6 DAY WAR ALMOST ARMAGEDDON

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.2-Earthquake in Laos shakes Thailand. 3-Tornado probably struck near Stratford: weather service 4-Notre Dame basilica spire falls in storm 5-Rain boosts efforts to control South Jersey wildfire. 6-Smoke from Georgia, Florida fires reaches N.C. 7-Israeli aircraft fires on Hamas targets. 8-Rabbi mourns death of great Christian leader and friend of Israel Reverend Jerry Falwell. 9-Merkel gives up on God in EU treaty. 10-Commission defines red lines for new EU treaty. 11-Solana reiterates EU commitment to Mideast peace process. 12-European Union Opens Its Market to 80 Countries. 13-HOW THE SIX DAY WAR ALMOST LED TO ARMAGEDDON.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Thu May 17 2:00 AM EDT

MAY 17.07
MAP 3.1 OFF THE COAST OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
MAP 4.6 NEAR THE COAST OF SOUTHERN PERU
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.3 NEAR THE NORTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
MAP 5.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

MAY 16,07
MAP 5.7 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 5.0 SUNDA STRAIT, INDONESIA
MAP 2.5 HAWAII REGION, HAWAII
MAP 3.1 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.3 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.0 ARKANSAS
MAP 2.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.9 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.5 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 6.3 LAOS
MAP 3.1 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 4.4 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION
MAP 5.7 SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN

MAY 15,07
MAP 2.7 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 4.5 NEAR THE COAST OF NICARAGUA
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 4.4 HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
MAP 4.7 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
MAP 5.1 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.7 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.7 COSTA RICA
MAP 4.9 BATAN ISLANDS REGION, PHILIPPINES
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 5.0 SOLOMON ISLANDS
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 4.8 BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
MAP 5.3 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 NEAR THE COAST OF NICARAGUA
MAP 3.4 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.0 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 5.6 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
MAP 3.1 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

Earthquake in Laos shakes Thailand Wed May 16, 8:26 PM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand - Thousands of workers fled swaying high-rise office buildings in Bangkok on Wednesday but there were no injuries or major damage reported after an earthquake struck about 465 miles north in western Laos, officials said. The earthquake, centered in a remote region of Laos, was measured at magnitude 6.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey and Thailand's Meteorological Department.

Smith Dharmasaroja, chairman of the National Disaster Warning Center, told Thai TV Channel 3 there were numerous aftershocks and warned people not to return to houses for at least 24 hours.Yong Chanthalansy, a Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman, said from the Laotian capital of Vientiane that the earthquake lasted about 10 seconds. He said it was not felt in Vientiane and there were no initial reports of casualties.

Many offices in Bangkok's business districts were evacuated after the earthquake
struck, with their panicky occupants gathered in the street. Numerous workers went home early from their jobs.The quake also was felt in Chiang Mai, a popular Thai tourist destination about 160 miles southwest of the epicenter. Officials there said there were no reports of damage.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Tornado probably struck near Stratford: weather service
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 | 1:47 PM ET - CBC News

It is almost certain that a tornado touched down Tuesday night near the city of Stratford in southern Ontario, Environment Canada says.The tornado likely hit near near the community of Monkton in Perth County north of Stratford, meteorologist Geoff Coulson said Wednesday, but that has not yet been confirmed.Environment Canada is also investigating reports of tornados in up to five other locations, Coulson said.On its website, Environment Canada reported early Wednesday that the storm ripped a roof off a house, snapped branches off trees and knocked down power lines near Monkton. It said hail damaged a home and an outdoor pool west of the community.

The storm, which swept across southwestern and south central Ontario, brought more than 50 millimetres of rain, winds of up to 113 kilometres an hour, large hail and reports of funnel clouds.Summer severe weather roared through southern Ontario Tuesday afternoon and through the night with an intense line of thunderstorms, which brought frequent lightning, very heavy rain at times, strong wind, and pea- to marble-size hail, the Meteorological Service of Canada said in a statement.

Regions along the southern shoreline of Lake Huron east toward Hamilton saw the heaviest thunderstorm activity. There were numerous reports of near zero visibility due to torrential rain and power outages, it added.The storm left thousands of people in the dark in southwestern and eastern Ontario.Hydro crews were working on Wednesday to restore power in affected areas, which included homes between Brighton to Tyendinaga in eastern Ontario and in Huron County on the eastern shore of Lake Huron.Coulson said the the extreme weather also damaged trees near McMaster University in Hamilton and in the Kitchener area.No injuries were reported.

Notre Dame basilica spire falls in storm Wed May 16, 10:39 AM ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - A powerful storm toppled a small spire from the University of Notre Dame's Basilica of the Sacred Heart and left more than 16,000 people without power Wednesday. One person died when a tree fell on his car.At Notre Dame, one of four smaller spires that surround the basilica's main spire fell about 60 feet to the ground, bringing with it some bricks and mortar. No one was injured.That's a fairly significant amount of damage to one of the university's most important landmarks, spokesman Dennis Brown said. Several large trees on campus also were damaged, he said.The Tuesday evening storm brought heavy rain and wind up to 70 mph to LaPorte and St. Joseph counties, the National Weather Service said. Several people reported seeing funnel clouds, and the weather service was trying to confirm whether any tornadoes touched down.There were reports of trees falling on cars and homes across northern Indiana and into Ohio and Michigan, meteorologist Patrick Murphy (news, bio, voting record) said. The storm initially knocked out power to 52,000 customers of Northern Indiana Public Service Co. About 16,000 customers, most in Gary and Portage, remained without electricity Wednesday, the company said.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Rain boosts efforts to control South Jersey wildfire
WAYNE PARRY - The Associated Press MAY 16,07

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. - More than a half-inch of rain gave a major assist to firefighters working to subdue a massive wildfire that has charred 14,000 acres of the New Jersey Pinelands, and it is now 70 percent contained, a fire official said Wednesday night.

Maris Gabliks, chief of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, said firefighters expect to declare the blaze under control sometime Thursday.We now believe we have turned the corner. The people of the Pinelands are fortunate tonight, said Lisa Jackson, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.A thunderstorm that firefighters had anxiously awaited for most of the day arrived over the blaze at about 6:30 p.m., just after high winds from the approaching storm pushed the fire eastward toward the Garden State Parkway, jeopardizing not only the road but thousands of homes east of it.

Some residents of Barnegat Township who had been allowed to return to their homes Wednesday after being evacuated the day before, were once again told to leave when the flames briefly picked up. About 500 people were in shelters Wednesday night, officials said.The blaze, which is believed to have been touched off by a National Guard F-16 that dropped a flare during a training exercise Tuesday afternoon in the tinder-dry Pinelands region, soon sent walls of flame racing toward senior citizen communities, where elderly residents grabbed their pets and ran.It was as close to hell on Earth as you'll ever experience in your life, said Bert Plante, a spokesman for the Forest Fire Service.

Speaking in a trailer park where two homes were incinerated and others damaged, Plante said, The wall of fire that came here was twice as tall as the trees, easily 80 to 100 feet in the air.About 6,000 people were evacuated from 2,500 homes at the height of the blaze. That included 300 patients in three nursing homes who had been relocated without incident, said State Police Superintendent Col.

Rick Fuentes.

More than 600 firefighters, some called from as far away as 30 miles, used helicopters, water tanker trucks, bulldozers and other equipment to try to contain the fire. Many of those called in from nearby communities to assist the forest fire service were sent home Wednesday night as the rain helped douse the flames.The Parkway, one of the state's main north-south routes, was closed for a time Wednesday in the vicinity of the fire because dense smoke was making it difficult for motorists to see.Authorities downgraded their count of homes damaged by the flames to 13, down from 50 Tuesday night. A closer inspection revealed that many of the houses that were believed to have suffered damage were not structurally harmed.Five homes in two senior citizen housing developments in Barnegat were destroyed.Dry conditions and strong winds helped fan the blaze, which began Tuesday afternoon on a military aerial bombing range about 25 miles north of Atlantic City.

Two state forest fire officials suffered minor injuries, but no serious injuries or deaths were reported.However, some of those evacuated recalled frantic flights to escape the blaze.I didn't grab anything but the cat and myself, and we scrammed, said Helen Sura, who evacuated a housing development in Barnegat.She and the cat, the aptly named Smoky, spent a sleepless night in her car in a Burger King parking lot.I was freezing because I didn't think to grab a sweater or a blanket, she said. I figured we'd be back home in a few hours at most.Eileen Papini also grabbed her cat, Puddycat, and fled the advancing flames.

The smoke was so bad you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, she said.Her trailer park, Pinewood Estates in Barnegat, suffered serious damage, authorities said. Several mobile homes there were damaged by the blaze. Papini was wondering if hers was among them.You don't know if you have a home to go back to, she said. Evacuees described a rapidly advancing fire that mowed down everything in its path.It looked like big black clouds, lit up with orange fire, 40, 50 feet in the air, coming right toward you, said Stan Wesolowski of Barnegat.

The fire started about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday on the Warren Grove Gunnery Range, a 9,400-acre expanse of sand and scrub pine used for aerial bombing practice by Air National Guard units.Lt. Col. James Garcia, a spokesman for the New Jersey Air National Guard, said it was believed a flare dropped from one its F-16s may have started the blaze, though an investigation was ongoing.The range was the same facility from which a National Guard jet accidentally strafed an elementary school with large-caliber rounds in 2004 during a training exercise.

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg complained Wednesday that the military hadn't followed up on safety pledges after the 2004 accident.This wildfire shows that the Air National Guard has not followed through on its pledge of increased safety, said Lautenberg, who said he would request a meeting with the Air Force and Air National Guard to address safety issues.In 2001, an errant Air National Guard practice bomb caused a fire that burned more than 1,600 acres in the Pine Barrens.Associated Press writer Jeffrey Gold in Newark contributed to this story.

Smoke from Georgia, Florida fires reaches N.C.
May 16, 2007 12:26 EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Smoke from massive wildfires in Georgia and Florida has drifted hundreds of miles into central North Carolina.It's triggering emergency calls to fire departments and warnings for people with breathing ailments to limit their time outdoors.Charlotte Fire Captain Rob Brisley is urging the public --not-- to call 9-1-1 just to report smoke. He says people should call only if they see smoke or flames coming from a structure.Emergency dispatchers in Davidson County
about 50 miles northeast of Charlotte say they've been overwhelmed by callers reporting the smoke.

The smoke created a haze more than 100 miles north of Charlotte in Orange County.The smoke's being driven into North Carolina by strong winds preceding a cold front.

Israeli aircraft fires on Hamas targets By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writers MAY 17,07

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft launched missiles at Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing at least five people, after Hamas fired rocket barrages into Israel in an apparent attempt to draw Israel into increasingly violent Palestinian infighting. Hamas gunmen fatally shot six guards from the rival Fatah movement and mistakenly ambushed a jeep carrying their own fighters, killing five. In all, 16 Palestinians were killed in Palestinian infighting Wednesday — the bloodiest day since violence broke out in the Gaza Strip four days ago.The streets of central Gaza City echoed with gunfire and were empty except for gunmen in black ski masks. Terrified residents stayed home from school and work, huddling in dark homes after electricity to some neighborhoods was cut off by a downed power line.At nightfall, Hamas announced its intention to begin observing a unilateral cease-fire, and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah also called on the warring parties to hold their fire. However, similar truces the two previous evenings did not hold.

In four days of fighting, 41 people have been killed and dozens more have been injured — not including the dead from the Israeli airstrikes. Most of the dead have been from Fatah. The violence threatened to bring down the Palestinians' two-month-old unity government — and brought the Palestinians dangerously close to all-out civil war.Despite Israel's vow to stay out of the fray, its missile strikes added another layer of complexity to Gaza's mayhem, and raised the specter of a large-scale Israeli invasion.

What is happening in Gaza endangers not only the unity government, but the Palestinian social fabric, the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian strategy as a whole, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.Abbas was expected to meet with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Gaza on Thursday to discuss the situation, Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said. One option was declaring a state of emergency, he said. Abbas also spoke by phone with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Syria on Wednesday, and the two agreed to work to end the violence.Hamas officials said the organization's men launched eight rockets at Israel, following a barrage of around 20 rockets Tuesday. That salvo at the Israeli town of Sderot, just outside Gaza, wounded five Israelis, one seriously, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

There were no casualties Wednesday, but school was canceled in Sderot and residents huddled in bomb shelters.Hamas said its rockets were retaliation for Israeli violence, but more likely it was an attempt to draw Israel into the fighting as a way of uniting the Palestinians against a common foe.

Before that attack, Israel launched an airstrike at the Hamas military building in the southern town of Rafah, Palestinian officials and the army said. Medics said four Hamas gunmen were killed and 30 others were wounded. In a rare display of unity, Hamas and Fatah men worked together to evacuate the casualties.Later in the day, an Israeli aircraft attacked a car carrying a group of Hamas militants in the northern Gaza Strip, killing one person and wounding two others, Palestinian medical officials said. The attack came shortly after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel cannot continue to restrain itself in the face of repeated rocket fire by Palestinian militants.The army said the airstrike was aimed at a Palestinian squad that had just fired rockets into Israel, and did not strike a vehicle.Earlier in the day, Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said Israel would not be dragged into the Gaza Strip the way that Hamas wants. We will choose the time, the place to respond and we will protect our citizens.In the latest infighting, police from the Fatah-allied Preventive Security force arrested five Hamas men and were driving them through Gaza City when the vehicle was ambushed by Hamas fighters, Preventive Security officials said. The five Hamas men were killed, along with two Fatah men, they said.

Hamas radio reported that a Hamas man was killed in a separate clash, and a nurse in an ambulance was shot in the head after being caught in the crossfire, hospital officials said. Her family said she was brain-dead and on a respirator.In another incident, Hamas gunmen set fire to an 11-story apartment building housing Fatah lawmaker Nema Sheik Ali, the wife of the head of Preventive Security.

Witnesses said the gunmen broke into her apartment and struck her and two of her children with their weapons. One of the children is 14 years old; the age of the other wasn't immediately known. They came, they broke the door, she said. They assaulted my children and they pushed me aside, then they torched the apartment. Shadi al-Kashir, a building resident, said his father, wife, five children and two sisters had been trapped inside by smoke in the halls and gunbattles raging in the entranceway. They tried to send ambulances, but the ambulances came under fire, he said. They later managed to escape. A group of about 200 Palestinians marched in central Gaza City, waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the fighting. Dozens of masked gunmen used the cover of the demonstration to improve their positions on the street, and then opened fire on the demonstrators, wounding one in the leg. The rest fled.Earlier Wednesday, Hamas gunmen fired mortars and pipe bombs at the home of Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak before storming it and killing six bodyguards, Palestinians security and medical officials said. Abu Shbak and his family were not home at the time.

Abdel Hakim Awad, a Fatah spokesman, angrily accused Hamas' leadership of the attack, charging that the Islamist group wanted to turn Gaza into a new Somalia or Darfur.Fighting also raged close to President Mahmoud Abbas' heavily guarded compound, which was also targeted by Hamas mortar fire overnight, and the bodies of two Fatah gunmen were sprawled on the street nearby. Abbas, a moderate from Fatah, was not present. More than 30 journalists from different news agencies were holed up at the Gaza offices of Al-Jazeera television, unable to venture outside because of heavy fighting next to the building.

We are in fact, without exaggeration, in grave danger, said Al-Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh, his words interrupted by sounds of gunfire. Gaza's turmoil further weakened hopes for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, despite a new push by the Arab world to bring the sides to the table. The offer proposes Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from all lands it occupied in the 1967 Mideast War. But negotiations are inconceivable if the Palestinians descend into civil war. This week's fighting was the worst since Hamas and Fatah agreed in February to share power. At its core is the unresolved power struggle between Hamas, which won parliament elections last year, and Fatah, which dominated Palestinian politics for four decades. After a year in power and squeezed by an international aid boycott, Hamas realized it could not govern alone and brought Fatah into the government. But the two sides never worked out all their differences, particularly over who would control security forces.

Rabbi mourns death of great Christian leader and friend of Israel Reverend Jerry Falwell MAY 17,07

It is with great sorrow that I come to you to tell you of the death of a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people—and a man that I was honored to call a personal friend as well. The Rev. Jerry Falwell passed away today suddenly at the age of 73. When I started The Fellowship 25 years ago, he was among the first Christians to step forward and express interest in being involved in our bridge-building work. And, over the years, he proved his solidarity repeatedly. His involvement helped break down the barriers of mistrust that characterized the relationship between Jews and evangelical Christians at the time. There were those who remained skeptical of Rev. Falwell's support. I recall on one occasion nearly 30 years ago, I invited him to speak at my synagogue and was criticized by many in the Jewish community who questioned his motives. But this did not deter him one bit in his unfailing support for Israel and the Jewish people. Very directly, but always graciously and lovingly—I never saw him behave otherwise towards people—he would remind those who questioned him that, as a Christian, his support of Israel was based on eternal biblical truths and, because of that, it would not falter. I am happy to say that he managed to win over many of his skeptics through the consistency and obviously genuine quality of his love for Israel and the Jewish people.

The Rev. Falwell once said that the Bible Belt is Israel's safety belt. Over the years, he helped me realize the truth of that saying. Wherever there are faithful, Bible-believing Christians, I can be assured of finding true friends and supporters of Israel. And the Rev. Falwell himself did much to ensure that safety belt remained strong as ever.Please take a moment today to join with me and Fellowship staff to pray for the many friends and family of Rev. Falwell, and all the staff and students at his school, Liberty University, who mourn the loss of their leader and are now left to carry on his great legacy. He will be sorely missed. I also invite you to share your thoughts and memories of Reverend Falwell with us.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President International Fellowship of Christans and Jews.

Merkel gives up on God in EU treaty
15.05.2007 - 17:44 CET | By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - German chancellor and Christian Democrat Angela Merkel has
voiced regret there will be no reference to Christian roots in the revised EU treaty, amid controversial remarks about damage to churches in Turkish Cyprus at a meeting of religious VIPs in Brussels.

You know what my personal view is. I would have liked the constitution to deliver such a reference. But as president of the European Council, I see there is not much of a chance, she said on the prospects of God appearing in a preamble to the EU text. I can't hold out any hope, she added.Her statement comes in the context of Germany's push to fix the broad outlines of a new EU treaty - still called a constitution by some - in late June, following months of bilateral consultations with EU states after the rejection of the original EU constitution in 2005. The God debate is at least as old as the 2002 EU convention that wrote the original constitution, with Roman Catholic states like Poland and the Vatican pushing for the reference, but with France and the UK worried over national secularist traditions or damaging relations with Islamic EU candidate Turkey. The EU's 50th birthday declaration in March rejuvenated the discussion. But in the end the birthday text made no reference to Christianity, while praising identities and diverse traditions of member states and how the EU is enriched by a variety of languages, cultures.

Universal values

When the German chancellor, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and European Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering met Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders at the EU capital on Tuesday (15 May), they stuck to safe ground on universal EU values such as human dignity.

Human dignity is at the basis of the values we share in Europe, Mr Barroso said. We have discussed the need to respect freedom of religion not just in the EU but in all the countries that want to be part of the EU and in the wider world.Earlier at lunch, Mr Barroso told his guests that every time he talks with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan he stresses the importance of freedom of worship. Mr Poettering also voiced concern over the murder in April of three Christian publishers in Turkey and praised Ankara's handling of the incident. But the meeting was not entirely free of controversy, with Ms Merkel at the final press conference saying the EU can't close its eyes to violations of human dignity in particular terms such as the fact religious property is being damaged in Northern Cyprus.

The Archbishop of All Cyprus

Her comment relates to her conversation with His Beatitude Chrysostomos II, the Archbishop of Nova Justiniana and All Cyprus, who criticised Turkish Cypriot authorities at Tuesday's religious seminar. An EU official later played down Ms Merkel's words, saying she was merely trying to reflect the day's debate. About 500 Orthodox Christian churches fell under Turkish Cypriot control following the Turkish-Greek conflict on the island in 1974. The past 33 years have seen widespread reports of looting and vandalism of priceless, Byzantine-era frescos and icons in the region. But the Turkish Cypriot community refuses to take the blame, saying that non-recognition of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus by the international community means crucial aid from bodies like UNESCO cannot get through. The republic recently sent a letter to MEPs that also complains of damage done to Islamic sites in southern Cyprus. There are issues relating to this on both sides, a Turkish Cypriot representative told EUobserver.

Commission defines red lines for new EU treaty
15.05.2007 - 17:43 CET | By Mark Beunderman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The European Commission has issued a warning to states such as the UK and the Netherlands seeking to roll back what it sees as key parts of the EU constitution.The intervention came after the college of commissioners on Monday (14 May) held a seminar on the disputed EU constitution at Groot-Bijgaarden castle, just outside Brussels.Briefing journalists after the seminar, the spokesman for European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said the new treaty must improve the EU's achievements, under no circumstances roll back these achievements.The commission, which has generally been reluctant to wade into member states' sensitive debate on the fate of the constitution – rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005 – has now given first indication of what its red lines are.The red lines when it comes to preserving the [European] community method and the single market must be clearly established, the spokesman said amid ongoing renegotiations of the new treaty.

The so-called community method is EU jargon meaning decision making at the EU level, where member states generally lose their national veto and major powers are transferred to the European Commission and the European Parliament.Commission officials said the community method remark was above all directed at the UK and the Czech Republic which are unhappy with the reduction of national veto powers – especially in the area of justice and home affairs –as proposed in the old constitution. London is said to oppose the scrapping of its veto powers all together, while Prague is promoting a system whereby minorities of member states can opt out of decisions taken by a majority.Meanwhile, Brussels' red line on the EU's single market appears to stem from its worries that states like the Netherlands and France will use the renegotiation of the treaty to secure limits to the application of free market legislation.

Single market worries

The Hague is pushing for reassurances in a new look treaty that national sovereignty over pensions, social security and health is not eroded by an ever-expanding scope of the single market.Brussels' warning was also partly directed at France, officials said, with Paris' new president Nicolas Sarkozy expected to take a nationalistic stance on issues like foreign take-overs of French companies.The commission also indicated it supports ideas for a pared down version of a new treaty. It is clear that when it comes to finding a solution, simplification is the name of the game, the spokesman said.But it must be clear that the discussion does not start from scratch, he added. The constitutional treaty is the starting point for discussion.

Solana reiterates EU commitment to Mideast peace process MAY 17,07

Javier Solana, high representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, reiterated Tuesday the EU's commitments to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian and reaffirmed EU's support to the Palestinian people.

At a press conference following his meeting here with Ziad Abu Amr, minister of foreign affairs of the Palestinian National Authority, Solana also stressed the importance of national unity among the Palestinians. Today, we talked more on the Palestinian situation, how we can help, how we can cooperate on the security situation, how we can cooperate economically, said Solana. The two men discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian territories as well as the Arab Peace Initiative.

The initiative, first approved by the Arab League in its 2002 Beirut summit, calls for Israel's pullout from Arab land occupied in the 1967 Middle East War and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in return for the normalization of ties with Arab states. Israel had rejected the initiative after it was first launched in 2002, but the Jewish state has recently said it could provide a basis for talks though there are amendments to the refugee issue. Solana, who had already talked to Abu Amr on Monday during the meeting of EU and Arab League foreign ministers, promised that the talks between the EU and the Palestinian would continue as he planned to visit the Mideast in the near future.

Meanwhile, he stressed the EU's continuing deep engagement with the Israeli-Palestinians peace process, with the Palestinian people and with the region. We would like to see something happening in the foreseeable future and not to have to wait again for a long period of time until some positive news may come on the peace process, he said. He also urged the Palestinian leaders to do everything possible to bring the security situation under control and to make every effort to secure the release of the captured Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, and BBC journalist Alan Johnston. Abu Amr thanked Solana for his persistent effort to convene the Arab League-EU foreign ministers' meeting on Monday, which had been very successful. I would like to also stress the role of Mr. Solana in reviving Arab-European relations and opening new horizons for Arab-European relations, he said.

Turning to the dismal security situation in Gaza, Solana said it would clearly be very difficult to move forward politically if the situation internally among Palestinians is not guaranteed.He said the EU did not feel that the situation could be blamed on the economy because the EU had given more aid to the Palestinian people since 2005 than in previous years. However, he acknowledged that living conditions were very difficult for Palestinians and led to much frustration. Abu Amr urged Israel to release the taxes they collected from Palestinians to the Palestinian National Authority. This would alleviate the social, economic and security problems, he added. He also called on the international community to end the political and financial siege on the Hamas-led Palestinian government and the Palestinian people. Source: Xinhua

European Union Opens Its Market to 80 Countries MAY 17,07

The European Union has agreed to grant duty-free and quota-free market access to some 80 countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) areas. There is still much debate on both sides of the accord, but EU leaders are hailing it as important progress. Teri Schultz has more from Brussels.With the new market access offer, the European Union and the ACP - African, Caribbean and Pacific - group have reached one step closer to a trade deal before the current accord expires at year's end.

EU development ministers meeting in Brussels Tuesday confirmed a proposal made last month by the European Commission that would drop tariffs and quotas on ACP goods once a new trade agreement is signed. German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who chaired the meeting, said this decision will have a positive impact on other development issues. We'll be freeing up ACP access to our markets to a very great extent, saidHeidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. I think this is a good signal.
There will be special treatment for products considered highly sensitive - so far that includes sugar and rice - which will have their tariffs scaled back gradually to give industries more time to adjust.

For example, sugar brought into the EU would have its import duties phased out by the year 2015 The transition period for rice has not yet been established. Bananas are widely expected to join that list but ministers put off that decision for now.

Eventually the EU wants reciprocal benefits to be in place for European goods in African markets, but Minister Wieczorek-Zeul told ACP countries they should not be intimidated by this. We have no designs on ACP markets in light of the development requirements of ACP countries, she said. There will be the need for flexibility and ACP countries may have waivers, safeguard measures and particular periods of time of transitional periods for particularly sensitive products.She noted that some countries' transition periods may last up to 25 years! EU and ACP leaders meet again in Brussels on May 25 to try to move forward on the overarching trade deal. - VOA News

HOW THE SIX DAY WAR ALMOST LED TO ARMAGEDDON
Forty years later, Moscow's role in engineering and exacerbating the crisis is revealed. By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., May 17, 2007) June, 1967. War clouds had been building for months. The Israelis found themselves increasingly surrounded by Soviet-backed forces of the Arab and Islamic world, all of whose leaders were vowing to throw the Jews into the sea, and the Israelis were considering a first strike. The element of surprise might be their only hope of survival, they figured. But President Lyndon Johnson had warned Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in no uncertain terms that such a move would be a serious mistake. As historian Michael B. Oren noted in his highly praised book, Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Johnson sent a secret message to Eskhol saying that it is essential that Israel not take any preemptive military action and thereby make itself responsible for the initiation of hostilities. Preemptive action by Israel would make it impossible for the friends of Israel to stand at your side. Oren noted that Johnson specifically warned of the possibility of direct Soviet intervention.

Marshal Andrei Antonovich Grechko, the Soviet deputy defense minister, had told his Egyptian counterparts in Cairo that the Kremlin had dispatched destroyers and submarines to the waters near Egypt, some armed with missiles and secret weapons to help wipe out the Zionists. One of Israel's top experts on Soviet foreign policy told Israeli Defense Forces intelligence that the USSR would muster all its influence and power to maintain its Middle East position and when asked if the Soviets would intervene directly, replied, of course.Soviet Premier Kosygin, meanwhile, sent a cable to Prime Minister Eshkol warning that if the Israeli Government insists on taking upon itself the responsibility for the outbreak of armed confrontation then it will pay the full price of such an action. But at 8:44
a.m. on the morning of June 5, 1967, Eshkol sent an urgent message back to President Johnson informing him that it was too late. War had begun.

After weeks in which our peril has grown day by day, we are now engaged in repelling the aggression which [Egyptian President] Nasser has been building up against us, Eshkol wrote, explaining his rationale for the preemptive strike Israel had just launched. Israel's existence and integrity have been endangered. The provocative [Arab] troop concentrations in Sinai, now amounting to five infantry and two armored divisions; the placing of more than 900 tanks against our southern frontier; . . . the illegal blockade of the Straits of Tiran; . . . the imminent introduction of MiG-21 aircraft under Iraqi command [into the theater]; Nasser's announcement of total war against Israel and of his basic aim to annihilate Israel. . . . All of this amounts to an extraordinary catalogue of aggression, abhorred and condemned by world opinion and in your great country and amongst all peace-loving nations.Eshkol also noted that three Israeli towns had been bombed that morning by Arab forces, citing these as the last straws that led to war. He thanked Johnson for America's support and expressed hope that our small nation can count on the fealty and resolution of its greatest friend. But he also had a request: that the U.S. prevent the Soviet Union from exploiting and enlarging the conflict at this, Israel's greatest hour of danger.

Eshkol knew and feared the Russians, noted Michael Oren. War with Syria [and Egypt] was risky enough; with the USSR, it would be suicidal. But Eskhol calculated that without U.S. support, the Soviets would find themselves compelled to get involved directly. Moscow had, after all, invested massively in the Middle East, about $2 billion in military aid alone-1,700 tanks, 2,400 artillery pieces, 500 jets, and 1,400 advisers-since 1956, some 43 percent of it to Egypt.Sure enough, as the Israelis demolished the forces of the Arab coalition over the next three days and captured the Sinai, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights, reunified the holy city of Jerusalem, and began an offensive against Damascus itself, Moscow saw itself staring into the face of a geopolitical disaster.

Those were, after all, Soviet-trained soldiers being defeated. Those were Soviet-made arms being seized or destroyed. Those were billions of dollars in Soviet funding to their Arab client states being poured down the drain.

And-it would later be learned by U.S. and Israeli intelligence-the Egyptian war plan itself (code-named, Operation Conqueror) had actually been written in 1966 by the Soviets. As a result, the Soviets feared their prestige was quickly unraveling. U.S. intelligence was already picking up signs of this fear in the Kremlin. In the President's Daily Brief on June 9, for example, the CIA informed President Johnson that the Soviets are finding it hard to conceal their shock over the rapid Egyptian military collapse. A Soviet official [identity still classified] could not understand how our intelligence could have been so wrong. He asked despairingly, How could we have gotten into such a mess?

So the Kremlin decided to dramatically up the ante.

On June 10, at 8:48 a.m., Washington time, Soviet Premier Alexey Kosygin used the Hotline to call President Johnson in the White House Situation Room. His message was as blunt as it was unnerving: A very crucial moment has now arrived, he said, which forces us, if [Israeli] military actions are not stopped in the next few hours, to adopt an independent decision. We are ready to do this.

However, these actions may bring us into a clash which will lead to a grave catastrophe. . . . We propose that you demand from Israel that it unconditionally cease military action. . . . We purpose to warn Israel that if this is not fulfilled, necessary actions will be taken, including military.The Soviets quickly broke off diplomatic relations with Israel, and the Soviet-bloc governments of Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria quickly followed. CIA Director Richard Helms would later recall that the conversation in the Situation Room for the next several hours were in the lowest voices he had ever heard in a meeting of that kind and that the atmosphere was tense as the President and his most senior military, diplomatic, and intelligence advisors contemplated the possibility of a direct Soviet strike at Israel.

Johnson, a devoted friend of Israel and an ardent anti-Communist, was not prepared to kowtow to Moscow or let Israel be destroyed. He immediately ordered the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean to turn around-it was then heading west towards the Strait of Gibraltar-and steam towards Israel as a show of solidarity and to warn the Soviets not to get directly involved.

He did the right thing, for according to Isabella Ginor, a Russian-born correspondent for the BBC World Service and other international news services, new evidence now reveals that the Soviets were indeed poised to attack Israel. . . and had been preparing for such a mission all along.On June 10, 2000-the thirty-third anniversary of Kosygin's ominous Hotline threat to Nixon-Ginor published an article in The Guardian (London) entitled, How The Six Day War Almost Led to Armageddon: New Evidence of 1967 Soviet Plan to Invade Israel Shows How Close the World Came to Nuclear Conflict.In December of that year she published a longer and more detailed article in the Middle East Review of International Affairs entitled, The Russians Were Coming: The Soviet Military Threat in the 1967 Six-Day War. In these and other articles, she quoted Soviet military officials who paint a fragmentary but still disturbing picture of the attack that was being prepared.

Ginor noted, that in his recently published memoirs, Nikita S. Kruschev asserts that the USSR's military command first encouraged high-ranking Egyptian and Syrian delegations, in a series of hush-hush mutual visits, to go to war, then persuaded the Soviet political leadership to support these steps, in the full knowledge they were aimed at starting a war to destroy Israel.

Soviet Acting Defense Minister Andrei A. Grechko and KGB Chairman Yuri V. Andropov, meanwhile, were pressing for the immediate dispatch of Soviet forces to the Middle East. Retired Soviet air force lieutenant Yuri V. Nastenko confirmed in 1998 that bomber and fighter jets, such as the MiG-21s that were under his command, were put on full operational alert on the evening of June 5, 1967 and that he was convinced this was in preparation for real combat.Yuri N. Khripunkov was a former Soviet naval officer who was serving on one of thirty Soviet warships that had been moved from the Black Sea southward to the Mediterranean in June 1967. Khripunkov told Ginor that he and his colleagues were preparing to unleash a force of Soviet forces onto the Israeli mainland. His own platoon, he said, was ordered to penetrate Haifa-Israel's main commercial harbor and naval base.Russian Professor Alexsandr K. Kislov, who was stationed in the Middle East in 1967, told Ginor that the strike force the Soviets had prepared for insertion into Israel included desant [landing] ships with well-prepared marines.

Some respected historians and diplomats have disputed the notion that the Soviets were planning to attack Israel in 1967. But while the evidence available from declassified documents and interviews with direct participants may not yet be conclusive, it is compelling. What's more, Soviet Premier Kosygin's threat of direct military intervention into the 1967 war with Israel alone stands as chilling evidence of Moscow's historic and recent animus towards the Jewish State, and as a warning of things to come, especially as Moscow currently arms Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Sudan, Algeria and other enemies of Israel.

* NOTE: This article is adapted from Chapter 10 of Epicenter. Now, a new book by two Israeli historians, including one I interviewed for Epicenter, documents how the Soviets engineered the Six Day War to destroy Israel's nuclear program. For more on this, see Foxbats Over Dimona: The Soviets' Nuclear Gamble in the Six-Day War by Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez and a review of the book by the Jerusalem Post(links on my weblog).