No More Legal Spanking in California?

In an attempt to totally defy Biblical teaching, a California Assemblywoman wants to introduce a bill outlawing spanking of children up to 3 years in any manner, shape or form.

On January 18, 2007, the Mercury News reported the following:

“The state Legislature is about to weigh in on a question that stirs impassioned debate among moms and dads: Should parents spank their children? Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, wants to outlaw spanking children up to 3 years old. If she succeeds, California would become the first state in the nation to explicitly ban parents from smacking their kids. Making a swat on the behind a misdemeanor might seem a bit much for some — and the chances of the idea becoming law appear slim, at best… The bill, which is still being drafted, will be written broadly, [Lieber] added, prohibiting ‘any striking of a child, any corporal punishment, smacking, hitting, punching, any of that.’ Lieber said it would be a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail or a fine up to $1,000, although a legal expert advising her on the proposal said first-time offenders would probably only have to attend parenting classes.

“The idea is encountering skepticism even before it’s been formally introduced. Beyond the debate among child psychologists — many of whom believe limited spanking can be effective — the bill is sure to face questions over how practical it is to enforce and opposition from some legislators who generally oppose what they consider ‘nanny government.’… Lieber conceived the idea while chatting with a family friend and legal expert in children’s issues worldwide. The friend, Thomas Nazario, said that while banning spanking might seem like a radical step for the United States, more than 10 European countries already do so. Sweden was the first, in 1979…

“Doctors, social workers and others who believe a child has been abused are required by law to report it to authorities… Experts in child psychology disagree over whether spanking is a legitimate or effective way for parents to discipline their children. Professor Robert Larzelere, who has studied child discipline for 30 years, said his research shows spanking is fine, as long as it’s used sparingly and doesn’t escalate to abuse. ‘If it’s used in a limited way,’ the Oklahoma State University professor said, ‘it can be more effective than almost any other type of punishment.’ He added that children 18 months old or younger shouldn’t be spanked at all, because they can’t understand why it’s happening. As for Lieber’s proposal, the professor said: ‘I think this proposal is not just a step too far, it’s a leap too far. At least from a scientific perspective there really isn’t any research to support the idea that this would make things better for children.”

WorldNetDaily added the following well-considered comments, on January 23:

“‘It’s really awfully arrogant to try to protect my child from me,’ Karen England, of the Capitol Resource Institute, told WND. ‘If they want to protect children, protect them from predators.’…  Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families, called it the wackiest bill of the year. ‘This punish-you-if-you-spank-your-children bill is intrusive, unenforceable, and the most blatant violation of parental rights I’ve ever seen,’ he said. ‘What’s next, jail time for parents who raise their voices at their children? We already have enough legitimate laws prohibiting physical abuse of children, and this proposal is certainly not one of them. Government regulation of parents’ discipline wipes out the right of parents to raise their own children. This is wrong. God gave children to parents, not to the state,’ Thomasson said. England agreed. ‘There already are safeguards in place,’ she said.

“‘Appropriate spanking is not “beating” or “abusing” a child, which is a ridiculous and offensive comparison,’ said Thomasson. ‘When appropriate spanking is lovingly administered, it can help a disobedient youngster to become a well-adjusted adult who respects authority.’… appropriate spanking of rebellious children from 2-10 ‘is the shortest and most effective route to an attitude adjustment.’…

“Brad Dacus, of the Pacific Justice Institute, called it yet another effort to expand the reach of government. ‘Even without this proposed new law, California gives such wide latitude to Child Protective Services that decent parents often get falsely charged with child abuse,’ Dacus said. ‘How much more if the state tries to outlaw all corporal punishment on young children?’ He said the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the fundamental rights of parents to direct and control the upbringing of their children.”

For more information on the BIBLICAL teaching on child discipline, please read our free booklet, “The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families.”

New US Passport Rules

The Associated Press reported on January 23:

“Americans flying to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean made sure to bring their passports Monday because of a new rule going into effect Tuesday that requires them to show one to get back into the country. Only about a quarter of U.S. citizens hold valid passports, and most Americans are accustomed to traveling to neighboring countries with just a driver’s license or birth certificate, which have long been sufficient to get through airport customs on the trip home. The new regulations requiring passports were adopted by Congress in 2004 to secure the borders against terrorists…

“Starting Tuesday, Canadian, Mexican and Bermudan air travelers, as well as U.S. citizens flying home from those countries or the Caribbean, must display their passports to enter the United States. The only valid substitutes for a passport will be a NEXUS Air card, used by some American and Canadian frequent fliers; identification as a U.S. Coast Guard merchant mariner; and the green card carried by legal permanent residents. Active members of the U.S. military are exempt.

“For now, the rules affect only air travelers. Land and sea travelers will not have to show passports until at least January 2008. Air travelers who cannot produce a passport will be interviewed by customs agents, who will decide whether to let them into the country… The State Department issued a record 12.1 million passports in 2006 and expects to issue 16 million more this year to meet the increased demand.”

The World Condemns American Foreign Policy

Britain’s The Daily Mail wrote the following on January 23:

“The vast majority of Britons see America’s influence on the world as negative and 81 per cent disapprove of its actions in Iraq, a poll has shown. The damning verdict of the British public on the Bush administration’s handling of some of the world’s most crucial issues is backed by the majority of people around the globe, the survey for the BBC reveals… Three out of four people questioned in 25 countries disapproved of the way the U.S. is dealing with Iraq, where more than 100 died yesterday in one of Iraq’s bloodiest days this year. The poll, coming hours before President Bush’s annual State of the Union address Tuesday night, found that half of those questioned in all 25 countries believe the U.S. is playing a mainly negative role in the world. Some 68 per cent of those questioned around the world believe the U.S. military presence in the Middle East provokes more conflict than it prevents and only 17 per cent feel America’s presence there is a stabilising force.

“In addition to the overwhelming disapproval of U.S. actions in Iraq, 76 per cent of Britons condemned the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay and other prisons, 70 per cent were critical of the U.S. response to the Israel-Hezbollah war in the Lebanon, and 64 per cent disagreed with America’s response to Iran’s nuclear programme. Only 33 per cent of Britons saw U.S. influence in the world as mainly positive, 79 per cent disapproved of its approach to global warming and 55 per cent were against the way it handled North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. More than seven out of ten Britons – 72 per cent – saw the U.S. military presence in the Middle East as ‘provoking more conflict than it prevents’… Two-thirds of Americans, 66 per cent, think the U.S. is on the wrong track.”

The State of the Union Address

AFP reported on January 24:

“US President George W. Bush has pleaded with a war-weary US public to give his unpopular Iraq strategy a chance, warning that a US defeat could ignite an ‘epic battle’ engulfing the entire Middle East. ‘For America, this is a nightmare scenario. For the enemy, this is the objective,’ Bush said in his annual State of the Union speech late Tuesday, striking a more defiant than downbeat tone despite his mounting political woes. Two weeks after unveiling a new strategy centered on sending 21,500 more soldiers into battle, the embattled president gave no ground to his critics and urged lawmakers and the US public: ‘Give it a chance to work.’

“Bush, fighting to save his presidency and derail pending congressional action against his Iraq plan, also laid out a handful of domestic policies to cut US gasoline use and pollution, expand health care, and reform immigration. But the chief goal of the 49-minute televised speech was to win a reprieve on Iraq from a skeptical US public and an increasingly hostile US Congress, led by opposition Democrats for the first time in a dozen years…

“The president also acknowledged a dramatic upsurge in sectarian violence, telling Americans leery of seeing US troops caught in the crossfire: ‘This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we are in.’ That appeared to be a reversal from Bush’s promise, made at an October 25, 2006 press conference, that ‘Americans have no intention of taking sides in a sectarian struggle or standing in the crossfire between rival factions.’ In fact, while Bush tied events in Iraq to the war on terrorism — which he declared in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks — he focused on the threat of future sectarian strife…

“The official Democratic response to the speech, delivered by Senator Jim Webb — a Vietnam veteran whose son is a Marine in Iraq — was tough and blunt. ‘The president took us into this war recklessly,’ said Webb. ‘The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought, nor does the majority of our military, nor does Congress. We need a new direction.’

“The New York Times editorial said that Bush ‘gave no hint’ of fresh policies, offering instead ‘a tepid menu of ideas that would change little.’ The main Washington Post story described Bush as ‘politically wounded but rhetorically unbowed,’ while the Los Angeles Times said his domestic plans were ‘too modest’ to ‘rescue the last quarter of his presidency from irrelevance and patch his tattered legacy.'”

Europe Ready for More Military Operations

The EUObserver reported on January 19:

“Europe says it is ready for more military action under the EU flag in 2007 after its ‘success’ in Congo last year, with the German EU presidency putting Kosovo, Bosnia, Lebanon and Afghanistan at the top of its defence agenda for the next six months… The EU now has two units that can be deployed for ‘crisis-management’ anywhere in the world 10 days after member states take a unanimous vote, in a decision that would ‘as a rule’ follow a UN security council resolution but that could also see the EU go it alone. Each group brings together 1,500 soldiers from two or three member states, which hold joint training exercises and wear both national and EU insignia – a blue disk with 12 gold stars – on the model of EU police missions in Bosnia and Macedonia.

“‘Europe can assume very important peacekeeping and peacemaking functions in this world,’ German defence minister Franz Josef Jung said… ‘Europe is a great peace project and we will continue to make our contribution [to global stability].’… No EU battle group has ever been tested in a real operation, but last year saw two major EU military projects: member states coordinated sending 9,000 European peacekeepers under a UN flag to Lebanon and dispatched 1,400 soldiers under an EU flag to Congo.”

China’s Desire to Use Military Might

Britain’s The Telegraph reported on January 19:

“The prospect of ‘Star Wars’ between China and the West loomed last night after Beijing used a ballistic missile to destroy a satellite in space… It suggests that the Chinese have developed a major new capability that underscores the communist regime’s desire to use its military might as well as burgeoning economic power to expand its influence… The test shows that the Chinese could soon have the capability to destroy the array of commercial satellites operated by the US, Europe, Israel, Russia and Japan.”

The article also pointed out:

“The ability to destroy satellites with such precision could undermine the US National Missile Defence programme, a network of rocket interceptors, computers and satellites intended to protect America and its key allies from nuclear attack. It became known as ‘Son of Star Wars’ after President Ronald Reagan’s so-called ‘Star Wars’ programme proposed in the 1980s.”

Russia Threatens or Being Threatened?

AFP reported on January 21:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin were at odds after talks on energy relations amid EU doubts over Moscow’s reliability as a supplier. Merkel stressed the importance of ‘relations of trust’ and called for improved communication on energy between the European Union and Russia ‘in order to avoid tensions, misunderstandings or disappointments.’ But Putin defended Russian moves to drastically increase energy prices for neighbouring former Soviet countries — a policy that has led to supply disruptions to Europe through Belarus and Ukraine in the past 12 months…

“The European Union depends on Russia for a quarter of its energy needs. Much of the supply, particularly of natural gas, travels through the neighbouring former Soviet republics… A Russian embargo on meat imports from Poland — another issue clouding relations between the European Union and Russia — remained unresolved, despite hopes of a possible breakthrough ahead of the Putin-Merkel meeting… Germany has been Russia’s main ally in the European Union and the two are key trade partners but relations appear cooler than under Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, who was openly friendly with Putin.”

AFP reported on January 22:

“A top Russian general warned that a missile defense system that the United States wants to deploy in eastern Europe would pose a ‘clear threat’ to his country. The United States confirmed it would soon begin formal talks on deploying the system in the Czech Republic and Poland, aimed at warding off rocket attacks from North Korea or Iran… Czech and Polish leaders rejected Russia’s fears as groundless… The US State Department reiterated its view that the missile system was not directed against Russia… Moscow has warned of ‘negative consequences’ if Prague agrees to host the missile system… Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said in November that it was a ‘destabilizing’ move to which Russia would respond.”

These Russian threats might not be just mere political propaganda. Many still remember Russia’s ruthless and brutal suppression of Czechian thirst for freedom in the late 60’s, when Russian troops illegally invaded Czechoslovakia, while the free world stood idly by. Only 20 years later did the Czechs gain democratic freedoms with the fall of the Iron Curtain. It is no secret that Russian leaders would love to bring Czechoslovakia and other former Russian “satellite” states back into the “fold ” of Mother Russia.  Will Russia’s thirst for power lead to the repeat of such terrible atrocities, as occured in the late 60’s, and will the Western World again fail to intervene?

Daniel 11:44-45 prophesies that frightening rumors from countries such as Russia and China will alarm the future leader of Europe. However, his resulting actions will be devastating for both power blocs.

Sunday Worship?

On January 9, 2007, the Catholic News Agency, Zenit, published an English translation of Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to Cardinal Francis Arinze, dated November 27, 2006. In the letter, the pope made some startling admissions as to how the Catholic Church CHANGED the observance from Saturday-Sabbath to Sunday, using some “biblical” justifications for that change. However, the Bible nowhere justifies the abolition of the weekly Saturday-Sabbath and the substitution of Sunday.

The pope wrote the following, as quoted by Zenit:

“The Second Vatican Council teaches that ‘the Church celebrates the Paschal Mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the ‘Lord’s Day’ or ‘Sunday’… On the ‘first day after Saturday’, the women and then the Disciples, meeting the Risen One, understood that this was ‘the day which the Lord has made’ (Ps 118[117]:24) , ‘his’ day, the ‘Dies Domini.’… From the very outset, this has been a stable element in the perception of the mystery of Sunday: ‘The Word’, Origen affirms, ‘has moved the feast of the Sabbath to the day on which the light was produced and has given us as an image of true repose, Sunday, the day of salvation, the first day of the light in which the Savior of the world, after completing all his work with men and after conquering death, crossed the threshold of Heaven, surpassing the creation of the six days and receiving the blessed Sabbath and rest in God’. Inspired by knowledge of this, St Ignatius of Antioch asserted: ‘We are no longer keeping the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day’… How much more necessary it is today to reaffirm the sacredness of the Lord’s Day and the need to take part in Sunday Mass!… The cultural context in which we live… must not let us forget that the People of God, born from ‘Christ’s Passover, Sunday’, should return to it as to an inexhaustible source, in order to understand better and better the features of their own identity and the reasons for their existence.

“The Second Vatican Council, after pointing out the origin of Sunday, continued: ‘On this day Christ’s faithful are bound to come together into one place. They should listen to the Word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection and Glory of the Lord Jesus and giving thanks to God who ‘has begotten them again, through the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, unto a living hope’… Sunday was not chosen by the Christian community but by the Apostles, and indeed by Christ himself, who on that day, ‘the first day of the week’, rose and appeared to the disciples (cf. Mt 28:1; Mk 16: 9; Lk 24:1; Jn 20:1,19; Acts 20:7; I Cor 16: 2), and appeared to them again ‘eight days later’ (Jn 20:26). Sunday is the day on which the Risen Lord makes himself present among his followers, invites them to his banquet and shares himself with them so that they too, united and configured to him, may worship God properly. Therefore, as I encourage people to give ever greater importance to the ‘Lord’s Day,’ I am eager to highlight the central place of the Eucharist as a fundamental pillar of Sunday and of all ecclesial life.”

Our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy” explains in detail WHY the abolition of Saturday-Sabbath worship is NOT authorized in Scripture. In addition, our free booklet, “Jesus Christ–A Great Mystery,” explains that Jesus Christ was NOT resurrected on Sunday, either. Our booklet, “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord,” shows that the Biblical “Lord’s Day” has absolutely nothing to do with Sunday. And finally, our new booklet, “The Meaning of God’s Spring Holy Days,” shows why the celebration of the weekly “Sunday Mass” or “Paschal Mystery” is not an acceptable substitute for the Biblically-mandated annual Passover service.

German Reactions to Bush Speech

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 12:

“It was US President George W. Bush’s last shot at keeping the US public behind him and turning the tide in an Iraq sliding ever faster toward chaos… Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung was scathing in its commentary, beginning with the claim: ‘This war was wrong from the very beginning.’… The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung rips Bush on Friday: ‘For the Europeans, it is extremely disconcerting that the president and commander-in-chief of the West’s leading power shows himself to be so confident but at the same time so disconnected to reality and immune to advice… this fight can never be won militarily…’… The conservative Die Welt sees Bush’s strategy as one of escalation: ‘Bush’s strategy is reminiscent of Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia in 1970… No one should be under any illusion about where the situation is beginning to head — towards a massive FINAL STRUGGLE  for the Middle East…'”

Stoiber’s Way Out

Bavaria’s Edmund Stoiber announced on Thursday, January 18, that he will resign in September from all his political offices, including as Prime Minister of Bavaria, and as chairman of his party, the CSU. Reports about Stoiber’s demise and an internal power struggle had been published in the German press for several weeks. But until now, there were still speculations that Stoiber might avoid his resignation and “retirement.” With his public statements to the contrary, it appears that Stoiber’s political career is over.

Prior to Stoiber’s announcement of his resignation, Der Spiegel Online had reported, on January 15:

“He’s a former candidate for German chancellor and has ruled Bavaria for almost 14 years. But that’s not enough for Edmund Stoiber to enjoy job security. His support is disappearing fast — and early retirement looms… Stoiber himself, who inherited the party soon after his larger-than-life mentor Franz Josef Strauss died in 1988, has done little to dampen the flames of dissent. Considered indispensable for so long, it seems he is having difficulty believing that his flock is turning on him.

“The only person surprised by Stoiber’s rapid descent may be Stoiber himself. He lost a lot of steam with his unexpected, last-minute federal-election loss to Schröder in 2002 and his image was further tarnished during the long power struggle with Angela Merkel which followed. Finally, just after Merkel’s victory in the 2005 election, Stoiber unexpectedly declined the position of economy minister and chose to stay in Munich — after having told the country he was moving up to Berlin. After that, the Bavarian’s eventual demise seemed just a matter of time… Even as Stoiber looks around for friends to support him, those who have been at his side the longest are beginning to position themselves for the coming power struggle…”

EU Outstrips US Dollar

The Financial Times wrote on January 14:

“The euro has displaced the US dollar as the world’s pre-eminent currency in international bond markets, having outstripped the dollar-denominated market for the second year in a row… That represents a startling turnabout from the pattern seen in recent decades, when the US bond market dwarfed its European rival: as recently as 2002, outstanding euro-denominated issuance represented just 27 per cent of the global pie, compared with 51 per cent for the dollar… the trend among some Asian and Middle Eastern countries to diversify their assets away from the dollar has further boosted this trend… The euro has also risen to trade around $1.30 against the dollar, from around parity three years ago.”

Germany’s Democracy Threatened by EU

 The EUObserver reported on January 15:

“Germany’s state of parliamentary democracy is under threat from the European Union which is slowly taking away all the national parliament’s powers, the country’s ex-president has said. In an article for newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Roman Herzog pointed out that between 1999 and 2004, 84 percent of the legal acts in Germany stemmed from Brussels. ‘EU policies suffer to an alarming degree from a lack of democracy and a de facto suspension of the separation of powers. By far the biggest part of the current laws in Germany are agreed by the council of ministers [member states representation in Brussels] and not the German parliament,’ Mr Herzog wrote in a paper with Lüder Gerken, director of the Freiburg-based Centre for European Policy. ‘And each regulation that the German government adopts in the council of ministers, has to be transplanted by the Bundestag [parliament] into German law.'”

“The article continues by noting that Germany’s own constitution foresees the parliament as the ‘central actor in the shaping of the political community. Therefore the question has to be raised of whether Germany can still unreservedly be called a parliamentary democracy.’ The authors also complain that the EU constitution, over which there are currently renewed talks about its revival, will not solve this problem, nor that of the democratic deficit within the EU itself.”

The article in the EUObserver continued:

“… the comment from the former constitutional judge and president of the bloc’s biggest member state between 1994 and 1999 is not an isolated event. German parliamentarians themselves have also started to complain about not being consulted enough on what their government agrees in Brussels. In addition, the final technical step for Germany’s ratification of the EU constitution is being held up due to a similar complaint. Although both houses of parliament have overwhelmingly approved the document, Germany’s president Horst Köhler has refused to sign it off until the country’s constitutional court rules on whether the charter is taking too much power from the national parliament, after a centre-right MP filed a legal complaint in 2005.”

German Hans-Gert Pöttering New European President

The EUObserver reported on January 16:

“German Christian democrat Hans-Gert [Pöttering], elected as the new European Parliament president today, has pledged to stand up to pressure by big member states… MEPs picked their new president on Tuesday (16 January), with Mr [Pöttering] winning the plenary vote in the first round by an absolute majority of 450 votes… As a Christian democrat ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel, the current EU president, he hopes to boost influence of the European Parliament by working through his contacts in Berlin… Politically speaking, there are two key issues – both expected during the German presidency in the first half of the year – in which Mr [Pöttering] hopes the parliament can be actively involved in.

“The first is the more formal – the EU’s 50th birthday declaration… while the second initiative concerns the forthcoming talks on how to revive the EU constitution – put on ice after it was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. ‘We need reforms but also values and I’ll fight for both,’ Mr [Pöttering] pointed out, adding that the core of the EU constitution – including the chapter on its values – should survive the editing process of the treaty.”

The German Axis

The EUObserver pointed out on January 15:

“MEPs’ resolve will be tested during the coming weeks as they fight to get more of a say on the EU constitution and a planned European declaration in March. Current EU presidency Germany has so far indicated it will sideline the European Parliament focussing instead only on canvassing government opinion on the two key issues over the coming months. As part of the streamlined approach, chancellor Angela Merkel has sent a letter to member states asking that only heads of state and government and certain nominated officials should handle the thorny constitutional question, which sees 18 member states having largely ratified the document, two having rejected it and several likely tricky ratifications to come… The close knit approach is also set to be applied to the EU’s 50 year anniversary declaration in March, a statement that Germany believes is closely bound to talks on the EU constitution…”

The article continued:

“With the [new] president of the parliament… the German Hans-Gert Pöttering, and head of the socialists also a German – Martin Schultz – there may be some room for political leverage on the two issues… ‘If anybody is going to make sure we have an influence on this [anniversary] declaration, it’s Pöttering, or a combination of Pöttering and Schulz’ lobbying,’ said Liberal leader Graham Watson last week. The MEPs’ struggle on this issue is especially interesting because it comes as the Brussels assembly finds itself with less and less to do.”

New Extreme-Right Party Becomes Member of European Parliament

AFP reported on January 15:

“A new extreme-right group, including veteran French firebrand Jean-Marie Le Pen and Mussolini’s granddaughter, was formally created in the European parliament… The ‘Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty,’ group… has fulfilled the conditions for its formal recognition… Those rules notably include the requirement that at least 20 MEPs from five EU member states to sign up for the new political group. The formal setting up of the bloc allows it various rights including receiving official funding of around one million euros (770,000 dollars) and certain speaking rights…

“[The] founding principles include recognising ‘national interests, sovereignties, identities and differences’, and opposing a ‘unitary, bureaucratic, European superstate’. Its platform also includes commitments to Christian and traditional family values… Its formation was made possible by the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU on January 1 this month, as five Romanian MEPs have signed up as well as a Bulgarian.”

Europe and the USA Completely Disagree…Again!

On January 15, 2007, Der Spiegel Online wrote:

“Condoleezza Rice is on a tour of the Middle East in an attempt to win over Arab leaders to President Bush’s new Iraq strategy. But she is finding it difficult to avoid awkward questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the failure of the US to get the Roadmap for Peace off the ground…

“The business daily Handelsblatt comments on the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians in the context of an editorial on Bush’s new Iraq strategy and its implications for the region… ‘The Europeans and the US government have completely different interpretations of reasons for the conflicts in the Middle East. For the Europeans the ongoing struggle between Israel and the Palestinians is central. This can quickly lead to war like the Lebanon conflict in summer 2006, and offers dictatorial politicians an emotionally charged platform from which to present themselves as champions of Arabs and Muslim. Bush sees things completely differently: For him the decisive ideological struggle of our time is being fought in the Middle East. The forces of freedom stand on one side and the extremists stand on the other. There is little room for political solutions and compromises.'”

Iraq Wants American Weapons–Not Troops

The Times On Line reported on January 18:

“America’s refusal to give Baghdad’s security forces sufficient guns and equipment has cost a great number of lives, the Iraqi Prime Minister said yesterday. Nouri al-Maliki said the insurgency had been bloodier and prolonged because Washington had refused to part with equipment. If it released the necessary arms, US forces could ‘dramatically’ cut their numbers in three to six months, he told The Times. In a sign of the tense relations with Washington, he chided the US for suggesting his Government was living on ‘borrowed time’. Such criticism boosted Iraq’s extremists, he said, and was more a reflection of ‘some kind of crisis situation’ in Washington after the Republicans’ midterm election losses… “Asked how long Iraq would require US troops, Mr al-Maliki said: ‘If we succeed in implementing the agreement between us to speed up the equipping and providing weapons to our military forces, I think that within three to six months our need for American troops will dramatically go down. That is on condition that there are real, strong efforts to support our military forces and equipping and arming them.’

“The US Government is wary of handing over large amounts of military hardware to the Iraqis because it has sometimes ended up in the hands of militias and insurgents.”

Iran’s Coalition Against the USA

The following comments were published by ynet-news.com, on January 14:

“Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said they were ready to spend billions of dollars (euros) financing projects in other countries to help thwart US domination… Iran… is allegedly bankrolling militant groups in the Middle East like Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as insurgents in Iraq, in a bid to extend its influence… After Venezuela, Ahmadinejad will visit newly elected leftist governments in Nicaragua [to meet on Sunday with Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla] and Ecuador [for the inauguration of President-elect Rafael Correa] that are also seeking to reduce Washington’s influence in the region. Bolivian President Evo Morales, another critic of US policy, said he plans to meet with Ahmadinejad while both are in Ecuador Monday…”

Iran vs. USA

The China View reported on January 17:

“Iranian troops have shot down a U.S. pilotless spy plane recently, an Iranian lawmaker announced on Tuesday as the Islamic Republic was facing increasing military pressure from its arch rival — the United States. The aircraft was brought down when it was trying to cross the borders ‘during the last few days,’ … a member of the [Iranian] parliament… was quoted by the local Fars News Agency as saying. The lawmaker gave no exact date of the shooting-down or any other details about the incident, but he said that ‘the United States sent such spy drones to the region every now and then.’… The United States accuses Iran of using its influence to meddle in the region, especially in Lebanon and Shiite-majority Iraq, besides seeking a nuclear weapon, which has been rejected by Iran…  In a show of defiance, an Iranian government spokesman said on Monday that the country was pushing ahead with its plan to install at least 3,000 centrifuges for nuclear fuel production.”

USA vs. Iran

The Associated Press reported on January 17:

“Provocative words by President Bush and a fresh American military buildup in the Persian Gulf seem to mark a new focus on Iran that could signal another Cold War or even a deadly confrontation… Sending a second carrier to the Gulf for the first time since 2003 and positioning a Patriot missile battalion in the region, mark a broader U.S. stand in the Middle East at a time when diplomatic efforts with countries such as Iran and Syria have stalled. It also puts U.S. policy at odds with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group’s recommendation that the administration should reach out to Iran and Syria to bring more regional support to Iraq.

“Trita Parsi, an Iranian-born author and Middle East scholar, said the strategy will lead to an endless balance-of-power game that will drain American resources and undermine the U.S. position in the region… Members of Congress have also expressed concern and pressed the administration to say whether the U.S. military has plans to move into Iran or Syria, and if that could be done without congressional authorization… The escalation against Iran comes as polls show Americans are overwhelmingly unhappy with Bush’s Iraq policy. Seventy percent oppose sending more troops to Iraq, as he intends to do, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll last week.”

Iran Buys Missiles from Russia and the USA

Reuters reported on January 16:

“Russia has delivered new anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran and will consider further requests by Tehran for defensive weapons, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Tuesday… Moscow says the sanctions [previously imposed on Iran] do not apply to the missiles. The Russian military insists that the missile systems will protect Iran from air attacks, but do not pose a threat to neighboring countries.”

The Associated Press added on January 16:

“The U.S. military has sold forbidden equipment at least a half-dozen times to middlemen for countries–including Iran and China–who exploited security flaws in the Defense Department’s surplus auctions. The sales include fighter jet parts and missile components.”

U.S. Trial of the Year

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 15:

“It’s the trial of the year in the United States. Former Bush administration official I. Lewis Libby is… facing charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case of CIA agent Valerie Plame. The spotlight is on Bush’s pre-Iraq War propaganda… The United States of America v. I. Lewis Libby begins at 9:30 a.m. sharp on Tuesday morning. Libby, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, is accused of having lied in order to cover up ‘concerted action’ by the White House to ‘discredit’ an enemy of US President George W. Bush… The Yale graduate is facing up to 30 years in prison. Libby is on trial for just one tiny segment of the propaganda battle the White House used to justify the invasion of Iraq…

“Before Christmas, rumors were still circulating in Washington that Bush would simply pardon Libby. But the risk associated with such a move must have seemed too great even to the most daring lawyers in the White House. Now the only hope left for the Bush administration is that the case has become so complicated that Americans are no longer able to make neither heads nor tails of it. Which is a distinct possibility. Even the quick and dirty version of the Valerie Plame affair is complicated enough. Joseph Wilson, a former US diplomat, travelled to Niger before the war in Iraq in order to verify secret service reports claiming that Saddam Hussein was buying uranium there for his presumed nuclear weapons program. He found out the story was a complete fiction — but Bush and Cheney continued to use the claim to beat the war drum. Wilson then humiliated the White House by going public with his findings. The mud slinging that followed was led by Libby … In the end, even the name of Wilson’s wife — Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent — was made public…

“But Libby, according to [special prosecutor] Fitzgerald, has lied repeatedly to the FBI and under oath to the grand jury. During his interrogation, Libby repeatedly stressed he had never known the name of Wilson’s wife and that he had learned it from journalists. But in fact Libby learned that name from his boss, Cheney. And Libby leaked it to the press… Libby… is… opting for a so-called ‘faulty memory defense,’ a method that is part of a notorious tradition in Washington. Richard Nixon is considered the tradition’s founder: He advised his co-conspirators in the Watergate affair to tell the jury they couldn’t remember the acts they were accused of. Large parts of the Reagan administration likewise suffered from collective faulty memory during the Iran-Contra affair. And now Libby also wants to swap out perjury for amnesia…

“Libby’s perjury look[s] like a third-rate crime, but the lies used to justify the war in Iraq weigh down the Bush administration to this day. Special prosecutor Fitzgerald will have to prove how important it was to the White House to maintain the illusion that the reasons for going to war were sound — and how vengefully Wilson was pursued because of this. That will be the only way to convince the jury that Libby couldn’t possibly just have forgotten the details of the campaign against Wilson.”

Severe Weather Conditions Destroy California Fruits

The Associated Press reported on January 16:

“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the federal government Tuesday for disaster aid because of an ongoing cold snap that has destroyed nearly $1 billion worth of California citrus, and industry officials said shoppers will feel the sting through higher prices for oranges, lemons and other produce… Nearly every winter crop is affected by the freeze, from avocados to strawberries to fresh-cut flowers, but it’s the state’s citrus crop that stands to take the biggest economic hit… California is the nation’s No. 1 producer of fresh citrus, growing about 86 percent of lemons and 21 percent of oranges sold in the U.S… Florida produces more oranges, but those are mostly processed for orange juice. “More than 70 percent of this season’s oranges, lemons and tangerines… were still on the trees as nighttime temperatures in California’s Central Valley dipped into the low 20s and tens on four straight nights beginning Friday. The freeze ruined as much as three-quarters of the California citrus crop, growers say; the fruit is threatened whenever the mercury falls below 28 degrees… Damages from the current freeze will likely surpass those from a three-day cold snap in December 1998 that destroyed 85 percent of California’s citrus crop, a loss valued at $700 million… The state also suffered a deep freeze in 1990 – one that completely wiped out the $1 billion crop. It took growers two years to recover…

“Adverse weather has also taken a toll on the Florida-dominated orange juice industry in recent years. After two nasty hurricane seasons compounded by drought and crop disease, PepsiCo Inc… which sells juice under the Tropicana and Dole labels, and Coca-Cola Co… which owns Minute Maid, each raised orange juice prices over the past several weeks…

“Strawberries growing along the coastal regions of Southern California were mostly ruined… The freeze also destroyed flowers that would produce the next berry crop on each plant… Growers in the Imperial Valley also were worried about tender vegetables such as lettuce that may not have held up to five days of temperatures in the mid-20s… Throughout the cold snap, growers have tried to save their crops by pumping fields with heated irrigation water and running wind machines to circulate warmer air and keep it from rising off the trees. David Pruitt of Ball Tagawa Growers in Arroyo Grande has struggled to keep 200,000 square feet of greenhouses between 60 and 74 degrees. The company produces a variety of seedlings, including pansies and marigolds. The greenhouses are heated with hot water fired by gas boilers. The cold ‘multiplies our gas use enormously,’ Pruitt said. The boilers ‘are just cranking full blast.'”

Doomsday Five Minutes Away

The Associated Press reported on January 17:

“The world is nudging closer to nuclear or environmental apocalypse, a group of prominent scientists warned Wednesday as it pushed the hand of its symbolic Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. The clock, which was set two minutes forward to 11:55, represents the likelihood of a global cataclysm. Its ticks have given the clock’s keepers a chance to speak out on the dangers they see threatening Earth. It was the fourth time since the Soviet collapse in 1991 that the clock ticked forward amid fears over what the scientists describe as ‘a second nuclear age’ prompted largely by standoffs with Iran and North Korea. But urgent warnings of climate change also played a role…”Stephen W. Hawking, the renowned cosmologist and mathematician, told The Associated Press that global warming has eclipsed other threats to the planet, such as terrorism. ‘Terror only kills hundreds or thousands of people,’ Hawking said. ‘Global warming could kill millions…’

“Since it was set to seven minutes to midnight in 1947, the Doomsday Clock has been moved 18 times, including Wednesday’s adjustment. It came closest to midnight — just two minutes away — in 1953 after the successful test of a hydrogen bomb by the United States. It has been as far away as 17 minutes, set there in 1991 following the demise of the Soviet Union.

“The decision to move the clock is made by the bulletin’s board, composed of scientists and policy experts, in coordination with the group’s sponsors, who include Hawking and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. Despite the organization’s new focus on global warming, the prospect of nuclear war remained its primary concern, the bulletin’s editor, Mark Strauss, told The AP. ‘It’s important to emphasize 50 of today’s nuclear weapons could kill 200 million people,’ he said.”

Petra–One of Seven New Wonders?

The Associated Press reported on January 16:

“Jordan’s ancient city Petra was officially declared a candidate Tuesday in the contest to name the new seven wonders of the world at a ceremony amid its rose-colored stone buildings. Contest founder Bernard Weber presented Jordan’s Queen Rania with Petra’s official candidacy at the event that included a presentation on the way the city’s first inhabitants lived. The New 7 Wonders of the World contest was launched in 2001 by Weber’s Geneva-based NewOpenWorld Foundation, which aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights. Twenty-one sites around the globe are vying to be declared wonders of the world.

“Petra, located 162 miles south of the Jordanian capital Amman, is built on a terrace around the Wadi Musa or Valley of Moses. It was the capital of the Arab kingdom of the Nabateans, a center of caravan trade, and continued to flourish under Roman rule after the Nabateans’ defeat in A.D. 106. It is famous for water tunnels and stone structures carved in the rock, including Ad-Dayr, ‘the Monastery,’ an uncompleted tomb facade that served as a church during Byzantine times. Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burchhardt in 1812 discovered the city that is hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier of rugged mountains… Egypt’s pyramids of Giza is the only other site in the Arab world that has reached the contest’s short-list. The New 7 Wonders of the World will be announced at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007.”

Angela Merkel in America

The Associated Press reported on January 4:

“President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, two allies looking to boost their mutual interests, conferred Thursday on issues ranging from war and energy problems to the economy and global warming. In Washington for an Oval Office meeting with Bush, Merkel’s visit came just days after Germany assumed the presidencies of the 27-nation European Union and the G-8 industrialized nations. The U.S. has high expectations that, given its position, Germany will advance American interests, including boosting security in Afghanistan and advancing peace in the Middle East…

“Being seen to have friendly relations with Bush carries some risk for Merkel, given the president’s unpopularity in Europe. But she minimizes them by publicly raising points of difference such as her stance that the prison camp at Guantanamo should be shut down, as she did on her 2005 trip to Washington. German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in Berlin that Merkel will underline her support for putting the so-called quartet–the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations–at the center of a revived Middle East peace effort.

“Bush has stressed that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a top priority although he has not conducted the kind of personal diplomacy engaged in by Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to travel to the Middle East soon.”

The German tabloid Bild reported on January 5 that Rice will “report” to Merkel after her trip to the Middle East.

With the stepping down of Britain’s Tony Blair this year, many view Merkel as emerging as the top ally of the United States. Such a development would undoubtedly tremendously increase Germany’s influence in the world. However, such “friendly” relationship will not last, as the Bible clearly reveals, but, in the meantime, it might foster Germany’s prophesied leading role in the world. The German tabloid, Bild Online, wrote on January 9, in light of Germany’s presidency of the European Union: “We are EU!”

The World Condemns US Actions in Somalia

Reuters reported on January 10:

“U.S. forces hunting al Qaeda suspects launched a new air strike on southern Somalia on Wednesday, a Somali government source said, as international criticism mounted over Washington’s military intervention… The U.S. actions were defended by Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, but criticised by others including new U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, the European Union, and former colonial power Italy… Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said Rome opposed ‘unilateral initiatives that could spark new tensions in an area that is already very destabilized.’… Monday’s attack on a southern village by an AC-130 plane firing automatic cannon was believed to have killed one of three al Qaeda suspects wanted for the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, a U.S. intelligence official said.”

Austria’s News Networld added that France condemned the U.S. attacks, stating that they only complicate matters and make the area less secure. It added: “Only Tony Blair defended the U.S. air strikes.”

Chirac Condemns the USA

AFP reported on January 5:

“French President Jacques Chirac has unleashed a torrent of criticism against the US-led war in Iraq, saying the conflict, which he fiercely opposed, had boosted the spread of terrorism. In a wide-ranging New Year’s foreign policy speech Friday, Chirac fired a broadside at what he called Washington’s ‘adventure’ in the Middle Eastern country, torn by sectarian strife almost four years after the invasion. ‘As France had foreseen and feared, the war in Iraq has sparked upheavals that have yet to show their full effects,’ Chirac [said].

“He said the conflict, which the United States still describes as part of the ‘war on terror’ it launched in 2001 following the September 11 attacks, had ‘offered terrorism a new field for expansion.’ Chirac said it had ‘exacerbated the divisions between communities and threatened the very integrity of Iraq’. ‘It undermined the stability of the entire region, where every country now fears for its security and its independence.’… The French leader attacked the ‘pitfalls of unilateralism’ in foreign affairs — a scarcely veiled reference to Washington’s decision to launch the Iraq war without United Nations backing.”

U.S. Debacle In Iraq Continues

AFP reported on January 10:

“US President George W. Bush took the blame for strategic blunders in Iraq, ordered 21,500 more US troops into battle, and warned Baghdad’s leaders to do more to shore up ebbing US support. ‘If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises’ to fight sectarian violence, he cautioned, ‘it will lose the support of the American people, and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people.’ Bush, in a prime-time televised speech from the White House, said his new push aimed to crush terrorists, insurgents and rogue militias and help Iraq’s security forces take control of the entire country by November. ‘The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people, and it is unacceptable to me,’ he told a war-weary US public nearly four years into the conflict. ‘Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.’… ‘We must expect more Iraqi and American casualties,’ said the president, whose poll numbers have plummeted as the US toll has climbed to more than 3,000 dead and many thousands wounded… The new plan will cost 5.6 billion dollars for the new US troops and about 1.2 billion in new spending aimed at shoring up Iraq’s battered economy, civil society, infrastructure and judicial system, the White House said.”

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 11:

“130,000 US soldiers haven’t been able to bring peace to Iraq. Now George W. Bush has admitted his error — and is sending in a further 21,000 troops. The US President is thus almost completely ignoring the recommendations of the Baker Commission… More blood, more money — that was Bush’s message. An extra 21,000 soldiers are to be sent to bring the situation in Baghdad and in Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold, under control. Bush named his strategy ‘The New Way Forward’ — but it seems suspiciously similar to all the previous failed attempts to stabilize Iraq.” In a related article, AFP wrote on January 10:

“Democrats wasted no time in slamming President George W. Bush’s latest strategy for Iraq, although rifts emerged among them about how best to respond to his plan to send fresh US troops to the war-torn country. Minutes after Bush in a nationally-televised speech outlined a last-ditch effort to salvage Iraq, Senate’s number two Dick Durbin repudiated the plan, and said it was time to pull US troops and let Iraq save itself. ‘It is time for the Iraqis to stand and defend their own nation. The government of Iraq must now prove that it will make the hard political decisions, which will bring an end to this bloody civil war,’ Durbin said. ‘Tonight President Bush acknowledged what most Americans know: We are not winning in Iraq, despite the courage and immense sacrifice of our military. Indeed the situation is grave and deteriorating,’ Durbin said, delivering the Democrats’ official response to the Bush speech. ‘Escalation of this war is not the change the American people called for in the last election,’ he said.”

However, will the Democrats actually DO something to prevent President Bush’s plans from being carried out? This appears very unlikely. As Der Spiegel Online remarks correctly, “The Democrats are just as divided over how to proceed over Iraq as Bush’s own party. Only one interest unites them: Until the presidential elections in 2008, it has to remain Bush’s war.” The German tabloid, Bild Online, predicted on January 11 that the Democrats will not show enough backbone to vote against providing the monetary support which Bush requests.

And so, the U.S. debacle in Iraq will continue…

Europe Unhappy With Russia

The pipeline “fiasco,” caused by Russia, affecting large parts of Europe, has been temporarily solved. But serious doubts about Russia’s arrogance and Putin’s intentions remain. Here is what transpired this week:

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 8, 2007:

“The conflict between Moscow and Minsk [Poland] over energy prices worsened on Monday, with potentially serious consequences for Western Europe. Russian pipeline operator Transneft shut down its… pipeline, which is the source of 20 percent of Germany’s oil imports…”

Great Britain’s The Times wrote on January 9: “The move raised further questions over whether Western Europe can trust Mr Putin for its energy supply. Experts said that Russia had a deeply entrenched habit of manipulating oil and gas supplies as a substitute for diplomatic policy…

“Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, told The Times last night that Germany will use its six-month EU presidency to improve energy security on the Continent. In her first interview with a British newspaper she signalled that she would take a harsher line towards Russia than her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder.”

Der Spiegel Online added on January 9:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have criticized Russia for shutting down a pipeline pumping oil to Europe. Russia’s move has dented its image as a reliable energy supplier, said Merkel… The latest energy spat between Russia and [Poland]… highlights how ruthless and arrogant Russia has become with its energy policy…

“Financial Times Deutschland writes… ‘the Russian move again shows how uncompromisingly hard the Kremlin is in enforcing its economic interests. Riding the wave of high world market prices for oil and gas, the Russian leadership has developed frightening arrogance. For the EU, which still regards Russia as a strategic partner, the warning signs are unmistakeable.’… Business daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘The case of Belarus harbors a lesson for western Europe: Russia is once again showing how irresponsibly it is handling its increased global role.’…

“The conservative Die Welt writes: ‘The Europeans must act together — not just because that makes them stronger. Also because Europe increasingly has to counter energy-hungry competitors such as China…'”

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 11:

“The… oil pipeline, connecting Russia with Germany and Central Europe, is open once again. Following a three-day suspension of supplies, the Russian operator of the pipeline said that oil began flowing again at about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. The resumption of crude oil to Europe via Belarus comes a day after Moscow and Minsk reached an agreement in the tiff which had led to the pipeline’s closure…

“European concerns about the reliability of Russia as an energy supplier were heightened by the pipeline closure. One year ago, a dispute with Ukraine over natural gas prices led to an interruption of supplies to a number of European countries… European worry about Russia’s reliability as an energy supplier had already been high. Moscow has raised gas prices to a number of former Soviet states in recent years leaving the impression that it was using fuel prices as a foreign policy tool. In December, Russia more than doubled the price Belarus has to pay for natural gas to $100 per 1,000 cubic meters not long after Belarus began distancing itself from a proposal to reunite with Russia.”

Even though the problem seems to be solved temporarily, justified doubts about Russia’s reliability as an energy supplier remain.

These developments might be very interesting “forerunners” of a Biblical prophecy, stating that the end-time German or Austrian leader of a united Europe will respond with great fury to “news from the east and the north”–i.e., Russia, China and other Far Eastern countries (Daniel 11:44).

Mubarak Speaks Out on Saddam’s “Barbaric” and “Illegal” Execution

ABC News reported on January 5, 2007:

“Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said pictures of the execution of Saddam Hussein were ‘revolting and barbaric’ and that experts considered his trial under occupation illegal. In his first comments on the execution, which took place on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice, last Saturday, Mubarak told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth the timing was ‘unreasonable.’

“In the interview, he said he had written to President Bush asking him to postpone the execution, arguing that it would not be helpful at that time. He did not say how Bush responded. ‘Then the pictures of the execution were revolting and barbaric, and I am not discussing here whether he deserved it or not.

“As for the trial, all experts in international law said it was an illegal trial because it was under occupation. ‘Also, there was a conspiracy to carry out the execution before the end of the year,’ he added. Mubarak and Saddam were friendly in the 1980s but fell out over the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Mubarak had advised the United States not to invade Iraq to overthrow Saddam, saying that it would lead to chaos.”

Will Israel Attack Iran With Nuclear Weapons?

Great Britain’s The Sunday Times reported on January 6, 2007:

“Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons. Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear ‘bunker-busters’, according to several Israeli military sources. The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb. Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open ‘tunnels’ into the targets. ‘Mini-nukes’ would then immediately be fired into a plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of radioactive fallout…

“The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad’s assessment that Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make nuclear weapons within two years… The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has declared that ‘Israel must be wiped off the map’. Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military action against Iran as a ‘last resort’, leading Israeli officials to conclude that it will be left to them to strike… Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds would be released… Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the nerve to attack Iran…”

Israel Denies Report

AFP reported on January 7:

“Israel has drawn up plans to destroy Iranian uranium enrichment facilities with a tactical nuclear strike, a British newspaper said Sunday in a report rejected as ‘absurd’ by the Jewish state. The Sunday Times quoted several Israeli military sources as saying that two of the Jewish state’s air force squadrons are training to use ‘bunker-busting’ bombs for a single strike. ‘This is absurd information coming from a newspaper that has already in the past distinguished itself with sensationalist headlines that in the end amounted to nothing,’ retorted an Israeli official. ‘To think that we will launch an atomic attack against Iran, and on top of that that we would reveal it in advance to a foreign newspaper is doubly ridiculous,’ the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP. The Sunday Times — which in 1986 first revealed Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal — said the plans involved sending conventional, laser-guided missiles to open up ‘tunnels’ in the targets before ‘mini-nukes’ with a force the equivalent of one-fifteenth of the Hiroshima bomb are fired in.”

Germany Alarmed Over Israel’s Alleged Intentions

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 8, 2007:

“The British Sunday Times has reported that Israel is preparing for a nuclear strike on Iran’s atomic weapons facilities. Planted or not, the story should serve as a wake-up call for the West… Germany’s papers Monday expressed alarm at the report and called on the West to stand firm on Iran so that Israel would not feel pressured into taking matters into its own hands. “The business daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘It’s not easy to believe Israel’s denials (that it is planning an attack), because top Israeli politicians and military officers regularly threaten Iran with violence. Deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh said in November he did not want to rule out a military option against Iran as ‘a last resort.’ In October Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sent a similar warning to Tehran… The Israeli public is being systematically prepared for a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities… there is a reckless consensus: that the Iranian regime can not be dissuaded from developing the bomb using diplomatic means alone.”

“The left-of-center daily Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘Israeli politicians have not ruled out a pre-emptive strike against Iran in theory, and the fact that Israel has already bombed a foreign nuclear installation, in Iraq in 1981 — albeit with conventional means — speaks for the validity of the Sunday Times’ report. On the other hand, the obvious question is whether the article was deliberately planted in the media. Officially Israel is following a policy of ambiguity as to the existence of Israeli nuclear weapons. Recently, however, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert included the country in the ranks of the nuclear powers. Before that, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had classified Israel as a nuclear power. Is the new report a new attempt to threaten Tehran with the bomb, without doing so directly — and also to test the reaction of the West?’

“The conservative daily Die Welt writes: ‘The headlines about Israel’s alleged attack plans against Iran can be clearly seen as a weapon of psychological warfare. Israel profits from such news: It makes the Iranians aware of the consequences of their policies and puts the world under pressure to not simply accept Iran’s nuclear program… It is irrelevant if the story is true or not. The only important thing is whether one believes Israel is ready to use force. The Israeli government has been making it clear to the world for months that it will not accept an Iranian nuclear bomb and will stop at nothing to prevent it. It is obvious that a military strike could be a last resort after other efforts have been exhausted. No state will simply look on as a regime which wishes its destruction arms itself. And Iran wants to wipe Israel from the map. Israel will act if the major powers fail to keep Tehran from developing the bomb. However, it is doubtful that the conflict could be solved with a single military strike… A protracted and bloody conflict is much more likely. This in turn can not be in the interests of the Americans and the Europeans. For this reason, they should deter the Israeli government from acting by itself. This however means resolutely confronting Iran and, if necessary, acting against Tehran even without a United Nations mandate. In short: (The West) cannot allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances.'”

Reactions to Saddam Hussein’s Death

Germany and Europe, as well as the Catholic Church stand united against the United States’ support of Saddam Hussein’s execution. And even many Arabs are upset about the timing and a perception that the trial against Saddam was unfair. All seem to agree that Saddam’s death will increase the violence in Iraq.

European and American Reactions

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 30:

“Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging in Baghdad. Shiites danced in the street to celebrate while Sunnis mourned the dictator’s death…

“US President George W. Bush issued a statement from his Texan ranch welcoming the execution. Bringing Saddam to justice was ‘an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself,’ the statement read. Bush added that the execution marks the ‘end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops’. However he cautioned that Saddam’s death will not halt the violence in Iraq. “German politicians criticized the death penalty after hearing the news. ‘The federal government, like the European Union, rejects the death penalty on principle, irrespective of the circumstances,’ the Foreign Ministry said in a statement..'”

Austria’s Networld reported on December 30 that the European Union condemned Saddam’s execution as “barbaric.”

How the Vatican Sees It

The Associated Press reported on December 30:

“The Vatican spokesman on Saturday denounced Saddam Hussein’s execution as ‘tragic’ and expressed worry it might fuel revenge and new violence… In separate comments to the station’s English program, Lombardi said that capital punishment cannot be justified ‘even when the person put to death is one guilty of grave crimes,’ and he reiterated the Catholic Church’s overall opposition to the death penalty. Executing Saddam ‘is not a way to reconstruct justice’ in Iraqi society, the spokesman said. ‘It might fuel the spirit of revenge and sow seeds of new violence.’… In an interview published in an Italian daily earlier in the week, the Vatican’s top prelate for justice issues, Cardinal Renato Martino, said executing Saddam would mean punishing ‘a crime with another crime.'”

The Associated Press added on January 3:

“The Vatican’s official newspaper on Tuesday decried media images of Saddam Hussein’s hanging as a ‘spectacle’ violating human rights and harming efforts to promote reconciliation in Iraq… The paper added that: ‘in a country ever more disfigured by every kind of violence, you don’t need arrogant gestures…'”

Arab Reactions

Reuters reported on December 30:

“Saddam Hussein’s execution on Saturday angered many Arabs, but even some who felt the former Iraqi leader deserved to die voiced a sense of justice denied. Many said his hanging for crimes against humanity, on the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, would worsen violence in Iraq…Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, told Al Jazeera television: ‘Arab public opinion wonders who deserves to be tried and executed: Saddam Hussein who preserved the unity of Iraq, its Arab and Islamic identity and the coexistence of its different communities such as Shi’ites and Sunnis … or those who engulfed the country in this bloody civil war?’…

“In Afghanistan, which preceded Iraq as the first target in the U.S.-declared ‘war on terror,’ a top commander of the resurgent Islamist Taliban movement said Saddam’s death would galvanize Muslim opposition to the United States… In Mecca, Sunni Arab pilgrims voiced outrage that Iraqi authorities had executed Saddam on a major religious holiday… Beyond the Arab world, few Muslims seemed ready to defend Saddam, but many doubted that full justice had been done.  In Pakistan, Liaqat Baluch, a leader of a six-party opposition alliance of conservative religious parties, said Saddam was a ‘bad guy’ but his trial had been unfair.”

America’s Destroyed Dictator

On December 30, the British daily, The Independent, published the following editorial by Robert Fisk, titled: “A dictator created then destroyed by America”:

“Saddam to the gallows. It was an easy equation. Who could be more deserving of that last walk to the scaffold – that crack of the neck at the end of a rope – than the Beast of Baghdad, the Hitler of the Tigris, the man who murdered untold hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis while spraying chemical weapons over his enemies? Our masters will tell us in a few hours that it is a ‘great day’ for Iraqis and will hope that the Muslim world will forget that his death sentence was signed – by the Iraqi ‘government’, but on behalf of the Americans – on the very eve of the Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, the moment of greatest forgiveness in the Arab world. “But history will record that the Arabs and other Muslims and, indeed, many millions in the West, will ask another question this weekend, a question that will not be posed in other Western newspapers because it is not the narrative laid down for us by our presidents and prime ministers – what about the other guilty men?

“No, Tony Blair is not Saddam. We don’t gas our enemies. George W Bush is not Saddam. He didn’t invade Iran or Kuwait. He only invaded Iraq. But hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians are dead – and thousands of Western troops are dead – because Messrs Bush and Blair and the Spanish Prime Minister and the Italian Prime Minister and the Australian Prime Minister went to war in 2003 on a potage of lies and mendacity and, given the weapons we used, with great brutality.

“In the aftermath of the international crimes against humanity of 2001 we have tortured, we have murdered, we have brutalised and killed the innocent – we have even added our shame at Abu Ghraib to Saddam’s shame at Abu Ghraib – and yet we are supposed to forget these terrible crimes as we applaud the swinging corpse of the dictator we created.

“Who encouraged Saddam to invade Iran in 1980, which was the greatest war crime he has committed for it led to the deaths of a million and a half souls? And who sold him the components for the chemical weapons with which he drenched Iran and the Kurds? We did. No wonder the Americans, who controlled Saddam’s weird trial, forbad any mention of this, his most obscene atrocity, in the charges against him. Could he not have been handed over to the Iranians for sentencing for this massive war crime? Of course not. Because that would also expose our culpability.

“And the mass killings we perpetrated in 2003 with our depleted uranium shells and our ‘bunker buster’ bombs and our phosphorous, the murderous post-invasion sieges of Fallujah and Najaf, the hell-disaster of anarchy we unleashed on the Iraqi population in the aftermath of our ‘victory’ – our ‘mission accomplished’ – who will be found guilty of this? Such expiation as we might expect will come, no doubt, in the self-serving memoirs of Blair and Bush, written in comfortable and wealthy retirement…

“… But [Saddam’s] execution will go down – correctly – as an American affair and time will add its false but lasting gloss to all this – that the West destroyed an Arab leader who no longer obeyed his orders from Washington, that, for all his wrongdoing (and this will be the terrible get-out for Arab historians, this shaving away of his crimes) Saddam died a ‘martyr’ to the will of the new ‘Crusaders’.

“When he was captured in November of 2003, the insurgency against American troops increased in ferocity. After his death, it will redouble in intensity again. Freed from the remotest possibility of Saddam’s return by his execution, the West’s enemies in Iraq have no reason to fear the return of his Baathist regime…”

Sadam’s Execution “Merely an Act of Shiite Revenge”?

ABC News reported on December 30 about an uncut video of Saddam Hussein’s execution, which is being placed on the Internet and which has been broadcast on several TV stations around the world. The video, which had apparently been shot on a cell phone by one of the two dozen witnesses, shows numerous provocations of Saddam by Shiites before, during and after the hanging. ABC News stated:

“There are five men in black face masks who are visible on the gallows platform around Saddam, acting as guards. As they guide him towards the trap door and put the noose over his head, they start chanting religious slogans with the names of Moqtada al Sadr (the head of the Mahdi army, accused of organizing death squads against Sunnis) and Baqr al Sadr (the father-in-law of Moqtada). Saddam, a Sunni, is outraged at this last-minute provocation, and tells them to ‘go to hell.’…

“… the impact of this video could be quite significant. First, it will reinforce Sunni suspicions that the execution of Saddam was merely an act of Shiite revenge for decades of repression under Saddam. The building where the execution took place was expressly chosen because it was once used as a detention center by a division of Saddam’s secret police that was focused on the Shiite Dawa party. Some of the witnesses whom the government invited to the execution had themselves once been tortured in that same building. Indeed, Prime Minister Maliki, who signed the execution order the day before the hanging, is a long-term member of the Dawa party and had himself been sentenced to death by Saddam back in 1980 before fleeing the country. “Worse, it will also reinforce the fears of Sunnis that Maliki’s government is beholden to the Mahdi army, Moqtada’s militia. Executions are generally expected to be solemn affairs–certainly not opportunities for thugs to score some final sectarian points before the ‘enemy’ is disposed of. The video itself seems quite distasteful–but it is informative to the extent that it reveals the political baggage that the current government carries on its shoulders. It does not add up to a pretty picture.”

Der Spiegel Online added on January 3:

“The international community has been outraged — especially at Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose government not only let a (banned) mobile phone slip into the execution chamber, but also hurried up the hanging… German newspapers see the whole affair as a gruesome circus that either threatens western values or drives another wedge between Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites. Some even suspect Maliki of using Saddam’s execution as a sop to his Shiite supporters…

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

‘It would have been a miracle if Saddam’s execution had not raised new problems for the Baghdad government, the overstrained US army, or for the violence-plagued Iraqi people. But now a mobile-phone video has turned up, and the pictures and sound both show, first, just how degraded Saddam’s death was, and second how depraved a society has to be to turn the execution of a condemned thug into a cheap and coarse spectacle… The video also shows that neither the Baghdad government nor the American occupiers are in a position to control an execution… Saddam Hussein’s death won’t heal old wounds any more than it will satisfy a lust for revenge — the pictures are more likely to achieve the opposite effect. And a government that can’t even prohibit recordings of an execution will never be able to control its country.'”

Divisions Between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnites Continue

The Financial Times reported on December 30:

“Street celebrations and a handful of angry protests erupted in Iraq’s streets early this morning, as the country awoke to the news that former president Saddam Hussein, who had overshadowed Iraqi public life for over three decades, had been put to death. However, a series of blasts in mostly Shia areas left at least 68 Iraqis dead, while six US troops were reported killed, pushing the death toll for December to 109 and making it the worst month for US forces in two years…

“The different reactions and the continued sectarian violence reflect the legacy of Saddam’s regime, which was dominated by Sunni Arabs and brutally repressed Shia religious and political movements. The execution is unlikely to bridge this divide, as perceptions of Saddam’s hanging differ radically between Sunni Arab and Shia. Even the timing of his hanging seemed to reinforce the sectarian gap–although Iraqi law bans executions during religious holidays, it took place just as the Sunni’s Eid al-Adha feast was beginning. Shia begin celebrations a day later.”

Saddam’s Death Personal Vindication?

The New York Times wrote on December 30:

“The capture of Saddam Hussein three years ago was a jubilant moment for the White House, hailed by President Bush in a televised address from the Cabinet Room. The execution of Mr. Hussein, though, seemed hardly to inspire the same sentiment… After Mr. Hussein was arrested Dec. 13, 2003, he gradually faded from view, save for his courtroom outbursts and writings from prison. The growing chaos and violence in Iraq has steadily overshadowed the torturous rule of Mr. Hussein, who for more than two decades held a unique place in the politics and psyche of the United States, a symbol of the manifestation of evil in the Middle East.

“Now, what could have been a triumphal bookend to the American invasion of Iraq has instead been dampened by the grim reality of conditions on the ground there. Mr. Hussein’s hanging means that the ousted leader has been held accountable for his misdeeds, fulfilling the American war aim most cited by the White House after Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction proved nonexistent.

“But that war is now edging toward its fifth year, and the sectarian violence that has surged independent of any old Sunni or Baathist allegiances to Mr. Hussein has raised questions about what change, if any, his death might bring.

“’Saddam’s face has been on this process from the beginning and here goes that face,’ said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin… the specter of Mr. Hussein remained intimately entwined with Mr. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush. Two years after the Persian Gulf war, Mr. Hussein ordered an assassination attempt on the elder Bush, an act of spite that the 43rd president would never forget… Mr. Buchanan, a longtime observer of the Bush political family in Texas, said that these were no ordinary archenemies and that setting aside personal views entirely seemed impossible. ‘I think the president will see this as justice done and may well feel some sense of vindication, in part because of the attempt on his father’s life,’ he said. ‘It’s definitely part of the drama.'”

Italy Wants Worldwide Moratorium on Death Penalty

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 3:

“Rome is calling on European Union member states and the United Nations to push for an international moratorium on capital punishment. The move follows the controversial execution this weekend of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein, who was sentenced to death for committing crimes against humanity… Rome is hoping to gain the support of the 85 UN member states who recently joined a non-binding declaration against the death penalty…

“… the Italians are also seeking to get the European Union — which makes a ban on capital punishment a precondition for membership — to promote a global moratorium. Rome has also asked Germany to add the issue to the agenda at an upcoming meeting of justice ministers in Dresden.

“In Iraq, the government deflected the criticism, noting that the Italians themselves had executed former fascist leader Benito Mussolini during World War II. ‘They have no right interfering with the affairs of another country,’ Iraqi government official Yaseen Majeed told the Italian daily La Repubblica. ‘Mussolini’s trial only lasted one minute.” The dictator was executed by partisans and strung up in a square in Milan in April 1945. Mussolini’s granddaughter and European Parliament member Alessandra Mussolini said her ‘blood ran cold’ as she viewed the images of Saddam’s execution. ‘My mind immediately flicked to pictures of my grandfather, who also had his uncovered face exposed to the public for ridicule,’ she said.”

War Has Returned to Somalia

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 2, 2007:

“Ethiopia has driven the Islamists out of Mogadishu. Now the region is threatened with a new East African front in the clash of civilizations. The radical Somalis are looking for support from the Middle East, and Ethiopia has turned to the US government for support in its fight against the Taliban-like Islamists… War has returned to the Horn of Africa, and the outcome is unclear. With tanks and many thousands of soldiers, the Ethiopian Army moved into the Somali capital of Mogadishu last Thursday, taking control of airports and the presidential palace…

“‘Somalia is at risk of becoming the battlefield of a global war between an Islamist international force and Western anti-terrorism forces,’ warns Hamburg-based Somalia expert Volker Matthies. ‘While the Islamists receive sufficient support from fundamentalists from the Arab world, the weaker government of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, recognized by the West, gets its support from Addis Ababa. So Ethiopia is turning into an east African bridgehead for the Americans in their war against terror.’…

“Still, the unsuccessful debate in the UN Security Council has made it clear that Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is now officially an ally of America. No one fears a bridgehead of the Islamists in East Africa more than the US, whose embassies in Nairobi and Darussalam were blown up in 1998 by Osama Bin Laden’s terrorists…

“… there are now renewed threats of war with Eritrea, which is among Ethiopia’s enemies and will not hesitate to arm the Islamists or even to send its own soldiers off to the fight. Ethiopia and Eritrea are extremely poor states, but each country nevertheless maintains an army of more than 180,000 very well prepared soldiers.

“The government in Addis Ababa already views itself as being in a bind… Now Ethiopian soldiers have crossed into the neighboring country, and the Islamists are calling up their allies in the Middle East to a ‘holy war’ against the invaders. They could now face a similar debacle as did the Americans in 1992, when they came to Somalia to combat a famine — and withdrew in humiliation after the desecrated body of a GI was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. There already is a similar photo on display today on the Internet. It shows an Ethiopian soldier, hands tied behind his back, his throat slit.”

Will Dollar’s Decline Prompt War with Iran?

WorldNetDaily wrote on January 2:

“Economists anticipate that the fall of the U.S dollar in world currency markets that began in 2006 will accelerate in 2007.

“‘The dollar could lose as much as 30 percent of its value in 2007,’ econometrician John Williams… told WND. ‘In 2007, we are likely to see the economic downturn of 2006 develop into a structural recession and yet we have international trade and federal budged deficits careening out of control.’… Bob Chapman… told WND, ‘Central bankers in 2007 will begin to move away from the dollar in their foreign reserve holdings.’…”Iran’s decision to hold only Euros may prompt a U.S. decision to launch a pre-emptive attack, Chapman speculated, with the public argument being Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons in defiance of the U.N. Security Council. ‘Saddam Hussein signed his death warrant,’ Chapman argued, ‘when he got the U.N. to agree that he could hold [his] oil-for-food reserves in euros. Ahmadinejad appears determined to go down the same path.'”

Dangerous Religious Deception in Iran…

ynetnew reported on December 31:

“A triumphal religious prophecy has appeared on an Iranian official state media website, heralding the return of the Shiite messiah. According to the website, ‘Imam Mahdi (may God hasten his reappearance) will appear all of a sudden on the world scene with a voice from the skies announcing his reappearance at the holy Ka’ba in Mecca.’…

“The Mahdi’s far sightedness and firmness in the face of mischievous elements will strike awe. After his uprising from Mecca all of Arabia will be submit to him and then other parts of the world as he marches upon Iraq and established his seat of global government in the city of Kufa.

‘Then the Imam will send 10 thousand of his forces to the east and west to uproot the oppressors. At this time God will facilitate things for him and lands will come under his control one after the other,’ the website declared. ‘After his appearance the Imam would remain in Mecca for some time, and then go to Medina… a descendant of the Prophet’s archenemy Abu Sofyan will seize Syria and attack Iraq and the Hejaz with the ferocity of a beast… finally Imam Mahdi sends troops who kill the Sofyani in Beit ol-Moqaddas (Jerusalem), the Islamic holy city in Palestine that is currently under occupation of the Zionists,’ the IRIB added…

“According to the Iranian series, the Mahdi will reappear on earth with Jesus: ‘We read in the book Tazkarat ol-Olia, ‘the Mahdi will come with Jesus son of Mary accompanying him.’ …Imam Mahdi will be the leader while Prophet Jesus will act as his lieutenant in the struggle against oppression and establishment of justice in the world. Jesus had himself given the tidings of the coming of God’s last messenger and will see Mohammad’s ideals materialize in the time of the Mahdi.'”

… And in the United States

The Associated Press reported on January 3:

“In what has become an annual tradition of prognostications, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson predicted Tuesday that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in ‘mass killing’ late in 2007. ‘I’m not necessarily saying it’s going to be nuclear,’ he said during his news-and-talk television show ‘The 700 Club’… The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.’ “Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September…

“In May, Robertson said God told him that storms and possibly a tsunami were to crash into America’s coastline in 2006. Even though the U.S. was not hit with a tsunami, Robertson on Tuesday cited last spring’s heavy rains and flooding in New England as partly fulfilling the prediction.”

The sad news is that the Bible predicts that the United States WILL BE experiencing man-made and natural disasters with increasing strength and frequency, as we are approaching the time of the return of Jesus Christ. But it is preposterous to claim that God “spoke” to someone to give him the precise date–especially, when that person does not teach that we must keep ALL of God’s Ten Commandments, INCLUDING the weekly Sabbath (Note our Editorial in this issue). We might also ask, HOW did God “speak” to that person?

Romania and Bulgaria Join the EU

Britain’s The Telegraph wrote the following on January 1:

“At midnight last night Romania and Bulgaria became the newest nations of the European Union, bringing with them some 30 million people from one of the poorest corners of the continent. Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to flock to street parties and concerts for the double celebration of New Year and EU entry, which they hope will… lead to greater prosperity and a final break with communism…. In both countries surveys have shown two thirds of respondents in favour of joining, despite misgivings about rises in prices and the cost of living…

“Britain [as well as most other European countries, including Ireland, Germany, Austria and The Netherlands] will not however be granting Romanians and Bulgarians the same unhindered access to its job market allowed to Poles and other eastern Europeans when they joined in 2004. In mid-December the Government launched a television, radio and poster campaign informing Bulgarians and Romanians that although they can visit Britain without a visa for three months they will need a work permit — in most cases — to gain employment.”

Reuters added on January 1:

“The accession of Romania and Bulgaria will raise the EU’s membership to 27, almost half of them former communist states cut off from the West by the Iron Curtain until 1989…”

“Angela Can Fix It…”

The BBC News published the following article on December 29:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel has chosen the motto ‘succeeding together’ for Germany’s six-month EU presidency starting on 1 January–at a time of weak morale in the EU. On the plus side, the EU is celebrating the entry of Romania and Bulgaria as new members, its economy is picking up and it claims global leadership on issues like climate change… there are widespread hopes among EU-watchers that ‘Angela can fix it’…

“Germany, as Europe’s largest nation and biggest economy, is being asked to revive the EU’s faltering sense of purpose. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says the German presidency expects to spend a lot of energy responding to unforeseen crises on the EU’s behalf…

“Mrs Merkel wants to save as much as possible of the original draft treaty, which provided for an EU president and foreign minister at the head of new structures for common European internal and foreign policies. At a special leaders’ meeting on 25 March 2007, 50 years after the signing of the Treaty of Rome, she will issue a ‘Berlin Declaration’, in an attempt to re-inspire Europeans with the ideal of continent-wide integration and to map out Europe’s common challenges…

“The Germans are themselves involved in a damaging split: Poland and the Baltic states strongly oppose the strategic deal done by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in 2005 to build a new North European gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea. It will supply customers in Western Europe, bypassing Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine. Since then Russia’s robust use of its vast energy resources as a foreign policy tool has thrown prospects for a strategic EU-Russia partnership agreement into doubt. And the unsolved murders of several high-profile opponents of Mr Putin have led the Europeans to question whether this Russian leadership is committed to respecting civil rights and the rule of law, or even wants to be a constructive partner…

“Despite the mountain of problems much of Europe looks with hope to Mrs Merkel’s lead. Not only is Germany big enough to get things moving. But Angela Merkel, in her tactful way, has also chastised other European leaders for their lack of courage in [making] decisions. ”

Jerusalem Ex-Mayor Kollek Dies at 95

Deutsche Welle reported on January 2, 2007:

“Former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek, who presided over the reunification of the city after the 1967 Middle East war, has died at the age of 95. Within days of the end of the war, Kollek ordered the stone wall which had divided Jerusalem to be torn down. He preached Israeli-Palestinian coexistence while attempting to balance the national aspirations of both people during nearly three decades as mayor. The Jerusalem Foundation, a charity founded by Kollek 40 years ago, said he died of natural causes. He is expected to be buried in a state funeral in Jerusalem on Thursday.”

Church of God members will recall the close friendship that existed between Teddy Kollek and the late Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God and the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation.

2007 — A Big Year for Germany

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 27:

“2007 will be a big year for Germany: As president of the European Union, Chancellor Angela Merkel will have to reenergize a flagging European project. And as chair of the G8, she will have to resolve some of the most burning issues facing the world’s industrialized nations… [It will be the] largest political event post-war Germany has ever staged… On Jan. 1, Germany will assume the presidency of the G8 organization of the largest industrial powers. In addition, Berlin will also chair the European Union Council, presiding over the EU’s 27 member states for six months.”The 2007 ‘Germany Show’ will be played out in rather mundane venues like Heiligendamm, but also at historic locations, like Cecilienhof palace, where the Potsdam Conference was held in 1945, and the baroque Zeughaus, the former Prussian armory, in the center of Berlin. Many German politicians will have a chance to step into the limelight, not least among them Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. But it is German Chancellor Angela Merkel who will play the starring role. For months the country’s first female chancellor will be shaking hands, holding meetings, appearing on TV screens and showing Europe, and the world, the modern Germany…

“Merkel already commands the respect of her male colleagues. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, has referred to her as ‘the visionary of Europe.’ The new United Nations general secretary, Ban Ki Moon, hopes that Merkel’s ‘double role’ will be a great source of help for both of them. And the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, a close ally of the German chancellor among Europe’s conservatives, talks about his ‘faith in Germany’s ability to lead Europe.’

“Diplomats circling the globe today come across a frightening number of conflict zones that Berlin must now deal with: from the Balkans, Afghanistan and Russia, to Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, even as far afield as Sudan and Congo. Two hotspots of particular worry are the Middle East and the Serbian province of Kosovo. The chancellor’s advisor Christoph Heusgen has also identified events in Israel as ‘a focal point for European foreign policy.’ Heusgen says that, at the very latest, this focus became intensified by the ‘increased physical engagement on the ground’ that has come with the deployment of international peacekeeping troops to southern Lebanon, where German Navy ships patrol the coast to prevent weapons deliveries to Hezbollah. In an internal analysis the German Foreign Ministry has identified five “risks” for the coming six months, including new elections in Lebanon and the Palestinian areas and the threat of new terrorist and rocket attacks on Israel. Add to that what seasoned diplomats call the ‘biggest problem’ the German presidency will face: the challenge posed by the Balkans…

“But what will really decide the success of Merkel’s presidency, will be how well she deals with the question of the EU constitution. The Union’s heads of state and government have so been unable to solve the central questions of the distribution of power in a satisfactory manner. How many votes does each member state have? When is a veto possible? Should Europe speak with the voice of one president… The other powerful EU states France and Britain are now weaker because their long-term leaders, Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair, are at the twilight of their political careers. There is no point in Merkel undertaking any concrete initiative before the French presidential elections in May — and there will only be a few weeks after it, during which the chancellor will be able to come up with anything. Faith in the European idea is rapidly fading anyway, as a survey published last week by the European Commission revealed. Whereas over 70 percent of all Europeans supported the EU project at the end of the 1990s, today that figure is only 53 percent. And only 33 percent of Europeans believe that the EU is on the right track.

“So will Merkel turn things round? Even members of her own Christian Democrat Union (CDU) party view this as almost inconceivable. ‘That would be like achieving the impossible,’ says Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.

“Nevertheless, the chancellor and her foreign minister are hanging on to a glimmer of hope. In early December, Merkel gathered her Berlin staff and the German EU ambassadors together to come up with a plan of attack. The most important result of the confidential meeting was that as much of the original substance of the existing contract as possible should be kept — after all, the agreement has already been ratified by 18 states… during the first three months of 2007 Merkel will conduct face-to-face meetings with her 26 fellow European leaders to find common ground in order to get the constitution back on track. Meetings will also be set up with potential French presidential candidates — discreetly, of course, as no one wants to insult Chirac. In this way, says one advisor, Merkel is trying to work out where the ‘absolute red line’ on the constitution is. To all intents and purposes this group of people would take the scissors to the draft constitution until it is acceptable to all.

“The first fruits of Merkel’s efforts will be on show on March 25, which the chancellor is describing as ‘the dramatic high-point of the German presidency.’ At a special summit in the Zeughaus building of the German Historical Museum in the center of Berlin, Europe will be celebrating the 50th birthday of the Treaty of Rome, the document that founded the European Economic Community that would later grow to become the European Community and, ultimately, today’s European Union. Merkel believes the event will provide a good opportunity to put new life into the European project, which has languished in the new millennium.”

The Bible clearly reveals that continental Europe WILL unite. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

German Fighter Jets Requested for Afghanistan

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 21, 2006:

“It happened faster than expected: NATO has requested in a confidential letter that the German military deploy German Tornado surveillance and fighter jets to Afghanistan. Berlin has agreed to comply — and the German parliament will not be given a chance to debate the matter…

“The situation in Kabul is more dangerous than it has been for a long time. Taliban fighters have gotten a foothold into the city’s suburbs and are gradually infiltrating the Afghan capital from there. The city’s southern districts have become a ‘gateway’ for suicide attackers and armed fighters…

“Until now, the German government has expanded its military commitments in Afghanistan in a series of small steps. But the pace is speeding up. First came occasional transport flights in the hard-fought south of the country. Then a few signals specialists were dispatched to Kandahar. Now it’s Tornado surveillance jets, equipped with cameras — and cannons. The Germans are allowing themselves to get deeper and deeper involved in the Afghanistan conflict, and there is no end in sight. Between Christmas and New Year, US C-17 transport planes will unload heavy German Marder tanks at the German military’s central headquarters in Mazar-e-Sharif.

“And the Germans will also have to agree to the request for the Tornados. There is no doubt about that in the German Chancellery, at the Defense Ministry or at the Foreign Ministry. The complaints from Germany’s NATO allies during the past weeks about the German armed forces, who are seen as having installed themselves in the relatively quiet north of Afghanistan, leaving the fighting to their allies, had grown too loud…

“Step by step, the government began venturing into dangerous territory. Shortly before the NATO summit in Riga, Berlin sent 23 signals specialists to Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, to assist the British troops stationed there — and curb the ire of Germany’s NATO allies. ‘Without the Germans, the British would have been in a fix,’ one NATO general admitted…

“German Tornado jets were already deployed in combat situations about eight years ago — in order to ‘avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the Kosovo conflict,’ as the Bundestag resolution, passed by a large majority, stated then. It was the first time that German troops were deployed in combat since World War II. This time the Tornados are meant to fly as reconnaissance planes — but that can of course be changed at any time. The German military journal Soldat und Technik notes, not without a certain pride, that the planes can be converted into bombers again in no time. A few hours are all it takes to replace camera-equipped containers with bombs. The jets fly at an altitude of between 60 and 2,600 meters (197 and 8,530 feet). Their infrared sensors are capable of detecting even freshly dug graves at the edge of a forest — a technological capability sometimes utilized in police investigations within Germany.”

Germany is destined to play a major role in world affairs. Even though many Germans are opposed to their country’s military involvement in other parts of the world, the pressure from Germany’s allies to engage in such a way, will steadily grow in time. Our booklet, “Europe in Prophecy,” explains in much detail what is certain to happen soon in Germany, Europe and the rest of the World.

The War Has Begun

The Associated Press reported on December 24:

“Ethiopia sent fighter jets into Somalia and bombed several towns Sunday in a dramatic attack on Somalia’s powerful Islamic movement, and Ethiopia’s prime minister said his country had been ‘forced to enter a war.’ It was the first time Ethiopia acknowledged its troops were fighting in support of Somalia’s U.N.-backed interim government even though witnesses had been reporting their presence for weeks in an escalating battle that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa region. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi went on television to announce that his country was at war with the Islamic movement that wants to rule neighboring Somalia by the Quran.

“‘Our defense force has been forced to enter a war to defend (against) the attacks from extremists and anti-Ethiopian forces and to protect the sovereignty of the land,’ Meles said a few hours after his military attacked the Islamic militia with fighter jets and artillery… Eritrea, a bitter rival of Ethiopia, is backing the Islamic militia, and experts fear the conflict could draw in the volatile Horn of Africa region, which lies close to the Saudi Arabian peninsula and has seen a rise in Islamic extremism. A recent U.N. report said 10 nations have been illegally supplying arms and equipment to both sides in Somalia.”

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 24 that the EU reacted “alarmed.” They are demanding of Ethiopia an immediate cease fire and the cessation of any further attacks on Somalia. AFP reported on December 26 that “the United States defended Ethiopia’s assault… which has reportedly killed more than 1,000 people.”

Der Spiegel Online added on December 27:

“Ethiopa’s military offensive against the Union of Islamic Courts, which holds the Somali capital Mogadishu and much of central and southern Somalia, is a dangerous act of aggression that could lead to a protracted war and even strengthen the Islamists, according to German media commentators who see the conflict as opening up a new battlefield in the American-led global war against Islamic extremists.”

AFP reported on December 28:

“Islamist forces have abandoned Somalia’s capital Mogadishu as Ethiopian-backed government troops surrounded the coastal city, where residents reported looting, gunfire and preparations for guerrilla warfare. The government said the Islamists, who set up their stronghold in Mogadishu after routing warlords in June, had distributed weapons to civilians… Late Wednesday, the UN Security Council failed for a second day to reach consensus on a call for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Somalia and an end to military operations, then gave up. The African Union and the Arab League have urged Ethiopia to pull out… The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has meanwhile warned that as many as 50,000 refugees could pour into neighbouring countries.”

We read in Daniel 11:40 that in the end time, the king of the south will “push at” the king of the north. The translation in the King James Bible, “attack him,” is incorrect. In the past, Ethiopia was the king of the south, which was pushing at the revived Roman Empire in Europe. It is unclear whether the prophecy in Daniel 11:40, which has been fulfilled, is of dual application. If so, that is, IF a “king of the south” were still to arise again on the world scene, it would have to be Ethiopia. [The concept that a future king of the south would be some kind of a league of Arab nations has absolutely no support in Scripture or history.] It is therefore important to watch the events taking place in and near to Ethiopia, as well as European reactions to the dealings of Ethiopia.

America’s Decline

The New York Times wrote on December 24 about incredible events in Somalia:

“The rally was supposed to be against Ethiopia, Somalia’s neighbor and historic archenemy… But the cheers that shook the stadium… were about another country, far, far away. ‘Down, down U.S.A.!’ thousands of Somalis yelled… ‘Slit the throats of the Americans!’ Not exactly soothing words, especially when the passport in your pocket has one of those golden eagles on it.

“Somalia may be the place that best illustrates a trend sweeping across the African continent: After Sept. 11, 2001, the United States concluded that anarchy and misery aid terrorism, and so it tried to re-engage Africa. But anti-American sentiment on the continent has only grown, and become increasingly nasty. And the United States seems unable to do much about it.

“A number of experts on Africa trace those developments to a sense not of American power, but of its decline — a perception that the United States is no longer the only power that counts, that it is too bogged down in the Middle East to be a real threat here, and so it can be ignored or defied with impunity. American officials, for example, acknowledge that they are at a loss about what to do about the on-again, off-again Somali crisis…

“But the broader issue playing out here — the sense that the United States is not the kingmaker it once was — goes beyond Mogadishu. It is Africa-wide. And it is based on a changed reality: the emergence of other customers for Africa’s resources and the tying down of American military forces in Iraq have combined to reduce American clout in sub-Saharan Africa, even as the United States pumps in more financial aid than ever — about $4 billion per year — and can still claim to be the one superpower left standing.”

The steady decline of America’s influence in the world has clearly been prophesied. For more information, please read our free booklet: “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Former U.S. President Gerald Ford Dies

AFP reported on December 28:

“US flags have flown at half mast across the country in honor of the late former US president Gerald Ford… Ford, who in 1974 became the 38th US president when he replaced the disgraced Richard Nixon, died quietly late Tuesday at his home in Rancho Mirage, in southern California, his family said. He was 93. No cause of death was given. Ford’s 896-day presidency is best-remembered for pardoning Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal within weeks of taking office. The pardon provoked howls of condemnation and likely cost him the 1976 presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

“The unassuming Republican politician was a decorated World War II veteran who saw action aboard a navy aircraft carrier in the Pacific. He was president in April 1975 when the last US troops, diplomats and Vietnamese supporters were flown out in helicopters from the roof of the US embassy in Saigon, marking the end of the US intervention in Vietnam. This experience may have shaped his disagreement with the US-led war in Iraq: in a Washington Post interview published Thursday, Ford made it clear he ‘very strongly’ disagreed with President George W. Bush’s justifications for invasion… Ford was also critical of two of the Iraq war’s strongest advocates: Vice President Dick Cheney — his former White House chief of staff — and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who performed the same job during his presidency.”

Euro Overtakes US Dollar

The Financial Times reported on December 27:

“The US dollar bill’s standing as the world’s favourite form of cash is being usurped by the five-year-old euro. The value of euro notes in circulation is this month likely to exceed the value of circulating dollar notes, according to calculations by the Financial Times. Converted at Wednesday’s exchange rates, the euro took the lead in October.

“The figures highlight the remarkable growth in euro notes since their launch on January 1 2002, three years after the start of Europe’s monetary union, which in January welcomes its 13th member – Slovenia, the former Yugoslav republic.”

Is Japan Going to Develop Nuclear Weapons?

Haaretz.com reported on December 25:

“The Japanese government recently looked into the possibility of developing nuclear warhead[s]… experts affiliated with the government estimated that it will take at least three to five years for Japan to make a prototype nuclear warhead… As the only country ever attacked by atomic weapons, Japan has for decades espoused a strict policy of not possessing, developing or allowing the introduction of nuclear bombs on its territory.

“The non-nuclear stance, however, has come under increasing scrutiny since North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on October 9, which raised severe security concerns in Japan, and broader fears that a regional arms race could be triggered. Just months prior to the North’s nuclear test, it test-fired several ballistic missiles capable of hitting Japan…

“The government, under newly elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has said the country’s pacifist Constitution does not ban it from possessing nuclear weapons for self-defense, but stressed that Japan would stick to its policy of forbidding nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. Japan’s huge plutonium stockpile from nuclear power stations is a major international concern, partly because it could be a target of terror attacks or could be turned into nuclear weapons.”

It cannot be ruled out that Japan will begin to develop nuclear weapons, or that it will align itself with Asian nuclear powers. Daniel 11:44 speaks in prophetic terms about the future military leader of a European super power, who will be troubled by “news from the east and the north”–i.e., the Far East. The Bible continues to predict in the same verse that the European power bloc will engage the Far East in a destructive war. The development of nuclear weapons, or the threat to use existing ones, might very well be one of the reasons for this future war.

The Cycle of Violence

Zenit wrote on December 19:

“Violence only leads to more violence, Benedict XVI warned as he expressed his hopes for peace and stability in the Middle East… [The Pope said:] ‘With a heavy heart, I note that a wide range of territorial and other disputes have led to armed conflicts in recent times that threaten the peace and stability of the entire Middle East… Repeatedly I have pleaded for a cessation of violence in Lebanon, in the Holy Land and in Iraq… The world looks on with great sadness at the cycle of death and destruction, as innocent people continue to suffer and targeted individuals are kidnapped and assassinated.’ The Pope said that the Church ’emphatically rejects war as a means of resolving international disputes, and has often pointed out that it only leads to new and still more complicated conflicts… Sadly, from the current situation in the Middle East, it is only too evident that this is the case…'”

Earthquakes Damage Telephone Lines and Internet Services

The Associated Press reported on December 27:

“Telephone lines and Internet service went dead across much of Asia on Wednesday after two powerful earthquakes damaged undersea cables used by several countries to route calls and online traffic. Repairing the cables could take weeks because crews have to pull them up and transfer them to a ship for repair…

“The quakes jolted Taiwan late Tuesday, setting off a tsunami alert on the second anniversary of the Dec. 26, 2004, waves and quake that killed 230,000 in nine countries from the Indonesian islands to east Africa. No large waves materialized this time… The company reported a 50 percent loss of overall telephone capacity, with connections to China, Japan and Southeast Asia most affected… almost all of Taiwan’s communications capacity with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong was disrupted. Also hard hit was telephone service to the U.S., where 60 percent of capacity was lost, the company said…

“The quake, which hit offshore from the southern town of Hengchun, was felt throughout Taiwan… The U.S. Geological Survey estimated its magnitude at 7.1, while Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau measured it at 6.7. It was followed eight minutes later by 7.0 magnitude aftershock, the USGS said. A 5.9-magnitude aftershock struck early Wednesday, the Central Weather Bureau said… a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in central Taiwan in September 1999 killed more than 2,300 people.”

AFP reported on December 28:

“The chaos in Asia’s Internet service sparked by an undersea earthquake shows the region’s cable network is too fragile and overly reliant on connections to the United States, industry observers have said… ‘Instead of being so dependent on connections to North America, Asia might want to spend some money on connecting to Europe,’ said Ross Veitch, who set up Yahoo Southeast Asia…”

Malaysia’s Worst Floods

Reuters reported on December 23 that “Malaysia’s worst floods in 37 years have displaced nearly 100,000 people amid food shortages, looting and criticism on Saturday of the government’s handling of the crisis… In Indonesia, authorities said at least five people were killed and 70,000 others driven from their homes by surging flash floods triggered by two days of incessant rain in Aceh’s eastern coastal areas.”

Saddam To Die

The Daily Mail reported on December 27:

“Saddam Hussein said today he would go to the gallows as a ‘sacrifice’ and called on Iraqis to unite against US and British troops. Just hours after a court confirmed his death sentence, the former dictator released an open letter from his cell spelling out his wish to become a ‘martyr’… His statement came as his Ba’ath Party threatened to target US interests across the globe if the execution went ahead as expected in the next 30 days… Iraq’s highest court yesterday rejected Saddam’s appeal against a conviction and death sentence for the killing of 148 people who were detained after a 1982 attempt to assassinate him in Dujail, northern Iraq…

“[Saddam’s] British-based [defense] lawyer Dr Abdel Haq Alani told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ‘It’s got nothing to do with crimes against humanity or war crimes. It’s about a political era that has to be tried and executed, and the head of it must pay for it, otherwise the invasion would have been completely baseless, meaningless and morally bankrupt. And it is – but they have to sell it to the people.’ Dr Haq Alani added: ‘What’s happened in the last three and a half years is a calamity, even in the bloody Middle East. Saddam Hussein is another incident in this mess created by George Bush and Tony Blair.’

“The lawyer said the legal process had been flawed, and added: ‘This case has finished without ever having a judgment. It’s unheard of in any legal process to have a sentence without a judgment.’ Saddam’s defence lawyers, based in Amman, called on Arab governments and the UN to intervene to stop the execution.”

According to Der Spiegel Online, dated December 27, “A White House spokesman in Washington called the ruling a milestone in Iraq’s efforts ‘to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law.’… [However,] Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema told an Italian news agency on Tuesday, ‘As Italians and as Europeans we are against the death penalty,’ and said the execution could have a negative effect on the ‘difficult process of reconciliation’ in Iraq.”

Iranians Don’t Approve of Their Leader…

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 19:

“The hardliners in Iran have suffered a major setback at the hands of the Iranian electorate. A combination of a high turnout and close cooperation between the reformists and moderate conservatives succeeded in giving President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a bit of a bloody nose at the ballot box. Partial results from last Friday’s elections for local governments and the powerful Assembly of Experts indicate that the president’s supporters have been widely rejected by the voters… However, the election results do not directly affect the Iranian government, and while it is likely that the poor showing by his allies will weaken the president, it is uncertain if this will provoke any change in policy or rhetoric.”

… But He Continues to Be Controversial

The Associated Press reported on December 16:

“Iran’s president said Saturday his country was ready to transfer nuclear technology to neighboring countries, Kuwaiti television reported, a week after Arab states on the Persian Gulf announced plans to consider a joint nuclear program… Iran is at odds with the United States and its European allies, who accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful production of nuclear energy.”

The Middle East Is Facing Worst Crisis…

The EUobserver reported on December 15:

“EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Friday… said the Middle East is facing one of the ‘worst crises in years’ after fighting broke out on Friday between rival Palestinian factions, and Lebanon continues to stand on the verge of internal conflict. ‘The Israeli-Arab conflict is at the heart of this crisis,’ the EU said, urging Israel and Palestine to live ‘side-by-side.'” …

USA Is Not Winning in Iraq

AFP reported on December 20:

“President George W. Bush warned Americans of the need for new ‘sacrifices’ in Iraq next year, and said hard choices await in a war he now grimly admits the United States is not winning. A somber Bush, under fierce pressure to change course in Iraq, also said in a year-end news conference he had not yet decided whether to send a surge of more troops into the country, and said his heart broke for slain US soldiers.”

In a related article, AFP added:

“New US Defense Secretary Robert Gates met top generals in Baghdad to discuss whether or not to send tens of thousands of extra American troops into war-torn Iraq… On Tuesday, a Pentagon report confirmed that sectarian and insurgent violence in Iraq was at an all-time high, due in part to the provocations of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s militia, the Mahdi Army… Washington had hoped to clip the cleric’s wings by persuading a ‘moderate coalition’ of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds to unite behind the ruling coalition and give it the backbone to face down the gunmen. But on Wednesday a leader of the main Shiite parliamentary bloc earmarked for this task, Hadi al-Ameri of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), described this idea as ‘madness’…

“Despite the latest bloodshed, US forces in Iraq handed responsibility for security in the Shiite province of Najaf to local provincial forces… British and Italian forces have already passed control of two southern provinces to local governors, but Wednesday’s ceremony was the first of its kind in the more volatile US-controlled regions of central Iraq. More provinces are expected to follow suit in the coming weeks.”

In spite of all the rhetoric, the question is this: Are the American people willing to bring more sacrifices in Iraq, including sending more American troops into Iraq, for a war which is admittedly not being won?

Japan Is Becoming More “Patriotic”

CNN reported on December 16:

“Japan’s conservative government chipped away at two pillars of the country’s postwar pacifism, requiring schools to teach patriotism and upgrading the Defense Agency to a full ministry for the first time since World War II. The measures, enacted Friday in a vote by Parliament’s upper house, form key elements of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push to bolster Japan’s international military role, build up national pride and distance the country from its post-1945 war guilt…

“The call for more patriotism in the schools coincides with a push by some local governments to crack down on teachers and students who refuse to stand for the national flag or sing an anthem to the emperor at school ceremonies. Postwar Japan has been solidly pacifist under the 1947 U.S.-drafted Constitution, which foreswears Japan from using force to settle international disputes, and Tokyo maintains fighting forces only for self-defense.”

Germany Wants To Become Permanent UN Security Council Member…

The German Press Agency (dpa) reported on December 15:

“Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she would push hard for a permanent German United Nations Security Council seat in the coming years. ‘We will have this interest–but also an interest that the UN Security Council is reformed,’ she said at a news briefing. Berlin would seek a UN revamp and an upgraded role for Germany in the world body ‘with great intensity,’ she added.
“Present UN Security Council permanent members are Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The Security Council also has 10 further non-permanent members, positions which are held on a rotating basis. Germany has for years sought a permanent Security Council seat, although some observers claimed it was unclear whether Merkel would continue the effort after her foreign policy successes since taking up office in autumn 2005.”

… While Hoping to Unite a Peaceful Europe

The Week in Germany reported on December 15:

“Germany takes over the rotating six-month EU presidency from Finland on January 1, and Chancellor Angela Merkel outlined three key priority areas…: strengthening Europe’s economy, promoting peace and justice and pressing ahead with a new plan for the European Constitutional Treaty… Merkel… recalled that the EU, which turns 50 next March, was created to maintain peace based on common values, including freedom, justice, democracy, the rule of law and human rights.”

German-French Spy Satellite Program

The following was stated on December 19 in an article of Spaceflight Now:

“The first of a fleet of five identical all-weather German spy satellites was launched Tuesday aboard a Russian rocket to collect high-resolution images of the ground 24 hours a day. Called SAR-Lupe 1, the 1,587-pound craft is Germany’s first reconnaissance satellite. It is fitted with a large radar dish antenna that can pierce darkness and thick clouds to resolve targets. The radar data can be analyzed and turned into images… The craft was built for the German Federal Ministry of Defense by OHB-System AG, an aerospace company based in Bremen, Germany.

“Control of the satellite will be handed over to the German military in mid-January to begin its 10-year reconnaissance mission… Four more SAR-Lupe spacecraft are scheduled for launch at intervals of four to six months until the constellation is completed around 2008. The fleet will orbit about 300 miles above Earth in three orbital planes to maximize the number of passes over potential targets.

“The SAR-Lupe program is also a key element of a joint reconnaissance initiative signed between Germany and France four years ago. In the treaty, the two nations agreed to share data from each country’s reconnaissance satellite system. France will be allowed access to German SAR-Lupe imagery, while French optical and infrared data from the Helios 2 system will be shared with Germany, according to the agreement. Tuesday’s launch was the 60th space mission to successfully reach orbit this year.”

Poland at Odds with the EU and Russia

AFP reported on December 20:

“Poland refused to lift its embargo on the opening of EU talks on a wide-ranging agreement with Russia [which it imposed in retaliation to a Russian embargo on Polish meat], despite a fresh initiative from the EU presidency… Since November, Poland has been blocking the start of talks between the whole of the 25-nation EU and Russia on a new political, economic and energy deal, which is meant to replace a decade-old accord that expires in a year… The EU attaches great importance to the new accord, which will have a large chapter on energy supply, aimed at securing a reliable flow from Russia’s massive oil and gas fields as well as tackling the issue of access for EU companies.”

Even though Poland’s concerns towards Russia might very well be justified, it is becoming more and more obvious that the present European system does not work which allows just one country to sabotage proposed agreements between the EU and other countries. We will soon see a revision of this present impractical procedure.

A Crime or Not a Crime?

AFP reported on December 20:

“An Austrian appeals court ruled that the convicted British Holocaust-denier, David Irving, should be released from prison and serve the remainder of his three-year sentence on probation… Irving, 68, has already served 13 months in jail, after being arrested in November 2005. He was sentenced to three years in February this year after being found guilty on three counts of Holocaust denial in remarks he had made in Austria 17 years before… Austrian authorities were debating whether to ban Irving from staying in Austria and were holding him meanwhile in an immigration prison… In presenting the ruling, chief judge Ernst Maurer cited the ‘exceptionally long time since the crime’ as well as Irving’s argument that he no longer denies the Holocaust took place…

“Irving had insisted that he no longer questioned the existence of gas chambers at the Nazis’ Auschwitz concentration camp… Irving was also on trial for saying the November 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom against the Jews was not the work of the Nazis, but of ‘unknown’ people who had dressed up as stormtroopers, and that Adolf Hitler had in fact protected the Jews. He was found guilty on all three denial counts by an eight-person jury. Irving was prosecuted under an Austrian law targeting those who ‘deny the genocide by the National Socialists or other National Socialist crimes against humanity.’ Austria is among 11 countries that have laws against denying the Holocaust, in which some six million Jews were slaughtered by Nazi Germany, mainly in the later years of World War II. Irving became notorious worldwide for attempting to establish, against the evidence, that Hitler was not party to the Holocaust and that the number of Jews slain by the Nazis was greatly exaggerated.”

That the Holocaust is a historical fact, and that the Nazis were responsible for the Kristallnacht, as well as the murder of over six million Jews and millions of other innocent victims, cannot be denied. The question pondered in the USA is, however, whether it should be a crime to do so, or whether this would be a violation of the constitutional right of free speech. According to the universally held understanding in the USA, it clearly would be unconstitutional to enact such a crime. This shows, then, how far certain European countries and the USA are apart in their value systems, even when applied to the fundamental understanding as to whether or not to “criminalize” statements which would be protected under the US Constitution.

The real danger is that Europe will in time enact other laws, making it a crime to express opinions which might be correct, but not in accordance with the politically desired understanding of certain European governments.

This development is clearly prophesied to happen. Please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

New IRS Rules for Charitable Donations

The Associated Press reported on December 15:

“Beginning in the 2007 tax year, taxpayers must provide bank records or other information when claiming deductions for charitable donations of money, the Internal Revenue Service said in newly released guidelines. The IRS said that bank records can include canceled checks, bank or credit union statements and credit card statements that show the name of the charity and the transaction posting date. Taxpayers may also submit a written communication from the charity with the organization’s name, the date of the transaction and the amount of the contribution.

“Money donations are defined as those made in cash, or by check, electronic funds transfer, credit card or payroll deductions. For payroll deductions, the taxpayer should retain a pay stub, W-2 wage statement or other document showing the amount withheld for charity along with the pledge card showing the name of the charity. Previously, taxpayers could back up donations of money with personal bank registers, diaries or notes made around the time of the donation. Such records are no longer sufficient.

“There’s no change in the requirement that a taxpayer get an acknowledgment from the charity for each deductible donation of $250 or more… The tax agency also reminded people making year-end donations that donations charged to a credit card before the end of the year count for 2006, even if the credit-card bill isn’t paid until next year. Checks also count for 2006 as long as they are mailed this year.”

No Talks with Syria and Iran?

The Telegraph reported on December 8:

“Differences have emerged between Tony Blair and George Bush on strategy in the Middle East, even as the two leaders agreed that a major change of course was necessary in Iraq in the wake of the devastating critique delivered this week by a high-level bipartisan panel in Washington… at a joint press conference after a White House meeting yesterday, the President ruled out early talks with Iran and Syria… on which Britain seems much keener… But the direct talks with Tehran seen by some experts as an essential part of a new US strategy remain out of the question, Mr Bush stressed, until the regime verifiably suspended uranium enrichment. British officials later refused to make such a connection, pointing to the full diplomatic relations that exist between London and Tehran. In the case of Syria–recently visited by Mr Blair’s top foreign policy adviser–Mr Bush was equally uncompromising. Any serious discussions between Washington and Damascus depended on Syria not fomenting terrorism against Iraq and ceasing its meddling in Lebanon, he said…

“Yesterday’s meeting was a sombre occasion, the first at which the two architects of the war had to confront, head on and in public together, the recent slide towards anarchy in Iraq. A tired-looking Mr Bush acknowledged that the situation was ‘bad’ and ‘very tough,’ and that the task ahead was ‘daunting.’ But, he warned, the stakes could not be higher. A terrorist-dominated Middle East, he said, represented ‘an unprecedented threat to civilisation’. As unwilling as ever to admit error, he described America’s involvement in Iraq as ‘a noble mission’. Unlike the Prime Minister, he spoke explicitly of ‘victory’; insisting that it was ‘important for the entire world’ that the US and Britain prevailed.

“The two countries were facing ‘a difficult moment’ in Iraq. But Mr Bush noted that yesterday was the 65th anniversary of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour, the event that propelled the US into the Second World War, in which Britain and the US had fought side by side. They had faced difficult moments then but had prevailed, just as they would in this conflict. But differences in emphasis were evident. Mr Bush seemed only half-heartedly to accept the link between the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the crises in Lebanon and Iraq, all of which involve a clash between moderation and extremism, as the Prime Minister believes.”

For more information, please view our StandingWatch program: “How to Solve Iraq’s Problems…”

Kirk Douglas: “The World Is in a Mess”

On December 9, PRNewswire published an interesting press release from famous actor Kirk Douglas. We are reproducing the following excerpts:

“My name is Kirk Douglas… I was a movie star and I’m Michael Douglas’ dad, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ father-in-law, and the grandparent of their two children. Today I celebrate my 90th birthday. I have a message to convey to America’s young people. A 90th birthday is special. In my case, this birthday is not only special but miraculous. I survived World War II, a helicopter crash, a stroke, and two new knees… Instead of making a silent wish for myself, I want to make a LOUD wish for THE WORLD.

“Let’s face it: THE WORLD IS IN A MESS and you are inheriting it… You are the group facing many problems: abject poverty, global warming, genocide, AIDS, and suicide bombers to name a few. These problems exist, and the world is silent. We have done very little to solve these problems. Now, we leave it to you. You have to fix it because the situation is intolerable.

“You need to… care about people and the world you live in. We live in the best country in the world. I know. My parents were Russian immigrants. America is a country where EVERYONE, regardless of race, creed, or age has a chance. I had that chance. You are the generation that is most impacted and the generation that can make a difference.

“I love this country because I came from a life of poverty. I was able to work my way through college and go into acting, the field that I love. There is no guarantee in this country that you will be successful. But you always have a chance. Nothing should interfere with it. You have to make sure that nothing stands in the way.”

Arab World on the Brink of Exploding

AFP reported on December 9:

“Saudi King Abdullah opened the annual summit of Gulf leaders with a warning that the Arab world was on the brink of exploding because of conflicts in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon. ‘Our Arab region is besieged by a number of dangers, as if it was a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode,’ he [said]… The Palestinians were reeling from ‘a hostile and ugly occupation’ by Israel while the international community watched their ‘bloody tragedy like a spectator,’ Abdullah said. But ‘most dangerous for the (Palestinian) cause is the conflict among brethren,’ he said in a reference to the differences between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah faction and the Islamist Hamas movement that have blocked the formation of a unity government. In Iraq ‘a brother is still killing his brother,’ Abdullah said of the tit-for-tat killings between the Sunni Arab former elite and the ruling Shiite majority. Abdullah also warned that Lebanon, which was rocked by civil war in 1975-1990, risked sliding into renewed civil strife as a result of the current standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian camps.”

Iraq’s Grim Death Toll

The Associated Press reported on December 9:

“As of Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006, at least 2,930 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003… The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,356 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers… The British military has reported 126 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 18; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, six; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Romania, one death each.”

This is almost the same number as the reported deaths on September 11th.

Rumsfeld Sued in U.S. Civil Court for Violation of Constitution and Civil Rights

MSNBC reported on December 8 that former alien detainees have filed a civil lawsuit against Don Rumsfeld. They argue that Rumsfeld is guilty of “‘derelictions of duty and command’ and promoting the practice of inflicting ‘physical and psychological injuries’ on civilians held by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan… The former detainees accuse Rumsfeld and others of being personally responsible for approving torture techniques and violating the U.S. Constitution. Rumsfeld argues that they are all immune from liability… [and that] ‘alien military detainees held outside the United States are not generally entitled to constitutional protections.’…

“The former detainees who filed the lawsuit say they were all eventually released from detention and never charged with any crime or wrongdoing. The detainees–five were held at Abu Ghraib and four at Bagram–accuse Rumsfeld and the others of subjecting them to ‘torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including severe and repeated beatings, cutting with knives, sexual humiliation and assault, confinement in a wooden box, forcible sleep and sensory deprivation, mock executions, death threats, and restraint in contorted and excruciating positions,’ according to court documents.

“The suit seeks compensatory damages and a judicial declaration that the legal rights of the prisoners were violated under the Constitution, the Geneva accords and other international law. Although allegations in the suit are the equivalent of war crimes, it is a civil case, not a criminal one. Only the U.S. government is empowered to prosecute war crimes in criminal court or before a military court.”

Will Germany Get Involved?

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 7:

“The Iraq Study Group on Wednesday released its long awaited report on the increasingly chaotic situation in Iraq. And one of its central recommendations was, as expected, to talk directly with two of President George W. Bush’s most hated countries: Syria and Iran. Should he agree, Germany may be just the country to help him proceed. Indeed, Karsten Voigt, Berlin’s coordinator for German-American relations, wants Germany to play a central role in bringing Washington to the table with Damascus and Tehran. The Germans have long pushed for the dialogue, which they see as critical to regional stability.’Germans and Europeans can help here and mediate, but they can never replace direct talks between the US and Syria or Iran,’ Voigt told the Berliner Zeitung…

“Germany finds itself right in the middle of the diplomatic triangle. Last week, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a visit to Damascus. He delivered a stern message to President Assad that Syria will only get his help in emerging from international isolation if it stops contributing to Lebanon’s instability. On Wednesday, Steinmeier’s travels will take him to Washington for consultations with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Syria is sure to be on the agenda. Germany’s nice-making with Syria has been as controversial within Europe as in the US.

“When it comes to speaking with Iran, Europe is more united. President Bush has said he would join Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China in talks with Tehran if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad first suspends uranium enrichment. But the Iraq Study Group is urging Bush to hold talks ‘without preconditions.’ If the situation in Iraq deteriorates, says the report, Iran might ‘send in troops to restore stability in southern Iraq and perhaps gain control of oil fields.’ Voigt sees this as Germany’s moment to shine diplomatically. ‘Europe and the US can only be successful in the region if they are both strong and attractive and cooperate well,’ he said.”

Is Israel Going to Give Control of Parts of Mount Zion to the Vatican?

Israel National News published the following report on December 10:

“[Prime Minister] Olmert [of Israel] will meet in the Vatican this week with Pope Benedict–two weeks after Israeli diplomats confirmed the reopening of talks over the status of church property on Mt. Zion and elsewhere… A year ago… a Foreign Ministry official admitted that a blueprint of an agreement with the Vatican giving it control of parts of Mt. Zion in Jerusalem–also known as King David’s burial site–had been received. The proposed contract read as follows:

“‘The State of Israel hands over to the Holy See the use of the Cenacle [the room of the event known as the Last Supper, above King David’s tomb – ed.], of the access path to it, and of the spaces adjacent to it… It is the Holy See’s intention to inform the Bishops – and through them the world’s Priests – that the Catholic Church has been given the use of the Cenacle, inviting them to visit the Holy Place together with their faithful…’

“At the time, President Moshe Katzav was about to embark on a visit to the Vatican. In the face of increasing public pressure, he was forced to deny any plans to sign away the King David’s complex in Jerusalem. It now appears, however, that this option has once again surfaced.”

Israel Worries About President Bush

AFP reported on December 8:

“Israel’s foreign minister has arrived in the United States amid worries that the Jewish state’s main ally could shift course after a report [by the Iraq Study Group or ISG] urged Washington to redouble Mideast peacemaking efforts… ‘The fact that [Bush] has decided to support Blair’s visit to the region and to present this trip as a joint mission of Britain and the United States shows that Bush intends to at least try to change his policy,’ Israel’s Yediot Aharonot daily wrote Friday. The newspaper went on to slam the Iraq report, accusing its chief authors James Baker and Lee Hamilton of ignoring Israel while preparing the report.

“‘If the truth be told, they barely paid any attention to us,’ the newspaper lamented. ‘For 14 years, Israel enjoyed warm and pampering attention, under Clinton and Bush. Now, in light of the catastrophe in Iraq, Baker and Hamilton wish to restore us to our proper proportions.’ Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has also expressed dissatisfaction with the report’s recommendations. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, he said US problems in Iraq ‘are entirely independent of the controversy between us and the Palestinians.'”

Radioactive Polonium Surfaces in Germany

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 11:

“The cloud of intrigue around the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko continues to thicken… In true Cold War thriller fashion, a German connection has now been uncovered, with traces of the radioactive isotope polonium-210 which poisoned Litvinenko being found in Hamburg… Russia’s ambassador to Berlin, Vladimir Kotenev, on Sunday rejected criticism from the German government that the Russians were not doing enough to investigate the case… The discovery prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to warn the Russian government that cases such as Litvinenko’s death and the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya risked damaging Russia’s image abroad…

“Litvinenko died on November 23 after receiving a lethal dose of polonium-210. In a statement he issued shortly before his death, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for his poisoning. The Kremlin has denied involvement in the case, which has revived memories of Cold War espionage, strained relations between Russia and Britain, and sparked a number of conspiracy theories.”

German Federal Government’s Latest “Disgrace”

On December 11, the German press, including Bild Online, reported about another incredible case of perceived incompetence of the German federal government, calling it the latest “giant disgrace.” According to Bild, the federal government deliberated for over six months how to ban smoking in trains, public buildings and discotheques, before announcing on Sunday that they are not even competent, for lack of jurisdiction, to make such decisions. Germany’s 16 states have extensive rights that cannot be overridden by Berlin. Bild asked: “Are our Politicians totally covered with smoke?”

Chile’s Pinochet Dies

AFP reported on December 11:

“Riot police clashed with thousands of demonstrators late Sunday celebrating the death of Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet, as his body lay in a humble military school chapel. The former strongman died on Sunday aged 91, having evaded years of efforts to bring him to trial for thousands of cases of murder and torture arising from his 1973-1990 regime… The death of Pinochet, who came to power in a US-backed military coup in 1973 that toppled the Socialist government of Salvador Allende, struck a deep nerve in a country where many suffered under his regime and others defend it as salvation from the road to communism.

“The United States, which supported Pinochet’s 1973 coup against Allende, expressed sympathy for the victims of Pinochet’s regime… Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was ‘greatly saddened’ by Pinochet’s death, her spokesman said on Sunday… Thatcher, who was prime minister from 1979 to 1990, would send her ‘deepest condolences’ to his widow and family. Left and right-wing political parties in Spain regretted that Pinochet had died before being brought to justice for atrocities committed under his regime… Some 3,000 people, by official count, were killed or disappeared under Pinochet’s regime.”

Freedom of the Internet?

Ireland-on-Line reported on December 8:

“Nearly one third of journalists now serving time in prisons around the world published their work on the internet, the second-largest category behind print journalists, the US committee to protect journalists said today. The bulk of internet journalists in jail–49 in total–shows that ‘authoritarian states are becoming more determined to control the internet,’ said Joel Simon, the New York-based group’s executive director…

“When Iranian journalist Mojtaba Saminejad was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting his country’s leader, it was not for an article that appeared in a newspaper. His offending story was posted on his personal weblog. Other noteworthy imprisoned internet journalists include US video blogger Joshua Wolf, who refused to give a grand jury his footage of a 2005 protest against a G-8 economic summit, and China’s Shi Tao, who is serving a 10-year sentence for posting online instructions by the government on how to cover the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

“For the second year in a row, CPJ’s annual survey found the total number of journalists in jail worldwide has increased. There were 134 reporters, editors and photographers incarcerated as of December 1, nine more than a year ago… In addition to the internet writers, the total includes 67 print journalists, eight TV reporters, eight radio reporters and two documentary filmmakers.

“Among the 24 nations that have imprisoned reporters, China topped the list for the eighth consecutive year with 31 journalists behind bars–19 of them internet journalists. Cuba was second with 24 reporters in prison…

“The US government and military has detained three journalists, including Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who was taken into custody in Iraq nine months ago and has yet to be charged with a crime…

“Cuban journalist Manuel Vasquez-Portal said he posted his articles on a Miami-based website because: ‘It was the only way to get the truth out of Cuba.’ Mr Vasquez-Portal, who was jailed for 15 months in 2003, said he had to call his stories in to the operator of the website, though, because Cubans are not allowed access to the internet.”

Christmas PAGAN-Inspired

On December 11, USA Today published a thought-provoking article by Mary Zeiss Stange, professor of women’s studies and religion at Skidmore College. She wrote:

“Happy holidays!

“Have I just offended you? If you are a member of the American Family Association, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights or the Committee to Save Merry Christmas, I probably have.

“For the second year in a row, conservative Christian groups have threatened boycotts of big-box and department stores whose advertisements for ‘holiday trees’ and whose hearty if non-specific holiday well-wishes reflect, these groups say, an ‘anti-Christian and anti-Christmas bias.’…

“Yet there is a deep, and seasonal, irony here – one that might come as a shock to the ‘Save Merry Christmas’ crowd. For Christmas is, in its origins and its symbolism, perhaps the most pagan-inspired of all Christian holidays. Its dating derives from the ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was determined by the winter solstice, that astronomical point in the year after which the periods of sunlight on Earth lengthen…

“Most of the popular symbols surrounding Christmas–evergreen trees and other greenery, mistletoe and holly, the Yule log, candles and bonfires and holiday lights, mystical spirits with the ability to fly and to enter and leave a house through its chimney, tricksters who treat or taunt little children, not to mention those elves–all derive from older, pre-Christian Europe. These pagan-derived symbols and customs are precisely the elements of Christmas that Christian activists are pressing to preserve and promote, in venues such as Target and Macy’s.”

For more information on the REAL origins of Christmas, please read our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas!”

A European Army?

The EUobserver wrote on December 1:

“After its mission overseeing elections in Congo, EU troops are well on their way to being able to work as a common EU army, according to their French general. ‘I am very satisfied because I believe that we have a very well-functioning unit,’ said general Christian Damay… ‘Now we really have the beginning of a European army.’

“Discussions about creating a European army are not new, with Polish President Lech Kaczynski recently suggesting there should be a multinational EU army of 100,000 troops to support NATO missions… General Damay’s words come just as EU troops are packing their bags to leave Congo after having been in the country to monitor elections for four months–their mandate expired yesterday (30 November)… The 1,400-strong Congo mission has been held up as a shining example of a successful peacekeeping mission…”

According to Biblical prophecy, a powerful European army is going to exist very soon. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

How Propaganda Is to Be Used to Brainwash the British

England’s Daily Mail wrote on December 3:

“A multi-million pound propaganda war to force the British people to love the European Union and Brussels bureaucrats is to be launched by Tony Blair as part of his legacy as Prime Minister, it has been revealed… Details of the plan, obtained by The Mail on Sunday, show how the Prime Minister is so frustrated at his failure to persuade voters that the EU is a good thing, he is to spend a fortune from public funds in a final attempt to brainwash them before he resigns next year. They include banning Ministers and officials from referring to unpopular EU institutions like the European Commission, places such as Brussels and Strasbourg, the euro currency, terms like ‘Eurocrat’ and ‘EU directive’ and controversial policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU constitution. Instead they have been ordered to try to promote the ‘EU brand’ by linking to popular European events and institutions such as the Eurovision song contest, the Cannes Film Festival and the UEFA soccer organisation that runs the Champions League tournament–even though none of them has anything to do with the EU.”

In spite of these incredible alleged attempts by the British government to popularize the EU among British voters, Bible prophecy strongly indicates that Great Britain will ultimately not be a part of the EU. For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Afghanistan Isn’t Working, Either…

Sometimes, we hear politicians make the claim that Iraq isn’t working because the USA moved alone, without European support, while Afghanistan is working, as the USA acted in collaboration with Europe and many additional allies. Not so!!! Afghanistan isn’t working either–and has not been for a long time.

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 3:

“The regeneration of the Taliban — which has retaken control of parts of southern Afghanistan — is no longer fresh news to anyone. But are the insurgent forces preparing to launch a series of attacks on the capital city of Kabul, which is home to peacekeeping troops, the Afghan government and non-government organizations that are helping to rebuild the war-torn country? The leadership of Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, fear that Taliban attacks on the Afghanistan capital of Kabul will likely increase in the coming months. According to a classified report on the state of Afghanistan obtained by SPIEGEL, ‘militant opposition forces’ have made it clear that they will focus fighting during the winter ‘on the country’s largest cities.’ “The security situation has already ‘visibly deteriorated’ in two districts located just 10 kilometers from Kabul’s city limits — to the point that Afghan security forces don’t even dare to patrol the streets at night. The report warned that Taliban fighters could use the district as ‘gateways’ to Kabul and also as [a] place where they could stage future attacks. According to the report, Taliban fighters are smuggled into the districts in small ‘groups of up to eight men,’ and they often blend in with the population by staying in the homes of local residents for several days at a time.

“In a separate development, NATO troops fired on civilians after a suicide car bomb exploded next to their convoy on Sunday. The suicide blast in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, killed two civilians and injured ten others, including three British soldiers. NATO spokesman Maj. Luke Knittig said that as the patrol was driving away from the scene they saw a car they feared might contain a second suicide bomber. At least one civilian was killed and nine were injured during the ensuing shooting.”

Hezbollah Used Civilians as Human Shields

USA Today reported on December 6:

“An Israeli think tank with strong links to the military released videos and testimony Tuesday it said proved Hezbollah guerrillas used civilians as human shields during last summer’s war in Lebanon. The report’s authors hoped the revelations would challenge allegations that Israel committed war crimes when it attacked residential areas during the war. Although no formal war crimes charges have been filed against either side, Israel has taken the brunt of international criticism. Israel is especially sensitive about the possibility of legal action because of previous lawsuits and indictments abroad against Israeli leaders and military officers.

“The 300-page report, compiled by a military intelligence expert who has an office in the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, argues that Lebanese government and media reports of the number of civilian dead in Lebanon were overblown. More than 850 Lebanese, most of them civilians, were killed in Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks during the 34-day war, which began after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. The guerrillas bombarded northern Israel with nearly 4,000 rockets, killing 39 civilians. Also, 120 soldiers were killed in the violence. Israel says its attacks against Hezbollah targets in populated areas did not violate international law.

“The report, first released to The New York Times, said Hezbollah operated from civilian areas to deter the Israeli military and gain a propaganda advantage if an Israeli counterattack caused civilian casualties. Guerrillas stashed weapons in hundreds of private homes and mosques, had missile transports closely follow ambulances and fired rockets near U.N. monitoring posts, the report said.”

Chavez’ Re-election Poses Threat to the USA

MSNBC wrote on December 3:

“Emboldened by a resounding re-election, President Hugo Chavez pledged to shake up Venezuela with a more radical version of socialism and forge a wider front against the United States in Latin America… Chavez has posed a growing challenge to the United States while leading a widening bloc of Latin American leftists, influencing elections across the region, and allying himself with U.S. opponents like Iran and Syria.”The United States remains the top buyer of Venezuelan oil, but Chavez has sought to gradually diversify to new clients in Latin America and as far away as China… Venezuela is the world’s fifth largest oil exporter and soaring oil prices have made it the continent’s fastest-growing economy–a fact that some voters said helped tilt them toward Chavez… The president insists he is a democrat and will continue to respect private property–though he has boosted state control over the oil industry and has said he might nationalize utilities.”

Inevitable War Between Somalia, Islam, Ethiopia and Eritrea?

The Associated Press reported on December 5, 2006:

“Somalia’s troops are ready for an imminent and inevitable war with the Islamic militia that has taken over much of the country and surrounded the internationally backed government, the country’s prime minister [Ali Gedi] said… The Islamic movement has overrun much of Somalia, including the capital, in recent months, increasingly sidelining the weak government and vowing to bring Islamic law to the whole country… The United States has said the Islamic movement has links to al-Qaida, an accusation Islamic leaders have repeatedly denied… Gedi said the Islamic forces included more than 3,000 foreign fighters…

“A confidential U.N. report recently obtained by The Associated Press said there were up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops in the country supporting the government. Ethiopia’s parliament has authorized military action if attacked by the Islamic movement, which has declared holy war on Ethiopia over its troop incursions. The U.N. report said Ethiopia’s regional rival, Eritrea, had 2,000 troops in the country backing the Islamic movement, raising the specter of Eritrea and Ethiopia fighting a proxy war in Somalia… The United States has issued a travel advisory for Somalia’s neighbors Kenya and Ethiopia, warning that extremists in Somalia could launch suicide attacks in those countries.”

Terrible Disaster in the Philippines

AFP reported on December 2:

“Rescuers have arrived in this devastated Philippines city as officials warned there would be few survivors from giant mudslides which swept away entire villages, killing hundreds. Military and civilian emergency workers delayed by typhoon Durian, which triggered the mudflows on Thursday, flew in at first light with the toll already at 469 dead or missing [By now, the death toll has been estimated as exceeding at least 1,500]… Many buildings in Legaspi, capital of the eastern Bicol region, were damaged or demolished, while villages on the slopes of the scenic Mayon volcano had been reduced to just a few sticks…

“The disaster comes after an emergency in August, when 30,000 people were evacuated fearing Mayon would erupt before returning in September… The Philippines is also recovering from the impact of typhoon Cimaron, the strongest cyclone to hit the nation in more than 10 years, which left 38 dead or missing in late October… The floods have killed at least 120 people and displaced around 300,000 since unusually heavy rains started to pound the country in October.”

The IRS vs. Pasadena Church

On November 16, the Los Angeles Times published extended excerpts from a controversial sermon at Pasadena’s “All Saints Episcopal Church,” which was delivered at the eve of national elections in 2004, prompting the IRS to accuse the church of politically intervening. The paper asked the question: “But did [the controversial] speech violate federal laws? The answer, mostly likely to come from the courts, hinges on how one defines campaigning and interprets [the pastor’s] remarks.”

When reading the excerpts from the sermon, as set forth below, the FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM WITH THE SERMON becomes very clear: It was given in preparation of a vote for a political candidate or political party. This is the sad conclusion to be gleaned from the sermon which, otherwise, includes many valuable thoughts to consider. Whether such “political involvement” is enough to deny the church tax exemption is a different matter. However, we must stress that getting involved in the politics of this world and VOTING for a particular political candidate or party in governmental elections VIOLATES the Biblical principle of keeping ourselves separate from this world. As a consequence, members of the Church of the Eternal God and its corporate affiliates refuse to participate in governmental elections and to vote for a particular political candidate or political party.

The LA Times quoted the sermon speaker as follows:

“Good people of profound faith will be for either George Bush or John Kerry for reasons deeply rooted in their faith. I want you to hear me on this. Yet I want to say as clearly as I can how I see Jesus impacting your vote and mine. Both Sen. Kerry and President Bush are devout Christians–one a Roman Catholic and the other a Methodist. Against the teachings of Jesus, listen in as Kerry and Bush debate three hugely important issues this morning: ending war and violence, eliminating poverty and holding tenaciously to hope… I believe Jesus would say to Bush and Kerry: ‘War is itself the most extreme form of terrorism. President Bush, you have not made dramatically clear what have been the human consequences of the war in Iraq. More than 1,100 U.S. soldiers dead, 8,000 wounded–some disabled for life–and now the latest figures say 100,000 Iraqi fighters, women and children are dead… Your fundamental premise for the massive violence of this war is that it is the proper response to the terrorist attack that took place Sept. 11, 2001. But remember: The killing of innocent people to achieve some desired goal is morally repudiated by anyone claiming to follow me as their savior and guide.’

“Jesus, looking at the United States, the most powerful nation in the history of civilization, disavows any path that affirms grief must lead to war; Jesus refuses to accept the violence of war as the necessary consequences of our tragic losses on Sept. 11. Maybe you are calling Jesus naive, but he points us to the truest reality in the universe: ‘Mercy brings mercy and revenge brings revenge. Tragically, your world refuses to learn this truth even after so many bitter experiences in every part of the world. Mercy brings mercy. Revenge brings revenge.’

“How Jesus mourns the deaths of those 3,000 people killed on Sept. 11. But Jesus also mourns the death, devastation and loss in Afghanistan and Iraq and Sudan and Israel/Palestine and in so many other parts of the world. They too are part of God’s precious human family… Jesus would say to us: ‘Yes, mourn the deaths of those closest to you who have died; yet it is troublesome that you in America could get so caught up in the tragedy of Sept. 11 without ever noticing all my children who have been blown apart by this war, and the 30,000 children under 5 years of age across the globe who die every day of malnutrition and hunger. My heart can hardly bear it.’

“Jesus confronts both Sen. Kerry and President Bush: ‘I will tell you what I think of your war. The sin at the heart of this war against Iraq is your belief that an American life is of more value than an Iraqi life. That an American child is more precious than an Iraqi baby. God loathes war. At the time of the trauma of Sept. 11 you did not have to declare war. You could have said to the American people and the world: ‘We will respond but not in kind. We will not seek to avenge the death of innocent Americans by the death of innocent victims elsewhere, lest we become what we abhor.’ Jesus continues: ‘Mr. President, your doctrine of preemptive war is a failed doctrine. Forcibly changing the regime of an enemy that posed no imminent threat has led to disaster. It will take years for the widely felt hostility in Iraq and around the world to ebb. The consequences of arrogance, accompanied by certitude that the world’s most powerful military can cure all ills, should be burned into America’s memory forever. President Bush, Sen. Kerry, will you save us from all this suffering? But God’s only hands are yours and all who call upon my name. In the midst of great suffering, I call out to you: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”‘

“Jesus turns to President Bush again with deep sadness. ‘Is what I hear really true? Do you really mean that you want to end a decade-old ban on developing nuclear battlefield weapons, as well as endorsing the creation of a nuclear “bunker-blaster” bomb? Are you really going to resume nuclear testing? That is sheer insanity. This only encourages nations to build their nuclear arsenal in defense against you. This is morally indefensible.’ Jesus grows more insistent. ‘The development of battlefield nuclear weapons and threatening their use against “rogue” nations and willing to strike first is a dangerous change of policy. Talk of winnable nuclear war is the greatest illusion. I am indignant when I hear people in your government saying a nuclear war could end for anyone as a victory.’

“Everything I know about Jesus would have him uttering those words. From my own study, prayer, reflection and dialogue, I say that nuclear war is the enemy… The political reality that nuclear war still remains an option for America and other countries is the paramount horror of modern existence. The nuclear bomb is the most outright evil thing that human beings ever created. What does it say about the moral values of a nation that puts its security in nuclear weapons that are morally outrageous? I believe that Jesus calls us to be nuclear abolitionists through the political process. ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.’ When you go to the polls on Nov. 2, vote all your values. Jesus places on your heart this question: Who is to be trusted as the world’s chief peacemaker?”

Papal Authority Uncompromised

AFP reported on December 1:

“Pope Benedict XVI wrapped up a momentous visit to Turkey, in which he reached out to Muslims and the Orthodox Church while standing firm on key issues such as papal authority and Europe’s Christian roots… Adding drama to diplomacy, the 79-year-old pope made a stunning conciliatory gesture on Thursday when he assumed an attitude of Muslim prayer while facing Mecca in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque… he remained steadfast on a major point of disagreement — papal authority — when he stressed the Vatican’s ‘universal’ role.”

Are We To Observe Sunday?

CNA wrote on December 1:

“Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message to Cardinal Francis Arinze ahead of the Congregation for Divine Worship’s study day on the Sunday Mass… ‘Sundays,’ writes the Pope, ‘remain the fundamental seedbed and the primordial nucleus of the liturgical year… For the first Christians, participation in Sunday celebrations was the natural expression of their belonging to Christ, of their communion with His mystical Body, in joyous expectation of His glorious return. Today… it is more than ever necessary to reiterate the sacred nature of the Lord’s day and the need to participate in Sunday Mass.

“‘The cultural context in which we live, often marked by religious indifference and secularism that obscure the horizon of transcendence, must not cause us to forget that the People of God who came into being with the events of Easter must return [to those events] as an inexhaustible spring, in order to better understand … their own identity and the reasons for their existence. Sunday was not chosen by the Christian community… rather by the Apostles, indeed by Christ Himself Who on that day, “the first day of the week,” arose and appeared before the disciples. … Each Sunday celebration of the Eucharist enacts the sanctification of Christian people.’ Benedict XVI closed his message by expressing the hope that the study day ‘may help to recover the Christian meaning of Sunday in … the life of all believers.'”

But is any or all of this true? Did the early Apostles and the early Christians celebrate Sunday or Easter? Did Jesus Christ rise from the dead on Sunday morning? If you don’t know the answers to these vital questions, then the truth WILL surprise you. It might actually CHANGE your life!

To learn more, please read our free booklets, “Jesus Christ–a Great Mystery,”“Don’t Keep Christmas,” and “God’s Commanded Holy Days.”

The Pope’s Visit in Turkey

Prior to the pope’s arrival in Turkey on Tuesday, Der Spiegel Online reported on November 27:

“Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Turkey this week is not shaping up to be an easy one. In fact, it seems as if everybody he will be visiting in Ankara and Istanbul would prefer he not come at all. Some 25,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Istanbul on Sunday chanting ‘No to the pope’ and ‘Don’t come insidious pope’ while waving signs depicting the pontiff as the grim reaper. Organized by an Islamist political party, the protest was the biggest yet against the pope’s visit to Turkey, set to begin on Tuesday.

“Muslims are still angered by a lecture Benedict gave in September, when he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who wrote in a dialogue with a Persian that the Prophet Muhammad had brought ‘only evil and inhuman’ things. The speech, made during a visit to his native Germany, appeared to link Islam to violence. The pope never apologized to the extent Muslims have demanded. The pope also didn’t make any friends with a recent accidental reference to Istanbul as ‘Constantinople,’ the city’s name before the Ottomans took it in 1453…

“Benedict is also controversial in Turkey due to comments in 2004, prior to his becoming pope, that Turkey didn’t belong in the European Union. ‘Turkey has always represented a different continent, in permanent contrast to Europe,’ he said. Irrespective of the pope’s visit this week, Turkey’s EU ambitions took another hit on Monday as negotiations to allow Turkey to open up its ports to Cyprus broke down in Finland.

“In addition to boosting the dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, the pope will also be travelling to [Ephesus and] Istanbul to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the leader of the world’s [150 million] Orthodox Christians. The Vatican, which oversees the world’s 1 billion Catholics, is interested in deepening ties between the two churches, which split in the 11th century. But some in the Orthodox Church… have been wary of becoming too close to the pope. Istanbul was a major Christian capital until it fell to the Ottomans.”

How to Please the Turks

How quickly alleged opinions and positions can change, became clear when observing events DURING the first two days of the pope’s visit in Turkey.

Der Spiegel Online wrote on Wednesday, November 29:

“It didn’t take long for Pope Benedict XVI to transform himself from one of Turkey’s worst enemies to one of the country’s best friends. Already on Wednesday, the pope was being given praise for his attempts to bridge the gaps between Christians and Muslims… His comments on Tuesday saying that ISLAM WAS A RELIGION OF PEACE was well received.

“But that wasn’t all. The pope came bearing a surprise gift as well: SUPPORT FOR TURKISH MEMBERSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN UNION… With foreign ministers across Europe on Wednesday [with the notable exception of Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair] putting the pressure on Turkey to give ground in the country’s ongoing tiff with Greece and Cyprus, the pope suddenly seems one of Ankara’s few friends.”

AFP reported on November 29:

“Pope Benedict XVI has begun the religious leg of his four-day visit to Turkey Wednesday by celebrating his first mass on Muslim soil at the [alleged] Home of the Virgin Mary [in Ephesus] and making a fresh appeal for peace in the Middle East… The pope recalled that the Virgin Mary, venerated by Christians as the mother of Christ, ‘is EQUALLY VENERATED BY MUSLIMS.'”

…But Perhaps Not Quite…

AFP reported on November 30:

“Pope Benedict XVI has put the brakes on his charm offensive in EU-hopeful, Muslim majority Turkey, stressing Europe’s ‘Christian roots’ and taking a strong stand on religious freedoms and minority rights. Flanked by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I after mass at the patriarcal Church of St. George, the pontiff complained in a speech Thursday that ‘the process of secularization has weakened the hold of … (Christian) tradition’ in Europe. ‘In the face of this reality, we are called, together with all other Christian communities, to renew Europe’s awareness of its Christian roots, traditions and values, giving them new vitality,’ he said. His statement came just two days after he told Turkey’s Islamist-turned-conservative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in what was widely seen as a spectacular U-turn, that he supported Turkey’s membership in the European Union. Turkey in the EU, he had said while still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, would be ‘a grave error… against the tide of history.'”

“In a later joint declaration with Bartholomew I, at the risk of once again rubbing up his hosts the wrong way, he said respect for religious freedom must be a criterion for membership in the EU, which must ensure that its members respect the rights of their religious minorities… Another bone of contention is Turkey’s refusal to recognize Bartholomew I as the ecumenical, or universal, leader of about 150 million Orthodox faithful around the world… Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I have both put reconciliation of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches high on their agendas, and the pope described the schism, which dates back to 1054, as a ‘scandal to the world.’ But he remained steadfast on a key point of contention between the two rites — papal authority — by referring in his speech to the Catholic leader’s ‘universal responsibility.'”

Catholic Church and Anglican Church Remain Far Apart

AFP reported on November 23:

“Serious obstacles impede closer ties between Roman Catholics and Anglicans, Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said… The cordial meeting marked the 40th anniversary of the historic encounter between Williams’ predecessor Michael Ramsey and pope Paul VI that set the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches on a path of reconciliation after a rift of more than 400 years. ‘There are many areas of witness and service in which we can stand together,’ the statement said, listing the quest for peace in the Middle East ‘and in other parts of the world marred by conflict and the threat of terrorism; promoting respect for life from conception until natural death (and) protecting the sanctity of marriage.’ Afterward, the two men prayed together in a chapel in the Apostolic palace.

“Experts expected LITTLE PROGRESS TOWARDS MORE UNITY between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, which remain divided on issues including papal authority, the ordination of women and gay priests, priestly celibacy and other questions of sexual mores. The Anglican communion, which split from Catholicism in the 16th century when Pope Clement VII refused to grant King Henry VIII a divorce from Catherine d’Aragon, opened the priesthood to women in 1994 and is currently considering allowing woman bishops.The church is also considering allowing openly homosexual men and women into the priesthood, while it remains divided on the question of gay marriage.”

Enlargement of Europe

AFP reported on November 25:

“Bulgaria and Romania have cleared the last hurdle to joining the EU next year… after the German parliament ratified their entry into the club. ‘I welcome today’s vote in the German Bundesrat (upper house) on the accession treaty of Bulgaria and Romania, which completes the ratification process in Germany. It also completes the ratification process as a whole in the EU, since all the parliaments of the 25 member states and both acceding countries have now ratified the treaty,’ said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn…

“While the Bulgarians and Romanians will become full members of the club on January 1, [2007], they will do so under close scrutiny… Bulgaria and Romania began the membership process in 2000, along with the 10 mainly ex-Soviet bloc nations who joined the EU in 2004. Their admittance to the European Union continues the process of embracing former members of the Communist bloc which crumbled 15 years ago.

“Still waiting in the wings after January 1 will be the western Balkan states of Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia… However the Union wants to sort out its own constitutional crisis, caused by the rejection of the bloc’s draft constitution by Dutch and French voters last year, before letting anyone else into the club. Croatia could become the 28th EU member state but not until 2009-2010.

“As for Turkey, another EU hopeful, the membership horizon is growing more distant as relations grow more strained, and few observers expect Ankara to be popping any European champagne corks for at least another decade.”

Putin Unhappy With EU Enlargement

The Bulgarian paper, Sofia Weekly, reported on November 24:

“Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the European Union for accepting Bulgaria and Romania as new member states without consulting Moscow, DPA reported. ‘Unfortunately, the EU while adopting the accession of those two countries didn’t find it necessary to consult with us on the interests of all sides concerned,’ Putin told reporters on the eve of summit talks in Helsinki. The remarks came after Poland refused to lift its veto on opening EU partnership talks with Russia. It came in protest against Moscow’s ban on imports of Polish meat and plant exports–which Russia sees as linked with Bulgarian and Romanian accession… Officials in Moscow say food products from the two former Eastern Bloc countries could reach Russia through third-party EU members–especially Poland–after their EU accession… Officials in Moscow said the reason for their planned EU-wide ban–which encompasses dairy and fish products, in addition to meat–was lax veterinary standards in Romania and Bulgaria.”

Listen to Poland!

On November 25, the German conservative daily, Die Welt, published an intriguing and thought-provoking article. The paper stated:

“We should not view Poland’s resistance to a continued relationship between the EU and Russia as mere stiff-necked opposition. Our eastern neighbor is far ahead of us in its realistic analysis of the dangers, which exist for Europe due to Putin’s hunger for power… All these developments [in Russia] have not created in us the realization that Russia’s desire to meddle could also pose a SECURITY THREAT FOR THE EUROPEAN UNION… That [former German Chancellor] Gerhard Schroeder agreed to a pipeline with Russia, thereby circumventing Poland, was devastating enough… But it was even a much worse blow when he participated in Moscow at the festivities of the Red Army in celebration of the end of the war sixty years ago, and when he praised [the Red Army’s] accomplishments in achieving ‘freedom from fascism,’ while failing to mention at all the Hitler-Stalin Pact, which led to the partitioning of the Polish Nation among the totalitarian comrades.”

Russia an Enemy of the U.S.?

Another insightful article was published on November 28 by The Wall Street Journal:

“It’s time we start thinking of Vladimir Putin’s Russia as an enemy of the United States. This isn’t simply because a former KGB agent turned Putin critic died last week in London after ingesting a dose of polonium 210, an element that usually functions as a neutron trigger in atomic bombs. Nor is it that Alexander Litvinenko’s death is the latest in a series of killings, attempted murders, imprisonments and forced exiles whose victims just happened to be prominent opponents of Mr. Putin. It is because the foreign policy of Russia has become openly, and often gratuitously, hostile to the U.S.

“Some examples: Last summer, Russia signed a billion-dollar arms deal with Venezuela; Hugo Chávez wasted no time fantasizing aloud about using the weapons to sink an American aircraft carrier. Last week, Russia began deliveries to Iran of highly sophisticated SA-15 anti-aircraft missiles, at a value of $700 million… the purpose of the missiles is to defend Iran’s nuclear sites, which do threaten the balance of power. [Russian Defense Minister Igor] Ivanov… says he is ‘absolutely sure’ the billion-dollar Bushehr reactor that Russia is building for Iran could not be used to build nuclear weapons. This is false, and Mr. Ivanov must know it: The spent plutonium from the reactor can easily be diverted and reprocessed to produce as many as 60 bombs.

“At the United Nations, Russia has consistently opposed U.S. efforts to sanction Iran and North Korea for their nuclear programs and diluted the effects of the resolutions that were passed. The Russians say they oppose the use of sanctions because they ‘don’t work.’ It’s an odd claim coming from a government that in October brusquely imposed trade, travel and postal sanctions on neighboring Georgia…”

Is Ethiopia Pushing or Being Pushed?

AFP reported on November 25:

“Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said his country would not wait for foreign approval to attack powerful Islamists in neighboring Somalia that many fear could lead to a regional war. As the powerful Islamist movement poured troops into frontline positions outside the Ethiopian-backed weak Somali government’s seat, Meles called for international understanding but said he needed no ‘green light’ to fight. Speaking to reporters in Addis Ababa two days after announcing to parliament that ETHIOPIA HAD COMPLETED PREPARATIONS FOR WAR, he said he understood calls for restraint and was committed to dialogue but would act to defend his country…

“‘I want to stress again that we are not saying we might be attacked, we have already been attacked,’ Meles said of the Islamists, who have declared holy war on Ethiopian troops in Somalia deployed to protect the Somali government… Mainly Christian Ethiopia has watched with growing concern the rise on its southeastern border of the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu in June and now control most of southern and central Somalia.”

Will a New Lebanese War Break Out?

NewsFront Page magazine reported the following on November 22:

“In the wake of this summer’s bloody, 33-day war between Hezbollah and Israel, most analysts predicted that the region would never be the same. In fact, they asserted that with UN Resolution 1701, Hezbollah would be disarmed and expelled from its redoubt in southern Lebanon. This in turn would give effective control of the region to the Lebanese Army, while a UNIFIL force 15,000-men strong would secure the cease-fire and put an end to the armed conflict.

“But the present reality is far from this rosy picture. Indeed, one can make the case that this summer’s hostilities have achieved little and that ANOTHER WAR WILL RESUME IN THE NEAR FUTURE. A few prescient facts confirm this grim assessment. First, there is the anti-Israel composition of the Lebanese army. Forty percent of the 60,000-strong Lebanese army is composed of Shiite soldiers, many whom are extremely favorable to Hezbollah. There are also thousands of ex-Syrian troops, who joined the Lebanese Army when Syria ‘officially’ left Lebanon last year, just before the Syrian withdrawal, when thousands of Syrian soldiers were naturalized and incorporated into the ranks of the army.

“UNIFIL is scarcely an improvement. On the contrary, it is a DISASTER IN WAITING. Initially intended to number 15,000 soldiers, it is barely reaching 5,700. At the same time, countries like France are balking at sending additional troops to bolster the promised numbers. Understaffed and guided by an unclear mandate, UNIFIL troops are unwilling to tame Hezbollah. Proof for this proposition comes from a recent episode, wherein Spanish troops stood down at the mere sight of Hezbollah fighters. One of the Spanish patrol leaders explained that UNIFIL’s role was only to ‘observe changes in behavior of the local population.’

“On top of that, no UNIFIL patrols are carried out at night, for safety reasons. UN soldiers, feeling that they are increasingly viewed by the local population as an occupation force, are more interested in leaving than confronting Hezbollah: they are clearly worried about potential Hezbollah terror attacks. Such an attack would mirror the terrorist group’s October 1983 bombing, which killed 241 U.S. troops and 58 French troops. A few months later, multinational forces were gone. This time, the strategy appears to be preemptive retreat: A European diplomat was recently quoted as saying that, after an attack on UNIFIL, international forces would be gone within three days.

“To sum up the situation: the Lebanese Army is watching UNIFIL watching Hezbollah. Thus it is far from surprising that Hezbollah is fast rearming through Syria, right under the nose of UNIFIL troops and the Lebanese Army, a fact confirmed by U.N. Special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen. But while UNIFIL does not seem particularly concerned with Hezbollah’s buildup, it is focusing on Israel’s violations of Lebanese airspace. Significantly, however, these incursions occur because Israel is compelled to fulfill UNIFIL’s mandate, which is to arrest — and not simply to observe — Hezbollah’s rearmament. France in particular has threatened to punish Israel while permitting Hezbollah to operate with impunity… A likely scenario includes Hezbollah again controlling South Lebanon and launching attacks against Israel. This could be accelerated if Syria succeeds in igniting a civil war by pushing Hezbollah and its Shiite allies… towards a major confrontation with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora…

“In the worst-case scenario, THE CHAOS COULD REACH WESTERN SHORES if Hezbollah decides, on the orders of Iran, to start a terror campaign in the West or against Western targets, as it did in France in 1986. In the meantime, one thing seems clear. This summer’s Israel-Hezbollah standoff marked not the end of a conflict but the BEGINNING OF A BROADER WAR THAT SEEMS LIKELY TO REIGNITE BEFORE LONG.”

U.S. Dollar Continues to Fall

The Financial Times wrote on November 24 about the continuing slide of the U.S. dollar, stating:

“A sharpening slide in the US dollar unnerved global markets on Friday as investors sought to protect themselves from the possibility of sustained dollar weakness. As US markets were closing on Friday, THE EURO STOOD AT A 19-MONTH HIGH of $1.309, up 1.2 per cent, while sterling gained 0.9 per cent… The dollar has now fallen this year by more than 10 per cent against the euro and 12 per cent against sterling. Some economists suggest the greenback has FURTHER TO SLIDE given a WEAK ECONOMIC OUTLOOK in the US.”

The Telegraph.co.uk stated on Wednesday, November 29:

“The dollar tumbled to a NEAR 15-YEAR LOW against sterling yesterday on fresh signs of economic trouble in the United States. An 8.3pc crash in US industrial orders and an admission by the Federal Reserve chairman that Washington does not know how bad housing really is set off another day of wild gyrations on the currency markets… The dollar continued its slide against the euro, dropping to $1.3194… The pound briefly touched $1.95 and surged to eight-year highs against the yen. The Japanese currency has been in freefall for months on repeated weak data. It suffered a fresh blow yesterday after retail sales fell for a second month, increasing fears that Japan’s export-dependent economy may slow in lock step with America.”

Violence in Iraq Out Of Control

On November 24, AFP reported about continuing violence in Iraq:

“The Iraqi capital has been locked down by an indefinite curfew after more than 200 people were killed by a wave of bombings in a Shiite slum in BY FAR THE DEADLIEST ATTACK SINCE THE WAR IN 2003… Almost a thousand people have been killed by violence in Iraq since Saddam was sentenced to death on November 5 for the mass killing of Shiites in the 1980s.”

The most recent attacks were blamed on Sunnis, prompting retaliation from Shiites. As The Associated Press reported on November 24:

“Shiite militiamen grabbed six Sunnis as they left Friday worship services, doused them with kerosene and burned them alive NEAR IRAQI SOLDIERS WHO DID NOT INTERVENE…The savage revenge attack for Thursday’s slaying of 215 people in the Shiite Sadr City slum occurred as members of the Mahdi Army militia burned four mosques, and several homes while killing an unknown number of Sunni residents in the once-mixed Hurriyah neighborhood of Baghdad.”

The vicious cycle of violence continues in Iraq, and NO ONE seems to be able to stop it.

Middle Eastern Civil Wars Not Just in Iraq?

The Associated Press reported on November 26:

“Jordan’s King Abdullah said Sunday the problems in the Middle East go beyond the war in Iraq and that much of the region soon could become engulfed in violence unless the central issues are addressed quickly. ‘We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands,’ he said, citing conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon and the decades-long strife between the Palestinians and Israelis.'”

On Monday, November 27, 2006, several U.S. broadcasting companies, including CNN, NBC and MSNBC, decided to officially label the present situation in Iraq as “Civil War.” President Bush rejected this description on Tuesday, while former “U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said on Wednesday Iraq had descended into civil war and urged world leaders to accept that ‘reality'” (Reuters, November 29, 2006).

Bring Saddam Hussein Back?

HOW BAD the situation in Iraq has become, and how desperate some are looking for “solutions” in face of an apparently unsolvable problem, can be seen when considering a most unusual and seemingly ridiculous proposal to bring rest to the area stricken by Civil War. The solution of The Los Angeles Times’ writer Jonathan Chait is simply this: Bring Saddam Hussein back! And Chait is not joking. In his editorial of November 26, 2006, he wrote:

“The debate about Iraq has moved past the question of whether it was a mistake (everybody knows it was) to the more depressing question of whether it is possible to avert total disaster. Every self-respecting foreign policy analyst has his own plan for Iraq. The trouble is that these tracts are inevitably unconvincing, except when they argue why all the other plans would fail. It’s all terribly grim. So allow me to propose the unthinkable: Maybe, just maybe, our best option is to restore Saddam Hussein to power… At the outset of the war, I had no high hopes for Iraqi democracy, but I paid no attention to the possibility that the Iraqis would end up with a worse government than the one they had. It turns out, however, that there is something more awful than totalitarianism, and that is endless chaos and civil war.

“Nobody seems to foresee the possibility of restoring order to Iraq. Here is the basic dilemma: The government is run by Shiites, and the security agencies have been overrun by militias and death squads. The government is strong enough to terrorize the Sunnis into rebellion but not strong enough to crush this rebellion… The disadvantages of reinstalling Hussein are obvious, but consider some of the upside. He would not allow the country to be dominated by Iran, which is the United States’ major regional enemy, a sponsor of terrorism and an instigator of warfare between Lebanon and Israel. Hussein was extremely difficult to deal with before the war, in large part because he apparently believed that he could defeat any U.S. invasion if it came to that. Now he knows he can’t. And he’d probably be amenable because his alternative is death by hanging.”

“Iraq Did Much Better Under Saddam”

On November 29, the German magazine, Der Stern Online, published an interview with Middle Eastern expert and well-known journalist Peter Scholl-Latour, almost echoing the above sentiments in the article of The Los Angeles Times. Scholl-Latour answered the question whether Iraq did better under Saddam:

“Much better. It is true that the Kurds and Shiites were persecuted, but Saddam held the country together; there was not daily fear to be killed or blackmailed through criminal gangs. Students could safely attend the university of Baghdad. Many women did not wear a scarf. When a woman is seen today on the streets of Baghdad without a scarf, she must expect the worse.”

When asked whether Iraqis are sad that Saddam is gone, Scholl-Latour answered:

“No, they only miss the order and security which existed then. There was one rule under Saddam Hussein: Do not oppose him. But when people kept quiet, they were left in peace for the most part.”

England Wants to Please Europe–and Angers Churches

The Daily Mail wrote on November 28 about proposed legislation in England, in compliance with a “European Directive,” pertaining to homosexuals, and the negative reaction of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. The article explained:

“The Sexual Orientation Regulations are set to go into law in England in April… [They] would have an impact on religious believers in business. Christian hoteliers will be compelled to rent rooms to gay couples, while Muslim printers will be unable to refuse to print homosexual magazines or advertisements.”

The article also stated: “Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols threatened to withdraw Catholic co-operation with the Government over schools, charity programmes and adoption agencies if the new sexual orientation regulations go ahead… Church of England leaders have said that priests could be sued for failing to bless same sex couples or give communion to churchgoers whose behaviour they believe to be wilfully sinful.” The article concluded with the following remarks:

“While the final version of the rules–which the Government has produced to MEET THE DEMANDS OF A EUROPEAN DIRECTIVE–have yet to be published in England, the version which will operate in Northern Ireland from 1 January has appeared. The Northern Ireland rules, which appear to cement the role of the province as a test bed for new legislation and forms of taxation in England, say those found guilty of breaking the rules will be fined between £500 and £1,000 for a first offence. Subsequent serious offences can attract penalties of up to £25,000.”

Colonizing Space Through Warp Drive?

On November 30, 2006, the British paper, The Telegraph, reported the following:

“Mankind will need to venture far beyond planet Earth to ensure the long-term survival of our species, according to the world’s best known scientist, Professor Stephen Hawking. Returning to a theme he has voiced many times before, the Cambridge University cosmologist said today that space-rockets propelled by the kind of matter/antimatter annihilation technology popularised in Star Trek would be needed to help Homo sapiens colonise hospitable planets orbiting alien stars… “He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that scientists still have ‘some way to go’ to reach his prediction in his bestselling A Brief History of Time that mankind would one day ‘know the mind of God’ by UNDERSTANDING THE COMPLETE SET OF LAWS WHICH GOVERN THE UNIVERSE. This set of laws, which will probably rely on theory that requires more than three dimensions of space and one of time, could be uncovered within 20 years…

“‘The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet,’ he said. ‘Sooner or later, DISASTERS SUCH AS AN ASTEROID COLLISION OR NUCLEAR WAR COULD WIPE US ALL OUT. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe. ‘There isn’t anywhere like the Earth in the solar system, so we would have to go to another star. If we used chemical fuel rockets like the Apollo mission to the moon, the journey to the nearest star would take 50,000 years. This is obviously far too long to be practical, so science fiction has developed the idea of warp drive, which takes you instantly to your destination. Unfortunately, this would violate the scientific law which says that nothing can travel faster than light. However, we can still within the law, by using matter/antimatter annihilation, and reach speeds just below the speed of light. With that, it would be possible to reach the next star in about six years, though it wouldn’t seem so long for those on board.’

“The science fiction series Star Trek has used matter/antimatter annihilation as an explanation for the warp drive. But, in reality, he said that scientists believe that the flash of radiation produced when matter and antimatter are brought together and destroy one another could in fact one day be used to drive craft to close to the speed of light.”

USA, Israel and Australia vs. the Rest of the World

UPI reported on November 18:

“Israel’s ambassador walked out on the United Nations session that resulted in a strong call to Israel to end its military operations in the Gaza Strip. The 192-member General Assembly voted Friday night 156-7, with six abstentions, in favor of the non-binding resolution in an emergency special session. The United States, Israel and Australia voted against the document, while all the European Union members supported it after last-minute changes were made to soften the tone. Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman conducted a news conference nearby and blasted the session as a ‘farce’ and a ‘circus.’ U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called the resolution ‘one-sided’ and said its adoption would only ‘increase tension and serve the interests of those hostile to Israel and that do not accept Israel’s right to exist.'”

Little Positive Change in the Middle East

Der Spiegel Online reported on November 21 about the popularity of President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, as well as the current unchanged situation in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip:

“Both men have enjoyed few successes recently. Olmert is just as unpopular in Israel as Bush is in the United States. He has only been in office since last spring, and he has been isolated since the invasion of Lebanon…
“Israel made a number of mistakes in rapid succession, mistakes for which Bush’s America, with its theory of war as a suitable tool for bringing about change, is partly responsible. The invasion in Lebanon was based on the illusion that Hezbollah, under its leader Hassan Nasrallah, could be dealt a devastating and possibly quick military defeat. But when faced with large numbers of civilian casualties, Olmert was eventually forced to agree to a cease-fire. An international force has now been deployed to the region to keep the peace, but Israel has little confidence in its effectiveness, as evidenced by Israeli military aircraft routinely flying over German ships and ignoring Lebanon’s territorial sovereignty. In taking such action, the Olmert administration is in violation of United Nations resolutions.

“Little has changed in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants are still firing Qassam rockets into Israel, but their range and availability have increased, thereby increasing the risk of Israelis being killed or wounded. The rocket attacks are met with retaliatory action by the Israeli air force and army. In an inadvertent attack on Nov. 8, the Israelis ended up massacring 19 civilians, including women and small children, in the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip…

“The Iraq war has only exacerbated the problem, because it has fueled the rise of the radical Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon — and, of course, Iran’s push to become a nuclear power. Israel still has the monopoly on nuclear weapons in the region, although it has never admitted to being a nuclear power… With the military deprived of its mystique, the people disappointed and the administration weakened, Israel now even faces the prospect of waning support from its traditional ally, the US.”

Anti-Syrian Minister Murdered in Lebanon

AFP reported on November 21:

“Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel has been assassinated in a northern Beirut suburb in the latest in a spate of attacks to target anti-Syrian politicians… The head of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, Saad Hariri, interrupted a press conference to accuse the Syrian regime of ‘trying to kill every free person’ in Lebanon. ‘The cycle (of killings) has resumed,’ he said. He was referring to a spate of assassinations and attempts in the past two years. These included the murder of his own father, five-time premier Rafiq Hariri, in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront in February last year… The Syrian regime has denied links with the attacks.”

Britain’s Intervention in Iraq a “Disaster”?

The Daily Mail reported on November 18:

“Tony Blair admitted that British intervention in Iraq has been a disaster last night–sending shockwaves through Westminster. In his frankest admission about the war to date, Mr Blair admitted that Western forces have been powerless to stop the descent into violence… Challenged by veteran interviewer Sir David Frost that the Western invasion of Iraq has ‘so far been pretty much of a disaster’, Mr Blair said: ‘It has.’ … In a chilling warning to those who want Britain to cut and run from the foreign adventures that have characterised Mr Blair’s premiership he warned that Britain would be involved in the Middle East on a ‘generational’ basis, though he stressed he did not expect British troops to remain in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan for a generation… The Prime Minister used his interview to again offer a partnership with Iraq’s neighbours Iran and Syria but warned that they are not yet doing enough to warrant a friendly relationship.”  

Downing Street was quick to respond to Blair’s interview. As AFP reported on November 18:

“Downing Street has moved swiftly to dampen an apparent overnight admission by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the US-led invasion of Iraq had been a disaster…  Downing Street insisted Saturday that Blair’s comments had been misrepresented. ‘The Prime Minister does not use the word disaster,’ a spokesperson told AFP. ‘What he does is set out that the violence in Iraq is of course hugely regrettable, tragic and very very difficult, but that this violence is a result of malicious external intervention, not some planning error three years ago.’… A spokesperson for the main opposition Conservative Party added that the Prime Minister’s comments highlighted the need for an inquiry into how Britain joined the war in Iraq.”

How Kissinger Sees It…

The Associated Press reported on November 20, 2006:

“Military victory is no longer possible in Iraq, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in a television interview broadcast Sunday. Kissinger presented a bleak vision of Iraq, saying the U.S. government must enter into dialogue with Iraq’s regional neighbors–including Iran–if progress is to be made in the region. ‘If you mean by “military victory” an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don’t believe that is possible,’ he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

“But Kissinger, an architect of the Vietnam war who has advised President Bush about Iraq, warned against a rapid withdrawal of coalition troops, saying it could destabilize Iraq’s neighbors and cause a long-lasting conflict. ‘A dramatic collapse of Iraq–whatever we think about how the situation was created–would have disastrous consequences for which we would pay for many years and which would bring us back, one way or another, into the region,’ he said.”

Australian Drought

Der Spiegel Online reported on November 21, 2006:

“Farmers in Australia are suffering their fifth year of continuous drought — and the summer hasn’t even started yet. Now, farms along the Murray River have been cut off… And there is little Australia can do… over 50 percent of the country’s agricultural land has now been declared drought-stricken… The drought has got so bad that officials are now talking about the worst dry spell in 100 years on the continent… More and more farmers are giving up hope and a wave of farmer suicides has hit the country, with a farmer taking his life every four days. The rate is already twice the national average… The situation has even shocked the government in Canberra out of their stubborn position on global warming. ‘Certainly, it has taken people beyond the denial phase on climate change,’ Senator Bill Heffernan told the International Herald Tribune recently. ‘For the first time, the cities are focused on their worries about the future of water supply. Everyone has taken for granted that you turn the tap on and water comes out. I think they now can see that that might not necessarily continue to be the case.”

Ethiopia’s Rare Lions Are Being Killed

The Associated Press reported on November 22:

“Rare Abyssinian lion cubs are being poisoned at a zoo because staff cannot afford to keep them… Ethiopia’s lions, famous for their black manes, are the country’s national symbol and adorn statues and the local currency. Wildlife experts estimate that only 1,000 Ethiopian lions, which are smaller than other lions, remain in the wild… it costs around $6,000 a month to run the zoo, but it only receives $5,000 in revenues from entrance fees… the poisoning has been going on [for] at least two years…The zoo is a popular local attraction, although poor facilities have led to concerns by international wildlife organizations. It was built in 1948 by Emperor Haile Selassie and currently has 16 adult lions and five cubs.”

How is Germany’s Angela Merkel Doing?

AFP reported on November 19, 2006:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has had a testing first year in charge, holding together a fractious coalition government, presiding over a fall in unemployment and thawing relations with Washington. Merkel came to power last November 22 after a messy, inconclusive election eventually produced a negotiated compromise — she would rule over the unusual combination of her conservative Christian Democrats and the left-leaning Social Democrats of her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder… As Germany’s first woman leader, Merkel has led the so-called grand coalition to major policy decisions, reforming the funding of the healthcare system and raising the retirement age while tinkering with the tax system. Unemployment, which bubbled ominously around the five-million mark before the election, fell in October to its lowest level in four years at around four million and debt is down too.

“But a panel of company bosses polled by the Allensbach research institute found that 55 percent of them believed the economic recovery had nothing to do with the work of the government. ‘After five lean years, Germany is for once enjoying the sweet side of the business cycle. It won’t last forever,’ said Bank of America analyst Holger Schmieding. Worse, he suggested, is that ‘the cyclical upswing has sapped the appetite in Berlin for tackling the really unpopular issues.’ While the infighting between right and left within her government has restricted her room to manoeuvre at home, Merkel has been able to express herself in the field of foreign policy…

“The US-German relationship was severely strained by Schroeder’s outspoken opposition to the Iraq war, but Merkel has made it work again and she was instrumental in ensuring Germany leads the naval component of the peacekeeping force after the Lebanon-Israel war. Her surprisingly high profile abroad saw the pastor’s daughter from the former East Germany voted the world’s most powerful woman by Forbes magazine. Yet Merkel has enjoyed a year of two halves — riding a wave of popularity in the first six months, almost drowning in the cross-party bickering over the healthcare reforms in the second. Surveys now show only a third of the country supports her conservatives, their lowest score since 2000. And with Germany set to take over the presidency of the Group of Eight most industrialised nations and the European Union on January 1, Merkel will find dangers lurking around every corner.”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on November 20, 2006:

“It’s been one year since Chancellor Angela Merkel came to office at the head of a grand coalition of her conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats. How has she done? Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘There’s no mood of celebration on the first anniversary of the grand coalition. There’s general disappointment that this alliance didn’t use its big majorities in the Bundestag and Bundesrat to achieve great things. Even its members don’t deny this. But they never announced gigantic plans in the first place… The weight of the grand coalitions’ seats has proved to be an optical illusion. Even the chancellor’s own party is divided on many issues.'”

The Unspeakable Horrors of the Holocaust

The Associated Press reported on November 19 about the terrible reality of the Holocaust during World War II. Even though the appalling fact of the Holocaust has been firmly established and verified, some still deny its existence, or the gravity of the same. The following article of the Associated Press should put any doubts to rest and remind the world of the unspeakable atrocities man has been willing–and is still willing–to inflict upon his fellow man:

“The 21-year-old Russian sat before a clerk of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate’s office, describing the furnaces at Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp where he had been a prisoner until a few weeks previously. ‘I saw with my own eyes how thousands of Jews were gassed daily and thrown by the hundreds into pits where Jews were burning,’ he said. ‘I saw how little children were killed with sticks and thrown into the fire,’ he continued. Blood flowed in gutters, and ‘Jews were thrown in and died there’; more were taken off trucks and cast alive into the flames.

“Today the Holocaust is known in dense and painful detail. Yet the young Russian’s words leap off the faded, onionskin page with a rawness that transports the reader back to April 1945, when World War II was still raging… The two pages of testimony, in a file randomly plucked off a shelf, are among millions of documents held by the International Tracing Service, or ITS, an arm of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“This vast archive–16 miles of files in six nondescript buildings in a German spa town–contains the fullest records of Nazi persecutions in existence. But because of concerns about the victims’ privacy, the ITS has kept the files closed to the public for half a century, doling out information in minimal amounts to survivors or their descendants on a strict need-to-know basis. This policy, which has generated much ill-feeling among Holocaust survivors and researchers, is about to change.

“In May, after years of pressure from the United States and survivors’ groups, the 11 countries overseeing the archive agreed to unseal the files for scholars as well as victims and their families. In recent weeks the ITS’ interim director, Jean-Luc Blondel, has been to Washington, The Hague and to the Buchenwald memorial with a new message of cooperation with other Holocaust institutions and governments. ITS has allowed Paul Shapiro, of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, to look at the files and has also given The Associated Press extensive access on condition no names from the files are revealed unless they have been identified in other sources.

“‘This is powerful stuff,’ said Shapiro, leafing through the file containing the Russian’s statement and some 200 other testimonies that take the reader into the belly of Hitler’s death machine– its camps, inmates, commandants, executioners and trusted inmates used as low-level guards and known as kapos. ‘If you sat here for a day and read these files, you’d get a picture of what it was really like in the camps, how people were treated…’

“Another subject is the sheer scope of the Holocaust system. The files will support new research from other sources showing that the network of concentration camps, ghettos and labor camps was nearly three times more extensive than previously thought. Postwar historians estimated about 5,000 to 7,000 detention sites. But after the Cold War ended, records began pouring out of the former communist nations of East Europe. More sites were disclosed in the last six years in claims by 1.6 million people for slave labor reparations from a $6.6 billion fund financed by the German government and some 3,000 industries. ‘We have identified somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 camps and ghettos of various categories,’ said Geoffrey Megargee of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, who is compiling a seven-volume encyclopedia of these detention centers… Between 1933 to 1945, the Nazi persecution grew to assembly-line proportions, slaughtering 6 million Jews and an equal number of Gypsies, homosexuals, mental patients, political prisoners and other ‘undesirables.’ Tens of millions were conscripted as forced laborers.

“To operate history’s greatest slaughter, the Nazis created a bureaucracy that meticulously recorded the arrest, movement and death of each victim. Sometimes even the lice plucked from heads in concentration camps were counted. But as the pace of genocide stepped up, unknown numbers were marched directly from trains to gas chambers without being registered. In the war’s final months, the bookkeeping collapsed, though the extermination continued. What documents survived Nazi attempts to destroy them were collected by the Allies to help people find missing relatives… Some 50 million pages–scraps of paper, transport lists, registration books, labor documents, medical and death registers–make reference to 17.5 million individuals caught up in the machinery of persecution, displacement and death.”

Violent Games Blamed for German School Attack

Reuters reported on November 21:

“Leading German lawmakers demanded a crackdown on violent computer and simulated war games on Tuesday over concerns that they may have helped inspire a young man to attack his former school with guns and explosives. The masked 18-year-old man stormed the Scholl secondary school on Monday in the western German town of Emsdetten, wounding as many as 27 people before committing suicide. The young man, identified only as Bastian B., was known to authorities and due in court on Tuesday for weapons violations, local police said. According to German media reports, he had a fondness for war simulation and computer games.

“Wolfgang Bosbach, the deputy head of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) in parliament, said it was time to consider banning games that simulate wanton killing. ‘We need effective guidelines to protect children from exposure to different types of media, but we don’t need (simulated) killer games that can lead to brutalisation,’ Bosbach was quoted on the Netzeitung news Web site as saying. Bosbach added that scientific studies have shown violent games have disturbing effects on some children.

“Christa Stewens, family minister for the conservative-led state of Bavaria, called for a nationwide ban on war games like paintball and laser tag, in which players hunt down and pretend to kill each other with guns firing paint balls or laser beams. ‘The federal government must finally ban (simulated) killer games… Bavaria has had such a ban in place since 2002,’ Stewens said in a statement. She added that children should also be prevented from playing violent computer games. The federal government has so far refused to ban such games.”

That violent computer and other games may have a contributing role in brutal and senseless murders cannot be denied. However, the real problem lies much deeper. To gain a thorough understanding of the matter, please read our free booklets, “Should You Fight in War?” and “The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families.”

Is Europe Going To Leap Ahead?

The EUobserver reported on November 20:

“Several former EU politicians have called for a ‘leap’ on the European political scene to create enough impetus to see through institutional reform in the bloc by 2009. A joint declaration, published in Florence on Friday (17 November) urges member states to ‘get back on the path to reform of the European institutions.’ Signed, amongst others, by Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the architect of the frozen EU constitution, ex-German foreign minister Joschka Fischer and the former presidents of Italy and Portugal, the text calls for a ‘political leap by all the parties concerned so that the new process is concluded at the time of the new European parliament in spring 2009.’

“Going into detail, it says that the whole of the first and second parts of the constitution–dealing with the values and aims of the bloc as well as the fundamental rights of citizens–should be kept and that the contentious parts of the third section–detailing the policies of the EU–should be clarified… Talk about reviving the EU institutional reform process–put off track by the rejection of the European constitution by French and Dutch voters last year–has gone up a notch recently. This is mainly due to the twin prospect of the German EU presidency in the first half of next year as well as French elections in April–with only a concerted effort by Berlin and Paris thought to be enough to get reform back at the top of the bloc’s political agenda…

“Germany has made progress on the constitution–calling for an ‘ambitious’ text–one of the main issues of its six-month stint at the helm of the EU. Now it is waiting to hear what Paris has to offer… For its part, Germany is planning to have a concrete timetable on the constitution and institutional reform on the table by an EU leaders summit in June–with a view to bringing the reform process to fruition in 2009.”

Remnants of Lost Ten Tribes in India?

The Scotsman reported on November 21:

“A group of 51 Indians who claim to be descendants of one of the ten lost biblical tribes were on their way to Israel last night, in what is viewed by their supporters as a fulfillment of prophecy. They were converted to Judaism in India by rabbis after Israel’s chief rabbinate last year recognized about 7,000 people from the remote north-eastern states of Mizoram and Minapur who claim ancient Israelite ancestry through belonging to the Bnei Menashe, one of the ten tribes that were lost after being exiled by the Assyrians in 586BC. Michael Jankelowitz, spokesman for the Jerusalem-based Jewish Agency, which is co-ordinating the Indians’ arrival, said ‘they have lived a Jewish way of life for decades’ including by keeping Saturday as the Sabbath and observing Jewish dietary laws…

“Some researchers say certain practices involving animal sacrifice were similar to ancient Hebrew traditions, while an ancient song among one tribe talked of crossing the Red Sea… Exiled from ancient Israel by the Assyrian empire around 730BC, the tribe was apparently forced east and travelled through Afghanistan and China before settling in what is now India’s north-east.

“On the way, they forgot their language, their history and most of their traditions… Among the clues… were traditions resembling those of the ancient Israelites, including having places of refuge for those who had killed someone by mistake. [They] also practised circumcision, albeit with sharpened flint rather than a knife… By Rabbi Avihayil’s estimate, there are tens of millions of descendants of the lost tribes of Israel living in [other parts of the world].”

We can safely say that the group of 51 Indians are NOT descendants of the ancient tribe of Manasseh, as these descendants migrated westward–not eastward–after the Assyrian captivity, and settled in Europe and ultimately in the United States. However, many people had come in contact with the Israelites before and after their captivity, so it stands to reason that they adopted some of the Israelite laws and cultures–something that God had prophesied would happen, to an extent. For more information, please read our free booklets, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America,” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.” We have also still available for distribution some copies of the full-color booklet, “America and Britain in Prophecy…,” which was written by Raymond McNair.

The Catholic Position

VIS reported on November 17:

“… at one of the regular meetings of the heads of dicasteries of the Roman Curia… [the] value of the choice of priestly celibacy [compulsory refusal to marry] in accordance with Catholic tradition was reaffirmed…  [The Pope also stressed that] ‘the aim of the ecumenical movement remains unchanged: the visible unity of the Church. … Vatican Council II considered the re-establishment of full unity among all Christians as one of its principal concerns. It is also my concern… The eastern and western parts of Europe are coming closer together, and this encourages Churches to coordinate their efforts to safeguard the Christian tradition.’… In this context [of the ecumenical movement], the [Pope] mentioned ‘the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification,’ signed with the World Lutheran Federation, and to which the World Methodist Council has also given its approval.”

Internet Libel Law

The Associated Press reported on November 20:

“Websites that publish inflammatory information written by other parties cannot be sued for libel, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. The ruling in favour of free online expression was a victory for a San Diego woman who was sued by two doctors for posting an allegedly libelous e-mail on two websites. Some of the Internet’s biggest names, including Amazon.com, America Online Inc., EBay Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc., took the defendant’s side out of concern a ruling against her would expose them to liability. In reversing an appellate court’s decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides broad immunity from defamation lawsuits for people who publish information on the Internet that was gathered from another source.

“‘The prospect of blanket immunity for those who intentionally redistribute defamatory statements on the Internet has disturbing implications,’ Associate Justice Carol Corrigan wrote in the majority opinion. ‘Nevertheless … statutory immunity serves to protect online freedom of expression and to encourage self-regulation, as Congress intended.’ Unless the U.S. Congress revises the existing law, people who claim they were defamed in an Internet posting can only seek damages from the original source of the statement, the court ruled.”