IMF chief: End of euro unlikely in 2012, but crisis will drag on 06.01.12 @ 17:26 By Valentina Pop
BRUSSELS - The euro will not vanish this year, but problems within the eurozone will slow down the global economy, with the International Monetary Fund set to lower its growth predictions in an upcoming report, its chief Christine Lagarde said Friday (6 January).Will 2012 be the end of the euro currency? My answer is I don't think so, she told reporters after meeting the South African finance minister.It's a young currency, it's a solid one as well. You have, within the zone, not in relation with the currency, serious pressures and issues concerning the sovereign debt, concerning the strength of the banking system, but the currency itself is not one that would vanish or disappear in 2012, she added.However, Lagarde appeared less convinced when asked about Greece potentially exiting the single currency.Will Greece quit the euro zone in 2012? The euro partners have affirmed, reaffirmed, and reaffirmed their determination. We can only support that.Greek officials this week warned of an uncontrolled default and being left out of the euro as they struggle to convince unions to cut labour costs - a key condition for the next tranche of bail-out money.
On Friday, the euro tumbled to record lows against the US dollar and Japanese yen, as it traded for $1.27, the lowest in 16 months and 98.21 yen, the lowest level in 11 years.Meanwhile, fears of a credit crunch in Europe are returning as banks parked a record €455 billion in the European Central Bank instead of lending to each other or to the real economy. The sum is almost equal to the cheap loans made available to EU banks by the very same ECB, precisely in order to avoid liquidity strains which would bring national economies to a halt.Fresh Eurostat data published that same day from November showed that eurozone unemployment remained at an all-time high of 10.3 percent for the second month running, with the highest rates once again registered in Spain (22.9%) and Greece (18.8%).Lagarde, who last month warned of another Great Depression looming due to the eurozone crisis, told her South African hosts to brace themselves for a 2012 that will not be a walk in the park and that they may suffer setbacks if the Europe crisis is not addressed successfully.
Cameron sees legal difficulties' in fighting new fiscal treaty 06.01.12 @ 22:01 By Valentina Pop
BRUSSELS - British PM David Cameron on Friday (6 January) vowed to do everything possible to prevent EU institutions from being used in a new fiscal treaty the UK has refused to join, but admitted there were legal difficulties in pursuing that path.The treaty negotiations resumed on Friday among 26 member states, with the UK participating as an observer. The text would allow the EU commission, acting on behalf of other signatories to the pact, to take deficit sinners to the European Court of Justice.Cameron, whose veto on EU treaty changes in December led to the creation of this new inter-governmental pact, told BBC 4 Radio on Friday that there are legal difficulties over blocking the 26 members from using the EU institutions.
Part of the problem is that the legal position is unclear. One of the strengths of there not being a treaty within the European Union is that the new thing, whatever it is, can't do things that are the property of the European Union.The British leader vowed to do everything possible to ensure that the single market and competitiveness were not discussed outside the full EU framework.We will be very clear that, when it comes to that, you cannot use the European institutions for those things because that would be wrong. You can't have a treaty outside the European Union that starts doing what should be done within the European Union, and that goes back to the issue of safeguards.Asked what he had achieved for the UK through his veto, Cameron said: What I stopped was that if you have a treaty within the framework of the European Union that didn't have safeguards on the single market and on financial services, Britain would have been in a worse position. I am not making some great claim to have achieved a safeguard, but what I did do was stop a treaty without safeguards.Cameron's stance was criticised domestically not only by the Labour opposition but also by his Liberal governing partner and vice-premier Nick Clegg, who warned against Britain being isolated in Europe after the veto.
France's Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly called Cameron an obstinate kid for insisting on safeguards which ultimately would have benefited only bankers and traders, while Angela Merkel suggested the British leader was negotiating in bad faith. I really don't believe David Cameron was ever with us at the table,she said at the time.EU officials privately point to the equally intransigent Merkel's insistence on a full treaty change, which has become a political mantra in Germany, when much of the fiscal rules could have been dealt with through other legal ways, instead of creating this mess of a new treaty at 26-level but relying on EU institutions.
EUobserver understands that a legal u-turn by the council's own legal services also left Cameron in the cold, as his line of defence was based on an initial assessment that EU member states cannot use the community institutions outside the EU treaties.
As for the EU commission itself, it took a cautious line on Friday on the matter. The enforcement capacity of this international treaty is a matter that should be decided at the end of negotiations based on the provisions in the text, commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said during a press conference.German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, who participated as an observer at the talks on Friday on the new legal text, told this website on the issue of involving the EU commission that nothing is decided until everything decided.But he was confident that in the end, the EU executive would get an even stronger role than the current wording which allows it to take countries to court on behalf of other signatories to the fiscal pact. It's still an ongoing process,he said after the meeting, as more follow-ups are being scheduled in the coming two weeks.As for Cameron's opposition to using EU institutions, Brok, a long-standing federalist said: He should go to the European Court of Justice then.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Iran holds military exercise near Afghan border
ReutersReuters – Sat, Jan 7, 2012
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran launched a military maneuver near its border with Afghanistan on Saturday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, days after naval exercises in the Gulf increased tensions with the West and pushed up oil prices.Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Revolutionary Guards' ground forces, said the Martyrs of Unity exercises near Khvat, 60 km (40 miles) from Afghanistan, were aimed at boosting security along the Iranian borders, Fars reported.The Revolutionary Guards' naval forces' 10-day exercise in the Gulf that ended last Monday worsened relations with Washington days after U.S. President Barack Obama approved sanctions that aim to stop countries buying Iranian oil.Threats that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, which leads out of the Gulf and provides the outlet for most oil from the Middle East, pushed up oil prices and Iran warned Washington not to send an aircraft carrier back into the Gulf.Forces with the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier strike group, the target of Tehran's threat, rescued 13 Iranian fishermen from Somali pirates days after passing through the Strait. [ID:nL6E8C6004]Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi played down the political significance of the rescue.On some occasions, Iran has helped and secured the released of many other countries' sailors that had been caught by pirates, he told state-run Press TV.This is a humanitarian gesture and it is not related to the countries' relations with each other.(Reporting By Mitra Amiri; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Report: Iran begins uranium enrichment at new site
Associated PressBy ALI AKBAR DAREINI | AP – JAN 8,12
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has begun uranium enrichment at a new underground site well protected from possible airstrikes, a leading hardline newspaper reported Sunday in another show of defiance against Western pressure to rein in Tehran's nuclear program.Another newspaper quoted a senior commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard force as saying Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic oil route, if the country's petroleum exports are blocked. Revolutionary Guard ground forces also staged war games in eastern Iran in an apparent display of resolve against U.S. forces just over the border in Afghanistan.The supreme authorities ... have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic Republic in countering such threats, Revolutionary Guard deputy commander Ali Ashraf Nouri was quoted as saying by the Khorasan daily.Iranian politicians have issued similar threats in the past, but this is the strongest statement yet by a top commander in the security establishment.The latest statements are certain to fuel tensions with the U.S. and its allies, which are trying to turn up pressure on Iran with new sanctions to punish it over its disputed nuclear program. The West suspects Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, but Iran denies this.
The United Nations has already sanctioned Iran for refusing to stop uranium enrichment — which can produce both nuclear fuel and fissile warhead material. Tehran says its nuclear program is only for energy and medical research, and refuses to halt uranium enrichment.Kayhan daily, which is close to Iran's ruling clerics, said Tehran has begun injecting uranium gas into sophisticated centrifuges at the Fordo facility near the holy city of Qom.Kayhan received reports yesterday that show Iran has begun uranium enrichment at the Fordo facility amid heightened foreign enemy threats, the paper said in a front-page report. Kayhan's manager is a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all important matters of state.Iran's nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, said late Saturday that his country will soon begin enrichment at Fordo. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the two reports.Iran has a major uranium enrichment facility in Natanz in central Iran, where nearly 8,000 centrifuges are operating. Tehran began enrichment at Natanz in April 2006.The Fordo centrifuges, however, are reportedly more efficient. And the site better shielded from aerial attack.Nouri said Iran's leadership has made a strategic decision to close the Strait of Hormuz, should the country's exports be blocked. One-sixth of the world's oil flows to market through the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
President Barack Obama approved new sanctions against Iran a week ago, targeting the central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad. The U.S. has delayed implementing the sanctions for at least six months, worried about sending the price of oil higher at a time when the global economy is already struggling. But the new sanctions nevertheless prompted a series of threats from Iranian officials about closing the Strait of Hormuz.The newspaper paraphrased Nouri as saying that a 10-day naval war game which ended Tuesday was preparation for such a closure. The Guard, which is Iran's most powerful military force and which has its own naval arm, has planned more sea maneuvers for February.The exalted leader (Khamenei) determined a new strategy for the armed forces, by which any threat from enemies will be responded to with threats, Nouri said.The U.S. and Israel have said that all options remain open, including military action, should Iran continue with its enrichment program.Tehran says it needs the program to produce fuel for future nuclear reactors and medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients.The country has been enriching uranium to less than 5 percent for years, but it began to further enrich part of its uranium stockpile to nearly 20 percent as of February 2010, saying it needs the higher grade material to produce fuel for a Tehran reactor that makes medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients. Weapons-grade uranium is usually about 90 percent enriched.
Iran says the higher enrichment activities — to nearly 20 percent — will be carried out at Fordo. These operations are of particular concern to the West because uranium at 20 percent enrichment can be converted into fissile material for a nuclear warhead much more quickly than that at 3.5 percent.Built next to a military complex, Fordo was long kept secret and was only acknowledged by Iran after it was identified by Western intelligence agencies in September 2009.Buried under 300 feet (90 meters) of rock, the facility is a hardened tunnel and is protected by air defense missile batteries and the Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force. The site is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Qom, the religious nerve center of Iran's ruling system.The Fordo facility, like Natanz, has been designed and built underground. The enemy doesn't have the ability to damage it,the semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted nuclear chief Abbasi as saying Sunday.
How threat of loose Soviet nukes was avoided
Associated PressBy VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV | AP – JAN 8,12
MOSCOW (AP) — The doomsday scenario of Soviet nukes falling into the hands of rogue states or terrorists has, as far as is known, remained fiction, thanks to a massive U.S.-Russian effort to lock the weaponry up safely after the Soviet Union fell apart.
The vast nuclear arsenal, scattered among several newly independent nations, was secured because Russian military officers acted with professionalism and honesty, Moscow and Washington shared clear priorities, and the U.S. taxpayer coughed up billions of dollars, former top officials who dealt with the Soviet nuclear legacy say.Even so, as the world marks the 20th anniversary of the Soviet demise at the end of 1991, occasional doubts surface about whether the system was airtight. There's the Russian scientist who perhaps went to work for Iran's nuclear program, an old claim that portable nuclear devices went astray, the seizures of smuggled fissile material in the 1990s.But difficult though it is to prove a nuclear negative, U.S. and Russian officials insist in interviews with The Associated Press that the fears of the 1990s have not become a reality, even though the challenges of safeguarding Soviet nukes were daunting at the time.Twenty years on it's pretty hard to believe that not a single nuclear weapon has shown up loose,said Graham Allison, who played a key role in the effort as an assistant secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton and now heads Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
A quick U.S.-sponsored deal had Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan handing all their nukes over to Russia, and American cash helped safeguard the weapons at a time when the new governments couldn't even afford to pay military wages on time. Additional U.S. incentives offered jobs to disgruntled nuclear scientists from the former Soviet Union, many of whom were courted by nations like Iran.There have been gnawing fears that a few Soviet nukes still might have gone missing, but experts with inside knowledge say that if it were true the world would already know.If somebody or a terrorist group got hold of a nuclear weapon, they would probably use it as quickly as possible,said Steven Pifer, who served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, held other senior State Department posts and is now director of the Brookings Institution's Arms Control Initiative. So the fact that you haven't seen a nuclear detonation ... reflects the fact that the nuclear weapons have been maintained in a secure way.That was no mean achievement given the enormous proliferation risks posed by the Soviet breakup.The economic meltdown of the early 1990s forced many officers of the once-proud Soviet Army to moonlight as security guards or even cab drivers. And with the wars and ethnic clashes triggered by the Soviet collapse came strong incentives to steal weapons for the black market.The immediate task for the Russian military was to quickly remove thousands of battlefield weapons such as nuclear artillery shells and land mines from other Soviet nations. These relatively compact arms posed the biggest proliferation risk and often were stored close to areas of conflict.The military officers who did the job were the unknown heroes, said Alexander Golts, a Russian independent analyst. It's hard to imagine what might have happened if the tactical nuclear weapons had remained on the territories of the states involved in military conflicts.
The next goal, strongly backed by Washington, was to remove strategic nuclear weapons from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The first two agreed quickly, but Ukraine, which had inherited enough of the Soviet arsenal to be the world's third largest nuclear power, balked at the plan, setting the stage for years of diplomatic battles.A war for custody of nukes? All this was quite terrifying,said Allison.
Pifer said that some Ukrainian officials longed to keep them, but around 1992 concluded their country had neither the money nor the expertise to remain a nuclear power.Also, the world's worst nuclear disaster had happened in 1986 at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, and public opinion wasn't keen on keeping nukes.Still, Ukraine bargained for years for compensation in tough talks that sometimes made even seasoned diplomats lose their temper.There was a lot of pressure, they threatened us with all kinds of economic sanctions, they wanted to get this issue over with fast, Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's then president, told the AP.Ukraine insisted the U.S. provide hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for safeguarding and dismantling the arsenal. From Russia it demanded nuclear fuel as compensation for the highly enriched uranium in the warheads. And it wanted security guarantees from all the nuclear powers.We didn't want to get naked for free,Kravchuk said.Tensions over which country military officers in Ukraine should swear allegiance to — Russia or Ukraine — also stoked tensions. In February, 1992 an entire squadron of combat jets flew from Ukraine to Russia after their pilots refused to take the oath.Ukraine eventually got the money and security guarantees it was seeking, but the Russians had other obstacles to overcome. For instance, the economy was so bad that the military struggled to pay wages on time, and top brass were reduced to struggling to give the strategic nuclear forces personnel better rations, said Maj.-Gen. (Ret.) Vladimir Dvorkin, a nuclear weapons expert in the Russian Defense Ministry in the early 1990s.Control over the security of nuclear weapons never slackened, Dvorkin said. People realized their responsibility because they were fully aware of the dangers.Nuclear arsenals surrendered by former Soviet republics had to be safely transported long distances to centralized storage sites and secured. Dismantling missiles, bombers and submarines as required by the 1991 START treaty with the U.S. also required huge funds.Russia badly needed assistance, Dvorkin said, and the U.S. responded quickly with the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program initiated by Sens. Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, which provided billions of dollars in equipment and know-how to help Russia and its neighbors deal with the Soviet nuclear legacy.It seems to me that Nunn-Lugar was one of the smartest uses of defense dollars we ever made,Pifer said.
Under the program, the U.S. provided reinforced rail cars to carry nuclear warheads, high-tech security systems for storage sites and dismantling mothballed nuclear subs.
The program provided colossal support,Dvorkin said.Building on their cooperation in securing the Soviet nuclear arsenals, Moscow and Washington moved later to reduce the number of nuclear weapons held by both sides, most recently with the New START deal signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev that took effect last year.But while Dvorkin says the military in Russia and other ex-Soviet nations kept tight control over atomic weapons, numerous civilian agencies were far less diligent in keeping track of nuclear materials at their disposal. Fissile materials at nuclear power plants were controlled by one agency, and research reactors were in the hands of another one,he said.Oversight at civilian structures was less stringent than in the military, creating conditions for a steady string of thefts of radioactive materials in the early 1990s, which were later seized by police in Germany and other European nations.There were such cases, but they didn't entail catastrophic consequences, Dvorkin said, noting that the amounts of uranium and plutonium seized in Germany and elsewhere were extremely small, each measuring just a few grams.Another major worry for the West was that scientists with nuclear know-how would be hired by unfriendly forces.The U.S. responded quickly by setting up research centers that distributed grants to scientists so that they can do civilian research and do it in Russia and avoid the temptations perhaps to go to countries such as North Korea and Iran,Pifer said.Thousands of scientists participated in this project in Russia and Ukraine, so we know of thousands of people who stayed behind,he said.Whether we got everybody, I don't know.Iran was working actively to attract scientists from Russia and other ex-Soviet lands, and the International Atomic Energy Agency in a report released in November said a foreign expert helped Iran on some of its alleged weapons-related experiments by working on ways to set off a nuclear blast through a sophisticated multipoint explosives trigger. Diplomats identified him as former Soviet scientist Vyacheslav Danilenko, who worked in Iran for several years.Despite the assurances from Russian and U.S. officials that no Soviet nukes got lost in the chaos of the post-Soviet years, allegations occasionally surfaced that some of the weapons went missing.
Gen. Alexander Lebed, who headed Russia's Security Council for several months in 1996, made the most stunning of such claims in 1997, saying the military lost track of dozens of suitcase-sized portable nuclear devices. Lebed issued several contradictory statements about the number missing, and Russian officials rejected his claim.Dvorkin said Lebed, who died in a helicopter crash in 2002, didn't know what he was talking about.I personally know people who were counting the weapons at centralized depots, and they have confirmed that nothing was stolen,he said.They did the check after Lebed's statements and made sure that everything was in place.Maria Danilova in Kiev, Ukraine contributed to this report.(This version CORRECTS to Brookings Institution, not Institute in paragraph 8.)
Iran Guard says will close strait if oil blocked
AP – JAN 8,12
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian newspaper quotes a senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard as saying that Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf if the country's oil exports are blocked.Khorasan daily reported Sunday that Ali Ashraf Nouri says the strategic decision has been made by Iran's top authorities.Iranian politicians have made the threat in the past, but this is the strongest statement yet that a closure of the strait is official policy.The U.S. has recently enacted new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad over Tehran's nuclear program. Washington says Tehran is trying to develop weapons, while Iran denies the charges.
US will respond if Iran blocks Strait: Panetta
AFPAFP – JAN 8,12
The United States will respond if Iran tries to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Sunday, saying such a move would cross a red line.We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz,Panetta told CBS television. That's another red line for us and that we will respond to them.Panetta was seconded by General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Iran has the means to close the waterway, through which 20 percent of the world's oil passes.But we would take action and reopen the Straits, the general said on the same show, Face the Nation.Their comments follow Iranian threats to close the strait if the European Union goes through with an embargo on Iranian oil, the latest step to pressure Tehran to give up a nuclear program that the West suspects is aimed at gaining atomic weapons.
Israel razes four Palestinian homes near Jericho
AFPAFP – Thu, Jan 5, 2012
Israeli troops on Thursday demolished four villas near the ancient city of Jericho, which Israel said endangered a nearby archaeological site, sources on both sides said.An AFP correspondent at the scene said the villas, which are located in Ad-Duyuk at-Tahta northwest of the town, were owned by Palestinians living in Jerusalem and Ramallah.Locals at the scene said the villas had been demolished because they were built without a permit.A spokesman for COGAT, a unit within the Israeli defence ministry which administers the occupied West Bank, said the homes were built without permission and were endangering a nearby archaeological site.They are in the area of the Hasmonean palace and were built illegally, without a permit, COGAT spokesman Guy Inbar told AFP, referring to a site on a hill on Jericho's western edge which overlooks the town.He said the owners had been repeatedly warned about the demolition in orders dating back as far as 2008.Israel demolished another four houses in the same area in mid-November, saying they risked threatening the nearby archaeological site.Last month, a coalition of international rights groups and aid organisations said Israel's demolition of homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem had displaced more than 1,000 people in 2011, twice that of the previous year and the highest number since 2005.
Israel vows treat hackers like other terrorists'
AFPAFP – Sat, Jan 7, 2012
Israel said on Saturday that it will respond to cyber-attacks in the same way it responds to violent terrorist acts, by striking back with force against hackers who threaten the Jewish state.The message from Deputy Foreign Minister Dany Ayalon came after a self-defined Saudi hacker from a cabal known as group-xp published details of more than 6,000 Israeli credit cards online.It is necessary to send a message to everyone who attacks or tries to attack Israel, including in cyberspace, Ayalon said in quotes published widely in Israeli media.Hackers stand warned, he said, that they are putting themselves in danger and that they will not benefit from any immunity against reprisal actions from Israel.Cyber-attacks amount to terrorism that must be treated as such. In cyberspace, we have active capacities and we can hit those who try to hit us.Ayalon also applauded the United States for declaring that all attacks in their cyberspace will be considered as a declaration of war and they will react as if it had been a missile attack.On Thursday, the Saudi hacker, who goes by the name OxOmar, said he had posted the details of 11,000 Israeli credit cards online, but Israel's three major credit card companies said only 6,050 cards were affected.
Earlier in the week, 0xOmar posted a message on an Israeli sports website saying group-xp, which he described as the greatest Saudi Arabian hacker team,had posted details of 400,000 Israeli cards online.After examining the details, Israel's major credit card companies said only 14,000 valid cards had been exposed.Israeli news website Ynet reported that an Israeli computer expert claimed to have uncovered the true identity of 0xOmar -- a 19-year-old Mexican waiter called Omar Habib.
The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION
HMCS Charlottetown departs for Mediterranean counter-terrorism mission
By: The Canadian Press Posted: 01/8/2012 9:15 AM
HALIFAX - Hundreds of loved ones gathered on the deck of HMCS Charlottetown this morning to bid farewell to sailors bound for the Mediterranean Sea.About 250 sailors left the Halifax Harbour to embark upon an six-month counter-terrorism mission.The Charlottetown is part of NATO’s Operation Active Endeavour and will be tracking, boarding and reporting on ships believed to be involved in terrorism.That is the anti-terrorism operation launched in October 2001 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.Cmdr. Wade Carter says he doesn't anticipate a significant amount of risk during the mission, but the crew is also trained to react to a crisis if necessary.
He says the ship will not be stationed in any one area of the Mediterranean, but rather patrol throughout the sea.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Saturday, January 07, 2012
INSIDE THE RING
Inside the Ring By Bill Gertz The Washington Times
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/4/inside-the-ring-215329133/?page=all#pagebreak
PENTAGON SHIFTS EAST
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Thursday will put the official Pentagon stamp on a new U.S. strategy toward Asia. The strategy will solidify efforts to refocus on countering China’s growing arsenal of missiles, submarines, cyberweapons and other forces designed to push U.S. forces out of the region.A senior U.S. official tells Inside the Ring that the strategy — produced in response to harsh defense budget cuts imposed by the Obama administration and expected deeper cuts from Congress — is focused on bolstering U.S. forces and alliances in Asia while seeking to maintain an effective military presence in the volatile Middle East.According to the official, the strategy will try to force the military services to better use shrinking resources.Those weapons and forces cutbacks mean that the United States will no longer be able to fight two regional conflicts at the same time, increasing the risk that when a war breaks out in, say, the Middle East, adversaries will use the opportunity to launch wars in other places such as the Taiwan Strait or the Korean Peninsula.The strategy will call for fighting one major war while deterring a second with enough forces to dissuade an adversary from seizing the opportunity to strike while U.S. forces are preoccupied elsewhere.
To deal with the sharp decline in resources — people, weapons and money — the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force will be required to share forces to a much greater extent than in the past, according to the strategy report set for release at the Pentagon.Regarding China, the strategy is an outgrowth of the Pentagon’s Air-Sea Battle Concept that was announced several weeks ago. The concept calls for a major program of air and naval systems that are designed to counter Beijing’s anti-access and area-denial weaponry.Anti-access weapons, like China’s new anti-ship ballistic missile, are designed to keep U.S. naval and air forces far from China’s coasts. Area-denial weapons — surface-to-surface missiles and stealth aircraft — seek to prevent forward deployed forces, like those in Japan and Guam, from taking action against China.The Pentagon is expected to cut $490 billion from defense spending over the next 10 years. An additional $500 billion could be added to that cut as a result of the congressional spending deal reached last year.U.S. strategic missile defenses and an urgently needed strategic nuclear-modernization program are not expected to be targeted in the spending drawdown.The strategy is being implemented amid heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf over Iran’s continuing refusal to halt its secret nuclear program that the International Atomic Energy Agency has said contains numerous elements related to building nuclear weapons and missile warheads.
Iran this week followed China’s example of seeking to deny access to international waters by U.S. aircraft carriers. Tehran said the carrier strike group led by the USS John C. Stennis should not return to the Persian Gulf after its recent transit through the Strait of Hormuz.China's military last year objected to U.S. aircraft carriers transiting international waters in the Yellow Sea during exercises with South Korean naval forces.Plans announced recently to deploy 2,500 Marines to a base on the northern tip of Australia, close to the increasingly volatile South China Sea, are part of the U.S. buildup in Asia, along with plans for building up military power on Guam and developing a new long-range Air Force bomber.Also, some 600 Marines and 200 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces troops will take part in exercise Iron Fist on Jan. 16 at California’s Camp Pendleton.The three-day exercise will boost interoperability, said Marine Col. Scott Campbell, commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
OBAMA TO SHARE SECRETS
President Obama signaled Congress this week that he is prepared to share U.S. missile defense secrets with Russia.In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign policy authority.As first disclosed in this space several weeks ago, U.S. officials are planning to provide Moscow with the SM-3 data, despite reservations from security officials who say that doing so could compromise the effectiveness of the system by allowing Russian weapons technicians to counter the missile. The weapons are considered some of the most effective high-speed interceptors in the U.S. missile defense arsenal.There are also concerns that Russia could share the secret data with China and rogue states such as Iran and North Korea to help their missile programs defeat U.S. missile defenses.Officials from the State Department and Missile Defense Agency have discussed the idea of providing the SM-3 data to the Russians as part of the so-far fruitless missile-defense talks with Moscow, headed in part of by Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher, who defense officials say is a critic of U.S. missile defenses.Their thinking is that if the Russians know the technical data, it will help allay Moscow’s fears that the planned missile defenses in Europe would be used against Russian ICBMs. Officials said current SM-3s are not fast enough to catch long-range Russian missiles, but a future variant may have some anti-ICBM capabilities.
Ms. Tauscher has repeatedly denied that her talks with the Russians are secret. However, the administration has provided almost no briefings about the talks to Congress, which prompted critics of the talks to include language in the new defense spending law limiting data-sharing.Section 1227 of the defense law prohibits spending any funds that would be used to give Russian officials access to sensitive missile-defense technology, as part of a cooperation agreement without first sending Congress a report identifying the specific secrets, how they would be used and steps to protect the data from compromise.The president also must certify to Congress that Russia will not share the secrets with other states and that it will not help Russia to develop countermeasures to U.S. defenses.The certification also must show whether Russia is providing equal access to its missile defense technologies, which are mainly nuclear-tipped anti-missile interceptors.Mr. Obama said in the signing statement that he would treat the legal restrictions as non-binding.While my administration intends to keep the Congress fully informed of the status of U.S. efforts to cooperate with the Russian Federation on ballistic missile defense, my administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 in a manner that does not interfere with the president’s constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications,” Mr. Obama said, incorrectly identifying the section of the law containing the restrictions.
CHINESE SLBM TEST?
Internet reports indicate that China's military may have conducted a secret flight test of the JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile, one of at least three new long-range Chinese strategic missiles.Richard Fisher, a China military-affairs specialist, told Inside the Ring that online military bulletin boards in China were lit over the New Year’s period with reports that China conducted six JL-2 launches from waters near the major northern military port of Dalian, where China has at least two ballistic-missile submarines at the Northern Fleet base at Xiaopingdao.I can’t confirm these reports, but they are plausible, especially if you assume that two submarines were used: two Type 094 SSBNs or one Type 094 and one test submarine, either the single Golf-class non-nuclear-powered SLBM test sub, or its possible replacement launched in September 2010,Mr. Fisher said.Another scenario is that a single missile submarine fired all six of the JL-2s because each submarine can be outfitted with 12 of the missiles, a variant of the DF-31 land-mobile ICBM.On the reported multiple launches, Mr. Fisher said China's military would clearly want to demonstrate that, after years of protracted development, they can launch submarine-based ballistic missiles at a near wartime frequency.If these reports are true, then the 094 submarine is ready for the PLA version of deterrence patrols, which could commence this year,he said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.This number of successful tests would also indicate that the PLA has, at long last, resolved whatever issues were preventing this missile from achieving operational status.Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said: We have been monitoring JL-2 developments for some years. It has had challenges — resulting in delays in completing the system.Capt. Kirby said the Pentagon’s annual report on China's military noted that China needs to conduct additional tests for the new JL-2, but “once complete and deployed, the JL-2/Jin combo would constitute China’s first real sea-based deterrent.The Jin-class submarine is also known as the Type 094 missile submarine.
Roger Cliff, a China military specialist with the Project 2049 Institute, wrote in Defense News recently that China is likely to conduct a major military test on Wednesday, perhaps its new DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile. That day is the one-one-one anniversary of a Chinese anti-satellite missile tests in 2007 and the first flight of a J-20 stealth jet last year.Some type of saber-rattling test also would be timed to upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan, a key target of the Chinese military, which conducted missile tests north and south of the island in 1996 in an attempt to intimidate voters prior to an election that year.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/4/inside-the-ring-215329133/?page=all#pagebreak
PENTAGON SHIFTS EAST
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta on Thursday will put the official Pentagon stamp on a new U.S. strategy toward Asia. The strategy will solidify efforts to refocus on countering China’s growing arsenal of missiles, submarines, cyberweapons and other forces designed to push U.S. forces out of the region.A senior U.S. official tells Inside the Ring that the strategy — produced in response to harsh defense budget cuts imposed by the Obama administration and expected deeper cuts from Congress — is focused on bolstering U.S. forces and alliances in Asia while seeking to maintain an effective military presence in the volatile Middle East.According to the official, the strategy will try to force the military services to better use shrinking resources.Those weapons and forces cutbacks mean that the United States will no longer be able to fight two regional conflicts at the same time, increasing the risk that when a war breaks out in, say, the Middle East, adversaries will use the opportunity to launch wars in other places such as the Taiwan Strait or the Korean Peninsula.The strategy will call for fighting one major war while deterring a second with enough forces to dissuade an adversary from seizing the opportunity to strike while U.S. forces are preoccupied elsewhere.
To deal with the sharp decline in resources — people, weapons and money — the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force will be required to share forces to a much greater extent than in the past, according to the strategy report set for release at the Pentagon.Regarding China, the strategy is an outgrowth of the Pentagon’s Air-Sea Battle Concept that was announced several weeks ago. The concept calls for a major program of air and naval systems that are designed to counter Beijing’s anti-access and area-denial weaponry.Anti-access weapons, like China’s new anti-ship ballistic missile, are designed to keep U.S. naval and air forces far from China’s coasts. Area-denial weapons — surface-to-surface missiles and stealth aircraft — seek to prevent forward deployed forces, like those in Japan and Guam, from taking action against China.The Pentagon is expected to cut $490 billion from defense spending over the next 10 years. An additional $500 billion could be added to that cut as a result of the congressional spending deal reached last year.U.S. strategic missile defenses and an urgently needed strategic nuclear-modernization program are not expected to be targeted in the spending drawdown.The strategy is being implemented amid heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf over Iran’s continuing refusal to halt its secret nuclear program that the International Atomic Energy Agency has said contains numerous elements related to building nuclear weapons and missile warheads.
Iran this week followed China’s example of seeking to deny access to international waters by U.S. aircraft carriers. Tehran said the carrier strike group led by the USS John C. Stennis should not return to the Persian Gulf after its recent transit through the Strait of Hormuz.China's military last year objected to U.S. aircraft carriers transiting international waters in the Yellow Sea during exercises with South Korean naval forces.Plans announced recently to deploy 2,500 Marines to a base on the northern tip of Australia, close to the increasingly volatile South China Sea, are part of the U.S. buildup in Asia, along with plans for building up military power on Guam and developing a new long-range Air Force bomber.Also, some 600 Marines and 200 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces troops will take part in exercise Iron Fist on Jan. 16 at California’s Camp Pendleton.The three-day exercise will boost interoperability, said Marine Col. Scott Campbell, commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
OBAMA TO SHARE SECRETS
President Obama signaled Congress this week that he is prepared to share U.S. missile defense secrets with Russia.In the president’s signing statement issued Saturday in passing into law the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill, Mr. Obama said restrictions aimed at protecting top-secret technical data on U.S. Standard Missile-3 velocity burnout parameters might impinge on his constitutional foreign policy authority.As first disclosed in this space several weeks ago, U.S. officials are planning to provide Moscow with the SM-3 data, despite reservations from security officials who say that doing so could compromise the effectiveness of the system by allowing Russian weapons technicians to counter the missile. The weapons are considered some of the most effective high-speed interceptors in the U.S. missile defense arsenal.There are also concerns that Russia could share the secret data with China and rogue states such as Iran and North Korea to help their missile programs defeat U.S. missile defenses.Officials from the State Department and Missile Defense Agency have discussed the idea of providing the SM-3 data to the Russians as part of the so-far fruitless missile-defense talks with Moscow, headed in part of by Undersecretary of State Ellen Tauscher, who defense officials say is a critic of U.S. missile defenses.Their thinking is that if the Russians know the technical data, it will help allay Moscow’s fears that the planned missile defenses in Europe would be used against Russian ICBMs. Officials said current SM-3s are not fast enough to catch long-range Russian missiles, but a future variant may have some anti-ICBM capabilities.
Ms. Tauscher has repeatedly denied that her talks with the Russians are secret. However, the administration has provided almost no briefings about the talks to Congress, which prompted critics of the talks to include language in the new defense spending law limiting data-sharing.Section 1227 of the defense law prohibits spending any funds that would be used to give Russian officials access to sensitive missile-defense technology, as part of a cooperation agreement without first sending Congress a report identifying the specific secrets, how they would be used and steps to protect the data from compromise.The president also must certify to Congress that Russia will not share the secrets with other states and that it will not help Russia to develop countermeasures to U.S. defenses.The certification also must show whether Russia is providing equal access to its missile defense technologies, which are mainly nuclear-tipped anti-missile interceptors.Mr. Obama said in the signing statement that he would treat the legal restrictions as non-binding.While my administration intends to keep the Congress fully informed of the status of U.S. efforts to cooperate with the Russian Federation on ballistic missile defense, my administration will also interpret and implement section 1244 in a manner that does not interfere with the president’s constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs and avoids the undue disclosure of sensitive diplomatic communications,” Mr. Obama said, incorrectly identifying the section of the law containing the restrictions.
CHINESE SLBM TEST?
Internet reports indicate that China's military may have conducted a secret flight test of the JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile, one of at least three new long-range Chinese strategic missiles.Richard Fisher, a China military-affairs specialist, told Inside the Ring that online military bulletin boards in China were lit over the New Year’s period with reports that China conducted six JL-2 launches from waters near the major northern military port of Dalian, where China has at least two ballistic-missile submarines at the Northern Fleet base at Xiaopingdao.I can’t confirm these reports, but they are plausible, especially if you assume that two submarines were used: two Type 094 SSBNs or one Type 094 and one test submarine, either the single Golf-class non-nuclear-powered SLBM test sub, or its possible replacement launched in September 2010,Mr. Fisher said.Another scenario is that a single missile submarine fired all six of the JL-2s because each submarine can be outfitted with 12 of the missiles, a variant of the DF-31 land-mobile ICBM.On the reported multiple launches, Mr. Fisher said China's military would clearly want to demonstrate that, after years of protracted development, they can launch submarine-based ballistic missiles at a near wartime frequency.If these reports are true, then the 094 submarine is ready for the PLA version of deterrence patrols, which could commence this year,he said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.This number of successful tests would also indicate that the PLA has, at long last, resolved whatever issues were preventing this missile from achieving operational status.Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said: We have been monitoring JL-2 developments for some years. It has had challenges — resulting in delays in completing the system.Capt. Kirby said the Pentagon’s annual report on China's military noted that China needs to conduct additional tests for the new JL-2, but “once complete and deployed, the JL-2/Jin combo would constitute China’s first real sea-based deterrent.The Jin-class submarine is also known as the Type 094 missile submarine.
Roger Cliff, a China military specialist with the Project 2049 Institute, wrote in Defense News recently that China is likely to conduct a major military test on Wednesday, perhaps its new DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile. That day is the one-one-one anniversary of a Chinese anti-satellite missile tests in 2007 and the first flight of a J-20 stealth jet last year.Some type of saber-rattling test also would be timed to upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in Taiwan, a key target of the Chinese military, which conducted missile tests north and south of the island in 1996 in an attempt to intimidate voters prior to an election that year.
Friday, January 06, 2012
STOCK RESULTS JAN 6,2012
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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI JANUARY 06,2012
09:30 AM -2.43
10:00 AM -58.88
10:30 AM -53.55
11:00 AM -43.06
11:30 AM -18.66
12:00 PM -22.63
12:30 PM -28.05
01:00 PM -39.38
01:30 PM -50.25
02:00 PM -22.29
02:30 PM -34.21
03:00 PM -42.46
03:30 PM -51.43
04:00 PM -55.78 12,359.92
S&P 500 1277.81 -3.25
NASDAQ 2674.22 +4.36
GOLD 1,617.50 -2.50
OIL 101.64 -0.17
TSE 300 12,188.64 -48.76
CDNX 1525.73 +8.27
S&P/TSX/60 692.42 -4.17
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -23 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -58 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,626.60.OIL opens at $102.17 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -58 points at low today so far.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -58 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today.
GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD REGIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Ministers identify glitches in EU diplomatic service
Today JAN 6,12 @ 09:28 By Andrew Rettman
BRUSSELS - Twelve member states have said bureaucracy and mis-management are hampering the effectiveness of the EU's new diplomatic service one year after its launch.The foreign ministers of Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden put forward their ideas in an informal three-page paper dated 8 December and seen by EUobserver.While couched in polite language, the text strikes raw nerves in Brussels on issues including turf battles between the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton's handling of ministerial meetings and her purported neglect of security affairs.Under current arrangements, Ashton's service is responsible for framing EU foreign policy and managing joint relations with non-EU countries via 140 foreign delegations. But the European Commission is responsible for funding foreign programmes and for handling many day-to-day EEAS matters, such as making sure Ashton's people have working computers on their desks and get their expenses on time.The hybrid set-up has created problems such as forcing Ashton's foreign ambassadors to do book-keeping on commission spending over which they have no decision-making powers. It has also seen around 60 EEAS staff leave their posts amid frustration that they do not have the basic tools for their job.Does the EEAS have the right organisational structure to ensure effective co-operation with the commission on all external action aspects? ... An EU delegation can function effectively only if the head of delegation receives all necessary information in good time and can fully focus on political priorities, and if a delegation can manage its administrative expenditures efficiently,the ministers said.On a more personal note, they indicated Ashton has done a poor job of chairing their regular monthly meetings.
Brussels is awash with anecdotes about the EEAS sending out agendas at too short notice for ministers to prepare properly and about Ashton chafing with colleagues. In one eipsode in March last year she called ministers to the EU capital ahead of a snap summit on Libya then said mid-meeting she had to leave. Sweden's Carl Bildt at the time reportedly told her to stay until the talks ended, with Ashton falling into line.Ways to further optimise the identification of political priorities should be explored, the 12 ministers said, urging her to circulate a yearly agenda for the events and more regularly to produce preparatory policy and/or decision-making papers to be circulated sufficiently in advance.With Ashton's staff in the crisis and military planning departments frequently complaining she does not give them enough weight, the ministers noted the setting-up of a secure communications network should be a major priority and that the creation of defence and security attaches in EU delegations ... should be considered.
Not criticism
EEAS staff told this website they do not see the ministers' paper in any way as criticism of the EEAS but rather as a useful contribution on how to do things better.
Following their intervention, Ashton herself drafted a 14-page study - also seen by EUobserver - on how she sees the issues they raised.The EEAS chief said basic co-operation between the commission and her staff is satisfactory and that the set-up [has] not given rise to any systemic problems.She noted the commission should give her people more information on foreign spending so that heads of delegation can fully exercise their authority and that EEAS ambassadors should do less paperwork, however.She also agreed the EEAS needs to stand on its own feet in administrative terms. There has been a consistent problem in reflecting the specific needs of delegation staff in commission-wide IT systems ... the service is struggling to meet even minimum standards in terms of activity-based management and financial programming, personnel policy, security and IT,she said.Ashton pledged to do more on security issues. But she indicated that EU member states are not doing their bit to help her put new systems in place.Her paper identified as a future priority to ensure best standards in diplomatic security, in particular in EU delegations in high risk countries, and workable procedures for handling classified information. But it added that: Given the limited resources, support from the services of member states is key. The aim is to have a security framework in place by early 2012.In her own defence, she said the Arab Spring and the financial crisis are hardly the ideal backdrop for the launch of a new service for the external relations of the Union.
EEAS in numbers
But she identified her contacts with Arab countries on the Libya conflict, her efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks, to get Iran back to the negotiating table and to get Kosovo and Serbia to speak to each other as some of her strong points in the past 12 months.Her paper also gave an overview of the EEAS in numbers.
Ashton noted that between 1 January and 9 November last year her office published 504 statements on EU foreign policy and held 80 ministerial level talks with non-EU countries. It also handled 937 briefings with EU institutions in a similar period, inlcuding 243 by the EEAS chief personally.The service currently has 1,551 staff in Brussels and 2,060 in its foreign embassies. Twenty five out of 27 EU countries are represented at ambassador-level and 30 women have senior posts.
More power for EU commission in new draft of fiscal treaty Today JAN 6,12 @ 09:57 By Valentina Pop
BRUSSELS - EU member states are on Friday (6 January) to discuss the latest draft of a new pact on the financial crisis, focusing on how the European Commission can sanction debt-sinners and how to merge the new treaty with EU law despite a UK veto.
According to the latest draft version of the new pact sent to national governments on Thursday, the commission may, on behalf of contracting parties bring a legal case before the European Court of Justice if the countries subscribing to the pact break the so-called golden rule of keeping balanced budgets which are to be enshrined in national constitutions.In a first version of the text drafted last month, only member states could take fellow countries to court for breaching the debt-brake rule.
But getting the commission - which represents all 27 member states and is bound by the EU treaties - involved in an intergovernmental arrangement at 26-level poses legal challenges which could be attacked in the EU court.The problem arises after the UK in December vetoed writing the new measures into the EU Treaty directly because it was unhappy over upcoming legislation which might affect the City of London.The legal trick to get around the issue could be mandating the commission to act on behalf of member states, one EU diplomat said.The contact noted that the cabinet of EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy has done little to explain how the change on the commission's role in the new draft came about. Member states will discuss it today and we'll see where we go from there,the source said.
Another contact said the new idea is likely to die an early death because it goes beyond the 9 December summit agreement to have the EU court rule only on whether a given country has properly enshrined the golden rule into national law or not.Less controversial - at least among the 26 countries who agreed to negotiate the new treaty - is the idea of merging the new document with existing EU treaties within five years.The proposal was put forward by the three EU parliament members who are included in the discussions, ostensibly as observers only. The time period may change to as soon as possible, one source said.For its part, the UK, whose veto is causing the legal disorganisation, may be less keen to do a u-turn on the subject even though it has also been invited to the intergovernmental meetings as an observer.A further change to the original draft tabled in December raises the threshold of countries necessary to ratify the treaty from nine to 15.The switch reflects Germany's desire to have all southern eurozone countries sign up to the golden rule of a balanced budget before committing further bail-out money.Further talks of the working group comprising state secretaries from EU countries' foreign and finance ministries, as well as ambassadors or special envoys of the prime ministers are scheduled for next week and the following week.EU leaders meeting in Brussels on 30 January will have a first look at a more complete draft with the aim of adopting it at a following summit starting 1 March.
EARTH WORSHIP
DEUTERONOMY 17:3-4
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
2 KINGS 23:5
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
Fidel Castro warns of climate change, nuclear threat
AFPAFP – JAN 6,12
Cuba's iconic revolutionary Fidel Castro warned that the world was on an inexorable march into the abyss this year because of climate change and the threat of nuclear war.In an article published Thursday -- Castro's first since November 2011 -- the 85-year-old retired leader also took aim at the United States and at gas shale fracking,a new source of fossil fuels condemned by environmentalists.He did not, however, address rumors of his death, which were denied by an official Cuban blogger after they surfaced on Twitter earlier this week.Many dangers threaten us, but two of them, nuclear war and climate change, are decisive and are drifting further away from a solution,he wrote in an article entitled The March Towards the Abyss.Since handing over power to his 80-year-old brother Raul in 2006 because of health concerns, the leader of the 1959 revolution has rarely appeared in public but has penned regular editorials on world events.In his latest article, Fidel blamed the inexorable decline in part on demagogic talk, statements and speeches from the tyranny imposed on the world by the United States and its powerful and unconditional allies.He also wrote about the risk of nuclear war, particularly in the Middle East, where he accused Israel -- the region's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state -- of having hundreds of nuclear weapons.
On the subject of climate change, Castro expressed fears about hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- a process by which water, sand and chemicals are blasted into the ground to release oil and gas trapped in solid rock.The process has been hailed by oil companies and other backers as a key new source of fossil fuels, but critics have expressed fears about its impact on the environment, health and safety.Rumors of Castro's death have periodically surfaced since his retirement, most recently on the micro-blogging website Twitter earlier this week.But official Cuban blogger Yohandry Bloquera, who is usually well-informed and reliable regarding events in Cuba, denied the reports, saying Castro was reading them himself and laughing at them.The CIA tried to kill him more than 700 times and Twitter is going down that road,Bloquera wrote on Tuesday.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Crews gaining ground on northwestern Montana fires
Associated PressAP – JAN 6,12
BROWNING, Mont. (AP) — A pair of rare winter wildfires fueled by 60 mph gusts burned buildings and forced hundreds from their homes overnight on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation, but better weather conditions on Thursday helped firefighters get a handle on the blazes.The grass fires started around sundown Wednesday and together grew to 16,000 acres by early Thursday, said tribal spokesman Wayne Smith. At least 300 people were evacuated from homes and a boarding school, though no injuries had been reported.It's probably the biggest grass fire in reservation history,Smith said.It was just a wall of fire heading east.Smith estimated between 10 and 15 buildings were damaged or destroyed on the northwestern Montana reservation east of Glacier National Park. Fire incident commander Robert LaPlant confirmed Thursday evening that one home had been destroyed but did not yet know the total number of structures damaged.J.R. Clark, a rancher who lives off Boarding School Road north of Browning, the site of the larger fire, said he and a hired hand ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed to fight the blaze.I said, You're going to have to throw me in jail because I'm not leaving,Clark said. I had to save my ranch.The two of them used a tractor with an attached plow to attack the fire as it approached the main house. After working from 6 p.m. until 3 a.m., the danger had passed. They were able to save Clark's house and another one across the highway, but a neighbor's house was destroyed, as was one of Clark's barns.It came up and jumped out of the river and down the hill and burned it down. There was nothing anybody could do to stop it,Clark said.
Residents of Browning, the reservation's largest city, said the fires illuminated the sky and created a chaotic scene as the city's streets were flooded with emergency vehicles and people unsure of what was happening.You could see flames all around on the east side of Browning, they were very clear and bright,said resident Gabe Renville. It was chaos. It was a danger to be out. There was traffic and flashing lights and I was afraid somebody was going to get run over.Gusting wind blew the fires east, away from Browning. Rain fell at 5 a.m., followed by a snow flurry around noon, helping crews gain the upper hand. The fires had not grown any larger and were 85 percent contained by Thursday afternoon, LaPlant said.At least 80 firefighters and volunteers from the tribe, neighboring counties and several federal agencies responded, fire manager Tyson Runningwolf said. They were assisted by farmers and ranchers like Clark whose land stood in the path of the fires.Most of the firefighters were going to be pulled off duty Thursday night and resume the mop-up the next morning, LaPlant said.Crews were helped by Thursday's weather conditions, as the wind died down to 15 mph and a cold front raised the relative humidity to 70 percent, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Ben Schott.One fire, called the Y-fire, started southeast of Browning, has scorched at least 12,000 acres, Smith said. Another blaze called the Boy Fire erupted north of Browning around the same time, burning at least 6,000 acres.The Boy Fire was likely caused by a power line that was downed by the wind, said Glacier Electric Cooperative Inc. communications manager Virginia Harman. Utility crews checked the site and the fire appears to have started where the line touched the ground, she said.The origin of the Y-fire, however, is nowhere near the utility's equipment, she said.
We don't believe that one was caused by us or our systems,Harman said.Fire officials were investigating the cause of the fires, but there has been no preliminary determination, Smith said.About 200 residents and students were evacuated from the Boarding School Road area, where there is a boarding school, while another 100 people from two Hutterite communities were evacuated to the Cut Bank Civic Center about 35 miles east of Browning.Renville said his 12-year-old daughter, who attends the school, sent him a text message at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday saying there was a fire near the school. Buses were sent and the school's staff used their personal vehicles to evacuate more than 60 students and bring them to the Blackfeet tribal offices in Browning, where their parents picked them up, Renville said.The Hutterites arrived in Cut Bank about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and remained until after 1 a.m., when U.S. Highway 2 reopened, said Jennifer Biegler, Cut Bank's parks and recreation director. Volunteers and local officials brought blankets, food, water and coffee for the evacuees.They were hungry and worried and nervous and anxious,Biegler said.Evacuation orders have been lifted for the Seville and Hidden Lake Hutterite colonies, KSEN-AM in Shelby reported. U.S. 2 was re-closed to through traffic between Cut Bank and Browning Thursday morning, the radio station reported.There have not been any further evacuations, Smith said.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Iran plans more war games in strait as sanctions bite
ReutersBy Robin Pomeroy | Reuters – JAN 6,12
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran announced plans on Friday for new military exercises in the world's most important oil shipping lane, the latest in weeks of bellicose gestures towards the West as new sanctions threaten Tehran's oil exports.Real Admiral Ali Fadavi, naval commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, said exercises next month would focus directly on the Strait of Hormuz, which leads out of the Gulf and provides the outlet for most Mid-East oil.Iran held a 10-day drill which ended on Monday in neighboring seas.Today the Islamic Republic of Iran has full domination over the region and controls all movements within it, Fadavi said in remarks reported by the Fars news agency.Iranian officials have threatened in recent weeks to block the strait if new sanctions harm Tehran's oil exports, and this week said they would take action if the United States sails an aircraft carrier through it.
The United States, which has a massive naval fleet in the area that is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's sea forces, says it will ensure the international waters of the strait stay open. Britain said on Thursday that any attempt to close it would be illegal and unsuccessful.New financial sanctions signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve are aimed at making it difficult for most countries to buy Iranian oil. The European Union is expected to announce tough measures of its own at the end of the month.Most traders believe Iran will still be able to find buyers, at least in the short term, for its exports of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd). But it may have to offer steep discounts that reduce the hard currency revenue it needs to feed its 74 million people.The sanctions are already having an effect on Iran's streets, where prices have been rising and the rial currency is falling. Iranians have been queuing up at banks to convert their savings into dollars.The economic hardship comes less than two months before a parliamentary election, Iran's first since a 2009 presidential election that led to mass street protests across the country.Iran's rulers successfully put down those demonstrations two years ago with force, but since then the Arab Spring has shown the vulnerability of authoritarian governments in the region to public protest fueled by anger over economic hardship.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Washington and its allies are imposing the measures to force Iran to abandon a nuclear program which they say is aimed at producing an atomic bomb. Iran says the program is peaceful.European Union officials say the EU, which collectively buys about 500,000 bpd of Iranian oil, rivaling China as the largest market, has agreed to impose an embargo halting all imports.EU diplomats said they are discussing how long they will give member countries to halt purchases, with France, Germany and others wanting the ban imposed within three months but Greece favoring a grace period of up to a year.China has also cut its imports by more than half in January and February while haggling with Tehran over the size of the discount it wants in return for doing business with it.Other big buyers, including Turkey and Japan, say they are seeking a waiver from the U.S. sanctions.The new American law allows Obama to give temporary waivers to allies to continue to buy Iranian oil to prevent a price shock, but to receive the permits, countries are meant to show they are reducing trade with Iran.Iran has put on a brave face over the sanctions. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday the country would weather the storm.Iran, with divine assistance, has always been ready to counter such hostile actions and we are not concerned at all about the sanctions, he told a news conference.But in a sign it is seeking to alleviate the pressure, Salehi said Tehran was interested in resuming negotiations over its nuclear program with Western powers.Turkey's visiting foreign minister brought an offer from Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief who negotiates on behalf of major powers.Talks over Iran's nuclear program collapsed a year ago. Iran has repeatedly offered to restart the talks since then, but has insisted it will not negotiate over its right to continue enriching uranium.
Western countries say talks are pointless unless a halt to enrichment is on the table. Enriched uranium can be used to fuel a reactor or build a bomb.
OIL PRICES IN SPOTLIGHT
After years of sanctions that had little impact, Western countries have adopted a far more direct approach in recent months, with sanctions that explicitly impact the oil industry that provides 60 percent of Iran's economy.The new U.S. measures would cut off any institution that deals with the Iranian central bank from the U.S. financial system. If implemented fully, it would make it impossible for most countries' refineries to buy Iranian crude.But Washington has to balance its determination to isolate Tehran with concern that driving its oil off markets will raise prices and hurt the fragile global economy. Brent crude futures hovered above $113 a barrel on Friday, up nearly $7 since Obama signed the new sanctions law.To ease the impact on markets, the new U.S. measures take effect over several months, and the leeway given to Obama to offer waivers allows countries time to find other suppliers. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and a foe of Iran, says it will make up for any supply shortfall.Traders and analysts believe it is unlikely Iran will actually carry out its threats to block the strait.We've seen this movie before, said Cliff Kupchan, an Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group. Neither side wants a war. A lot of this rhetoric is overstated.Even if it tried, Iran could not blockade the strait for long in a direct challenge to a U.S. fleet led by the giant supercarrier John C. Stennis, accompanied by a guided-missile cruiser and flotillas of destroyers and submarines.The Combined Maritime Force protecting Gulf shipping also includes other countries such Britain, France, Canada, Australia and the Gulf Arab states, under the command of a U.S. admiral.Still, Iran has many ways it could provoke a Western response, from missiles within range of U.S. targets in the region, to small boats that could attack a ship near shore, to allied militia in Palestine and Lebanon that can strike Israel.(Additional reporting Dmitry Zhdannikov and Simon Falush in London, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels and Hashem Kalantari in Tehran; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Syria says at least 10 killed in Damascus blast
Associated PressBy ALBERT AJI | AP – JAN 6,12
DAMASCUS (AP) — An explosion ripped through a police bus in the center of Syria's capital Friday, killing at least 10 people and possibly 25 in an attack authorities blamed on a suicide bomber, an official and state-run TV said.Syrian television showed residents and paramedics carrying human remains, holding them up for the camera. Other footage showed a bus with blood on its seats, and cars with blown-out windows and riddled with shrapnel.This is a criminal terrorist act, a man shouted.
State television said 10 people have been confirmed dead, and authorities believe another 15 also had died based on human remains from the scene.Television also said that 46 people were wounded. It did not specify the victims' identities, but a Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly to the media, said the target of the attack appeared to be a bus carrying policemen.The blast went off at an intersection in the central Damascus neighborhood of Midan on Friday, the start of the weekend in Syria and much of the Arab world.
Compared to many parts of the country which have been convulsed by the 10-month old uprising, Damascus has been relatively quiet under the tight control of ruthless security agencies loyal to President Bashar Assad.But violence in the capital has been on the rise over the last two months. On Dec. 23, according to the Syrian authorities, two car bombers blew themselves up outside the heavily guarded compounds of the country's intelligence agencies, killing at least 44 people and wounding 166.If the official account is correct, they would be the uprising's first suicide bombings. State-run TV said the al-Qaida terrorist network was possibly to blame.The government has long contended that the turmoil in Syria this year is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.The opposition however has questioned the government's allegations. It has hinted that the regime itself could have been behind the attack, noting it came during a visit by Arab League observers investigating Assad's bloody crackdown of the popular revolt.Midan is one of several Damascus neighborhoods that has seen frequent anti-Assad protests on Fridays.The uprising outside Damascus has also become increasingly violent in recent months as dissident soldiers break from the military to side with peaceful protesters, raising fears of civil war.Air force Col. Riad al-Asaad, leader of the main armed group fighting the regime, denied responsibility for Friday's bus bombing in an interview with pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV .He said his organization, the Free Syrian Army, doesn't have the experience to carry out such explosions. He spoke from Turkey, where the group is based.
Israel and US to stage major defense drill
Associated PressBy IAN DEITCH | AP – JAN 6,12
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military is gearing up together with U.S. forces for a major missile defense exercise, the Israeli military announced Thursday, as tension between Iran and the international community escalates.The drill is called Austere Challenge 12 and is designed to improve defense systems and cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli forces. It follows a 10-day Iranian naval exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.Israel's military said the drill with the U.S. was planned long ago and is not tied to recent events.Both Israeli and U.S. officials said the exercise would be the largest-ever joint drill by the two countries.The Iranian war games came as the West was adopting new sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, charging it is making weapons. Iran insists its program is peaceful.Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear and missile programs and support of violent groups in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as frequent references by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Israel's destruction.The Israeli military spokesman did not give a date for the drill Thursday, but a senior military official said it would be in the next few weeks. He said it would be the biggest missile defense drill ever held. He was speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The Israeli official said thousands of American and Israeli soldiers from different units would take part. He said the drill would test multiple Israeli and U.S. air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets. Israel has deployed the Arrow system, jointly developed and funded with the U.S., designed to intercept Iranian missiles in the stratosphere, far from Israel.The U.S. European Command and the Israel Defense Forces periodically conduct routine exercises in Israel, the Israeli military said in a statement. U.S. European Command routinely works with partner nations to ensure their capacity to provide for their own security and, in the case of Israel, their qualitative military edge, it said.Thousands of U.S. and Israeli troops held a similar exercise in 2009, code-named Juniper Cobra 10, designed to test missile defense technology.Martin Van Creveld, a military historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Thursday that the drill was intended not only to practice military maneuvers but also to pressure Iran.Defending against an attack is not something that you improvise from today to tomorrow. it's something you have to prepare, you have to rehearse, you have to prepare for, Van Creveld said.This, among other things, is an exercise to show Iran, the people in Tehran, that Israel and the United States are ready to counterattack,he said.U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta previewed the exercise in a speech last month, saying it would be an example of unprecedented levels of defense cooperation that the Obama administration has achieved to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel's security.Panetta said the drills will enhance the ability of the two military forces to operate together and test new ballistic missile and rocket defenses. Those new capabilities are themselves a product of this unprecedented defense cooperation.Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said in a November speech that the upcoming exercise will be by far the largest and the most significant exercise involving the two nations.Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report from Washington.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/questions-ww3-whats-coming.html (WW3 COMPLETE HAPPENINGS)
AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
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)
WARS AND RUMURS OF WARS.
MATTHEW 24:6
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
MARK 13:7
7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Gulf states brace for unwanted US-Iran war
AFPBy Wissam Keyrouz | AFP – JAN 6,12
An F-15 warplane performs during the MAKS-2011 airshow on the outskirts of Moscow. …
The Arab states that lie just miles across the Gulf from Iran are nervously eyeing the prospects of a war between Tehran and the West that none of them want and all know could devastate their economies.This very real fear is prompting the oil-rich states to enhance their defences while hoping that diplomacy can rein in Tehran's regional ambitions and put an end to its worrying nuclear programme.No one in the Gulf States wants war but everyone is preparing for the possibility that it might happen, said military analyst Riad Kahwaji.Tension has escalated as the West continues to squeeze Tehran over its nuclear programme, with the EU threatening a total ban on Iranian oil imports.Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- which links the Gulf to the Arabian Sea and through which 20 percent of the world's sea-transported oil flows -- if its petroleum sales are blocked.The United States, whose navy's Fifth Fleet is based in the Gulf state of Bahrain and which has a military presence in a number of other countries -- has told Tehran bluntly that it will not tolerate any such move.
These staunch Washington allies would be sucked into war with Iran if Tehran targets them, said Kahwaji, who runs the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (Inegma).The clock is ticking, and we in the Gulf do not have control over it, said Kuwaiti political analyst Sami al-Faraj in reference to a potential American or Israeli strike against Iran.Many times in the past, Iran has warned that it would attack US military facilities in the Gulf Arab states in the event of war.In addition to the Fifth Fleet, Qatar hosts the US Central Command, there are around 23,000 US troops based in Kuwait and some 2,000 US military personnel in the United Arab Emirates.The Mashreq website, which is close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, has said targets in the Gulf have already been selected, according to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, whose country has tried in the past to bridge the gap between Tehran and Gulf nations, said the latter should contribute to resolving the crisis.
I think all of us have an interest in not having any conflicts in the Gulf, he said recently, saying the Gulf states are obviously worried by the rising US-Iranian tension.We have experienced military conflicts and we all know that there is no winner in such conflicts, especially for the countries around the Gulf,he said.In addition to external threats, Gulf states have to deal with the threat of so-called sleeper cells that Iran is suspected of deploying across the region.We hear of preventive measures in many countries in dealing with sleeper cells belonging to Iran,Kahwaji said.The desire to avoid war is accompanied by a wish to curb Iran's increasing regional influence.There are two schools now in the Gulf, said Faraj.One completely rejects resorting to war unless imposed.The second sees the need to counter Iranian interference in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Sudan, and its fanning of sectarian tension (in the Gulf), though not necessarily through armed conflict.The second school has become stronger recently, he added.Faraj told AFP: It is the Gulf countries that will suffer the most because we are within the range of Iranian rockets,noting, along with Kahwaji that they have strategic oil installations and financial and business centres on their coasts, in close range from Iran's shores.Saudi Arabia's major oil terminal of Ras Tanura, for instance, is only some 180 kilometres (111 miles) away from Iran's shores. Abu Dhabi, another major Arab oil producer is only 220 kilometres (136 miles) away.As they wait, Gulf States are stepping up their defence purchases.Last month, Saudi Arabia signed a deal worth $29.4 billion to buy 84 US F-15 fighter jets, and upgrade 70 other jets.
Shortly afterwards, a $3.48 billion UAE armament deal came to light, including the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (Thaad).Earlier in 2011, the United States and Saudi Arabia announced a $1.7 billion deal to strengthen Patriot missile batteries, while Kuwait bought 209 missiles for $900 million.
A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.
REVELATION 13:11-18
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
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
REVELATION 17:1-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Pope Benedict XVI names 22 new cardinals
Associated PressBy VICTOR L. SIMPSON | AP – JAN 6,12
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI named 22 new cardinals Friday, including prelates in such key posts as New York and Hong Kong and a large group of Italians holding major Vatican positions.Cardinals are the pope's top advisers, the elite group of churchmen who will eventually elect Benedict's successor. Of the 22, 18 are under the age of 80 — raising to 125 the number of cardinals eligible to vote in the next papal conclave. Cardinals over 80 are not allowed to vote on the next pope.Other new cardinals come from Berlin, Prague, Toronto and Florence, Italy.The Vatican officials include a Brazilian prelate who heads the office for Consecrated Life.The pope announced the names with great joy following an Epiphany Mass that ended the Vatican's main Christmas celebrations. He said they will be formally elevated at a Feb. 18 ceremony in Rome.The list includes two Americans: Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the former archbishop of Baltimore.The pope named 16 Europeans as cardinals, including seven Italians. He also named Joao Braz de Aviz, a Brazilian who heads the Vatican office for religious life; John Tong Hon, bishop of Hong Kong; and George Alencherry, archbishop of the Syro-Malabar church in India.
The 18 new cardinals under 80 are:Fernando Filoni, (Italian), Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Manuel Monteiro de Castro, (Portuguese), Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
Santos Abril y Castello, (Spanish), Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major
Antonio Maria Veglio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees
Giuseppe Bertello, (Italian), President of the Government of the Vatican City State
Francesco Coccopalmerio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
Joao Braz de Aviz, (Brazil), Prefect of the Congregation for Religious
Edwin O'Brien, (United States), Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Domenico Calcagno, (Italian), President of the Apostolic Patrimony of the Holy See
Giuseppe Versaldi, (Italian), President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
George Alencherry, (Indian), Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in India
Thomas Collins, (Canadian), Archbishop of Toronto
Dominik Duka, (Czech), Archbishop of Prague
Wim Eijk, (Dutch), Archbishop of Utrecht
Giuseppe Bettori, (Italian), Archbishop of Florence
Timothy Dolan, (United States) Archbishop of New York
Thomas Woelki, (German), Archbishop of Berlin
John Tong Hon, (Chinese), Bishop of Hong Kong
AP reporter Daniela Petroff contributed from Vatican City
PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS
JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME
PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).
WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
UN alarmed at jump in Saudi executions
AFPAFP – JAN 6,12
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday said it was alarmed at the almost threefold increase in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia last year.We are alarmed at the significant increase in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in 2011, said spokesman Rupert Colville at a regular press briefing.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences.What is even more worrying is that court proceedings often reportedly fall far short of international fair trial standards, and the use of torture as a means to obtain confessions appears to be rampant, he added.At least 76 death row inmates were executed in 2011, according to an AFP count, while Amnesty International believes that Saudi Arabia carried out at least 79 executions during this period.In 2010, 27 people were executed, according to the UN, citing a report by Human Rights Watch.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, which strictly applies sharia or Islamic law.So-called cross amputation of the right hand and left foot is applied in cases of highway robbery, according to the UN.We call on the authorities to halt the use of such cruel, inhuman, degrading punishment. As a party to the Convention against Torture, Saudi Arabia is bound by the absolute prohibition against the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,Colville said.
US jobs cheer cut short by euro crisis worries
Associated PressBy CARLO PIOVANO | AP – JAN 6,12
LONDON (AP) — A strong U.S. jobs report failed to boost world markets for long on Friday as nagging worries about Europe's debt crisis dragged stocks back down and sent the euro currency to a new 16-month low.The U.S. Labor Department said employers added 200,000 jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months. The job gains cap a six-month stretch in which the U.S. economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month — something that hasn't happened since April 2006.
An improvement in the U.S. labor market is crucial for global markets because American consumer spending accounts for a fifth of the world's economic activity. A recovery in the U.S. would also mitigate the impact of the sharp slowdown in Europe.
But longer-term concerns about the euro and the region's financial system pulled stock markets back down shortly after the Wall Street open. They also pushed the euro currency to a 16-month low of $1.2681, the weakest since early September 2010.
European market indexes, which had risen on the U.S. data, turned mostly lower. Germany's DAX fell 1.0 percent to 6,036.88 while France's CAC-40 shed 0.3 percent to 3,136.05. Elsewhere, Britain's FTSE 100 eked out a 0.4 percent gain to 5,644.86.
Wall Street, which was expected to gain on the open, soon turned lower. The Dow lost 0.4 percent to 12,363. 33 while the S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to 1,276.73. Asian market indexes had earlier closed lower.A stream of poor European data continued Friday, with a drop in retail sales and economic sentiment among consumers and businesses during the key spending month of December. Unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone also remained at a worrying 10.3 percent and could worsen as the region slides back toward recession.Even strong economies like Germany were being affected by the gloom generated by the debt crisis. Industrial orders in Germany dropped sharply in November as demand from abroad dropped, nearly erasing a strong gain from the previous month. Orders were down 4.8 percent compared to the previous month, the Economy Ministry reported Friday. In October, orders rose 5 percent.Italy's benchmark 10-year bond yield edged further above 7 percent, a borrowing rate that is considered unsustainable over the longer term.Italy, along with many other European governments, has to roll over huge amounts of debt in coming months. It is trying to restore investor confidence in its public finances to get those bond yields down and pay lower rates when it raises cash from capital markets.Traders were also watching for comments from Italian Premier Mario Monti, who was holding talks Friday in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.European banks, meanwhile, are hurting due to fears that they will take big losses on their holdings of government debt and will struggle to raise new cash to plug those holes.
Trading in UniCredit, Italy's largest bank, was halted for the second straight day Thursday after the stock lost a quarter of its value in two days. The bank says it would need to offer huge discounts to investors to raise money in a new share sale. The stock was down another 6.8 percent Friday in volatile trading.Outside the eurozone, Hungary slid deeper into its own financial crisis. The Fitch Ratings agency downgraded Hungary's credit grade by a notch to BB+ — junk status — citing the country's disagreements with the EU and IMF over conditions linked to rescue loans.Hungary had to pay a staggeringly high interest rate of 10 percent on its 12-month debt in an auction Thursday, an indication it is losing investors' trust.
In Asia, stocks ended mostly lower as they reacted to the previous day's European market jitters. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed 1.2 percent lower at 8,390.35. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.2 percent at 18,593.06 and South Korea's Kospi fell 1.1 percent to 1,843.14. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Indonesia also fell. India and Singapore rose.In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 2,163.39, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 817.78.Japanese stocks are hurt by the yen's rise against the dollar, which makes exports less competitive internationally. On Friday, the dollar was steady around 77.10 yen.Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 73 cents to $101.08 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $1.41 to end Thursday at $101.81 in New York.Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
http://homelandsecurityus.com/
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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false
HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI JANUARY 06,2012
09:30 AM -2.43
10:00 AM -58.88
10:30 AM -53.55
11:00 AM -43.06
11:30 AM -18.66
12:00 PM -22.63
12:30 PM -28.05
01:00 PM -39.38
01:30 PM -50.25
02:00 PM -22.29
02:30 PM -34.21
03:00 PM -42.46
03:30 PM -51.43
04:00 PM -55.78 12,359.92
S&P 500 1277.81 -3.25
NASDAQ 2674.22 +4.36
GOLD 1,617.50 -2.50
OIL 101.64 -0.17
TSE 300 12,188.64 -48.76
CDNX 1525.73 +8.27
S&P/TSX/60 692.42 -4.17
MORNING,NEWS,STATS
YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -23 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -58 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,626.60.OIL opens at $102.17 today.
AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -58 points at low today so far.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -58 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today.
GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD REGIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Ministers identify glitches in EU diplomatic service
Today JAN 6,12 @ 09:28 By Andrew Rettman
BRUSSELS - Twelve member states have said bureaucracy and mis-management are hampering the effectiveness of the EU's new diplomatic service one year after its launch.The foreign ministers of Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden put forward their ideas in an informal three-page paper dated 8 December and seen by EUobserver.While couched in polite language, the text strikes raw nerves in Brussels on issues including turf battles between the European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton's handling of ministerial meetings and her purported neglect of security affairs.Under current arrangements, Ashton's service is responsible for framing EU foreign policy and managing joint relations with non-EU countries via 140 foreign delegations. But the European Commission is responsible for funding foreign programmes and for handling many day-to-day EEAS matters, such as making sure Ashton's people have working computers on their desks and get their expenses on time.The hybrid set-up has created problems such as forcing Ashton's foreign ambassadors to do book-keeping on commission spending over which they have no decision-making powers. It has also seen around 60 EEAS staff leave their posts amid frustration that they do not have the basic tools for their job.Does the EEAS have the right organisational structure to ensure effective co-operation with the commission on all external action aspects? ... An EU delegation can function effectively only if the head of delegation receives all necessary information in good time and can fully focus on political priorities, and if a delegation can manage its administrative expenditures efficiently,the ministers said.On a more personal note, they indicated Ashton has done a poor job of chairing their regular monthly meetings.
Brussels is awash with anecdotes about the EEAS sending out agendas at too short notice for ministers to prepare properly and about Ashton chafing with colleagues. In one eipsode in March last year she called ministers to the EU capital ahead of a snap summit on Libya then said mid-meeting she had to leave. Sweden's Carl Bildt at the time reportedly told her to stay until the talks ended, with Ashton falling into line.Ways to further optimise the identification of political priorities should be explored, the 12 ministers said, urging her to circulate a yearly agenda for the events and more regularly to produce preparatory policy and/or decision-making papers to be circulated sufficiently in advance.With Ashton's staff in the crisis and military planning departments frequently complaining she does not give them enough weight, the ministers noted the setting-up of a secure communications network should be a major priority and that the creation of defence and security attaches in EU delegations ... should be considered.
Not criticism
EEAS staff told this website they do not see the ministers' paper in any way as criticism of the EEAS but rather as a useful contribution on how to do things better.
Following their intervention, Ashton herself drafted a 14-page study - also seen by EUobserver - on how she sees the issues they raised.The EEAS chief said basic co-operation between the commission and her staff is satisfactory and that the set-up [has] not given rise to any systemic problems.She noted the commission should give her people more information on foreign spending so that heads of delegation can fully exercise their authority and that EEAS ambassadors should do less paperwork, however.She also agreed the EEAS needs to stand on its own feet in administrative terms. There has been a consistent problem in reflecting the specific needs of delegation staff in commission-wide IT systems ... the service is struggling to meet even minimum standards in terms of activity-based management and financial programming, personnel policy, security and IT,she said.Ashton pledged to do more on security issues. But she indicated that EU member states are not doing their bit to help her put new systems in place.Her paper identified as a future priority to ensure best standards in diplomatic security, in particular in EU delegations in high risk countries, and workable procedures for handling classified information. But it added that: Given the limited resources, support from the services of member states is key. The aim is to have a security framework in place by early 2012.In her own defence, she said the Arab Spring and the financial crisis are hardly the ideal backdrop for the launch of a new service for the external relations of the Union.
EEAS in numbers
But she identified her contacts with Arab countries on the Libya conflict, her efforts to relaunch Middle East peace talks, to get Iran back to the negotiating table and to get Kosovo and Serbia to speak to each other as some of her strong points in the past 12 months.Her paper also gave an overview of the EEAS in numbers.
Ashton noted that between 1 January and 9 November last year her office published 504 statements on EU foreign policy and held 80 ministerial level talks with non-EU countries. It also handled 937 briefings with EU institutions in a similar period, inlcuding 243 by the EEAS chief personally.The service currently has 1,551 staff in Brussels and 2,060 in its foreign embassies. Twenty five out of 27 EU countries are represented at ambassador-level and 30 women have senior posts.
More power for EU commission in new draft of fiscal treaty Today JAN 6,12 @ 09:57 By Valentina Pop
BRUSSELS - EU member states are on Friday (6 January) to discuss the latest draft of a new pact on the financial crisis, focusing on how the European Commission can sanction debt-sinners and how to merge the new treaty with EU law despite a UK veto.
According to the latest draft version of the new pact sent to national governments on Thursday, the commission may, on behalf of contracting parties bring a legal case before the European Court of Justice if the countries subscribing to the pact break the so-called golden rule of keeping balanced budgets which are to be enshrined in national constitutions.In a first version of the text drafted last month, only member states could take fellow countries to court for breaching the debt-brake rule.
But getting the commission - which represents all 27 member states and is bound by the EU treaties - involved in an intergovernmental arrangement at 26-level poses legal challenges which could be attacked in the EU court.The problem arises after the UK in December vetoed writing the new measures into the EU Treaty directly because it was unhappy over upcoming legislation which might affect the City of London.The legal trick to get around the issue could be mandating the commission to act on behalf of member states, one EU diplomat said.The contact noted that the cabinet of EU Council chief Herman Van Rompuy has done little to explain how the change on the commission's role in the new draft came about. Member states will discuss it today and we'll see where we go from there,the source said.
Another contact said the new idea is likely to die an early death because it goes beyond the 9 December summit agreement to have the EU court rule only on whether a given country has properly enshrined the golden rule into national law or not.Less controversial - at least among the 26 countries who agreed to negotiate the new treaty - is the idea of merging the new document with existing EU treaties within five years.The proposal was put forward by the three EU parliament members who are included in the discussions, ostensibly as observers only. The time period may change to as soon as possible, one source said.For its part, the UK, whose veto is causing the legal disorganisation, may be less keen to do a u-turn on the subject even though it has also been invited to the intergovernmental meetings as an observer.A further change to the original draft tabled in December raises the threshold of countries necessary to ratify the treaty from nine to 15.The switch reflects Germany's desire to have all southern eurozone countries sign up to the golden rule of a balanced budget before committing further bail-out money.Further talks of the working group comprising state secretaries from EU countries' foreign and finance ministries, as well as ambassadors or special envoys of the prime ministers are scheduled for next week and the following week.EU leaders meeting in Brussels on 30 January will have a first look at a more complete draft with the aim of adopting it at a following summit starting 1 March.
EARTH WORSHIP
DEUTERONOMY 17:3-4
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
2 KINGS 23:5
5 And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.
Fidel Castro warns of climate change, nuclear threat
AFPAFP – JAN 6,12
Cuba's iconic revolutionary Fidel Castro warned that the world was on an inexorable march into the abyss this year because of climate change and the threat of nuclear war.In an article published Thursday -- Castro's first since November 2011 -- the 85-year-old retired leader also took aim at the United States and at gas shale fracking,a new source of fossil fuels condemned by environmentalists.He did not, however, address rumors of his death, which were denied by an official Cuban blogger after they surfaced on Twitter earlier this week.Many dangers threaten us, but two of them, nuclear war and climate change, are decisive and are drifting further away from a solution,he wrote in an article entitled The March Towards the Abyss.Since handing over power to his 80-year-old brother Raul in 2006 because of health concerns, the leader of the 1959 revolution has rarely appeared in public but has penned regular editorials on world events.In his latest article, Fidel blamed the inexorable decline in part on demagogic talk, statements and speeches from the tyranny imposed on the world by the United States and its powerful and unconditional allies.He also wrote about the risk of nuclear war, particularly in the Middle East, where he accused Israel -- the region's sole if undeclared nuclear-armed state -- of having hundreds of nuclear weapons.
On the subject of climate change, Castro expressed fears about hydraulic fracturing -- or fracking -- a process by which water, sand and chemicals are blasted into the ground to release oil and gas trapped in solid rock.The process has been hailed by oil companies and other backers as a key new source of fossil fuels, but critics have expressed fears about its impact on the environment, health and safety.Rumors of Castro's death have periodically surfaced since his retirement, most recently on the micro-blogging website Twitter earlier this week.But official Cuban blogger Yohandry Bloquera, who is usually well-informed and reliable regarding events in Cuba, denied the reports, saying Castro was reading them himself and laughing at them.The CIA tried to kill him more than 700 times and Twitter is going down that road,Bloquera wrote on Tuesday.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Crews gaining ground on northwestern Montana fires
Associated PressAP – JAN 6,12
BROWNING, Mont. (AP) — A pair of rare winter wildfires fueled by 60 mph gusts burned buildings and forced hundreds from their homes overnight on Montana's Blackfeet Indian Reservation, but better weather conditions on Thursday helped firefighters get a handle on the blazes.The grass fires started around sundown Wednesday and together grew to 16,000 acres by early Thursday, said tribal spokesman Wayne Smith. At least 300 people were evacuated from homes and a boarding school, though no injuries had been reported.It's probably the biggest grass fire in reservation history,Smith said.It was just a wall of fire heading east.Smith estimated between 10 and 15 buildings were damaged or destroyed on the northwestern Montana reservation east of Glacier National Park. Fire incident commander Robert LaPlant confirmed Thursday evening that one home had been destroyed but did not yet know the total number of structures damaged.J.R. Clark, a rancher who lives off Boarding School Road north of Browning, the site of the larger fire, said he and a hired hand ignored the mandatory evacuation order and stayed to fight the blaze.I said, You're going to have to throw me in jail because I'm not leaving,Clark said. I had to save my ranch.The two of them used a tractor with an attached plow to attack the fire as it approached the main house. After working from 6 p.m. until 3 a.m., the danger had passed. They were able to save Clark's house and another one across the highway, but a neighbor's house was destroyed, as was one of Clark's barns.It came up and jumped out of the river and down the hill and burned it down. There was nothing anybody could do to stop it,Clark said.
Residents of Browning, the reservation's largest city, said the fires illuminated the sky and created a chaotic scene as the city's streets were flooded with emergency vehicles and people unsure of what was happening.You could see flames all around on the east side of Browning, they were very clear and bright,said resident Gabe Renville. It was chaos. It was a danger to be out. There was traffic and flashing lights and I was afraid somebody was going to get run over.Gusting wind blew the fires east, away from Browning. Rain fell at 5 a.m., followed by a snow flurry around noon, helping crews gain the upper hand. The fires had not grown any larger and were 85 percent contained by Thursday afternoon, LaPlant said.At least 80 firefighters and volunteers from the tribe, neighboring counties and several federal agencies responded, fire manager Tyson Runningwolf said. They were assisted by farmers and ranchers like Clark whose land stood in the path of the fires.Most of the firefighters were going to be pulled off duty Thursday night and resume the mop-up the next morning, LaPlant said.Crews were helped by Thursday's weather conditions, as the wind died down to 15 mph and a cold front raised the relative humidity to 70 percent, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Ben Schott.One fire, called the Y-fire, started southeast of Browning, has scorched at least 12,000 acres, Smith said. Another blaze called the Boy Fire erupted north of Browning around the same time, burning at least 6,000 acres.The Boy Fire was likely caused by a power line that was downed by the wind, said Glacier Electric Cooperative Inc. communications manager Virginia Harman. Utility crews checked the site and the fire appears to have started where the line touched the ground, she said.The origin of the Y-fire, however, is nowhere near the utility's equipment, she said.
We don't believe that one was caused by us or our systems,Harman said.Fire officials were investigating the cause of the fires, but there has been no preliminary determination, Smith said.About 200 residents and students were evacuated from the Boarding School Road area, where there is a boarding school, while another 100 people from two Hutterite communities were evacuated to the Cut Bank Civic Center about 35 miles east of Browning.Renville said his 12-year-old daughter, who attends the school, sent him a text message at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday saying there was a fire near the school. Buses were sent and the school's staff used their personal vehicles to evacuate more than 60 students and bring them to the Blackfeet tribal offices in Browning, where their parents picked them up, Renville said.The Hutterites arrived in Cut Bank about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and remained until after 1 a.m., when U.S. Highway 2 reopened, said Jennifer Biegler, Cut Bank's parks and recreation director. Volunteers and local officials brought blankets, food, water and coffee for the evacuees.They were hungry and worried and nervous and anxious,Biegler said.Evacuation orders have been lifted for the Seville and Hidden Lake Hutterite colonies, KSEN-AM in Shelby reported. U.S. 2 was re-closed to through traffic between Cut Bank and Browning Thursday morning, the radio station reported.There have not been any further evacuations, Smith said.
MUSLIM NATIONS
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Iran plans more war games in strait as sanctions bite
ReutersBy Robin Pomeroy | Reuters – JAN 6,12
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran announced plans on Friday for new military exercises in the world's most important oil shipping lane, the latest in weeks of bellicose gestures towards the West as new sanctions threaten Tehran's oil exports.Real Admiral Ali Fadavi, naval commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps, said exercises next month would focus directly on the Strait of Hormuz, which leads out of the Gulf and provides the outlet for most Mid-East oil.Iran held a 10-day drill which ended on Monday in neighboring seas.Today the Islamic Republic of Iran has full domination over the region and controls all movements within it, Fadavi said in remarks reported by the Fars news agency.Iranian officials have threatened in recent weeks to block the strait if new sanctions harm Tehran's oil exports, and this week said they would take action if the United States sails an aircraft carrier through it.
The United States, which has a massive naval fleet in the area that is overwhelmingly more powerful than Iran's sea forces, says it will ensure the international waters of the strait stay open. Britain said on Thursday that any attempt to close it would be illegal and unsuccessful.New financial sanctions signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve are aimed at making it difficult for most countries to buy Iranian oil. The European Union is expected to announce tough measures of its own at the end of the month.Most traders believe Iran will still be able to find buyers, at least in the short term, for its exports of 2.6 million barrels of oil per day (bpd). But it may have to offer steep discounts that reduce the hard currency revenue it needs to feed its 74 million people.The sanctions are already having an effect on Iran's streets, where prices have been rising and the rial currency is falling. Iranians have been queuing up at banks to convert their savings into dollars.The economic hardship comes less than two months before a parliamentary election, Iran's first since a 2009 presidential election that led to mass street protests across the country.Iran's rulers successfully put down those demonstrations two years ago with force, but since then the Arab Spring has shown the vulnerability of authoritarian governments in the region to public protest fueled by anger over economic hardship.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Washington and its allies are imposing the measures to force Iran to abandon a nuclear program which they say is aimed at producing an atomic bomb. Iran says the program is peaceful.European Union officials say the EU, which collectively buys about 500,000 bpd of Iranian oil, rivaling China as the largest market, has agreed to impose an embargo halting all imports.EU diplomats said they are discussing how long they will give member countries to halt purchases, with France, Germany and others wanting the ban imposed within three months but Greece favoring a grace period of up to a year.China has also cut its imports by more than half in January and February while haggling with Tehran over the size of the discount it wants in return for doing business with it.Other big buyers, including Turkey and Japan, say they are seeking a waiver from the U.S. sanctions.The new American law allows Obama to give temporary waivers to allies to continue to buy Iranian oil to prevent a price shock, but to receive the permits, countries are meant to show they are reducing trade with Iran.Iran has put on a brave face over the sanctions. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Thursday the country would weather the storm.Iran, with divine assistance, has always been ready to counter such hostile actions and we are not concerned at all about the sanctions, he told a news conference.But in a sign it is seeking to alleviate the pressure, Salehi said Tehran was interested in resuming negotiations over its nuclear program with Western powers.Turkey's visiting foreign minister brought an offer from Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief who negotiates on behalf of major powers.Talks over Iran's nuclear program collapsed a year ago. Iran has repeatedly offered to restart the talks since then, but has insisted it will not negotiate over its right to continue enriching uranium.
Western countries say talks are pointless unless a halt to enrichment is on the table. Enriched uranium can be used to fuel a reactor or build a bomb.
OIL PRICES IN SPOTLIGHT
After years of sanctions that had little impact, Western countries have adopted a far more direct approach in recent months, with sanctions that explicitly impact the oil industry that provides 60 percent of Iran's economy.The new U.S. measures would cut off any institution that deals with the Iranian central bank from the U.S. financial system. If implemented fully, it would make it impossible for most countries' refineries to buy Iranian crude.But Washington has to balance its determination to isolate Tehran with concern that driving its oil off markets will raise prices and hurt the fragile global economy. Brent crude futures hovered above $113 a barrel on Friday, up nearly $7 since Obama signed the new sanctions law.To ease the impact on markets, the new U.S. measures take effect over several months, and the leeway given to Obama to offer waivers allows countries time to find other suppliers. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter and a foe of Iran, says it will make up for any supply shortfall.Traders and analysts believe it is unlikely Iran will actually carry out its threats to block the strait.We've seen this movie before, said Cliff Kupchan, an Iran analyst at the Eurasia Group. Neither side wants a war. A lot of this rhetoric is overstated.Even if it tried, Iran could not blockade the strait for long in a direct challenge to a U.S. fleet led by the giant supercarrier John C. Stennis, accompanied by a guided-missile cruiser and flotillas of destroyers and submarines.The Combined Maritime Force protecting Gulf shipping also includes other countries such Britain, France, Canada, Australia and the Gulf Arab states, under the command of a U.S. admiral.Still, Iran has many ways it could provoke a Western response, from missiles within range of U.S. targets in the region, to small boats that could attack a ship near shore, to allied militia in Palestine and Lebanon that can strike Israel.(Additional reporting Dmitry Zhdannikov and Simon Falush in London, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels and Hashem Kalantari in Tehran; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Syria says at least 10 killed in Damascus blast
Associated PressBy ALBERT AJI | AP – JAN 6,12
DAMASCUS (AP) — An explosion ripped through a police bus in the center of Syria's capital Friday, killing at least 10 people and possibly 25 in an attack authorities blamed on a suicide bomber, an official and state-run TV said.Syrian television showed residents and paramedics carrying human remains, holding them up for the camera. Other footage showed a bus with blood on its seats, and cars with blown-out windows and riddled with shrapnel.This is a criminal terrorist act, a man shouted.
State television said 10 people have been confirmed dead, and authorities believe another 15 also had died based on human remains from the scene.Television also said that 46 people were wounded. It did not specify the victims' identities, but a Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly to the media, said the target of the attack appeared to be a bus carrying policemen.The blast went off at an intersection in the central Damascus neighborhood of Midan on Friday, the start of the weekend in Syria and much of the Arab world.
Compared to many parts of the country which have been convulsed by the 10-month old uprising, Damascus has been relatively quiet under the tight control of ruthless security agencies loyal to President Bashar Assad.But violence in the capital has been on the rise over the last two months. On Dec. 23, according to the Syrian authorities, two car bombers blew themselves up outside the heavily guarded compounds of the country's intelligence agencies, killing at least 44 people and wounding 166.If the official account is correct, they would be the uprising's first suicide bombings. State-run TV said the al-Qaida terrorist network was possibly to blame.The government has long contended that the turmoil in Syria this year is not an uprising but the work of terrorists and foreign-backed armed gangs.The opposition however has questioned the government's allegations. It has hinted that the regime itself could have been behind the attack, noting it came during a visit by Arab League observers investigating Assad's bloody crackdown of the popular revolt.Midan is one of several Damascus neighborhoods that has seen frequent anti-Assad protests on Fridays.The uprising outside Damascus has also become increasingly violent in recent months as dissident soldiers break from the military to side with peaceful protesters, raising fears of civil war.Air force Col. Riad al-Asaad, leader of the main armed group fighting the regime, denied responsibility for Friday's bus bombing in an interview with pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV .He said his organization, the Free Syrian Army, doesn't have the experience to carry out such explosions. He spoke from Turkey, where the group is based.
Israel and US to stage major defense drill
Associated PressBy IAN DEITCH | AP – JAN 6,12
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military is gearing up together with U.S. forces for a major missile defense exercise, the Israeli military announced Thursday, as tension between Iran and the international community escalates.The drill is called Austere Challenge 12 and is designed to improve defense systems and cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli forces. It follows a 10-day Iranian naval exercise near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.Israel's military said the drill with the U.S. was planned long ago and is not tied to recent events.Both Israeli and U.S. officials said the exercise would be the largest-ever joint drill by the two countries.The Iranian war games came as the West was adopting new sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program, charging it is making weapons. Iran insists its program is peaceful.Israel considers Iran a strategic threat because of its nuclear and missile programs and support of violent groups in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as frequent references by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Israel's destruction.The Israeli military spokesman did not give a date for the drill Thursday, but a senior military official said it would be in the next few weeks. He said it would be the biggest missile defense drill ever held. He was speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The Israeli official said thousands of American and Israeli soldiers from different units would take part. He said the drill would test multiple Israeli and U.S. air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets. Israel has deployed the Arrow system, jointly developed and funded with the U.S., designed to intercept Iranian missiles in the stratosphere, far from Israel.The U.S. European Command and the Israel Defense Forces periodically conduct routine exercises in Israel, the Israeli military said in a statement. U.S. European Command routinely works with partner nations to ensure their capacity to provide for their own security and, in the case of Israel, their qualitative military edge, it said.Thousands of U.S. and Israeli troops held a similar exercise in 2009, code-named Juniper Cobra 10, designed to test missile defense technology.Martin Van Creveld, a military historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Thursday that the drill was intended not only to practice military maneuvers but also to pressure Iran.Defending against an attack is not something that you improvise from today to tomorrow. it's something you have to prepare, you have to rehearse, you have to prepare for, Van Creveld said.This, among other things, is an exercise to show Iran, the people in Tehran, that Israel and the United States are ready to counterattack,he said.U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta previewed the exercise in a speech last month, saying it would be an example of unprecedented levels of defense cooperation that the Obama administration has achieved to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel's security.Panetta said the drills will enhance the ability of the two military forces to operate together and test new ballistic missile and rocket defenses. Those new capabilities are themselves a product of this unprecedented defense cooperation.Andrew J. Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said in a November speech that the upcoming exercise will be by far the largest and the most significant exercise involving the two nations.Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report from Washington.
WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL
http://israndjer.blogspot.com/2005/11/questions-ww3-whats-coming.html (WW3 COMPLETE HAPPENINGS)
AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
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)
WARS AND RUMURS OF WARS.
MATTHEW 24:6
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
MARK 13:7
7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Gulf states brace for unwanted US-Iran war
AFPBy Wissam Keyrouz | AFP – JAN 6,12
An F-15 warplane performs during the MAKS-2011 airshow on the outskirts of Moscow. …
The Arab states that lie just miles across the Gulf from Iran are nervously eyeing the prospects of a war between Tehran and the West that none of them want and all know could devastate their economies.This very real fear is prompting the oil-rich states to enhance their defences while hoping that diplomacy can rein in Tehran's regional ambitions and put an end to its worrying nuclear programme.No one in the Gulf States wants war but everyone is preparing for the possibility that it might happen, said military analyst Riad Kahwaji.Tension has escalated as the West continues to squeeze Tehran over its nuclear programme, with the EU threatening a total ban on Iranian oil imports.Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz -- which links the Gulf to the Arabian Sea and through which 20 percent of the world's sea-transported oil flows -- if its petroleum sales are blocked.The United States, whose navy's Fifth Fleet is based in the Gulf state of Bahrain and which has a military presence in a number of other countries -- has told Tehran bluntly that it will not tolerate any such move.
These staunch Washington allies would be sucked into war with Iran if Tehran targets them, said Kahwaji, who runs the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (Inegma).The clock is ticking, and we in the Gulf do not have control over it, said Kuwaiti political analyst Sami al-Faraj in reference to a potential American or Israeli strike against Iran.Many times in the past, Iran has warned that it would attack US military facilities in the Gulf Arab states in the event of war.In addition to the Fifth Fleet, Qatar hosts the US Central Command, there are around 23,000 US troops based in Kuwait and some 2,000 US military personnel in the United Arab Emirates.The Mashreq website, which is close to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, has said targets in the Gulf have already been selected, according to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, whose country has tried in the past to bridge the gap between Tehran and Gulf nations, said the latter should contribute to resolving the crisis.
I think all of us have an interest in not having any conflicts in the Gulf, he said recently, saying the Gulf states are obviously worried by the rising US-Iranian tension.We have experienced military conflicts and we all know that there is no winner in such conflicts, especially for the countries around the Gulf,he said.In addition to external threats, Gulf states have to deal with the threat of so-called sleeper cells that Iran is suspected of deploying across the region.We hear of preventive measures in many countries in dealing with sleeper cells belonging to Iran,Kahwaji said.The desire to avoid war is accompanied by a wish to curb Iran's increasing regional influence.There are two schools now in the Gulf, said Faraj.One completely rejects resorting to war unless imposed.The second sees the need to counter Iranian interference in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Sudan, and its fanning of sectarian tension (in the Gulf), though not necessarily through armed conflict.The second school has become stronger recently, he added.Faraj told AFP: It is the Gulf countries that will suffer the most because we are within the range of Iranian rockets,noting, along with Kahwaji that they have strategic oil installations and financial and business centres on their coasts, in close range from Iran's shores.Saudi Arabia's major oil terminal of Ras Tanura, for instance, is only some 180 kilometres (111 miles) away from Iran's shores. Abu Dhabi, another major Arab oil producer is only 220 kilometres (136 miles) away.As they wait, Gulf States are stepping up their defence purchases.Last month, Saudi Arabia signed a deal worth $29.4 billion to buy 84 US F-15 fighter jets, and upgrade 70 other jets.
Shortly afterwards, a $3.48 billion UAE armament deal came to light, including the advanced anti-missile Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (Thaad).Earlier in 2011, the United States and Saudi Arabia announced a $1.7 billion deal to strengthen Patriot missile batteries, while Kuwait bought 209 missiles for $900 million.
A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.
REVELATION 13:11-18
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
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
REVELATION 17:1-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Pope Benedict XVI names 22 new cardinals
Associated PressBy VICTOR L. SIMPSON | AP – JAN 6,12
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI named 22 new cardinals Friday, including prelates in such key posts as New York and Hong Kong and a large group of Italians holding major Vatican positions.Cardinals are the pope's top advisers, the elite group of churchmen who will eventually elect Benedict's successor. Of the 22, 18 are under the age of 80 — raising to 125 the number of cardinals eligible to vote in the next papal conclave. Cardinals over 80 are not allowed to vote on the next pope.Other new cardinals come from Berlin, Prague, Toronto and Florence, Italy.The Vatican officials include a Brazilian prelate who heads the office for Consecrated Life.The pope announced the names with great joy following an Epiphany Mass that ended the Vatican's main Christmas celebrations. He said they will be formally elevated at a Feb. 18 ceremony in Rome.The list includes two Americans: Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and the former archbishop of Baltimore.The pope named 16 Europeans as cardinals, including seven Italians. He also named Joao Braz de Aviz, a Brazilian who heads the Vatican office for religious life; John Tong Hon, bishop of Hong Kong; and George Alencherry, archbishop of the Syro-Malabar church in India.
The 18 new cardinals under 80 are:Fernando Filoni, (Italian), Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
Manuel Monteiro de Castro, (Portuguese), Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
Santos Abril y Castello, (Spanish), Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major
Antonio Maria Veglio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees
Giuseppe Bertello, (Italian), President of the Government of the Vatican City State
Francesco Coccopalmerio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
Joao Braz de Aviz, (Brazil), Prefect of the Congregation for Religious
Edwin O'Brien, (United States), Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Domenico Calcagno, (Italian), President of the Apostolic Patrimony of the Holy See
Giuseppe Versaldi, (Italian), President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
George Alencherry, (Indian), Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in India
Thomas Collins, (Canadian), Archbishop of Toronto
Dominik Duka, (Czech), Archbishop of Prague
Wim Eijk, (Dutch), Archbishop of Utrecht
Giuseppe Bettori, (Italian), Archbishop of Florence
Timothy Dolan, (United States) Archbishop of New York
Thomas Woelki, (German), Archbishop of Berlin
John Tong Hon, (Chinese), Bishop of Hong Kong
AP reporter Daniela Petroff contributed from Vatican City
PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS
JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME
PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.
JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?
PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).
WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
UN alarmed at jump in Saudi executions
AFPAFP – JAN 6,12
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday said it was alarmed at the almost threefold increase in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia last year.We are alarmed at the significant increase in the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in 2011, said spokesman Rupert Colville at a regular press briefing.
Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty for a wide range of offences.What is even more worrying is that court proceedings often reportedly fall far short of international fair trial standards, and the use of torture as a means to obtain confessions appears to be rampant, he added.At least 76 death row inmates were executed in 2011, according to an AFP count, while Amnesty International believes that Saudi Arabia carried out at least 79 executions during this period.In 2010, 27 people were executed, according to the UN, citing a report by Human Rights Watch.
Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, which strictly applies sharia or Islamic law.So-called cross amputation of the right hand and left foot is applied in cases of highway robbery, according to the UN.We call on the authorities to halt the use of such cruel, inhuman, degrading punishment. As a party to the Convention against Torture, Saudi Arabia is bound by the absolute prohibition against the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,Colville said.
US jobs cheer cut short by euro crisis worries
Associated PressBy CARLO PIOVANO | AP – JAN 6,12
LONDON (AP) — A strong U.S. jobs report failed to boost world markets for long on Friday as nagging worries about Europe's debt crisis dragged stocks back down and sent the euro currency to a new 16-month low.The U.S. Labor Department said employers added 200,000 jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months. The job gains cap a six-month stretch in which the U.S. economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month — something that hasn't happened since April 2006.
An improvement in the U.S. labor market is crucial for global markets because American consumer spending accounts for a fifth of the world's economic activity. A recovery in the U.S. would also mitigate the impact of the sharp slowdown in Europe.
But longer-term concerns about the euro and the region's financial system pulled stock markets back down shortly after the Wall Street open. They also pushed the euro currency to a 16-month low of $1.2681, the weakest since early September 2010.
European market indexes, which had risen on the U.S. data, turned mostly lower. Germany's DAX fell 1.0 percent to 6,036.88 while France's CAC-40 shed 0.3 percent to 3,136.05. Elsewhere, Britain's FTSE 100 eked out a 0.4 percent gain to 5,644.86.
Wall Street, which was expected to gain on the open, soon turned lower. The Dow lost 0.4 percent to 12,363. 33 while the S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent to 1,276.73. Asian market indexes had earlier closed lower.A stream of poor European data continued Friday, with a drop in retail sales and economic sentiment among consumers and businesses during the key spending month of December. Unemployment in the 17-nation eurozone also remained at a worrying 10.3 percent and could worsen as the region slides back toward recession.Even strong economies like Germany were being affected by the gloom generated by the debt crisis. Industrial orders in Germany dropped sharply in November as demand from abroad dropped, nearly erasing a strong gain from the previous month. Orders were down 4.8 percent compared to the previous month, the Economy Ministry reported Friday. In October, orders rose 5 percent.Italy's benchmark 10-year bond yield edged further above 7 percent, a borrowing rate that is considered unsustainable over the longer term.Italy, along with many other European governments, has to roll over huge amounts of debt in coming months. It is trying to restore investor confidence in its public finances to get those bond yields down and pay lower rates when it raises cash from capital markets.Traders were also watching for comments from Italian Premier Mario Monti, who was holding talks Friday in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.European banks, meanwhile, are hurting due to fears that they will take big losses on their holdings of government debt and will struggle to raise new cash to plug those holes.
Trading in UniCredit, Italy's largest bank, was halted for the second straight day Thursday after the stock lost a quarter of its value in two days. The bank says it would need to offer huge discounts to investors to raise money in a new share sale. The stock was down another 6.8 percent Friday in volatile trading.Outside the eurozone, Hungary slid deeper into its own financial crisis. The Fitch Ratings agency downgraded Hungary's credit grade by a notch to BB+ — junk status — citing the country's disagreements with the EU and IMF over conditions linked to rescue loans.Hungary had to pay a staggeringly high interest rate of 10 percent on its 12-month debt in an auction Thursday, an indication it is losing investors' trust.
In Asia, stocks ended mostly lower as they reacted to the previous day's European market jitters. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed 1.2 percent lower at 8,390.35. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.2 percent at 18,593.06 and South Korea's Kospi fell 1.1 percent to 1,843.14. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Indonesia also fell. India and Singapore rose.In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.7 percent to 2,163.39, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 0.5 percent to 817.78.Japanese stocks are hurt by the yen's rise against the dollar, which makes exports less competitive internationally. On Friday, the dollar was steady around 77.10 yen.Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 73 cents to $101.08 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $1.41 to end Thursday at $101.81 in New York.Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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