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‘We will pulverize the headquarters of evil and ruthlessly ravage US troops’: North Korea makes menacing boast it will take on Donald Trump with ‘merciless’ strikes on South Korea and US bases as China warns of ‘war at any moment’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4411108/North-Korea-hits-Trump-ahead-Day-Sun.html#ixzz4eK5JXzuk
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North Korea upped its warmongering with Donald Trump today in a series of menacing boasts threatening to ‘ravage’ US troops amid fears the two countries are heading for war.
The secretive state vowed to ‘pulverize’ US bases and South Korean capital Seoul if it was threatened by the US military, which is carrying out drills on the Korean peninsula. A US aircraft carrier group is steaming towards the region.
It claimed it would ‘ruthlessly ravage’ the US if Washington attacked. China warned the region could go to war ‘at any moment’.
The rhetoric comes after North Korea warned that President Donald Trump’s ‘troublemaking’ and ‘aggressive’ tweets have pushed the world to the brink of thermo-nuclear war.
Pyongyang’s Vice Minister Han Song Ryol accused Trump of building up a ‘vicious cycle’ of tensions and warned the US against provoking North Korea militarily. He said: ‘We will go to war if they choose.’
He added the country would continue developing its nuclear program and conduct its next nuclear test whenever its leaders see fit.
In the past week Trump has shown his willingness to launch military strikes, with US missiles deployed in Syria and Afghanistan.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4411108/North-Korea-hits-Trump-ahead-Day-Sun.html#ixzz4eK5UpeDU
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China says North Korea tension has to be stopped from reaching ‘irreversible’ stage
China said on Friday tension over North Korea had to be stopped from reaching an “irreversible and unmanageable stage” as a U.S. aircraft carrier group steamed toward the region amid fears the North may conduct a sixth nuclear weapons test.
Concern has grown since the U.S. Navy fired 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack, raising questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. and unilateral sanctions.
The United States has warned that a policy of “strategic patience” is over. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-event-idUSKBN17E2CT
Rogue states like Iran face tougher action as US says nuclear attack by North Korea ‘closer than ever’
Rogue states such as Iran face tougher military action from America under Donald Trump, the director of the CIA has warned, as he said the US is “closer now than we have ever been” to the threat of nuclear missiles from North Korea.
Mike Pompeo urged Iran to “take note” that Donald Trump’s missile strikes against the Syrian military were a sign the White House was “prepared to engage in activities that are different from what America has been doing these past few years”.
His comments came as China warned that military conflict over North Korea’s nuclear weapon’s programme could break out “at any moment” as a stand off with the US approached breaking point.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/14/rogue-states-like-iran-face-tougher-action-us-says-nuclear-attack/
North Korea displays apparently new missiles as U.S. carrier group approaches
North Korea displayed what appeared to be new long-range and submarine-based missiles on the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father, Kim Il Sung, on Saturday, as a nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region.
Missiles appeared to be the main theme of a giant military parade, with Kim’s grandson, leader Kim Jong Un, taking time to greet the commander of the Strategic Forces, the branch that oversees the missile arsenal.
A U.S. Navy attack on a Syrian airfield this month with Tomahawk missiles raised questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for reclusive North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. sanctions, regularly threatening to destroy the United States.
Kim Jong Un, looking relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw the festivities on the “Day of the Sun” at Pyongyang’s main Kim Il Sung Square.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-anniversary-idUSKBN17G0WU?il=0
N.Korea’s Kim stages giant show of military strength
North Korea’s weapons of war rolled through Pyongyang streets Saturday and it promised “nuclear justice” in response to any atomic attack as leader Kim Jong-Un mounted a spectacular show of strength.
Tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions are stretched to the limit, with US President Donald Trump deploying an aircraft carrier battle group to the region.
After a 21-gun salute, tens of thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen goose-stepped through Kim Il-Sung Square turning their eyes towards the high balcony from where Kim watched, flanked by officers and officials.
Some detachments carried assault rifles or rocket-propelled grenades, others were equipped with night-vision goggles and daubed in face paint. One troupe was made up of sword-wielding women.
Tanks came next through the square — named after Kim’s grandfather, the North’s founder — followed by the objects of world concern.
A total of 56 missiles of 10 different types were displayed, culminating in enormous rockets on articulated trailers and on 16-wheeler vehicles.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/troops-mass-pyongyang-show-strength-212129427.html
North Korea Parades New Long-Range ‘Frankenmissile’
Pyongyang displays military hardware, including apparently new intercontinental ballistic missile
https://www.wsj.com/articles/north-korea-parades-apparently-new-long-range-missile-1492237791
N. Korea sends radio broadcast of new encrypted numbers ahead of key anniv.
SEOUL, April 14 (Yonhap) — North Korea on Friday sent a radio broadcast of a new combination of mysterious random numbers believed to be coded orders to its spies operating in South Korea, one day ahead of late state founder Kim Il-sung’s 105th birthday, one of its key anniversaries.
The North’s propaganda station Radio Pyongyang began broadcasting the messages at 1:15 a.m. (Seoul time), calling out a series of pages and numbers, such as No. 69 on page 823, No. 92 on page 467 and No. 100 on page 957, before repeating them one more time.
The radio announcer said, “(I’m) giving review works in elementary information technology lessons of the remote education university for No. 27 expedition agents.”
The latest batch of numbers are different from those that have been aired to date. Pyongyang Radio last aired a broadcast of encrypted numbers Sunday.
It marked the 32nd time that Pyongyang has broadcast encrypted numbers since June 2016.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2017/04/14/0401000000AEN20170414002900315.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_the_Century
Pages, 3,447 (English ed.)
North Korea shows off new missiles in huge military parade, but doesn’t test nuke
TOKYO — North Korea put on a huge military spectacle Saturday to celebrate its founder’s birthday, parading its series of new and technologically advanced missiles in front of Kim Jong Un, and in a defiant show of force in front of the world.
North Korea did not, however, carry out another nuclear test or ballistic missile launch, against widespread speculation that it would seek to celebrate Kim Il Sung’s 105th birthday with a bang.
April 15 is the most important day in the North Korean calendar, and Kim Jong Un has celebrated his grandfather’s birthday with great fanfare as a way to boost his own legitimacy as the successor to the communist dynasty.
North Korea presented two of its newest missiles at the parade in Kim Il Sung Square on Saturday, including the submarine-launched ballistic missile it successfully fired last year and the land-based version it launched last month.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korea-blames-trump-and-hisaggressive-tweets-for-tensions/2017/04/14/6932c9aa-20e1-11e7-bcd6-6d1286bc177d_story.html?utm_term=.3148014f54f8
Videos of goose stepping North Korean military, US navy and President Trump at site
He knows he can’t win but it would be an unimaginable humiliation for him to back down: In a deadly game of dare, Kim Jong-un will take the suicide option, says MARK ALMOND
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4413342/In-deadly-game-dare-Kim-Jong-suicide.html#ixzz4eKAZQID9
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
As millions of North Koreans celebrate the Day of the Sun today, marking the birth of their cruel dynasty’s founding dictator, Kim Il-sung, his grandson’s nuclear ambitions have put the nation’s fate on a knife-edge and threatens peace throughout East Asia.
The chubby young tyrant, Kim Jong-un, has enjoyed playing the unpredictable despot ever since he inherited power in 2011. Now he is playing with fire.
This is a leader who would willingly take his small, poverty-stricken country to the brink of war with the world’s only superpower.
He knows he can’t win, but he also knows that a second Korean War will be a bloodbath because he has a vast arsenal – everything from primitive nuclear bombs, ballistic missiles and nerve gas to 150,000 cannon – with which he can hit South Korean cities and the US bases there.
To save his own rule – and after the ominous threats emanating from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, in recent days it would be an unimaginable humiliation for him to back down – Kim Jong-un is prepared for North Korea to take the suicide option with devastating consequences for the region.
And so a terrible game of dare is unfolding between the Supreme Leader and America’s new President.
Like his father and grandfather, Kim Jong-un has grown used to facing down America and the United Nations, ignoring sanctions and taunting them with repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4413342/In-deadly-game-dare-Kim-Jong-suicide.html#ixzz4eKAyjfTP
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Explosives used in Dortmund attack may have come from German military: newspaper
BERLIN (Reuters) – The explosives used in the attack on the bus of soccer team Borussia Dortmund may have come from supplies belonging to the German armed forces, a newspaper cited a source involved in the investigation as saying on Saturday.
It is still unclear who carried out Tuesday’s attack. German prosecutors have doubts about the authenticity of letters that suggested Islamist militants were behind it and Bild newspaper cited an investigator as saying right-wing extremists were probably responsible.
“The explosives in the pipe bombs, which were filled with metal pins, might have come from the stocks of the German armed forces but that’s still being checked,” newspaper Welt am Sonntag cited a source involved in the investigation as saying.
The source also said that specialist knowledge was required to use the military detonators, which are not easy to get.
A spokeswoman for the federal public prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the report.
The players’ bus was heading to their stadium for a Champions League match against AS Monaco on Tuesday when three explosions occurred, injuring Spanish defender Marc Bartra and delaying the match by a day. Dortmund said on Twitter on Saturday Bartra had been released from hospital.
Welt am Sonntag said police thought further attacks were possible, citing a document sent to regional police headquarters as saying that soccer games, rock concerts and cultural events were particularly at risk.
http://www.oann.com/major-doubts-about-letters-claiming-islamist-motive-for-dortmund-attack-media/
Translation: there are Muslims in the German army.
In tight French election, potential for significant double-voting problem goes unaddressed
By J.E. Dyer April 15, 2017
Well, this reeks. I venture to think most of us are hoping for a peaceful and fair election in France on 23 April. The candidate I would favor (by default), center-rightist Francois Fillon, almost certainly has no chance of winning at this point. But whoever prevails, I’d rather it be without any hint of foul electoral play.
Unfortunately, due to a longstanding problem in reconciling local voter registration rolls, it appears that as many as 500,000 voters may have been mailed two ballots. The French authorities are said to acknowledge the problem, but to have no plans to do anything about it for this election, other than to prosecute any illegal voting – if it can be detected – after the fact.
The problem isn’t that people have been sent two ballots corresponding to their current voting addresses. It’s that people who have moved from one place to another have been sent ballots corresponding to both their old addresses, and their current ones.
So it is especially unlikely that dual voting would be detected. An individual won’t be voting twice at the same address, but would have the opportunity to vote twice at two different addresses – which are administered by different local voting authorities at the city level.
I’m sure we can assume most of the Frenchmen and women who’ve received two ballots will be honest and cast only one. But the widespread reporting of this problem, which kicked off in the last 24 hours with articles in the big dailies Le Monde and Le Figaro, seems almost designed to call attention to the opportunity it represents.
http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/04/15/tight-french-election-potential-significant-double-voting-problem-goes-unaddressed/
How Marine Le Pen is facing wipe out in French election after COMPUTER BLUNDER
A MONUMENTAL computer blunder could cost Marine Le Pen the French general election as 500,000 citizens living outside of France have the chance to vote twice.
Half a million people received duplicate polling cards in the post, which would allow them to cast two votes at the first round of the election, held on April 23.
French authorities confirmed they would not be investigating the potential electoral fraud until AFTER the election, when retrospective prosecution may take place.
This could crush Ms Le Pen’s dreams of surging to power, as most French nationals living outside of their country are not right wing – demonstrated by the fact many feel they depend on the European Union (EU) to guarantee their stay in foreign countries.
Emmanuel Macron visited London in February and held rousing talks urging London’s 300,000-strong community to vote for him.
London’s French population equates to France’s sixth largest city, and now many of those 300,000 people will have the chance to vote for Mr Macron twice.
Far left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who has surged in the polls recently and threatens to break into the leadership race against Ms Le Pen and Mr Macron, could also benefit from this catastrophic error.
She said: “This year, this is the first time I have asked myself the question, would I take advantage of this anomaly to vote twice? My candidate was low enough in the polls.”
Voting twice is a crime, but police will only find out if they run a check on the individual through their computer systems.
The punishment can be up to two years in prison and a fine of about £13,500.
France’s Interior Ministry has said it will not be invalidating the election because of the duplicate voting glitch, but with Bloomberg’s latest poll currently showing Mr Macron and Ms Le Pen polling at 22.8 per cent, and far left Mr Melenchon at 18.3 per cent, it is possible an extra 500,000 votes either way could swing the balance of power.
Express.co.uk has contacted the French Embassy in London for comment and is awaiting response.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/792112/Marine-Le-Pen-French-election-votes-computer-Emmanuel-Macron
WTF watch: Why are ‘U.S. intelligence officials’ telling NBC we’ll strike North Korea?
By J.E. Dyer April 13, 2017
This isn’t funny.
I see a lot of people in social media taking NBC to task for making this report, which cites U.S. intelligence officials as saying that if the Kim regime performs a nuclear warhead test in the next few days, there’s a plan for American forces to conduct a preemptive strike. Other outlets are picking it up.
But forget NBC. What the bleeping blanking bleep is going on with the U.S. intelligence officials?
For the record, NBC advertised its report with this tweet in the 6 PM hour Eastern time.
http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/04/13/wtf-watch-u-s-intelligence-officials-telling-nbc-well-strike-north-korea/
Norway: Threat of Jihad
by Judith Bergman
April 15, 2017 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10192/norway-jihad
The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) just published in February its yearly threat assessment. It concluded — as did its threat assessment for 2016 — that Norway might experience an Islamic terrorist attack from Islamic State (ISIS) sympathizers acting upon ISIS’s call to carry out independent attacks. The PST explains:
“Lone wolf” attacks are rightly described as an actual terrorist strategy, rather than what the media likes to describe as random “mental illness”. In addition, this threat assessment now fits all of Europe.
zero hedge -Video Shows Tampering with “Evidence” of Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack
Preface: We spoke for quite a while with Dr. Postol by phone, and find him to be an ethical, honest, patriotic American man. He’s made some interesting discoveries debunking the Syrian chemical weapons propaganda, and so we’re helping to spread his findings.
By Theodore A. Postol, professor emeritus of science, technology, and national security policy at MIT. Postol’s main expertise is in ballistic missiles. He has a substantial background in air dispersal, including how toxic plumes move in the air. Postol has taught courses on weapons of mass destruction – including chemical and biological threats – at MIT. Before joining MIT, Postol worked as an analyst at the Office of Technology Assessment, as a science and policy adviser to the chief of naval operations, and as a researcher at Argonne National Laboratory. He also helped build a program at Stanford University to train mid-career scientists to study weapons technology in relation to defense and arms control policy. Postol is a highly-decorated scientist, receiving the Leo Szilard Prize from the American Physical Society, the Hilliard Roderick Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Richard L. Garwin Award from the Federation of American Scientists.
This is my third report assessing the White House intelligence Report of April 11, 2017. My first report was titled A Quick Turnaround Assessment of the White House Intelligence Report Issued on April 11, 2017 about the Nerve Agent Attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria and my second report was an Addendum to the first report.
This report provides unambiguous evidence that the White House Intelligence Report (WHR) of April 11, 2017 contains false and misleading claims that could not possibly have been accepted in any professional review by impartial intelligence experts. The WHR was produced by the National Security Council under the oversight of the National Security Advisor, Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster.
The WHR asserts that it reviewed commercial video evidence and concluded that sarin came from the crater next to a man. Other video frames show unprotected workers in the crater showing no evidence of sarin poisoning at the same time the dead birds are being packaged. The URLs to this and a related video are contained in this report.
The evidence presented herein is from two selected videos which are part of a larger cache of videos that are available on YouTube. These videos were uploaded to YouTube in the time period between April 5, 2017 and April 7, 2017. Analysis of the videos shows that all of the scenes taken at the site where the WHR claims was the location of a sarin release indicate significant tampering with the site. Since these videos were available roughly one week before the White House report was issued on April 11, this indicates that the office of the WHR made no attempt to utilize the professional intelligence community to obtain accurate data in support of the findings in the report.
The video evidence shows workers at the site roughly 30 hours after the alleged attack that were wearing clothing with the logo “Idlib Health Directorate.” These individuals were photographed putting dead birds from a birdcage into plastic bags. The implication of these actions was that the birds had died after being placed in the alleged sarin crater. However, the video also shows the same workers inside and around the same crater with no protection of any kind against sarin poisoning.
These individuals were wearing honeycomb face masks and medical exam gloves. They were otherwise dressed in normal streetwear and had no protective clothing of any kind.
The honeycomb face masks would provide absolutely no protection against either sarin vapors or sarin aerosols. The masks are only designed to filter small particles from the air. If there were sarin vapor, it would be inhaled without attenuation by these individuals. If the sarin were in an aerosol form, the aerosol would have condensed into the pours in the masks, and would have evaporated into a highly lethal gas as the individuals inhaled through the mask. It is difficult to believe that such health workers, if they were health workers, would be so ignorant of these basic facts.
In addition, other people dressed as health workers were standing around the crater without any protection at all.
As noted in my earlier reports, the assumption in WHR that the site of the alleged sarin release had not been tampered with was totally unjustified and no competent intelligence analyst would have agreed that this assumption was valid. The implication of this observation is clear – the WHR was not reviewed and released by any competent intelligence experts unless they were motivated by factors other than concerns about the accuracy of the report.
The WHR also makes claims about “communications intercepts” which supposedly provide high confidence that the Syrian government was the source of the attack. There is no reason to believe that the veracity of this claim is any different from the now verified false claim that there was unambiguous evidence of a sarin release at the cited crater.
The relevant quotes from the WHR are collected below for purposes of reference:
The United States is confident that the Syrian regime conducted a chemical weapons attack, using the nerve agent sarin, against its own people in the town of Khan Shaykhun in southern Idlib Province on April 4, 2017.
We have confidence in our assessment because we have signals intelligence and geospatial intelligence, laboratory analysis of physiological samples collected from multiple victims, as well as a significant body of credible open source reporting
We cannot publicly release all available intelligence on this attack due to the need to protect sources and methods, but the following includes an unclassified summary of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s analysis of this attack.
By 12:15 PM [April4, 2017] local time, broadcasted local videos included images of dead children of varying ages.
… at 1:10 PM [April4, 2017] local … follow-on videos showing the bombing of a nearby hospital …
Commercial satellite imagery from April 6 showed impact craters around the hospital that are consistent with open source reports of a conventional attack on the hospital after the chemical attack.
Moscow has since claimed that the release of chemicals was caused by a regime airstrike on a terrorist ammunition depot in the eastern suburbs of Khan Shaykhun.
An open source video also shows where we believe the chemical munition landed [Emphasis Added]—not on a facility filled with weapons, but in the middle of a street in the northern section of Khan Shaykhun. Commercial satellite imagery of that site from April 6, [Emphasis Added] after the allegation, shows a crater in the road that corresponds to the open source video.
Observed munition remnants at the crater and staining around the impact point are consistent with a munition that functioned, but structures nearest to the impact crater did not sustain damage that would be expected from a conventional high-explosive payload. Instead, the damage is more consistent with a chemical munition.
Russia’s allegations fit with a pattern of deflecting blame from the regime and attempting to undermine the credibility of its opponents.
[…]
Video Evidence That Reveals the White House Intelligence Report
Issued on April 11, 2017 Contains Demonstrably False Claims about a Sarin Dispersal Crater Allegedly Created
in the April 4, 2017 Attack in Khan Sheikoun, Syria
VIDEO #1:
Dead Birds Video:
Summary and Conclusions
It is now clear from video evidence that the WHR report was fabricated without input from the professional intelligence community.
The press reported on April 4 that a nerve agent attack had occurred in Khan Shaykhun, Syria during the early morning hours locally on that day. On April 7, The United States carried out a cruise missile attack on Syria ordered by President Trump. It now appears that the president ordered this cruise missile attack without any valid intelligence to support it.
In order to cover up the lack of intelligence to supporting the president’s action, the National Security Council produced a fraudulent intelligence report on April 11 four days later. The individual responsible for this report was Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, the National Security Advisor. The McMaster report is completely undermined by a significant body of video evidence taken after the alleged sarin attack and before the US cruise missile attack that unambiguously shows the claims in the WHR could not possibly be true. This cannot be explained as a simple error.
The National Security Council Intelligence Report clearly refers to evidence that it claims was obtained from commercial and open sources shortly after the alleged nerve agent attack (on April 5 and April 6). If such a collection of commercial evidence was done, it would have surely found the videos contained herein.
This unambiguously indicates a dedicated attempt to manufacture a false claim that intelligence actually supported the president’s decision to attack Syria, and of far more importance, to accuse Russia of being either complicit or a participant in an alleged atrocity.
The attack on the Syrian government threatened to undermine the relationship between Russia and the United States. Cooperation between Russia and the United States is critical to the defeat of the Islamic State. In addition, the false accusation that Russia knowingly engaged in an atrocity raises the most serious questions about a willful attempt to do damage relations with Russia for domestic political purposes.
We repeat here a quote from the WHR:
An open source video also shows where we believe the chemical munition landed—not on a facility filled with weapons, but in the middle of a street in the northern section of Khan Shaykhun [Emphasis Added]. Commercial satellite imagery of that site from April 6, after the allegation, shows a crater in the road that corresponds to the open source video.
The data provided in these videos make it clear that the WHR made no good-faith attempt to collect data that could have supported its “confident assessment.” that the Syrian government executed a sarin attack as indicated by the location and characteristics of the crater.
This very disturbing event is not a unique situation. President George W. Bush argued that he was misinformed about unambiguous evidence that Iraq was hiding a substantial store of weapons of mass destruction. This false intelligence led to a US attack on Iraq that started a process that ultimately led to the political disintegration in the Middle East, which through a series of unpredicted events then led to the rise of the Islamic State.
On August 30, 2013, the White House produced a similarly false report about the nerve agent attack on August 21, 2013 in Damascus. This report also contained numerous intelligence claims that could not be true. An interview with President Obama published in The Atlantic in April 2016 indicates that Obama was initially told that there was solid intelligence that the Syrian government was responsible for the nerve agent attack of August 21, 2013 in Ghouta, Syria. Obama reported that he was later told that the intelligence was not solid by the then Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.
Equally serious questions are raised about the abuse of intelligence findings by the incident in 2013. Questions that have not been answered about that incident is how the White House produced a false intelligence report with false claims that could obviously be identified by experts outside the White House and without access to classified information. There also needs to be an explanation of why this 2013 false report was not corrected. Secretary of State John Kerry emphatically testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee repeating information in this so-called un-equivocating report.
On August 30, 2013 Secretary of State Kerry made the following statement from the Treaty Room in the State Department:
Our intelligence community has carefully reviewed and re-reviewed information regarding this attack [Emphasis added], and I will tell you it has done so more than mindful of the Iraq experience. We will not repeat that moment. Accordingly, we have taken unprecedented steps to declassify and make facts available to people who can judge for themselves.
It is now obvious that this incident produced by the WHR, while just as serious in terms of the dangers it created for US security, was a clumsy and outright fabrication of a report that was certainly not supported by the intelligence community.
In this case, the president, supported by his staff, made a decision to launch 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base. This action was accompanied by serious risks of creating a confrontation with Russia, and also undermining cooperative efforts to win the war against the Islamic State.
I therefore conclude that there needs to be a comprehensive investigation of these events that have either misled people in the White House White House, or worse yet, been perpetrated by people to protect themselves from domestic political criticisms for uninformed and ill-considered actions.
Sincerely yours, Theodore A. Postol
Professor Emeritus of Science,
Technology, and National Security Policy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Email: po****@mi*.edu
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-15/video-tampering-evidence-syrian-chemical-weapons-attack
VIDEO # 2:
Idlib Health Directorate Tampering with Alleged Sarin Dispersal Site Video
any perspective on this? http://fair.org/media-beat-column/30-year-anniversary-tonkin-gulf-lie-launched-vietnam-war/
zero hedge – SYRIA – 60 Casualties Reported After Blast Hits Evacuee Bus Convoy Near Aleppo
In what may serve as a catalyst for another US military intervention in Syria, a blast has reportedly hit a convoy of buses carrying evacuees from the government-held towns of Fuaa and Kefraya near the Syrian city of Aleppo. The blast was reportedly caused by a suicide attacker detonating a car bomb according to Syrian state TV while local press estimates that up to 60 civilians have been killed in the explosion.
According to AP, The buses carrying nearly 5,000 pro-government evacuees have been stuck in an area on the edge of Aleppo city, as a much criticized population transfer deal stalls. According to the deal, more than 2,000 residents, activists and gunmen from areas besieged by government forces were also evacuated. But as the government and rebels disagreed over the number of gunmen to be evacuated, the buses were left stuck at two separate parts, but adjacent parts of the city.[…]
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-15/numerous-casualties-reported-after-blast-hits-evacuee-bus-conoy-near-aleppo
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G R A P H I C –
G R A P H I C ( 10 min )
GoV – “Mentally Confused” Man Breaks up Good Friday Mass in Essen
http://gatesofvienna.net/2017/04/mentally-confused-man-breaks-up-good-friday-mass-in-essen/
Panik bei Karfreitags- Messe in Essen durch Arabisch aussehenden Mann mit langen schwarzem Bart
DAILY MAIL – Orthodox Christians celebrate ‘holy fire’ in Jerusalem
Tens of thousands of Orthodox pilgrims gathered at Christianity’s most holy site under heavy police guard Saturday for the traditional “holy fire” ceremony to mark Easter.
Thousands of pilgrims from Eastern Europe thronged the church alongside Arab members of the local Orthodox community.
Thousands more, unable to enter the building, waited in the square outside to receive the flame, passed from candle to candle
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4414442/Orthodox-Christians-celebrate-holy-fire-Jerusalem.html
ISIS minister of war OBLITERATED in Mosul airstrike (express, Apr 15, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/792328/ISIS-commander-minister-of-war-Gulmurod-Khalimov-killed-Mosul-coalition-airstrike
“AN ISIS commander has been obliterated in a coalition airstrike on the war-ravaged Iraqi city of Mosul.
Gulmurod Khalimov, the highest ranking ISIS chief in Mosul and described as the jihadists’ minister of war, died when the missile struck in the west of the city last week.
It was the third time in recent months that Khalimov, who was originally from Tajikistan, had been the target of an airstrike, according to an Iraqi military source.
The source said that Khalimov, who received training from US special forces during his time as a colonel in Tajikistan’s army, had been responsible for planning the jihadists’ defence of Mosul and was behind hundreds of car bombings against the coalition…”
Sick ISIS terrorists launches chemical filled ROCKET on soldiers (express, Apr 15, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/792348/ISIS-launches-chemical-attack-on-Mosul
“ISLAMIC State (ISIS) terrorists have launched a chemical attack on the Iraqi city of Mosul, affecting several soldiers.
ISIS fired a rocket filled with chlorine today in an attack in the west of the city which had largely been liberated from the extremists by US-backed Iraqi forces.
The news was confirmed by an Iraqi military officer who was speaking on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to release information.
The rocket is believed to have been launched in the al-Abar neighbourhood of the city.
At least seven soldiers were reportedly suffering from breathing problems and were being treated nearby in a field hospital.
The Iraqi military is currently involved in an offensive in western Mosul, backed by US-led coalition forces.
Battles against jihadists are now ongoing in the more densely-populated western half of the city, with Iraqi officials claiming that more than half of western Mosul has been retaken from the terrorist group.
The news comes after it was revealed earlier today that an ISIS militant who had been linked to the attack in 2015 on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo could still be alive.
Boubaker el-Hakim was reported by American defence officials to have been killed in November, in a US drone strike in Raqqa.
Iraqi intelligence supplied information to the Syrian airforce to carry out a series of strikes on ISIS headquarters and hideouts in Syria, including one believed to belong to el-Hakim, an Iraqi military statement said.
Aircraft from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s airforce targeted several locations in Raqqa and Albu Kamal, near the Iraqi border, said the statement, without indicating the location of el-Hakim’s headquarters or the date of the raids.
An Iraqi military spokesman told Reuters el-Hakim’s headquarters were destroyed but it wasn’t clear if he was killed.
In 2015 Iraq and Syria established a joint committee with Russia and Iran, Assad’s main foreign backers, to share intelligence about Islamic State.
El-Hakim was believed to have been involved in planning the January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo, a weekly known for its satirical covers ridiculing political and religious leaders.
Two Islamist militants broke into an editorial meeting of the weekly, raking it with bullets, killing 17 people. Another militant later killed a policewoman and took hostages at a supermarket, killing four before police shot him dead.
ISIS declared a “caliphate” spanning parts of Iraq and Syria after it captured the Iraqi city of Mosul in mid-2014.
The hardline Sunni group has since lost most cities it captured in Iraq and its fighters are now surrounded in parts of Mosul by US-backed Iraqi government forces.
A US-backed offensive is also under way to capture Raqqa, involving a Syrian Kurdish-Arab militia alliance.”
Syrian army moves to tame rebellious Damascus districts (abcnews, Apr 15, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syrian-army-moves-tame-rebellious-damascus-districts-46813447
“Backed by Russian air power and allied militiamen on the ground, Syrian troops have recaptured entire cities from rebels and Islamic State group extremists in the past year, including the key cities of Aleppo, Homs and Palmyra.
Yet for the past three years, President Bashar Assad’s forces have been unable to free opposition-held neighborhoods of the capital Damascus, where rebel fighters have built a labyrinth of secret underground tunnels, beyond the reach of airstrikes and connected to opposition-held suburbs farther out.
A weeks-long push to expand the security belt around Assad’s seat of power, however, shows a new determination to retake the three areas north and northeast of the capital partially held by rebels — a long-festering thorn in the government’s side.
The offensive is the strongest in years, with warplanes reportedly conducting more than 70 airstrikes in one day and using surface-to-surface missiles in some of the deadliest attacks in weeks.
“The regime is pushing with all the powers it has,” said Ahmad Mahmoud, an opposition activist based in a rebel-held eastern suburb of Damascus.
The Damascus neighborhoods of Barzeh, Qaboun, and Jobar form a semi arc from the northern to eastern edge of Damascus. They are partially held by rebels and are often used to fire mortar shells into the metropolis and stage hit-and-run attacks, a constant threat and reminder that rebels can disrupt life in the city that has escaped much of the destruction and violence of other areas…”
Pakistan army foils major terrorist attack on Easter Sunday (abcnews, Apr 15, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-army-foils-major-terrorist-attack-easter-sunday-46814734
“Pakistan’s military says security forces foiled a “major terrorist attack” on minority Christians when they killed a militant and detained his associate in the eastern city of Lahore.
In a statement, the military said Saturday four soldiers were wounded in an overnight raid.
It was unclear which militant group wanted to target Easter Sunday in Lahore, where more than 70 people were killed in a 2016 suicide bombing at a park, which was crowded with Christians and Muslims at the time.
The latest raid came hours after Christians celebrated Good Friday by worshipping at city churches.
Security forces in recent months have stepped up operations against militants but Friday’s raid and shootout came as Christians prepared to celebrate the day followers believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead.”
Philippines: Foiled attack staged by IS-linked extremists (abcnews, Apr 15, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/philippines-foiled-attack-staged-linked-extremists-46813789
“A foiled attack on a central Philippine resort island this week was a kidnapping and bombing mission by at least three extremist groups affiliated with the Islamic State group in one of their most daring terror plots, security officials said Saturday.
The Philippine military initially said that government forces, backed by airstrikes, successfully detected and thwarted a kidnapping plot by Abu Sayyaf militants in the island province of Bohol, a popular tourist destination far from the militants’ southern jungle bases.
Three soldiers, a policeman, two villagers and at least four militants, including key Abu Sayyaf commander and spokesman Moammar Askali, were killed in the daylong siege Tuesday in a hinterland village in Bohol’s Inabanga town.
Military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said combined military and police forces in Bohol thwarted “major terrorist activities” by the militants, who were aiming to divert the military’s focus from intense offensives on the militants’ jungle encampments in southern Sulu province and outlying islands…”
Turkey probes senator, ex-CIA director over links to cleric (abcnews, Apr 15, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-probes-senator-cia-director-links-cleric-46815319
“Turkey’s state-run news agency says the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into 17 U.S.-based individuals, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and ex-CIA director John Brennan, for their alleged links to cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Anadolu Agency says Saturday the probe was launched after a group of Turkish lawyers filed a criminal complaint.
It said the prosecutor’s office would investigate their links to Gulen’s movement, in a step that could lead to charges of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government and membership in a terror organization.
?Turkey accuses Gulen, who is based in Pennsylvania, of orchestrating last summer’s failed coup and has designated his movement as a terror organization. Gulen denies involvement.”
Turkey detains 49 IS suspects said to be planning attacks (abcnews, Apr 15, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-detains-49-suspects-planning-attacks-46817241
“Turkey’s state-run news agency says 49 people with alleged links to the Islamic State group have been detained for planning “sensational attacks” in the run-up to Sunday’s referendum on increasing the powers of the president.
The Anadolu news agency reported Saturday that police conducted simultaneous operations in seven Istanbul districts following a tip. Forty-one foreigners are among the detained. Anadolu says the suspects are also connected to the perpetrators of the New Year’s nightclub attack in Istanbul.
IS has called for attacks against the referendum in its Arabic and Turkish publications this month, arguing that voting is opposing God and branding Muslim voters as “disbelievers.”
Turkey is holding a referendum on constitutional amendments that would significantly expand the powers of the president.”
Reagan-Era Expert Slams Russian Military As Outdated
By V Saxena
In spite of his attempts to act like an international tough guy, Russian President Vladimir Putin is the leader of a nation that is anything but militarily and economically healthy, according to Reagan administration Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle.
“(H)is position relative to the U.S. position is very weak,” Perle said during an interview Wednesday with Newsmax. “The appearance that Vladimir Putin is strong is largely the result of weakness displayed by the United States in the Obama years. Russia is not a very strong country.”
“Its military is relatively weak and ineffective, even though they spend a lot of money,” he added. “It’s true they have nuclear weapons, but no one can quite imagine those being brought to play.”
http://conservativetribune.com/reagan-era-expert-facts-russian/?utm_source=Email#038;utm_medium=libertyhub&utm_campaign=patriottribunedaily&utm_content=libertyalliance&newsletter_uid=2756&newsletter_date=04%2F15%2F17
Girl, 11, killed in the Stockholm terror attack as she walked home is named as Ebba Åkerlund
An 11-year-old girl who was walking home from school has been named as the latest victim of last Friday’s jihadi atrocity in Stockholm.
Schoolgirl Ebba Åkerlund went missing in the panic which ensued when a terrorist mowed down innocent pedestrians in one of the Swedish capital’s busiest shopping districts.
The 11-year-old’s grief stricken family launched a desperate social media appeal to find her after the atrocity – but tonight confirmed she was killed as she walked home.
According to local media, Ebba’s family are understood to have found out on Saturday she was one of the victims killed in the horrifying attack.
Problem Solved
The appeal of this outcome is increasing every day.
Video: “Gad Saad interviews Cynthia Farahat”
The Counter Jihad Report – April 14, 2017
https://counterjihadreport.com/2017/04/14/gad-saad-interviews-cynthia-farahat/
“Christian Orthodox Leader Calls on Erdogan to Repent and Convert from Islam or Find Himself in Hell with Mohammad”
by Jim Hoft – April 15, 2017
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/04/christian-orthodox-leader-calls-erdogan-repent-convert-islam-find-hell-mohammad/
GoV – Ciampino Airport Security Discriminates Against Veiled Muslima
http://gatesofvienna.net/2017/04/ciampino-airport-security-discriminates-against-veiled-muslima/#comments
ALBANIA -TIRANA – Sen. John McCain meets with Iranian dissidents relocated to Albania
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., met with a group representing Iranian dissidents in Albania on Friday.
Speaking to members of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, the largest of five organizations in the National Council of Resistance of Iran, at their headquarters in Tirana, McCain spoke about his opposition to the Iranian regime. “Someday, Iran will be free. Someday, we will all gather in that square,” McCain said.
He also congratulated members of the group for successfully relocating to Albania from Iraq where they had been subject to attacks from militias backed by Iran.
“There is no doubt that the people in this room have suffered,” McCain told the gathering, also attended by Maryam Rajavi, the group’s president-elect. “They have suffered not only themselves but in the loss of their loved ones because of the Iranian tyranny, and I express my condolences to everyone in this room who has lost a loved one as a result of the Iranian tyranny and terrorism.”
After the event, McCain met separately with Rajavi, the group said.
McCain has spent the first week of the congressional recess traveling across Eastern Europe. He’s made stops in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.
The dissident group, also known as the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, has revealed information on Iran’s nuclear and terror activities over the years.
The MEK says 140 MEK members were killed in seven attacks on Camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq by the Iranian regime, the Iraqi army and the pro-regime Iraqi terrorist militias.
In 2004, following the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the MEK residing at Camp Asraf handed over their weapons and submitted to U.S. military protection. This was after the U.S. reportedly bombed the encampment as part of a deal with Iran, which promised to repatriate some members of al Qaeda if the U.S. attacked the MEK. The U.S. handed over responsibility to protect the dissidents to the Iraqi government in 2009, which moved the group to Camp Liberty in 2012.
After Camp Liberty was repeatedly attacked, the MEK appealed to the United Nations to allow them to return to Camp Asraf, which they said provided better protection. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees and the U.S. supported an effort to move Camp Liberty residents out of Iraq and Albania had offered to take the refugees in.
The last remaining members of the group departed Camp Liberty and were resettled in September.
The U.S. had listed the MEK as a terrorist organization for past alleged attacks on Americans, for which MEK has denied having any role. One senior official in the Clinton administration described the designation as a gesture of goodwill to then-Iranian president Mohammad Khatami. The MEK was removed from the list in 2012.
His office did not immediately return a request for comment on his visit to Albania.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sen-john-mccain-meets-with-iranian-dissidents-relocated-to-albania/article/2620377
Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK)
The People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, more commonly known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK, is a controversial Iranian resistance group; it was once listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the United States for its alleged killing of U.S. personnel in Iran during the 1970s, and for its ties to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
[…]Experts say MEK’s ideology—initially a blend of Marxism, feminism, and Islamism—[…]
The NCRI elected Maryam Rajavi as “Iran’s future president” in 1993 and, according to the group’s website, expects to oversee a six-month democratic transition in Iran “once the mullahs are toppled.”
[…]Many analysts, including Rubin, have characterized the MEK as a cult,</strong[…]
[…]The group operates a well-funded, highly sophisticated network of advocates in the United States, enlisting in recent years the support of dozens of high-profile officials from both political parties, including former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former governors Edward Rendell and Howard Dean. Much of this advocacy was centered on a campaign to delist the MEK as a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. In September 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton removed the group from the FTO list and thereby unfroze the MEK’s U.S. assets and allowed it to transact with U.S. entities. The NCRI opened a Washington, DC, office in April 2013.[…]
http://www.cfr.org/iran/mujahadeen-e-khalq-mek/p9158
Eric Shawn reports: Sen. McCain urges new Iran pressure
Senator McCain and Maryam Rajavi meet
Senator McCain to MEK: You are an example to everyone in the world that is struggling for freedom
Maryam Rajavi: As the regime is beset by deepening crises, we are closer than ever to our goal of freedom
On Friday, April 14, 2017, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, met with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Tirana, Albania. They discussed the latest developments in Iran, the Iranian regime’s nefarious meddling in the region, and the future prospects.
Mrs. Rajavi praised Senator McCain for his unsparing efforts in support of the MEK members in Ashraf and their relocation out of Iraq. She said, “Today, there is a consensus in the Middle East about the clerical regime’s destructive role and that the religious fascism ruling Iran is the primary source of war, terrorism and crisis in the region.”
“Regime change is not only indispensable to ending the egregious violations of human rights in Iran but also to establishing peace and tranquility in the region. As long as the clerical regime is in power, it will not abandon the export of terrorism and fundamentalism,” she added.
Senator McCain said he believed that the Iranian regime, Bashar Al-Assad and Daesh (ISIS) were all interrelated and could be dealt with separately. He underscored the need to remove Assad from power and to confront the Iranian regime’s destructive role in Syria and Iraq.
Mrs. Rajavi said, “From all indications, the clerical regime is at an impasse socially, politically, and economically and as such is quite vulnerable. The Iranian people and Resistance are more determined and prepared than ever to overthrow the ruling theocracy and establish democracy and popular sovereignty in Iran.”
Prior to the meeting, Senator McCain, joined by Mrs. Rajavi, visited one of the MEK headquarters in Tirana where he was warmly welcomed by MEK members relocated from Camp Liberty to Albania.
Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission and a number of U.S. Embassy staff in Tirana, Albania, as well as several of Senator McCain’s advisors accompanied him in this visit.
In her speech to the gathering, Mrs. Rajavi thanked Senator McCain for his efforts in support of the MEK members. “The relocation of MEK members was a great achievement. Their persistence and sacrifices, coupled with international support made the relocation possible. You played a key role in the safe relocation of Camp Liberty residents and for that the people of Iran are grateful to you,” she added.
Mrs. Rajavi also stressed that the Iranian Resistance was determined to continue its struggle to overthrow the clerical regime. She pointed out, “During the 2009 uprisings in Iran, while the Iranian people’s desire for freedom and democracy was brutally crushed, the U.S. Government regrettably remained silent. But the Iranian people have never given up their desire for regime change. We are more determined than ever to establish freedom and democracy in Iran. As the regime is beset by deepening crises, we are closer than ever to achieving our goal.”
On the recent developments in the region, Mrs. Rajavi said, “The Iranian regime is responsible for committing war crimes in Syria and it must be evicted from that country. Notwithstanding its valuable humanitarian dimension, politically speaking, this would be the correct policy. Experience has shown that this regime is neither capable of, nor willing to, change its behavior. As such, regime change in Iran is the prerequisite to regional peace and stability as well as global peace and security.”
Addressing the MEK members, Senator McCain congratulated them on their successful relocation from Iraq and lauded their perseverance and steadfastness despite enduring great calamities and losing many of their comrades. “There is no doubt that the people in this room have suffered. They have suffered not only themselves but in the loss of their loved ones because of the Iranian tyranny, and I express my condolences to everyone in this room who has lost a loved one as a result of the Iranian tyranny and terrorism.” Senator McCain also expressed his gratitude to the Government of Albania for their hospitality.
Senator McCain told MEK members, “You have stood up and fought and sacrificed for freedom, for the right to live free, for the right to determine your own future, for the rights that are God given. I thank you for being an example, an example to the whole world, that those people who are willing to fight and sacrifice for freedom will achieve it, and you are an example to everyone in the world that is struggling for (freedom).”
He praised Mrs. Rajavi’s leadership, adding, “Someday, Iran will be free. Someday, we will all gather in that square.”
Mrs. Rajavi presented Senator McCain with a book containing the List of 20,000 MEK martyrs who had fallen for freedom in Iran. She described the book, which contains a partial list of names of 120,000 martyrs as “the greatest asset of the Iranian Resistance.”
Senator McCain also met and talked with a number of MEK members, former political prisoners and members who had lost relatives under the Iranian regime, about their personal experiences.
http://www.maryam-rajavi.com/en/activities/event-reports/item/meeting-of-senator-mccain-and-maryam-rajavi-senator-mccain-visits-pmoi-members-from-ashraf-in-tirana
Marine Le Pen Hits Out At Pope After Call For Open Borders (breitbart, Apr 15, 2017)
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/15/marine-le-pen-pope-asks-states-go-people-opening-borders/
“French presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen has criticised the Pope for pressuring Western countries to open their borders to migrants, accusing him of asking states to disregard their own citizens…”