Filed under: bankruptcy, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic crisis, federal spending, Great Depression, greece, Income Tax, italy, middle class, Paul Volcker, pelosi, Senate, slavery, Taxpayers, tea party, US Economy, VAT, White House | Tags: tax strike
Spend It Now! A Huge New Tax Is Coming…
Daily Wealth
April 9, 2010
Everything you buy is about to become 20% more expensive…
I’m not kidding. The latest idea out of Washington is to pay for its insatiable appetite for spending with what’s called a “Value-Added Tax.”
It’s like a huge new national sales tax, on everything. In simple terms, the difference is that with a sales tax, the consumer pays it. With a “VAT,” the manufacturer pays it. The consumer won’t see it in the price on the shelf or on their receipt.
Politicians love this tax because it’s a stealth tax… You can’t see it when you buy something, but they still get their money. And unless you make your voice known, chances are excellent we’ll eventually have a Value-Added Tax here.
The thing is, making things 20% more expensive here and giving that money to politicians won’t save America. It’ll make us less competitive. For Exhibit A, consider the state of European governments right now…
Greece, for example, has a VAT of 21%. Its government is bankrupt. The Value-Added Tax didn’t save Greece.
Italy and Portugal have a VAT of 20%, and they’re only a little less bankrupt than Greece.
Astoundingly to me, the Value-Added Tax in France has now crept up to a full 50% of France’s government revenues. So how are things going in France with a Value-Added Tax?
France is unable to compete in the world. Unemployment is terminally high. The unemployment rate is now 10% in France. In 2005, the unemployment rate was 10%. And back in 2000, unemployment stood at 11%. Like I said, it’s terminal…
Clearly, the system is not working. So why is the U.S. government in such a hurry to adopt it?
The Wall Street Journal explained it yesterday: “Taxes on the rich can’t begin to finance the levels of new spending that the current government has unleashed… ”
And foreign governments have been less willing to buy our government bonds lately. So the government needs a new source of a lot of money.
At first, a Value-Added Tax will be offered up by politicians as a small tax – just a temporary fix to get us over the hump on our current budget woes. But we know how it will go… Like all taxes (and parasites), it will become permanent in our lives and it will steadily grow. Remember, the VAT in France is now 50% of government revenue.
All we can do right now is let our politicians know we’re against more taxes… because we know down in our toes that governments spend every dollar that comes in… and then some.
Think about it this way: When your child has overspent on the credit card, you don’t hand over a new card to spend on.
We don’t want to give our politicians a new credit card to ring up charges. Reject their request for another massive credit card, in the form of a Value-Added Tax.
Oh, the other thing you can do is make all your big purchases soon, before a Value-Added Tax comes along and adds 10%-20% to the price of everything you buy…
VAT attack: Beware: ‘Value-added tax’ is an economy-killer
New York Post
April 12, 2010
![]() Paul Volcker |
One of President Obama’s top economic advisers, former Fed chief Paul Volcker, suggested this week that it’s time for America to adopt a VAT, or value-added tax. The White House yesterday downplayed the idea — but it’s sure to resurface: It’s an inevitable consequence of a government that’s too big now and likely to grow even bigger thanks to Washington’s reckless spending spree.
Don’t get me wrong: The VAT — on top of all the other taxes Washington imposes — is a terrible idea. Imposing it would pretty well finish the transformation of our country into a European-style slow-growth nation. The right way to close Uncle Sam’s gaping deficits is to reverse the continued explosion of federal spending.
The VAT is a type of national sales tax, levied on the value-added at each stage of production. Consider a piece of furniture: The VAT would be imposed when the raw timber is sold, when the sawmill produces lumber, when the manufacturer builds a chair, a tax at the wholesaler level and then when a retailer sells the chair to a consumer.
To avoid double taxation, each seller along the way gets a credit for taxes paid at earlier stages of the production process. So the final tax to the consumer, at least in theory, is the same as a retail sales tax of the same amount.
The VAT has its virtues: As a single-rate, consumption-based system, much like the flat tax or national sales tax, it would introduce far fewer economic distortions than today’s income tax — and a heckuva lot less paperwork.
That would be a persuasive argument — if proponents wanted a VAT to replace the Internal Revenue code. But that’s not what’s intended by Volcker — or Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who’ve also been chatting up the VAT.
The politicians want a VAT, and they want to keep the income tax. (To be more accurate, they want a VAT and to raise other taxes as well.)
They want the cash, of course, so they can continue buying votes by spending other people’s money.
This decade already has seen a huge expansion of government. In the Bush years, federal spending rose from $1.8 trillion in 2001 to $3.5 trillion in the last Bush budget. Now President Obama is well on the way to doubling outlays yet again.
He has already saddled the economy with $800 billion of “stimulus” and a giant new health-care entitlement, and his proposals for next year will push the federal budget even higher.
Meanwhile, our aging population and the built-in growth in federal programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security has a dramatic expansion in the size of government set to occur automatically in coming decades.
Simply stated, there’s no way to finance all this new spending without an added broad-based tax. But this is exactly why we should vigorously resist a VAT.
Blocking a VAT may not be sufficient to control the size of government, but it’s necessary. Handing Washington a whole new source of revenue would be akin to giving keys to a liquor store to a bunch of alcoholics.
Chuck Norris: More Tyranny Plus More Taxes Equals More Protests
Filed under: 2008 Election, Ahmadinejad, AIPAC, Air Force, airstrikes, Coup, False Flag, Fox News, George Bush, greece, gulf, h.con.res.362, H.Con.Res.385, Iran, Iraq, Israel, John Bolton, John McCain, Military, military bases, military strike, mofaz, nation building, neocons, Nuke, occupation, Oil, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Revolutionary Guards, Ron Paul, Saber Rattling, Sanctions, shaul mofaz, Shock and Awe, Tehran, tel aviv, UN, war games, War On Terror, william burns, WMD, WW3, ww4, Zionism | Tags: shahab-3, Sky of Velayat, Yediot Aharonot
Shaul Mofaz: No choice but to attack Iran
Press TV
July 18, 2008
Israeli transportation minister Shaul Mofaz has reiterated his previous threats against Iran, saying Israel must be ready to act.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post published late Thursday, Mofaz said sanctions were not effective in halting Iran’s nuclear program and “there will be no choice but to attack Iran to halt the Iranian nuclear program.”
“Israel cannot let Iran get to the point of nuclearization,” Mofaz said. “All options are on the table. If there won’t be a choice other than a nuclear Iran or a military option, it’s clear what our decision has to be.”
“The strategy against Iran has not changed and it will continue to be led by the United States,” Mofaz said, adding Israel could not let Iran ’threaten the entire world.’
Mofaz had told Yediot Aharonot on June 6 that Israel would attack Iran if it did not cease nuclear development.
Following his remarks in June, Israeli officials condemned his threats, calling them ’irresponsible’ and ’cynical.’
His new remarks against Tehran come as even the United States seems to have backed down on its demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment before entering talks on its nuclear program.
US diplomat William Burns is to be present at the negotiating table on Saturday in Geneva where Iran’s nuclear issue will be discussed.
John Bolton demands US support for Israeli strike on Iran
Telegraph
July 15, 2008
John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, has said that America should “facilitate” an Israeli attack on suspected nuclear facilities in Iran.
In a Wall Street Journal editorial, the leading voice of Washington’s hawks warned that time is running out for efforts to stop the Islamic Republic’s covert nuclear research programme.
Recent tests of ballistic missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv had demonstrated the external threat posed to the Jewish state by a nuclear-armed Tehran.
While the Bush administration no longer appears interested in military action against Iran, there is no doubt about Israel’s intentions.
American air and naval power in the Middle East, as well as its current control of Iraqi airspace, would mean that an Israeli attack could not take place without the superpower’s tacit consent.
“We will be blamed for the strike anyway, and certainly feel whatever negative consequences result, so there is compelling logic to make it as successful as possible,” Mr Bolton writes.
“At a minimum, we should place no obstacles in Israel’s path, and facilitate its efforts where we can.”
Mr Bolton said that further rounds of United Nations sanctions were no longer a realistic deterrent.
“We have almost certainly lost the race between giving ’strong incentives’ for Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and its scientific and technological efforts to do just that. Swift, sweeping, effectively enforced sanctions might have made a difference five years ago. No longer.”
Iran plans major air drills to boost deterrence
Press TV
July 15, 2008
Iran’s Air Force plans to stage a large-scale combat and defensive drills to beef up deterrence against threats from the US and Israel.
Air Force commander Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani said Tuesday that the armed forces would conduct a military exercise, dubbed Defenders of the Sky of Velayat, to enhance aerial capabilities.
The Iranian Air Force will prove its dominance by immediately crushing anyone who dares to try and penetrate Iran’s airspace, said Brig. Gen. Miqani.
The extensive air maneuvers will follow the six-day drills held by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) directed at demonstrating Iran’s defensive ballistic power.
The IRGC ended an extensive military exercise on Sunday during which Iran successfully test-fired various advanced shore-to-sea, surface-to-surface and sea-to-air missiles.
Iran also tested the upgraded Shahab-3 missile equipped with a one-ton conventional warhead and capable of hitting targets within a 2,000-kilometer range.
Iran to target ‘32 US bases’ if attacked
AFP
July 13, 2008
Iran will target “32 US bases and the heart of Israel” if it is attacked, the Fars news agency quoted an aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying on Saturday.
“If America and Israel shoot any bullets and missiles against our country, Iranian armed forces will target the heart of Israel and 32 US bases in the region before the dust from this attack has settled,” Mojtaba Zolnoor said.
Zolnoor is Khamenei’s deputy representative for the elite Revolutionary Guards, the force which controls Iran’s more potent weaponry, particularly its longer-range missiles capable of striking Israel and US bases in the Gulf.
The United States and its top regional ally Israel have never ruled out attacking Iran over its nuclear drive, which the West fears could be aimed at making nuclear weapons.
There has been concern an attack against Iran could be imminent after it emerged Israel had carried out manoeuvres in Greece that were effectively practice runs for a potential strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13130
Fox: Terrorist nukes could ‘fry every electronic gizmo civilization needs’
http://www.prisonplanet.com/fox-ter..electronic-gizmo-civilization-needs.html
Ron Paul’s Hard-Hitting Statement on AIPAC’s Anti-Iran H Con Res 385
http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2008/cr071508h.htm
An Analysis Of HCR 362
dhttp://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=10688
Iran condemns McCain for cigarette joke
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Ira.._for_cigarette_joke_0713.html
Iran discovers billion-barrel oil field
http://www.news.com.au/b..,24015554-31037,00.html
Iran Warns To “Cut Hands” Off Any Attackers
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011593304
Filed under: Arctic, armenia, belgium, Britain, Canada, Cold War, Condoleezza Rice, Czech Republic, denmark, Dmitry Medvedev, Europe, european union, France, George Bush, georgia, Germany, greece, Iran, Medvedev, Military, moscow, NATO, navy, neocons, Nuke, poland, putin, Russia, Soviet Union, Tehran, Troops, Turkey, ukraine, United Kingdom, war games, Washington D.C., WW3, ww4 | Tags: Communism, kaliningrad, latvia, lithuania, macedonia, military strike, missile defense, Sea Breeze-2008, Sergei Kislyak, Sergei Mironov, tbilisi
Russia May Aim Nukes at Europe
Press TV
July 13, 2008
Russia is considering aiming nuclear weapons at Western Europe for the first time since the end of the cold war.
Defense sources in Moscow say among the schemes being discussed to counter US plans to station a missile defense shield in Europe is the possible deployment of ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between the EU countries of Lithuania and Poland, The Times Online reported.
A Russian parliamentary committee visited the enclave 10 days ago to look into how a new generation of nuclear missiles could be based there, the report added.
If a deployment does take place, then it would greatly increase tensions in Europe between Moscow and Washington.
Only last week, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement in Prague to build a radar station in the Czech Republic.
A deal with Poland is in the works to host a base for 10 interceptor rockets on its border with Russia. The agreement is expected to be signed later this year.
Moscow is strongly opposed to the shield, saying that it is part of an aggressive US military expansion into its own backyard.
A source with close connections to the Russian defense ministry said, “One of the main steps under consideration is a redeployment of nuclear missiles to Kaliningrad and Belarus. These missiles would be pointed at Europe. It would be a perfectly legitimate step. If America wants to expand its military capabilities in Europe, then we have the right to act accordingly”.
The source also went on to question the US claim that the shield was intended to intercept missiles only from the so-called rogue states. He said, “How would Washington feel if we placed interceptor missiles on Cuba or Venezuela?”
Experts said the threat of deploying missiles in Kaliningrad was largely aimed at strengthening the opposition to the shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. Experts went on to add that Russia would have to build new long-range ground-based ballistic missiles since it has destroyed most of its Soviet-era arsenal.
U.S. troops to hold exercises in Georgia, Ukraine
AFP
July 14, 2008
Georgian soldiers take part in war games with their US, Armenian, Azerbaijani and Ukrainean counterparts at the Vaziani training area on the outskirts of Tbilisi.
US troops on Monday began military exercises near the Russian border in ex-Soviet Ukraine and were poised to launch them in Georgia, amid tense relations between Moscow and Washington, officials said.
A ceremony inaugurating the Sea Breeze-2008 NATO exercise was held off Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, a Ukrainian defence ministry spokeswoman said, against anti-NATO protests and a hostile reaction from officials in Russia.
The NATO exercises “will increase political and military tensions in Europe as a whole,” Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency in Moscow.
Sea Breeze-2008, which lasts until July 26, will also include forces from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia and Turkey, officials said.
Separate military exercises dubbed Immediate Response-2008 are due to start in Georgia on Tuesday with Armenian, Azerbaijani, Ukrainian and US troops taking part, a Georgian defence ministry spokeswoman said.
“The US-Georgia joint exercises will be held at the Vaziani military base” less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Russian border with a total of 1,650 servicemen taking part, said the spokeswoman, Nana Intskirveli.
Russia to ‘neutralise’ US missile defence threat: report
AFP
July 14, 2008
Russia’s military is ready to “neutralise” any threat to its nuclear deterrent from US missile defence sites in Europe, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said Monday, according to Interfax news agency.
“If we see the development of systems that could reduce our deterrent potential, our military will have to take steps to neutralise the threat,” Kislyak was quoted as saying at a briefing in Moscow.
He did not specify the steps that would be taken, saying “this will be decided by military specialists.”
“We would prefer not to have to do this,” he added.
Kislyak said US proposals to ease Russian concerns about the missile shield, which Washington claims is aimed at countering possible threats from states such as Iran, remained in doubt.
http://russiatoday.ru/news/news/27508
Russia cuts oil shipments to Czech Republic against the background of its radar agreement with USA
http://english.pravda.ru/world/europe/105772-czech_usa_radar-0
Kicking Sand In Russia’s Face
http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis116.html
Russian navy boosts combat presence in Arctic
http://www.canada.com/topics/new..8-4dd8-944f-58af497c3fa6
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, bernanke, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, Euro, Federal Reserve, GDP, Germany, gold, Great Depression, greece, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, job market, rate cut, silver, Stock Market, US Economy, WW2 | Tags: hennecke
Hennecke Says U.S. Faces ’Hyperinflationary Depression’
Filed under: Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad, Air Force, airstrikes, CBS, Cold War, Congress, Coup, Dick Cheney, ehud olmert, False Flag, George Bush, greece, gulf, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Mike Mullen, Military, military base, military bases, military strike, Mohammed Hosseini, nation building, neocons, Neolibs, Nuke, occupation, Oil, Olmert, palestine, Pentagon, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Revolutionary Guards, Robert Gates, Saber Rattling, Shock and Awe, Syria, Tehran, UN, War On Terror, WW3, ww4, Zionism | Tags: david martin, michael, ONGC, oren
’US builds 4 bases on Iraq-Iran border’
Press TV
June 26, 2008
The US military has constructed four advanced bases 20 miles from Iraq’s border with Iran, a senior Iraqi police officer has announced.
The bases, equipped with missile launch pads, have been set up over the past four months on the Iraq-Iran border; Iraqi al-Noor newspaper quoted the official as saying.
He added that one of the bases has been located 30 km (20 miles) from the first border town with Iran and houses remote-controlled launching pads as well as radar systems similar to ones used in Kuwait during the first Persian Gulf war.
“The bases do not serve military intentions and its staff would not be military personnel.”
According to the official, the bases are only precautionary measures in case of a military strike against Israel by Iran.
Israel Prodding U.S. To Attack Iran
CBS News
June 24, 2008
Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen leaves Tuesday night on an overseas trip that will take him to Israel, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The trip has been scheduled for some time but U.S. officials say it comes just as the Israelis are mounting a full court press to get the Bush administration to strike Iran’s nuclear complex.
CBS consultant Michael Oren says Israel doesn’t want to wait for a new administration.
“The Israelis have been assured by the Bush administration that the Bush administration will not allow Iran to nuclearize,” Oren said. “Israelis are uncertain about what would be the policies of the next administration vis-à-vis Iran.”
Israel’s message is simple: If you don’t, we will. Israel held a dress rehearsal for a strike earlier this month, but military analysts say Israel can not do it alone.
“Keep in mind that Israel does not have strategic bombers,” Oren said. “The Israeli Air Force is not the American Air Force. Israel can not eliminate Iran’s nuclear program.”
The U.S. with its stealth bombers and cruise missiles has a much greater capability. Vice President Cheney is said to favor a strike, but both Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates are opposed to an attack which could touch off a third war in the region.
IRAN: American public won’t allow another war, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman says
LA Times
June 27, 2008
Despite constant talk of war, U.S. officials have tried to reach out to the Iranian people in an attempt to get past the animosity between Washington and Tehran.
But Iranian officials have also been on a diplomatic offensive, reaching out to ordinary people in the Middle East as well as, more modestly, to Americans.
Known for his good looks, polite manners and kindly attitude toward the media, Iran’s silver-haired foreign ministry spokesman, Mohammed Ali Hosseini has emerged as a frequent public face on his government’s policies.
In a lengthy interview in his office Wednesday, he described Americans as a peace-loving people who “hate violence” and are suffering because of the mistakes of their leaders. He said he believed economic pressures, the military entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and American public opinion would prevent war from breaking out between Iran and the United States. “The U.S. and the Zionist regime, thanks to the increasing economic, political, security and military crises in which they are stuck, are not logically in a position to tolerate the expenses of another massive and far-reaching crisis,” Hosseini said.
He continued:
Public opinion in the world will not permit [President] Bush to exacerbate the pains and tragedies already inflicted on the nations of the region and the American people. Nowadays, the polling surveys carried out among U.S. elites, thinkers and, by and large, the American people, show they hate violence, further battles and anarchy. The surveys indicate that the Americans are seeking genuine peace, stability and security.
But he warned:
If there is a war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, it will be out of control and with unpredictable consequences. Thus, anyone with minimum rationality and political logic does not dare to step on this path.
Hosseini, 47, is a physicist by training and a career diplomat. A native of Tehran, he studied in India before joining Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs 20 years ago. He’s a family man, with a wife and three children. He sat down for an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with the Los Angeles Times about Iran’s nuclear program, U.S. relations and turmoil in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, which have became contested terrain in the Cold War between Washington and Tehran.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM..t6NsANUMU-KNN7S6vw
Greece: We did not prepare for Iran war
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=61624§ionid=351020104
Are Congressional Democrats Leading Us to War with Iran?
http://www.yesmagazine.org/svgbl..ional-democrats-leading.html
Pentagon making case against Iran
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.as..sectionid=351020101
ONGC discovers new Iranian oilfield
http://in.reuters.com/article/email/idINIndia-34272220080628
Israeli top brass split over plan to hit Iran
http://www.thejc.com/home.asp..d=19&AId=60896&ATypeId=1
Olmert acknowledges secret meeting
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jun/26/ol..dges-meeting/
Iran Revolutionary Guards chief in new warning to Israel: report
http://www.spacewar.com/2006/080628075012.z5qpu0qc.html
Israel gives UN watchdog secret briefing on Iran
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/996713.html
Iran Says Gulf Oil Route At Risk if Attacked
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/i..-oil.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Syria planned to supply Iran with nuclear fuel, Israel says
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/25/syria.iran
Filed under: airstrikes, Australia, Baghdad, Coup, ehud olmert, f-16, False Flag, gaza, greece, H. Con. Res 362, hamas, IAEA, Iran, Iran war resolution, Iraq, Israel, kevin rudd, Kyl-Lieberman amendment, Military, military strike, NIE, north korea, Nuke, Olmert, palestine, Pentagon, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Robert Wexler, Russia, Saber Rattling, Saddam Hussein, Sergey Lavrov, shaul mofaz, Shock and Awe, Syria, Tehran, Troops, War On Terror, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Mike McConnell, Yediot Aharonot
U.S. Says Israel Military Exercise Directed At Iran
IHT
June 19, 2008
Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Several American officials said the Israeli exercise appeared to be an effort to develop the military’s capacity to carry out long-range strikes and to demonstrate the seriousness with which Israel views Iran’s nuclear program.
More than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece during the first week of June, American officials said.
The exercise also included Israeli helicopters that could be used to rescue downed pilots. The helicopters and refueling tankers flew more than 900 miles, which is about the same distance between Israel and Iran’s uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, American officials said.
Israeli officials declined to discuss the details of the exercise. A spokesman for the Israeli military would say only that the country’s air force “regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel.”
But the scope of the Israeli exercise virtually guaranteed that it would be noticed by American and other foreign intelligence agencies. A senior Pentagon official who has been briefed on the exercise, and who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the political delicacy of the matter, said the exercise appeared to serve multiple purposes.
One Israeli goal, the Pentagon official said, was to practice flight tactics, aerial refueling and all other details of a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear installations and its long-range conventional missiles.
A second, the official said, was to send a clear message to the United States and other countries that Israel was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from producing bomb-grade uranium continued to falter.
“They wanted us to know, they wanted the Europeans to know, and they wanted the Iranians to know,” the Pentagon official said. “There’s a lot of signaling going on at different levels.”
Several American officials said they did not believe that the Israeli government had concluded that it must attack Iran and did not think that such a strike was imminent.
Shaul Mofaz, a former Israeli defense minister who is now a deputy prime minister, warned in a recent interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot that Israel might have no choice but to attack. “If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack,” Mofaz said in the interview published on June 6, the day after the unpublicized exercise ended. “Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable.”
But Mofaz was criticized by other Israeli politicians as seeking to enhance his own standing as questions mount about whether the embattled Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, can hang on to power.
Israeli officials have told their American counterparts that Mofaz’s statement does not represent official policy. But American officials were also told that Israel had prepared plans for striking nuclear targets in Iran and could carry them out if needed.
Iran has shown signs that it is taking the Israeli warnings seriously, by beefing up its air defenses in recent weeks, including increasing air patrols. In one instance, Iran scrambled F-4 jets to double-check an Iraqi civilian flight from Baghdad to Tehran.
“They are clearly nervous about this and have their air defense on guard,” a Bush administration official said of the Iranians.
Any Israeli attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities would confront a number of challenges. Many American experts say they believe that such an attack could delay but not eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. Much of the program’s infrastructure is buried under earth and concrete and installed in long tunnels or hallways, making precise targeting difficult. There is also concern that not all of the facilities have been detected. To inflict maximum damage, multiple attacks might be necessary, which many analysts say is beyond Israel’s ability at this time.
But waiting also entails risks for the Israelis. Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed fears that Iran will soon master the technology it needs to produce substantial quantities of highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
Iran is also taking steps to better defend its nuclear facilities. Two sets of advance Russian-made radar systems were recently delivered to Iran. The radar will enhance Iran’s ability to detect planes flying at low altitude.
Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, said in February that Iran was close to acquiring Russian-produced SA-20 surface-to-air missiles. American military officials said that the deployment of such systems would hamper Israel’s attack planning, putting pressure on Israel to act before the missiles are fielded.
For both the United States and Israel, Iran’s nuclear program has been a persistent worry. A National Intelligence Estimate that was issued in December by American intelligence agencies asserted that Iran had suspended work on weapons design in late 2003. The report stated that it was unclear if that work had resumed. It also noted that Iran’s work on uranium enrichment and on missiles, two steps that Iran would need to take to field a nuclear weapon, had continued.
In late May, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran’s suspected work on nuclear matters was a “matter of serious concern” and that the Iranians owed the agency “substantial explanations.”
Over the past three decades, Israel has carried out two unilateral attacks against suspected nuclear sites in the Middle East. In 1981, Israeli jets conducted a raid against Iraq’s nuclear plant at Osirak after concluding that it was part of Saddam Hussein’s program to develop nuclear weapons. In September, Israeli aircraft bombed a structure in Syria that American officials said housed a nuclear reactor built with the aid of North Korea.
The United States protested the Israeli strike against Iraq in 1981, but its comments in recent months have amounted to an implicit endorsement of the Israeli strike in Syria.
Pentagon officials said that Israel’s air forces usually conducted a major early summer training exercise, often flying over the Mediterranean or training ranges in Turkey where they practice bombing runs and aerial refueling. But the exercise this month involved a larger number of aircraft than had been previously observed, and included a lengthy combat rescue mission.
Much of the planning appears to reflect a commitment by Israel’s military leaders to ensure that its armed forces are adequately equipped and trained, an imperative driven home by the difficulties the Israeli military encountered in its Lebanon operation against Hezbollah.
“They rehearse it, rehearse it and rehearse it, so if they actually have to do it, they’re ready,” the Pentagon official said. “They’re not taking any options off the table.”
Your last chance: Israel’s warning
Sydney Morning Herald
June 19, 2008
ISRAEL’S Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has warned the radical Islamic movement Hamas that the truce due to take effect today is the last chance to avoid a massive military incursion into the Gaza Strip.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald – his first interview with the Australian media in four years – Mr Olmert said the people of Gaza were “pissed off with Hamas” and sick and tired of the years of violence.
Since Israel withdrew from Gaza three years ago, the 250,000 residents who surround Gaza have been subjected to almost daily rocket attacks from Palestinian militants.
“You think the people of Adelaide would put up with this?” demanded Mr Olmert. “Or the people of Brisbane?
“I think the strategy of Hamas, which does not want to recognise Israel’s right to exist in the first place, and the extremism, and the fanaticism, and the religious dogmatism is the enemy of peace. We are at the end of our tolerance with regard to terror in Gaza.”
Dismissing an escalating corruption investigation which looks certain to force either his resignation or fresh elections by November, Mr Olmert said he was “going nowhere” and did not rule out running again for the leadership of his Kadima party.
So certain is Mr Olmert of his political survival that he has already sent an invitation for Kevin Rudd to visit Israel later this year.
“I don’t know yet personally enough the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, but I am very impressed with his friendship and his commitment to the well-being of the state of Israel,” Mr Olmert said.
Greeks help Israel prepare for Iran war?
Press TV
June 20, 2008
The Greek Air Force says it partook in an Israeli military exercise which is regarded as a rehearsal for a potential attack on Iran.
Greek sources speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed a New York Times report that Israel’s military maneuvers which were carried out earlier this month off the southern Mediterranean island of Crete, were preparations for a future war with the Islamic Republic.
The Greek source, however, assured that no terrestrial targets were involved as the operation was mainly aimed at personnel training.
According to a New York Times report, more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the military drills which involved simulated aerial combat, attacks on terrestrial targets, aerial refueling, and search and rescue missions.
http://www.bloomberg.com/..jLlSBbx5E&refer=home
Israeli attack on Iran: “not a matter of if, but when”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jun2008/iran-j20.shtml
Tehran pledges to deal ’powerful blow’ against attack
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080620/111496436.html
Uh-Oh…Wexler Backs Naval Blockade of Iran
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert..n-steroids_b_108122.html
How Iran would retaliate if it comes to war
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0620/p07s04-wome.html
Russia’s Lavrov warns against attack on Iran
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_on_re_eu/russia_iran
Bomb Iran? What’s to Stop Us?
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/061908c.html
Filed under: 2008 olympics, Germany, global elite, Globalism, Goebbels, greece, Hitler, Nazi, olympics, torch relay, WW2
Nazi ideals, not ancient Greece, were the inspiration behind Olympic flame tradition
The Independent
April 8, 2008
There is a two-word answer to those who think the Olympic torch is a symbol of harmony between nations that should be kept apart from politics – Adolf Hitler.
The ceremony played out on the streets of Paris yesterday did not originate in ancient Greece, nor even in the 19th century, when the Olympic movement was revived. The entire ritual, with its pagan overtones, was devised by a German named Dr Carl Diem, who ran the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Although he was not a Nazi, and was appointed to run the Olympics before the Nazis came to power, Diem adapted very quickly to the new regime, and ended the war as a fanatical military commander exhorting teenage Germans to die like Spartans rather than accept defeat. Thousands did, but not Diem, who lived to be 80.
He sold to Josef Goebbels – in charge of media coverage of the Games – the idea that 3,422 young Aryan runners should carry burning torches along the 3,422km route from the Temple of Hera on Mount Olympus to the stadium in Berlin.
Filed under: 1st amendment, 2008 olympics, Alex Jones, beijing, Britain, California, China, chinese military, Communism, Concentration Camps, Conditioning, Dalai Lama, David Rockefeller, Dissent, ethnic cleansing, Europe, forced abortion, foreign troops, global elite, Globalism, greece, human rights, International Bankers, internationalist, IOC, london, Martial Law, merkel, Military, NATO, Nazi, New World Order, olympics, Oppression, organ harvesting, paris, police brutality, Police State, Propaganda, Protest, san fransisco, scotland, tibet, tibet protests, torch relay, Torture, Troops, United Kingdom, US Constitution | Tags: David Davis, Jacqui Smith, Konnie Huq, PAP, people's armed police, Sebastian Coe, Serious Organised Crime and Police Act of 2005, Yolaine De La Bigne
Chinese Paramilitary Thugs Policed London Torch Relay
Outrage after British government allowed members of China’s internal security force to manhandle protesters
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
April 9, 2008
Fresh outrage has erupted over the Olympic torch procession after it emerged that the blue-clad thugs witnessed manhandling protesters and barking orders during the torch relay in London were Chinese paramilitary police hired by Beijing and the British government to quell demonstrations.
Officially know as the 29th Olympic Games Torch Relay Flame Protection Unit, this gaggle of bullies were in actual fact, “Picked from special police units of the People’s Armed Police, China’s internal security force.”
The requirements for the job: to be “tall, handsome, mighty, in exceptional physical condition similar to that of professional athletes,” the state-run China News Service said.
The government-hired heavies were also taught to bark a few words of English for the purposes of ordering around torch bearers.
This cadre of gang members honed their expertise in martial arts, marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat, and are trained to brutally suppress demonstrations and farmer’s uprisings in China which routinely result in the slaughter of scores of protesters who dare stand up to the Communist police state.
Hiring foreign paramilitary thug cops to police the streets of our cities is not only flagrantly illegal, it is a telltale sign that we too are living in an oppressive police state.
This is a damning indictment of the attitude the British Labour Party, self-proclaimed “liberals,” holds toward the notion of freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble in the UK.
Since the British government effectively outlawed the right to protest with the passage of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act of 2005, demonstrators have taken it upon themselves to flout an unjust law that is anathema to any basic notion of freedom or human rights.
Knowing that any rough treatment towards the Tibetan protesters by the British police would reflect badly on the government’s tattered reputation, Labour gratefully acquiesced to Beijing’s demand to ship in some of China’s most brutal thug cops in order to do their dirty work for them.
Shadow home secretary David Davis wrote a letter to Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, yesterday and demanded to know who’s decision it was to unleash these animals onto British streets.
“They were seen manhandling protesters. They even accompanied the torch into Downing Street,” said Davis.
These blue-clad goons did not only physically assault demonstrators, but even metered out their bullying tactics to Olympic officials and the torch bearers themselves.
A CBC News report compiled eyewitness reports of the thugs’ behavior.
Yolaine De La Bigne, a French environmental journalist who was a torchbearer in Paris, told The Associated Press she tried to wear a headband with a Tibetan flag, but the Chinese agents ripped it away from her.
“It was seen and then, after four seconds, all the Chinese security pounced on me. There were at least five or six (of them). They started to get angry” and shouted “No! No! No!” in English, she said.
De La Bigne tried to push several agents away as they grabbed her arm. She said two French athletes who are martial arts experts tried to help her and clashed briefly with the security detail.
The chairman of the London 2012 Games, Sebastian Coe, was even more blunt.
“They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English. They were thugs,” Coe, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was quoted as saying in British media. A spokeswoman for the London 2012 Olympics committee confirmed that Coe was quoted accurately, but added that he thought he was making private comments.
“They were barking orders at me, like ’Run! Stop! This! That!’ and I was like, ’Oh my gosh, who are these people?”’ former television host Konnie Huq told British Broadcasting Corp. radio about her encounter with the men in blue during London’s leg of the relay Sunday.
This is just the latest example of how one element of globalization, the exchange of policing and troop deployment between countries, is conditioning people to accept foreign troops.
Before the 2006 soccer World Cup, the British government allowed uniformed German police to be on UK soil to identify “potential troublemakers” who were planning on traveling to the tournament.
Before the event, Germany’s interior minister changed the country’s constitution to allow internal troop deployments for “security” reasons.
As part of NATO exercises in September 2003, armed Ukrainian and French soldiers were running checkpoints and harassing members of the public in Scotland.
Alex Jones has attended numerous military urban warfare training drills across the U.S. where role players were used to simulate arresting American citizens and taking them to internment camps. Foreign troops were routinely invited to join the training exercises.
Accepting the deployment of Chinese paramilitary thug cops to police a public event in Britain is completely illegal and indicates that Britons are living under a state of martial law and de-facto military occupation.
Despite empty rhetoric in the media on behalf of western governments supposedly slapping China on the hand for its human rights abuses, the real picture has now emerged.
The UK, the U.S. and China are one of a kind when it comes to using paramilitary police thugs and martial law tactics to silence dissent – and the governments of the three countries are joined at the hip in their efforts to stamp down the jackboot on the right to demonstrate against abuses of the state.
Police State Torch Run
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
April 9, 2008
In San Francisco, the authorities were so worried about the prospect of thousands of people expressing their outrage over Tibet and China’s flagrant human rights violations they changed the Olympic torch relay route. It was a sneaky, last minute change that denied the people of San Francisco a chance to participate in the torch relay event, an event introduced by the Nazis at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
It would seem our rulers, not unlike the Nazis, put a lot of credence in what is essentially a pagan event. The Olympic Flame commemorates the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus. A fire permanently burned on the altar of Hestia in Olympia, Greece, in ancient times. During the Olympic Games, which honored Zeus, additional fires were lit at his temple and that of his wife, Hera. The modern Olympic flame is ignited at the site where the temple of Hera once stood.
But so much for the history lesson. In San Francisco this afternoon, pagan symbolism was difficult to make out, as it was buried under a phalanx of SWAT cops, regular cops mounted on bikes, motorcycles, and marching on foot, not to mention tightly surrounded by Chinese secret police in snazzy tracksuits. In fact, after watching a helicopter video feed on CNN, it appears the preponderance of SFPD cops were on hand to provide “security” — from the vagaries of the First Amendment — not only for the torch runners but the detachment of Chinese PAP, short for People’s Armed Police, as well.
Time reports:
The tracksuit-clad Sacred Torch Guard Team was drawn from China’s paramilitary People’s Armed Police, which is used for internal security. The group formed last August and trained by running six miles daily. While their chief mission is to protect the flame, they’ve also cracked down on protesters. Sebastian Coe, a two-time medalist and chairman of the London Games in 2012, called them “thugs” and said they tried to push him. A torchbearer in Paris, environmental journalist Yolaine De La Bigne, told the Associated Press that the team snatched away the Tibetan flag headband she was wearing.
It might be expected that PAP and China’s ruling clique might get away with this in China, even Europe, but here in the United States?
Of course they can get away with it. Because the United States is but a mere shadow of what it was even fifty years ago and today few know what national sovereignty is. Now the corporate media feels obliged to make comments in passing about the “heavy security” at such events but does not bother to follow this aside through — an observer not brainwashed by years of unrelenting police state propaganda supposedly inspired by the horrific events of cave dwelling terrorists, the heavy presence of black-clad cops, including a close quarter SWAT contingent, would be reminded of a police state.
It was breathtaking how easily China’s PAP goons interacted with San Francisco’s finest, the latter who spent at least a little time pushing and shoving a pathetic handful of demonstrators who managed to discover the last minute route change. But then, with every passing day, the U.S. and China become more and more alike, including the same overriding contempt for free speech and dissent.
But then they both have the same bastard father — the New World Order. David Rockefeller was deadly serious when he declared in 2001 that the relationship between China and the United States “is one of the most important bilateral relations in the world. Although US-China relations have experienced misunderstanding in recent years, he said, he is glad to see the recent encouraging improvement in this respect.”
In other words, much of the world misunderstands China’s torture of prisoners, its organ harvest program, its policy of forced abortion, its restrictions on free speech and political organizing, its absence of due process, its suppression of religion, its arbitrary detention of dissidents, and its obsessive use of the death penalty, even for nonviolent property crimes such as theft, embezzlement and forgery.
David Rockefeller, the international bankers, and transnational corporations are not concerned with any of this, of course, as their focus is upon the China Model — that is to say, China’s successful effort to turn the most populated country in the world into a sprawling industrialized slave labor gulag churning out a nearly unimaginable number of “consumer goods, ” never mind the lead paint, heavy metals and other toxins.
And that’s one reason the Olympic torch relay was hemmed in by cops and secret police — because the U.S. does not want to upset the Chinese, who often react violently at the least provocation, or opposition to their totalitarianism, at any rate.
Finally, it should be added that China practically owns the United States. It holds over $1 trillion in dollar denominated assets, of which $330 billion are U.S. Treasury notes.
It’s not really a good idea to anger somebody who holds a large number of chits — and people filling the streets complaining about China’s notorious and multifaceted abuses certainly anger the Chicom leadership.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,546078,00.html
SF Welcomes China’s Secret Police
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/04/08/18491371.php
Chinese Paramilitary Cops Police Americans
http://infowars.net/articles/april2008/090408Chinese.htm
Chinese Paramilitary Force Protecting Torch
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/080408/w040863A.html
Olympic torch fiasco: Lord Coe blasts ’horrible Chinese thugs’ who barged their way through London
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv..id=557941&in_page_id=1770
Unmasked: Chinese guardians of Olympic torch
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3671368.ece