Russia and China Hold War Exercises

Washington Times
May 23, 2014

Photo by: Pavel Golovkin

A Russian intercontinental ballistic missile rolls across Red Square during the Victory Day Parade. The launch of the missile was to test a prospective warhead, Interfax news agency quoted the Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Yegorov as saying. (Associated Press)

Russia conducted a flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile Tuesday that state media in Moscow said included the test of an advanced warhead.

The road-mobile SS-25 missile was fired from a test range at Kapustin Yar in southern Russia to an impact zone in Sary Shagan in neighboring Kazakhstan.

“‘The purpose of the launch was to test a prospective warhead of intercontinental ballistic missiles,” the official Interfax news agency quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Yegorov as saying.
The RIA Novosti news agency said the test was used to develop a “new combat payload for future ICBMs.”

No additional details were provided by the Russians.


Secretary of Defence Hagel Says New World Order Being Built


The Pentagon Channel
May 23, 2014

2014 - During an event honoring the 223rd anniversary of Poland's constitution last night -- Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said we are seeing a new 21st century world order being built and although there are conflict and complications, there's still hope.


Why Does Christian Persecution Get Worse In Every Country The U.S. “Liberates”?

Michael Snyder
American Dream
May 19, 2014
When the U.S. military “liberates” a nation, shouldn’t it result in more liberty, freedom and peace for the people living there?  Instead, we find just the opposite.  In fact, in every single case since 9/11, when the U.S. military has “liberated” a nation it has resulted in the persecution of Christians in that country becoming much worse.
Image: Christian Church (Wiki Commons).
In areas where we spent hundreds of billions of dollars and where thousands of precious American lives were sacrificed, churches are regularly being bombed, Christians are being brutally beheaded, and laws have been passed to make it illegal for a Muslim to convert to Christianity.  If we were not even able to provide the most basic of liberties and freedoms to the people living in those nations, what in the world did we actually accomplish by “liberating” them?
Just look at what has happened in Afghanistan.  We have been at war in Afghanistan for more than a dozen years, and yet things are so bad for Christians in that country at this point that there is not a single church left
The supposedly “moderate” Karzai government installed by the U.S. upholds many of the draconian laws enforced by the Taliban—including the apostasy law, fiercely persecuting those who seek to convert to Christianity—and, in 2011, under U.S. auspices, it destroyed Afghanistan’s last Christian church.
We find a similar story in Iraq.  It is estimated that before the invasion, there were up to 2 million Christians living in Iraq.  Now that number is down to less than 450,000, and it is falling fast.
In fact, things are so dire for Iraq’s Christian community that some Iraqi Christian leaders are warning that Christians may soon become “extinct” in that nation…
As the mass exodus of Iraq’s Christians continues, so does the call for ending the plight of those who have remained. Like Iraq’s ancient Jewish community before them, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities may soon cease to exist.
The disappearance of Iraq’s religious minorities has been a troubling trend since the US-led invasion in 2003, and it has threatened to end the cultural diversity of Iraq. As the violence in the country spikes and religious intolerance grows, many Christians, Yazidis, Mandaeans and other minority community members are leaving the country.
Last week, the head of the Iraqi Catholic Church sent a chilling warning that Iraq’s 2,000-year-old Christian community is on the brink of extinction as new waves of Christians take the journey of exodus.
It is estimated that the Iraq war cost U.S. taxpayers more than 2 trillion dollars.
We spent more than a million dollars on one soccer field alone (which has now turned to dust).
In the end, what did we actually accomplish?
The Obama administration likes to brag about how it got rid of Qaddafi and “liberated” Libya, but now al-Qaeda is in control of much of the country and things are much worse for Christians than ever before
Ever since U.S.-backed, al-Qaeda-linked terrorists overthrew Qaddafi, Christians—including Americans—have indeed suffered extreme persecution. Churches have been bombed; Christians have been tortured and killed (including for refusing to convert); and nuns have been threatened.
In Syria, the Obama administration is shamelessly allying with radical al-Qaeda jihadists in a desperate attempt to overthrow the Assad regime.
As these jihadists torture, behead and even crucify Christian believers, the mainstream media in the United States is virtually silent about it.
Why is the media being so quiet?
Well, because exposing what is going on would make the Obama administration look bad.
Those carrying out this persecution of Christians in Syria are being directly funded and aided by the governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia.  For much more on what is going on in Syria, please see my previous article entitled “Why Is The Media Silent About The Crucifixion Of Christians By Radical Jihadists?
And of course it is not just in the Middle East where this kind of persecution of Christians is taking place.
While Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, the State Department refused to label Boko Haram as a terrorist organization.
But now the whole world is talking about Boko Haram.  This group has attacked more than 700 churches in Nigeria over the past seven years, and this has resulted in a massive exodus of Christians from northern Nigeria to southern Nigeria…
Christian groups estimate that up to a quarter of the 4,000 people killed by Boko Haram since 2009 have been Christians, and more than 700 churches have been attacked in the last seven years alone, according to the Nigerian Catholic Bishop’s Conference. Across the troubled north-east, many Christian neighbourhoods are now ghost towns as tens of thousands of residents flee south. It is one of the biggest Christian exoduses of the century, yet largely unremarked outside of Nigeria.
It is hard to put into words how brutal Boko Haram can be.  As a recent article in the Telegraph described, the persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria by Boko Haram  has been absolutely relentless…
Arriving at St Joseph’s church in the Nigerian town of Gashua, Father John Bakeni knew he was taking on a tough posting. A flyblows settlement near the northern border with Niger, his new parish was smack in the heart of Boko Haram territory, and in the previous three years, all but a fraction of its 3,000-strong Christian minority had fled.
Sent by his bishop to show that the diocese had not deserted the town, he spent much of the following year trying to reassure the 200 remaining parishioners. But nearly every time he ventured from his rectory, a reminder would await him of the difficulty of his mission.
“Several times a week I would find a dead animal had been thrown in the compound, usually a chicken, goat or sheep, but sometimes dead cats too,” said Fr Bakeni, 38. “Stones would get thrown at the church almost every day, and sometimes also people would bang the gates and shout: ‘Infidel, we are going to kill you.’
So why has the Obama administration been so hesitant to speak out against Boko Haram until now?
In fact, although most Americans do not realize this, the Obama administration has been quite supportive of Boko Haram in the past.  Obama even actually threatened the Nigerian government with economic sanctions in 2013 in an attempt to keep them from cracking down on Boko Haram.
What in the world was the Obama administration thinking?
Whose side are they on anyway?
If you love liberty and freedom, you should be deeply troubled by the spread of groups such as Boko Haram.
Just look at what is happening in another part of Africa where jihadists have gained control.  In Sudan, a pregnant woman was recently sentenced to death by hanging for marrying a Christian man…
A Sudanese woman doctor who married a Christian man and who was convicted earlier this week on charges of “apostasy” was sentenced to death on Thursday, judicial officials said.
According to the Sudanese officials, 26-year-old Meriam Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim, was convicted on Sunday and given four days to repent and escape death. She was sentenced after that grace period expired, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The BBC reported the woman’s death by hanging will not be carried out until two years after the birth of her child.
This kind of tyranny should not be tolerated in today’s world.
But instead, the U.S. government seems to be helping to spread it.
So exactly why is this happening? 

Large number of Chinese troops seen heading for China-Vietnam border

China Daily Mail
May 19. 2014


A People's Liberation Army tank heads to the China-Vietnam border
A People’s Liberation Army tank heads to the China-Vietnam border
A large number of People’s Liberation Armytroops have reportedly been spotted heading towards the China-Vietnam border as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate, reports Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily. Sing Tao Daily is generally considered to be aligned toChinese state media.
Thousands of Chinese nationals living or on business in Vietnam have already fled the country amid anti-China riots, which were sparked by a tense standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese naval ships near a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on May 4.
The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed Friday that at least two Chinese nationals have been killed and nearly a hundred were injured during violent protests last week that saw dozens of Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong factories set on fire. The UK’s Guardian claims as many as 21 people have died.
As yet another large-scale anti-China protest was scheduled for Sunday, Chinese netizens reported seeing an “endless stream” of PLA soldiers in full combat gear at Chongzuo train station, apparently on their way to the 97-kilometre China-Vietnam border at Pingxiang city in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. The soldiers were said to have been accompanied by tanks, armoured vehicles, missile launchers and other heavy artillery.
Pingxiang was where the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979 began, and locals are reportedly preparing to evacuate the area out of fears of an imminent military conflict.
Last week, Beijing denied that PLA troops had been sent to Guangxi and also denied reports that neighbouring Yunnan province had been put on high alert and escalated to combat readiness levels, but that has not stopped rumours of a military response to the Vietnam riots from continuing.

Update 19th May 2014 – Epoch Times reports:

Troops, tanks, trucks, artillery, and armored personnel carriers of China’s military were seen heading to the Vietnamese border on May 16 and 17, according to photographs taken by by residents near the border.
Chinese netizens have been posting photographs of the large movement of the People’s Liberation Army, many of them showing Chinese troops in full combat gear heading to the local train station in Chongzuo, along with military vehicles.
One netizen said the Chinese military was taking the train from the Chongzuo station to Pingxiang City, which shares a 60-mile border with Vietnam. The netizen said that the Huu Nghi Border Gate to Vietnam is also now closed.
One of the photos, taken from inside a passenger train, shows the Chinese military preparing artillery for transport on a train track. Others show Chinese troops and military vehicles traveling along dirt roads.
Another photograph shows troops walking under the red-colored entrance to the Longzhou International Building Materials Market, on Provincial Road in the city of Chongzuo.
reverse image search of each of the photographs using Google indicated that the photographs had appeared on the Internet only recently. Most were indexed by Google on Saturday.
Collectively, the images and eyewitness reports from the ground show what Taiwanese media are calling an “endless stream” of Chinese troops.
One netizen, with the username Zhiyuan0703, echoed a common sentiment on the Chinese social media site, “Conflict between China and Vietnam is imminent.”
China is currently involved in territorial conflicts with nearly all its neighbours.
Source: wantchinatimes – “PLA troops spotted near China-Vietnam border”
Source: Epoch Times – Chinese Military Said to Be Massing Near the Vietnam Border (+Photos)

"And the nations were angry..."

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!! News
Mark Matheny
May 19, 2014

Mark Matheny discusses the latest developements around the world...
*U.S. Government declares War against Veterans....
*USDA amasses submachineguns and ammo....
*Chaos in Vietnam as Chinese evacuate its citizens.....
*NATO admits inability to defend Balkin States from Russia.....
Tune in!


Listen To Politics Internet Radio Stations with Mark Matheny on BlogTalkRadio

Why Meat Prices Are Going To Continue Soaring For The Foreseeable Future

EndoftheAmericanDream
May 18, 2014


Unfortunately for those that like to eat meat, this is just the beginning of the price increases.  Due to an absolutely crippling drought that won’t let go of the western half of the country, the total size of the U.S. cattle herd has shrunk for seven years in a row, and it is now the smallest that is has been since 1951.  But back in 1951, we had less than half the number of mouths to feed.  And a devastating pig virus that has never been seen in the United States before has already killed up to 6 million pigs in this country and continues to spread like wildfire.  What all of this means is that the supply of meat is going to be tight for the foreseeable future even as demand for meat continues to go up.  This is going to result in much higher prices, and so food is going to put a much larger dent in American family budgets in the months and years to come.
One year ago, the average price of USDA choice-grade beef was $4.91.  Now it is up to $5.28, and the Los Angeles Times says that we should not expect prices to come down “any time soon”…
Come grilling season, expect your sirloin steak to come with a hearty side of sticker shock.
Beef prices have reached all-time highs in the U.S. and aren’t expected to come down any time soon.
Extreme weather has thinned the nation’s beef cattle herds to levels last seen in 1951, when there were about half as many mouths to feed in America.
We’ve seen strong prices before but nothing this extreme,” said Dennis Smith, a commodities broker for Archer Financial Services in Chicago. This is really new territory.
The outlook for pork is even worse.  The price of bacon is 13 percent higher than it was a year ago, and porcine epidemic diarrhea is absolutely devastating the U.S. pig population
A virus never before seen in the U.S. has killed millions of baby pigs in less than a year, and with little known about how it spreads or how to stop it, it’s threatening pork production and pushing up prices by 10 percent or more.
Scientists think porcine epidemic diarrhea, which does not infect humans or other animals, came from China, but they don’t know how it got into the country or spread to 27 states since last May.
Read the entire article 

Leaked Documents Reveal Marine Corps ‘Urban Training Center’ Based on U.S. Town

Whistleblower says facility with Baptist church, farmhouses used to train foreign and domestic groups
Mikael Thalen
Infowars.com
May 16, 2014
Newly leaked Marine Corps’ documents detail yet another military urban training center that more closely resembles a small U.S. town than a foreign combat zone.
MOUT
The document, entitled “Military Operations on Urban Terrain Collective Training Facility,” reveals the specifics of a mock 30-acre town located on Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Originally built in 1990, new additions to the facility, including a Baptist church, a police station and several farmhouses, have transformed the layout of the once “international” town.
According to the military whistleblower who provided the documents to Infowars, U.S. Marines at the facility have been tasked with training soldiers, law enforcement agencies and Homeland Security in skills such as fighting in wooded areas, urban patrolling, forcible entry and night fighting techniques. The facility is also being used to cross train foreign troops from the United Nations and NATO. The whistleblower noted that the vast majority of Marines were opposed to the shift in training and specifically had issues with DHS agents.
aerialmap2
An aerial photograph of the training center reveals the location of several new structures including a water treatment facility, railroad tracks and the aforementioned farmhouses and police station. Although the map makes no mention of the Baptist church, several accompanying photographs show the church’s location.
church1
church2
A seperate aerial photo shows several of the town’s other features including a bank, soccer field, a bridge capable of accommodating an “M-1 tank” and a high school. According to a 1989 press release that mentioned the facility’s original structures, the high school’s gymnasium “can be used as a holding area for ‘evacuees’ or as a detention center for prisoners of war.”
aerialchurch
The facility’s continuous upgrades perfectly illustrate the establishment’s public shift towards targeting conservative Americans deemed “extremist.”
Just last February, the U.S. Army unveiled a similar 300-acre urban training center in Virginia, complete with a Baptist church and underground subway system nearly identical to one in Washington DC. After months of being stonewalled, Infowars’ reporters David Knight and Staff Sergeant Joe Biggs traveled to the facility this week and uncovered several other suspicious structures.
While attempting to locate military personnel for an interview, both Knight and Biggs were detained by police and escorted to the base’s headquarters. Alex Jones contacted Fort AP Hill’s public information officer, Bob McElroy, to learn the fate of his reporters and to inform McElroy of the facility’s nefarious background.

Over 3000 Chinese Evacuated (By Boat & Plane) As Vietnam’s Anti-China Riots Escalate; Taiwan Also On “High Alert”

Zero Hedge
May 18, 2014
China began evacuating hundreds of its nationals from Vietnam (via at least 2 planes and 5 ships) as the anti-China protests have become increasingly deadly following Beijing’s attempt to deploy an oil drill in Vietnamese dispuited waters (detailed hereherehere, and here)…

  • *CHINA SENDING 5 SHIPS TO VIETNAM TO EVACUATE CHINESE: XINHUA

  • *HUNDREDS OF VIETNAMESE SECURITY IN CENTRAL HO CHI MINH CITY

  • *VIETNAM PRIME MINISTER ISSUES DIRECTIVE TO PREVENT PROTESTS

  • *VIETNAM GOVT TAKES ACTION TO PREVENT RIOTS: BINH

Hundreds of police and security forces are in central Ho Chi Minh city and the Chinese consulate is under heavy guard. Tensions across the ASEAN region are growung as Taiwan is on “high alert” but the bloc’s inability to craft a united response to Chinese aggression signals a further decline in its regional clout.


The Vietnamese government has called for an end to the protests…
Vietnam’s prime minister appealed for calm last night ahead of expected anti-China demonstrations in Ho Chi Minh City today.
A text message from Nguyen Tan Dung was sent to every cellphone in the country urging citizens not to “commit violations of the law” in defence of the “sovereignty of the sacred fatherland”.
His office also ordered the police and local leaders to halt further illegal demonstrations. His plea came after China’s deployment of an oil rig in the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea unleashed a wave of deadly protests.
But the Chinese are clearly not leaving anything to chance… (Via PTI)
More than 3,000 Chinese nationals have been evacuated so far from Vietnam after the recent deadly violence, China’s Foreign Ministry said today.
They returned to China with the assistance of Chinese Embassy to Vietnam, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
China says two of its nationals were killed in the violence and more than 100 others injured while the official death toll was put at 21.
Via 2 Planes…

and 5 ships…
China is to send five ships to Vietnam today to evacuate Chinese nationals after protests against Chinese in the country last week, the official Xinhua News Agency reports in a one-paragraph report, citing the Ministry of Transport
The official death toll is unclear…
  • *VIETNAM CONFIRMS 2 CHINESES DIE IN RIOT, ABOUT 140 INJURED
The tension is spreading across the ASEAN region…
*TAIWAN ON HIGH ALERT OVER PROTESTS IN VIETNAM TODAY
And the lackluster response from ASEAN is extremely serious… (via The Diplomat)
As Vietnamese and Chinese ships jostled and fired water cannons at each other – the best ASEAN could do was issue another summit statement urging restraint and expressing “serious concern,” timidly avoiding any mention of China.
Furious protesters have trashed 15 Chinese factories in Vietnam, forcing Chinese investors and tourists to flee across the border and into the safety of Cambodia. Golfers in Danang reported fighter jets overhead, heading out to sea.
Observers said it was the first time Vietnam had allowed the state-run press to freely cover the protests, which the government also allowed to proceed. However, Singapore-based Channel News Asia was taken off the air after flagging a report on the protests.
At least 200 people have been arrested and the Vietnamese government has pledged to crack down on hooliganism.
“It is clear that China’s new assertiveness is triggering anxieties among its neighbors,” said  Ernest Bower, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
ASEAN has long been ridiculed as a toothless tiger and its behavior amid the current standoff between China and Vietnam – perhaps the greatest challenge to face the group – only reinforces the claims.
If ASEAN genuinely wants to be taken seriously, now might be an appropriate time for a united public front on China’s territorial ambitions in the seas that divide the bloc’s 10 nations. If it is unable to do that, then individual member states face the daunting task of dealing with Beijing on their own, further relegating ASEAN to the political sidelines and undermining its diplomatic credentials.
The bloc’s inability to craft a united response to Chinese aggression signals a further decline in its regional clout.

Police Now “Armed For War” Against Returning Veterans

Cops in armored vehicle asked by residents “Are you coming to take our guns away?”
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
May 16, 2014
In an interview with Fox 59, a Morgan County, Indiana Police Sergeant admits that the increasing militarization of domestic police departments is partly to deal with returning veterans who are now seen as a homegrown terror threat.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

In a chilling story entitled Armed for War: Pentagon surplus gives local police an edge, we learn how a Mine Resistant Vehicle (MRAP) which was once used during the occupation of Afghanistan will now be “patrolling the streets of central Indiana,” according to the report.
Sgt. Dan Downing of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department states, “When I first started we really didn’t have the violence that we see today,” adding, “The weaponry is totally different now that it was in the beginning of my career, plus, you have a lot of people who are coming out of the military that have the ability and knowledge to build IEDs and to defeat law enforcement techniques.”
Downing goes on to relate how citizens approach the vehicle when it stops at gas stations to express their concerns that the militarization of police is about arming cops with the tools required for mass gun confiscation programs.
“We were actually approached when we’d stop to get fuel by people wanting to know why we needed this…what were we going to use it for? ‘Are you coming to take our guns away?’” said Downing. “To come and take away their firearms…that absolutely is not the reason why we go this vehicle. We got this vehicle because of the need and because of increased violence that we have been facing over the last few years….I’ll be the last person to come and take anybody’s guns.”
Indiana seems to be a major trial balloon for the militarization of law enforcement given that the Indiana National Guard has also just purchased two military UH-72 Lakota helicopters which will also be used by local police and the DHS for “homeland security missions”. Downing’s claim that armored tanks are necessary to deal with violent crime doesn’t jive with actual statistics which suggest that violent crime is in fact on the decrease.
Downing’s admission that the armored vehicles are partly about combating the threat posed by returning veterans correlates with similar rhetoric at the federal level.
An April 2009 DHS intelligence assessment listed returning vets as likely domestic terrorists. Just a month later, the New York Times reported on how Boy Scout Explorers were being trained by the DHS to kill “disgruntled Iraq war veterans” in terrorist drills.
The FBI has also repeatedly characterized returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan as a major domestic terrorist threat.
It seems to have been completely forgotten by police departments, the media and Americans in general that having military-style tanks patrol the streets is symbolic of a collapsing banana republic or an authoritarian Communist state.
Perhaps the main reason why police officers are being trained that veterans are a major threat is because returning vets are in a perfect position to recognize that America is beginning to resemble an occupied country like Afghanistan.
Such warnings have come from people like former Marine Corps Colonel Peter Martino, who was stationed in Fallujah and trained Iraqi soldiers. Martino went before a New Hampshire city council meeting last year to assert that the Department of Homeland Security is working with law enforcement to build a “domestic army,” because the federal government is afraid of its own citizens.
Indeed, the city’s Police Chief justified the necessity for the acquisition of an armored ‘Bearcat’ vehicle by citing the “threat” posed by libertarians, sovereign citizen adherents, and Occupy activists in the region.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.

Hard for NATO to defend Baltic states from Russia: Spiegel

Yahoo News
May 18, 2014


BERLIN (Reuters) - NATO would struggle to defend the Baltic states from any Russian aggression "with conventional means", Germany's Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the organization and a draft of a NATO planning document.

The United States has sent 600 soldiers to the three Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - and Poland to take part in exercises to bolster NATO's presence in eastern Europe.Eastern European states are nervous about Russia after it annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and massed 40,000 troops on Ukraine's borders.
The United States has sent 600 soldiers to the three Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - and Poland to take part in exercises to bolster NATO's presence in eastern Europe.
"Russia's ability and intention to undertake significant military action without much forewarning poses a far-reaching threat for the maintenance of security and stability in the European-Atlantic area," the weekly magazine said, citing a NATO defense planning committee document.
Russia is capable of building up a local or regional military threat at short notice and at an arbitrary spot, the draft document continued.