THE WIMPS IN THE WHITE HOUSE-GENERAL STAN

OBAMA HIRED THIS GENERAL AND THE GENERAL OVIOUSLY FOUND OUT HOW CRIMINAL THIS ADMINISTRATION REALLY IS.NOW THE TRUTH COMES OUT.REPORTS HAVE IT GENERAL STAN WILL RESIGN.I SURE WOULD.WHO WANTS TO LEAD A DICTATOR FALSE FLAG WAR LEADER SOETORO-OBAMA.AT 1:30PM JUNE 23,10 THE GENERAL HAS OFFICIALLY RESIGNED.GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS WILL TAKE OVER HIS JOB.

GENERAL REPORT FROM FOX
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4250529/oval-office-showdown

RAW DATA: McChrystal Biography Published June 22, 2010| FOXNews.com United States Army SOURCE OF COMMISSIONED SERVICE: USMA EDUCATIONAL DEGREES

United States Military Academy - BS - No Major
United States Naval War College - MA - National Security and Strategic Studies
Salve Regina University - MS - International Relations

MILITARY SCHOOLS ATTENDED
Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses
United States Naval Command and Staff College
Senior Service College Fellowship Harvard University

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Spanish

PROMOTIONS DATE OF APPOINTMENT

2LT 2 Jun 76
1LT 2 Jun 78
CPT 1 Aug 80
MAJ 1 Jul 87
LTC 1 Sep 92
COL 1 Sep 96
BG 1 Jan 01
MG 1 May 04
LTG 16 Feb 06
GEN 11 Jun 09

FROM TO ASSIGNMENT

Nov 76 Feb 78 Weapons Platoon Leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Feb 78 Jul 78 Rifle Platoon Leader, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Jul 78 Nov 78 Executive Officer, C Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Nov 78 Apr 79 Student, Special Forces Officer Course, Special Forces School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Apr 79 Jun 80 Commander, Detachment A, A Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Jun 80 Feb 81 Student, Infantry Officer Advanced Course, United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia
Feb 81 Mar 82 S2/S3 (Intelligence/Operations), United Nations Command Support GroupJoint Security Area, Korea
Mar 82 Nov 82 Training Officer, Directorate of Plans and Training, A Company, Headquarters Command, Fort Stewart, Georgia
Nov 82 Sep 84 Commander, A Company, 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia
Sep 84 Sep 85 S3 (Operations), 3d Battalion, 19th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia
Sep 85 Jan 86 Liaison Officer, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Jan 86 May 87 Commander, A Company, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
May 87 Apr 88 Liaison Officer, 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Apr 88 Jun 89 S3 (Operations), 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Jun 89 Jun 90 Student, Command and Staff Course, United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island
Jun 90 Apr 93 Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia
Apr 93 Nov 94 Commander, 2d Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Nov 94 Jun 96 Commander, 2d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Lewis, Washington
Jun 96 Jun 97 Senior Service College Fellowship, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Jun 97 Aug 99 Commander, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia
Aug 99 Jun 00 Military Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, New York
Jun 00 Jun 01 Assistant Division Commander (Operations), 82d Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Kuwait, Camp Doha, Kuwait
Jun 01 Jul 02 Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan

Jul 02 Sep 03 Vice Director for Operations, J3, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC
Sep 03 Feb 06 Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Feb 06 Jun 08 Commander, Joint Special Operations Command/Commander, Joint Special Operations Command Forward, United States Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Aug 08 Jun 09 Director, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC
Jun 09 Present Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan

SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS (Date of assignment and rank)

S2/S3 (Intelligence/Operations), United Nations Command Support Group Joint Security Area, Korea (Feb 81-Mar 82, Captain)
Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia Jun 90-Apr 93 Major/Lieutenant Colonel)
Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, Fort Bragg, North Carolina to include duty as Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 01-Jul 02, Brigadier General)
Vice Director for Operations, J3, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC (Jul 02-Sep 03, Brigadier General)
Commanding General, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Sep 03-Feb 06, Brigadier General/Major General)
Commander, Joint Special Operations Command/Commander, Joint Special Operations
Command Forward, United States Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina (Feb 06-Jun 08, Major General/Lieutenant General)
Director, The Joint Staff, Washington, DC (Aug 08-Jun 09, Lieutenant General)
Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 09-Present, General)

SUMMARY OF OPERATIONS ASSIGNMENTS DATE GRADE

Army Special Operations Action Officer, J3, Joint Special Operations Command, OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD/STORM, Saudi Arabia (Jun 90-Mar 91, Major)
Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Kuwait, Camp Doha, Kuwait (Apr 01-Jun 01, Brigadier General)
Chief of Staff, Combined Joint Task Force180, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (May 02-Jul 02, Brigadier General)
Commander, International Security Assistance Force/Commander, United States Forces Afghanistan, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan (Jun 09- Present, General)

US DECORATIONS AND BADGES

Defense Distinguished Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster)
Legion of Merit (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Bronze Star Medal
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Army Commendation Medal
Army Achievement Medal
Expert Infantryman Badge
Master Parachutist Badge
Ranger Tab
Special Forces Tab
Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge
(Source: International Security Assistance Force)

Obama, McChrystal conclude Oval Office talk By JENNIFER LOVEN and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers - JUNE 23,10

WASHINGTON – Afghanistan war commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal met privately with President Barack Obama at the White House Wednesday and then departed ahead of a scheduled war strategy session. There was no immediate word on whether Obama would fire him for his inflammatory remarks in a magazine interview.Officials had initially indicated that McChrystal would attend the strategy session on Afghanistan to explain remarks he made in the interview with Rolling Stone magazine. But he was seen leaving the West Wing and climbing into a van after his nearly half-hour face-to-face meeting with the president. McChrystal had met earlier in the day with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Adm. Mike Mullen.

Before the White House meeting, two military officials said McChrystal went in prepared to submit his resignation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.Obama was expected to make an announcement on McChrystal's future later Wednesday.I think it's clear that the article in which he and his team appeared ... showed poor judgment, Obama said Tuesday at the close of an unrelated Cabinet meeting. But I also want to make sure that I talk to him directly before I make any final decisions.Obama summoned McChrystal to Washington from Afghanistan after learning of his comments about administration officials. A White House rebuke of McChrystal suggested that it would be hard for him to save his job. Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his confidence in McChrystal during a video conference Tuesday night with Obama, Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said Wednesday in Kabul.We hope there is not a change of leadership of the international forces here in Afghanistan and that we continue to partner with Gen. McChrystal,Omar told reporters.

Afghan leaders warn against firing Gen. McChrystal By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer - JUNE 23,10

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan officials said Wednesday that firing Gen. Stanley McChrystal would disrupt progress in the war and could jeopardize a pivotal security operation under way in Taliban strongholds in the south.At the end of a one-hour video conference Tuesday night with President Barack Obama, Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressed his confidence in the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, Karzai spokesman Waheed Omar said.McChrystal was summoned to Washington to explain disparaging comments published in Rolling Stone magazine that he and his top aides made about Obama's national security team.While McChrystal, who met with Obama on Wednesday, was harshly scolded by his superiors in the United States, officials in Afghanistan rallied to his support, saying he had increased cooperation between Afghan and international troops, worked to reduce civilian casualties and gained the trust of the Afghan people.The president believes that we are in a very sensitive juncture in the partnership, in the war on terror and in the process of bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan, and any gap in this process will not be helpful, Omar told reporters.We hope there is not a change of leadership of the international forces here in Afghanistan and that we continue to partner with Gen. McChrystal.

Taliban spokesman Zabeehullah Mujahid, however, said McChrystal should resign because his strategy had clearly failed.The problems between American leaders over Afghan issues very clearly show that the policy and the strategy of America has failed,he said. They cannot win this war because the Afghan nation is united and they are committed to defeating American forces in Afghanistan.The controversy erupted as June is on track to becoming one of the deadliest months for U.S. and international forces in the nearly nine-year Afghan war.Military officials announced six more NATO deaths Wednesday, including three Americans and one British Royal Marine. The two other service members were not identified by nationality, but NATO said they died in a bomb attack in the south.That makes 73 international forces killed so far this month. Forty-four of them were Americans.The deadliest month of the conflict for U.S. forces was October 2009, when 59 service members were killed. For NATO forces overall, the deadliest month was July 2009, when 75 troops were killed.

The violence is also hitting Afghans. A vehicle belonging to a candidate for parliament hit a roadside bomb early Wednesday in the east, killing the candidate's brother. The candidate was wounded but survived, said Ghafoor Khan, a police spokesman in Nangarhar province.In Uruzgan province, seven private security guards were killed Wednesday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Chora district, said deputy provincial police chief Gulab Khan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the deaths of the guards, who were providing security for a construction company that was building a road in the area.The flap over McChrystal comes as NATO and Afghan forces are ramping up security in and around the key southern city of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.Karzai's younger half brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar provincial council, gave McChrystal a ringing endorsement, telling reporters in Kandahar that McChrystal's leadership would be sorely missed.If he is fired, it will disrupt the operation, Ahmad Wali Karzai said. It definitely will affect it. He (McChrystal) started all this, and he has a good relationship with the people. The people trust him and we trust him. If we lose this important person, I don't think that this operation will work in a positive way.

In Kabul, Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi also publicly voiced his support for the general, who is prepared to submit his resignation to Obama, according to two military officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. Since Gen. McChrystal took over the job as commander of the international forces, there have been a lot of changes in different departments, which are very important and positive,Azimi said.For example, there has been a decrease in the numbers of civilian casualties and we're still working jointly with McChrystal to decrease it further.Azimi spoke at a regular news conference held with Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, spokesman for the NATO command in Kabul. Blotz declined to discuss McChrystal's fate or the magazine article, which reported deep rifts between the top commander in the war and the U.S. administration.Let us be a little bit more patient,Blotz said.
Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236
ROLLING STONE WEB
http://www.rollingstone.com/
The Runaway General Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House.Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, works on board a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft between Battlefield Circulation missions. U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Mark O’Donald/NATOBy Michael Hastings Jun 22, 2010 10:00 AM EDT

This article appears in RS 1108/1109 from July 8-22, 2010, on newsstands Friday, June 25.(SWEARING BE PREPARED)

How'd I get screwed into going to this dinner? demands Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It's a Thursday night in mid-April, and the commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is sitting in a four-star suite at the Hôtel Westminster in Paris. He's in France to sell his new war strategy to our NATO allies – to keep up the fiction, in essence, that we actually have allies. Since McChrystal took over a year ago, the Afghan war has become the exclusive property of the United States. Opposition to the war has already toppled the Dutch government, forced the resignation of Germany's president and sparked both Canada and the Netherlands to announce the withdrawal of their 4,500 troops. McChrystal is in Paris to keep the French, who have lost more than 40 soldiers in Afghanistan, from going all wobbly on him.The dinner comes with the position, sir, says his chief of staff, Col. Charlie Flynn. McChrystal turns sharply in his chair.Hey, Charlie, he asks,does this come with the position?

McChrystal gives him the middle finger.The general stands and looks around the suite that his traveling staff of 10 has converted into a full-scale operations center. The tables are crowded with silver Panasonic Toughbooks, and blue cables crisscross the hotel's thick carpet, hooked up to satellite dishes to provide encrypted phone and e-mail communications. Dressed in off-the-rack civilian casual – blue tie, button-down shirt, dress slacks – McChrystal is way out of his comfort zone. Paris, as one of his advisers says, is the most anti-McChrystal city you can imagine. The general hates fancy restaurants, rejecting any place with candles on the tables as too Gucci.He prefers Bud Light Lime (his favorite beer) to Bordeaux,

Talladega Nights
(his favorite movie) to Jean-Luc Godard. Besides, the public eye has never been a place where McChrystal felt comfortable: Before President Obama put him in charge of the war in Afghanistan, he spent five years running the Pentagon's most secretive black ops.What's the update on the Kandahar bombing? McChrystal asks Flynn. The city has been rocked by two massive car bombs in the past day alone, calling into question the general's assurances that he can wrest it from the Taliban.We have two KIAs, but that hasn't been confirmed, Flynn says.McChrystal takes a final look around the suite. At 55, he is gaunt and lean, not unlike an older version of Christian Bale in Rescue Dawn. His slate-blue eyes have the unsettling ability to drill down when they lock on you. If you've fucked up or disappointed him, they can destroy your soul without the need for him to raise his voice. I'd rather have my ass kicked by a roomful of people than go out to this dinner, McChrystal says.He pauses a beat.Unfortunately, he adds,no one in this room could do it.With that, he's out the door.Who's he going to dinner with? I ask one of his aides.Some French minister,the aide tells me. It's f----- gay.The next morning, McChrystal and his team gather to prepare for a speech he is giving at the École Militaire, a French military academy. The general prides himself on being sharper and ballsier than anyone else, but his brashness comes with a price: Although McChrystal has been in charge of the war for only a year, in that short time he has managed to piss off almost everyone with a stake in the conflict. Last fall, during the question-and-answer session following a speech he gave in London, McChrystal dismissed the counterterrorism strategy being advocated by Vice President Joe Biden as shortsighted, saying it would lead to a state of Chaos-istan. The remarks earned him a smackdown from the president himself, who summoned the general to a terse private meeting aboard Air Force One. The message to McChrystal seemed clear: Shut the f--- up, and keep a lower profile.Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond.I never know what's going to pop out until I'm up there, that's the problem,he says. Then, unable to help themselves, he and his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner. Are you asking about Vice President Biden? McChrystal says with a laugh. Who's that?

Biden? suggests a top adviser. Did you say: Bite Me? When Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, he immediately set out to deliver on his most important campaign promise on foreign policy: to refocus the war in Afghanistan on what led us to invade in the first place. I want the American people to understand,he announced in March 2009.We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan.He ordered another 21,000 troops to Kabul, the largest increase since the war began in 2001. Taking the advice of both the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he also fired Gen. David McKiernan – then the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan – and replaced him with a man he didn't know and had met only briefly: Gen. Stanley McChrystal. It was the first time a top general had been relieved from duty during wartime in more than 50 years, since Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur at the height of the Korean War.Even though he had voted for Obama, McChrystal and his new commander in chief failed from the outset to connect. The general first encountered Obama a week after he took office, when the president met with a dozen senior military officials in a room at the Pentagon known as the Tank. According to sources familiar with the meeting, McChrystal thought Obama looked uncomfortable and intimidated by the roomful of military brass. Their first one-on-one meeting took place in the Oval Office four months later, after McChrystal got the Afghanistan job, and it didn't go much better. It was a 10-minute photo op, says an adviser to McChrystal. Obama clearly didn't know anything about him, who he was. Here's the guy who's going to run his f-cking war, but he didn't seem very engaged. The Boss was pretty disappointed.

From the start, McChrystal was determined to place his personal stamp on Afghanistan, to use it as a laboratory for a controversial military strategy known as counterinsurgency. COIN, as the theory is known, is the new gospel of the Pentagon brass, a doctrine that attempts to square the military's preference for high-tech violence with the demands of fighting protracted wars in failed states. COIN calls for sending huge numbers of ground troops to not only destroy the enemy, but to live among the civilian population and slowly rebuild, or build from scratch, another nation's government – a process that even its staunchest advocates admit requires years, if not decades, to achieve. The theory essentially rebrands the military, expanding its authority (and its funding) to encompass the diplomatic and political sides of warfare: Think the Green Berets as an armed Peace Corps. In 2006, after Gen. David Petraeus beta-tested the theory during his surge in Iraq, it quickly gained a hardcore following of think-tankers, journalists, military officers and civilian officials. Nicknamed COINdinistas for their cultish zeal, this influential cadre believed the doctrine would be the perfect solution for Afghanistan. All they needed was a general with enough charisma and political savvy to implement it.As McChrystal leaned on Obama to ramp up the war, he did it with the same fearlessness he used to track down terrorists in Iraq: Figure out how your enemy operates, be faster and more ruthless than everybody else, then take the fuckers out. After arriving in Afghanistan last June, the general conducted his own policy review, ordered up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The now-infamous report was leaked to the press, and its conclusion was dire: If we didn't send another 40,000 troops – swelling the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan by nearly half – we were in danger of mission failure.The White House was furious. McChrystal, they felt, was trying to bully Obama, opening him up to charges of being weak on national security unless he did what the general wanted. It was Obama versus the Pentagon, and the Pentagon was determined to kick the president's ass.Last fall, with his top general calling for more troops, Obama launched a three-month review to re-evaluate the strategy in Afghanistan. I found that time painful, McChrystal tells me in one of several lengthy interviews.I was selling an unsellable position.For the general, it was a crash course in Beltway politics – a battle that pitted him against experienced Washington insiders like Vice President Biden, who argued that a prolonged counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan would plunge America into a military quagmire without weakening international terrorist networks.The entire COIN strategy is a fraud perpetuated on the American people,says Douglas Macgregor, a retired colonel and leading critic of counterinsurgency who attended West Point with McChrystal.The idea that we are going to spend a trillion dollars to reshape the culture of the Islamic world is utter nonsense.

In the end, however, McChrystal got almost exactly what he wanted. On December 1st, in a speech at West Point, the president laid out all the reasons why fighting the war in Afghanistan is a bad idea: It's expensive; we're in an economic crisis; a decade-long commitment would sap American power; Al Qaeda has shifted its base of operations to Pakistan. Then, without ever using the words victory or win, Obama announced that he would send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, almost as many as McChrystal had requested. The president had thrown his weight, however hesitantly, behind the counterinsurgency crowd.Today, as McChrystal gears up for an offensive in southern Afghanistan, the prospects for any kind of success look bleak. In June, the death toll for U.S. troops passed 1,000, and the number of IEDs has doubled. Spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the fifth-poorest country on earth has failed to win over the civilian population, whose attitude toward U.S. troops ranges from intensely wary to openly hostile. The biggest military operation of the year – a ferocious offensive that began in February to retake the southern town of Marja – continues to drag on, prompting McChrystal himself to refer to it as a bleeding ulcer.In June, Afghanistan officially outpaced Vietnam as the longest war in American history – and Obama has quietly begun to back away from the deadline he set for withdrawing U.S. troops in July of next year. The president finds himself stuck in something even more insane than a quagmire: a quagmire he knowingly walked into, even though it's precisely the kind of gigantic, mind-numbing, multigenerational nation-building project he explicitly said he didn't want.Even those who support McChrystal and his strategy of counterinsurgency know that whatever the general manages to accomplish in Afghanistan, it's going to look more like Vietnam than Desert Storm.It's not going to look like a win, smell like a win or taste like a win,says Maj. Gen. Bill Mayville, who serves as chief of operations for McChrystal.This is going to end in an argument.The night after his speech in Paris, McChrystal and his staff head to Kitty O'Shea's, an Irish pub catering to tourists, around the corner from the hotel. His wife, Annie, has joined him for a rare visit: Since the Iraq War began in 2003, she has seen her husband less than 30 days a year. Though it is his and Annie's 33rd wedding anniversary, McChrystal has invited his inner circle along for dinner and drinks at the least Gucci place his staff could find. His wife isn't surprised. He once took me to a Jack in the Box when I was dressed in formalwear,she says with a laugh.

The general's staff is a handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs. There's a former head of British Special Forces, two Navy Seals, an Afghan Special Forces commando, a lawyer, two fighter pilots and at least two dozen combat veterans and counterinsurgency experts. They jokingly refer to themselves as Team America, taking the name from the South Park-esque sendup of military cluelessness, and they pride themselves on their can-do attitude and their disdain for authority. After arriving in Kabul last summer, Team America set about changing the culture of the International Security Assistance Force, as the NATO-led mission is known. (U.S. soldiers had taken to deriding ISAF as short for I Suck at Fighting or In Sandals and Flip-Flops.) McChrystal banned alcohol on base, kicked out Burger King and other symbols of American excess, expanded the morning briefing to include thousands of officers and refashioned the command center into a Situational Awareness Room, a free-flowing information hub modeled after Mayor Mike Bloomberg's offices in New York. He also set a manic pace for his staff, becoming legendary for sleeping four hours a night, running seven miles each morning, and eating one meal a day. (In the month I spend around the general, I witness him eating only once.) It's a kind of superhuman narrative that has built up around him, a staple in almost every media profile, as if the ability to go without sleep and food translates into the possibility of a man single-handedly winning the war.By midnight at Kitty O'Shea's, much of Team America is completely shitfaced. Two officers do an Irish jig mixed with steps from a traditional Afghan wedding dance, while McChrystal's top advisers lock arms and sing a slurred song of their own invention.Afghanistan! they bellow. Afghanistan! They call it their Afghanistan song.McChrystal steps away from the circle, observing his team. All these men,he tells me. I'd die for them. And they'd die for me.

The assembled men may look and sound like a bunch of combat veterans letting off steam, but in fact this tight-knit group represents the most powerful force shaping U.S. policy in Afghanistan. While McChrystal and his men are in indisputable command of all military aspects of the war, there is no equivalent position on the diplomatic or political side. Instead, an assortment of administration players compete over the Afghan portfolio: U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, Special Representative to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, National Security Advisor Jim Jones and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, not to mention 40 or so other coalition ambassadors and a host of talking heads who try to insert themselves into the mess, from John Kerry to John McCain. This diplomatic incoherence has effectively allowed McChrystal's team to call the shots and hampered efforts to build a stable and credible government in Afghanistan. It jeopardizes the mission, says Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who supports McChrystal.The military cannot by itself create governance reform.Part of the problem is structural: The Defense Department budget exceeds $600 billion a year, while the State Department receives only $50 billion. But part of the problem is personal: In private, Team McChrystal likes to talk shit about many of Obama's top people on the diplomatic side. One aide calls Jim Jones, a retired four-star general and veteran of the Cold War, a clown who remains stuck in 1985.Politicians like McCain and Kerry, says another aide,turn up, have a meeting with Karzai, criticize him at the airport press conference, then get back for the Sunday talk shows. Frankly, it's not very helpful.Only Hillary Clinton receives good reviews from McChrystal's inner circle.Hillary had Stan's back during the strategic review, says an adviser. She said,If Stan wants it, give him what he needs.McChrystal reserves special skepticism for Holbrooke, the official in charge of reintegrating the Taliban.The Boss says he's like a wounded animal,says a member of the general's team. Holbrooke keeps hearing rumors that he's going to get fired, so that makes him dangerous. He's a brilliant guy, but he just comes in, pulls on a lever, whatever he can grasp onto. But this is COIN, and you can't just have someone yanking on shit.

At one point on his trip to Paris, McChrystal checks his BlackBerry. Oh, not another e-mail from Holbrooke,he groans.I don't even want to open it. He clicks on the message and reads the salutation out loud, then stuffs the BlackBerry back in his pocket, not bothering to conceal his annoyance.Make sure you don't get any of that on your leg,an aide jokes, referring to the e-mail.By far the most crucial – and strained – relationship is between McChrystal and Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador. According to those close to the two men, Eikenberry – a retired three-star general who served in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2005 – can't stand that his former subordinate is now calling the shots. He's also furious that McChrystal, backed by NATO's allies, refused to put Eikenberry in the pivotal role of viceroy in Afghanistan, which would have made him the diplomatic equivalent of the general. The job instead went to British Ambassador Mark Sedwill – a move that effectively increased McChrystal's influence over diplomacy by shutting out a powerful rival. In reality, that position needs to be filled by an American for it to have weight,says a U.S. official familiar with the negotiations.The relationship was further strained in January, when a classified cable that Eikenberry wrote was leaked to The New York Times. The cable was as scathing as it was prescient. The ambassador offered a brutal critique of McChrystal's strategy, dismissed President Hamid Karzai as not an adequate strategic partner,and cast doubt on whether the counterinsurgency plan would be sufficient to deal with Al Qaeda. We will become more deeply engaged here with no way to extricate ourselves,Eikenberry warned,short of allowing the country to descend again into lawlessness and chaos.McChrystal and his team were blindsided by the cable. I like Karl, I've known him for years, but they'd never said anything like that to us before,says McChrystal, who adds that he felt betrayed by the leak. Here's one that covers his flank for the history books. Now if we fail, they can say, I told you so.The most striking example of McChrystal's usurpation of diplomatic policy is his handling of Karzai. It is McChrystal, not diplomats like Eikenberry or Holbrooke, who enjoys the best relationship with the man America is relying on to lead Afghanistan. The doctrine of counterinsurgency requires a credible government, and since Karzai is not considered credible by his own people, McChrystal has worked hard to make him so. Over the past few months, he has accompanied the president on more than 10 trips around the country, standing beside him at political meetings, or shuras, in Kandahar. In February, the day before the doomed offensive in Marja, McChrystal even drove over to the president's palace to get him to sign off on what would be the largest military operation of the year. Karzai's staff, however, insisted that the president was sleeping off a cold and could not be disturbed. After several hours of haggling, McChrystal finally enlisted the aid of Afghanistan's defense minister, who persuaded Karzai's people to wake the president from his nap.

This is one of the central flaws with McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy: The need to build a credible government puts us at the mercy of whatever tin-pot leader we've backed – a danger that Eikenberry explicitly warned about in his cable. Even Team McChrystal privately acknowledges that Karzai is a less-than-ideal partner. He's been locked up in his palace the past year,laments one of the general's top advisers. At times, Karzai himself has actively undermined McChrystal's desire to put him in charge. During a recent visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Karzai met three U.S. soldiers who had been wounded in Uruzgan province. General,he called out to McChrystal,I didn't even know we were fighting in Uruzgan! Growing up as a military brat, McChrystal exhibited the mixture of brilliance and cockiness that would follow him throughout his career. His father fought in Korea and Vietnam, retiring as a two-star general, and his four brothers all joined the armed services. Moving around to different bases, McChrystal took solace in baseball, a sport in which he made no pretense of hiding his superiority: In Little League, he would call out strikes to the crowd before whipping a fastball down the middle.McChrystal entered West Point in 1972, when the U.S. military was close to its all-time low in popularity. His class was the last to graduate before the academy started to admit women. The Prison on the Hudson, as it was known then, was a potent mix of testosterone, hooliganism and reactionary patriotism. Cadets repeatedly trashed the mess hall in food fights, and birthdays were celebrated with a tradition called rat f------ which often left the birthday boy outside in the snow or mud, covered in shaving cream. It was pretty out of control,says Lt. Gen. David Barno, a classmate who went on to serve as the top commander in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. The class, filled with what Barno calls huge talent and wild-eyed teenagers with a strong sense of idealism,also produced Gen. Ray Odierno, the current commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.The son of a general, McChrystal was also a ringleader of the campus dissidents – a dual role that taught him how to thrive in a rigid, top-down environment while thumbing his nose at authority every chance he got. He accumulated more than 100 hours of demerits for drinking, partying and insubordination – a record that his classmates boasted made him a century man.One classmate, who asked not to be named, recalls finding McChrystal passed out in the shower after downing a case of beer he had hidden under the sink. The troublemaking almost got him kicked out, and he spent hours subjected to forced marches in the Area, a paved courtyard where unruly cadets were disciplined.I'd come visit, and I'd end up spending most of my time in the library, while Stan was in the Area,recalls Annie, who began dating McChrystal in 1973.

McChrystal wound up ranking 298 out of a class of 855, a serious underachievement for a man widely regarded as brilliant. His most compelling work was extracurricular: As managing editor of The Pointer, the West Point literary magazine, McChrystal wrote seven short stories that eerily foreshadow many of the issues he would confront in his career. In one tale, a fictional officer complains about the difficulty of training foreign troops to fight; in another, a 19-year-old soldier kills a boy he mistakes for a terrorist. In Brinkman's Note, a piece of suspense fiction, the unnamed narrator appears to be trying to stop a plot to assassinate the president. It turns out, however, that the narrator himself is the assassin, and he's able to infiltrate the White House: The President strode in smiling. From the right coat pocket of the raincoat I carried, I slowly drew forth my 32-caliber pistol. In Brinkman's failure, I had succeeded.After graduation, 2nd Lt. Stanley McChrystal entered an Army that was all but broken in the wake of Vietnam. We really felt we were a peacetime generation,he recalls.There was the Gulf War, but even that didn't feel like that big of a deal.So McChrystal spent his career where the action was: He enrolled in Special Forces school and became a regimental commander of the 3rd Ranger Battalion in 1986. It was a dangerous position, even in peacetime – nearly two dozen Rangers were killed in training accidents during the Eighties. It was also an unorthodox career path: Most soldiers who want to climb the ranks to general don't go into the Rangers. Displaying a penchant for transforming systems he considers outdated, McChrystal set out to revolutionize the training regime for the Rangers. He introduced mixed martial arts, required every soldier to qualify with night-vision goggles on the rifle range and forced troops to build up their endurance with weekly marches involving heavy backpacks.In the late 1990s, McChrystal shrewdly improved his inside game, spending a year at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and then at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he co-authored a treatise on the merits and drawbacks of humanitarian interventionism. But as he moved up through the ranks, McChrystal relied on the skills he had learned as a troublemaking kid at West Point: knowing precisely how far he could go in a rigid military hierarchy without getting tossed out. Being a highly intelligent badass, he discovered, could take you far – especially in the political chaos that followed September 11th. He was very focused, says Annie.Even as a young officer he seemed to know what he wanted to do. I don't think his personality has changed in all these years.

By some accounts, McChrystal's career should have been over at least two times by now. As Pentagon spokesman during the invasion of Iraq, the general seemed more like a White House mouthpiece than an up-and-coming commander with a reputation for speaking his mind. When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made his infamous stuff happens remark during the looting of Baghdad, McChrystal backed him up. A few days later, he echoed the president's Mission Accomplished gaffe by insisting that major combat operations in Iraq were over. But it was during his next stint – overseeing the military's most elite units, including the Rangers, Navy Seals and Delta Force – that McChrystal took part in a cover-up that would have destroyed the career of a lesser man.After Cpl. Pat Tillman, the former-NFL-star-turned-Ranger, was accidentally killed by his own troops in Afghanistan in April 2004, McChrystal took an active role in creating the impression that Tillman had died at the hands of Taliban fighters. He signed off on a falsified recommendation for a Silver Star that suggested Tillman had been killed by enemy fire. (McChrystal would later claim he didn't read the recommendation closely enough – a strange excuse for a commander known for his laserlike attention to minute details.) A week later, McChrystal sent a memo up the chain of command, specifically warning that President Bush should avoid mentioning the cause of Tillman's death.If the circumstances of Corporal Tillman's death become public,he wrote, it could cause public embarrassment for the president.The false narrative, which McChrystal clearly helped construct, diminished Pat's true actions,wrote Tillman's mother, Mary, in her book Boots on the Ground by Dusk. McChrystal got away with it, she added, because he was the golden boy of Rumsfeld and Bush, who loved his willingness to get things done, even if it included bending the rules or skipping the chain of command. Nine days after Tillman's death, McChrystal was promoted to major general.

Two years later, in 2006, McChrystal was tainted by a scandal involving detainee abuse and torture at Camp Nama in Iraq. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, prisoners at the camp were subjected to a now-familiar litany of abuse: stress positions, being dragged naked through the mud. McChrystal was not disciplined in the scandal, even though an interrogator at the camp reported seeing him inspect the prison multiple times. But the experience was so unsettling to McChrystal that he tried to prevent detainee operations from being placed under his command in Afghanistan, viewing them as a political swamp,according to a U.S. official. In May 2009, as McChrystal prepared for his confirmation hearings, his staff prepared him for hard questions about Camp Nama and the Tillman cover-up. But the scandals barely made a ripple in Congress, and McChrystal was soon on his way back to Kabul to run the war in Afghanistan.The media, to a large extent, have also given McChrystal a pass on both controversies. Where Gen. Petraeus is kind of a dweeb, a teacher's pet with a Ranger's tab, McChrystal is a snake-eating rebel, a Jedi commander, as Newsweek called him. He didn't care when his teenage son came home with blue hair and a mohawk. He speaks his mind with a candor rare for a high-ranking official. He asks for opinions, and seems genuinely interested in the response. He gets briefings on his iPod and listens to books on tape. He carries a custom-made set of nunchucks in his convoy engraved with his name and four stars, and his itinerary often bears a fresh quote from Bruce Lee. (There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.) He went out on dozens of nighttime raids during his time in Iraq, unprecedented for a top commander, and turned up on missions unannounced, with almost no entourage. The f------ lads love Stan McChrystal,says a British officer who serves in Kabul. You'd be out in Somewhere, Iraq, and someone would take a knee beside you, and a corporal would be like Who the f--- is that? And it's f------ Stan McChrystal.

It doesn't hurt that McChrystal was also extremely successful as head of the Joint Special Operations Command, the elite forces that carry out the government's darkest ops. During the Iraq surge, his team killed and captured thousands of insurgents, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. JSOC was a killing machine,says Maj. Gen. Mayville, his chief of operations. McChrystal was also open to new ways of killing. He systematically mapped out terrorist networks, targeting specific insurgents and hunting them down – often with the help of cyberfreaks traditionally shunned by the military.The Boss would find the 24-year-old kid with a nose ring, with some fucking brilliant degree from MIT, sitting in the corner with 16 computer monitors humming,says a Special Forces commando who worked with McChrystal in Iraq and now serves on his staff in Kabul. He'd say, Hey – you f------ muscleheads couldn't find lunch without help. You got to work together with these guys.Even in his new role as America's leading evangelist for counterinsurgency, McChrystal retains the deep-seated instincts of a terrorist hunter. To put pressure on the Taliban, he has upped the number of Special Forces units in Afghanistan from four to 19.You better be out there hitting four or five targets tonight, McChrystal will tell a Navy Seal he sees in the hallway at headquarters. Then he'll add, I'm going to have to scold you in the morning for it, though.In fact, the general frequently finds himself apologizing for the disastrous consequences of counterinsurgency. In the first four months of this year, NATO forces killed some 90 civilians, up 76 percent from the same period in 2009 – a record that has created tremendous resentment among the very population that COIN theory is intent on winning over. In February, a Special Forces night raid ended in the deaths of two pregnant Afghan women and allegations of a cover-up, and in April, protests erupted in Kandahar after U.S. forces accidentally shot up a bus, killing five Afghans. We've shot an amazing number of people, McChrystal recently conceded.Despite the tragedies and miscues, McChrystal has issued some of the strictest directives to avoid civilian casualties that the U.S. military has ever encountered in a war zone. It's insurgent math,as he calls it – for every innocent person you kill, you create 10 new enemies. He has ordered convoys to curtail their reckless driving, put restrictions on the use of air power and severely limited night raids. He regularly apologizes to Hamid Karzai when civilians are killed, and berates commanders responsible for civilian deaths. For a while,says one U.S. official, the most dangerous place to be in Afghanistan was in front of McChrystal after a civ cas incident.The ISAF command has even discussed ways to make not killing into something you can win an award for: There's talk of creating a new medal for courageous restraint,a buzzword that's unlikely to gain much traction in the gung-ho culture of the U.S. military.

But however strategic they may be, McChrystal's new marching orders have caused an intense backlash among his own troops. Being told to hold their fire, soldiers complain, puts them in greater danger. Bottom line? says a former Special Forces operator who has spent years in Iraq and Afghanistan.I would love to kick McChrystal in the nuts. His rules of engagement put soldiers' lives in even greater danger. Every real soldier will tell you the same thing.In March, McChrystal traveled to Combat Outpost JFM – a small encampment on the outskirts of Kandahar – to confront such accusations from the troops directly. It was a typically bold move by the general. Only two days earlier, he had received an e-mail from Israel Arroyo, a 25-year-old staff sergeant who asked McChrystal to go on a mission with his unit. I am writing because it was said you don't care about the troops and have made it harder to defend ourselves,Arroyo wrote.Within hours, McChrystal responded personally: I'm saddened by the accusation that I don't care about soldiers, as it is something I suspect any soldier takes both personally and professionally – at least I do. But I know perceptions depend upon your perspective at the time, and I respect that every soldier's view is his own.Then he showed up at Arroyo's outpost and went on a foot patrol with the troops – not some bullshit photo-op stroll through a market, but a real live operation in a dangerous war zone.Six weeks later, just before McChrystal returned from Paris, the general received another e-mail from Arroyo. A 23-year-old corporal named Michael Ingram – one of the soldiers McChrystal had gone on patrol with – had been killed by an IED a day earlier. It was the third man the 25-member platoon had lost in a year, and Arroyo was writing to see if the general would attend Ingram's memorial service. He started to look up to you, Arroyo wrote. McChrystal said he would try to make it down to pay his respects as soon as possible.

The night before the general is scheduled to visit Sgt. Arroyo's platoon for the memorial, I arrive at Combat Outpost JFM to speak with the soldiers he had gone on patrol with. JFM is a small encampment, ringed by high blast walls and guard towers. Almost all of the soldiers here have been on repeated combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and have seen some of the worst fighting of both wars. But they are especially angered by Ingram's death. His commanders had repeatedly requested permission to tear down the house where Ingram was killed, noting that it was often used as a combat position by the Taliban. But due to McChrystal's new restrictions to avoid upsetting civilians, the request had been denied. These were abandoned houses,fumes Staff Sgt. Kennith Hicks.Nobody was coming back to live in them.One soldier shows me the list of new regulations the platoon was given. Patrol only in areas that you are reasonably certain that you will not have to defend yourselves with lethal force,the laminated card reads. For a soldier who has traveled halfway around the world to fight, that's like telling a cop he should only patrol in areas where he knows he won't have to make arrests. Does that make any f------ sense? asks Pfc. Jared Pautsch. We should just drop a fucking bomb on this place. You sit and ask yourself: What are we doing here? The rules handed out here are not what McChrystal intended – they've been distorted as they passed through the chain of command – but knowing that does nothing to lessen the anger of troops on the ground. F---, when I came over here and heard that McChrystal was in charge, I thought we would get our f------ gun on,says Hicks, who has served three tours of combat. I get COIN. I get all that. McChrystal comes here, explains it, it makes sense. But then he goes away on his bird, and by the time his directives get passed down to us through Big Army, they're all fucked up – either because somebody is trying to cover their ass, or because they just don't understand it themselves. But we're f------ losing this thing.McChrystal and his team show up the next day. Underneath a tent, the general has a 45-minute discussion with some two dozen soldiers. The atmosphere is tense. I ask you what's going on in your world, and I think it's important for you all to understand the big picture as well, McChrystal begins.How's the company doing? You guys feeling sorry for yourselves? Anybody? Anybody feel like you're losing? McChrystal says.Sir, some of the guys here, sir, think we're losing, sir, says Hicks.

McChrystal nods. Strength is leading when you just don't want to lead, he tells the men. You're leading by example. That's what we do. Particularly when it's really, really hard, and it hurts inside.Then he spends 20 minutes talking about counterinsurgency, diagramming his concepts and principles on a whiteboard. He makes COIN seem like common sense, but he's careful not to bullshit the men. We are knee-deep in the decisive year,he tells them. The Taliban, he insists, no longer has the initiative – but I don't think we do, either.It's similar to the talk he gave in Paris, but it's not winning any hearts and minds among the soldiers.This is the philosophical part that works with think tanks,McChrystal tries to joke. But it doesn't get the same reception from infantry companies.During the question-and-answer period, the frustration boils over. The soldiers complain about not being allowed to use lethal force, about watching insurgents they detain be freed for lack of evidence. They want to be able to fight – like they did in Iraq, like they had in Afghanistan before McChrystal. We aren't putting fear into the Taliban,one soldier says.Winning hearts and minds in COIN is a coldblooded thing, McChrystal says, citing an oft-repeated maxim that you can't kill your way out of Afghanistan. The Russians killed 1 million Afghans, and that didn't work.I'm not saying go out and kill everybody, sir,the soldier persists. You say we've stopped the momentum of the insurgency. I don't believe that's true in this area. The more we pull back, the more we restrain ourselves, the stronger it's getting.I agree with you, McChrystal says.In this area, we've not made progress, probably. You have to show strength here, you have to use fire. What I'm telling you is, fire costs you. What do you want to do? You want to wipe the population out here and resettle it?

A soldier complains that under the rules, any insurgent who doesn't have a weapon is immediately assumed to be a civilian. That's the way this game is, McChrystal says. It's complex. I can't just decide: It's shirts and skins, and we'll kill all the shirts.As the discussion ends, McChrystal seems to sense that he hasn't succeeded at easing the men's anger. He makes one last-ditch effort to reach them, acknowledging the death of Cpl. Ingram. There's no way I can make that easier,he tells them. No way I can pretend it won't hurt. No way I can tell you not to feel that. . . . I will tell you, you're doing a great job. Don't let the frustration get to you.The session ends with no clapping, and no real resolution. McChrystal may have sold President Obama on counterinsurgency, but many of his own men aren't buying it.When it comes to Afghanistan, history is not on McChrystal's side. The only foreign invader to have any success here was Genghis Khan – and he wasn't hampered by things like human rights, economic development and press scrutiny. The COIN doctrine, bizarrely, draws inspiration from some of the biggest Western military embarrassments in recent memory: France's nasty war in Algeria (lost in 1962) and the American misadventure in Vietnam (lost in 1975). McChrystal, like other advocates of COIN, readily acknowledges that counterinsurgency campaigns are inherently messy, expensive and easy to lose.Even Afghans are confused by Afghanistan,he says. But even if he somehow manages to succeed, after years of bloody fighting with Afghan kids who pose no threat to the U.S. homeland, the war will do little to shut down Al Qaeda, which has shifted its operations to Pakistan. Dispatching 150,000 troops to build new schools, roads, mosques and water-treatment facilities around Kandahar is like trying to stop the drug war in Mexico by occupying Arkansas and building Baptist churches in Little Rock. It's all very cynical, politically,says Marc Sageman, a former CIA case officer who has extensive experience in the region.Afghanistan is not in our vital interest – there's nothing for us there.

In mid-May, two weeks after visiting the troops in Kandahar, McChrystal travels to the White House for a high-level visit by Hamid Karzai. It is a triumphant moment for the general, one that demonstrates he is very much in command – both in Kabul and in Washington. In the East Room, which is packed with journalists and dignitaries, President Obama sings the praises of Karzai. The two leaders talk about how great their relationship is, about the pain they feel over civilian casualties. They mention the word progress 16 times in under an hour. But there is no mention of victory. Still, the session represents the most forceful commitment that Obama has made to McChrystal's strategy in months.There is no denying the progress that the Afghan people have made in recent years – in education, in health care and economic development,the president says. As I saw in the lights across Kabul when I landed – lights that would not have been visible just a few years earlier.It is a disconcerting observation for Obama to make. During the worst years in Iraq, when the Bush administration had no real progress to point to, officials used to offer up the exact same evidence of success.It was one of our first impressions, one GOP official said in 2006, after landing in Baghdad at the height of the sectarian violence.So many lights shining brightly.So it is to the language of the Iraq War that the Obama administration has turned – talk of progress, of city lights, of metrics like health care and education. Rhetoric that just a few years ago they would have mocked.They are trying to manipulate perceptions because there is no definition of victory – because victory is not even defined or recognizable,says Celeste Ward, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation who served as a political adviser to U.S. commanders in Iraq in 2006. That's the game we're in right now. What we need, for strategic purposes, is to create the perception that we didn't get run off. The facts on the ground are not great, and are not going to become great in the near future.But facts on the ground, as history has proven, offer little deterrent to a military determined to stay the course. Even those closest to McChrystal know that the rising anti-war sentiment at home doesn't begin to reflect how deeply fucked up things are in Afghanistan. If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular,a senior adviser to McChrystal says. Such realism, however, doesn't prevent advocates of counterinsurgency from dreaming big: Instead of beginning to withdraw troops next year, as Obama promised, the military hopes to ramp up its counterinsurgency campaign even further.There's a possibility we could ask for another surge of U.S. forces next summer if we see success here,a senior military official in Kabul tells me.

Back in Afghanistan, less than a month after the White House meeting with Karzai and all the talk of progress,McChrystal is hit by the biggest blow to his vision of counterinsurgency. Since last year, the Pentagon had been planning to launch a major military operation this summer in Kandahar, the country's second-largest city and the Taliban's original home base. It was supposed to be a decisive turning point in the war – the primary reason for the troop surge that McChrystal wrested from Obama late last year. But on June 10th, acknowledging that the military still needs to lay more groundwork, the general announced that he is postponing the offensive until the fall. Rather than one big battle, like Fallujah or Ramadi, U.S. troops will implement what McChrystal calls a rising tide of security.The Afghan police and army will enter Kandahar to attempt to seize control of neighborhoods, while the U.S. pours $90 million of aid into the city to win over the civilian population.Even proponents of counterinsurgency are hard-pressed to explain the new plan. This isn't a classic operation,says a U.S. military official. It's not going to be Black Hawk Down. There aren't going to be doors kicked in.Other U.S. officials insist that doors are going to be kicked in, but that it's going to be a kinder, gentler offensive than the disaster in Marja.The Taliban have a jackboot on the city, says a military official. We have to remove them, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't alienate the population.When Vice President Biden was briefed on the new plan in the Oval Office, insiders say he was shocked to see how much it mirrored the more gradual plan of counterterrorism that he advocated last fall.This looks like CT-plus! he said, according to U.S. officials familiar with the meeting.Whatever the nature of the new plan, the delay underscores the fundamental flaws of counterinsurgency. After nine years of war, the Taliban simply remains too strongly entrenched for the U.S. military to openly attack. The very people that COIN seeks to win over – the Afghan people – do not want us there. Our supposed ally, President Karzai, used his influence to delay the offensive, and the massive influx of aid championed by McChrystal is likely only to make things worse.Throwing money at the problem exacerbates the problem,says Andrew Wilder, an expert at Tufts University who has studied the effect of aid in southern Afghanistan. A tsunami of cash fuels corruption, delegitimizes the government and creates an environment where we're picking winners and losers – a process that fuels resentment and hostility among the civilian population. So far, counterinsurgency has succeeded only in creating a never-ending demand for the primary product supplied by the military: perpetual war. There is a reason that President Obama studiously avoids using the word victory when he talks about Afghanistan. Winning, it would seem, is not really possible. Not even with Stanley McChrystal in charge.This article appears in in RS 1108/1109 from July 8-22, 2010, on newsstands Friday, June 25.

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Israel launches new spy satellite Ofek 9 By Mark Lavie, Associated Press Writer – JUNE 22,10

JERUSALEM – Israel launched a spy satellite called Ofek 9 late Tuesday, Israel's Defense Ministry and officials said, increasing Israel's capacity to keep an eye on enemies like Iran.The Defense Ministry issued a statement saying the satellite was launched late Tuesday from the Palmachim air force base on Israel's coast south of Tel Aviv. An hour later, after the satellite completed its first circuit, the ministry said it had achieved its proper orbit, describing it as a surveillance satellite with advanced technological capabilities.Defense officials said Ofek 9 is a spy satellite with a high resolution camera. It would join two other active spy satellites in the Ofek series already orbiting the earth. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because details were not made public, said the three satellites would give Israel considerable coverage of sensitive areas.Addition of a new satellite gives Israel the capability of sending space-borne cameras over sensitive areas more frequently. One of Israel's main targets for spy photos is Iran, because of its nuclear program.Israel considers Iran to be a strategic threat, charging that its nuclear program is meant for developing bombs, despite Iranian denials. Also, Iran has tested missiles that can reach Israel, and its leaders frequently refer to Israel's destruction.

Israel is also thought to be targeting Syria with its satellites. In 2007, warplanes struck a site in Syria thought to be a nuclear facility under construction. Israel has not commented, but it was widely reported that the attacking aircraft were Israeli.Defense officials said that with each successive Israeli satellite, cameras are more advanced and offer higher resolution. They said the camera aboard Ofek 9 was made by Elbit, a leading Israeli high-tech optics firm. They said the camera could pick out missiles and launchers on the ground.Isaac Ben-Israel, a former head of the Israeli space agency, told Israel Radio that the new satellite weighs about 650 pounds (300 kilograms), small in comparison to American spy satellites. He said it would take another two or three days before it could be determined if its camera was working properly. So far, he said, Israel has not had problems with cameras aboard its satellites.In 2008, an Israeli spy satellite launched from India took aloft an advanced radar system that would allow photography in all weather conditions and at night.Besides its spy satellites, Israel also has a number of communications satellites in orbit.

Defense chief criticizes Jerusalem demolition plan By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 22, 1:34 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Israel's defense minister criticized on Tuesday a plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes to make room for an Israeli tourist center in disputed east Jerusalem after the U.S. expressed concern that the project could incite violence.

A Jerusalem municipal body approved the plan on Monday for shops, restaurants, art galleries and a large community center on the site next to the walled Old City where some say the biblical King David wrote his psalms. In March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured Jerusalem's mayor to delay it, apparently to fend off U.S. criticism at a time when relations are tense.Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is in the U.S. for talks with the Obama administration, said Jerusalem officials are not displaying common sense or good timing, and not for the first time.Jerusalem is the most divisive issue between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel annexed east Jerusalem after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and nearly 200,000 Jews have moved there since, living alongside 250,000 Palestinians. Palestinians hope to build the capital of a future state in east Jerusalem and see any Israeli construction there as undercutting their claim.The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over east Jerusalem.U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley voiced concern on Monday about the east Jerusalem plan.This would appear to be the kind of action that undermines trust and potentially incites emotions and adds to the risk of violence, he said.Barak heads Israel's Labor Party, the centrist element in Netanyahu's center-right coalition and favors far-reaching concessions to the Palestinians, unlike other coalition partners.Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat's office rejected Barak's criticism, saying the plan would rehabilitate a neglected section of the city and that he wants to build thousands of apartments for Arab residents. The plan still faces additional stages of approval and inevitable court challenges.

In neighboring Jordan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said after talks with King Abdullah that he categorically rejects Israel's plan because it is a stumbling bloc in the path of the political process. Abbas urged the U.S. to ask Israel to stop such measures.U.N. spokesman Richard Miron called the Jerusalem's municipality's decision worrying.We will be reminding the Israeli government of its responsibilities, and ensure that provocative steps are not taken in the city, particularly at this fragile time when the goal must be to build trust and support political negotiations, he said.The plan was a point of contention Tuesday in an exchange over peace negotiations.Addressing Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said, We should begin direct talks for peace now without delay and without preconditions.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat responded that if Netanyahu really wanted such talks, he wouldn't make decisions like demolishing Palestinian houses.
Erekat said direct talks could start only if the Israeli government halts all settlement building, including in Jerusalem.President Barack Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has been mediating indirect peace talks for weeks, but progress has been reported.Associated Press Writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

China punctures yuan euphoria, gains to be glacial By Wayne Cole - JUNE 22,10

SYDNEY (Reuters) – China is only three days into its new era of currency flexibility yet it has already succeeded in puncturing market hopes for a money-making surge in the yuan, leaving investors resigned to a glacial rise at best.While the People's Bank of China (PBOC) did set the yuan's mid-point at a stronger 6.7980 on Tuesday, it did nothing to stop state-owned banks pushing the currency back to 6.8136 per dollar by the close of trading.Traders suspected the pullback was officially orchestrated as a none-too subtle warning that yuan appreciation would not be a one-way bet, and expectations for Wednesday's fixing were suitably restrained.I'd expect it to be close to the spot close of 6.8130, said Sean Callow, a senior currency strategist at Westpac.That was the usual pattern from 2005 to 2008.I am much more interested in what spot does during the day, the fixing just sets the day's range, he added. It went up on Monday, down on Tuesday, so my bet's on higher today.

Whatever the daily gyrations, analysts suspect the yuan will rise over time but likely at too slow a pace to narrow China's huge trade surplus, or America's deep deficit.The de-pegging story was overblown. It lacked substance given China was never going to make huge inroads into revaluation, said Adam Carr, a senior economist at broker ICAP in Sydney.More importantly, it over-emphasized the value of the currency in the Chinese/world growth narrative -- an appreciating yuan is not going to rebalance the world, he added.A Reuters poll of 33 economists forecast the yuan would rise to 6.67 per dollar by the end the year, an increase of just 2.4 percent from late last week and similar to the appreciation implied by offshore non-deliverable forwards.

PLENTY OF ROUBLE ELSEWHERE

Instead, investors were turning to more pressing problems in the rich world, such as the need for painful fiscal tightening in many countries and the spreading risk of deflation.The euro eased back below $1.2300 once more, while currencies leveraged to global growth like the Australian dollar lost altitude.The UK became the latest country to announce draconian budget cuts and steep rises in some taxes as it wrestles with exploding national debt.Debt markets welcome such swingeing cuts but equity investors worry that this will stop economic recovery in its tracks.U.S. stocks also took a late tumble on Tuesday as domestic economic data disappointed. And rapacious demand at an auction of U.S. treasury notes, even though yields were at a record low, also spoke of growing investor anxiety.The market used the solid auction results as evidence that there are growing investor fears about weaker growth and further disinflation, said William O'Donnell, head of U.S. Treasury strategy at RBS Securities in Stamford, Connecticut.He also noted that bank balance sheets were being tightened all across Wall Street, in part ahead of the end of quarter.The point is, bank balance sheets have probably never been under more scrutiny and uncertainty -- a negative for future growth as banks sit on cash, eschew lending and worry about capital adequacy,said O'Donnell.(Editing by Mark Bendeich)

Europeans act alone on bank tax before G20 By Paul Taylor And Gernot Heller –JUNE 22,10

PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany, France and Britain announced plans on Tuesday to introduce a bank levy to help meet the costs of the financial crisis, without waiting for a G20 summit this week, underscoring a rift with key partners.A joint statement said the three biggest European economies were committed to the full implementation of the ambitious G20 financial sector reform agenda, but the timing of the tax move suggested the Europeans have low hopes of any global deal.G20 finance ministers dropped the idea of a common levy this month due to Canadian and Japanese resistance. But European Union leaders, under pressure to justify austerity measures to their voters, renewed a call for international action last week.In the United States, lawmakers raced to finalize a wide-ranging rewrite of financial regulations for President Barack Obama to tout as a model for other countries at the G20 meeting. The overhaul does not include a bank levy, but Congress could act on the idea later this year.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers, writing in the Wall Street Journal, urged the G20 to work together to foster growth and not to jeopardize recovery by imposing austerity measures too quickly.We must demonstrate a commitment to reducing long-term deficits, but not at the price of short-term growth, the two wrote in a piece that will be published on Wednesday. Without growth now, deficits will rise further and undermine future growth.Britain's new center-right government included a bank tax in Tuesday's austere emergency budget, aimed at slashing a giant deficit and swollen public debt built up rescuing teetering banks and fighting the deepest recession since World War Two.

Finance minister George Osborne announced a two-year public sector pay freeze, a big increase in value-added tax on goods and services, a 25 percent cut in most ministries' spending over four years and measures to curb welfare costs.The planned spending cuts were the toughest in a generation, prompting economist Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight to call it a pretty eye-watering package.On the other side of the globe, Japan announced ambitious targets to rein in its debt, with new Prime Minister Naoto Kan making clear the government would have to push through contentious tax increases to fill deep fiscal gaps.Kan said the example of Greece, whose debt crisis has undermined confidence in the euro zone and forced other European states to adopt austerity measures, showed how markets had become more wary of public debt and sovereign risk.Germany said it would put a bank tax bill to the cabinet in summer and France said it would present details of its bank levy in the 2011 budget, due to go to parliament in the autumn.Canada, the G20's host, appeared to soften its stance on the bank levy on Tuesday. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a newspaper interview: I really want to see the G20 agree on how to go forward. It is important that we try to be collegial.

GERMAN VICTORY?

German officials claimed victory even before leaders of the world's main industrialized and emerging powers meet in Toronto, saying the G20 was not demanding new stimulus measures and Berlin did not face censure for its planned austerity drive.The United States has repeatedly urged surplus countries -- code for China and Germany -- to do more to boost domestic demand.The issue of how to rebalance the global economy and restore post-crisis fiscal discipline without plunging the world into a double-dip slowdown will feature high on the G20 agenda.We can expect more sharp disagreements between the U.S. and Europe, papered over with the common call for measures aimed at ensuring fiscal sustainability in a growth-enhancing way, said Marco Annunziata, chief economist at UniCredit bank. Beijing moved to defuse Washington's wrath on Saturday by announcing cautious moves to make its currency more flexible. But China is still unlikely to let the yuan appreciate nearly as fast as major trading partners would like. World stocks fell for the first time in two weeks on Tuesday on a cooler assessment of the Chinese decision. As if to underline the limits of the move, Beijing engineered a slight fall in the yuan exchange rate on Tuesday after allowing it to rise against the dollar at first.Germany, Europe's largest economy, has defended plans to save around 80 billion euros over the next four years after U.S. President Barack Obama preached patience in clamping down on public spending.

German officials said Obama did not press Chancellor Angela Merkel to ramp up stimulus spending in a recent telephone call.The exit from economic stimulus measures in 2011 is recognized as correct, one official said.Merkel says Berlin has to pursue deficit reduction both because of a constitutional obligation and because it has Europe's fastest-aging population. It also wants to set an example to the rest of the euro zone after Greece's debt crisis.U.S. and European officials say the global leadership forum, which began meeting at top level in late 2008 to bring rising powers such as China, India and Brazil into joint stewardship of the world economy, is proving unwieldy to manage.The G20 has increasingly taken precedence over the Group of Eight industrialized powers as the main forum for international economic policy debate, but decisions are harder to take because of the larger membership.The question of the banking charge, for example, is going to be a test point from which it'll become clear whether the G20 is in a position to formulate interests jointly or whether it splits apart in two camps, one German official said.

However, on the bank levy issue, the main opposition comes from longstanding members of the G8, not the newcomers.(Additional reporting by Keith Weir and Sumeet Desai in London, Dave Graham in Berlin, Tetshushi Kajomoto in Tokyo and Andy Sullivan in Washington; writing by Paul Taylor, editing by Stephen Nisbet and Carol Bishopric)

Obama’s Labor Secretary promises government help to illegals
21 June 2010:

The absurdity of the Obama administration and U.S. lawmakers is beyond words. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed, making it illegal to knowingly hire or employ illegal aliens. For years, the U.S. government has been slow to act to enforce the law. Now, Secretary of Labor under Barack Hussein Obama, Hilda Solis, is featured in a in a public service announcement promising government assistance on behalf of all workers – including those here illegally – to insure a fair wage. Here is the 30-second PSA; pay attention to the final several seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3owMAs2t2Fo&feature=player_embedded

Obama knows Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall. He doesn’t care By Laurie Roth JUNE 22,10

The Democrats are frightfully nervous, seeing their lives flash before their eyes. Not all in the House and Senate and who serve as Governors and state officials, wish to shred and sacrifice their careers for the suicidal policies of Barack Hussein Obama. Yet, this is unfolding before our eyes. We are seeing the growth and development of a political bloodbath and dramatic shift from the far progressive left to the right again.Remember that with the last Presidential election and many congressional elections, Independent voters and the disillusioned voter made the difference. They were reeled in to the therapeutic message of change and hope of Obama, thinking magically that crusty old Bush, obsessed with war had no concept of warmth, priorities and change.I am the first to confess that Bush was no wonder of the world and I disagreed with his globalist, North American Union agenda and lack of leadership dealing with illegal immigration and our borders. However, under his leadership and needed tax cuts, the economy improved and jobs grew, unlike with Obama.Also, a strong statement was made from the U.S. under Bush regarding Islamic terror in response to 9/11. He was right in many ways to attack areas of strong Islamic radicalism and terrorist training areas such as in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, Bush started allowing the pressure of Islamic groups to intimidate him into starting the change of rhetoric as to who we were fighting with fear of insulting any Muslim. By the time the war on terror had been assaulted into non existence, we were practically fighting Fred Flintstone.Barack Hussein Obama has made sure that even the mention of the war on terror fighting Islamic radicalism or fundamentalism is gone. Now, were are fighting the meaningless and mentally ill term….overseas contingency operation. We might as well be saying we are fighting a war against Pee Wee Herman.

It is most obvious by the multitude of slip ups and statements made by Obama himself that he is still a Muslim in his own mind. He has said this in interviews here and abroad, even to Egyptian officials. There is no game anymore between Christian and Islamic.I think most of us with a small amount of our brain working can get a clue about what he supports and shows reverence for and it ain’t Christianity! Behind Obama’s Muslim, Christian sea of lies to the American people, is the onslaught his dictatorial belief system and plans for America. He continues, as Hitler, Chavez, Castro and Mussolini did (among other tyrants) to use sound bites, promises, created falsified enemies,and created disasters and problems to solve. We heard the endless empathetic and desperate speeches of need regarding Health care. We had to have it since so many, poor millions were suffering and dying without care….especially minorities, women and children. The progressive, anti American and anti budget left in congress bought into it and passed it.It seems the next manipulative slam against America and distorted push is now Cap and Trade and a carbon tax, all based on the learning we all have had as a country from the Gulf oil spill. Reid, Pelosi and Obama are planning to push this through for a vote in early July. If this horror show passes, it will regulate, tax and litigate small, medium and large business to death. Those that remain will pay dearly for being in business and be nothing but submissive puppets at the hand of the messiah, who collects the majority of their hard earned money and redistributes it.

Obama will continue to craft schemes with another amnesty bill and stealing of our gun rights, via the U.N. and a treaty no doubt. Remember, he must invent more votes from illegals, or Puerto Rico, while stopping the flow and use of guns in America. He would love to hide and plans to hide behind the international U.N. treaty. He still would have to get a treaty passed in the Senate by a super majority but with his endless sea of pay offs, bribes and spirit of compromise, anything is possible.Obama cares nothing about the Democratic Party and minorities! He is sacrificing them right before our eyes with the attempt to cram his draconian bills threw a progressive congress as fast as he can. He is most empowered in his own eyes since he signed the Health care bill into law. He will quickly push his version of Cap and Trade through, amnesty and if he can get away with it a gun treaty…..ALL BEFORE THE MID TERMS WHICH IS WHEN HUMPTIES PROGRESSIVE BODY GOES SPLAT ON THE PAVEMENT.

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.

41 dead, up to 1,000 missing in Brazil floods
JUNE 22,10

BRASILIA (AFP) – Raging floods in northeastern Brazil have killed at least 41 people and left as many as 1,000 missing, officials said Tuesday, while firefighters described entire towns being wiped off the map.Dramatic television pictures showed survivors scrambling to rooftops to avoid being swept away, clinging desperately to lines of rope as rescuers in helicopters rushed to pluck them from the muddy floodwaters.The death toll looked set to rise with more heavy rain forecast for Wednesday and the authorities giving estimates of the missing ranging from several hundred to 1,000.Up until the early afternoon we had 26 confirmed dead in Alagoas and more than 1,000 people missing,the governor of the poor coastal state Teotonio Vilela Filho told government news wire Agencia Brasil.But we are worried because bodies are starting to appear on the beaches and the rivers.Officials later raised the toll in Alagoas to 29, while a civil defense officials said another 12 fatalities were confirmed in the larger neighboring state of Pernambuco.Almost 100,000 people in the two states were left without a home or forced to evacuate, while some towns were completely cut off as powerful torrents collapsed bridges and swamped roads and railway lines, officials said.Rooftops and church bell towers were the only structures visible above massive brown expanses of floodwater that only looked set to rise in the coming days.A firefighters' spokesman told AFP entire towns had been wiped off the map after the Mundau river burst its banks in the town of Uniao dos Palmares in Alagoas.In the separate town of Palmares in the neighboring state of Pernambuco, a woman who lost her home sobbed as she told Globonews television: It destroyed our city. It destroyed everything.

Jose Mariano, whose house in nearby Cachanga was waterlogged, said: It was really tough here. We had a refrigerator and an armoire at my brother's house for safe keeping and the water came in and just kept rising.Five Air Force helicopters ferried aid to those stranded by the flooding, while a military plane also delivered some 14 tonnes of donated food, medicine, drinking water and mattresses.Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held a crisis cabinet meeting that included ministers and the governors of the affected states.Afterwards, officials announced 55million dollars in emergency aid, half of which had already been delivered to the state governments.Defense Minister Nelson Jobim was set to travel to the flood disaster zone, Agencia Brasil reported.Governor Padilha said the priority was to get emergency drinking water and food to the flooded areas, and restore electricity.In April, flooding and landslides triggered by torrential rain killed at least 229 people in the Rio de Janeiro area.

Rains burst levee in southern China, 88,000 flee
Tue Jun 22, 9:41 am ET

BEIJING – Torrential rains burst a dike in southern China, sending 88,000 people fleeing their homes and prompting China's top leaders to call Tuesday for stepped-up rescue operations.Floodwaters breached the Changkai levee on the Fu River in Jiangxi province late Monday, forcing residents to relocate from their homes in the nearby city of Fuzhou, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. No casualties have been reported.Storms have pounded southern China for more than a week, killing at least 199 people, with 123 still missing, as landslides have cut off transportation, and rivers and reservoirs have overflowed, Xinhua said.State television showed police with pants legs rolled up, pushing boats carrying residents through shallow water. In some places, floodwaters reached nearly to the second story of buildings, while in others only the tops of trees were visible.Soldiers unloaded stacks of rowboats as they raced to rescue stranded residents, many of whom were shown standing helplessly on balconies.The China Central Television report said some 88,000 people have been displaced.Army and volunteer rescue teams have been working around the clock near Fuzhou to sandbag vulnerable areas, Xinhua said.President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao called on rescuers to work hard to control the flood, according to the Jiangxi Provincial Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.Flooding has affected more than 10 million residents across southern China, with heavy storms expected to move south in the coming days toward Fujian and Guangzhou provinces.
China sustains major flooding annually along the mighty Yangtze and other major rivers, but this year's floods have been especially heavy, spreading across nine provinces and regions in the south and along the eastern coast.

150,000 marooned by Bangladesh floods
Tue Jun 22, 3:29 am ET

DHAKA (AFP) – At least 150,000 people have been marooned and thousands of hectares of crops destroyed by floods after weeks of heavy rain in Bangladesh's northeast, an official said Tuesday.Five weeks of heavy rain caused rivers to burst their banks and flood large areas of countryside and villages, Sylhet district chief Sazzad Hossain told AFP.At least 36,000 families -- around 150,000 people -- have been marooned by the floods in my district, he said.The water level was still rising, causing major damage to crops and cutting off communication with many areas, he added.We have opened 31 makeshift relief centres where 2,000 people have taken shelter,he said, adding there were currently no report of casualties.Last week at least 55 people were killed after the worst rains in decades triggered landslides and flash floods in the country's southeastern hill regions. At least 12,000 people were made homeless in the floods.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded

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)

Details emerge on final set-up of EU diplomatic corps
HONOR MAHONY 22.06.2010 @ 16:51 CET

EUOBSERVER - BRUSSELS - Both EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and MEPs have claimed victory in the final outcome of the battle of wills to establish the thousands-strong European diplomatic service.To be on its feet by 1 December, the corps is supposed to give impetus to the EU's often incoherent foreign policy by bringing all its different aspects - external relations, military, civil and development - under one roof.The path to the agreement on Monday (21 June) was a typically Brussels-style battle, forcing a mindset change in the EU capital as member states and EU institutions for the first time sought to make a body etwining both intergovernmental and communitarian cultures.It pitted Ms Ashton's still small team against a parliament determined to push the limits of the powers given to it under the Union's new rulebook.The power politics saw Ms Ashton saying she is too busy to take calls from deputies while MEPs prevaricated over meeting points.

Both sides claimed victory in the end, however.The text which we have on the table today is not substantially very different to the text we set out with in our proposal at the end of March proposal,said an EU diplomat referring to the blueprint signed off my member states earlier this year.It is a text that is more precise on some issues; in some areas it is more clearly written, the diplomat summed up.
Liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt, one of parliament's three negotiators, said the institution had made a huge difference to the original proposal.Mostly we succeeded in changing the initial philosophy of ... the service,he said.

The balance

The final compromise looks to have fallen in between these two assessments. The service, with an ultimate size of around 8,000 people, will be a one-of-a-kind set-up, with its own, separate administrative budget. The budget will be subject to political control by the parliament.MEPs have been given a strong opening in foreign policy issues. Ms Ashton has agreed that they can be consulted before EU missions abroad while they have also been given much stronger budgetary oversight over such actions. In terms of staff for the service, only 40 percent will be allowed to be temporary diplomats from member states. The remainder must be permanent staff. The service will initially be commission-staff heavy but the balance is eventually expected to tip towards member states as there are only a finite number of commission staff eligible for the posts.There will be no quotas for member states, something newer member states were very keen on. A diplomat explained that could raise the awkward possibility of having the head of the delegation in Russia post only open to new member states candidates.Strategic country planning will take place in the service but the ultimate programming decisions for external assistance will rest with the commission. Geographical desks in the service will not be duplicated in the commission.Internally, the service will have a secretary general and two deputy secretary generals as well as a director general for budget and administration - this last post being pushed in by the parliament. Ms Ashton, who has a hectic travel schedule, will be deputised by either the relevant EU commissioner or the foreign minister of the country holding the EU presidency.

Timetable

Ms Ashton's team is still hoping to get the service established by 1 December - exactly a year after the EU's new rulebook, the Lisbon Treaty, came into force.
Assuming the parliament as a whole votes on the decision in July (they have yet to formally put it on the agenda) Ms Ashton will start advertising top posts at the end of next month. On a best-case scenario the jobs could then be filled in October.The budget line for this year is €9.5 million euros. This foresees 1,100 diplomatic staff with about 100 new jobs created. These [new] posts are for reinforcing delegations overseas,said an EU diplomat.

EU says restarting Doha talks is up to the US
ANDREW WILLIS 22.06.2010 @ 17:44 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European trade commissioner Karel De Gucht has said it is not up to Europe to kick-start the Doha round of multilateral trade talks, instead placing the burden squarely on the shoulders of the United States.The Belgian politician was speaking to members of the European Parliament's trade committee on Tuesday (22 June), part of the consultation process before the commission comes forward with proposals this October on how to reform the EU's overall trade policy.I don't think it is up to the EU to relaunch negotiations, Mr De Gucht told MEPs, referring to a spat between India and the United States in July 2008 as the pivotal reason behind the breakdown in talks.For Europe, it was an acceptable agreement, not fantastic.The US needs to be clear on what they need and then we can restart the talks,said the trade commissioner who took up office in February. For the time being, we will continue our bilateral free trade agreements, but i do believe we will see Doha.Observers suggest that American re-engagement may take place once mid-term elections, scheduled for the end of this year, are completed. Supporters of Europe's policy of pursuing bi-lateral deals say the FTAs also place extra pressure on the US to secure a multilateral agreement.

Reform

The EU policy of securing bi-lateral agreements, adopted in 2006 and known as Global Europe, has attracted numerous critics however. Supporters of more vigorous free trade say the strategy lacks direction, while critics say it causes considerable environmental and social harm in developing countries.Centre-right MEP Daniel Caspary was among those calling for greater ambition, while centre-left MEP David Martin questioned the environmental and social aspects of recent free-trade deals. I wonder if it makes sense to negotiate human rights and environmental clauses if we do not then pursue them,said the UK deputy.Prior to Tuesday's meeting, a group of trade justice campaigners working together in the Seattle to Brussels Network (S2B) called on the parliamentary trade committee to apply greater pressure in this area, saying that in spite of its sustainable development rhetoric, EU trade policy-making remains untransparent and geared towards serving businesses above all else. The group points to the recent conclusion of FTAs with Colombia and a group of Central American nations, despite a poor human rights record in the former and questions over the legitimacy of the government in Honduras.The network said it was not optimistic that the EU's future trade policy would be an improvement, despite the greater role handed to MEPs under the EU's new rulebook, the Lisbon Treaty. Parliamentarians now have greater powers to accept or reject trade deals negotiated by the commission, and may also look for greater input right from the start of talks.

It's an improvement that the parliament has a role but we don't think this is an advantage for democracy. On the contrary, we think it looks like an increase of centralisation of power in Brussels. We do hope that they demand a real mandate to be involved in negotiations,Bruno Ciccaglione, the group's co-ordinator, told this website.

GSP, Mercosur

MEP questions also included the future direction of the policy's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), a trade arrangement through which the EU provides preferential access to the EU market to 176 developing countries and territories.Member states recently voted to strip a variation of the special treatment, known as GSP+, from Sri Lanka due to the government's human rights violations. It's true that when we look to GSP and GSP+ in the future, we will need to be much more selective, said the commissioner.Mr De Gucht also defended the commission's right to restart trade negotiations with the South American trade bloc Mercosur, saying there needed to be mutual respect for the way powers are shared between the different institutions.While acknowledging the commission's right to restart the talks, ten member states led by France also expressed their deep reservations last month due to concerns over Europe's agricultural sector.In launching its a two-month consultation period (2 June - 28 July) on the future shape of the bloc's trade policy, the commission has stressed the need to bring the policy more into line with the EU's plan for growth and jobs, known as the Europe 2020 strategy.

Trichet: EU needs automatic budgetary sanctions
ANDREW WILLIS 22.06.2010 @ 09:19 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Central Bank has waded into the ongoing debate on toughening up the EU's budgetary rules, saying a quantum leap is needed to ensure member state compliance in the future. Speaking before MEPs in Brussels on Monday evening (21 June), the bank's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said sanctions for overspending states need to become more automatic, and suggested an independent body be set to up monitor the process.The budgetary issue has jumped to the top of the European agenda after markets took fright at the growing debt and deficit levels in a number of member states such as Greece and Spain, causing borrowing costs to jump and forcing Athens to seek an EU-IMF bail-out.The benefits and protection that are derived from membership of monetary union bring with them responsibilities and obligations, said Mr Trichet, a reference to the low borrowing costs eurozone states have enjoyed over the last 11 years, but also the repeated breaches of the area's maximum debt and deficit thresholds.Current offenders receive a report from the European Commission with budgetary recommendations, with states that fail to adhere to these policy guidelines being theoretically liable to receive punishing fines, although such penalties have never been handed out.In future, the triggering of sanctions should be quasi-automatic, said Mr Trichet, adding that they needed to be wider in scope to include more stringent reporting requirements or even a limitation or suspension of voting rights [in the EU Council].The [European] Commission should have greater responsibility by making proposals, which can only be modified by unanimity in the council [representing member states].

Brandishing the bloc's past failures as a disgrace, the Frenchman suggested an independent agency, preferably to be housed within the commission, be given the broad powers necessary to hand out the new sanctions. The body would also be in charge of monitoring member state competitiveness levels, another area that has been drawn into sharp relief by Europe's financial crisis, recession and subsequent fiscal crisis.While successive governments in Europe's largest exporter, Germany, have worked hard to keep salaries down and thus maintain a competitive edge over rivals, Brussels has said major structural reforms are badly needed in a number of the bloc's southern member states.Conscious management of wages and costs in order to maintain a healthy position for the economy within a competitive environment - this should be the core focus of such broader macroeconomic surveillance, said Mr Trichet.A taskforce under European Council President Herman Van Rompuy is currently working to agree proposals in the these areas. Germany feels that a revision of the EU Treaty will be necessary to bring about meaningful changes, a laborious process that other member states are keen to avoid.The central bank chief tended to side with the latter group, saying new rules should be brought in by maximising the possibilities allowed under secondary legislation.

Bond purchases

Mr Trichet also took the opportunity in front of the parliament's economic committee to defend the bank's decision on 10 May to commence purchases of government bonds on the secondary market, a process that some, including German members of ECB's governing board, have criticised as inflation threatening.Our fellow citizens know that they can count on us to deliver price stability, he said, outlining how €51 billion of the extra liquidity injected into the financial system via the bond purchases has already been withdrawn.Inflation expectations for the coming years are in line with our targets, Mr Trichet added, insisting that the Frankfurt-based bank had not embarked on a process of quantitative easing as other central banks around the globe have done.On the separate issue of bank stress tests, Mr Trichet said the upcoming results would show many of Europe's firms to be in good condition, helping to dispel market doubts.In a number of cases the results will call for appropriate solutions and then they need to be there,he added.

EU needs persuasion skills at G20 summit
ANDREW WILLIS 21.06.2010 @ 17:41 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU officials have conceded that Europe still has considerable work to do before persuading other G20 members on the need for a global bank levy and fiscal consolidation. At the same time, officials working in Brussels in preparation for the G20 leaders's meeting Toronto later this week (26-27 June) said China's recent decision to allow a gradual appreciation of the renminbi has helped to stave off a currency scrap at the gathering.EU leaders meeting last week reached broad agreement on the need for a bank levy in order to reduce the costs of future bank bail-outs, but nations such as Canada, China, and Brazil, whose banks suffered less during the global crisis, have so far resisted the move. We are not not denying that there is a persuasive job to be done, said one senior EU official on condition of anonymity on Monday.It depends how big the levy is. If it's a swingeing levy of 20 basis points then it will be difficult to persuade others, said the official, suggesting that the EU would be looking for a much smaller tax. If we are just talking about a few basis points here and there we are not going to distort capital markets,they added.The European Union, represented by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, together with leaders from larger European economies, will also have its work cut out in persuading states such as the US that budgetary consolidation should start sooner rather than later.While most in Europe feel the region's debt crisis highlights the need for fiscal discipline, Washington is concerned that an over-zealous clampdown on spending could stifle global economic recovery.

On fiscal consolidation Europe is ahead of the curve, said one official in reference to the multitude of austerity packages recently announced by European governments. But the G20 [as a whole] has been behind the curve, added the official, an indication of the flavour of the debate to come this weekend.However China's announcement on Saturday that it will gradually allow the renminbi to rise, a long-time European and American demand, could avert harsh words on at least one subject, although implementation will be key.Without this [Chinese announcement] the risk of acrimonious debate at the G20 was likely,said one EU official.The fact that the Chinese move comes just before the G20 leaders' meeting shows that it has become the primary forum for global economic co-ordination.

China agrees to gradual increase in value of yuan
ANDREW WILLIS 21.06.2010 @ 09:24 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - China's announcement that it will allow the yuan to slowly appreciate has been welcomed by the European Commission, although latest signals suggest any rise is likely to be very gradual. On Monday (21 June), China left the yuan's exchange rate with the dollar unchanged, despite pledging on Saturday to introduce a more flexible currency.After months of building pressure in the US Congress, and just one week ahead of a G20 leaders' meeting in Canada, analysts have interpreted the pledge as heralding the end of the yuan's two-year old currency peg with the dollar. A commission statement said the move would be beneficial to both the European and global economy as a whole.This implementation of the decision will help achieve more sustainable growth in the global economy, contribute to reduce external imbalances and strengthen the stability of the international monetary and financial system,the EU executive said. It will also entail positive effects for the euro area. By enhancing the flexibility of the RMB exchange rate, the Chinese authorities are providing an important contribution to the success of the G20 Toronto Summit.But Beijing's apparent willingness to dampen expectations of rapid change, as witnessed by Monday's decision to hold exchange rates unchanged, is likely to result in continued external pressure.US senator Charles Schumer said the apparent lack of implementation of China's new policy stance meant the Congress should push ahead with legislation to redress the balance.Just a day after there was much hoopla about the Chinese finally changing their policy, they are already backing off,said the American. It vindicates our initial scepticism. We intend to move forward as quickly as possible with legislation.

Increased tensions over the currency issue have threatened to result in its discussion at this weekend's G20 leaders' meeting, prompting warnings from Beijing not to raise the subject.US and European exporters have long complained that an artificially low yuan gave China's manufacturers an unfair advantage, although the eurozone's current debt crisis has seen the single currency fall dramatically this year, providing a badly needed boost to European exports.Analysts say the eurozone's instability is one factor being studied closely by Beijing as it considers strengthening the value of Chinese currency.Another is the need to avoid large inflows of speculative capital seeking to benefit off the yuan's rise, something officials feel could destabilise their economic policies.Yuan appreciation between mid-2005 to mid-2008 saw considerable inflows of money.

MUSLIM NATIONS

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

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

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

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

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

Iran to send blockade-busting ship to Gaza By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 22, 11:53 am ET

JERUSALEM – Iran said Tuesday it would send a blockade-busting ship carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to Gaza, fueling concern in Israel, where commandos were training for another possible confrontation at sea.Israel warned archenemy Iran to drop the plan. The Iranian announcement came days after Israel eased its three-year-old blockade of Gaza under international pressure following its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last month.No one in their right mind can believe that a ship sent by the ayatollahs and their Revolutionary Guards has anything to do with humanitarian aid, said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. I don't think there is one single country in this region and beyond that would let such an ayatollah ship come near its coasts.Security officials said the prospect of an Iranian boat headed for Gaza had Israel deeply worried, and that naval commandos were training for the possibility of taking on a vessel with a suicide bomber on board. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose operational details.After an international outcry over the killing of nine Turkish activists in a May 31 raid, Israel eased its land blockade of Gaza but insisted on maintaining a naval blockade it says is necessary to keep weapons shipments out of the hands of Gaza's Hamas rulers. Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas, with its violently anti-Israel agenda, overran the Palestinian territory in June 2007.Egypt had joined Israel in blockading Gaza, but it opened its land crossing with the territory indefinitely after the May raid to let thousands of Palestinians through. Egyptian transportation official Mohammad Abdelwahab suggested his country was ready to back off the naval blockade as well.

He said Egypt would not prevent the Iranian ship from passing through the Suez Canal, a strategic passageway that connects the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea that Gaza borders.As long as the ship is not at war with Egypt and doesn't pollute the air, water or land, then it will be allowed to cross, Abdelwahab said.Iran's state television reported that an Iranian ship called Infants of Gaza would sail Sunday for Gaza carrying 1,100 tons of relief supplies and 10 pro-Palestinian activists.Israel considers Iran the most serious threat because of its suspect nuclear program, its long-range missiles and its support for Lebanese and Gaza militants.The Iranian ship is one of several that activists say will head for Gaza in the next few months. One is said to be heading for Gaza from Lebanon within days.

International Mideast envoy Tony Blair has been at the forefront of global efforts to ease the Israeli blockade, and on Tuesday, he told Gaza businesspeople and civic leaders that he expected the amount of goods entering Gaza to nearly triple within weeks. Gazans say they need far more than that.Israel has agreed in principle to reopen land crossings so more cargo can move through, and limited quantities of construction materials will be allowed in, he said. But it wasn't clear how freely Palestinians would be able to move in and out of their territory, he added.Some of this will be resolved satisfactorily, and some of this will be a struggle, frankly, Blair told the group by video link from Jerusalem.Blair also expressed concern about whether Israel would allow exports, largely banned under the blockade. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told The Associated Press: Exports will be expanded further down the road.Construction materials desperately needed to rebuild after Israel's offensive against Hamas 17 months ago have been largely barred because Israel said militants could use them to build bunkers.The vast majority of Gaza's 1.5million people have been trapped in their tiny territory for three years, and a ban on trade wiped out tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.Blair's audience was skeptical of Israel's promises, and some told the envoy that consumer goods weren't the answer to Gaza's problems.We are not in need of more ketchup or mayonnaise, said civic leader Amjad Shawa. We need our freedom.Additional reporting by Karin Laub in Gaza City, Gaza Strip and Nasser Karimi in Tehran.

Turkey not honest in its foreign policy, Cyprus says
VALENTINA POP 21.06.2010 @ 17:37 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias has in an interview with EUobserver accused Turkey of double standards in its support of the Palestinian cause.Speaking in the context of Turkey's strong reaction to Israel's raid on the pro-Gaza flotilla last month, the Cypriot head of state said Ankara should have the same attitude to its own occupation of Cyprus as it does to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.This is not an honest policy. If they really mean what they say about the Arab people and are against the occupation of Arab lands, they must put an end to the occupation of a significant part of Cyprus, Mr Christofias said following an EU leaders' meeting in Brussels last week.I am glad that Turkey follows ...a policy of solidarity with the Palestinian and Arab people. I hope this is a real and honest policy that has nothing to do with public relations. We are an old friend of the Arab people, because we follow a policy of principles.Turkey recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv and cancelled military drills with Israel after Israeli commandos on 31 May shot dead nine Turkish citizens on Gaza-bound boats which had set off from Cyprus.The events brought Ankara and Nicosia closer together in terms of their Middle East policy but appear to have done nothing to soothe bilateral problems between the two neighbours.

Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 following a pro-Greek coup. It continues to keep its troops in the northern half of the Mediterranean island, which in 1983 declared independence as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The situation is a fly in the ointment for both EU enlargement and Nato, with the two countries blocking and counter-blocking each other in the two institutions. Prospects of ending Cyprus' frozen conflict suffered in April when the TRNC elected veteran nationalist Dervis Eroglu as president.Mr Christofias told this wesbite that initial talks with Mr Eroglu have concentrated on property disputes rather than the bigger question of re-unification. For the time being, it's just a resumption [of normal bilateral contacts] ...we have to be patient,he said.The Cypriot president is keen for the TRNC to return property to Greek Cypriots who fled their homes after the Turkish invasion. He recently offered to give ethnic Turkish settlers full Cypriot citizenship in return. But the idea has been rejected by the Turkish side. I accepted the stationing of 50,000 Turkish settlers to become citizens of the United republic of Cyprus, for humanitarian reasons. They are mixed couples, Greek Cypriots who married Turkish Cypriot women and vice versa. They have children together. I think they have the right to feel Cypriot and have citizenship,Mr Christofias said.
It's very strange to hear from the lips of the Turkish President, Prime Minister and foreign minister that they want a resolution of the [Cyprus] conflict by the end of the year. We know they don't mean it, unfortunately. If they did, they would move from their intransigent position and promote a solution.

Muslim terrorists plotted attacks against Quantico marine base
Islamic terrorists inside the U.S.

20 June 2010: Bajram ASLLANI, 29, a/k/a Bajram Aslani, or Ebu Hatab, a resident of Mitrovica, Kosovo, has been charged in a criminal complaint with providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad. He was arrested last week by authorities in Kosovo in connection with a U.S. provisional arrest warrant issued in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Extradition from Kosovo to the U.S. is being sought so ASLLANI can stand trial in Raleigh. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted.The case against ASLLANI originated last July when eight defendants were indicted in the Eastern District of North of Carolina on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad and other terrorist acts. Those charged in the indictment were North Carolina residents and U.S. citizens Daniel Patrick BOYD, his sons Dylan Boyd and Zakariya BOYD, Mohammad Omar Aly HASSAN, and Ziyad YAGHI. Also charged were Hysen SHERFI, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident in North Carolina, Anes SUBASIC, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina, and Jude Kenan MOHAMMED, a U.S. citizen.Last September, a superseding indictment added additional charges against Daniel Patrick BOYD, Hysen SHERFI and Zakariya BOYD, alleging, among other things, that Daniel BOYD and SHERFI conspired to murder U.S. military personnel as part of a plot to attack troops at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. They were also charged with possession of weapons in furtherance of a crime of violence and Daniel BOYD was further charged with providing a firearm to a convicted felon.

Last week, a criminal complaint dated 19 April 2010 was unsealed that charges that ASLLANI was a member of the conspiracy involving the defendants listed above. Specifically, the complaint alleges that he engaged in repeated communications with the conspirators, solicited money from the conspirators to establish a base of operations in Kosovo for the purpose of waging violent jihad, and tasked the conspirators with completing work to further these objectives and accepted funds from the conspirators to help him travel.The complaint also alleges that SHERFI left Raleigh, NC for Pristina, Kosovo, on 30 July 2008, to pursue violent jihad. He met ASLLANI in Kosovo where they formulated their plans of jihad. ASLLANI provided SHERFI with videos related to violent jihad for the purposes of translating and distributing them. ASLLANI also directed SHERFI to collect money to buy land in Kosovo to set up an Islamic terrorist training camp where they could store weapons and ammunition and use as a base of operations for conducting Islamic terror attacks in Kosovo and elsewhere. On 5 April 2009, SHERFI returned to the U.S. where he collected money for this purpose. In July 2009, he received a check for $15,000, although was arrested on 27 July 2009 before he could take the money back to ASLLANI in Kosovo.

ASLLANI, it was noted, was arrested by Kosovar law enforcement in 2007 and been placed on house arrest. Last September, ASLLANI was convicted in absentia by a Serbian court for planning terrorist-related offenses and was sentenced to eight years in jail.The facts as alleged in this complaint underscore the connectivity between extremists at home and abroad and the global nature of the terrorist threat we face. At the same time, the arrest of Asllani demonstrates how effective cooperation among international partners serves to address such threats. I applaud the many agents, analysts and prosecutors who helped bring about this important case,said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, reports, Through Asllani’s arrest, the arm of justice is proven strong enough to reach those who would do us harm. We shall continue in our relentless effort against those aspiring to commit terrorist acts on U.S. citizens, whether here or abroad.People who are plotting to harm America and Americans are no longer a world away from us. This case began in Raleigh, N.C., and now stretches across the globe, a circumstance no one would have thought possible less than 10 years ago,said Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in North Carolina.The FBI and our law enforcement partners are meeting this new and grim reality head on, because if we don’t—the possible impact will reverberate in every corner of our society. Our mission is to keep that from happening.

Iran bans 2 UN nuclear inspectors from entering By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 21, 3:52 pm ET

TEHRAN, Iran – Tehran said Monday it had banned two U.N. nuclear inspectors from entering the country because they had leaked false information about Iran's disputed nuclear program.The ban is the latest twist in Iran's deepening tussle with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency and the West over its nuclear program. The United States and its allies warn that Iran's program is geared toward making nuclear weapons.Tehran denies the charge saying its nuclear activities are only for peaceful purposes like power generation.The IAEA report in question stated that in January Iran announced it had conducted certain experiments to purify uranium, which could theoretically be used to produce a nuclear warhead. Iran then denied the experiments had taken place a few months later.When the inspectors in May visited the Jaber Ibn Hayan Multipurpose Research Laboratory in Tehran, where the alleged high temperature pyroprocessing experiments were conducted, they said the equipment involved had been removed.The Associated Press reported the IAEA's concerns in May, citing unnamed diplomats.Iran, however, maintained in June there were no experiments related to pyroprocessing and no equipment was removed and has called the IAEA report false with the purpose of influencing public opinion.The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi said on state TV that the IAEA had been informed of the decision to ban the inspectors, whom he did not identify.

We announced names of two inspectors to the agency last week. Those two now have no right to enter Iran anymore, he said. What they reported was untrue and they revealed it before it was officially reviewed.Salehi also said Iran would remain loyal to its international commitments to the agency and the IAEA inspectors would still be able to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities.The IAEA confirmed it received a letter from Iran on June 10 objecting to the inspectors and it stood by the accuracy of its report.The IAEA has full confidence in the professionalism and impartiality of the inspectors concerned. The agency confirms that its report on the implementation of safeguards in Iran, issued on May 31, 2010, is fully accurate, press officer Greg Webb said.In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called the Iranian move worrisome. He said it was symptomatic of its long standing practice of intimidating inspectors and would heighten world concerns about Iran's nuclear program.Since 2006, after Iran's nuclear dossier was reported to the U.N. Security Council, Iran limited its cooperation to only its obligations under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.The U.N. Security Council slapped a fourth set of sanctions on Iran earlier this month over its nuclear program. The move followed Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process which can be used for the production of fuel for power plants as well as material for warheads if enriched to a higher level.In Vienna, meanwhile, Brazil's foreign minister indicated that his country's active support of Iran in its dispute with the West over its nuclear program was being scaled back after the U.N. Security Council's decision earlier this month for new sanctions.We will help whenever we can, but of course there is a limit to where we can go, Celso Amorim told reporters on the sidelines of an official visit to Austria.

If there is renewed interest then we will be able to assist again, if not then we can only wish best of luck to Iran and its interlocutors in solving their nuclear dispute, he said. Brazil and Turkey last month brokered an Iranian nuclear fuel-swap deal in hopes that they would at least delay new U.N. sanctions, but the new penalties were imposed nonetheless. Under the deal — based on elements of an earlier draft — Iran agreed to ship 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium to Turkey, where it would be stored. In exchange, Iran would get fuel rods made from 20-percent enriched uranium; that level of enrichment is high enough for use in research reactors but too low for nuclear weapons.Among concerns by opponents of the deal is that Iran has continued to churn out low-enriched material and plans to continue running a pilot program of enriching to higher levels, near 20 percent — a level from which it would be easier to move on to creating weapons-grade uranium. The U.S. and its allies argue that the sanctions are in response to Iran's refusal to freeze all enrichment activities and not in response to Tehran's fuel swap offer.
Associated Press Writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna.

Obama Democrats have Declared War on the States
By JB Williams Tuesday, June 22, 2010 CFP

Let’s establish right up front that not all Democrats are with Obama, and therefore, not all Democrats are on the wrong side of the fight for freedom, liberty and states’ rights. Former Marine and Constitutional Democrat Tim Curtis is running for congress in the heavily Democratic 11th district in Florida, and because Tea Party and 912 folks still think it’s all about R’s and D’s, he has no real support from the so-called constitutional movement. What a real shame! Meanwhile, Democrats in the Progressive Caucus and Black Caucus (aka Democratic Socialists of America) are fully on-board with Obama. But not all Democrats are on-board…Obama and all who stand with him today - have openly declared war on the states and the American people and Obama & Co. plan to win that ideological war before the average American figures out that they are indeed at war with their federal government for the future of freedom.

The Tenth Amendment under full frontal Assault
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.The term enumerated powers is no longer part of the legislative lexicon in Washington DC. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of the federal government openly attack Tenth Amendment rights on a daily basis. No ‘theories are required as the daily assault on the states is now happening in broad daylight.

-Arizona—is under federal assault for attempting to uphold existing immigration laws within their sovereign state. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put Arizona on notice during a TV interview in Ecuador, announcing on foreign soil that Obama Democrats intend to stop Arizona from exercising its Tenth Amendment right to pass laws which protect and serve the citizens of Arizona. In addition, Obama has now ceded US land to Mexican drug lords. The same story is playing out in California and other places across the nation.
-New York—is under federal assault for attempting to avoid state bankruptcy by passing an emergency state budget that included the furlough of 100,000 state employees that New York can no longer afford. A federal judge stepped in to block the state passed and signed emergency budget effort. The reason stated by the judge was the labor unions did not agree to the furloughs,placing both the Fed and labor unions above the state’s right to balance its own budget and control its own financial condition.
-Federal Health Care bill—is a direct violation of Tenth Amendment rights and numerous states (20 at present) have joined a federal suit challenging Obama’s enumerated power to force national health care upon the states and the people. Obama Democrats are trying to force the court to drop the health care overhaul suit.
-Federal Agencies—tell the states that they have NO power against the Fed. According to Obama Democrats, federal laws trump state laws and even the US Constitution. Their criminal and civil rules of procedure trump everything. On this basis, federal agencies repeatedly notify states that they have no states rights and that the Fed is not in any way limited to enumerated powers.
-The Gulf States—are dying from federal mishandling of the BP oil spill and they are being told that they are powerless and must rely solely upon Obama Democrats to save the gulf and protect their citizens. Arizona already knows how well that turns out…
Remember when Democrats refused to count Florida and Michigan delegate votes in the 2008 Democrat primaries, because the two states wanted to control their own primaries?

The list of full frontal assaults upon states rights is almost endless after eighteen months of Obammunism. Clearly, Obama Democrats are convinced that the Tenth Amendment no longer stands.Those who beg to differ should follow the works of the Tenth Amendment Center.

Assaults on Individual Rights
Obama Democrats have not only declared war on the states—they have declared war on the vast majority of American citizens as well.

-The right to peacefully assemble is being prosecuted as a riot today.
-The right of peaceful redress is being denied on the basis of no legal standing.
-Second Amendment rights are being denied by federal laws and the BATF.
-A fundamental right to Life and Liberty is being denied on the basis of a single case precedent.
-The judiciary is creating laws and the legislature is failing in its fundamental duties.
-The White House is functioning like an absolute dictatorship at odds with more than 70% of the people.
-Citizens are being accused of domestic terrorism for demanding a return to constitutional government.
-Numerous judges have advised citizens that they have NO standing to question any of it.
The daily assaults on individual freedoms and liberties are coming so fast and furious at this point that the people can’t even keep count - much less provide a legitimate defense. Our system of self-governance has been replaced with an oligarchy made up of a handful of Chicago thugs and international global socialists.

An increasing number of citizens are living under fear of a contrived state of emergency followed by martial law as they watch ecological, financial and national security threats grow by the hour.State legislatures are rushing to put Tenth Amendment and Second Amendment protections in place to protect their citizens from an increasing threat coming out of Washington DC on so many fronts that there is no way to defend against them all on a case-by-case basis.

The Potential for a Peaceful Solution
If our federal government were operating within the confines of the US Constitution, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion. Because it is not operating within the confines of the supreme law of this land, peaceful solutions are very difficult to identify.Still, every effort must be made to find and use peaceful options before proceeding to much less attractive alternatives.

The Rule of Law
Until we completely exhaust all legal avenues for peaceful redress, we must operate as though the legal system still respects the rule of law, despite growing evidence to the contrary. We must work to find an entry point into the courts to seek peaceful resolution.A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. - JFK

In this regard, we have only three potential points of entry…

The UCMJ—Military Courts
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin is currently facing courts martial for refusing unlawful orders to deploy, based upon convincing evidence that those orders were issued by an unlawful command. Lakin has so far been denied his right to present evidence supporting his decision, once again on the basis of no standing.This case MUST go forward on behalf of all who wear a military uniform today, and Lakin must be allowed to present evidence in defense of court martial, or, the UCMJ will prove that they are just another corrupt entity operating at odds with the Constitution.

The Criminal Courts
LCDR Walter Francis Fitzpatrick III has a pending criminal complaint accusing Barack Hussein Obama of Treason, filed in Monroe County Tennessee. Via this initiative, Fitzpatrick has uncovered convincing evidence to support his subsequent charges of corruption and obstruction within with Monroe County legal system which demonstrates how the federal government is now using the local courts to run interference for Washington DC corruption, operating in an illegal manner itself in that effort. Fitzpatrick is to appear in Monroe County court on June 28, 2010.

The Civil Courts
Numerous cases have been filed in numerous civil courts across the country challenging Barack Obama’s constitutional eligibility for office and thus far, all cases have been denied the right to present any evidence on the matter, once again claiming that the people have no legal standing to question their elected servant in the White House. These efforts must persist until we have exhausted all reasonable efforts to uncover the truth about Barack Obama via peaceful redress within the legal system.

State Legislatures
The states have the power to protect the people from a runaway fraudulent federal government by quickly passing Tenth Amendment laws and then re-asserting their Tenth Amendment rights regarding every incident in which the federal government has overstepped its enumerated powers to the direct detriment of the states and the people of those states. In this regard, ALEC is a national organization of constitutionally conservative state legislators who work together to identify, draft, introduce and pass state legislation designed to use the Tenth Amendment to force the federal government back into Constitutional compliance.

Protests, Petitions and Rallies
Once again, if elected servants in Washington DC gave a hoot about the voice of the majority, I would not be writing this piece today. Washington DC already knows that they are operating at odds with the vast majority of American citizens on almost every policy decision coming out of DC today. They simply do not care…So, protests, petitions and rallies are a waste of precious energy, time and resources. Nobody benefits more from these efforts than our opponents.These initiatives never fail to provide the occasional crackpot - which the left will gladly use to delegitimize the entire movement and meanwhile, keeping frustrated patriots busy on useless busy work will keep them from engaging in anything real and tangible.If you are a PAC (Political Action Committee) seeking to harness money from frustrated patriots in order to make yourself a mover and shaker in the politics of partisanship, these things draw big crowds ready to write a check.But if you are seeking to empower the people with real and tangible strategies to regain control of their government and secure the future of their country, these things are actually counter-productive.

A Not So Peaceful Solution
If we fail to succeed in finding peaceful solutions, violent solutions will become a natural consequence of that failure.Nobody in their right mind seeks a violent solution. But as JFK once pointed out so well, Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.If we the people allow every peaceful option to pass, we will find only violent options remain.The left is counting on American patriots to let all peaceful solutions pass, either by way of apathy or misdirection. The left will do all they can to promote violent acts by patriots, which will only confirm the groundwork they have already set in place through the Southern Poverty Law Center, which labels every patriotic citizen a potential domestic terrorist in advance, strictly on the basis of upholding America’s founding principles and values. This group is writing federal policy for the Department of Homeland Security.If we do not make peaceful solutions work, we will be left with only violent solutions. That’s where our opponents want us to end up. If we find ourselves with only violent solutions - then our opponents will have succeeded in their strategies.We must properly identify and exploit all peaceful alternatives each and every day.Today, this means pressing forward in the options presented in this piece. These situations present opportunities and smart folks will use these affronts to freedom and liberty to advance their cause for freedom and liberty.

Like Rahm Emanuel says—Never let a good crisis go to waste! The US Military and US Citizens are in the same crisis today, unlawful Command from an unlawful administration. Together, they can solve the entire problem by not allowing these opportunities to pass.Soldiers and citizens must stand together, with state legislatures providing a defense at the state lines. State legislators and governors must work together to put down a runaway Fed as well.We the people must engage in real and tangible opportunities to reclaim control of our nation while we still can. We must not waste time and resources on initiatives that provide no verifiable results and no reasonable expectation for proper change.Together, we the people can take our country back. To do so, we must focus upon that goal and stop wasting energy building political organizations that are just as easily corrupted as those we seek to defend against today.Radio Talk Show host Dennis Prager got it exactly right in his recent speech at the University of Denver.We can—and we must get it right. We have been the problem and now we must become the solution!For information on current operations and developing strategies, please visit FreedomForce.us and sign up to receive regular updates.

US to issue new order on deepwater drilling freeze
JUNE 22,10

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said he would issue a new order in the coming days to enforce a freeze on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the BP oil disaster.Salazar was responding to the decision of a district judge who blocked the six-month moratorium announced by President Barack Obama in May because of its effect on the livelihoods of those on the Gulf coast.We see clear evidence every day, as oil spills from BP's well, of the need for a pause on deepwater drilling. That evidence mounts as BP continues to be unable to stop its blowout, said a statement from Salazar.The evidence also continues to mount that industry needs to raise the bar on blowout prevention, containment, and response planning before deepwater drilling should continue. he said.Based on this ever-growing evidence, I will issue a new order in the coming days that eliminates any doubt that a moratorium is needed, appropriate, and within our authorities.The White House had already vowed to appeal the decision by district judge Martin Feldman, who ruled in favor of 32 oil firms challenging the moratorium after a hearing on Monday in a New Orleans court.

Judge lifts offshore drilling ban as overbearing By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer JUNE 22,10

NEW ORLEANS – A federal judge struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as rash and heavy-handed Tuesday, saying the government simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent danger, too.The White House promised an immediate appeal. The Interior Department had imposed the moratorium last month in the wake of the BP disaster, halting approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspending drilling on 33 exploratory wells.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama believes that until investigations can determine why the spill happened, continued deepwater drilling exposes workers and the environment to a danger that the president does not believe we can afford.Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore rigs argued that the moratorium was arbitrarily imposed after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and blew out a well 5,000 feet underwater. It has spewed anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons of oil.U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and has owned stock in a number of petroleum-related companies, sided with the plaintiffs.If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? he asked. Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy-handed, and rather overbearing.He also warned that the shutdown would have an immeasurable effect on the industry, the local economy and the U.S. energy supply.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement late Tuesday that within the next few days he will issue a new order imposing a moratorium that eliminates any doubt it is needed and appropriate.Feldman's ruling was welcomed by the oil and gas industry and decried by environmentalists.Feldman's financial disclosure report for 2008, the most recent available, shows holdings in at least eight petroleum companies or funds that invest in them, including Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that blew up. The report shows that most of his holdings were valued at less than $15,000; it did not provide specific amounts.It was not clear whether Feldman still has any of the energy industry stocks. Recent court filings indicate he may no longer have Transocean stock. The 2008 report showed that he did not own any individual shares in big companies such as BP, which leased the rig that exploded, or ExxonMobil.Feldman did not immediately respond to a request for more information about his current holdings.Josh Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, said the ruling should be rescinded if the judge still has investments in companies that could benefit. If Judge Feldman has any investments in oil and gas operators in the Gulf, it represents a flagrant conflict of interest, Reichert said.Feldman's ruling prohibits federal officials from enforcing the moratorium until a trial is held. At least two major oil companies, Shell and Marathon, said they would wait to see how the appeals play out before resuming drilling.In his ruling, the judge called the spill an unprecedented, sad, ugly and inhuman disaster, but said Salazar's rationale for the moratorium does not seem to be fact-specific and refuses to take into measure the safety records of those others in the Gulf.Feldman said he was unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium.

The judge said the blanket moratorium seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.The lawsuit was filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La. CEO Todd Hornbeck said after the ruling that he is looking forward to getting back to work.It's the right thing for not only the industry but the country,he said.Earlier in the day, executives at a major oil conference in London warned that the moratorium would cripple world energy supplies. Steven Newman, president and CEO of Transocean, called it unnecessary and an overreaction. There are things the administration could implement today that would allow the industry to go back to work tomorrow without an arbitrary six-month time limit,Newman said.BP CEO Tony Hayward skipped the event after coming under fire for attending a yacht race in England on Saturday rather than dealing with the spill.

BP stock dropped 81 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $29.52, near a 14-year-old low for the company in U.S. trading. The stocks of other companies associated with the spill remained low despite Feldman's ruling. The drilling moratorium was declared May 6 and originally was to last only through the month. Obama announced May 27 that he was extending it for six months.Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, slammed the ruling. This is another bad decision in a disaster riddled with bad decisions by the oil industry, said Markey, who was at the forefront of the effort to force BP to make underwater video of the spill public. The only thing worse than one oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico would be two oil spill disasters.In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal and corporate leaders had complained that the moratorium would cost the region thousands of lucrative jobs, most paying more than $50,000 a year. Feldman agreed, writing: An invalid agency decision to suspend drilling of wells in depths over 500 feet simply cannot justify the immeasurable effect on the plaintiffs, the local economy, the Gulf region and the critical present-day aspect of the availability of domestic energy in this country. He said Gulf drilling accounts for 31 percent of total domestic oil production and 11 percent of domestic natural gas production, and an estimated 150,000 jobs are directly related to offshore operations.Tim Kerner, mayor of the fishing town of Lafitte, La., cheered the ruling. I love it. I think it's great for the jobs here and the people who depend on them,he said.The American Petroleum Institute, one of the industry's main lobbying groups, also welcomed the decision: With this ruling, our industry and its people can get back to work to provide Americans with the energy they need, and do it safely and without harming the environment.In its response to the lawsuit, the Interior Department had argued the moratorium was necessary while the effort to stop the leak and clean the Gulf continues and new safety standards are developed. A second deepwater blowout could overwhelm the efforts to respond to the current disaster,the department said.

The government also challenged contentions that the moratorium would cause long-term economic harm. There are still 3,600 oil and natural gas production platforms in the Gulf. As Feldman was issuing his ruling, the people in charge of a $20 billion fund to compensate those whose livelihoods have been ruined by the spill were on the coast Tuesday to talk with officials about the claims process. Kenneth Feinberg, tapped by the White House to run the fund, has pledged to speed payments to fishermen, business owners and others. He was to meet with Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. BP claims director Darryl Willis visited a claims center in a rundown strip mall in Bayou La Batre, Ala., and said the company has already cut 37,000 checks for $118 million. Claims totaling about $600 million have been filed so far. Anyone who feels like they have been damaged or hurt or harmed has every right to file a claim, Willis said. These are complicated in some cases, and in some cases they're straightforward. But every person should file their claim, and they will be looked at fairly.Associated Press Writers Pauline Arrillaga in Lafitte, La., and Jane Wardell and Robert Barr in London, and Mitch Stacy in Bayou La Batre, Ala., contributed to this report.

Canada gov't under fire for summit security costs By David Ljunggren – Tue Jun 22, 1:24 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – At a time of global austerity and shrinking budgets, Canada is set to spend C$1 billion ($980 million) just for security at two big international summits this weekend.The enormous amount of money needed to protect foreign leaders for such a short period of time has prompted outrage and cut the minority Conservative government's popularity.Prime Minister Stephen Harper and security officials insist the costs are reasonable, given that Canada is hosting two separate summits in two different locations.The Group of Eight will meet in the town of Huntsville, Ontario, 215 km (135 miles) north of Toronto on June 25-26. The larger Group of 20 then gathers on June 26-27 in Toronto, where the city center is awash with police and security fencing.The furor is good news for the main opposition Liberal Party, currently lagging in the polls. This week it launched a G8/G20 waste clock (http://www.liberal.ca/pages/g8g20e.swf) and calculated the summit was costing C$4,928.32 a second.In the time it takes for you to wash the dishes, or cut the grass, or cook dinner, you'll be able to see how much of your money Stephen Harper will blow at the same rate during the summit, said Mark Holland, the party's security spokesman.

Ottawa has declined to give a detailed breakdown of the full summit costs. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says the police bill alone will be C$450 million, most of it for overtime payments.I take my advice from the experts ... and the indication we received was that the amount of money spent is what was required to address the threat that was in place, he told reporters on Tuesday.However, Canada's spy service says it is picking up surprisingly little chatter about an attack by groups such as al Qaeda.From the terrorist perspective we don't think there will be an issue, said Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director Richard Fadden, saying al Qaeda preferred surprise attacks rather than targeting big events.Fadden, speaking in a CBC interview aired late on Monday, identified anarchists and other extremists as possible problems.If there's one thing I'm worried about it's the lone wolf who's had a year or two to organize his or her activities, and comes in unexpectedly and does more damage than they might be able to do otherwise, he said.Security experts and even Canada's auditor-general, who oversees government spending, say the costs seem reasonable, given the task of securing two summits.That has done little to stop the almost daily flow of attacks from opposition figures and media commentators.
There's a nagging sense police, public servants and politicians are wallowing in a bottomless trough they figure Canadians will constantly replenish, columnist James Travers wrote on Tuesday in the Toronto Star, the country's biggest newspaper.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Rob Wilson)

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

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

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/site/14081545/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS WED JUNE 23,2010

09:30 AM +1.38
10:00 AM +24.57
10:30 AM -36.73
11:00 AM -19.67
11:30 AM -20.40
12:00 PM -30.15
12:30 PM -15.19
01:00 PM -3.47
01:30 PM +3.71
02:00 PM +7.71
02:30 PM +38.40
03:00 PM +17.39
03:30 PM +17.46
04:00 PM +4.92 10,298.44

S&P 500 1092.04 -3.27

NASDAQ 2254.23 -7.57

GOLD 1,235.90 -4.90

OIL 76.08 -1.77

TSE 300 11,807.50 +9.60

CDNX 1455.89 -2.05

S&P/TSX/60 694.42 +0.51

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +14 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -66 points at low today.
Dow +25 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,235.70.OIL opens at $76.74 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -66 points at low today so far.
Dow +25 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -66 points at low today.
Dow +71 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,260.90 (NOT AT CLOSE)

CRUDE OIL +2 MILLION BARRELS
GASOLINE -700,000 BARRELS
DISTILLATE INVENTORIES +300,000 BARRELS
REFINERY UTILIZATION

I'D SAY WERE IN A Z LINE.RIGHT NOW WERE STEADY FOR A BRIEF SPELL(TOP OF Z) THEN THE BIG SLIDE AND THEN STEADY OFF AT DOW 4,000 IN 2012 JUST BEFORE THE WORLD CRASH.