Entrance Polls Predicted Obama, Huckabee Wins
by FOXNews.com Friday, January 4, 2008
Caucus voters in action (AP)
Polling the Iowa caucus-goers as they made their way into the polls Thursday foreshadowed some key pitfalls for Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Mitt Romney and reasons to celebrate for their respective rivals, Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee.Democratic voters, for example, declared 52 percent to 20 percent that they preferred a candidate that could bring about much needed change over one who had experience.On the other side of the aisle, 60 percent of voters said they consider themselves evangelical Christians. Huckabee is a Baptist minister. Far more than any other characteristic – 45 percent – Republicans said they are looking for a candidate who shares my values. Of those respondents, 44 percent said they were supporting Huckabee.
Before 9 p.m. EST, Huckabee was declared the winner. With 93 percent of the precincts reporting, Huckabee won about 34 percent of the vote, ahead of Romney who was hovering around 25 percent. Obama was also declared the winner on the Democratic side with 38 percent of the vote, ahead of Edwards with 30 percent and Clinton at 29 percent.The youth vote had experienced a surge of sorts Thursday, benefiting Obama. According to the polling, 22 percent of the vote was under 29 years of age and Obama won big among this crowd, with 57 percent. Conversely, Clinton did better with the 65 and older group – which is typically credited with voting in more numbers in any election. In the Democratic contest, 22 percent were 65 and older.On the Republican side, 11 percent of voters were under 29, and Huckabee did best with this crowd, winning 40 percent of their vote, followed by Romney at 22 percent and Ron Paul at 21 percent. The over-65 crowd clocked in at 27 percent. This vote, too, went for Huckabee, with 30 percent. Romney got 28 percent of that group while McCain won 21 percent. Paul earned 8 percent of older Americans.
Clinton lost her grip on the female vote, at least in Iowa. Obama beat her among women, 35 percent to 30 percent for the New York senator. On the Republican side, Huckabee won big among women, beating out his closest rival, Romney, 40 percent to 24 percent.
Perhaps the biggest indicators of what the voters were thinking were the responses to questions about issues and character.For the Republicans, illegal immigration was the top issue, at 33 percent, followed by the economy at 26 percent, terrorism at 21 percent and the war in Iraq, 17 percent.Following the top characteristic of sharing one’s values, 33 percent of Republican voters want a nominee who says what he believes, while 14 percent want the guy with the right experience. A smaller number – 7 percent – wanted the candidate with the best chance to win in November.The majority of Republicans, 48 percent, said they were satisfied, but not enthusiastic about the Bush administration, while 26 said they were dissatisfied but not angry with the Bush administration.
Sixty-seven of Republican voters said it either matters somewhat or a great deal that their candidate shares their religious beliefs.On the Democratic side, voters were split between the economy and the war in Iraq for the issue most important to them, 35 percent to 35 percent, with health care trailing with 27 percent.Behind wanting a candidate who can bring about change, Democratic voters want someone who has the right experience, 20 percent, and cares about people like me, at 19 percent. Getting someone with the best chance to win – typically, Clinton has been considered the most electable in 2008 – with eight percent.Fifty-nine percent of Republican voters decided their vote within the last month or beforehand, while 73 percent of Democrats say they made their choice a month or more ago. Conversely, 17 percent of Republicans said they made up their minds on caucus day. Of those, 29 percent went for Huckabee and 19 percent for Fred Thompson. Eleven percent of Democrats made up their minds on Thursday, with 31 percent choosing Obama, 28 percent for Edwards and 20 percent for Clinton. Bill Richardson took 9 percent of those caucus-goers.
The Democratic poll sample was 2,136 people. The entrance poll of Republicans interviewed 1,600 caucus-goers.Popularity: 1% [?]
Friday, January 04, 2008
Thursday, January 03, 2008
$100.00 A BARREL OIL
GEORGE W OBEY THIS SIGN IN JERUSALEM PLEASE.
The Poster That Awaits US President Bush in Jerusalem
by Baruch Gordon JAN 01,07
(IsraelNN.com) In the upcoming days, billboards all over Jerusalem will be plastered with a new poster on the eve of U.S. President Bush’s visit to Israel. Pictured in the poster is a gigantic Bible, towering over the walls of the Old City.The caption says: Bush, read your Bible. God gave Israel to the Jews.
This poster will welcome US President Bush to Jerusalem
Photo: Am K'Lavee Organization
Tzvi Fishman, of the Am K’Lavee organization, and an Arutz 7 blogger, says The poster is designed to refocus Israel’s opposition to further withdrawals back to our Divine claim to the Land of Israel, as documented again and again in the Bible.Am K’Lavee organizes the annual mass parade to the Kotel on Jerusalem Day, which is attended by tens of thousands. It is joining a broad spectrum of grassroots organizations that are planning protests during Bush’s three-day visit to Jerusalem.The Biblical claim of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel was recognized by the British in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which called for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine, Fishman states. The British believed in the Bible and what was written in it, and that was what guided Lord Balfour in winning the support of the British Parliament.
America also believes in the Bible, Fishman says, and therefore, it is totally unreasonable that America and its G-d-fearing President should act against the Bible, the pillar of Christian belief. Through the poster, Fishman is embarking to remind President Bush that God’s plan for the world supersedes his plan.
How to conduct its public relations campaign has long been a matter of debate among Jewish leaders in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Yesha). Am K'Lavee has chosen what they call the irrefutable argument. Fishman explains: I remember the day some twenty years ago when the leaders of the settlement movement decided that they weren’t going to speak any more about G-d’s gift of the Land of Israel to our forefather, Abraham. Instead they decided to base the importance of settling Judea and Samaria on practical military and Zionistic reasons. The trouble with this strategy is that when you bring a big general to warn the public about the dangers of surrendering portions of Yesha to the enemy, the political Left parades out their line-up of big generals who say the very opposite. That’s what happened with the 2005 Disengagement Plan.
People thought they could trust the famous military hero, Sharon, when he assured the nation that there was no security risk in evacuating the Jewish towns of Gush Katif. The military question can be argued this way and that, but our Biblical claim to the Land is irrefutable. Bush, America, Europe, and all the Christian world have to be reminded that in pressuring us to give up the Jewish towns of Yesha and divide Jerusalem, they are going against the Bible and G-d.Fishman says that Bible lovers all over the world have to join the fight to save the Holy Land. It's not just about saving the Jewish villages of Yesha and safeguarding the unity of Jerusalem, but also preventing the wanton destruction of shrines and churches sacred to their religions as well, he argues.
It isn’t enough that this poster fills the streets of Jerusalem, Fishman asserts. It has to be circulated all over the Internet, on every Christian, Baptist, Evangelist, Catholic, and Jewish site. A vast part of the world still believes in the Bible, and if these hundreds of millions say no to the Road Map and email the poster to the White House, they can help us save our Holy City and prevent the Holy Land from turning into a haven for Islamic terror.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Moderate earthquake hits Indonesia's Java
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31 18:22:09
JAKARTA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with magnitude of 5.0 rocked Java Island of Indonesia on Monday, but there was no report of damages or casualty, Indonesia's meteorology agency said here.
The quake rattled at 16:36 Jakarta time (0936 GMT) with epicenter at 150 kilometers southwest Banyuwangi of East Java province and at 30 kilometers in depth, an official of the agency said. Twenty-three people were killed and thousands of buildings were destructed in September 2007 after a 7.9-magnitude quake rocked Bengkulu province in Sumatra Island of western Indonesia. In 2004, over 170,000 people were killed in Aceh province in northern tip of Sumatra Island after a tsunami triggered by a powerful quake devastated coastal areas of the province and other countries in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is laid at a vulnerable zone, so called the Pacific Ring of Fire, where two continental plates, stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia, meet that causes frequent volcanic movements. Editor: Song Shutao
945 buildings heavily damaged in Ankara earthquake
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31 15:44:50
ANKARA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A total of 945 buildings were heavily damaged in the earthquake that struck the Turkish capital of Ankara and its towns on Dec. 27, said the Turkish Public Works and Housing Ministry on Monday. Following our works, we determined that 945 buildings were heavily damaged, 7 were moderately damaged and 1,262 were slightly damaged, said Sadik Yamac, undersecretary of the ministry. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted Ankara on Dec. 27. Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory and Seismology Institute said the quake was centered on Bala town of Ankara. On Dec. 20, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 also shook Bala town, but caused no casualties.
Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey which lies on active fault lines. Two devastating earthquakes in the country in 1999 killed more than 18,000 people.Editor: Song Shutao
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Chile’s Llaima Volcano Eruption Traps 53 People in Wilderness Park Atlanta, Ga. 1/02/2008 05:04 PM GMT (FINDITT)
At least 53 people have been trapped inside the Conguillio National Park in Chile after a volcanic eruption cut off roadways and flooded rivers with meltwater making it impossible to evacuate.
The Llaima volcano eruption filled the sky with smoke but was not believed to have caused any injuries. Located about 400 miles south of Santiago, the Conguillio National Park is a popular attraction for tourists. Many of those stranded inside the park are believed to be tourists. Chilean military helicopters are being sent to airlift those people out of the park.
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Oil hits record $100 a barrel JAN 2,07
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures hit a record $100 a barrel on Wednesday, surging more than $4 as violence in OPEC members Nigeria and Algeria combined with a weak dollar and a cold snap to boost crude futures. Fresh buying at the new year was also cited as helping lift the oil futures complex.On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:17 p.m. EST, February crude was up $2.67 or 2.78 percent at $98.65 a barrel, trading from $96.05 to $100.00, a record front-month high, eclipsing the previous record of $99.29 hit November 21.(Reporting by Robert Gibbons)
Gold’s advance leads way for oil and platinum
By Chris Flood in London January 2 2008 12:15
Commodity markets made a flying start to 2008 with gold, oil and platinum setting records during the first trading session of the new year.Gold led the initial advance, rising 3.3 per cent to $861.10 a troy ounce, surpassing the previous high of $850 reached in January 1980. The metal later eased back to $858.10 in late London trading.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Dollar fear sparks rush to oil and gold - Jan-02Lex: Peak oil theories - Jan-02Battery demand galvanises price of cobalt - Jan-01Investors seek safety after Bhutto death - Dec-28Overview: Risk aversion boosts gold - Dec-28Traders said there was consistent selling pressure on gold in December as investors booked profits before the year-end, but that drag had cleared and Wednesday’s price rise indicated the strength of underlying sentiment.Gold also found support from renewed dollar weakness after the influential ISM manufacturing survey indicated that industrial activity contracted in December, fuelling fears that the US economy could be dragged into recession as weakness in the housing market spreads into other sectors.Gold’s strength spilled over into platinum, which rose 1.6 per cent to $1,544 a troy ounce.
Oil hit $100 a barrel, partly because of violence in Nigeria, which raised concerns about further possible supply interruptions from the world’s eighth largest crude exporter.Nymex February West Texas Intermediate jumped $4.102 to $100 a barrel, passing the previous high of $99.29 reached in November. Dealers said there was a single trade at $100 between two Nymex floor traders. ICE February Brent leapt $3.89 to $97.74 a barrel, a contract record.
Due to the new year holiday, the latest US inventories data are due for release Thursday and traders expect to see further evidence that the market is tightening.Crude inventories were expected to have fallen 1.8m barrels in a seventh consecutive weekly decline, according to a preliminary poll of analysts by Reuters.Distillate stocks (including heating oil) were forecast to have risen 0.3m barrels. Heating oil stocks are 34.5 per cent below last year’s levels, and with colder weather expected in parts of the US, Nymex February heating oil rose 8.8 cents to $2.7375 a gallon, a record.
Nymex February RBOB gasoline added 7.7 cents at $2.5675 a gallon, with gasoline inventories expected to increase 1.8m barrels in Thursday’s report.Agricultural commodities made a strong start to 2008, finding support from further evidence of strong demand from key consuming countries and recent moves by Russia and China to increase taxes on grain exports to bolster domestic supplies.
Russia will raise the tax on grain exports from 10 per cent to 40 per cent from January 29, a move that is expected to result in Russian exporters rushing to secure business this month. China will impose temporary taxes, between 5 per cent and 25 per cent, on grain exports for a year, starting later month as part of government efforts to curb soaring food prices.In Chicago, CBOT March wheat rose 30 cents, its daily trading limit, to $9.15 a bushel while CBOT March corn rose 12 cents to $4.67½ a bushel and CBOT January soyabeans gained 43 cents to $12.42 a bushel.A revised robusta coffeefutures contract is to be listed by Liffe from January 14. The new contract will encompass a broader range of qualities from all origins in a new 10-tonne lot size. The first futures delivery month for the revised contract will be November 2008.Liffe January robusta coffee rose $37 to $1,903 a tonne.
THE EU DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
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: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
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.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
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.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
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.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) 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.
Small Slovenia takes on highly-charged EU agenda
01.01.2008 - 01:24 CET | By Honor Mahony
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - With just three years of European Union membership under its belt, Slovenia will take on the EU presidency today (1 January) landing itself a highly politicised agenda.Of all the issues that the small ex-Yugoslav state will have to deal with over the next six months, two are set to dominate the agenda -the Kosovo question and the EU renewable energy package.Slovenia has reluctantly inherited the thorny issue of the future status of Kosovo, the breakaway Serb province, one of the greatest foreign policy challenges the bloc has faced in recent years. EU member states are only slowly working themselves towards a unified approach on what to do when confronted with Kosovo's likely future bid for independence.
Matters are likely to come to a political head after the Serbian presidential elections on 20 January and 3 February. Kosovo indicated in December it would wait until February to make any independence declaration. This will also give the EU time to work out what it means by coordinated procedure - the process by which Pristina is to seek independence, in theory allowing each member state the option of choosing whether to recognise it or not. Ljubljana has also indicated that it is to put special focus on the Western Balkans more generally, hoping to devote the traditional summer gathering of EU leaders to the issue as well as pursuing other ways of tying the region more strongly to the 27-nation union, such as involving them in European research or infrastructure projects.
On the internal front, the EU is set to be thoroughly preoccupied with its 2020 targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with the commission due on 12 January to publish legislation on how each member state should contribute to the overall target.The issue is highly controversial with each government trying to make sure it assumes the least burden as possible. It will be Slovenia's job to steer the package through the council, the member states' chamber as well as co-ordinate with the European Parliament.On this dossier there is the added pressure of a tight timetable as the package should go through the Brussels legislative channel in just one go in order to ensure that it has a chance of being approved before the end of the current term of the European Commission in 2009. In addition, the EU should have the legislatio agreed if it is to maintain the moral high ground when it comes to talks in 2009 on a new international climate change agreement.
Turkey and EU treaty
Aside from the planned summits with Japan, Russia and the US, the Alpine Republic with its 2-million strong population, will also have to deal with Turkey's EU membership bid and the pending EU treaty.Slovene officials have already said that they hope to open two more areas of membership negotiation with Ankara's EU hopes sharply undermined by opposition both in Paris and Berlin as well as its own slow pace of reform.During the six-month presidency, it will also steer discussions on the new EU treaty. The recently-agreed set of institutional rules leaves several open questions concerning the division of power in the bloc. These need to be cleared up before the treaty comes into force, probably in 2009.
Finally, it will also oversee the final step of the expansion of the bloc's passport-free zone when it is extended to apply to airports in March. Sea and land borders were relaxed in December.
Although officials will be looking to see how Slovenia fares as the first of the 2004 member states to take on the EU presidency, small countries have a reputation for being committed to the task at hand and therefore doing presidencies well.
Slovenia, which expanded its personnel in its representation in Brussels to 166 people - up from around 50 two years ago – says it is basing its presidency on Ireland's model. Dublin held a highly successful presidency in 2004. 2008 EUobserver.
France returns to EU centre stage Financial Times
By Tony Barber in Brussels Sun., Dec. 30, 2007
In the Chinese zodiac calendar, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. In the European Union, 2008 is shaping up to be the year of the French.France's six-month EU presidency, its first since 2000, will not begin until July 1. But already the bloc's other 26 member states are anticipating France's occupation of the hot seat with uncommon excitement.The French presidency will be highly ambitious. Budget reform, agriculture, trade, energy security, climate change, immigration, defence - you name it, as long as there's something to be done, the French will do it, says a Brussels-based ambassador.Long before July, France's experienced, prefectural shadow will lie over Slovenia, an EU new boy that on January 1 will become the first former communist country to hold the bloc's rotating presidency.Having joined the EU only in 2004, Slovenia in its six-month term will be keen to prove its competence but happy to take French advice. They accept it. They're almost relieved. They are uncertain about their capabilities, one diplomat says.With French initiatives set to dominate the year, admiration for the fresh sense of purpose in Paris is mixed in some EU capitals with wariness about the likely tone and direction of policies under Nicolas Sarkozy, the restlessly energetic French president.
Mr Sarkozy's jabs at the European Central Bank's independence and his vision of a Mediterranean Union connecting EU and non-EU countries in southern Europe have gone down poorly in Germany and other northern states.The personal relationship between Mr Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, lacks natural warmth, according to EU officials and diplomats who have seen them at work together.She is a scientist; she likes details. She is calm. She is exactly the opposite of him. He is a voluntarist, highly strung and emotional. It will take a bit of time to find their own chemistry and way of functioning together, an EU official says.In some countries, Mr Sarkozy's emphasis on the EU's right to economic self-protection in the age of globalisation and his outspoken views on Muslim immigration into Europe induce a certain nervousness.The peoples of Europe are going through a profound identity crisis, Mr Sarkozy told the European parliament last month.
It is a crisis linked to the globalisation and commercialisation of the world. However, officials familiar with the thinking of José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, say he is impressed with Mr Sarkozy. Sarkozy has brought a new French enthusiasm for Europe. He's formulating initiatives. It's very important. There are certain points that one can and must discuss but overall the attitude is positive, says one senior official.In certain respects, 2008 will mark the year when France completes its return to the front centre of Europe's stage, after its wounded withdrawal to the wings when French voters rejected the now-abandoned EU constitutional treaty on May 29 2005.Mr Sarkozy's presidential election victory last May launched the process by which France has rebuilt its influence in EU affairs. Now some experts in Brussels, both supporters and occasional critics of French policies, say Mr Sarkozy has a great chance to seize the initiative in 2008.Of the leaders of the EU's four big countries, Mr Sarkozy will be politically the strongest, they say. Mrs Merkel will be increasingly hamstrung by feuds in her Christian Democrat-Social Democrat coalition and by the approach to Germany's next federal election, due in 2009.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, will be engaged in a long struggle to assert his authority and to prepare for the next British election, probably in 2009. Romano Prodi, Italy's premier, will as ever lead a weak and divided government.Moreover, with Mr Barroso adjusting his free-market instincts as he aims for re-election as Commission president in 2009, and with economic reformers on the defensive in Germany, Mr Sarkozy's message of an ambitious state-guided modernisation that protects the European social model appears to have caught the emerging spirit of the age.
The Anglo-Saxon model that was dominant a year ago is being pushed aside by the Rhineland model and Club Med, says one EU ambassador, referring to two versions of capitalism traditionally practised by France, Germany and southern European countries.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Backgrounder: Basic facts about eurozone
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31
BRUSSELS, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus and Malta will join the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2008, bringing the total number of countries sharing the same currency from 13 to 15. Following are basic facts about the eurozone. The Eurozone, or euro area, refers to the area comprising the European Union (EU) countries which share the same currency, the euro. It is a monetary union, within which all member states not onlyabandoned their former currency, but also have to transfer power to set national monetary policy to a transnational European Central Bank (ECB), located in Frankfurt, Germany. The euro is managed and administered by the ECB and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), which consists of the central banks of its member states.
It is the 1992 Maastricht Treaty on the EU that set the rules and defined the roadmap for an economic and monetary union, leading to the introduction of the euro as book money in 1999 and the circulation of euro coins and banknotes in 2002. But the idea of a single currency gained ground as early as in the 1970s. Among the 27 EU member states, there are currently 13 using the euro, namely Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia.
The adoption by Cyprus and Malta of the euro will mark the second enlargement of the eurozone. Slovenia adopted the single currency on Jan. 1, 2007 in the first enlargement, becoming the 13th member. After Cyprus and Malta join, the eurozone will include a population of 320 million out of the EU's total of 495 million people and account for nearly three quarters of the EU's gross domestic product (GDP), totaling 11.6 trillion euros (17.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2006. Editor: Song Shutao
Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro
01.01.2008 - 01:24 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European currency is today (1 January) replacing the national currencies of the two Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus, bringing the number of EU states using the euro to 15 out of the 27 member states.The euro will replace the Cypriot pound and the Maltese lira, which currently equal €1.71 and €2.33 respectively.Cyprus and Malta joined the EU on 1 May 2004together with eight other states and follow Slovenia which in January 2007 became the first new EU state to join the euro club.
They will add around 1.2 million people to the euro zone - some 800,000 Cypriots and around 400,000 Maltese - bringing the number of those EU citizens using the euro as a national currency to 320 million out of the EU's total 495-million large population.The new euro coins in circulation as of 1 January also add six new national sides to the already existing ones.The Maltese €1 and €2 coins represent the eight-pointed Maltese cross, seen as a symbol of the Maltese identity; the 10-, 20- and 50-euro cent coins feature the Maltese coat of arms; while the Mnajdra temples, considered to be one of the world's oldest free-standing temple groupings, are seen on the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins.
The Cypriot €1 and €2 coins feature the idol of Pomos, seen as representing the country's contribution to civilisation since prehistory; the 10-, 20- and 50-euro cent coins represent the ancient Kyrenia ship symbolising the island's historical importance from a trading point of view; and the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins depict a species of wild sheep representing the island's wildlife.Cyprus and Malta got the green light to introduce the euro in May 2007, after fulfilling the necessary criteria, including a government deficit lower than three percent of GDP, a government debt not higher than 60 percent of GDP, as well as price and exchange rate stability.On both islands, thousands of euro converters have been distributed to households to facilitate the transition to the new currency.However, both Cypriots and Maltese citizens have indicated they fear the euro entry may be followed be a possible price rise – as it happened in Slovenia in 2007.
Britain also introducing the euro
Meanwhile, as a side-effect of Cyprus' adoption of the euro, the European currency will also be used in British military bases on the island.Britain kept its sovereign military bases under an agreement signed in 1960 which released Cyprus from colonial rule.
The bases include Dhekelia, Episkopi and RAF Akrotiri, and some 10,000 British service personnel and their dependents are currently stationed on the island, according to French news agency AFP.It's good news for Cyprus so we have to mirror the republic's harmonisation with the EU as far as possible, otherwise it would make life unbelievably impossible, British forces Cyprus spokesman Captain Nick Ulvert told the press agency.The euro could also bring the economies of the divided island closer together, as the northern Turkish part of Cyprus may adopt the currency unilaterally, according to Reuters.Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey internationally, is currently using the Turkish lira, but would have no objection to introducing the euro, the agency reports.Slovakia is expected to be the next member state to adopt the euro in 2009, while the two newest EU states, Bulgaria and Romania, hope to be able to follow suit by 2010-2011 and 2014 respectively.Of the remaining 12 countries currently not in the euro zone, only the UK and Denmark have chosen not to adopt the European currency for reasons of economic sovereignty – but they have the option to join in the future. 2008 EUobserver.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Israel bars Jews from moving lips in prayer on Temple Mount
Even slightest 'sign' of Jewish worship prohibited at Judaism's holiest site January 2, 2008 11:53 a.m. Eastern By Aaron Klein
2008 WorldNetDaily.com
Temple Mount in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM – Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount in any way whatsoever, even if they only move their lips or demonstrate other signs of prayer on Judaism's holiest site, ruled Avi Dichter, Israel's public security minister. Dichter was responding to a recent decision by two Knesset members who said they would ascend the Temple Mount quietly – without informing the media or making any protest – and attempt to pray on the holy site. The lawmakers, Uri Ariel and Aryeh Eldad from Israel's National Union Party, said Muslim prayer services take place throughout the day in the many mosques and Islamic religious schools situated on the holy site, and Jews should be able to pray as individuals on the Mount. In a letter to the lawmakers, Dichter, Israel's highest ranking public security officer, wrote that while police cannot generally arrest a person conversing with his maker ... however it is possible to carry out an arrest for expressions of outward and demonstrative signs [of prayer on the Temple Mount]. Dichter's use of the phrase conversing with his maker" mimicked the terminology used by Ariel and Eldad to describe prayer.
Dichter wrote his interpretation of Israeli law is in line with the rationale that bans Jews from praying at the site, in light of serious concerns that this will serve as a provocation, resulting in disorder, with a near certain likelihood of subsequent bloodshed.Israeli restrictions bar Jewish groups from praying on the Temple Mount and only allow Jews to ascend for certain hours on some days, while the Mount is open to Muslims all year. According to strict interpretation of a 1973 Israeli law, a Jew as an individual can pray on the Temple Mount as long as the prayer is not uttered as a protest of Jewish rights to the holy site. But Israeli police forbid all Jewish prayer at the site, although there have been a few instances recently in which Jews prayed there without being arrested. While Dichter vehemently opposed even the slightest pretence of a Jew praying on the Mount, his security ministry and the Israeli police have not acted to halt the Hamas terror group's daily broadcast of Islamic prayer services from the Mount's Al Aqsa Mosque, considered the third holiest site in Islam. WND broke the story that Hamas last month starting broadcasting the Mount's daily Muslim prayers on the group's official radio station, Al Aqsa Radio. The services are broadcast alongside anti-Semitic commentary, including incitement against Jews.
The official Hamas radio network announced it would continue airing exclusive daily streams of Muslim morning services from the Temple Mount, and, indeed, the broadcasts have continued as scheduled, with this morning's prayer services streamed live by Hamas. Hamas radio is heard throughout Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Our broadcast is a victory for the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is suffering from Judaization efforts imposed by the Zionist government, said Rami Kaoud, a manager at Al Aqsa Radio. Broadcasting daily radio is a way to bring Al Aqsa to the Gaza Strip and challenge the siege imposed on us by the Zionist entity.All broadcasts from the Mount must be approved by the Waqf, which guard the Muslim entrances to the Temple Mount along with the Israeli police. Broadcasts must also be approved by the Israeli police, but cameramen and reporters routinely enter the site from Muslim gates to broadcast without prior police approval as long as Waqf agents allow the entry. Rabbi Chaim Richman, a spokesman for the New Jewish Congress, a group of religious Zionist leaders, told WND Dichter's comments today restricting Jewish prayer convey hatred and discrimination towards the Jewish people.
Dichter's statement is yet another indication that the government of [Israeli Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert has ceased to be a Jewish government altogether, having not the slightest connection with the Jewish people.Dichter is a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party. The Temple Mount is site of the First Jewish Temple, which was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt at the same location in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries. The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's presence dwelt. The Dome of the Rock, adjacent to the Al Aqsa Mosque, now sits on the site. The Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays. The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Olmert hints Jerusalem division is inevitable
Tue Jan 1, 2008 10:36am EST By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signaled on Tuesday Israel might have no choice but to share Jerusalem with the Palestinians in a peace deal, citing international pressure for compromise over the holy city.The world that is friendly to Israel ... that really supports Israel, when it speaks of the future, it speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division of Jerusalem, Olmert said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move that failed to win international recognition. It regards all of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital.Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they aspire to establish in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.The future of Jerusalem is one of the core issues Israel and the Palestinians agreed to tackle in peace talks they renewed after a U.S.-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland in November.Olmert's comments appeared to be another move by the prime minister to prepare Israeli public opinion for the possibility of a deal that would loosen Israel's control of all of Jerusalem.
His deputy and close confidant, Haim Ramon, has said Israel should in future negotiate creation of a special regime that would govern some of the sacred sites in Jerusalem's walled Old City.In separate remarks on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak made clear there would be no sweeping changes in Israel's network of hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank while negotiations went ahead.Barak, addressing Israeli troops in the West Bank, said the barriers, condemned by Palestinians as collective punishment, helped to thwart attacks by militants.There is no chance of waging an effective fight against terror without a real and daily control of the field, and the checkpoints and roadblocks will remain, said Barak, a former prime minister who now leads the center-left Labour Party.
RESTRICTIONS
The United States, which hosted a Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November, has urged Israel to relax travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank.In order to ease matters when it comes to the daily lives of Palestinians, we are trying to permit the opening of roadblocks and checkpoints on the fringes, Barak said.As of now, dozens of earth roadblocks have been removed as well as two of the 16 major checkpoints, and we may make more concessions here and there, he said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, voicing frustration at the slow pace of change, said in a speech on Monday: "Each time (there is a meeting with the Israelis) they say they will remove (checkpoints) or have already removed some of them -- but I can honestly say they did not remove a single checkpoint.Israel and the Palestinians have said they hoped to reach a peace agreement before U.S. President George W. Bush, who visits Israel and the West Bank next week, leaves office next year.Olmert has already questioned publicly the wisdom of annexing outlying Arab neighborhoods of the city after the 1967 conflict. But he has insisted Israel would never agree to return to its pre-1967 borders.(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Israel's Barak warns Palestinians on security
Wed 2 Jan 2008, 10:49 GMT By Brenda Gazzar
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday Israel would watch closely whether the Palestinian Authority fulfilled a promise to prosecute two suspects in the killing of two off-duty Israeli soldiers.These people need to rot in jail until their last days, Barak told Israel Radio.We will see if the Palestinian Authority is opening a revolving door for them and if so, the Israeli Defence Forces and security services will know how to put our hands on them, he said.The ambush that killed the two soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Friday has raised questions in Israel over the effectiveness of a pledged security crackdown against militants by forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Israel has made implementation of any peace deal it reaches with the Palestinians following the U.S.-hosted Annapolis summit in November conditional on reining in militants. U.S. President George W. Bush is to visit Israel and the West Bank next week.
The Palestinians argue Israel has failed to meet its own obligations to freeze settlement activity under a U.S.-backed peace road map agreed in 2003.The two armed soldiers, settlers who lived near the city of Hebron, killed two of their attackers before succumbing to their wounds.Palestinian security forces in Hebron arrested the two surviving gunmen the day after the attack, a Palestinian security official said.Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said that if found guilty, the men would pay for their crimes in the West Bank.The investigation is still going on. They will be tried and once there is a verdict they will stay in prison until they finish their sentence, said Malki, who also serves as foreign minister.Israel has argued in the past that the Palestinians have paid lip service to security, quickly freeing militants from jail in what it has termed a revolving door policy.Abbas's government has deployed hundreds of security men in chaotic West Bank towns as part of a Western-backed crackdown on gangsters and militants, and are at pains to prove they are exerting control in the territory following the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamists in June.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Writing by Rebecca Harrison; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
JERUSALEM: Anglican Bishop Blasts Global Anglican Future Conference.From the Diocese of Jerusalem Jan 02,08
http://www.j-diocese.org/newsdetail.php?id=34
The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, Bishop Suheil Dawani, has expressed his concern about the Global Anglican Future Conference planned for the Holy Land in June this year. Regrettably, I have not been consulted about this planned conference, said Bishop Suheil.The first I learned of it was through a press release. I am aware that the post-Christmas announcement that this conference is to be held here has excited considerable interest around the Anglican Communion, and has become the subject of online discussion. Yet we Anglicans who minister here have been left out in the cold.I also note that the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, who appears to be one of the organisers, is encouraging clergy and lay people from his diocese to attend the conference with him and his bishops. He speaks of the meeting taking place because the Anglican Communion is, he says, 'in disarray over fundamental issues of the gospel and biblical authority'.
I am deeply troubled that this meeting, of which we had no prior knowledge, will import inter-Anglican conflict into our diocese, which seeks to be a place of welcome for all Anglicans. It could also have serious consequences for our ongoing ministry of reconciliation in this divided land. Indeed, it could further inflame tensions here. We who minister here know only too well what happens when two sides cease talking to each other. We do not want to see any further dividing walls! I believe our Primate, Dr Mouneer Hanna Anis,is also concerned about this event. His advice to the organizers that this was not the right time or place for such a meeting was ignored.I urge the organizers to reconsider this conference urgently.---The Rt Revd Suheil Dawani is the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem.
Confirmed: Islamic leaders to visit Vatican for talks
Rome, Jan. 2, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue has confirmed plans for a meeting between Vatican officials and Islamic leaders. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that a meeting with representatives of the Common Word initiative, launched in October 2007 by a group of 138 Islamic leaders, will take place in Rome this spring. The meeting, he observed, will be in a certain sense historic. He did not give a specific date for the meeting. After the Common Word group issued its October call for talks with Christian leaders, Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) replied in November with an invitation for representatives of the group to come to Rome for in-depth discussions. Last week Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, the president of the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan, revealed that he had accepted the papal invitation. The Jordanian leader indicated that he hoped to meet with the Pontiff in February or March 2008-- a time period that seems to match Cardinal Tauran's projected schedule for the meeting. The sessions in Rome are expected to involve representatives of the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. Vatican officials are determined to press their case for Islamic recognition of the right to religious freedom, especially for Christians living in predominantly Muslim countries.
LIBYA AT THE SECURITY COUNCIL HEAD LOOKOUT ISRAEL FOR FAVOUR, NO!
Libya becomes U.N. council president By Patrick Worsnip
Tue Jan 1, 2:47 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Libya took over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday in a major step back to global respectability after decades as a pariah of the West. The North African country was elected in October, as were Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia and Vietnam, to sit on the council in 2008-09 after the United States, which foiled two earlier bids by Tripoli, decided not to block it this time.By an alphabetical accident, Libya becomes president of the 15-nation body from its very first day as a member, succeeding Italy. Each country is president for a month, the rotation going in English alphabetical order of names.Libya and Burkina Faso had been unopposed after being endorsed by the African regional grouping for two African seats that fell vacant on December 31.
The Security Council is the powerhouse of the United Nations, with the ability to send peacekeeping troops around the world and impose sanctions on specific countries.Unlike the five permanent members -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China -- the nonpermanent members have no individual veto. But an alliance of seven of them can stop a resolution even if the big powers want it.Libya has only recently rehabilitated itself in Western eyes from an accused sponsor of terrorism that organized the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland, which killed 270 people.The case led to U.N. sanctions on Libya, which, under a gradual shift of course by leader Muammar Gaddafi, eventually turned over suspects and admitted civil responsibility. Also key was Gaddafi's 2003 decision to abandon weapons of mass destruction programs.In July, Libya ended a diplomatic standoff by freeing five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor held since 1999 on charges, which Western countries ridiculed, that they infected Libyan children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
DARFUR KEY ISSUE
Libyan and other diplomats said they expected the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, where the United Nations and African Union are trying to deploy a peace force, to be a key council issue in January. Other countries will be scrutinizing Libya's handling because of its interest as a neighbor of Sudan.Another major topic will be Serbia's Kosovo province. But diplomats said Iran could be less important because big powers must overcome divisions on possible new sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program before the issue reaches the council.Council presidents can vote as they please, but must follow strict procedures in management of business and be neutral in public statements. Nevertheless they can wield important influence on scheduling the agenda and other formalities.Libya has been on the Security Council once before -- in 1976-77 -- and diplomats said its envoys had been relearning the role, attending closed consultations in the past two months and bringing in extra staff to help with the presidency.Countries that left the Security Council on December 31 were Congo Republic, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia. Remaining on it are Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa.(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Roundup: World leaders hail achievements in 2007, look forward to 2008 www.chinaview.cn 2008-01-02 13:48:52
Special report: Yearender 2007
BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- World leaders have delivered their New Year addresses, hailing the achievements in 2007 and looking forward to 2008. U.S. President George W. Bush called for continuing growth and vitality of the economy in his New Year message. A future of hope and opportunity begins with a robust economy, he said in his message released by the White House. The U.S. president said that the underpinning of the U.S. economy is strong, competitive, and resilient enough to overcome the challenges. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in his new year speech on Tuesday that the government will begin in 2008 to change the society into one in which people and consumers are protagonists.
In regard to a series of scandals of production date forgery in2007, Fukuda called on both the government and enterprises to think from the standpoints of the people and consumers. Regarding the blunder of losing some 50 million pension records, Fukuda vowed to conduct thorough reforms to the pension system. Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday hailed the Cuban people's victory in ruling their own destiny in his New Year address. The year of 2008 marks the beginning of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, which symbolizes half a century of heroic resistance, said Castro, the Latin American News Agency reported. Let's proudly proclaim to the world this record that makes us worthy of the fairest claim: the respect for its right to live and to the clean joy of our motherland, he said. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in his address, promised continued reforms in 2008 to achieve more progress. We are going ahead on the right path, he said, noting the country embraces the year of 2008 with a stronger economy whose indicators are on the rise and whose ability to attract investments and achieve higher rates of growth and work opportunities is continuous, Mubarak said.
Egypt is now in a better position and is making progress as we enjoy peace, security, stability, he said, bringing high hopes for the future of our country and its people.His Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian hailed 2007 as one of the most successful years in the country's recent history in his televised New Year address.
He said he believes in Armenia's prosperous future and in the potential of its people. The King of Norway Harald V called on the whole world to take responsibility for climate change in his traditional New Year speech. We can no longer overlook all the signals and warnings about climate change and now is the time to take on a global responsibility and a common course, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK quoted the king as saying. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg echoed the king's call and expressed his optimism for meeting the challenges of climate change in his New Year's speech on Tuesday. It is mankind that brought about the climate problem and the problem can also be settled by mankind, the Norwegian news agency NTB quoted the prime minister as saying.
Stoltenberg was pleased with the agreement reached at the last minute at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007, saying we now have a basis for a global agreement in Copenhagen in 2009.African Union Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare called for the establishment of a united Africa in his New Year speech. We shall be required to enter into new alliances with the other peoples and governments of the world, and to strengthen those already in place, in the name of a united Africa, from Northto South, from East to West, an Africa neither black nor white, neither occidental nor oriental, neither sub-nor upper Saharan, Konare said. Our current battle against underdevelopment, pandemics, ignorance, marginalization and indecent life, pushes us to set up a strategy of action, enforcement and responsibility, he said. Polish President Lech Kaczynski hailed Poland's achievements in2007 in his New Year address on Tuesday. Poland witnessed sustainable economic growth and consolidated its standing on the international stage in 2007, said the president in his address broadcast by state TV. In 2007 Poland signed the Lisbon Treaty and joined the Schengenzone, two moves of European integration which are benefiting the Polish people, he said. The president also hoped more Polish people can benefit from the country's economic growth and all Poles around the world could be proud, enthusiastic and affectionate towards Poland. Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko on Tuesday recalled 2007as a hard year and looked forward to 2008 in his New Year address.
We have brought the Ukrainian ship out of the storm and now it is time for calm and coordinated work, he said. Predicting that everything will be fine, Yushchenko foresaw 2008 as a year of big opportunities. Editor: Yao Siyan
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
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.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Thompson warns threat of mushroom cloud real Most Americans know the forces of terrorism will not rest December 31, 2007 11:45 a.m. Eastern 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Fred Thompson
GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson is warning the biggest threat facing America isn't economic or social or even political: It's the danger from nuclear terrorism. That the years ahead will be dangerous needs no elaboration from me, Thompson, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, says in a new video prepared for Iowa voters who will caucus later this week. Most Americans know the forces of terrorism will not rest until a mushroom cloud hangs over one of our cities, he said. Thompson, who is trailing several other candidates in Iowa, said those other issues, such as economy, taxes, protecting our borders, and protecting the right to life, are important but are not the biggest concern this nation faces. Rasmussen Reports, considered one of the most accurate polling services, says Arizona Sen. John McCain held support from 17 percent of likely Republican primary voters, former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are at 16 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is at 15 percent and Thompson is at 12 percent heading into the new year. Thompson's 17-minute video notes there is no frontrunner, and the Iowa caucus will be the first vote cast in this crucial election year.He said the nation faces dangerous years ahead.
The recent tragic assassination of former Prime Minister [Benazir] Bhutto in Pakistan again demonstrates that terrorist will to power and their relentless cruelty along with the threats to our national security, he said. The best way to avoid war is to be stronger than our enemies. If we're caught in a fight we need to win it, he said. You're not electing a set of position papers, you're electing a leader at a time when strong leadership is going to be needed, he continued. I know the world we live in. I know what we need to do. I would ask people if our worst enemy is sitting across from us at a negotiating table, who do you want sitting on our side of the table, representing you and working to keep you safe, Thompson said. He's not the only presidential candidate to cite this danger. Huckabee earlier told WND in one of a series of exclusive interviews the war on terror will not end in a draw. There's no peaceful co-existence, there's no accommodation, there's no naïve nonsense that if we leave them alone they leave us alone, he said. This is a war someone will win and someone will lose.
Whoever perseveres and whoever has the strongest will, will in fact win and that's why we can't give up, he said. Thompson was responding to a question about the likelihood of another 9/11-type attack on U.S. soil. There's almost an inevitability, not just a possibility, he said. It will happen again. And it'll happen because we face an enemy that is not a nation-state that can be contained within borders and boundaries, because their war is not about borders and boundaries. Islamofascism is rooted in a theocratic Islamic jihadism that seeks to destroy and annihilate every last one of us. It wants to establish a complete Islamic theocracy across the world and for that to happen it means our culture has to be completely snuffed out.Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who recently ended his bid for the GOP nomination for president, expressed similar concerns. He said the U.S. must find something that will be a deterrent to terrorists or face another 9/11 that could be nuclear. I believe that unless you can think of a deterrent the threat will become a reality, he said. He has suggested making clear now that Islamic holy sites could be targeted with counterstrikes should such an attack ever happen.
If somebody can show me an alternative to what I'm going to tell you, then I'm happy to listen. But right now, there is no deterrent to the commission of that crime, said Tancredo. What possibly can deter them, if it is not some threat to take some action that would threaten [what] their belief system tells them? he said. Thompson's campaign video also addressed several other issues, including his call for a return to the fundamental conservative principles that have unified the U.S. for two centuries. He said that means the role of the federal government is supposed to be limited to the powers given in the Constitution, the dollar belongs in the pocket of the person who earned it, don't spend money that isn't there, the federal judiciary is supposed to decide cases, not set social policy, and the bigger government gets the less competent it is to run citizens' lives.
I know who I am. I know what I believe, and I'm ready to lead, Thompson said. He also touched on the importance of faith, citing George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. [Washington] was filled with an awe and wonder not at the workings of mere mortals but the power of Providence, Thompson said. Thompson's remarks come after a new report revealing Osama bin Laden's quest for a nuclear weapons arsenal now is focusing on efforts to destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan. Writing in the Combating Terrorism Center's Sentinel, a new publication of the U.S. military academy, Bruce Riedel, a former senior U.S. official now with the Brookings Institution, says Pakistan represents the real front line in the war against al-Qaida.The most frightening part of advances by Islamists confronting the government of Perves Musharraf is the determination of al-Qaida to obtain nuclear weapons, the report says. Al-Qaida has been pursuing nuclear weapons for more than a decade, according to former CIA Director George Tenet. Today, [al-Qaida] has a secure operating base in the country, its leadership is issuing constant guidance to its global supporters, it is threatening NATO's position in Afghanistan through its Taliban allies, and it is now a growing force in Pakistan itself, writes Riedel. The current political crisis in Pakistan is endangering the secular democratic forces in the country, polarizing the debate about the country's future and strengthening al-Qaida's Islamist partners.
The Poster That Awaits US President Bush in Jerusalem
by Baruch Gordon JAN 01,07
(IsraelNN.com) In the upcoming days, billboards all over Jerusalem will be plastered with a new poster on the eve of U.S. President Bush’s visit to Israel. Pictured in the poster is a gigantic Bible, towering over the walls of the Old City.The caption says: Bush, read your Bible. God gave Israel to the Jews.
This poster will welcome US President Bush to Jerusalem
Photo: Am K'Lavee Organization
Tzvi Fishman, of the Am K’Lavee organization, and an Arutz 7 blogger, says The poster is designed to refocus Israel’s opposition to further withdrawals back to our Divine claim to the Land of Israel, as documented again and again in the Bible.Am K’Lavee organizes the annual mass parade to the Kotel on Jerusalem Day, which is attended by tens of thousands. It is joining a broad spectrum of grassroots organizations that are planning protests during Bush’s three-day visit to Jerusalem.The Biblical claim of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel was recognized by the British in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which called for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine, Fishman states. The British believed in the Bible and what was written in it, and that was what guided Lord Balfour in winning the support of the British Parliament.
America also believes in the Bible, Fishman says, and therefore, it is totally unreasonable that America and its G-d-fearing President should act against the Bible, the pillar of Christian belief. Through the poster, Fishman is embarking to remind President Bush that God’s plan for the world supersedes his plan.
How to conduct its public relations campaign has long been a matter of debate among Jewish leaders in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Yesha). Am K'Lavee has chosen what they call the irrefutable argument. Fishman explains: I remember the day some twenty years ago when the leaders of the settlement movement decided that they weren’t going to speak any more about G-d’s gift of the Land of Israel to our forefather, Abraham. Instead they decided to base the importance of settling Judea and Samaria on practical military and Zionistic reasons. The trouble with this strategy is that when you bring a big general to warn the public about the dangers of surrendering portions of Yesha to the enemy, the political Left parades out their line-up of big generals who say the very opposite. That’s what happened with the 2005 Disengagement Plan.
People thought they could trust the famous military hero, Sharon, when he assured the nation that there was no security risk in evacuating the Jewish towns of Gush Katif. The military question can be argued this way and that, but our Biblical claim to the Land is irrefutable. Bush, America, Europe, and all the Christian world have to be reminded that in pressuring us to give up the Jewish towns of Yesha and divide Jerusalem, they are going against the Bible and G-d.Fishman says that Bible lovers all over the world have to join the fight to save the Holy Land. It's not just about saving the Jewish villages of Yesha and safeguarding the unity of Jerusalem, but also preventing the wanton destruction of shrines and churches sacred to their religions as well, he argues.
It isn’t enough that this poster fills the streets of Jerusalem, Fishman asserts. It has to be circulated all over the Internet, on every Christian, Baptist, Evangelist, Catholic, and Jewish site. A vast part of the world still believes in the Bible, and if these hundreds of millions say no to the Road Map and email the poster to the White House, they can help us save our Holy City and prevent the Holy Land from turning into a haven for Islamic terror.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Moderate earthquake hits Indonesia's Java
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31 18:22:09
JAKARTA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with magnitude of 5.0 rocked Java Island of Indonesia on Monday, but there was no report of damages or casualty, Indonesia's meteorology agency said here.
The quake rattled at 16:36 Jakarta time (0936 GMT) with epicenter at 150 kilometers southwest Banyuwangi of East Java province and at 30 kilometers in depth, an official of the agency said. Twenty-three people were killed and thousands of buildings were destructed in September 2007 after a 7.9-magnitude quake rocked Bengkulu province in Sumatra Island of western Indonesia. In 2004, over 170,000 people were killed in Aceh province in northern tip of Sumatra Island after a tsunami triggered by a powerful quake devastated coastal areas of the province and other countries in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is laid at a vulnerable zone, so called the Pacific Ring of Fire, where two continental plates, stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia, meet that causes frequent volcanic movements. Editor: Song Shutao
945 buildings heavily damaged in Ankara earthquake
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31 15:44:50
ANKARA, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- A total of 945 buildings were heavily damaged in the earthquake that struck the Turkish capital of Ankara and its towns on Dec. 27, said the Turkish Public Works and Housing Ministry on Monday. Following our works, we determined that 945 buildings were heavily damaged, 7 were moderately damaged and 1,262 were slightly damaged, said Sadik Yamac, undersecretary of the ministry. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted Ankara on Dec. 27. Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory and Seismology Institute said the quake was centered on Bala town of Ankara. On Dec. 20, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 also shook Bala town, but caused no casualties.
Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey which lies on active fault lines. Two devastating earthquakes in the country in 1999 killed more than 18,000 people.Editor: Song Shutao
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Chile’s Llaima Volcano Eruption Traps 53 People in Wilderness Park Atlanta, Ga. 1/02/2008 05:04 PM GMT (FINDITT)
At least 53 people have been trapped inside the Conguillio National Park in Chile after a volcanic eruption cut off roadways and flooded rivers with meltwater making it impossible to evacuate.
The Llaima volcano eruption filled the sky with smoke but was not believed to have caused any injuries. Located about 400 miles south of Santiago, the Conguillio National Park is a popular attraction for tourists. Many of those stranded inside the park are believed to be tourists. Chilean military helicopters are being sent to airlift those people out of the park.
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
Oil hits record $100 a barrel JAN 2,07
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures hit a record $100 a barrel on Wednesday, surging more than $4 as violence in OPEC members Nigeria and Algeria combined with a weak dollar and a cold snap to boost crude futures. Fresh buying at the new year was also cited as helping lift the oil futures complex.On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:17 p.m. EST, February crude was up $2.67 or 2.78 percent at $98.65 a barrel, trading from $96.05 to $100.00, a record front-month high, eclipsing the previous record of $99.29 hit November 21.(Reporting by Robert Gibbons)
Gold’s advance leads way for oil and platinum
By Chris Flood in London January 2 2008 12:15
Commodity markets made a flying start to 2008 with gold, oil and platinum setting records during the first trading session of the new year.Gold led the initial advance, rising 3.3 per cent to $861.10 a troy ounce, surpassing the previous high of $850 reached in January 1980. The metal later eased back to $858.10 in late London trading.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Dollar fear sparks rush to oil and gold - Jan-02Lex: Peak oil theories - Jan-02Battery demand galvanises price of cobalt - Jan-01Investors seek safety after Bhutto death - Dec-28Overview: Risk aversion boosts gold - Dec-28Traders said there was consistent selling pressure on gold in December as investors booked profits before the year-end, but that drag had cleared and Wednesday’s price rise indicated the strength of underlying sentiment.Gold also found support from renewed dollar weakness after the influential ISM manufacturing survey indicated that industrial activity contracted in December, fuelling fears that the US economy could be dragged into recession as weakness in the housing market spreads into other sectors.Gold’s strength spilled over into platinum, which rose 1.6 per cent to $1,544 a troy ounce.
Oil hit $100 a barrel, partly because of violence in Nigeria, which raised concerns about further possible supply interruptions from the world’s eighth largest crude exporter.Nymex February West Texas Intermediate jumped $4.102 to $100 a barrel, passing the previous high of $99.29 reached in November. Dealers said there was a single trade at $100 between two Nymex floor traders. ICE February Brent leapt $3.89 to $97.74 a barrel, a contract record.
Due to the new year holiday, the latest US inventories data are due for release Thursday and traders expect to see further evidence that the market is tightening.Crude inventories were expected to have fallen 1.8m barrels in a seventh consecutive weekly decline, according to a preliminary poll of analysts by Reuters.Distillate stocks (including heating oil) were forecast to have risen 0.3m barrels. Heating oil stocks are 34.5 per cent below last year’s levels, and with colder weather expected in parts of the US, Nymex February heating oil rose 8.8 cents to $2.7375 a gallon, a record.
Nymex February RBOB gasoline added 7.7 cents at $2.5675 a gallon, with gasoline inventories expected to increase 1.8m barrels in Thursday’s report.Agricultural commodities made a strong start to 2008, finding support from further evidence of strong demand from key consuming countries and recent moves by Russia and China to increase taxes on grain exports to bolster domestic supplies.
Russia will raise the tax on grain exports from 10 per cent to 40 per cent from January 29, a move that is expected to result in Russian exporters rushing to secure business this month. China will impose temporary taxes, between 5 per cent and 25 per cent, on grain exports for a year, starting later month as part of government efforts to curb soaring food prices.In Chicago, CBOT March wheat rose 30 cents, its daily trading limit, to $9.15 a bushel while CBOT March corn rose 12 cents to $4.67½ a bushel and CBOT January soyabeans gained 43 cents to $12.42 a bushel.A revised robusta coffeefutures contract is to be listed by Liffe from January 14. The new contract will encompass a broader range of qualities from all origins in a new 10-tonne lot size. The first futures delivery month for the revised contract will be November 2008.Liffe January robusta coffee rose $37 to $1,903 a tonne.
THE EU DICTATOR
REVELATION 6:1-2,13:1-3,7-9,16
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: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(THIS IS THE EU DICTATOR)
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.(7 HEADS ARE THE 7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY (THE EU) AS WELL AS THE VATICAN WHICH IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS. 10 HORNS ARE 10 KINGS THAT ARISE FROM THE EU, THEN #11 COMES ON THE SCENE BECOMES THE HEAD OF 3 OUNTRIES AND THEN THE EU DICTATOR, COMES FROM 1 OF THE 3 COUNTRIES THAT RULE FOR THIS TERM. I BELIEVE THE 3 COUNTRIES RULING AT THE TIME ARE SPAIN AND 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 6 THAT STARTED THE EU. FROM 1 OF THESE 3 COUNTRIES COME THE FUTURE EU DICTATOR PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION WHO GUARENTEES ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE 7 YEAR TREATY.
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.(THE JEWISH EU DICTATOR GETS HIS POWER FROM SATAN,HE COMES FROM THE OCCULT).
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE DICTATOR HAS A FALSE RESURRECTION. JUST LIKE JESUS HAD A LITERAL RESURRECTION THIS DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AT THE 3 1/2 YR MARK OF THR 7 YEAR TREATY AND COMES BACK TO LIFE. THIS IS HOW HE CAN CLAIM TO BE GOD AND GET AWAY WITH IT AND CONTROL THE WHOLE EARTH.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
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.
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) 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.
Small Slovenia takes on highly-charged EU agenda
01.01.2008 - 01:24 CET | By Honor Mahony
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - With just three years of European Union membership under its belt, Slovenia will take on the EU presidency today (1 January) landing itself a highly politicised agenda.Of all the issues that the small ex-Yugoslav state will have to deal with over the next six months, two are set to dominate the agenda -the Kosovo question and the EU renewable energy package.Slovenia has reluctantly inherited the thorny issue of the future status of Kosovo, the breakaway Serb province, one of the greatest foreign policy challenges the bloc has faced in recent years. EU member states are only slowly working themselves towards a unified approach on what to do when confronted with Kosovo's likely future bid for independence.
Matters are likely to come to a political head after the Serbian presidential elections on 20 January and 3 February. Kosovo indicated in December it would wait until February to make any independence declaration. This will also give the EU time to work out what it means by coordinated procedure - the process by which Pristina is to seek independence, in theory allowing each member state the option of choosing whether to recognise it or not. Ljubljana has also indicated that it is to put special focus on the Western Balkans more generally, hoping to devote the traditional summer gathering of EU leaders to the issue as well as pursuing other ways of tying the region more strongly to the 27-nation union, such as involving them in European research or infrastructure projects.
On the internal front, the EU is set to be thoroughly preoccupied with its 2020 targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with the commission due on 12 January to publish legislation on how each member state should contribute to the overall target.The issue is highly controversial with each government trying to make sure it assumes the least burden as possible. It will be Slovenia's job to steer the package through the council, the member states' chamber as well as co-ordinate with the European Parliament.On this dossier there is the added pressure of a tight timetable as the package should go through the Brussels legislative channel in just one go in order to ensure that it has a chance of being approved before the end of the current term of the European Commission in 2009. In addition, the EU should have the legislatio agreed if it is to maintain the moral high ground when it comes to talks in 2009 on a new international climate change agreement.
Turkey and EU treaty
Aside from the planned summits with Japan, Russia and the US, the Alpine Republic with its 2-million strong population, will also have to deal with Turkey's EU membership bid and the pending EU treaty.Slovene officials have already said that they hope to open two more areas of membership negotiation with Ankara's EU hopes sharply undermined by opposition both in Paris and Berlin as well as its own slow pace of reform.During the six-month presidency, it will also steer discussions on the new EU treaty. The recently-agreed set of institutional rules leaves several open questions concerning the division of power in the bloc. These need to be cleared up before the treaty comes into force, probably in 2009.
Finally, it will also oversee the final step of the expansion of the bloc's passport-free zone when it is extended to apply to airports in March. Sea and land borders were relaxed in December.
Although officials will be looking to see how Slovenia fares as the first of the 2004 member states to take on the EU presidency, small countries have a reputation for being committed to the task at hand and therefore doing presidencies well.
Slovenia, which expanded its personnel in its representation in Brussels to 166 people - up from around 50 two years ago – says it is basing its presidency on Ireland's model. Dublin held a highly successful presidency in 2004. 2008 EUobserver.
France returns to EU centre stage Financial Times
By Tony Barber in Brussels Sun., Dec. 30, 2007
In the Chinese zodiac calendar, 2008 is the Year of the Rat. In the European Union, 2008 is shaping up to be the year of the French.France's six-month EU presidency, its first since 2000, will not begin until July 1. But already the bloc's other 26 member states are anticipating France's occupation of the hot seat with uncommon excitement.The French presidency will be highly ambitious. Budget reform, agriculture, trade, energy security, climate change, immigration, defence - you name it, as long as there's something to be done, the French will do it, says a Brussels-based ambassador.Long before July, France's experienced, prefectural shadow will lie over Slovenia, an EU new boy that on January 1 will become the first former communist country to hold the bloc's rotating presidency.Having joined the EU only in 2004, Slovenia in its six-month term will be keen to prove its competence but happy to take French advice. They accept it. They're almost relieved. They are uncertain about their capabilities, one diplomat says.With French initiatives set to dominate the year, admiration for the fresh sense of purpose in Paris is mixed in some EU capitals with wariness about the likely tone and direction of policies under Nicolas Sarkozy, the restlessly energetic French president.
Mr Sarkozy's jabs at the European Central Bank's independence and his vision of a Mediterranean Union connecting EU and non-EU countries in southern Europe have gone down poorly in Germany and other northern states.The personal relationship between Mr Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, lacks natural warmth, according to EU officials and diplomats who have seen them at work together.She is a scientist; she likes details. She is calm. She is exactly the opposite of him. He is a voluntarist, highly strung and emotional. It will take a bit of time to find their own chemistry and way of functioning together, an EU official says.In some countries, Mr Sarkozy's emphasis on the EU's right to economic self-protection in the age of globalisation and his outspoken views on Muslim immigration into Europe induce a certain nervousness.The peoples of Europe are going through a profound identity crisis, Mr Sarkozy told the European parliament last month.
It is a crisis linked to the globalisation and commercialisation of the world. However, officials familiar with the thinking of José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, say he is impressed with Mr Sarkozy. Sarkozy has brought a new French enthusiasm for Europe. He's formulating initiatives. It's very important. There are certain points that one can and must discuss but overall the attitude is positive, says one senior official.In certain respects, 2008 will mark the year when France completes its return to the front centre of Europe's stage, after its wounded withdrawal to the wings when French voters rejected the now-abandoned EU constitutional treaty on May 29 2005.Mr Sarkozy's presidential election victory last May launched the process by which France has rebuilt its influence in EU affairs. Now some experts in Brussels, both supporters and occasional critics of French policies, say Mr Sarkozy has a great chance to seize the initiative in 2008.Of the leaders of the EU's four big countries, Mr Sarkozy will be politically the strongest, they say. Mrs Merkel will be increasingly hamstrung by feuds in her Christian Democrat-Social Democrat coalition and by the approach to Germany's next federal election, due in 2009.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, will be engaged in a long struggle to assert his authority and to prepare for the next British election, probably in 2009. Romano Prodi, Italy's premier, will as ever lead a weak and divided government.Moreover, with Mr Barroso adjusting his free-market instincts as he aims for re-election as Commission president in 2009, and with economic reformers on the defensive in Germany, Mr Sarkozy's message of an ambitious state-guided modernisation that protects the European social model appears to have caught the emerging spirit of the age.
The Anglo-Saxon model that was dominant a year ago is being pushed aside by the Rhineland model and Club Med, says one EU ambassador, referring to two versions of capitalism traditionally practised by France, Germany and southern European countries.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Backgrounder: Basic facts about eurozone
www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-31
BRUSSELS, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus and Malta will join the eurozone on Jan. 1, 2008, bringing the total number of countries sharing the same currency from 13 to 15. Following are basic facts about the eurozone. The Eurozone, or euro area, refers to the area comprising the European Union (EU) countries which share the same currency, the euro. It is a monetary union, within which all member states not onlyabandoned their former currency, but also have to transfer power to set national monetary policy to a transnational European Central Bank (ECB), located in Frankfurt, Germany. The euro is managed and administered by the ECB and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), which consists of the central banks of its member states.
It is the 1992 Maastricht Treaty on the EU that set the rules and defined the roadmap for an economic and monetary union, leading to the introduction of the euro as book money in 1999 and the circulation of euro coins and banknotes in 2002. But the idea of a single currency gained ground as early as in the 1970s. Among the 27 EU member states, there are currently 13 using the euro, namely Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Slovenia.
The adoption by Cyprus and Malta of the euro will mark the second enlargement of the eurozone. Slovenia adopted the single currency on Jan. 1, 2007 in the first enlargement, becoming the 13th member. After Cyprus and Malta join, the eurozone will include a population of 320 million out of the EU's total of 495 million people and account for nearly three quarters of the EU's gross domestic product (GDP), totaling 11.6 trillion euros (17.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2006. Editor: Song Shutao
Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro
01.01.2008 - 01:24 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European currency is today (1 January) replacing the national currencies of the two Mediterranean islands of Malta and Cyprus, bringing the number of EU states using the euro to 15 out of the 27 member states.The euro will replace the Cypriot pound and the Maltese lira, which currently equal €1.71 and €2.33 respectively.Cyprus and Malta joined the EU on 1 May 2004together with eight other states and follow Slovenia which in January 2007 became the first new EU state to join the euro club.
They will add around 1.2 million people to the euro zone - some 800,000 Cypriots and around 400,000 Maltese - bringing the number of those EU citizens using the euro as a national currency to 320 million out of the EU's total 495-million large population.The new euro coins in circulation as of 1 January also add six new national sides to the already existing ones.The Maltese €1 and €2 coins represent the eight-pointed Maltese cross, seen as a symbol of the Maltese identity; the 10-, 20- and 50-euro cent coins feature the Maltese coat of arms; while the Mnajdra temples, considered to be one of the world's oldest free-standing temple groupings, are seen on the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins.
The Cypriot €1 and €2 coins feature the idol of Pomos, seen as representing the country's contribution to civilisation since prehistory; the 10-, 20- and 50-euro cent coins represent the ancient Kyrenia ship symbolising the island's historical importance from a trading point of view; and the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins depict a species of wild sheep representing the island's wildlife.Cyprus and Malta got the green light to introduce the euro in May 2007, after fulfilling the necessary criteria, including a government deficit lower than three percent of GDP, a government debt not higher than 60 percent of GDP, as well as price and exchange rate stability.On both islands, thousands of euro converters have been distributed to households to facilitate the transition to the new currency.However, both Cypriots and Maltese citizens have indicated they fear the euro entry may be followed be a possible price rise – as it happened in Slovenia in 2007.
Britain also introducing the euro
Meanwhile, as a side-effect of Cyprus' adoption of the euro, the European currency will also be used in British military bases on the island.Britain kept its sovereign military bases under an agreement signed in 1960 which released Cyprus from colonial rule.
The bases include Dhekelia, Episkopi and RAF Akrotiri, and some 10,000 British service personnel and their dependents are currently stationed on the island, according to French news agency AFP.It's good news for Cyprus so we have to mirror the republic's harmonisation with the EU as far as possible, otherwise it would make life unbelievably impossible, British forces Cyprus spokesman Captain Nick Ulvert told the press agency.The euro could also bring the economies of the divided island closer together, as the northern Turkish part of Cyprus may adopt the currency unilaterally, according to Reuters.Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey internationally, is currently using the Turkish lira, but would have no objection to introducing the euro, the agency reports.Slovakia is expected to be the next member state to adopt the euro in 2009, while the two newest EU states, Bulgaria and Romania, hope to be able to follow suit by 2010-2011 and 2014 respectively.Of the remaining 12 countries currently not in the euro zone, only the UK and Denmark have chosen not to adopt the European currency for reasons of economic sovereignty – but they have the option to join in the future. 2008 EUobserver.
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Israel bars Jews from moving lips in prayer on Temple Mount
Even slightest 'sign' of Jewish worship prohibited at Judaism's holiest site January 2, 2008 11:53 a.m. Eastern By Aaron Klein
2008 WorldNetDaily.com
Temple Mount in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM – Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount in any way whatsoever, even if they only move their lips or demonstrate other signs of prayer on Judaism's holiest site, ruled Avi Dichter, Israel's public security minister. Dichter was responding to a recent decision by two Knesset members who said they would ascend the Temple Mount quietly – without informing the media or making any protest – and attempt to pray on the holy site. The lawmakers, Uri Ariel and Aryeh Eldad from Israel's National Union Party, said Muslim prayer services take place throughout the day in the many mosques and Islamic religious schools situated on the holy site, and Jews should be able to pray as individuals on the Mount. In a letter to the lawmakers, Dichter, Israel's highest ranking public security officer, wrote that while police cannot generally arrest a person conversing with his maker ... however it is possible to carry out an arrest for expressions of outward and demonstrative signs [of prayer on the Temple Mount]. Dichter's use of the phrase conversing with his maker" mimicked the terminology used by Ariel and Eldad to describe prayer.
Dichter wrote his interpretation of Israeli law is in line with the rationale that bans Jews from praying at the site, in light of serious concerns that this will serve as a provocation, resulting in disorder, with a near certain likelihood of subsequent bloodshed.Israeli restrictions bar Jewish groups from praying on the Temple Mount and only allow Jews to ascend for certain hours on some days, while the Mount is open to Muslims all year. According to strict interpretation of a 1973 Israeli law, a Jew as an individual can pray on the Temple Mount as long as the prayer is not uttered as a protest of Jewish rights to the holy site. But Israeli police forbid all Jewish prayer at the site, although there have been a few instances recently in which Jews prayed there without being arrested. While Dichter vehemently opposed even the slightest pretence of a Jew praying on the Mount, his security ministry and the Israeli police have not acted to halt the Hamas terror group's daily broadcast of Islamic prayer services from the Mount's Al Aqsa Mosque, considered the third holiest site in Islam. WND broke the story that Hamas last month starting broadcasting the Mount's daily Muslim prayers on the group's official radio station, Al Aqsa Radio. The services are broadcast alongside anti-Semitic commentary, including incitement against Jews.
The official Hamas radio network announced it would continue airing exclusive daily streams of Muslim morning services from the Temple Mount, and, indeed, the broadcasts have continued as scheduled, with this morning's prayer services streamed live by Hamas. Hamas radio is heard throughout Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Our broadcast is a victory for the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is suffering from Judaization efforts imposed by the Zionist government, said Rami Kaoud, a manager at Al Aqsa Radio. Broadcasting daily radio is a way to bring Al Aqsa to the Gaza Strip and challenge the siege imposed on us by the Zionist entity.All broadcasts from the Mount must be approved by the Waqf, which guard the Muslim entrances to the Temple Mount along with the Israeli police. Broadcasts must also be approved by the Israeli police, but cameramen and reporters routinely enter the site from Muslim gates to broadcast without prior police approval as long as Waqf agents allow the entry. Rabbi Chaim Richman, a spokesman for the New Jewish Congress, a group of religious Zionist leaders, told WND Dichter's comments today restricting Jewish prayer convey hatred and discrimination towards the Jewish people.
Dichter's statement is yet another indication that the government of [Israeli Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert has ceased to be a Jewish government altogether, having not the slightest connection with the Jewish people.Dichter is a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party. The Temple Mount is site of the First Jewish Temple, which was built by King Solomon in the 10th century B.C. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The Second Temple was rebuilt at the same location in 515 B.C. after Jerusalem was freed from Babylonian captivity. That temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in A.D. 70. Each temple stood for a period of about four centuries. The Jewish Temple was the center of religious Jewish worship. It housed the Holy of Holies, which contained the Ark of the Covenant and was said to be the area upon which God's presence dwelt. The Dome of the Rock, adjacent to the Al Aqsa Mosque, now sits on the site. The Temple served as the primary location for the offering of sacrifices and was the main gathering place in Israel during Jewish holidays. The Temple Mount compound has remained a focal point for Jewish services over the millennia. Prayers for a return to Jerusalem have been uttered by Jews since the Second Temple was destroyed, according to Jewish tradition. Jews worldwide pray facing toward the Western Wall, a portion of an outer courtyard of the Temple left intact.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Olmert hints Jerusalem division is inevitable
Tue Jan 1, 2008 10:36am EST By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signaled on Tuesday Israel might have no choice but to share Jerusalem with the Palestinians in a peace deal, citing international pressure for compromise over the holy city.The world that is friendly to Israel ... that really supports Israel, when it speaks of the future, it speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division of Jerusalem, Olmert said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move that failed to win international recognition. It regards all of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital.Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they aspire to establish in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.The future of Jerusalem is one of the core issues Israel and the Palestinians agreed to tackle in peace talks they renewed after a U.S.-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland in November.Olmert's comments appeared to be another move by the prime minister to prepare Israeli public opinion for the possibility of a deal that would loosen Israel's control of all of Jerusalem.
His deputy and close confidant, Haim Ramon, has said Israel should in future negotiate creation of a special regime that would govern some of the sacred sites in Jerusalem's walled Old City.In separate remarks on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak made clear there would be no sweeping changes in Israel's network of hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank while negotiations went ahead.Barak, addressing Israeli troops in the West Bank, said the barriers, condemned by Palestinians as collective punishment, helped to thwart attacks by militants.There is no chance of waging an effective fight against terror without a real and daily control of the field, and the checkpoints and roadblocks will remain, said Barak, a former prime minister who now leads the center-left Labour Party.
RESTRICTIONS
The United States, which hosted a Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November, has urged Israel to relax travel restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank.In order to ease matters when it comes to the daily lives of Palestinians, we are trying to permit the opening of roadblocks and checkpoints on the fringes, Barak said.As of now, dozens of earth roadblocks have been removed as well as two of the 16 major checkpoints, and we may make more concessions here and there, he said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, voicing frustration at the slow pace of change, said in a speech on Monday: "Each time (there is a meeting with the Israelis) they say they will remove (checkpoints) or have already removed some of them -- but I can honestly say they did not remove a single checkpoint.Israel and the Palestinians have said they hoped to reach a peace agreement before U.S. President George W. Bush, who visits Israel and the West Bank next week, leaves office next year.Olmert has already questioned publicly the wisdom of annexing outlying Arab neighborhoods of the city after the 1967 conflict. But he has insisted Israel would never agree to return to its pre-1967 borders.(Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Israel's Barak warns Palestinians on security
Wed 2 Jan 2008, 10:49 GMT By Brenda Gazzar
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday Israel would watch closely whether the Palestinian Authority fulfilled a promise to prosecute two suspects in the killing of two off-duty Israeli soldiers.These people need to rot in jail until their last days, Barak told Israel Radio.We will see if the Palestinian Authority is opening a revolving door for them and if so, the Israeli Defence Forces and security services will know how to put our hands on them, he said.The ambush that killed the two soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Friday has raised questions in Israel over the effectiveness of a pledged security crackdown against militants by forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Israel has made implementation of any peace deal it reaches with the Palestinians following the U.S.-hosted Annapolis summit in November conditional on reining in militants. U.S. President George W. Bush is to visit Israel and the West Bank next week.
The Palestinians argue Israel has failed to meet its own obligations to freeze settlement activity under a U.S.-backed peace road map agreed in 2003.The two armed soldiers, settlers who lived near the city of Hebron, killed two of their attackers before succumbing to their wounds.Palestinian security forces in Hebron arrested the two surviving gunmen the day after the attack, a Palestinian security official said.Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said that if found guilty, the men would pay for their crimes in the West Bank.The investigation is still going on. They will be tried and once there is a verdict they will stay in prison until they finish their sentence, said Malki, who also serves as foreign minister.Israel has argued in the past that the Palestinians have paid lip service to security, quickly freeing militants from jail in what it has termed a revolving door policy.Abbas's government has deployed hundreds of security men in chaotic West Bank towns as part of a Western-backed crackdown on gangsters and militants, and are at pains to prove they are exerting control in the territory following the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamists in June.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Writing by Rebecca Harrison; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
JERUSALEM: Anglican Bishop Blasts Global Anglican Future Conference.From the Diocese of Jerusalem Jan 02,08
http://www.j-diocese.org/newsdetail.php?id=34
The Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem, Bishop Suheil Dawani, has expressed his concern about the Global Anglican Future Conference planned for the Holy Land in June this year. Regrettably, I have not been consulted about this planned conference, said Bishop Suheil.The first I learned of it was through a press release. I am aware that the post-Christmas announcement that this conference is to be held here has excited considerable interest around the Anglican Communion, and has become the subject of online discussion. Yet we Anglicans who minister here have been left out in the cold.I also note that the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, who appears to be one of the organisers, is encouraging clergy and lay people from his diocese to attend the conference with him and his bishops. He speaks of the meeting taking place because the Anglican Communion is, he says, 'in disarray over fundamental issues of the gospel and biblical authority'.
I am deeply troubled that this meeting, of which we had no prior knowledge, will import inter-Anglican conflict into our diocese, which seeks to be a place of welcome for all Anglicans. It could also have serious consequences for our ongoing ministry of reconciliation in this divided land. Indeed, it could further inflame tensions here. We who minister here know only too well what happens when two sides cease talking to each other. We do not want to see any further dividing walls! I believe our Primate, Dr Mouneer Hanna Anis,is also concerned about this event. His advice to the organizers that this was not the right time or place for such a meeting was ignored.I urge the organizers to reconsider this conference urgently.---The Rt Revd Suheil Dawani is the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem.
Confirmed: Islamic leaders to visit Vatican for talks
Rome, Jan. 2, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue has confirmed plans for a meeting between Vatican officials and Islamic leaders. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that a meeting with representatives of the Common Word initiative, launched in October 2007 by a group of 138 Islamic leaders, will take place in Rome this spring. The meeting, he observed, will be in a certain sense historic. He did not give a specific date for the meeting. After the Common Word group issued its October call for talks with Christian leaders, Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) replied in November with an invitation for representatives of the group to come to Rome for in-depth discussions. Last week Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, the president of the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan, revealed that he had accepted the papal invitation. The Jordanian leader indicated that he hoped to meet with the Pontiff in February or March 2008-- a time period that seems to match Cardinal Tauran's projected schedule for the meeting. The sessions in Rome are expected to involve representatives of the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies. Vatican officials are determined to press their case for Islamic recognition of the right to religious freedom, especially for Christians living in predominantly Muslim countries.
LIBYA AT THE SECURITY COUNCIL HEAD LOOKOUT ISRAEL FOR FAVOUR, NO!
Libya becomes U.N. council president By Patrick Worsnip
Tue Jan 1, 2:47 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Libya took over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday in a major step back to global respectability after decades as a pariah of the West. The North African country was elected in October, as were Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia and Vietnam, to sit on the council in 2008-09 after the United States, which foiled two earlier bids by Tripoli, decided not to block it this time.By an alphabetical accident, Libya becomes president of the 15-nation body from its very first day as a member, succeeding Italy. Each country is president for a month, the rotation going in English alphabetical order of names.Libya and Burkina Faso had been unopposed after being endorsed by the African regional grouping for two African seats that fell vacant on December 31.
The Security Council is the powerhouse of the United Nations, with the ability to send peacekeeping troops around the world and impose sanctions on specific countries.Unlike the five permanent members -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China -- the nonpermanent members have no individual veto. But an alliance of seven of them can stop a resolution even if the big powers want it.Libya has only recently rehabilitated itself in Western eyes from an accused sponsor of terrorism that organized the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland, which killed 270 people.The case led to U.N. sanctions on Libya, which, under a gradual shift of course by leader Muammar Gaddafi, eventually turned over suspects and admitted civil responsibility. Also key was Gaddafi's 2003 decision to abandon weapons of mass destruction programs.In July, Libya ended a diplomatic standoff by freeing five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor held since 1999 on charges, which Western countries ridiculed, that they infected Libyan children with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
DARFUR KEY ISSUE
Libyan and other diplomats said they expected the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region, where the United Nations and African Union are trying to deploy a peace force, to be a key council issue in January. Other countries will be scrutinizing Libya's handling because of its interest as a neighbor of Sudan.Another major topic will be Serbia's Kosovo province. But diplomats said Iran could be less important because big powers must overcome divisions on possible new sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program before the issue reaches the council.Council presidents can vote as they please, but must follow strict procedures in management of business and be neutral in public statements. Nevertheless they can wield important influence on scheduling the agenda and other formalities.Libya has been on the Security Council once before -- in 1976-77 -- and diplomats said its envoys had been relearning the role, attending closed consultations in the past two months and bringing in extra staff to help with the presidency.Countries that left the Security Council on December 31 were Congo Republic, Ghana, Peru, Qatar and Slovakia. Remaining on it are Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa.(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Roundup: World leaders hail achievements in 2007, look forward to 2008 www.chinaview.cn 2008-01-02 13:48:52
Special report: Yearender 2007
BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- World leaders have delivered their New Year addresses, hailing the achievements in 2007 and looking forward to 2008. U.S. President George W. Bush called for continuing growth and vitality of the economy in his New Year message. A future of hope and opportunity begins with a robust economy, he said in his message released by the White House. The U.S. president said that the underpinning of the U.S. economy is strong, competitive, and resilient enough to overcome the challenges. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in his new year speech on Tuesday that the government will begin in 2008 to change the society into one in which people and consumers are protagonists.
In regard to a series of scandals of production date forgery in2007, Fukuda called on both the government and enterprises to think from the standpoints of the people and consumers. Regarding the blunder of losing some 50 million pension records, Fukuda vowed to conduct thorough reforms to the pension system. Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Tuesday hailed the Cuban people's victory in ruling their own destiny in his New Year address. The year of 2008 marks the beginning of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, which symbolizes half a century of heroic resistance, said Castro, the Latin American News Agency reported. Let's proudly proclaim to the world this record that makes us worthy of the fairest claim: the respect for its right to live and to the clean joy of our motherland, he said. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in his address, promised continued reforms in 2008 to achieve more progress. We are going ahead on the right path, he said, noting the country embraces the year of 2008 with a stronger economy whose indicators are on the rise and whose ability to attract investments and achieve higher rates of growth and work opportunities is continuous, Mubarak said.
Egypt is now in a better position and is making progress as we enjoy peace, security, stability, he said, bringing high hopes for the future of our country and its people.His Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharian hailed 2007 as one of the most successful years in the country's recent history in his televised New Year address.
He said he believes in Armenia's prosperous future and in the potential of its people. The King of Norway Harald V called on the whole world to take responsibility for climate change in his traditional New Year speech. We can no longer overlook all the signals and warnings about climate change and now is the time to take on a global responsibility and a common course, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK quoted the king as saying. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg echoed the king's call and expressed his optimism for meeting the challenges of climate change in his New Year's speech on Tuesday. It is mankind that brought about the climate problem and the problem can also be settled by mankind, the Norwegian news agency NTB quoted the prime minister as saying.
Stoltenberg was pleased with the agreement reached at the last minute at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007, saying we now have a basis for a global agreement in Copenhagen in 2009.African Union Commission Chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare called for the establishment of a united Africa in his New Year speech. We shall be required to enter into new alliances with the other peoples and governments of the world, and to strengthen those already in place, in the name of a united Africa, from Northto South, from East to West, an Africa neither black nor white, neither occidental nor oriental, neither sub-nor upper Saharan, Konare said. Our current battle against underdevelopment, pandemics, ignorance, marginalization and indecent life, pushes us to set up a strategy of action, enforcement and responsibility, he said. Polish President Lech Kaczynski hailed Poland's achievements in2007 in his New Year address on Tuesday. Poland witnessed sustainable economic growth and consolidated its standing on the international stage in 2007, said the president in his address broadcast by state TV. In 2007 Poland signed the Lisbon Treaty and joined the Schengenzone, two moves of European integration which are benefiting the Polish people, he said. The president also hoped more Polish people can benefit from the country's economic growth and all Poles around the world could be proud, enthusiastic and affectionate towards Poland. Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko on Tuesday recalled 2007as a hard year and looked forward to 2008 in his New Year address.
We have brought the Ukrainian ship out of the storm and now it is time for calm and coordinated work, he said. Predicting that everything will be fine, Yushchenko foresaw 2008 as a year of big opportunities. Editor: Yao Siyan
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
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.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Thompson warns threat of mushroom cloud real Most Americans know the forces of terrorism will not rest December 31, 2007 11:45 a.m. Eastern 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Fred Thompson
GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson is warning the biggest threat facing America isn't economic or social or even political: It's the danger from nuclear terrorism. That the years ahead will be dangerous needs no elaboration from me, Thompson, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, says in a new video prepared for Iowa voters who will caucus later this week. Most Americans know the forces of terrorism will not rest until a mushroom cloud hangs over one of our cities, he said. Thompson, who is trailing several other candidates in Iowa, said those other issues, such as economy, taxes, protecting our borders, and protecting the right to life, are important but are not the biggest concern this nation faces. Rasmussen Reports, considered one of the most accurate polling services, says Arizona Sen. John McCain held support from 17 percent of likely Republican primary voters, former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are at 16 percent, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is at 15 percent and Thompson is at 12 percent heading into the new year. Thompson's 17-minute video notes there is no frontrunner, and the Iowa caucus will be the first vote cast in this crucial election year.He said the nation faces dangerous years ahead.
The recent tragic assassination of former Prime Minister [Benazir] Bhutto in Pakistan again demonstrates that terrorist will to power and their relentless cruelty along with the threats to our national security, he said. The best way to avoid war is to be stronger than our enemies. If we're caught in a fight we need to win it, he said. You're not electing a set of position papers, you're electing a leader at a time when strong leadership is going to be needed, he continued. I know the world we live in. I know what we need to do. I would ask people if our worst enemy is sitting across from us at a negotiating table, who do you want sitting on our side of the table, representing you and working to keep you safe, Thompson said. He's not the only presidential candidate to cite this danger. Huckabee earlier told WND in one of a series of exclusive interviews the war on terror will not end in a draw. There's no peaceful co-existence, there's no accommodation, there's no naïve nonsense that if we leave them alone they leave us alone, he said. This is a war someone will win and someone will lose.
Whoever perseveres and whoever has the strongest will, will in fact win and that's why we can't give up, he said. Thompson was responding to a question about the likelihood of another 9/11-type attack on U.S. soil. There's almost an inevitability, not just a possibility, he said. It will happen again. And it'll happen because we face an enemy that is not a nation-state that can be contained within borders and boundaries, because their war is not about borders and boundaries. Islamofascism is rooted in a theocratic Islamic jihadism that seeks to destroy and annihilate every last one of us. It wants to establish a complete Islamic theocracy across the world and for that to happen it means our culture has to be completely snuffed out.Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who recently ended his bid for the GOP nomination for president, expressed similar concerns. He said the U.S. must find something that will be a deterrent to terrorists or face another 9/11 that could be nuclear. I believe that unless you can think of a deterrent the threat will become a reality, he said. He has suggested making clear now that Islamic holy sites could be targeted with counterstrikes should such an attack ever happen.
If somebody can show me an alternative to what I'm going to tell you, then I'm happy to listen. But right now, there is no deterrent to the commission of that crime, said Tancredo. What possibly can deter them, if it is not some threat to take some action that would threaten [what] their belief system tells them? he said. Thompson's campaign video also addressed several other issues, including his call for a return to the fundamental conservative principles that have unified the U.S. for two centuries. He said that means the role of the federal government is supposed to be limited to the powers given in the Constitution, the dollar belongs in the pocket of the person who earned it, don't spend money that isn't there, the federal judiciary is supposed to decide cases, not set social policy, and the bigger government gets the less competent it is to run citizens' lives.
I know who I am. I know what I believe, and I'm ready to lead, Thompson said. He also touched on the importance of faith, citing George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. [Washington] was filled with an awe and wonder not at the workings of mere mortals but the power of Providence, Thompson said. Thompson's remarks come after a new report revealing Osama bin Laden's quest for a nuclear weapons arsenal now is focusing on efforts to destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan. Writing in the Combating Terrorism Center's Sentinel, a new publication of the U.S. military academy, Bruce Riedel, a former senior U.S. official now with the Brookings Institution, says Pakistan represents the real front line in the war against al-Qaida.The most frightening part of advances by Islamists confronting the government of Perves Musharraf is the determination of al-Qaida to obtain nuclear weapons, the report says. Al-Qaida has been pursuing nuclear weapons for more than a decade, according to former CIA Director George Tenet. Today, [al-Qaida] has a secure operating base in the country, its leadership is issuing constant guidance to its global supporters, it is threatening NATO's position in Afghanistan through its Taliban allies, and it is now a growing force in Pakistan itself, writes Riedel. The current political crisis in Pakistan is endangering the secular democratic forces in the country, polarizing the debate about the country's future and strengthening al-Qaida's Islamist partners.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
2009 USA ELECTION PREDICTIONS
MY PREDICTIONS FOR THE ORDER OF FINISH IN THE USA ELECTIONS 2009.
SINCE THE US WILL BE GETTING WEAKER AND WEAKER IN THE FUTURE I THINK A DEMOCRAT HAS TO BE THE 2009 PRESIDENT.
I THINK THIS PRESIDENT WILL BE BARACK OBAMA. I THINK THE REPUBLICAN THAT WILL BE RUNNING AGAINST HIM WILL BE MIKE HUCKABEE OR RON PAUL. MIKES MY FIRST CHOICE.
SINCE AMERICA HAS TO BE WEAK RON PAUL COULD BE THE UPSETTER HERE AS HE WOULD ISOLATE AMERICA WHICH WOULD SHOOT THE EU IN TO FULL FLEDGED POWER IN THE PEACE PROCESS. ONLY TIME WILL TELL, WE WILL SEE IF MY PREDICTION COMES TO PASS.
AND WHY DO I PICK BARACK OBAMA BECAUSE THE MUSLIMS WILL BE GETTING THE UPPER HAND AND A BARACK WIN WOULD ENCOURAGE THEM THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE THEIR MAN IN POWER TO TRY TO DESTROY THE USA FROM WITHIN, A DECEPTIVE ATTACK. THEN IN THE FUTURE AFTER OBAMA LOSES THEN THE RUSSIANS ATTACK SOMETIME.
MY ORDER OF FINISH FOR THE DEMOCRATES
2009 PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Barack Obama is a first-term senator from Illinois. Previously, he served in the Illinois state Legislature and worked as a civil rights attorney. Obama has proposed legislation that would create a new employment eligibility system for companies to verify if their employees are legal residents. Obama, whose father is from Kenya, is considered by experts to be the first African-American candidate with a reasonable chance of winning the presidency.
Obama was born August 4, 1961, in Hawaii and has lived in many places, including Indonesia. Obama attended Columbia University in New York and earned a law degree at Harvard University in Massachusetts. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters.
#2 DEMOCRAT HILLARY CLINTON
Hillary Clinton is a senator representing New York. She also was U.S. first lady from 1993 to 2001 while her husband Bill Clinton served as president. Hillary Clinton, in 1993, headed a task force that developed proposed legislation to provide universal health care to all Americans. That legislation ultimately was not passed, but she continues to make universal health care one of her top political goals. Experts consider Clinton the first female presidential candidate with a realistic chance of winning the nomination and the election.
Clinton was born October 26, 1947, and grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois. She attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Yale Law School. The Clintons have a daughter.
#3 DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN
Joe Biden is a U.S. senator representing Delaware. He first was elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29, and currently is the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, which reviews foreign policy matters including treaties, national security initiatives and humanitarian assistance. An outspoken critic of the Iraq war, Biden has written a Five-Point Plan for Iraq that calls for unifying Iraq by federalizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis breathing room in their own regions.
Biden was born November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Delaware and Syracuse University Law School in New York. Biden and his wife, Jill, have three children and five grandchildren.
#4 DEMOCRAT JOHN EDWARDS
John Edwards is a former senator from North Carolina and was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2004. The first in his family to attend college, Edwards was a practicing attorney until he was elected to the Senate. Edwards has said he would build a new energy economy based on clean renewable energy and energy efficiency if elected.
Edwards was born June 10, 1953, in Seneca, South Carolina. He attended North Carolina State University and received a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, have had four children, one of whom died in a car accident in 1996.
#5 DEMOCRAT BILL RICHARDSON
Bill Richardson is the governor of New Mexico and a former congressman. He served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of energy during the Clinton administration. During his career, Richardson has negotiated with foreign leaders, including Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro. Richardson says he has the experience to bridge gaps and achieve political solutions and has criticized the Bush administration for not engaging with difficult regimes.
Richardson was born November 15, 1947, in Pasadena, California, and lived in Mexico City for many years. He attended Tufts University in Massachusetts. Richardson and his wife, Barbara, have no children.
#6 DEMOCRAT CHRIS DODD
Chris Dodd is a senator from Connecticut. Dodd, whose father also represented Connecticut in the Senate, worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and served in the Army National Guard. Dodd has opposed President Bush's troop surge strategy for Iraq, and has pledged that, if elected, he would not increase the troop level.
Dodd was born May 27, 1944, in Willimantic, Connecticut. He earned a law degree from the University of Louisville School of Law in Kentucky. Dodd and his wife, Jackie, have two daughters.
#7 DEMOCRAT MIKE GRAVEL
Mike Gravel represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1981. He also served in the U.S. Army and was once a New York City taxi driver. Gravel has proposed abolishing the income tax and replacing it with a progressive sales tax. He also advocates legislation capping U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Gravel was born May 13, 1930, to French Canadian immigrants in Springfield, Massachusetts. He attended Columbia University in New York City. Gravel and his wife, Whitney Stewart Gravel, have two children and four grandchildren.
#8 DEMOCRAT DENNIS KUCINICH
Dennis Kucinich is currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio. Formerly the mayor of Cleveland, he was the youngest person elected to run a major U.S. city when he took office at the age of 31 in 1977. Kucinich wants to form a Department of Peace, which would offer a new clear vision of people working out their differences without resort to primitive violence.
Kucinich was born October 8, 1946, in Cleveland. He attended Case Western Reserve University in the same city. He has a wife, Elizabeth, and a daughter from a previous marriage.
THIS WRAPS UP THE DEMOCRATS
2009 REPULICAN RESULTS (MINE)
RUNNERUP TO OBAMA AS 2009 PRESIDENT
#1 REPUBLICAN MIKE HUCKABEE
Mike Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and a former Baptist preacher. Huckabee, who has diabetes, received national attention for losing 110 pounds and encouraging others to improve their diet and exercise. Huckabee says withdrawing American troops from Iraq would have serious strategic consequences for us and horrific humanitarian consequences for the Iraqis.
Huckabee was born August 24, 1955, in Hope, Arkansas. He attended Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas. Huckabee and his wife have three children.
#2 REPUBLICAN RON PAUL
Ron Paul is a representative from Texas. He previously served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force and worked as a doctor, delivering more than 4,000 babies in his career. Paul says that he never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. Paul has advocated withdrawing from several trade pacts, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying that they limit American independence.
Paul was born August 20, 1935, in Pittsburgh. He attended Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina. He and his wife, Carol, have five children and 17 grandchildren.
#3 REPUBLICAN RUDY GIULIANI
Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City, where he served during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He previously was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and prosecuted several high-profile cases. As part of his campaign, Giuliani has made 12 commitments to the American people, including I will keep America on offense in the terrorists' war on us and I will impose accountability on Washington.
Giuliani was born May 28, 1944. He attended Manhattan College and New York University Law School. His wife is Judith, and he has two children from a previous marriage.
#4 REPUBLICAN JOHN MCCAIN
John McCain is a senator representing Arizona. He served in Vietnam, where he was a prisoner of war for more than five years. McCain was also a presidential candidate in 2000. He has called for a greater military commitment to Iraq, saying that more troops are necessary to rebuild the nation and prevent sectarian violence. McCain supports immigration reform legislation that would provide illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and establish a temporary guest worker program.
McCain was born August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father was serving in the U.S. Navy. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain has a wife, Cindy, seven children and four grandchildren.
#5 REPUBLICAN MITT ROMNEY
Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts. He also oversaw the committee that organized the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Romney supports President Bush's surge strategy for Iraq and has called on Americans to demonstrate a surge of support for its troops. If elected, Romney would be the first Mormon president.
Romney was born March 12, 1947, in Detroit, when his father was governor of Michigan. Romney attended Brigham Young University in Utah and Harvard University's business and law schools in Massachusetts. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons.
#6 REPUBLICAN FRED THOMPSON
Fred Thompson is a former Tennessee senator. He is perhaps best known for playing the role of District Attorney Arthur Branch on the television show Law & Order. Thompson says he has always cared deeply about the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and is a big proponent of federalism.
Thompson was born August 19, 1942 in Sheffield, Alabama and received a law degree from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He has a wife, Jeri, and four children.
#7 REPUBLICAN DUNCAN HUNTER
Duncan Hunter is a congressman from San Diego. He is also a Vietnam War veteran. Representing a border community, Hunter authored the Secure Fence Act, which would extend the border fence 1,375 kilometers across California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Hunter says his experience on this issue in San Diego has shown that building fences in strategic locations along our international borders is a proven method of keeping America safe.
Hunter was born May 31, 1948, in Riverside, California. He attended Western State University Law School in San Diego. Hunter and his wife, Lynne, have two sons.
HERES MY PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH FOR REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS.
SINCE THE US WILL BE GETTING WEAKER AND WEAKER IN THE FUTURE I THINK A DEMOCRAT HAS TO BE THE 2009 PRESIDENT.
I THINK THIS PRESIDENT WILL BE BARACK OBAMA. I THINK THE REPUBLICAN THAT WILL BE RUNNING AGAINST HIM WILL BE MIKE HUCKABEE OR RON PAUL. MIKES MY FIRST CHOICE.
SINCE AMERICA HAS TO BE WEAK RON PAUL COULD BE THE UPSETTER HERE AS HE WOULD ISOLATE AMERICA WHICH WOULD SHOOT THE EU IN TO FULL FLEDGED POWER IN THE PEACE PROCESS. ONLY TIME WILL TELL, WE WILL SEE IF MY PREDICTION COMES TO PASS.
AND WHY DO I PICK BARACK OBAMA BECAUSE THE MUSLIMS WILL BE GETTING THE UPPER HAND AND A BARACK WIN WOULD ENCOURAGE THEM THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE THEIR MAN IN POWER TO TRY TO DESTROY THE USA FROM WITHIN, A DECEPTIVE ATTACK. THEN IN THE FUTURE AFTER OBAMA LOSES THEN THE RUSSIANS ATTACK SOMETIME.
MY ORDER OF FINISH FOR THE DEMOCRATES
2009 PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Barack Obama is a first-term senator from Illinois. Previously, he served in the Illinois state Legislature and worked as a civil rights attorney. Obama has proposed legislation that would create a new employment eligibility system for companies to verify if their employees are legal residents. Obama, whose father is from Kenya, is considered by experts to be the first African-American candidate with a reasonable chance of winning the presidency.
Obama was born August 4, 1961, in Hawaii and has lived in many places, including Indonesia. Obama attended Columbia University in New York and earned a law degree at Harvard University in Massachusetts. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters.
#2 DEMOCRAT HILLARY CLINTON
Hillary Clinton is a senator representing New York. She also was U.S. first lady from 1993 to 2001 while her husband Bill Clinton served as president. Hillary Clinton, in 1993, headed a task force that developed proposed legislation to provide universal health care to all Americans. That legislation ultimately was not passed, but she continues to make universal health care one of her top political goals. Experts consider Clinton the first female presidential candidate with a realistic chance of winning the nomination and the election.
Clinton was born October 26, 1947, and grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois. She attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Yale Law School. The Clintons have a daughter.
#3 DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN
Joe Biden is a U.S. senator representing Delaware. He first was elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29, and currently is the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, which reviews foreign policy matters including treaties, national security initiatives and humanitarian assistance. An outspoken critic of the Iraq war, Biden has written a Five-Point Plan for Iraq that calls for unifying Iraq by federalizing it and giving Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis breathing room in their own regions.
Biden was born November 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Delaware and Syracuse University Law School in New York. Biden and his wife, Jill, have three children and five grandchildren.
#4 DEMOCRAT JOHN EDWARDS
John Edwards is a former senator from North Carolina and was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2004. The first in his family to attend college, Edwards was a practicing attorney until he was elected to the Senate. Edwards has said he would build a new energy economy based on clean renewable energy and energy efficiency if elected.
Edwards was born June 10, 1953, in Seneca, South Carolina. He attended North Carolina State University and received a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, have had four children, one of whom died in a car accident in 1996.
#5 DEMOCRAT BILL RICHARDSON
Bill Richardson is the governor of New Mexico and a former congressman. He served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of energy during the Clinton administration. During his career, Richardson has negotiated with foreign leaders, including Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro. Richardson says he has the experience to bridge gaps and achieve political solutions and has criticized the Bush administration for not engaging with difficult regimes.
Richardson was born November 15, 1947, in Pasadena, California, and lived in Mexico City for many years. He attended Tufts University in Massachusetts. Richardson and his wife, Barbara, have no children.
#6 DEMOCRAT CHRIS DODD
Chris Dodd is a senator from Connecticut. Dodd, whose father also represented Connecticut in the Senate, worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and served in the Army National Guard. Dodd has opposed President Bush's troop surge strategy for Iraq, and has pledged that, if elected, he would not increase the troop level.
Dodd was born May 27, 1944, in Willimantic, Connecticut. He earned a law degree from the University of Louisville School of Law in Kentucky. Dodd and his wife, Jackie, have two daughters.
#7 DEMOCRAT MIKE GRAVEL
Mike Gravel represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1981. He also served in the U.S. Army and was once a New York City taxi driver. Gravel has proposed abolishing the income tax and replacing it with a progressive sales tax. He also advocates legislation capping U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.
Gravel was born May 13, 1930, to French Canadian immigrants in Springfield, Massachusetts. He attended Columbia University in New York City. Gravel and his wife, Whitney Stewart Gravel, have two children and four grandchildren.
#8 DEMOCRAT DENNIS KUCINICH
Dennis Kucinich is currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio. Formerly the mayor of Cleveland, he was the youngest person elected to run a major U.S. city when he took office at the age of 31 in 1977. Kucinich wants to form a Department of Peace, which would offer a new clear vision of people working out their differences without resort to primitive violence.
Kucinich was born October 8, 1946, in Cleveland. He attended Case Western Reserve University in the same city. He has a wife, Elizabeth, and a daughter from a previous marriage.
THIS WRAPS UP THE DEMOCRATS
2009 REPULICAN RESULTS (MINE)
RUNNERUP TO OBAMA AS 2009 PRESIDENT
#1 REPUBLICAN MIKE HUCKABEE
Mike Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and a former Baptist preacher. Huckabee, who has diabetes, received national attention for losing 110 pounds and encouraging others to improve their diet and exercise. Huckabee says withdrawing American troops from Iraq would have serious strategic consequences for us and horrific humanitarian consequences for the Iraqis.
Huckabee was born August 24, 1955, in Hope, Arkansas. He attended Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas. Huckabee and his wife have three children.
#2 REPUBLICAN RON PAUL
Ron Paul is a representative from Texas. He previously served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force and worked as a doctor, delivering more than 4,000 babies in his career. Paul says that he never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. Paul has advocated withdrawing from several trade pacts, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying that they limit American independence.
Paul was born August 20, 1935, in Pittsburgh. He attended Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania and Duke University School of Medicine in North Carolina. He and his wife, Carol, have five children and 17 grandchildren.
#3 REPUBLICAN RUDY GIULIANI
Rudy Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City, where he served during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He previously was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and prosecuted several high-profile cases. As part of his campaign, Giuliani has made 12 commitments to the American people, including I will keep America on offense in the terrorists' war on us and I will impose accountability on Washington.
Giuliani was born May 28, 1944. He attended Manhattan College and New York University Law School. His wife is Judith, and he has two children from a previous marriage.
#4 REPUBLICAN JOHN MCCAIN
John McCain is a senator representing Arizona. He served in Vietnam, where he was a prisoner of war for more than five years. McCain was also a presidential candidate in 2000. He has called for a greater military commitment to Iraq, saying that more troops are necessary to rebuild the nation and prevent sectarian violence. McCain supports immigration reform legislation that would provide illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and establish a temporary guest worker program.
McCain was born August 29, 1936, in the Panama Canal Zone, where his father was serving in the U.S. Navy. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy. McCain has a wife, Cindy, seven children and four grandchildren.
#5 REPUBLICAN MITT ROMNEY
Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts. He also oversaw the committee that organized the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Romney supports President Bush's surge strategy for Iraq and has called on Americans to demonstrate a surge of support for its troops. If elected, Romney would be the first Mormon president.
Romney was born March 12, 1947, in Detroit, when his father was governor of Michigan. Romney attended Brigham Young University in Utah and Harvard University's business and law schools in Massachusetts. He and his wife, Ann, have five sons.
#6 REPUBLICAN FRED THOMPSON
Fred Thompson is a former Tennessee senator. He is perhaps best known for playing the role of District Attorney Arthur Branch on the television show Law & Order. Thompson says he has always cared deeply about the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and is a big proponent of federalism.
Thompson was born August 19, 1942 in Sheffield, Alabama and received a law degree from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. He has a wife, Jeri, and four children.
#7 REPUBLICAN DUNCAN HUNTER
Duncan Hunter is a congressman from San Diego. He is also a Vietnam War veteran. Representing a border community, Hunter authored the Secure Fence Act, which would extend the border fence 1,375 kilometers across California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Hunter says his experience on this issue in San Diego has shown that building fences in strategic locations along our international borders is a proven method of keeping America safe.
Hunter was born May 31, 1948, in Riverside, California. He attended Western State University Law School in San Diego. Hunter and his wife, Lynne, have two sons.
HERES MY PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH FOR REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS.
JERUSALEM DIVISION OLMERT SAYS
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
OLMERT ADMITS THE EU PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE AS HE MENTIONS SARKOZY,BROWN,MERKLE,BLAIR ALL EU MEMBERS. THERES NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THE EU PRIVATELY HAS CONTROL OF THE PEACE PROCESS ALREADY LIKE DANIEL 9:26-27 SAYS.
Jan 2, 2008 0:12
Olmert says Israel must internalize divided J'lem
By HERB KEINON AND DAVID HOROVITZ
Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared to The Jerusalem Post.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert talks to the Post.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
At the same time, he made clear that he did not envisage a permanent accord along the '67 lines, describing Ma'aleh Adumim as an indivisible part of Jerusalem and Israel. In an interview at the start of a year that he hopes will yield a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, the prime minister said many rival Israeli political parties remain detached from the reality that requires Israel to compromise on parts of Eretz Yisrael in order to maintain its Jewish, democratic nature. If Israel will have to deal with a reality of one state for two peoples, he said, this could bring about the end of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. That is a danger one cannot deny; it exists, and is even realistic. Indeed, his primary responsibility as prime minister, Olmert said, lay in ensuring a separation from the Palestinians.
What will be if we don't want to separate? he asked rhetorically. Will we live eternally in a confused reality where 50 percent of the population or more are residents but not equal citizens who have the right to vote like us? My job as prime minister, more than anything else, is to ensure that doesn't happen.The reality in which Israel was seeking an accommodation, he elaborated, includes a situation in which even the world that is friendly to Israel... that really supports Israel, when it speaks of the future, it speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division of Jerusalem.What was extraordinary about US President George W. Bush, in this context, Olmert said, was that Bush, since a landmark letter he wrote to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2004, has made plain that he envisages Israel maintaining at least some territory in Judea and Samaria. Bush has already said '67 plus, said Olmert, and that's an amazing achievement for Israel.Thus, Olmert asserted, while the road map obligated Israel to stop all building in the settlements, including for natural growth, the Bush letter renders flexible to a degree the significance of what is written in the road map.
In comments likely to further exacerbate Palestinian protest at ongoing settlement expansion, Olmert said he considered Ma'aleh Adumim to be an indivisible part of Jerusalem and the State of Israel. I don't think when people are talking about settlements they are talking about Ma'aleh Adumim.At the same time, the prime minister expressed considerable empathy for Palestinian concerns over settlement growth. If the only construction work undertaken since the road map was accepted had been at Ma'aleh Adumim and Har Homa, he said, then I imagine the Palestinians, though they might not have been happy about it, would not have responded in the way that they respond when every year, all the settlements - in all the territories - continue to grow. There is a certain contradiction in this between what we're actually seeing and what we ourselves promised. We always complain about the [breached] promises of the other side. Obligations are not only to be demanded of others, but they must also be honored by ourselves. While all the final-status issues were now on the table as part of the Annapolis process, Olmert stressed that he would never accept a Palestinian right of return to Israel.
He said he was convinced, too, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has made the choice in his heart between clinging to the myth of the right of return and the opportunity to establish a Palestinian state where all Palestinians, refugees included, would live. My impression is that he wants peace with Israel, and accepts Israel as Israel defines itself, Olmert said. If you ask him to say that he sees Israel as a Jewish state, he will not say that. But if you ask me whether in his soul he accepts Israel, as Israel defines itself, I think he does. That is not insignificant. It is perhaps not enough, but it is not insignificant.Asked whether next week's first Bush presidential visit was designed for Bush to become the godfather of the State of Palestine, Olmert said, I don't think he would define a visit like this in those terms... He's coming as an expression of his friendship. Also, he's coming to give expression to his support for the diplomatic process.
Bush was not pressuring Israel in any way, Olmert said. He's not doing a single thing that I don't agree to, he said. He doesn't support anything that I oppose. Rather, Olmert said, both he and the president hoped that the Annapolis timetable, for an accord in the course of 2008, could be met. Indeed, said the prime minister, there was currently an almost divinely ordained constellation of key personalities on the international stage favorably disposed to Israel, creating comfortable conditions for negotiations that might never be replicated. It's a coincidence that is almost the hand of God, Olmert said, that Bush is president of the United States, that Nicolas Sarkozy is the president of France, that Angela Merkel is the chancellor of Germany, that Gordon Brown is the prime minister of England and that the special envoy to the Middle East is Tony Blair.
The imperative, he said, was to make every effort for progress while this array of supportive characters remained in place. What possible combination, he asked, could be more comfortable for the State of Israel? Olmert said he believes with all my heart that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit is alive and that he was making every effort to determine the situation of captive reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. He said he favored re-examining the criteria for Palestinian prisoner releases because it may be that there is room for more precise definitions of what constitutes blood on hands.While Olmert said Egypt needed to do more to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza, he had high praise for President Hosni Mubarak. When I even think of how things would be if we were dealing with people other than Mubarak, well, I pray every day for his well-being and good health, he said. Expansive on many issues, Olmert was insistently understated on the existential threat posed by Iran. Even in the wake of the recent US National Intelligence Estimate, he said, The bottom line is that President Bush hasn't changed his opinion regarding the danger posed by Iran. And I haven't changed my impression regarding President Bush's commitment to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.
But, he added: Israel always acted and prepared for the possibility that it would need to defend its existence on its own. That's always been the case and that is the case today, wherever a threat to our existence can arise. Those who need to know do know that we have the tools to defend ourselves.The full interview with the prime minister will appear in Friday's Jerusalem Post.
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
OLMERT ADMITS THE EU PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE AS HE MENTIONS SARKOZY,BROWN,MERKLE,BLAIR ALL EU MEMBERS. THERES NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THE EU PRIVATELY HAS CONTROL OF THE PEACE PROCESS ALREADY LIKE DANIEL 9:26-27 SAYS.
Jan 2, 2008 0:12
Olmert says Israel must internalize divided J'lem
By HERB KEINON AND DAVID HOROVITZ
Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared to The Jerusalem Post.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert talks to the Post.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
At the same time, he made clear that he did not envisage a permanent accord along the '67 lines, describing Ma'aleh Adumim as an indivisible part of Jerusalem and Israel. In an interview at the start of a year that he hopes will yield a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, the prime minister said many rival Israeli political parties remain detached from the reality that requires Israel to compromise on parts of Eretz Yisrael in order to maintain its Jewish, democratic nature. If Israel will have to deal with a reality of one state for two peoples, he said, this could bring about the end of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. That is a danger one cannot deny; it exists, and is even realistic. Indeed, his primary responsibility as prime minister, Olmert said, lay in ensuring a separation from the Palestinians.
What will be if we don't want to separate? he asked rhetorically. Will we live eternally in a confused reality where 50 percent of the population or more are residents but not equal citizens who have the right to vote like us? My job as prime minister, more than anything else, is to ensure that doesn't happen.The reality in which Israel was seeking an accommodation, he elaborated, includes a situation in which even the world that is friendly to Israel... that really supports Israel, when it speaks of the future, it speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division of Jerusalem.What was extraordinary about US President George W. Bush, in this context, Olmert said, was that Bush, since a landmark letter he wrote to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2004, has made plain that he envisages Israel maintaining at least some territory in Judea and Samaria. Bush has already said '67 plus, said Olmert, and that's an amazing achievement for Israel.Thus, Olmert asserted, while the road map obligated Israel to stop all building in the settlements, including for natural growth, the Bush letter renders flexible to a degree the significance of what is written in the road map.
In comments likely to further exacerbate Palestinian protest at ongoing settlement expansion, Olmert said he considered Ma'aleh Adumim to be an indivisible part of Jerusalem and the State of Israel. I don't think when people are talking about settlements they are talking about Ma'aleh Adumim.At the same time, the prime minister expressed considerable empathy for Palestinian concerns over settlement growth. If the only construction work undertaken since the road map was accepted had been at Ma'aleh Adumim and Har Homa, he said, then I imagine the Palestinians, though they might not have been happy about it, would not have responded in the way that they respond when every year, all the settlements - in all the territories - continue to grow. There is a certain contradiction in this between what we're actually seeing and what we ourselves promised. We always complain about the [breached] promises of the other side. Obligations are not only to be demanded of others, but they must also be honored by ourselves. While all the final-status issues were now on the table as part of the Annapolis process, Olmert stressed that he would never accept a Palestinian right of return to Israel.
He said he was convinced, too, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has made the choice in his heart between clinging to the myth of the right of return and the opportunity to establish a Palestinian state where all Palestinians, refugees included, would live. My impression is that he wants peace with Israel, and accepts Israel as Israel defines itself, Olmert said. If you ask him to say that he sees Israel as a Jewish state, he will not say that. But if you ask me whether in his soul he accepts Israel, as Israel defines itself, I think he does. That is not insignificant. It is perhaps not enough, but it is not insignificant.Asked whether next week's first Bush presidential visit was designed for Bush to become the godfather of the State of Palestine, Olmert said, I don't think he would define a visit like this in those terms... He's coming as an expression of his friendship. Also, he's coming to give expression to his support for the diplomatic process.
Bush was not pressuring Israel in any way, Olmert said. He's not doing a single thing that I don't agree to, he said. He doesn't support anything that I oppose. Rather, Olmert said, both he and the president hoped that the Annapolis timetable, for an accord in the course of 2008, could be met. Indeed, said the prime minister, there was currently an almost divinely ordained constellation of key personalities on the international stage favorably disposed to Israel, creating comfortable conditions for negotiations that might never be replicated. It's a coincidence that is almost the hand of God, Olmert said, that Bush is president of the United States, that Nicolas Sarkozy is the president of France, that Angela Merkel is the chancellor of Germany, that Gordon Brown is the prime minister of England and that the special envoy to the Middle East is Tony Blair.
The imperative, he said, was to make every effort for progress while this array of supportive characters remained in place. What possible combination, he asked, could be more comfortable for the State of Israel? Olmert said he believes with all my heart that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit is alive and that he was making every effort to determine the situation of captive reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. He said he favored re-examining the criteria for Palestinian prisoner releases because it may be that there is room for more precise definitions of what constitutes blood on hands.While Olmert said Egypt needed to do more to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza, he had high praise for President Hosni Mubarak. When I even think of how things would be if we were dealing with people other than Mubarak, well, I pray every day for his well-being and good health, he said. Expansive on many issues, Olmert was insistently understated on the existential threat posed by Iran. Even in the wake of the recent US National Intelligence Estimate, he said, The bottom line is that President Bush hasn't changed his opinion regarding the danger posed by Iran. And I haven't changed my impression regarding President Bush's commitment to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.
But, he added: Israel always acted and prepared for the possibility that it would need to defend its existence on its own. That's always been the case and that is the case today, wherever a threat to our existence can arise. Those who need to know do know that we have the tools to defend ourselves.The full interview with the prime minister will appear in Friday's Jerusalem Post.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
2008 HAPPY NEW YEAR
I WOULD LIKE TO WISH EVERY ONE A BLESSED NEW YEAR OF 2008.
LETS PRAY THAT THE ISRAELIS WILL SEE THE TRUTH AND GET SAVED, THAT THE BLINDERS WILL BE LIFTED FROM THEIR EYES. THEY CLAIM WE CHRISTIANS ARE IDOLATERS FOR WORSHIPPING JESUS. IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS ON ISRAEL NATIONAL RADIO YISHAI HAD AN EX CHRISTIAN WHO DENIES JESUS OF ALL THINGS EXPLAINING HOW PAGAN OUR CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS ARE. MEANWHILE THIS SO CALLED RABBI EXPLAINING THESE PAGAN HOLLIDAYS IS AN EX CHRISTIAN.
EVEN TAMAR WROTE AN ARTICLE ON HER SITE ABOUT THE PAGANISM OF CHRISTMAS. WELL LIKE I WROTE IN HER COMMENT SECTION, I CELEBRATE THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF GOD IN THE FLESH SACRIFICING HIS LIFE BY COMING TO EARTH TO DIE FOR US THAT WE HAVE FORGIVNESS OF OUR SINS. THE BLOOD OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES CAN'T TAKE AWAY OUR SINS ONLY THE THE GOD OF ISRAEL EMANUAL (GOD WITH US JESUS" BLOOD SAVES) WHO WAS VIRGIN BORN (SINLESS) FROM THE BEGINING AND SACRIFICIALLY DIED FOR US TO DEFEAT SIN AND SATAN. THANKS TO THE GOD OF ISRAEL FOR SAVING US AND LETTING US SEE 2008 BY HIS GRACE.
WE PRAISE THE ONE GOD OF ISRAEL FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT.
WE PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM.
WE PRAY ELIJAH AND MOSES APPEAR IN ISRAEL.
WE PRAY FOR THE REBUILDING OF THE 3RD TEMPLE.
WE PRAY AMERICA AND THE WORLD REPENTS AND QUITS TRYING TO TAKE GOD OUT OF EVERYTHING.
SUGGESTED DONATIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR.
INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS.
JACK VAN IMPE MINISTRIES.
TEMPLE INSTITUTE (FOR REBUILDING THE 3rd TEMPLE)
ANY MINISTRY THAT STICKS UP FOR ISRAEL AND GOES BY THE BIBLE THAT GOD GAVE THE PROMISED LAND TO ISAAC (ISRAEL) NOT ISHMAIL (ARABS).
LETS PRAY THAT THE ISRAELIS WILL SEE THE TRUTH AND GET SAVED, THAT THE BLINDERS WILL BE LIFTED FROM THEIR EYES. THEY CLAIM WE CHRISTIANS ARE IDOLATERS FOR WORSHIPPING JESUS. IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS ON ISRAEL NATIONAL RADIO YISHAI HAD AN EX CHRISTIAN WHO DENIES JESUS OF ALL THINGS EXPLAINING HOW PAGAN OUR CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS ARE. MEANWHILE THIS SO CALLED RABBI EXPLAINING THESE PAGAN HOLLIDAYS IS AN EX CHRISTIAN.
EVEN TAMAR WROTE AN ARTICLE ON HER SITE ABOUT THE PAGANISM OF CHRISTMAS. WELL LIKE I WROTE IN HER COMMENT SECTION, I CELEBRATE THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF GOD IN THE FLESH SACRIFICING HIS LIFE BY COMING TO EARTH TO DIE FOR US THAT WE HAVE FORGIVNESS OF OUR SINS. THE BLOOD OF ANIMAL SACRIFICES CAN'T TAKE AWAY OUR SINS ONLY THE THE GOD OF ISRAEL EMANUAL (GOD WITH US JESUS" BLOOD SAVES) WHO WAS VIRGIN BORN (SINLESS) FROM THE BEGINING AND SACRIFICIALLY DIED FOR US TO DEFEAT SIN AND SATAN. THANKS TO THE GOD OF ISRAEL FOR SAVING US AND LETTING US SEE 2008 BY HIS GRACE.
WE PRAISE THE ONE GOD OF ISRAEL FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT.
WE PRAY FOR THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM.
WE PRAY ELIJAH AND MOSES APPEAR IN ISRAEL.
WE PRAY FOR THE REBUILDING OF THE 3RD TEMPLE.
WE PRAY AMERICA AND THE WORLD REPENTS AND QUITS TRYING TO TAKE GOD OUT OF EVERYTHING.
SUGGESTED DONATIONS FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR.
INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS.
JACK VAN IMPE MINISTRIES.
TEMPLE INSTITUTE (FOR REBUILDING THE 3rd TEMPLE)
ANY MINISTRY THAT STICKS UP FOR ISRAEL AND GOES BY THE BIBLE THAT GOD GAVE THE PROMISED LAND TO ISAAC (ISRAEL) NOT ISHMAIL (ARABS).
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