ISRAELS WAR

WW3 PREVIEW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfo5dArw2JE&feature=related
ISRAEL STRIKE ON IRAN AND SHITE MAHDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSLFTnsOepo

HAMAS COWARDS HIDE BEHIND WOMAN,CHILDREN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
http://www.pmw.org.il/

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

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

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE DEC 30,2008

09:30 AM +20.30
10:00 AM +19.67
10:30 AM +75.58
11:00 AM +64.91
11:30 AM +92.91
12:00 PM +146.23
12:30 PM +137.55
01:00 PM +123.29
01:30 PM +103.94
02:00 PM +93.58
02:30 PM +127.51
03:00 PM +109.03
03:30 PM +114.13
04:00 PM +184.46 8668.39

S&P 500 890.64 +21.22

NASDAQ 1550.70 +40.38

GOLD 874.10 -1.20

OIL 39.33 -0.49

TSE 300 8833.26 +195.97

CDNX 772.50 +29.51

S&P/TSX/60 532.74 +11.80

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Dow +56 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +64 points at high.
Dow +56 points at low today.

NYSE STATS 10:30AM
Advances 2099,Declines 789,unchanged 111,new highs 4,new lows 17.
NASDAQ STATS 10:30AM
Advances 1632,Declines 840,unchanged 194.

ICSC:Recession,discounting helped make holiday season worst since at least 1970.
Home prices dropped 18% in October from a year earlier.
E-TOYS frst company to go bankrupt already this season.
Medvedev changes term of rule from 4 to 6 years he signed it in law today.

HAMAS LEADERS SAY THEY WILL DELIBERATELY USE WOMEN,CHILDREN IN THEIR DEFENCE OF ISRAELI MILITARY AGAINST THEM. THESE MURDERING COWARDS HAMAS. GO GET THEM ISRAEL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
375 HAMAS MURDERERS KILLED SO FAR.
THERS ONLY 15 CIVILIAN CASUALTIES,NOT HUNDREDS LIKE THE REGULAR MEDIA REPORTS.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow +9 points at low.
Dow +86 points at high.
Japan Nikkei 225 ends 2008 with record annual loss of 42%
Dow down about 35% for 2008,on pace for worst drop since 1931.
S&P 500 down about 40% for 2008,on pace for worst drop since 1931.
Nasdaq down about 42% for 2008,on pace for worst drop ever.
Dow,S&P,Nasdaq all have biggest gains in 2 weeks.
RECORD LOW CONSUMER CONFIDENCE.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow +9 points at low today.
Dow +190 points at high today.

Dow +2.2% today.
Dow falls 20% in Q4,on track for biggest drop since 1987.
S&P +2.4% today.
S&P down 24% in Q4,on track for biggest drop since 1974.
Nasdaq +2.7% today.
Nasdaq falls 26% in Q4,on track for biggest drop since 2001.
S&P,Nasdaq will end year lower for first time since 2002.
Stocks close higher for 3rd session in last 4.

2008 YEAR END UPS,DOWNS

ENERGY'S WORST YEAR
Gasoline -65%,Crude -59%,Heating Oil -51%,NatGas -22%.
NORTH & LATIN AMERICAN INDICES
Argentina -49%,Brazil -41%,US -40%,Canada -35%,Mexico -24%.
EUROPEAN INDICES
Russia -73%,Netherlands -53%,France -43%,Germany -40%,UK -32%.
ASIA-PACIFIC INDICES
China -65%,Hong Kong -49%,Australia -44%,Japan -42%,South korea -41%.
DOW BEST PERFORMING COMPONENTS
Wal-Mart +15%,McDonald's +4%,Johnson&Johnson -12%,Home Depot -16%,Exxon Mobil -16%.
DOW WORST PERFORMING COMPONENTS
GM -85%,Citigroup -77%,Alcoa -71%,Bank of America -69%,American Express -66%.

IM SO SICK OF ALEX JONES PUTTING DOWN ISRAEL ALL THE TIME,SO I LEFT A MESSAGE ON INFO WARS.

HAMAS IS TO BLAME:THEY HAVE SHOT 10,300 ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL SINCE 2001. HAMAS EVEN ADMITS THEY WILL USE WOMEN,CHILDREN AS SHIELDS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM ISRAELI BOMBS ( THE COWARDS 'HAMAS'.)

HAMAS COWARDS HIDE BEHIND WOMAN,CHILDREN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTu-AUE9ycs
http://www.pmw.org.il/

AND TO ALEX WHO CLAIMES TO BE A CHRISTIAN BUT BLAMES ISRAEL FOR THE HAPPENINGS IN GAZA,YOU BETTER READ THIS SCRIPTURE:

GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ALEX READ CLOSELY) and curse him that curseth thee: (ALEX FOR ALWAYS PUTTING ISRAEL DOWN) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

STAN L BOWMAN JR

ALEX YOU ARE FLURTIN WITH DANGER WHEN ALWAYS PUTTING ISRAEL DOWN,A TRUE CHRISTIAN STICKS UP FOR ISRAEL.

DECEMBER 29, 2008 As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S. In Moscow, Igor Panarin's Forecasts Are All the Rage; America Disintegrates in 2010 By ANDREW OSBORN

MOSCOW -- For a decade, Russian academic Igor Panarin has been predicting the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. For most of that time, he admits, few took his argument -- that an economic and moral collapse will trigger a civil war and the eventual breakup of the U.S. -- very seriously. Now he's found an eager audience: Russian state media.

Igor Panarin
In recent weeks, he's been interviewed as much as twice a day about his predictions. It's a record, says Prof. Panarin. But I think the attention is going to grow even stronger.Prof. Panarin, 50 years old, is not a fringe figure. A former KGB analyst, he is dean of the Russian Foreign Ministry's academy for future diplomats. He is invited to Kremlin receptions, lectures students, publishes books, and appears in the media as an expert on U.S.-Russia relations.But it's his bleak forecast for the U.S. that is music to the ears of the Kremlin, which in recent years has blamed Washington for everything from instability in the Middle East to the global financial crisis. Mr. Panarin's views also fit neatly with the Kremlin's narrative that Russia is returning to its rightful place on the world stage after the weakness of the 1990s, when many feared that the country would go economically and politically bankrupt and break into separate territories.A polite and cheerful man with a buzz cut, Mr. Panarin insists he does not dislike Americans. But he warns that the outlook for them is dire.There's a 55-45% chance right now that disintegration will occur, he says. One could rejoice in that process, he adds, poker-faced. But if we're talking reasonably, it's not the best scenario -- for Russia. Though Russia would become more powerful on the global stage, he says, its economy would suffer because it currently depends heavily on the dollar and on trade with the U.S.Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control.

In addition to increasing coverage in state media, which are tightly controlled by the Kremlin, Mr. Panarin's ideas are now being widely discussed among local experts. He presented his theory at a recent roundtable discussion at the Foreign Ministry. The country's top international relations school has hosted him as a keynote speaker. During an appearance on the state TV channel Rossiya, the station cut between his comments and TV footage of lines at soup kitchens and crowds of homeless people in the U.S. The professor has also been featured on the Kremlin's English-language propaganda channel, Russia Today.Mr. Panarin's apocalyptic vision reflects a very pronounced degree of anti-Americanism in Russia today, says Vladimir Pozner, a prominent TV journalist in Russia. It's much stronger than it was in the Soviet Union.Mr. Pozner and other Russian commentators and experts on the U.S. dismiss Mr. Panarin's predictions. "Crazy ideas are not usually discussed by serious people, says Sergei Rogov, director of the government-run Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, who thinks Mr. Panarin's theories don't hold water.Mr. Panarin's résumé includes many years in the Soviet KGB, an experience shared by other top Russian officials. His office, in downtown Moscow, shows his national pride, with pennants on the wall bearing the emblem of the FSB, the KGB's successor agency. It is also full of statuettes of eagles; a double-headed eagle was the symbol of czarist Russia.

The professor says he began his career in the KGB in 1976. In post-Soviet Russia, he got a doctorate in political science, studied U.S. economics, and worked for FAPSI, then the Russian equivalent of the U.S. National Security Agency. He says he did strategy forecasts for then-President Boris Yeltsin, adding that the details are classified.In September 1998, he attended a conference in Linz, Austria, devoted to information warfare, the use of data to get an edge over a rival. It was there, in front of 400 fellow delegates, that he first presented his theory about the collapse of the U.S. in 2010.When I pushed the button on my computer and the map of the United States disintegrated, hundreds of people cried out in surprise, he remembers. He says most in the audience were skeptical. They didn't believe me.At the end of the presentation, he says many delegates asked him to autograph copies of the map showing a dismembered U.S.He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts, he says. He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the going gets tough, he says, wealthier states will withhold funds from the federal government and effectively secede from the union. Social unrest up to and including a civil war will follow. The U.S. will then split along ethnic lines, and foreign powers will move in.California will form the nucleus of what he calls The Californian Republic, and will be part of China or under Chinese influence. Texas will be the heart of The Texas Republic, a cluster of states that will go to Mexico or fall under Mexican influence. Washington, D.C., and New York will be part of an Atlantic America that may join the European Union. Canada will grab a group of Northern states Prof. Panarin calls The Central North American Republic. Hawaii, he suggests, will be a protectorate of Japan or China, and Alaska will be subsumed into Russia.It would be reasonable for Russia to lay claim to Alaska; it was part of the Russian Empire for a long time. A framed satellite image of the Bering Strait that separates Alaska from Russia like a thread hangs from his office wall. It's not there for no reason, he says with a sly grin.Interest in his forecast revived this fall when he published an article in Izvestia, one of Russia's biggest national dailies. In it, he reiterated his theory, called U.S. foreign debt a pyramid scheme, and predicted China and Russia would usurp Washington's role as a global financial regulator.

Americans hope President-elect Barack Obama can work miracles, he wrote. But when spring comes, it will be clear that there are no miracles.The article prompted a question about the White House's reaction to Prof. Panarin's forecast at a December news conference. I'll have to decline to comment, spokeswoman Dana Perino said amid much laughter.For Prof. Panarin, Ms. Perino's response was significant. The way the answer was phrased was an indication that my views are being listened to very carefully, he says.The professor says he's convinced that people are taking his theory more seriously. People like him have forecast similar cataclysms before, he says, and been right. He cites French political scientist Emmanuel Todd. Mr. Todd is famous for having rightly forecast the demise of the Soviet Union -- 15 years beforehand. When he forecast the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1976, people laughed at him, says Prof. Panarin.Write to Andrew Osborn at andrew.osborn@wsj.com

Toronto index soars on commodity strength Mon Dec 29, 5:20 PM

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index jumped nearly 4 percent on Monday, led by resource producers, as oil and gold prices rallied on Middle East violence.The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index rose 326.74 points, or 3.9 percent, to close at 8,637.29.Among big gainers were shares in miners Barrick Gold and Goldcorp , both up more than 10 percent, and oil producers Nexen Inc and Petro-Canada , which climbed 7 percent and 6 percent respectively.They helped lift the materials subgroup 10.2 percent and the energy producers 5.7 percent. All 10 of the TSX's main sectors finished higher on the day.Everything goes in tandem with it. You get one or two of the big names up, and everybody else likes to follow suit a little bit, said portfolio manager Adrian Mastracci of KCM Wealth Management in Vancouver.But I think it's short term. If anybody had to, I think I would be selling some things as opposed to buying some things right now.Commodity prices rallied on concerns that Israeli air attacks on Gaza in the third day of a deadly offensive could lead to disruptions in crude supplies from the Middle East.Gold ended up $4.10 in New York to close at $875 an ounce, paring earlier gains, and oil jumped $2.31, or 6 percent, to finish at $40.02 a barrel.Barrick shares rose C$4.28 to C$45.34, while Goldcorp gained C$3.95 to C$38.50. Nexen climbed C$1.42 to C$20.43 and Petro-Canada rose C$1.54 to C$26.99.(Reporting by Jeffrey Jones; editing by Rob Wilson)

Ukraine, Russia still at odds in gas standoff: Putin Mon Dec 29, 11:06 am ET

MOSCOW, Dec 29, 2008 (AFP) – Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia and Ukraine had failed to break the deadlock in their dispute over gas debts, as the clock ticked down to a New Year deadline to settle the dispute.We have not agreed so far, Putin said Monday, after what he said was an hour-long telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.Asked why the two sides had still failed to reach an agreement, Putin replied succinctly: Because they (Ukraine) do not want to pay.Putin's comments came as Russia ramps up pressure on Ukraine to pay off two billion dollars in gas debts in full or face a cut in gas supplies from January 1.

Moscow and Kiev are locked in a price dispute, the fourth in as many years, and Gazprom has said it will cut supplies to Ukraine if it does not pay off its gas debt in full by January 1 so a new contract can be signed.Also Monday, the CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom Alexei Miller and the head of Ukraine state gas company Naftogaz Oleh Dubyna were meeting in Moscow but the meeting has not yielded any result so far, a Gazprom spokeswoman said.Unfortunately, nothing is happening so far, she told AFP. Everything changes every hour.Gazprom deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev expressed hope in a televised interview that the countries would find a solution within the next three days.We very much hope that the proposals that we are tirelessly putting forward will be accepted by the Ukrainian side, which will allow us to enter the new year with the signed contracts and reassure the people in Europe, in Russia and Ukraine, he told Vesti television channel.Medvedev reiterated that Gazprom had taken steps to keep its European partners informed of progress in the gas dispute.The company has even launched an English-language website, www.gazpromukrainefacts.com to give its side of the dispute.Earlier Monday, Gazprom's board of directors met for an extraordinary meeting, the sole item on the agenda being the situation concerning the Ukrainian gas debts, the spokeswoman said.

Gazprom said in a statement the board meeting had agreed to continue work with Ukraine over payment arrears but did not elaborate.The statement added that Gazprom would carry out its obligations towards the European gas consumers in full, indicating any possible gas cuts would not disrupt supplies to Europe.The Gazprom spokeswoman said company specialists were being told to be at work over the New Year's night if the company management decided to cut gas to Ukraine.The Russian gas giant maintains that Naftogaz owes it more than two billion dollars for gas delivered in November and December and fines for late payment.

Ruble Falls to Record Low Versus Euro as Russia Weakens Defense
By Denis Maternovsky

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The ruble fell to a record low against the euro as Russia devalued the currency for the 12th time in seven weeks after the government forecast its first budget deficit in a decade. The managed currency weakened 2.6 percent to 41.7245 per euro, the lowest since the European currency started trading in 1999. It fell 0.7 percent to 29.1797 versus the dollar, a four- year low. Bank Rossii allowed the ruble to fall 1.7 percent against its basket of 55 percent dollars and 45 percent euros, the most since the measure was introduced in February 2005, according to a central bank official who declined to be identified, citing bank policy. The ruble has fallen 19 percent against the basket since Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August, to 34.8216. That five-day war, the global credit squeeze and plunging oil prices have led investors to pull more than $200 billion out of Russian investments in the last five months, according to BNP Paribas SA. A large part of the government’s revenues, such as oil and gas export duties and extraction taxes, is dollar-denominated, so the ruble weakening certainly helps both the budget and income statements of the oil and gas producers, said Ronald Smith, head of research at Alfa Bank in Moscow. Today’s decline is the 12th of more than 1 percent against the basket since Nov. 11. Russia may have to weaken the ruble another 5 percent to bring it into parity with other currencies dependant on commodity prices, such as the South African rand, Norwegian kroner and Australian dollar, Smith said.

Bank Warning

Bank Rossii urged the country’s banks today to avoid buying foreign currencies in the first quarter of 2009 or risk losing access to central bank loans, Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said in a letter to banks that was posted on the central bank’s Web site today. Russian banks shouldn’t increase their holdings of foreign currency assets from the average level between Aug. 1 and Oct. 25, Ignatiev said. The ruble may need to fall another one-fifth against the basket if oil prices don’t rise and Bank Rossii doesn’t change its policy, said Evgeny Gavrilenkov, chief economist at Troika Dialog in Moscow. Gavrilenkov called in October for a one-time depreciation of as much as 20 percent, when oil prices were above $60 a barrel. Russia is expecting to run its first budget deficit since 1999 next year, of as much as 2 trillion rubles ($69 billion), because of lower-than-expected oil prices, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Dec. 27.

Oil Price

The price of Urals crude, the country’s main export blend of oil and its biggest export earner, has fallen 78 percent to about $32 a barrel since reaching a record high July 3. That’s less than half of the $70 Russia needs to balance its budget.

If oil crude falls below $30 a barrel the central bank will be forced to weaken the Russian currency to as low as 33 per dollar and 50 per euro, said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial Corp. in Moscow. The ruble will probably end the year at 30 to the dollar and 43 to the euro, Weafer said. The economy, which has averaged 7 percent growth since the 1998 debt default and ruble devaluation of more than 70 percent against the dollar, may slip into a recession in the first half of 2009, Kremlin economic adviser Arkady Dvorkovich told Bloomberg Television on Dec. 19. The ruble-denominated Micex Index of 30 Russian stocks has lost 67 percent this year, heading for the biggest decline since 1998, when the ruble lost more than 70 percent against the dollar. The market value of state-run OAO Gazprom, the monopoly exporter of natural gas, has fallen to $87 billion from more than $300 billion in May.

Bailout

Plunging stock prices and the seizure of capital markets has forced Russia’s richest businessmen to seek financing from state development bank Vnesheconombank, or VEB, which is channeling part of the government’s $200 billion in bailout funds. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin heads VEB’s supervisory board. Oleg Deripaska’s United Co. Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, received $4.5 billion from VEB to repay foreign lenders, putting up as collateral its 25 percent stake in OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, the country’s largest mining company. Standard & Poor’s cut Russia’s credit rating this month for the first time in nine years on concern the country is wasting its foreign currency reserves defending the currency. Russia has used about a quarter of its reserves, the world’s third largest, to defend the ruble since August. The stockpile reached a record $598.1 billion in the week to Aug. 8 and stood at $451 billion in the week to Dec. 19, the last date for which data is available. To contact the reporter on this story: Denis Maternovsky in Moscow at dmaternovsky@bloomberg.net

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they 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.

Would Russia risk START treaty talks to send S-300s to Iran?
By MARTIN SIEFF, UPI Senior News AnalystPublished: Dec. 29, 2008 at 10:25 AM

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- How should one interpret the conflicting messages coming out of Moscow and Tehran last week about over whether Russia has sent S-300 air defense system components to Iran? First, a senior Iranian parliamentarian, Esmaeil Kosari, deputy chairman of the Iranian Parliament's Commission on National Security and Foreign Policy, informed Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency on Dec. 20 that after years of talks, Russian had agreed to deliver to Iran the S-300system's components. He stated that Iran would initially base the S-300 system around its borders.The U.S. government took the claim seriously and protested to Moscow. U.S. officials privately said they had independent intelligence that Kosari was speaking the truth.However, on Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a news conference in Moscow that Russia had not sent those S-300 components to Iran. He flatly denied the allegations.Also, the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which has been all too happy to exaggerate its capabilities to defend the country against any U.S. airstrikes, remained silent throughout the controversy and certainly took no steps to confirm or deny Kosari's claims.At first glance, it would appear that Kosari deliberately exaggerated and that the Russians were telling the truth when they said the crucial S-300 components had not been sent. The Kremlin has been sending out a series of dovish signals to the incoming Obama administration that it wants to improve relations with Washington and to negotiate a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty to replace the 1991 START-1 treaty that runs out a year from now in December 2009.

Also, Russian policymakers are hopeful that incoming U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and his designated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be ready to scrap the Bush administration's plans to build two anti-ballistic missiles bases in Central Europe -- one in Poland armed with 10 Ground-based Mid-course Interceptors and the other in the neighboring Czech Republic with an advanced radar array to guide the missiles on to their targets. The stated purpose of these two bases is to defend the United States and Western Europe from the threat of future nuclear-armed Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles. But the Russians insist the bases are really aimed at them and the survivable second-strike capabilities of their own nuclear missile forces.It would therefore be reckless in the extreme for the Russians to endanger their prime strategic goals of negotiating a START-2 treaty and getting a peaceful agreement to scrap the planned BMD bases in Central Europe by sending those S-300 components to Iran now.However, governments often make unexpected, rash, or self-defeating decisions for a whole host of reasons. And Russia has already supplied Iran with billions of dollars worth of nuclear technology and the engineers and technicians to build the Iranian nuclear reactor complex at Bushehr. Russia, as we have documented previously in these columns, has also already sold other advanced anti-ballistic missile and anti-aircraft defense systems to Iran: 29 Tor-M1s.The Tor-M1s are roughly equivalent to the U.S. Patriot PAC-3 in being short-range systems especially against low-flying incoming threats like cruise missiles. But the S-300 system is designed to defend against both low-altitude and high-altitude aircraft, cruise missiles and intermediate-range ballistic missiles at longer distances of up to 100 miles. The two systems compliment each other, much as the U.S. Army's Patriot and the U.S. Navy's Standard Missile-3 do.It is of course possible that the Russian government wants to take advantage of the interregnum between the outgoing lame duck Bush administration and the incoming Obama administration to rush through a fait accompli in delivering the S-300 to Iran in the belief that the new president's passion for arms control will lead him to turn a blind eye to the deal. That passion to negotiate a new START treaty and to scrap the planned BMD bases in Central Europe is shared throughout the Democratic Party's foreign policy and national security establishment that will be taking over the top jobs at the Pentagon, the State Department and the National Security Council.But if the Russians are indeed telling the truth, then why did Kosari claim that the S-300 components had been delivered when they had not been?

Scenic Pakistani valley falls to Taliban militants By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer DEC 29,08

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region outside the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies away from the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive.You can't imagine how bad it is, said Muzaffar ul-Mulk, a federal lawmaker whose home in Swat was attacked by bomb-toting assailants in mid-December, weeks after he left. It's worse day by day.The Taliban activity in northwest Pakistan also comes as the country shifts forces east to the Indian border because of tensions over last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, potentially giving insurgents more space to maneuver along the Afghan frontier.Militants began preying on Swat's lush mountain ranges about two years ago, and it is now too dangerous for foreign and Pakistani journalists to visit. Interviews with residents, lawmakers and officials who have fled the region paint a dire picture.A suicide blast killed 40 people Sunday at a polling station in Buner, an area bordering Swat that had been relatively peaceful. The attack underscored fears that even so-called settled regions presumptively under government control are increasingly unsafe.The 3,500-square-mile Swat Valley lies less than 100 miles from the capital, Islamabad.

A senior government official said he feared there could be a spillover effect if the government lost control of Swat and allowed the insurgency to infect other areas. Like nearly everyone interviewed, the official requested anonymity for fear of reprisal by militants.Officials estimate that up to a third of Swat's 1.5 million people have left the area. Salah-ud-Din, who oversees relief efforts in Swat for the International Committee of the Red Cross, estimated that 80 percent of the valley is now under Taliban control.Swat's militants are led by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islamic law. His appeal tapped into widespread frustration with the area's inefficient judicial system.Most of the insurgents are easy to spot with long hair, beards, rifles, camouflage vests and running shoes. They number at most 2,000, according to people who were interviewed.In some places, just a handful of insurgents can control a village. They rule by fear: beheading government sympathizers, blowing up bridges and demanding women wear all-encompassing burqas.

They have also set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints, according to lawmakers and officials. And they are suspected of burning scores of girls' schools.In mid-December, Taliban fighters killed a young member of a Sufi-influenced Muslim group who had tried to raise a militia against them. The militants later dug up Pir Samiullah's corpse and hung it for two days in a village square — partly to prove to his followers that he was not a superhuman saint, a security official said on condition of anonymity.A lawmaker and the senior Swat government official said business and landowners had been told to give two-thirds of their income to the militants. Some local media reported last week that the militants have pronounced a ban on female education effective in mid-January.

Several people interviewed said the regional government made a mistake in May when it struck a peace deal with the militants. The agreement fell apart within two months but let the insurgents regroup.The Swat insurgency also includes Afghan and other fighters from outside the valley, security officials said.Any movement of Pakistani troops from the Swat Valley and tribal areas to the Indian border will concern the United States and other Western countries, which want Pakistan to focus on the al-Qaida threat near Afghanistan. On Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said thousands of troops were being shifted toward the border with India, which blames Pakistani militants for terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month that killed 164people. But there has been no sign yet of a major buildup near India. The terrorists' aim in Mumbai was precisely this — to get the Pakistani army to withdraw from the western border and mount operations on the east, said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively about militancy in the region. The terrorists are not going to be sitting still. They are not going to be adhering to any sort of cease-fire while the army takes on the Indian threat. They are going to occupy the vacuum the army will create.Residents and officials from the Swat Valley were critical of the army offensive there, saying troops appeared to be confined to their posts and often killed civilians when firing artillery at suspected militant targets. The military has deployed some 100,000 troops through the northwest. A government official familiar with security issues estimated that some 10,000 paramilitary and army troops had killed 300 to 400 militants in Swat since 2007, while about 130 troops were killed. Authorities have not released details of civilian casualties, and it was unclear if they were even being tallied. The official, who insisted on anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, disputed assertions that militants had overrun the valley, but said a spotty supply line was hampering operations. He said the army had to man some Swat police stations because the police force there had been decimated by desertions and militant killings. A Swat militant boasted that we are doing our activities wherever we want, and the army is confined to their living places.They cannot move independently like us, said the man, who was reached over the phone and gave his name as Muzaffarul Haq. He claimed the Swat militants had no al-Qaida or foreign connections, but that they supported all groups that shared the goal of imposing Islamic law. With the grace of Allah, there is no dearth of funds, weapons or rations, he said. Our women are providing cooked food for those who are struggling in Allah's path. Our children are getting prepared for jihad.Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Riaz Khan in Peshawar 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.

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 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

Defiant Hamas hits Israel with dozens of rockets DEC 29,08 By IBRAHIM BARZAK and JASON KEYSER, Associated Press Writers

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian militants sent a deadly barrage of missiles flying deep into Israel on Monday, demonstrating that Hamas still had firepower three days into Israel's punishing air offensive in Gaza.Four Israelis, including a soldier, were killed and eight wounded. Palestinian health officials put the three-day death toll in Gaza at 364; the U.N. said the total included at least 62 civilians.In Monday's attacks, Israel focused its bombing on the houses of Hamas field operatives in a campaign meant to tear at the roots of the extremist group ruling Gaza. Israel's defense minister promised a war to the bitter end against Hamas and allied militants.Early Tuesday, Israeli aircraft dropped at least 16 bombs on five Hamas government buildings in a Gaza City complex, destroying them, setting fires and sending rubble flying for hundreds of yards, witnesses said. Rescue workers said 40 people were injured.Intensified rocket strikes by Gaza militants, which triggered the Israeli offensive, have revealed the expanding range of missiles that are making larger cities farther inside Israel vulnerable.In a barrage Monday night, a missile crashed into a bus stop in Ashdod, 23 miles from the Gaza Strip. A woman died and two others were wounded, one seriously — the first casualties in the city of 190,000 residents.The military said an Israeli soldier was killed later in a mortar strike, the first soldier to be killed in the conflict. Five others were wounded, one seriously, according to a military statement.Earlier Monday, an Israeli was killed and one seriously wounded by a rocket strike in the Negev desert community of Nahal Oz, closer to the Gaza border. A rocket also killed an Israeli construction worker in the city of Ashkelon. In all, five Israelis have been killed since the Gaza offensive began Saturday, bringing to 19 the number killed in rocket attacks from Gaza this year.

Early Tuesday, Hamas released a statement saying its squads had fired 43 homemade rockets, 17 longer-range Grads and six mortar shells at Israel. Other militant groups also fired rockets at Israel.The targets chosen by Israel on Monday pointed to an intention to chip away at Hamas' foundation. Israeli aircraft staged five separate strikes on the houses of field operatives, though there was no confirmation that any of them were killed.A grainy video taken by an Israeli drone airplane showed several men loading a pickup truck with what the Israeli military said were medium-range Grad rockets. Moments later, a big explosion from an Israeli missile strike envelops the image.One Israeli attack targeted a house in the Jebaliya refugee camp, killing seven people, but the Hamas activist was not there, Hamas security and relatives said. Another hit the Jebaliya home of Abdel-Karim Jaber, a Hamas political figure who is a senior administrator at Gaza's Islamic University. He was not at home and it wasn't immediately clear if anyone was hurt in the strike.

In another air assault, an Islamic Jihad commander was killed as he was walking near his house, said Abu Hamza, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad's military wing.Israel's airstrikes on more than 325 sites since midday Saturday reduced dozens of buildings to rubble, overwhelmed hospitals with wounded and filled Gaza's deserted streets with smoke and fire. The military said Israeli naval vessels had also bombarded targets from the sea.On Monday, aircraft pulverized a house next to the home of Hamas Premier Ismail Haniyeh, a security compound and a five-story building at a university closely linked to the Islamic group — all symbols of Hamas strength in the coastal territory it has ruled since June 2007.Israel's offensive has rattled the Middle East and capitals around the world, triggering street protests and fiery speeches by adversaries of Israel like the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. In the day's biggest outpouring of anger, tens of thousands of Hezbollah's supporters stood in a pouring rain in a Beirut square to condemn Israel.Stone-throwing clashes broke out in about a half-dozen spots in the Palestinians' West Bank territory as well as in several Arab-populated areas inside Israel. Israeli police and soldiers fired rubber bullets and tear gas at rioting youths, but it did not appear anyone was injured.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel's offensive as excessive and demanded an immediate cease-fire. He said key international and regional players — including foreign ministers of the Arab League nations holding an emergency meeting Wednesday — must act swiftly and decisively to bring an early end to this impasse.The U.S. government said it was vigorously engaged in trying to restore a cease-fire. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe defended the Israeli response, but added that the Bush administration was urging Israel to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza. With Israeli troops and tanks massing on the Gaza border, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told parliament he wanted to strike a devastating blow against Hamas. However, later he indicated a ground assault was not inevitable, issuing a warning that he was giving Hamas a last chance to halt its rocket fire.

Speaking in Hebrew, Barak told the lawmakers: We have a war to the bitter end against Hamas, and the home front, which has turned into a battlefront, will continue to be a source of strength for the Israeli military. Some news organizations translated the start of the quote as saying an all-out war on Hamas.

Short of reoccupying Gaza, however, it was unlikely any amount of Israeli firepower could completely snuff out militant rocket attacks. Past operations all failed to do so. The Cabinet's decision over the weekend to call up 6,500 reserve soldiers could be a pressure tactic. Military experts noted no full combat units had been mobilized and said Israel would need at least 10,000 soldiers for a full-scale invasion. For the first time, Israel also hit one of a series of tunnels prepared by Hamas along the border with Israel for use in attacks on invading ground troops, several Israeli TV networks said. One tunnel was packed with explosives and several militants inside were killed, Channel 1 said. Most of those killed in three days of airstrikes were Hamas members. A Hamas police spokesman, Ehab Ghussen, said 180 members of Hamas security forces were among the dead. But the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian refugees expressed concern about civilian casualties. A rise in civilian casualties could intensify international pressure on Israel to end the offensive. In New York, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said his agency had not been able to determine a precise number of civilian casualties, but knew of at least 62 women and children killed. He said 1,400 people had been injured. Eight children under the age of 17 were killed in two separate Israeli airstrikes Sunday night, Palestinian medics said. Holmes said he was very worried about a shortage of humanitarian supplies in Gaza. Because of the effective blockade that's been in place for many months now, and because of the increasing tightening of this blockade in recent weeks around Gaza, stocks of vital items are either very low or nonexistent, and that's particularly the case, for example, with wheat flour, he said. Israel opened one of Gaza's border crossings Monday to allow several ambulances and 62 trucks carrying medical supplies and food to cross. Obviously these supplies are better than nothing, but they remain wholly inadequate, Holmes said, saying that his agency needed 100 truckloads of flour every day to meet needs.

In Gaza, some families left their apartments next to institutions linked to Hamas, fearing they could be targeted. Suad Abu Wadi, 42, kept her six children close to her on mattresses in her Gaza City living room. Her husband sat with them, chain-smoking. Abu Wadi said he had not said a word since seeing their neighbor carrying the body of his child, killed in an airstrike Saturday. Gaza's nine hospitals were overwhelmed. Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, who keeps a record for the Gaza Health Ministry, said 364 Palestinians had died and more than 1,400 wounded. Some of the injured were being taken to private clinics and even homes, he said. Egyptian officials said ambulances were ferrying wounded Gazans to hospitals in Egypt from Gaza's Rafah border crossing. Tariq al-Mahlawi, Egypt's deputy health minister, said 32 patients had been brought in by nightfall and that 500 beds were ready to treat Palestinians.

Around mid-afternoon, ambulances ferried the wounded from Gaza toward the crossing in the border town of Rafah, where over a dozen Egyptian ambulances waited to take over the casualties. Despite Israel's battering attacks, sirens warning of incoming rockets sent Israelis scrambling for cover throughout the day as more than 40 rockets and mortar rounds rained down. Israeli security officials warned that the militants' rockets are powerful enough now to reach Beersheba, a major city 30 miles from Gaza. Mazal Ivgi, a 62-year-old resident of Beersheba, said she had prepared a bomb shelter. In the meantime we don't really believe it's going to happen, but when the first boom comes people will be worried,she said. Associated Press writers Aron Heller in Ashkelon, Jason Keyser in Jerusalem, Edith M. Lederer in New York, Deb Riechmann in Crawford, Texas, and Omar Sinan in Rafah, Egypt, contributed to this report.

EU foreign ministers to meet on Gaza crisis DEC 29,08

PARIS, (AFP) - European Union foreign ministers were set to hold an urgent meeting on Tuesday in Paris on the escalating violence in the Gaza Strip, the French foreign ministry announced.The ministers will look into how the European Union can help ease the current crisis, along with the efforts of the international community, especially the secretary general of the United Nations, the ministry's statement said.The meeting was set to take place at 1730 GMT Tuesday and be chaired by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.Javier Solana, the EU's high representative for foreign policy and members of the European Commission were also expected to attend.

It was likely to be the last major ministerial meeting before France passes on the rotating six-month EU presidency to the Czech Republic on Thursday.Romain Nadal, a spokesman for the French foreign ministry, said Monday that France and other EU countries were ready to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, although reestablishing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remained a top priority.French President Nicolas Sarkozy held conversations Monday with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak to look for solutions to end the violence in Gaza, a statement from the French EU presidency said.Diplomats told AFP that EU members are considering a number of options to resolve the crisis, including renewing its observation mission in Rafah, a town that lies on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.The mission, if accepted by both sides, could potentially allow for the easing of restrictions on checkpoints across the Palestinian territories.Israeli air strikes continued on Tuesday with attacks targeting Hamas ministry and security buildings that destroyed the foreign and finance ministries, Hamas sources and witnesses said.In all, the Israeli campaign has killed at least 360 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,690, the director of Gaza's emergency services, Moawiya Abu Hassanein, told AFP.Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Monday the strikes would continue if Hamas did not stop its shelling of Israeli territory.If the illegal attacks against Israel and her citizens do not completely cease, Israel will have recourse to all means and all legal forms of action at its disposal to do whatever it takes to bring an end to the enemy's illegal acts of aggression, he said.Demonstrations have been held across the Middle East against the Israeli air strikes.

Israel presses on with Gaza attacks By Nidal al-Mughrabi DEC 29,08

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes killed 10 Palestinians on Tuesday in attacks that targeted Hamas government buildings and other symbols of the Islamist group on the fourth day of the fiercest air offensive in Gaza in decades.Israeli missiles flattened five ministerial buildings and a structure belonging to the Islamic University in Gaza City, witnesses said.Muawiyah Hassanein, the head of Gaza City's ambulance department, said security guards and civilians were among those killed.A Hamas sports center and two training camps belonging to the group were also destroyed in the attacks, which plunged Gaza into a blackout as explosions echoed across the city.Medical officials put the total Palestinian death toll at 345 and more than 800 wounded. A United Nations agency said at least 62 of the dead were civilians.The latest attacks came hours after rockets fired by Gazan militants killed an Israeli soldier at a military base near the border with Gaza and a civilian in the city of Ashdod. The Israeli army also amassed armored forces along the frontier.Israeli aircraft also fired missiles at the home of a senior commander in Hamas's armed wing. He was not home. Another attack targeted offices belonging to the Popular Resistance Committees militant group.Broadening their targets to include the Hamas government in Gaza, Israeli warplanes on Monday bombed the Interior Ministry, which supervises 13,000 members of the group's security forces. The building had been evacuated and there were no casualties.Hamas, an Islamist movement that took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 after routing Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, defied the Israeli assaults, the fiercest in the coastal territory since the 1967 Middle East war.Rocket fire from Gaza at Israel intensified immediately after Hamas declared the end of an Egyptian-brokered, six-month-old truce on December 19.With six weeks to go to an election that polls suggest the hawkish right-wing Likud party will win, Israel's centrist government says the offensive aims to put a stop to the rockets.Four Israelis have been killed by rockets since the offensive began four days ago, including three on Monday.Israel declared areas around the Gaza Strip a closed military zone, citing the risk from Palestinian rockets, and ordered out journalists observing a build-up of armored forces.Excluding the press could help Israel conceal preparations for a ground incursion following an air campaign that has turned buildings to rubble and left hospitals struggling to cope.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Joseph Nasr, Editing by Matthew Jones)

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.

Thousands still without power a day after Ontario, Quebec windstorm
Mon Dec 29, 6:04 PM

OTTAWA (CBC) - Thousands of people in Ontario and Quebec remained without power on Monday evening, a day after a weekend storm sent winds tearing through the region at up to 100 km/h and knocked trees onto power lines.More than 230,000 Hydro One customers in Ontario lost power during Sunday's storm, in addition to thousands more Hydro-Québec customers across the border. By 8:30 p.m. ET on Monday, power had been restored to more than half the powerless Hydro One customers, but 78,954 others were expected to spend the evening in the dark. The utility said it expected to have most power restored in most areas within another day or two, but those in remote locations might have to wait until Thursday or Friday.In Quebec, 32,000 customers were still without electricity by 4 p.m. Monday, mostly in the provincial capital region, Hydro-Québec reported.In Ontario, those in the eastern part of the province were the last to be hit by the powerful winds on Sunday, said Hydro One spokeswoman Danièle Gauvin Monday morning, after many people in that region awoke to find their alarm clocks and fridges dark and silent.Gauvin said some of the largest outages Monday were in the Bancroft region, east of Toronto, and in eastern centres including Fenelon Falls, Brockville, Arnprior and Trenton.She added that the utility had 10 helicopters out Monday to help assess and repair the damage. Other utilities have been enlisted to help restore power, but some homes might have to cope without electricity until Wednesday evening, especially in the Huntsville and Bracebridge areas.

On Monday morning around 10 a.m., Ontario Provincial Police shut down a section of Highway 401 between Iroquois and Morrisburg, west of Cornwall, to help Hydro One restore power in the area. The highway had been closed in the same area for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, also due to downed power lines.Elsewhere the high winds knocked down trees, tore shingles off roofs and blew over a tractor-trailer on a highway north of Toronto. No injuries were reported.Environment Canada issued another wind warning for Monday night in the area south of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay as well as the Sault Ste. Marie region in northern Ontario.Two-thirds of the homes and businesses to lose power in Quebec were in the Charlevoix region northeast of Quebec City.Hydro-Québec spokeswoman Hélène Laurin said crews are trying to pinpoint the source of the problem, which they believe is a damaged transmission line between the towns of Château-Richer and Baie Ste-Catherine.There is a helicopter who left from Baie Comeau to try to locate the area where the outages could have occurred. Once we know exactly where it is located and the nature of this outage, we'll let people know the delay to get the power back,said Laurin.By late morning on Monday, Hydro-Québec had restored power to all but 600 remaining customers in Montreal.Laurin said it was still too early to tell when power in other regions would be back up.Most of our clients will recover electricity by end of day today excluding the Laurentian region, the Outaouais region and Charlevoix region, said Laurin.Frances Abele-Kinloch, who lives in Cantley, Que., just north of Gatineau, said she has been without power since noon Sunday and Hydro-Québec now estimates the power won't be back until 5:15 p.m. on Monday.We have water saved and we have a wood stove, so we're managing, but our big concern is the contents of our freezer, of course, she said.Sunday's windstorm also caused damage to several buildings in Montreal. The wind damaged a bus shelter, ripped the front off a store under construction and dislodged a glass panel from a building at Concordia University, causing it to crash to the ground. No one was injured in any of the incidents.With files from the Canadian Press

Streams rise in Midwest following stormy weather By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press Writer – Sun Dec 28, 4:08 pm ET

CHICAGO – Midwesterners got ready for the possibility of flooding Sunday as runoff from heavy rain and melting snowbanks bloated streams, and high wind caused new power outages for thousands in Michigan.Flood warnings were posted Sunday over sections of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and northwest Ohio, the National Weather Service said.Following a week of heavy snow, ice and subzero temperatures, meteorologists said temperatures would rise into the 30s Sunday in the Chicago area, following Saturday's high of 61. Farther east, New York City residents relaxed as temperatures headed for the mid 60s Sunday.In the Chicago suburb of Riverside, authorities encouraged residents along the Des Plaines River to evacuate Saturday night as water rose. The Des Plaines River crested Sunday morning at the city of Des Plaines at nearly 7 feet, the weather service said. Flood stage there is 5 feet.Des Plaines authorities closed a main road for about 10 hours during the night because of water from an overflowing retention pond, said Don Meseth, director of emergency management for the city of Des Plaines.There were a few reports of water in basements, Meseth said.In Illinois' Kane County, several dozen Boy Scouts filled 2,400 sandbags for residents Saturday.They're just concerned with the way we're going to get this quick melt that all the tributaries are going to fill up, said troop leader Jeff Koehl.Some low-lying roads were flooded early Sunday in southwest and central Missouri, the weather service said.Wind gusted to more than 60 mph Sunday in Michigan, knocking down tree limbs and power lines and blacking out about 355,000 homes and businesses. Parts of the state also got about 4 inches of snow.

We've had an intensifying storm system track northeast through the state, said Mark Sekelsky, a weather service meteorologist in Grand Rapids, Mich.Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. said about 215,000 of its customers had no electricity Sunday afternoon, and CMS Energy Corp. subsidiary Consumers Energy said about 140,000 of its customers were blacked out.DTE spokesman Len Singer said more outages were possible and it could be days before power is fully restored. We're still assessing, he said.On Saturday, a line of powerful thunderstorms swept across a wide swath of the Midwest, packing wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph in Illinois, said weather service meteorologist Patrick Bak. The storms also produced hail and funnel clouds were reported in Missouri.High wind also blew away a large section of the roof of a school district administrative building in Springfield, Ill.

Nearly 300 feared dead off Indian coast MSNBC 102 immigrants rescued from boat after hundreds tried to swim to shore DEC 29,08Dec. 29: A suicide bomber veers an SUV toward school children before exploding in Khost, Afghanistan, killing 14. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.updated 2:56 p.m. ET, Mon., Dec. 29, 2008

NEW DELHI - More than 300 illegal immigrants were missing and feared dead off India's eastern coast after they jumped from a rickety boat that had been drifting for 13 days and tried to swim to shore, an official said Monday. Authorities rescued 102 others on the boat.Authorities were searching for the missing people in the waters near the Andaman Islands, where they were believed to have jumped overboard, said Vijay Singh, an Indian coast guard spokesman.Roughly 300 people from Bangladesh and Myanmar had tried to swim to the Andaman Islands by the time Indian officials found the boat and its 102 remaining passengers Saturday, he said.The rescued people were brought to Port Blair, the Andaman capital, Singh said.The Andamans are a remote chain of Indian-ruled islands some 850 miles (1,367 kilometers) off India's east coast. They lie closer to Thailand and Myanmar.The illegal immigrants said they had been detained by Thai authorities for illegally entering Thai waters before they were sent back out to sea, Singh said.Police Lt. Gen. Chatchawal Suksomjit, commander of the Thailand Immigration Office, disputed that claim.

Thai immigration office will never send illegal immigrants back to their countries by putting them back in the boat then let them go, Chatchawal said. Normally, when we arrest them, we will send them back through immigration checkpoints along the border.Poor Bangladeshis often pay up to $300 a head to trafficking syndicates to carry them to Thailand or Malaysia to search for better jobs. They often travel in dangerous boats that have been known to capsize and sink.The Bangladeshis are sometimes joined by Myanmar refugees, mostly Muslims known as Rohingyas, who have fled Myanmar's military junta for Bangladesh.Malaysia estimates there are 500,000 to 700,000 illegal immigrants in the country in addition to more than 2 million legal foreign workers, who mostly work in low-paying menial jobs on construction sites and restaurants. But rights groups says there are 5 million undocumented workers in the country.

CHRISTMAS IN THE HOLY LAND TURNS TO WAR By Joel C. Rosenberg
(Washington, D.C., December 27, 2008) -- War has erupted on the Israel-Gaza border.

Over the past three days - amidst Christmas week in the Holy Land - radical Islamic terrorists in Gaza have fired more than 100 rockets, missiles and mortars at Israeli Jews living in the southern border towns of Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon. Since December 19th, nearly 200 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza. By God's grace, Israeli casualties have been minimal, despite the barrage. Only one Israeli has been killed in the attacks so far. But two Palestinian children - sisters aged 5 and 13 - were killed when a Hamas rocket landed on a house in Gaza rather than Israel. Overnight, the IDF launched a series of aistrikes at Hamas targets to try to stop the missile and rocket onslaught. One report indicates that Israeli warplanes fired upwards of 30 missiles at Hamas targets. Israel's Channel 2, however, reported that 60 planes were involved in the attack, and nearly 100 targets were hit. Hamas leaders say at least 150 Palestinians were killed in the airstrikes, and some 300 were wounded. Those casualty figures have not, however, been verified as of 10am eastern time Saturday. Hamas leaders declared, This is war! Israeli leaders are threatening a full scale invasion of Gaza to root out Hamas and other militants as a new poll finds that 60% of Israelis support an invasion to stop the rocket attacks. Is it the spirit of Islam to kill innocent children? Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday morning. To shoot rockets at kindergartens and at civilians? I do not think that this is the spirit of Islam. Hamas, which does this against the spirit of Islam, is the main reason for your suffering - for all of ours. I say to you in a last-minute call, stop it. Stop it. You the citizens of Gaza, you can stop it. I know how much you want to get up in the morning to quiet, to take your children to kindergarten or school, the way we do….Hamas must be stopped - and so it will be. I will not hesitate to use Israel's strength to strike at Hamas and Islamic Jihad. How? I do not wish to go into details here.Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - currently running for Prime Minister in the Feb. 10th elections - said in Cairo: Enough is enough. When there's shooting, there's a response. Any state would react that way. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak - also running for Prime Minister - also sounded tough, saying, whoever harms the citizens and soldiers of Israel will pay a heavy price.

Are these threats of a full ground war for real? If so, casualties on both sides could mount quickly and a humanitarian crisis could explode. But full scale war is not a foregone conclusion. Olmert, Livni, and Barak have been threatening to invade Gaza for the last several years, as more than 6,000 rockets, missiles and mortars have rained down on some half a million Israelis living near the Gaza border. Yet they have never followed through on their threats. This is a key message point of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been urging Olmert to launch an invasion and stop the violence immediately rather than merely repeat empty threats. I do not know of a country that would be hit by this many missiles and not do anything, Netanyahu said Wednesday. We must stop being hit and attack in order to renew our deterrence capability and our national honor. Netanyahu is currently leading in the polls in his own bid to be Prime Minister, in part because Israelis see him as stronger on defense than Livni and Barak. But should the current government launch an aggressive and effective assault on the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza, this could dramatically help Livni and Barak in the polls and cause Netanyahu to lose ground. Please be praying for Israel's current political and military leaders to have the wisdom and courage to the right thing to protect their citizens. Pray, too, that the Lord would raise of up more leaders in the Jewish State who will be like the sons of Issachar described in I Chronicles 12:32, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do. Pray for the Israeli families who are suffering in many ways due to the relentless barrage of rocket fire from Gaza. Meanwhile, please pray for Palestinian leaders to effectively confront the Hamas radicals and shut down their terrorist operations. Please pray for all the Palestinian families who are victims of both war and terrorism. And please don't forget to pray faithfully and consistently for evangelical Christians on both sides of the border and around the world to know how best to help Israelis and Palestinians who are caught in the crossfire and suffering as a result. The Joshua Fund is currently providing aid to citizens in the Israeli town of Sderot and will continue to do so, as the Lord provides funding and open doors.

REPORT FROM INSIDE THE ISRAELI WAR ZONE Joshua Fund mobilizing evangelical Christians all over the world to pray for peace and to help provide emergency relief aid to victims of war and terror. By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Denver, Colorado, December 29, 2008) -- Last night, I received a report by email from inside the Israeli war zone, from an evangelical friend in the Israeli town of Sderot, located on the southern border with Gaza. Yesterday was a day full of explosions on both sides [of the border], he wrote. I have temporarily moved out of my apartments [and] am staying with a friend with a bomb shelter maybe 30 feet away….I realize more and more that I am not in control of my life and I am thankful that G-d is. Between tank fire and jets flying overhead it is a bit nerve-wracking, but again I know who holds my life in His hand and I know I need to be about my Father's business….We have been told that the worst is yet to come and we should plan on having enough food on hand until the end of March….Just as He has always been to His children in the past, I know once again He will be faithful - that's who He is, the Faithful One.On Saturday, I received an email from a Jewish friend who also lives in Sderot. I just finished reading the Flash Traffic you've sent today, he wrote. Being held here in Sderot since this morning under marshal law, it was one of the good things that I enjoyed today and your report was excellent. I also join you in prayer tha the leaders here will have the wisdom and courage to destroy terrorists…in Hamastan-ruled-Gaza….We are under fire, but we know that He will protect us.

The Joshua Fund is doing everything we can to stand with these and other friends and to let them know that they are not alone. We are mobilizing evangelical Christians all over the world to pray for peace on the Israel-Gaza border and to show unconditional love and unwavering support. We are asking you and others to continue praying for wisdom and courage for Israel's leaders as they seek to decimate the Hamas terrorist infrastructure and reacquire the deterrence factor lost during the 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

* Please pray for the half million Israelis living within rocket and missile range of Gaza. They and their children have no idea what today and tomorrow hold.

* Pray for the Lord to comfort and calm their hearts. Please pray for the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, many of whom find themselves trapped in the crossfire of a war that Hamas started but that they as individuals and families don't want.

* Please pray for the wounded on both sides, and the families who have lost loved ones.

* Please also lift up the believers in Jesus in Israel and Gaza who are seeking the Lord's strength to help them love their neighbors and their enemies in real and practical ways in the name of Jesus.

* Pray that the believers can be lights in the darkness, bringing good news and hope to those who feel hopeless and alone.

* Finally, please pray that the Lord would be gracious to provide our Joshua Fund leadership team with wisdom to know how best to help those who are now victims of war and terrorism, and sufficient financial resources to meet those needs quickly and wisely.

Hamas terrorists have shown no signs of surrendering their vicious, evil war against the Jews of Israel. As of 4pm Israel time (9am eastern) on Monday, at least 50 rockets and missiles had been fired from Gaza at the Israeli towns of Sderot, Ashkelon and Ashdod. Israeli military forces, meanwhile, continue to pummel Hamas headquarters, rocket launching pads, and other military infrastructure. The deputy chief of staff of the IDF is warning Israeli that, We are just at the beginning of the battle, this will not be hasty. The worst is not behind us -- it is still ahead of us, and we should be prepared for this. Our resilience will be determine by the functioning of the authority and the way the civilians are protected.I'm soon boarding a plane back to D.C. Will update you more as I can. God bless you. To visit Joel's new weblog site and get the latest developments in Israel, Russia and the epicenter -- including links to stories mentioned in this Flash Traffic report -- please click here

To join more than 80,000 other >> FLASH TRAFFIC << subscribers who are receiving (free) geopolitical and prayer updates from Israel and the epicenter, please click here. To purchase a copy of EPICENTER 2.0 from Amazon.com (32% off), please click here. To learn more about The Joshua Fund's efforts to bless Israel and her neighbors and to make a tax-deductible financial contribution -- by mail or on-line -- please click here. To visit Joel's website -- www.joelrosenberg.com -- please click here.

THE FUTURE OF THE U.S., ISRAEL AND RADICAL ISLAM? Three webcasts

What does the future hold for the U.S., Israel and the people of the Muslim world? What are the threats we face? How ought followers of Jesus Christ live in light of dramatic and dangerous geopolitical and religious trends?

On Sunday, December 7th -- the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 -- Lt.-General (ret.) William Jerry Boykin and I were honored to speak on such issues at four events in San Diego, including two morning church services at Horizon Christian Fellowship, a luncheon with business and political leaders, and an evening church service where we did an extended question & answer session. Boykin, who has become a dear friend, is a founding member of the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force. He later became the commander of Delta, and then was in charge of training 10,000 special forces at Fort Bragg, before being promoted to Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. He is also the author of the must-read memoir, Never Surrender. The General and I spoke on the threats facing the United States and Israel from Radical Islam and the risk of being blindsided by future attacks. During the morning services, I focused on what Bible prophecy says about the future of the Middle East and the world. During the evening session, I gave a sneak preview of Inside The Revolution, which will be released March 10th of next year. I also talked about the work of The Joshua Fund to bless Israel and her neighbors with food, clothing, medical supplies and other relief aid. If you have time, I would encourage you to watch the following webcasts. Special thanks to Horizon's senior pastor Mike MacIntosh and his team for inviting us and hosting such great events. Together, we are organizing the first-ever U.S. Epicenter Conference for next spring. Details coming soon. Also, several weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking at a wonderful evangelical congregation in Israel. There, I spoke on the urgent need for godly, Christ-centered leadership as the world faces dangerous, uncertain times. I hope you will have some time to watch this webcast as well. See link below.
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As always, we will do our best to keep you up-to-date on the kinds of projects we are doing, and brief you on how those projects are proceeding. We will also let you know about the kinds of projects we are developing for the future. In no way do we want to pressure anyone to give financially. We fully believe the Lord will provide for the needs of the people we seek to serve. But if you or others wish to help, we welcome your support, and all financial gifts are tax-deductible. If you would like to make a year-end contribution to the on-going work of The Joshua Fund please make your check payable to The Joshua Fund and send to: The Joshua Fund 18950 Base Camp Road Monument, Colorado 80132-8009.

I RI PRAYER BULLETIN - JANUARY 2009 Isaiah 62:10 ... Go thru, go thru the gates, Prepare the way for the people, build up, build up the highway, take out the stones

Shalom Everyone - blessings to you from Mt. Carmel......As most of you are all aware late last week, following the refusal of Hamas to renew the cease fire, Israel was struck by more than 60 rockets in just one day, and on Saturday morning, the IAF (Israeli Air Force) began to strike specific Hamas installations in Gaza City.The situation here is getting more serious as each day passes. Late Monday morning missiles hit the large city of Ashkelon, killing one and injuring 14, and more rockets are now falling on Sderot also causing injuries. The large cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon are sensitive areas because of the large populations and the fact that missiles are now reaching there and causing death and injuries are sure to cause an escalation in the current conflict.At this point both Israel and Hamas are ignoring international calls to halt the violence and for both sides, it would mean a show of weakness to back down at this point. Therefore the next few days will probably mean an increase of casualites on both sides.Our IDF (infantry and tanks ) are now positioned at the border waiting for their instructions. - The Israeli Government is reluctant to send the IDF in on the ground as it will mean high casualties amongst the soldiers, however, if the air attack does not achieve its goal of eliminating the rocket fire, then Israel may have no other option to send the soldiers in. Jordan our son and his best friend Avi who are in the same combat unit are of course involved in this - please pray for them by name and also pray for all the other soldiers.We covet your prayers for supernatural protection for ALL our soldiers.

Pray that the same power that God displayed when He delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians would once again be manifest in the midst of this battle.Pray the Angel of His presence will be in the midst of our army and in the midst of our enemies.Pray the eyes of our enemies will be opened to see the Angel of His presence
Pray for civilians in the towns of Ashkelon and Sderot for total safety and protection.Pray for confusion into the camp of our enemies, confoundedness, and all plans to be aborted.Pray for supernatural wisdom, guidance, and discernment for our chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi and his leaders.Pray for hosts of angels to surround our borders and be in the midst of our soldiers. Pray the word of the Lord, which is our rod, our sword. Pray, Psalm 35, Psalm 33: 10-21, Psalm 37: 12-21, Psalm 46, Psalm 68: 34,35 Psalm 83, Psalm 140:4,5,7 Deut 3:21,22 , Exodus 15: 6 -17 and of course there are so many more scriptures -

ALIYAH - Zechariah 10:8...... For I will redeem them and they will be as numerous as they were before .....Five hundred Jews from the U.S., Russia, England and South Africa will make their new home in Israel between now and the end of this year. The parade of new immigrants will begin with a planeload of 100 from the former Soviet Union Tuesday afternoon. After arriving in Ben Gurion International Airport, they will participate in a special Chanukah candle lighting ceremony in their honor.Five more aliyah (immigration to Israel) flights will arrive on the last three days of the year. On Dec. 29, two flights will arrive from New York and one from London, all with new olim aboard. Two days later, a large group of 190 new immigrants will arrive from New York, and later that night, in the waning hours of 2009, a planeload of 100 new Israelis will arrive from South Africa. The Aliyah flights from the U.S. and Britain are in cooperation with Nefesh B’Nefesh.The flight from South Africa is notable, says Jewish Agency spokesman Michael Jankelowitz, because of the large increase in Aliyah from that country. The number of South African olim will have approximately doubled this year; 178 arrived in 2007, and over 350 this year. Though Aliyah in general dropped from just over 18,100 in 2007 (over 19,000 in 2006) to some 16,500 this year, Jankelowitz emphasizes that this is mainly because of the dwindling number of Jews who comprise the Aliyah pool in the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. Ethiopia, where Aliyah is essentially ended, Jankelowitz says, saw 1,700 come this year, as opposed to 3,600 the year before. From the former Soviet Union, 6,100 will have come this year, as opposed to 6,500 in 2007.

In general, Jankelowitz says that most Aliyah at present is what is called “Aliyah of choice – no one is running away from anything, but rather choosing to come to Israel for positive reasons.” In this connection, he notes that Australian Aliyah is up by about a third, from 122 in 2007, to 165 this year. In addition, 90 new Israelis came from Mexico, up from 66. Please pray for the remaining Jews in the diaspora to be released from the attachments of wealth and security, possessions and positions and worldly ambitions. That they would be weaned from comforts, cultures and countries that prevent them from making Aliyah - Please pray that the Lord will give revelation to His people of His desire and plan for them to return to their homeland, Israel -- Please pray for their protection and guidance, provision and financial means to accomplish the move. Employment, housing and successful resettlement on arrival, and success in learning the Hebrew language.

Please pray for those working as emissaries in assisting those desiring to make Aliyah to locate records, providing proof of their Jewish identify and to obtain the release of these crucial documents. Please pray also for the Christian organisations working to practically and physically bring the Jewish people home such as, Christian Friends for Israel, Ebenezer, International Christian Embassy and others. Please pray also for the Jewish agency and their emissaries out in USA, Canada, and Europe mainly, doing all they can to promote and encourage Jewish people to return home.

Intercessors for the Restoration of Israel Prayer Summit - 10-18 MAY, 2009

DEUTERONOMY 3:21- 24 - THE GREATNESS OF OUR GOD AND THE STRONG ARM OF ELOHAI ISRAEL WILL DELIVER ISRAEL

I am inviting intercessors and watchmen of this hour to come and watch with us for a week in the land of Israel. The Exodus from Egypt I believe is the greatest display of the God of Israel's power, next to the resurrection power that raised His son from the grave, delivering the Jewish people from their tyrant enemies. The Mighty One of Israel is on watch again to bring about the greatest deliverance Israel and the nations will ever see,exceeding the power He demonstrated before, during and after the Exodus of the Jewish people. The Lord stretched out His mighty arm, to show His greatness and to gain honor over Pharoah and the Egyptian army and to display His awesome power. He is readying Himself, to do it again and to deliver us from our virulent enemies of today In Isaiah 30 He says He will cause His arm to descend upon the enemies of Israel.Joshua's eyes saw the greatness and power of the arm of God destroying Israel's enemies, and told him he would do the same to Israel's enemies in all other kingdoms / nations - He also told Joshua that they were not to fear their enemies, because He, their God Himself fights for Israel

Please would you seriously consider coming to remind our King of His promises and to ask Him to stretch out His arm of great power and to deliver Israel , and to cry mercy.There are registrations available, but we advise if you are sensing a nudge to be a part of this vital time together here in the land, then make your registrations soon.For further details, please email me at josie9@netvision.net.il or kiwi@netvision.net.ilFull details will also be posted very soon on the website.

With hearts full of gratitude for the spiritual army the Lord has raised up to stand with Israel in these dangerous times.Josie. www.iri.out-of-zion.com

Israel War Update from Netiv Ha-Asara just a few kilometers from GazaSunday, December 28, 2008 3:29 PM

From: Messianic Bible .Things are very serious here in Israel, and it could very well be the beginning of the third uprising/third anti-fada. It could also lead to an all out Arab attack against Israel from some of her surrounding neighbors (Syrian and Lebanon/Hezbollah in the North) as well as in Gaza. On Israel radio this afternoon, they said: We are not at War.Since Saturday my cousins have been in the bomb shelters in their home as the sirens wail, warming them to go into the shelters. In two days Hamas launched 150 rockets into Israel (that is what started the conflict in the first place).Two years ago, Israel gave up control of the Gaza strip, and as we see, giving up land will never lead to peace. Hamas is a terrorist organization, though it is also the local government of Gaza. My cousins: Yossi, Betty, and Maor live just 5 kilometers from Gaza in a Moshav (little suburb of about 50 homes). If you look on a map, it is in the backyard of Gaza. Since June they have been under attack by missiles, but nothing like what we have seen in the past week, and this led the Israeli government to take action.To see where my family lives on a map click on this link: http://maps.google.comThen cut and paste this and click search maps: Netiv Ha-Asara, Israel

I have been calling my cousins regularly to see how they are, and all they can hear behind the house are the mortar shells going off from both sides. The wailing warning sirens continuously go off and they have to go into the bomb shelters in their home every time they hear the sirens. My other cousin Alon, works in the Tel Aviv central command post of the army and he said today that they expect this war “on terrorism” to go on for another three weeks.Since June, rockets have landed in their backyard fields, and two years ago, a Qassam rocket smashed into a neighbor’s house, destroying the house and killing her instantly.As former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said: If San Diego was being shelled by rockets from Tijuana, Mexico would the U.S. government sit by and do nothing or would they do everything to stop the rocket attacks into California? And President Bush, Obama, and International leaders have condemned Hamas.Please understand that Israel’s targets are not civilians. Over the past year they have gained intelligence on the locations of where Hamas is storing its weapons, and Israel’s only goal is to “destory” their weaponry which they have been using to fire on Israel’s civilian population. Most of the people killed are Hamas operatives. Unfortunately the Gaza civilian population hides the Hamas operatives and their weapons within the civilian population therefore there has been civilian casualties. Yesterday, Israel helped a Palestinian Hamas terrorist after being wounded by rushing them to an Israeli Tel Aviv hospital to save his life. Your prayers are most appreciated for my family who lives next to the Gaza strip and for the Israeli Believers here in the Land who fighting in this battle. Today 6500 reservists have been put on alert for duty.It is too early to know where this war will go, however your prayers for safety are most appreciated.

ISRAEL TRYING TO STOP ARAB ROCKETS

Feiglin No Surprised by High Court Decision DEC 28,08

(IsraelNN.com) Jewish Leadership faction leader Moshe Feiglin has termed the High Court the main stay of the dictatorship that controls Israel [that] reveals its true face and threatens to restore the State of Israel to the People of Israel. In an e-mail letter to supporters, Feiglin said that Sunday's court decision overturning a lower court ruling and leaving him in 36th place on the Likud Knesset candidate lists came as no surprise.After the Likud ruled that Feiglin would be dropped from his 20th place following party elections, Feiglin said he would not appeal to the courts because he did not trust the judicial system. However, MK Michael Ratzon applied to the courts and won a lower court appeal until Sunday's High Court reversal.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they 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.

THE ARABS/MUSLIMS AROUND THE WORLD ARE COMPLAINING THAT ISRAEL IS BOMBING GAZA,THEY ARE NOT HAPPY,I HEARD NO RESPONSE FROM RUSSIA YET.IF RUSSIA STARTS GETTING INVOLVED LOOKOUT IT COULD BE EZEKIEL 38+39 READY TO HAPPEN. SO WATCH REAL CLOSELY FOR RUSSIA IN CASE LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS THEY COME AGAINST ISRAEL LIKE A STORM.

ISRAEL POUNDS GAZA FOR 2ND DAY
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSLS69391620081228?sp=true

Israeli troops mobilize as Gaza assault widens By IBRAHIM BARZAK and KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writers DEC 28,08

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel widened its deadliest-ever air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers Sunday, pounding smuggling tunnels and government strongholds, sending more tanks and artillery toward the Gaza border and activating thousands of reservists for a possible ground invasion.Israeli leaders said they would press ahead with the Gaza campaign, despite enraged protests across the Arab world and Syria's decision to break off indirect peace talks with the Jewish state. Israel's foreign minister said the goal was to halt Gaza rocket fire on Israel for good, but not to reoccupy the territory.With the two-day death toll nearing 300 Sunday, crowds of Gazans breached the border wall with Egypt to escape the chaos. Egyptian forces, some firing in the air, tried to push them back into Gaza and an official said one border guard was killed.Hamas, in turn, fired rockets deeper than ever into Israel, near the Israeli port city of Ashdod.Yet Hamas leaders were forced into hiding, most of the dead were from the Hamas security forces, and Israel's military intelligence chief said Hamas' ability to fire rockets had been reduced by 50 percent. Indeed, Hamas rockets fire dropped off sharply, from more than 130 on Saturday to just over 20 on Sunday. Still, Hamas continues to command some 20,000 fighters.Israel's intense bombings — some 300 air strikes since midday Saturday — wreaked unprecedented destruction in Gaza, reducing entire buildings to rubble.After nightfall, Israeli aircraft attacked a building in the Jebaliya refugee camp next to Gaza City, killing a 14-month-old baby, a man and two women, Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said. In the southern town of Rafah, Palestinian residents said a toddler and his two teenage brothers were killed in an airstrike aimed at a Hamas commander.

Israeli aircraft also bombed the Islamic University and government compound in Gaza City, centers of Hamas power, and the house next to the residence of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in a Gaza City refugee camp. Haniyeh, in hiding, was not home.Shlomo Brom, a former senior Israeli military official, said it was the deadliest force ever used in decades of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Since Hamas took over Gaza (in June 2007), it has become a war between two states, and in war between states, more force is used, he said.European leaders called on both Israel and Hamas to end the bloodshed.French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads a rival government to Hamas in the West Bank, and condemned the provocations that led to this situation as well as the disproportionate use of force.The White House was mum about the situation in Gaza on Sunday after speaking out expansively on Saturday, blaming Hamas for provoking Israel's retaliatory strikes.In the most dramatic attacks Sunday, warplanes struck dozens of smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border, cutting off a lifeline that had supplied Hamas with weapons and Gaza with commercial goods. The influx of goods had helped Hamas defy an 18-month blockade of Gaza by Israel and Egypt, and was key to propping up its rule.Sunday's blasts shook the ground several miles away and sent black smoke high into the sky. Earlier, warplanes dropped three bombs on one of Hamas' main security compounds in Gaza City, including a prison. Moments after the blasts, frantic inmates, their faces dusty and bloodied, scrambled down the rubble. One man, still half buried, raised a hand to alert rescuers.Gaza's nine hospitals were overwhelmed. Hassanain, who keeps a record for the Gaza Health Ministry, said more than 290 people were killed over two days and more than 800 wounded.The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which keeps researchers at all hospitals, said it had counted 251 dead by midday Sunday, and that among them were 20 children under the age of 16 and nine women.

Across Gaza, families pitched traditional mourning tents of green tarp outside homes. Yet the rows of chairs inside these tents remained largely empty, as residents cowered indoors for fear of new Israeli strikes.Israeli leaders gave interviews to foreign television networks to try win international support. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, speaking Arabic, spoke on Arab satellite TV stations, denouncing Hamas rule in Gaza. And Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told NBC that the assault came because Hamas, an Islamic group backed by Syria and Iran, is smuggling weapons and building a small army.In Jerusalem, Israel's Cabinet approved a callup of 6,500 reserve soldiers, raising fears of an impending ground offensive. Israel has doubled the number of troops on the Gaza border since Saturday and also deployed an artillery battery. It was not clear, though, whether the deployment was meant to pressure Hamas or whether Israel is determined to send ground troops. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it was unclear when the operation would end but told his Cabinet was liable to last longer than we are able to foresee at this time.Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, after 38 years of full military occupation, Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to the territory to hunt militants. However, Israel has shied away from retaking the entire strip, for fear of getting bogged down in urban warfare.

The diplomatic fallout, meanwhile, was swift.

Syria decided to suspend indirect peace talks with Israel, begun earlier this year, and the U.N. Security Council called on both sides to halt the fighting and asked Israel to allow humanitarian supplies into Gaza; 30 trucks were let in Sunday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to open its crossings for the continuous provision of humanitarian supplies. In a statement, he said one Palestinian U.N. employee, and eight trainees, were among the dead. The prime minister of Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries to have relations with Israel, called the air assault a crime against humanity.The carnage inflamed Arab and Muslim public opinion, setting off street protests across the West Bank, in an Arab community in Israel, in several Middle Eastern cities and in Paris. Some of the protests turned violent. Israeli troops quelling a West Bank march killed one Palestinian and seriously wounded another. A crowd of anti-Israel protesters in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul became a target for a suicide bomber on a bicycle. In Lebanon, police fired tear gas to stop demonstrators from reaching the Egyptian Embassy. Egypt, which has served as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians as well as between Hamas and its rival Fatah, has been criticized for joining Israel in closing its borders with Gaza. The blockade was imposed after the Hamas takeover in June 2007. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called on Hamas to renew its truce with Israel. The cease-fire began unraveling last month, and formally ended more than a week ago. Since then, Gaza militants had stepped up rocket fire on Israel. A Hamas leader in exile, Osama Hamdan, said the movement would not relent. We have one alternative, which is to be steadfast and resist and then we will be victorious, Hamdan said in Beirut. Also in Beirut, Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah militia, said he would not abandon Hamas, but did not threaten to attack Israel. During the Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006, the militia fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in cities and towns in Gaza rocket range, and life slowed in some of the communities. Schools in communities in a 12-mile radius from Gaza were ordered to remain closed beyond the weeklong Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which ends Monday. In the southern city of Ashkelon, home to some 120,000 people, streets were relatively busy, despite the military's recommendations against being out in the open. Several times throughout the day, however, that routine was briefly interrupted by the sounds of wailing sirens warning of an imminent attack. Pedestrians scurried for cover in buildings. After a number of rocket landed in the distance, a woman taking cover nearby briefly fainted. She refused water and food from bystanders, instead shivering in a corner, apparently in shock. Additional reporting by Aron Heller in Ashkelon, Israel. Karin Laub reported from Jerusalem.

EU expresses grave concern at Israeli attacks on Gaza
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today DEC 28,08 @ 03:01 CET

The European Union has expressed its grave concern at Israel's continuing attacks on the Gaza Strip that have killed close to 300 Palestinians and injured around 900, and called the airstrikes unacceptable while calling on both sides to halt military actions.France, in one of its final acts as the outgoing chair of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, in a statement said the 27-country bloc condemns the disproportionate use of force of both parties to the conflict.There is no military solution in Gaza, the communique continued, urging the re-opening of all checkpoints and the immediate resumption of fuel and humanitarian aid deliveries.On Saturday (27 December), Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships launched attacks against police stations, civilian houses and medical centres in the Gaza Strip. Israel says the actions are in a retaliation for Palestinian rocket and mortar fire on regions in the south of the Jewish state. The Wednesday ahead of the assault, around 70 Palestinian rockets hit Israel over a 24-hour period.Palestinian officials estimate that the bombings have killed 285 Palestinians and wounded some 900 individuals.

EU foreign relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner expressed grave concern at the ongoing Israeli military air strikes in the Gaza Strip, and called on all sides to exercise the utmost restraint and ... return immediately to the ceasefire.The bloc's chief diplomat, Javier Solana, also said that the attacks were inflicting an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians, and called on Tel Aviv to re-open Gaza border crossings.Mr Solana added that the EU was ready to resume its monitoring mission at the Rafah checkpoint.

Both sides criticised

If the emphasis was on the Palestinian deaths, EU leaders were however careful to criticise both Israeli and Palestinian actions.French President Nicholas Sarkozy separately expressed his great concern at the violence. Having spoken with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of Hamas rival al Fatah, the French leader denounced the provocations that led to this situation as well as the disproportionate use of force.UK foreign minister David Miliband used similar language, saying that he and Prime Minister Gordon Brown were following the situation with grave concern.Mr Brown had also said Israel should do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties.According to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, the country's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, meanwhile placed blame for the renewal of conflict with Hamas' and its decision to end its truce with Israel, calling on the group to immediately and permanently stop the insufferable rocket attacks on Israel, while calling on the Jewish state to maintain proportion in its actions.Finnish foreign minister Alexander Stubb, said: Finland condemns the escalation of violence in Gaza and urges the parties to calm down the situation. Finland is particularly worried about the rapid deterioration of the civilian living conditions in Gaza. The Israeli air strikes have demanded a disproportionate amount of civilian victims and they must end immediately, he added. Simultaneously Hamas and other extremist groups must immediately cease their rocket attacks. The parties must reinstate the truce without delay.

Meanwhile, having spoken to his counterparts across Europe, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said: Europe has a role to play, to de-escalate the violence, noting that the assault on Gaza has occurred while there is both a vacancy of power in Israel and the US.Israel is heading into general elections, while the US awaits the inauguration of president-elect Barack Obama.Mr Kouchner spoke to Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on Saturday (27 December). The French foreign minister hopes to encourage Cairo in its attempts to relaunch the peace process between the two belligerents.The Egyptians are capable of restarting the peace process, we must help them, said the French minister.In June, Egypt managed to broker a six-month ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Israel however resumed its blockade of the Gaza Strip.According to the United Nations, as a result of the blockade, Gazans receive running water once every five to seven days and food supplies are dangerously low. UN operations in Gaza ran out of food two weeks ago for the first time in 60 years, according to the Times of London, which also reports that families are eating wild grass for nourishment.

Protests

The president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, also condemned both sides, but underscored that the massive Israeli reaction which killed more than 270 people and injured hundreds, is an escalation that is totally disproportionate.A life of a Palestinian has the same value as the life of an Israeli, he said.Protests against the Israeli attacks have kicked off across Europe, with thousands demonstrating in London, Paris, Madrid and elsewhere. Large rallies also took place in Turkey, a candidate for EU membership. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called Israel's actions a crime against humanity.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU PA leader begged Israel to hit Hamas To world, however, Abbas condemns Gaza strikes as barbaric, unnecessary December 27, 2008 6:32 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

JAFFA, Israel – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his office today slammed as barbaric and unnecessary Israel's air strikes in Gaza, but according to top diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, Abbas for months now has been petitioning Israel to launch a massive military raid against his Hamas rivals in Gaza. The sources, speaking to WND on condition of anonymity, said Abbas and his top representatives have waged a quiet campaign for months asking the Israeli government to target Hamas in Gaza just before his term in office is scheduled to expire on Jan. 9. Hamas leaders have repeatedly warned they will not recognize Abbas after the 9th, and that they will launch a major campaign to delegitimize the PA president and install their own figures to lead the Palestinian government. Abbas hopes a large-scale Israeli military campaign in Gaza would distract Hamas from attempting to undermine his rule, the diplomatic sources told WND. It's an open secret among the diplomatic and military brass, one Israeli diplomatic source said. The campaign from Abbas for us to attack Hamas in Gaza has been intensive.Do you really want to understand the conflict in the Middle East? You have to listen to what the terrorists say behind closed doors. Only one man has been listening to them - Aaron Klein, WND's Jerusalem bureau chief and author of Schmoozing With Terrorists. Get it now from the people who published it - WND Books.The source insisted, however, that today's airstrikes were not aimed at helping Abbas, and that Israel hoped to quickly conclude a cease-fire agreement with Hamas whereby Israeli military operations would be suspended.Despite reported behind-the-scenes advocacy of action against Hamas, Abbas today publicly chastised Israel for the Gaza airstrike. Speaking during a visit to Saudi Arabia, he told reporters, There are no reasons for the Israeli raids. Abbas' office in the West Bank released a statement condemning the raids as Israeli aggression and calling for restraint. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, an aid to Abbas, called Israel's actions in Gaza barbaric.

Hamas planning new PLO to compete with U.S.-backed Abbas

In a move that could have monumental ramifications, the Hamas terrorist organization is quietly working to create its own Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, to compete with the well-known group of the same namesake headed by Abbas, Hamas officials told WND earlier this week. The effort is part of a larger expected Hamas campaign to delegitimize Abbas after Jan. 9. According to sources close to Abbas, of all the moves Hamas is planning, the PA chief is most worried about the creation of a second PLO to compete with the group he heads, which has long been dominated by his Fatah party. The PLO has been recognized since the 1960s as the sole representative body of the Palestinian people and is the signatory of major agreements with Israel, including the 1993 Oslo Accords. Hamas officials told WND their group is in the process of building a second PLO, which would be a grand coalition of major Palestinian groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in Lebanon, and even part of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which has until now leaned toward Fatah. According to sources in Hamas, some members of Fatah, including Faruq Al-Khadumi, chief of the political bureau of the PLO, assisted in a recent meeting in which Hamas presented the possibility of creating a new PLO. The original PLO was founded by late-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian figures in 1964. It incorporates major Palestinian groups friendly to Fatah, including the PFLP. The creation of a new PLO might be the final nail in Abbas' political coffin after his term in office expires.

Top Hamas officials told WND in recent interviews that their group, which won 2006 parliamentary elections, will no longer recognize Abbas after Jan. 9. At midnight on the 10th, we are removing all of Abu Mazen's (Abbas') pictures from official buildings and institutions throughout the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud al-Zahar, chief of Hamas in Gaza, told WND. Do you believe in democracy? al-Zahar asked, speaking by cell phone from Gaza. If you do then you will accept that Abbas will no longer be the president. Legally, the leadership of the PA falls to us until new elections are held.Abbas has said he will take advantage of a law whereby he can declare emergency rule and remain PA president until early 2010. A new poll published by the Western-oriented Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research released earlier this month showed 64 percent of Palestinians believe Abbas' term should not be prolonged. Only 24 percent believe he should remain in office. The polls seem to reflect larger trends within Palestinian society that are likely deeply troubling for Abbas. During the 2006 elections, Hamas not only won two-thirds of the vote, but the terror group swept the vote in important so-called refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, in spite of Fatah's strong presence there. The numbers proved Hamas has major support in the camps, which could be instrumental in its plans to establish another PLO. The move could have major ramifications for U.S. and Israeli policy. Both countries consider Fatah to be moderate and have engaged in talks seeking to create a Fatah-led Palestinian state. And since most major Israeli-Palestinian agreements are signed by the PLO, the creation of a new organization could signal the end of Palestinian responsibility to the agreements if a second PLO indeed takes off.

Meanwhile, Abbas has successfully enlisted the help of Egypt in slowing down the emergence of a new PLO. According to officials in Hamas speaking to WND, the group originally planned to debut the competing PLO before January. But, the officials said, Egypt last month pressed Syria to petition Hamas to halt their efforts for the time being, pending the outcome of political uncertainty after Abbas' term expires. The Hamas officials said they will wait until at least January.

Arab protesters demand response to Gaza Sun Dec 28, 12:23 PM
By Aseel Kami and Sabah al-Bazee

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Protesters burned Israeli and U.S. flags on Sunday in a string of Arab countries and demanded a stronger response from their leaders to Israel's attack on Gaza.Arab silence is behind the bombings, read a banner held by one of several thousand people who turned out in the Sunni Arab city of Samarra north of Baghdad.The Israeli raids, some of the worst in 60 years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, incensed many in the Arab world, where many governments are seen by popular Islamist movements as collaborators with the United States or Israel.America and the Zionists are the leaders of world terrorism, read a placard held by protesters at the U.N. headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut. They demanded U.N. intervention to end the Israeli onslaught.Similar protests were held in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, home to some 400,000 refugees displaced when Israel was established in 1948.In Amman, Jordanian deputies burned an Israeli flag during a parliamentary session on Sunday to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

Deputies also demanded the kingdom, the second Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel, sever diplomatic ties with its neighbor and expel its ambassador.In the second day of protests in the Jordanian capital, hundreds of people marched to the Egyptian embassy to demand Cairo throw open its border with Gaza, ending the blockade imposed on the coastal strip for much of the time since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.In the center of the Syrian capital Damascus, thousands of people carrying Palestinian and Syrian flags filled streets around a popular square, chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans and burned an American flag.Victory belongs to heroic Gaza, one banner said. Until when will the Arab silence continue? read another.In Baladiyat, a Baghdad district inhabited by many Palestinians given refuge in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, men waved banners and condemned Arab nations for not doing enough to support Palestinians.We have been waiting for action from Arab leaders for almost 60 years, Jaleel al-Qasus, the Palestinian envoy to Iraq, said during the protest by several hundred people.

Our efforts have been in vain.

Scores of protesters tried to approach the Egyptian embassy in Beirut to demand Egypt open up its borders to Gaza, where 1.5 million Palestinians live under Israeli and Egyptian blockade. Police used tear gas to stop the demonstrators approaching.In Egypt itself, protesters gathered in Cairo and five other towns, security sources said. They burned Israeli flags and carried placards denouncing Israel.Scuffles broke out outside the Israeli embassy in London on after more than 700 demonstrators gathered to protest. Police said two or three people had been arrested but the Israeli embassy denied protesters had got into the embassy itself.In Madrid, hundreds of Palestinians, Muslims and anti-war activists rallied outside the Israeli Embassy. Protesters waved placards that read Israel Genocide.

SUICIDE BOMBER

A teenage boy was killed in one protest in the volatile northern Iraqi city of Mosul when a suicide bomber on a bicycle detonated explosives in a crowd of around 300 protesters.It was not clear why the bomber would have targeted an anti-Israeli rally. Police said 17 people were wounded in the attack in Mosul.Several thousand people protested in the Iraqi city of Samarra and a few hundred took to the streets in Falluja. Iraq hosted 30,000 Palestinian refugees before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.The office of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the reclusive cleric who has influence among Shi'ites in Iraq, issued a statement condemning what he called a savage operation.The Arab and Muslim world demand, more than ever, a practical stance to stop this never-ending offensive, it said.Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree ordering Muslims around the world to defend Palestinians in Gaza against Israeli attacks in any way possible.Several protests were held in Tehran, including one by Iranian lawmakers chanting Death to Israel.

In Yemen, the ruling party organized a demonstration attended mainly by civil servants who agreed at a stadium in the capital Sanaa to send a ship with humanitarian aid to Gaza.Protesters chanted, Gaza, your blood is our blood!Additional reporting by Nadim Ladki in Beirut, Aziz El-Kaissouni in Cairo, Juan Medina in Madrid, Jodie Ginsberg in London and Mohamed Ghobari in Sanaa; Writing by Missy Ryan and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Bush,Rice and all his advisors in the Whitehouse do not believe in Prophecy thats why they gladly during their term were willing to Divide Jerusalem in to a 2 state solution. This crew believed in Replacement Theology,that Jerusalem means something historically,but not no Bible Significence. This Crew replaces Israel with the Church and Jerusalem with Heaven thats why no Biblical significence of Jerusalem by this crew. Meanwhile In Joel 3:2 it says When Jerusalem is divided,WW3 occurrs.

THESE ARE ALL WATCHING VIDEOS
Listen to DEC 5 Mike Evans interview
http://www.god.tv/god/end_times?region_req=apocalypse

Listen to Dec 12 Grant Jeffrey
http://www.god.tv/god/end_times?region_req=apocalypse

Listen to Dec 6 PARTS 1-3,Dec 13 PARTS 1-3
Chuck Missler and Mark Eastman on Aliens a must see truth.
http://www.god.tv/god/end_times?region_req=alien

Listen to International Prophecy conference
http://www.god.tv/god/end_times?region_req=ipc

YAHOO NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video

MIDEAST CONFLICT NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/1874;_ylt=A0wNcxFdg6xIgbkAwD6z174F

ABC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2461

FOX NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3074

FOX BUSINESS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3045

AP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2529

BBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2918

REUTERS VIDEO NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/video/2704

AFP NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3091

CNBC NEWS VIDEO
http://news.yahoo.com/video/3245

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

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS MON DEC 29,2008

09:30 AM -5.90
10:00 AM -11.87
10:30 AM -63.32
11:00 AM -81.00
11:30 AM -86.74
12:00 PM -87.54
12:30 PM -87.77
01:00 PM -119.08
01:30 PM -147.03
02:00 PM -105.62
02:30 PM -104.74
03:00 PM -91.68
03:30 PM -73.12
04:00 PM -31.62 8483.93

S&P 500 869.42 -3.38

NASDAQ 1510.32 -19.92

GOLD 877.00 +5.80

OIL 40.15 +2.44

TSE 300 8612.97 +302.42

CDNX 742.88 +45.88

S&P/TSX/60 519.60 +17.52

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

Would America allow arabs to shoot rockets into Washington?
Would Canada allow arabs to shoot rockets into Ottawa?
ISRAEL FINALLY TAKING ACTION.
ISRAEL KILLS 300 ARABS FROM SHOOTING ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL.

Bailout for GM,CHRYSLER
-DEC 29,08 $4.0 BILLION(GM,CHRYSLER)
-JAN 16,09 $5.4 BILLION(GM)
-FEB 17,09 $4.0 BILLION(GM)(NOT APPROVED YET)

Dow +6 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow +11 points at high today.
Dow -119 points at low today.

YEAR TO DATE
Dow -35.80%
Nasdaq -42.30%
S&P -40.56%
Russell 2000 -37.76%
Nyse Composite -43.14%
Dow Transports -26.26%
Dow Utilities -32.51%

NYSE STATS 10:30 AM
Advances 1052,Declines 1826,Unchanged 117,New highs 4,New Lows 16.
NASDAQ STATS 10:30AM
Advances 688,Declines 1769,unchanged 225.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS

Dow +11 points at high.
Dow -148 points at low.

JANUARY TRADING WORRIES:
-More forced liquidations from Madoff spillover.
-Consumer not spending,with lower prices.
X FACTOR:
-Size and scope of stimulus package.
TRADERS NEED:
-Couple months without Disasters.

ARGUMENTS FOR JANUARY RALLY
1-Cash accumulating.
2-Low valuations.
3-Stimulitive fiscal and Monetary policy.
1-Additional redemptions on Madoff Aftermath.
2-Consumers won't spend,Pockets Gas/Mortgage savings.
WHAT STIMULUS WOULD HELP QUICKEST
1-Cut Income Taxes.
2-FED buy MBS.

BAD DOINGS FOR DOW
-Dividends cost company $1.5 BILLION.
-1 YR bridge loan has harsh payment scheduale.
-Covenants on bridge loan are tripped if leverage ratio greater than 4.25:1 and company's debt below investment grade.

STOCKS FALL ON VERY LIGHT TRADING.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS

Dow +11 points at high today.
Dow -151 points at low.

Dow -0.4% Today.
Dow -3.9% in DEC.
Dow -21.8% in Q4.
Dow -36% in 2008.
Nasdaq -1.3% Today.
Nasdaq -1.6% in DEC.
Nasdaq -43% in 2008.
S&P -0.5% Today.
S&P -3.0% in DEC.
S&P -25.5% in Q4.
S&P -41% in 2008.
S&P,Dow for 5th straight losing quarter.
Stocks fall after 2 days of gains.
Stocks heading for 4th straight monthly loss.
LIGHT TRADING TODAY NOT EVEN 1 BILLION SHARES TRADED.

WHY WOULD THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT MURDER 3,000 OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE IN 911 BOMBS?
POWER HUNGRY,THAT WHY POWER EGOTISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OIL,GOLD PRICES HIGHER DUE TO MIDEAST CONFLICT.
25-30 Tankers on the mideast rivers with 50-60 MILLION Barrels of Oil on them.
ISRAEL NAVY bombing Gaza along the Shoreline.
ISRAEL moving to put ground troops around Gaza,Eastern edge.
HAMAS using Katusha Rockets,hit near Ashkelon and now Ashdod some 30 miles North of Gaza.

I GOT AN INTERESTING PREDICTON I READ ON THE NET THAT MICHELLE OBAMA WILL BE IN TROUBLE AND CAUSE AN UPROAR OVER SOMETHING SHE SAYS. WE WILL SEE IF THIS ONE COMES TO PASS,COULD HURT THE LEFTS GODLESS MESSIAH OBAMA.

GERALD CELENTE PREDICTIONS - AUDIO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbcPyJnbSeo

Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
10 Predictions for 2009 By Jason Hamlin
http://www.goldstockbull.com/10-predictions-for-2009/

I don’t have a crystal ball, but my forecasts have been fairly accurate and quite profitable over the past few years. While 2008 has been a tough year, all signs point to 2009 being much worse. Here is what I see on the horizon for the upcoming year.

1) The stock market decline will accelerate in 2009, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping below 6,000. Extreme volatility will engulf the markets with plenty of counter-trend rallies that will be fueled by speculators calling the bottom, only to find a new bottom the following month.

2) Unemployment will rise dramatically as official statistics reach towards 10% and true unemployment rises closer to 20%.

3) Real estate prices will continue to drop as rates reset and foreclosures increase across the country. Commercial real estate will finally follow residential, as price declines accelerate due to foreclosures on shopping malls, retail outlets, office buildings, etc.

4) Bailouts will continue, with more industries lining up for government rescue packages and both the financial and auto industries returning to the trough for more of their fix. This will lead to prediction #5.

5) Deflation will subdue and the first signs of hyperinflation will appear in the back half of 2009 as the trillions in bailout dollars begin to flow into the economy. The price declines that are a result of liquidation and de-leveraging, will give way to skyrocketing prices as politicians continue trying to print and borrow our way out of bad times. This will lead to prediction #6.

6) The dollar will resume its downtrend and make new lows during the first half of 2009. This will continue throughout the year with the dollar reaching into the low 60’s as the world loses confidence in the U.S. currency and the U.S. government’s ability to repay its debt.

7) Oil will rise from current lows and find a fair price somewhere in the $75 - $100 range, where it will float for much of the year. This will benefit alternative energy companies, although any gains will be muted by credit contraction and the overall market decline.

8) Agriculture prices will return to an uptrend as declining investment and unpredictable weather patterns lead to supply shortages amidst an ever-expanding population and increase in inflation.

9) Gold will make a new all-time (nominal) high reaching a price of $1,400 or more during 2009. A panicked flight to safety could push gold towards $2,000, although the central banks will dump gold on the market or make other attempts at suppressing the price advance.

10) All of the above will lead to increased crime and civil unrest with protests in the streets, bank runs and an increased police and military presence trying to bring stability to cities.

I wish that my predictions were a bit more uplifting, but we are truly in dire straits with conditions only continuing to worsen. The United States is essentially bankrupt and running on borrowed money and borrowed time. Many Americans will be facing severe financial hardship for the first time in their lives.

The silver lining is that these conditions are necessary to shake our apathy, demand better from our government, our community and ourselves. It is tough medicine, but is a necessary prescription that will force the change that is needed in this country and the world. We have to hit rock bottom, feel hardship, liquidate excesses and rampant corruption from the system, restructure our government, economy and entire social system. It is not going to be a pleasant undertaking but I am optimistic that we will emerge with a much better world and way of life.

In the meantime, you should be doing everything you can to stay informed, protect your assets and prepare for the transition ahead. I caution my readers not to be suckered into so called buying opportunities as we are nowhere near the bottom and I don’t anticipate conditions will improve for at least another 3-5 years. If you want to know the specific investments that I am making and receive my monthly newsletter, consider the premium subscription service.

Those with metaphysical inclinations may also be interested to know that the 3-5 year time horizon forecasts that we reach a bottom somewhere around the year 2012. Dec 21st of 2012 is the end of the long count of the Mayan calendar which started 5,125 years ago and coincides with the first time in approximately 26,000 years that the Sun will rise to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way (eye, heart, center) and the ecliptic plane. According to the ancient Maya, this date will mark the end of one world as we know it and the beginning of another. No matter your beliefs, we are in for a period of significant change that will require reflection, adjustment and adaptation to a very different world that awaits.

Kuwait cancels $17 billion deal with Dow Chemical
Sun Dec 28, 5:31 PM By Ulf Laessing

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait decided on Sunday to scrap a deal to form a $17.4 billion petrochemical joint venture with U.S. company Dow Chemical .The cancellation of the deal, which had met opposition in Kuwait's parliament, was acknowledged Sunday by Dow and is a blow to the largest U.S. chemicals company. Dow had planned to use the proceeds to repay a large part of $13 billion in debt it will have to shoulder once its acquisition of rival Rohm & Haas closes, which is expected to be in early 2009.

The Supreme Petroleum Council, at a meeting headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah, arrived at the decision to cancel the contract, state news agency KUNA said.State-run Petrochemical Industries Co (PIC) signed a deal earlier this month with Dow to launch the joint venture, K-Dow Petrochemicals, and was due to pay $7.5 billion. The deal was part of Dow's strategy to reduce its exposure to the cyclical nature of the commodity chemicals business.Dow did not return calls seeking clarification about whether the deal's collapse would affect its plans to acquire Rohm & Haas.The deal would have been the latest between a major U.S. company and Middle East investors. General Electric and Abu Dhabi investment agency Mubadala Development Co formed an $8 billion joint venture in July to provide commercial finance in the Middle East and Africa.The deal had angered some Kuwaiti parliamentarians who said the project was not economically viable in light of the global financial crisis and slumping petrochemical sales.A cabinet statement said the global crisis had prompted the cabinet to ask the council to take the necessary measures to cancel the contract ... within a sound legal framework while safeguarding the state's rights and interests, KUNA reported.Four liberal MPs had threatened to question the prime minister, a senior member of the ruling family, unless the deal was scrapped.Another move by some deputies to question Sheikh Nasser on another issue had prompted the cabinet to resign in November, though the ruler reappointed his nephew.Parliament has a history of challenging the government with the same liberal MPs having opposed building the $15 billion Al-Zour refinery for which final contracts have not yet been signed despite an award in May.

Dow said in a statement Sunday, it was extremely disappointed with the decision by the Kuwait Government, and is in the process of evaluating its options pursuant to the Joint Venture Formation Agreement. The Midland, Michigan-based company added that it remains committed to its Middle East Strategy.Dow and other chemical makers around the globe face one of the worst slumps ever in chemical demand, due to recessions in most developed countries and a sharp slowdown in emerging economies.

Earlier this month, Dow said it would close 20 facilities, divest several businesses and cut 5,000 jobs, or 11 percent, of its workforce. It also plans to temporarily idle about 180 plants.Kuwait and Dow lowered the value of the joint venture more than 8 percent to $17.4 billion earlier this month after the Gulf Arab state asked to cut its contribution in light of a sharp slowdown in global demand.The new company had been due to market petrochemicals and plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polycarbonate, used in products ranging from plastic bottles and compact disks to computers and agricultural compounds. In July, Dow said it would acquire Rohm & Haas for $15.3 billion in a move to broaden its specialty product offerings.(Additional reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Jason Neely, Maureen Bavdek and Gunna Dickson)