US aid warships redirected from Russian-controlled Poti to Batumi
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 27, 2008, 12:51 PM (GMT+02:00)
USS Mount Whitney docks at Batumi, instead of Poti
This was a last-minute change of direction, after the US embassy in Tbilisi said Tuesday, Aug. 26, that the two warships delivering aid to Georgia Wednesday would put in at the Black Sea port of Poti, irrespective of the Russian decision to search all incoming cargoes.
The two ships, the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas and the command and control USS Mount Whitney , docked at Batumi, which is controlled by Georgia. The latter is equipped with facilities for commanding sea, land and air combat operations.
DEBKAfile's military sources: This abrupt U-turn represents a striking American falling-back in the face of Russia’s determined hard line. To avoid an inevitable clash, the US has clearly gone back on its resolve to break Russia’s illegal naval, ground and armored grip on the Georgian port of Poti and to establish a Black Sea naval presence. Moscow responded by ordering the Russian navy to monitor NATO’s growing number of naval ships in Black Sea.
Russian military chiefs have charged that US aid consignments for Georgia by sea, which could just as easily been delivered by air as warships, were a cover for new arms deliveries to Georgia. Russian checkpoints have been posted in and around Poti for searches.
The first of the three US aid warships, the USS McFaul , docked at Batumi Saturday to avoid friction with the Russians at Poti. Our sources report the vessel carried 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of striking land and sea targets.
In Moscow, DEBKAfile’s military sources report, Capt. Igor Dygalo, deputy commander of the Russian Navy, announced Tuesday that the Moskva missile cruiser would carry out a naval exercise on the Black Sea.
The Russians are clearly marking out their control of this inland sea against US and NATO challenges. Capt. Dygalo said the Moskva would practice its wire-guided weapons, communications and missile guidance systems. The exercise will no doubt interfere with the movements of NATO vessels, as clearly intended.
Russian Dep. chief of staff Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn spoke Monday, Aug. 25, of nine Western vessels in the Black Sea - 2 American, 4 Turkish and the rest Polish and Spanish. He said their presence was not a cause for concern.
Moscow: No room for more NATO ships on Black Sea, Moldova should beware
DEBKAfile Special Report
August 27, 2008, 7:21 PM (GMT+02:00)
Moscow's harsh voice: Col-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn
America’s decision to redirect its Georgia aid warship from Russian-controlled Poti port to Georgian-controlled Batumi Wednesday, August 27 – on direct orders from the Pentagon - did not cool the escalating Black Sea tension between the two powers. As soon as the US Coast Guard cutter Dallas docked with 34 tons of humanitarian aid, three Russian missile boats, led by the Moskva missile cruiser, anchored to the north at the Black Sea port of Sukhumi, capital of breakaway Abkhazia, for what the Russians called “peacekeeping operations.”
In Moscow, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said NATO had exhausted the number of forces it can deploy in the Black Sea under international agreements. He warned Western nations against sending more ships. “NATO – which is not a state located in the Black Sea” cannot continuously increase its forces and systems there, he said.
According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, ten NATO warships are present in the Black Sea – American, Turkish, German, Spanish and Polish. Alliance sources have said more vessels would soon be deployed, raising the number to eighteen.
Moldova, another former Soviet Black Sea nation, is the latest target of Russian threats and element in the Russian-US contest over the region.
Tuesday, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Moldovan leaders against repeating Georgia’s mistake of trying to use force to regain control of its breakaway region of Transdniestria. Russian peacekeepers have been posted there since 1990, when provincial separatists fought to break away from Moldova. This dispute mirrors the predicament of Georgia and other former Soviet nations which have large Russian populations.
Moldova is strategically located on the Western shore of the Black Sea, very near the Crimean Peninsula and the big Russian naval headquarters base at Sevastopol, Ukraine.
Wednesday, Russian ambassador Valeri Kuzmin advised Moldova’s leaders to avoid a “bloody and catastrophic trend of events.” He said Moscow had recognizes South Ossetian and Abkhazian independence the day before, because of “Georgian’s aggression.”
Ukraine stepped in Wednesday with a demand to renegotiate the Russian Black Sea fleet’s lease for the use of the Sevastopol base to raise the rent.
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Egypt on top alert for major al Qaeda attack
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
August 24, 2008, 1:07 PM (GMT+02:00)
Egyptian special forces in Sinai
DEBKAfile’s intelligence and counter-terror sources disclose that Egypt’s interior ministry’s security forces, airports, harbors, and border terminals were placed on the highest terror alert Sunday afternoon, Aug. 24, in response to information that an al Qaeda team or teams were heading for major strikes against specific targets. Our sources report that the warning received in Cairo referred to governing institutions, military installations and Suez Canal facilities.
Extra guards were posted at the American, Israeli, Swedish and British embassies in Cairo. Security forces have been boosted at the three main Suez Canal cities, Port Said, Ismailya and Suez, as well as the Sinai resorts of Sharm el Sheikh, Dahab and Nueiba, which are packed with late holidaymakers.
In April 2006, al Qaeda detonated three bombs at the coastal resort of Dahab, killing 23 people – all Egyptian - and injuring 60.
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MUST SEE VIDEO ABOUT "OBAMA"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Tgn5zbQweQ
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FROM "HARRY GORMAN"
Fellow American,
Watching and listening the Democratic Babble Circus in Denver, last night, I could not help thinking that, before each speaker is sent onstage to prattle their canned speeches, they are first brought to a room, behind stage, with barrels lined up along the walls and handy dippers inside.
Each speaker is invited to eat, drink and be -- loquacious.
One barrel is marked "soothing syrup". Another, "Promises that sound great". Another, "Ideas for Growing the JOBS, with bullshit as fertilizer". Another, "How to Get Sunnis and Shi-ites to peaceably share cookies and tea". AND, of course, "How to Keep Americans Warm This Winter by Incinerating Tree Huggers"
I DID NOT HEAR ONE WORD ABOUT THE OBSCENITY OF MAKING COMMUNIST CHINA RICH (and dangerous) AT OUR EXPENSE OR HOW TO SOLVE ENERGY, HEALTH CARE, INFRASTRUCTURE, UNEMPLOYMENT -- WITH A $9.5 FEDERAL DEBT AS A "STIMULUS" PACKAGE -- FOR STARTERS. (Did I miss something?)
ALL I HEARD WAS WORDS, WORDS, -- WORDS WITHOUT MEANING, SUBSTANCE OR REALITY.
And -- a dozen other topics for speakers to dip out -- all with "happy subjects" that, when enunciated loudly and with lots of "energy" will tickle delegates on the floor to wave placards madly and shout the names of the Sacred Anointed" who are about to bring America back to - prosperity -- like Herbert Hoover's updated promise of "two chickens in every pot, two cars in the family garage."
YAH!, YAH!, YAH!
DON'T EXPECT THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION TO BE ANY BETTER!
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E-mail frenzy: 'Obama plans to disarm U.S.!'
Candidate pledges on YouTube clip to gut military spending, research
Posted: August 26, 2008
9:52 pm Eastern
By Drew Zahn
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
DES MOINES, Iowa – A video the Barack Obama campaign produced last year to solicit the endorsement of an Iowa-based advocacy group has generated more than 3 million page views on YouTube, fueled by chain e-mails claiming the clip is evidence the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee intends to disarm the U.S..
Florida's St. Petersburg Times received an e-mail that warned of Obama's plan to "unilaterally disarm our nation" and stated, "You do not have to check Snopes to determine if this is true or false. ... Watch and listen to Obama's own words."
WND also received an e-mail suggesting the Democratic National Committee is supposedly pressuring YouTube to remove the video clip before it leaks out to too many viewers and damages Obama's chances of winning the presidency.
The video, however, was originally posted on YouTube by the Obama campaign itself on Oct. 22, 2007, and has been seen – in its various repeat appearances on the site – well over 3 million times.
Does it give evidence of a plan to disarm the U.S.?
In the clip, Obama pledges to "cut tens of billions of dollars" in defense spending, "cut investments" in missile defense systems and "slow our development of future combat systems."
You can view the candidate's promises in his own words and full context below:
In addition to budget cuts and curtailing weapons research and development, Obama concludes the video by pledging to refrain from developing new nuclear weapons, to negotiate with Russia to take intercontinental missiles "off hair-trigger alert" and to "achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals."
Whether such promises constitute an endangering level of disarmament or not is a subject hotly debated on YouTube itself.
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Obama warns stations not to air 'radical' ad
Lawyer's letter, appeal to Justice evoke Kerry's attempt to quash Swift Boat vets
Posted: August 26, 2008
12:47 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
 American Issues Project television ad |
Sen. Barack Obama is warning TV stations and asking the Justice Department to intervene in an attempt to block the airing of an ad by a non-profit group that links him to an unrepentant domestic terrorist.
The spot by the American Issues Project questions Obama's ties to William Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground organization who boasted of a series of bomb attacks at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago.
The Associated Press said Obama's "going-for-the-jugular approach" was the kind of response many DemocratsVeterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential campaign. complained Sen. John Kerry lacked when he was confronted with the charges of Swift Boat
But, as WND reported, Kerry actually took a similar approach. Instead of focusing on the Swift Boat Veterans' specific claims, his campaign threatened lawsuits against the television stations that aired the group's ads, demanded publisher Regnery pull the best-selling book "Unfit for Command," attacked the character of co-authors John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi, and accused the independent group of being run by the Republican party.
The Kerry campaign also waged a multi-pronged attack on the Sinclair Broadcast Group over its plan to air a documentary " "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal", which featured former POWs telling how Kerry's 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was used as propaganda against them by their North Vietnamese captors.
Many of the stations airing the anti-Obama ad – financed by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth funder Harold Simmons, a Texas billionaire – are owned by Sinclair, the AP reported.
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FROM www.rense.com
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FATHER OF THE YEAR AWARD
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FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Condi pulls a Solomon: Split Jerusalem in 2
Sources reveal status of secret talks to create Palestinian state this year
Posted: August 25, 2008
10:00 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
WorldNetDaily
 Condoleezza Rice |
JERUSALEM – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, completing a visit to the region today, has been pressing Israel to sign a document by the end of the year that would divide Jerusalem by offering the Palestinians a state in Israel's capital city as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to top diplomatic sources involved in the talks.
The Israeli team, led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has been negotiating the division of Jerusalem – despite claims to the contrary – but would rather conclude an agreement on paper by the end of the year that would give the Palestinians a state in the West Bank, Gaza and some Israeli territory, leaving conclusions on Jerusalem for a later date, the informed diplomatic sources told WND.
The sources said the Palestinian team has been pushing to conclude a deal by January on all core issues, including Jerusalem, and has been petitioning the U.S. to pressure Israel into signing an agreement on paper that offers the Palestinians eastern Jerusalem.
................. ................... ..................... ..................... ....................
YOU MUST REALIZE THAT NO MAN OR WOMAN OR NATION HAS THE AUTHORITY TO DIVIDE THE CITY THAT BELONGS TO G-D (JERUSALEM) AND THERE WILL BE A TERRIBLE PRICE TO PAY FOR THIS AND G-D WILL MOST LIKELY START WITH SEVERE WEATHER IN THE US. READ DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 28... READ GENESIS CHAPTER 12, VERSE 3... Prepare for "HELL"
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Obama’s Ayers problem deepens
The Chicago bully tactics aren’t going to work. While Obama sics his lawyers and Kossack minions on TV stations that dare to air an independent ad about his close relationship with Weather Underground terrorist-turned-academic Bill Ayers, the truth is seeping out.
Thanks to the efforts of NRO’s Stanley Kurtz, blogger Steve Diamond, and intense pressure from Internet readers and talk radio listeners, the University of Illinois - Chicago was forced to release a trove of papers that a former official attempted to shield from public view. There are some 140 boxes and 1,000 files to sift through — and MSM outlets have barely scratched the surface. Kurtz is in Chicago to review the documents and will report tonight on his findings for two hours on Chicago station WGN’s Milt Rosenberg Show. (Good background here, too, in an in-depth discussion on the malign influence of Ayers’ educational philosophy and practice.)
Despite only partial review of the papers, some outlets are pooh-poohing the disclosures. The Chicago Tribune writes: “A partial examination of the documents did not reveal anything startling about the link between Obama, the Democratic presidential contender, and Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground, a Vietnam-era anti-war group that claimed responsibility for several bombings.”
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Pelosi to protesters: "Can we drill your brains?"
House Democratic leaders and protesters waving McCain signs had a war of words Tuesday at a press event outside an old train station. The demonstrators interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with chants of “Drill here! Drill now!”
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