February 22, 2013 – WASHINGTON, DC - According to data compiled by the FBI, the number of Americans purchasing guns has skyrocketed since Obama was elected. There have been 65,376,373 background checks completed for Americans purchasing firearms since February of 2009, the first full month of Barack Obama’s presidency. This totals 65,376,373 background checks completed since President Obama’s first full month in office, or 44,748 background checks per day.  By comparison, the number of background checks in Obama’s first term is 91.1% higher than President George W. Bush’s first-term total of 34,214,066. –Daily Bail

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February 14, 2013 – SOUTH KOREA – South Korea unveiled a cruise missile on Thursday that it said can hit the office of North Korea’s leaders, trying to address concerns that it is technologically behind its unpredictable rival which this week conducted its third nuclear test. South Korean officials declined to say the exact range of the missile but said it could hit targets anywhere in North Korea. The Defense Ministry released video footage of the missiles being launched from destroyers and submarines striking mock targets. The weapon was previewed in April last year and officials said deployment was now complete. “The cruise missile being unveiled today is a precision-guided weapon that can identify and strike the window of the office of North Korea’s leadership” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told reporters. North Korea has forged ahead with long-range missile development, successfully launching a rocket in December that put a satellite into orbit. The North’s ultimate aim, Washington believes, is to design an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could hit the United States. North Korea, which accuses the United States and its “puppet,” South Korea, of war-mongering on an almost daily basis, is likely to respond angrily to South Korea flexing its muscles. North Korea, technically still at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, carried out its third nuclear test on Tuesday, drawing condemnation from around the world including its only major ally China. The test and the threat of more unspecified actions from Pyongyang have raised tensions on the Korean peninsula as the South prepares to inaugurate a new president on February 25. “The situation prevailing on the Korean peninsula at present is so serious that even a slight accidental case may lead to an all-out war which can disturb the whole region,” North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said. –Reuters

NK test sets off arms race on Korean peninsula: South Korea said it would accelerate the development of longer-range ballistic missiles that could cover the whole of North Korea in response to a third nuclear test by Pyongyang. “We will speed up the development of ballistic missiles with a range of 800 kilometers (500 miles),” Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told reporters. In October last year, South Korea reached a deal with the United States to almost triple the range of its missile systems – with Seoul arguing it needed an upgrade to counter the North’s missile and nuclear programs. The United States has 28,500 troops in South Korea and guarantees a nuclear “umbrella” in case of any atomic attack. In return, Seoul accepts limits on its missile capabilities. Prior to the October agreement, the South was restricted to missiles with a range of 300 kilometers. The extension will not only bring the whole of North Korea within reach of Seoul’s rockets, but also parts of China and Japan. Some experts have suggested it would provide the South with a pre-emptive strike facility against the North’s nuclear installations. Kim said the South would also speed up the deployment of a “kill chain”’ system capable of detecting, targeting and destroying North Korean missiles. “The military is closely watching the North in case of further provocative acts,” he said. Following North Korea’s nuclear test yesterday, the head of South Korea’s intelligence agency warned that Pyongyang may well carry out a further test or a ballistic missile launch in the coming days or weeks. North Korea is a “serious threat” to the United States and Washington must be prepared to deal with it, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta warned after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test. “We saw what North Korea has done these last few weeks with a missile test and now a nuclear test,” said Leon Panetta, the outgoing defense secretary, at a farewell ceremony. –News

February 13, 2013 – CHINA - Tanks, one by one, moving along a main road in China’s coastal Fujian province. Driving up speculations that the Chinese military may be warming up for war. Local residents took these pictures between February 3 to February 6. At times, the line of tanks and artillery blocked traffic for several miles. And it wasn’t just in Fujian province. These military vehicles were spotted further up the coast, in neighboring  Zhejiang province. According to dissident website, molihua.org, these tanks in Hubei province are being transported from a military base to the coast. The troop movements come after months of escalating tensions between China and Japan over the disputed territory of the Diaoyun, or Senkaku islands and they’re known in Japan. It’s caused international worries that the two countries may be on the cusp of war. Both sides have scrambled jets and warships in the region. In January, during naval exercise near the disputed waters, Chinese warships reportedly directed their targeting radar at a Japanese vessel. On February 7, State-run Global Times published this article saying there is a “serious possibility” a military conflict may flare up between China and Japan. It continues to say that fewer and fewer people are hopeful for a peaceful resolution to the Diaoyu Island crisis. Are we in a countdown to war between China and Japan? NTD will continue to keep you posted as the situation develops. –NTD

Japan proposes military hotline with China -The Japanese government wants to move ahead with the creation of an emergency military hot line with China as tensions remain high over allegations Beijing used weapons-targeting radar against Japanese naval forces, Parliamentary Secretary for Defense Masahisa Sato said Tuesday. Mr. Sato—an upper house lawmaker and the third-most-senior elected official overseeing the defense ministry after the minister and vice minister—also said he hoped Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Barack Obama would discuss security issues at a planned summit later this month. Mr. Sato described the alleged radar-locking incidents as “outrageous.” He said he was disappointed with Beijing’s rebuttal that Tokyo’s accusations were baseless and aimed at stoking tensions between the two countries. “A hot line may not be enough. We’d also like to consider creating a framework where vessels of both parties can directly communicate on-site to avoid such incidents,” he said in an interview. On Friday, China denied Japanese accusations that Chinese naval ships locked weapons-guiding radar on two occasions in January—once on a naval vessel, and once on a helicopter. Chinese officials said normal radar—not weapons-targeting radar—was used in both instances, blaming close monitoring by Japanese forces for aggravating the situation. The U.S. supports Japan’s claims. A State Department spokesperson said Monday it believed the incidents took place as Japan describes them. “In normal circumstances, such radar is directed when attacking an opposing ship. Doing this as a mere act of provocation is just inconceivable in light of common military custom,” Mr. Sato said. “Generally speaking, a weaker military would have fired shots” in response to such moves. No shots were fired, but Prime Minister Abe has demanded that Beijing apologize. Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Saturday the government may release evidence of the radar-locking incidents. -WSJ

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February 12, 2013 – NORTH KOREA – President Obama called North Korea’s latest nuclear test “a highly provocative act” that undermines regional stability and threatens international peace. North Korea announced earlier today that it successfully tested a miniaturized nuclear device underground, according to state media. Official state media said the test was conducted in a safe manner and is aimed at coping with “outrageous’ U.S. hostility that “violently” undermines the North’s peaceful, sovereign rights to launch satellites. Unlike previous tests, North Korea used a powerful explosive nuclear bomb that is smaller and lighter, state media reported. North Korea kept up its belligerent talk today, vowing more provocative actions. If the U.S. “makes this situation complex in hostility, we will come up with second and third reactions,” North Korea said in a statement. The regime blamed the nuclear test on the United States. “Originally we didn’t have to test the nuclear bomb and we didn’t plan to,’ the statement said. “The major purpose of this test is to show our anger to the hostile actions of the U.S. and show off our will and capability to protect our sovereign right to the end.” The statement lashed out at the U.S.-led sanctions as well as the search of North Korean ships that are suspected of exporting illegal arms. “We will consider the search of our ships and other sanctions by the international community as an act of war. And it will bring on our relentless retaliatory attack,” North Korea said. “The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants further swift and credible action by the international community. The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies. “The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and steadfast in our defense commitments to allies in the region,” he added. The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on North Korea’s nuclear test later this morning. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement expressing “firm opposition” to the test. “We strongly urge the DPRK (North Korea) to abide by its denuclearization commitments, and to refrain from further actions that could lead to a deterioration of the situation”” the statement read. “Safeguarding Korean Peninsula and East Asian peace and stability serves the shared interests of all parties.” China, North Korea’s main ally in the region, has warned North Korea it would cut back severely needed food assistance if it carried out a test. Each year China donates approximately half of the food North Korea lacks to feed its people and half of all oil the country consumes. Suspicions were aroused when the U.S. Geological Survey said it had detected a magnitude 4.9 earthquake Tuesday in North Korea. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization told ABC News, “We confirm that a suspicious seismic event has taken place in North Korea. The event shows clear explosion-like characteristics and its location is roughly congruent with the 2006 and 2009 DPRK nuclear tests,” said Tibor Toth, executive secretary of the organization. –ABC News

                                                 Was Israel’s target a chemical weapons facility in Syria?

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January 27, 2013 – WORLD - Yet here we are, forced to choose between two ideologies, two disparate worlds that rely on two disparate sets of facts. The reasoned voter, who cares about finding the best answer to our questions, is forced to determine the lesser of two jaded markets for truth. These two markets present problems for our politics. Americans think we are more divided than we actually are. Our politicians disagree far more frequently than we need to disagree. Gridlock ensues. Even more disturbing is that social science becomes politicized, and the public is fooled into thinking that truth is a two party system. –.Campus Times 

Upside Down and polarized: The world of cinema reflects this widening rift in society, by class, by race, by religion, by gender, and  socio-economic status. In the movie, Upside Down, reality exists simultaneously in two adjoining worlds. One is right side up, and the other is upside down. The only question is which is really which? Kept apart from the girl he has loved his entire life; Adam must fight to reunite with Eden. But the laws of his world as well as the laws of gravity keep him from her. Adam must risk everything to access the forbidden world of affluence that exists literally above him. As he struggles to keep the authorities from discovering him while manipulating the gravitational force that physically pulls him back to his world, Adam faces insurmountable danger in hopes of finding his long-lost love. Two worlds; worlds apart…

Dangling from a cliff: Political wrangling in Washington and 11^th hour maneuvers, in the face of a perilous approaching ‘fiscal cliff’ reflects the growing divide and inadequacy of a political system that is already grinding to a crawl under the weight of its own bureaucracy, financial mismanagement, and corruption. As the world continues to unravel, and tensions mount in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa and there’s more debt in the world of late than common sense; American are collecting guns and bullets in record numbers, preparing for an ‘unthinkable’. The ranks of the disenfranchised are growing, along with the unemployed, and nobody seems to care or be able to offer solutions to heal or address either. Meanwhile, religions institutions are seeing an ever increasing number of followers abandoning the church altogether. Scandals, corruption, and liberalism continue to be the death keel for many religious organizations, who are being shaken down by the changing times. Just consider the headlines in the news of late:

Monsignor runs meth ring: To onlookers, Monsignor Kevin Wallin’s fall from grace at his Connecticut parish was like something out of “Breaking Bad,” the television series about a high school chemistry teacher who becomes a methamphetamine lord. The suspended Roman Catholic priest was arrested on federal drug charges this month for allegedly having methamphetamine mailed to him from co-conspirators in California and making more than $300,000 in drugs sales out of his apartment in Waterbury in the second half of last year. Along the way, authorities said, he bought a small adult video and sex toy shop in the nearby town of North Haven named “Land of Oz & Dorothy’s Place,” apparently to launder all the money he was making. He has pleaded not guilty, and jury selection in his trial is scheduled to begin March 21. On social media sites, people couldn’t help but compare Wallin with Walter White, the main character on “Breaking Bad” who was making so much cash that he and his wife bought a car wash to launder their profits. He has also been dubbed in some media as “Monsignor Meth.” Wallin, 61, was the pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Bridgeport for nine years until he resigned in June 2011, citing health and personal problems. He previously served six years as pastor of St. Peter’s Church in Danbury until 2002. He was granted a sabbatical in July 2011. The Diocese of Bridgeport suspended him from public ministry last May. Diocesan officials become concerned about Wallin in the spring of 2011 after complaints about his appearance and erratic behavior, diocese spokesman Brian Wallace told the Connecticut Post. Some reports of his behavior were startling. “We became aware that he was acting out sexually — with men — in the church rectory,” Wallace told the newspaper, adding that church officials deemed the sexual behavior unbecoming of a priest and asked Wallin to resign. –CT Post

Friar kills himself over sex-abuse scandal: A Franciscan friar accused of sexually abusing students at Catholic high schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania killed himself at a western Pennsylvania monastery, police said Saturday. Brother Stephen Baker, 62, was found dead of self-inflicted wounds at the St. Bernardine Monastery in Hollidaysburg on Saturday morning, Blair Township Police Chief Roger White told the Associated Press. He declined to specify the type of wounds or say whether a note was found. Baker was named in legal settlements last week involving 11 men who alleged that he sexually abused them at a Catholic high school in northeast Ohio three decades ago. The undisclosed financial settlements announced Jan. 16 involved his contact with students at John F. Kennedy High School in Warren, Ohio from 1986-90. The Youngstown diocese previously said it was unaware of the allegations until nearly 20 years after the alleged abuse. –ABC

January 26, 2013 – UNITED KINGDOM – Britain could be on course for its third recession in four years after the economy shrank 0.3% in the last three months of 2012. The figures were worse than expected and could put pressure on the government to consider a “plan B” that would stimulate demand. A fall in manufacturing output dragged down the economy, countering a small rise in construction between October and December, according to the Office for National Statistics. The economy achieved zero growth for the year as a whole. Sterling dived on the news, reflecting fears the UK will lose its AAA credit rating and status as a haven economy, though the stock market shrugged off the news, remaining at a four-year high. George Osborne said he would not “run away” from the problems facing the UK economy: “We have a reminder today that Britain faces a very difficult economic situation. A reminder that last year was particularly difficult, that we face problems at home because of the debts built up over many years and problems abroad with the eurozone, where we export most of our products, in recession.” The shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, called on Osborne to introduce policies which will “kickstart our flat-lining economy. A plan B now should include a compulsory jobs guarantee for the long-term unemployed and a temporary VAT cut to boost family incomes and our struggling high streets,” said Balls. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said the chancellor’s austerity plan had “pushed the UK economy to the brink of an unprecedented triple-dip recession.” A triple-dip recession will occur if the economy contracts again in the first quarter of 2013. The economy remains 3.5% below its peak in 2007 and is not expected to regain its previous level for at least another two years, making it the longest recovery in 100 years. “We are now midway through the coalition’s term of office and its economic strategy has been a complete disaster. We remain as dependent on the City as we did before the financial crash,” O’Grady said. In the 10 quarters since the election, manufacturing has contracted by 0.4% and the construction sector has shrunk by 9%, the TUC said. The contraction in GDP in the fourth quarter followed a near 1% rise in the third quarter when the economy was boosted by the Olympics. A survey of economists had predicted a 0.1% drop in GDP in the fourth quarter, though several prominent analysts had forecast a bigger contraction after a series of surveys last year showed the manufacturing industry suffering from a downturn in exports. The ONS data showed that within the manufacturing sector, mining and quarrying output suffered its biggest decline since records began because of maintenance on North Sea oil and gas fields. In the powerhouse services sector activity ground to a halt in the fourth quarter due to the absence of the London Games boost in the previous three months. The only bright spot was construction, which delivered a 0.3% rise in output. A post-Olympic cut in spending on sport and recreational facilities pushed down the index for government and other services by 0.7%, after an increase of 1.6% in the previous quarter. All Olympic ticket sales were counted in the previous quarter, giving the ailing economy a one-off boost. Despite the contraction in the economy, employment has remained resilient, with figures this week showing that almost 30 million adults were in a job in the quarter to November, up by more than half a million on the previous year. –Guardian

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January 25, 2013 – NORTH KOREA - “Troubling and counterproductive” rhetoric from North Korea is inflaming tensions on the Korean peninsula, but ultimately, “we will judge North Korea by its actions, not its words,” the U.S. envoy to North Korea said Friday. In its latest bout of saber-rattling, North Korea on Friday warned of the possibility of “strong physical counter-measures” against South Korea after the United Nations imposed tougher sanctions against the North earlier this week. The threat against South Korea came a day after the North said it would carry out a new nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches as part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States. The statement Friday from North Korea’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said it would take action against South Korea if it “takes a direct part” in the U.N. sanctions. The South Korean Unification Ministry declined to comment specifically on the new threats from Pyongyang. It reiterated its stance that North Korea should refrain from further provocations. “Now is a moment when I think all parties in the six-party process, in particular here, North Korea, should turn their attention to how to peacefully and diplomatically address challenges that concern them,” U.S. envoy Glyn Davies said from Beijing. The two Koreas have technically still been at war since the all-out conflict between them in the 1950s. Smaller scale clashes have occurred since then, most recently in November 2010 when North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing several people. South Korea and the United States are often the focus of menacing language from Pyongyang, but the latest U.N. sanctions, a response to a long-range rocket launched last month by the North, appear to be agitating to North Korea. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Thursday there are no “outward indications” that North Korea is about to conduct a nuclear test, but he admitted it would be hard to determine that in advance. “They have the capability, frankly, to conduct these tests in a way that makes it very difficult to determine whether or not they are doing it,” he said in a Pentagon press conference. “We are very concerned with North Korea’s continuing provocative behavior,” Panetta said, but he added that the United States is “fully prepared” to deal with any provocations. -CNN

January 21, 2013

The revolution will not be televised: The bloody resolution of the hostage crisis in Algeria has brought into focus the broader challenges the United States and its allies face in confronting terrorist cells that have taken up sanctuary across northern Africa. The United States and France have been courting Algeria for months, hoping to secure its support for an international effort to evict Islamic militants out of northern Mali. But the militants’ advance south, which set off an appeal for the French military intervention by the Mali government, and the hostage-taking at a gas-producing complex in the Sahara to the north have caught the United States by surprise and prompted fresh White House vows to combat terrorism in the region. In taking on the militants, Western nations are confronting multinational bands that are often able to move with relative freedom across porous African borders. And those cells have many inviting targets to choose from: the region is rich with oil, gas, uranium and other international ventures that clearly represent Western interests and in some cases are poorly defended. Also, with the United States and Britain determined not to send troops to Mali, and the French hoping to avoid an open-ended deployment there, Western nations must rely heavily on the forces of local nations who are not always open to outside advice. –NY Times

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January 13, 2013 – CHINA - China recently upgraded its subway system in Beijing and revealed that its mass transit was hardened to withstand nuclear blasts or chemical gas attacks in a future war, state-run media reported last month. The disclosure of the military aspects of the underground rail system followed completion and opening of a new subway line in the Chinese capital Dec. 30, along with the extension of several other lines. The subway upgrade is part of an effort to ease gridlocked traffic in the city of 20 million people. According to Chinese civil defense officials quoted Dec. 5 in the Global Times, a newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, the subway can “withstand a nuclear or poison gas attack.” A U.S. official said the disclosure of the subway’s capabilities to withstand attack is unusual, since it highlights Beijing’s strategic nuclear modernization program, something normally kept secret from state-controlled media. The strategic nuclear buildup includes the expansion of offensive nuclear forces, missile defenses, and anti-satellite arms. China is building new long-range mobile missiles, including the DF-41, and plans to deploy up to eight new ballistic missile submarines. Reports from Asia indicate the Chinese military is also planning to build new long-range strategic nuclear bombers. Russia too is expanding its nuclear forces with new submarines and missiles. Moscow announced last year that it is also constructing some 5,000 underground bomb shelters in Russia’s capital in anticipation of a possible future nuclear conflict. By contrast, the U.S. government has done little to bolster civil defense measures, preferring the largely outdated concept of mutual assured destruction that leaves populations vulnerable to attack and building only limited missile defenses that the Obama administration has said are not designed to counter Chinese or Russian nuclear strikes. The Obama administration instead is seeking deep cuts in U.S. nuclear forces as part of President Barack Obama’s policy of seeking the elimination of all nuclear arms. According to the Global Times report, the new subway lines were “designed to be used in the event of an emergency, for underground evacuation from one station to another, emergency shelter, and storage for emergency supplies.” A military engineer identified only as Hu and as part of the Chinese military’s Second Artillery Corps, which builds and deploys China’s nuclear arsenal, helped design the civil defense aspects of the subway. Special steel-reinforced gates installed on all subway tunnels and used to separate stations are one key feature of the reinforced subway. Hu said it is designed to protect people who seek shelter during a heavy storm, toxic gas attack, or a nuclear strike. “The station has three hours of breathable air after the gates are closed, isolating the station from the outside world,” Hu was quoted as saying. “Although each gate weighs around 7 tons, it takes just three minutes for two adults to open or close it manually,” she said. The new blast gates were introduced into subway construction projects in 2007. A second Chinese official, identified in the report as Liang, said each subway also has an air filtration system in case of a chemical weapons gas attack. The system is designed to keep air flowing into the station. “People can actually shelter in the subway for more than three hours because of this system,” Liang said. Above-ground subway exits also can be sealed during an attack, Liang said, using heavy blast doors concealed behind temporary walls. Additional civil defense barriers and doors are being installed in the Beijing subway later, according to Cao Yanping, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Civil Air-Raid Shelter. Jiang Hao, a Chinese military engineer from the 4th Engineer Design & Research Institute of General Staff Department, told the newspaper that blast gates already are in use in cities such as Nanjing, in Jiangsu Province, and Shenyang, in Liaoning Province. “The new facilities also have other defensive capabilities like emergency communication equipment at each station, which makes effective communication possible during a conflict,” Jiang Hao, the engineer, told reporters in Beijing. China’s network of underground tunnels for nuclear weapons and missiles was disclosed only recently, and highlighted in Georgetown University’s Asian Arms Control Project, dubbed it China’s “Great Underground Wall.” –Washington FB

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Reblogged from The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond:

Reblogged from The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond:

January 12, 2013 – CHINA – Yesterday, it was reported that China – not currently suffering from any food shortages – is amassing rice stockpiles. This past year, the country mysteriously imported four times the rice over 2011 purchases: United Nations agricultural experts are reporting confusion, after figures show that China imported 2.6 million tons of rice in 2012, substantially more than a four-fold increase over the 575,000 tons imported in 2011. The confusion stems from the fact that there is no obvious reason for vastly increased imports, since there has been no rice shortage in China. The speculation is that Chinese importers are taking advantage of low international prices, but all that means is that China’s own vast supplies of domestically grown rice are being stockpiled. Why would China suddenly be stockpiling millions of tons of rice for no apparent reason? Perhaps it’s related to China’s aggressive military buildup and war preparations in the Pacific and in central Asia. Yesterday’s revelation follows reports over the past several years of the Chinese amassing commodities in warehouses throughout the nation. For example, Reuters reported last year that: At Qingdao Port, home to one of China’s largest iron ore terminals, hundreds of mounds of iron ore, each as tall as a three-storey building, spill over into an area signposted “grains storage” and almost to the street. Further south, some bonded warehouses in Shanghai are using car parks to store swollen copper stockpiles – another unusual phenomenon that bodes ill for global metal prices and raises questions about China’s ability to sustain its economic growth as the rest of the world falters. Several months ago, at least one analyst speculated that a commodities buying spree involving 300,000 tons of metals in another Chinese province was motivated by an attempt to keep local smelters running, thereby ensuring continued tax revenues to government. But that doesn’t explain the rice-buying. What we do know is that the world may be headed – led by the United States – toward a period of significant inflation if sovereign debt crises lead to additional “quantitative easing” and other expansions of the monetary supply. –Joe Miller

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Reblogged from The Extinction Protocol: 2012 and beyond: