WarSclerotic

Russia’s strategic nuclear forces to hold major exercise this month
MOSCOW Wed Sep 3, 2014 9:09am BST

(With the announcement of planned American military drills in the Ukraine, Mr. Putin announces planned Russian Armageddon drills.-LS)

(Reuters) – The forces responsible for Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal will conduct major exercises this month involving more than 4,000 soldiers, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday, in the latest sign of rising tension with NATO over the Ukraine crisis.

In an announcement a day before the start of a NATO summit in Wales, RIA news agency quoted the ministry as saying the exercises would take place in Altai in south-central Russia and would also include around 400 technical units and extensive use of air power.

The agency quoted Dmitry Andreyev, a major in the strategic rocket forces, as saying troops would practice countering irregular units and high-precision weapons, and “conducting combat missions in conditions of active radio-electronic jamming and intensive enemy actions in areas of troop deployment.”

He said enemy forces would be represented in the exercises by spetsnaz (special forces) units.

Supersonic MiG-31 fighter-interceptors and Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft would take part, Andreyev said, saying the scale of air power involved was unprecedented for exercises of this kind.

Both Russia and NATO have stepped up military manoeuvres since the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the former Soviet republic.

A Kremlin security adviser said on Tuesday that Russia would update its military doctrine this year in the light of the Ukraine crisis and the sharp deterioration in relations with NATO.

Gen. McInerney: ‘We Helped Build ISIS’
By Paul Joseph Watson September 3, 2014
Weapons from Benghazi ended up in the hands of Islamic State radicals

(“Igor…come quick. We’ve created a monster! It’s alive….alive…” All joking aside, I think it’s kind of arrogant to say ‘we’ created ISIS aka ISIL aka IS (whatever). Afterall, ‘we’ created democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan and look where that got us. Bottom line is…the Islamists created ISIS. It’s what they wanted all along and it’s what they got. Had they not been behind this movement, it would have never happened. So before you blame the US for every damned thing wrong with this planet, take a look at who’s doing the blaming and then take a look at who’s doing the beheading, killing of innocents and basically being a huge pain the ass. As most of you already know, the Mideast is a convoluted mess. Helping one hurts another who may or may not be an enemy one day. Like Israel, the US must step back and take a defensive posture while exerting whatever influence it can without getting drawn into the fight…until attacked of course.-LS)

During an appearance on Fox News, General Thomas McInerney acknowledged that the United States “helped build ISIS” as a result of the group obtaining weapons from the Benghazi consulate in Libya which was attacked by jihadists in September 2012.

Asked what he thought of the idea of arming so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels after FSA militants kidnapped UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, McInerney said the policy had been a failure.

“We backed I believe in some cases, some of the wrong people and not in the right part of the Free Syrian Army and that’s a little confusing to people, so I’ve always maintained….that we were backing the wrong types.”

He then made reference to a Bret Baier Fox News special set to air on Friday which will, “show some of those weapons from Benghazi ended up in the hands of ISIS – so we helped build ISIS,” said McInerney.

In May last year, Senator Rand Paul was one of the first to speculate that the truth behind Benghazi was linked to an illicit arms smuggling program that saw weapons being trafficked to terrorists in Syria as part of the United States’ proxy war against the Assad regime.

“I’ve actually always suspected that, although I have no evidence, that maybe we were facilitating arms leaving Libya going through Turkey into Syria,” Paul told CNN, adding that he “never….quite understood the cover-up — if it was intentional or incompetence”.

At the same time it emerged that the U.S. State Department had hired an Al-Qaeda offshoot organization, the February 17th Martyrs Brigade, to “defend” the Benghazi Mission months before the attack.

Senator Paul was vindicated less than three months later when it emerged that the CIA had been subjecting its operatives to monthly polygraph tests in an effort to keep a lid on details of the arms smuggling operation being leaked.

CNN subsequently reported that dozens of CIA agents were on the ground in Benghazi during the attack and that the polygraph tests were mandated in order to prevent operatives from talking to Congress or the media about a program that revolved around “secretly helping to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels.” Key Syrian rebel leaders later defected to join ISIS.

In addition to ISIS obtaining weapons from Benghazi, many members of the group were also trained by the United States at a secret base in Jordan in 2012.

Aaron Klein was told by Jordanian officials that, “dozens of future ISIS members were trained at the time as part of covert aid to the insurgents targeting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.”

As we have previously documented, many of the United States’ biggest allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey and Qatar, have all bankrolled and armed ISIS militants.

Support for Hamas rises after Gaza war, poll findsx
Published September 02, 2014 Associated Press

(Even rats jump off a sinking ship.-LS)

JERUSALEM – The popularity of the Hamas militant group among Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has spiked significantly following the 50-day war with Israel, according to an opinion poll released Tuesday.

The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and headed by leading Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, indicates that 61 percent of Palestinians would choose the Islamic militant group’s leader, Ismail Haniyeh, for president if Palestinian presidential elections were held today.

Only 32 percent would vote for current President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas’ rival, the survey suggested.

The support for Haniyeh marks a stark increase from a poll in June, conducted by the same pollster, which found only 41 percent of Palestinians backed the Hamas figure. At the time, Abbas had 53 percent support.

The poll also suggests a majority of Palestinians — 72 percent — support adopting Hamas’ armed approach in the West Bank.

The research center said it is the first time in eight years that a majority of Palestinians has voiced such support for the Hamas leader. But, it said, Hamas’ popularity might fall in coming months, as it did following previous Israel-Hamas conflicts.

Polling started on the last day of the war, on Aug. 26, and continued during the first four days of the cease-fire, the research center said.

The poll said 79 percent of respondents believe Hamas won the war, and 86 percent support the renewal of rocket fire on Israel if a blockade on Gaza is not lifted, one of Hamas’ main demands.

But 25 percent said armed groups in the Gaza Strip should give up their weapons after the blockade ends and elections are held.

The latest poll, and the poll in June, both surveyed 1,270 Palestinians and had a margin of error of 3 percent.

Also Tuesday, Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid criticized Israel’s expropriation of West Bank land announced this week, calling for “a more reasoned approach” in Israeli diplomacy following Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

The expropriation of about 1,000 acres of West Bank land could help clear the way for new Jewish settlement construction. Lapid said such moves create “redundant arguments with the United States and the world” and criticized the timing of the announcement following the Gaza war. Israel’s Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, also criticized the move this week.

Other leading Israeli Cabinet ministers have criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct in the recently concluded war, with many saying he did not go far enough to neutralize Hamas’s fighting ability.

The land announcement drew strong criticism from around the world, with the U.S., EU, Ireland, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — which represents 57 Muslim countries — and others condemning it.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier issued a strong rebuke to Israel on Tuesday over the decision and called for it to be revised.

“The decision, should it remain, sends a wrong signal at the wrong time,” he said.

Netanyahu has spoken vaguely about a new “diplomatic horizon” that has emerged following the 50-day Israel-Hamas war. He has given few details on what he means.

But Netanyahu has said that he is not willing to renew peace talks with Abbas unless the Palestinian leader distances himself from Hamas militants. Hamas and Abbas’ Palestinian Authority recently agreed to a unity deal that saw the formation of a government backed by both factions.

“He has to choose,” Netanyahu told Israeli Channel Two in a weekend interview. “It’s either yes to Hamas or no to Hamas.”

Later Tuesday, the Israeli military said a Palestinian tried to run over Israeli soldiers and civilians, injuring one person, near Qalqiliya in the northern West Bank. It said soldiers opened fire on the vehicle, injuring the driver and a passenger.

MISSING LIBYAN JETLINERS RAISE FEARS OF SUICIDE AIRLINER ATTACKS ON 9-11
BY: Bill Gertz September 2, 2014 4:55 pm

In this image made from video by The Associated Press, smoke rises from the direction of Tripoli airport in Tripoli, Libya, Sunday, July 13, 2014. Rival militias battled Sunday for the control of the international airport in Libya’s capital – AP

(Nothing to worry about…right?.-LS)

Islamist militias in Libya took control of nearly a dozen commercial jetliners last month, and western intelligence agencies recently issued a warning that the jets could be used in terrorist attacks across North Africa.

Intelligence reports of the stolen jetliners were distributed within the U.S. government over the past two weeks and included a warning that one or more of the aircraft could be used in an attack later this month on the date marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against New York and Washington, said U.S. officials familiar with the reports.

“There are a number of commercial airliners in Libya that are missing,” said one official. “We found out on September 11 what can happen with hijacked planes.”

The official said the aircraft are a serious counterterrorism concern because reports of terrorist control over the Libyan airliners come three weeks before the 13th anniversary of 9/11 attacks and the second anniversary of the Libyan terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the Benghazi attack, which the Obama administration initially said was the result of a spontaneous demonstration against an anti-Muslim video.

A senior State Department counterterrorism official declined to comment on reports of the stolen jetliners.

A second State department official sought to downplay the reports. “We can’t confirm that,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials said Egyptian military forces appear to be preparing to intervene in Libya to prevent the country from becoming a failed state run by terrorists, many with ties to al Qaeda.

Libya remains an oil-rich state and if the country is taken over completely by Islamist extremists, U.S. counterterrorism officials believe it will become another terrorist safe haven in the region.

The officials said U.S. intelligence agencies have not confirmed the aircraft theft following the takeover of Tripoli International Airport in late August, and are attempting to locate all aircraft owned by two Libyan state-owned airline companies, as security in the country continued to deteriorate amid fighting between Islamists and anti-Islamist militias.

Video surfaced on Sunday showing armed fighters from the Islamist militia group Libyan Dawn partying inside a captured U.S. diplomatic compound in Tripoli. The footage showed one fighter diving into a pool from a second-story balcony at the facility.

Tripoli airport and at least seven aircraft were reported damaged during fighting that began in July. Photos of the airport in the aftermath showed a number of damaged aircraft. The airport has been closed since mid-July.

The state-owned Libyan Airlines fleet until this summer included 14 passenger and cargo jetliners, including seven Airbus 320s, one Airbus 330, two French ATR-42 turboprop aircraft, and four Bombardier CJR-900s. Libyan state-owned Afriqiyah Airways fleet is made up of 13 aircraft, including three Airbus 319s, seven Airbus 320s, two Airbus 330s, and one Airbus 340.

The aircraft were reportedly taken in late August following the takeover of Tripoli International Airport, located about 20 miles south of the capital, by Libyan Dawn.

Al Jazeera television reported in late August that western intelligence reports had warned of terror threats to the region from 11 stolen commercial jets.

In response, Tunisia stopped flights from other Libyan airports at Tripoli, Sirte, and Misrata over concerns that jets from those airports could be on suicide missions.

Egypt’s government also halted flights to and from Libya.

Military forces in North Africa, including those from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt have been placed on heightened alert as a result of intelligence warning of the stolen aircraft.

Egyptian military jets reportedly have conducted strikes inside Libya against Libyan Dawn positions recently, and U.S. officials said there are signs a larger Egyptian military incursion is being planned.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi was quoted as denying Egyptian air strikes into Libya have taken place but suggested that military action is being considered.

Secretary of State John Kerry last week told his Egyptian counterpart that the United States would speed up the delivery of Apache attack helicopters, although it is not clear the Apaches would be used in any Libyan operations.

Egypt’s military-backed government appears to be seeking a more significant role in regional security after the Obama administration helped engineer the ouster of Libyan strongman Moammar Qaddafi in 2011. Since then, the Obama administration, through its announced policy of “leading from behind,” has stood by while Libya gradually has spiraled into chaos.

The Libyan government announced Sunday that it no longer controlled the capital of Tripoli.

“We announce that the majority of the ministries, institutions, and associations in the capital Tripoli are no longer under its control,” a government statement said.

Libya’s parliament in August declared both Ansar al Sharia and Libyan Dawn as terrorist organizations working to overthrow the government.

Ansar al Sharia, which is based in Benghazi, recently publicized on social media that it has obtained large numbers of more sophisticated weapons, including SA-6 surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, assault rifles, and armored vehicles. The group is closely aligned with al Qaeda-linked rebels in Syria.

Abderrahmane Mekkaoui, a Moroccan military expert, told Al Jazeera television, which first reported the airline theft Aug. 21, the alert regarding the stolen jetliners was preventive and covers the region from Cairo to Lagos Nigeria.

Mekkaoui said the jets being held by the Libyan group called Masked Men Brigade that was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in December.

The Masked Men Brigade is linked to al Qaeda and Ansar al Sharia—the group behind the Benghazi terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2012.

Until the Libya Dawn takeover of the airport, announced Aug. 24, two other militia groups, known as Al Qaqa and Al Sawa controlled the airport and all aircraft belonging to Libyan Airlines and Afriqiyah Airways.

Mekkaoui said “credible intelligence” reports given to states in the region indicated the Masked Men Brigade “is plotting to use the planes in attacks on a Maghreb state” on the 9/11 anniversary.

Counterterrorism expert Sebastian Gorka said that if the theft is confirmed, the stolen aircraft could be used in at least two ways.

“The first would be how commercial airliners were used on Sept. 11, 2001, literally turning an innocent mode of mass transit into a super-high precision guided missile of immense potency,” said Gorka, who holds the Maj. Gen. Charles Horner chair at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va.

“The second tactic could be to use the airframe with its civilian markings as a tool of deception to insert a full payload of armed terrorists into a locale that otherwise is always open to commercial carriers,” he said.

Michael Rubin, a counterterrorism specialist with the American Enterprise Institute, said commercial jetliners in the hands of terrorists could be formidable weapons.

“Who needs ballistic missiles when you have passenger planes? Even empty, but loaded up with fuel they can be as devastating,” Rubin said.

“Each plane could, if deployed by terrorists to maximum devastating effect, represent 1,000 civilian casualties.”

Among the potential targets are urban areas and economic targets, like Saudi Arabia’s oil fields.

“Anyone who has ever flown over Saudi Arabia at night can see refineries like Yanbu lit up like Christmas trees against the blackness of the desert,” Rubin said. “One Saudi security officer once told me that they would only have about 90 seconds to shoot down a hijacked plane from the time it left international airspace to impact in one of the region’s most important refineries.”

Rubin said in 2003 a Boeing 727 went missing in Africa fueling concerns about a terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi.

“What is striking is that more than a decade later, the United States hasn’t taken the need to safeguard what are effectively giant guided missiles seriously,” he said.

A former Libyan general, Khalifa Haftar, has been leading anti-Islamist forces. His group has access to Libyan air force MiG jets that have conducted strikes on Libyan Dawn positions in recent days. Haftar also has conducted military raids in Benghazi.

The United Nations Security Council on Aug. 27 announced plans for new sanctions on Libyan militias and terrorists. In a resolution the U.N. warned of the “growing presence of al Qaeda-linked terrorist groups and individuals operating in Libya.”

Filipino force defied UN commander in Golan crisis
By JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press Published: September 1, 2014

Philippine military chief Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang shows reporters where Filipino peacekeepers in Golan Heights have been repositioned during a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo military headquarters in suburban Quezon city, Philippines on Sunday

(And I thought all UN troops were issued white flags before deployment.-LS)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine military said Monday that a U.N. peacekeeping commander in the Golan Heights should be investigated for allegedly asking Filipino troops to surrender to Syrian rebels who had attacked and surrounded their camp.

Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang said he advised the 40 Filipino peacekeepers not to lay down their arms, and they defied the U.N. peacekeeping commander’s order. Instead, they staged a daring escape from the Golan camp over the weekend, ending a tense, dayslong standoff.

The disagreement is another blow to a U.N. peacekeeping mission that has been threatened by an escalation of violence in a buffer zone it has been guarding between Israel and Syria. A number of countries have withdrawn their troops from the peacekeeping force due to rising rebel attacks.

Forty-five Fijian peacekeepers who surrendered their firearms to the rebels last week are still being held by the al-Qaida-linked insurgents.

The commander of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, or UNDOF, which supervises the peacekeeping mission in Golan, was overseeing talks with the Syrian rebels to secure the freedom of the Fijians. However, Catapang said he would not agree to any resolution of the hostage crisis that would put Filipino troops in grave danger.

When the besieged Filipino troops sought his advice after they were ordered to lay down their arms as part of an arrangement with the rebels to secure the Fijians’ release, Catapang said he asked them to defy the order.

“I told them not to follow the order because that is a violation of our regulation, that we do not surrender our firearms, and, at the same time, there is no assurance that you will be safe after you give your firearms,” Catapang said.

“Our stand is, we will not allow our soldiers to become sacrificial pawns in order to save the Fijians,” Catapang told The Associated Press. “They should look for other ways and means to save the Fijians.”

UNDOF did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Catapang said an investigation would allow the UNDOF commander to explain his side and the Philippine military to explain why it advised the Filipino peacekeepers to defy his order.

Due to the differences over the handling of the Golan crisis, Catapang said he asked a Filipino military officer playing a key role in UNDOF to resign.

The Philippines has given notice it will not deploy a new contingent when its current peacekeeping force ends its already-extended stint in October.

The latest crisis began after Syrian rebels overran the Quneitra crossing — located on the de facto border between Syrian- and Israeli-controlled parts of the Golan Heights — on Wednesday. A day later, insurgents from the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front seized the Fijian peacekeepers and surrounded their Filipino colleagues, demanding they surrender.

The Filipinos, occupying two U.N. camps, refused and fought the rebels on Saturday. A first group of 35 peacekeepers was then successfully escorted out of one camp by Irish and Filipino forces in armored vehicles.

The remaining 40 peacekeepers were besieged at the second camp by more than 100 gunmen who rammed the camp’s gates with their trucks and fired mortar rounds. The Filipinos returned fire in self-defense, Philippine military officials said.

A World Without the United States
By By Justin T. Palm Via The Real Truth

(The question is not so much who would fill the void but who COULD fill the void. While I have more faith in the US and its return to greatness, I found this Evangelical perspective interesting.-LS)

America’s influence on all nations has been unprecedented, and its disappearance would cause dramatic changes across the globe.

Imagine a world with no United States. No cheeseburgers. No ice-cream sundaes. No McDonald’s. No Ferris wheels. No iPhones or iPads. No Hollywood, pop music, or blue jeans.

These small contributions are nothing compared to the influence the nation has had on a global scale.

“For almost three centuries, the world has been undergirded by the presence of a large liberal hegemon—first Britain, then the United States,” news commentator Fareed Zakaria wrote in his book The Post-American World. “These two superpowers helped create and maintain an open world economy, protecting trade routes and sea lanes, acting as lenders of last resort, holding the reserve currency, investing abroad, and keeping their own markets open. They also tipped the military balance against the great aggressors of their ages, from Napoleon’s France, to Germany, to the Soviet Union.”

He adds, “…the United States has been the creator and sustainer of the current order of open trade and democratic government—an order that has been benign and beneficial for the vast majority of humankind.”

Expand Image Source: Thinkstock

While America has been a global leader and sustainer of the free world during the past century, many believe the nation’s role as lone superpower is coming to an end.

Examining current trends reveals a United States in decline. It is experiencing a weakening in its foreign influence, an overextension of its military, and the worst economic downturn in decades, including a sharp devaluation of its currency.

In its place, countries such as China, India and Brazil are emerging, as are Russia, South Africa, and Kenya, among others.

According to Mr. Zakaria, such power shifts are inevitable: “There have been three tectonic power shifts over the last five hundred years…The first was the rise of the Western world, a process that began in the fifteenth century and accelerated dramatically in the late eighteenth century…The second shift, which took place in the closing years of the nineteenth century, was the rise of the United States. Soon after it industrialized, the United States became the most powerful nation since imperial Rome, and the only one that was stronger than any likely combination of other nations. For most of the last century, the United States has dominated global economics, politics, science, and culture. For the last twenty years, that dominance has been unrivaled, a phenomenon unprecedented in modern history.

“We are now living through the third great power shift of the modern era. It could be called ‘the rise of the rest.’ Over the past few decades, countries all over the world have been experiencing rates of economic growth that were once unthinkable.”

Those who want to see America “back on top” believe a world led by the waning superpower will be better off in the long run. They consider representative democracy the best form of government, and capitalism more effective than other economic systems.

This begs the question: what impact has America had on the world—and what effect would its disappearance have on civilization?

Unparalleled Influence

Author Robert Kagan, who describes the current world order as the “American world order,” wrote about the subject in his book The World America Made.

“The most important features of today’s world—the great spread of democracy, the prosperity, the prolonged great-power peace—have depended directly and indirectly on power and influence exercised by the United States.”

Of course, this is not to say the nation is perfect. It has made mistakes. Obviously, since the beginning of time, every country has.

In terms of benevolence, however, few countries in history have exercised the generosity and desire to protect the freedoms of others as has the U.S. Relative peace among the most powerful nations has largely been maintained for decades.

Economically, America’s impact on the world has also been unprecedented. Through manufacturing, aid programs, exports, free trade, and more, America has shared its prosperity like no nation before it. For instance, after World War II, the United States enacted the Marshall Plan, sending billions of dollars in aid to rebuild Europe and East Asia.

“For four centuries prior to 1950, global gross domestic product (GDP) rose by less than 1 percent a year,” Mr. Kagan writes. “Since 1950 it has risen by an average of 4 percent a year, and billions of people have been lifted out of poverty.”

He states later in the book, “During the period of American hegemony, the global economy produced the greatest and most prolonged era of prosperity in history. Between 1950 and 2000, annual GDP growth for the entire world was 3.9 percent, as compared with 1.6 percent between 1820 and 1950 and an estimated 0.3 percent between 1500 and 1820. This increasing prosperity was also much more widely distributed around the world than in the past.”

Language has been another export from America (and Britain) that has dramatically influenced the world. Notice this from a statement by the British Council: “English has official or special status in at least seventy five countries with a total population of over two billion…one out of four of the world’s population speak English to some level of competence; demand from the other three-quarters is increasing.”

Besides wealth and language, democracy has been another major export of the United States. While also far from perfect, this system has generally promoted peace and freedom wherever it has been instituted.

Mr. Kagan wrote that since the birth of the nation in the late 1700s until the close of the 1800s, no more than five countries around the world could ever have been considered democratic. With America’s growing influence on global politics, this number increased to around 20 to 30 by 1950. At the time, this was about 40 percent of the global population. Incredibly, looking at the time period from the late 1970s until the early 1990s, more than half the world’s population was living under a democratic government, with 120 democracies around the world.

Maintaining Peace

Another way America has exercised its influence on the world is through peacekeeping. The second world war thrust the United States into a prominent place on the world stage, and forced it to take a stand as a “global sheriff.”

Since the close of World War II, a third world war has so far been averted largely because of America’s efforts. Think of the closest thing to it—the Cold War between the U.S. and Russia. Nothing happened. Large numbers were not killed. No mass troop transports took place. Allies of either nation were not dragged into a long, violent conflict. No peace treaties needed to be signed, no land re-staked due to battles. A disastrous worldwide war was avoided.

The previous 60 years of relative peace on a worldwide scale has had almost everything to do with the role America has played as world policeman.

“The power of the United States has been the biggest factor in the preservation of great-power peace,” Mr. Kagan writes.

“Contrary to what one often hears, multipolar systems have historically been neither particularly stable nor particularly peaceful. War among the great powers was a common, if not constant, occurrence in the long periods of multipolarity in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, the latter culminating in the series of destructive Europe-wide wars following the French Revolution and ending with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815…”

“The great powers today act in a restrained fashion not because they are inherently restrained but because their ambitions are checked by a still-dominant United States.”

Although sometimes begrudgingly, U.S. military power and foreign policy has acted as the glue that has kept the current world order from splintering into chaos. American might has kept other countries with a history of aggression in check, specifically Russia and China.

Throughout the millennia of man’s existence, the “American era” could be viewed as a golden era for peace and abundance around the world. A single nation has never brought so much prosperity and freedom to all.

Promise Made Long Ago

Historians clearly recognize what happened regarding the United States’ ascension to such great heights, but cannot provide a full explanation of why. Credit is given to capitalism or the character and work ethic of the American people. Others believe it is the nation’s form of government or its Constitution that brought it greatness.

Yet the full story of America’s meteoric rise to international dominance lies in its origin and the peoples from which it descended.

Long ago, a promise was made to the ancient patriarch Abraham. Due to faithful obedience, God stated He would bless him and his descendants: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get you out of your country…unto a land that I will show you: and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3).

Notice how this promise was passed on to Abraham’s son Isaac: “And the Lord appeared unto him [Isaac], and said…I will be with you, and will bless you; for unto you, and unto your seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I swore unto Abraham your father; and I will make your seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto your seed all these countries; and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed My voice…” (Gen. 26:2-5).

Jacob, Isaac’s son, also qualified to inherit the promises made to Abraham: “And God appeared unto Jacob…and blessed him. And God said unto him…your name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be your name…I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of you, and kings shall come out of your loins; and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to you I will give it, and to your seed after you will I give the land” (Gen. 35:9-12).

This promise had two aspects—one regarding rulership, a dynasty, and the other a birthright, consisting of physical blessings. After being passed to Jacob, the birthright was conferred on his son, Joseph (read I Chronicles 5:2) and his two children, Ephraim and Manasseh. When fully understood, this promise originally made to Abraham was fulfilled in the descendants of Ephraim—Great Britain—and Manasseh—the United States. (For more about these prophecies, along with historical facts and proof, read David C. Pack’s book America and Britain in Prophecy.)

Return to Mr. Zakaria’s quote: “These two superpowers [America and Great Britain] helped create and maintain an open world economy, protecting trade routes and sea lanes, acting as lenders of last resort, holding the reserve currency, investing abroad, and keeping their own markets open. They also tipped the military balance against the great aggressors of their ages, from Napoleon’s France, to Germany, to the Soviet Union.”

Just one example of this is the dominance America has exercised over the world’s sea gates. In 1948, United States Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz wrote, “Sir Walter Raleigh declared in the early 17th century that ‘whoever commands the sea, commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself’…The United States possesses today control of the sea more absolute than was possessed by the British. Our interest in this control is not riches and power as such. It is first the assurance of our national security, and, second, the creation and perpetuation of that balance and stability among nations which will insure to each the right of self-determination…Our present control of the sea is so absolute that it is sometimes taken for granted” (The Navy Department Library).

Unknown to almost all, God is the Source of America’s unprecedented wealth, influence and power. The soaring prosperity America has been given was due to one man’s faith centuries ago—not American exceptionalism, chance, fate, hard work, or capitalism. It was God who lifted America above other nations, making it great. This is the little understood truth of why America rose to greater heights than any other nation in the history of the world.

Yet this same God also foretold what would occur if America did not obey Him with the faithfulness Abraham exhibited.

Prophesied Decline

Leviticus 26 reveals the blessings God would pour out on His people if they obeyed His commands: “If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword” (vs. 3-7). This passage so obviously came to pass in America and Britain during the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham.

Due to widespread national disobedience, however, God is now removing these blessings from America. The latter part of Leviticus 26 (along with Deuteronomy 28:15-68) outlines the consequences of disobedience to God.

Since the nation has rejected its Creator, and not recognized Him as the Source of its abundance, the United States is in decline. This is not due to the natural course of events all great nations or empires experience. It is God’s doing, and it is inevitable. It can only be stopped through national repentance, which history and prophecy show is unlikely. (To learn how individuals can escape what is coming, read Promised Protection – Secret Rapture or Place of Safety?)

This descent has been underway for some time. For instance, militarily, America has not decisively won a war since World War II.

God warned Israel He would “break the pride of your power” (Lev. 26:19) if they disobeyed Him.

In Mr. Kagan’s book, he confirms America’s diminishing will to use force: “When the United States had 1 million troops deployed overseas in 1953, the total American population was only 160 million. Today, when there are half a million troops deployed overseas, the American population is 313 million. The country is twice as large, with half as many troops deployed as fifty years ago.”

American forces across the world are becoming overextended and exhausted. A Washington Times article “Troops Stressed to Breaking Point” reported, “…an exhaustive study of nearly 500,000 soldiers, reservists and veterans…notes that as many as 236,000 suffered from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“For military analysts, the reason is the nightmarish experience of sustained combat: Soldiers have been fighting the longest war in U.S. history, with frequent stressful deployments and compressed rest time back home.”

Economically, America has become a debtor instead of a lender. It has become service oriented instead of production-and-manufacturing oriented. Mr. Kagan writes, “America’s share of the world’s GDP, nearly 50 percent after World War II, fell to roughly 25 percent by the early 1970s, where it has remained ever since.”

Filling the Void

Clearly, the decline of the United States is fast becoming a simple fact of history. Ask: if America were to slip into obscurity, what would the world look like?

The United States has long been a country that has prided itself on its “free press” and “free speech.” If it were to disappear, different forms of “freedom” would take its place.

Notice just one example of China’s approach to the Internet: “Two Chinese political websites said…they had been ordered by authorities to shut for a month for criticising state leaders, the latest move in a broad government crackdown on the Internet…China launched a sweeping Internet crackdown…highlighting official unease ahead of a leadership transition later this year…China, which has the world’s largest online population with over half a billion users, has long blocked content it deems politically sensitive as part of a vast censorship system known as the Great Firewall” (Agence France-Presse).

Mr. Kagan provides a more sobering example: “The fact that China is trying to use its growing naval power not to open but to close international waters offers a glimpse into a future where the U.S. Navy is no longer dominant.”

Next, a world without America would lead to a huge increase in global poverty. Recall from earlier, “…in you shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3), and “…in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (26:4).

America has typically given the largest amounts of foreign aid. This has been a way through which it has been able to act as a type of blessing to other nations. The disappearance of America would mean that already struggling nations would be on their own. The seemingly unending reservoir of Western funds distributed around the globe would dry up.

A world without America would also be a dangerous one for democracies. Think of the common slogan used to describe the role of the United States, “Making the World Safe for Democracy.” No U.S. means there would be no great power reinforcing, sustaining and protecting democratic governments across the world. Non-democratic, totalitarian forms of government would fill the power vacuum.

A report by The Economist titled “Democracy Index 2011 – Democracy Under Stress” shows this transition has already begun: “Global backsliding in democracy has been evident for some time and strengthened in the wake of the 2008-09 global economic crisis. Between 2006 and 2008 there was stagnation; between 2008 and 2010 there was regression across the world. In 2011 the decline was concentrated in Europe…There has been a decline in democracy across the world in recent years. The decades-long global trend in democratisation has come to a halt in what [has been] called a ‘democratic recession’.

“The dominant pattern globally over the past five years has been backsliding on previously attained progress in democratisation.”

Finally, and most important, return to the idea of America acting as a world policeman. What becomes of a city with no police? Thieves, murderers and criminals freely roam neighborhoods. Lawlessness abounds, and the consequences for wrongdoing disappear.

A world without America holding back aggressive nations is the same. Rogue regimes can act with impunity. In fact, with the United States military severely overcommitted, other nations have already been pushing the limits. Communist North Korea recently announced plans to test-fire a long-range missile. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad routinely rails against America and Israel in front of the United Nations General Assembly, all while evidence indicates his country is developing nuclear weapons. Washington’s solution? Economic sanctions.

A United States exit from the world scene could increase the likelihood that nations will attack each other. Its dwindling influence in foreign relations and diminished power of deterrence—which has prevented offensive attacks by the threat or power of retaliation—could eventually lead to World War III. Order could quickly be replaced by chaos, as occurred in the past when there was a shift in the balance of power.

As Mr. Kagan describes it, “We may discover then that the United States was essential to keeping the present world order together and that the alternative to American power was not peace and harmony but chaos and catastrophe—which is what existed before the American world order came into being.”

Bible prophecy reveals that all of the above conditions are coming. Both history and God’s Word prove that another nation—or company of nations—will fill the void left by America.

Netanyahu: I didn’t want an Israeli Fallujah in Gaza
By Itamar Sharon August 30, 2014, 10:16 pm Via Times of Israel

Never take your eye off the ball.

(Bibi’s right. Why send your young and brave soldiers into the meat grinder? That’s exactly what Hamas wants. It’s the only way they can kill in larger numbers and they know it.-LS)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday defended his decision-making throughout Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip. Responding to a wave of public criticism and dissatisfaction with the results of the war against Hamas, he maintained that his government had acted responsibly, and said he didn’t want an Israeli “Fallujah” in Gaza.

Netanyahu told Channel 2 in a lengthy interview that he did not rule out reconquering Gaza and uprooting Hamas in the future — as many of his critics and detractors have demanded — if conditions necessitated such a move, but warned that such drastic action would come at a heavy price and would carry lasting consequences for Israel.

In order to drive home his point, Netanyahu referenced the US’s war in Iraq and specifically the many battles and heavy casualties it suffered in its attempt to cleanse the city of Fallujah of militant forces, an attempt which he said was quickly undone once the military left the territory.

“The US fought against a smaller Gaza called Fallujah… Fallujah is a tenth the size of Gaza. The great United States fought in Fallujah, its Gaza, sacrificed hundreds of soldiers who fought bravely… Went in once, twice, three times,” he said.

Gunmen patrol during clashes with Iraqi security forces in Fallujah, 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, January 5, 2014 (photo credit: AP)

“Thousands of Iraqis were killed there. Many thousands. And in the end it went out and al-Qaeda came back.”

Netanyahu said he believed an attempt to conquer Gaza temporarily in order to oust Hamas would carry a similarly high cost in soldiers’ lives as well as in civilian casualties. “If we pay those prices, and they are heavy prices, we may need to stay there,” he said. But such a continued presence would waste precious resources at a time when Israel must also contend with threats on other fronts.

“We have al-Qaeda on the fence now in the Golan Heights,” he noted, referring to the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front which in recent days has taken over territory adjacent to the Israeli border, including Syria’s only border crossing with Israel. “The Islamic State is racing towards us and al-Qaeda is on the Golan borders… I chose in this reality not to invest all of our resources in this one arena (Gaza).”

“I believed that what we should do at this time is simply to pound them. So maybe they remain [in power] but they are pulverized; they are isolated; they cannot smuggle weaponry,” Netanyahu said. He noted that the objectives of the operation had never been to topple Hamas, only to hit it heavily enough to deter it and curtail its ability to attack Israel.

“We’ve done this,” he maintained. “We’ve dealt them a terrible, terrible blow… We’ve given Hamas a thrashing that it will remember for many years.”

“I think this creates a chance — not a certainty but a chance – for us to have lasting quiet,” he added.

Netanyahu spoke of zero tolerance for a “drizzle” of rocket attacks, vowing to hit hard in response to any further rocket-fire from Gaza. “Drizzles will be answered with a downpour” of Israeli fire, he said.

Netanyahu also downplayed his not-so-private clashes over the handling of the operation with certain government ministers, namely Economy Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who have both made no secret of their contempt for his reluctance to topple Hamas.

“There was some creaking,” he admitted, but said that in the end, “up to this point the government has acted as it should.”

The prime minister claimed not to be too worried about criticism against him, saying he believed much of the public recognized that the campaign had been waged responsibly and with levelheadedness.

“In the face of all the criticisms, in the face of all the critics, in the face of all the background noise and private interests – I was unfazed and I was very determined,” he said.

Opinion polls in recent days have shown a fall in support for Netanyahu, and Liberman has led criticism of the failure to topple Hamas. Liberman said Friday that Israel wasted a golden opportunity to eradicate Hamas.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, for her part, said Saturday that the government must either renew peace talks with the Palestinian Authority or brace for a diplomatic backlash from the international community.

Speaking about the now seemingly abandoned peace process with the Palestinian Authority, Netanyahu said the recent conflict in Gaza had brought home to many Israelis how dangerous Palestinian sovereignty in the West Bank could be if Israel’s safety was not guaranteed.

“My insistence on the security issue is now better understood, I think. The problem of demilitarization which I believe is not only true for Gaza but for [the West Bank] as well: Who will prevent tunnels from being dug? Who will prevent rockets from being manufactured? Who will demilitarize the territory?” he asked. “You can’t talk about a diplomatic process without talking about security.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he said, would have to choose between Hamas and Israel.

“The choice I spoke of months ago has proven itself not be true but super-true. It’s either Hamas or peace…Hamas doesn’t just threaten us, it was about to overthrow him, to carry out a coup,” he said, referring to Israel’s recent reveal of a Hamas network in the West Bank which allegedly sought to topple the PA.

The premier elaborated, if only slightly, on his recent cryptic comments on new “diplomatic horizons” which had opened up to the Jewish state saying “There is a not-insignificant number of nations which see the threats around us as threats to them [as well]. As a result they are treating Israel not as an enemy but as a potential partner.

“Whether this partnership in the face of dangers will also lead to partnership on opportunities is something we will have to look into soberly and responsibly,” he said.

“I’ve never had any illusions about the Middle East,” he added wryly. “When the Arab Spring, the so-called Arab Spring erupted, I said there wouldn’t be any great liberal [forces] coming forward, that there would rise Islamic movements” he said, in likely reference to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and to Islamic State and other extremist groups that have arisen in recent years out of the conflict in Syria and other nations.

But in the joint need to fight these groups, he said, “there may be a basis for new partnerships, and these partnerships can create opportunities – both security-related and diplomacy-related.”

Judicial Watch: Feds’ Bulletin Describes Threat of Imminent Terrorist Attack on Southern Border
By Andrew C. McCarthy August 29, 2014 1:47 PM National Review

(Obama’s chickens are coming home to roost.-LS)

For those of us who’ve been raising alarms about both the jihadist threat and the national-security vulnerability created by the Obama administration’s non-enforcement of the immigration laws, this is not a surprise — particularly less than two weeks before September 11. But it is nonetheless jarring to read. Judicial Watch has just put out this statement: