Sunday, January 31, 2016

ISIL Threatening the West




ناطق بالفرنسية في فيديو إعدام جديد لداعش

French speaker in a video about another execution by ISIL.


نشر تنظيم داعش السبت على الإنترنت شريط فيديو جديدا لعملية إعدام 5 عراقيين قتلهم بالرصاص 5 من عناصره يتقدمهم داعشي ناطق بالفرنسية توعد الغربيين بهجمات "تنسيهم" هجمات نيويورك وباريس.ـ

On Saturday [Jan.31] and in a new video placed on the internet, ISIL organization proclaimed the execution of five Iraqis shot at near distance by five of their members [while] some francophone speaker threatened Westeners with attacks ["less forgettable"] than the attacks of New York and Paris.


The execution took place in Nineveh governorate the capital of which is Mosul, now an ISIL stronghold in northern Iraq.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on January 31, 2016]

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A similar execution of 25 soldiers belonging to the army of Syrian president Assad was reported by Al-Arabiya in July 2015. The execution should have taken place on May 21, 2015, in front of an ancient Greco-Roman style ruin in the historic parts of Palmyra township which now belongs to Homs governorate, Syria.



Al-Arabiya video from July 4, 2015


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Related News on Terrorism:



الداخلية السعودية: مليون ريال لمن يدلى بمعلومات عن إرهابى

The Saudi ministry of the interior: Millions of Riyal
for those who give information about terrorism.


ورصدت وزارة الداخلية السعودية مبلغ 7 ملايين ريال مكافآة لمن يساهم فى إحباط عملية إرهابية، كما رصدت مبلغ 5 ملايين ريال أخرى لمن يكشف عن خلية إرهابية، ومليون ريال لمن ينقل معلومات عن إرهابى.ـ

The Saudi ministry of the interior provides a sum of seven million Riyal as a recompensation for those who help to foil a terrorist operation. Another sum of five million Riyal is being provided for those who reveal a terrorist cell, and one million Riyal for those who communicate information about terrorism.


3.75 Saudi Riyal SAR = 1 U.S.$ (January 2016)

[Source: Youm7 اليوم السابع, Egyptian news center, on January 31, 2016]

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Friday, January 15, 2016

Closing In on North Korea


After an alleged H-bomb test, the international community is now closing in on North Korea. Even Russia and China are willing to find a way to inhibit North Korea threatening the world with its nuclear arsenal.

Here some quotations from two related articles that appeared on January 14, 2016, on the website of a Philippine daily. Both articles are hinting at the formation of a rare alliance between the U.S., South Korea and Japan on one side as well as China and Russia on the other side.

North Korea’s U.N. mission circulated a report from the country’s news agency saying the Jan. 6 test wasn’t to “threaten” or “provoke” anyone but was indispensable to build a nuclear force “to cope with the U.S. ever-more undisguised hostile policy” toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [DPRK], the country’s official name.

It said North Korean scientists and technicians “are in high spirit to detonate H-bombs … capable of wiping out the whole territory of the U.S. all at once as it persistently moves to stifle the DPRK.”

Former Los Alamos National Laboratory director Siegfried Hecker, one of the world’s top experts on North Korea’s nuclear program, said last week he did not believe it tested “a real hydrogen bomb,” and that “North Korea is still a long way off from being able to strike the U.S. mainland.”

But Hecker, who has visited the North seven times since 2004, said in an interview with Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, that the most worrisome result of the test is that North Korea “will have achieved greater sophistication in their bomb design.” He added that “at this point, what makes their nuclear arsenal more dangerous is not so much explosive power of the bomb, but its size, weight and the ability to deliver it with missiles.”

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the U.S. mission to the United Nations.

The Security Council last approved sanctions against North Korea three weeks after its third nuclear test on Feb. 12, 2013. That resolution was largely negotiated by the United States and China, North Korea’s traditional ally.

South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye called Wednesday [i.e. January 13, 2016] for Chinese help to launch what she calls the “strongest” international sanctions on North Korea over the nuclear test.

The council diplomat said the United States, which is leading the current negotiations, is consulting closely with China but also with other council members, including Japan. The diplomat said a new resolution isn’t expected immediately, likely not in less than three weeks.


[Source: INQUIRER.net, news center related to the Philippine daily INQUIRER on January 14, 2016]

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Opinion from China:




朝鲜任性,韩国舆论怨不得中国

North Korea being headstrong, South Korea's public opinion cannot blame China.

[Source: Global Times 环球时报 on January 15. The above photo
is showing the president of South Korea while delivering a speech.]


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Washington, United States—President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin joined Wednesday [January 13, 2016] in calling for a tough global response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test, even as they remained at odds over Ukraine and Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In a wide-ranging phone call, Obama and Putin appeared to speak past one another about the situation in eastern Ukraine, according to each country’s description of the call. The White House said Obama had called for Russia to fulfill its obligations under a cease-fire deal; the Kremlin said Putin has emphasized the need for Ukraine to meet its commitments under that same deal.

On North Korea’s claim to have tested a hydrogen bomb, at least, the leaders seemed in agreement. The Kremlin said they’d agreed that if proven true, the claim would require “a tough international reaction,” while the White House said they’ve discussed the need for “a strong and united international response.” The U.S. has cast doubt on the North’s claim that its test involved a hydrogen bomb but has said whatever was tested constituted a provocative act.

Despite steep disagreements on Ukraine, Syria and other issues, Obama and Putin have continued to engage on areas where their views at least partially overlap.

The two leaders last met in person in November on the sidelines of a summit.


[Source: INQUIRER.net, news center related to the Philippine daily INQUIRER on January 14, 2016]

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Recent visitors from Russia are interested in North Korean items:





North Korea acting on the danger of chemical warfare .....



U.S. closing in on North Korea .....


Saturday, January 09, 2016

China's 2nd Aircraft Carrier


Update added on January 12 / 17, 2016:




Photo: J-15 fighter ready for take-off on China's aircraft carrier "Liaoning".


简氏:中国第二艘航母仍搭载歼15 不会同时造多艘航母

"Jane's Defence Weekly" [简氏防务周刊]:
China's 2nd mothership still in construction will carry J-15 fighters.
It is unlikely that many motherships are being built at the same time.


An article in the British weekly publication "Jane's Defence" is quoting the spokesman of China's ministry of defence and who launched the information of a second aircraft carrier for Shenyang J-15 fighters being built in addition to the already well-known carrier "Liaoning" on December 31, 2015.

[Source: People's Network 人民网 on January 9, 2016]


A brandnew video on military development in East Asia and which was launched on January 6, 2016, by IFENG 凤凰, a Chinese news center publishing in the West, delivered the following information:



陆自造航母上级——可望今年下水

Land built mothership reaches next level.
This year's launch being already in sight.

日:上海在建第三膄航母 仍难挑战美国

Japan: Third mothership already in construction in Shanghai.
[However,] it remains difficult to challenge the U.S. to battle.


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Further news on China's maritime activity:



On January 12, 2016, the Guangdong detachment of China Coast Guard introduced another surveillance ship bearing the identity number 44104. The newly released 1660 tons vessel has an overall length of 91.7 m its width being 12.3 m. It is therefore bigger than any up to now deployed coast guard vessel. The ship can operate at a maximum wind speed of 46 m/s (i.e. force 11 wind on the Beaufort scale), its radius of operation being 3000 nautical miles for a self-supporting period of 40 days. The new vessel can carry one 9c-type helicopter and is equipped with state-of-the-art satellite based electronic device.

[Source: People's Network on January 12, 2015]

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Wednesday, January 06, 2016

North Korea's Alleged H-Bomb Test


Important source added on January 9, 2015.



KCNA - Korean Central News Agency (Pyongyang, North Korea)


Today early in the morning, North Korea carried out a nuclear test that should have been the first test of a hydrogen bomb. However, Western sources still doubt it was a successful test as the announced kind of weapon should have produced a much higher effect than was detected by sophisticated seismic observation in the U.S.A..

On the same day, China's news agency XinHua compared seismic data collected in China and the U.S.A.:

另据朝中社6日报道,朝鲜最高领导人金正恩代表朝鲜劳动党于去年12月15日下达进行氢弹试验命令,并于今年1月3日签署最终命令。

On [January] 6 and according to a separate report from the Korean Central News Agency (朝鲜中央通讯社), North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong Un, on December 15 and on behalf of the North Korean Workers' Party, made known to have given the order for the test of a hydrogen bomb, and he signed the final order on January 3 [2016].

6日上午10时左右,新华社记者正在平壤市区采访,未感到震感。首都平壤街头一切正常。

On [January] 6 at about 10:00 am, a correspondent of XinHua agency, while gathering news in Pyongyang, did not feel a [seismic shock]. In the capital Pyongyang all streets [remained untouched].

中国地震台网中心网站发布信息,格林尼治时间6日1时30分(北京时间6日9时30分),朝鲜发生4.9级地震,震中位于北纬41.3度、东经129.1度,震源深度为0.0公里。 另据美国地质勘探局地震信息网报道,格林尼治时间6日1时30分(北京时间6日9时30分),朝鲜发生5.1级地震,震中位于北纬41.3085度、东经129.0337度,震源深度10.0公里。

The center for China's network of seismic stations issued information that on [January] 6 at 01:30 GMT (i.e. 09:30 Beijing local time) North Korea experienced a 4.9 degree [seismic shock], its center located at 41.3 degrees north latitude and 129.1 degrees east longitude, the [seismic] focus lying at a depth of 0.0 km.

Separately, the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Information Network reported a [seismic shock] of 5.1 degrees on [January] 6 at 01:30 GMT (09:30 Beijing Time), the seismic center being located at 41.3085 degrees north latitude and 129.0337 degrees east longitude, the focus at a depth of 10.0 km.

朝鲜此前宣布分别于2006年、2009年、2013年成功进行了3次地下核试验。

North Korea earlier declared having separately carried out three subterranean nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.


[Source: People's Network on January 6, 2016]




朝鲜试爆氢弹疑造假 当量不及原子弹

The North Korean H-bomb explosion is probably a fake.
[Strength of explosion] is not reaching an atomic bomb.


[Source: Military site of Ifeng news center on January 6, 2016]

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朝鲜宣布拥有氢弹背后意图曝光 中国迅速亮明立场

North Korea declares to possess a H-bomb
and ulterior motives are exposed to the sun.
China rapidly makes clear its position.

金正恩为何选择在此时提起氢弹?

Why did Kim Jong Un decide to raise
the item of a H-bomb just at this time ?


Last December (2015), a semi-official Chinese news source already discussed the capability of Kim Jong Un's North Korea to build a H-bomb:

据朝中社10日报道,近日,朝鲜领导人金正恩突然宣布朝鲜目前已经掌握了氢弹技术。 此番言论并未如以前金氏在朝核问题上的表态那般在国际社会引起轩然大波,只有中国 外交部第一时间作出反应,表示坚持半岛无核化立场。

According to a report from the [North] Korean Central News Agency on [December] 10 [2015], North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un unexpectedly declared that North Korea at present already controls the H-bomb technology. This remark is not [the same] like a previously stated standpoint of Kim in the frame of the North Korean nuclear subject and which caused a mighty uproar of the international community. [However] only China's ministry of foreign affairs showed a first time reaction and made clear [it would] insist on [its] position of inhibiting nuclear proliferation on the Korean peninsula. .....

朝鲜真的已经能够造出氢弹了吗?

Is North Korea really capable of building a H-bomb ?


=> Result of the Chinese article's evaluation:

在此前提下,制造以小型原子弹作为引信的氢弹难度非常之大。

From the earlier mentioned [facts] follows that difficulties [will be] unusually high to use a small-sized atomic bomb as the detonator of a H-bomb.


[Source: China.com / CRI online (China Radio International) 国际在线 on December 14, 2015]

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The war of nerves continues .....