In The News:

Critics Cry Fraud As Poll Gives Putin Third Term

He will return to the Kremlin for another six years, until 2018, but protests in recent months have changed the political context in Russia. Tens of thousands of Muscovites protested against December’s parliamentary elections, chanting slogans that gradually became less about fair elections and more about removing Mr Putin. The protesters are still a minority, but thousands of police will be on duty in Moscow this evening for what promises to be the biggest protest yet, in the central Pushkin Square.

Putin Denounces Rivals Accusing Fraud

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claimed victory in a presidential election that his opponents say was marred by fraud, accusing protesters against his rule of seeking to usurp power.

The Russian leader is seeking to reassert his authority in the face of renewed protests over electoral fraud allegations similar to those that sparked the largest unrest in his decade in power.

“Putin may have won the election but the challenges he’s been facing in the past few months won’t go away,” said Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center. “There is deep frustration and anger, and protests will continue.”

Trajectory Unclear: Feb 2013 Asteroid Will Be Within Thousands Of Miles Of Earth; Impact Would Be As Big As Siberian Tunguska Event

According to NASA, there is a distinct possibility that an asteroid recently identified by star gazers in Spain could hit Earth around February 15, 2013. Based on its size and trajectory, it’s estimated that the 60 to 100 meter wide asteroid, dubbed 2012 DA14, could be similar in scope and devastation to Tunguska should it enter our atmosphere.

Scientists aren’t exactly sure where on Earth the impact would occur, but they are sounding proximity warnings now:

The asteroid, known as DA14, will pass by our planet in February 2013 at a distance of under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). This is closer than the geosynchronous orbit of some satellites.

There is a possibility the asteroid will collide with Earth, but further calculation is required to estimate the potential threat and work out how to avert possible disaster, NASA expert Dr. David Dunham told students at Russia’s University of Electronics and Mathematics.

“The Earth’s gravitational field will alter the asteroid’s path significantly. Further scrupulous calculation is required to estimate the threat of collision,” said Dr. Dunham, as transcribed by Russia’s Izvestia. “The asteroid may break into dozens of small pieces, or several large lumps may split from it and burn up in the atmosphere. The type of the asteroid and its mineral structure can be determined by spectral analysis. This will help predict its behavior in the atmosphere and what should be done to prevent the potential threat,” said Dr. Dunham.

In the event of a collision, scientists have calculated that the energy released would equate to the destructive power of a thermo-nuclear bomb.

Video Reveals "Occupy" Strategy To "Abolish Capitalism"

It’s been nearly a year since The Blaze broke the story of SEIU strategist Stephen Lerner’s campaign of economic terrorism. Lerner outlined, in audio captured by The Blaze, a secret plan to destroy a major bank with the intent of crashing the stock market.

Lerner’s plan clearly envisioned the activism that would come to be known as Occupy Wall Street.

Lerner’s plan is to organize a mass, coordinated “strike” on mortgage, student loan, and local government debt payments–thus bringing the banks to the edge of insolvency and forcing them to renegotiate the terms of the loans. This destabilization and turmoil, Lerner hopes, will also crash the stock market, isolating the banking class and allowing for a transfer of power.

Lerner’s plan starts by attacking JP Morgan Chase in early May, with demonstrations on Wall Street, protests at the annual shareholder meeting, and then calls for a coordinated mortgage strike.

Lerner also says explicitly that, although the attack will benefit labor unions, it cannot be seen as being organized by them. It must therefore be run by community organizations.

Netanyahu Expects Obama Refusal To Attack Iran

It is quite clear that US President Barack Obama will do what it takes to delay, if not prevent, an attack on Iran by the US or Israel. The quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan have once again shown that it is easy to declare war, but much harder to know when or how to end it, even if the first and only campaign is an air strike.

Obama also knows that within minutes of bombs penetrating the first bunkers at Iran's nuclear facilities outside Qom, the countdown will start on a global economic crisis. The price of oil will soar, driving up the price of gasoline in the US to over the frightening $5 per gallon threshold, stock markets will tumble, taking down US economic growth, and with it, almost certainly, his chances for reelection in November.

Obama also knows that Iranian Pandora's box opened by a US and/or Israeli attack will include a wide-ranging campaign of vengeance. Mines will block the Straits of Hormuz, explosive boats will attack US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, Hizbullah and Hamas will rain missiles onto Israel, US forces in Afghanistan will be hit, car bombs will explode in Europe, if not in New York or Washington. Above all, Obama is convinced that an attack will only delay Iran's nuclear ambitions, but won't end them.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects to hear these bleak forecasts from Obama when they meet Monday in the White House. Netanyahu's aides undoubtedly tell him remarks by an administration official, quoted anonymously by the "Washington Post" as saying, "We're trying to make the decision to attack as difficult as possible for Israel."

North Korea Testes Iranian Warhead In 2010 For $55m

German and Japanese intelligence sources Monday, March 5, confirmed – and qualified - to DEBKAfile reports in the German Der Spiegel and Welt am Sonntag that Western intelligence had known for 11 months that at least one of North Korea’s covert nuclear tests in 2010 was carried out on an Iranian radioactive bomb or nuclear warhead.

It is not by chance that this incriminating disclosure about Iran’s nuclear achievements sees the light Monday, just hours before US Barack Obama receives Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the White house for an argument over an expeditious military action to stop Iran going all the way to a nuclear weapon.

The disclosure invalidates the main point the US President made in his speech Sunday to the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC convention in Washington that there was still time for diplomatic pressure and sanctions to bring Iran’s leaders to a decision to halt their nuclear momentum before military action was called for, whether by the US or Israel.

It now appears that Western intelligence has known about the North Korean tests for Iran for eleven months. Therefore, it is too late for him to try and persuade the Israeli prime minister that there is still time to spare for cutting short a nuclear Iran.

It was announced in Washington Monday that no joint American-Israeli communiqué would be issued at the end of their talks, meaning they will have agreed to disagree: Obama, to stand by his opposition to military action against Iran; Netanyahu, to decide what Israel must do in the interests of its security.

Malice In Wonderland

II. Ideological Foundation: High Energy Prices Demanded by Global Socialists

The first thing to remember about Barack’s administration vis-a-vis energy is that low cost fuel doesn’t fit into the progessive world-view. Consider the response by Obama’s Energy secretary Steven Chu, when asked whether the goal of the administration is to lower the price of gas?

“No, the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy,” Chu replied. “We think that if you consider all these energy policies, including energy efficiency, we think that we can go a long way to becoming less dependent on oil and [diversifying] our supply and we’ll help the American economy and the American consumers.”

But why does this administration want the higher fuel prices that will devastate the American economy? For several reasons.

1. Socialists are opposed to capitalism, per se. They consider it an evil undertaking, where the greedy wealthy feed upon the helpless poor. And no market sector is more redolent of free markets than petroleum.

3. A collapse of the American economy, world’s largest, would certainly help hasten a world revolution towards a socialist global economy. And if Barack is any kind of a Marxist worth his salt, he daily longs for, and nightly dreams of—such a revolution. In fact, Tucker C. Robert, in The Marxian Revolutionary Idea, claims the intellectual and moral epicenter of Marxism is Revolution.

Remember when Barack so ominously boasted he would wipe out coal use through regulations? He said,

So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted. (video)

The Obama administration has followed through with his planned obsolescence of the US coal industry, despite the fact it supplies 51% of American energy needs. Reportsthe AP:

An Associated Press analysis has found that more than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states will be forced to close because of the new, more stringent regulations. Another 36 plants are at risk of closing.

The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 14.7 gigawatts—enough power for more than 11 million households—will be retired from the power grid in the 2014-15 period when the rules take effect.

Today we see yet another big day of earthquakes:

Seismic Monitor