Gazette 102813

Monday October 28th 2013

Syria submits arms destruction plan

Syria has handed in a plan for the destruction of its chemical weapons to the watchdog monitoring the process.

In a statement, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons (OPCW) said the declaration was submitted three days ahead of schedule.
OPCW inspectors are also due to complete visiting the last four of 23 weapons sites declared by Syria.
The OPCW's mission was set up following outrage at a chemical weapons attack near the Syrian capital in August.
Sixty inspectors have been in Syria since 1 October. The OPCW, which is based in The Hague, said on Friday that its team in Syria had visited 19 of the 23 sites disclosed by Syria.

'Grand Day of Death to America' rally planned in Iran

Militant factions in Iran are reportedly planning a sweeping rally titled, “Grand Day of Death to America,” to coincide with the 24th anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Embassy there.
According to The National, Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri is saying the planned Nov. 4 convocation outside the long-shuttered and now-graffiti-covered diplomatic institution in the capitol city of Tehran will be organized by a newly created bureaucratic body called the “Death to the U.S. Committee.”
“The crimes of U.S. leaders and international Zionism in dealing with Iran’s great nation will never be erased from public memories and minds,” reportedly noted Jazayeri, the deputy commander for cultural affairs of Iran’s hard-line and influential Revolutionary Guard.
And the event will not be without events to occupy a crowd officials promise will number in the many thousands.

Israel Shoots Down Rocket Fired From Gaza

JERUSALEM, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets at a southern Israeli coastal city on Monday and Israel's Iron Dome interceptor shot down one while the other fell into the sea, a military spokeswoman said.
Within hours, Israel's air force bombed what a military spokesman described as two concealed rocket launchers in northern Gaza. There were no casualties.
The pre-dawn salvo against Ashkelon, about 12 km (7 miles) north of Gaza, was unusual given the relative restraint of Palestinian militants since last November's war between the coastal enclave's Islamist Hamas rulers and the Jewish state.
There was no claim of responsibility for Monday's launches.
They may have been meant to spoil the U.S.-sponsored peace talks that Hamas's rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, resumed with Israel in July. To bolster Abbas, Israel is due to free 26 Palestinian prisoners this week. [ID: nL5N0IH0PG]
During the previous prisoner release, in August, Gaza militants fired rockets across the border and Israel responded with air strikes.
Hamas has called on Abbas, who holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to abandon peacemaking and form a new Palestinian power-sharing government.
The Islamist faction has also signalled readiness to go to war, taking responsibility last week for a tunnel which the Israelis discovered running into their territory from Gaza and said was likely intended for kidnapping soldiers or setting off underground explosives. 

Afghan soldier killed after opening fire on Nato troops

Afghan fired three rounds before being shot dead by Australian soldiers after row with foreign trainer from Kabul's Sandhurst-style training complex

An Afghan soldier has been killed after opening fire on a foreign trainer from Afghanistan's Sandhurst-inspired officer academy, meant as Britain's main legacy, just days after its first recruits enrolled for class.
The Afghan was shot after having an argument with a trainer from New Zealand and two Australian soldiers, all three of whom were also injured in the skirmish.
The shooting casts a shadow over the start of the first term at the academy, which has been described as a Sandhurst-inspired complex. An initial class of 230 recruits began training last week, with journalists invited to see them put through their paces and tour the tents serving as temporary classrooms while work finishes on the permanent buildings.
Eventually it could train up to 1,500 men and women a year, with 120 UK mentors supported by instructors from Australia, New Zealand, Norway and Denmark. The brief gunfight broke out after the trainer had visited a nearby building at the Afghan National Defence University site in the mountainous western outskirts of Kabul. The UK-funded National Army Officers' Academy nestles by five other colleges including a foreign languages centre and a sergeants' training academy.
Following an argument, the Afghan soldier fired three rounds before being shot dead by the Australian soldiers who had been assigned to guard the trainer.
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IAF strikes underground rocket launchers in Gaza following rocket attacks on Israel

Israel strikes in response to 2 rockets fired at southern Israel from Gaza, one of which Iron Dome intercepts over Ashkelon; comes day after mortar fire from Gaza hits South and coincides with Palestinian prisoner release.

The Israel Air Force struck two underground rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday morning in response to earlier rocket fire on the Ashkelon region.
Palestinian sources reported that the IAF strike targeted a site belonging to Hamas's Kassam Brigades terrorist group.
No injuries were reported in the IAF strike, according to Palestinian news agency Ma'an.
Earlier on Monday, the Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted a Palestinian projectile fired from the Gaza Strip toward  the southern city of Ashkelon, the IDF said.
A second Palestinian rocket slammed into an uninhabited area in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council area, an army spokeswoman added.
There were no injuries or damage in the attacks, which triggered a Color Red rocket alert.
The rocket fire came a day after two mortar shells fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel and coincided with the announcement of the names of 26 Palestinian security prisoners set to be released by Israel on Tuesday.

Bombs kill 5 before rally for Indian PM candidate Narendra Modi

Mumbai: At least five people died and 50 were injured as seven bombs exploded in the Indian city of Patna hours before Narendra Modi, a prime ministerial candidate, addressed an election rally.
The first blast was at the city's train station, while six more low-intensity explosions went off near the venue of the political gathering organised by the nation's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, CNN-IBN television channel said on Sunday. Images showed thick white smoke rising from one of the bomb sites.
The federal government has sent probe teams to Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar, as it awaits a report from local authorities, Junior Home Minister R.P.N. Singh told reporters in New Delhi yesterday. No group or individual has claimed responsibility yet.
The latest string of blasts is the second in three months in Bihar after nine explosions in July rocked one of Buddhism's holiest shrines. India had been targeted at least 11 times by terrorists since November 2008, when the government pledged to improve policing and intelligence gathering after Pakistani gunmen killed 166 people during a three-day siege of Mumbai, the country's financial centre.

Senior Iranian official pledges 'new approach' in dealings with the UN nuclear agency

A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator says his country is taking a "new approach" with the U.N.'s nuclear agency, which is concerned about allegations that Tehran secretly worked on atomic arms.

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi offered no details ahead of a meeting Monday with Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. But his remarks suggested that Iran was coming to deadlocked talks between the agency and Iranian diplomats with fresh proposals.
Those talks resume later Monday. IAEA attempts to probe the allegations of covert Iranian nuclear arms development have been stalled for about two years.
Iran says it does not want — and never worked on — such weapons.
Amano described his meeting as important in addressing "the outstanding issues regarding Iran's nuclear program."

Romania works on missile shield base

Romania has started building a base which will form part of a controversial US ballistic missile defence system.

The plan is to have the Deveselu base in southern Romania operational in 2015. It will house SM-3 interceptor missiles and radar equipment.
The US government says the missiles will have no offensive capability and only target incoming ballistic missiles launched by a hostile power.
Iran is seen as a potential threat. But the US plan has also angered Russia.
The US Department of State says the shield - called the "Aegis Ashore System" - is a response by the Nato military alliance to "the increasing threats posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles from the Middle East".
The new Romanian facility would help protect Washington's European allies from a "rogue" missile attack, US officials argue.

U.S. charges Briton with hacking into military, other networks

U.S. authorities have charged a hacker in England with breaching thousands of computer systems, including military networks, to steal massive amounts of confidential data.
Lauri Love, 28, was charged with one count of accessing a U.S. department or agency computer without permission, and one count of conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey said.
Love, who lives in the Suffolk village of Stradishall, was arrested on Friday by authorities including Britain’s National Crime Agency in a separate investigation, Fishman said.
U.S. prosecutors allege that between October, 2012, and October, 2013, Love and co-conspirators placed hidden “shells” or “back doors” within the hacked networks, allowing them to return later to steal data.
Among the networks they hacked into were those of the U.S. Department of Defence’s Missile Defence Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. prosecutors said.
Information accessed included budgeting data, the disposal of military facilities and personal information on thousands of people including military personnel, they said.
Love also intruded into networks belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. prosecutors alleged.
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 Rand Paul: 'Audit the Fed' Before New Chief Approved

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who already has called several times for a full audit of the Federal Reserve, the quasi-public organization that largely controls U.S. monetary policy, now is tying his effort to Obama’s nominee to the Fed chairmanship.
Paul, whose father, former congressman Ron Paul, sought for years an audit of the Fed, confirmed Friday that as “part of Senate consideration of the Janet Yellen nomination to be chair of the Fed,” he will ask for a positive response to his “Transparency Act.”
The Fed’s current chairman, Ben Bernanke, is expected to step down Jan. 31. Yellen now is the vice chairman.
She needs Senate confirmation, however, and now the senator is linking her prospects to garnering more information about the Fed, which largely has operated behind a screen of secrecy since it was created almost 100 years ago.

US bugged Merkel's phone from 2002 until 2013, report claims

The US has been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone since 2002, according to a report in Der Spiegel magazine.

The German publication claims to have seen secret documents from the National Security Agency which show Mrs Merkel's number on a list dating from 2002 - before she became chancellor.
Her number was still on a surveillance list in 2013.
Meanwhile Washington has seen a protest against the NSA's spying programme.
Several thousand protesters marched to the US Capitol to demand a limit to the surveillance. Some of them held banners in support of the fugitive former contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed the extent of the NSA's activities.
'No-spy deal' The nature of the monitoring of Mrs Merkel's mobile phone is not clear from the files, Der Spiegel says.
For example, it is possible that the chancellor's conversations were recorded, or that her contacts were simply assessed.
Germany is sending its top intelligence chiefs to Washington in the coming week to "push forward" an investigation into the spying allegations, which have caused outrage in Germany.

Europeans Furious Over U.S. Spying, 21 Nations Prepare to Take Action

Europe fell in love with Obama the moment he was elected, celebrating his message of diplomacy and mutual trust among nations. The relationship has since grown cold, amid allegations that the U.S. has been spying on its European allies all along.

The U.S. ambassador in Berlin has been summoned to the foreign ministry over reports in Der Spiegel that the U.S. National Security Administration (NSA) monitored Chancellor Angela Merkel’s official cellphone. His counterpart in Paris received a similar summons earlier this week after revelations in Le Monde.
Both Der Spiegel and Le Monde used documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, lamented a “grave breach of trust.” One of Chancellor Merkel’s closest allies, Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told broadcaster ARD there would be consequences.
“We can’t simply turn the page,” he warned.

When asked about allegations that the U.S. spied on Chancellor Merkel, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would neither confirm nor deny the action.
European lawmakers stated that they knew that America was spying on them but until this week’s revelations, they did not know that it was to such a large extent. Earlier this week, European lawmakers voted to strengthen measures to protect citizens from NSA snooping.
On Thursday, Germany joined forces with Brazil, who recently denounced NSA espionage as a “breach of international law,” to promote the adoption of a U.N. resolution that would promote the right to privacy on the internet.
And now, 21 nations have lined up in the United Nations to draft a right of Internet privacy while the furor over the U.S. spying on at least 35 world leaders comes to a head. Remember when Obama the Nobel Peace Prize winner boasted about “restoring America’s standing in the world”?

Obama knew of NSA spying on Merkel and approved it, report says

President Barack Obama knew of the organization’s spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel – and approved of the efforts, a National Security Agency official has reportedly told a German newspaper.
The Economic Times writes the “high-ranking” NSA official spoke to Bild am Sonntag on the condition of anonymity, saying the president, “not only did not stop the operation, but he also ordered it to continue.”
The Economic Times also reports the official told Bild am Sonntag that Obama did not trust Merkel, wanted to know everything about her, and thus ordered the NSA to prepare a dossier on the politician.
The account could mean difficulties for the White House, given another report claiming Obama told Merkel during a telephone conversation last Wednesday he was not aware of the NSA’s spying.
The Economic Times cited Frankfuter Allgemeine Zeitung in writing that when Merkel called Obama last week to alternately complain -- and get an explanation -- about the NSA surveillance, the president assured her he wasn’t aware of the campaign regarding her, and would have halted it, had he known.
According to The New York Times, Susan E. Rice, the president’s national security adviser, insisted that Obama did not know about the monitoring of Merkel’s phone, during a call last week with Christoph Heusgen, Rice’s German counterpart.
The unnamed NSA official's allegations delve deeper into a Saturday report, published by the German magazine Der Spiegel, claiming the U.S. spy agency has monitored Merkel’s phone since 2002, or even before she rose to her country’s chief executive position and was only an opposition leader.

Obamacare Catastrophe Reveals Barack’s Entire Paper-Mache Fantasy World

An epiphany is a moment of utter revelation when previously confused subjects suddenly become clear. The moment the grand-opening curtain fell from the ObamaCare project was a time of stunning enlightenment when, in a flash, every important aspect of Barack’s character, agenda, and method suddenly came into focus.

And the summary? Barack is clueless, a huckster, an utter fraud, a talentless grifter, the living apotheosis of the Peter Principle—literally incapable of leadership. Virtually every idea Barack has attempted is either impossible or has failed upon inception. Further, his tenure is a grave danger to the future of the American nation and the lack of a movement for his removal is the strongest argument that USA will eventually fall.

But Barack is certainly not the only failed Leftist leader who created a future vision out of cotton candy and sugar cubes. In fact, every notable socialist or Marxist leader left a train of destruction and utter chaos in his wake. What is the reason for this? Folks on the Left will certainly have their explanations. Perhaps it is because chasing the goals of Marx is the closest modern pursuit of the ideas which motivated the medieval fixation on alchemy—attempting to convert garbage into gold. What is described below is a failure of ideology, using both Barack and the hero of his staff—Chairman Mao Zedong—as an example of the pitfalls of ideologically driven, fact blind, revolutionary change.

Cocaine and Codependency: The dysfunctional Obama White House

Barack Obama’s press conference from the White House yesterday spoke volumes about what kind of man this president truly is. Our narcissistic, manchild, petulant president used terms like “holding hostage,” “ransom,” “burn down your house,” “chaos,” “a nuclear bomb,” etc. Obama was unhinged and barely in control, lashing out at Republicans in Congress (that he refuses to negotiate with) because they won’t just roll over and give him everything he wants. Simply put, the press conference yesterday was a temper tantrum from a very narcissistic baby.
Early this year we read about the theory that perhaps Barack Obama’s absence the night Benghazi burned could explained by the notion that the president was getting high on cocaine with his pal Reggie Love. This theory was put forth by a blogger named Kevin DuJan, who suggested the president’s behavior was consistent with what he knew of the behavior of someone who is addicted to illegal drugs, perhaps cocaine. Obama himself, in his autobiography, admitted to past cocaine use.
I have no doubt that yesterday’s behavior at that press conference could well be the behavior of a cocaine addict. This web site, in part says such an addict would, “Over time, crack/cocaine abusers may become secretive, unreliable and dishonest. They may exhibit dramatic mood swings, depression, or psychotic behavior, due to the neurological effects of the drug.”
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