Quakes and Rumors of War

Once again, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes an outrageous statement:

"IRAN WILL DELIVER TELLING BLOW TO GLOBAL POWERS ON FEB.11"

From this article:

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the nation will deliver a harsh blow to the "global arrogance" on this year's anniversary of the Islamic Revolution."

There is no telling what this means. I find it hard to believe that if Iran had something "dramatic" planned, that they would telegraph it in advance. We'll see, but color me skeptical that he will actually do anything dramatic. But then again, he IS crazy and capable of almost anything. Either way we'll all be watching on Feb. 11 to see what he has in mind.


In somewhat related news, we also see planned demonstrations on the 11th of February, as that date marks the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on the same date in 1979. In this article: "Iran opposition leaders call for protests", we see that Feb 11 will bring out large protests against Ahmadinejad and his oppressive government:

"Two top Iranian opposition leaders have called on supporters to protest on February 11, the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, an opposition Web site reported."

"They also called for people to take to the streets on February 11 to demand their rights back as citizens of Iran, The Green Way reported."

February 11th may be an interesting day after all.


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In more "rumors of war" we are watching tension in the Middle East heating up considerably:

US raises stakes on Iran by sending in ships and missiles"

Quotes:

"Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran."

"The chief of the US central command, General David Petraeus, said in a speech 10 days ago that countries in the region are concerned about Tehran's military ambitions and the prospect of it becoming a dominant power in the Gulf: "Iran is clearly seen as a very serious threat by those on the other side of the Gulf front."

"Washington is also concerned at the threat of action by Israel, which is predicting that Iran will be able to build a nuclear missile within a year, a much faster timetable than assessed by the US, and is warning that it will not let Tehran come close to completion if diplomacy fails."

"The director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, met the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and other senior officials in Jerusalem last week to discuss Iran."


This article is interesting on many levels. First, is the most obvious. Look at the sequence of events coming from the last two quotes above. First, CIA director meets with Netanyahu, and then the next thing we see is the U.S. deploying a missile shield in the region. Hmmmmm....

What does the U.S. know after having met with Netanyahu? Whatever it was, it triggered a big response from the U.S., as now the U.S. is sending Patriot defensive missiles to four countries in the region (United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait), which is a very strong signal to Iran.

Is war imminent?

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In more "signs", we see this story from the NY Times:

"Hundreds of Quakes are Rattling Yellowstone"

Quotes:

"In the last two weeks, more than 100 mostly tiny earthquakes a day, on average, have rattled a remote area of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, putting scientists who monitor the park’s strange and volatile geology on alert."

"But at a time when the disastrous earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12 has refocused global attention on the earth’s immense store of tectonic energy, scientists say that the Yellowstone swarm, if only because of its volume, bears close observation: as of Sunday, there had been 1,608 quakes since Jan. 17."

"Attention to earthquakes in general has soared since the quake in Haiti. For instance, visits to the United States Geological Survey’s Earthquake Hazards Program Web site increased fivefold after the quake, to more than a million a day, compared with the numbers a month earlier, an agency spokeswoman said."


Regardless of whether Yellowstone is something to worry about (aka "supervolcano"), it is interesting that "attention to earthquakes has soared" since Haiti's quake. We also see the quote, "the disastrous earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12 has refocused global attention on the earth's immense store of tectonic energy". Indeed it has.

Note also: "Earthquake Jolts Southwest China, Toppling Homes".

Just as Jesus said - earthquakes will be a sign of the times, and indeed, that is certainly the case during these last days.

Breaking news: A 4.8 was just reported (~ 10:00 am East Coast) in Baja California, no links yet.