New US Intelligence Report on Iran— Is Iran Now a Harmless Pussycat?

The Associated Press reported on December 5:

“President Bush, trying to keep pressure on Iran, called on Tehran Wednesday to ‘come clean’ about the scope of its nuclear activities or else face diplomatic isolation. Two days after a new intelligence report said that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago, Bush demanded that Tehran detail its previous program to develop nuclear weapons ‘which the Iranian regime has yet to acknowledge.’… The administration is worried that the new National Intelligence Estimate — representing a consensus of all U.S. spy agencies — weakens its leverage over Iran and its ability to build global pressure on Tehran to stop its uranium enrichment program.”

AFP wrote on December 5:

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday boasted a US intelligence report on Iran’s nuclear programme was a ‘great victory’ for Tehran, vowing never to yield to Western pressure to halt the contested drive. The report by the US intelligence community said Iran halted a drive for atomic weapons in 2003 — despite years of statements by US President George W. Bush accusing Tehran of actively seeking a nuclear bomb. Russia and China argued the report diminished the need for a third set of UN Security Council sanctions against Tehran but Western powers pleaded for no let-up in the international pressure.”

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 5 on German reactions to the US intelligence report, as follows:

“Eckart von Klaeden, a foreign policy expert with the governing Christian Democrats (CDU), expressed support for keeping the pressure on Iran. In an interview with Berliner Zeitung, he said: ‘Iran is still building a missile delivery system, it still doesn’t fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and it supports international terror organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah.’… For the most part, Germany’s largest papers seemed relieved but not relaxed. They are relieved that the drums of war that so recently echoed loudly from the White House have died down. But they seem to be unanimous in the feeling that while more carrots are good, it’s still too early to drop the stick:

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“‘In reality, America’s intelligence services had not been keen to publish their intelligence estimates once again… It’s obvious that they’re afraid of being used once again — as they were in the case of Iraq — as a tool in the government’s escalation strategy for which there is no factual support. That’s why they’re scrapping the intelligence estimate they made for Iran just two years ago. The fact that this 180-degree turn is publicized hints at the degree to which some part — and a tough and powerful part — of the Bush administration is fighting for an escalation. In this case, it appears to be Vice President Dick Chaney against the rest of the administration.’…

“The conservative Die Welt writes:

“‘… the US intelligence services are more defensive than their European counterparts, who aren’t yet completely convinced that Iran put a freeze on its atomic weapons program in 2003… The 16 American intelligence services apparently did not want to open themselves up to the accusation that they were being manipulated by the White House. But this distancing, though welcome, comes at a price because it will now be even more difficult for the international community to put pressure on Tehran. Iran claims that it will retain its options to obtain the bomb and will perfect the know-how that could be used for building a bomb. By sometime between 2010 and 2015, Iran might have enough material to make an atomic warhead. That’s really not that far from now, when you think about it and when you consider that it’s already been four years since Iran’s nuclear program was discovered. While the diplomatic efforts plod endlessly forward without accomplishing much, there’s no reason to sit back and relax now.’…

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

“‘The (US intelligence) report is no cause for sounding the all clear. A civil nuclear program can quickly be repurposed for military uses. The new finding that Iran already had a military nuclear program is more troubling than the finding that it halted it a few years ago, and all the more so because the program … was halted during the tenure of the more moderate President Mohammad Khatami. That really says very little about the intentions of his successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a well-known hardliner.

“‘Iran must be denied the possibility of making a nuclear bomb. Therefore, it shouldn’t be allowed to enrich uranium for either civil or military uses. The issue is nuclear conflict, and that is what the resolutions of the UN Security Council are aimed at. The intelligence report doesn’t change that at all… The US government is now going to have a tougher time getting the international community to toughen its sanctions in mid-December, especially Russia and China. Of course, they’ll demand fewer sticks for Iran, but the intelligence report would be the wrong argument for that.'”

Climate Change Conference–USA Left Increasingly Isolated

AFP wrote on December 3:

“A major United Nations climate change conference opened on Indonesia’s Bali on Monday, buoyed by the new Australian prime minister’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol… Kevin Rudd ratified the landmark UN treaty as his first official act after being sworn in as Australia’s leader following elections last month. The move by Rudd… leaves the United States — the only advanced economy yet to ratify the protocol — increasingly isolated as the world tries to hammer out a plan for when Kyoto expires in 2012.

“The 11-day conference, held under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and attended by more than 180 nations, comes as evidence mounts of the havoc rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns are set to wreak on world ecosystems and humankind. Under the new pact, industrialised countries will be pressed to massively reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases from the end of 2012… Environmental group WWF said Australia’s signing of Kyoto would send a strong message to the United States, currently the world’s biggest emitter of polluting greenhouse gas.”

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 3:

“In recent official statements, Washington has indicated it might be looking for a compromise during negotiations in Bali for a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. But sources say the White House is discreetly searching for partners in Beijing and Dehli to derail the prospects for any binding agreements to curb emissions of greenhouse gases… According to the source, Washington is hoping that the two greenhouse gas emitters will openly declare during the conference that they are unwilling to accept any binding limits on emissions of greenhouse gases — at least not as long as the US is unwilling to do more or if the Western industrial nations do not provide them with more financial aid for climate protection initiatives. If successful, the US could use the tactic to prevent itself from becoming an isolated scapegoat if negotiations in Bali end in a stalemate.”

The Associated Press reported on December 6:

“American climate negotiators refused to back down in their opposition to mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions Thursday, even as a U.S. Senate panel endorsed sharp reductions in pollution blamed for global warming…  the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bill Wednesday to cut U.S. emissions by 70 percent by 2050 from electric power plants, manufacturing and transportation. The bill now goes to the full Senate. U.S. climate negotiator Harlan Watson, however, said that would not impact Washington’s position at the international gathering in Bali… It was the first bill calling for mandatory U.S. limit on greenhouse gases to be taken up in Congress since global warming emerged as an environmental issue more than two decades ago…

“The two-week conference, which opened Monday, is already in a tense standoff between two camps, with the majority supporting mandatory emissions cuts on one side, and opponents such as the United States on the other, delegates said… Washington’s isolation in Bali has increased following Australia’s announcement Monday that it has reversed its opposition to the Kyoto pact and started the ratification process — winning applause at the conference’s opening session. That left the U.S. as the only industrialized nation to oppose the agreement…

“Further momentum for serious greenhouse gas cuts, came from a petition released Thursday by a group of at least 215 climate scientists who urged the world to reduce emissions by half by 2050… The United States and ally Japan are proposing that the post-Kyoto agreement favor voluntary emission targets, arguing that mandatory cuts would threaten economic growth which generates money needed to fund technology to effectively fight global warming… U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns denied that Australia’s acceptance of the Kyoto accord would prompt Washington to do the same. ‘We do not see eye-to-eye with Australia or many other countries on the wisdom of signing the Kyoto regime, that’s obvious,’ Burns said in Sydney, Australia.”

Testing Political Candidates for Brain Dysfunctions?

The LA Times published a seemingly provocative editorial on December 5, which appears to be outrageous at first sight. The article was written by Daniel G. Amen, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the Amen Clinics, and the author of ‘Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.’ It was pointed out:

“What do Rudy Giuliani’s messy personal life, John McCain’s temper and Hillary Clinton’s inability to seem authentic have in common? Maybe nothing. They may be just overblown issues in the otherwise normal lives of candidates under the political microscope.

“Such symptoms, however, may mean a lot — such as evidence of underlying brain dysfunction. Sometimes people with messy personal lives have low prefrontal cortex activity associated with poor judgment; sometimes people with temper problems have brain damage and impulse control problems; sometimes people who struggle with authenticity have trouble really seeing things from someone else’s perspective.

“Is the brain health of a presidential candidate a fair topic in an election year? Certainly Dick Cheney’s heart condition wasn’t off-limits in 2000, nor have questions about McCain’s age been considered out of bounds. The White House issues a complete medical history of the president each year — detailing everything from his seasonal allergic rhinitis to his adenomatous colon polyps. Clearly we care about the health outlook for our elected leaders. Should we go so far as to do brain scans? Of candidates for the Oval Office? Some people might consider discussing brain health a ridiculous idea. Not me…

“Three of the last four presidents have shown clear brain pathology. President Reagan’s Alzheimer’s disease was evident during his second term in office. Nonelected people were covering up his forgetfulness and directing the country’s business. Few people knew it, but we had a national crisis. Brain studies have been shown to predict Alzheimer’s five to nine years before people have their first symptoms.

“President Clinton’s moral lapses and problems with bad judgment and excitement-seeking behavior — indicative of problems in the prefrontal cortex — eventually led to his impeachment and a poisonous political divisiveness in the U.S. The prefrontal cortex houses the brain’s supervisor, involved with conscience, forethought, planning, attention span and judgment.

“One could argue that our current president’s struggles with language and emotional rigidity are symptoms of temporal lobe pathology. The temporal lobes, underneath your temples and behind your eyes, are involved with language, mood stability, reading social cues and emotional flexibility.

“A national leader with brain problems can potentially cost millions of people their lives. Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein give us recent historical examples. Both of Milosevic’s parents committed suicide, he had serious bouts of depression and reportedly drank heavily — all signs that point to brain problems. He was found to be unreasonable and unreliable in negotiations and heartless as a political leader. Hussein was described as paranoid and without empathy, also symptoms pointing to poor brain function. His mother suffered severe bouts of depression and attempted suicide while pregnant with him, which is known to affect a baby’s developing brain. He was physically and emotionally abused by his stepfather. All of these stresses must have been involved in shaping his paranoid brain into a mind that could torture dissenters, murder relatives and launch chemical attacks that killed thousands.

“Functional scans, such as Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, provide a window into the brain. Doctors can now see healthy or dysfunctional brain patterns, much as we can assess the strength of a heart or measure hormone levels, and recognize trouble. All doctors might not agree on the interpretation, but there is a growing body of scientific literature establishing what these scans mean, such as attention deficit disorder or a predisposition for Alzheimer’s… A president with brain problems could wreak havoc on the U.S. and the world at large.”

U.S. Senate Investigation of Christian Ministries–Legal or Unconstitutional?

The Associated Press reported on December 6:

“A second Christian ministry is refusing to meet a Thursday deadline for a Senate investigation into preachers’ salaries, perks and travel… Benny Hinn… said in a statement to the AP on Thursday that he will not respond to the inquiry until next year. A lawyer for preacher Creflo Dollar… in suburban Atlanta had said Wednesday that the investigation should be referred to the IRS or the Senate panel should get a subpoena for the documents.

“Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent lengthy questionnaires a month ago to six ministries so he could review whether pastors were complying with IRS rules that bar excessive personal gain through tax-exempt work. Only Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton, Mo., has provided the detailed financial and board oversight information sought by Grassley.

“Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in a Wednesday conference call with reporters that he ‘can’t be impressed’ by the argument from some of the preachers that the IRS already monitors them, because his past inquiries have unearthed information that the IRS never knew. All the ministries preach a form of Word of Faith theology, known as prosperity gospel, which teaches that God wants believers to reap material rewards for their faith.

“… several religious liberty watchdogs have said the scope of the inquiry is too broad and warned that it could be unconstitutional… Refusals to turn over the information could lead to a court fight, giving a judge the authority to decide whether the committee is entitled to all the information it requested.”

Terrible Weather Conditions in Oregon and Washington

The Associated Press reported on December 5:

“The drenching rains and howling winds were gone but flooding concerns persisted Wednesday, as anxious residents waited for waters to recede so they could see what was left after this week’s fierce storm. The storm… battered the Pacific Northwest before moving on Tuesday, leaving behind flooded homes, fallen trees and washed-out roads, including the region’s largest highway… The interstate, which is the main north-south route between Portland, Ore., and Seattle, was expected to be closed at least through Thursday.”

We received the following additional information from one of our members, residing in Woodburn, Oregon:

“We have SURVIVED!  This storm was one of the worst we have seen since 1996.   It was absolutely awful with constant pouring down sheets of rain, wind gusts up to 54-56 mph here in the valley and wind gusts up to 129 mph on the northern coast of Oregon.  Our apartment building groaned and moaned and creaked from the strong winds. 

“Now the rivers and streams are flooding and peoples’ homes are being affected.  Our little creek has maxed out but thankfully, we are too high in the park for it to bother anyone here.  This began Saturday afternoon until early this morning (Tuesday, December 4)! Yesterday, literally all of the roads leading to the coast were closed due to fallen trees, flooding or land slides.  Tillamook, which is on the northern coast of Oregon, was basically cut off from all directions due to flooding of Hwy 101.”

Another member wrote on December 5 from Florence, Oregon:

“Weather reports said we had hurricane conditions here with gusts up to 100 mph. All is quiet now, with the only damage around town being downed trees and power outages. The river is high and pretty muddy from being so stirred up, plus lots of log debris floating in it. Really no hardship here…just inconvenience.”

The Associated Press reported on December 6:

“Floodwaters from a deadly wave of storms were receding in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday, rescue and evacuation work ended and lights were coming back on in thousands of homes and businesses. Eight people were killed in the Pacific Northwest as a result of the storm and damages were likely to reach into the billions of dollars, but remained to be tallied. Interstate 5, closed since Monday about 30 miles south of the state capital in Olympia, could reopen as early as Thursday night with one lane of traffic in each direction…

“Gov. Chris Gregoire said flooding hit record levels on the Chehalis, Skokomish and Elwha rivers. Recalling scenes of blown-down trees, Gregoire said, ‘The visual is nothing like I’ve ever seen other than my recollection of Mount St. Helens’ after the volcano’s devastating 1980 eruption… State officials believed about 33,000 customers remained without electricity early Thursday, mostly in outlying areas of coastal Pacific and Grays Harbor counties…”

No Chavez Beyond 2013?

AFP wrote on December 3:

“Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez acknowledged Monday his first-ever defeat at the polls after voters rejected reforms in a weekend referendum that would have strengthened his grip on power and turned his oil-rich country into a socialist state… Chavez, a firebrand critic of the United States with ties to Iran and Cuba, had been counting on the referendum to continue his rule beyond January 2013, when he must step down under the current constitutional two-term limit. The 53-year-old former paratrooper had said he wanted the constitution overhauled so he could seek re-election ‘until 2050’ — when he would be 95. He had also wanted to gain even tighter control over the country by putting more of the military under his command, permitting media censorship in times of emergency and scrapping the central bank’s autonomy…

“Former defense minister Raul Baduel, who had referred to the reform proposal as a concealed coup attempt, urged supporters to remain vigilant in months ahead. ‘We need to remain conscious of the possibility that the president could attempt to reach the same results through the legislative process,’ Baduel said… Venezuela’s constitution prevents Chavez from re-presenting his constitutional reform under the current congress — though he could conceivably appoint a constituent assembly to draft an entirely new basic law for adoption.”

USA Soon Without Venezuela’s Oil?

The New York Times wrote the following in its report of December 3:

“The results of the referendum, which would have given new powers to President Hugo Chávez, were a stunning development in a country where Mr. Chávez controls nearly all of the levers of power… The defeat slows Mr. Chávez’s socialist-inspired transformation of the country. Venezuela, once a staunch ally of the United States, has become a leading opponent of the Bush administration’s policies in the developing world. It has also taken the most profound leftward turn of any large Latin American nation in decades…

“The United States remains the largest buyer of Venezuela’s oil, despite deteriorating political ties, but that long commercial relationship is starting to change as Mr. Chávez increases exports of oil to China and other countries while gradually selling off the oil refineries owned by Venezuela’s government in the United States… Mr. Chávez already has unprecedented discretionary control over Venezuela’s oil revenues, valued at more than $60 billion a year. “

Christians Worse Off in Iraq

The Eastern Star News Agency reported the following on December 2, republishing an article by CBS:

“An Anglican clergyman in Baghdad, who has seen his flock murdered and forced into exile by Muslim extremists, says Christians there are worse off now than under Saddam’s rule and are probably suffering more than [at] any time in history… ‘There’s no comparison between Iraq now and (under Saddam),’ says [Canon Andrew] White. ‘Things are the most difficult they have ever been for Christians – probably ever in history’…

“That’s because White estimates that 90 percent of Iraq’s Christians, once thought to number over a million, have either fled or have been murdered by Islamic extremists during the religious civil war. That includes his own church leaders and most of the men of his parish. ‘They are mainly killed. Some are kidnapped,’ says White. ‘Here in this church, all of my leadership were originally taken and killed.’ Their bodies were never recovered. ‘This is one of the problems. I regularly do funerals here, but it’s not easy to get the bodies’… It’s all happening because religion can go wrong, says White. ‘When religion goes wrong, it kills others. (Islam) has (gone wrong) and in the past, Christianity has gone wrong,’ he says.”

Preparations for the Third Temple Underway

The Daily Israel Report wrote on December 3:

“The Temple Institute in Jerusalem announces the completion of the Tzitz, the High Priest’s headplate… ready to be worn by the High Priest in the rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The words ‘Holy for G-d’ are engraved on the headplate, in accordance with Exodus 28:36. Rabbi Chaim Richman, International Director of the Temple Institute, explained to Arutz-7 that until it can actually be used, the [Tzitz] will be on view in the Institute’s permanent exhibition display, together with other vessels and priestly garments fashioned for use in the Holy Temple by the Institute…

“Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, Director of the Institute, explained some of the Halakhic [Jewish legal] aspects of the fashioning of the vessels for the Temple. ‘For one thing,’ he said, ‘they are made in impurity – for now we are impure, and will remain impure until we are able to have a Red Heifer whose ashes can be used in the Torah-prescribed purification ceremony.  If no Red Heifer is available, then the High Priest must even serve in the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur in a state of impurity.’

“…’ to gain the actual status of hekdesh, we similarly make it clear that this does not happen until the vessel is actually brought in to the Temple Mount for use in the Temple’… Rabbi Richman noted that in less than two weeks from now… the famous Menorah (candelabrum) – suitable for use in the Holy Temple…- will be relocated to the landing of the wide staircase that leads down from the Jewish Quarter to the Western Wall…

“Asked what project they’re working on at present, Rabbi Richman said, ‘We have begun work on 120 sets of garments for “regular” priests, not the High Priest.  This involves special thread from India, etc.  In addition, we have begun work on architectural blueprints for the Third Temple, including cost projection, modern supplies, electricity, plumbing, computers, etc.’…

“‘We are now approaching the holiday of Chanukah,’ Rabbi Richman continued, ‘which is the holiday that commemorates the re-dedication of the Holy Temple. We’re not just building beautiful vessels; we’re interested in granting G-d the dwelling place that He wants in this world; the Temple is not merely a building, but a way of bringing G-d into our lives in a very real way. And that is what we aim to do.  This [Tzitz] is G-d’s Chanukah present to us, and our Chanukah gift to the Jewish People.'”

How To Implement the New EU Treaty?

The EUObserver wrote on November 28:

“Although the ink has barely dried on the EU’s new treaty, analysts are already scratching their heads as to how the document, with its unclear division of power between the EU’s top politicians, is going to work in practice.

“Come 2009, when the Reform Treaty is supposed to click into place, there will be three big jobs to be had in Brussels – the president of the European Commission; the president of the European Council and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

“The three have overlapping job descriptions that are set to be defined only by the strength of the personalities involved, meaning that the treaty, agreed in October after years of wrangling, could be laying the ground for a political hornet’s nest… The questions run from pinning down the exact powers of the EU president; agreeing who the president will be… Experts believe the answers to these questions will shape whether the EU will be a bloc of 27 member states or run according to the wishes of the big countries…

“… the questions are so sensitive that they are being largely left unspoken until after the Irish vote on the new treaty, probably in May or June. Ireland is to be the only country that has a referendum on [the] document, which has to be approved by all member states before it can go into force.”

Europeans to Tighten Rules for Possession of Firearms

The EUObserver wrote on November 29:

“The 27-nation EU is set to tighten existing rules on the acquisition and possession of firearms, an issue that has come to the fore again in Europe after a recent shooting at a Finnish school… Under the EU deal, a firearm may be purchased and owned only by someone who is at least 18 years old and holds a permit. The only exception will be for hunters and sport shooters. They may possess a firearm, if under supervision of a licensed adult.

“In addition, all weapons as well as packages of ammunition will have to be marked by an alphanumeric symbol in order to facilitate their traceability. Each member state will be obliged to set up a computerised database of firearms, including information about their manufacturer, former and current owners, their trade or repair. The data must be kept by authorities for at least 20 years…”

New European Satellite Program

The EUObserver wrote on November 30:

“The 27-nation European Union has agreed how the Galileo satellite project, worth €3.4 billion, will be shared out among member states, with Spain on Friday abandoning its isolated position and finally giving its blessing to the deal. ‘Thanks to the combined efforts of the commission and the presidency, all the member states have eventually accepted to work on the basis of this mechanism’, EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot said in a written statement. He added that ‘an agreement will allow Europe to have its own satellite navigation system by 2013’… [He] pointed out that once up and running, Galileo will ‘ensure the economic and strategic independence’ of the EU, as ‘special navigation is an indication of power’ on the world stage.”

Election Fraud in Authoritarian Russia?

AFP wrote on December 3:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed Monday his party’s landslide election victory as a vote for stability, but foreign observers cried foul and the West urged the Kremlin to probe fraud allegations… With 98 percent of ballots counted from Sunday’s election, Putin’s United Russia party had secured 64.1 percent, giving it more than two thirds of seats in parliament — a majority sufficient to change the constitution. The Communists and other opposition parties denounced the ballot as the most dishonest in Russian history and foreign observers called the Kremlin’s backing for Putin’s party an ‘abuse of power’…

“The criticisms were taken up by Western governments, with the United States calling for a full investigation of reported violations and NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer voicing ‘concern’ over democratic freedoms in Russia.

“But Putin said that the result reflected a national desire for continuity. ‘It is clear that Russians will never let their country go down the destructive path of certain countries in the former Soviet space,’ Putin said, referring to pro-Western popular revolts in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine.

“According to the Kremlin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke by telephone with Putin and offered ‘warm’ congratulations although France’s foreign ministry called on Russia to ‘shed full light’ on fraud allegations. Germany meanwhile said there was ‘no doubt’ that the elections were not free and fair, while Britain urged Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) to investigate ‘urgently’ the charges of electoral abuse. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi appealed to Russian authorities to ‘clarify’ the election results and there were also expressions of concern from Russia’s western neighbour Poland…

“The CEC in Moscow rejected the criticism, accusing European observers of bias and hinting at US interference… The vote was seen as setting the scene for the presidential election in March next year at which Putin is obliged to step down after serving a maximum of two consecutive terms in office… Putin has said that a parliamentary victory would give him a ‘moral’ mandate to retain a leading political role, and United Russia has said he should stay on as ‘national leader’.”

European Press Condemns Russian “Elections”

Much of the European Press condemned the elections in Russia as fundamentally undemocratic and unfair.

In its report of December 3, Der Spiegel Online quoted many of the European papers, as follows:

“The liberal Danish daily Politiken writes:

“‘As expected, Russian President Vladimir Putin garnered an overwhelming election victory… It was the most unfair election since the fall of communism. The state abused its power in the media. Opposition voices were suppressed. … If the West doesn’t strongly distance itself from this historic election manipulation, which one could at best describe as a swindle, it will muddy our own democracies. And we would also be abandoning Russians who haven’t yet buried their hopes for democracy in their country’…

“Zurich’s Tages-Anzeiger writes:

“‘There is little doubt that the Russian president will interpret this result as a vote of confidence — and that it also justifies his desire to remain in power. If he is no longer able to remain president in spring, then another function will be found for him — be it prime minister, head of parliament or in the role of a ‘national leader’. But Putin’s victory is a false one. The allegations of manipulation brought by the opposition are a dark shadow hanging heavy over the election result… a government that has to gain a victory through undemocratic means, is not as firmly in the saddle as the election result might lead one to believe.’…

“The liberal Romanian daily Evenimentul Zilei writes:

“‘Elections and free-market economies are viewed as a symbol of recovery, and Vladimir Putin’s iron hand as a necessary phase during the transition from post-communist chaos to a liberal democracy. But Russia has destroyed a number of myths about democracy and confirmed the failure of the recipes and frameworks that the West has applied to transition countries. … Russia’s economic strength, which has in no way buttressed democratic transformation, has instead empowered Moscow’s oppressive regime. In Russia, the traditional authoritarian model has been restored using the tools of capitalism, and the Russians appear to be contented with that.'”

In fact, in an accompanying article of December 3, Der Spiegel Online pointed out HOW content many Russians are with their system–in spite of the totalitarian and suppressive measures employed by their government:

“Putin-appointed governors ordered their deputies to make sure the election results were to the liking of the Kremlin. In companies, universities and army barracks, bosses pressured their underlings to ‘vote correctly.’ As if that weren’t enough, opposition politician Garry Kasparov was arrested and imprisoned for five days shortly before Russians went to the polls… The overwhelming majority of Russians, one survey puts it at 69 percent, suspected even before the election that the results would be manipulated… At the same time the polls show that around a third of Russians think the Soviet system was better than Western democracy.”

Poland and the EU Condemn Russian “Elections”–With the Exception of Sarkozy

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 5:

“Poland’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk, opened a new chapter in his nation’s relationship with the European Union on Tuesday with a visit to Brussels, but he also had critical words for Russia’s parliamentary elections which indicated an ongoing chill between the two Slavic nations. ‘Alongside others who have fought for the European Union,’ Tusk said in English, ‘I will stand up and defend the European interest.’… ‘It’s a real pleasure to receive my good friend Donald Tusk,’ EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday. ‘Poland is a very important partner, and the voice of Poland matters.’…

“… two days after widely criticized parliamentary elections in Russia — which saw President Vladimir Putin’s party double its power in the Duma, or lower house — Prime Minister Tusk was not in a conciliatory mood. ‘We should not in Europe be tolerant of a situation where certain democratic standards are being broken,’ he said, referring to Russia. Tusk went on to describe Russian opposition leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov, who spoiled his ballot on Sunday in protest, as ‘my political friend.’

“The comments were in line with an EU statement released Tuesday which expressed ‘regrets’ about ‘many reports and allegations of media restrictions as well as harassment of opposition parties and NGOs’ during the Russian campaign season. But it stood out sharply against French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s reaction on Monday. Sarkozy made a personal phone call to Putin to congratulate him on Sunday’s landslide. Both human rights groups and members of the EU objected to the French president’s zeal. ‘Sarkozy’s reaction, which was totally isolated, is both incomprehensible and scandalous,’ said Patrick Baudouin, president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights, according to AFP.”

Even Some Russian Papers Question Russian “Elections”

AFP wrote on December 4:

“Russian newspapers questioned Tuesday whether weekend elections were really the resounding success the Kremlin had sought and said President Vladimir Putin’s government could face turbulent days ahead…

“The mass market Moskovsky Komsomolets said that despite United Russia’s electoral success, ‘the referendum on trust in Putin’s course failed’… The independent Nezavisimaya Gazeta echoed this and pointed to tensions in the Cabinet. It said that while a government shake-up was likely, there was little clarity about the country’s path ahead of a presidential poll in March…

“The director of the Western-funded vote monitoring body Golos… strongly criticised Sunday’s polls. ‘We believe these elections were not free or competitive. The elections took place under pressure,’ Liliya Shibanova told journalists. Another expert from Golos, Alexander Kynev, said numerous violations had taken place, including stuffing ballot boxes with extra voting papers, forcing people to vote and bribing them with vodka or money.'”

France and Algeria–A Volatile Union

AFP reported on December 2:

“French President Nicolas Sarkozy heads Monday to Algeria to put the seal on multi-billion-euro oil and gas contracts, amid a row over remarks by an Algerian minister about alleged ties to the ‘Jewish lobby’.

“Sarkozy, who dismissed calls to cancel his second trip to the former French colony since his election in May, has said he considers the matter closed following talks with the Algerian president. Abdelaziz Bouteflika firmly disowned comments by his veterans minister last week that Sarkozy owed his election to the ‘Jewish lobby’, citing in particular Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who is half-Jewish. Sarkozy’s maternal grandfather was Jewish.

“… the incident put a fresh strain on relations between Paris and its former colony, which have been tested by France’s refusal to recognise crimes it has been accused of committing under its 1830-1962 colonisation of Algeria…

“Sarkozy, whose insistence that France should no longer ‘repent’ for its colonial past has antagonised some in Algeria, said he wanted to give ‘a new breath of life, a new dynamic to our relations with the countries of the south Mediterranean.’ He repeated his calls for the creation of a Mediterranean union spanning southern Europe and north Africa, saying that oil- and gas-rich Algeria would be an ‘essential partner’… Sarkozy also said there were plans for a nuclear cooperation agreement, following a similar agreement signed with Morocco last month.”

Merkel Strongly Rejects Sarkozy’s Plan for a Mediterranean Union

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 6:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out strongly against French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s vision of a Mediterranean Union. Merkel believes the proposed bloc poses a risk to the EU’s core and could release ‘explosive forces.’…

“Speaking at a conference in Berlin Wednesday, Merkel attacked Sarkozy’s vision for an association of Mediterranean nations as being ‘very dangerous.’ The German chancellor used unusually harsh language to warn the French president against splitting the very core of the European Union with his vision of a Paris-led alternative union — and one from which Germany would be excluded.

“Merkel said she was highly skeptical of Sarkozy’s plans and insisted that any cooperation with the EU’s neighbors must include all EU member states. Otherwise, she warned, Germany could, for example, form an Eastern European Union with Ukraine and other countries. These types of developments would threaten the cohesion and unity of the EU, she said. She warned that allowing a separate association with access to the EU coffers could lead to a ‘corrosion of the EU in its core area’ and release ‘explosive forces in the EU that I would not like to see. One thing has to be clear,’ she said. ‘Northern Europeans also share responsibility for the Mediterranean, just as the future of the borders with Russia and Ukraine is an issue that concerns those living on the Mediterranean.'”

Germany’s Fight Against Right-Wing Extremism Could Become Dangerous For Others

Germany’s fight against the neo-Nazi party–NPD– has entered a dangerous state. Even though methods to be employed against the NPD and other radical political parties seem justified in the eyes of most Germans, who is to stop the government in the future from using the same methods against nonpolitical organizations, which might be unpopular in Germany–for whatever reasons? 

Der Spiegel Online wrote the following on December 6:

“Germany’s interior ministers have faced frustrating setbacks fighting the far-right in court. A new tactic under consideration involves hitting organizations that support the party where it really hurts — in the wallet… ‘We have to publicly stigmatize people who fund the NPD and the associations that support it,’ Schleswig-Holstein Interior Minister Ralf Stegner (SPD) told the Süddeutsche Zeitung…

“There may… be ways around the legislative approach… some hope to fight the NPD and allied organizations with the time-tested tool of bureaucratic harassment. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, mayors and municipal councils in Rhineland-Palatinate are already making things difficult for the NPD by, for example, requiring a few more toilets in a NPD-related construction projects so as to raise building costs. The state has also put together brochures for municipalities on how to deal with NPD members who come to municipal council meetings.”

Democratic and Free Elections in Pakistan?

AFP wrote on December 3:

“Pakistani authorities Monday banned former premier Nawaz Sharif from standing in next month’s general election, further damaging the credibility of a vote that the opposition may yet boycott… Electoral officials upheld a challenge against Sharif’s candidacy on the grounds that he was convicted of criminal charges in the wake of his 1999 ouster by Pervez Musharraf, who is now president… The case involved Sharif’s attempt to stop a plane carrying Musharraf, who was then army chief, from landing in Pakistan in October 1999. Musharraf ousted Sharif as a result of that incident.”

AFP added on December 6:

“Riot police have blocked former premier Nawaz Sharif from meeting Pakistan’s deposed chief justice [Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry]…  Chaudhry was sacked as chief justice after refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to Musharraf under emergency legislation. He was among 37 judges who were forcibly retired by the government for the same reason this week.

“‘All judges are virtually under house arrest. They can only move in the judges’ enclave,’ said sacked Supreme Court judge Rana Bhagwandas, referring to the area which Sharif had tried to enter. ‘Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is completely under solitary confinement. Neither is he allowed to move in and outside his house nor can he meet anyone,’ Bhagwandas told Dawn News television by phone.”

Christmas Coronary

The Associated Press reported on December 4:

“Heart attack season has arrived. December and January are the deadliest months for heart disease, and many of the things that make the season merry are culprits: Rich meals, more alcohol — and all that extra stress. But what may make the Christmas coronary more deadly than the same-size heart attack in, say, August, is a double dose of denial. It’s not uncommon for people to initially shrug off chest pain as indigestion. Research suggests they’re even more reluctant for a run to the emergency room when it means disrupting a holiday gathering, or if they’ve traveled to a strange city — meaning they arrive sicker… A 2004 study confirmed it was a nationwide phenomenon, with peaks in death coinciding around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.”

Big Brother in Europe–A System of Total Control

Der Spiegel Online wrote the following on November 23:

“The European Commission in Brussels wants to protect European citizens even more effectively against danger and disease. Soon there will be a well-intended — but mostly completely unnecessary — regulation for every aspect of life…

“It seems only a matter of time before Brussels’ compulsion to control everything is subjected to a nonsense standard, which would recognize anything that causes 25 of 100 adult EU citizens to shake their heads in disbelief for a period of at least 30 seconds as general lunacy.

“In all seriousness, the EU’s inspectors are keeping themselves busy coming up with more and more regulations to govern even the most hidden corners of human existence…

“There is only one thing the Brussels bureaucrats have forgotten in their zeal to slap regulations on just about everything: the often-evoked ‘responsible citizen.’ The Europeans of the 21st century appear to be dim-witted and unable to cope with life — and wholly dependent on the dictates of Big Brother in Brussels. When it comes to protecting the population from its own supposed lack of common sense, Big Brother is enthusiastic… Advocates for the protection of consumers, children, animals, patients and practically everything else are tirelessly proposing new things that they are convinced require regulation or, in some cases, ought to be banned outright. The EU administrators in Brussels are only too pleased to comply, while the representatives of the member states are quick to give the go-ahead…

“In truth, even legal experts find the well-intentioned flood of regulatory fervor overwhelming… Torsten Stein, a European legal expert at Saarland University, warns that one day EU citizens will become aware ‘that, long after the end of absolute rulers, a new authority has established itself that once again claims the authority to decide what is good and what is bad for subjects.’ Undeterred by such doubts, officials in Brussels continue to perfect a system of total control…”

Once Germany emerges as THE leader of Europe–as clearly prophesied in the Bible–we can expect more and more regulations and prohibitions, which will become worse, not better. This is due to Germans’ well-documented historical tendency to prohibit everything which is not specifically permitted. And in order to specifically permit something, you need regulations. Pretty soon, we will have Big Brother everywhere–this world is becoming more and more an unpleasant place in which to live. For more information, please read our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”

New Poland For Europe

EUObserver wrote on November 23:

“In an effort to put Poland back on the European stage, the country’s new leadership is set to be the first to ratify the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, the bloc’s new institutional set-up agreed in October. ‘I hope that Poland will be the first country to ratify the treaty. This would be a symbolic gesture, signifying Poland’s return to the heart of Europe’, speaker of the Polish parliament Bronislaw Komorowski said on Thursday… The new Polish leadership has made it clear it wants to draw a clear line between the 16-month era of former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who earned himself the reputation of a trouble-maker on European issues.”

French President Sarkozy Approval Down as Rail Strike Ends

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 23:

“A national train strike that crippled France for nine days eased on Friday after rail workers voted Thursday morning to return to work. The poll to end rail strikes, coming just one day after union leaders and government officials began negotiations, was seen as a victory for President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose reform agenda has drawn massive resistance from rail workers and other public servants.

“However, strikes that cost the country up to €400 million ($592 million) a day and at one point spread to other public services appear to have cost him with voters.

“A poll conducted by the OpinionWay institute and published in the daily Paris newspaper Metro showed that Sarkozy’s approval rating fell to 58 percent from a pre-strike level of 63 percent.

“Even as the rail strike fades, Sarkozy faces continued resistance from other groups affected by his broad reform agenda. Civil servants staged a separate strike Tuesday against pay and job cuts, and 3,000 students marched through Paris Thursday in protest of a plan that would restructure French universities with private funding.”

More Unrest in France

AFP reported on November 27:

“Riot police deployed late Tuesday across a north Paris suburb bracing for a possible repeat of youth riots that have left 120 police injured, as the government vowed zero tolerance for the ‘criminals’ behind the violence. For two nights running, young men have hurled petrol bombs and bricks at police, torching cars and buildings in the town of Villiers le Bel, where on Sunday two teenagers were killed in a motorbike collision with a police car… Police unions said the violence was worse than the rioting that hit hundreds of French cities in November 2005 — also sparked by the deaths of two youths.”

British Commonwealth Suspends Pakistan

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 23:

“Three weeks after President Perez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan, the British Commonwealth has decided to suspend the country’s membership. The announcement was made after a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) on Thursday in Uganda. Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon said the suspension would be ‘pending restoration of democracy and the rule of law.’…

“On Friday, a speaker for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that ‘the decision does not take into account the current conditions. The state of emergency was a necessary measure to avoid a serious internal crisis.’ Mohammed Sadiq told Reuters that Pakistan would be ‘reconsidering its membership and future co-operation with the organization.’

“The Commonwealth expelled Pakistan a first time in 1999 in response to the coup that brought Musharraf to power. The Commonwealth reinstated Pakistan five years later. The suspension has little impact on diplomatic relations but does mean that the country will be banned from Commonwealth meetings and the Commonwealth Games, which take place every four years. Within a year of its last suspension, Pakistan requested re-entry.

“British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the ‘decision was taken in sorrow, not in anger,’ and that the Commonwealth looked forward to being able to welcome Pakistan into its fold. Particular attention will be paid to the parliamentary elections which Musharraf has promised to hold in January.”

Commonwealth Summit in Uganda

Sky News stated on November 23:

“The Queen has given the opening speech at the three-day Commonwealth summit in Uganda–urging tolerance among its 53 nations… Sky’s political editor Adam Boulton said most countries see Commonwealth membership as beneficial, and Pakistan’s suspension is a ‘sanction’ although ‘not the toughest in the world.'”

AFP wrote on November 25:

“Commonwealth leaders… from the 53-nation federation ‘called on the government of Pakistan to respond positively to the Commonwealth’s desire to remain engaged and support the return of democratic government and the rule of law.’… Leaders from the Commonwealth, a body representing nearly a third of the world’s population, also called for global trade talks to be concluded swiftly…

“The Commonwealth represents two billion people…, drawn from the broadest range of religions and cultures, from the world’s smallest countries to its largest and its poorest to its richest. It also encompasses some of the biggest villains and victims of climate change, from major polluter Australia — whose outgoing government refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on reducing emissions — to Tuvalu. This Pacific Ocean island group, the second lowest nation in the world and home to 10,000 people, could disappear for ever under the waves if melting ice gaps and glaciers cause sea levels to rise…

“Some Commonwealth nations, led by Britain, pushed for the summit to send a recommendation that binding emissions cuts be agreed in the Indonesian resort. But others, reportedly led by Canada and Australia — at least under the outgoing government — oppose binding cuts if they fail to include all countries, most notably economic powerhouse China. The result was no recommendation of binding cuts and in its place a climate change ‘action plan’ trumpeted by Secretary General Don McKinnon as a ‘very strong political statement.'”

On the historic and prophetic role of the British Commonwealth, please tune in to our four-part StandingWatch programs on the Origins of Britain and America, which are posted on StandingWatch and on Google Video.

Pakistan’s President Resigns as Army Chief

AFP wrote on November 29:

 “The Bush administration on Wednesday took heart in Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf’s decision to take off his uniform but still faced the dilemma of what to do if the chief ally on the ‘war on terror’ went into January elections under a state of emergency. President George W. Bush and his chief diplomat Condoleezza Rice welcomed Musharraf’s resignation as military chief, but urged him to lift emergency rule to pave the way for free and fair elections… Musharraf [was] sworn in as civilian president on Thursday, his second five-year term as leader of the nuclear-armed nation regarded as a crucial US ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants…

“The opposition maintains that Musharraf’s October 6 re-election as president was illegal, claiming he imposed emergency rule to purge the Supreme Court of hostile judges who threatened to overturn his victory. Calls have intensified for the release of all political detainees, lifting of media curbs and a [reinstatement] of the 1973 constitution.”

Australia’s New Leader

AFP wrote on November 25:

“Australia’s new leader Kevin Rudd vowed Sunday to tackle climate change and Iraq war policy, a day after sweeping veteran prime minister John Howard from power in a stunning election landslide. Rudd pledged to implement his campaign promises as a new era dawned for Australia after Saturday’s poll ended nearly 12 years of conservative rule by US President George W. Bush’s closest remaining ally in the war in Iraq. Voters abandoned Howard, 68, who presided over a record economic boom and became Australia’s second longest-serving leader, in a humiliating drubbing in which he is also likely to suffer the indignity of losing his parliamentary seat of 33 years.”

Russia’s Violent Suppression of the Opposition

AFP reported on November 27:

“Russia on Tuesday strongly defended the mass detention of anti-Kremlin demonstrators in the latest salvo of a war of words with the West before parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said riot police ‘acted very correctly’ when they detained more than 200 people and jailed chess legend turned opposition leader Garry Kasparov during the dispersal of weekend protests in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Interfax reported.

“Adding to the authorities’ tough message ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, a deputy interior minister announced the seizure of millions of issues of campaign literature allegedly ‘not conforming to the law.’ The row over the crackdown fuelled controversy over claims that anti-Kremlin politicians are being repressed to ensure overwhelming victory for Putin’s United Russia party…

“Late Monday, US President George W. Bush added his voice to condemnations from across the European Union, saying he was ‘deeply concerned about the detention of numerous human rights activists and political leaders.’ ‘I am particularly troubled by the use of force by law enforcement authorities to stop these peaceful activities,’ Bush said in a statement. He was speaking shortly after Putin accused foreigners of ‘sticking their noses’ into Russia’s affairs and claimed the United States had pressured European election monitors to boycott Sunday in order to ‘discredit’ the polls.”

Over Half of Afghanistan Under Taliban Control

Der Spiegel wrote on November 22:

“Six years ago coalition forces headed into Afghanistan to eradicate the Taliban. Now an international think tank says more than half of the country is under the Taliban’s thumb…

“‘The Taliban’s ability to establish a presence throughout the country is now proven beyond doubt,’ the report says, adding that ’54 percent of Afghanistan’s landmass hosts a permanent Taliban presence, primarily in southern Afghanistan, and is subject to frequent hostile activity by the insurgency.’… More than 6,000 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence in 2007 as NATO forces continue to battle against the Taliban, particularly in the volatile south…

“The report was released on the same day as an Oxfam assessment critical of the spending efforts inside Afghanistan by Western powers… Both reports are grim…”

Don’t Dare To Believe in God!…

BBC News reported on November 25:

“Tony Blair avoided talking about his religious views while in office for fear of being labelled ‘a nutter’, the former prime minister has revealed. In an interview for BBC One’s The Blair Years, he said that his faith had been ‘hugely important’ to his premiership. His ex-spokesman Alastair Campbell once told reporters: ‘We don’t do God.’ Mr Campbell has now acknowledged to the programme that his former boss ‘does do God in quite a big way’, but that both men feared the public would be wary… Mr Campbell added that the former prime minister always asked his aides to find him a church to attend, wherever he happened to be, each Sunday… ‘This is a man who takes a Bible with him wherever he goes and last thing at night he will read from the Bible.’

“Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader, suggested that Mr Blair may not have been so politically successful had the relationship between his beliefs and his actions in office been better known. ‘The public might have been less willing to give him the triumph of three consecutive general election victories if they’d known the extent to which ethical values would overshadow pragmatism,’ Sir Menzies said.”

The Daily Mail commented on November 26 on Tony Blair’s secret religious faith, as follows:

“The great 19th-century campaigns of social reform, which brought about an end to slavery, universal suffrage and the transformation of Britain from a criminal cesspit into an orderly society, were motivated by Christian evangelicalism… So what a desperately sad commentary on our times it is that a Prime Minister felt unable to acknowledge that he subscribed to the faith that underpinned his society…

“But in Britain, the Church of England has turned into a kind of social workers’ convention where faith in God is too often seen as the equivalent of making a rude noise in church. It is almost as if Christianity is fine – with its high-minded concerns about poverty, the environment, war and so forth – as long as no one believes in it.

“Of course, the irony is that Mr Blair’s government seemed determined to attack and undermine bedrock Christian ethics… Nevertheless, he did believe in a Christian God which he was unable to reveal without doing himself political damage. That is because, to a secular society, religion is merely a form of organised superstition. Acting on religious faith is thus seen as irrational, and praying to God regarded as evidence of clinical insanity… Moreover, as the influence of religion has declined in Britain… people have become more credulous, superstitious and irrational than ever before. They place their faith in a range of New Age cults, paganism, witchcraft and belief in psychic phenomena such as reincarnation, astrology and parapsychology…

“In suggesting that life sprang into existence without any kind of governing intelligence, they fly in the face of the evidence emerging from science that the hitherto unimaginable complexity of life forms, including the living cell, makes it scientifically impossible for life to have emerged without some kind of intelligent design…

“The fact that a British Prime Minister has to keep his Christian faith secret is sorry testimony to the self-inflicted damage of a society that is in danger of losing not just its faith, but its mind.”

Anglican Archbishop Attacks the U.S.

Times on Line wrote on November 25:

“The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the United States wields its power in a way that is worse than Britain during its imperial heyday. Rowan Williams claimed that America’s attempt to intervene overseas by ‘clearing the decks’ with a ‘quick burst of violent action’ had led to ‘the worst of all worlds’. In a wide-ranging interview with a British Muslim magazine, the Anglican leader linked criticism of the United States to one of his most pessimistic declarations about the state of western civilisation.

“He said the crisis was caused not just by America’s actions but also by its misguided sense of its own mission. He poured scorn on the ‘chosen nation myth of America, meaning that what happens in America is very much at the heart of God’s purpose for humanity’. Williams went beyond his previous critique of the conduct of the war on terror, saying the United States had lost the moral high ground since September 11…”

America–“The Depressed Superpower!”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 27:

“As frustration takes hold in the land of optimism, Americans are beginning to resemble Germans. They are collectively depressed over the Iraq War, the weak dollar and the aging of the baby boomers. Presidential candidates are left to preach change to an electorate that is afraid of it…

“Sixty percent of Americans believe that the next generation will be worse off than their own. A majority of Americans have no confidence in the government’s ability to solve the nation’s problems. Sixty-two percent are convinced that the administration is a failure at everything it tries to do… Sixty-eight percent of Americans see their country going down the wrong path in every respect. According to demographers, America today is even more overcome by pessimism than it was in 1974, a disastrous year in American politics. It was the year the US military withdrew from Vietnam; and back in Washington, the Watergate scandal led to the impeachment of then-President Richard Nixon…

“There is in fact little today that an American can be proud of… The only thing that has doubled in the seven years of the Bush administration is the country’s military budget. By comparison, the average US family income has stagnated in the last decade or so.

“A look at the US economy doesn’t exactly offer grounds for optimism. The US’s share of global exports has been cut in half since 1960. The balance of trade deficit has skyrocketed from about $80 billion in 1992 to a forecast $700 billion in 2007. The dollar has lost 24 percent of its value against the euro. The Bush administration’s answer to skeptics is that America is still growing at a faster rate than Europe. Consumer spending drives the economy, say politicians in Washington. But since when has consumer spending made a nation wealthy?…

“Americans are capable of handling anything — just not the notion that something cannot be improved. When their pioneering ancestors tamed and developed the nation, their motto was: ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’ But nowadays more and more Americans face nights as dreamless as their days are dreary. America’s new reality is simple: Hope dies first…”

These developments are highly significant. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

“America Is Coming Apart”

On November 25, The Drudge Report advertised Pat Buchanan’s new book, “Day of Reckoning,” as follows:

“‘America is coming apart, decomposing, and…the likelihood of her survival as one nation…is improbable — and impossible if America continues on her current course,’ declares Pat Buchanan. ‘For we are on a path to national suicide.’

“This time, Buchanan goes all the way: ‘America is in an existential crisis from which the nation may not survive.’ The U.S. Army is breaking and is too small to meet America’s global commitments. The dollar has sunk to historic lows and is being abandoned by foreign governments. U.S. manufacturing is being hollowed out. The greatest invasion in history, from the Third World, is swamping the ethno-cultural core of the country, leading to Balkanization and the loss of the Southwest to Mexico.

“The culture is collapsing and the nation is being deconstructed along the lines of race and class. A fiscal crisis looms as the unfunded mandates of Social Security and Medicare remain unaddressed. All these crises are hitting America at once — a perfect storm of crises.”

US Republican Debate–“What Would Jesus Do?”

WorldNetDaily wrote about an interesting exchange during the Republican Presidential Debate on November 28, 2007. It stated:

“Do the Republicans running for president believe every word of the Holy Bible? That issue was the focus of a portion of tonight’s CNN/You Tube debate, as a questioner brought it to the forefront…

“‘The reality is, I believe it, but I don’t believe it necessarily literally true in every single respect,’ said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is Catholic. ‘I think there are parts of the Bible that are interpretive; I think there are parts of the Bible that are allegorical; I think there are parts of the Bible that are meant to be interpreted in a modern context. I don’t believe every single thing in the literal sense of Jonah being in the belly of the whale,’ he added.

“Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney a Mormon, drew applause when he said ‘the Bible is the Word of God, absolutely.’ ‘Does that mean you believe every word?’ asked moderator Anderson Cooper. ‘Yeah, I believe it’s the Word of God,’ Romney said. ‘I might interpret the Word differently than you interpret the Word, but I read the Bible and I believe the Bible is the Word of God. I don’t disagree with the Bible. I try and live by it.’

“The only other candidate presented with the question was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister. ‘It’s the Word of revelation to us from God Himself,’ Huckabee said. ‘The fact is when people ask if you believe all of it, you either believe it or you don’t believe it. As the only person here probably on this stage with a theology degree, there are parts of it I don’t fully comprehend and understand, but I’m not supposed to. Because the Bible is the revelation of an infinite God, and no finite person is ever gonna fully understand it. If they do, their God is too small.’

“When asked what would Jesus do concerning the death penalty, Huckabee quipped, ‘Jesus was too smart to ever run for public office, Anderson. That’s what Jesus would do.'”

Lawsuit Challenges New California Law SB 777

WorldNetDaily reported on November 29:

“Absent a provision in the California Constitution that would ban ‘stupid’ laws, the non-profit Advocates for Faith and Freedom has filed a lawsuit challenging a new state law that would ban ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ from public schools. WND has reported that experts fear the socially groundbreaking legislative plan, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, will impose a radical pro-homosexual indoctrination agenda on all California public schools.

“‘Realize that SB 777 affects all school “instruction” (textbooks, classroom instruction, homework, videos, and other instructional materials) and every school-sponsored “activity” (sex education classes, school assemblies, dramas, music, dances, proms, sports teams, homecoming games, etc.). To opt out of SB 777, you would have to opt out your child from the entire school day,’ said Randy Thomasson, of the Campaign for Children and Families, a California-based pro-family group.

“His organization has concluded a state constitutional amendment would be the best way to remove the objectionable requirements, while the Capitol Resource Institute is working on a separate effort to have voters overturn SB 777.

“Robert Tyler, the general counsel for Advocates for Faith and Freedom, said the lawsuit his organization has filed challenges the law on the basis it is unconstitutionally vague and violates the privacy of all students, teachers and the people on school campuses. SB 777 changed in state law the definition of gender to make it now mean ‘sex,’ including a person’s gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not associated with the person’s ‘assigned’ sex at birth.”

More Attacks on Corporal Punishment

WorldNetDaily wrote on November 29:

“A proposal in the Massachusetts House of Representatives to ban ‘corporal punishment’ would turn good parents into criminals, according to a family advocacy group leader who battled the same idea earlier this year in California. ‘This bill equates loving, corrective discipline with hateful, harmful abuse,’ said Randy Thomasson, the president of the Campaign for Children and Families.

“‘Just as California’s proposed spanking ban was stopped cold, [Rep. Jay] Kaufman’s bill should be rejected by lawmakers who respect the sanctity of the home… ‘This punish-you-if-you-spank-your-children bill is intrusive, unenforceable, and a blatant violation of parental rights,’ Thomasson said… ‘Some parents spank and some parents don’t, and that’s their right as parents. Government regulation of parents’ discipline wipes out the right of parents to raise their own children. This is wrong. God gave children to parents, not to the state,’ he said. ‘Appropriate spanking is not “beating” or “abusing” a child, which is a ridiculous and offensive comparison. When appropriate spanking is lovingly administered, it greatly helps a disobedient youngster to become a well-adjusted adult who respects authority,’ he said.”

For more information on this hotly debated issue, please tune in to our StandingWatch program, “To Spank or Not to Spank,” which is posted on StandingWatch and on Google Video.

Middle East Conference–Cause for Hope…?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 28:

“Few thought it was possible that the Middle East conference in Annapolis would generate anything other than photo ops. But now, the Palestinians and the Israelis have agreed to talks… The first meeting is scheduled for Dec. 12 with further negotiations scheduled for every two weeks thereafter. The talks will be facilitated by an American president committed to reaching an agreement by the end of his term at the end of 2008.

“It is a real coup. And it is a surprise for all those who expected nothing of import to result from the conference — as well as for those who question the Americans’ ability to help negotiate a peace agreement due to their close relations with Israel. Even the mega-news network CNN was caught off guard. The channel completely forgot about the simultaneous translation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech delivered on the heels of Bush’s announcement. There was no sound other than the leader’s speech in Arabic. For five long minutes, only Arabic could be heard, before CNN interrupts the program and cuts to a correspondent. ‘We are watching history be made,’ is all he can think to say…

“Whether it’s ‘history,’ of course, remains to be seen. But it is a new initiative, and Bush’s presentation contained new elements as well. He spoke emphatically about the suffering of the Palestinians and even used the word ‘occupation.’… Many questions remain… the agreement announced by Bush contains — besides the commitment to a fixed negotiating framework — no specific details on the most contentious issues, namely the borders of a Palestinian state, the right of return of refugees and the exact status of Jerusalem. Still, the US president listed three reasons why the time for a settlement is better than ever: The two leaders in Israel and the Palestinians are committed to peace; a historic battle is raging against extremists over the future of the region; and the whole world wants peace more than ever…”

… or for Utter Pessimism?

Subsequently, Der Spiegel Online hit quite a different note, when reporting about the reactions from Israel and the Arab world. The paper wrote the following, on November 28:

“Disappointment, pessimism, frustration. The participants in the Annapolis conference could only feel victorious for one evening — then the disillusion set in. In a rare show of unity, Israeli and Arab newspapers have thrashed out at their political leaders… ‘Anyone unfamiliar with the Middle East would be forgiven for thinking that Tuesday’s ceremonies were marking the signing of a permanent peace,’ wrote Nahum Barnea, one of Israel’s best-known commentators. The opposite is true. According to Barnea, nothing less than ‘a miracle would be required’ for a Palestinian state to be brought into being by the end of 2008. There are too many difficulties to be cleared out of the way before this kind of ‘express peace’ would be realistic.

“The newspaper’s military expert is just as pessimistic. Prime Minster Ehud Olmert has maneuvered the Israeli army into a predicament. At a time when it is facing a tough militia enemy in Hamas, it is supposed to use restraint. That is ‘an almost unbearable situation.’

“This, however, sounds like resounding praise compared to the reaction of Maariv, the country’s second-biggest mass circulation paper. ‘Peace agreed for the cameras,’ writes Ben Caspit in his editorial. He caustically describes the joint statement between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a successful marketing coup by Olmert — arranged only so that the beleaguered premier could hold on to power until the end of next year.

“‘Olmert is the true winner,’ writes Caspit. The big losers are Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the peace movement. ‘Barak knows that the chances for a peace treaty in a year are as great as Olmert being elected US president next November.’ The great expectations that US President George W. Bush has stirred up will only be disappointed, Caspit writes, ‘and then we will experience a profound disaster.’

“The London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi also predicts calamity. ‘The rude awakening is yet to come,’ says their editorial. The Annapolis conference did not address the really urgent problems. That will come back to haunt the participants, the paper writes: ‘The only success at Annapolis is that the conference took place.’…

“One day after Annapolis, the mood in the Middle East’s newspapers is subdued. The conclusion of most of the commentators is that Annapolis’s turbo-charged approach to the peace process will cause more harm than good.”

Natural Disasters on the Rise

AFP wrote on November 25:

“More than four times the number of natural disasters are occurring now than did two decades ago, British charity Oxfam said in a study Sunday that largely blamed global warming… The world suffered about 120 natural disasters per year in the early 1980s, which compared with the current figure of about 500 per year, according to the report.

“‘This year we have seen floods in South Asia, across the breadth of Africa and Mexico that have affected more than 250 million people,’ noted Oxfam director Barbara Stocking. ‘This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people.’… The number of people affected by extreme natural disasters, meanwhile, has surged by almost 70 percent, from 174 million a year between 1985 to 1994, to 254 million people a year between 1995 to 2004, Oxfam said. Floods and wind-storms have increased from 60 events in 1980 to 240 last year, with flooding itself up six-fold.”

More Military Might for Europe?

The EUObserver wrote on November 16:

“UK foreign secretary David Miliband called for a strengthening of the EU’s military capacities during his first major speech on EU policy on Thursday (15 November) – an idea that has also been recently raised by France. ‘It’s frankly embarrassing that when European nations – with almost two million men and women under arms – are only able, at a stretch, to deploy around 100,000 at any one time’, Mr Miliband said… ‘European countries have around 1,200 transport helicopters, yet only 35 are deployed in Afghanistan. And EU member states haven’t provided any helicopters in Darfur despite the desperate need there’, he went on.

“French president Nicolas Sarkozy has also called for more efforts to build an independent European defence capability as well as to modernise NATO, while French defence minister Herve Morin told German newspaper FAZ earlier this week that Paris would put defence high on its EU presidency agenda during the second half of 2008.”

Europe, Under Germany, Against Iran…?

Reuters reported on November 16:

“Germany would consider the possibility of separate EU measures against Iran if the U.N. Security Council fails to agree on a new sanctions resolution, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

“Reacting to the latest report on Iran’s nuclear programme by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the United States said on Thursday it would work with its allies for a third round of U.N. sanctions against Tehran for refusing to suspend nuclear enrichment.

“But Russia and China, permanent veto-wielding members of the Security Council, are opposed to more sanctions. As a result, France has been pushing for the European Union to impose its own separate U.S.-style sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

“A German Foreign Ministry spokesman was asked at a regular news conference what Germany, which diplomats have been saying opposed the idea of separate EU measures, would do if the Security Council failed to approve tougher sanctions. ‘The foreign minister has made clear that if this is the case we would take up this issue in Europe and consider together what steps could be taken by Europe,’ spokesman Martin Jaeger said.”

… But Germany’s Position “Difficult, Sketchy and Ineffective”…

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 20:

“In an effort to forestall an American military strike against Iran, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for tougher economic sanctions against the mullah-controlled regime in Tehran. But critics say Merkel’s plans are sketchy and difficult to implement, while experts disagree over their effectiveness…

“During a visit to US President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas two weekends ago, Merkel promised her host that her government would apply stronger economic pressure on the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Merkel hopes that harsh economic sanctions will force the country’s ruling mullahs to finally abandon their controversial nuclear program… Only a few days later, during a routine consultation between senior officials in the German and French governments, Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy explored ways to put together a European alliance of countries willing to participate in the boycott. The Europeans’ main goal is to prevent a US military strike, which they believe could have more catastrophic consequences than an Iranian nuclear program… However, many in Berlin doubt tougher sanctions would be enough to force Tehran to come around on the nuclear issue. They are merely the price of keeping the Americans peaceful.

“The Catch-22 in Merkel’s pledge is that the plans she proposes are difficult to implement, and the German government has little latitude. Government experts warn against further reducing or even eliminating Hermes cover — export credit guarantees that protect German companies from non-payment by foreign debtors — for business transactions with Iran, as the Americans are demanding. Although Berlin reduced the government export credit guarantees from €900 million last year to the current level of €500 million, canceling the Hermes guarantees altogether would be risky.

“In Berlin, senior government officials fear that if the guarantees were eliminated, Tehran would no longer have any reason to repay what it already owes. At issue are receivables totaling roughly €5.5 billion, and not collecting on these debts would drive many German companies into bankruptcy. The government would have to jump in to prevent this from happening, which would impose an unacceptable burden on its budget.

“Closing the Iranian banks’ German offices isn’t as easy as the Americans imagine, either. Before this could happen, the European Union would require a United Nations resolution stating that the banks are funding the nuclear weapons program Iran is believed to be developing. EU member states would only be permitted to take action against the relevant Iranian companies if the UN adopts the necessary resolution. Although the resolution is pending before the UN Security Council, it hasn’t been adopted yet…

“US government pressure on German corporations and banks is also causing legal problems for the companies in question. By agreeing to participate in a boycott against a foreign country, German businesses would be in violation of foreign trade legislation enacted in 1993. The new laws were introduced because a number of Arab nations had demanded that their trading partners refrain from doing business with Israel. Many companies, fearful of losing their Arab business, caved in and signed the statements their Arab trading partners were demanding. To prevent this from happening in the future, German lawmakers enacted the 1993 legislation, which imposes fines of up to €500,000 on offenders…”

French President Keeps Low Profile

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 20:

“It’s Black Tuesday for French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Five million French civil servants have gone out on strike, joining millions of others already on the streets protesting planned reforms.

“French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing his stiffest political test on Tuesday as five million public servants stage a one-day strike. They are joining transport workers who are staying off the job for the seventh straight day. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Monday that the transport strike was costing the economy between €300 million and €350 million ($440 million and $513 million) a day.

“The strikes are causing disruptions to air traffic, postal delivery and even weather forecasts and French people are being forced to forgo their newspapers as printers and distribution employees stay away from work…

“While the majority of French supported Sarkozy’s pledge to modernize France in the presidential elections in May many are beginning to feel disappointed with the failure to improve their daily lives six months on… The president has been keeping an uncharacteristically low profile over the past week, in an attempt to avoid aggravating the situation…”

Global Warming–Man-Made or Not?

AFP reported on November 16:

“UN experts agreed Friday on a draft report that warns global warming may have far-reaching and irreversible consequences… But sometimes sharp disagreement emerged during the five days of negotiations in Valencia to hammer out the summary, even though the main findings remained untouched. US delegates in particular said references to ‘irreversible’ climate change and impacts were imprecise. They argued, for example, that the melting of glaciers or ice sheets — which could raise ocean levels by several meters (a dozen feet) — was not ‘irreversible’ as ice could eventually reform… There is now broad agreement on the amplifying scale of the problem, but countries remain sharply divided on how to tackle it, fearing economic costs and loss of competitive advantage.”

In a related article, the Associated Press wrote on November 16:

“The document says recent research has heightened concern that the poor and the elderly will suffer most from climate change; that hunger and disease will be more common; that droughts, floods and heat waves will afflict the world’s poorest regions; and that more animal and plant species will vanish… The report is important because it is adopted by consensus, meaning countries accept the underlying science and cannot disavow its conclusions. While it does not commit governments to a specific course of action, it provides a common scientific baseline for the political talks. “U.N. experts say a new global plan must be in place by 2009 to ensure a smooth transition after the expiration of the Kyoto terms, which require 36 industrial countries to radically reduce their carbon emissions by 2012…

“While the European Union has taken the lead in enforcing the carbon emission targets outlined in Kyoto, the United States opted out of the 1997 accord. President Bush described it as flawed because major developing countries such as India and China, which are large carbon emitters, were excluded from any obligations. He also favors a voluntary agreement.

“Sharon Hays, a White House science official and head of the U.S. delegation, said the certainty of climate change was clearer now than when Bush rejected Kyoto.  ‘What’s changed since 2001 is the scientific certainty that this is happening,’ she said in a conference call to reporters late Friday. ‘Back in 2001 the IPCC report said it is likely that humans were having an impact on the climate,’ but confidence in human responsibility had increased since then.”

America Is Giving Mixed Signals on Global Warming

Although the U.N’s. draft report on man-made global warming was unanimous, this may not mean that the United States really agrees with its conclusions. As AFP reported on November 17:

“The United States believes there is no clear scientific definition of the dangers of climate change although it recognizes urgent action is needed, a US conference delegation said. ‘The scientific definition of that is lacking, and so we are operating within the construct of, again, strong agreement among world leaders that urgent action is warranted,’ said Jim Connaughton, chairman of the Council of Environmental Quality…

“‘The scientific community has offered a wide range of perspectives in these documents,’ Connaughton said… Head US delegate in Valencia, Sharon Hays, cited recent American studies… made on the basis of the last IPCC report, in which US researchers stated ‘very clearly’ that ‘value judgments’ still have to be made in determining what the dangers of climate change really are… ‘That is a political judgment, as it’s been made,’ added US negotiator on climate issues Harlan Watson. ‘It’s their interpretation.’… The United States continues to oppose establishing strict legal limits on greenhouse gas emissions.”

Changes In Poland

Will Poland’s new government change the country’s relationship with Europe and the United States?

Der Spiegel wrote on November 20:

“The Kaczynski twins went a long way toward destroying Poland’s relations with Europe. Now that Donald Tusk has become prime minister, the repairs have begun… Foreign Minister Sikorski… wants the US to give the Poles something in return for their commitment to the Americans. When he was defense minister, Sikorski asked Washington for $1 billion in military aid. He also fears that missiles stationed in Poland could turn the country into a target for attacks by rogue states.

“Besides, the new government promised its fellow Poles that it would withdraw the remaining 900 Polish soldiers from Iraq. Surveys have repeatedly shown that the majority of Poles are highly critical of their soldiers’ Iraq mission.

“This skepticism is likely to have grown in recent days, after a military prosecutor in Poznan filed charges against seven Polish soldiers alleged to have opened fire on unarmed civilians during their deployment in Afghanistan. Six people, including women and children, were killed in the incident. The notion that Polish soldiers may have committed war crimes is unbearable for a nation that has been the victim of war all too often in its own history.”

Pakistan’s Ongoing Maneuverings

In a bizarre twist of events, Pakistan’s President seems to follow through with a “quid pro quo” arrangement. Antagonistic Supreme Court justices were replaced with justices sympathetic toward the President. The new justices promptly confirmed, in effect, the “legality” of the President’s election. In return, the President subsequently announced that he would step down as Army chief–while continuing to refuse ending martial law. In addition, thousands of detained political opponents were released.

AFP reported on November 19:

“Stripped of hostile judges by [Pakistan’s President] Musharraf under a state of emergency after he feared it would rule he was ineligible for another five-year term, the new-look top court took just over two hours to throw out the cases… ‘There were five petitions, they have all been dismissed. There is only one left, and that will be heard on Thursday,’ attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum told AFP after a hearing from which international media were banned…

“There was no sign of a swift end to the emergency, despite a blunt message Sunday from US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who said it was ‘not compatible’ with holding a free and fair vote.”

Times On Line added on November 20:

“President Musharraf of Pakistan has decided to resign as Army chief by the end of the week, it emerged today. Sources close to the Pakistani President indicated that he wanted to stand down almost immediately if a Supreme Court newly packed with his supporters decides… to reject the final legal challenge to his victory in last month’s election on Thursday…

“Critics of the Pakistani President claim that he engineered the Supreme Court’s decision today by sacking a number of independently-minded judges who had been due to consider the case when the state of emergency was called…”

Further Decline of U.S. Dollar

Bloomberg reported on November 20:

“The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and Swiss franc on concern credit-market losses will slow economic growth, prompting the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates again this year… ‘There are lots of forces working against the dollar,’ said Robert Fullem, vice president of U.S. corporate currency sales at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. ‘The market sentiment toward the dollar is very negative. You are going to see further declines in the dollar.’… The dollar will decline to $1.50 per euro by the end of the year, according to Fullem.”

U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Case on Handguns

The Associated Press reported on November 20:

“The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether the District of Columbia can ban handguns, a case that could produce the most in-depth examination of the constitutional right to ‘keep and bear arms’ in nearly 70 years. The justices’ decision to hear the case could make the divisive debate over guns an issue in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections.

“The government of Washington, D.C., is asking the court to uphold its 31-year ban on handgun ownership in the face of a federal appeals court ruling that struck down the ban as incompatible with the Second Amendment… The main issue before the justices is whether the Second Amendment of the Constitution protects an individual’s right to own guns or instead merely sets forth the collective right of states to maintain militias. The former interpretation would permit fewer restrictions on gun ownership.

“Gun-control advocates say the Second Amendment was intended to ensure that states could maintain militias, a response to 18th century fears of an all-powerful national government. Gun rights proponents contend the amendment gives individuals the right to keep guns for private uses, including self-defense…

“The Second Amendment reads: ‘A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’…

“Arguments will be heard early next year. The case is District of Columbia v. Heller, 07-290.”

Reuters: “U.S. Prison System a Costly and Harmful Failure”

Reuters reported on November 19:

“The number of people in U.S. prisons has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little impact on crime but at great cost to taxpayers and society, researchers said in a report calling for a major justice-system overhaul… The report was produced by the JFA Institute, a Washington criminal-justice research group, and its authors included eight criminologists from major U.S. public universities… More than 1.5 million people are now in U.S. state and federal prisons, up from 196,429 in 1970, the report said. Another 750,000 people are in local jails. The U.S. incarceration rate is the world’s highest, followed by Russia, according to 2006 figures compiled by Kings College in London.

“Although the U.S. crime rate began declining in the 1990s it is still about the same as in 1973, the JFA report said. But the prison population has soared because sentences have gotten longer and people who violate parole or probation, even with minor lapses, are more likely to be imprisoned. ‘The system is almost feeding on itself now. It takes years and years and years to get out of this system and we do not see any positive impact on the crime rates,’ JFA President James Austin, a co-author of the report, told a news conference. The report said the prison population is projected to grow by another 192,000 in five years, at a cost of $27.5 billion to build and operate additional prisons… Women represent the fastest-growing segment of the prison population, the report said.”

Vatican’s Ties With Israel Worsening

The International Herald Tribune wrote on November 16:

“A senior Vatican diplomat [Archbishop Pietro Sambi] who served as papal envoy to Israel has described Vatican-Israeli relations as worsening, blaming the Jewish state for failing to keep promises related to church land, taxes and travel restrictions on Arab clergy… Asked about Sambi’s criticisms, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said: ‘Israel is interested in good relations with the Vatican and Israeli and Vatican officials are working to overcome gaps that exist.’

“Vatican spokesman… Federico Lombardi said the interview with Sambi ‘reflects his thinking and his personal experience’ during the diplomat’s former posting in Israel… Earlier this year, tensions developed between the Vatican and Israel when the Holy See’s ambassador to Israel initially decided to boycott a Holocaust memorial service because of allegations that during World War II Pope Pius XII was silent about the mass killings of Jews.”

Catholic Church’s Canon Law Prohibits Full Ecumenical Relations

The Canadian Press reported on November 14:

“Under pressure from Baltimore’s new Roman Catholic archbishop, a priest resigned as pastor to three parishes and signed a statement apologizing for ‘bringing scandal to the church’ after offences that included officiating at a funeral mass with an Episcopal priest, a violation of canon law. Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien ordered the resignation of… Ray Martin, who has led the Catholic Community of South Baltimore for five years, triggering a debate about enforcing Catholic doctrine and the limits of ecumenical relations.”

“If Anyone Will Not Work, Let Him Not Eat”

On November 16, the Catholic News Agency, Zenit, published a noteworthy article, by Raniero Cantalamessa, on work ethics and the Bible. We are quoting the following excerpts:

“It seems that in one of the first Christian communities, that of Thessalonica, there were believers who… thought that it was useless to weary themselves, to work or do anything since everything was about to come to an end. They thought it better to take each day as it came and not commit themselves to long-term projects and only to do the minimum to get by… Paul responds to them in the second reading: ‘We hear that some are conducting themselves among you in a disorderly way, by not keeping busy but minding the business of others. Such people we instruct and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to eat their own food.’ At the beginning of the passage,… Paul recalls the rule that he had given to the Christians in Thessalonica: ‘If anyone will not work, let him not eat.’

“This was a novelty for the men of that time. The culture to which they belonged looked down upon manual labor; it was regarded as degrading and as something to be left to slaves and the uneducated. But the Bible has a different vision. From the very first page it presents God as working for six days and resting on the seventh day. And all of this happens in the Bible before sin is spoken of. Work, therefore, is part of man’s original nature and is not something that results from guilt and punishment. Manual labor is just as dignified as intellectual and spiritual labor. Jesus himself dedicates 17 years to the former — supposing he began to work around 13 — and only a few years to the latter… A person who has done the most humble jobs in life can be of greater ‘value’ than those people who hold positions of great prestige.

“It was said that work is a participation in the creative action of God and in the redemptive action of Christ and that it is a source of personal and social growth, but we know that it is also weariness, sweat and pain. It can ennoble but it can also empty and wear down. The secret is to put one’s heart into what one’s hands do. It is not so much the amount or type of work done that tires us out, as much as it is the lack of enthusiasm and motivation. To the earthly motivations for work, faith adds eternal motivations: ‘Our works,’ the Book of Revelation says, ‘will follow us’ (14:13).”

Terrible Devastation of Bangladesh Cyclone

The Telegraph wrote on November 20:

“Up to 15,000 people were killed and seven million lives left devastated by the cyclone in Bangladesh last week, aid agencies have said as the full extent of the disaster became clear… In the worst affected districts, 90 per cent of homes and 95 per cent of rice crops and valuable prawn farms were obliterated by the winds, which generated a 20ft tidal surge that swept everything from its path… Officials described the humanitarian situation in coastal districts like Barguna, 130 miles south of the capital Dhaka, as the ‘worst in decades’, a grave assertion in a country that is used to dealing with annual floods and storms… Village after village has been shattered. Millions of people are living out in the open and relief is reaching less than one percent of the people. When reached, victims are being found dehydrated and in a state of shock.”

The Associated Press reported on November 19:

“Survivors said many of the deaths could have been prevented but people failed to heed warnings to move to higher ground as the storm approached Thursday…

“Many foreign governments and international groups… pledged to help.

“The United States offered $2.1 million and two U.S. Marine Corps transport planes arrived in Dhaka with medical supplies, said Chowdhury, the army spokesman. An American military medical team was already in Bangladesh and two U.S. Navy ships, each carrying at least 20 helicopters and tons of supplies, would be made available if the Bangladesh government requested them, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement.

“The European Union promised $2.2 million and the British government $5.1 million. Italy’s Roman Catholic bishops conference said it would donate $2.9 million. The governments of Germany and France each pledged $730,000, Japan sent $318,000 in relief supplies, and the Philippines said it would provide a medical team.

“Bangladesh is a densely populated nation sitting on a vast river delta. Storms batter its low-lying lands every year, often killing large numbers of people. The most deadly recent storm was a tornado that leveled 80 villages in northern Bangladesh in 1996, killing 621 people. A 1991 cyclone killed about 140,000 people near the city of Chittagong, and a storm in 1985 left some 11,000 dead. One of the worst disasters came in 1970, when a cyclone’s 20-foot-high storm surge killed an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people.”

AFP reported on November 21:

“Bangladesh’s army said Wednesday it had finally reached most parts of its cyclone-hit southern coastline where millions of desperate survivors were at risk from starvation and disease. Six days after cyclone Sidr smashed in from the Bay of Bengal, small amounts of aid were at last getting through to most places but villagers — most of whom have lost family members and livelihoods — said much more was needed… Up to four million people in the area, one of the poorest places on the planet, have been left destitute and without adequate food and water.”

The US Dollar Crisis–A Pearl Harbor Without War

On November 13, Der Spiegel Online published a thought-provoking article, explaining the imminent danger of an “attack on the US economy.” This is a “MUST-READ” article for all who want to be aware of the problems awaiting this country. The magazine stated the following:

“The dollar crisis has politicians alarmed worldwide. The US currency has lost 24 percent of its value since the introduction of the euro, and now there is even a chance that China could abandon its policy of pegging its currency to the dollar — a problem the United States should take very seriously… The most important country in the world for the United States isn’t Great Britain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia or Iraq. China holds that dubious distinction, because it is also the country the US can least do without. Without its willingness to buy an almost unlimited supply of US treasury bonds, there would be no American spending miracle. Without a spending miracle there would be no economic growth. In other words, without China the US superpower would lose a significant share of its economic clout…

“For the United States, a Chinese decision to abandon the dollar would be tantamount to Pearl Harbor without the war. It would represent a challenge to the world’s biggest economy by the world’s fastest growing economy. Millions of people would see their standard of living suffer as a result, and American self-confidence, already shaky, would crumble even further. The United States would suffer a serious blow on its very own turf, the economy…

“For years the US economy has suffered one dramatic setback after another… The United States, a once-proud exporting nation, became the world’s biggest importer. In only 15 years, from 1992 to 2007, the US balance of trade deficit has surged from $84 billion to $700 billion. Within a single generation, the world’s biggest lender has become its biggest borrower, a circumstance the United States has made no serious attempts to change.

“… an attack on the US economy is probably the most easily predictable event of the coming years. And if it happens, the attacker will even be able to justify its actions as self-defense.

“What is the difference between the US government in 1941 and the administration in Washington today? Perhaps there is none. A Japanese attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor was unimaginable, even though US intelligence had picked up clues that it could happen. Washington, at the time, was convinced that the Japanese wouldn’t dare stage an attack on a target 5,000 miles away, and that they wouldn’t succeed if they did. The crews on America’s ships were sleeping as the Japanese bombers approached Pearl Harbor.”

Georgia Prays for Rain

The Associated Press reported on November 12:

“As Georgia descends deeper into drought, Gov. Sonny Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle and asked President Bush for help. On Tuesday, the governor will call on a higher power. He will join lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol to pray for rain.

“While public prayer vigils might raise eyebrows in other parts of the nation, they are mostly shrugged off in the Bible Belt, where turning to the heavens for help is common and sometimes even politically expedient. ‘Christianity has more of a place in the culture here than in some other region,’ said Ray Van Neste, a professor of Christian studies at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. ‘And it’s only natural, in a way, for the public to pray for rain.’

“Perdue won’t be the first governor to hold a call for public prayer during the epic drought gripping the Southeast. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley issued a proclamation declaring a week in July as ‘Days of Prayer for Rain’ to ‘humbly ask for His blessings and to hold us steady in times of difficulty.’…

“Political heavyweights outside the U.S. are known to occasionally plead to the heavens for rain. In May, Australian Prime Minister John Howard asked churchgoers to pray for rain in hopes of snapping a drought that has devastated crops and bankrupted farmers Down Under.

“In the U.S., public expressions of faith are often discouraged as a breach of the separation of church and state.

“Thomas Jefferson, for one, resisted calls for a federal day of prayer. But he was an exception. From George Washington, who declared ‘a day of prayer and thanksgiving,’ to Harry Truman, who established a National Day of Prayer, American politicians have not been shy about associating themselves with petitions to the Almighty.”

… and the Rain Came, But Might Not Have Helped Much …

On November 15, The Associated Press reported:

“A storm crashed through the Southeast and brought up to an inch of rain in parts of drought-stricken Georgia, but forecasters said the storm likely did little to ease the state’s historic drought. ‘The ground probably sucked it all up,’ said Vaughn Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. ‘The ground is so dry, I seriously doubt if any of the lakes rose any.’

“The Wednesday storm packed lashing rain and powerful gusts, injuring at least nine in Tennessee. The roof of a Baptist church in Tennessee’s Marion County was heavily damaged…

“More than a quarter of the Southeast is covered by an ‘exceptional’ drought — the National Weather Service’s worst drought category. With water levels low, many Georgia residents are under conservation orders — such as a ban on watering lawns.

“The rainfall came two days after Gov. Sonny Perdue led a prayer service on the steps of the state Capitol to beg the heavens for an end to the drought.”

America’s Obsession With Weapons

AFP reported on November 11:

“For the first time in 70 years, the US Supreme Court may decide next week whether to examine the question of the right to bear arms, something which is fiercely upheld by millions of Americans. The US capital of Washington, which is trying to stem a wave of violence in its seedier neighborhoods, has lodged a case with the nine Supreme Court judges seeking to maintain its three-decade ban on individuals carrying handguns… The case goes right to the heart of the American constitution, which in its second amendment declares that: ‘A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’

“Washington, which is also home to the president and the government, has interpreted the amendment to mean that there is a collective right to bear arms for those who are part of a police force or a security force. But since 1976, it has banned residents from carrying handguns, although they are allowed to keep a rifle or hunting gun in their homes, providing it is locked and not loaded. For millions of Americans though, and especially the powerful gun lobby represented by the National Rifle Association, the second amendment guarantees the right of every American citizen to own any gun, with few limits…

“Washington officials… lodged a case with the Supreme Court in September insisting that it must rule on the extent of access to handguns, the weapon of choice in two-thirds of robberies and assaults.Handguns are also used in half of the 15,000 murders across the country every year, according to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigations…”

Incredible Waste of Money

The Associated Press reported on November 13:

“The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion — roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee… The $1.6 trillion figure, for the period from 2002 to 2008, translates into a cost of $20,900 for a family of four, the report said. The Bush administration has requested $804 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, the report stated.

“For the Iraq war only, total economic costs were estimated at $1.3 trillion for the period from 2002 to 2008. That would cost a family of four $16,500, the report said. Future economic costs would be even greater. The report estimated that both wars would cost $3.5 trillion between 2003 and 2017. Under that scenario, it would cost a family of four $46,400, the report said.

“Oil prices have surged since the start of the war, from about $37 a barrel to well over $90 a barrel in recent weeks, the report said… Meanwhile, ‘the sum of interest paid on Iraq-related debt from 2003 to 2017 will total over $550 billion,’ the report said. The government has to make interest payments on the money it borrows to finance the national debt, which recently hit $9 trillion for the first time.”

Merkel’s Visit With Bush–“Nothing of Substance”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 12:

“There was lots to discuss during Chancellor Merkel’s visit to President Bush’s Texas ranch… But was anything of substance accomplished by Merkel’s visit to Crawford? German commentators take a closer look at what the talks mean for the Iran dispute.

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘If Bush promises the German chancellor that he will stick to the diplomatic approach of isolating Iran, if the two of them agree on sanctions as the next stage of escalation and get their plan approved by the United Nations (Security Council), then all this means nothing less than the following: The president has chosen to go against Vice President Dick Cheney and instead go with the solution favored by the Europeans of cautious but persistent escalation. It would also mean that the US needs Europe’s influence, also to have enough pressure to bring to bear on Russia, which is playing a strange double game over Iran. This is the right strategy for this phase of the dispute…’

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

“‘Merkel is a few steps ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who only really started bringing his country back on to a US-friendly course last week (when he paid his first official visit to Washington). Bush is grateful to his two new friends because internationally there are not many governments that are so ready to cooperate with the current American administration, much less act in concert with the US. The US now needs Germany and France on its side, much more than in the past, when Germany was America’s junior partner. The US’s ill-considered warmongering and its bumbling diplomacy have weakened Washington in terms of international crisis management — and strengthened the Europeans… If the situation in Iran gets worse and Washington decides after all that it’s wise to respond to the mullahs’ nuclear ambitions with air attacks, then the French and Germans could quickly find themselves again in a situation like at the beginning of the Iraq war.'”

Germany–Still A Divided Country

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 9:

“Friday (November 9) marks the 18th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall… 18 years after the fall of the Wall, there is still no such thing as a truly unified Germany.

“Eastern Germans are less satisfied with and less optimistic about their situation than those living in the states that made up the former West Germany. They are also less convinced about the virtues of democracy than their western counterparts — with many believing that socialism is a good idea that just hasn’t been implemented well in the past.

“Indeed, the biggest differences in the survey come when eastern and western respondents are asked to share their views on life in the former East Germany. The communist state gets far higher marks from those living in the east than from those in the west. A full 92 percent of 35- to 50-year-old eastern Germans believe that one of the greatest attributes of the former East Germany was its social safety net… There is a silver lining in the report in that despite major divergences in views between the older eastern and western Germans, those differences appear to be shrinking with the younger generation in the east and west. Slowly, the country appears to be coming back together.”

Stoiber’s Battle in Brussels

The EUObserver wrote on November 11:

“An expert group charged with advising the European Commission on cutting the unnecessary laws coming out of Brussels has run into difficulty – even before its first official meeting later this month. The red tape-busting committee, led by the centre-right former Bavaria leader Edmund Stoiber, is meeting opposition within its target institution, the European Commission, for its extensive demands… Stoiber has asked for the group to have more powers as well as many more members than just the secretarial assistance the commission had intended… The whole issue has a separate element of political frisson because of German internal politics. The man Mr Stoiber is supposed to be helping out with his bureaucracy-cutting suggestions is industry commissioner Guenter Verheugen, a fellow German but a rival socialist… As yet it remains unclear who will be on the 15-strong committee, supposed to have its first meeting on 20 November. Die Welt notes that Mr Stoiber is already looking for support from Munich, Bavaria’s capital and has asked business consultant Roland Berger to be part of the group.”

Germany’s Vice-Chancellor Resigned

AFP wrote on November 13:

“Germany’s Vice-Chancellor Franz Muentefering, a key figure holding together the country’s fractious left-right government, has resigned for personal reasons, his ministry said Tuesday.His departure is likely to increase tensions in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s already unwieldy, two-year-old ‘grand coalition’ government with the Social Democrats (SPD)… Tensions within the coalition have mounted in recent weeks over reforms of Europe’s biggest economy. But officials from both parties have said they have no desire to call early elections before 2009 because neither could win a majority with their coalition partner of choice.

“Muentefering’s departure is… likely to lead to more clashes between the two parties, which are traditionally fierce rivals. The vice-chancellor, nicknamed the general for his loyal and stoic style, suffered a number of political defeats in recent weeks… He remains a popular figure, however, and won a standing ovation at an SPD congress in Hamburg last month… The party, however, has sunk to historic lows in the polls since the 2005 election, scoring about 30 percent — 10 points behind Merkel’s conservatives.”

“Spain’s King Puts Chavez in his Place”

AFP reported on November 12:

“Spain’s King Juan Carlos won praise back home on Sunday after telling Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to ‘just shut up’ before storming out of an Ibero-American summit. Spain’s monarch was applauded by Spanish media for his angry reprimand Saturday of Chavez, after the Venezuelan leader described a former Spanish prime minister [Jose Maria Aznaras] a ‘fascist’ and launched into a wide-ranging tirade.

“‘The king has put Chavez in his place in the name of all Spaniards,’ the centrist El Mundo newspaper said, noting that it was ‘an act without precedence.’ It said the monarch’s rebuke was ‘something that should have been said to him (Chavez) a long time ago.’

“[Chavez’s] mentor, ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, hailed Chavez for his critique of European governments in a commentary published Sunday in Juventud Rebelde…

“Chavez earned the ire of the Spanish delegation upon his arrival on Friday… and on Saturday… [when] the Venezuelan leader [attacked Aznaras and then] carried on, attacking the United States (a favorite target of his), the Catholic Church in Venezuela and the pope. He also accused the United States and Europe of having approved of the failed coup against him in 2002… Chavez’s outburst and King Juan Carlos’ admonition to ‘shut up’ was replayed again and again late Saturday on Spanish television news programs to the delight of viewers.”

“Something Is Rotten in the State of Italy” — The “Whole Country Lacks Leadership”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 13:

“Italy is scrambling to deal with the aftermath of riots this weekend sparked by the accidental shooting of a football fan… The violence that spread across Italy was in reaction to the death of Gabriele Sandri, a 26-year-old DJ, who was killed after police officer Luigi Spaccatorella fired warning shots to stop a brawl among rival fans at a motorway rest stop. The policeman is now under investigation for manslaughter.

“Soccer authorities said on Monday…  they would suspend matches scheduled for next Sunday, and Italy’s Interior Ministry slapped a ban on large groups of violent fans traveling to certain games… However, according to Clarence Seedorf, a player with AC Milan, football is being made a scapegoat by the government for deeper problems in Italian society. ‘They cannot blame football every time,’ the Dutch player told Britain’s Sky Sports News. ‘The people are not happy. They are coming to the stadiums to express their feelings and their feelings are not positive. … The whole country lacks leadership.’…

“The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘The Italians are always caught up in a power struggle. Nothing in that country has a secure position — not the parties which are constantly splitting up and being refounded … not the institutions which pass from the clutches of one party to another, not the church which wants to control domestic politics.’…

“The conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘Italy likes to call itself the bel paese, the beautiful country…. But there is another side to Italy: the ugly side… The fact that this kind of rage can flare up so quickly across the whole country is an indication that there is something rotten in the state of Italy.’

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘What began as a brawl between football fans in Tuscany could lead to the fall of the already crisis-ridden Italian government. Giuliano Amato, Italy’s interior minister, has said he carries the political responsibility for the death of the fan, who was shot by a police officer. The fact that it was a tragic accident can minimize the guilt of the shooter. But that doesn’t absolve Amato from the fact that the security forces operate in a chaotic manner, and that the one stray bullet led to riots by thousands of thugs in several cities… If Amato resigns then Romano Prodi’s center-left government could break apart. Amato has been one of its few supporters. But the end of the government would only be the smaller problem, in comparison to the effect of unrestrained football fanaticism on Italian society.'”

British Conservatives in Disarray Over EU Treaty

The EUObserver reported on November 13:

“The question of Europe was once again riding high in British politics last night after a senior member of the opposition Conservatives indicated that the party would not accept parliamentary ratification of the new EU Reform Treaty. William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, caused a political rumpus on Monday (12 November) by appearing to say that the conservative party – long known for its strongly eurosceptic streak – would press for a referendum on the treaty even if it has been ratified by British MPs…

“Mr Hague’s comment [has] broken open the [Conservatives’] uneasy stance on Europe. Under its new leader David Cameron, the party has tried to move away from being defined by its anti-Europe position. But it retains a core of members and supporters who are strongly in favour of changing Britain’s relations with Europe and who believe the Reform Treaty – introducing a long-term president of the EU and a foreign minister – goes too far. The party has been putting substantial pressure on prime minister Gordon Brown to hold a referendum on the treaty – particularly since the Labour government under Tony Blair had promised a poll on the now-shelved but similar EU constitution.

“Mr Brown has so far resisted the calls arguing Britain’s interests have been upheld in the Reform treaty… If all goes to plan, the EU treaty is to enter into force at the beginning of 2009 – but has to be ratified by all 27 member states first.”

“European Defense Absolute Priority”

The EUObserver wrote on November 13:

“France will next year push for a Europe of defence, proposing Brussels-based EU planning staff, exchanges between professional soldiers and a harmonization of military education – ideas which are likely to raise concern in the UK. In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, French defence minister Hervé Morin said that Paris will put defence high on the agenda when it takes over the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008. Mr Morin described European defence as an ‘absolute priority’ which is at least as important for European integration as the EU’s common currency, the euro.

“‘With the common currency, we have created a strong symbol for Europe. But nothing can better express the European community of fate than common defence, a common sense of Europe’s threats and security interests,’ he said. ‘A kind of European conscience can grow over the question where, if need be, we want to defend our values with weapons,’ he stated. ‘This is why during the presidency of the European Council in the second half of 2008 we would like to press ahead with a Europe of defence.'”

“Apocalyptic Scenario” For Israel

The Jerusalem Post wrote on November 8:

“Egyptian and Saudi Arabian intentions to begin or revive their nuclear programs in the face of Iran’s continued race toward nuclear power present an ‘apocalyptic scenario’ for Israel as well as for the rest of the world, Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

“Lieberman’s remarks came a week after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced a decision to restart his country’s nuclear program. On Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that his country had begun operating 3,000 centrifuges for the enrichment of uranium… Lieberman also said Pakistan was a major threat to Israel due to the political instability there and the fact that the country had ‘missiles, nuclear weapons and a proven capability.’ ‘We hope there will be stability and the [Pakistani] nuclear weapons won’t fall into radical hands,’ he said. ‘If the Taliban or [al-Qaida leader Osama] bin Laden get control [of Pakistan] they will have nuclear weapons for terror use and they don’t hide their opinions about Israel.’ … On Tuesday, Military Intelligence said Iran could produce a nuclear weapon by the end of 2009.”

The Jerusalem Post wrote on November 15:

“Israel is preparing for the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, the Reuters news agency reported Thursday. According to the report, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed his ministers to draft proposals on how to cope with a nuclear Iran. The report was later denied by a senior Prime Minister’s Office official, Israel Radio reported… Reuters reported that Israel was developing its defense systems to fend off a possible Iranian attack. It added that Israel was constructing a fleet of German-made submarines which could possibly carry nuclear missiles, sending a clear message that there would be retaliation for any Iranian attack.”

Historic Visit of Israel’s President in Turkey

AFP reported on November 12:

“Israel’s President Shimon Peres arrived in Ankara on Sunday, where he will become the first Israeli head of state to address a majority-Muslim country’s parliament, a report said… On Monday, he holds talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. A highlight of the trip is to occur when Peres addresses Turkish lawmakers in Hebrew on Monday.

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is also expected in Ankara Monday, where he will similarly address the Turkish parliament and meet Peres and Gul on the sidelines of an economic forum gathering Turkish, Israeli and Palestinian business people. The three sides are expected to conclude a deal to establish a joint industrial zone in the West Bank, according to Turkey’s Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, the forum’s founder.

“In an interview published Sunday by Turkey’s Sabah newspaper, Peres described his visit as ‘historic’ and said Ankara had a key role to play in establishing peace in the Middle East. Turkey is perhaps Israel’s most important strategic ally after the United States, and economic cooperation between the two took off after the signing of a key military cooperation accord in 1996.”

Turkey is a descendant of the Biblical Esau or Edom, twin-brother of Jacob or Israel. Both were sons of the Biblical Isaac. The relationship between Edom and Israel has been strained throughout their history, and the Bible shows that Edom or Turkey will turn against Israel in the near future.

Murder in Turkey

The Eastern Star News Agency reported on November 13:

“On January 19th, 2007, the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered outside the newspaper Agos’ office in Constantinople (Istanbul). A couple of days after the murder, the 17-year old Ogun Samas was arrested. The police treated the murderer like a national hero and posed proudly with him in front of cameras with a Turkish flag in their hands and boasted with taking pictures with the murderer.

“The murdered Hrant Dink’s son, Arat Dink, was convicted on the 12th of October 2007, together with the responsible publisher of the magazine Agos, Serkis Seropyan, to [a] one year conditional prison sentence for desecrating ‘turkishness’. The sentence was based on the same paragraph that Hrant Dink was sentenced for, paragraph 301 [of] the Turkish penal code… This is happening in a country that applies for membership in the European Union!”

The EU Warns Ethiopia

AFP wrote on November 12:

“Joint Ethiopia-Somali government forces on Monday descended into Mogadishu’s main market and scoured for weapons in a bid to stem an escalating insurgency. However, the European Union urged the warring sides to spare civilians in the latest clashes that have killed dozens of people and displaced at least 114,000 while others remain trapped in Mogadishu… Civilians have complained of indiscriminate shooting by Ethiopian forces, involved in their toughest crackdown against the insurgents. But the government says it is only targeting rebels.”

It is possible that Ethiopia is the last revival of the “king of the South,” as mentioned in Scripture. If so, we can expect increasing confrontation between Ethiopia and the EU–the modern revival of the Roman Empire, to be lead soon by a military leader–the “king of the North.”

Russian-Indian Ties

AFP wrote on November 12:

“Arms and energy were on the agenda Monday as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin to buttress ties between the veteran allies… India was a key ally of the former Soviet Union in the Cold War era.

“New Delhi is expected to make a bid for an increased share of Russia’s oil and gas exports as Russia fights to retain its position as India’s top arms supplier amid Western competition… In a statement released ahead of the talks, the Russian presidential administration said the two sides would work on intensifying the country’s ‘strategic partnership’ on international relations, with a particular focus on the Middle East. The two sides aim to boost bilateral trade to 10 billion dollars (6.8 billion euros) a year by 2010 from four billion dollars in 2006, the Kremlin said.

“Trade between Russia and India has long been dominated by Indian military spending. Russia accounts for 70 percent of Indian military hardware while India currently accounts for 30 percent of Russian arms sales… ‘Russia is India’s most important partner in defence,’ Singh said… Business daily Vedomosti on Monday reported that Russian arms export agency Rosoboronexport could soon sign a contract for 450 million dollars to buy 80 Mi-17 helicopters… Interfax news agency, meanwhile, reported that the two would sign agreements for the joint development of the Ilyushin 214 military transport plane.”

AFP added on November 13:

“The leaders of veteran allies Russia and India agreed Monday to launch a joint unmanned mission to the moon during Kremlin talks on boosting military and trade ties… During the talks the Russian and Indian leaders also ‘paid particular attention to cooperation in nuclear energy and in military-technical cooperation,’ Putin said… Singh thanked the Russian president for assisting in efforts to lift international restrictions on nuclear cooperation with India.”

The Bible reveals that Russia and India, as well as countries such as China and Japan, will form a mighty military and economic power bloc, in competition to the EU.

15-Day State of Emergency in the Country of Georgia

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 9:

“Georgia’s parliament has rubber-stamped the state of emergency declared by President Mikhail Saakashvili on Wednesday. While German papers concede that the country does face interference from Moscow, they also decry the heavy-handed repression of peaceful protests that reflect real concerns among the population.

“Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili seemed to bow to international pressure Thursday by announcing snap presidential elections for Jan. 5. But with parliament voting in favor of the state of emergency on Friday and independent media still off the air, it is unlikely that the move will be enough to repair the damage done by the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday…

“While many Georgians support Saakashvili’s attempts to take the former Soviet Republic into the European Union and NATO and to shake off Russian influence, the president is regarded as increasingly authoritarian… his move has been met with sharp criticism in the West. The United States has expressed its disappointment and NATO has warned that Georgia’s aspirations to join the alliance have been jeopardized… German commentators seem united in the opinion that while there is undoubtedly Russian interference in Georgia, this does not justify ditching democratic values such as the right to protest and freedom of speech.

“The Financial Times Deutschland writes: ‘… The harsh tone coming from NATO and the European Union is the only correct reaction: If Georgia wants to be a part of the West, it has to respect its values and rules.’…

“The business daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘… His style of government has become authoritarian, and the number of corruption cases and scandals has increased… With the brutal use of the police force and the declaration of a state of emergency, he seems to have adapted the role of autocrat.’…

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘By striking down the peaceful demonstrations, Saakashvili has made Georgia’s path toward NATO more difficult than all the provocations from the Kremlin in the past few years could have achieved.'”

According to AFP of November 14, “Georgia will lift a state of emergency on Friday, a top official said Wednesday, but doubts remained about whether one of the country’s main television channels would be allowed back on the air.” It added on November 15 that the Georgian “Parliament has approved a decision to lift the state of emergency on Friday at 7:00 pm.”

Pakistan–End of Chaos in Sight?

On November 9, The Daily Telegraph published a strong  editorial regarding the situation in Pakistan and the failure of the West to stop its escalation. Pakistan’s reaction to the editorial was one of anger, fright and terror, and has only escalated the situation even more.

In the editorial, the paper wrote:

“Despite George W Bush’s rhetoric about freedom, the struggle against terrorism is provoking a reaction familiar from the Cold War and nowhere is that clearer than over Pakistan… General Pervez Musharraf… has failed to stamp out extremist groups and close the madrassas that inspire them. He has allowed the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall into the hands of assorted jihadis. And he has sacked independent-minded judges for fear that the Supreme Court declare illegal his re-election as president last month.

“Yet, despite this combination of incompetence and brutality, America and Britain continue to back him as head of what has a strong claim to be the most dangerous country in the world… In short, the relationship between Gen Musharraf and the West is bankrupt. Valued as an ally after 9/11, he is now part of the problem. Under his dictatorship, Pakistan has become an increasingly ungovernable country in which moderate, secular forces have been sidelined to the advantage of the Islamists.”

AFP reported on November 11 about Pakistan’s reaction to the article:

“‘The Telegraph has withdrawn its correspondents in Pakistan after they were threatened with expulsion by the government,’ a two-paragraph article in the newspaper read… Britain’s foreign ministry earlier on Sunday said that the three journalists were on their way back to Britain, and said that the British high commissioner had complained to Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri about the journalists’ treatment.”
The International Herald Tribune wrote on November 11:

“In another signal that the general was strengthening his grip on power, the government announced Saturday that it had amended an army law so that civilians could be charged and prosecuted before military courts.”

On November 12, the Associated Press reported that “Foreign ministers from the Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies said that Pakistan would be suspended from the organization unless the state of emergency was repealed and Musharraf stepped down as army chief by Nov. 22.”

On November 13, AFP stated “Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto called on President Pervez Musharraf to quit Tuesday in her most direct challenge yet to his rule, vowing never to serve under him in government…

“Holed up under house arrest with close aides in Lahore as more than 1,000 police manned barbed wire barricades outside, she urged the world to abandon the president… ‘It is over with Musharraf,’ she told AFP in an interview from inside the residence where she has been detained to stop her leading a mass procession against emergency rule… ‘General Musharraf must quit. He must quit as president and as chief of army staff. I call on the international community to stop backing him — to stop backing the man whose dictatorship threatens to engulf this nuclear-armed state in chaos.’…”

On November 15, AFP reported that “Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said that he will step down as army chief before December 1… Musharraf named former spy chief Ashfaq Kiyani as the heir apparent to the post of chief of army staff in October… [It was further announced that] Pakistan’s incoming caretaker government would take an oath on Friday morning after the current parliament dissolves at one minute before midnight.”

“Christian” Cult In Russia–What Insanity!!!

Reuters reported on November 15:

“At least 30 members of a Russian doomsday cult have barricaded themselves in a remote cave to await the end of the world and are threatening to commit suicide if police intervene, officials and media said on Thursday… The cult members, who include 29 adults and four children, are hidden inside a snow-covered hillside in the Penza region of central Russia…

“They are thought to have taken food and fuel supplies in with them… ‘They are simple Christians,’ a local priest, Father Georgy, told NTV television station. ‘They say: “The church is doing a bad job, the end of the world is coming soon and we are all saving ourselves.”‘

“Media reports said the cult members believed the world would end sometime in May next year. Police expected them to emerge when their supplies ran out.

“After decades of state-enforced atheism under Soviet rule, many Russians and other ex-Soviet nationals have come under the influence of homegrown and foreign sects. Many Russians have refused new passports and taxpayers’ personal identification numbers, saying the figures contained ‘satanic’ combinations of numbers. Izvestia newspaper said the leader of the cult, Pyotr Kuznetsov, had been detained by police. It said he was a 43-year-old who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and that in the last few months he had been sleeping in a coffin.”

Unfortunately, such insane conduct and these kind of false doomsday predictions give TRUE Christianity a bad reputation. It is Satan’s way of convincing people to reject the truth, by pointing at such terrible examples as set by the cult in Russia.

Earthquake in Chile

AFP reported on November 14 that “A strong earthquake measuring 7.7 rocked arid northern Chile Wednesday, killing at least two people, injuring others, sparking panic and causing power outages… Meanwhile separate earthquakes also hit Argentina and Central America on Wednesday. An earthquake, which US geologists measured at magnitude 5.3, rocked Guatemala and neighboring El Salvador, with no reports of casualties.”

The news agency also reminded the readers on November 15 that “In August, southern Peru was struck by a powerful 8.0-magnitude earthquake that left 600 people dead and 300,000 homeless.”

The Associated Press added on November 15 that “Strong aftershocks [including one of magnitude 6.2 and another of magnitude 6.8] from a powerful earthquake hit northern Chile on Thursday as the government erected a working military hospital and promised hundreds of other portable dwellings for 15,000 left homeless by the quake… A 1939 quake in Chile killed 28,000 people and in 1960, a magnitude-9.5 quake — the strongest recorded in the 20th century — killed 5,700 people. On June 13, 2005, a magnitude-7.8 quake… in northern Chile killed 11 people and left thousands homeless.”

Cyclone Forces Bangladesh Evacuations

The Associated Press reported on November 15:

“Ten of thousands of coastal villagers took shelter inland Thursday as a cyclone rapidly approached Bangladesh’s southwestern shores, spawning cold drizzles, strong winds and high waves, a weather official said. Tropical cyclone Sidr was expected to make landfall late Thursday… The cyclone, which began brewing Tuesday in the Bay of Bengal, was producing winds up to 140 miles per hour, and may trigger tidal surges as high as 20 feet…”

What Killed the Dinosaurs?–It Was Not Evolution, For Sure!

LifeScience wrote on November 12:

“The Age of Dinosaurs ended roughly 65 million years ago with the K-T or Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, which killed off all dinosaurs save those that became birds, as well as roughly half of all species on the planet, including pterosaurs. The prime suspect in this ancient murder mystery is an asteroid or comet impact, which left a vast crater at Chicxulub on the coast of Mexico.

“Another leading culprit is a series of colossal volcanic eruptions that occurred between 63 million to 67 million years ago. These created the gigantic Deccan Traps lava beds in India, whose original extent may have covered as much as 580,000 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers), or more than twice the area of Texas…

“Both an impact from space and volcanic eruptions would have injected vast clouds of dust and other emissions into the sky, dramatically altering global climate and triggering die-offs.”

Cloned Human Embryos?

The Independent wrote on November 12:

“A technical breakthrough has enabled scientists to create for the first time dozens of cloned embryos from adult monkeys, raising the prospect of the same procedure being used to make cloned human embryos… It is the first time that scientists have been able to create viable cloned embryos from an adult primate – in this case a 10-year-old male rhesus macaque monkey…

“The monkey-cloning technique is the same basic procedure that resulted in Dolly the sheep. The nucleus of a healthy, unfertilised egg is removed and another nucleus from the mature skin cell of an adult animal is placed inside the egg. With careful timing and the use of electrical pulses, an embryo can be created which is a genetic clone of the skin tissue donor. It is possible to implant embryos created in this way into the womb to produce cloned animals. This so-called ‘reproductive cloning’ of humans is illegal in Britain and many other countries. However it has been applied to a range of animal species, including:

“Cow: Many domestic cattle have been successfully cloned. First attempt to clone an endangered species was Noah, a rare gaur ox, which was cloned in the US in 2001 but died 48 hours after birth.

“Mouse: Cumulina was a common brown house mouse, cloned from adult cells at the University of Hawaii in 1997. She survived to adulthood and produced two litters, before dying in May 2000.

“Horse: Called Prometea, the first cloned horse, born in Italy in May 2003.

“Cat: A kitten called CopyCat was born in 2002 in Texas, and gave birth to three kittens by a natural father in September 2006.

“Dog: Snuppy, born in South Korea. Doubts about its authenticity were dispelled by DNA tests. The group has also cloned two wolf cubs, called Snuwolf and Snuwolffy using the same procedure. Cloned Afghan hounds named Bona, Peace and Hope have also been born.”