12/9/14

China Takes Nuclear Weapons Underwater Where Prying Eyes Can’t See – Making Them Invulnerable to a First Strike

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

In this Aug. 28, 2014 photo, fishermen look at a Chinese nuclear submarine sails past...

In this Aug. 28, 2014 photo, fishermen look at a Chinese nuclear submarine sails past…

The Chinese are moving to make a first nuclear strike against them from anywhere on the planet impossible. The nearly invisible JIN class submarines armed with nuclear JL–2 ballistic missiles will be primed to take enemies down before they can launch an attack against China.

From Bloomberg:

The nuclear-powered subs will probably conduct initial patrols with the missiles by the end of this year, “giving China its first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent,” according to an annual report to Congress submitted in November by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Deploying the vessels will burnish China’s prestige as Xi seeks to end what he calls the “cold war” mentality that resulted in U.S. dominance of Asia-Pacific security. Since coming to power, Xi has increased military spending with a focus on longer-range capacity, including plans to add to the country’s tally of a single aircraft carrier.

“For the first time in history, China’s nuclear arsenal will be invulnerable to a first strike,” said independent strategist Nicolas Giacometti, who has written analysis for The Diplomat and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It’s the last leap toward China’s assured nuclear-retaliation capability.”

China’s nuclear-defense strategy is engineered to provide retaliation capability in the event of attack from nuclear powered nations as far away as the U.S. and also from Russia and India, according to Felix Chang, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.

I doubt China has anything to worry about from Russia, since they are both part of the new Axis of Evil. However, I am sure they consider India a potential threat and the US a definite threat. This is also to bolster the threat against Japan to stay in line and cede territory to the Chinese or else. It will almost assuredly guarantee their control of the East and South China Seas.

The US military command seems to be very naive regarding China and their military structure. They are not weak or confused and President Xi Jinping has an iron-fisted control over his troops and country. A strong communist, Xi is not only a strategist, he’s a tactician militarily speaking. To underestimate him as a ruler is a deadly mistake on our part. As far as China is concerned, it is none of the barbaric American’s business concerning their nuclear or military arsenals. The Chinese will educate us on them when we are confronted with an attack. From what I can tell, the Chinese have us beat in space, in cyberspace, in the skies, under the ocean, in nuclear weapons and in the general military arena currently thanks to Obama and his gutting of our military and nuclear forces. We’re begging for an attack.

Case in point:

“High-confidence assessments of the numbers of Chinese nuclear capable ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads are not possible due to China’s lack of transparency about its nuclear program,” the U.S. report to Congress said. The Pentagon hasn’t provided an estimate of the size of China’s nuclear warhead stockpile since 2006, according to the report.

China’s defense ministry did not reply to faxed questions about when regular patrols by nuclear-armed JIN-class submarines would begin, or China’s nuclear strategy.

The modernization of China’s nuclear forces is focused on improving the capacity to deter other nuclear powers, said Giacometti, speaking by phone from Brussels.

Until 2006, its only ballistic missile able to deliver a nuclear warhead to the continental U.S. was the liquid-fueled, silo-based DF-5A, he said. These were considered vulnerable because fueling takes a few hours during which the missile must remain in its silo. To protect them, China built mock silos and adopted a policy of secrecy that made a disarming first strike harder to execute.

In 2006, China introduced the land-based mobile DF-31A ballistic missiles, whose 6,959-mile (11,200 kilometer) maximum range could reach the U.S. The missiles are solid-fueled, so can be fired almost immediately if warheads are pre-fitted, Giacometti said.

Whereas land-based launchers could be detected and intercepted, nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines that rarely need to surface are much better at hiding from US assets. China currently has three Jin class submarines and will have two more by 2020. Each could carry 12 JL-2 missiles, which after a decade of development “appear to have reached initial operational capability.”

The JL-2 has a range of 4,598 miles. That means China’s nukes could reach the US from their subs. China could conduct nuclear strikes against Alaska if it unleashed the missiles from waters near China; against Alaska and Hawaii if launched from waters south of Japan; against Alaska, Hawaii and the western continental US if fired from waters west of Hawaii; and against all 50 US states if launched from waters east of Hawaii. We have no idea where China will patrol those subs. None at all. How’s that for intelligence? We think they will stay close to China’s coast initially, but with the wily Chinese, your guess is as good as mine.

We had better step up the modernization of our nuclear arsenals and nuclear subs before the Chinese get any funny Red Dawn ideas. The supposed experts out there really believe the Chinese will honor their “no-first-use” nuclear policy that states its weapons will only be used if China comes under nuclear attack. Idiots. When China feels they have enough of an upper hand and Russia and Iran come into play and are ready, well… the dance will begin and what fireworks there will be! Let’s hope it’s not before Obama leaves office.

12/9/14

The World Keeps Turning

Arlene from Israel

It’s official.  Last night the Knesset voted – 93 in favor, no votes against and no abstentions – to disband itself.  We are in a campaign period.  A huge amount of jockeying is now taking place with regard to possible mergers of parties, timing of the Likud primary (which Netanyahu hopes to push up to forestall challenges), and more.

But today I want to back away from the political circus and look at some of the issues that are paramount.  Sometimes it feels as if everything not connected to Israeli politics fades into the background during an election period.  But of course that is not the case: Things happen. Threats loom. Opportunities arise.

~~~~~~~~~~

A very good place to start is with the issue of Area C.   This area, as you will recall, was accorded full Israel administrative control – civil and security – under the Oslo Accords, with Area A under full PA control and Area B under PA civilian control and Israeli security control.

 

Credit:Israel street
All Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are in Area C, and Oslo did not restrict development by Israel in that area.  There are about 400,000 Jews in this area, and about 90,000 Arabs.

What is happening under our very noses is that illegal Arab construction is encroaching on this area.  In 2014, according to testimony given recently to the Subcommittee for Judea and Samaria of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, 16 times as many homes were erected illegally in the area by Arabs than by Jews, based per capita.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188349#.VIcUBJtxnIV

As Regavim explains it:

“…building initiatives specifically in Area C…[are done] with the intent of chipping away at this area bit by bit, and thus creating a strip of territory between the area of Hebron, Samaria, and Jericho. This strip would endanger the security of the State of Israel and its ability to defend itself within defensible borders.”

The Palestinian Authority has been advancing this illegal building “unilaterally since 2009, as part of its strategic plan to create a Palestinian state de facto, while avoiding the need for negotiations with Israel.” (Emphasis added)

This is a matter of considerable concern.  In part, we have responsibility for what is going on, for the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria, which is under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defense, has not acted forcefully in responding to this threat.

But there is another major factor involved:  The European Union has been blatantly underwriting this illegal building.

Now Regavim has released a position paper that is “the product of meticulous research, documentation and mapping of hundreds of residential structures which the European Union has built in a series of outposts in the Adumim area—the eastern corridor leading to Jerusalem from the Jordan Valley…it demonstrates clearly the purposeful change in the conduct of the European Union, as appears in their official documents, and analyses the significance of these illegal initiatives in the area.

“Between the lines, the hypocrisy of the European Union is exposed, blaming Israel for taking unilateral steps, whilst simultaneously being directly, deeply and heavily involved in illegal and unilateral activity to the benefit of the Palestinian Authority.” (Emphasis added)
http://regavim.org.il/en/eu-involvement-in-illegal-building-in-area-c-position-paper/

~~~~~~~~~~

For some time now, Minister Naftali Bennett (chair, Habayit Hayehudi) has been promoting a plan for the annexation of Area C of Judea and Samaria.  Under this plan, the Arabs in area C would be offered full citizenship.  All those beyond Area C would be given autonomy – an opportunity to control their own lives with regard to civil matters, which means running their own schools, electing their own mayors in their cities, etc. They would not have sovereignty – would not be given a full state.

~~~~~~~~~~

Just days ago, the Saban Forum was held in Washington DC. Run by the Saban Center for Near East Policy of the Brookings Institute.  Bennett traveled to participate in the Forum in order to promote his Area C plan.

Before I speak further about what he said at the Forum, I want to take a short detour: The Brookings Institute is one of a handful of very influential Washington DC non-governmental think tanks that has taken foreign money without reporting it. Taking the money is not illegal, but failing to report it very well may be.

See: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2014/11/do_major_think_tanks_violate_us_law_.html

It has been revealed that Qatar gave Brookings $14 million, at a time when Martin Indyk was vice president and director of foreign policy for Brookings. He was, during that time, also serving as US envoy to Israel, presumably able to take a fair or neutral stance in dealings Israel has with Palestinian Arabs.  But, as Jan Sokolovsky, author of the article cited here, wrote:

“To assume that the researchers and the think tanks are not influenced by the agenda of their donors belies common sense.”

This is important information to have in any event – lest inquiring individuals who are not privy to these facts take information coming from Brookings as “unbiased” research.

But here it is particularly relevant.  For Bennett spoke for 80 minutes at the Saban Forum, during which time it was Indyk who interviewed him extensively and then moderated a question and answer segment.  Professing great devotion to Israel, he is thoroughly and totally untrustworthy.  This is a man who would throw us under the bus gladly.

 

Credit: Brookings
~~~~~~~~~~

Bennett’s full statement can be found here:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/188315#.VIcoN5txnIV

It is instructive, spirited and encouraging.  Several times, he comes back at Indyk with strength. I recommend taking the time to see it.

At the very least, see this four minute segment that has some marvelous retorts to Indyk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5haOuQJALAY&feature=youtu.be

~~~~~~~~~~

There have not been any ghastly terror events in the last several days, thank Heaven. But this, of course, does not mean that terror is a thing of the past.  Knifings and other sorts of attacks that have not resulted in fatalities have taken a back seat to other news.  Yet I feel it is important to mention here what continues to go on.

Less than a week ago, there two Israelis were stabbed in a supermarket in Mishor Adumim, just outside of Jerusalem.  The attacker was shot dead.

Today, two terrorists – wanted by security forces because of reported intention to carry out attacks – were apprehended outside of Tekoa.  One of those apprehended, Muhammed Abu Eisha, is the nephew of one of the terrorists believed to have kidnapped and then killed the three students this summer. We see again that terror often is a family affair.

Most hair-raising, however, was the report less than two weeks ago of an extensive Hamas terror plot that involved several locations. The largest intended site was Teddy Stadium, Jerusalem’s main stadium.

Fans at Teddy Stadium watch Israel play England in 2013 (photo credit: Josh Kalman)

Credit: Josh Kalman

Over thirty terrorists were arrested; the network, which operated in Judea and Samaria, was directed by Hamas leadership that set up a command center in Turkey.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/shin-bet-busts-hamas-plot-to-attack-jerusalem-soccer-arena/

Not only is constant vigilance necessary.  The fact of such a plot teaches us once again that our security personnel absolutely must have the freedom to operate across Judea and Samaria.

~~~~~~~~~~

Briefly here, I turn from the horrors of Hamas to the horrors of Fatah, as embodied by Mahmoud Abbas.

Two days ago he made the declaration once again that he cannot recognize Israel as a Jewish state because it would undermine the “national interests” of Arabs who are Israeli citizens, and would prevent “Palestinian refugees” from returning to their homes.  “We cannot close the door to those who wish to return.”

Oh yes we can.  He’s talking about six million “refugees,” and his logic is, in and of itself, a sufficient argument for passing the Jewish law legislation.

I mention here, as well, that Israeli Arabs don’t have “national” rights – only individual human and civil rights.  What Abbas said was:

“We cannot recognize a Jewish state. We will stand against this enterprise, not out of obstinacy, but because it contradicts our interests. The first to suffer from this law would be the 1.5 million Arabs who would no longer belong to Israel, due to their religion.”

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/12/07/abbas-again-says-%e2%80%98we-cannot-recognize-a-jewish-state%e2%80%99/

Absolute and unmitigated nonsense.  The status of Arabs would not be affected by this legislation.

~~~~~~~~~~

Abbas prefers to represent himself as a “refugee” now.  But he’s on record as saying that his family left S’fat voluntarily:

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=568&fld_id=568&doc_id=9778

~~~~~~~~~~

He is making a great deal of his intentions to secure statehood unilaterally, via the Security Council, or to take one sort of drastic action or another if that fails.

~~~~~~~~~~

We close with a good news item:

The design for the National Library of Israel – done by the firm Herzog and de Meuron – has been revealed:

Israel Stadium by Herzog and de Meuron

Credit: Dezeen

It will be built within the complex that houses the Israel Museum; construction is scheduled to begin in 2016. Four of the buildings six stories will be underground. It will encompass, in addition to the library itself, research laboratories and offices, educational facilities, a visitor center, a multipurpose hall and a climate-controlled archive.

12/9/14

Trey Gowdy GRILLS Jonathan Gruber. Did You Apologize Because You Said It Or Meant It?

Hat Tip: BB

‘Body parts coming off’: Trey Gowdy takes sniveling Jonathan Gruber ‘to the woodshed’; Update: Video added

‘Sometimes I love Issa so hard’! Darrell Issa to Jonathan Gruber: ‘Are you stupid?’; Update: Video added

Obamacare’s Contracting Bonanza in 8 Charts

Gruber: I honestly do not recall

Gruber: I was not the architect of Obama’s health care plan

Trey Gowdy SCHOOLS Gruber on his ‘stupid’ comments – “Can you see why some think your apology is disingenuous?”

Jonathan Gruber ADMITTED That Obama Lied…They Knew It Would Not Control Costs!

12/9/14

Rabbi Lapin On Ferguson Rioters: ‘The Dark Pathology Of Liberalism … It’s Kristallnacht In Germany’

Hat Tip: BB

Rabbi Lapin on Ferguson Riots: Liberalism’s ‘Twisted Pathology … It’s Kristallnacht in Germany’

MSNBC’s Christian theology: Black men are like Jesus and white cops are like Romans that crucified Him

Sharpton: Blacks Can’t Act Decently Without More Government Payouts

Blacks throw violent tantrums over another non-controversy

The current crop of race riots will not make ordinary Americans more sympathetic to the plight of American blacks

Judge Jeanine spanks Obama for racism

12/9/14

CIA Torture Report Might Be Moot Issue If Not for Clapper

Bob McCarty Writes

If only people like Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. had not worked so hard to ban the use of our most-effective interrogation technology, the use of the words “CIA interrogation techniques” and “torture” in the same sentence would likely not be making headlines around the world today.

Click image above to order a copy of The Clapper Memo.

Instead, members of the national and international news media are in a tizzy about the long-awaited and much-anticipated release Tuesday of a CIA report on interrogation techniques used on suspected al-Qaeda detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Many Washington power brokers believe the report will spur attacks against American interests.

Read more  here…

12/9/14

Prog porn: Elizabeth Warren mug from Wonkette

By: Red Square
The People’s Cube

User avatar
Warren_Wonkette_Mug.jpg

No, comrades: this isn’t our work. This is life imitating the People’s Cube at Wonkette’s online store, among other visually agitating items we call “prog porn,” accompanied by this bizarre description:

Look at you, DRINKIN’ COFFEE! Tea is for losers. Who is yelling at the banks, because it is a day? Professorski Elizabeth Warrenovna, that is who! Let Professor Schoolmarm E. Dubs save your coffee, from the man!

How can you top that which is already over the top? Just recently we used to satirize progs by extrapolating their points to reveal the absurdity and immorality of their ideas. Today, they leave us no room for extrapolation – or for imagination for that matter – by removing the last remaining fig leaf and proudly exhibiting their own absurdity and immorality in all its anatomically correct, pornographic ugliness.

Prog porn is often the easy solution to dealing with life’s problems, but remember that it often causes the very problems from which you’re trying to escape and can be a more difficult addiction to break than traditional porn.

Five Stages of Addiction to Prog Porn

  1. Early exposure. Most prog porn addicts start early. They see the stuff when they are very young, and it gets its foot in the door.
  2. Addiction. You keep coming back to stare at prog porn. It becomes a regular part of your life. You’re hooked and can’t quit.
  3. Escalation. You start to look for increasingly hardcore prog porn and conspiracy theories that would have disgusted you when you started. Now it excites you.
  4. Desensitization. Eventually, you start to become numb. Even the most violent, cult-of-personality, labor-camp prog porn doesn’t excite you anymore. You become desperate to feel the same thrill again but can’t find it.
  5. Acting out proggishly. At this point, you make a dangerous jump and start acting out in the streets. You move from online prog porn to the real world, and possibly ask your parents to buy you a ticket to Ferguson, Mo.

Some of you reading this may have already developed an addiction to prog porn. If you see any of the above patterns in your life, you need to get a grip. Are you trolling online more frequently? Are you starting to be insulting or act out in the streets for proggish thrills? If you see yourself at any point on this progression, you need to take this test.

Quiz: Are You Addicted to Prog Porn?

Rate every answer as follows: Never: 0 | Occasionally: 1 | Often: 2 | Most of the time: 3

  • Do you spend more than 11 hours a week watching MSNBC?
  • Does your reading of the Huffington Post have a negative impact on your relationships?
  • Does trolling on the Internet get in the way of your work or seeing friends and family?
  • Do you ever choose to watch the Daily Show over hanging out with friends or family?
  • How often do you imagine yourself being Barack Obama as a way of making yourself feel less depressed or bored?
  • Do you ever feel like you should try to stop listening to NPR?
  • Do you ever have problems formulating your own original thoughts in a conversation?
  • Do you fantasize about what you’ve read on the Daily Cos to get in the mood for human interaction?
  • Have you discovered that now you need to visit Communist Party websites to get the same buzz?


SCORE


Under 8
– You’re probably not an addict, but if you come from a prog family, you could be at risk. Make sure you have intellectual experiences that are prog-porn-free and develop strategies for coping with stress and boredom, like getting a job.

9- 15 – Your habit borders on problematic – so cut back on TV and the Internet for a while so your dopamine levels can re-calibrate. If you’re having issues with your non-prog parents or your uncaring girlfriend, try facing them head on instead of escaping into the fantasy world of prog porn.

16-20 – You’re almost definitely an addict, one presidential election away from becoming a sociopath. If you’re noticing that prog porn is having a negative impact on your career or relationships, now is the time to seek out a 12-step group like Prog Porn Addicts Anonymous or at least sign up for The People’s Cube mailing list.

20+ – It may be too late for you to stop being a loser and have a meaningful human interaction. By now you probably don’t even enjoy MSNBC but you’re still inexplicably feel driven to watch it. What started as a joke to get back at your parents and stick it to The Man, turned into a habit and then into a curse. Try switching to being a traditional porn addict or a dysfunctional alcoholic – at least then you can get professional help.

12/9/14

Media Still Demonizing Police

By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

People are laughing at, and not with, comedian Jon Stewart, now that he has been caught by a District Attorney smearing police officers. But it’s really not very funny. The highly paid entertainer, who likes to mix comedy with his own liberal political views, as well as with profanity, recently launched a vicious rant against what he implied were racist police wantonly murdering black people on the streets of America. But Stewart was so eager to smear the police that his staff failed to do adequate research into the alleged cases of so-called police brutality he was citing on the air.

In alleging a series of cases of black victims of police brutality or outright murder, Stewart claimed that a black man named Dante Parker had been shot and killed by police in San Bernardino County. San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos immediately recorded a video setting the record straight. He said he had been flipping through the TV channels when he saw Stewart making his false accusations. “He was so wrong about those facts,” Ramos said of Stewart’s treatment of the Parker case. “They did not shoot him. They tasered him after he committed a burglary and he was attempting to assault a deputy sheriff, a sheriff who was losing that struggle and fighting for her life. We later found he was under the influence of many types of drugs, which was the cause of his death.”

The autopsy showed Parker was under the influence of PCP, and that he had heart disease and was obese.

Stewart has admitted he was “sloppy” with his charges and promised an apology, but he did not explain how he or his staff could have gotten the facts so radically wrong. Anti-cop bias helps explain the failure to simply Google the basic facts of the case.

Greta van Susteren of Fox News highlighted Stewart’s outrageous smear of the police, while saying, “When are people going to start speaking up for the men and women of law enforcement who risk their lives every day?!” She delivered a touching tribute to law enforcement, labeled “A reminder to charlatans who demonize all police.” She also interviewed DA Ramos.

Yet, appearing on the Fox News program “The Five,” she had earlier offered the canard in the Eric Garner case that he had been subjected to the “death penalty” by the police for selling cigarettes. It was the same dubious claim offered by Megyn Kelly on her Fox program.

She said, “This man was unarmed, he was selling cigarettes—I mean this wasn’t robbery, he was selling cigarettes—you have several cops…standing around him and when he said, ‘I can’t breathe,’ that would have been a great invitation to stop…We don’t do the death penalty for selling cigarettes illegally on the streets.”

The death penalty is a punishment for criminals who deliberately murder people. She was implying that the cops killed Garner with premeditation, an outrageous and false charge for which she and Kelly ought to apologize.

This smear was almost as objectionable as Stewart’s slam.

Eric Wemple of The Washington Post wrote a story, “Cable news outlets come out of the gate united on Eric Garner case,” noting that Van Susteren and other Fox News personalities had joined forces with liberal commentators to criticize the police in the Garner case. Her comments were featured on a liberal YouTube channel.

On another occasion, perhaps after giving the case some additional review, Van Susteren appeared to reverse her position somewhat, noting that Garner was an asthmatic who was obese and had heart disease, and that these health problems may have played a significant role in his death.

As part of her irresponsible claim that the cops used the “death penalty” on Garner, Van Susteren repeated another major canard in the case—that Garner was subjected to a chokehold.

But Bo Dietl, a retired New York Police Department (NYPD) detective, had argued in an August 14, 2014, New York Post column that Garner was subjected to a headlock, not a chokehold. “To be a chokehold, there must be constant pressure on the person’s neck, compressing his windpipe or cutting off the flow of blood to the carotid artery, rendering him unconscious,” he noted. Garner was not unconscious, as shown by his complaints to the police about not being able to breathe.

Several observers have noted that criminals typically accuse the police of brutality when they are taken down against their will. Garner could have avoided all of this by simply letting the police take him into custody. He had been arrested 31 times and knew the routine.

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch held a news conference on the controversy and said that Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo was simply attempting to take Garner into custody using a technique he learned in the police academy.

He said, “While we are pleased with the grand jury’s decision, there are no winners here today.  There was a loss of life that both a family and a police officer will always have to live with. It is clear that the officer’s intention was to do nothing more than take Mr. Garner into custody as instructed and that he used the take-down technique that he learned in the academy when Mr. Garner refused. No police officer starts a shift intending to take another human being’s life and we are all saddened by this tragedy.”

Pantaleo said, “I became a police officer to help people and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. It is never my intention to harm anyone and I feel very bad about the death of Mr. Garner. My family and I include him and his family in our prayers and I hope that they will accept my personal condolences for their loss.”

The grand jury in the case declined to indict the officer because his actions were consistent with police procedures and the law.