THIS DECIEVER OBAMA IS TO MUCH, NOW HE WAS INVOLVED WITH A RADICAL GROUP THAT IS FORGING ELECTION APPLICATIONS. LIKE I WARNED YOU AMERICANS, OBAMA WILL BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT AND AMERICA WILL COME TO ITS DESTRUCTION BECAUSE OF HIM. YOU CAN'T TAKE GOD OUT OF EVERYTHING AND NOT EXPECT DESTRUCTION ON YOUR COUNTRY. LIKE I SAID PEOPLE CAN BE DECIEVED BY TALK AND THE MEDIA IS ALL BIASED AGAINST MCCAIN AND PALIN, THERES NO WAY THAT FALSE CHRISTIAN DECIEVER OBAMA CAN LOSE.
AND IN OTHER NEWS. THE SO CALLED PEACEFUL ARABS CAUSED RIOTS IN AN ISRAELI TOWN FOR THE LAST WEEK. AN ARAB ON THE HOLY DAY YOM KIPPUR BLARED HIS HORN AND CAUSED AN UPROAR SENDING ISRAELIS TO STOP HIM. BUT THIS WAS OBVIOUSLY SETUP AS 5 BUS LOADS OF ARABS CAME TO THAT TOWN AND STARTED RIOTING, BURNING ISRAELI HOLMES.
AND HERES THE OTHER REASON AMERICA WILL BE COMING TO ITS DESTRUCTION, FORCING ISRAEL TO DIVIDE JERUSALEM.
Rice vows to leave no stone unturned in quest for Mideast peace Tue Oct 14, 1:20 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged Tuesday to leave no stone unturned in her quest for a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal by January 20 when President George W. Bush steps down. As time draws near for the end of this administration, I still believe that we must make every effort in the time that we have to lay this foundation for peace, Rice told a conference on Palestinian business and investment.And that still means that we must do everything that we can with the negotiating partners to get the negotiating partners to get to the Annapolis solution, said Rice, flanked by Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad.
Bush and Rice hosted a peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November last year that launched the first serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in seven years -- with the goal of a peace agreement by the end of the administration.And that would mean to find an agreement by these parties by the end of the year, Rice told the conference sponsored by US Chamber of Commerce and attended by around 150 people.
There is a hard road ahead, but if we do not try we will certainly not succeed, Rice told the conference aimed at providing the economic underpinnings of peace.She told potential investors in the Palestinian economy that she would do everything possible to create the political framework for peace in return for the business risk she was asking them to take.Know too that until that moment when I leave office I will leave no stone unturned to see if we can finally resolve this conflict between peoples, Rice told them.In a speech after Rice, Fayyad said he wanted to celebrate the power of partnership, including that between the public and private sectors.We are now beginning to witness positive facts on the ground, he said adding that reinforces for us the fact we are on the right track.Fayyad, who was praised by Rice for his economic and other reforms, said the Palestinians needed to continue on the path of greater responsibility for their own future.The Palestinians must try to position ourselves to take advantage of the enormous debt of good will of the international community, especially of the United States, he said.He said it was also good business sense to invest in the Palestinian future.This is not about making the occupation work better, this is about ending it, Fayyad said, drawing a standing ovation.
Thousands of Christian pilgrims march for Israel by Joseph Krauss
Wed Oct 15, 1:06 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the globe took to the streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday, singing hymns and swaying in the autumn sunlight in a colourful parade of support for Israel. The Papua New Guinea delegation shimmied down the parade route in traditional grass skirts and body paint, the Singapore delegation delicately waved colourful banners, and the Malaysians rolled a giant pomegranate statue through the heart of the Holy City.About 3,000 people took part in the festive march, in a sea of flags from Israel and around the world that passed through streets lined with spectators and security guards.Many said the annual pilgrimage, organised by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), represented a fulfilment of a Biblical prophesy that all nations would gather in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.This year's gathering attracted attention to Iran, which Israel considers a potential threat to its existence because of Tehran's accelerating nuclear enrichment programme and the hardline rhetoric of its leaders.We understand the threat that is out there, and we say we are with Israel, said Mike Kerry, a pastor from Manchester, England, clad in a jumpsuit made of Union Jacks with an Israeli flag dangling from his cap.
I believe (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad is as much of a threat as Adolf Hitler, said Kerry, who came on a pilgrimage marking the eight-day Biblical celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, known to Jews as Sukkot.Most of those gathered were Evangelical Christians whose bond with Israel is rooted in their shared biblical covenant between God and Abraham, said David Parsons, a spokesman for the ICEJ.Because of the unique and tragic history of Christian anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe ... Christians have a profound sense of a moral duty to speak out whenever the Jewish people are threatened, said Parsons.Tehran insists its nuclear programme in entirely peaceful, but senior Iranian leaders, including Ahmadinejad, have repeatedly predicted the demise of the Jewish state.On Thursday, the ICEJ plans to announce a new Christian-Jewish coalition to pursue charges against Ahmadinejad at The Hague for incitement to genocide.Australia, however, said on Wednesday that on the basis of legal advice it has dropped moves to take Ahmadinejad to the International Court of Justice over his comments.Most of those gathered for the Jerusalem parade felt that the same prophecy that had led them to the city also foretold Israel's survival.She is not in danger because the God of Israel is stronger than her enemies, said Mosy Madugba, who had come from Port Harcourt, Nigeria. But we know she appreciates the love and encouragement from other nations.Israelis lining the street swayed and clapped to the music, many of them surprised to see so many visitors from so many different countries.Did you see the number of Brazilians here? That whole country must be empty, said Richard Hirschhorn as he watched from the sidewalk.But the 76-year-old retiree downplayed the political implications. I don't think this has anything to do with safety and security. There are other things more important than that, like living life and enjoying people.
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.
Hurricane Omar gathers force in northeastern Caribbean OCT 15,08
MIAMI (AFP) - Hurricane Omar was churning toward the Virgin islands on Wednesday, gaining strength as authorities issued warnings across much of the northeastern Caribbean. Omar continues to strengthen as it moves closer to the northern Leeward islands, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami in a bulletin issued shortly before 5:00 pm Caribbean time (2100 GMT).Heavy rainbands are already affecting the Virgin islands, it added.It put the eye of the storm 245 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of Saint Croix and 280 kilometers (175 miles) south of Puerto Rico's capital San Juan, moving towards the northeast at 24 kilometers (15 miles) an hour.
Maximum sustained winds approached 150 kilometers (90 miles) per hour.On the forecast track, Omar is expected to move through the northern Leeward islands late tonight and early Thursday, it said.Designated a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale on Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center forecast additional strengthening by late afternoon Thursday, reaching category two by the time it reaches the Leewards.The five-level Saffir-Simpson scale measures the potential damage and flooding that a hurricane might cause upon landfall.Hurricane warnings were in effect in the US Virgin Islands and the outlying Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra, as well as Saint Martin/Sint Marteen, Saba, Saint Eustatius, Saint Barthelemy, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla.Saint Martin/Sint Marteen, which is divided between France and the Netherlands, hosts the Caribbean's main air hub after Puerto Rico.The busy 2008 hurricane season has included devastating Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which caused millions of dollars in damage in Haiti, Cuba and the United States.Hurricanes and tropical storms have killed hundreds across the Caribbean and in Mexico, with Haiti -- the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere -- being the worst hit.
Hurricane Omar gains strength near Puerto Rico By John Marino
OCT 15,08
SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Hurricane Omar strengthened on Wednesday as it bore down on Puerto Rico and the small islands of the northeastern Caribbean, threatening to bring torrential rains that could trigger dangerous floods and mudslides. The 15th tropical cyclone of a busy Atlantic hurricane season, Omar formed north of the Dutch island of Curacao on Tuesday, disrupted oil operations in Venezuela and shut down processing units at a refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands.The U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted Omar would become a Category 2 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity before reaching the Virgin Islands and the northern Leeward Islands early on Thursday.In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, home to about 4 million people, schools, government offices and most businesses shut down. The seaside Capitol building was empty by early afternoon and a usually bustling shopping center was secured with hurricane shutters.Residents flocked to supermarkets to stock up on drinking water, canned goods and other supplies.I'm not too worried, but I went out and bought water, candles and gas, San Juan resident Kevin Mead, 35, said. I paid with my bank card. I'm keeping my cash.Local National Weather Service director Israel Matos said there were fears the storm would affect the same areas hardest hit by heavy rains from a tropical disturbance three weeks ago, when 30 inches of rain caused severe flooding.The ground is saturated, which increases the possibility of flooding and mudslides, he said.On the island of Vieques, which was smacked by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and Hurricane Georges in 1998, residents rushed to board up houses and fill their cars with gasoline.By 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), Omar was located about 150 miles southwest of St. Croix and 175 miles south of San Juan, the hurricane center said. Top sustained winds increased to 90 miles per hour (145 km per hour) and the system was moving to the northeast at 15 mph.
TROPICAL DOWNPOUR
Omar brought heavy rains to the Netherlands Antilles islands, and parts of Venezuela and Colombia, and could douse Puerto Rico and the northern Leeward Islands with up to 20 inches of rain, the hurricane center said.Storm alerts were posted for Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy and Guadeloupe.The storm briefly prevented Venezuela from loading tankers with crude oil and knocked out power at the OPEC nation's 200,000 barrel-per-day Puerto La Cruz refinery.
Processing units at the 500,000 barrel-per-day Hovensa refinery on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands were being shut down ahead of Omar's arrival, Hess Corp said.
Hovensa is a large supplier of gasoline and heating oil to U.S. East Coast markets.
A tropical depression off Honduras moved inland before strengthening enough to become Tropical Storm Paloma.Forecasters said the system had sustained 35 mph winds and was likely to weaken gradually over the next couple of days. It could bring up to 15 inches of rain to the region, which could trigger dangerous floods and mudslides. The depression did not present a threat to the U.S. mainland or Gulf of Mexico oil fields. The 2008 hurricane season, which officially ends on November 30, has been active. An average season spawns 10 storms, of which six become hurricanes.
This year, Hurricane Gustav hit near New Orleans, the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Ike hit Houston. Both threatened oil rigs off the U.S. Gulf Coast, which supply a quarter of U.S. domestic oil. In Haiti, more than 800people were killed in flooding caused by Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike, while Cuba suffered $5 billion in damage after being raked by Gustav and Ike. (Additional reporting by Tom Brown in Miami, Janet McGurty in New York and Irasi Jimenez in Willemstad, Curacao, Writing by Michael Christie, Editing by Jim Loney)
Hurricane Omar batters Aruba, heads for US islands By JUDI SHIMEL, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 15, 1:03 AM ET
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands - Omar strengthened into a hurricane late Tuesday and drenched islands in the southeastern Caribbean, downing trees and blowing off a school's roof as it menaced U.S. islands. Authorities issued a hurricane warning for the U.S. Virgin islands as well as Puerto Rico's Vieques and Culebra islands. Hurricane warnings were also in place for St. Martin, the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis and other islands.Officials in Puerto Rico, already soaked from several days of rain, warned residents to prepare for a lot more and medical authorities appealed for blood donations for possible casualties.Omar was a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph (120 kph) winds, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami projected it to continue to gain strength.The center predicted the storm would likely pass by Puerto Rico overnight Wednesday, and possibly deliver a direct blow to the nearby U.S. and British Virgin Islands.In the U.S. Virgin Islands, business grew steadily at a St. Thomas supermarket Tuesday afternoon as people bought batteries, water and canned goods. Outside, rain fell as Darrell George tugged an overloaded shopping cart topped with a case of large water jugs.I try my best to get everything I need and my family needs, so I don't get caught with my pants down, George said. With what has been going on lately, we can't take anything for granted.
Emergency management director Mark Walters urged islanders to take the warnings seriously.This is the time to take those precautions, in terms of getting your family and your personal selves ready for the storm, he said.Classes and ferry services were canceled in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.Several large trees in the Dutch island of Aruba toppled over because the ground was so saturated. The roof over a teachers' lounge and office at an Aruba school flew off. No injuries were reported.The hurricane center said Omar was expected to plow over the Caribbean islands then head northeast toward the central North Atlantic, well away from the U.S. mainland.At 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT) Tuesday, Omar's center was located about 315 miles (505 kilometers) south-southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to the center. It was moving east-northeast at near 6 mph (9 kph).A new tropical depression also formed Tuesday and was moving slowly off the coast of northeastern Honduras.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Earthquake causes grave damage in S Russia
www.chinaview.cn 2008-10-14 16:49:41
MOSCOW, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,000 buildings in southern Russian were damaged in Saturday's earthquake that has claimed 13 lives and affected thousands of local residents, local media reported on Tuesday. All in all, 1,027 buildings and facilities were damaged, including 1,014 private houses and 13 socially important facilities such as hospitals, Itar-Tass cited a spokesman of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies. The quake measuring over 5 on the Richter scale hit Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya at about 1 p.m. Moscow time (0900 GMT) Saturday and tremors were felt throughout the neighboring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, and the Stavropol region. Rescue and restoration works are going on in the regions where the emergency situation regime has been posed. A total of 13 people, including six children, died in the earthquake. Some 105 people got injuries, 26 of whom are staying in hospitals at present, Itar-Tass said. Editor: An
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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
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS THU OCT 16,2008
09:30 AM +20.90
10:00 AM +41.25
10:30 AM -142.73
11:00 AM -287.13
11:30 AM -302.74
12:00 PM -117.2
12:30 PM +0.32
01:00 PM -91.91
01:30 PM -52.09
02:00 PM +61.17
02:30 PM -70.61
03:00 PM +43.57
03:30 PM +236.56
04:00 PM +401.35 8979.26
S&P 500 946.43 +38.59
NAS 1717.71 +89.38
GOLD 807.6 -31.4
OIL 72.11 -2.44
TSE 300 -53.88 9,269.97
CDNX -53.42 937.79
S&P/TSX 60 -3.04 559.12
Dow traded in 500 point range today.
Dow down 380 points at one point today.
VOLITILITY INDEX
VIX up 35% the past week.
VIX up 150% over past month.
VIX up almost 250% for 2008.
VIX has been as low as 15.82 during the past year.
VIX hits record high at 81.17.
WHATS THE BEST MARKET STRATEGY NOW?
-Get out of the Stock Market.
-Buy beaten down Stocks.
-Do nothing, wait it out.
-I don't know.
TODAYS HEADLINES!
Combine with
1-Record low Empire Manufacturing index.
2-3-yr low in Retail Sales.
BOND MARKET IMPROVING!
-California raises 5 Billion.
-PG&G and occidental increases size of bond offering.
EU, US call for a global summit to reshape banking By AOIFE WHITE, AP Business Writer OCT 15,08
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The Group of Eight major industrial nations announced Wednesday they will hold a global summit — perhaps as early as November in New York — to forge common action to prevent another economic meltdown. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said all European Union nations backed radical restructuring of global institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. He called for a meeting preferably in New York, where everything started and said it should lead to a new capitalism.Sarkozy said emerging economies such as China, India and others outside the G-8 should also participate because no one should feel excluded from what we are recasting.EU leaders meeting in Brussels all agreed that we don't want the same causes to produce the same effects in future, the French leader said. We don't want all this to start again; we want lessons to be learned.British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the meeting would require vision similar to the creation of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods conference that laid out the post-World War II international financial and monetary system.The G-8 leaders said in a joint statement released by the White House that they were united in their commitment to change the regulation of the world's financial sector to restore confidence and remedy deficiencies exposed by the current crisis.We are confident that, working together, we will meet the present challenges and return our economies to stability and prosperity, they said.Brown, a longtime former Treasury chief widely seen as a leader in crafting policies to combat the financial crisis, said he wants a group of supervisors from major nations to monitor the world's 30 largest financial institutions.I believe there is scope for agreement in the next few days that we will have an international meeting to take common action ... for very large and very radical changes, Brown told reporters before meeting for talks on the financial crisis with other EU leaders, who on Wednesday endorsed a $2.3 trillion continentwide emergency bailout for the banking sector.We now have global financial markets but what we do not have is anything other than national and regional regulation and supervision, Brown said. The IMF has got to be rebuilt as fit for purpose for the modern world. We need an early warning system for the world economy.
Sarkozy said a string of government bailout plans had treated the immediate symptoms of the crisis without attacking the roots of the disease.We need to found a new capitalism based on values that put finance at the service of companies and citizens and not the reverse, he told EU leaders.This fundamental reform can't stop at Europe. The economy is global; no country can protect itself alone, he said. He demanded that new global rules cover all financial institutions — including hedge funds.The French leader said later that the European Union will back an overhaul of global financial system.In a document given to EU leaders at a Wednesday summit and obtained by The Associated Press, Brown said he wants banks to rethink how they deal with risk, and called for rules that make banks hold enough funds to cover potential losses, improve transparency in the system and eliminate conflicts of interest. Brown also wants executives to take more responsibility and end a system that encouraged reckless risk-taking.The current financial crisis began more than a year ago with heavy losses sustained by financial institutions in the United States on their investments in subprime mortgages.Urgent work is needed to prepare proposals that address executive compensation structures that encourage excessive and irresponsible risk-taking by financial institutions, Brown wrote.He also said governments need to try to close gaps in the emerging shadow banking system.The financial boom saw many banks jump into largely unregulated areas — such as complex securitized investments — while high-risk investors like hedge funds operated in near-secrecy. Brown's paper urges globally accepted standards of supervision and regulation applied equally and consistently in all countries.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G-8 — the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia — and emerging economies had to make decisions so that something like this can never happen again. The G-8 leaders praised the actions taken by finance ministers and central bank governors of the G-7 countries last Friday when they adopted a five-point action plan to deal the current financial troubles. That plan pledged efforts to keep major financial institutions from failing and to unfreeze credit markets. The G-7 includes all the countries in the G-8except Russia. President Bush met with the G-7 officials on Saturday and then later in the day attended a session of the Group of 20 nations which includes the G-7 countries and major emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. Founded in the aftermath of World War II, the 185-nation International Monetary Fund became the international economy's firefighter in the 1990s, providing loans to countries in financial trouble from Thailand to Turkey, while requiring dire belt-tightening measures in return. It has faced an identity crisis in recent years because it has lent less to developing nations. The past week has changed that, with Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine now considering IMF bailouts. Associated Press writers Martin Crutsinger and Deb Reichmann in Washington and Constant Brand, Robert Wielaard and Laurent Pirot in Brussels contributed to this story.
Dow plunges 733 on new disheartening economic data By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer OCT 15,08
The economy lurched deeper into the doldrums Wednesday and took the stock market down with it, sending the Dow Jones industrials to a staggering 733-point loss and erasing any hopes that the convulsions that have shaken Wall Street for a month were over. The daylong sell-off came as retailers reported the biggest drop in sales in three years and as a Federal Reserve snapshot showed Americans are spending less and manufacturing is slowing around the country.Piling up losses in a rough final hour of trading, the Dow ended the day down nearly 8 percent — its steepest drop since one week after Black Monday in 1987. The Dow has wiped out all but about 127 points of its record-shattering 936-point gain on Monday of this week.Earlier this week, after governments around the world announced plans to use trillions of dollars to prop up banks, including a U.S. plan to buy about $250 billion in bank stocks, the market had appeared to be turning around — or at least calming down.Instead, relentless selling gave the Dow its 20th triple-digit swing in the past 23 trading sessions, an unprecedented run of volatility. The Dow has finished higher on only one day this month. The loss of 733 points is the second-worst ever for the average, topped only by a 778-point decline Sept. 29.The plunge in stocks put the nation's economic anxiety front-and-center as the two major presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain, prepared for their final debate Wednesday night in Hempstead, N.Y.In the meantime, the man they each hope to succeed met with his Cabinet. President Bush predicted in the long run that this economy will come back.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed confidence that the government's radical efforts to stabilize the financial system and induce banks to lend again will eventually help the economy.But Bernanke warned that even if the financial markets level off, the nation will not snap back to economic health quickly.Stabilization of the financial markets is a critical first step, but even if they stabilize as we hope they will, broader economic recovery will not happen right away, Bernanke told the Economic Club of New York.Paulson, making the rounds of network TV morning shows, struck a similar note. This will take time. There will be challenges, he said on ABC's Good Morning America.Some analysts believe the economy jolted into reverse in the recently ended third quarter, while others predict it will shrink later this year or early next. The classic definition of a recession is back-to-back quarters of shrinking economic activity.Two gloomy economic reports showed that the debate at this point is merely semantic.The Fed's snapshot of business conditions around the nation, known as the Beige Book, showed economic activity weakening across all of the Fed's 12 regional districts. Consumer spending —which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity — slumped in most Fed regions. Manufacturing also slowed in most areas.As shoppers cut back, retail sales dropped sharply in September. The 1.2 percent decline was the biggest in three years. Retail sales have fallen for three months in a row, the first time that's happened since the government began keeping comparable records in 1992.Analysts had expected only a 0.7 percent decline. And as Americans watch their nest eggs shrink before their eyes on days like Wednesday on Wall Street, there's little reason to expect they will shop with gusto anytime soon.Leaders of the world's top economic powers, the Group of Eight, said they would meet in the near future for a global summit to tackle the financial crisis. The group comprises the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the meeting could be held as soon as next month. He said the discussions should include not only the world's richest nations but also major emerging economies such as China and India. I believe there is scope for agreement in the next few days that we will have an international meeting to take common action ... for very large and very radical changes, Brown told reporters before a meeting with other European Union leaders for talks in Brussels on the financial crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy also called for a G-8 meeting. Merkel said reform was needed so that something like this can never happen again, while Sarkozy said the meeting should be held in New York, where everything started.The current financial crisis began more than a year ago in the United States when lax lending standards on certain home mortgages came home to roost. Foreclosures skyrocketed, mortgage securities soured and financial companies racked up huge losses. Credit remained strained Wednesday, and investors' appetite for super-safe investments stayed high. The three-month Treasury bill's yield slipped. Low yields show that investors are willing to earn meager returns as long as their investment is preserved. Key lending rates between banks in the U.S. and Europe only inched down after major central banks offered the banking sector unlimited amounts of short-term loans in dollars. The move was meant to keep credit markets flowing while lenders regain confidence. There was a dose of good news Wednesday: Oil prices dipped below $75 a barrel for the first time in nearly 14 months, suggesting gas prices will keep falling. Oil prices have now plunged almost 50 percent since peaking at $147.27 in mid July. Associated Press writers Pan Pylas in London, Madlen Read and Patrick Rizzo in New York and Deb Riechmann, Christopher S. Rugaber and Martin Crutsinger in Washington contributed to this report.
EU to tighten screw on cross-border banking
RENATA GOLDIROVA Today OCT 16,08 @ 00:58 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - All 27 EU leaders have thrown their weight behind the multi-billion rescue strategy agreed by the 15-strong eurozone last Sunday, while eyeing a set of measures likely to tighten the screw over how the financial sector operates in future. The European Union now has a massive united response to this crisis without precedent, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after the first day of the top-level meeting ended late Wednesday (15 October). The rescue plan allows for restoring liquidity, injecting fresh capital into financial institutions, government guarantees of inter-bank lending as well as recapitalisation of distressed banks.
On top of the plan, EU leaders unanimously backed the idea of setting up a new crisis management unit in coming days - something that Mr Sarkozy described as a light-weight structure designed to exchange information, give advice and co-ordinate action between member states.
Split over supervisory arrangements
But Mr Sarkozy himself admitted that EU delegations have yet to find a common ground on ways how to supervise cross-border financial institutions, which operate in several EU states. There were divergences, the French leader said, referring to an idea to strengthen supervision by introducing so-called colleges of supervisors which would bring together national regulators from all the EU states involved in any multinational banking chain.While all agreed on the need for better co-ordination between national supervisors, some EU capitals - especially small countries where markets are dominated by subsidiaries of major foreign banks - feared that the balance of power would tip toward regulation from the mother bank's home state. The present situation is a good test of the arrangements, and we believe the present set-up with subsidiary-level supervisors having the above powers played a role in the fact that our financial market stayed insulated from global events, one diplomat from a small EU state explained. Mr Sarkozy said his team would work tonight to draft an acceptable compromise so that no institution is an exception to supervision.We don't want the same causes to result in the same effects in the future, he underlined.
World summit on financial crisis
The EU is also calling for a global summit on the financial crisis, with Mr Sarkozy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to present the idea to USPresident George W. Bush when they visit him at Camp David on Saturday (18 October). The global response is essential, Mr Barroso said, suggesting that the EU, the US as well as emmerging economies need to introduce new financial governance into the system. The world summit should preferably be organised in November.
Brussels changes accounting rules to help save banks
LEIGH PHILLIPS 15.10.2008 @ 21:20 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Wednesday (15 October) changed EU accounting rules to help banks avoid sharp drops in the value of their assets at times of market volatility, such as the present financial crisis.The move on mark-to-market accounting - made by the commission's accounting regulatory committee - has unanimous support from EU member states and will apply for 2008 third quarter corporate results, due to be published soon.Under current mark-to-market accounting rules, company assets are valued on the basis of the price they would fetch if they were offered for sale on the market right now instead of what they would be valued were the company to hold on to them until maturation. During the current crisis, banks in particular have seen their assets plunge in value because of mark-to-market valuation of sub-prime securities - financial assets based on loans to borrowers at risk of defaulting - with experts saying the banks' losses would have been much lower if they were valued on the maturation date basis.The current practice can create a downward spiral in which companies seem to be insolvent.But under the commission's new proposals, banks and other companies can optionally reclassify assets from the held-for-trading category to the held-to-maturity category, avoiding the trap.The current financial crisis justifies the use of reclassification by companies, the commission said in a statement. In these circumstances, financial institutions in the EU would no longer have to reflect market fluctuation in their financial statements for these kinds of assets.The rule-change is in line with separate moves earlier this week by the International Accounting Standards Board, which crafts accounting standards used in some 100 countries.The commission's move also comes just eight days after EU finance ministers first proposed the reforms at a 7 october meeting. By adopting these amendments, the commission has responded in record time to the request of the [finance ministers], internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy said.Some critics of the manoeuvre however are worried that hedge funds, who would develop their own mathematical models to assign value to assets instead of comparing them to current market values, might exploit the new freedoms to artificially inflating asset value.
Iran hails world financial crisis as end of capitalism Oct 15 11:21 AM US/Eastern
Iran's Khamenei: Rule Of Money In West Over
Iranian leaders say the world financial crisis indicates the end of capitalism, the failure of liberal democracy and divine punishment -- marking the superiority of the Islamic republic's political model. The school of Marxism has collapsed and the sound of the West's cracking liberal democracy is now being heard, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday, recalling the fate of the Soviet Union.
Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is backed by Khamenei, said on Tuesday that it is the end of capitalism.Such convictions can be traced back to the ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution, which Ahmadinejad has sought to revive since he rose to power in 2005. The firebrand president, who has not missed a chance to denounce Western decadence since his election, has exploited the scale of the global crisis to play up his argument. He benefits from the luxury that the Tehran stock market has been unaffected by the losses that bourses in neighbouring Gulf states have suffered. That stability is attributable to the absence of foreign investors and to the government's firm grip on economic activity. Several Iranian newspapers, regardless of their reformist or conservative leanings, have also blamed the global economic crisis on excessive liberalism. And some officials, such as the head of Iran's electoral watchdog body, have come up with less conventional theories and branded the turmoil as divine punishment.These people see the outcome of their bad deeds. This problem has spread to Europe now which makes us happy. The unhappier they are the happier we become, Ayatollah Ali Janati, who heads the Guardians Council, said in last Friday's prayer sermon. Ahmadinejad has recently echoed that, saying the reason of their defeat is that they have forgotten God and piety.The financial crisis should be a divine sign that the oppressors and the corrupt will be replaced by the pious and believers, he said, adding that an Islamic banking system will help us survive the current economic crisis.Ahmadinejad's administration favours such a system, based on interest-free lending, but the system has not been widely implemented and faces criticism by economists. Elected on a justice campaign, the president has gone on a spending spree to bring the oil money to the tables of Iranian people.
But the cash injection to the economy has fuelled inflation, which has risen from around 10 percent at the time of his election to nearly 30 percent. For Iran's supreme leader, the crisis particularly signifies the superiority of the Islamic republic's political structure, which combines elements of democracy with those of a theocracy. Khamenei hailed the victory of the Islamic revolution in the face of Marxist and liberal ideologies. Now there is no sign of Marxism in the world and even liberalism is declining, the all powerful leader said. The Iranian regime deems the concepts of democracy and human rights as imperialist tools to dominate other nations. The Islamic republic thus defends its electoral practice of vetting candidates running for public office according to their religious adherence and its judicial system, which resorts to the death penalty for serious crimes more than any country in the world except for China.
Mideast grapples with oil price slump By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer Tue Oct 14, 3:43 PM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - Vast, oil-fueled budget surpluses may cushion some of the Mideast's major oil-producing countries now that crude prices have plummeted. But Iran, Iraq and a handful of other nations face daunting challenges to make up the money in coming months because of the price drop and global financial crisis. The differences are stark: developers in the United Arab Emirates — whose economy is more diversified — are still announcing multibillion-dollar building projects. But merchants in Iran went on strike the past few days over tax increases imposed to bolster the country's budget.In Iraq, postwar rebuilding could be jeopardized if the vaunted oil-money budget surplus is smaller than expected; countries like Saudi Arabia may only need to trim more ambitious projects.The Gulf countries have enough reserves to get through rougher periods, and have based their budgets on oil prices lower than what we see today. But poorer countries like Egypt ... don't have those kinds of reserves, said Jon Alterman, Mideast program head for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.As for Iran, the drop in oil revenue is likely to cause that country and its hard-line president even more economic headaches, heading into presidential elections next June. But few think, despite the recent strikes, that any political upheaval is at hand.Oil at $70 per barrel doesn't threaten (President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad's hold on power, said Alterman. Twenty dollar per barrel oil does.Oil was trading at about $81 per barrel Tuesday in New York, well off the record high of $147 per barrel in July that allowed Mideast OPEC members to see revenues surge.OPEC's more hawkish Mideast members, like Iran, are heading into a November meeting — to be convened a month before a previously planned meeting is due to be held — with sights set on securing an output cut. Iran has previously said it would like to see prices remain at $100 per barrel — a level few, if any, believe is currently sustainable.Equally questionable is whether the cartel will definitely cut production, said Serene Gardiner, oil products analyst for Standard Chartered bank in Dubai.They're vigorously going to defend the $80 mark, but they're not going to call for $100, Gardiner said. There's no point in pushing for something you'll never get.More dovish members — namely Saudi Arabia, the cartel's kingpin and the world's largest exporter — are mindful that a repeat of the surging prices earlier this year could exacerbate demand erosion, particularly in the West, further fueling cuts in consumer spending and deepening the current financial crunch.
Iran's push, however, is understandable.
The Tehran government relies on energy exports for about 80 percent of its income — a level Ahmadinejad wants to sustain because of Iran's international isolation, caused by the dispute with the West over its nuclear program.The slump in oil prices comes at a particularly unfortunate time for Ahmadinejad, whose economic policies have many Iranians seething even as he looks to muster support ahead of next year's elections.Scores of the country's merchants went on strike last week in protest over a 3 percent sales tax the government introduced in September. Iran's merchant class played a major role in supporting the radical students who toppled the Western-backed Shah in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.Bowing to pressure, the government agreed to suspend the tax. The strike, however, continued.Officially, Iran is playing down the impact of the oil price fall: the IRNA news agency quoted an official in Ahmadinejad's office as saying the country had based its budget on crude between $55-$60 and that recent declines will not affect our annual budget.Iraq, however — struggling to rebuild — could see its hoped-for revenue drop even as it sits atop the world's third largest crude reserves. A U.S. congressional auditors report found the Iraqi government could end this year with a budget surplus of as much as $79 billion, causing many Americans to fume since the U.S. has been pumping hundreds of billions into the country. But that number now seems unlikely. Iraqi Finance Minister Bayan Jabr said recently said that the decline in oil prices no doubt will have a negative impact on Iraq's economy. Other Iraqi officials say they are studying the impact on their spending plans, but so far, nothing firm has been decided.
Other countries face more mixed pictures.
A recent report by the National Bank of Kuwait warned that if spending remains high in the 2009-2010 budget year, that country's budget could slip into deficit for the first time in 11 years but would likely return to surplus the next year. In Saudi Arabia, oil revenues contribute about 54 percent of the country's GDP, according to several analysts. The kingdom earned $244 billion in the first three quarters of 2008, compared to $194 billion in all of 2007, according to the Short-Term Energy Outlook by the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Energy Department's statistical arm. Because of the recent drop, Saudi Arabia could face difficulty carrying out planned projects critical to its push to diversify. But few analysts are ready to sound the sirens, at least about Saudi Arabia and the UAE — which brought in $78 billion in the first nine months of 2008, according to the EIA report. The cautious optimism largely stems from the fact that Mideast OPEC members pegged their budgets to lower oil prices. Marios Maratheftis, Standard Chartered's head of research for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, estimates the UAE government budget is based on a price assumption of $45 to $50 a barrel. Other estimates suggest that UAE, which draws income from vast foreign investments, could cover costs even at lower prices. There is a huge cash cushion that the government enjoys, he said. Associated Press writers Diana Elias in Kuwait and Adam Schreck in Dubai contributed to this report.
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).
Group of 12 to reflect on future of Europe
ELITSA VUCHEVA 14.10.2008 @ 17:43 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU leaders are on Thursday (16 October) set to approve a 12-member group headed by former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and tasked with reflecting on how best to deal with Europe's future challenges.Besides Mr Gonzalez himself and his two vice-chairs - Latvia's former president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and Nokia chief Jorma Ollila from Finland - the wise group will include members from Italy, Poland, France, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Greece, diplomatic sources told EUobserver.In a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently chairs the six-month rotating EU presidency, Mr Gonzalez has proposed former Polish president Lech Walesa, who led the Solidarity anti-Communist trade union movement in the 1980s; Nicole Notat, the former leader of one of France's biggest trade unions, the CFDT; former EU competition commissioner Mario Monti from Italy; and German conservative Wolfgang Schuster, who is the mayor of Stuttgart, to be among the group's members.Additionally, Lykke Friis, a Danish academic from the University of Copenhagen will join the team of consigieri, along with Rainer Munz, an Austrian economist and head of research at the Erste Bank in Vienna; Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch architect and urbanist; and Kalypso Nicolaidis, a Greek professor of international relations who has taught at Harvard and Oxford Universities.The list will be completed by the UK's Richard Lambert – director general of the Confederation of British Industry and a former editor of the Financial Times.The reflection group – the brainchild of Mr Sarkozy – should start its work from January 2009, according to draft conclusions the 27-member bloc's leaders are to adopt on Thursday.The idea was first approved at the meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels last December, who then appointed Mr Gonzalez to chair the group, which shall present its report to the [EU leaders] meeting of June 2010.
The former Spanish premier was then tasked to form a team to identify the key issues and developments which the Union is likely to face and to analyse how these might be addressed … in order to help the Union anticipate and meet challenges more effectively in the longer term (horizon 2020 – 2030).Key challenges the group is to look into include strengthening and modernising the European model of economic success and social responsibility, enhancing the competitiveness of the EU, the rule of law, sustainable development as a fundamental objective of the European Union, global stability, migration, energy and climate protection, and the fight against global insecurity, international crime and terrorism.
Centre-right leaders informally back Barroso for second term
VALENTINA POP 15.10.2008 @ 19:53 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Conservative EU leaders gathered in Brussels ahead of an EU summit informally proposed Jose Manuel Barroso for a second mandate as president of the European Commission, with a final agreement to be taken in at the end of the year.There was no official proposal, just an informal discussion. The decision will be taken at the next EPP summit in December, Javier Jimenez, press officer for the center-right European People's Party (EPP), told EUobserver.EPP leaders informally agreed to back Jose Manuel Barroso for a second mandate as Commission president
[Talks] seem to go in that direction, European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering, himself a former chairman of the EPP group, told a press conference. Not only did I support Mr Barroso, but I ensured that he was our candidate and I will continue to support him, he said, referring to the time when he chaired the EPP group in the European Parliament.The remarks come on top of reports by German press agency DPA earlier in the day, citing vice-chairman of the EPP and state secretary in the German finance ministry, Peter Hintze.Barroso stands for continuity and the cohesion of Europe. And this is what the EU needs in the coming years, Mr Hintze said.A former prime minister of Portugal, the 52-year-old Mr Barroso assumed the presidency of the European Commission in 2004. His current mandate is due to expire in the second half of 2009.While conservative governments outnumber social-democratic ones in Europe, Mr Barroso will still need the backing of all the other member countries, which decide the nomination by qualified majority. The European Parliament then rubber stamps the appointment.The Commission head in July told Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad he is interested in keeping the job. If today I had to decide about a second term, my answer would be yes, he said.
Ireland promises Lisbon clarity in December
ELITSA VUCHEVA 15.10.2008 @ 21:25 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Irish leader Brian Cowen on Wednesday (15 October) briefed EU colleagues on Ireland's progress since its rejection of the EU's Lisbon treaty in June, promising to present an action plan on a way out of the deadlock by December.
Four months have elapsed since our referendum and our domestic political debate is taking its course, but still has some way to go, he told EU heads of state and government gathering for the October summit in Brussels.Mr Cowen insisted that it is not yet possible to be prescriptive about outcomes of the Irish debate, but said he aimed to have identified the necessary steps that need to be taken next year by the EU leaders' next meeting in December.I look forward to returning here in December with a view to our defining together the elements of a solution and a common path to follow, the taoiseach told fellow state leaders.The Irish premier also highlighted the efforts his government had put into finding a way out of the stalemate.Following the No vote, Ireland had commissioned a comprehensive, independent study into the reasons why people voted the way they did.In the aftermath of the publication of the survey results, a parliamentary committee on Ireland's future in the European Union was established, with a task to examine the issues that arose during the [referendum] campaign, including the concerns highlighted by the survey, and how they sit in the broader context of our EU membership, Mr Cowen said.The committee is due to issue its report by the end of November.
Under pressure
Ireland has been under increasing pressure from other EU governments to find a way to pass the Lisbon treaty, despite the No vote in June, as 22 EU states have already ratified the document.Sweden is expected to do so in the next months, while there are still question marks regarding ratification in the Czech republic, set to chair the EU in early 2009, Poland and Germany.Dublin is also under increasing time pressure, as it seems increasingly likely that the June elections to the European Parliament will have to be held according to current EU rules, which foresee a reduction of the number of MEPs to 736.The current rules would also force a reduction in the number of EU commissioners from the current one-per-state figure of 27, with a new commission to be appointed after the elections next year.I am extremely mindful that there are important milestones in the course of 2009 which require clarity at an early date, the Irish premier said.We will continue to work with our partners to ensure that we can overcome the uncertainty that currently exists, he added.
EU to rubber-stamp common immigration and asylum rules
RENATA GOLDIROVA 15.10.2008 @ 09:23 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union - with some eight million undocumented migrants on its soil, but short of high-skilled migrants - is set to give a new boost to its ambition to establish common immigration and asylum policy. However, organisations active in the area have expressed strong reservations, claiming that the security approach is getting the upper hand.At this week's top-level summit in Brussels (15-16 October), EU leaders are expected to formally back the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, a set of political commitments in five areas - regular and irregular immigration, border controls, asylum policies and co-operation with countries of origin and of transit. The pact states that the 27-nation bloc does not have the resources to decently receive all the migrants hoping to find a better life within its territory. It suggests that the union's policy be based on a state's needs and ability to welcome people, more precisely, on its reception capacity when it comes to the labour market, housing, health, education and social services, but also on the risk of exploitation of immigrants by criminal networks.The EU says it has been working hard to find a balanced path to the subject, attempting to stem the flow of clandestine migrants, while at the same time trying to encourage the immigration of highly-skilled workers. In Europe, non-European highly-qualified workers make up only 1.7 percent of the employed population, while they account for nearly 10 percent in Australia, over seven percent in Canada and over three percent in the US.The pact says, among other things, that the union will take new measures to attract highly-skilled labour to its workforce and to make it easier for students and researchers to enter and move within the 27-nation bloc.
But it will remain a member state's exclusive power to decide on the conditions of admission of legal migrants to its territory and to set quotas, if needed. On the irregular migration front, the EU is set to turn the principle that illegal immigrants on member states' territory must leave that territory into action.In order to achieve this, EU leaders are looking to re-admission deals with countries of origin, incentives to boost voluntary return and the possibility of forced expulsion. European border controls should be strengthened, while employers hiring those without proper documentation should face dissuasive penalties.
Doubts about asylum seekers' rights
However, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), a network of 63 immigrant-rights organisations, have questioned the pact's overall tone. The pact may be tipping the balance further towards the security approach - which to date has not provided solutions to Europe's migration challenges - and away from the necessary actions to ensure human rights safeguards, ECRE secretary-general Bjarte Vandvik said in a statement ahead of the EU leaders' summit.The ECRE is particularly concerned about refugees' real access to the EU territory and asylum procedures.
Much more general scrutiny is required of Frontex, the EU borders agency, for ensuring its operations are respectful of human rights, Mr Vandvik said, adding that Frontex has been unable or unwilling to report on how many asylum seekers are impacted by its operations and what happens to them if they are pushed back to countries [beyond the EU].The European Commission is by 2012 expected to table its proposal on a single asylum procedure comprising common guarantees ... and a uniform status for refugees and the beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, the pact states.
Those states that face the biggest pressure on their asylum systems due to geographical position should be offered solidarity through better re-allocation of refugees. This solidarity will be on a voluntary basis, however.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Intelligence report: U.S. antiterror ally Pakistan on the edge By Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott, McClatchy Newspapers Tue Oct 14, 6:28 PM ET
WASHINGTON — A growing al Qaida -backed insurgency, combined with the Pakistani army's reluctance to launch an all-out crackdown, political infighting and energy and food shortages are plunging America's key ally in the war on terror deeper into turmoil and violence, says a soon-to-be completed U.S. intelligence assessment. A U.S. official who participated in drafting the top secret National Intelligence Estimate said it portrays the situation in Pakistan as very bad. Another official called the draft very bleak, and said it describes Pakistan as being on the edge.The first official summarized the estimate's conclusions about the state of Pakistan as: no money, no energy, no government.Six U.S. officials who helped draft or are aware of the document's findings confirmed them to McClatchy on the condition of anonymity because NIEs are top secret and are restricted to the president, senior officials and members of Congress . An NIE's conclusions reflect the consensus of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.The NIE on Pakistan , along with others being prepared on Afghanistan and Iraq , will underpin a strategic assessment of the situation that Army Gen. David Petraeus , who's about to take command of all U.S. forces in the region, has requested. The aim of the assessment — seven years after the U.S. sent troops into Afghanistan — is to determine whether a U.S. presence in the region can be effective and if so what U.S. strategy should be.The findings also are intended to support the Bush administration's effort to recommend the resources the next president will need for Iraq , Afghanistan and Pakistan at a time the economic crisis is straining the Treasury and inflating the federal budget deficit.The Afghanistan estimate warns that additional American troops are urgently needed there and that Islamic extremists who enjoy safe haven in Pakistan pose a growing threat to the U.S.-backed government of Afghan Prime Minister Hamid Karzai .
The Iraq NIE is more cautious about the prospects for stability there than the Bush administration and either John McCain or Barack Obama have been, and it raises serious questions about whether the U.S. will be able to redeploy a significant number of troops from Iraq to Afghanistan anytime soon.Together, the three NIEs suggest that without significant and swift progress on all three fronts — which they suggest is uncertain at best — the U.S. could find itself facing a growing threat from al Qaida and other Islamic extremist groups, said one of the officials.About the only good news in the Pakistan NIE is that it's relatively sanguine about the prospects of a Pakistani nuclear weapon, materials or knowledge falling into the hands of terrorists, said one official.However, the draft NIE paints a grim picture of the situation in the impoverished, nuclear-armed country of 160 million, according to the U.S. officials who spoke to McClatchy .The estimate says that the Islamist insurgency based in the Federally Administered Tribal Area bordering Afghanistan , the suspected safe haven of Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, is intensifying.However, according to the officials, the draft also finds that the Pakistani military is reluctant to launch an all-out campaign against the Islamists in part because of popular opposition to continuing the cooperation with the U.S. that began under Pervez Musharraf , the U.S.-backed former president, after the 9/11 attacks.Anti-U.S. and anti-government sentiments have grown recently, stoked by stepped-up cross-border U.S. missile strikes and at least one commando raid on suspected terrorist targets in the FATA that reportedly have resulted in civilian deaths.The Pakistani military, which has lost hundreds of troops to battles and suicide bombings, is waging offensives against Islamist guerrillas in the Bajaur tribal agency and Swat, a picturesque region of the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan . U.S. officials said insurgent attacks on Pakistani security forces provoked the Pakistani army operations.The Pakistan general staff also remains concerned about what it considers an ongoing threat to its eastern border from its traditional foe, India , the draft NIE finds, according to the U.S. officials.For these reasons, they said, the army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani , wants the new civilian coalition government of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to provide the military with political cover by blessing a major anti-insurgency crackdown.However, the ruling coalition, in which President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto , holds the real authority, has been preoccupied by other matters, according to the draft NIE. These include efforts to consolidate its power after winning a struggle that prompted its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q , to leave the ruling coalition. Moreover, widespread anti-U.S. anger has left the coalition deeply divided over whether to unleash a major military assault on the Islamists, the U.S. officials said. The government is also facing an accelerating economic crisis that includes food and energy shortages, escalating fuel costs, a sinking currency and a massive flight of foreign capital accelerated by the escalating insurgency, the NIE warns. The Pakistani public is clamoring for relief as the crisis pushes millions more into poverty, giving insurgent groups more opportunities to recruit young Pakistanis.
(Warren P. Strobel and Nancy A. Youssef contributed to this article.)
North Korea threatens to cut ties with South: report OCT 15,08
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has threatened to end all relations with South Korea, a major supplier of aid and cash to the impoverished state, Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday, quoting official North Korean media. The move comes days after North Korea said it would resume taking apart its nuclear plant that makes bomb-grade plutonium and return to a disarmament-for-aid deal.(Reporting by and Kim Yeon-hee and Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Valerie Lee)
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 RUSSIA-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.
Berlusconi says he wants Russia to join the EU Wed Oct 15, 3:54 PM ET
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Wednesday that he is in favour of Russia becoming a member of the European Union, a vision he has held for several years. I consider Russia to be a Western country and my plan is for the Russian Federation to be able to become a member of the European Union in the coming years, Berlusconi told reporters in Brussels.He said that first of all the European Union should resume talks with Moscow on a partnership agreement that was suspended following a war between Russia and Georgia in August.Me, I want to go further. I have had this vision for years, Berlusconi said as he arrived in Brussels for an EU summit.The Italian prime minister has had a friendly relationship with Russian Prime Minister Putin for several years and invited the former president of Russia, along with his family, to stay at his private residence on the island of Sardinia.The EU suspended talks on a partnership agreement with Moscow on September 1 in protest at Russia's formal recognition of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.Relations are fraught over a number of other areas including over the eastwards enlargement of the EU to former Soviet-bloc nations, US plans for elements of a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and expansion of the NATO military alliance.
Russia in turn has been accused of using its status as a major hydrocarbons exporter to political ends and has faced criticisms over alleged human rights abuses and democratic flaws in this year's presidential election.But Moscow and the EU need each other. Russia is the main source of Europe's oil and gas and Russia is a major and fast-growing market for the continent's firms.More Russian exports go to the EU than anywhere else while Russia is the bloc's third biggest trade partner after the United States and China.Politically too, Moscow has close ties with Europe. Of all countries with which the EU has tight relations, it has the most frequent official meetings with Russia. Two EU-Russia summits are held annually compared with only one with the United States and China.There are also regular meetings with the Russian foreign minister as well as numerous forums on subjects ranging from human rights to investment, justice issues and culture.French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency and which brokered a six-point Russia-Georgia ceasefire agreement, has indicated that he is in favour of resuming talks on the stalled new cooperation pact.Currently, their relations are governed by a partnership accord that dates from 1997, when Russia was still suffering economically from the break-up of the Soviet Union.The new partnership pact is supposed to deepen relations between the two sides both politically and economically and especially as regards energy supplies to Europe, eager to secure gas and oil supply guarantees.
Russia-Georgia talks suspended until November By Jonathan Lynn and Stephanie Nebehay Wed Oct 15, 2:17 PM ET
GENEVA (Reuters) - Talks to ease the conflict over Georgia's Moscow-backed breakaway regions were suspended until next month on Wednesday, after diplomats failed to get Russia and Georgia to agree on who was allowed to take part. The sticking point was whether representatives from South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be allowed to participate and in what format.Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war in August and remain at odds over the two breakaway Georgian provinces that Moscow recognizes as independent states under its protection.The Russians and the Georgians were not in a formal meeting at the same time, they weren't in the same room at the same time, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried told a briefing.The United States, which sees Georgia as an ally in the volatile Caucasus region, also took part in the talks.Pierre Morel, the EU's special envoy for Georgia, said new talks had been provisionally set for November 18 in Geneva.The European Union, United Nations and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) had organized the one-day meeting, which they had hoped would lead to talks every two weeks to build confidence and help resolve the conflict.The talks were due to deal with compliance with the ceasefire, security issues, the return of internally displaced persons and human rights, a U.S. statement said.Russian and Georgian officials said they were willing to return for another attempt at discussions, but it is clear the organizers have their work cut out to get them to sit down and talk to each other.There are always difficulties when you start such a process, Morel told a separate briefing.
BLAME GAME
Feverish diplomatic efforts to find an acceptable format for the talks included a news blackout and a ban on photographers from taking pictures of the delegations as they entered the U.N. European headquarters in Geneva.In Brussels Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili blamed Russia for the failure of the first day's talks.Russia has just walked out of the Geneva talks ... which basically means that Russia has no interest whatsoever at this stage in any diplomatic process, he told reporters in Brussels.But the head of Russia's delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, said Saakashvili's characterization of events was just a lie.The Georgian version just doesn't hold water, he told a briefing. We deplore the absence of the Georgian delegation but we did not see it as tragic.And Fried of the United States blamed the impasse on the representatives of the breakaway regions, who he said wanted the same status as the national delegations.Sadly we never got beyond procedural and organizational issues because the South Ossetians and Abkhazians walked out, he said. Georgian officials said they had tried to work with the EU to find an acceptable compromise allowing officials from Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whom they termed Russian proxies, to take part in the talks, for instance at an informal level. But they also wanted community representatives from those regions who remain loyal to Tbilisi to be present. We're here to talk with the Russians and if the Russians choose to talk with us or not to talk with us we will be religiously coming to Geneva for the deliberations, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze told a briefing.
Months of skirmishes between separatists and Georgian troops erupted into war in August when Georgia sent troops and tanks to retake South Ossetia, which threw off its rule in 1991-92. Russia responded with a powerful counter-strike, driving the Georgian army out of South Ossetia. Moscow's troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks. The UN's top court, the International Court of Justice, on Wednesday ordered Russia and Georgia to ensure the security of all ethnic groups in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and adjacent areas of Georgia, and refrain from sponsoring racial discrimination. Also on Wednesday EU officials played down the chances of a decision to restart talks with Russia on a wide-ranging partnership accord, suggesting the move was more likely in November. (Additional reporting by Francois Murphy and David Brunnstrom in Brussels and Aaron Gray-Block in The Hague)(Editing by Louise Ireland)
Russia To Sell Venezuela APCs, Rocket Launchers - Report OCT 15,08
MOSCOW (AFP)--Russia plans to sell Venezuela armored personnel carriers and multiple rocket launchers, the Russian arms export agency said Wednesday.We are preparing to deliver a large number of BMP-3 armored personnel carriers and multiple rocket launchers, Igor Sevastyanov, deputy director of Rosoboronexport, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.Venezuela has already bought 24 Sukhoi fighter jets, 50 helicopters and 100, 000 Kalashnikov assault rifles from Russia in contracts worth a total $4.4 billion signed between 2005 and 2007, officials said.During a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Moscow last month, Russia announced it was giving Venezuela a $1 billion credit to buy Russian weapons and the two countries discussed nuclear energy cooperation. They are also planning joint naval exercises in the Caribbean in November.U.S. military chiefs have said they are concerned about the military build-up in Venezuela and the U.S. State Department has said it will be watching the Russian-Venezuelan naval exercises very closely.Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http:// www.djnewsplus.com/al?rnd=QrtSllHcvSwqAE2cjOAk%2Bw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Toxic pellets found in Russian rights lawyer's car
By Michael Schwirtz and Alan Cowell Published: October 15, 2008
MOSCOW: French police are investigating the discovery of toxic mercury pellets in the car of a human rights lawyer who was taken ill in Strasbourg on Tuesday, a day before pretrial hearings in Moscow into the killing of one of her best-known clients, the journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya.The case recalled events almost two years ago when Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer and a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, died after ingesting a highly radioactive toxin, polonium 210. Scotland Yard said he had been murdered.Politkovskaya, who had chronicled allegations of abuse in Russia's wars in Chechnya, was shot to death in her apartment in Moscow a few weeks before Litvinenko was poisoned. Critics of Putin, then president and now prime minister, said the two killings were part of a pattern of Kremlin-backed actions against its foes.On Wednesday, pretrial hearings into Politkovskaya's killing began behind closed doors in a military court in Moscow. But her lawyer, Karinna Moskalenko — among the best-known Russian human rights lawyers — was not there.The Strasbourg police said Moskalenko's husband, a chemist, had discovered about 10 little pellets of liquid metal in the family car on Sunday, on the floor of both the driver and passenger sides of the vehicle, Le Figaro newspaper reported, quoting an unidentified source close to the police inquiry. Analysis by toxicologists had identified the substance as mercury, which can damage organs and the immune and nervous systems.
Russia-Georgia talks break down soon after start.People do not put mercury in your car to improve your health, Moskalenko told Ekho Moskvy, a Russian radio station.
On Tuesday, Moskalenko complained of headaches and vomiting. Doctors examined her and her family on the same day. A police officer said the presence of mercury might have been the result of an accident before the Moskalenko family bought the car in August.But Anna Stavitskaya, another lawyer representing the Politkovskaya family, said the mercury might have been part of an attempt to intimidate Moskalenko.In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was deeply concerned about her welfare, citing news reports saying Moskalenko was the target of an apparent poisoning in Strasbourg and had felt weak for several days.Moskalenko spends much of her time in Strasbourg, in eastern France, pursuing cases at the European Court of Human Rights, according the station. Some of her cases have been Chechens complaining of human rights abuses. She has represented Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the jailed oil tycoon. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Moskalenko's clients included Gary Kasparov, the former chess champion who has become an opposition political leader in Russia, and Litvinenko, the former KGB officer.At the trial in Moscow, a judge refused a request by lawyers for Politkovskaya's family that the hearing be delayed due to Moskalenko's illness.Two Chechen brothers, Dzhabrail and Ibragim Makhmudov, are accused of conducting surveillance of Politkovskaya. A former police officer, Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, is accused of proving technical help. All three deny the charges.Politkovskaya's supporters argue that a third Chechen, suspected of shooting her, is on the run.The court failed to decide whether to allow media access to cover the trial, which is being held at a military court in Moscow, authorities say, because of Khadzhikurbanov's former ties to law enforcement.Stavitskaya said that while she would like the trial opened to journalists, she does not think that the court will allow it.They have no basis for closing the trial, she said. We want this to be accessible to the people, so that they can reach their own conclusions.The next hearing is set for Nov. 17, with jury selection scheduled the following day.Michael Schwirtz reported from Moscow and Alan Cowell from Paris.
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