COCAIN DEALERS DEMAND GOLD

STEVE VAUS WE MUST TAKE AMERICA BACK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eoE9mi9iw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eoE9mi9iw
STEVE VAUS WEBSITE-AMERICAS VOICE
http://www.stevevaus.com/
GAFFNEY ON OBAMA SPEECH IN EGYPT
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100023
BARRY PUT THE CRAZY ON HOLD
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=99932
OBAMA CAIRO SPEECH VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BlqLwCKkeY&feature=player_embedded
THE THIRD JIHAD
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-864522917532871834

http://www.infowars.com/100-billion-bailout-for-imf-tagged-on-to-war-funding-bill/
$100 Billion Bailout For IMF Tagged On To War Funding Bill
Steve Watson Infowars.net Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Democrats in Congress have agreed to provide a $100 billion credit line to the International Monetary Fund, tagging it onto the war supplemental intended for operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.The measure would also increase the U.S. member contribution to the IMF by $8 billion and authorize the United States to back the IMF’s plan to sell 400 tons (12.97 million ounces) of gold, according to lawmakers’ aides quoted in a Reuters report.This would fulfil Obama’s pledge to the G20 in April, to contribute toward a $500 billion boost for the IMF, which it says will go toward helping poorer nations during the economic downturn.However, what the The Treasury Department is really proposing is an international version of the Wall Street bailout; a $100 billion bailout for the IMF, which amounts to a bailout for European banks facing big losses in Central and Eastern Europe.If the bill pasess, we will see $100 billion in U.S. tax dollars simply handed over to foreign banks with no oversight.

House Republicans, including Minority Leader John Boehner, have threatened to vote no on the war funding if the IMF money is attached.Let’s be clear: a troop-funding bill should fund our troops, period,said Boehner.Weighing down this critical legislation with nondefense spending will only drag this process out further and cost it essential Republican support needed for passage.We should not be having this discussion. IMF funding has no business being included in the war supplemental bill, said Representative Eric Cantor, a member of the Republican leadership.The passage of the bill will be an extrememly close run contest, given that GOP votes are needed to make up for 51 anti-war Democrats who opposed it last month.If all Republicans vote no, then the House leadership will need 18 of the Democrats to reverse their defection and vote yes.Of course, because the IMF money is tagged onto a bill to fund U.S. troops in the field, there is increased pressure on those considering voting down the measure.We have previously highlighted the ongoing agenda to vastly empower the IMF and transform the institution into a bank of the world with the power to print its own currency.

This is not a conspiracy theory.

As the Washington Post highlighted two months ago, the agenda is laid out in publicly available internal IMF documents, interviews and think-tank reports.It is part of an open move to empower a group of unelected central bankers with the authority to usurp state sovereignty by overseeing benchmarks for national economic governance and setting regulations for financial institutions all over the globe.As we have also previously highlighted, both the IMF and the United Nations have thrown their weight behind proposals to implement a de-facto global financial dictatorship.Both bodies have expressed support for new world reserve currency system to replace the dollar as part of the acceleration towards a new economic world order.

Venezuela Chavez says Comrade Obama more left-wing
Tue Jun 2, 2009 10:27pm EDT

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday that he and Cuban ally Fidel Castro risk being more conservative than U.S. President Barack Obama as Washington prepares to take control of General Motors Corp.During one of Chavez's customary lectures on the curse of capitalism and the bonanzas of socialism, the Venezuelan leader made reference to GM's bankruptcy filing, which is expected to give the U.S. government a 60 percent stake in the 100-year-old former symbol of American might.Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right,Chavez joked on a live television broadcast.During a decade in government, Chavez has nationalized most of Venezuela's key economic sectors, including multibillion dollar oil projects, often via joint ventures with the private sector that give the state a 60 percent controlling stake.

Obama has vowed to quickly sell off General Motors once the auto giant is back on its feet, but the government will initially control the company after a $30 billion injection of taxpayer funds.Chavez, a vehement critic of the U.S. empire, has toned down his rhetoric since Obama took office in January and the two men shook hands during a summit in Trinidad and Tobago in April.(Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel, Editing by Jackie Frank)

PCTURES FOR STORY
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1188937/The-great-carbon-credit-eco-companies-causing-pollution.html

Spain arrests Greenpeace activists over climate protest Wed Jun 3, 4:05 pm ET

SEVILLE, Spain (AFP) – Police in the southern Spanish city of Seville Wednesday arrested 10 Greenpeace activists who had staged a protest against the effects of climate change on tourism, the organisation said.It said eight members of the environmental group climbed the steps of a famous monument, Seville's 13th century Torre del Oro (Gold Tower), pretending to be tourists.Two of them then climbed over the battlements in an attempt to unfurl a 70-square-meter banner reading Closed by Climate Change, but were stopped by police, Greenpeace and an AFP photographer said.

Police arrested the eight activists and two others at the entrance to the tower, Greenpeace said.The protest was aimed at showing that tourism threatens to become one of the major victims of climate change.The climate crisis not only affects the ecosystems of the Iberian peninsula, but also Spain's economy and the tourist sector is one of the major victims,Greenpeace said in a statement.It said higher temperatures are already affecting tourist destinations in southern Spain, and that rising sea levels and more limited availability of water resources could further harm tourism in the region in coming decades.That is why Greenpeace chose the Torre del Oro as one of the main symbols of Seville with a high number of tourists.

US may not be ready with numbers for climate deal By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jun 3, 3:24 pm ET

BONN, Germany – The United States may miss a December deadline for committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but that should not block an international agreement on global warming, the chief U.S. negotiator said Wednesday.Specific pledges by industrial countries to cut carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for climate change is a key element of a U.N. treaty being negotiated by 190 nations. The talks are due to be completed at a major conference in Copenhagen before the end of the year.But Jonathan Pershing, the deputy special envoy for climate change, said U.S. climate change legislation may not be completed by then, making it impossible for U.S. negotiators to present a final number for the Copenhagen agreement.We will work like crazy to get it together, and we will push enormously to have legislation, Pershing told The Associated Press.But it does not block a deal. You can have a deal without having the legislation.The first stage in the lengthy legislative process was completed last month when a congressional committee passed a climate bill, which must go to the full House of Representatives for approval. A parallel bill must go through several Senate committees, be passed on the Senate floor and then be reconciled with the House bill. The process could easily spill into next year — well after Copenhagen.

That means only a partial agreement might be crafted in the Danish capital, Pershing said. It might mean that you have a framework in place as opposed to absolute numbers. Those numbers may come a bit later,he said.It may mean that you set all the parameters and come back six months later when there is legislation,he said in an interview during another round of U.N. talks in this German city.Other countries have said they will make no firm commitments until they know what the U.S. will do. The European Union has pledged to cut its emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, but said it could increase that figure to 30 percent depending on U.S. plans.

Developing countries also are reluctant to spell out specific programs for fighting climate change without a clear understanding of the package coming from the industrial states, including financial aid.The Copenhagen deal will succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 countries to cut carbon emissions by a total 5 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. The U.S. rejected Kyoto, saying it was imbalanced because it made no demands on rapidly expanding developing countries. China has since overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest polluter.In the new accord, developing countries demand that the industrial countries reduce emissions by at least 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. Some countries say that figure should be as high as 45 percent to avoid regular catastrophic climate events like severe drought and storms, disastrous changes in rainfall and water availability, and sea level rises threatening coastal areas.Pershing said other crucial elements of the Copenhagen accord can be sealed that do not depend on emission reduction targets, such as financing to help poor countries adapt to climate change.The U.S. delegation has been lobbying to shift the focus to long-term targets rather than emphasizing a 2020 goal —it is lagging behind other countries because it did little during the eight years of the Bush administration to cut emissions.But the EU rejects that line of reasoning, saying actions geared toward 2020 are within the life span of current leaders and governments.By 2050 we'll all be dead,said Artur Runge-Metzger of the European Commission.

The Obama administration has pledged to cut emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, and by 83 percent by mid-century. Starting now, it says, U.S. actions to limit pollution will match the EU.Pershing indicated he thought some countries were using the issue of targets as a means to squeeze the U.S. on other issues, which he did not specify.I'm not clear at all the debate is about the numbers. I think the debate is around perception, and around optics,he said.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

ISLAMIC WORLD DOMINATION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU&feature=player_embedded
RON PAUL NKOREA NUKES DUE TO CLINTON ADMINISTRATION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTu-JBDlzs&feature=player_embedded

WHO says swine flu alert closer to pandemic Last Update: 1:38 pm JUNE 3,09

Middle school students wearing facemasks get their hands disinfected with disinfectant liquid spray given by a security guard upon their visit at House of Councillors on May 21, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. In order to prevent the spread of Swine Flu, the House of Councillors have prepared facemasks for all the visitors for a week, assuming 3,000 facemasks are needed a day. The swine flu cases reached more than 274 mainly in western Japan. (Junko Kimura, Getty Images)

GENEVA (AP) - The World Health Organization says with swine flu sweeping into communities outside North America, the agency is edging closer to declaring the outbreak a pandemic. The WHO's six phase system declaring a pandemic focuses on how widespread the disease is, not how dangerous. The organization's flu chief says the disease has reached 64 countries and infected nearly 19,000 people. While the overwhelming majority of cases have been reported in Mexico and the U.S., the flu is increasingly spreading from person to person all over the globe. The WHO calls the situation moderate rather than mild while it waits to see how it develops. Some experts have reported patients with symptoms different from those expected and the virus is causing severe infections in some healthy, young adults. The virus has cause more than 100 deaths worldwide.The WHO says it's not declaring a pandemic yet because it hasn't seen widespread community infections in places outside North America. For now, it says it's keeping an eye on the outbreak.2009 Associated Press.

WHO closer to declaring H1N1 flu outbreak a pandemic
3. June 2009 18:48

The WHO on Tuesday said it was getting closer to declaring the H1N1 (swine) flu outbreak to be a pandemic, as the virus continues to spread to people outside of North America, and in populations as far apart as Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia, the AP/Washington Post reports (Jordans, AP/Washington Post, 6/2).
The WHO on Wednesday confirmed that 66 countries have officially reported 19,273 cases of H1N1, including 117 deaths. A full list of country cases and deaths is available here (WHO Influenza A(H1N1) – update 43, 6/3).We still are waiting for evidence of really widespread community activity in these countries, and so it's fair to say that they are in transition and are not quite there yet, which is why we are not in phase 6 yet,WHO's Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda said (AP/Washington Post, 6/2).Phase 6 is a declaration that many member countries have long feared could mean economic disaster,CNN writes (Sloane, CNN, 6/2) because, as Bloomberg describes, it may spur some countries to restrict travel, ban public events and adopt other measures that aren’t needed for mild flu, worsening the deepest economic slump since the Great Depression.Michael Leavitt, former HHS secretary, said, The formalization of an influenza pandemic does have cascading consequences…The decision ought not to be taken lightly (Gale, Bloomberg, 6/2). Such concerns have forced the WHO to reevaluate the pandemic alert scale – a tool that takes into consideration the geographic spread of a new virus, but not its severity (Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, 5/26). Sources familiar with the agency's plans said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan and her colleagues spent seven hours consulting experts on how to explain that swine flu is global, but not severe. … [S]ometime in the next 10 days, [the WHO] will declare the first flu pandemic in 41 years, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the WHO’s deliberations are private. WHO is using the time before the announcement to help member states prepare,according to Bloomberg (Bloomberg, 6/2).

If the WHO declares [swine flu] a Level 6 pandemic, Dr. Fukuda said, it may add a caveat indicating that the virus is not very lethal,the New York Times writes. Still, measuring severity can be tricky because the same flu virus may theoretically kill far more people in a poor country with widespread malnutrition and AIDS than it does in a wealthy, well-fed nation(McNeil, New York Times, 6/3).

World Bank Approves $500M For Low-, Middle-Income Countries To Prevent, Control Outbreaks.

The World Bank on Tuesday approved $500 million to expand an existing fund to help developing countries prevent and control outbreaks of influenza, including the new H1N1 virus,Reuters reports (Wroughton, Reuters, 6/2). The money expands upon the World Bank's preexisting $500 million credit line created in 2006 to help countries to deal with the H5N1 (bird) flu. Low- and middle-income countries can access the financing to pay for drugs, medical equipment, hospital care, human and livestock health surveillance, and offset the economic and social costs associated with pandemic flu, the bank said in a release,according to Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal (Barkley, Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal, 6/2).This is a particularly bad time for a pandemic to occur given that developing countries are more vulnerable now because of the compounded effects of the food, fuel and financial crises,said Jeff Gutman, the World Bank's vice president for operations, adding, The worst-case scenarios for pandemic flu point to a significant economic impact, with poor people in developing countries likely to be hit hardest(Xinhua, 6/2).

Obama Requests Additional $2B From Congress To Deal With H1N1

President Obama on Tuesday requested from Congress an additional $2 billion to address the H1N1 flu strain circulating around the United States, Reuters reports. The funds would be in addition to Obama's previous request of Congress for $1.5 billion request for the purchase of antivirals, vaccine development and other preparedness equipment. In a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Obama described his request for additional funds as being out of an abundance of caution,adding there remains much uncertainty about the outbreak and its potential to return during the upcoming flu season in the United States(Allen, Reuters, 6/2).

U.S. Feds Award $90M Contract to MedImmune For H1N1 Vaccine Development

U.S. health officials on Monday awarded a $90 million contract to the pharmaceutical company MedImmune – makers of seasonal FluMist vaccine – to develop a vaccine that offers protection against the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, the Washington Post reports. The article explores the differences between an H1N1 vaccine developed by MedImmune to the more traditional flu vaccines made by Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur and GlaxoSmithKline – all recently awarded H1N1 vaccine contracts, including that MedImmune's H1N1 vaccine would be administered nasally and could produce a stronger immune response to the virus (Rosenwald, Washington Post, 6/2).

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 JUNE 04,2009

09:30 AM -0.08
10:00 AM -5.91
10:30 AM +1.10
11:00 AM +41.64
11:30 AM +27.07
12:00 PM +23.64
12:30 PM +25.32
01:00 PM +28.98
01:30 PM +49.77
02:00 PM +53.43
02:30 PM +68.65
03:00 PM +58.05
03:30 PM +58.61
04:00 PM +74.96 8750.24

S&P 500 942.46 +10.70

NASDAQ 1850.02 +24.10

GOLD 980.90 +15.30

OIL 68.86 +2.74

TSE 300 10,477.24 +187.12

CDNX 1133.16 +25.20

S&P/TSX/60 639.30 +12.42

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -1.15%
S&P +3.16%
Nasdaq +15.78%
TSX Advances 458,declines 1,133,unchanged 242,Volume 2,629,874,371.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 334,Declines 522,Unchanged 328,Volume 326,589,417.

Dow +2 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -5 points at low today.
Dow +41 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $973.34.OIL opens at $67.83 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -31 points at low today so far.
Dow +58 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,261,declines 1,270,unchanged 107,New Highs 20,New Lows 37.
Volume 2,608,153,814.
NASDAQ Advances 1,443,declines 1,111,unchanged 130,New highs 28,New Lows 6.
Volume 1,127,094,436.
TSX Advances 872,declines 484,unchanged 226,Volume 1,130,384,192.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 348,Declines 241,Unchanged 298,Volume 165,327,132.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -31 points at low today.
Dow +86 points at high today.
Dow +0.86% today Volume 207,795,215.
Nasdaq +1.32% today Volume -.
S&P 500 +1.15% today Volume N/A

PETER SCHIFF VIDEOS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smy8QfN4wvc&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RqdQQR8hKU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8J1t7YGmAU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofOcmB0qFvo&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyM9J-FEbb8&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPwB-xjwl0k&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYG1GttRdJQ&feature=player_embedded

DAILY EXPRESS 2.6.09 LABOUR PLOT TO DITCH THE POUND FOR EUROS WITCH: There are claims that Labour is planning to drop the pound By Alison Little

FEARS that Gordon Brown is secretly plotting to scrap the pound for the Euro were fuelled yesterday after the scale of the Government’s stealth plans were revealed.
Whitehall departments are spending time and taxpayers’ money updating their plans for the switch and each one has a named minister in charge of the process, it emerged.
Detailed talks have taken place in departments about what they would have to do if Britain joined.They include explaining to the public how the move would affect their council tax and business-rate bills and how the BBC would pay for the £10 million cost of changing the TV licence fee to Euros.The disclosures come just months after European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso claimed Britain was closer than ever to joining the Euro.Pro-Europe Business Secretary Lord Mandelson [as an ex-Commissioner Mandelson’s pension depends on him back the EU poloicy on all occasions -cs] also said in December that our aim, our goal, should be to enter the single currency and the Government was right to maintain a long-term policy objective of taking Britain into the Euro.Details of how the Government is paving the way for change were extracted from ministers in answers to Parliamentary questions.Shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said: The public will be alarmed that Government departments are spending time and money on preparing to scrap the pound.It now appears that Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson have a secret Whitehall agenda to exploit their appalling mismanagement of the public finances and use it as an excuse to join the Euro.

Time and resources better spent on improving local public services are now being spent on preparing to issue council tax bills and TV licences in the new currency.
Only Conservatives are committed never to join the Euro, preserving our economic independence, and we will scrap these white elephant changeover plans.Details of the Government’s preparations for joining the Euro, which Labour has said will happen only if the British people vote Yes in a referendum,[They said that about the Lisbon Treaty / Constitution too but we never had it! -cs] came ahead of Thursday’s elections to the European Parliament.Lorraine Mullally, director of the Eurosceptic think tank Open Europe, said:There is virtually no appetite in Britain for the Euro, especially at the moment as many Eurozone countries come under severe pressure in the recession.So it’s extraordinary that the Government has been busy working behind the scenes to secretly prepare Britain’s entry.When President Barroso said the people who matter in Britain are currently thinking about’ joining the Euro, he certainly wasn’t talking about the British people. He was talking about Gordon Brown and his team of Euro ministers.Today, a ComRes survey for the TaxPayers’ Alliance reveals that just 28per cent of the public think Britain should join the Euro, with 68 per cent opposing the move.The Communities and Local Government Department’s plan spells out the need to prepare for council tax and business rate bills to be issued in the new currency.
But a Treasury spokesman insisted last night: Nothing has changed in our policy. There are no active plans to join the Euro.

GM, Chrysler say slashing dealerships necessary By KEN THOMAS and TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writers JUNE 3,09

WASHINGTON – Partners no more, bankrupt automakers and small-town car dealers who are being stripped of their livelihood brought the anguish of their sinking fortunes into the halls of Congress on Wednesday and sparred over the companies' plans to slash franchises nationwide.This is our last chance to get it right, General Motors Corp. President Fritz Henderson warned testy lawmakers. Countering GM and Chrysler LLC executives in a Senate hearing room, two dealers who are soon to have their franchises wrenched away appealed for help.I am the face of GM and Chrysler in my town,said Peter Lopez, a Spencer, W.Va., dealer unlucky enough to be selling the brands of both fallen automakers.Russell Whatley, a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealer in Mineral Wells, Texas, said his grandfather opened the business in 1919. A 90-year investment is just gone,he said. He called Chrysler's actions wasteful and devastating.Lawmakers expressed sympathy for the dealers and some impatience with the automakers. But retrenchment is inevitable as taxpayer-supported GM and Chrysler fight to stay afloat once they emerge from bankruptcy protection.Chrysler President James Press told the hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee his company was working hard to achieve a soft landing for dealers. But if underperforming dealers aren't selling cars, the company can't return to profitability, he said.I think soft landing is wishful thinking,Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said as committee members channeled a multitude of complaints from homestate dealers spurned by GM and Chrysler.

Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., suggested both companies were abandoning customers and dealers.I don't believe that companies should be allowed to take taxpayer funds for a bailout and then leave local dealers and their customers to fend for themselves with no real plan, no real notice and no real help,Rockefeller told the automakers.That is just plain wrong.Those dealers are looking into a black hole right now,while companies seem to be implying that the dealers themselves are responsible for the companies' problems,Rockefeller said.Henderson told the committee that 500 dealers had appealed GM's decision to sever ties. As of now, GM has reversed itself on 11 of them, he said. More than 2,700 dealerships are in line to lose their franchises.It's unbelievable how we have been treated.Lopez said. He said he had met every financial obligation put forth by Chrysler and GM but still they want to shut me down.The auto executives said there are too many dealers, with many representing the same company often competing with each other for sales. Many dealerships date to the 1940s and 1950s, when motorists lived farther apart and Detroit automakers led the world in sales, they said.After hemorrhaging customers for decades and losing market share to foreign competitors, the two automakers said their companies need to scale back all their operations to become leaner and return to profitability.

Chrysler is expected to emerge from bankruptcy protection within the next few days. GM filed for Chapter 11 protection on Monday and its officials said they hope to be able to emerge as a new company in 60-90 days.To save money, GM, perennially one of the biggest spenders in Washington on lobbying, said it has terminated contracts with a dozen lobbying firms it has used to help make its case in Washington. The company reported spending $2.8 million on lobbying for the first three months of 2009, $500,000 of which went to outside lobbying firms, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.GM spokesman Kerry Christopher said the company would retain its in-house lobbyists, who work on health care, tax, trade, safety, environmental and other issues.A GM statement also said the company's political committee stopped making campaign contributions to federal candidates in January and plans to continue the freeze all year. Lawmakers argued that the dealership closings will put thousands of people out of work and offer few savings to GM or Chrysler, which have received billions of dollars in federal aid. The industry, in response, says taxpayers' investment is best protected by shedding unprofitable operations and strengthening the bottom line as fast as possible. It's not our place to change your decision, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, told the auto executives.But it is our place ... to make sure that everyone is treated as well as can be in these circumstances.Chrysler has identified 789 dealerships it plans to close next week, about a quarter of the company's dealership network. Dealers received only three weeks' notice. General Motors told 1,100 dealerships it does not plan to renew their franchise agreements in late 2010 and expects to shed an additional 900 dealerships through attrition and by selling or discontinuing its Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn brands. Chrysler says its departing dealerships have resold or redistributed about 90 percent of their inventory and parts through a company program. But dealers being let go want the Obama administration to give them more time.We have an eight-month supply of vehicles and only three weeks to clear them out,Whatley told the committee. GM said the dealers it's not renewing are being given until October 2010 to close.

Meanwhile, a group of Republicans distressed by the Obama administration's temporary nationalization of GM is proposing that congressional approval be required before money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program is used to buy a stake in a company.

The lawmakers complained that Congress had no opportunity to review the Obama administration's decision to take a 60 percent ownership of GM. General Motors needed a real bankruptcy, not a political bankruptcy,said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. We end up owning 60 percent of the stock and not a single vote was cast on that plan,said Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb. Johanns said the amendment, which they hope to consider Thursday, would apply to any money provided after May 29. The third Detroit automaker, Ford Motor Corp., has not filed for bankruptcy protection and has not taken any federal bailout money. It has also not announced widespread dealership closings.Car dealers are a potent political force, contributing more than $9 million to federal candidates for the 2008 elections.Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Bernanke: start work now to curb budget deficit By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer – Wed Jun 3, 1:24 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday urged Congress and the administration to cut record-high budget deficits, warning that they could erode investor confidence and endanger the economy's long-term health.Bernanke's comments came as concerns grow at home and overseas about the United States' mounting red ink.

Even as we take steps to address the recession and threats to financial stability, maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance,Bernanke told the House Budget Committee.The White House estimates that the government will rack up an unprecedented $1.8 trillion budget deficit this year. That would be more than four times last year's all-time high.The recession has taken a bite out of tax revenues paid by people and companies. At the same time, the government's spending has risen, paying billions to shore up banks, help the unemployed and others hurt by the downturn, the longest since World War II.Such forceful government intervention to fight the worst financial crisis since the 1930s and lift the U.S. out of recession was necessary and appropriate even though it worsened the nation's budget deficit, he said.Bernanke acknowledged that Congress and the administration face formidable near-term challenges that must be addressed as they take steps to stabilize the financial system, reduce home foreclosures and spur banks to lend more freely. The success of these efforts will be crucial to turning the economy around.However, he cautioned: Unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth.Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the panel's ranking Republican, raised concerns about the budget deficits and the Fed's own actions to stimulate the economy, including buying government debt.

This can be a dangerous policy mix,Ryan warned, adding it could lead to runaway inflation.With the recovery likely to be subdued, inflation will remain low, Bernanke predicted.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in rare public criticism, took a swipe at actions by the Fed and central banks in Europe to fight the global recession. She fears that the moves could lead to problems in the future.I respectfully disagree with her views,Bernanke said.The U.S. and global economies, including Germany, have faced an extraordinary combination of a financial crisis ... plus a very serious downturn,the Fed chief explained.And in that context, I think strong action on both the fiscal and monetary sides is justified to try to avoid an even more severe outcome.

Bernanke said he was comfortable with the Fed's actions.

Just days earlier, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner assured leaders of China — the single-biggest holder of U.S. debt — that President Barack Obama was committed to tackling soaring budget deficits. In March, China's Premier Wen Jiabao roiled financial markets when he expressed concern about the safety of China's holding of U.S. government debt.Observing the recent rise in rates on mortgages and longer-term Treasury securities, Bernanke said the increases appear to reflect concerns about large federal deficits as well as greater optimism about the economic outlook. It also reflects a slow movement by investors away from the safe haven of U.S. bonds, reversing a pattern seen in the depths of the recession.Bernanke cited improvements in credit markets, but again warned that a relapse could hurt the economy's recovery prospects. He also said that banks are meeting with some success in raising capital in private markets, suggesting greater investor confidence in the banking system.

Bernanke told lawmakers he hoped that within four or five years the government will have removed itself from the financial bailout business. Polling data suggest Americans are increasingly worried about mounting deficit and debt. An AP-GfK poll in April gave Obama relatively poor grades on the deficit, with just 49 percent of respondents approving of the president's handling of the issue and 41 percent disapproving. By contrast, Obama's overall approval rating was 64 percent, with just 30 percent disapproving. The danger of prolonged and persistently high budget deficits is that they can cause investors to lose their appetite for U.S. debt, which would drive up interest rates. Higher interest rates could discourage spending and investment, hurting the economy. We cannot add infinitely to the national debt without facing the consequences in global credit markets, or on our future capacity to borrow,said the committee's chairman John Spratt, D-S.C. Getting the budget deficits under control is especially important given the huge wave of baby boomers hitting retirement that will be tapping Social Security and Medicare, Bernanke said.

The financial health of those two programs already are fading faster under the weight of the recession. They are headed for insolvency years sooner than previously expected, the government warned last month. Unless changes in Social Security are enacted, the retirement fund will be depleted in 2037, four years sooner than projected last year. The Medicare trust fund is in even worse shape. It is projected to become insolvent in 2017, two years earlier than expected. The U.S. has lost a net total of 5.7 million jobs since the recession began, meaning fewer payroll taxes are flowing into the funds. Bernanke repeated his belief that the recession will end this year, and that the economy will start growing again later this year. But he again warned that the pace of the recovery will be slow and that unemployment — now at a quarter-century peak of 8.9 percent — will rise even after the recession ends. Merkel expressed concerns central banks may have gone too far in trying to fight the global financial crisis.I view with great skepticism the powers that the Fed has, for example, and how, in the European area, the Bank of England has developed its own little lines,she said. The ECB also bowed somewhat to international pressure with its decision to buy bonds, she added.We must together return to an independent central bank policy and to a policy of good sense,Merkel said. Otherwise, in 10 years we will again be standing at exactly this point.

Finance ministers perplexed in the extreme Published on June 03 2009 Der Spiegel Europe is right-wing but...While the EU is bent on cleansing the financial markets of gamblers and toxic assets and taming the banking sector, London, Dublin and parts of Eastern Europe are fighting for free markets.

In response to the unrelenting question as to how much more tax money he’ll have to slip the banks, the German finance minister scowls: I don’t know. I won’t know till after the fact.And when late in the evening, after a cabinet meeting in Berlin or a council of ministers in Brussels, someone asks him how he’s feeling, Peer Stainbrück is wont to grumble,S----y! Europe’s finance ministers are really not to be envied these days. They ought to be pumping more and yet more billions into the economy, resounds the refrain from Washington DC. Whilst Brussels comes at them from the other side with threats of penal proceedings for excessive national debt. What’s more, the 27 EU treasurers still have to handle a very special job from their higher-ups: to get a fix on new ways to regulate the market. The Commission has made some initial proposals, Parliament passed an initial law: large-scale interbank loans are to be limited in future to 25 per cent of equity. And each bank has to hold on to at least five per cent of any risky assets it sells to customers. But that’s all for now. And the splashy announcements are unlikely to be followed any time soon by further concrete action.The word from treasury circles is that there is a rift running right through the EU: the old Continental core is once again at loggerheads with the English, the Irish and some of the new club members from the East. London and Dublin, spearheading the resistance, are blocking anything and everything liable to cause problems for their financial sector. That is actually understandable, seeing as Great Britain and Ireland hardly have any other industries left with a future. But this is a recklessly risky road for Europe to go.

In theory, at least, almost everyone agrees. Chancellor Angela Merkel was delighted that even Britain’s standoffish PM Gordon Brown spoke out clearly at the meeting of heads of State for a stronger step towards regulation. Only he apparently neglected to tell his own cabinet, permanent secretaries and officials about his change of course. The EU majority still seem determined to restore the primacy of politics even in the latterly largely deregulated markets – at least as far as possible. These suggestions already go way too far for some, not far enough for others. The Commission’s hedge funds bill has more holes than Swiss cheese, opines Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, leader of the Socialist faction in the European Parliament. Even France’s conservative finance minister Christine Lagarde sees dangerous loopholes. She cites Brussels’ intention of allowing funds certified in other regions of the world into the EU without any further vetting, which she fears could prove a Trojan horse for intruders from tax havens abroad.The British, in particular, beg to differ. Indeed, English funds sentinels make quite sure the gentlemen in the City are not subjected to unreasonable demands. They threaten counteraction: if the leading-strings get too tight, they will simply seek out other places to trade in Asia or America – for which the British press are whooping up public opinion. Applause for that sentiment is coming chiefly from Europe’s new Eastern members, where many politicians need not protect any banking centres themselves, but stand ideologically close to the Anglo-Irish position. Some believe an unregulated economic dynamic does more for the economy than a made-in-Germany security construct. Many of them grew up in the straitjacket of Communist society and studied free market economics at US universities.The West-East resistance is already making some headway: Europe is hardly likely to unleash a Community watchdog with real teeth. Control will remain in national hands. In all likelihood, the only bone of contention will be how closely the national overseers are to compare notes, and according to what rules they are to assess risks and, if need be, intervene in the market.Only the chiefs themselves could still see to it that more is agreed in June than insubstantial chapter headings, hopes one Brussels summit organiser. He believes French president Nicolas Sarkozy would like to present himself at home as the Great Regulator. Berlin’s chancellor Merkel will hardly want to remain on the sidelines – in the middle of an election campaign. And Gordon Brown, he adds, has already gone too far out on a rhetorical limb to block everything now. But many experts doubt whether all that will be enough to learn the right lessons for the future from the present crisis.
Hans-Jürgen Schlamp

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.

Cocaine Dealers Demand To Be Paid In Gold
Joe Weisenthal|Jun. 2, 2009, 8:25 AM|19

Drugs and the greenback. They just go together--whether it's a drug dealer sitting in front of a cartoonishly large pile of money, or a user finding an unconventional use of a $100 bill. (Or a $1 bill, as pictured.)But it appears that some drug dealers may be losing confidence in the dollar.Telegraph: Paul Mylchreest, of the Thunder Road Report, notes that a very suspicious 174 tonnes of gold compounds were exported to the Dominican Republican – that well known hub of the world gold trade.Maybe these gold compounds really are used in gold paint and that artist who normally puts colourful tarpaulins around islands and buildings has painted the whole of the Dominican Republic gold,Mylchreest ponders.I'll go and check Google Earth.But, he reckons the transformation of the Dominican Republic into a key staging post in the cocaine trade between South America and the US, is a far more likely.Wouldn't it be interesting if drug smugglers have seen the writing on the wall for the paper dollar and will now only accept payment in gold bullion? If true, they're obviously not the first to have that idea. Gold also has the advantage of being meltable and turned into something else without any pesky serial numbers, or anything that a bank could identify and delete with the stroke of a key.Next they'll be demanding payment in oil, copper and rare earth metals, alas none of those things are easily rolled into a drug usage device, so currency will alwayss retain some value.

Special Dispatch | No. 2379 | June 2, 2009 Lebanon /Syria /Iran Lebanese Shi'ite Politician Ahmad Al-Assad Criticizes Iranian Regime: Its Path is Unacceptable

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese Shi'ite parliamentary candidate Ahmad Al-Assad, which aired on Future News TV on April 21, 2009:

The Iranian Regime Wants to Establish an Empire in the Region

Ahmad Al-Assad: We, the Shi'ites, go back hundreds of years. We are civilized, enlightened, secular people, who interact with other civilizations in a very positive way. Unfortunately, since the Iranian regime of Khomeini came to power, the greatest transformation has occurred with regard to Shi'ite history and tradition, of which I am proud to be a part. Therefore, people like me are trying to return Shi'ization to its natural course.[...]Today, it is not [just] me who is in danger. Even the brothers from Hizbullah admit that they believe in integral relations with the Iranian regime, and therefore, they are ready to carry out any order coming from the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime wants to establish an empire in the region, and to expand its influence.I don't have a problem with anyone with ambitions. You have ambitions too, and it is only natural. Every person should have ambitions. What's important is that a person fulfills his ambitions with his own capabilities.In today's modern world – in spite of America and the whole world – it is China that is competing with America. Why? Because for the past 50 years they have been working to build their economy, their science, their technology, and their media. This has gradually enabled them to compete with today's superpower, the U.S.Iran Shouldn't Consolidate Its Status... By Associating With Parties in Lebanon, Palestine, and Elsewhere, Using Them... [to] Pressure the International Community – This Path is Unacceptable.

This is the way Iran should consolidate its status – not by associating itself with parties in Lebanon, Palestine, and elsewhere, using them to create obstacles and to pressure the international community. This path is unacceptable.The Iranian regime has no interest in Lebanon becoming a state in the full sense of the word, because in such a case, Iran would not be able to use Lebanon to pressure the international community.This is my problem with the brothers in Hizbullah – the agenda they are following is not in the interest of building the Lebanese state. The interest of the Shi'ites in Lebanon is the same as that of all Lebanese – to build the Lebanese state. No matter how much money comes from Iran, it serves a very small group of the Shi'ites in Lebanon, while the majority do not benefit from it. On the contrary, they keep regressing.[...]After 2000, we should have worked hard to build the Lebanese state. The real struggle in today's world is not conducted with weapons, but with economics, science, technology, universities, and the media. This is the struggle in which we, both Lebanese and Arabs, need to excel, and to defeat the Israelis, so that we can really say that we have overcome them. With Katyushas and the like, we will achieve nothing.

U.S. releases secret nuclear list accidentally,Report gives details about hundreds of the nation's nuclear sites, programs By William J. Broad updated 5:19 a.m. ET, Wed., June 3, 2009

The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked highly confidential,that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons. The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an on-line newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy. That publicity set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed. It also prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the document was made public.On Tuesday evening, after inquiries from The New York Times, the document was withdrawn from a Government Printing Office Web site. Several nuclear experts argued that any dangers from the disclosure were minimal, given that the general outlines of the most sensitive information were already known publicly.

These screw-ups happen,said John M. Deutch, a former Director of Central Intelligence and Deputy Secretary of Defense who is now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It’s going further than I would have gone but doesn’t look like a serious breach.

A physical security threat
But David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington that tracks nuclear proliferation, said information that shows where nuclear fuels are stored can provide thieves or terrorists inside information that can help them seize the material, which is why that kind of data is not given out. It can become a physical security threat.The information, considered sensitive but not classified, was assembled for transmission later this year to the International Atomic Energy Agency as part of a process by which the United States is opening itself up to more stringent inspections in hopes that foreign countries will do likewise, especially Iran and other states believed to be clandestinely developing nuclear arms. President Obama sent the document to Congress on May 5 for Congressional review and possible revision, and the Government Printing Office subsequently posted the draft declaration on its web site. As of Tuesday evening, the reasons for that action remained a mystery. On its cover, the document attributes its publication to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. But Lynne Weil, the committee spokesperson, said the committee neither published it nor had control over its publication.

No military information
Gary Somerset, a spokesman for the Government Printing Office, said it had produced the document under normal operating procedures but had now removed it from its web site pending further review.The document contains no military information about the nation’s stockpile of nuclear arms, or about the facilities and programs that guard such weapons. Rather, it presents that appears to be an exhaustive listing of the sites that comprise the nation’s civilian nuclear complex, which stretches coast-to-coast and includes everything from nuclear reactors to highly sensitive sites at weapon laboratories.Steven Aftergood, a security expert at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, revealed the existence of the document Monday in Secrecy News,an electronic newsletter that he publishes on the web.

One-stop shop for information
He expressed bafflement at its disclosure, calling it a one-stop shop for information on U.S. nuclear programs.In his letter of transmittal to Congress, Mr. Obama characterized the information as sensitive but unclassified and said all the information that the United States gathered to comply with the advanced protocol shall be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. The report details the locations of hundreds of nuclear sites and activities. Each page is marked across the top HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL SAFEGUARDS SENSITIVE,with the exception of pages that detailed additional information such as site maps. In his transmittal letter, Mr. Obama said the cautionary language was a classification category of the I.A.E.A.’s inspectors.The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna is a unit of the United Nations whose mandate is to enforce a global treaty that tries to keep civilian nuclear programs from engaging in secret military work. In recent years, it has sought to gain wide adherence to a set of strict inspection rules, known formally as the additional protocol. The rules give the agency powerful new rights to poke its nose beyond known nuclear sites into factories, storage areas, laboratories, schools, and anywhere else that a nation might be preparing to flex its nuclear muscle. The United States signed the agreement in 1998 but only recently moved forward with its implementation.The report lists many particulars about nuclear programs and facilities at the nation’s three nuclear weapons labs — Los Alamos, Livermore and Sandia — as well as dozens of other federal and private nuclear sites.

Map shows location of a tube vault
One of the most serious disclosures appears to center on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which houses the Y-12 National Security Complex, a sprawling site ringed by barbed wire and armed guards. It calls itself the nation’s Fort Knox for highly enriched uranium — a main fuel of nuclear arms. The report lists Tube Vault 16, East Storage Array,as a prospective site for nuclear inspection. It said the site, in building 9720-5, contains highly enriched uranium for long-term storage.

An attached map is marked OFFICIAL USE ONLY, with a dated note from an official saying that the document may be exempt from public release under the Freedom of Information Act.The map shows the exact location of Tube Vault 16 along a hallway and its orientation in relation to geographic north, although not its location in the Y-12complex.Tube vaults are typically cylinders embedded in concrete that prevent the accidental formation of critical masses of highly enriched uranium that could undergo bursts of nuclear fission, known as a criticality incident. According to federal reports, a typical tube vault can hold up to 44 tons of highly enriched uranium in 200tubes. Motion detectors and television cameras typically monitor activity at each vault.Another entry details a site at Hanford site of the Department of Energy, located near Richland, Wash., on the Columbia River. Its job was making plutonium — another bomb fuel — for the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

It's no national-security breach
The document lists building 2736-Z as a site for possible inspection, saying it contains plutonium. An addendum provides a building map, marked OFFICIAL USE ONLY.The Senate Foreign Relations committee also received the sensitive document but kept it private, a committee spokesman said. Thomas B. Cochran, a senior scientist in the nuclear program of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a private group in Washington that tracks atomic arsenals, called the document harmless.It’s a better listing than anything I’ve seen of the nation’s civilian nuclear complex, he said. But it’s no national-security breach. It confirms what’s already out there and adds a bit more information.This article, U.S. releases secret list of nuclear sites accidentally, first appeared in The New York Times.

Secret Canada nuclear papers left in TV studio Wed Jun 3, 9:54 am ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Senior Canadian officials left a binder full of confidential nuclear documents in a television studio and made no attempt to retrieve them, the TV network involved said on Wednesday.The incident is likely to increase pressure on the minority Conservative government, already under fire for its handling of the economic crisis. The main opposition Liberal Party said on Tuesday it would decide next week whether to try to bring down the Conservatives in Parliament.The binder was found in a CTV television studio after a visit by Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt. CTV, which kept the binder for six days before breaking the news, said the documents showed the government would spend far more money on a troubled nuclear reactor than it had acknowledged.The aging Chalk River reactor in eastern Ontario was shut down in May and will not resume production of medical isotopes for at least three months. It is run by government-owned firm Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, which Ottawa wants to sell to foreign firms.Chalk River produces most of the isotopes distributed by MDS Nordion, a subsidiary of Canadian health sciences company MDS Inc, and about a third of the global medical isotope supply.

CTV said the documents showed the government would spend C$72 million ($66 million) more on Chalk River this year than it had revealed in the budget. They also listed another C$100 million in supplementary funding to keep AECL solvent.The revelation is doubly embarrassing for Ottawa, given that former Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier was forced to resign in May 2008 after leaving secret documents in the apartment of a girlfriend who had ties to organized crime.The nuclear documents included a note listing total spending on AECL since 2006 at C$1.7 billion and a memo characterizing this as cleaning up a Liberal mess. The Conservatives took over from the Liberals in early 2006.Geoff Regan, natural resources spokesman for the Liberals, questioned how anyone could have confidence in Raitt.It's extremely disturbing to think that they would leave these documents behind and then no one would go looking for them for days on end,he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.No one from the offices of Raitt or Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded to requests for comment.The Liberals need the support of both of the other two opposition parties in Parliament to bring down Harper and that is by no means guaranteed.(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway)

Obama visits Saudi king before high-stakes speech By JENNIFER LOVEN, AP White House Correspondent JUNE 3,09

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Opening a mission to write a new chapter on Islam and the West, President Barack Obama consulted Wednesday with the Saudi king in the place where Islam began,prelude to a high-stakes speech in Egypt meant to ease long-held Muslim grievances against the United States.The son of a Kenyan Muslim who lived part of his childhood in Muslim-majority Indonesia, Obama planned what aides called a truth-telling address on Thursday, aimed directly at the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. Many harbor animosity toward the U.S. over its staunch support for Israel, its terrorist-fighting policies and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many Americans, likewise, formed negative perceptions of the Muslim world after the 9/11 attacks.In advance, Saudi King Abdullah staged a lavish welcome after Obama's all-night flight to Riyadh.I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty's counsel,Obama said. The president and the king talked in the splendor of Abdullah's sprawling retreat, a lush patch of searing desert.The king, who was hosting Obama for an overnight stay, called his guest a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position.Birthplace of Islam, Saudi Arabia is still considered guardian of the faith as home to the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. The Sunni Arab powerhouse also sits on the world's largest oil reserves, buys billions in U.S. military equipment and has cooperated extensively with the U.S. on anti-terrorist operations.As such, Obama's goals of opening what speechwriter Ben Rhodes called a new chapter between the United States and the Muslim world could hardly proceed without Saudi support. Obama also came asking for specific requests of help from Abdullah on a range of related issues, such as peace between the long-feuding Israelis and Palestinians, Iran's suspected efforts to build a nuclear bomb, rising Taliban extremism in Pakistan and a destination for some 100 Yemeni detainees now in the U.S. at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp.Denis McDonough, a deputy national security adviser to Obama, could not immediately say whether the president's requests were successful after meetings between the two leaders and their delegations that stretched over nearly four hours.

Abdullah showered Obama with compliments in the welcoming ceremonies and presented him with the King Abdul Aziz Order of Merit, a large medallion with a thick gold chain that is the kingdom's highest honor.Those are only given to the very few friends of the king, and you are certainly one of those,Abdullah said.Goodness gracious,Obama said as an aide approached with the striking necklace. That's something there.He said:I consider the king's friendship a great blessing, and I am very appreciative that he would bestow this honor on me during this visit.Obama had pledged during his presidential campaign to deliver a major address from an Islamic capital within 100 days of becoming president. He did so with a speech to the parliament in Turkey, a secular but overwhelmingly Muslim nation. The White House says his speech in Cairo, a center of Islamic thought and culture, is the one he had in mind in making that promise, and set high expectations for it.Al-Qaida countered Obama's outreach. Osama bin Laden released an audio tape accusing Obama of inflaming hatred toward the U.S. by ordering Pakistan to crack down on militants in Swat Valley and block Islamic law there. His deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, said farcical visits or elegant words in Cairo can't disguise bloody messages the U.S. sends to Muslims with its prosecution of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.The message from bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind-in-hiding who was born in Saudi Arabia and directed the 2001 attacks that involved 15 hijackers from the desert monarchy, was broadcast by Al-Jazeera Television almost exactly as Obama's plane touched down in Riyadh.Americans have seen these types of threats before,White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in response.This is much more an effort to try to upstage.Aides spared no effort to ensure Obama's speech Thursday reaches a vast Muslim audience.A special State Department Web site lets people everywhere register to receive and reply to speech highlights; Obama's remarks were to be played live on the White House Web site and translated into 13 languages; and excerpts were being distributed not only on the White House's dedicated YouTube page but also on special-event links on social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook, complete with live chatting opportunities.In his speech, Obama does not intend to make new policy — but to frame it differently. By stressing both U.S. respect for Muslims and the need for all sides, including Washington, to make changes, the president hopes to start setting relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world down a more constructive path even while some disagreements persist.

There's been a breach, an undeniable breach, between America and the Islamic world, senior adviser David Axelrod said. That breach has been years in the making. It's not going to be reversed with one speech — it's not going to be reversed, perhaps, in one administration. But the president is a strong believer in open, honest dialogue.The centerpiece of the speech is the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, a driving force behind Muslim anger worldwide. Obama was prepared to discuss in some detail what needs to be done to resolve it,though by urging all sides to meet obligations already agreed upon, Rhodes said. That includes calling for a full halt to all growth in Jewish settlements in the Palestinian West Bank, the subject of a striking rift between the U.S. and Israel in recent days. It also includes telling Palestinians that anti-Israel rhetoric, and the violence it spawns, does not benefit their daily lives. Obama also was to call on his hosts, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as well as other Arab nations, to put actual money behind their rhetorical support for the struggling Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas. Obama also wants to persuade Arab allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, to make conciliatory diplomatic moves toward Israel. The president also was to explain the U.S. goals in Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran. And he wasn't going to shy away from a hot topic — the fact that he was to speak from Egypt, which has been under the iron rule of President Hosni Mubarak for nearly 30 years.

Obama planned to salute Egypt's historically positive role in Mideast peacemaking, while also talking about the need for a better democratic and human rights model. In one gesture, organizers made sure that members of Egypt's main opposition movement, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, would be in the audience at Cairo University. The president also planned to talk with a sense of candor about U.S. policy that has largely shunned armed militias that have won elections in the Arab world, such as Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Rhodes said. State Department's speech text-messaging site: http://www.america.gov/sms.html

OBAMA CAIRO SPEECH VIDEO TEXT AT END OF STORIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BlqLwCKkeY&feature=player_embedded

President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, as prepared for delivery. Text provided by the White House. WEDNESDAY JUNE 4,09

I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world – tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.

So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. This cycle of suspicion and discord must end.I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.That is what I will try to do – to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.

I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library.So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words – within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: Out of many, one.Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores – that includes nearly seven million American Muslims in our country today who enjoy incomes and education that are higher than average.

Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state of our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That is why the U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common aspirations – to live in peace and security; to get an education and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity.Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all.For we have learned from recent experience that when a financial system weakens in one country, prosperity is hurt everywhere. When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk. When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations. When violent extremists operate in one stretch of mountains, people are endangered across an ocean. And when innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. That is what it means to share this world in the 21st century. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings.This is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating. Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; progress must be shared.

That does not mean we should ignore sources of tension. Indeed, it suggests the opposite: we must face these tensions squarely. And so in that spirit, let me speak as clearly and plainly as I can about some specific issues that I believe we must finally confront together.The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.In Ankara, I made clear that America is not – and never will be – at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people.The situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America's goals, and our need to work together. Over seven years ago, the United States pursued al Qaeda and the Taliban with broad international support. We did not go by choice, we went because of necessity. I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11. But let us be clear: al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet Al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with.Make no mistake: we do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case.

That's why we're partnering with a coalition of forty-six countries. And despite the costs involved, America's commitment will not weaken. Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists. They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of different faiths – more than any other, they have killed Muslims. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam. The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind. The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace.We also know that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who have been displaced. And that is why we are providing more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend upon.Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future – and to leave Iraq to Iraqis. I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources. Iraq's sovereignty is its own. That is why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. That is why we will honor our agreement with Iraq's democratically-elected government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012. We will help Iraq train its Security Forces and develop its economy. But we will support a secure and united Iraq as a partner, and never as a patron.

And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter our principles. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year.So America will defend itself respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities which are also threatened. The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer.The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed – more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people – Muslims and Christians – have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations – large and small – that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It is easy to point fingers – for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel's founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.That is in Israel's interest, Palestine's interest, America's interest, and the world's interest. That is why I intend to personally pursue this outcome with all the patience that the task requires. The obligations that the parties have agreed to under the Road Map are clear. For peace to come, it is time for them – and all of us – to live up to our responsibilities.Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered.

Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build. The Palestinian Authority must develop its capacity to govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people. Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right to exist.At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.Finally, the Arab States must recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state; to recognize Israel's legitimacy; and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past.America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. We cannot impose peace. But privately, many Muslims recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true.

Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons.It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect. But it is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path.I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. And any nation – including Iran – should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the Treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it. And I am hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.

The fourth issue that I will address is democracy.I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.There is no straight line to realize this promise. But this much is clear: governments that protect these rights are ultimately more stable, successful and secure. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. America respects the right of all peaceful and law-abiding voices to be heard around the world, even if we disagree with them. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments – provided they govern with respect for all their people.This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.

The fifth issue that we must address together is religious freedom.Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it is being challenged in many different ways.Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of another's. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld – whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq.Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.

Indeed, faith should bring us together. That is why we are forging service projects in America that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews. That is why we welcome efforts like Saudi Arabian King Abdullah's Interfaith dialogue and Turkey's leadership in the Alliance of Civilizations. Around the world, we can turn dialogue into Interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action – whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster.

The sixth issue that I want to address is women's rights.I know there is debate about this issue. I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous.Now let me be clear: issues of women's equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, we have seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity – men and women – to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams.

Finally, I want to discuss economic development and opportunity.I know that for many, the face of globalization is contradictory. The Internet and television can bring knowledge and information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities. In all nations – including my own – this change can bring fear. Fear that because of modernity we will lose of control over our economic choices, our politics, and most importantly our identities – those things we most cherish about our communities, our families, our traditions, and our faith.But I also know that human progress cannot be denied. There need not be contradiction between development and tradition. Countries like Japan and South Korea grew their economies while maintaining distinct cultures. The same is true for the astonishing progress within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education.This is important because no development strategy can be based only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained while young people are out of work. Many Gulf States have enjoyed great wealth as a consequence of oil, and some are beginning to focus it on broader development. But all of us must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century, and in too many Muslim communities there remains underinvestment in these areas. I am emphasizing such investments within my country. And while America in the past has focused on oil and gas in this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement.On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we will match promising Muslim students with internships in America; invest in on-line learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo.

On economic development, we will create a new corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries. And I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries, and to help transfer ideas to the marketplace so they can create jobs. We will open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and appoint new Science Envoys to collaborate on programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, and grow new crops. And today I am announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.All these things must be done in partnership. Americans are ready to join with citizens and governments; community organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim communities around the world to help our people pursue a better life.The issues that I have described will not be easy to address. But we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek – a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God's children are respected. Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together.I know there are many – Muslim and non-Muslim – who question whether we can forge this new beginning. Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some suggest that it isn't worth the effort – that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash. Many more are simply skeptical that real change can occur. There is so much fear, so much mistrust. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward. And I want to particularly say this to young people of every faith, in every country – you, more than anyone, have the ability to remake this world.All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort – a sustained effort – to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.

It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There is also one rule that lies at the heart of every religion – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples – a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian, or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the heart of billions. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.The Holy Koran tells us, O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.The Talmud tells us: The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace.The Holy Bible tells us, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you.