The Inauguration of the 44th President

On Tuesday, January 20, the world watched the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, with excitement and optimistic hope for a better future. ABC News reported on January 19 that even though the “country is in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, … this isn’t stopping rich donors and the government from spending $170 million, or more, on the inauguration of Barack Obama.”

The German paper, Die Welt, wrote on January 20: “Hundreds of thousands of people erupted in roars of approval on the broad National Mall grounds as they watched Obama stand with one hand raised, one hand on a Bible used to swear [in Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration] in 1861, and repeat the brief oath to become the 44th U.S. president and succeed George W. Bush.”

The paper added that “The inauguration of Obama, 47, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas, was steeped in symbolic meaning for African-Americans, who for generations suffered slavery and then racial segregation that made them second-class citizens.”

During the Benediction, Joseph Lowery uttered the following controversial lines which were somewhat offensive to white people: “Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around… when the red man can get ahead; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen’…”

Some moments during the inauguration, even though embarrassing, might have been deeply symbolic–from the limping President Bush Sen. to Vice President Dick Cheney sitting in a wheelchair, to Ted Kennedy’s collapse, to the moment when the oath was messed up by Chief Justice John Roberts (so that the oath was re-administered the next day in the White House, without the use of a Bible). Also, it might have been better, depending on taste, if the musical “performance” by Aretha Franklin and the recital of the somewhat disjointed “poem” by Elizabeth Alexander had been dispensed with. Neither did the musical instrumental presentation of a rather boring piece by four performers merit enthusiastic approval. 

A strange sight remained the traditional READING of the prayers at the beginning and the end of the inauguration–the Invocation and the Benediction. Are we to believe that King Solomon READ his inspired prayer when he dedicated the Temple?

In President Obama’s historic inauguration speech, hope for a better world and the reality of calamity painted a colorful picture which was accentuated by contrast.

In Mr. Obama’s own words, “we are in the midst of crisis… Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

President Obama continued:  

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.  They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America –  they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”

On Wednesday, January 21, 2008, President Obama took part in a prayer at the National Cathedral in northwest Washington. As one of the articles quoted in this Update points out, it seemed that representatives of virtually all religious belief systems participated, except perhaps for Atheists, Wiccans and Pagans. But wasn’t America built on the foundation and the faith of the Bible–and didn’t the Founding Fathers believe in the God of the Bible?

The fact that Mr. Obama became the 44th President exactly 220 years after the first President of the United States took office in 1789, might be deeply significant. In the Bible, the number 4 (in 44; i.e. 11 times 4) is associated with the revelation of God (compare the four gospel writers, for example). And the number 10 (in 220; i.e. 22 times 10) is associated with God’s judgment (compare the Ten Commandments which will be the basis for God’s judgment of man). Further, combinations of the numbers 4 and 10 signify God’s revelation IN judgment (compare Israel’s dwelling in the wilderness for 40 years because of disobedience and unbelief). Is it therefore possible that during the term of Mr. Obama’s office, God will reveal Himself more and more in judgment–showing that He will judge man severely, unless he repents?

In other news, we are reporting on the ongoing volatile situation in Gaza and the international reaction to the conflict; the attempts of certain Arab nations to unite; the desire of Iran to stay involved and of the EU to get involved in the Middle East; German fears of and hopes for the future; and Dresden’s incredible bestowal of honor on the former KGB officer Vladimir Putin.

After the Inauguration–Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral

USA Today reported on January 16:

“U.S. religious diversity will be on full display Wednesday (January 21) at the prayer service to be held at the Washington National Cathedral…

“Several folks invited to the pulpit are almost as controversial or nationally outspoken as… Rick Warren, who’ll give the invocation on Tuesday. There will be:…

“The presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, the denomination riven over whether to accept a gay bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori. She is a supporter of Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop who will give the invocation at Sunday’s We Are One concert… The official prayer service plan is to ’embody the themes of tolerance, unity and understanding (in) a worship service for all Americans’ (except the atheists who lost their suit to bloc events like this)…

“Leaders of the Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal Church that’s huge and beautiful and frequently the location for great national moments of prayer, will host Baptists, non-denominational church leaders, Greek Orthodox, Hindu and more… Who’s missing? Wiccans? Pagans?…”

The Associated Press added on January 16:

“Roman Catholic Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington will deliver a prayer for the nation… Sharon Watkins, the first woman president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a Protestant group, will also be the first woman to deliver a sermon at the National Prayer Service. Several other women leaders will take part in the event.

“They include Ingrid Mattson, the first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America;… Cynthia Hale, senior pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Atlanta;… Suzan Johnson-Cook of the Bronx Christian Fellowship in New York; and Dr. Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America…

“The Jewish community will be represented in the service by Reform Rabbi David Saperstein, Conservative Rabbi Jerome Epstein and Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York. Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios and Auxiliary Catholic Bishop Francisco Gonzalez of Washington will also take part…”

Germans Worry About the Future and Welcome the EU

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 16:

“57 percent of German citizens believe the economic situation in their own country will get worse, compared to 51 percent of Europeans as a whole. Regarding the economic prospects for the European Union, 47 percent of Germans believe the situation will worsen. Forty-one percent of Europeans as a whole share their view…

“The survey also reveals that Germans are more likely to trust their own system than the average European: 38 percent of German respondents feel that things are moving in the right direction in Germany, compared to only 28 percent in Europe. Germans are also more likely to believe that the European Union is moving in the right direction (41 compared to 35 percent).

“… the EU enjoys high approval ratings in Germany, with 64 percent of Germans believing that membership of the bloc is a good thing, 11 percentage points more than the EU average of 53 percent. European Commissioner Verheugen [who is German himself] sees this as a positive sign. He feels that Germany has a special responsibility for Europe because of its history and because of its role as the largest and economically strongest member state.

“However, German enthusiasm for the European project does have its limits. The Germans are not so keen on EU enlargement, with only 26 percent supporting the admission of new member states, compared to 44 percent of Europeans.”

OPERA BALL SCANDAL– Dresden Medal of Honor for Ex-KGB Agent Putin

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 16:

“It’s a big night for Russian Prime Minister Putin. The former KGB officer will return to his old Dresden haunt for the Semper Opera Ball. There, [he] will receive a medal of honor… [The medal] is a stunning replica of the ‘Heilige Georg zu Pferde’… And it is a special symbol: St. George symbolizes the victory of good over evil…

“The award… is to be pinned to the breast of [Putin], a man who has just cut off natural gas supplies to half of Europe. It is hard to imagine such an event taking place anywhere other than in Saxony…

“Just why Putin was chosen for the award is not entirely clear… From 1985 to 1990, he was stationed in the city as a KGB officer and resided in a villa located just across the street from the Stasi’s district offices. The Stasi was the feared East German secret police. Under the codename ‘Adamov,’ his job was to recruit new spies for the Soviet intelligence apparatus…

“The Saxony governor, Stanislaw Tillich — who back in 1989 was himself a functionary in the local government and has been put under massive pressure recently for apparently trying to cover up his ties to the communist system — will hand the former Dresden KGB officer a thank you medal 20 years after the fall of the Wall.”

Deutsche Welle added on January 16:

“‘[Putin] doesn’t deserve to be honored,’ the German-based Society for Threatened Peoples said, blaming Putin for human rights violations by Russian troops in Chechnya. During his time as president, the Russian leader was responsible for the deaths of around 80,000 men, women and children in the breakaway republic, the society said in a statement…

“Werner Schulz [a former civil rights activist in East Germany] told the newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung that shortly before the fall of the wall [in 1989], Putin threatened to open fire on East German dissidents if they approached KGB headquarters in Dresden.”

Is German Pacifism Anti-Semitic?

Press TV wrote on January 16: “The German chancellor and British prime minister say they have been ‘shocked’ by the humanitarian tragedy created by Israel in the Gaza Strip…”

But on January 15, the German Netzeitung published an article about “German pacifism” by Ze’ev Avrahmi, a Berlin-based freelance correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Avrahmi is asking the question whether German pacifism is actually nothing else but German anti-Semitism. We are reproducing the following excerpts:

“During these times of war in the Middle East, there is nothing that bothers me more than German pacifism. Or, to put it more correctly, I look at the Germans’ pacifism with a mixture of anger and envy, because it is a luxury that we Israelis can’t afford. If I had a choice, I would also like to end the conflict without guns. I would also self-righteously like to point out that violence only creates more violence. I would like to be leftist, pacifist and completely unaware of the daily attacks from Gaza on Israel for the past eight years.

“And at the same time, here is something I want to ask these German pacifists: Would you still condemn the right to self-defence if Austria or Poland would attack Berlin and Munich with daily barrages of rockets? I also want to ask them: Where is the preaching against violence when there are daily attacks on foreigners in Germany? Why don’t you cry out loud when your fellow German citizens beat up and attack innocent refugees and immigrants on the outskirts of Berlin or in small towns in Bavaria or Saxony?

“And where is your outspoken pacifism when Jews, only 60 years after the Holocaust, have to wear baseball caps to hide their kippas when they walk in the streets of Berlin because they are, again, afraid to identify themselves as Jews in the former Nazi capital? And why do you keep silent when German police force their way into an apartment in Duisburg to tear down Israeli flags to placate Muslim protestors who were becoming violent?

“I would like to know why pacifism gains so much strength every time it is directed against Israel. How come the newspaper pictures of the war are so one-sided and pro-Palestinian? Could it be that anti-Semitism is again prevalent in Germany, only this time it conveniently disguises itself as being anti-Israel?…”

Ceasefire in Gaza

Haaretz reported on January 18:

“Trying to hide a smile and a sense of self-satisfaction Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced the cameras at the Defense Ministry and declared to the Israeli public, ‘We won.’ The Israel Defense Forces objectives for its operation in the Gaza Strip were ‘obtained in full.’ Hamas was ‘surprised and badly beaten,’ the government ‘made decisions responsibly and wisely,’ the IDF’s performance was excellent and the southern home front ‘displayed resilience’…

“The Gaza operation was undoubtedly intended to redeem Olmert, and will be used as a springboard for a comeback – if he avoids conviction on any of the charges pending against him…

“Israel succeeded in hurting Hamas and in creating an international awareness of the need to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, but not all the operation’s objectives were accomplished… Hamas’ gains cannot be ignored: It has won international legitimacy and sympathy, and its forces still control the Gaza Strip.”

Gaza–“The Situation Will Change Only for the Worse”

Welt-On-Line reported on January 18:

“In Gaza, families began emerging from their places of hiding, including U.N. school compounds where some 45,000 people sought refuge during the fighting, and returning to their homes — some only to find them damaged or destroyed… With no formal deal between the two sides, despite mediation efforts by Egypt, the situation looked much like that before the conflict…

“Israel’s leading newspapers put pictures of victorious Israeli troops on their front pages on Sunday, but behind the banner headlines some commentators wondered whether the conflict had not worsened the prospects for peace with Gaza. ‘This war was a just war,’ wrote one leading commentator in Ma’ariv, a right-of-centre tabloid. ‘But this was not a wise war. This war presumed to change the situation … But the situation, regrettably, will change only for the worse.'”

German Reactions to Ceasefire in Gaza

Der Spiegel Online commented on January 19 as follows on the cease fire in Gaza:

“German commentators ask what Israel actually achieved with its three-week offensive… Hamas for its part claimed that Israel had failed to achieve its war aims. ‘God has granted us a great victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people,’ said the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, in a televised speech… As the post-war analysis begins, many questions remain… Hamas… was adamant in its attention to re-arm…

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“‘What has Israel’s offensive actually achieved, apart from more than 1,300 people dead, more than 5,300 wounded, and some relatively unproductive crisis diplomacy? Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that the aim of the offensive had been achieved. But so far he still hasn’t spelled out what the objective of the war against Hamas actually was…

“… the majority of the 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip see Israel as being responsible for the devastation and destruction. Israel’s supposed victory, which Olmert talks of, is in reality a defeat. The campaign has sown hatred and anger and brought Israel only insecurity in return.’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

“‘Israel has largely achieved what can be achieved militarily in terms of weakening Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, its tough — sometimes too tough — response to the rocket attacks against Israeli towns is a signal to the Lebanese group Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, who are equipped with missiles of ever-increasing range and who will therefore sooner or later have the capability to strike targets in the Israeli heartland. The offensive against the terrorist attacks from the Gaza Strip was also aimed at Tehran, home to the weapons suppliers and those who stir up the conflict’…

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

“‘Israel is certainly a big step closer to its aim of bringing weapons smuggling into Gaza under control… But did it really need a war to achieve this? Did the Europeans and the Americans really need a military operation and hundreds of dead children in order to be convinced that cooperating with Israel makes sense?… Hamas has survived the war. It exists, and it is here to stay…’

“The conservative Die Welt writes:

“‘… The main issue which needs to be addressed is the support that religious — in this case Islamic — fundamentalism and its representatives receive from both governments and, especially, religious leaders. The most important thing is the rhetoric of hate which originates in many mosques and is then spread by Arab TV and radio stations and the Internet. The fight — including the armed struggle — of Islam against all “infidels” is not only promoted but both encouraged and demanded. Potential suicide bombers are praised and promised glorious rewards in paradise…. Only when all imams stop glorifying murder can there be real peace in the Holy Land…'”

EU Gets Involved in Gaza

The EUObserver wrote on January 19:

“European Union states have engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity following the announcement of a ceasefire…, with the EU’s big three [France, Germany and the UK] pledging naval support to prevent the delivery of weapons into Gaza.”

Unhappy Lieberman

On January 20, Haaretz published an interview with Israeli Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“What was achieved here? Zip, nada. The strategic objective of the operation should have been the collapse of Hamas. This goal could have been reached not by capturing Gaza and Jabalya, but [simply] by taking over the crossing points and the Philadelphi route… if we had closed the Strip in a vice, we would have strangled Hamas.

“… after the cease-fire, everyone wants to know how it could be that the strongest army in the Middle East was unable to overcome 12,000 terrorists. The result is similar to that of the Second Lebanon War: damage to our deterrent capability. Instead of destroying Hamas, the operation upgraded it, turning it into an important regional player. It’s only a matter of time before the government in Ramallah collapses and falls into Hamas hands…

“Iran threatens us three ways. Once through Hamas and Hezbollah. A second time through preparing global public opinion for the possibility of doing without Israel. A third time with nuclear [weapons development] and ballistic missiles. If we were a normal country, we would stop quarreling over the Palestinian issue and the Golan Heights issue and we would deal with Iran… Only after the source of the problem – Iran – is resolved will it be possible to discuss the symptoms of the problem in Judea, Samaria and the Golan… To accept an Iranian nuclear bomb in 2010 is like accepting Hitler’s election in 1933. A nuclear Iran is like Hitler with nuclear weapons…”

“Hurray! We Lost!”

On January 20, Der Spiegel Online wrote the following:

“Israel’s war in Gaza is a military victory. But with 1,300 dead and thousands wounded, it is also moral defeat. The painful lesson: Israel can only defeat itself. Hamas leader Ismail Haniya only had to hide to emerge as the winner…

“Approximately 1,300 dead is no trifle and no collateral damage from an act of war even when many of the dead were militants who just happened to forget to put their uniforms on and who hid behind civilians. Approximately 1,300 dead is a tenth of a percent of the population of Gaza. If it were Germany, that figure would be 80,000…

“Thirteen hundred dead: That screams to the heavens. That is not an issue of ‘proportionality,’ which is impossible in any asymmetrical war. A pile of corpses like that is a nightmare, a catastrophe… That is a down payment on the Apocalypse — no matter who started it, who bears responsibility and who ultimately settles the score… Hamas cannot win against Israel, but Israel really can lose against Hamas.”

“Gaza War Utter Failure for Israel”

Haaretz reported on January 22:

“On the morrow of the return of the last Israeli soldier from Gaza, we can determine with certainty that they had all gone out there in vain. This war ended in utter failure for Israel. This goes beyond the profound moral failure, which is a grave matter in itself, but pertains to its inability to reach its stated goals. In other words, the grief is not complemented by failure. We have gained nothing in this war save hundreds of graves, some of them very small, thousands of maimed people, much destruction and the besmirching of Israel’s image…

“The initial objective of the war was to put an end to the firing of Qassam rockets. This did not cease until the war’s last day. It was only achieved after a cease-fire had already been arranged. Defense officials estimate that Hamas still has 1,000 rockets. The war’s second objective, the prevention of smuggling, was not met either. The head of the Shin Bet security service has estimated that smuggling will be renewed within two months… this war has served to prove that only poor quality, rudimentary weapons passed through the smuggling tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

“Israel’s ability to achieve its third objective is also dubious… The deterrence we supposedly achieved in the Second Lebanon War has not had the slightest effect on Hamas, and the one supposedly achieved now isn’t working any better: The sporadic firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip has continued over the past few days.

“The fourth objective, which remained undeclared, was not met either. The IDF has not restored its capability… The heroic descriptions and victory poems written abut the ‘military triumph’ will not serve to change reality… The describing of the operation as a ‘military achievement’ by the various generals and analysts who offered their take on the operation is plain ridiculous.

“We have not weakened Hamas. The vast majority of its combatants were not harmed and popular support for the organization has in fact increased. Their war has intensified the ethos of resistance and determined endurance… The population in Gaza, which has sustained such a severe blow, will not become more moderate now. On the contrary, the national sentiment will now turn more than before against the party which inflicted that blow – the State of Israel…

“When it comes to assessing Israel’s international situation, we must not allow ourselves to be fooled by the support parade by Europe’s leaders, who came in for a photo-op with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert… The conclusion [of the world] is that Israel is a violent and dangerous country, devoid of all restraints and blatantly ignoring the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, while not giving a hoot about international law…”

“Hamas Use of Children During Gaza Operation Was Monstrous”

Haaretz reported on January 22:

“The Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division Commander on Thursday branded Hamas’ use of women and children during Israel’s recent offensive in the coastal strip as ‘monstrous’ and ‘inhumane.’ Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg said the civilians were sent by Hamas to transfer weapons to gunmen during the offensive. He also accused the Islamist militant group of booby-trapping many of the civilians’ homes…

“Israel has been heavily criticized for the high number of Palestinian civilian casualties in the operation. Eisenberg, however, asserted that Israel Defense Forces soldiers adhered to moral principles while fighting in Gaza. Palestinian civilians, meanwhile, have accused Hamas of forcing them to stay in homes from which gunmen shot at Israeli soldiers during the recent hostilities in Gaza, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Thursday.

“The Italian paper also quoted a doctor at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital as disputing the number of Palestinians said to have been killed in the campaign. ‘It’s possible that the death toll in Gaza was 500 or 600 at the most, mainly youths aged 17 to 23 who were enlisted by Hamas – who sent them to their deaths,’ he said… The Gaza doctor was further quoted as saying: ‘Perhaps it is like Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they spoke about 1,500 dead, and at the end it turned out to be only 54 – of whom 45 were militants.'”

Iran Gets Involved Again

The Jerusalem Post reported on January 20:

“Iran has renewed efforts to supply advanced weaponry to Hamas… On Monday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that renewed weapons smuggling would be legitimate grounds for Israel to renew attacks against Hamas.”

Iran–The Nuclear Clock Is Ticking…

Haaretz wrote on January 22:

“The policy Obama is formulating is one of engagement and negotiation. He hopes the Iranians will be tempted to respond to the generous proposals he intends to offer them, diplomatic relations, lifting sanctions, improved commercial ties, and in return a halt or at least suspend uranium enrichment.

“Iran… will ostensibly respond favorably to the American courtship and will even reciprocate with some gestures of its own, but in practice, Iran will accelerate its nuclear program and there are already signs of this. Even leading U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge that Iran is likely to produce its first nuclear bomb as early as this year. Remarks to this effect were made last week by CIA Director Michael Hayden, and the director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell, who said he is concerned Iran would continue along a path that will end with nuclear weapons…

“This is a race against the clock for all parties involved, Israel foremost among them, which may be obstructed by Obama’s policy, even though his intention to negotiate with Iran is good. It is clear to all the experts that Israel will be unable to attack without coordinating it on one way or another – probably tacitly with the American administration. And such coordination will be difficult, certainly a decision to let Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities so long as negotiations are underway between Washington and Tehran.

“The concern in Israel is that if the negotiations end in failure and even if Obama’s administration reaches the conclusion that Iran was toying with it and never intended to reach a compromise and suspend its uranium enrichment, it might already be too late. Iran might have nuclear weapons and then it will be too late and too dangerous to attack it.”

Will Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt Unite?

The New York Times wrote on January 19:

“At the talks in Kuwait, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion toward a $2 billion reconstruction fund [for Gaza] that Palestinians are seeking to establish… King Abdullah exhorted Arab nations to overcome their divisions and urged Israel to embrace an Arab peace plan put forward in 2002 or risk its being withdrawn… On the sidelines, leaders from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt met privately, apparently seeking to present a united front. Syria called for declaring Israel a terrorist state…”

The Los Angeles Times added on January 19:

“By offering cash and talking tough, Saudi King Abdullah sought to absorb popular anger directed at the so-called moderate Arab states, which have been accused of failing to do enough to halt the Israeli offensive. He also hopes to recapture Saudi Arabia’s diminished stature in the Arab world.

“The nation has been eclipsed by Syria and Iran, which support Hamas, and Qatar, which emerged as a diplomatic powerhouse in May after bypassing the Saudis in brokering a deal between competing Western-allied and Iranian-backed factions in Lebanon.”

Interview with Syria’s Bashar Assad

On January 19, Der Spiegel Online published a revealing interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“Basically, Hamas is not the problem in this conflict, but Israel… The fact is that for six months Hamas complied with the cease-fire that had been agreed upon… Hamas captured an absolute majority of votes in the internationally recognized parliamentary election three years ago, a landslide victory… During the most recent six-month ceasefire, Israel targeted and killed more than a dozen Palestinians, but no Israeli died. And yet Europe remained silent…

“We do not recognize Israel and Israel is still our enemy — it occupies part of our country, the Golan Heights. If the Israelis withdraw from Golan, we will recognize them. First comes peace, then recognition — not the other way around… Hamas must be included. Nothing will work without Hamas… Hamas today must be part of an agreement…

“Hamas will not disappear… Hamas has the trust of the people, and anyone who wishes to destroy it must destroy an entire people… we would welcome it if the Germans, in general, played a larger role… Peace without Syria is unthinkable.”

War in the Middle East

In this week’s Update, we are mainly reporting on the situation in the Middle East, and worldwide reactions to this crisis. All of these events ARE clearly in line with biblical prophecy.

While the war in Gaza continues, the overwhelming worldwide reaction has become one of CONDEMNATION of Israel. Demands for a cease fire get louder, but the warring parties don’t show any signs of listening. A report last week by the New York Times, stating that Israel was allegedly willing to attack IRAN directly last year, but did not get the green light from the USA, has raised concerns as to what Israel was and is willing to do. This is even more true specially in light of most recent news reports that Israel is preparing a strike against Iran within a few DAYS!!!

On the other hand, Iran is clearly involved in the present conflict between Israel and Hamas, and its destructive ambitions towards Israel must not be underestimated.

The Bible tells us that Israel will be hated by all nations. In addition, more and more voices are being heard now demanding a European intervention in the Middle East–again underscoring biblical prophecy announcing in advance that Europe will send TROOPS to the Middle East just prior to the return of Jesus Christ.

In light of all these worldwide crises, the EU is becoming more and more serious about the appointment of an EU President with REAL powers. And it is being considered that he should be selected from one of the BIGGER EU states! The Bible prophesies that such a powerful European leader being, of German descent, WILL ultimately manifest himself on the world scene. (See our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”)

We conclude this section with articles on the terrible financial situation in the USA. And this, too, is in line with biblical prophecies which predict that the USA will lose its status as a world superpower. (See our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”)

We are observing how prophecy is being fulfilled. It is exciting and at the same time sobering how quickly these events are shaping up… and God’s Church has a duty, of course, to report these developments in no uncertain terms. Not everyone will agree with what we write–but we are not in a popularity contest. Rather, we are conscious of the commission which God has given His end-time Church to carry out.

Israel Losing Public Relations War

The Financial Times reported on January 10:

“As Israel’s offensive in Gaza enters its third week, the Jewish state appears to be rapidly losing the public relations war abroad as criticism from United Nations officials and humanitarian agencies has mounted amid the constant stream of pictures of dead and wounded women and children.

“Israeli strikes on UN convoys and schools sheltering hundreds of Palestinians who fled their homes, as well allegations that Israeli troops prevented medical workers from retrieving dead and injured Palestinians, have increasingly called into question Israel’s conduct of the war.

“A UN agency added to the increasing negative news flow with a report that cited witness testimony alleging that Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian civilians to a house in Gaza City and then repeatedly shelled the building 24 hours later, killing some 30 people inside.

“And from the outset, Israel has been under fire for preventing foreign journalists from entering the strip – restrictions that were in place weeks before the bombardment started.

“‘… all [of this has] been hugely detrimental to the Israeli cause,’ said Charlie Beckett, a media specialist at the London School of Economics. ‘The fact that the Israelis seem to be trying to blockade the media only hurts their argument that they are somehow more democratic, more open and not terrorists.’

“Israel officials have insisted they regret civilian deaths and have accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields. They have also sought to highlight the threat posed by rockets fired by Palestinian militants into southern Israel – which have killed three Israelis since the offensive started – saying some 950,000 Israelis are vulnerable to attacks. But analysts say the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza overwhelms the impact.

“Anthony Cordesman, at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says Israel has failed to talk to the world ‘in ways that the outside world finds relevant. We are now two weeks into the war and nobody has a clear idea what the Israelis are attempting to accomplish,’ he says…

“Still, an Israeli newspaper poll on Friday showed that 91 per cent of Israeli Jews were still in favour of the war… But for Israel losing the propaganda war could be costly.”

U.N. and France Condemn Israel

The Associated Press reported on January 15:

“Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, engulfing the compound and a warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees.”

It added in a related article:

“U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was in the area on a mission to end Israel’s devastating offensive against the territory’s Hamas rulers. Ban expressed ‘outrage’ over the bombing. He said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told him there had been a ‘grave mistake’ and promised to pay extra attention to protecting U.N. installations…”

Press TV reported on January 15:

“The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday issued strong condemnation of Tel Aviv over its targeting of several hospitals, a UN compound and a media building in the Gaza Strip… The comments come on the 20th day of the Tel Aviv offensive into the coastal sliver. So far at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed and around 4,700 others have been wounded, according to medics.”

Most Germans Blame Israel at Least in Part for the War in Gaza

Deutsche Welle reported on January 14:

“Germany is split over its feelings towards Israel, according to a new survey. Of those questioned, 60 per cent thought the country no longer had a special duty towards the Jewish state… The figures… showed less engagement amongst young people, of whom 70 percent felt no special responsibility towards Israel…

“Questioned about the Gaza conflict, 30 percent held Hamas responsible for the current military offensive. Some 13 percent blamed Israel, while 35 percent said the causes lie on both sides in equal measure…

“More generally, 49 percent considered Israel to be an aggressive country. A further 10 percent said Israel was acting without regard for other countries. Only 30 percent of those surveyed thought Israel was respecting human rights.”

Israel Angers Bush Administration

The Jerusalem Post wrote on January 14:

“Ehud Olmert’s aides on Wednesday said that the prime minister stood by his claim that his intervention made the US abstain from last Thursday’s UN Security Council resolution vote on a Gaza cease-fire… Olmert had claimed that US President George W. Bush broke off a speech he was giving in Philadelphia to take his call, and that the abstention embarrassed Rice…

“Israel and the US engaged in a rare and uncharacteristic public spat Tuesday over events leading up to the UN vote… State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Olmert’s story of what happened in his conversation with Bush was ‘just 100 percent, totally, completely not true’…

“McCormack said that Rice had decided as early as Wednesday that she would not veto a resolution, after Arab ministers rejected an initial effort by the US to push for a weaker presidential statement from the Security Council. That left her with the option of either voting for the final text or abstaining…

“Middle East expert Steven Spiegel described the episode as ‘the worst faux pas by an Israeli prime minister in history.’

“‘You really do wonder what the prime minister was thinking – if it’s true, you’d really want to keep it as quiet as possible, and if it’s not true, why would you want to make up a story that would embarrass both the Bush administration and the Israeli government and draw criticism from those who are antagonistic to Israel?’ asked Spiegel, director of the Center for Middle East Development at UCLA. ‘No matter how you play it, exaggeration, falsehood, whole truth, the whole thing makes them all look bad,’ Spiegel told The Jerusalem Post.”

European Anti-Israel Demonstrations

The EUObserver wrote on January 12:

“Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across the [European] continent to protest Israel’s war on Gaza over the weekend in the biggest pan-European demonstrations the continent has seen since those against the launch of the Iraq war in 2003…

“Massive protests… took place in London, Brussels and throughout France. Sizeable demonstrations also took place in German and Italian cities, as well as Athens, Thessaloniki, Budapest, Bregenz, Oslo and Stockholm. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, the first European leader to take part in such rallies, addressed a protest in Ourense…

“In the UK, 100,000 filled Hyde Park in London… Around 123,000 people took part in protests throughout France… Germany, home to some of Israel’s strongest supporters in Europe, was not immune, with 40,000 taking part in protests across the country, despite temperatures below zero, although most German politicians and trade union leaders were noticeable by their absence…

“The weekend also saw a handful of rallies supporting the Jewish state’s assault on Gaza, with 3,000 in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, 4,000 in Marseille, some 800 in Antwerp and a sizeable crowd of 200 in Prague.

“Two large pro-Israel rallies also took place in London and Manchester on Sunday. The estimated between 4,000 and 15,000 in Trafalgar Square raised a sea of Israeli and British flags and was addressed by Labour MPs. Another 2,000 showed their solidarity with Israel outside Manchester’s town hall.”

Articles like these show the growing anti-Israeli position around the world, a “handful” of some pro-Israeli voices notwithstanding–except, interestingly enough, for a larger pro-Israeli demo in Britain. But we also read in the Bible that Ephraim–Great Britain–will finally be taking a stance against Judah–the state of Israel.

The above-quoted article said that Germany was the “home to some of Israel’s strongest supporters in Europe.” This might be the official position of some governmental leaders and the politically accurate representations within the German main-stream press, but this is NOT the position of most German PEOPLE.

Holy See Advocates International Intervention in the Middle East

Zenit wrote on January 12:

“The warring parties in the Middle East cannot get out of the circle of violence on their own, and so they need international help, says the Holy See [adding that]… the international community… should therefore fulfill its responsibilities [and] intervene actively to stop the bloodshed, provide access for emergency humanitarian assistance, and end all forms of confrontation.”

In Need–A Real European President

The Financial Times wrote on January 11:

“Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, is re-emerging as a possible choice to be the European Union’s first full-time president after four momentous crises reinforced the argument for having a high-profile international personality in the job… the sheer scale of the challenges facing the EU – from last August’s Russia-Georgia war and the global financial meltdown to the Gaza conflict and the shutdown of Russian gas deliveries to Europe – is redefining the debate.

“Whereas last year Germany and other countries looked favorably on candidates such as Jean-Claude Juncker, the long-serving prime minister of Luxembourg, more policymakers now feel the EU presidency demands an occupant from a much bigger member-state.”

How Iran Directs Its “Spiritual Little Brothers” Hamas and Hezbollah

The Jerusalem Post wrote on January 12:

“Iran is exerting heavy pressure on Hamas not to accept the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel, an Egyptian government official said on Sunday… As soon as the Iranians heard about the Egyptian cease-fire initiative, they dispatched… two officials to Damascus on an urgent mission to warn the Palestinians against accepting it,’ the Egyptian government official told the Post.

“‘The Iranians threatened to stop weapons supplies and funding to the Palestinian factions if they agreed to a cease-fire with Israel. The Iranians want to fight Israel and the US indirectly. They are doing this through Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon…’

“The Egyptian official accused Iran of ‘encouraging’ Hamas to continue firing rockets at Israel with the hope that this would trigger a war that would divert attention from Iran’s nuclear plans. ‘This conflict serves the interests of the Iranians,’ he said. ‘They are satisfied because the violence in the Gaza Strip has diverted attention from their nuclear ambitions.'”

In addition, The Associated Press reported about Hezbollah’s involvement on January 10:

“Nearly 20,000 people marched through the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh in a protest organized by the militant Hezbollah group, a strong ally of Hamas that fought its own war with Israel in the summer of 2006.”

CAN Israel Win Against Iran’s Proxy Hamas?

This week’s edition of Time Magazine published the following words on its cover: “Why Israel Can’t Win. The siege of Gaza may punish Hamas, but it won’t make Israel safe. Why it is in peril like never before.”

Inside the magazine, an article with this headline was published: “Can Israel Survive Its Assault on Gaza?” In the article, it was stated:

“Israeli politicians and generals know that the total elimination of Hamas’ entrenched military command could take weeks; it might be altogether impossible. The more realistic outcome is an unsatisfactory, brokered truce that leaves Hamas wounded but alive and able to regenerate — and Israel only temporarily safe from attack.

“Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, has promised a ‘war to the bitter end.’ But after 60 years of struggle to defend their existence against foreign threats and enemies within, many Israelis may be wondering, Where does that end lie? The threat posed by Hamas is only the most immediate of the many interlocking challenges facing Israel, some of which cast dark shadows over the long-term viability of a democratic Jewish state. The offensive in Gaza may degrade Hamas’ ability to menace southern Israel with rocket fire, but, as with Israel’s 2006 war against Hizballah, the application of force won’t extinguish the militants’ ideological fervor.

“The anti-Israeli anger swelling in the region has made it more difficult for Arab governments to join Israel in its efforts to deal with Iran, the patron of both Hamas and Hizballah and a state whose leaders have sworn to eliminate Israel and appear determined to acquire nuclear weapons…

“But there’s something tragic, too, in Israel’s predicament: in any confrontation with its enemies, it is damned if it does and doomed if it doesn’t. Across Israel’s political spectrum there seems to be a consensus that Hamas’ provocative rocket barrages could not go unanswered — though whether Israel’s response has been proportional to the threat is, at the least, questionable…

“After weeks of global outrage over the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza, any mediator — France, the European Union, Turkey and Egypt are all auditioning for the role — will insist that Israel end its 18-month blockade. What then? Like Hizballah, Hamas will declare itself victorious…”

Israel to Strike Iran Within DAYS???

Newsmax.com wrote on January 12:

“Informed sources in Washington tell Newsmax that Israel indeed will launch a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities soon – possibly in just days as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office. The reason: The time clock has begun to run out. Iran is close to acquiring a nuclear device under the control of its radical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in June that Iran would have a nuclear weapon in as little as six months. That six-month period has passed.

“Reports of Israel’s decision to imminently launch strikes, although unconfirmed, would seem to contradict the Bush stance outlined in a front-page New York Times story last week, which asserted that Bush rejected a plea from Israel last year to help it raid Iran’s main nuclear complex. The Times said Israel was rebuffed after it requested from the U.S. specialized bunker-busting bombs that it needs to attack Iran’s nuclear complex at Natanz. The U.S. also reportedly nixed permission to the Israeli warplanes to fly over Iraqi territory to reach Iran…

“Last year 100 Israeli jets took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean that was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran.  And on Sept. 6 Israel launched an air attack against a site in Syria believed to be a nuclear-related facility containing material delivered by North Korea.

“Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton predicted that Israel would stage a raid against Iran’s nuclear facilities if Barack Obama won the presidential election. Bolton stated that he believed the Israeli attack would take place sometime between the day after Obama’s win and his inauguration on January 20. In an interview with FOX News, Bolton reasoned that Israel wouldn’t be able to hold off a strike on Iran any longer than that given Obama’s more conciliatory approach to Iran…

“William Perry, U.S. Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton, said that Obama would face a major crisis in his first few months in office over Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Perry, speaking at a foreign policy conference on Jan. 8, said that Iran is ‘moving inexorably toward becoming a nuclear power’ and ‘it seems clear that Israel will not sit by idle while Iran takes the final steps toward becoming a nuclear power’…

“Iran, even without nuclear weapons, is a regional power. If attacked, they are likely to press proxy terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to launch offensives against Israel and possibly the U.S. Iran has warned in the past that it would launch a ‘missile blitz’ against Gulf states if it is attacked. And last July a senior Iranian official said the Islamic Republic would destroy Israel and 32 U.S. military bases in the Middle East if Iran is attacked over its nuclear program… Even more ominously, Iran has reportedly carried out missile tests for what could be a plan for a nuclear strike on the U.S.”

“U.S. Economy on Brink of Disaster”

Newsmax reported on January 12:

“When ‘IOUSA’ made its documentary film debut last August, it soon earned the sobriquet ‘fiscal wake-up tour.’  Its unrelenting gloom toted up a $9 trillion federal debt, a $738.6 billion trade deficit, and the news that each U.S. citizen now owes $30,000.

“But all the stats are already hopelessly out of date… Fiscal irresponsibility is now a calamitous cycle that poses a bigger threat than al-Qaida and its plans to attack the United States with a weapon of mass destruction…

“Today, counting all those who have dropped off unemployment rolls for part-time work or no work, 21 million Americans are either jobless or underemployed. Average workweeks also are being cut back. Some employers now shorten workweeks as a way to keep some on the payroll. And as the baby boomer generation begins to retire, ‘IOUSA’ asks if there will even be any Social Security benefits left to collect.

“Overextended entitlement programs and debts to foreign countries are becoming impossible to honor… The United States has mortgaged its future to foreigners with promises to its own people it can’t possibly keep. China, with $1.3 trillion in U.S. paper, could decide its strategic interest is no longer compatible with America’s — and quit as America’s banker…

“Overspending still dominates the lives of U.S. citizens. The Chinese save 35 percent of what they earn; Americans save less than 1 percent, the lowest of any developed country… Americans are now shocked to see their 401(k) retirement savings accounts losing their allure, as many employers say they no longer can afford matching funds. The government, for its part, is taking in more than it can pay out.”

More Banks in Trouble and Stocks Take a Dive

Reuters reported on January 15:

“Shares of Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc plummeted Thursday on worries the banks may need more government help to handle soaring credit losses… Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, is seeking billions of dollars of new aid after realizing that credit losses at Merrill Lynch & Co, which it bought on January 1, were much higher than expected… Citigroup, the No. 3 U.S. bank, is expected on Friday to report a fifth straight multibillion-dollar quarterly loss… Even Wells Fargo & Co, which just bought troubled Wachovia Corp and has long been considered among the best-managed large banks, was hit, falling $3.90, or 16.9 percent, to $19.17.”

The Associated Press wrote on January 15:

“On Wednesday, stocks took a dive reminiscent of the terrifying jumps and drops of last fall, with the Dow Jones industrials falling more than 300 points before closing down 248. It was the Dow’s biggest point drop since Dec. 1 and the first string of six straight down days since early October…

“Holiday sales turned out to have been worse than expected, the jobless rate exceeds 7 percent for the first time in 16 years, the global economy is eroding faster and corporations from Alcoa to Intel to Wal-Mart have disappointed investors. Apple was the latest company out with bad news Wednesday, with CEO Steve Jobs saying he is taking a medical leave of absence.

“‘Right now we just don’t have any evidence to show that that free fall is over,’ said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh.”

Europe Gets Involved in the Middle East…

The EUObserver wrote on January 2 that “Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told national TV on Thursday (1 January)… ‘It is up to the European Union to take over the initiative [on the Middle East]…'”

… But May Have Little Success–For Now!

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 5:

“Europe is trying to step into a diplomatic vacuum left by the US… because the government in Washington is in limbo for the coming two weeks until President George W. Bush formally hands power over to Barack Obama. But Europe’s many envoys are a hindrance to each other, German media say…

“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… This chaos won’t result in any order, let alone lead to peace. In the Middle East, strength is what counts…’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… The chances of the EU [of] mediating successfully between the Israelis and Palestinians are already poor, but the chances of the Czech presidency doing so are virtually zero…'”

How divided, bumbling and INCONSISTENT the politics of certain European countries are–especially the Czech Republic and France–can be seen in the following article by the EUObserver, dated January 5:

“The Czech EU presidency this weekend retracted its support for Israel amid the ground attack on Gaza, while France switched its criticism from Israel to Hamas… ‘Even the undisputable right of the state to defend itself does not allow actions which largely affect civilians,’ [the Czech government said]… Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who last week complained about Israel’s disproportionate use of force, laid the lion’s share of blame on Hamas in an interview on Monday.”

The article continued to report about growing anger amongst “ordinary Europeans.” It stated:

“Pro-Palestinian marchers took to the streets of the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Greece and Cyprus, with reports of skirmishes outside Israeli embassies. In Paris, 20,000 people marched in support of the Palestinians on Saturday, while a crowd of 12,000 showed its solidarity with Israel on Sunday.

“Pro-Palestinian protests also took place in Turkey, Iran, Syria, India and Lebanon, with Israel tightening security on its northern border amid fears that Lebanese militants Hezbollah may fire rockets in the coming days.”

All of this shows Europe’s DESIRE to become the world’s policeman. However, Europe is still divided, and therefore, Europeans realize that a STRONG European leader with REAL powers would be necessary to fill the vacuum left by the USA. Bible prophecy reveals that such a STRONG European leader will arrive soon. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Will America Stab Israel in the Back?

The New York Post wrote on January 1:

“As world leaders and international organizations rush to rescue Hamas, Israel faces complex battlefield challenges – while fearing a stab in the back from the incoming Obama administration…

“Even the timing of Israel’s strike at Hamas has been driven, at least in part, by the coming power transfer in Washington. The immediate trigger was the hundreds of Hamas rocket attacks on Israel after the terrorists refused to renew an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, but Israel’s leaders also counted on steadfast support from the Bush administration in its final days.

“Obama’s an unknown quantity, though. While hysterical claims that he’ll be pro-Islamist from start to finish are absurd, even minor shifts away from supporting Israel’s struggle against terrorists could have catastrophic consequences. And Israel’s vaunted intelligence services can’t tell their superiors what Obama will do, since few (if any) of the president-elect’s supporters know what he intends to do.

“In fact, the president-elect may not know himself. He’s a babe in the woods, and the woods are full of wolves. Fighting political rivals doesn’t prepare you for fighting terrorist fanatics… his all-too-coy insistence that ‘we have only one president at a time’ has been selective from the start. Glad to pontificate on stimulus packages and union benefits, Obama has used the one-president mantra to avoid taking stands on difficult issues that bedevil or bewilder him.

“Our president-elect needed to make a clear, prompt statement in support of Israel. He didn’t. If I were an Israeli leader, I’d be worried, too. Obama [is] notorious for avoiding firm stands that might alienate any important constituency. But you can’t have it both ways in the Middle East. He needs to stand up in support of Israel. Now. Israeli soldiers should not have to go into battle worrying about an American bullet in the back.”

The Deafening Silence of Barack Obama

The Times wrote on January 2:

“As the new year begins to the depressingly familiar noise of war in the Middle East, a pregnant silence is all that can be heard from Barack Obama… The whole world is waiting impatiently for Mr Obama to start making good on his promise of change. Of all the issues that have separated the US from the rest of the world during the Bush presidency, the Israeli-Palestinian one might span the largest chasm.

“Europeans and Arabs have simply not been able to believe at times the virtually unyielding pro-Israel line that the US has taken since 2001, whether over Jewish settlements, Ariel Sharon’s security fence, the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 or the present fighting with Hamas, or on any number of lesser but pointed issues.

“There are lingering hopes in Europe and much of the Middle East (suspicions in some parts of America) that the new president will seek to rebalance US policy. No one really thinks that Mr Obama is about to ‘get tough’ with the Israelis… a sharp change in direction in the Middle East is not going to be high on the new President’s agenda.

“The challenges confronting him – put simply, rescuing the US economy from a possible depression and winning wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – won’t leave much time for eye-catching new initiatives on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. And that’s before he has to decide how to deal with the emerging Iranian nuclear threat.”

A Jewish Rabbi’s Grief for Gaza

On January 5, The Times published the following editorial by Rabbi Michael Lerner:

“Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but stupid. No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighbouring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialists bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for America to mobilise a counterattack. Israel has every right to respond.

“But the kind of response matters. Killing 500 Palestinians and wounding 2,000 others (at the time of writing) is disproportionate. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas’s indiscriminate bombing of population centres is a crime against humanity, so is Israel’s killing of civilians (at least 130 so far in Gaza, not to mention the thousands in the years of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza)…

“How do we get out of this destructive spiral? The first step is for the world to demand an immediate ceasefire. That ceasefire should be imposed by the United Nations and backed unequivocally by America…

“It breaks my heart to see the terrible suffering in Gaza and in Israel. As a religious Jew I find it all the worse, because it confirms to me how easy it is to pervert the loving message of Judaism into a message of hatred and domination. I remain in mourning for the Jewish people, for Israel and for the world.”

Civilians Suffer the Most in Israel’s Proxy War Against Iran

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 5:

“Israel hopes to critically weaken Hamas with its attacks in the Gaza Strip. Governments in the West and even in the Arab world can understand Israel’s aims, but civilians are the ones suffering the most from the bombardment. How much bloody retribution is legitimate?…

“What happened in Lebanon two years ago and is happening in Gaza today can also be seen as a proxy war — as operations against Iran’s spiritual little brothers, who deny Israel’s right to exist…

“The Arab world is divided more than ever in its position toward the war between the Israelis and Hamas. Egyptian President Mubarak blames the Hamas leaders for the attacks… Most Arab governments feel antipathy toward the mullah regime in Iran, which seeks to develop itself into a hegemonial power in the region. But their populations are enthusiastic about Tehran’s aggressive rhetoric, such as the words of the Iranian revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: ‘Can there be a catastrophe greater than the behavior of the Muslim states who strengthen the Zionist regime?’

“The hero of the Arab street is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.”

EU Warns Israel Is Destroying Its Image

The EUObserver wrote on January 7:

“Pressure to obtain a ceasefire in Gaza has been mounting, with the EU warning Israel it was ‘destroying’ its image, while Israeli forces on Tuesday (6 January) killed at least 40 people during an attack on a United Nations-run school in Gaza… The bombing has drawn international condemnation, with the EU calling it “completely unacceptable’… The Israeli military however argued Hamas fighters had fired mortar shells at their forces from the school and they had to return fire…

“‘We have come to Israel in order to advance the initiative for a humanitarian ceasefire and I will tell you, Mr President, that you have a serious problem with international advocacy, and that Israel’s image is being destroyed,’ EU foreign affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Israeli President Shimon Peres during the visit of an EU delegation in the region.

“But Mr Peres retorted that Israel was fighting other wars and a public image one was not among them. ‘Europe must open its eyes. We are not in the business of public relations or improving our image. We are fighting against terror, and we have every right to defend our citizens,’ he told an EU ministerial delegation…”

“EU Must Stop to Support Israel”

Deutsche Welle reported on January 7:

“The European Union must put all hopes of building a closer relationship with Israel on hold until the fighting in the Gaza Strip ends, a group of leading aid agencies said Wednesday… It would be ‘inconceivable’ for the EU to work for closer ties with Israel at a time when the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has been ‘pushed to crisis point’ by Israel’s assault on the salient, the statement by groups including Oxfam and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said…

“On June 16, the EU accepted an Israeli request to upgrade bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, environmental protection and research. However, in December the bloc stressed that that cooperation should include working towards a peaceful settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.

“Given Israel’s massive offensive against the Islamic group Hamas, which the EU lists as a terrorist organization, the 11 aid agencies who signed the statement demanded that the upgrade be put on hold. Instead, ‘the EU must now apply real pressure to convince Israeli and Hamas leaders to accept (a truce) and redouble its efforts to achieve sustainable peace in the region,’ Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, said.”

Will Germany Send Troops to Gaza?

Deutsche Welle reported on January 7:

“There have also been calls by politicians for German peacekeepers to be sent to Gaza. Eckart von Klaeden, a foreign policy spokesman in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said the use of German troops was feasible but they must have ‘robust’ powers. However, government  spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said the discussion about sending German troops in blue UN helmets was premature.”

“Attack on Israel from Lebanon Threatens 2nd Front”

The Associated Press reported on January 8:

“Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into Israel early Thursday, threatening to open a new front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with a bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 700 people. Two people were lightly injured, and the rockets that exploded in Israel’s north raised the specter of renewed hostilities with Hezbollah…”

Deutsche Welle added on January 8 that “Hezbollah has denied firing” these rockets.

Germany’s Interests in Iran May Necessitate U.S. Military Action

Deutsche Welle reported on January 2:

“A US think tank has warned that diplomacy would not stop Iran’s nuclear program and that harsher sanctions against Tehran should be adopted, a move that could drive a wedge between the White House and Germany.

“… a new round of sanctions risks magnifying the diverging interests between the US and its allies such as Germany, which still has firm financial connections with Iranian banks and which continues to do business with the Islamic republic of around 70 million inhabitants. In fact, some 75 percent of all medium and small businesses in Iran use German-made equipment… In November, the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce met in Hamburg to discuss the UN sanctions and how they could affect German firms doing business in the Islamic country. Some of the advice included ways of obtaining German government guarantees for trade with Tehran… The reaction to this in the US has been one of growing anger, particularly in the conservative press.

“‘Germany loves Iran,’ the Wall Street Journal said in a commentary by editorial writer Dan Schwammenthal. He pointed out that German-Iranian trade had increased 14.1 percent in the first seven months of 2008. Germany, he said, was less worried about an Iranian nuclear bomb than it was about tighting [sic] sanctions that could negatively affect trade between the two countries.

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly emphasized Germany’s special responsibility to protect Israel. She insists that Germany is only obliged to obey the UN sanctions and will not undertake any further unilateral action against Iran at this time. Thus, Iranian banks such as the government-owned Melli and Saderat banks — which have been accused by Washington of funding terrorists and weapons research — do flourishing business in Germany…

“With such vested interests, it is a matter of debate among conservative thinkers as to whether a peaceful solution can be found to the Iranian question. Phillips, the Middle East expert, noted the years-long efforts by Europeans as part of talks involving Germany, Britain and France have showed [sic] that negotiations bring nothing. He added that the situation was not helped by the fact that, for example, the German government still undertook credit guarantees for Iranian business…

“As for the role of the Europeans in a new sanctions effort, many US analysts believe that they are more worried about keeping the US from invading Iran than they are about Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.”

War Between USA and Iran–“Sooner Than You Think”?

Newsmax.com reported on January 8 about Iran expert Kenneth R. Timmerman’s publication, “Six Days to War,” which lays out the scenario likely to unfold if the U.S. and Iran go to war. It was stated:

“In Timmerman’s report you’ll find out why ‘Six Days to War’ could happen sooner than you think — as many American assets are already ‘in position’ for an attack… As the Bush administration ratchets up the pressure, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs says the military option is still on the table and warns Iran that the U.S. can launch massive strikes using Navy and Air power.

“The new American commander in the region, Gen. David Petraeus, has also told Congress that Iran is supporting Iraqi insurgents killing Americans. President Bush said in a White House address that Iran, along with al-Qaida, are ‘two of the greatest threats to America.’

“Timmerman’s report on the looming war with Iran is based on sources including top Israeli intelligence officers, military and political leaders interviewed in Israel and Washington, D.C., and a key planning document… developed by the Iranian navy.”

The Success of the Euro

Welt-On-Line wrote on January 2:

“The introduction of the euro a decade ago may be the most successful product to date of European integration. Now used by sixteen countries -with the addition of Slovakia on Jan. 1- and 325 million people, the users and guardians of the euro have reason for optimism for a stable currency over the next ten years.

“The Eurozone, the sixteen-nation group of countries now using the common European currency, may be in recession, with the worst of the global financial crisis yet to come; but experts agree that without the euro, the financial situation of its users would be worse still.

“Introduced into world financial markets and for accounting purposes on Jan. 1, 1999, the euro and its caretaker, the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, can now look back over ten years of contributing to the comparatively stable economic conditions prevailing in continental Europe.

“Perhaps the most significant flattery as the euro turns ten comes from that Euroskeptic nation par excellence, Great Britain, where some commentators are now wondering aloud whether adopting the euro (and ditching the age-old symbol of British financial prowess, the pound) would be a boon to the country’s economic future. But despite the pound’s nearing parity with the euro at the New Year, and a comment by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso that the UK is ‘closer than ever before’ to entering the Eurozone, such a move does not appear imminent.

“Not surprisingly, it was first British, then American observers who predicted the failure of the currency… Today, even those Britons most adamantly opposed to merging with ‘Euroland’, as it is derisively called there, would be hard pressed to argue that the euro has failed. On the contrary, adopting the euro has not only provided a stable currency for its users; it has also become the world’s second most popular currency reserve. Though the dollar remains king, representing two-thirds of all reserves compared to the euro’s one-quarter, some have suggested that this relationship might be reversed in the future.

“… it is hard to underestimate the importance of the stability provided by the single currency, especially in times of turmoil such as the present. The main strength of the euro is the solidity that comes with the vast size of the European economy standing behind it. This powerful economy strengthens the euro, while the prudent monetary policy of the ECB helps strengthen the economy in general.

“Thus it looks likely that the benefits of the currency will continue to attract European countries not yet members of the Eurozone. Denmark, which has already rejected the euro twice, is considering a third referendum which would likely pass. Eight eastern European countries and Sweden are required by the conditions of their membership in the EU to adopt the common currency sooner or later. The stalwart UK may hold on to its exemption negotiated into the Maastricht Treaty for now…”

The Euro–a Milestone of European Unification

Time Magazine wrote on January 1:

“Europe’s single currency has come of age early. The euro turns 10 on Jan. 1, a milestone for one of the most powerful symbols of European identity…

“It’s a remarkable achievement for a currency whose only global rival is the U.S. dollar. The greenback has more than two centuries of history behind it. But it wasn’t until Jan. 1, 1999 that 11 E.U. countries locked their national currencies together into a fixed exchange rate. Three years later, physical coins and notes became available, replacing national cash in a massive changeover operation.

“The euro zone is now 15 members large and has a combined population of about 320 million. However, many more people are directly affected by the currency, from would-be members whose money is already pegged to it, to countries like Montenegro and Kosovo, whose effective national currency is the euro. France’s former African colonies also peg their common currency to Europe’s. That means about 500 million people rely on the euro or euro-pegged currencies…”

Consider what might just be in our near future–the total collapse of the dollar. The US government is proposing spending at such an alarming level that it seems even the average Joe is beginning to question things (Compare our next article, “The Ever-Climbing American Debt”).

However, too many think that the things happening on such a wide front are just hic-ups and the normal ups and downs of a country’s fortunes. The truth is that events of the current moment are absolutely unprecedented! For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Russia Is At It Again…

The Independent wrote on January 7:

“Fears of a deep chill spread across Europe yesterday after a row between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices cut supplies to the rest of the continent on a day of plummeting temperatures and heavy snowfalls. The European Union said the situation was ‘completely unacceptable’ as thousands of businesses were urged to switch fuels, and households struggled to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures. But there was no sign of an end to the standoff between Russia’s energy monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine, locked in battle since New Year’s Day.

“Gazprom stopped pumping gas to Ukraine for domestic consumption on 1 January after the two countries failed to agree on a fixed price for 2009. The pipelines that cross Ukraine also carry gas to Europe but that continued to flow, until Moscow accused Ukraine of siphoning off Europe’s fuel and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin retaliated by ordering Gazprom to cut EU-bound exports by the amount being stolen.

“Yesterday Russia stopped gas supplies through Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. The government of Slovakia declared a national emergency; Austria and Italy reported falls of 90 per cent; France said Russian supplies had tailed off 70 per cent, and Germany also reported a decline although did not quantify it.

“The Czech Republic, which took over the EU presidency this month, had sharp words for Moscow… In Bulgaria, the government has declared a ‘crisis situation’. The country not only has the lowest GDP per capita in the EU, but relies on Russia for all of its gas… Most European countries say they have enough gas in storage to cover at least a few weeks of disruption. The 27-nation EU gets about a quarter of its gas from Russia, of which 80 per cent is pumped through Ukraine.”

Deutsche Welle added on January 7:

“The EU warns Russia and Ukraine that they face long-term consequences unless they immediately resolve a dispute that has cut gas supplies to Europe…”

The Ever-Climbing American Debt

The Washington Post wrote on January 3:

“With President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats considering a massive spending package aimed at pulling the nation out of recession, the national debt is projected to jump by as much as $2 trillion this year, an unprecedented increase…[U.S.]

“As of yesterday, the debt stood at nearly $10.7 trillion, of which about $4.3 trillion is owed to other government institutions, such as the Social Security trust fund. Debt held by private investors totals nearly $6.4 trillion, or a little over 40 percent of gross domestic product.

“According to the most recent figures, foreign investors held about $3 trillion in U.S. debt at the end of October. China, which in October replaced Japan as the United States’ largest creditor, has increased its holdings by 42 percent over the past year; Britain and the Caribbean banking countries more than doubled their holdings.

“[U.S.] Economists from across the political spectrum have endorsed the idea of going deeper into debt to combat what many call the most dangerous economic conditions since the Great Depression.”

“Investors Dump $89B in U.S. Securities in Historic Fire Sale”

Even though foreign investors hold huge debts in the USA, many begin to manifest their concern about the faltering U.S. economy by dumping their U.S. investments. USA Today wrote on January 5:

“As the global financial crisis grew more severe this summer, foreigners sold almost $90 billion of U.S. securities — the greatest quarterly fire sale by overseas investors since the government began keeping track in 1960. U.S. investors also are retrenching; they unloaded about $85 billion worth of foreign holdings in the quarter…

“In the first quarter of 2008, foreigners deposited more than $79 billion with U.S. banks. That flow reversed in the second quarter, as foreigners withdrew a staggering $256 billion, and the outflow continued in the third quarter with an additional $147 billion… ‘Institutional investors, including banks, across the board are pulling their capital back home,’ says economist Eswar Prasad of the Brookings Institution.”

US Wants to Send 20,000 to 30,000 More Troops to Afghanistan

As if America’s experience with the ill-conceived Iraq war wasn’t bad enough, we are now advised that American troops are to be increased in Afghanistan. However, Afghanistan has also been a total failure for American endeavors, and nothing indicates that a huge increase of U.S. troops will bring any solutions. In fact, the opposite for American interests and its prestige around the world may be the result.

The Associated Press reported on January 2:

“The U.S. is preparing to pour at least 20,000 extra troops into southern Afghanistan to cope with a Taliban insurgency… Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that Afghanistan could get up to 30,000 new U.S. troops in 2009… The infusion of U.S. power risks Americanizing a war that until now has been a shared mission of 41 coalition countries… In Canada and many European countries [including Germany], governments face low public support for keeping troops in Afghanistan combat zones.”

Violence in Mexico

The San Diego Union Tribune wrote on January 2:

“[Mexico’s border city with the USA] Tijuana marked its bloodiest year in 2008, with 843 killings, more than twice 2007’s total of 337… among the dead were children, spouses, co-workers and neighbors of suspected gang members who became caught in the [gangs’] crossfire. Also among the dead were 38 law enforcement agents from municipal, state and federal agencies. Authorities link some to organized crime, but say others were killed in the line of duty.

“Mexican authorities say that the killers are typically between 18 and 25, members of broken families lured by easy money into a life of crime, recruited in Tijuana and other parts of Mexico. They belong to a new generation of criminals…

“Drug-related violence has surged across Mexico, with 5,207 deaths in 2008 linked to organized crime, more than twice the 2007 total of 2,275… And while the violence is in Mexico, the problem is binational… It is the demand of U.S. consumers that drives the violence, and weapons from the United States that are used to carry it out…”

WAR in the Middle East

Deutsche Welle reported on December 28, 2008:

“Ruprecht Polenz, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament called on Barack Obama to place the Middle East high on his agenda when he takes office on Jan. 20. ‘Obama can’t allow himself to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors Bush and Clinton who both paid attention to Israel and Palestine only towards the end of their respective terms,’ Polenz told the Rheinische Post… But Obama gave no hint of future US policy on the Mideast conflict. His national security spokeswoman, Brooke Anderson told the Guardian newspaper Obama would make no comment, saying he was sticking to the formula that there should be ‘one president at a time’…

“The latest violence has stoked fears in the European Union, one of Israel’s most important foreign partners as well as the largest donor of aid to the Palestinian territories… EU High Representative Javier Solana on Saturday condemned as ‘unacceptable’ the death of Palestinian civilians in the Israeli air strikes and called for an immediate end to the violence…

“The deadly Israeli air strikes have triggered sharp condemnation around the world with bodies such as the United Nations and Amnesty International calling on armed Palestinians groups and Israeli forces to immediately end their fighting. The violence has also prompted rallies across the Middle East to protest Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and to show support for Palestinians caught in the attacks.”

Welt-On-Line added on December 28 that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “blamed Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah in 2007, for triggering Israel’s raids by not extending the ceasefire that Egypt brokered in June…”

War in the Middle East–Iran Gets Officially Involved

Haaretz.com stated on December 28:

“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world on Sunday, ordering them to defend Palestinians against Israel’s attacks on Gaza, state television said. ‘All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world’s pious people are obliged to defend the defenceless women, children and people in Gaza in any way possible. Whoever is killed in this legitimate defense is considered a martyr,’ state television quoted Khamenei as saying in a statement… Khamenei also criticized some Arab governments for their ‘encouraging silence’ towards the Israel’s raids on Gaza…

“In Damascus, Syria, Hamas’ top leader, Khaled Meshal, called on Palestinians to rekindle their fight against Israel and renew suicide bombings against Israeli targets. ‘This is the time for a third Intifada,’ he said…”

War in the Middle East–“Don’t Forget the Iranian Connection”

The Jerusalem Post wrote on December 29:

“Hizbullah is an Iranian creation. Hamas is not. But it has drawn itself increasingly into Iran’s orbit. Much of its imported weaponry, and the expertise with which it now produces and refines its own rockets, have been provided by Iran. Dozens of its commanders have been trained in Iran in recent years, coming home and disseminating that ‘education’ as Hamas has built an army in Gaza. And, increasingly too, Hamas has come to act in the service of Iran’s aims… Iran is inspiring, funding, arming and training Hamas. Iran is avowedly committed to Israel’s destruction, and regards Hamas as a tool toward this goal.

“The same Iran, via an emboldened Hizbullah, is now most of the way to achieving proxy control not merely of southern Lebanon, but all of Lebanon. The same Iran, already armed with missiles that can reach Israel, is extending its missile range to Europe and, it hopes, ultimately to North America… And that same Iran is moving ever closer to the nuclear capability it intends to use in the service of its goals.”

War in the Middle East–Hamas’ and Iran’s Fight Against Christianity

The Jerusalem Post wrote on December 25:

“Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed. On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari’a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion.

“Hamas’s endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn’t feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed a mortar shell at the Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas.

“While Hamas joyously renewed its jihad against Jews and Christians, its overlords in Iran also basked in jihadist triumphalism. The source of Teheran’s sense of ascendancy this week was Britain’s Channel 4 network’s decision to request that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad give a special Christmas Day address to the British people. Ahmadinejad’s speech was supposed to be a response to Queen Elizabeth II’s traditional Christmas Day address to her subjects. That is, Channel 4 presented his message as a reasonable counterpoint to the Christmas greetings of the head of the Church of England…

“The reason that the West remains ignorant of the views and goals of the likes of Hamas and Iran is not that the latter have hidden their views and goals. It is because the leading political leaders and foreign policy practitioners in the West refuse to listen to them and deny the significance of their actions… The fact that Hamas itself is wholly dedicated to Israel’s destruction and Islamic global domination is irrelevant [to them]…

“MUSLIMS AREN’T the only ones whose views and actions are dismissed as irrelevant by these foreign policy wise men… Take Iran’s principal Asian ally, North Korea, for example. This week North Korea’s official news agency threatened to destroy South Korea in a ‘sea of fire,’ and ‘reduce everything treacherous and anti-reunification to debris and build an independent, reunified country on it,’ if any country dares to attack its nuclear installations. North Korea made its threat two weeks after Kim Jung Il’s regime disengaged from its fraudulent disarmament talks with the Bush administration.

“After Pyongyang agreed in February 2007 to eventually come clean on its plutonium installations (but not its uranium enrichment programs), and to account for its nuclear arsenal (but not for its proliferation activities), Rice convinced President Bush to remove North Korea from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terror and to end its subjection to the US’s Trading with the Enemy Act this past October. And then, after securing those massive US concessions, on December 11 Pyongyang renounced its commitments, walked away from the table and now threatens to destroy South Korea if anyone takes any action against it.”

War in the Middle East–Israel’s Big Gamble

The New York Times wrote on December 28:

“The risk to Israel in Gaza [seems to be] that if the operation fails or leaves Hamas in the position of scrappy survivor or even somehow perceived victor, it could then dominate Palestinian politics… Since Hamas, like Hezbollah, is committed to Israel’s destruction, that could pose a formidable strategic challenge. And despite unwavering expressions of support for Israel from President-elect Barack Obama during his campaign, Israel is also gambling that its aggressive military posture will not alienate the new administration…

“[On] the Jewish Sabbath and the first day of the Arab workweek, Israel struck… Few have focused on the fact that at this stage in the 2006 Lebanon war, there was the same satisfaction — before things turned disastrous.”

War in the Middle East–“‘The World’ Must Bring Peace!”

Deutsche Welle reported on December 28:

“Hamas and Israel are making the same old mistakes all over again because the latest attacks won’t solve anything… Unless there’s a miracle, this is the perfect situation for a further escalation which would have unforeseen consequences…

“Israel is committing a cardinal mistake by believing it can wipe out Hamas with a military operation. Just as it thought it could disarm Hezbollah two and a half years ago. The massive attack on Lebanon at the time instead bombed Hezbollah into the government and the same thing could happen with Hamas in Palestine…

“But the frustrated and battered Palestinians as well as Hamas are making a huge mistake too by hoping that Hamas’ uncompromising stance will lead to a solution or deliverance. Hamas’ vehement rejection of Israel’s right to exist cannot be a foundation for peace…

“The world can no longer afford to sit back and watch. If international troops can be mobilized for the fight against terrorists and pirates, then the world should be able to do more in Palestine than simply pay lip service. At least in order to prevent the worst if not to bring peace.”

War in the Middle East–European Reactions

Deutsche Welle reported on December 28:

“European newspapers criticized both Hamas and Israel for the eruption of violence… there was general agreement that the recent attacks will do nothing to further peace in the Middle East… The Salzburger Nachrichten doubted that Israel’s military action would provide some type of resolution to the conflict in the Middle East…  Luxembourg’s Wort newspaper… saw the swift attacks as sending a signal to Iran about Israel’s strength. ‘While both movements are politically and logistically supported by Teheran, Israel’s action on Sabbath was a clear signal to Iran. In less than three minutes, 200 Hamas installations had been damaged…'”

War in the Middle East–Germany Willing to Help Find Peace

Deutsche Welle reported on December 31:

“In her New Year’s address, Chancellor Angela Merkel blamed the radical Palestinian movement Hamas for the latest flare-up with Israel and said Germany would do all it could to promote peace in the Middle East… In her address, Merkel said that ‘the terror perpetrated by Hamas is unacceptable.'”

War in the Middle East… Continuing…

The Associated Press reported on December 31:

“Israel rejected international pressure to suspend its air offensive against Palestinian militants whose rocket barrages are striking close to the Israeli heartland, sending warplanes Wednesday to demolish smuggling tunnels that are the lifeline of Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers… Calls for an immediate cease-fire have also come from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia… Underlying the Israeli decision to keep fighting are the mightier weapons that Hamas has smuggled into Gaza through underground tunnels along the border with Egypt.”

War in the Middle East–Escalating…

The Associated Press reported on January 1, 2009:

“Israel dropped a one-ton bomb on the home of a Hamas strongman Thursday, killing him along with two wives and four children in the first attack on the top leadership of Gaza’s rulers. As the aerial bombardment escalated, the army said it was also poised to launch a ground invasion…

“Israel has made clear that no one in Hamas is immune in this offensive… Israeli warplanes have carried out some 500 sorties against Hamas targets, and helicopters have flown hundreds more combat missions… More than 400 Gazans have been killed and some 1,700 have been wounded… The U.N. says the death toll includes more than 60 civilians, 34 of them children.

“Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in rocket attacks that have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing one-eighth of the population within rocket range.

“Throughout the day, huge blasts had rocked cities and towns across Gaza as Israeli warplanes went after Gaza’s parliament building, militant field operatives, police and cars… So far, the campaign to crush rocket fire on southern Israel has been conducted largely from the air. But military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said preparations for a ground operation were complete…

“Thousands of soldiers were massed along the border with Gaza, backed by tanks and artillery… Israeli Cabinet ministers have been unswayed by international calls to end the violence… Instead, they authorized the military to push ahead with its campaign against militants… Ordinary Israelis are not eager to see the operation expand beyond the air-based campaign, a poll Thursday showed…”

War in the Middle East–Has Israel Failed to Learn from History?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 31:

“Israel has promised a ‘war to the bitter end.’ Yet history is full of examples showing that battling an organization like Hamas is almost futile…

“Planes have targeted mosques because Israel thinks they are being used to cache weapons; apartment blocks where high-ranking Hamas members live have been destroyed, almost guaranteeing civilian casualties. The university was destroyed because it espoused the Hamas ideology. Each one of these targets presents a dilemma — and the images they create are unhelpful to Israel…

“It is also unclear that the offensive brings Israel a single step closer to its ultimate goal of eliminating Hamas entirely. Indeed, the more intense the Israeli bombing campaign has become, the more Palestinian rockets have flown across the border into Israel. Hamas may be briefly weakened as its commanders are knocked off and its weapons depots destroyed. But, in the long run, it is difficult to see Hamas not benefiting the same way Hezbollah benefited from the 2006 war. Their aura as resistance fighters can only be strengthened.

“… in 2006, one of the primary criticisms was that Israel had not sufficiently defined its war aims before marching into southern Lebanon. ‘War to the bitter end,’ certainly doesn’t sound any more precise.”

War in the Middle East–“Israel Has Left the Peace Process in Ruins”

The Telegraph wrote on December 31:

“All… changed on Saturday when Israel launched Operation Cast Lead. The name refers to a lead spinning top played with by children during the Jewish winter festival of Hannukah, but there was nothing playful about the military assault… This was not a strike solely against the infrastructure of Hamas… Operation Cast Lead was intended to kill as many Hamas members as possible, which is why it was ordered in the middle of a working day…

“Why send in the bombers in December 2008, when rockets have been landing in Israel for eight years? It had been six months since the last Israeli fatality. What led the Israeli military-political elite to choose this month to order a sustained attack? The answer is quite simple. Israelis go to the polls in February and it is this that is driving this operation… Israeli voters like strong leaders…

“Talks between Syria and Israel, brokered by Turkey, have now been called off… It is hard to exaggerate how disappointing this is. Britain has long argued that the key to peace in the Holy Land lies on the road to Damascus. Syria is a key sponsor not just of Hamas but of Hizbollah…

“One of President Bush’s more clumsy foreign policy decisions was to isolate Syria for most of his presidency, but in the past two years he has given the green light for rapprochement. From that decision have flowed delicate talks and the hope that Damascus could be persuaded to deal a mortal blow to both Hizbollah and Hamas by turning off the funds, arms and support it has provided them with for years.

“As the smoke continues to rise over Gaza, the tragic truth is that the hopes of wider peace in the Middle East also now lie in ashes.”

War Between India and Pakistan “Cannot Be Ruled Out”

World-On-Line wrote on December 27:

“War between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over last month’s militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai is seen as highly unlikely. Nevertheless, with tension rising and troops moving to the border, conflict between the neighbours who have fought three wars since 1947 cannot be ruled out… Experts say millions of people would be killed on both sides in exchanges of nuclear weapons.”

For the First Time–Army Phone Hotline Between Russia and China

BBC News reported on December 29:

“A new military hotline between Beijing and Moscow has been used for the first time, according to reports in the Chinese state media… The phone link is designed for ‘timely communication on significant issues’. Efforts to set up a similar hotline, mainly for use during crises, between Beijing and Washington appear to have stalled, correspondents say…

“Put simply, the Chinese can now pick up the phone when there is a crisis and ask the Russians what is going on and what they are doing about it.”

2008–The Year We’d Like to Forget–But Won’t

The British paper, The Daily Mail, wrote on December 31:

“Some years are infinitely forgettable… no one will fail to remember 2008. It will be a year to tell your grandchildren about…

“The year began – and ended – with President Mugabe of Zimbabwe still in power, despite having lost an election. Ever since, he has achieved the apparently impossible feat of deepening his people’s misery, starvation and oppression…

“There is still no sign that Iraq’s own politicians are willing to make common cause. As the Westerners leave, it seems most likely that Kurds, Sunnis and Shi’ites will each govern their own areas in their own way. It will be a miracle if they set about doing so without fighting a civil war…

“The British in Afghanistan lost faith in President Hamid Karzai, and in American policy based on support for his regime. The British Army’s casualties in Helmand province rose steadily…

“In Russia… Putin continues to pull all the levers, and to direct his country for the advantage of a handful of gangster oligarchs, of whom he is the richest. Little Georgia, next door, paid a savage price for seeming to challenge Moscow’s hegemony over a vast region…

“Iran continued building its own nuclear weapons, and North Korea seems to have weaved its way to keep doing the same. China savagely suppressed anti-government demonstrations in Tibet a few weeks before the Olympics.

“… this [was] the year in which the world’s great Money Madness has been catastrophically exposed. Trillions of pounds of supposed global wealth disappeared into an abyss, as surely as if they had vanished into the Bermuda Triangle… Today, the entire British banking system is in crisis… The British economy has entered a recession which threatens to prove the worst of modern times… The pound has fallen in value by more than a quarter against almost every other currency and is virtually equal with the much derided Euro.”

More Economic Pain in 2009

Reuters reported on December 31:

“More pain is expected in the near-term as bleak economic reports roll in, flagging more bankruptcies, bad debts and layoffs through at least early 2009, and more sleepless nights for everyone from central bankers to consumers struggling to pay off mortgages and credit card bills.

“The biggest financial crisis in 80 years, sparked by a U.S. mortgage meltdown, made this year one of the worst ever for investors as recession stalked the global economy.”

The Strength of the Euro

Deutsche Welle reported on December 29:

“The European single currency has acted as a windbreaker against the global financial storm for euro zone businesses and citizens… Consensus is widespread that the strength of the currency has done for some European countries what would have been impossible had they kept their original monies.

“The assessment came a few days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the euro being used as a virtual currency in accounting and financial transactions in the euro zone. Euro banknotes and coins were not introduced until Jan. 1, 2002. Former German central bank president Hans Tietmeyer said the 16 euro zone member states had so far escaped foreign exchange turmoil because of the single currency…

“Tietmeyer said the euro zone’s stable position has been underpinned by the creation of the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) in 1998. ‘As a result, the single currency has without doubt benefited the people and the economy of Europe,’ he said…

“Having boosted trade among its members and created at least 16 million jobs since its inception, the euro has begun to firm as a premier globally reliable currency. The euro zone is responsible for 16.5 percent of global economic activity, while the euro currency accounts for over a quarter of the world’s official foreign reserves, up from 18 percent in 1998. This has led many Europeans to feel their currency will supplant the US dollar in global importance within the next five years…

“Tietmeyer said he expected the euro zone to weather the current storm… Euro zone membership is now obligatory for all new EU member states, while Britain, Denmark and Sweden have a right to maintain their traditional currencies… Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, the Baltic countries and Romania are all aiming to take up the euro within the next six years…”

Euro at New Record High Against British Pound

Reuters reported on December 31:

“The euro hit a fresh record high against sterling on Tuesday, extending a broad rally against most major currencies. The euro traded as high as 98.05 pence… up about 1.5 percent from late on Monday. Against the dollar, the euro was 1 percent higher at $1.4125.”

“EU to Take over US East Coast”

On December 31, the EUObserver reported:

“The east coast of the US – from South Carolina to Maine – will fall under EU influence as the US splits up in 2010 following an economic meltdown, Russian analyst Igor Panarin has predicted in a report. Canada, China and Mexico will take over the north, eastern and southern sections for their parts.”

Chicago–Politics, Politics… and More Politics…

On December 30, cbs2.chicago.com reported the following:

“A defiant Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday appointed a black political trailblazer in Illinois to Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat, a surprise move that put race front and center in the ongoing drama surrounding the scandal-tarred governor. The decision put his opponents in the uncomfortable position of vowing not to seat a veteran politician who would become the Senate’s only black member…”

cbs2chicago.com stated in a related article, on December 30:

“If Gov. Rod Blagojevich thought that he was regaining the political high ground, or at least a little credibility, with fellow Democrats by appointing former Attorney General Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate, he was apparently mistaken… Sources on Capitol Hill tell CBS 2 Tuesday night the Senate will refuse to seat Burris… Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who must formally approve the appointment, says he won’t do it…

“That alone prevents the Senate from swearing in Burris on January 5. But what if White changes his mind, or if Burris tries to force a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate? More drama. A sergeant at arms would physically bar Burris from entering, sources say. This happened once before, for a week, back in the late 19th Century.

“What’s most likely to occur in the Senate is a vote to halt Burris’ seating ‘pending the outcome of an investigation into the propriety of his appointment’ by the Senate Rules Committee. That investigation will likely have a 60-day period limit…

“The coup de grace to this scheme may have come from President-elect Barack Obama. While praising Roland Burris, Obama also said he agreed with the Senate Democrats who are pledging to refuse to seat anybody appointed by the governor. Sources say leaders in Springfield have assured Senate leaders that Blagojevich will be impeached and out of office by Valentine’s Day. The Senate can then label the Burris pick null and void, leaving Illinois’ next governor, Lt. Gov. Quinn, to select Obama’s replacement. Sources say that person would be sworn in immediately.

“Constitutional law professor Dawn Clark Netsch tells CBS 2 this appointment could likely be the subject of many lawsuits, one arguing the governor had to appoint a senator thus mandating Jesse White certify the appointment, and others questioning the U.S. Senate’s grounds for refusing to seat Burris… What remains to be seen, however, is whether Blagojevich is ready to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Global Warming–Worse Than Assumed?

Deutsche Welle reported on December 29:

“Climate change is happening more rapidly than anyone thought possible, the German government’s expert, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, warned… Schellnhuber warns that previous predictions about climate change and its catastrophic effects were too cautious and optimistic. ‘In nearly all areas, the developments are occurring more quickly than it has been assumed up until now,’ Schellnhuber [said]…

“The Arctic sea ice is melting more quickly than expected. There are also signs that the entire climate pattern at the North Poll has been disrupted to the extent of causing irreversible change. For the Arctic, the global warming which has already occurred of 0.8 degrees Celsius has already stepped over the line, Schellnhuber said. If Greenland’s ice cap ice melts completely, water levels will rise by seven meters (23 feet). ‘The current coastline will no longer exist, and that includes in Germany,’ he said.”

Global Warming–Responsible for Natural Catastrophes in 2008…?

AFP wrote on December 29:

“Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record… Although the number of natural disasters was lower than in 2007, the catastrophes that occurred proved to be more destructive in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused, Germany-based Munich Re said in its annual assessment.

“‘This continues the long-term trend we have been observing. Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes,’ Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said. Most devastating in terms of human fatalities was Cyclone Nargis, which lashed Myanmar on May 2-3 to kill more than 135,000 people and leave more than one million homeless.

“Just days later an earthquake shook China’s Sichuan province, leaving 70,000 dead, 18,000 missing and almost five million homeless… Around 1,000 people died in a severe cold snap in January in Afghanistan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan, while 635 perished in August and September in floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Typhoon Fengshen killed 557 people in China and the Philippines in June, while earthquakes in Pakistan in October left 300 dead.

“Six tropical cyclones also slammed into the southern United States, including Ike which, with insured losses of 10 billion dollars, was the industry’s costliest catastrophe of the year. In Europe, an intense low-pressure system called Emma caused two billion dollars worth of damage in March, while a storm dubbed Hilal in late May and early June left 1.1 billion dollars’ worth.

“The earthquake in Sichuan province was the most expensive overall single catastrophe of 2008, causing around 85 billion dollars worth of damage, helping to make the year the third most expensive on record, Munich Re said.  With 200 billion dollars’ worth of damage, only 2005, when a large number of hurricanes slammed into the southern United States, and 1995, year of the Kobe earthquake in Japan, wreaked more destruction since records began in 1900.

“According to provisional estimates from the World Meteorological Organization, 2008 was the tenth warmest year since the beginning of routine temperature recording and the eighth warmest in the northern hemisphere. This means that the ten warmest years ever recorded have all occurred in the last 12 years, Munich Re said. ‘It is now very probable that the progressive warming of the atmosphere is due to the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity. The weather machine is running in top gear, bringing more intense severe weather events,’ it said.

“The number of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic in 2008 was much higher than the long-term average, and in terms of both the total number of storms and the number of major hurricanes, 2008 was the fourth most severe hurricane season since reliable data have been available, it said. The world needed ‘effective and binding rules on CO2 emissions, so that climate change is curbed and future generations do not have to live with weather scenarios that are difficult to control,’ board member Jeworrek said…”

Global Warming–Disproved?

The Telegraph wrote on December 29 that “2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved.”

It continued:

“Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

“First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century.

“Ever shriller and more frantic has become the insistence of the warmists… that the last 10 years have been the ‘hottest in history’ and that the North Pole would soon be ice-free – as the poles remain defiantly icebound and those polar bears fail to drown. All those hysterical predictions that we are seeing more droughts and hurricanes than ever before have infuriatingly failed to materialise.

“Even the more cautious scientific acolytes of the official orthodoxy now admit that, thanks to ‘natural factors’ such as ocean currents, temperatures have failed to rise as predicted…

“Secondly, 2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a ‘scientific consensus’ in favour of man-made global warming collapsed. At long last, as in the Manhattan Declaration last March, hundreds of proper scientists, including many of the world’s most eminent climate experts, have been rallying to pour scorn on that ‘consensus’ which was only a politically engineered artefact, based on ever more blatantly manipulated data and computer models programmed to produce no more than convenient fictions.

“Thirdly, as banks collapsed and the global economy plunged into its worst recession for decades, harsh reality at last began to break in on those self-deluding dreams which have for so long possessed almost every politician in the western world…

“Suddenly it has become rather less appealing that we should divert trillions of dollars, pounds and euros into the fantasy that we could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 80 per cent. All those grandiose projects for ’emissions trading’, ‘carbon capture’, building tens of thousands more useless wind turbines, switching vast areas of farmland from producing food to ‘biofuels’, are being exposed as no more than enormously damaging and futile gestures, costing astronomic sums we no longer possess.

“As 2009 dawns, it is time we in Britain faced up to the genuine crisis now fast approaching from the fact that – unless we get on very soon with building enough proper power stations to fill our looming ‘energy gap’ – within a few years our lights will go out and what remains of our economy will judder to a halt…”

“Scientists Eye Swarm of Yellowstone Quakes”

The Associated Press reported on December 29:

“Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it’s very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. ‘They’re certainly not normal,’ Smith said. ‘We haven’t had earthquakes in this energy or extent in many years… This is an active volcanic and tectonic area, and these are the kinds of things we have to pay attention to,’ Smith said…

“He said Yellowstone remains very geologically active — and its famous geysers and hot springs are a reminder that a pool of magma still exists five to 10 miles underground. ‘That’s just the surface manifestation of the enormous amount of heat that’s being released through the system,’ he said. Yellowstone has had significant earthquakes as well as minor ones in recent decades. In 1959, a magnitude 7.5 quake near Hebgen Lake just west of the park triggered a landslide that killed 28 people.”

Incredible SCANDAL–How Bailed-Out Banks Pilfer Taxpayers’ Money

The Associated Press reported on December 21:

“Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year… The AP compiled total compensation based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 116 banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Among the findings:

“–The average paid to each of the banks’ top executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses and benefits.

“–Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company’s top five executives received a total of $242 million.

“–This year, Goldman will forgo cash and stock bonuses for its seven top-paid executives. They will work for their base salaries of $600,000, the company said… It received $10 billion in taxpayer money on Oct. 28.

“– Even where banks cut back on pay, some executives were left with seven- or eight-figure compensation that most people can only dream about. Richard D. Fairbank, the chairman of Capital One Financial Corp… took a $1 million hit in compensation after his company had a disappointing year, but still got $17 million in stock options. The McLean, Va.-based company received $3.56 billion in bailout money on Nov. 14.

“–John A. Thain, chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, topped all corporate bank bosses with $83 million in earnings last year… Like Goldman, Merrill got $10 billion from taxpayers on Oct. 28…”

Incredible SCANDAL–“Where’d the Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, It’s a Secret…”

The Associated Press reported on December 22:

“… after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what’s the plan for the rest? None of the banks provided specific answers…

“There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money… But there is no process in place to make sure that’s happening and there are no consequences for banks who don’t comply… Congress attached nearly no strings on the $700 billion bailout in October. And the Treasury Department, which doles out the money, never asked banks how it would be spent.”

Where Are Today’s Political Leaders with Convictions?

Welt On Line, a conservative German paper with friendly support of Germany’s conservative party, the CDU, published a remarkable article about former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who is a member of the center-left SPD party. The article is especially remarkable, as it contrasts Schmidt’s strong convictions–which were and are not always popular–with the faltering temporary political “preferences” of many present-day political leaders. We are quoting the following excerpts:

“Helmut Schmidt, a chain-smoking former German chancellor, celebrates his 90th birthday on Tuesday amid an improbable revival in popularity for a prickly man with no-nonsense views that contrast sharply to many current leaders. Schmidt may not have scaled the heights of popularity while Chancellor of West Germany for eight turbulent years. ‘Schmidt is the star of German politics, its icon. No one is admired as much as he is,’ Der Spiegel wrote…

“According to a survey by the Forsa polling institute, Schmidt ranks as the ‘coolest guy in Germany’ and he tops several other polls as the country’s most popular leader… Schmidt, married to his high school sweetheart for 66 years, made his mark as a local crisis manager in 1962 Hamburg floods. That reputation he burnished as chancellor with his handling of economic crises and his mastery of a 1970s leftwing urban guerrilla campaign of bombing and assassination — a test of fire for a still relatively young German democracy…

“ZDF television commented: ‘Schmidt is a completely different leader compared to this generation that knows firm convictions today will lead to certain electoral defeat tomorrow.’

“The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper marvelled at Schmidt’s popularity, saying his tenacity and crisis management makes current Chancellor Angela Merkel pale by comparison. ‘We’ve now got a chancellor whose greatest achievement is that she is Germany’s first woman chancellor,’ the paper wrote. ‘It seems this grumpy gentleman with the cane fulfills a deep yearning for strong and confident political leadership… None of today’s professional politicians accomplished anything in their lives, except perhaps graduating from university.’“

“Worst Financial Crisis Since Great Depression”

AFP reported on December 21:

“The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faced a ‘total’ financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression. ‘The lack of confidence is total,’ Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said…

“‘The inter-bank (lending) market is not functioning and this is generating vicious cycles: consumers are not consuming, businessmen are not taking on workers, investors are not investing and the banks are not lending. There is an almost total paralysis from which no-one is escaping,’ he said, adding that any recovery — pencilled in by optimists for the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 — could be delayed if confidence is not restored… ‘This is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression’ of 1929, he added.”

Reuters reported on December 24 that “The United States fell deeper into recession, data showed on Wednesday, as the number of people filing for jobless benefits hit a 26-year high last week and consumers cut spending for the fifth consecutive month… Nearly 2 million U.S. workers have lost jobs this year, driving the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent…”

The article continued:

“Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said, ‘Japan cannot avoid the tsunami of the world recession… The world economy is in a once-in-a-hundred-years recession. We need extraordinary measures to deal with an extraordinary situation,’ he said.”

AFP added on December 24:

“Russia and China issued stark warnings on Wednesday about the impact of the crisis on their recently booming economies in 2009, with Moscow saying the downturn could spark unrest in the streets. Japan also approved a record-high budget aimed at avoiding the worst effects of the crisis and Germany prepared to pump [40] billions of euros into the economy in a new rescue plan in a holiday season marred by a slew of economic bad news…

“Economists have warned that the global downturn could mean that China will end 2008 with its weakest economic growth for nearly two decades. China has not posted annual growth of less than 7.6 percent since 1991.”

Germany–“The Calm Before the Storm”

On December 18, 2008, Der Spiegel Online wrote the following:

“As the year draws to a close, and as the world faces recession, a credit crunch and job worries, the economic outlook is the bleakest it has been in postwar history. The next year is expected be a test of strength for the German economy…
“Economists are predicting new alarming scenarios for 2009 almost every day…

“Despite the crisis, the coalition government in Berlin has not shown much leadership strength. Officially, Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democrats continues to oppose additional large-scale government bailout programs. Merkel’s finance minister, Peer Steinbrück of the center-left Social Democrats, seems to prefer quarreling with the British and French who, he insists, are frittering away their money with their bailout packages. In doing so, he has also angered many…

“As Bavaria’s new governor, Seehofer is trying to demonstrate his strength in the run-up to next September’s federal election. Party politics, it seems, has distorted much of the government’s response to the crisis. In November, the chancellor warned the public to be prepared for ‘a year of bad news.’ Never in the 60-year history of the Federal Republic of Germany have citizens been this anxious as they enter a new year, plagued by worries of how much worse things can get and, most of all, how safe their jobs are…

“What is most astonishing is the incredible speed with which the crisis is spreading from one company to the next… The Americans, deeply in debt, can no longer afford products made in Germany…

“Over the course of the year, well-known German companies like retailer Hertie, watchmaker Junghans and fashion house Wehmeyer have become insolvent, and another wave of bankruptcies could follow in 2009… the government cannot set everything straight. In fact, it is probably far less capable of doing so than politicians believe.”

Germany’s Schizophrenic Role in the Iraq War

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 19:

“German lawmakers have been probing the schizophrenic role of the Schröder administration in resisting America’s invasion of Iraq. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was in the hot seat this week, and German commentators don’t believe everything he’s said. The grilling received on Thursday by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister and a candidate for chancellor in 2009, was intense. He was answering to a parliamentary committee investigating whether German intelligence provided meaningful assistance to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 [as has been claimed by former US military leaders, including Generals Tommy Franks and James Marks]. And his credibility is on the line…

“Steinmeier is under the gun because Berlin was so emphatic about being against the US-led invasion. His boss at the time, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, ran for re-election in 2002 on an anti-war platform. Were it proven that German agents had provided valuable intelligence that helped that invasion, it would cast a shadow on those who were part of that government, including Steinmeier, who at the time was Schröder’s chief of staff, and Joschka Fischer, who was Schröder’s foreign minister. Such a revelation certainly would do nothing to help Steinmeier’s 2009 campaign for the Chancellery as the Social Democratic candidate.

“Fischer also testified on Thursday, but the media spotlight was trained firmly on Steinmeier. And he stuck to his guns, calling the comments from the US military leaders ‘outlandish’ and ‘ludicrous.’…”

But–the question is: WHOSE comments are ludicrous and outlandish?

War Against Somali Pirates

The International Herald Tribune wrote on December 23:

“Germany called Tuesday for an international court to be set up to prosecute Somali pirates who have attacked scores of vessels this year, threatening global trade in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes… German lawmakers agreed last week to send up to 1,400 soldiers and a frigate… to the Gulf of Aden as part of the EU mission.

“Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung of Germany… said the German soldiers, who will provide protection to ships delivering food aid to Somalia would have a ‘robust’ mandate. ‘Obviously there will be combat situations,’ he said.”

In a related article, the paper stated on December 23:

“Chinese warships on a mission to protect their country’s vessels and crews from pirate attacks off Somalia will depart Friday, armed with special forces, helicopters and plans to share information with other countries working in the area.

“The operation, China’s first major naval mission abroad, will include the destroyers Haikou and Wuhan as well as a large supply ship… On board will be two helicopters and traditional weapons like missiles and cannons… China announced it was sending warships to the area after the United Nations Security Council authorized nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases.”

Belgium Again In Political and MORAL Crisis

Deutsche Welle reported on December 22:

“Belgium’s King Albert II accepted Leterme’s resignation following a Belgian Supreme Court report on allegations that his aides had sought to influence a court ruling connected with the break-up of Belgian bank Fortis. The collapse of the government was the country’s third political crisis in under a year, and leaves five coalition parties to fight over who should pick up where Leterme left off.

“The political crisis leaves Belgium facing a period of deep uncertainty at the worst possible time, with the economy sliding into recession and investors’ confidence at a low as a result of the global financial crisis.”

Russia Threatens the West

Mail-on-Line reported on December 23:

“Vladimir Putin has unveiled a triple whammy of threats and provocation for Britain and the West… In moves certain to further undermine diplomatic ties with London and Washington, Mr Putin… [w]arned that Britain faced winter gas shortages if supplies from Russia were disrupted because of his bitter dispute with Ukraine; [t]hreatened to supply surface-to-air missiles to Iran, despite Western concerns over its nuclear ambitions; and [l]ined himself up to be appointed president for a third term after Moscow’s parliament rubber stamped constitutional changes overturning a law that only allowed two four-year periods as leader…

“Russia also said last night it plans a massive increase in armaments. It will spend £100billion from 2009 to 2011 on 400 new types of weapons, including 300 tanks, 14 warships and almost 50 planes… Russia will continue to rely on its huge arsenal of nuclear weapons, commissioning 70 strategic nuclear missiles over the next three years.”

Anti-Semitic Internet Statements Against Madoff and Jewish Community

AFP reported on December 19, 2008:

“Anti-Jewish commentary is flooding the Internet in the wake of Bernard Madoff’s arrest on charges of masterminding one of the biggest Wall Street frauds in history… Madoff, 70, is Jewish and a prominent member of the powerful US Jewish community. He is alleged to have defrauded investors, including a number of Jewish-related charities, of some 50 billion dollars.
 
“‘Site users have posted comments ranging from deeply offensive stereotypical statements about Jews and money — with some suggesting that only Jews could perpetrate a fraud on such a scale — to conspiracy theories about Jews stealing money to benefit Israel,’ the [Anti-Defamation League] said in a statement.”

Worldwide Internet Services Not THAT Reliable

Deutsche Welle reported on December 20:

“Internet and phone connections between Europe, the Middle East and Asia have been severely disrupted after three underwater cables were severed and it may take until Dec 31 before normal service is re-established… It is thought that 65 percent of traffic to India was down, while services to Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Taiwan and Pakistan have also been severely affected…

“An afternoon toll [sic] released by France Telecom said that 100 percent of traffic was lost in the Maldives Indian Ocean islands, with the Gulf state of Qatar and Djibouti, on the Gulf of Aden, also losing over 70 percent of their traffic.

“The submarine cables are jointly owned by several dozen different countries… ‘If there was just one cable down we could have used the other two,’ said France Telecom spokesman Louis-Michel Aymard. ‘But all three are down so this puts us in a very difficult situation. This is a very rare situation,’ he said.”

The Pope Speaks Out Against Homosexual Conduct

The Herald International Tribune wrote on December 22:

“Pope Benedict said Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction…

“The Catholic Church teaches that… homosexual acts are [sinful]. It opposes gay marriage… The pope said humanity needed to ‘listen to the language of creation’ to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as ‘a destruction of God’s work.’

“He also defended the Church’s right to ‘speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected.'”

The reaction of Europe’s gay community to the Pope’s speech was predictable and swift.

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 24:

“In Germany, Volker Beck, an out gay man with the Green Party, described the pope’s statements as ‘agitating words.’ And Uta Ranke-Heinemann, a prominent German critic of the pope, described Benedict’s words as ‘a threatening message to homosexuals.’ She said his views could not be left unchallenged, adding that the history of homosexuals in Christianity has been a ‘bitter one.’

“‘As soon as the Christians came to power, they immediately sought to eradicate homosexuals,’ the theologian told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Ranke-Heinemann was the world’s first woman to be given a professorship as a Catholic theologian. For one and a half millennia, she said, Christians ‘burned homosexuals on the pope’s orders.’

“Meanwhile, Rev. Sharon Ferguson of Britain’s Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement described his statements as ‘totally irresponsible.’ The head of the Inclusive Church in England, accused the pope of ‘spreading fear that gay people somehow threaten the planet.’ That, he said, ‘is just absurd.’

“Aurelio Mancuso, the head of the Italian gay rights organization Arcigay… said he was deeply disturbed by such church-directed discrimination. ‘Last year was a bad enough year for homosexuals in Italy, and we are very concerned.’ The number of violent attacks in the country against gays and their organizations has risen dramatically in Italy in the past year. ‘All signs are pointing towards a confrontation,’ said Mancuso. ‘People are really scared.'”

Frightening Greek Christmas Myths–“Twelve Days of Christmas or Hell”?

On December 19, Der Spiegel Online reported the following:

“Who says Santa Claus is the only one trying to come down your chimney during the festive season? According to Greek mythology, a gaggle of goblin-like spirits are trying to slide into homes — and instead of presents they are intent on leaving a trail of destruction.

“As the Greeks tell it, it wouldn’t be hard to confuse the Twelve Days of Christmas with the Twelve Days of Hell. That is if you believe in the Kallikantzaroi. These mythical, goblin-like spirits are said to pop up between Christ’s birthday and Epiphany on Jan. 6, days they devote to wreaking their unique brand of havoc…

“Opinions differ on what they look like… [Some] say the Kallikantzaroi resemble humans with dark complexions, ugly, very tall beings that sport iron clogs. Others say they’re short and swarthy, with red eyes, cleft hooves, monkeys’ arms, and hair-covered bodies…

“For most of the year the Kallikantzaroi live in the bowels of the earth, but they creep out during the Twelve Days of Christmas, venturing out under the cover of night…

“In recent years, the Christmas tree has grown in popularity throughout Greece. But some Greeks prefer the old ways, opting instead for a sprig of basil suspended over a water-filled bowl. Once a day someone in the home, usually the mother of the family, uses the sprig to sprinkle water throughout the house to ward off the creatures.

“The only reliable cure-all, however, is when village priests bless the waters on the eve of Epiphany, which marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. They have been known to visit homes to sprinkle holy water fragranced with sweet basil to chase away the evil spirits for another year. On the eve of Epiphany in Cyprus, villagers scatter pancakes on the roof to give the Kallikantzaroi something sweet to eat as they prepare to head out of town, perhaps to show there are no hard feelings.”

Samuele Bacchiocchi Died at Age 70

On December 21, 2008, WorldNetDaily wrote:

“Biblical scholar [and theology professor] Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, best known for his teachings on how Sabbath observance shifted toward Sunday worship in much of Christendom, died yesterday [Saturday, December 20] at his Michigan home at the age of 70 after a two-year battle with fourth-stage liver cancer…

“Bacchiocchi earned his doctorate in Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was awarded a gold medal by Pope Paul VI for his summa cum laude class work and dissertation, ‘From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity.’ A Seventh-Day Adventist, Bacchiocchi believed there was no Scriptural mandate to change or eliminate Sabbath-keeping, and he singled out the Catholic Church for its role in changing the day.

“‘The Church of the capital of the empire, whose authority was already felt far and wide in the second century, appears to be the most likely birthplace of Sunday observance,’ he wrote. Bacchiocchi previously told WND: ‘Anti-Judaism caused the abandonment of the Sabbath, and pagan sun worship influenced the adoption of Sunday.’… Bacchiocchi also explained the influence of pagan sun worship provides a ‘plausible explanation for the Christian choice of Sunday’ over the day of Saturn. Its effect wasn’t just limited to Sunday. It apparently led to the placement of Jesus’ birth in late December.

“‘The adoption of the 25th of December for the celebration of Christmas is perhaps the most explicit example of sun worship’s influence on the Christian liturgical calendar,’ Bacchiocchi wrote. ‘It is a known fact that the pagan feast of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birthday of the Invincible Sun, was held on that date.'”

The Demonic Origin of Christmas Traditions

As we reported in Update 371, the Austrian Krampus–the demonic “alter ego” of “St. Nicholas”–finds its counterpart in Germany in a demonic personage accompanying “St. Nicholas,” known as “Knecht Ruprecht.” He performs the same function as the Austrian Krampus, terrifying and punishing children.

But Austria and Germany are not the only European countries which manifest clear and obvious evidence of the demonic and pagan origins of our modern Christmas traditions and celebrations.

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 12, 2008, about the Italian “witch of Christmas,” as follows:

“Italy has its own Father Christmas. But it’s La Befana, the ugly, broom-flying and present-wielding witch who keeps children on their toes in many parts of the country. Like St. Nick, Befana knows who’s been naughty and nice.

“A strange post-Christmas pilgrimage takes place each year in the hills of northeastern Italy’s Le Marche, when thousands of kids flock to a small medieval town called Urbania to sit on the lap of an ugly old witch. On the eve of Jan. 6, La Befana flies down chimneys or through keyholes throughout Italy to have her say over who’s been naughty or nice…

“Like many Christian traditions, Befana has pagan roots, as a good witch who played the role of Mother Nature and was celebrated in December for providing life throughout the year.”

In addition to Italy’s “good” WITCH of Christmas, please take note of the “Black Pete” of Netherlands–another counterfeit of Krampus and Knecht Ruprecht. Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 5, 2008:

“Myths about Santa’s sinister helpers are as widespread in Europe as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. In parts of Germany, Knecht Ruprecht brings terror into the hearts of naughty children when the gift-giving season arrives. In Austria it’s Krampus, the horned devil who torments adolescents with asocial tendencies. In France, Pere Foutard does the proverbial whipping… But in no country is the tale of Santa’s diabolical sidekick as bizarre as in the Netherlands, home to Zwarte Piet (‘Black Pete’).

“The story of Black Pete is unique on the continent and it is also one of Europe’s oddest and most titilating Christmas traditions — one that tends to raise the eyebrows of foreign visitors and local immigrants. No small number of people see the yuletide character as a racist emblem of Holland’s colonial past… Many say it was Holland’s Sinterklaas who inspired America’s modern-day Santa… Unlike Santa, who lives at the North Pole, Sinterklaas resides in sunny Spain… With his gold crosier, red bishop’s dress and red mitre, he’s far more ecclesiastical looking than his portly American counterpart…

“Perpetually in tow is Sinterklaas’ slave, Black Pete. At least that’s what he was called from his 19th century origins up until the 1950s… In the new tale told to children each year, that pesky black face paint on Zwarte Piet’s face comes from soot collected as Santa’s helper wriggles down chimneys to deposit branches in the shoes of badly behaving kids or to help deliver presents from Sinterklaas for the good ones. Some whitewashers of this racist little tale also like to say he’s a chimney sweep. ‘It’s just an excuse used by people because they don’t like to be reminded of the dark nature of Black Pete’…”

However, the real origin of the “dark nature” of Black Pete has nothing to do with his color. Notice the following comments by the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, pointing at the REAL ORIGIN of the Black Peter of the Netherlands (“Schwarze Piet”):

“According to myths current before the beginning of the 19th century, Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) operated by himself or in the companionship of a devil… Some sources indicate that in Germanic Europe, Zwarte Piet originally was such an enslaved devil forced to assist his captor… The character is believed to have been derived from pagan traditions of evil spirits… The traditions of the Saint Nicholas feast are in part at least of medieval origin, if not much older. St. Nicholas himself, as described in the Dutch tradition shows some similarities to Wuotan/Odin, which suggests that the duo have a pre-Christian origin.”

Our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas,” explains in detail the relationship between Nordic pagan gods, such as Wotan or Odin, and the modern Santa Claus.

Obama Stimulus Could Reach $1 Trillion

Reuters reported on December 13:

“President-elect Barack Obama’s team is considering a plan to boost the recession-hit U.S. economy that could be far larger than previous estimates and might reach $1 trillion over two years…

“The administration of President George W. Bush has been given authority by Congress to spend up to $700 billion in taxpayer money to rescue the nation’s banking system…”

“Most of the Largest U.S. Banks Are Totally Bankrupt”

Reuters reported on December 11:

“Jim Rogers, one of the world’s most prominent international investors, on Thursday called most of the largest U.S. banks ‘totally bankrupt,’ and said government efforts to fix the sector are wrongheaded… [He] said the government’s $700 billion rescue package for the sector doesn’t address how banks manage their balance sheets, and instead rewards weaker lenders with new capital…

“‘What is outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets from the incompetent,’ he said. ‘What’s happening this time is that the government is taking the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics.’…

“Many analysts cite Lehman’s Sept 15 bankruptcy as a trigger for the recent cratering in the economy and stock markets. Rogers called that idea ‘laughable’… ‘Governments are making mistakes,’ he said. ‘They’re saying to all the banks, you don’t have to tell us your situation. You can continue to use your balance sheet that is phony…. All these guys are bankrupt, they’re still worrying about their bonuses, they’re still trying to pay their dividends, and the whole system is weakened.'”

Alleged Wall Street Investment Scam Affects Banks Worldwide

AFP reported on December 15:

“Top world financial groups on Monday revealed massive potential losses from an alleged scam run by Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff, admitting they were fooled by a classic pyramid investment fraud.

“British, French, Japanese and Spanish banks and funds said investments totalling billions of dollars (euros) could be wiped off their balance sheets by a scandal that is set to affect some of the richest people in the world.

“Royal Bank of Scotland said it could lose about 400 million pounds (598 million dollars, 444 million euros), joining a growing list of banks and investors in Europe, Asia and the United States struck by the scandal…

“Madoff, a 70-year-old Wall Street veteran, was arrested last Thursday. He is alleged by US prosecutors to have confessed to defrauding investors of 50 billion dollars in a long-running scam that collapsed after clients asked for their money back as a result of the global financial crisis… US authorities allege that Madoff delivered consistently strong returns to clients by secretly using the principal investment from new investors to pay out to other investors in the scheme, a version of what is known as ‘pyramid fraud’… This fraud is also known as a ‘Ponzi scheme’…”

U.S. Housing Market–How Bad Is It Really?

USA Today reported on December 12:

“As painful as the decline has been, history suggests home values still may have a long way to drop and may take decades to return to the heights of 2½ years ago… So far, home values nationally have tumbled an average of 19% from their peak. As bad as that is, prices would need to fall at least 17% more to reach their traditional relationship to household income… In that scenario, a $300,000 house in 2006 could be worth about $200,000 when real estate prices hit bottom.

“The price plunge has wiped out trillions of dollars in home equity and caused the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression… Wachovia economist Adam York expects home values to keep falling until 2010 but is optimistic they will recover… Consider a couple with $20,000 cash. In 2006, they easily could get a 5% down mortgage to buy a $400,000 house. Today, a 10% down payment would limit the couple to a $200,000 house.”

Depression in Canada Possible

AFP reported on December 16:

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a grim forecast for the Canadian economy, saying… a depression is possible. “‘The truth is, I’ve never seen such uncertainty in terms of looking forward to the future,’ Harper told CTV. ‘I’m very worried about the Canadian economy’… Harper also said his finance minister’s budget on January 27 would include billions of dollars in stimulus spending… ‘Obviously, we’re going to have to run a deficit,’ Harper said. ‘We’re talking about spending billions of dollars that was not planned.'”

Mr. Obama’s Race–and the American Melting Pot

On December 14, The Associated Press wrote the following:

“A perplexing new chapter is unfolding in Barack Obama’s racial saga: Many people insist that ‘the first black president’ is actually not black. Debate over whether to call this son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan biracial, African-American, mixed-race, half-and-half, multiracial — or, in Obama’s own words, a ‘mutt’ — has reached a crescendo since Obama’s election shattered assumptions about race.

“Obama has said, ‘I identify as African-American — that’s how I’m treated and that’s how I’m viewed. I’m proud of it.’ In other words, the world gave Obama no choice but to be black, and he was happy to oblige. But the world has changed since the young Obama found his place in it.

“Intermarriage and the decline of racism are dissolving ancient definitions. The candidate Obama, in achieving what many thought impossible, was treated differently from previous black generations. And many white and mixed-race people now view President-elect Obama as something other than black…

“Rebecca Walker, a 38-year-old writer with light brown skin who is of Russian, African, Irish, Scottish and Native American descent, said she used to identify herself as ‘human,’ which upset people of all backgrounds… ‘Of course Obama is black. And he’s not black, too,’ Walker said. ‘He’s white, and he’s not white, too. Obama is whatever people project onto him … he’s a lot of things, and neither of them necessarily exclude the other.’

“But U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield, a black man who by all appearances is white, feels differently… ‘Obama has chosen the heritage he feels comfortable with,’ he said. ‘His physical appearance is black. I don’t know how he could have chosen to be any other race. Let’s just say he decided to be white — people would have laughed at him’…

“The entire issue balances precariously on the ‘one-drop’ rule, which sprang from the slaveowner habit of dropping by the slave quarters and producing brown babies. One drop of black blood meant that person, and his or her descendants, could never be a full citizen. Today, the spectrum of skin tones among African-Americans — even those with two black parents — is evidence of widespread white ancestry. Also, since blacks were often light enough to pass for white, unknown numbers of white Americans today have blacks hidden in their family trees. One book, ‘Black People and their Place in World History,’ by Dr. Leroy Vaughn, even claims that five past presidents — Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge — had black ancestors, which would make Obama the sixth of his kind…

“‘We do not have our first black president,’ the author Christopher Hitchens said on the BBC program ‘Newsnight.’ ‘He is not black. He is as black as he is white’…

“Latinos, whom the census identifies as an ethnic group and not a race, were not counted separately by the government until the 1970s. After the 1990 census, many people complained that the four racial categories — white, black, Asian, and American Indian/Alaska native — did not fit them. The government then allowed people to check more than one box. (It also added a fifth category, for Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders.)

“Six million people, or 2 percent of the population, now say they belong to more than one race, according to the most recent census figures. Another 19 million people, or 6 percent of the population, identify themselves as ‘some other race’ than the five available choices.”

Arab World Hails Shoe Attack on President Bush

AFP reported on December 15:

“Iraq faced mounting calls on Monday to release the journalist who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush [during Mr. Bush’s recent visit and press conference in Iraq], an action branded shameful by the government but hailed by many in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to the unpopular US president… Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture. After Saddam’s statue was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003, many onlookers beat the statue’s face with their soles…
 
“‘The flying shoe speaks more for Arab public opinion than all the despots/puppets that Bush meets with during his travels in the Middle East,’ said Asad Abu Khalil, a popular Lebanese-American blogger and professor at Stanislaus University in California…”

Israel Warns the World Against Iran

Haaretz.com reported on December 18:

“Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Wednesday that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, it could try to attack the United States… ‘If it built even a primitive nuclear weapon like the type that destroyed Hiroshima, Iran would not hesitate to load it on a ship, arm it with a detonator operated by GPS and sail it into a vital port on the east coast of North America,’ Barak told the audience.

“Indicating the possibility of a military strike, Barak said, ‘We are not taking any option off the table, and we recommend to the world not to take any option off the table, and we mean what we say.'”

German Right-Wing Extremism on the Rise

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 15:

“Right-wing extremism is widely perceived as a problem confined to eastern Germany. Yet Saturday’s knife attack on the police chief of Passau [Alois Mannichl] shows it is well established in Bavaria too… Mannichl is regarded as a committed enemy of the violent far-right scene…

“Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said the assault showed that far-right violence had reached a new level… ‘We must take this escalation of violence very seriously.’

“Bavaria has a well-established neo-Nazi scene. The domestic intelligence service estimates that there are around 1,100 violent neo-Nazis in Bavaria and around 10,000 in Germany. In Passau alone, the number of far-right crimes doubled to 83 this year compared with 2007.”

“Germany’s Weakest Economic Performance Since World War II”

Deutsche Welle reported on December 13:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have dampened expectations of a second economic rescue package, saying there won’t be any speedy decisions…

“Meanwhile, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that government experts expect Europe’s largest economy to contract by two percent next year. This would be Germany’s weakest economic performance since World War II.”

“Germany Against the Rest of the World”

Welt On Line wrote on December 13:

“German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck vilifies Britain’s financial stimulus plan in an interview with American magazine Newsweek, saying that making VAT cuts won’t solve the problem, but rather will build a national debt that will take at least a generation to pay off. The problem? Everyone seems to be against Germany’s solution. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has angered some by openly criticizing European economic rescue packages. The tone seems to be getting bitter in the discussion about what is the correct reaction to the global economic downturn.

“After Britain invited French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso for talks ahead of the EU summit, and didn’t invite German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck hit back.

“’Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90?’ he asks, taking a gibe at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in an interview with American magazine Newsweek. Brown has cut the interest rate from 17.5 percent to 15 percent to relieve the financial burden slightly for the British population in addition to stimulating the nation’s economy. Yet, in Steinbrueck’s opinion, all Brown’s plan can achieve ‘is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off’.

“Steinbrueck’s comments are the best proof for the differences in opinion between Germany and its partners. The French and the British want to stimulate the economy with public funds, but Germany refuses to abide. This causes irritation not only because Germany, as Europe’s leading economy, should lead the stimulus-movement, but also because the global export champion had made profits from the boom of the others.

“Paul Krugman, the recent recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, referred to Steinbrueck as dumb, saying that a refusal to cooperate with debt-financed stimulus packages can cause severe damage. Steinbrueck’s interview also left a sour taste in Britain, where the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) described it as an ‘unusual break of diplomatic customs’…”

Anglo-German Dispute Deepens

The Independent wrote on December 13:

“Britain has formally protested to the German government about the stinging attack on Gordon Brown by its Finance Minister, deepening the Anglo-German dispute over the Prime Minister’s economic strategy. Sir Michael Arthur, the British ambassador in Berlin, raised strong objections with the German Finance Ministry over the remarks by Peer Steinbrück, who branded Mr Brown’s £20bn fiscal stimulus ‘crass’ and ‘breathtaking’.

“David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, denied knowledge of the complaint. But the British embassy in Berlin confirmed that Mr Steinbrück’s criticism was raised by Sir Michael, a clear sign that the Brown Government was rattled by the attack. A spokesman said the ambassador had made it clear that, ‘we fundamentally disagreed with the comments made by Peer Steinbrück’.

“Yesterday, the pound fell to a record low against the euro for the fifth day running, dropping to €1.1191 amid fears that the British economy would be among the hardest hit by the recession…”

Pound and Dollar Drop Further Against the Euro

The Telegraph wrote on December 15:

“Sterling slumped further this morning, leaving the currency worth just 90p against the euro for the first time since the launch of Europe’s single currency, as concern about the depth of Britain’s recession dominates foreign-exchange markets…

“Steve Barrow, currency strategist at Standard Bank said he was ‘fearful’ for the pound which he believes could fall to parity against the euro in 2009.”

The Financial Times added on December 17:

“The US currency suffered its biggest one-day slide against the euro since the birth of the single European currency in January 1999 as the euro jumped from under $1.40 to above $1.44… Following the Fed meeting on Tuesday, which reduced interest rates to a range of zero per cent to 0.25 per cent, US rates are now lower than those in Japan for the first time since 1993…”

Bloomberg elaborated on December 17:

“The world’s biggest currency-trading firms say the dollar’s appeal as a haven amid the financial crisis all but evaporated… The dollar is likely to decline ‘longer term,’ analysts including New York-based Ashraf Laidi at CMC Markets wrote in a report… The Fed’s debt purchases will cause the dollar to weaken…, analysts led by Robert Sinche, New York-based head of global currency strategy at Bank of America Corp., wrote in a report yesterday… ‘Those temporary supports for the dollar appear to have eroded,’ Sinche wrote. ‘Aggressive quantitative easing by the Fed should add to U.S. dollar supply globally and undermine the value of the dollar’…

“The dollar’s decline against the euro compares with a similar move in the early 1990s, indicating the U.S. currency may weaken to a record low… next year, Citigroup Inc. strategists Tom Fitzpatrick in New York and Shyam Devani in London wrote in a research note… The U.S. currency’s drop is becoming ‘broader-based,’ Jens Nordvig a New York-based strategist for the U.S. securities firm, wrote today. ‘Temporary dollar demand from deleveraging and funding flows has come to an end.'”

Deadly Disease Affects Great Britain

The Daily Express wrote on December 15:

“Millions face being struck down by a deadly winter vomiting bug sweeping the country. Scores of hospitals have been forced to close wards to new patients as they struggle to cope with the influx of norovirus sufferers…

“As the crisis deepens, health campaigners are warning that hospitals face going into ‘complete meltdown’ over Christmas and New Year. Last year more than three million people were struck down by the bug as it reached epidemic levels. Now experts are warning that the virus could affect even more this year.

“It appears to be taking hold much earlier than usual… At its height last year the virus, which causes projectile vomiting, diarrhoea, mild fever and headaches, was striking down more than 200,000 a week. The illness can prove deadly for the vulnerable –  children and the elderly.”

Secret Talks on New EU President and EU Foreign Affairs Minister

The Telegraph wrote on December 12:

“EU leaders have agreed a ‘path’ offering Ireland concessions ‘with a view to enabling the Treaty to enter into force by the end of 2009’. Negotiations on the EU President and Foreign Affairs posts created under the Lisbon Treaty stopped in June when the Irish [voted] ‘No’.

“… with a new Ireland deal done, diplomats have confirmed secret talks on the job description of the EU President and the size of a new European diplomatic service, will now begin – months before the Irish vote again… Candidates for the two top EU jobs will be chosen at a summit in December 2009 after intense work is carried on throughout next year…

“EU leaders will promise that under the deal, Ireland will keep a permanent European Commissioner along with legal guarantees that Brussels will not interfere with the country’s military neutrality, taxation, social and ethical issues… The second Irish referendum is expected to take place next autumn once details of opt-outs and concession are concluded in June 2009.”

The Irish Government “Betrayed” Its People

The EUObserver wrote on December 11:

“The French president yesterday told the group leaders of the European parliament that he has made a deal with the Irish government to hold a second referendum in Ireland to ratify the Lisbon treaty first rejected on 12 June by 53 percent of Irish voters. None of the representatives of the Irish people who voted No to the Lisbon Treaty were consulted by the Irish government before they struck a deal with the French Presidency. The Irish government has simply ignored the result of the referendum and betrayed those people who voted No in the majority…”

Nuclear War in the Middle East–Soon?

Haaretz.com reported on December 12:

“U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s administration will offer Israel a ‘nuclear umbrella’ against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week. The source, who is close to the new administration, said the U.S. will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against Iran.

“But America’s nuclear guarantee to Israel could also be interpreted as a sign the U.S. believes Iran will eventually acquire nuclear arms. Secretary of state-designate Hillary Clinton had raised the idea of a nuclear guarantee to Israel during her campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency…

“Granting Israel a nuclear guarantee essentially suggests the U.S. is willing to come to terms with a nuclear Iran. For its part, Israel opposes any such development… ‘What is the significance of such guarantee when it comes from those who hesitated to deal with a non-nuclear Iran?’ asked a senior Israeli security source. ‘What kind of credibility would this [guarantee have] when Iran is nuclear-capable?’

“The same source noted that the fact that there is talk about the possibility of a nuclear Iran undermines efforts to prevent Tehran from acquiring such arms. A senior Bush administration source said that the proposal for an American nuclear umbrella for Israel was ridiculous and lacked credibility. ‘Who will convince the citizen in Kansas that the U.S. needs to get mixed up in a nuclear war because Haifa was bombed? And what is the point of an American response, after Israel’s cities are destroyed in an Iranian nuclear strike?’

“The current debate is taking place in light of the Military Intelligence assessment that Iran has passed beyond the point of no return, and has mastered the technology of uranium enrichment. The decision to proceed toward the development of nuclear arms is now purely a matter for Iran’s leaders to decide.”

On October 10, 2008, the paper had speculated what Iran’s next move might be, stating:

“French agencies are divided over what Iran is likely to do once it has this uranium. One view is that the Iranians will immediately make a nuclear bomb, in order to demonstrate their capability. The other is that Iran will continue enriching uranium without making a bomb – at least until it has enough enriched uranium for several bombs.”

“Now For a World Government”

The Financial Times wrote on December 8:

“I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible. A ‘world government’ would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws.

“The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force. So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might.

“First, it is increasingly clear that the most difficult issues facing national governments are international in nature: there is global warming, a global financial crisis and a ‘global war on terror’.

“Second, it could be done… Geoffrey Blainey, an eminent Australian historian, has written: ‘For the first time in human history, world government of some sort is now possible.’ Mr Blainey foresees an attempt to form a world government at some point in the next two centuries, which is an unusually long time horizon for the average newspaper column.

“But – the third point – a change in the political atmosphere suggests that ‘global governance’ could come much sooner than that. The financial crisis and climate change are pushing national governments towards global solutions, even in countries such as China and the US that are traditionally fierce guardians of national sovereignty.

“… it seems, everything is in place. For the first time… there is an argument, an opportunity and a means to make serious steps towards a world government…”

World government, in one form or another, will come. First, man will attempt to create it (Revelation 13:3-9; 17:1-2; 18:3), but his temporary success will end in war and total disaster, as well as terrible worldwide destruction (Matthew 24:21-22). The Bible does say, however, that Jesus Christ will intervene and set up a peaceful world government which will never be destroyed–and of His government and peace there will be no end (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Growing Fault Lines Between Europe and USA

On December 9, the Asia Times Online published a highly controversial article–in fact, much of what was written must be rejected as propaganda. However, the following comments are worth quoting:

“North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ministers in Brussels have decided to ignore the wishes of the United States and delay the admission of Georgia and the Ukraine, in effect indefinitely, in what the George W Bush administration is sheepishly trying to claim is a positive ‘compromise’. The decision follows the alarm which peaked among European Union member states last August over the prospect of having to go to war with Russia…

“The decision deepens growing fault lines across the Atlantic, and next year will be clearly more turbulent even than 2008 in terms of global geopolitics. The Brussels decision is even more remarkable if taken as indication of Washington’s diminishing power over European NATO members… Washington has undergone a stunning setback in its agenda of encircling Russia with NATO. Despite the fact that president-elect Obama retained Bush Administration Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and named a person to be Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who has strongly supported bringing Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, key European NATO members, led by Germany and France, blocked what must be a unanimous membership decision.”

“War of Words” Between Britain and Germany

Deutsche Welle reported on December 11:

“Angela Merkel may have shrugged off the apparent snub of not being invited to Monday’s mini-summit between Britain and France but it is unlikely that new comments from the British government will be dismissed as easily.

“The simmering war of words between Berlin and Downing Street heated up Thursday as both Merkel and Prime Minister Gordon Brown prepared to fly to Brussels for a crucial EU summit.

“Responding to claims by German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck that Britain’s conversion from economic and financial prudence to heavy state borrowing was… of ‘breathtaking’ proportions, representatives of Brown’s government said that Germany’s ability to respond effectively to the global economic downturn was being hampered by domestic politics…

“Steinbrueck criticized the 2.5 percent cut in Value Added Tax (VAT), to 15 percent, introduced by the British government from December 1 in an outspoken interview with US magazine Newsweek. ‘All this will do is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off,’ Steinbrueck said, echoing criticism leveled at Brown by the Conservative opposition in Britain…

“Speculation of a rift increased this week after Merkel — in charge of Europe’s biggest economy — was left out of the London summit on Monday involving Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.”

Welt On Line wrote on December 11:

“German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has criticised countries for rushing through what he called crass and untested economic rescue packages at a ‘breathtaking and depressing’ pace. Steinbrueck particularly singled out British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, accusing him of switching to economic policies that would saddle a generation with debt…”

Owner of Los Angeles Times and KTLA Channel 5 Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

The Los Angeles Times reported on December 9:

“Tribune Co., the owner of the Los Angeles Times, KTLA Channel 5 and dozens of other daily newspapers and television stations across the country, filed Monday for bankruptcy protection from creditors, in the latest indication of deteriorating economics for the news business…

“In recent weeks, the McClatchy newspaper chain put its Miami Herald up for sale, the Christian Science Monitor said it would abandon daily print publication in favor of Web operation, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Minneapolis Star-Tribune have flirted with or entered default, and the New York Times said it would mortgage its headquarters skyscraper in midtown Manhattan to help cover operating costs.”

Politics at Its Worst

The Chicago Tribune wrote on December 9:

“Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested by FBI agents [but later released on bail] on federal corruption charges Tuesday morning… In one charge related to the appointment of a senator to replace Barack Obama, prosecutors allege that Blagojevich sought appointment for himself as secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union, in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.

“Another charge alleges Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of him in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co. Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts, according to the charges.

“‘The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,’ U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement…”

Corruption in US Politics–Nothing New

USA Today reported on December 11:

“Its largest city is legendary for machine-style politics and its elected leaders have been under investigation for years, but by one measure, Illinois is not even close to the nation’s most-corrupt state…

“On a per-capita basis… Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007…

“Louisiana, Alaska and North Dakota all fared worse than the Land of Lincoln… The analysis does not include corruption cases handled by state law enforcement and it considers only convictions. Corruption may run more rampant in some states but go undetected…

“New York… is ranked just after Illinois for corruption convictions…”

Did Barack Obama Know?

ABC News wrote on December 9:

“‘Obviously like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the US attorney’s office today,’ said President-elect Obama this afternoon in Chicago, speaking of the criminal complaint against Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich for corruption… Asked what contact he’d had with the governor’s office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said ‘I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.’

“But on November 23, 2008, his senior adviser David Axelrod appeared on Fox News Chicago and said something quite different. While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a ‘kingmaker,’ Axelrod said, ‘I know he’s talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.’…

“Axelrod this evening issued a statement saying, ‘I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.’

“There are no allegations that President-elect Obama or anyone close to him had anything to do with any of the crimes Gov. Blagojevich is accused of having committed…

“But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat — with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor to the authorities? And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house…”

Consequences of Political Scandal in Illinois Widen

The Los Angeles Times wrote on December 11:

“Barack Obama and federal lawmakers maneuvered Wednesday to force Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to step down after his arrest in a payoff scandal and prevent him from naming the president-elect’s successor in the Senate… Majority Leader Harry Reid… and others said the Senate might block any Blagojevich appointee from taking office.

“A leading contender for the seat, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr…. said Wednesday that he would meet with prosecutors this week to share what he knew about the case. Jackson, who denied wrongdoing, has hired a Chicago lawyer to represent him.

“The congressman… has been widely reported to be the man named in an FBI affidavit as ‘Senate Candidate 5’… In wiretapped conversations, the governor said allies of ‘Senate Candidate 5’ had promised to raise as much as $1 million for him in a ‘pay-to-play’ trade for the appointment, the FBI said…

“Obama called on state lawmakers to ‘put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois.’ The Legislature plans to convene Monday to pass a bill calling for a special election to fill Obama’s Senate seat. In theory, Blagojevich could veto the measure, and lawmakers could enact it through an override.”

2008 Nobel Economics Prize Recipient Predicts End of Major U.S. Auto Companies

Welt On Line reported on December 8:

“Paul Krugman, [economics professor at Princeton University and columnist for The New York Times and] winner of the 2008 Nobel economics prize, said on Sunday policy makers would be unable to prevent the global economic crisis from inflicting serious damage… ‘The simple mechanics of producing a rescue for the world economy are very hard. The pace at which things are getting worse is so great that it’s difficult to see how rescue measures can come… Even with the best of understanding it can’t come fast enough to prevent a great deal of damage… I’m very worried what next year will look like.’…

“Krugman also said he doubted the U.S. auto sector would survive in the long run…  ‘It’s…the unwillingness, I believe a correct lack of willingness, to accept the failure of a large industrial sector — even if it’s an industrial sector in decline — in the midst of a very very severe recession. In the end these companies will probably disappear.’…”

Bailouts for the Auto Industry…

Newmax wrote on December 8:

“With congressional Democrats and the Bush administration agreeing in principle during the weekend to drop a few billion on General Motors and Chrysler, all signs point to a government-backed auto industry bailout [and] an unprecedented investment in private industry…

“Ford’s chief executive Alan Mulally earned $22 million in total compensation last year – a year that helped push the company toward oblivion…  Plenty other uniquely American industries are taking it on the chin, and no one is calling for a bailout of those sectors… the high end of the bailout range keeps them [the Big Three] in business for about a year. Then what? Without major changes in their business model, they’ll simply be coming back to Washington with their hands out again.

“… this current ‘bailout’ bears no resemblance to the rescue of Chrysler in 1980. In 1980, Congress passed, and President Carter signed, a law giving a U.S. government guarantee of a private $1.5 billion loan to Chrysler. Not one dollar of taxpayer funds was ever used in the deal…”

… Maybe Not…

The Associated Press reported on December 11:

“A House-passed bill to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit’s automakers stands on shaky ground in a bailout-weary Congress, undermined by Republican opposition that could derail the emergency aid in the Senate.

“Republicans are challenging lame-duck President George W. Bush on the proposal, arguing that any support for the domestic auto industry should carry significant concessions from autoworkers and creditors and reject tougher environmental rules imposed by House Democrats.

“The House approved the plan late Wednesday on a vote of 237-170. It would infuse money within days into cash-starved General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Ford Motor Co., which has said it has enough cash to make it through 2009, would also be eligible for federal aid.

“Supporters cited dire warnings from GM and Chrysler executives, who have said they could run out of cash within weeks, and concerns that a carmaker collapse would erase tens of thousands of jobs and jolt an already bleak economy.

“Democrats and the Bush White House hoped the Senate would vote on the legislation as early as Thursday. But based on concerns raised by GOP senators – and a still-uncertain level of support even among Democrats – they had a lot of work to do.

“A leading Senate Republican opponent said Thursday that he cannot back spending $14 billion of taxpayer money on a plan that would call for a restructuring of the industry, but which fails to detail just how that would be accomplished…

“The measure’s murky outlook reflected the difficulty of approving another federal financial rescue on the heels of the deeply unpopular, $700 billion Wall Street bailout, as the clock ticks down on the current Congress and Bush’s influence is at a low ebb… Opposition wasn’t limited to Republicans… The automakers initially asked Congress for $25 billion, then returned two weeks later to plead for as much as $34 billion…”

Grim Outlook for US Economy

The following facts, as reported in the quoted article below, should serve as a wake-up call for those who didn’t or don’t expect the U.S. economy to face tough times ahead. Even the article’s use of words such as “unexpected” or “more than expected,” in relationship to bad developments within our economy, shows how little our financial experts are in touch with reality.

The Associated Press reported on December 11:

“New claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, exceeding even gloomy expectations for an economy stuck in a recession that seems to be deepening… New jobless claims last week reached their highest level since November 1982, though the labor force has grown by about half since then… Also Thursday, the U.S. trade deficit rose unexpectedly in October as a spreading global recession dampened sales of U.S. products overseas…

“In just the first two months of the budget year that started Oct. 1, the budget deficit totaled $401.6 billion, nearly matching the record gap of $455 billion posted for all of last year… Economists expect the deficit will top $1 trillion in the current budget year, which would be a post-World War II high when measured as a percentage of the economy…

“The Labor Department said last week that employers cut a net total of 533,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate reached 6.7 percent, a 15-year high. The rate would have been higher, except that more than 400,000 Americans gave up looking for a new job and weren’t counted in the labor force.

“Companies have eliminated a net total of 1.9 million jobs this year, and some economists project the total cuts could reach 3 million by the spring of 2010.”

Bleak Outlook for World Economy

The Telegraph wrote on December 9:

“Politicians must prepare themselves for the possibility that global economic growth shrinks for the first time since the Second World War, according to the World Bank. In comments which underline the scale of the international recession, the Washington-based institution said even as things stand growth next year will be the worst since comparable records began in 1970… The warning will be seen as a final blow for those who held out hope that some countries would be insulated from the recession…

“As the recession spreads far beyond the borders of the United States, both rich and poor countries will suffer a slump of unprecedented scale, the Bank said in its latest review of the world’s economic prospects. Global trade, the real engine of wealth generation, will contract for the first time since 1982. “

Cybersecurity One of Most Urgent National Security Problems

DailyTech wrote on December 9:

“A new report issued by the Center for Strategic and International Studies urges President-elect Barack Obama to create a new White House department aimed at protecting U.S. cyber interests from hackers and other foreign agents. ‘America’s failure to protect cyberspace is one of the most urgent national security problems facing the new administration that will take office in January 2009,’ the report states.  Cyber safety is ‘a battle fought mainly in the shadows.  It is a battle we are losing’…

“‘The United States must treat cybersecurity as one of the most important national security challenges it faces,’ according to the report… the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not been able to properly secure U.S. government computers from cyber attacks, and should no longer have the responsibility.  DHS isn’t suited to handle technology issues, as the agency uses ‘archaic’ methods that cannot keep up with new attacks.”

President Bush Confused About the Bible

The New York Times reported on December 8:

“President George W. Bush said his belief that God created the world is not incompatible with scientific proof of evolution… ‘I think you can have both… I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an [A]lmighty and I don’t think it’s incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution… I happen to believe that evolution doesn’t fully explain the mystery of life.’

“Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true… ‘Probably not. … No, I’m not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it… the important lesson is “God sent a son”‘… The president also said that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs.”

Tensions Are Mounting Between India and Pakistan

AFP wrote on December 9:

“Pakistan said Tuesday it would not hand over suspects in the Mumbai [formerly Bombay] terror strikes to India and warned that while it wanted peace with its neighbour, it was ready for war if New Delhi decided to attack.

“The remarks came as Indian police on Tuesday released the names of nine suspected gunmen killed in the carnage, reiterating that all of them came from Pakistan.

“Tensions have been mounting between the nuclear-armed neighbours after India said it was keeping all options open following last month’s attacks on its financial capital, where 172 people were killed and more than 300 wounded…

“Indian officials say the hardline Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which is based in Pakistan despite being banned by the government, is behind the bloodshed, and Indian media have suggested there could be Indian strikes on militant camps…

“The minister said India’s demands for the extradition of suspects in the Mumbai attacks were out of the question and that Pakistan, which has arrested 16 people since Saturday, would keep them on home soil…

“India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain and nearly came to a fourth in 2001 after an attack on the Indian parliament that was blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba…”

Greece’s Worst Civil Unrest in Decades

Deutsche Welle reported on December 8:

“Rioting and protests over the shooting of a teenager by police continued to spread across Greece Monday, leaving authorities frustrated by their inability to stop the country’s worst civil unrest in decades…

“Hundreds of students, armed with fire bombs and stones, clashed with police and smashed storefronts in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on Monday while gangs of youths attacked police stations and government buildings in Athens. From the northern city of Veria to the central city of Trikala, students battled riot police who retaliated by firing tear gas. On Crete, gangs of high school students threw chairs, wood and rocks at security forces…

“Confrontations between protesters and police also broke out in Berlin, London and Cyprus as youths occupied Greek diplomatic missions… University professors [in Greece] meanwhile began a three-day walkout on Monday and tens of thousands of students refused… to attend classes, in protest.”

Der Spiegel Online described the situation in Greece on December 9 as the “Nightmare before Christmas.”

It added on December 11:

“As Greece entered its sixth day of unrest sparked by the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy, violence spread to other parts of Europe on Thursday. Solidarity protests in cities including Rome, Madrid and Copenhagen turned into skirmishes between demonstrators [mainly left-wing radicals] and police.”

Will USA Invade Pakistan?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 29:

“Mumbai a terror zone, and India bitterly points its finger at Pakistan… Pakistan is nearly a failed state — and a US invasion under President Obama can’t be ruled out…

“The murderers expressly went after Britons, Americans and Jews… The crimes bear the clear and bloody fingerprints of militant, political Islamism… It’s obvious the terrorists follow the ideology of al-Qaida, though it’s unclear whether the head of that organization gave orders for this mission…

“For years a kind of death industry has been taking hold in Pakistan’s tribal areas. There are hundreds of Koranic schools which could better be described as cadet schools for Islamists… The idea is to condition or brainwash them. The goal is jihad…

“The Pakistani government has long ago given up control of this region… The state is as good as bankrupt. Its political leadership is either corrupt or — when it comes to the military-intelligence service complex — almost without influence. And somewhere in Pakistan, nuclear weapons are stored…

“Barack… Obama was open about bringing military intervention in the tribal areas into the discussion. Strengthening the US presence there seems, in any case, a firm part of Obama’s agenda. The planned American withdrawal from Iraq could — in a worst-case scenario — be followed by an invasion of Pakistan…”

Iran–Barack Obama’s Hornet’s Nest

The Times wrote on December 3:

“Iran poses the greatest foreign policy challenge to Barack Obama… with Tehran on course to produce a nuclear bomb in the first year of an Obama administration, a coalition of top think-tanks gave warning yesterday…

“Gary Samore, one of the authors, said that [a] ‘hornet’s nest’ [is] facing the President-elect in the Middle East… The report paints a grim picture of the problems in the region…”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 1:

“The world may be focused on Iraq, Afghanistan, and terror in India, but experts say the biggest foreign policy challenge for the next US president will be dealing with Iran. Obama has promised a new approach — but the risk of failure is great… Iran now has access to more than 630 kilograms of slightly enriched uranium, is building more and more centrifuges for enrichment, and is barely cooperating with inspectors. A successful nuclear test from Tehran is imaginable within a year…

“Iran has proceeded with its atomic plans so effectively that their success now seems virtually unstoppable… Even a possible first strike from Israel is now out [of] the question in the White House — although, according to Haaretz, Israel’s national security council wants to present a paper in December with plans for attacking Iran.”

Israel Prepares Strike Against Iran

The Jerusalem Post reported on December 4:

“The IDF is drawing up options for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities that do not include coordination with the United States… While its preference is to coordinate with the US, defense officials have said Israel is preparing a wide range of options for such an operation… Israeli officials have said it would be difficult, but not impossible, to launch a strike against Iran without receiving codes from the US Air Force, which controls Iraqi airspace. Israel also asked for the codes in 1991 during the First Gulf War, but the US refused…

“Several news reports have claimed recently that US President George W. Bush has refused to give Israel a green light for an attack on Iranian facilities. One such report, published in September in Britain’s Guardian newspaper, claimed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert requested a green light to attack Iran in May but was refused by Bush…

“On Monday, Teheran dismissed the possibility of an Israeli strike, saying it didn’t take Israel seriously.”

USA Can Expect Terrorist Attack Before 2013

The Associated Press reported on December 1:

“The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study… The commission believes biological weapons are more likely to be obtained and used before nuclear or radioactive weapons because nuclear facilities are more carefully guarded…

“Al-Qaida remains the only terrorist group judged to be actively intent on conducting a nuclear attack against the United States, the report notes. It is not yet capable of building such a weapon and has yet to obtain one. But that could change if a nuclear weapons engineer or scientist were recruited to al-Qaida’s cause, the report warns. The report says the potential nexus of terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons is especially acute in Pakistan.”

“Hillary Clinton–No Hope for Change in the Middle East”

Die Welt On Line reported on December 1:

“Obama’s choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state gladdens Israel, but does not overjoy Arabs and Iranians keen for a new start after eight years of perceived U.S. policy calamities. Clinton talked tough when running to be the Democratic presidential candidate, decrying her rival’s ‘naive’ call for direct talks with foes such as Iran and North Korea and vowing to ‘obliterate’ Iran if it attacked Israel…

“Obama and Clinton are inheriting a distinctly gloomy outlook for progress towards settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Washington’s Arab allies are not expecting a new dawn…”

President Bush’s Biggest Regret of All His Presidency

ABC News reported on December 1:

“Looking back on his eight years in the White House, President George W. Bush pinpointed incorrect intelligence that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction as ‘biggest regret of all the presidency. I think I was unprepared for war,’ Bush told ABC News…  Bush, who has been a stalwart defender of the war in Iraq and maintaining U.S. troop presence there, said, in retrospect, the war exceeded his expectations…

“‘A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein,’ Bush said. ‘It wasn’t just people in my administration. A lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington, D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence…’ Bush declined to ‘speculate’ on whether he would still have gone to war if he knew Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction.”

No End in Sight for Iraq War?

The New York Times wrote on December 4:

“On the campaign trail, Senator Barack Obama offered a pledge that electrified and motivated his liberal base, vowing to ‘end the war’ in Iraq. But as he moves closer to the White House, President-elect Obama is making clearer than ever that tens of thousands of American troops will be left behind in Iraq, even if he can make good on his campaign promise to pull all combat forces out within 16 months…

“To date, there has been no significant criticism from the antiwar left of the Democratic Party of the prospect that Mr. Obama will keep tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for at least several years to come.”

Will Britain Adopt the Euro?–Highly Unlikely

The Daily Mail reported on December 2:

“Lord Mandelson was at the centre of a row last night over ‘secret’ plans to ditch the pound after an explosive claim that Britain is ready to join the euro. The European Commission president… Jose Manuel Barroso said he had held private conversations with ‘the people who count in Britain’ and knew that they were ready to move into the euro-zone…

“Lord Mandelson was the loudest cheerleader for the single currency during his stints in Tony Blair’s Cabinet… But now he appears at odds with his new boss Gordon Brown. Downing Street denied there had been any policy shift and said it had ‘no plans’ to ditch the pound. Sources said the suggestion that Britain was ready to enter was ‘wishful thinking’.

“Mr Barroso’s remarks led to a backlash in Westminster. Shadow foreign secretary William Hague pledged that there were ‘no circumstances’ in which a Conservative government would propose joining the euro.”

Merkel Under Attack in the Face of Financial Turmoil

Even though Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to have the best approach and insight into the current financial crises, she is being criticized by commentators and governmental leaders alike, as she avoids to becoming infected by the worldwide “financial bailout” disease.

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 2:

“Media commentators are criticizing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s steadfast refusal to take more drastic action to avert recession in Germany…

“Left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes, ‘Angela Merkel is really lucky. She’s lucky that no one in her party is brave enough to run against her…’ The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung [writes]… ‘Chancellor Merkel, in pointing to the fundamental causes behind the financial crisis, said “one can’t continually live beyond one’s means”… She said nothing in response to the proposals from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and nothing to the plans of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown…’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, however, offered a note of support: ‘Merkel is behaving like a doctor who knows her patient is seriously ill but doesn’t yet know what therapy will work best. So she wants to calm the patient for the time being, to see how the first weak dose of medicine will work. That’s what the rescue package agreed in October is supposed to do. It hasn’t yet taken effect. That’s why Merkel wants to wait and see how the crisis develops…

“‘The chancellor is taking a risk. She’s in danger of being perceived afterwards as someone who recognized the crisis but didn’t do enough to fight it. The voters will punish [any] hesitation at the general election next September…'”

For more information, please watch our StandingWatch program: “Insane–Bailouts Topping $8.5 Trillion.” StandingWatch Google Video YouTube.

USA in Recession Since December 2007!!!

In spite of consistent and persistent denials of the U.S. government, it was now finally openly admitted that the U.S. has been in recession for A YEAR.

CNN reported on December 1:

“The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy… The current recession is one of the longest downturns since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The last two recessions (1990-1991 and 2001) lasted eight months each, and only two of the 10 previous post-Depression downturns lasted as long as a full year…

“In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said that even though the recession is now official, it is more important to focus on the steps being taken to fix the economy… Nonetheless, several economists said the real concern is that there is no end in sight for the downturn. Some suggested that the best case scenario for the economy is that it would reach bottom in the second quarter of 2009. And even if that happens, that would still make this recession the longest since the Great Depression.”

Financial Scholar Bernanke out of Touch with Reality

AFP reported on December 1 that “Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday the current economic situation bears ‘no comparison’ to the much deeper crisis of the 1930s Great Depression.” However, President Bush contradicted Bernanke with statements he himself had made earlier. The news agency continued:

“‘Well, you hear a lot of loose talk, but let me just … say, as a scholar of the Great Depression… there’s no comparison,’ Bernanke said… President George W. Bush said in an interview released Monday that Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned him weeks ago that bold action was needed to avert a new Great Depression. ‘I can remember sitting in the Roosevelt Room with Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke and others, and they said to me that if we don’t act boldly, Mr. President, we could be in a depression greater than the Great Depression,’ Bush told ABC News.”

So, no comparison, Mr. Bernanke? Get real, please!

While Home Values Decrease, Property Taxes on the Rise

USA Today reported on December 3:

“Property taxes are rising across the USA despite the steepest drop in home values since the Great Depression. Home values dropped 17% in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2007… At the same time, property tax collections across the USA rose 3.1%…  State and local governments are on track to collect more than $400 billion in property taxes this year, the most ever. One reason: Laws in most states that prevent big tax hikes when property values soar also block big tax drops when values sink…

“Most states cap how fast taxes rise in boom times. In bad times, the same laws keep taxes from falling… Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada — the four states hit hardest when overheated real estate markets crashed and triggered waves of foreclosures — all have tax laws that work this way… Most states are slow to change the assessed value of homes.”

More Governmental Attempts to Help the Housing Market?

The Financial Times wrote on December 4:

“The US Treasury is working on a new plan to help revive the ailing housing market by reducing mortgage rates on new home loans… The plan, which is at preliminary stages and could change, would involve using government-sponsored mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to push down rates on 30-year mortgages to as low as 4.5 per cent, or almost a full percentage point lower than current levels…

“But while lower mortgage rates should help to ease the rapid falls in US home prices and reduce the cost of monthly loan payments for millions of people, they may not help homeowners facing foreclosure, market participants say.”

“The Great Depression Ahead”

The Wall Street Digest wrote on December 2:

“The Next Great Depression will begin to unfold by mid-2010… Harry Dent’s latest book ‘The Great Depression Ahead’ will be released in December. Every investor should read this book for information on what to expect in the years ahead and how to survive the coming deflation. According to Dent, ‘By mid-2010 the long term baby boom trend of spending will slow down and create a greater crisis in economic growth, home values, derivatives and the banking system…’

“Any substantial recovery will be met by rising inflationary pressures, rising interest rates and mortgage rates, and rising commodity prices that will create the next bubble and crisis. Long-term interest rates–that are way below inflation rates now–will accelerate dramatically towards 7 percent plus 30-year Treasury rates and 9 percent plus 30-year fixed mortgage rates if there is a recovery… That would kill any chance of a housing recovery and put the banks and the economy back into a major crisis again…

“However, deflationary psychology is a far more difficult challenge: ‘Why purchase a home today when it will be cheaper tomorrow or next year?’ During the 2010- 2012 deflationary environment, the price of virtually everything will be declining, including stock prices, real estate, and commodities… Falling home prices continue to produce foreclosures and defaulting debt, which banks and financial institutions must write-off. Home prices peaked in June of 2005 and they are still falling. I do not see a bottom in home prices until perhaps 2013-2015… Four percent 30-year Treasuries could go to 7 percent plus by early 2010 and that means 9 percent plus 30-year mortgage rates!”

Please make sure to watch our eight-month-old StandingWatch program, “Coming–The Great Depression?”

California in DEEP Trouble

The Los Angeles Times reported on December 2:

“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the new Legislature in to work on its first day, declaring a fiscal emergency Monday in response to the state’s deteriorating finances… But even as Schwarzenegger warned that California could run out of cash within two months, there was little indication that the Capitol’s partisan gridlock has waned enough to allow for an easy resolution to the state’s $28-billion budget gap.

“Republican lawmakers, who last week blocked a Democratic proposal to cut billions of dollars from schools, healthcare and welfare programs while tripling the vehicle license fee, quickly reiterated their opposition to any new taxes, which both Schwarzenegger and Democrats say are indispensable. Democratic legislators again dismissed some of Schwarzenegger’s proposals to ease labor rules on business in order to boost the economy…”

Germany Prevents Georgia and Ukraine from Becoming NATO Members

On December 3, 2008, Die Welt On Line reported the following:

“Foreign ministers of NATO members meeting in Brussels Dec. 2-3 have said that Georgia and Ukraine are not yet ready for beginning the process towards membership in the Atlantic Alliance…

“Before the December meeting of NATO foreign ministers… a dispute broke out within the Alliance over the enlargement question. The United States had suggested that the MAP [Membership Action Plan] was not a necessary precondition for Georgia and Ukraine to join the organization. This was interpreted by numerous NATO states as an attempt by the United States to inappropriately accelerate the entry of both countries to the Alliance.

“Several NATO countries, including Germany, have insisted on the standard procedure. Germany has said that not going through MAP would ‘set a dangerous precedent.’ A country undergoing the MAP process must fulfil requirements in areas including human rights, democratic control of the military, and free and fair elections…

“President Mikheil Saakashvili recently said in a teleconference that Georgia would not insist on going through MAP on its path to membership. The main goal of his foreign policy, then as now, he said, was simply to join NATO as soon as possible. He regretted that ‘skeptics like Germany’ were making this more difficult, he said.”

Krampus–The Demonic Alter Ego of “St. Nicholas”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 2:

“In Austria, Santa keeps track of who’s been naughty and nice — and [unleashes] a 7-foot-tall horned devil on the naughty. He’s called the Krampus… he roams rural Austria clad in chains and carrying a stick, terrifying misbehaving children on Dec. 5, the night before St. Nicholas’ Day…

“Krampus is very old indeed. Some say the tradition stems back to the pre-Christian era, and that the Krampus known and feared by Austrians today is a version of an ancient god incorporated into Christian holidays. There’s no doubt that today the frightening figure is an integral part of Christmas celebrations in some parts of Austria and Hungary…”

The online edition of the magazine published numerous pictures of Krampus “impersonations” by Austrians, and the following statements were made beneath those photographs:

“Krampus comes to Austria: On Dec. 5, men dressed in frightening goat masks roam villages terrifying children and spanking girls… Begun centuries ago, Krampus is considered St. Nicholas’s alter ego. If jolly St. Nick rewards children with presents, Krampus comes to terrify them… Austria’s Christmas devil has long horns, a goat-like face and cloven hoofs.”

In Germany, the figure of Krampus finds its counterpart in “Knecht Ruprecht”–a demonic personage accompanying “St. Nicholas”. He performs the same function as the Austrian Krampus, terrifying and punishing children. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas.”

Will the US Fall for Russia’s Blackmail Attempts?

Deutsche Welle reported on November 24:

“Russia is prepared to make plans to deploy missiles in its Kaliningrad exclave ‘disappear’ if the US drops plans to base part of its missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic, Russia’s prime minister says.

“If the new administration of US president-elect Barack Obama drops deployment plans for a missile shield in what Russia considers to be within its sphere of influence, then ‘questions of our retaliatory measures will disappear by themselves,’ Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told journalists at a forum in St Petersburg on Monday, Nov. 24. Putin is considered by many to have the last say on Russian foreign policy.”

The Russian Bear Is Marching Again…

AFP reported on November 24:

“Russian warships approached Venezuela Monday for upcoming joint maneuvers — Moscow’s first military presence in the region since the Cold War — as Washington closely monitored the situation. Venezuelan defense officials said the ships, including the nuclear-powered cruiser Peter the Great and destroyer Admiral Chabankenko, would arrive on Tuesday. The joint exercises were to coincide with a two-day visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Venezuela, the strongest US critic in the region. Medvedev was due to arrive Wednesday and meet fiercely anti-liberal President Hugo Chavez on Thursday, before heading to communist Cuba.

“Analysts see Medvedev as bringing a defiant message to Washington’s doorstep, in the wake of Russian outrage at US plans to install a strategic missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and support for the brief Georgia war in August. The maneuvers will start on Wednesday in port and take place at sea on December 1…”

… While U.S. Influence in the Region Declines…

The Associated Press reported on November 27:

“Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to help start a nuclear energy program in Venezuela and said Moscow is willing to participate in a socialist trade bloc in Latin America led by President Hugo Chavez.

“Medvedev used his visit to Venezuela—the first by a Russian president—to extend Moscow’s reach into Latin America and deepen trade and military ties. Chavez denied trying to provoke the United States, but he welcomed Russia’s growing presence in Latin America as a reflection of declining U.S. influence.”

Americans and British Targeted in India’s Terror Attack

The Los Angeles Times wrote on November 27:

“The sophistication of Wednesday’s assault in Mumbai and the targeting of U.S. and British citizens are the hallmarks of groups affiliated with Al Qaeda, but an array of other organizations have launched attacks in India and may also have played a role, officials and counter-terrorism experts said.

“Experts cautioned that it was too early to fix responsibility for the coordinated attacks that killed [hundreds] of people [and injured more than 300] at a pair of luxury hotels, two hospitals, a train station and an upscale restaurant. They said the group that claimed responsibility, the Deccan Mujahedin, was unknown…

“Instead of the bombings that are the trademark of Al Qaeda, the attackers Wednesday appeared to use mostly automatic weapons and grenades, and they reportedly took hostages. But they showed sophistication and ambition by storming five-star hotels during the peak of the tourist season in a clear attempt to target Westerners… The choice of India for such an assault could reflect the fact that increased security has made Western countries more difficult to hit, while India’s increasingly close alliance with the U.S. makes it a more desirable target… The attackers reportedly inquired specifically about the whereabouts of British and American citizens…

“Al Qaeda has urged its followers to launch attacks in India in recent years, especially as the government established closer ties with the United States. And Washington has accused some members of Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, of playing a role in this year’s attack on the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan, where India is increasingly active.”

US Prepared to “Lend” More Than $7.4 TRILLION

Bloomberg reported on November 24:

“The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago. The unprecedented pledge of funds includes $2.8 trillion already tapped by financial institutions in the biggest response to an economic emergency since [President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s  New Deal of the 1930s, when almost 10,000 banks failed and there was no mechanism to bolster them with cash]…

“The worst financial crisis in two generations has erased $23 trillion, or 38 percent, of the value of the world’s companies and brought down three of the biggest Wall Street firms… The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…”

Citigroup “Rescue” for $326 Billion–and People Don’t Like It

AFP wrote on November 24:

“The US government vowed Monday to safeguard the ailing economy, after stepping in to guarantee over 300 billion dollars in potential losses at Citigroup and pump 20 billion more into the financial giant…

“Citigroup, which last month reported a third-quarter loss of 2.8 billion dollars its fourth straight quarter in the red, will issue seven billion dollars in preferred stock to the US Treasury and the FDIC as payment for the 306 billion dollar guarantee.”

Reuters reported on November 26:

“The bailout of Citigroup has made people in New York angrier than they were about any of the other government rescues of financial institutions this year…

“‘They were bailed out before, this is the second bailout, so what’s going on? Are they going to ask for another bailout soon?’ asked Cheril Nichols, a 50-year-old nurse from New Jersey. ‘It is wasteful, very wasteful,’ said retiree William Dwyer, 70… ‘This is not the right thing to do. They (the U.S. government) should help the people, not the big companies,’ said Renu Malconi, 38, from New Jersey… ‘It’s ridiculous. If I did as poorly as they did in my job, I would be out of the job, so why are they not accountable?’ said Mike Delibero, an IT salesman.

“The frustration on the streets of New York was echoed by two of New York’s major daily newspapers, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, which slammed the board of Citigroup on Tuesday with calls for all or many of its directors to quit or be removed. The Post on Wednesday ran a series of letters from readers, all of them harshly criticizing the bailout and Citigroup’s former and current executives and board members.

“High salaries, seven-figure bonuses and an agreement for the bank to pay $400 million to name the New York Mets baseball team’s new stadium Citi Field haven’t helped sentiment.”

… And Another $800 Billion for Bad Mortgage and Securities Purchases…

AFP reported on November 25:

“US authorities launched fresh efforts Tuesday to unfreeze credit and limit the economic downturn with programs to buy up to 800 billion dollars in mortgage- and asset-backed securities. The initiatives call for up to 600 billion dollars in Federal Reserve purchases of mortgage securities, and a separate 200 billion dollars for asset-backed securities to help get credit to consumers…

“The US central bank said it would launch purchases of up to 100 billion dollars of obligations of housing-related government-sponsored enterprises including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the next week, and buy another 500 billion dollars in a process started by the end of this year. Separately, the Fed said it would launch a program to buy up to 200 billion dollars in asset-backed securities — backed by student loans, auto loans, credit card loans, and other loans — in a further effort to unclog frozen credit markets.”

Still Not Enough!… Recovery Package for Another $700 Billion in the Making…

The Associated Press reported on November 25:

“President-elect Barack Obama wants to project fiscal restraint even as his economic team assembles a massive recovery package… Economists from across the political spectrum… have put the size of an economic recovery package as high as $700 billion over two years… Obama is already starting in the red. The federal government reported a record deficit of $237.2 billion in October, which reflected only a portion of the $700 billion Congress approved last month to rescue the financial markets.”

Is the US Heading for Collapse?

The Drudge Report stated on November 25:

“A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse… Professor Igor Panarin said… ‘The dollar is not secured by anything. The country’s foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998… it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse’…

“When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: ‘It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world’s financial regulator’…”

Chief Rabbis Call for Mass Prayer Because of Financial Crisis

The Jerusalem Post reported on November 25:

“The country’s chief rabbis are calling for a mass prayer rally Thursday [Thursday will be celebrated in the USA as Thanksgiving Day] in the hope that heavenly intervention will stem the global financial crisis. With Jewish philanthropists reeling and Israeli businesses preparing to make major layoffs, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar have decided that this Thursday, the first day of the Jewish month of Kislev, will be a special day of prayer.

“‘Education and Torah institutions are failing to make ends meet, and many are in danger of closure,’ wrote the two rabbis in a statement. ‘Factories and businesses are firing workers, and many household heads are no longer able to support their families. Therefore, we call on the public to pray one hour before mincha [the afternoon prayer] on Thursday in synagogues across the nation.’

“Religious institutions have been among the hardest hit by the economic downturn. Many are totally dependent on foreign donations. In recent weeks, the heads of some of the largest kollels have complained that they have returned empty-handed from fundraising campaigns in the US and Europe, saying philanthropists hurt by the financial crisis are no longer willing to make contributions.”

Grim Economic Outlook for Europe in 2009

Deutsche Welle reported on November 23:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned of a grim 2009 economic outlook as Europe’s largest economy slips into recession. Merkel said in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that her grand coalition government was divided over the right medicine for the country.

“Merkel rejected calls by business leaders to slash taxes, saying they would remain off the table until after the September 2009 general election. But Merkel’s economics minister, Michael Glos, said a stimulus package put together earlier this month was only the beginning, if Germany wished to protect itself against global financial turmoil.”

“Merkel Criticises US Over Crisis”

The Financial Times wrote on November 26:

“Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, turned the tables on her international critics on Wednesday by accusing the US and other governments of making ‘cheap money’ a central tool of their economic management, thus planting the seeds of a similar crisis in five years.

“’Excessively cheap money in the US was a driver of today’s crisis,’ she told the German parliament. ‘I am deeply concerned about whether we are now reinforcing this trend through measures being adopted in the US and elsewhere and whether we could find ourselves in five years facing the exact same crisis.’

“There have been calls from outside Germany for it to beef up fiscal support, but Ms Merkel has been wary of raising public borrowing to stimulate demand, fearing that the extra income could boost Germans’ savings rate, which is already high.”

“As Financial Crisis Grows, EU Emerges Stronger”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 27:

“The global financial crisis creates new losers each day. So far, though, the EU is looking like a winner. For many countries along the continent’s northern edge, euro-skepticism is a luxury they can no longer afford. Will 2008 be remembered as the year that killed the euro-skeptics?…  Now, from Iceland to the Czech Republic, previously wary populations are warming to the EU, heaping praise on the very Brussels-based behemoth they had spent so many years deriding…

“The most obvious way the financial crisis has strengthened the image of the EU among the less-than-faithful is by making the euro look like a safehaven. Denmark, one of the few countries that deliberately opted out of the euro, may now be regretting its decision…

“Of all the countries on Europe’s periphery, perhaps none has experienced as pronounced a shift in EU sentiment as Iceland, a nation which, not coincidentally, also serves as Ground Zero for the financial crisis. Since January, Iceland’s currency has lost nearly half its value against the euro, plunging the country’s economy into chaos… the surge in EU support suggests that Icelanders have lost faith in their own government…

“By rejecting the Lisbon treaty in a referendum in June, the people of Ireland brought the EU to its knees. Now, after a bruising ride on the financial crisis roller coaster, they might be the ones that get the EU back on its feet…

“The EU might not be out of the woods yet, but it is in a considerably stronger position heading into 2009 than many feared would be the case six months ago… Europe’s dream of ever-closer union might be happen sooner than we think.”

“Is Britain Going Bankrupt?”

The British paper, The Telegraph, wrote on November 24:

“There is now a palpable fear that global investors may start to shun British debt as the budget deficit rockets to £118bn… The cost of insuring against the bankruptcy of the British state has broken out – upwards – over the last month…

“Alistair Darling has had to admit that the British economy faces the most sudden economic collapse since World War Two, and the worst budget deficit of any major country in the world… Should we be worried? Yes… Britain will have to borrow £450bn over the next five years. This is an utter fiasco…”

How Much Longer Will Britain Stay in the EU?

On November 20, The Daily Mail reported the following:

“The European Union is costing Britain a staggering £106,000 a minute, a think-tank has revealed. As the UK teeters on the brink of what experts predict will be the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Government has surrendered £55.8 billion to Brussels this year. That is equivalent to paying a whopping £900 for every man, woman and child in the country.”

Controversial Leader Next European President

The New York Times wrote on November 25:

“Mr. Klaus, the 67-year-old president of the Czech Republic… blamed what he calls the misguided fight against global warming for contributing to the international financial crisis, branded Al Gore an ‘apostle of arrogance’ for his role in that fight, and accused the European Union of acting like a Communist state. Now the Czech Republic is about to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union…

“To supporters, Mr. Klaus is a brave, lone crusader, a defender of liberty, the only European leader in the mold of the formidable Margaret Thatcher… To his many critics, he is a cynical populist, a hardheaded pragmatist… As a former finance minister and prime minister, he is credited with presiding over the peaceful 1993 split of Czechoslovakia into two states and helping to transform the Czech Republic into one of the former Soviet bloc’s most successful economies…

“While even many of the world’s most ardent free marketeers acknowledged the need for the recent coordinated bailout of European banks, Mr. Klaus lambasted it as irresponsible protectionism… A fervent critic of the environmental movement, he has called global warming a dangerous ‘myth’… he is a vocal opponent of the Lisbon Treaty, which aims to help Europe become more of an international player, but which he argues will strip countries of sovereignty…

“And while other European leaders have criticized a newly assertive Russia, Mr. Klaus has forged close ties with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin and recently distanced himself from the Czech government’s criticism of Russia over the war with Georgia in August.”

Major Earthquake Expected in Southern and Midwestern US

Reuters reported on November 20:

“People in a vast seismic zone in the southern and midwestern United States would face catastrophic damage if a major earthquake struck there… The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)… predicted a large earthquake would cause ‘widespread and catastrophic physical damage’ across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee — home to some 44 million people. Tennessee is likely to be hardest hit… In Tennessee alone, it forecast hundreds of collapsed bridges, tens of thousands of severely damaged buildings and a half a million households without water…

“The zone, named for the town of New Madrid in Missouri’s southeast corner, is subject to frequent mild earthquakes. Experts have long tried to predict the likelihood of a major quake like those that struck in 1811 and 1812. These shifted the course of the Mississippi River and rang church bells on the East Coast but caused few deaths amid a sparse population. ‘People who live in these areas and the people who build in these areas certainly need to take into better account that at some time there is … expected to be a catastrophic earthquake in that area, and they’d better be prepared for it,’ said FEMA spokesperson Mary Margaret Walker.”

The Commercialism of Christmas

The Daily Mail wrote on November 24:

“Now the Church of England has joined the chorus of those who want to revolutionise Christmas with a call for people to send fewer cards… [It] launched a campaign for people to celebrate the season this year by cutting up their credit cards…

“Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams is among the leading clerics who – while they are strongly in favour of preserving the importance of Christmas as a Christian festival – are deeply anxious at the commercialism and high spending that goes with the holiday…

“In a new book, Do Nothing: Christmas is Coming, Dr Cottrell said: ‘It might be the season of goodwill, but it feels like the last straw on an already over-burdened camel’… The bishop also suggested that families should give up the ‘monstrous burden’ of giving presents they cannot afford.”

Reuters reported on November 24:

“Germans are trying to shut out the financial crisis by taking comfort in traditional festivities, and there is an acute shortage of Santas to entertain children at shopping centers, Christmas markets and private parties.

“‘Being Santa is not an easy job,’ Jens Wittenberger, in charge of Santa Claus recruitment at the Jobcafe Munich, told Reuters Monday. ‘To be honest, not many people have what it takes to be a good Father Christmas… You can’t have your Santa drive up in a car,’ said Wittenberger. ‘Every child knows that Santa travels in a sleigh pulled by reindeer so we don’t want to disappoint anybody.’ Santas are told to park their car a few streets away and walk… ‘Santas can make up to 60 euros ($75) an hour,’ he said.”

Yoga Blasphemous?

Die Welt Online reported on November 22:

“A top Islamic council in mostly Muslim Malaysia told Muslims on Saturday to avoid yoga because it uses Hindu prayers and encourages a union with God that is blasphemous. ‘There are other ways to get exercise and a peace of mind,’ council chairman Abdul Shukor Husin told reporters… ‘You can go cycling, swimming and eat less fatty food.’

“‘For us, yoga can destroy a Muslim’s faith. But this is not a matter for the non-Muslims to be concerned about because it’s not imposed on them. We are looking out for the Muslim community,’ he said, noting Egypt and Singapore had issued similar rulings.”

Increased Belief in Paranormal Concepts

LifeScience.com reported on November 24:

“More people believe in aliens and ghosts than in God, a new survey finds, according to a British newspaper. The survey, however, was done by a marketing firm in conjunction with the release of an X-Files DVD, and details of how the poll was conducted were not reported in the Daily Mail. Survey questions, depending on how they are written, can greatly skew results, along with how subjects are sampled.

“That said, the poll of 3,000 people found that 58 percent believe in the supernatural, including paranormal encounters, while 54 percent believe God exists. Women were more likely than men to believe in the supernatural and were also more likely to visit a medium…

“A survey of U.S. college students done in 2006 found 23 percent of freshmen had a general belief in paranormal concepts – from astrology to communicating with the dead. Interestingly, the number jumped to 31 percent among seniors and 34 percent among graduate students.”

America’s Recession Deepens

Reuters reported on November 19:

“Consumer prices fell at a record pace in October and new-home building slumped to fresh lows, according to government reports on Wednesday that suggested the economy likely is already in a recession that may be long and deep.”

The Associated Press added on November 19:

“Consumer prices plunged by the largest amount in the past 61 years in October… With the economy sliding into a recession and mortgage foreclosures continuing to rise to record levels, there was little prospect of a rebound any time soon…”

The New York Times wrote on November 19:

“Shares on Wall Street closed at their lowest levels in five years on Wednesday as hope dimmed in Washington for an emergency bailout of the auto industry. The late-day sell-off came in frenzy amid growing fears of deflation.

“The Dow Jones settled below 8,000 for the first time since 2003…  All corners of the market were down, but the financial, transportation and consumer sectors took the heaviest blows. Financial stocks were down an average of 9 percent over the day, and the banking giant Citigroup dropped 22 percent.

“Auto shares fell as the leaders of the three American automakers reprised their appearance on Capitol Hill to discuss an emergency bailout and the threat of bankruptcy. General Motors was down 10 percent, to $2.78 a share, and the Ford Motor Company was down 24 percent, to $1.27. By late Wednesday, it seemed clear the automakers would leave Washington without the $25 billion in federal aid the companies contend is critical to their long-term survival.”

Reuters reported on November 20:

“The U.S. financial system still needs at least $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion of tangible common equity to restore confidence and improve liquidity in the credit markets, Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Paul Miller said. Eight financial companies — Citigroup Inc, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co, American International Group Inc, Bank of America Corp and GE Financial — are in greatest need of capital, he said… Currently, the U.S. financial system has $37 trillion of debt outstanding, he noted…”

Obama’s Promises Unrealizable

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 19:

“By some estimates the total cost of Barack Obama’s campaign promises could come to $2 trillion. The new president will have to disappoint many of his voters — or resign himself to an enormous government deficit…

“During the campaign, he repeated his mantra — ‘Yes, we can’ — several times daily. But now it will be more important for Obama to know when to say ‘no’… Time is running short… The new president can hardly expect any tailwind from the economy. A wave of layoffs has begun to accelerate at an incredible rate, destroying 17,000 jobs in January, 62,000 in June and 240,000 in October. Experts say that America could see next year’s unemployment rate rise to twice the 2007 rate…”

Catholic Cardinal Says, Future with Obama Will Be Catastrophic

Zenit wrote on November 19:

“The decline in respect for human life has had ‘catastrophic effects’ on the unity and integrity of the United States, which are evidenced by the presidential election, says a Vatican official [Baltimore-native Cardinal James Stafford, major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary]… “‘On Nov. 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake,’ continued the cardinal. He pointed out that president-elect Barack Obama campaigned on an ‘extremist anti-life platform,’ and described him as ‘aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic.’

“Now Catholics will experience the Agony of the Garden through the next few years of Obama’s presidency, the cardinal said, and will have to endure the ‘hot, angry tears of betrayal.’ … Cardinal Stafford served as the archbishop of Denver for 10 years before being called to Rome.”

Europe Needs to Get Its House in Order

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 18:

“Congratulations Mr. President … Here is our Agenda… Barack Obama’s election has created a ground swelling of excitement in Europe. In an effort to revitalize transatlantic relations, several issues need to be addressed. First and foremost, Europe needs to get its own house in order if it expects the new President to heed its calls for greater cooperation.

“The global Obamania hype has reached European soil. Expectations are gigantic. But the fate of the transatlantic relationship does not solely depend on Barack Obama. Its fate will rather be decided by the way Europeans react to and interact with the new US President, as well as to what extent they are willing and able to set an agenda and contribute to its implementation.

“The current, rather passive, European approach concerning the future of transatlantic relations is founded on a substantial strategic deficit within most EU member states’ capitals. It limits Europeans to being spectators and passive bystanders instead of being proactive, contributing partners. Consequently, two things need to change if the EU’s role within the transatlantic partnership is to be saved from marginalization.

“First, the US needs to give up its reluctance to accept the reality of a multipolar world order. Second, the EU needs to become a credible partner for Washington, capable of dealing with the major tasks of our time… it is primarily the European Union that holds the key to this development… Military force no longer represents the core element of political power…”

The Failed G-20 Summit

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 18:

“At the financial summit in Washington, the international community was unduly respectful of the United States, neglecting to probe more deeply into the reasons for the crisis… The closing statements of the meeting, which had already been written before the dinner, absolved the United States of any blame. Suddenly the financial crisis had become nationless, which, given what has happened in the US real estate market, the business practices on Wall Street and the fact that American financial regulators have looked the other way for years, could be counted as a final coup for the Bush administration.”

In a related article, the magazine wrote on November 17:

“In the end, delegates to the financial summit of industrial and emerging economies delivered a closing statement without any concrete decisions. Host Bush has nothing left to say as the world eagerly awaits his successor Obama…

“This time around, it was primarily a meeting of either outgoing or politically weakened statesmen and women. Bush is a lame duck. A number of European leaders had just spent the week announcing that their economies had entered a recession. Russia has lost political influence as a result of plunging oil prices. And none of them saw the crisis coming…”

World Economy Looks Gloomier Than “Expected”

Deutsche Welle reported on November 20:

“A world economic confidence index released Thursday dropped to its lowest level in 20 years amid further news of heavy losses on global markets and an ongoing crisis among the world’s carmakers. The index, drawn up by German institute Ifo, was released as fears of a looming global economic recession grow… ‘Altogether the data points to a global recession,’ the institute said… adding that expectations for the coming six months have worsened further…

“France’s PSA Peugeot Citroen announced it would cut 3,550 jobs, and Britain’s Rolls-Royce, which is also a maker of plane engines, said it would cut up to 2,000 jobs worldwide. While in Japan, Isuzu Motors said it would cut 1,400 jobs… In the US, the chiefs of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler warned of a ‘catastrophic collapse’ of the industry if the government did not approve multibillion-dollar loans for the auto giants.”

Gigantic European Bail-Out Plan in the Making?

The EUObserver reported on November 20:

“A massive €130 billion prime-the-pump operation to stimulate the European economy is currently being planned by the European Commission. First revealed by German weekly Der Spiegel’s online edition, the EU executive is constructing a package that would see each of the 27 member states commit one percent of their GDP to fiscal stimulus measures to pull the bloc out of its downturn and stave off the greater threat of deflation…

“The move may run into resistance from some member states, whose public finances have little room to manoeuvre without borrowing the money for such an initiative, particularly at a time when the economic crisis is putting pressure on government revenues. Until now, Germany has strongly resisted pan-European measures, although it has already adopted domestic stimulus measures amounting to €32 billion over two years – equivalent to just over one percent of GDP…

“A stimulus package of such size would be a major turnaround for most European leaders… the downturn has been of so considerable a scale and speed – the eurozone officially entered its first-ever recession last Friday – that liberal hostility to government intervention is crumbling across the board.”

Iran’s Production of Uranium Too Close for Comfort?

Bloomberg reported on November 20:

“Iran has produced the minimum amount of low-enriched uranium needed to make a bomb if it was processed to weapons grade, a scenario that would first require the expulsion of UN inspectors, arms-control experts said. ‘There is definitely cause for concern,’ Andreas Persbo, a senior researcher… said.

“… analysts estimate that it would take Iran at least one year to make enough bomb-grade uranium, if it were to leave the treaty and reconfigure its enrichment facilities. Their comments followed a New York Times report today in which experts were cited as saying that yesterday’s IAEA report shows Iran has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb if the country breaches its treaty obligations and masters the design of a warhead.”

The Jerusalem Post added on November 20:

“One must not forget that the enriched uranium is low grade. For now, it can be used for nuclear power plants. However, it can be further refined into higher grade uranium. To do that, enrichment facilities at Natanz would have to go through major visible reconfigurations. For example, all the piping infrastructure will have to be redone. This would make it very difficult for Iran to hide from the IAEA inspectors.

“Unless, that is, there are secret facilities where the low enriched uranium is purified, away from the eyes and knowledge of the IAEA. And this is very possible… With Russia and China refusing to back further sanctions, all that remains diplomatically is for incoming President Barack Obama to try and use direct negotiations. Unless there is a miracle and the Russians and Chinese join in, there is little else that can be done diplomatically…

“If talks fail, the US could also take unilateral sanctions, the most powerful of which could be sanctions against the Iranian Central Bank (Bank Markazi). With oil prices falling, and reports that Iran will face a $60 billion budget deficit next year, this may force Ayatollah Khamenei to take negotiations seriously. One can not also help but notice that such reports help those who want a military solution. This may not be around the corner; however, it is there. Even when Obama enters office.”

The World’s Fight Against Somalia’s Pirates

Deutsche Welle wrote on November 19:

“Efforts by the European Union and NATO to fight pirates off the coast of Somalia have proven futile. With a limited mandate, their ships cannot keep armed bandits from seizing merchant vessels and taking hostages… Although NATO, European and US vessels are stationed in the region, they are helpless in effectively battling the increasing problem of piracy…

“NATO has four ships on patrol in the waters off Somalia, with two protecting UN food aid convoys to the troubled Horn of Africa country. The mission, NATO’s first-ever against pirates, ends in mid-December when the more extensive European Union operation ‘Atalanta’ begins…

“Given that the pirates in the region are well-armed with grenades, heavy machine guns and rocket-launchers, most foreign navies have steered clear of direct confrontation once ships have been hijacked, for fear of putting hostages at risk. Somalia’s vast coastline is also virtually impossible to monitor completely, even for modern warships.”

The Los Angeles Times wrote on November 19:

“An Indian warship patrolling the treacherous waters off the Horn of Africa destroyed a suspected pirate ship late Tuesday, at least the second time in a week that India’s armed forces have unleashed military force to combat piracy amid a surge in maritime lawlessness… Along with the U.S., Russia and European nations, India is among the naval forces patrolling the Gulf of Aden…

“Concern over piracy surged after audacious bandits Saturday hijacked a gigantic 1,000-foot tanker loaded with at least $100 million worth of crude oil and moored it near a pirate’s haven off the coast of Somalia. The pirates aboard the tanker, the Sirius Star, today demanded money in exchange for the $120-million ship, its crew and cargo…

“The U.S. military said it could take only limited steps to intervene and thwart pirates. Maritime experts say international law on jurisdiction regarding pirates is murky…

“But New Delhi has apparently taken a different approach. Last week, Indian marine commandos on a helicopter swooped in on the scene of a hijacking to fend off pirates assailing an Indian commercial ship. Two suspected pirates were killed in a shootout with British commandos defending a Danish vessel this month…

“More than 90 ships have been hijacked by pirates this year off the Horn of Africa… today’s pirates are tough young criminals armed with AK-47s and dressed in camouflage… modern piracy [is described] as ‘ruthless, high-level organized crime.'”

“Absurdistan Along the Horn of Africa”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 20:

“Just a few weeks before the EU anti-pirate mission is set to deploy, German officials are still unsure how much military force they are allowed to use against Somali raiders. Politicians are frustrated by the indecision and, on Thursday, German commentators joined the fray.

“… the EU will begin its own military mission, dubbed ‘Atalanta,’ in early December… the German government claims that it is bound by a treaty it signed in 1994 that strictly defines the scope of military encounters on the high seas. According to the terms of that convention, German ships may have to wait until pirates openly demonstrate aggression before they’re permitted to act in self-defense; and they may be required to cease their attacks as soon as pirates have gained control of another ship…

“The business daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘The pirates on the Horn of Africa are steering attention to another German farce…’

“The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘Piracy can only be challenged from land. It’s only when Somalia has a fully functioning government that the pirate dens will be cleared out… It’s only when Somali has a competent coast guard that one of Africa’s longest coastal stretches will be brought under control. But instead of that, the world is only talking about defending the attacks from the sea. The West is exclusively defending itself and its economic interests.'”

Prince Charles–The Defender of WHAT Faith?

The Telegraph reported on November 14:

“The Prince of Wales, who is 60 today, is planning a symbolic change when he becomes King by taking the title Defender OF FAITH to reflect Britain’s multicultural society… The Prince caused controversy within the Anglican church when he floated the idea several years ago of becoming Defender of THE FAITHS in an attempt to embrace the other religions in Britain…

“The Monarch has been known by the title Defender of THE FAITH ever since the title was bestowed on Henry VIII by the Pope in 1521 for his early support for Roman Catholicism… Vernon Bogdanor, the constitutionalist who is Professor of Government at Oxford University, said: ‘In 1952, when the Queen came to the throne, it was very much an Anglican society. The Prince of Wales will become head of a nation which is multi-denominational. The Prince has said that he wants to be seen as a defender of all religious faiths and not just the Anglican church but the Coronation is an Anglican ceremony. Any change would require legislation.’

“Professor Bogdanor said that after the Coronation, which will take place at Westminster Abbey, it was plausible that a second service would be held for other denominations and faiths, such as the Muslims and Hindus…”

When Mammoths Walk(ed) the Earth…

The Associated Press reported on November 19:

“Bringing ‘Jurassic Park’ one step closer to reality, scientists have deciphered much of the genetic code of the woolly mammoth, a feat they say could allow them to recreate the shaggy, prehistoric beast in as little as a decade or two. The project marks the first time researchers have spelled out the DNA of an extinct species, and it raised the possibility that other ancient animals such as mastodons and sabertooth tigers might someday walk the Earth again.

“‘It could be done. The question is, just because we might be able to do it one day, should we do it?’ asked Stephan Schuster, a Penn State University biochemist and co-author of the new research. ‘I would be surprised to see if it would take more than 10 or 20 years to do it.'”

For further information, you may want to listen to or view Norbert Link’s two-part series on the “Biblical World of Animals.” Audio and video versions are posted on our Website (www.eternalgod.org under Audio); additional video versions are posted on Google Video, as follows:

“Bible Study–The Biblical World of Animals, Part 1,” October 25, 2008

“Bible Study–The Biblical World of Animals, Part 2,” November 1, 2008