Icelandic Volcano to Erupt?

Are you thinking of flying away from the UK’s winter weather to warm yourself for a week or two? If so, perhaps it could be time to think again.

Whereas last year’s eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano (yes, you do deserve a pat on the back if you can correctly pronounce its name) caused havoc with flights from the British Isles and across Europe, seismologists are warning that a series of earthquakes indicate that a far larger eruption could be in store in the near future.

Last year there was much speculation that Katla might well erupt following the stirrings from Eyjafjallajökull, for eruptions of the former have on at least three occasions in recorded history followed on from outpourings from the latter. This time though, it is not Katla that is threatening to disgorge ash and fiery magma, but the wonderfully named Bárdarbunga. The Daily Telegraph reports that:

The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910, although volcanologists believe its last major eruption occurred in 1477 when it produced a large ash and pumice fallout. It also produced the largest known lava flow during the past 10,000 years on earth.

It is the second largest volcano on Iceland and is directly above the mantle plume of molten rock.

So, if it does go off we could be in for quite a display. Just watch out though should we be subject to another blocking high pressure system in the mid-Atlantic, for this could signal the return of northerlies or northwesterlies to the UK, dragging with them clouds of volcanic ash and once again closing down airspace over the British Isles.

The Icelandic Met Office has a rather unusual (from a British perspective) webpage which details earthquakes recorded over the previous 48 hour period. These are displayed on a map that also indicates the magnitude of the quakes and how many hours ago they occurred. It just serves to demonstrate what an incredibly dynamic island Iceland is.

Unsurprisingly, it would seem that some of those who are afflicted with Christian eschatological beliefs are (as they have done for the past 1900 or so years) seeing in this possible eruption and others around the globe portents of Armageddon, to which I would respond: no, it's just plate tectonics in action. Still, if you are of a sceptical cast of mind and would enjoy a little scoffing amusement at the lurid imaginings of such folk, why not treat yourself to a peek at the Bible Prophecy - Signs of the Times blog. The end is nigh! A popular refrain from 999, to 1660, 1666, 2000 and 2012, not counting the many, many other occasions when such beliefs have frothed to the surface and caused havoc and mayhem. Hey, look! Here comes an alien ship in the tail of Comet Hale-Bopp! Quick, better shuffle off this mortal coil and get beamed aboard! Here comes the Reverend Jim Jones with the orange juice: it's so yummy laced with cyanide! The lesson: many people are very, very gullible.

Bárdarbunga Caldera

UFOs sighted in the Headlines

Everyone enjoys a good UFO tale, and today has produced a pretty top-notch one in the form of a news conference given by a number of US airmen including Charles Halt, a former USAF Chief Colonel who was once in charge of RAF Bentwaters and was a witness of the famous Rendlesham Forest UFO incident. Many have since claimed that the airmen were spooked by beams from a local lighthouse, others however, Halt included, think that what they saw was something rather less earthly. Halt claims that the unidentified craft landed in the base’s nuclear storage area.

The Daily Telegraph quotes another participant in today’s Washington press conference, Captain Robert Salas, as saying that

The US Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it.

He claims that on 16 March 1967 a UFO deactivated nuclear missiles at the Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana:

I was on duty when an object came over and hovered directly over the site.

The missiles shut down - 10 Minuteman missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later. There's a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from. I personally think they're not from planet Earth.

Was there some significance to holding the press conference today? Are they plugging a book? Is there some other agenda at play here, or are they telling the truth? I am open-minded (but as Dawkins would say, not so open-minded that my brains fall out), but err on the side of scepticism.

Now, let us for the sake of argument assume that their testimonies are suddenly taken seriously by national governments and media irrespective of their facticity: what implications would such a revelation have? Would it be used as another argument to promote globalism and a transnational architecture of governance? I suspect that the answer would be yes. Would it be a useful means of generating fear globally and thus ushering in an era of greater social and economic control by the nascent global oligarchy? It would seem so.

Leaving aside the usefulness of the acceptance of such a fact, or indeed a fiction, to those who favour the construction of a global government, I suggest that it would also tap into eschatological fantasies of both religious and secular varieties (see this link to a piece entitled 'The Coming Strong Delusion' for an example of such beliefs). The three monotheisms originating in the Middle East all subscribe to the notion of a Day of Judgement and the deliverance of humanity by some supernatural saviour. The global promotion of the acceptance of the reality of advanced extraterrestrial intelligences at work in our world could prompt an outpouring of eschatological hysteria as Jews, Christians and Muslims each await or prepare for the coming of their respective Messiahs and the Mahdi. Perhaps Ahmadinejad would look forward to prostrating himself before the Twelfth Imam in the form of a ‘grey’ from the neighbourhood of Aldebaran before enlisting his help in the battle against Dajjal? Beware their efforts in ‘cleansing’ the world of impure ‘elements’ (i.e. you and me) were any of these to get it into their heads that Judgement Day was at hand. It would have the potential to get rather bloody.

Greens would love to embrace the alien myth as this would underscore their belief in the necessity of creating a harmonious united globe, which would once again play into the hands of the emergent globalist oligarchy. So, much as I do enjoy a good UFO story, I hope that today’s report continues to be regarded as such rather than a reality, for if it is accepted as the latter, prepare yourself for the final onslaught of the real enemies of humanity: the globalists, whether they undertake it alone or with extraterrestrial assistance. Welcome to a world of everlasting helotage!

Below is a Fox News report on the story featuring an interview with one of the witnesses: