The drill, unprecedented in size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany - Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile defense exercise in its history this spring amid [alleged] Iranian efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.

Jason Ditz: Joint Chief to Reassure Israel on Threatening Iran

As tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s threats to block a crucial oil supply route increase, there is much speculation whether the situation will evolve into a full-scale military conflict. But could it be just a game of chicken?

The US has positioned two warships in the area where the Iranian navy has been carrying out military drills. Iran’s navy chief earlier claimed that closing the Strait of Hormuz would be an easy job for the Iranian forces. In response the US said that interference with the transit or passage of vessels through the route would not be tolerated. Investigative writer Edwin Black told RT that full military conflict would cripple the oil-dependent US – as well as the rest of the world.

The Telegraph: WAR DRUMS: Iran films US aircraft carrier near Strait of Hormuz...
Stephen Lendman: Spoiling for Another Fight?
Stephen Lendman: Escalating Anti-Iranian Tensions
Peter Symonds: US/Britain prepare for war against Iran

U.S. Drones mistook civilians for rebels at the border between Turkey and Iraq. The subsequent attack, which may have taken place inside Iraqi territory left 35 Turkish Kurds dead and wounded 15 more who were apparently smuggling fuel. Meanwhile, at least five Iraqis were killed and 18 more were wounded.

Jason Ditz: Turkish Warplanes Kill 35 Civilians in Northern Iraq

Israeli chief of staff Benny Gantz has said that a new war on Gaza was inevitable “sooner or later” and that his army was preparing for it. - Gantz, in a statement on the army’s website on Wednesday, said that the new war would be totally different from the last one three years ago. He said that infantry forces would be more trained on night combat and would use explosives to blast their way through gates and passages.

AWIP: Israel preparing for another Gaza war

Israeli Occupation Forces demolish agricultural faci-
lities in Ethna village, west of Hebron.

The 27th of December marks the third anniversary of the commencement of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip. PCHR believes that Israeli forces committed serious violations of IHL and IHRL over the course of the offensive. Violations entailing individual criminal responsibility include – but are not limited to – the crimes of willful killing, the extensive destruction of civilian property, the direct targeting of civilians and civilian objects, the use of human shields, and the launching of indiscriminate attacks.

It is evident that these crimes demand judicial redress. If the law is to be respected – if it is to prove capable of protecting civilian populations – it must be enforced; victims’ rights to the equal protection of the law and effective judicial remedy must be upheld. Those responsible for committing such crimes must be investigated, tried and prosecuted in accordance with international standards.

In light of the clear and unequivocal failure of domestic justice systems, it is clear that recourse must be had to mechanisms of international criminal justice. PCHR call upon the UN Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, to refer the situation in Israel and Palestine to the International Criminal Court. PCHR also reminds States, as High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, of their pressing legal obligation, to search for and prosecute all those suspected of committing war crimes, regardless of their nationality.

The Israeli occupation forces killed 180 Palestinians in 2011 including 21 children and arrested 3300, a report by the Palestine liberation organization (PLO) said on Wednesday. - It said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) endorsed in the same year the construction of 26837 new settlement units in the occupied Palestinian land including 1774 in occupied Jerusalem and its environs. The IOA confiscated 15525 dunums of Palestinian land, razed 495 homes, and destroyed 18764 trees, the report, carrying the name of people under occupation, said. It pointed to the Jewish settlers’ attacks in the same year, noting that they escalated attacks in December and launched a series of “terrorist” assaults on mosques and violated the sanctity of a Christian Orthodox church on the Jordan River.

Stephen Lendman: Israel v. Palestine in 2012

In case you missed it, Google is now a credentialed provider of Trusted Identities for the federal government. This means that the NSTIC, or National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, framework now has federally recognized and certified identity providers. - But who are these providers exactly, what is the NSTIC and how does this affect the users in matters of privacy, anonymity or even SEO? Below is a video that helps easily explains what it means to be working with the #NSTIC and how these issues are addressed, or not addressed by the NSTIC Framework.

US police have arrested several Occupy Wall Street protesters in the state of Iowa and charged them with trespassing, Press TV reports. - Police made the arrests on Wednesday when anti-corporate demonstrators were protesting at the campaign headquarters of the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the Iowa's capital city Des Moines. Occupy activists vowed to expand their demonstrations as Republican presidential hopefuls attend the Iowa caucus, a meeting in which the party's candidates speak in the race to win the party's presidential nomination. A number of "Occupy the Caucus" protesters also gathered in the lobby of a Wells Fargo bank branch in Des Moines. Iowa police detained nine protesters who entered the bank. The protesters say the bank has not disclosed its donations to Republican presidential candidates. In Oakland California, police have dismantled yet another occupy camp and arrested another person on charges of trespassing. Meanwhile, anti-Wall Street protesters in Washington D.C. have filed for a city permit to occupy Congress on January 17.