The Antichrist’s Men Attack Iraq’s Parliament

Iraq state of emergency as protesters camp outside parliament

Hundreds of people protest at failure of Iraqi MPs to convene to approve new ministers
Hundreds of supporters of a powerful Shia Muslim cleric camped outside parliament in Baghdad overnight a day after thousands stormed the Green Zone and entered the parliament building, prompting the declaration of a state of emergency.

Hundreds of people gathered in protest at the failure of Iraqi MPs to convene for a vote to approve new ministers. The unrest comes after weeks of political turmoil in Baghdad over efforts by the prime minister Haider al-Abadi, to replace party-affiliated ministers with technocrats. MPs failed to reach a quorum to approve the measures on Saturday.

On Saturday the protesters broke into the area Green Zone, home to embassies and government buildings after crossing a bridge over the Tigris river chanting: “The cowards ran away.”
There are reports that Security forces used tear gas and fired warning shots but there were not significant clashes. Around a dozen people were wounded, police sources said.

The protestors are Supporters of Moqtada Sadr and want a new government.

A United Nations spokesman and Western diplomats based inside the Green Zone said their compounds were locked down. A US embassy spokesman denied reports of evacuation.

Iraqi security personnel and Mr Sadr’s militiamen formed a joint force to control protesters’ movement, according to a source in Mr Sadr’s office. Most protesters had evacuated parliament and some were preparing for a sit-in in its courtyard, he added.

All entrances of Baghdad have been shut “as a precautionary measure to maintain the capital’s security,” another security official said.

Mr Abadi has warned the months-long political crisis prompted by his efforts to overhaul the cabinet could hamper the war against Islamic State, which controls vast swathes of northern and western Iraq.
Earlier in the day, the ultra-hardline Sunni militants claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack against a gathering of Shia pilgrims in the southeastern Baghdad suburb of Nahrawan, killing 19 people and wounding 48 others.

Sharqiya TV showed Mr Abadi walking inside the Green Zone with dozens of armed guards following the breach, discrediting reports he had fled. He called on protesters to return to areas set aside for demonstrations and not to infringe on public property.

Such a breach is unprecedented, though only a few years ago mortars frequently rained down on the 10-square-kilometre Green Zone, which once housed the headquarters of the US occupation and before that a palace belonging to Saddam Hussein.

Checkpoints and concrete barriers have blocked bridges and highways leading to the neighbourhood for years, symbolising the isolation of Iraq’s leadership from its people.

Videos showed protesters on Saturday attacking a white, armoured SUV with sticks and beating a man in a grey suit.

The source in Mr Sadr’s office said a Sadrist MP had escorted out several deputies, the last to leave parliament, in his motorcade.

On Saturday Rudaw TV showed protestors inside the parliament chanting and taking pictures of themselves inside the main chamber where moments earlier lawmakers had met.

Parliament failed to reach quorum earlier on Saturday to complete voting on a cabinet reshuffle proposed by Mr Abadi. A handful of ministers were approved on Tuesday despite disruptions by dissenting lawmakers.

Political parties have resisted Mr Abadi’s efforts to replace some ministers – chosen to balance Iraq’s divisions along party, ethnic and sectarian lines – with technocrats in order to combat corruption.
Supporters of Mr Sadr, whose fighters once ran swathes of Baghdad and helped defend the capital from Islamic State in 2014, have been demonstrating in Baghdad for weeks, responding to their leader’s call to put pressure on Mr Abadi to follow through on months-old reform promises.

Preparing For Fukushima At The Sixth Seal

Got KI in your kit? Pills recommended around Indian Point

A Journal News editorial
May 7, 2014

A New York-based health foundation is once again advocating that people who live or work within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point nuclear power plant keep potassium iodide (KI) on hand. It’s a smart safety tip, although not everyone agrees with the need to push the pills so far.

On Tuesday, the PATH foundation brought out big-name support — former Govs. David Paterson and George Pataki, a Democrat and Republican, respectively — for a press conference announcing a new report on the issue. “We cannot minimize the gravity of concern we would have if there was some kind of disaster,” said Paterson during the press conference.

Last month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rejected a petition to extend Indian Point’s primary evacuation zone from the current 10-mile circle to a 25-mile radius; the NRC also declined to establish a 50-mile secondary zone, which would stretch as far north as Kingston and as far south as New York Harbor.

Rockland Emergency Services Program Coordinator Nick Longo Jr. said he didn’t find a 50-mile KI distribution zone necessary, but “everyone is entitled to their opinion. … I have it in my house.” Standard distribution is one pill per person in a household in the evacuation zone, but Longo told the Editorial Board that county officials don’t ask people for their address and “we don’t confirm how many people are in your family for that matter.” Some towns and villages in Rockland also have supplies.

Westchester and Putnam emergency services offer distribution to residents in the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone around the Buchanan plant; Putnam officials have, upon request, given the pills to people who live outside the 10-mile zone.

Pro-safety pitch

Speakers at Tuesday’s press conference pitched the concept as pro-public safety and disaster preparedness, rather than anti-nuclear power. Capital New York quoted Pataki, former mayor of Peekskill, cautioning that, “This is not, in my view, about frightening people. … But we do have to be prepared.” In case of a radiation incident, KI would also be distributed during an evacuation or if health officials determine it is needed, officials say.

The PATH foundation report, “Managing Terrorism or Accidental Nuclear Errors Preparing for Iodide-131 Emergencies: A Comprehensive Review,” recommends that KI be “pre-distributed within 50 miles of a (nuclear power plant), and used only under regulatory guidance.”

Although KI is available without a prescription, it needs to be used with caution. Potassium iodide can cause adverse reactions in people with thyroid problems; infants who receive more than one dose should be closely monitored. Thyroid cancer from radiation exposure is a bigger risk for people under age 40, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People should take KI only on the advice of public health or emergency management officials, according to the CDC, because it poses its own risks.

According to the CDC, KI does not stop radioactive iodine from entering the body, but blocks the absorption of radioactive iodine in the thyroid. KI doesn’t protect other parts of the body. Thyroid cancer is a major risk from radiation exposure.

The pills have a five-year shelf life. So if you can’t remember when you last stocked up, it may be time for replacements.

It’s smart to plan for emergencies that will likely never happen. Most residents take such measures by placing smoke alarms in every room and having extra flashlight batteries on hand. For residents who live within 10 miles of Indian Point, or more, it’s worth considering if KI belongs in your emergency preparedness kit.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers advice on the use of potassium iodide to inhibit thyroid cancer as a result of nuclear exposure; find information at www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/ki.asp.

The Truth of Armageddon (Revelation 17)

Latter Day Armageddon
George B. Reed Jr. | Posted Yesterday
There is a generally–accepted fact that many of us avoid acknowledging. Although not an officially–recognized nuclear power, for over 40 years now it has been an open secret that Israel possesses 80–100 nuclear warheads and the military wherewithal to deliver them. Israel has also taken delivery (1000–2008) on five German–made submarines capable of launching nuclear–tipped cruise missiles.
During our lengthy nuclear treaty negotiations with Iran this fact was never brought up. But Iran is fully aware that even a hint of offensive nuclear development on its part could result in an immediate and devastating attack by Israel. Israel didn’t hesitate to bomb nuclear installations in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007 that it considered security threats. Surrounded by hostile Muslim states, Israel’s unofficial nuclear arsenal is a guarantor against sneak attacks by potentially belligerent neighbors.
The Israelis have cloaked their nuclear secrets in a subterfuge known as “amimut,” meaning “opacity” or “ambiguity” in Hebrew. By this stratagem they hope to discourage their enemies from attacking them, but without giving them a legitimate excuse to develop their own nuclear capabilities. Israel is also rumored to have obtained bomb–grade uranium from the U. S. by theft, an act never officially confirmed or denied.
Some observers do not believe Iran was motivated to develop nuclear weapons from fear of Israel, but of Iraq. Saddam Hussein inflicted almost 200,000 Iranian casualties during his 1980s attacks, many by chemical weapons. Experts also believe the fact of Israel’s nuclear capability could dissuade Iran from developing nuclear capability in violation of its agreement with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.
Here is what concerns me about the possibility that Middle Eastern Muslim states might obtain nuclear weapons. We in the west generally agree that MAD (mutually assured destruction) averted nuclear war between the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War period. And most westerners share similar concepts concerning the finality of death. And they don’t believe in post–mortem rewards such as an idyllic repose with forty virgins (or is it sixty?). But some Middle Eastern Muslims actually believe this stuff. Jihadist fanatics wouldn’t hesitate to deliver a nuclear device against a major western population center for the glory of Allah, even though they might know this would result in their own death and a retaliatory attack on their own country of incredible magnitude. Mutually assured destruction is not the deterrent to those people that it is to the western mind. Some Islamic crazies would even welcome a martyr’s death in defense of Islam.
We seem to be inextricably involved with the Middle Eastern Muslim world with little inclination to disengage. Although God promised He wouldn’t destroy the world by flood again, He didn’t say anything about not allowing us to destroy it by our own fratricidal devices.
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.

Authorities Expecting The Sixth Seal? (Revelation 6:12)

US Raises Threat of Quake but Lowers Risk for Towers

New York Times
Earthquake!

By SAM ROBERTS
JULY 17, 2014

Here is another reason to buy a mega-million-dollar apartment in a Manhattan high-rise: Earthquake forecast maps for New York City that a federal agency issued on Thursday indicate “a slightly lower hazard for tall buildings than previously thought.”

The agency, the United States Geodetic Survey, tempered its latest quake prediction with a big caveat.
“The eastern U.S. has the potential for larger and more damaging earthquakes than considered in previous maps and assessments,” the agency said, citing the magnitude 5.8 quake that struck Virginia in 2011.

Federal seismologists based their projections of a lower hazard for tall buildings — “but still a hazard nonetheless,” they cautioned — on a lower likelihood of slow shaking from an earthquake occurring near the city, the type of shaking that typically causes more damage to taller structures.
“The tall buildings in Manhattan are not where you should be focusing,” said John Armbruster, a seismologist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. “They resonate with long period waves. They are designed and engineered to ride out an earthquake. Where you should really be worried in New York City is the common brownstone and apartment building and buildings that are poorly maintained.”

Mr. Armbruster was not involved in the federal forecast, but was an author of an earlier study that suggested that “a pattern of subtle but active faults makes the risk of earthquakes to the New York City area substantially greater than formerly believed.”

He noted that barely a day goes by without a New York City building’s being declared unsafe, without an earthquake. “If you had 30, 40, 50 at one time, responders would be overloaded,” he said.
The city does have an earthquake building code that went into effect in 1996, and that applies primarily to new construction.

A well-maintained building would probably survive a magnitude 5 earthquake fairly well, he said. The last magnitude 5 earthquake in the city struck in 1884. Another is not necessarily inevitable; faults are more random and move more slowly than they do in, say, California. But he said the latest federal estimate was probably raised because of the magnitude of the Virginia quake.
“Could there be a magnitude 6 in New York?” Mr. Armbruster said. “In Virginia, in a 300 year history, 4.8 was the biggest, and then you have a 5.8. So in New York, I wouldn’t say a 6 is impossible.”

Mr. Armbruster said the Geodetic Survey forecast would not affect his daily lifestyle. “I live in a wood-frame building with a brick chimney and I’m not alarmed sitting up at night worried about it,” he said. “But society’s leaders need to take some responsibility.”

Antichrist Prepares To Take Over Iraq (Daniel 8)

Who Is Muqtada Al-Sadr? Supporters Of Iraqi Shiite Cleric Rush Green Zone As Baghdad Protest Heats Up

By Michael Kaplan @michaeld_kaplan On 04/30/16 AT 10:14 AM

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  Followers of Iraq’s Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are seen in the Parliament building after they stormed Baghdad’s Green Zone after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government April 30, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

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  Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a sermon to worshipers during Friday prayers at the Kufa mosque near Najaf, Dec. 11, 2015. Photo: Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani

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  Followers of Iraq’s Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are seen in the Parliament building after they stormed Baghdad’s Green Zone after lawmakers failed to convene for a vote on overhauling the government April 30, 2016. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Saad

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  Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr delivers a sermon to worshipers during Friday prayers at the Kufa mosque near Najaf, Dec. 11, 2015. Photo: Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani

UPDATE: 11:50 a.m. EDT — A state of emergency has been declared in Baghdad after protesters stormed the Iraqi Parliament, the Washington Post reported Saturday. Live footage from the scene reportedly showed protesters waving flags and breaking chairs, and some lawmakers were beaten with flags as they fled the premises. Others remained trapped and fearful inside the building. All roads into the Iraqi capital have been closed.

The protesters are the first to breach the Green Zone, a highly fortified area of the city where most government ministries and foreign embassies are based. Iraqi security forces fired tear gas on demonstrators near one of the entrances to the area Saturday as hundreds of protesters continued to storm into the Green Zone, the Associated Press reported.

The news comes as tensions have risen in Baghdad over calls for an overhaul of the country’s government. Muqtada al-Sadr, a highly popular Shiite cleric, has called for peaceful demonstrations to demand reforms that were promised by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi but have yet to come to fruition.

Original story:

Supporters of the outspoken Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad on Saturday, rushing into the Parliament building while chanting slogans against government corruption, various news outlets reported. The actions came following months of anti-government sit-ins and demonstrations, led by the influential cleric, that have demanded a vote on overhauling the government.

The Green Zone, originally set up to protect U.S. forces in Iraq, is the site of most government ministries and foreign embassies. It has long been the target of criticism by al-Sadr, who has portrayed it as the epicenter of corruption and who has managed to mobilize tens of thousands in mass demonstrators in recent months. The area is protected by blast walls and razor wire; most Iraqis cannot enter.

Sadr called for the demonstrations in a bid to pressure Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to move ahead with reforms he has promised, including replacing current ministers with unaffiliated technocrats. Amid mounting pressure, the Parliament approved a partial reshuffle earlier in the week. As rioters rampaged through the Parliament building Saturday, some shouted “peacefully, peacefully.”
The 42-year-old cleric, born to a well-known family of clerics, rose to prominence as he founded the Mahdi Army, which battled U.S. troops following the invasion in 2003 that ousted then-President Saddam Hussein. He was a controversial and divisive figure as Iraq spiraled into a sectarian conflict; many accused him of stoking sectarian tensions.

Iraqi protesters wave national flags as they gather inside the Parliament after breaking into Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on April 30, 2016. A protest held outside the Green Zone escalated after parliament again failed to reach a quorum and approve new ministers to replace the current government of party-affiliated ministers. Photo: HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty Images
He ultimately transformed himself into a statesman, leading a popular grassroots movement that remains powerful among Iraq’s Shiite majority, particularly in poorer areas. Although he had gone relatively quiet in recent years, he has re-emerged as a central figure in Iraqi politics amid rising anger at the government. Some of his supporters hold key positions in the Parliament, and Sadr, moving away from a past of violence, has called for moderation and peace.

The country’s government has been slow to deliver reforms promised last year, as the president has been focused on the battle against the Islamic State group, which now controls large swaths of the country, as well as neighboring Syria. Abadi has voiced concern that the street protests, although nonviolent, could spiral out of control and hinder the fight against the Sunni extremist group, also known as ISIS.

Russian Horn Threatens Babylon Again And Again (Daniel 7)

2nd Russian fighter jet engages in barrel roll over US spy plane, official says

Published April 29, 2016 FoxNews.com

A Russian Su-27 fighter jet in 2010. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

For the second time in less than a month, a Russian fighter jet conducted a barrel roll over a U.S. spy plane in the Baltic Sea Friday, flying within just 100 feet of the aircraft, a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News.

The Russian Su-27 zipped past the U.S. RC-135 surveillance plane in international airspace, the official said.

In the first barrel roll, on April 14, the jet flew within just 50 feet of the spy plane, Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.

Russian aircraft have conducted a series of daring maneuvers calling out U.S. forces in recent weeks. Video on April 11 captured two Russian jets zooming past the USS Donald Cook, a Navy destroyer in the Baltic, flying only 100 feet off the ground. A U.S. defense official called it a “simulated attack profile.”

Secretary of State John Kerry responded, “We condemn this kind of behavior. It is reckless. It is provocative. It is dangerous.” He said forces on the destroyer could have shot down the jets under U.S. military rules of engagement.

But a Russian defense spokesman said the jet pilots carefully turned around. Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov claimed he didn’t understand the “distressed reaction of our American counterparts.”
The Pentagon called the first barrel roll “unsafe and unprofessional.”

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

The China And Pakistan Nuclear Horns

 
China secretly helping Pak’s missile programme: US lawmakers


HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Washington| Updated: Apr 29, 2016 21:30 IST

Two US lawmakers have asked the Obama administration if China provided Pakistan the massive 16-wheel vehicle that carry Pakistan’s newly unveiled medium-range nuclear missiles.

If yes, would it be in violation of any US or UN-mandated laws and sanctions, which would attract punitive action from America, the lawmakers asked, in a letter sent earlier this week.

Read the full letter here.

Pakistan unveiled its new 2,750-km medium range nuclear ballistic missile Shaheen III in March, rolling it out on a 16-wheel vehicle called the Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL).

It looked very much like the one China gave North Korea, Mike Rogers and Ted Poe, the lawmakers, said in their letter, citing an American expert on Chinese military technology.

Richard Fisher, the expert, pointed to the “design similarities between the Shaheen III TEL, the Sanjiang Special Vehicle Corporation of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) WS51200 TEL, and Chinese provided TEL North Korea’s new KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile”.

“This led him to conclude, ‘CASIC has again enabled a Pakistani nuclear capability’,” the lawmakers added.

In the letter, addressed to secretary of state John Kerry, defence secretary Ash Carter and director of national intelligence James Clapper, the lawmakers said this kind of transfer of technology would have to have been approved at the highest level in China, “if not also the People’s Liberation Army”.
And this kind of cooperation between China and Pakistan, they said, “would represent a threat to the national security of the United States and its allies.

The lawmakers, both Republicans who head powerful congressional bodies — Poe is chairman of the House subcommittee on terrorism and proliferation and Rogers heads subcommittee on strategy forces — wanted to know from the administration if it knew about the transfer.

They asked what the US was doing to stop China from transferring this technology to Pakistan, and make it take back the TEL Pakistan is brazenly displaying as part of its arsenal.

They wanted to know if there is any other evidence the Chinese supporting Pakistan’s ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programmes, and whether this road-mobile delivery system for Pakistan’s nuclear weapons changes the security posture of the US, Israel and other allies.