"It was disgusting indeed for her to speak English and French . . ."

I haven't posted a good North Korean tirade against whoever is in power in South Korea lately:

A spokesman for the Policy Department of the DPRK National Defence Commission (NDC) released a statement on Thursday disclosing the true colors of Park Geun Hye of south Korea as a despicable sycophant and traitor and maniac keen on confrontation with compatriots.

Prior to her trip to West European countries, she even talked about "north-south summit" in a bid to improve her image. However, this only revealed her vulgar personality, the statement said.

It was disgusting indeed for her to speak English and French with much effort in the UK and France, it noted, and went on:

Park made "speeches" in poor foreign languages as she was steeped in such idea of slavish submission to the marrow of her bones that she should obey and please big countries under any circumstances.

She, bereft of national identity to say nothing of elementary dignity as a politician, donned dresses not suited to her position. Her behavior during her foreign trips was reminiscent of a poodle.

Nothing is more foolish than trying to find even a shred of independent stance in her as she is kowtowing to foreign forces but enforcing brutal "yusin" dictatorship inside south Korea, turning it into mayhem and regarding fellow countrymen as a principal enemy and a target of confrontation and war.

She pledged not to rule out even a war to cope with "provocation" from someone, kowtowing to her American master. This makes it clear that Park and her group are waiting for a chance to launch a war after working out a dangerous scenario for confrontation with compatriots.

Park is the root cause of all disasters on this land as she is always going into extremes.

"IRGC Commander: US Deeply Fearful of War with Iran"--"they saw the Iranian nation's subordination to its Leader"! (Fars News)

Nothing screams "dictatorship" at you like a military boast that simultaneously sucks up to the Supreme Big-guy:

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari underlined that Washington fears military engagement with Iran more than any other country.

“The Americans' statement about having the military option on the table is a lie. Americans don't know that we know they are afraid of attacking Iran more than any other country; there is absolutely no such thought in the minds of the US statesmen, but they talk about it (to use it) as a political tool anyway,” General Jafari told reporters in the Southwestern city of Ahwaz on Sunday.

He said the US deployed troops in all its bases in the neighboring countries of Iran from 2003 to 2007 in a bid to surround the Islamic Republic for a military attack, and added, “They intended to launch a direct military attack on the country, but when they saw the Iranian nation's subordination to its Leader, they felt scared and escaped.”

In similar remarks earlier today, Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi also said Washington's allegations about the continued possibility of military action against Iran are nothing, but a bluff.

General Naqdi pointed to US President Barack Obama’s recent remarks who said that military option is on the table, and said, “These are just boastful remarks and bluffing because the US army and its economy are weak and their people do not accept to go to (another) war.”

“The US does not have a strong logic and reasoning and it is, thus, forced to always resort to the language of force,” he said.

He reiterated that Iran will surely continue its fight against the global arrogance, and said, “Neither the (military) options on the table nor their execution can intimidate us, let alone boasting about them.”

Every now and then American statesmen warn that the military option against Iran is still on the table, while facts on the ground show Washington incapable of even conducting a limited war, or surgical military operation, against Tehran. [...]

"Ahmadinejad son accuses Hashemi of fabrication" (Mehr News)

This is a little heard to follow, but fascinating:

A son of Iran’s ex-president has accused Hashemi of inventing his memoirs of Imam Khomeini.

Mehr News quoted that Mehdi Ahmadinejad, ex-president’s son, on his webpage derided Hashemi’s account of Imam Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic and the first leader of the Revolution.

Mehdi Ahmadinejad posted on his webpage an evaluation of Hashemi’s memoirs where Hashemi Rafsanjani related that Imam (Khomeini) would seek to remove the motto of ‘death to America’ at that time.

“I would petition to the respected figure who said that Imam agreed to remove the motto, to say what he would remember about Imam, otherwise we would be told that Imam did not mean America was Great Satan, but he meant that ‘how mischievous child would America be!’

Kim Jong Un gives field guidance to Mush Jong Rooms

Prepare to be inexpressibly moved:

Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, provided field guidance to the newly built Central Mushroom Research Institute of the State Academy of Sciences.

The Institute with a total plottage of at least 6 100 square meters has its building, mushroom growing rooms for research and raw materials store, etc. It is a mushroom research center built according to the noble intention of Kim Jong Un making a new history of industrialization of mushroom growing.

After going round the room dedicated to the history of the institute, he dropped in at different places including various research rooms, laboratories, e-library, products storing room and mushroom growing grounds to learn in detail about its construction and research work.

He was pleased that not only different research rooms and labs and mushroom growing grounds but corridors leading to offices, main building and annexes, vestibule and resting place and all other aspects have been built in a peculiar style to be impeccable.

He noted that the institute has a very important duty and role to perform in thoroughly carrying out the behests of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il on turning the DPRK into a huge producer of mushroom.

There is now a brisk drive for mushroom production in different parts of the country in hearty response to the appeal of the Party and large capacity mushroom farms and production bases are now under construction there, he said, adding that scientific research should be given precedence in order to put mushroom production on an industrial and scientific basis.

He underscored the need for the institute to study and round off varieties of edible and medical mushroom growing technologies, intensify the work for solving the issue of substrate suited to the topographical peculiarities and satisfactorily produce and ensure spores necessary for mushroom growing.

Calling for providing proper scientific and technological guidance to the mushroom producing units, he underlined the need to consolidate the data base related to the research and cultivation of mushroom and actively apply advanced technology and widely disseminate it among the relevant units.

He called on the officials and researchers of the institute to register shining scientific research successes and thus turn the institute into a scientific research center to bring substantial benefits to the people.

Recalling that he gave an instruction on completing the construction of the institute till the anniversary of the party, he noted a unit of the KPA carried out it without fail as the KPA considers it a bounden duty to implement the order of the supreme commander at any cost under any circumstances. He noted with great satisfaction that this is the true nature of the revolutionary army and he felt proud of assigning the task to the People's Army. [...]

"Song 'Ode to the Motherland' Created in DPRK"

I wonder who did the creating. One person? A committee?

A song "Ode to the Motherland" was recently created in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as a national treasure.

The song, vibrant with feelings of ardent love for the motherland, reminds one of the tireless efforts devoted by President Kim Il Sung and general secretary Kim Jong Il for the prosperity of the country and the wellbeing of its people.

It also reflects the steadfast will of the Korean people to glorify the socialist motherland, built and developed by the President and the leader.

Lyric and melodic, the song is a favorite for everyone.

In the 1st stanza, the song says that one can enjoy a worthwhile life only under the care of the motherland.

In the 2nd and 3rd stanzas, it speaks highly of the DPRK where everything serves for the popular masses.

In the 4th and 5th stanzas, it calls for devoting one's all to the prosperity of the country led by Marshal Kim Jong Un.

Inspired by the song, the DPRK people have turned out in the efforts for the prosperity of the country with their strong will to further glorify the history of Kim Il Sung's nation and Kim Jong Il's Korea.

Yom Kippur

Gemar Chasimah Tovah!

Easy Fast!

Here is "Yom Kippur in a Nutshell" from chabad.org:

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year--the day on which we are closest to G‑d and to the quintessence  of our own souls. It is the Day of Atonement -- "For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d" (Leviticus 16:30).

For twenty-six hours--from several minutes before sunset on Tishrei 9 to after nightfall on Tishrei 10--we "afflict our souls": we abstain from food and drink, do not wash or anoint our bodies, do not wear leather shoes, and abstain from marital relations.

Before Yom Kippur we perform the Kaparot atonement service; we request and receive honey cake, in acknowledgement that we are all recipients in G-d's world and in prayerful hope for a sweet and abundant year; eat a festive meal, immerse in a mikvah, and give extra charity. Late afternoon we eat the pre-fast meal, following which we bless our children, light a memorial candle as well as the holiday candles, and go to the synagogue for Kol Nidrei services.

In the course of Yom Kippur we hold five prayer services: Maariv, with its solemn Kol Nidrei service, on the eve of Yom Kippur; Shacharit--the morning prayer; Musaf, which includes a detailed account of the Yom Kippur Temple service; Minchah, which includes the reading of the Book of Jonah; and Ne'illah, the "closing of the gates" service at sunset. We say the Al Chet confession of sins eight times in the course of Yom Kippur, and recite Psalms every available moment.

The day is the most solemn of the year, yet an undertone of joy suffuses it: a joy that revels in the spirituality of the day and expresses the confidence that G-d will accept our repentance, forgive our sins, and seal our verdict for a year of life, health and happiness. When the closing Ne'illah service climaxes in the resounding cries of "Hear O Israel... G-d is one" and a single blast of the shofar, followed by the proclamation, "Next year in Jerusalem." Then joy erupts in song and dance (a Chabad custom is to sing the lively "Napoleon's March"), followed by the festive after-fast meal, making the evening after Yom Kippur a Yom Tov (festival) in its own right.

"Kim Jong Un Congratulates Syrian President on His Birthday"

Life is good for dictators these days:

Kim Jong Un, first chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to Bashar Al－Assad, president of the Syrian Arab Republic, on his birthday.

The message said:

I extend warm congratulations and greetings to you on your 48th birthday.

The Korean people send invariable support and solidarity to the Syrian government and people in their just struggle to defend the sovereignty and security of the country.

I sincerely hope that you will always keep yourself in good health to achieve fresh success in your responsible work, convinced that the long-standing bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation will grow stronger in future.

Rosh Hashanah

What is this Rosh Hashanah business anyway?

The festival of Rosh Hashanah --the name means "Head of the Year" --is observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in G-d's world.

Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and humanity: our dependence upon G-d as our creator and sustainer, and G-d's dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashanah, "all inhabitants of the world pass before G-d like a flock of sheep," and it is decreed in the heavenly court, "who shall live, and who shall die... who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise." But this is also the day we proclaim G-d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependant upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G-d's kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.

The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn, which represents the trumpet blast of a people's coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance; for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man's first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the "Ten Days of Repentance" which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac's place as an offering to G-d; we evoke Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity. Altogether, the shofar is sounded 100 times in the course of the Rosh Hashanah service.

Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include: a) Eating a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, and other special foods symbolic of the new year's blessings. b) Blessing one another with the words Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim, "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year." c) Tashlich, a special prayer said near a body of water (an ocean, river, pond, etc.) in evocation of the verse, "And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea." And as with every major Jewish holiday after candlelighting and prayers we recite Kiddush and make a blessing on the Challah.

May you be sealed and inscribed for a good and sweet year.

"Kim Jong Un Provides Field Guidance to Sea Fish Breeding Station"

The "last instruction of Kim Jong Il" was "to breed lots of tasty and nutritious sturgeon and send them to Okryu Restaurant"? Wow, and you thought this was going to be the usual, run-of-the-mill "Dear Leader gives field guidance to lemonade stand" article, didn't you?

Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army, provided field guidance to Ryongyon Sea Fish Breeding Station.

He was accompanied by Choe Ryong Hae, Ri Yong Gil, Jang Jong Nam, Pak Jong Chon, Pak Thae Song, Hwang Pyong So and Ma Won Chun.

Kim Jong Un first looked round the monument to the field guidance given by leader Kim Jong Il standing in the compound of the station.

He learned about how the station has implemented the instructions given by the leader, recalling that he gave an instruction on breeding in sea water sturgeon, etc. living in fresh water after acclimatizing them to it, having an insight into the fact that if some freshwater fishes live in sea, they look nice in color and become tastier.

At indoor pond No.1 he asked from where sturgeon fries the station gets and what is production cycle and quantity and to which units they are supplied.

It is the last instruction of Kim Jong Il to breed lots of tasty and nutritious sturgeon and send them to Okryu Restaurant, he said, urging the station to thoroughly implement Kim Jong Il's instruction.

Kim Jong Un looked at sea cucumber bred in outdoor fish pond of the station.

He was satisfied to learn that the station cut down by half the production cycle as compared with other countries by studying and rounding off sea cucumber culture method of Korean style.

After going round the station, he gave precious instructions which would serve as guidelines for improving and strengthening its business activities.

To make people get real benefits is as important as building the breeding station into a modern one and registering successes in fish culture and research into fish breeding, he noted, underscoring the need to properly choose the units to be provided with fishes on the basis of calculation of the production, arrange well aquatic products supplying bases having restaurants and shops in Pyongyang and put their operation on a normal footing.

He noted that if the issue of fish food urgently needed for fish culture is to be solved and business activities are to prove profitable, it is necessary to mass-produce high quality fishes including sturgeon and export them to foreign markets.

He called for scrupulously organizing the work for successfully producing processed caviar recognized as high quality food worldwide, in particular, to get profits.

In the coming year, I hope you, too, will be "scrupulously organizing the work . . . in particular, to get profits." Kesiva vechasima tova!

"Britain’s Secret Service Bureau; foundation, changes, sabotage activities" (PressTV-Iran)

There is too much of this stuff to post everything, but Iran, as we have noted many times, is obsessed with conspiracies involving England. And how could I resist the graphic that goes with the story?

MI6, also referred to as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), is responsible for providing the British government with foreign intelligence.

Its activities include a variety of secret political exploit triumphs, including the overthrow of Iran’s first democratically-elected government of late Mohammed Mossadeq in 1953 (in collaboration with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency).

Britain’s spying apparatus MI6 has also been training, supporting and funding anti-Iran terrorist group-lets such as Jundallah headed by executed Abdolmalek Rigi, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), the Kingdom Assembly, and PJAK, all of them have their offices based in London, according to documents even revealed by the British media outlets.

Meanwhile, the assassination of some of Iran’s prominent nuclear scientists can be traced back to London. Two years before the start of the intelligence operations to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program, John Sawers, the head of MI6, talked about the ineffectiveness of U.S.-led sanctions imposed on Iran. A few weeks later, Iranian nuclear scientists including Majid Shahriari were assassinated. Moreover, some elements behind the 2009 sedition in Iran have turned up in Britain.

MI6’s other operations include the joint overthrowing of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, during the year 1961, and the commencement of an internal disagreement between Lebanese paramilitary groups in the second half of the 1980s, that successfully distracted them from further captive takings of Westerners in the area. [...]

British fiends!

"Israel secretly targeting US war veterans" (PressTV-Iran)

Gordon Duff's latest conspiracy, and it has everything: Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano, and that mother of all shadowy puppet-master groups: the Brentwood Homeowners Association! This is too long and rambling to adequately excerpt, but here are a few nibbles. The feast itself requires you to actually give PressTV some web traffic. I won't be offended if you are disinclined to do so.

This week, American war veterans in Los Angeles await a court decision that would return the Veterans National Home to them. The land had been stolen from them by gangsters and politicians, two groups most Americans now know are one and the same. However, they fear the judge is under pressure from powerful anti-veteran groups now clearly identified as Israeli-based. [...]

A powerful organization, organized crime figures, AIPAC, the ADL and JDL, aided by Senator’s Feinstein and Boxer and Representatives Waxman and Pelosi, have declared war on America’s homeless veterans. [...]

Every one of these developers are Israeli citizens. All have long-time ties to the Meyer Lansky “Murder Incorporated” gang that was the real “Mafia.” They are alive and well today, many safely settled in Israel, others still in America. This same organization, the one at war with America’s veterans, the “Old Guard” and “Veterans Today,” put Bush (43) in office, made billions when the World Trade Center was demolished on 9/11, made trillions during the bailouts and market crash and, of course, started the Iraq and Afghan wars and are manipulating the slaughter in Syria and Egypt. [...]

"US, Israel engineer crimes in Muslim countries: Iran official" (PressTV-iran)

Another float in the endless parade:

Chief of Staff of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the United States and Israel are running a think tank which programs criminal acts in Muslim countries including Egypt and Syria.

“Leaders of the US and Zionist regime [of Israel] are fanning the flames of conflicts in Egypt and Syria, and do not let people and governments in these countries decide their own fate,” Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani said on Sunday.

He condemned the recent crimes in Syria and Egypt, saying they are incompatible with Islamic teachings.

“Plans for all crimes in Syria and Egypt are made by the US and Zionist leaders and submitted to their mercenaries. The instruments of these crimes are ignorant and spiteful commanders and rulers in certain Muslim countries,” the official stated. [...]

"Who dares threaten united Islamic world?" (PressTV-Iran)

Who wants to "bully" the "Islamic world"? The Zionist entity, of course. This is a nice example of Iranian paranoia:

As the Middle East seems engulfed in a never-ending cycle of violence, with further reports of bloodshed coming from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Bahrain, Iran continues to warn against Israel's plot to fragment and divide the region to better assert its own hegemonic power and claim victory over its nemesis, Islam.

While politicians, experts and analysts continue to look at the Middle East through political lenses, speaking of territorial hegemony and a race for control over natural resources, Iran remains clear-headed in its assessment - while Western powers are looking indeed to control the Middle East's incommensurable wealth, it is Islam that Israel seeks to destroy under its boots.

More dangerous in Israel's eyes than any political faction could ever be, Islam's very power, its ability to unite and rally under one flag foreign nations, communities and creeds, is what truly poses a threat to the Israeli regime.

Should the Islamic world ever set aside its differences and stand united under one leadership; strong with several billions of men and women, Islam would pose a challenge far too great to any entity or alliance of entities that threaten it.

Who then could prevent Palestinians from reclaiming the lands of their forefathers? Who would then dare oppose the calls for justice of a nation whose power and numbers far outweigh any others? Just as Muslims are the world's over-repressed and -oppressed, stigmatized and branded “terrorists” for daring express their faith, unity would bring salvation for a broken and divided people.

A lost island amid the Islamic world, Israel is sowing discord far and wide across the region for its survival depends on it.

One has only to look at the war raging against political Islam in the Arab world to understand what really is at stake.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, the last bastion of the independent Islamic world, the only nation that to this day continues to defy the United States of America and its master puppet the the Israeli regime has been branded “the axis of evil.” [...]

The incoherence ray is working nicely.

Ali Larijani, an Iranian philosopher, politician and the current chairman of the Parliament of Iran, warned earlier this month against such a ploy on the part of Israel. He stressed, “Muslims should not allow the occupying regime [of Israel] and other enemies of Islam to create discord and rifts in the Muslim world to serve their own interests.” [...]

Racked by internal conflicts, no countries in the Middle East can claim to oppose the Zionist hegemony, save Iran, the last bulwark against imperialism.

At the end of the article, a short bio of the author, Catherine Shakdam, includes the information that she has written for The Guardian.

"Britain’s Royal Family; Christian or Jewish?" (Mehr News-Iran)

We learn: "Princess Diana the bride of Queen Elizabeth was also born to a Jewish mother and was thus considered a Jew." By whom? By Iran, of course:

It still remains a question for many people in the UK as how a “flight attendant” could marry Queen’s grandson; a fact that although hushed and ignored by British mainstream media, did not manage to skip some media’s attention.

The truth is that the Royal Family’s new bride is a Jew. Although in the wedding ceremony it was pretended that Kate Middleton is Christian but this lady’s family roots show that she is considered a Sephardic Jew from her mother’s side. Moreover the timing of the wedding and the way it was held which was based on Jewish culture verify the evidences.

Kate’s mother was surnamed Goldsmith before marrying Kate’s father. According to Jewish laws if a mother is a Jew, her children will be Jews, too. Therefore Kate Middleton is a Sephardic Jew and her children will be Jews based on the Jewish law.

This gains more significance once we realize that she is stepping in to the Buckingham Palace as the wife of a man who will be not only the king of England but also the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Sources close to this 30 year-old bride have said that Kate Middleton and her parents would not regularly attend the church service, therefore Church of England decided to baptize and Christianize the new member unofficially and secretly so that her marriage to Prince William could be confirmed.

Nevertheless even being baptized by the bishop of the church cannot prevent Prince William’s son, the next king and the senior governor of the Church of England, from being a Jew as Kate and William’s child will inevitably remain a Jew.

The Jewishness of the members of the Royal family does not end up in just one case, there are others in the British Royal Family who were and are Jews. Princess Diana the bride of Queen Elizabeth was also born to a Jewish mother and was thus considered a Jew. Therefore her sons William and Harry are also Jews. [...]

In conclusion even if the Royal Family, particularly Kate and William introduce themselves as staunch Christians, since the bride of the family, Princess Diana the wife of Prince Charles , was Jewish, her two sons Harry and William are Jews. On the other hand William’s marriage as the inheritor of the crown to a Jewish girl will leave the future of Britain to the hands of the couple’s Jewish children.

It's a Songun day

Greetings from Palestinian President:

[...] The Palestinian president, in his message, said that he deemed it happiness to extend his sincere and warmest congratulations to Kim Jong Un and, through him, to the government and friendly people of the DPRK on behalf of the State of Palestine, its people and on his own behalf, on the anniversary of the liberation of Korea, hoping that the day would come as early as possible when the progress, prosperity and stability desired by the people of the DPRK are realized.

He reaffirmed that his state would continue to make efforts to develop the good friendly relations between the two countries amid common concern and in the interests of the two peoples. He added that they value the steadfast support extended by Kim Jong Un to the Palestinian people always standing by their side in their struggle to retake freedom and the right to self-determination and create an independent state with east Kuds as its capital, which will be an oasis of security, peace and co-existence. [...]

Co-existence? With whom, I wonder.

New Swimming Pool Appears in Phyongsong:

The Phyongsong swimming pool began its operation. It was built in less than three months in Yangji-dong area in Phyongsong City, South Phyonan Province.

The swimming pool has a jumping pool with 10-meter and 33-meter high slides.

It also has volleyball and basketball courts as well as sun-bathing place, resting places, dressing rooms, and other cultural and logistic facilities to serve the conveniences of the people.

There are green areas covering thousands of square meters to add to the view of the pool.

Designing suited to the topographical conditions was followed by organized guidance to ensure the highest quality of structures to meet modern taste.

The pool is now crowded with youth, students and other people who visit it for maritime sports activities and relaxation.

Haeju Smeltery Fulfills Yearly Fertilizer Production Plan:

The Haeju Smeltery is boosting the production of phosphatic fertilizer.

It has over-fulfilled its yearly production at 107.8 percent as of August 13.

The workers of the phosphatic fertilizer shop have mounted a high-pitched socialist emulation drive for increased production while raising the rate of machinery and equipment operations. They have carried out their daily plan over 120 percent.

The workers of the mechanic shop has increased the production of necessary accessories and repaired production equipment including mixer and belt conveyer in time, contributing to finishing earlier the monthly plan.

Officials of the related units made sure that phosphatic fertilizer was supplied to rural areas soon after their production.

Officials and employees of the smeltery are dynamically conducting a campaign for increased fertilizer production through successful overhaul and maintenance of equipment.

Have a Songun Shabbos!

"US government targeting Egypt for destabilization, eventual destruction?" (PressTV-Iran)

Did you know that "Israel took over the US via the 9/11 coup d’état"? There's more craziness where that came from, courtesy of Kevin Barrett:

Is the US government targeting Egypt for destabilization - and eventual destruction?

The recent appointment of death squad organizer Robert Ford as US Ambassador to Egypt suggests as much.[...]

The destruction of Iraq through death squads and false-flag terror was so successful that Ford was sent to Syria to do the same thing. In 2011, Ford was made Ambassador to Syria - and suddenly a wave of violence created the same kind of civil war that still rages in Iraq.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has belatedly realized that the violence in his country was created by false-flag terrorists. What happened was this: Ford’s death squads, consisting of well-trained professional killers, would station themselves on rooftops during US-incited anti-Assad demonstrations. At a designated moment, the snipers would begin firing. Some of the snipers would create the appearance that they were Syrian army soldiers firing at the demonstrators. Others, on a different rooftop, would create the impression that they were demonstrators firing at the soldiers.

Soon, the pro- and anti-Assad forces really were firing at each other.

Will Ford organize the same kind of mischief in Egypt?

Based on his record in Iraq and Syria, here is what we should expect: Ford and his team of US death squad organizers and false-flag terror experts (possibly including some of the people who blew up the World Trade Center) will create shootings and bombings blamed on “radical Islamists.” They will then encourage the Egyptian junta to arrest, torture, and murder even more peaceful protestors than it already has. Since the Egyptian military junta is basically an American militia, created and maintained by billions of dollars of US support, the puppet dictator el-Sisi will have to follow American orders... and plunge his country into civil war.

Does the US really want to destroy Egypt, as it has destroyed Iraq and Syria?

Apparently, yes. It is worth noting that the US covertly engineered the overthrow of democratically-elected President Morsi in part because Morsi had spoken out forcefully against Ethiopia’s plan to dam the Nile, steal most of Egypt’s water supply, and condemn much of Egypt's population to slow death.

Bottom line: The US, through its Ethiopian puppet, is planning a genocide that will kill tens of millions of Egyptians. And if any Egyptian leader tries to stop it, as Morsi planned to, he will be eliminated.

Why does the US feel the need to destroy Middle Eastern countries? Ironically, it isn’t even about US interests. It’s about Israel’s “Oded Yinon plan” to annihilate Israel’s neighbors and seize all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates for Greater Israel. That is why, as Gen. Wesley Clark revealed, Israel took over the US via the 9/11 coup d’état - with a plan to destroy “seven countries in five years” in service to Netanyahu’s “Clean Break” document, itself an update of the Oded Yinon plan to destroy the Middle East for Israel.

There is only one way to resist this impending genocide. All Middle Eastern people, regardless of religion or nationality, must unite and resist the Zionist-sponsored destruction of their lands.

"Month of Solidarity with Cuban People Observed in DPRK"

A whole month's worth--that's a lot of solidarity!

A meeting and film show took place at the Taedonggang Diplomatic Club here on Tuesday on the month of solidarity with the Cuban people.[...]

Speaking at the meeting, So Ho Won said that the first gunfire made by the Cuban revolutionaries and patriots in Moncada under the leadership of Fidel Castro Ruz marked a historic occasion in encouraging the Cuban people in the struggle for freedom and liberation.

The Cuban people have won victory by following the road of socialism despite the U.S. political and military pressure and moves for stifling Cuba economically and its subversive activities and sabotage, he noted.

The Korean people will as ever stand in the same trench with the fraternal Cuban people in the just struggle to beat back the U.S. imperialists' moves for aggression and intervention and defend socialism, he added.

The Cuban ambassador said that the international solidarity activities are of great significance now that the imperialists are becoming all the more pronounced in their counterrevolutionary offensive. [...]

Somewhere Stalin is smiling.

PA "pushes back" against Talmudic Hasbara meme that 69-year-old Khazar Settler was killed with axe: It was a resistance implement

Or words to that effect. They did say "A terrorist is someone who forcefully occupies the other's land, expels him and comes to live in his place . . . not the Palestinian political prisoner, the freedom fighter." "Political prisoner"? "Freedom fighter"? Isn't a "political prisoner" someone who did not do anything violent at all? My favorite Mondoweiss sentence of the day:

In a war of words, barbs, and tit for tats it's touche for Palestine doubling down with an injection of truth today.

"200 Turkish Soldiers Dressed as Al Nusra Front Militias Enter Aleppo" (Mehr News-Iran)

According to this "a lot of information is available." Good thing it's well-sourced:

News sources say 150 to 200 Turkish officers and soldiers entered Aleppo while dressed as Al Nusra Front terrorists and they are reportedly planning to target Syrian Kurds.

Alahd News Network reported that a lot of information is available indicating that Turkish forces disguised as Al Nusra Front terrorists entered Aleppo later last night.

Alahd News Network quoted local sources as saying that Turkish forces settled in Bani Zeid region of Sheikh Maqsood and Al-Ashrafiya-two of the main Kurdish districts of Syria.

According to the obtained data, 150 to 200 Turkish officers and soldiers, crossed the Azaz-Kilis border and entered the Syrian territory with their military vehicles and equipment.

Local sources announced that the entering of the Turkish forces in the Bani Zeid region- if confirmed- proves that Al Nusra front and Jaish al Hurr forces have been uniting and collaborating to attack Syrian Kurish districts.

Great News from North Korea

I have probably been neglecting all the new Songun developments lately, but the future of the DPRK certainly looks bright:

Soft Drink Stand Springs Up:

The Kaesong Youth Stadium has been remodeled in the DPRK . . . Saunas, public baths and a soft drink stand have sprung up along with an outdoor swimming pool of peculiar style.

The Vitamin C Factory has been commenced:

The Vitamin C Factory has been commenced with due ceremony on Friday. It was built on the bank of the River Taedong in Pyongyang.

The vitamin C producing base has the latest production processes that use bioengineering methods. The factory helps make another achievement in carrying out the behests of leader Kim Jong Il, who worked heart and soul to improve the standard of people's living, and will greatly contributing to promoting health of the people.

World Class Wading Pool:

The completion of the wading pool would mean carrying out the behest of Kim Jong Il who worked heart and soul to provide a comprehensive wading pool to the people, [Kim Jong Un] said, adding how nice it would be if it were built in the lifetime of Kim Jong Il . . . .

On the first floor of the inner wading pool he commanded a bird's-eye view of the outdoor wading pool with latest wading water tanks. When the pool is completed and furnished with the latest wading amusement facilities, it will look very nice and fantastic, he noted . . . .

It is the determination and will of the Workers' Party of Korea to successfully complete the Munsu Wading Pool as a world class one and provide the people with it till the anniversary of the Party founding, he said.

PressTV presents Lyndon Larouche

The man is a Khomeinist's dream:

American political activist Lyndon LaRouche has warned that the continuation of Israeli behavior towards Syria, including the recent air strikes against the Arab country, could end in a US-Russia thermonuclear war . . .

LaRouche, an eight times presidential candidate, said in 2004 that “ the ongoing drive to induce President George W. Bush to launch a war against Iraq, is a 1996 Israeli government policy that is being foisted on the President by a nest of Israeli agents inside the U.S. government.”

Update: The Forward just ran an article from "the founder and current president of the National Iranian American Council" entitled "Why Iranian Leader Hassan Rowhani May Not Be Ahmadinejad II" with the subtitle "The Bogeyman Is Gone — Listen to New Voice in Tehran." I wonder if the folks at the Forward know or care that the "new voice" at PressTV is apparently Lyndon Larouche?

Open Zion on "subtext" of prisoner release: "Your lives—down to and including your very bodies—are under our control."

Here's the paragraph containing that sentence:

When Israel releases Palestinian prisoners, the subtext is entirely of a piece with the subtext of the whole occupation infrastructure: We control your lives. We decide who may go where, and when. We build walls, we issue permits, we arrest, we release. Your lives—down to and including your very bodies—are under our control.

The use of the word "subtext" here means that the author was taught to think like this in college.

Kevin Barrett at PressTV on Detroit Bankruptcy: "Henry Ford understood what was really going on"

Another day in Iranian press land. We have met Kevin Barrett before. Here he endorses one Henry Ford, author of "The International Jew":

[...] It all started with Henry Ford, who figured out how to pay his assembly-line workers enough so that they too could buy the cars they were making. Before Ford, the industrial revolution was manned by underpaid, overworked slum-dwellers. After Ford, manual laborers entered the middle class. [...]

Detroit was the epicenter of the biggest social earthquake in history: The creation of an empowered, educated middle class that included the majority of the population, even manual laborers.

Ironically, the man behind that social earthquake, Henry Ford, has in recent decades been reviled in the mainstream media and academy as an anti-Semite. But according to evolutionary psychology professor Kevin McDonald, most of Ford's claims about Jewish power in America were at least roughly accurate, though a few were exaggerated.

Henry Ford correctly claimed that global investment banking was largely run by a few outlandishly rich Jewish families. These plutocrats, he believed, were a threat to the general prosperity his new model of automobile factory had unleashed.

According to Ford, the big international banking families were draining the world's resources through the exponential power of usury. And they were accumulating wealth and power far beyond that of any nation state. Speakng of World War I, Ford wrote: "I know who caused the war: German-Jewish bankers.”

Whether or not the Rothschild international banking family and its allies caused World War I, they undeniably did dictate its outcome. The Rothschild family approached British leaders in 1917 with an offer they couldn't refuse: Give us Palestine, and we will bring America into the war on your side and make sure you defeat Germany.

The British responded with the Balfour Declaration offering the Rothschilds a “Jewish national home” in Palestine. And the Rothschilds kept their part of the bargain. Using their domination of US media and finance, they demonized Germany and forced America into a war it had absolutely no business fighting.

More than 100,000 Americans, including 50,000 combat soldiers, gave their lives so that the Rothschilds could starve Germany and launch a genocide in Palestine.

Henry Ford understood what was really going on. He was horrified at the exponentially-increasing wealth and power of the international bankers.

If Henry Ford were alive today, he would be even more horrified.

The international bankers killed Detroit. How? By gutting America's manufacturing. In the 1980s and 1990s, the international bankers decided to destroy America's industrial might. So they forced neo-liberal “free trade” policies on the US. Those policies were designed to make American industry uncompetitive, and to move manufacturing overseas. [...]

In 1921 Ford said this about the Protocols of Zion: "The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on."

"Iran condemns Zimmerman’s acquittal" (Mehr News-Iran)

Iran's government and press frequently try to score cheap points by weighing in on "progressive" issues:

Iran on Wednesday lambasted the recent court verdict acquitting U.S. neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in death of an unarmed black teenager.

The acquittal of the murderer of the black teenager once again displayed the systematic racism against religious and ethnic minorities in the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said.

He added that the verdict has seriously called into question the fairness of the justice system in the United States.

Araqchi also advised the U.S. government and its Judiciary to abide by international law and human rights commitments and take practical steps to put an end to discriminatory acts.

A PressTV article from last week combines this theme with an anti-Jewish angle:

. . . Zimmerman is of Jewish decent.

The same way in New York where you had the Central Park jogger who was a Jewish woman who was killed, not killed but beaten by a Latin man, they rounded up a whole bunch of Black men and put them in jail for years. Then it came out that they were innocent. [...]

Is Rouhani here to usher in a great new age of Iranian moderation? Not so far.

Sympathetically presented Islamists in the New York Times: So much for Democracy!

This thing is a must-read, especially for the weirdly respectful setting provided by the NYT:

Sheik Mohamed Abu Sidra had watched in exasperation for months as President Mohamed Morsi and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood bounced from one debilitating political battle to another.

“The Brotherhood went too fast, they tried to take too much,” Sheik Abu Sidra, an influential ultraconservative Islamist in Benghazi, Libya, said Thursday, a day after the Egyptian military deposed and detained Mr. Morsi and began arresting his Brotherhood allies.

But at the same time, Sheik Abu Sidra said, Mr. Morsi’s overthrow had made it far more difficult for him to persuade Benghazi’s Islamist militias to put down their weapons and trust in democracy.

“Do you think I can sell that to the people anymore?” he asked. “I have been saying all along, ‘If you want to build Shariah law, come to elections.’ Now they will just say, ‘Look at Egypt,’ and you don’t need to say anything else.”

There's a lot more in the same vein.

"Iran denounces Morales flight rerouting" (PressTV)

This is one to savor:

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Araqchi has criticized several European countries for closing their airspace to Bolivian President Evo Morales.

In a statement released on Thursday, Araqchi said the move was an insult to the rights of the Bolivian nation and their president, the symbol of the sovereignty of the Latin American country.

He argued that the measure also violated international regulations and accepted responsibilities with regard to observing the contents of international conventions and total immunity of planes carrying presidents of various countries.

Bolivia plans to lodge a formal complaint to the United Nations after several European nations denied airspace to Morales' plane.

“The decisions of these countries have violated international law.... We are already making procedures to denounce this to the UN Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon],” Bolivia's Ambassador to the UN Sacha Llorenti told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday.

Bolivia says France, Spain, Portugal and Italy refused to allow Morales' plane, which was flying from Moscow back to Bolivia, to cross their airspace on suspicion of carrying US surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden on board.

Llorenti added that the diversion was an “act of aggression” against his country, and was equal to “kidnapping” the Bolivian president. [...]

Linkim

Ahram Online: Islamic TV channels off air, police arrest crews

Maan News: Owner: Hamas closes Gaza factory for imitating Israeli products

Mehr News: Britain’s Royal Family; Christian or Jewish? h/t: EOZ

Mondoweiss: Egypt’s continuing revolution makes a mockery of Huntington’s ‘clash of civilizations’

Asharq Al-Awsat: Opinion: Mursi is a knockoff Erdoğan

Guardian: Egypt's coup: a ruinous intervention (Ahem, h/t: Ikhwanweb)

Question for Shlomo Sand followers

Someone in the Mondoweiss comments section recently said the following, typifying a train of thought that many anti-Zionists have evidently picked up from Shlomo Sand:

. . .Jewish-ness has been perverted from a *Religious Indentity* into some mythical ethnic, semi racial, semi genetic nationality. You’ve invented a ‘people’ catagory for yourselves beyond religion –one that does not exist and is unidentifable by any traditonal defintions of ethnic or distinct people.

The comments thread is about to close down there, and I just thought of a question which I think very concisely pierces this nonsense, so I will post it here. Here is what I would ask of anyone who thinks the above is a good point and that a "religious identity" automatically excludes nation-hood or people-hood. The Jews originally had a monarch, territory, an army, civil and criminal law-enforcement, and everything else associated with nation-hood or people-hood. Was Judaism not a "religion" in those days?

Sunnis kill Shias, Iran blames Jews

The title of this is "Iran censures latest Shia killings in Egypt." Here is a paragraph from the Iranian Foreign Ministry statement:

“Iran is certain that the sensible and revolutionary Egyptian nation, through its prudent leaders, will once again thwart the Zionist plot to create rifts between Islam and Christianity, and safeguard their revolution and national unity, and will also exercise vigilance vis-à-vis plots to foment discord among various schools of Islam and will not let such a thing happen,” the statement added.

"Zionists controlling US Congress, world economy: Arif Hussain" (PressTV: Iran)

This is a complete article and a good example of the worldview that previals in the government-controlled Iranian press. (Is that "Robert A. Heinlein" the science fiction writer?) Note to leftists: The headings illustrate the use of "Zionist regime" and "Israel" interchangeably.

When human, religious and cultural values vanish from a society, it eventually changes into capitalism. Then murder, injustice, bribery, oppression and occupation becomes the practices of the society.

Zionists being totally deprived of all these values have put their all-out efforts to deprive societies from their highest religious and human values. To accomplish this dirty mission of spreading capitalism, they have been using pornography, bribery and interest-based banking systems worldwide. They kept on invading societies psychologically and enslaving them in a net of racism.

Political dominance of the Zionist regime

The state of Israel was born just yesterday, in 1948. Within a short span of time, it is now controlling the Congress (parliament) of the ruling state in the world, the United State of America. Every single person in the United States is aware of this fact that Zionists control the parliament. Any politician in America who criticizes the Zionist regime can't survive either with or without his political carrier.

What do you think controlling the parliament of a country means? It means political invasion, it means controlling the decision-making body of a nation and it means that by now the actual decision-maker is the invader. Sometimes when the president of the United States just comes in front and says "all the options are on the table" I hardly stop laughing because I can feel how the president of a great nation is forced to narrate the slogans of a minute state.

In the process of building puppet governments, the Zionist regime of Israel has been very successful in replacing many Arab and non-Arab governments so far. Under the slogan of democracy, Israel has toppled many governments which tried to resist its policies, and replaced them with its own versions.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Bahrain in the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan and other countries outside the Arabian Peninsula are by now standing under the Zionist Umbrella, offering their best services in return for its barbarism on the innocent people of Palestine.

Economic dominance of Israel

Everybody knows that Israel is controlling the global economy today. The world banking system is directly run by Zionists. A book written by Texas mega church pastor John Hagee, the head and founder of Christian United for Israel, reads

"Congress does not control America's economic destiny. Our economic destiny is controlled by the Federal Reserve system. The Federal Reserve has never been audited, and yet it totally controls the value of money in this country... While most of the stockholders are members of the so-called Eastern Establishment, allegedly the four largest stockholders are not even Americans but members of the Rothschild family of Europe." -- John Hagee, Day of Deception (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997) p. 51.

The Federal system enables Zionists to have an upper hand over the global economy. The Federal Reserve provides the US government with loans based on interest. It collects money from the US government and public and from hundreds of other countries and sends it to the Zionist entity.

Robert A. Heinlein describes Federal Reserve as following:

"Every Congressman, every Senator knows precisely what causes inflation...but can't, [won't] support the drastic reforms to stop it [repeal of the Federal Reserve Act] because it could cost him his job."

They have control over the International Monetary (IMF) Fund and World Bank. Most world nations are all striving for their survival under the load of debt which they need to pay either to the World Bank or the IMF. Once a country is gripped by loans, the Zionists then use it for their political motives. This process is sometimes called “enslaving by money.” Zionists run most multinational companies ranging from cold drinks to petrol, to shoes to hats. Through their illegal and dirty ways of earning, the Zionists are becoming an economic giant on the globe. The adventuresome behaviour of Zionists may trigger a big war

The Zionist regime of Israel is on its way with a mindset to obtain world dominance and will not hesitate in attempting to destroy any opposing forces in the way. This aim of the regime of Israel can be concluded from its own short history.

What objectives does the Zionist regime follow by seeking political and economic dominance and establishing puppet governments around the world? On the one hand, it is expanding the circle of its own versions of governments around the globe, and on the other hand dumping the stores with piles of atomic, thermal and chemical bombs. Yet there are some governments that wouldn’t like to accept the regime of Israel as a dominant state.

At present, some of these governments include Russia, China, Iran, some South American states and Syria. Being the allies of each other, these governments have created a virtual united front. China and Russia are second and third economic and military powers while Iran is a major power in the Middle East. So, one may wonder how the Zionist regime will be able to defeat this front to secure dominance over the world?

Well, they have already started to break and weaken this barrier. The Zionists are effectively using their historical weapon of proxy wars to bring down the allies of this united front one by one. In carrying out these proxy wars, they have always been using the Wahhabi version of Islam. The bloodthirsty Wahhabi and Salafi Jihadists are ready to chop the heads off on the orders of their masters, the Zionists. The Zio-muftis of Saudi Arabia have already filled up their pens to issue any type of religious decree to fulfill this goal for their masters.

What's going on inside Syria is like an open book for those who have thinking brains. The heinous crimes those Jihadists committed and are committing against humanity are quite new in the book of human history. They are busy leveling the shrines of the companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and destroying mosques and cutting the throats of religious scholars one by one. A person with half-paralyzed mind can even understand the reason behind all this unrest. Crimes of these Wahhabi Jihadists are countless but here my aim was just to reveal the objective behind, and how Israel is carrying out this proxy war to break the resistance front.

In a very similar way, they have been making their all-out efforts to bring a regime change in Iran, another ally of the resistance barrier. They again tried to use the Wahhabi Jihadist group Jundullah, which Iran successfully controlled and stopped from prevailing. Now they are using a super fake allegation of Nuke building on the Islamic Republic and are trying to start an all-out war. But Iran being a champion rational state has been abstaining from any military confrontation. However, the imposition of crushing economic sanctions is an act of war. MOSAD and CIA are actively involved in establishing a puppet government in Venezuela. They tried to create unrest using the opposition and the situation is still heightening.

This situation cannot proceed forever and the Zionists, as I explained earlier, are not at all willing to come to a common point. They are behaviorally adventuresome, which can be seen throughout their small history. They began waging wars against their neighbors from day one. They believe in occupation and dominance and are also getting stronger and stronger. This adventuresome behavior of the Zionist entity loaded with thousands of weapons of mass destruction will eventually trigger a war which can be referred to as World War III and in Islamic eschatology it is described as AL Malhama.

Mitzvos in Parshas Shelach

I want to try some new things in this blog. I like looking at Sefer HaChinuch, which discusses the 613 mitzvos as they occur in each weekly Torah-reading. Lists and summaries and things like that appeal to me, and I feel that knowing the mitzvos in each parshah is way of boiling it down to its essence. This week's parshah has three mitzvos from the 613 mitzvos (as enumerated by Maimonides), two positive and one negative. The positives: Taking challah, and wearing tzitzis. The negative, as the Sefer HaChinuch puts it, "not to go straying after one's heart and eyes." That seems to need a little explanation. The "heart" part seems to be entertaining thoughts that might lead to meenus--heresy, let's say. The "eyes" part has to do with entertaining physical desires for things forbidden by the Torah. That was easy, right? Just wait. Some parshas have a great many more mitzvos.

Iran's PressTV whitewashes Hungary's far-right Jobbik party

If you haven't been following Jobbik, here is the Wikipedia article. PressTV is happy to take all their ranting about "Zionists" at face-value: "Anti-Zionist demonstration held in Budapest":

About 1,000 people attended the demonstration, which was organized by the anti-Zionist Jobbik party, in the Hungarian capital on Saturday.

Senior figures from the opposition Jobbik party condemned the decision to hold the fourteenth conference of the World Jewish Congress in Budapest, which is scheduled to kick off on Sunday.

"Israeli conquerors, investors, and expansionists should look for a country in another part of the world because Hungary is not for sale," Jobbik party leader Gabor Vona said at the demonstration.

The event was held despite Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s efforts to ban it. Orban will be giving a speech at the opening session of the World Jewish Congress conference.

“Anyone who criticizes the policies of Israel or the spread of Zionism is labeled an anti-Semite so that the sins of Zionism can be covered up,” Hungarian MP Marton Gyongyosi told the protesters, adding,

"Our country has become subjugated to Zionism, it has become a target of colonization, while we, the indigenous people, can play only the role of extras," Gyongyosi, who is also a member of Jobbik, said.

"Rodong Sinmun Condemns S. Korean Puppet Group for Hurting Dignity of DPRK Supreme Leadership"

How did the South Koreans "hurt the dignity of DPRK Supreme Leadership"? They evidently set pictures of the various Kims on fire.

The south Korean puppet group committed a thrice-cursed hideous crime of holding an anti-DPRK rally in downtown Seoul and dare torching portraits of great men symbolic of the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK, not content with viciously slandering the celebrations held in the DPRK to mark the Day of the Sun.

Rodong Sinmun Wednesday says in a bylined commentary in this regard:

It is none other than the south Korean puppet group of hooligans who are bereft of the elementary etiquette and morality, to say nothing of the nation's pride and self-esteem.

The puppet group let loose a spate of vituperation against the celebrations of the Day of the Sun and mobilized gangsters to hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK in the center of Seoul. This is an open declaration of a war against the DPRK.

Their recent act has almost triggered off a nuclear war.

No one can turn back to the present situation on the Korean Peninsula that has already crossed the threshold of a war.

To be included in the targets of retaliation are Seoul, the hotbed of politically-motivated provocation, those directly or indirectly involved in the operation of hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK and the puppet authorities and their bosses who instigated the perpetrators and connived at their crime. They are already destined to meet punishment.

We can never live with the puppet group under the same sky.

The army and the people of the DPRK will wipe out the group of traitors who committed the thrice-cursed unpardonable crime and give vent to their pent-up grudge through powerful retaliation action without notice and immediate start of just military operation.

"Immediate start"? So it should have happened by now? This is probably all bluster, but it would be insane to allow their nuclear program to get any more advanced.

"Kim Jong Un Praised by World" (Korean News)

"By World"? Even Imperialists?

One year has passed since the dear respected Kim Jong Un was elected first secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK.

The whole world extended warmest congratulations to him upon hearing the news of the Fourth Conference of the WPK and the Fifth Session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK.

He was presented with congratulatory messages and letters, floral baskets and bouquets by party and state leaders, prominent figures, political parties and organizations of China, Russia, Cuba, South Africa and various other countries and international and regional bodies.

He got a floral basket from Mahmoud Abbas according to this.

The Socialist Party of Benin convened a special enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau and adopted a decision on registering him as honorary party member.

Political parties, organizations and figures of different countries in their statements paid highest tribute to him.

The exciting news enlivened the celebrations of the centenary of birth of President Kim Il Sung (the Day of the Sun) held in different parts of the world with splendor.

The World Conference on the Juche Idea held in Pyongyang adopted the Pyongyang Declaration which evinced the will to remain true to the idea and leadership of Kim Jong Un to the last.

The participants in the international festival for celebrating the centenary of birth of Kim Il Sung and the events marking the anniversaries of the Workers' Party of Korea and the DPRK and other significant events highly lauded the undying feats Kim Jong Un performed by putting the DPRK on the status of a proud satellite manufacturer and launcher and a nuclear weapons state.

Organizations of different countries and international and regional organizations and foreigners presented him with orders, silk banners, certificates of honorary titles and gifts.

More than 12,000 media of the world vied with each other to give wide publicity to his ceaseless inspection of the front and field guidance to different fields.

Fileds need guidance.

"U.S. Slammed for Slandering DPRK's Nukes: Minju Joson" (Korean News)

Can one slander nukes? North Korea thinks so:

U.S. high-ranking politicians are letting loose a spate of invectives, terming the DPRK's access to nuclear weapons "a violation of the UN Security Council's resolutions" and "threat to global peace and security". They are appeasing the DPRK, blustering that if it gives up nukes, the U.S. will "have dialogue with north Korea and think of providing economic aid".

Minju Joson Friday says in a bylined commentary in this regard:

Lurking behind the U.S. outbursts is a vicious aim to distort the nature of the DPRK's nukes in a bid to tarnish its international image, lay an international siege to it and stifle it, the news analyst notes, and goes on:

The DPRK's access to nukes is an exercise of the legitimate right to self-defence and so, no one is entitled to slander them.

Nevertheless, the U.S. is taking issue with the DPRK over its access to nuclear weapons. This reveals the U.S. extreme disheartened spirit and fit as its hostile policy toward the DPRK does not work on.

We neither read others' face over the nuclear force nor feel any need to gain others' approval in bolstering it in quality and quantity.

The DPRK will dynamically advance without hesitation true to the line set forth by the Workers' Party of Korea on simultaneously pushing forward the economic construction and the building of nuclear force no matter what others may say and no matter how the situation may change.

To try to change this strategic line based on the strong faith is a foolish ambition.

A Qassam paragraph from a Qassam guy

Juan Cole's writing is best appreciated in single paragraphs. Here is a choice recent one:

Gaza’s population is roughly that of Houston, where 217 people were murdered last year. Gaza’s Palestinians are far, far less violent. A few young militants send tiny home made rockets (not katyushas) over the border and almost never hit anything. (Occasionally they smuggle in a real rocket; but those don’t typically hit much either.) The Israelis justify their air strikes and other actions with reference to what they call terrorism but Palestinians call resistance. Israel offers the Palestinians nothing for making peace, and even punishes the suckers who sometimes negotiate.

Take a bow, Juan.

"More Local Army-People Meetings Held to Support Statement of KPA Supreme Command" (Korean News)

I think those "monuments to the immortality of the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il" are statues. Part of the hysteria expressed in the article involves the perception that those all-important statues (the ones that they are always putting floral baskets in front of) might be targets in an exchange of fire with South Korea. By the way, the North Korean government-controlled press has been using phrases like "merciless annihilating strike" (directed at "imperialists," of course) for years:

Army-people meetings were held in South Phyongan, Jagang and South Hamgyong provinces Monday to support the statement of the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army and win victory in all people's final decisive battle against the aggressors including the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet group of traitors.

Speeches were made by representatives of the KPA, the Worker-Peasant Red Guards, the Young Red Guards and the discharged soldiers.

The speakers said that all the service personnel and people are fully determined to demonstrate the dignity and power of Songun Korea in the spirit of annihilating the enemies, upon hearing the statement of the KPA Supreme Command and the news that the dear respected Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un convened an urgent operation meeting on the Strategic Rocket Force's performance of duty on firepower strike.

They declared that they would devotedly protect the monuments to the immortality of the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, symbols of the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK, eternally hold them in high esteem and defend Kim Jong Un at the cost of their lives.

They stressed the need for the service personnel to round off their combat methods and operations in the direction of increasing the pivotal role of the nuclear force in all aspects of war deterrence and strategy for fighting a war and to wipe out the enemies at a single strike once they dare come in attack.

The members of the Worker-Peasant Red Guards and the Young Red Guards should tightly hold their arms and deal sledge-hammer blows at the enemies, so they may not run riot again, and devote their youth and lives to the fight for the party and leader, the country and its people, they noted.

They underlined the need for the discharged soldiers to wipe out the reckless U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet group of traitors to the last man by giving full play to the wisdom and courage of each beating a hundred enemies which they had cultivated during the days of military service.

The meetings were followed by the demonstrations of their participants.

They're having a sort of reality-hemorrage.

There are so many ways to lie for the truly creative liar

I hope you have been following the latest developments on the Mifta-affair at EOZ. As you will recall, Hanan Ashrawi's Miftah published an essay--in Arabic and over Passover--berating Obama for holding a Passover-seder ("Does Obama in fact know the relationship, for example, between 'Passover' and 'Christian blood' ..?!"). The indefatigable Elder of Ziyon pointed it out, only to be subjected to a thoroughly dishonest counter-attack as the essay was hastily deleted. Why, the offending essay was only published in the interests of free debate, and it only "briefly addressed" the blood-libel, and Miftah is being subjected to a "smear campaign," and it was only removed to "avoid misunderstanding."

Further bad publicity for Miftah and its many respectable enablers ensued, and now suddenly Miftah appears as contrite, newly appreciative of the "disgusting and repulsive phenomena of blood libel or accusation" and ready with the helpful explanation that "the article was accidentally and incorrectly published by a junior staff member." What emerges from all this, I hope you notice, is Miftah's subtle, many-hued, seemingly inexhaustible ability to vary its lying strategy. (The blood libel of the original article, let us recall, is a lie to begin with in the service of Israel-bashing propaganda.) Hats off to Hanan--you have to admire the virtuosity of it all.

Chag kasher v'sameach!

I usually don't post on Chol HaMo'eid. See you when it's all over.

"DPRK Army and People Ready for All-out Action" (Korean News)

Best bluster in the business:

Servicepersons of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have been put on a high alert for all-out action, only awaiting an order from Supreme Commander Marshal Kim Jong Un.

Written on their military hardware is a slogan "Annihilate the U.S. imperialist aggressors, the sworn enemy of the Korean people!"

The slogan represents the DPRK army's steadfast will to exterminate the U.S. imperialists, who have inflicted untold miseries and sufferings upon the Korean nation since the intrusion of their aggression ship "General Sherman" into the Taedong River in 1866.

In the period of the last Korean War (1950-1953), the U.S. imperialists slaughtered many Koreans in a most brutal way. They killed more than 35 000 inhabitants in Sinchon County alone by way of skinning off and dismembering.

Although it has been 60 years after the ceasefire, the DPRK people's resentment against the U.S. imperialists is running higher as the days go by. Now is the time for them to finally settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists.

Should the U.S. imperialists intrude into the territorial waters, air and land of DPRK even 0.001mm, its armed forces and people will annihilate the aggressors with strong retaliatory strikes and achieve the final victory in the long-standing showdown with the U.S.

Angry Arab takes the Chavez "assassination" seriously

My take on AA up to this point has been that he is intelligent but that on the subject of Israel, "hatred is the functional equivalent of stupidity." Now I'm not so sure. He takes the possibility of some conspiracy's causing Chavez's cancer seriously enough to consult an "expert." Here is a telling bit from the reply:

In theory, carcinogens, agents that cause the initiation of cancer, can be applied as a weapon. Carcinogens are employed in experimental animals to study cancer initiation and progression. However, cancers take a (long) while to develop, and the impact of using a carcinogen cannot be carefully targeted. If applied in large doses, they can cause cancer development in multiple tissues. These uncertainties limit their usefulness as an assassination tool (if it is going to take a few years for someone to die as a consequence of their use, then they would be too blunt of an instrument).

Far more useful and clever to my mind has been the use of Polonium 210 as an assassination tool. It is difficult to detect and decays naturally over time. Arafat was probably assassinated that way.

Right, as if that old bag of corruption needed a push to help him out the door. Oh well, maybe the actual functional equivalent of stupidity is . . . stupidity.

"Venezuela accuses US of having infected Chavez with cancer virus" (PressTV-Iran)

I'll tell you something, they could not have chosen a more appropriate victim for the cancer raygun:

Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro has announced the expulsion of two US embassy officials for allegedly spying on the country’s military, accusing Washington of having infected late President Hugo Chavez with the cancer virus.

Maduro charged the US administration in a televised speech on Tuesday, after holding an emergency meeting with high military command and civilian leaders and hours before the announcement of President Chavez’s death.

Caracas accused the US embassy’s Air Force attache, Colonel David Delmonaco, and assistant air attache, Major Devlin Kostal, of trying to stir up a military plot against the Venezuelan government.

Washington confirmed that the two officials were employed at the embassy, saying Delmonaco was en route back to the US, and Kostal was in America at the time. Maduro also said that, “We have no doubt” that the President’s cancer, first diagnosed in 2011, was induced by “the historical enemies of our homeland,” a thinly-veiled reference to the US.

He compared the situation to the death of the late leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat, who Maduro claimed was “inoculated with an illness.”

US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement that Washington “definitely rejects” the assertion that the US was involved in Chavez’s illness.

On Tuesday, the 58-year-old Venezuelan leader died after a two-year battle with cancer.

Back in 2011, Chavez had accused the US of developing a technology for infecting Latin American leaders with cancer.

Argentinean President Cristina Kirchner Fernandez, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and former Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo have all received treatment for cancer disease.

“Wouldn't it be weird if they [the US] had developed a technology for inducing cancer and nobody knows up until now?” Chavez had said at the time.

A current Juan Cole paragraph

In which we learn that AIPAC wants Israel to bomb "civilian nuclear enrichment facilities."

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which ought to be a registered foreign agent, opens its annual conference in Washington today. Its three big goals right now are to make sure US government aid to Israel is exempted from the across the board budget cuts of the sequester; to make sure Israel can with impunity go on stealing Palestinian land in the West Bank; and to get permission from Congress for the Israeli Air Force to bomb Iran’s civilian nuclear enrichment facilities.

Juan Cole's post about the Hagel confirmation

The title is "Hagel Confirmed, but Bloodied by American Nationalists Seeking Wars & World Dominance." Here is the first paragraph or so:

The GOP senators have their own foreign policy, and it isn’t the same as that of President Obama or Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.

For them, the US is a 900 pound behemoth that can boss the world around with its high-tech military at will. Their foreign policy is to shoot first and ask questions later, to cowboy it all alone, to never have regrets and never question American supremacy. They believe in a civilizational hierarchy, with Americans at the top of it, and for some of them ‘Americans’ means white Americans.

So we now have Pat Buchanan (but without the intelligence) for Secretary of State, and Juan is pleased. All that excoriating rhetoric about Republicans means that he's happy.

Gilad Atzmon at PressTV: "BDS takes stance against George Galloway to please its Zionist masters"

With Gilad, every day is Purim.

With BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), it’s never boring. Although formed initially to mount pressure on Israel, increasingly BDS campaigns are now, bit by bit, focusing on silencing any pro-Palestinian voice with an IQ over 90.

For the BDS leadership, intellect is a threat - and they may be right.

For a year now, we have noted BDS’ repeated assaults on leading activists and intellects such as Ken O’Keefe, Prof. Norman Finkelstein, Alison Weir, Greta Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, yours truly and many others. But this weekend, the BDS found a new potential punch-bag: British MP George Galloway.

On Wednesday, MP Galloway walked out of a debate at Christ Church, Oxford. Galloway was upset to find that he was about to be in debate with an Israeli. "I was misinformed" he said. "I don't debate with Israelis. I don't recognise Israel." Galloway later wrote on Twitter "No recognition, No normalisation. Just Boycott, divestment, sanctions."

Now surely, Galloway’s reaction, though impulsive, must be accepted or at least understood by Palestinians and their advocates. Not so, it seems. The ‘Jews in the movement’ were really distressed, so much so that Israeli BDS enthusiast Rachel Shabi confirmed on The Guardian yesterday that the BDS national committee was quick ‘to issue a statement’ to disassociate itself from Galloway’s attitude. It looks like the BDS Committee in Ramallah has, once again, had to bow to its paymasters.

On The Telegraph Toby Young maintained the exact same line. “Following George Galloway's dramatic exit from an Oxford University debate” Young wrote, A leading Palestinian organisation (BDS) has issued a press release saying it doesn’t condone boycotting individuals.” Young concludes, “It seems the Respect MP hasn't simply lost the respect of his political opponents after his antics at the Oxford debate. He's losing the respect of his political allies, too.” Somebody in Ramallah better advise us why did BDS joined the Hasbara campaign against MP Galloway. Seemingly in the BDS committee they are yet to grasp the notion of solidarity.

The BDS statement, brilliantly original as ever, reads as follows:

“The global BDS movement has consistently adopted a rights-based approach and an anti-racist platform that rejects all forms of racism, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.”

Pretty impressive. Anti-racism is certainly important except that Galloway did not once refer to Jews or to race. He referred to Israel and refused to debate an Israeli national. Now, I happen to think that Galloway was wrong but still, his decision, a purely political one, was entirely legitimate.

Interestingly, BDS leader Omar Barghouti is not exactly himself much of an anti-racist. In fact, it has amply demonstrated what a banal, racist mind he has. Recall how last year Barghouti was caught on video exploring some extremely vile, racist, biological determinist terminology when this essentially banal mind launched an attack on the White race.

For a while, Barghouti’s open racism bewildered me but I then realised that this Palestinian petty Marxist probably fell asleep during the relevant lesson and missed the most important bit. Israel is not South Africa and it is not the ‘White State’ or the ‘White man’ who plunders Palestine, it is actually the ‘Jewish state.’

In her Guardian article, Israeli Rachel Shabi explained in the clearest of terms why she has a problem with Galloway. “One reason that many left-leaning Jews don't join the BDS movement is precisely because the boycott is perceived to be about rage against people, rather than an effective political tool.” There you go, plain and clear, according to Shabi BDS is there to appease the ‘Left-leaning Jews’. It is not about Palestine or the Palestinians, not even about justice or universalism, it is just a ‘political tool’. In fact, this clumsy statement by Shabi may explain why more and more of us regard the BDS, in its current form, as nothing short of a ‘controlled opposition’ dominated by Jewish tribal interests. (According to some Israeli sources, it is also largely funded by liberal Zionist George Soros’ Open Society.)

But here are some critical questions for the BDS Committee, Shabi and Soros. Do you really want to form a totalitarian movement dominated by an intellectually lame ‘big brother’ that will tell us exactly what we may talk about and how we may express ourselves? Do you really want to turn Palestine into a synagogue and the solidarity movement into a yeshiva? Does the prospect of intellectual and spiritual freedom not appeal to you? After decades of abuse, don’t the Palestinian people deserve freedom?

Let me be clear. I believe that BDS is a force for good but BDS leadership had better reflect a little and start to focus on the real enemies of justice and of Palestine rather than harassing the most dedicated voices in this discourse.

But still, one question is still unresolved. Almost a year ago we discovered that BDS had compromised the most fundamental of Palestinian rights: the Right of Return. In an entirely underhand way the BDS National Committee had changed the wording of its mission statement from demanding that Israel ends its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands to its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967.

BDS made this change without alerting its affiliated organization. In fact an Israeli BDS activist confirmed to me that the change was made to appease the ‘Jews in the movement’. However, in spite of the wide publicising of this strange conduct by BDS, the organisation has, to date, failed to clarify its position. For more than 8 months since this crucial question was raised, BDS remains silent - but it took the BDS Committee in Ramallah less than five hours to react to Galloway and to disassociate itself from him.

The message is clear. BDS, in its current form, is an occupied territory. If it wants to save itself, (and I hope it does), it must be de-Zionised - and immediately. If it fails to do this, it will be remembered as possibly the most repugnantly treacherous chapter in the history of the Palestinian struggle. And this is indeed painful and tragic.

That's an interesting claim about Barghouti. I'll have to see if I can look into it.

Update: Here is that video.

"IRGC Tests Suicide Drones, Modern Warfare Units' Capabilities in Wargames" (Fars)

We learn that "IRGC forces also tested targeting hypothetical enemies' drones." Drones of hypothetical enemies? Or hypothetical drones? Only the mind behind those shades knows for sure.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Force tested different asymmetric tactics and various types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAVs), including its suicide drones, as well as its special modern warfare units on the first day of the massive wargames underway in Iran's Southeastern province of Kerman on Saturday.

The IRGC Ground Force started massive wargames, codenamed Payambar-e Azam 8 (The Great Prophet 8), which include exercising different defense tactics, in Southern Iran on Saturday.

"For the first time, our special modern warfare task forces are conducting specialized operations," Spokesman of the Wargames General Hamid Sarkheili told reporters, elaborating on the missions and goals of the drills.

Sarkheili said the IRGC forces also tested targeting hypothetical enemies' drones, and used different types of UAVs in the wargames.

"In the other phases of the wargames, the reconnaissance as well as suicide drones, which are capable of attacking the enemies, have been used and their operational capabilities came under assessment," the spokesman noted.

He added that IRGC drones are now monitoring the moves of the hypothetical enemy in the wargame zone, while electronic warfare units are wiretapping enemy communications.

Earlier this month, Commander of the IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour had informed the media that the massive wargames would be held in Iran's Southeastern regions of Kerman, Siriz and Sirjan.

The IRGC drills are aimed at maintaining and improving the combat preparedness of the IRGC Ground Forces, testing the latest combat systems of the IRGC Ground Force and exercising different asymmetric warfare tactics.

"Amnesty International believes that the Memorandum of Understanding 'is an important contribution to the quest of justice'"

"Argentina's International Amnesty Politics and Justice Area coordinator" is an Amnesty International official speaking in an official capacity? It would be nice to see this reported widely enough to embarrass Amnesty International's central whatever into confirming or denying it. I'm not holding my breath, however.

Leah Tandeter, Argentina's International Amnesty Politics and Justice Area coordinator, defined today the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Argentina and Iran “as an important contribution to the quest of justice and reparation for the victims” of the 1994 Amia terrorist attack, because “it is Constitutional and respects the domestic legislations”.

During a dialogue with Buenos Aires Radio Nacional, she said that “from Amnesty International we believe that this agreement expresses both countries´will to advance in the elucidation of the AMIA attack”.

The agreement, she added, “makes possible the inquiries in Teheran and besides it creates the Commission of Truth, which will be made up by high-profile jurists of renowned prestige”.

Regarding the debate at the Argentine Senate yesterday, she said that “it is very healthy to have such a broad debate on such an important document, since it is within the Congress’s powers to approve this kind of agreements".

"U.S., S. Korean Provocations Push Situation to Brink of War" (Korean News)

Hmmm, the "Brink of War." Are your regular news sources keeping you up to date on how bellicose and threatening North Korean rhetoric is these days?

The U.S. and the south Korean puppet regime are busy staging madcap war drills in south Korea this month in their wake in January.

Anti-submarine naval maneuvers were kicked off in the East Sea of Korea on Feb. 19 with the U.S. forces and the south Korean puppet armed forces involved. "Winter-season combined maneuvers" of the U.S. Marines and the south Korean Marine Corps have been under way this month. A drill for gearing up for wartime operations has been staged between the U.S. 7th Air Force and the south Korean air force operational command since Feb. 12.

The 20th Division and the 55th Division of the south Korean ground force launched "a drill in biting cold" in the areas of Ryoju and Yangphyong of Kyonggi Province on Feb. 18 and it will last till Feb. 28 and its unit 6953 is now staging a ground drill in the area of Mugon-ri, Phaju City, Kyonggi Province.

The war exercises being staged by the U.S. and south Korea in the sky, land and sea from the outset of the year are serious military provocations pushing the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region to the brink of a total war as they are aimed at invading the north to all intents and purposes.

What merits attention is that these drills are under way in the areas similar to forefront areas and the north's strategic vantage points.

The programs of the drills involve river crossing, precision strike, infiltration by use of skis and mobile drills for carrying out the scenarios for invading the north.

Also involved in the drills are warships equipped with new type cruise missiles capable of striking various areas of the DPRK and Northeast Asia.

What should not be overlooked is that the U.S. and the south Korean group of traitors are letting loose a spate of invectives hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK such as "calls for bringing down its social system" and "making a precision strike at the windows of the office of the north's headquarters", kicking up war atmosphere.

All these facts go to clearly prove that the military drills are the war exercises for mounting a surprise preemptive attack and nuclear war drills being staged in pursuance of their heinous hostile policy to stifle the DPRK.

The situation on the Korean Peninsula and in the region has reached an extremely dangerous phase owing to the hostile forces which are kicking up evermore frantic anti-DPRK racket over its satellite launch for peaceful purposes and its nuclear activities for self-defence.

Their noisy war drumbeats are a blatant challenge to the efforts of the international community to defend global peace and security as they are a product of their strategic scenarios to hold hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region including Northeast Asia.

Their claim that those war maneuvers are to cope with the additional provocation of the north is no more than sheer rhetoric to pass the buck for the escalating military tension on the peninsula and in the region to the DPRK and justify their acts of aggression.

If they ignite a war on this land, the army and the people of the DPRK will not miss the gold chance but deal decisive and deadly retaliatory blows at them and blow up the strongholds of aggression and thus achieve the historic victory in the war for the country's reunification.

"After listening to the historic speech made by Kim Jong Un with great excitement, the participants in the meeting extended highest glory and deepest thanks to Kim Jong Un, who is ushering in the greatest heyday of increasing the military capability with his extraordinary wisdom and stratagem, matchless grit and pluck and noble virtues"

And that isn't even the whole sentence:

An enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea was held under the guidance of Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the WPK, chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK, first chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army.

Present there were members of the WPK Central Military Commission, staff members of the KPA Supreme Command and commanding officers of the large combined units including the navy, air force and anti-air force and strategic rocket force.

The enlarge meeting of the WPK Central Military Commission discussed the issue of bringing about a great turn in bolstering up the military capability, true to the Songun revolutionary leadership of the WPK, and an organizational issue.

Kim Jong Un made an important concluding speech which serves as guidelines for further strengthening the KPA into a matchless revolutionary army of Mt. Paektu and defending the security and sovereignty of the country as required by the WPK and the developing revolution.

After listening to the historic speech made by Kim Jong Un with great excitement, the participants in the meeting extended highest glory and deepest thanks to Kim Jong Un, who is ushering in the greatest heyday of increasing the military capability with his extraordinary wisdom and stratagem, matchless grit and pluck and noble virtues and evinced their firm determination to unconditionally and thoroughly implement the militant tasks set forth by him in his speech.

The enlarged meeting of the WPK Central Military Commission held at an important time when a turning phase is being opened in building a thriving socialist nation and achieving the cause of national reunification will mark an important occasion in powerfully encouraging the army and people of the DPRK all out in the general advance of the new year full of conviction of certain victory and optimism and bolstering up the defence capability of the country in every way.