Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered what is being described in media reports as top-to-bottom changes in how the nation’s nuclear arsenal is managed.
Largely unreported in the coverage of the possible nuclear forces shakeup is that until his appointment as defense secretary, Hagel served on the board of a George Soros-funded group that advocates a nuclear-free world.
Ploughshares opposes America’s development of a missile-defense system and contributes funds to scores of anti-war groups highly critical of U.S. foreign policy and military expansion.
The fund identifies itself as a “publicly supported foundation that funds, organizes and innovates projects to realize a world free from the threat of nuclear weapons.”
On Friday, the Associated Press reported Hagel was slated to announce actions to improve nuclear force management, vowing to invest billions of dollars more to fix what that the agency described as a force suffering from leadership lapses, security flaws and sagging morale.
Senior defense officials speaking to the AP said Hagel would propose an amount between $1 billion and $10 billion in additional investments to the nuclear forces, including the replacement of a dated helicopter fleet.
While the exact nature of the investment is unclear and Hagel’s proposed top-to-bottom changes have not yet been specified, the defense secretary’s long-time association with the Ploughshares Fund may be cause for concern.
The Ploughshares Fund has a long history of anti-war advocacy and is a partner of the Marxist-oriented Institute for Policy Studies, which has urged the defunding of the Pentagon and massive decreases in U.S. defense capabilities, including slashing the American nuclear arsenal to 292 deployed weapons.
The Poughshares Fund has also partnered with a who’s who of the radical left, including Code Pink, the pro-Palestinian J Street, United for Peace & Justice, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and the Demos progressive group, where Obama’s former green jobs czar, Van Jones, serves on the board.
The fund is in turn financed by a small number of foundations, including Soros’ Open Society Institute, the Buffett Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation.
A primary Ploughshares donor is the Tides Foundation, a money tunnel in which leftist donors provide funds to finance other radical groups. Tides itself is funded by Soros.
Tides funds hundreds of radical groups. Its partners were chief defenders of Hagel’s nomination.
Fenton Communications is a far-left public relations firm closely partnered with Tides that routinely crafts the public-relations strategies of Tides grantees, including J Street, MoveOn.org and other prominent far-left causes, organizations and activists, from Soros himself to Health Care for America Now to a litany of anti-war groups.
Among the groups Ploughshares donates to are the anti-Israel Americans for Peace Now, the Arms Control Association, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Policy Alternatives, the Soros-funded Center for Public Integrity, the radical Citizen Action, Citizens for Environmental Justice, the Coalition for New Priorities and the radical Institute for Policy Studies.
Other grantees include the New America Foundation, the Nonviolent Peaceforce, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, the Nuclear Freeze Foundation, the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, Peace Action, the Peace Studies Association, Physicians for Human Rights and Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Obama had broadly proclaimed his disarmament intentions during a 2007 campaign speech.
“Here’s what I’ll say as president: America seeks a world in which there are no nuclear weapons,” he said.
By 2010, as president, he was arguing: “We need to change our nuclear policy and our posture, which is still focused on deterring the Soviet Union – a country that doesn’t exist.”
This is President Barack Obama’s greatest betrayal. Everything else he has done, pales in comparison to the gutting of the US military and allowing the Russians to rebuild a very serious challenge to US nuclear arms capability. To be fair, Obama is not the only US President to fail to prepare for the inevitable resurgence of Russian military power. He may however, given his pro-Soviet communist background, be the first one to actually welcome it.
This monstrous betrayal puts millions of lives and the very survival of the West at grave risk.
From Pravda:
It just so happens that today, Russia’s strategic nuclear forces (SNF) are even more advanced in comparison with those of the US, as they ensure parity on warheads with a significantly smaller number of carriers of strategic nuclear weapons. This gap between Russia and the United States may only grow in the future, given the fact that Russian defense officials promised to rearm Russia’s SNF with new generation missiles.
The progress was made possible thanks to the treaty on the limitation of nuclear weapons, also known as START-3. The treaty was signed by Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama on 8 April 2010 in Prague (came into force on 5 February 2011). In accordance with the document, nuclear warheads of the parties are to be reduced to 1,550 by 2021. The number of carriers (intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers) is supposed to be cut to 700 units.
It was the first strategic agreement, after the treacherous policy of democrats, in which Russia managed to win significant advantages. In the treaty, the Americans, for the first time in history, undertook to reduce their strategic nuclear potential, while Russia won an opportunity to increase it. Furthermore, the new treaty removed important limitations that existed in the previous START 1 and START 2 treaties. It goes about the size of areas for the deployment of mobile ICBMs, the number of multi charge ICBMs, and the possibility to build railway-based ICBMs. Russia did not make any concessions.
How do things work in this area now? In early 2013, the Americans withdrew the last group of heavy Abrams tanks from Europe. In NATO countries, over the last 20 years, one new tank would replace 10-15 old, yet still capable, tanks. At the same time, Russia was not decommissioning its tanks.
As a result, today Russia is the absolute leader in this regard. In mid-2014, the balance of the Defense Ministry had as many as 18,177 tanks (T-90 – 400 pcs., T-72B – 7,144 pcs., T-80 – 4,744 pcs, T-64 – 4,000 pcs, T-62 – 689 pcs, and T-55 – 1200 pcs.)…
Here is another surprise. As for tactical nuclear weapons, the superiority of modern-day Russia over NATO is even stronger.
The Americans are well aware of this. They were convinced before that Russia would never rise again. Now it’s too late.
As a result, today Russia is the absolute leader in this regard. In mid-2014, the balance of the Defense Ministry had as many as 18,177 tanks (T-90 – 400 pcs., T-72B – 7,144 pcs., T-80 – 4,744 pcs, T-64 – 4,000 pcs, T-62 – 689 pcs, and T-55 – 1200 pcs.)…
Here is another surprise. As for tactical nuclear weapons, the superiority of modern-day Russia over NATO is even stronger.
The Americans are well aware of this. They were convinced before that Russia would never rise again. Now it’s too late.
To date, NATO countries have only 260 tactical nuclear weapons in the ETO. The United States has 200 bombs with a total capacity of 18 megatons. They are located on six air bases in Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Turkey. France has 60 more atomic bombs. That is pretty much it. Russia, according to conservative estimates, has 5,000 pieces of different classes of TNW – from Iskander warheads to torpedo, aerial and artillery warheads! The US has 300 tactical B-61 bombs on its own territory, but this does not change the situation against the backdrop of such imbalance. The US is unable to improve it either, as it has destroyed the “Cold War legacy” – tactical nuclear missiles, land-based missiles and nuclear warheads of sea-based Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Western politicians think in terms of election cycles. Totalitarian politicians think in decades – even centuries. Short term and wishful thinking in the West after Reagan’s victory over communism, has led Western policy makers down a very dangerous road.
Twenty-five years ago, Moscow gave up a word – “communism.” In return, the West, led by America, gave up much of its military advantage and dropped its guard to the point where Moscow can once again realistically return to its never abandoned goal of world domination.
Twenty-five years ago, Moscow gave up a word – “communism.” In return, the West, led by America, gave up much of its military advantage and dropped its guard to the point where Moscow can once again realistically return to its never abandoned goal of world domination.
Russia is placing civilian flights at risk by dispatching jet fighters and bombers into European airspace without following safety procedures, according to Nato’s secretary general.
Jens Stoltenberg told the Telegraph that Nato fighters had intercepted Russian military aircraft over 100 times so far this year, compared with 30 such incidents in 2013.
Russia’s long-range bombers and spy planes usually stay in international airspace, but they deliberately ignore safeguards designed to reduce the risk of collision with civilian flights. In particular, they switch off the “transponders” that allow aircraft to detect one another.
“They have increased their military air activity along Nato’s borders,” said Mr Stoltenberg. “We have done what we are supposed to do: we have intercepted them, partly because of increased air policing.”
He added: “The problem is that many of the Russian pilots don’t turn on their transponders, they don’t file their flight plans and they don’t communicate with civilian air traffic control. This poses a risk to civilian air traffic and therefore this is a problem, especially when the Russian activity increases – because they have more Russian military planes in the air.”
Almost every week, formations of Russian bombers probe the borders of European countries, testing the reaction times of their potential adversaries and, on occasion, carrying out mock attacks.
Britain is responsible for policing thousands of square miles of airspace over the Atlantic and the North Sea. The most recent known incident occurred on Oct 29 when RAF Typhoon fighters intercepted two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers approaching over the North Sea. Both turned back before reaching British airspace.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly set to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah II over the next two days for further discussions on tensions surrounding the Temple Mount. The meeting will be the second one in less than a week, after the prime minister attended a trilateral summit Thursday in Amman with the Jordanian monarch and US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Jordanian parliament member Mohammed al-Katatshe told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an Saturday that Netanyahu will visit the Hashemite Kingdom to cement an agreement reached Thursday for steps to reduce tensions in Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who met separately with the secretary on Thursday, restated his pledge to “non-violence and made it clear that he will do everything possible to restore calm,” Psaki said.
She vowed the United States would remain engaged with the two sides, stressing “the situation is still very tense, we have our eyes open… actions by the parties going forward are the key to restoring and maintaining calm.”
While Psaki refused to divulge exactly what concrete steps each leader had agreed to take, she said Kerry’s separate talks had touched on “access to holy sites, security for holy sites, coordination among security forces.”
They also talked about “incitement and settlements.”
The proof of the two leaders’ seriousness would be in their actions over the coming days, Psaki added.
The International Network Against Cyber Hate and the Paris-basedInternational League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism released a report Wednesday documenting the explosion of online anti-Semitic hate speech generated during the summer war between Israel and Hamas.
The two groups presented the report, which chronicles the online activity of 10 European countries, at a meeting on anti-Semitism in Berlin, organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
According to the report, Britain's Community Security Trust recorded 140 anti-Semitic remarks on social media from January to August. More than half of those comments occurred in July - during the height of Operation Protective Edge.
In the Netherlands, the Complaints Bureau Discrimination Internet (MDI) recorded more instances of online anti-Semitic hate speech during the two-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, than during the entire six months preceding it.
More than half of the 143 expression of hate speech documented by MDI in July and August contained incitements to violence against Jews. Approximately three quarters of the complaints of hate speech in that period occurred on social media sites.
And in Austria, the Forum against Antisemitism recorded 59 anti-Semitic online incidents during the war - 21 of which included incitements to violence. This is compared to the meager 14 incidents that were recorded in the six months prior to Operation Protective Edge.
In an unrelated poll, conducted by Warsaw University Center for Research on Prejudice, researchers concluded that more than half of Polish youth visit anti-Semitic websites that glorify Hitler and Nazism.
The data from that poll was presented to the Polish parliament on November 5, spurring a debate about laws governing hate speech.
Unsurprisingly, online anti-Semitic incidents corresponded with a steady increase in real-life assaults throughout the summer, LICRA and INACH wrote.
The report concluded by recommending the implementation of a submission by the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, calling for OSCE member states to adopt the "Working Definition of Anti-Semitism."
The definition, which was enacted in 2005 by the European Union's agency for combating xenophobia, and was later dropped, includes references to the demonization of Israel.
The two groups presented the report, which chronicles the online activity of 10 European countries, at a meeting on anti-Semitism in Berlin, organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
According to the report, Britain's Community Security Trust recorded 140 anti-Semitic remarks on social media from January to August. More than half of those comments occurred in July - during the height of Operation Protective Edge.
In the Netherlands, the Complaints Bureau Discrimination Internet (MDI) recorded more instances of online anti-Semitic hate speech during the two-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, than during the entire six months preceding it.
More than half of the 143 expression of hate speech documented by MDI in July and August contained incitements to violence against Jews. Approximately three quarters of the complaints of hate speech in that period occurred on social media sites.
And in Austria, the Forum against Antisemitism recorded 59 anti-Semitic online incidents during the war - 21 of which included incitements to violence. This is compared to the meager 14 incidents that were recorded in the six months prior to Operation Protective Edge.
In an unrelated poll, conducted by Warsaw University Center for Research on Prejudice, researchers concluded that more than half of Polish youth visit anti-Semitic websites that glorify Hitler and Nazism.
The data from that poll was presented to the Polish parliament on November 5, spurring a debate about laws governing hate speech.
Unsurprisingly, online anti-Semitic incidents corresponded with a steady increase in real-life assaults throughout the summer, LICRA and INACH wrote.
The report concluded by recommending the implementation of a submission by the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism, calling for OSCE member states to adopt the "Working Definition of Anti-Semitism."
The definition, which was enacted in 2005 by the European Union's agency for combating xenophobia, and was later dropped, includes references to the demonization of Israel.
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Thanks Scott. I have to say I miss our little community of watchers who used to post here. I hope you all are well and remembering our blessings this Thanksgiving time.Love in Jesus!,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for that - you too. We're in a brief lull now, the next birth pain should be coming along soon - like clockwork. It may come from the Ukraine although it looks like Jerusalem and the Temple mount are starting to heat up...It will be interesting to see where the next hot spot will be
ReplyDeleteAgreed waterer! I think most of us still show up daily to read but I too miss the interaction
ReplyDeleteStill reading your blog here every day, Scott. Thank you for your continued work, keeping us abreast of the real news. It does feel like a lull, but for me it's more that so much is going on at the same time that that I just need to step back and away to catch my breath! Something has to break soon. This baby has to go into full blown contractions soon. God bless you and all of us that watch and long for the Lord's appearing.
ReplyDeleteDave. Thanks so much for the kind words. It means a lot and greatly appreciated. I agree. We are on the brink of hitting the terminal birth pains as the trib looms large just out there on the horizon
ReplyDeleteWV, always nice to hear from you brother hope all is well
ReplyDelete