Russia, China Urge Iran to Heed U.N.

March 26, 2007
The Associated Press
Yahoo News!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070326/...S21znkuBJSw60A

The presidents of Russia and China on Monday called on Iran to fulfill the U.N. Security Council's demands over its disputed atomic program, a day after the Islamic republic announced it was partially suspending cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

The United States, meanwhile, said the Iranian response to the sanctions was a "step in the wrong direction."

In their joint statement, Vladimir Putin and Hu Jintao said their countries — permanent, veto-wielding Security Council members — were ready to "search for a comprehensive, long-term and mutually acceptable solution to the Iranian nuclear problem." They also emphasized that the increasingly tense dispute should be resolved "exclusively through peaceful means."

Russia and China have significant trade ties with Iran and have used their veto power to push for less stringent sanctions against their ally. That stance has often put them at odds with the other veto powers, the United States, Britain and France, which favor a touger approach to the nuclear dispute.

But the two joined the rest of the Security Council on Saturday in voting to impose the new sanctions — the second in three months against Iran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. The sanctions included the banning of Iranian arms exports and the freezing of assets of 28 people and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

Iran rejected the sanctions and later announced a partial suspension of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Its hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the latest U.N. sanctions would not halt the country's uranium enrichment "even for a second."

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said he would soon resume talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator.

Solana, speaking in Brussels, Belgium, said he had "some contact" with Iran's Ali Larijani on Sunday and that "we'll try again today, the sooner the better."

Solana and Larijani have been the principal negotiators on the issue of Iran's nuclear program, which the country says is intended for peaceful purposes but the West believes may be a cover for the development of nuclear weapons.

The European Union is eager to continue talks with the Iranians as part of the West's "twin-track" approach — gradually imposing tougher sanctions if the country refuses to halt enrichment while offering economic and political advantages if it falls into line.

Nicholas Burns, undersecretary for political affairs at the State Department, has indicated that the United States may seek a third round of penalties unless Iran responds positively to demands to end the enrichment program.

Referring to the unanimous Security Council vote, Burns pointed out that even fellow nonaligned countries such as Indonesia — the world's largest Muslim country — and South Africa supported the measure. Iran is a longtime member of the Nonaligned Movement.

"Iran is isolated in the world, it has few friends," Burns said in Brussels. "Iranians have to understand they don't run the world, they don't have unlimited power, and we are sending a clear message from the rest of the world ... that we want to contain and block Iranian power, especially on the nuclear side."

In Washington, Tom Casey, the State Department spokesman, said "Ahmadinejad seems intent on taking Iran down the wrong path."

Earlier on Monday, the Russian state-run company building Iran's first atomic power plant said that Iran had made its first payment toward the delayed construction of the Bushehr plant since a dispute over financing halted the project.

Russia and Iran have been at loggerheads over financing of the plant, and Russia said earlier this month that nuclear fuel would not be supplied this month, as had been planned. The delays prompted Russia to indefinitely postpone the reactor's launch, set for September.

Iran, meanwhile, angrily denied falling behind in payments and accused Russia of caving in to U.S. pressure to take a tougher line on Iran for defying international demands to halt parts of its nuclear program.

Russian officials denied media speculation that it was putting political pressure on Iran under cover of the financial dispute.

"The fact that our Iranian partners have overcome their difficulties is positive, however, it far from compensates for the requirements of the (project) that have arisen during the period of nonpayment," Atomstroiexport spokesman Sergei Novikov said in a statement.

The company also said the new payment was just half of the monthly amount needed for a normal construction schedule to be resumed.
............................................benny

If a date on a planned attack is already out in the open....It is no longer a sneak attack...........................................................................................................................................ALERT - Russians WARN: Sneak US Attack against Iran for April 6

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I found this on http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=12234





General Ivashov Calls For Emergency Session Of UN Security Council To Ward Off Looming US Aggression...

WASHINGTON DC — The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 AM on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly "Argumenty Nedeli." Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.

The attack is slated to last for twelve hours, according to Uglanov, lasting from 4 AM until 4 PM local time. Friday is a holiday in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.

The first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear plant, where Russian engineers are working, is supposed to be spared from destruction. The US attack plan reportedly calls for the Iranian air defense system to be degraded, for numerous Iranian warships to be sunk in the Persian Gulf, and the for the most important headquarters of the Iranian armed forces to be wiped out.

The attacks will be mounted from a number of bases, including the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia is currently home to B-52 bombers equipped with standoff missiles. Also participating in the air strikes will be US naval aviation from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, as well as from those of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Additional cruise missiles will be fired from submarines in the Indian Ocean and off the coast of the Arabian peninsula. The goal is allegedly to set back Iran's nuclear program by several years, writes Uglanov, whose article was re-issued by RIA-Novosti in various languages, but apparently not English, several days ago. The story is the top item on numerous Italian and German blogs, but so far appears to have been ignored by US websites.

Observers comment that this dispatch represents a high-level orchestrated leak from the Kremlin, in effect a war warning, which draws on the formidable resources of the Russian intelligence services, and which deserves to be taken with the utmost seriousness by pro-peace forces around the world.

Asked by RIA-Novosti to comment on the Uglanov report, retired Colonel General Leonid Ivashov confirmed its essential features in a March 21 interview: "I have no doubt that there will be an operation, or more precisely a violent action against Iran." Ivashov, who has reportedly served at various times as an informal advisor to Putin, is currently the Vice President of the Moscow Academy for Geopolitical Sciences.

Ivashov attributed decisive importance to the decision of the Democratic leadership of the US House of Representatives to remove language from the just-passed Iraq supplemental military appropriations bill which would have demanded that Bush come to Congress before launching an attack on Iran. Ivashov pointed out that the language was eliminated under pressure from AIPAC, the lobbing group representing the Israeli extreme right, and of Israeli Foreign Minister Tsipi Livni.

"We have drawn the unmistakable conclusion that this operation will take place," said Ivashov. In his opinion, the US planning does not include a land operation: " Most probably there will be no ground attack, but rather massive air attacks with the goal of annihilating Iran's capacity for military resistance, the centers of administration, the key economic assets, and quite possibly the Iranian political leadership, or at least part of it," he continued.

Ivashov noted that it was not to be excluded that the Pentagon would use smaller tactical nuclear weapons against targets of the Iranian nuclear industry. These attacks could paralyze everyday life, create panic in the population, and generally produce an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty all over Iran, Ivashov told RIA-Novosti. "This will unleash a struggle for power inside Iran, and then there will be a peace delegation sent in to install a pro-American government in Teheran," Ivashov continued. One of the US goals was, in his estimation, to burnish the image of the current Republican administration, who would now be able to boast that they had wiped out the Iranian nuclear program.

Among the other outcomes, General Ivashov pointed to a partition of Iran along the same lines as Iraq, and a subsequent carving up of the Near and Middle East into smaller regions. "This concept worked well for them in the Balkans and will now be applied to the greater Middle East," he commented.

"Moscow must exert Russia's influence by demanding an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to deal with the current preparations for an illegal use of force against Iran and the destruction of the basis of the United Nations Charter," said General Ivashov. "In this context Russia could cooperate with China, France and the non-permanent members of the Security Council. We need this kind of preventive action to ward off the use of force," he concluded.

http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/122371

http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070319/62260006.html

http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070321/62387717.html

http://sp.rian.ru/onlinenews/20070320/62306419.html

http://www.rense.com/general75/bite.htm

..........................................benny

Intelligence assets listen in to Teheran

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By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:53am BST 26/03/2007

The antennae of all British signals intelligence assets will now be pointing at Iran to gather information on the location of the 15 prisoners and the intentions of those holding them.

At GCHQ headquarters in Cheltenham, listeners fluent in Farsi will be monitoring the mobile telephone and signalling airwaves of the Revolutionary Guards.

MI6 sources inside Iran will be giving assistance on Teheran's thinking to help steer the diplomatic effort.

RAF Nimrods, based at Basra Air Station, Iraq, will also be circling with eavesdropping equipment.

As the intelligence-gathering resources run at full tilt, the SAS will be preparing to put in troopers.

An adviser from the regiment's Revolutionary Warfare Wing has been moved to the Gulf to assist diplomats and MI6 agents.

But it will have become apparent that any strike against Iran will only go ahead with the approval of America.

The SAS standby squadron in Hereford, who are permanently at three hours' notice to move, will yesterday have been waiting to hear if they are to be called in.

The soldiers, who practice hostile entry and marksmanship for several hours each day, would then be moved to a forward base in Cyprus, Qatar or elsewhere in the Gulf.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...6/wiran126.xml
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...................................................benny

Western Defense Experts ask Questions about Iran's Invisible Shehab-3

March 26, 2007
DEBKAfile
DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/n...m=0...p;d=26&a=16

A group of Western military experts, who carried out a recent in-depth study of Iran’s high-sounding war games and scary weaponry, has concluded that they are largely a show is put on to conceal a poorly-equipped, under-trained military and elite Revolutionary Guards corps.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly 293 revealed on March 16 some of the eye-openers found by those experts, when they took a close look at Iran’s Great Prophet Maneuvers One and Two and the Zolfaqhar Blow war game staged at the end of 2006 and early 2007. They homed in on the dozens of rockets and missiles claimed to have been test-fired.

The Shehab-3’s cluster bomb warhead was presented by Iran as containing up to 1,400 bomblets. It was announced that this ballistic missile (1,000-1,200 km range) was tested for the first time in a live exercise, together with the Zolfaqar-73, the Scud B, the Fath-110 and the Zelzal.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s military sources say that no objective observer saw the actual Shehab-3 test – and certainly not the Shehab-4, which was also mentioned. The only proven firings were performed by the Shehab-2 and the Fath-110, both of which are outdated and short on accuracy. It is therefore impossible to establish whether or not the Iranian Shehab-3 lives up to Tehran’s claim that it carries a multiple-bomb warhead.

The researchers argued that, if it were true, Iran would have exhibited the missile in action.

The experts also dissected Iranian footage of the simultaneous firing of a large number of rockets and concluded that this effect was contrived by clever editing of the video film.

Furthermore, the researchers noticed that, in all their practices, Iranian commanders used the same small number of missile-launchers over and over, indicating a severe shortage of launchers.

They are also apparently short of missiles.

Iranian missiles are color-coded according to type. Shehab-3’s colors are red and brown; Shehab 2, green.

After close attention to the film released by Tehran, the analysts were quite sure that the putative Shehab-3s, whose firings were recorded, were in fact Shehab-2 missiles disguised under a coat of red and brown paint to fool viewers.
..........................................benny

I noticed all those reports are from Russia. I will wait and see, if this is true. I don't think America is so stupid to let it be known if they were going to attack Iran. And certainly not the date.

Fallout fear puts deadline on nuclear sites attack
Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem
March 27, 2007

IRAN is several years away from nuclear capability but any plan for a pre-emptive attack on its nuclear sites may have to be implemented before the end of the year to avoid the danger of serious radiation fallout.

Sources cited by The Jerusalem Post say a US or Israeli strike on the Iranian facilities would probably be carried out before Iran had enriched weapons-grade material in sufficient amounts to trigger a nuclear catastrophe if hit.

Iran is believed to be attempting to produce a critical mass of enriched uranium before the end of the year. Any attack after that would risk triggering fallout that could kill civilians over large distances and make parts of Iran uninhabitable.

The same consideration figured in the timing of Israel's attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981.

The Israeli cabinet decided then to approve the attack when it learned that a shipment of enriched uranium fuel rods was due to arrive at the new reactor south of Baghdad. An attack on the reactor once it became "live" would release massive radiation, experts had warned. It would turn the bombing into a nuclear attack, despite the use of conventional armaments.

Israeli warplanes demolished the Iraqi reactor before the rods could be installed.

In view of the possibility of an early strike against the Iranian facilities, several foreign embassies in Tehran are reportedly updating their emergency evacuation plans, including choosing alternate land routes out of the country.

Israeli officials welcomed Sunday's decision by the UN Security Council to impose tougher sanctions on Iran in an effort to persuade Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

The officials said earlier sanctions by the Security Council, though relatively mild, were already having an effect. They said influential voices were being heard in Tehran calling on the Government to avoid escalating the confrontation with the international community.

Iran announced yesterday that it would partially suspend co-operation with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency in response to the Security Council vote, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the latest sanctions would not halt the country's uranium enrichment "even for a second". Iranian state television quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying the additional sanctions "stem from the hostility by some powers against Iran".

"It is not a new issue for the Iranian nation. Enemies of the Iranian nation have made a mistake this time, too," he said.

The West strongly suspects that Iran's nuclear activities are aimed at producing weapons, though Tehran says they are exclusively for producing energy.

From - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-31477,00.html
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...............................................benny

JPost.com » International » Article


Mar. 27, 2007 12:03
US launches huge show of force in Persian Gulf
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates


The US Navy on Tuesday began its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by a pair of aircraft carriers and backed by warplanes flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.

The maneuvers bring together two strike groups of US warships and more than a hundred US warplanes to conduct simulated air warfare in the crowded Gulf shipping lanes.



.........................................benny

Mar 25th 2007
Iran Invades Oman

For close to a month now, certain pockets of the U.S. intelligence and military communities have been deeply focused on a few key developments in the Iranian front of the War on Terror. When Iran declared war on America a few years ago ( without a suicidal public announcement of course ) the entirety of the burden of execution fell on the shoulders of its Revolutionary Guards. No other military units in Iran are competent enough for any type of engagement with Western forces.

The Guards were to do what they always do. Operate in the shadows, provide weapons, munitions, training, cash, personnel and other sundry types of support to a proxy army in Iraq. This proxy army would wage Iran’s war with enough distance to allow for Iran to avoid an open conflict with superior American forces, essentially by providing it plausible deniability to the charge that it was waging war against America in the first place. S.O.P. - same deal as in Lebanon where Hezbollah fronts Iran’s war on Israel. In the modern age, it is critical to enemies such as Iran that they never openly declare war on us, or we shall clearly have the right to annihilate them as we can. Plus it provides a critical weapon in their campaign to prevent American popular support for any U.S. military action against them. By never openly declaring war, they fool the American people into believing that they are indeed not waging war on us, so that when a President should call for military action against them, Iran is in the position to, and indeed does, say: “Who us? We ain’t doing ---. Your President’s a warmonger.” With the sounds of their IEDs and RPGs exploding in the background.

One of the key developments that has absorbed Washington’s attention deeply, and resulted in the very significant personal involvement of Vice President Dick Cheney, was the fact that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have invaded and seized almost all meaningful control of the strategic Masandam Peninsula in Oman - a peninsula that covers the Southern mouth of the Straight of Hormuz. Occupying this peninsula solidifies Iran’s complete control of the straight. The Northern chokepoint has long been Iran’s; the Southern chokepoint has long been Oman’s. They are now both Iran’s. The Revolutionary Guard also decided to make this area their own, because it makes for a smuggler’s paradise. And smuggling is one of their #1 jobs. A priority for the Guard is to engage in as much profitable illegal activity, on a global scale, as they can, in order to pay for their very existence, and help bankroll the country’s nuclear program. And, long anticipating the oncoming sanctions, the Guard has kept an eye on various ways to keep goods flowing into the country. Their new stronghold in Oman, with such control over the Straights, provides for just that.

And Oman, terrified of the direct confrontation with Iran that our military has planned and suggested, has decided to do nothing.

Cheney visited Oman on Feb. 26, and discussed these plans for joint Omani and U.S. forces to lay seige and slowly eject the Iranians from Masandam. The Omanis ultimately got cold feet. And Tehran remains in positon to use the peninsula to threaten tankers, American supplies and reinforcements, and even American troops as they leave.


http://patdollard.com/2007/03/25/iran-invades-oman/
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..............................................benny

Excellent YouTube Video's on Ezekiel 38 & 39:

Ezekiel 38 on YouTube Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gBtV2ydX3I

Ezekiel 39 on YouTube Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1vICEf1TgA

...............................................benny

- Russia Warns US on Iran

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070327/...e_eu/russia_us

MOSCOW - Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday criticized the United States for what it called over-reliance on force and warned Washington against military action against Iran.

But in a major review of foreign policy priorities, the ministry said Russia was ready to cooperate to end global crises if Washington treats it as an equal partner.

The statement reflects Russia's growing confidence and economic clout, and appears to be a signal to Washington that, while the two nations can work together, Russia will not always follow the U.S. lead. It also plays to national pride in advance of parliamentary and presidential elections.

Russia criticized what it called "the creeping American strategy of dragging the global community into a large-scale crisis around Iran," saying that Iran helps maintain stability in Afghanistan and Central Asia.

At the same time, the ministry's paper assailed Iran for its "unconstructive" stance, reflecting growing Kremlin irritation with its ally's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment, as the U.N. demands.

Russia and China, both permanent U.N. Security Council members with significant trade ties with Iran, have opposed U.S. efforts to impose harsh sanctions against the country. But years of growing international mistrust over Iran's ultimate goals led to initial U.N. sanctions in December and to tougher penalties imposed last Saturday.

Iran has remained defiant, rejecting the latest sanctions and announcing a partial suspension of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. It also accused Russia of caving in to Western pressure.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that the latest set of sanctions was a "call for the resumption of talks rather than an instrument of punishment" — a statement apparently aimed both at soothing Iran and assuring Russians public that their government was not betraying its partner.

The ministry's paper emphasized the need to conduct a "balanced course on Iran, protecting our national interests in that country while preventing violations of the nuclear non-proliferation regime."

The ministry also hinted that Russia would tie weapons sales to Iran to its cooperation on the enrichment program. "Military-technical ties with Iran must develop on the basis of strict compliance with Russia's international obligations while taking into account developments related to the Iranian nuclear program," it said.

Russia recently delivered 29 Tor M-1 air defense missile systems to Iran despite strong U.S. complaints.

The strategy paper said that arms exports would remain an important component of Russia's foreign policy.
.........................................benny

DEBKAfile reports: More than 10,000 US personnel, two aircraft carriers and 100 warplanes begin biggest simulated demonstration of force in Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq

March 27, 2007, 3:50 PM (GMT+02:00)





DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the exercise was launched March 27 the day before the Arab League summit opens in Riyadh, to demonstrate the Bush administration’s determination not to let Iran block the Strait of Hormuz to oil exports from the Persian Gulf, or continue its nuclear program.

Taking part are the USS Stennis and USS Eisenhower strike forces.

With Iran’s Revolutionary Guards one week into their marine maneuvers, military tensions in the Gulf region are skyrocketing and boosting world oil prices.

Intelligence sources in Moscow claim to have information that a US strike against Iranian nuclear installations has been scheduled for April 6 at 0040 hours. The Russian sources say the US operation, code-named “Bite,” will last no more than 12 hours and consist of missile and aerial strikes devastating enough to set Tehran’s nuclear program several years back.

The maneuver also occurs four days after 14 British seamen and one crew-woman were seized by an Iranian Revolutionary Guards warship, with no sign that their release is imminent.

London insists its marines were on routine patrol on the Iraqi side of the Shatt al Arb on behalf of the Iraqi government. Tony Blair has threatened “a new phase” in the crisis if the captured personnel are not speedily released.

The warplanes are flying simulated attack maneuvers on enemy shipping with aircraft and ships, hunting enemy submarines and seeking mines, off the coast of Iran.

US Navy Cmdr Kevin Aandahl declined to say when the maneuver was planned or how long it would last. He said US warships would stay out of Iranian territorial waters up to 12 miles from the Iranian coast. Tehran does not recognize this limit and claims a deeper stretch of water.

Our military sources explain the presence of the French naval strike group led by the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle which joined the two US carriers last Friday: The group will carry out security missions in the Arabian Sea and its warplanes fly in support of NATO in Afghanistan.

.......................................benny

Iran would be tackled at the beginning of April (Russian military experts)

21:05 19 03/2007



MOSCOW, March 19 - RIA Novosti. The Russian military experts estimate that the planning of the American military attack against Iran passed the point of nonreturn on February 20, when the director of the IAEA, Mohammed El Baradei, recognized, in his report/ratio, the incapacity of the Agency “to confirm the peaceful character of the nuclear program of Iran”.

According to the Russian weekly magazine Argoumenty nedeli, a military action will proceed during the first week of April, before Easter catholic and orthodoxe (this year they are celebrated the 8), when the “Western opinion” is on leave. It may be also that Iran is struck on Friday 6 public holiday in the Moslem countries. According to the American diagram, it will be a striking of only one day which will last 12 hours, 4 hours of morning at 16 o'clock in afternoon. The code name of the operation is to date “English Cock” (Bite). A score of Iranian installations should be touched. With their number, centrifugal machines of uranium enrichment, centers of studies and laboratories. But the first block of the nuclear thermal power station of Bouchehr will not be touched. On the other hand, the Americans will neutralize the DCA, will run several Iranian buildings of war in the Gulf and will destroy the stations - keys of command of the armed forces.

As many measurements which should remove in Teheran any capacity to counteract. Iran projected to run several tankers in the strait of Ormuz with an aim of cutting the provisioning of the international markets of oil and of striking with the Israel missile.

The analysts affirm that strike them American will be launched from the island of Diego-Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, from where will take off of the bombers with long operating range B-52 with on their board cruise missiles; by the embarked aviation of the American aircraft carriers deployed in the Gulf and belonging to the 6th American Fleet in the Mediterranean; cruise missiles will be also drawn since the submarines concentrated in the Pacific and off Arabia.

Result, the Iranian nuclear program will be rejected several years behind. In private talks, American Generals suppose that the times of deployment of American anti-missile defense in Europe can be deferred to later. Another event envisaged, the oil barrel could fly away to 75-80 dollars and this for one prolonged period.

Meanwhile, the new resolution on Iran and whose project was adopted by the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany should be voted with CS as of this week. The text envisages sanctions against 10 Iranian public companies and to three companies concerned with the Body of the guards of the Islamic revolution, unit of elite to the orders of the spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic, the ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Sanctions are also envisaged against 15 physical people: eight leaders placed high of companies of State and seven characters - keys with the Body of the guards of the Islamic revolution.

Translated from French to English from - http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070319/62260006.html
.................................................benny

Blair Warns Iran Standoff Could Escalate


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Mar 27, 4:53 PM (ET)

By DAVID STRINGER

(AP) A supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, stands with a placard outside the...
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LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Tuesday that his government could make public evidence that a British navy crew was in Iraqi waters when it was captured by Iran, saying he was prepared to take the standoff to a "different phase" if diplomacy fails to win their release.

Iran said the 15 British sailors and marines were being treated well, but refused to say where they were being held, or rule out the possibility that they could be brought to trial for allegedly entering Iranian waters.

"I hope we manage to get them to realize they have to release them," Blair said in an interview with GMTV. "If not, then this will move into a different phase."

Blair's spokesman said the prime minister was not hinting either at the possible expulsion of Iranian diplomats or military action, but that Britain may have to make public evidence proving the Britons were seized in Iraqi - not Iranian - waters, if there is no swift release of the sailors.


(AP) Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini, speaks to The Associated Press in an...
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Releasing such evidence could have "an upside and a downside" because it could show the Iranian ships strayed into Iraqi territory and provoke a diplomatic row between the neighbors, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Britain and the United States have said the sailors and marines were intercepted Friday after they completed a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border between Iran and Iraq has been disputed for centuries.

There were fears in Britain that the fate of the 15 could get caught up in the political tensions between Iran and the West, including the dispute over Iran's nuclear program and accusations of Iranian help to Shiite militants in Iraq.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy began its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with warplanes from two aircraft carriers flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.

U.S. commanders insisted the exercises were not a direct response to the seizure of the British sailors and marines, but they also made clear that the flexing of the Navy's military might was intended as a warning to Iran.

Also Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called Iran's foreign minister for the second time and demanded the Britons' swift release in "very robust terms", the Foreign Office said.

Blair's spokesman did not specify if Britain had set a deadline for the naval crew's release but said negotiations would not be "indefinite."

He also refused to say if satellite images or GPS coordinates had been shown to Iranian authorities and declined to reveal which territorial boundaries in the waterway Britain recognizes.

Iran has said it is questioning the British sailors and marines to determine if their alleged entry into Iranian waters was "intentional or unintentional" before deciding what to do with them - a sign Tehran could be seeking a way out of the standoff.

The dispute helped drive up international oil prices Monday, but they fell Tuesday, reflecting hopes of a peaceful resolution.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the case was following normal procedures, holding out the possibility that the Britons could be brought to trial.

He said the Britons were being treated well and that the only woman among the sailors, 26-year-old Faye Turney, had been given privacy.

"They are in completely good health. Rest assured that they have been treated with humanitarian and moral behavior," Hosseini The Associated Press.

In talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Beckett demanded that British diplomats be allowed to meet with the crew to make their own assessment.

Hosseini later told Iran's official news agency that the Britons would not be given consular access until Iran completes its inquiry.

U.S. officials said the crisis began when British sailors boarded an Indian-flagged commercial ship suspected of carrying smuggled cars.

The ship turned out not be smuggling goods and its captain provided a statement that his vessel was in Iraqi waters at the time it was stopped by the British, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl, the spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, told The Associated Press from fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain.

He said U.S. officials knew the GPS coordinates of the ship at the time of the incident, but would not release them publicly.

Some in Iran have called for the British crew to be held as leverage to gain the release of at least five Iranians detained by the U.S. military in Iraq for allegedly being part of a Revolutionary Guard force.

Blair said the two issues were not related.

"Any Iranian forces who are inside Iraq are breaching the U.N. mandate and undermining the democratically elected government of Iraq, so they have got no cause to be there at all," the prime minister said.

------

............................................benny

Iran: Blair comments on hostages 'provocative'
Ninemsn ^ | Mar 28 05:25 AEST | AFP



Iran condemned as "provocative" Tuesday comments by Prime Minister Tony Blair warning of a "different phase" in British efforts to secure the release of 15 naval personnel detained by Iran.

"The media campaigns and provocative ... remarks regarding the violation of Iranian territorial waters by the British sailors are doing nothing to help settle the affair," said foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini.

"The British service personnel entered Iranian waters illegally and the case will follow its legal and judicial course."

In an interview with GMTV television earlier Tuesday, Blair said Britain was trying to "pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released".

"I hope we manage to get them to realise they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase," he said.

Blair's official spokesman said London was not looking to escalate the stand-off and would prefer to resolve the spat quietly.

But London is clearly seeking to keep up the pressure on Tehran, which has rejected growing international calls to free the naval personnel.

Britain has Iraqi backing in its insistence that the 15 sailors and marines were on "routine" anti-smuggling operations in Iraqi waters when they were seized at gunpoint in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

Iran says they entered its territorial waters illegally.

Hosseini said that British diplomats would be able to meet the 15, who include a woman, once investigators had completed questioning them about what they had been doing in Iranian waters.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who cut short a visit to Ankara Tuesday to report to MPs on the row with Iran, had earlier renewed calls for immediate consular access to the captive personnel.

"If indeed they are being detained in reasonable circumstances, then we can see no reason why they should not have contact with people from the British government," she said.

..........................................benny

JPost.com » Iran » Article


Mar. 28, 2007 0:10
US Navy denies that Iran fired at US warship
By ASSOCIATED PRESS


The US military denied reports Tuesday that Iran fired a missile at a US ship in the Persian Gulf.

The rumors of an attack had sent oil prices soaring, but Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown of the U.S. Navy 5th fleet told an Associated Press reporter that all ships in the Gulf had been checked and the rumors were untrue.



...................................................benny

U.S. Tests 15-Ton Bunker Buster

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Jon Fox
Global Security Newswire



WASHINGTON — In a tunnel under the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the U.S. military this month conducted the first test detonation of a massive bomb designed to crack hardened bunkers (see GSN, Oct. 20, 2006).

At the helm of the $30 million project to develop what the Defense Department calls the Massive Ordnance Penetrator is the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a Pentagon branch devoted to countering threats from weapons of mass destruction.

The 30,000-pound bomb could be deployed against the type of underground facilities in which Iran is engaged in uranium-enrichment work in defiance of tightening U.N. sanctions (see GSN, March 26). The Bush administration has said both that it is committed to diplomacy in the Iranian nuclear crisis but also that military options remain on the table.

While the immediate applications of the enormous conventional weapon seem to relate to the standoff with Tehran, the bomb likely sprang from concerns about a different state, according to defense strategy expert Michael O’Hanlon, a fellow at the Brookings Institution.

“It probably has more to do with North Korea than Iran,” O’Hanlon said, noting that this type of weapon development takes years. Defense officials said planning for the March 15 test began three years ago.

The Bush administration in 2002 alleged that the North Korean regime was cheating on a Clinton-era nonproliferation agreement by pursuing uranium enrichment while its plutonium-based program was frozen (see GSN, March 7).

Defense planners were probably spurred by improvements in tunneling technology as well as concerns that the United States might not be willing or able to use nuclear weapons to defeat hardened, underground targets, O’Hanlon said.

A Defense Department plan to develop a nuclear bunker buster faced intense opposition in Congress and was eventually abandoned in 2006 (see GSN, March 24, 2006). A planned test to detonate 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in the Nevada desert was also recently scrubbed amid public fears that the explosion, to take place over an underground tunnel, was designed to simulate a low-yield nuclear weapon (see GSN, Feb. 23).

Declared a “success,” the recent test of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator was not related to the recently canceled “Divine Strake” test, defense officials said. The penetrator packs 5,300 pound of explosives into its 30,000-pound shell.

Officials at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency would not quantify exactly what the criteria for success were but said that “MOP technology demonstration” is proceeding on track. Test drops from a B-52 long-range bomber are planned to start late in 2007. The Air Force is also proceeding with work to shoehorn the enormous bomb into the B-2 stealth bomber.

There was no immediate word on when the weapon could be deployed.

DTRA officials refused to discuss capabilities of the weapons, but in 2005, after a briefing from Northrop Grumman and Boeing contractors involved in the weapon design, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that the 20-foot-long bomb would burrow as many as 200 feet into the ground through reinforced concrete.

In terms of underground facilities surviving bunker-buster attacks intact, there is pretty much a single consideration: “It’s always a question of how deep they are,” O’Hanlon said.

While the tunnelers and burrowers can largely always go deeper, bomb designers end up butting against a wall. For the bombs to penetrate increasingly deeper before detonating, the velocity of the projectile needs to increase, O’Hanlon said.

Eventually, “you’d have to do things like drop rocks from space,” he said. “There tends to be a very stark technical limit. … The basic point here is you can only get so deep.”

That does not mean that pushing penetrating-bomb technology forward is a useless enterprise, said Michael Levi, a defense and nuclear weapon expert with the Council on Foreign Relations.

Building a better bomb means those who wish to avoid it have to dig deeper, and that is not entirely without pain, he said. “There’s a cost to digging deeper, whether it’s in how quickly something can be deployed or whether you need to spend money on completely new facilities,” Levi noted
...........................................benny

Bruce Beach 3/27/07 These Days Are Different

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A half dozen people
have sent me the news item today
(certainly not US MSM news)
about a Russian General
asking the UN Security Council
to intervene in supposed plans
by Bush
to bomb 20 designated targets
in Iran
at 4:00 a.m. on April 6th.

Gee -
I wish people could be
more specific.
Anyway -
numerous such news items
floating about these days.

Another example -
and from what is often
a more reliable source.

http://tinyurl.com/3ynwc9

And then -
there was the poll -
in which I wasn't eligible
to participate -
but slightly over half
thought Bush will bomb
o/a the new moon of April 17th.

Lots of political pundits -
many of them fairly main stream -
think April -
for a variety of reasons:
good weather -
forces in place -
deteriorating political situation in US and Israel -
present US and allies arms readiness -
increased Hamas / Hezbollah arms build-up with delay -
Blair's ending term in the UN -
whatever their reasons -
but -
we never know what might set it off.

The kidnapping of 15 British
sailors and marines -
doesn't appear to have been a trigger.

Neither does the US
starting this morning
its largest naval exercise
in the Gulf
since the invasion of 2003.

"U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl said the U.S. maneuvers were not organized in
response to the capture of the British sailors - nor were they meant to
threaten the Islamic Republic, whose navy operates in the same waters.

French naval strike group, led by the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, is
operating simultaneously just outside the Gulf.

Overall, the exercises involve more than 10,000 U.S. personnel on warships
and aircraft making simulated attacks on enemy shipping with aircraft and
ships, hunting enemy submarines and finding mines.

Aandahl said the U.S. warships would stay out of Iranian territorial waters,
which extend 12 miles off the Iranian coast.

Makes me wonder -
how the US would feel
about say -
a gigantic Russian task force
having war maneuvers
12 miles off the New York City coastline
or the Washington, D.C environs.

"What it should be seen as by Iran or anyone else is that it's for regional
stability and security," Aandahl said. "These ships are just another
demonstration of that. If there's a destabilizing effect, it's Iran's
behavior."

Yes,
I am sure New Yorkers and Washingtonians
would feel that a big Russian fleet
twelve miles away
would be
"for regional stability and security,"
and that it would make them feel
real secure.

http://tinyurl.com/2zypxm

---------------

I sure hope -
that the Iranians
don't treat the British captives
any worse than the US treats its captives
in Abu Gharib or Guantamino.

You just can't be sure
that they will follow
Bush's prescriptive of:
DWJWD -
"Do What Jesus Would Do".

Jesus said:

(Matthew):

5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour,
and hate thine enemy.

5:44 But I say unto you,

Love your enemies,

bless them that curse you,

do good to them that hate you,

and pray for them which despitefully use you,

and persecute you;" -

and I am sure that was
Bush's, Cheney's and Rumsfelds policy -
in the above named locales.
Yep, kill them with kindness.

-----------
The followers of Islam -
are supposed to actually follow
the teachings of Jesus also.

Moreover,
Muhammad told them to be kind
and courteous
to their guests -
so I hope that the Brits
will find that Iranians
even excel Bush in that practice.

-----------

Great Spring weather here.
Eight of us were working on Ark Two on Sunday.
Yesterday, CATherine the Great
lit for the first time in eight years.
(The shelter was welded shut
by the government -
for much of that time -
so we hadn't been able to do maintenance).

Percy II (the Perkins)
is operating just fine
at 75KW -
but the CAT was always our main machine.
We do have,
altogether -
13 generators.
Two diesels, two gas,
and 9 mechanical.
(The latter can be run by
wind, water, or even bicycles.)

We hope to bring CATherine
fully back on-line
on Thursday -
with the arrival of four new brushes -
for her exciter.

Next restraining factor
is a backup grinding pump
for the septic holding tank
that pumps up to the Type IV
commercial septic tank
(like used in Motels)
that the government insisted that we put in.
Can't complain about that.

In fact -
can't complain about the many, many things
the government made us do -
in what were often misdirected efforts
to place what they hoped were
insurmountable obstacles in our way -
and to shut us down.

If it wasn't for them -
we wouldn't have:
the four big air intake towers
(we were trying to be inconspicuous -
but they insisted that we have
the winter weather cover.)

We wouldn't have had
the excellent rear exit that we have.
(We were making do with the original one
from the initial 1980 shelter.)

We wouldn't have had
the ten foot high fence
with barbed wire on top and bottom -
(they would have flipped out -
if we had put it up on our own).

We wouldn't have the watch towers
at both corners -
(same situation -
but they ordered us to build storage sheds
and to remove construction materials
from inside the shelter -
so we took advantage of the opportunity -
and built the storage in that way.)

Item after item -
in the way of equipment and supplies -
came about in this way.
Oftentimes, most usually -
I felt -
"Oh my,
what a hurdle and burden
they are placing on me -
but each time -
it worked out to our benefit."

The eight years -
that the shelter was shut -
was truly a benefit also.
It would have been a great burden otherwise -
to go down and check it each day -
and a constant battle
in keeping thieves out.
(Our enemies always spread rumours
that we had large supplies of weapons there -
when in fact we had none -
and consequently crooks were always
looking for arms).
Even welded -
they still broke in -
on the last occasion -
a year ago December -
using a cutting torch
to get through the steel door.

But anyway -
that is now past.
The government ordered me
not to let the media
take pictures of the inside of the shelter -
and I don't make any big thing
about our doing maintenance on it -
and that is the way it has been now
for over a year -
and the way that I hope it will continue.

I pray daily -
that the Lord keeps me in step -
with His intentions
about the upcoming events.

I can't tell you how blessed I feel.
In point of fact -
to me -
one of the greatest signs
that it is about to happen
is the way everything is
now coming together.

I always think -
if I had some amount of money -
what I would do.
But -
those are just my ideas -
and the Lord knows of what we need.
I am too often one of little faith.

Nevertheless,
I do buy a lottery ticket each month.
I am reminded of the saying of Jesus -

Matthew 17:27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the
sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when
thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and
give unto them for me and thee.

So -
I don't want it to be said -
that I didn't look in the fish's mouth.

Some readers berate me -
for being so far in debt.
A good Christian,
I am told -
would pay off all his debts.
To die otherwise -
or to go into a nuclear war
owing people -
is stealing from them.

Does concern me.
And I don't know how
I would ever get even with the world -
but on the other hand -
I am equally concerned
about leaving any stone unturned.

If I failed
to gather and use
every possible resource
that I could -
and some people died or suffered horribly
for that reason -
where I could have otherwise helped them -
I think that would be the greater sin.

Others will judge me.
And God will judge me.
But -
I don't even know how to judge myself.
I am sure that I fall short on this -
and many other things -
but still I stumble on.
Or maybe not.

My wife often says -
(when she isn't angry at me)
how amazing it is
that so many things work out for me.

For each of us -
the Lord is our Shepherd -
and even though we know not
what is for good or ill for us -
He guides all of us -
on our way -
and when by our will we refuse to be guided -
He is ever trying to call us back to the fold.

Lord -
I hope that I am following Thy Voice.

We will all remember these
as being "the good old days".
But, in truth,
these are NOT the good old days.
Eventually, as humanity matures
it will look upon these as having been
the 'bad old days'.

In a more spiritually enlightened age -
people will look back in astonishment
at how one segment of society
could think they could justly live
in such luxury or security -
(and often in such immorality and materialism)
when so many of God's children
are deprived of basic freedoms
and basic needs for survival.

It is these injustices of the day -
where billions, nay trillions,
can be found to build and maintain
aircraft carriers and Weapons of Mass Destruction
and yet in those same countries
children can go to bed hungry at night
or without basic medical care.

Those who judge Beach
in his desire and effort
to build a better world -
may well be right -
as they castigate him
for not being a Christian -
or having what they call socialist tendencies -
or advocating a New World Order -
and no matter what fault the may find of him -
I am sure God in His Justice -
would find even greater faults -
but I thank God -
that in His Mercy -
He doesn't reveal them all to me -
because I am sure that I couldn't stand
to bear to know them.

So now -
here we stand before God -
inadequately spiritually prepared
for those great and terrible events
that are prophesied to take place.
And verily we know -
that we truly have no shelter -
but in God.

How I long -
that others would come and help me prepare -
for the Great Day of Wrath -
and to help usher in
The Great Day of the Lord.

Soon the cry will go up -
throughout the world -
"How is THIS night different -
from every other night?"

But this too -
will Passover -
or pass away.

Peace and love,
Bruce
DawnSayer@webpal.org

..........................................benny

Oil spikes late on Iran rumor; U.S. officials deny any action
Updated 15m ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Oil briefly surged $5 late Tuesday on rumors that conflict had broken out between Iran and the United States, then eased as the White House said there was nothing to indicate an incident had taken place.

U.S. crude prices jumped to $68.09 a barrel in electronic trade, the highest level since Sept. 6, before falling to $64.48. U.S. oil had earlier settled open outcry trade up 2 cents at $62.93, extending a five-day bull run that added more than $6 to the price.

U.S. DENIES ACTION: Iran did not fire at U.S. warship

In London, Brent crude rose $1.56 to $65.97 a barrel late Tuesday after settling up 19 cents at $64.60 earlier.

"The market has been on pins and needles with the Iran situation and as soon as the rumor mill got starting things took off," Phil Flynn, Alaron Trading.

The wild volatility in oil reverberated in other markets. U.S. stocks futures fell sharply, gold prices firmed, U.S. Treasury debt prices rose and the Swiss franc edged higher.

U.S. officials were quick to knock down talk of military action between the United States and Iran.

"We have no information at this time that indicates any incident taking place," said White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"Navy has nothing to substantiate that report right now," a U.S. Navy official said. "At this juncture, there is no validity to it."

Iran seized 15 British sailors Friday, a day before the United Nations imposed new sanctions on the world's fourth biggest oil exporter because of its nuclear program.

So far there has been no disruption to Iran's daily shipments of around 2.2 million barrels per day.

Additional support for crude came ahead of U.S. government oil inventory that analysts expected would show the seventh straight week of dwindling gasoline stockpiles.

"A number of consecutive gasoline draws is adding pressure to the price and it has been for the last six weeks," said Jason Schenker, economist for Wachovia Bank. "If we see another big draw this week that's going to push up crude prices."

U.S. gasoline futures edged up more than half a cent to more than $2.07 a gallon on Tuesday.

A string of refinery accidents and deep seasonal maintenance ahead of the U.S. summer driving season helped drawdown gasoline stocks in the world's top oil consumer.

A strike by workers at the French Mediterranean oil terminal Fos-Lavera, now in its 14th day, has begun to hit refinery output and also raised concerns Europe's ability to export fuel to the United States.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/indust...e_N.............benny

US House to Iran: Release British captives
By ASSOCIATED PRESS


The Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives is demanding that Iran release 15 British soldiers captured last week in contested Persian Gulf waters.

"The government of Iran has once again ignored international law by seizing sailors in waters outside their jurisdiction," Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, co-chairman of the House's Iran Working Group, said Tuesday.

The committee approved a resolution Tuesday that Kirk introduced with his co-chairman, Democratic Rep. Robert Andrews.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has insisted the Britons were operating in Iranian waters, while Britain insists they were in Iraqi waters when they finished a routine search of a civilian vessel.

.............................................benny

End-of-Days Scenarios
Time has arrived, I believe, to put together a postulation introspective on biblically prophesied things to come, in scenario fashion--i.e., to offer, in a stream-of-consciousness way, based upon trends in today’s news, a possible course the world might take while we trudge through the end of days toward Armageddon and Christ’s second advent.
As always, when entertaining such thoughts in a public forum, I must state up front that these are nothing more or less than speculations on my part. However, the speculations are undertaken with considerable years of study, writing, and most of all, praying about matters foretold by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets. Although I have not received a “word of knowledge” or been given a vision or dream in the Old or New Testament sense, I do believe my thoughts are given here with Holy Spirit-directed thought and insight.
So, where do we begin? Well, maybe at the beginning, the moment when linear time seems to have been introduced for this marvelous story of God and man to begin its run through history. I say it is good to begin at that point, because we have–it is obvious to any student of Bible prophecy who is alert to present day goings-on—come to the point that the very one who created time for mankind is now under satanic attack as a liar and/or a lunatic. Jesus, you see, is the creator of this thing called time, of the being called man, of all that is. The Scriptures say:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Clear enough, right? God, not evolution, or any other method born of man’s sophistry, brought this world into existence.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (Jn. 1:1-4).
About Jesus, the Apostle Paul wrote: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).
Jesus himself said: “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6).
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is God, himself. He said that He and His Father are one. That is, they are the same. When the pious Jewish religious leaders asked Him if He was God, Jesus said: “…Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn. 8:58). This refers to His being the God of His people of His promises –the Israelites, as seen in Exodus 3:6.
The world of entertainment, e.g., “The DaVinci Code” fiction, has been saying Jesus was a mere man who faked His crucifixion, living on to father a child with Mary Magdalene. Entertainment, under pseudo-archaeological auspices, is now telling us that they have found the ossuaries and even the DNA of Jesus' relatives, and possibly of Jesus himself in a tomb near Jerusalem. Jesus addressed this matter in part when He said during His Olivet Discourse: “Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:25-27).
Matthew 24:25-27 is, I realize, Jesus’forewarning of false christs and false prophets that will deceive all but God’s elect during the tribulation era. Just like in all other endtime signals of significance that are in view today, however, the lying--saying Jesus is not the soon returning God of Heaven--is already underway for setting up prophetic fulfillment to come.
The prominently observable fact that the deity of Jesus is under attack is, in other words, a profound signal that we are bumping up against the very end of this Age of Grace. The attack is scheduled, prophetically, to become even more hateful as we degenerate toward the end of days. Having laid the groundwork for showing that Jesus Christ’s deity and God’s veracity are under attack from our great enemy, the devil, and his supernatural and human minions, we will next examine the many developments and what they portend for the future, so far as concerns Bible prophecy. Next week, we will begin looking at end-of-days matters that are in our daily, even hourly, news--overlaid by God’s always 100%-accurate Word, the Bible.
Again, I state that the end-of-days scenarios I lay out in this essay are speculation--postulation based upon my years of prayer, study, observations, and thought. I’m sure there are many who view things to come in a much different way, even among we who hold to the pre-mil, pre-trib view. So, I present this for your consideration, as, in my view, likely possibility, not as set in biblical stone.
First, let us look at the way the world is configured.
The United States of America is the world’s lone superpower. Whether looking at military, economic, societal, technological, or whatever category we want to look at, America stands alone at the top of the nation-heap. I use the word “heap” because this world is built upon garbage–filth from the heart and mind of its father, the devil. Boy! I know how cynical that seems. But, God says there is none good but One: “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God” (Mk. 10:18).
Since sin entered the world, man is fallen. Mankind must have redemption found only in God, the Son. People must be born again or they cannot even see the kingdom of God: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3).
Jesus’ words, here, have dual meaning to me: 1) those who refuse Christ by rejecting their need for a new, spiritual, birth will not go to heaven upon death; and 2) they cannot even understand heaven and things of God without the new birth into God’s family. I base this latter assessment upon the following words of the Apostle Paul: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).
This is going to sound even more off-putting, but it is true nonetheless. Christians are the only “good” in this downward-spiraling world. Now, am I saying that I, in my fleshly efforts, am better than the one who does not claim Christ as Savior and Lord? No, absolutely not! I must say that in one regard, I am like Paul. But it is not his lovely Christian side, rather is the other. Paul said: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom. 7:18).
Only through Christ is any Christian viewed as “good” in God’s sight. Only through Jesus does a person become fit to inherit an eternal home in heaven. All humanly born and humanly-devised matters are due for God’s judgment and for eternity apart from God because He cannot abide sin. Sin must be dealt with, and Jesus is the way sin is forever eradicated.
When it comes to the future, all hinges upon the person and presence of Jesus Christ as redeemer.
So, why all that, to get to the speculation of what will happen from here to eternity? Because Christians are the key, in my stream-of-consciousness unfolding scenarios for the end of days. God’s final wrath and judgment will not begin falling until the only good there is in this world is removed. This Bible prophecy truth is found in the words of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thes. 5:9).
When Christians are removed in the rapture (read 1 Cor. 15:51-55 and 1 Thes. 4:13-18), the things on Earth will change dramatically. We get a prophetic glimpse of that removal of Christians from the planet in Paul’s additional words to the Thessalonians: “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thes. 2:6-7).
The word “he” in verse 7 refers to God the Holy Spirit removing from His office as He interacted with mankind during the age of grace (church age –which is this present dispensation). The Holy Spirit, resident in the church during this present dispensation, will, in the moment of rapture, no longer work in exactly the same way as now. He will interact with the human creation much as He did during the time before the church was born at Pentecost (Acts, Chapter 2). (I know some believe the church was born on the shores of Galilee earlier, when Christ called forth the first disciples. I disagree.)
God the Holy Spirit, living within Christians, is the only “good” to be found in people. The rapture will take that "good" to be with Jesus Christ for eternity. All who are “born again” (see John 3:3) will go to the heavenly homes (dwelling places) Jesus has been preparing for them since He ascended to the right hand of God the Father (read John 14:1-3). These will include everyone–dead and living--who have accepted Christ for salvation of their souls. There will be no good people left on the planet –that is, none that are “good” in God’s holy view.
With the Holy Spirit no longer acting to influence the consciences of humans in as powerful ways as He does at present, mankind’s actions and reactions will be exponentially accelerated for the worse. We will begin to explore likely scenarios for the period immediately following the rapture in next week’s Nearing Midnight commentary.
The rebelliousness of the creature called man is, in my view, manifest blatantly for the student of God’s truth to discern in a particular news story that occurred this past week. The media and politically correct crowd’s uproar over the U.S. chairman of the joint chiefs of staff making the comment –when asked his personal opinion-- that he thought members of the same sex in the military who engage in sex with each other are committing immoral acts was quite telling. The voracious feeding frenzy to start the drumbeat for having Gen. Peter Pace removed from his position in the Pentagon has fueled new vitriolic invective against those who hold to such “unenlightened” prejudices.
God, incidentally, is obviously included in our ranks. His Word, the Bible –the instruction manual for the creature, mankind, whom he made from the dirt upon which we stand—says about homosexuality:
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was [fitting]” (Rom. 1:26-27).
The Creator’s Word against homosexuality is even more powerful in an Old Testament prescription for those who engage in that activity. (If it makes you angry, get mad at God, not me. I don’t make the rules. He does.)
“If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them” (Lev. 20:13).
I know what will be one of the objections: This was for the Israelites, not today’s people. Really? Well, in giving the prescription for living, God hasn’t changed for any people at any time. Jesus, we have established, is Creator of all things, and by His power holds all things together. This, God’s Word says about the Lord of all creation: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8).
The problem is, as we’ve seen this week with this one issue, fallen mankind will not have the God of heaven rule on Planet Earth. Since the fall, man has determined to do what is right in his own eyes. This is an attitude for catastrophe. Human government is fatally flawed. These have tried to create a utopian earth for millennia. All efforts to do it their way –apart from God—have met with abject failure.
The earliest attempt of human government, which followed the flood of Noah’s antediluvian era, was Nimrod’s attempt to build the tower to heaven (read Genesis chapter 11). The Lord knew this would end in disaster for mankind, so He came down and separated the one-world builders by giving multiple languages, thus driving them to diverse places around the globe. But man has spent the millennia since that time circumventing God’s intervention. The one-world drive is again being pursued in a concerted effort by the powers elite. When things reach a certain point of depravity, God always has intervened. A prime example was when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. (Read Genesis, chapter 19 to learn about both the depravity and the Lord’s intervention.) Which gets us to the thing about end-of-days scenarios I would like to explore.
Jesus himself set the prophetic stage for a future time when He will again intervene–catastrophically—into depraved man’s playhouse of lasciviousness. He said: “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all” (Lk. 17:28-29).
This is a description of a society, a culture, a generation going forward with business as usual. Jesus prophesied that it would be just like this, when judgment from heaven would fall, at the time of His end-of-days intervention. It is not, however, description of the tribulation era when Jesus comes physically to earth, as foretold in Revelation 19:11. At that time, as many as two-thirds of the earth’s population will have died in the apocalyptic judgments. It will not be business as usual, like the Lord describes here. The things that transpire here, though not as disastrous as things will get later in man’s last grasp to rule himself, will still be calamitous. And, the possible scenarios presented are mesmerizing. Let us look at my postulations, based upon the pre-trib view of the rapture, which, of course, we at Rapture Ready are convinced is the correct view, from God’s perspective.
Jesus’ description of Lot’s being removed from that condemned city is almost certainly a picture of the rapture of the only good God sees on this earth…born again Christians… the church Jesus began building, and which was born at Pentecost (in Acts, Chapter 2). Lot, Abraham’s nephew, although not a perfect example of living a godly life, was nonetheless considered a “just” man in God’s eyes. That is, the Lord saw Lot as righteous, a believer –one who accepted God’s governance over his life, accepted God’s salvation plan. Lot and his family lived in a society that was–well—much like ours. It was wicked to its black core. Incidentally, homosexuality had, in that society, become accepted as, even expected to be, part of life in Sodom.
God removed Lot, and His wrath began to fall upon that wicked, ungovernable people. Jesus indicated that this is exactly what will happen near the time of His coming again. It will happen at the rapture --at least seven years before He comes back and touches down on the Mount of Olives. The first part of God’s wrath, I’m convinced, will be His removal from the consciences of earth-dwellers. The people left behind will have rejected God’s governance. Now, raptured saints will perhaps, from the balcony of heaven, be given a God’s-eye view of whether the rebels' claim that they don’t need God to govern them is true.
Millions will vanish in a millisecond –an “atomos” of time-- the prophecy tells us. This nation, the United States of America, which had at the same time more gospel light than any other nation of history and access to more filth and depravity than even ancient Rome at its decadent, orgiastic worse, will experience an implosion that, upon its contemplation, staggers the imagination.
We will have a look at how the endtime stage is set for the scenarios we will explore.

America is at the top of the food chain, so far as nations of Planet Earth are concerned. She is the richest, most materially blessed nation-state ever to exist. Her achievements in almost every facet of human endeavor are without peer in the annals of the ages.

The European Union is developing rapidly into a colossus that will challenge the U.S. for the title of world champ, so far as superpowers are concerned. But Europe lacks one ingredient in order to achieve America’s superpower status, no matter how economically strong the EU becomes. That one missing element is the military might–particularly the high-tech military complex, firmly entrenched and fortified by (likely) the most horrific thermonuclear capability and the most sophisticated means to deliver total devastation to any other nation foolish enough to initiate such conflagration.

Russia is again beginning to show signs of beefing up for super power military status. It, too, however, lags far behind in high-tech matters –things that prevent it from achieving the degree of hegemony over parts of the world formerly under the dictatorial eyes of the USSR. The Russian economy continues to be in shambles, and achieving the high-tech needed is thus impeded.

China is biding its time, building a strong economic base for one purpose: to attain a level of fiscal power that can buy and/or develop the high-tech sophistication essential to superpower status. The Chinese raw manpower capabilities unquestionably present potentially the greatest threat, in terms of sheer numbers, of any military force in human history.

All other nations are bit players in the scenarios we will examine. But, combined, they present massive--even insurmountable--problems for the prophesied frightening world of the perhaps not-too-distant future.

Israel is smack in the center of all this global chemistry. That nation will be –according to the very Word of the Creator of all things—the catalyst that will galvanize earth-dwellers into rebellion against Him, thus, will bring all armies of the world to Armageddon. Here is what the One who knows the end from the beginning has to say about Israel and all other nations at the time of the end of days:

“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zech. 12: 3).

So, with the world stage set, as far as geopolitical matters are concerned, let’s begin to try to look into the future, again with the crucial caveat that this is all speculation, though well-studied and prayed-over speculation on the part of yours truly. Daniel the prophet gave the endtime wrap up in one concise prophetic passage:

“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Dan. 9:27).

Will the consummation as foretold in that passage begin to rumble upon this judgment-bound earth something like this? Business will be going along at a dynamic clip, despite occasional blips, flare-ups, and glitches. Jesus tells us that in Luke 17: 26-29. The rich will be getting richer, the poor will be going further into poverty –despite the socialist-elites promises to the contrary. Terrorism will be pervasive, and increasingly so, just as Paul the apostle foretold when he said that men and seducers would grow worse and worse, and just as Jesus prophesied when He said things would be just like in Noah’s day, a time when violence filled the whole earth (Gen. 6:11,13).

The Arab Islamic states, wanting--as they have for millennia--to erase the Jews from the earth, will be looking for ways to penetrate Israel’s protective shell, fearful of direct assault because of Israel’s lethal nuclear arsenal. The world of diplomats–the so-called international community—will, led by the American State Department— be looking for a way to placate the hostile Islamics. Israel’s territory, as always, will be the offering on the altar of Mid-East peacemaking. This, while giving Israel little or no say in the offering.

Every major Mid-East terrorist organization, with headquarters in Damascus, Syria, will beat the drums of hatred against Israel as never before. Concern that Israel will take preemptive action will trouble the Jim Bakers of the times in this scenario. Even some who call themselves evangelical Christians will join with other religious entities to point a finger at Israel as the obstinate party in the growing threat to regional, maybe even world, peace.

Well, better stop there for now. If the Rapture doesn’t occur between now and next Monday, I can promise it will occur then–in this scenario, at least…

--Terry ..........................................................................................................................benny

With passover approaching,I thought that it would be a good time to post this..........................................................................................................................................Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden.....and as "WE" all know,Adam and Eve messed up!......So the first thing that GOD did was to slay two animals.......The Lord places the skins from these two animals over Adam and Eve, which I believe was still wet with blood, which was the first original blood attonement for the temporary covering of sins.....but yet, it was a finger pointing to the future of what was to come.......(The key words are "Finger Pointing"..."Lamb"..."Four Days"...and "Watch").........................So,time passed on by,and one day The Lord hands over the laws,statues,and ordinances to Moses........In those laws, the people throughout all the land, were to once a year,sacrafice a lamb that was without spot or blemish....for the temporary covering of their sins........So each year,each family,would place a lamb outside of their home,and would watch that lamb for four days..........on the fourth day,each family,at 9:00 in the morning, would tie their lamb up...........come 3:00 that evening, the families throughout all the land, would slit their lambs throat and the blood would pour for the temporary covering of sins.....But when the Priests did this.....The priest would recite the words..."Paid in Full".................But yet,this was a finger pointing to the future of what was to come.........So more time passes on by, and one day John the baptist was a baptizing.....and as he was baptizing.....John saw The Lord Jesus walking towards him.....And John "Points His Finger"....and says, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world!.....A little more time passes on by............Then on April 6th, 32AD...........The Lord Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a little donkey....This was a special day.....It was the day of their visitation.....it was a day as to whether,they were to accept or reject the Lord as their long awaited messiah.....But "WE" know what happened..............................The people throughout all the land "WATCHED"the LORD for four days........And on the fourth day.....at 9:00 in the morning, they nailed our Lord Jesus onto the CROSS OF CALVARY........and at 3:00 that evening.....The Lord JESUS THE CHRIST....Gave up His life........(Notice that I said,That HE gave up His life, fore no man could take His life unless HE was willing to give it).........But just as He was about to give up HIS LIFE........The Lord JESUS THE CHRIST....says the WORDS......."PAID IN FULL!"........................Every act....Every shadow type.....starting from Genesis, throughout the bible.....kept pointing to one thing.....THE CROSS OF CALVARY............................But the story is not over........Tomorrow...this Story will continue.....and when it is all said and done.....You will realize "WHAT TIME IT IS...........................benny......................................................................When the Lord Jesus Gave His Life on the Cross Of Calvary.....It was almost as if "TIME" stopped......Prior to the cruxifiction,the Mosiac law was in effect(The sacraficing of animals,for the temporary covering of sins).....The Lord Jesus was the ultimate sacrafice once and for all time, doing away with the sacraficing of animals.But keep in mind that most of the people of that day did not recognize our Lord Jesus as their long awaited Messiah. The first period of 2000 yrs. was without the law, the second period of 2000 yrs. was with the law, and the third period of 2000 yrs. was and still is at the present time,..under the period of grace.....With this in mind....The book of Daniel 9;24-27.....70 weeks(490 yrs.) were decreed upon the jewish race throughout all time to get their act together, to stop sinning, and to anoint the Most Holy.....From the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem unto the cutting off (cruxifiction) of the Messiah, would be a period of 69 weeks(483 yrs.)....Well that command was given.....and 483 yrs. to the exact day,...Our Lord was cruxified on the Cross of Calvary.....Not long there after, the day of Penticost began the Church age(the period of grace).......As I stated earlier;When The Lord Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary,...It was as though "TIME" stopped........When the church (The Bride Of Jesus) has been Raptured,the period of Grace will be over,then the prophecy of Daniel 9;27 will come to pass which states:....And he shall confirm the covenant with the many for one week(7 years).......The day that this 7 year covenant has been confirmed.....the clock, will begin ticking to complete the 490 year decree..........May the Lord reign in your lives...God Bless..................................benny

You've told me this before Benny. And everytime I hear about it "It was a Finger pointing to the future of what was to come" and I see the evidence of God's promises which are always true, I can't help to just thank the Lord for having brothers like you and others here that so exhaustively seek His love and truth. Thank you for your insight, may the Lord keep directing you and us in the right path.

p.s. I'm glad to hear that you kept your grandchildren, praise the Lord!!!

Navy Lacks Plan to Defend Against `Sizzler' Missile


March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Navy, after nearly six years of warnings from Pentagon testers, still lacks a plan for defending aircraft carriers against a supersonic Russian-built missile, according to current and former officials and Defense Department documents.

The missile, known in the West as the ``Sizzler,'' has been deployed by China and may be purchased by Iran. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England has given the Navy until April 29 to explain how it will counter the missile, according to a Pentagon budget document.

The Defense Department's weapons-testing office judges the threat so serious that its director, Charles McQueary, warned the Pentagon's chief weapons-buyer in a memo that he would move to stall production of multibillion-dollar ship and missile programs until the issue was addressed.

``This is a carrier-destroying weapon,'' said Orville Hanson, who evaluated weapons systems for 38 years with the Navy. ``That's its purpose.''

``Take out the carriers'' and China ``can walk into Taiwan,'' he said. China bought the missiles in 2002 along with eight diesel submarines designed to fire it, according to Office of Naval Intelligence spokesman Robert Althage.

A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia also offered the missile to Iran, although there's no evidence a sale has gone through. In Iranian hands, the Sizzler could challenge the ability of the U.S. Navy to keep open the Strait of Hormuz, through which an estimated 25 percent of the world's oil traffic flows.

Fast and Low-Flying

``This is a very low-flying, fast missile,'' said retired Rear Admiral Eric McVadon, a former U.S. naval attache in Beijing. ``It won't be visible until it's quite close. By the time you detect it to the time it hits you is very short. You'd want to know your capabilities to handle this sort of missile.''

The Navy's ship-borne Aegis system, deployed on cruisers and destroyers starting in the early 1980s, is designed to protect aircraft-carrier battle groups from missile attacks. But current and former officials say the Navy has no assurance Aegis, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., is capable of detecting, tracking and intercepting the Sizzler.

the rest of the story here; http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20...1YEITdY0Wpg9IF


and yesterday;

Two US carriers in Gulf war games for first time since 2003

Tue Mar 27, 10:00 AM ET



The US navy said on Tuesday it is staging major war games in the Gulf with two aircraft carriers for the first time since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, at a time of heightened tension with Iran.

The manoeuvres involve the USS John C. Stennis, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and their battle groups.

They are being held as tensions run high between the West and the Islamic republic over Tehran's nuclear drive and the capture last week of 15 British marines and sailors in a waterway between Iran and Iraq in the northern Gulf.

"Two air wings from the aircraft carriers will conduct air warfare exercises while the surface components will conduct exercises in three general disciplines: anti-submarine, anti-surface and mine warfare," the Fifth Fleet said in a statement.

"This exercise demonstrates the importance of both strike groups ability to plan and conduct dual task force operations as part of the US long-standing commitment to maintaining maritime security and stability in this region."

The Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, an island state which lies across the Gulf from Iran.

The United States announced in January that it plans to keep the two carrier battle groups in the Gulf for months to step up the US military presence in the oil-rich region.

US President George W. Bush said the moves were aimed at bolstering security and protecting US interests in the Middle East, while Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the deployment was a signal to Iran.

"It will be the first time since '03 that we've had two carriers in the region," said a senior US military official, referring to the year of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The USS John Stennis group with its 6,500-strong force, which has been in the Gulf of Oman since February 19, entered Gulf waters on Tuesday escorted by the guided-missile carrier USS Antietam, the Fifth Fleet said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070327...M lobXuibOrgF
__________________
.............................................benny

Nuclear Pakistan Would Support Iran if War Breaks Out: Not Good!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=48176

RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Railways Shaikh Rashid Ahmed while expressing fear of a US attack on Iran has categorically stated that Pakistan would never offend a Muslim neighbour at the cost of a fair-weather friend, the US.

“We would support Iran if attacked by the United States and would not provide airbases to America,” he stated in categorical terms.

Addressing a ceremony held in connection with Pakistan Day celebrations at Lal Hawaili here on Friday, Rashid said it is now Iran's term after the US attacked Iraq and Afghanistan. “The US is sitting ready to attack Iran but Pakistan will never allow Washington to use its territory for launching an attack,” he added.

Being a nuclear state, the responsibility of Pakistan has increased manifold as far as conflicts in the region are concerned. “Pakistan is in a leading position for the Muslim Ummah and it would be impossible for Pakistan to support America in this regard.”

“We have decided in clear terms that we will support Iran instead of America if any aggression is initiated against Iran,” he said. “We cannot leave our best friend for the sake of a fair-weather friend,” he added.

He said Pakistan came into being in the name of Islam and it is our responsibility to make Pakistan a progressive and prosperous by following the teachings of Islam.

Rashid said other Muslim countries are full of resources but being a nuclear power, Pakistan is the only country that would lead the Muslim Ummah.

Commenting on the current crisis in the country, the minister said the government has to face some hardships in the present political situation but things would become normal after two or three months.

About Indo-Pak talks, Rashid said Islamabad has a friendly and peaceful policy towards New Delhi but “one should not consider it
................................................benny

Blair: Time to increase pressure on Iran
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON


Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday it was time to increase pressure on Iran to release 15 Royal Navy personnel detained last week.

"There was no justification whatever ... for their detention, it was completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal," Blair told the House of Commons shortly after the Ministry of Defense released satellite data which it said proved the crew was in Iraqi waters when arrested. "We had hoped to see their immediate release; this has not happened. It is now time to ratchet up the diplomatic and international pressure in order to make sure the Iranian government understands its total isolation on this issue."

..............................................benny

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../wisrael28.xml


Accept peace plan or face war, Israel told
By David Blair, in Riyadh
Last Updated: 1:38am BST 28/03/2007

# Audio: David Blair on the Saudi warning

The "lords of war" will decide Israel's future if it rejects a blueprint for peace crafted by the entire Arab world, Saudi Arabia's veteran foreign minister warned yesterday.

As leaders began gathering in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, for today's summit of the Arab League, Prince Saud al-Faisal told The Daily Telegraph that the Middle East risks perpetual conflict if the peace plan fails.

Saudi foreign minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal, right, and Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, accept the peace plan or face war, Saudis tell Israel
Saudi foreign minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal, right, and Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League

Under this Saudi-drafted proposal, every Arab country would formally recognise Israel in return for a withdrawal from all the land captured in the war of 1967.

This would entail a Palestinian state embracing the entire West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. Every Arab country will almost certainly endorse this blueprint when the Riyadh summit concludes tomorrow. Prince Saud said Israel should accept or reject this final offer.

"What we have the power to do in the Arab world, we think we have done," he said. "So now it is up to the other side because if you want peace, it is not enough for one side only to want it. Both sides must want it equally."

Speaking inside his whitewashed palace, surrounded by luxuriant lawns and manicured flower beds resembling a green oasis in the drabness of Riyadh, Prince Saud delivered an unequivocal warning to Israel.
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"If Israel refuses, that means it doesn't want peace and it places everything back into the hands of fate. They will be putting their future not in the hands of the peacemakers but in the hands of the lords of war," he said.

Prince Saud dismissed any further diplomatic overtures towards Israel. "It has never been proven that reaching out to Israel achieves anything," he said.

"Other Arab countries have recognised Israel and what has that achieved?

"The largest Arab country, Egypt, recognised Israel and what was the result? Not one iota of change happened in the attitude of Israel towards peace."

Israel has numerous reservations about the Arab peace plan - which was previously proposed at a summit in 2002. Israel fears any hint that Palestinian refugees would have the right to return to their homes in the event of a peace settlement.

Prince Saud is the 66-year-old son of the late King Faisal. Relieved of the need to seek re-election, he has held office for 32 years.

Flush with oil money, Saudi Arabia is playing a more assertive role in Middle Eastern diplomacy. As well as securing the Arab peace plan, the Kingdom brokered the agreement between Hamas and Fatah - the two Palestinian factions - to form a unity government.

But western diplomats in Riyadh believe this resurgence in Saudi diplomacy stems from more than the kingdom's oil boom.

The menacing spectre of Iran, the rising Shia power with nuclear-tipped ambitions for regional dominance, looms large across the waters of the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia is quietly moving to contain its bellicose neighbour. Prince Saud offered conciliatory words to Iran, laced with coded criticism. "We have no inhibitions about the role of Iran," he said. "It is a large country. It wants to play a leading role in the region, and it has every right to do so. It is an historic country. But if you want to reach for leadership, you have to make sure that those you are leading are having their interests taken care of and not damaged."

Saudi Arabia has privately urged Iran to stop enriching uranium, in compliance with United Nations resolutions and lay to rest any suggestion that it is seeking nuclear weapons. Prince Saud called for a "Middle East free of nuclear weapons" with "no exceptions for anybody, be it Israel or Iran".

Asked whether the kingdom would consider seeking nuclear weapons of its own if Iran managed to acquire a bomb, Prince Saud replied: "We have made it very clear that we are not going down that road under any circumstances."

He paused for a moment, before adding, "under any foreseeable circumstances".
.................................................benny

The Iran Crisis Deepens

March 28, 2007
United Press International
Martin Walker
http://www.upi.com/InternationalInte...8-034024-5083r

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- We have seen this movie before. One of the West's leading statesmen, and a powerful advocate for human rights, is deliberately humiliated by hostage-seizing Iranian radicals. Moreover, the Iranian radicals believe they can get away with it because they know perfectly well that the Western leaders are constrained by their own moral code to abide, as far as they can, by international law.

An Iranian hostage crisis is the common factor between Britain's Tony Blair in 2007 and the humiliated U.S. presidency of Jimmy Carter in 1979 and 1980. The radicals of Tehran, whether the young student hotheads of 1979 who seized the U.S. Embassy or the middle-aged Revolutionary Guard commanders of today, believe they have stronger nerves and more political will than the leaders of the West.

They were wrong before, and they could be wrong again. Carter made a bold effort to free the U.S. hostages with a daring landing deep inside Iranian territory, with Special Forces then supposed to hijack trucks, drive to Tehran, take the embassy, free the hostages and fly out again. It was a very risky plan, and it failed at almost the first hurdle, when two helicopters collided in the dust storm thrown up by their own rotor blades, and the mission was aborted. The world remembers Carter's failure, rather than his courage in trying the plan.

Special Forces operations have come a long way since then, and Britain's elite SAS troops are among the world's best. A rescue mission will always be an option. But the West has other assets, and the entry into the Persian Gulf this week of a second U.S. aircraft carrier task force, led by the USS John C. Stennis, was a reminder to Iran of just how much force is now being arrayed against it.

This week's exercises represent the largest assembly of military force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. With 15 warships and more than 100 military aircraft maneuvering just off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, the message to Tehran could hardly have been clearer.

"If there is strong presence, then it sends a clear message that you better be careful about trying to intimidate others," Capt. Bradley Johanson, commander of the Stennis, told reporters. "Iran has adopted a very escalatory posture with the things that they have done," he added.

The message may have been sent. But the Iranians either refuse to hear it, ignore it, or take threats without action as yet another sign of Western weakness and disarray. They do not seem to follow the usual processes of diplomacy or logic. And Iranian officials lie routinely, as Pierre Goldschmidt, formerly deputy director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, details in "Correcting Iran's Nuclear Disinformation," a new study for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Iranian officials are trying to portray Iran as a victim of Western neo-colonialist attitude, arguing that the West wants to deprive Iran of its inalienable right to reap the benefits of nuclear energy. The reality is that Iran is a victim of its own specific behavior," Goldschmidt notes, citing the report of Mohamed ElBaradei to the IAEA Board of Governors, which said bluntly: "It is clear that Iran has failed in a number of instances over an extended period of time to meet its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement" and "in the past, Iran had concealed many aspects of its nuclear activities, with resultant breaches of its obligation to comply with the provision of its Safeguards Agreement."

So what do Blair and his American allies do now? Blair has talked of the crisis going into "a new phase." This appears to mean publishing the evidence from satellites and global positioning systems that demonstrate that the British sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters when the Iranians launched what looked like a very carefully planned attack in overwhelming force. The Iranians were given the opportunity to say it was all a misunderstanding and to return the sailors and boats, and they turned it down, clearly preferring escalation.

It is always useful to have a strong legal case, and it is sensible for Blair to use the platform of the United Nations to demonstrate that Iran was in the wrong. The real question is what comes next, bearing in mind that Iran has gotten away with kidnapping and humiliating British troops in the past, forcing them to make "confessions" on videotape before being freed. Having swallowed Iran's bullying tactics in the past, the British should not be surprised if the Iranians expect more craven behavior, particularly since the captured crew includes a woman sailor, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, with a 3-year-old daughter at home.

The Iranians may be misjudging the mood in Britain and in the United States. Blair does not want to be remembered like Jimmy Carter, as a nice but deeply ineffectual chap who let his country be humiliated by the radicals of a rogue state. And George Bush does not want his historical legacy to be Atomic Ayatollahs. It is bad enough that the Bush presidency turned Iran into the regional superpower by destroying Iraq, but even worse to be known forever as the man who allowed Iran to go nuclear.

The standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions has been the world's top crisis-in-waiting for the past year and more. And the realization that military strikes would almost certainly send the oil price soaring way above a barrel has created a misleading sense of optimism that the weakened Bush administration could not take such risks. Those who know Bush best say this is a fundamental misunderstanding of his Texan character. The lurking Iranian crisis could now be coming to a head because Tony Blair does not want to pass into retirement as scorned as Jimmy Carter, and because Bush viscerally rejects the idea that he could be remembered not just as an incompetent, but as an appeaser.
..............................................benny

Iran Can Harass But Not Block Hormuz Ships


Iran's navy has the power to disrupt but not halt traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.Reuters It handles about a third of sea-borne crude oil shipments, defense experts said on Friday.

Iran's capture of 15 British sailors on Friday sent U.S. crude oil futures to a three-month high above $62 a barrel, as traders pondered renewed tensions between the world's fourth-biggest crude oil exporter and the West.

Washington-based defense experts say that while Iran can harass ship traffic on the Strait, the OPEC member's ability to crimp oil tanker traffic is extremely limited.

"What you're talking about if Iran forced the issue would be a very unpleasant week for the world oil market and an incredibly unpleasant week for Iran's military forces," said Anthony Cordesman, a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Iran on Friday captured 15 Royal Navy personnel during a "routine boarding operation" in Iraqi waters, Britain's Ministry of Defense said.

The incident raised tensions between Iran and the West that have already been inflamed by a dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran says is for electricity and not for building nuclear weapons.

Though Iran has actively sought a blue-water navy, its forces are still no match for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and allied forces that have actively patrolled the Persian Gulf for decades, experts said.

"They can bother you, they can raise risks, but at the end of the day we're talking about control, and there is just no question that they do not have that capacity," said David Ochmanek, a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corp. in Washington.

Lacing the Strait

Others disagree. According to congressional testimony this week by Ariel Cohen at the Heritage Foundation, Iran could shut down the Strait by lacing it with anti-ship mines, with "significant, if not disastrous" consequences to energy markets.

According to Cohen's testimony, Iran has a wide variety of weapons to disrupt tanker traffic, including underwater mines and missiles that its Revolutionary Guard warns could sink "big warships."

Revolutionary Guards are also trained to attack ships using attack boats, mini-submarines and even jet skis, and has underwater demolition teams that can attack offshore platforms, Cohen said.

However, experts say Iran's naval capabilities are often overstated. "It's easy to do a laundry list of what they have and make it sound more apocalyptic than it really is," said Joseph McMillan, an analyst at the National Defense University's Institute for National Strategic Studies.

"A frogman and a tanker and a jet ski is kind of a comic book," Cordesman said.

Friday's incident pales in comparison with the "tanker war" that took place in the strait between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s, where each nation fired on each other's oil tankers bound for their respective ports.

But the strait is arguably the most prominent "choke point" in the global crude oil trade. Its 2-mile-wide channel connects some of the biggest Middle East producers like Saudi Arabia with world markets.

The Strait of Hormuz handles 17 million barrels per day of global water-borne crude oil trade, over a third of total global shipments.

"The world has never seen anything close to the size of the Strait of Hormuz closure," said Erik Kreil, an analyst at the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

If the Strait closed down, it would be four times bigger than the largest disruption to date -- the 1991 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, which shut down about 4.5 million bpd, Kreil said.



http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=29131
....................................................benny

A Human Rights Nightmare.........http://rapturealert.blogspot.com/2007/03/human-rights-nightmare.html.......................benny

Mar. 28, 2007 16:19

'Do not launch attack from our soil'

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

The president of the United Arab Emirates forbade the US military from using bases in his country to attack or spy on Iran as mammoth US Navy maneuvers in the Gulf entered their second day.

Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who leads this key US ally, said Tuesday that the Emirates had assured Iran that it was not siding with Washington in its dispute over Teheran's nuclear program.

Leaders of Arab nations around the Gulf have grown increasingly uneasy with the tough US stance toward Iran, believing any outbreak of war would bring Iranian retaliation on their own soil, which lies in easy reach of Iranian missiles.

On Wednesday, the US Navy continued its largest show of force in the Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with 15 ships, 125 aircraft and 13,000 sailors taking part in an exercise that veered within a few dozen miles of Iran's coast.

The Emirates "refuses to use its territorial lands, air or waters for aggression against any other country, let alone a neighboring Muslim country with which we maintain historic and economic ties," Sheik Khalifa said in a statement carried on Emirates news agency WAM.

"We have assured the brothers in Iran ... that we are not a party in its dispute with the United States, that we will not allow any force to use our territories for military, security and espionage activities against Iran," Sheik Khalifa said.

The statement could prevent the US Air Force from flying intelligence missions over Iran with its squadron of U-2 and Global Hawk spy planes based at al-Dhafra Air Base near the Emirates capital Abu Dhabi.

The US Air Force has not altered its air operations in response to Sheik Khalifa's statement, said Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Pierson, based in the neighboring Gulf state of Qatar.

"Our air operations continue as before," Pierson said. He declined to say whether U-2s were flying missions over Iran, but said the US Air Force only operates in international airspace or over countries that have granted permission.

The US Air Force also runs air-to-air refueling missions from the base and is engaged in training Emirates air force pilots on F-16 fighters recently purchased from the United States.

Sheik Khalifa also asked Iran to "be flexible and realistic and to respect international demands" to halt uranium enrichment, while cautioning the United States to use diplomatic means, not military acti