurdistan with the southeast quarter of Turkey is a fairly large nation. Traditionally, Turkey has been an ally of America, but that has been changing fast and Turkish support for American policies has always been based entirely on cynical self-interest.

We owe Turkey – neutral in World War Two and our enemy in World War One – nothing. Our support for Turkey costs us the goodwill of Greeks, Armenians and other European nations that suffered through centuries of Turkish oppression. It also has cost of much of the goodwill of Kurds, who would otherwise welcome the presence of a superpower that was not intolerant, not Arab, and sought nothing but friendly relations with it.

Another important reason for supporting a true Kurdistan is that the Kurds are a genuinely diverse people. Although they were forced to convert to Islam, today only about seventy percent of the Kurds are Muslem, and many of those only nominally, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians (or a faith much akin to that) and Bahai have lived within the long-persecuted Kurdish community with their first allegiance as Kurds, and there is no single branch of Islam that clearly dominates the Kurdish community.

Kurdistan could then be a democracy with an Islamic majority that was genuinely inclusive of all faiths, both needing the support of all Kurds to survive (much like Israel) and also because of centuries of living largely underground, tolerant of all Kurds. There is little doubt that it would become an affluent nation as capable of defending itself as Israel is today, and that along with the establishment of a truly free and democratic Lebanon, would create three strong, free and prosperous democracies which would naturally become allies or at least friends.

The dismemberment of Iran, which would lose ten percent of its population, and the humiliation of Syria, which would be forced into a very precarious position, would be great peripheral benefits. The downside has always been the impact on Turkey.

Oil-rich area

Iraq's ethnic Kurds maintain an autonomous region that comprises three of the country's 18 provinces. In recent months, the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad, which includes some Kurds in prominent positions "or there were", has accused Kurdish leaders of attempting to expand their territory by deploying their militia, known as pesh merga, to areas south of the autonomous region. Among other things, the Kurds and Iraq's government are at odds over control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the autonomous region, and over how Iraq's oil revenue ought to be distributed.

What a mess the already volatile Middle East has become since Bush was told by God to attack Iraq to get into the Middle East to straighten it out. He freed up Iran to instigate wherever she can in order to have her idea of a new Middle East order not ours. Will we ever find a balance again?

Many of us have said numerous times that Bush was advised before hand that if he attacked Iraq he would destabilize the middle east. He knew before he ignored all good advice that the neighbors would get involved and they are. He knew that it was most likely that Iraq would be divvied up between the Kurds, the Sunni's, and the Shiite and it will be. In the past I have written extensively the entire middle east would blow and then the entire world would be involved in war.

I know that Syria, Turkey, and Iran are fighting Kurds that are looking for Autonomy but never really thought that a free Kurdistan would encompass areas of Iran and Turkey as well as Iraq. knowing the close American Kurdish relationship I really have to rethink what Bush's real goal was here and despite kurdish hopes I see them as being able to take no lands from any country but to continue to be a nuisance..


James m Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

5 ways events overseas could shape Obama's second term

Trust me it is all about Iran, Iran, Iran, Iran, Iran, However...

5 ways events overseas could shape Obama's second term. Trust me it is all about Iran, Iran, Iran

 Iran says ready for 'any threat'  An Iranian general today did not deny the Pentagon claims. He appeared to hint that the US drone was in fact over Iranian waters – less than 12 nautical miles from the coastline – and that Iran would take on any intruder. Iran would “firmly” respond to any ground, sea, or air "invasion.” 

 The near-clash comes at a moment of heightened tension and expectations between Iran, the US, Israel, and Western powers. Secret US-Iran meetings have reportedly preceded a resumption of talks later this month about Iran’s controversial nuclear program; the US is imposing more sanctions, and Iran has been the target of a lethal covert war.

It is all about Iran, that is why Bush attacked Iraq. This is not going to be prevented unless Iran backs down and Iran will not.

  Iran: We will help 'cut out the cancer of Israel': Iran will help anyone willing to "cut out the cancer" of Israel, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today. He warned that any military strike by the West would only make Iran stronger.

"From now on, in any place, if any nation or any group confronts the Zionist regime, we will endorse and we will help. We have no fear expressing this," said Khamenei. He said Israel is a "cancerous tumor that should be cut and will be cut". Iran has been repeatedly defiant to hints that the US and Israel may at some point launch military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Helping Israel is the reason Bush attacked Iraq in order to unseat Saddam Hussein. In doing so he freed up Iran to instigate for her supremacy and version of new middle east "dis"order. The idea was to first help create a buffer zone of Israel friendly countries and then find a way to get into a war with Iran.If you think back and remember the numerous Border incidents on the Iraq Iran border and the incidents in the gulf between the IRG and the United States and Britain all failing to find a way to instigate the desired war but it is coming closer all day every day.

There is another war coming and very soon: In attacking Iraq Bush freed Iran up to pursue her version of new middle East order by interfering wherever she could while Bush was doing the same thing with his Middle East Democratization program. I think you can see how successful Bush and Cheney were with chaos creating Middle East Democracy program but you are barely seeing the results they created in Iran.

5 Years ago we noted: U.S. promises of military aid or arms sales to strengthen its Middle Eastern allies against Iran and other regional foes seem aimed at repairing a balance of power destroyed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. That is not what is going to happen or what this is about.

Supposedly Toppling Saddam Hussein ended Iraq's role as a counterweight to Iran, a part it had played since the 1980s in a Gulf security system that Washington had hoped would contain the rival powers. That was only the smallest of the repercussions. Toppling Saddam gave Bush the excuse to get into the middle east, upset the balance of the entire middle east as Bush knew would be the case, and set the stage for Bush's new middle east order that has long been planned and it will not stop now.

This is still just beginning but it will increase rapidly with Iran's threats to close the Gulf and us arming our Allies to help fight them. I had some interesting conversations in relation to this story. That made me remember how long this has all been planned, and put the rest of this developing scenario together. After 50 years of middle east policy and not arming them to fight wars Bush has changed that in hopes of getting them to fight Iran and Syria.

Bush now Obama will be freed to attack Pakistan and Iran from the Gulf as Iraq quiets and others fight Iran on the ground, or so they think!

I have to reiterate something I have said too many times since Bush chose to ignore all warnings of total civil war spreading throughout the entire Middle East so he could attack Iraq and straighten out the Middle East as God spoke to him and instructed him to. You know I firmly believe and have said so a million times by now that since 9/11 everything was construed to allow Bush to gain the power he needed to prosecute his new order not just in the Middle East but on the entire world! He diverted from Afghanistan to get back into the Middle East with the goal of setting up a larger safety zone for Israel and going after Iran.

Bush has created a hell on earth for Iraq that he calls liberty and success with promises to spread it throughout the entire Middle East. It is now happening starting with Syria. Bush wanted a Korea style force in Iraq to secure the peace! We were concerned because we knew that would never work in Iraq or the Middle East! Planting our military in the middle of the mess Bush has created out of the Middle East because of his failed Democratization program would be a Custer's Last Stand on a grand scale!

I still see a total civil war Sunni against Shiite erupting in the Middle East because Bush freed up Iran to instigate it on their end and they are. I still am concerned we will have a permanent presence in the Middle East but feel we will have to largely leave Iraq to her own demise. We will still be there but it looks like Yemen, and the Gulf of Aden will be the prime focus unless Iran gets something going between the US and Iran and Syria is now erupted and pulling in its neighbors.

As you know, I talk about it often as I watch Bush's new Middle East (dis)order progress. He ignored Afghanistan so he could use the patriot acts powers to divert from Afghanistan to attack Iraq using the excuse of unseating Saddam so he could get in the Middle East to help Israel establish a buffer zone and establish a new middle east (dis)order or so Israel and Cheney thought. Bush at Cheney's urging made an abrupt shift in policy towards Syria, a shift that has now brought the entire Mideast region to the brink of war and chaos. Much worse than the hell on earth they created for Iraq. Did you ever read  A clean Break, Cheney's well documented destructive plans for the middle east

That plan was put together in 1996 for Israel. They were just waiting for an idiot to come along so they could implement their plan for the Middle East. Along came the life long follower and life long alcoholic loser Georgie Bush. I wish I could say the rest is History but this is still barely beginning and just beginning to take shape. All Bush did by ignoring Afghanistan and attacking Iraq was to guarantee a loss of everything and a complete Middle East and Asian Breakdown.

He freed Iran up to pursue her version of new middle East order by interfering wherever she could while Bush was doing the same thing with his Middle East Democratization program. I think you can see how successful Bush and Cheney were with chaos creating Middle East Democracy program but you are barely seeing the results they created in Iran.

The goal absolutely is to be the country who decides which direction the new Middle East (dis)order will take. Bush started it by attacking Iraq to get into the middle east to destabilize it and start the new middle east order the idiot said God told him to do now it will be up to Iran and Saudi Arabia at least up front fight it out whether this goes the Iranian Shiite way or the Saudi Arabian Sunni way and do not forget Israel!

You know I firmly believe and have said so a million times by now that since 9/11 everything was construed to allow Bush to gain the power he needed to prosecute his new order not just in the Middle East but on the entire world! He diverted from Afghanistan to get back into the Middle East with the goal of setting up a larger safety zone for Israel and going after Iran. Both will fail! It has long been my contention that coming to Israel's aid once they attack Iran will be our in to Iran!

Watch out Iran, watch out United States, watch out Middle east, Watch out world! Hopefully we can keep this contained to the middle east and keep it from turning into ww3. Sadly it does not look that way right now.


James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

Timeline of the Syrian civil war as U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction

 

Latest in Syria Disaster as devolution to total middle east war continues: Click on the subject below that you want to learn more about.   Timeline of the Syrian civil war, Syria Conflict: Cameron Vows More Help:  U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction: Car Bomb in Syria's Hama Kills 50 Pro-regime Fighters : Syria's opposition groups convene in Qatar – can they build a unified front? U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction: Syrian rebels fire at, miss Assad's palace : Palestinian Refugees Fight Over Syria's War as Gunmen in Damascus Kill Brother of Parliament Speaker, Israel complains about Syrian tanks along Golan Heights border: Turkey considers deployment of "Patriot" missiles on Syria border

*  Timeline of the Syrian civil war:

*  Car Bomb in Syria's Hama Kills 50 Pro-regime Fighters : The suicide car bomb attack on a military post in the central province of Hama struck early Monday, killing at least 50 government troops and loyalist militiamen, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "The post, located at the Centre for Rural Development, is the largest gathering place for troops and pro-regime militiamen in the region," said the Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group. 

 Regime aircraft meanwhile continued to pound rebel-held positions around the country, with one air strike killing at least 20 rebel fighters in the town of Harem in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory said. The rebels have scored significant wins in recent weeks and hold swathes of territory in the country's north, but have come under intense bombardment from the air as President Bashar al-Assad's regime seeks to reverse rebel gains.

* Syria's opposition groups convene in Qatar – can they build a unified front? The Syrian opposition is well aware that it is widely regarded as fragmented and ineffective, and that this is becoming more and more an issue as events on the ground gather pace. The coming days will see the most concerted effort so far to pull the bulk of the opposition together and to create effective and credible structures that the outside world can work with in trying to bring about a transition in Syria.  

Secretary Clinton said last week that "the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition. But that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice that needs to be heard."

 * U.N. Warns Syria Heading Towards Destruction:  At this point, no one in Syria – not the government, not the rebels – can emerge from the crisis with an unsullied reputation. Both factions are now strong candidates to face charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. 

Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint special representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, has also hit a dead end both with the Syrian government and the rebel groups fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, who is refusing to step down or agree to a political compromise. “The United Nations remains helpless against the political and military complexities inside Syria,” says one Asian diplomat. This may well be one of the biggest political failures of the United Nations, he said.

*  Syria Conflict: Cameron Vows More Help: The Prime Minister was expecting to use his first conversation with Barack Obama to tell the newly re-elected US president that the international response to the civil war in Syria "simply isn't working". He said: "Right here in Jordan I'm hearing appalling stories of what is happening inside Syria and one of the first things I want to talk to Barack about is how we must do more to try and solve this crisis." 

 The PM, who visited the Zatari refugee camp, said: "I wanted to hear for myself the stories of people who have been bombed and shot and blasted out of their homes in Syria by a deeply-illegitimate and unpleasant regime that is raining down death and destruction on its own people. "It is truly horrendous to hear those stories and just redoubles my determination that now, with a newly-elected American president, we have got to do more to help this part of the world, to help Syria achieve transition." 

* Syrian rebels fire at, miss Assad's palace : Residents told Reuters the heavy-caliber shells hit a neighboring residential district that is home to members of Assad's Alawite sect. State-run media said at least three people were killed and seven wounded in what it described as a "terrorist attack".

Syria's war, which has already spilled into neighboring Lebanon and threatened to spread instability in the Middle East, poses one of the greatest foreign policy challenges for U.S. President Barack Obama as he starts his second term. Fighters in the mainly Sunni Muslim opposition have stepped up attacks in the capital this week, setting off at least two bombs in areas populated by Alawites and assassinating two figures seen as close to the Assad administration.

 * Israel complains about Syrian tanks along Golan Heights border: Three Syrian tanks entered a demilitarized zone Saturday afternoon along the border with the Golan Heights, spurring Israel to file a complaint with the United Nations, Israeli officials said. The Syrian tanks were battling Syrian rebel forces when the fighting moved into the demilitarized area, Israeli media reported. Israeli officials said they did not view the tanks as a provocation or an attempt to draw Israel into the fighting in Syria, where an uprising against President Bashar Assad has devolved into a civil war. 

It’s not the first time violence from Syria’s war has drifted into the Golan Heights. In September, errant mortars struck the region. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East War and announced in 1981 that it was annexing the region, though the move was not recognized by the international community. 

* Turkey considers deployment of "Patriot" missiles on Syria border: Turkey considers the Patriot missiles on its territory as a precaution against a potential Syrian military offensive, while Syrian bombings on the southern border of Turkey have increased tensions between the two countries.

Turkey and the United States consider the deployment of missiles in the Turkish province of Kilis (south), and the missiles should protect an area of 60 km up to the Syrian city of Aleppo, the newspaper said. Turkey's move also aims to protect civilians and Syrian opposition forces from shelling by the Syrian government, it added.

James Joiner

Gardner, Ma

http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com