MILITARY ORDERED COMPLY WITH ILLEGEL GUN REGISTRATION

I WROTE JUNE 18-19 AS THE DATES THE BILDERBERGS WILL BE PRESSURING IRELAND TO GET THE LISBON TREATY RATIFIED.IT WILL BE AT THIS SUMMIT HERE THAT THE BILDERROBBERS WILL FORCE IRELAND AND THE WORLD TO DO A MEDIA PRESSURE BLITZ FOR THE LISBON TREATY.

Call for Ireland to set referendum date
HONOR MAHONY 19.05.2009 @ 09:27 CET

The Irish government has been asked to set a date for its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty at an EU summit in June.The call by Czech Europe minister Stefan Fule followed a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (18 May) where member states agreed to draw up strong legal guarantees to try and persuade Irish voters to vote yes in its second referendum.Mr Fule said he believed the government should make other member states aware of the date during the traditional summer gathering of EU leaders on 18-19 June once the guarantees have been agreed, although he noted that it is first of all the sovereign decision of the Irish authorities.The issue of the date did not come up during the actual meeting itself, an EU diplomat said.The government is currently working with the Czech EU presidency on three legal guarantees that the Lisbon Treaty will not affect Irish sovereignty in tax, defence and ethical issues. There will also be a further declaration on workers' rights, but this will not be legally binding.Irish officials have indicated the texts will be wrapped up in the week before the June summit and say they will start bilateral meetings with EU partners next week on the final wording of the guarantees. So far, Dublin has refused to be drawn on a date until the guarantees are finalised, despite some impatience in some EU circles. It is likely to ask Irish voters to go the polls on the Lisbon question around the beginning of October.Although the topic is of great interest in Brussels, the Irish government has been too preoccupied with dealing with the fall-out from the global economic crisis and what it will mean for the local and European elections on 5 June to do much publicly about the Lisbon Treaty.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

EPHESIANS 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,(DEMONIC ANGELS IN HIGH PLACES) against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(SPIRTIUAL DEMONIC PERSONS)
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

LUKE 4:5-7(BECAUSE SATAN OFFERS WORLD POWER, WORLD ORDERERS HAVE ACCEPTED SATANS GIFT)
5 And the devil, taking him (JESUS) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(ENVIROMENTAL OCCULTISM) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully,(ECONOMICALLY) and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy(NEW AGE,PEACE,LOVE,PROSPERITY,ENVIROMENTAL WORSHIP)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; but he shall be broken without hand.(THIS ECONOMIC BURGLERY IS BY ECONOMICAL MEANS NOT MILITARY)

DANIEL 11:20-21,23,38-39
20 Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom: but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

Skelton: Stop Bilderberg’s Nightmare Future At All Costs .London Guardian journalist warns of horrendous future of spot checks, harassment and subjugation if population accepts ID cards, microchips Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, May 19, 2009

London Guardian journalist Charlie Skelton, who began his coverage of the 2009 Bilderberg conference in a jovial and mocking manner, is now warning that the horrendous treatment dished out to him by both police and undercover spies is just a taste of what we can expect in our daily lives if we allow Bilderberg’s agenda, and specifically ID cards and implantable microchips, to be implemented.Initially setting out to cover the event in a satirical way, Skelton left Greece yesterday chilled to the bone about how he had been harassed, detained and stalked for days on end by authorities merely for taking photographs of the hotel where Bilderberg members were staying.My experience over the last several days in Greece has granted me a single, diamond-hard opinion,writes Skelton,That we must fight, fight, fight, now – right now, this second, with every cubic inch of our souls – to stop identity cards.I can tell you right now that the argument If I’ve done nothing wrong, why would I worry about showing who I am? is hogwash. Worse than that, it’s horse hockey. It’s all about the power to ask, the obligation to show, the justification of one’s existence, the power of the asker over the subservience of the asked. (Did you know that most Greek police don’t wear a number? This is an obligation that goes one way.)I have learned this from the random searches, detentions, angry security goon proddings and thumped police desks without number that I’ve had to suffer on account of Bilderberg: I have spent the week living in a nightmare possible future and many different terrible pasts. I have had the very tiniest glimpse into a world of spot checks and unchecked security powers. And it has left me shaken. It has left me, literally, bruised.Skelton adds that the ID card turns the citizen into a suspect and would be the end of everything, noting that plans are also afoot to replace the ID card with an implantable microchip for greater efficiency and tracking of the population, a subject that was up for discussion at last year’s Bilderberg Group conference.

During the meeting in Washington DC, journalist Jim Tucker’s source told him that Bilderberg were discussing the microchipping of humans on a mass scale, which would be introduced under the pretext of fighting terrorism whereby the good guys would be allowed to travel freely from airports so long as their microchip could be scanned and the information stored in a database.Highlighting the fact that authorities in Greece found it so easy to intimidate and harass journalists because there were so few there, Skelton is now calling for a deluge of citizen journalists to descend on Bilderberg 2010 where it is held.Publicity is pure salt to the giant slug of Bilderberg. So I suggest next year we turn up with a few more tubs. If the mainstream press refuses to give proper coverage to this massive annual event, then interested citizens will have to: a people’s media. Find the biggest lens you can and join us for Bilderberg 2010. No idea where it’s going to be, but there’s usually a few days’ notice,he writes.Bilderberg 2009 was again marked by an almost universal media blackout of around 150 of the planet’s top powerbrokers meeting in secret to steer the future of the world. A G8 summit or a World Economic Forum would attract thousands of media stories and yet Bilderberg, despite its alluring cloak and dagger secrecy which would normally attract journalists seeking a scoop like a moth to a flame, was mentioned by a mere handful of corporate media outlets. Not one U.S. news network dared touch the story.As Skelton highlights, the more light thrown on Bilderberg’s shady activities will lead to more questions being asked of the people who attend.Petition newspapers to send a correspondent. Petition your MP to ask a question in parliament. This happened a few days ago in Holland. Citing an article by Paul Joseph Watson on prisonplanet.com, a Dutch MP asked in parliament about the involvement of the prime minister, the minister for European affairs and Queen Beatrix, asking them to make public any items that were on the agenda, and whether the ratification of the Lisbon treaty was discussed,he writes.

JOHN PERKINS WEB
http://www.johnperkins.org/
http://www.johnperkins.org/about.htm
JOHN ON ALEX JONES TODAY AUDIO MAY 19,09
http://rss.nfowars.net/20090519_Tue_Alex.mp3

JOHN PERKINS VIDEO-ECONOMIC TAKE OVER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6WstddMJZQ&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oARBdBtGenM&feature=player_embedded
http://fora.tv/2008/05/09/John_Perkins_on_Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29GhXsx7-Rs&feature=related

HERES HOW THE ROBBER BANKERS BANKRUPT A COUNTRY THEN FORCE THEM TO GIVE INTO THE BANK OR COROPORATIONS OR NEW WORLD ORDERS OR BILDERBERGS DEMANDS.THIEVES OR BURGLERS:THIS IS HOW THE BILDERBERGS AND WORLD GOVERNMENT PEOPLES DO IT PEOPLE THE SECRET IS OUT.THE OFF SHORE BANKERS OVIOUSLY CONTROLLED BY THE EU WILL BE THE ULTIMATE RESULT.

A bullet or a Swiss bank account? That's the choice Third World leaders of resource rich countries have been offered since at least post-World War II.Our gangster government, owned in reality by corporations, uses tax payer resources to subvert countries all over the world.The first line of offense? Loans. Easy term loans.

Sound familiar?

Everything the US does overseas - EVERYTHING - it also does to its own people.
Assassination of political figures...already a part of American life. Murder of civilians in cold blood...Waco and 9/11.Deliberately bankrupting the nation as a means of social engineering...that's what's happening right now.

Published November 13, 2007 11:24 pm - Transcript Staff Writer.The next generation is faced with worldwide social and economic problems, but there ...Former economic hit man challenges students to make a difference.The Norman Transcript.Transcript Staff Writer

The next generation is faced with worldwide social and economic problems, but there is hope for change, a self-described former economic hit man told about 75 University of Oklahoma students on campus Tuesday afternoon.You are the people who have inherited the challenges we created for you, said John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.Perkins worked as an economic hit man (EHM) for the United States for years before writing the best seller in 2004 that told his story of the corruption he'd been a part of.As an EHM, Perkins said his job was to convince Third World countries to accept large loans for infrastructure development and to guarantee that the development projects were contracted to U.S. corporations.Once the countries were saddled with huge debts, the U.S. government and the international aid agencies allied with it were able to control their economies and to ensure that oil and other resources were channeled to serve the interests of building a global empire, Perkins said.When the EHM couldn't corrupt the leaders of developing countries by promising fortune, the U.S. would resort to assassination, he said. When those attempts failed, then the military was called in, he said.The war in Iraq is a perfect example of this, he said. Saddam Hussein couldn't be bought or assassinated, so the U.S. invaded Iraq to protect its oil interests, he said.

Perkins' visit to OU was hosted by the OU chapter of Amnesty International.

When he appeared in Meacham Auditorium at Oklahoma Memorial Union, he was dressed comfortably in a long-sleeved gray polo shirt. His curly gray hair was shaggy but his lined face spoke of determination.Perkins summarized his job as an economic hit man, saying these U.S. policies created the current state of the world, where poverty runs rampant and a small part of the population exploits the majority.The ones who control the policies are not politicians, but what Perkins called the corporatocracy, he said. This is the group of executives that lead companies that exploit the world's resources.The corporatocracy isn't a conspiracy; the individuals don't get together and conspire to do dark deeds, he said.They all follow the unspoken goal of big corporations, and that goal is to consistently make huge profits, regardless of the social and environmental costs,he said.While he explained the state of the world, Perkins was suprisingly upbeat, pointing out progress that had been made.Eight countries in Latin America have elected leaders who said no to economic hit men in the past and are trying to do what's best for their people, he said.More change is happening even in the United States as Americans are waking up to the harmful legacy the country is leaving around the world, he said.Many are realizing the corporate culture in the U.S. needs to change. Profits can still be made, but in a way that promotes a sustainable, stable and peaceful world,Perkins said.

Corporate workers want to make this change too, he said, but they need our help, and they need our permission.One positive means for change is that corporations are entirely dependent on consumers, he said.All of us are the constituency of every corporation out there, and we have incredible power to change things,he said.Even on the OU campus, there is enormous potential for change, he said. The university contracts with Coca Cola and Nike, both of which need to improve their social and environmental policies, he said.Individuals can work for change by making small steps, such as writing letters to companies or not buying sweat shop products, he said. He pointed out the impact that Rosa Parks made with a simple act of refusing to give up her seat for a white man.Who the hell was Rosa Parks? Perkins asked. She's you.He brought up his third-grade teacher who taught him how to stand up to and befriend bullies. Without her, Perkins said, he would not be the person he is.He drew a parallel between the Revolutionary War and the movement for global change today. Each person in the war did what they were best at, he said.Everyone was taking a different path, they were following passions and talents, but they were all moving toward the same goal,he said. Perkins encouraged students to follow their talents and passions to bring change.Perkins said the intent of his time with students Tuesday was that when they left the auditorium, they would be united in their goal of creating a better world.The students who attended Tuesday gave Perkins a standing ovation at the end of his talk.Ephraim Alajaji, a 20-year-old sophomore, said the speech was sobering, but he believed what Perkins said was true. As much as Americans just want to be happy in their consumerism, they can't avoid what's going on in the rest of the world, he said.You know deep down you are a part of the problem,Alajaji said.

Students said they felt the hope Perkins gave, as well.

I like how it inspired me and gave me a little hope,Chris Schroeder said about Perkins' speech. The 20-year-old physics sophomore said he appreciated Perkins' comments about using individual talents to make changes in the world.It kind of gave me hope I could use my passion and help out somehow,Schroeder said.Julianna Parker
366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

READ ARMY DOCUMENT
http://www.prisonplanet.com/military-personnel-ordered-to-comply-with-private-firearms-registration.html

Military Personnel Ordered To Comply With Private Firearms Registration
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, May 19, 2009

An alarming document sent to us by an Infantryman based out of Fort Campbell Kentucky shows that active duty military personnel are being secretly ordered to submit information to their Chain of Command on how many firearms they own privately, their location, as well of details of any Concealed Carry permits.The directive orders active duty personnel to report details of all privately-owned firearms to their Chain of Command, as well as future firearms purchases.Read the document below.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/military-personnel-ordered-to-comply-with-private-firearms-registration.html

DOCUMENT BY PRINTING
Department of the Army,Charlie Company,3RD BATTALION,187th Infantry Regiment
3RD BCT,101st ABN DIV (AASLT)Fort Campbell,KY 42223

AFZB-KC-H-C 12 MARCH 2009
Memorandum for Record
SUBJECT:PRIVETLY OWNED WEAPONS

1.Effective March 11,2009,All Choppin Soldiers in Possession of privetly owned weapons are required to inform their chain of command of the following:

A.Registration Number.
B.Location where weapon is stored.
C.Possession of a concealed carry Permit and issuing state.

2.If any Soldier comes into possession of a privetly owned weapon following the effective Date of this memorandum,he is required to inform the chain of command of the above information.

3.By signing this memorandum,I understand my responsibilities concerning privetly owned weapons as described in this Memorandum.

Squad/Platoon_________________
Printed Name__________________
Signed Name___________________
Date__________________________


Corporate Media Exploits Teen Idol to Push Cyberbullying Bill
Kurt Nimmo Prison Planet.com Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The corporate media has linked teen idol Miley Cyrus, who plays schoolgirl rock star Hannah Montana in the hit Disney series and movie, to an unconstitutional bill now working its way through Congress.Teen idol Miley Cyrus, who plays schoolgirl rock star Hannah Montana, had her feelings hurt, now the corporate media is using her as a poster child for a bill that would effectively criminalize free speech. According to Reuters, Cyrus recently posted an angry tirade on her Twitter web page in response to criticism about her weight. Those remarks that you hateful people use are fighting words, the ones that scar people and cause them to do damage to themselves or others, the teenager wrote.Kids hurt themselves. This is not something to be taken lightly.

The First Amendment of the Constitution shouldn’t be taken lightly, either. If passed, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act (HR 1966) would outlaw speech meant to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person. According to the text of the bill, individuals who bully others via any electronic means could face fines, two years in prison, or both. Critics call it the Censorship Act of 2009.As UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh noted on his blog, a number of common situations could be considered felonious under the language of the bill.I try to coerce a politician into voting a particular way, by repeatedly blogging (using a hostile tone) about what a hypocrite/campaign promise breaker/fool/etc. he would be if he voted the other way. I am transmitting in interstate commerce a communication with the intent to coerce using electronic means (a blog) to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior — unless, of course, my statements aren’t seen as severe, a term that is entirely undefined and unclear, Volokh wrote.Volokh’s example is demonstrative. If the bill becomes law it will undoubtedly be used by government and political groups to go after opponents and critics. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act is less about assuaging the crushed feelings of teenagers and others easily hurt by insults and taunting than it is about shutting down the free speech of targeted individuals and groups.The Anti-Defamation League is a strong supporter of the bill.Research by the Anti-Defamation League found as many as half of U.S. teenagers are affected by cyber-bullying, whether through emails, instant messaging, cellphones, texting or websites, with the anonymity of electronic media emboldening bullies,reports Reuters.The ADL is a special interest group dedicated to shutting down the free speech of people accused of defaming the Jewish people and allegedly engaging in bigotry and other forms of racism (incidentally protected by the First Amendment). It is not specifically interested in protecting the feelings of teenagers teased because they are fat.

The ADL also tracks extremists and was instrumental in the production of the Department of Homeland Security’s document characterizing advocates of the Second Amendment, pro-life activists, and returning veterans as rightwing extremists deemed a threat to the country.In March of this year, the ADL described Joe Banister, Tommy Cryer, Pat Shannan, Dave Von Kleist, Jack McLamb, Greg Dixon, Ted Gunderson, and Michael Badnarik as extremist speakers.In April, the group attempted to link talk show host Alex Jones to the accused cop killer Richard Poplawski.One of Poplawski’s favorite places for such conspiracy theories was the Web site of the right-wing conspiracy radio talk show host Alex Jones. Poplawski visited the site, Infowars, frequently, shared links to it with others, and sometimes even posted to it,the ADL wrote on its website.The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act would allow the ADL and other groups to effectively shut down the First Amendment for individuals they believe promote hate speech, that is to say speech not considered politically correct by favored groups (i.e., federally protected minorities). It would allow the government to shut down hate radio (conservative, libertarian, and patriot radio) without reimposing the so-called Fairness Doctrine. It would theoretically criminalize talk show hosts such as Alex Jones, Micheal Savage, and others who call for government officials to be arrested and tried for treason.Moreover, the bill would put a federally-imposed damper on the internet where the democratization of speech is widely accepted, much to the displeasure of the government and protected groups intolerant of criticism.Put simply, this legislation would be used as a tool for a judge and jury to determine whether there is significant evidence to prove that a person cyberbullied another, wrote the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Linda Sanchez. That is: did they have the required intent, did they use electronic means of communication, and was the communication severe, hostile, and repeated?

Free speech — especially free political speech — is often severe, hostile, and repeated. If enacted, the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act would turn passionate and even vehement political speech into a crime punishable by two years in prison.According to the founders, political speech was the only kind of free speech that government was strictly required to permit, as free speech is a natural right. Ten of the fourteen early state constitutions or Declarations of Rights, including the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, name freedom of speech and the press as a fundamental right.Rep. Linda Sanchez and the supporters of this bill would deny that natural and god-given right.

Israeli officials blasts focus on 2-state idea By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer MAY 20,09

JERUSALEM – An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that media focus on the idea of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, favored by President Barack Obama, is childish and stupid.The aide, Ron Dermer, spoke The Associated Press after Netanyahu and his entourage arrived home from Washington. He denied that he called the two-state concept itself childish and stupid, as he was quoted earlier as an anonymous official briefing reporters on the plane carrying Netanyahu home.President Barack Obama made it clear that the U.S. backs creation of a Palestinian state, but Netanyahu has not endorsed the concept. Dermer said focus on the idea of two states for two peoples was childish and stupid, but he denied describing the concept itself in those terms.During his talks in Washington, Netanyahu constantly tried to shift emphasis away from the Palestinian issue toward the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program. He and Obama publicly disagreed about the relative weight of the two issues.In a brief statement at Israel's airport on his return, Netanyahu again began with Iran, mentioning the Palestinian issue as third on his list.Referring to his talks with Obama, Netanyahu said,There was an agreement that we need to immediately begin the peace process, I said I am willing to open peace talks with the Palestinians, by the way with the Syrians as well, of course without preconditions, but I made it clear that in any peace agreement there must be a solution to Israel's special security needs.

Ancient handle with Hebrew text found in Jerusalem By JOSEPH MARKS, Associated Press Writer MAY 20,09

JERUSALEM – Archaeologists digging on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives have discovered a nearly 3,000-year-old jar handle bearing ancient Hebrew script, a find significantly older than most inscribed artifacts unearthed in the ancient city, an archaeologist said.The Iron Age handle is inscribed with the Hebrew name Menachem, which was the name of an Israelite king and is still common among Jews.The inscription also includes a partly intact letter, the Hebrew character lamed,meaning to.That suggests the jar was a gift to someone named Menachem, said Ron Beeri, who directed the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority. There is no indication the inscription refers to the king himself.The name and similar variants have been found on Egyptian pottery dating back 3,500 years, and the Bible lists Menachem Ben Gadi as an ancient king of Israel. But this is the first time an artifact bearing the name has been unearthed in Jerusalem, Beeri said.It's important because it shows that they actually used the name Menachem during that period,Beeri said.It's not just from the Bible, but it's also in the archaeological record.Based on the style of the inscription, he dated the handle to around 900 B.C., the time of the first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as recounted in the Bible.The vessel the handle was attached to did not survive, so it is impossible to tell what it was used for, Beeri said. Similar vessels were known to have held products like oil or wheat.

Construction workers uncovered the archaeological site while digging the foundation for a girl's school being built in the area, Beeri said.Excavators also uncovered storage vessels and implements from two earlier nomadic settlements, both dating to around 2,000 B.C., he said, as well as artifacts dating from the time of the Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago.Archaeologists have completed their dig, and construction workers building the school are back on the job, Beeri said.The Mount of Olives is just outside Jerusalem's Old City. The hill is important to Jews because of its proximity to the destroyed Temple and to Christians, who believe it is the site where Jesus ascended to heaven.

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.

Australia's Queensland declares state of emergency Wed May 20, 7:44 am ET

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian authorities declared a state of emergency in Queensland Wednesday as torrential rain and gale force winds caused extensive flooding and left one man dead.Almost 30,000 homes were without power in the state's southeast, where some areas recorded 300 millimetres (12 inches) of rain in 24 hours and wind gusts exceeding 100 kilometres (62 miles) an hour.Ambulance officers said a 46-year-old man was killed by flying glass when a freak wind gust smashed in a window on a building on the Gold Coast tourist strip.Queensland Premier Anna Bligh declared a state of emergency including the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast and extending inland to Toowoomba.Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the federal government was ready to offer assistance if required.Rudd said he had received a briefing on the emergency and was told the floods were causing havoc on roads in southeast Queensland.There are quite a large number of people who are at this stage isolated in their vehicles and I am further advised there are a number of schools that have been cut off as well, he said.

Police said tables, chairs and barbecues had been blown off the top of high-rise buildings on the Gold Coast and warned people to take extreme care if they ventured outside.School pupils in the town of Brookfield were stranded in their classrooms unable to get home because of the rising waters.The parents are talking to the teachers on their mobiles and they've been assured all the kids are safe, a spokeswoman for local politician Bruce Flegg said.Meteorologists have warned the wild weather could last for days.

EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH

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

EARTHQUAKES

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

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

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

Small aftershock rattles downtown Los Angeles Wed May 20, 2:06 am ET

LOS ANGELES – A small but widely felt aftershock jolted the Los Angeles region Tuesday, two days after a magnitude-4.7 earthquake struck. An apartment building in Long Beach was evacuated due to roof damage but there were no reports of serious injuries.The magnitude-4 temblor hit at 3:49 p.m. and was centered 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, near the Los Angeles International Airport, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Computers and seismologists initially estimated the magnitude at 4.1 but later downgraded the quake.A Long Beach fire dispatcher said at least a dozen people were evacuated late Tuesday from an apartment building after someone noticed the quake damaged the building's eaves. The dispatcher said inspectors will look at the damage and decide what action to take.Los Angeles city fire spokesman Brian Humphrey said no other damage was reported and there was no increase in emergency calls.The aftershock occurred near the epicenter of Sunday's quake, which caused strong shaking and light damage in the beach towns south of the airport.

Tuesday's quake was felt in the high desert city of Palmdale about 50 miles to the north and in San Diego, about 120 miles to the south.It was barely felt at the airport, but emergency workers were checking runways and other airport infrastructure to make sure nothing was damaged, airport spokesman Tom Winfrey said.It was very slight but as a precaution we always do that check,he said.Scientists said the latest rattle was a typical aftershock.It's a completely normal sort of pattern, USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said.That was little solace to a shaken Esther Robertson, a cashier at a Burlington Coat Factory store near the epicenter in Hawthorne. She said customers ran out of the store when the quake hit.It was terrifying,Robertson said.

DISEASES

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

Swine Flu Cases Surge Above 10,000
By VOA News 20 May 2009

The World Health Organization says the number of global H1N1 swine flu cases has surged beyond 10,200 and the death toll has climbed to 80.Passengers wear masks as a precaution against the swine flu in the morning rush hour in Sannomiya, Kobe, western Japan, 20 May 2009 WHO reports the vast majority of deaths, 72 of them, are reported in Mexico. But the greatest number of infections, nearly 5,500, are reported in the United States.On Wednesday, U.S. health officials in the midwestern state of Missouri reported a seventh death in the United States. Authorities say the 44-year-old patient was diagnosed with the swine flu after a trip to Mexico.Taiwan reported its first swine flu case on Wednesday. Health authorities say the 52-year-old Australian man arrived in Taipei on Monday, after working as a doctor on a cruise ship in the northeastern U.S. state of New York.The World Health Organization says the virus has spread to 40 countries, not including Taiwan. The confirmed cases span the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania. Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

Deadly pneumonia caused by super-bugs on rise: study Tue May 19, 7:08 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Deadly pneumonia caused by so-called superbugs are spreading outside hospitals and represent a growing threat to the public, U.S. researchers warned on Wednesday.Making the problem more worrying is the recent H1N1 flu outbreak because the super-bug pneumonia most commonly appears following an influenza-like illness, Alicia Hidron of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta reported.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections can range from boils to more severe infections of the blood, lungs and the sites of surgery. Such infections can often be treated only with expensive intravenous antibiotics.Most cases are associated with hospitals, nursing homes or other health care facilities but infections acquired in the wider community are increasing, the researcher noted.

Community-acquired MRSA infections are no longer restricted to certain risk groups or to the geographic areas where outbreaks first occurred,they wrote in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.They now occur widely both in the community as well as health care facilities and have been reported on every continent.As these superbugs spread in communities, more pneumonia cases are likely -- and the researchers said these may have mortality rates of more than 50 percent.However, the overall incidence of community-acquired MRSA pneumonia remains unknown,the researchers wrote.In their analysis, Hidron and colleagues looked at two U.S. cases caused by a specific MRSA strain that is a culprit behind many superbug infections in the United States.They reported the pneumonia usually features high fever and low blood pressure with rapid progression to septic shock -- a widespread infection that sends the whole body into a tailspin -- and an urgent need for mechanical ventilation.The researchers said they do not know why community-acquired MRSA pneumonia appears so lethal but noted the bacteria that cause it are more susceptible to antibiotics than hospital-acquired infections.The best treatment of this ... disease has not been defined,they wrote.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Maggie Fox and Jon Hemming)

WHO seeks swine flu vaccine help for poor nations By FRANK JORDANS and MARIA CHENG, Associated Press Writers – Wed May 20, 12:49 am ET

GENEVA – The World Health Organization urged drugmakers to reserve some of their pandemic swine flu vaccine for poor countries, but received few concrete offers as experts disclosed that an effective flu shot is still months away.The global body wants companies to donate at least 10 percent of their production or offer reduced prices for poor countries that could otherwise be left without vaccines if there is a sudden surge in demand. But some are skeptical about what such a commitment could mean for their business.I don't think that all of the answers are there yet,said Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG spokesman Eric Althoff.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who met with 30 major pharmaceutical manufacturers, called Tuesday for global solidarity in confronting the disease. Solidarity must mean that all have access to drugs and vaccines,he added.The only major drugmaker that publicly agreed to the WHO request Tuesday was Britain's GlaxoSmithKline PLC, which said it would donate 50 million doses in a pandemic and offer more that WHO could buy at a discount for poor countries.A second drugmaker with only limited production capacity said it would share half of its vaccine doses. WHO officials declined to identify the company because the deal has yet to be signed.Smaller vaccine makers from developing countries also promised to share 10 percent of their vaccines with the U.N. at cheaper prices.I can reassure you I have received very serious commitments, WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan told reporters after meeting with the drugmakers. Nearby, health ministers from around the world gathered for WHO's annual assembly and discussed how to tackle the outbreak.

Swine flu has been confirmed in more than 9,830 people in at least 40 countries, with most of the cases in Mexico and the U.S. That figure does not include Taiwan which reported its first confirmed case on Wednesday. The global death toll was at least 83 — 74 in Mexico, seven in the U.S., one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.The impact of a pandemic — a global epidemic — is expected to be worse in poor countries, where people with other diseases such as AIDS and malaria are more susceptible to swine flu and national health systems are less able to respond.Many rich countries — including Britain, Canada, Denmark, France and Switzerland — have already signed deals with vaccine makers that promise them millions of pandemic vaccines as soon as they're available.Others companies that attended the Geneva meeting, including Sanofi-Aventis and Baxter International, could not immediately be reached for comment.Manufacturers won't be able to start making the vaccine until mid-July at the earliest, weeks later than previous predictions, according to an expert panel convened by WHO. It will then take months to produce the vaccine in large quantities.The swine flu virus is not growing very fast in laboratories, making it difficult for scientists to get the key ingredient they need for a vaccine, the seed stock from the virus, WHO said.Experts also found no evidence that regular flu vaccines offer any protection against swine flu.They estimated that under the best conditions, drug companies could produce nearly 5 billion doses of swine flu vaccine in the year after beginning full-scale production.

One expert, however, thought the 5 billion dose estimate was too optimistic.We should go forward with production as quickly as possible, but we should be cautious about predictions, said David Fedson, a vaccine expert and former medical professor at the University of Virginia. Chan has warned that it would be impossible to produce enough vaccine for all 6.8 billion people on the planet. In any case, mass producing a pandemic vaccine would be a gamble, as it would take away manufacturing capacity for the seasonal flu vaccine that kills up to 500,000 people each year. Some experts have wondered whether the world really needs a vaccine for an illness that so far appears mild. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday the U.S. felt it had a responsibility to ensure that both antiviral drugs and any new vaccine are also available to poor countries. The United States has so far refrained from reserving any new vaccine. Sebelius said the United States is working to boost its production capacity for seasonal flu vaccines so those factories could switch to the pandemic swine flu strain if needed. At this point we have not placed orders for vaccine,Sebelius told reporters in Geneva.There is still so much uncertainty about this virus that it is really premature for us to even make a determination of how many people would appropriately be vaccinated, in what order, how many doses would be required.Cheng reported from London.

KNOWLEGE AND WORLD TRAVEL INCREASED

DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)

Gov't: 250,000 Pakistani refugees expected in camp By LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writer MAY 20,09

WASHINGTON – Up to a quarter-million Pakistani civilians are expected to remain in refugee camps through the end of the year as a result of fighting between Pakistani forces and insurgents that has forced them from their homes, a top U.S. Navy official said Wednesday.Rear Adm. Michael A. LeFever, who is overseeing humanitarian aid to Pakistan, estimated that militants are within 30 kilometers, or about 18 miles, of the refugee camps. He said the Pakistani army has set up roadblocks and other barriers to prevent the Taliban or other extremists from threatening the camps in northwest Pakistan.He said a registration effort by Pakistani officials have discovered a few people of questionable background who are seeking aid.The U.S. military flew two planeloads of meals and tents to Islamabad on Wednesday for the refugees. A third flight is expected Thursday.LeFever said Pakistani military officials estimate up to 2 million refugees who will need aid. He estimated between 200,000 and 250,000 of them will be living in camps through December.

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 WED MAY 20,2009

09:30 AM +10.32
10:00 AM +101.79
10:30 AM +100.91
11:00 AM +80.68
11:30 AM +62.20
12:00 PM +16.96
12:30 PM +19.19
01:00 PM -1.12
01:30 PM +14.81
02:00 PM +35.52
02:30 PM +39.92
03:00 PM +37.19
03:30 PM -41.98
04:00 PM -52.81 8422.04

S&P 500 903.47 -4.66

NASDAQ 1727.84 -6.70

GOLD 938.70 +12.00

OIL 61.73 +1.63

TSE 300 10,232.44 +131.49

CDNX 1085.64 +9.15

S&P/TSX/60 622.55 +8.89

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -3.44%
S&P +0.54%
Nasdaq +9.99%
TSX Advances 1,130,declines 501,unchanged 211,Volume 2,263,640,298.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 439,Declines 406,Unchanged 358,Volume 309,376,903.

Dow +75 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -0.32 points at low today.
Dow +120 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $931.80.OIL opens at $61.26 today.

INVENTORIES
Crude Oil -2.1 MILLION Barrels.
Gasoline -4.3 MILLION Barrels.
Distillate +600,000 Barrels
Refinery Utilization -1.9% to 81.8%

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow +120 points at low today so far.
Dow -0.32 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,628,declines 968,unchanged 94,New Highs 27,New Lows 53.
Volume 4,026,672,395.
NASDAQ Advances 1,784,declines 868,unchanged 125,New highs 25,New Lows 11.
Volume 1,058,930,484.
TSX Advances 992,declines 432,unchanged 243,Volume 1,432,599,351.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 381,Declines 277,Unchanged 287,Volume 151,356,870.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -66 points at low today.
Dow +120 points at high today.
Dow -0.62% today Volume 468,638,131.
Nasdaq -0.39% today Volume -.
S&P 500 -0.51% today Volume N/A

PAUL DORNEANU ON BILDERBERG 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyCSoFYOIvY&feature=player_embedded

Eurozone posts surprise trade surplus
VALENTINA POP 19.05.2009 @ 09:25 CET

The eurozone posted an unexpected trade surplus in March, for the first time since the economic crisis broke out last year.Eurostat figures published Monday (18 May) showed that the 16 EU countries sharing the euro registered a trade surplus of €400 million, up from a deficit of €1 billion in February.The news is positive for eurozone nations, whose economies contracted by 2.5 percent in the first three months of 2009. Economists had forecast a trade deficit of €300 million in March. Exports rose by 1.4 percent and imports by 0.6 percent, the data shows.When it comes to the EU as a whole, however, the trade balance remains on the minus side, with a deficit of €9.5 billion. The trend is positive though, compared to a total deficit of €10.8 billion a month ago and €19.6 billion in March 2008.A breakdown on trade sectors for January and February 2009 shows that a trade surplus in chemicals, machinery and vehicles is falling, while a trade deficit in energy is declining compared to last year.The crisis hit trade flows with all major partners of the EU, the biggest decrease being recorded for exports to Turkey, which fell by 41 percent compared to the beginning of 2008.Imports from Russia fell by 39 percent in the first two months of 2009, when Gazprom cut off gas supplies via Ukraine for two weeks.Country-by-country statistics show that Germany had the largest trade surplus in January and February - €15.8 billion, followed by the Netherlands (€6.3 billion) and Ireland (€5.6 billion), while Great Britain posted the largest deficit (€16 billion), followed by Spain, Greece and Italy.

Banks line up to throw off TARP yoke By Joseph A. Giannone and Mark Felsenthal – Wed May 20, 6:00 am ET

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co and several other banks eager to escape the restrictions and stigma linked to government bailout funds may get the chance to do so in the next few weeks.Regulators are talking to big banks that want to repay funds received under the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, a Federal Reserve official said on Tuesday.No announcements on returning funds will come until around June 8, the official added. The Fed official spoke on condition of anonymity because the application process is continuing.Earlier on Tuesday, JPMorgan Chief Executive James Dimon told shareholders he expects regulators will let a few strong banks repay TARP funds within weeks.Dimon made it clear that he was eager to escape strict regulations on compensation and other areas for TARP participants. In particular, he called restrictions under the program on banks hiring foreign-born workers a complete and utter disgrace.Similar concerns have been voiced by other TARP recipients Goldman Sachs Group Inc, and Morgan Stanley, which like JPMorgan recently submitted applications seeking permission to repay TARP funds, people familiar with the situation told Reuters.It's not going to be a big deal stock-price wise, but it is a huge deal competitively that they can use to their advantage,said Greg Donaldson, director of portfolio strategy at Donaldson Capital Management in Evansville, Indiana.Repaying the government funds will take the handcuffs off the management of these companies,agreed Brad Hintz, analyst with Sanford C Bernstein in New York.What I've told my clients is:You want to be the first one out of TARP and you certainly don't want to be the last one,Hintz said.

JPMorgan shares closed down 3.9 percent at $35.81 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.There are so many banks talking about repaying TARP that it's already priced in,Donaldson said.Bank of America Corp, which has said it hopes to fully repay TARP funds within the next couple of years, said it issued 1.25 billion shares since May 8 at an average price of $10.77 per share, the largest U.S. bank said in a release late on Tuesday. The gross proceeds from the offer amounted to $13.47 billion.Regulators told the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender it needed to bolster its finances capital following a government stress test of its ability to handle a deep recession.

TAKING DOWN TARP

Last October, the Treasury stepped in with $125 billion of bailout funds for nine of the largest U.S. banks, part of a plan to stabilize a system rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Regulators wanted banks to have enough capital to lend during one of the worst recessions since the 1930s.Banks asking to repay TARP are among the 19 institutions that submitted to the stress tests to determine their ability to withstand a sharp economic downturn, the Fed official said. Supervisors will seek more information from the banks and then recommend to Treasury whether to approve repayments.Recommendations will be made in batches, not on a case-by-case basis, the official said. Going forward, supervisors will make repayment recommendations to the Treasury on a monthly basis, the official added.Before they make repayments, banks must show they can raise funds from private sources without any government guarantees. These conditions have sparked a wave of stock and debt sales in recent weeks.Government officials have expressed concern that banks, in their eagerness to sever government ties, may return the capital too soon, only to need it again later.

JPMorgan, which received $25 billion in funds in October, and Goldman, which received $10 billion, were found by the stress tests to have sufficient capital. Morgan Stanley received $10 billion in October and had a small capital shortfall under the stress tests, quickly erased by stock and debt sales.Even as banks line up to repay TARP funds, the U.S. Federal Reserve widened its safety net for downtrodden credit markets by making older commercial property loans eligible for an emergency program.

The move could help banks who are trying to move such loans off their balance sheets and allow borrowers to refinance existing loans on better terms. Separately, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is looking to launch its June pilot sale of banks' distressed loans without using TARP money to help private investors buy up the loans, a source familiar with government plans told Reuters on Tuesday. The FDIC is looking to do a test sale to make sure that investors, banks and the public are comfortable with the mechanics -- without the complication of government co-investment -- before rolling out the full program. Some potential investors have expressed concern that loan purchases done in partnership with government money from the TARP could expose them to executive pay restrictions and other TARP conditions. (Reporting by Joseph Giannone; Additional reporting by Elinor Comlay, Jonathan Stempel, Karey Wutkowski and Steve Eder; editing by John Wallace, Carol Bishopric and Tim Dobbyn)

China lies at heart of Europe's recovery, says Brussels
ANDREW WILLIS 19.05.2009 @ 17:51 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Speaking on the eve of the eleventh EU-China summit to be held in Prague, European commissioner for external relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner highlighted the central role China will play in Europe's economic recovery.China is one of our most important partners in meeting the challenges of today and tomorrow, Ms Ferrero-Waldner told policymakers and diplomats gathered in Brussels for a conference on EU-China relations organised by Friends of Europe and the Security and Defence Agenda, a pair of Brussels think-tanks. While Wednesday's (20 May) summit is to touch on a number of topics, including climate change and human rights, it is clear that the huge volumes of trade between the two sides form the backbone of their relationship.On Monday, the EU's statistics office, Eurostat, released new figures showing the marked increase in trade volumes between the two sides over the last nine years.Exports from the EU's 27 member states to China rose to €78 billion in 2008 compared to €26 billion in 2000, while its imports from China rose from €75 billion to €248 over the same period.Yet despite the substantially increased trade deficit, the economic crisis is causing some EU policy makers to see China as part of the solution to the current economic downturn.The increasing Chinese middle-class is an attractive market for EU goods, said Ms Ferrero-Waldner, citing figures contained in a recent report published by the European Ideas Network that predicts China and India will account for 50 percent of the world economy by 2060. The commission's director-general for trade, David O'Sullivan, also re-iterated this idea, saying that while competition with China in the coming years would be great, it would not result in a zero-sum game,where one side's gain implicitly meant the other side's loss. At the summit on Wednesday, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is likely to renew calls for the EU to relax constrictions on high-tech exports and also reduce anti-dumping measures, while the EU will repeat its concerns over market access. This has the potential to create future friction if it is not dealt with in the correct way,said Mr O'Sullivan on the issue of market access.

China's stimulus package

While the EU looks for greater access to China's growing domestic market, Chinese policy makers are beginning to question the very basis of their current economic model, based primary on the export of low-added-value goods.Zhe Song, Chinese ambassador to the EU, said his country's exports were in great trouble, adding: We all fear the economic recession might cause social strife.However, he also said his country's economic fundamentals remained in good health and that the massive economic stimulus plan was starting to take effect.At over €400 billion, China's stimulus plan as a percentage of its GDP dwarfs all others currently deployed around the world, amounting to 14 percent of 2008 GDP.However, some analysts question whether this massive stimulus spending will bring about the necessary reforms to secure long-term growth levels once the current spending package comes to an end. For European companies, the real question is to what extent they will be allowed to bid for projects under the Chinese stimulus plan.Director for Asia in the commission's external affairs department, James Moran, says this is one area where the EU will be seeking greater assurances at Wednesday's summit.

China as a political actor

The interdependence between the EU and China means Europeans should not be perturbed by China's future economic growth, says Mr Moran. More of a question is China's willingness to take on a greater role as a political actor around the world, considering the country's previous reluctance to get involved in global disputes.Two areas where China holds particular sway have come to increasing public attention in recent weeks.We would like to say how sad we are over the ongoing casualties in Sri Lanka and the recent arrest of [human rights activist] Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, said commissioner Ferrero-Waldner on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to prepare the ground for Wednesday's discussions.

SURPRISE,SURPRISE THE GLOBAL TAX BILL.

Democrats Are Fast-Tracking Nearly 1,000-Page Cap-and-Trade Bill That Would Increase Electricity Bills Tuesday, May 19, 2009 By Matt Cover

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)(CNSNews.com) – Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee put their cap and trade global warming bill--that would increase U.S. energy prices, including electricity bills--on the fast track Monday. Republicans, meanwhile, are complaining that the expedited process is designed to avoid well-informed public debate about what the bill will do and its consequences for American consumers.Spearheaded by committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Democrats hope to have a vote on the nearly 1,000 page bill by the end of the week, despite the fact that they only released a draft copy of the bill Friday--a day when many members of Congress had already left the Capitol.Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), the committee’s ranking member, accused the majority of ramming through legislation that neither lawmakers nor their constituents fully understand in an effort to skirt serious debate on the substance of the proposal.The majority’s motto: Pass it now! Explain it later,Barton criticized May 14. With just the barest smidgen of obfuscation, our majority colleagues can rise proudly to the challenge of global warming by moving out smartly, before a suspicious public takes notice and well ahead of any consultation with voters.Barton’s comments came after Democrats did not introduce the bill in the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, where the concerns of industrial state Democrats would have been heard in public. Instead, Democratic leaders Waxman and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) decided to work behind closed doors.

Barton cited a Rasmussen poll from May 11 that showed a public largely ignorant of what cap and trade is. The poll showed that only 24 percent of voters could correctly identify that cap and trade is an environmental policy. Twenty-nine percent thought it dealt with Wall Street, and 17 percent thought it was health care reform. Thirty percent had no idea what the term means.Waxman, in a memo sent Sunday, told members that he wanted the bill out of committee by Thursday, allowing only four days to debate a 1,000-page bill which would mean higher energy prices and a reduction in income for 80 percent of Americans, according to a May 7 Congressional Budget Office report.My goal is to conclude consideration of the legislation on Thursday, May 21. Waxman wrote.Members should be prepared to work late on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.The bill would require drastic cuts in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, cutting emissions across the entire economy to 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2050, meaning that the economy would be forced to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 83 percent by 2050.In a compromise with industrial-state Democrats, Waxman and Markey agreed to allow the Environmental Protection Agency to distribute – rather than auction – emissions caps to energy-intensive industries.Under this proposal, electricity producers would be given 35 percent of the caps, natural gas companies would get nine percent, five percent would go toward combating international deforestation, and 10 percent would go toward the states.

In all, 85 percent of the caps would be given away by the government, in direct opposition to President Obama’s plan, which called for 100 percent of the caps to be auctioned. Obama had planned to use to proceeds – a CBO-estimated $629 billion – to pay for his Making Work Pay and other tax credit programs.Under the Democratic compromise, 15 percent of the caps would be auctioned, with the proceeds going toward low- and moderate-income households to help offset the inevitable rise in energy prices.Waxman said the choice between a robust economy and clean energy was false, saying that Republican warnings about the bill’s negative economic consequences were nothing but doomsday predictions.Republicans, he said, will argue that this bill will undermine our economy. (They) will claim that there is a fundamental conflict between economic growth and clean energy. That is a false choice. Our economic prosperity and a clean energy future are inextricably linked. We have seen these same doomsday predictions before, Waxman said in his opening statement.Barton argued that the environmental benefit was minimal while the economic damage could be massive, saying Republicans had an alternative plan that would both clean the environment and grow the economy.We know the cost is significant. We know the environmental benefit is basically nonexistent. The Republicans are going to have a number of amendments. We’re going to have a complete substitute that we released Thursday that I’ll offer at the appropriate time,Barton said.Our substitute does not have cap and trade in it. Our substitute does have a renewable, clean energy standard. We believe that if enough members of the majority will join us, we will offer an amendment that could pass, wouldn’t wreck the economy, would have some economic benefits and wouldn’t do any environmental harm,Barton explained.

EU member states welching on aid promises, says commission
LEIGH PHILLIPS 19.05.2009 @ 17:42 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's development commissioner has lashed out at the bloc's member states for reneging on past aid commitments, accusing them of cooking up reasons not to deliver the funds they have promised.Developing countries are at a critical stage. The poorest countries are hardest hit by the crisis,commissioner Louis Michel said following a meeting of European development ministers on Tuesday (19May), ... but I have noticed a certain trend among some member states.The EU in 2005 committed as a whole to providing annually 0.56 percent of its gross national income in aid by 2010 (Photo: Notat)They look as if they are lacking political will or cooking up false arguments not to respect the commitments into which they had entered in the past,he told reporters after the meeting.I have to say what I feel, he continued.We've got some good conclusions from this [meeting of development ministers] now, but we'll have to see whether member states actually respect those conclusions in practice.The ministers were considering a European Commission proposal from April suggesting the EU should speed up the deliver of aid, releasing early around €500 million in reserve funds, in reaction to the impact of the global economic crisis on developing countries, It's mobilising existing funding,said the commissioner.It isn't additional funding. It's just mobilising it more quickly. I got the impression that some member states were a little reluctant even about that.The development ministers in the end said that they welcomed the commission's proposal, but did not endorse it. Instead, they will await a more detailed presentation of the proposal in the autumn.I am fully aware of the fact that national budgets are hard hit by the ongoing crisis, but we do have to remember that if we don't do anything, it's going to cost us a lot more than making a determined effort now,he added, saying that increased poverty leads to wider instability and conflict and ultimately further migratory pressures on Europe.Governments have a choice. Either they show solidarity and take action or they don't do anything, which I think will cost Europe far more in the future.He accused governments of wanting to spend the money on themselves instead of needier countries.If we're not spending this, certain countries think this is money they can recoup and it's good news for them.

Off track

In 2005 at the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the EU committed as a whole to providing annually 0.56 percent of its gross national income in aid by 2010. Last year, however, Europe only provided 0.40 percent of GNI, according to a report released last week by Concord, an alliance of European development agencies. If the EU is to meet its 2005 pledge by the end of the decade, an additional €20 billion is needed over the next two years. They are well off track from a further commitment of 0.7 percent of GNI by 2015.Among the 15 old member states, Austria registered the biggest decrease in aid allocations, followed by a small drop from the Netherlands. In the group of the new Member States, Bulgaria and Malta were by far the worst performers, with decreases of 27%. Hot on their heels were Estonia, which dropped by 19%, Poland by 10%, Hungary 9%, and the Czech Republic by 1%. France and Germany slightly increased their allocations, but these figures conceal the reality of what Concord describes as inflated aid. Of the roughly €50bn that European governments provided in aid in 2008, almost €5bn was debt cancellation, €2bn was for student costs and close to €1bn was spent on refugee costs. When these figures are discounted from the glossy official numbers, European aid for 2008 amounted to only 0.34% of collective GNI, nothing like the officially reported 0.40%.Commissioner Michel, echoing the NGOs' frustrations, said: Governments have a choice. either they show solidarity and take action or they don't do anything, which I think will cost Europe far more in the future.Mr Michel is coming to the end of his mandate as a European Commissioner which may have allowed him to speak more freely than usual.Aid groups were pleasantly surprised by the commissioner's frank words saying they struck a chord.What the Commissioner did today was to call a spade a spade, said Laura Sullivan, Brussels spokeswoman for Action Aid, a development NGO.When you look at the amount of money that has been found to bail out banks, versus that spent on aid, you get a very distorted picture. France, for example, spent 45 times more on bailing out its banks last year, than it did on providing aid for poor countries,she said.Europe needs to refocus its efforts on bailing out the poor.

New Auto Standards vs. Old U.S. Preferences
Mileage Rules To Add to Price, Shrink Engines
By Steven Mufson Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The cars of the near future will be lighter, more expensive and maybe smaller. Big engines will shrink. And more and more cars will be hybrids or diesel-powered vehicles like those common in Europe. Those aren't qualities that American consumers have rushed to embrace in the past. But the new fuel-efficiency and tailpipe-emissions standards unveiled yesterday at the White House will push automakers and motorists in a direction aimed at reducing U.S. oil dependence and the emissions of greenhouse gases, just part of the administration's program for remaking the ailing American car industry. Many analysts worry that without boosting gasoline taxes to make fuel efficiency a priority for consumers, the administration may be setting a standard for new cars that won't match motorists' tastes. There's a general rule of thumb: The way to achieve higher fuel efficiency is to make cars lighter and put in smaller engines,said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds.com, an automotive information firm.In some ways, it's formulaic. Unfortunately, those tend to be the cars people don't want to buy.But automobile manufacturers, two of which are already relying on U.S. government aid to avert bankruptcy, said yesterday that they welcomed the new harmonized national standards for fuel efficiency and tailpipe emissions. While meeting the targets for 2016 might be challenging, they said it would be easier than dealing with a patchwork of regulations that differed from California to the Transportation Department to the Environmental Protection Agency. What was so important for us was we had so many different regulations, testing procedures and classes of what we sell,said Susan M. Cischke, group vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering at Ford. It was a huge amount of work just to certify the vehicles. The national standard gives us the certainty and flexibility we need to meet these tough targets.Carmakers and administration officials said that the technology for building more fuel-efficient vehicles already exists, but they acknowledge that it will cost money.

James Lentz, president of U.S. sales for Toyota, said that eventually consumers would take fuel efficiency for granted the way they now expect cars to have air bags or stabilizers or anti-lock brakes, all innovations once considered expensive. It's just a question of time and money,he said. A senior administration official said on Monday that the new standards would add $600 to the price of the average car, on top of the $700 of added costs that would have resulted from more modestly increased targets permitted under the 2007 energy bill. Yes, it costs money to develop these vehicles, President Obama said yesterday in a Rose Garden ceremony that included governors, members of Congress, auto executives and the head of the United Auto Workers.But even as the price to build these cars and trucks goes up, the cost of driving these vehicles will go down as drivers save money at the pump.The president asserted that the typical driver would save about $2,800 by getting better gas mileage and that higher purchase costs would be paid off within three years. But payback periods will vary widely depending on the type of vehicle and the price of gasoline, industry experts said, and some highly efficient vehicles might never pay off. Hardly any cars on the road in the United States today meet the new standard -- 39 miles a gallon for passenger cars and about 30 for light trucks -- and virtually all are hybrids. Several small cars are within striking distance, and by averaging hybrids and traditional combustion engines, automakers could meet overall targets even if certain models fall short. Lentz said that Toyota passenger cars already average just three miles a gallon less than the target the Obama administration set yesterday for new 2016 cars. I'm fairly comfortable on the passenger-car side,he said. The challenge for us will be light trucks. Their average now is 24 miles per gallon, and the number to get to is going to be 30. So there is a lot of work to be done on the light trucks.

Like other automakers, Toyota is already trying to close the gap. The new Toyota Tundra has a 4.6-liter V-8 engine and a six-speed transmission; the previous model had a 4.7-liter V-8 engine and a five-speed. The new model gets 15 miles a gallon in the city and 20 on the highway, while the earlier model got 14 miles per gallon in the city and 17 on the highway. Ford, whose Hybrid Escape is one of a handful of vehicles on the road today that already meet the 2016 standards, yesterday announced that it had started production of new EcoBoost engines at a Cleveland plant that had been idled in 2007 and that Ford spent $55 million retooling. The new engines combine turbo-charging with direct gasoline injection to deliver up to 20 percent improved fuel economy and 15 percent less carbon dioxide emissions while preserving the performance of larger engines, Ford said. The company said it would deliver the power of a V-8 with the fuel economy of a V-6.The new 3.5-liter engines would debut this summer in the 2010 Lincoln MKS, Lincoln MKT, Ford Taurus SHO and Ford Flex, Ford said. A V-6 EcoBoost engine will be available for the F-150 pickup truck in 2010, the company said. The fuel efficiency standards will be applied to different classes of vehicles based on size but will still include broader fleet targets. Every category and size will be required to make improvements. Different manufacturers will end up with different targets, and some high-efficiency vehicles, such as hybrids and electric vehicles, could ease the pressure on other models. But the system is designed to make it harder for automakers to sidestep requirements as they did a decade ago by making more light trucks, which have lower standards than passenger cars.Ford's Cischke said that companies can also get credit by cutting leaks of greenhouse gases from air conditioners, but the offset against mileage requirements would be less than 1 mile per gallon.Edmunds.com's Anwyl was skeptical about whether motorists would be happy with the new world of automobiles. Consumers' natural preference is to buy bigger, more comfortable vehicles, he said. But he added that carmakers know how to reach the new standards. There's no magic to this,he said.It basically boils down to physics.

While condemning Sri Lanka violence, EU still sells arms to government
LEIGH PHILLIPS 19.05.2009 @ 17:35 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Union on Monday (18 May) called for an independent inquiry into alleged human rights violations resulting from the conflict in Sri Lanka and demanded those responsible be held to account.However, at the same as issuing strong language condemning attacks on civilians, certain EU member states continue to arm the Sri Lankan authorities in breach of the EU's code of conduct on arms exports, according to the latest data from European governments. The EU is appalled by the loss of innocent civilian lives as a result of the conflict and by the high numbers of casualties, including children, following recent intense fighting in northern Sri Lanka,said European foreign ministers in a statement following a meeting in Brussels on Monday (18 May).The EU calls for the alleged violations of these laws to be investigated through an independent inquiry,the statement continued. Those accountable must be brought to justice.A number of EU member states - including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, France, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland - have however continuined to arm the Sri Lankan government since the election of hardline president Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005.According to the EU's latest report on arms export licences published in December, the nine governments authorised arm sales licences to Sri Lanka to the value of €4.09 million in 2007, the same year that Colombo launched its final offensive on the Tamil rebels.

The licensed material ranges from small weapons, ammunition and explosives to missiles, ground vehicles, naval vessels and aircraft, with the eastern European member states mainly supplying small arms, while western member states sell the bigger hardware.The EU report is compiled annually to ensure that European countries comply with the EU's Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, which is not legally-binding but which sets an ethical benchmark for the EU club. According to the code, members states should not issue an export licence if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression.

Bloodbath

The United Nations has reported that some 6,500 civilians were killed and 14,000 wounded in fighting in Sri Lanka from January to the end of April this year. On 8 May, the UN also called on the Human Rights Council to set up an international inquiry.In February, Human Rights Watch issued a report accusing the Sri Lankan Army of slaughtering civilians during indiscriminate artillery attacks, including regular shelling of hospitals. The group also demanded that Colombo cease detaining displaced people in army-controlled internment camps.Doctors working in clinics in the conflict area allege that 378 civilians were killed and another 1,122 injured during heavy shelling on the night of 9 May alone, according to BBC reports rejected by Colombo.

A UN spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss, also reported that over 100 children were killed as a result of large-scale killing of civilians, describing the warzone as a bloodbath.

Code of Conduct impotent

The value of delivered EU shipments in 2007 is lower than the €4 million figure, coming in at €1.16 million, but the remainder may still have been shipped since or will be at some point in the future. The bulk of Sri Lanka's weapons shipments do not come from the EU, with Colombo preferring to access its armaments from poorer countries with lower prices. EU-origin arms sales to the south Asian country pale in comparison to those from Ukraine and Iran.In 2007, Ukraine sold four Mig-27s to Colombo for €7.2 million ($9.8m). Iran agreed to an arms deal worth up to €104 million ($140.9m), including missile systems for the Sri Lankan air force, navy patrol boats and a small arms ammunition plant, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.

China has been Sri Lanka's biggest arms supplier since the 1990s. In 2007, China sold €27.8 million ($37.6m) of ammunition and in 2008 lent Colombo six F7 jet fighters in 2008.European foreign ministers on Monday would not be drawn on the question of arms sales. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, the bloc's foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, refused to comment.Siemon Weizeman, a senior fellow with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute working on its arms transfer programme, told EUobserver it is not the amount of the EU sales that is the problem, but that they showcase the impotence of the arms sales Code of Conduct.The EU has on numerous occasions condemned both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government for gross human rights violations,he said. Normally this would translate into denials of the sale of military equipment to these actors, but that has not been the case.They give the impression that there is an EU policy, but in reality there are just a series of national policies decided on a case-by-case basis,he continued.The scale of the transfers is not on the same level as other powers, but the EU needs to get its act together on this for its own moral integrity.

Slovenia wants changes to Croatia border resolution plan
ELITSA VUCHEVA 19.05.2009 @ 17:33 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday (19 May) confirmed he had received Slovenia's response to his latest proposal aimed at solving the long-standing border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, saying he would meet the two countries' foreign ministers in the coming weeks to discuss amendments submitted by Ljubljana.I just received the [Slovenian] response personally,Mr Rehn said at a press conference in Brussels.I will study and analyse this response in detail shortly. We need the two countries to agree. The commission is only a facilitator,he added.The enlargement commissioner intervened in the 18-year-old border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia after it reached a new low in December when Slovenia blocked several chapters of Croatia's EU membership negotiations over the issue.Mr Rehn consequently proposed setting up a meditation mechanism to help break the deadlock, with the last version of his proposal suggesting that the countries should solve their dispute via a five-member international arbitration tribunal that would operate in line with international law – a point Croatia has been strongly pushing for.Zagreb accepted the proposal earlier this month, but the response presented by Slovenia on Tuesday includes a number of amendments to it.

Details of the amendments have not been made public, but they are said to include the so-called principle of fairness Slovenia had been insisting on - Ex aequo et bono, Latin for from equity and conscience.In a legal context, the term refers to the encouragement of arbitrators to look beyond purely juridical arguments and consider solely what they consider to be fair and equitable in the case at hand. Ljubljana was also unhappy that the commission proposal required that it lift the veto to the EU talks with Croatia as soon as the two countries agree to the arbitration, saying it could only do so after any form of agreement has been formally ratified by the two countries.Slovenia has made it clear that if its amendments are not taken into account, it could neither accept the proposal nor unblock Croatia's EU negotiations.

If alterations demanded by Slovenia are not accepted, the arbitrage deal will not be reached. If the agreement fails, there is no way that Slovenia will be forced to unblock Croatian accession talks,Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor told Slovenian POP TV earlier this month.Mr Rehn will be meeting the two countries' foreign ministers in the coming weeks to discuss the amended proposal with them, but a concrete date has not been set yet.Also speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Swedish foreign minister Carld Bildt, whose country will take over the EU's rotating presidency on 1 July, said he was not particularly optimistic the saga would end soon.

Fifteen years of experience of dealing with your part of the world [the Balkans] has taught me never to use the word optimist or the word pessimist.You have to deal with the situation as it is,Mr Bildt said, referring to his time serving as High Representative in Bosnia, as EU special envoy to the former Yugoslavia, and as UN special envoy to the Balkans.

Iran says it tests missile, Israel within range By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer MAY 20,09

TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran test-fired a new advanced missile Wednesday with a range of about 1,200 miles, far enough to strike Israel, southeastern Europe and U.S. bases in the Middle East.The announcement will not reassure the U.S. government, coming just two days after President Barack Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against Iran if it shunned U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. Obama said he expected a positive response to his outreach for opening a dialogue with Iran by the end of the year.Defense Minister (Mostafa Mohammad Najjar) has informed me that the Sajjil-2 missile, which has very advanced technology, was launched from Semnan and it landed precisely on the target,state radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. He spoke during a visit to the city of Semnan, 125 miles east of the capital Tehran, where Iran's space program is centered.Ahmadinejad is running for re-election in a June 12 vote and has been criticized by his opponents and others for antagonizing the U.S. and mismanaging the country's faltering economy.Most Western analysts believe Iran does not yet have the technology to produce nuclear weapons, including warheads for long-range missiles. A group of U.S. and Russian scientists said in a report issued Tuesday that Iran could produce a simple nuclear device in one to three years and a nuclear warhead in another five years after that.The study published by the nonpartisan EastWest Institute also said Iran is making advances in rocket technology and could develop a ballistic missile capable of firing a 2,200-pound nuclear warhead up to 1,200 miles in perhaps six to eight years.

Iran says its missile program is merely for defense and its space program is for scientific and surveillance purposes. It maintains that its nuclear program is for civilian energy uses only.The solid-fuel Sajjil-2 surface-to-surface missile is a new version of the Sajjil missile, which Iran said it had successfully tested late last year with a similar range.Iran's nuclear and missile programs have alarmed Israel, and the country's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, pressed Obama to step up pressure on Tehran when the two met in Washington on Monday. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly called for Israel's elimination, and the Jewish state has not ruled out a military strike to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat.

Iran tests missile as election race starts By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl MAY 20,09

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran launched a missile with a range of close to 2,000 km (1,200 miles) on Wednesday and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Islamic state could send any attacker to hell,official media reported.The stated range of the surface-to-surface Sejil 2 missile would be almost as far as another Iranian missile, Shahab 3, and analysts say such weaponry could put Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf within reach.Ahmadinejad announced the launch in a speech on the same day that a powerful clerical watchdog body signaled the official start of campaigning for next month's presidential election by approving him and three rivals as candidates.The hardline president's main challengers in the June 12 election are moderates advocating detente with the West.But a Western military expert saw Wednesday's missile launch as Iran's response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week, during which he has underscored the Jewish state's worries about Iran.Every time they do it, it is in response to a particular event,Andrew Brookes, of the International Institute of Strategic Studies think-tank in London, said of Iran's latest display of its arms capability.The launch is likely to arouse further concern in the West and Israel about Iran's military ambitions. The United States and its allies suspect the Islamic Republic is seeking to build nuclear bombs. Tehran denies the charge.The Sejil 2 missile, which has an advanced technology, was launched today ... and it landed exactly on the target,the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Ahmadinejad was speaking during a rally in the northern Semnan province, where IRNA said the launch took place. State television said it was a test and showed footage of a missile soaring into the sky, leaving a vapor trail.U.S. President Barack Obama is seeking rapprochement with Iran after three decades of mutual hostility. But, like his predecessor George W. Bush, he has not ruled out military action if diplomatic efforts fail to resolve the nuclear row.Israeli leaders have raised U.S. concern by hinting at pre-emptive strikes if they decide diplomacy has failed. Israel is widely assumed to be the only Middle Eastern nuclear power.Iran has said it would respond to any attack by targeting U.S. interests and America's ally Israel, as well as closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for world oil supplies.Ahmadinejad said Iran had the power to send to hell any military base from where a bullet was fired against it.

He singled out Israel, which Iran refers to as the Zionist regime and does not recognize: Right now the Zionist regime ... threatens Iran militarily with its false threats and the Iranian nation should know that it is just theater.Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Iran was able to reach Europe as well his country: If anyone had any doubt, now it's clear to all that Iran is playing with fire.Brookes said Iran's missiles were perfectly good enough to go and cause a problem to Israel or elsewhere in the region.Iran previously test-fired a Sejil missile last November, describing it then as a new generation of surface-to-surface missile. Washington said at the time that the test highlighted the need for a missile defense system it plans to base in Poland and the Czech Republic to counter threats from rogue states.The Obama administration is reviewing the missile shield project for cost effectiveness and viability, though he has said Washington would continue to research and develop the plans.(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Russia links nuclear talks to U.S. anti-missile plan By Amie Ferris-Rotman MAY 20,09

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The United States must allay Russian concerns over its planned anti-missile system in Europe if the two sides are to achieve a breakthrough on cutting nuclear weapons, Russia's foreign minister said on Wednesday.U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev last month agreed to pursue a deal on cutting nuclear weapons that would replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), which expires in December.The world's two biggest nuclear powers began formal talks on Tuesday to find a replacement for START and diplomats hope progress can be made before Obama and Medvedev meet in Moscow on July 6-8.But the talks are complicated by Washington's anti-missile plan. It is considering stationing elements of a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, in order to intercept rockets fired from what it regards as rogue states, such as Iran. Russia sees this as upsetting the strategic balance and threatening its own security.The final product of the negotiations must of course be a step forward from the current system of limits and cuts,Lavrov told reporters at the 19th century mansion in central Moscow where talks on the successor to START continued on Wednesday.The fundamental principle of an agreement must be equal security for both sides and the preservation of strategic parity. This of course cannot be ensured without taking into account the situation with anti-missile defense,Lavrov said.

He added that the talks should also take account of any plans for space-based missiles and the development of highly destructive non-nuclear weapons.Finding a deal could herald a thaw in relations between the Cold War foes after bitter arguments under former U.S. President George W. Bush over missile defense, NATO expansion and last August's war between Russia and Georgia.Obama said last month that the United States would go ahead with the anti-missile system if Washington thought there was a continued threat from Iran.The negotiators face tight pressure to work through scores of complicated technical issues -- including differences over how to count nuclear weapons and ensure compliance -- before the December 5 deadline for replacing START.
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

SOCIALISM BRINGING SUNSHINE TO NANNY STATE

Patent for killer chip denied in Germany
Fri, 08 May 2009 21:38:32 GMT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKFCp-VRINA&feature=player_embedded

Tiny ID chips can be inserted under the skin .A Saudi inventor's proposal to insert semiconductors subcutaneously in visitors and remotely kill them if they misbehave will not be patented in Germany. On Wednesday, a German Patent Office spokeswoman said the application was received on October 30, 2007 and published 18 months later, as required by law, in a patents database. But inventions that are unethical or a danger to the public are not recognized.Reporters said the document proposed that tiny semiconductors be implanted or placed by injection under the skin of people so their whereabouts could be tracked by global-positioning satellites. This could be used to prevent immigrants overstaying. A model B of the system would contain a poison such as cyanide, which could be released by remote control to eliminate people if they became a security risk. The document said this could be used against terrorists or criminals. Microchip implantation in humans has raised new ethical discussions by scientific professional forums, academic groups, human rights organizations, government departments and religious groups. The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) of the American Medical Association published a report in 2007 alleging that RFID implanted chips may compromise privacy because there is no assurance that the information contained in the chip can be properly protected, notwithstanding health risks (chips can travel under the skin). SG/HAR

Germans Deny Patent For GPS/Poison Microchip By Meredith Woerner, 2:00 PM on Mon May 18 2009,

A Saudi inventor filed a patent for a killer chip which, once implanted, would monitor undesirables using a GPS. Oh, and it also comes with an extra feature: a remote-controlled cyanide dispenser, for murder.This is like something out of Battle Royal, only real. Here's how the invention, which failed to make itthrough German Patent Law, would have worked:The basic model would consist of a tiny GPS transceiver placed in a capsule and inserted under a person's skin, so that authorities could track him easily.Model B would have an extra function - a dose of cyanide to remotely kill the wearer without muss or fuss if authorities deemed he'd become a public threat.The inventor said the chip could be used to track terrorists, criminals, fugitives, illegal immigrants, political dissidents, domestic servants and foreigners overstaying their visas.Yeah, got to look out for those dissidents. Sheesh, this guy is mental. The German media was first to report this, and luckily it looks like this patent will not be approved, nor should it be - unless they make it available to everyone for ex-boyfriend monitoring.

DISEASES

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

A TOTAL OF 70 DEAD WORLDWIDE AND 8,800 SICK AND THE W.H.O IS STILL AT LEVEL 5 AND STILL THREATENING A PANDEMIC OUTBREAK IN THE FALL.THEY ARE EITHER TRYING A SCARE TACTIC OR THEY AND THE BILDERBERGS WILL MAKE IT A PANDEMIC IN THE FALL.ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

WHO MAY RAISE ALERT LEVEL TO 6
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/world/asia/18flu.html?_r=2

WHO Urges Countries to Prepare for Possible Flu Pandemic
By Lisa Schlein Geneva 18 May 2009

WHO Dir. General Margaret Chan speaks at the World Health Assembly plenary session in Geneva, 18 May 2009 The World Health Organization is warning against complacency and urging countries to prepare for a possible pandemic from the Swine Flu A-H1N1 virus. The annual World Health Assembly got off to a vigorous start with a high-level consultation to assess the current global situation.In an unusual move, this year's World Health Assembly has been shortened from nine to five days so health ministers can get home to deal with the swine flu crisis.WHO Director-General Margaret Chan told representatives of 193 countries attending the high-level consultation they cannot afford to let down their guard in a world that is highly mobile and interdependent.She said all governments must cooperate with each other. They must share information openly and coordinate their actions to prevent the new virus from taking hold.She noted everyone is under pressure to make urgent far-reaching decisions in an atmosphere of considerable scientific uncertainty.We have lived for five long years under the threat of a pandemic caused by the lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus. This has left our world better prepared. but also very scared ... We need to warn the public when necessary, but reassure them whenever possible. This is a difficult balancing act,she said. Latest WHO figures show 40 countries reporting nearly 9,000 cases, including more than 70 deaths from swine flu. Most infections are found in Mexico, the United States and Canada. Countries outside North America that are most heavily affected are Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Acting Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Richard Besser, said the virus is spreading rapidly throughout the country. He said seasonal flu is still circulating in the United States, but the new virus now accounts for about half of all cases being seen. We have aggressively undertaken the steps toward vaccine development. We sent five different virus isolates to different labs around the world. These labs will help us evaluate which virus isolate would be the best candidate for a vaccine. We expect to have results by the end of the month, he said. Our best analysis suggests that this novel H1N1 virus is likely to circulate worldwide, similar to other seasonal flu viruses. Because the virus is new, we expect more people to become infected and even if the virus is not highly virulent, more people will be susceptible. There will be more illness, more hospitalizations and more strain on essential services,he cautioned.Panelists agree there is a false perception in many parts of the world that the swine flu H1N1 virus is winding down. They said the outbreak is not over and soon will be traveling to the southern Hemisphere. They said they will have to carefully monitor the impact of the virus on vulnerable populations in some of the poorest countries of the world.

WORLD GOVERNMENT

EHESIANS 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,(DEMONIC ANGELS IN HIGH PLACES) against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(SPIRTIUAL DEMONIC PERSONS)
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

LUKE 4:5-7(BECAUSE SATAN OFFERS WORLD POWER, WORLD ORDERERS HAVE ACCEPTED SATANS GIFT)
5 And the devil, taking him (JESUS) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 12:4,1
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

REVELATION 13:1-3,7,8,12,16-18
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
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.

REVELATION 17:3,7,9-10,12,18
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February 1950

Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.

2 STATE WILL LEAD TO COLLAPSE OF ISRAEL
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2109.htm
HE SUPPORTS SUICIDE BOMBINGS
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1980.htm
ONCE WE GET JERUSALEM,ISRAELIS OUT
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1738.htm
OBAMA U.N MISTAKE
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmE3ZmUwZDY0ZmFiMzllYTJiY2UwOTllNjBjYTY2MGQ
CAN WE SACK OUR MPS
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/05/this-weeks-big-questions-are-should-we.html#links
HAMID ADDRESSING EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/05/hi-harold-this-man-is-i-am-privileged.html#links
OBAMA HECKLED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAb2elBxyeQ&feature=player_embedded
BILDERBERG WRAPUP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLObMiM5QuE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.prisonplanet.com/2009-bilderberg-group-57th-annual-secret-meeting-is-over.html
FAREED ZAKARIA CONFRONTED ABOUT BILDERBERG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTn5RYVIDyI&feature=player_embedded

WELL AFTER READING THIS ABOUT CHARLIES LAST HURRAY WITH THE GREEK POLICE NUTCASES AND BILDERBERG NUTCASES YOU CAN SEE THE LIES AND MANIPULATION HERE.

Our man in Bilderberg: Six days to lost innocenceAt the end of the annual secret meeting of the global elite, a call of nature feeds Charlie Skelton's worst fears Charlie Skelton guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 May 2009 17.15 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/18/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch1

This is the plainclothes policeman I apprehended outside the Metro. I grappled with him and his partner in the atrium. Fond memories ... Photograph: Charlie Skelton/Guardian.Thanks to my needing the loo in the department of government security, I've finally found out what's been happening to me; why my world has turned 16 shades of meatball since stumbling six days ago into the mad, bad and dangerous-to-know world of Bilderberg. My story is over. Here's how it ends ...the meeting has been airless and fruitless. It has been the usual How you know these are policemen? and Do you have the numbers of the motorbikes? – the same old belittling of my word and my intelligence.I explain again: The detective at Omonioa police station told me that the two men following me, the two men I fought with in the metro station, were police officers. He said ...,and here I flip open my reporter's notebook, the one I found randomly in the street yesterday, my talisman, and read the quote: They are police. They are just doing their job, nothing else.These men were the ones giving orders to the men in uniforms. And I was detained, even though I was the one who called the police. Can you tell me what is going on? We have no information.I turn to the captain's colleague. Same face.We know nothing about this incident.I've barely sat down and they know nothing about this incident.I ask them directly: How do you know that you know nothing? We are the department that ... we look after the state, the government.One of the men who arrested me in Vouliagmeni – nice to bump into him again in Athens. Photograph: Charlie Skelton/Guardian You protect politicians, government buildings? Exactly. As a department we are interested mostly with anarchism and the people who do illegal actions. But of course, we don't know all the anarchist people ...So why have I been sent here? Why this department in particular? To the Ypodieftinsi Kratikis Asfalias – the department of government security? I ask them directly: what is my status here in Greece, what happens when they look up my name, am I a criminal? The deputy answers: Only if you do a crime do you have a record. If you have not done a crime in Greece or in your home country you do not have a record. It is illegal to keep personal information on European citizens.

That's comforting.I ask again why I am being followed. I ask him if he thinks it's a problem that I've been so threatened by people following me around Athens that I took a cab to my own embassy.No, I don't think you have a problem. They only follow you to see where you are going. I think they don't want to harm you. And if they do want to harm you, I'd sooner they don't do that in Athens.His words. Written in my notebook.

They follow you from police station to police station. They know that you have informed police that you are threatened. They are more careful now.Glad he can see so clearly into the minds of the men (certainly not policemen, of course) who've been chasing me around.I show him the photo I took of the man I grappled with in the metro station.The one whose partner shoved me about and forgot that he wasn't a police officer, pointing into the little metro police office, screaming at me Get in here! Get in here!and marching in ahead of the uniformed officers. In charge. I ask the captain if he recognises the man. No.I show him another photograph, of a man I saw coming out of this building, yesterday, when I came to arrange an appointment. He was one of the pair who arrested me the second time in Vouliagmeni, for taking photographs of car wheels. We recognised each other and laughed as we passed. I took his photograph. I showed the photograph to the officers. Bless them, they couldn't help but smile. Hands wiped across mouths to become stern. Glad they're taking this in such good spirits.So you recognise him? Serious faces now.He reminds me of someone I know, but ... no ... I don't know him.They're quoting me lines from bad movies.It's going nowhere. I get the address of another police department, get the captain's name, and ask his advice. I could use it.Here in Greece we have a saying, we hold a small basket to anything we hear and to anything we see. I do not have big expectations for your situation.The interview is over, I've been successfully stonewalled, nothing confirmed, nothing certain. The cloak of Bilderbergian darkness still envelops me. I'm going to go to the Acropolis and scratch rude words in a pillar or something. Anarchist that I am. But first, I need the loo. And at this point, the captain makes his big mistake. He lets me go. And everything changes.

I am led along the sixth-floor corridor to the lavatory. And there, standing there – bam – right in front of my eyes, is one of the men who's been following me around Athens. The one who tailed me here on the first day. The one who I gave the slip to in my stairwell, and then quietly watched as he stood at the edge of the museum park, scouring the tourists. He was looking anxious. I waved cheerily when he finally spotted me. It was him. It was proof. Everything up until now could be fudged, denied, explained away, attributed to coincidence or paranoia, but not this.I think he was as shocked to see me as I was to see him. He didn't know what to do, so he literally ran off. He ran away, into his office. I darted after him – what was I doing? I was yelling, I was pointing: Here! One of the men! One of the men who's following me!I whistled to the captain up the hall: In here, he went in here!It was absolute, unbridled mayhem. Detectives came into the hall, people were shouting, I was led back up the hall. I was FUMING. I was shaking. I was angrier than I've ever been in my life. All I've been, all along, is lied to. Harassed and lied to. And I only caught them out because of an extra cup of coffee at breakfast.The captain was in a tizz.Wait here, we sort this all out now. Mutterings from next door. A minute later and I'm ushered into the boss's room. The chairs were plumper, the TV screen showing Eurovision highlights was bigger, and he was fatter. Sit down.I sat.

What's your problem?I think you know what my problem is.There is no problem.I saw a man, up the hall, in the lavatory. One of the men who has been following me.He looks me deep in the eye, not a blink.There was no man. You did not see any man.My mouth actually fell open. I looked at him open-mouthed. There were no words. Again, it was just an idea in my mind. I had imagined it all. I'd encountered a phantom taking a leak.Close your mouth. It is rude to sit like that with mouth open.I wasn't blinking either as I said: It's rude to lie.There was no man.Shall we go and ask him? He is just up the corridor.You go now.And that's the best you can do? I looked around at the captain; at his colleague.This is crazy.To you it is crazy. Not to me. He started punching numbers into his phone, it was over.I have a job.I have a job, too.But you know, it didn't matter what he said. I have been stalked and harassed by Greek government security, I have hidden from them in stairwells, challenged them in the street, tried to arrest them, and been lied to by them. The Greek prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis, was a delegate at Bilderberg 2009, and the special government security department of his police force has been protecting him from me. Protecting the dignitaries from a sort of journalist. A dangerous man. I wonder how much it all cost. How many thousand euro. I bet Greek taxpayers would love to know.I haven't had time to reflect yet. This is me writing off the top of my head in a nice populous cafe attached to my hotel. Lots of people around. I'm too tired and baffled to think any more. I may not know a whole lot more about what went on at this year's Bilderberg, but I know what went on up the road, and further still, in Athens' city centre. I came to make a few cracks about Bilderberg and ended up getting sledgehammered in the nuts.I tell you one thing: they're not very good at their job (unless their job was to freak me out). If I was the Greek prime minister I'd be out looking for better spooks. How about Avion? We know they were at Bilderberg, why not extend their contract ...?

Right now, all I want to do is to go home. I'm sitting here scared to go to the loo. I don't like the look of the stairs. I'm thinking of giving the bellboy €20 to stand outside while I pee. When I filled out my report in Sintagma police station, with the nice captain, he was obviously using the wrong paperwork because there was a box where it said: Name of item lost.It was a lost property form. I wrote innocence.

Guardian Writer Hounded And Threatened Over Bilderberg Reporting ,Police refuse to cooperate as Charlie Skelton demands answers over his harassment Steve Watson Infowars.net Monday, May 18, 2009

London Guardian writer Charlie Skelton has further detailed the constant harassment and stalking he has been forced to endure for daring to cover the 2009 Bilderberg meeting near Athens.A somewhat distressed and emotionally exasperated Skelton has filed a fresh report explaining how he has been consistently followed around and spied upon by undercover police (pictured opposite) and government security officials during his time in Vouliagmeni, Greece.I came to make a few cracks about Bilderberg and ended up getting sledgehammered in the nuts.Skelton writes, referring to the fact that his initial posts were written with a lighthearted and comical approach.The situation quickly turned serious for Skelton however, once the secretive elite confab kicked off.He has been arrested twice for attempting to take photographs close to the Astir Palace resort, inside of which 150 or so of the world’s most influential powerbrokers have been trading words and strategies for the past four days.Skelton relates how he has been threatened by his stalkers and has even gotten into a scuffle with two of them.I have been stalked and harassed by Greek government security, I have hidden from them in stairwells, challenged them in the street, tried to arrest them, and been lied to by them.he writes.Skelton describes how he has approached different police departments around the city to demand answers on why he is being hounded, and how he has even seen one of his stalkers inside a police department.

Despite also visiting the British embassy after fearing for his safety, Skelton has been completely stonewalled by the authorities.He repeats the words spoken to him by a police captain in Athens:No, I don’t think you have a problem. They only follow you to see where you are going. I think they don’t want to harm you. And if they do want to harm you, I’d sooner they don’t do that in Athens.They follow you from police station to police station. They know that you have informed police that you are threatened. They are more careful now.

Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List Infowars May 18, 2009
Dutch Queen Beatrix,Queen Sofia of Spain,Prince Constantijn Belgian Prince,Philip Ntavinion Etienne, Belgium,Joseph Akerman, Germany,Friends Alexander, United States (NSA),Roger Altman, United States,Arapoglou, Greece (National Bank of Greece governor)
Ali Bampatzan, Turkey (Deputy Prime Minister responsible for economy),Francisco Balsemao bidet, Portugal,Nicholas Bavarez, France,Franco Bernampe, Italy (Telecom Italia),Xavie Bertran, France,Carl Bildt, Sweden (Secretary),January Bgiorklount, Norway,Christoph Blocher, Switzerland,Alexander Bompar, France,Boten Anna, Spain,Henri de Kastios, France,Juan-Luis Themprian, Spain,W. Edmund Clark, Canada
Kenneth Clarke, Great Britain (TD Bank Financial Group),Luc Cohen, Belgium,George David, Greece,Richard Ntiarlav, Great Britain,Mario Dragan, Italy (Italia VANCA d)
Elntroup Anders, Denmark,John Elkan, Italy (Fiat SRA),Thomas Enders, Germany (Airbus SAS),Jose Entrekanales, Spain,Isintro phenomena casket, Spain,Naial Fergkiouson, United States (Harvard University),Timothy Gaitner, United States (Minister of Finance),Ntermot convergence, Ireland (AIV Group),Donald Graham, United States (Washington Post Company),Victor Chalmperstant, Netherlands (Leiden University),Ernst hirsh Ballin, Netherlands,Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. (Obama’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan),Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, Netherlands (CC NATO),James Jones, the U.S. (National Security Advisor to the White House),Vernon Jordan, United States
Robert Keigkan, United States,Girki Katainen, Finland,John profit Britain (Royal Dutch Shell),Mustafa Kots, Turkey (Group Kots),Roland GT, Germany,Sami Cohen, Turkey (Journalist),Henry Kissinger, United States,Marie Zose Ktavis, United States (Iudson Institute),Neli Kroes, the Netherlands (European Commissioner for Competition)Odysseas Kyriakopoulos, Greece (Group S & B),Manuela Fereira mode, Portugal (PSD)
Bernarntino Leon, Spain,Jessica Matthews, United States,Philip Meis Tant (EIB),Frank Mckenna, Canada (TD Bank Financial Group),John Mikelthgoueit, Great Britain (journalists, The Economist),Tieri Montmprian de France (Franse Instituut) Tieri Montmprian de France (French Institute),Mario Monti, Italy (University Louitzi Bokoni)
Angela Miguel Moratinos, Spain (Minister of Foreign Affairs),Craig dirty, U.S. (Microsoft),Egkil Miklempast, Norway,Mathias A, Germany,Olive Denis, France (Le Nouvel Observateur),Frederick Ountea, France (Societe Generale),Avg Ozntemir, Germany (Green Party),Tomazo Pantoa-Siopa, Italy,Papalexopoulos Dimitris, Greece (Titan)
Richard Pearl, United States (Αmerican Enterprise Institute),David Petreous, United States (head of the Central Administration of the U.S. Armed Forces),Pint Manuel, Minister of Finance of Portugal,Robert Pritsarnt, Canada (Totstar Corporation),Romano Prodi, Italy (former Italian Prime Minister),Heather Raisman, Canada (Indigo Vooks & Music Inc.).,Eivint Reitan, Norway,Michael Rintzier, Czech Republic,David Rockefeller, U.S.,Dennis Ross, United States,Ruby Barnet, United States,Alberto Rouith-Gkalarthon, Spain,Susan Sampantzi Ntintzer, Turkey,Ιntira Samarasekera, Canada
Rountol Solten, Austria,Jürgen Stemp, Germany,Pedro Solbes Mira, Spain (Ministry of Finance),Sampatzi Saraz, Turkey (banker),Sanata Seketa, Canada (University of Canada)
Samer Lawrence, United States,Peter Sutherland, Ireland,Martin Taylor, UK,Peter Thiel, USA,Agan Ourgkout, Turkey,Eye Vanchanen, Finland, (Prime Minister),Daniel Vazela, Switzerland,Jeroen van der Veer, Netherlands,Guy Verhofstadt, Belgium (ex-Prime Minister),Paul Volker, the U.S.,Jacob Valenmpergk, Sweden,Marcus Valenmpergk, Sweden,Nout Wellink, the Netherlands,Viser Hans, Netherlands,Martin Wolf, Great Britain (Financial Times Journalist),James Wolfensohn, United States (the former World Bank President),Paul Wolfowitz, United States,Fareed Zakaria, United States (Analyst Journalist, Newsweek),Robert Zoellick, United States (President World Bank)
Dora Bakoyannis, Greece (Minister of Foreign Affairs),Anna Diamantopoulou, Greece (PASOK MP),Papathanasiou, Greece (Minister of Finance),Alogoskoufis, Greece (former Minister),David, Greece (businessman, president of Coca-Cola 3E)

John Kerry At Bilderberg 2009?
Paul Joseph Watson Prison Planet.com Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Former Presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator John Kerry is rumored to have attended the 2009 Bilderberg conference despite not appearing on the official guest list, suggesting he will play a prominent role in getting globalist-mandated legislation like carbon taxes passed over the course of the next year.If Kerry was in attendance during the elitist confab at the Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel in Vouliagmeni, Greece then he was breaking federal law in the shape of the Logan Act, which forbids U.S. citizens from engaging in negotiations with foreign governments without express permission. Violation of the Logan Act is a felony, punishable under federal law with imprisonment of up to three years.The leaked guest list already out and Kerry’s name is not on it, but Bilderberg routinely omits key attendees from the official roster.In an article headlined, Where in the world is Sen. Kerry?, the Foreign Policy.com website notes that, “Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been on foreign travel since Friday,adding that Hill staffers thought the details of the trip seemed unusually hush-hush.Kerry attended the World Economic Forum as well as a preparatory meeting in Rome in anticipation of the Copenhagen climate change negotiations to be held at the end of the year, which will be used to push an integral part of the globalist agenda - the carbon tax.Kerry has played a central role in advocating the Obama administration’s so-called cap-and-trade proposal, which will be the entrée for a tax on the life-giving gas that all humans exhale - carbon dioxide.

Essentially taxing us for breathing is a prime centerpiece of Bilderberg’s feudalist agenda. This is why top oil company CEO’s like British Petroleum’s Peter Sutherland, who attended this year’s meeting in Greece, have vowed during CFR, Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg meetings to exploit global warming fearmongering to ratchet up taxes and control over how westerners live their lives.Some Hill folk wondered whether Kerry might have also stopped in at the secret Bilderberg Group meeting being held in Athens,adds the Foreign Policy report. Chief counsel of the Foreign Relations committee Frank Lowestein denied that Kerry attended Bilderberg.Kerry has some interesting ties to the secretive cabal, for it was Bilderberg that selected his running mate John Edwards during the 2004 election campaign.Edwards gave a glowing speech at the conference in 2004 held in Stresa, Italy and Bilderberg attendees even broke house rules to applaud Edwards at the end of a speech he gave to the elitists about American politics.The choice of Edwards was shocking to media pundits who had fully expected Dick Gephardt to secure the position. The New York Post even reported that Gephardt had been chosen and Kerry-Gephardt stickers were being placed on campaign vehicles before being removed when Edwards was announced as Kerry’s number two.

ALEX JONES PROMO
http://www.infowars.com/whats-the-frequency-alex/

American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper
Mat Rodina May 18, 2009

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite tv dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their right to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our democracy. Pride blindth the foolish.Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different branches and denominations were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the winning side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the winning side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.The final collapse has come with the election of Barrack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them? These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.Then came Barrack Obama’s command that GM’s (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of pure free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a bold move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK’s Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our wise Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper…but a freeman whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set fair maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Franks, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.

Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Abbas Zaki: Two-State Solution Will Lead to the Collapse of Israel.Following are excerpts from an interview with PLO Ambassador to Lebanon Abbas Zaki, which aired on ANB TV on May 7, 2009. (To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2109.htm ).

Also below are excerpts from other television appearances by Zaki, on New TV, OTV, and NBN TV:Two-State Solution Will Lead to the Collapse of Israel ANB TV, May 7, 2009

Abbas Zaki: What is needed is a settlement, not a hudna [truce]. After 45 years of struggle, we have the right to reach a conclusion to this conflict, rather than extending the hudna, enabling Israel to expand on a daily basis. My advice is: we should not give Israel a hudna, because whenever Israel is given a hudna, it consolidates its position and becomes more deeply rooted. What hudna? If they do not withdraw from the 1967 lands - what hudna? Israel will become a fact on the ground, and we will end up as small enclaves, and should be driven out with time. Therefore, it is high time that we found a final, comprehensive solution. The Arabs talk about a comprehensive solution and present initiatives, and the world talks about a solution, yet we say: Let's stick to the hudna. No, my friend. I personally joined Fatah somewhat belatedly, in 1962. Work out how many years that is. Should I keep on extending the hudnas? Impossible. We want a solution now. They talk about a two-state solution, and when that is achieved... Even Ahmadinejad, leader of the rejectionists throughout the region, said he supports a two-state solution. Nobody fools anybody.

With the two-state solution, in my opinion, Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the Chosen People? What will become of all the sacrifices they made - just to be told to leave? They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse. It will regress of its own accord. Then we will move forward.

I Support Suicide Bombings in Israel New TV, January 6, 2009 (to view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1980.htm ).

Interviewer:I asked you earlier if you support martyrdom operations today, and you said that the Israelis are afraid both of the Palestinian stones and people.Abbas Zaki: First of all, in light of the blood that is being shed in Gaza, and the crying of the men - not only of the women... The hardest thing is to watch the men crying in Gaza. I now support any operation that will make the women and men in Israel cry. When the Al-Qassam Brigades and all the other forces were told to strike everywhere, I expected things to be carried out quickly. All those who always flex their muscles, and say they want to slaughter Israel - this is their opportunity. Soon, the world will view us as those responsible for the crime. Currently, in light of what is happening to the children of Gaza, any martyrdom operation is permissible, I swear by Allah.Interviewer:Do you call for such operations to be launched from the West Bank as well? Some people are asking: What can the people of the Gaza Strip do right now? Perhaps now, with the land invasion, they will be able to act. But do you really call upon the people of the West Bank to carry out martyrdom operations? Abbas Zaki: The people of the West Bank are active day and night - with stones, with demonstrations, all the people have taken to the streets. You asked me if I support, in light of this bloodshed... Don't forget we're Arabs - we believe in blood vengeance. No one can treat our blood like water. We should have afflicted them with three or four operations, and then their women would have said to those sons of bitches: Come home, we are getting killed here.When Israel focuses on one front, other fronts should be activated.

We Act According to the Phased Plan; Once We Get Jerusalem, We Will Move On to Drive Israelis Out of All of Palestine NBN TV, April 9, 2008 (to view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1738.htm ).

Abbas Zaki: We believe wholeheartedly that the Right of Return is guaranteed by our will, by our weapons, and by our faith.Interviewer: Do you still believe in weapons, not just in negotiations? Abbas Zaki: The use of weapons alone will not bring results, and the use of politics without weapons will not bring results. We act on the basis of our extensive experience. We analyze our situation carefully. We know what climate leads to victory and what climate leads to suicide. We talk politics, but our principles are clear. It was our pioneering leader, Yasser Arafat, who persevered with this revolution, when empires collapsed. Our armed struggle has been going on for 43 years, and the political struggle, on all levels, has been going on for 50 years. We harvest U.N. resolutions, and we shame the world so that it doesn't gang up on us, because the world is led by people who have given their brains a vacation - the American administration and the neocons.[...] Young Palestinian: As I recall, the invasion of 1982 and the destruction of South Lebanon was not just in response to missile attacks, but in response to operations as well. Israel does not use only the missiles as a pretext. It uses any activity of the resistance as a pretext.Abbas Zaki: The important thing is that in any operation, Israel will pay a price. We don't want cases in which you don't kill even a chicken, but Israel kills 20of you. I salute any operation that makes Israel pay a heavy price. The P.L.O. is the sole legitimate representative [of the Palestinian people], and it has not changed its platform even one iota. In light of the weakness of the Arab nation and the lack of values, and in light of the American control over the world, the P.L.O. proceeds through phases, without changing its strategy. Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine.

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 MAY 19,2009

09:30 AM -1.44
10:00 AM -30.27
10:30 AM +15.85
11:00 AM +7.80
11:30 AM -2.95
12:00 PM +15.27
12:30 PM +24.05
01:00 PM +6.85
01:30 PM +24.05
02:00 PM +8.84
02:30 PM +15.85
03:00 PM +19.67
03:30 PM +24.61
04:00 PM -29.23 8474.85

S&P 500 908.13 -1.58

NASDAQ 1734.54 +2.18

GOLD 925.90 +4.20

OIL 59.65 +0.62

TSE 300 10,086.87 +324.02

CDNX 1076.49 +13.40

S&P/TSX/60 612.90 +19.53

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -3.10%
S&P +0.72%
Nasdaq +9.85%
TSX Advances 695,declines 810,unchanged 272,Volume 1,782,630,109.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 363,Declines 408,Unchanged 326,Volume 262,321,513.

Dow -19 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -37 points at low today.
Dow +4 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $922.20.OIL opens at $59.24 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -37 points at low today so far.
Dow +36 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,117,declines 1,372,unchanged 109,New Highs 13,New Lows 39.
Volume 2,580,319,961.
NASDAQ Advances 1,181,declines 1,374,unchanged 123,New highs 28,New Lows 9.
Volume 738,807,330.
TSX Advances 969,declines 397,unchanged 209,Volume 968,106,833.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 300,Declines 285,Unchanged 282,Volume 129,985,270.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -39 points at low today.
Dow +36 points at high today.
Dow -0.34% today Volume 277,652,265.
Nasdaq +0.13% today Volume 1,979,134,572.
S&P 500 -0.17% today Volume N/A

GEITHNER FROM BILDERBERG TO YAPIN TODAY
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1127290731&play=1
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1127312803&play=1

AMERICAS NEXT REGULATOR
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1127202431&play=1

AUDIT THE FED AND END IT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpMM3zsdDUw&feature=player_embedded

JIM ROGERS OBAMA WILL DESTROY THE ECONOMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7MJS9tVDjA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyI_gVBXyUQ&feature=player_embedded

G. Edward Griffin on the Reality Report
http://realityreport.blip.tv/file/2123004/

Audit the Fed, Then End It!
Ron Paul Campaign for Liberty May 19, 2009

I have been very pleased with the progress of my legislation, HR 1207, which calls for a complete audit of the Federal Reserve and removes many significant barriers towards transparency of our monetary system. This bill now has nearly 170 cosponsors, with support from both Republicans and Democrats. Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a companion bill in the Senate S 604, which will hopefully begin to gain momentum as well. I am very encouraged to see so many of my colleagues in Congress stand with me for greater transparency in government. Some have begun to push back against this bill, and I am very happy to address their concerns.The main argument seems to be that Congressional oversight over the Fed is government interference in the free market. This argument shows a misunderstanding of what a free market really is. Fundamentally, you cannot defend the Federal Reserve and the free market at the same time. The Fed negates the very foundation of a free market by artificially manipulating the price and supply of money — the lifeblood of the economy. In a free market, interest rates, like the price of any other consumer good, are decentralized and set by the market. The only legitimate, Constitutional role of government in monetary policy is to protect the integrity of the monetary unit and defend against counterfeiters.

Instead, Congress has abdicated this responsibility to a cabal of elite, quasi-governmental banks who, instead of stabilizing the economy, have destabilized it. It took less than two decades for the Federal Reserve to bring on the Great Depression of the 1930’s. It has also inflated away the value of our currency by over 96 percent since its inception. It has invisibly stolen from the poor and given to the rich through this controlled inflation, and now openly stolen through recent bank bailouts. It has predictably exacerbated the very problems it was meant to solve.

Detractors have also argued that the Fed must remain immune from the political process, and that that more congressional oversight would distort their very important decisions. On the contrary, the Federal Reserve is already heavily entrenched in the political process, as the Fed chairman is a political appointee. High level officials routinely make the rounds between positions at the Fed, member banks, Treasury and back again, taking care of friends and each other along the way.

As far as the foolishness of placing complex monetary policy decisions in the hands of politicians — I couldn’t agree more. No politician or central banker, no matter how brilliant, is smart enough to know more than the market itself. The failure of central economic planning has been witnessed over and over. It is frankly beyond me why we ever agreed to try it again.To understand how unwise it is to have the Federal Reserve, one must first understand the magnitude of the privileges they have. They have been given the power to create money, by the trillions, and to give it to their friends, under any terms they wish, with little or no meaningful oversight or accountability. Thus the loudest arguments against greater transparency are likely to come from those friends, and understandably so.However, it is the responsibility of every member of Congress to represent the interests of the people that sent them to Washington and find out what has been happening with our money. As the branch of government with the power of the purse, we really have no other reasonable choice when the economy is in the shape it is in.

Brazil and China eye plan to axe dollar,The Financial Times (UK)By Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo May 18, 2009 www.ft.com

Brazil and China will work towards using their own currencies in trade transactions rather than the US dollar, according to Brazil’s central bank and aides to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president.The move follows recent Chinese challenges to the status of the dollar as the world’s leading international currency.Mr Lula da Silva, who is visiting Beijing this week, and Hu Jintao, China’s president, first discussed the idea of replacing the dollar with the renminbi and the real as trade currencies when they met at the G20 summit in London last month.An official at Brazil’s central bank stressed that talks were at an early stage. He also said that what was under discussion was not a currency swap of the kind China recently agreed with Argentina and which the US had agreed with several countries, including Brazil.

Currency swaps are not necessarily trade related,the official said.The funds can be drawn down for any use. What we are talking about now is Brazil paying for Chinese goods with reals and China paying for Brazilian goods with renminbi.Henrique Meirelles and Zhou Xiaochuan, governors of the two countries’ central banks, were expected to meet soon to discuss the matter, the official said.Mr Zhou recently proposed replacing the US dollar as the world’s leading currency with a new international reserve currency, possibly in the form of special drawing rights (SDRs), a unit of account used by the International Monetary Fund.In September, Brazil and Argentina signed an agreement under which importers and exporters in the two countries may make and receive payments in pesos and reals, although they may also continue to use the US dollar if they prefer.An aide to Mr Lula da Silva on his visit to Beijing said the political will to enact a similar deal with China was clearly present. Something that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago is a real possibility today,he said. Strong currencies like the real and the renminbi are perfectly capable of being used as trade currencies, as is the case between Brazil and Argentina.Economists have argued that while the SDR plan is unfeasible now, bilateral deals between Beijing and its trading partners could act as pieces in a jigsaw designed to promote wider international use of the renminbi. Any move to make the renminbi more acceptable for international trade, or to help establish it as a regional reserve currency in Asia, could enhance China’s political clout around the world.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/996b1af8-43ce-11de-a9be-00144feabdc0.html

Dollar Falls as U.S. Banking Outlook Reduces Demand for Safety
By Ye Xie and Anna Rascouet TUE MAY 19,09

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell against most of its major counterparts after three U.S. financial firms seeking to return government bailout money fueled speculation banks have sufficient cash, reducing demand for the safety of dollar-based investments.The Australian dollar rose to the strongest level since October after Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens said the global recovery may begin towards the end of the year.The dollar dropped against the yen as a government report showed housing starts in the U.S. unexpectedly slid to a record low last month. You have to see a unique rally in some segment of U.S. asset markets that is not shared by the rest of the world to really get foreigners incentivized to buy more dollars,said Steven Englander, chief U.S. currency strategist at Barclays Capital in New York, in an interview on Bloomberg Radio.As we see emerging markets are rallying, European equities are rallying, there’s nothing distinctive about the U.S. The fact that the U.S. had to take such extraordinary measures to get out of the downturn could weigh on the dollar.The dollar traded 0.3 percent lower at $1.3603 per euro at 10:36 a.m. in New York, compared with $1.3562 yesterday. It was little changed at 96.29 yen. The yen declined 0.3 percent to 131.04 per euro from 130.61. The euro earlier strengthened versus the dollar after the ZEW Center for European Economic Research said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months ahead, increased this month to 31.1, a three-year high, from 13 in April.

Dollar Index

The U.S. currency declined against 14 of the 16 most actively traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg after Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley applied to refund a combined $45 billion of government funds, people familiar with the matter said. The Dollar Index, traded through Intercontinental Exchange Inc. to track the U.S. currency versus the euro, yen, pound, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and Swedish krona, fell 0.3 percent to 82.412. The gauge of the greenback decreased 8.2 percent since reaching a three-year high of 89.624 on March 4, as signs the global slump is easing led investors to sell Treasuries. Brazil and China will try to use their own currencies, rather than the dollar, in trade transactions, the Financial Times reported, citing aides to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and central bank officials. What we are talking about now is Brazil paying for Chinese goods with reals and China paying for Brazilian goods with renminbi, the report quoted a Brazilian central bank official it didn’t name as saying. Governors of the countries’ central banks will probably meet soon to discuss the matter, the report said.

Sentiment Trumps Facts

The dollar pared some decline versus the euro after the Commerce Department said builders broke ground at an annual rate of 458,000 in April, compared with a revised 525,000 the previous month. The median forecast of 74 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had forecast an increase to 520,000. Right now, market sentiment trumps economic fundamentals,said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. in New York. Housing is in a correction phase. We know the improvement of the economy won’t be a straight line.

Stronger Won

South Korea’s won rose 0.8 percent to 1,249.25 against the dollar as overseas investors bought more local shares than they sold for a third day. It extended gains in the past month to 6.6 percent, the best performance among the 10 most actively traded Asian currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The won reached 1,225.97 on May 11, the strongest level since October. The pound appreciated as much as 1.1 percent to $1.5514, the highest since Dec. 18, after ICAP Plc and Marks & Spencer Group Plc posted profit that beat analysts’ estimates, spurring speculation the worst of British recession is over. News from the corporate front is pretty encouraging, and that’s supporting the pound,said Jeremy Stretch, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London.Markets are looking through the debris for pieces of good news and then acting accordingly.

Australian Dollar

The Australian dollar advanced as much as 1.4 percent to 77.51 U.S. cents, the strongest level since Oct. 3, as Stevens of the Reserve Bank said in Sydney that Australia should be in a relatively good position and well placed to take part in a renewed international expansion.The New Zealand’s dollar gained 1.1 percent to 60.15 cents.Losses in the yen may be tempered on speculation overseas investors will buy Japanese government bonds after Moody’s Investors Service yesterday brought Japan’s local and foreign- currency debt ratings to the same level, Aa2, according to Ashley Davies, a currency strategist in Singapore at UBS AG. Moody’s cut the foreign-currency debt rating from Aaa and raised the local-currency assessment from Aa3, saying it can no longer assume that Japan would be more likely to repay debt borrowed in currencies other than the yen. The outlook remains stable, Moody’s said in a statement.This should be net positive for the yen as local-currency JGBs are considered the benchmark in global debt markets,Davies wrote in a research note today.To contact the reporters on this story: Ye Xie in New York at yxie6@bloomberg.net; Anna Rascouet in London at arascouet@bloomberg.net

Saturday, May 16, 2009 John Paulson Continues to Pile Into Gold (GLD); George Soros Sells Some Petrobras (PBR) and Potash (POT) Posted by TraderMark at 11:00 AM
http://www.fundmymutualfund.com/2009/05/john-paulson-continues-to-pile-into.html

Now that SEC filings for 1st quarter 2009 have come in, a very quick look at some moves from the hottest hedge fund manager over the past 3 years, John Paulson and venerable George Soros.Paulson continues to grow his gold stash as he views inflation rather than deflation the coming scourge. [Mar 17, 2009: John Paulson Joins David Einhorn as Gold Bug with Stake in AngloGold Ashanti (AU)] Amazingly his fund now owns 8.7% of the entire SPRD Gold Trust (GLD) - wow. And if I read this correct a 15% stake in the Gold Miners ETF (GDX).

Via Bloomberg

Paulson & Co., the hedge-fund firm run by billionaire John Paulson, increased its investment in gold and gold-mining shares in the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing. As of the end of the first quarter, Paulson was the largest holder of SPDR Gold Trust, an investment fund that buys gold bullion. The New York-based firm owned 8.7 percent of the fund, valued at $2.8 billion as of March 31, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That position was established as a hedge, the company said in a statement, because its funds have a share class that is denominated in gold rather than in dollars or euros. Paulson bought or added to several gold companies in the quarter as well. He purchased a 15 percent stake in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF, a fund that mirrors the move in the Amex Gold Miners Index. That stake was worth $638 million at the end of the quarter.
Paulson also bought a 2.6 percent of Gold Fields Ltd., becoming the fourth-largest holder of the Johannesburg-based gold miner. The investment firm, which manages $26 billion, also bought an additional 2.4 million shares of Kinross Gold Corp. Paulson owned 4.4 percent of the Toronto-based gold producer and was its third-largest holder at the end of the quarter. Paulson reported owning an 11.3 percent stake in AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., also based in Johannesburg, in March. Paulson’s largest fund, the Advantage Plus Fund Ltd. returned 4.8 percent through April.
[Nov 18, 2008: Paulson Buying Mortgage Backed Securities]
[Jan 31, 2009: Dealbook - John Paulson's Year End Review]

Meanwhile George Soros cut back some of his holdings in Petrobras (PBR) and Potash (POT) - although not too much in the latter after making huge pushes into both a quarter previous. [Feb 18, 2009: George Soros Increases Stakes in Potash & Petrobas]

Via Bloomberg

Soros Fund Management LLC, billionaire investor George Soros’s hedge-fund company, cut stakes in Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, its biggest holdings in the first quarter, according to a filing. The New York-based fund sold 5 million U.S. shares of Petrobras, (PBR) as the company is known, during the quarter, according to a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Soros’s remaining 32 million shares of the Brazilian state-controlled oil company were valued at $963 million at the end of the quarter. The fund also held 5.6 million shares of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Potash (POT) at the end of the first quarter, compared with 5.9 million shares as of Dec. 31.

Other moves

Soros bought 968,000 shares of Entergy Corp (ETR)., the second- largest U.S. operator of nuclear power plants, and 3.59 million shares of Houston-based Plains Exploration & Production Co.(PXP) in the first quarter. Soros sold off its stake in Schlumberger Ltd.,(SLB) the world’s largest oilfield-services provider, and U.S. coal producer Consol Energy Inc. Soros’s company oversees about $21 billion. Its Quantum Endowment Fund returned 7.2 percent in the first quarter.Just a quick look, I'll be peaking at SEC filings to get further insights.Long Potash in fund, no personal position.

Creeping Socialism Bringing Sunshine to the Nanny State
Vince Vasquez

Urban progressives are infecting our cities with totalitarianism. A little
sunshine is the best disinfectant.Vince Vasquez* is the Senior Policy Analyst with the San Diego Institute for Policy Research, a free-market thinktank.In 1996, President Bill Clinton declared that the era of big government is over.In America's cities, however, it has only just begun. City officials are making ever more ambitious grabs at power. Their goal is to protect their constituents from themselves. Their means are regulations, bans, and moratoriums on common goods and practices. The results? More Jay Leno jokes about the daily wackiness of American politics - and something more serious,too: economic harm and curtailment of freedom. When Belmont, CA, recently banned all smoking except inside the doors of owner-occupied houses, it was going a long way toward assuming the power to tell people what they could do about everything.It remains to be seen how far this will go, but the omens are, well,ominous. Try this one:In June 2007, the town council of tiny Delcambre, LA, unanimously passed an ordinance banning low-hanging sagging pants within city limits. Those found committing the fashion faux pas could face a $500 fine or a sentence of up to six months in jail. In a community devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and still in the process of recovering, it would seem that local leaders would have more pressing priorities. But, despite the avalanche of
criticism that Delcambre's official class received for its abuse of the legislative process, more than a dozen municipalities across the country followed suit, passing or considering similar ordinances.

Lamenting the success and popularity of fast-food restaurants in low-income areas, Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry has asked her colleagues to consider a health zoning law that would impose a one- to two-year moratorium on new fast-food establishments in her inner-city district,giving time for government planners to attract restaurants with broader and more healthful food offerings.Perry suggested still more limits, arguing that fast food is primarily the only[!] option for those who live and work here. It's become a public health issue that residents be given healthier choices.In Perry's view,government action is primarily the only solution for her poor,undereducated - but, apparently overfed - constituents.Of course, many of the businesses that Perry wants to get rid of have spent millions of dollars crafting healthier menu options, as well as providing nutritional information to enable their customers to make more informed decisions. And Perry's constituents, like all other Americans, vote with their feet. If they don't feel like a cheeseburger and fries on Friday, they don't have to order them, or even step into a restaurant that sells them. If they make that choice, the food industry - managed to maintain profits - will respond to changing forces or file for bankruptcy. Wonder Bread, a longstanding staple in American pantries, has in recent years closed up shop
in Oregon and Washington. In August 2007, its corporate parent announced that it would stop baking and selling its famous white loaves in Southern California. Industry experts agreed that Wonder Bread had failed to respond to shifting West Coast trends toward more healthful diets.While news like this might mean something to sensible people, it makes no impression on the advocates of the nanny state. And it isn't just health that's at stake for them. It's morality, or what they define as social policy.They need laws to make people good.In addition to policing consumer health, a key goal of nanny-state intervention is the raising of sin taxes on goods and services that don't comply with social policy goals. This tactic has been employed in many municipalities - most notoriously, perhaps, in New York City.

In both 2006 and 2007, Mayor Michael Bloomberg pleaded with New York lawmakers to raise the city's cigarette tax - already the highest in the nation - by 50 cents a pack. He declared the higher tax would save the lives of thousands, especially children. Quoting the mayor's February 2007 remarks: experience demonstrates that raising the price of smoking is the surest means of discouraging teenagers from becoming addicted to tobacco.Fifty cents may not seem like much money - and one doubts that it will mean much to teenagers carrying both a pack of cigs and a thousand dollars worth of electronic equipment - yet it would provide about $20 million dollars for local pork-barrel projects.But I digress. Bloomberg's proposal was merely the latest assault on New York City smokers. Launching a number of new antismoker initiatives in 2002,Bloomberg convinced lawmakers to raise the city's cigarette tax from eight cents to $1.50, a 1,775% tax increase, which he claimed wasn't nearly high enough. As he said at the time: if it were totally up to me, I would raise the cigarette tax so high the revenues from it would go to zero.Did I hear
prohibition? Despite Bloomberg's pieties, it's clear that, with city and state tobacco
taxes raising the price of a pack of cigarettes to more than $7, smokers have become the love-hate interest of politicians who are unable to balance their budgets. After the 2002 tax hike, NYC cigarette tax revenue soared from less than $30 million to nearly $160 million a year. Yet the nanny retains her pi-ety. Bloomberg is trying to take his cigarette tax global, with the help of the United Nations. The UN's World Health Organization announced in 2006 that Bloomberg had pledged $125 million of his own money for a Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) de-signed to end the global tobacco
epidemic.The special target is 15 nations (including Bangladesh, Brazil,China, Egypt, India), upon which an international cadre of nanny-state activists, funded by Bloomberg, is preparing to descend. Their lofty social-policy purpose is to levy high cigarette taxes, to restrict tobacco advertising, to ban smoking in public places, and otherwise, by nagging and restricting, to help make the world tobacco-free.

Bloomberg discussed his passion for the cause in an op-ed published by the British medical journal Lancet (May 19, 2007). He touted the accomplishments of his antismoker campaign in New York City and noted with pride that tax increases raised the legal retail price of cigarettes by 32% . . . virtually all indoor workplaces, including bars and restaurants, were made smoke-free,despite vocal opposition. Hard-hitting print and broadcast antitobacco advertising campaigns were initiated . . . smokers were provided with free courses of nicotine-replacement treatment to help them quit; nearly 20% of smokers were reached over 3 years. Rigorous surveillance was established.Few government officials in the Western Hemisphere have tried to institute
the sudden and radical nanny-statism of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez,who in the fall of 2007 announced new and higher taxes on tobacco products,alcohol, luxury cars, and even artwork. It was a puritanical attempt to mold Venezuelans into his conception of the socialist New Man.Said Chavez:There are people who spend what is necessary, but then there are some who spend and spend. I am looking to put a tax on this.Whether we are supposed to understand that the New Man is modeled on Chavez's own personal choices is unclear, although news agencies quoted the leftist leader as confessing to have enjoyed a drag and a sip from time to time. His aim, however, is to
make such activities unaffordable by others.It's worth noting that the recent wave of sin taxes followed an earlier Chavez decree to ban alcohol sales nationwide during Holy Week - a move that observers suspected had less to do with appealing to Christians at home than with appeasing the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol carte blanche. Chavez has sought
stronger diplomatic ties with them.Whatever their specific motivation, these nanny-state policies are easy to ridicule for their elitist humanitarianism and boutique authoritarianism.But their effects are more pernicious than denying Marlboros or Big Macs to hoi polloi. There's a damaging economic effect as well.

Peripheral government regulations introduce inefficiencies that cause suboptimal asset allocation by businesses and consumers, impairing their ability to respond to market forces efficiently. Optimally, a firm would seek to maximize profits by setting its marginal revenue equal to its marginal costs. However, when an economic disincentive is imposed, a wedge is driven between the price paid by the consumer and the price charged by the producer.The costs to society that are created by artificial marketplace inefficiencies are known as deadweight losses, as they are foregone
economic outputs that could have yielded greater productivity, greater revenue for businesses, and lower prices for consumers. Such disincentives arise from the imposition of taxes or government mandates that yield fewer incentives for markets to produce greater outputs and control higher costs.Despite the popular perception that new nanny-state taxes and red tape will be somehow absorbed by commerce, their costs get passed onto the consumer,who in turn pays them through higher prices and limited choice. To suggest that business taxes are simply absorbed by private industry is cynically misleading. A June 2005 study of San Francisco's myriad local business fees
and taxes found that excessive municipal government surcharges inevitably seep into the costs of consumer goods and services; it was estimated that a $2 cup of coffee from an outdoor cafe in San Francisco includes 64 cents, or 32%, in fees and taxes (and that figure excludes state and federal income and payroll taxes).Anyone who knows that he has to work through a maze of local, state, and federal regulations and tax codes before launching a new business may well just give up, especially if the business plan lies on the uncertain edge of innovation. It's impossible to measure all the costs of niggling,nanny-state regulations. But some of the compliance costs of new and higher taxes (record keeping, education, shipping, form preparation, etc.) are measurable, and they have been proven to reduce economic output significantly. In 2001, the Tax Foundation estimated that for the hours that businesses and individual taxpayers take each year simply to comply with the federal tax code, the overall compliance cost was almost 12 cents for every dollar collected in federal taxes - a gargantuan amount.

Nanny-state laws don't just take money from the taxpayers and consumers; they also increase the size of government by raising higher collection costs for new taxes and fees, as they require additional municipal manpower and resources for implementation and operations. Treasury or tax collector staff may need to be augmented, or existing staff may be assigned these new responsibilities, requiring costly overtime hours. Physical costs - such as postage and mailing, purchasing industry computer software and hardware and other implements - add to the overhead. None of this, mind you, has anything to do with the real functions of government - preventing force and fraud.

Strangely - and, from the standpoint of the municipal nannies, quite unexpectedly - people react to this interference.Faced with rising red tape and government fees, businesses pick up and move to less-regulated jurisdictions. Consumers who are able to live or shop in other jurisdictions do so. Among those who stay, some will seek out a black market to purchase cheaper stolen or smuggled goods. Since Sept. 11, 2001,
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has noted a spike in illicit cigarette trafficking, as people reap profits from buying mass quantities of cigarettes in low-tax states and selling them on the black market in high-tax states. The profit in these activities can be rich. And deadly. As the Washington Post reported in 2004, federal authorities have uncovered numerous schemes to exploit nanny-state policies for the benefit of al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah.Using the state to enforce the social standards and moral agenda of a few results in a loss of personal freedom for all. The rapid rise of the nanny state in America's cities speaks to the pervasive political incentive to overreact and overregulate in the face of crises and calamities that are sensationalized - or created - by the 24-hour news media cycle. It also speaks to the breakdown of true community. Neighborly relationships foster communication, cooperation, and friendship - a factor that is vital in such cities as Los Angeles, where the assimilation of newcomers is particularly important. In a real community, most differences can be resolved privately.In the nanny state, by contrast, people are encouraged to depend on the
state when there is any dispute about noise or land use, or even plants or toys in people's front yards. Few circumstances could be worse for the sense of individual responsibility and thoughtful consideration of other people on which community depends.The nanny state also harms the core social unit, the family. Not allowing
parents to educate their children on the importance of personal responsibility and the consequences of their actions inhibits the growth of self-reliant adults. Of course, statists want citizens to be immature and malleable. As economics professor Glen Whitman suggests,when individuals bear the full costs and receive the full benefits of their own actions, the justification for government involvement is much weaker.There's no place for a nanny once the children have grown up.Many nanny-state laws attempt to wrestle individuals away from their desire for modern material goods -video games, automobiles, the internet, fast food, cigarettes - that the nannies don't like. But the freedom to choose how one spends his income, time, and other resources is meaningless if it is limited to a handful of options approved by the city council.

Ceding even piecemeal losses of personal freedom can have a dire effect down the road. UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh made a study of how the slippery slope phenomenon relates to government regulations (Mechanisms of the Slippery Slope, Harvard Law Review 116 [Feb. 2003]). Volokh concluded that taking small steps to control the use of something can facilitate later steps to ban it completely; for instance, mandatory gun registration makes firearm confiscation more feasible. Using the example of local legislation in New Jersey to outlaw cigarette machines in 1993, Volokh noted the progression from regulation to prohibition. According to a 1993 New York Times article:

Sandra Starr, vice chairwoman of the Princeton Regional Health Commission .. . said there is no slippery slope toward a total ban on smoking in public places. The commission's overriding concern,she said,is access to the machines by minors.In June 2000, the Record (the major newspaper in Bergen County, N.J.) noted that the Princeton Regional Health Commission took a bold step to protect its citizens by enacting a ban on smoking in all public places of accommodation,including restaurants and taverns. . . . In doing so, Princeton has paved the way for other municipalities to institute similar bans.So, when it comes to cigarettes in New Jersey, the slippery slope of the nanny state is approximately seven years long.With all the threats nanny-state laws pose to economic and other personal freedoms, it's clear that champions of liberty must move beyond merely mocking the nannies. Ground zero in the fight against oppressive government will be America's cities. As David Harsanyi, author of the book Nanny State,remarked in a 2007 interview, most nanny state initiatives begin on a local level.As the success of nanny-state ordinances continues,
free-market forces should consider a collaborative effort to end the erosion of individual liberties. It's already begun, in fact. Some free-market advocates have published quanti-fiable comparative analyses or indexes to raise awareness of encroaching laws. The Cato Institute, along with more than 70 thinktanks across the globe, publishes the Economic Freedom of the World,an annual index that assesses the state of sovereign laws affecting businesses, consumers, and entrepreneurship. The Heritage Foundation releases an annual Index of Economic Freedom, which examines the regulatory treatment of ten specific freedoms in 161 countries. Other thinktanks
effectively examine narrower regulatory issues. The San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute publishes an impressive array of indexes of regulatory environments across the 50 states, including an Economic Freedom Index,Tort Liability Index,and Health Ownership Index.This should go farther. Advocates and researchers should weigh the merits of an urban citizen's freedom index that measures the strength of nanny-state regulations in at least the 20 largest U.S. cities. This index would examine the comparative strength and activity of nanny-state ordinances in New York,Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San
Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, San Francisco,Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, Baltimore, and Charlotte. These metropolises are ideal for greater regulatory scrutiny, since they all have pertinent data readily available to the public and mass media outlets that local elected officials respect.What would such a study measure? Nanny-state laws seem to come in four areas:

1. The use and availability of federally-controlled goods, such as alcohol,
tobacco, and firearms;
2. The use and availability of property, such as houses, food, and clothing;
3. The levy of new and higher excise taxes, fees, and surcharges on consumer
goods and services;
4. The imposition of restrictions on advertising and other mass
communication.

Results could be published in an easy-to-read format and publicized through localized press releases that would bring greater public awareness to the losses and gains of freedom in each city. Lawmakers in notoriously pro-nanny cities could be identified, and lawmakers who seek to expand freedom could receive an annual award of esteem. Such an index would thus be useful in increasing public accountability of lawmakers, while it gave incentives to local officials of all political stripes to expand consumer choice,encourage personal responsibility, and protect individual liberty.Did I say personal responsibility,yet again? I did. Some of the nanny state's pet causes -consumer safety, smok-ing, obesity, substance abuse,over-indebtedness - are serious problems; but they are problems that should be met by individuals. The internet can help; so can watchdog organizations such as the Consumers Union; so can private organizations devoted to education and encouragement of helpful action. But if you want to see the results of government social engineering, I would advise you to look at the wreckage of the Great Society programs of the 1960s and 1970s. The fact that
they are now being replaced by an infinity of Little Society nanny programs does not mean that government interference is any likelier to achieve the results intended.

Ronald Reagan said, Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.Pressuring individuals through law to make better decisions in their lives is contrary to the spirit of our Founding Fathers - and has no place in the town halls and city councils of America.2009 Liberty Foundation.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Support for EU treaty grows in Ireland
HONOR MAHONY 18.05.2009 @ 09:18 CET

Support for the EU's Lisbon Treaty among Irish citizens has grown in the past three months, with 52 percent saying they would vote yes if a second referendum was held on the issue, a poll conducted for the Irish Times shows.The TNS mrbi poll, published Monday (18 May), indicates that the majority in favour of the treaty, rejected in a referendum in the country one year ago, has consolidated despite the growing unpopularity of the government.The survey represents an increase of one percentage point of those in favour of the treaty compared to a similar poll in February and a drop of four points to 29 percent for those planning to vote No. There was a rise of three points - to 19 percent - of don't knows.The survey also showed that Irish people overwhelmingly consider the country better off inside the European Union during the current economic crisis (79%), a drop of one point on the February poll.

Conducted from Tuesday to Thursday last week, among 2000 people, the poll was based on the assumption that the referendum will be held in autumn after Ireland has secured legal guarantees in three areas of concern - taxation, defence and abortion.

The results come despite the government's unpopularity. The main governing party, Fianna Fail, is polling at an all time low, largely due to the tough measures it has had to take in the face of the global financial crisis, which has wracked the country's economy.EU leaders are expected to agree Ireland's Lisbon guarantees at a summit in June, paving the way for the government to announce the referendum date, expected in October.In a shock vote almost a year ago, Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty by 53.4 percent against to 46.6 in favour.Since then parliamentary ratification has been completed in the other 26 member states but the treaty needs approval in all member states if it is to go into force.The Polish and Czech presidents are holding off signing the document - completing ratification - until after the Irish vote and it is facing a legal challenge in Germany's constitutional court.

Turkey angered by Franco-German enlargement remarks
ELITSA VUCHEVA 18.05.2009 @ 09:28 CET

Turkey has been promised that it will one day join the European Union and recent statements by some member states against Turkish EU membership are violating this understanding, Turkish president Abdullah Gul has said. There has been a unanimous decision [by EU member states] to start negotiations with Turkey leading to its accession to the EU, Mr Gul was reported by AFP as saying on the sidelines of an official trip to neighbouring Syria on Sunday (17 May).Any discussion on this is tantamount to violating the decisions taken by the EU and would mean that the decision to start negotiations with Turkey was not sincere, that the heads of state took a decision that did not reflect their intentions.It would be unacceptable, Mr Gul added.The Turkish president's remarks come as the leaders of France and Germany, president Nicolas Sarkozy and chancellor Angela Merkel, have repeatedly stated their opposition to Turkey's EU membership bid.Mr Sarkozy has often said that Turkey does not belong to Europe and earlier this month said the EU should stop making vain promises to Ankara and offer it a privileged partnership instead.For her part, at a meeting with Mr Sarkozy a week ago, Ms Merkel also said that the EU could not take in everyone… as a full member.Our common position is: a privileged partnership for Turkey, but no full membership,she insisted.

A promise is a promise

In addition to Mr Gul, a number of high-ranking Turkish politicians have reacted to the French and German comments in the last few days, with prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling them unfortunate.There is a statement that I always make: The match has started, we're playing and the penalty rules are changing during the match.It's not acceptable, people will laugh at you,Mr Erdogan was reported by Today's Zaman as saying during a visit in Warsaw last Thursday (14 May).A day earlier in Stockholm, the country's new foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, stressed that Ankara would only accept full membership. We will either become a full member of the EU or not become a member at all,he said.Some member states – such as the UK, Portugal and Poland – have taken Turkey's side, urging the EU to stick to its commitments.Poland will first of all keep reminding our EU partners that nobody spoke of additional conditions before for Turkey's EU accession,Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said after meeting Mr Erdogan in Warsaw.The EU set certain conditions [for membership] and when they are met the positive decision should be automatic,he added.Turkey – a Euro-Asian country of some 70 million people – submitted an EU membership application in 1987 and was eventually granted the status of an EU candidate country in 1999. It started membership talks with the bloc in October 2005, but they have been progressing slowly, with only ten chapters of the 35-chapter accession package having been opened so far, and just one successfully closed.

EU election countdown: 18 days to go
EUOBSERVER STAFF 18.05.2009 @ 13:26 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The British parliament expenses scandal could see far-right parties do better than previously expected in the EU elections, polls indicate. Meanwhile, German socialists are keen to block Barroso from a second term at the commission helm. Smaller parties and the right-wing fringe of UK politics are so far emerging from the ongoing expenses scandal as the least-tarnished, with galloping implications for the make-up of the next European Parliament, British media report.A YouGov poll for tabloid The Sun put the ruling Labour party at 20 percent, the Conservatives at 29 and the centrist Liberal Democrats at 19, leaving a full 30 percent of votes free. A Mail on Sunday survey put Labour on par with the eurosceptic UKIP, with both on 17 percent. A Telegraph survey suggests the far-right BNP could get 7 percent. Most commentators agree the BNP is on track to win its first-ever EU seat, and may win as many as three. The Telegraph suggests it could get seven. The greens are set to out-do BNP. Mainstream nationalist parties, such as Wales' Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party are also surging ahead. Austrian newspapers report widely on a weekend TV appearance by Hans-Peter Martin, an independent MEP, who made himself unpopular among colleagues after a public sting on alleged scamming of the expenses system in the EU parliament. Mr Martin hopes his transparency platform will win two to three seats in the elections and ultimately lead to a group of 10 to 20 noisy pro-reform MEPs from around Europe.

Germany's mass-selling Bild newspaper reports that the Socialists are trying to block the centre-right Jose Manuel Barroso from becoming European Commission chief for a second time. If the Social Democrats become the strongest power in the European Parliament, there will be no automatic [succession] for Mr Barroso, Martin Schulz, head of the socialists in the European Parliament, told the newspaper. The place of social rights in the internal market could feature in the negotiations on the next commission chief, he indicated. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will on Monday evening (18 May) officially mark the beginning of the European election campaign for her centre-right CDU party. She will be flanked by outgoing European Parliament chief Hans-Gert Poettering, who heads the CDU list. The European elections are being seen as a test run for the country's general election in September.The main parties in Bulgaria launched their electoral campaigns over the weekend, bringing actors and singers to events. Liberals from the NDSV faction will benefit from the fact they were in power when Bulgaria joined Nato and signed its EU accession treaty, as well as its successful EU commissioner Meglena Kuneva.The nationalist Ataka party launched its campaign with the slogan No to Turkey in the EU. Its list will be headed by 25-year-old Dimitar Stoyanov, the youngest-ever MEP who famously sent out an offensive email against a Roma-origin Hungarian deputy.Spain's supreme court voted by 11 votes to five over the weekend to prevent the International Initiative party from running in June, however. The court said it deemed the party to be a direct successor to the banned Batasuna party, the former political wing of the ETA separatist group.

Digital campaigning takes off

In cyberspace, the European Parliament's advertising company, Scholz & Friends, reports that its viral YouTube videos, aimed at increasing voter turnout, have in just eight days become the most successful ever EU online movies. The clips - making fun of horror movie or sports clichés - have scooped between 50,000 and 170,000 views each. Italian right-wing leader Silvio Berlusconi's PDL party is also making a big push on the web. Twenty-five PDL candidates are using social networking site Facebook in the campaign, followed by 20 centre-left Democratic Party hopefuls and 15 Christian-conservative UDC party names. Facebook groups seeking to sabotage individual MEPs and groups against using Facebook for politics have also sprung up.

Polish opinion polls show how much the political ground has shifted since the 2004 EU elections, when socialist, far-right and far-left parties dominated the vote. The ruling liberal Civic Platform party is in 2009 set to get 27 MEPs (out of Poland's total of 50) compared to 15 last time around. The right-wing Law and Justice party is to get 14 compared to seven.The anti-Lisbon treaty Libertas party again dominated Polish headlines this weekend, amid reports the faction will switch the location of its 4 June Paris congress to Gdansk and again pay Polish anti-Communist hero Lech Walesa to make a speech.Libertas got a 30-minute campaign spot on Polish national TV on Saturday, with accusations that the TVP station chief, Piotr Farfal, has links to the group. Reports from Ireland - that Irish Libertas MEPs want to create barriers for Poles to work on the island - also hit the Polish front pages on Monday.

Sarkozy's faction dominates polls

The latest TNS Sofres survey in France indicates that President Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party will trounce the socialist opposition in Paris by 33 percent against 22 percent. Opposition paper Le Monde said the socialists are stagnating. A separate poll in Le Figaro said the centre-right MoDem party leader Francois Bayrou is the main Sarkozy opponent, with the socialists' Martine Aubry far behind. Danish polls show established MPs - such as Morten Messerschmidt, Jens Rohde and Bent Bendtsen - have a big chance of retaining seats. A Gallup survey in Berlingske Tidende said Danish Social Democrats stand to get three places, the Liberals three, the Danish People's Party two and the Conservatives one. The Danish Social-Liberal Party may get the last post, while the EU-critical JumeMovement could lose its existing seat.

Prime Minister Brian Cowan in Ireland said over the weekend that he will not be stepping down if his party loses ground in the upcoming local and European elections, as polls suggest it will. The last thing the country needs at the moment is another period of instability,he told Irish media. Romania's Elena Basescu - the glamorous, 29-year old daughter of the president, famous for her gaffes and grammatical errors - admitted on her website www.ebasescu.ro that she might have bitten off more than she can chew with her election campaign. Yes, I want to win, although I realize I might be aiming too high now,she wrote.If you know an elections story you think should be covered in our review, please write to ar@euobs.com

Centralised states bad for economy, study shows
VALENTINA POP 18.05.2009 @ 17:30 CET

EUOBSERVER/BRUSSELS – European countries where regions have more powers and responsibilities in terms of taxation, legislation and education policies tend to do better economically than centralised ones, a Swiss study shows.Centralism hammers development of countries at the cost of its citizens,Klaus Klipp, secretary general of the Assembly of European Regions, an umbrella network of regions from 33 European countries, said on Monday at the launch of the study, which was commissioned by his organisation.The study, developed by the Swiss-based BAK research centre, measures the impact of decentralisation on the economy, as well as the quality of education and innovation in 26 European countries, including non-EU members Switzerland, Norway and Croatia and excluding Luxembourg, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta – because of their small size.The country ranking as most centralised was EU newcomer Bulgaria, followed by the Baltic states, Greece, Croatia, Norway, Ireland, Denmark and France.At the other end of the scale, Switzerland – famous for deciding almost everything by referendum - ranked first, followed by Germany, Belgium, Spain, Austria and Italy.The index was drawn up after a series of different factors were taken into account, for instance if public servants are employed on a national or regional level, if university or kindergarten policies are decided in the capital or the regions, if taxation is fixed only at a national level or also at local and regional levels.

The findings show that decentralisation has a positive impact both on GDP per capita and economic growth, although many of the new EU member states are still relatively centralised and have experienced high growth in the past 10 years. But the authors of the study underline that these countries started off from a very low level and could have progressed even further if their regions and local authorities had more powers.

University performance, especially when it comes to patents and applied sciences, also flourishes when regions have the power to decide on educational policies - for instance in the German region of Baden Wurttemberg, where technical schools are strongly connected to the local high-tech industry.Regional politicians, in Mr Klipp's view, tend to be more involved in hands-on solutions for their constituencies, to whom they tend to have a closer connection than national decision-makers. He gave the example of a high-speed train between Paris and Strasbourg which was inaugurated after years of intensive lobbying by the regional authorities in Alsace. A mayor in Transsylvania also managed to push for his town, Sibiu, to get an international airport, although initially the national government excluded it from the list. Sibiu was EU capital of culture in 2007 and has developed into a major hub for German small and medium enterprises.Yet national competences should not be excluded or minimalised, especially during the economic crisis, Tomas Ekberg, representing the southwestern Swedish region of Vasetra Gotaland said. His region is home to carmaker Saab which is about to lay off some 4,000 people plus an estimated 6,000 people working in the car-supplying and service sector.We're not here to say we don't need nations – the labour market remains a competence of the national government. But it's a question of responsibility and efficient spending of the taxpayer's money,Mr Ekberg said. Although the findings do not come as a big surprise, with federalists and economist for a long time arguing that delegating powers from the centre to the regional and local governments improves economic performance, the Swiss academics say they are the first to have scientifically proven this theory.It is not just anecdotal, it is now a scientifically proven fact and we hope that it will give regional politicians more leverage when dealing with national decision-makers,Urs Muller, the main author of the study, told this website.

Euro declines as economy contracts most in at least 13 years MAY 18,09

The euro fell against the dollar and extended a weekly loss versus the yen as the economy of the 16- nation region contracted the most in at least 13 years, raising concern the pace of recovery will be slow.The yen extended its weekly rally against counterparts including the South African rand and Norwegian krone as a drop in stocks discouraged investors from buying higher-yielding assets funded in Japan’s currency. The euro posted its first weekly decline versus the dollar in a month as gross domestic product in the region shrank.There has been a large setback to the recovery camp because of the euro-zone GDP numbers,said Samarjit Shankar, a director of global strategy in Boston at Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which administers more than $20 trillion in assets.You’re seeing another ebb and flow of risk appetite.The euro slid 1.1 percent to $1.3488 at 4:30 p.m. in New York, from $1.3639 yesterday, and posted a weekly decrease of 1.1 percent. The euro lost 1.9 percent to 128.23 yen from 130.67 for a 4.5 percent decline this week. The dollar dropped 0.8 percent to 95.07 yen from 95.80, extending its reduction this week to 3.4 percent, the biggest since October.

The yen gained this week versus all of the 16 most actively traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg on speculation weak economic reports will reduce demand for the carry trade, in which investors get funds in a country with low borrowing costs and buy assets where they expect returns to be higher.

Yen Versus Rand

Japan’s currency rallied 9.7 percent to 10.85 against the South African rand and increased 7.1 percent to 14.51 versus Norway’s krone this week. The Bank of Japan’s target lending rate of 0.1 percent compares with 8.5 percent for South Africa and 1.5 percent for Norway. U.S. stocks fell today, extending the weekly drop in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to 5 percent, the biggest since March.Gross domestic product of the nations that use the euro contracted 2.5 percent in the first quarter after decreasing 1.6 percent in the previous quarter, the European Union’s statistics office said today in Luxembourg. It’s the biggest drop since the beginning of euro-area GDP data in 1995 and exceeded the 2 percent reduction forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.It’s a really bad piece of data, and it’s going to get worse because the European Central Bank has only come up with half-hearted measures,said Geoffrey Yu, a strategist in London at UBS AG, the world’s second-largest currency trader. This is going to be bad for the euro.

Franc Erases Gain

Switzerland’s franc erased its gains against the euro, falling the most in a week after approaching 1.5, a level foreign-exchange analysts dubbed the central bank’s line in the sand. The currency slid as much as 0.6 percent, the biggest intraday drop since May 7, to 1.5146 per euro.The franc plunged against the euro on March 12 by the most since the common currency’s 1999 debut after the Swiss National Bank said it would buy corporate bonds and foreign currencies to cushion the nation’s economy. Policy makers will decisively implement policy to prevent an appreciation in the franc, Thomas Jordan, a governing board member, said yesterday.Any move toward 1.50 will try the SNB’s patience,said Stephen Gallo, head of market analysis at Schneider Foreign Exchange in London.There’s speculation that the SNB may be intervening.The dollar earlier pared its loss against the yen as a U.S. report indicated the worst of the recession may be over. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index increased in May to minus 4.6 from minus 14.7 in the prior month, the bank said today. Readings below zero for the Empire State index signal manufacturing is shrinking.

China’s Retail

China’s retail sales grew 14.8 percent last month from a year earlier, following March’s 14.7 percent gain, the National Bureau of Statistics reported May 13.If the green shoots in the U.S. and China hold up for a couple of months, then after a long lag Europe will probably come back,said Richard Franulovich, a senior currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in New York.The Dollar Index, used by the ICE to track the U.S. currency versus the euro, yen, pound, franc, Canadian dollar and Swedish krona, rose 1 percent to 83.059 today and increased 0.7 percent for the week.

International demand for long-term U.S. financial assets rose in March as China added to its portfolio of Treasury securities, according to government data. Total net purchases of long-term equities, notes and bonds rose a net $55.8 billion, compared with buying of $22 billion in February, the Treasury said today in Washington.

New Zealand Dollar

New Zealand’s dollar fell 2.2 percent to 58.39 U.S. cents today and recorded a 3.3 percent weekly drop against the greenback after the statistics office said retail sales declined for a record sixth quarter, dropping 2.9 percent, adjusted for inflation, from the previous three months.The currency, which gained 20 percent against the dollar since the start of March, is an accident waiting to happen,Greg Gibbs, a foreign-exchange strategist in Sydney at RBS Group Australia Ltd., wrote in a report today.Source: bloomberg.com Publication date: 5/18/2009

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

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

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

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

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

EVIL INVENTIONS ARE PREDICTED IN THE BIBLE.

ROMANS 1:29-32
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

REVELATION 9:7-8
7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

EU could send police mission to Somalia
VALENTINA POP 18.05.2009 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Defence ministers on Monday (18 May) discussed a French proposal to enhance the EU naval operation fighting piracy off the Somali coasts with a police training mission in the African country that could start in September.There was a French proposal discussed today on a police training mission in Somalia, but no decision was taken yet,Czech minister of defence Martin Bartak told a press conference after the meeting.Military helicopter over Mogadishu, the Somali capital (Photo: wikipedia)Asked if the mission could start as early as September, as the French have proposed, Mr Bartak answered it was too early to say now if this would be the case. The rationale of the mission is that piracy does not start at sea, but on the ground, in Somalia,he explained, stressing the need for state-building assistance, including prisons that can keep any convicted pirates behind bars.The diplomat added that if the mission is approved, it would be a separate effort, not part of the Atalanta operation already fighting piracy at sea.Since 1991, Somalia has had no effective central government, with years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease leading to the deaths of up to 1 million people. Many Somalis, frustrated at illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste in their waters by rich countries have joined pirate gangs, which use high-speed boats, carry heavy weapons and live off ransoms taken from captured commercial and food aid ships passing through the Gulf of Aden.EU defence ministers also debated the possibility of extending Atalanta's operational range to the Seychelles, an archipelago of islands off the southeastern coast of Africa, which has also been plagued by piracy.The EU is in close contacts with the authorities in the Seychelles and a decision to extend Atalanta's range could be taken relatively quickly, if needed, EU sources told this website.

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)

EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK ON AMERICA)

REVELATION 18:10
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.

Pentagon Preparing For War With The Enemy: Russia
Rick Rozoff Global Research May 18, 2009

Today the situation is much more serious than before August 2008….[A] possible recurrence of war will not be limited to the Caucasus.The new President of the United States did not bring about any crucial changes in relation to Georgia, but having a dominant role in NATO he still insists on Georgia’s soonest joining of the Alliance. If it happens, the world would face a more serious threat than the crises of the Cold War.Under the new realities, Georgia’s war against South Ossetia may easily turn into NATO’s war against Russia. This would be a third world war.(Irina Kadzhaev, South Ossetia political scientist, South Ossetia Information Agency, April 2009.On May 12 James Mattis, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation [ACT] and commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, spoke at a three-day symposium called Joint Warfighting 09 in Norfolk, Virginia, where NATO’s Allied Command Transformation is based, and stated:I come with a sense of urgency. The enemy is meeting like this as well.[1]

A local newspaper summarized his speech:

Mattis outlined a future in which wars will not have clearly defined beginnings and ends. What is needed, he said, is a grand strategy, a political framework that can guide military planning.[2]He failed, for what passes for diplomatic reasons no doubt, to identify who the enemy is, but a series of recent developments, or rather an intensification of ongoing ones, indicate which nation it is.Last week the head of the U.S. Strategic Command, Gen. Kevin Chilton, told reporters during a Defense Writers Group breakfast on May 7 that the White House retains the option to respond with physical force - potentially even using nuclear weapons - if a foreign entity conducts a disabling cyber attack against U.S. computer networks….An account of his talk added the general insisted that all strike options, including nuclear, would remain available to the commander in chief in defending the nation from cyber strikes.
Chilton said he could not rule out the possibility of a military salvo against a nation like China, even though Beijing has nuclear arms,[3] though the likely first target of alleged retaliation against equally alleged cyber attacks would be another nation already identified by US military officials as such: Russia.In late April and early May of 2007 the government of Estonia, which was inducted into NATO in 2004 and whose president was and remains Toomas Hendrik Ilves, born in Sweden and raised in the United States (where he worked for Radio Free Europe), reported attacks on websites in the country which were blamed on Russia.Over two years later no evidence has been presented to substantiate the claim that Russian hackers, much less the government itself, were behind the attacks, though it remains an article of faith among US and other Western officials and media that they were.The response from American authorities in the first place was so sudden and severe, even before investigations were conducted, as to strongly suggest that if the attacks hadn’t been staged they would need to be invented.Right afterward Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne stated, Russia, our Cold War nemesis, seems to have been the first to engage in cyber warfare.The US Air Force news source from which the above is quoted added that the events in Estonia days earlier did start a series of debates within NATO and the EU about the definition of clear military action and it may be the first test of the applicability of Article V of the NATO charter regarding collective self-defense in the non-kinetic realm.[4]NATO’s Article 5 is a collective military defense provision, in fact a war clause, one which first and to date for the only time has been used to support the protracted and escalating war in Afghanistan.

References to it, then, are not to be taken lightly.

On a visit to Estonia last November Pentagon chief Robert Gates met with the country’s prime minister, Andrus Ansip, and discussed Russian behavior and new cooperation on cyber security….It was reported that Ansip said NATO will operate under the principle of Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty, which states that an attack on one ally is treated as an attack on all,and We are convinced that Estonia, as a member of NATO, will be very well defended.[5]That the repeated mention of NATO’s Article 5 continued a year and a half after the alleged cyber attacks when none had occurred in the interim is revealing.At the beginning of this month the Pentagon announced that it was launching what it called a digital warfare force for the future,at Fort Meade in Maryland under the control of the U.S. Strategic Command, whose chief, Gen. Kevin Chilton, was quoted earlier as threatening the use of force up to and including nuclear weapons.The initiative was characterized in a news report as follows:Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, also the Pentagon’s leading cyber warfare commander, said the U.S. is determined to lead the global effort to use computer technology to deter or defeat enemies….[6]

The Pentagon is a synecdoche for the Department of Defense and everything related to its activities is cloaked in the same euphemism, so when pressed the US will insist its new cyber warfare project is intended for defensive purposes only. Any nation which and people who have been on the receiving end of US Defense Department actions know better. The new US cyber warfare command, its rationale based on a supposed Russian threat emanating from a non-military incident in the Baltics over two years ago, will be used to cripple the computer systems of any nation targeted for direct military assault, thus rendering them defenseless, and will be particularly effective for space-based and Star Wars (missile shield, interceptor missiles) first strike plans.On the same day the report of General Alexander’s pledge to defeat enemies appeared another news item reported that A quasi-classified satellite that will serve as an engineering trailblazer for ballistic missile tracking technologies flew into space Tuesday [May 12].[7]It was a Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (STSS-ATRR) satellite, which “is part of a space-based system for the Missile Defense Agency.Sensors aboard the STSS-ATRR satellite and on the ground will communicate with other systems to defend against incoming ballistic missiles.[8]A few days earlier the California-based manufacturer Ducommun in a news report titled Ducommun Incorporated Announces Delivery of Nanosatellites to U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command announced that its Miltec Corporation subsidiary delivered flight-ready nanosatellites to the U.S. Army pace and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT) in Huntsville, Alabama on April 28, 2009.The delivery was the completion of the first U.S. Army satellite development program since the Courier 1B communications satellite in 1960.[9]

Military satellites used for neutralizing the potential of a rival nation not so much to launch a first strike but to respond to one blur the distinction between so-called Son of Star Wars missile shield projects and full-fledged militarization of space.

A recent Russian commentary saw it in just that manner:Withdrawal from the 1972 ABM Treaty signified a switch to the testing and deployment of a global missile defense system, with a view to fully removing the deterrent potential of China, and partially that of Russia.Washington [is] still trying to eliminate international legal restrictions on the formation of a system, which would theoretically make it invulnerable towards an act of retaliation, and even a launch-under-attack strike.[10]Added to which is another quasi-classified subterfuge related to a prospective resumption of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) talks between the US And Russia.

American Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller stated this week that the US is not prepared to cut warheads removed from delivery means and kept in storage.[11]So in addition to US plans to deploy ground-, sea-, air- and space-based anti-missile systems primarily around and against Russia (Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway, Britain, Japan and Alaska to date), the Pentagon will hold in reserve nuclear warheads for activation without a monitoring mechanism provided to Russian inspectors and arms reduction negotiators.On May 6 Euronews conducted an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who warned, The way it [the US anti-ballistic missile shield] is designed has nothing to do with Iran’s nuclear program. It is aimed at Russian strategic forces, deployed in the European part of the Russian Federation.[12]

To add to the concerns of Russia and other nations, On April 30 the US established a Navy Air and Missile Defense Command (NAMDC) at the Naval Support Facility at Dahlgren, Virginia.NAMDC is the lead organization for Navy, joint and combined Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD). NAMDC serves as the single warfare center of excellence to synchronize and integrate Navy efforts across the full spectrum of air and missile defense to include air defense, cruise missile defense and ballistic missile defense.[13]The past two weeks has been a fertile period for stories in this vein and, to bring attention nearer the Earth, the US-based Strategy Page reported from a Russian source that The United States has bought two Su-27 fighter jets from Ukraine to be used to train American military pilots, who may face opponents in them and that the US military will use them to test its radar and electronic warfare equipment.[14]This was at the very moment that the US client in Ukraine, President Viktor Yushchenko, his national poll ratings plummeting to near 1%, signed a directive to prepare for full NATO membership and a few days after a US military delegation visited the country to inspect a tank unit and to plan reforming the system of combat training….[15]In terms of US training for warfare against the Russian Air Force, the Ukrainian development is only the latest in a number of such activities.Immediately following the nation becoming a full member of NATO, the US 81st Fighter Squadron flew to Constanta, Romania (in which nation the Pentagon has acquired four new bases since) to engage in combat training against Russian MiG-21s.

According to one US pilot present, “It was pretty neat - you’re sitting in a MiG-21 that will be airborne with a MiG-21 pilot within days. This was an arm of the Soviet Union. These pilots were flying before the Soviet Union fell. They have quite a bit of perspective.[16] In July of the next year the US 492nd Fighter Squadron was deployed to the Graf Ignatievo Air Base in neighoring Bulgaria to insure the opportunity for Air Forces from multiple nations to learn about each other’s aircraft tactics and capabilities. The pilots of the F-15E Strike Eagles and the MIG-29s and MIG-21s are sharing knowledge of aircraft and tactics as the exercise wraps up its first week of training.A US Air Force colonel was quoted as saying, Only two of the 38 aircrew members have had a chance to fly against MIGs. By the time the exercise is over, everyone will have had a chance to either fly in a MIG or fly against one.[17]

A month afterward the US Air Force 22nd Expeditionary Fighter Squadron arrived in Romania for the Viper Lance exercises which “marked the first time U.S. F-16 pilots have trained in Romania and where MiG-21 and F-16 pilots [flew] integrated formations to conduct basic fighter maneuvers, dissimilar air combat training and air-to-ground strike missions….[18]

This time the quote is from an F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot:

My flight in the backseat of a Lancer [MiG-21] is a good opportunity to look at different aircraft and it’s a real privilege and an honor. I want to see what they see from their cockpit, and view a new angle of understanding against our adversaries.[19]Two weeks ago a US Air Force fighter squadron flew to the Bezmer Air Base in Bulgaria where an American airman said,This is the first time a USAFE [United States Air Forces in Europe] fighter squadron has deployed to this location….The most rewarding part of this experience is knowing that I am helping the pilots train for war.[20]To prepare the US for air combat against the full range of Russian military aircraft, India was invited to the annual Red Flag air combat exercises in Alaska in 2007, war games meant to train pilots from the US, NATO and other allied countries for real combat situations.This includes the use of enemy hardware and live ammunition for bombing exercises.[21]India provided six Sukhoi SU-30MKI fighters which were particularly interesting to the exercise as [they are] Russian-made, thus
traditionally considered hostile.[22]May 1st, on the occasion of the Czech Republic taking over the six-month NATO air patrol rotation in the Baltic skies over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - five minutes flight from Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg - a Czech official boasted The area we are protecting is about three times larger than that of the Czech Republic. This is a NATO outpost.Lithuanian Air Force Commander Arturas Leita announced that the Baltic countries would probably ask for the prolongation of the air force mission within NATO until 2018.[23]

From June 8-16 Sweden will host a NATO drill, Loyal Arrow, described as biggest air force drill ever in the Finnish-Swedish Bothnian Bay,[24], also not far from St. Petersburg, with a British aircraft carrier and more than 50 fighter jets participating.That exercise will begin exactly a week after the US-led NATO Cooperative Lancer 09 war games end in Georgia on Russia’s southern flank.In speaking of the dangers of the last-named but with equal application to all that has preceded it, the South Ossetian Ministry for Press and Mass Media website recently quoted political scientist Irina Kadzhaev as warning:Today the situation is much more serious than before August 2008. The then threat endangered only South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but after Russia’s recognition of these states’ independence and the conclusion of agreements envisaging the presence of Russian armed forces on their territories, a possible recurrence of war will not be limited to the Caucasus.The new President of the United States did not bring about any crucial changes in relation to Georgia, but having a dominant role in NATO he still insists on Georgia’s soonest joining of the Alliance. If it happens, the world would face a more serious threat than the crises of the Cold War.Under the new realities, Georgia’s war against South Ossetia may easily turn into NATO’s war against Russia. This would be a third world war.[25]

Notes

1) Virginian-Pilot, May 13, 2009
2) Ibid
3) Global Security, May 12, 2009
4) Air Force Link, June 1, 2007
5) U.S. Department of Defense, November 12, 2008
6) Associated Press, May 5, 2009
7) Space Flight Now, May 5, 2009
Pratt & Whitney, May 5, 2009
9) Ducommun Incorporated, April 29, 2009
10) Russian Information Agency Novosti, May 7, 2009
11) Russia Today, May 5, 2009
12) Euronews, May 6, 2009
13) Navy News, April 30, 2009
14) Moscow News, May 11, 2009
15) National Radio Company of Ukraine, April 29, 2009
16) Air Force Link, August 2, 2005
17) U.S. Air Forces in Europe, July 24, 2006
18) Stars and Stripes, August 26, 2006
19) Air Force Link, August 17, 2006
20) Air Force Link, April 28, 2009
21) Indo-Asian News Service, November 26, 2007
22) Avionews (Italy), November 28, 2007
23) Czech News Agency, May 1, 2009
24) Barents Observer, May 7, 2009
25) Ministry for Press and Mass Media of the Republic of South Ossetia, April 27, 2009