Pentagon rewrites ‘Law of War’ declaring ‘belligerent’ journalists as legitimate targets

RT News
June 24, 2015

The Pentagon has released a book of instructions on the “law of war,” detailing acceptable ways of killing the enemy. The manual also states that journalists can be labeled “unprivileged belligerents,” an obscure term that replaced “enemy combatant.”
The 1,176-page “Department of Defense Law of War Manual” explains that shooting, exploding, bombing, stabbing, or cutting the enemy are acceptable ways of getting the job done, but the use of poison or asphyxiating gases is not allowed.

Surprise attacks and killing retreating troops have also been given the green light.
But the lengthy manual doesn’t only talk about protocol for those on the frontline. It also has an extensive section on journalists – including the fact that they can be labeled terrorists.
“In general, journalists are civilians. However, journalists may be members of the armed forces, persons authorized to accompany the armed forces, or unprivileged belligerents,” the manual states.
The term “unprivileged belligerents” replaces the Bush-era term “unlawful enemy combatant.”

When asked what this means, professor of Journalism at Georgetown Chris Chambers told RT that he doesn’t know, “because the Geneva Convention, other tenets of international law, and even United States law – federal courts have spoken on this – doesn’t have this thing on ‘unprivileged belligerents’.”
This means that embedded journalists, who are officially sanctioned by the military and attached to a unit, will be favored by an even greater degree than before. “It gives them license to attack or even murder journalists that they don’t particularly like but aren’t on the other side,” Chambers said.
Even the Obama Administration’s definition of “enemy combatant” was vague enough, basically meaning any male of a military age who “happens to be there,” Chambers added.
The manual also deals with drones, stating that there is “no prohibition in the law of war on the use of remotely piloted aircraft (also called “unmanned aerial vehicles”)." Such weapons may offer certain advantages over the weapons systems. It states that drones can be designated as military aircraft if used by a country's military.
The book includes a foreword from the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, Stephen Preston, who states that “the law of war is part of who we are.” He goes on to say that the manual will“help us remember the hard-learned lessons from the past.”
The manual is the Pentagon's first all-in-one legal guide for the four military branches. Previously, each sector was tasked with writing their own guidelines for engagement, which presumably did not list journalists as potential traitors.
The Pentagon did not specify the exact circumstances under which a journalist might be declared an unprivileged belligerent, but Chambers says he is sure “their legal department is going over it, as is the National Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists.”

Marine held prisoner and threatened with force medication for posting Rap Lyrics on FaceBook.

Pete Santilli Show
June 26, 2015

Brandon Raub visits the show today to give his take on Jade Helm and talk about what life has been like after he was held prisoner and threatened with force medication for posting Rap Lyrics on FaceBook.


Russia Tested Hypersonic Glide Vehicle in February

Washington Free Beacon
June 26, 2015

Moscow follows China in seeking maneuverable high-speed missiles
A missile test at the Dombarovsky airbase in southeastern Russia (screenshot)


Moscow is developing a new, ultra-high speed strategic attack vehicle similar to China’s hypersonic weapon, according to military analysts.
However, unlike high-profile strategic bomber flights and large-scale nuclear war games that U.S. military commanders have called provocative, details about the Russian hypersonic vehicle remain one of Moscow’s closely held military secrets.
The Russians have been developing the new Yu-71 vehicle for several years and conducted the most recent flight test in February, according to an article published this month in Jane’s Intelligence Review.
A Pentagon spokeswoman declined to comment on the Russian hypersonic test.
The unsuccessful flight test was believed to have been released into near space from atop an SS-19 missile that was launched from the Dombarovsky missile base in eastern Russia. The vehicle is part of Moscow’s secret Project 4202 missile program, the Jane’s report says.
Jane’s concludes that Russia over the past five years has stepped up the secret program as part of efforts to defeat U.S. missile defenses that were designed to counter predictable ballistic targets.
Hypersonic vehicles, however, are very difficult to track and target because they move in unpredictable ways at speeds of up to 7,000 miles per hour.
Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon official who closely monitors Russian strategic weapons programs, said Moscow’s development of glide-strike vehicles and maneuvering warheads are high-priority programs.
Unlike China’s hypersonic weapons, which include the recently flight-tested Wu-14, the Russian program has been mentioned publicly by senior Russian officials, indicating its importance.
“Both are reportedly nuclear-oriented and the Chinese program seems more successful,” Schneider said, adding that Russian tests were reported to have been failures.
“The Russian program was clearly described as strategic in nature,” he added. “The Obama administration talks about the Chinese threat, but very little about the Russian threat, so our only sources of information are the Russian press.”
Project 4202 could produce a small number of glide vehicles by the end of the decade that may be equipped with nuclear warheads, the Jane’s report says.
“A test launch from the Dombarovsky missile division site in February 2015 suggests that Russia is actively pursuing the development of a hypersonic glide vehicle that could potentially expand the long-range strike capabilities of its Strategic Rocket Forces,” the report says.
Pavel Podvig, a co-author of the Jane’s report, said it is difficult to gauge the significance of the Russian hypersonic program.
“It seems like a system in search of a mission,” said Podvig, a Geneva-based researcher. “Even if it works, which is still a rather big if, it won’t give Russia any substantially new capability.”
The new maneuvering high-speed weapon is billed as a means of defeating missile defenses, but Moscow’s concerns about missile defense are highly exaggerated, he said. The new system also could “seriously damage arms control efforts,” Podvig added.
Disclosures about Russian hypersonic weapon program follow China’s confirmation that it conducted a fourth flight test of its Wu-14 hypersonic glide vehicle earlier this month. U.S. officials said the latest Wu-14 engaged in a series of extreme high-speed maneuvers during the latest flight test June 7 in western China.
The United States is also developing an advanced hypersonic missile that is expected to be part of its conventional Prompt Global Strike program—a non-nuclear weapons system that will be capable of precisely hitting targets any place on earth in minutes.
The Jane’s report said the Russian hypersonic program is a high priority for Moscow’s political and military leaders.
The Yu-71 may be deployed at a missile site near Yasny, in the east-central province of Orenburg near the border with Kazakhstan.
Earlier hypersonic weapons tests were conducted in the 1980s in apparent response to the Reagan administration’s strategic defense initiative.
More recent suspected flight tests of the hypersonic weapons included a 2001 flight test of a Yu-70 vehicle from an SS-19 missile.
Another Yu-70 test likely was carried out in 2004 when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was developing “new hypersound-speed, high-precision new weapons systems that can hit targets at intercontinental distance and can adjust their altitude and course as they travel.”
Suspected flight tests of the newer Yu-71 likely took place in December 2011, in September 2013, at an an unknown date in 2014, and on February 26 in Dombarovsky.
The Dombarovsky base was identified as a likely deployment site for the Yu-71 in Russian government construction documents that identified the work as part of Project 4202.
The article says the “primary purpose is the development of a missile system that can effectively penetrate existing missile defense systems.”
Unlike U.S. plans for hypersonic missiles to deliver conventional warheads, “Russia appears to be considering the option of deploying its hypersonic system in a nuclear, as well as conventional, configuration,” the Jane’s report said.
“This would give Russia the ability to deliver a guaranteed small-scale strike against a target of choice; if coupled with an ability to penetrate missile defenses, Moscow would also retain the option of launching a successful single-missile attack.”
Up to 24 with new hypersonic payloads could be deployed at Dombarovsky by 2020 to 2025.
By that date, Russia will be deploying a new ICBM known as the Sarmat that would be capable of carrying the Yu-71.
The report says Moscow may seek to exploit its hypersonic weapons to gain leverage in arms control talks with the United States as a way to seek limits on U.S. missile defenses and the Prompt Global Strike program.
Prompt Global Strike vehicles are not covered by the 2010 New START arms treaty with Russia.
U.S.-Russian military relations and arms talks were curtailed following Russia’s military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea last year and continued covert arming of pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
A review of open-source Russian news reports and military writings reveal that work on hypersonics has been discussed publicly on several occasions in the past several years.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was quoted in reports from state-run news agencies in July 2014 saying that Russia needs to build precision-guided hypersonic arms.
He urged Russia’s missile manufacturers to carry out rearmament efforts, “especially the tasks of mastering precision weapons and hypersonic technology.”
In May of last year, Boris Obnosov, director of the Tactical Missiles Corp., said a hypersonic missile prototype would be built by 2020.
“We have drawn up this program in collaboration with several dozens of institutes and enterprises,” Obnosov said. ”It has been approved by the Defense Ministry and the Industry and Trade Ministry. It is now important to implement it smoothly.”
After a failed test flight of the U.S. Hypersonic Test Vehicle-2 in 2011, a Russian official was quoted as saying Russia’s hypersonics are different.
“Our program is developing in a different direction; we are creating maneuverable hypersonic warheads for intercontinental ballistic missiles, and there are no plans to control them from outside—the target-kill program is installed in them in advance,” the defense industry official told Izvestya, a Russian newspaper.
Another report said Russia’s future strategic bomber, known as the Pak Da, will be equipped with hypersonic cruise missiles.
In August 2013, the Novosti news agency reported that Russia was cooperating with China, France, and India on hypersonic missiles.
The Russian companies said to be involved in hypersonic missile development have been identified as the Tactical Missiles Corp. and NPO Mashinostroyenia. A hypersonic engine test facility reportedly is being built at Russia’s Central Institute of Aviation Motors.
Alexander Shirokorad, a Russian military analyst, stated in a 2013 article in the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta that hypersonic glide vehicles are one reason Moscow decided to violate the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, that prohibits building missiles with ranges of between 500 kilometers and 5,500 kilometers.
“New IRBMs will breach a missile defense by traveling along exotically variable trajectories,” Shirokorad stated. “The combination of hypersonic cruise missiles with ballistic is not ruled out. Aside from operating against ground targets, IRBMs will be able to engage naval targets, too—aircraft carriers, cruise missile-armed Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and even submarines.”

REBEL FLAG CONTROVERSY: WHY NOT JUST BAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY FOR ITS LINKS TO RACISM?

Infowars News
June 24, 2015

Did you know the KKK was created by Democrats?
Rebel Flag Controversy: Why Not Just Ban Democratic Party For Its Links to Racism?

Liberals who are calling for a ban of the Confederate flag in South Carolina for its supposed links to racism are forgetting that the Democratic Party has its own ties to racism.
Numerous leftists are attacking the flag in the aftermath of the Charleston, S.C. shooting, such as CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin who claims the Confederate flag “represents terror and intimidation of African-Americans in that state” and President Obama who believes the flag “belongs in a museum.”
Lost in the debate, however, is the fact that the Ku Klux Klan was created as a terroristic force serving the interests of the Democratic Party and those who desired the restoration of so-called “white supremacy.”
“Founded in 1866 as a Tennessee social club, the Ku Klux Klan spread into nearly every Southern state, launching a ‘reign of terror‘ against Republican leaders black and white,” noted historian Eric Foner wrote in his book Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution.
The Klan engaged in extremely brutal acts of murder, including the death of black community leader Abraham Colby, who was whipped for hours in front of his wife and children.
“It aimed to destroy the Republican party’s infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the black labor force, and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life,” Foner added.
This isn’t ancient history: the late Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd was so deeply involved with the Klan that when he passed away in 2010, the mainstream media did their absolute best to whitewash Byrd’s past as a top level Klan leader and recruiter.
“ABC News noted that ‘despite his successful political track record, the Senate’s senior Democrat was no stranger to controversy and was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan,’ as if calling for the extermination of dark-skinned peoples (as well as Jews, Catholics, and gays) was no more stirring a gaffe than Gary Hart’s monkey business,” the Daily Caller’s Mike Riggs pointed out.
Today African-Americans are still struggling under President Obama and other Democratic politicians.
“The data is going to indicate sadly that when the Obama administration is over, black people will have lost ground in every single leading economic indicator category,” Tavis Smiley, a black radio host, said. “On that regard, the president ought to be held responsible.”
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@RealAlexJones | @KitDaniels1776

Pope's Science Advisor Believes in Gaia- The Earth Goddess

The Stream
June 24, 2015

The scientist who influenced Laudato Si, and who serves at the Vatican's science office, seems to believe in Gaia, but not in God.


St. Francis of Assisi’s hymn Laudato Si’ spoke of “Brothers” Sun and Fire and “Sisters” Moon and Water, using these colorful phrases figuratively, as a way of praising God’s creation. These sentimental words so touched Pope Francis that he named his encyclical after this canticle (repeated in paragraph 87 of the Holy Father’s letter).
Neither Pope Francis nor St. Francis took the words literally, of course. Neither believed that fire was alive and could be talked to or reasoned with or, worse, worshiped. Strange, then, that a self-professed atheist and scientific advisor to the Vatican named Hans Schellnhuber appears to believe in a Mother Earth.

Gaia

The Gaia Principle, first advanced by chemist James Lovelock (who has lately had second thoughts) and microbiologist Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, says that all life interacts with the Earth, and the Earth with all life, to form a giant self-regulating, living system.
This goes far beyond the fact that the Earth’s climate system has feedbacks, which are at the very center of the debate over climate change. In the Gaia Principle, Mother Earth is alive, and even, some think, aware in some ill-defined, mystical way. The Earth knows man and his activities and, frankly, isn’t too happy with him.
This is what we might call “scientific pantheism,” a kind that appeals to atheistic scientists. It is an updated version of the pagan belief that the universe itself is God, that the Earth is at least semi-divine — a real Brother Sun and Sister Water! Mother Earth is immanent in creation and not transcendent, like the Christian God.
What’s this have to do with Schellnhuber? In the 1999 Nature paper “‘Earth system’ analysis and the second Copernican revolution,” he said:
Ecosphere science is therefore coming of age, lending respectability to its romantic companion, Gaia theory, as pioneered by Lovelock and Margulis. This hotly debated ‘geophysiological’ approach to Earth-system analysis argues that the biosphere contributes in an almost cognizant way to self-regulating feedback mechanisms that have kept the Earth’s surface environment stable and habitable for life.
Geo-physiological, in case you missed it. Cognizant, in black and white. So dedicated is Schellnhuber to this belief that he says “the Gaia approach may even include the influence of biospheric activities on the Earth’s plate-tectonic processes.”  Not the other way around, mind you, where continental drift and earthquakes effects life, but where life effects earthquakes.
He elaborates:
Although effects such as the glaciations may still be interpreted as over-reactions to small disturbances — a kind of cathartic geophysiological fever — the main events, resulting in accelerated maturation by shock treatment, indicate that Gaia faces a powerful antagonist. Rampino has proposed personifying this opposition as Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.
Mother Earth gets the flu and instead of white blood cells and a rise in temperature to fend off the infection, it sends white ice and a decrease in temperatures. How? Geophysiologically! I remind the reader that our author, writing in one of the world’s most prominent science journals, does not use these propositions metaphorically. He proposes them as actual mechanisms.
Schellnhuber echoes the theme of a cognizant, i.e. self-aware, planet in another (co-authored) 2004 paper in Nature 2004, “Climbing the co-evolution ladder,” suggesting again that mankind is an infection, saying that mankind “perturbs … the global ‘metabolism'” of the planet.

POPE FRANCIS SAYS YOU’RE NOT CHRISTIAN IF YOU OWN A GUN

Infowars News
June 23, 2015

Let's not forget the Marxist pope has plenty of armed guards
Pope Francis Says You’re NOT Christian if You Own a Gun
Pope Francis spoke with a group of young people at a rally of thousands at the end of the first day of his trip to the Italian city of Turin.
Francis started by attacking the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as well as accusing the allies during World War Two of being complicit in the killing of Jews, Christians and homosexuals.
Francis issued his toughest condemnation to date of the weapons industry, saying.
“If you trust only men you have lost,” he told the young people in a long, rambling talk about war, trust and politics after putting aside his prepared address.
“It makes me think of … people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit a distrust, doesn’t it?” he said to applause.
He also criticized those who invest in weapons industries (gun owners), saying “duplicity is the currency of today … they say one thing and do another.”
Francis also built on comments he has made in the past about events during the first and second world wars.
He spoke of the “tragedy of the Shoah,” using the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.
“The great powers had the pictures of the railway lines that brought the trains to the concentration camps like Auschwitz to kill Jews, Christians, homosexuals, everybody. Why didn’t they bomb (the railway lines)?”
It is surely an upside down world when the representative of G* on earth disparages the right to self defense and accuses the Greatest Generation of being complicit in Hitler’s genocide and the destruction of Europe and Russia.

Iranian Parliament Chants “Death to America” – Votes to Ban Nuclear Inspections

Gateway Pundit
June 23, 2015

The Iranian parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban nuclear inspections as part of a future deal with world powers.
Several members of parliament shouted iran parliament
It doesn’t seem to matter what they do.
Obama’s going to go ahead with a meaningless treaty, regardless.

"With some lawmakers chanting “Death to the America,” Iran’s parliament voted Sunday to ban access to military sites, documents and scientists as part of a future deal with world powers over its contested nuclear program.
The bill, if approved into law, could complicate the ongoing talks in Vienna between Iran and the six-nation group — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — as they face a self-imposed June 30 deadline. The talks are focused on reaching a final accord that curbs Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.
Of 213 lawmakers present on Sunday, 199 voted in favor of the bill, which also demands the complete lifting of all sanctions against Iran as part of any final nuclear accord. The bill must be ratified by the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog, to become a law.
The terms stipulated in the bill allow for international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, but forbid any inspections of military facilities.
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani read the bill aloud in a session broadcast live on state radio. It states in part, “The International Atomic Energy Agency, within the framework of the safeguard agreement, is allowed to carry out conventional inspections of nuclear sites.”
However it concludes that “access to military, security and sensitive non-nuclear sites, as well as documents and scientists, is forbidden.”

ISIS funded through Swiss banks and CIA (911) ? - LipTV interviews Scott Bennett

LipTV
June 23, 2015



originally aired on May 4, 2015