Sunday, November 20, 2011

Rumors of War: "The Time Has Come"

Today Israel takes it up a notch:

"Time has come" to act on Iran, Israel says

The "time has come" to deal with Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday, refusing to rule out military action to curb the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.

Barak, speaking on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS program, indicated that Israel's patience was wearing thin -- and provided an ominous response when asked about the growing speculation of an Israeli military strike.

"I don't think that that is a subject for public discussion," he said. "But I can tell you that the IAEA report has a sobering impact on many in the world, leaders as well as the publics, and people understand that the time has come."

"People understand now that Iran is determined to reach nuclear weapons," said Barak. There is "no other possible or conceivable explanation for what they have been actually doing. And that should be stopped."

The IAEA report -- based on "broadly, credible" intelligence, its own information and some input from Iran itself -- said that Iran had examined how to fit out a Shahab 3 missile, with a range capable of reaching Israel, with a nuclear warhead.


Meanwhile, Iran makes preparations:

Iran conducts 4-day air defense drill

The Iranian army was set to launch an air defense drill Friday evening simulating an attack on the country's nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

According to the regime's mouthpiece, the four-day drill will be held in eastern Iran and stress "the characteristics of the Islamic Republic's defense doctrine in the framework of the heightened air defense alert level."

The report said the drill will include the use of "missile systems, advanced anti-aircraft artillery and various radar systems, as well as "tactical maneuvers aimed at increasing the level of preparedness amid possible threats to the Islamic homeland's airspace, particularly with regards to the country's...nuclear centers."


Meanwhile, the situations in both Syria and Egypt are worsening:

New phase in uprising? Syrian rebels launch first attack in capital

At least two rocket-propelled grenades hit a building belonging to the ruling Baath party in Damascus on Sunday, residents said, in the first insurgent attack reported inside the Syrian capital since an eight-month uprising began against President Bashar Assad.

The Syrian Free Army, comprised of army defectors and based in neighboring Turkey, claimed responsibility for the attack, just as Assad vowed in an interview to crush the insurgency and pursue a crackdown on protests demanding his removal that has killed 3,500 people, by a U.N. count.

Damascus-based journalist Thabet Salem, who lives about 1100 yards away from the Baath party building and heard the explosions, said if the reports are confirmed, it would signal a new phase in the Syrian uprising.

"It would be an escalation that gives a new dimension to the whole situation," he said.


Syria's uprising against Assad has grown more violent and militarized in recent weeks, as frustrated protesters see the limits of peaceful action.

Army dissidents who sided with the protests have also grown more bold, fighting back against regime forces and even assaulting military bases.

The so called Free Syrian Army group of dissident soldiers this week staged their boldest operation yet, attacking a military intelligence building in a Damascus suburb.


Police burn protest tents to clear Cairo's Tahrir

Egyptian soldiers and police set fire to protest tents in Cairo's Tahrir Square and fired tear gas and rubber bullets in a major assault Sunday to drive out thousands demanding that the military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government. At least 11 protesters were killed and hundreds were injured.

It was the second day of clashes marking a sharp escalation of tensions on Egypt's streets a week before the first elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February.

Street battles continued throughout the day and long into the night, spreading to side streets and sending a wave of injuries to makeshift clinics on the streets.

The military, which took over from Mubarak, has repeatedly pledged to hand power to an elected civilian government, but has yet to set a specific date. The protests over the past two days have demanded a specific date be set.


And if the above isn't enough, it looks like Israel may be planning an incursion into Gaza:

Jordan's Abdullah in Ramallah for talks on Syria, Hamas, Israel-Palestinian issue

Factored into this squeeze on Assad were the warnings Israel's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz twice addressed to the Hamas rulers of Gaza in the last ten days: He has said the IDF will no longer put up with missile attacks by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip disrupting life in southern Israel.

Sunday, he spoke of the coming military operation against Gaza and said it would be would be instigated by Israel and be "orderly and painful."

These warnings carried a message to Abbas that the IDF was poised for a military operation against Hamas which would scuttle any understanding he forged with the Palestinian fundamentalists and he would be smart to back down in good time.


The simple fact that somehow, the lid has been kept on this simmering pot for so long, without it boiling over is almost a miracle itself. The question is - how much longer can the Middle East go without a tipping point being reached?

11 comments:

  1. Wow. That's all I can say. All this in one day?

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  2. Cue the doc 3...2...1...

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  3. Yep - He'll be here Dylan - He gets a special alarm that goes off with every misspelling :)

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  4. Joining Dylan for a Wow squared.

    Ya just kinda get the feeling of the longer it waits and more pressure that builds up, the bigger its gonna blow.

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  5. yea, I definitely get a sense that this can't possibly go on much longer before igniting.

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  6. You watch the anti-Zionist Christians get all upset and offended when Israel disinfects Gaza of the terrorist vermin. They may even re-annex Gaza. Now that would upset the world body.

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  7. Times of the Signs

    TEST ALL THINGS, HOLD FAST TO THAT WHICH IS GOOD!

    So that you are thoroughly immersed in the Word and can clearly understand God’s views on these subjects, please take time to read the following scriptures for your own encouragement and edification. The Word of God is our only defensive weapon to fight against the schemes and teachings of the Devil. Guard yourself with what God has said. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:19-23)

    Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:33-37)

    And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

    Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (II Thessalonians 2:15)

    Cont.

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  8. Times of the Signs

    I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (II Timothy 4:1-8)

    And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

    Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. (II Corinthians 10:1-6)

    Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (I John 4:1)

    Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. (James 1:16-17)

    http://www.spiritual-research-network.com/dangers_toils_and_snares.html

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  9. I get the feeling that when this thing blows, we're going to remember where we were or what we were doing just as people remember what they were doing when Kennedy was assassinated and the space shuttle exploded.

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  10. Sue, beautiful and inspiring Scripture...to be sure. Thank you!

    Geared....agree completely. To us, we will know instinctively just what it means. Most of the world won't, I'm afraid.

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  11. I'll echo what Caver said -

    Many thanks for those timely scriptures Sue

    And Geared - good point, you are probably exactly right about that.

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