Monday, June 22, 2009

NORTH KOREA SHIP MAY BE CARRYING MISSLES

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

Irish PM refuses to contemplate EU treaty defeat JUNE 21,09

DUBLIN (AFP) – Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said Sunday he was confident Ireland would not deliver a second rejection of the EU's reform Lisbon treaty in a referendum later this year.I believe the people will say 'yes' on this occasion. I am just not prepared to contemplate defeat,he told RTE state radio.Last week, Cowen secured legal guarantees from his European partners on issues of concern to Irish voters that contributed to the shock 53 percent rejection of the treaty in a referendum a year ago.The guarantees, which are to become a protocol attached to a future EU treaty, affirm Ireland's military neutrality and taxation system, as well as its stance on social issues like abortion.Cowen said that having dealt with those issues the campaign for the second referendum to be held in October would now be a broader argument about where Ireland is going in the future and what role the EU would play.

That's the issue and I believe that, as we have seen consistently, the Irish people will support our continued and effective and enthusiastic participation in the EU in the future.The most recent polls show 54 percent would now vote yes for the Lisbon treaty.Support for the treaty has been growing as Ireland's former Celtic Tiger economy has sunk deeper into recession.Cowen said the treaty would help Ireland deal with its economic crisis.It ensures we can come out of recession far more quickly by being part of an EU that is making decisions, that has institutions that can be more effective and efficient in their decision-making processes.The treaty, designed to streamline the 27-nation bloc's decision-making, was a replacement for a planned EU constitution, which was scuppered by French and Dutch voters in 2005.Only Ireland was constitutionally bound to put the treaty to a public vote. Almost all the other EU members have endorsed the treaty through votes in their national parliaments.

Sarkozy in historic address to French parliament
ELITSA VUCHEVA Today JUNE 22,09 @ 09:13 CET


French President Nicolas Sarkozy will on Monday (22 June) make a historic speech before a joint session of the French parliament gathered at the Palace of Versailles to lay out his domestic and international reform agenda. It will be the first time a French president addresses the parliament in more than 100 years after constitutional reform passed last summer by a thin majority made the move possible. Little to no details have been leaked about what the content of Mr Sarkozy's speech will be, but he is to touch upon European and international as well as domestic issues.He is expected to present his vision of the European Union and of the reforms it needs in the aftermath of the European elections earlier this month, which saw a record-low turnout across Europe.On Friday, the French president called for a strong and ambitious first EU president, provided that the bloc's Lisbon Treaty enters into force, and said the EU institutions, notably the European Commission, should be made stronger.Concerning domestic issues, Mr Sarkozy is expected to speak about the financial crisis and its impact, the employment of older people, the reform of the local authorities and the possibility of having a law that regulates wearing a burqa.

The French president is also to announce a government reshuffle on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to French media reports.His address, which comes almost half-way through his mandate – Mr Sarkozy was elected in May 2007 – is being compared by the media to the US president's state of the union address to Congress. It is the president's way to leave his mark in the institutions' history in a very solemn way, comments daily Le Figaro.The move is seen as a good thing by 56 percent of the French, according to a poll in Sunday's Journal du Dimanche.But the opposition has criticised a denial of democracy and a presidentialisation of the regime.Besides a monarchical symbolism [which is] totally inappropriate for the gathering of the Republic's Assemblies, the cost of a Congress held in the palace of the Sun King (the palace of Versailles was Louis XIV's chateau) is estimated between €500,000 and €1 million,socialist MP Andre Vallini was quoted as saying by Le Figaro.After an internal debate, the Socialists eventually decided to go to the so-called Congress – the National Assembly and the Senate gathered for a joint session – and to listen to the president, but will not participate in the debate that will follow Mr Sarkozy's speech.

The Greens and the Communists have refused to go at all.

Presidents have been banned from setting foot in the French parliament for more than a century in order to guarantee the institution's full independence from the executive.The last president to speak before the French parliament was Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, during France's second republic in 1848.

INTERESTING 3 MILLION FAKE VOTES ALL TO AHMADINEJAD NO DOUBT,THE STREET PROTESTERS ARE CORRECT AHMADINEJAD PROBABLY WOULD HAVE LOST AND NOW POSSIBLY 150 IRANIAN CHILDREN MURDERED BY THIS SO CALLED PEACEFUL RELIGIOUS ISLAM AND IRANS SO CALLED PEACEFUL LEADERS.

Iranian Guards Issue Warning as Vote Errors Are Admitted By NAZILA FATHI and ALAN COWELL Published: June 22, 2009

TEHRAN — Hours after a warning from the powerful Revolutionary Guard not to return to the streets, about a thousand protesters defiantly gathered in central Tehran on Monday and were quickly dispersed in an overwhelming show of force by police who used clubs and tear gas. Up in Arms: A Struggle for the Legacy of the Iranian Revolution (June 21, 2009) Times Topics: Ali Khamenei | IranThe protesters, far fewer than the numbers who attended mass rallies last week, turned out despite the warning, on the Guards’ Web site, that they would face a revolutionary confrontation if they continued to challenge the results of the June 12 election and their country’s supreme leader, who has pronounced the ballot to be fair.Even so, Iran’s most senior panel of election monitors, in the most sweeping acknowledgment that election was flawed, said Monday that the number of votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the actual number of voters, according to a state television report.The discrepancies could affect some three million ballots of what the government says was 40 million cast, giving the official victory to the incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The authorities insisted that the discrepancies did not violate Iranian law. The Guardian Council, charged with certifying the election, said it was not clear whether they would decisively change the result, which placed Mir Hussein Moussavi — who contends the election was stolen from him — in a distant second. He has urged his supporters to continue their defiance, but he could face arrest for doing so. Moussavi’s calling for illegal protests and issuing provocative statements have been a source of recent unrests in Iran,Ali Shahrokhi, head of parliament’s judiciary committee, semi-official Fars news agency reported, according to Reuters. Such criminal acts should be confronted firmly.He added: The ground is paved to legally chase Moussavi.Mr. Moussavi, the more moderate of the candidates, used a posting on his Web site Sunday night to urge his supporters to demonstrate peacefully, despite warnings from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that no protests of the vote would be allowed.Protesting to lies and fraud is your right,Mr. Moussavi said.In an apparent response, a Guards statement Monday told protesters to be prepared for a resolution and revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other security forces and disciplinary forces” if they took their protests into a second week, news reports said.The Basij is a militia accused by the protesters of brutally repressing demonstrations that culminated in a day of bloodshed on Saturday that ended in the deaths of at least 10 protesters, according to the state television. The Guards told demonstrators Monday to end the sabotage and rioting activities,calling their protests a conspiracy against Iran. The warning echoed remarks by a Foreign Ministry spokesman who blamed western governments and media for the unrest.

The official result gave Mr. Ahmadinejad 63 percent of the ballots — an 11-million vote advantage — to Mr. Moussavi’s 34 percent. Turnout was put at 85 percent.At a news conference Monday, Hassan Qashqavi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, called the turnout a brilliant gem which is shining on the peak of dignity of the Iranian nation.
He accused unidentified western powers and news organizations, which are operating under extremely tight official restrictions, of spreading unacceptable anarchy and vandalism.But, he said, the outcome of the vote would not be changed. We will not allow western media to turn this gem into a worthless stone,he said.

Mr. Qashqavi drew comparisons with American election results.

No one encouraged the American people to stage a riot because they disagreed with the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004, he said. Britain’s Foreign Office said Monday that because of the continuing unrest it would evacuate the families of staff members based in Iran. A spokeswoman, who spoke in return for anonymity under civil service rules, said the violence in Tehran had a significant impact on the families of our staff who have been unable to carry on their lives as normal.Quoted earlier by Press TV, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the 12-member Guardian Council denied claims by another losing candidate, Mohsen Rezai, that irregularities had occurred in up to 170 voting districts.Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100 percent of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80 to 170 cities are not accurate — the incident has happened in only 50 cities,Mr. Kadkhodaei said.But he said that a voter turnout in excess of the registered voting list was a normal phenomenon because people could legally vote in areas other than those in which they were registered. Nonetheless, some analysts in Tehran said, the number of people said to be traveling on election day seemed unusually high.The news emerged on the English-language Press TV Web site late Sunday as a bitter rift among Iran’s ruling clerics deepened. As increasingly violent protests have swirled through Tehran since the elections, Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered the Guardian Council to investigate the opposition’s allegations of electoral fraud. The council itself has offered a random partial recount of 10 percent of the ballot.The opposition has alleged a total of 646 electoral irregularities and is demanding that the vote be annulled. But in a sermon at Friday prayers last week Ayatollah Khamenei mocked the idea that the huge margin attributed to Mr. Ahmadinejad could have been won through fraud.On Sunday, the police detained five relatives of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who leads two influential councils and openly supported Mr. Moussavi’s election. The relatives, including Mr. Rafsanjani’s daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, were released after several hours.The developments, coming one day after protests here in the capital and elsewhere were crushed by police officers and militia members using guns, clubs, tear gas and water cannons, suggested that Ayatollah Khamenei was facing entrenched resistance among some members of the elite.

Though rivalries have been part of Iranian politics since the 1979 revolution, analysts said that open factional competition amid a major political crisis could hinder Ayatollah Khamenei’s ability to restore order.There was no verifiable accounting of the death toll from the bloodshed on Saturday, partly because the government has imposed severe restrictions on news coverage and warned foreign reporters who remained in the country to stay off the streets. It also ordered the BBC’s longtime correspondent expelled and Newsweek’s correspondent detained.State television said that 10 people had died in the weekend clashes, while radio reports said 19. The news agency ISNA said 457 people had been arrested.In the network of Internet postings and Twitter messages that has become the opposition’s major tool for organizing and sharing information, a powerful and vivid new image emerged: a video posted on several Web sites that showed a young woman, called Neda, her face covered in blood. Text posted with the video said she had been shot. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the video.The Web site of another reformist candidate, Mehdi Karoubi, referred to her as a martyr who did not have a weapon in her soft hands or a grenade in her pocket but became a victim by thugs who are supported by a horrifying security apparatus.Mr. Moussavi was not seen in public on Sunday but showed no sign of yielding. In his Web posting, he urged followers to avoid violence in your protest and behave as though you are the parents that have to tolerate your children’s misbehavior at the security forces.He also warned the government to avoid mass arrests, which will only create distance between society and the security forces.Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran, and Alan Cowell from London. Michael Slackman contributed reporting from Cairo.

EU embassies wary of hosting Iranian protesters
VALENTINA POP Today JUNE 22,09 @ 09:26 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Italy said Sunday (21 June) it had instructed its embassy in Tehran to provide humanitarian aid to wounded protesters, pending a co-ordinated response from all EU countries. But Sweden - which is about to take over the EU presidency - said it cannot grant asylum to refugees.Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini said he would discuss a European Union-wide proposal to co-ordinate assistance for wounded demonstrators during a meeting in Stockholm on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the country - Iran's leading trading partner in the EU - has instructed its embassy to help out where there is a request or need for help from injured demonstrators,the foreign ministry said in a statement.Iranian state media reported that at least 10 more people died and over 100 were injured in clashes on Saturday between demonstrators contesting the re-election of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and riot-police using truncheons, tear gas and water cannons.The Iranian government also arrested the daughter and four other relatives of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the country's most powerful men, in a move that indicated a rift among the ruling Islamic clerics over the disputed presidential election.French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the attitude of Iranian authorities was inexcusable, and highlighted the government's pariah status. Tehran, already isolated due to its nuclear ambitions, is now depriving its people of their most basic democratic rights,he said.Earlier on, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a full vote recount.Germany stands by the people in Iran who want to exercise their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly,she said. A new analysis of voting figures by independent British think tank Chatham House found irregularities in the turnout and highly implausible swings to Ahmadinejad.British foreign secretary David Miliband warned the death toll will raise the level of concern among Iranians and around the world,while US president Barack Obama toughened his stance, calling on Tehran to stop violent and unjust actions against its own people.

EU embassies on stand-by

The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said scores of injured demonstrators who had sought medical treatment after Saturday's clashes were arrested by security forces at hospitals in the capital.It said doctors had been ordered to report protest-related injuries to the authorities, and that some seriously hurt protesters had sought refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest.Several emails calling for the opening of embassy doors to protesters were sent Saturday to our embassy in Iran from Sweden, but not an avalanche, Cecilia Julin, communications chief for the Swedish Foreign Office told AFP. As things stand, Sweden cannot grant asylum on embassy territory, she said.If that decision was to be taken, it would mark a very strong gesture with regard to the Iranian government.The refusal comes at a symbolic moment, with Sweden about to take over the EU presidency, and sits strangely with the country's strong record on promoting human rights abroad.

Echoing Italy's position, France and Finland also called for a common EU approach on how to deal with refugees and asylum seekers.The Austrian foreign ministry said it had been contacted by non-governmental organisations and that anyone injured would receive first aid at its embassy in the Iranian capital, but stressed no-one had yet sought assistance.Belgium said Sunday it will not allow opposition protesters to seek refuge in its embassy in the Iranian capital. Contacted in Tehran, Belgium's ambassador denied that the Belgian chancellery would welcome Iranian protesters, a Belgian foreign ministry spokesman said.A spokesman for Norway, which is not an EU member but has long occupied a special position as an international mediator, said its embassy in Tehran had not accepted any refugees.

Iran summons EU ambassadors

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout said that the Iranian Foreign Ministry had today summoned the Czech charge d'affaires and his 26 colleagues from the European Union in Tehran. Mr Kohout's spokesman Milan Repka confirmed that the Czech charge d'affaires was summoned together with other EU diplomats, and they were not allowed to present their positions.The Czech charge d'affaires, representing the current EU presidency, was previously summoned to Iran's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday to protest EU statements of concern about harsh treatment of demonstrators who took the streets beginning Saturday, 13 June. Mr Kohout also said that the way the Iranian government was handling the political crisis undermined its credibility as a partner in talks on the so- called peaceful use of nuclear energy by the country.The credibility, if it has existed ...will be remarkably low.Iran has also imposed strict controls on foreign media covering the unrest, saying correspondents cannot go out into the streets to report. Reporters Without Borders said 23 journalists were arrested over the past week. BBC's Tehran-based correspondent, Jon Leyne, had been asked to leave the country, while Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested Sunday morning and had not been heard from since.For his part, Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday accused France of taking treacherous and unjust approaches. He repeated accusations of Britain's alleged meddling,saying it flew intelligence agents into Iran before the election to interfere with the vote. The election, he insisted, was a very transparent competition.

RON PAUL ON THE FED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DQ5RtymMvc&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PCI1g-QMGQ&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67GZzQDX-Xk&feature=player_embedded

SENATORS OF CONGRESS
http://www.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/112
http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://www.opencongress.org/committee/show/146
RON PAUL ON AUDIT THE FED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYiHE35kCQI&feature=player_embedded

AUDIT THE FED HAS 237 SIGNED UP AS OF SUNDAY.

Ron Paul’s Bill To Audit The Federal Reserve Now Has 237 Co-Sponsors
By tmartin • June 21, 2009

Ron Paul’s bill to audit the Federal Reserve (HR 1207) now has 237 co-sponsors, and the numbers keep growing! This is history in the making, and victory is within reach. Imagine what will happen if HR 1207, The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, comes up for vote in Congress! With more than 50% of the House of Representatives already co-sponsoring this bill, it has real potential to pass — BUT only if we educate and rally the people to support it and get our Congresspeople to put it to vote and pass it.

Step 1: Your Representative
If your representative is not on the following list of HR 1207 co-sponsors, call their offices, write to them, email them, etc. Let them know they need to support HR 1207. If you live in their district, let them know. Go to their office.

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

Step 2: Financial Services Committee
HR 1207 is now in the House Committee on Financial Services. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP in this legislation! If it doesn’t get out of committee it will not come to a vote! There are 71 members on this committee and they are all listed below.

We need to let all members of the House Committee on Financial Services know that we want them to allow full House consideration of HR 1207 so it can move forward; we need them to support this. Now is the time.Call their offices, write to them, email them, etc. Let them know they need to support HR 1207. If you live in their district, let them know. Go to their office.

Help with this all important public outreach. NOW REALLY IS THE TIME!
Here’s a sample letter you can use:

Dear Representative,

Please co-sponsor and/or support H.R.1207, an effort to audit the Federal Reserve.

Recently, it has come to light that there is little to no accountability to the people on the part of the Federal Reserve. While the citizens of this country are required by law to give an accounting of every penny they come in contact with, the Federal Reserve has never been held to the same standard. During this time of extreme economic crisis, the people deserve an accounting of where our money is going.

Currently there are 237 co-sponsors for this legislation, and it is enjoying bi-partisan support. Your efforts in supporting this important legislation would go a long way in proving to your constituents that you not only hold the Federal Reserve to the same standard as you do your constituents, but it would also show that you believe in transparency. Anything less than support for this resolution suggests that you are in favor of secrecy and a lack of accountability to the people who pay the bills. We pay the tab; we have a right to know where our money is going.Unlike recent bills that you voted in favor of that had hundreds of pages and just a few hours to read, this bill can be read in under 5 minutes. I encourage you to take the time to read it, and then move to support it.Thank you in advance for your attention on this important legislation. I have every expectation that you will do right by your constituents and support this measure.

Sincerely,

Step 3: The People
Tell everyone you know about HR 1207 and ask them to support it and to contact their representative as well. Link to this page and to CampaignForLiberty.com.This initiative is crucial and we need to redouble our efforts to get HR 1207 passed.

Fed unlikely to try new aids for economy, for now By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer JUNE 21,09

WASHINGTON — With the recession easing, Federal Reserve policymakers are unlikely to launch any major new efforts to revive the economy when they meet this week. Instead, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues, wary of overdoing the stimulus medicine and fanning inflation later, are expected to stand pat, economists say.The Fed has taken unprecedented steps to try to lift the country out of recession. They include a bold effort announced in March to plow $1.2 trillion into the economy in an attempt to lower interest rates and spur more spending by Americans.There are a lot of good signs that an economic recovery could get under way later this year, and with inflation currently low, the Fed for now has the luxury of sitting back and watching this recovery unfold,said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia.Home sales have firmed, housing construction posted a gain last month, layoffs are slowing and consumer spending is showing signs of stabilizing.When they open a two-day meeting Tuesday, Fed policymakers are widely expected to hold a key lending rate to banks at a record low near zero and repeat a pledge to hold rates there for an extended period.Most economists say that means the Fed will keep its targeted range for its bank lending rate between zero and 0.25 percent through the rest of this year and probably into part of next year to help brace the economy.Analysts generally think the economy in the current April-to-June quarter is still declining — perhaps at a pace of 1 percent to 3 percent — but not nearly as much as it had been. The economy sank at a 6.3 percent rate in the final quarter of 2008 and at a 5.7 percent pace in the first quarter this year. It was the worst six-month performance in 50 years.

Bernanke has predicted the recession will end later this year. Some economists say the economy will start growing again as soon as the July-to-September quarter as the Fed's actions so far, along with the federal stimulus of tax cuts and increased government spending, take hold.

Risks to the outlook, however, abound.

Some economists and Wall Street investors have worried that a recent run-up in rates on mortgages and Treasury securities, if prolonged, could choke off prospects for an economic recovery. Some of those fears were eased last week, when rates on 30-year mortgages dipped to 5.38 percent after a string of weekly increases.Earlier this month, Bernanke said higher rates on mortgages and longer-term Treasury securities seemed to reflect worries about the United States' huge budget deficits, as well as optimism about the economy. He said it also signaled a gradual shift by investors away from the safe haven of U.S. bonds, reversing a pattern seen in the depths of the recession.It's possible the Fed could decide this week to boost its purchases of mortgage-backed securities and government debt, to try to drive down rates on mortgages and other consumer debt. Most analysts doubt that will happen, but economists predict the Fed will leave the door open to further action if economic conditions were to deteriorate.Some Fed members worry additional action could be counterproductive and actually push long-term interest rates higher because investors will fear that the Fed's actions could lead to runaway inflation down the road,said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.Others think the recent rise is just a normalization of rates, reflecting investors' beliefs that the economy is heading in the right direction and that the rise won't do significant damage.Rising unemployment, tanking home values and cracked nest eggs could force consumers to go back into hibernation again. Economists don't think that will happen, but they can't rule it out, either.Even after the recession ends, the recovery is likely to be tepid. The nation's unemployment rate — now at 9.4 percent — is expected to keep climbing into 2010 and to hit 10 percent this year. Some say it could rise as high as 10.7 percent or 11 percent by the summer of next year before it starts to decline. The highest rate since World War II was 10.8 percent at the end of 1982.The Fed has to walk a fine line right now to make investors and the public feel confident policymakers will administer the right dose of medicine to heal the economy but not so much as to cause an overdose, said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

3 tornadoes destroy buildings in western Michigan AccuWeather Sun Jun 21, 11:09 am ET

ALLEGAN, Mich. – Officials in Michigan say tornadoes have destroyed or heavily damaged at least three homes and several other buildings in the western part of the state.No injuries were reported after the twisters struck late Friday.The National Weather Service said the first tornado touched down near the city of Allegan. It destroyed one house, blew the roof off another, and destroyed or heavily damaged three other buildings.The weather service said the second twister destroyed one building near the town of Otsego in Kalamazoo County.The third tornado tore the roof off a house near Richland in Kalamazoo County.Kansas had severe weather Saturday with high wind and possible tornadoes that blew down trees and power lines and caused two minor injuries.(This version CORRECTS that Michigan tornadoes were Friday not Saturday.)

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Cooler weather, showers help subdue dozens of prairie fires Last Updated: Saturday, June 20, 2009 | 3:40 PM MT The Canadian Press

Dozens of forest fires were still burning Saturday across northern areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan, but rain showers appeared to offer some relief.In Alberta, about 900 firefighters were battling roughly 50 fires still burning, with two of the larger fires still considered to be out of control.Both out of control fires are in the Fort McMurray area, approximately 450 kilometres north of Edmonton. The largest is estimated to be 115 square kilometres.Jeff Driscoll, with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, said many of the fires were ignited by lightning.Thousands of lightning strikes over the past week sparked 220 fires, resulting in the province being forced to call in fire crews from across Canada and as far away as Mexico.Brent Krayetski, with the provincial fire office, said the wet weather is also holding some of the smaller blazes that fire crews have yet to reach.Lightning strikes are also blamed for many of the wildfires burning in northern Saskatchewan, but rainstorms over a two-day period have doused some of the fires burning north of Prince Albert.

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

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

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Israel's Barak sees chance for peace progress By Cynthia Johnston – Sun Jun 21, 10:38 am ET

CAIRO (Reuters) – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday he saw a chance to advance peace talks with Palestinians and that a policy speech by Israel's premier, dismissed by Egypt as flawed, was a major step forward.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed with tough conditions the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state in a policy speech a week ago, but Cairo said the proposal fell short of the Palestinian state Arabs seek.He made it clear that the end result, the goal of the whole process is to have a situation where the two peoples, Palestinian and Israeli, are living side by side in two states in good neighborliness, peace and security,Barak told a news conference after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.It is a really unique opportunity for the peace process because the common interest is so apparent regarding the struggle against hegemonic Iran, against radical terrorism, against proliferation of nuclear weapons, he said.Barak described Netanyahu's comments on a Palestinian state as a major step forward by Israel in helping advance peace.Netanyahu, speaking on June 14, said Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state and forego the right of return for refugees but did not promise a halt to Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.Mubarak has said Israel's call to recognize Israel as a state for the Jewish people undermined efforts to achieve peace and has said he told Netanyahu, who visited Egypt last month, that peace talks should resume where they left off.

Palestinian leaders have refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state because they believe it weakens the position of the 20 percent of Israel's citizens who are Arabs.
They also say it undermines a key demand for a right for Palestinians to return to areas in Israel from which they fled or were forced out in the 1948 war ahead of Israel's creation.An Israeli official said Barak's visit aimed to look at ways to move ahead in peace talks after Netanyahu's speech and an address by U.S. President Barack Obama from Cairo on June 4 that covered Middle East peace and other topics.

Obama, who has promised a deep U.S. role in Middle East peace efforts, has called for a full Israeli settlement freeze but said he saw positive movement in Netanyahu's speech.The fact that it (Netanyahu's speech) was well accepted by the White House ... means that the Americans are reading it the same way,Barak said.It is still clear that there are certain differences in how to implement certain practical aspects of it but I think that in the coming weeks we will try to iron it out and pave the way for moving forward.Like Egypt, Palestinian officials have voiced opposition to many aspects of Netanyahu's proposal.Arab foreign ministers meet in Cairo Wednesday to discuss Obama's address and Netanyahu's proposal, state news agency MENA reported.
(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Cairo and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Louise Ireland and Lin Noueihed)

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Carter helping Hamas open talks with White House,Proposes plan bypassing U.S. demand for terrorist group to recognize Israel June 20, 2009 2:38 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily

Former President Jimmy Carter

TEL AVIV – Former President Jimmy Carter presented Hamas with a written initiative intended to open talks between the Islamist group and the U.S. without Hamas having to accept all conditions previously laid out for dialogue by the American government, top Hamas officials told WND.Those conditions, expressed twice by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are Hamas' renouncement of violence, recognition of Israel and agreement to abide by previous PLO commitments. The conditions were adopted by the Mideast Quartet, which consists of the U.S., United Nations, Russia and the European Union.Carter, however, handed Hamas last week a letter that aims to open dialogue between Hamas and U.S.,Mushir al-Masri, a member of Hamas' parliament and a spokesman for the Islamist group, told WND today.Two top Hamas sources told WND Carter's initiative bypasses Clinton's conditions and instead asks Hamas to recognize the so-called two-state solution as well as the Arab Peace Initiative.

Al-Masri said Hamas was studying Carter's plan.

In any response to Carter we will reject the conditions of the Quartet, specifically the recognition of Israel,al-Masri said.Hamas' chief political adviser in Gaza Ahmed Yousef echoed that sentiment in a conversation today with WND. The Arab Initiative, originally proposed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and later adopted by the Arab League, states that Israel would receive normal relations with the Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights and eastern Jerusalem, which includes the Temple Mount. The West Bank contains important Jewish biblical sites and borders central Israeli population centers, while the Golan Heights looks down on Israeli civilian zones and was twice used by Syria to mount ground invasions into the Jewish state. The Arab plan also demands the imposition of a non-binding U.N. resolution that calls for so-called Palestinian refugees who wish to move inside Israel to be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.Palestinians have long demanded the right of return for millions of refugees, a formula Israeli officials across the political spectrum warn is code for Israel's destruction by flooding the Jewish state with millions of Arabs, thereby changing its demographics. When Arab countries attacked the Jewish state after its creation in 1948, some 725,000Arabs living within Israel's borders fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel. Also at that time, about 820,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries or fled following rampant persecution. While most Jewish refugees were absorbed by Israel and other countries, the majority of Palestinian Arabs have been maintained in 59 U.N.-run camps that do not seek to settle the Arabs elsewhere. There are currently about 4 million Arabs who claim Palestinian refugee status with the U.N., including children and grandchildren of the original fleeing Arabs, Arabs living full-time in Jordan and Arabs who long ago emigrated throughout the Middle East and to the West.

Carter's message came from White House?

Last week, during Carter's trip to the Gaza Strip, WND quoted senior sources in Hamas claiming Carter passed a message to Hamas from the Obama administration. The sources did not disclose the content of the purported message or whether the communication was written or oral. They spoke on condition of anonymity, because they said Hamas had not yet reached a decision on officially releasing the information they were divulging.Separately, in an interview with WND on Thursday, Hamas' chief political adviser in Gaza Yousef refused to confirm or deny that any message was passed to his group from the White House.Youssef said, however, Carter is the right person to serve as a middle man between Hamas and the Obama administration. If we have anything to communicate, Carter will be the right person to convey messages from the movement (Hamas) to this (Obama) administration or from the administration to the movement, said Yousef, speaking from Gaza.Yousef told WND he spent three hours with Carter on Thursday, holding private meetings and also showing the former president areas of Gaza that were damaged during Israel's 22-day campaign against Hamas that ended in January.He promised he will write a report to explain what really is happening in Gaza,said Yousef.Separately, al-Masri said in a joint interview with WND and Israel's Ynetnews.com,We know Carter is not acting alone. He is acting as part of the large American system.Masri refused to confirm or deny whether Carter passed any message to his group from Obama.Still, he claimed Hamas has excellent relations with elements in the circle of the decision making in the U.S. administration.We are appreciating the change in the attitude in the U.S. toward Hamas,he said.The White House did not respond to a WND request for comment on the report of the Obama administration passing a message to Hamas.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

Dead Sea peril: sinkholes swallow up the unwary By JOSEPH MARKS, Associated Press Writer JUNE 21,09

EIN GEDI, Israel – Eli Raz was peering into a narrow hole in the Dead Sea shore when the earth opened up and swallowed him. Fearing he would never be found alive, he scribbled his will on an old postcard.After 14 hours a search party pulled him from the 10-meter-(30 foot-) deep hole unhurt, and five years later the 69-year-old geologist is working to save others from a similar fate, leading an effort to map the sinkholes that are spreading on the banks of the fabled saltwater lake.These underground craters can open up in an instant, sucking in whatever lies above and leaving the surrounding area looking like an earthquake zone.The phenomenon, Raz said, stems from a dire water shortage, compounded in recent years by tourism and chemical industries as well as a growing population.This is the most remarkable evidence of the brutal interference of humans in the Dead Sea,he said.The parched moonscape, famous as the site of biblical Sodom and Gomorra, is the lowest point on earth and runs more than 60 miles through Israel and the West Bank.Large sections of the coast are fenced off and signposted in Hebrew and English: danger, open pits and sinkhole area ahead.But it's too expensive to inspect every place for danger. Just two months ago an Israeli hiker wandered into an area that had no warning signs and was critically injured when he fell into a sinkhole.While such accidents are rare, Raz says there are up to 3,000 open sinkholes along the coast and likely just as many that haven't burst open yet. And they're having a big impact on Israeli development plans.

The collapsing terrain has forced authorities to close a campground, date groves and a small naval base, and to scrap plans for 5,000 new hotel rooms, said Galit Cohen, director of environmental planning at the Ministry of the Environment.The holes, also found on the Jordanian side of the sea, are the result of the Dead Sea having shrunk by a third since the 1960s when Israel and Jordan built plants to divert water flowing through its main tributary, the Jordan River.The holes form when a subterranean salt layer that once bordered the sea is dissolved by underground fresh water that follows the receding Dead Sea waters.The main road along the shore has been torn apart by streams whose energy is increased because they are flowing farther to reach the receding sea, and all construction along the strip between sea and highway is banned, Cohen said.Both Israel and Jordan evaporate Dead Sea water to extract its phosphates and have built hotels along the coasts for the thousands of tourists who come in search of the curative powers of Dead Sea mud, or simply for the experience of floating unsinkably in its salt-saturated waters.Only micro-organisms survive in the Dead Sea, but indigenous species of fish, amphibians and snails live in small nearby ponds fed by underground springs, and these could be wiped out as the Dead Sea gets smaller, Raz said.Many of the changes are masked at the pricey resorts on the sea's southern end, which lie on the banks of a large artificial pond built by the mineral industry. But around Ein Gedi, the kibbutz or communal farm where Raz lives, the Dead Sea's shrinkage is evident.Twenty-five years ago Ein Gedi built a spa by the sea. Now it's a 1.5-km (one-mile) trolley ride from the water.Any visitor that's come back for a second visit in these last 10 years would see a dramatic change, said Gidon Bromberg, Israel director of Friends of the Earth Middle East, an advocacy group.The sea has run away from the cliffs and it's exposed kilometers of mud and sea floor.

No quick solution is in sight.

The World Bank is studying a proposal to dig a canal from the Red Sea, more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) south, to replenish the Dead Sea's waters. But with costs estimated at up to $15 billion, there's little optimism it will happen. Without a solution, the sea is expected to shrink to lose another third of its area over the next century.

THIS WAS NOTHING BUT A NEW AGE MOVEMENT,ENVIROMENTAIST OCCULT WORSHIP SESSION.

Pagans, partygoers greet solstice at Stonehenge By NARDINE SAAD, Associated Press Writer JUNE 21,09

STONEHENGE, England – Pagans and partygoers drummed, danced or gyrated in hula hoops to stay awake through the night, as more than 35,000 people greeted the summer solstice Sunday at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge.Despite fears of trouble because of the record-sized crowd, police said the annual party at the mysterious monument was mostly peaceful.It's the most magical place on the planet, said antique salesman Frank Somers, 43, dressed in the robes of his Druid faith.Inside when you touch the stones you feel a warmth like you're touching a tree, not a stone. There's a genuine love, you feel called to it,he said.The prehistoric monument in southern England is the site of an annual night-long party — or religious ceremony, depending on perspective — marking the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.

Warm weather and the fact that this year's solstice fell on a weekend helped draw a record crowd.There has been a great atmosphere and where else would you want to be on midsummer's day? said Peter Carson of English Heritage, the body in charge of Stonehenge.Camera flashes bounced off the stones through the night until patchy rays of sunlight peeked through the clouds at 4:58 a.m. BST (0358GMT). A weak cheer went up as dawn broke over the Heel Stone, a pockmarked pillar at the edge of the stone circle that is aligned with the rising sun.You can feel the energy from your feet climb up your body, said Diane Manuel, 50, a supply company director from Middlesbrough in northern England. It's like having heart palpitations.Stonehenge, which sits on Salisbury Plain about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of London, is one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, visited by more than 750,000 people a year. It was built in three phases between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C.

Mystery surrounds the monument's original purpose. Some theories hold that the stone circle was a grave site because 350 burial mounds surround the structure.In May, archaeologists found evidence indicating that pilgrims perceived the stones to have healing powers. Some other experts assert that the structure was part of an ancient astronomical calendar.But because it was built so long ago, there is no record of why the monument was erected, said archaeologist Dave Batchelor of English Heritage.All of that sort of stuff we don't have, so when it comes to ascribing a modern-day reason depends on the viewpoint ... that's the fascination, Batchelor said.Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar, and in many countries bonfires, maypole dances and courtship rituals linger on as holdovers from Europe's pagan past.Libby Davy, 40, an Australian living in Brighton, southern England, was attending the solstice for the first time with friends and her 8-year-old daughter. She wore sparkling dust on her face and wrapped a monkey doll around her neck as she embraced the festive mood.It's kind of a pilgrimage,she said.As a sculptor, I can't help being interested in the stones — they're historic, spiritual — people went to a huge effort to put them here not anywhere else. Why here? And why this configuration? It's fascinating.The solstice is one of the few times during the year that visitors can get close enough to touch the rocks. English Heritage closed the site at the solstice after clashes between police and revelers in 1985. It began allowing full access again in 2000 and the celebrations have been largely peaceful. Police said Sunday they had made about 30 arrests for drug and public-order offenses. With problems at a minimum, the crowd reverted to a carnival atmosphere. Some revelers used hula hoops to stay awake until the sunrise; other simply clapped and danced among the stones.

Gaisva Milinkeviciute, 30, a yoga instructor originally from Lithuania, came with two friends, who like many in the crowd, wore wreaths in their hair. This place actually gives people so much energy and thoughts, things that we kind of neglect in the daily lives and wish for,Milinkeviciute said.We can come here and make them come true.

VA State Police Say Anti-NWO and Gun Rights Activists are Terrorists
Kurt Nimmo Prison Planet.com Sunday, June 21, 2009


Another document designating Americans as terrorists has surfaced. The document, entitled Crisis Controlled: Assessing Potential Threats of Violence, authored by Trooper John R. Wright, is posted on the official website of the Commonwealth of Virginia, under the Department of Human Resources Management.In March, the Virginia State Police and the Virginia Fusion Center produced a report entitled 2009 Virginia Terrorism Threat Assessment.In response, Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine ordered an investigation of the fusion center. The report designates university-based students groups as terrorist groups.Presented in slideshow format, the latest document lists gun rights, pro-life, constitutional issues, tax protesters, and anti-government groups as domestic terror threats. Anarchists, separatists, single issue, and religious cults are listed along with al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, al-Jihad, Aryan Nations, neo-Nazi, skinheads, black separatists, and the Klu Klux Klan.As amply documented here and elsewhere, al-Qaeda is a CIA and Pakistan ISI created terrorist group. Hamas was nurtured from the ground up by Israel’s Mossad and Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks. Al-Jihad is financed and supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, a British and U.S. intelligence asset.

Under COINTELPRO, the FBI provided covert aid to the Ku Klux Klan, Minutemen, Nazis, and other racist vigilantes. The Elohim City settlement connected to documented government operative Timothy McVeigh and linked to the Aryan Nations and other white supremacists groups was infiltrated and run by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the FBI.The Black Bloc anarchists are a notorious government front. In keeping with the well-documented strategy of tension technique pioneered by the CIA-NATO contrivance Gladio, so-called anarchists (who were police agents provocateurs) engaged in violence during the anti-globalist Genoa protests in 2001. As Alex Jones documents in his film Police State 2: The Takeover, the Black Bloc anarchists in Seattle during the WTO protests of 1999 were effectively infiltrated and provocateured by the authorities. During the Montebello globalist summit in Quebec in 2007, several anarchists were outed as police agents.In short, many if not most of the terrorist groups listed in the Crisis Controlled document are false flag operations specifically designed to discredit and subvert legitimate opposition to the government.Trooper John R. Wright’s slideshow weighs heavily on protective measures against these manufactured threats. He tells us that terrorists will try to fit in and cites Timothy McVeigh, Luke John Helder (the so-called mailbox bomber), and Sarah Jane Olson as examples of people who on the surface appear to be average citizens. Sarah Jane Olson, aka Kathleen Soliah, was a patsy member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a classic government created terror group. McVeigh’s connection to the government is noted above.

Wright urges citizens to actively become snoops and instructs them to consider innocuous behavior as suspected terrorist activity. People who avoid community contact and value privacy are to be considered possible terrorists, as well as those who make unusual purchases or have numerous visitors/meetings.Wright’s slideshow provides the following as an example of a terrorist lead:I saw a white male, about 6 ft tall wearing black combat pants, a black t-shirt, and boots with the pants tucked in, taking notes for at least 2 hours outside the front entrance to the Courthouse. He was standing near a brown Ford pick-up truck, PA SYE-141, with a rusting tailgate and a bumper sticker that said, Say No to the New World Order. (Emphasis added.)In other words, if you listen to Alex Jones, have an anti-NWO bumper sticker on your vehicle, or wear certain clothing you may be reported to the Virginia State Police as a possible terrorist worthy of subsequent investigation.Crisis Controlled: Assessing Potential Threats of Violence is another example of an orchestrated effort by police agencies — now fully federalized and under the sway of the Department of Homeland Security — to designate legitimate and constitutionally protected opposition to government policies as violent terrorist activity.On June 15, Steve Watson reported on a Department of Defense anti-terrorism training course that characterized Americans exercising their First Amendment right as terrorists. The ACLU contacted the DoD regarding its Antiterrorism and Force Protection Annual Refresher Training Course, which advises personnel that political protest amounts to low-level terrorism.

The ACLU points out that although in and of itself the classification of protest as terrorism is deeply disturbing, it is even more alarming when viewed in the context of the Pentagon’s long term efforts to crack down on organized dissent,write Watson.
The Pentagon training course flagging protesters as terrorists came on the heels of the Department of Homeland Security’s extremism report. In the DHS report, pro-life, Second Amendment, anti-illegal immigration and antigovernment activists are characterized as terrorists.An earlier report issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) entitled The Modern Militia Movement and dated February 20, 2009, specifically described supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as militia influenced terrorists and instructed the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.The MIAC report was subsequently pulled after Alex Jones went public with the story. An anonymous police officer in Missouri had sent the MIAC report to Jones.The Virginia State Police need to receive complaints about this latest document. The Virginia State Police Terrorist Tip Hotline is 1-877-4VA-TIPS. The telephone number to the Virginia State Police administrative headquarters is (804) 674-2936. The administrative office handles questions concerning Department policy and procedure (email address: bonnie.crowder@vsp.virginia.gov). Please contact the Virginia State Police and politely indicate you do not appreciate the police urging citizens to become snoops and characterizing lawful behavior as terrorism.

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 MON JUNE 22,2009

09:30 AM -1.15
10:00 AM -119.18
10:30 AM -122.58
11:00 AM -142.00
11:30 AM -147.14
12:00 PM -176.62
12:30 PM -165.23
01:00 PM -165.88
01:30 PM -189.99
02:00 PM -171.70
02:30 PM -168.38
03:00 PM -162.41
03:30 PM -169.21
04:00 PM -200.72 8339.01

S&P 500 893.04 -28.19

NASDAQ 1766.19 -61.28

GOLD 922.40 -13.80

OIL 66.93 -2.62

TSE 300 9833.23 -454.72

CDNX 1078.66 -40.14

S&P/TSX/60 595.42 -28.08

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -2.70%
S&P +1.99%
Nasdaq +15.88%
TSX Advances 912,declines 609,unchanged 255,Volume 3,024,663,166.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 420,Declines 344,Unchanged 370,Volume 229,009,563.

Dow -67 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -180 points at low today.
Dow +0.31 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $920.60.OIL opens at $67.89 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -189 points at low today so far.
Dow +0.31 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 567,declines 3,069,unchanged 68,New Highs 14,New Lows 39.
Volume 2,999,490,042.
NASDAQ Advances 414,declines 2,227,unchanged 76,New highs 13,New Lows 22.
Volume 1,162,425,120.
TSX Advances 323,declines 1,123,unchanged 201,Volume 1,270,071,671.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 175,Declines 504,Unchanged 297,Volume 137,600,894.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -204 points at low today.
Dow +0.31 points at high today.
Dow -2.35% today Volume 291,100,266.
Nasdaq -3.35% today Volume 2,163,383,600.
S&P 500 -3.06% today Volume N/A

Battle for Georgian billions comes to EU capital
ANDREW RETTMAN Today JUNE 22,09 @ 09:14 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - US public relations firm APCO has begun lobbying EU institutions over the ownership of a Georgian TV station, in a case linking curious events in London, Tbilisi and Minsk.Inna Gudavadze, the widow of Georgian oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili, has hired the PR company to help create political pressure around her legal battle to secure her late husband's assets.In May, Ms Gudavadze's lawyers met in Brussels with the EU's special representative for Georgia and with senior officials in the European Commission to discuss Imedi TV.The Patarkatsishvili-owned TV station was taken over by his step-cousin, Joseph Kay, last year on the basis of a contested will, sparking a legal challenge in the Georgian courts.Imedi used to be the Georgian opposition's main TV outlet. But since the takeover it has stopped broadcasting anti-government material, such as footage of masked men beating up opposition protesters at night.The Georgian government says it has no interest in the case, which it calls a family matter. But Ms Gudavadze's lawyers and APCO briefed EU officials that the government is leaning on judges to quash her appeal. [APCO] is quite a powerful consulting firm. They seem determined to push it forward. They seem determined that only a decision at political level will solve it, not at judicial level,one EU official told EUobserver.

The European Commission said the Georgian government has already taken over two Patarkatsishivili assets, an amusement park and a bank. It has also tried to wrest control of his mineral water company.The size of the fortune alone makes it politically significant. Mr Patarkatsishivili's worldwide assets are reportedly worth up to €8 billion. For comparison, Georgia's post-2008 war reconstruction package is worth €3 billion. Brussels is concerned about Georgia's general respect for the rule of law and free press. But it has refused to get involved in individual legal proceedings so far. Meanwhile, APCO's pro-Gudavadze work poses questions about the company's profile.The PR firm has close ties with the US state department and has in the past lobbied in Europe on behalf of anti-Kremlin reformers. But the Gudavadze campaign paints the anti-Kremlin Georgian leader, Mikhail Saakashvili, in an unflattering light.APCO does not take clients on the basis of who we are for or against,the company's deputy managing director, B. Jay Cooper, told this website.We are not anti-Russia, nor are we anti-Georgia. We are pro-rule of law.

The Berezovsky connection

The Gudavadze campaign also links APCO with Boris Berezovsky, a Russian media tycoon living in London and wanted in Moscow on charges of fraud and money laundering. APCO says it has no commercial or informal relations with Mr Berezovsky. But the Russian is a former business partner of Mr Patarkatsishivili and a one-time friend of Ms Gudavadze. He is also fighting to discredit the Joseph Kay will and the Georgian government in his bid to claim a share of the fortune. Saakashvili behaves like a dictator,Mr Berezovsky's advisor, the British PR guru, Lord Bell, said.Mr Berezovsky is interested in promoting democracy around the world. He would like to see a free and fair election in Georgia.For its part, the Joseph Kay camp has accused Mr Berezovsky of using dirty tricks to erase the contested will, adding another twist to the tale.The US lawyer who put forward the Kay will, Emmanuel Zeltser, on 12 March 2008 flew to Belarus, where he was arrested on charges of carrying forged documents.

Mr Zeltser was jailed for three years in a behind-closed-doors trial and last week started a hunger strike to protest his innocence.

Dinner is served

His brother, Mark Zeltser, alleges that Mr Berezovsky had dinner with Emmanuel in London on 11 March 2008, duped him into flying to Minsk on his private jet and set up the sting together with his old friend, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.
Berezovsky needs big money in order to play international politics,Mark Zeltser told this website.The easiest way is to grab the money of his friend and long-term business partner [Mr Patarkatsishivili].Belarusian diplomats and Mr Berezovsky's people have poured scorn on the account. It's utter tosh,Lord Bell said.Meanwhile, Emmanuel Zeltser is becoming very thin as well as suffering from diabetes. But his fate is not high on the EU's list of concerns.EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner in Minsk on Sunday urged Mr Lukashenko to release all political prisoners. But when asked about Mr Zeltser by EUobserver, her spokeswoman said only: I have read about him on the newswires and declined to classify him as a political case.

France's budget deficit to top 7 percent
ANDREW WILLIS Today JUNE 22,09 @ 09:13 CET


France's budget deficit will exceed 7 percent of its GDP in both 2009 and 2010, the country's Budget Minister, Eric Woerth, said on Sunday (21 June).The announcement highlights the heavy toll being extracted on public finances by the government's stimulus plan and falling tax receipts, with the latest figure a considerable increase on a previous March forecast for a 5.6 percent deficit this year. This deficit is both the cost of the crisis and the price of recovery, said Mr Woerth on French television.The budget deficit is likely to reach €115 billion this year, plus an additional €20 billion in social security deficit. At the same time, Mr Woerth predicts corporate tax receipts in 2009 will likely be less than half the €50 billion taken in a normal year. French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a stimulus packaged worth €28bn last December to help lift the country's economy – currently headed for a 3 percent contraction this year - out of recession.Mr Woerth said the government had no choice but to spend heavily but added there was no chance of tax increases to help narrow the budget deficit. This position contrasts sharply with that of the Baltic states where governments are being forced by strict euro area accession rules and international lenders to slash spending and increase taxes in order to curtail rising deficits.On a brighter note however, Mr Woerth said the French economy could grow as much as 0.5 percent next year – better than many EU member states - but would still be hampered by rising unemployment.Analysts say French unemployment could top 10 percent this year, having dipped below 7 percent prior to the onset of the economic crisis last year.The social security deficit will continue to increase and compensate for the fact that the state deficit will go down [next year],said Mr Woerth, whose comments are likely to add pressure for a politically sensitive reform of France's pension system.Last week French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said debate on whether to increase the country's retirement age was no longer a taboo subject.

No more spending, says Trichet

Separately on Sunday, the head of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, warned European governments against accumulating more debt.There is a moment where you cannot spend more and accumulate more debts. We are at that moment,Mr Trichet said during an interview on French radio Europe 1.Further stimulus spending would present a serious problem for future generations to deal with he said, adding that the current packages were completely extraordinary and also sufficient to deal with the downturn.

Top German spy says more Russian snooping on firms Sun Jun 21, 2:36 pm ET

BERLIN (Reuters) – Russian spies are targeting the German energy sector to help Russian firms gain commercial advantages, the head of Germany's domestic counter-espionage unit said Sunday.The Russian intelligence services, keeping up with their government's changing information needs, have intensified efforts in recent years to investigate German firms illegally,Burkhard Even, told Die Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

The director of Counter-Intelligence at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, said the spying was aimed mostly at information on alternative and renewable energy and efforts to increase efficiency. European energy interests, diversification plans, and Germany's economic situation were also espionage targets.

Last month Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also noted, when presenting his ministry's 2008 security report, that Russia and China were stepping up espionage efforts and Internet attacks on German companies.Last year a German court convicted a former employee of European aeronautic defense and space company EADS of selling information on civilian helicopters to Russian intelligence.Moscow's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), smaller than its military intelligence service but successor to part of the Soviet KGB, is the body analysts say covers economic matters.

The head of the unit, Mikhail Fradkov, is a former Prime Minister and economics expert appointed by former President Vladimir Putin, himself a former KGB spy during the Cold War.Germany's Even said the targets of espionage were expanding and that all companies should tighten up security.Not only big firms are affected, but also increasingly small and middle-sized companies. We therefore call on leaders of firms to step up protection against industrial espionage,he said.(Reporting by Brian Rohan; Editing by Matthew Jones)

Financial Dictatorship Spreads To Europe Regulatory powers in all nations to be handed over to newly formed EU bodies in conjunction with the European Central Bank Steve Watson Infowars.net Friday, June 19, 2009

The European Union is set to mirror moves in the US to overhaul the economic regulatory oversight system, in a move that will see national regulators superceded by European supervisors.The proposals involve creating three pan-European watchdogs next year to ensure countries introduce new rules on supervision.Reports the London Telegraph.Under the proposals, there is to be a European Banking Authority in London, an Insurance Authority in Frankfurt, and a Securities Authority in Paris. All European leaders agreed today to their creation.These three new bodies will have the authority to dictate and implement decisions on regulatory standards across the board in every member state.Furthermore, the deal will see the creation of a European Systemic Risk Board, that would monitor the build up of risks, issue recommendations for action and oversee their implementation.The chairmanship of this new body will be elected by members of the general council of the European Central Bank.This mirrors plans in the US to hand the private Federal Reserve powers to simply seize and take over any company it defines as a risk to the economy.Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised by the move given that, for the most part, the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are run by the same private globalist banking corporations.

The London Telegraph’s financial editor, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, explains how this move will see a massive amount of power shifted from national governments over to the EU, and effectively the European Central Bank.Britain cannot veto the proposals because EU single market laws are passed by qualified majority voting (QMV). he writes.It would be a serious political matter if the EU proceeded against vehement objections from the British Government. Any outcome depends on whether Gordon Brown is willing to risk a showdown with Europe.A senior French official has stated that the move to hand over vast swathes of power to the Federal Reserve in the US will spur European elites to do the same:If the Americans make strong commitments towards regulation and on derivatives and other sophisticated products, I believe they are going further than the Europeans. That will provide a boost to the most determined among the Europeans,the official said.Once again, we are seeing nothing less than a green light for the complete and total takeover by a private banking cartel that will usurp the power of existing regulatory bodies, who are now being blamed for the financial crisis.

What are investors waiting for? Consumers. By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer - JUNE 21,09

NEW YORK – Americans may have poured money back into stocks this year, but market watchers worry that they aren't spending enough on other things — like clothes, cars and computers.This week, the average U.S. consumer returns to the spotlight. The Commerce Department reports on May personal spending and incomes on Friday, the same day that the University of Michigan reports on June consumer sentiment.Recent data has shown that Americans' confidence is climbing but their spending is still lagging. Personal spending has fallen for eight of the past 10 months. Consumers are the primary driver of U.S. economic growth, and if their spending doesn't rebound, the market can't, either.If you take a quick snapshot here, the consumer is still looking to pay down debt, increase their savings, and curtail their consumption,said Joseph V. Battipaglia, a market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co.The stock market has been waffling since the beginning of June after going gangbusters for nearly three months as reports indicated that the financial industry is stabilizing and the economy's slide is slowing. The Dow Jones industrial average remains up 30.4 percent from the 12-year low it hit on March 9, but it is now down 3 percent from a week ago, when it reached a five-month high of 8,799.Investors are fairly comfortable with the notion that the Federal Reserve has accomplished what it set out to do last fall: That it's stabilized the financial system,Battipaglia said.However, what you're left with is the aftermath of it all.

The consequences of the government's massive stimulus programs and bailouts so far appear to be a weak dollar, rising interest rates and climbing commodity prices. Crude oil and 30-year home loan rates retreated modestly last week, but only after hitting their highest levels of the year a week earlier.These developments aren't all negative — a weak dollar boosts U.S. exports, and higher commodity prices help lift the revenue of the companies that produce them. High energy and metals prices also signal that investors are more confident about the economy. However, investors also know that rising mortgage rates and increasingly expensive gasoline hurt the average consumer.Stocks took most of the dive early last week on a batch of weak economic readings, including the seventh straight monthly drop in industrial production. The major indexes logged their first weekly losses since the week ending May 15. The Dow fell 3 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 2.6 percent, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.7 percent.The good news for the stock market is that a lot of new money has poured in, and a lot of money is still sitting on the sidelines.I think we're set up for a really strong second half,said Thomas J. Lee, equities analyst at JPMorgan. According to JPMorgan data, money is being injected into stocks at a much higher pace than it was in the months following the 2003 market bottom.But even he acknowledged the biggest risk to this year's market recovery is consumption.You need consumers to start spending, instead of just saving,Lee said.Most recent evidence has still pointed to an economy that's headed for recovery. Last Thursday, for example, the Labor Department reported that the total number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell last week for the first time since early January. If the employment picture improves, so should consumer spending.Consumer confidence is on the upswing, too. Both the Conference Board and University of Michigan released data showing big jumps in May.

But the proof will be in the spending.

Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters predict that personal spending rose 0.4 percent in May, after falling 0.1 percent in April. They also expect this week's May reports on sales of new homes and existing homes to show upticks.Investors also await the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates next week. Most anticipate that the Fed will keep the target fed funds rate at a range of zero to 0.25 percent, but they are wondering if policy makers will decide to buy more Treasurys or other securities, which would further hamper market rates.

EU parliament sees birth of new right-wing group
ANDREW RETTMAN Today JUNE 22,09 @ 17:01 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A new European Parliament group that is pro-free market and anti-EU integration unveiled its membership list on Monday (22 June), bringing together 55 MEPs from eight EU states.Calling itself the European Conservatives and Reformists Group,the new faction lists free enterprise,the sovereign integrity of the nation state and probity in the EU institutions among its principles.The British Conservative party dominates membership with 26 MEPs, followed by Poland's Law and Justice with 15 deputies and the Czech Republic's ODS party with nine members.The other five MEPs come from the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Hungary and Latvia. The roll call is: Peter van Dalen from the Netherlands' Christian Union party; Derk Jan Eppink of Belgium's Lijst Dedecker; Hannu Takkula from Finland's Keskusta party; Lajos Bokros from the Hungarian Democratic Forum and Roberts Zile of the Latvian National Independence Movement.Talks are still continuing and we believe that more will be attracted to join our ranks in the near future, the head of the British Conservative delegation, Timothy Kirkhope, said. The new group narrowly meets the parliament rule of having deputies from at least seven EU states. But it is set to become the fourth largest in terms of MEP numbers, after the centre-right EPP-ED group, the centre-left PES and the liberal ALDE faction. It will qualify for an EU budget grant of around €3.9 million a year and will be assigned staff of between 65 and 70 EU civil servants, on top of the 55 MEPs and their personal advisors and secretaries.The group will also get chairmanship of one of the parliament's powerful law-making committees and one sub-committee. But the biggest groups will snap up the top seven or so juiciest portfolios, such as foreign relations, industry or environment, leaving the newcomers with a decent, but second-tier option such as the budgetary control committee. The birth of the European Conservatives and Reformists is a small piece of EU parliament history, ending 17 years of the British Conservative party's work with the EPP-ED.The head of the Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, on Monday told Polish daily Rzeczpospolita that talks to form the new group began in 2002, two years before Poland and the Czech Republic joined the EU.

Potential for strife

The group's three main parties are united in their opposition to the Lisbon treaty, which augurs further EU integration. But there is plenty of potential for internal squabbles.The Polish and Latvian parties have protectionist wings that do not welcome Tory and ODS-style free trade.The British Conservatives also have a prominent pro-green and civil liberties agenda. Meanwhile, ODS founder Vaclav Klaus denies that human action impacts climate change. And Mr Kaczynski has Roman Catholic views on gay rights.I'd be surprised if they survive two years,one EU parliament official said.A lot depends on the British Conservatives and how embarassed they might be by the antics of the eastern European members.Analyst Antonio Missiroli from the Brussels-based European Policy Centre said the group could falter if Tory leader David Cameron gets into power in the UK, with EU states forcing him to either embrace Lisbon or take Britain out of the union. If the Tories win on a eurosceptic platform, they might get a reality check on Libson,Mr Missiroli said.He may have to reconsider this decision and go back to the [EPP-ED] fold. As a government party, he could not play a double game, doing one thing in the Council [EU member states' ministerial meetings] and another thing in parliament.

Realignment of the right

London School of Economics professor Simon Hix said the European Conservatives and Reformists could create a strongly pro-free market bloc with EPP-ED and ALDE in the parliament instead of concentrating on Lisbon.The new bloc would have over 400 out of 736 MEPs, potentially putting the previous parliament alliance of Christian Democrats and Socialists out of business.The Tories must be preparing themselves for an onslaught in the British press - that they have joined up with climate change deniers, racists and homophobes. But I don't think this will last very long,he said.We are seeing something interesting in the parliament: a realignment of the right. This European Parliament will be much more to the right than before.

EU lobbyist register boosted by market forces
HONOR MAHONY Today JUNE 22,09 @ 17:30 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - One year after its launch, the European Commission says pure market forces are ensuring its lobbyist register is a success but critics say the refusal to make it mandatory is a fatal weakness as law firms and think-tanks drag their feet in signing up.With 1,600 entries on the register, representing thousands of individual lobbyists, and a signing up rate of about 30 to 40 a week, the commission says its voluntary approach (..) has been confirmed by these numbers.
Corporate inhouse lobbyists and trade representatives account for around 900 of the entries with the system asking for the area of interest, number of employees and amount of money spent of representing its interests to the EU. NGOs make up most of the rest.Jens Nymand Christensen, the commission official in charge of the issue, said commission staff is now being actively encouraged to ask lobbyists or companies looking for some face time if they are in the register.There is an issue of credibility if they do not want to sign up to the register, he noted, adding:I always ask now whether those who ask to see me are on the register.The market forces are working he said, although he admitted that a company not being on the register does not mean it will not get an audience at the commission.

Law firms and think-tanks remain the most recalcitrant groups.

Transparency commissioner Siim Kallas has had an intense exchange with bar associations in Brussels as they argue that they cannot undermine client privacy by revealing who they represent. The commission concurs, but argues that when the law firm is engaging in straightforward lobbying, then it should be treated as any other lobbyist.Some think-tanks argue they should not have to put themselves on the register as they do not see themselves as typical lobbyists.But despite its tussle with these two groups, the commission is not about to change its policy on keeping the register a voluntary system.Right now the numbers do not point to an instant need to look at this,said Mr Christensen on making the register mandatory.The lobbyist register, designed to shed some light on the estimated 1000s of lobbyists working in Brussels and influencing EU policy-making, has often been in the spotlight over recent month, and not just over the voluntary/mandatory debate.The list has been exposed to contain fake companies while some organisations have signed up by mistake, boosting the registers' tally. In addition, there is no real way of checking whether a company's declared financial interests are real and the fact that no individual names are listed means it is difficult to identify potential conflicts of interest. The register also gives no detail on the areas that is lobbied on.The commission says it has received a not insubstantial number of complaints to do with alleged erroneous information - usually by one register entrant about another - and has sat down with these registrants but says it has found nobody that was consciously misleading.To date no name has been struck permanently off the register.Corporate Europe Observatory, a transparency pressure group, recently released a scathing assessment of the register saying it was as useful as a phonebook without any numbers.

Sweden to push for more transparent EU migration rules
VALENTINA POP Today JUNE 22,09 @ 17:30 CET


EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – The upcoming Swedish EU presidency will push for more transparent rules governing migration when it begins negotiations on a five-year justice and home affairs programme later this year, Europe minister Cecilia Malmstrom said on Monday.We want to focus more on the individual as a victim and to have clear and transparent rules on migration," Ms Malmstrom told journalists after presenting the priorities of the upcoming Swedish EU presidency, due to start on 1 July. She said the commission's proposals in this area, put forward earlier this month, were a good starting point for discussions, although they have been strong criticised by some civil liberties group for potentially leading to a surveillance society.But Ms Malmstrom admitted that it will be a challenge to strike the right balance between the more repressive measures taken under police cooperation and safeguarding civil rights.The five-year policy framework, dubbed the Stockholm programme is expected to be adopted by EU leaders at a summit in December, after talks with the European Parliament in autumn.Civil liberties watchdog Statewatch has criticised the proposals, saying they focus too much on data-sharing and on creating an EU-wide information system architecture.What is new is the clear aim of creating the surveillance society and the database state. Future generations, for whom this will be a fully developed reality, will look back at this era and rightly ask, why did you not act to stop it,Statewatch director Tony Bunyan said.On illegal immigration, the commission's proposals echo the pressure from the EU's southern states – facing big flows of African migrants crossing the Mediterranean in perilous conditions - to have other member states help shoulder their burden and to tighten up the borders.The bloc's external borders agency, Frontex, would be given a larger budget and more power in patrolling the EU's borders to prevent both human trafficking and illegal immigration.Italy's centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi has put the issue at the centre of its ruling platform and has already taken some controversial measures, such as returning migrants to Libya, where they have no protection from abuses and crimes.

EU leaders last week asked the commission to come up with concrete proposals by October on how to tackle illegal immigration and underlined the need for strengthened border control operations coordinated by FRONTEX, clear rules of engagement for joint patrolling and the disembarkation of rescued persons, and increased use of joint return flights.In a policy paper drafted before the publication of the commission proposals, the Brussels-based Centre for European Policy Studies, a think-tank, deplored the substantial concessions to member states in the drafting process of commission proposals.The resulting legal outcomes are therefore minimum standards allowing for a large degree of exceptionalism by national authorities and at times hardly compatible with fundamental rights. This statement especially applies to policy measures aiming at establishing a common European asylum system,the policy paper reads.The think-tank also criticises the commission for adopting a criminalised perspective on migration" and for promoting the false idea that electronic technical capabilities in the field of security are a technical fix for social problems.This is a false idea that leads to the stigmatisation of groups of individuals in communities based on the collection and use of their personal data. The ability to create databases that manipulate large amounts of personal data to search for persons with certain characteristics leads to racial and religious profiling, which violates the non-discrimination obligations contained in the Charter of Fundamental Rights,it notes.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

NORTH KOREA MILITARY PARADE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUTTLE5nIkQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWt_aTnAPKU&feature=related
CHINESE MILITARY PARADE (BOTH KINGS OF THE EAST)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru-xQac_sWw&feature=related

North Korea accuses U.S. of plotting nuclear war Sunday, June 21, 2009 | 11:19 AM ET The Associated Press

North Korea has accused the United States of plotting atomic war against the communist regime, saying President Barack Obama's recent commitment to extending nuclear protection to South Korea only exposed his government's intention to attack.

Obama reaffirmed Washington's security commitment to South Korea, including through U.S. nuclear protection, after a meeting Tuesday in Washington with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. Obama also said recently passed United Nations sanctions will be aggressively enforced.In its first response to the summit, North Korea's government-run weekly Tongil Sinbo said that Obama's comments only revealed a U.S. plot to invade the North with nuclear weapons.It's not a coincidence at all for the U.S. to have brought numerous nuclear weapons into South Korea and other adjacent sites, staging various massive war drills opposing North Korea every day and watching for a chance for an invasion,said the commentary published Saturday.The U.S.-touted provision of extended deterrence, including a nuclear umbrella [for South Korea] is nothing but a nuclear war plan,Tongil Sinbo said.The weekly also said the North will also surely judge the Lee government for participating in a U.S.-led international campaign to stifle the North.North Korea says its nuclear program is a deterrent against the U.S., which it routinely accuses of plotting to topple its communist regime. Washington, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has repeatedly said it has no such intention and has no nuclear weapons deployed there.The UN Security Council agreed on June 12 to impose new sanctions on North Korea for its recent missile tests and an underground test of a nuclear device. The resolution urges countries to reduce financial ties with North Korea, and extends a ban on exports of tanks, artillery and other large arms that represent a significant source of revenue for that country.All 192 UN member nations are also authorized to inspect cargo vessels at sea or airports if they believe the contents may be used to advance Pyongyang's nuclear or ballistic programs.

Test of sanctions
In what would be the first test for the new UN sanctions against the North, South Korean media also reported Sunday that a North Korean ship sailing toward Burma via Singapore was being shadowed by the U.S. military over suspicion that it may be carrying illicit weapons.The U.S. military had begun tracking the ship, Kang Nam, which left a North Korean port Wednesday, U.S. officials said Thursday.South Korean television network YTN, citing an unidentified intelligence source in the South, reported that the U.S. suspected the 1,800-tonne-class ship was carrying missiles and other related weapons toward Burma, also known as Myanmar — which has faced an arms embargo from the United States and the European Union and has reportedly bought weapons from North Korea.The report said the U.S. has also deployed a navy destroyer and has been using satellites to track the ship.South Korea's Defence Ministry, the Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service said they could not confirm the report.Tension on the Korean Peninsula has spiked since the North defiantly conducted its second nuclear test on May 25. North Korea later declared it would bolster its atomic bomb-making program and threatened war in protest of UN sanctions for its test.On Saturday, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official said Seoul has proposed five-way talks with the U.S., China, Russia and Japan to find a new way to deal with the North's threats.The U.S. and Japan have agreed to participate, while China and Russia have yet to respond, the official told The Associated Press, requesting anonymity because he was discussing a plan still in the works.North Korea and the five countries began negotiating under the so-called six-party talks in 2003 with the aim of giving the communist regime economic aid and other concessions in exchange for dismantling its nuclear program. In April, however, the North said it was pulling out of the talks in response to international criticism of its controversial April 5 long-range rocket launch.

Report: NKorea ship suspected of carrying missiles By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer JUNE 21,09

SEOUL, South Korea – A U.S. Navy destroyer is tailing a North Korean ship suspected of carrying illicit weapons toward Myanmar in what could be the first test of new U.N. sanctions against the North over its recent nuclear test, a leading TV network said Sunday.The South Korean news network YTN, citing an unidentified intelligence source in the South, said the U.S. suspects the cargo ship Kang Nam is carrying missiles and related parts. Myanmar's military government, which faces an arms embargo from the United States and the European Union, has reportedly bought weapons from North Korea.YTN said the U.S. has deployed a destroyer and is using satellites to track the ship, which was expected to travel to Myanmar via Singapore.South Korea's Defense Ministry, Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service said they could not confirm the report. Calls to the U.S. military command in Seoul were not answered late Sunday.The ship is reportedly the first North Korean vessel to be tracked under the new U.N. sanctions.Two U.S. officials said Thursday that the U.S. military had begun tracking the ship, which left a North Korean port Wednesday and was traveling off the coast of China.One of the officials said it was uncertain what the Kang Nam was carrying, but that it had been involved in weapons proliferation before. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.Tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked since North Korea defiantly conducted its second nuclear explosion on May 25. It later declared it would expand its atomic bomb program and threatened war to protest the U.N. sanctions imposed in response to its nuclear test.

The sanctions toughen an earlier arms embargo against North Korea and authorize ship searches in an attempt to thwart its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.The Security Council resolution calls on all 192 U.N. member states to inspect vessels on the high seas if they have information that provides reasonable grounds to believe that the cargo contains banned weapons or material to make them, and if approval is given by the country whose flag the ship sails under.If the country refuses to give approval, it must direct the vessel to an appropriate and convenient port for the required inspection by the local authorities.A senior U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday that a Navy ship, the USS John S. McCain, is relatively close to the North Korean vessel but had no orders to intercept it under the Security Council resolution and had not requested that authority. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive issue of ship movements.The Navy ship, a guided missile destroyer, is named after the grandfather and father of former U.S. presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. Both were admirals.McCain said Sunday that the U.S. should board the Kang Nam even without North Korean permission if hard evidence shows it is carrying missiles or other cargo in violation of U.N. resolutions.I think we should board it. It's going to contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to rogue nations that pose a direct threat to the United States,he said on CBS' Face the Nation.President Barack Obama said the U.N. sanctions would be aggressively enforced after talks Tuesday with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in Washington. Obama also reaffirmed the U.S. security commitment to South Korea, including nuclear protection.In its first response to the summit, North Korea's government-run weekly Tongil Sinbo said Obama's comments revealed a U.S. plot to invade the North with nuclear weapons.

It's not a coincidence at all for the U.S. to have brought numerous nuclear weapons into South Korea and other adjacent sites, staging various massive war drills opposing North Korea every day and watching for a chance for an invasion,it said in a commentary published Saturday.North Korea says its nuclear program is a deterrent against the U.S., which it routinely accuses of plotting to topple its communist regime. The U.S., which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has repeatedly said it has no such intention and has no nuclear weapons there.

Navy Positions Destroyer For Possible Intercept of North Korean Ship Suspected of Proliferating Missiles, Nukes,The USS John McCain, a Navy destroyer, is preparing in case of orders to intercept a North Korean when it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official.FOXNews.com Friday, June 19, 2009

The U.S. military is preparing for a possible intercept of a North Korean flagged ship suspected of proliferating weapons material in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution passed last Friday, FOX News has learned.The USS John McCain, a Navy destroyer, is positioning itself in case it gets orders to intercept the ship Kang Nam as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official. The order to inderdict has not been given yet, but the ship is moving into the area.Permission has not been requested. Nor is it clear it will be, a military source told FOX News.This is a very delicate situation and no one is interested in precipitating a confrontation.The ship left a port in North Korea Wednesday and appears to be heading toward Singapore, according to a senior U.S. military source. The vessel, which the military has been tracking since its departure, could be carrying weaponry, missile parts or nuclear materials, a violation of U.N. Resolution 1874, which put sanctions in place against Pyongyang.

The USS McCain was involved in an incident with a Chinese sub last Friday - near Subic Bay off the Philippines. The Chinese sub was shadowing the destroyer when it hit the underwater sonar array that the USS McCain was towing behind it. This is the first suspected proliferator that the U.S. and its allies have tracked from North Korea since the United Nations authorized the world's navies to enforce compliance with a variety of U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing North Korea for its recent nuclear test.The ship is currently along the coast of China and being monitored around-the-clock by air.The apparent violation raises the question of how the United States and its allies will respond, particularly since the U.N. resolution does not have a lot of teeth to it.The resolution would not allow the United States to board the ship forcibly. Rather, U.S. military would have to request permission to board -- a request North Korea is unlikely to grant.North Korea has said that any attempt to board its ships would be viewed as an act of war and promised 100- or 1,000-fold retaliation if provoked.State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said that the resolution allows states to seek permission to inspect cargo. If permission is not granted, then the flag state, the owner of the ship, is instructed to send that ship to a port for -- for a formal inspection to be made,Kelly said, adding that he would not go into any details of any particular ship or the way inspections are conducted.We would hope that -- that North Korea would -- would comply with international law and -- and allow the inspection,he said.

Since the U.S. does not expect to be granted permission, it expects to be asked to interdict that it will have to shadow the ship until it runs out of fuel. At that point, the ship would likely have to be towed into the port.The U.S. military may request that the host country not provide fuel to the ship when it enters its port. North Korean merchant ships usually need fuel as they approach Singapore and the ports of eastern India. When tipped off, Indian port authorities are stringent enforcers of UN sanctions against ships carrying contraband.The U.S. Navy does not need to enforce the sanctions. Instead, it could poison the host, a move that entails working behind the scenes with Indian Ocean port authorities to inspect and confiscate illegal cargos. This move worked last year when U.S. officials reportedly warned Indian officials in advance of a North Korean transport aircraft that had requested permission to fly through Indian airspace on the way to Iran after stopping in Burma to refuel. The Indians refused to allow the aircraft to fly through their airspace. The aircraft reportedly was carrying gyroscopes for ballistic missiles.

The Kang Nam is known to be a ship that has been involved in proliferation activities in the past -- it is a repeat offender, according to one military source. The ship was detained in October 2006 by authorities in Hong Kong after the North Koreans tested their first nuclear device and the U.N. imposed a subsequent round of sanctions.North Korea does not export anything other than weapons, a U.S. official told FOX News. And this ship is presumed to be carrying something illicit given its past history.The latest tension follows a Japanese news report that North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the military is watching that situation very closely,and would have some concerns if North Korea launched a missile in the direction of Hawaii. But he expressed confidence in U.S. ability to handle such a launch. Gates said he's directed the deployment of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense, a mobile missile defense system used for knocking down long- and medium-range missiles. The ground-based interceptors are clearly in a position to take action. So, without telegraphing what we will do, I would just say ... I think we are in a good position, should it become necessary, to protect the American territory.FOX News' Jennifer Griffin, Justin Fishel and James Rosen contributed to this report.

Planned N. Korea launch unnerves Hawaii residents By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press Writer - Sun Jun 21, 10:07 am ET

HONOLULU – Comforted by the U.S. military's missile defense systems, Hawaii residents doubt a North Korean missile would light up the clear island sky like fireworks on the Fourth of July.But that doesn't mean the islands' laid-back beach-goers aren't worried that a long-range missile could be launched in the direction of Hawaii's emerald mountains and white sand beaches around Independence Day.The North Koreans are unbalanced and could try anything,said Dan Gleason while walking his Jack Russell mix dog in downtown Honolulu.If they do hit Honolulu, I hope it's a good shot, because I don't want to go through the aftermath.Japanese media have reported the North Koreans appear to be preparing for a long-range test near July 4. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered additional protections for Hawaii in case a missile is launched over the Pacific Ocean.But only one concerned person with a Hawaii trip planned has called the state's tourism office seeking information, state Tourism Liaison Marsha Wienert said. With Hawaii's huge military presence, no one should be afraid to travel to the islands, she said.

We believe that this is a very safe destination,she said.

Retiree Mae Dong, a Honolulu resident of more than 50 years, said the United States must remain resolute in the face of any North Korean aggression.It's disturbing,she said Friday.We cannot run. We have to fight them.On Wednesday, a military radar system — shaped like a giant golf ball — slowly disappeared from Hawaii's coast as it headed out to sea. The 28-story missile X-Band defense radar is designed to work with ground-based missile interceptors on the island of Kauai to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles during their final phase of flight.The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system was returned to Hawaii after the mobile launcher recently was tested at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.Since 2005, all six tests of the ground-based missile system have intercepted their targets, excluding tests when the targets malfunctioned, Missile Defense Agency spokeswoman Pam Rogers said.It is one of two missile defense systems the military tests at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. The other is the sea-based Aegis system, which has recorded 18 successful firings in 22 attempts.We're in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory,Pacific Fleet Lt. Cmdr. Chuck Bell said.

That's all reassuring, said Sean Sackett, who sells espresso around Honolulu from his Joe on the Go coffee van.It doesn't get more threatening than them shooting missiles at us and seeing if they can reach us,he said.Our military is good enough to shoot anything out of the sky that comes close to us.If there were a confirmed missile launch toward Hawaii, outdoor sirens would alert the public, said state Civil Defense spokeswoman Shelly Ichishita. Messages would go out on TV and radio urging people to stay indoors or inside their cars.But Hawaii's statewide alert level hasn't been raised, she said.And Honolulu resident Patricia Kealoha said she wasn't going to let the prospect of unseen overseas missiles change her day-to-day life. I hope they can stop the missiles,she said Friday as she sat outside state Circuit Court in Honolulu. But it doesn't phase me because it's out of my control.

A nuclear-free world? Not yet.By John Hughes John Hughes – Thu Jun 18, 5:00 am ET

Provo, Utah – When Ronald Regan was president, he scheduled a weekly one-on-one meeting in the White House with Secretary of State George Shultz. Nobody else was present, so when Secretary Shultz returned to the State Department, four or five of us senior advisers were always eager for a debriefing on what had been discussed and decided.On one of these occasions, Shultz returned to announce that Reagan had become committed to ridding the world of nuclear weapons. A startled Richard Burt, then assistant secretary for European affairs, blurted out: He can't do that! following up with the conviction that replacing the US nuclear deterrent with conventional weaponry and troops would be of astronomical cost. Shultz stared at us with those pale, impassive blue eyes that had served him so well as a negotiator in private life and government. You guys had better get on the ball,he said. The president meant it, he said, and we were to work toward it. Reagan, like presidents before him who had dreamed of a nuclear-free world, never achieved his goal, although he came close to persuading the Soviets at a 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland. On his first trip to Europe as president, Barack Obama affirmed the US commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons. Shultz, along with other formidable foreign-policy luminaries such as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense William Perry, and former Senator Sam Nunn, have previously expressed the same hope. Wisely, President Obama warned that such a goal "will not be reached quickly – perhaps not in my lifetime.

That may be an understatement.

A recent Council on Foreign Relations blue ribbon task force on US weapons policy finds that the geopolitical conditions that would permit the global elimination of nuclear weapons do not currently exist.And a recent Department of Defense task force, chaired by former Secretary James Schlesinger, found that nuclear weapons remain fundamental to deterrence. As one participant in the task force's review of US nuclear readiness put it: Global disarmament of nuclear weapons is fine as long as we are sure we have the last one to be destroyed.

Global nuclear disarmament remains an eminently worthy goal. But it cannot be achieved in today's climate, while: A nation with fickle leadership such as North Korea develops nuclear weapons. Terrorist groups yearn to acquire one. Syria may aspire to join the nuclear club. Iran, despite its protestations of peaceful nuclear development, is probably developing nuclear weaponry. Pakistan and India will not surrender their nuclear weapons so long as they distrust each other. Israel (although it does not discuss its nuclear weapons) will not forgo them so long as challenged by unfriendly neighbors or groups.

What can happen is a reduction of existing nuclear arsenals. The US and Russia possess 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons – far more than they want, or are needed for deterrence. Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are scheduled to meet in Moscow next month. It is expected that a draft treaty to replace the expiring 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) will be on their agenda. It would further decrease the number of nuclear warheads each of them agreed to in START. Next year, signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are scheduled to review, and hopefully revise, that document. Launched in 1968, it legalizes the right of the US, Britain, Russia, China, and France to have nuclear weapons but called upon them to reduce, and ultimately disband, their nuclear arsenals. In exchange, some 180 nations not bearing nuclear weapons agreed not to develop them. Over the years, the treaty has become tattered as countries such as North Korea have opted out of it, countries such as Iran are in it but not observing it, and countries such as Pakistan and India have developed nuclear weapons outside it. At a press conference in April, Obama said the US and Russia would be in a stronger position to re-invigorate the NPT if they were leading by example.Reductions in nuclear arsenals would be a plus. A nuclear-free world is but a mirage.John Hughes, a former editor of the Monitor, served as assistant secretary of State in the Reagan administration. He writes a biweekly column.

Obama: U.S. ready for possible N.Korea missile launch Sun Jun 21, 6:21 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States military is prepared for the possibility that North Korea may attempt to launch a missile toward Hawaii, President Barack Obama said in remarks released on Sunday.This administration -- and our military -- is fully prepared for any contingencies, Obama said in an interview with CBS television when asked about reported North Korean intentions to fire a missile toward Hawaii on or about July 4.Pressed on whether his comments were a warning of a military response, Obama said no.It's just we are prepared for any contingencies, he said.I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals. But I do want to give assurances to the American people that the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted in terms of what might happen.North Korea conducted a nuclear test on May 25 and may be looking to launch a long-range missile toward Hawaii after the United Nations punished Pyongyang by toughening sanctions.

Obama said the international community was united in its approach to North Korea.

One of the things that we have been very clear about is that North Korea has a path toward rejoining the international community,he said.We hope they take that path. What we're not going to do is to reward belligerence and provocation in the way that's been done in the past.The interview with CBS's The Early Show is due to air on Monday. Obama's remarks were released early in a partial transcript.(Reporting by Jeff Mason, editing by Chris Wilson)

NKorea threatens to harm US if attacked By JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writer JUNE 21,09

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea boasted that it has become a proud nuclear power and threatened Monday to harm the U.S. if attacked, as tensions mounted over a possible crackdown on exports of suspected missile parts from the North.President Barack Obama said the U.S. is ready to cope with any contingencies involving North Korea and vowed not to reward belligerence and provocation.South Korea's YTN news network reported that a U.S. Navy destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship suspected of carrying missiles and related parts toward Myanmar in what could be the first test of new U.N. sanctions against the North over its recent nuclear test.The sanctions toughen an earlier arms embargo against North Korea and authorize ship searches in an attempt to thwart its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.Tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked since North Korea defiantly conducted its second nuclear explosion on May 25. It later declared it would expand its atomic bomb program and threatened war to protest the U.N. sanctions imposed in response to its nuclear test.On Monday, the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said it is nonsense to say the country threatens the U.S. and claimed it is Washington that threatens the North. The paper also warned that the country is prepared to strike back if attacked.As long as our country has become a proud nuclear power, the U.S. should take a correct look at whom it is dealing with,the paper said.It would be a grave mistake for the U.S. to think it can remain unhurt if it ignites the fuse of war on the Korean peninsula.North Korea says its nuclear program is a deterrent against the U.S., which it routinely accuses of plotting to topple its communist regime. The U.S., which has 28,500 troops in South Korea, has repeatedly said it has no such intention and has no nuclear weapons there.

Obama said the U.S. is prepared for any North Korean provocation, including the regime's reported threat to test-launch a long-range missile toward Hawaii.Japanese media have reported that the North Koreans appear to be preparing for a long-range test timed for about July 4. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered additional protections for Hawaii in case a missile is launched over the Pacific Ocean.This administration — and our military is fully prepared for any contingencies, Obama said Friday during an interview with CBS News' Harry Smith, to be broadcast Monday on The Early Show.I don't want to speculate on hypotheticals, Obama said.But I want ... to give assurances to the American people that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted in terms of what might happen.The North's cargo ship, Kang Nam, is expected to travel to Myanmar via Singapore, YTN said, citing an unidentified intelligence source in the South. Myanmar's military government, which faces an arms embargo from the United States and the European Union, has reportedly bought weapons from the North.

The ship is reportedly the first North Korean vessel to be tracked under the new U.N. sanctions.Two U.S. officials said Thursday that the U.S. military had begun tracking the ship, which left a North Korean port Wednesday and was traveling off the coast of China.One of the officials said it was uncertain what the Kang Nam was carrying, but that it had been involved in weapons proliferation before. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.A senior U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday that a Navy ship, the USS John S. McCain, is relatively close to the North Korean vessel but had no orders to intercept it under the U.N. Security Council resolution and had not requested that authority. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.The Navy ship, a guided missile destroyer, is named after the grandfather and father of former U.S. presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. Both were admirals. McCain said Sunday that the U.S. should board the Kang Nam even without North Korean permission if hard evidence shows it is carrying missiles or other cargo in violation of U.N. resolutions. I think we should board it. It's going to contribute to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to rogue nations that pose a direct threat to the United States,he said on CBS' Face the Nation.

MUSLIM NATIONS

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

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

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

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

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

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

KISSINGER ON IRAN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkQ1iNHEGW8&feature=player_embedded

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU Iran blames U.S. for mass protests They are inciting and are ones who are running these things, June 21, 2009 3:13 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily ayyid Mojtaba Al-Hosseini

TEL AVIV – While President Obama largely has stayed on the sidelines of the mass protests in Iran, a representative of Supreme Iranian leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei has blamed the U.S. for the unrest in his country. The countries that have opposed Iran, whether openly or not, like the Western countries, led by the U.S., are the ones who are now inciting and talking about the Iranian elections,said Sayyid Mojtaba Al-Hosseini, Khamenei's representative to Syria. Hosseini was talking in an interview with Al Dunya, a private Syrian TV channel, in an interview translated from Arabic by the Middle East Media Research Institute. They are exaggerating what is going on beyond its real scope,continued Hosseini. When we listen to what is going on outside Iran, we realize that those who have opposed the Islamic Republic for a long time are the ones who are inciting others, and they are the ones who are running these things,he said. Get Jerome Corsi's Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians.The Syrian interviewer chimed in, asking, So you think that what is going on is being exaggerated? Hosseini replied,Well said! It is greatly exaggerated. I came from Iran two days ago. I was in Tehran from Saturday to Monday, and the [demonstrations] were not as widespread as they are saying. The people who took to the streets in defense of (opposition leader) Mousavi do not constitute an opposition to the Islamic Republic. Only a few of them are. What happened in this case was that the U.S. and the West were expecting the presidency to be transferred to an element with whom they perhaps felt more at ease,Hosseini said. They viewed this as an opportunity to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic. Therefore, behind the scenes of everything that is going on, one sees the same people who have been lying in wait for the Islamic Republic. Check out the foreign news agencies, as well as the foreign ministers of England, the U.S. and some other Western countries,he said.They do not bear goodwill towards the Islamic Republic.

Hosseini's comments come as Iranian state television reported today 17 people had been killed in clashes between police and terrorist groups in Tehran. The terrorist groups was a reference to protesters. CNN reported at least 19 people were killed yesterday based on eyewitness accounts of medical officials in Teheran's hospitals. CNN also quoted unconfirmed reports that put the actual death toll at 150. The Iranian state television report also stated today authorities had arrested the daughter of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, a leading opposition figure. Iran's official English language TV reported Rafsanjani's daughter had been arrested together with four other family members yesterday for taking part in what it labeled unauthorized protest rallies. The report did not identify the four other family members or give more details.Also today Iran announced it would expel the BBC's Iran correspondent, Jon Leyne, with Iranian state television reporting he has been given 24hours to leave.Jon Leyne will have to leave Iran within the course of the next 24 hours under the charges of dispatching fabricated news and reports, ignoring neutrality in news, supporting rioters and trampling the Iranian nation's rights,the semi-official Fars agency reported, without giving a source.The BBC in London confirmed the Iranian government asked its Teheran correspondent to leave. With regret, Jon Leyne, the BBC's permanent correspondent in Tehran, has been asked to leave by the Iranian authorities, said a BBC statement.The BBC office remains open.

Another Iranian state television dispatch claimed a few people were killed inside a Tehran mosque set on fire during street protests yesterday. Witnesses claimed numerous demonstrators were also wounded in clashes with police wielding guns, tear gas and water cannons yesterday. Witnesses told AP between 50 and 60 protesters were hospitalized after beatings by police and pro-government militia. The clashes reportedly took place near Revolution Square in Tehran where protesters, many wearing black, were reportedly yelling, Death to the dictator! and, Death to dictatorship!

Israel: Preventing nuclear Iran still main goal

Meanwhile, in an interview today with NBC's Meet the Press,Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated a nuclear-armed Iran would trigger instability in the region and pose a threat to the entire world.The goal is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons,Netanyahu said. We all don't want to see this regime acquiring nuclear weapons. … It's not merely an interest of Israel.Netanyahu said he is a believer in the right to free assemblage and that free people everywhere were amazed at the determination of the protesters in Iran.

Democracies do things differently,Netanyahu said.

The Israeli leader told NBC he isn't going to second-guess President Obama's approach on Iran after the Tehran government's political crackdown.Obama largely has remained silent, with the exception of a pre-taped interview on Friday in which the U.S. president said he was concerned with the violence in Iran.Then yesterday, Obama strengthened his rhetoric a notch, urging Iran's government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people.Obama said the Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. He called on Iran to govern through consent, not coercion.

Arrests of Rafsanjani kin show Iran clerics split By NASSER KARIMI and WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writers JUNE 21,09

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's government said Sunday it arrested the daughter and four other relatives of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the country's most powerful men, in a move that exposed a rift among the ruling Islamic clerics over the disputed presidential election.State media also reported at least 10 more deaths, bringing the official toll for a week of confrontations to at least 17. State television inside Iran said 10 were killed and 100 injured in clashes Saturday between demonstrators contesting the result of the June 12 election and black-clad police wielding truncheons, tear gas and water cannons.Police and members of the Basij militia took up positions in the afternoon on major streets and squares, including the site of Saturday's clashes. There was no word on any new clashes Sunday, although after dark many people in Tehran went to their rooftops to shout Death to the dictator and Allahu akbar,a common form of defiance in recent days.State-run Press TV reported that Rafsanjani's eldest daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, and four other unidentified family members were arrested late Saturday. On Sunday evening, it said the four others had been released but that Hashemi remained in detention. However, Iran's ambassador to France Seyed Mehdi Miraboutalebi said on France's RFI radio that Hashemi had been released.Last week, state television showed images of Hashemi, 46, speaking to hundreds of supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. He alleges fraud in the June 12 election, which the government said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won.

After Hashemi's appearance, hard-line students gathered outside the Tehran prosecutor's office and accused her of treason, state radio reported.The arrests are the strongest sign yet of a serious divide among Iran's ruling clerics.Also Sunday, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on state television that the number of people questioning the election results was large and this group should be respected and one should not mix this big population's account with a small group of rioters.

Rafsanjani, 75, heads two powerful institutions. One of them, the cleric-run Assembly of Experts, has the power to monitor and remove the supreme leader, the country's most powerful figure. The second is the Expediency Council, a body that arbitrates disputes between parliament and the unelected Guardian Council, which can block legislation.The assembly has never publicly reprimanded the unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since he succeeded Islamic Revolution founder Aytollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. But the current crisis has rattled the once-untouchable stature of the supreme leader with protesters openly defying his orders to leave the streets.Underscoring how the protesters have become emboldened despite the regime's repeated and ominous warnings, witnesses said some shouted Death to Khamenei! at Saturday's demonstrations — another sign of once unthinkable challenges to the virtually limitless authority of the supreme leader.Rafsanjani was deeply critical of Ahmadinejad during the presidential campaign and has the potential to lead an internal challenge to Khamenei.His daughter's arrest came as something of a surprise: In his Friday sermon to tens of thousands of worshippers, Khamenei praised Rafsanjani as one of the architects of the revolution and an effective political figure for many years. Khamenei acknowledged, however, that the two have many differences of opinion.

Khamenei has accused foreign media of making malicious attempts to portray a schism among the ruling clerics. At Friday's prayers, he acknowledged that all four presidential candidates have differences, but all of them belong to the system.Iran's regime continued to impose a blackout on the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.But fresh images and allegations of brutality emerged as Iranians at home and abroad sought to shed light on a week of astonishing resistance to hard-line Ahmadinejad and Khamenei.The New-York based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said scores of injured demonstrators who had sought medical treatment after Saturday's clashes were arrested by security forces at hospitals in the capital.It said doctors had been ordered to report protest-related injuries to the authorities, and that some seriously injured protesters had sought refuge at foreign embassies in a bid to evade arrest. The arrest of citizens seeking care for wounds suffered at the hands of security forces when they attempted to exercise rights guaranteed under their own constitution and international law is deplorable, said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesman for the campaign, denouncing the alleged arrests as a sign of profound disrespect by the state for the well-being of its own people.The government of Iran should be ashamed of itself. Right now, in front of the whole world, it is showing its violent actions,he said.Thousands of supporters of Mousavi, who claims he won the election, squared off Saturday against security forces in a dramatic show of defiance of Khamenei.

Iran has also acknowledged the deaths of seven protesters in clashes on Monday.

State media also reported a suicide bombing at the shrine of Khomeini on Saturday killed the attacker and injured five other people. There was some confusion about the overall death toll. English-language Press TV, which is broadcast only outside the country, put the toll at 13 and labeled those who died terrorists.There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy. Amnesty International cautioned that it was perilously hard to verify the casualty tolls. The climate of fear has cast a shadow over the whole situation,Amnesty's chief Iran researcher, Drewery Dyke, told The Associated Press.In the 10 years I've been following this country, I've never felt more at sea than I do now. It's just cut off.Iran has imposed strict controls on foreign media covering the unrest, saying correspondents cannot go out into the streets to report.Reporters Without Borders said 23 journalists were arrested over the past week. The British Broadcasting Corp. said Sunday that its Tehran-based correspondent, Jon Leyne, had been asked to leave the country. The BBC said its office remained open. The U.S.-based newsmagazine Newsweek said its journalist Maziar Bahari was arrested Sunday morning and had not been heard from.Also Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki held a news conference where he rebuked Britain, France and Germany for raising questions about reports of voting irregularities in hardline Ahmadinejad's re-election — a proclaimed victory which has touched off Iran's most serious internal conflict since the revolution.Mottaki accused France of taking treacherous and unjust approaches.But he saved his most pointed criticism for Britain, raising a litany of historical grievances and accusing the country of flying intelligence agents into Iran before the election to interfere with the vote. The election, he insisted, was a very transparent competition.That drew an indignant response from British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who categorically denied his country was meddling. This can only damage Iran's standing in the eyes of the world, Miliband said.German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Iran anew to conduct a complete and transparent recount.In Washington on Saturday, President Barack Obama urged Iranian authorities to halt all violent and unjust actions against its own people. He said the United States stands by all who seek to exercise the universal rights to assembly and free speech.Obama has offered to open talks with Iran to ease a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze, but the upheaval could complicate any attempts at outreach. Republican senators criticized Obama on Sunday for not taking a tougher public stand in support of the protesters, with one saying the president had been timid and passive.Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters Sunday, saying the young should raise their voice for freedom — an explicit message of support from a country that sees itself as most endangered by the hard-line government in Tehran.

Saturday's unrest came a day after Khamenei sternly warned Mousavi and his backers to all off demonstrations or risk being held responsible for bloodshed, violence and rioting.Delivering a sermon at Friday prayers attended by tens of thousands, Khamenei sided firmly with Ahmadinejad, calling the result an absolute victory that reflected popular will and ordering opposition leaders to end their street protests.

Mousavi did not directly reply to the ultimatum.

His camp, meanwhile, denied reports that he had proclaimed himself ready for martyrdom on Saturday.Mousavi has never said this,his close ally, Qorban Behzadiannejad, told the AP. Mousavi's Web site also said statements that Mousavi was preparing for death were inaccurate.Kole reported from Cairo. Associated Press Writers Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Brian Murphy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Sebastian Abbot in Cairo contributed to this report.

Defiance: Protesters clash with Iranian police Reports of at least 19 killed as protesters face,security forces armed with guns, batons, tear gas June 20, 2009
11:48 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily


Private footage of crowd running from explosions, apparent tear gas

TEL AVIV – Clashes between protesters and Iranian security forces heightened today as police reportedly beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in defiance of Iran's Islamist government.Unconfirmed reports put the death toll as high as 150 on the seventh day of post-election protests. Sources at one Tehran hospital confirmed 19 deaths Saturday, according to CNN.Foreign journalists in Tehran, meanwhile, have been banned from reporting from the streets or attending mass rallies the past few days, prompting news agencies to appeal to Iranians to pass on information. Some reports could not be independently confirmed. Foreign news organizations – including the BBC – have been subjected to strict controls which prevent reporters from leaving their offices,read an online news report from the BBC.The British network, along with other agencies like the Associated Press and the AFP, appealed to those on the streets in Tehran to pass along information and documentation, like photos and video. The restrictions on the press have been in place since violent protests erupted following the announcement eight days ago of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.If three days from now no journalists are able to testify on what is happening in Iran, it will pave the way for all sorts of abuses,warned Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of the Reporters Without Borders organization.Julliard's group confirming at least 12 journalists have been arrested since last week. His organization staged a rally last week outside the Iranian embassy in France to demand and end to all media clampdowns in Iran.

The move to ban reporters from going outside was just a fraction of the restrictions imposed by the Iranian government in attempts to crack down on democratic protests taking place in the country's capital. According to reports by Reuters and the Associated Press, the Iranian government temporarily halted all cell phone service in the country at one point last week. Some service was restored, although many Iranians reported they could not send text messages. More reports of temporary cell phone service closures came in yesterday and today.Iran reportedly also moved to close down opponent websites and filtered some social networking sites, although according to reports, Twitter has been used to spread some rally information.The newspaper owned by opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has not been allowed to publish a print edition in days.Tehran Province Police Chief Ahmad Reza Radan today announced his police forces would crack down on any gathering or protest rally. The head of the State Security Council issued a stern warning to Mousavi that he would be held responsible if he encouraged protests.

Water cannons, tear gas, gun fire meets protesters

In today's violence, witnesses told AP between 50 and 60 protesters were hospitalized after beatings by police and pro-government militia. The clashes reportedly took place near Revolution Square in Tehran where protesters, many wearing black, were reportedly yelling, Death to the dictator! and, Death to dictatorship! Police reportedly fired tear gas, water cannons and guns. The BBC also quoted a witness saying live ammunition was fired. One stringer told the BBC he saw one man shot and others injured amid running fights.Last week, 20 people were reportedly killed in protests. Most of the shots were reportedly fired by un-uniformed gunmen many suspect of working with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which openly back Ahmadinejad.

Opposition leader ready for martyrdom

Mousavi, meanwhile, is ready for martyrdom,according to one of his aids who was quoted by Reuters.In a public address in southwestern Tehran, Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path,said the aid, who was reportedly speaking by telephone from Tehran. Mousavi also told his supporters in a statement that he would always be at their side, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.He added in the statement he was not confronting the Islamic state. He warned, however, that by not allowing legal protests, Iran may face dangerous consequences.Mousavi also repeated calls for the election to be annulled on the grounds it was rigged.

Reports of suicide bomber strike at Islamic shrine

According to official state television, two people were killed today in a suicide bombing at a shrine for Khomeini. Iran's English-language Press TV said eight people were also wounded in the bombing, later adding the attacker also died. The semi-official Fars news agency said the bombing took place at the northern wing of the shrine. Its report was confirmed by a senior police official.

Obama emerges from sidelines

Finally weighing in on the issue as opposed to his sideline position during the last week, President Obama said in a taped interview with CBS yesterday he is very concerned by the tenor and tone of Khamenei's comments as well as by the crackdown by security forces of public protests.If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion,Obama said.Both houses of the U.S. Congress yesterday approved a resolution condemning the crackdown on protests in Iran and the country's suppression of the Internet and cell phones.

Gaza's 2 years under Hamas: order and absurdity By STEVEN GUTKIN and KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writers JUNE 21,09

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Two years after Hamas seized power, the Gaza Strip is a jumble of absurdities: an economy sustained by smuggling through tunnels, a civil service that gets paid on condition it doesn't work, and a population no longer fearful of gangs but feeling muzzled under the thumb of Hamas.Under a border closure enforced by Egypt and Israel, the U.N. says, shampoo can come in but conditioner can't. Nor can toys, candy or footballs.The blockade was imposed on Gaza to drive the Islamic militants from power by cutting off all but basic humanitarian needs. Instead it has entrenched their power while forcing hundreds of thousands deeper into poverty and making Gaza more of an obstacle to any peace deal.Voices calling for new thinking are growing louder, with the Obama administration arguing that squeezing ordinary Gazans is a recipe for instability. But there's no clear path forward, since opening the borders would require engaging the militants whom much of the world has shunned.

Meanwhile, the closure is making it impossible to rebuild Gaza after Israel's devastating winter offensive. It's also deepening the rift between the two territories that are supposed to comprise a future Palestinian state, with Hamas running Gaza while Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas rules the West Bank.

And with each passing day, more jobs, opportunities and hope are lost.

The pace of the downward spiral has accelerated so much and it's going to places where it will not be recoverable,said John Ging, the head of the U.N. agency whose food handouts sustain over two-thirds of Gaza's 1.4 million people.The Gaza Strip is surrounded by fences and a heavily patrolled coast and Gazans aren't free to leave.
For all the negative effects of the blockade, there seem to be just enough escape valves to allow Hamas to sustain itself.While Iran spends millions of dollars to keep Hamas afloat, the Abbas government has its influence: It pays tens of thousands of Gaza civil servants' salaries, provided the bureaucrats don't work for the Hamas government.Hamas has made little attempt to impose Islamic restrictions. Even before the takeover, Gaza was deeply conservative and most Gazan women wore headscarves in a show of religious observance.The main reason the boycott has failed to weaken Hamas is that ordinary Gazans blame Israel, not the militants, for their predicament — though it's unclear how Hamas would fare if elections were held today. The group has been able to keep smuggling weapons and cash through the tunnels to finance its operations, and now has 23,000 civil servants on its payroll.Hamas has restored a sense of security, ending months of clan feuds and militia rule. Beaches are full, cops keep traffic flowing smoothly and Hamas police have replaced the often lawless gunmen who controlled the streets.But Hamas' brand of order comes at a price. Human rights activist Khalil Abu Shammala said seven people have been killed and hundreds more tortured in Hamas custody since the war with Israel ended in January.Abu Shammala, who lives in Gaza City, said Hamas has set up a network of neighborhood monitors to spy on ordinary people, who are increasingly afraid to speak their mind. With Hamas in control of the guns, a popular uprising against the group seems unlikely.

Hamas is a power without law,said Abu Shammala.

Some Gazans manage to beat the sanctions. Carpenter Rabbah Yassin said he used cement smuggled through the tunnels to repair his war-damaged family home even though it cost him seven times the pre-blockade price.But most of the estimated 250,000 people whose homes were damaged or destroyed have been unable to rebuild. Five months after Israel launched its offensive to halt Hamas rocket fire, the Abed Rabbo neighborhood close to Israel's border looks just as it did on the day fighting stopped: mountains of rubble. Amid the broken cement and uprooted trees, volunteers from the neighborhood, which now calls itself camp dignity, sat in a circle outside a tent used for distributing donated bread. Little boys came on foot and bicycles to pick up their family's daily ration of three kilos (6 1/2 pounds) as the volunteers checked off names from a list. We've been in this situation since 1948 and we're still living on hope,said the group's leader, Fayez Abed Rabbo, alluding to Israel's creation and the Palestinian displacement it caused. Israel invaded Gaza to stop the rocket fire that had been hitting Israeli towns and villages for eight years, but the attacks continue sporadically, and Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev says it's a reason to maintain the blockade.Israeli sanctions on Gaza are a response to the continuing violence from Gaza into Israel, he said, but added: The Cabinet is looking into additional ways of easing life for the Palestinian population of Gaza while preserving Israel's security interests.Gaza's fate remains mired in a political deadlock that began in June 2007, when Hamas' outnumbered but disciplined fighters overpowered Abbas' Fatah forces.The Obama administration has urged easing the embargo. But Israel is linking open borders to the fate of Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier held by Hamas, while Hamas wants to trade him for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Hamas, viewed as a terrorist organization by much of the world, is refusing to heed the international demands that would open Gaza's borders: recognizing Israel and renouncing violence.Hamas leaders have lately been signaling they would accept a Palestinian state in just the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official, said that when Jimmy Carter visited Gaza this month, he told the former president that we are not against building the state in the 67 borders, and we support the cease-fire, and we support the exchange of the prisoners.Carter said he would brief President Barack Obama.

Still, Hamad, like other Hamas officials, refused to say whether this state would be permanent or just a step toward destroying Israel — and the group's refusal to recognize Israel has emerged as the main sticking point in Egyptian-brokered efforts to get Hamas and Fatah to reconcile.

Most Gazans are preoccupied these days with getting basic needs.Israel only lets in medicines, food staples and other basic goods, banning anything deemed luxurious. At a news conference marking two years of the closure, Chris Gunness, a U.N. spokesman, held up a bottle of two-in-one shampoo and noted that it is not allowed to enter Gaza because it also contains conditioner, a banned item. So is cement, which means that U.N. plans to spend $371 million to repair war-damaged homes are on hold. It also means newlyweds have no space of their own because families can't build new bedrooms in their clan compounds. Gaza importer Ala Hamada, 30, said he ordered 24 containers with tea, tomato paste and powdered drinks and all have sat in Israel's Ashdod port for months. He pays $500 per container for storage each month, and many of the goods are close to their expiration date.Having waged war on Hamas, he said, now they make war on the businessman.

What Engagement With Iran and North Korea Means By DAVID SANGER
Published: June 16, 2009


Ever since they settled into the Situation Room and began to plot strategies for their first encounters with North Korea and Iran, President Obama’s aides have described the two countries as polar opposites, unified only by a common desire for nuclear weapons.Now the two countries are about to become two radically different experiments in how engagement works or fails to work, as the new president takes a dramatically more confrontational approach with Pyongyang on the high seas, and tries to navigate the tricky politics of exploiting the anger on the streets of Tehran.

President Bush famously lumped North Korea and Iran together as two-thirds of the Axis of Evil, a post-9/11 sound bite that obfuscated, in the minds of many, the very different challenges they pose. After examining what went wrong in the Bush years, when North Korea harvested most of the plutonium for its small arsenal, and Iran sped ahead to build the capability to make its own nuclear fuel, Mr. Obama and his aides are now designing different strategies for the two countries that are based on radically different assessments of their motivations. In the Obama analysis, the North is receding into what the president’s top strategists have repeatedly called a defensive crouch,trying to stave off the world with a barrage of missile and nuclear tests while the country’s leadership tries to sort out a survival strategy. Constantly on the brink of starvation, its military so broke that it cannot train its pilots, it has no illusions about becoming a great power in Asia. Its main goal is survival — and exploiting the money-making opportunities that come from arms exports.

In contrast, Iran looked to the Obama team as a far more dynamic, open society eager to restore its traditional role as one of the great powers — if not the greatest — in the Middle East. To the country’s leadership, and to many of the reformers as well, the nuclear program is all about bolstering its chances at restoration. Unlike North Korea, Iran may not need a fully tested nuclear weapon. It just needs to create the perception that, with a few twists of the screwdriver, it is capable of turning a peaceful nuclear infrastructure into a weapons program, in a matter of months. The perception may be as powerful as the bomb.Nuclear weapons capability would surely add to Iran’s ability to twist arms in the region,Dennis Ross, the administration’s chief Iran strategist, wrote with David Makovsky in their new book about the Middle East, Myths, Illusions, and Peace,published just as Iranians went to the polls last week in the now-disputed election. The book, completed before Mr. Ross was hired by the administration, is causing considerable heartburn in the White House, because it lays out a step-by-step recipe for what the authors call the hybrid option — combining diplomatic initiatives with excruciating economic pressure on the most vulnerable elements of Iran’s oil sector, whose output is declining.But re-analyzing the problem is easier than designing workable strategies to reverse what may now be irreversible. American presidents have been certain they could contain North Korea, or perhaps speed its collapse, since the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953. That was the same year that the C.I.A. organized a coup that deposed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq and installed the Shah — a cold war operation for which Mr. Obama just publicly apologized during his speech at Cairo University last month. Very little has broken Washington’s way in either country in the ensuing 56 years.So is there any reason to believe that Mr. Obama’s new approaches will change the dynamic with either country? Maybe, but there are huge risks ahead.

The decision to confront North Korea with overwhelming pressure — designed to bring its shipping and financial transactions to a virtual standstill — is based on the conclusion that re-entering negotiations to buy the dismantlement of the country’s main nuclear facility at Yongbyon is a futile strategy. It has already failed twice, once for President Clinton, once for President Bush. When Robert M. Gates, the defense secretary, said I’m tired of buying the same horse twice,he was signaling that the administration would not offer fuel, food or security guarantees in return for incremental steps to take apart the reactors and plutonium reprocessing facilities inside the high walls at Yongbyon. It may not be a problem; North Korea says it is never coming back to the talks. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. But until then, Mr. Obama’s engagement strategy is more about overwhelming pressure than diplomacy.By hailing and seeking to inspect suspect North Korean ships in the Sea of Japan, and then pressing nations around the world to pick apart the ship’s cargo once they pull into ports for refueling, Mr. Obama is seeking to bring to a grinding halt the last revenue-producing element of the North Korean economy. The risk is that, however carefully designed to avoid open confrontation, the North Koreans will lash out — perhaps opening fire on American, Japanese or South Korean ships, creating an incident that could quickly escalate.Right now, our biggest worry is the North Korean captain who does something very, very stupid, a senior military officer in the Pacific Command said Monday.And when you intercept ships and tell them to stop, the risk is that someone can’t control their adrenaline. Then we can find ourselves back in the old days.In Iran, in contrast, the administration’s approach is likely to be far more about diplomacy in the next few months than about pressure. Mr. Obama’s aides are clearly seeking to stand back and watch while protestors take to the streets shouting slogans against the country’s ruling elite. The White House fears that if the president speaks too supportively of the protestors, it will give President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the chance he is looking for to portray the angry crowds as American stooges. After all, in Iran it does not take much to stoke memories of the Mossadeq fiasco.

It is too early to know whether these protests, which no one predicted, will gain steam or, like the uprising 20 years ago this month in Tiananmen Square, simply burn out. Mr. Obama’s conundrum is that he does not have the luxury of time. International nuclear inspectors describe a nuclear program that is speeding up — moving the country very close to the nuclear capability that the United States, Israel and Iran’s Arab neighbors say they cannot abide.Yet if the new administration moves too quickly in executing the strategy of engagement with pressure what Mr. Ross and Mr. Makovsky describe in their book as showing the mullahs that Iran’s economic lifeline is going to be cut and the oil revenues are going to dry up it could quickly turn those young Iranians in the streets against Washington. And as one of Mr. Obama’s strategists put it the other day, hearing those protestors shout down the clerics sounds a lot better to my ears than Death to America!

Israeli president applauds Iran street protesters By JOSEPH MARKS, Associated Press Writer – Sun Jun 21, 8:10 am ET

JERUSALEM – Israeli President Shimon Peres applauded Iran's pro-reform protesters Sunday, saying the young should raise their voice for freedom — an explicit message of support from a country that sees itself as most endangered by the hard-line government in Tehran.Peres, a Nobel peace prize laureate whose duties are largely ceremonial, suggested the protesters could bring down their leaders.Protesters took to the streets after a disputed June 12 presidential election that saw a victory for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the incumbent. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction.Let the young people raise their voice for freedom, let the Iranian women ... voice their thirst for equality,Peres told a gathering of world Jewish leaders.

If the protests continue, Peres said,hopefully the poor government will disappear.

Israel believes Iran is developing nuclear weapons that could target Israel — a charge Iran denies. The Israeli government says it prefers to see Iran's nuclear program stopped through diplomacy, but has not ruled out a military strike.Israel is also concerned about Iran's close support for two of its most committed enemies, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.Ahmadinejad has made verbal assaults on Israel a centerpiece of his rhetoric and has also called the Holocaust a myth.Israeli officials have said little so far about the Iranian protest movement, which has topped news broadcasts here since demonstrations erupted more than a week ago. Initially, officials here indicated they saw little difference between Ahmadinejad and his rival, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who asserts he won the election.Israeli leaders may be reluctant to openly support the protesters because being identified with Israel could do them more harm than good, said political scientist Shlomo Aronson of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. But the ceremonial nature of Peres' office and his role as an elder statesman give him more leeway, he said.Mr. Peres is not an active diplomat, so he has the right...to say Israelis should not be silent while people are dying in Tehran,he said.

29 Engineers: Only Explosives Can Explain 9/11 World Trade Center Destruction
9/11 Blogger Friday, June 19, 2009


29 Structural & Civil Engineers Cite Evidence for Controlled Explosive Demolition in Collapses of All 3 WTC High-Rises on 9/11.More than 700 architects and engineers have joined call for new investigation.For Some, the Doubts Began Early.Something is wrong with this picture,thought Nathan Lomba, as he watched replays of the Twin Tower collapses on television on September 11, 2001. A licensed structural engineer trained in buildings’ responses to stress, Lomba saw more on the screen than you or I. He puzzled,How did the structures collapse in near-symmetrical fashion when the damage was clearly not symmetrical? Lomba was hardly alone in his discomfort. Most structural engineers were surprised when the towers fell. They mainly kept their misgivings to themselves, though, as Scientific American and the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, BBC, the History Channel and government agencies such as FEMA and NIST offered varying and often imaginative theories to explain how fires brought the towers down.Full article at:http://www.ae911truth.org/downloads/29_Structural-Civil_Engineers_2009-0…

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