Freak Weather, Rivers Turning Blood-Red … Could Something be Happening?

Iran to Take Part in Talks on Nuclear-Free Middle East

sage: Despite the negativity posed by this article, I feel this is a huge step toward peace in the Middle East. Iran has been targeted for a long time now by forces of the dark, as we’ve been told by various Celestials and Galactics. In spotlighting Iran as a threat, the dark was able to keep up their plans of starting World War III by attacking Iran, using Israel as their haven and jumping off point.

Iran has long been promoting and trying to foster a more peaceful Middle East and this very public and concrete step can only help their attempt.

By Adrian Croft, Reuters – November 6, 2012

http://tinyurl.com/aabqh2y

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Iran said on Tuesday it would go to a proposed international conference in December on creating a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East, but there was little hope of progress even if the meeting goes ahead given deep-rooted regional animosities.

Tehran has been embroiled in a long stand-off with world powers over allegations, which it denies, that it is seeking to develop the means to produce nuclear weapons.

No date has yet been set for the meeting in the Finnish capital later this year to discuss banning atomic arms and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the volatile Middle East and there are doubts over whether it will take place.

Even if it does go ahead – Israel, believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, has yet to say whether it will attend – Western diplomats expect little progress soon.

Iran used a seminar in Brussels attended also by officials from Israel- its arch-enemy – to announce it would be at the Helsinki meeting.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran now finally has decided to participate at the conference…on a Middle East (nuclear) free zone,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters.

Soltanieh said Iran was “determined to participate actively” in the Helsinki conference, which he said could pave the way for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Iran and Arab states often say Israel’s presumed nuclear arsenal poses a threat to Middle East peace and security.

The Jewish state and Western powers see Iran as the region’s main nuclear proliferation threat.

“We are of the strong belief that all countries should be mobilising themselves to make sure that this noble goal of a Middle East free from all the weapons of mass destruction will be realised,” Soltanieh said.

The invitation-only seminar organised by think-tanks that Soltanieh attended in Brussels was aimed at promoting efforts to hold the Helsinki meeting.

Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said Jeremy Issacharoff, deputy director-general for strategic affairs in the ministry, was also at the seminar but that there were no contacts between the Israeli and Iranian delegates.

“This was a professional seminar, which naturally involved delegations from various countries including Israel. Our delegation was made up of counter-proliferation specialists, but no one of a senior statecraft capacity,” he said.

NUCLEAR STANDOFF

Iran has held years of on-off negotiations with Western powers over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but which the West suspects is aimed at developing a nuclear weapons option.

Israel, the only regional state not to belong to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has said it would sign the NPT and renounce atomic arms only as part of a broader peace deal with Arab states and Iran that guaranteed its security.

Israel has never confirmed or denied having nuclear weapons under a policy of ambiguity aimed at deterrence and, like the United States, has not ruled out military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Soltanieh made clear his country would raise the issue of Israel’s nuclear capabilities in Helsinki. “We cannot tolerate the situation…that Israel is outside of the NPT, has a nuclear weapon capability,” he said.

Ali Vaez, Iran expert at the International Crisis Group think-tank, said two goals lay behind Iran’s decision to take part in the Helsinki conference.

“Iran is aiming to hit two birds with one stone: reject the notion that it is a nuclear outlier, and paint Israel as the only nuclear outcast in the region,” he said.

Daryl Kimball, of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, a research and advocacy group, said a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction was a daunting and distant goal but the time to begin work towards it was now.

Israeli leaders could use the Helsinki meeting to “highlight the need for a balanced approach and action on overdue steps that verifiably curtail the WMD potential of its neighbours, including the threats posed by Syria’s chemical arsenal, Iran’s uranium-enrichment programme, and more,” he said.

How did America become so polarized? Half the country is thrilled President Obama won, but the other half is in a very sour mood.'Hatred for Obama' President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden acknowledge the crowd at his election night party Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Chicago. President Obama defeated Republican challenger former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The election laid bare a dual — and dueling — nation, politically speaking, jaggedly split down the middle on the presidency and torn over much else. It seems you can please only half of the people nearly all of the time.

Americans retained the fractious balance of power in re-electing President Barack Obama, a Republican House and aDemocratic Senate, altogether serving as guarantors of the gridlock that voters say they despise. Slender percentages separated winner and loser from battleground to battleground, and people in exit polls said yea and nay in roughly equal measure to some of the big issues of the day.

Democracy doesn't care if you win big, only that you win. Tuesday was a day of decision as firmly as if Obama had run away with the race. Democrats are ebullient and, after a campaign notable for its raw smackdowns, words of conciliation are coming from leaders on both sides, starting with the plea from defeated Republican rival Mitt Romneythat his crestfallen supporters pray for the president.

But after the most ideologically polarized election in years, Obama's assertion Wednesday morning that America is "more than a collection of red states and blue states" was more of an aspiration than a snapshot of where the country stands.

"It's going to take a while for this thing to heal," said Ron Bella, 59, a Cincinnati lawyer who lives in Alexandria, Ky. He is relieved Obama won, but some of his co-workers are in a "sour mood" about it.

"They feel like the vast majority of the country wanted Romney, and the East and the West coasts wanted Obama," he said. "I'm not sure exactly why that is, but there just seems to be such hatred for Obama out there."

Compromise was a popular notion in the hours after Obama's victory and an unavoidable one, given the reality of divided government. But the familiar contours of partisan Washington were also in evidence, especially the notion that compromise means you do things my way.

As Democratic Rep. Steve Israel of New York put it, "If you refuse to compromise, we are going to beat you." Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said the election showed "if you are an extremist tea party Republican, you are going to lose."

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said pointedly that Republicans will meet Obama halfway "to the extent he wants to move to the political center" and propose solutions "that actually have a chance of passing."

In New York's bustling Times Square, hope, skepticism and the usual polarities were all to be found when people talked about the president. "He may not have done a great job in my mind but I kinda trust him," said Jerry Shul. "I have faith he will get with the Republicans and get something done."

A less-flattering George Dallemand called this "a moment of truth" for the country. "I guess we have to wish for the best now, but I still think he is socialism."

In Miami, Karen Fitzgerald, 55, wore a black dress and said she was in mourning over Romney's defeat.

"It's an upsetting day," she said. But she took some comfort from her Democratic friends on Facebook, who have stopped chiding the other side in their posts. "Now they're all saying we need to work together and be united," she said. "Maybe we can."

In Springfield, Ohio, an "elated" Frank Hocker, 67, hoped Republicans would get the message to get out of Obama's way. "There was a backlash," he said. "For this obstructionist House and those tea party people, I hope they learned their lesson. I hope they learned their lesson: Don't stop the progress of this country."

In Chicago, Obama supporter Scherita Parrish, 56, predicted the president will reach out to Republicans but may not get much back.

"But the people have spoken," she said. "They need to lick their wounds, get on with it and start working with the president."

Unity is a challenge not just for Obama but for the Republicans, who won less than 30 percent of the growing Hispanic vote and not even one in 10 black voters. Obama built a strong Electoral College majority, if only a narrow advantage in the popular vote, despite losing every age group of non-Hispanic white voters.

Surveys of voters found Obama's health care law to be as divisive as ever, with just under 50 percent wanting it repealed in whole or part, and 44 percent liking it as is or wanting more of it.

But democracy doesn't care about exit polls, either, and the election almost certainly means Republicans can forget about trying to roll it back now.

In reaffirming divided government, though, Americans all but ensured colossal fights are ahead over the shape of government and Obama's agenda. He is out to break a wall of Republican opposition to tax increases on the wealthy — a move that about half the voters in exit polls thought was a good idea. And extraordinarily difficult negotiations are imminent as the president and Congress try to make a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" — steep spending cuts and a variety of tax increases in January.

In the end, voters split about equally on whether Obama or Romney would be better at handling the economy.

Then again, they were divided down the middle on whether Obama or his predecessor, George W. Bush, deserves most of the blame for the economy's problems.

So it goes in the 50-50 nation, give or take.

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Associated Press writers Christine Armario in Miami, Michael Tarm in Chicago, David Martin in New York, Amanda Myers in Cincinnati and Ann Sanner in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Nor'easter slams storm-weary Northeast A wintry storm inflicts fresh misery on a region still trying to recover from Sandy.'Like a sequel to a horror movie'

NEW YORK (AP) — A nor'easter blustered into New York and New Jersey on Wednesday with rain and wet snow, plunging homes right back into darkness, stopping commuter trains again and inflicting another round of misery on thousands of people still reeling from Superstorm Sandy's blow more than a week ago.

Under ordinary circumstances, a storm of this sort wouldn't be a big deal, but large swaths of the landscape were still an open wound, with the electrical system highly fragile and many of Sandy's victims still mucking out their homes and cars and shivering in the deepening cold.

Exactly as authorities feared, the nor'easter brought down tree limbs and electrical wires, and utilities in New York and New Jersey reported that nearly 60,000 customers who lost power because of Sandy lost it all over again as a result of the nor'easter.

Mark L. Fendrick, of Staten Island, tweeted Wednesday night: "My son had just got his power back 2 days ago now along comes this nor'easter and it's out again."

John Miksad, senior vice president of electric operations at Consolidated Edison, the chief utility in New York City, said, "I know everyone's patience is wearing thin."

As the nor'easter closed in, thousands of people in low-lying neighborhoods staggered by the superstorm just over a week ago were urged to clear out. Authorities warned that rain and 60 mph gusts in the evening and overnight could topple trees wrenched loose by Sandy and erase some of the hard-won progress made in restoring power to millions of customers.

"I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said. "We may take a setback in the next 24 hours."

Ahead of the storm, public works crews in New Jersey built up dunes to protect the stripped and battered coast, and new evacuations were ordered in a number of communities already emptied by Sandy. New shelters opened.

In New York City, police went to low-lying neighborhoods with loudspeakers, urging residents to leave. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't issue mandatory evacuations, and many people stayed behind, some because they feared looting, others because they figured whatever happens couldn't be any worse than what they have gone through already.

"We're petrified," said James Alexander, a resident of the hard-hit Rockaways section of Queens. "It's like a sequel to a horror movie."

It's insane at this point — snow with the nor'easter right after the hurricane," 26-year-old Amanda Feluccio of Brooklyn told the New York Daily News.

All construction in New York City was halted — a precaution that needed no explanation after a crane collapsed last week in Sandy's high winds and dangled menacingly over the streets of Manhattan. Parks were closed because of the danger of falling trees. A section of the Long Island Expressway was closed in both directions because of icy conditions.

Airlines canceled at least 1,300 U.S. flights in and out of the New York metropolitan area, causing a new round of disruptions that rippled across the country.

The city manager in Long Beach, N.Y., urged the roughly 21,000 people who ignored previous mandatory evacuation orders in the badly damaged barrier-island city to get out.

Forecasters said the nor'easter would bring moderate coastal flooding, with storm surges of about 3 feet possible Wednesday into Thursday — far less than the 8 to 14 feet Sandy hurled at the region. The storm's winds were expected to be well below Sandy's, which gusted to 90 mph.

By evening, the storm had created a slushy mess in the streets in the metropolitan area. Eight-foot waves crashed on the beaches in New Jersey, which was lashed with a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow. The Long Island Rail Road, one of the nation's biggest commuter train systems, suspended all service again after struggling over the past several days to get up and running in Sandy's wake.

The early-afternoon high tide came and went without any reports of serious flooding in New York City, the mayor said. The next high tide was early Thursday. But forecasters said the moment of maximum flood danger may have passed.

Con Ed said that by early evening, the nor'easter knocked out power to at least 11,000 customers, some of whom had just gotten it back. Tens of thousands more were expected to lose power overnight. The Long Island Power Authority said by evening that the number of customers in the dark had risen from 150,000 to more than 198,000.

Similarly, New Jersey utilities reported a few thousand more scattered outages, with some customers complaining that they had just gotten their electricity back in the past two day or two, only to lose it again.

On New York's Staten Island, workers and residents on a washed-out block in Midland Beach continued to pull debris — old lawn chairs, stuffed animals, a basketball hoop — from their homes, even as the bad weather blew in.

Jane Murphy, a nurse, wondered "How much worse can it get?" as she cleaned the inside of her flooded-out car.

Sandy killed more than 100 people in 10 states, with most of the victims in New York and New Jersey. New York's death toll increased to 41 on Tuesday when a 78-year-old man died of a head injury, suffered when he fell down a wet, sandy stairwell in the dark, authorities said. Long lines persisted at gas stations but were shorter than they were days ago.

At the peak of the outages from Sandy, more than 8.5 million customers lost power. Before the nor'easter hit, that number was down to 675,000, nearly all of them in New Jersey and New York.

The storm could bring repairs to a standstill because of federal safety regulations that prohibit linemen from working in bucket trucks when wind gusts reach 40 mph.

Authorities warned also that trees and limbs broken or weakened by Sandy could fall and that even where repairs have been made, the electrical system is fragile, with some substations fed by only a single power line instead of several.

The nor'easter cut a feed to a substation briefly Wednesday night, knocking out power to 8,000 customers around East Brunswick, N.J.

On Wednesday, a state official said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo fired his emergency management director for diverting crews to remove a tree from his driveway during Superstorm Sandy.

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Jonathan Fahey, Tom Hays, David B. Caruso, Meghan Barr, Kiley Armstrong and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Jim Fitzgerald in White Plains, N.Y.; and Angela Delli Santi in Harvey Cedars, N.J. Eltman reported from Garden City, N.Y.