The plan was first voiced by President Morsi after an August 5 attack blamed on Islamist militants that killed 16 Egyptian border guards. It was then finalized by Egypt’s newly appointed Defense Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as he made his first official visit to Sinai Monday.

“Al-Sisi will supervise the putting together of final plans to strike terrorist elements using aircraft and mobile rocket launchers for the first time since the beginning of the operation,” an Egyptian security source told Reuters.

Another Egyptian insider said the army was planning to attack and besiege al-Halal Mountain in central Sinai with tanks, as militants were suspected to be hiding there.

The decision to place additional Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula was backed by Israel despite the 1979 peace treaty between Tel Aviv and Cairo, which limits military presence in the region. At the same time, Israel announced that it had installed its Iron Dome air defense system.

An Egyptian newspaper reported that local Bedouin claimed that Egypt already has sent dozens of tanks to the northern Sinai, near the Israeli border. The report has not been confirmed, and most other media outlets have reported that Egypt is preparing to send in tanks, planes and additional soldiers to combat rampant terror.

Al Qaeda-linked terror cells, Bedouin and Hamas terrorists have taken control of the Sinai Peninsula in recent years, particularly since the end of the Mubarak regime. A source close to Prime Minister Netanyahu told Maariv the planned buildup, if it already has not taken place, is “a blatant violation of the peace treaty.”

The Obama administration wields influence over Egypt because of its $1.3 billion annual aid to Cairo, and the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu has appealed to the White House to pressure Egypt to stop the deployment.

Israel knows that it is to its benefit if the new Egyptian regime can defeat terrorists in the area, but it also fears that Egypt will not be successful and that terrorists could gain possession of tanks.

“We don’t really think of those today, because it’s so convenient to go to the supermarket,” he cautions. “But you know, you’re planning because the supermarket may not always be there.” The electrical grid could fail tomorrow, he frequently warns. Food would disappear from the shelves. Water would no longer flow from the pipes. Money might become worthless. People could turn on each other, and millions would die.

Such concerns are typical among “survivalists,” a loose national movement of individuals who advocate self-sufficiency in the face of natural or man-made disasters, gathering online or in person to discuss the best ways to prepare for the worst.

What is atypical is that the owner of this cabin is Roscoe Bartlett, the longtime Republican congressman from Maryland. Over the past two decades, he has developed a following as one of the country’s premier proponents of preparedness against impending doom, even urging the more than 80 percent of Americans who live in urban areas to relocate.

“There are a number of events that could create a situation in the cities where civil unrest would be a very high probability,” Bartlett predicts in “Urban Danger,” a documentary that features the cabin tour. “And I think that those who can and those who understand need to take advantage of the opportunity when these winds of strife are not blowing, to move their families.”

[Mr] Köhler’s remarks are worth pondering. A series of multi-billion-euro bail-outs – and more to come – have now planted a north-south political divide at the heart of the European project. Taxpayers in Europe’s north resent underwriting their southern neighbours, while voters in the south are equally frustrated at having austerity imposed upon them from abroad. As has been noted repeatedly, this is the greatest tragedy of this crisis: a project that was meant to bring people together, now risks driving them further apart. Alas, events in the eurozone this autumn could further exacerbate this tension. There are at least five key stand-offs to watch over the next few months:

GREECE V GERMANY: Greece managed narrowly to escape running out of money today by raising almost 4 billion euros in short-term debt. But Athens will face an excruciating autumn. On almost every count, Greece is miles away from meeting its EU-mandated austerity targets, which raises the question of whether Germany – or the IMF – will pull the plug on the country in October when its next progress report is due.

SPAIN V THE NORTH: Amid continued problems, Spain could possibly request EU cash as early as September. But the country is simply too big for a Greece-style bail-out, while Madrid would not accept having its economic policies fully decided in Brussels and Berlin.

THE BAIL-OUT FUNDS V NATIONAL DEMOCRACY: On September 12, Germany’s constitutional court will rule on whether the eurozone’s permanent bail-out fund – the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) – is compatible with the country’s ‘basic law’, following a host of complaints. Though unlikely, should it strike it down, the markets will go absolutely crazy.

THE DUTCH V EUROPE: September 12 will also see another example of national democracy reasserting itself: the Dutch elections. Geert Wilders, leader of the super-populist PVV party, is seeking to turn the campaign into a referendum on Europe, hoping to tap into the Dutch anti-bail-out mood.

GERMANY V FRANCE: This autumn will also see negotiations over whether the eurozone will take the next big leap towards an economic union, with an October EU summit tasked with providing a “road map” for more integration. Berlin wants a political union first, meaning greater German control over others’ finances in return for underwriting them – while Paris wants to press ahead with stronger bail-out mechanisms, via the ECB and others, leaving the oversight for later.

The eurozone crisis has unleashed some seriously unpredictable political forces. EU leaders may have to choose between maintaining the euro and maintaining national democracy as we know it.

And this fact has been known for years. Scientists don't like to talk about it. It's extremely embarrassing. The West Nile virus has never been isolated. "Isolated" means discovered. In fact, Robert McLean, director of the National Wildlife Center of the US Geological Survey, told ABC's Nick Regush, "We don't have a purified form of the [West Nile] virus." A stunning admission.

Two questions immediately pop up. How are people being diagnosed with West Nile if the virus has never been proved to exist; and what is making people sick if not West Nile?

The answer to the first question is: antibody tests. These extremely unreliable diagnostic tests are indirect. They supposedly show that elements of the patient's immune system have encountered, in this case, the West Nile virus, in the patient's body. But antibody tests can and do register positive for irrelevant reasons. It's called cross-reaction. The test is pinging positive because other germs or debris in the patient's blood have caused the sensitive material in the test to respond.

As to the second question, there are some good reasons people in the Dallas area are getting sick. These reasons have nothing to do with "West Nile." A decade ago, another independent journalist, Jim West, launched an original investigation into the so-called "West Nile epidemic" in New York City.

http://www.naturalhorse.com/archive/volume4/Issue6/article_8.php

West correlated clusters of human and bird "West Nile" cases with several factors; among them, nearby polluting oil refineries, other air pollution (certainly exacerbated by hot summer weather), and the presence of toxic MTBE, an additive that makes gasoline in cars burn cleaner.

Citizens of Dallas should take a clue from Jim West's work and examine their own environment for these factors. There are listings for at least eight refineries in the Dallas area. There are also reports of increased air pollution coming from natural gas production in the Barnett Shale. The 2012 summer has been hot. As of the year 2000, Texas refineries were producing 75% of all the MTBE in the United States.

The cardinal has also turned down an invitation to meet government ministers to discuss the new legislation. The Scottish government said Mr Salmond continued to hold the cardinal in the "highest regard". In a letter to Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the cardinal asked for any future discussions between the church and government on the issue to take place between officials.

The cardinal's spokesman, Peter Kearney, told BBC Scotland: "Cardinal O'Brien is really keen that the perspective and the position of the Catholic church is conveyed to the Scottish government, but he isn't convinced that he necessarily has to do that in person. Also the situation we find ourselves in is one where we want to maintain a dialogue, and the cardinal wants to maintain a dialogue with the government, but that can be difficult when you feel all the things you have to say, to date at least, have been completely ignored."

The Scottish government decided to change the law despite most of those who replied to its consultation opposing reform. The policy has been backed by the leaders of all five parties in the Scottish parliament, as well as by gay rights campaigners and some faith groups. But it has been vigorously opposed by the Church of Scotland as well as the Roman Catholic Church.

This crop is said to be on a par with that of 1988 crop, the worst in the past thirty years. Note that the US is the top producer and exporter of corn. The US accounts for nearly half of the world's corn and also a third of the world's soybeans, the harvest for which will be the lowest in five years. The director-general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, José Graziano da Silva, characterizes the present global food situation as "precarious," as do experts we have contacted.

One issue that is sure to be raised by the UN is biofuel policies and the government-mandated biofuel production targets of the US and European Union. The US is projected to divert about 40% of its corn crop into ethanol, and about 60% of Europe's rapeseed crop goes to the production of biodiesel.

Brazilian ethanol production consumes half of their sugarcane crop. This is a politically divisive issue, and we do not anticipate the G20 will be able to reach agreement on the UN's call for an immediate suspension of biofuel production mandates.

A record number of traders, seed dealers and government researchers have signed up for a first-hand look at corn and soybeans on the four-day, seven-state tour next week organized by Pro Farmer, the agricultural advisory firm. Demand was so strong that eight people who signed up late are on a waiting list. Tour members want an on-the-ground look at the crops as new technology like satellite imagery was slow to detect a turn in conditions earlier this summer. In other words, in times of crisis nothing beats getting your hands dirty and your feet wet.

Satellite imagery, a premium product for food companies and funds, did not detect problems right away because there was a period of time when images showed plants were turning green, as they typically do in early stages of development, said Corey Cherr, agriculture research manager for Lanworth, a private analysis firm that uses satellites as a forecasting tool.

It was not until later that images began picking up on signs of stress, he said. Sky-high imagery can fall short in estimating yields because it provides a view of the crop canopy and does not actually delve into the crop to count, say, the number of corn ears.