Kim's Masterplan Will Leave a Million Dead
NORTH KOREA - Apocalyptic plans for North Korea to invade its most-hated enemy will kill a million people and drag the West into war. Experts have revealed how a North Korean invasion would play out. Starved of food, North Korea is on the brink of collapse, and in its desperation threatens an invasion of its South Korean neighbours.
Reports from the country reveal Kim Jong-un has built a replica of the South Korean presidential palace to train his troops for an invasion as tensions escalate. And with America pledged to defend the South in case of attack, the West faces a war that will cost $1 billion to fight and cause $1 trillion worth of damage.
Special forces would invade first in a series of predawn airdrops and shore landings, sabotaging power stations, communication networks and bridges in order to "paralyse the population". Then "the largest artillery force in the world" would pound the South Korean capital Seoul with shells at a rate of 500,000 per hour — leaving its people only 45 seconds to take cover.
An arsenal of 600 chemically-armed missiles would cripple airports, making escape impossible; while 100 more trained on Japan would slow the arrival of US reinforcements. "As wars go," writes Mr Cha, "this would be the most unforgiving battle conditions that could be imagined." It would take South Korea and its American allies several days to neutralise the enemy artillery, his book reveals, leaving hundreds of thousands dead.
Iranian Supreme Leader Warns US: Flee the Persian Gulf
IRAN - Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Monday warned the United States against keeping a military presence in the Persian Gulf and vowed that the Islamic Republic will continue to carry out a range of war drills in the area, despite warnings, according to recent comments. Khamenei blasted the US military presence in the Persian Gulf in wide-ranging remarks that ordered America to return its forces “back to the Bay of Pigs.” Khamanei also said that Iran has the military know-how to eradicate American forces from the region.
China tests ICBM capable of striking US within half an hour
CHINA - Beijing has successfully tested a new long-range ballistic missile capable of engaging any potential target worldwide. The rocket takes just 30 minutes to cover its maximum 12,000km range and can deliver multiple strikes on any nuclear-capable state. The launch of China’s Dongfeng-41 (East Wind, DF-41) missile was registered by the US satellite tracking system in real time, the Washington Free Beacon reports, although the location of the launch was not immediately revealed. The launch was made from a new road-mobile platform, and is reportedly the seventh test-firing of the DF-41. American experts estimate the DF-41 to be an 80-ton, three-stage solid-fuel missile capable of carrying between six and 10 nuclear warheads.
Obama budgets $17,613 for every new illegal minor
USA - President Obama has budgeted $17,613 for each of the estimated 75,000 Central American teens expected to illegally cross into the United States this year, $2,841 more than the average annual Social Security retirement benefit, according to a new report.
The total bill to taxpayers: $1.3 billion in benefits to "unaccompanied children," more than double what the federal government spent in 2010, according to an analysis of the administration's programs for illegal minors from the Center for Immigration Studies. The average Social Security retirement benefit is $14,772.
What's more, the administration is also spending heavily on a program with the United Nations to help the illegal minors avoid the dangerous trip by declaring them refugees and handing them a plane ticket to the US where, once here, they get special legal status.
It said that most of the undocumented minors do not qualify for refugee status or are even in any danger in their native countries. Instead, they are seeking to unify with their family members, commonly parents in the United States illegally.
TTIP Leaks
NETHERLANDS - The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, with the aim of promoting trade and multilateral economic growth. Greenpeace Netherlands has released secret TTIP negotiation documents. We have done so to provide much needed transparency and trigger an informed debate on the treaty. This treaty is threatening to have far reaching implications for the environment and the lives of more than 800 million citizens in the EU and US. Whether you care about environmental issues, animal welfare, labour rights or internet privacy, you should be concerned about what is in these leaked documents. They underline the strong objections civil society and millions of people around the world have voiced: TTIP is about a huge transfer of power from people to big business.
Puerto Rico says it will default on Monday
PUERTO RICO - Puerto Rico is going to default. In a television address made Sunday, Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said the island's Government Development Bank would not make a $422 million payment due to its creditors by the end of business on Monday, according to Bloomberg.
Like many financially distressed governments around the globe — think Greece, for example — Puerto Rico has been faced with demands from creditors and their consultants that the island undertake drastic spending cuts to create surpluses large enough to meet debt obligations. The Padilla government has resisted these proposals. Garcia Padilla insists the US territory needs relief from debt payments.
A default would ratchet up pressure on the US Congress to find a legislative solution for Puerto Rico, which enters a key stretch in its fiscal saga, owing another $1.9 billion of debt on July 1, including about $777 million in general obligation debt backed by its constitution.
Toward a European Defense Union
GERMANY - For decades, Germany has supported the idea of a common European army. For various reasons, this target has not been accomplished. In the post–Cold War decades, the US commitment to European security and the relatively stable security environment relegated more ambitious European defense efforts to second-rank status.
Today, however, the long-term commitment of the United States is increasingly questioned, and Europe’s security environment has seen fundamental changes in the recent past. In light of the US turn toward the Asia-Pacific and the acceleration of instability in Europe’s Eastern and Southern neighborhoods, Germany has taken the lead in reviving enhanced European security cooperation and integration. Cooperative efforts are necessary in times of economic turmoil and the West’s relative decline on the global stage.
The creation of a European army is a long way off, but it is a strategic necessity to implement important steps to pave the way toward it now. Greater European security capabilities would enable the EU to carry out tasks that the United States is unlikely to take on in the future. In contrast to the early 2000s, Washington is now actively encouraging this process. In addition, greater military capabilities would make the EU more attractive as a US partner.
Germany’s role in enhanced European cooperation is to foster leadership as part of a responsible multilateral framework that allows smaller EU member states to boost their security efforts. Germany has the responsibility to generate basic capabilities that both the EU and NATO can deploy. The process toward a European army that would focus primarily on the EU’s Eastern and Southern neighborhoods is not just another altruistic call for more Europe. It is a strategic necessity.
China and Russia are boosting their military cooperation to try to contain the US
CHINA - China and Russia will increase military exercises to strengthen security and defence cooperation amid growing tensions in the disputed South China Sea. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu unveiled the plan at a meeting with his visiting Chinese counterpart Chang Wanquan on Wednesday, Tass news agency reported. “We highly appreciate a high level of Russian-Chinese contact both at the state and defence levels,” Shoigu said. “This year we are going to hold more exercises and events than in past years.” Speaking on the sidelines of an international security conference in Moscow, Shoigu said the two nations would conduct both ground and naval exercises.
US economy grinds to near-halt
USA - The US economy has slowed to its weakest pace in two years, as plunging oil prices and global anxiety brought growth to a near standstill. The economy grew by just 0.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), well below the 0.4 percent gain of the previous quarter, and the 0.2 percent rise anticipated by analysts. The disappointing performance marked the third straight year in which US GDP figures have missed the estimates made by forecasters. Economists attributed much of the weakness to sliding business investment, knocked by jitters over the global economy and weak oil prices.
PM making Germany wary of unconditional support for Israel
GERMANY - Der Spiegel says growing frustration with Netanyahu has led Berlin to conclude that a peace deal is impossible while he is in power. Germany is becoming increasingly frustrated with the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and this can be seen in a shift in Berlin’s attitude toward the Jewish state, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.
In a report in its latest edition, the weekly publication said that Merkel’s camp was “furious” at a leak of confidential consultations between Jerusalem and Berlin in the German capital in February, which subsequently appeared in the free Israel Hayom daily, owned by staunch Netanyahu supporter Sheldon Adelson.
Furthermore, the magazine said, the leaked details of Merkel’s remarks were “twisted” to give the impression that she supported Netanyahu’s position that a two-state solution with the Palestinians was currently unfeasible, whereas the chancellor had actually said that Israeli settlement construction “makes it unlikely that a viable Palestinian state can be established in accordance with plans aimed at a two-state solution.”
German army assumes leadership of military buildup against Russia
GERMANY - Seventy-five years after the June 22, 1941 attack by Germany on the Soviet Union, which resulted in the deaths of some 40 million Soviet citizens, the German government is planning to establish command structures and permanently station German Army (Bundeswehr) soldiers on Russia’s borders.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported Thursday on German government plans to deploy troops to Lithuania. An entire NATO battalion could be stationed in the country under German command, according to the report. Similar initiatives by the NATO military alliance are planned in other Eastern European NATO member-states.
A government spokesman told the newspaper that several allies were currently considering “stronger engagement as part of the reassurance of Eastern alliance partners and collective defence.” This review was taking account of “the relevant changes in the European security situation, particularly the security needs of Poland and the Baltic states.”
400 arrested as left wing protesters clash with far-right in Germany
GERMANY - Hundreds of left-wing protesters have clashed with people attending a far-right party conference in the German city of Stuttgart. Around 1,000 officers were deployed at the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party conference, as 400 arrests were made.
Demonstrators burned tires on a motorway and threw fireworks and flares at officers, according to a police spokesman. A police helicopter was sent to the scene, while water cannon and pepper spray were used on the crowds. The conference at the Stuttgart Exhibition Centre, which was attended by nearly 2,000 AfD members, was delayed by an hour.
Footage on social media showed the protesters shouting slogans such as: "Keep refugees, drive Nazis away!" and "We'll get you all." AfD, which wants to ban the burqa and outlaw minarets in Germany, is expected to announce that it is explicitly anti-Islamic during the meeting. The party was due to set out its manifesto ahead of country's general election next year. Proposals under consideration include withdrawing from the euro and the reintroduction of army conscription.
The anti-immigrant party won three key states in regional elections last month, claiming almost a quarter of the vote in the relatively poor eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. AfD is now represented in eight state legislatures.
As support widens for Jewish prayer on Temple Mount, should we fear apocalyptic consequences?
ISRAEL - With almost daily disturbances at the most contested and incendiary of holy sites, and with an increasing number of religious Zionists yearning for a Third Temple, Israeli activists walk a fine line between peaceful protest and provocation. But today, Israeli public perception of the ban on Jewish prayer has shifted. Through the fruits of a long-term concerted PR campaign, now using updated jargon calling for “freedom of religion” and “human rights,” the previously fringe Temple Mount movement — while still intent on fighting the status quo that is preventing Jewish prayer there — is increasingly mainstreamed. The movement that was once taboo and limited to extremist politicians has today garnered support from a who’s who of religious leaders, current MKs and even cabinet minister Uri Ariel, who has called for the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount.
China Will Not Allow War on Korean Peninsula
CHINA - On Tuesday, reports emerged of North Korea preparing to launch another medium-range ballistic missile. "China fully complies with the UN Security Council resolution on North Korea… We stand for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, call for maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, stand for resolving problems through dialogue," Xi Jinping said on Thursday.
In early January, North Korea successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test, putting a satellite into orbit a month later, in violation UN Security Council resolutions. In March, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that imposes additional sanctions on North Korea, aiming to affect multiple sectors of the country’s economy.
That same month North Korea conducted multiple short and medium-range rocket launches. "We will not allow for war and chaos to break out on the Korean Peninsula. This situation is not in the interests of any country," Xi Jinping stressed on Thursday.
China Successfully Tests Hypersonic Missile
CHINA - China successfully flight tested its new high-speed maneuvering warhead last week, days after Russia carried out its own hypersonic glider test, according to Pentagon officials.
The test of the developmental DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle was monitored after launch Friday atop a ballistic missile fired from the Wuzhai missile launch center in central China, said officials familiar with reports of the test. US intelligence officials have assessed that China plans to use the glider to deliver nuclear weapons through increasingly sophisticated missile defenses.
The DF-ZF also could be used as part of a conventional strategic strike weapon capable of hitting targets around the world within an hour. Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon strategic forces specialist, said the new Chinese hypersonic glider is a serious threat. “The Chinese probably see this as one of their ‘assassin’s mace’ weapons which are designed to defeat the US.”
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.
