SHAS WILL QUIT IF JERUSALEM TALKS

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

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.

Strong earthquake shakes southern Mexico Tue Feb 12, 8:55 AM ET

MEXICO CITY - A magnitude-6.4 earthquake shook southern Mexico on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of major damage. The quake gently swayed buildings in Mexico City and rocked parts of Mexico's southern Pacific and Gulf coasts. In the southern city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, many people fled into the streets and then lingered outside their homes, fearing aftershocks.It was horrible, said Cecilia Gomez, standing with her family outside her home. It really scared me.Daniel Roque, of southern Chiapas state's civil protection agency, said some residents reported panic attacks, but no damage was registered.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at 6:50 a.m. (7:50 a.m. EST) and was centered 70 miles southwest of Tuxtla Gutierrez, near the border between Oaxaca and Chiapas states.

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.

As Toronto prepares for another winter blast, some homeless not ready to head indoors Tue Feb 12, 6:31 AM

TORONTO (CBC) - Toronto is bracing for yet another winter storm.
Environment Canada says the city is in for as much as another 10 centimetres of snow on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, which will add to the snow and ice already piled up from earlier storms.
Temperatures, however, are expected to rise, returning to normal for this time of year. Since Sunday, much of Ontario has been caught in a deep cold spell with temperatures in the low negative teens, made to feel even colder by the wind chill effect.In Toronto the winter freeze led to an extreme cold weather alert - aimed mainly at getting the city's homeless into shelters. The alert brings fewer restrictions on opening and closing times at city-run shelters, more beds and increased patrols by outreach workers. The city opens an additional 80 emergency shelter spaces in an extreme cold weather alert.But not everyone says the city's approach is the right one.Some of the homeless say they feel safer out in the cold than they do inside the shelters.At the adult ones there tends to be a lot more hard drugs and thefts, and a higher crime level. A lot of people prefer to sleep outside than in shelters, said Kevin Lockie, who was panhandling at the corner of Bathurst and Queen streets on a frigid afternoon.But the city wants people like Lockie in shelters.Agencies that do outreach on behalf of the city have been instructed to get people into shelters, even if it means denying them soup or a warm blanket.We actually want people to come in off the street, said the city's manager for emergency planning Elaine Smyer.

If we give someone a blanket, or soup, or something to make them feel OK for the moment, that could end up being very dangerous later on.Longtime homeless advocate Beric German says the approach ignores people who don't want to use shelters and outreach workers are torn.They're unable to do what is sensible. If a person can't go into the shelter system then what's your response? You say then, I'll give you nothing then. I won't even feed you. I'll give you nothing more. It's a cold night, maybe you'll make it [into a shelter] if you suffer enough.The extreme cold alert is likely to be lifted sometime on Tuesday.

Welcome to the Icebox of the Nation! Minnesota town hits record 40 below zero Mon Feb 11, 12:56 PM By Jeff Baenen, The Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS - Just recently it was dubbed by U.S. authorities as the Icebox of the Nation.On Monday International Falls., Minn., lived up to that name as the mercury dipped to a record low of minus 40 degrees. And it doesn't matter if you're counting in Celsius or Fahrenheit, since -40 is where the two scales cross.
Meteorologist Mike Stewart at the U.S. weather service in Duluth, Minn., says the previous record low in International Falls was -38 Celsius, set in 1967.

So how cold is -40.

International Falls resident Nick McDougall couldn't even get his car trunk lid to close after he got out his charger to kick-start a dead battery. This is about as cold as it gets, this is bad. There's no wind - it's just cold, said McDougall, 48, a worker at The Fisherman, a convenience store and gas station in the town on the Canadian border. People just don't go out, unless you have to go to work.Residents of the area use electric engine block heaters to keep their cars from freezing. You plug in your car, for sure, and you put the car in the garage if you can, McDougall said. His garage is full of other things, so he had to park outside - a big mistake.Chilly air also spread into the U.S. Northeast on Monday and many schools in New York state between Buffalo and Syracuse closed or opened late. Philadelphia had a Code Blue alert in effect, sending outreach crews to coax homeless people into shelters. Farther south, freezing rain hit southwest Missouri early Monday, making roads hazardous and closing schools. A coating of ice up to 2.5 centimetres thick was expected across much of southern and central Missouri, the weather service said. It's treacherous. If you can stay home this morning, do it, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Dan Bracker said in Springfield. Thousands of West Virginia homes and businesses had no electricity Monday after the state was hit by weekend wind gusts of up to 90 kilometres an hour. At least nine counties closed schools because of power outages and the cold. Classes also were cancelled Monday for a number of schools in Michigan, which remained in a deep freeze that set in on the weekend.

Millions brave China transport chaos as more bad weather looms Sun Feb 10, 11:40 PM

BEIJING (AFP) - Millions of people braved China's overcrowded transport networks Monday as they began the long trek back to work at the end of the Lunar New Year holiday, amid warnings of more bad weather.Railway officials in the nation's three main transport hubs -- Beijing in the north, Shanghai in the east and the southern city of Guangzhou -- said the number of passengers would peak Monday and Tuesday, the China Daily reported.The two main train stations in the Chinese capital expected the number of incoming passengers -- mostly migrants returning to their dormitories -- would top 100,000 on both days, the state-controlled paper said.The railway ministry had added 226 special trains to accommodate one of the biggest movements of people anywhere in the world, but even so, tickets were sold out down to the last seat, according to the paper.

Overburdened traffic networks and inclement weather could form a deadly combination, as reflected in a weekend accident when a minibus veered off an icy road in southwest China's Guizhou province, killing all nine passengers.The Spring Festival transport season, is an annual test to the transport system serving 1.3 billion people, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.It is a test that grows more formidable every year, as more and more people travel home for what is by far the biggest festival of the calendar in all societies influenced by Chinese culture.The railways alone are expected to carry a record of 178.6 million passengers during this year's 40-day travel season, up from 156 million last year, Xinhua said, citing the railway ministry.The transport system has been under unprecedented strain not just because of the millions of extra passengers, but also because it has had to cope with the most ferocious winter weather in at least five decades.Snow storms and chilly temperatures froze key sections of the transport network just as great numbers of people were heading home for the holiday late last month and the beginning of February, leaving millions stranded.There were further warnings of more bad weather to come, exactly at the wrong time, at the start of the return travel rush. Tuesday is the last day of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.

The State Council, or Cabinet, ordered more efforts Sunday from central and local officials to prepare for another round of precipitation mainly in south and southwest China in the next 10 days, Xinhua said.Heavy snow or even blizzards were expected in the next three days in the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan in the west, while sleet and icy rains were possible in most part of southwest China's Guizhou province.A severe cold snap would affect northern China, resulting in light or moderate snow for parts of the Inner Mongolia region and Heilongjiang province in the next two days, according to Xinhua.

Twenty-Five Years of Lifesaving Ministry
February 12, 2008
Dear Friend of Israel

Twenty-five years ago, I discovered that there were great numbers of Bible-believing Christians who were staunch supporters of Israel and the Jewish people. These friends of Israel had a hunger to demonstrate that support in tangible ways, to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and to learn more about Israel and the Jewish roots of their Christian faith.

Recognizing this hunger, and drawing on the shared biblical heritage of both Christians and Jews, in 1983 I founded the Holyland Fellowship of Christians and Jews. It was time, I decided, for Christians and Jews to work together to reverse their history of discord and build bridges of understanding and cooperation.

In 1991, the Holyland Fellowship became the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and now, twenty-five years later, our success and impact has been far greater than I ever could have imagined. Thanks to God's blessing and our partners' generosity, we have helped rescue hundreds of thousands of Jews who have made aliyah (immigrated) to Israel from the four corners of the earth in fulfillment of biblical prophecy. And we have also provided a lifeline to countless numbers of poor Jews in Israel and the former Soviet Union.

There are a number of events planned to mark our 25th anniversary. Following the remarkable success of our 2007 tour, we will launch an extended 25th Anniversary Journey Home to Israel Tour. Participants will again have the opportunity to see the Bible come to life, be with me and other Fellowship staff, and visit Fellowship projects so they can see their life-changing donations at work. We’ve planned a special event so that everyone will have the opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Fellowship in the Holy Land, and are also offering a three-day extension for anyone interested in engaging in intensive Bible study with me at the locations where many biblical events occurred. Read the testimonials from 2007 tour participants, and prayerfully consider if God is calling you to journey home with us to Israel in 2008.

2008 will also see a Fellowship first -- in August, we're going on an Alaskan cruise. During our weeklong journey, I will lead Bible studies that will help you better understand the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. I'll share stories of the life-changing impact of Fellowship initiatives made possible through your generous donations, and on Friday, my wife Joelle and I will be privileged to share a traditional Sabbath meal with you. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to learn from God's word together as we experience some of the most beautiful country in God's creation!

Last but certainly not least on the list of anniversary events is The Fellowship's 25th Anniversary National Conference and Celebration Banquet in Chicago. During this powerful two-day event, we'll be joined by Christian, Jewish, American, and Israeli leaders to give thanks for what God has done through The Fellowship. Please consider joining us in Chicago for this exciting event as we set a bold new course in Christian-Jewish relations and discuss how Jews and Christians can continue to work together for Israel's peace and security.

It promises to be an exciting year. But, as we make our plans to mark a quarter-century of ministry, I am humbled to realize that none our success would have been possible without God's help - and yours. It is God and our ministry partners who make it possible for us to do the work we do every day. I hope you will help us celebrate our 25th anniversary year by participating as you are able in our special events. And I hope you will continue to work with us for the next 25 years, as we seek to bless God's chosen people together.

With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President Inter Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

What are the signs of Christ’s return?
By Dr Jack Van Impe

Now that we have addressed several foundational questions on the pre-Rapture signs, I want to show you how the Bible provides overwhelmingly clear evidence of other pretribulational signs demonstrating Christ's impending return to earth. I will now begin to deal with every major sign in the New Testament to show that Jesus' statement, When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors (Matthew 24:33), is being fulfilled in our day and age. Matthew 24:3-14 declares:

And as he [Jesus] sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying. Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another, And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

This passage may be among the most misunderstood of all prophetic pronouncements. The problem has arisen because many Christians still fail to see that God has two elect groups upon earth-the nation of Israel (Romans 11:28) and the Church (1 Peter 1:2). Romans 9-11 tells the entire story of God's chosen people, Israel. Chapter 9 concerns Israel's past, chapter 10 its present, and chapter 11 its future. Regarding its glorious past, Romans 9:4 declares that Israel was given the promises, including prophetic pledges. In chapter 10, verse 16, we find: But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who [among them] hath believed our report? Presently, they are blinded to their calling and promises, but in the future, All Israel shall be saved: as it is written. There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Romans 11:26).

Why will God perform this? Verse 29 provides the answer: For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God chose Israel (Deuteronomy 7:7-8) and He has never canceled His selection. Therefore, Israel remains God's chosen people and heir to His promises as stated in Romans 11:28. The signs of Matthew 24 are presented to the elect- yes, elect Israel. We know this to be true in this chapter because of the regard for the Sabbath day (v. 20), because of the connection with synagogues (Luke 21:12), and because the setting of Matthew 24 is Jerusalem (v. 1). Only Bible manipulators, antidispensationalists, and antiliteralists could make Gentiles out of these Jews.

Included in this group are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Twelve thousand shall be chosen from each of the twelve tribes. Twelve thousand times twelve equals 144,000. The tribes are Juda, Reuben, Gad, Aser, Nephthalim, Manasses, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zabulon, Joseph, and Benjamin (Revelation 7:4-8). These signs are for Israel, who is looking for the return of her King in Revelation 19. They are not signposts for the Rapture.

The group looking for the fulfillment of signs in Matthew 24 is preaching a different gospel in verse 14. Gospel means good news, and their good news is the gospel of the kingdom or the good news that their King is about to return (Revelation 19:16). They will be traveling around the globe, 144,000 strong, singing The King is coming! The King is coming! Although the signs will be fulfilled in their entirety after the Christians are gone, we already see the tantalizing beginning of each of these signs. Again, this means that if these signs pointing to our return with the King are already in their initial stages, we must be snatched away very soon in order to prepare for our return to earth with Christ the King.

False Christs

In Matthew 24:3, Jesus was asked, When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming [to earth], and of the end of the world [or age of grace]? He replied, Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many (v. 5). Since the year 1900, more than eleven hundred people claiming to be Christ have appeared on the world scene. These include Father Divine, Prophet Jones, Sweet Daddy Grace, Father Riker; Daniel Swalt, Moses Guibbory, Maharaj Ji, and Sun Myung Moon, not to mention scores of lesser-known, self-proclaimed messiahs who enjoyed a few fleeting moments of media fame.

Presently, while they might not refer to themselves as false Christs, certain members of our liberal clergy are playing such a role. Take, for example, a survey of the beliefs and attitudes of the Church of Scotland ministers. They have rightfully caused a stir within the denomination as the foundational truth of the Bible-the virgin birth of Christ-was recently called into question by religious leaders. The shocking results of the survey of 150 ministers were that 16 percent did not believe in the Immaculate Conception of Christ and 15 percent said that they didn't know. An amazing 17 percent said that the Virgin Mary was not a virgin in twentieth-century terms, and 6 percent thought that Jesus was the product of Mary and Joseph having sex outside of marriage. (See Matthew 7:21-23 and 2 Peter 2:1-3.)

Such abuse of Scripture is yet another sign of the times. However, eventually, the ultimate false Christ-one who is probably alive even at this moment-will proclaim himself as the true Christ and become accepted on an international scale. The Bible predicts such an hour, when the Antichrist, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped... sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4) and is accepted as such. This internationally deified dictator will inaugurate a world-peace program which will hold the world spellbound for forty-two months, or three and one-half years. Then, in the middle of the seven-year period of tribulation, he will break all of his pledges and destroy his contractual obligations with Israel (Daniel 9:27). At this time, Russia will begin a world war as she invades Israel (Ezekiel 38:11). This war will eventually involve all nations (Zechariah 14:2).

This is God's outline from the Bible. First, the international dictator will establish global peace, and when the world believes that Utopia has arrived, the bottom will fall out of their hopes and aspirations: For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them (1 Thessalonians 5:3). We now move to even more dramatic signs that signify our Lord is coming soon.

What is the significance of today’s wars,
famines, and increasing pestilences?

From the proclamation of Matthew 24:6-7, we see that the world can expect nothing but rivalry and battles until the Antichrist produces the false peace of the Tribulation era. More than 176 limited wars have been fought since the end of the Second World War. Today one out of every four nations on earth is engaged in some kind of military conflict.

Soon, however, we will experience the greatest global confrontation in history, for we are marching swiftly toward Armageddon at this moment. Over a decade ago, CIA and British Intelligence reports about the Soviet Union were grim. They reported the development of new weapons systems located throughout the Soviet Union, along with expenditures of enormous sums for underground civil defense shelters that meant that Russia was preparing for war. Many did not believe these pronouncements at the time.

Even today, while there is a semblance of peace (although the signs of a reemergence of the Cold War are increasing), we must not be lulled into thinking that Russia has changed her ways-especially since enormous numbers of nuclear warheads remain hidden in underground silos throughout the southern provinces of that vast land. I've noted that people no longer laugh at the prophecies uttered by Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39 that picture the Russian hordes from the north swarming to the Middle East. Today, as the end-time clock continues to wind down, the red horse of the Apocalypse is about to appear. Revelation 6:4 states, There went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Famines and Pestilences

Christ continued in Matthew 24:7, And there shall be famines, and pestilences. More than two billion of the world's inhabitants go to bed hungry each night. There are nationwide famine in the Sudan and Rwanda and reports of widespread cannibalism in North Korea-with news coming from Indonesia, the earth's fourth largest nation that millions of people on those scattered islands remain on the brink of starvation. Thousands are dying painful deaths throughout our world, while scores of others are too numb with hunger to realize what is happening. One writer said it poignantly, First the belly swells, then the hair turns gray and the skin cracks, after a while the victim dies in mute misery. Such an experience will soon be the fate of millions of people. Paul Erlich, a biochemist at Stanford University, said it's already too late to prevent famines that will kill millions, because already one-half billion are starving and another billion are malnourished. He may be right. There seems to be no possible solution in the near future, because it is too late to produce enough food.

America will undoubtedly be included in this suffering in the days ahead. In fact, the number of the beast, 666 (something we'll address in a later question and answer), may come into existence through an international rationing plan. Soon the voice of Revelation 6:6 will sound, A measure of wheat for a penny. A measure in Bible times was a quart, and a penny was a day's wages. Imagine a loaf of bread for a day's labor. Pestilence, the twin sister of hunger, is also on the rampage. The swine flu scare, legionnaires' disease, AIDS, and other diseases-many already fully resistant to antibiotics and other medications-are only the beginning. Years ago I read an article in Reader's Digest, reprinted from an article in Time entitled, The Bugs Are Coming. And they have come indeed . . . and will continue to come in plague like fashion during these final days. Even as I write these words, other pestilential plagues are in their preparatory stages. The South American fire ant has advanced from its initial beachhead in Mobile, Alabama, and now infests more than one hundred billion acres in nine southern states, sometimes driving farm workers from the fields because of its fiery sting. In forest areas the gypsy moth, the spruce budworm, and the southern pine beetle have wreaked devastation on huge areas of woodland, defoliating and killing millions of valuable trees-enough, in fact, to build 910,000 houses per year! Corn borers and rootworms have attacked crops in the Corn Belt at an incredible rate. The boll weevil costs United States farmers millions of dollars in crop losses annually. The mosquito is infecting one million humans per year in Africa and killing thousands annually with malaria, while the black fly in the Volta River basin blinds hundreds of thousands each year.

The insect world is multiplying at an exponential rate. Entomologists estimate that the number has now climbed to one quintillion, representing five million different species. If a person could weigh all insects together, their combined weight would be twelve times that of the entire human race. Can there be any doubt that the pestilence Jesus predicted will soon rear its head in monstrous proportions and that world hunger will be felt by every country on earth? This, along with what comes out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 9:2 (causing the plague of verse 3), is just around the corner. Listen to the prediction: There came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Their purpose is to destroy and kill. The Rapture is near, my friend ... the signs are all around us.

Navy Tests Incredible Sci-Fi Weapon

The U.S. Navy yesterday test fired an incredibly powerful new big gun designed to replace conventional weaponry aboard ships. Sci-fi fans will recognize its awesome power and futuristic technology.The big gun uses electromagnetic energy instead of explosive chemical propellants to fire a projectile farther and faster. The railgun, as it is called, will ultimately fire a projectile more than 230 miles (370 kilometers) with a muzzle velocity seven times the speed of sound (Mach 7) and a velocity of Mach 5 at impact.The test-firing, captured on video, took place Jan. 31 in Dahlgren, Va., and Navy officials called it the world's most powerful electromagnetic railgun.The Navy's current MK 45 five-inch gun, by contrast, has a range of less than 23 miles (37 kilometers).The railgun has been a featured weapon in many science fiction universes, such as the new Battlestar Galactica series. It has also achieved newfound popularity among the 20-something-and-under generation for its devastating ability to instantaneously shoot a slug through walls and through multiple enemies in video games such as the Quake series of first person shooters.

The Navy's motivation? Simple destruction.

The railgun's high-velocity projectile will destroy targets with sheer kinetic energy rather than with conventional explosives.I never ever want to see a Sailor or Marine in a fair fight. I always want them to have the advantage, said Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Gary Roughead. We should never lose sight of always looking for the next big thing, always looking to make our capability better, more effective than what anyone else can put on the battlefield.The railgun's lack of explosives means ships would be safer, said Elizabeth D'Andrea, Electromagnetic Railgun Program Manager.The Navy's goal is to demonstrate a full-capability prototype by 2018.

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS

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.

Europe foothold on deep space exploration as lab installed on space station by Jean-Louis Santini Tue Feb 12, 2:10 AM ET

HOUSTON, Texas (AFP) - Astronauts on Monday installed the European space laboratory Columbus on the orbiting International Space Station, giving Europe an important foothold for the deeper exploration of space. The European Columbus module is officially part of the International Space Station, said French space engineer Leopold Eyharts, as NASA broadcast live images of the installation, which took place at 2144 GMT.The long-delayed move gives European space agencies a presence alongside US and Russian astronauts on the ISS, a preparation point for future human missions to Mars.Two astronauts from the US space shuttle Atlantis earlier made a seven-hour space walk to prepare Columbus for its hook-up to the station, orbiting 350 kilometers (215 miles) above the Earth.They fixed fittings to Columbus so it could be grabbed and maneuvered into position by a robotic arm, operated from within the ISS, for attachment to the station's Harmony module.The two billion-dollar (1.3 billion-euro), 10-tonne laboratory represents a milestone in Europe's role in space. Paid for mostly by Germany, Italy and France, it is the first ISS addition not made in the United States or Russia.

The laboratory will boost the station's research capabilities, being used for biotechnology and medicine experiments involving microgravity. It has room for three astronauts and 10 experimentation units.The spacewalkers also had to install panels to protect it from the impact of micro-meteorites.NASA plans to attach another laboratory, the Japanese module Kibo, to Harmony in March.Clearing up concerns that launch debris may have damaged the shuttle as it took off from Florida, mission chief John Shannon said Sunday that the thermal shield on Atlantis's nose and wing forward edges were in perfect condition.He also said the mission could be prolonged a second day, a decision to be taken on Tuesday.

The space walk came a day later than originally scheduled, after German astronaut Hans Schlegel, who was to take part in the walk, fell ill.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has not revealed the cause of his illness. On Sunday, European Space Agency spokesman Markus Bauer said Schlegel, 56, appeared to have recovered and was doing very well.We are assuming that he will take part in the second spacewalk, said Bauer.Columbus had been due for delivery in 2004 but this was delayed after the Colombia shuttle disaster in 2003, which caused the fleet to be grounded for safety reviews after seven astronauts died in the flight.A technical setback with the Atlantis shuttle in December delayed Columbus' delivery further.Now it is hooked up to the station, astronauts will be able to go into Columbus from Tuesday to set up its interior and test its equipment, NASA said.A second spacewalk scheduled for Wednesday will be devoted to separate tasks on the ISS, including replacing an old nitrogen tank. On a third walk on Friday astronauts will install equipment on the new laboratory's exterior. Eyharts is to stay on the ISS for several weeks to get Columbus up and running. He replaces US astronaut Daniel Tani, who will ride back to Earth on Atlantis. NASA plans to complete the International Space Station by 2010, when its three-shuttle fleet is retired.

Israel building plans anger Palestinians By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer FEB 12,08

JERUSALEM - Israel is planning to build 1,100 new apartments for Israelis in east Jerusalem, a Cabinet minister said Tuesday, angering Palestinians who want the area as a capital of their future state and further troubling peace talks. Housing Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio that plans were under way to build 370 apartments in Har Homa and an additional 750 in Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.Construction in Jerusalem continues as usual, said Gali Cohen, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.An Israeli plan to build an additional 307 apartments in Har Homa two months ago soured the latest round of peace talks just as they were resuming after a seven-year pause.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, annexed it, and built new neighborhoods there that are now home to 180,000 Israelis. It does not consider construction there to be settlement activity, as the Palestinians and international community do.Israel expects to retain Jewish east Jerusalem neighborhoods under a final peace deal, but the Palestinians still see construction there as compromising a final agreement. Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have set a December 2008 target date for reaching an accord.But the Israeli construction plans undermine chances of reaching a peace agreement by the end of this year, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.We condemn these Israeli declarations, and once again we ask the Israeli government to give peace a chance by stopping all settlement activity, Erekat said.White House press secretary Dana Perino said she had not seen the report about Israel's plans to build new apartments in east Jerusalem. But, obviously, there's no doubt that an announcement of that sort would make the Palestinians concerned, she said.East Jerusalem is home to 208,000 Palestinians, according to a recent Palestinian census. The Palestinians hope to establish an independent state that includes the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with east Jerusalem as their capital.
Olmert has signaled he would be ready to cede control of some Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.Hard-line political opponents, and some members of his fractious coalition government, oppose any compromise on Jerusalem, which Israel calls its eternal, undivided capital.As a result, Olmert has to maintain a balancing act — trying to placate the Palestinians by avoiding provocative moves while avoiding the coalition crisis that would ensue if he openly declared a freeze on construction in Jerusalem. Olmert already has declared a partial freeze on construction in the West Bank.

If Olmert openly halts construction in Jerusalem, he risks pushing the hawkish Shas party out of his government and losing his majority in parliament, said Israeli political scientist Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University, near Tel Aviv.And with Israeli public opinion opposed to any compromise in Jerusalem, Inbar said, a move that would be seen as ceding Israeli sovereignty there would be politically disastrous for Olmert.Jerusalem is so sensitive that any government that touches it will fall apart, Inbar said.The new peace talks, formally launched at a U.S.-hosted peace conference last November, appear to have made scant progress.Negotiations appear to have been conducted so far at an unhurried pace, and have been marred by militants firing rocket barrages at Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip and Israeli raids and sanctions aimed at halting the fire. The sides' top negotiators, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the Palestinians' Ahmed Qureia, met Monday and Tuesday for talks, according to Arye Mekel, a spokesman for Livni. Olmert said Tuesday that talks on Jerusalem — perhaps the stickiest issue in the peace process — would be put off. We try to move on forward through those issues which can be resolved, perhaps, faster than the others, he said in Berlin. In December, after the first Har Homa project threatened peace talks, Olmert told his Cabinet ministers not to approve new building without his approval. On Monday, Jerusalem city manager Yair Maayan told a parliamentary panel that the government was holding up construction of hundreds of apartments in Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

But Boim denied that construction was being held up, explaining that a written directive Olmert issued applied only to settlements in the West Bank — which Israel has not annexed and has a different legal status under Israeli law — and not to adjacent eastJerusalem, which Israel considers to be under its full sovereignty. What people call delays are in fact final stages of coordination with city hall, Boim told Israel Radio. The Housing Ministry has solicited bids from contractors to build the initial 307 units at Har Homa and will move ahead with the new 370 units if there is demand, said Eran Sidis, a spokesman for Boim. The final details of the planned 750 units in Pisgat Zeev are being coordinated with Jerusalem city officials, he said.

Shas: we'll quit coalition if report of secret Jerusalem talks proves true By Israel Insider staff February 10, 2008

We will check your story and if it is true, Shas will leave the government, Yishai told the Jerusalem Post. He added that the party would also leave if the government continued to negotiate while rockets were being fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu urged Shas to leave the coalition. Following the [government's] security failures and in light of what I've read on Jerusalem being discussed in negotiations, I call on our friends in Shas: You share our opinions, our concern for Jerusalem, our concern for security - I call on you to do the right thing. And the right thing is to stop these dangerous moves and quit the government, Netanyahu said.

Earlier, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had said that negotiations are taking place between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Allah) are dealing with the status of Jerusalem. Livni admitted it, and a PA officials say that much progress is being made including Israeli agreement to hand over almost all Arab-populated areas of the city. That contradicted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's promise to the Shas Party that talks are not taking place, and would not take place till the very end of negotiations. Shas had declared that it will bolt the coalition and bring down the government the moment talks over Jerusalem ensue. The main progress has been achieved during the secret talks, particularly on the issue of Jerusalem. Today we can say that Israel is prepared to withdraw from almost all the Arab neighborhoods and villages in Jerusalem. Israel is prepared to redivide Jerusalem and this is a positive development.PA official, commenting on progress in talks with Israel's diplomatic team.Abbas made the statements before meeting with European Parliament members in Ramallah Thursday. FM Livni confirmed negotiations in a meeting with foreign diplomats late last week. Hagai Huberman reports in Sunday's edition of Makor Rishon that FM Livni told foreign diplomats a few days ago that in her talks with Abu Ala (aka Ahmed Qurei) they are in fact discussing all the key issues, including Jerusalem. She admitted that this conflicts with what the prime minister said two weeks ago that for Shas to hear, that the matter of Jerusalem would only be discussed at the end of the negotiations.

A PA official went further, saying that most issues concerning Jerusalem were actually resolved in secret meetings. There are public meetings and there are secret ones, the PA official explained. The main progress has been achieved during the secret talks, particularly on the issue of Jerusalem. Today we can say that Israel is prepared to withdraw from almost all the Arab neighborhoods and villages in Jerusalem. Israel is prepared to redivide Jerusalem and this is a positive development.The cat is out of the bag, MK Zevulun Orlev (NU/NRP) told the Post. The fact that [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert's government is not telling the truth over the negotiations with the Palestinians has been revealed. Shas will no longer be able to say they didn't know. Even if the prime minister isn't telling them the truth, they can thank the Jerusalem Post for revealing it to them. I hope Shas keeps its promise and leaves the government that is dividing Jerusalem, Orlev said. Jerusalem Municipality opposition leader Nir Barkat called on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to come clean: I demand that the foreign minister, who heads the negotiations with the Palestinians, publicly disclose all secret and other agreements that the state of Israel has reached with the Palestinians, Barkat told the Post. In response to the report, which quoted a senior PA official in Ramallah, Barkat said that Jerusalem had better not be the subject of secret talks. Barkat, a high tech multimillionaire who heads a campaign against the proposed division of the capital, said "any such agreement achieved on behalf of an Israeli official would constitute an absolute deviation to Kadima's basic principles, a violation to the basic law of Jerusalem, betrays the trust of the voter and undermines the sovereign basis of the Israel's Knesset.

The Palestinians must understand that neither the government of Israel, nor any other body on its behalf, have the right to promise to give up areas where Israeli law, governance and legislation has been implemented, he said. United Torah Judaism MK Avraham Ravitz said that if the story is true, then the Jerusalem's fate is being decided like a thief in the night. It cannot be that while Olmert is denying that there are any talks about Jerusalem at all, Tzipi Livni is negotiating in back rooms with Abu Ala (Qurei) about the state of our capital.Yet Shas Spokesman Roi Lachmanovitch originally dismissed the report. Nobody is talking about Jerusalem, he told Arutz Sheva. The moment Jerusalem is being discussed Shas will leave the government -- period. Asked if he was claiming that Livni is lying, he said: I am not saying she is lying -- but I am saying that absolutely nobody is negotiating over Jerusalem.Shas Party Chairman Eli Yishai told party activists in Tiberias that he expects new national elections to take place before November. Yishai's latest comments came after the reports of the secret talks over Jerusalem came out, and Shas headquarters were deluged with calls, emails and faxes urging the party to leave the government.

McCain wants more EU troops for Afghanistan
By Tim Shipman, Norfolk, Virginia 1:16am GMT 10/02/2008

John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for November's US presidential race, is to launch a diplomatic offensive to push France and Germany to do more to help British forces in Afghanistan.

Mr McCain has told The Sunday Telegraph that he plans to bang European heads together. I'll go over there and sit down with them, he said, to discuss what he sees as Nato's failure to do the heavy lifting in Afghanistan.Details of Mr McCain's deep concern at the state of the war against the Taliban are the first disclosure of how his approach to foreign policy would affect Britain.He is troubled that Nato allies have failed to provide sufficient troops to take on the Taliban in the south of the country. He is also concerned that some European nations do not let their troops patrol at night, or take part in offensive operations. He said: We just had to order 3,000 additional marines to Afghanistan because of the resurgence of the Taliban. Let's have some straight talk. There are some operational restrictions on some of the troops that are there. Some of the countries have not contributed what they can.But he is also critical of the failure to bring under control the poppy crop, an area where Britain has taken an ineffective lead. Most of the heroin that is produced goes to Europe, he said. In a signal that he would lead an overhaul of the fight against the Taliban, Mr McCain said he wanted to see changes to the current dual command structure, which permits some Nato members to focus on nation-building exercises in Afghanistan, while Britain and Canada are fully integrated in the US military command.Troop deployment in hostile areas of Afghanastan: Click to enlarge.It's a command structure that's not as efficient as it could be, he said.

Most significant may be his willingness to deploy his straight-talking charm on the world stage. His closest aide, Mark Salter, told The Sunday Telegraph he could be blunter in his demands on allies than President Bush as he had a well of goodwill to tap.They know him, Mr Salter said. He's obviously very direct. He can go there and get mad at the Germans and the French and they are used to that. He speaks as an Atlanticist. He has spent enormous amounts of time in Europe.This is no criticism of President Bush, but he wasn't a known quantity when he became president. John is on a first-name basis with them.A future President McCain would be expected to win favour with European governments critical of the Bush administration's approach to combating Islamic extremism, by closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in the first weeks of his presidency and declaring that the US will no longer tolerate torture.British and American pressure on Germany appeared to bear fruit yesterday when it emerged the German government might send an extra 1,000 troops to Afghanistan. But Mr McCain will continue to work to broaden its restrictive rules of engagement.The Afghanistan offensive will form a major plank of Mr McCain's outreach to the world, as he battles to win over conservatives in his party.McCain watchers say his presidency and his foreign policy would be shaped by the blunt force of his personality - an abrasiveness that has caused problems with fellow Republicans. Matt Welch, Mr McCain's most recent biographer, said his world view was shaped by his character and experiences as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.Mr Welch said: He's always talking about sacrifice for a cause greater than yourself. He was able to withstand torture because he found faith in country and his family and their military traditions.

His ideology is national greatness: to restore our faith in American government at home and the US as a great shining city on a hill for the rest of the world. McCain is an interventionist. He looks around the world and sees evil and he wants to back that struggle up with force.But he is more sensitively attuned than Bush to the need for America to provide moral leadership.Mr McCain, an unabashed fan of boots on the ground in military operations, is committed to a dramatic expansion of the US Army and Marine Corps.
He is avowedly sceptical of the recent US national intelligence estimate that downplayed the threat from Iran's nuclear programme. He backs intervention in Darfur and once suggested America should support rebel insurgents in North Korea.During this election campaign he has predicted that US troops could be in Iraq for a century, openly comparing the deployment with the continuing garrison in South Korea. Mr Welch said: He sees the benefits of American imperialism. He grew up studying the British Empire in the 19th century, and his dad read him Rudyard Kipling.The flip side is that I don't think he recognises any side effects to America policing the world. The target on our back is getting bigger. He has zero sense of that.But John Lehman, a senior military adviser to Mr McCain and Ronald Reagan's navy secretary, told The Sunday Telegraph he was no warmonger. He's seen war first-hand, he said. He knows the cost of war and he knows that diplomacy without the willingness to put force behind the diplomacy is useless. It's a balance that he deeply understands.He knows that wars that are best won are those that are not fought.

Kosovo will proclaim independence on 17 February, Serbia says 08.02.2008 - 17:28 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva

The Serbian breakaway province of Kosovo intends to proclaim independence next Sunday (17 February), Serbia said on Friday, saying it has information to back up the claim.The Serbian government has received more and more significant information that [Kosovo's prime minister] Hashim Thaci will illegally declare the unilateral independence of Kosovo on February 17, Slobodan Samardzic, Serbia's minister for Kosovo was quoted as saying by press agencies on Friday (8 February).Mr Samardzic did not specify the source of Serbia's information, however.The Serbian minister's comments came after a meeting with EU official Stefan Lehne, a special advisor to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.Mr Lehne was in Belgrade to clarify the EU's plans to send a civilian mission to Kosovo, according to the Associated Press.Serbia opposes the EU mission unless it is approved by the UN, seeing it as a step towards Kosovo's independence.After the EU approved the 1,800-strong mission earlier this week, the signing of an interim political agreement with Belgrade was delayed.The EU agreement offered Serbia closer trade relations, relaxed visa requirements and educational cooperation. It was to be signed on Thursday (7 February).Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica – who believes the deal is aimed at luring Serbia into recognising Kosovo - blocked a government meeting set to give the country's deputy premier, Bojidar Djelic, a mandate to sign the deal.

EU deal is double zero

On Friday, Mr Samardzic expressed similar views.The EU cannot expect that just before the unilateral declaration of independence announced for the 17th of February, that Serbia itself signs for the independence of Kosovo, he said.The minister for Kosovo went further, accusing the EU of trying to deceive Serbia by a deal without any substance.The deal is nothing. Double zero, he was quoted as saying by Serbian news site B92.net.It's unfortunate that the EU has infiltrated the Serbian political system in this way just a day after the election of a new president, Mr Samardzic added, referring to the approval of the Kosovo mission on the day following Serbia's presidential elections.Earlier this week, the EU lashed out at Serbia for delaying the signing of the political agreement, which Brussels insisted had nothing to do with the situation in Kosovo. Meanwhile, Kosovo's premier Hashim Thaci said on Friday that the province's independence is a done [deal]. Everybody knows it, AFP reports.Mr Thaci added that his government had confirmation Kosovo's independence would receive massive international recognition … [from] about 100 countries immediately after it is proclaimed.Kosovo, legally a part of Serbia's territory, has been under UN governance since 1999. The question of its future status has remained unsolved for years.Pristina wants full independence, but Belgrade – backed by its traditional ally Russia – categorically opposes it. 2008 EUobserver

Islamization of Europe and The European Union
Fjordman - 2/10/2008

Hugh Fitzgerald of Jihad Watch recently suggested a number of things Europeans can do to halt Islamization. The proposals were good, but I think we should focus on the most important obstacle: the European Union. I've suggested in the past that the EU is the principal motor behind the Islamization of Europe, and that the entire organization needs to be dismantled as soon as possible, otherwise nothing substantial can ever be done about the Muslim invasion. At the Gates of Vienna blog, I am writing a text called Ten Reasons to Get Rid of the European Union, which can be translated into other languages and be republished when it is completed.As Bat Ye'or demonstrates in her book Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, senior EU leaders have actively been working for years to merge Europe with the Arab world. They are now feeling confident enough to say this openly. The British Foreign Minister David Miliband in November 2007 stated that the European Union should work towards including Middle Eastern and North African countries, as this would extend stability. He also said that the EU must keep our promises to Turkey regarding EU membership.

The EU involves the free movement of people across borders. If it expands to the Middle East, hundreds of millions of Muslims will have free access to Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Austria. If Turkey becomes a member, it means that Greeks, Bulgarians and others who have fought against oppression by Ottoman Turks for centuries will now be flooded with Muslims from a rapidly re-Islamizing Turkey. The same goes for Poles, Hungarians, Romanians and others who fought against Muslims for centuries.The EU's Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini states that Europe must relax its immigration controls and open the door to an extra 20 million Africans and Asians during the next two decades. Most of these Africans and Asians come from the predominantly Muslim countries of North Africa and the Greater Middle East. The EU thus decided to flood Europe with tens of millions of Muslims at the same time as peaceful Europeans demonstrating against the Islamization of Europe were brutally harassed by the police in the EU capital of Brussels. Frattini has also banned the use of the phrase Islamic terrorism: People who commit suicide attacks or criminal activities on behalf of religion, Islamic religion or other religion, they abuse the name of this religion. He thinks we shouldn't use the word immigration, either, we should talk about mobility. While Dutch politicians, in what was until recently a peaceful country, have been killed for being too critical of Islam, while Islamic terror attacks have murdered people in London and Madrid, while more terror attacks are planned every single day from Italy via Paris to Denmark, and while people from Sweden to Germany are subject to Muslim street violence and harassment, EU leaders want to increase Europe's Muslim population by tens of millions in a few years. This is criminal and evil, pure and simple.

In Cologne, Germany, a Muslim teenager who wanted to mug a 20-year-old German man was killed in an act of self-defense, according to witnesses. This led to angry protests from Muslims. Apparently, non-Muslims are not supposed to defend themselves from attacks. This violence is usually labelled crime, but I believe it should more accurately be called Jihad. Those who know Islamic history, as described in books such as The Truth About Muhammad by Robert Spencer or The Legacy of Jihad by Dr. Andrew G. Bostom, know that looting and stealing the property of non-Muslims has been part and parcel of Jihad from the very beginning. In fact, so much of the behavior of Muhammad and early Muslims could be deemed criminal that it is difficult to know where crime ends and Jihad begins. In the city of Oslo, it is documented that some of the criminal gangs also have close ties to Jihadist groups at home and abroad. As Dutch Arabist Hans Jansen points out, the Koran is seen by some Muslims as a God-given hunting licence, granting them the right to assault and even murder non-Muslims. It is hardly accidental that while Muslims make up a minority of the population in France, they make up an estimated seventy percent of French prison inmates.

Why would anybody in their right mind want to import Islam, the most destructive force on the planet? Are EU leaders naïve? I don't think so, at least not all of them. You cannot maintain political power in the long run if you are totally naive.We are told to treat cultural and historical identities as fashion accessories, shirts we can wear and change at will. The Multicultural society is colorful, an adjective normally attached to furniture or curtains. Cultures are window decorations of little or no consequence, and one might as well have one as the other. In fact, it is good to change it every now and then. Don't you get tired of that old sofa sometimes? What about exchanging it for the new sharia model? Sure, it's slightly less comfortable than the old one, but it's very much in vogue these days and sets you apart from the neighbors, at least until they get one, too. Do you want a sample of the latest Calvin Klein perfume to go with that sharia? I have heard individuals state point blank that even if Muslims become the majority in our countries in the future, this doesn't matter because all people are equal and all cultures are just a mix of everything else, anyway. And since religions are just fairy-tales, replacing one fairy-tale with another one won't make a big difference. All religions basically say that the same things in different ways. However, not one of them would ever dream of saying that all political ideologies basically mean the same thing. They simply don't view religious or cultural ideas as significant, and thus won't spend time on studying the largely unimportant details of each specific creed.

In The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West, Lee Harris writes that: What strikes us as irrationalities in the economic systems of Third World nations, such as the red tape documented by [Peruvian economist Hernando] de Soto, is not irrational at all from the point of view of the dominant elite: It is part of what keeps them dominant. With enough red tape, they can stay king of the mountain forever.This reminds me a great deal of what the EU is doing, attempting to create a permanent oligarchy by keeping the native population in line though a combination of confusion, bureaucracy and intimidation from imported Muslims. Far from being an irrelevant detail, religion is the heart and blood of any civilization. The greatest change (until now) in my country's history was when we adopted Christianity instead of the Norse religion. This changed the entire fabric of our culture. We became integrated into the mainstream of Western civilization at about the same time as we went from being a tribal society to a genuine state. Maybe Christianity helped in creating the foundations of nation states with an individualistic culture. If so, perhaps changing the religion is beneficial for those who want to replace nation states with authoritarian transnational entities, for instance the European Union. Islamic societies are always authoritarian. Those who want to abolish the democratic system and rule as an unaccountable oligarchy thus naturally prefer Islam.

The EU is an awful organization even if you don't take Muslim immigration into account. Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovksy, who is not particularly preoccupied with Islam, fears that the European Union is on its way to becoming another Soviet Union: The sooner we finish with the EU the better. The sooner it collapses the less damage it will have done to us and to other countries.The brilliant French political thinker Montesquieu advocated that the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government should be assigned to different bodies, each of them not powerful enough alone to impose its will on society. This is because constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go. This separation of powers is almost totally absent in the EU, where there is weak to non-existent separation between the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches, and where all of them function more or less without the consent of the public.

As Montesquieu warned, When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. He also stated that Useless laws weaken the necessary laws. The problem with the EU is not just the content of laws, but their volume. Law-abiding citizens are turned into criminals by laws regulating speech and behavior, while real criminals rule the streets. This will either lead to a police state, to a total breakdown in law and order, or both. At least two conditions must be fulfilled in order to prevent the arbitrary use of power. The first one is a system of formal checks and balances, giving the possibility of peacefully removing officials who are not doing their job. The second is transparency, so people know what their representatives are doing. The EU deliberately ignores both these conditions, but especially the latter. Vast quantities of power have been transferred to shady backrooms and structures the average citizen hardly knows exist. Eurabia was created through such channels. The pompous former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing declared that the creation of the proposed EU Constitution was Europe's Philadelphia moment, alluding to the Philadelphia Convention or Constitutional Convention in the newly formed the United States of America in 1787. The USA has its flaws, but if Mr. Giscard d'Estaing had actually understood the American Constitution, he would have discovered that James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and others took great care to implement a number of checks and balances in the new state, precisely what is lacking in the EU. The American constitution is relatively short and understandable, whereas the EU Constitution is hundreds of pages long, largely incomprehensible and displays an almost sharia-like desire to regulate all aspects of human life. After it was rejected by Dutch and French voters, the Constitution has been renamed and is now being smuggled through the back door.

Madison, Jefferson, George Washington and the American Founding Fathers acted in the open and were generally elected by their peers and applauded for their actions. Contrast this with Jean Monnet, who is credited with having laid the foundations of the EU, despite the fact that most EU citizens haven't heard of him. He was never elected to any public office, but worked behind the scenes to implement a secret agenda. I read an interview with a senior Brussels lobbyist who dubbed Monnet the most successful lobbyist in history. To this day, the EU capital of Brussels is dominated by lobbyists. The Americans in Washington D.C. have their fair share of lobbyists, too, and this can be problematic at times. The difference is that the EU capital is dominated ONLY by lobbyists and unelected bureaucrats, with little real popular influence. Those who read the excellent British blog EU Referendum regularly will know that this secretive modus operandi is still very much alive in the European Union. Frankly, I don't think the EU has the right to use the term European. Those inhabiting the European continent are first and foremost Germans, Dutchmen, Poles, Italians, Hungarians, Portuguese etc. Europe has existed mainly to protect the continent against Islamic expansionism. Charles Martel created Europe when he defeated the Arab invasion in the seventh century, aided by people such as Pelayo, who started the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula, John Hunyadi and Lazar of Serbia who fought against the Turks in the Balkans and John III Sobieski, King of Poland, who beat the Ottomans during the 1683 Battle of Vienna. The EU is actively trying to undo everything Charles Martel and these men achieved. This makes it the anti-European Union, an evil organization with no moral legitimacy whatsoever. The EU is gradually reducing the indigenous people of an entire continent to the likely future status of second-rate citizen in their own countries. It is quite possibly the greatest betrayal in the history of European civilization since the fall of the Roman Empire, yet it is hailed as a peace project in the media. It is shameful to witness the bullying displayed by EU leaders vis-à-vis the Serbs, who are being forced to give up their land to Muslim thugs. This template will eventually be used against all Europeans. As Srdja Trifkovic warns, even if the Serbs are robbed of Kosovo, Muslims will not thank the West: In Europe most nations want to defend themselves—even the ultra-tolerant Dutch have seen the light after Theo van Gogh's murder—but cannot do so because they are hamstrung by a ruling class composed of guilt-ridden self-haters and appeasers. Their hold on the political power, the media, and the academe is undemocratic, unnatural, obscene. If Europe is to survive they need to be unmasked for what they are: traitors to their nations and their culture. If Europe is to survive, they must be replaced by people ready and willing to subject the issues of immigration and identity to the test of democracy, unhindered by administrative or judicial fiat. For those reasons too, Serbia must not give up Kosovo. By giving it up it would encourage the spirit that seeks the death of Europe and its surrender to the global totalitarianism of Muhammad's successors. Not for the first time, in Kosovo the Serbs are fighting a fight that is not theirs alone.

Some hope we can keep the positive aspects of the EU and not throw out the baby with the bath water. I beg to differ. The EU is all bath water, no baby. The EU got off on the wrong path from its very inception, and is now so flawed that it simply cannot be reformed. Appeasement of Islam is so deeply immersed in the structural DNA of the EU that the only way to stop the Islamization of Europe is to dismantle the European Union. All of it.Fjordman is a noted Norwegian blogger who has written for many conservative web sites. He used to have his own Fjordman Blog in the past, but it is no longer active.