Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Worlds Largest Maritime Exercises Kick Off in Hawaii; Chinese Vessels Join for First Time
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsCanada.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

WHO Issues Warning Regarding Ebola Virus
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The World Health Organization on Friday issued a warning about the Ebola virus outspreading to countries like Mali, Ivory Coast and Senegal. 

According to the organization, the virus could make its way to these countries due to tourists who visit them.

U.S. Flying Armed Drones Over Baghdad
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

US Air Force MQ-1 Predator Drone

Reuters

The United States has started flying armed drones over Baghdad to protect U.S. civilians and military forces in the Iraqi capital, a Pentagon official said Friday, according to The Associated Press (AP).

A handful of Predators armed with Hellfire missiles are being used for the mission, the senior defense official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the new flights on the record.

The drones are there to bolster reconnaissance flights by manned and unmanned aircraft that have been making a few dozen sorties daily over violence-wracked Iraq in recent weeks, the official said.

He stressed that the armed drones are to provide protection of U.S. interests and that President Barack Obama still has not authorized airstrikes against Sunni insurgents who have been taking over territory in other parts of the country.

The Pentagon said Thursday that four teams of Army special forces had arrived in Baghdad, bringing the number of American troops there to 90 out of the 300 promised by Obama.

The troops sent in by the Americans, as Obama clarified in a speech last week, are not combat troops but rather are to operate as “advisers” to the Iraqi forces.

Meanwhile, jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), now in the second week of their lightning offensive that put large portions of Iraq under its control, continued Friday to advance toward Baghdad.

The fighting in Iraq, which threatens to spill over into neighboring countries, has already killed 1,075 in Iraq in June, according to the UN, which noted that the number is an "absolute minimum."

The United Nations’ human rights chief, Navi Pillay, said last week that ISIS members almost certainly committed war crimes by executing hundreds of non-combatant men in Iraq.

Pillay said that corroborated reports showed that soldiers, military conscripts, police and others who had surrendered or been captured had been summarily executed by members of the group.

Russia Test Fires Six New Air - Launched Cruise Missiles
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Russian strategic air forces fired six new, precision-strike cruise missiles in test launches Friday amid new tensions between Moscow and the West over the crisis in Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Friday that the missile firings took place during exercises involving eight Tu-95 Bear bombers—the same type of strategic bomber recently intercepted 50 miles off the California coast by U.S. jets.

Russian bombers, meanwhile, continued saber-rattling air defense zone incursions against Canada’s arctic and in Europe over the Baltic Sea.

On Monday, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu announced that Russian military forces had launched a large-scale “surprise” readiness exercise that was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Obama discussed the Ukraine crisis with Putin by phone on Monday and urged the Russian leader and separatist rebels to implement a peace plan proposed by the Ukrainian government.

“The president called upon President Putin to press the separatists to recognize and abide by the ceasefire and to halt the flow of weapons and materiel across its border into Ukraine,” the White House said in a statement.

Russia also announced last week it will deploy Tu-160 strategic bombers to neighboring Belarus, a key Moscow ally, for a military celebration.

The new cruise missile was not further identified by the ministry statement, other than being described as a “new, high-precision” guided cruise missile.

Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said the recent testing of Russia’s newest air-launched cruise missile is part of a pattern of nuclear saber rattling by Moscow.

The nuclear missile test firings followed a large-scale nuclear forces exercise in May that Haney said was a cause for concern in light of Ukraine.

“In light of increasing tensions, Russia has also been busy exercising and demonstrating its strategic capabilities, reaping the benefits of decades of modernization,” Haney said during a defense industry breakfast June 18.

The large-scale nuclear exercise May 8 drills involved “significant nuclear forces and associated command and control in just six months since the last one back in October,” Haney told a defense industry breakfast June 18.

“Additionally, we have seen significant Russian strategic aircraft deployments in the vicinity of places like Japan, Korea and even our West Coast,” Haney said. “Russia continues to modernize its strategic capabilities across all legs of its triad, and open source [reporting] has recently cited the sea trials of its latest [missile submarine], testing of its newest air launch cruise missile and modernization of its intercontinental ballistic force to include its mobile capability in that area.”

A former Pentagon official said the new missile was likely an air-launched cruise missile designated KH-101 or KH-102. The Kh-101 is armed with a conventional warhead and the Kh-102 is a strategic nuclear delivery vehicle.

“The Obama administration Defense Department says the KH-102 is operational, and that is consistent with what the Russian press is saying,” said Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon strategic weapons analyst. “There is less Russian press on the KH-101.”

Schneider said the missile also may have been a variant of the Cold War-era KH-55 nuclear cruise missile or its conventional variant, the KH-555.

The Russian Defense Ministry said eight Tu-95s based at Engels airbase in central Russia flew from the Far East airbase called Ukrainka.

“One Tu-95MS strategic missile carrier carried out launches of six new high-precision airborne cruise missiles, using a multi-role launch system, against ground-based targets on the Kura aviation range (Kamchatka),” the Russian ministry said, according to Interfax-AVN.

“The crew precisely fulfilled the tasks set for the flight. Practice targets on the range were hit. While fulfilling the task, the crew of the Tu-95MS spent about seven hours in the air.”

The war games in central Russia mark the second time in recent weeks that short-notice, large-scale military exercises were held.

“In line with [Putin's] orders, the Central Military District’s troops and also units and garrisons deployed on its territory have been put on full combat alert since 11:00 a.m. [Saturday],” Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu said, adding that the maneuvers began June 21 and will continue until June 28.

The war games include airborne forces and will simulate the rapid deployment of forces over long distances using combined road and rail transport between the Ural Mountain area and western Siberia.

The exercises are taking place amid NATO reports of a new buildup of Russian military forces along Ukraine’s eastern border.

The exercises and massing of troops appears to be part of what Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said recently is a Russian campaign of military “coercion, subversion, and misinformation” toward Ukraine.

Canadian government officials expressed new concerns about Russian strategic bomber flights over the arctic that encroached on the country’s air defense identification zone and prompted the scrambling of CF-18 jet fighters to intercept the bombers.

The bombers were detected over the Canadian arctic twice in the past two weeks, Canada’s defense minister said, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.

The Free Beacon first disclosed June 11 that two Bear bombers flew within 50 miles of the California coast on June 9, the closest the bombers have flown since the Cold War with the Soviet Union. U.S. F-15 jets were launched to intercept and follow the bombers.

Canadian officials told the Globe and Mail the increased Russian bomber flights appear to be “strategic messaging from Moscow” coinciding with tensions over the Ukraine crisis.

The bomber flights were disclosed by Canadian Defense Minister Rob Nicholson in comments to parliament June 19. He said the flights showed the need for “ongoing vigilance” in monitoring Canada’s northern borders.

“We continue to see Russian military activity in the Arctic. The Canadian armed forces remain ready and able to respond,” he said.

The expressions of concern by Canada are a change in policy. Three months ago, the Ottawa government had played down competition with Russia over the arctic.

Also last week, British jet fighters were dispatched to intercept Russian warplanes over the Baltic Sea.

British Typhoon fighters were sent to meet four groups of Russian aircraft over air defense zones in the Baltic Sea. The jets included Su-27 fighters, a Tu-22 Backfire bomber, an A-50 airborne warning and control aircraft, and an An-26 transport plane.

“The Russian aircraft were monitored by the [Royal Air Force] Typhoons and escorted on their way,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement, Sky News reported Thursday.

Putin Calls for Cease Fire in Ukraine
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

President Vladimir Putin of Russia called, Friday, for a cease fire in Ukraine and talks between the government in Kiev and residents of the Russian-speaking areas in the eastern parts of the country.

The call came following the announcement of a trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union.

Poll: Most Palestinians Want to Eliminate Israel
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Palestinian support for a two-state solution with Israel has dropped to below the 30 percent mark, according to a new poll commissioned by the US-based think tank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, though most respondents said they were opposed to violent resistance. 

Marking a notable shift in Palestinian public opinion, 60 percent of the population surveyed in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (55% and 68%, respectively) said that the five-year goal “should be to work toward reclaiming all of historic Palestine, from the river to the sea,” according to the poll, a position meaning the elimination of Israel. Meanwhile, less than 30% (31% in the West Bank, 22% in Gaza) would like to “end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza to achieve a two-state solution.” 

In contrast, 53% of Palestinians supported the two-state solution in a December 2013 poll conducted by the Hebrew University.

Numerous other statistics from the survey confirmed the downward trend of support for a two-state solution as an end to the conflict. Two-thirds of respondents said that a two-state solution would be “part of a ‘program of stages,’ to liberate all of historic Palestine later” and that “resistance should continue until all of historic Palestine is liberated.”

On a more promising note, a majority of respondents registered opposition to violent resistance against Israel, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where 70% said Hamas should maintain a ceasefire with Israel and 57% said that Hamas should accede to the PA unity government’s renunciation of violence. In the West Bank 56% said that Hamas should adhere to the ceasefire and 50% said it should renounce violence altogether.

The poll showed that a clear majority of Palestinians — 62% of the West Bank and 73% of Gazans — support nonviolent “popular resistance against the occupation” and see it as a useful tactic.

Perhaps surprisingly, Hamas seems to have gained little political clout for its alleged abduction of the three Israeli teenagers, despite popular support for the kidnapping on the street. Asked who should lead the Palestinian Authority in the next two years, 65% chose Fatah leaders, with Mahmoud Abbas leading (30%), then Marwan Baghouti (12%), Mohammed Dahlan (10%) and others (13% combined), while various Hamas leaders only won 9% of support in the West Bank and 15% in Gaza.

The Palestinian public also appeared to exhibit some short-term pragmatism, with over 80% saying they “definitely” or “probably” wanted to see more job opportunities for Palestinians in Israel. A majority said they also wanted Israeli companies to offer more jobs to Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza.

The Washington Institute said the poll was conducted by “a leading Palestinian pollster” on June 15-17 through face-to-face interviews among 1,200 adult Palestinians, with a 3% statistical margin of error.

Peres: Obama Has Done Lots for Israel
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Peres and Obama at the White House

Kobi Gideon/GPO

President Shimon Peres, fresh off his final visit to Washington as Israel’s president, told Channel 10 News on Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama has done a lot for Israel.

"What has he not done for Israel that we asked them to do?" Peres said. "He vetoed UN condemnations of Israel, did things that I do not know that anyone else would have done."

"All the people in the defense establishment say that, in terms of security, there has never been such a relationship between Israel and the United States,” he continued.

“Obama has never said a word to condemn us, so on what basis are people talking? I look at the results, he says things that make sense," Peres added.

"Obama reveals rigor and consistency in his attitude toward the Jewish people and the State of Israel," concluded the President. "And that’s despite the fact that, unlike previous presidents, he had no background of working with Jews. It serves no purpose to delve into personal matters that in the end will amount to gossip."

On Thursday in Washington, Peres received the Congressional Gold Medal at Congress, in his farewell appearance as he steps down from his post next month.

The gold medal, which features a portrait of Peres, has engraved on it a quote by the president reading: "you are as great as the cause you serve."

The U.S. and Israel share an "unbelievable and unbreakable friendship," Peres told Congress in his speech, adding, "Whether through military assistance and security cooperation, or through diplomatic and moral support, you sent us a clear message: that we are not alone."

While Peres has enjoyed a close friendship and working relationship with Obama, the same cannot be said about Obama’ relationship with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

In fact, it can be said that the two have had tense relations and Obama seemed to have taken it a bit too far when a book written by two American journalists quoted the president as having said that “Bibi Netanyahu is a pain in the a**" when discussing the conflict between the Israelis and the Arabs.

Days before the last Israeli elections, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who is close to Obama, wrote that the President had said repeatedly that Israel does not know what its own best interests are.

Obama, according to Goldberg, had said that Netanyahu “is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation” every time he announces new construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.

A month and a half before the Israeli elections, Chicago Mayor and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel criticized Netanyahu over what was perceived as his public support of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

During Obama’s first term, the White House was embarrassed when French media reported on a conversation between Obama and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy about Netanyahu.

In that conversation, Sarkozy had said, “I cannot stand him. He is a liar.” Obama reportedly replied, “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!” The two, who thought they were having a private conversation, did not know that their microphones were open and that reporters outside could hear what they were saying.

The White House would not deny or confirm the conversation with Sarkozy took place, but insisted Obama had a good relationship with the Israeli prime minister.

Obama Seeks $500m to Train, Arm Syrian Rebels
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Syrian rebels of unknown affiliation hold their weapons as they prepare to fight against Assad regime troops in Homs province, June 18, 2012 (photo credit: AP/File)

New Sensors will Scoop Up Big Data on Chicago
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

The curled metal fixtures set to go up on a handful of Michigan Avenue light poles later this summer may look like delicate pieces of sculpture, but researchers say they'll provide a big step forward in the way Chicago understands itself by observing the city's people and surroundings.

The smooth, perforated sheaths of metal are decorative, but their job is to protect and conceal a system of data-collection sensors that will measure air quality, light intensity, sound volume, heat, precipitation and wind. The sensors will also count people by measuring wireless signals on mobile devices.

Some experts caution that efforts like the one launching here to collect data from people and their surroundings pose concerns of a Big Brother intrusion into personal privacy.

In particular, sensors collecting cellphone data make privacy proponents nervous. But computer scientist Charlie Catlett said the planners have taken precautions to design their sensors to observe mobile devices and count contact with the signal rather than record the digital address of each device.

Researchers have dubbed their effort the "Array of Things" project. Gathering and publishing such a broad swath of data will give scientists the tools to make Chicago a safer, more efficient and cleaner place to live, said Catlett, director of the Urban Center for Computation and Data, part of a joint initiative between the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, near Lemont.

The novelty of a permanent data collection infrastructure may also give Chicago a competitive advantage in attracting technological research, researchers contend.

"The city is interested in making Chicago a place where innovation happens," said Catlett.

Many cities around the globe have tried in recent years to collect enormous piles of "big data" in order to better understand their people and surroundings, but scientists say Chicago's project to create a permanent data collection infrastructure is unusual.

Data-hungry researchers are unabashedly enthusiastic about the project, but some experts said that the system's flexibility and planned partnerships with industry beg to be closely monitored. Questions include whether the sensors are gathering too much personal information about people who may be passing by without giving a second thought to the amount of data that their movements — and the signals from their smartphones — may be giving off.

The first sensor could be in place by mid-July. Researchers hope to start with sensors at eight Michigan Avenue intersections, followed by dozens more around the Loop by year's end and hundreds more across the city in years to come as the project expands into neighborhoods, Catlett said.

"Our intention is to understand cities better," Catlett said. "Part of the goal is to make these things essentially a public utility."

Over the last decade many cities have launched efforts to collect data about everything from air quality and temperature at street level to the traffic flow of pedestrians and vehicles, all in the name of making urban centers run more efficiently and safely.

Much of the useful data has been "exhaust" from an increasingly digital and technological world, scientists say. Improvements in such technologies have led to novel conveniences like smartphone applications that tell you whether your bus is on time or how backed up the expressway is likely to be when you head home.

But Chicago researchers are hoping to put in place a system that will make this city a leader in research about how modern cities function, Catlett said.

The decision to move forward with the system has unfolded without much attention outside the technology community. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who rarely misses a chance to push Chicago as an emerging digital hub, has yet to tout the project publicly.

City officials don't have firm expectations about what the data may yield but share researchers' desire to push "Chicago as a test bed of urban analytical research," said Brenna Berman, the city's commissioner of information and technology. "Part of why this is so exciting is a lot of the analytics we do is targeted to a specific problem, and this is more general."

Berman said the investment from the city will be minimal: Between $215 and $425 in city electrician wages to install each box and then an estimated $15 a year for electricity to power each box.

Berman's office had a say in picking the initial sensor lineup, and she said the list was limited to "nonpersonal" data because the city is still working on a privacy and security policy to govern the protection and confidentiality of any data that the system may collect in the future. Berman expects she and Emanuel will agree on a final version of the document by the end of July.

"We've been extremely sensitive to the security and the privacy of residents' data," Berman said.

The city will have the last say on what kind of personal data is gathered by the system, "because they're installed on city property," Berman said.

"Nothing else can be deployed without the city's say-so," she said.

The benefits of collecting and analyzing giant sets of data from cities are somewhat speculative, but there is a growing desire from academic and industrial researchers to have access to the data, said Gary King, director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University.

"You really don't know until you look," King said.

Although he said he was unfamiliar with the project in Chicago, King likened such projects to the early efforts of looking into deep space with the Hubble Space Telescope, opening new and unknown frontiers of information, "only the telescope is pointed downward" at life on the streets of the city.

While the project is led by Catlett's team and the city, other institutions are involved, he said. The boxes that will hold the sensors are being made by designers at the School of the Art Institute, and Catlett said he has secured more than $1 million in in-kind contributions of engineering help from corporations including Cisco Systems, Intel, Zebra Technologies, Qualcomm, Motorola Solutions and Schneider Electric.

Planners envision a permanent system of data collection boxes that can be used by a range of researchers from the public, private and academic sectors who want to test ideas but wouldn't have the resources to build the testing infrastructure. The system also will be flexible with the boxes being secure, and connected to power and the Internet, but otherwise adaptable to "the latest and greatest technology" in sensors to meet the as-yet-unknown needs of academic and industrial researchers, Catlett said.

While there are plenty of advocates singing the praises of the city's push toward gathering and publishing data, some experts say there are risks of invading the privacy of people who don't know their every movement in public is being observed by a computer and analyzed by someone.

Catlett said the project is designed to keep the kinds of data collected in anonymous forms.

"We don't collect things that can identify people. There are no cameras or recording devices," he said. Sensors will be collecting "sound levels but not recording actual sound. The only imaging will be infrared," rather than video, he said.

But such an effort could still lead to gathering more sensitive information than is intended, said Fred Cate, an expert on privacy matters related to technology who teaches at Indiana University's law school.

"Almost any data that starts with an individual is going to be identifiable," Cate said. When tracking activity from mobile phones, "you actually collect the traffic. You may not care about the fact that it's personally identifiable. It's still going to be personally identifiable."

King, the Harvard sociologist and data expert, agreed that the Chicago scientists will inevitably scoop up personally identifiable data.

"If they do a good job they'll collect identifiable data. You can (gather) identifiable data with remarkably little information," King said. "You have to be careful. Good things can produce bad things."

Officials need to plan for "the natural tendency that economics play," said Cate, the privacy expert. "If you spend a million dollars wiring these boxes, and a company comes in and says 'We'll pay you a million dollars to collect personally identifiable information,' what's the oversight over those companies?"

Decisions about whether the city should allow the system to be used by industry to study people in a way that could identify them is "ultimately one for voters who have to pay more in taxes," King said. "It's a public policy question."

Catlett said the Chicago project's planning has consciously addressed such concerns. Data collection projects have sometimes harbored a false sense of security because their methods save mobile devices' addresses without having a means to "look up" the addresses and connect them to owners, he said.

"However, the danger associated with saving such apparently anonymous data is that it might later be combined with other data sources such that the information can be pieced together to determine identity," Catlett said. "For this reason, we made the decision that the (sensors) will not save address data, and will only count nearby devices."

The sensors will measure foot traffic by counting the number of Wi-Fi- or Bluetooth-enabled devices in range, Catlett said, similar to the way a Wi-Fi router in a coffee shop is aware of all Wi-Fi-enabled devices in its range.

The sensors will broadcast a request every 15 to 60 seconds, requesting nearby devices to respond, Catlett said. The number of responses will be counted and saved, but the software will not collect or save the address, he said.

Catlett said the fact that all of the data collected will immediately be published will also expose the project to ongoing scrutiny.

Personal data has already been exposed to use by others for years, experts noted. Whether it's use of data from public utility accounts or images from Chicago's massive system of surveillance cameras, traditional notions of privacy are changing and eroding, experts said. And when it comes to private companies seeking your data for commercial reasons, there is often a limit to their intrusion.

"Most companies don't care about you, they care about people like you," King said.

Let the Headlines Speak
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

IRS Chief Koskinen a Major Democratic Donor for 4 Decades
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, appointed by President Barack Obama to steer the agency through the numerous investigations into the IRS targeting scandal, has donated close to $100,000 to Democrats and the party's organizations for more than four decades.  

Pat Boone’s Bombshell About Barack Obama
Boone made the bold prediction that the President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, that was put out by the White House, will be proven to be a forgery by September 2014.  

‘Duck Dynasty’ Star: Time To ‘Vote This Ungodly Bunch Out Of Washington’
During his appearance at the “Rock the South” music festival in Cullman, the reality television star stated it’s time to vote those “ungodly” politicians out of Congress.  

Supreme Court Rebukes Obama on Right of Appointment
The Supreme Court issued a unanimous rebuke to President Obama on Thursday, saying he had overreached in issuing recess appointments during brief breaks in the Senate’s work. Mr. Obama violated the Constitution in 2012, the justices said, by appointing officials to the National Labor Relations Board during a break in the Senate’s work when the chamber was convening every three days in short pro forma sessions in which no business was conducted.  

Ukraine Signs Historic Trade Pact With EU
Ukraine's new president signed a trade and economic pact with the European Union on Friday, pushing his troubled country closer into a European orbit and angering Russia, which warned of unspecified consequences.  

US says it will no longer produce or acquire anti-personnel land mines, plans to join treaty
The National Security Council says the U.S. is "diligently pursuing solutions" to join the Ottawa Convention that bans the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of the mines.  

New superconductor world record set
Researchers managed to 'trap' a magnetic field with a strength of 17.6 Tesla -- roughly 100 times stronger than the field generated by a typical fridge magnet -- in a high temperature gadolinium barium copper oxide (GdBCO) superconductor, beating the previous record by 0.4 Tesla.  

Ebola getting ‘out of control’
The Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa is ‘‘totally out of control,’’ said a senior official for Doctors Without Borders, who says the medical group is stretched to the limit in its capacity to respond. The current outbreak has caused more deaths than any other on record, another official with the medical charity said. Ebola has been linked to more than 330 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, according to the latest numbers from the World Health Organization.  

Saudi King orders steps against disturbances in Iraq
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saudi ordered on Thursday all measures to protect his country from disturbance in Iraq, according to Saudi Press Agency. The National Security Council, chaired by the king, discussed current situations in the region, especially the course and consequences of events in Iraq.  

Hamas Calls on Iran to Join the 'Struggle' Against Israel
Hamas's political bureau leader Khaled Mashaal, currently living in Qatar, sent a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday, calling on him to joint the "struggle" against Israel in light of Operation Brother's Keeper.  

Armageddon on the doorstep: the ISIS conquest of Iraq leads to Jerusalem – are you ready for the next world war?
As we witness the brutalization of Iraq by the ISIS terror organization consider this: this Islamic march of death leads to Jerusalem. The leading result of the call of the people in the Arab world for the overthrow of unsatisfactory leaders has been their cause being hijacked by insurgent jihadist terrorists.  

World Vision Under Internal Reformation After Support of Homosexuality?
In the past, World Vision has requested that it be known as a Christian humanitarian organization, not necessarily an evangelical one, because many on staff are not from an evangelical background. But now, in the wake of the controversy, the board of the $1 billion relief group appears to be showing signs of wanting to reform.  

3.8 Magnitude Earthquake Reported Near Langston
At 6:28 p.m. Thursday, a quake was recorded three miles south of Langston, eight miles east of Guthrie, at a depth of over two miles.  

Japan set for landmark easing of constitutional limits on military
Japan is poised for a historic shift in its defense policy by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two, a major step away from post-war pacifism and a big political victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The change will significantly widen Japan's military options by ending the ban on exercising "collective self-defense", or aiding a friendly country under attack.  

Man Gets 6 Years in Egyptian Prison for Liking Christian Facebook Post
An Egyptian man was convicted and sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison along with a fine of $840 dollars for violating Egypt’s blasphemy laws, which make illegal any criticism of the Islamic religion. The International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that Kerolos Shawky, a Christian man living in southern Egypt, was initially accused of violating the Islamic blasphemy laws...  

High court rebukes Obama on recess appointments
The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the president's power to fill high-level vacancies with temporary appointments, ruling in favor of Senate Republicans... The high court's first-ever case involving the Constitution's recess appointments clause ended in a unanimous decision holding that Obama's appointments to the National Labor Relations Board in 2012 without Senate confirmation were illegal.  

EU signs pacts with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova
Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have signed partnership agreements with the European Union, in a move strongly opposed by Russia. The pact - which would bind the three countries more closely to the West both economically and politically - is at the heart of the crisis in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said making Ukraine choose between Russia and the EU would split it in two.  

Arab states at United Nations deplore ‘Israeli aggression’
Several representatives of Arab and Muslim states announced Thursday at the UN they would be asking the Security Council to condemn Israel’s actions in the West Bank, which they called an overreaction. Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour was flanked by the ambassador from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Senegal and the League of Arab States as he called on the Security Council to act against Israel...  

Israel identifies suspects in alleged kidnapping
Israel on Thursday identified two well-known Hamas operatives in the West Bank as the central suspects in the recent disappearance of three Israeli teenagers, in the first sign of progress in a frantic two-week search for the missing youths.  

Obama seeks funds for Syrian rebels
President Barack Obama has asked Congress for 500 million dollars (£294 million) to strengthen more moderate Syrian rebels. He made the request with the conflicts in Syria and Iraq becoming increasingly intertwined against the same Sunni extremist group.  

Israel steps up campaign over ‘bad’ nuclear Iran deal
Israeli National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen and Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz will travel to Washington over the weekend to press Israel’s concern about a “bad” nuclear deal with Iran, as the Islamic Republic and the western powers are set to resume nuclear talks on Wednesday.  

Kim Oversees North Korea Tests of ‘Ultra-Precision’ Missiles
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test firing of new “ultra-precision” guided missiles, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim gave the order to launch the missiles after acquainting himself with information about them at the monitoring post, KCNA said today. It didn’t say when Kim visited the missile base and where the post was located.  

Supreme Court strikes down protest buffer zones around abortion clinics
The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected a Massachusetts law that created 35-foot buffer zones around entrances to abortion clinics.  

China pulling the plug on IBM, Oracle, others
E-commerce companies and banks in China are scrapping hardware and uninstalling software for mainframe servers made by American suppliers in favor of homegrown brands said to be safe, advanced and a lot less expensive.  

Japan Prices Rise Most Since ’82 on Tax, Utility Fees: Economy
Japan’s consumer prices climbed at the fastest pace in 32 years, boosted by a sales-tax increase and higher utility charges that are squeezing household budgets as wage gains remain limited.  

King Abdullah Calls Up Saudi Armed Forces on High Preparedness. Egyptian Troops Ready to Fly to King
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

John Kerry Gives Russia 'Hours' to Ease Ukraine Crisis
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsHerald Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

THE United States has warned Russia it has only "hours" to prove it is helping disarm Ukrainian insurgents, whose tenuous truce with Kiev is due to expire by the weekend.

US Secretary of State John Kerry's ultimatum was delivered a day before Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signs the final chapters of an historic EU accord that nudges his country toward eventual membership and pulls it firmly out of Russia's reach.

The West is scrambling to save a temporary ceasefire and nascent peace talks that pro-Russian separatists, who are now threatening the ex-Soviet state's survival, agreed to at the start of the week.

Mr Poroshenko on Thursday pushed back the expiry of the truce, broken on repeated occasions, but still having succeeded in tempering the worst of the violence in the Russified eastern rustbelt, for a few hours until Friday at 7pm (5am AEST).

But Ukraine's new Western-backed leader and separatist commanders have set up a third round of indirect negotiations in the eastern hub of Donetsk that theoretically backs another extension.

The Kremlin said Mr Putin assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that he fully supports the resumption of meaningful dialogue between the warring sides.

Mr Putin and Ms Merkel discussed "the need to extend the truce, establish regular contact group meetings, and the release of forcibly detained individuals," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Unrest ... demonstrators wear the Ukrainian flag during a protest against Russia's intervention in Ukraine. Picture: AFP PHOTO

But Mr Poroshenko told a European parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg that "up to now, unfortunately, the support (from Russia) has been insufficient".

The 11-week insurgency has killed more than 435 people and shattered the delicate system of trust that developed between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.

Mr Putin is strongly suspected of orchestrating the Ukrainian uprising after having seized its Crimea peninsula in reprisal for the February ouster in Kiev of a Moscow-backed president.

The Kremlin chief denies exerting control over the fighters and is yet to address in public reports from Kiev and Washington of rocket launchers and even tanks crossing the Russian border into the conflict zone.

Mr Kerry stressed in Paris that "it is critical for Russia to show in the next hours, literally, that they're moving to help disarm the separatists, to encourage them to disarm, to call on them to lay down their weapons and to begin to become part of a legitimate process."

Jihad Cool: Young Americans Lured to Fight for ISIS Militants With Rap Videos and Adventurism
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

AK-47 aloft, his right hand raised and pointing to the sky, Abdirahmaan Muhumed, 29, stands on a Syrian hillside and stares defiantly into the camera.

Six months ago the father of nine from Minnesota was shooting hoops in Uptown Minneapolis. He was neither overtly religious nor politically vocal. 

Today he is one of as many as 15 young Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities currently under investigation by the FBI for having traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

First revealed by Somali-American journalist Mukhtar Ibrahim in a report for MPR News, Muhumed is one of the latest wave of radicalized young Americans, targeted by ISIS terrorists promoting a chilling phenomenon that security experts have dubbed, ‘Jihad Cool.’ 

Rap videos, romanticized notions of revolution and adventure and first-hand accounts of the ‘fun’ of guerrilla war are the latest tactics used by militant recruiters as part of what experts have identified as an, ‘intensification of radicalization,’ both in the States and beyond.

One unverified propaganda video, titled 'IslamicState Work Out Video' shows masked men apparently going through an SAS style boot camp, while in testimonies, many posted on YouTube, leaders, recruiters and seasoned fighters deliver their potent message. According to recent security research, such online activity is a powerful tool that increasingly, 'prods an individual towards violence.' 

A Congressional Research Center study into 18,130 entries in 2,112 online discussions from more than 15 Arabic language jihadist forums has recently revealed that 'one fifth of all discussions include an explicit call for more terrorist attacks.

'Overall two thirds of all discussions contain some form of call for our encouragement of terrorist attacks.'

Figures such as Abu Muhammad al Amriki ('the American') provide 'inspirational' footage in a bid to further the cause and swell numbers. ISIS fighter Al Amriki is one of the more high profile 'American jihadist' to have taken to the public stage. Online images of al Amriki abound, as pictures of him heavily armed and posing with his 'brothers' in Jihad vie for priority alongside videos of him fighting or proselytizing.

A video posted on YouTube in February shows him speaking in heavily accented English. Though it is not certain from where Abu Muhammad al Amriki originates, he claims to have lived in the States for 10 or 11 years before traveling to Syria and to have fought for the Al Nusrah Front, once affiliated with Al Qaeda, before becoming a jihadist for ISIS.

In recent days, tweets and social media messages posted by extremists from Britain who have already arrived in the Middle East have shown the chilling reality of 'jihad cool' writ large. 

Young British jihadists such as Abu Hussain Al Britani and Abu Rashash Britani use social media to promote their message and boast of their brutal activities in the hope of encouraging others to travel to Iraq and Syria

Young British jihadists such as Abu Hussain Al Britani (above) use social media to promote their message and boast of their brutal activities in the hope of encouraging others to travel to Iraq and Syria just as militants hope to lure Americans and foreigners of all nationalities

In messages that read like tips from music festival goers to fellow fans or student travelers to peers following in their footsteps, the militants urge others to join them. Travel light, bring a smart phone, but leave religious books at home to avoid suspicion at the airport they instruct.

Already 7,500 foreigners are believed to be fighting in Syria and Iraq. Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has told Congress that there are more than 50 Americans among them, believed to be waging jihad in Syria.

The FBI has declined to release the identities of the Twin Cities Somali-Americans currently under investigation but they have confirmed that three-times married, Abdirahmaan Muhumed, is one of them.

Journalist Mukhtar Ibrahim first identified Muhumed last week and has communicated with him in brief Facebook exchanges during which, Mr Ibrahim told MailOnline, Muhumed told of his desire to ‘bring back the Caliphate (Islam State).’

According to Mr Ibrahim, Muhumed told him that if others consider him a terrorist ‘he is happy with it.’ Muhumed wrote,’Family is not gonna save me frm [sic] hell fire because muslims are getting killed and if I just sit here i will be ask in the [hereafter].’

In a Facebook posting on Jan 2 Muhumed stated,‘I give up this worldy life for Allah.’ The following day he posted a image of himself carrying the Qu’ran in one hand and holding a rifle in the other, with the caption ‘Shaam’ – the Islaimc name for Syria.

He went onto state that ISIS is ‘trying to bring back the Khilaafa’ and that ‘Allah loves those who fight for his cause.’

In one chilling image seen and described by Mr Ibrahim and posted by Muhumed on May 8 the head of a dead man is held up to the camera, his mouth slighty ajar. In a following image his head has bound tied with a yellow ribbon from the chin up, his eyes and mouth shut, ‘as if in preparation for burial.’

Mr Ibrahim said, ’This is all an extreme shift as far as his friends were concerned. About four days before he left he told a friend he was leaving for London, for a vacation. So to see this guy in Syria was a complete shock. To his friends he was a cool guy. His profile was far from a religious guy.’

Friends told Mr Ibrahim that Muhumed had been passionate about the politics of Jubaland, a regional administration in Somalia but they were Mr Ibrahim said, ‘perplexed as to why Muhumed went to Syria.’

He added, ‘This (jihadist behavior) is not something new, we have seen men travel abroad from the Somali community before. 

'But for them to go somewhere other than Somalia, where they don’t have any ethnic, cultural, or family connections. This is different.’

A recent report from the Congressional Research Service, ‘American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat,’ identified ‘jihad cool’ as a key factor in pushing young Americans to take up arms where once their sympathies might have remained inert and without expression.

On 25 May this year, 22-year-old Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha became the first American born jihadist to die in the Syrian conflict.

He blew himself up when he drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a restaurant full of Syrian government groups. 

The Florida raised Abu-Salha disappeared from his Florida home to join the Al Qaeda affiliated, Al Nusra Front, thought he did not speak a word of Arabic leading his parents to believe that their son, whose jihadist career began in 2012, could not have been radicalised by listening to 'sermons of hate.'

But according to Organized Crime and Terrorism specialist, Jerome P Bjelopera, the methods used by militant recruiters to attract young men such as Abu-Salha can be far more insidious and subtle than open hate-filled rantings, heavy with religious rhetoric.

In 2007, Cabdulaahi Ahemed Faarax, a charismatic recruiter for Al-Shabaab, enticed young Somali men in Minnesota with a jihadi cool message replete with war stories. 

‘According to federal court documents, he emphasized jihad but also stressed the sense of brotherhood he had experienced while fighting.

He detailed his own experiences in guerrilla combat and reassured his listeners that it was fun.’

Mr Bjelopera added that ‘jihad cool’ may have played a role in pushing five young Northern Virginia Muslim men who were arrested in Pakistan in 2009 for allegedly trying to join jihadist organisations.

Worrying, Mr Bjelopera concluded, ‘The interactivity of chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, message boards, video hosting sites and email blurs the lines that previous generations of terrorists and sympathizers encountered with pamphlets, newspapers and newsletters.

‘This possibly encourages people who interact in such forums to more easily see themselves as part of broader jihadist movements and not just casual readers or online spectators. They may eventually engage in more substantive activity - actual propagandizing, financial support, or joining a terrorist network.'

They may, in short, be drawn by the lure of 'Jihad Cool.'

ISIS Cutting Off Baghdad in Strategic Victories
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

ISIS fighters (file)

Reuters

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), now in the second week of its lightning offensive that put large portions of Iraq under its control, continues to tighten its noose on the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

A Kurdish official on Tuesday stated that two towns on a crucial supply route linking Baghdad with the Shi'ite majority south of the country have been captured by the Sunni ISIS, reports the news site Breitbart, referencing unconfirmed reports.

The official, Jabbar Yawar, said by capturing the towns of Iskandariyah and Mahmudiyah, ISIS is as close as six miles from Baghdad. By capturing the supply route, it was predicted that the ability of Shi'ite reinforcements to the capital could be cut off and leave Baghdad isolated.

Meanwhile Iraqi security sources on Friday told Al Arabiya that ISIS had captured the town of Al-Mansuriya near Baghdad in the Diyala province, to the immediate east of the capital.

The town is only an hour's distance from Baghdad.

Reports by the Stratford Global Intelligence agency, published by Breitbart, state that ISIS is currently staging an attack on Balad Air Base (formerly Camp Anaconda) located 35 miles north of Baghdad, and has already overrun part of the facility.

The report cites anonymous Iraqi defense officials saying that seven divisions, a full half of the Iraqi army ahead of the June 10 ISIS conquest of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, have been defeated or deserted.

Shi'ites have brutal militias too

As the Sunni ISIS Islamists approach Baghdad sectarian violence has been skyrocketing in the capital, with numerous reports of assassinations and atrocities being committed by local Shi'ite militias against Sunni residents.

One Sunni resident of Baghdad, Muthan al-Ani, told the New York Times that Shi'ite militias are patrolling the city in unmarked vehicles and capturing citizens without any reason or any explanation as to where they were being taken. He added that Iraqi soldiers are hesitant to confront the militias "because they are more powerful than us."

The United Nations (UN) reported that last week at least 21 unidentified bodies, most of them shot in the head, were found in Baghdad, while police officials said they found 23 bodies. Many more simply disappeared.

“We certainly acknowledge there are unidentified bodies being found in Baghdad, and some evidence is emerging that people have been tortured,” said Jacqueline Badcock, deputy representative of the UN secretary general for Humanitarian and Development Affairs in Iraq.

A regional issue

The fighting in Iraq, which threatens to spill over into neighboring Jordan or Iran in a regional war that countries in the area are preparing for, has already killed 1,075 in Iraq in June, according to the UN.

The UN added the number is an "absolute minimum."

US Secretary of State John Kerry told BBC on tuesday that "every country in the region will combine in order to take on and expel ISIS because it is simply unacceptable to have a terrorist organization grabbing territory and challenging the legitimacy of governments."

Kerry emphasized his push for a "political solution."

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman met with on Thursday in Paris, and stated Israel is offering to aid "moderate" Arab states.

Hamas Prepares for War As Abbas Talks Peace
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

As Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas continues to talk about his commitment to the peace process and security coordination with Israel, his new partners in the "national consensus government," Hamas, seem to be preparing for war against the "Zionist enemy."

For the first time, Hamas has chosen not to prevent other Palestinian groups from launching rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip. Until recently, Hamas had moved to stop Islamic Jihad and other terror groups from launching rockets at Israel, to avoid an Israeli reprisal.

Hamas did so not because it believes in the peace process with Israel or is opposed to harming innocent civilians. The only reason why Hamas made an effort to stop the rocket attacks was its desire to remain in power and keep its leaders alive.

But after it signed the reconciliation agreement with Fatah, resulting in the formation of the "national consensus government", Hamas's strategy appears to have changed.

Hamas leaders seem to believe that since they have become part of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority [PA] government, the agreement with Fatah will give them some kind of immunity against Israeli retaliation.

Hamas seems to be hoping that the reconciliation accord, which was signed in the Gaza Strip in April, will legitimize the Islamist movement in the eyes of the international community. Abbas himself even contributed to the legitimization of Hamas by repeatedly assuring the U.S. and many EU countries that the new Palestinian government would recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Today, however, it has become obvious that the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah faction has had no moderating effect on the Islamist movement. On the contrary, Hamas seems to be headed toward more extremism and its defiant leaders are now talking about preparations for a new intifada against Israel.

Former Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced this week that the intifada against Israel has actually begun in the West Bank. "Israeli threats do not scare us," he declared.

Another Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, announced that his movement was now capable of firing rockets at any city inside Israel. "Today our rockets can reach any city inside occupied Palestine any time we want," he said. "We have the right to defend ourselves and liberate our lands and holy sites regardless of the price and although we know that this would cost us lives of our sons and our homes."

Abbas has thus far failed to condemn his Hamas partners for threatening to fire rockets at Israel.

Although Abbas is now formally in charge of the Gaza Strip, he has failed to demand that Hamas dismantle its armed group, The Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, and other security branches belonging to the Islamist movement. Nor has he demanded the return of PA security forces to the Gaza Strip.

In fact, the reconciliation accord has not changed the reality on the ground, particularly in the Gaza Strip, which remains under the control of Hamas. True, Hamas did dissolve its government, but it continues to control the entire Gaza Strip exclusively, even after the formation of the "national consensus government."

Hamas's actions and statements over the past few days show that the movement is continuing to prepare for war against Israel despite Abbas's assurances that the new government would reject violence.

Hamas has been holding "military drills" this month in various parts of the Gaza Strip, seemingly in preparation for a war against Israel. And Hamas is making no secret of its plans.

The military exercises coincide with the launching of Hamas-run summer camps for Palestinian children throughout the Gaza Strip. As in previous years, these summer camps are being used to give schoolchildren training in guerrilla warfare.

Hamas says that these camps are being held with a "resistance flavor" in order to raise new generations of Palestinians on jihad.

Hamas seems to have reached the conclusion that the reconciliation pact with Abbas will not do it any good. As one Hamas spokesman put it, "We have discovered that Abbas is the same Abbas. He claims he wants reconciliation with us, but at the same time he is helping the Zionist enemy in its war against Hamas in the West Bank."

Abbas's refusal to pay salaries to more than 50,000 Hamas employees in the Gaza Strip since the formation of the new government has only reinforced the Islamist movement's conviction that the reconciliation accord with Fatah was a bad deal.

Hamas apparently feels betrayed by both Abbas and his Fatah faction. All this is happening while Abbas continues to talk about Palestinian "unity" and his commitment to the peace process with Israel.

Like many in the international community, Abbas is continuing to bury his head in the sand by refusing to see what his Hamas partners are up to.

The "national consensus government" will now have to decide whether it is headed toward peace with Israel or toward war.

'Jihad Cool': Young Americans Lured to Fight for Isis Militants With Rap Videos, Adventurism and Fir
Jun 27th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

AK-47 aloft, his right hand raised and pointing to the sky, Abdirahmaan Muhumed, 29, stands on a Syrian hillside and stares defiantly into the camera.

Six months ago the father of nine from Minnesota was shooting hoops in Uptown Minneapolis. He was neither overtly religious nor politically vocal. 

Today he is one of as many as 15 young Somali-Americans from the Twin Cities currently under investigation by the FBI for having traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

First revealed by Somali-American journalist Mukhtar Ibrahim in a report for MPR News, Muhumed is one of the latest wave of radicalized young Americans, targeted by ISIS terrorists promoting a chilling phenomenon that security experts have dubbed, ‘Jihad Cool.’ 

Rap videos, romanticized notions of revolution and adventure and first-hand accounts of the ‘fun’ of guerrilla war are the latest tactics used by militant recruiters as part of what experts have identified as an, ‘intensification of radicalization,’ both in the States and beyond.

One unverified propaganda video, titled 'IslamicState Work Out Video' shows masked men apparently going through an SAS style boot camp, while in testimonies, many posted on YouTube, leaders, recruiters and seasoned fighters deliver their potent message. According to recent security research, such online activity is a powerful tool that increasingly, 'prods an individual towards violence.' 

A Congressional Research Center study into 18,130 entries in 2,112 online discussions from more than 15 Arabic language jihadist forums has recently revealed that 'one fifth of all discussions include an explicit call for more terrorist attacks.

'Overall two thirds of all discussions contain some form of call for our encouragement of terrorist attacks.'

Figures such as Abu Muhammad al Amriki ('the American') provide 'inspirational' footage in a bid to further the cause and swell numbers. ISIS fighter Al Amriki is one of the more high profile 'American jihadist' to have taken to the public stage. Online images of al Amriki abound, as pictures of him heavily armed and posing with his 'brothers' in Jihad vie for priority alongside videos of him fighting or proselytizing.

A video posted on YouTube in February shows him speaking in heavily accented English. Though it is not certain from where Abu Muhammad al Amriki originates, he claims to have lived in the States for 10 or 11 years before traveling to Syria and to have fought for the Al Nusrah Front, once affiliated with Al Qaeda, before becoming a jihadist for ISIS.

In recent days, tweets and social media messages posted by extremists from Britain who have already arrived in the Middle East have shown the chilling reality of 'jihad cool' writ large. 

Young British jihadists such as Abu Hussain Al Britani and Abu Rashash Britani use social media to promote their message and boast of their brutal activities in the hope of encouraging others to travel to Iraq and Syria

Young British jihadists such as Abu Hussain Al Britani (above) use social media to promote their message and boast of their brutal activities in the hope of encouraging others to travel to Iraq and Syria just as militants hope to lure Americans and foreigners of all nationalities

In messages that read like tips from music festival goers to fellow fans or student travelers to peers following in their footsteps, the militants urge others to join them. Travel light, bring a smart phone, but leave religious books at home to avoid suspicion at the airport they instruct.

Already 7,500 foreigners are believed to be fighting in Syria and Iraq. Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has told Congress that there are more than 50 Americans among them, believed to be waging jihad in Syria.

The FBI has declined to release the identities of the Twin Cities Somali-Americans currently under investigation but they have confirmed that three-times married, Abdirahmaan Muhumed, is one of them.

Journalist Mukhtar Ibrahim first identified Muhumed last week and has communicated with him in brief Facebook exchanges during which, Mr Ibrahim told MailOnline, Muhumed told of his desire to ‘bring back the Caliphate (Islam State).’

According to Mr Ibrahim, Muhumed told him that if others consider him a terrorist ‘he is happy with it.’ Muhumed wrote,’Family is not gonna save me frm [sic] hell fire because muslims are getting killed and if I just sit here i will be ask in the [hereafter].’

In a Facebook posting on Jan 2 Muhumed stated,‘I give up this worldy life for Allah.’ The following day he posted a image of himself carrying the Qu’ran in one hand and holding a rifle in the other, with the caption ‘Shaam’ – the Islaimc name for Syria.

He went onto state that ISIS is ‘trying to bring back the Khilaafa’ and that ‘Allah loves those who fight for his cause.’

In one chilling image seen and described by Mr Ibrahim and posted by Muhumed on May 8 the head of a dead man is held up to the camera, his mouth slighty ajar. In a following image his head has bound tied with a yellow ribbon from the chin up, his eyes and mouth shut, ‘as if in preparation for burial.’

Mr Ibrahim said, ’This is all an extreme shift as far as his friends were concerned. About four days before he left he told a friend he was leaving for London, for a vacation. So to see this guy in Syria was a complete shock. To his friends he was a cool guy. His profile was far from a religious guy.’

Friends told Mr Ibrahim that Muhumed had been passionate about the politics of Jubaland, a regional administration in Somalia but they were Mr Ibrahim said, ‘perplexed as to why Muhumed went to Syria.’

He added, ‘This (jihadist behavior) is not something new, we have seen men travel abroad from the Somali community before. 

'But for them to go somewhere other than Somalia, where they don’t have any ethnic, cultural, or family connections. This is different.’

A recent report from the Congressional Research Service, ‘American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat,’ identified ‘jihad cool’ as a key factor in pushing young Americans to take up arms where once their sympathies might have remained inert and without expression.

On 25 May this year, 22-year-old Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha became the first American born jihadist to die in the Syrian conflict.

He blew himself up when he drove a vehicle packed with explosives into a restaurant full of Syrian government groups. 

The Florida raised Abu-Salha disappeared from his Florida home to join the Al Qaeda affiliated, Al Nusra Front, thought he did not speak a word of Arabic leading his parents to believe that their son, whose jihadist career began in 2012, could not have been radicalised by listening to 'sermons of hate.'

But according to Organized Crime and Terrorism specialist, Jerome P Bjelopera, the methods used by militant recruiters to attract young men such as Abu-Salha can be far more insidious and subtle than open hate-filled rantings, heavy with religious rhetoric.

In 2007, Cabdulaahi Ahemed Faarax, a charismatic recruiter for Al-Shabaab, enticed young Somali men in Minnesota with a jihadi cool message replete with war stories. 

‘According to federal court documents, he emphasized jihad but also stressed the sense of brotherhood he had experienced while fighting.

He detailed his own experiences in guerrilla combat and reassured his listeners that it was fun.’

Mr Bjelopera added that ‘jihad cool’ may have played a role in pushing five young Northern Virginia Muslim men who were arrested in Pakistan in 2009 for allegedly trying to join jihadist organisations.

Worrying, Mr Bjelopera concluded, ‘The interactivity of chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites, message boards, video hosting sites and email blurs the lines that previous generations of terrorists and sympathizers encountered with pamphlets, newspapers and newsletters.

‘This possibly encourages people who interact in such forums to more easily see themselves as part of broader jihadist movements and not just casual readers or online spectators. They may eventually engage in more substantive activity - actual propagandizing, financial support, or joining a terrorist network.'

They may, in short, be drawn by the lure of 'Jihad Cool.'