Russia ‘fires at Ukraine ships and captures three vessels’ amid rising tensions off Crimea

A Russian cargo ship earlier blocked Ukraine’s boats from entering the Sea of Azov

 

The Ukrainian president calls for emergency session of his war cabinet after at least two sailors are injured in the strikes.

Ukraine says Russia has opened fire on its ships in the Black Sea and captured three vessels.

Two sailors have been wounded after two artillery boats were hit in the strikes, the Ukrainian navy said.

BRICS in a multipolar world

This week, South Africa is hosting the 10th annual gathering of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). When the first BRIC summit was held in 2009 (South Africa was added in 2010), the world was in the throes of a financial crisis of the developed world’s making, and the increasingly dynamic BRIC bloc represented the future. By coming together, these countries had the potential to provide a geopolitical counterweight to the West.

But Western commentators have long underestimated that potential, forcing BRICS to demand greater representation in global-governance institutions. In 2011 and 2012, BRICS challenged the process of selecting leaders at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But, lacking a united front behind them, a European (Christine Lagarde) and an American (Jim Yong Kim) continued to preside over those organizations. And though BRICS did get these institutions to reform their voting structures to give developing countries greater weight, the US and Europe still wield disproportionate power.

The World Transformed and No One in America Noticed

 

The world transformed and nobody in the West noticed. India and Pakistan have joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The 17 year-old body since its founding on June 15, 2001 has quietly established itself as the main alliance and grouping of nations across Eurasia. Now it has expanded from six nations to eight, and the two new members are the giant nuclear-armed regional powers of South Asia, India, with a population of 1.324 billion and Pakistan, with 193.2 million people (both in 2016).

In other words, the combined population of the SCO powers or already well over 1.5 billion has virtually doubled at a single stroke.

Iranian Presence in Mediterranean Sea Alarms Israel

 

‘Iranian ports in the eastern Mediterranean are a real risk for Israel.’

Israeli Adm. Shaul Chorev (Ret.) has warned that Israel’s next proxy war with Iran “could see a focus on the [Mediterranean] Sea.”

The Jerusalem Post quoted the retired naval officer on January 28 as cautioning that the strategy of Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, clearly shows that “they will target Israeli strategic assets.” To do that, he said, they could use suicide vessels or land-to-sea missiles.

Iran “is on the verge of reaching the Mediterranean, including the use of Syrian ports by the Iranian Navy,” Chorev said. “Iranian ports in the eastern Mediterranean are a real risk for Israel.”

Mattis Warns North Korea to Avoid Actions That Would Lead to the ‘Destruction of Its People’

James Mattis / Getty

 

Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Wednesday called on North Korea to stand down in its pursuit of nuclear weapons or risk taking actions that would “lead to the end of its regime and the destruction of its people.”

“The United States and our allies have the demonstrated capabilities and unquestionable commitment to defend ourselves from an attack,” Mattis said in a statement. “Kim Jong Un should take heed of the United Nations Security Council’s unified voice, and statements from governments the world over, who agree the DPRK poses a threat to global security and stability.”

Obama will bypass Congress, seek U.N. resolution on nuclear testing

President Obama (Pool photo by Chris Kleponis/European Pressphoto Agency)

 

President Obama has decided to seek a new United Nations Security Council resolution that would call for an end to nuclear testing, a move that leading lawmakers are calling an end run around Congress.

Top administration officials, including Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, briefed lawmakers and congressional staffers this week about President Obama’s decision to push for the U.N. action this September, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which was adopted in September 1996 but was never ratified by the Senate.

Iran’s Past and Future Presence in Latin America

Investigations into past Iranian terrorist attacks in Argentina reveal the extent of its terror network in Latin America and its determination to sponsor global chaos.

On July 18, 1994, a Hezbollah suicide bomber operating under directions from Iran, rammed a truck laden with 600 pounds of explosives into the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (amia) building—a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. The ensuant blast killed 85 people and wounded more than 300 others.

Nearly 22 years later, the amia bombing remains as the worst terrorist attack in Argentine history, and it is largely unsolved. But the bombing is arguably the most revealing of the extent of Iran’s terror outreach beyond the borders of the Middle East.

As Iran has expanded and spread its acts of terrorism and its hatred for Jews all over the Earth, even right up to the United States’ backdoor, it simultaneously has worked hard to cover its tracks and present itself as a pragmatic international partner. Terrifyingly, Iran has scored some successes: The world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism is now essentially an ally of the U.S. and the West.

Time will prove that to be a fatal mistake.

Russia and China Warn U.S. Over New Installation in Korea

Russia and China teamed up to issue a stern warning to the United States today.

At a joint conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, both called on Washington to halt installation of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in South Korea.

Russia delivering Iranian arms to Assad — report

Russia has reportedly been delivering Iranian weapons to Syria’s embattled regime on a daily basis. Over the past 10 days, shipments in Russian cargo planes have taken place twice daily, the Fox News network reported Thursday, citing Western intelligence sources.

The Other Asian Powerhouse

Indian Border Security Force personnel walk through a market area in Amritsar on October 21.

 

Why is India leaning toward the East?

The Trumpet has long said that India—with its population of more than 1.2 billion people—is almost certain to join the Asian bloc that the Bible says will congeal in the end time.

A look at India’s history, its recent direction, and specific Bible prophecies reveal why.

Palestinians torch Joseph’s Tomb in West Bank as unrest continues

 

Hundreds of Palestinian rioters set fire to the site revered by some Jews as the tomb of the Biblical patriarch Joseph in the West Bank city of Nablus early Friday, ahead of an emergency United Nations Security Council session to discuss the ongoing violence.

Palestinian security forces extinguished the blaze early Friday before Israel Defense Forces could arrive on the scene, according to the Jerusalem Post. There were no injuries in the fire, but the tomb suffered severe damage.

Germany’s Merkel says U.N. Security Council must be reformed

Translation: The Fourth Reich has landed and it wants its share.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a plenary meeting of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015 at United Nations headquarters in Manhattan, New York, September 25, 2015. Reuters/Mike Segar

 

It is high time the United Nations Security Council is reformed to reflect the real distribution of power across the world in the 21st century, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday.

“We need a new method of work to solve problems,” Merkel said. “That makes reform of the Security Council necessary, reform which reflects the real power in the world better than the situation today.”

Obama’s unmistakable message to Israel: You stand alone

In speech on Iran nukes, president uses a tactic that US Jewish opponents of the deal will find hard to combat: insinuating misplaced loyalty

WASHINGTON — In March 2013, US President Barack Obama addressed the Israeli people in Jerusalem, reassuring them that the world’s sole superpower would have their back in the face of threats from Iran and other Middle Eastern states seeking their annihilation.

…

On Wednesday, in a speech at American University in Washington, Obama sent the opposite message to Jerusalem: You are indeed alone.

China and Russia Strengthen Alliance

China and Russia’s presidents signified the deepening ties between their two countries by appearing together at an event to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the Atlantic reports.

Experts: Iran Housing Nuke Materials in North Korea, Syria

Marie Harf, a spokeswoman for the State Department, dismissed as “bizarre” the reports, which described the transfer of enriched uranium and ballistic missile technology back and forth between the two rogue regimes.

…

If Iran is not forced to disclose the full extent and nature of its outside nuclear work to the United States, there is virtually no avenue to guarantee that it is living up to its promises made in the negotiating room, according to multiple experts and sources in Europe apprised of the ongoing talks.

Gordon Chang, a North Korea expert who has written in recent days about Iran’s possible “secret program” there, described the State Department’s dismissal of these reports as naïve.