POSSIBLY 73 DEAD IN CRUISE SHIP MISHAP

1/3RD OF SHIPS DESTROYED

REVELATION 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio-The Independent's travel editor Simon Calder: It is unbelievable ... that this should happen to a 21st Century ship JAN 14,12
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16558910

Three people are confirmed dead after a cruise ship carrying more than 4,000 people ran aground off Italy.There were scenes of panic as the Costa Concordia hit a sandbar on Friday evening near the island of Giglio and listed about 20 degrees.
Most people reached land by lifeboats but some swam to shore.At least 50 people have not yet been accounted for, Italian officials say, but they caution that the passenger list may not be fully up to date.Coast guard vessels are combing the waters around the ship, while divers are searching the submerged decks.The regional prefect's office said 4,165 out of 4,234 people on board had been accounted for, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.Italian, German, French and British nationals were among the 3,200 passengers on board. There were also 1,000 crew.Three people were confirmed dead, Italian coast guard officials said on Saturday morning - fewer than the six or eight deaths reported by Italian media earlier. Fourteen people were injured.Costa Concordia with hole in its hull (14 January 2011) The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 3,200 passengers when it ran aground off the Italian coast
Mediterranean cruise

The Costa Concordia had sailed earlier on Friday from Civitavecchia port near Rome for a Mediterranean cruise, due to dock in Marseille after calling at ports in Sicily, Sardinia and Spain.One thousand passengers were Italian, with 500 Germans and 160 French.Some tens of British passengers are believed to have been on board, said the UK Foreign Office, which is sending a team to the scene.Some passengers told the Associated Press the crew had failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the ship. An evacuation drill was scheduled for Saturday afternoon.It was so unorganised, our evacuation drill was scheduled for 17:00 (16:00 GMT),Melissa Goduti, 28, from the US told AP. We had joked what if something had happened today.

Investigators will now look into every aspect of this accident, but one of the key elements they will examine will be the electrical systems.Modern ships tend to use electrical generators to drive the engines, so a power cut can leave the captain unable to steer away from danger.Human error could also be a factor, and there will also be concern at the speed which the ship listed on to its side. Not only would that have been frightening, it seems to have affected the crew's ability to launch some of the lifeboats.All ships have to meet safety standards set out by the International Maritime Organisation. Crews are trained to deal with emergency and cruise companies stress this kind of accident is rare.Passengers were eating dinner on Friday evening, when they heard a loud bang, and were told that the ship had suffered electrical problems, one passenger told Italy's Ansa news agency.We were having supper when the lights suddenly went out, we heard a boom and a groaning noise, and all the cutlery fell on the floor, said Luciano Castro.Passenger Mara Parmegiani told Italian media there were scenes of panic.We were very scared and freezing because it happened while we were at dinner so everyone was in evening wear. We definitely didn't have time to get anything else. They gave us blankets but there weren't enough,she said.The 290-metre (950 ft) vessel ran aground, starting taking in water and listing by 20 degrees, the local coast guard said.Orders were given to abandon ship, Deodato Ordona, a cabin steward on the Costa Concordia, told the BBC.We announced a general emergency and took passengers to muster stations, he said.But it is hard to launch the lifeboats, so they moved to the right side of the ship, and they could launch.Costa Concordia seen from land (14 January 2011) The cruise operators thanked the authorities and citizens of the island of Giglio for rescuing those on board the Costa Concordia

Elderly passengers were crying, said Mr Ordona, adding that he and some others jumped into the sea and swam roughly 400 metres to reach land.Helicopters evacuated the last 50 people trapped on the ship.Several passengers compared the accident to the film Titanic, about the sinking of the giant ocean liner in April 1912 which claimed more than 1,500 lives.I can easily understand the comparisons to the film, how it must have been on the Titanic, or in a fiction film, passenger Francesca Sinatra told the Reuters news agency.The scenes of panic create disaster. There were people scrambling over each other, elderly people wetting themselves.

Hypothermia

Rescued passengers were accommodated in hotels, schools and a church on Giglio, a resort island 25km (15 miles) off Italy's western coast.All those taken to Giglio have now been moved to the mainland, Elizabeth Nanni from the island's tourist information service told the BBC.Usually there are 700 people on the island at this time of year, so receiving 4,000 and some in the middle of the night wasn't easy, she said. Some people jumped in the sea so they had hypothermia.Coast guard official Francesco Paolillo, a local coast guard official, told the AFP news agency there was a 30m hole in the ship but that it was too early to say what exactly had happened.
We think this happened as a result of sailing too close to an obstacle like a reef, he said.Costa Cruises, the company which owns the ship, said it could not yet say what had caused the accident.The gradual listing of the ship made the evacuation extremely difficult,a statement said. The position of the ship, which is worsening, is making more difficult the last part of the evacuation.We'd like to express our deepest gratitude to the coastguard and other emergency services, including the authorities and citizens of the island of Giglio, who did their best in saving and helping the passengers and crew.Two years ago, a Costa Cruises ship crashed into a dock at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh, killing three members of the crew.

Captain arrested over sinking cruise ship UPDATED: Jan 14, 2012 19:14 GMT

The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground -- killing three person and injuring 20 more -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy. The captain, Francesco Schettino, had been earlier interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano about what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno. Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said. The ship is owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises. At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing,Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.Fear and panic are comprehensible in a ship long over 300 meters with over 4000 passengers,Del Santo said. We can confirm that the ship has a breach on the hull of about 90 meters, and that the right side of it is completely under water. The three persons dead were two French tourists and a crew member from Peru, Port authorities in Livorno said. Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency, said 43 to 51 persons were missing, though authorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact figure. These people could be still on the island of Giglio, in private houses or in hospitals,Orsina said. The coast guard said 50 to 70 people could be missing. One surviving crew member, Rosalyn Rincon, 30, of Blackpool, England, said she wanted to know why the cruise ship was sailing so close to shore. She described a harrowing grounding of the vessel, whose tilting and rising water evoked the film Titanic,she said.

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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) 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

Why Canadians should care about a euro collapse
By Mark Gollom, CBC News Posted: Dec 1, 2011 1:07 PM ET
ANALYSIS | Jeremy Kinsman: Can Europe be saved? Europe feels the economic pinch

The demise of the euro would deliver a significant blow to the Canadian economy, leading to less trade, higher unemployment and a possible recession, financial experts say.The situation in Europe would create a tsunami that would reach our shores very very quickly, Louis Gagnon, finance professor at Queen’s University School of Business in Kingston, Ont., told CBC News.We would be collateral damage and this collateral damage would be very, very significant.With some European countries seemingly unable to control their spiralling debt crises, and with uncertainty over the type of financial relief the European Central Bank may contribute, there are fears the end of the euro is near.On the business side, we want the Europeans to get out of this. We want them to do well.—Walid Hejazi, associate professor, Rotman School of Management

Gagnon explained that if the euro dissolved as a currency, a number of countries with their debt denominated in euros would immediately have to default since they would adapt their own domestic currencies and those would be devalued from anywhere between 50 to 70 per cent.As the marketplace establishes the exchange rates, Gagnon said, you would see a fire sale on the exchange rates because investors would have very little confidence in these new currencies.These countries would be forced to pay back debt holders in euros which they don't have. As well, financial institutions, all the banks have euro obligations,he said.

Banks' failure may affect the world

As some European governments would default, banks holding those bonds would not have money to lend, drying up liquidity, sparking a severe global economic contraction and causing a major economic crisis.It's one banking system, when we look at it. If it fails in Europe, the rest of the world would be affected,Gagnon said.

But what does that mean for the average Canadian?

This would cause panic, fear, remove all the confidence in the financial system, Gagnon said. The global financial system would become paralyzed … in this way Canadians would be affected.Canadians would stop spending, which could lead to a possible recession in Canada.Walid Hejazi, associate professor of international business at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, said that being part of an integrated global economy means what happens elsewhere could affect us.
Much of our prosperity is driven by our linkages into the global economy and much of the risks are driven by our linkages to the global economy, so you have to deal with both.Hejazi said employment numbers, income growth, value of our assets, our homes and the assets of financial markets would all be put at risk.So it can actually impact the average Canadian quite significantly. So we do have to worry. It's not something the average Canadian can say, It's over there in Europe, who cares?

When they do well, we do well

Hejazi said he worked with the Department of Foreign Affairs on the first study on deepening the economic relationship between Canada and EU in 2008.There was tremendous goodwill about the benefits that come between Canada and the EU,he said. I found that people really wanted to deepen the relationship because of the economic opportunity, but also because of the history.On the business side, we want the Europeans to get out of this. We want them to do well. One thing that's really clear is when they do well, we do well. When they're worse off, we're worse off.Matthias Kipping, professor of policy and chair in business history at Schulich School of Business, said the euro collapse would mean countries would become more protectionist, which would have a major effect on a country like Canada that relies on exports.While Canada’s direct share of global trade with Europe is relatively small, it would be indirectly affected by those countries, in particular the United States, which are heavily exposed to the European market and which Canada trades with.But Kipping said the crisis would take a little while for it to work its way through Canada.People won't get fired immediately tomorrow, but it will work its way through.The doomsday scenario, he said, is the credit flows stop, meaning economic activity and trade stop or get severely curtailed.The next thing is if trade stops, who are you going to sell to? People who make things, they eventually have nothing to do, and they'll be out of a job. It may not happen next week, but could happen next year.While Canadian banks don't have much direct exposure to Europe, they would be affected by the calamity raging in the credit marketplace, Gagnon said, meaning they would have to stop lending to other banks.But Gagnon said Canada, with its relatively healthier banks and deficit containment, is in a better position than other countries to deal with the crisis.Things aren’t looking all that great, but I think we would weather the storm to a better degree than our trading partners and especially Europe.

S&P downgrades 9 eurozone countries Greek debt talks on hold CBC News Posted: Jan 13, 2012 11:08 AM ET

Bond rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded nine eurozone countries Friday.S&P cut France and Austria’s top, triple-A ratings by one notch to AA+.It left Germany, the Netherlands and Finland's triple-A ratings untouched. Also unchanged were Luxembourg at AAA, Belgium at AA, Estonia at AA- and Ireland at BBB+.That leaves Germany as the only top-rated backer of Europe’s bailout fund for troubled economies.
Downgraded:

• France • Austria • Italy • Spain • Portugal • Cyprus • Malta • Slovenia • Slovakia
Not cut:

• Germany • The Netherlands • Belgium • Luxembourg • Finland • Ireland • Estonia

S&P also cut Italy and Spain by two levels. Italy fell to BBB+ from A and Spain fell from AA- to A. Portugal and Cyprus also dropped two notches. The agency also cut ratings on Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.In our view,it said on its website, the policy initiatives taken by European policymakers in recent weeks may be insufficient to fully address ongoing systemic stresses in the eurozone.The announcements came after North American markets closed, but reports of the pending downgrades during the day helped send shares lower.France’s finance minister, Francois Baroin, went on television to confirm his country’s downgrade before markets in Canada and the U.S. finished trading for the day, saying the cut was bad news but not a catastrophe.You have to be relative, you have keep your cool, he said.
It's necessary not to frighten the French people about it.Also weighing on shares was the announcement that crucial negotiations between the Greek government and its private creditors on a deal needed to avoid default had been paused for reflection, which raised concerns the negotiations were close to collapse.A downgrade would most likely increase the costs of borrowing.

Negotiations paused for reflection

Earlier, representatives of private bondholders said crucial negotiations between the Greek government and its private creditors on a deal needed to avoid default had been paused for reflection, which raised concerns the negotiations were close to collapse.The talks are aimed at renegotiating the face value of bonds Greece has issued in order to reach an agreement on how much of a haircut the banks will take voluntarily.By making the deal voluntary, Greece would dodge a legal default, which risks triggering a much deeper financial crisis that could curtail European lending.
If Greece's default is disorderly — with the various lenders uncertain of how much they will be repaid — the risk is that banks will become unwilling to lend because they can no longer count on enforcement of the rules that protect lenders when borrowers fail to meet the terms of their loans.More immediately, the bond swap aims to reduce Greece's debt by €100 billion ($130 billion) and is a key part of a second, €130 billion ($169 billion) international bailout installment.The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 43.26 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 12,231.06. It fell by as much as 157 points during the session.The Canadian dollar closed down 0.42 of a cent at 97.78 cents US.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 48.96 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 12,422.06, the Nasdaq composite index fell 14.03, or 0.5 per cent to 2,710.67 and the S&P 500 index ended with a loss of 6.41 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 1,289.09.The euro fell to a 17-month low, and was trading down 1.2 per cent at $1.2666 US late in the afternoon..European markets closed lower, with London's FTSE 100 off 0.46 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX down 0.58 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 closing off 0.11 per cent.Traders had earlier been relieved at successful government bond auctions in Italy and Spain, which had raised hopes that policy-makers may finally be getting a grip on Europe's debt crisis after months of procrastination and indecision.Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leaves the office of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, after their meeting with negotiators for private bondholders in Athens. Markets traded lower after the talks were paused Friday.Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leaves the office of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, after their meeting with negotiators for private bondholders in Athens. Markets traded lower after the talks were paused Friday. (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press)On Friday, Italy had seen its borrowing costs drop for a second day in a row as it easily raised €3 billion.It's really mixed news on Europe today; the downgrade is definitely negative, said Jeff Bradacs, portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management.But borrowing by Italy came in at lower rates than expected and that's partially driven by European banks getting low funding costs through the ECB and buying the Italian bonds.On Dec. 5, S&P warned it might make the downgrades, citing a growing reluctance of banks to lend, rising bond yields, continuing disagreements among European leaders on how the resolve the region’s debt crisis, high government and household debt and the rising risk of recession.A weak U.S. trade report added to traders' concerns.American exports dropped 0.9 per cent in November from the previous month. Fewer shipments of autos and capital goods, such as aircraft and machinery, were the key reason. A decline in exports weakens U.S. growth and exports could drop even further in the months to come.

EU-PALESTINIAN STATE RAPIDLY CLOSING

JESUS RETURNS TO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v93fo9Vz1dI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xejBRmy78Q&feature=related
WERE WW3 WILL BE GATHERED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uQ7yZmHXPM

The Valley Of Hamon Gog

Q. I was reading your post on Ps. 83 and Ezek. 38, and you commented that the Palestinians would have to give back the land between Jerusalem and Jericho for the burial site. That fascinated me and I tried to map out the Valley of Hamon-gog, but most places map it as Dibon, or being in Jordan. Is that the same place you were referencing? Thank you very much.

A. Ezekiel 39:11 says,

“On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east toward the Sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog.”

The burial ground is in Israel, in a valley that’s on the way to the Dead Sea for those traveling East. In Ezekiel’s day, those who traveled East toward the Dead Sea were from the Jerusalem area. People from the northern part of Israel would have traveled south along the Jordan River Valley.

Going East from Jerusalem took one down a steep canyon road, called the Old Jericho Road today. Tour busses still use it to go back and forth from Jerusalem to Jericho. It was a very dangerous road and is the location for the parable of the Good Samaritan. At the bottom of the canyon, just outside of Jericho is a place traditionally called the Valley of the Shadow of Death, from Pslam 23:4. I believe this is the burial ground. In Biblical times this valley was part of Israel, but today it’s controlled by the Palestinians.

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

Ibrahim: Muslim Brotherhood Declares Mastership of World as Ultimate Goal

Although many Muslim leaders openly articulate their efforts as part of a larger picture—one that culminates in the resurrection of a caliphate adversarial by nature to all things non-Muslim—many Western leaders see only the moment, either out of context or, worse, in a false context built atop wishful thinking.Among other things, this myopia causes virtually all Western politicians to overlook long-term threats and focus exclusively on violence and terror, the tangible and temporal—those things that may coincide with their tenure.This narrow-sighted approach sometimes leads to absurdities, such as when Homeland Defense’s Paul Stockton, being questioned by Dan Lungren at a recent hearing, refused to agree that al-Qaeda is acting out violent Islamist extremism, insisting instead that the group merely consists of murderers. In doing so, he divorced reality from any meaningful context, thereby living up to the Obama doctrine of not knowing your enemy.Of course, all Islamists have the same goal: the establishment of a sharia-enforcing caliphate. The only difference is that most are prudent enough to understand that incremental infiltration and subtle subversion—step by step, phase by phase, decade after decade—are much more effective for securing their goals than outright violence. Then, once in power, they will become much more savage.

Accordingly, thanks to the so-called Arab spring and its Western supporters, more and more clerics feel they are nearing their ultimate goal of resurrecting the caliphate, the capital of which is to be Jerusalem. This sheikh, for instance, recently boasted that the caliphate will soon be restored and the West will pay jizya—tribute and submission, via Koran 9:29—or else we will bring the sword to your necks! So too this sheikh, citing infidel Germany as an example. And of course calls for jizya from Egypt’s Christian Copts are growing by the day.Now, consider the clear, unequivocal words of Dr. Muhammad Badi, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. According to Al Masry Al Youm (as translated by Coptic Solidarity):Dr. Muhammad Badi, supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said: The Brotherhood is getting closer to achieving its greatest goal as envisioned by its founder, Imam Hassan al-Banna. This will be accomplished by establishing a righteous and fair ruling system [based on Islamic sharia], with all its institutions and associations, including a government evolving into a rightly guided caliphate and mastership of the world.Badi added in his weekly message yesterday [12/29/11]: “When the Brotherhood started its advocacy [da’wa], it tried to awaken the nation from its slumber and stagnation, to guide it back to its position and vocation. In his message at the sixth caucus, the Imam [Banna] defined two goals for the Brotherhood: a short term goal, the fruits of which are seen as soon as a person becomes a member of the Brotherhood; and a long term goal that requires utilizing events, waiting, making appropriate preparations and prior designs, and a comprehensive and total reform of all aspects of life.The leader of the Brotherhood continued: The Imam [Banna] delineated transitional goals and detailed methods to achieve this greatest objective, starting by reforming the individual, followed by building the family, the society, the government, and then a rightly guided caliphate and finally mastership of the world [emphasis added].

Even so, it matters not how often and openly Islamic leaders like Badi articulate their grand agenda for the world to hear. Western leaders have their intellectual blinders shut so tight, frozen before the word democracy—even if Arab spring people-power leads to fascism (which, after all, will be someone else’s problem after they leave office).Thus, here is former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, who not only is very pleased with Egyptian elections—despite widespread allegations of voter-fraud against the Muslim Brotherhood—but, when asked if the U.S. should be concerned about the Islamist victory, said I don’t have any problem with that, and the U.S. government doesn’t have any problem with that either. We want the will of the Egyptian people to be expressed.Accordingly, the Muslim Brotherhood and all its offshoots can rest assured that, so long as they do not engage in direct terrorism, they can continue unfettered on their decades-long march to resurrecting the caliphate, which—if history and doctrine are any indicators—will, in its attempt to claim mastership of the world,be a global menace.Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.Posted by Raymond on January 12, 2012 9:47 AM |

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-10 WORLD REGIONS) 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).

Negotiators finalise broad outline of EU fiscal treaty Today JAN 13,12 @ 11:26 By Valentina Pop

BRUSSELS - Negotiators from 26 member states have reached broad agreement on the new fiscal treaty, paving the way for a formal agreement by EU leaders at the end of the month.EUobserver understands that the role of the European Commission will be kept as stated in the latest draft - it is to have reporting powers rather than being able to take deficit sinners to court over failure to enshrine a golden rule on balanced budgets in their constitution or other long-term-binding legislation.A previous draft put forward earlier this month had said the commission could take countries to the European Court of Justice on behalf of other members.But this was deemed inconsistent with the treaties, one source told this website.Ideally, EU leaders could sign the new treaty at a summit at the end of January - a development called for by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Thursday.It would be highly welcomed if the fiscal compact was signed by the end of January rather than March as currently envisaged,he said in a press conference in Frankfurt.The outstanding issues are to be ironed out by a final session of the treaty working group and a follow-up meeting by finance ministers in the run-up to the summit.

But translation into all the signatories' national languages is likely to delay the signature until March - as originally planned - enabling leaders to announce a political agreement only at the January summit.Questions remain over the effectiveness of the intergovernmental treaty, which is designed to be included in EU law in the next five years if the UK drops its veto.The new treaty is to impose automatic sanctions for countries which breach rules requiring budget deficits to be kept below 3 percent of GDP and debt levels below 60 percent of GDP, as well as keeping a structural deficit below 0.5 percent.One of the outstanding issues is the precise method of calculating this structural deficit. Denmark, for instance, whose welfare state constantly runs a budget deficit, has a problem with the EU commission algorithm.The structural deficit is not something real, it is a sum, so it is important to know how you calculate it. We would like to adhere to the norm 'comply or explain' rather than adopting the EU commission method,Danish economy minister Margrethe Vestager told journalists on Tuesday in Copenhagen.

Danish answer to euro-crisis: make workforce more flexible Today JAN 13,12 @ 19:35 By Valentina Pop

COPENHAGEN - Workers who are easy to hire and fire, unemployment benefits linked to job hunting, a higher retirement age - Danish economists say these measures are essential for the eurozone's recovery, even though their country is also experiencing a rise in unemployment.The key word is flexicurity. First coined by then Danish prime minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in the 1990s, the term refers to a welfare model that combines social security with a flexible work force, making it easy for employers to hire and fire staff.Flexicurity is part of the solution to Europe's problems. You can't find anywhere a drop in unemployment without a flexible labour market,says Per Callesen, the governor of Denmark's national bank.Speaking on the same panel in Copenhagen on Thursday (12 January), Nordea bank strategist Henrik Drusebjerg recalled that in the 1980s, Denmark was seen as a bad example: high unemployment rates, huge deficits and soaring debt.In the 90s, we passed several labour market reforms and moved to fix the exchange rate to the euro, which restored Denmark's credibility. It took a while, but it showed that structural reforms pay off,he said.He conceded that passing reforms co-ordinated at eurozone level has become increasingly difficult for leaders, who run into resistance in their national parliaments and then get hammered by voters.It is difficult to be a national politician and act inthe EU interest. Increasingly, public opinion blames the EU for the debt crisis, rather than seeing that it would have been much worse without the EU,Drusebjerg said.The euro-crisis has taken its toll on Denmark as well.

According to Karsten Dyvbad from the Confederation of Danish industry, 175,000 jobs were lost last year in the private sector, out of a total population of 5.5 million. Investments into Denmark have slowed down, while companies continued to relocate out of Denmark in 2011.If we don't improve competitiveness and the debt crisis drags on, investments will continue to leave Europe. In Denmark, wage increases were higher than in neighbouring countries - so we have a competitiveness and labour cost problem,the Danish industry confederation chief said, speaking one week into negotiations with trade unions on a collective agreement.Torben Andersen, an economics professor from the University of Aarhus, noted that the economic forecast for his country was grey and chilly like Danish weather - a growth rate of one percent this year and slightly higher in 2013 but not sufficient to boost employment.
Although unemployment has risen over the last three years to 7.8 percent in 2011, it is still below the EU average of 10 percent. This is thanks to our flexicurity, there are high turnovers in the labour market and only one third of unemployed people don't find a job three months after losing their previous one,Andersen explained.

Sad start

In a glitch for Denmark's official launch of the EU presidency, world-leading wind turbine manufacturer Vestas on Thursday said it will lay off around 2,300 employees, mainly in Denmark, because of a market downturn caused by the financial crisis.
Speaking at a press conference in Copenhagen later that day, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt called this a setback for the green agenda Denmark is trying to promote.This is very sad news for Denmark. This is one of the businesses we thought would be one of the new ways of doing things: green technology. It is still my hope and my belief that we need to invest in green technology,she said.EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, speaking alongside her, said this was not the only sector where people are losing their jobs. It is a consequence of the crisis in Europe. It is a setback, of course, but should not question our determination to go forward with our green agenda in Europe,he added.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3-7
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

2 THESSALONIANS 2:3-4
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed,(EU WORLD DICTATOR)the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.(SOCIALISM)
13 These have one mind,(SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

2 THESSALONIANS 2:9-12
9 Even him,(EU WORLD DICTATOR) whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,(THE FALSE RESURRECTION BY THE WORLD DICTATOR) that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

Ombudsman: EU database on fraud suspects breaches rights Today JAN 13,12 @ 09:30 By Nikolaj Nielsen

BRUSSELS - The European Commission's management of a database containing the names of companies or people deemed to pose a threat to the financial interests of the European Union is trampling basic rights, according to the EU ombudsman.Anyone found on the Early Warning System (EWS) - as it is called - risks having their EU contracts blocked or suspended.Numerous complaints over the EWS may force the executive to rethink its strategy, amid accusations it breaches people's fundamental rights to be informed, to confidentiality and to judicial review.The EWS is clearly an important tool in helping to protect EU funds. However, the Commission must introduce adequate checks and balances so as to ensure that the EWS complies with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which is now legally binding on all EU institutions,said European ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros on Thursday (12 January).The EWS divides names into five categories according to threat level. Only those who are already banned from contracts or grants financed by the EU's budget are automatically notified. They belong in the fifth category.All others, including people suspected of fraud, serious administrative errors or other irregularities, are on the list for at least six months but are not informed. Guidelines to appeal against the listing are non-existent. Concerns have also been raised as to the accuracy behind the EWS data.

The European Charter of Fundamental Rights states that every person has the right to be heard, before any individual measure, which would adversely affect him or her, is taken.They also have the right to access their files - while respecting legitimate interests of confidentiality and of professional and business secrecy - and the administration is obliged to give reasons for its decisions.Diamandouros added that the scope of the EWS warnings is not clearly defined. A presumption of guilt is imposed on anyone on the list even if they are innocent.An example was given of an evaluation committee revising its initial positive assessment of a company on the basis of an EWS warning.The ombudsman asked the commission to define the legal basis behind the warnings for the first four categories and noted that the EWS might exceed EU legal competencies. EU civil servants operating the system should be properly trained and keep all data up-to-date and accurate, he also said.Diamandouros has asked the commission to send a detailed opinion by 31 March 2012.

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.

THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.

POISONED WATERS

REVELATION 8:8-11
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood:(bitter,Poisoned) and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.(poisoned)

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Russian spacecraft to crash soon, risks unclear Associated PressBy VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | Associated Press – Thu, Jan 12, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian space probe designed to burnish the nation's faded space glory in a mission to one of Mars' moons has turned into one of the heaviest, most toxic pieces of space junk ever.It will come crashing down to Earth in just a few days.The Russian space agency Roscosmos' latest forecast has the unmanned Phobos-Ground probe falling out of Earth's orbit Sunday or Monday, with the median time placing it over the Indian Ocean just north of Madagascar. It said the precise time and place of its uncontrolled plunge can only be determined later, and unless someone actually spots fiery streaks in the sky, no one may ever know where any surviving pieces end up.Space experts agree it's unlikely to pose big risks.At 13.2 metric tons (14.6 tons), the Phobos-Ground is one of the largest spacecraft ever to plummet to Earth, considerably larger than the two defunct satellites that fell to Earth last fall and landed in the water.Roscosmos predicted that only between 20 and 30 fragments of the Phobos probe with a total weight of up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) will survive the re-entry and plummet to Earth.It's the third satellite to crash out of the sky in under five months: An old NASA 6-ton atmospheric research satellite came tumbling down in September, and a 3-ton German science satellite followed suit in October. But both were well past their prime.Russia's Phobos-Ground probe is still a mere babe. It was launched in November, and a glitch left it stranded in orbit around Earth instead of bound for Mars to collect soil samples.

What's different about this re-entry is that it's not a re-entry of an old, inert satellite that just was expected for years. It's something that is coming down because of an accident ... for me, that puts it in a different category, said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.Another striking difference is the 11 metric tons (12 tons) of highly toxic rocket fuel aboard Phobos-Ground, accounting for the bulk of its weight for the long journey to the Martian moon of Phobos. This makes it potentially the most toxic spacecraft to fall ever.Roscosmos insists all the fuel will burn in the atmosphere and pose no danger, and some experts in Russia and the West share that forecast.And if it's any consolation, both of the two previous uncontrolled satellites harmlessly showered fragments over water.The fuel indeed poses lethal danger in case of close contact, but I haven't heard of a single case of any civilians poisoned by rocket fuel from all the derelict satellites and failed rockets throughout the space era, said Igor Lissov, an independent Moscow-based space observer. The objective reality is that it burns on re-entry. There is no reason to panic.Some experts theorized, however, that part of the fuel might have frozen in the cold of space and could survive the fiery descent, posing a strong threat if it spills over populated areas. Such fears prompted the United States to shoot down its USA-193 spy satellite with a Navy missile in 2008.Some botched Russian rocket launches in the past have showered fragments over populated areas in Siberia and neighboring Kazakhstan.In the latest such mishap, fragments of a Russian satellite that failed to enter a designated orbit after its launch last month came down around Novosibirsk, the third-largest Russian city with a population of about 1.5 million, damaging some houses but hurting no one. The fragments of the Meridian satellite, however, fell from a lower altitude at a far slower speed than the Phobos-Ground debris will have on re-entry.

Engineers from the Moscow-based company NPO Lavochkin, which built the Mars probe, said in an article giving a detailed description of the design that its fuel tanks are made of aluminum alloy. That means they should melt early on re-entry, backing up official assurances that the fuel would burn up on its way down.McDowell said the probability is low that a large lump of toxic stuff will prove hazardous.He noted that some of the probe's equipment is dense and could survive re-entry, but added the odds are that any surviving pieces will wind up in the ocean.All the best rules in the world put in place to prevent uncontrolled satellites from crashing down do little if any good in the event of a launch failure, McDowell said. This is always going to be the risk that something breaks, and you end up with a situation like this. You can minimize it, but you can't prevent it entirely.The $170-million Phobos-Ground mission was Russia's most expensive and the most ambitious space endeavor since Soviet times. The spacecraft was intended to land on the crater-dented, potato-shaped Martian moon, collect soil samples and fly them back to Earth, giving scientists precious materials that could shed more light on the genesis of the solar system.The probe was successfully launched Nov. 9 and entered a preliminary orbit where its engines were supposed to fire to set it on its path to Mars. They never did, and attempts to fix the glitch by Russian and European Space Agency experts failed.Russia's space chief has acknowledged the Phobos-Ground mission was ill-prepared and risks of its failure were high, but said that Roscosmos had to give it the go-ahead so as not to miss the limited Earth-to-Mars launch window.Phobos-Ground marked Russia's first planned foray beyond Earth's orbit since a botched 1996 robotic mission to Mars. That probe, designed by the same Lavochkin company, crashed shortly after launch due to an engine failure. The firm also built two other Phobos-bound probes that failed in 1988.The crash of Mars-96 generated strong international fears because of some 200 grams of plutonium onboard. The craft eventually showered its fragments over the Chile-Bolivia border in the Andes Mountains, and the pieces were never recovered.Russian officials continue to insist the craft plunged into the Pacific, their way of deflecting criticism for not warning the inhabitants of the impact area and for failing to search for plutonium and other debris.Fears of radiation also were sparked by the fall of a nuclear-powered Soviet spy satellite that crashed over northwestern Canada in January 1978. The Soviets claimed the craft completely burned on re-entry, but a massive recovery effort by Canadian authorities recovered a dozen fragments, most of which were radioactive.The Phobos-Ground contains a tiny quantity of the radioactive metal Cobalt-57 in one of its instruments, but Roscosmos said it poses no threat of radioactive contamination.AP Aerospace Writer Marcia Dunn contributed from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Alaska winter piles on more snow for weather-weary Associated PressBy MARK THIESSEN and RACHEL D'ORO | Associated Press – JAN 13,12

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The worst winter anyone can remember in Alaska has piled snow so high people can't see out the windows, kept a tanker in ice-choked waters from delivering fuel on time and turned snow-packed roofs into sled runs.While most of the nation has gone without much seasonal snow, the state already known for winter is buried in weather that has dumped more than twice as much snow as usual on its largest city, brought out the National Guard and put a run on snow shovels.As a Russian tanker crawled toward the iced-in coastal community of Nome to bring in much-needed fuel, weather-weary Alaskans awoke Thursday to more snow and said enough was enough.The scary part is, we still have three more months to go,said Kathryn Hawkins, a veterinarian who lives in the coastal community of Valdez, about 100 miles southeast of Anchorage. I look out and go, Oh my gosh, where can it all go?

More than 26 feet of snow has fallen in Valdez since November. The 8-foot snow piles outside Hawkins' home are so high she can't see out the front or back of her house. Her 12-year-old son has been sliding off the roof into the yard.In the nearby fishing community of Cordova, more than 172 inches of snow has fallen since November; snow began falling again after midnight Wednesday. The Alaska National Guard was called in to help move the snow, and the city is running out of places to put it. Front-end loaders are hauling snow from dump piles to a snow-melting machine.
That's our big issue, getting our snow dumps cleared for the next barrage of snow, Cordova spokesman Allen Marquette said.South of the mainland, a fishing vessel, a house boat and a pleasure craft moored in Kodiak Island's St. Paul Harbor sank when they became overloaded with snow, the Coast Guard said.Anchorage had 88 inches fall as of Thursday — more than twice the average snowfall of 30.1 inches for the same time period. The weather service counts July 1 through the end of June as a snow season. More than 7 inches had fallen Thursday and more than a foot was expected.This year's total already broke the record 77.3 inches that fell during the same period in 1993-94. If it keeps up, Anchorage is on pace to have the snowiest winter ever, surpassing the previous record of 132.8 inches in 1954-55.It would be the best winter ever, said Terry Kelly, who wasted no time Thursday strapping on cross country skis in the city's expansive Kincaid Park.The snow is great for skiing, for downhill skiing, for alpine skiing. It's beautiful, it makes the holiday season awesome, fresh snow increases the light in town so it makes it brighter in winter. To me, it's great.

Two atmospheric patterns are behind the state's massive snowfall: the Pacific weather pattern known as La Nina, and another called the Arctic Oscillation that has been strong this year, changing air patterns to the south and keeping the coldest winter air locked up in the Arctic.Alaska is definitely getting the big dump, said Bill Patzert, a climate expert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.Many of the lower 48 states have seen an unusually mild start to the winter. A storm dumped several inches of snow on northwestern Wisconsin and western Iowa before moving eastward and to start blanketing Milwaukee, St. Louis and Chicago, which was expected to get up to 8 inches by Friday morning.In the ice-choked frozen waters of the Bering Sea, a Russian tanker loaded with 1.3 million gallons of fuel progressed steadily toward Nome, following the path being painstakingly plowed by a Coast Guard icebreaker. Thick ice, wind and unfavorable ocean currents had initially slowed the vessel down; but as of 2 p.m. Thursday the tanker and the icebreaker were 46 miles from Nome and likely to arrive Friday, said Coast Guard spokesman David Mosley.The city missed its final pre-winter delivery of fuel by barge when a big storm swept the region last fall. Without the delivery, Nome could run short of fuel before another barge arrives in late spring, forcing fuel to be flown in and raising prices as high as $9 a gallon. Gasoline was selling for Gasoline was selling for $5.43 on Thursday.The weather has put a strain on the state, which estimates the cost of paying for guard members in Cordova, heavy equipment, fuel and other costs at $775,000, said emergency management spokesman Jeremy Zidek.In Anchorage, schools were open Thursday, but some school bus routes were canceled because of whiteout driving conditions.I think people were girding their loins for a long winter, said Anchorage police Lt. Dave Parker. He hasn't seen an upsurge of crime, but by the end of March, there might be a few frustrated people.Marvin Williams, the warehouse manager at Westside Flooring, spent a good part of Thursday afternoon using a snowblower to clear the parking lot.It seems like Alaska is really getting a lot of snow this year,Williams said.And it's wearing out the equipment, shovels and everything else.

In Cordova, shovel-makers were making emergency shipments to help out. There are plenty of standard shovels around town, but they're lacking a version with a 26-inch scoop that can push a cubic foot of snow or better at a time.The new shovels cost about $50 each, and the city is paying for them with emergency funds.We have the National Guard right now using the standard shovel, and they're getting pretty trashed everyday — not the shovels but the Guardsmen themselves,city spokesman Tim Joyce said.The warmer temperatures — about 35 degrees midday Wednesday — brought another hazard to the Prince William Sound community of 2,200 people: avalanche danger.The one road leading out of the city was closed, and the city warned people not to stand under the eaves of their houses to clear snow off the roof.There's a real high potential that if it does slide, they'd be buried,Joyce said.The snow has damaged four commercial buildings and two homes and evacuated a 24-unit apartment complex in Cordova.The current storm system is expected to be gone by Friday, but temperatures were expected to fall as low as 10 below zero this weekend, making it more difficult to shovel harder, packed snow.If there's one fan of the snow in Valdez, it's 12-year-old Trevor, Kathryn Hawkins' son. School is out and the snow is piled so high on the roof that he turned it into a sledding hill.When it first started snowing, he said, More, more, more snow,' and I'm like,Will you stop it? We've had enough. Hawkins said.And that was before all this came. He said, I want to slide off the roof again,she said.And now he can, to his heart's content.
Contributing to this report were AP Science Writer Alicia Chang in Los Angeles, Mary Pemberton in Anchorage and Doug Esser in Seattle.

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.

COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL

EZEKIEL 38:10-19
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.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

Disarm Hezbollah, U.N. chief tells Lebanon
ReutersBy Alistair Lyon | Reuters – JAN 13,12

BEIRUT (Reuters) - United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon demanded Friday the disarmament of the anti-Israel Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which had said his visit to Lebanon was not welcome.I am deeply concerned about the military capacity of Hezbollah and ... the lack of progress in disarmament, he told a news conference after meeting Lebanese leaders.That is why we discussed this matter very seriously and I strongly encouraged President (Michel) Suleiman to initiate a convening of this national dialogue to address these issues...All these arms outside of the authorized state authority, it's not acceptable, Ban declared.The secretary-general's trip made waves even before he arrived, with one Hezbollah leader saying he was not welcome, a stance criticized by Lebanese politicians opposed to the armed Shi'ite Islamist movement and its Syrian and Iranian patrons.Hezbollah accepted an expansion of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south after its devastating 2006 war with Israel, but rejects a U.N. Security Council resolution that demands that it lay down its military arsenal, as all other Lebanese armed groups did after the 1975-90 civil war.UNIFIL troops came under three attacks last year in which Italian and French soldiers were wounded. A rocket was launched into Israel in November and another rocket launching was attempted last month. No group claimed responsibility.

There are no explicit fears that there is a new climate of hostility to the United Nations,a diplomatic source said.But there is concern, which the secretary-general will emphasize, over the attacks (on UNIFIL) in May, July and December.UNIFIL, now about 12,000 strong, is the third biggest U.N. peacekeeping operation and one of the oldest, beginning after an Israeli invasion against Palestinian guerrillas in 1978.
The Lebanese army has taken on a bigger role in the south since 2006, but given the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, there is no sign of an exit strategy for the U.N. force there.

TROUBLED TRIBUNAL

Hezbollah, the most powerful faction in Lebanon, is also angry at the indictment by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) of four of its members over the assassination of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri on Beirut's seafront in 2005.It denies any part in the bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others and vows not to hand over the indicted men. Hezbollah also wants Lebanon's unity government, of which it is a part, to cut off funding for the tribunal and end cooperation with it.Lebanon paid $32 million, its 49 percent share of the costs, in November, using a maneuver by which Lebanese banks gave the money to a special fund whose use did not need cabinet approval.Ban said the United Nations continues to expect Lebanon to support and cooperate fully with the Special Tribunal.The U.N. chief said he would decide soon, in consultation with the Security Council and the Lebanese government, whether to extend the STL's mandate, which expires in March.Ban, due to speak Sunday at a conference on democratic transitions, said he had repeatedly urged Syria to halt the killings that have turned a 10-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad into one of the bloodiest of Arab uprisings.The Syrian authorities must respond to the legitimate democratic aspirations of the Syrian people, he told the Beirut daily an-Nahar, adding that the Security Council, so far divided over Syria, should speak with one voice on the issue.The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the unrest, which Syria blames on armed terrorists it says have killed 2,000 members of the security forces.Russia and China have blocked any firm Security Council action against Syria. The Arab League has sent monitors to find out if Damascus is complying with an Arab peace plan. If their report next week is negative, it may refer Syria to the council.(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans)

Defiant Ahmadinejad wins backing of four LatAm allies
AFPBy Nina Negron | AFP – JAN 13,12

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad headed for home on Friday after achieving his goal of securing the backing of four Latin American allies in his country's nuclear standoff with the West.The Iranian leader left Quito aboard an Ecuadoran Air Force plane bound for the southwestern city of Guayaquil from where he was to fly back to his native soil.In Quito, he defiantly vowed to resist escalating Western pressure to stop his country's alleged efforts to develop atomic weapons.They (the West) have decided to step up their pressure on us. They insult our country and our people. It's clear that the Iranian people will resist, he told reporters.The international community knows that hegemonic (Western) powers do not support the progress of independent peoples. The Iran problem is not the nuclear program, the Iran problem is the progress and independence, he added.Washington has been leading a campaign to bring Tehran's economy to its knees by slapping sanctions on its oil exports, a crucial source of income.President Barack Obama last month signed a law targeting Iran's central bank, which clears most of the oil payments, and US envoys have been fanning out in recent days to convince other nations to come on board or risk seeing their firms barred from doing business in America.The UN Security Council has already approved four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.Ahmadinejad's five-day tour was conceived to shore up his support in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador.

All four countries have frosty ties with the United States, and their leaders have in the past four years made numerous Tehran visits to build up diplomatic and business links while relations with Washington have worsened.Ahmadinejad's trip, however, was overshadowed by Wednesday's killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist, which Tehran blamed on Israeli and US intelligence.Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, a deputy director of Iran's main uranium enrichment plant, was given a funeral service in north Tehran after noon prayers Friday.Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the abominable and cowardly killing was committed with the planning or support of the intelligence services of the CIA and Mossad of the United States and Israel.And he vowed that Tehran would continue with determination its nuclear activities, which Western governments suspect mask a drive for atomic weapons capability despite repeated denials.Iran, however, said Thursday it stood ready to resume talks on its suspect nuclear activities with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany.And diplomats in Vienna said the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA was to send its chief inspector and deputy director to Iran for a week from January 28 to discuss the country's nuclear activities.

Although the United States last week warned Latin American states against deepening their ties with Iran, Ahmadinejad won support from the presidents of Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador to peacefully develop nuclear energy.Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, who met for five hours with Ahmadinejad Thursday, denounced a recent IAEA report that found credible evidence that Iran had engaged in activity relevant to developing a nuclear explosive device.How can we accept these kinds of reports? Correa said. The report concluded, in quotes, that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, something it has always denied, and we believe them.Ecuador was one of only two countries on the Vienna-based IAEA's 32-member board of governors to vote against a subsequent resolution condemning Iran's nuclear activity. The other country was Cuba.Iran can count on the total support of Ecuador so that the truth is known and not just the propaganda of countries which show a shameful double standard, Correa said.During his stop in Cuba, Ahmadinejad met with President Raul Castro as well as with his 85-year-old brother and revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.
A joint statement issued by Raul Castro and Ahmadinejad highlighted the right of all nations to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,in an implicit swipe at the Western pressure on Iran.The Iranian leader earlier visited Venezuela and Nicaragua.

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(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).

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 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

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.

JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

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.

Palestinians insist on Israel talks deadline Associated PressBy TIA GOLDENBERG | Associated Press – JAN 13,12

JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian negotiators are sticking to an end of January deadline in talks with Israel despite U.S. calls for flexibility, a Palestinian official said Friday.The Palestinians say they want to hold Israel to a schedule that might pressure it to come forward with proposals, but the tight time frame could prevent the nascent talks from getting off the ground.Palestinian and Israeli negotiators met last week for the first time in more than a year, kicking off low-level contacts aimed at reviving formal peace negotiations.Disagreements have already emerged, including the deadline for progress in the initial discussions.Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Friday that Palestinians will consider halting the talks if no progress is reached by Jan. 26.The 26th of January is still a crossroads,he said.That date was set in October by the Quartet of Mideast negotiators — the U.S., U.N., E.U. and Russia — calling for proposals from each side on the issues of territory and security within three months.But Israeli officials say the three-month period began only with the first meeting of the negotiators Jan. 3 in Amman, Jordan.The Palestinians say they won't continue talks unless Israel stops building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 war from Jordan and territory the Palestinians envision as part of their future state.

Israel maintains that the issue of settlements will be solved once there are agreed-upon borders and has repeatedly called on the Palestinians to resume talks in order to reach an agreement.Both sides agree that minor land swaps will be necessary for a deal to be made.In a bid to soften the Palestinian stance over the date, the State Department said Thursday it did not want the deadline to be final.Although this Jan. 26 date has been out there, we do not want to see it be a rigid sort of straitjacket which chills the atmosphere, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.Abbas said Thursday that Israel had so far not made any new proposals at the meetings. Israel, meanwhile, has said the Palestinian proposals were a recycling of long-standing positions that Israel opposes.The talks are set to resume Saturday in Jordan.

No new offers from Israel, Abbas says Associated PressAssociated Press – Thu, Jan 12, 2012

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israel has made no new proposals in meetings with Palestinians about the possibility of resuming formal peace talks, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday.The sides met twice so far in Jordan, and two more meetings are set for Saturday and for Jan. 25, Abbas told members of his Fatah movement.Abbas has said he will not resume negotiations unless Israel freezes settlement construction and accepts the pre-1967 Mideast War frontier as the baseline for a future border. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in that war, and the Palestinians seek those territories for their state, but are ready for minor land swaps.Israel has rejected both demands, arguing that everything must be discussed in negotiations. However, the Palestinians say settlement expansion pre-empts the outcome of negotiations and that after two decades of failed discussions, only a clear framework can lead to an agreement.The Palestinians agreed to the low-level exploratory talks in the Jordanian capital of Amman in order not to be seen as the side torpedoing peace efforts. However, Abbas said nothing has been achieved so far.

Until now, there is nothing new in the dialogue that is going on in Amman,Abbas told Fatah leaders, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. We are not authorized to speak about what is going on in Amman, but our demands are known, and the Israelis didn't present something we can accept.Abbas reiterated that despite U.S. and Israeli pressure, he has not abandoned his bid to seek U.N. membership for a state of Palestine, denounced by Israel as an attempt to bypass negotiations.He also suggested that his Palestinian Authority will review its relationship with Israel if the deadlock continues, though he has said he would not dissolve the Palestinian Authority.Earlier this week an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said disagreements emerged in the Amman talks but that his government remains committed to a year-end target for reaching a final peace deal. He said documents submitted by the Palestinians were recycling long-standing positions that Israel opposes.The talks are taking place under the auspices of the international Quartet of Mideast peace mediators — the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.In October, the Quartet asked the two sides to produce proposals on territory and security within three months. The Palestinians believe the deadline is Jan. 26. The Israeli official said Israel considers that three-month period to have begun last week, when the talks resumed.

Window for Palestinian state rapidly closing: EU
AFPBy Philippe Agret | AFP – Thu, Jan 12, 2012

A European Union report obtained by AFP on Thursday says that booming Israeli settlement in the West Bank and limits on Palestinian movement and building are eroding chances of a Palestinian state.The report urges member states in coordination with other international actors to systematically voice objections to measures to evict Palestinians from areas under Israeli control.Unlike many reports on general conditions in the Palestinian territories, the 16-page internal study by EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah focuses on the Israeli-run Area C, which makes up 62 percent of the occupied West Bank.Area C comprises crucial natural resources and land for the future demographic and economic growth of a viable Palestinian state,says the report.A 1995 interim accord between Israel and the Palestinians divides the West Bank into Area A (under full Palestinian control), Area B (under shared Israeli-Palestinian control) and Area C.The latter includes the border with Jordan which Israel insists must remain under its military control in any agreement with the Palestinians.

Although it is home to only 5.8 percent of the West Bank Palestinian population -- excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem -- the report says that Area C is a vital component in a future Palestinian state based on the borders which predated Israel's occupation in the 1967 Six-Day war.If current trends are not stopped and reversed, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders seems more remote than ever, it added.The window for a two-state solution is rapidly closing with the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and access restrictions for Palestinians in Area C.The study, entitled Area C and Palestinian State Building, is dated July 2011 but has been kept confidential until now.It follows an unprecedented report by EU ambassadors in Israel made public last month which voiced concern about the Jewish state's treatment of its Arab minority, and looks likely to place further strain on EU-Israel relations which have been frosty of late.

After the four European members of the UN Security Council (Britain, France, Germany and Portugal) condemned Israel's expanding settlement construction, the Israeli foreign ministry released an angry statement saying that those European states risked making themselves irrelevant.Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli official said that the Area C report was far worse than the Security Council move.
There is an invalid methodology here which is repeating itself, he said. They prepare reports in secret on things concerning us without getting from us information or a reaction or any kind of comment, relying only on material from the Palestinians, directly or indirectly.There is forethought here by the consuls... to place themselves at the service of the Palestinian political and propaganda struggle.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's spokesperson said the report was aimed at helping peace efforts.The report on Area C is intended to serve as a source of information for the European Union and as an input to its policy-making process, Maja Kocijancic said in a written response to an AFP query.As such, it should assist the EU in determining how best to achieve the objective of a two-state solution to the Middle East peace process.

Iranian paper calls for retaliation against Israel
Associated PressBy NASSER KARIMI | Associated Press – Thu, Jan 12, 2012

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A hard-line Iranian newspaper called Thursday for retaliation against Israel, a day after the mysterious killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran with a magnetic bomb attached to his car. Iran's top leader blamed Israel and the U.S.Provocative hints from Israel reinforced the perception that the killing was part of an organized and clandestine campaign to set back Iran's nuclear ambitions, which the U.S. and its allies suspect are aimed at producing weapons. Iran says the program is for peaceful purposes only.Iran's nuclear confrontation with the West had already been escalating in the weeks before the killing, with the U.S. tightening sanctions against Tehran, and Iranian officials warning that they would shut a waterway vital to global oil shipping in response.The Wednesday assassination of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan — at least the fourth targeted hit against a member of Iran's nuclear brain trust in two years — has heightened tensions even further.Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed both Israel and the U.S. In a message read on Iranian state TV, he said the killing was carried out with design or coordination of the CIA and the Mossad, Israel's spy agency. He pledged that Iran would punish those responsible.A column in the Kayhan newspaper by chief editor Hossein Shariatmadari asked why Iran did not avenge Roshan, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, by striking Israel.

Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz in his recent remarks spoke about damaging Iran's nuclear program, he wrote. Assassinations of Israeli military and officials are easily possible.The day before the attack, Gantz was quoted as telling a parliamentary panel that 2012 would be a critical year for Iran — in part because of things that happen to it unnaturally.Tehran quickly blamed Israeli-linked agents backed by the U.S. and Britain. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denied any U.S. role in the slaying, and the Obama administration condemned the attack. I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran, she said.Israeli officials, in contrast, have hinted at covert campaigns against Iran without directly admitting involvement.A covert war between Iran and Israel would come on top of an overt confrontation pitting Tehran against the West, involving both legal and political maneuvering and military sabre-rattling.
Washington is currently involved in an international lobbying effort to win support for new sanctions, targeting Iran's oil industry, which would bar financial institutions from the U.S. market if they do business with Iran's central bank.Iran has threatened to respond to sanctions by shutting the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for about one-sixth of the world's oil. Earlier this month Tehran concluded 10 days of naval exercises in the waters off of the strait, and says it plans to hold another set of sea drills in February.

In domestic politics, Ahmadinejad ousted an ally of one of his main moderate rivals, former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, from the chancellorship of the country's largest university, a state-owned newspaper reported on Thursday.Iran daily said Ahmadinejad associate Farhad Daneshjoo received five of nine votes cast by the board of trustees of the Islamic Azad University, which enrolls more than 1.7 million students in 400 branches nationwide.Ahmadinejad is currently under attack from both moderates backed by Rafsanjani and by clerical hardliners, and the battle often plays out in determining who controls key governmental institutions.Supporters of Ahmadinejad had at least for two years pushed to replace current chancellor Abdollah Jasbi because of his affiliation with Rafsanjani, a former pillar of the clerical establishment, whose power base came under attacks after he lent his support to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in 2009 presidential elections.Earlier in January a court sentenced Rafsanjani's daughter Faezeh Hashemi to six months in prison on charges of propagandizing against the ruling system.In 2011 Rafsanjani lost his position as head of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body which has the power to appoint the Supreme Leader of the country. He remains as the head of the Expediency Council, which is an advisory body to Khamenei, but his term will end in late February.Contests such as the Islamic Azad university vote are seen as bellwethers of whether or not the moderates' clerical allies like Rafsanjani will remain in influential positions, or will be slowly squeezed out.

EZEKIEL 38:12-13
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (ISRAEL)

British PM warns world action if Hormuz shut
AFPBy Assad Abboud | AFP – JAN 13,12

British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the whole world would take action if Iran closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz, in a television interview during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Friday.It is in the interests of the whole world that those straits are open and, if there was any threat to close them, I am sure the whole world would come together and make sure they stayed open, Cameron told Al-Arabiya television.Cameron's first visit as premier to OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia comes as Western governments move to step up sanctions over Iran's controversial nuclear programme, threatening an embargo on its oil exports.The move has drawn an angry response from Tehran which has in turn threatened to shut the strait -- a chokepoint for a fifth of the world's sea-borne oil exports -- if it is attacked or heavy sanctions are imposed.The New York Times reported late on Thursday that the United States has used a secret channel to warn Iran's leaders against closing the Strait of Hormuz, saying that doing so would provoke a US response.Cameron also called for a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, where the United Nations estimates an uprising has left more than 5,000 dead since March in a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.We stand ready as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to take a fresh resolution to that Council, based on what the Arab League is doing and saying,the prime minister said.He said any party which vetoed, in apparent reference to Russia, would have to try to explain why they are willing to stand by and watch such appalling bloodshed by someone who has turned into such an appalling dictator.UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who was in Lebanon on Friday, made a similar appeal, urging the international community to stand together to address the crisis in Syria.But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov has rejected Western-proposed amendments to a draft Security Council resolution that Moscow circulated last month also calling for a halt to violence by the opposition.

Western leaders have repeatedly called for the embattled Assad to step down but Moscow has steadfastly stuck by its ally Damascus.During talks in the Saudi capital, Cameron and King Abdullah discussed the importance of the UK-Saudi bilateral relationship and agreed to strengthen cooperation in a range of areas, Cameron's office said in a statement.They also discussed recent developments in the region, in particular their shared concerns about the situation in Syria, Iran and Yemen, it added.Yemen has been rocked by a year of unrest in which hundreds have been killed amid fears of a growing Al-Qaeda influence across its southern and eastern provinces due to a weakening central government.The prime minister also raised our concerns about Somalia and the problems of conflict, piracy and terrorism which threaten Somalis and the wider international community, Cameron's office said.He briefed the king on the aims of next month's London Conference on Somalia, in particular to catalyse a coordinated international effort focused on practical measures to help Somalis rebuild their country.Somalia has been without an effective central government since president Siad Barre was ousted in 1991 as violence, piracy and famine tear the African country.Saudi state news agency SPA reported earlier that the two leaders discussed regional and international developments as well as the various means of strengthening cooperation between both countries, without elaborating.The meeting was attended by top Saudi officials.Britain has been seeking to strengthen ties with oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a major market for Western arms deals, and boost exports to its largest Middle East trading partner.Annual bilateral trade is worth 15 billion pounds ($23 billion), while Saudi investments in Britain amount to more than 62 billion pounds.

Inside the Fed in 2006: A Coming Crisis, and Banter-U.S. Federal Reserve, via Reuters
A Federal Open Market Committee meeting on March 28, 2006.By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
Published: January 12, 2012 THE NEW YORK TIMES

The officials laughed about the cars that builders were offering as signing bonuses, and about efforts to make empty homes look occupied. They joked about one builder who said that inventory was rising through the roof.But the officials, meeting every six weeks to discuss the health of the nation’s economy, gave little credence to the possibility that the faltering housing market would weigh on the broader economy, according to transcripts that the Fed released Thursday. Instead they continued to tell one another throughout 2006 that the greatest danger was inflation — the possibility that the economy would grow too fast.We think the fundamentals of the expansion going forward still look good, Timothy F. Geithner, then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, told his colleagues when they gathered in Washington in December 2006.Some officials, including Susan Bies, a Fed governor, suggested that a housing downturn actually could bolster the economy by redirecting money to other kinds of investments.And there was general acclaim for Alan Greenspan, who stepped down as chairman at the beginning of the year, for presiding over one of the longest economic expansions in the nation’s history. Mr. Geithner suggested that Mr. Greenspan’s greatness still was not fully appreciated, an opinion now held by a much smaller number of people.Meanwhile, by the end of 2006, the economy already was shrinking by at least one important measure, total income. And by the end of the next year, the Fed had started its desperate struggle to prevent the collapse of the financial system and to avert the onset of what could have been the nation’s first full-fledged depression in about 70 years.

The transcripts of the 2006 meetings, released after a standard five-year delay, clearly show some of the nation’s pre-eminent economic minds did not fully understand the basic mechanics of the economy that they were charged with shepherding. The problem was not a lack of information; it was a lack of comprehension, born in part of their deep confidence in economic forecasting models that turned out to be broken.It’s embarrassing for the Fed,said Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. You see an awareness that the housing market is starting to crumble, and you see a lack of awareness of the connection between the housing market and financial markets.It’s also embarrassing for economics, he continued.My strong guess is that if we had a transcript of any other economist, there would be at least as much fodder.Many of the officials who appear in the transcripts have since spoken publicly about the Fed’s failings in the years before the crisis. But the transcripts provide a raw and detailed account of those errors as they were made. Evidence of problems in the housing market accumulated at each meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets policy for the central bank.We are getting reports that builders are now making concessions and providing upgrades, such as marble countertops and other extras, and in one case even throwing in a free Mini Cooper to sweeten the deal,George C. Guynn, then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said at the June meeting.The committee consists of the governors of the Federal Reserve and the presidents of the 12 regional banks.

The speed of the falloff in housing activity and the deceleration in house prices continue to surprise us, Janet Yellen, then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said in September.One builder she spoke with, she said, toured some new subdivisions on the outskirts of Boise and discovered that the houses, most of which are unoccupied, are now being dressed up to look occupied — with curtains, things in the driveway, and so forth — so as not to discourage potential buyers.For a famously private institution known for its cryptic, formulaic statements, the meeting transcripts offer a rare glimpse of senior officials in relatively unguarded conversation, somewhat akin to the tapes that some presidents have made in the Oval Office. The Fed officials exchange jokes, gossip about people who are not present, and speak much more frankly about the economy and policy than they did in the public remarks that they made contemporaneously.The results are unlikely to burnish any of their reputations, inasmuch as they could not see the widening cracks beneath their feet. But the Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, appears as the most consistent voice of warning that problems in the housing market could have broader consequences.The general consensus on the board, summarized by Mr. Geithner, was that problems in the housing market had few broader ramifications. We just don’t see troubling signs yet of collateral damage, and we are not expecting much,he said at the September meeting.

Mr. Bernanke initially agreed, telling colleagues at his first meeting as chairman, in March, I think we are unlikely to see growth being derailed by the housing market.
As the year rolled along, however, Mr. Bernanke increasingly took the view that his colleagues were too sanguine.I don’t have quite as much confidence as some people around the table that there will be no spillover effect,he said.As for Mr. Geithner, who became Treasury secretary in 2009, his spokesman, Anthony Coley, said, Secretary Geithner was an early source of initiative at the Fed to reduce risk and make the financial system more resilient even before 2006.Some Fed officials argued that a housing slowdown would be good for the broader economy.I really believe that the drop in housing is actually on net going to make liquidity available for other sectors rather than being a drain going forward, and that will also get the growth rate more positive,Ms. Bies told colleagues at the committee’s June meeting. Ms. Bies could not be reached for comment Thursday.And even Ms. Yellen did not believe that the problems in the housing market would have broader consequences. Of course, housing is a relatively small sector of the economy, and its decline should be self-correcting,she said.One fundamental reason for this blindness was that Fed officials did not understand how deeply intertwined the housing sector and financial markets had become. They also were convinced that financial innovations, by distributing the risk of losses more broadly, had increased the strength and resilience of the system as a whole.I would say that the capital markets are probably more profitable and more robust at this moment, or at least going into the six-week opportunity, than they have perhaps ever been,Kevin Warsh, the Fed governor who watched Wall Street most closely, said at the meeting in September 2006. Three months later Mr. Warsh said almost exactly the same thing. He did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment Thursday.For the Fed 2006 began with the departure of Mr. Greenspan, who presided in January over his final meeting as Fed chairman and was then widely regarded as the epitome of a central banker, a master who had guided the American economy through almost 20 years of remarkably consistent growth.I’d like the record to show that I think you’re pretty terrific, too, Mr. Geithner said in adding his voice to the chorus of tributes at that final meeting. And thinking in terms of probabilities, I think the risk that we decide in the future that you’re even better than we think is higher than the alternative.Ms. Yellen said: It’s fitting for Chairman Greenspan to leave office with the economy in such solid shape. The situation you’re handing off to your successor is a lot like a tennis racquet with a gigantic sweet spot.