SPANISH LEADER IN ISRAEL

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).

Iran proposes setting up Asian Union Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:03:32 GMT

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki - The Iranian foreign minister has proposed setting up the Asian Union to strengthen economic cooperation among Asian counties.We are trying to find a united stance on different economic issues to address the challenges presented by the economic crisis and offer appropriate management solution for the world,Manouchehr Mottaki said at the 8th Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Ministerial Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka. If we are united, we will have closer cooperation in the fields of trade, tourism and transportation,he said, expressing hope for the forging of better ties among Asian countries.We believe that a collective effort is required to ensure interests are generated and losses are reduced in regional equations,the top Iranian diplomat said.The ACD Ministerial Meeting is being held in Colombo under the theme of 'Spirit of Asia: Global Economic Recovery and Development Prospects' with the participation of its 31 member countries.Iran, which became a member of ACD in 2004, will host the gathering next year.DB/HGH

FINANCIAL TIMES 16.10.09 Sarkozy attacks Klaus on Lisbon refusal
By Ben Hall in Paris and Tony Barber in Brussels

Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday criticised the refusal of Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, to sign the Lisbon treaty and warned him he could face repercussions.The French president broke ranks with other European Union leaders to raise the pressure on Mr Klaus, describing as unacceptable his refusal to ratify the treaty.Decision time is coming for him and it will not be without consequence,Mr Sarkozy said in an interview that appears in Friday’s Le Figaro newspaper.And whatever happens, this issue will be resolved by the end of the year.Mr Klaus this week demanded last-minute legal guarantees to ensure ratification of the treaty did not lead to a flood of claims on Czech property from ethnic Germans expelled from the former Czech Republic in 1945.EU governments were now considering whether to give such assurances in the form of a declaration but were reluctant to provide one unless they were convinced Mr Klaus would raise no further objections, diplomats said.Finding the appropriate language for a declaration could take some time and not everyone is happy with the idea. Austria is particularly opposed.

France regards Mr Klaus’s concerns over the Sudeten German issue as artificial [but the Sudeten Germans in Germany do not regard it this way and are threatening to go to the European Court if the opt-out is not legally binding from Day 1 of the Treaty -cs] but would accept a declaration if it led to speedy ratification of the treaty, as long as it did not create political problems for other countries.The Czech Republic, like all 27 EU member states, agreed to do everything to ratify the treaty by the end of the year,a French official said. The Czech government has signed it, the Czech parliament has signed it. We don’t expect the Czechs’ president to put himself in a position where he breaks the word of the Czech Republic. The EU runs on people holding to their word. There would be serious consequences.[Sarkozy should read rthe Czech constitution which gives the Czech president equal powers with the government in negotiating treaties. He should stop bullying and realise that the French people have voted against the treaty as have the Dutch and the Irish. They’ve all been ignored and bullied into accepting it! -cs]French frustration at Mr Klaus’s foot-dragging is shared by many in Brussels and national capitals. But other leaders have so far avoided publicly attacking Mr Klaus, fearing such criticism could prove counter-productive.Mr Klaus’s objections have gone down badly with Mr Sarkozy who is anxious for the Lisbon treaty – of which he claims parentage – to be put into place quickly. He had to be dissuaded by Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, from haranguing Mr Klaus publicly about his reluctance to sign the treaty after the Irish Yes vote earlier this month.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (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.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: 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 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

STOCKHOLM PROGRAM-OPEN-SECURE EU
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2009/oct/stockholm-draft-presidency-programme.pdf

France, Germany and the UK begin negotiations over shape of EU diplomatic service;French Foreign Minister: Lisbon Treaty will lead to a true European defence policy OCT 16,09

Le Monde reports that member states, including the UK, France and Germany, are already negotiating over the new diplomatic service, without waiting for the Lisbon Treaty to be ratified, or for the election of the EU Foreign Minister.The French Foreign Office reports that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said this week that, during the European Council meeting on 29-30 October,the general lines of the European External Action Service will be sketched, in other words the future EU Foreign Affairs Minister. This [diplomatic] service will have to put its members at the core of the Commission, the Council's Secretary General, but also of the 27 member states. The credibility and effectiveness of European diplomacy will depend on its ability to analyse and act. The biggest mistake would be to create new European bureaucracy.He added,I am thinking about Europe's contribution in Afghanistan, very active but too dispersed between the Commission, the EU's special representative and member states, depriving us of the political leadership that we could aspire to. The Lisbon Treaty will put us in the right place.Le Monde reports that, according to Paris, London and Berlin, the diplomatic service should not have more than a couple of hundred people in the service to begin with, and a third of the whole service should be composed by their national civil servants, contrary to the wishes of EU diplomats and small members that were hoping to use this instrument to create a real European diplomacy.

The paper also reports that the UK is also looking to integrate member states' military contingent in Brussels into the External Action Service. The French Foreign Office quotes Bernard Kouchner saying the Lisbon Treaty, will lead to an influential Europe that will be able to make its voice heard on the international scene because it will be more effective and visible with a stable President of the Council and...a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and a security policy benefitting from reinforced means of actions, a true European defence policy, and the necessary conditions for powerful diplomacy. Can the diplomat do without the soldier...? I don't think so.The article also reports that France and Spain have been pushing to devolve some management of development aid back to member states, but the UK and the Scandinavian members want to leave it in the hands of the Commission.

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.

Spanish president visits Israel
October 16, 2009

MADRID, Spain (JTA) – Spain’s president visited Israel and the West Bank and received a medal from the Palestinian Authority president.President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday for his one-day visit, which is part of a larger tour that includes Syria. Spain is interested in expanding its role to help restart peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.Zapatero told Israel’s daily Ma’ariv that Spain wants to open a new page in bilateral relations. Spain is a friend of Israel,the socialist leader said. When we criticize one another, we do so as friends.Accompanied by Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, the trip to Israel included meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and opposition leader Tzipi Livni of the Kadima party. Zapatero also went to the West Bank city of Ramallah, where P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas gave him a medal of honor from for the Spanish government’s support for the liberty and independence of the Palestinian people.

Asked about his position on the Goldstone report on the Gaza war, which blamed Israel for war crimes and which Israel has discounted as inherently biased, Zapatero said, The response to the report should be intelligent, rational, and in no way should be an obstacle to the peace process. I know that it is a very sensitive subject in Israel and we should act with caution.Zapatero also denied a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League expressing concern over an alarming rise in anti-Semitism in Spain; a survey had shown 75 percent of Spanish respondents believed Jews have too much power in international financial markets.There is no anti-Semitism in Spain in any of its expressions,Zapatero said.Not every commentary, publication, or photograph should be considered anti-Semitic. The best proof is that today there are no anti-Semitic acts in Spain.

Spain to Back Obama on Israel-PA Talks by Maayana Miskin OCT 16,09

(IsraelNN.com) Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country will soon assume the European Union presidency, met Thursday with President Shimon Peres and discussed Israel-PA negotiations.Zapatero expressed interest in increasing his country's role in Israel-PA talks, particularly once Spain takes on EU leadership.We will not allow this period to pass without being committed, and without working vigorously, to advancing the peace process,he said.This is an important mission.The Spanish PM indicated that the EU under Spain's leadership would back the policies supported by United States President Barack Obama.We will cooperate fully with President Obama's administration,Zapatero told Peres.Zapatero also traveled to Ramallah to meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. PA media quoted Zapatero as telling Abbas that he hopes to speed up the creation of a PA-led Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.In addition to pushing for the creation of such a state, Spain hopes to shorten the process of international recognition for a PA state, the reports quoted Zapatero as saying. According to PA media, the Spanish PM also stated that the U.S. shares his goals.During his meeting with Abbas, Zapatero joined the PA Chairman in paying his respects to the deceased former Chairman Yasser Arafat, who founded terror organization Fatah in 1959 and led it until his death in 2005.

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

Lessons of the lat Oct 15th 2009 From The Economist print edition

The European Union should ease the way for small, troubled currencies to join the euro-LATVIA is a financial minnow. Its economy—about the size of North Dakota’s—accounts for little more than 0.1% of the output of the European Union. But the repercussions of its currency troubles will reverberate in other countries in eastern Europe, and should act as a wake-up call for Europe’s policymakers.The bursting of the credit bubble hit Latvia harder than almost any other country. Years of boom, buoyed by cheap foreign-currency loans and a currency pegged to the euro, have turned to a spectacular bust. Over the past year Latvia’s economy has shrunk by almost a fifth and its jobless rate has risen to 17.4%. House prices are down by two-thirds from their peaks.There is no easy solution to Latvia’s mess. Whatever happens, its living standards will decline because real wages have to fall. But it must decide what to do about its currency.The government wants to keep the peg, as do a large majority of Latvians. But many investors are doubtful: despite a bail-out worth several billion euros from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and others, rumours of devaluation abound. Many economists reckon Latvia is simply a replay of Argentina’s mess in 2001, when a quixotic effort to keep a pegged exchange rate ended in devaluation and default.

In theory the Latvians have several choices. First, they could let the lat float, as the Argentines did. But given how tiny and open Latvia’s economy is and its strong links to the euro zone, floating has never held much appeal—and it makes even less sense in the wake of the financial crisis. Just as other asset prices are prone to bubbles, currency markets cannot be relied upon to deliver the right exchange rate to stabilise economies. The past few months have also weakened the argument that Latvia must have a flexible currency because wages and prices are sticky in a downward direction. Both are now falling sharply (see article).Second, Latvia could devalue and re-peg against the euro at a lower rate. Advocates of devaluation argue that the scale of wage adjustment that Latvia needs is so huge that it will imply years of grinding recession unless the currency is weakened. They point to Britain and Italy, which abandoned their currency pegs in 1992—and then recovered quickly from recession. Devaluation would allow Latvia’s foreign-exchange reserves to go further and perhaps tempt back nervous investors.This argument has some merit. Close inspection, however, suggests that Latvia (and, by extension, other small economies in eastern Europe) has more to lose and less to gain than past European devaluers. Its chances of joining the euro—the ultimate prize for Latvian policymakers—would surely fall. The gains from competitiveness would not be immediate, whereas the burden of foreign-currency debt will rise straightaway. The best that can be said for devaluation is that it would hasten the default, and marking down, of much of Latvia’s private debt.Faced with these unpalatable options, Latvia is left to soldier on with its current peg. A better option would be for it to join the euro now, which would remove the premium Latvia pays for currency risk. Those within the euro area have an interest in Latvia’s financial stability, because default could damage the country’s neighbours and cause losses to banks throughout the continent. But they oppose any talk of Latvia joining until it has cleared the official hurdles for entry (which now seems impossibly far off).Euro-area countries have two fears. One is that a wave of fragile new members might weaken the commitment of the European Central Bank to low inflation. This worry is overblown. The ECB’s rate-setting council, already 22-strong, will eventually reach a ceiling beyond which voting rights would rotate among smaller members. There is more substance to the second fear: that rewarding trouble-prone economies like Latvia with euro entry will shorten the odds of a euro-zone fiscal crisis. At the moment, it is widely assumed that one country’s default would either cause the euro to break up, or would require a bail-out by other countries. What is urgently needed is an open discussion about how to handle an orderly debt restructuring within the euro zone—one that places the burden on the defaulting country and its creditors.

Towards a broader union
Preparing for this eventuality would make the existing euro area more resilient. It would also smooth the path to swifter membership for Latvia and other less troubled countries for which the euro club is so alluring. Even Milton Friedman, the most passionate advocate of flexible currencies, believed that currency union with a big steady neighbour was the best policy for small developing economies. The neighbours must find a way to make it work for them too.

Meet the father of world currency and his plan to destroy the US Dollar http://www.wnd.com/OCT 16,09

A plan to replace the dollar with a world currency originated with Columbia University economics professor Robert Mundell, who won a Nobel Prize in economics in 1999 for creating the euro and is now widely regarded as the father of the euro.
Mundell, currently an economic consultant to China, is the originator of the suggestion that the International Monetary Fund should utilize Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, to replace the dollar as a new standard for holding foreign exchange reserves in international trade transactions.SDRs are international reserve assets calculated by the IMF in a basket of major currencies allocated to the IMF's 185 member nation-states in relation to the capital. The assets are largely in gold or widely accepted foreign currencies the members have on deposit with the IMF. As far back as June 2008, Mundell was telling Reuters a major dollar crisis would come within five years, and China was discussing with him proposals to reform the global monetary system. There's no doubt about it that inside the Chinese government there's a lot of discussion going on,Mundell told Reuters.I'm not sure how they're doing it, but I know they're going to get input from me.In the interview, Mundell went so far as to speculate the Chinese-recommended solution would involve the IMF.

Aspiring to be the father of a global currency, Mundell has argued, What you need to have is an International Monetary Fund that's going to take some of these excess dollars (such as held by China in foreign exchange reserves), put them into a substitution account inside the IMF or some other institution and then use that to create what is a new international currency.Mundell stressed to Reuters that such a proposal would be very acceptable to China.

Optimum currency areas

Mundell has argued for decades the proposition that nation-state currencies, including the dollar, need to give way to a new official world currency. According to Mundell, an optimal currency area" is best defined by international free-trade areas and regional markets, not by nation-states such as the United States of America.Mundell's argument was that nation-states are not optimal currency areas because nation-state borders are artificial constraints imposed on the globe to create ethnic or historical divisions that do not necessarily represent how international markets operate.To understand the concept, Mundell cites former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volker's frequently quoted dictum, A global economy needs a global currency.The benefits from a world currency would be enormous, Mundell argues on his website.

G20 votes to fund global currency

The G20 summit meeting in London last week, through the International Monetary Fund, took an important step to create a new global currency to replace the dollar as the world's foreign exchange reserve currency of choice.Appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox News Channel television show, political consultant Dick Morris and Hannity agreed the decision by the G20 proved the conspiracy theorists were right and there is now clear evidence of a plan to create a one-world currency.Point 19 of the final communiqué from the G20 summit in London April 2 specified, We have agreed to support a general SDR which will inject $250 billion into the world economy and increase global liquidity,taking the first steps forward to implement China's proposal that Special Drawing Rights at the IMF should be created as a foreign exchange currency to replace the dollar.I think the dollar is now under question, billionaire investor and political activist George Soros told CNBC, commenting that the goal was to create an IMF currency to use in international trade.

Obama deficits frighten China

China is clearly worried its massive holdings of U.S. dollars are at risk of devaluation, with the Obama administration projecting trillion-dollar deficits into the foreseeable future.At the beginning of this year, China's holdings of U.S. Treasury securities jumped to $739 billion, up dramatically from $535 billion in June 2008.On March 17, the Moscow Times published an article revealing the Kremlin attended to use the April G20 meeting in London to push for the IMF to utilize SDRs as a super-reserve currency widely accepted by the whole of the international community.Then, a few days later, on March 24, the Financial Times in London reported China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan has proposed to utilize SDRs issued by the IMF as a world reserve currency.The coincidence of the two announcements gave the impression Moscow and Beijing had coordinated their efforts to undermine the dollar.The G20 final communiqué gave the strong impression the meeting adopted China's proposal.China's proposal called for the IMF to issue at least $250 billion in SDRs to IMF-member states as a method of placing a safety net under developing countries that might otherwise have to declare bankruptcy.

International overdraft

As Red Alert previously reported, the proposal originally advanced by China and Russia would issue SDRs to central banks of IMF member states far in excess of any gold or currency reserves the member states have on deposit with the IMF.The idea is to utilize the little-understood and largely ignored SDR's in a new capacity, as a sort of an international overdraft facility made available to bankrupt or financially failing IMF members originated with Ted Turner, formerly a senior official at both the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury.The IMF created SDRs in 1969 to support the Bretton Woods fixed–exchange-rate system.The international supply of two key reserve assets – gold and the U.S. dollar – proved inadequate for supporting the expansion of world trade and financial development that was taking place,a a document on the IMF website explains. Therefore, the international community decided to create a new international reserve asset under the auspices of the IMF.When the Bretton Woods fixed-rate system collapse, major world currencies, including the dollar, shifted to a floating exchange rate system where the price of the dollar and other major world currencies was created by trading on international currency exchanges.Until the current global economic crisis, SDRs issued by the IMF have been used by IMF members primarily as a reserve account to support international trade transactions, not as an alternative international currency available to settle international debt transactions in danger of default.

Silly Madeline Albright denies then confirms Bilderberg attendance -Madeline Albright confronted on Bilderberg and New World Order Crimes including 9/11

http://www.911blogger.com/node/21579
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3WVTnGka0M

Madeleine Albright was confronted and exposed as a New World Order shill by a coalition of WeAreChange activists from Ohio and Chicago.As the activists attempted to ask the former Secretary of State some probing questions, they were shoved and assaulted by Albright's entourage.Albright spoke at the Borders bookstore in Chicago on Wednesday,October 7th to flog her book and to propagandize the public.Albright, who is a Director of the Rockefeller/British-controlled Council on Foreign Relations, was told that the American people would not stand for another false flag attack like on 9/11.

Anthony from WeAreChange Ohio stepped up and asked Albright about her appearance at the 2008 Bilderberg conference in Chantilly, Virginia.At first, Albright lied and said that she was not at the meeting but eyewitnesses had videotaped her arrival at the secret gathering.When notified of this fact, she backpeddled and said that she went in to pick somebody up.Albright may be hesitant to admit her links to the Bilderberg Group because evidence has shown that the Bilderberg members intentionally
planned to crash the U.S. economy in order to consolidate their economic power. In the film The Obama Deception by Alex Jones,author Daniel Estulin stated at the 2006 conference that members of the Bilderberg Group admitted that the group was planning to manipulate the housing market, create oil price fluctuations, and ultimately crash the economy.Her attendance at the Bilderberg meeting would also be considered a
violation of the Logan Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from interacting with a foreign government without the authority of the United States.Albright and her entourage seemed to think that she was only going to get puffball questions from a sycophantic public. Anthony of WeAreChange Ohio stated emphatically,it was very interesting as soon as I asked her about Bilderberg, they said You can't ask any
questions and shoved me away! Both Anthony and Steve of We Are Change Chicago were immediately removed once they begin to question Albright.

Please consider seriously the reason why these elite institutions are not
discussed in the mainstream press despite the immense financial and political power they wield? There are sick and evil occultists running the Western World. They are power mad lunatics like something from a kids cartoon with their fingers on the nuclear button! Armageddon is closer than you thought. Only God can save our souls from their clutches, at least that's my considered opinion - xxxxxxxxxxx t.

Israel's Growth Outpaces The World OCT 16,09
http://www.israelnationalnews.com

The Central Bureau of Statistics has released the latest population figures for Israeli cities and towns. Israel’s population as of June 30, 2009 stood at nearly 7.43 million – nearly three-quarters of a percent more than it was at the end of 2008. Some 623,000 people (8.4%) live in rural villages and towns of fewer than 2,000 residents.Israel's growth rate currently stands at an annual rate of approximately 1.5% - compared to 1.188% for the entire world in 2008.The ranking of Israel’s 20 largest cities did not change. Jerusalem is still the largest city, with a population of 769,400, followed by Tel Aviv (393,200), Haifa (265,300), Rishon LeTzion (226,500), and Ashdod (210,500).Jerusalem also grew by the largest amount – 5,800 people, just over three-quarters of a percent. It was followed by Petach Tikvah, Israel’s sixth-largest city, which added more than 2,000 more people (just over 1%) in the first half of 2009. The hareidi-religious city of Modi'in Illit, also known as Kiryat Sefer, jumped next-highest, by 1,800 people - a full 4.3% - to 43,500 people.Rounding out Israel's top ten cities are Be'er Sheva (up .032% in the first half of 2009), Netanya (.067), Holon (.064), and Bnei Brak (.091).

Only three cities dropped in population during the first half of 2009: Eilat, Tiberias, and Nazareth Illit, each by between 200 and 300 residents.Growth in Judea and Samaria, Israel’s fastest-growing regions, continued to surpass that of the rest of the country, but slightly less so. Beitar Illit grew during the first half of 2009 by 2.9%, to a population of 35,700 residents, and Beit El grew by 3.7% to a population of 5,600.Between 1995 and 2007, the population of Judea and Samaria grew by 107%, from 130,000 to 270,000 people - compared with 29% in the rest of the country. From 2005 until 2007, population growth in Judea and Samaria was three times higher than it was in the rest of Israel - 5% a year compared to 1.7%.

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

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

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

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

THE JUDGEMENT OF THE NATIONS

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.

DANIEL 12:8-13
8 And I (DANIEL) heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (at the 3 1/2 yr mark of the 7 yr treaty) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

MATTHEW 25:31-46
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Bibi, Lieberman Move to Squash Goldstone by Maayana Miskin OCT 16,09

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are both working hard to prevent the Goldstone Report from winning approval in Friday's vote at the United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva, but it appears the report -- which accuses Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza -- is likely to be endorsed nonetheless.Both Lieberman and Netanyahu have argued that by charging Israel's army with war crimes due to civilian deaths in a war on terrorists, the report would hamper attempts to fight terrorism and thus hurt the chances of achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Netanyahu began campaigning against the report in September, in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. Terming the report a farce and accusing the UNHRC of “twisted standards,the prime minister warned,Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace.Netanyahu spoke with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for several minutes this past Tuesday, and warned again that the report would harm the Israel-PA peace process. Ban told Netanyahu,I have recorded your position, but I cannot intervene.Lieberman met with several European representatives in the month of October and attempted to convince them to support Israel on Goldstone. However, in his meetings with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger, Lieberman failed to convince his counterparts to vote against the adaptation of the report.Lieberman repeatedly warned foreign diplomats that if the Goldstone Report is accepted, other countries fighting terrorists will be at risk of facing war crimes charges as well. There is an attempt to compromise the democratic states' ability to defend themselves,he said in early October. Israel being the first one... Next the NATO forces in Afghanistan, then claims against Russia.

UNHRC Session on Occupied Territory in Swing
The U.N. Human Rights Council began a special session Thursday on “The human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory [Judea, Samaria and Gaza – ed.] and East Jerusalem.” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, of South Africa, opened the meeting by accusing Israel of impinging on Muslims' freedom to worship by closing the Temple Mount to young Muslim men following violent riots.Pillay did not condemn the fact that the Temple Mount had been closed to all Jews and Christians for the same reason.She also accused Israel of violating international law by limiting the entrance of goods to Gaza via Israeli crossings in the Negev, and expressed support for the Goldstone Report.The PA joined in, accusing Israel of Judaizing Jerusalem and altering its cultural identity.Israel criticized the UNHRC session as unjustified, and explained that both the limitation on Temple Mount prayer and IDF counterterror measures in Gaza were necessary to prevent violence.

UN endorsement of anti-Israel report on Gaza war buries peace process
DEBKAfile Special Analysis October 16, 2009, 4:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

Binyamin Netanyahu - personal defeat-The UN Human Right Council's endorsement Friday, Oct. 16, sent the anti-Israel Goldstone war crimes report to the UN Security Council. It was approved by a majority of 25 of the 47 HRC members with 6 voting against, including the US, Israel, Holland and Italy, with 11 abstentions and France and the UK among the 5 nations who did not vote. Ultimately, this step could expose Israeli leaders to prosecution for war crimes.The UN body administered one of the most damaging blows Israel diplomacy has suffered in recent years, condemning Israel for alleged war crimes in its 22-day Gaza operation last January - but also for work in East Jerusalem such as archeological excavations.The damage was compounded by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's personal involvement in spearheading the campaign to have the report buried. Its endorsement has instead buried the stalled peace process between Israel and Palestinian Authority.In any case, Mahmoud Abbas refused to come to the negotiating table when challenged for the umpteenth time by President Barack Obama's special envoy George Mitchell in Ramallah last week, bringing the US president's entire Middle East peace venture tumbling down.

Netanyahu failed even to persuade French president Nicolas Sarkozy - described by President Shimon Peres as a great friend of Israel, and the British prime minister George Brown, with whom he had a heated telephone conversation Thursday night - to vote against the HRC motion.That neither was prepared to oppose Israel's condemnation for war crimes means that Jerusalem cannot count on their support for curbing Iran's drive for a nuclear weapon.While Abbas and his close circle celebrated their victory, Israel spokesmen tried to soften the blow by maintaining that the Goldstone report is not home and dry yet and it will not be permitted to be used against the US-led NATO war on terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, no NATO nation has ever been hauled before a UN commission of inquiry or faulted by the world body for killing civilians. Israel's operation to protect its population against terrorists embedded in civilian locations was.Israel cannot be expected to sit down and talk to Abbas in this situation, even if the Palestinian leader were willing, which he is not. In any case he has lost the right to speak for his people.

DEBKAfile's Middle East sources note that the Palestinians have reached a point of no return, to which Washington and Jerusalem are turning a blind eye: Hamas has finally rejected any unity deal with Abbas' Fatah and thus blocked the formation of an agreed delegation for peace talks. The West Bank and Gaza Strip have parted for good: they are distinct Palestinian entities and Abbas' authority is recognized by less than half of his people in those territories. The hammer-blow from Geneva came at a bad time for Israel: Turkey has turned on the Jewish state tooth and claw. Israel finds itself up against the entire Arab world, even Egypt and Jordan, with whom it has signed peace treaties. It now finds itself abandoned by presumed friends Britain and France as well.

Israel outraged by UN Human Rights Council endorsement of controversial Goldstone report October 16, 2009, 4:08 PM (GMT+02:00)

Pointing the finger at Israel-The Goldstone report which condemned Israel and Hamas for war crimes in the January Gaza offensive, reserving special criticism for Israel, was carried by a majority of 25 of the 47-member Human Rights Council in Geneva Friday, Oct. 16. Six nations including the US, Italy, Holland and Israel voted against, 11 abstained and 5 members, including France and Britain, did not take part in the vote.Israel rejected the charges in the report and said the Human Rights Council resolution - drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations - threatens peace efforts. Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned in advance that Israel would not be able to take risks for peace if it could not defend itself from attacks on its citizens. Israel's ambassador said embracing the report would encourage terrorists everywhere.The Palestinian Authority at first agreed to postpone the report's review until March, but then changed its mind when Mahmoud Abbas came under angry criticism by Palestinian extremists. The PA sought to have the endorsed report forwarded to the UN Security Council and ultimately lead to international proceedings against leaders of Israel's 22-day Gaza campaign for halting an eight-year Hamas missile blitz against population centers.The Goldstone report recommends referral of its conclusions to the International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague, if Israel and Hamas fail to conduct credible investigations within six months.

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,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) 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.

Turkey Turns To Islamic Alliance As It Conducts War Games With Syria
http://www.upi.com/ OCT 16,09

Syrian defense minister Gen. Ali Habib made the triumphant announcement: We held our first joint land military exercise (with Turkey) last spring. And today we have agreed to do a more comprehensive, a bigger one. He spoke at a ceremony declaring a free trade zone between the two countries and opening their borders for the passage of their citizens without visas. Present were the two foreign ministers, Ahmed Davutoglu and Walid Mualem.The next day, Today's Zaman provided Ankara's explanation for its last-minute decision to cancel Israeli participation in the annual multiple air maneuver with NATO under the caption: Delay in delivery of Herons behind drill crisis, not politics. A senior Turkish military source was quoted as saying:Israel has failed yet again to deliver the Israeli-made surveillance drones known as Herons to Turkey. Turkey needs those vehicles in its fight against terror. What led to the recent crisis between Turkey and Israel was the delay in delivery.The source said Ankara ordered 10 drones for $180 million and although the manufacturers, Israel's Elbit and the arms industry, rescheduled delivery dates, the Turkish military command does not believe they will keep to them.However, according to DEBKAfile's military sources, the Turkish generals are operating on two tracks: First, they are increasingly lining up with prime minister Tayyep Recip Erdogan's blatantly anti-Israel line, while at the same time hoping not to lose Israel as a source of advanced weapons and intelligence technology.

The Turkish military grievance against Israel as reported in Today's Zaman was meant to rebut an American rebuke. US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday that as to the question of whether there was a government that was invited to participate and then removed at the last minute, we think it's inappropriate for any nation to be removed from an exercise like this at the last minute.Since last year, the Turkish military has been dodging between two conflicting tracks: Falling in line behind a government led by an Islamic party which is intent on developing close ties with Iran and Syria, while at the same time not giving up its longstanding profitable military interchanges with Israel.Turkey staged its first joint military drill with Syria seven months ago on April 27, with the participation of border patrol units. Then too Turkish generals first tried to allay Israeli apprehensions by claiming it was a small, insignificant event. But then on May 4, chief of staff Gen. Ilker Basbug declared that the collaboration was none of anybody's business.

Asked if Israel should be worried, the general snapped back: Why would it concern Israel? We will not ask for permission from anybody else to conduct such exercises.
Israeli officials withheld comment at the time hoping to preserve the traditional alliance with the Turkish army on a separate track from the Erdogan government's pursuit of extremist connections. By precipitating a full-blown crisis over Israel's participation in the multiple war game this October, Ankara has demonstrated that the two are no longer inseparable; the army is now completely under its heel.Monday and Tuesday of this week, the Turkish prime minister poured venom on Israeli air strikes against Hamas its January Gaza offensive and the murder of Palestinian children with phosphorus bombs - as yet another motive for cancelling Israel's participation in the air exercise.Neither prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, defense minister Ehud Barak or foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman answered him. Instead, they had deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon issue a mild statement that Israel-Turkish strategic relations were important and should be preserved.Unfortunately, those relations have flown out of the window with Israel's removal from the drill. DEBKAfile's Ankara sources stress that foreign minister Davutoglu is steering the Turkish government and army toward a broad new horizon after persuading Erdogan that the way to restoring Turkey to the regional primacy enjoyed by the Ottoman empire depended on its assuming leadership and mediation roles in the Middle East and Muslim world. For two years, Ankara tried to broker a Syrian-Israel peace accord and sought to act as go-between in the disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan and Syria and Iraq.Erdogan is not deterred by every single Turkish mediation effort running aground, a fact which his hostility to Israel is designed to mask.

Russia launches new Mideast arms push in Libya OCT 16,09
http://www.upi.com/

Russia's state arms exporter is launching a big drive at the Tripoli air show to sell combat jets, missiles and air-defense systems to Middle Eastern states, including the state-of-the-art S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile that Iran and Syria desperately want to acquire.But the Russians are likely to find considerable competition at the 4th Arab-African Aviation Exhibition and Conference, known as LAVEX-2009, in the Libyan capital that opened Monday.The four-day arms fair is likely to attract major international defense companies that are falling over themselves to upgrade Libya's long-neglected military as well as supply the Middle East, the largest arms market in the developing world.But the Russian arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, will also find keen interest in its wares by the Libyan government.

The Libyan leader, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, is miffed that he has not had the access to U.S. arms companies he had expected after he abandoned his clandestine nuclear arms program in 2003 in a high-profile gesture of reconciliation with the international community following decades of isolation.U.N. trade sanctions that blocked U.S. and Western companies from dealing with Libya were not lifted until 2004, and Washington did not restore full diplomatic relations with Tripoli -- and remove it from its terrorism blacklist -- until 2006.In the meantime, Gadhafi has turned to Russia and France for his arms requirements.Gadhafi, who last month marked his 40th year in power, also angered the United States by securing the Aug. 20 release from a Scottish prison of a former intelligence agent convicted for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Scotland that killed 270 people. The Libyan leader was harshly criticized for giving the former agent, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, a rapturous hero's welcome when he arrived back in Tripoli aboard a presidential jet.For Gadhafi, Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds -- he has terminal cancer -- gave him a powerful platform to demonstrate his ability to defy the West and win domestic and regional plaudits.So the Russians may find considerable interest in their weapons systems, at a time when Moscow is driving to boost its ailing defense industry and to regain the influence it had in the Middle East and North Africa during the Cold War.

Algeria, Syria, Yemen and Sudan were key defense clients until the collapse of communism in 1991. Iran, once a U.S. ally, is now an important purchaser of Russians arms, and Arab states, even U.S.-oriented Saudi Arabia, are showing interest in Russians weapons systems.The reason behind the interest being shown by the Saudis, who have reputedly offered Moscow to buy arms worth $2 billion, is primarily political rather than military. Riyadh wants to use that inducement to persuade Russian not to sell Iran advanced air-defense systems that would protect its controversial nuclear sites.The Russians say they are confident that these deals will go through, but if the United States and Iran can find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue, Riyadh may not be so keen to go ahead with such arms deals.Still, Moscow has delivered arms worth $2.5 billion to the United Arab Emirates and $1 billion to Kuwait in recent years. Rosoboronexport officials say regional states have shown interest in Russian arms, including the twin-engined Sukhoi Su-35 fighter. It's equipped with weapons systems capable of engaging several air targets simultaneously.It also carries the new Irbis-E radar, which allows the pilot to detect and track up to 30 air targets while engaging eight of them at one time with its 30mm cannon and eight tons of missiles.Moscow hopes to export at least 160 Su-35s to Algeria and other countries. Such exports are vital for keeping Russian production lines going to supply Russia's military forces. But all eyes are likely to be on the S-400 Triumf -- NATO designation SA-21 Growler -- which can intercept and destroy at a range of up to 250 miles and engage six targets at once. Iran and Syria want advanced air-defense systems to protect their strategic installations against possible U.S. or Israeli attacks, largely aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear facilities.But U.S. and Israeli pressure on Moscow has so far blocked the sale of the S-300 system, forerunner of the S-400, which would make any airstrikes far more costly than they would be at this time.

In Canada, church clings to relevancy as congregations dwindle OCT 16,09
http://www.nationalpost.com/

For 41 years, the Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes church was like a second home to George Laplante. The Catholic church, which dates to 1873, was his spiritual foundation; the congregation, an extended family. Now, Mr. Laplante, 68, is facing a harsh truth. It is sad, it is too bad, but that's the reality of life,he says of news that his Ottawa church will close by the end of this year.The parishioners who go there cannot keep it going. Our church is fairly old. It is a big monument to look after. There's not enough of us to sustain it.Mr. Laplante has attended Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes for 41 years. I raised my kids in that church. Now it is me and my wife. I have to get used to going to another place.What's happening at Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes-de-Cyrville is a symptom of a larger malaise. Shrinking congregations and spiralling costs are fuelling the decline of the traditional church.Father Daniel Berniquez, episcopal vicar of the French sector of the Ottawa archdiocese, says churches that once drew 400 to 500 people now attract about 40.

Fifty years ago, most people went to church,says Mr. Berniquez.But that reality has changed. There's less people going to church. It is true for the Catholic church, but it is also true of other denominations.During the past two years, about 20 churches of various denominations have closed or are slated to close in the area around Ottawa and Gatineau, Que.Across the country, the United States and Europe, changing demographics, shifting values and growing secularism are taking a toll.In a British report published two years ago, an independent organization called Christian Research said thousands of churches are closing for lack of practising Christians. It said more churches are closing than opening. In a warning to church leaders, it predicted that by 2040, 18,000 churches in England will close.Closer to home, experts say Quebec -- where the Catholic Church once called the shots in public and private life -- stands to lose about half of its 2,000 churches by 2016. As the mainstream religions wither, the evangelical and Pentecostal denominations are packing in millions of worshippers who seem to have discovered a new path to God.

While the traditional church is still the dominant player in Canada, experts say it must adapt or it will become irrelevant, or die.For Catholicism to rely strictly on tradition as though it were bricks at a construction site that you hand over from person to person and generation to generation, that's dead,says Christophe Potworowski, the Kennedy Smith chair of Catholic studies at McGill University. There has to be an examination of conscience to see if the church is doing something wrong. A tremendous amount of flexibility in responding to changing circumstances is required.Father Luc Tardis, rector of the Saint Paul University seminary, agrees.
Traditional religion has to modify its relationship with the public and with cultural life, Mr. Tardis says.He notes that not everyone thinks churches respond to their needs or sensitivities. The big issue is: How much creativity can we bring in to become more relevant for people? The numbers show that Canadians have been fleeing the church for decades. In the mid-1940s, about 67% of adult Canadians attended church weekly.By 1985, the number had plunged to 30%. In 2005, the number hit 20%. In 2006, a Canwest News Service poll found that 17% of Canadians attend church at least once a week, even though about half of those surveyed said they believe in God.More worrying for churches is the number of young Canadians who are turning their back. In a sweeping study last year by renowned Canadian sociologist Reg Bibby, 47% of the teenagers surveyed said they never go to church. Another 20% said they hardly ever go,while 21% said they go weekly.Experts are quick to caution that it does not mean Canadians have given up on faith.

Potworowski suggests it instead reflects a rejection of organized religion.Mr. Tardis agrees, but says underlying it all, is a seismic shift in mentality, spirit and values. People now will say, I am spiritual but not religious. They will say,I have my own relationship with God and that's it. They have no need or desire to live the religious experience with others, as was the case before.Unlike today's generation, the early European immigrants, who built many of the churches, found strength and purpose in religion. Attending church on Sunday was a time-honoured tradition. They showed their faith by filling the pews and emptying their pockets.As older generations passed on, they left behind gaps in the pews and fault lines in church foundations. Their children drifted from the church as values changed, fortunes improved and new interests took hold. Immigration patterns were also changing: A majority of new arrivals were from Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and they practised Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism -- religions that have grown exponentially.But while traditional churches struggle, new ones are thriving because they've shed rigid dogmas and proclaimed, in the words of one pastor, that the church should be a hospital for the hurting, not a museum for saints.Mr. Tardis says Pentecostals can teach the Old Church a thing or two. There is a quality of fraternity, spirit of community and warmth that is very attractive,he says.They have a spiritual fervour, a kind of zeal and passion for God that is expressed in a very charismatic and spontaneous manner, and it pleases people.Three years ago, many in Cornwall, Ont., shed tears as a shrinking congregation forced the closure of the city's only synagogue. Synagogues in nearby Massena and Malone had closed for similar reasons.Ottawa Rabbi Reuven Bulka of the Congregation Machzikei Hadas says membership in city synagogues has remained steady, growing fractionally in some cases.The problem facing the established religions -- Christian, Jewish or Muslim -- is that fixed costs in buildings and maintenance, are growing faster than congregations can sustain.Somewhere down the road, because you are not getting enough to pay your fixed costs, you fall into a deficit, which is why, unfortunately, some of the church buildings are closing,Mr. Bulka says.This is not the death knell of religion but clearly we have challenges.