Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Morning Update



Israel Might Intervene To Prevent Syria's Chemical Weapons From Falling Into Wrong Hands, PM Says


Israel would consider a military option against Syria to ensure that the country’s chemical weapons do not reach the hands of extremists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.“Israel will do everything it takes to ensure Syria’s chemical weapons do not fall into the hands of terrorist organizations — and if such a situation arises, then Israel will weigh a military option,” Netanyahu told a group of European ambassadors in Jerusalem.

The threat of the weaponry falling into rebel hands has grown as the uprising has intensified in recent months, particularly after four members of Assad’s inner circle were killed in a Damascus suicide bombing in July. The US also reportedly recently sent a secret military task force to Jordan to prepare for possible scenarios in which the stockpiles get loose.





Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday that Israel would not hesitate to launch a military operation in Syria if it feels that there is a threat that the country’s stockpile of chemical weapons will end up in the hands of terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah.“Israel will consider a military operation if it feels there is a fear that chemical weapons will leak to terrorist groups like Hizbullah," Netanyahu said during his meeting with European Union diplomats in Jerusalem.

Recent reports from Syria indicated that Assad has transferred a battery of advanced missiles to the al-Masna border crossing, which is the central route used to transferequipment and weapons to Hizbullah. Members of the Syrian opposition said that one of two major chemical arsenals of the Syrian regime is located near that border crossing.




 The head of a UN-appointed panel probing alleged war crimes in Syria says the presence of hundreds of militant Islamists threatens to radicalize the 19-month conflict, which is already witnessing a dramatic rise in ethnic tensions.Brazilian professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said at a news conference Tuesday that the panel is afraid these foreign militants and radical Jihadists are not fighting for democracy and freedom but have their own radical agendas.Pinheiro said human rights violations by both sides have escalated dramatically in recent months though the scale and gravity of the opposition’s violations is less than the government’s.





IAF aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Tuesday in response to Palestinian rocket fire, indicating that tit-for-tat attacks between Israel and Gaza-based terrorist groups over the weekend could resume.

Planes registered direct hits on their targets and returned safely to base, the IDF Spokesman's Unit stated.
Palestinians fired two rockets late Tuesday, one of which landed near a home in the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council area. The rocket caused some damage, and two local residents suffered shock in the aftermath of the attack.


The IDF activity came after an escalation over the weekendwhich saw the IAF strike targets in the Gaza Strip, killing five Palestinians in the span of 24 hours.
An Islamist group in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel said on Tuesday it will take revenge against the Jewish statefor the IDF strikes. "We, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdes group tell the Jews that the blood of our brothers in Palestine is ours and their revenge is ours... So wait for our painful reply and revenge," the group said in a statement posted on Islamist websites.





The Swiss army is preparing for possible internal civil unrest as well as waves of refugees from euro-countries as the economic crisis drags on.Switzerland, a non-EU, non-euro country landlocked between eurozone states, last month launched a military exercise to test its preparedness to deal with refugees and civil unrest.“It's not excluded that the consequences of the financial crisis in Switzerland can lead to protests and violence,” a spokesperson of the Swiss defence ministry told CNBC on Monday. “The army must be ready when the police in such cases requests for subsidiary help.”



Also see:






Below we see an interesting development from the EU. Don't forget, an EU "Super President" has also been proposed:




There must be an EU “currency commissioner” with sweeping powers to strike down national budgets; a “large step towards fiscal union”; and yet another EU treaty.

Finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble dropped his bombshell in talks with German journalists on a flight from Asia, and apparently had the blessing of Angela Merkel, the chancellor. “When I put forward such proposals, you can take it as a given that the chancellor agrees,” he said.


The new demands risk another stormy summit in Brussels on Thursday, pitting Germany against the Latin bloc. The last summit in June ended with an acrimonious deal in the small hours on a banking union that began to unravel within days.

Mr Schaeuble said the currency chief should have powers similar to those of the EU’s competition commissioner, a man “feared around the world”.






The EU should have its own "currency commissioner," according to an ambitious new plan set out by German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Under Schaeuble's plan, which would include further changes to the EU treaties, a new European commissioner responsible for economic and currency affairs would need to sign off on national budgets before they could be implemented by governments.

Schaeuble also wants the currency commissioner to have similar status to the competition commissioner, who has a mandate to make decisions on EU competition policy without the agreement of the rest of the college of commissioners, arguing that this independence would "depoliticise" the role and improve decision making.






Obama is angered by the several State Governors who have reestablished “State Defense Forces.” These forces are described as: “State Defense Forces (also known as State Guards, State Military Reserves, State Militias) in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government; they are not regulated by the National Guard Bureau nor are they part of the ArmyNational Guard of the United States. State Defense Forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state. State Defense Forces are distinct from their state’s National Guard in that they cannot become federal entities.”

Mr. Obama is fearful of these State Defense Forces, in that he does not have control of said forces, and with the U.S. Military stretched to near breaking from multiple deployments and theatre actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, these State military forces would be under the direct command and authority of the Governors in which states have said forces. In essence, the Governors would have “de facto control” of the United States.


And this:







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