STEPHEN CAMP - SW 625 - 6 Revolver

MUST SEE VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFKGrmsBDk

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Range Evaluation: S&W Model 625-6 w/3" Bbl

By Stephen Camp

Other than the J-frame snub revolvers, my preference is usually for longer barrels. (Exceptions include some of the K and L-frame revolvers.) I have always preferred to have a bit more sight radius and velocity, attributes that the longer tubes bring to the table. Therefore, I was a bit surprised when I actually wanted to buy a very clean (like new) S&W Model 625 3" at the last gun show. The dealer allowed me to closely examine the revolver and after a tiny bit of back-and-forth, a deal was struck with 10 moon clips thrown in as well.

This is the S&W "snub .45" used for this report. Shown with it are Corbon's .45 Auto Rim 160-gr. DPX and some 255-gr. CSWC handloads. The stocks are from Eagle and are their Secret Service model. Several rounds in both Auto Rim and ACP were fired.

The Model 625 is chambered for the popular .45 ACP round but requires the use of moon clips for the rimless round. .45 Auto Rim, which is a thick-rimmed version of the ACP can be used and is loaded in the same manner as any other revolver cartridge; just drop 'em in the cylinder. As most will already know, there is a plethora of .45 ACP choices available, but pickings are slim for the Auto Rim. Remington loaded a mild 230-gr. round nose cartridge for years, but it was never in great demand. More recently, Corbon has added the .45 AR to their lineup with a 160-gr. DPX in standard pressure. It is the same load as their "Compact Gun Load" in .45 ACP and is a standard pressure round. They also added a 230-gr. FMJ round for those wanting to use factory ammo in competition. Unless one handloads, such is about the crop of commercially available Auto Rim factory ammunition.

This revolver is built on the S&W N-frame. For decades this was the largest revolver frame offered by the company; it now plays second fiddle to their X-frame for the huge .500 S&W revolvers. It is a double-action revolver that is capable of single-action if desired and it holds the expected 6 shots. Constructed of stainless steel, the frame and cylinder have been matte finished. This one has an MIM hammer, trigger, and cylinder latch. The sights appear to be blued with the front serrated ramp having a red plastic insert. The rear sight blade is plain black and is adjustable.

For years I've owned a 5" version of this gun and it has proven a most accurate revolver, shooting most loads acceptably well and some exceptionally so! I had high hopes that this one would follow suit and the only way to know is to do; I grabbed a gob of ammunition, chronograph, etc, and headed to the range.

Shooting: I am interested in accuracy, both practical and mechanical. For this reason, shooting was done in slow-fire, single-action, using two-hands with my wrists braced at 15 yards. I didn't shoot at 25 yards for a very simple reason. It was too damned hot and that could wait. The only rapid-fire, double-action shooting was done at 7 yards using two-hands.

The first shots fired with this revolver were using Kead 255-gr. CSWC's that were handloaded several years ago. I have mistakenly labeled them as 250-gr. in the pictures.

These were the first shots fired with this "new" (to me) six-gun. I moved the sight elevation down 1-click and left the windage alone. The rest of the targets contain six-shot groups, but I splurged on this one…and I had a tub of these handloads, which was not the case with much of the factory ammunition.

Corbon's 230-gr. Match Load shot well in the short-barrel revolver. Recoil was mild and accuracy just fine.

Next up was a handload using some old Sierra 200-gr. Competition jacketed bullets, which were loaded several years ago as a mild "paper load". These have been stored inside for a dozen years and still shot very well. The CCI primers I used were bought in the "Dark Days of '94" and were labeled Cascade Cartridge Company in the old green checkered boxes. Older hands will recall the primer shortage sparked by fears of what Klinton had in mind for gun owners. They, too, had been stored well. I bought 5-thousand of them from an individual at a ridiculously low price and had exactly zero failures to fire.

Winchester's 230-gr. USA FMJ shot quite well and was very easy to handle in this revolver.

Winchester Ranger 230-gr. JHP (RA45T) grouped well and proved itself an accurate load in the Model 625. Like the 5" one I have owned for years, this one appears capable of very good accuracy with all of the loads tried so far.

Federal 230-gr. HST +P was without question the hardest kicking load tried today. Like the others, it grouped quite well.

The light-recoiling, light bullet Corbon 160-gr. DPX rounds grouped slightly lower than any of the other ammunition fired today. This is not at all uncommon.

As I said earlier, I'm more interested in precise shooting than rapid-fire "combat" style, but do see a place for both in this day and age. For that reason I included a 7-yard target that was fired standing and using a two-hand hold. Shots were fired as fast as I could get a sight picture. I didn't have a timer with me today, but I'd estimate the cadence at a couple of shots per second or so. I used the Kead 255-gr. CSWC handload as it had "enough" recoil to mimic the warmer loads tried and because I had quite a bit of it with me.

For those preferring the large-caliber, short-barreled revolver to the automatic, the Model 625 might be an option. It is not the most concealable revolver made, but I believe it would prove a capable performer in a fight.

Chronograph Results: 10 shots were fired for each load listed. Shooting was done 10' from the chronograph screens.

S&W Model 625 w/3" Bbl:

Load:	Average Velocity (ft/sec):	Extreme Spread (ft/sec):	Std. Deviation (ft/sec):
.45 Auto Rim
Corbon 160-gr. DPX	1052	72	25
200-gr. Sierra Comp*	707	40	13
200-gr. Speer JHP **	858	49	18
Corbon 230-gr. FMJ	801	36	11
Kead 255-gr. SWC ***	810	65	20
.45 ACP w/moon clips
Corbon 185-gr. DPX +P	972	24	10
Winchester USA 230-gr. FMJ	797	25	9
Win. Ranger 230-gr. RA45T	843	31	10
Federal 230-gr. HST +P	921	32	11

*Handload: Sierra 200-gr. Competition JFP/4.2-gr. Bullseye/WLP Primer/R-P Cases/LOA: 1.17"

**Handload: Speer 200-gr. JHP/7.2-gr. Unique/WLP Primer/R-P Cases/LOA: 1.18"

***Handload: Kead 255-gr. LSWC/6.0-gr. Unique/WLP Primer/R-P Cases/LOA: 1.20"

No expansion testing was done. For those interested on how these bullets perform, here are some links that might be of use:

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/Corbon%20.45%20ACP.htm

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/Corbon%20160%20gr%20DPX.htm

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/Corbon%2045%20AR%20DPX%20Ammo%20Test.htm

The expanding ammunition used in today's shooting has pretty well proven itself to be reliable in the case of the Corbon DPX. Likewise, Winchester's Ranger line of jacketed hollow points as well as the new Federal HydraShok 230-gr. HST, which has be designed to expand even if encountering intermediate barriers. I used the +P version today. This new bullet does not have the post long associated with the company's older HydraShok ammunition.

Velocity Comparisons with Other Handguns: For those loads I've shot in other firearms, I've included a table showing average velocities, all based on 10 shots fired 10' from the chronograph screen. The gun is listed with its barrel length (inches) in parenthesis next to it. All velocities are in ft/sec.

.45 AR/ACP Velocities in Different Bbl lengths:

Load:	M625(3")	M625(5")	Colt Defender (3")	SIG-Sauer P220 (4 1/4")	Kimber Classic (5")	Caspian 1911 (6")
CB 160-gr. DPX AR	1052	1108	1082*	N/A	N/A	N/A
200-gr. Sierra**	707	697	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
200-gr.Speer**	858	873	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
255-gr. SWC**	810	860	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
CB 185-gr. DPX +P ACP	972	N/A	N/A	1062	1100	N/A
Win. 230-gr. FMJ	797	804	765	771	822	863
Win. 230-gr. RA45T Ranger	843	N/A	797	857	880	950

*The figure shown for the Colt Defender is with their .45 ACP "Compact Gun Load." This is the same load as the .45 Auto Rim 160-gr. DPX. The only difference is the rim on the AR case.

**Handloads. (These have been listed previously.)

I could have included more loads in .45 ACP, but would have had to use different guns, some with 5" tubes or 4 1/4" to do it. It would have required a table with far too many columns. In any event, I thought it might be of interest and show that while rules of thumb for velocity changes per inch of barrel length may in general be "ball park correct," it's not a hard, cold fact. Even handguns of the same make and model can have significantly different velocities for the same load!

Conclusion & Observations: It appears that this later rendition of the 625 also groups well with more than one load. It appears not to be picky about what it will group…at least so far. I was pleasantly surprised that bullets in the 200 to 255-gr. range had almost identical points of impact out to 15 yards. Only with the very light-for-caliber 160-gr. DPX did we see a lower or different point of impact for the same point of aim. At closer ranges, it would probably not matter.

Due to the short .45 ACP/AR case length, ejection is positive whether done vigorously or slowly, something important if the revolver is being used for self-protection. Though there were no instances of any auto rim hull getting beneath the extractor, this is made impossible if using ACP cases with moon clips.

At the same time, the moon clips do add two extra steps in shooting the revolver: loading and unloading the clips. I use an inexpensive tool I bought years ago from Ranch Products to remove the fired hulls from the moon clips.

With Corbon's DPX loads available in .45 AR, the revolver, effective self-defense factory ammo can be purchased which precludes moon clips altogether with extra ammunition being carried in HKS speedloaders. I find the moon clips quicker to use, but less suitable for carrying unless in a carrier of some sort to prevent their being bent. It is my understanding that speedloader carriers normally holding a single speedloader can carry one or sometimes two moon clips.

The double-action trigger pull on this revolver seems a little heavier than on the normal N-frame; smooth to be sure, but a little heavier. I am told that this is to insure 100% ignition reliability. If a moon clip is somehow bent slightly and holding the cartridge slightly rearward from cylinder, the firing pin has to push it against the rear of the cylinder and still have enough power to detonate the primer. That said, DA shooting with this revolver was no problem.

My 3" Model 625 did exhibit considerably greater muzzle flip than my 5" gun. I was somewhat surprised at how much difference that extra 2" of barrel and shroud made. Recoil was not "bad" by any means, but there was more "torque" when firing.

As expected there were no malfunctions of any kind and all rounds fired without incident. Firing pin strikes were well centered and there were no flattened primers on either of the +P loads. Ejection was easy and no cases stuck. Most could have been shaken out of the cylinder w/o using the ejector rod at all.

But what purpose does a short barrel N-frame serve?

For its size and weight, a flatter semiautomatic can be more easily concealed and offer more shots to boot! For a holster gun, the 4 or 5" barrels offer more sight radius and increased velocity with most loads and probably less felt recoil and/or muzzle flip.

Speaking only for myself, it offers "neatness". It is something a bit different, a little more compact than its longer barreled cousins while still offering practical accuracy. The shorter barrel combined with its 45-caliber bore offer a gaping muzzle for the serious consideration of anyone "earning" the "right" to look down it!

More important to me is that I just enjoy shooting these revolvers. They are accurate and can be loaded with light to more potent loads w/o functioning concerns. I used my 5" one for years when shooting ammunition that was just not feed reliable in certain .45 automatic pistols.

At the same time, these revolvers can be effective defensive arms, albeit not the most concealable ones.

The Eagle Secret Service grips worked fine on this Model 625. They didn't interfere with either the use of HKS speedloaders or moon clips when using ACP ammunition.

My 3" Model 625-6 uses an internal firing pin, one that is not mounted on the hammer while my older 625 has the hammer-mounted firing pin. I noticed no differences in ignition reliability. Given a preference, the shorter 625 would also have the firing pin on the hammer only because it is easier to examine that way.

I like this revolver more than I expected I would. Most of its diet will be the 255-gr. CSWC handload, but if loading it for more serious issues, at this time I'll go with the Federal 230-gr. HST +P. Recoil was not significantly more than with the standard pressure 230-gr. Winchester Ranger, but the velocity gain was enough more to warrant a bit more "kick", at least to me. IF the 160-gr. Corbon DPX didn't hit a little low, I'd go with it as recoil is minimal and I'm convinced that the DPX bullet is one of the very best available. With this revolver, using the heavier +P expanding bullet allows me the same POI as with the inexpensive handload so that I don't have to mess with the adjustable rear sight at all.

I suspect that I'll be keeping this revolver. It packs enough "hootus" to deal with anything to be dealt with in my neck of the woods. ("Hootus" is a scientific term for "whammy". Both of these terms are integral in discussions of "stopping power.")

If you like large caliber revolvers as well as .45 automatics, one of these might be worth looking into.

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COMMENTARY CONTINUED - AUG. 13, 2008

WELCOME TO THE NO BS ZONE OF TEDDY JACOBSON

Revealed: Iraq Contracts Cost Taxpayers At Least $85 Billion

Quick Read

UPDATED - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 13, 2008

Its not often that I have the energy or the time to type a long personal commentary but now its time to say a few things in behalf of Americans that not only love their country but come from and were raised in the America that is no longer here. We are still very much pro Americans but we can no longer be the Policemen of the world with our military in about 60 countries. SADLY OUR MILITARY IS BROKEN, IT NEEDS TO BE REPAIRED. WE CAN NOT SUSTAIN ANOTHER FRONT ON THE GROUND WITH NATIONAL GUARD PEOPLE.

Our borders remain open and our politicians as a rule do not care, sure they have their own personal agenda of getting richer but as far as you and I are concerned we will be left to fend for our selves in due time. ITS ALL ABOUT OIL AND POWER AND MONEY, IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN. We must prepare to survive on our own.

OUR TWO INNOCENT BORDER PATROL AGENTS CAMPIOS AND RAMON ARE STILL IN JAIL AND THE POLITICIANS EXCEPT FOR A FEW LIKE REP. TANCREDO AND RORBACHER AND TED POE DO NOT CARE - WHY ?? WHY ??? THIS ALONE HAS WORRIED ME SOMETHING TERRIBLE.

WHERE IS THE AMERICA THAT I GREW UP IN, WHAT HAPPENED TO LOVE OF G-D AND COUNTRY AND NOT OIL AND POWER AND MONEY FOR THE ELITE.

The best time that I can honestly remember was my life in the 50's - I made $12.00 per week, I had a used bicycle and we had no TV and no air conditioning. We had no electronics of any kind but a simple tube radio. After school I worked in a butcher shop for 3 years delivering orders in all types of weather on a bike. That was my life, I was mostly a street kid, not home very much but it was a good life for me. The streets of Brooklyn taught me a great deal of how to survive.

I remember that there were very few gas stations but gas was about 9.9 cents per gallon. Of course my dreams of ever owning a car were beyond my comprehension with the pennies that I made. There was alternate parking in Brooklyn, each day you had to move your car to the other side of the street if you owned one so the street sweeper could clean the streets. Signs were posted every where.

If there was a fire you had to walk to a corner where there was a fire box that was free standing with a large pull handle. It was all painted in RED. If you needed a phone you had to walk many blocks in order to locate a pay phone and hope it still worked, it went from five cents up to ten cents when they raised it for each local call.

BUT there was a true belief in G-D and a love of country that does not exist today. Immigrants that came from all over the world tried to conform to the American way of life, they all wanted to learn English as there was no future for them without learning the language of the land of America.

The Police were ruthless and they were corrupt in my opinion and no one talked back to them, it was that simple. They were poorly armed but they commanded respect. They all carried 38 special revolvers using 158 grain lead bullets and carried spare ammunition exposed in a looped belt, you could see many cartridges were corroded but no one cared.

In Canarsie Brooklyn many bodies were left there by the Mafia and no big deal was ever made of it, at least these organized crime people would never kill women or children like they do today. In those days it was just business as usual.

I went to many schools and I had my share of problems but I learned to resolve them. Brooklyn was sectioned off in street gangs and they were territorial and you had to be careful. But with no money and all our problems there was still a tremendous loyalty to G-D and AMERICA that is long gone.

This country has now turned away from G-D and now you see the results of what prophecy is going to do to us. If you do dot believe me just read LEVITICUS - Chapter 26, Verse 19,20 ----- this tells you that G-D has already broken the pride of our power and it is meant for three countries, the US and the UK which is now down to a 25 ship navy and ISRAEL that is now run by EREV RAV TRAITORS. Payback from G-D will be hell on earth. IT IS HAPPENING NOW.

If you really want to know the details of what G-D is going to do to the three countries I mentioned please read the entire chapter in DEUTERONOMY - CHAPTER 28. This is certainly no laughing matter.

The next three months will be very bad. August has always been my worst month. I do not have much immediate family left anymore, just my wife and son and dog. I have learned to accept G-D's will regardless of what we are in store for.

I can never vote for a Democrat because of their agenda but most of the Republicans are not of my ideology or that of our creator. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES IS NOT JUST A PIECE OF PAPER. Look how many superb American soldiers have sacrificed their lives for this piece of paper.

We are on the road to destruction, we no longer manufacture anything in this country, we have been sold out by greedy men and women that can not take their money and power with them to the next world. Next time you see a funeral procession I want you to look for the Armored car carrying that dead persons money and valuables to their grave.

I see no point in antagonizing Russia by inserting weapons and military instructors into their broken satellite countries - this is all on their southern border. LETS NOT FORGET when JFK almost went to war when Russia sent missiles to CUBA. Only this time its all about oil and more oil. CASPIAN SEA OIL.

I am an ole bird now, I can only think of what used to be while our borders remain open and our government sends our military troops around the world when we need them 5 hours south of here. Can you please explain this to me. Who in there right mind would want to be a border patrol agent when our agents are in jail for about 11 and 12 years.

COMMENTARY CONTINUED; 8-13-08

Lets go back to New York for a short time and let me explain how it is laid out for those that do not know. I am not as educated as most of you so I like to break things down and make them easy to understand. New York consists of five boroughs and Brooklyn is just one of them. When I lived there the population was about two million people just in Brooklyn alone so we are talking about a very congested area where people in the 50's got along some what. Life was hard and not many people made much money.

The Brooklyn Dodgers were a big thing to see in Ebetts field and I have been there many times, I have been to see all the famous players but never had the interest that most of you have. I was not a friendly kid as life was too hard but in order to survive one learned to cope with the streets or you never could make it and come out strong. One school I went I had to take 4 trains each way in order to get there, but when you are young it did not matter.

I saw Crazy Joey Gallo all the time because he was only three blocks away from where I lived and the Police were definitely afraid of him. This in itself is a very long story. And then there was Arnold Shuster who told the Police where to find Willie the actor Sutton and Arnold was gunned down at his front door in Boro Park for squeeling to the Police. These stories never end. I went to High school with Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond, never saw them but they were in the same school with 8000 kids. Corruption in New York was the American way, to survive you had to be like the three monkeys that see no evil and speak no evil and hear no evil.

Coming back to present day we have all been had by greed and lies and deceit and corruption that is beyond my comprehension. There are about 160 countries in this world give or take, my figures are not exact. This world is run by about 115 greedy and corrupt people that have started many years ago to organize a new world order. They are bound and determined to control six to seven billion people and make all the money and they must control the oil and food and what ever else it takes at any cost.

Right now there are some major obstacles in their plan. Putin of Russia is KGB and is not a person to fool with and he is now redefining his borders. Russia now controls all the natural gas that goes into Europe for there use. America basically does have some what of a control of the tankers that control the flow of crude oil in the world which can move it. MOST ALL THE SEA GATES HAVE BEEN LOST. You must understand there is no immediate replacement for crude oil as there are approx. 400 by-products made from crude oil such as plastic and nylon and they use it in asphalt and the list is endless. Without oil this world is finished.

The old testament states that "ASHERS FOOT IS DIPPED IN OIL" and "ISRAEL WEALTH SHALL COME FROM BELOW" - that is why the ZION oil company is digging and searching for a major oil find in Israel exactly where the Bible says it is. Right now there are pipe lines into Israel that are kept quiet and this world is so complex that we do not even know a fraction of what is really going on behind the scenes. Look at all the UFO sightings - these people are not crazy - ask your self where could alien space craft really hide in minutes, the answer is under the seas.

Its not easy for me to type long commentaries but if I break it up into days I can do it. MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT CURRENT EVENTS RIGHT NOW, THINGS ARE NOW BEING CONTROLLED BY G-D. He has seen the corruption of man and is fed up and there will be no peace, G-D will resolve this final resolution on his terms in short order. This country as well as most of the world has strayed away from the teachings of Moses and the TEN commandments and its time for G-D to act, which is what he is doing right now, only its going to get much worse before it gets better.

REMEMBER in our world we go by time - this means that we use a clock and a calendar and everything is dated BUT ON THE OTHER SIDE THERE IS NO CONCEPT OF TIME, THAT IS WHY WE CAN NOT UNDERSTAND THE TIME TABLE THAT G-D HAS.

Let me prove my point about crude oil, this country is super rich in crude oil, the crooked politicians will not let you drill in your own country. Do a search on google for GULL ISLAND OIL and you will see a major find in this country that was found and drilled and capped and its now "HANDS OFF" - WHY ??

Here is the killer, even if you get more crude, you do not, repeat YOU DO NOT have the refining capacity to convert any more crude oil in this country. NO NEW REFINERIES HAVE BEEN BUILT IN THIS COUNTRY FOR ABOUT 35 YEARS. What will you do with more crude oil, nothing. answer is nothing. This was done deliberately by crooked people in government.

American soldiers are superbly trained but do you think that they can go into a war against the killer mindset of third world crazy fighters that are not only high on drugs but they do not have to worry about being court martialed by their government. The American National Guard troops did not always join for the fight in a foreign nation, they had another agenda like school and a monthly pay check and benefits etc, etc. Our national guard belong on our border to keep illegal aliens out of this country. Some National guard troops are in their 40's and 50's age wise and are on their 3rd and 4th tour over in the sandbox. THIS ALONE IS INSANITY.

To sum it all up you must decide for your self, just think it through, how come I understand so much - I DO NOT KNOW, I ALWAYS HAVE. We have not won a major war since 1945, and you must always remember what President Dweight D. Eisenhower said - "BEWARE OF THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX"

Do you know which company paved all the roads for "LBJ" in Vietnam" it was Brown and Root owned by Halliburton a family business.

WHAT ABOUT OUR SOUTHERN BORDER, WHAT WOULD WE SAY IF THE RUSSIANS STARTED TO ARM THE MEXICANS AND THE CUBANS LIKE WE ARE ARMING POLAND AND GEORGIA ETC. WHY DOES NOT ANY ONE CARE ABOUT OUR SOUTHERN BORDER AS WE REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN BROUGHT IN TO BE USED AS WEAPONS AGAINST US. THESE WEAPONS COULD HAVE EVEN BEEN BROUGHT IN BY DIPLOMATS AS YOU CAN NOT SEARCH A DIPLOMATIC TRUNK OR CAR OR WHAT EVER IS PROTECTED UNDER DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY.

Read your Bible and seal your primers and pray to your G-D.

Teddy

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Troops from Atlanta will train in Republic of Georgia

By MONI BASU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/14/08

A large contingent of Georgia Army National Guard soldiers flew to the Republic of Georgia on Sunday for joint military exercises at a time when tension is brewing in the region.

The soldiers, mostly from the metro area, will be part of "Immediate Response 2008," which will amount to the largest U.S. footprint on the crossroads of Asia and Europe since the Cold War began.

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Jumblatt deserts Lebanon’s pro-Western camp, signs pact with pro-Iranian Hizballah

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

August 13, 2008, 1:38 PM (GMT+02:00)

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt

The fervently pro-US, pro-Israeli Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, has decided to hold out no longer. He has thrown in his lot with the most extreme pro-Syrian, pro-Iranian, anti-Israel force in Lebanon, the Shiite Hizballah, which has gained veto power over the government in Beirut unopposed.

DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources disclose that over last weekend, Jumblatt quietly signed a “defense cooperation pact” with Hassan Nasrallah, affording Hizballah a strong foothold in the Lebanese Druze bastion of Mt. Chouf.

Drawing the hostile noose around northern Israel ever tighter, Lebanese president Michel Sleiman was due in Damascus Wednesday, Aug. 13, to celebrate the thaw in relations between the two countries.

Neither Israeli ministers, sunk in an acrimonious contest over the succession to Ehud Olmert, nor the United States in the dying days of the Bush presidency, have lifted a finger to arrest Lebanon’s swift slide into the Iranian-Syrian orbit.

Jumblatt, after watching pro-Western strategic positions crumble in his country, decided to join forces with Hizballah to shield his ancestral mountain domain from Syrian domination.

The Druze and Hizballah militias agreed to set up a joint commission for coordinating military operations. Hizballah is represented by its security and intelligence commander, Wafiq Shafa (who was in change of the recent prisoner swap with Israel) and the Druzes by Akram Shahaib.

The joint security patrols for the Druze communities of the Chouf, will also give Hizballah a military presence on its third strategic Lebanese peak, after Mt. Sannine and Jebel Barukh.

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U.S. puts brakes on Israeli plan for attack on Iran nuclear facilities

By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: U.S., nuclear program, Iran

The American administration has rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

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Russia masses naval force opposite Georgia’s third sensitive region, Ajaria

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

August 12, 2008, 11:41 PM (GMT+02:00)

Georgian president addresses mass rally in Tbilisi

While the world’s attention was fixed on the Russian-Georgian contest over two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources reveal that Russia has massed a fleet of warships and marine forces opposite the Gerogia's semi-autonomous Black Sea region of Ajaria.

Moscow is preparing to punish what it regards as Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili’s further provocations by occupying this coastal strip on Georgia’s southwestern border with Turkey.

The appearance of Ukraine’s president Viktor Yushchenko alongside Saakashvili, leaders of the pro-Western Orange and Rose Revolutions, at a huge national rally outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi Tuesday night, Aug. 12, may well be seen by the Kremlin as over the top. It came hours after Russian President Dimitry Medvedev’s gesture to the European mediation bid of ordering the Russian military operation in Georgia halted there and then.

Half of Ajaria’s ethnically Georgian population professes Islam, in contrast to the country’s Christian majority. The other half is Russian.

Ajarian has come to mean a Georgian Muslim.

The Russian Black Sea buildup is deployed opposite the Ajurian capital of Batumi, an important port for the shipment of oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Its oil refinery handles Caspian oil from Azerbaijan.

When Saakashvili was elected president five years ago, the region’s leaders refused to recognize his authority and maintained close ties with Moscow up until May 2004 when, after Ajurians demonstrated against Tbilisi, he ordered them to obey the Georgian constitution and disarm.

Russia maintained a military base at Batumi which it agreed to close by November 2007.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that by recovering the base, Moscow will not only punish the Georgian president, but also profit from the turmoil of the past week in three ways:

1. A third semi-autonomous province will be hacked off Georgian territory after the loss of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

2. Russia will gain a strategic Black Sea foothold at Turkey’s back door.

3. It will also control a gateway to Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

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War Threatens Key Pipeline For Crude Oil

By Guy Chazan and Benoit Faucon

Word Count: 584 | Companies Featured in This Article: BP

The conflict in Georgia is placing grave doubt on the country's reliability as an energy corridor bringing Caspian crude to global oil markets.

Some 1.2 million barrels of oil a day flow through Georgia, 1.4% of global crude supply. Attacks could send shockwaves through the world-wide supply chain. Alarm was triggered over the weekend by reports that Russian planes had bombed near a pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, or BTC, which brings 850,000 barrels of oil a day from Azerbaijan's Caspian oilfields through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.

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Col. Sam Gardiner notes, in an interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to South Ossetia. The SS-21 Missile launchers are relatively small compared to bombs that have already been used against Georgia by the Russian air force. However, this move does indicate Russia is potentially upping the game from a conventional weapons war to a tactical nuclear weapons war. Gardiner notes that at a news conference on Sunday, the US Deputy National Security advisor has noted these weapons arriving.
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August 10, 2008

War In Georgia: The Oil Angle

News reports indicate that Russia may have tried to bomb the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs through Georgia. If so, the bombs missed, and flow of oil through the pipeline was not interrupted. The BTC pipeline runs from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey; note Russia to the north and Iran to the south:

The BTC pipeline runs through Georgia, well south of South Ossetia:

The pipeline, in which British Petroleum is the lead partner, can carry up to one million barrels of oil per day. It is of considerable strategic significance, as it is the only means by which countries in the region like Azerbaijan can get their oil into the international market without relying on Russia. The Daily Mail writes:

It is crucial to the world’s volatile energy market and the only oil and gas route that bypasses Russia’s stranglehold on energy exports from the region.

In 2002, when the pipeline was being planned, the BBC reported:

BTC is said to be an effective alternative to Russia's pipeline network. ... [O]il experts believe political considerations played a major role in the choice of the route.

American officials prefer a route that would weaken Russia's stranglehold on regional pipeline network and leave Iran on the sidelines. Local governments want less dependency on big regional powers, too.

"This pipeline is of strategic importance not only to Azerbaijan, but to the other new independent states as well", says Ilham Shaban, oil analyst in Baku. "This is a reliable way to the world markets. Take Turkmenistan with its huge resources of natural gas and no access to the world markets. As a result, The Turkmens have to sell their gas 2.5 times cheaper than the world price."

Turkmenistan could join a gas pipeline which is likely to be built alongside BTC to the Turkish town of Erzurum.

That natural gas pipeline has now been built immediately adjacent to the BTC oil pipeline and is called the South Caucasus Pipeline. It has a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters per year. Plans are now being laid to connect Turkmenistan's vast natural gas reserves to the SCP:

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are central to the EU’s plans to reduce its energy reliance on Russia which supplies a quarter of Europe’s needs. ... Both the Azeri and Turkmen leaders said they wanted to improve relations and diversify their export routes — a natural move, analysts said. The vast majority of Turkmenistan’s gas currently travels north to Europe through Russia’s network of pipes.

Because the BTC pipeline gives the USSR's former breakaway republics a way to deliver their petroleum to the world market without relying on Russia, Russia "steadfastly opposed" its construction, recognizing that "the new conduit stands to severely weaken Russia’s grip on regional energy exports."

For these reasons, it would be of enormous strategic benefit to Russia if it could reassert dominance over Georgia, or merely have an opportunity to demonstrate to Turkmenistan and Azerbaijain that any means of getting their petroleum products to market independent of Russia may be unreliable. These issues are a key subtext to Russia's conflict with Georgia and Georgia's desire to join NATO, and otherwise seek protection from the West.

One can only imagine the astonishment and glee with which Russia's leaders are observing Nancy Pelosi's nearly hysterical determination to prevent the United States from developing its own oil resources, and the fecklessness of Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama in the face of their aggression against an American ally.

UPDATE: This report appears to confirm that Russia has targeted the pipeline:

Deep craters pockmark the landscape south of the Georgian capital Tblisi in a Y-shaped pattern straddling the British-operated pipeline. The attack left two deep holes less than 100 yards either side of a pressure vent on the pipeline. Shrapnel of highly engineered munitions litters the area.

There was no visible damage to the pipeline. ...

Local police recorded 51 strikes. "I have no doubt they wanted to target the pipeline, there is nothing else here," said Giorgi Abrahamisvili, a policeman who witnessed the attack.

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It's all about oil

If this war was taking a bite out of Exxon or the House of Saud, a ceasefire would have been imposed.

I can't tell you how it started - this war has been fought since the Levites clashed with the Philistines - but I can tell you why the current mayhem has not been stopped: it's the oil.

I'm not an expert on Palestine or Lebanon, and I would rather not pretend to be one. If you want to know what's going on, read Robert Fisk. He lives there. He speaks Arabic. Stay away from pundits whose only connection to the Middle East is the local falafel stand.

So why am I writing now? The answer is that, while I don't speak Arabic or Hebrew, I am completely fluent in the language of petroleum.

You don't need a degree in geology to know that there's no oil in Israel, Palestine or Lebanon. (A few weeks ago, I was joking around with Afif Safieh, the Palestinian Authority's ambassador to the US, asking him why he was fighting to have a piece of the only place in the Middle East without oil. Well, there's no joking now.)

Let's begin with the facts we can agree on: the berserkers are winning. Crazies discredited only a month ago are now in charge, guys with guns bigger than brains and souls smaller still. Here's a list:

1. Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, whose approval rating in June was down to a Bush level of 35%. His poll numbers among Israeli voters have now more than doubled (to 78%) as he does his bloody John Wayne "cleanin' out the varmints" routine. But let's not forget: Olmert can't pee without George Bush's approval. Bush could stop Olmert tomorrow. He hasn't.

2. Hezbollah, a political party rejected overwhelmingly by Lebanese voters sickened by their support of Syrian occupation, holds a mere 14 seats out of 128 in the nation's parliament. Hezbollah was facing demands by both Lebanon's non-Shia majority and the UN to lay down arms; few Lebanese would now suggest taking away their rockets. But let's not forget: without Iran, Hezbollah is just a fundamentalist street gang. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, could stop Hezbollah's rockets tomorrow. He hasn't.

3. Hamas, just days before it kidnapped Israeli soldiers, was facing certain political defeat at the hands of a Palestinian majority ready to accept the existence of Israel as proposed in a manifesto for peace talks penned by influential Palestinian prisoners. Now the Hamas rocket brigade is back in charge. But let's not forget: Hamas is broke and a joke without the loot and authority of Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah could stop these guys tomorrow. He hasn't.

Why not? Why haven't those we laughably call the "leaders" of the US, Iran and Saudi Arabia called back their delinquent spawn, cut off their allowances and grounded them for six months?

Maybe because mayhem and murder in the Middle East are very, very profitable to the sponsors of these characters with bombs and rockets. America, Iran and Saudi Arabia have one thing in common: they are run by oil regimes. The higher the price of crude, the higher the profits; and the higher the profits, the happier the presidents and princelings of these petroleum republics.

This Thursday, Exxon is expected to report the highest second-quarter earnings of any corporation since the days of the pharaoh: $9.9bn in pure profit collected in just three months. This is courtesy of an oil shortage caused by pipelines on fire in Iraq, warlord attacks in Nigeria, the lingering effects of the sabotage of Venezuela's oil system by a 2002 strike ... The list goes on.

Exxon's Brobdingnagian profits simply reflect the cold axiom that oil companies and oil states make their loot not by finding oil but by finding trouble. Finding oil increases supply, and increased supply means decreased price; finding trouble, however, - wars, coups d'etat, hurricanes, whatever - can disrupt supply, raising the price of oil.

A couple of examples from today's Bloomberg newswire:

Crude oil traded above $75 a barrel in New York as fighting between Israeli and Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon entered its 14th day ... Oil prices rose last month on concern that supplies from Iran, the world's fourth largest producer, may be disrupted in its dispute with the United Nations over its uranium enrichment.

And, according to a trader:

'I still think $85 is likely this summer. I'm really surprised we haven't seen any hurricanes.'

In Tehran, Ahmadinejad may or may not have a plan to make a nuclear bomb. But he sure as heck knows that hinting at it raises the price of the one thing he certainly does have: oil. Every time he barks, Mad Mahmoud knows he's pumping up the price of crude. Just a $10-a-barrel "blow-up-in-the-Middle East" premium brings his regime nearly $0.25bn each week (including the little kick to the value of Iran's natural gas). Not a bad payoff for making a bit of trouble.

Saudi Arabia's rake-in? Assuming just a $10-a-barrel boost for Middle Eastern mayhem, you can calculate that the blood in the sand puts an extra $658m a week in Abdullah's hand.

And in Houston, you can hear the cash registers jingle as explosions in Kirkuk, Beirut and the Niger delta sound like the sleigh bells on Santa's sled. At $75.05 a barrel, they don't call it "sweet" crude for nothing. That's up 27% from a year ago. The big difference between then and now: the rockets' red glare.

Exxon's second-quarter profits may bust records, but next quarter's should put those to shame, as the "Lebanon premium" and Iraq's insurgency have puffed up prices by an average of 11% in the last three months.

So there's not much incentive for the guys who supply the weaponry to tell their wards to put away their murderous toys. This war is just too darn profitable.

We are trained to think of Middle Eastern conflicts as modern flare-ups of ancient tribal animosities. But to uncover why the flames won't die, the usual rule applies: follow the money.

Am I saying that Tehran, Riyadh and Houston oil chieftains conspired to ignite a war to boost their petroleum profits? I can't imagine it. But I do wonder whether Bush would let Olmert have an extra week of bombings, or the potentates of the Persian Gulf would allow Hamas and Hizbullah to continue their deadly fireworks if by doing so they would cause the price of crude to crash.

You know and I know that if this war took a bite out of Exxon or the House of Saud, a ceasefire would be imposed quicker than you can say "Let's drill in the Arctic."

Eventually, there will be another ceasefire. But Exxon shareholders need not worry: global warming has heated the seas sufficiently to make sure they can look forward to a hellacious - and profitable - season of hurricanes.

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THE CLOCK IS TICKING

Target: America

From the August 2008 Trumpet Print Edition »

America’s advanced, complex nerve system may be its greatest strategic weakness. By Philip Nice

Power’s out. You flick the switch repetitively, still nothing. Your little clock radio is blank; you glance at your cell phone to check the time as you go to the closet. Hopefully you won’t be late for work … “No Signal.” You grab your robe and head down the hall, walking a little quicker now. Daylight is breaking, but the house is dark, the appliances dead.

The muffled sound of your neighbor’s backup generator makes its way into the foyer, so you walk over to see what the news is. Eight network channels, all static—except for two that appear to be airing reruns. Your neighbor looks worried.

You remember your car’s on empty. Whatever is going on, it couldn’t hurt to fill up your tank before people panic and start rushing the gas station. You walk back across the dewy yard, lift the garage door and drive to town, still in your pajamas and robe, wet grass clippings clinging to your feet.

Ten minutes later, you’re in a gridlock parking lot in the middle of the street—still a block and a half from the pumps. It turns out you aren’t the only one who’s worried about gasoline. You flick on the radio, now anxious to know what’s going on. More static. Finally: “Parts of the Eastern Interconnection power grid are failing this morning …. Servers for several news organizations appear to have been abruptly knocked off-line …. Rail, port and air traffic control network computer systems are experiencing glitches …. Numerous banks have temporarily suspended their electronic operations …. Reports are coming in that the Pentagon may have suffered a large cyberattack; some systems have been compromised, others are shut down to contain security breaches ….”

How the rest of this day ends is up to your imagination.

Hidden Danger equals: Digital Underground

The birthplace of the Internet, the United States, is one of the world’s most well-connected nations. Millions of Americans and other Westerners in households, businesses and government agencies use the Web to communicate, do business, transact, administrate day-to-day operations, control infrastructure, monitor world news, research, learn, navigate, shop and socialize. Even infrastructure and government functions, including the United States military, rely on the network. Time- and money-saving network solutions define your world. That’s the good news. And the bad news.

Beneath the everyday hum of businessmen, students, bankers, typists, graphic designers, web programmers, network administrators and other Internet dependents that you can see lies a digital underground that you can’t. In the same way the real world has an illicit and unseen criminal underground, human nature plays out the same way online. Below the global online community’s slick and shiny interface is a world of code—the gears inside the clock. To you, it would look like gibberish, but programmers can read and write it. So can hackers.

Although some use their expertise for benign or even constructive purposes, generally speaking hackers are programmers who use their knowledge of coding and programming to engage in illicit activities ranging from simply viewing sensitive material and playing practical jokes to blackmail, theft and sabotage. In some cases, hackers have brought down business websites, and security programmers have been helpless to restore service. The sites only went back online when the businesses paid their attackers to stop.

Software makers and online security companies are constantly reacting to these threats with “patches” that cover up one vulnerability while hackers move on to find others.

Right now, hackers around the world are writing programs that are searching for unprotected areas of code, finding them and silently slipping past security. Then, they use their imaginations: recording the keystrokes of unsuspecting users, crashing programs, overloading websites, ripping off passwords, stealing account numbers—constantly, silently, anonymously. And their reach increases every time a new computer plugs in.

If you buy a computer this evening, bring it home and plug a network cable into it, chances are it will be compromised within five minutes. You won’t know it, but automated hacker programs will already have found your computer and begun diverting some of your processing power and using your computer’s identity to mask their own activities, which include sending unwanted e-mail advertisements, overloading targeted servers and taking over yet more computers. Constantly updating your antivirus software will help keep incursions to a minimum, but there are no guarantees. In fact, some initial network security downloads take longer to install than it takes for a hacker’s program to penetrate your system.

Generally, hackers aren’t necessarily able to read your e-mail or steal your files. That typically occurs only if someone targets you directly. But when that happens, usually to a larger organization, hackers can be in and out with the information they want and without leaving a trace in under 20 minutes. Or they can disrupt, falsify or outright destroy it.

The New Battlefield equals: Cyberwar

That’s cybercrime, instigated by a largely unorganized group of hackers with varying skills and motivations. But what about all-out cyberwarfare? The potential effects are much more catastrophic. This Internet underworld is the 21st century’s newest battleground.

China, Russia, even Islamist terrorists are beginning to wage a new kind of war here, in an environment where a desktop computer can put your agenda on a level playing field with the world’s only superpower. It’s a cheap, powerful equalizer. And when it comes to the havoc a cyberassault could bring, especially when coupled with a real-world attack, there’s nothing virtual about it.

Case study: What happens when you combine a well-connected, Internet-dependent nation, a hostile enemy, hacker mercenaries and an unpopular political decision? You get Estonia. Surprisingly well-connected, Estonians use the Web heavily in everyday life: for their banking transactions (almost all of them), communications, news, shopping, reservations, theater tickets and more. There, Internet access is legally considered a human right; even parliamentary votes are conducted online.

In April 2007, the government relocated a Soviet-era statue, infuriating ethnic Russians inside and outside of Estonia, as well as the Kremlin.

Within 24 hours, hackers began probing Estonia’s online defenses to test their limits. Then, they blasted key computer targets with information overloads. Parliament’s e-mail crashed, websites for major political parties were hijacked, and a counterfeit letter appeared from the prime minister apologizing for removing the statue. Then, hackers began overloading routers and switches across the country. Two major banks had to shut down operations, losing millions, and half of the nation’s news outlets were knocked out. Most servers had to be disconnected, and the rest were so busy trying to protect themselves that Estonia’s Internet in essence stopped functioning.

After more than a week of crippling cyberattacks, the assault subsided and Estonian online security officials along with foreign experts were able to restore service. They also traced some of the machines used in the attack back to Russian government offices. Moscow denied involvement, and the government machines themselves could have been compromised and controlled by hackers elsewhere, but the lesson remains: Do not underestimate the real-world power of hackers in large numbers.

Target equals: America’s Achilles Heel

The Pentagon doesn’t. Every day, its electronic defenses take hits from hundreds of cyberattacks, some of which have been successful. Since 2006, the virulence and volume of attacks have surged dramatically. Electronic attacks on the Department of Homeland Security have tripled over the last two years, and those on military networks have increased 55 percent. One former high-ranking national security official called it “espionage on a massive scale.” In June 2007, an assault forced the Department of Defense to take as many as 1,500 computers offline, downing the Pentagon’s unclassified e-mail system. In other cases, top-flight military units have been hacked, and the Pentagon’s network vulnerabilities, detailed maps of Department of Defense facilities, and U.S. military war plans have been posted on the Web for the world to see. In 2007, a breach at the State Department put cia agents around the world at risk.

Perhaps the most worrying trend is that numerous attacks appear to be coming from foreign nations that are enemies of the United States, particularly China and Russia, as well as locations in Europe. In early June, congressmen reported that hackers in China have cracked multiple computers and accessed sensitive information inside the offices of American lawmakers, right on Capitol Hill. This has been going on since 2006. BusinessWeek reported that from 1998 to 1999, hackers stole large amounts of unclassified information from the Defense Department, nasa, the Energy Department and numerous weapons labs (April 10). The destination for some of the data was inside Russia. In 2004, hackers thought to be in China stole classified data from defense contractor Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Labs and nasa. Last year, China struck again, as reported by BusinessWeek: “2007. A new form of attack, using sophisticated technology, deluges outfits from the State Dept. to Boeing. Military cyber security specialists find the ‘resources of a nation-state behind it’ and call the type of attack an ‘advanced persistent threat.’ The breaches are detailed in a classified document known as an Intelligence Community Assessment. The source of many of the attacks, allege U.S. officials, is China. China denies the charge” (ibid.).

The U.S. administration recognizes the gravity of the cyberthreat and is spending tens of billions of dollars to defend against it. But those who are trying to protect the nation’s security online face a mountainous task. There are a multitude of government and military agencies trying to fight cyberwarfare that must coordinate with each other as well as with the private sector, all the while tiptoeing through a maze of legal and bureaucratic red tape that restricts military and cyber security enforcement, but which hackers don’t think twice about. In comprehensive cyberattack simulations such as Cyber Storm i and ii—in which the private sector disclosed attacks quickly and yielded to a higher authority, unlikely advantages in a real-world situation—the results are typically failures.

Then there’s the sheer volume of information the U.S. has to protect. The Pentagon alone uses millions of computers on tens of thousands of networks at hundreds of sites in dozens of countries. In addition to this, U.S. defenses are tied to hundreds of private sector defense contractors. Beyond the defense establishment, hackers can and have also targeted other essential national infrastructure: electrical grids, banks, transportation systems, news networks, government agencies and important businesses.

These contractors have weapons systems and other critical secret data stored on their networks that must also be secured. Inevitably, some systems are older and more vulnerable to sophisticated new viruses, while others are improperly administered. Even up-to-date systems totally miss cleverly disguised viruses, allowing attackers to track keystrokes, take screen shots and suck out loads of information. Hackers say there’s always at least one machine unprotected. And it only takes one.

Add all this to the fact that cyberwarfare favors the attacker. The defender must always react to the assailant, who chooses the time, place and method of the attack, which is always cloaked with anonymity, could inflict virtually unlimited damage, and can be waged by as few as one person located anywhere in the world at any time. All for less than the price of one m-16.

For the sprawling, mighty United States and its military, it is a starkly naked Achilles heel. This is the one thing that could easily and rapidly bring the nation to a standstill.

The more well-connected and technologically capable we get, the more vulnerable we are.

And the West is constantly getting better-connected.

In doing so, the military necessarily must tie its systems to civilian systems, where infections are even easier to start and spread. Budget-minded planners have also opted for off-the-shelf network security products and even security software developed in foreign nations. The U.S. Army’s advanced Future Combat Systems project makes soldiers even more dependent on the network.

Answer equals: USBIP

If independent, oftentimes teenage attackers motivated by ideologies as simple as voyeurism and resentment for authority have caused and can cause so much trouble, what happens when unified, ideologically motivated terrorists and enemies with the resources of a nation-state really begin pouring it on? Estonia would be merely a trial run.

A targeted and sustained assault on just a few of the nation’s key infrastructures—some of our already-faltering financial institutions, for example—could disrupt our economy, explode investor confidence and kill the dollar. Cyberassaults on oil and energy information systems could spike fuel prices. Attacks on transportation infrastructure could delay, diffuse and disrupt the nation’s economic bloodstream. Resultant fuel, food and energy shortages could spark widespread crises and even riots that would cost billions of dollars and possibly hundreds or thousands of lives.

But outright attacks on our military’s networks, especially coupled with infrastructure damage and resulting civil upheaval, could be nationally deadly. The most advanced military in the world relies on the most complex information systems to sustain an unprecedented and ultra-complex organization of logistics. Should those systems malfunction before or during a time of national crisis, ammunition could arrive late, units could be assigned incorrectly, helicopters might never deploy—and, worst-case scenario, some of our own weapons could conceivably be retargeted.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has monitored this vulnerability since January 1995: “America is the greatest superpower this world has ever known. But we have a very vulnerable point in our military—our own Achilles heel. … Exploiting this vulnerable point may trigger the greatest shock in the history of warfare! … Computer dependence is the Western world’s Achilles heel, and within a few years this weakness could be tested to the full.”

As the basis of his analysis, Mr. Flurry pointed to a key Bible prophecy that might be fulfilled in part by cyberwarfare: “Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. … They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof” (Ezekiel 7:1-2, 14).

Even though the modern nations of Israel, including the U.S., Britain and the Jewish nation, sound an alarm of impending attack and expect their mighty armed forces to respond, “none goes to battle.” There are a variety of ways the immediate future could play out, but one thing is certain to happen: Ezekiel 7.

God has revealed these future events—as well as ultimately good news for our nations. To learn more about America’s vulnerabilities and its immediate future, request, download or read online at

theTrumpet.com Herbert W. Armstrong’s book that contains the answers to these problems as well as the awe-inspiring hope for our future: The United States and Britain in Prophecy. •

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Three major US naval strike forces due this week in Persian Gulf

August 11, 2008, 10:37 AM (GMT+02:00)

New America armada around Iran

DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the arrival of the three new American flotillas will raise to five the number of US strike forces in Middle East waters – an unprecedented build-up since the crisis erupted over Iran’s nuclear program.

This vast naval and air strength consists of more than 40 carriers, warships and submarines, some of the last nuclear-armed, opposite the Islamic Republic, a concentration last seen just before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Our military sources postulate five objects of this show of American muscle:

1. The US, aided also by France, Britain and Canada, is finalizing preparations for a partial naval blockade to deny Iran imports of benzene and other refined oil products. This action would indicate that the Bush administration had thrown in the towel on stiff United Nations sanctions and decided to take matters in its own hands.

2. Iran, which imports 40 percent of its refined fuel products from Gulf neighbors, will retaliate for the embargo by shutting the Strait of Hormuz oil route chokepoint, in which case the US naval and air force stand ready to reopen the Strait and fight back any Iranian attempt to break through the blockade.

3. Washington is deploying forces as back-up for a possible Israeli military attack on Iran’s nuclear installations.

4. A potential rush of events in which a US-led blockade, Israeli attack and Iranian reprisals pile up in a very short time and precipitate a major military crisis.

5. While a massive deployment of this nature calls for long planning, its occurrence at this time cannot be divorced from the flare-up of the Caucasian war between Russia and Georgia. While Russia has strengthened its stake in Caspian oil resources by its overwhelming military intervention against Georgia, the Americans are investing might in defending the primary Persian Gulf oil sources of the West and the Far East.

DEBKAfile’s military sources name the three US strike forces en route to the Gulf as the USS Theodore Roosevelt , the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Iwo Jima . Already in place are the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea opposite Iranian shores and the USS Peleliu which is cruising in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

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MUST SEE - GO TO

http://www.actionsbyt.typepad.com/

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« Benjamin Netanyahu warns that Kadima intends to sell off parts of Jerusalem.
(Getty Images)

Jerusalem Watch

August 8, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

Bibi meets with Shas spiritual head, Israelis believe they are headed in the wrong direction and a new front opens on the war against terrorism. By Stephen Flurry

On Sunday, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu met with the spiritual leader of the Shas party and warned him that Kadima intends to sell off parts of Jerusalem—“even to our worst enemies.” Shas, which plays an important role in keeping Kadima’s coalition together, is the ultra-Orthodox party that currently fills 12 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Without Shas, Kadima would lose its majority, increasing the possibility that Olmert’s September successor would not be able to form a coalition, which would force a general election sooner.

Whatever happens, the political soap opera is bound to attract intense media coverage, as John Gizzi points out at Human Events.com: “Syria was bombed by Israel last year to stop development of a nuclear facility allegedly built with North Korean help. The Gaza Strip bordering Israel is now ruled by the militant Palestinian faction [known] as Hamas. So the coming change in Israeli government takes on a new dimension. And if an election is to be held, it is likely to attract as much interest worldwide as that for president of the United States this fall.”

Headed in Wrong Direction, Survey Says

According to a recent survey, 60 percent of Israelis believe their nation is headed in the wrong direction. Last year, the figure was 74 percent.

The same survey found that Israelis believe their nation’s internal corruption is just as dangerous as the threat of terrorism from beyond its borders, particularly from Iran. “Israel’s leaders have been spending a lot of time speaking about the threat of Iran and about security issues like terror, but they seem to be missing a large part of the population,” the director of the survey said.

A large majority of Israelis believe they are on the wrong path and have lost confidence in their leadership to correct their course. With an Iranian bomb looming large on the horizon, could Israel’s internal corruption and division have come at a worse possible time?

Terrorism’s New Front

We linked to this story earlier this week because of how closely it mirrors what we have been saying in recent weeks here, here and here. According to Martin Sieff’s piece on Human Events.com, the U.S. government and the American media are blind to the new front that has opened up in the war against terrorism: Jerusalem. In the two bulldozer attacks this summer, only the barest of background facts were discussed in news reports, implying that the attackers were disturbed loners.

“The reality is very different,” Sieff writes. “Both attacks have to be seen in the context of a slow but steady escalation in terrorist violence against Israeli civilians and security forces over the past few months within Jerusalem itself.”

Sieff highlights several disturbing patterns that are beginning to emerge on the Jerusalem front, including this one: Instead of attacking much easier targets in East Jerusalem, all three major attacks this year have taken place on the more heavily secured and Jewish-populated western side. Why, if these are just random attacks?

He brings up several important points. Read the whole thing here.

Final Thought

In what amounts to a veiled threat, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has criticized Israel’s recent prisoner exchanges—not because he believes the terrorists should still be in jail—but because he says Israel only releases prisoners when pressured by terrorist groups.

Hoping to ease his peace partner’s “concern,” on Wednesday Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to release 150 Palestinian prisoners as a “goodwill gesture to President Abbas.” •

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RUSSIA

Bush Can Take Another Look Into Putin's `Soul': Frederick Kempe

Commentary by Frederick Kempe

June 6 (Bloomberg) -- By his own account, U.S. President George W. Bush looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes ``and saw his soul'' during their first get-together in Slovenia three months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Russian Troops Seize Military Base In Georgia... Swarms Of Russian Jets Bomb Georgian Targets... US Flies Georgian Troops Home From Iraq... Russia Rejects Georgia Cease-Fire... Georgia's President Asks For Help In The Wall Street Journal

Georgia does not act militarily without the assent of Washington.
The Georgian head of State is a US proxy and Georgia is a de
facto US protectorate.

Who is behind this military agenda? What interests are being

served? What is the purpose of the military operation.

There is evidence that the attacks were carefully coordinated

by the US military and NATO.

Moscow has accused NATO of "encouraging Georgia".

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underscored

the destabilizing impacts of "foreign" military aid to Georgia: .

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Dick Cheney: attack on Georgia 'must not go unanswered' as war expands

BY STEPHANIE GASKELL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, August 11th 2008, 2:11 AM

Kostyukov/Getty

A soldier in the disputed territory of South Ossetia cradles a child as troops move through the village of Dzhava Sunday.

Vice President Cheney bluntly warned Russia Sunday night to halt its deadly offensive against Georgia, even as the conflict escalated with new attacks on airports and civilians.

Russia's invasion "must not go unanswered," Cheney said through a spokeswoman.

Nearly 700,000 Russian troops pounded about 20,000 Georgian troops - including 2,000 pulled from fighting alongside U.S. soldiers in Iraq - as the war, begun over the disputed territory of South Ossetia, spilled over into Georgia itself.

Hundreds of civilians were killed and thousands more fled their homes Sunday.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of a "disproportionate use of force."

Russian planes bombed the airport in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, and navy boats clashed in the Black Sea. Russian forces took control of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.

"Yes, Russians control Tskhinvali," said Georgian spokesman Shota Utiashvili, who accused the Russians of "trying to cut the country in half."

President Bush, speaking from the Olympics in Beijing, warned that Russia's relations with the U.S. would be threatened if troops don't withdraw from the U.S.-backed nation of about 4.4 million.

But hopes of a ceasefire dimmed Sunday as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the U.S. that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili "must go," according to Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Saakashvili said Russia bombed the airport in Tbilisi just 30 minutes before French and Finnish envoys arrived in the country to help mediate a peace deal.

Russian troops also advanced on the Georgian city of Gori, which sits on a main highway, and reportedly bombed a major pipeline that supplies oil to the West.

"Russia has targeted not just Georgian economic outlets but international economic outlets as well," said Georgia's economic minister, Ekaterina Sharashidzne.

South Ossetia has been autonomous since splitting with Georgia in the early 1990s, though it is not recognized as an independent nation internationally.

Tensions have escalated in recent months as Russia began issuing Russian passports to South Ossetians.

Separatists in Abkhazia, another disputed Georgian region, have also joined in the fighting, threatening to make the conflict worse.
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GENESIS CHAPTER 12

ג וַאֲבָרְכָה, מְבָרְכֶיךָ, וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ, אָאֹר; וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ, כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה. 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.'