In The News:

Chinese Naval Vessel Tries To Force U.S. Warship To Stop In International Waters

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.

The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.

“On December 5th, while lawfully operating in international waters in the South China Sea, USS Cowpens and a PLA Navy vessel had an encounter that required maneuvering to avoid a collision,” a Navy official said.

“This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap.”

A State Department official said the U.S. government issued protests to China in both Washington and Beijing in both diplomatic and military channels.

According to the officials, the run-in began after a Chinese navy vessel sent a hailing warning and ordered the Cowpens to stop. The cruiser continued on its course and refused the order because it was operating in international waters.

Then a Chinese tank landing ship sailed in front of the Cowpens and stopped, forcing the Cowpens to abruptly change course in what the officials said was a dangerous maneuver.

According to the officials, the Cowpens was conducting a routine operation done to exercise its freedom of navigation near the Chinese carrier when the incident occurred about a week ago.

The encounter was the type of incident that senior Pentagon officials recently warned could take place as a result of heightened tensions in the region over China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently called China’s new air defense zone destabilizing and said it increased the risk of a military “miscalculation.”

Hamas: Israel Engineering Earthquake Attack On Al-Aqsa

Ismail Radwan, Minister of Religious Affairs in Gaza's Hamas government, claims that Israel is trying to cause an artificial earthquake to totally collapse the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. According to Radwan, Israel is attempting to do so to establish the Third Temple.

The comments came at an event organized by female students of the College for Professional Applied Sciences. In response to the supposed "earthquake attack," Radwan called for a general national enlistment to the military, and to support the mosque by having fixed presence at the site.
Radwan said through repeated Jewish access to the Temple Mount, as well as "excavations and criminal acts," the Israeli "occupation" has "arrived at the stage of accustoming Palestinians, Arabs and Muslim to accept the existing reality so as to implement their goals to destroy the mosque and build the supposed Temple."

The minister blamed peace talks and security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as providing cover for the "criminal acts" on the Temple Mount.

Kerry Back Again, Continues Pushing

Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Israel for the 11th time this year, this time going directly to Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in what appears to be an effort to soften him to US security ideas presented last week to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Kerry was accompanied to the meeting by Marine Corps Gen. (ret.) John Allen, head of a 160-strong US defense and intelligence team that has drawn up a plan for the day after an Israeli-Palestinian agreement. Allen briefed Netanyahu on the plan last week when he was here with Kerry, and this will be his first meeting with Abbas.

The Palestinians have come out against the plan, which is believed to includean Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley for an extended period.

Abbas told Sky News Arabia Television on Thursday that he would not accept a single Israeli soldier on Palestinian territory.

“If America wants to protect the security of Israel, they can go there [to the Jordan Valley], but we will not accept Israel being there,” he said.

A PA official in Ramallah said that Abbas would reiterate during his meeting with Kerry his opposition to the recent US security ideas. The official claimed that Kerry has been exerting enormous pressure on Abbas to accept the US security proposals.

The IMF Wants You To Pay 71% Income Tax

The IMF just dropped another bombshell.

After it recently suggested a “one-off capital levy” – a one-time tax on private wealth as an exceptional measure to restore debt sustainability across insolvent countries – it has now called for “revenue-maximizing top income tax rates”.

The IMF’s team of monkeys has been working around the clock on this one, figuring that developed nations can increase their overall tax revenue by increasing tax rates.

They’ve singled out the US, suggesting that the US government could maximize its tax revenue by increasing tax brackets to as high as 71%.

Putin: Russia Is Defending Traditional Values Against 'Genderless And Infertile' Western Tolerance

President Vladimir Putin cast Russia Thursday as a defender of conservative values against the “genderless and infertile” Western tolerance that he said equates good and evil.

Putin’s 70-minute state-of-the nation address marked a determined effort to burnish Russia’s image that has been dented by Western criticism of an anti-gay law which has stoked calls for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, his pet project.

Putin’s speech also contained a strong warning to those abroad who he claimed were seeking a military edge over Russia — a clear nod at the U.S. effort to develop long range non-nuclear weapons that Russia sees as a threat to its nuclear deterrent.

Russia has insisted that a law banning “propaganda of non-traditional relations” does not discriminate against gays, but gay rights group say it has given a green light to harassment and intimidation.

Without directly referring to the anti-gay law, Putin focused on upholding traditional family values, which he said were the foundation of Russia’s greatness and a bulwark against “so-called tolerance — genderless and infertile.”

Putin’s posture as a protector of conservative values and his scathing criticism of the West have been part of efforts to shore up his domestic support base of blue-collar workers, farmers and state employees against mounting criticism from the urban middle class. But his speech also was pitched to conservatives worldwide.

“Many countries today are reviewing moral norms and erasing national traditions and distinctions between nationalities and cultures,” Putin said. “The society is now required to demonstrate not only the sensible recognition of everyone’s right to freedom of conscience, political outlook and private life, but also the mandatory recognition of the equivalence of good and evil, no matter how odd that may seem.”

The Big Picture

During the Cold War the stated strategic goal of Russian and Chinese Communist leaders, and the primary objective of Communist international strategy, was to neutralize the United States as a military and economic power. This, in fact, was the only way to put down capitalism in favor of universal socialism. Looking at the big picture today, what is most disturbing about Russian and Chinese behavior, is the way present-day behavior fits perfectly with the old objective. Consider Russia and China’s ongoing arms buildup, ongoing anti-American propaganda, and ongoing support for revolutionary Communist regimes in Africa and Latin America.

The success of Russian and Chinese deception may be judged by results. First, China’s newfound industrial and financial might, accomplished at the expense of American industry by way of unfair trading practices. Through it all the Chinese Communist Party maintains control, and uses its economic position to damage the United States economy at every turn. Could this be part of a Communist strategy? And why hasn’t anyone in politics raised this as a possible danger?

Ideologically we must admit what has happened; namely, the neutralization of anti-Communists by designating them “McCarthyist. Also there is the curious disinformation lie alleging the defeat of Communism in the Cold War despite subsequent Communist victories in South Africa, Congo, Angola, Venezuela, Brazil, and Nicaragua — not to mention the United States itself, where stealth Communism advances under a variety of misleading banners.

Russian and Chinese analysts expect the present economic crisis to worsen, and there is little doubt the Russians and Chinese are working toward the US dollar’s demise. At the same time the Left has increased domestic social spending in the United States to such an extent that military spending is now being choked off. This play is so obvious, and so in keeping with stated long-term Soviet strategy, that what we’re seeing cannot be an accident. It is something the far Left is consciously working toward.

I believe a close investigation of our strategic nuclear posture will show the alarming extent to which the Communists have already achieved their goals.

There is one further thought that everyone should keep in mind. Even the United States, with all its moral idealism in foreign policy, could not resist using nuclear weapons against enemy cities during the Second World War. Japan could not retaliate, which is what forced them to surrender. Given the fact that Russia and China are run by gangster dictatorships, nothing on earth will prevent them from bombing the United States or any other country once the American nuclear arsenal is shown to be entirely defunct. The various puppy-sized nuclear powers in the world have too few weapons, with inadequate delivery systems for penetrating Russian ABM defenses. Their deterrent value is dubious, and they will be forced to disarm if the United States collapses.

The Russian and Chinese leaders, distinct from the people they rule over, hate and fear the United States. It is the one and only country on earth capable of checking their aggression. If not for the United States, Europe would be under total Russian domination along with the Middle East. The same can be said with regard to Asia and Australia/New Zealand, which would quickly fall under Chinese Communist domination if America collapsed. Such are the strategic realities of our time.

Readers may deny the truth at their own peril. And the peril is great indeed. We haven’t many years left before the enemy’s hold proves fatal. The blindness of the West is due, in part, to the success of a massive deception strategy. While this brief essay attempts to make a few general points about the true state of affairs, it seems unlikely that the deluded many have the time or inclination to question the mountain of nonsense that has been spoon-fed to them in recent decades. We can only hope that the unfolding calamity of the present will trigger that glimmer of curiosity and patriotism which has so far been absent.

Also see:

Jerusalem Braces For Storm 'Three Times Worse' Than What Has Been Seen

Signs Of Cooling: Israel Hit With Heaviest Snowstorm In 60 Years

Economic Collapse: What Is Coming In 2014

David Horowitz: We Are At War