IKE CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE - PALIN GREAT

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.

Hanna leaves 61 dead in Haiti as more storms brew in Atlantic by Clarens Renois Thu Sep 4, 3:36 AM ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - Helicopters rescued survivors from rooftops in the flooded Haitian city of Gonaives as Tropical Storm Hanna claimed at least 61 lives, the third major storm to hammer Haiti in as many weeks. Hanna left scenes of devastation with hundreds of homes destroyed amid desperate rescue efforts as forecasters warned the storm could strengthen into a hurricane before it heads to the southeastern US coastline.As two more storm systems churned in the Atlantic, the flooding in Haiti revived memories of lethal Tropical Storm Jeanne in 2004, when about 3,000 people were killed, mostly in the northern city.Something must be done quickly, said Germain Michelet, a priest who took refuge from the flooding on the second floor of the archbishop's office in Gonaives.I don't know how much longer we will remain alive, he told AFP. If we are forced to go through another night under these conditions, there will not be many survivors.The UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) carried out numerous helicopter missions in Gonaives to rescue those stranded by the high water.We have managed to recover two dozen people who were trapped on rooftops, MINUSTAH spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe told AFP, adding that nine injured people were flown to the capital for treatment.The Gonaives hospital was also flooded, a doctor told local radio. The patients are grouped in one room, the unnamed doctor said. He added: The situation is critical.Haiti is especially prone to flooding and landslides due to widespread deforestation on its section of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic.

Tens of thousands of people in both countries were forced to take refuge due to the driving rain and flooding, though there were no casualties reported in the Dominican Republic.Hanna struck Haiti one week after it was hit by Hurricane Gustav, which killed 77 people. Two weeks ago, Tropical Storm Fay sparked flooding in Haiti that left about 40 people dead.As Hanna churned, the government of the Bahamas downgraded its hurricane watch to a tropical storm warning, while the US embassy in Nassau announced it would be closed Thursday and Friday.The National Hurricane Center in Miami called Hanna tenacious and said it would regain hurricane status in a day or two but it could occur earlier.Hanna could strike the US coasts of the Carolinas or move very close to the area in coming days, the NHC said in its latest advisory.A hurricane watch will likely be required for a portion of the southeastern United States coast early Thursday.On its forecast track, Hanna's center should be moving through or just east of the central and northwestern Bahamas over the next 24 to 36 hours, it said.As the northwest Bahamas prepared for Hanna, hurricane shelters opened on Grand Bahama Island.We want to advise the public to take all of the necessary precautions so that they can be safe, said Bahamas Minister of Housing Kenneth Russell. Officials at Grand Bahama hospitals said they were confident they could handle any emergency. Our staff has been advised and adequately prepared for coverage of our facilities that will be operational during the storm, said Sharon Williams, hospital administrator. By early Thursday, Hanna's center was about 260 kilometers (160 miles) east-southeast of San Salvador in the Bahamas, and moving north at near 20 kilometers (13 miles) an hour, the NHC reported. The storm packed maximum sustained winds of near 105 kilometers (65 miles) per hour, with higher gusts. The center's extended forecast showed Hanna heading west then turning north and making landfall Sunday around South or North Carolina, on the US central Atlantic coastline.Two other storms were moving across the Atlantic. Ike strengthened to a Category Four hurricane by early Thursday, hours after it developed from tropical storm to hurricane status. And Tropical Storm Josephine, in the eastern Atlantic 605 kilometers (375 miles) west of the southernmost Cape Verde islands, was expected to weaken as it moved west-northwest Thursday.

Hanna takes aim at Bahamas, Ike next in line By MIKE MELIA, Associated Press Writer SEPT 04,08

NASSAU, Bahamas - Tropical Storm Hanna roared along the edge of the Bahamas on Thursday ahead of a possible hurricane hit on the Carolinas, leaving behind at least 61 dead in Haiti. Hurricane Ike, a still-more dangerous Category 4 storm, was advancing from the east.Hanna was forecast to pass east of the Atlantic archipelago before striking along the coast of North or South Carolina by Friday night, but the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Hanna's sprawling bands of outer winds are likely to hit far sooner. Tropical storm force winds extended outward as far as 290 miles (465 kilometers) from the center.Haitian authorities on Thursday blamed Hanna for 61 deaths, most due to flooding.Civil Protection Department spokesman Abel Nazaire said 21 of the deaths were in the northern city of Gonaives, which has been almost entirely cut off by floodwaters.The storm also was blamed for one death in Puerto Rico.Hanna's heart was about 280 miles (455 kilometers) east-southeast of Nassau — and about 760 miles (1,220 kilometers) south-southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina, around dawn Thursday. It was moving toward the northwest near 12 mph (19 kph).Its maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph) were just a little short of hurricane force, and forecasters said it could strengthen.A hurricane watch was posted from Surf City, North Carolina to Edisto Beach, South Carolina, with a tropical storm force watch south to Altamaha Sound, Georgia.

Forecasters said it could curve northeastward after hitting U.S. coast and run up the seaboard past New York with tropical-storm-force winds.No major damage or injuries have yet been reported in the Bahamas.Most certainly I am relieved. We are tranquil, said Stephen Russell, interim director of the Bahamas National Emergency Management Agency.But he was already worried about Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine behind it.As soon as we are clear with Hanna, we have to turn our eyes now on Ike, a powerful one coming ashore, Russell said.Early Thursday, Ike had maximum sustained winds near 145 mph (230 kph). It was centered 550 miles (885 kilometers) northeast of the Leeward Islands and forecasters said it could reach the Bahamas by Monday. It was moving toward the west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph).Ike is the third major hurricane of the Atlantic season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. The other two were Bertha and Gustav, which was blamed for 112 deaths in the Caribbean, including 76 in Haiti.Josephine, too, grew stronger early Thursday after weakening on Wednesday. Josephine had maximum sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kph) and was moving toward the west-northwest near 10 mph (17 kph).We've got three of them on the way. We've just got to be prepared, said Frank Augustine, a 47-year convenience store manager, as he bought 10 five-gallon water jugs under blue skies at a Nassau depot.

Only a few dozen of the Bahamas' roughly 700 islands are inhabited, but they are near sea level and have little natural protection. In the south, Hanna knocked out electricity in Mayaguana Island and forced the closure of some small airports including those in Long Island and Acklins Island. The storm has drenched the Turks and Caicos and Puerto Rico but wreaked the most havoc in storm-weary Haiti, where it flooded the western city of Gonaives.

Category 4 Hurricane Ike fiercer as Hanna strengthens By Joseph Guyler Delva
Thu Sep 4, 5:06 AM ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Hurricane Ike strengthened rapidly into an fiercely dangerous Category 4 hurricane in the open Atlantic on Wednesday and Tropical Storm Hanna intensified to a lesser degree as it swirled over the Bahamas toward the southeast U.S. Coast. Ike posed no immediate threat to land but strengthened explosively, growing in the space of a few hours from a tropical storm to an intense Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.Ike had top sustained winds near 145 mph (230 kph) as it swept across the open waters of the west-central Atlantic 550 miles (885 km) northeast of the Leeward Islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. It was moving west-northwest near 17 mph (28 kph).It was forecast to head for the southern Bahamas early next week but it was too early to tell whether it would threaten land, the forecasters said.It was also too soon to say whether Ike would threaten U.S. oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico.The hurricane center's Web site, with updates and graphics, is at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml.

Hanna's torrential rains had already submerged parts of Haiti, stranding residents on rooftops and prompting President Rene Preval to warn of an extraordinary catastrophe to rival a storm that killed more than 3,000 people in the flood-prone Caribbean country four years ago.Hanna was forecast to move over the central and northern Bahamas on Thursday, strengthening back into a hurricane with winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph) before hitting the U.S. coast near the North Carolina-Virginia border on Saturday.The government of the Bahamas had ended a hurricane warning for the northwestern part of the islands, meaning a tropical storm warning was now in effect for all of the Bahamas and for the Turks and Caicos Islands, the hurricane center said.

TENACIOUS CYCLONE

Hanna has been a tenacious tropical cyclone that is forecast to regain hurricane force in a day or two but possibly sooner, it said. A hurricane watch may be required for a portion of the southeastern United States coast early Thursday, the center said.Tropical Storm Josephine also marched across the Atlantic on a westward course behind Ike but it had begun to weaken.The burst of storm activity follows Hurricane Gustav, which slammed into Louisiana near New Orleans on Monday after a course that also took it through Haiti, where it killed more than 75 people.The U.S. government has forecast 14 to 18 tropical storms will form during the six-month season that began on June 1, more than the historical average of 10. Josephine was already the 10th of the year, forming before the statistical peak of the season on September 10.The record-busting 2005 season, which included deadly Hurricane Katrina, had 28 storms.In Haiti, officials were still counting the scores of people killed by Gustav when Hanna struck the impoverished nation on Monday night.

Authorities said Hanna caused flooding and mudslides that killed at least 61 people across Haiti, including 22 in the low-lying port of Gonaives. The death toll was expected to rise as floodwaters receded and rescuers reached remote areas.We are in a really catastrophic situation, said Preval, who planned to hold emergency talks with representatives of international donor countries to appeal for aid. It is believed that compared to Jeanne, Hanna could cause even more damage, he said, referring to a storm that sent floodwaters and mud cascading into Gonaives and other parts of Haiti's north and northwest in September 2004, killing more than 3,000 people. Gonaives residents were still stranded on their rooftops two days after the floodwaters rose and the government did not know the fate of those who had been in hospitals and prisons. There are a lot of people on rooftops and there are prisoners that we cannot guard, Preval said. Hanna had hovered off Haiti's coast since Monday, drowning crops in a desperately poor nation already struggling with food shortages. It also triggered widespread flooding in the neighboring Dominican Republic. The Miami-based hurricane center said it was too early to say where Ike might go, after it churns through the Caribbean, but the storm has drawn the attention of energy companies running the 4,000 offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that provide the United States with a quarter of its crude oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.

By late Wednesday, Josephine was swirling over the far eastern Atlantic about 465 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. It was moving west but had begun to weaken, with top sustained winds dropping to 60 mph (95 kph). (Additional reporting by Tom Brown in Miami; writing by Jane Sutton; editing by Todd Eastham and Philip Barbara)

Life returns to New Orleans as Bush surveys damage by Glenn Chapman SEPT 04,08

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) - New Orleans slowly came back to life Wednesday as hundreds of thousands of residents trickled home after their city survived a pounding from Hurricane Gustav. Only some 10,000 people are believed to have remained in New Orleans, a city of 300,000, when Gustav slammed the Gulf coast Monday, amid fears of a repeat of the catastrophic flooding that came with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours, Mayor Ray Nagin said late Wednesday, playfully quoting a line from a classic popular song. The picture today is much better than it was yesterday.Nagin said that President George W. Bush, who visited Louisiana on Wednesday, assured him that Washington is committed to a multi-billion-dollar program to rebuild New Orleans and bolster the levee system that protects it.We are going to restart and accelerate rebuilding at a level you haven't seen, Nagin said.Nagin allowed residents to begin returning to the city Wednesday, voiding a mandatory evacuation order and lifting police roadblocks more than 12 hours earlier than planned.On Bourbon Street, in the city's famed French Quarter, Jessica Hunter bared her breasts for beads -- a tradition common during the famous New Orleans Mardi Gras festivities.The hurricanes are in here, Hunter chimed from a door to the 'B Street Nightclub.' She was referring to cocktails known for its brain-blasting blend of alcohol and tropical fruit juice.Bourbon Street, the heart of the Jazz City's tourist district, was nearly deserted Tuesday, but partiers began to return on Wednesday.It feels good to just be home, Leonard Bradly, another returnee, said as he hunted down beer, ice and cigarettes. To be back -- that is the feeling you need.But those returning found less than ideal conditions: local utility companies said that more than a million homes and business were without power, and most gasoline stations -- both in the city and across the state -- were empty.

Pat Dubendorfer returned to find his home in New Orleans Parish looted.Thieves had ripped a 130 centimeter (52-inch) flat-screen television from his living room wall, and took off with a half-dozen guns from a bedroom closet, leaving only a small-caliber rifle.Honest to God I thought they were still in the house, Dubendorfer said, recounting his arrival home some 30 minutes earlier.First thing I did was grab the gun, chamber it and walk through my house. At least they left ammunition.The thieves were gone, and took with them a heavy air conditioning compressor that had been on a platform abutting Dubendorfer's home.Some of those returning are prepared to capitalize from the massive influx of residents back home.Renie Jack Wen at Sam's Super Meat Market crammed meat and ice into a giant cooler in his family market in a New Orleans suburb, hoping it wouldn't spoil. He then teamed with his wife Yan Li and their son, Qiushi, to strip away sheets of plywood they had screwed over the store windows to shield it from Gustav's wrath. They are coming back, Wen said as he labored in the heat. They will need food.Bush has declared the region a major disaster zone, making federal funding available for storm-related home repairs and additional rebuilding assistance. Oil rigs in the Gulf appear to have survived without serious damage, according to initial surveys, as oil workers prepared to return. Nevertheless, the president also announced the government was releasing 250,000 barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum reserve, after the region's refineries saw their production curtailed by the storm. Bush praised emergency workers for a much better coordinated response than was seen after Katrina, and for rushing aid to remote areas, as well as New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Freak hailstorm turns part of tropical Kenya white Wed Sep 3, 11:00 AM ET

NAIROBI (Reuters) - A huge hailstorm turned parts of central Kenya white, thrilling residents most of whom had never experienced such conditions, officials said on Wednesday. Hailstorms are usual in some parts of Kenya, which straddles the equator, but the ferocity of the storm in Busara, 255 km (158 miles) northwest of the capital was unprecedented.Excited villagers pelted each other with snowballs while some ate pieces of the icy sheet that formed over an entire hillside.We thought a big white sheet had been spread, so we decided to come and see for ourselves. We thought that it was Jesus who had come back, one villager told reporters.Kenya's Meteorological Department said Tuesday's storm was caused by the convergence of cold air currents from the Indian Ocean and warm air currents from the Congo.The hailstones falling on the ground joined together to form expansive sheets of ice or snow flakes occupying a large area, 30 acres, a statement by the meteorologists said.More than 12 hours after the storm, the forested hillside was still white despite the hot tropical sun.

In fact this thing is very sweet, we have never seen anything like this. We like the ice so much because with the sun being hot, you take it and you feel satisfied, resident Simon Kimani said.The only snow to be seen in normally sunny Kenya is on top of the country's highest mountain, 5,199-metre (17,057 ft) Mount Kenya.(Reporting by Njuwa Maina and Patrick Muiruri; writing by Wangui Kanina; editing by Tony Austin)

OZONE DEPLETION

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

19-square-mile ice sheet breaks loose in Canada By CHARMAINE NORONHA, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 11:53 PM ET

TORONTO - A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said Wednesday.

Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, told The Associated Press that the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.The Markham Ice Shelf was a big surprise because it suddenly disappeared. We went under cloud for a bit during our research and when the weather cleared up, all of a sudden there was no more ice shelf. It was a shocking event that underscores the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic, said Mueller.Mueller also said that two large sections of ice detached from the Serson Ice Shelf, shrinking that ice feature by 47 square miles — or 60 percent — and that the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has also continued to break up, losing an additional eight square miles.Mueller reported last month that seven square miles of the 170-square-mile and 130-feet-thick Ward Hunt shelf had broken off.This comes on the heels of unusual cracks in a northern Greenland glacier, rapid melting of a southern Greenland glacier, and a near record loss for Arctic sea ice this summer. And earlier this year a 160-square mile chunk of an Antarctic ice shelf disintegrated.Reduced sea ice conditions and unusually high air temperatures have facilitated the ice shelf losses this summer, said Luke Copland, director of the Laboratory for Cryospheric Research at the University of Ottawa. And extensive new cracks across remaining parts of the largest remaining ice shelf, the Ward Hunt, mean that it will continue to disintegrate in the coming years.

Formed by accumulating snow and freezing meltwater, ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface but are connected to land.Ellesmere Island was once entirely ringed by a single enormous ice shelf that broke up in the early 1900s. All that is left today are the four much smaller shelves that together cover little more than 299 square miles.Martin Jeffries of the U.S. National Science Foundation and University of Alaska Fairbanks said in a statement Tuesday that the summer's ice shelf loss is equivalent to over three times the area of Manhattan, totaling 82 square miles — losses that have reduced Arctic Ocean ice cover to its second-biggest retreat since satellite measurements began 30 years ago.These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present, said Mueller.During the last century, when ice shelves would break off, thick sea ice would eventually reform in their place.

But today, warmer temperatures and a changing climate means there's no hope for regrowth. A scary scenario, said Mueller.The loss of these ice shelves means that rare ecosystems that depend on them are on the brink of extinction, said Warwick Vincent, director of Laval University's Centre for Northern Studies and a researcher in the program ArcticNet.The Markham Ice Shelf had half the biomass for the entire Canadian Arctic Ice Shelf ecosystem as a habitat for cold, tolerant microbial life; algae that sit on top of the ice shelf and photosynthesis like plants would. Now that it's disappeared, we're looking at ecosystems on the verge of extinction,' said Mueller.Along with decimating ecosystems, drifting ice shelves and warmer temperatures that will cause further melting ice pose a hazard to populated shipping routes in the Arctic region — a phenomenon that Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to welcome.Harper announced last week that he plans to expand exploration of the region's known oil and mineral deposits, a possibility that has become more evident as a result of melting sea ice. It is the burning of oil and other fossil fuels that scientists say is the chief cause of manmade warming and melting ice.Harper also said Canada would toughen reporting requirements for ships entering its waters in the Far North, where some of those territorial claims are disputed by the United States and other countries.

ELECTION 2008 A star is born. The country fell in love with Sarah Palin tonight September 04, 2008 7:20 am Eastern By Art Moore 2008 WorldNetDaily

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Sarah Palin introduced herself to America last night as just your average hockey mom, but to the roar of ecstatic Republican National Convention delegates her convention speech rose above the expectations birthed last week when John McCain stunned the nation by choosing the Alaska governor as his running mate.

Making it seem easy to deliver a speech watched by millions worldwide amid a media frenzy over her personal life, she told her story and framed the argument for a McCain-Palin White House, delivering carefully crafted one-liners to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's doorstep with a resolute smile.McCain's assessment of the speech was clear as he appeared on stage afterward with Palin's husband Todd, their five children, and their pregnant teen daughter's fiancé.Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States? McCain asked. And what a beautiful family.WND took a sampling of reaction from the convention floor after the speech, speaking with a dozen delegates, including Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, former Gov. George Allen of Virginia, Rep. Peter King of New York, former Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida and Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett.Texas delegate Matt Hayes of Dallas seemed to typify the mood at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.I'm more energized than I think I ever have been politically. I'm bubbling, I'm excited, I can't contain myself, he said.Texas delegate Mike Hayes (WND photo) Hayes said that after McCain announced his pick at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, Friday he called everyone he knew to get their reaction.To a person, every Republican I have talked to is excited about Sarah Palin as our nominee, and tonight just pushed it 10 times what it was before, he said. … I feel sorry for Joe Biden.

WND also ran into pollster Frank Luntz, who called it the best vice presidential speech I have ever heard.I don't know a vice presidential candidate that had a more powerful impact, and I've been to every convention since 1988, Luntz said.She talked about real people, using real words, real language, and I was very impressed, Luntz said. This is someone who's got a natural appeal to working men and women across the country. The visual of her relating to her family and the message of the hardworking Americans on farms and in factories I think is going to have a lasting appeal. This is very impressive.King called it a phenomenal speech.Rep. Peter King of New York (WND photo) It couldn't have been better, the New York congressman said. Governor Palin knocked it out of the park. I couldn't have possibly expected any more than this. It was great.King said he was surprised that anyone could be that good in a debut national speech.I've never seen anybody give a better speech, and it's the first one she's ever given, he said.King said he's heard nothing but good reports about her from his New York constituents.After tonight, it will be off the charts, he said.Alaska delegate Bill Noll of Anchorage knows Palin personally.I think America just saw why she has an 80 percent approval rating in Alaska, he told WND.

McCollum said America has a new star.She's just out there shining bright, he said, She is going to be very effective as a vice presidential candidate, and she's gong to be a very effective vice president.McCollum said he thought Palin showed a toughness and a warmth all at the same time.She showed she is most capable of taking on the opposition and governing and being a leader, he said.Former Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida (WND photo) Prior to the speech, McCollum wasn't sure Palin had the ability to assume the vice presidential candidate's traditional role of challenging the rival team in a way that is firm and convicted, and not just being a hockey mom.She is a hockey mom, but she showed tonight that she can really stand tall beside anybody, man or woman, McCollum said.Palin, noting she served as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, took direct aim at the intense criticism from the Obama campaign about her qualification for the job of vice president.Since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, she said, let me explain to them what the job involves, I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.Palin said she had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better, she said.Palin said when she ran for city council for her hometown, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.Virginia's Allen called it an outstanding speech in content and delivery.

Former Virginia Gov. George Allen (WND photo) I think viewers across America fell in love with her, the former governor and presidential candidate said. She showed great poise; I thought she handled her family wonderfully, notwithstanding all the invasions of her family's privacy.Allen said some of the people who tuned in because of the controversy created by the media saw someone who is ready to lead, ready to be a partner with John McCain in putting the people, in putting the people and the taxpayers of America first.Allen said that prior to the speech he had hoped Palin would not dwell on the media fury surrounding the announcement Monday of her 17-year-old unmarried daughter's pregnancy.I thought she handled it perfectly, he said, noting Bristol was there with her fiancé.Kay Kellogg Katz, national committeewoman for Louisiana, said she was not familiar with Palin prior to her introduction last Friday but was quite taken with her from that point.She has a special needs child, her father was an elementary school teacher, her mother was a support worker in the schools, her husband's a union member, they've owned a small business, her son's going to Iraq – how much more middle America can you be? Katz asked.She's one of us, and I think will be a breath of fresh air.Texas delegate Laura Woodhan of Lubbock said she was on the phone after the speech with her 22-year-old niece who watched it on TV and is now beside herself with excitement.I don't know that before tonight she'd given [the campaign] a second thought, Woodhan said. But now, it's on the forefront of her mind.Sarah Palin before adoring crowd at Republican National Convention (WND photo) Pennsylvania's attorney general, Corbett, said he thought Palin came across very, very well.This speech tonight I think astounded the country, Corbett said. A woman who's up in Alaska – nobody got to know her. Tonight they got to know her, and they're going to see her for the next 61 or 62 days, and I think they see somebody who can lead.Pennsylvanians were the subject of derision in secretly taped remarks Obama made earlier this year at a San Francisco fundraiser, and Corbett was glad to see Palin address it.Palin said in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.

Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma (WND photo) We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco, Palin said.
McCain reportedly had considered former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge as a running mate to strengthen his chances in the battleground state, but Corbett said Palin makes it competitive.There are a lot of Reagan Democrats in Pennsylvania that are going to be looking at this race, he said.Sen. Inhofe of Oklahoma said he didn't know as much about Palin as others, having had only one conversation with her, and didn't know until tonight what really good communications skills she had.Her one liners – each one had a message, and that's not normally the case, Inhofe said.

Palin took aim at one of Obama's main campaign themes.Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election. In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.The senator said he was pleased Palin was unapologetic about the need to drill for oil along with pursuing renewable energy sources, and he appreciated the administrative skills she has demonstrated in Alaska.

Palin advocates drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while McCain is opposed. Gov. Sarah Palin's family on stage at the Republican National Convention last night (WND photo) Palin said that in a McCain-Palin administration we're going to lay more pipelines, build more nuclear plants, create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers.Mississippi delegate Brian Perry, 33, of Jackson, said Palin exceeded his expectations.There's been a lot of concern that the Republican brand has been damaged, he said. She comes from outside Washington ... she's showed she's experienced, she can do the job, she has the charisma to inspire and she has the knowledge.Kansas delegate Randy Duncan of Brookville thinks Palin came across well in the heartland.I think she not only it a home run, she hit it out of the ballpark, Duncan said. I mean she was fantastic. I think the selection of Sarah Palin not only energized the base, but I think it's energized the entire Republican party. And I don't think there's any doubt we have a great opportunity to win.I think the country fell in love with Sarah Palin tonight, he said.

Palin mocks Obama ahead of McCain's Republican address By Steve Holland SEPT 04,08

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee John McCain has a new attack dog. Her name is Sarah Palin, and she bites hard.The Alaska governor's mocking critique of Democrat Barack Obama and the Washington elite charged up Republicans looking for signs of hope that she and McCain can win the White House on November 4.Now it is McCain's turn. The Arizona senator, who was nominated for president after Palin spoke, will deliver a televised address on Thursday night accepting that nomination.Palin, 44, McCain's vice presidential running mate, drew shouts of Sarah, Sarah on Wednesday in her national political debut, unleashing red-meat rhetoric against Obama that had been largely lacking from this four-day event.

She cheerfully shot down criticism from Democrats that her experience as governor and ex-mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska, did not match Obama's as leader of a large presidential campaign.I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities, she said in a swipe at Obama's own early career in Chicago.Democrats argue that McCain, by picking the relatively untested and unknown Palin, had ceded his argument that Obama was too inexperienced to be president.But McCain said he was satisfied she had the right experience and over time people will compare her accomplishments with that of Senator Obama and his are very meager.She is experienced, she's talented and she knows how to lead, McCain told ABC's Good Morning America. This is what Americans want. They don't want somebody who is, frankly, necessarily gone to Harvard or an Ivy League school.Palin also found Obama's lofty style of rhetoric wanting and devoid of details of where he would take the country if elected although she offered few policy specifics of her own.Listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the (Illinois) state senate ... What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? she asked.She resurrected Obama's comment from his primary battle with Democrat Hillary Clinton that people in small towns are bitter and cling to guns and religion.

PALIN POWER

I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening, she said.The crowd loved it, roaring with approval and waving signs that said Palin Power. They were most enthusiastic when Palin dismissed the Washington elite -- pundits and commentators she said had questioned whether she should be on the ticket.

Experts said Palin, only the second woman to be a vice presidential nominee of a major political party, was a plus for the Republican ticket, especially in attracting the conservative base that has sometimes been at odds with McCain.They say she could be a huge advantage in helping Republicans hold Western states like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico that are flirting with voting for Obama this year.She is immediately going to be a huge attraction, said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta. She will draw huge crowds wherever she goes. She really has excited the base of the Republican Party in a way that probably nobody has done since Ronald Reagan.Her Democratic vice presidential counterpart, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, took what was likely to be his party's line -- praise her speaking but not her message.I was impressed by that, Biden said of the speech on ABC's Good Morning America.I also was impressed with what I didn't hear. I didn't hear a word mentioned about the middle class or health care or how people are going to fill up their tanks. I didn't hear a single word about how you're going to get a kid through college. So I was impressed by the speech but also about what I didn't hear spoken.The spotlight will be trained on McCain on Thursday night. The 72-year-old former prisoner of war in Vietnam and longtime Arizona senator faces the biggest speech of the campaign when millions of Americans will be tuned in to watch.

McCain is slightly behind Obama in public opinion polls following the Democrats' rousing convention last week and is facing Americans in the mood for change after nearly eight years under unpopular Republican President George W. Bush.He (McCain) needs to provide a compelling example of why he's ready to be president and Barack Obama is not, and why the direction he wants to take America is good and why the direction Barack Obama wants to take America is bad, said Republican pollster Whit Ayres.Palin came into her big week having to make an uncomfortable disclosure, that her unmarried daughter Bristol, 17, was pregnant and planned to marry the high-school classmate who is the father, Levi Johnston, 18.The Palins took the issue head on with no big fuss. Both Bristol and Johnston appeared on stage with the rest of the family after her speech. Johnston had the word Bristol tattooed on his ring finger.From the inside, no family ever seems typical. That's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys, Palin said.Republican strategist Vin Weber said following her big introduction, Palin would have to submit to interviews and news conferences to demonstrate substantive knowledge of the issues.All the attention paid to her these last few days means the vice presidential selection means more than it normally does, Weber said.(Additional reporting by Charles Abbott in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller, Jackie Frank and Eric Walsh)

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Admission: Jerusalem could become Palestinian capital Senior Israeli leader tells Al Jazeera Israel may forfeit parts of holy city
September 03, 2008 3:44 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – Some neighborhoods in Jerusalem could become the capital of a future Palestinian state as part of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview today with Al Jazeeera.We can find a formula under which certain neighborhoods, heavily-populated Arab neighborhoods, could become, in a peace agreement, part of the Palestinian capital that, of course, will include also the neighboring villages around Jerusalem, Barak said when asked whether he envisioned the future division of Jerusalem.Barak is a senior member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition government, which has been conducting nearly daily negotiations with the PA aimed at creating a Palestinian state, at least on paper, before President Bush leaves office in January.Olmert repeatedly has denied Jerusalem is being discussed, but Israeli and Palestinian sources intimately familiar with the current talks tell WND Jerusalem is being negotiated, with Palestinian officials claiming the talks are in advance stages.Last week, the prime minister told WND Jerusalem eventually will be on the negotiating table, explaining a mechanism has been created to deal with the issue of Jerusalem.Of all the final status core issues, the issue of Jerusalem is probably the most difficult, and unlike some of the other issues, we have yet to start negotiating the future of Jerusalem. Therefore, in order to not let the process fall victim to its weakest link, we have the establishment of an agreed-upon mechanism that would continue to deal with Jerusalem. That mechanism was created in such a way that it would address the concern of both sides, said Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, in response to a query.

Regev would not detail which mechanism purportedly had been created to discuss Jerusalem or when such discussions may take place.Regev commented amid Israeli news media reports last week stating Olmert presented PA President Mahmoud Abbas with a plan for international parties to contribute proposals on how both sides should negotiate the status of Jerusalem. Olmert and Abbas met for a round of advanced talks last week.According to Palestinian sources directly involved in the negotiations, the reference to international proposals is specific to a U.S. plan – first reported last month by WND – that has been floated amongst the parties to deal with dividing Jerusalem in five years.According to informed Israeli and Palestinian sources, officials from the State Department this year presented both negotiating sides with several proposals for consideration regarding the future status of Jerusalem. It was unclear whether the U.S. proposals were accepted.One U.S. plan for Jerusalem obtained by WND was divided into timed phases, and among other things called for Israel eventually to consider forfeiting parts of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.According to the first stage of the U.S. proposal, Israel initially would give the PA some municipal and security sovereignty over key Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem. The PA would be allowed to open some official institutions in Jerusalem, could elect a mayor for the Palestinian side of the city and would deploy some kind of so-called basic security force to maintain law and order. The specifics of the force were not detailed in the plan.The initial stage also calls for the PA to operate Jerusalem municipal institutions, such as offices to oversee trash collection and maintenance of roads.After five years, if both sides keep specific commitments called for in a larger principal agreement, according to the U.S. plan, the PA would be given full sovereignty over agreed-upon eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods and discussions would be held regarding an arrangement for the Temple Mount. The plan doesn't specify which parts of the Temple Mount could be forfeited to the Palestinians or whether an international force may be involved.

The PA also could deploy official security forces in Jerusalem separate from a non-defined basic force after the five-year period and also could open major governmental institutions, such as a president's office, and offices for the finance and foreign ministries.The U.S. plan leaves Israel and the PA to negotiate which Jerusalem neighborhoods would become Palestinian.According to top diplomatic sources, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited the region two weeks ago, pressed Israel to sign a document by the end of the year that would include Jerusalem by offering the Palestinians a state in Israel's capital city as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.The Israeli team rather would conclude an agreement on paper by the end of the year that would give the Palestinians a state in the West Bank, Gaza and some Israeli territory, leaving conclusions on Jerusalem for a later date, the informed diplomatic sources told WND.The sources said the Palestinian team has been pushing to conclude a deal by January on all core issues, including Jerusalem, and has been petitioning the U.S. to pressure Israel into signing an agreement on paper that offers the Palestinians eastern Jerusalem.Rice, the sources said, has asked Israeli leaders to bend to what the U.S. refers to as a compromise position, concluding an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of the year that guarantees sections of Jerusalem to the Palestinians. But Israel would not be required to withdraw from Jerusalem for a period of one to five years.

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

Stocks plunge after retail, unemployment data By JOE BEL BRUNO, AP Business Writer SEPT 04,08

NEW YORK - Wall Street tumbled Thursday on more disappointing economic news — retailers posted sluggish back-to-school sales reports and the government said the number of workers seeking unemployment benefits spiked last week. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 200 points. Investors, already highly anxious about the overall state of the economy, were further unsettled when many of the nation's retailers said shoppers curtailed spending last month due to higher gas and food prices. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, beat Wall Street projections because of its discounts.Meanwhile, the Labor Department said new applications for unemployment insurance rose by 15,000 from the previous week. That broadly missed expectations for a fourth-straight week of declines.We're seeing nothing but sellers, said Ted Oberhaus, director of equity trading at Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC. In a bear market, you sort of really don't need an excuse to sell.The market showed little reaction when the Institute for Supply Management said the service sector grew unexpectedly in July for the first time in three months as new orders increased and inflation moderated.The trade group of purchasing executives said its services sector index rose to 50.6 in August from 49.2 in July. It beat economists' prediction of a reading of 50.0; a reading below 50 signals contraction, while a reading above 50 indicates growth.

In late morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 231.07, or 2.00 percent, to 11,301.81.Broader indexes were also lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 23.32, or 1.83 percent, to 1,251.66; the Nasdaq composite index dropped 44.50, or 1.91 percent, to 2,289.23.Bond prices moved higher Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.67 percent from 3.70 percent late Wednesday.A barrel of light sweet crude fell 60 cents to $108.76 cents to on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dipped below $108 a barrel on Wednesday.In corporate news, Wal-Mart said sales of groceries and back-to-school products helped its August same-store sales rise 3 percent, beating expectations. Shares rose 43 cents to $60.25.But other retailers fell. JCPenney Co. slipped 87 cents to $40.77, while Gap Inc. fell 54 cents to $19.43.Toll Brothers Inc. reported it swung to a third-quarter loss as sales fell amid the housing slump. However, Chief Executive Robert Toll said he is seeing signs the market is stabilizing, and that pushed shares up 33 cents to $25.15.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 17.09, or 2.30 percent, to 724.82.Declining issues outpaced advancers by a 3 to 1 basis on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 257.8 million shares.Overseas, the Bank of England and European Central Bank left their benchmark interest rates unchanged, a move analysts expected as both face rising inflation and slowing economic growth. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 1.75 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 2.60 percent, and France's CAC-40 shed 2.61 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock closed down 1.04 percent.On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Medvedev's principles By the Monitor Editorial Board
Thu Sep 4, 4:00 AM ET

This week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev outlined five principles guiding Moscow's foreign policy. Here are two: Protect Russians wherever they are and attend to privileged interests in Moscow's areas of influence. Is this Cold War II? It's more like a throwback to the 19th century, when great powers carved up the world like a pot roast. That was an era in which Czarist Russia expanded into the Caucasus, Central Asia, and across Siberia. When America told Europe hands off in Latin America. When Europe's monarchies sliced up colonies in Africa and Asia.That era is over, or so the world thought. It's been replaced by an imperfect but vastly preferable system of global institutions, international law, and treaties on human rights – fought for in two world wars. So Russia's neighbors quake to hear this kind of retrotalk backed up by Moscow's chilling display of force in Georgia.One of Moscow's flimsy excuses for the invasion was to protect Russian citizens. It had been doling out Russian passports to residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – Georgia's breakaway provinces which Russia last week illegally recognized as independent. International law doesn't give one country extraterritorial rights to protect its citizens in another country. (The US used the protect argument when it invaded Grenada in 1983.) Treatment of minorities is a concern for the resident country, or the global community.

Funny thing; another of Mr. Medvedev's foreign-policy principles is to abide by international law – a 21st-century way of doing things.But while nobody's been looking, Russia has reportedly handed out passports to ethnic Russians in the Crimea, which is part of independent Ukraine and where Russia has a naval base. Will that become a pretext for annexation? Where does it stop? What about the millions of Russian speakers in the Baltics or neighboring Kazakhstan? (Don't worry, Brooklyn, your Russians are presumably out of range.)Yes, Russia has its 25 million brothers and sisters stranded, as Medvedev puts it, in the former states of the Soviet Union. And it has its privileged interests, especially oil and gas in Central Asia. As if to drive home the point, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin this week closed a deal with Uzbekistan to build a pipeline carrying gas destined for Europe – via Russia of course.Clearly, Russia is living another of its principles – making sure the world is not just a unipolar one run by the US. But it's failing miserably at its fifth rule, to not isolate itself.It stands alone in its recognition of Georgia's provinces. Tellingly, when Russia, China, and the countries of Central Asia gathered at a summit last week, none of them endorsed Moscow's actions in Georgia or recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.And while the European Union couldn't unite this week on whether to sanction Russia, it at least agreed to condemn Russia's behavior, send aid to Georgia, and postpone partnership talks with Moscow. It still has other options.Ostracization appears to be having some effect, as Russia's rich elite – seeing isolation negatively affect their investments – begins to break with the political leadership.In his principles, Medvedev is trying to straddle two different centuries. It's a long stretch and may well prove too uncomfortable.

Cheney slams Russia for war against Georgia By STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer SEPT 04,08

TBILISI, Georgia - Demonstrating Washington's support for war-ravaged Georgia, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney condemned Russia for what he called an illegitimate, unilateral attempt to redraw this U.S. ally's borders by force. Speaking during a closely watched trip to this strategic South Caucasus nation, Cheney also said the United States was fully committed to Georgian efforts to join NATO.Georgia will be in our alliance, Cheney told reporters while standing alongside Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.One of the U.S. administration's most hawkish figures and a longtime critic of Russia, Cheney was visiting Georgia and two other ex-Soviet republics — Azerbaijan and Ukraine — that are nervous about Moscow's intentions.

The trip signaled to Moscow that the United States will continue cultivating close ties with Georgia and its neighbors even after Russia showed it was willing to use military force against countries along its border.America will do its duty to work with the governments of Georgia and our other friends and allies to protect our common interests and to uphold our values, Cheney said in the joint appearance with Saakashvili.Russia's actions have cast grave doubts on Russia's intentions and on its reliability as an international partner, he added.Since the war in Georgia last month, Russia has boldly asserted it has what President Dmitry Medvedev called privileged interests in its sphere of influence, which includes the former Soviet states in the South Caucasus.The United States is at Georgia's side, Cheney said, as you work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and an illegitimate, unilateral attempt to change your country's borders by force, that has been universally condemned by the free world.On the eve of his arrival, the White House announced a $1 billion commitment to help the small but strategically located nation recover from its war with Russia.Cheney also thanked Georgia for sending troops to Iraq. Georgia has been the third largest contributor of troops to the U.S.-led operation there.Now it is the responsibility of the free world to rally to the side of Georgia, the American vice president added.Saakashvili said Georgia was committed to a peaceful resolution of its disputes with the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia, which has given military, political and financial support to the two areas, has recognized both as independent nations.Saakashvili also said Georgia was grateful for the aid, which matched his government's estimate of war damages.Together with our other partners, in Europe, America and elsewhere, we will rebuild Georgia, Saakashvili said. We feel that we are not alone.Medvedev has called Saakashvili a political corpse and Moscow has urged an arms ban while he is still in power. Cheney, however, signaled Washington's continuing strong support.

You have been fearless in response to the occupation of your country and steadfast in your principles. We respect you, Cheney told the Georgian president.A day earlier, Cheney visited Azerbaijan, where a million-barrel-a-day pipeline runs from the Caspian Sea shores into Georgia and on into Turkey. The pipeline is the only direct route for Europe-bound Caspian oil to bypass Russia. Caspian oil also goes to Georgian ports by another pipeline and by rail. Because of Cheney's itinerary, we see this as a very clear sign that alternative energy routes and sources will be secured, Georgian national security council head Alexander Lomaia told The Associated Press. The massive U.S. aid package was to be a major highlight of Cheney's meetings in Tbilisi, but he will likely leave unanswered the question of potential U.S. aid to rebuild Georgia's military. Military aid from the United States and some Western European countries was key to transforming the Georgian army and navy from their ragged post-Soviet condition into a credible fighting force. Yet routed by Russian forces, the Georgian military will need more Western aid to rebuild if the country is to join NATO. Angry Russian officials have repeatedly said U.S. military aid was instrumental in emboldening Georgia to try to retake South Ossetia by force on Aug. 7. The attack sparked five days of fighting and resulted in Russian forces driving into South Ossetia and on into Georgia. New U.S. military aid to Georgia would further aggravate relations between Washington and Moscow, which are already at a post-Cold War low. Russia has also condemned the U.S. use of warships to deliver aid as a form of gunboat diplomacy. The flagship of the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, the USS Mount Whitney, arrived in the Black Sea on Wednesday with a cargo of aid. After spending several hours in Georgia, Cheney flew to Kiev, where he was expected to express support for Ukraine's efforts to join NATO and integrate with the West. His visit comes amid concerns the Kremlin might next target Ukraine as Russia tries to reclaim its dominance in former Soviet republics.
Associated Press writers Jim Heintz and Misha Dzhindzhikashvili in Tbilisi; Jennifer Loven and Matthew Lee in Washington and Maria Danilova in Kiev contributed to this report.

CONDI IS BLINDED AND NEVER READ EZEKIEL 38:5 AS LIBYA IS WITH THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS WHEN THEY MARCH TO THE MIDEAST.

Rice's visit to a changed Libya By Howard LaFranchi
Thu Sep 4, 4:00 AM ET

Washington - When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Libya Friday for a sit-down with the once-reviled leader Muammar Qaddafi, it will symbolize both how far US-Libya relations have come and, from the Bush administration perspective, the potential for pariah states to come in from the cold. As Secretary Rice and Colonel Qaddafi discuss economic ties, regional issues, and oil, the United States will be hoping that Iran and North Korea, in particular, are taking note. Instead of confronting the US and the international community with a nuclear weapons program, US officials say, Libya is reaping the economic and diplomatic benefits of having renounced its terrorist avocation and weapons-of-mass-destruction ambitions in 2003.

State Department officials buttress their characterization of Rice's visit as historic by pointing out that the last high-ranking US official to visit Tripoli was Richard Nixon – in 1957, when he was vice president.But not everyone sees Rice's stop in Libya in such glowing terms. Some of the families of victims of terrorist acts carried out by the Qaddafi regime are not satisfied with reparation settlements. Qaddafi himself this week appeared to play down any game-changing turn in US-Libya relations, saying he did not view the US with either friendship or enmity.And the demonstration effect of Libya's return to the international community following its renunciation of its nuclear and other weapons programs could also be open to debate.It's doubtful the Libya example will mean much to Iran, in large part because Iran is in a better position as it faces down the international community than Libya was, says James Phillips, senior research fellow for Middle Eastern affairs at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.Oil-producer Iran is in a stronger position economically than Libya was because of today's high energy prices, Mr. Phillips says. The economic impact of international sanctions was higher for Libya because the US and Europe were more united in imposing them than is the case with Iran, he adds. Then there's the fact that Iran is in a better position [than Libya was] in the United Nations Security Council because of the positions of China and Russia, and it adds up to a very different scenario, he says.US officials acknowledge that Iran has shown little interest in following the Libya example in its dispute with the international community. But they say that does not negate the importance of highlighting – through Rice's trip – the turn of events involving Libya.Whether some of these other regimes will wake up and smell the hummus and see they are goofing up as far as their relations with the international community are concerned, that remains to be seen, says David Welch, assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs. So far, the record of Iran's decisions is not inspiring.

But he adds that Rice is especially keen on demonstrating that even sworn enemies who have inflicted pain on Americans can reap dividends by conclusively changing their ways. We think it's important to show that if you do the right thing, even if late, the situation can be corrected to your advantage, Mr. Welch says.One issue still outstanding has been finalization of a claims settlement agreement that will include final payouts to the families of victims of damages caused by both countries (the US bombed Libya in 1986). The agreement will close the door on any future claims against Libya for past actions, something the families of some victims do not support.Rice had hoped the agreement, which includes a substantial pot of money for final reparations, would be fully funded by the Libyans by the time of her trip. State Department officials say they are assured by Libyan officials that the money will be deposited soon.The apparent delay has led to some criticism of Rice for keeping to her schedule to visit Libya, but others still see dividends. We think the secretary's visit can advance this [issue], too, says Welch of the State Department.

The claims-settlement issue is just one complication that suggests how difficult and extended the repairing of relations with a former enemy can be. Some analysts of Libya's turnaround say the decades that have lapsed since Libya first showed signs of renouncing its involvement in terrorism suggest that time may not be on the US side in its conflict with Iran – especially with Western intelligence agencies estimating that Iran could develop a nuclear bomb within the term of the next US president.But it may yet be possible to make a serious offer to Iran that could lead to a Qaddafi-like transition, says Randall Newnham, an associate professor of international affairs at Pennsylvania State University in Reading, who has studied the Libya case.Libya for years thought the biggest threat it faced was from the West, but then Anwar Sadat was assassinated [in Egypt], and suddenly it realized that maybe its biggest threat came from Islamic extremists, Mr. Newnham says. From that point on, it made sense for Qaddafi to cooperate with the rest of the world against Al Qaeda. Iran has its own trouble with the Al Qaeda brand of Islamic extremism, he notes.