"Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake." (Matthew 24:8-9).
"Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done" (Mark 13:30).
In recent years Russian foreign policy has stressed the value of legally binding agreements, over the political declarations and personal rapport that characterized the Gorbachev-Yeltsin era. Acting abroad, Moscow pursues three principal objectives: multipolarity; regional security; and promotion of economic interests in its "natural sphere of influence" and worldwide (mainly cooperation in the energy, military, and technology sectors). A review of its foreign policy doctrine reveals that Russia aims to:
1. Become an influential world center
2. Create favorable external conditions for the modernization of its economy
3. Influence global processes through the UN (using its veto right in the Security Council)
4. Search for common interests with other actors to advance Russia's national priorities and ensure its international position
5. Promote good neighborly relations, and assist in eliminating the existing hotbeds of conflict (which is apparently a lip service goal, in light of its actions in Georgia in 2008, the handling of the crisis over gas transit through the Ukraine to Europe in the winter of 2009, and the "milk war" with Byelorussia in June 2009)
6. Provide comprehensive protection of rights and legitimate interests of Russian citizens and compatriots abroad
7. Propagate its culture and cultivate a positive image of the country
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nation's General Assembly on September 24, 2009; he responded to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's earlier address to the UN (see video below).
By Charles E. Carlson, We Hold These Truths Originally Published on June 16, 2004
A powerful new lobby tells the world its purpose is to direct Congress to act on behalf of the State of Israel.
Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI)* is strictly an Israeli controlled organization that calls for a militant, no compromise solution to its Arab problem.What makes UCI unique among radical Israeli political groups is that it finds its support among prominent USA professing Christians.
Some stumping Americans raise the UCI agenda in colleges and churches. In fact, the UCI “Christians” go far beyond the Israelis in their call for Arab blood.
This paper examines who these Judeo-Christians are, their motives, and the impact on peace in the world.
Israeli political lobbies in the US Congress are hardly new. Upward to 100 pro-Israel PACs swarm over the American Washington, approaching every new candidate for Congress before his fur is dry. Most big campaigns, in the past, have been orchestrated by the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). As detailed in Andrew Hurley's book, Holocaust II Saving Israel from Suicide, former Congressmen, for three decades, have privately and occasionally publicly, called AIPAC the most powerful lobby in Washington. Few dare talk about it in public.
What makes UCI different from AIPAC is that its lobbyists are mostly celebrity “Christians.”Nevertheless, strictly Israelis and American non-Christians control the organization. This might be likened to a flock of turkeys laboring for the elimination of fox skin coats.
UCI does not stop with bending Congress; it openly and without reservation seeks to re-define Christianity to conform to Judaic requirements, seeking Christian support for Israel’s policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians, while openly declaring that its aims are to control the rest of the Middle East. The foxes, it seems, pay the Christian turkeys to perch on the low limbs.
UCI’s attitude toward the Palestinians and Arabs, in general, suggests its solution can only be obtained by genocide. To some it would seem strange that prominent professing Christians would support this militant agenda, but in fact violence is endemic to a certain cult of militant-Christians, and they are those who are part of UCI. They help spread the justifications throughout evangelical churches, and lately in a major effort on college campuses, for the liquidation of the Palestinian people.
Let us first take a close look at what UCI tells us about itself.
According to its own claims, it is an Israeli Lobby in the US Congress, but it is much more an activist lightning rod to attract and promote Christians willing to support a violent solution in Palestine, including liquidation of the Palestinians. It is important to observe that UCI is strictly a Zionist-Jewish controlled business. Rabbis and self-proclaimed Israeli militants are listed as it directors with only two or three exceptions. In its own words, it seeks goals to end resistance in Palestine that can only be achieved militarily or by assassination. Individually these goals seem careless and incomplete, but let’s put these three goals together: they only work by killing and imprisoning Palestinians.
Let us look at UCI’s stated purposes.
We quote from the UCI website: Who is Unity Coalition for Israel?
“Since July 1991, the National Unity Coalition for Israel (now Unity Coalition for Israel) has cultivated American support for a strong and secure Israel,” and “Israel is not just a Jewish issue. Millions of Christians resolutely endorse the principle of peace with security for the state of Israel.”
One stated goal is:
“Cessation of Palestinian terrorism and incitement.”
Note, UCI does not say it seeks an end to the cause of “terrorism,” nor does it work to end Israeli occupant and assassination raids, which it obviously does consider “terrorism.” UCI wants only to end only Palestinian terrorism, not Israelis terrorism. It makes no pretense of compromise or concession, such as withdrawing 7,000 militant squatters (“settlers”) from Gaza, nor does it cite any goal that might bring a peaceful two state system.
In fact, UCI openly defies Ariel Sharon’s compromise aim of withdrawal of settlements from Gaza, a move that might be a frail gesture for peace. Most Israelis this author met recognize the need to end the settlements as a necessity for peace, and 150,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv for withdrawal on May 16th. Instead, UCI would eliminate Palestinian resistance to occupation, but it does not say how. Presumably it favors any acts by Israel that will bring this about and an end to resistance and what it calls “incitement.” Such acts as assassinating some 328 leaders, and many with their families, are not mentioned.
Another goal is:
“Not rewarding terrorism (jihad) with establishment of a Palestine.”
By “not rewarding terrorism” UCI obviously means they think Israel should take a stronger, not conciliatory position against Palestine. UCI also states it wants “no shared territory.” This can only means that UCI wants only one state, and that no Palestinian should be allowed in it. UCI intentions seem to be that there be no state of Palestine and no Palestinians in the Israeli’s state. One can only interpret its words to mean UCI wants them gone. Few Israeli dare whisper of a plan for total genocide of 3.5 million persons, but Judeo-Christians do not shudder at the thought.
“Establishing democracies throughout the Middle East.”
This is what the USA says it is doing in Iraq, “Aren’t we ‘democratizing’ it?” UCI wants more wars like Iraq throughout the Middle East.
UCI states its goal to:
“Ensuring Israel's right to strategic water and land defense.”
But in this small country, all water and land can be said to be “strategic.” Israel’s farming practices have made good copy, but it has already pumped down the scanty aquifers to the point where there is a terrible water shortage. While “greening the land” it has all but dried up the Jordan River. Israeli management may even kill the Dead Sea, which is receding to a big puddle. Because both usable land and water are in very short supply, UCI lets you know it wants “strategic” to mean any and all the water, and all the land Israel has occupied since 1967, not only from the Golan Heights, West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Goal: “Establishing democracies throughout the Middle East.”
UCI’s Board of Directors appears to be about 85% American Jews and Israeli militarists, including several Rabbis. One militant Christian, Gary Bauer, is listed on the board, as is Leslie Stahl, a commentator on CBS 60 Minutes. One or two other board members are probably not Jewish. One way or the other, Israeli patriots have total control over UCI. Israelis Patriots run UCI, and celebrity “Christians” carry its agenda.Who is paying for all this occupation, death and war? Taxpayers.
There is no better way to sum up the power of UCI than to quote a story found in the Jerusalem Post on April 8, 2004. Referring to the Unity Coalition for Israel, the Post states with some surprise:
“One of the largest grassroots pro-Israel groups in the United States has launched a nationwide effort to lobby the Bush Administration against offering support for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate Gaza.”
Why do American “Christian” leaders care if 7,000 Israelis withdraw from settlements inside the Gaza strip? UCI is hard line and hell bent on influencing Sharon not to withdraw. The Jerusalem Post seems puzzled by theZionist zeal of the "Christians"that exceeds the worst of the Israelis.It states:
“Evangelical Christians, who number in the tens of millions in the US, are considered to be one of Bush's core constituencies, whose support is essential in the upcoming November Presidential election; many of them oppose an Israeli withdrawal from the territories, citing the Biblical promise of the land is to the Jewish people.” - Jerusalem Post
In a recent Associated Press story, author Josef Federman stated:
“Prominent Israeli rabbis are for the first time speaking out against Israel's profitable alliance with evangelical Christians in the United States who have funneled tens of millions of dollars to the Jewish state. The rabbis fear the Christians' real intent is to convert Jews, their aides said Monday. Others are concerned about the evangelicals' support for Israel's extreme right wing, opposing any compromise with the Palestinians. To see how Judeo-Christian (“evangelicals” as the J. Post calls them) sets upthe systematic assassination and deportation of Arabs, we will look at the words of several professing Christian enablers who are stumping the colleges for UCI.”
Kay Arthur - Founder & President - Precept Ministries
Joseph Farah - Founder, Editor & CEO – World Net Daily
Chuck Missler - Author & Radio Show Host
Janet Parshall - Author & Host of 3 Radio Shows including "Janet Parshall's America"
Clarence H. Wagner, Jr. - International Director - Bridges for Peace, Israel
Joseph Farah’s unique success in the Internet media may well result from being an Arab who has supported both Bush “wars” and every act of Israel, sometimes overtly and sometimes with sly cleverness. Farah recently spoke at the University of Colorado campus sponsored by several Jewish student associations. This author’s friend, who attended, witnessed his shocking remarks about Iraq and Palestine, with horror.
Farah discredited Palestinians any right to return to their farms and homes from which many were made refugees 50 years ago. We quote Farah’s militant words from his own article published just before the invasion of Fallujah in Iraq that has already claimed 900 Arab lives, including many women and children. Here is what Farah said about their rights:
“There are 250,000 people living in Fallujah. My guess is that the population is going to be reduced shortly... The U.S. should pound Fallujah like it has never been pounded before… We should not try to gain an international consensus for this action. We should not apologize for it. We should not restrain our Air Force and our artillery batteries from wreaking devastation.”
Over 900 Iraqis are known to have died since Farah said this, but it is not hard to see that the Zionist-friendly US media would support Farah’s internet business, and why financing for his costly World Net Daily does not seem to be a problem. Farah is the number one Zionist Arab in the world today.
Kay Arthur is Precepts Ministries Bible Study business guru. She is just as influential as Farah, but in a very different and equally dangerous way. She heads up what may be the biggest mail order bible study group in the world, Precepts Ministries teaches that the State of Israel is the fulfillment of Bible prophesy and its inhabitants are “God’s chosen people;” therefore, they alone are the only people with a right to the Palestinians’ land. This author suffered through one of these classes as an educational experience. Kay Arthur is also a militant-Christian, violent only against those who oppose Israel.
Here is what Mrs. Arthur says about her organization:
“‘Precept Upon Precept’ Bible Studies are published by Precept Ministries. Precept Bible classes are held in all 50 states and are used in more than 118 foreign countries, 63 languages including Spanish, Romanian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Czech, German, and Russian.”
Kay Arthur and Gary Bauer are among those on record as signing a pledge of allegiance to the state of Israel at the celebration of its 50th anniversary in 1998. Precepts Ministries teaches heresy to hundreds of thousands of devotees; Precepts is a life-costing ministry that is obsessed with accelerating the “end times.” It crosses lines into the Catholic, Mainline churches, and even Orthodox churchgoers. Precepts Ministries teach seekers the Scofield-concocted heresy of the land grant and the chosen people from day one.Spoon-fed Judeo-Christianity sounds something like this from the Precepts class coordinator:
“The land belongs to Israel, and the Palestinians have to go. (Sigh) It’s sad sometimes (another sigh), but it is God’s will; those people need to repent of Islam so God can save them!”
Kay Arthur sells “end times” masked violence in the name of “God’s will.” Precepts’ precept is that the “end times are here.” It has no problem claiming it is empowered to know “God’s will” and feeds a diet of “chosen people” racism under the reluctantly disclosed label of “dispensationalist.” This author prefers the widely accepted and tragic Judeo-Christianity as a name for the inevitably violent, Christian heresy.Ariel Sharon fondly calls the same people Christian-Zionists.
It may seem strange to the casual observer that these who profess Christianity also advocate the genocidal acts of Israel, including torture of the Palestinians and the Iraqis. Some 3,000 political prisoners, including several hundred children, have been imprisoned and tortured as a method of extracting confessions. Torture is legal and not even denied in Israel; its military helps train the Americans, now about to be tried, who have been caught red-handed torturing Iraqi prisoners.
But how can Christian Celebrity ignore UCI’s stated aim of changing traditional Christianity into a form of Judaism? It is easy to understand why the State of Israel would use Christian front men when we consider the now accepted fact that G. W. Bush rode into office on the “Christian right” vote.Israel’s war policy and aims toward the Palestinian people have raised the ire of the entire civilized world against it.
Israel’s old excuse can be paraphrased:
Cut us some slack; we are the survivors of the Holocaust. If we are mean to others and sometimes brutal, it is because the world has been so mean to us. The world needs to understand us when it comes to human rights: we are only getting even.
This argument comes with a Jewish curse placed on anyone who will not accept the Judeo-Christian concept of a "chosen race" supposedly based upon a bizarre theory of Israelite genetics. For those others who do not accept the Holocaust excuse or who oppose Israelis acts on humanitarian grounds, Judeo-christians have a curse to offer. That all purpose curse is: “anti-Semitism.” Anyone who does not recognize the nobility of the Serial Wars and of the occupation must be an anti-Semite.
The Palestinians and Iraqis point out they had nothing to do with the Holocaust, and are victims of one every day. Most holocaust survivors have now died of old age. The perpetrators are also gone and people are increasingly weary of hearing about anti-Semitism. And there is a growing mistrust of the extravagant Holocaust numbers. It is time for a new Israeli excuse, it seems.
The “Chosen” are Justified by:
“We do what we do because we are exempt from the rules; God gave us the right to defend ourselves and our land without reservation, and this land, from the River Euphrates to the River of Egypt is ours: a gift from Him; and everyone else must leave or we will help them to leave.” This is often paraphrased: “We are the chosen people.”
Who would blame Israel for taking advantage of Christian heresy? Who would not like to be called “God’s chosen ones” by its ruinous cooperation? But, why would dozens of prominent and influential “Christians” lend their reputations (such as they may be), and their time, to supporting Israel’s claims to someone else’s land?
More puzzling: Why would they distort what their own Bible teaches and what their own professed faith demands of them.Jesus demands peace and love of all men, even one’s enemies.There is not one phrase in the Christian New Testament that supports anything Israel does to the Palestinians, including the claims of being a “chosen people.”
Judeo-Christianity is not Christian at all. It is a hodgepodge of bits from unrelated stories patched together to create an illusion. The illusion is of an “end times” apocalypse and a “chosen people” who enjoy the right to kill and imprison other people who are not “chosen.”
We must at least mention, in passing, that Israel’s evangelical support relies upon the word of a quack felon named Cyrus I. Scofield, who got rich writing a bible for Judeo-Christianity to follow.
Project Strait Gate has no real problem with the Unity Coalition for Israel (UCI) any more than with other organizations that depend upon quarter truths, pressure and deception to get its way. UCI does what a certain faction thinks is in Israel’s interest. But we do have a problem with professing “Christians” who front for UCI and claim it is “Scriptural” to do so.Our difference is with those who attempt to dilute our own faith or to make us accomplices to murder.Our complaint is over the blood and pain these false prophets bring on generations of our own people and on the innocent non-Christian victims in the Middle East.
UCI has the arrogance to tell us Christianity has it all wrong.It accuses traditional Christ followers of what it calls “The Error of Replacement Theology.” This includes traditional Reformation theology, orthodoxy, and traditional Catholic theology for over 2,000 years, and others.
It uses professing Christians like Clarence Wagner to witness against Christianity.
UCI uses its “Christian resources” prop, Clarence Wagner, to spell out “The Error of Replacement Theology,” which we have discussed, and four other crucial areas where it seems to feel brainwashing is needed to anesthetize Christ seekers.
Wagner says:
“Perhaps you have heard of the term Replacement Theology. However, if you look it up in a dictionary of Church history, you will not find it listed as a systematic study. Rather, it is a doctrinal teaching that originated in the early Church. It became the fertile soil from which Christian anti-Semitism grew, and has infected the Church for nearly 1,900 years.”
According to Wagner, those who believe Jesus brought the New Covenant to his followers are into "replacement theology" and are “anti-Semitics” because they will not worship Israel. Wagner and this author once debated this subject formally with on KCRO radio program entitled, “Resolve: the State of Israel is (is not) the fulfillment of Bible Prophecy.” (A tape of the debate is on the WHTT bookstore.) It should surprise no one that The Tragedy of Anti-Semitism is listed as another UCI key topic for brainwashing colleges, churches and religious schools.
Having debated Wagner, this author has no problem understanding what he is talking about. Wagner interprets Genesis 12 to be a land grant of specific property in the Middle East to a specific country, Israel, forever. He also considers it “anti-Semitic” to believe that that is not what the passage says. It bothers him not in the least that Abraham and the State of Israel were born some 3,000 years apart.
Genesis 12:1-3 reads:
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (KJV)
Wagner denies the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood. God’s promise to Abraham was not of real estate, but that he would start the lineage from which a Messiah that would come, who would be a light of peace to all men, even those who fail to follow him. Abraham was to produce the lineage of the Christ Child; this was the promise…this is Christianity!
Wagner makes God trivial. How demeaning it is to God, to put Him in the middle of a petty land scam. God does not parcel out little hunks of desert to former cronies!
Reverend Wagner corrupts the Christian concept of the covenant promise to Abraham into a schlock real estate scam favoring phony claimants 3,000 years after the fact. How disgusting. How insulting, to a Holy God. What UCI disparages as “Replacement Theology” is in fact traditional Christianity.
Wagner’s stand on the Jewish (land grant) interpretation of Genesis is destructive to mankind, of whom God made in the potential of His image.Rabbis, before whom Wagner grovels, do not believe Jesus is God, nor even a prophet blessed by God. To UCI, Genesis 12 is a good enough land title to drive the Palestinians into the sea or to Nuke-em, if need be. Israel has the “Nukes,” as Mordechai Vanunu told us 18 years ago, and went to prison for talking all about it.
Summarizing in UCI’s own words directly from its website, its desires are:
“Israel's Right to the Land”
“End of Radical Islam and the Quest for World Domination”
“The Urgent Need for Action: Achieving a Safe and Secure Israel”
Is UCI to carry out its agenda of building Islam and Palestine disenfranchisement, to control the entire Middle East in the name of Israel, and perpetual war in the name of Jesus Christ? UCI has an “Advocacy Manual”… “A Comprehensive Reference and Resource Guide for Colleges, Universities, Churches, Synagogues, Religious Schools, Prayer/Study Groups, Individuals.”
Christians must know from the New Testament that God is not into money or the property business.Wagner, who claims to be a Christian, also either ignores or denies that the Apostle Paul and Jesus Himself meant when they said: all who believe in Him inherit the promise of Abraham.
Grass Roots Support for War
Israel cannot continue to imprison the Palestinians without a broad base of public support in the USA. The rest of the world is turning against Israel, as is now commonly accepted -- everywhere but the USA. Only the influence of 40-70 million Judeo-Christians are keeping Israel’s war machine going. In the entire world, these millions of Americans are the ones duped into thinking God gave Israel the right to liquidate its enemies.Christian-Zionists do this dirty work for UCI by also selling Israel to churches as the “chosen people” heirs to the land.
Professing “Christians” like Wagner, Kay Arthur, Gary Bauer, Janet Parshall, Joseph Farah, legitimize Israel’s fanciful claim to the Arab lands, "from the Euphrates to the River of Egypt,” by spinning Bible yarns that refute what Scripture has taught for 1,970 years.
Clearly these Evangelicals call for a violent solution, not a peaceful one as Jesus did.Judeo-Christians seem embarrassed when confronted about being followers of the Prince of Peace.This is why we think the term violent Christians can be synonymous with Judeo-Christians. By failing to oppose it, they support the UCI scantily hidden agenda of the liquidation or deporting 3.5 million people. A sad testimony… How do they expect a Holy God to forget it?
* Note on Unity Coalition for Israel: For the first nine years of its existence, NUCI was titled “National Unity Coalition for Israel (NUCI). This is a fraud and distortion because there is nothing “National” (or American) about this organization. Nor is it international, as it claims; NUCI-UCI is “Israel first, last, and always.” Its board members probably laugh themselves into delirium over the name, just as they do over the duplicity of those who call themselves by Jesus’ name and shill for UCI’s death games. The name change was disclosed while this story was in preparation.
Here is what UCI tells us on their website, which is adorned with both US and Israeli flags flying in tandem:
“The National Unity Coalition for Israel is no longer just national. We are broadening our outreach, and we are now 'Unity Coalition for Israel.' Please check back for more exciting things to come!”
The Israeli Occupation of America: How Israel Gained Control of American Foreign Policy and Public Opinion The Zionist, Messianic-Christian Network Inside Evangelical Churches: Walid Shoebat, His Clones and Enablers Scottsdale Bible Church is enabling an un-Christ-like, anti-Islam agenda. The Church's facility will be used by Walid Shoebat, whose program masquerades as a Commemorative Memorial Service Day for 9/11. His books sell the idea that Muslims hate Christians. Shoebat pretends to be a reformed bank-bombing, Arab Terrorist, in spite of his admission that he left Palestine for the USA with his American mother at age 16; the leaders of Scottsdale Bible Church have been informed but refused to cancel the event. Shoebat has been discredited and exposed by many, including the New York Times and Jerusalem Post. The Post feature in May 2008, concludes: “If the Bank Leumi bombing claim is unfounded, it is unclear why Shoebat would have wanted to manufacture a terrorist past. True or not, however, it has plainly brought him some prominence and provided him with a means to speak in favor of Israel and be paid for doing so.” We call for this church to return to the teachings of Jesus Christ, "Blessed are the Peacemakers," and "Love your Brother, even your Enemy."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nation's General Assembly on September 23, 2009. Delegates from the US, Israel and EU stormed out as he was speaking.
Two Russian nuclear-powered submarines have been patrolling off the US East Coast in recent days, the first such move in several years and one that has US officials concerned, the New York Times said Wednesday.
Citing defense and intelligence officials speaking on condition of anonymity, a report on the paper's website said one submarine remained in international waters some 200 miles (320 kilometers) off the US coast, while the location of the other remained unclear.
The pair were Akula class vessels, the paper said.
The episode does not appear to pose any immediate threat to the United States, but it echoes the cat-and-mouse manouvers of the Soviet and US militaries during the Cold War, when Moscow and Washington routinely sent submarines towards one another's coasts to gather intelligence and track fleet movements.
"Any time the Russian Navy does something so out of the ordinary it is cause for worry," a senior US Defense Department official who has monitored reports about the submarines' activities was quoted as saying.
"We've known where they were, and we're not concerned about our ability to track the subs," said the official. "We're concerned just because they are there."
Naval historian and submarine warfare expert Norman Polmar told the Times: "I don't think they've put two first-line nuclear subs off the US coast in about 15 years."
While Pentagon officials declined to speculate about what weapons may be aboard the vessels, the submarines are considered not among the larger class of Russian submarines that can launch nuclear missiles, the Times reported.
The revelations of the Russian movements come as Moscow seeks to move on from the embarrassment of another failed test of its intercontinental Bulava missile.
The missile, which can carry nuclear warheads, veered off course and blew up mid-flight after it was launched from Russia's Dmitri Donskoi submarine in the White Sea on July 16.
Several such tests have already ended in failure, including one in December 2008 launched by the same submarine in the White Sea, off the northwest coast of Russia. On that occasion the missile also exploded in mid-air.
Once a mighty global naval power, Russian ship forays into open seas have become less common, although a flotilla of Russian warships conducted joint naval operations with Venezuela last December in the Caribbean Sea, close to US waters.
Two nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines have been patrolling in international waters off the East Coast for several days, in activity reminiscent of the Cold War, defense officials said Tuesday.
U.S. Northern Command would not comment on the Russian submarines' movement. But in a prepared statement, Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek acknowledged the patrols and said the U.S. has been monitoring the two submarines.
Two senior U.S. officials, however, said the submarines had been patrolling several hundred miles off the coast and so far had done nothing to provoke U.S. military concerns. The officials provided details on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence reports.
While the incident raises eyebrows, it did not trigger the more intense reaction by the U.S. military that Russia prompted when two of its bombers buzzed an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific in February 2008. U.S. fighter planes intercepted the two Russian fighters, including one that flew directly over the USS Nimitz twice at an altitude of about 2,000 feet.
The event did not escalate beyond that, but it signaled a more aggressive military agenda by Moscow.
The latest incident, which was first reported by The New York Times, comes amid increased Russian military activity in the region, and as the administration of President Obama works to thaw tense relations with Moscow over plans for a missile defense system in Central Europe.
Just last week a senior Pentagon official said the administration is looking at options for the plan, which would install 10 interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic. Assistant Secretary of Defense Alexander Vershbow told Congress members that the Obama administration is looking at various configurations as part of its review of missile defense plans.
Russia, meanwhile, conducted naval exercises with Venezuela last year in the Caribbean and sent one of its warships through the Panama Canal for the first time since World War II. The exercises with Venezuela were the first deployment of Russian ships to the Western Hemisphere since the Cold War.
Officials said they became aware of the most recent submarine activity off the East Coast early on through intelligence sources and were not notified by Moscow in advance of the patrols. They said the submarines have not crossed into U.S. waters, which extend 12 miles out into the ocean.
The statement issued by Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, "We have been monitoring them during transit and recognize the right of all nations to exercise freedom of navigation in international waters according to international law."
The Obama administration let North Korean leader Kim Jong Il save face by releasing two jailed Americans to former President Bill Clinton. The payoff — maybe not right away — is likely to be renewed dialogue with Pyongyang about its nuclear weapons program.
After meeting with Clinton, who made an unannounced visit to the North Korean capital Tuesday, Kim pardoned and freed the young journalists who allegedly crossed into the country from China earlier this year. They were serving 12-year prison sentences.
"It could provide an opportunity to move forward on the nuclear issue, and that's not necessarily a bad thing," said Victor Cha, former Asia chief at the National Security Council. "The history with the North Koreans, as they have just done the past few months, is to put themselves out on a ledge. And they always need help getting off that ledge."
Not so fast, said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had spoken with her husband after the pair was released.
She said the U.S. was not counting on a breakthrough but also said it could lubricate the way for the North to return to six-party talks about its nuclear program with the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.
But there, perhaps, is the rub. The North Koreans have been demanding bilateral talks with Washington. The U.S., however, has shot down such overtures, insisting that it will work only through the six-party format.
North Korean behavior — ever an enigma — has included in recent months the withdrawal from those talks. The regime also launched a long-range rocket, conducted a second nuclear test, test-fired a barrage of ballistic missiles, and restarted its atomic program in defiance of international criticism and the U.N. Security Council.
Obama, while pushing heavy sanctions against the North for its recent nose-thumbing of the international community, also has been low key as he pursues a resumption of talks with the Stalinist regime.
That's been difficult because the North is widely believed to be embroiled in a succession struggle after Kim reportedly suffered a stroke and began setting up a 27-year-old son to take power. Its saber-rattling was widely believed to indicate that its military wanted to show strength as a successor is chosen.
The White House has taken pains since Clinton's arrival in Pyongyang to play the mission as a private one designed only to win the release of Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, both with former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture. They were captured while on assignment to collect material for a report about trafficking of North Korean women into China.
Bill Clinton undertook the mission, a senior administration official said, only after the North assured the White House that the reporters would be freed and allowed to return home with the former president.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the back-channel negotiations, also said the north rejected Gore as a suitable emissary. The journalists' families, Gore and the White House then turned to Clinton. The official said President Barack Obama did not speak with Clinton about the mission.
Daniel Sneider, associate director of research at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, said the journalists' release followed weeks of quiet negotiations between the State Department and the North Korean mission to the United Nations.
Clinton "didn't go to negotiate this, he went to reap the fruits of the negotiation," Sneider said.
In photographs of Clinton with Kim, the former president stood somberly at the North Korean leader's side, showing no signs of warmth. The official photographs were obviously intended for domestic consumption. Clinton is highly regarded in the North and his appearance with Kim will bolster him at home.
Pardoning Ling and Lee satisfied North Korea's need to continue maintaining that the two women had committed a crime while dispatching the former president as emissary served the Obama administration's desire not to expend diplomatic capital winning their freedom, Sneider said.
"Nobody wanted this to be a distraction from the more substantially difficult issues we have with North Korea," he said. "There was a desire by the administration to resolve this quietly, and from the very beginning they didn't allow it to become a huge public issue."
As a former leader, Clinton was a good choice to represent the United States in the delicate deliberations, according to Sneider. He had the cachet to get an audience with Kim but could claim to be acting as a private citizen.
North Korean media said Clinton had carried a message of apology from Obama and that the former president and Kim held wide-ranging talks, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said those claims were "not true."
Still, the diplomatic minuet was a success, more so if Obama indeed cracked open the door to resume dialogue with North Korea, whose nuclear program stands to destabilize Asia and compromise Obama's promise to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons.
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