RICE PALESTINIAN STATE

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.2-Mozambique floods kill 29, thousands left homeless. 3-Lake Ontario snow band re-energized. 4-Arctic cold wave in US dumps heavy snow in northeast. 5-Russia's defence minister lays out ambitious plans for new weapons purchases. 6-Rival Palestinian leaders meet in Mecca.7-Second worker tested from bird flu-hit British farm. 8-Rice summit will lead to Palestinian state? 9-Iran's Guards launch Gulf war games: state media. 10-Olmert associate: Offer to European task force to run Judea and Samaria. 11-Why not an EU-led trusteeship?

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Thur Feb 8 12:09 AM EDT

THURS FEB 8,07 NO QUAKES YET

FEB 07,07
MAP 2.5 WASHINGTON
MAP 5.7 SOUTHERN PERU
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.5 FIJI REGION
MAP 3.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.5 OFF THE COAST OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA
MAP 3.1 SOUTH DAKOTA
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.2 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.5 TEXAS PANHANDLE REGION
MAP 4.8 FIJI REGION
MAP 3.0 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.5 GEORGIA, USA

FEB 06,07
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.9 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.2 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.6 TAJIKISTAN
MAP 2.5 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.9 GUATEMALA
MAP 4.6 GUERRERO, MEXICO
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 PUERTO RICO
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.1 GUATEMALA
MAP 3.0 SAN JUAN URBAN AREA, PUERTO RICO
MAP 4.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Mozambique floods kill 29, thousands left homeless Wed Feb 7, 7:18 AM ET

MAPUTO (Reuters) - Floods in Mozambique have killed 29 people and wrecked thousands of homes after torrential rain and hurricanes swept through the country in the past two weeks, the government said on Wednesday.

It said it had warned thousands of people living by the country's main rivers, including the lower banks of the Zambezi which runs from southern Angola across southern Africa to the Indian Ocean, to evacuate.Strong winds, flooding and rains... have caused 29 deaths, total destruction and partial destruction of 4,677 houses, 111 classrooms, 4 health posts serving 46,500, the Mozambique government said in a statement printed by Maputo daily newspaper Noticias.

The floods hit both northern and southern regions after rain and heavy winds battered the country for the past two weeks.We are facing a situation that is likely to reach alarming proportions, the statement said, adding regions near the country's main rivers were at particular risk.Noticias said thousands of people living in high-risk areas had defied government orders by not evacuating the area.Authorities from Mozambique, Angola and Zambia last month warned of a humanitarian crisis after deadly floods submerged towns, devastated crops and left thousands of villagers without shelter, food or water.

More than 700 people died in Mozambique in 2000 and 2001 when heavy flooding swept through the central and southern regions of the former Portuguese colony.

Lake Ontario snow band re-energized B. Bernard, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel FEB 07,07

The seemingly semi-permanent snow band streaming off the eastern end Lake Ontario has become re-energized this afternoon. The intense band will meander north and south between Fulton and Watertown through tomorrow, spitting out 2 to 3 inches per hour in the core of the band. By the time the event is over later this week, a few spots likely will have been buried in over 100 inches of snow. Along the edges of the band, where winds are strongest, blizzard conditions are expected at times.
Elsewhere today, there are no winter weather warnings in effect (advisories only).

Arctic cold wave in US dumps heavy snow in northeast FEB 07,07

WASHINGTON (AFP) - An Arctic cold wave gripping the central and northeastern United States is dumping heavy snow in New York and other states near the Great Lakes, the National Weather Service said. It's still pretty darn cold in the mid-section of the country and the east, particularly in the northeast, Dennis Feltgen, an NWS meteorologist, told AFP.Temperatures are 10 to 20 degrees (Fahrenheit) below normal in the frigid front that moved in last week and was expected to last through the weekend, he said.The big chill is roaring in from the Arctic door wide open, he said. Relief should come by early or mid-week next week when the air flows shift, bringing in warmer air from the Pacific.

Temperatures this winter, though unseasonably cold, are not record-breaking, he said.The harshest cold weather on Wednesday was in the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois, he said.Lake-effect snow, produced by cold air blowing over the warmer Great Lakes, had dumped big snows, he said.In Oswego, New York, lake-effect snow was expected to drop between six to 10 inches (15-25 centimeters) during the day. CNN television network reported that 62 inches (158 centimeters) had fallen in the past five days in the city on the eastern end of Lake Ontario.In Chicago, a high temperature of near 15 degrees F (minus nine Celsius) was forecast, with a wind-chill factor bringing it to between minus five and zero.The Windy City, on the shores of Lake Michigan, saw scores of road accidents from fender-benders to 30-vehicle pileups Tuesday on slick roads, the Chicago Tribune newspaper reported. At least one death was attributed to icy roads.

The influence on the US of a moderately strong El Nino, which had an unusual warm winter in many states, has weakened in the last few weeks, he said.El Nino is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that upsets normal weather patterns from the western seaboard of Latin America to East Africa, and potentially has a global impact on climate.El Nino was expected to play only a marginal role in US weather by March and April, Feltgen 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 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 have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame
burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Russia's defence minister lays out ambitious plans for new weapons purchases Published: Wednesday, February 7, 2007 | 1:12 PM ET Canadian Press: VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's defence minister laid out an ambitious plan Wednesday for building new intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear submarines and possibly aircraft carriers, and set the goal of exceeding the Soviet army in combat readiness.Sergei Ivanov's statements appeared aimed at raising his profile at home ahead of the 2008 election in which he is widely seen as a potential contender to
succeed President Vladimir Putin. But they also seemed to reflect a growing chill in Russian-U.S. relations and the Kremlin's concern about U.S. missile defence plans.Ivanov told parliament that the military would get 17 new ballistic missiles this year - a drastic increase over the average of four deployed annually in recent years. The purchases are part of a weapons-modernization program for 2007-2015 worth about five trillion rubles (C$225 billion).

The plan envisages the deployment of 34 new silo-based Topol-M missiles and control units, as well as another 50 such missiles mounted on mobile launchers by 2015; Russia so far has deployed more than 40 silo-based Topol-Ms.Putin and other officials have described the Topol-M as a bulwark of Russia's nuclear might for years to come, and said it can penetrate any prospective missile defences.

Last week, Putin dismissed U.S. claims that missile defence sites it hopes to establish in Poland and the Czech Republic were intended to counter threats from Iran, and said Russia would respond by developing more efficient weapons systems.In 2002, Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush signed a treaty obliging both sides to cut their strategic nuclear weapons by about two-thirds by 2012, down to 1,700 to 2,200 missiles. But Russian-U.S. ties have worsened steadily since then over disagreements on Iraq and other global crises, and U.S. concerns about an increasingly authoritarian streak in Russia's domestic policy.

The Russian leadership believes that a nuclear parity with the United States is vitally important because it allows it to conduct an equal dialogue on other issues, said an independent military analyst, Alexander Golts.A rising tide of oil revenues has enabled Russia to boost defence spending following a squeeze on the military in the 1990s. The question now is whether the industries are capable of producing what the military needs, Ivanov said.

Rival Palestinian leaders meet in Mecca By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer FEB 07,07

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Rival Palestinian leaders began crucial talks Wednesday in Islam's holy city, vowing to reach an agreement and avert civil war, a key step toward resuming the peace process with Israel.

Many Palestinians fear factional fighting will intensify if the Mecca talks fail. Gunbattles have killed more than 30 people in the days before a truce began Sunday, and there were new treats of revenge attacks in Gaza on Wednesday.In a sign of unity, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah faction, rode to Mecca in the same car for the first day of talks. Saudi and Palestinian officials have said intense negotiations will continue until a deal is hammered out.We came here to agree and we have no other option but to agree, Mashaal told the inaugural ceremony in a palace overlooking the Kaaba, the shrine that all Muslims face in their daily prayers.

Saudi King Abdullah arranged the talks between Mashaal and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the moderate Fatah party. But the Saudis did not attend, having repeatedly said there would be no outside interference in the negotiations.The king's sponsorship of the talks and his choice of venue show the Saudis' strong desire to produce a breakthrough in the Palestinian conflict, which Arabs have long accused their leaders of neglecting.Abbas said he and his Fatah delegation had told their supporters that we will not leave this holy place until we have agreed on everything good, with God's blessing.I tell our people to expect good news, and I hope this (meeting) will not be mere words in the air, he said.

Mashaal turned to Abbas and said they both had to tell their supporters to respect the truce that took effect Sunday.We want to give a message to the nation, and the world, to create a positive atmosphere for these talks, Mashaal said.But tensions persisted in Gaza. Hamas militants warned of new violence unless Fatah officers accused of being behind an attack last week on an Islamic university were handed over by the end of the day. Hamas also blamed Fatah for the slaying of one of its members in a shooting Tuesday night — though the attack may have been part of clan warfare that has overlapped the political battles.

In a sign of the general hope that the Mecca talks will deliver a breakthrough, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Tuesday that he, Abbas and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Feb. 19 in Jerusalem.

Abdullah held separate talks with the two delegations after their arrival in Jiddah on Tuesday. Earlier Wednesday, Mashaal, Palestinian Prime Ministers Ismail Haniyeh and other members of the Hamas delegation called on Abbas in Jiddah.Hamas delegate Abdel Rahman Zaidan described the meeting as positive and said it was clear Abbas shares with Hamas the desire to reach an agreement.Hamas and Fatah have held numerous discussions on a coalition government, but talks have foundered on the composition of the government and its stance on agreements signed with Israel. Hamas has long refused to recognize the peace accords Israel reached with the Palestine Liberation Organization, of which Fatah is the major member.In the first round of talks, the two sides agreed to set up committees to deal with each part of their disputes.

Beyond ending Palestinian infighting, a deal on power-sharing is vital for any resumption of the peace process. Israel has refused any talks since Hamas formed a government following January 2006 elections, and the West imposed a financial blockade on the Palestinian government because of Hamas' refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said her country would not accept any Palestinian government that does not explicitly renounce violence and accept Israel's right to exist. Abbas, a moderate who was elected separately, wants an agreement on a coalition government in which Hamas will give some degree of recognition to previous peace agreements with Israel to allow a resumption of talks and an end to the embargo. But Hamas is worried about where a Mecca agreement might lead in talks with Israel. Who can guarantee that we will not be making a mistake if we give concessions, as the PLO has done? a member of the Hamas delegation, Mohammed Nazal, said in an interview from Jiddah.

Will we get an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital? he said, referring to the long-cherished goals of both Fatah and Hamas. The talks are also a test of Saudi diplomacy. Normally the kingdom prefers to work behind the scenes, but it is taking an assertive role in trying to resolve the Palestinian conflict, as well as the war in Iraq and the dispute in Lebanon. Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Amr, said the Fatah delegation wanted Abdullah to play a direct role in the talks because he has the respect of the two parties.The Saudis fear that the Shiite-Sunni tension reflected in the Iraqi and Lebanese disputes could erupt and destabilize the whole region. The kingdom itself has a significant Shiite minority.The Saudis also want to stem the influence of mainly Shiite Iran, its longtime rival, which has a hand in all three conflicts. Iran has funneled millions of dollars to Hamas and Hezbollah and has enormous influence among the Shiite parties in Iraq. In a sign of its concern, Saudi Arabia has even opened contacts with Iran to cooperate in easing tensions in Iraq and Lebanon. At the same time, Saudi Arabia sees the revival of the Israeli-Arab peace process as vital to calming the Mideast. What's going on in the land of Palestine serves only the enemies of the Islamic nation, Abdullah told Abbas on Tuesday, according to the Saudi News Agency. Associated Press Writer Salah Nasrawi in Cairo contributed to this report.

Israel weighing force against Hezbollah By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 7, 11:24 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israel's defense minister on Wednesday accused Syria of allowing the rearmament of Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and said Israel has the right to act forcefully against the Shiite militia to counter the threat. Defense Minister Amir Peretz's comments came days after Israel said it discovered four bombs in northern Israel recently planted by Hezbollah guerrillas. The Israeli claim, denied by Hezbollah, immediately raised tensions along the volatile border.Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war last summer before a U.N.-brokered cease-fire took hold. Under the truce, thousands of Lebanese government troops and international peacekeepers patrol the border to maintain calm. The cease-fire also bars armed Hezbollah fighters from the border area and calls for a halt in unauthorized
weapons transfers to the guerrilla group.Speaking to visiting U.S. Jewish leaders, Peretz said Syria, Hezbollah's main ally, is continuing to allow weapons shipments to the group to cross its border with Lebanon.We can't under any circumstances ignore the transfer of weapons and ammunition to Hezbollah, Peretz said. While Israel remains committed to the cease-fire, he said, we reserve the right to protect the citizens of the state of Israel and we will do this forcefully without any compromises.

In Beirut, a Hezbollah official declined comment.

Syria is Hezbollah's closest ally, and Israel accuses the Damascus government of providing weapons to the group and allowing arms from the guerrillas' other main supplier, Iran, to pass through its territory to Lebanon.The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot on Wednesday said Syria recently transferred Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles to Hezbollah in violation of the cease-fire agreement. The report cited unidentified senior political sources.During a trip to Moscow in October, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed concern that Russian missiles were reaching Hezbollah through third parties.

At the time, Russia's defense minister said his government had settled the matter with Israel.Peretz gave no firm evidence of the weapons transfers and did not specify what would provoke Israeli military action in Lebanon. But he said this week's discovery of the bombs along the border showed how critical the situation has become.Israeli military officials said the bombs were planted in recent days, under the cover of bad weather. If true, it would mark a violation of the cease-fire and indicate a failure by the international peacekeepers to prevent new attacks on Israel.Hezbollah denied the allegation, saying the explosives were planted months ago before the war. U.N. officials are looking into the Israeli report.

Peretz has come under heavy criticism for his handling of the war, which has widely been perceived as a failure by the Israeli public. Israel attacked Hezbollah on July 12 after the group infiltrated Israel, killing three soldiers and capturing two others.Despite an advantage in firepower, the army failed to accomplish the two main goals set by Israeli leaders destruction of Hezbollah and rescuing the two captured soldiers. It also was unable to prevent Hezbollah from raining thousands of rockets onto northern Israel.A total of 159 Israelis were killed, including 39 civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets.

More than 1,000 people were killed on the Lebanese side, according to tallies by government agencies, humanitarian groups and The Associated Press.The count includes 250 Hezbollah fighters that the group's leaders now say died during Israel's intense air, ground and sea bombardments in Lebanon. Israel has estimated its forces have killed 600 Hezbollah fighters.

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

Second worker tested from bird flu-hit British farm FEB 07,07

LONDON (AFP) - Doctors are carrying out tests on a second person who worked at a British factory farm where the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was detected, public health officials said. The announcement from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) came just hours after it revealed that a vet said to have been involved in clearing up at the turkey farm plant had tested negative for the disease.We are not expecting any workers to test positive for avian flu as they have followed all the necessary precautions in terms of protective clothing, hygiene measures and have been offered antiviral drugs, said HPA flu expert Doctor Jonathan Van Tam.We are, however, expecting to see a number of workers with symptoms caused by other non-flu respiratory viruses over the coming week as this is the time of year when we see an increase in these infections.We will asses these cases as they occur and expect to be carrying out more testing through the course of this week.The HPA added that the results of the test on the second worker would be released Thursday.

The first was put in an isolation unit in a hospital in Nottingham, after suffering mild respiratory problems but has now been allowed to go home, the HPA said earlier.This man, named by British media as Gordon Young, was a state vet said by Sky News television to have taken blood samples from the 159,000 birds gassed at the farm in Holton, Suffolk, after H5N1 was confirmed Saturday.The highly virulent strain of H5N1 has killed at least 160 people worldwide, most of them in southeast
Asia.The farm is run by Bernard Matthews, Europe's biggest turkey producer.Vets completed a cull of all birds at the plant on Monday.Movement restrictions for poultry are still in place around the farm and the wider area.

Rice summit will lead to Palestinian state?
Chief negotiator expects meetings this month to result in bold moves
Posted: February 7, 2007 - 11:08 a.m. Eastern - By Aaron Klein - WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – The Palestinians are expecting a summit slated for later this month mediated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to lead to final status negotiations and the establishment of a Palestinian state, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told WND in an interview today. I seriously believe Israel and the Palestinians will use the summit to move in the direction of final status negotiations and a solution, because I think we are realizing the only way to create peace is a Palestinian state, Erekat said. Erekat was referring to a trilateral summit planned for Feb. 19 and announced yesterday by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The talks will include Olmert, Rice and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert described the summit as a significant bid to restart long stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Israeli and Palestinian diplomatic sources told WND Olmert is expected to use the summit to offer Abbas far-reaching concessions. Asked if he expects the summit to pave the way toward an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Erekat replied, I don't want to create any expectations, but I will say I believe the summit will bring about bold and strategic initiatives in the direction of a Palestinian state.

The new momentum created by the summit comes after WND broke the story last month that, according to top European and Egyptian diplomatic sources, Israel has been conducting behind-the-scene negotiations to hand over most of the West Bank to Abbas' security forces. The sources, who said they were directly involved in behind-the-scene negotiations, said one proposal being considered is for the EU and Jordan to supervise the transfer of the northern West Bank to Abbas' security forces, which reportedly are receiving aid, weapons and training from the U.S. The sources said major changes in Israeli-Palestinian affairs are expected within a few weeks to two months.

According to an aide to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, speaking on condition of anonymity, there will be a historic political evolution and movement in negotiations in the next few weeks and few months, unseen since the Camp David peace talks in 2000.During the Camp David talks, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem. According to the diplomatic sources, still being debated in the purported West Bank negotiations is the role of Hamas, which leads the PA and maintains the majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament. Negotiations between Abbas and Hamas leaders for a national unity government have mostly fallen through. So far, Hamas has refused to recognize Israel but recently offered a 10-year truce with the Jewish state. In a series of interviews last week, Hamas leaders told WND that during any 10-year truce period they would build a large Palestinian army and plan for the destruction of Israel. Olmert yesterday said he would negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes the Hamas terror group as long as Hamas recognizes Israel.

Olmert's office denied the WND reports on negotiations to evacuate the West Bank.

There were no negotiations regarding a West Bank withdrawal. This would go contrary to other things we have said in the recent past, said Olmert's spokesperson, Miri Eisin. Perhaps the officials talking to WorldNetDaily were referring to general expectations for movement in the Israeli-Palestinian arena,Eisin said.

But the European and Egyptian sources stood by their statements that Israel agreed in principal to transfer West Bank security control to Abbas. Israeli leaders previously have denied reports of pending withdrawals only to later carry them out. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, elected in 2001 on a platform against unilateral withdrawal, at first denied media reports Israel was planning to evacuate the Gaza Strip but later announced his Gaza withdrawal plan. Olmert was elected prime minister on the platform of carrying out a withdrawal from the West Bank, but after this summer's Lebanon war, he has stated a West Bank withdrawal would not occur. Olmert in August called the policy of unilateral withdrawal a failure and said it was no longer relevant. But he can argue handing the West Bank to Abbas in an agreement is not unilateral. Contradicting Olmert, Israeli Interior Minister Roni Bar-On of Olmert's Kadima party said last summer, The withdrawal plan is not dead,
though its implementation has been postponed. The plan is now on the shelf or in the freezer, but when the time comes it will be accessed.

Olmert's party proposes handing West Bank to Europe

At Israel's prestigious Herzliya Conference last month, Knesset Member Shlomo Breznitz, reportedly a close confidante of Olmert, said the West Bank should be transferred temporarily to the Europeans and that most of the territory's Jewish communities should be evacuated. The only way to get out of the impasse is to transfer the territories, for a limited time, to an international mandate, that will run them until the establishment of a Palestinian state, said Breznitz at the conference. The Herzliya Conference is attended by Israel's top leadership and regularly maps out the country's agenda for the coming year. In 2004, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip at the conference. Breznitz told Israel's Maariv daily newspaper the West Bank should be transferred to the European community and not the U.S. because, he said, after the invasion of Iraq, America lost its status as an honest broker in the view of the Palestinians and the Arab states.

Breznitz said his West Bank transfer proposal received a warm reception from European and Palestinian officials. I have reason to believe, and I don't want to expand on this, that the Palestinians will support the proposal. Ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from European countries who were shown the proposal also believe that without international help it will not be possible to resolve the conflict, said Breznitz. According to the Israel Resource News Agency, Olmert regularly consults with Breznitz and is known to spend vacation time with the Breznitz family.

Israelis against West Bank withdrawal

Several recent public opinion polls showed the majority of Israelis now oppose a West Bank withdrawal. The leaders of Egypt and Jordan have expressed reservations about withdrawal plans, fearing terrorism can spill over into their respective countries. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000. It had occupied a small section of Lebanon's border with Israel following repeated attacks by Palestinian terrorists in the area.

Since the withdrawal, Hezbollah has staged numerous attacks against Israel, including rocket bombardments of civilian population centers, raids against military outposts and ambushes and kidnappings of Israeli troops. Hezbollah built an arsenal in south Lebanon of more than 13,000 short- and medium-range rockets capable of hitting central sections of the Jewish state Israel withdrew last August from the Gaza Strip. Since then, rockets have been fired almost daily into nearby Jewish communities, Hamas has been elected to power and both Israeli and Palestinian officials have stated al-Qaida has infiltrated the territory. Israel says the Palestinians have smuggled hundreds of tons of heavy weaponry into Gaza and are preparing for a large-scale confrontation.

Iran's Guards launch Gulf war games: state media Wed Feb 7, 7:51 AM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards launched two days of war games on Wednesday in the Gulf and Sea of Oman, state media reported. State television said the exercises by the air and naval units of the Guards were to raise ... combat preparedness.The United States and Iran are at loggerheads over Tehran's nuclear program, which Washington says is aimed at building atomic bombs, and over Iraq, where U.S. officials say Iran is backing militants. Tehran denies both charges.
Washington has ordered a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf, a move regarded as a warning to Iran.Missile interception and test firing will be included in the war games, state television said, showing footage of divers jumping out helicopters and a warship at sea.When asked by a state radio reporter about what hardware had been tried out, the Guards' air force commander Hossein Salami suggested tests included equipment related to the Russian-made TOR-M1 anti-aircraft missile system.

It did not appear to involve firing those missiles.

Last month, Russia said it had completed delivery of the TOR-M1 system to Iran. Washington said the sale undermined regional security. Moscow says the missiles are only short-range and purely defensive.Military experts say Iranian forces are no technological match for the U.S. military but could still cause havoc in the Gulf and the narrow Strait of Hormuz, a choke point through which two fifths of the world's traded oil passes.Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that Washington was not planning for war with Iran.The Revolutionary Guards is an ideological wing of the Islamic Republic's armed forces and has a separate command structure to the regular military.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

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

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

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

Obviously nobodies excited about this story but me and other Prophecy watchers. Daniel clearly says the EU will be the ones that guarentee Israels security, not the U.S.A, this story should be picked up by all the lukewarm Media. Instead WorldNetDaily is the only other source I see about EU troops coming to Gaza. And since the Bible says this will be a Land for Security deal, this fits right into
Prophecy.

Olmert associate: Offer to European task force to run Judea and Samaria
By David Bedein January 25, 2007 Israel Insider

A freshman member of the Israeli Knesset Parliament, Prof. Shlomo Breznitz of the Kadima Party, a close associate of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has offered a plan that would hand over the administration of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to a European task force until the establishment of a Palestinian state. The plan would involve destroying most of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, as Jewish communities were destroyed in the Katif sector of Gaza and in the Northern Samarian area of Samaria in a matter of less than two weeks during August, 2005. MK Breznitz, 70, a professor of psychology who specializes in situations of stress, couches his plan in terms of friendly terms such as realignment and settler relocation in the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria that will not be demolished, even though there is a freeze on all new housing in all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. The Olmert couple often spends their vacations with the Breznitzes, and the prime
minister often consults him.

The only way to get out of the impasse is to transfer the territories, for a limited time, to an international mandate, that will run them until the establishment of a Palestinian state, said Breznitz, whose plan was presented Wednesday at the Herzliya Conference on security matters held each year in Israel. Breznitz's proposal refers to international involvement like that which led to stability being restored in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the European task force is in place.

According to Breznitz's proposal, this step, which he calls an international greenhouse, would be led by the European community, not the US, which because of its involvement in Iraq, has lost its status as an honest broker in the view of the Palestinians and the Arab states.He proposes that Israel gradually leave most areas of Judea and Samaria, and that most of the settlements be evacuated based on the format that was proposed on the eve of elections in the realignment plan, and some of which would be relocated to settlement blocs. The Israeli army would be replaced by a European task force and would number tens of thousands of soldiers.

The proposal calls for the presence of a European task force in the territories that is not limited in time, and it would end its role only after its goals were met. He stressed that this is not a solution that would be forced on the Palestinians and that its implementation would be dependent on their consent, and noted, I have reason to believe, and I don't want to expand on this, that the Palestinians will
support the proposal. Ambassadors and diplomatic representatives from European countries who were shown the proposal also believe that without international help it will not be possible to resolve the conflict.

Background: The European task force

On December 1st, 2003, this reporter interviewed European Parliamentarian MP Graham Watson, who made a presentation concerning the future role of the European Task Force in the Middle East at the Geneva Initiative Conference in Geneva. This was a gathering that was organized by Israeli opposition leader Yossi Beilin, the former Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs who also conceptualized Israel's unilateral surrender of territories during the Oslo process between 1993 and 1995, and in Israel's withdrawal in the year 2000 from Southern Lebanon. MP Watson presented the concept of the European Task Force, relying on the Bosnian model. MP Watson explained that the European Task Force saw its role as the exclusive protector of the Palestinian Arab entity, and that any and all Israeli presence beyond the 1967 lines would be viewed by the European Task Force as illegal and criminal in nature. MP Watson was adamant that no Israeli incursion into Palestinian areas patrolled by the European Task Force would be tolerated, and a European Task Force would play an active role in the dismantlement of Jewish communities established by Israel since 1967 including Jerusalem. MP Watson mentioned the Bosnian experience, where troops of the European Task Force had dismantled and relocated people who had been living in homes and communities for more than forty years. This relocation was done by force.

Updated Jan. 31, 2007
Why not an EU-led trusteeship?
By SHLOMO BREZNITZ

From the Israeli perspective, attempts to find a way out of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict have been stymied by a conceptual contradiction never faced before. On the one hand, there is a broad consensus among the Israeli public that ruling over the Palestinians is causing the country lasting damage and should end as soon as possible. Kadima, the main component of the government coalition, ran on the platform of a major unilateral withdrawal from most areas of the West Bank.
On the other hand, the outcome of our painful withdrawal from Gaza indicates that repeating this in the West Bank would be suicidal.

With Hamas's rise it became clear that Israel's Gaza disengagement was not only misperceived, but exploited. No responsible leader would consider exposing practically all of Israel to the kind of Kassam attacks being experienced today by areas near Gaza. The Palestinian side has clearly demonstrated that unilateral withdrawal is not an option. However, even if an Israeli withdrawal were coordinated with the Palestinians, this would not guarantee peace for the simple reason that there is hardly any central Palestinian authority capable of imposing its will. The Palestinian political landscape abounds in a variety of militias and is splintered to a degree that makes it ungovernable by any of the groups contending for leadership. Thus the conceptual contradiction:

Israel wants out, but yielding these areas to a chaotic array of groups without a responsible central authority is impossible. Unfortunately, the status quo is not a viable option either, since the radicalization of the area is further fueled by the Arab-Israeli conflict. In short, we are stuck. THE DIFFICULTY of the Palestinian position is probably even greater. With Hamas heading the government, its political isolation is almost complete. The schism between the PA president and prime minister, and their respective supporters, spills ever more frequently into bloodshed. The alliance of Hamas with Iran and its leadership in Syria is increasingly perceived as serving the goals of extremists rather than the needs of the Palestinian people. The hopes of many Palestinians for nationhood, whether through the road map or by any other reasonable plan, seem more remote than ever.

What is needed is a central authority in Palestine that will make it possible for Israel to withdraw without prejudice to its security. In the absence of such authority the various attempts to negotiate between the parties will inevitably fail. That means some kind of trusteeship for Palestine, as articulated by Martin Indyk in a 2003 Foreign Affairs article. At that time, the US might have been a natural choice to serve this function; but in the current political environment it is, unfortunately, unrealistic. On the other hand, the EU, which has a paramount strategic interest in resolving the conflict in our region, is better suited to this role. With large Muslim minorities residing in Europe, the Israel -Palestinian problem further fuels discontent and extremism in these countries. Consequently, Europe could serve its interests and the region's by providing a political incubator for Palestine and, as in the case of Bosnia, prepare it for full independence. This political incubator is in the interest of all parties, including the EU, and could be initiated by a joint Israeli-Palestinian request. In no way does it harm US interests in the region; quite the contrary. Such a framework could revive the road map and allow it to move forward.The transition from political incubator rusteeship to full statehood is achievable depending on how quickly progress can be made. Likewise, the deeper European involvement, the greater the prospect of success.

The EU's main goal would be to pacify the situation on the ground (in effect achieving the first stage of the road map), help build democratic institutions necessary for independence and effectively manage how foreign aid is spent in order to dramatically increase the quality of life for Palestinians.

At some stage during this process the EU would also facilitate bilateral discussions between Palestine and Israel toward final resolution of all outstanding issues. The details for such an effort need to be fleshed out, but, in the final analysis, the only way forward is this sort of radical intervention that would create an incubator allowing the development of Palestinian statehood. The writer is a Kadima Knesset member and serves on the Foreign Relations and Security Committee.

GEOPOLITICS OF US EU CHINA

Wednesday February 7,07 12:00 AM

1-7 YR TREATY PROOF. 2-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS.3-In flooded Jakarta, conditions worsen. 4-Quick-hitting snowstorm lower Midwest. 5-Snow squalls strand workers at power plant: report 6-Fires On Australia's Snowy Mountains Not Yet Under Control. 7-ARMAGEDDON. 8-Muslims say Israeli work threatens Jerusalem mosque. 9-One Generation Is All They Need. 10-EU drafts plan to combat militant Islamists. 11-Putin plans arms-selling tour of the Mideast. 12-Europe ripe for our ideas, says far right. 13-Evolving geopolitics of the US, EU and China.

7YR TREATY BY PROOF

GENESIS 2:2-3 GOD RESTED THE 7TH DAY
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

LEVITICUS 25:1-9 THE 7 YEAR SABBATICAL
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD.
3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof;
4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5 That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,
7 And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.

God has always dealt with Israel in 7's, it just makes sense the last dealing with Israel and the World will be a 7 yr treaty. God rested from creation on the 7TH DAY. Every 7TH YEAR Israel is suppose to rest the land. And the 7X7=49 YRS and the jubilee is the 50TH YEAR.

Now the scriptures that a week in Israel history is 7YEARS.

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

Isn"t this interesting it comes from the same Person whos name was changed to Israel,(JACOB) and Israel and Jerusalem is the places dealt with in Daniel 9:24-27.

GENESIS 32:27-28
27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

1 CHRONICLES 17:6-14
6 Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?
7 Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:
8 And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
10 And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house.
11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
12 He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.
13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.

MATTHEW 24:32-35
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(MAY 14,1948 ISRAEL BECOMES A NATION IN 1 DAY).
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

LUKE 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.(JERUSALEM IN JEWSH HANDS JUNE 6-10, 1967).

DANIEL 9:24-27
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people (ISRAEL) and upon thy holy city,(JERUSALEM) to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks,(7X7=49 YRS) and threescore and two weeks:(62X7=434 YRS) the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (69x7=483 YRS TO THIS POINT, THE FINAL 7 YR TREATY IS IN THE NEXT VERSE TO FULFILL THE 490 YEARS OF DANIELS PROPHECY.
9:27 And he (THE FUTURE ROMAN PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3RD TEMPLE DESECRATED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.(WW3)

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Tue Wed Feb 7 12:02 AM EDT

Feb 07,2007 No Quakes yet

FEB 6,2007
MAP 3.2 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.6 TAJIKISTAN
MAP 2.5 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 3.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.9 GUATEMALA
MAP 4.6 GUERRERO, MEXICO
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 PUERTO RICO
MAP 2.8 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 2.6 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.1 GUATEMALA
MAP 3.0 SAN JUAN URBAN AREA, PUERTO RICO
MAP 4.0 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

FEB 05,2007
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.8 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.4 KYRGYZSTAN
MAP 2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.5 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.9 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 5.2 TONGA
MAP 5.6 TONGA
MAP 5.7 TONGA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.1 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 4.7 POTOSI, BOLIVIA
MAP 3.6 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

In flooded Jakarta, conditions worsen By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer FEB 06,07

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A boat ride with emergency workers Tuesday revealed the hardships residents are suffering five days after torrential rains unleashed floodwaters that have killed 44 people and chased hundreds of thousands from their homes in this city of 12 million. In a low-lying riverside district of the capital, dead chickens floated in the same filthy floodwaters that women used to bathe children and wash clothes. Men sitting on rooftops or balconies dangled hooks in the debris-filled water for fish amid the stench of raw sewage. An elderly woman called out to rescuers for food and water from her second-floor balcony. Boys scavenged plastic bags and other recyclable waste to sell for a few pennies.While some parts of Jakarta began drying out under gray skies, water is still several feet deep in low-lying areas along river banks where tens of thousands of the city's poorest live in cluttered allies.

The emergency workers delivered dried noodles, rice and fresh water to residents of central Jakarta's Bendungan Hilir district, a mixed-income neighborhood. Indonesian soldiers paddled the boat past abandoned furniture, people wading in chest-high water with plastic containers balanced on their heads, and children swimming as if they were in a public pool. Some boys used a sofa cushion as a raft.Flooding was still 8 feet deep amid the simple, two-story cinder block and brick homes. The district's main market, hospital and most houses were inundated, forcing residents to move to upper floors. The fear of their homes being looted kept many from leaving.Indonesia's poor — a majority in the country of 220 million people — have borne the brunt of a recent string of natural disasters, including the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed more than 160,000 people on Sumatra island. This month's flood, the worst in the capital in recent memory, was no exception.As many as 38,000 other people in the southwestern district, which borders some of the city's wealthiest high-rise apartments and sleek skyscrapers, are crammed into unhygienic shelters, officials said.We are sharing two toilets between 1,000 people said Nelly, whose family of nine awoke in the middle of the night Thursday when the river overflowed its banks just 100 yards away.The 25-year-old mother, who uses a single name, recalled rushing outside in panic as the water swept in.It came suddenly, she said. The water was up to my neck when I carried my daughter out above my head.

Her 2 1/2-year-old daughter has diarrhea. They sleep on the floor of a classroom with 30 other people.Nelly and her family are too poor to move to higher ground in Jakarta, where floods are common during the annual rainy season.For Rina, a 27-year-old mother of two whose house was still inaccessible Tuesday, next week offers challenges enough. The school where she is staying is scheduled to reopen then, and she fears she will be kicked out.We just don't know where we will go, she said, although officials were predicting the rains were expected to let up in the next few days.

Health workers warned that medicine was running short, raising fears of disease spreading among the displaced.Unsanitary conditions were blamed for widespread skin problems and diarrhea, while health officials said they feared exhausted flood victims had become more vulnerable to dysentery, cholera or typhoid.Many people were angry at what they said was a sluggish government response.We live in modern times, said Stefanus Lamury who lives in a flooded-out residential area close to the city center's gleaming glass and steel skyscrapers. People should have been warned. No one should have died because of this.

There was confusion as to the number of people still in shelters.

Health Ministry official Dr. Rustam Pakaya said the evacuees fell Tuesday to 221,088 from almost 340,000 on Monday, as people began returning home. But Eko Prasetyo, a spokesman from the National Disaster Coordinating Agency, put the number of displaced at 430,000. He said the figure included a new wave of people forced from their homes by overnight floods in east Jakarta. Rival government agencies often give different numbers of dead and missing during natural disasters in Indonesia due to poor communications and coordination. There is a shortage of baby food and blankets, said one local official, Alamsyah, as he oversaw the cooking of rice and instant noodles at a shelter. We need more supplies.Nuraini, a military doctor working on the relief effort, said he had run out of medicine. Most people have diarrhea and are sick after being in the water for too long, said Nuraini.

Electricity to much of the capital remains cut off.

The cost to the country so far is estimated to be some $452 million, Planning Minister Paskah Suzzeta said, mostly due to an inactive economy and closure of offices and factories.The flood has caused little damage to city infrastructure, buildings or homes. Officials are expecting most people to be able to return to their houses once the water recedes. Citywide floods last occurred in 2002 in Jakarta, much of which is below sea level. Environmentalists blame the flooding on rivers clogged with rubbish, rampant overdevelopment, and deforestation of hills to the south of the city. The city administration must have the guts to tear down buildings that violate planning codes, said Slamet Daroyni, from local conservation group Walhi. They must do so unless we want to live with the floods every year.

Quick-hitting snowstorm lower Midwest B. Bernard, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Tue Feb 6, 12:26 PM ET

A quick-hitting snowstorm--a clipper system--will produce a swath of 4- to 6-inch snow across the lower Midwest this afternoon and evening. Cities such as Indianapolis and Cincinnati could pick up close to a half foot of fresh powder by sunset. The snow will move into West Virginia by evening where some locations can expect to be coated in 6 to 10 inches. The system will weaken crossing the mountains into Virginia and Maryland overnight, but Washington, D. C., and Baltimore could see an inch or two of fresh cover by sunrise. Elsewhere this afternoon, lake-effect snow off Lake Superior will continue to whip over the eastern U. P. of Michigan where another 4 inches could accumulate. Off Lake Erie, from Buffalo southward, look for a lake-effect band to produce another 6 to 9 inches. The biggest snow-maker, however, will be the seemingly ever-present band off the eastern end of Lake Ontario. In the core of the band, which is edging northward now, expect snowfall rates of 1 to 2 feet every 12 hours. Some locations could end up with 5 or 6 feet (storm total) by tomorrow night.

Snow squalls strand workers at power plant: report
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 CBC News

Workers are stranded at a southwestern Ontario nuclear power plant after snow squalls led to road closures along the eastern shore of Lake Huron.Some of those stuck at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station have been there for about 48 hours, a spokesperson told a local Owen Sound radio station. The number of stranded employees were unknown.Employees in nearby communities such as Port Elgin and Kincardine have been put on standby to relieve their colleagues as soon as roads are cleared.Highway 21, a route to the nuclear plant, was one of three highways closed by police in southwestern Ontario because of treacherous driving conditions.Other closures caused by the snow squalls include Highway 9 and Highway 23.With files from the Canadian Press

Weather warning for: Bracebridge, Dundalk, Fort Erie, Gravenhurst, Kincardine, Midland, Muskoka, Niagara Falls, Orillia, Owen Sound, Port Colborne, Port Elgin, Prince Edward Picton, Saugeen Shores, South Bruce Peninsula, Walkerton, Welland, Wiarton

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.

Fires On Australia's Snowy Mountains Not Yet Under Control February 6, 2007

Two fires in the Kosciuszko National Park of the Snowy Mountains in southeast Australia are still not under control. So far 1,500 hectares of the park north of the Yarrangobilly Caves and at Tantangara Dam has been burnt, Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio reported Monday. Andrew Grant from the National Parks and Wildlife Service said the fires have led to some visitors being moved out of the Blue Waterholes area. We're not at the point yet to actually declare them contained, but certainly one of them is well on the way, he was quoted as saying. The other fire's more to the east, it's got a little bit more work to do before we can call that contained, he said. But work's going really well, we've got a lot of crews going up there today, a lot of aircraft and dozers and so forth working on the fires, he added. However, the fires are not posing any threat to property and the Snowy Mountains Highway has reopened to traffic after being closed overnight.

Grant said the fires were caused by lightning.

Part of the park is going to be burnt, that's one of the things that does obviously happen, there's obviously some effect on wildlife and the flora, but it's also part of the natural cycle, he said. Both these fires were caused by lightning, which is a natural cause, and we're just really limiting their spread, he said. He said firefighters are pretty confident that they'll be able to contain these fires although the conditions are very dry and remain very hot this week.Written by Xinhua News Agency - CEIS Courtesy of 2007, YellowBrix, Inc.

ARMAGEDDON FEB 06,07 DR JACK VAN IMPE

Armageddon has come to stand for the most terrible of all wars. The word actually means mount of Megiddo, referring to a small mountain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The great valley there has been a battlefield for many conquerors and it will be the focal point of the earth's final conflict.Since the fall of man, earth's population has been training for Armageddon. Every tiny skirmish and world war has been a preliminary to the battle of battles: Armageddon.Following the defeat of Russia and her armies by Israel, the final world dictator, the Antichrist, will be revealed for who he is -- a ruthless, satanically controlled, evil person. The length of his reign after the Israeli defeat of Russia will be three and one-half years (forty-two months; see Rev. 13:5) and during that time he will bring the world to its most violent hour.

The World's Most Violent Hour

There is considerable speculation as to just what triggers the Battle of Armageddon. Why do the armies of the world gather in the Middle East at the end of the Tribulation period? Is there a rebellion in the kingdom of the Antichrist? What precipitates the final conflict? Although there is mystery surrounding some of these questions, there are a number of certainties about Armageddon.

It takes place at the end of the Tribulation (Rev. 16:16).
It involves all the nations of the world (Joel 3:12).
It pits all nations against the Lord and His anointed (Ps. 2).
It ends with the revelation of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:11 -- 21).
While many events of the end time are hidden from us, it is not difficult to sort out some important developments during the Tribulation period that lead to the Battle of Armageddon.

1. The Consolidation of the Power of the Antichrist

When the Beast (the Antichrist) makes peace with Israel and guarantees her security at the beginning of Daniel's seventieth week, he is not in complete control of the world. Although he is headed for ultimate dictatorship, the earth is at that time still given to considerable nationalism. The Beast will have to fight for total control of the earth. To gain unchallenged dominion, he will have to face the military might of both the Russian confederacy and a powerful Eastern force, probably China. Writing of this international turmoil, Daniel explained: And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north 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 (Dan. 11:40).That this crisis is not confined to the northern alliance is made clear by Daniel 11:44: But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.Following the miraculous defeat of the Russian armies and their allies for Israel's sake, the Antichrist will vent his fury against the massive Eastern force of 200 million that is moving toward the Middle East to challenge his power. The casualties in this confrontation will total one-third of the world's population. Here is John's description of the struggle and slaughter:

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. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. 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. 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. For this power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt" (Rev. 9:15 -- 19).It is not difficult to envision nuclear weaponry here, and in the populous Eastern nations the destruction unleashed by the Antichrist will be dreadful.With all the world subservient to him, the final world dictator will deify himself, demanding worship in the Jews' temple in Jerusalem. He will then assume total economic control, requiring his mark in the hand or forehead in order for a person to transact any business. The Beast will rule the earth, assisted by the false prophet and energized by Satan. The entire world will be under the control of a satanic trinity:

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:4 -- 8).It is clear then that all opposition to the Beast will finally be put down, making him a world dictator. Threats from the north, the south, and the east will be overcome. .therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious mountain. (Dan. 11:44,45).

The Antichrist will have accomplished the dream of Hitler, Napoleon, the Caesars, and others. He will be dictator of the world.

2. The 144,000 Converted Jews

Another important factor as the world moves toward Armageddon will be the conversion to Christ of 144,000 Jews -- 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel (see Rev. 7). The result of their missionary activity during history's most difficult time will be phenomenal. They will reap converts from all nations, even though conversion will mean martyrdom for many (Rev. 7:9 -- 17).The message of these 144,000 Hebrew Christian evangelists will be the gospel of the kingdom -- that is, it will be the gospel with a kingdom emphasis. They will be announcing the coming kingdom of Christ, and during their ministry Matthew 24:14 will be fulfilled: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

In his book, The Jews and Armageddon, Milton B. Lindberg describes the work of the 144,000 Jews as follows:

The Gospel of Christ has a number of descriptive designations because of a variety of emphases. In Matthew 24 it is called the gospel of the kingdom because the emphasis in its proclamation will be upon the Saviour's near return to set up His kingdom.... How these redeemed sons of Israel will delight to proclaim the good news of salvation with the added emphasis that at last the long- looked-for kingdom is about to be established. At long last, the Messianic hopes of Israel are to be realized. Jerusalem is to be the capital of Messiah's kingdom. Israel's Messiah is to be king over all the earth (Zech. 14:9).An added dimension to the kingdom message of the 144,000 servants of God will be their ability to announce the approximate time of the Lord's return. Tribulation chronology will make this possible.A number of prophecies state that the rule of the final world dictator will continue for three and one-half years after breaking the agreement for peace with Israel. Daniel described this period as a time and times and the dividing of time (Dan. 7:25). John similarly spoke of a time, and times, and a half a time (Rev. 12:14). Becoming more specific, he wrote: And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months (Rev. 13:5).Armed then with the evidence of fulfilled prophecy and the unfolding Tribulation drama, these end-time messengers will reap a great harvest. To quote Lindberg again:

When the 144,000 begin to preach the Gospel, they will be given a hearing. Even today the world loves to hear the testimony of those who, like Paul, having hated Christ and persecuted the church, now proclaim the grace of God. Not only will these transformed Jews have a hearing, but as Revelation 7 indicates, their preaching will result in a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues coming out of the Great Tribulation, having washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. What a mighty revival will result when these enemies of Jesus Christ become His devoted servants! Onward sweeps the revival in mighty power, drawing multitudes to faith in Christ.It is not difficult to imagine the reaction of the world dictator to these who publicly proclaim the end of his reign and announce the coming kingdom of Christ. His anger will explode in an avalanche of persecution. Multitudes will be martyred. There will be no Sunday-go-to-meeting Christians during the Tribulation. Great numbers will be called upon to seal their testimonies with blood.

Muslims say Israeli work threatens Jerusalem mosque by John Russell
Tue Feb 6, 12:03 PM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Muslim and Arab leaders have urged Palestinians to rush to the flashpoint Jerusalem mosque compound to protest Israeli works they claim threaten the site's foundations.

The Waqf religious trust said work by the Israel Antiquities Authority under heavy police protection endangers the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam.The news drew international condemnation, including from Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose country has a formal role in maintaining Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.An AFP reporter saw a small bulldozer digging up a path next to Dung Gate that leads to one of the mosque entrances, near the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.The Waqf said two underground rooms connected to the mosques lie under a mound, the focus of the works, and that levelling it would threaten the foundation of the compound.

The Antiquities Authority said the work was to strengthen an access ramp to Dung Gate for the benefit and safety of visitors after damage caused by an earthquake and snowstorms in February 2004.Tayssir al-Tamimi, head of religious courts in the Palestinian territories, said on Al-Jazeera television that the occupation bulldozers are headed (to the mosques) to destroy the historic route from Dung Gate.He urged Palestinians to go immediately to the compound to protect the site from the Israeli works.Jerusalem's mufti, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, also denounced the aggression.Speaking to reporters before leaving the Gaza Strip for talks in Saudi Arabia, Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya called on all the sons of the Palestinian people to unite and rise up en masse to protect the Al-Aqsa mosque.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said there was absolutely no basis for accusations that holy sites would be harmed.

The works are not intended to harm any of the holy sites. On the contrary, the purpose is to maintain the sites because of some erosion that happened in the past, she said after talks with her British counterpart Margaret Beckett.The compound, which houses both Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, is where the second Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 following a controversial visit by then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon.It is also revered by Jews as the site of their ancient temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.Several hundred Israeli police were deployed throughout the Old City, and restrictions imposed on access to the compound to prevent disturbances, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.Eleven people were arrested for throwing stones in sporadic disturbances in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem, but none in the Old City, said Rosenfeld.In Gaza City, dozens of Palestinians marched to denounce the Israeli aggression, and a similar protest was held in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Islamic Jihad said a rocket attack on southern Israel -- which caused no casualties or damage -- was in response to the criminal Zionist aggression against the Al-Aqsa mosque.Only a few dozen Palestinians gathered at Dung Gate, among them the head of the Islamic movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah.

What's happening here is criminal and it could reach into the depths of the Al-Aqsa mosque, he told reporters. Former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei accused the Israeli government of playing with fire, saying in a statement its behaviour could start a new intifada.In Cairo, the Arab League voiced its extreme concern and ire over excavations, and the supreme leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called on all Arabs, Muslims ... to express their anger and reject this Zionist crime.

Jordan's King Abdullah II said in Amman his country would take all the measures capable of preserving the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, in keeping with our responsibilities and in line with the terms of the peace treaty with Israel.Under the 1994 treaty, Jordan has a formal role in overseeing maintenance of those sites. He said he had ordered urgent contacts with the Israeli authorities to stop their measures and warn of their negative consequences.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

One Generation Is All They Need
Added: Feb 4th, 2007 10:36 AM
Kevin Haggerty Special to the Star RNN.com

By the time my four-year-old son is swathed in the soft flesh of old age, he will likely find it unremarkable that he and almost everyone he knows will be permanently implanted with a microchip. Automatically tracking his location in real time, it will connect him with databases monitoring and recording his smallest behavioural traits. Most people anticipate such a prospect with a sense of horrified disbelief, dismissing it as a science-fiction fantasy. The technology, however, already exists. For years humane societies have implanted all the pets that leave their premises with a small identifying microchip. As well, millions of consumer goods are now traced with tiny radio frequency identification chips that allow satellites to reveal their exact location.A select group of people are already chipped with devices that automatically open doors, turn on lights, and perform other low-level miracles. Prominent among such individuals is researcher Kevin Warwick of Reading University in England; Warwick is a leading proponent of the almost limitless potential uses for such chips.

Other users include the patrons of the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona, many of whom have paid about $150 (U.S.) for the privilege of being implanted with an identifying chip that allows them to bypass lengthy club queues and purchase drinks by being scanned. These individuals are the advance guard of an effort to expand the technology as widely as possible.From this point forward, microchips will become progressively smaller, less invasive, and easier to deploy. Thus, any realistic barrier to the wholesale chipping of Western citizens is not technological but cultural. It relies upon the visceral reaction against the prospect of being personally marked as one component in a massive human inventory. Today we might strongly hold such beliefs, but sensibilities can, and probably will, change. How this remarkable attitudinal transformation is likely to occur is clear to anyone who has paid attention to privacy issues over the past quarter-century. There will be no 3 a.m. knock on the door by storm troopers come to force implants into our bodies. The process will be more subtle and cumulative, couched in the unassailable language of progress and social betterment, and mimicking many of the processes that have contributed to the expansion of closed-circuit television cameras and the corporate market in personal data.A series of tried and tested strategies will be marshalled to familiarize citizens with the technology. These will be coupled with efforts to pressure tainted social groups and entice the remainder of the population into being chipped.

This, then, is how the next generation will come to be microchipped.

It starts in distant countries. Having tested the technology on guinea pigs, both human and animal, the first widespread use of human implanting will occur in nations at the periphery of the Western world. Such developments are important in their own right, but their international significance pertains to how they familiarize a global audience with the technology and habituate them to the idea that chipping represents a potential future.An increasing array of hypothetical chipping scenarios will also be depicted in entertainment media, furthering the familiarization process.In the West, chips will first be implanted in members of stigmatized groups. Pedophiles are the leading candidate for this distinction, although it could start with terrorists, drug dealers, or whatever happens to be that year's most vilified criminals. Short-lived promises will be made that the technology will only be used on the "worst of the worst. In fact, the wholesale chipping of incarcerated individuals will quickly ensue, encompassing people on probation and on parole.Even accused individuals will be tagged, a measure justified on the grounds that it would stop them from fleeing justice. Many prisoners will welcome this development, since only chipped inmates will be eligible for parole, weekend release, or community sentences. From the prison system will emerge an evocative vocabulary distinguishing chippers from non-chippers.

Although the chips will be justified as a way to reduce fraud and other crimes, criminals will almost immediately develop techniques to simulate other people's chip codes and manipulate their data.The comparatively small size of the incarcerated population, however, means that prisons would be simply a brief stopover on a longer voyage. Commercial success is contingent on making serious inroads into tagging the larger population of law-abiding citizens. Other stigmatized groups will therefore be targeted. This will undoubtedly entail monitoring welfare recipients, a move justified to reduce fraud, enhance efficiency, and ensure that the poor do not receive undeserved benefits.Once e-commerce is sufficiently advanced, welfare recipients will receive their benefits as electronic vouchers stored on their microchips, a policy that will be tinged with a sense of righteousness, as it will help ensure that clients can only purchase government-approved goods from select merchants, reducing the always disconcerting prospect that poor people might use their limited funds to purchase alcohol or tobacco.Civil libertarians will try to foster a debate on these developments. Their attempts to prohibit chipping will be handicapped by the inherent difficulty in animating public sympathy for criminals and welfare recipients — groups that many citizens are only too happy to see subjected to tighter regulation. Indeed, the lesser public concern for such groups is an inherent part of the unarticulated rationale for why coerced chipping will be disproportionately directed at the stigmatized.

The official privacy arm of the government will now take up the issue. Mandated to determine the legality of such initiatives, privacy commissioners and Senate Committees will produce a forest of reports presented at an archipelago of international conferences. Hampered by lengthy research and publication timelines, their findings will be delivered long after the widespread adoption of chipping is effectively a fait accompli. The research conclusions on the effectiveness of such technologies will be mixed and open to interpretation.Officials will vociferously reassure the chipping industry that they do not oppose chipping itself, which has fast become a growing commercial sector. Instead, they are simply seeking to ensure that the technology is used fairly and that data on the chips is not misused. New policies will be drafted. Employers will start to expect implants as a condition of getting a job. The U.S. military will lead the way, requiring chips for all soldiers as a means to enhance battlefield command and control — and to identify human remains. From cooks to commandos, every one of the more than one million U.S. military personnel will see microchips replace their dog tags.Following quickly behind will be the massive security sector. Security guards, police officers, and correctional workers will all be expected to have a chip. Individuals with sensitive jobs will find themselves in the same position.The first signs of this stage are already apparent. In 2004, the Mexican attorney general's office started implanting employees to restrict access to secure areas. The category of sensitive occupation will be expansive to the point that anyone with a job that requires keys, a password, security clearance, or identification badge will have those replaced by a chip.Judges hearing cases on the constitutionality of these measures will conclude that chipping policies are within legal limits. The thin veneer of voluntariness coating many of these programs will allow the judiciary to maintain that individuals are not being coerced into using the technology.

In situations where the chips are clearly forced on people, the judgments will deem them to be undeniable infringements of the right to privacy. However, they will then invoke the nebulous and historically shifting standard of reasonableness to pronounce coerced chipping a reasonable infringement on privacy rights in a context of demands for governmental efficiency and the pressing need to enhance security in light of the still ongoing wars on terror, drugs, and crime.At this juncture, an unfortunately common tragedy of modern life will occur: A small child, likely a photogenic toddler, will be murdered or horrifically abused. It will happen in one of the media capitals of the Western world, thereby ensuring non-stop breathless coverage. Chip manufactures will recognize this as the opportunity they have been anticipating for years. With their technology now largely bug-free, familiar to most citizens and comparatively inexpensive, manufacturers will partner with the police to launch a high-profile campaign encouraging parents to implant their children to ensure your own peace of mind.

Special deals will be offered. Implants will be free, providing the family registers for monitoring services. Loving but unnerved parents will be reassured by the ability to integrate tagging with other functions on their PDA so they can see their child any time from any place. Paralleling these developments will be initiatives that employ the logic of convenience to entice the increasingly small group of holdouts to embrace the now common practice of being tagged. At first, such convenience tagging will be reserved for the highest echelon of Western society, allowing the elite to move unencumbered through the physical and informational corridors of power. Such practices will spread more widely as the benefits of being chipped become more prosaic. Chipped individuals will, for example, move more rapidly through customs.Indeed, it will ultimately become a condition of using mass-transit systems that officials be allowed to monitor your chip. Companies will offer discounts to individuals who pay by using funds stored on their embedded chip, on the small-print condition that the merchant can access large swaths of their personal data. These discounts are effectively punitive pricing schemes, charging unchipped individuals more as a way to encourage them to submit to monitoring. Corporations will seek out the personal data in hopes of producing ever more fine-grained customer profiles for marketing purposes, and to sell to other institutions.

By this point all major organizations will be looking for opportunities to capitalize on the possibilities inherent in an almost universally chipped population. The uses of chips proliferate, as do the types of discounts. Each new generation of household technology becomes configured to operate by interacting with a person's chip.Finding a computer or appliance that will run though old-fashioned hands-on' interactions becomes progressively more difficult and costly. Patients in hospitals and community care will be routinely chipped, allowing medical staff — or, more accurately, remote computers — to monitor their biological systems in real time.Eager to reduce the health costs associated with a largely docile citizenry, authorities will provide tax incentives to individuals who exercise regularly. Personal chips will be remotely monitored to ensure that their heart rate is consistent with an exercise regime. By now, the actual process of chipping for many individuals will simply involve activating certain functions of their existing chip. Any prospect of removing the chip will become increasingly untenable, as having a chip will be a precondition for engaging in the main dynamics of modern life, such as shopping, voting, and driving.The remaining holdouts will grow increasingly weary of Luddite jokes and subtle accusations that they have something to hide. Exasperated at repeatedly watching neighbours bypass them in chipped lines while they remain subject to the delays, inconveniences, and costs reserved for the unchipped, they too will choose the path of least resistance and get an implant.

In one generation, then, the cultural distaste many might see as an innate reaction to the prospect of having our bodies marked like those of an inmate in a concentration camp will likely fade. In the coming years some of the most powerful institutional actors in society will start to align themselves to entice, coerce, and occasionally compel the next generation to get an implant.Now, therefore, is the time to contemplate the unprecedented dangers of this scenario. The most serious of these concern how even comparatively stable modern societies will, in times of fear, embrace treacherous promises. How would the prejudices of a Joe McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, or of southern Klansmen — all of whom were deeply integrated into the American political establishment — have manifest themselves in such a world? What might Hitler, Mao or Milosevic have accomplished if their citizens were chipped, coded, and remotely monitored?

Choirs of testimonials will soon start to sing the virtues of implants. Calm reassurances will be forthcoming about democratic traditions, the rule of law, and privacy rights. History, unfortunately, shows that things can go disastrously wrong, and that this happens with disconcerting regularity. Little in the way of international agreements, legality, or democratic sensibilities has proved capable of thwarting single-minded ruthlessness.It can't happen here has become the whispered swan song of the disappeared. Best to contemplate these dystopian potentials before we proffer the tender forearms of our sons and daughters. While we cannot anticipate all of the positive advantages that might be derived from this technology, the negative prospects are almost too terrifying to contemplate.

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 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 have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

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.

WORLD TERRORISM

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

2 PETER 2:5
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

2 PETER 3:7
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men

LEVITICUS 26:16
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden) terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

EU drafts plan to combat militant Islamists
By Ingrid Melander - REUTERS - 7:42 a.m. February 6, 2007

BRUSSELS – European Union states should clamp down on radical imams and Internet hate speech and train police and teachers on the dangers of Islamist militancy, according to a confidential plan seen by Reuters. The paper on combating radicalisation, agreed by EU ambassadors, urges governments to monitor travelling imams inciting to violence, talent spotters, recruiters and other leading figures and their movements within the European Union. It says EU states should collect and exchange information on these radical inspirational figures, and pay special attention to diminishing their influence in prisons. Member states should encourage the Muslim communities not to rely on external imams, but also to ensure that imams are trained and recruited from their own communities, it adds. Militant Islam is now seen as the major terrorism threat in the 27-nation EU. Authorities are trying to understand how young Muslim men are being radicalised and recruited for operations like the 2004 Madrid train bombings and 2005 suicide bombings on London's transport system. Some plots have also featured women. British authorities last week thwarted an alleged plot to kidnap and kill a British Muslim soldier, the sixth operation they say they have foiled since the attacks of July 2005.

The EU paper says national security authorities should seek to share more information with partner countries on individuals who may have been involved in radicalisation, including potential terrorists trained inside or outside the EU. But in a tacit acknowledgement of the difficulties involved, it says this should be done with due regard for data protection considerations. Many EU states have strict privacy rules limiting the sharing of data on individuals with third countries. Some U.S. officials privately express their exasperation with the European approach, saying security arguments should take precedence.

MODERATE ISLAM

The EU paper – an updated version of an action plan first adopted in 2005 – insists on the importance of promoting moderate, home-grown, Islam and calls on states to support the training of imams in language and teaching skills. It presses EU states to see how they can help promote moderate Islamic literature to counteract the effects of the radical message and stress the incompatibility of such a message with the main principles and values of Islam.Member states are urged to ensure that the basic training of all police forces includes teaching on mainstream Islam, radicalisation and recruitment, and to do the same with teachers and social workers. States are also encouraged to make sure that police forces reflect the communities which they police.The revised plan, expected to be rubber-stamped by EU governments later this month, urges EU states to check the Web more closely for fundamentalist activities, asking them to consider systematically investigating radical sites. The document cautiously treads on the issue of free speech. States are only encouraged to consider raising the issue of hate speech on Internet with web service providers. EU officials must also become more visible in Muslim media to make the bloc 'better understood', the plan says.

Putin plans arms-selling tour of the Mideast
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, January 23, 2007

MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin plans to market Russia's newly-reformed arms industry during his upcoming trip to the Middle East.Russian officials said Putin would be accompanied by a large delegation in his visit to such countries as Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in early February. They said the delegation would include senior officials from the state-owned arms export agency Rosoboronexport, which has come under direct presidential control.Putin scored a huge success in Algeria in 2006 and wants to market Russian weapons to other countries as well, an official said. The president has clearly been the most effective salesman for our arms industry.Officials said Rosoboronexport has briefed Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia on a range of Russian military platforms. They said Jordan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to consider Russian weapon procurement, which would include defense industry cooperation.Putin plans to meet Saudi King Abdullah on Feb. 11 and 12, the Kremlin said in a statement on Jan. 29. From Riyad, the Russian president was scheduled to fly to Qatar. Jordan would comprise the last leg of Putin's tour in the Middle East.

Russia's relations with Gulf states are a positive factor in resolving conflicts in the Middle East, Putin told a news conference on Thursday.Officials said Russia has also offered nuclear energy cooperation to several Middle East states. They said Amman and Riyad have already expressed interest.In December 2006, Putin assigned all weapons exports to Rosoboronexport. The decree, meant to take effect on March 1, would affect such major, and formerly independent, arms suppliers as MiG as well as Instrument Manufacturing Design Bureau, or KBP.A report by the Washington -based Jamestown Foundation asserted that Rosoboronexport's monopoly over Russia's arms trade enables direct control by Putin. The report, authored by Pavel Felgenhauer, said profits from Russian weapons exports, including those to the Middle East, have been tremendous.

Russian-made weapons have also shown up recently in the Middle East, the report said. KBP supplied Syria with the modern anti-tank Russian Kornet missiles that Hizbullah allegedly used against the Israelis in Lebanon last summer. The fact that Islamists or their supporters in Lebanon and in the Horn of Africa used independently exported Russian weapons may have lead Putin to impose a strict arms trade monopoly.

Europe ripe for our ideas, says far right FEB 06,07
Christian Science Monitor.

They formed a new bloc in the European Parliament last month and now receive $1.5 million in public funding.By Robert Marquand Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor PARIS - For more than a decade far-right parties in Europe have been lost in regional and ideological squabbles, some of them dating to the 1930s. But with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union last month, a move at first opposed by the far-right, the ultranationalists suddenly found enough fellow travelers to formalize a coalition. The Identity, Tradition, and Sovereignty caucus, born Jan. 16, is constituted inside the European Parliament. It includes the Attack party from Bulgaria, which published lists of Bulgarian Jews on its website; the party of Alexandra Mussolini, grand-daughter of Italy's World War II fascist leader; and is led by Bruno Gollnisch of Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right French party, who faced trial in Lyon this fall for Holocaust denial. Yet right-wing leaders insist they are not racist, represent 23 million voters, and have two main goals: To hone their message to be more respectable, and to put aside differences in order to get that message more broadly heard.

Indeed, in a Europe embroiled over new immigrants, cultural wars about European identity and values, and with skepticism of a super-Europe run in Brussels, people are ripe for their ideas, Identity members feel. By joining forces, we will be able to get our message more powerfully heard, says Philip Claeys, vice president of Identity and member of Vlaams Belang or Flemish Interest party, in a Monitor interview. Identity is the core issue in Europe today, and our ideas put us in the center of every major debate about Europe's future. Immigration used to be a taboo issue. But with large masses of people not willing to integrate, and with problems getting worse and worse in the cities, it is time to talk, he says. Though comprising only 20 out of 785 parliament members, the coalition receives $1.5 million in support, and can table amendments.With a faction you get money, jobs, you have staff members; you go abroad to other countries; you hold conferences, says Jean-Yves Camus of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris. It is a way to raise money without having to go to your membership. They [right-wing parties] find it easier to operate. They are less isolated.

One goal is respectability. Many far-right parties now distance themselves from neo-Nazis and skinheads, and eschew the use of symbols like the swastika. Their language is less toxic, though their basic beliefs appear to remain fairly hard-edged. These parties have a following greater than the numbers suggest, argues Mr. Camus. Voters aren't so interested in European elections.Indeed, boosting numbers is not a main agenda issue right now. The groups say they represent a deeper sentiment, and that the trend in Europe is toward the right. In the past three years, for example, a country like the Netherlands, long regarded as liberal and open, has taken a sharp conservative turn that roughly dates to the street murder of film-maker Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim of North African descent. Amsterdam itself is 45 percent non-Dutch, as Ian Buruma notes in his new book, Murder in Amsterdam.Many scholars agree with this trend. European democracies are now under the influence of a ultranationalist current, argues Pascal Perrineau, a university professor at the Fondation National de Sciences Politiques in Paris. The right is given a boost, Dr. Perrineau says, by East European groups: In less than a year, we saw in Poland a government with the hardest extreme-right representatives. We saw in Slovakia the building of an coalition with social-democrats, nationalists, and right populists. We saw in Hungary increasing agitation maintained by the extreme right, in reaction to declarations of Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany.

All these are examples of a rapid populist development, waiting since the end of the fall of the Iron Curtain, but more noticeable when these countries joined the European family, he adds.Europe's political establishment is implacably opposed to Identity. Last week, in a secret ballot the European Parliament blocked the coalition members from becoming vice-chairs of two committees. Human rights groups are agitated that tax dollars will help promote views variously interpreted as anti-Semitic, anti-immigration, anti-Muslim, and narrowly pro-Christian. Gypsy or Roma groups say East European parties especially target their interests: "The agenda [of Identity]... is far from promoting a tolerant and democratic Europe, argued the European Roma Information Office. Other experts say Identity has small numbers, no political clout, and that their presence shows the strength of Europe's liberal democracy. Mr. Claeys, the vice-president of Identity, calls the blocking in parliament of his group, a perfect example of discrimination and bias based on old ideas about multicultural political correctness; we were all elected to this body, we have a right to representation.

Camus, author of a recent book on extremism in France, says Europe now has two variants of the far right, the respectable far-right parties, and the unrepentant extremist far right. In fact, they don't have much difference between them. Several weeks ago, Le Pen's Front National was the first European party to establish a headquarters inside the popular Second Life online virtual world. This brought a virtual protest outside the virtual headquarters, with virtual placards, and some participants throwing (virtual) exploding pigs. One protester, Ichi Jaehun, told James Au of New World Notes, which reports on Second Life, that this nationalist idea that Front National is advocating is something that has spread all over Europe like a virus.We had 23 million voters for our party, so I hardly think we are extremists, counters Claeys. He admits his group may struggle. But Identity has opened negotiations with the Polish Family League, and the Northern Italian League, to add members. We expect by 2009 [the next European-wide election] to be in much better shape.

The Leaders in the last Days. NORTH - RUSSIA, SOUTH - EGYPT, EAST - CHINA, WEST - EUROPEAN UNION. This story got 2 of the 4 right.

Ezekiel 39:1-2 KING OF THE NORTH RUSSIA
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:

Daniel 11:40 KING OF THE SOUTH EGYPT
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.

Daniel 11:44 KING OF THE EAST CHINA
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)

Daniel 7:23-24 KING OF THE WEST EUROPEAN UNION (ROMANS) NOT U.S.A
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.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Evolving geopolitics of the US, EU and China FEB 06,07

How will global politics evolve from the US seemingly slipping hegemony? Some observers believe that geopolitics is evolving into a system with three great powers - the US, China and the EU - over the next several decades, with Japan and India playing secondary roles.By Richard Carney and Richard A Bitzinger for RSIS

While relations between these countries will vary according to specific issues, we contend that the overall relationship will lean towards the formation of a broadly bipolar geopolitical structure with China and the EU on one side, and with the US, Japan and India on the other. Although the mishandling of post-invasion Iraq has diminished the US standing, its economic and military might remain dominant. However, China's rise may undercut US influence in certain areas, particularly within Asia. Unsurprisingly, the US is deeply concerned with containing China's hard and soft power influence in the region. Indeed, American foreign policy towards China, as well as its focus on terrorism, seems likely to guide the US' strategic role in Asia - and globally - for some time to come. Although these two countries are in a co-dependent trade relationship - which could be weakened as Chinese, Asian, and European consumers buy more and as Americans spend less - the US and China are clearly at odds over energy issues and security policy in Asia. Indeed, the US sees China as its main threat to global hegemony, and for this reason we view these countries as the two dominant powers driving the structure of geopolitics over the next several decades. The EU may become increasingly unified politically as a result of environmental, energy, and security issues; however, its political arrangements will undoubtedly remain too fragmented to permit decisive, unified foreign policy actions in the realm of hard power issues. To curb China's creeping economic influence in Asia, and to circumscribe its military aspirations, the US is looking for partners. In this regard, Japan and India are obvious choices. Both seek to compete with China for economic influence regionally and globally - particularly with regard to access to scarce energy and natural resources. Both also have territorial disputes with China and seek to balance Beijing's increasing military power. While Japan and the US have remained close partners since the end of World War II, the US has recently made increasingly strong gestures of crafting a political-military partnership with India. This is best illustrated by the signing of a civilian nuclear-power accord with New Delhi in December 2006, as well as offering, for the first time, to sell India advanced fighter jets and anti-ballistic missile defences.

The new European wildcard

What about the EU? As a result of America's unilateralist foreign policies during the Bush administration, Europe has grown increasingly disenchanted with its military dependence on and partnership with the US. Because America is likely to remain more focused on combating terrorism than is Europe, Europeans are likely to remain unsupportive of US foreign policies. Consequently, Europe has begun developing a common, independent security and defence policy, and has moved towards forming military capabilities that are less reliant on US support. This includes the establishment of a European Defence Agency (EDA) and the creation of a 60,000-soldier European Rapid Reaction Force. Additionally, the EU does not have any hard power aspirations in Asia or seek to project military influence in the region, nor does it share the US' concerns about curbing China's growing power projection capabilities. In particular, Washington has not been able to adequately convince the Europeans why and how China constitutes an actual or potential threat to Europe. Not only does the EU not share the US's security priorities, it also seeks to form closer economic and political ties with China. According to current estimates, China is expected to eclipse the US as the EU's main trade partner by 2020; the EU, meanwhile, is already China's largest trade partner, and as the EU's security apparatus permits it to act more independently from the US, it will not wilt under US pressure regarding China. The EU, for example, is on track to abandon its embargo - implemented after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre - on selling arms to China, despite considerable objections from Washington.

Implications for Asia

Viewing the evolution of geopolitics in this light, what are the implications for Asia? Europe is unlikely to oppose China's growing influence in the region. An expanding Chinese military does not directly affect Europe or threaten European security. Taiwan is a small issue in the EU-Chinese relationship, and Europe is relatively unconcerned about increased Chinese military activities in such areas as the South China Sea or the Malacca Straits. And, of course, Europe is increasingly prepared to sell Beijing the weapons it needs to increase its hard power further. At the same time, the US-Japan alliance has perhaps never been stronger, and Tokyo is more willing than ever to use this partnership as a means to normalize its international standing. Japan is in a process of revising and revamping its security and defense policy. By aligning closely with the US and engaging in cooperative military missions with Washington, Tokyo has been able to expand its military and security role in Asia. Not surprisingly, therefore, Japan has been the US' strongest ally in the Six-Party Talks on North Korean nuclear weapons and in constructing a missile-defense shield in northeast Asia. Tokyo also shares Washington's growing apprehensions over an increasingly expansionist China. India's relationship with the US is not as deep as Japan's, but it is potentially no less critical as a partner. India and China still share considerable enmity over territorial disputes, and India's nuclear weapons are as much aimed at Beijing as they are at Islamabad. The US and India have recently embarked on a new strategic dialogue that includes missile defense and other types of military cooperation. The Indian Navy is an important complement to US forces operating in and around the Indian Ocean.

Conclusion: A new geopolitical cosmology

One can frame this emerging geopolitical structure with the EU and China increasingly in one camp, and with the US, Japan, and India increasingly in the other, with a cosmological metaphor. China and the EU can be seen as a binary star system in which both stars revolve around each other but effectively constitute a single sun. The US is the single star of a neighboring solar system, with Japan in a closer orbit, and metaphorically in closer cooperation with the US, than is India. This new geopolitical cosmology has the potential to affect cooperation and conflict in Asia in many ways - trade, human rights, the environment, terrorism, and, of course, traditional security concerns. Indeed, this emerging system will likely be in play, in some form or another, in nearly every major issue affecting the region. Broadly speaking, both Beijing and Brussels share a common interest in multipolarity, whether they choose to call it that or not. Both wish to increase their influence in global governance, even though this naturally sets them up to clash with US unilateralism and hegemony. The consequences of this evolution in geopolitics will likely be felt most strongly in the Asia-Pacific, where China and the US (along with India and Japan) have their strongest friction points. The sooner the other Asian states recognize this and figure out their own role in this emerging international system, the better it will be for them. IDSS. 2007 S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyan Technological University, Blk S4, Level B4, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.