EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
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.
Sharp 6.2 quake shakes sea floor near Vanuatu AUG 12,08
AFP WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A strong earthquake has struck near the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude 6.2 quake was centered 290 miles northwest of the key city of Luganville on the island of Espiritu Santo.Vanuatu is part of the Pacific ring of fire — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile in South America through Alaska and down through Vanuatu to Tonga in the South Pacific.Vanuatu is made up of 83 islands and lies just over 1,400 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia.
Small earthquake shakes northern Israel AUG 13,08
Wed Aug 13, 6:12 am ET AFP/File – A seismograph reading. A small earthquake has struck northern Israel without causing casualties or damage, … AFP JERUSALEM (AFP) – A small earthquake struck northern Israel on Wednesday without causing casualties or damage, the national seismological institute said.The quake, the epicentre of which was 50 kilometres (30 miles) off the northern coast near the seaside town of Acre, registered 3.2 on the Richter scale, the institute said.In June, scientists warned of the dangers of a large earthquake in southern Lebanon that could radiate across the region, urging local medical services to prepare disaster relief plans.Since February, abnormal seismic activity has been noted in southern Lebanon, which suffered some 500 minor quakes in a three-month period, the Israeli health ministry said.Similar concern has been voiced by Lebanese seismologists.
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.
Atlantic Disturbances, Tropical Storm Iselle Chris Dolce – Wed Aug 13, 6:05 pm ET
Reuters – Volunteer Bob Whitman (R), helps Ronald Wattigny to rebuild his home in More hurricanes predicted for Atlantic 11 News Houston Two disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean continue to be watched, but neither is likely to become a tropical storm soon. The disturbance closest to the United States is located about 200 miles east of the Leeward Islands and moving toward the west-northwest at 10 to 15 mph. Showers and thunderstorms have flared during the day with this area of low pressure after a lull overnight. This system will be monitored over the next several days and may eventually get into a better environment for development. However, it does not appear likely to strengthen rapidly in the near future. In the Leeward Islands, expect increasing showers the next 36 hours. Farther east, about 700 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands, squally weather co-located with low pressure has seen little change in organization today. Some slow development of this system is possible over the next couple of days as it plows westward at 10 to 15 mph well away from any land areas. Another disturbance is just now pushing off the west coast of Africa several hundred miles southeast of the Cape Verdes. In the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Depression 10-E has been upgraded to Tropical Storm Iselle. Iselle is located about 230 miles southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. The depression is moving toward the west-northwest at 10 mph away from land. Only minor strengthening is expected the next several days as the storm moves out to sea.
Fresh floods in Vietnam kill teenager, toll 120 Wed Aug 13, 1:47 am ET Reuters
News Houston HANOI (Reuters) – Fresh floods triggered by rains swept away a teenager in northern Vietnam and several boats were destroyed, the government said on Wednesday, as it struggled to deliver aid to thousands of people hit by the worst floods in four decades.At least 120 people have been killed after days of heavy rains triggered by the remnants of a tropical storm. Another 44 are missing.On Tuesday, rescue workers found the body of a 13-year-old boy in Quang Ninh province after it was hit by torrential rains from a tropical low-pressure system, the government said in a report.Another four people were missing.The low-pressure system weakened as it made landfall in Quang Ninh, moved further inland and dispersed, the national weather bureau said.The region is about 1,500 km (930 miles) north of Vietnam's main rice and coffee production zones. Preliminary estimates of property losses in three of the 11 provinces affected by the disaster stood at 1.74 trillion dong ($105 million).The government estimated nearly 800 houses collapsed or were swept away, nearly 17,900 homes and more than 15,000 hectares of rice and other crops were destroyed. River waters peaked on Sunday at close to the record level in 1968, the government said.Provincial authorities should stay together with the people to instruct forces to urgently overcome the consequences, helping people stabilize life and keep updating damages, the government report said.Rescuers recovered five bodies in Lao Cai province on the border with China, bringing the death toll in the province to 53 while another 37 were still missing after floods swept through villages at the weekend.All the victims were residents of Lao Cai, popular among foreign tourists for its mountain resort town of Sapa.More than 200 people, among some 700 foreign tourists stranded in Lao Cai, have been airlifted by helicopter back to Hanoi while more were expected to leave by trains or cars as workers repaired the damaged sections of roads and the railways.The Lao Cai People's Committee has asked the central government for urgent aid of 70 tonnes of rice, blankets, mosquito nets and clothes to help flood victims, the government said.
(Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
CLAIM DEAD BIGFOOT ON ICE
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72299
ISRAELI FORCES BAR JEWS FROM RECLAIMING JERUSALEM PROPERTY
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72298
ISRAEL ADOPTS U.S PLAN TO SPLIT NATION IN 2
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72178
GEORGIA GETS RELIEF AIDE FROM U.S
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72178
NEWS VIDEOS TODAY AUG 13,08
http://news.yahoo.com/video
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.
Anne Penketh: Moscow flexed military muscle, and left West humiliated Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Russia is back. That is the indisputable result of the six-day war in the heart of Europe which may have changed the borders of a state for ever.The conflict, conducted with brio by Vladimir Putin, who clearly remains the man in charge of the Kremlin, has ended on Russia's terms, and there is nothing the West can do about it. Moscow has demonstrated that it is prepared to use military might to further its strategic goals, while the democracies of the West are not. In the world of international power games, Mr Putin's newly assertive Russia has chalked up a victory whose ripples will be felt for years to come. The US and Europe, dependent on Russian goodwill and gas, have been humbled. But the most chilling defeat is for Georgia, the former Soviet republic which dared to switch strategic allegiances and stand up to the Kremlin. Russia's goals in embarking on the war in Georgia were twofold. It wanted to get rid of a troublesome leader who was too independent for Russia's liking, and had attracted the personal enmity of Mr Putin, who now wants the Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, hauled before a war crimes tribunal like Saddam Hussein. But the Kremlin had also drawn a line in the sand over Nato membership for Georgia. Mr Saakashvili's botched attempt to bring a breakaway region under central government control last Thursday gave Mr Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, the opportunity he had craved on the pretext of humanitarian intervention to halt a genocide. The revenge for Russia – and Mr Putin personally – is sweet. At a stroke, it is payback time for the Russians, who were ignored by the US and its allies before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo independence earlier this year. We can now see that they took Russia for granted at their peril. Moscow has not been such a dominant player on the global stage since the days of the Soviet Union.
No one in Georgia or a Western capital doubts that Moscow's lightning retaliation when Georgian forces launched their surprise attack on the South Ossetian capital was long planned. Mr Saakashvili ignored Western warnings – including those from the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, during a visit to Georgia – not to respond to Russian provocation. But in the end he fell into the Russian trap by ordering an ill-planned strike while the eyes of the world were on the Olympic Games in Beijing. He cannot have anticipated the overwhelming response from the nuclear power across the border, involving massive firepower from tanks, warplanes and battle-hardened Russian soldiers.The Russian fightback was branded disproportionate by US and European leaders who urged a ceasefire, convened the UN Security Council and sent envoys scurrying to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and Moscow. The latest leader to sue for peace was the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, bearing a plan which has yet to be fully endorsed by all sides. Russia now holds the best cards because Mr Putin realised early on – presumably from his conversations with President George Bush in Beijing – that the West has no stomach for a war with Russia to save Georgian democracy.Mr Bush spoke out strongly in the White House Rose Garden on his return to Washington from Beijing on Monday. It now appears that an effort may be under way to depose Georgia's duly elected government. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighbouring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century, he said. But what are the penalties for violating the territorial integrity of a sovereign state? Russia recognises that Georgia's breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of Georgian territory. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, it resulted in UN sanctions and a war against Saddam Hussein. In this case, the UN Security Council – where Russia holds veto power – has been paralysed. President Bush has warned that Russia risked harming its relations with the US and the EU.The Kremlin masters will hardly be trembling in their boots, although they have now pulled back Russian troops from Georgia proper. The war ended as quickly as it began. But Dmitry Medvedev, who has replaced Mr Putin as President, made it clear that the Russian peacekeepers who had been stationed in both breakaway regions would remain. The EU-backed plan provides for discussion of the future status of Georgia's breakaway regions – so the borders of Europe are no longer sacrosanct.The most surprising thing about the West's reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia is the shock that the military action generated. The Cold War warriors of Europe, the former Soviet bloc states which are now Nato and EU members, were certainly not surprised as they watched the rise of an authoritarian brand of government in Russia under Mr Putin. Russian leaders, and successive defence ministers, have warned for years that the Kremlin remained fundamentally opposed to Nato's encroachment as it gobbled up former Soviet states and countries of the former Soviet bloc. To the north, the three Baltic states are now Nato members. To the west, there is Poland. Ukraine and Georgia are campaigning for membership, threatening Russia with strategic suffocation. Although last April's Nato summit failed to set a timetable, the two former Soviet republics were given assurances of eventual membership of the Western alliance.
Since then, Russia has set about strengthening ties with Georgia's rebellious regions to punish Mr Saakashvili, culminating in the short, sharp war. Nato is now in a bind. The Western alliance is loath to be seen allowing a third country – Russia – a veto in its affairs. So yesterday, the Nato secretary general reaffirmed that the offer of Georgia's membership still stood. But Mr Saakashvili's headstrong and impulsive behaviour in the crisis, following his disastrous crackdown on demonstrators last November, has eroded Western support. For Ukraine, the future looks even bleaker. If Russia was prepared to act militarily over Nato membership of Georgia, a country of four million people – what calamity awaits Ukraine, a powerhouse of 46 million with a sizeable Russian minority?
Russia defies truce with Georgia; US sending aid By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press AUG 13,08
OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia – A Russian military convoy defied a cease-fire agreement Wednesday and rolled through a strategically important city in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, which claimed fresh looting and bombing by the Russians and their allies.President Bush said a massive U.S. aid package was on the way for tens of thousands uprooted in the conflict and demanded Russia keep its word and act to end this crisis.The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected, Bush said sternly in Washington.One day after the Kremlin and its smaller neighbor agreed to a French-brokered cease-fire to end the dispute over two pro-Russian breakaway territories, the pact appeared fragile at best.An Associated Press reporter saw dozens of Russian trucks and armored vehicles leaving the city of Gori, some 20 miles south of the separatist region of South Ossetia and home of a key highway that divides Georgia in two, and moving deeper into Georgia.Soldiers waved at journalists and one jokingly shouted, Come with us, beauty, we're going to Tbilisi. The convoy roared southeast, toward the Georgian capital, but then turned north and set up camp about an hour's drive away from it.Georgian officials said the Russians had looted and bombed Gori before they left. Moscow denied the accusation, but it appeared to be on a technicality: A BBC reporter in Gori said Russian tanks were in the streets while their South Ossetian allies seized cars, looted homes and set houses on fire.As confusion reigned on the first day of the cease-fire agreement, Bush called a Rose Garden speech to express concern about reports the Russians were already breaking it.He said he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice first to France and then to Tbilisi to reinforce U.S. efforts to rally the world in defense of a free Georgia.
For her part, Rice said: This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia where Russia can threaten a neighbor, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it. Things have changed.The president said a huge U.S. aid effort was under way, including American naval forces and C-17 military cargo planes, to get clothes, blankets, medicine and other supplies to refugees. The European Union agreed to consider deploying European peacekeeping monitors to the area.Besides the hundreds killed since hostilities broke out last week, a United Nations agency estimates 100,000 Georgians may have been uprooted. A spokesman said the U.N. refugee agency was helping evacuate about 1,500 people fleeing the Kodori Gorge in the breakaway province of Abkhazia alone on Wednesday.Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili conducted a blitz of interviews with news outlets at home and abroad and made a series of claims, some of which were disputed as inaccurate or exaggerated.
He said on national television that the U.S. arrival of a military cargo plane with humanitarian aid means that Georgia's ports and airports will be taken under the control of the U.S. Defense Department.Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell stressed the United States had no plans to take over Georgian airports or seaports to deliver the aid.It is simply not required for us to fulfill our humanitarian mission, he said. We have no designs on taking control of any Georgian facility.In a sharp response to Bush's speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Georgia's leadership a special project of the United States. And we understand that the United States is worried about its project.Russian news agencies quoted him saying the United States would have to choose support for a virtual project and or real partnership on issues such as U.S.-Russian cooperation on Iran and other world tension spots. Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili criticized Western nations for failing to help Georgia, a U.S. ally that has been seeking NATO membership. In a way, he said, Russians are fighting a proxy war with the West through us.The conflict centers on South Ossetia and another region claimed by Georgia that leans Russian, Abkhazia. When Georgia cracked down on South Ossetia on Aug. 7, Russia sent its tanks and troops into the two regions and deeper into Georgia proper. Georgia, bordering the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Abkhazia lies close to the heart of many Russians. Its coast was a favorite vacation spot in Soviet times and the province is just down the coast from Sochi, the Russian resort that will host the 2014 Olympics. Russia has distributed passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and stationed peacekeepers there since the early 1990s. Georgia wants the peacekeepers out, but Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has insisted they stay.
Jeffrey Mankoff, an adjunct fellow for Russian studies at The Council on Foreign Relations, said it was too soon to tell the real intentions behind Russia's push into Georgia. On the one hand this could be a way to set up a buffer zone between the separatist regions, and on the other it also seems there is an aspect of disbanding the Georgian military aspects, Mankoff said. In defiance, a few dozen Abkhazian fighters, some with assault rifles and one with a dagger, planted their red, white and green flag in Georgian territory across the Inguri River. This is Abkhazian land, one of them said. Another laughed that Georgians retreating from Abkhazia had received American training in running away.The peace plan apparently would allow Georgian forces to return to the positions they held in South Ossetia and Abkhazia before Aug. 7 and clearly requires Russia to leave all parts of Georgia except South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Nevertheless, Georgian Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said 50 Russian tanks entered Gori on Wednesday morning. Some of the Russian units that later left to camp outside the city were camouflaged with foliage. The convoy was mainly support vehicles, including ambulances, although there were a few heavy cannons. There were about 100 combat troops and another 100 medics, drivers and other support personnel. About six miles away from the camp, about 80 well-equipped Georgian soldiers were forming what appeared to be a new front line, armed with pistols, shoulder-launched anti-tank rockets and Kalashnikovs. Sporadic clashes continued in South Ossetia where Russians responded to Georgian snipers. In the Black Sea port of Poti, and Georgian television showed boats ablaze in the harbor. Georgia's security chief also said Russian forces targeted three Georgian boats, while Lavrov said Russian troops were nowhere near the city. For several days, Russian troops held the western town of Zugdidi near Abkhazia, controlling the region's main highway. An AP reporter saw a convoy of 13 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers in Zugdidi's outskirts Wednesday. Later in the day, Georgian officials said the Russians pulled out of Zugdidi. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree Wednesday saying that Russian navy ships deployed to the Georgian coast will need authorization to return to the navy base Russia leases from Ukraine. The rights group Human Rights Watch said it has witnessed South Ossetian fighters looting ethnic Georgians' houses and has recorded multiple accounts of Georgian militias intimidating ethnic Ossetians. The report was important independent confirmation of the claims by each side in the Russia-Georgia conflict. Meanwhile, at the Olympics in Beijing, Georgia and Russia clashed in competition for the first time. Georgia rallied to beat Russia in beach volleyball, two sets to one. Russia and Georgia are actually friends. People are friends, said the Georgian beach volleyball team leader, Levan Akhtulediani. I say once again, its better to compete on the field rather than outside the field. Associated Press writers Christopher Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia, and near the Kodori Gorge; Matti Friedman and Sergei Grits from outside Gori, Georgia; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili and David Nowak from Tbilisi, Georgia; Vladimir Isachenkov, Jim Heintz, Lynn Berry and Angela Charlton in Moscow; Matthew Lee, Pauline Jelinek and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; John Heilprin at the United Nations; and Carley Petesch in New York contributed to this report.
Georgian president's Russia claims raise eyebrows By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI. AUG 13,08 Reuters
TBILISI, Georgia – It was a claim that could have provoked a dangerous Kremlin response: The United States is readying to take over airports and ports in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.The claim, by U.S.-backed Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili on Wednesday was swiftly shot down by officials in Washington, who denied any such designs on Georgian soil.Yet, it was the latest in a string of overstated pronouncements by the American-educated Georgian leader that are further fueling tensions with Moscow.His comments — along with a stream of biased, conflicting and often false information coming from both Russian and Georgian officials — have made it hard to figure out what is really happening in the world's latest hotspot.Fighting between the Russian and Georgian armies raged for days, leaving hundreds dead and some 100,000 forced from their homes. The U.S. government and world diplomats are scrambling for a way to cool the tensions.Warfare erupted when Georgia sought to retake control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia last Thursday and Russia responded with overwhelming military force.Saakashvili has been conducting daily interviews in his fluent English on international television networks and making frequent televised speeches at home.On Wednesday, he said in an interview on CNN that Russian troops were closing on the capital, circling, and planning to install their own government in Tbilisi.Associated Press reporters in the area saw no sign of an impending coup. An AP reporter saw dozens of Russian trucks and armored vehicles heading south from the central city of Gori in the direction of Tbilisi, but they later turned away.Saakashvili said Russian troops moving deeper into Georgia even steal toilet seats.He later said on Georgian national television that the U.S. arrival of a military cargo plane with humanitarian aid means that Georgia's ports and airports will be taken under the control of the U.S. Defense Department.Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell responded, We have no need, nor do we intend to take over any Georgian air or seaport to deliver humanitarian aid. ... We have no designs on taking control of any Georgian facility.Saakashvili has repeatedly compared the Russian incursions to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939, to the Soviet crackdown in Prague in 1968 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.In his Wednesday TV address, he said, Russia has lost more airplanes than in any conflict of this scale since 1939. While such figures are not publicly available, the calculation seemed unlikely given how brief the fighting has been and how uneven the two countries' forces are.
He also cited rumors that Russia was planning to bomb a rally in Tbilisi on Tuesday. The rally ended peacefully.Saakashvili insists he's not overstating anything, and lamented Wednesday that the West ignored his warnings that Russia was planning a military operation in Georgia as exaggerations.Now look what they're doing. This has already exceeded my worst expectations.Saakashvili, who graduated from Columbia University Law School, has always been blunt, and his bold language and flamboyant manner helped drive the Rose Revolution that brought him to power after disputed elections in 2003. He has long been derided in Russia, where he is seen as a vassal of the United States as it seeks to expand its influence in Moscow's backyard. The conflict has made that worse. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev indirectly referred to his Georgian counterpart as a lunatic on Tuesday. Russia's leadership has been fierce — and often wrong — in its claims about the conflict, too. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in a BBC interview Wednesday, There were many reports that Russian tanks are inside Georgia which later proved out to be totally untrue.AP reporters saw a Russian convoy in the area of Gori on Wednesday, including support vehicles, ambulances, heavy cannons and about 100 combat troops. Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Moscow contributed to this report.
Syria, Lebanon agree to establish diplomatic ties Associated Press Writer Albert Aji, Associated Press Writer – Wed Aug 13, 5:16 pm ET
DAMASCUS, Syria – Syria and Lebanon agreed Wednesday to establish full diplomatic relations for the first time, taking a step toward healing tensions that have fueled decades of turmoil in Lebanon.Many Lebanese had long seen Damascus' refusal of ties as proof it had not given up claims that its smaller neighbor is part of Syrian territory and still aimed to dominate Lebanon. The deal is a significant symbolic victory for them, acknowledging Lebanon as an independent state.Syria, however, only agreed to relations after its influence in Lebanon was guaranteed by the creation on Tuesday of a unity government in Beirut that gives Damascus-allied Hezbollah a strong say in Lebanese decision-making.Still, the agreement — along with the unity government — could go a long way to easing three years of continuous crisis in Lebanon, where the power struggle between pro-Western and pro-Syrian factions brought the country to the brink of a new civil war. But the rivalry remains uneasy, and any attempt by either to dominate could spark new unrest.Syria controlled Lebanon for nearly 30 years, after sending its army in as peacekeepers during the 1975-90 civil war. Its direct hold was broken in 2005, when anger over the slaying of ex-Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri — blamed by many on Damascus — forced the troops to leave.Even after the withdrawal, anti-Syria Lebanese accused Damascus of trying to maintain its influence, saying it was egging Hezbollah to topple the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. They also accused Syria of being behind a string of assassinations of anti-Syria figures since 2005 to intimidate Beirut and destabilize the country.
Syria denies any role in the Hariri killing or the other attacks.
The decision to open embassies in each another's capitals came during a landmark visit to Syria by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, the first such visit by a Lebanese head of state since the Syrian troop withdrawal.Suleiman and his Syrian counterpart, President Bashar Assad, decided Wednesday to establish diplomatic relations ... on the level of embassies in accordance with the United Nations charter and international laws, said Assad's adviser, Buthaina Shaaban.No date was given for opening the embassies.The United States, which backs Saniora, welcomed the decision but pushed for Syria to stay out of Lebanese affairs.We have long stood for the normalization of relations between Syria and Lebanon on the basis of equality and respect for Lebanese sovereignty. One of the steps that has long been required is the establishment of a proper embassy for Syria in Lebanon and vice versa, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.Now, if the Syrians will go ahead and demarcate the border between Lebanon and Syria, and respect Lebanon's sovereignty in other ways, then this will have proved to be a very good step, she added.Many Lebanese lawmakers also have called for the border to be formally demarcated, and Syria's official news agency, SANA, said Suleiman and Assad discussed that issue.
The new progress comes after Lebanon appeared about to break into civil war in May, when Hezbollah fighters battled with Saniora supporters and seized parts of Beirut.
After the display of Hezbollah's power, the factions worked out a peace deal. They agreed to elect then-army chief Suleiman as president — a post left empty for months — and to form a unity government that gives Hezbollah and its allies enough Cabinet seats to veto major decisions.
Lebanon's parliament approved the new government Tuesday.
Assad had first raised the idea of establishing ties to Suleiman when they met in Paris last month on the sidelines of a Euro-Mediterranean summit. Assad told Suleiman the step was possible once a unity government was confirmed. State-run Syrian newspapers welcomed Suleiman's visit, saying it would put Syrian-Lebanese relations back on track. The newspaper Tishrin said in an editorial that the visit would lay the foundations for a new phase of brotherly relations.Welcome President Michel Suleiman. Welcome Lebanon, said a headline in another newspaper, al-Thawra.
Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.
US dispatches envoy in bid to break NKorea nuclear deadlock
by P. Parameswaran P. Parameswaran – AUG 13,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday sent an envoy to Beijing for talks to help break a deadlock over a mechanism to verify North Korea's nuclear weapons program.Sung Kim, the State Department's top Korea expert, is going to consult with the Chinese regarding efforts to secure a strong verification regime and additional progress in the six party talks, a department official told AFP.He is expected to conclude his meeting in Beijing over the weekend, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.This is the second trip by Sung Kim to Beijing in two weeks and is aimed at breaking an impasse with North Korea over a verification protocol that Washington wants the hardline communist state to adopt before it is removed from a US terrorism blacklist.North Korea has reportedly rejected parts of US-proposed protocol aimed at examining nuclear programs declared by Pyongyang, as part of a six-nation accord aimed at ending its nuclear weapons drive in return for diplomatic and security guarantees and energy aid.It was not clear whether Sung Kim would also meet with North Korean officials as he did during the last trip to the Chinese capital.China is chair of the six-nation talks involving also the United States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia.As part of a six-nation accord, Pyongyang has already shut down its main nuclear reactor and is disabling it, ahead of dismantlement and surrendering of its nuclear weapons.But the denuclearization process is stuck over disagreement on the verification measures, which Washington says should be adopted before it removes North Korea from its State Sponsors of Terrorism blacklist.The Bush administration reportedly provided North Korea with a four-page draft verification protocol at the latest round of six-way talks in Beijing last month.Among other requirements, it called for full access by inspectors to all North Korean nuclear sites, Asian diplomats said.While Pyongyang agreed to general principles for verifying the nuclear declaration, including visits to facilities, review of documents, and interviews with technical personnel, there is no agreement yet on the extent to which access can be provided to international inspectors, the diplomats said.The Bush administration also wants the protocol to be rigorous, covering Pyongyang's plutonium program -- from which it manufactured bombs, one of which was test fired in 2006 -- as well as its sensitive uranium enrichment program and its proliferation activities.In a related development, Washington hailed Wednesday an agreement reached between North Korea and Japan over terms for a probe into Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese nationals that could pave the way for Tokyo to lift some sanctions on its neighbour.We welcome the reports that an agreement was reached, the State Department official said.We understand that ... Japan and North Korea agreed to the basic outline of a resolution to the abduction issue and to steps for eventual removal of some Japanese sanctions on the DPRK (North Korea), the official said.Japan, a key US ally, had wanted a resolution of the abduction issue before North Korea could be removed from the US terror blacklist.
OZONE DEPLETION
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
Canada's Harper aims to bolster Arctic sovereignty By Randall Palmer Randall Palmer
Tue Aug 12, 4:22 pm ET Reuters – Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper (top L) gestures after he unveiled a recently rediscovered … OTTAWA (Reuters) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper will travel to Canada's far north in late August in a bid to bolster claims to Arctic sovereignty and to paint the opposition as weak on foreign policy and defense issues ahead of a possible election this fall.Harper will fly to the small coastal town of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean and will even chair a meeting of top cabinet ministers in Inuvik in the Mackenzie River Delta region of the Northwest Territories.With increased international focus on the Arctic and the Northwest Passage through Canada opening up as ice melts, Ottawa has made it a priority to assert the country's claims over its northern waterways.It now has a geopolitical importance that a few years ago wasn't obvious, a senior Conservative official said, noting the region's potential as a new source of oil and gas, and also its strategic and environmental risks.Harper's minority Conservative government, keeping an eye on a possible election campaign, has pledged to buy new Arctic patrol ships, expand aerial surveillance and bolster the numbers and capabilities of the Canadian Rangers northern military unit.The Conservative source said Stephane Dion, leader of the main opposition Liberal Party, had said parks were needed more than ships but this naively ignored strategic realities.It's real focus, boots on the ground, (that is needed) ... to actively assert Canadian sovereignty, he said.
Dion spokesman Mark Dunn, reacting to the comments, turned the argument towards global warming.Maybe if Harper had an environmental policy the Arctic would still be frozen, Dunn said. Mr. Dion has always supported Arctic sovereignty.Dion and Harper could be going head to head in an election within the next few months, perhaps just after the U.S. election in November, with two prominent issues likely to be the environment and their leadership qualities.Dion has advocated what he calls the Green Shift, imposing new carbon taxes on fossil fuels as a way to cut emissions of greenhouse gases. The plan calls for the new carbon taxes to be offset by income tax cuts and subsidies for the poor.How well the Green Shift program is accepted by the public might determine whether Dion decides to pull the plug on the minority Conservative government, which was elected in January 2006. By-elections on September 8 to fill three vacant parliamentary seats may give an early indication.
If the Conservatives are not defeated in Parliament, triggering a new general election, a vote will automatically be held next October.Polls suggest neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals have enough popular support to win a majority if an election were held now.
Oil rebounds after US gasoline supplies drop By STEVENSON JACOBS, AP Business Writer Wed Aug 13, 4:48 pm
Reuters – An oil tanker nears the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Marine Terminal in Valdez, Alaska, August, 9 2008. (Lucas … NEW YORK – Oil prices rebounded Wednesday, jumping back to $116 a barrel after the government reported a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. gasoline supplies. But more signs of dwindling U.S. demand cast doubt on the rally's longevity.At the pump, a gallon of regular gasoline shed on average another penny overnight to $3.787, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That's nearly 8 percent lower than record prices above $4a gallon reached last month, but still 37 percent higher than a year ago; retail gasoline prices tend to lag behind crude oil's moves by several weeks.In its weekly inventory report, the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said gasoline supplies fell by 6.4 million barrels to 202.8 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 8, nearly three times more than the 2.2 million barrel drop analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts had expected.The big drop in gasoline stocks prompted traders to buy oil and gasoline contracts on signs of supply tightness. However, analysts said the surprisingly large drawdown suggests that U.S. refineries are scaling back on production in response to falling demand — not that Americans are suddenly driving more because of easing pump prices.There's no doubt that refiners are making less gasoline, said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. The demand is bad so why store a product that you're going to have trouble selling? Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose $2.99 to settle at $116 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier falling as low as $112.87 and after dropping about $7 in the last three sessions. Oil's advance has for the time being stopped a monthlong slide that took crude $35 below its July 11 high of $147.27.
Gasoline futures also jumped, with the September contract adding 8.91 cents to settle at $2.9323 a gallon on the Nymex.Despite the rebound, analyst doubted crude would regain the upward momentum seen last month, noting that traders have been quick to cash in on oil rallies in recent weeks and send prices lower.We've got a good-sized rally ... but it still doesn't feel like it's sustainable. We're not seeing the frenzy of buying that we would have seen a couple months ago, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.I think the true underlying demand weakness is still out there, he added, saying he believed that Americans were not yet reacting to easing pump prices by driving more. I don't think people are going to change their commuting habits that fast.The EIA said demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Aug. 8 was almost 2 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging 9.4 million barrels a day.Also Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute said gasoline purchases fell in the first six months of 2008, sending overall U.S. demand for oil products to its lowest level in five years.
Gasoline deliveries fell 1.7 percent through the end of June compared to the first six months of 2007, the first significant decline in 17 years, the trade group said. Oil product deliveries were down 3 percent compared to the year-ago period.Higher pump prices and a slowing economy were undoubtedly factors, API statistics manager Ron Planting said.The EIA also said crude stockpiles fell by 400,000 barrels to 296.5 million barrels last week; analysts had expected crude supplies to increase by 500,000 barrels.Inventories of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased by 1.7 million barrels to 131.6 million barrels for the week ended August 8. Analysts expected distillate stocks to rise by 1.9 million barrels.
Meanwhile, a cease-fire declared by Russia and Georgia in their conflict over South Ossetia appeared to lower concerns that hostilities there could curtail oil shipments through Georgia.The International Energy Agency dropped its forecast on Tuesday for oil product demand from 30 developed countries, located mostly in Europe and North America, to 48.6 million barrels a day, down 1.3 percent from last year.
The Paris-based energy watchdog's report arrived a day after China said its crude imports in July, while historically strong, were down 7 percent from the same month last year. The IEA cautioned it is too early to determine whether the recent fall in oil prices is a longer-term trend. It said demand in developing countries could offset declines in developed nations, and that it sees Chinese oil demand continuing to grow at a robust pace. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 5.89 cents to settle at $3.1317 a gallon, while natural gas futures rose 12.6 cents to settle at $8.456 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, September Brent crude rose $2.32 to settle at $113.47 a barrel. Associated Press writers Ernest Scheyder in New York and George Jahn in Vienna, Austria contributed to this report.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
RUSSIA BRAKES CEASE-FIRE ALREADY
IN THE RUSSIA - GEORGIA UPDATE: RUSSIA HAS ALREADY BROKE THE SO CALLED CEASE-FIRE THE EU SET UP BY GOING INTO GORI. WHAT ARE THE RUSSIANS AFTER? THAT OIL PIPELINE SO THEY WILL BE ABLE TO CONTROL THE 1 MILLION BARRELLS OF OIL THAT GO THROUGHT THERE EVERY DAY. LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS THE HOOKS IN THE JAWS OF THE RUSSIANS WILL BE OIL IN EZEKIEL 38. RUSSIA AND PUTIN WANT THAT ALMIGHTY OIL IN RUSSIAS HANDS SO THEY CAN CUT THE LINE FLOWING TO EUROPE AND THE U.S.A. IN THE FUTURE GOD FORCES THE RUSSIANS TO MARCH TO ISRAEL BY PUTTING HOOKS IN THEIR JAWS BECAUSE OF OIL THERE I BELEVE. I BELIEVE OIL WILL BE DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL AND RUSSIA - MUSLIMS WILL MARCH TO ISRAEL TO TRY TO CONTROL THAT PIPELINE JUST LIKE THEY ARE DOING IN GEORGIA. LIKE THE SAYING GOES WHOEVER CONTROLS THE MIDEAST CONTROLS THE WORLD.
Russian troops roll into key city despite truce By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer AUG 13,08
OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia - Russian troops and paramilitaries rolled into the strategic Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, apparently violating a truce designed to end the six-day conflict that has uprooted tens of thousands and scarred the Georgian landscape. Georgian officials said Gori, a central hub on Georgia's main east-west highway, was being looted and bombed by the Russians.Moscow denied the claim, but it appeared to be on a technicality: a BBC reporter in Gori reported that Russians tanks were in the streets as their South Ossetian separatist allies seized Georgian cars, looted Georgian homes and then set some homes ablaze.Russia has treacherously broken its word, Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said Wednesday in Tbilisi, the capital.To the west, Russian-backed Abkhazian separatists pushed Georgian troops out of Abkhazia and even moved into Georgian territory itself, defiantly planting a flag over the Inguri River and laughing that retreating Georgians had received American training in running away.The twin developments came less than 12 hours after Georgia's president said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that Russia was halting military action because Georgia had paid enough for its attack last Thursday on South Ossetia.In Washington, President Bush announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress, and would involve U.S. aircraft as well as naval forces. A U.S. C-17 military cargo plane loaded with supplies is already on the way, and Bush said that Russia must ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, roads and airports, remain open to let deliveries and civilians through.To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis, Bush said.The EU peace plan calls for both sides to retreat to the positions they held prior to the outbreak of fighting late Thursday. That phrasing apparently would allow Georgian forces to return to the positions they held in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and clearly obliges Russia to leave all parts of Georgia except South Ossetia and Abkhazia.Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili criticized Western nations for failing to help Georgia, a U.S. ally that has been seeking NATO membership.I feel that they are partly to blame, he said Wednesday. Not only those who commit atrocities are responsible ... but so are those who fail to react. In a way, Russians are fighting a proxy war with the West through us.Russian at first denied that tanks were even in Gori but video footage proved otherwise.
About 50 Russian tanks entered Gori in the morning, according to a top Georgian official, Alexander Lomaia. The city of 50,000 lies 15 miles south of South Ossetia, where much of the fighting has taken place.Russian deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn admitted that Russians went into Gori, but not in tanks. He said Russians were looking for Georgian officials to talk to about implementing the EU truce but could not find any.A Russian government official who wasn't authorized to give his name said Russian troops checked a Georgian military base near Gori and found lots of abandoned weapons and ammunition, then moved the ordnance to a safe place as part of efforts to demilitarize the area.An AP reporter saw dozens of trucks and armored vehicles leaving Gori, roaring southeast. Soldiers waved at journalists and one soldier jokingly shouted to a photographer: Come with us, beauty, we're going to Tbilisi! But the convoy turned north and left the highway about an hour's drive from Tbilisi, and set up camp a mile off the road.Some Russian units were camouflaged with foliage. The convoy was mainly support vehicles, including ambulances, although there were a few heavy cannons. There were about 100 combat troops and another 100 medics, drivers and other support personnel. About six miles away from the camp, about 80 well-equipped Georgian soldiers were forming what appeared to be a new frontline, armed with pistols, shoulder-launched anti-tank rockets and Kalashnikovs. Sporadic clashes continued in South Ossetia where Russians responded to Georgian snipers. We must respond to provocations, Nogovitsyn said.
Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia has handed out passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and stationed peacekeepers in both regions since the early 1990s. Georgia wants the Russian peacekeepers out, but Medvedev has insisted they stay. In the west, Georgian troops acknowledged Wednesday they had completely pulled out of a small section of Abkhazia they had controlled. This is Abkhazian land, one separatist told an AP reporter over the Inguri River, saying they were laying claim to historical Abkhazian territory.
The fighters had moved across a thin slice of land dotted with Georgian villages.
The border has been along this river for 1,000 years, separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria told the AP on Wednesday. He said Georgia would have to accept the new border. Georgia insisted its troops had been driven out of Abkhazia by Russian forces. At first, Russia said that separatists had done the job, not Russian forces. Then Nogovitsyn admitted Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers had disarmed Georgian troops in Kodori — the same peacekeepers that Georgia wants withdrawn. The effect was clear. Abkhazia was out of Georgian hands and it would take more than an EU peace plan to get it back in. Abkhazia lies close to the heart of many Russians. Its Black Sea coast was a favorite vacation spot in Soviet times and the province is just down the coast from Sochi, the Russian resort that will host the 2014 Olympics.
For several days, Russian troops held the western town of Zugdidi near Abkhazia, controlling the region's main highway. An AP reporter saw a convoy of 13 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers in Zugdidi's outskirts Wednesday. Later in the day, Georgian officials said the Russians pulled out of Zugdidi. At a huge rally Tuesday night, Saakashvili said Russia's aim all along was not to gain control of the two disputed provinces but to destroy the smaller nation. They just don't want freedom, and that's why they want to stamp on Georgia and destroy it, he declared to thousands at a jam-packed square in Tbilisi. Leaders of five former Soviet bloc states — Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine — also appeared at the rally and spoke out against Russian domination. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree Wednesday saying that Russian navy ships deployed to the Georgian coast will need authorization to return to the navy base Russia leases from Ukraine.
In Brussels, Belgium, France sought support from its EU partners to deploy European peacekeeping monitors to the area. EU foreign ministers agreed Wednesday to expand the role of the EU in Georgia, but made no decision on dispatching monitors. The World Food Program sent 34 tons of high-energy biscuits Wednesday help the tens of thousands uprooted by the fighting. Georgian refugees have streamed into Tbilisi and the western Black Sea coast while South Ossetian refugees headed north to Russia. Those left behind in devastated regions of Georgia cowered in rat-infested cellars or wandered nearly deserted cities. Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died. Georgia says at least 175 Georgians have died in Russian air and ground attacks. The Russia-Georgia dispute also reached the international courts, with the Georgian security council saying it had sued Russia for alleged ethnic cleansing. The rights group Human Rights Watch said Wednesday it has witnessed South Ossetian fighters looting ethnic Georgians' houses and has recorded multiple accounts of Georgian militias intimidating ethnic Ossetians. The report was important independent confirmation of the claims by each side in the Russia-Georgia conflict. At the Beijing Olympics, Georgian women rallied Wednesday to beat their Russian counterparts in beach volleyball, the first head-to-head clash of the two nations. Russia and Georgia are actually friends. People are friends, said the Georgian beach volleyball team leader, Levan Akhtulediani. But you know, it's not, in the 21st century, to bomb a neighbor country, it's not a good idea.I say once again, its better to compete on the field rather than outside the field, he added.
Associated Press writers Christopher Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia, and near the Kodori Gorge; Matti Friedman and Sergei Grits from outside Gori, Georgia; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili and David Nowak from Tbilisi, Georgia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov, Lynn Berry and Angela Charlton in Moscow; Pauline Jelinek and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.
EU diplomats keen to avoid Russia controversy
PHILIPPA RUNNER AUG 13,08 Today @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The French EU presidency is expected to endorse the Russia-Georgia ceasefire, offer humanitarian aid and urge EU unity in a statement after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday (13 August), with Paris keen to avoid controversy on who to blame for the crisis.Preparatory discussions by EU diplomats on Tuesday saw a group of former communist states speak in sharp language about Russia, but the tone was less radical than they used for their domestic press, one diplomat who attended the debates told EUobserver. The presidency thinks, right now, it's better to focus on problem-solving, rather than trying to go into characterisation of the war, who started what, who reacted, and the EU is united behind the idea, he added. The presidency wants to preserve as much room for manoeuvre for future mediation as possible.Wednesday's EU statement will probably be a French declaration rather than a formal joint position by all 27 countries, an EU official said. The situation is still evolving. It's not black and white. Of course, Georgia made some mistakes, Russia made some mistakes. But the idea now is to help mediation, to see what we can do from a humanitarian point of view.The declaration is likely to fall short of Georgian hopes, with Georgia's EU ambassador, Salome Samadashvili, saying she would like the EU to label Russia's behaviour as an act of aggression, condemn the bombing of the Georgian town of Gori, cast doubt on EU-Russia negotiations on a new strategic pact and reaffirm Georgia's territorial integrity.The foreign ministers meeting will begin with a briefing by France's Bernard Kouchner, who came to Brussels from Tbilisi on Tuesday night after taking part in talks between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.Russia and Georgia on Tuesday signed a Russian-drafted, six-point ceasefire plan which calls for troops to pull back and for international talks about the modalities of security and stability in Georgian separatist regions.
Shockwaves
The five day war erupted when Georgia fired on Russia-backed rebels in the Georgian province of South Ossetia last Friday (8 August) and Russia launched a massive retaliation, moving tanks deep into Georgian territory, mobilising its navy and ordering bombing raids.The fighting killed hundreds of civilians and shocked former communist EU states, as well as Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan, some of which fear that a newly-assertive Russia will try to undermine other pro-western neighbours in future.The EU should say no [to Russia's subjugation of Georgia] and push Russia out. This means tough language, sanctions [against Russia] and quick EU humanitarian intervention, a diplomat from one of the former communist EU states said, looking at the EU's policy options down the line. The Russian incursion into Georgia was clearly military aggression and should bear costs in terms of EU-Russia relations, but a suspension of the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement or a symbolic arms export embargo would be ineffective, European Council on Foreign Relations analyst, Nicu Popescu, said.The EU's main focus should instead be the swift deployment of an impartial, international peacekeeping force made up of UN or EU soldiers and civilian monitors followed by a donors' conference to help rebuild the war zone, he advised.The first lesson of this crisis is that the old policy of EU non-engagement has encouraged both parties to escalate their actions. From an EU perspective, the first casualty is the theory that by getting more involved in Georgia, the EU will irritate Russia and provoke instability.Mr Sarkozy in Moscow on Tuesday spoke of the possibility of an EU peacekeeping mission, with Estonia quickly offering to send troops.
Peacekeeping conundrum
But creating a force that will be acceptable to all sides could prove hard, with Russia's NATO ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, on Tuesday ruling out any Georgian component, while Ms Samadashvili said no Russian troops can take part. Last year, Russia and Estonia were involved in an ugly row over Tallinn's decision to move a Soviet-era statue from its city centre. And the current Russia-Georgia conflict has injected bitterness into international relations beyond Europe.Russia's Mr Rogozin at a briefing in Brussels on Tuesday complained that NATO had listened to Georgian delegates but failed to convene a NATO Russia Council as planned, implying that Georgia ally, the US, secretly knew about Georgia's plans to attack the South Ossetia rebels last week.I suspect the American allies will be ashamed to discuss this with their European colleagues, he said.
Bush demands Russia quit Georgia By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
AUG 13,08
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday he is skeptical that Moscow is honoring a cease-fire in neighboring Georgia, demanding that Russia end all military activities in the former Soviet republic and withdraw all its forces. The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected, Bush said sternly during brief remarks in the White House Rose Garden.To demonstrate our solidarity with the Georgian people, the president announced that he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Paris to assist the West's diplomatic efforts on the crisis, and then to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.He also announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress, and would involve U.S. aircraft as well as naval forces. A U.S. C-17 military cargo plane loaded with supplies is already on the way, and Bush said that Russia must ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, roads and airports, remain open to let deliveries and civilians through.To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis, Bush said.The president spoke amid a fast-moving chain of events, with Rice canceling a planned morning news conference and the White House scrubbing its regular morning briefing with reporters. Despite extensive intelligence resources and deep ties to the Georgian military that the U.S. has trained, the administration has struggled to determine what's happening on the ground, for instance whether Russia is pushing deeper into Georgia or threatening Tbilisi.Neither the president nor his Cabinet has answered questions on the record about the 6-day-old crisis except for remarks that Bush made in a television interview on the sidelines of the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Bush spent the morning meeting with his national security team in the White House Situation Room, the nerve center for monitoring international developments. He talked by telephone with Georgia's embattled president, Mikhail Saakashvili and with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who traveled to both Tbilisi and Moscow and is leading a European Union initiative to bring about peace there.The administration and its allies are debating ways to punish Russia for its invasion of Georgia, including expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations — the G-7 — and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise.But it has become increasingly clear that the West may have little leverage to influence Moscow's decisions. Bush held out no specific punishment.Russia has sought to integrate into the diplomatic, political, economic, and security structures of the 21st century. The United States has supported those efforts, he said. Now Russia is putting its aspirations at risk by taking actions in Georgia that are inconsistent with the principles of those institutions.Saakashvili called the Western response inadequate. I feel that they are partly to blame, he said. Not only those who commit atrocities are responsible ... but so are those who fail to react.The tiny, poverty stricken nation of Georgia has staked its future on leaning West and joining NATO is one of its key goals. Bush has supported this move, but alliance leaders put the requests from Georgia, as well as another ex-Soviet republic, Ukraine, on hold in April for fear of upsetting relations with Moscow.Bush, during a 2005 visit to Tbilisi, personally assured the people of Georgia that the United States would be its unflinching ally.The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone, Bush said in an address to a crowd of thousands in Freedom Square. Americans respect your courageous choice for liberty. And as you build a free and democratic Georgia, the American people will stand with you.The Russian operation began after Georgia last week tried to secure control over South Ossetia, a breakaway region loyal to Moscow. Russia's fierce military response expanded to Abkhazia, another separatist province, and ended up on purely Georgian soil.
On Wednesday, after Saajashvili said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France that called for both sides to retreat to their original positions, and after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia was halting military action, Russian tanks rumbled into the Georgian city of Gori. Georgian officials said Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians. An AP reporter later saw dozens of tanks and military vehicles leaving the city, roaring south and deeper into Georgia.Bush said the U.S. is concerned that Russian units have taken up positions on the east side of Gori, which allows Russia to block an east-to-west highway, divide the country and threaten the capital of Tblisi. The president said he's also concerned that Russian forces have entered and taken positions in the port city of Poti, that Russian armored vehicles are blocking access to that port, and that Russia is blowing up Georgian vessels. Bush said this appears to contradict Russia's promise of a halt to military operations. Unfortunately we've been receiving reports of Russia actions that are inconsistent with these statements, he said. In addition, he said, We're concerned about reports that Georgian citizens of all ethnic origins are not being protected.
Leading MP backs Livni for Israel premiership Wed Aug 13, 5:54 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The chairman of Israel's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee pledged his support Wednesday for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in a party primary to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. I have decided to choose from the many candidates on the list, all of whom are friends, Kadima MP Tzachi Hanegbi told public radio, saying he felt Livni embodied the necessity of a consensus on the centrist line of Kadima.The party will hold its first ever primary on September 17 to choose a new leader to replace Olmert, who in a shock announcement on July 30 said he would step down following the vote to battle corruption allegations.In addition to chairing the powerful committee which oversees Israel's most critical security decisions, Hanegbi is regarded as a senior official in the centrist party formed by former prime minister Ariel Sharon.A recent poll showed Livni leading with the support of 35 percent of Kadima members, followed by Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a hawkish former general, with 25 percent.
Russian troops roll into key city despite truce By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer AUG 13,08
OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia - Russian troops and paramilitaries rolled into the strategic Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, apparently violating a truce designed to end the six-day conflict that has uprooted tens of thousands and scarred the Georgian landscape. Georgian officials said Gori, a central hub on Georgia's main east-west highway, was being looted and bombed by the Russians.Moscow denied the claim, but it appeared to be on a technicality: a BBC reporter in Gori reported that Russians tanks were in the streets as their South Ossetian separatist allies seized Georgian cars, looted Georgian homes and then set some homes ablaze.Russia has treacherously broken its word, Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said Wednesday in Tbilisi, the capital.To the west, Russian-backed Abkhazian separatists pushed Georgian troops out of Abkhazia and even moved into Georgian territory itself, defiantly planting a flag over the Inguri River and laughing that retreating Georgians had received American training in running away.The twin developments came less than 12 hours after Georgia's president said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that Russia was halting military action because Georgia had paid enough for its attack last Thursday on South Ossetia.In Washington, President Bush announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress, and would involve U.S. aircraft as well as naval forces. A U.S. C-17 military cargo plane loaded with supplies is already on the way, and Bush said that Russia must ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, roads and airports, remain open to let deliveries and civilians through.To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis, Bush said.The EU peace plan calls for both sides to retreat to the positions they held prior to the outbreak of fighting late Thursday. That phrasing apparently would allow Georgian forces to return to the positions they held in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and clearly obliges Russia to leave all parts of Georgia except South Ossetia and Abkhazia.Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili criticized Western nations for failing to help Georgia, a U.S. ally that has been seeking NATO membership.I feel that they are partly to blame, he said Wednesday. Not only those who commit atrocities are responsible ... but so are those who fail to react. In a way, Russians are fighting a proxy war with the West through us.Russian at first denied that tanks were even in Gori but video footage proved otherwise.
About 50 Russian tanks entered Gori in the morning, according to a top Georgian official, Alexander Lomaia. The city of 50,000 lies 15 miles south of South Ossetia, where much of the fighting has taken place.Russian deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn admitted that Russians went into Gori, but not in tanks. He said Russians were looking for Georgian officials to talk to about implementing the EU truce but could not find any.A Russian government official who wasn't authorized to give his name said Russian troops checked a Georgian military base near Gori and found lots of abandoned weapons and ammunition, then moved the ordnance to a safe place as part of efforts to demilitarize the area.An AP reporter saw dozens of trucks and armored vehicles leaving Gori, roaring southeast. Soldiers waved at journalists and one soldier jokingly shouted to a photographer: Come with us, beauty, we're going to Tbilisi! But the convoy turned north and left the highway about an hour's drive from Tbilisi, and set up camp a mile off the road.Some Russian units were camouflaged with foliage. The convoy was mainly support vehicles, including ambulances, although there were a few heavy cannons. There were about 100 combat troops and another 100 medics, drivers and other support personnel. About six miles away from the camp, about 80 well-equipped Georgian soldiers were forming what appeared to be a new frontline, armed with pistols, shoulder-launched anti-tank rockets and Kalashnikovs. Sporadic clashes continued in South Ossetia where Russians responded to Georgian snipers. We must respond to provocations, Nogovitsyn said.
Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia has handed out passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and stationed peacekeepers in both regions since the early 1990s. Georgia wants the Russian peacekeepers out, but Medvedev has insisted they stay. In the west, Georgian troops acknowledged Wednesday they had completely pulled out of a small section of Abkhazia they had controlled. This is Abkhazian land, one separatist told an AP reporter over the Inguri River, saying they were laying claim to historical Abkhazian territory.
The fighters had moved across a thin slice of land dotted with Georgian villages.
The border has been along this river for 1,000 years, separatist official Ruslan Kishmaria told the AP on Wednesday. He said Georgia would have to accept the new border. Georgia insisted its troops had been driven out of Abkhazia by Russian forces. At first, Russia said that separatists had done the job, not Russian forces. Then Nogovitsyn admitted Wednesday that Russian peacekeepers had disarmed Georgian troops in Kodori — the same peacekeepers that Georgia wants withdrawn. The effect was clear. Abkhazia was out of Georgian hands and it would take more than an EU peace plan to get it back in. Abkhazia lies close to the heart of many Russians. Its Black Sea coast was a favorite vacation spot in Soviet times and the province is just down the coast from Sochi, the Russian resort that will host the 2014 Olympics.
For several days, Russian troops held the western town of Zugdidi near Abkhazia, controlling the region's main highway. An AP reporter saw a convoy of 13 Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers in Zugdidi's outskirts Wednesday. Later in the day, Georgian officials said the Russians pulled out of Zugdidi. At a huge rally Tuesday night, Saakashvili said Russia's aim all along was not to gain control of the two disputed provinces but to destroy the smaller nation. They just don't want freedom, and that's why they want to stamp on Georgia and destroy it, he declared to thousands at a jam-packed square in Tbilisi. Leaders of five former Soviet bloc states — Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine — also appeared at the rally and spoke out against Russian domination. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued a decree Wednesday saying that Russian navy ships deployed to the Georgian coast will need authorization to return to the navy base Russia leases from Ukraine.
In Brussels, Belgium, France sought support from its EU partners to deploy European peacekeeping monitors to the area. EU foreign ministers agreed Wednesday to expand the role of the EU in Georgia, but made no decision on dispatching monitors. The World Food Program sent 34 tons of high-energy biscuits Wednesday help the tens of thousands uprooted by the fighting. Georgian refugees have streamed into Tbilisi and the western Black Sea coast while South Ossetian refugees headed north to Russia. Those left behind in devastated regions of Georgia cowered in rat-infested cellars or wandered nearly deserted cities. Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died. Georgia says at least 175 Georgians have died in Russian air and ground attacks. The Russia-Georgia dispute also reached the international courts, with the Georgian security council saying it had sued Russia for alleged ethnic cleansing. The rights group Human Rights Watch said Wednesday it has witnessed South Ossetian fighters looting ethnic Georgians' houses and has recorded multiple accounts of Georgian militias intimidating ethnic Ossetians. The report was important independent confirmation of the claims by each side in the Russia-Georgia conflict. At the Beijing Olympics, Georgian women rallied Wednesday to beat their Russian counterparts in beach volleyball, the first head-to-head clash of the two nations. Russia and Georgia are actually friends. People are friends, said the Georgian beach volleyball team leader, Levan Akhtulediani. But you know, it's not, in the 21st century, to bomb a neighbor country, it's not a good idea.I say once again, its better to compete on the field rather than outside the field, he added.
Associated Press writers Christopher Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia, and near the Kodori Gorge; Matti Friedman and Sergei Grits from outside Gori, Georgia; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili and David Nowak from Tbilisi, Georgia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov, Lynn Berry and Angela Charlton in Moscow; Pauline Jelinek and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.
EU diplomats keen to avoid Russia controversy
PHILIPPA RUNNER AUG 13,08 Today @ 09:27 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The French EU presidency is expected to endorse the Russia-Georgia ceasefire, offer humanitarian aid and urge EU unity in a statement after an EU foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday (13 August), with Paris keen to avoid controversy on who to blame for the crisis.Preparatory discussions by EU diplomats on Tuesday saw a group of former communist states speak in sharp language about Russia, but the tone was less radical than they used for their domestic press, one diplomat who attended the debates told EUobserver. The presidency thinks, right now, it's better to focus on problem-solving, rather than trying to go into characterisation of the war, who started what, who reacted, and the EU is united behind the idea, he added. The presidency wants to preserve as much room for manoeuvre for future mediation as possible.Wednesday's EU statement will probably be a French declaration rather than a formal joint position by all 27 countries, an EU official said. The situation is still evolving. It's not black and white. Of course, Georgia made some mistakes, Russia made some mistakes. But the idea now is to help mediation, to see what we can do from a humanitarian point of view.The declaration is likely to fall short of Georgian hopes, with Georgia's EU ambassador, Salome Samadashvili, saying she would like the EU to label Russia's behaviour as an act of aggression, condemn the bombing of the Georgian town of Gori, cast doubt on EU-Russia negotiations on a new strategic pact and reaffirm Georgia's territorial integrity.The foreign ministers meeting will begin with a briefing by France's Bernard Kouchner, who came to Brussels from Tbilisi on Tuesday night after taking part in talks between French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili.Russia and Georgia on Tuesday signed a Russian-drafted, six-point ceasefire plan which calls for troops to pull back and for international talks about the modalities of security and stability in Georgian separatist regions.
Shockwaves
The five day war erupted when Georgia fired on Russia-backed rebels in the Georgian province of South Ossetia last Friday (8 August) and Russia launched a massive retaliation, moving tanks deep into Georgian territory, mobilising its navy and ordering bombing raids.The fighting killed hundreds of civilians and shocked former communist EU states, as well as Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan, some of which fear that a newly-assertive Russia will try to undermine other pro-western neighbours in future.The EU should say no [to Russia's subjugation of Georgia] and push Russia out. This means tough language, sanctions [against Russia] and quick EU humanitarian intervention, a diplomat from one of the former communist EU states said, looking at the EU's policy options down the line. The Russian incursion into Georgia was clearly military aggression and should bear costs in terms of EU-Russia relations, but a suspension of the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement or a symbolic arms export embargo would be ineffective, European Council on Foreign Relations analyst, Nicu Popescu, said.The EU's main focus should instead be the swift deployment of an impartial, international peacekeeping force made up of UN or EU soldiers and civilian monitors followed by a donors' conference to help rebuild the war zone, he advised.The first lesson of this crisis is that the old policy of EU non-engagement has encouraged both parties to escalate their actions. From an EU perspective, the first casualty is the theory that by getting more involved in Georgia, the EU will irritate Russia and provoke instability.Mr Sarkozy in Moscow on Tuesday spoke of the possibility of an EU peacekeeping mission, with Estonia quickly offering to send troops.
Peacekeeping conundrum
But creating a force that will be acceptable to all sides could prove hard, with Russia's NATO ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, on Tuesday ruling out any Georgian component, while Ms Samadashvili said no Russian troops can take part. Last year, Russia and Estonia were involved in an ugly row over Tallinn's decision to move a Soviet-era statue from its city centre. And the current Russia-Georgia conflict has injected bitterness into international relations beyond Europe.Russia's Mr Rogozin at a briefing in Brussels on Tuesday complained that NATO had listened to Georgian delegates but failed to convene a NATO Russia Council as planned, implying that Georgia ally, the US, secretly knew about Georgia's plans to attack the South Ossetia rebels last week.I suspect the American allies will be ashamed to discuss this with their European colleagues, he said.
Bush demands Russia quit Georgia By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
AUG 13,08
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Wednesday he is skeptical that Moscow is honoring a cease-fire in neighboring Georgia, demanding that Russia end all military activities in the former Soviet republic and withdraw all its forces. The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected, Bush said sternly during brief remarks in the White House Rose Garden.To demonstrate our solidarity with the Georgian people, the president announced that he was sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Paris to assist the West's diplomatic efforts on the crisis, and then to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.He also announced that a massive U.S. humanitarian effort was already in progress, and would involve U.S. aircraft as well as naval forces. A U.S. C-17 military cargo plane loaded with supplies is already on the way, and Bush said that Russia must ensure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, roads and airports, remain open to let deliveries and civilians through.To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis, Bush said.The president spoke amid a fast-moving chain of events, with Rice canceling a planned morning news conference and the White House scrubbing its regular morning briefing with reporters. Despite extensive intelligence resources and deep ties to the Georgian military that the U.S. has trained, the administration has struggled to determine what's happening on the ground, for instance whether Russia is pushing deeper into Georgia or threatening Tbilisi.Neither the president nor his Cabinet has answered questions on the record about the 6-day-old crisis except for remarks that Bush made in a television interview on the sidelines of the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Bush spent the morning meeting with his national security team in the White House Situation Room, the nerve center for monitoring international developments. He talked by telephone with Georgia's embattled president, Mikhail Saakashvili and with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who traveled to both Tbilisi and Moscow and is leading a European Union initiative to bring about peace there.The administration and its allies are debating ways to punish Russia for its invasion of Georgia, including expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations — the G-7 — and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise.But it has become increasingly clear that the West may have little leverage to influence Moscow's decisions. Bush held out no specific punishment.Russia has sought to integrate into the diplomatic, political, economic, and security structures of the 21st century. The United States has supported those efforts, he said. Now Russia is putting its aspirations at risk by taking actions in Georgia that are inconsistent with the principles of those institutions.Saakashvili called the Western response inadequate. I feel that they are partly to blame, he said. Not only those who commit atrocities are responsible ... but so are those who fail to react.The tiny, poverty stricken nation of Georgia has staked its future on leaning West and joining NATO is one of its key goals. Bush has supported this move, but alliance leaders put the requests from Georgia, as well as another ex-Soviet republic, Ukraine, on hold in April for fear of upsetting relations with Moscow.Bush, during a 2005 visit to Tbilisi, personally assured the people of Georgia that the United States would be its unflinching ally.The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone, Bush said in an address to a crowd of thousands in Freedom Square. Americans respect your courageous choice for liberty. And as you build a free and democratic Georgia, the American people will stand with you.The Russian operation began after Georgia last week tried to secure control over South Ossetia, a breakaway region loyal to Moscow. Russia's fierce military response expanded to Abkhazia, another separatist province, and ended up on purely Georgian soil.
On Wednesday, after Saajashvili said he accepted a cease-fire plan brokered by France that called for both sides to retreat to their original positions, and after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia was halting military action, Russian tanks rumbled into the Georgian city of Gori. Georgian officials said Gori was looted and bombed by the Russians. An AP reporter later saw dozens of tanks and military vehicles leaving the city, roaring south and deeper into Georgia.Bush said the U.S. is concerned that Russian units have taken up positions on the east side of Gori, which allows Russia to block an east-to-west highway, divide the country and threaten the capital of Tblisi. The president said he's also concerned that Russian forces have entered and taken positions in the port city of Poti, that Russian armored vehicles are blocking access to that port, and that Russia is blowing up Georgian vessels. Bush said this appears to contradict Russia's promise of a halt to military operations. Unfortunately we've been receiving reports of Russia actions that are inconsistent with these statements, he said. In addition, he said, We're concerned about reports that Georgian citizens of all ethnic origins are not being protected.
Leading MP backs Livni for Israel premiership Wed Aug 13, 5:54 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The chairman of Israel's powerful foreign affairs and defence committee pledged his support Wednesday for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in a party primary to replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. I have decided to choose from the many candidates on the list, all of whom are friends, Kadima MP Tzachi Hanegbi told public radio, saying he felt Livni embodied the necessity of a consensus on the centrist line of Kadima.The party will hold its first ever primary on September 17 to choose a new leader to replace Olmert, who in a shock announcement on July 30 said he would step down following the vote to battle corruption allegations.In addition to chairing the powerful committee which oversees Israel's most critical security decisions, Hanegbi is regarded as a senior official in the centrist party formed by former prime minister Ariel Sharon.A recent poll showed Livni leading with the support of 35 percent of Kadima members, followed by Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, a hawkish former general, with 25 percent.
EU COULD SEND TROOPS TO GEORGIA
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.
Tropical depressions could form in Atlantic Tue Aug 12, 7:48 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Energy and commodities markets on Tuesday were watching a couple of low-pressure systems in the Atlantic Ocean that could develop into tropical depressions over the next day or so. Neither system, however, is expected to reach the Gulf of Mexico over the next five days, if at all, according to the major weather models.In the central Atlantic, a broad area of low pressure associated with a tropical wave about 650 miles east of the Lesser Antilles could develop into a tropical depression during the next day or so as it moves west-northwest at 10 to 15 miles per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its 8 a.m. EDT report.The NHC said an Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft was scheduled to investigate the central Atlantic system later today, if necessary.
Most weather models showed the central Atlantic system would steer north of the Lesser Antilles and threaten the Turks and Caicos and Bahamas in about five days.In the eastern Atlantic, the NHC said a tropical depression could form over the next day or so within a large area of disturbed weather extending from the Cape Verde Islands west-southwest for several hundred miles as it moves west at about 10 to 15 mph.Most weather models showed the Cape Verde system would not threaten land in North America this week. It should be about 700 miles northeast of the Virgin Islands in about five days, according to the weather models.If either system strengthens into a tropical storm, with winds of 39 to 73 mph, the NHC will name it Fay.Energy traders watch for storms that could enter the Gulf of Mexico and threaten U.S. oil and gas production facilities.Commodities traders likewise watch storms that could hit agriculture crops like citrus and cotton in Florida and other states along the Gulf Coast to Texas.(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)
Tropical Storm Hernan continues to weaken Tue Aug 12, 5:16 AM ET
MIAMI - Tropical Storm Hernan continues to weaken far out in the Pacific. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says that as of 5 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the storm's maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 50 mph. Forecasters say the storm could weaken to a tropical depression later in the day.The weakening comes a day after Hernan lost it's hurricane status.The storm's center is located about 1,505 miles west of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. It's moving toward the west near 9 mph.
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)
EU ARMY VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv9D8agUzLY
EU ARMED FORCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTdZgASnXOk&feature=related
NATO ARMY MOSTLY EU COUNTRIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t3fgVLGx84
NATO THE REVELUTIONARY ALLIANCE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7hhZtaO5HU&feature=related
RUSSIAM ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPdPKkZS6Pk
RUSSIAN MILITARY POWER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMm-sxhho_g
ISRAEL DEFENCE FORCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmWi3f_BSk&feature=related
IDF TRAINING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmWi3f_BSk&feature=related
WOMAN OF THE ISRAEL DEFENCE FORCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMe1HfPNq7Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHUOxMaDyc&NR=1
Aug 12, 2008 18:24 Sarkozy says EU could send peacekeepers to Georgia
By ASSOCIATED PRESS Jerusalem POST Inter.
The French president says the EU could provide peacekeepers for Georgian conflict if all parties agree. Nicolas Sarkozy says the European Union is ready to send peacekeepers to the area of Russia's conflict with Georgia over its breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia has its peacekeepers deployed to both regions, but Georgia says they back separatists. Sarkozy was speaking after holding talks with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday. Medvedev has indicated that Russia would not yield ground, and says Russian peacekeepers will stay in the regions.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Finnish islands cause headache for EU treaty approval
LISBETH KIRK AUG 12,08 Today @ 09:24 CET
The Finnish autonomous Aland Islands are causing headaches for the Finnish government by demanding certain concessions from Helsinki in return for ratifying the EU's Lisbon Treaty.The local government in the capital Mariehamn has said it will ratify the bloc's latest institutional rule book only if it gets the nod for four demands, with the vote in the Aland 30-member strong parliament expected in the autumn.The minister responsible for the islands, former MEP Astrid Thors, visited Aland on Monday (11 August) but only offered some good news on one of the demands - Aland will get some sort of speaking rights within the EU.She did not offer any concessions on Aland's request for a seat in the European Parliament or participation in the council of ministers' work (where EU member states are represented) on a role in controlling subsidiarity, the EU principle that power should, where possible, be used a local levels.But Mrs Thors did promise a special Aland document would be drawn up to settle the issue.I'm hoping for a historical settlement between Aland and Finland on how we are to handle EU relations and to guarantee Aland positions are considered, said Astrid Thors at a press conference, according to local daily Alandstidningen.She described the document as historical and said it would commit the Finnish government to listen to Aland's point of view.
Although Finland is able to ratify the Lisbon Treaty without the consent of the Aland parliament, Mrs Thors said that would lead to an unclear situation.Finland must negotiate with the EU on what to do with Aland, a representative of the Finnish ministry of justice, Sten Palmgren, added.The Aland Islands are situated at the entrance to the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland and forms an autonomous, demilitarized Swedish-speaking province of Finland.When Finland became a member of the European Union in 1995, Aland's accession was dependent on the consent of the Aland Parliament. After two separate referendums it was agreed that Aland's relationship to the EU would be regulated in a special protocol, which is part of Finland's treaty of accession. It states that Aland shall be regarded as a third territory with respect to indirect taxation. It also contains certain special provisions relating to the purchase of real property and the right to conduct a business in Aland, and confirms Aland's special status under international law.
EUROPEAN UNION INFORMATION
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761579567_1/European_Union.html
DANIEL 9:24-27 VIDEO ( DAN 9:26 THE DICTATOR FROM THE EU (REVIVED ROME))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl3beM2Dayo
70 WEEKS OF DANIEL 9:24-27 3 PART SERIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1VcTU5SE6g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxTiDdDS_Fg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6stDZRTEgs&feature=related
SPAIN AND ALL EU NATION KINGDOM INFORMATION
http://www.euimmigration.org/eu_spain.html
JUAN CARLOS/HUGO CHAVEZ SHUT UP VIDEOS
http://search.msn.com/video/results.aspx?q=youtube.%2f+Spain+Juan+Carlos&FORM=BVIR
JUAN CARLOS IN NORWAY
http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=25004
KINGDOM OF THE ANTICHRIST (THE EU)(MUSLIMS THIS GUY THINKS IT IS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAG1sGjXQhw&feature=related
CLAIMS OF SYRIA AS FUTURE EU DICTATOR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tezXFphvYkU&feature=related
EU MAPS
http://search.msn.com/images/results.aspx?q=EU+countries&go=&form=QBIR
EU NEWS CLIPS
http://search.msn.com/video/results.aspx?q=EU+countries&FORM=BVIR
CLUB OF ROME WEBSITE
http://www.clubofrome.org/
EU enlargement past, present and future Next stages 1952-2007
Seven countries are waiting in the wings to join the European Union. Croatia and Turkey started accession talks on 3 October 2005. Turkey could complete them in 15 years, Croatia in five. The other Balkan countries have been told they can join the EU one day, if they meet the criteria. These include democracy, the rule of law, a market economy and adherence to the EU's goals of political and economic union.
ALBANIA
Albania is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest. It has not yet applied for membership. The EU and Albania concluded a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), seen as the first step towards membership, in June 2006. The negotiations took three-and-a-half years - three times longer than they took in Croatia's and Macedonia's case. This is because the EU thought Albania was moving too slowly in the fight against corruption and organised crime.
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
Bosnia-Hercegovina is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest. More than a decade after the 1992-5 war, it signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in June 2008. The EU was satisfied with progress in four key areas - police reform, co-operation with the international war crimes tribunal, public broadcasting and public administration reform. The EU maintains a peacekeeping force and a police mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina, where most Serbs live in the autonomous Republika Srpska. The Bosniak-Croat federation and Republika Srpska together form Bosnia-Hercegovina.
CROATIA
Applied for membership: February 2003 Confirmed as candidate country: June 2004
Negotiations started: October 2005 Accession talks were delayed by seven months as Croatia struggled to convince the EU it was doing its best to find war crimes suspect Gen Ante Gotovina. He was arrested in the Canary Islands in December 2005.
Croatia is expected to be ready to join the EU by the end of the decade, but that could be delayed by problems reforming EU institutions under the controversial Lisbon Treaty. The future of the treaty itself remains uncertain. The EU is urging Croatia to reform its judiciary and public administration, and keep co-operating with the war crimes tribunal. Various chapters in the negotiations have opened, including economic policy, financial control, freedom to provide services, consumer and health protection, external relations.
MACEDONIA
Applied for full membership: March 2004 Confirmed as candidate: December 2005 .The European Commission welcomed the peaceful elections held in July 2006, but no date has yet been set for membership talks to begin. The commission is closely monitoring progress on political, economic and other reforms. Hopes that accession talks would open in 2008 suffered a blow from election violence in June and a subsequent boycott of parliament by ethnic Albanian opposition parties. A bitter dispute with Greece over Macedonia's name continues to hamper the country's bids to join the EU and Nato. Macedonia was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 using the temporary name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom). Greece insists the name Macedonia applies only to a region in northern Greece. A date of 2012 has been suggested as a possible target for the country to join the EU.
MONTENEGRO
Talks with the EU on a Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) began shortly after the country voted, in May 2006, to end its union with Serbia. The SAA was signed in October 2007 and now needs to be ratified by all the EU member states. It will take a few years for Montenegro to be given EU candidate status. Montenegro's former Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, said he hoped his country would succeed in joining the EU before Serbia or Macedonia.
SERBIA
Serbia's arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in July 2008, after nearly 13 years on the run, drew EU praise for the new pro-Western government in Belgrade. But Mr Karadzic's former military chief Ratko Mladic is still wanted on charges of crimes against humanity. The issue of co-operation with the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague has overshadowed Serbia's ambition to join the EU and end its years of relative isolation. Serbia is aiming first for greater trade with the EU, and then an opportunity to discuss in detail the kind of economic and political reforms it would need to join the EU. Serbia signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in April 2008, but it has not yet been ratified. Belgrade's ties with the EU have been strained by Kosovo's declaration of independence - a declaration recognised by most EU members. Serbia insists that Kosovo remains part of its territory. Serbia is unlikely to join the EU until at least 2015.
TURKEY
Applied for full membership: 1987.Confirmed as candidate: December 1999. Negotiations started: October 2005 .Turkey met the last condition for accession talks in July 2005, when it extended a customs union with the EU to all new member states, including Cyprus. However, it failed to ratify the customs union and its ports and airports remain closed to Cypriot traffic. The EU responded, in December 2006, by freezing accession talks in eight out of 35 policy areas. Turkey's EU negotiations have made slow progress, amid concern about freedom of speech and democracy in Turkey, as well as the Cyprus tensions. But Turkey's bid may get fresh impetus from recent moves to restart the Cyprus peace talks and a Turkish Constitutional Court decision not to ban the ruling AK Party. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and a number of other senior politicians in the EU want Turkey to have a partnership deal with the EU, rather than full membership.
Mediterranean Union priorities explained
A Paris summit hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a 43-nation Union for the Mediterranean. Mr Sarkozy was delighted to get so many Arab leaders and Israel together .The new grouping embraces the 27 EU nations along with countries in the Middle East and North Africa that form the Mediterranean Sea's eastern and southern rim. In a declaration, the 43 nations - including Israel and Arab states - pledged to pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Mr Sarkozy singled out as a success the fact that Israel's prime minister had sat at the same table as Syria's president. The two countries are still technically at war. The leaders of the Palestinian Territories and many other Arab countries also attended Sunday's summit, though Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi boycotted it. The declaration speaks of the leaders' determination to transform the Mediterranean into an area of peace, democracy, co-operation and prosperity. The new union is aimed at building on the Barcelona Process for Euro-Mediterranean co-operation, launched in 1995.
Among its stated goals are: An ambition to build a common future based on the full respect of democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms
Determination to eradicate terrorism and to combat its sponsors .Creation of a free trade area in the Euromed region by 2010 and beyond and the promotion of all-round regional economic integration .Promoting orderly managed legal migration and fighting illegal migration. The summit was co-chaired by Mr Sarkozy and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. Future summits - to be held twice-yearly - will also be co-chaired, emphasising the partnership of EU members and non-EU Mediterranean countries. The summits will be hosted alternately by EU and non-EU countries.
A joint secretariat will be set up to oversee projects and find partners, and the union's structures should be fully operational by the end of 2008. The summit produced some practical projects - outlined in an annex to the declaration - with each member state free to participate: De-pollution of the Mediterranean: Cleaning up sea water and coastal areas Sea and land highways: Developing port infrastructure, coastal motorways, modernising the trans-Maghreb train, co-operation in maritime safety Civil protection: Joint efforts to prevent and respond to natural and man-made disasters.Alternative energy: Exploring the feasibility of a Mediterranean Solar Plan to develop solar power as a key energy source, along with other green energy sources.Higher education: Establishing a Euro-Mediterranean University, based in Slovenia, promoting academic mobility and partnerships among member states' universities Mediterranean business initiative: Providing technical and financial help for small and medium-sized companies, using voluntary contributions from member states.
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.
ELECTION 2008 Obama camp still can't verify return of Arab cash. More questions than answers in illegal Middle East donor affair August 11, 2008 10:13 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – One week after WND reported Palestinian brothers inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip illegally contributed to Barack Obama's campaign, the Democratic presidential candidate's team has not responded to repeated WND requests for a clarification regarding how purported refunds were returned. The brothers told WND their money was not refunded.Last week it was exposed Palestinian Gazans Monir, Hosam and Osama Edwan made a series of donations online at Obama's official campaign website totaling more than $30,000.The donations violate election laws, including prohibitions against receiving contributions from foreigners and accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election.The Wall Street Journal reported it spoke to Obama officials who said the nearly $33,500 in donations were received between Sept. 20 and Dec. 6 of last year and that most of the money was returned by Dec. 6. The campaign claimed, however, the refunds were not reported to the Federal Election Commission due to a technical error.The Obama camp insisted the remaining $2,500 was refunded Aug. 4 and that all the refunds will be reflected soon in an amended report. The campaign said new controls are in place to prevent any similar attempts in the future.But WND spoke to the brothers, who denied the Obama campaign refunded their money.No, we did not receive any money back from the Obama campaign at any time, said Monir Edwan.
The Edwans continue to maintain their financial transactions made on Obama's campaign website were not actual donations but purchases of Obama for President T-shirts.The transactions, however, were listed as donations in U.S. government election filings.Obama's campaign also told the Wall Street Journal last week the funds from the Edwans were for the purchase of T-shirts.The Obama team has not explained why T-shirt revenue was reported to the FEC as contributions.The Atlas Shrugs blog, which first highlighted the unusual Edwan contributions, meanwhile, has posted copies of FEC letters from as early as last April requesting additional information for 36 contributors, including the Edwans. The FEC letters, which document the contributions in question, state the donations may be excessive – exceeding the allotted amount for each individual.The question arises: Why didn't the Obama campaign immediately report back to the FEC in April that the illegal Edwan money had been returned four months prior, as the campaign now claims. The FEC, in fact, had to send an additional letter just last month requesting an explanation.In addition, the explanation – both from the Obama camp and from the Edwans – that the brothers purchased T-shirts from the Gaza Strip doesn't appear to stand up to close scrutiny. The Edwans claimed to WND the T-shirts were received in Gaza last December.When the Edwans made their contributions online, they listed their street as Tal Esaltan, which they wrote was located in Rafah, GA. The same address was listed in all relevant FEC filings.
Rafah is not a city in Georgia.
A WND investigation last week tracked down the Edwans living in the Tal Esaltan neighborhood of Rafah, a large refugee camp in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.The brothers could not explain how the purportedly purchased T-shirts arrived in Gaza if the campaign had a mistaken address in Georgia. The T-shirts would have been shipped to the purported Rafah, GA address.That the Edwans were able to contribute any money to Obama's campaign from Gaza also raises questions into the methods used by the presidential candidate's website to accept online donations.The website donation form asks each donor to affirm he or she is a U.S. citizen and is above the age of 16 but doesn't require donors to prove their citizenship status, such as providing a social security number. The form further requires the donor to affirm the contribution is not coming from a corporation, political action committee or lobby group.
MEDIA MATTERS Michael Savage vows to take Islam fight to Supreme Court.Popular radio host seeks to expose CAIR's international funding sources August 10, 2008 4:50 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily
Michael Savage (San Francisco Chronicle)
Talk-radio host Michael Savage has announced he will bring his recently dismissed copyright infringement lawsuit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations to the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of making public the Islamic group's sources of funding.Savage's suit – originally filed in San Francisco district court – alleged CAIR illegally published singled-out quotes and audio excerpts from his show regarding Islam, misappropriated his words and used the clips for its own fundraising purposes, damaging the value of his copyrighted material.CAIR last year waged a public campaign using excerpted Savage remarks to urge advertisers to boycott his top-rated program. CAIR stated its campaign successfully resulted in Savage losing $1 million in advertising.Part of Savage's lawsuit alleged CAIR received millions in foreign funding and that it may have been wrongfully acting as a lobbyist or agent for a foreign government, violating the Islamic group's nonprofit status.Savage also alleged CAIR was engaged in racketeering, describing the group as a mouthpiece of international terror that helped fund the 9/11 attacks, a contention strongly denied by CAIR.But his lawsuit was tossed last month by San Francisco District U.S. Judge Susan Illston, who argued it is legal to use excerpts of a public broadcast for purposes of comment and criticism.Illston, nominated to her position by President Bill Clinton, wrote in her ruling that Savage could try to rewrite the racketeering portion of his suit to better fit the specifics of his case.
Savage's attorney Daniel Horowitz told WND he is reworking the suit to directly address Illston's respectful ruling. He said the new suit includes over 200 pages of supporting documents, including 200 pages of transcripts of the meeting in which CAIR was founded.On his program last week, Savage announced if Illston again rejects his suit, he will bring the case to the higher 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court.I'm going to open up this case. I'm going to sue CAIR. I'm bringing a lawsuit back against them. It's going to cost me a fortune, Savage said. And when Judge Illston rejects it again, which she will do because she's a minion of the Bill Clinton crowd, I'm going to take it over her head and I'm going to go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where again I'm going to hit a stonewall. And then I'm going to take it to the Supreme Court until eventually I force CAIR to describe who their funding sources are.Horowitz said if the suit goes to the Supreme Court, he will seek to procure the representation of attorney Martin Garbus, who has famously won numerous high-profile Supreme Court cases.Savage pointed to CAIR's recent complaint against the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing company for not hiring a Muslim woman dressed in a head scarf as evidence the Islamic group is expanding its targets beyond talk radio.The woman applied for a job in Oklahoma City. The local Abercrombie manager allegedly said a scarf does not fit the company's image.Don't you understand what they're doing to this country? asked Savage. How they're targeting the Midwest, talk radio, one talk show host at a time? One company at a time? Don't you know that CAIR is going to come for you?
Continued Savage: First they came for Michel Savage, and you didn't raise your voice and you laughed. Then they came after Abercrombie and Fitch, and you didn't raise your voice because you weren't in the retail business. Tomorrow they'll come after you and your business.Addressing CAIR directly, Savage warned: One day you're going to hit the wrong judge in the wrong city at the wrong time and then the American people are going to find out where your funding is coming from.The top radio host urged listeners to make online donations at his website to help fund his lawsuit.
Foreign contributions to CAIR established
In May 2007, CAIR was identified by the government as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving the Holy Land Foundation, a charity allegedly affiliated with Hamas. Federal prosecutors in the case listed CAIR under the category: Individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the US Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.The government also listed Omar Ahmad, CAIR's founder and chairman emeritus, under the same category.CAIR is registered as a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under IRS codes, which restrict lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. CAIR's website claims it receives no foreign government support.But CAIR's headquarters near the U.S. Capitol until recently was owned by the ruler of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the ruler's foundation has pledged $50 million to capitalize a long-term CAIR public-relations campaign.The UAE formally recognized the Taliban, and Dubai reportedly acted as the transit point for cash for the 9/11 hijackers. Two of the hijackers were from the Emirates, and one served in the UAE military.Until 2005, the Al Maktoum Foundation run by Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid held the deed to CAIR's headquarters just three blocks from the Capitol. The same foundation reportedly has held telethons to raise money for families of Palestinian martyrs during the intifada – or terrorist war – started in September 2000 against Israel. It recently pledged a $50 million endowment for CAIR.CAIR argues that any assertions it receives money from foreign governments is disinformation.This is yet another attempt to invent a controversy, the group said. CAIR's operational budget is funded by donations from American Muslims.CAIR, however, has never publicly acknowledged $1 million controlling interest that the ruler of Dubai's foundation took in its national headquarters just one year after 9/11.The group also received $500,000 from Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the sheik whose $10 million relief check after 9/11 was rejected by then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani after he blamed U.S. policy toward Israel for the attacks.There is nothing criminal or immoral about accepting donations from foreign nationals, CAIR asserted. The U.S. government, corporations and non-profit organizations routinely receive money from foreign nationals.Bin Talal is not a member of the Saudi Arabian government, the group added in a statement. He is a private entrepreneur and international investor.This may be a distinction without a difference, Savage's lawyers argue, since bin Talal is a member of the Saudi ruling family.CAIR is proud to receive support of every individual, CAIR argued, as long as they are not an official of any foreign government and there are no strings attached to the bequest.The UAE endowment to CAIR was specifically earmarked for public relations efforts to repair the image of Arabs and Muslims in America after public outrage doomed a Dubai bid to run U.S. ports.Lawyers for Savage argue that CAIR may have used UAE funds and other foreign support to attack the radio host.
US, allies weigh punishment for Russia By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer AUG 12,08
WASHINGTON - Scrambling to find ways to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia, the United States and its allies are considering expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise, Bush administration officials said Tuesday. But with little leverage in the face of an emboldened Moscow, Washington and its friends have been forced to face the uncomfortable reality that their options are limited to mainly symbolic measures, such as boycotting Russian-hosted meetings and events, that may have little or no long-term impact on Russia's behavior, the officials said.
With the situation on the ground still unclear after Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Tuesday ordered a halt to military action in Georgia, U.S. officials were focused primarily on confirming a ceasefire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs following five days of fierce fighting, including Russian attacks on civilian targets.It is very important now that all parties cease fire, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. The Georgians have agreed to a ceasefire, the Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored.At the same time, however, President Bush and his top aides were engaged in frantic consultations with European and other nations over how best to demonstrate their fierce condemnations of the Russian operation that began in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, expanded to another disputed area, Abkhazia, and ended up on purely Georgian soil.The idea is to show the Russians that it is no longer business as usual, said one senior official familiar with the consultations among world leaders that were going on primarily by phone and in person at NATO headquarters in Brussels where alliance diplomats met together and then with representatives of Georgia.For now, the Bush administration decided to boycott a third meeting at NATO on Tuesday at which the alliance's governing board, the North Atlantic Council, was preparing for a meeting with a Russian delegation that has been called at Moscow's request, officials said.
On the table for future action is the possible cancellation or U.S. withdrawal from a major NATO naval exercise with Russia that is scheduled to begin Friday, the officials said. Sailors and vessels from Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S. were to take part in the annual Russia-NATO exercise aimed at improving cooperation in maritime security.The exercise, which is being hosted by Russia this year, began a decade ago and typically involves around 1,000 personnel from the four countries, the officials said.In the medium term, the United States and its partners in the Group of Seven, or G-7, the club of the world's leading industrialized nations that also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, are debating whether to effectively disband what is known as the G-8, which incorporates Russia, by throwing Moscow out, the officials said.Discussions are also taking place on whether to revoke or review the May 2007 invitation to Russia to join the 30-member, Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which consists primarily of established European democracies, the officials said.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have yet been made and consultations with other countries involved are still ongoing.Bush spoke on Monday and Tuesday with fellow G-7 leaders as well as the heads of democratically elected pro-Western governments in formerly Eastern Bloc nations, some of which are among NATO's newest members and have urged a strong response to Russia's invasion of a like-minded country.On Monday on his way home from the Olympics in China, Bush talked with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Polish President Lech Kaczynski. He then spoke to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the White House said. On Tuesday, he spoke with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Rice, who returned early to Washington late Monday from vacation to deal with the crisis, held a second round of talks with foreign ministers from the Group of Seven countries in which they were briefed on European Union mediation efforts led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who met Tuesday with Medvedev in Moscow.They believe that they have made some progress and we welcome that and we certainly welcome the E.U. mediation, Rice told reporters at the White House.
Despite the flurry of activity, there was still uncertainty about whether Russia had in fact halted its military action in Georgia with reports of continued shelling of civilian and military sites.The State Department on Tuesday recommended that all U.S. citizens leave Georgia in a new travel warning, saying the security situation remained uncertain. It said it was organizing a third evacuation convoy to take Americans who want to leave by road to neighboring Armenia. More that 170 American citizens have already left Georgia in two earlier convoys. Just hours after Bush said in a White House address that the invasion had substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world and demanded an end to what he called Moscow's dramatic and brutal escalation of violence, Medvedev said he had ordered an end to military action. But Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling and White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Tuesday it was too early to comment on Medvedev's move. We are trying to get an assessment of what a halt means and whether it is taking place, of course, the spokesman added. Typifying the administration's dilemma, a planned late-morning White House briefing by national security adviser Stephen Hadley was postponed until further notice due to ongoing developments in Georgia and in Moscow, where Sarkozy was meeting with Russian officials on behalf of the West. The State Department on Tuesday recommended that all U.S. citizens leave Georgia in a new travel warning, saying the security situation remained uncertain. It said it was organizing a third evacuation convoy to take Americans who want to leave by road to neighboring Armenia. More that 170 American citizens have already left Georgia in two earlier convoys. Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven, Anne Gearan and Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
Georgia says Russia bombed after order to halt war By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writers AUG 12,08
TBILISI, Georgia - Russia ordered a halt to the war in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling. Despite the televised order by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia launched an offensive Tuesday in Abkhazia, sending tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery toward the breakaway region.
Georgian troops were forced out of their last stronghold in the separatist province, said Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zaitsev, a defense official in Abkhazia. The claim that Georgian forces were gone could not immediately be confirmed.And hours before the order to stop fighting, Russian jets bombed the crossroads city of Gori, near the separatist region of South Ossetia. Gori's post office and university were burning Tuesday, but the city was all but deserted after most remaining residents and Georgian soldiers fled Monday ahead of a feared Russian onslaught.In Moscow, Medvedev said Georgia had been punished enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist province, which has close ties to Russia.The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized, Medvedev said.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, speaking before a crowd of thousands at a Tbilisi square, said the invasion was not because Russia wanted control of the breakaway regions.They just don't want freedom and that's why they want to stamp on Georgia and destroy it, he said, as red and white Georgian fluttered.Tens of thousands of terrified residents have fled the fighting — South Ossetians north to Russia, and Georgians west toward the capital of Tbilisi and east to the country's Black Sea coast.Both sides have traded accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in the separatist province of South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died.
Many Georgians also have been killed in the fighting and on Tuesday, the Georgian security council said it filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice for alleged ethnic cleansing. The overall death toll was expected to rise because large areas of Georgia were still too dangerous for journalists to enter and see the true scope of the damage.It feels like an annexed country, said Lasha Margiana, the local administrator in one of the villages in the Kodori Gorge, where fleeing Georgians said the entire population had abandoned their homes.Zaitsev, the commander in Abkhazia, said only local forces — not Russian ones — were involved in the operation to squeeze out the Georgians. But an AP reporter visiting the village of Chuberi saw 135 Russian military vehicles heading toward the Kodori Gorge. Georgian officials said their troops in the gorge were being attacked by Russians.Medvedev assailed the West for supporting Georgia in the conflict: International law doesn't envision double standards.In Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian provincial capital now under Russian control, the body of a Georgian soldier lay in the street along with debris. A poster hanging nearby showed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the slogan Say yes to peace and stability as South Ossetian separatist fighters launched rockets at a Georgian plane soaring overhead. Broken glass and other debris littered the ground.If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them, Medvedev ordered his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting.U.S. officials were focused primarily on confirming a ceasefire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs It is very important now that all parties cease fire, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. The Georgians have agreed to a ceasefire, the Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored.Russia's foreign minister called for Saakashvili to resign. Medvedev said Georgia must pull its troops from the two Russian-backed breakaway provinces and allow them to decide whether they want to remain part of Russia. Ossetians and Abkhaz must respond to that question taking their history into account, including what happened in the past few days, Medvedev said grimly. Thousands of Georgians poured out their support for their president at a rally in Tbilisi, crowding a main square and nearby streets as far as the eye could see and holding aloft fluttering red-and-white Georgian flags.
Georgia, which is pushing for NATO membership, borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s. Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia, which appears open to absorbing them. Medvedev said Tuesday that Russian peacekeepers will stay in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia; Saakashvili said his government will officially designate Russian peacekeepers in those breakaway provinces as occupying forces.
The Russian onslaught angered the West and drew tough words from President Bush, but some Georgians are disappointed that the U.S. did not intervene to protect its tiny ally. I'd like to think the words really do matter, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said Tuesday in Tbilisi. Bryza declined to say if the U.S. would provide military support in the event that Russia expands its operations: I hope we'll never come to the question of what we do if Russia refuses to observe international law.Georgia sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets bypassing Russia, has long been a source of contention between the West and a resurgent Russia, the dominant energy supplier to Europe. The British oil company BP shut down one of three Georgian pipelines as a precaution, although the company said it had no evidence the pipelines had suffered damage. In villages around the South Ossetian provincial capital, separatist fighters reportedly were setting fire to Georgian houses and searching for hidden Georgian fighters. An AP photographer in the village of Ruisi near South Ossetia saw fresh damage from a Russian air raid that locals said came just 30 minutes before Medvedev's televised statement. Residents said three villagers were killed and another five wounded when a Russian warplane raided the village. One slain victim, 77-year old Amiran Vardzelashvili, was struck by a fragment in the heart while was working in a field.
The Georgian government said another nearby village, Sakorinto, also was bombed after Medvedev announcing a halt to fighting, as was an ambulance in the Black Sea province of Adzharia. The U.N. and NATO called meetings Tuesday to deal with the conflict, while Poland's president and the leaders of four former Soviet republics flew to Georgia for a meeting of solidarity with Saakashvili. The Russian state has once again shown its face, its true face, said Poland's Lech Kaczynski, who was being joined by counterparts from Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and Latvia. But he said it was good news that Medvedev ordered a halt to the war. At the White House on Monday, Bush had demanded that Russia end a dramatic and brutal escalation of violence in Georgia, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century, Bush said in a televised statement. Associated Press writers Chris Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia and near the Kodori Gorge; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia; David Nowak from Gori, Georgia; Douglas Birch from Vladikavkaz, Russia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry from Moscow; and Pauline Jelinek from Washington.
Russia's Medvedev halts military action in GeorgiaAP foreign, Tuesday August 12 2008 By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that took Russian forces deep into the small Western-allied nation. Medvedev said on national television that the military had punished Georgia enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist Georgian province, which has close ties to Russia. The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored, Medvedev said. The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized.The Russian president, however, said he ordered the military to defend itself and quell any signs of Georgian resistance. If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them, he told his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting. Hours before Medvedev's announcement, Russian forces bombed the town of Gori and launched an offensive in the only part of Abkhazia still under Georgian control, tightening the assault on the beleaguered nation as French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Moscow carrying Western demands that Russia pull back. Medvedev told Sarkozy that Georgia must pull its troops out of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and pledge not to use force again. Sarkozy, whose nation holds the rotating EU presidency, said in a televised meeting that Georgia's sovereignty, integrity and security must be protected. The U.N. and NATO called meetings to deal with a conflict that blew up in South Ossetia and quickly developed into an East-West crisis that raised fears in former Soviet bloc nations of Eastern Europe. Five European presidents were headed to Russia and Georgia to mediate.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili should leave office and that Georgian troops should stay out of South Ossetia permanently. Moscow will not talk to Saakashvili, Lavrov said; the best thing for Saakashvili to do would be to step down.Russian troops who had advanced into Georgia on Monday from South Ossetia, took positions near Gori on the main east-west highway as terrified civilians fled the area, and President Saakashvili said his country had effectively been cut in half. Russian jets targeted administrative buildings and a street market in the center of Gori on Tuesday, Georgia's security chief Alexander Lomaia said, but there was no immediate information about casualties. The Russians had also opened a second front in western Georgia on Monday, moving deep into Georgian territory from separatist Abkhazia. They seized a military base in the town of Senaki and occupied police precincts in the town of Zugdidi. Lomaia said Tuesday that the Russians had left Senaki. But Russian troops attacked Georgian forces who continued to hold the northern part of Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge, Lomaia said, Abkhazian officials said their own forces were carrying out the artillery attacks and that Russian forces were not involved in that fighting. At least 9,000 Russian troops and 350 armored vehicles were in Abkhazia, according to a Russian military commander. Georgia's deputy Interior Minister Eka Sguladze said Tuesday that Russian troops remained at their positions near Zugdidi and Gori. An AP reporter who visited Zugdidi on Tuesday morning saw several Russian armored vehicles and dozens of troops outside the town's central police station. The mood in the city was calm, people were moving around and many stores that shut previously were open for business Tuesday. The Russian onslaught, accompanied by relentless Russian air raids on Georgian territory, angered the West, bringing the toughest words yet from U.S. President George W. Bush. Georgia, which sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets bypassing Russia, has long been a source of contention between the West and a resurgent Russia, which is seeking to strengthen its role as the dominant energy supplier to the continent.
Saakashvili endorsed an EU plan calling for an immediate cease-fire, in talks Monday with French and Finnish foreign ministers. Sarkozy was to negotiate the plan in Moscow, and the presidents of Poland and the former Soviet states of Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia were headed to Georgia on Tuesday. Bush had demanded Monday that Russia end a dramatic and brutal escalation of violence in Georgia, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century, Bush said in a televised statement from the White House. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of hypocrisy in a tough statement that reflected both the measure of his anger at the West. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said more than 2,000 people have been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of them Ossetians with Russian passports. The figures could not be independently confirmed, but refugees said hundreds had been killed. Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia. Russian officials had given signals that the fighting could pave the way for them to be absorbed into Russia. Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s. Associated Press writers Chris Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia; David Nowak from Gori, Georgia; Douglas Birch from Vladikavkaz, Russia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry from Moscow; and Pauline Jelinek from Washington.
UK warns of Russia catastrophe AUG 12,08.Mr Brown says there is a pressing need for fighting to end. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown says there is no justification for Russia's military action in Georgia.
He said the intervention threatens the stability of the entire region and risks a humanitarian catastrophe. There is a clear responsibility on the Russian government to bring this conflict quickly to an end, he said. Tory leader David Cameron branded Russia a dangerous bully and urged the international community to stand up and condemn its action in Georgia. He also called for Georgia's membership of Nato to be speeded up.
Speedy resolution
Mr Cameron told the BBC: The only language that bullies understand is when someone stands up to them.UK nationals have been advised not to travel to Georgia and those in the country have been urged to leave. Continued aggression against Georgia - and especially an escalation of the conflict beyond South Ossetia - will only serve to damage Russia's international reputation.
Gordon Brown
UK Prime Minister
As fighting over the disputed region of South Ossetia threatens to spread more widely, Mr Brown warned there was an immediate and pressing need to end the fighting and disengage all military forces. He said the Georgian government had offered a ceasefire and he urged the Russians to reciprocate without delay. Continued aggression against Georgia - and especially an escalation of the conflict beyond South Ossetia - will only serve to damage Russia's international reputation and its relations with countries across the globe, he said. Mr Brown has held discussions with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in recent days. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has also held talks with G7 and EU foreign ministers. What Russia has done here is used massive and disproportionate force....It has acted as a massive and dangerous bully and we can't allow this to go ahead without it being challenged.
David Cameron
Conservative leader
We are committed to working with those partners in the EU, UN, OSCE [Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe] and G7 to ensure a peaceful and speedy resolution to this crisis which maintains Georgia's territorial and political integrity, Mr Brown added. Earlier, Mr Cameron warned that there were very, very worrying consequences if Europe failed to speak with one voice that what Russia is doing is wrong. What Russia has done here is used massive and disproportionate force. It's breached international law and it has violated Georgia's territorial integrity, he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. It has acted as a massive and dangerous bully and we can't allow this to go ahead without it being challenged.Mr Cameron conceded that Georgia's decision to send troops into South Ossetia was a bad strategy, but he said there could be implications for Baltic states that still identify with Russia if nations fail to speak out.
Unclear objectives
Amnesty International has called on Georgia and Russia to provide safe passage to people fleeing from the conflict and allow unimpeded access to humanitarian relief to those in affected areas. The calls for an immediate ceasefire were echoed by the British ambassador to Georgia, Denis Keefe. who said the objective of the Russians was unclear. They have gone well beyond the conflict zones which they used as the grounds for their action in the first place, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
They have bombed in different areas in the country. They have sent their troops into different areas of the country. The result is a real and pressing need for a ceasefire to disengage military forces. I think the question of what the Russians are trying to achieve is impossible to answer from Tbilisi at the moment. What is clear here is that we need a ceasefire and we need it now.
Report: Iraq contracts have cost billions By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 12, 12:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The United States has paid $85 billion to contractors in the Iraq theater for work ranging from food service to guarding diplomats, according to a report released Tuesday. The report was prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, and noted that spending for contractors account for about 20 percent of spending for operations in Iraq.The United States has relied more heavily on contractors in Iraq than in any other war. There are currently at least 190,000 contract employees working in the Iraq theater, with the ratio at about one contractor for every U.S. service member, according to the report.The report will likely give new fodder to critics who have accused contractors of over billing and providing shoddy work. In the last year, U.S. contractors have been investigated in connection to the shooting deaths of Iraqis and in the accidental electrocution deaths of U.S. troops.Of the total paid to contractors, CBO estimated that $6 billion to $10 billion went to pay for security operations.The study did not include figures for 2008, so the total paid since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is probably much higher.The report was prepared at the request of the Senate budget committee.
AP IMPACT: Underground FEMA fuel tanks could leak By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer AUG 12,08
WASHINGTON - The government owns hundreds of underground fuel tanks — many designed for emergencies back in the Cold War — that need to be inspected for leaks of hazardous substances that could be making local water undrinkable. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has known since at least the 1990s that tanks under its supervision around the country could be leaking fuel into soil and groundwater, according to Associated Press interviews and research.The agency knows of at least 150 underground tanks that need to be inspected for leaks, according to spokeswoman Debbie Wing. FEMA also is trying to determine by September whether an additional 124 tanks are underground or above ground and whether they are leaking.There has been no documentation of reported leaks or harm to communities from the FEMA tanks, Wing said, although former agency officials and congressional testimony suggest that the federal tanks have long been seen as a problem.Many of these tanks were built to store 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel and placed around the country at the height of the Cold War back in the 1960s to fuel electric generators that could sustain emergency broadcasts by radio stations in case of a nuclear attack or other catastrophe. Made of steel, the tanks inevitably rust over time and allow fuel to escape.Steel tanks left in the ground for decades rot like Swiss cheese, said Pat Coyne, director of business development for Environmental Data Resources Inc. Coyne said a joke in the industry is: What percentage of steel tanks leak? 100 percent!
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the government insisted on better-made tanks. The underground tanks of today must have safety measures including leak detection and an extra shell made with material resistant to gasoline, diesel and ethanol, Coyne said.
The FEMA tanks are part of a larger problem. More than 500,000 leaking storage tanks — most of which are filled with fuel and oil — are buried across the country, according to Environmental Data Resources, based in Milford, Conn. That's about half of all the underground tanks in the country, the consulting company says. Those tanks are owned privately or by local, state and federal agencies.Because they're underground, leaking tanks can go undetected for years. If diesel leaks into drinking water, affected people could be at a higher risk of cancer, kidney damage and nervous system disorders, said Rochelle Cardinale, one of the lead coordinators for underground tank cleanup in Iowa. A gallon of fuel can contaminate 1 million gallons of water.FEMA says the hundreds of federal tanks have not always been its responsibility. The Federal Communications Commission also has had oversight, although FCC spokesman Clyde Ensslin said the commission believed FEMA was responsible for monitoring and maintaining the tanks. FEMA said it spent $8 million in the 1990s removing and repairing some of them.FEMA now acknowledges that it is the agency responsible for all of the tanks in question.But Senate testimony from 1992 suggests FEMA has long tried to avoid having to deal with the tanks.For years FEMA resisted acknowledging the problem or seeking funds for remediation, former FEMA union president Leo Bosner said in 1992 before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.He said then there were more than 2,000 underground oil storage tanks that FEMA had paid for or acquired over the years. But FEMA came out with a legal opinion that year concluding that it wasn't responsible for the tanks.
Congress eventually decided it didn't matter which agency owned the tanks — FEMA would fund tank inspection, removal and replacement, said Bill Cumming, who at the time ran FEMA's ethics program.FEMA did eventually receive reports about leaking tanks, said Jane Bullock, who was the agency's chief of staff in the Clinton administration.Many of FEMA's out-of-use fuel tanks today have yet to be inspected because officials only recently finished going through decades of paperwork from the different federal agencies that at one point participated in the emergency broadcasting program.We are committed to upholding our obligations to remediate, remove or upgrade them as necessary, FEMA spokesman Dan Stoneking told the AP. We believe in adhering to any relevant environmental rule or law and will do so.FEMA disclosed the problems to the EPA in August 2007, a step that could lead to reduced penalties against FEMA. In May, the EPA formally requested information about the status of the tanks. FEMA said it now oversees 1,129 defunct tanks — including the hundreds that could be leaking — many of which were inherited from the FCC and the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency. Recently FEMA found the location of most of the defunct tanks by looking through old records. To determine the tanks' conditions requires a physical inspection, and agency contractors have been going to each location and searching with hand-held metal detectors and other tools. FEMA will determine what to do with the defunct tanks — such as remove them or fill them with sand — on a case-by-case basis, because of varying state laws. A 2005 law required all federal agencies to submit an inventory to Congress and the EPA of all the tanks they owned or operated, and whether the tanks were in compliance with the law.
The inventory was pushed by private gasoline retailers who long have argued that they were being targeted for violations by a government that wasn't following its own rules. In the 1960s the federal government gave fuel tanks and generators to radio stations across the country so that vital information could be broadcast during an emergency. The program was managed by the FCC in some parts of the country, and elsewhere by the former Civil Defense Preparedness Agency. Broadcast stations volunteered for the program, and by 1979 about 700 stations participated.
When FEMA was created in 1979 it took over programs run by the civil defense agency. Broadcast stations began to drop out of the program and funding was slowly eliminated between 1987 and 1994. FEMA manages fewer tanks now because of new broadcast technology and a realignment of oversight responsibilities to states. Now FEMA oversees only 38 in-use underground tanks that are being maintained to comply with EPA rules. These tanks are used for broadcast stations and to fuel generators to keep emergency operations centers running during a disaster. Associated Press writer Dina Cappiello from Washington and researcher Jennifer Farrar from New York contributed to this report.
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
THE JUDGEMENT OF THE NATIONS
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
DANIEL 12:8-13
8 And I (DANIEL) heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (at the 3 1/2 yr mark of the 7 yr treaty) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
MATTHEW 25:31-46
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Israeli PM offers Palestinians 93% of West Bank Tue Aug 12, 8:52 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered a peace plan giving the Palestinians 93 percent of the occupied West Bank, an Israeli newspaper said on Tuesday. But the Palestinians denied the report.Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the proposed border is at the heart of a broader plan that would compensate the Palestinians with the equivalent of 5.5 percent of the West Bank adjacent to the Gaza Strip and a route connecting Gaza to the West Bank itself.However, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas would only receive the land and the overland connection once his forces retake the Gaza Strip from the Islamist Hamas movement, which seized power in the coastal territory in June 2007, the newspaper said.But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the report was baseless.These are half-truths used by Israelis as a test balloon so they can blame the Palestinian authority should the negotiations fail, Erakat told AFP.Haaretz said the proposal has been offered in the context of US-backed peace talks relaunched in November with the goal of resolving the decades-old conflict by the end of the year.The proposed agreement however would be a shelf agreement to be implemented in the coming months and years, and would not immediately include the thorny issue of the future status of Jerusalem, Haaretz said.
The Palestinians have demanded mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed in the 1967 Six Day War, as their capital, while Israel considers the entire Holy City its eternal, undivided capital -- a claim not recognised by the international community.The agreement would however include a complex solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, allowing some refugees from the 1948 war to return to Israel while settling most of the 4.5 million refugees and their descendants in the Palestinian state.The seven percent of the West Bank annexed by Israel would include the major settlement blocs around Jerusalem -- home to most of the 250,000 Israeli settlers in the territory -- and some settlements in the northern West Bank.
The final Palestinian state would be demilitarised.
Erakat dismissed the idea of a partial agreement. We are not a bazaar, he said. We want a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem, and agreement on all the final status questions, he added.
Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on the report but told AFP the negotiations with the Palestinians are making progress on a number of subjects, particularly borders.These negotiations are serious and are aimed at a common objective, he added.The negotiations, which have shown little visible progress since they were formally relaunched after a seven-year hiatus, were dealt a further blow last month when Olmert announced he would resign later this year.The premier has been dogged by six corruption probes and in recent months, he had faced widespread calls to resign, including from members of his own fragile governing coalition.
Olmert announced on July 30 he would step down after his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in a vote set for September 17.
Palestinians reject proposal by Israeli PM AUG 12,08
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Israeli peace proposal because it does not provide for a contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, Abbas's office said on Tuesday. Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas's spokesman, told the official WAFA news agency Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan showed a lack of seriousness.Olmert's proposal does not offer a solution to competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem, and would only be implemented once Abbas reined in militants and re-established control of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas seized a year ago.Under the proposal, Israel would give to the Palestinians some 92.7 percent of the occupied West Bank, plus all of the Gaza Strip, according to Western and Palestinian officials briefed on the negotiations.
In exchange for West Bank land that Israel would keep, Olmert proposed a 5.3 percent land swap giving the Palestinians a desert territory adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
Olmert's proposal first emerged several months ago and was published in detail on Tuesday by Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, prompting Abu Rdainah's response.
The Israeli proposal is not acceptable, Abbas's spokesman said. The Palestinian side will only accept a Palestinian state with territorial continuity, with holy Jerusalem as its capital, without settlements, and on the June 4, 1967 boundaries.
Abu Rdainah was referring to the borders that existed prior to the 1967 Middle East war in which Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
He called the Israeli proposal a waste of time.
Launched in November with the goal of reaching a statehood deal in 2008, the U.S.-sponsored talks have shown little outward sign of progress and have been marred from the start by violence and disputes over Israeli settlement building.The chances of a peace deal faded further with Olmert's announcement last month that he would step down as prime minister once his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in September.Olmert spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on any proposal, but said progress had been made in recent months, especially on the issue of borders.We are committed to continuing the effort to try to reach a joint Israeli-Palestinian document, he said.But another Israeli official said Olmert was merely trying to establish his legacy. There is going to be no agreement, period, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior leader from Hamas, the Islamist group that routed Abbas's forces to take control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, called the offer a political test balloon to ascertain the Palestinian reaction.
Hamas will not busy itself much on this issue because the Palestinian people will never accept it,Zahar said.(Reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Israel stages war games on occupied (on their GOD GIVIN LAND) Golan Tue Aug 12, 5:53 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel launched large-scale military exercises on Tuesday on the occupied Golan Heights along the Syrian border on Tuesday in the presence of senior political and military officials. There is a reinforcement on the other side, and it's not by chance that we are training intensively on the Golan Heights and on a major scale, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who observed the drills, told army radio.
He was referring to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah, which Israel says has been rearming with help from Syria and Iran since the 2006 Lebanon war, widely regarded in Israel as a failure.Barak said UN resolution which ended the 34-day war failed to fulfill its goals.There has been a very significant reinforcement of Hezbollah in recent years, and we are examining the possibility that the balance of power has shifted with the introduction of sophisticated weapons from Syria, Barak said.The August 2006 resolution demanded the pullout of the Israeli army from south Lebanon and its replacement by a UN-backed Lebanese army deployment and called for the disarmament of Hezbollah and other armed groups.But in the two years since, Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of rearming with rockets and other sophisticated weapons smuggled into Lebanon from Syria.Israel has itself continued regular overflights of Lebanon, which are in violation of the agreement.Barak also warned the government against slashing defence spending in a proposed budget aimed at reducing overall expenditure by some 2.6 billion dollars, saying Israel cannot afford the luxury of undermining its security.The exercises on the Golan were taking place despite the resumption of indirect Turkey-mediated peace talks between Israel and Syria in May after an eight-year break.Israel captured and occupied the strategic plateau in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed it in 1981.
Kuwait donates 80 mln dlrs to aid Palestinians: World Bank AUG 12,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The World Bank said Tuesday that Kuwait has donated 80 million dollars to a trust fund in support of Palestinians, becoming the first Arab nation to contribute to the aid program. Kuwait signed an agreement Monday allowing the transfer of 80 million dollars to the World Bank-administered trust fund to support the ongoing Palestinian Reform and Development Program, the bank said.That contribution brings to 275 million dollars the amount of transfers available from the trust fund and the linked World Bank funds, of which 148 million dollars has already been disbursed.The financial resources will provide support for education, health care and other vital social services for the Palestinian people and for the economic reforms currently underway, the bank said.The other contributors to date are Australia, Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Norway and Poland.
Hamas blasts militants who break truce with Israel Tue Aug 12, 8:56 AM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Hamas rulers of Gaza on Tuesday lashed out at militants who fire rockets at Israel from the Palestinian territory in violation of a seven-week-old truce, calling them collaborators. About the rocket-firing, I think those who are responsible are those who collaborate with Israel because there is a consensus by all Palestinian groups to respect the truce, said Mahmud Zahar, the most influential leader of the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza.On Monday, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into an empty field outside the southern Israeli city of Sderot, causing no casualty or damage.Zahar told a Gaza radio station that the party which fired the rocket was linked to Israel as they provide a pretext to exercise pressure on the Palestinian people.After the latest firing, Israel on Tuesday closed the Nahal Oz crossing to Gaza that is used to ferry in fuel and the Sufa passage for food deliveries to the impoverished and blockaded territory.In all, 40 rockets and mortar rounds have been fired from Gaza since a truce between Hamas and Israel went into effect in and around Gaza on June 19, according to the Israeli army.Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in June 2007, insists it is respecting the truce and has vowed to crack down on smaller Palestinian militant movements which still fire at Israel.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Stocks lower amid financial sector concerns By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer AUG 12,08
NEW YORK - Wall Street slid Tuesday as downbeat news from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other financial companies raised more concerns about the ongoing impact of the credit crisis on the economy. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 140 points.
The latest reminder of continuing troubles for banks and brokerages came when JPMorgan said late Monday it has incurred wider losses in its mortgage holdings so far in the third quarter than in the second quarter. The nation's second-largest bank by assets said in a regulatory filing it lost $1.5 billion, after hedges, in its mortgage-backed securities and loans this quarter, compared to $1.1 billion in the second three months of 2008.The losses were proof to investors that the financial sector's problems seem nowhere near a resolution.Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell after several analysts lowered their ratings and earnings estimates for the investment bank. And UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, reported further losses and write-downs of $5.1 billion during the second quarter.The market's losses were mitigated for part of the session by a drop in the price of oil — an illustration of the ongoing push-and-pull in the market between oil prices and any news about financials. The financial companies' problems sent major stock indexes to their lows in late trading.Oil trading was buffeted by several factors: differing views on whether global demand is falling or rising, and word from BP PLC that it had shut down an oil pipeline that runs through Georgia as a precautionary measure due to the fighting between Georgian and Russian troops. Light, sweet crude settled down $1.44 at $113.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has fallen more than $30 from its July 11 high of $147.27, easing concerns on Wall Street about inflation.Some of the big bellwether financial-services companies are precipitating the correction that we're seeing, said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors of Tuesday's retreat by stocks. Still, he said the run-up in stocks since oil began falling last month has made occasional retrenchments not unexpected.In late afternoon trading, the Dow fell 144.84, or 1.23 percent, to 11,637.51.
Broader stock indicators were lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 16.60, or 1.27 percent, to 1,288.72, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.48, or 0.55 percent, to 2,426.47.Bond prices rose as stocks fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.93 percent from 4.00 percent late Monday.The dollar was higher against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.A Commerce Department report showed the nation's trade deficit shrank in June, rather than growing as expected. The trade imbalance dropped 4.1 percent to $56.8 billion in June from a revised May deficit of $59.2 billion, as exports rose to an all-time high. It was the smallest deficit in three months and was better than the $61.5 billion Wall Street expected.Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research, said that any good news of the day was simply overshadowed by the latest concerns about the financial services sector. Banks and brokerages have taken more than $300 billion of write-downs since the credit crisis began last year.The financial worries have just crept back in, Detrick said. But, given the rally we had last week, we're still holding on if you look at the big picture. We were due for some kind of a break.The Dow had gained 350 points over the previous two sessions.JPMorgan fell $4.37, or 10.5 percent, to $37.52. The stock plunged in the last hour of trading after Ladenburg Thalman analyst Richard X. Bove lowered his earnings estimates for the year.
Goldman Sachs declined $10.60, or 5.9 percent, to $167.58 after the analyst downgrades of some of its ratings.Wachovia Corp. fell $1.84, or 10.1 percent, to $16.36 after it announced plans to cut 600 more jobs than it previously expected as it tries to slash costs because of losses on mortgage debt. The bank also said in a quarterly regulatory filing that it has recorded an additional $500 million in legal reserves related to its settlement discussions with regulators concerning the sale of auction-rate securities. UBS fell $1.46, or 6.8 percent, to $20.23. The company also said Tuesday it will separate its divisions such as its private bank and its investment bank to bolster investor confidence. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 735.9 million shares. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.82, or 1.04 percent, to 743.24. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.95 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.13 percent, Germany's DAX index declined 0.36 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 0.44 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Oil prices dip again on signs of waning demand By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer AUG 12,08
NEW YORK - Oil prices fell again Tuesday, dampened by a stronger U.S. dollar and more evidence that developed countries such as the United States are cutting back on their energy use. Light, sweet crude dipped by $1.44 to settle at $113.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling as low as $112.31, a new three-month low. Oil is now nearly $35 below its July 11 record high of $147.27.The International Energy Agency lowered its forecast on Tuesday for oil product demand from 30 developed countries, located mostly in Europe and North America, to 48.6 million barrels a day, down 1.3 percent from last year.The Paris-based energy watchdog's report arrived a day after China said its crude imports in July, while historically strong, were down 7 percent from the same month last year.The IEA cautioned that it is too early to determine whether the recent fall in oil prices is a longer-term trend. It said demand in developing countries could offset declines in developed nations, and that it sees Chinese oil demand continuing to grow at a robust pace.And some economists have said that given the pullback in gasoline prices, demand could come back if motorists feel more comfortable with the cost of filling their gas tanks. The average U.S. retail gasoline price was $3.799 a gallon on Tuesday, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That is down a penny from Monday, and down 31.5 cents from its July 17 record high.But the energy markets — which have seen heavy liquidation from large speculative funds since crude hit its record high — continued to make the bet that energy use is on the wane.The market's still heavily focused on demand deterioration, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.
A stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices. The euro traded at $1.4914, about the same as late Monday but at its lowest levels since February. The pound, meanwhile, fell to $1.8988, trading at its lowest levels since November 2006.Sometimes the cause and effect is difficult to define. It's a self-perpetuating, vicious circle going on, where oil falls, strengthens the dollar, then the strengthening dollar forces oil down more, Ritterbusch said.Meanwhile, traders continued to watch the conflict between Russia and Georgia, trying to figure out whether Russia's push into the country will result in a serious oil supply disruption. Russia ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, but Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.BP PLC said Tuesday it shut down the 90,000-barrel-a-day oil pipeline running from Baku on the Caspian Sea to Supsa on Georgia's Black Sea coast earlier. The London-based oil company emphasized, however, that the move was precautionary.Another larger pipeline operated by BP in the former Soviet Republic is already out of action after a fire last week on its Turkish stretch. A third pipeline in Georgia that BP uses to export oil, but does not operate, remains open.In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 4.14 cents to $3.0781 a gallon, while gasoline futures slipped 2.34 cents to $2.8432 a gallon. Natural gas futures slid 1.9cents to $8.33 per 1,000 cubic feet.Associated Press Writers George Jahn in Vienna and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
METEORS HIT THE EARTH
REVELATION 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
REVELATION 8:12-13
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels,which are yet to sound!
METEOR SHOWER
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_shower
2012 COMET
http://2012-comet.com/
2008 METEOR SHOWER VIEWING
http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/
2008 PERSEID SHOWER
http://current.com/items/89147297_the_2008_perseid_meteor_shower_is_on_august_12th
Mark your calendar: The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th and it should be a good show.
The time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th, says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. There should be plenty of meteors--perhaps one or two every minute.The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is far away, currently located beyond the orbit of Uranus, a trail of debris from the comet stretches all the way back to Earth. Crossing the trail in August, Earth will be pelted by specks of comet dust hitting the atmosphere at 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a flimsy speck of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it disintegrates--a meteor! Because, Swift-Tuttle's meteors streak out of the constellation Perseus, they are called Perseids.Serious meteor hunters will begin their watch early, on Monday evening, August 11th, around 9 pm when Perseus first rises in the northeast. This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond. Earthgrazers are long, slow and colorful; they are among the most beautiful of meteors, says Cooke. He cautions that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile. A warm summer night. Bright meteors skipping overhead. And the peak is yet to come. What could be better?
The answer lies halfway up the southern sky: Jupiter and the gibbous Moon converge on August 11th and 12th for a close encounter in the constellation Sagittarius: sky map. It's a grand sight visible even from light-polluted cities. For a while the beautiful Moon will interfere with the Perseids, lunar glare wiping out all but the brightest meteors. Yin-yang. The situation reverses itself at 2 am on Tuesday morning, August 12th, when the Moon sets and leaves behind a dark sky for the Perseids. The shower will surge into the darkness, peppering the sky with dozens and perhaps hundreds of meteors until dawn. For maximum effect, get away from city lights, Cooke advises. The brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the countryside. (Scouts, this is a good time to go camping.) The Perseids are coming. Enjoy the show! Source: Science@NASA, by Dr. Tony Phillips
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.
Tropical depressions could form in Atlantic Tue Aug 12, 7:48 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Energy and commodities markets on Tuesday were watching a couple of low-pressure systems in the Atlantic Ocean that could develop into tropical depressions over the next day or so. Neither system, however, is expected to reach the Gulf of Mexico over the next five days, if at all, according to the major weather models.In the central Atlantic, a broad area of low pressure associated with a tropical wave about 650 miles east of the Lesser Antilles could develop into a tropical depression during the next day or so as it moves west-northwest at 10 to 15 miles per hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its 8 a.m. EDT report.The NHC said an Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft was scheduled to investigate the central Atlantic system later today, if necessary.
Most weather models showed the central Atlantic system would steer north of the Lesser Antilles and threaten the Turks and Caicos and Bahamas in about five days.In the eastern Atlantic, the NHC said a tropical depression could form over the next day or so within a large area of disturbed weather extending from the Cape Verde Islands west-southwest for several hundred miles as it moves west at about 10 to 15 mph.Most weather models showed the Cape Verde system would not threaten land in North America this week. It should be about 700 miles northeast of the Virgin Islands in about five days, according to the weather models.If either system strengthens into a tropical storm, with winds of 39 to 73 mph, the NHC will name it Fay.Energy traders watch for storms that could enter the Gulf of Mexico and threaten U.S. oil and gas production facilities.Commodities traders likewise watch storms that could hit agriculture crops like citrus and cotton in Florida and other states along the Gulf Coast to Texas.(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)
Tropical Storm Hernan continues to weaken Tue Aug 12, 5:16 AM ET
MIAMI - Tropical Storm Hernan continues to weaken far out in the Pacific. The National Hurricane Center in Miami says that as of 5 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the storm's maximum sustained winds had decreased to near 50 mph. Forecasters say the storm could weaken to a tropical depression later in the day.The weakening comes a day after Hernan lost it's hurricane status.The storm's center is located about 1,505 miles west of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. It's moving toward the west near 9 mph.
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)
EU ARMY VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv9D8agUzLY
EU ARMED FORCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTdZgASnXOk&feature=related
NATO ARMY MOSTLY EU COUNTRIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t3fgVLGx84
NATO THE REVELUTIONARY ALLIANCE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7hhZtaO5HU&feature=related
RUSSIAM ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPdPKkZS6Pk
RUSSIAN MILITARY POWER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMm-sxhho_g
ISRAEL DEFENCE FORCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmWi3f_BSk&feature=related
IDF TRAINING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmWi3f_BSk&feature=related
WOMAN OF THE ISRAEL DEFENCE FORCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMe1HfPNq7Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szHUOxMaDyc&NR=1
Aug 12, 2008 18:24 Sarkozy says EU could send peacekeepers to Georgia
By ASSOCIATED PRESS Jerusalem POST Inter.
The French president says the EU could provide peacekeepers for Georgian conflict if all parties agree. Nicolas Sarkozy says the European Union is ready to send peacekeepers to the area of Russia's conflict with Georgia over its breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia has its peacekeepers deployed to both regions, but Georgia says they back separatists. Sarkozy was speaking after holding talks with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday. Medvedev has indicated that Russia would not yield ground, and says Russian peacekeepers will stay in the regions.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Finnish islands cause headache for EU treaty approval
LISBETH KIRK AUG 12,08 Today @ 09:24 CET
The Finnish autonomous Aland Islands are causing headaches for the Finnish government by demanding certain concessions from Helsinki in return for ratifying the EU's Lisbon Treaty.The local government in the capital Mariehamn has said it will ratify the bloc's latest institutional rule book only if it gets the nod for four demands, with the vote in the Aland 30-member strong parliament expected in the autumn.The minister responsible for the islands, former MEP Astrid Thors, visited Aland on Monday (11 August) but only offered some good news on one of the demands - Aland will get some sort of speaking rights within the EU.She did not offer any concessions on Aland's request for a seat in the European Parliament or participation in the council of ministers' work (where EU member states are represented) on a role in controlling subsidiarity, the EU principle that power should, where possible, be used a local levels.But Mrs Thors did promise a special Aland document would be drawn up to settle the issue.I'm hoping for a historical settlement between Aland and Finland on how we are to handle EU relations and to guarantee Aland positions are considered, said Astrid Thors at a press conference, according to local daily Alandstidningen.She described the document as historical and said it would commit the Finnish government to listen to Aland's point of view.
Although Finland is able to ratify the Lisbon Treaty without the consent of the Aland parliament, Mrs Thors said that would lead to an unclear situation.Finland must negotiate with the EU on what to do with Aland, a representative of the Finnish ministry of justice, Sten Palmgren, added.The Aland Islands are situated at the entrance to the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland and forms an autonomous, demilitarized Swedish-speaking province of Finland.When Finland became a member of the European Union in 1995, Aland's accession was dependent on the consent of the Aland Parliament. After two separate referendums it was agreed that Aland's relationship to the EU would be regulated in a special protocol, which is part of Finland's treaty of accession. It states that Aland shall be regarded as a third territory with respect to indirect taxation. It also contains certain special provisions relating to the purchase of real property and the right to conduct a business in Aland, and confirms Aland's special status under international law.
EUROPEAN UNION INFORMATION
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761579567_1/European_Union.html
DANIEL 9:24-27 VIDEO ( DAN 9:26 THE DICTATOR FROM THE EU (REVIVED ROME))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl3beM2Dayo
70 WEEKS OF DANIEL 9:24-27 3 PART SERIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1VcTU5SE6g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxTiDdDS_Fg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6stDZRTEgs&feature=related
SPAIN AND ALL EU NATION KINGDOM INFORMATION
http://www.euimmigration.org/eu_spain.html
JUAN CARLOS/HUGO CHAVEZ SHUT UP VIDEOS
http://search.msn.com/video/results.aspx?q=youtube.%2f+Spain+Juan+Carlos&FORM=BVIR
JUAN CARLOS IN NORWAY
http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=25004
KINGDOM OF THE ANTICHRIST (THE EU)(MUSLIMS THIS GUY THINKS IT IS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAG1sGjXQhw&feature=related
CLAIMS OF SYRIA AS FUTURE EU DICTATOR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tezXFphvYkU&feature=related
EU MAPS
http://search.msn.com/images/results.aspx?q=EU+countries&go=&form=QBIR
EU NEWS CLIPS
http://search.msn.com/video/results.aspx?q=EU+countries&FORM=BVIR
CLUB OF ROME WEBSITE
http://www.clubofrome.org/
EU enlargement past, present and future Next stages 1952-2007
Seven countries are waiting in the wings to join the European Union. Croatia and Turkey started accession talks on 3 October 2005. Turkey could complete them in 15 years, Croatia in five. The other Balkan countries have been told they can join the EU one day, if they meet the criteria. These include democracy, the rule of law, a market economy and adherence to the EU's goals of political and economic union.
ALBANIA
Albania is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest. It has not yet applied for membership. The EU and Albania concluded a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), seen as the first step towards membership, in June 2006. The negotiations took three-and-a-half years - three times longer than they took in Croatia's and Macedonia's case. This is because the EU thought Albania was moving too slowly in the fight against corruption and organised crime.
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
Bosnia-Hercegovina is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest. More than a decade after the 1992-5 war, it signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in June 2008. The EU was satisfied with progress in four key areas - police reform, co-operation with the international war crimes tribunal, public broadcasting and public administration reform. The EU maintains a peacekeeping force and a police mission in Bosnia-Hercegovina, where most Serbs live in the autonomous Republika Srpska. The Bosniak-Croat federation and Republika Srpska together form Bosnia-Hercegovina.
CROATIA
Applied for membership: February 2003 Confirmed as candidate country: June 2004
Negotiations started: October 2005 Accession talks were delayed by seven months as Croatia struggled to convince the EU it was doing its best to find war crimes suspect Gen Ante Gotovina. He was arrested in the Canary Islands in December 2005.
Croatia is expected to be ready to join the EU by the end of the decade, but that could be delayed by problems reforming EU institutions under the controversial Lisbon Treaty. The future of the treaty itself remains uncertain. The EU is urging Croatia to reform its judiciary and public administration, and keep co-operating with the war crimes tribunal. Various chapters in the negotiations have opened, including economic policy, financial control, freedom to provide services, consumer and health protection, external relations.
MACEDONIA
Applied for full membership: March 2004 Confirmed as candidate: December 2005 .The European Commission welcomed the peaceful elections held in July 2006, but no date has yet been set for membership talks to begin. The commission is closely monitoring progress on political, economic and other reforms. Hopes that accession talks would open in 2008 suffered a blow from election violence in June and a subsequent boycott of parliament by ethnic Albanian opposition parties. A bitter dispute with Greece over Macedonia's name continues to hamper the country's bids to join the EU and Nato. Macedonia was admitted to the United Nations in 1993 using the temporary name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom). Greece insists the name Macedonia applies only to a region in northern Greece. A date of 2012 has been suggested as a possible target for the country to join the EU.
MONTENEGRO
Talks with the EU on a Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) began shortly after the country voted, in May 2006, to end its union with Serbia. The SAA was signed in October 2007 and now needs to be ratified by all the EU member states. It will take a few years for Montenegro to be given EU candidate status. Montenegro's former Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, said he hoped his country would succeed in joining the EU before Serbia or Macedonia.
SERBIA
Serbia's arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in July 2008, after nearly 13 years on the run, drew EU praise for the new pro-Western government in Belgrade. But Mr Karadzic's former military chief Ratko Mladic is still wanted on charges of crimes against humanity. The issue of co-operation with the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague has overshadowed Serbia's ambition to join the EU and end its years of relative isolation. Serbia is aiming first for greater trade with the EU, and then an opportunity to discuss in detail the kind of economic and political reforms it would need to join the EU. Serbia signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in April 2008, but it has not yet been ratified. Belgrade's ties with the EU have been strained by Kosovo's declaration of independence - a declaration recognised by most EU members. Serbia insists that Kosovo remains part of its territory. Serbia is unlikely to join the EU until at least 2015.
TURKEY
Applied for full membership: 1987.Confirmed as candidate: December 1999. Negotiations started: October 2005 .Turkey met the last condition for accession talks in July 2005, when it extended a customs union with the EU to all new member states, including Cyprus. However, it failed to ratify the customs union and its ports and airports remain closed to Cypriot traffic. The EU responded, in December 2006, by freezing accession talks in eight out of 35 policy areas. Turkey's EU negotiations have made slow progress, amid concern about freedom of speech and democracy in Turkey, as well as the Cyprus tensions. But Turkey's bid may get fresh impetus from recent moves to restart the Cyprus peace talks and a Turkish Constitutional Court decision not to ban the ruling AK Party. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and a number of other senior politicians in the EU want Turkey to have a partnership deal with the EU, rather than full membership.
Mediterranean Union priorities explained
A Paris summit hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a 43-nation Union for the Mediterranean. Mr Sarkozy was delighted to get so many Arab leaders and Israel together .The new grouping embraces the 27 EU nations along with countries in the Middle East and North Africa that form the Mediterranean Sea's eastern and southern rim. In a declaration, the 43 nations - including Israel and Arab states - pledged to pursue a mutually and effectively verifiable Middle East Zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Mr Sarkozy singled out as a success the fact that Israel's prime minister had sat at the same table as Syria's president. The two countries are still technically at war. The leaders of the Palestinian Territories and many other Arab countries also attended Sunday's summit, though Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi boycotted it. The declaration speaks of the leaders' determination to transform the Mediterranean into an area of peace, democracy, co-operation and prosperity. The new union is aimed at building on the Barcelona Process for Euro-Mediterranean co-operation, launched in 1995.
Among its stated goals are: An ambition to build a common future based on the full respect of democratic principles, human rights and fundamental freedoms
Determination to eradicate terrorism and to combat its sponsors .Creation of a free trade area in the Euromed region by 2010 and beyond and the promotion of all-round regional economic integration .Promoting orderly managed legal migration and fighting illegal migration. The summit was co-chaired by Mr Sarkozy and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. Future summits - to be held twice-yearly - will also be co-chaired, emphasising the partnership of EU members and non-EU Mediterranean countries. The summits will be hosted alternately by EU and non-EU countries.
A joint secretariat will be set up to oversee projects and find partners, and the union's structures should be fully operational by the end of 2008. The summit produced some practical projects - outlined in an annex to the declaration - with each member state free to participate: De-pollution of the Mediterranean: Cleaning up sea water and coastal areas Sea and land highways: Developing port infrastructure, coastal motorways, modernising the trans-Maghreb train, co-operation in maritime safety Civil protection: Joint efforts to prevent and respond to natural and man-made disasters.Alternative energy: Exploring the feasibility of a Mediterranean Solar Plan to develop solar power as a key energy source, along with other green energy sources.Higher education: Establishing a Euro-Mediterranean University, based in Slovenia, promoting academic mobility and partnerships among member states' universities Mediterranean business initiative: Providing technical and financial help for small and medium-sized companies, using voluntary contributions from member states.
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.
ELECTION 2008 Obama camp still can't verify return of Arab cash. More questions than answers in illegal Middle East donor affair August 11, 2008 10:13 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily
JERUSALEM – One week after WND reported Palestinian brothers inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip illegally contributed to Barack Obama's campaign, the Democratic presidential candidate's team has not responded to repeated WND requests for a clarification regarding how purported refunds were returned. The brothers told WND their money was not refunded.Last week it was exposed Palestinian Gazans Monir, Hosam and Osama Edwan made a series of donations online at Obama's official campaign website totaling more than $30,000.The donations violate election laws, including prohibitions against receiving contributions from foreigners and accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election.The Wall Street Journal reported it spoke to Obama officials who said the nearly $33,500 in donations were received between Sept. 20 and Dec. 6 of last year and that most of the money was returned by Dec. 6. The campaign claimed, however, the refunds were not reported to the Federal Election Commission due to a technical error.The Obama camp insisted the remaining $2,500 was refunded Aug. 4 and that all the refunds will be reflected soon in an amended report. The campaign said new controls are in place to prevent any similar attempts in the future.But WND spoke to the brothers, who denied the Obama campaign refunded their money.No, we did not receive any money back from the Obama campaign at any time, said Monir Edwan.
The Edwans continue to maintain their financial transactions made on Obama's campaign website were not actual donations but purchases of Obama for President T-shirts.The transactions, however, were listed as donations in U.S. government election filings.Obama's campaign also told the Wall Street Journal last week the funds from the Edwans were for the purchase of T-shirts.The Obama team has not explained why T-shirt revenue was reported to the FEC as contributions.The Atlas Shrugs blog, which first highlighted the unusual Edwan contributions, meanwhile, has posted copies of FEC letters from as early as last April requesting additional information for 36 contributors, including the Edwans. The FEC letters, which document the contributions in question, state the donations may be excessive – exceeding the allotted amount for each individual.The question arises: Why didn't the Obama campaign immediately report back to the FEC in April that the illegal Edwan money had been returned four months prior, as the campaign now claims. The FEC, in fact, had to send an additional letter just last month requesting an explanation.In addition, the explanation – both from the Obama camp and from the Edwans – that the brothers purchased T-shirts from the Gaza Strip doesn't appear to stand up to close scrutiny. The Edwans claimed to WND the T-shirts were received in Gaza last December.When the Edwans made their contributions online, they listed their street as Tal Esaltan, which they wrote was located in Rafah, GA. The same address was listed in all relevant FEC filings.
Rafah is not a city in Georgia.
A WND investigation last week tracked down the Edwans living in the Tal Esaltan neighborhood of Rafah, a large refugee camp in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.The brothers could not explain how the purportedly purchased T-shirts arrived in Gaza if the campaign had a mistaken address in Georgia. The T-shirts would have been shipped to the purported Rafah, GA address.That the Edwans were able to contribute any money to Obama's campaign from Gaza also raises questions into the methods used by the presidential candidate's website to accept online donations.The website donation form asks each donor to affirm he or she is a U.S. citizen and is above the age of 16 but doesn't require donors to prove their citizenship status, such as providing a social security number. The form further requires the donor to affirm the contribution is not coming from a corporation, political action committee or lobby group.
MEDIA MATTERS Michael Savage vows to take Islam fight to Supreme Court.Popular radio host seeks to expose CAIR's international funding sources August 10, 2008 4:50 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily
Michael Savage (San Francisco Chronicle)
Talk-radio host Michael Savage has announced he will bring his recently dismissed copyright infringement lawsuit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations to the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes of making public the Islamic group's sources of funding.Savage's suit – originally filed in San Francisco district court – alleged CAIR illegally published singled-out quotes and audio excerpts from his show regarding Islam, misappropriated his words and used the clips for its own fundraising purposes, damaging the value of his copyrighted material.CAIR last year waged a public campaign using excerpted Savage remarks to urge advertisers to boycott his top-rated program. CAIR stated its campaign successfully resulted in Savage losing $1 million in advertising.Part of Savage's lawsuit alleged CAIR received millions in foreign funding and that it may have been wrongfully acting as a lobbyist or agent for a foreign government, violating the Islamic group's nonprofit status.Savage also alleged CAIR was engaged in racketeering, describing the group as a mouthpiece of international terror that helped fund the 9/11 attacks, a contention strongly denied by CAIR.But his lawsuit was tossed last month by San Francisco District U.S. Judge Susan Illston, who argued it is legal to use excerpts of a public broadcast for purposes of comment and criticism.Illston, nominated to her position by President Bill Clinton, wrote in her ruling that Savage could try to rewrite the racketeering portion of his suit to better fit the specifics of his case.
Savage's attorney Daniel Horowitz told WND he is reworking the suit to directly address Illston's respectful ruling. He said the new suit includes over 200 pages of supporting documents, including 200 pages of transcripts of the meeting in which CAIR was founded.On his program last week, Savage announced if Illston again rejects his suit, he will bring the case to the higher 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the Supreme Court.I'm going to open up this case. I'm going to sue CAIR. I'm bringing a lawsuit back against them. It's going to cost me a fortune, Savage said. And when Judge Illston rejects it again, which she will do because she's a minion of the Bill Clinton crowd, I'm going to take it over her head and I'm going to go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where again I'm going to hit a stonewall. And then I'm going to take it to the Supreme Court until eventually I force CAIR to describe who their funding sources are.Horowitz said if the suit goes to the Supreme Court, he will seek to procure the representation of attorney Martin Garbus, who has famously won numerous high-profile Supreme Court cases.Savage pointed to CAIR's recent complaint against the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing company for not hiring a Muslim woman dressed in a head scarf as evidence the Islamic group is expanding its targets beyond talk radio.The woman applied for a job in Oklahoma City. The local Abercrombie manager allegedly said a scarf does not fit the company's image.Don't you understand what they're doing to this country? asked Savage. How they're targeting the Midwest, talk radio, one talk show host at a time? One company at a time? Don't you know that CAIR is going to come for you?
Continued Savage: First they came for Michel Savage, and you didn't raise your voice and you laughed. Then they came after Abercrombie and Fitch, and you didn't raise your voice because you weren't in the retail business. Tomorrow they'll come after you and your business.Addressing CAIR directly, Savage warned: One day you're going to hit the wrong judge in the wrong city at the wrong time and then the American people are going to find out where your funding is coming from.The top radio host urged listeners to make online donations at his website to help fund his lawsuit.
Foreign contributions to CAIR established
In May 2007, CAIR was identified by the government as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving the Holy Land Foundation, a charity allegedly affiliated with Hamas. Federal prosecutors in the case listed CAIR under the category: Individuals/entities who are and/or were members of the US Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.The government also listed Omar Ahmad, CAIR's founder and chairman emeritus, under the same category.CAIR is registered as a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt under IRS codes, which restrict lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. CAIR's website claims it receives no foreign government support.But CAIR's headquarters near the U.S. Capitol until recently was owned by the ruler of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the ruler's foundation has pledged $50 million to capitalize a long-term CAIR public-relations campaign.The UAE formally recognized the Taliban, and Dubai reportedly acted as the transit point for cash for the 9/11 hijackers. Two of the hijackers were from the Emirates, and one served in the UAE military.Until 2005, the Al Maktoum Foundation run by Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid held the deed to CAIR's headquarters just three blocks from the Capitol. The same foundation reportedly has held telethons to raise money for families of Palestinian martyrs during the intifada – or terrorist war – started in September 2000 against Israel. It recently pledged a $50 million endowment for CAIR.CAIR argues that any assertions it receives money from foreign governments is disinformation.This is yet another attempt to invent a controversy, the group said. CAIR's operational budget is funded by donations from American Muslims.CAIR, however, has never publicly acknowledged $1 million controlling interest that the ruler of Dubai's foundation took in its national headquarters just one year after 9/11.The group also received $500,000 from Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the sheik whose $10 million relief check after 9/11 was rejected by then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani after he blamed U.S. policy toward Israel for the attacks.There is nothing criminal or immoral about accepting donations from foreign nationals, CAIR asserted. The U.S. government, corporations and non-profit organizations routinely receive money from foreign nationals.Bin Talal is not a member of the Saudi Arabian government, the group added in a statement. He is a private entrepreneur and international investor.This may be a distinction without a difference, Savage's lawyers argue, since bin Talal is a member of the Saudi ruling family.CAIR is proud to receive support of every individual, CAIR argued, as long as they are not an official of any foreign government and there are no strings attached to the bequest.The UAE endowment to CAIR was specifically earmarked for public relations efforts to repair the image of Arabs and Muslims in America after public outrage doomed a Dubai bid to run U.S. ports.Lawyers for Savage argue that CAIR may have used UAE funds and other foreign support to attack the radio host.
US, allies weigh punishment for Russia By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer AUG 12,08
WASHINGTON - Scrambling to find ways to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia, the United States and its allies are considering expelling Moscow from an exclusive club of wealthy nations and canceling an upcoming joint NATO-Russia military exercise, Bush administration officials said Tuesday. But with little leverage in the face of an emboldened Moscow, Washington and its friends have been forced to face the uncomfortable reality that their options are limited to mainly symbolic measures, such as boycotting Russian-hosted meetings and events, that may have little or no long-term impact on Russia's behavior, the officials said.
With the situation on the ground still unclear after Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on Tuesday ordered a halt to military action in Georgia, U.S. officials were focused primarily on confirming a ceasefire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs following five days of fierce fighting, including Russian attacks on civilian targets.It is very important now that all parties cease fire, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. The Georgians have agreed to a ceasefire, the Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored.At the same time, however, President Bush and his top aides were engaged in frantic consultations with European and other nations over how best to demonstrate their fierce condemnations of the Russian operation that began in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, expanded to another disputed area, Abkhazia, and ended up on purely Georgian soil.The idea is to show the Russians that it is no longer business as usual, said one senior official familiar with the consultations among world leaders that were going on primarily by phone and in person at NATO headquarters in Brussels where alliance diplomats met together and then with representatives of Georgia.For now, the Bush administration decided to boycott a third meeting at NATO on Tuesday at which the alliance's governing board, the North Atlantic Council, was preparing for a meeting with a Russian delegation that has been called at Moscow's request, officials said.
On the table for future action is the possible cancellation or U.S. withdrawal from a major NATO naval exercise with Russia that is scheduled to begin Friday, the officials said. Sailors and vessels from Britain, France, Russia, and the U.S. were to take part in the annual Russia-NATO exercise aimed at improving cooperation in maritime security.The exercise, which is being hosted by Russia this year, began a decade ago and typically involves around 1,000 personnel from the four countries, the officials said.In the medium term, the United States and its partners in the Group of Seven, or G-7, the club of the world's leading industrialized nations that also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, are debating whether to effectively disband what is known as the G-8, which incorporates Russia, by throwing Moscow out, the officials said.Discussions are also taking place on whether to revoke or review the May 2007 invitation to Russia to join the 30-member, Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which consists primarily of established European democracies, the officials said.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have yet been made and consultations with other countries involved are still ongoing.Bush spoke on Monday and Tuesday with fellow G-7 leaders as well as the heads of democratically elected pro-Western governments in formerly Eastern Bloc nations, some of which are among NATO's newest members and have urged a strong response to Russia's invasion of a like-minded country.On Monday on his way home from the Olympics in China, Bush talked with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and Polish President Lech Kaczynski. He then spoke to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the White House said. On Tuesday, he spoke with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Rice, who returned early to Washington late Monday from vacation to deal with the crisis, held a second round of talks with foreign ministers from the Group of Seven countries in which they were briefed on European Union mediation efforts led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who met Tuesday with Medvedev in Moscow.They believe that they have made some progress and we welcome that and we certainly welcome the E.U. mediation, Rice told reporters at the White House.
Despite the flurry of activity, there was still uncertainty about whether Russia had in fact halted its military action in Georgia with reports of continued shelling of civilian and military sites.The State Department on Tuesday recommended that all U.S. citizens leave Georgia in a new travel warning, saying the security situation remained uncertain. It said it was organizing a third evacuation convoy to take Americans who want to leave by road to neighboring Armenia. More that 170 American citizens have already left Georgia in two earlier convoys. Just hours after Bush said in a White House address that the invasion had substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world and demanded an end to what he called Moscow's dramatic and brutal escalation of violence, Medvedev said he had ordered an end to military action. But Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling and White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Tuesday it was too early to comment on Medvedev's move. We are trying to get an assessment of what a halt means and whether it is taking place, of course, the spokesman added. Typifying the administration's dilemma, a planned late-morning White House briefing by national security adviser Stephen Hadley was postponed until further notice due to ongoing developments in Georgia and in Moscow, where Sarkozy was meeting with Russian officials on behalf of the West. The State Department on Tuesday recommended that all U.S. citizens leave Georgia in a new travel warning, saying the security situation remained uncertain. It said it was organizing a third evacuation convoy to take Americans who want to leave by road to neighboring Armenia. More that 170 American citizens have already left Georgia in two earlier convoys. Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven, Anne Gearan and Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
Georgia says Russia bombed after order to halt war By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI, Associated Press Writers AUG 12,08
TBILISI, Georgia - Russia ordered a halt to the war in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that sent Georgia's army into headlong retreat and left towns, military bases and homes in the U.S. ally smoldering. Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling. Despite the televised order by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia launched an offensive Tuesday in Abkhazia, sending tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery toward the breakaway region.
Georgian troops were forced out of their last stronghold in the separatist province, said Maj. Gen. Anatoly Zaitsev, a defense official in Abkhazia. The claim that Georgian forces were gone could not immediately be confirmed.And hours before the order to stop fighting, Russian jets bombed the crossroads city of Gori, near the separatist region of South Ossetia. Gori's post office and university were burning Tuesday, but the city was all but deserted after most remaining residents and Georgian soldiers fled Monday ahead of a feared Russian onslaught.In Moscow, Medvedev said Georgia had been punished enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist province, which has close ties to Russia.The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized, Medvedev said.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, speaking before a crowd of thousands at a Tbilisi square, said the invasion was not because Russia wanted control of the breakaway regions.They just don't want freedom and that's why they want to stamp on Georgia and destroy it, he said, as red and white Georgian fluttered.Tens of thousands of terrified residents have fled the fighting — South Ossetians north to Russia, and Georgians west toward the capital of Tbilisi and east to the country's Black Sea coast.Both sides have traded accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Russia has accused Georgia of killing more than 2,000 people, mostly civilians, in the separatist province of South Ossetia. The claim couldn't be independently confirmed, but witnesses who fled the area over the weekend said hundreds had died.
Many Georgians also have been killed in the fighting and on Tuesday, the Georgian security council said it filed a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice for alleged ethnic cleansing. The overall death toll was expected to rise because large areas of Georgia were still too dangerous for journalists to enter and see the true scope of the damage.It feels like an annexed country, said Lasha Margiana, the local administrator in one of the villages in the Kodori Gorge, where fleeing Georgians said the entire population had abandoned their homes.Zaitsev, the commander in Abkhazia, said only local forces — not Russian ones — were involved in the operation to squeeze out the Georgians. But an AP reporter visiting the village of Chuberi saw 135 Russian military vehicles heading toward the Kodori Gorge. Georgian officials said their troops in the gorge were being attacked by Russians.Medvedev assailed the West for supporting Georgia in the conflict: International law doesn't envision double standards.In Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian provincial capital now under Russian control, the body of a Georgian soldier lay in the street along with debris. A poster hanging nearby showed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the slogan Say yes to peace and stability as South Ossetian separatist fighters launched rockets at a Georgian plane soaring overhead. Broken glass and other debris littered the ground.If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them, Medvedev ordered his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting.U.S. officials were focused primarily on confirming a ceasefire and attending to Georgia's urgent humanitarian needs It is very important now that all parties cease fire, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. The Georgians have agreed to a ceasefire, the Russians need to stop their military operations as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop because calm needs to be restored.Russia's foreign minister called for Saakashvili to resign. Medvedev said Georgia must pull its troops from the two Russian-backed breakaway provinces and allow them to decide whether they want to remain part of Russia. Ossetians and Abkhaz must respond to that question taking their history into account, including what happened in the past few days, Medvedev said grimly. Thousands of Georgians poured out their support for their president at a rally in Tbilisi, crowding a main square and nearby streets as far as the eye could see and holding aloft fluttering red-and-white Georgian flags.
Georgia, which is pushing for NATO membership, borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s. Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia, which appears open to absorbing them. Medvedev said Tuesday that Russian peacekeepers will stay in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia; Saakashvili said his government will officially designate Russian peacekeepers in those breakaway provinces as occupying forces.
The Russian onslaught angered the West and drew tough words from President Bush, but some Georgians are disappointed that the U.S. did not intervene to protect its tiny ally. I'd like to think the words really do matter, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said Tuesday in Tbilisi. Bryza declined to say if the U.S. would provide military support in the event that Russia expands its operations: I hope we'll never come to the question of what we do if Russia refuses to observe international law.Georgia sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets bypassing Russia, has long been a source of contention between the West and a resurgent Russia, the dominant energy supplier to Europe. The British oil company BP shut down one of three Georgian pipelines as a precaution, although the company said it had no evidence the pipelines had suffered damage. In villages around the South Ossetian provincial capital, separatist fighters reportedly were setting fire to Georgian houses and searching for hidden Georgian fighters. An AP photographer in the village of Ruisi near South Ossetia saw fresh damage from a Russian air raid that locals said came just 30 minutes before Medvedev's televised statement. Residents said three villagers were killed and another five wounded when a Russian warplane raided the village. One slain victim, 77-year old Amiran Vardzelashvili, was struck by a fragment in the heart while was working in a field.
The Georgian government said another nearby village, Sakorinto, also was bombed after Medvedev announcing a halt to fighting, as was an ambulance in the Black Sea province of Adzharia. The U.N. and NATO called meetings Tuesday to deal with the conflict, while Poland's president and the leaders of four former Soviet republics flew to Georgia for a meeting of solidarity with Saakashvili. The Russian state has once again shown its face, its true face, said Poland's Lech Kaczynski, who was being joined by counterparts from Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and Latvia. But he said it was good news that Medvedev ordered a halt to the war. At the White House on Monday, Bush had demanded that Russia end a dramatic and brutal escalation of violence in Georgia, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century, Bush said in a televised statement. Associated Press writers Chris Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia and near the Kodori Gorge; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia; David Nowak from Gori, Georgia; Douglas Birch from Vladikavkaz, Russia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry from Moscow; and Pauline Jelinek from Washington.
Russia's Medvedev halts military action in GeorgiaAP foreign, Tuesday August 12 2008 By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks that took Russian forces deep into the small Western-allied nation. Medvedev said on national television that the military had punished Georgia enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist Georgian province, which has close ties to Russia. The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored, Medvedev said. The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized.The Russian president, however, said he ordered the military to defend itself and quell any signs of Georgian resistance. If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them, he told his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting. Hours before Medvedev's announcement, Russian forces bombed the town of Gori and launched an offensive in the only part of Abkhazia still under Georgian control, tightening the assault on the beleaguered nation as French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Moscow carrying Western demands that Russia pull back. Medvedev told Sarkozy that Georgia must pull its troops out of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and pledge not to use force again. Sarkozy, whose nation holds the rotating EU presidency, said in a televised meeting that Georgia's sovereignty, integrity and security must be protected. The U.N. and NATO called meetings to deal with a conflict that blew up in South Ossetia and quickly developed into an East-West crisis that raised fears in former Soviet bloc nations of Eastern Europe. Five European presidents were headed to Russia and Georgia to mediate.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili should leave office and that Georgian troops should stay out of South Ossetia permanently. Moscow will not talk to Saakashvili, Lavrov said; the best thing for Saakashvili to do would be to step down.Russian troops who had advanced into Georgia on Monday from South Ossetia, took positions near Gori on the main east-west highway as terrified civilians fled the area, and President Saakashvili said his country had effectively been cut in half. Russian jets targeted administrative buildings and a street market in the center of Gori on Tuesday, Georgia's security chief Alexander Lomaia said, but there was no immediate information about casualties. The Russians had also opened a second front in western Georgia on Monday, moving deep into Georgian territory from separatist Abkhazia. They seized a military base in the town of Senaki and occupied police precincts in the town of Zugdidi. Lomaia said Tuesday that the Russians had left Senaki. But Russian troops attacked Georgian forces who continued to hold the northern part of Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge, Lomaia said, Abkhazian officials said their own forces were carrying out the artillery attacks and that Russian forces were not involved in that fighting. At least 9,000 Russian troops and 350 armored vehicles were in Abkhazia, according to a Russian military commander. Georgia's deputy Interior Minister Eka Sguladze said Tuesday that Russian troops remained at their positions near Zugdidi and Gori. An AP reporter who visited Zugdidi on Tuesday morning saw several Russian armored vehicles and dozens of troops outside the town's central police station. The mood in the city was calm, people were moving around and many stores that shut previously were open for business Tuesday. The Russian onslaught, accompanied by relentless Russian air raids on Georgian territory, angered the West, bringing the toughest words yet from U.S. President George W. Bush. Georgia, which sits on a strategic oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude to Western markets bypassing Russia, has long been a source of contention between the West and a resurgent Russia, which is seeking to strengthen its role as the dominant energy supplier to the continent.
Saakashvili endorsed an EU plan calling for an immediate cease-fire, in talks Monday with French and Finnish foreign ministers. Sarkozy was to negotiate the plan in Moscow, and the presidents of Poland and the former Soviet states of Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia were headed to Georgia on Tuesday. Bush had demanded Monday that Russia end a dramatic and brutal escalation of violence in Georgia, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century, Bush said in a televised statement from the White House. Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States of hypocrisy in a tough statement that reflected both the measure of his anger at the West. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said more than 2,000 people have been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of them Ossetians with Russian passports. The figures could not be independently confirmed, but refugees said hundreds had been killed. Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia. Russian officials had given signals that the fighting could pave the way for them to be absorbed into Russia. Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s. Associated Press writers Chris Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia; David Nowak from Gori, Georgia; Douglas Birch from Vladikavkaz, Russia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry from Moscow; and Pauline Jelinek from Washington.
UK warns of Russia catastrophe AUG 12,08.Mr Brown says there is a pressing need for fighting to end. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown says there is no justification for Russia's military action in Georgia.
He said the intervention threatens the stability of the entire region and risks a humanitarian catastrophe. There is a clear responsibility on the Russian government to bring this conflict quickly to an end, he said. Tory leader David Cameron branded Russia a dangerous bully and urged the international community to stand up and condemn its action in Georgia. He also called for Georgia's membership of Nato to be speeded up.
Speedy resolution
Mr Cameron told the BBC: The only language that bullies understand is when someone stands up to them.UK nationals have been advised not to travel to Georgia and those in the country have been urged to leave. Continued aggression against Georgia - and especially an escalation of the conflict beyond South Ossetia - will only serve to damage Russia's international reputation.
Gordon Brown
UK Prime Minister
As fighting over the disputed region of South Ossetia threatens to spread more widely, Mr Brown warned there was an immediate and pressing need to end the fighting and disengage all military forces. He said the Georgian government had offered a ceasefire and he urged the Russians to reciprocate without delay. Continued aggression against Georgia - and especially an escalation of the conflict beyond South Ossetia - will only serve to damage Russia's international reputation and its relations with countries across the globe, he said. Mr Brown has held discussions with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in recent days. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has also held talks with G7 and EU foreign ministers. What Russia has done here is used massive and disproportionate force....It has acted as a massive and dangerous bully and we can't allow this to go ahead without it being challenged.
David Cameron
Conservative leader
We are committed to working with those partners in the EU, UN, OSCE [Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe] and G7 to ensure a peaceful and speedy resolution to this crisis which maintains Georgia's territorial and political integrity, Mr Brown added. Earlier, Mr Cameron warned that there were very, very worrying consequences if Europe failed to speak with one voice that what Russia is doing is wrong. What Russia has done here is used massive and disproportionate force. It's breached international law and it has violated Georgia's territorial integrity, he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. It has acted as a massive and dangerous bully and we can't allow this to go ahead without it being challenged.Mr Cameron conceded that Georgia's decision to send troops into South Ossetia was a bad strategy, but he said there could be implications for Baltic states that still identify with Russia if nations fail to speak out.
Unclear objectives
Amnesty International has called on Georgia and Russia to provide safe passage to people fleeing from the conflict and allow unimpeded access to humanitarian relief to those in affected areas. The calls for an immediate ceasefire were echoed by the British ambassador to Georgia, Denis Keefe. who said the objective of the Russians was unclear. They have gone well beyond the conflict zones which they used as the grounds for their action in the first place, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
They have bombed in different areas in the country. They have sent their troops into different areas of the country. The result is a real and pressing need for a ceasefire to disengage military forces. I think the question of what the Russians are trying to achieve is impossible to answer from Tbilisi at the moment. What is clear here is that we need a ceasefire and we need it now.
Report: Iraq contracts have cost billions By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 12, 12:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The United States has paid $85 billion to contractors in the Iraq theater for work ranging from food service to guarding diplomats, according to a report released Tuesday. The report was prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, and noted that spending for contractors account for about 20 percent of spending for operations in Iraq.The United States has relied more heavily on contractors in Iraq than in any other war. There are currently at least 190,000 contract employees working in the Iraq theater, with the ratio at about one contractor for every U.S. service member, according to the report.The report will likely give new fodder to critics who have accused contractors of over billing and providing shoddy work. In the last year, U.S. contractors have been investigated in connection to the shooting deaths of Iraqis and in the accidental electrocution deaths of U.S. troops.Of the total paid to contractors, CBO estimated that $6 billion to $10 billion went to pay for security operations.The study did not include figures for 2008, so the total paid since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 is probably much higher.The report was prepared at the request of the Senate budget committee.
AP IMPACT: Underground FEMA fuel tanks could leak By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer AUG 12,08
WASHINGTON - The government owns hundreds of underground fuel tanks — many designed for emergencies back in the Cold War — that need to be inspected for leaks of hazardous substances that could be making local water undrinkable. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has known since at least the 1990s that tanks under its supervision around the country could be leaking fuel into soil and groundwater, according to Associated Press interviews and research.The agency knows of at least 150 underground tanks that need to be inspected for leaks, according to spokeswoman Debbie Wing. FEMA also is trying to determine by September whether an additional 124 tanks are underground or above ground and whether they are leaking.There has been no documentation of reported leaks or harm to communities from the FEMA tanks, Wing said, although former agency officials and congressional testimony suggest that the federal tanks have long been seen as a problem.Many of these tanks were built to store 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel and placed around the country at the height of the Cold War back in the 1960s to fuel electric generators that could sustain emergency broadcasts by radio stations in case of a nuclear attack or other catastrophe. Made of steel, the tanks inevitably rust over time and allow fuel to escape.Steel tanks left in the ground for decades rot like Swiss cheese, said Pat Coyne, director of business development for Environmental Data Resources Inc. Coyne said a joke in the industry is: What percentage of steel tanks leak? 100 percent!
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the government insisted on better-made tanks. The underground tanks of today must have safety measures including leak detection and an extra shell made with material resistant to gasoline, diesel and ethanol, Coyne said.
The FEMA tanks are part of a larger problem. More than 500,000 leaking storage tanks — most of which are filled with fuel and oil — are buried across the country, according to Environmental Data Resources, based in Milford, Conn. That's about half of all the underground tanks in the country, the consulting company says. Those tanks are owned privately or by local, state and federal agencies.Because they're underground, leaking tanks can go undetected for years. If diesel leaks into drinking water, affected people could be at a higher risk of cancer, kidney damage and nervous system disorders, said Rochelle Cardinale, one of the lead coordinators for underground tank cleanup in Iowa. A gallon of fuel can contaminate 1 million gallons of water.FEMA says the hundreds of federal tanks have not always been its responsibility. The Federal Communications Commission also has had oversight, although FCC spokesman Clyde Ensslin said the commission believed FEMA was responsible for monitoring and maintaining the tanks. FEMA said it spent $8 million in the 1990s removing and repairing some of them.FEMA now acknowledges that it is the agency responsible for all of the tanks in question.But Senate testimony from 1992 suggests FEMA has long tried to avoid having to deal with the tanks.For years FEMA resisted acknowledging the problem or seeking funds for remediation, former FEMA union president Leo Bosner said in 1992 before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.He said then there were more than 2,000 underground oil storage tanks that FEMA had paid for or acquired over the years. But FEMA came out with a legal opinion that year concluding that it wasn't responsible for the tanks.
Congress eventually decided it didn't matter which agency owned the tanks — FEMA would fund tank inspection, removal and replacement, said Bill Cumming, who at the time ran FEMA's ethics program.FEMA did eventually receive reports about leaking tanks, said Jane Bullock, who was the agency's chief of staff in the Clinton administration.Many of FEMA's out-of-use fuel tanks today have yet to be inspected because officials only recently finished going through decades of paperwork from the different federal agencies that at one point participated in the emergency broadcasting program.We are committed to upholding our obligations to remediate, remove or upgrade them as necessary, FEMA spokesman Dan Stoneking told the AP. We believe in adhering to any relevant environmental rule or law and will do so.FEMA disclosed the problems to the EPA in August 2007, a step that could lead to reduced penalties against FEMA. In May, the EPA formally requested information about the status of the tanks. FEMA said it now oversees 1,129 defunct tanks — including the hundreds that could be leaking — many of which were inherited from the FCC and the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency. Recently FEMA found the location of most of the defunct tanks by looking through old records. To determine the tanks' conditions requires a physical inspection, and agency contractors have been going to each location and searching with hand-held metal detectors and other tools. FEMA will determine what to do with the defunct tanks — such as remove them or fill them with sand — on a case-by-case basis, because of varying state laws. A 2005 law required all federal agencies to submit an inventory to Congress and the EPA of all the tanks they owned or operated, and whether the tanks were in compliance with the law.
The inventory was pushed by private gasoline retailers who long have argued that they were being targeted for violations by a government that wasn't following its own rules. In the 1960s the federal government gave fuel tanks and generators to radio stations across the country so that vital information could be broadcast during an emergency. The program was managed by the FCC in some parts of the country, and elsewhere by the former Civil Defense Preparedness Agency. Broadcast stations volunteered for the program, and by 1979 about 700 stations participated.
When FEMA was created in 1979 it took over programs run by the civil defense agency. Broadcast stations began to drop out of the program and funding was slowly eliminated between 1987 and 1994. FEMA manages fewer tanks now because of new broadcast technology and a realignment of oversight responsibilities to states. Now FEMA oversees only 38 in-use underground tanks that are being maintained to comply with EPA rules. These tanks are used for broadcast stations and to fuel generators to keep emergency operations centers running during a disaster. Associated Press writer Dina Cappiello from Washington and researcher Jennifer Farrar from New York contributed to this report.
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
THE JUDGEMENT OF THE NATIONS
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
DANIEL 12:8-13
8 And I (DANIEL) heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (at the 3 1/2 yr mark of the 7 yr treaty) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
MATTHEW 25:31-46
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Israeli PM offers Palestinians 93% of West Bank Tue Aug 12, 8:52 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered a peace plan giving the Palestinians 93 percent of the occupied West Bank, an Israeli newspaper said on Tuesday. But the Palestinians denied the report.Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the proposed border is at the heart of a broader plan that would compensate the Palestinians with the equivalent of 5.5 percent of the West Bank adjacent to the Gaza Strip and a route connecting Gaza to the West Bank itself.However, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas would only receive the land and the overland connection once his forces retake the Gaza Strip from the Islamist Hamas movement, which seized power in the coastal territory in June 2007, the newspaper said.But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the report was baseless.These are half-truths used by Israelis as a test balloon so they can blame the Palestinian authority should the negotiations fail, Erakat told AFP.Haaretz said the proposal has been offered in the context of US-backed peace talks relaunched in November with the goal of resolving the decades-old conflict by the end of the year.The proposed agreement however would be a shelf agreement to be implemented in the coming months and years, and would not immediately include the thorny issue of the future status of Jerusalem, Haaretz said.
The Palestinians have demanded mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied and annexed in the 1967 Six Day War, as their capital, while Israel considers the entire Holy City its eternal, undivided capital -- a claim not recognised by the international community.The agreement would however include a complex solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, allowing some refugees from the 1948 war to return to Israel while settling most of the 4.5 million refugees and their descendants in the Palestinian state.The seven percent of the West Bank annexed by Israel would include the major settlement blocs around Jerusalem -- home to most of the 250,000 Israeli settlers in the territory -- and some settlements in the northern West Bank.
The final Palestinian state would be demilitarised.
Erakat dismissed the idea of a partial agreement. We are not a bazaar, he said. We want a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem, and agreement on all the final status questions, he added.
Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on the report but told AFP the negotiations with the Palestinians are making progress on a number of subjects, particularly borders.These negotiations are serious and are aimed at a common objective, he added.The negotiations, which have shown little visible progress since they were formally relaunched after a seven-year hiatus, were dealt a further blow last month when Olmert announced he would resign later this year.The premier has been dogged by six corruption probes and in recent months, he had faced widespread calls to resign, including from members of his own fragile governing coalition.
Olmert announced on July 30 he would step down after his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in a vote set for September 17.
Palestinians reject proposal by Israeli PM AUG 12,08
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected an Israeli peace proposal because it does not provide for a contiguous Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, Abbas's office said on Tuesday. Nabil Abu Rdainah, Abbas's spokesman, told the official WAFA news agency Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plan showed a lack of seriousness.Olmert's proposal does not offer a solution to competing claims to the holy city of Jerusalem, and would only be implemented once Abbas reined in militants and re-established control of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas seized a year ago.Under the proposal, Israel would give to the Palestinians some 92.7 percent of the occupied West Bank, plus all of the Gaza Strip, according to Western and Palestinian officials briefed on the negotiations.
In exchange for West Bank land that Israel would keep, Olmert proposed a 5.3 percent land swap giving the Palestinians a desert territory adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
Olmert's proposal first emerged several months ago and was published in detail on Tuesday by Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, prompting Abu Rdainah's response.
The Israeli proposal is not acceptable, Abbas's spokesman said. The Palestinian side will only accept a Palestinian state with territorial continuity, with holy Jerusalem as its capital, without settlements, and on the June 4, 1967 boundaries.
Abu Rdainah was referring to the borders that existed prior to the 1967 Middle East war in which Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
He called the Israeli proposal a waste of time.
Launched in November with the goal of reaching a statehood deal in 2008, the U.S.-sponsored talks have shown little outward sign of progress and have been marred from the start by violence and disputes over Israeli settlement building.The chances of a peace deal faded further with Olmert's announcement last month that he would step down as prime minister once his centrist Kadima party chooses a new leader in September.Olmert spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on any proposal, but said progress had been made in recent months, especially on the issue of borders.We are committed to continuing the effort to try to reach a joint Israeli-Palestinian document, he said.But another Israeli official said Olmert was merely trying to establish his legacy. There is going to be no agreement, period, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior leader from Hamas, the Islamist group that routed Abbas's forces to take control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, called the offer a political test balloon to ascertain the Palestinian reaction.
Hamas will not busy itself much on this issue because the Palestinian people will never accept it,Zahar said.(Reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Israel stages war games on occupied (on their GOD GIVIN LAND) Golan Tue Aug 12, 5:53 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel launched large-scale military exercises on Tuesday on the occupied Golan Heights along the Syrian border on Tuesday in the presence of senior political and military officials. There is a reinforcement on the other side, and it's not by chance that we are training intensively on the Golan Heights and on a major scale, Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who observed the drills, told army radio.
He was referring to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah, which Israel says has been rearming with help from Syria and Iran since the 2006 Lebanon war, widely regarded in Israel as a failure.Barak said UN resolution which ended the 34-day war failed to fulfill its goals.There has been a very significant reinforcement of Hezbollah in recent years, and we are examining the possibility that the balance of power has shifted with the introduction of sophisticated weapons from Syria, Barak said.The August 2006 resolution demanded the pullout of the Israeli army from south Lebanon and its replacement by a UN-backed Lebanese army deployment and called for the disarmament of Hezbollah and other armed groups.But in the two years since, Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of rearming with rockets and other sophisticated weapons smuggled into Lebanon from Syria.Israel has itself continued regular overflights of Lebanon, which are in violation of the agreement.Barak also warned the government against slashing defence spending in a proposed budget aimed at reducing overall expenditure by some 2.6 billion dollars, saying Israel cannot afford the luxury of undermining its security.The exercises on the Golan were taking place despite the resumption of indirect Turkey-mediated peace talks between Israel and Syria in May after an eight-year break.Israel captured and occupied the strategic plateau in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed it in 1981.
Kuwait donates 80 mln dlrs to aid Palestinians: World Bank AUG 12,08
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The World Bank said Tuesday that Kuwait has donated 80 million dollars to a trust fund in support of Palestinians, becoming the first Arab nation to contribute to the aid program. Kuwait signed an agreement Monday allowing the transfer of 80 million dollars to the World Bank-administered trust fund to support the ongoing Palestinian Reform and Development Program, the bank said.That contribution brings to 275 million dollars the amount of transfers available from the trust fund and the linked World Bank funds, of which 148 million dollars has already been disbursed.The financial resources will provide support for education, health care and other vital social services for the Palestinian people and for the economic reforms currently underway, the bank said.The other contributors to date are Australia, Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Norway and Poland.
Hamas blasts militants who break truce with Israel Tue Aug 12, 8:56 AM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Hamas rulers of Gaza on Tuesday lashed out at militants who fire rockets at Israel from the Palestinian territory in violation of a seven-week-old truce, calling them collaborators. About the rocket-firing, I think those who are responsible are those who collaborate with Israel because there is a consensus by all Palestinian groups to respect the truce, said Mahmud Zahar, the most influential leader of the Islamist Hamas movement in Gaza.On Monday, a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into an empty field outside the southern Israeli city of Sderot, causing no casualty or damage.Zahar told a Gaza radio station that the party which fired the rocket was linked to Israel as they provide a pretext to exercise pressure on the Palestinian people.After the latest firing, Israel on Tuesday closed the Nahal Oz crossing to Gaza that is used to ferry in fuel and the Sufa passage for food deliveries to the impoverished and blockaded territory.In all, 40 rockets and mortar rounds have been fired from Gaza since a truce between Hamas and Israel went into effect in and around Gaza on June 19, according to the Israeli army.Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in June 2007, insists it is respecting the truce and has vowed to crack down on smaller Palestinian militant movements which still fire at Israel.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
Stocks lower amid financial sector concerns By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer AUG 12,08
NEW YORK - Wall Street slid Tuesday as downbeat news from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and other financial companies raised more concerns about the ongoing impact of the credit crisis on the economy. The Dow Jones industrials fell more than 140 points.
The latest reminder of continuing troubles for banks and brokerages came when JPMorgan said late Monday it has incurred wider losses in its mortgage holdings so far in the third quarter than in the second quarter. The nation's second-largest bank by assets said in a regulatory filing it lost $1.5 billion, after hedges, in its mortgage-backed securities and loans this quarter, compared to $1.1 billion in the second three months of 2008.The losses were proof to investors that the financial sector's problems seem nowhere near a resolution.Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. fell after several analysts lowered their ratings and earnings estimates for the investment bank. And UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, reported further losses and write-downs of $5.1 billion during the second quarter.The market's losses were mitigated for part of the session by a drop in the price of oil — an illustration of the ongoing push-and-pull in the market between oil prices and any news about financials. The financial companies' problems sent major stock indexes to their lows in late trading.Oil trading was buffeted by several factors: differing views on whether global demand is falling or rising, and word from BP PLC that it had shut down an oil pipeline that runs through Georgia as a precautionary measure due to the fighting between Georgian and Russian troops. Light, sweet crude settled down $1.44 at $113.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil has fallen more than $30 from its July 11 high of $147.27, easing concerns on Wall Street about inflation.Some of the big bellwether financial-services companies are precipitating the correction that we're seeing, said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors of Tuesday's retreat by stocks. Still, he said the run-up in stocks since oil began falling last month has made occasional retrenchments not unexpected.In late afternoon trading, the Dow fell 144.84, or 1.23 percent, to 11,637.51.
Broader stock indicators were lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 16.60, or 1.27 percent, to 1,288.72, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.48, or 0.55 percent, to 2,426.47.Bond prices rose as stocks fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.93 percent from 4.00 percent late Monday.The dollar was higher against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.A Commerce Department report showed the nation's trade deficit shrank in June, rather than growing as expected. The trade imbalance dropped 4.1 percent to $56.8 billion in June from a revised May deficit of $59.2 billion, as exports rose to an all-time high. It was the smallest deficit in three months and was better than the $61.5 billion Wall Street expected.Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research, said that any good news of the day was simply overshadowed by the latest concerns about the financial services sector. Banks and brokerages have taken more than $300 billion of write-downs since the credit crisis began last year.The financial worries have just crept back in, Detrick said. But, given the rally we had last week, we're still holding on if you look at the big picture. We were due for some kind of a break.The Dow had gained 350 points over the previous two sessions.JPMorgan fell $4.37, or 10.5 percent, to $37.52. The stock plunged in the last hour of trading after Ladenburg Thalman analyst Richard X. Bove lowered his earnings estimates for the year.
Goldman Sachs declined $10.60, or 5.9 percent, to $167.58 after the analyst downgrades of some of its ratings.Wachovia Corp. fell $1.84, or 10.1 percent, to $16.36 after it announced plans to cut 600 more jobs than it previously expected as it tries to slash costs because of losses on mortgage debt. The bank also said in a quarterly regulatory filing that it has recorded an additional $500 million in legal reserves related to its settlement discussions with regulators concerning the sale of auction-rate securities. UBS fell $1.46, or 6.8 percent, to $20.23. The company also said Tuesday it will separate its divisions such as its private bank and its investment bank to bolster investor confidence. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 735.9 million shares. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.82, or 1.04 percent, to 743.24. Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.95 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.13 percent, Germany's DAX index declined 0.36 percent and France's CAC-40 fell 0.44 percent. On the Net: New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
FAMINE
REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
Oil prices dip again on signs of waning demand By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer AUG 12,08
NEW YORK - Oil prices fell again Tuesday, dampened by a stronger U.S. dollar and more evidence that developed countries such as the United States are cutting back on their energy use. Light, sweet crude dipped by $1.44 to settle at $113.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling as low as $112.31, a new three-month low. Oil is now nearly $35 below its July 11 record high of $147.27.The International Energy Agency lowered its forecast on Tuesday for oil product demand from 30 developed countries, located mostly in Europe and North America, to 48.6 million barrels a day, down 1.3 percent from last year.The Paris-based energy watchdog's report arrived a day after China said its crude imports in July, while historically strong, were down 7 percent from the same month last year.The IEA cautioned that it is too early to determine whether the recent fall in oil prices is a longer-term trend. It said demand in developing countries could offset declines in developed nations, and that it sees Chinese oil demand continuing to grow at a robust pace.And some economists have said that given the pullback in gasoline prices, demand could come back if motorists feel more comfortable with the cost of filling their gas tanks. The average U.S. retail gasoline price was $3.799 a gallon on Tuesday, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That is down a penny from Monday, and down 31.5 cents from its July 17 record high.But the energy markets — which have seen heavy liquidation from large speculative funds since crude hit its record high — continued to make the bet that energy use is on the wane.The market's still heavily focused on demand deterioration, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.
A stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices. The euro traded at $1.4914, about the same as late Monday but at its lowest levels since February. The pound, meanwhile, fell to $1.8988, trading at its lowest levels since November 2006.Sometimes the cause and effect is difficult to define. It's a self-perpetuating, vicious circle going on, where oil falls, strengthens the dollar, then the strengthening dollar forces oil down more, Ritterbusch said.Meanwhile, traders continued to watch the conflict between Russia and Georgia, trying to figure out whether Russia's push into the country will result in a serious oil supply disruption. Russia ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, but Georgia insisted that Russian forces were still bombing and shelling.BP PLC said Tuesday it shut down the 90,000-barrel-a-day oil pipeline running from Baku on the Caspian Sea to Supsa on Georgia's Black Sea coast earlier. The London-based oil company emphasized, however, that the move was precautionary.Another larger pipeline operated by BP in the former Soviet Republic is already out of action after a fire last week on its Turkish stretch. A third pipeline in Georgia that BP uses to export oil, but does not operate, remains open.In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 4.14 cents to $3.0781 a gallon, while gasoline futures slipped 2.34 cents to $2.8432 a gallon. Natural gas futures slid 1.9cents to $8.33 per 1,000 cubic feet.Associated Press Writers George Jahn in Vienna and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
METEORS HIT THE EARTH
REVELATION 6:12-17
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
REVELATION 8:12-13
12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels,which are yet to sound!
METEOR SHOWER
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_shower
2012 COMET
http://2012-comet.com/
2008 METEOR SHOWER VIEWING
http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/
2008 PERSEID SHOWER
http://current.com/items/89147297_the_2008_perseid_meteor_shower_is_on_august_12th
Mark your calendar: The 2008 Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th and it should be a good show.
The time to look is during the dark hours before dawn on Tuesday, August 12th, says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. There should be plenty of meteors--perhaps one or two every minute.The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is far away, currently located beyond the orbit of Uranus, a trail of debris from the comet stretches all the way back to Earth. Crossing the trail in August, Earth will be pelted by specks of comet dust hitting the atmosphere at 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a flimsy speck of dust makes a vivid streak of light when it disintegrates--a meteor! Because, Swift-Tuttle's meteors streak out of the constellation Perseus, they are called Perseids.Serious meteor hunters will begin their watch early, on Monday evening, August 11th, around 9 pm when Perseus first rises in the northeast. This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping across the surface of a pond. Earthgrazers are long, slow and colorful; they are among the most beautiful of meteors, says Cooke. He cautions that an hour of watching may net only a few of these at most, but seeing even one can make the whole night worthwhile. A warm summer night. Bright meteors skipping overhead. And the peak is yet to come. What could be better?
The answer lies halfway up the southern sky: Jupiter and the gibbous Moon converge on August 11th and 12th for a close encounter in the constellation Sagittarius: sky map. It's a grand sight visible even from light-polluted cities. For a while the beautiful Moon will interfere with the Perseids, lunar glare wiping out all but the brightest meteors. Yin-yang. The situation reverses itself at 2 am on Tuesday morning, August 12th, when the Moon sets and leaves behind a dark sky for the Perseids. The shower will surge into the darkness, peppering the sky with dozens and perhaps hundreds of meteors until dawn. For maximum effect, get away from city lights, Cooke advises. The brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the countryside. (Scouts, this is a good time to go camping.) The Perseids are coming. Enjoy the show! Source: Science@NASA, by Dr. Tony Phillips
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