John Kerry - "We have peace with Iran in our time."

John Kerry  -  AP File Photo

.

"We have peace with Iran in our time."

• The West will pay Iran $7 Billion to be nice to us.

Why is it that I smell the aroma of Bullshit in the air?

The West has been negotiating with Iran over nuclear weapons for years and years.  And now that Comrade Obama is immersed in the giant clusterfuck of Obamacare the US "magically" comes to an agreement with Iran at this exact moment to help Obama in the polls.

I many ways I don't blame Iran for wanting nukes.  I have written on this Blog how Iran has been invaded over and over again by their neighbors, Russia and the British.  They live in a tough neighborhood and with nukes people will leave you alone. 

The problem is religious fanatics having nukes so they can enter Allah's heaven faster and can get laid by their virgins.  Not good to say the least.

My worry is under the table "side deals" that a desperate Kerry did with Iran that none of us will ever know about.

One nervous neighbor is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who sees himself as playing a similar role to Winston Churchill, and is thus willing to take an uncompromising stand for what he sees as right and necessary, however unpopular it may be.

"What was achieved last night in Geneva is not an historic agreement; it is an historic mistake,”  Netanyahu told his cabinet, criticizing the world’s leading powers for easing the sanctions on Iran in exchange for “cosmetic Iranian concessions that can be cancelled in weeks.”

While Israel had tentatively supported a diplomatic deal on Iran if coupled with sanctions, this agreement essentially only freezes rather than dismantles the Iranian nuclear military infrastructure and offers close to $7 billion in "sweeteners,"  says Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University.

“It’s a very disappointing deal," he says, citing rollbacks in Libya and Syria’s nuclear programs as closer to what Israel would have liked.

Israeli leaders made clear that an Israeli military strike is still possible, though President Shimon Peres struck a somewhat more conciliatory tone.

“I would like to say to the Iranian people: You are not our enemies and we are not yours. There is a possibility to solve this issue diplomatically. It is in your hands,” he said, calling on Iran to stop the nuclear program as well as the development of long-range missiles. “… if the diplomatic path fails, the nuclear option will be prevented by other means. The alternative is far worse."

(Christian Science Monitor)

Neville Chamberlain - Peace in our Time

Meanwhile Back in Iran

American politicians and our military always underestimate the power and fervor of People's Revolutions.

The revolutionary colonists in America fought the British to a standstill.  The 1790s revolutionaries in France swept away their own government and most of Europe.  The revolutionary Red Chinese Army fought America to a draw in Korea.  The Vietnamese were never beaten by the American military.  And both Iraq and Afghanistan show how religious inspired guerrilla tactics are almost unbeatable.

Iranian Military on Parade.

 

China's "air-defence identification zone" goes deep into the ocean

China Projects More Military Power

China has demarcated an "air-defence identification zone" over an area of the East China Sea, covering islands that are also claimed by Japan.

China's defence ministry said aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules or face "emergency defensive measures".

The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the countries.

Japan lodged a strong protest over what it said was an "escalation" reports BBC News.

"Setting up such airspace unilaterally escalates the situations surrounding Senkaku islands and has danger of leading to an unexpected situation," Japan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Taiwan, which also claims the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, expressed regret at the move and promised that the military would take measure to protect national security.

In its statement, the Chinese defence ministry said aircraft must report a flight plan, "maintain two-way radio communications", and "respond in a timely and accurate manner" to identification inquiries.

"China's armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not co-operate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions," said the statement.

It said the zone came into effect from 10:00 local time (02:00GMT) on Saturday.

State news agency Xinhua showed a map on its website covering a wide area of the East China Sea, including regions very close to South Korea and Japan.

Responding to questions about the zone on an official state website, a defence ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said China set up the area "with the aim of safeguarding state sovereignty, territorial land and air security, and maintaining flight order".

"It is not directed against any specific country or target," he said, adding that China "has always respected the freedom of over-flight in accordance with international law".

 

 US NAVY FEARS China's DF 21D missile

BOOM:

China Navy Blasts Into the Yellow Sea

The Senkaku/Diaoyu islands have been a source of
tension between China and Japan for decades.

$8.5 trillion spent by Pentagon with no audit

"Corruptus in Extremis"

So much money & no one is watching

• It does not matter which moronic party controls Congress or the White House.  Both parties have worked together and voted to spend nearly $9 Trillion (with a T) of military spending with not one single audit since 1996.
• After all, an audit and honest accounting of tax dollars might slow down the wholesale theft of cash that weakens our defense efforts.

Pentagon fraud means the $8.5 trillion in taxpayer dollars sent off by Congress since 1996 has not been audited
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1035184/pentagon-fraud-revealed/#V7LMVTs3BsW2mjVv.99

All told, Pentagon fraud means the $8.5 trillion in taxpayer dollars sent off by Congress since 1996 has not been audited, with
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1035184/pentagon-fraud-revealed/#V7LMVTs3BsW2mjVv.99

(Reuters)  -  Because of its persistent inability to tally its accounts, the Pentagon is the only federal agency that has not complied with a law that requires annual audits of all government departments. That means that the $8.5 trillion in taxpayer money doled out by Congress to the Pentagon since 1996, the first year it was supposed to be audited, has never been accounted for.

That sum exceeds the value of China's economic output last year.

At the DFAS offices that handle accounting for the Army, Navy, Air Force and other defense agencies, fudging the accounts with false entries is standard operating procedure, Reuters has found.
 And plugging isn't confined to DFAS (pronounced DEE-fass). Former military service officials say record-keeping at the operational level throughout the services is rife with made-up numbers to cover lost or missing information.

A review of multiple reports from oversight agencies in recent years shows that the Pentagon also has systematically ignored warnings about its accounting practices. "These types of adjustments, made without supporting documentation … can mask much larger problems in the original accounting data," the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said in a December 2011 report.

Plugs also are symptomatic of one very large problem: the Pentagon's chronic failure to keep track of its money - how much it has, how much it pays out and how much is wasted or stolen.

In its investigation, Reuters has found that the Pentagon is largely incapable of keeping track of its vast stores of weapons, ammunition and other supplies; thus it continues to spend money on new supplies it doesn't need and on storing others long out of date.

It has amassed a backlog of more than half a trillion dollars in unaudited contracts with outside vendors; how much of that money paid for actual goods and services delivered isn't known. And it repeatedly falls prey to fraud and theft that can go undiscovered for years, often eventually detected by external law enforcement agencies.


For the full article go to Reuters News.

USS Gerald Ford - $13 Billion in Scrap Metal
Proper audits might stop the flow of cold hard cash into insane boondoggle spending projects.  For example, the price tag for the USS Gerald Ford is now at $13 billion, it is 22% over budget with three more years to go before it is finished.
.
To compare, the navy of India just took delivery of  INS Vikramaditya aircraft carrier for a cost of $2.35 billion.

See our article - USS Gerald Ford - $13 Billion in Scrap Metal

"We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. .
.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. .
.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
.
General Dwight Eisenhower
President of the United States
Republican 

Russia hands over modernized aircraft carrier to India



INS Vikramaditya

 

From Russian with Love

The Indian Navy has received the 44,500-ton Vikramaditya aircraft carrier at the Russian shipbuilding complex in Severodvinsk. The much awaited carrier was fully refurbished for US$2.3 billion, and will now become India’s game-changing flagship.

Russian deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and Indian Defense Minister AK Antony attended the handing over ceremony at the Sevmash shipyard of the northern Arctic port city, along with other senior government and naval officials of the two countries.

During the ceremony, a Russian flag on the vessel was lowered, and the flag of the Indian Navy was raised in its place. This was followed by a traditional Indian ritual, in which a coconut was smashed against the ship’s side. The ship’s new captain, Suraj Berry, and the deputy director of Russia’s arms export agency Rosoboronexport, Igor Sevastyanov, signed the final handover papers reports RT News.

Rogozin called the carrier “a mighty contribution to security of India,” adding that India remains a privileged strategic partner of Russia. The ceremony comes just two days ahead of the meeting of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on military-technical cooperation.

Originally commissioned in 1987 as a Soviet Kiev-class aircraft carrier, the ship was deemed too costly for the Russian military budget and was deactivated in 1996. The aircraft carrier - then called ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ - caught India’s attention, and, following years of talks, a Russian-Indian deal for the ship was signed.

In order to match the demands of the Indian Navy, the carrier had to be fully modernized and converted from a hybrid carrier/cruiser to a pure carrier with a ski-jump ramp to fit multirole MiG-29K (Fulcrum-D) fighters.

The refurbishment work, which eventually saw over 70 percent of the ship and equipment replaced, was overshadowed by several delays and cost increases, leading to a diplomatic exchange and tightening of supervision. It became apparent in the process that the Russian shipbuilders underestimated the cabling work costs, and the initial $974 million price tag grew to about $2.35 billion. Some construction flaws also had to be fixed following the 2012 tests.

The purchase of INS Vikramaditya has been crucial for the Indian Navy, as its British-made INS Viraat, originally commissioned by the UK’s Royal Navy in 1959 as HMS Hermes, has been scheduled for retirement. India’s first indigenous Vikrant-class aircraft carrier has also been experiencing delays. It was launched two years behind schedule in August, with the expected service entry date being 2018.

Now that Vikramaditya is set to be escorted from Russia’s north to the Indian Ocean, India becomes one of the few nations in the world to have more than one aircraft carrier in service - the others being the US, the UK, and Italy. With two ships of that class, India will have the capability to promptly project force on both sides of the Hindustan Peninsula in the increasingly militarized region.

Previously, India’s retired carrier INS Vikrant played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade on East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.  

Russia hands over modernized aircraft carrier to India

Happy Veteran's Day

General George Washington crossing of the Delaware River to attack Trenton. 
Future President James Monroe is holding the American flag.

Ben Franklin was wrong.

Franklin said, "The only things certain in life are death and taxes."   He should have added war to the list.

Human beings somehow manage to invent ever more creative ways to slaughter their fellow man.  As for the politicians . . . well, let's save them for another day.

Today let us honor the men and women who answered the call to serve their nation.  To stand a midnight watch in some God forsaken hellhole half a world away.  To charge into the face of the enemy.

God Bless them all.  Happy Veteran's Day.

Ballad of the Green Mountain Boys

We owe no allegiance, we bow to no throne,
Our ruler is law and the law is our own;
Our leaders themselves are our own fellow-men,
Who can handle the sword and the scythe and the pen
Hurrah for Vermont! For the land that we till
Must have sons to defend her from valley and hill
Our vow is recorded--our banner unfurled,
In the name of Vermont we defy all the world!
Then cheer, cheer, the green mountaineer, then cheer, cheer the green mountaineer

Commodore Oliver Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie.

Mexican-American War
A leg amputation in a military hospital after the Battle of Cerro
Gordo, April 18, 1847.

General John Wool and his staff after the capture of the city of Saltillo in
early 1847. The troops marched 900 miles across the desert from
San Antonio, then linked up with General Zachary Taylor's forces to
fight the Battle of Buena Vista.

A Colorized Civil War photo.

Union Brig. Gen. David McMurtrie Gregg stands with the senior
staff of his Federal Second Cavalry Division, possibly near Fredericksburg, Va.,
in June 1862—in color. Colorized from a glass-plate negative.
 

This photograph by Andrew Gardner, originally Brady's apprentice,
depicts the staff of Brigadier General Andrew Porter in 1862.
George Custer (of the Battle of Little Bighorn fame) is
shown reclining next to a dog on the right.

Read more: www.Business Insider.com

Marching Through Georgia  

So we made a thoroughfare for freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude, three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in vain
While we were marching through Georgia.
.
Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring the jubilee!
Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!
So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea
While we were marching through Georgia.

"Rough Riders" Garryowen

“Lafayette, we are here!”

Over There

Music by George M. Cohan, Sung by Billy Murray

 

The 1st Marine Regiment on Guadalcanal.

American paratroopers, Utah Beach, June 6th, 1944.

Vietnam

Gulf War

Iraq War

Afghanistan

USS Gerald Ford - $13 Billion in Scrap Metal

Costly ‘Technological Marvel’

• US Navy christens new class $13 billion aircraft carrier.
• Already 22% over budget with three years more to go.
• In any real war with modern missile technology this new carrier should stay afloat for about one hour . . . maybe two.  So what we have done is purchase $13 billion in scrap metal that at some point will be at the bottom of the ocean floor.  Land based forces cannot be sunk by a couple missiles, but then there is no big money in that for domestic defense contractors.

There is one good thing about the new USS Gerald Ford - the government spending to build it creates jobs.

But that is the only good thing.  In an era of modern technology the aircraft carrier is as much a relic of World War II as the wooden sailing ships are from the Napoleonic Wars.

The US Navy has christened the first of a new class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the 13-billion-dollar USS Gerald R. Ford. The ship, hailed as the most technologically advanced ever built, is expected to join the fleet in 2016.

The ship is the Navy's first carrier designed in more than 40 years. The Ford-class aircraft carriers will replace current Nimitz class that was launched in 1972. The Ford is projected to stay in service until 2057.

The ship, named after US President Gerald Ford, was christened at the ceremony at Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. on Saturday. The new aircraft carrier is planned to replace the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) reports RT News.

The former president’s daughter, Susan Ford Bales, who was also the ship's sponsor, performed the ceremonial breaking of a bottle of champagne on the ship's bow in front of more than 20,000 sailors, shipbuilders and civilians.
 
The ceremony comes after more than 12 years of planning and construction.

"The carrier is our Navy's most adaptable platform," Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, said, calling the Ford a “technological marvel”. "Ford will herald a new era of our carrier fleet," he added.

CVN 78 (Gerald R Ford) at the shipyard during the initial filling of the dry dock.

Stretching 330 m (1,092 feet) long, the ship will feature a new nuclear power plant, a redesigned island, electromagnetic catapults and improved weapons movement.

The carrier will be able to carry more warplanes and launch 25 per cent more air missions per day than the current carriers. The US Navy required the carrier to support up to a maximum of 220 sorties a day in times of crisis and intense air warfare activity. 

The new craft will accommodate almost 4,500 crew members, compared to the average 5,500 people operating a Nimitz class carrier, and up to 90 aircraft along with unmanned combat air vehicles (UAVs).  

The USS Gerald Ford will be equipped with two newly-designed reactors and will have 250 percent more electrical capacity than previous carriers. This will also support a cruising speed over 30 knots.

Super-Expensive Super-Carrier
 
Requiring 1,000 fewer crew members and 30 per cent less maintenance over its 50-year lifespan, the Ford is said to let the US Navy save $4 billion.

While the Navy praises this as another significant advantage, critics say, the cost of building the ship has already skyrocketed.  With the carrier now 70 per cent complete, construction costs are about 22 per cent over the scheduled budget.  

The high price still will not guarantee that after it is commissioned in 2016 the carrier will not face “significant reliability shortfalls”, as the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said in September.  

Kamikaze Attacks

Kamikaze + Aircraft Carrier = Sunk

 

A total of 57 ships were sunk by Japanese kamikazes including 3 aircraft carriers and 14 destroyers.  Some 368 other ships were damaged.  About 4,900 sailors were killed and over 4,800 wounded.
.
All this was done with ancient World War II era technology.  But for some insane reason we continue to build super expensive WWII style carriers in an age of high-tech missiles.

The Aircraft Carrier USS St. Lo
Sunk by Japanese kamikaze aircraft on 25 October 1944 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
.
Call me crazy, but if an aircraft carrier can be sunk by a "primitive" propeller driven fighter plane one has to ask how long these ultra-expensive ships will remain afloat in an age of modern missile technology or jet fighters piloted by Muslim suicide bombers.

Communists Seize Private Property in Venezuela



Government re-distribution of the wealth just in time for election day.

 

Communism - Stealing Private Property

"This is more like government-sanctioned looting."

Welcome to Communism and Poverty  -  Thousands of Venezuelans lined up outside the country's equivalent of Best Buy, a chain of electronics stores known as Daka, hoping for a bargain after the socialist government forced the company to charge customers "fair" prices.

President Nicolás Maduro ordered a military "occupation" of the company's five stores as he continues the government's crackdown on an "economic war" it says is being waged against the country, with the help of Washington.

Members of Venezuela's National Guard, some of whom carried assault rifles, kept order at the stores as bargain hunters rushed to get inside reports USA Today.

"I want a Sony plasma television for the house," said Amanda Lisboa, 34, a business administrator, who had waited seven hours already outside one Caracas store. "It's going to be so cheap!"

Televisions were the most in-demand item in the line outside one Caracas store, though people waited more than eight hours for fridges, washing machines, sewing machines and other imported appliances.

The Communist Party of Venezuela is a partner of the late Hugo Chavez
and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela

Water and snacks were being sold outside the store by savvy Venezuelans keen to profit from the commotion. Happy customers weaved giant television screens and other items back to their cars through the crowds.

Images circulating online as well as reports by local media appeared to show one Daka store in the country's central city of Valencia being looted.

"I have no love for this government," said Gabriela Campo, 33, a businesswoman, hoping to take home a cut-price television and fridge. "They're doing this for nothing but political reasons, in time for December's elections."

Maduro faces municipal elections on Dec. 8. His popularity has dropped significantly in recent months, with shortages of basic items such as chicken, milk and toilet paper as well as soaring inflation, at 54.3% over the past 12 months.

Economists are expecting a devaluation soon after the election, likely leading to even higher inflation.

The opposition, which has long struggled to gain ground against the country's socialist government, is hoping that the elections will be seen as a referendum against Maduro

"This is more like government-sanctioned looting," said 42-year-old Caracas-based engineer Carlos Rivero. "What stops them going into pharmacies, supermarkets and shopping malls?"

"I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been
civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism
arrived and finished off the planet."
Hugo Chavez (2011)

Communist Chinese troops are in Hawaii this week

Communists - "Welcome to Hawaii"

Communist Chinese troops will be simulating "humanitarian assistance" and disaster relief to a fictional third country.

"What the Fuck!"  -  This morning I woke the fuck up in some insane Twilight Zone episode.  Pardon me as I look around for Rod Serling.

For the first time in American history, troops from Communist China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) will openly be on sovereign American soil starting early next week.

The story has reported by the right-of-center news portal Canada Free Press (via Google News) on Nov. 8, 2013 and also by China's governmental controlled Xinhua News Agency on Nov. 6, 2013.

Almost totally ignored by the American media, PLA troops will be in Hawaii from the 12th through the 14th of this month, to be hosted by the U.S. military's Pacific Command, also headquartered in the Aloha State.

Communist Chinese troops will be participating in the U.S. government's massive GridEx II military, quasi-military and civilian emergency response exercise reports the Examiner.

The New York Times reported on Aug. 16, 2013 that GridEx II specifically is consists of:

... thousands of utility workers, business executives, National Guard officers, F.B.I. antiterrorism experts and officials from government agencies in the United States, Canada and Mexico are preparing for an emergency drill in November that will simulate physical attacks and cyberattacks that could take down large sections of the power grid.
They will practice for a crisis unlike anything the real grid has ever seen, and more than 150 companies and organizations have signed up to participate.

Three days after the NY Times article, the Department of Defense official website quietly noted rather generically that Chinese troops were invited to "attend next year’s Rim of the Pacific multilateral naval exercise."

Not quite done yet, the American Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel appeared before the world's press corps with Chinese Minister of National Defense Gen. Chang Wanquan.

The duo stated they've agreed "to expand the current system of defense exchanges and joint exercises."

Red Dawn  - TRAILER (2012)

Is it an just a "coincidence" that China had the movie studio digitally change the

bad guys in the movie from Chinese to Korean?

Chinese Communist "Humanitarian Relief"
Relief, along with friendly Communist troops, coming soon to a
formerly American state near you.