Russia to Continue to Modernize, Develop Its Strategic Nuclear Forces

Russia to Continue to Modernize, Develop Its Strategic Nuclear

Sputnik

Russia will continue to modernize and develop its strategic nuclear forces, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. 

"We will certainly continue to modernize and develop our strategic nuclear forces, creating missile systems with increased combat power, capable of penetrating all current and future anti-ballistic missile systems," Putin said at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology.

On Tuesday, Commander of Russia's strategic missile forces, Colonel General Sergei Karakaev reported to President Vladimir Putin about the successful test launch of the Sarmat missile. 

Russia's latest Sarmat missile is the most powerful missile system in the world, with a total capacity of more than four times that of any Western equivalent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. The missile’s flight range could exceed 35,000 kilometers (21,748 miles), he added. 

Speaking on Tuesday, Putin highlighted that Russia is developing advanced weapons systems with no analogues worldwide

Ireland Convicts 78-Year-Old Preacher For Preaching Near Abortion Clinic

Ireland Convicts 78-Year-Old Preacher For Preaching Near Abortion Clinic

Jonathan Turley,

Ireland is finally safe.

Clive Johnston has been convicted and can no longer menace the public.

Johnson, 78, is a retired pastor who committed the heinous offense of preaching near the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.

That was considered within the “safe access zone” under Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act.

The Act prohibits “influencing,” “preventing or impeding access,” or “causing harassment, alarm or distress” to a protected person within 100 meters (about 328 feet) of facilities where abortions are performed.

So Johnson was found guilty of “influencing” inside the protected zone and fined 450 pounds (about $614).

Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service told Fox News Digital, “The defendant was found guilty and convicted by the court of doing an act in a safe access zone with the intent of or being reckless as to whether it had the effect of influencing a protected person attending the premises; and failing to comply with a direction to leave a safe access zone.”

The language of the law is absurdly vague and abusively broad. What constitutes an “influence” is undefined and could include any religious, political, or social exchange. Would it include encouragements to have abortions?

It is equally perverse to treat praying or preaching the same as blocking or impeding access to a clinic. Finally, a hospital engages in a wide array of activities that raise religious or political issues that can be the subject of free speech.

We previously saw several cases in the United Kingdom where people were arrested for silently praying near abortion clinics.

For its part, Ireland has been a leader in censorship and the criminalization of speech. As the leader of the Irish Green Party proclaimed, “We are restricting freedom for the public good.”

By the way, his offense was reading John 3:16, including “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

What could perish in Ireland and the United Kingdom is free expression as speech regulators target bad influences under time, place, and manner laws.

Rubio: China has ‘interest to resolve’ Gulf turmoil, needs to do more to change Iran’s behavior

Rubio: China has ‘interest to resolve’ Gulf turmoil, needs to do more to change Iran’s behavior

By REUTERS and TOI STAFF

The United States hopes to convince China to play a more active role in trying to persuade Iran to walk away from what it is doing in the Gulf, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in an interview aired on Fox News.

Rubio makes the comments in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, noting that China has ships in the Gulf, one of which was struck by Iran over the weekend.

“I’m sure Iran didn’t do it deliberately but they did it, it happened,” Rubio says. “And so that’s why these Chinese ships are stuck in there.”

He adds that Iran’s behavior is “a huge source of instability. It threatens to destabilize Asia more than any other part of the world because it’s heavily reliant on the straits for energy.”

Rubio also argues that China has an economic interest in getting shipping to flow through the Strait of Hormuz again, as if other countries are struggling, “they are going to be buying less Chinese product and the Chinese exports are going to drop precipitously.”

More...

The Sixth Seal Judgment: Prophesying a Coming Nuclear Apocalypse?

The Sixth Seal Judgment: Prophesying a Coming Nuclear Apocalypse?

Dr. Nathan E. Jones

The Bible warns that terrible times are coming soon, bringing a sudden end to our current age. For example, Isaiah the prophet warned the world: “Behold, Yahweh empties the earth to destruction, eviscerates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants” (Isaiah 24:1).

The Lord Jesus revealed even more details: “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26). Jesus pointed out how severe the prophesied danger will be, “For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will” (Matthew 24:21). 

He also added just how high the stakes are for life surviving this coming catastrophe, “And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short” (Matthew 24:22). Jesus did provide hope, for as the world faces its darkest hour, “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to happen, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:27-28).

Paul the apostle predicted that when the world believes it has achieved peace, in truth, it will be completely unaware of the horrors about to befall it. He said, “While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman who is pregnant, and they will never escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

The Bible prophesies that in the end times, the world will increasingly experience chaos, destruction, and death, culminating in a seven-year judgment period called the Tribulation. Especially before our Lord returns to defeat His enemies and establish His kingdom, the book of Revelation describes how the oceans and lakes will be poisoned, the grass and trees burned, and people scorched by the sun’s intense heat. At the same time, humanity will suffer from severe plagues, widespread wars and famines, and an atmosphere so polluted that visibility decreases by a third.

The first seven of the 21 judgments prophesied in the book of Revelation are known as the seal judgments. They initiate the Tribulation by pouring out God’s wrath on the world’s inhabitants as punishment for their sins. 

The first five seal judgments will release a one-world ruler who will conquer through world war, and the aftermath will bring disease, famine, and death. A severe persecution of those who accept Jesus as Savior after the Rapture will break out; they are likely to be used as scapegoats for the world’s suffering. These judgments will kill a quarter of the world’s population, which is roughly 2 billion people today.

As shocking as these first five seal judgments are, they will be followed by an even worse one—the sixth. John the apostle recorded the future horror he was commanded to witness.

Then I looked when He [Jesus] opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17)

We read here that to escape such unimaginable destruction, the earth’s population will fearfully flee underground to caves. Deep beneath the mountains, they will cry out in great distress for the rocks to fall and hide them from Christ’s wrath. Revelation 6 genuinely depicts a nightmare scene of such catastrophic global carnage that it closely resembles what we envision a nuclear holocaust to be like.

Author Nicholas Wade, in his book World Beyond Healing (1987), provides a graphic picture of the physics of an exploding nuclear bomb:

The explosion of a nuclear weapon is an event of immense power… Within a fraction of a millionth of a second, the nuclear materials and casing of a one megaton weapon are transformed into a packet of energy five times hotter than the center of the sun. Out of this mini-sun bursts a flash of X-rays so intense that the air for several feet around the weapon is heated into an incandescent ball. This little fireball, only a few millionths of a second old, contains the vaporized contents of the weapon, and a vast flux of energy created by the fission and fusion reactions of the nuclear explosion. So immense an amount of energy packed into a tiny space creates temperatures of 100 million degrees centigrade and pressures of millions of pounds per square inch. A violent expansion begins. In less than a thousandth of a second, the fireball of a one-megaton weapon has grown to 440 feet across. In ten seconds, the fireball is more than a mile in diameter.

More....

Iran’s deepening water crisis threatens 35 million as economy buckles under US pressure, mounting domestic strain

Iran’s deepening water crisis threatens 35 million as economy buckles under US pressure, mounting domestic strain

 Ailin Vilches Arguello,

As talks with the United States over a possible deal to end the war remain uncertain, Iran’s economy is under mounting strain, with prolonged water shortages, pressure on energy infrastructure, and slowing industrial output deepening what authorities describe as an “economic war.”

With Iran entering the summer months amid a deepening water and electricity crisis, government officials estimate that around 35 million people will face water shortages, intensifying concerns over deteriorating living conditions, mounting economic strain, and daily hardship across the country.

On Monday, Issa Bozorgzadeh, a spokesman for the country’s water industry, reported that rainfall has fallen “below normal” levels across 11 provinces, warning that Tehran is among the worst affected as it enters its sixth consecutive year of drought.

Now, Iranian authorities are urging citizens to cut consumption and adopt stricter usage habits, pointing to deep structural failures in the water and power sectors as public frustration rises over supply disruptions, mismanagement, and declining living standards.

Officials have also announced planned summer power outages, warning that the deepening energy crisis could lead to factory shutdowns, reduced industrial output, rising unemployment, and higher prices.

On Sunday, Arash Najafi, head of the Energy Commission of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, noted that household, commercial, and office blackouts are likely to continue daily throughout the summer, while the industrial sector will continue to be targeted for power cuts” or “will continue to bear the brunt of power cuts.

“The Islamic Republic will be forced to impose electricity consumption restrictions for about 120 days, and given the lack of effective means for people to significantly reduce usage, this will result in widespread blackouts,” the Iranian official said in a statement.

Even as the crisis continues to weigh heavily on the Iranian people, a nationwide internet blackout remains in place, having exceeded 1,728 hours as of Monday, after authorities imposed the shutdown more than two months ago, effectively isolating millions of Iranians from independent reporting on the war and access to global news

More...