2 YEARS AGO THE WHOLE WORLDS ECONOMY,ASSETS AND WORTH WERE WORTH A TOTAL OF $60 TRILLION DOLLARS. TODAY ITS WORTH $30 TRILLION,IN 2 YEARS THE WORLD ECONOMIES HAS LOST $30 TRILLION IN RICHES. WE ARE SEEING COLLAPSING OF THE WORLD ECONOMIES AS THE BANKERS BLACKMAIL THEIR GOVERNMENT FOR CASH,THEN BREAK THAT COUNTRY AND BUY UP ALL THE LAND. THE BANKERS THEN AFTER THEY CONTROL EVERY COUNTRY ON EARTH WILL FORCE THE WORLD INTO 10 REGIONAL TRADE BLOCS I BELIEVE,LEAD BY 7 LEADING (MOST RICH EUROPEAN BANKS)(PLUS THE VATICAN)AND THE EUROPEAN UNION TOGETHER IN UNITY WILL THEN PLACE THE WORLD INTO A ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT,ONE WORLD ECONOMY AND ONE WORLD RELIGION.AFTER THE BANKERS,VATICAN AND THE EU CONTROL THE WORLD,THEN THE MANDITORY MICROCHIP IMPLANT SYSTEM IMPLIMENTED BY THE EU,VATICAN WILL COME INTO FORCE AND WHOEVER DOES NOT ACCEPT THIS MICROCHIP IMPLANT WILL BE MURDERED. EVERYTHING IS COMING CLEAR NOW HOW THE BIBLE SAYS THROUGH THE ECONOMY THE EU CONTROLS THE WHOLE EARTHS POPULATION.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
THESE 10 REGIONAL WORLD TRADE BLOCS I BELIEVE WILL ALL BE TOGETHER BY 2011 OR 12 AT THE LATEST.
Southeast Asian countries plan EU-style union by 2015
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today MAR 02,09 @ 09:27 CET
The leaders of ten Southeast Asian countries have signed a declaration to integrate their economies and construct an economic and political union modelled on that of the European Union by 2015.Meeting in Thailand over the weekend for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the heads of ten Asian countries agreed to the Cha-Am Hua Hin Declaration on the Roadmap for An ASEAN Community (2009-2015). The plan looks to build a single market - although without a euro-style common currency - within six years.Thailand - the disparity of ASEAN economies will make it hard to forge a common market (Photo: Wikipedia)This ASEAN goal is made even more urgent by the global financial crisis, read the 12-page declaration.ASEAN needs to respond effectively to this financial crisis in order to retain its central position in the regional architecture. In this connection, we mandated all ASEAN organs to be guided by and to fully implement the ASEAN Charter.ASEAN, founded in 1967 to replace the Association of Southeast Asia, brings together Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The region is slightly bigger than the European Union in terms of population, the former being home to around 570 million people and the latter some 500 million, but their economies bear no comparison. ASEAN has a combined annual GDP of €870 billion, while the EU's GDP clocks in at over €12 trillion.Thailand's prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said the creation of an attractive single market for the region was urgent.The move further develops the bloc's integration, moving a step beyond the charter the nations signed in 2007 that requires consensus amongst all member states for any ASEAN-level actions.The group is also to construct a human rights unit, but the body would be largely toothless, being unable to criticise any abuses occurring in any single country.However, the wide disparities between the different economies in ASEAN makes it difficult to create common standards because our national standards remain so far apart, said finance minister Korn Chatikavanij in an interview, according to Bloomberg news.We've got to be realistic in the kind of goals that we set for 2015, Mr Korn continued.We're not talking about the level of integration that has taken place in the EU.
Celente: U.S. Has Entered The Greatest Depression Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com Tuesday, March 3, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46MEqEgdLTg&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/celente-predicts-revolution-food-riots-tax-rebellions-by-2012/&feature=player_embedded
Trends research analyst Gerald Celente, who has risen in prominence on the back of his deadly accurate economic predictions, says that the collapse of financial markets heralds the start of The Greatest Depression.In his latest Trend Alert bulletin, Celente attacks mainstream pundits who falsely predicted a market bottom and the start of a recovery, noting that conventional analysts have been proven dead wrong again and that, There will be no turn around in the second quarter of 2009 or 2010 or 2011.The global financial system, built on endless supplies of cheap money, rampant speculation, fraud, greed, and delusion is terminally ill and will not be coaxed into remission by stimulus packages nor restored to health by government buyouts and bailouts,writes Celente.The most positive prediction that Celente makes is that the Dow will not reach zero, a tongue in cheek reaction to yesterday’s record plunge which saw the Dow rolled back to 1997 levels well below 7,000.Celente warns that the first signs of real panic are starting to set in, unrest that will cause governments to take draconian measures to prevent total economic collapse and public panic.Expect massive bank failures, runs on banks, and bank holidays, writes Celente. Even if deposits are FDIC insured, quick access to money is by no means assured. At minimum, have reserves on hand for emergencies, he forecasts.
Celente cites gold as one of the few investments that will continue to rise in value, eventually reaching $2,000 an ounce and beyond.Celente’s dire forecasts were initially scoffed at by the media but as the crisis has worsened, his credibility has soared.Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November 2007 that the following year would be known as The Panic of 2008,adding that giants (would) tumble to their deaths, which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others.
Bush administration memos claimed vast war powers
By Neil A. Lewis Published: March 3, 2009
The secret legal opinions issued by Bush administration lawyers after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks included assertions that the president could use the nation's military within the United States to combat people deemed as terrorists and to conduct raids without obtaining a search warrant.That opinion was among nine that were disclosed publicly for the first time Monday by the Justice Department, in what the Obama administration portrayed as a step toward greater transparency. The opinions showed a broad interpretation of presidential authority, asserting as well that the president could unilaterally abrogate foreign treaties, deal with detainees suspected of terrorism while rejecting input from Congress and conduct a warrantless eavesdropping program.Some of the legal positions had previously become known from statements made by Bush administration officials in response to court challenges and congressional inquiries. But the opinions provided the clearest illustration to date of the broad definition of presidential power that was approved by government lawyers, including John Yoo and Jay Bybee, in the months following the Sept. 11 attacks.In a memorandum dated Jan. 15, 2009, just before President George W. Bush left office, a top Justice Department official wrote that the earlier memorandums had not been relied on since 2003. But the official, Stephen Bradbury, who headed the Office of Legal Counsel, said it was important to acknowledge in writing the doubtful nature of these propositions, and he used the memo to formally repudiate the opinions.Bradbury said that the earlier memorandums were the product of lawyers confronting novel and complex questions in a time of great danger and under extraordinary time pressure.
White House takes a team approach on health policy
The opinion authorizing the military to operate on domestic territory was dated Oct. 23, 2001, and written by Yoo, at the time a deputy assistant attorney general, and Robert Delahunty, a special counsel. It was directed to Alberto Gonzales, then the White House counsel, who had asked whether Bush could use the military to combat terrorist activities inside the United States.The law has recognized that force (including deadly force) may be legitimately used in self-defense, Yoo and Delahunty wrote to Gonzales. Any objections based on the prohibition against unreasonable searches in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution would vanish, he said, because any privacy offense that comes with such a search would be less than any injury from deadly force.Yoo and Delahunty also said in the Oct. 23 memorandum that First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully. They added that the current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically.Yoo said the Posse Comitatus Act, a statute first enacted in 1878 and since renewed, would also not present an obstacle to the use of the armed forces. The Posse Comitatus Act generally forbids the use of military forces in domestic law enforcement.Yoo and Delahunty asserted that the act's prohibition against use of the military was only for law enforcement functions and that using soldiers against terrorist suspects would be a national security function.Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, is widely known as the principal author of a 2002 memorandum that critics said authorized torture. The memorandum, signed by Bybee, was repudiated in 2004.The memorandum issued by Bradbury in January appears to have been the Bush lawyers' last effort to reconcile their views with the wide-scale rejection by legal scholars and some Supreme Court opinions of the sweeping assertions of presidential authority made earlier by the Justice Department.
Walter Dellinger, a former head of the Office of Legal Counsel during the Clinton administration who was also a law professor at Duke University, said that Bradbury's memo disclaiming the opinions of earlier Bush lawyers sets out in blunt detail how irresponsible those earlier opinions were.He said it was important that it was now widely recognized that the earlier assertions that Congress had absolutely no role in these national security issues was contrary to constitutional text, historical practice and judicial precedent.Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said Monday morning before the release of the documents: Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties. Not only is that thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it does more harm than good.
Holder said that the memorandums were being released in light of the legitimate and substantial public interest.One of the opinions, issued in March 2002, suggests that Congress lacks any power to limit a president's authority to transfer detainees to other countries. Other memorandums say that Congress has no authority to intervene in the president's determination of the treatment of detainees, a proposition that has since been invalidated by the Supreme Court.Bradbury's memo repudiating these views said that it was not sustainable to argue that the president's power as commander in chief precludes Congress from enacting any legislation concerning the detention, interrogation, prosecution and transfer of enemy combatants.
Upcoming Swedish EU presidency launches logo
VALENTINA POP Today MAR 02,09 @ 17:40 CET
EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – Sweden's Europe minister, Cecilia Malmstrom, on Monday (2 March) presented the logo of the upcoming Swedish EU presidency as climate change and the financial crisis are set to dominate Stockholm's agenda in the second half of 2009.With the Copenhagen UN conference on climate change taking place in December, the Swedish presidency is due to begin preparations for a new global agreement on emissions reduction one of its key priorities, Lisa Dahlen Jonsson, press officer with the Swedish permanent representation to the EU, told this website.
The 27 member states take it in turns to chair the six-month presidency of the bloc, which in practical terms means organising all the ministerial and top-level meetings as well as the day-to-day agenda of the EU.Other priorities are still being worked upon, with an official launch expected later this spring, before Stockholm takes over the helm of the EU. On 1 July, the current Czech EU presidency will end its mandate.Climate, light, down-to-earth, as well as transparency and dialogue were some of the key words used in working on the logo.Unlike previous EU presidencies that used the national top-level domain name of their countries, the Swedish EU presidency will use the .eu domain. However, the .se adress will also guide the user to the presidency website, Ms Jonsson added.The Swedish diplomacy was bracing itself for the institutional uncertainty due to the Lisbon Treaty, according to the government's website. Stockholm will also have to work with a newly elected European Parliament and supervise the nomination of a new EU commission, which is to take on its mandate on 1 November. Before that date [31 October], the governments of member states must agree on the individuals who are to be nominated for the post of president and members of the commission, the website reads.The Swedish government is to allocate €77 million for its turn at the EU presidency. So far, the French EU presidency has been by far the most lavish one, spending some €190 million. The current Czech EU presidency has a budget of €124.5 million.
Financial regulation agreement
Another issue of importance for the Swedish EU presidency will be the overhaul of the international financial system. Speaking to Reuters last Thursday, financial minister Mats Odell said that a deal in this regard could be possible in the second half of this year.Sweden believed it had gained useful experience from its own banking crisis in the early 1990s and saw the current market turmoil as a golden opportunity for achieving EU-wide rules, Odell said.The report on supervision presented last week by a group headed by former Bank of France Governor Jacques de Larosiere, sets out a two-phase process towards reforming institutional supervision and would entail some loss of regulatory control by the 27 EU capitals. I think there are favourable political conditions for this, because citizens expect politicians on a European level to get together and prevent future crises like the one we are seeing now, Mr Odell told Reuters after meeting EU commissioner for internal market Charlie McCreevy to discuss the report.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Northeast pounded by snowy late-winter storm By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
NEW YORK – A massive late winter snowstorm pummeled the Northeast on Monday, grounding hundreds of flights, causing spinouts on highways, delaying trains and buses and closing school for over a million children from South Carolina to Maine.
The same storm hammered the Southeast on Sunday as it made its way north, blanketing Civil War statues and canceling hundreds of church services around the region.By Monday, the storm was dumping snow on Maine, and most areas in the storm's wake expected to see at least 8 to 12 inches of accumulation.The blizzard-like snow — together with sleet, freezing rain and wind gusts of up to 30 mph — contributed to four deaths on roads in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and on New York's Long Island.
An accident caused a 15-mile-long traffic jam in North Carolina, where as much as a foot of snow fell, and prompted police and rescuers to go car-to-car Monday to check on the stranded motorists.The storm was blamed for 350 crashes in New Jersey between Sunday night and Monday morning, state police Sgt. Stephen Jones said. Most were spinouts and cars hitting guardrails, he said.On New York's Long Island, high winds caused 2-foot snow drifts on highways in the town of Southampton.In New York City, about 7 inches of snow was recorded at Central Park by Monday morning.New Yorkers expressed characteristic resilience, struggling to get to work and appointments, and patching together child care arrangements.Diane Lugo, 29, of Yonkers, had to leave her two children with her mother-in-law rather than drive them to day care. She got a ride with her husband to avoid trudging 10 minutes in the slush to her bus stop.
Getting out of the driveway was pure hell, Lugo said in Manhattan, where she works as a college admissions coordinator.Outside the Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, N.Y., Emilia Rescigna struggled to push a stroller through the snow and slush. In the stroller, asleep under a plastic tent, was her 1-year-old son Adam, who had a 9 a.m. appointment with his pediatrician.I called the doctor's office last night and this morning, to see if the appointment was still on, but no one was in, said Rescigna, a Bronx resident. After all this they better not tell me I have to come back.At the three major airports serving New York City, more than 900 flights were canceled — a majority of all flights at Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia, according to the Port Authority. Most flights in and out of Boston's Logan International Airport were scrubbed, and the airport shut down for about 40 minutes to clear a runway. Philadelphia International Airport spokeswoman Phyllis VanIstendahl said about 44 people were stranded there overnight.Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport remained open Monday, although a number of flights were canceled or delayed. Spokesman Jonathan Dean didn't have numbers on cancellations.In downtown Boston, pedestrians negotiated slushy sidewalks and streets ankle-deep in snow as cars struggled past.Anderson Francois, 27, of Boston, was waiting for a bus and said he prepared for the snow by doubling up on socks and wearing pajama pants under his jeans.You've still got to go where you got to go, said Francois. I'm always ready for stuff like this.But Dave Richardson, 30, of Salem, didn't think the storm was such a big deal.
This is New England, after all.
More than 10 inches of snow was on the ground in southern New Jersey by 7 a.m. Monday, while South Carolina was dealing with 8 inches. Delaware had up to 9 inches by late Monday morning. Greyhound and Peter Pan bus lines canceled trips affecting travelers in and out of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Schools from North Carolina to Maine gave children a snow day. Public schools in Philadelphia and Boston did the same. In New York City, 1.1 million public school students got a snow day; the last time that happened was Jan. 28, 2004.In Fairfax, Va., Sarah Conforti, 8, said Monday's day off was just what she'd been hoping for, and planned to make a snowman or play in the snow with my friends,she said. Her mother, Noelle Conforti, said Sarah and her 10-year-old sister couldn't be happier about the school-free day. The kids are against the window, just looking out the window like a cat, she said. It's hilarious.Commuter trains in Boston and New York had some delays during the morning rush. Transportation officials in the Philadelphia area said the rush hour wasn't bad considering the slippery conditions. Amy Ledger, 30, was among many who braved the snow to attend the annual Philadelphia Flower Show, an indoor exhibition that provided a fragrant, spring-like respite from the blustery snow and wind. Ledger and two friends took the train in from Lancaster, where they said there was only about an inch of snow on the ground early Monday morning. It got progressively snowier on the hour-long ride east. At one point, we couldn't even see out the train window, said Ledger, of Bethlehem. It was really coming down.
Once at the show, winter seemed to melt away as the trio wandered past yellow daffodils, crimson azaleas and white tulips. I'm ready for spring, said Mindy Schlott, 29, of Ephrata, Pa. In New Hampshire, where snow was falling at up to an inch per hour, Transportation Department spokesman Bill Boynton said plow crews were having trouble keeping up.In Maryland, strong winds were complicating cleanup efforts as gusts were blowing just-plowed snow right back onto roads, said Lora Rakowski, a spokeswoman with the State Highway Administration. In Virginia, about 120,000 customers were without electricity, including tens of thousands in the Richmond metropolitan area. In North Carolina, more than 100,000 customers were without power early Monday. In South Carolina, there were nearly 80,000 outages.
Thousands more were without power in southern Maryland, the Washington, D.C.-area, and central Jersey. I thought it was over, New Yorker Clarissa Arroyo said of the winter weather. But it's not.Associated Press writers Frank Eltman on Long Island, N.Y.; Jim Fitzgerald in Westchester County; Ula Ilnytzky, Tom McElroy and Amy Westfeldt in New York City; Daniel Yee and Christina Almeida in Atlanta; Rodrique Ngowi in Boston; Ben Nuckols in Baltimore; Bruce Shipkowski and Samantha Henry in Trenton, N.J.; Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia; Kamala Lane in Washingtonand correspondant Matt Small in Washington contributed to this report.
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE MAR 03,2009
09:30 AM +26.13
10:00 AM +43.17
10:30 AM +44.69
11:00 AM +20.39
11:30 AM -11.78
12:00 PM -32.17
12:30 PM +28.80
01:00 PM -19.83
01:30 PM -20.15
02:00 PM -1.11
02:30 PM +43.97
03:00 PM +85.39
03:30 PM -13.22
04:00 PM -37.27 6726.02
S&P 500 696.33 -4.49
NASDAQ 1321.01 -1.84
GOLD 916.00 -24.00
OIL 41.45 +1.28
TSE 300 7631.62 -55.89
CDNX 824.07 -4.17
S&P/TSX/60 459.93 -1.68
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -22.94%
S&P -22.41%
Nasdaq -16.12%
TSX Advances 290,declines 1,284,unchanged 242,Volume 2,573,048,216.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 271,Declines 511,Unchanged 434,Volume 179,052,551.
Dow +74 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -47 points at low today.
Dow +84 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $926.30.OIL opens at $41.67 today.
BERNANKE FUMBLES HIS WAY THROUGH QUESTIONS THIS MORNING.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -47 points at low today so far.
Dow +84 points at high today so far.
GEITHER TRYS TO TALK ABOUT THE SO CALLED BUDGET PLAN(3 TRILLION BANK MONEY GRAB)
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 1,052,declines 2,662,unchanged 109,New Highs 13,New Lows 813.
Volume 3,455,797,216.
NASDAQ Advances 968,declines 1,619,unchanged 156,New highs 4,New Lows 429.
Volume 869,879,529.
TSX Advances 393,declines 883,unchanged 254,Volume 1,068,744,329.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 206,Declines 308,Unchanged 248,Volume 69,553,199.
INSIDE THE T.A.L.F
-Begins with $200 BILLION of Financing from FED.
-$20 BILLION from TREASURY (TARP).
-Securitized credit card,Auto,student and small biz loans.
-to be expanded to $1 TRILLION,include CMBS and private - label MBS.
-First funds disbursed march 25th,for deals originated in MARCH.
-Interest rates range from 50-100 BP over LIBOR.
-Runs through DEC.2009,can be extended.
FEDERAL BUDGET (DETAILS)
-$1.75 TRILLION deficit in fiscal year 2009.
-$3.6 TRILLION in spending in fiscal year 2010.
-$635 BILLION for Health Care.
-$250 BILLION for Bank Aid.
-$130 BILLION for IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN wars.
INSIDE THE CONSUMER (Current levels of Debt/GDP):
-Over 90%
-10 Years ago it was 60%.
-Implies a needed reduction of $4.5 TRILLION in Consumer Debt.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -59 points at low today.
Dow +89 points at high today.
Dow -0.55% today Volume 445,283,252.
Nasdaq -0.14% today Volume 2,147,483,648.
S&P 500 -0.64% today Volume N/A
RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65
RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04
EU COMMISSION ON MAR 1,09 PRESS CONFERENCE,MINI SUMMITT
http://video.consilium.europa.eu/index.php?pl=3&sessionno=2152&lang=EN
Canada fourth-quarter GDP slides most since 1991 By Louise Egan – Mon Mar 2, 11:35 am ET
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's economy shrank more in the fourth quarter of 2008 than at any time since 1991, confirming the country is now in recession, and reinforcing expectations of a central bank interest rate cut on Tuesday.Statistics Canada said on Monday the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 3.4 percent in the quarter as the global financial crisis bit into exports and curtailed consumer and business spending.It was the worst performance since the 5.9 percent contraction in the first quarter of 1991, which marked the end of the country's last recession.Still, the result was slightly better than market expectations for a 3.6 percent downturn, giving the Canadian dollar a boost.The report officially marks a recession, said Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.It's almost as bad as expected. Most areas of spending were down, outside of government, he said.But the result was worse than the 2.3 percent decline projected by the Bank of Canada and market players expect the bank will see fit to chop another half point off its key interest rate on Tuesday to a record low of 0.5 percent.In our opinion, a 50-basis-point cut is still by far the most likely outcome tomorrow, said Eric Lascelles, chief economics and rates strategist at TD Securities.The central bank has reduced its overnight rate by 350 basis points since December 2007, and although most market dealers expect a cut this week, most also see the bank nearing the end of its rate-cutting campaign.The Canadian dollar firmed immediately against the U.S. dollar after the data from a three-month low. Markets had been bracing for the worst after Finance Minister Jim Flaherty hinted at a substantive decline in GDP in remarks to the media before the data was released.At 11 a.m. the currency was at C$1.2872 to the U.S. dollar, or 77.69 U.S. cents, up from a pre data level of C$1.2889 to the U.S. dollar, or 77.59 U.S. cents.
RETURN TO DEFICIT
Compared with the third quarter, gross domestic product declined 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter.Growth for the year fell to 0.5 percent from 2.7 percent in 2007. Statscan revised its third-quarter annualized growth estimate to 0.9 percent from 1.3percent.Nominal GDP, a key indicator for determining tax revenues, fell 3.5 percent, or 13.4 percent annualized, in the fourth quarter. That was the largest decline since at least 1961, Statscan officials said. The slide was partly due to the decline in oil and metals prices in the period.The nominal GDP signals the return to government budget deficits in 2009 after 11 straight years of surplus, a development already well flagged by Flaherty.The quarterly report revealed wide-ranging weakness in the economy, including a collapse of personal spending after 13 years of expansion.The volume of both exports and imports fell in the quarter at the fastest rate in 26 years. Business investment in machinery and equipment plummeted, as did investment in housing.And economists see an even worse scenario for the first quarter of this year. The Bank of Canada projects first-quarter 2009 GDP to contract much more sharply, by 4.8 percent, followed by another slide in the second quarter before returning to growth in the second half of the year. Guatieri of BMO Capital Markets expects a bleaker outcome. We look for an even bigger decline in the current quarter. For the first quarter we're looking at a decline of 5.7 percent annualized -- a pretty hefty drop,he said.(Additional reporting by Toronto Treasury team; Editing by Peter Galloway)
AIG posts $61.7B 4Q loss, bailout is restructured By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS, AP Business Writer – Mon Mar 2, 11:18 am ET
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – American International Group Inc., once the world's largest insurer, said Monday it lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter, the biggest quarterly loss in U.S. corporate history, amid continued financial market turmoil.
The results come as the U.S. government announced a restructuring of a bailout plan for the troubled insurer, extending $30 billion in additional aid to the company.
New York-based AIG said it lost $22.95 per share in the last three months of 2008. It lost $5.3 billion, or $2.08 per share, in the same quarter a year ago.Revenue fell to negative $23.8 billion, as the company had to reverse gains it recorded from investments in past quarters.The latest results include $7.2 billion in unrealized losses and credit valuation adjustments at AIG Financial Products, the source of credit-default swaps, and pretax losses of $21.6 billion tied to the declining value of AIG's investment portfolio.AIG's general insurance business swung to a loss on $2.8 billion in net realized capital losses. General insurance net premiums dropped 16.3 percent to $9.2 billion, and net premiums earned fell 5.9 percent to nearly $11 billion.Adjusted to exclude certain items, operating losses totaled $37.9 billion, or $14.17 per share, versus a loss of $3.2 billion, or $1.25 per share, last year.
The results fell drastically short of estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, on average, forecast a loss of 37 cents per share on revenue of $24.82 billion. Analysts have been dropping coverage of AIG in recent weeks due to the uncertainty of AIG's future.Its shares rose 6 cents to 48 cents in morning trading but are down from $51.47 on Feb. 28, 2008 and have lost nearly all of their value since the market meltdown began in September.We have made meaningful progress in addressing liquidity issues related to AIG Financial Products and our securities lending activities and have announced several divestitures, AIG chairman and chief executive Edward Liddy said in a statement. However, the economy and capital markets remain in turmoil and we are taking additional steps to preserve the value of our businesses and maximize the ultimate proceeds for the benefit of all stakeholders, including taxpayers.The government's new financial assistance to AIG includes providing the troubled company another $30 billion on an as needed basis.In an interview on NBC's Today show Monday morning, Liddy, said: We're going to be able to pay back the Federal Reserve. The new $30 billion is a stand-by line. It's not necessarily something that we think we'll have to draw on right away.The Federal Reserve said Monday it will also take stakes in two international units.Instead of paying back $38 billion in cash with interest that it has used from a Federal Reserve credit line, AIG now will repay that amount with equity stakes in Asia-based American International Assurance Co. and American Life Insurance Co., which operates in 50 countries.AIG also announced plans to spin off part of its property-casualty business, to be renamed AIU Holdings Inc.It marked the fourth time the government has stepped in to help AIG. Its initial lifeline came in September. The action was announced jointly early Monday by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve.
The new package is designed to enhance the company's capital and liquidity to facilitate the orderly completion of the company's global divestiture program, the agencies said.They said the company continues to face significant challenges due to the rapid deterioration in certain financial markets in the last two months of the year. The additional resources will help stabilize the company and in doing so help stabilize the financial system,the agencies said. AIG has been forced to seek more help in part because of the ongoing recession and its falling stock price, now well under $1. Among its biggest problems: It can't sell assets to pay back government loans because the credit crisis is preventing would-be buyers from getting financing to complete such deals.As of Feb. 13, AIG had sold interests in nine businesses. In November, the U.S. government restructured previous loans provided to AIG, giving the company about $150 billion in total as part of a rescue package to help the insurer remain in business amid the worsening credit crisis. That package replaced earlier loans, including the original $85 billion lent in September, after it became apparent the insurer needed more funds. Problems at AIG did not come from its traditional insurance operations, but instead from its financial services units, and primarily its business insuring mortgage-backed securities and other risky debt against default.
Our insurance policy holders, they're in good shape. They're secure, they're protected, Liddy said in the Today show interview. It's all the other ancillary businesses that are causing this. And it's the decline in asset values around the globe.For the full year, AIG lost $99.3 billion, or $37.84 per share, compared with a proft of $6.2 billion, or $2.39 per share, a year earlier. Total revenue fell 89.9 percent to $11.1 billion from $110.1 billion a year ago.
Weak economic data ups pressure for ECB rate cut
ANDREW WILLIS Today @ 09:32 CET
The European Central Bank (ECB) is expected to cut interest rates when its governing council meets on Thursday (5 March) following the release of more weak economic data on the European economy. New figures released by the EU's statistics office, Eurostat, last Friday show unemployment in the 16-country euro area has reached 8.2 percent, the highest level for two years, following the loss of over a quarter of a million jobs in January. Unemployment is a clear concern right now in many parts of the euro area,ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said in Dublin last week.Labour-market reforms are very important to counteract the economic downturn and limit its negative impact on employment.Asked whether the ECB will cut the rate by 50 or 25 basis point in March, Mr Trichet said the first figure is more likely.Eurostat figures also showed that inflation for the area fell by a record amount in January, down from 1.6 to a paltry 1.1 percent, well below the ECB's desired target of below, but close to two per cent.Inflation figures for the EU27 fell to 1.7 percent.
Analysts expect the central bank to react to the bad news by cutting interest rates by 0.5 percent when they meet on Thursday. Euro area interest rates are currently at two percent following steep cuts since the financial crisis started last autumn.
Eurostat now estimates that over 13 million people are unemployed in the euro area, with the highest unemployment rates recorded in Spain on 14.8 percent and the lowest in the Netherlands with 2.8 percent. The January figures amounted to the tenth consecutive month of rising unemployment in the euro area, as employers cut jobs in the face of falling consumer demand. The EU27 fared little better, with unemployment rising 0.1 percent in January to reach 7.6 percent. Falling commodity prices such as oil have contributed to the dramatic drop in inflation, which only last summer hit record highs of 4.0 percent. The ECB expects inflation to continue to fall until the middle of this year, before gradually starting to increase again. They are adamant however that such a decline does not signal a deflationary spiral. In the UK, where interest rates are already as low as one percent, the independent Bank of England will take the exceptional measure this week of buying corporate and government debt in a last-ditch attempt to boost the economy.
Wall Street tumbles anew as financials slide By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer MAR 02,09
NEW YORK – Investors' despair about financial companies and the recession have brought the Dow Jones industrial average to another unwanted milestone: its first drop below 7,000 in more than 11 years.The market's slide Monday wasn't nowhere near the largest is has seen since last fall, but the tumble below 7,000 was nonetheless painful. The credit crisis and recession have slashed more than half of the average's value since it hit a record high over 14,000 in October 2007. And now many investors fear the market could take a long time to regain the lost 7,000.We do feel that things can improve but it is going to be years before we get back to levels we saw in the markets a year ago, said David Chalupnik, head of equities at First American Funds.Monday's move below the milepost came as insurer American International Group Inc. posted a staggering $61.7 billion in quarterly losses and as the government agreed to inject more money into the company. AIG will get another $30 billion in loans, on top of the $150 billion the government has already invested.
Investors also grew fearful that more banks will have to raise capital and risk depleting the value of the existing shares after HSBC PLC, Europe's largest bank by market value, said it needs to raise $17.7 billion. The company reported a 70 percent drop in 2008 earnings and said it would cut 6,100 jobs.The fresh anxiety over hard-hit financial stocks pushed the blue chips below 7,000 for the first time since Oct. 28, 1997 and then below 6,900 for the first time since May 1, 1997.As bad as things are, they can still get worse, and get a lot worse, said Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist for Bell Curve Trading. Strazzullo said he believes there's a significant chance the S&P 500 and the Dow will fall back to their 1995 levels of 500 and 5,000, respectively.The game-changer, he said, will be the housing market and whether it can stabilize.In midafternoon trading, the Dow fell 214.89, or 3 percent, to 6,848.04. The Dow last closed below the 7,000 level on May 1, 1997.
Broader stock indicators also slid. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 25.15, or 3.4 percent, to 709.94, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 40.15, or 2.9 percent, to 1,337.69.The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 15.66, or 4 percent, to 373.36.About 10 stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to a moderate 1.16 billion shares.Bond prices jumped as stocks fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, tumbled to 2.91 percent from 3.02 percent late Friday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, slipped to 0.24 percent from 0.25 percent Friday.The dollar rose against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.Light, sweet crude fell $4.40 to $40.36 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.Mixed economic readings on Monday did little to dislodge a sense in the market that the economy's slide isn't slowing. Personal spending rose 0.6 percent in January and incomes rose 0.4 percent, while construction spending fell 3.3percent, more than twice as much as economists expected. Manufacturing contracted in February for the 13th straight month, but at a slower pace than expected.I don't think we find a bottom in the market until we see some sort of increased level of optimism and confidence among consumers and investors, said Jim Baird, chief investment strategist at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.Analysts are looking for indications in the economic numbers that businesses and consumers are starting to boost spending after making big cutbacks in the fall. But the economic readings are so alarming it weighs on sentiment. I don't think we find a bottom in the market until we see some sort of increased level of optimism and confidence among consumers and investors,said Baird. Last week the Dow and the S&P 500 index fell below their Nov. 20-21 lows, reached at the height of the credit crisis. Many traders had hoped would mark the market's low. The economy definitely has deteriorated since November, said Sean Simko, head of fixed income management at SEI Investments. It's just the fact that we haven't seen signs of improving or stabilizing, per se, which is adding to the morass of the market.Even big name investors are sounding a cautious note. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett wrote in his annual letter to investors Saturday he is sure the economy will be in shambles throughout 2009 — and, for that matter, probably well beyond — but that conclusion does not tell us whether the stock market will rise or fall.Investors try to look beyond the news of the day and place bets on what their expectations are. But that has been difficult with the economic news so grim and so little indication of when the housing market might stabilize and help banks that have been by bad mortgage debt.
In the last 60 years, the S&P 500 index reached its bottom about five months before a recession ended and nine months before corporate profits reached their low or unemployment hit its peak. The market could recover before the economy starts picking up steam but investors will need some sense that the worst is over. That was hard to come by Monday. The market didn't even see the panic selling that can signal a bottom is emerging but instead continued its grind downward. Most financials suffered again Monday. AIG was an exception, rising 4 cents, or 8.8 percent, to 46 cents a share after the government pledged the latest round of money. HSBC Holdings fell $6.50, or 18.9 percent, to $28.30. Other financials also fell sharply. Bank of America Corp. fell 10 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $3.85. Even banks that investors consider to be in better shape took hits. JPMorgan Chase & Co. slid $1.03, or 4.5 percent, to $21.82. Wells Fargo & Co. fell 80 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $11.30.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 tumbled 5.3 percent, Germany's DAX index fell 3.5 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 4.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average dropped 3.8 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 3.9 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
EU leaders paper over divisions on economic crisis
HONOR MAHONY 01.03.2009 @ 20:25 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Just hours after the European Commission approved a French car aid plan, EU leaders on Sunday (1 March) sought to put a lid on damaging divisions in the bloc on how to deal with the financial crisis by saying that none of its member states is being protectionist.We agreed that there is no case that we see as protectionist, said Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek, who called the informal gathering of EU leaders to discuss the threat of protectionism.Downplaying the public spat between Paris and Prague sparked by French comments against car companies relocating to eastern Europe, the Czech leader added: We agreed that this is rather more a media thing than reality.The summit had been called on the back of rising fears that internal market rules would be breached as countries sought to protect industries, particularly the car sector, from haemorrhaging jobs. Bullish talk by Mr Sarkozy in the run-up to the summit on his right to protect industry had led to tension around the EU. But the heat was taken out of the summit after a u-turn by the French government relaxing some of the conditions for its €6 billion car industry aid plan, meaning the European Commission could give its approval to the plan just ahead of the summit.
Bad word - bad idea
After Sunday's meeting French president Sarkozy told reporters that protectionism was a bad word and a bad idea.Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, who chaired a pre-summit gathering of nine central and eastern European states said: Everybody without exception agreed that protectionism is not a cure for the crisis. We also reached agreement that the EU will jointly try to stabilise currencies, no matter how many countries are in the eurozone.European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso noted that it was very clearly stated that the internal market is the engine for recovery.There was also a concerted effort to stop talk of an east-west divide as richer member states look to spend their way out of the crisis.Mr Barroso stressed that each country has to be looked at on its own merits and that the region could not be viewed as a homogenous whole, while Czech prime minister Topolanek said: I think it is clear that the EU is going to leave nobody in the lurch.
No bailout for eastern Europe
However, a push by the new member states to speed up the procedure for entering the eurozone as a way of helping them cope with the economic crisis was rejected by other EU member states. A proposal by Hungary to set up a fund of at least €160 billion for central and eastern European countries was also turned down.German chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the need for a one-size-fits-all bailout, saying the situation in Hungary - which has been hard hit by the global credit crisis - cannot be directly compared to other countries in the region.The final statement of the summit says that protectionism is no answer to the current crisis and has a line saying that support for parent banks should not imply any restrictions on the activities of subsidiaries in the EU host countries. Eastern member states fear that if parent banks in western countries get into financial trouble they could withdraw capital from their daughter banks in eastern Europe.Although diplomats said there was a harmonious atmosphere around the table, little of substance was agreed.
Business group Eurochambres complained about the results of the meeting, saying there were no tangible actions.This summit was yet another rather unproductive political showpiece, bringing no concrete solutions to the dramatic economic situation and showing a worrying lack of economic co-ordination among member states. We deeply hope that the spring European Council will do better in a couple weeks time,said secretary general Arnaldo Abruzzini.EU leaders are due to meet for their regular spring meeting on 19-20 March.
Egypt FM: $5.2 billion pledged at Gaza conference By SALAH NASRAWI and JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writers MAR 02,09
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – International donors pledged $5.2 billion to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip and boost the Palestinian president at a conference Monday, and they urged the Palestinians to end their divisions and revive the peace process with Israel.Still to be determined is how the money will be distributed. Most international donors won't funnel money directly to the Islamic militants of Hamas that rule Gaza. And lack of a formal cease-fire between Israel and Hamas has kept Gaza's borders sealed to most aid shipments.The conference gathered the presidents of Egypt and France, the U.N. chief and top diplomats from 45 nations — including Hillary Rodham Clinton in her first Mideast trip as U.S. secretary of state — in a high-profile attempt to show international support for reconstruction after Israel's crippling offensive against Hamas.But the broader message was that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his rivals in Hamas must resolve their dispute and form a government that can move ahead with rebuilding in Gaza and return to the negotiating table with Israel.British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned there will be only limited physical reconstruction without political reconstruction and stressed that Palestinians need a single government across the Occupied Territories —a direct appeal for rival Palestinian factions to hammer out a unity government.
Clinton issued a blunt call for urgent action to forge a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.We cannot afford more setbacks or delays — or regrets about what might have been, had different decisions been made, she said in apparent reference to the failure of previous peace initiatives, including those pushed vigorously by her husband's administration.The 80 nations and international organizations at Monday's gathering in this Red Sea resort pledged $5.2 billion, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters. Most of that amount — $4.48 billion — was in new pledges, with the remainder made up of previous, unfulfilled pledges that donors recommitted to giving, he said.Aboul Gheit said the figure is beyond of our expectations.Palestinian Planning Minister Samir Abdullah said the money is earmarked for humanitarian aid to Gaza, rebuilding in the territory and budget support to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority led by Abbas. He could not immediately say how much was going to each fund.The biggest donor is Saudi Arabia, at $1 billion, followed by the United States, which promised $900 million. A third of the U.S. pledge was for humanitarian aid to Gaza and the rest to assist the Palestinian Authority.Control of the funds is a key question. The international community refuses to negotiate with Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, considered a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Israel. Hamas was not invited to the conference in this Red Sea resort. But Abbas' government has little presence in Gaza after being driven out by Hamas in 2007.In a significant move, Arab Persian Gulf nations — including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait — pledged $1.6 billion, but bypassed both Hamas and Abbas. The gulf nations said in a statement they would set up a joint office in Gaza to carry out reconstruction on their own, deciding on projects and implementing them.They may be trying to signal to Hamas that the gulf nations are not favoring Abbas, hoping to encourage the militant group to moderate and reconcile with the Palestinian Authority.Karen AbuZayd, the head of the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees, told The Associated Press that many donor nations had discussed possibly using the United Nations as an alternative route to avoid the sticky issue of who controls the funds.
Certain donors have come forward to ask, and some of the regional parties as well have thought that perhaps the U.N. could do more than what it's doing or what is its mandate, she said.Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned in opening remarks to the gathering that the donors' pledges should not be treated as spoils of war — a message to rival Palestinian factions not to squabble over the funds.He also said reconstruction will depend on reaching a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel, which Egypt is trying to mediate, and the opening of Gaza's border crossings, which have been largely closed by Egypt and Israel since Hamas seized control of the territory. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said responsible Palestinians should seek peace with Israel and said a prisoner exchange by Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, held by Gaza militants since June 2006, is a priority. Israel has demanded Schalit's release as part of any truce deal. You must admit that there is no other road to the creation of a Palestinian state but to engage resolutely in searching for a political solution and engage in a dialogue with Israel, Sarkozy said in a clear message to the militant group. Abbas asked participants to adopt the reconstruction plan of his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, describing it as a national comprehensive development plan. He promised reconstruction would be based on transparency and justice.Fayyad prepared a 53-page plan for donors, including detailed damage assessments. For example, fixing war damage to infrastructure and homes would cost $501 million, according to the plan, which says 4,036 homes were destroyed and 11,514 damaged. Hamas spokesmen Fawzi Barhoum sought to dispel fears his group was trying to grab funds but also said the donations shouldn't be channeled through Abbas. He urged the conference to work out meaningful mechanisms to get money directly to Gazans without going into the internal Palestinian political differences.Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City contributed to this report.
Clinton calls for action to forge Mideast peace By ROBERT BURNS, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Israel cannot just sit and take rockets from Gaza terrorizing its citizens as she stressed the Obama administration's commitment to finding a peaceful existence for Israelis and Palestinians.On her first foray into Middle East diplomacy, Clinton used an international donors conference to issue a blunt call for urgent action to forge a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace. She also signaled a possible warming in U.S. relations with Syria after several years of division.With the Obama administration's Mideast peace envoy, George Mitchell, seated behind her at a conference meant to raise billions to help the Gaza Strip recover from its recent war with Israel, Clinton said President Barack Obama would continue the Bush administration's focus on seeking a two-state solution that involves Israel and a sovereign Palestinian state coexisting in peace.She made it clear, however, that Mideast leaders could count on Obama to take a more active approach than did his predecessor, George W. Bush.It is time to look ahead, she said, with an eye on the human aspects of what years of regional conflict have meant for the Palestinians and others.The United States is committed to a comprehensive peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and we will pursue it on many fronts, she said.The former New York senator and one-time first lady told the gathering: I have to confess I am troubled by the continuing rocket attacks coming out of Gaza. She added that Israel cannot just sit and take rockets falling on its people.The Sharm el-Sheik conference was called in the aftermath of the Gaza crisis, which remains in danger of heating up. Israel ended its air and ground assault meant to halt rocket fire coming from Gaza about six weeks ago with a shaky cease-fire by both sides. Some 1,300 Palestinians — at least half of them civilians — and 13 Israelis died in the three-week offensive, officials have said.Militants have continued to fire rockets sporadically into southern Israel, triggering retaliatory airstrikes.Asked if a peaceful settlement was possible by year's end, Clinton indicated that the process will take a long time.I personally am very committed to this. I know that it can be done. I believe that with all my heart, she said, avoiding any timetable.
In a sign of a possible warming of relations with Syria, Clinton also shook hands and spoke briefly with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. They were not scheduled to meet but encountered each other during the daylong conference at this Red Sea resort, a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Washington withdrew its ambassador from Damascus in 2005 to protest Syria's suspected role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Damascus denied involvement in his death, but in the uproar that followed, it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year military presence.Clinton declined to discuss the specifics of her discussion but said: In consultation with our friends and allies, our partners, we are reaching out to determine what, if any, areas of cooperation and engagement are possible, and that includes with respect to Syria.
Clinton, who is scheduled to travel this week to Jerusalem to consult with Israeli government officials and to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian officials, said the United States was pledging $900 million to the international aid effort for the Gaza Strip. She gave no breakdown of the funds, but her spokesman, Robert A. Wood, said on Sunday that it included $300 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza and about $600 million in budget and development aid to the Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank.We cannot afford more setbacks or delays — or regrets about what might have been, had different decisions been made, she said in apparent reference to the failure of previous peace initiatives, including those pushed vigorously by her husband's administration.Clinton conducted a rapid-fire series of one-on-one meetings with Arab and other counterparts attending the conference. In an afternoon session with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, she expressed doubt that Iran would respond to Obama administration diplomatic overtures, according to a U.S. official who was present in the meeting. The official described the exchange for reporters on condition of anonymity because the session was private.Clinton also met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and she attended a meeting of the so-called Quartet of international mediators — the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia — seeking to forge progress toward peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. At that session, Mitchell said that while the situation is difficult between Israel and the Palestinians he's sees opportunity for progress, according to the U.S. official. Mitchell stressed the need to consolidate a cease-fire in Gaza and he forecast that once Israel creates a new governing coalition it will be in position to improve living conditions in the West Bank. The Obama administration is casting its Gaza and Palestinian Authority contributions as a calculated effort to ensure that the money does not reach Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza and is viewed by Washington as a terrorist organization and not a legitimate governing body.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Russia questions NKorea rocket launch: reports MAR 02,09
MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia on Monday questioned the type of rocket North Korea intends to launch and urged restraint among all interested parties, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Monday as quoted by Russian agencies.No-one forbids anyone to launch satellites, but on the other hand, we must understand what kind of missile this is, Lavrov said.We monitor the situation and expect that everyone will employ restraint and keep to the obligations based on the UN resolutions, the minister said.
Last week North Korea, defying international warnings, said its preparations to launch a satellite are making brisk headway but gave no date for the exercise.Seoul and Washington see such a launch as a pretext to test the Taepodong-2 missile, which could theoretically reach Alaska.They say a rocket launch for any purpose would violate a UN resolution passed after the last missile test.
Manual lays out Army hopes for electronic warfare FEB 27,09
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the Army is updating its manual for the electronic battlefield.The new 112-page Army doctrine on electronic warfare, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, was produced at Fort Leavenworth and will be released Thursday at an Army conference in Florida.The doctrine is aimed at guiding the Army as it moves to protect soldiers against roadside bombs and other nontraditional warfare used by increasingly sophisticated insurgents.The report suggests that without new training, U.S. forces may be at a deadly disadvantage.The doctrine calls on the Army to develop and deploy directed-energy weapons such as high-powered microwaves, lasers and infrared beams, as well as wireless networks and other devices to confuse enemy communication.
HENTOFF: Obama's state secrets echo Bush,U.S. wants torture of suspect kept under wraps Nat Hentoff Monday, March 2, 2009
British resident Binyam Mohamed, who was detained at Guantanamo, hides his face as he leaves a Royal Air Force base upon his recent return to the United Kingdom.
OP-ED:
Last year, Britain's Foreign Office angered the British High Court by ordering it to censor seven paragraphs from a previous ruling in the case of a British legal resident, Binyam Mohamed, who had been rendered and tortured by the CIA in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco and Guantanamo. This muzzling of the High Court was caused by a Bush State Department threat to the Foreign Office, a threat renewed last month when Mr. Mohamed's case came again before the High Court. Last August, John Bellinger, then chief legal adviser to the State Department, wrote the Foreign Office: We want to affirm in the clearest terms that the public disclosure of these documents or of the information contained therein is likely to result in serious damage to U.S. national security, and could harm existing intelligence-sharing arrangements between our two governments.On Feb. 4, the British High Court wanted to finally disclose those seven paragraphs summarizing actual U.S. reports on Mr. Mohamed's treatment, paragraphs originally provided to the Foreign Office. The judges expected that the situation had changed significantly following the election of President Barack Obama, who was avowedly determined to eschew torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. (That court is also interested in British involvement with Mr. Mohamed's interrogations.) Although all U.S. charges against Mr. Mohamed were dropped last year, this year the Obama administration continues to demand that those seven paragraphs remain secret and was reported by the New York Times on Feb. 18 as having thanked the British government for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security administration.As Mr. Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder has already shown in another case involving Mr. Mohamed before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Bush-Cheney State Secrets policy continues to reign in the Obama administration.
Even a letter sent directly to Mr. Obama by Mr. Mohamed's British lawyers to look into the truly medieval ways in which Mr. Mohamed was tortured has not changed the president's mind. (See the Jurist Legal News & Research, Web site, Feb. 12). In the 9th Circuit court papers (Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan Inc.), American Civil Liberties Union lawyers for Mr. Mohamed cite his claim that in Morocco, his clothes were cut off with a scalpel and the same scalpel was then used to make incisions on his body, including his penis.It is reasonable to believe that the seven paragraphs involuntarily censored by the British High Court would be quite useful to Mr. Mohamed's case in both the British and American courts. The High Court in England reacted angrily to the Obama administration refusal to annul the Bush threat to impair relations with British intelligence about the release of the seven paragraphs. The High Court declared on Feb. 5 its acute disappointment that the United States, governed by the rule of law, would continue to censor evidence relevant to allegations of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, politically embarrassing though it might be.Mr. Mohamed, who was on a hunger strike (his only form of protest) at Guantanamo Bay, has finally been released and returned home to England where his lawyers continue to press his case concerning his treatment by the CIA. The Obama administration wanted a gag rule imposed on the returned Mr. Mohamed, but his lawyers rejected the demand (New York Times, Feb. 24). Before his release, as reported Feb. 18 by the New York Times' Raymond Bonner, a member of Mr. Mohamed's legal team - U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Yvonne Bradley - told reporters his torture by the Moroccans would make waterboarding seem like child's play.In San Francisco, at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Mr. Mohamed is one of five victims of CIA kidnapping who are charging a subsidiary of giant Boeing Aircraft with providing planes and logistics for the harrowing CIA renditions flights. Mr. Holder sent Justice Department lawyer Douglas Letter to order the court to dismiss the case without discussing it in court.
One of the startled judges, Mary Schroeder, asked: The change in administration has no bearing? She was assured that the Obama government's echo policy on state secrets has been thoroughly vetted with the new administration. Another surprised judge, William Canby, puzzled by the invocation of state secrets, asked: You can say something is secret even when a newspaper reporter has it? (Many newspaper reporters, including this writer, have written in detail about the CIA's torture flights, including those of the shackled Mr. Mohamed.) On the same day that the attorney general's silencer addressed the court, Mr. Holder himself announced that the Justice Department will review all the pending cases in which the Bush administration asserted state secrets, to ensure they are invoked only in legally appropriate situations. I wonder if the attorney general gets extra pay for being the president's emergency public relations flack while actually commanding that this crucial case be dismissed. The ACLU's Ben Wizner, arguing Mr. Mohamed's case at the 9th Circuit, said: This administration is going to have to face the issue of accountability. [It] cannot pretend the last seven years didn't happen.Want to bet?
Barack Obama's White House counsel Gregory B. Craig on Feb. 18 was reported telling the New York Times' Charlie Savage: We have been some of the most articulate and vociferous critics of the way the Bush administration handled things. There has been a dramatic change of direction.I would sure like to see Binyam Mohamed's reaction to that talking point from the transparent Obama administration. Nat Hentoff's column for The Washington Times runs on Mondays. 2009 The Washington Times.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
IRAN HAS FISSILE MATERIALS FOR BOMB
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU White House protests Jewish construction ,Closely monitors building in capital areas intimately tied to Judaism March 01, 2009 7:44 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2009 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – President Obama's administration is carefully monitoring Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and has already protested to the highest levels of Israeli government about evidence found of housing expansion in those areas, according to informed Israeli officials speaking to WND. The officials, who spoke on condition that their names be withheld, said in recent weeks Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, oversaw the establishment of an apparatus based in the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem that closely monitors eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods, incorporating regular tours on a daily basis. Said one Israeli official: If the U.S. notices even one bulldozer on the region of E1, they immediately call us on the level of [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and ask Olmert what that bulldozer is doing there and whether we are planning anything in Jerusalem.The official was referring to the Jewish neighborhood of Maale Adumim, located in eastern Jerusalem. Olmert's government previously approved the expansion of the community, but new construction largely has been halted. The official said in recent meetings, Mitchell strongly protested Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem. Mitchell also condemned the work of nationalist Jewish groups to purchase property in Jerusalem's Old City, including in areas intimately tied to Judaism. Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War.
The Palestinians, however, have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital. About 244,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, out of a total population of 724,000, the majority Jewish. A number of Arab-majority eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods widely regarded as slated for a Palestinian state include large numbers of Arabs – over 100,000 – who live on Jewish-owned land illegally. The Jewish National Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit, owns hundred of acres of eastern Jerusalem land in which tens of thousands of Arabs illegally constructed homes the past few decades. Arabs are now the majority on the Jewish-owned land in question.
Israel warns of Gaza riposte on eve of aid meeting by Charly Wegman – Sun Mar 1, 10:13 pm ET
JERUSALEM, (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to respond severely to militant rocket strikes from Gaza on the eve of an international donor conference on funding the territory's reconstruction.Shortly after he spoke, Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired five rockets at southern Israel, according to the Israeli military, further straining a fragile ceasefire.One of the rockets exploded in the yard of a house in Sderot causing some damage. The other four blew up on waste land, the military said.Israel waged its deadly 22-day offensive with the stated aim of halting rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants, a goal it signally failed to achieve.If the rocket fire from Gaza continues, we will hit back severely, so much so that the terrorist organisations will understand that Israel is not ready to resign itself to this, Olmert said at the weekly cabinet meeting.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak will give directions so that Israeli forces bring calm to southern Israel, the outgoing premier said.His comments came six weeks after the end of the Israel offensive, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead and destroyed homes and infrastructure throughout the Hamas-ruled territory.On Saturday, a volley of seven rockets fired from Gaza struck Israel.Egyptian efforts to broker a lasting truce in and around Gaza have so far come to nothing, with sporadic militant rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes continuing since the offensive ended on January 18.International donors are meeting in Egypt on Monday to discuss efforts to rebuild the impoverished Gaza Strip, which has been all but cut off from the outside world since Hamas seized control in June 2007.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the aid conference on her first visit to the Middle East since taking office.On the eve of the conference, former British prime minister Tony Blair made his first visit to Gaza since June 2007, when he became the Middle East Quartet envoy.The Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is to meet on the sidelines of the Sharm conference, with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks frozen since the Gaza war.The Quartet has refused to have dealings with Hamas, saying it must first renounce violence, recognise Israel and agree to abide by past peace agreements.
Mideast envoy Blair makes first Gaza visit by Joseph Krauss – Sun Mar 1, 11:30 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair paid a brief visit to a UN school in the Gaza Strip on Sunday on his first trip to the Hamas-run enclave since being appointed Middle East Quartet envoy.I wanted to come to hear for myself first-hand from people in Gaza, whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict, Blair said at the school in the northern town of Beit Hanun.These are the people who need to be the focus of all our efforts for peace and progress from now on, he said, adding that he would relay what he saw to an international conference on Gaza reconstruction in Egypt on Monday.The Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is due to meet on the sidelines of the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.Blair's visit coincided with a trip by British International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, the first to Gaza by a British minister since the Islamists violently seized power in the enclave in June 2007.Alexander pledged 30 million pounds (43 million dollars, 34 million euros) toward rebuilding and called on Israel to open the borders of the territory where he said he was horrified by the scale of human suffering.Today I am making an allocation of 30 million pounds as a new statement of our commitment to do what we can as a British government to alleviate the suffering, Alexander said at a press conference.We want to see full and unfettered access both for aid and for aid workers here in Gaza.Blair met Gaza businesspeople, members of civil society and representatives of the water authority, as well as dropping in on an English class, British consulate officials said.But unlike recent high-profile visitors to Gaza -- including UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Senator John Kerry -- Blair did not visit the areas most devastated by the three-week Israeli war on the territory.John Ging, the Gaza director of the UN refugee agency, said he hoped the visits had convinced decision-makers to change their failed policies and lift the Israeli and international blockade.
We rest our case now, there is nothing more to say. They have seen it and now it's up to them to live up to their responsibility to actually change it, he said after accompanying Blair on the school visit.Focus on the people, not the politics, and get the crossings open. It's as simple as that.Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but limited humanitarian aid since Hamas, a group pledged to Israel's destruction, seized power in June 2007 after weeks of deadly street battles with secular Fatah rivals.Most of Gaza's 1.4 million population relies on aid from the outside world.Israel's 22-day onslaught in December and January caused damaged estimated at 1.95 billion dollars, the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction says.Blair was appointed Quartet representative in June 2007 after he stepped down following 10 years as prime minister.He had planned to make his maiden visit to Gaza in July 2008, but it was cancelled because of security concerns. Since his appointment, Blair has been spearheading several projects aimed at revitalising the Palestinian economy, including three planned industrial zones in the occupied West Bank. He has also pushed development projects in Gaza, including the repair of the water treatment plant, where a reservoir burst its banks in March 2007, flooding a village with raw sewage and drowning five Palestinians. The Quartet has refused to have dealings with Hamas, which swept Palestinian elections in January 2006, saying the group first has to renounce violence, recognise Israel and agree to abide by past peace deals. Blair said he hopes the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas can together develop a unified Palestinian response in a way that the international community can engage with the Palestinian people.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Rare snow blankets South as East braces for storm By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A potent March snowstorm blanketed much of the Southeast with snow Sunday before barreling toward the Northeast, where officials prepared snowplows and road-salt for a wintery assault.The icy blast threatened to drop up to a foot of snow in the Philadelphia area, 13 inches in New York and 15 inches across southern New England late Sunday.Thousands of New York City sanitation workers prepared to salt city streets, and airlines preemptively canceled flights Sunday at the region's major airports.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation planned to attack the snow in the Philadelphia area with 400 trucks and 77,000 tons of stockpiled salt, assistant press secretary Gene Blaum said.In Georgia, the snowfall rendered roads treacherous and delayed flights, while in Alabama, more than 210 churches in the central part of the Bible Belt state had to cancel morning services.
Vonda Braswell of Alabaster, Ala. was throwing snowballs in her front yard instead of putting on her Sunday best. I think you can worship in this it's so rare, she said.Up to 7 inches of snow was expected through Monday morning in areas of Maryland, northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., where Mayor Adrian Fenty declared a snow emergency.In Virginia, nearly 10,000 customers of two power companies lost electric power Sunday night after the storm blew in.Maryland has already spent more than $40 million responding to bad weather in what's been a colder-than-usual winter, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Sunday. Any money spent on digging out from the rare March storm will further burden a state that's facing a $2 billion budget shortfall.I don't like snow,O'Malley said.In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced more than 1,300 sanitation workers stood ready to spread salt and plow streets.It's the first of March, which as you know is the month that we say comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, he said. It's pretty clear that the lions are getting ready to roar.
As Wayne Letson drove through Alabama toward Florida on Sunday, the Michigan resident fretted about sharing the roads with Southerners unaccustomed to winter weather. The last time it snowed in Alabama was more than a year ago, in January 2008.This is nothing to me, but I'm worried about the other people who think they know what they're doing, he said.Despite above-freezing temperatures in downtown Atlanta, a heavy curtain of snow fell on cars and caused traffic accidents on slushy streets. The unusual weather prompted Jessi Prahl and Max DiPace to take their dog, Cooper, on a walk through snow-covered Piedmont Park.You know us Southerners, we all freak out when it snows, said Prahl, 26.Some flights were canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where the average delay was nearly two hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Web site.AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson said flights out of Atlanta into the Northeast might also be canceled Sunday night.I expect the Northeast will be hit pretty hard tonight so our expectations is that people flying into Washington, D.C., and Boston will need to call or check our Web site for possible cancellations, Hutcheson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia transportation officials warned of potential icy buildup on roads in middle and northern counties through Monday morning, especially as temperatures plummet overnight.The late Southern snowfall revived memories of a large storm in 1993 that forecasters nicknamed the Snowfall of the Century, which spanned a region from Alabama to north of Washington, D.C., said Laura Griffith of the National Weather Service. In that storm, Atlanta received 4.2 inches of snow and 13 inches fell on Birmingham, Ala. Outside the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, Flori Kwon of Claremont, Calif., took pictures of her son Jake, 5, cavorting in the snow.
He wants to make a snowman but I don't think there's enough, Kwon said while large snowflakes landed in her hair. We're kind of surprised it's snowing.Associated Press writers Daniel Yee and Christina Almeida in Atlanta contributed to this report.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
FAREED TALKS ABOUT MUSLIM,AL-QUIDA
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/03/01/gps.fund.islam.panel.cnn
Mullen: Iran has fissile materials for bomb By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
WCCO Minneapolis Play Video Iran Video:Iran starts-up nuclear plant Reuters WASHINGTON – The top U.S. military official said Sunday that Iran has sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon, declaring it would be a very, very bad outcome should Tehran move forward with a bomb.Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered the assessment when questioned in a broadcast interview about a recent report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on the state of Iran's uranium enrichment program, which can create nuclear fuel and may be sufficiently advanced to produce the core of warheads.Mullen was asked if Iran now had enough fissile material to make a bomb. He responded, We think they do, quite frankly. And Iran having a nuclear weapon I've believed for a long time is a very, very bad outcome for the region and for the world.Mullen's spokesman, Capt. John Kirby, said Mullen was referring only to the International Atomic Energy Agency's finding that Iran has processed 2,222 pounds (1,010 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium.Experts differ on whether that stockpile is enough to allow Iran to further refine the material and arm one weapon, should it choose to do so. Experts also disagree about how long it would take Iran to make the leap to a deployable weapon. Iran is continuing an accelerated nuclear development program.State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said Sunday that it was not possible say how much fissile material Iran has accumulated.There are differing view not only outside government but also inside the government on how far Iran has gone, Wood said. He added that while he was not suggesting Mullen was incorrect, We just don't know exactly how much fissile material Iran now holds.
We are concerned they are getting close to having enough to build a nuclear weapon, he added. Wood spoke to reporters traveling with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Egypt.Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who like Mullen appeared on the Sunday talk shows, did not go as far as Mullen. The Iranians, Gates said, are not close to a weapon at this point and so there is some time for continued diplomatic efforts.And the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, recently told National Public Radio that the IAEA report confirms what we all had feared and anticipated, which is that Iran remains in pursuit of its nuclear program.Iran, now subjected to various penalties by the U.N., the U.S. and others over its nuclear program, denies it wants to build a bomb. It asserts its program is intended to provide the country with the homegrown ability to generate electricity from nuclear reactors.So far, the U.S. has not relented in its claims that Iran has ambitions to join the club of nuclear-armed nations. Mullen seemed to restate that position in his remarks on CNN's State of the Union. He was not asked to elaborate.Under an international nuclear treaty it has signed, Iran has the right to develop a civilian program for the nuclear generation of electricity. But any such program must be open to international inspection. Iran has balked at that after it became known in past years that the country had hidden portions of its nuclear effort that could be linked to a weapons program.At issue now is Iran's uranium enrichment efforts. The Bush administration insisted that was a precursor to making weapons-grade materials. President Barack Obama has sought to change course with Iran, offering diplomatic engagement in a bid to prove Tehran has more to lose by ignoring the wishes of other countries than it has to gain through its nuclear efforts.The question is whether you can increase the level of the sanctions and the cost to the Iranians of pursuing that program at the same time you show them an open door if they want to engage with the Europeans, with us and so on if they walk away from that program, Gates said. Our chances of being successful, it seems to me, are a lot better at $35 or $40 oil than they were at $140 oil because there are economic costs to this program, they do have economic challenges at home.Days after Obama announced his plan to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, Mullen and Gates made clear their support for the commander in chief's approach.
Mullen said he was comfortable with the decision, while noting he was reluctant to talk about winning and losing in Iraq. Rather, he said, the conditions are in place for the Baghdad government to successfully take control of the country.Mullen said Obama listened extensively to the American military leadership and U.S. commanders in Iraq before announcing withdrawal. Under the president's order, the 142,000 U.S. forces in Iraq would be drawn down to between 35,000 and 50,000 troops by the 2010 date. All forces would be withdrawn by the last day of 2011. Gates said he thought it was fairly remote that conditions in Iraq would change enough to alter significantly the Obama plan. He said the president has said he retains the authority to change a plan if it's in the national security interests of the United States. Our soldiers will be consolidated into a limited number of bases in order to provide protection for themselves and for civilians who are out working in the Iraqi neighborhoods and countryside as well, Gates said. The risk to our troops will be substantially less than certainly was last year, and it has, has gradually declined.
Gates appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, while Mullen also was interviewed on Fox News Sunday.Associated Press writers Anne Gearan in Washington and Robert Burns in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, contributed to this story.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Sarkozy: No new commission president before Irish Lisbon re-run
ELITSA VUCHEVA 01.03.2009 @ 20:09 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The next president of the European Commission should not be appointed before Ireland's re-vote on the Lisbon treaty, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday (1 March), while reiterating his support for current commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.As regards the different candidacies, as you know, we are subject to the decision of our Irish friends on the ratification of the Lisbon treaty ...Depending on that, we will ask ourselves questions,Mr Sarkozy told journalists following a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.I love Mr Barroso (l) very much,Mr Sarkozy (r) said (Photo: © European Community, 2008 )Ireland is expected to announce when it will hold its second referendum on the treaty by a June meeting of EU leaders at the latest. Irish citizens rejected the document in a first referendum last summer.The second vote is expected sometime in autumn, although there has been intense debate about whether to hold it earlier to cash in on fears Irish citizens have about the effects of the economic crisis. The next president of the commission was meant to be chosen at the June summit, a few weeks after the European Parliament elections.But the Irish vote will determine whether the EU will stick with the current Nice treaty - which foresees a reduction in the number of commissioners - or move to the Lisbon treaty.
Agreeing the commission chief later in the year is set to delay the whole of the new commission which is supposed to come into office at the beginning of November.Mr Sarkozy suggested it would be more cautious to wait anyway.I did a lot so that Ireland revotes, I was very much criticised about that ...I think that if we want to be a little clever [now], it is better to wait for the Irish vote rather than decide before they vote, he said.If we want to be blamed by everybody, let's do it. If we didn't understand what is happening, let's do it [appoint the president before the revote],he added.The French leader, who has previously backed the current commission president for a second mandate, reiterated his support for Mr Barroso.I do not change [my mind] like that, he said.I love Mr Barroso very much, I loved working with him [during the French EU presidency in the second half of 2008], I trust him and I trust the commission.
New member states call for EU solidarity
HONOR MAHONY 01.03.2009 @ 14:13 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Central and eastern European countries have called for solidarity among member states, as several western states look to national solutions to get themselves out of the current economic crisis.The gathering of nine member states, who all joined the bloc after 2004, also offered their public support to the European Commission to uphold the principles of the internal market and fight against protectionism.Their message came just before all 27 member states gather in Brussels on Sunday afternoon (1 March) to talk about forging an EU response to the crisis, which has been notable for the public friction it has caused between national governments.Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, who chaired the mini meeting, said the EU as a whole should show universal solidarity, more responsibility and more optimism.He called on all member states to adhere to the rules and principles enshrined in the EU treaties, referring to upholding basic internal market rules and said the temptation of protectionism should be avoided.
The European Commission, which is currently examining plans by six member states to aid their car industries to see if they breach the bloc's strict state aid rules, welcomed their support.It is very important that in times of difficulty all countries of Europe are working together,said commission presisdent Jose Manuel Barroso.We need to do things in the spirit of true solidarity, he added noting that he had seen great commitment to Europe from the region.The newer member states have been alarmed by signs that richer member states intend to try and buy their way out of the crisis, an option not open to central and eastern countries.They have been calling for an EU response as a way of avoiding this trend, which could lead to a run towards economic nationalism. France prompted the talk of protectionism with its plans to give 6bn euros to its two major car-makers - a package that the European Commission has just indicated it will accept. French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to ask for an EU-wide car package at the summit later today, something which Germany is strongly opposed to.Meanwhile, solidarity among member states is in short supply as several countries grapple with the effects of the crisis and angry citizens.Some eastern states - including Hungary and Poland - feeling the cold of being outside the 16-nation eurozone, have asked that the rules for entering the single currency be speeded up.But this has already been rebuffed by Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, in charge of the eurozone, who on arriving to the Brussels summit said: I don't think that we can change the accession criteria overnight. This is not feasible.
Currently the rules stipluate that countries have to remain in the euro waiting room for two years after meeting strict defict and exchange rate criteria. Poland's Europe minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz said that one of the reasons of the Sunday morning's mini summit was stop there being a a plan for the west and a plan for the rest.He pointed to the issue of bailing out banks saying that eastern European member states, most of whom are outside the single currency, are worried that bailouts will be agreed only for eurozone banks and not for the rest.The meeting of EU leaders - a three-hour lunch - is expected to try and agree a common statement on how to respond to the crisis. A draft of the statement talks about building confidence and promoting financial stability as well as making the maximum possible use of the single market.
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON MAR 02,2009
09:30 AM -34.09
10:00 AM -124.17
10:30 AM -146.79
11:00 AM -182.39
11:30 AM -195.54
12:00 PM -232.89
12:30 PM -222.38
01:00 PM -252.56
01:30 PM -238.78
02:00 PM -206.53
02:30 PM -244.36
03:00 PM -253.44
03:30 PM -249.51
04:00 PM -299.64 6763.29
S&P 500 700.82 -34.27
NASDAQ 1322.85 -54.99
GOLD 926.00 -16.50
OIL 40.01 -4.75
TSE 300 7668.96 -454.06
CDNX 828.04 -33.62
S&P/TSX/60 460.54 -29.02
WORLD DOWN MARKETS TODAY
Australia -78.90
Hong Kong -494.11
Japan -288.27
Belgium -86.02
Europe DJ STOXX -99.57
France -121.02
Germany -133.67
Netherlands -11.28
Norway -4.54
Sweden -21.12
UK -204.26
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -19.52%
S&P -18.62%
Nasdaq -12.63%
TSX Advances 709,declines 799,unchanged 286,Volume 2,688,688,130.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 412,Declines 388,Unchanged 357,Volume 187,759,107.
Dow -132 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -182 points at low today.
Dow -104 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $949.00.OIL opens at $41.71 today.
2 more banks close over the weekend making a total of 16 went under so far.
Somali leader accedes to demand for Sharia law.
Wall Street:Teetering on 12 year lows.
General Electric slashes dividends by 2/3rdS.
Winter storm moving up East coast.
Hamas fired 9 rockets into ISRAEL,Olmert threatens to retaliate.
Clinton in Egypt,on to West bank,Israel,then off to the E.U for talks.
America watches North Korea about launching missle test.
Dow falls below 7000 points for first time since OCT 28,1997.
Dows last close below 7000 points was MAY 01,1997.
Over half of Dow stocks at mut-year lows this morning.
Dow is 51% below all-time closing high of 14,164 points,set in OCT 2007.
Dow briefly under 6,900 points this morning.(6,894 or -168 points).
Dow has not posted a Monthly gain since AUGUST 2008.
S&P,Nasdaq also lower in early market sell-off today so far.
S&P is 54% below all-time closing high set on OCTOBER 9,2007.
YEAR TO DATE STATS (VARIOUS)
Dow utilities -12.62%
NYSE Composite -19.80%
Russell 2000 -22.11%
Dow Transports -29.35%
Alcoa -46%
Caterpillar -47%
General Electric -51%
Bank of America -75%
CitiGroup -77%
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -252 points at low today so far.
Dow -104 points at high today so far.
NY FED to make new loans of up to $8.5 BILLION to AIG life subsidiaries.
AIG to issue 77.9% stake in new convertible PFD shares to U.S GOVERNMENT.
AIG bailout revised,posts record loss.
Foster Wheeler sheds 25% in 1-week amid doubts that Stimulus will work.
HMOS,Energy & Financials pace broad decline today.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 368,declines 3,370,unchanged 51,New Highs 7,New Lows 721.
Volume 3,514,105,645.
NASDAQ Advances 439,declines 2,240,unchanged 89,New highs 1,New Lows 435.
Volume 912,481,775.
TSX Advances 272,declines 1089,unchanged 228,Volume 1,231,341,014.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 217,Declines 343,Unchanged 410,Volume 94,771,080.
HALF THE STOCKS ON THE S&P ARE TRADING UNDER $10.00.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -301 points at low today.
Dow -104 points at high today.
Dow -4.24% today Volume 568,603,786.
Nasdaq -3.99% today Volume 2,142,582,241.
S&P 500 -4.66% today Volume N/A
ONLY 12 OF DOWS STOCKS ARE PLUS SINCE 1997,7000 POINTS,18 HAVE NOT MADE MONEY.
Dow down volume was 30-1 in trading today.
60% of dow members at Muti-year lows.
All 10 S&P sectors down today.
HSBC to cut 6000 U.S JOBS.
Worst first trading day of March ever.
Dow lowest close since APRIL 1997.
Stocks end near days lows.
S&P falls 55.2% since alltime closing high OCT,2007.
Dow falls 52.3% since alltime closing high oCT,2007.
Nasdaq down 16.1% in 2009.
Dow down 22.9% in 2009.
S&P down 22.4% in 2009.
OIL FALLS 10% TODAY.
Nasdaq still above NOV closing low.
All 30 Dow stocks down today.
Dow ends below 6,800 points today.
S&P lowest close since NOV,1996.
S&P dips below 700 INTRADAY,closes just above KEY LEVEL.
EMPLOYMENT REPORT
FEB forecast -630,000
JAN 09 -598,000
DEC 08 -577,000
NOV 08 -597,000
RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65
RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04
From The Times March 2, 2009 New Iron Curtain will split EU's rich and poorDavid Charter in Brussels
Eastern European countries gave an apocalyptic warning yesterday of hordes of unemployed workers heading west as a new Iron Curtain divides rich from poor inside Europe. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Western leaders were told yesterday that five million jobs could be lost in the new European Union countries of the East unless radical action were taken to bail them out. The spectacular collapse of some of the post-communist tiger economies led to demands at an EU summit in Brussels for a rescue fund of €190 billion (£170 billion) to stop social collapse in the Eastern nations spilling over into the rest of Europe. The plea, led by Hungary, was rejected in a bad-tempered meeting of the 27 European leaders, dominated by fears that Western EU countries would rather prop up their own large industries and jobs at the expense of the East. Instead Gordon Brown renewed his call for a huge injection of funds into the International Monetary Fund, which has already doled out large sums to Hungary and Latvia and is soon to receive a begging letter from Romania. The Prime Minister refused, however, to say where the fresh money for the IMF would come from. As he prepared to fly off for talks with President Obama today, Mr Brown left behind an EU increasingly split between its old and new economies and lacking the unity that he hoped to present in Washington and at the G20 summit in London next month. Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Hungarian leader, openly raised the spectre of collapse in Eastern Europe and the creation of a new Iron Curtain. Central Europe’s refinancing needs in 2009 could total €300 billion, 30per cent of the region’s GDP, he said in a paper calling for a fund of €160 billion to €190 billion to be set up by the richer EU members. A significant crisis in Eastern Europe would trigger political tensions and immigration pressures. With a Central and Eastern European population of 350 million, of which 100 million are in the EU, a 10 per cent increase in unemployment would lead to at least five million unemployed people within the EU.
From The Sunday TimesMarch 1, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5822265.ece
Brown woos Obama on global dealJonathan Oliver, Political Editor
GORDON BROWN hopes to forge a partnership with President Barack Obama in Washington this week, to call for a global new deal to lift the world out of recession. As he prepares for his first White House visit since the president’s inauguration, the prime minister has hinted that he is ready to make further tax cuts to boost the UK economy. Brown will meet Obama on Tuesday and address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Aides say he has both to demonstrate to a sceptical British public that he commands the respect of the president, and to persuade the American political establishment that global action is needed to rescue the US economy. Brown is under pressure to persuade American political leaders to sign up to bold aims for the G20 summit of industrial and leading developing nations, which is to be held in London next month. Many US politicians believe economic policy should put America first, and have shown little interest in concerted global action. Brown will argue for a renewal of the transatlantic relationship, with the two powers working together to solve global economic problems. The prime minister will borrow from the rhetoric of Franklin Roosevelt, who introduced the government-financed New Deal to tackle the US Depression of the 1930s. He will argue that his 21st century global new deal will also require public spending on a huge world-wide scale. Writing in The Sunday Times today, Brown calls for universal action to prevent the crisis spreading, to stimulate the global economy and to help reduce the severity and length of the global recession. His stress on continued economic stimulation will increase speculation about next month’s budget. No 10 sources said that, while no final decision had been taken about further tax cuts, the prime minister would do whatever it took to pull the UK out of recession.
Asian stock markets tumble on worsening US slump By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, AP Business Writer MAR 02,09
HONG KONG – Asian stocks tumbled Monday after the U.S. economy withered at its fastest pace in more than a quarter century, heightening doubts that the global economy can recover later this year. Japan's benchmark fell nearly 4 percent.As in the U.S. and Europe, investors across the region were shaken after figures Friday showed gross domestic product in the world's largest economy shrank at a 6.2 percent annual pace at the end of last year.The decline, worse than most economists had expected, was the country's sharpest since 1982.Adding to fears that the world economic crisis won't end anytime soon were signs that the world's financial firms, already infused with billions of dollars in government aid over the last year, need still more capital to make up for their colossal losses on bad assets.Last week, Citigroup Inc. agreed to turn over a huge stake to the U.S. government. European banking giant HSBC PLC is expected to unveil plans to raise 12 billion pounds ($17 billion) in a new rights issue when it reports results later Monday. And faltering insurer American International Group looks set to get a $30 billion bailout — its fourth government rescue.You're seeing the U.S. is sinking lower and lower, and we're still desperately searching for a bottom, said John Mar, co-head of sales trading at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Hong Kong. It's death by a thousand cuts, a slow death right now.Every major market in Asia convulsed with selling.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 288.27, or 3.8 percent, to 7,280.15.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 501.99 points, or 3.9 percent, to 12,309.58, and South Korea's Kospi plummeted 4.2 percent to 1,018.81. Markets in Australia, Taiwan and Singapore shed about 3 percent or more.Equities markets in the U.S. and Europe suffered a similar rout on Friday.In New York, the Dow fell 119.15, or 1.7 percent, to 7,062.93 — its lowest close since May 1, 1997.The S&P 500 index fell 17.74, or 2.4percent, to 735.09, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.63, or 1 percent, to 1,377.84.With U.S. futures down, Wall Street was poised for more losses. Dow futures were down 93 points, or 1.3 percent, at 6,959 and S&P500 futures lost 12.8, or 1.7 percent, to 721.40.Asian financial stocks were among the hardest hit. Leading Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group dived over 5 percent. In Hong Kong, shares of HSBC were suspended ahead of Monday's results and expected announcements.
Oil prices weakened in early trade, with benchmark crude for April delivery down 98 cents at $43.78. Last week in the U.S., the contract fell 46 cents to settle at $44.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.In currencies, the dollar was little changed at 97.50 yen, while the euro dropped to $1.2585 from $1.2668.
EU leaders paper over divisions on economic crisis
HONOR MAHONY 01.03.2009 @ 20:25 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Just hours after the European Commission approved a French car aid plan, EU leaders on Sunday (1 March) sought to put a lid on damaging divisions in the bloc on how to deal with the financial crisis by saying that none of its member states is being protectionist.We agreed that there is no case that we see as protectionist, said Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek, who called the informal gathering of EU leaders to discuss the threat of protectionism.Downplaying the public spat between Paris and Prague sparked by French comments against car companies relocating to eastern Europe, the Czech leader added: We agreed that this is rather more a media thing than reality.The summit had been called on the back of rising fears that internal market rules would be breached as countries sought to protect industries, particularly the car sector, from haemorrhaging jobs. Bullish talk by Mr Sarkozy in the run-up to the summit on his right to protect industry had led to tension around the EU. But the heat was taken out of the summit after a u-turn by the French government relaxing some of the conditions for its €6 billion car industry aid plan, meaning the European Commission could give its approval to the plan just ahead of the summit.
Bad word - bad idea
After Sunday's meeting French president Sarkozy told reporters that protectionism was a bad word and a bad idea.Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, who chaired a pre-summit gathering of nine central and eastern European states said: Everybody without exception agreed that protectionism is not a cure for the crisis. We also reached agreement that the EU will jointly try to stabilise currencies, no matter how many countries are in the eurozone.European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso noted that it was very clearly stated that the internal market is the engine for recovery.There was also a concerted effort to stop talk of an east-west divide as richer member states look to spend their way out of the crisis.Mr Barroso stressed that each country has to be looked at on its own merits and that the region could not be viewed as a homogenous whole, while Czech prime minister Topolanek said: I think it is clear that the EU is going to leave nobody in the lurch.
No bailout for eastern Europe
However, a push by the new member states to speed up the procedure for entering the eurozone as a way of helping them cope with the economic crisis was rejected by other EU member states. A proposal by Hungary to set up a fund of at least €160 billion for central and eastern European countries was also turned down.German chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the need for a one-size-fits-all bailout, saying the situation in Hungary - which has been hard hit by the global credit crisis - cannot be directly compared to other countries in the region.The final statement of the summit says that protectionism is no answer to the current crisis and has a line saying that support for parent banks should not imply any restrictions on the activities of subsidiaries in the EU host countries. Eastern member states fear that if parent banks in western countries get into financial trouble they could withdraw capital from their daughter banks in eastern Europe.Although diplomats said there was a harmonious atmosphere around the table, little of substance was agreed.
Business group Eurochambres complained about the results of the meeting, saying there were no tangible actions.This summit was yet another rather unproductive political showpiece, bringing no concrete solutions to the dramatic economic situation and showing a worrying lack of economic co-ordination among member states. We deeply hope that the spring European Council will do better in a couple weeks time,said secretary general Arnaldo Abruzzini.EU leaders are due to meet for their regular spring meeting on 19-20 March.
[Comment] What does the financial crisis mean for EU foreign policy?
DANIEL KORSKI 25.02.2009 @ 09:05 CET
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - In a few months, the financial crisis has changed everything - the nature of capitalism, the appropriate role of the state in managing markets, the limits of government action to name a few. The global financial crisis is now understood to have implications that go far beyond the financial and economic sectors. But what will the crisis do to the EU's fledgling foreign policy? Uncertainty is the currency of the moment, but even through the cloud caused by imploding financial institutions, some of the likely effects on the EU's Common and Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) are discernable.A single market that implodes noisily in the midst of a crisis is hardly an appealing model(Photo: eu2007.de)The first consequence of the financial crisis on the EU's foreign policy is likely to be indirect. The row over protectionism between the Czech leader Mirek Topolanek and France's Nicolas Sarkozy has thrown into relief the notion of member state solidarity, which lies at the heart of the European Project.The EU states are bound together by technical means but rely for their collaboration on something deeper – the idea that Danes and Romanians share a basic sense of a common destiny as constituent parts of single, albeit undefined, political entity. Once this bond of solidarity is diminished, it is hard to see European governments agreeing on much of anything, let alone politically sensitive areas of public policy, such as foreign affairs. Second, the financial crisis will cause a decrease in support for the parts of the foreign policy agenda that the EU has often championed. Funding shortfalls, caused by the billion-euro bailouts, may undermine support for post-material causes such as environmental initiatives, development assistance, and democracy promotion.
Why fight poverty abroad, many of Europe's newly unemployed will ask, if it is rising at home? Post-material causes, because they are newer concerns and not the traditional preserve of member states, have been an opportunity for the EU to establish itself as an important actor in foreign policy. Having staked out its role as a post-material actor, the EU's influence will accordingly decline with the drop in support of a post-material agenda in Europe and beyond. The third problem relates to the EU as a model and norm-setter. As Richard Youngs of Spanish think-tank FRIDE notes the EU's international leverage is based in large measure on the normative appeal of its own internal market. But the row over protectionism has begun raising questions about the viability of Europe's single market, which guarantees the free movement of goods, capital and people. Some old EU states, like France, have also shown their willingness to test the EU's state aid rules in ways never seen before. Together, these developments will have profound effects inside the EU. But they will also diminish the allure of the EU as a model based on the free market and good governance standards. A single market that implodes noisily in the midst of a crisis is hardly an appealing model, even in good times.Fourth, the financial crisis is likely to jeopardise the EU's most successful foreign policy to date, its outward enlargement. Predictably, the European Commission and the Czech government, now at the helm of the EU's rotating presidency, argue that the EU's enlargement has been positive for the union - including by boosting income and trade growth - and therefore should continue, with enthusiasm. But enthusiasm for further enlargement was already on the wane before the crisis. Now, the growing resentment over intra-EU labour migration in countries like Britain, Ireland, and Spain is hardly likely to engender support for millions of potential new migrants from Turkey, or the Balkans or for structural adjustment funds to be spent outside of today's EU. As a new paper by the Center for European Reform notes With Europeans now fearing for their jobs and incomes, opposition to the union taking in more poor countries will most likely rise further.
Fifth, as member state governments start to cut their budgets, funds available to the CFSP mechanisms and bilateral development assistance, especially in the new EU countries, are very likely to take a hit. This may be most keenly felt in Europe's eastern neighbourhood, where the new EU states have complemented European Commission assistance (with a myriad of bilateral programmes). Latvia's assistance to Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus, for example, is likely to be trimmed back. Any appetite for large-scale foreign missions, like the billion-euro EULEX mission in Kosovo, is also set to disappear and not only among new EU states. European governments may also begin cutting their secondments to the EU institutions. Already some countries have told staff seconded to the EU institutions they should not expect their contracts to be extended after 2009. The Lisbon treaty, which the Irish now look likely to approve, establishes as arguably its most important foreign policy provision a new European diplomatic corps - the External Action Service (EAS). Though the treaty is thin on its details, it does specify that the EAS must comprise in part of staff seconded from the EU's diplomatic services. But if European governments cannot afford to fill the forthcoming vacancies with first-class secondees, then the organisation will likely never take off.The writer is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Oil falls below $44 on bleak US GDP, AIG news By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 1, 11:48 pm ET
SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell to below $44 a barrel Monday as hopes for a quick end to the global slump evaporated amid dismal U.S. economic news and the prospect of another massive bailout of ailing insurer American International Group Inc.Benchmark crude for April delivery fell $1.08 to $43.68 a barrel by midday in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 46 cents on Friday to settle at $44.76.In another sign that the U.S. financial crisis continues to sap the government's coffers, AIG will receive up to $30 billion in additional federal assistance, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Sunday. The company previously received about $150 billion in loans from the government, which holds an 80 percent stake.The Commerce Department said Friday that gross domestic product contracted 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, the worst showing in a quarter-century.The fourth quarter GDP data out of the U.S. was simply terrible, said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. It's the economic reality that's correcting oil prices.Investors are concerned demand for oil will continue to weaken amid the worst global slowdown in decades. Prices could fall to $25 a barrel within the next three months, said Alan Plaugmann, head of futures and options trading at Denmark-based Saxo Capital Markets.We expect another leg down from here, Plaugmann said. Consumer demand is in a downward slope. I don't think we'll bring ourselves out of recession for at least three to five years.Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said OPEC doesn't plan to cut production at its next meeting on March 15, state news agency IRNA reported Sunday.Leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have for weeks said the group would likely add to 4.2 million barrels a day of output cuts pledged since September.It's too early to say what they'll do, but more of the OPEC chatter points to the possibility of cutting, Shum said.Many OPEC countries rely on oil revenue to fund their budgets, and leaders of the 13-member cartel have said they would like prices to rise to $70 a barrel. Higher oil prices, however, could choke off economic growth.OPEC is confronting a dilemma, Shum said. Assuming these cuts eventually work and prices go up, OPEC could prolong this global economic downturn.In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery fell 3.15 cents to $1.36 a gallon, while heating oil declined 1.90 cents to $1.25 a gallon. Natural gas for April delivery gained 18.4 cents to $4.26 per 1,000 cubic feet.Brent prices fell $1.16 to $45.19 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r7htckec-U&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/new-world-order-crony-gary-hart-calls-for-civic-duty/&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99vv7jPuA8Q&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/new-world-order-crony-gary-hart-calls-for-civic-duty/&feature=player_embedded
New World Order Crony Gary Hart Calls for Civic Duty Kurt Nimmo Infowars
March 1, 2009
Citing none other than Pericles and John F. Kennedy, CFR member and New World Order minion Gary Hart declares on the liberal Huffington Post website that the notion of dedication, participation, and service is as old as the Republic itself. Hart says the globalist front man Barack Obama has awakened a renewed spirit of national service and the American Republic must now respond. For Hart and the Greek elitist Pericles, those who do not respond are useless and devoid of civic virtue.Gary Hart admits the attacks of September 11, 2001, served as a perfect excuse to create a New World Order. For Hart and the banker front man Obama, it is time for the plebs to give something back to the republic. Unfortunately, the United States is no longer a republic. It is a bankster dominated plutocracy. For Obama, Gary Hart, and the global elite, it is not enough that many Americans volunteer to help those in need within their local communities — the renewed spirit of national service must be mandated by law. Last September, Congress passed the Serve America Act, legislation creating the Education Corps, the Healthy Futures Corps, the Clean Energy Service Corps, the Opportunity Corps, and the Reserve Corps, among other initiatives.During his Inaugural Address, Obama declared this expensive and burdensome expansion of government represents a new era of responsibility.
For Obama and the Democrats, however, national service transcends volunteerism. In a speech on national service at the University of Colorado last year, Obama promised that as president he would set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year.Note that Obama did not say those who volunteered. He said the government will demand all students serve. Once upon a time this was called indentured servitude or slavery. Now it is called a renewed spirit of national service.Problem number one with grand schemes for universal voluntary public service is that they can’t be both universal and voluntary, notes Michael Kinsley.If everybody has to do it, then it’s not voluntary, is it? And if it’s truly up to the individual, then it won’t be universal. What advocates of this sort of thing generally have in mind is using the pressures of social conformity and the powers of the state indirectly to remove as much freedom of choice as possible.
In 2006, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, called for compulsory universal service. It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us, Emanuel wrote in The Plan: Big Ideas for America, co-authored with Bruce Reed. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service.Rahm was not alone in his demand the youth of America be press-ganged into service. On the America Serves page of Obama’s transition website, the following appeared:Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.After a firestorm of criticism, Obama’s people revised the text and removed the word require (see Paul Joseph Watson, Obama Website Scrubs Mandatory Community Service Call, November 10, 2008). Our children, as well as ourselves, are independent individuals. We are not resources to be drawn upon by politicians. Nor do we owe our labor to the government, complained J.D. Tuccille on the Examiner website. Obama, Gary Hart, much of Congress and their global elite controllers, however, would beg to differ. Our rulers pine for the days when kings rallied serfs at the point of a sword into bloody wars waged against their royal cousins, if not directly for conquest at least to dampen the forever present spirit of rebellion on the part of the hungry and dispossessed.
As we enter a new era of hunger and dispossession engineered by the international bankers, the global elite and their minions are calling for national service, not so much to help the homeless and poor but to inculcate the dumbed-down masses into a belief that serving the government — serving the elite — is a highly regarded American attribute. Resistance to expanded public service programs can be expected from the ideologically sclerotic, those who occupy the negative ground between government as the problem and government as our enemy. These are clearly people unfamiliar with Pericles of even for that matter Thomas Jefferson, Gary Hart concludes. Never mind the Greek elitist Pericles, who considered those who refused to serve the Archon useless, it is rather nauseating a globalist tool such as Gary Hart would cite Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson knew that the bankers represent the downfall and enslavement of the republic. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered,Jefferson wrote in 1802. Gary Hart is a trusted member of the Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921 by a very select group of international bankers, Wall Street lawyers and wealthy old money families, that is to say the New World Order. These same international bankers that started the CFR were instrumental in getting President Woodrow Wilson to sign the Federal Reserve Act into existence in 1913 that basically gave these international bankers the power to print money and control our entire economy, writes John W. Wallace. As well, they were instrumental in engineering the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression. Gary Hart’s editorial published by the clueless at the Huffington Post represents a renewed push by the global elite to brainwash the plebs into accepting their enslavement, a prerequisite for the coming times of economic hardship and possible war on a global scale.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
NKorea, UN command hold urgent talks at Korean DMZ By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
SEOUL, South Korea – High-level military officials from North Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. Command held urgent talks at the border Monday amid heightened tensions in the region and concerns that the North intends to test-fire a long-range missile.The talks at the village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea — the first meetings between general-level military officials since 2002 were hastily arranged after the North proposed them last week, U.N. command spokesman Kim Yong-kyu said.These talks can be useful in building trust and preventing misunderstanding as well as introducing transparency regarding the intentions of both sides, the U.N. command said in a statement. Kim said his office would disclose details about the meeting after it was over.Relations between the two Koreas are at their lowest point in a decade, with North Korea bristling over South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's hard-line policy toward Pyongyang. The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict in the 1950s ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.The tensions have intensified in recent weeks amid reports that North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile believed capable of reaching U.S. territory.Analysts say communist North Korea also wants to capture President Barack Obama's attention at a time when international disarmament talks with the regime remain stalled.Obama is dispatching his envoy for North Korea, Stephen W. Bosworth, to Asia this week to discuss the nuclear dispute. Bosworth plans to meet with officials in China, Japan and South Korea, and will consult separately with Russian officials, the State Department said.
The North last week called its plans a peaceful bid to push its space program forward by sending a communications satellite into orbit and warned it would punish anyone who attempts to disrupt its launch plan.Neighboring governments believe the satellite claim may be a cover for a missile launch.The U.S., South Korea and other neighboring nations have warned North Korea against firing either a missile or a satellite, saying both would invite international sanctions.North Korea, which in 2006 tested a nuclear weapon and unsuccessfully fired a long-range missile, is banned from engaging in any ballistic missile activity under a U.N. Security Council resolution.The North, meanwhile, stepped up the rhetoric against South Korea and the U.S., citing a policy of confrontation against the communist country.If the U.S. warlike forces opt for reckless military confrontation and provocation of a war of aggression against (North Korea), the latter will mercilessly stamp out aggressors, said Yang Hyong Sop, vice president of the parliament, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.The warning comes as the U.S. and South Korea prepare for next week's annual military exercises, drills that North Korea calls a rehearsal for invasion but that Seoul and Washington say are purely defensive.South Korea's new unification minister, Hyun In-taek, said Monday that Seoul is ready for dialogue with Pyongyang to improve the difficult ties between the neighboring nations.
The two Koreas remain divided by the world's most heavily fortified border, with the U.S.-led U.N. Command overseeing their 1953 cease-fire.Although other nations contributed forces during the Korean War, U.S. troops are the only combat forces left on the peninsula apart from the South Korean military. The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea.AP Television News reporter Yong-ho Kim contributed to this report.
THE JUDGEMENT OF THE NATIONS
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
DANIEL 12:8-13
8 And I (DANIEL) heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (at the 3 1/2 yr mark of the 7 yr treaty) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
MATTHEW 25:31-46
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Leftists worship at altar of death cult, says book,United in Hate' author explains alliance between jihadists, self-hating Americans March 01, 2009 11:32 pm Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily
It's a book that will make so-called progressives see red.
In United in Hate: The Left's Romance With Tyranny and Terror, author Jamie Glazov says there's an unholy alliance between jihadists and people like Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Ted Turner and Noam Chomsky, and, at the heart of the mutual admiration is a willingness to accept massive numbers of deaths to achieve their objectives.
What's bound to be most infuriating to those Americans and many other westerners mentioned in the book is the way Glazov uses their own words to make the point. Not only do I think it's possible [a Muslim-leftist alliance] but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already, explains leftist British lawmaker George Galloway. It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries, mainly Muslim countries. They have the same interest in opposing savage capitalist globalization, which is intent upon homogenizing the entire world, turning us basically into factory chickens which can be force fed the American diet of everything from food to Coca-Cola to movies and TV culture and whose only role in life is to consume the things produced endlessly by the multinational corporations ...While it's hardly news that there's cheerleading of anti-American Islamists on the left, what is news in United in Hate is the startling diagnosis of what is at the root of the alliance. Glazov concludes: This is where the Western Left and militant Islam (like the Western Left and Communism) intersect: human life must be sacrificed for the sake of the idea. Like Islamists, leftists have a Manichean vision that rigidly distinguishes good from evil. They see themselves as personifications of the former and their opponents as personifications of the latter, who must be slated for ruthless elimination.With both ideologies, explains Glazov, the cause is the dividing line of morality. If you are against it, you are an enemy of the people. We'll ask the man, where do you stand on the question of the revolution? explained Lenin. Are you for it or against it? If he's against it, we'll stand him up against a wall.
Lenin was serious about extermination of political enemies and others who were inconvenient to the cause of the communist revolution in the Soviet Union. But that didn't bother western leftists who traveled there and covered up his crimes and those of his successors. A legendary and persistent hero of the left in the U.S. to this day is Ernesto Che Guevara, Fidel Castro's second in command, whose image still emblazons designer T-shirts on college campuses around the country. His life was recently celebrated in the movie Motorcycle Diaries.But here's what Guevara wrote in his book of the same name: Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls into my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl.
Long after Cuba's firing squads had eliminated tens of thousands of dissidents and the gulags swallowed up the political prisoners, Glazov shows, American leftists, including many celebrities, were still holding up Cuba as the pinnacle of freedom.
Francis Ford Coppola said: Fidel, I love you. We both have the same initials. We both have beards. We both have power and want to use it for good purposes. Harry Belafonte said: If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro.Likewise, Glazov illustrates how many American leftists turned a blind eye to the potential for mass murder in Vietnam in the event of a communist victory. Few had second thoughts or expressed regrets or denunciation of the atrocities when they took place. Once again, writes Glazov, the believers did not care about the victims of their idols. In the eyes of the Left, those victims had merely gotten what they deserved – because their existence was an obstacle in the path to earthly utopia.Glazov points out that modern Islamism was actually incubated by both the Nazis and Marxist-Leninist thought. While militant Islam has its own unique religious component, it shares with the secular totalitarianisms the impulse to create an earthly paradise by washing the slate clean with human blood, he writes. There is in fact no sacred/secular distinction in Islam, and Islamists envision enforcing the kingdom of heaven on earth. The greatest obligation of the Islamist, like that of the believer in the other two totalisms, is to submit his will to the deity and, if the opportunity arises, to give his life for it. Martyrdom and suicide become the favored expressions of this submission and of the radical desire for perfection. It is precisely this ingredient that has so attracted the Western Left to Islamism.
Besides anti-Americanism and bloodlust, leftists and Islamists share another common denominator, writes Glazov – hatred of Jews. Like its ideological cousins, Fascism and Communism, Islamism wages war against Jews in its effort to secure its own survival, he says. Totalist ideologies detest modernity, individual freedom and any value place on individual human life – notions with which Jews are strongly identified. Jews also personify the enduring struggle to survive, rather than the impulse to destroy and perish. … [S]uch a disposition is tantamount to a declaration of war.If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Jamie Glazov, e-mail publicist Sandy Frazier.
JERUSALEM – President Obama's administration is carefully monitoring Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and has already protested to the highest levels of Israeli government about evidence found of housing expansion in those areas, according to informed Israeli officials speaking to WND. The officials, who spoke on condition that their names be withheld, said in recent weeks Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, oversaw the establishment of an apparatus based in the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem that closely monitors eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods, incorporating regular tours on a daily basis. Said one Israeli official: If the U.S. notices even one bulldozer on the region of E1, they immediately call us on the level of [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and ask Olmert what that bulldozer is doing there and whether we are planning anything in Jerusalem.The official was referring to the Jewish neighborhood of Maale Adumim, located in eastern Jerusalem. Olmert's government previously approved the expansion of the community, but new construction largely has been halted. The official said in recent meetings, Mitchell strongly protested Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem. Mitchell also condemned the work of nationalist Jewish groups to purchase property in Jerusalem's Old City, including in areas intimately tied to Judaism. Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War.
The Palestinians, however, have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital. About 244,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, out of a total population of 724,000, the majority Jewish. A number of Arab-majority eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods widely regarded as slated for a Palestinian state include large numbers of Arabs – over 100,000 – who live on Jewish-owned land illegally. The Jewish National Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit, owns hundred of acres of eastern Jerusalem land in which tens of thousands of Arabs illegally constructed homes the past few decades. Arabs are now the majority on the Jewish-owned land in question.
Israel warns of Gaza riposte on eve of aid meeting by Charly Wegman – Sun Mar 1, 10:13 pm ET
JERUSALEM, (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to respond severely to militant rocket strikes from Gaza on the eve of an international donor conference on funding the territory's reconstruction.Shortly after he spoke, Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired five rockets at southern Israel, according to the Israeli military, further straining a fragile ceasefire.One of the rockets exploded in the yard of a house in Sderot causing some damage. The other four blew up on waste land, the military said.Israel waged its deadly 22-day offensive with the stated aim of halting rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants, a goal it signally failed to achieve.If the rocket fire from Gaza continues, we will hit back severely, so much so that the terrorist organisations will understand that Israel is not ready to resign itself to this, Olmert said at the weekly cabinet meeting.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak will give directions so that Israeli forces bring calm to southern Israel, the outgoing premier said.His comments came six weeks after the end of the Israel offensive, which left more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead and destroyed homes and infrastructure throughout the Hamas-ruled territory.On Saturday, a volley of seven rockets fired from Gaza struck Israel.Egyptian efforts to broker a lasting truce in and around Gaza have so far come to nothing, with sporadic militant rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes continuing since the offensive ended on January 18.International donors are meeting in Egypt on Monday to discuss efforts to rebuild the impoverished Gaza Strip, which has been all but cut off from the outside world since Hamas seized control in June 2007.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the aid conference on her first visit to the Middle East since taking office.On the eve of the conference, former British prime minister Tony Blair made his first visit to Gaza since June 2007, when he became the Middle East Quartet envoy.The Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is to meet on the sidelines of the Sharm conference, with Israeli-Palestinian peace talks frozen since the Gaza war.The Quartet has refused to have dealings with Hamas, saying it must first renounce violence, recognise Israel and agree to abide by past peace agreements.
Mideast envoy Blair makes first Gaza visit by Joseph Krauss – Sun Mar 1, 11:30 am ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) – Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair paid a brief visit to a UN school in the Gaza Strip on Sunday on his first trip to the Hamas-run enclave since being appointed Middle East Quartet envoy.I wanted to come to hear for myself first-hand from people in Gaza, whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict, Blair said at the school in the northern town of Beit Hanun.These are the people who need to be the focus of all our efforts for peace and progress from now on, he said, adding that he would relay what he saw to an international conference on Gaza reconstruction in Egypt on Monday.The Middle East Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- is due to meet on the sidelines of the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.Blair's visit coincided with a trip by British International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, the first to Gaza by a British minister since the Islamists violently seized power in the enclave in June 2007.Alexander pledged 30 million pounds (43 million dollars, 34 million euros) toward rebuilding and called on Israel to open the borders of the territory where he said he was horrified by the scale of human suffering.Today I am making an allocation of 30 million pounds as a new statement of our commitment to do what we can as a British government to alleviate the suffering, Alexander said at a press conference.We want to see full and unfettered access both for aid and for aid workers here in Gaza.Blair met Gaza businesspeople, members of civil society and representatives of the water authority, as well as dropping in on an English class, British consulate officials said.But unlike recent high-profile visitors to Gaza -- including UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Senator John Kerry -- Blair did not visit the areas most devastated by the three-week Israeli war on the territory.John Ging, the Gaza director of the UN refugee agency, said he hoped the visits had convinced decision-makers to change their failed policies and lift the Israeli and international blockade.
We rest our case now, there is nothing more to say. They have seen it and now it's up to them to live up to their responsibility to actually change it, he said after accompanying Blair on the school visit.Focus on the people, not the politics, and get the crossings open. It's as simple as that.Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but limited humanitarian aid since Hamas, a group pledged to Israel's destruction, seized power in June 2007 after weeks of deadly street battles with secular Fatah rivals.Most of Gaza's 1.4 million population relies on aid from the outside world.Israel's 22-day onslaught in December and January caused damaged estimated at 1.95 billion dollars, the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction says.Blair was appointed Quartet representative in June 2007 after he stepped down following 10 years as prime minister.He had planned to make his maiden visit to Gaza in July 2008, but it was cancelled because of security concerns. Since his appointment, Blair has been spearheading several projects aimed at revitalising the Palestinian economy, including three planned industrial zones in the occupied West Bank. He has also pushed development projects in Gaza, including the repair of the water treatment plant, where a reservoir burst its banks in March 2007, flooding a village with raw sewage and drowning five Palestinians. The Quartet has refused to have dealings with Hamas, which swept Palestinian elections in January 2006, saying the group first has to renounce violence, recognise Israel and agree to abide by past peace deals. Blair said he hopes the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas can together develop a unified Palestinian response in a way that the international community can engage with the Palestinian people.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Rare snow blankets South as East braces for storm By JAY REEVES, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A potent March snowstorm blanketed much of the Southeast with snow Sunday before barreling toward the Northeast, where officials prepared snowplows and road-salt for a wintery assault.The icy blast threatened to drop up to a foot of snow in the Philadelphia area, 13 inches in New York and 15 inches across southern New England late Sunday.Thousands of New York City sanitation workers prepared to salt city streets, and airlines preemptively canceled flights Sunday at the region's major airports.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation planned to attack the snow in the Philadelphia area with 400 trucks and 77,000 tons of stockpiled salt, assistant press secretary Gene Blaum said.In Georgia, the snowfall rendered roads treacherous and delayed flights, while in Alabama, more than 210 churches in the central part of the Bible Belt state had to cancel morning services.
Vonda Braswell of Alabaster, Ala. was throwing snowballs in her front yard instead of putting on her Sunday best. I think you can worship in this it's so rare, she said.Up to 7 inches of snow was expected through Monday morning in areas of Maryland, northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., where Mayor Adrian Fenty declared a snow emergency.In Virginia, nearly 10,000 customers of two power companies lost electric power Sunday night after the storm blew in.Maryland has already spent more than $40 million responding to bad weather in what's been a colder-than-usual winter, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Sunday. Any money spent on digging out from the rare March storm will further burden a state that's facing a $2 billion budget shortfall.I don't like snow,O'Malley said.In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced more than 1,300 sanitation workers stood ready to spread salt and plow streets.It's the first of March, which as you know is the month that we say comes in like a lion and out like a lamb, he said. It's pretty clear that the lions are getting ready to roar.
As Wayne Letson drove through Alabama toward Florida on Sunday, the Michigan resident fretted about sharing the roads with Southerners unaccustomed to winter weather. The last time it snowed in Alabama was more than a year ago, in January 2008.This is nothing to me, but I'm worried about the other people who think they know what they're doing, he said.Despite above-freezing temperatures in downtown Atlanta, a heavy curtain of snow fell on cars and caused traffic accidents on slushy streets. The unusual weather prompted Jessi Prahl and Max DiPace to take their dog, Cooper, on a walk through snow-covered Piedmont Park.You know us Southerners, we all freak out when it snows, said Prahl, 26.Some flights were canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where the average delay was nearly two hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Web site.AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson said flights out of Atlanta into the Northeast might also be canceled Sunday night.I expect the Northeast will be hit pretty hard tonight so our expectations is that people flying into Washington, D.C., and Boston will need to call or check our Web site for possible cancellations, Hutcheson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia transportation officials warned of potential icy buildup on roads in middle and northern counties through Monday morning, especially as temperatures plummet overnight.The late Southern snowfall revived memories of a large storm in 1993 that forecasters nicknamed the Snowfall of the Century, which spanned a region from Alabama to north of Washington, D.C., said Laura Griffith of the National Weather Service. In that storm, Atlanta received 4.2 inches of snow and 13 inches fell on Birmingham, Ala. Outside the CNN Center in downtown Atlanta, Flori Kwon of Claremont, Calif., took pictures of her son Jake, 5, cavorting in the snow.
He wants to make a snowman but I don't think there's enough, Kwon said while large snowflakes landed in her hair. We're kind of surprised it's snowing.Associated Press writers Daniel Yee and Christina Almeida in Atlanta contributed to this report.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
FAREED TALKS ABOUT MUSLIM,AL-QUIDA
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/03/01/gps.fund.islam.panel.cnn
Mullen: Iran has fissile materials for bomb By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
WCCO Minneapolis Play Video Iran Video:Iran starts-up nuclear plant Reuters WASHINGTON – The top U.S. military official said Sunday that Iran has sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon, declaring it would be a very, very bad outcome should Tehran move forward with a bomb.Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered the assessment when questioned in a broadcast interview about a recent report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on the state of Iran's uranium enrichment program, which can create nuclear fuel and may be sufficiently advanced to produce the core of warheads.Mullen was asked if Iran now had enough fissile material to make a bomb. He responded, We think they do, quite frankly. And Iran having a nuclear weapon I've believed for a long time is a very, very bad outcome for the region and for the world.Mullen's spokesman, Capt. John Kirby, said Mullen was referring only to the International Atomic Energy Agency's finding that Iran has processed 2,222 pounds (1,010 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium.Experts differ on whether that stockpile is enough to allow Iran to further refine the material and arm one weapon, should it choose to do so. Experts also disagree about how long it would take Iran to make the leap to a deployable weapon. Iran is continuing an accelerated nuclear development program.State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said Sunday that it was not possible say how much fissile material Iran has accumulated.There are differing view not only outside government but also inside the government on how far Iran has gone, Wood said. He added that while he was not suggesting Mullen was incorrect, We just don't know exactly how much fissile material Iran now holds.
We are concerned they are getting close to having enough to build a nuclear weapon, he added. Wood spoke to reporters traveling with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Egypt.Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who like Mullen appeared on the Sunday talk shows, did not go as far as Mullen. The Iranians, Gates said, are not close to a weapon at this point and so there is some time for continued diplomatic efforts.And the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, recently told National Public Radio that the IAEA report confirms what we all had feared and anticipated, which is that Iran remains in pursuit of its nuclear program.Iran, now subjected to various penalties by the U.N., the U.S. and others over its nuclear program, denies it wants to build a bomb. It asserts its program is intended to provide the country with the homegrown ability to generate electricity from nuclear reactors.So far, the U.S. has not relented in its claims that Iran has ambitions to join the club of nuclear-armed nations. Mullen seemed to restate that position in his remarks on CNN's State of the Union. He was not asked to elaborate.Under an international nuclear treaty it has signed, Iran has the right to develop a civilian program for the nuclear generation of electricity. But any such program must be open to international inspection. Iran has balked at that after it became known in past years that the country had hidden portions of its nuclear effort that could be linked to a weapons program.At issue now is Iran's uranium enrichment efforts. The Bush administration insisted that was a precursor to making weapons-grade materials. President Barack Obama has sought to change course with Iran, offering diplomatic engagement in a bid to prove Tehran has more to lose by ignoring the wishes of other countries than it has to gain through its nuclear efforts.The question is whether you can increase the level of the sanctions and the cost to the Iranians of pursuing that program at the same time you show them an open door if they want to engage with the Europeans, with us and so on if they walk away from that program, Gates said. Our chances of being successful, it seems to me, are a lot better at $35 or $40 oil than they were at $140 oil because there are economic costs to this program, they do have economic challenges at home.Days after Obama announced his plan to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010, Mullen and Gates made clear their support for the commander in chief's approach.
Mullen said he was comfortable with the decision, while noting he was reluctant to talk about winning and losing in Iraq. Rather, he said, the conditions are in place for the Baghdad government to successfully take control of the country.Mullen said Obama listened extensively to the American military leadership and U.S. commanders in Iraq before announcing withdrawal. Under the president's order, the 142,000 U.S. forces in Iraq would be drawn down to between 35,000 and 50,000 troops by the 2010 date. All forces would be withdrawn by the last day of 2011. Gates said he thought it was fairly remote that conditions in Iraq would change enough to alter significantly the Obama plan. He said the president has said he retains the authority to change a plan if it's in the national security interests of the United States. Our soldiers will be consolidated into a limited number of bases in order to provide protection for themselves and for civilians who are out working in the Iraqi neighborhoods and countryside as well, Gates said. The risk to our troops will be substantially less than certainly was last year, and it has, has gradually declined.
Gates appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, while Mullen also was interviewed on Fox News Sunday.Associated Press writers Anne Gearan in Washington and Robert Burns in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, contributed to this story.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Sarkozy: No new commission president before Irish Lisbon re-run
ELITSA VUCHEVA 01.03.2009 @ 20:09 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The next president of the European Commission should not be appointed before Ireland's re-vote on the Lisbon treaty, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday (1 March), while reiterating his support for current commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.As regards the different candidacies, as you know, we are subject to the decision of our Irish friends on the ratification of the Lisbon treaty ...Depending on that, we will ask ourselves questions,Mr Sarkozy told journalists following a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.I love Mr Barroso (l) very much,Mr Sarkozy (r) said (Photo: © European Community, 2008 )Ireland is expected to announce when it will hold its second referendum on the treaty by a June meeting of EU leaders at the latest. Irish citizens rejected the document in a first referendum last summer.The second vote is expected sometime in autumn, although there has been intense debate about whether to hold it earlier to cash in on fears Irish citizens have about the effects of the economic crisis. The next president of the commission was meant to be chosen at the June summit, a few weeks after the European Parliament elections.But the Irish vote will determine whether the EU will stick with the current Nice treaty - which foresees a reduction in the number of commissioners - or move to the Lisbon treaty.
Agreeing the commission chief later in the year is set to delay the whole of the new commission which is supposed to come into office at the beginning of November.Mr Sarkozy suggested it would be more cautious to wait anyway.I did a lot so that Ireland revotes, I was very much criticised about that ...I think that if we want to be a little clever [now], it is better to wait for the Irish vote rather than decide before they vote, he said.If we want to be blamed by everybody, let's do it. If we didn't understand what is happening, let's do it [appoint the president before the revote],he added.The French leader, who has previously backed the current commission president for a second mandate, reiterated his support for Mr Barroso.I do not change [my mind] like that, he said.I love Mr Barroso very much, I loved working with him [during the French EU presidency in the second half of 2008], I trust him and I trust the commission.
New member states call for EU solidarity
HONOR MAHONY 01.03.2009 @ 14:13 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Central and eastern European countries have called for solidarity among member states, as several western states look to national solutions to get themselves out of the current economic crisis.The gathering of nine member states, who all joined the bloc after 2004, also offered their public support to the European Commission to uphold the principles of the internal market and fight against protectionism.Their message came just before all 27 member states gather in Brussels on Sunday afternoon (1 March) to talk about forging an EU response to the crisis, which has been notable for the public friction it has caused between national governments.Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, who chaired the mini meeting, said the EU as a whole should show universal solidarity, more responsibility and more optimism.He called on all member states to adhere to the rules and principles enshrined in the EU treaties, referring to upholding basic internal market rules and said the temptation of protectionism should be avoided.
The European Commission, which is currently examining plans by six member states to aid their car industries to see if they breach the bloc's strict state aid rules, welcomed their support.It is very important that in times of difficulty all countries of Europe are working together,said commission presisdent Jose Manuel Barroso.We need to do things in the spirit of true solidarity, he added noting that he had seen great commitment to Europe from the region.The newer member states have been alarmed by signs that richer member states intend to try and buy their way out of the crisis, an option not open to central and eastern countries.They have been calling for an EU response as a way of avoiding this trend, which could lead to a run towards economic nationalism. France prompted the talk of protectionism with its plans to give 6bn euros to its two major car-makers - a package that the European Commission has just indicated it will accept. French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to ask for an EU-wide car package at the summit later today, something which Germany is strongly opposed to.Meanwhile, solidarity among member states is in short supply as several countries grapple with the effects of the crisis and angry citizens.Some eastern states - including Hungary and Poland - feeling the cold of being outside the 16-nation eurozone, have asked that the rules for entering the single currency be speeded up.But this has already been rebuffed by Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, in charge of the eurozone, who on arriving to the Brussels summit said: I don't think that we can change the accession criteria overnight. This is not feasible.
Currently the rules stipluate that countries have to remain in the euro waiting room for two years after meeting strict defict and exchange rate criteria. Poland's Europe minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz said that one of the reasons of the Sunday morning's mini summit was stop there being a a plan for the west and a plan for the rest.He pointed to the issue of bailing out banks saying that eastern European member states, most of whom are outside the single currency, are worried that bailouts will be agreed only for eurozone banks and not for the rest.The meeting of EU leaders - a three-hour lunch - is expected to try and agree a common statement on how to respond to the crisis. A draft of the statement talks about building confidence and promoting financial stability as well as making the maximum possible use of the single market.
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
SPECIAL CONFERENCE MAR 23-24,2009,ALL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL BE THERE,ALL THE EU MEMBERS WILL BE THERE,AND THE G-20 WILL BE THERE.THIS SAME GROUP OF EU,BANKERS,G-20 WILL ALSO BE IN LONDON IN APRIL TO LAY PLANS FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER,ESPECIALLY THE G-20.https://futurefinance.wsj.com/index.php
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON MAR 02,2009
09:30 AM -34.09
10:00 AM -124.17
10:30 AM -146.79
11:00 AM -182.39
11:30 AM -195.54
12:00 PM -232.89
12:30 PM -222.38
01:00 PM -252.56
01:30 PM -238.78
02:00 PM -206.53
02:30 PM -244.36
03:00 PM -253.44
03:30 PM -249.51
04:00 PM -299.64 6763.29
S&P 500 700.82 -34.27
NASDAQ 1322.85 -54.99
GOLD 926.00 -16.50
OIL 40.01 -4.75
TSE 300 7668.96 -454.06
CDNX 828.04 -33.62
S&P/TSX/60 460.54 -29.02
WORLD DOWN MARKETS TODAY
Australia -78.90
Hong Kong -494.11
Japan -288.27
Belgium -86.02
Europe DJ STOXX -99.57
France -121.02
Germany -133.67
Netherlands -11.28
Norway -4.54
Sweden -21.12
UK -204.26
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -19.52%
S&P -18.62%
Nasdaq -12.63%
TSX Advances 709,declines 799,unchanged 286,Volume 2,688,688,130.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 412,Declines 388,Unchanged 357,Volume 187,759,107.
Dow -132 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -182 points at low today.
Dow -104 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $949.00.OIL opens at $41.71 today.
2 more banks close over the weekend making a total of 16 went under so far.
Somali leader accedes to demand for Sharia law.
Wall Street:Teetering on 12 year lows.
General Electric slashes dividends by 2/3rdS.
Winter storm moving up East coast.
Hamas fired 9 rockets into ISRAEL,Olmert threatens to retaliate.
Clinton in Egypt,on to West bank,Israel,then off to the E.U for talks.
America watches North Korea about launching missle test.
Dow falls below 7000 points for first time since OCT 28,1997.
Dows last close below 7000 points was MAY 01,1997.
Over half of Dow stocks at mut-year lows this morning.
Dow is 51% below all-time closing high of 14,164 points,set in OCT 2007.
Dow briefly under 6,900 points this morning.(6,894 or -168 points).
Dow has not posted a Monthly gain since AUGUST 2008.
S&P,Nasdaq also lower in early market sell-off today so far.
S&P is 54% below all-time closing high set on OCTOBER 9,2007.
YEAR TO DATE STATS (VARIOUS)
Dow utilities -12.62%
NYSE Composite -19.80%
Russell 2000 -22.11%
Dow Transports -29.35%
Alcoa -46%
Caterpillar -47%
General Electric -51%
Bank of America -75%
CitiGroup -77%
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -252 points at low today so far.
Dow -104 points at high today so far.
NY FED to make new loans of up to $8.5 BILLION to AIG life subsidiaries.
AIG to issue 77.9% stake in new convertible PFD shares to U.S GOVERNMENT.
AIG bailout revised,posts record loss.
Foster Wheeler sheds 25% in 1-week amid doubts that Stimulus will work.
HMOS,Energy & Financials pace broad decline today.
DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 368,declines 3,370,unchanged 51,New Highs 7,New Lows 721.
Volume 3,514,105,645.
NASDAQ Advances 439,declines 2,240,unchanged 89,New highs 1,New Lows 435.
Volume 912,481,775.
TSX Advances 272,declines 1089,unchanged 228,Volume 1,231,341,014.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 217,Declines 343,Unchanged 410,Volume 94,771,080.
HALF THE STOCKS ON THE S&P ARE TRADING UNDER $10.00.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -301 points at low today.
Dow -104 points at high today.
Dow -4.24% today Volume 568,603,786.
Nasdaq -3.99% today Volume 2,142,582,241.
S&P 500 -4.66% today Volume N/A
ONLY 12 OF DOWS STOCKS ARE PLUS SINCE 1997,7000 POINTS,18 HAVE NOT MADE MONEY.
Dow down volume was 30-1 in trading today.
60% of dow members at Muti-year lows.
All 10 S&P sectors down today.
HSBC to cut 6000 U.S JOBS.
Worst first trading day of March ever.
Dow lowest close since APRIL 1997.
Stocks end near days lows.
S&P falls 55.2% since alltime closing high OCT,2007.
Dow falls 52.3% since alltime closing high oCT,2007.
Nasdaq down 16.1% in 2009.
Dow down 22.9% in 2009.
S&P down 22.4% in 2009.
OIL FALLS 10% TODAY.
Nasdaq still above NOV closing low.
All 30 Dow stocks down today.
Dow ends below 6,800 points today.
S&P lowest close since NOV,1996.
S&P dips below 700 INTRADAY,closes just above KEY LEVEL.
EMPLOYMENT REPORT
FEB forecast -630,000
JAN 09 -598,000
DEC 08 -577,000
NOV 08 -597,000
RECORD LOWS DOW
-Sept 30,1996 5,882.17
-Oct 30,1996 5,993.23
-Nov 6,1996 6,177.71
-Dec 16,1996 6,268.35
-Apr 15,1997 6,587.16
-Apr 21,1997 6,660.21
-Apr 28,1997 6,783.02
-May 1,1997 6,976.48
-May 7,1997 7,085.65
RECORD LOWS S&P 500
-Sept 5,1996 649.44
-Sept 6,1996 655.68
-Sept 11,1996 667.28
-Sept 12,1996 671.13
-Oct 1,1996 689.08
-Oct 28,1996 697.26
-Nov 4,1996 706.73
-Nov 5,1996 714.14
-Dec 17,1996 726.04
From The Times March 2, 2009 New Iron Curtain will split EU's rich and poorDavid Charter in Brussels
Eastern European countries gave an apocalyptic warning yesterday of hordes of unemployed workers heading west as a new Iron Curtain divides rich from poor inside Europe. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Western leaders were told yesterday that five million jobs could be lost in the new European Union countries of the East unless radical action were taken to bail them out. The spectacular collapse of some of the post-communist tiger economies led to demands at an EU summit in Brussels for a rescue fund of €190 billion (£170 billion) to stop social collapse in the Eastern nations spilling over into the rest of Europe. The plea, led by Hungary, was rejected in a bad-tempered meeting of the 27 European leaders, dominated by fears that Western EU countries would rather prop up their own large industries and jobs at the expense of the East. Instead Gordon Brown renewed his call for a huge injection of funds into the International Monetary Fund, which has already doled out large sums to Hungary and Latvia and is soon to receive a begging letter from Romania. The Prime Minister refused, however, to say where the fresh money for the IMF would come from. As he prepared to fly off for talks with President Obama today, Mr Brown left behind an EU increasingly split between its old and new economies and lacking the unity that he hoped to present in Washington and at the G20 summit in London next month. Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Hungarian leader, openly raised the spectre of collapse in Eastern Europe and the creation of a new Iron Curtain. Central Europe’s refinancing needs in 2009 could total €300 billion, 30per cent of the region’s GDP, he said in a paper calling for a fund of €160 billion to €190 billion to be set up by the richer EU members. A significant crisis in Eastern Europe would trigger political tensions and immigration pressures. With a Central and Eastern European population of 350 million, of which 100 million are in the EU, a 10 per cent increase in unemployment would lead to at least five million unemployed people within the EU.
From The Sunday TimesMarch 1, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5822265.ece
Brown woos Obama on global dealJonathan Oliver, Political Editor
GORDON BROWN hopes to forge a partnership with President Barack Obama in Washington this week, to call for a global new deal to lift the world out of recession. As he prepares for his first White House visit since the president’s inauguration, the prime minister has hinted that he is ready to make further tax cuts to boost the UK economy. Brown will meet Obama on Tuesday and address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Aides say he has both to demonstrate to a sceptical British public that he commands the respect of the president, and to persuade the American political establishment that global action is needed to rescue the US economy. Brown is under pressure to persuade American political leaders to sign up to bold aims for the G20 summit of industrial and leading developing nations, which is to be held in London next month. Many US politicians believe economic policy should put America first, and have shown little interest in concerted global action. Brown will argue for a renewal of the transatlantic relationship, with the two powers working together to solve global economic problems. The prime minister will borrow from the rhetoric of Franklin Roosevelt, who introduced the government-financed New Deal to tackle the US Depression of the 1930s. He will argue that his 21st century global new deal will also require public spending on a huge world-wide scale. Writing in The Sunday Times today, Brown calls for universal action to prevent the crisis spreading, to stimulate the global economy and to help reduce the severity and length of the global recession. His stress on continued economic stimulation will increase speculation about next month’s budget. No 10 sources said that, while no final decision had been taken about further tax cuts, the prime minister would do whatever it took to pull the UK out of recession.
Asian stock markets tumble on worsening US slump By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ, AP Business Writer MAR 02,09
HONG KONG – Asian stocks tumbled Monday after the U.S. economy withered at its fastest pace in more than a quarter century, heightening doubts that the global economy can recover later this year. Japan's benchmark fell nearly 4 percent.As in the U.S. and Europe, investors across the region were shaken after figures Friday showed gross domestic product in the world's largest economy shrank at a 6.2 percent annual pace at the end of last year.The decline, worse than most economists had expected, was the country's sharpest since 1982.Adding to fears that the world economic crisis won't end anytime soon were signs that the world's financial firms, already infused with billions of dollars in government aid over the last year, need still more capital to make up for their colossal losses on bad assets.Last week, Citigroup Inc. agreed to turn over a huge stake to the U.S. government. European banking giant HSBC PLC is expected to unveil plans to raise 12 billion pounds ($17 billion) in a new rights issue when it reports results later Monday. And faltering insurer American International Group looks set to get a $30 billion bailout — its fourth government rescue.You're seeing the U.S. is sinking lower and lower, and we're still desperately searching for a bottom, said John Mar, co-head of sales trading at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Hong Kong. It's death by a thousand cuts, a slow death right now.Every major market in Asia convulsed with selling.In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 288.27, or 3.8 percent, to 7,280.15.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 501.99 points, or 3.9 percent, to 12,309.58, and South Korea's Kospi plummeted 4.2 percent to 1,018.81. Markets in Australia, Taiwan and Singapore shed about 3 percent or more.Equities markets in the U.S. and Europe suffered a similar rout on Friday.In New York, the Dow fell 119.15, or 1.7 percent, to 7,062.93 — its lowest close since May 1, 1997.The S&P 500 index fell 17.74, or 2.4percent, to 735.09, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.63, or 1 percent, to 1,377.84.With U.S. futures down, Wall Street was poised for more losses. Dow futures were down 93 points, or 1.3 percent, at 6,959 and S&P500 futures lost 12.8, or 1.7 percent, to 721.40.Asian financial stocks were among the hardest hit. Leading Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group dived over 5 percent. In Hong Kong, shares of HSBC were suspended ahead of Monday's results and expected announcements.
Oil prices weakened in early trade, with benchmark crude for April delivery down 98 cents at $43.78. Last week in the U.S., the contract fell 46 cents to settle at $44.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.In currencies, the dollar was little changed at 97.50 yen, while the euro dropped to $1.2585 from $1.2668.
EU leaders paper over divisions on economic crisis
HONOR MAHONY 01.03.2009 @ 20:25 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Just hours after the European Commission approved a French car aid plan, EU leaders on Sunday (1 March) sought to put a lid on damaging divisions in the bloc on how to deal with the financial crisis by saying that none of its member states is being protectionist.We agreed that there is no case that we see as protectionist, said Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek, who called the informal gathering of EU leaders to discuss the threat of protectionism.Downplaying the public spat between Paris and Prague sparked by French comments against car companies relocating to eastern Europe, the Czech leader added: We agreed that this is rather more a media thing than reality.The summit had been called on the back of rising fears that internal market rules would be breached as countries sought to protect industries, particularly the car sector, from haemorrhaging jobs. Bullish talk by Mr Sarkozy in the run-up to the summit on his right to protect industry had led to tension around the EU. But the heat was taken out of the summit after a u-turn by the French government relaxing some of the conditions for its €6 billion car industry aid plan, meaning the European Commission could give its approval to the plan just ahead of the summit.
Bad word - bad idea
After Sunday's meeting French president Sarkozy told reporters that protectionism was a bad word and a bad idea.Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, who chaired a pre-summit gathering of nine central and eastern European states said: Everybody without exception agreed that protectionism is not a cure for the crisis. We also reached agreement that the EU will jointly try to stabilise currencies, no matter how many countries are in the eurozone.European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso noted that it was very clearly stated that the internal market is the engine for recovery.There was also a concerted effort to stop talk of an east-west divide as richer member states look to spend their way out of the crisis.Mr Barroso stressed that each country has to be looked at on its own merits and that the region could not be viewed as a homogenous whole, while Czech prime minister Topolanek said: I think it is clear that the EU is going to leave nobody in the lurch.
No bailout for eastern Europe
However, a push by the new member states to speed up the procedure for entering the eurozone as a way of helping them cope with the economic crisis was rejected by other EU member states. A proposal by Hungary to set up a fund of at least €160 billion for central and eastern European countries was also turned down.German chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the need for a one-size-fits-all bailout, saying the situation in Hungary - which has been hard hit by the global credit crisis - cannot be directly compared to other countries in the region.The final statement of the summit says that protectionism is no answer to the current crisis and has a line saying that support for parent banks should not imply any restrictions on the activities of subsidiaries in the EU host countries. Eastern member states fear that if parent banks in western countries get into financial trouble they could withdraw capital from their daughter banks in eastern Europe.Although diplomats said there was a harmonious atmosphere around the table, little of substance was agreed.
Business group Eurochambres complained about the results of the meeting, saying there were no tangible actions.This summit was yet another rather unproductive political showpiece, bringing no concrete solutions to the dramatic economic situation and showing a worrying lack of economic co-ordination among member states. We deeply hope that the spring European Council will do better in a couple weeks time,said secretary general Arnaldo Abruzzini.EU leaders are due to meet for their regular spring meeting on 19-20 March.
[Comment] What does the financial crisis mean for EU foreign policy?
DANIEL KORSKI 25.02.2009 @ 09:05 CET
EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - In a few months, the financial crisis has changed everything - the nature of capitalism, the appropriate role of the state in managing markets, the limits of government action to name a few. The global financial crisis is now understood to have implications that go far beyond the financial and economic sectors. But what will the crisis do to the EU's fledgling foreign policy? Uncertainty is the currency of the moment, but even through the cloud caused by imploding financial institutions, some of the likely effects on the EU's Common and Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) are discernable.A single market that implodes noisily in the midst of a crisis is hardly an appealing model(Photo: eu2007.de)The first consequence of the financial crisis on the EU's foreign policy is likely to be indirect. The row over protectionism between the Czech leader Mirek Topolanek and France's Nicolas Sarkozy has thrown into relief the notion of member state solidarity, which lies at the heart of the European Project.The EU states are bound together by technical means but rely for their collaboration on something deeper – the idea that Danes and Romanians share a basic sense of a common destiny as constituent parts of single, albeit undefined, political entity. Once this bond of solidarity is diminished, it is hard to see European governments agreeing on much of anything, let alone politically sensitive areas of public policy, such as foreign affairs. Second, the financial crisis will cause a decrease in support for the parts of the foreign policy agenda that the EU has often championed. Funding shortfalls, caused by the billion-euro bailouts, may undermine support for post-material causes such as environmental initiatives, development assistance, and democracy promotion.
Why fight poverty abroad, many of Europe's newly unemployed will ask, if it is rising at home? Post-material causes, because they are newer concerns and not the traditional preserve of member states, have been an opportunity for the EU to establish itself as an important actor in foreign policy. Having staked out its role as a post-material actor, the EU's influence will accordingly decline with the drop in support of a post-material agenda in Europe and beyond. The third problem relates to the EU as a model and norm-setter. As Richard Youngs of Spanish think-tank FRIDE notes the EU's international leverage is based in large measure on the normative appeal of its own internal market. But the row over protectionism has begun raising questions about the viability of Europe's single market, which guarantees the free movement of goods, capital and people. Some old EU states, like France, have also shown their willingness to test the EU's state aid rules in ways never seen before. Together, these developments will have profound effects inside the EU. But they will also diminish the allure of the EU as a model based on the free market and good governance standards. A single market that implodes noisily in the midst of a crisis is hardly an appealing model, even in good times.Fourth, the financial crisis is likely to jeopardise the EU's most successful foreign policy to date, its outward enlargement. Predictably, the European Commission and the Czech government, now at the helm of the EU's rotating presidency, argue that the EU's enlargement has been positive for the union - including by boosting income and trade growth - and therefore should continue, with enthusiasm. But enthusiasm for further enlargement was already on the wane before the crisis. Now, the growing resentment over intra-EU labour migration in countries like Britain, Ireland, and Spain is hardly likely to engender support for millions of potential new migrants from Turkey, or the Balkans or for structural adjustment funds to be spent outside of today's EU. As a new paper by the Center for European Reform notes With Europeans now fearing for their jobs and incomes, opposition to the union taking in more poor countries will most likely rise further.
Fifth, as member state governments start to cut their budgets, funds available to the CFSP mechanisms and bilateral development assistance, especially in the new EU countries, are very likely to take a hit. This may be most keenly felt in Europe's eastern neighbourhood, where the new EU states have complemented European Commission assistance (with a myriad of bilateral programmes). Latvia's assistance to Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus, for example, is likely to be trimmed back. Any appetite for large-scale foreign missions, like the billion-euro EULEX mission in Kosovo, is also set to disappear and not only among new EU states. European governments may also begin cutting their secondments to the EU institutions. Already some countries have told staff seconded to the EU institutions they should not expect their contracts to be extended after 2009. The Lisbon treaty, which the Irish now look likely to approve, establishes as arguably its most important foreign policy provision a new European diplomatic corps - the External Action Service (EAS). Though the treaty is thin on its details, it does specify that the EAS must comprise in part of staff seconded from the EU's diplomatic services. But if European governments cannot afford to fill the forthcoming vacancies with first-class secondees, then the organisation will likely never take off.The writer is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Oil falls below $44 on bleak US GDP, AIG news By ALEX KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer – Sun Mar 1, 11:48 pm ET
SINGAPORE – Oil prices fell to below $44 a barrel Monday as hopes for a quick end to the global slump evaporated amid dismal U.S. economic news and the prospect of another massive bailout of ailing insurer American International Group Inc.Benchmark crude for April delivery fell $1.08 to $43.68 a barrel by midday in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 46 cents on Friday to settle at $44.76.In another sign that the U.S. financial crisis continues to sap the government's coffers, AIG will receive up to $30 billion in additional federal assistance, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Sunday. The company previously received about $150 billion in loans from the government, which holds an 80 percent stake.The Commerce Department said Friday that gross domestic product contracted 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter, the worst showing in a quarter-century.The fourth quarter GDP data out of the U.S. was simply terrible, said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. It's the economic reality that's correcting oil prices.Investors are concerned demand for oil will continue to weaken amid the worst global slowdown in decades. Prices could fall to $25 a barrel within the next three months, said Alan Plaugmann, head of futures and options trading at Denmark-based Saxo Capital Markets.We expect another leg down from here, Plaugmann said. Consumer demand is in a downward slope. I don't think we'll bring ourselves out of recession for at least three to five years.Iran's Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said OPEC doesn't plan to cut production at its next meeting on March 15, state news agency IRNA reported Sunday.Leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have for weeks said the group would likely add to 4.2 million barrels a day of output cuts pledged since September.It's too early to say what they'll do, but more of the OPEC chatter points to the possibility of cutting, Shum said.Many OPEC countries rely on oil revenue to fund their budgets, and leaders of the 13-member cartel have said they would like prices to rise to $70 a barrel. Higher oil prices, however, could choke off economic growth.OPEC is confronting a dilemma, Shum said. Assuming these cuts eventually work and prices go up, OPEC could prolong this global economic downturn.In other Nymex trading, gasoline for April delivery fell 3.15 cents to $1.36 a gallon, while heating oil declined 1.90 cents to $1.25 a gallon. Natural gas for April delivery gained 18.4 cents to $4.26 per 1,000 cubic feet.Brent prices fell $1.16 to $45.19 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r7htckec-U&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/new-world-order-crony-gary-hart-calls-for-civic-duty/&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99vv7jPuA8Q&eurl=http://www.infowars.com/new-world-order-crony-gary-hart-calls-for-civic-duty/&feature=player_embedded
New World Order Crony Gary Hart Calls for Civic Duty Kurt Nimmo Infowars
March 1, 2009
Citing none other than Pericles and John F. Kennedy, CFR member and New World Order minion Gary Hart declares on the liberal Huffington Post website that the notion of dedication, participation, and service is as old as the Republic itself. Hart says the globalist front man Barack Obama has awakened a renewed spirit of national service and the American Republic must now respond. For Hart and the Greek elitist Pericles, those who do not respond are useless and devoid of civic virtue.Gary Hart admits the attacks of September 11, 2001, served as a perfect excuse to create a New World Order. For Hart and the banker front man Obama, it is time for the plebs to give something back to the republic. Unfortunately, the United States is no longer a republic. It is a bankster dominated plutocracy. For Obama, Gary Hart, and the global elite, it is not enough that many Americans volunteer to help those in need within their local communities — the renewed spirit of national service must be mandated by law. Last September, Congress passed the Serve America Act, legislation creating the Education Corps, the Healthy Futures Corps, the Clean Energy Service Corps, the Opportunity Corps, and the Reserve Corps, among other initiatives.During his Inaugural Address, Obama declared this expensive and burdensome expansion of government represents a new era of responsibility.
For Obama and the Democrats, however, national service transcends volunteerism. In a speech on national service at the University of Colorado last year, Obama promised that as president he would set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year.Note that Obama did not say those who volunteered. He said the government will demand all students serve. Once upon a time this was called indentured servitude or slavery. Now it is called a renewed spirit of national service.Problem number one with grand schemes for universal voluntary public service is that they can’t be both universal and voluntary, notes Michael Kinsley.If everybody has to do it, then it’s not voluntary, is it? And if it’s truly up to the individual, then it won’t be universal. What advocates of this sort of thing generally have in mind is using the pressures of social conformity and the powers of the state indirectly to remove as much freedom of choice as possible.
In 2006, Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, called for compulsory universal service. It’s time for a real Patriot Act that brings out the patriot in all of us, Emanuel wrote in The Plan: Big Ideas for America, co-authored with Bruce Reed. We propose universal civilian service for every young American. Under this plan, All Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five will be asked to serve their country by going through three months of basic training, civil defense preparation and community service.Rahm was not alone in his demand the youth of America be press-ganged into service. On the America Serves page of Obama’s transition website, the following appeared:Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.After a firestorm of criticism, Obama’s people revised the text and removed the word require (see Paul Joseph Watson, Obama Website Scrubs Mandatory Community Service Call, November 10, 2008). Our children, as well as ourselves, are independent individuals. We are not resources to be drawn upon by politicians. Nor do we owe our labor to the government, complained J.D. Tuccille on the Examiner website. Obama, Gary Hart, much of Congress and their global elite controllers, however, would beg to differ. Our rulers pine for the days when kings rallied serfs at the point of a sword into bloody wars waged against their royal cousins, if not directly for conquest at least to dampen the forever present spirit of rebellion on the part of the hungry and dispossessed.
As we enter a new era of hunger and dispossession engineered by the international bankers, the global elite and their minions are calling for national service, not so much to help the homeless and poor but to inculcate the dumbed-down masses into a belief that serving the government — serving the elite — is a highly regarded American attribute. Resistance to expanded public service programs can be expected from the ideologically sclerotic, those who occupy the negative ground between government as the problem and government as our enemy. These are clearly people unfamiliar with Pericles of even for that matter Thomas Jefferson, Gary Hart concludes. Never mind the Greek elitist Pericles, who considered those who refused to serve the Archon useless, it is rather nauseating a globalist tool such as Gary Hart would cite Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson knew that the bankers represent the downfall and enslavement of the republic. I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered,Jefferson wrote in 1802. Gary Hart is a trusted member of the Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921 by a very select group of international bankers, Wall Street lawyers and wealthy old money families, that is to say the New World Order. These same international bankers that started the CFR were instrumental in getting President Woodrow Wilson to sign the Federal Reserve Act into existence in 1913 that basically gave these international bankers the power to print money and control our entire economy, writes John W. Wallace. As well, they were instrumental in engineering the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression. Gary Hart’s editorial published by the clueless at the Huffington Post represents a renewed push by the global elite to brainwash the plebs into accepting their enslavement, a prerequisite for the coming times of economic hardship and possible war on a global scale.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.
2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL
REVELATION 16:12
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).
DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
NKorea, UN command hold urgent talks at Korean DMZ By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press Writer MAR 02,09
SEOUL, South Korea – High-level military officials from North Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. Command held urgent talks at the border Monday amid heightened tensions in the region and concerns that the North intends to test-fire a long-range missile.The talks at the village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea — the first meetings between general-level military officials since 2002 were hastily arranged after the North proposed them last week, U.N. command spokesman Kim Yong-kyu said.These talks can be useful in building trust and preventing misunderstanding as well as introducing transparency regarding the intentions of both sides, the U.N. command said in a statement. Kim said his office would disclose details about the meeting after it was over.Relations between the two Koreas are at their lowest point in a decade, with North Korea bristling over South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's hard-line policy toward Pyongyang. The two Koreas technically remain at war because their three-year conflict in the 1950s ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.The tensions have intensified in recent weeks amid reports that North Korea is preparing to test a long-range missile believed capable of reaching U.S. territory.Analysts say communist North Korea also wants to capture President Barack Obama's attention at a time when international disarmament talks with the regime remain stalled.Obama is dispatching his envoy for North Korea, Stephen W. Bosworth, to Asia this week to discuss the nuclear dispute. Bosworth plans to meet with officials in China, Japan and South Korea, and will consult separately with Russian officials, the State Department said.
The North last week called its plans a peaceful bid to push its space program forward by sending a communications satellite into orbit and warned it would punish anyone who attempts to disrupt its launch plan.Neighboring governments believe the satellite claim may be a cover for a missile launch.The U.S., South Korea and other neighboring nations have warned North Korea against firing either a missile or a satellite, saying both would invite international sanctions.North Korea, which in 2006 tested a nuclear weapon and unsuccessfully fired a long-range missile, is banned from engaging in any ballistic missile activity under a U.N. Security Council resolution.The North, meanwhile, stepped up the rhetoric against South Korea and the U.S., citing a policy of confrontation against the communist country.If the U.S. warlike forces opt for reckless military confrontation and provocation of a war of aggression against (North Korea), the latter will mercilessly stamp out aggressors, said Yang Hyong Sop, vice president of the parliament, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.The warning comes as the U.S. and South Korea prepare for next week's annual military exercises, drills that North Korea calls a rehearsal for invasion but that Seoul and Washington say are purely defensive.South Korea's new unification minister, Hyun In-taek, said Monday that Seoul is ready for dialogue with Pyongyang to improve the difficult ties between the neighboring nations.
The two Koreas remain divided by the world's most heavily fortified border, with the U.S.-led U.N. Command overseeing their 1953 cease-fire.Although other nations contributed forces during the Korean War, U.S. troops are the only combat forces left on the peninsula apart from the South Korean military. The U.S. has 28,500 troops in South Korea.AP Television News reporter Yong-ho Kim contributed to this report.
THE JUDGEMENT OF THE NATIONS
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
DANIEL 12:8-13
8 And I (DANIEL) heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (at the 3 1/2 yr mark of the 7 yr treaty) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
MATTHEW 25:31-46
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Leftists worship at altar of death cult, says book,United in Hate' author explains alliance between jihadists, self-hating Americans March 01, 2009 11:32 pm Eastern 2009 WorldNetDaily
It's a book that will make so-called progressives see red.
In United in Hate: The Left's Romance With Tyranny and Terror, author Jamie Glazov says there's an unholy alliance between jihadists and people like Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Ted Turner and Noam Chomsky, and, at the heart of the mutual admiration is a willingness to accept massive numbers of deaths to achieve their objectives.
What's bound to be most infuriating to those Americans and many other westerners mentioned in the book is the way Glazov uses their own words to make the point. Not only do I think it's possible [a Muslim-leftist alliance] but I think it is vitally necessary and I think it is happening already, explains leftist British lawmaker George Galloway. It is possible because the progressive movement around the world and the Muslims have the same enemies. Their enemies are the Zionist occupation, American occupation, British occupation of poor countries, mainly Muslim countries. They have the same interest in opposing savage capitalist globalization, which is intent upon homogenizing the entire world, turning us basically into factory chickens which can be force fed the American diet of everything from food to Coca-Cola to movies and TV culture and whose only role in life is to consume the things produced endlessly by the multinational corporations ...While it's hardly news that there's cheerleading of anti-American Islamists on the left, what is news in United in Hate is the startling diagnosis of what is at the root of the alliance. Glazov concludes: This is where the Western Left and militant Islam (like the Western Left and Communism) intersect: human life must be sacrificed for the sake of the idea. Like Islamists, leftists have a Manichean vision that rigidly distinguishes good from evil. They see themselves as personifications of the former and their opponents as personifications of the latter, who must be slated for ruthless elimination.With both ideologies, explains Glazov, the cause is the dividing line of morality. If you are against it, you are an enemy of the people. We'll ask the man, where do you stand on the question of the revolution? explained Lenin. Are you for it or against it? If he's against it, we'll stand him up against a wall.
Lenin was serious about extermination of political enemies and others who were inconvenient to the cause of the communist revolution in the Soviet Union. But that didn't bother western leftists who traveled there and covered up his crimes and those of his successors. A legendary and persistent hero of the left in the U.S. to this day is Ernesto Che Guevara, Fidel Castro's second in command, whose image still emblazons designer T-shirts on college campuses around the country. His life was recently celebrated in the movie Motorcycle Diaries.But here's what Guevara wrote in his book of the same name: Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls into my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl.
Long after Cuba's firing squads had eliminated tens of thousands of dissidents and the gulags swallowed up the political prisoners, Glazov shows, American leftists, including many celebrities, were still holding up Cuba as the pinnacle of freedom.
Francis Ford Coppola said: Fidel, I love you. We both have the same initials. We both have beards. We both have power and want to use it for good purposes. Harry Belafonte said: If you believe in freedom, if you believe in justice, if you believe in democracy, you have no choice but to support Fidel Castro.Likewise, Glazov illustrates how many American leftists turned a blind eye to the potential for mass murder in Vietnam in the event of a communist victory. Few had second thoughts or expressed regrets or denunciation of the atrocities when they took place. Once again, writes Glazov, the believers did not care about the victims of their idols. In the eyes of the Left, those victims had merely gotten what they deserved – because their existence was an obstacle in the path to earthly utopia.Glazov points out that modern Islamism was actually incubated by both the Nazis and Marxist-Leninist thought. While militant Islam has its own unique religious component, it shares with the secular totalitarianisms the impulse to create an earthly paradise by washing the slate clean with human blood, he writes. There is in fact no sacred/secular distinction in Islam, and Islamists envision enforcing the kingdom of heaven on earth. The greatest obligation of the Islamist, like that of the believer in the other two totalisms, is to submit his will to the deity and, if the opportunity arises, to give his life for it. Martyrdom and suicide become the favored expressions of this submission and of the radical desire for perfection. It is precisely this ingredient that has so attracted the Western Left to Islamism.
Besides anti-Americanism and bloodlust, leftists and Islamists share another common denominator, writes Glazov – hatred of Jews. Like its ideological cousins, Fascism and Communism, Islamism wages war against Jews in its effort to secure its own survival, he says. Totalist ideologies detest modernity, individual freedom and any value place on individual human life – notions with which Jews are strongly identified. Jews also personify the enduring struggle to survive, rather than the impulse to destroy and perish. … [S]uch a disposition is tantamount to a declaration of war.If you are a member of the media and would like to interview Jamie Glazov, e-mail publicist Sandy Frazier.
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