RUSSIA TROOPS IN GEORGIA LONG TIME

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.

Officials cleaning up roads in southern N.B.Post-tropical storm Hanna dumps 139 mm of rain in Saint John Last Updated: Monday, September 8, 2008 | 1:11 PM AT CBC News

Post-tropical storm Hanna dumped nearly 140 mm of rain on Saint John by noon Sunday. (Submitted by Christine Rowe)Officials in Saint John are continuing to ask drivers to use caution on Monday morning as crews work to restore roads flooded by post-tropical storm Hanna.Many streets in the port city remain covered in gravel and debris after the storm moved through the Maritimes over the weekend, causing local flooding in parts of southern New Brunswick.Shoulders of some roads in the Saint John area were washed out by the storm.

Closures in the city include:

McAllister Drive between Golden Grove Road and Westmorland Road.
Golden Grove Road between Dresden and Simpson Drive.
Ashburn Lake Road.
Rothesay Avenue between the railway overpass at Old Rothesay Road and McAllister Drive.
Kennebecasis Drive near Crown Hill.
Lorneville Road at Mill Creek.
Simpson Drive.
Brown Street.
Glen Road.
Todd Street.
Holland Street.
Ashton Road.
Dutch Garden Road.
Parts of Rothesay Avenue have been reduced to one lane and officials are warning that Loch Lomond Road, Old Black River Road and McAllister Drive have been badly damaged.Saint John received 139 millimetres of rain during the storm. The heaviest rainfall was recorded in Point Lepreau, which was hit with 141 mm.

Flooded basements, businesses
Rothesay Avenue resident Jeff Zambellow said he's seen lots of drivers attempt to navigate the flooded streets.[There were a] lot of full-drive trucks that made it by no problem and a lot of small cars that got stuck and some Good Samaritans that got out of the car and pushed the people through the flood, Zambellow said. I'm just surprised so many people go through the barriers and take a chance.Robert Colquhoun's bottle exchange business on Rothesay Avenue was flooded during the storm. It's the third time this year that it's been flooded, Colquhoun said.We're kind of getting used to it, Colquhoun said. We're getting it down to a science now. It's about an eight-hour cleanup for us.Glen Falls resident Janet Shanks is dealing with about 60 cm of water in her in east Saint John basement.I think everything down there is gone, Shanks said. Our deep freeze is on the side and the washer and dryer are half full of water, the furnace.Glen Falls resident Harold Cavanaugh is also dealing with a flooded basement.The water's still around the house, so as fast as you pump it out it's going to keep coming back in, so there's nothing I really can do until the water goes down, Cavanaugh said.A part of the New Brunswick Southern Railway had to be closed when the land was washed away. (Gary Mittelholtz/CBC)In the Grand Bay-Westfield, area about a 60-metre stretch of road on River Valley Drive went under water with the storm.About 30 cm of water will have to wash off the road before the town can begin to clean up, said fire Chief Dan McCoy.McCoy said he's concerned the water may undermine the road. Where the water actually gets under the road and eats away the dirt so you may end up with a sump hole and there's no way for us to tell at this time if that's possible.About 45 metres of land owned by the New Brunswick Southern Railway near the tracks was also washed out in the storm.

Roads flooded in Sackville
The town of Sackville, near the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border, is also cleaning up after the weekend storm that hammered the area with 100 mm of rain on Sunday.The amount of rain falling in such a short time made it hard for the town to cope with the water, said Barry Carroll, chief administrative officer.You try to plan for an event like that we had catch basins cleaned out, and we had most of our roads swept of debris and stuff, Carroll said. But you really can't prepare. It's just a bit more than you can handle on a normal basis.Sackville's work crews were out for 16 hours on Sunday trying to redirect as much of the water as possible and were continuing their work on Monday, he said.Carroll said the damage is in projected to be in the tens of thousands of dollars and it'll take weeks to repair.King Street, the main road that connects the town to Dorchester has been flooded out. Fields and ditches are also flooded.We've got a lot of culvert damage a lot of road side damage. There's a lot of driveways that are out, Carroll said.Reports of flooded basements and washed out driveways have also been coming in, Carroll said.Streams and rivers are expected to remain high for several days, said officials with New Brunswick's Emergency Measures Organization.EMO is warning that people living or working along waterways in the southern part of the province continue to exercise caution while near the water.

Deadly floods leave multi-million clean-up bill Mon Sep 8, 9:19 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - Storms across England which caused up to six deaths over the weekend have caused tens of millions of pounds worth of damage, an insurance industry group said Monday. Overall, 36 flood warnings were issued by the Environment Agency, most of which were targeted at the northeast, along with a further 91 flood watches.A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers told AFP that though the weather forecast was in flux, initial estimates suggested damage valued at around the low tens of millions (of pounds) at this stage.That figure is a fraction of the cost of flooding last summer, which crippled parts of central and northern England, which the spokesman said led to insurance payouts of around three billion pounds.Since Friday, six people have been killed in storm-related incidents, including a 27-year-old geologist who was buried alive in a landslide in Gloucester while surveying a site there.Separately, a 17-year-old girl was killed when the vehicle she was travelling in overturned and plunged into a swollen river in Powys, Wales.

Hurricane Ike kills 4 in Cuba, takes aim at Havana By ANITA SNOW, Associated Press Writer SEPT 09,08

HAVANA - Hurricane Ike roared toward Cuba's densely populated capital of fragile historic buildings after forcing 1.2 million people to evacuate, killing at least four and ravaging homes elsewhere on the island nation. Meanwhile, U.S. residents from Florida to the Texas border with Mexico braced for Ike's next wallop.The hurricane, which raked the Bahamas and worsened floods in Haiti that have killed at least 331 people, made landfall on eastern Cuba as a terrifying Category 3 hurricane, then weakened Monday as it ran along the length of the Caribbean's largest island.It was a Category 1 storm Monday afternoon, but forecasters expected it to strengthen again before hitting Louisiana, Texas or northern Mexico this weekend.On the narrow streets of Camaguey, falling utility poles crushed cars and the roaring wind transformed buildings of stone and brick into piles of rubble. Colonial columns were toppled and the ornate sculptures on the roofs of centuries-old buildings were smashed in the city, a UNESCO world heritage site.I have never seen anything like it in my life. So much force is terrifying, said Olga Alvarez, 70, huddling in her Camaguey living room with her husband and teenage grandson. We barely slept last night. It was just boom, boom, boom.Delia Oliveras, 64, said it was the strongest hurricane her family has experienced. They fled to a covered patio as winds tore the roof from the living room.This critter was angry, really angry, she said.State television reported that Ike killed four people in Cuba — the first storm deaths on the island in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.Two men were killed in central Cuba while removing an antenna from a roof. On the island's east, a woman died when her house collapsed on her and a man was killed by a falling tree.Cuba, a nation of more than 11 million people that has carried out well-executed evacuations over the years, ordered 1.2 million people to seek safety with friends and relatives or at government shelters, state television reported. In Havana, evacuations began in earnest late Monday afternoon.

I feel safe here, above all for my granddaughters who are the most important thing in my life, said Marta Molas, who evacuated with seven relatives from a marginal neighborhood. They take good care of us, we have television and food. ... When the electricity goes out we have a radio.The government closed schools and government offices in the capital as people reinforced windows with wood and formed long lines at bakeries. Along the seaside Malecon promenade, businesses were being shut down.

Nancy Nazal, who lives on the second floor of a high-rise apartment building overlooking the ocean, said authorities told her to be prepared to evacuate.The truth is, we are scared, she said.Evacuations are not mandatory in Cuba except for pregnant women and small children. But in an authoritarian state, few people would think to ignore the government's advice — and state news media make an example of the few who pay the ultimate price when they fail to evacuate.Gustav tore across western Cuba as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 30, damaging 100,000 homes and causing billions of dollars in damage. But no deaths were reported after mandatory evacuations of at least 250,000 people.Ike first made landfall in Cuba in the easternmost coastal city of Baracoa, destroying 300 homes and damaging hundreds more, said Luis Torres, president of the Civil Defense Council in Guantanamo province. Much of eastern Cuba was without electricity and phone service was spotty. The road between Santiago and Guantanamo was cut when a reservoir overflowed. Ike was centered just off Cuba's southern coast early Tuesday, gaining strength over warm waters, on a path to cross Cuba during the day and move out over the Gulf of Mexico in the evening. When it's out of Cuba it has the potential to become a lot stronger, said Felix Garcia, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. At 5 a.m. EDT, Ike was located about 85 miles south-southeast of Havana and was moving west at 13 mph. It had maximum sustained winds near 80 mph. The hurricane center said on this track, Ike should cross western Cuba during the day Tuesday, and be in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday. State television said officials had taken measures to protect tourists at vulnerable seaside hotels, including about 10,000 foreigners at the Varadero resort, east of Havana. A few street signs were toppled at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in southeast Cuba and power went out temporarily in some residential areas, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Lamb said. But no injuries were reported, and the military said cells containing detainees — about 255 men suspected of links to the Taliban and al-Qaida — are hurricane-proof. Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Camaguey, Cuba; Jonathan Katz in Gonaives, Haiti; Alexandra Olson in Cabaret, Haiti; Andrea Rodriguez and Anne-Marie Garcia in Havana, Cuba; David McFadden in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.

Ike slams Cuba, Haiti death toll passes 600 by Isabel Sanchez
Mon Sep 8, 12:34 PM ET

HAVANA (AFP) - Hurricane Ike assaulted Cuba on Monday with torrential rain and gale-force winds demolishing houses, crushing crops and threatening Havana after killing 61 people in Haiti, where a series of vicious storms has triggered a crisis. Cuba carried out mass evacuations of residents and tourists before Ike -- the second hurricane to slam the island in just over a week -- made landfall Sunday night at Cabo Lucrecia in the east, pounding buildings along the coast with seven-meter (23-foot) waves and flooding coastal villages.More than 1.5 million people were moved away from coastal areas in eastern and central Cuba and more than 9,000 foreign tourists were evacuated from the resort of Varadero east of Havana, officials said, as the storm tore a reckless path down to Cuba's southern coast before churning towards the capital.Civil defense forces put Havana, a city of 2.2 million people where thousands of centuries-old building pose a hazard, on full hurricane alert ahead of an anticipated major hit on the city Tuesday.Ike's devastation followed widespread destruction wrought by Hurricane Gustav which charged into western Cuba August 30 and destroyed or severely damaged 140,000 homes and buildings.In all of Cuba's history, we have never had two hurricanes this close together, lamented the head of Cuba's meteorological service, Jose Rubiera, on state television.At 1500 GMT, the center of the storm was about 70 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of Camaguey and 465 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of Havana, according to the US National Hurricane Center.With sustained winds near 160 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, it was moving west at 22 kilometers (14 miles) per hour, with a turn northwest forecast later in the day.Rubiera meanwhile reported that Ike's eye had moved out over the Caribbean Sea off the central province of Ciego de Avila, where it could regain force before making landfall again.Hours earlier Ike sent huge waves spraying the tops of five-storey buildings in Baracoa, where hundreds of homes were destroyed.

I have never seen anything like this, said one Baracoa resident of 57 years.In Holguin, Ike washed away homes and power lines and trampled crops, according to local reports.It's raining heavily here and power has been cut since early at night, Alvaro Cruz, a resident of the city, told AFP by telephone.With Ike weakening slightly as it made landfall, the NHC downgraded Ike to a category two storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale. But it threatened to ramp up again off Cuba's southern coast Monday.It is then forecast to cross the island on a northwest track and into the Gulf of Mexico sometime Tuesday and train its sights on the US Gulf Coast, where much of the oil produced and consumed by the United States is refined.

The New York crude oil futures contract edged up 71 cents to 106.94 from the opening bell Monday, with an analyst attributing the gain to concern about the storm.Ike plowed across the Turks and Caicos Saturday as a category four storm, causing injuries and extensive damage on the British territory and tourist haven.It also raked the Bahamas island of Great Inagua, forcing many of its 1,000 people to seek emergency refuge and jeopardizing tens of thousands of West Indian flamingos. Worst-affected is Haiti , where four storms in three weeks have killed more than 600 people and left hundreds of thousands in desperate need of food, clean water and shelter. Officials continued aid operations in the flood-stricken town of Gonaives, where hundreds died in devastating floods from Tropical Storm Hanna. Another 61 people perished in Haiti, including 57 in the village of Cabaret near Port-au-Prince, in flooding caused by Ike, officials said. Many of the victims were children younger than seven, they said. What has happened here is unimaginable, member of parliament Pierre-Gerome Valcine told AFP from Cabaret, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the capital. Hundreds of bodies were found in Gonaives, a town of 350,000 in northwestern Haiti, after a five-meter (16-foot) wall of water and mud engulfed much of the town. UN peacekeepers on Saturday evacuated several thousand residents from Gonaives, a local official said, but thousands more are still awaiting relief.

More stormy weather hampered relief efforts Sunday. Heavy rains brought down a key bridge which severed the only viable land route to Gonaives, forcing trucks loaded with emergency supplies to turn back.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 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.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

FAITH UNDER FIRE Christians brave horrifying massacres.Victims pledge to persevere as mobs rape, maim, burn faithful.September 08, 2008 9:32 pm Eastern
By Drew Zahn 2008 WorldNetDaily

Despite brutal and horrifying persecution that has left countless dead and an estimated 50,000 homeless, Christians in India's Orissa state are determined that God will have the victory in their violence-torn homeland.Since the assassination of anti-Christian Hindu leader Swami Laxamanananda Saraswat on Aug. 22, mobs of Hindu fanatics that blame Christians for the leader's death have been roving the Orissa state on the eastern shore of India, torching churches and homes, brutalizing Christians and burning the bodies of those they kill.Reports from missions organization Gospel for Asia (GFA), however, tell of courage and determination in the face of violence.One story reported on Christian Newswire told of a missionary beaten multiple times by a Hindu mob demanding he leave a village where he had been working.Even if you kill me, I will not make a vow that I will never come back, the missionary is reported to have answered. That depends not on me but on the Lord. If he wants to send me here, then I will come, he told his attackers.Simon John, a GFA regional leader in India, said, Christians will stand together in this nation, in love and to lift up the people, even if persecution or death comes. We will not stop doing good for the people.Persecution and death, however, have come, and they have come by horrifying means.United Kingdom newspaper The Times reports several cases of brutality over the last two weeks alone: a nun was gang-raped; a worker at a church-run orphanage was burned alive; and a woman seven months pregnant was cut to pieces along with her one-year-old son when she refused to denounce Christianity and convert to Hinduism.Ravindra Nath Prahan, 45, told the Times he and 113 others, warned by a text message, fled to the jungle, living off rainwater and foraging food for a week. His paralyzed brother, however, couldn't take to flight.

They doused him with petrol and taunted him; we could hear him screaming, Prahan told The Times. His brother was burned alive.I could have tried to save him. But we had to save ourselves, Prahan said.An estimated 50,000 Christians have been forced to run for their lives, while the Hindu radicals have torched more than 3,000 homes and over 100 churches. The Vatican records 36 deaths, but warns an accurate account is impossible since the mobs are burning their victims.Orissa made headlines last Christmas when 95 churches were razed and at least five people were murdered, The Times reports, but the current massacre reflects the country's worst persecution of Christians since gaining its independence in 1947.It's a national shame, India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has reportedly said.As WND reported earlier, the Indian Supreme Court last week ordered additional police forces into the Kandhamal district, the worst region of violence, and also ordered state officials in Orissa to do more to protect Christians. Reports had come from the region that the police were permitting the attacks.Citizens have petitioned India's president and rallied in the country's capital city to seek a stop to the violence.GFA reports, however, that even though 24 of their missionaries have been attacked and 27 GFA-related churches have been destroyed, the Indian Christians still believe God will have victory.The encouraging thing is that the attackers themselves acknowledge that Orissa used to be only 2 percent Christian, and now it's 28 percent Christian, reports Juria Bardhan, GFA's state leader in Orissa. Pointing to Christianity's historical growth during times of persecution and the dramatic rise of Christianity among India's lowest, despised caste of people, Juria added, They don't understand that by doing this, the church will grow by leaps and bounds, and this will cause thousands to come to Christ.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

EU secures deal on Russia withdrawal RENATA GOLDIROVA AND ELITSA VUCHEVA
Today SEPT 09,08 @ 09:28 CET

Following four-hour talks between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, Moscow has agreed to pull out its troops from the zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the line preceding the start of hostilities by mid-October. This withdrawal will be implemented within 10 days of the deployment of international mechanisms in these zones, including no fewer than 200 observers from the European Union, which must take place no later than 1 October 2008, Mr Medvedev said on Monday (8 September). He promised to dismantle a security checkpoint near the Black Sea port of Poti deep in Georgian territory within seven days - stressing, however, that all depends on Georgia's commitment not to regain control over its two breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by force. Under the deal, the new EU monitors will become guarantors of Georgian non-aggression. OSCE and UN monitors will also be allowed to return to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but it remains unclear how many Russian soldiers will stay in the two rebel enclaves for now.Tbillisi, for its part, welcomed the EU-brokered deal, with President Mikheil Saakashvili describing it on Monday (8 September) as a step forward.French President Nicolas Sarkozy was frank in his description of the agreement Honestly, it's not over yet. We are not at the end of the road ... We are advancing step by step.

Should the Kremlin fall short of fulfilling its commitments Europe will draw the conclusions, he added.Moscow refuses to bow to pressure when it comes to its decision to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states however, calling the move a final and irreversible choice.International talks in Geneva on 15 October will debate the future security in the breakaway regions and Georgian refugees' right of return, but will not discuss their future status, according to the 8 September EU-Russia agreement.The Kremlin also continues to accuse the United States of actively helping Georgia to restore its military potential - a claim that Washington denies.

UN hearing starts

Meanwhile, the UN's highest court - the International Court of Justice - on Monday (8September) opened a three-day public hearing on a case of alleged ethnic cleansing by Russia in Georgia.Tbillisi claims that Moscow has been conducting ethnic cleansing against Georgians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and has called for urgent protection measures. President Saakashvili also said he gave solid proof to EU leaders when they visited Tbilisi on 8 September that Russia started the war by moving to invade Georgia, not that Georgia started hostilities by attacking South Ossetia. For its part, the Kremlin has denied the allegations and in return, is accusing Georgia of war crimes committed during its assault of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.It is also threatening to have Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili tried as a war criminal, according to Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

EU mission to press Moscow on troop withdrawal
RENATA GOLDIROVA 08.09.2008 @ 09:22 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A top EU delegation is heading to Russia to convince the country's leadership to withdraw its troops from Georgian territory to positions held before the conflict over South Ossetia erupted on 7 August. The message will be delivered by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and EU chief diplomat Javier Solana when they speak to Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Let him first respect his [Russian president] own signature, French chief diplomat Bernard Kouchner said ahead of the visit (6 August). Speaking after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Avignon, Mr Kouchner referred to the fact that Moscow has fulfilled only two or let's say two and a half or three parts of a six-point peace plan brokered by France on 12 August.

What about the rest? he asked.

Despite the wording of the truce - calling on Russian troops to return to pre-conflict positions - some 500 personnel remain in the 15 km buffer zone surrounding the Georgia's rebel region of South Ossetia. In addition, there are security checkpoints near the Georgian towns of Gori and Poti. We want Russians to return to the lines existing before 7 August, Mr Kouchner said, while stressing that sanctions are not an option. Should we shout sanctions, sanctions? What does that change? We won't achieve anything by doing that.Moscow, for its part, claims that its peacekeepers may operate on Georgian soil under the ceasefire deal as the wording allows it to take additional security measures.The EU is knocking on an open door...Only a small detachment of Russian peacekeepers has stayed in the buffer zone and will be prepared to cooperate with OSCE military monitors as soon as they are able to get there to be on the ground, Russia's ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told journalists on 2 September. He also did not exclude that talks on a new EU-Russia partnership - postponed by the union as a consequence of Moscow's behaviour in South Caucasus - might take place as planned, on 16 September.

EU observers to go to Georgia

In order to oversee compliance with the six-point peace plan on the ground, the EU is set to launch an European Security and Defense Policy [ESDP] mission of up to 200 civilian monitors in Georgia. Observers should work alongside the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE], which is expected to increase its presence at the same time. If we have an agreement [from Russia] on Monday, we will be able to start from 15 September when the common action will be approved by the union, Javier Solana said on Saturday (6 September). In addition, the 27-nation bloc wants to see an international inquiry into the facts of the conflict over South Ossetia, which has seen both sides accuse each other of war crimes. The probe must be launched as soon as possible, Mr Kouchner stressed. According to commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, the EU and Russia should start having diplomatic discussions on the issues of the status of those [Georgian breakaway] regions.It is through diplomacy, through dialogue, that Russia can and should defend its legitimate interests...It's important to know that we need cool heads, not a Cold War, Mr Barroso said before leaving for Moscow.

Territorial integrity

The peace plan's six point envisages international talks about security in South Ossetia and Abkhazia - a phrase criticised by some as it falls short of mentioning Georgia's territorial integrity. But Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvilli, cited by AP during the weekend, reiterated his belief that his country's borders will be restored.This will not be an easy process, but now this is a process between an irate Russia and the rest of the world, he said, adding Our goal is the return of our territory and the peaceful unification of Georgia.The Sarkozy-led delegation will travel for talks to Tbillisi immidiately after the Russia talks.

EU to help Africa expand energy sector
VALENTINA POP Today SEPT 09,08 @ 09:23 CET

The EU is to help African countries expand their electricity networks and promote energy interconnections between Africa and the EU, such as a Trans-Saharan gas pipeline.The EU aid will amount to €1 billion for a period of two years, the European Commission and the African Union announced in a joint statement on Monday (8September). The joint statement was signed on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by EU Energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs, EU development commissioner Louis Michel and African Union (AU) commissioner for infrastructure and energy, Elham Mahmoud Ahmed Ibrahim of Egypt.It is the first concrete step to implementing the Africa-EU partnership, which was agreed in December 2007, according to a commission statement, which stressed the urgent need to promote Africa electrification.The EU is to offer technical assistance worth €10 million to African utility regulators, the statement adds.A further priority of the Africa-EU energy partnership is to be the development of oil and gas pipelines between African countries, but also between Africa and the EU, such as the €9 billion Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline, planned to transport up to 30 billion cubic metres of gas per year to Europe via Nigeria, Niger and Algeria by 2015. The EU and AU commissioners also agreed to increase transparency, elaborate a road map for the launch and implementation of a renewable energy co-operation programme and support for Africa's participation in the Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership of oil and gas producing countries. The joint statement calls upon the European countries and the private sector to further mobilise resources for investment in energy sector on both the supply and demand side.

The EU will also provide additional contributions to the EU-Africa Infrastructure Partnership and its Trust Fund, while the AU commission confirmed its willingness to further progress in the implementation of the €55 million European Commission support programme for the period 2007-2011 for the energy sector.Despite the announcement, however, the International Energy Agency has earlier warned that Africa needs to spend an estimated €400 billion by 2030 to generate an additional 260,000 MW of power.A next meeting on the Africa-EU energy partnership will take place on 1 October in Brussels.

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)

EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK)

REVELATION 18:10
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.

WMD report: US remains dangerously vulnerable By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE and EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writers SEPT 09,08

WASHINGTON - The United States remains dangerously vulnerable to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks seven years after 9/11, a forthcoming independent study concludes. And a House Democrats' report says the Bush administration has missed one opportunity after another to improve the nation's security. The recent political rupture between Russia and the U.S. only makes matters worse, said Lee Hamilton, the former Indiana Democratic congressman who helped lead the 9/11 Commission and now chairs the independent group's latest study.Efforts to reduce access to nuclear technology and bomb-making materials have slowed, thousands of U.S. chemical plants remain unprotected, and the U.S. government continues to oppose strengthening an international treaty to prevent bioterrorism, according to the report produced by the bipartisan Partnership for a Secure America.The group includes leaders of the disbanded 9/11 Commission, the bipartisan panel that investigated government missteps before the 2001 terror attacks on the United States.

The threat of a new, major terrorist attack on the United States is still very real, concludes the report to be released Wednesday, the same day a congressional commission will hold a hearing in New York on nuclear and biological terrorism threats.A nuclear, chemical or biological weapon in the hands of terrorists remains the single greatest threat to our nation. While progress has been made in securing these weapons and materials, we are still dangerously vulnerable, the report said.

Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, had harsher criticism of the Bush administration's efforts. Their report, written by the staffs of the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, found little or no progress across the board on national security initiatives.The Bush administration has not delivered on a myriad of critical homeland and national security mandates, the Democrats' report states. That report was being released Tuesday.The administration has just failed to act in so many ways, said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. Let's say that we've been fortunate that we have not been attacked since 2001, said Thompson, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.The independent report focuses narrowly on weapons of mass destruction.The report and supporting studies describe the failure of international cooperation to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, which they call a major problem. Many countries continue to ignore a United Nations mandate to prevent the spread of weapons; the ability of many countries to monitor potential bioterrorism is essentially nonexistent, and dangerous chemical weapons stockpiles remain in some countries, including Russia and Libya, the report said.Russia has been a significant player in U.S. efforts to secure nuclear weapons and to eliminate inventories of chemical weapons in the former Soviet region. That cooperation could be jeopardized as the two countries face off over the Russian invasion of Georgia and concerns about a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, Hamilton said.Bush on Monday Bush on canceled a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Russia.The things we do to penalize Russia will make it more difficult for us to deal with Russia on other matters, Hamilton said.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said he hasn't seen the report. But he said there have been a number of successes in recent years, including negotiations to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program and Libya's agreement to end its nuclear and chemical weapons program.We have been engaged multilaterally with a number of countries to deal with this issue of weapons of mass destruction, Wood said.Wood said he also has not seen the Democrats' report. I fundamentally reject the charge that the administration has made the world less safe from terrorism, he said.House Democrats also blasted Bush policy in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as damaging to national security. U.S. efforts to combat terrorists in Pakistan have suffered because of unyielding support for a military dictator; Iraq has drained resources from the fight in Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia continues to serve as a major source of terrorist activity, the Democrats' report states. The independent study, however, did credit the Bush administration with progress in a number of areas. It cited improved U.S. port security, reduction of military chemical stockpiles, increased U.S. funding for securing nuclear weapons sites in Russia and new international programs aimed at preventing crimes involving biological weapons.
On the Net: Partnership for a Secure America: http://www.psaonline.org/
House Committee on Homeland Security: http://homeland.house.gov/
House Committee on Foreign Affairs: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/

Russia says Iran nuclear plant nearing completion Tue Sep 9, 3:18 AM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant is nearing completion and the start-up of its reactor will soon become irreversible, the Russian state-owned company that is building the power station said on Tuesday. Russia has already delivered nuclear fuel under a $1 billion contract to build the Bushehr plant, on the Gulf coast in southwest Iran, and Iranian officials say the reactor is likely to be started up soon.The head of Atomstroyexport, the company building the plant, said on Monday it was nearing completion, according to a company spokeswoman.Atomstroyexport in December 2008 - February 2009 will carry out technological work at Bushehr which will put the Iranian atomic station on the irreversible final strait, the spokeswoman quoted company President Leonid Reznikov as saying.Russia signed a contract to build the plant in 1995 on the site of an earlier project begun in the 1970s by German firm Siemens. Siemens's project was disrupted by Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.Russia, using Bushehr as a lever in relations with Tehran, has repeatedly put back the start-up date. Moscow had said it expected the plant to be started up some time this year.(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Robert Hart)

U.S. plans $7 billion missile-defense sale to UAE By Jim Wolf
Mon Sep 8, 7:48 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration is planning to sell the United Arab Emirates an advanced U.S. missile defense system valued at up to $7 billion that could be used to defend against Iran, people who have attended briefings on the matter said on Monday. The Pentagon is set to notify the U.S. Congress of the proposed sale, which would be the first of the so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, several people familiar with the matter said.THAAD is built by Lockheed Martin Corp. Raytheon Co supplies the system's radar.Once notified of such a proposed arms sale by the administration, Congress has 30 days to review it but almost never blocks.In any case, deployment of the THAAD system is at least months away and could take more than a year, said a congressional staff member familiar with the matter.A production contract for the first two THAAD fire units was awarded to Lockheed Martin in late 2006. Delivery of the first such unit to the U.S. military is scheduled during the fiscal year that starts October 1, the company said.

Kenneth Katzman, an expert on the Gulf at the Congressional Research Service, said the UAE has been eager for a sophisticated antidote to Iran's missile capabilities.

The UAE has been concerned for many years about possible retaliation against it for any U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, he said.For Iran, Katzman added, the UAE could be an attractive target because of its billions of dollars of infrastructure investments. The THAAD system is designed to defend population centers and critical infrastructure among other things.

DEFENSE PLANS

Craig Vanbebber, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, said several countries had shown interest in buying the THAAD system, with its significant coverage area and tremendous success in recent testing.Lockheed Martin anticipates a strong future for THAAD in the international marketplace, he said.THAAD is the first system designed to defend against short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles both inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere.It complements the lower-aimed Patriot missile defense system, resulting in a layered defense that ensure a very high probability that ballistic missile threats will be destroyed, according to Lockheed Martin.

Several such systems on land, at sea and potentially aloft are being woven into an expanding U.S. shield against missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.The proposed $7 billion sale to UAE would include anti-missile interceptors, launchers, fire control and communications systems, the radar and training, among other things, a congressional staff member said. It was not immediately clear whether the UAE was also seeking the Patriot missile defense system.The sale has been the subject of extensive discussions among U.S. decisionmakers, including over how it would fit into the U.S. Central Command's integrated air-defense plans for the Gulf and the security of the technology, the congressional staff member said.(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Oil dips as Ike weakens, OPEC mulls holding steady By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer SEPT 09,08

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Oil prices sank Tuesday as Hurricane Ike appeared less like to strike Gulf of Mexico energy installations and Saudi Arabia suggested OPEC will not cut output later in the day. Light, sweet crude for October delivery dropped $1.23 to $125.11 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by afternoon in Dubai. The contract inched up 11 cents to settle at $106.34 following a volatile session Monday.Investors were betting Hurricane Ike won't cause significant damage to oil operations in the Gulf region after the storm weakened Monday from a Category 3 storm to a Category 1, with winds around 80 mph (130 kph).

Ike roared ashore in eastern Cuba on Sunday and was expected to hit Havana on Tuesday. However, current forecasts left the storm on track to miss key oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico.If the market thought there was a good chance of it causing damage (to oil sites), oil would be at $108 or $110, said Jonathan Kornafel, Asia director for brokerage Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore.In Vienna, Austria, oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were preparing to meet later in the day to decide whether to hold production levels steady despite crude's steep decline in recent months. Prices have plunged nearly 30 percent since surging to a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11.Iran and other hawkish members have been pushing the 13-member body to trim output in an effort to lift prices — or at least halt the decline. But Saudi Arabia, the cartel's largest member, and a number of other countries have been less vocal about possible cutbacks.

Early morning comments by Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi suggested the kingdom, which accounts for about a third of all OPEC output, prefers not to tighten the spigots for now.The market is fairly well balanced, Naimi told reporters after arriving in Vienna in the dawn hours of Tuesday. I think things are in balance, in a healthy position.Kuwait's oil minister, Mohammed Abdullah Al-Aleem, meanwhile said there is no need for OPEC to cut production.Oil analyst and trader Stephen Schork, speaking by phone from Vienna, said he expects ministers will decide to keep production constant for now.Part of the reason, he said, would be to avoid sparking a politically motivated firestorm in the U.S., by far the world's largest oil consumer. U.S. gasoline prices have come down from their summer highs above $4 a gallon, but still remain nearly a dollar higher than they were a year ago.I don't think the Saudis or OPEC in general want to project themselves into the U.S. presidential election, which is what would happen if you saw a production cutback, he said.In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures about 4 cents to $2.973 a gallon, while gasoline prices dropped 5.93 cents to $2.691 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 23 cents to $7.297 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, October Brent crude fell $1.29 to $102.15 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.Associated Press Writer Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Amphetamine use on the rise in Asia, Mideast By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer SEPT 09,08

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Demand for amphetamines, Ecstasy and other synthetic drugs appears to have stabilized in the West, but the problem is worsening in Asia and spreading to new markets in the Middle East, a U.N. report said Tuesday.

Manufacturing and trafficking of illegal stimulants is also getting more sophisticated, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in a 2008 assessment that pointed to the growing involvement of local and international crime syndicates.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. agency, warned that amphetamine-type drugs are seen as a cheap and available tonic for our fast and competitive times.In North America and Europe, where pill popping is largely recreational, demand has leveled off or even declined in recent years thanks to effective controls on the chemicals used to make them.But in fast-growing developing countries, where the drugs are often used to boost stamina on assembly lines or to keep drivers awake behind the wheel, use is on the rise.The problem has shifted to new markets over the past few years, the U.N. report said, adding that, even so, production appears to have stabilized worldwide at about 551 tons annually.The market, retail and wholesale, also has remained steady at around $65 billion since 2001.Asia is still driving demand, with nearly half the region's countries reporting increases in methamphetamine use.But the most dramatic shift has been in the Middle East, where seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants accounted for a staggering 25 percent of the global total in 2005-2006, up from just 1 percent in 2000-2001, the U.N. said.The largest market in that region was Saudi Arabia, a trend apparently linked in part to a growing number of migrant workers, with more than 12 tons of amphetamines seized two years ago.The surge in Middle East busts has resulted in a sharp drop in the global share of seizures in East and Southeast Asia, home to the most amphetamine users in real numbers, with its percentage of total seizures more than halving from 67 to 31 during the same period.But there have been worrying changes in the type and scale of production in that region.

A decade ago, synthetic drugs were a cottage industry, said Costa, pointing to recent seizures of industrial-sized clandestine laboratories.Now they are big business, controlled by organized crime syndicates that are involved in all phases of this illicit trade, from smuggling precursor chemicals to manufacturing the drugs and trafficking.Countries where law enforcement is weak or where local officials are complicit are most selected as bases for such operations.Europe, a longtime supplier of Ecstasy to global markets, meanwhile, continues to be the major source of that drug trafficked internationally, but its importance is diminishing as manufacturers shift to regions closer to their consumer markets, the U.N. said.Clandestine labs are being discovered in Mexico and Canada, for instance, where they can readily supply users in the United States, and labs have also been found in Turkey and Bulgaria, the source of many of the drugs that end up in the Middle East.Suppliers can quickly adapt to trends and cater to local markets because, unlike plant-based drugs such as cocaine or heroin, ingredients needed to make synthetics are readily available for legitimate industrial purposes. When one lab is shut, another opens, Costa said. When one type of precursor chemical is unavailable, producers switch to an alternative.

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.

Russia says troops to stay in Georgia for long time SEPT 09,08
By Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will keep its troops inside two Georgian separatist regions for a long time and their presence is not affected by an agreement to pull out troops, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.Russia's intervention last month, in which its forces crushed an attempt by Georgia to retake the separatist South Ossetia region, drew widespread international condemnation and prompted concern over the security of energy supplies.French President Nicolas Sarkozy won a commitment from Moscow on Monday to withdraw its forces from undisputed Georgian territory within a month, to be replaced by an international force including a 200-strong European Union contingent.But there was no explicit mention in Monday's deal of the Russian forces inside South Ossetia and the second breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, despite previous Western demands that all troops return to their pre-conflict positions.Russian forces are on the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia at the request of the presidents and parliaments of those republics and on the instructions of the Russian president, Lavrov told a news conference.In the next few days an agreement should be signed which will give a legal basis to the presence of Russian forces. They will be there for a long time, at least for the foreseeable period. That is necessary to not allow a repeat of Georgian aggression, Lavrov said.

DIPLOMATIC TIES

Russia angered the West last month by recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in separatist wars in the 1990s, as independent states. Nicaragua is the only other state to have recognized their independence.Later on Monday, Lavrov was to meet the two separatist foreign ministers to formally establish diplomatic relations -- a step that is likely to further irritate Western governments who demand Georgia's territorial integrity be respected.Both the European Union and the United States have warned Russia its actions in Georgia could lead to serious consequences, but the scope for punitive measures is limited.Europe depends on Russia for more than a quarter of its gas supplies while Washington needs Russia's cooperation in efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.Russia said it was morally obliged to send in its military last month to prevent what it called a genocide in the separatist regions by an aggressive Georgian government egged on by its ally, the United States.Lavrov said the agreement, which came after four hours of tense talks at a castle outside Moscow on Monday, was a vindication for Russia because it included an EU guarantee that Georgia would not use force again against the separatists.The responsibility for any attempts of aggression by Georgia will rest with the international presence, he said.

ENERGY JITTERS

The fighting in Georgia worried energy markets because it was waged near the route of an oil pipeline that can pump up to one million barrels of crude per day from the Caspian Sea. The pipeline is favored by the West because it bypasses Russia.A French official said Monday's talks were so stormy that Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, threatened to walk out when Russian negotiators tried to remove a reference to pre-conflict positions.At that moment, Sarkozy got up and said 'We're going. This is not negotiable, the official said. The row blew over when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who was out of the room at the time, returned and appealed for calm, the official said.A Kremlin source though said the general atmosphere of the talks was positive. I would not say there was anything specifically tense about them, he said.The final agreement included a commitment to hold international talks on the Georgian crisis in Geneva on October 15.In an early sign of how thorny those talks are likely to be, Lavrov said Russia would insist that South Ossetia and Abkhazia have a full place at the table for those discussions -- a demand unlikely to be accepted by Georgia or Western states.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Muslims desecrate, urinate in Judaism's 2nd holiest site Hamas flags found on burial chambers of Abraham, Jacob, Sarah September 07, 2008 9:49 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

Tomb of the Patriarchs

JERUSALEM – Muslim worshipers at Judaism's second holiest site this past weekend reportedly urinated next to Torah scrolls and strew Hamas flags throughout the structure.The desecration occurred at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is believed to be home to the resting place of the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. The tomb is located in the West Bank city of Hebron, site of the oldest Jewish community in the world.The tombs of Abraham, Jacob, Sarah and Leah are open to Jews year round, whereas the tombs of Isaac and Rebecca are designated for Muslim worship only. Once a year for 10 days, usually on the Islamic Ramadan holiday, the Jewish sections are opened exclusively for Muslims. The Muslim sections are also opened for Jews once a year for 10 days, which usually includes the Jewish Passover holiday.Muslims last week had exclusive access to the tombs of Abraham, Jacob, Sarah and Leah. Jewish worshipers who returned to the site this weekend reported a foul smell in a synagogue on the Jewish side coming from the area of an Ark containing Torah scrolls.They had desecrated one of the holy arks. They had urinated right next to it. One of the men went in and found a big puddle of urine there next to the Ark, Hebron spokesman David Wilder told Israel National News.

Wilder and other Jewish witnesses said when they reentered the tomb they found Hamas flags in the markers of the burial chambers of Abraham, Jacob, Sarah and Leah.Noam Arnon, another spokesman Hebron, said there is always some sort of damage discovered after Muslims get exclusive rights to worship at the Jewish areas of the tomb.It is not all the Muslims, he said. But there always are a few who in the past have ripped mezuzot off the entrances to the rooms of worship or simply leave behind vandalism. Complaints have been filed with the police in the past, but no one ever has been arrested.Wilder added that in the past, Muslim worshipers tore up Psalm booklets and Jewish prayer books.The book of Genesis relates Abraham purchased the field where the Tomb of the Patriarchs is located as a burial place for his wife, Sarah. It later became a plot for the rest of the family, except for Jacob's wife, Rachel, who died when she gave birth while traveling and was buried on a road in Bethlehem.

Muslims trace their lineage through Abraham, as well. Palestinian leaders deny there is any Jewish claim to the Tomb of the Patriarchs.The Torah was falsified by the Jews. We don’t believe in all your versions, stated Chief Palestinian Justice Taysir Tamimi in a recent WND interview.Hebron is the oldest Jewish community in the world, with Jews having lived there almost continuously for over 2,500 years. There are accounts of the trials of the city's Jewish community throughout the Byzantine, Arab, Mameluke and Ottoman periods.In 1929, as a result of an Arab pogrom in which 67Jews were murdered, the entire Jewish community fled the city, with Hebron becoming temporarily devoid of Jews. Jews returned when Israel recaptured the area in 1967.

King David was anointed in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years. A thousand years later, during the first Jewish revolt against the Romans, the city was the scene of extensive fighting in which many Jews were killed.

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN Turkey alarmed by Russian imperialism.Longtime conflict between nations shows signs of reviving.Sept 08, 2008 10:27 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports. This U.S. government map reveals how Russian ships could reach the Mediterannean through Turkish waters. Russia also has a hold over Turkey, because it provides about two-thirds of its oil. North Atlantic Treaty Organization member Turkey is expressing alarm about Russia's military advance into Georgia territory because of the possibility of a return of the historic Russo-Turkish conflicts over sea lanes as well as the new potential conflict over energy, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.In recent years Turkey has defended Georgia's efforts to maintain sovereignty over its territories in South Essetia and Abkhazia, into which Russian military forces have advanced.Turkey previously provided Georgia with military aid and training. But officials now have expressed alarm, because Turkey gets two-thirds of its oil and natural gas from Russia and faces the possible use of that lever when Russian ships want access to Turkish waters between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Additionally, the initial hesitancy of the West, especially the United States, to react strongly to the Russian invasion reportedly has brought about doubt in Turkey over western backing to provide alternative energy sources should Russia cut its energy supplies.For Turkey, the latest events in Georgia are reminiscent of a past that led to a series of Russo-Turkish conflicts that culminated in 1878. It was a period that saw an imperial Russia extending its authority by territorial conquest. In fact, the Russo-Turkish wars began in the 16th century and pitted Russia against the Ottoman Empire are considered the longest conflicts in European history.The last Russo-Turkish war was prompted by Russia's efforts to extend its economic and political power in other countries to recover territorial losses suffered during the Crimean War of 1854-1856 and re-establish itself in the Black Sea.In the 1820s, Turkey had begun to lose territory to Russia until the West realized the extent of the loss of the Ottoman Empire to Russian expansionism. It then became clear to the West that the Ottoman Empire couldn't even put down a Russian-backed revolt in southern Greece.The European powers at the time, Britain and France, sided to give Greece its independence. Greece thereby became the first independent country created out of the Ottoman Empire. This action had the effect of impeding Russian aspirations for bases on Russia's southern flank. At that time, the British feared Russian naval domination of the Mediterranean.Today, Turkey continues to control access from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean through two straits, the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. Together, they separate Europe from the Asian mainland. The Bosporus is a narrow strait near Istanbul that provides passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara which then connects to the Dardanelles strait into the Mediterranean.For those countries, such as Russia, which may want to move warships from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, Turkey needs to give permission, especially for warships, including submarines.But Ankara also has more than $600 million invested in neighboring Georgia. Turkey has a major interest in maintaining a number of oil and natural gas pipelines that run through Georgia from Azerbaijan and then on to Europe. The expectation is that such assess to the oil and natural gas through these pipelines could lessen its two-thirds reliance on Russian energy supplies.

Israel attack on Lebanon depends on Iran, Syria: Hezbollah Mon Sep 8, 4:20 PM ET

TEHRAN (AFP) - Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said any Israeli attack on Lebanon depended on the Iranian nuclear issue and the Israel-Syria talks, in an interview with Iran's state-run television on Monday. I can not say when Israel is going to attack Lebanon, if it is going to be soon or not. It depends on the region's events and circumstances, said Nasrallah, whose Lebanese Shiite group is backed by Damascus and Tehran.On the one hand it depends on Iran's nuclear case, and on the other hand it depends on the indirect talks between Syria and Israel, he added.He was referring to the Iranian nuclear drive which the West suspects is a weapons programme under the guise of a civilian one. It has already imposed sanctions on Teheran and Washington refuses to rule out the use of force.Tehran vehemently denies it is developing nuclear weapons.Israel and Syria, which have technically been at war for 60 years, launched indirect negotiations brokered by Turkey in May, eight years after talks were frozen over the fate of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Nasrallah assessed the current situation in the Middle East as not stable and not calm, but he added that Hezbollah's military situation is in best shape, thanks God.

Iran is a staunch supporter of Hezbollah although it denies Western and Israeli charges of military backing to the militant group which fought a devastating 2006 summer war against the Jewish state.