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These chilling sketches depict life inside a North Korean prison camp. These haunting images show people being forced to stand for hours, people being forced to crawl on their hands and knees, and people being forced to feed off of rats and snakes.
The sketches included in the report, which come by way of Kim Kwang-il, a North Korean who claims he spent six years in a prison camp.
Here is a copy of the UN report which further describes the sketches in detail:
The uprising in Libya is leading to the possibility of the collapse of Qaddafi and his long time reign of power. Like Egypt, the people are pushing for more freedom and human rights. But, there is one thing that differs. Egypt had something that could step in immediately and take over, where Libya has Qaddafi and that’s it.
There is no safety catch in Libya. The military is on the side of Qaddafi, and they demonstrate their allegiance when they follow through with orders to fire upon the people. The actions in Egypt were peaceful in relation to the continuing bloodshed in the streets of Tripoli.
The collapsing of Qaddafi, comes as the squeeze is felt from all sides. There are new sanctions that were handed down from the United Nations. The assets of Qaddafi were frozen, and banks weren’t taking his money so as to keep it safe. There are only a handful of people on his side.
It is certain that he will be removed from power. But, questions remain as to who will step into power when he is removed.
Iran has begun digging mass graves in preparation for an American backed Israeli attack.
According to former Iranian General Hossein Kan’ani Moghadam in an interview with the Associated Press, the graves are located in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province.
Predictions as to Iran’s grave digging point to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the pressure he is feeling by the many sanctions placed on his country by the United Nations earlier this year. Which opens speculation to their wartime preparations.
One possibility that could lead to the use of such graves would be the idea of a ‘nuclear holocaust,’ according to former Cuban President Fidel Castro.
“If there’s an attack on Iran by Israel and the US, there’s no way to prevent it from becoming a nuclear war,” says Castro of the potential ‘worst-case scenario.’
A scenario all too ominous as there are reports of a possible strike within the next 12 months with a probability pointing to 50%.
A look deeper:
The Atlantic | The Point of No Return
For the Obama administration, the prospect of a nuclearized Iran is dismal to contemplate— it would create major new national-security challenges and crush the president’s dream of ending nuclear proliferation. But the view from Jerusalem is still more dire: a nuclearized Iran represents, among other things, a threat to Israel’s very existence. In the gap between Washington’s and Jerusalem’s views of Iran lies the question: who, if anyone, will stop Iran before it goes nuclear, and how? As Washington and Jerusalem study each other intensely, here’s an inside look at the strategic calculations on both sides—and at how, if things remain on the current course, an Israeli air strike will unfold.
Foreign Policy | The Republican Back Door to War with Iran
A game plan to draw the United States into a third war in the Middle East may be quietly unfolding before our eyes.
Wednesday, Iran received another round of sanctions from the United Nations. But the message is pretty clear in that if they continue to do what they are doing, get ready for round five.
That’s the ignorance in this whole thing. You can argue for or against Iran and their nuclear program all you want. But one thing remains clear. They will do whatever they want. There is no changing that.
The first round of sanctions wasn’t enough, so the enactment of levels two and three were needed. However, in their wake, those weren’t enough so a new fourth round was enacted and is being dubed “the toughest sanctions ever faced.”
The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran who is visiting Tajikistan currently reacting to the passing of the 4th UN Security Council resolution against Iran based on US and its allies’ efforts, emphasized, “Those who posses the atomic bombs themselves both use and stockpile the nuclear weapons while threatening the others with them, now resort to the pretext that Iran might in the future manufacture atomic bombs and pass resolutions against us every now and then. Ahmadinejad added, “I sent a message to one of them, telling him “These resolutions that you pass resemble used napkins that need to be thrown to the garbage can.” The president emphasized, “They are not capable of inflicting any damage against the Iranian nation.” He added, “The political scene has become the scene for cheating, aggression, and expansionism, because under such conditions the ethical values, love and social relations are cast aside.
The sense of double-standard is steaming in the mouth of Ahmadinejad.
In Iran itself, editorials in the hard-line press lash out at what they see as Western double standards. In the Arabic-speaking Middle East, however, many press commentators think the sanctions are justified and adequate, although some also criticise the perceived bias in Western policy in the region.
Either way, many are still able to argue the fact that sanctions against Iran are effortless.
After a year’s worth of diplomacy, the United Nations Security Council finally passed a fourth round of Iran sanctions on Wednesday. The vote passed easily, with 12 states voting in favor and only two, Brazil and Turkey, voting against the sanctions resolution. At various points in the previous months, Barack Obama’s administration has promised that these sanctions will be “crippling,” “smart,” and “targeted.” In reality, however, the best adjective to describe the new sanctions is “ineffective.”
One day before debate in the United Nations Security Council talk about posing tighter sanctions on the Iranian nuclear program, and Russia is resorting to their old political tactics.
Leaders from Iran, Turkey and Russia met and had dialogue over international cooperation that caused frustrated the United States, who would rather impose very strict and tight sanctions versus the Russian idea that the sanctions should not be ‘excessive.’
“We’ve seen a lot of support from the international arena,” he said, according to the Turkey’s official Anatolian News Agency. “This is the voice of everyone’s heart.” Mr. Ahmadinejad also maintained a defiant posture toward the United States.
“If the U.S. and its allies think they could hold the stick of sanctions and then sit and negotiate with us, they are seriously mistaken,” he told a news conference, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV satellite broadcaster. European and American officials say the vote on sanctions could come as early as Wednesday.
Mr. Ahmadinejad said Iran would not repeat its recent offer to send part of its stockpile out of Iran for enrichment. The accord, supported by Brazil and Turkey, was designed to break the deadlock over its nuclear program, according to Iran.
While Ahmadinejad is correct in that he is receiving international support, it is mainly from one source: Russia and her puppets. Russia is very supportive of Iran, and they should be because they are a huge financial supporter for Iran and they are a source of intelligence for the technology needed as well.
“The Tehran declaration provided an opportunity for the United States government and its allies. We had hoped and we are still hopeful that they use the opportunity well,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. “I must say opportunities like this will not be repeated again.”
He added: “We were thinking that the United States President Barack Obama would make certain changes in the United States policies. We don’t say that we are hopeless. We hope that he can actually get over the present conditions in the time that remains. We are ready for dialogue within the frame of justice and respect.”
The United States contends Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, while Iran argues its nuclear program is peaceful.
Mr. Putin, speaking at the conference, said sanctions should not be “excessive” but gave no details on whether Russia would change its mind on the vote. He called Iran’s nuclear program peaceful, a characterization with which Washington disagrees.
“I hold the opinion that this resolution should not be unnecessary, should not put Iran’s leadership or the Iranian people into difficulty,” Mr. Putin said.
But hasn’t Turkey been a long-time ally with the United States? Yes, but they have also been at the disposal of regional hyper-power Russia. And, while Russia has been resorting to its old ways of business, they have been helping give Turkey a voice of their own.
Turkey is seen increasingly in Washington as “running around the region doing things that are at cross-purposes to what the big powers in the region want,” said Steven A. Cook, a scholar with the Council on Foreign Relations. The question being asked, he said, is “How do we keep the Turks in their lane?”
From Turkey’s perspective, however, it is simply finding its footing in its own backyard, a troubled region that has been in turmoil for years, in part as a result of American policy making. Turkey has also been frustrated in its longstanding desire to join the European Union.
“The Americans, no matter what they say, cannot get used to a new world where regional powers want to have a say in regional and global politics,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Bilgi University in Istanbul. “This is our neighborhood, and we don’t want trouble. The Americans create havoc, and we are left holding the bag.”
Turkey’s rise as a regional power may seem sudden, but it has been evolving for years, since the end of the cold war, when the world was a simple alignment of black and white and Turkey, a Muslim democracy founded in 1923, was a junior partner in the American camp.
Twenty years later, the map has been redrawn. Turkey is now a vibrant, competitive democracy with an economy that would rank as the sixth largest in Europe. Unlike Jordan and Egypt, which rely heavily on American aid, it is financially independent of the United States. And, paradoxically, its democracy has created some problems with Washington: Members of Mr. Erdogan’s own party defected in 2003, for example, voting not to allow the Americans to attack Iraq from Turkish territory.
The one thing to remember is that while regional power maps are being redrawn, Russia is holding the pen and orchestrating everything.
Years ago, the world was being told by scientists that Earth was going through the beginings of the next ice age. Over the last few years, some of these same scientists tried to then push the idea that we were suffering what was being explained as Global Warming. Before they knew it, their lies were debunked when hacked e-mails were blasted all over the internet and mainstream media portals. Today, scientists are announcing that we are amidst a mini ice age. Which is it? Warming or Cooling? Or, could it be, just the natural cycle of the planet?
Fox News:
Professor Mojib Latif thinks the cold snap Americans have been suffering through is only the beginning. He says we’re in for 30 years of cooler temperatures — a mini ice age, he calls it, basing his theory on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the world’s oceans.
At a U.N. conference in September, Latif said that changes in ocean currents known as the North Atlantic Oscillation could dominate over manmade global warming for the next few decades. Latif said the fluctuations in these currents could also be responsible for much of the rise in global temperatures seen over the past 30 years.
Latif is a key member of the UN’s climate research arm, which has long promoted the concept of global warming. He told the Daily Mail that “a significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000 and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these cycles — perhaps as much as 50 percent.”
The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSICD) agrees that the cold temperatures are unusual, and that the world’s oceans may play a part in temperatures on land.
For more commentary:
Tensions, to say the least, have escalated recently as U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton tells Iran that there will be no changes to the offer placed before them about their nuclear program. This is the same proposal that was introduced as they agreed to in principle at earlier talks.
VOA News – Clinton: Nuclear Offer to Iran Will Not Change
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says there will be no changes to an international offer to end the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program by having its low-grade uranium processed and enriched abroad. That proposal is still being considered by the government in Tehran.
Secretary of State Clinton says it is time for Iran to accept the U.N-backed nuclear fuel deal. “This is a pivotal moment for Iran. Acceptance fully of this proposal which we have put forth and which we are unified behind would be a good indication that Iran does not wish to be isolated and does wish to cooperate with the international community and fulfill their international responsibilities,” she said.
While the International Atomic Energy Agency remains in contact with Iran to answer its questions about the agreement, Clinton says the United States, Russia, France, China, Germany, the United Kingdom and the European Union will not accept any modifications to its terms.
“We urge Iran to accept the agreement as proposed. Because we are not altering it. It is the proposal that they agreed to in principal, so that we can move forward and work with Iran on a full range of issues including, but not limited to, their nuclear program,” she said.
Iran rejected a U.N. backed plan Saturday in what seems to be a lack of trust among nations. Iran has repeatedly said they want to keep their uranium, but be allowed to buy a more premium level of uranium. They have also repeatedly stated their purposes for their nuclear ambitions, however it is speculated that they want it for the sole purpose to arm and protect their country with nuclear weapons. The trust factor plays a big part in these new deals.
Fox News – Iran Lawmakers Reject U.N.-Drafted Uranium Plan
The U.N.-brokered plan requires Iran to send 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium — around 70 percent of its stockpile — to Russia in one batch by the end of the year, easing concerns the material would be used for a bomb.
After further enrichment in Russia, France would convert the uranium into fuel rods that would be returned to Iran for use in a reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes.
Iran has indicated that it may agree to send only “part” of its stockpile in several shipments. Should the talks fail to help Iran obtain the fuel from abroad, Iran has threatened to enrich uranium to the higher level needed to power the research reactor itself domestically.
The Tehran reactor needs uranium enriched to about 20 percent, higher than the 3.5 percent-enriched uranium Iran is producing for a nuclear power plant it plans to build in southwestern Iran. Enriching uranium to even higher levels can produce weapons-grade materials.
“We are totally opposed to the proposal to send 3.5 percent enriched uranium in return for 20 percent enriched fuel,” senior lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted by the semiofficial ISNA news agency as saying.
Boroujerdi, who heads the parliament’s National Security Committee, said the priority for Iran was to buy nuclear fuel and hold on to its own uranium. He also said there was no guarantee that Russia or France will keep to the deal and supply nuclear fuel to Iran if Tehran ships them its enriched uranium.
“The preferred option is to buy fuel … there is no guarantee that they will give us fuel … in return for enriched uranium. We can’t trust the West,” ISNA quoted Boroujerdi as saying.
Kazem Jalali, another senior lawmaker, said Iran wants nuclear fuel first before agreeing to ship its enriched uranium stocks to Russia and France even if it decides to strike a deal.
“They need to deliver nuclear fuel to Iran first … the West is not trustworthy,” the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.
