Road to WW-III
Jews Preparing To Evacuate Ukraine
Most of the Jews living in Ukraine are now filling out paperwork to prepare for emigration to Israel if necessary, Ukraine’s chief rabbi, Yaacov Dov Bleich, said Sunday in a radio interview. While he stopped short of calling for mass evacuation, Bleich said he is encouraged by those Ukrainian Jews who are making Aliyah, or emigrating to the Jewish state, to “take care of themselves.”
Ruble Plunge Hitting Russians Speeds Slide to Recession
As Russia’s central bank struggles to shield the ruble from the standoff over Ukraine, Vasily Isaev says it may already be too little, too late to save his Italian vacation plans.
Why Japan’s Smaller Military Could Hold Its Own Against China
China’s soaring military spending — up 12.3% this year — and aggressive gestures in the region could be setting the scene for major conflict. With various countries feuding over Pacific territory, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared the ratcheting tensions to Europe before World War I .
Iran admiral: US ships are a target in case of war
Iran will target American aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf should a war between the two countries ever break out, the naval chief of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Tuesday as the country completes work on a large-scale mock-up of a U.S. carrier. The remarks by Adm. Ali Fadavi, who heads the hard-line Guard’s naval forces, were a marked contrast to moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s recent outreach policies toward the West — a reminder of the competing viewpoints that exist at the highest levels within the Islamic Republic.
US: Russian planes more active in Asia-Pacific
The commander of U.S. air forces in the Pacific is reporting a significant increase in activities by Russian planes and ships in the region. Gen. Herbert Carlisle linked that to the situation in the Ukraine. He said Russia was demonstrating its capabilities and gathering intelligence on U.S. military exercises.
‘We Are England, 1939′: Russia’s Potential ‘Next Target’ That Some Say Could Lead to ‘Real War’
Russia’s “next target,” because it has a large Russian-speaking population and many non-citizen Latvians who are ethnically Russian. He said Russia knows it can exploit the situation the same way it did with Ukraine. “And then it becomes a question of, do we uphold our NATO obligations?” Sexton continued. “That happens, Glenn, I think there’s a big war. Not just a ‘sort of’ war — there’s a real war.”
Virtually every country on Earth will be able to build or acquire drones capable of firing missiles within the next ten years. Armed aerial drones will be used for targeted killings, terrorism and the government suppression of civil unrest. What’s worse, say experts, it’s too late for the United States to do anything about it.
Both sides have been burying their dead as Ukraine slides further towards war, with supporters of Russia and of a united Ukraine accusing each other of tearing the country apart. Tuesday was generally quieter than past days in most of eastern and southern Ukraine, but violence flared at dusk in the eastern port of Mariupol, where…one person was killed and three wounded in an attack on a checkpoint.
Iran has been building replicas of US warships for years – to practise blowing them up… “We have been making and sinking replicas of US destroyers, frigates and warships for many years,” says…commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps…”We practise the same drills on replica aircraft carriers because sinking and destroying US warships has, is and will be on our agenda.”
Lebanon has been forcibly returning dozens of Palestinian refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria, activists say. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unrwa) expressed concern at the deportation of 41 over the weekend. A spokesman said it had been given assurances by Lebanese officials that the restrictions were only temporary.
The evacuation of rebels from their last stronghold in the Syrian city of Homs is under way, activists say. The first buses left the Old City on Wednesday morning under a deal brokered by the United Nations. At least two buses have arrived in rebel-held territory to the north, carrying a number of armed fighters.
Philippine police have seized a Chinese fishing boat and detained its 11 crew in disputed South China Sea waters. The boat was found near the disputed Spratly islands carrying 500 endangered sea turtles, reports say. China’s foreign ministry called the action provocative and demanded the immediate release of the fishermen who have been taken to a Philippines port.
The EU and US have threatened further sanctions against Russia if it tries to disrupt the 25 May presidential elections in Ukraine. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and US secretary of state John Kerry issued the warning at a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday (6 May).
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman rejected the claims made by Newsweek that the United States fears allowing Israel into its visa waiver program because Israeli spies could more easily enter the country… Senior Israeli diplomatic officials said that the accusations made by Newsweek were anti-Semitic and represented Israel as the enemy, Israel Radio reported.
The United States has received intelligence of a “specific terrorist threat” against churches and other places of worship in the Ugandan capital, its embassy there said. A security message on the embassy’s website did not say who was planning the attack, but Somali Islamist militants have previously threatened, and struck, Uganda and other east African countries that have sent troops into Somalia.
Deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf also dismissed reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry had decided to dismantle the team of American negotiators who have been based on the ground in Jerusalem for months trying to push forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
A letter reportedly sent by Israel’s national security chief to the White House, the EU and numerous ambassadors blames the Palestinians for the collapse of peace talks, and claims to include hard proof that PA officials were devising measures to thwart the process even before Israel refused to release a fourth round of Palestinian prisoners at the end of March.
Gaza’s Hamas government says it has executed two men convicted of spying for Israel. Interior Ministry spokesman Iyad al-Bozum says the men, both in their 30s, had given information to Israel for nine years about Gaza fighters. Bozum says the two were executed Wednesday afternoon, one by firing squad and the other by hanging. Their names were not released.
The U.S. and the U.K. said there’s no evidence of a Russian troop withdrawal from the Ukrainian frontier after President Vladimir Putin shifted his tone on the conflict and called on separatists to postpone an autonomy vote.
South Korea says it has confirmed that three crudely built drones found crashed on its territory in recent months originated in North Korea. Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said U.S. and South Korean officials made the determination using the drones’ GPS data.
The US has spoken out over “dangerous conduct and intimidation” in the South China Sea, after ships from Vietnam and China collided in disputed waters. The collisions came as the Vietnamese ships tried to prevent China setting up an oil rig near the Paracel islands. The incident is the most serious between the countries at sea in years, with dozens of boats now in the area.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday oversaw a military exercise involving Russia’s nuclear forces amid escalating tensions over Ukraine. While Putin said the exercise had been planned back in November, it comes as relations between Russia and the West have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War over Ukraine.