Saturday, February 18, 2012

Saturday Headlines:

U.S. Drones Flying Over Syria To Monitor Crackdown

The United States is flying unmanned reconnaissance planes over Syria to monitor the regime's escalating crackdown on dissent, U.S. defense officials told NBC television on Saturday.

The drones are being used to gather evidence on the Syrian security forces' violence against pro-democracy protesters that can be used to "make a case for a widespread international response," the U.S.-based broadcaster quoted the unnamed officials as saying.

Western officials fear that Iranian military presence along with Russian aid could turn Syria into a center of international friction much worse than the struggle inside Syria. They fear that the control over actions in Syria will be taken over by a Russian-Iranian "partnership" which would exclude the European Union and Turkey and that U.S. involvement could be too late and inefficient.


Iran Sanctions Will Fail: Military Action Likely

...there is a strong current of opinion within the administration – including in the Pentagon and the state department – that believes sanctions are doomed to fail, and that their principal use now is in delaying Israeli military action, as well as reassuring Europe that an attack will only come after other means have been tested.

Iran's increasingly belligerent moves – such as the botched attempts, laid at Tehran's door, to attack Israeli diplomats in Thailand, India and Georgia – are compounding the sense that Iran is far from ready to negotiate.

"It's not that the Israelis believe the Iranians are on the brink of a bomb. It's that the Israelis may fear that the Iranian programme is on the brink of becoming out of reach of an Israeli military strike, which means it creates a 'now-or-never' moment," he said.

There is a school of thought – a suspicion, even – within the administration that Netanyahu might consider the height of the US election campaign the ideal time to attack Iran. With a hawkish Republican candidate ever ready to accuse him of weakness, Obama's room to pressure or oppose Netanyahu would be more limited than after the election.

"One theory is that Netanyahu and Barak may calculate that if Obama doesn't support an Israeli strike, he's unlikely to punish Israel for taking unilateral action in a contested election year," said Kahl. "Doing something before the US gives the Israelis a bit more freedom of manoeuvre."

Sirens Ring As Grad Explodes Near Beersheba

A Grad-type rocket was launched in the direction of the Negev's largest city, Beersheba, on Saturday, triggering air raid sirens. Two additional rockets exploded in fields in the farming districts of the western Negev. All of the attacks failed to cause injuries or damages.

The upsurge in rockets began on Friday evening, when Palestinians fired projectiles into southern Israel, setting off sirens in Ashkelon.


Rocket Hits South Of Ashkelon

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded south of Ashkelon on Friday. The Color Red alert sounded across the city. A short while later, a Qassam rocket exploded in an open area in the Eshkol Regional Council.

Four Qassam rockets were fired from Gaza on Wednesday, hitting the western Negev. No injuries or damage were caused. It was the most significant barrage perpetrated in recent weeks.


Later Wednesday, the Palestinians reported that IAF helicopters fired at open areas in the Gaza Strip. The IDF said the fire was directed at specific targets, and came in response to the rocket fire.


Crisis In U.S.-Israel Relations Over Nuclear Talks With Iran

In the last 24 hours, the approach of international talks with Iran on its nuclear program has escalated already high tensions over the issue between the Obama administration and the Israeli government

US President Barack Obama decided to send his US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon to an urgent visit to Israel Saturday, Feb. 18, for three days of talks “on regional issues including Syria and Iran.”
This unusually long trip by a top White House official over the weekend is a measure of the crisis in relations.

Netanyahu has said he feels cheated. By its actions the Obama administration leaves Israel with no recourse other than to grapple with the Iranian menace on its own, he has said, and be less sensitive to Washington’s wishes.

A bipartisan group of concerned US senators warned President Obama Friday that they would strongly oppose any proposal in talks with Iran that would allow it to continue uranium enrichment activities.

Two Iranian warships sailed through Suez Canal to Mediterranean Friday on their way to Syria. Israel called their mission a provocation.
Wednesday, Netanyahu blasted Iran – and indirectly Washington– when he said in Cyprus that sanctions “haven’t worked” and that for a regime which attacks diplomats to have nuclear weapons “is something of enormous concern for the United States and for Israel.”


Alert: Agenda 21 To Gel Into Global Mid 2013

You are witnessing a plan that is taking place all across the United States NOW. It has many names but it’s the same plan. UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development: Sustainable Cities Strategy. It is a regional plan that creates unelected boards of elected officials who are engaged in erasing the boundaries between cities, counties, and states.

What are these plans called? Your government is using similar names for all of these plans and they are all the same: Regional. They are being rolled out NOW. The adoption date is MID-2013. ALL OVER THE US.

All plans include Smart Growth–high density housing with restrictions on personal space and car usage. All plans support high speed trains–the building block of Mega-Regions. All plans give power to regional transportation and planning boards (MPOs and COGs) through federal and state fund disbursements. In all plans housing and transportation are now linked. In all plans population projections are hugely inflated. All plans will go forward as planned. This is a planning revolution.

Here are just a few plans around the country using the word “VISION” a UN Agenda 21 buzz word. Other plan names use variants on the sustainability jargon. There are thousands of these plans and they all have a goal of transformation–a jargon term for destruction.

  • One Valley One Vision (you’ll find this in Santa Clarita Valley, CA; Montana; and Dona Ana County / Las Cruces, New Mexico
  • Nine Counties, One Vision (Tennessee)
  • One Region One Vision (New York, and Indiana)
  • Our Florida Our Visio
  • One Bay Area (SF Bay Area–9 counties)
  • Six Towns One Vision (Lycoming County)
  • Five Counties One Vision (Minnesota)
  • Four States One Vision (Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas)


Logistics Of An Israeli Strike On Iran: An Informed View from Germany

Rühle is highly confident that Israel could knock out Iran’s nuclear program for a decade or more with about 25 of its 87 F-15 fighter-bombers and a smaller number of its F-16s. Each of the F-15s would carry two of the GBU-28 bunker busters, with the F-16s armed with smaller bombs. Rühle writes

Available guidance systems, the German expert adds, are quite adequate to guide the bunker-busters to their goal in this fashion. Only a few bombs, he adds, would be required to destroy all the centrifuges; spinning at 1,500 revolutions per second, these instruments turn into grenades when destabilized. With a few hits, all the centrifuges would be destroyed beyond repair.


Fordow, by contrast, is a harder target, with about 3,000 centrifuges under 70 meters of rock. Even the U.S., Rühle says, does not have bunker-busters that can penetrate that far. The deployment of special forces is a more likely option. The other targets (the light- and heavy-water reactors) are far softer, and F-16s with lighter munitions would suffice.

Parchin is the “bottleneck” through which all nuclear materials must pass, the weapons production facility where warheads are designed and tested. “How many bombs would be required to destroy Parchin,” Rühle says, “is a matter of speculation.”

Most importantly, Rühle believes that it would take Iran a decade to restore its capabilities — with the exception of Isfahan — unless special forces could inflict more damage from the ground than was possible from the air. There are risks, of course: the Russians might have secretly given Iran more advanced surface-to-air missiles; refueling might be interdicted along a route that overflies potentially hostile countries; and Iran’s proxies (Syria, Hizbollah, Hamas) might retaliate. Nonetheless, he concludes that Israel could lastingly disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.



18 comments:

Jec said...

Israel could strike Iran as soon as September, American officials say: report  - NY Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/israel-strike-iran-september-american-officials-report-article-1.1024549

September or October? Are you kidding? I don't believe the timing of how bible prophecy is unfolding will aline itself or get-in-step with BHO's push until after the election.   ????

WVBORN56 said...

Jec I don't see how all this tension in the economy, Syria and Iran lasts until time of the election but that has what Caver has been saying all along. Time will tell.

Scott said...

I agree WV; its very hard to see things lasting through spring/early summer before erupting.

Jec said...

I agree with you Scott, but poor Caver's been picked on enough around her, lol.

Caver said...

Hi WV,

Yup, that's what I said....until about 5 weeks ago. Once Iran announced the move to the "very deep" bunkers, I do think the time line started to change.

But the operative word there is "...think...".

Anonymous said...

I know a number of people talk about all things aligning, but wouldn't just one of the major issues deteriating kick start all the others , ie:

Foreign intervention in Syria would cause Assad to attack Israel.

Israel attacking the nuke facilities would cause huge retaliation.

Iran blocking the S of Homuz causing foreign military intervention and causing oil prices to soar as well as causing retaliation attacks as well.

The talk of stock market crashes etc may not be so important as with the above points and so many others, if just one of these kicks off the world economy will be so badly affected.

I am also not so sure on the Obama not wanting things to kick off till such and such a date as number 1) we are working on gods clck not his ! And 2) due to his past actions he has little to no credibility with Bibby and no control over Israel.


Seeing Israel stand up and defend itself while the world abandons it is surely one of the biggest wake up calls we as Christians should identify as to the times we are in. Unfortunately it seems many have there eyes closed to this fact!

Come lord come !!

C

Mike said...

Scott, what do you think about this article? ---> Millions of Evangelical Christians Want to Start WWIII to Speed the "Second Coming" ... and Atheist Neocons are Using Religion
------------------------

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/millions-evangelical-christians-want-start-wwiii-speed-second-coming-and-atheist-neocons

Gary said...

Dear Prophecy Update Blog Family:
Do you believe that Israel attacking Iran is the beginning of the end? Gary

Caver said...

Things sure are interesting over in those strange ME waters and lands...

'Iranian warships dock in Syria via Suez Canal'
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=258369

Top US aide heads to Israel for talks on Iran, Syria
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iy2rc8lDfMdT_LKxpo6ETPQ1y-Ww?docId=CNG.816281a3f8e80fe172d5a082c5cc6229.2d1

U.S. drones reportedly monitoring Syria; China wants Syrian sovereignty respected
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/18/195343.html

Scott said...

Mike
I think that article is making some "convenient" extrapolations that simply don't exist. Even the hyperbole seems ridiculous. Just dissect a few things. They say:

"But millions of Americans believe Christ will not come again until Israel wipes out competitors and there is widespread war in the Middle East. Some of these folks want to start a huge fire of war and death and destruction so that Jesus comes quickly"

Just in this one paragraph (which anchors the rest of the article) - there are so many errors and inappropriate conclusions, I could spend pages discussing.

1. Was this information based on actuall polling or is this simply the opinion of the author? If this is based on polling, then why not give specific numbers and %'s and tell us what the polls were actually asking?

2. If this was not based on actual polling - then where is this conclusion based on? There were no references to this "point" - so are we to simply accept this first premise? I sure don't because of the points above.

3. "...and there is widespread war in the Middle East". The same points apply...PLUS - what specifically is he talking about here?

- The wars during the Tribulation?
- Isaiah 17?
- Gog-MaGog?

Is his "Jesus coming quickly" a reference to the Rapture? The Second Coming? Does the author of this even know the differences in these two events? I'm guessing not. So if the author doesn't understand these basic things, does his opinion even matter?

Then he says ...(I'll continue below)

Scott said...

Then he says
"Some of these folks want to start a huge fire of war and death and destruction"

What people? Is this based on polling numbers? Just his opinion? Based on what?

I don't know ANY prophecy watchers who want to "start a war", that includes authors and everyone I have encountered along the way. That premise is absurd at the outset.

This article is simply a hit piece to try and marginalize prophecy watchers and to keep other people away from this. Thats all. I have seen this tactic used many many many times before.

It certainly isn't based on any facts or any truths if that is the question.

I read the rest quickly, but this author loses all credibility with me just based on that intro alone.

Scott said...

And when the author finally did use some numbers, (in one of the articles at the bottom), they simply referenced people who take a literal view of the Bible amd the # of people who believe they will live long enough to see the "end of the world" (yet another mistaken premise anyway) - but these #s have nothing to do with the wild claims made at the outset.

Jec said...

Scott, thanks for addressing Mike's article that was posted. You did a great job in explaining your view. The article didn't sit well with me either but I am glad you pointed out the flaws. Lot of half truths and quarter truths if that.

Caver said...

I went over and read it also ...agree with Scott, pure uninformed Christian assassination attempt.

hartdawg said...

Scott you are mistaken on one point. there are prophecy watchers who want to start a war.....ISLAMIC PROPHECY WATCHERS!!!!

Diane said...

And, now a repeat for your viewing pleasure , enjoy :)

You are cordially invited to a wedding celebration
The Marriage Supper of The Lamb
Groom: Jesus Christ
Bride: His church
Time: Whenever the Father is ready
Date: Known only to His Father
Place: In His Father's house
Attire: Come as you are...He said something about new white robes and crowns for everyone who stays until the last.
Tickets: Admission is free. He has already paid for everyone (He says we would not have been able to afford it...it cost Him everything He had.)
Refreshments: New wine, bread and a far-out drink He calls "living water"... followed by a supper that promises to be out of this world.
Gift suggestions: Your heart. He's one of those people who already has everything else. (He's very generous in return though... just wait until you see what He has for you!)
Entertainment: Joy, Peace, Truth, Life, Love , Real Happiness, Communion with God, Forgiveness, Contentment, Miracles, Healing Power, Eternity in Paradise, and much more! (All rated "G" so bring your whole family and your friends!)
Supper being given by :
His Father
R.S.V.P. Very Important! He must know ahead so He can reserve a spot for you at the table. Also, He's keeping a list of His friends for future reference. (He calls it the "Lamb's Book of Life.")
"Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!" Revelation 19:9
Hope to see you there!

Diane

Scott said...

Diane - thats so wonderful - thanks for that :)

Hart - LOL - INDEED

Jec said...

Diane, thanks so much for that. I really needed to hear that. What an uplifting post. :-)