U.S. Senate Approves Stimulus Plan–But At What Cost!

The New York Times reported on February 11:

“The Senate approved an economic stimulus bill of some $838 billion on Tuesday, clearing the way for negotiations with the House… The 61-to-37 vote was largely along party lines, as expected… Only a few Republicans voted for the bill… whose support was vital when the bill narrowly cleared a procedural hurdle requiring 60 ‘yes’ votes on Monday.”

The Associated Press reported on February 12:

“Economic stimulus legislation at the heart of President Barack Obama’s recovery plan is on track for final votes in the House and Senate after a dizzying final round of bargaining that yielded agreement on tax cuts and spending totaling $789 billion.

“Obama, who has campaigned energetically for the legislation, welcomed the agreement, saying it would ‘save or create more than 3.5 million jobs and get our economy back on track.’

“The $500-per-worker credit for lower- and middle-income taxpayers that Obama outlined during his presidential campaign was scaled back to $400 during bargaining by the Democratic-controlled Congress and White House. Couples would receive $800 instead of $1,000. Over two years, that move would pump about $25 billion less into the economy than had been previously planned.

“Officials estimated it would mean about $13 a week more in people’s paychecks when withholding tables are adjusted in late spring. Critics say that’s unlikely to do much to boost consumption.

“Millions of people receiving Social Security benefits would get a one-time payment of $250 under the agreement, along with veterans receiving pensions, and poor people receiving Supplemental Security Income payments. An additional $46 billion would go to transportation projects such as highway, bridge and mass transit construction; many lawmakers wanted more.

“The House could vote on the bill as early as Thursday, though Friday seemed more likely. The Senate would follow, but its schedule is less certain… A $15,000 tax credit for anybody buying a home over the next year was dropped; instead, first-time homebuyers could claim an $8,000 credit for homes bought by the end of August. Car buyers could deduct the sales tax they paid on a new car but not the interest on their car loans.”

“U.S. Unveils New $1.5 Trillion Bank Bailout Plan”

Welt On Line reported on February 10:

“U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday announced a plan to take $500 billion in bad assets off the books of struggling banks and expand a Federal Reserve program to support up to $1 trillion in asset-backed securities. The renamed ‘Financial Stability Plan’… will also devote $50 billion in federal rescue funds to try to stem home foreclosures and soften the crushing impact of the deep housing crisis now afflicting the entire economy… After Geithner’s announcement, stock prices fell further and the dollar extended losses while prices for U.S. Treasury debt securities extended gains.

“James Ellman, President of Seacliff Capital in San Francisco, said: ‘Investors want clarity, simplicity, and resolution. This plan is seen as convoluted, obfuscating, and clouded.’ Geithner acknowledged deep skepticism has developed over the fairness and efficiency of a $700-billion bank bailout program approved by Congress in October. He said leaders of some financial institutions that have received money had squandered the good faith that is needed to make the bank rescue effective.”

The Myths of Stimulus Success

In its March on-line edition of the commentarymagazine.com, James K. Glassman wrote about the folly of stimulus. Glassman is the former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. We are bringing you the following excerpts from his article:

“Before he was sworn in as President, Barack Obama began to lay out his plans for reviving an American economy that… had declined 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, its worst performance in 26 years… He anointed the stimulus proposal with a convenient and vivid metaphor…

“Like payments for broken windows, tax rebates and new roads (the seen) do not come free. The stimulus money that flows to taxpayers, government agencies, and businesses has to come from somewhere (the unseen). During a recession, it is usually borrowed, and the anticipation of taxpayers is that they will have to repay these loans, which means their taxes will rise in the future. This knowledge makes people anxious about spending the extra money, or even about investing it in the kind of ventures that help an economy grow…

“Government simply cannot know enough to direct an economy successfully, and when the President claims that his fiscal stimulus plan will create (or save) at least three million jobs, he is taking a wild, and dangerous, leap…

“In fact, stimulus may be precisely the wrong metaphor… Stimulus—that is, fiscal intervention with the express purpose of speeding up the normal regenerative process…—is unnecessary and almost certainly harmful…

“There may, in fact, be a good reason for government to spend billions of dollars today on building highways, and it has nothing to do with stimulus. It is that long-term interest rates are at historic lows and that the right highways can boost the economy in the long term. There also may be a good reason, again far apart from stimulus, for revising the tax code and reforming Social Security and Medicare. It is that Americans now understand that the economic future is not so assured as they believed a couple of years ago, and it is time for decisions to be made—in a manner careful, sensible, and unstimulated.”

“Popular Rage Grows as Global Crisis Worsens”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 10:

“As the global economic crisis deepens, tempers around the world are getting shorter. French and British trade unions are organizing strikes, Putin is sending troops into the streets and Beijing is trying to buy itself calm…

“The global financial crisis has already reached France, bringing business failures, mass layoffs for some workers and reduced working hours for others… Across the English Channel in Britain… demonstrations became a symbol for the fears of the British lower classes, because the country… faces the worst downturn among all highly developed economies…

“In Russia, dismal labor statistics have driven Communists and anti-government protestors into the streets…

“Beijing announced that about 20 million migrant workers — more than the combined populations of Denmark, Sweden and Norway — would likely become unemployed in the coming months… 2009 will be the ‘most difficult’ year since the turn of the millennium.

“About 50 million jobs could be lost worldwide in the next 11 months and more than 200 million people could drift into total poverty, warns the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Guy Ryder, the group’s general secretary, believes that these changes represent a ‘social time bomb,’ and that the resulting instability could become ‘extremely hazardous to democracy’ in some countries.

“In the West, the crisis could cost heads of state their jobs, as was recently the case with the prime minister of Iceland… Cabinets in London, Moscow, Beijing and Paris have been overcome by a sense of helplessness…

“The overwhelming majority of the French are plagued by fears of unemployment, lower incomes and shrinking savings… Two-thirds of the French believe that their government… is not engaging in effective crisis management…

“British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s popularity is falling even faster than Sarkozy’s… only one in three Britons would vote for [Brown’s] Labour today…

“The Kremlin fears that members of the middle class, loyal Putin supporters, will withdraw their support if the prosperity of recent years vanishes. In December alone, disposable income sank by 11.6 percent, and 5.8 million people are already officially unemployed…”

Germany’s Unhappy Alliance

Deutsche Welle reported on February 9:

“The resignation tendered by Economy Minister Michael Glos comes just months ahead of general elections due Sept. 27, and in the midst of an unprecedented global financial crisis… It’s no secret… that there were strains in his relationship with Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer. Both men are leading figures of Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), whose alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) makes up a sizeable proportion of the conservative camp’s national support…”

According to Der Spiegel Online, dated February 9, 2009, the reaction of the German press to this most recent debacle was quite telling:

“Conservative newspaper Die Welt writes: ‘Glos wasn’t the right man and wasn’t capable of doing this job, that was an open secret. But he was allowed to remain in it all these years. That’s not exactly a sign of a government aware of its responsibilities. It’s a sign that the conservatives lack a clear economic direction and have been indulging in party political tactics…’

“Mass circulation Bild writes: ‘The timing couldn’t have been worse! The economy ministry is quitting in the middle of the financial crisis… And CSU leader Seehofer didn’t even give him the opportunity to quit the stage in a respectable way… The conservatives didn’t cover themselves in glory in these chaotic hours of Berlin and Munich. And they have shown how few qualified candidates… they have in this their most important area!'”

Merkel and Benedict Patching Up

Welt On Line wrote on February 9:

“Pope Benedict and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had criticised the pontiff over a Holocaust-denying bishop, have had a ‘cordial and constructive’ phone conversation on the issue, the Vatican said. A joint statement by the Holy See and German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said they exchanged views ‘in an atmosphere of great respect’… adding the phone call had been requested by Merkel…

“It has [been] said Pope Benedict, who has expressed his full solidarity with Jews, was not aware of Williamson’s denial of the Holocaust when he rehabilitated the bishops to try to heal a 20-year-old schism within the Church.”

“Obama Means Blood, Sweat and Tears for Germany”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 9:

“German enthusiasm for the new US administration could soon fade. The Americans made it very clear at the Munich Security Conference that they expect solidarity from their European allies — and that means blood, sweat and tears.

“This year, it’s going to be hard to escape the slew of German anniversaries. The list includes the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest 2,000 years ago, the invasion of Poland and the outbreak of World War II 70 years ago, the founding of East and West Germany 60 years ago and the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. In 2009, hardly any other country in the world will spend so much time intensively examining its own past as Germany.

“At the Munich Security Conference, which ran from Friday to Sunday, politicians from all over the world dared to take a look into the future. As difficult as [forecasts] might be in this time of terrorist threats, global financial meltdown and innumerable intractable regional conflicts, one prediction can be safely made: The phase of German military intervention that began 10 years ago during the Kosovo war is in no way coming to an end, despite the fact the majority of Germans wish it would. On the contrary: The era of foreign deployments for Germans and their military forces has just begun.

“In his highly anticipated speech at the conference, US Vice President Joe Biden did not make the slightest effort to talk around the problem. The good news for America’s European allies is that, from now on, Washington intends to ask for their input often and to listen to it. And the bad news? ‘America will do more, but America will ask for more from our partners.’ Biden is obviously referring to Afghanistan, where the Obama administration intends to station an additional 30,000 soldiers in the near future. And let’s make one thing very clear: Unlike the German forces who are helping with reconstruction efforts, the US troops are not going to Afghanistan to build schools or roads. They are going there to kill Taliban fighters, and their commander-in-chief will not be George W. Bush but Barack Hussein Obama.

“Afghanistan — which will be even more heatedly discussed in Germany than usual during this election year — is not the only international conflict in which Germany is playing an active role. There are also the international efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Here, too, the agenda of the US government appears to be clear: The Obama administration will hold talks with Tehran, but it is also prepared to pursue other avenues if such talks fail to achieve their intended goal. And that goal is non-negotiable: Iran can not be allowed to have nuclear weapons…

“The Americans will be scrupulously careful that the confrontation with Tehran does not develop into a one-on-one battle between the US and Iran. Biden’s message from Munich is the following: Every NATO country and every member of the European Union is now involved, as of today. This is the price for the new trans-Atlantic openness and cooperation.

“… the Germans would prefer to return to the era before the fall of the Berlin Wall, when the German army… obediently remained in its barracks when trouble broke out elsewhere in the world… In this election year, Angela Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier need to explain to the electorate that there can be no way back to the era in which Germany was left in peace… George W. Bush’s departure from office was met with jubilation in Germany… It’s safe to predict that some Obama worshipers in Germany will soon be missing the 43rd president — because things will no longer be as comfortable for Europe as they were during his time.”

More Than 200 Feared Dead in “Suspicious” Australian Bushfires

Welt On Line reported on February 10:

“Australian police combed through a blackened landscape searching for clues in the hunt for possible arsonists on Tuesday as the death toll from the nation’s worst bushfires looked likely to top 200…

“The bushfires which swept through Victoria state on Saturday night were ‘suspicious’ as there were no natural events such as lightning which would have sparked the blazes, said police. State Premier John Brumby said anyone found guilty could face manslaughter or murder charges.

“The disaster area, more than twice the size of London and encompassing more than 20 towns north of Melbourne, has been declared a crime zone by officials…

“Australia is the most fire-prone country on earth, say scientists, and most of its bushfires are ignited by lightning. Fire officials monitor lightning strikes and any fire that does not correspond with a strike is assumed to be started by people, either accidentally or deliberately.

“The bushfire tragedy is the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. The previous worst bushfire was the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 which killed 75 people.”

Israel Has Spoken

Haaretz reported on February 11:

“With 99 percent of the votes counted, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni’s Kadima Party is in first place with 28 of the Knesset’s 120 seats, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party following closely behind with 27 seats… Despite the poll results, it is not certain that Livni will be able to muster the 61-seat coalition needed to form a government…

“If the exit polls are correct, the right-wing bloc, led by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, will comprise 63-64 seats, while the center-left bloc, headed by Livni, will take 56-57 seats…”

In a related article, the newspaper wrote:

“With a clear advantage to the rightist bloc in Israel’s national elections Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu could well end up as the next prime minister, regardless of whether his Likud party won the most votes or came second to centrist Kadima and Tzipi Livni. Late Tuesday night, Netanyahu began contacts with several right-wing parties, including Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu.

“By law, the president must consult with all the parties as to who they prefer as prime minister, and whoever is recommended by more Knesset members is given the nod. Hence if the religious and rightist parties all recommend Netanyahu, he would get first crack at forming a government… Both parties rejected the idea of sharing power via a rotation government.

“At Labor Party headquarters, in contrast, the atmosphere was one of unrelieved gloom: The party had been fighting desperately to hang onto third place, and it apparently lost the battle. Before the vote, party chairman Ehud Barak had been angling for the post of defense minister under either Netanyahu or Livni. But Labor officials said Tuesday night that the party’s poor showing made it virtually impossible for it to join a Netanyahu government.”

Hamas Accused of Torture and Murder

Welt On Line wrote on February 10:

“Amnesty International said on Tuesday Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip had carried out killings, torture and abductions of people accused of helping Israel, during and after the recent Israeli offensive. The abuses have taken place since the end of December 2008…

“At least two dozen men have been shot dead by Hamas gunmen and scores of others have been shot in the legs, knee-capped or injured in other ways intended to cause permanent disability… Others have been severely beaten, tortured or ill-treated, it said in a report.

“Most were abducted from their homes and later dumped, dead or injured, in isolated areas, or found in the morgue of one of Gaza’s hospitals. Some were shot dead in hospitals where they were receiving treatment for injuries, Amnesty said.”

Will Germany Defeat the Lisbon Treaty?

Der Spiegel Online reported on February 11:

“Germany’s high court is taking a closer look at the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, the document meant to replace the failed EU constitution. Early indications are that it doesn’t like what it sees. If Germany says no, the treaty is likely dead. Commentators can’t decide whether or not that is good…

“During oral arguments on Tuesday, justices asked unexpectedly critical questions… The skeptical tone from the bench continued on Wednesday… [One justice] said he didn’t really understand how Germany’s parliament would benefit from handing over competencies to the European Union.

“In particular, the court indicated deep skepticism about provisions in the Lisbon Treaty which would allow for the EU to have a say in German criminal law. Given the doubts, it seemed this week unlikely that the court would rubber-stamp the treaty without demanding changes. The court also placed a discussion of Article 146 of the constitution on the agenda for Wednesday. The paragraph stipulates that a national referendum must be held if any part of the constitution is superseded…

“Germany is one of four countries which have not yet ratified the Lisbon Treaty — joining Ireland (which rejected the treaty in a referendum last June), the Czech Republic and Poland. The German parliament approved the treaty last April, but President Horst Köhler withheld his signature pending legal challenges filed by a number of appellants, including parliamentarian Peter Gauweiler, a member of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union — the sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats — and the Left Party. Franz Ludwig Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the son of Claus von Stauffenberg, who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944, is also among those who challenged the treaty.

“Indicating the importance Berlin attaches to the treaty, both Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble appeared before the court on Tuesday to defend the treaty…

“Should the court rule that parts of the Lisbon Treaty are not in harmony with the German constitution, it would likely mean the end of the document. Any adjustments would mean new negotiations involving all 27 member states. The treaty was already modified following its rejection in 2005. After Ireland voted down the treaty last June, minor adjustments were made in anticipation of a revote. Fundamental questions like those raised by the German court on Tuesday, however, would likely be more difficult to change.

“German commentators take a closer look on Wednesday.

“The Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… If the justices intervene, which is to be expected, then it will be because the EU’s expansion of competencies has not been followed by an expansion of democracy. Europe is suffering from too little democracy.’

“The economic daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘That the appellants want to stop the construction of the European house was impossible to ignore during Tuesday’s arguments. Germany would be giving yet more power to Europe… But is there a reasonable alternative?’…”

“Hamas Leader Praises Iran’s Help”

CNN reported on February 1:

“Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Sunday praised Iran for helping Hamas achieve ‘victory’ over Israel in Gaza… ‘The victory of the people of Gaza was a miracle of God and the Islamic Republic definitely has a share in this victory,’ Meshaal said after meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei…

“Khamenei congratulated Meshaal, saying, ‘The people of Gaza and the Islamic Resistance made us all proud and with their patience and perseverance successfully passed this very difficult test.’ The Iranian leader stressed that the war in Gaza has not yet ended, noting that ‘the Islamic Resistance must, with full alertness and in proper ways, prepare itself fully for the possibility of the beginning of another war…’ Iran has supported Hamas during and since the 22-day Israeli military operation.”

Israel’s Gaza War “Preintroduction” to Tackle Nuclear Iran

The Australian wrote on January 31:

“Israel’s ambassador to Australia [Yuval Rotem] has described his country’s military offensives in Gaza as a ‘preintroduction’ to tackling the military threat posed by a nuclear-equipped Iran… Mr Rotem told those gathered he expected Iran to stockpile enough uranium over the next 14 months to ‘be at the point of no return.'”

Olmert Threatens Gaza with Disproportionate Response

Deutsche Welle reported on February 2:

“Israeli aircraft have again bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in spite of the de facto truce in place since Jan. 18, which ended Israel’s 22-day offensive in the coastal enclave. Sporadic rockets attacks from Hamas have continued since the ceasefire with ten such attacks occurring in the last 24 hours prompting Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to threaten Gaza with a ‘disproportionate response’…”

Welt on Line reported on February 2:

“Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Israel does not intend to launch another broad operation in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip… His comments clashed with statements on Sunday by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who said that, if necessary, Israel would mount a new offensive in the Gaza Strip to choke off cross-border rocket fire. Both Barak, head of the centre-left Labour Party, and Livni, chairman of the ruling, centrist Kadima party, are candidates for prime minister in Israel’s Feb. 10 election. Opinion polls forecast victory for right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud.”

Netanyahu Would Do “Everything Necessary” To Prevent Iran Getting Nuclear

The Associated Press reported on February 1:

“Benjamin Netanyahu… said Saturday that Iran ‘will not be armed with a nuclear weapon.’… Netanyahu said if elected prime minister his first mission will be to thwart the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu… called Iran the greatest danger to Israel and to all humanity. When asked if stopping Iran’s nuclear ambitions included a military strike, he replied: ‘It includes everything that is necessary to make this statement come true.'”

Israel Threatens Lebanon

Reuters wrote on February 3:

“During a tour of the northern border on Tuesday, [Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud] Barak addressed concerns that Syria was looking to transfer anti-aircraft missiles to the Lebanon-based militants group [Hezbollah], vowing that Israel would respond to such an illicit deal.

“Bracing for reprisals a year after the assassination of Hezbollah’s military mastermind, Israel said on Tuesday it would hold Lebanon responsible for any such attacks by the guerrilla group…

“The Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued a severe travel warning on Sunday for Israelis abroad… The bureau said it was on high alert due to concrete intelligence that Hezbollah is in advanced stages of preparing an attack against Israelis abroad… Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah… said Hezbollah’s revenge was ‘yet ahead.'”

Due To Mr. Obama’s Position–Israel All Alone Against Iran

The Jerusalem Post wrote on January 29:

“In his first week and a half in office, US President Barack Obama has proven that he is a man of his word. For instance, he was not bluffing when he said during his campaign that he would make reconstituting America’s relations with the Islamic world one of his first priorities in office. Obama’s first phone call to a foreign leader was to PLO chieftain Mahmoud Abbas last Wednesday morning. And this past Tuesday, Obama gave his first television interview as president to the Al-Arabiya pan-Arabic television network.

“… the most significant campaign promise that Obama is wasting no time in keeping is his attempt to diplomatically engage with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Teheran is the central sponsor of the global jihad. Hizbullah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are all Iranian proxies. And, as is becoming increasingly undeniable, al-Qaida too enjoys a close relationship with the mullahs…

“Beyond its sponsorship of terrorism, due to its nuclear weapons program Iran is the largest emerging threat to global security. Together with its genocidal rhetoric against Israel, its calls for the destruction of the US, and its incitement for the overthrow of the governments of Egypt and Jordan, among others, Iran is the single largest source of instability in the region. Moreover, as US Defense Secretary Robert Gates made clear in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Iran is working actively in South and Central America to destabilize the western hemisphere.

“Obama caused an uproar when during a Democratic primary debate last spring he said that he would meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions. In subsequent months, he sought to soften his declaration. It is now apparent that his statement was not a slip of the tongue. It was a pledge…

“On November 6, two days after the US election, Ahmadinejad sent a congratulatory letter to Obama… In general, Iran’s government-controlled media outlets reported that Ahmadinejad’s letter was an ultimatum and that if Obama did not submit to his demands, the US would be destroyed… To summarize, Iran’s conditions for meeting with the Obama administration are that the US abandon Israel (which as Ahmadinejad reiterated at his annual Holocaust denial conference on Tuesday, must be annihilated), and that Obama take no action whatsoever against Iran’s nuclear program…

“If in fact Obama truly intends to move ahead with his plan to engage the mullahs, then he will effectively legitimize – if not adopt – Teheran’s preconditions that the US end its alliance with Israel, which Iran seeks to destroy, and accept a nuclear-armed Iran… Israel is alone in recognizing the necessity of preventing Iran from acquiring the means to destroy the Jewish state. Consequently, [Israel’s new] government will need to proceed with all deliberate speed to take whatever actions are necessary to prevent Israel’s destruction.”

Mr. Obama Already in Negotiations With Iran

AFP reported on January 31:

“US President Barack Obama has already used experts within the last few months to hold high-level but discreet talks with both Iran and Syria… Former defense secretary William Perry, who served in Obama’s election campaign, participated in some of these meetings…”

Germany “Concerned” Over Iran’s Satellite

Deutsche Welle reported on February 3:

“German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier has expressed concern about the launch of Iran’s first domestically built satellite… Steinmeier said that Germany and the permanent members of the UN Security Council would now have to intensify their efforts to dissuade Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons programme… the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit can also be used for launching weapons, although Iran says it has no plans to do so…”

“Berlin Split Over How to Deal with New US Administration”

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 2:

“US President Barack Obama is driving a wedge between the parties in Germany’s grand coalition government. Angela Merkel is keeping her distance while Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is making overtures to the new president — and ruffling feathers in the process… [Germany is divided] between Merkel’s Germany and Steinmeier’s Germany. And when it comes to their relationship with the new America, these two Germanys could not be more different.

“Chancellor Angela Merkel takes a reserved view of Obama, waiting to see what his administration’s policies will look like. There is not even a trace of enthusiasm for the man on whom the world’s hopes are now pinned. Merkel is not prepared to quickly accommodate the Americans on the first concrete issue for trans-Atlantic relations, namely the acceptance of detainees from Guantanamo.

“Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on the other hand, is the president of Germany’s Obama fan club. His enthusiasm knows no bounds. Steinmeier indicated right away that Germany would accept detainees from Guantanamo. And so Obama has a problem: figuring out which Germany he will be dealing with…

“The new chapter in German-American relations has gotten off to a bumpy start… Germany is still a puzzle for the new US administration. Which party in Germany’s grand coalition government… will call the shots in this election year, and what direction will they take?…

“The curiosity is mutual. The Germans want to know what the United States intends to do in the world’s crisis regions, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq. They are also curious to see how America intends to combat the recession. There are growing fears that the country will isolate itself and protect its economy while discouraging imports. This would be a serious blow for Germany, the world’s largest exporter…”

Regarding the thorny issue of Guantanamo prisoners, the magazine explained:

“There is now a list of 57 names of Guantanamo prisoners that the Americans have scheduled for release and who are not considered high-ranking terrorists. It is a list of 57 problems…

“It includes such illustrious cases as that of Tunisian national Abdul Bin Mohammed Ourgy, who the Americans say is a member of al-Qaida… Another man on the list is Rafiq Bin Bashir al-Hami [who] is believed to have… attended a terrorist training camp… in Afghanistan…

“Two Uzbeks, who are believed to be members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and were captured during fighting in Afghanistan in late 2001, are also on the US list. In a video released at the beginning of this year, the IMU threatened Germany and sought to recruit volunteers for jihad…”

The EU Threatens the USA

The Times wrote on February 4:

“The European Union warned the US yesterday against plunging the world into depression by adopting a planned ‘Buy American’ policy, intensifying fears of a trade war. The EU threatened to retaliate if the US Congress went ahead with sweeping measures in its $800 billion (£554 billion) stimulus plan to restrict spending to American goods and services.

“Gordon Brown was caught in the crossfire as John Bruton, the EU Ambassador to Washington, said that ‘history has shown us’ where the closing of markets leads — a clear reference to the Depression of the 1930s, triggered by US protectionist laws. Last night Mr Obama gave a strong signal that he would remove the most provocative passages from the Bill.”

Germany to Station Troops in France for Joint Mission

Deutsche Welle reported on February 3:

“France has agreed to allow a German battalion to be stationed in eastern France for the first time since World War II… Anywhere between 450 and 800 German soldiers will likely be stationed near the northeastern French city of Strasbourg… Such a move would have been unimaginable in the past, with animosity stemming from the 1870 Franco-German conflict and two world wars. Times have changed. Germany and France have found themselves at the forefront of pushing for a joint European defense strategy…

“The countries already have a 5,000-member bi-national brigade, which has served in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan since it was founded 20 years ago.”

“Europe Must Send Troops to the Middle East!”

Deutsche Welle reported on February 4:

“Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made his request for armed support while addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, Feb. 4. ‘The time has come for the international community to bear its legal, political and moral responsibilities and provide … adequate international protection,’ Abbas said. ‘I would like to stress again our request to send international forces in order to protect our people.'”

Insects as Weapons of War?

Times on Line wrote on February 2:

“Insects are one of the cheapest and most destructive weapons available to terrorists today, and one of the most widely ignored: they are easy to sneak across borders, reproduce quickly and can spread disease and destroy crops with devastating speed… few people have an inkling of how insects can – and have – been used to inflict human suffering and economic destruction…

“In the 14th century, 75 million people succumbed to flea-borne bubonic plague. But few people realise that the Black Death arrived in Europe after the Mongols catapulted flea-ridden corpses into the port of Kaffa. People fled, carrying bacteria, rats and fleas throughout the Mediterranean. And it was lice, not enemy armies, that nearly broke the back of the Soviet Union when typhus made 30 million people ill and killed 5 million after the First World War.

“Military strategists have seen the potential for warfare in all this. In the Second World War, the French and Germans pursued the mass production and dispersal of Colorado beetles to destroy enemy food supplies, and the Japanese military killed more than 400,000 Chinese by dropping plague-infected fleas and cholera-coated flies.

“During the Cold War, the US military planned to produce 100 million yellow fever-infected mosquitoes a month, and produced an ‘entomological warfare target analysis’ of vulnerable sites in the Soviet Union and its allies’ territories. The dispersal and biting capacity of (uninfected) mosquitoes was tested by secretly dropping them over US cities…”

The ideas that terrorists will use insects in their wars are not far-fetched. According to the Bible, God used hornets to fight against Israel’s enemies (Joshua 24:12).

Mexico–One of the World’s Biggest Security Risks

The Washington Times wrote on January 22:

“Indiscriminate kidnappings. Nearly daily beheadings. Gangs that mock and kill government agents. This isn’t Iraq or Pakistan. It’s Mexico, which the U.S. government and a growing number of experts say is becoming one of the world’s biggest security risks. The prospect that America’s southern neighbor could melt into lawlessness provides an unexpected challenge to President Obama’s government.

“In its latest report anticipating possible global security risks, the U.S. Joint Forces Command lumps Mexico and Pakistan together as being at risk of a ‘rapid and sudden collapse.’… The Justice Department said last month that Mexican gangs are the ‘biggest organized crime threat to the United States.’ 

“Mexico – Latin America’s second-biggest economy and the United States’ third-biggest oil supplier – is one of the top 10 global risks for 2009… Businesses have closed because they can’t afford to pay monthly extortion fees to local thugs. The rich have fled to the U.S. to avoid one of the world’s highest kidnapping rates. Many won’t leave their homes at night.”

Schuller’s Televangelism Empire in Chaos

USA Today wrote February 1:

“Once one of the nation’s most popular televangelists… Robert H. Schuller is watching his life’s work crumble. His son and recent successor… Robert A. Schuller, has abruptly resigned as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral… The church is in financial turmoil: It plans to sell more than $65 million worth of its Orange County property to pay off debt. Revenue dropped by nearly $5 million last year…

“The Crystal Cathedral blames the recession for its woes. But it’s clear that the elder Schuller’s carefully orchestrated leadership transition… has stumbled badly. It’s a problem common to personality driven ministries. Most have collapsed or been greatly diminished after their founders left the pulpit or died. Members often tie their donations to the pastor, not the institution…

“Church-based televangelism led by powerful personalities filled TV in the 1980s, but now only a handful of shows remain… Among the struggling ministries are those of Oral Roberts and the late D. James Kennedy…”

Stir Within the Catholic Church

Deutsche Welle wrote on February 1:

“A second German Catholic bishop Saturday raised unusual criticism of German Pope Benedict XVI for rehabilitating Holocaust denier Bishop Williamson… Bishop Gebhard Fuerst of Rottenburg-Stuttgart… charged that Benedict’s rehabilitation of Williamson had led to ‘external and internal alienation from the church on the part of many believers, to a betrayal of trust especially among Jewish sisters and brothers in their relationship to the church, and to a considerable disturbance in the Christian-Jewish dialogue.’…

“In related developments on Saturday, Israel’s minister for religious affairs threatened to suspend relationships with the Vatican… The timing of Benedict’s pardon is considered particularly insensitive, as the announcement came just days before Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27…

“Catholic priests in Austria on Sunday criticized the Vatican for naming an ultraconservative priest as auxiliary bishop in Linz on Saturday without having consulted the local church… [He] suggested in 2005 that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment, as it destroyed five abortion clinics as well as nightclubs in New Orleans… A significant portion of Austrian Catholics see themselves as more liberal than the Vatican, opposing Rome’s views on abortion, homosexuality or the ban on married priests.”

Der Spiegel Online added on February 2:

“One controversy is apparently not enough for the Catholic Church… Another week, another public relations disaster for the Catholic Church. While the furor continues swirling around the pope’s decision to reinstate an ultra-conservative bishop who denies the Holocaust, the Vatican has once again raised hackles by promoting a controversial pastor to be a bishop in Austria… The priest has a knack for inappropriate comments, writing back in 2005 in a parish newsletter that Hurricane Katrina was an act of ‘divine retribution’ for New Orleans’ permissive ways. ‘This was not the sinking of any city but that of a people’s dream city with the “best brothels and prettiest prostitutes,”‘ he wrote.

“The same man warned children in 2001 against reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books because the tales of a boy wizard were ‘spreading Satanism.’ Then in 2004 Wagner said that it was no coincidence that the Tsunami disaster had occurred at Christmas, inferring that it was punishment for ‘rich Western tourists’ who had fled to ‘poor Thailand’…

“Liberal Catholics now fear that the pope is steering the church in an ultra-conservative direction and there is increasing concern about his leadership style. In a commentary for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Catholic theologian Hans Küng said that the pope risked losing the trust of millions of Catholics across the world. Küng said that Pope Benedict XVI is obviously ‘so shielded and cut off from the real world, that he has no idea how disastrously his actions are received.'”

Der Spiegel Online added the following in a related article, dated February 3:

“The criticism of the Vatican’s decision has been particularly cutting in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel entered into the fray on Tuesday… ‘If a decision of the Vatican gives rise to the impression that the Holocaust may be denied, this cannot be left to stand,’ Merkel said. ‘It’s a matter of affirming very clearly on the part of the pope and the Vatican, that there can be no denial here,’ she said, adding that in her view this had ‘not yet been made sufficiently clear.’

“Merkel, who is a Lutheran, added that she usually would not judge internal decisions made within… the church but that the current debate dealt with a fundamental issue.

“And even the pope’s strongest supporters have been left dismayed by the decision. Cardinal Karl Lehmann, who is a highly influential figure in Germany and serves as the bishop of Mainz, has described the pope’s decision to rehabilitate Williamson as ‘catastrophic’ and said that many people were very disappointed by Benedict XVI’s move… Lehmann said that there should be a clear apology ‘from a high position.'”

Has the Pope Lost His Magic?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on February 4:

“The scandal surrounding Bishop Williamson has brought the honeymoon between Germans and their pope to an abrupt end. The affair has done lasting damage to Benedict’s reputation and authority in his home country…

“Neither the Curia, nor the press office nor the pope has learned the lessons of the PR disaster of Regensburg in 2006, when Benedict deeply offended the Muslim world… A degree of alienation and mistrust will remain between the German Catholics and their pope. People will take a closer look at his comments, question them more critically, behave more independently.

“The Vatican has called on Bishop Williamson to retract his Holocaust denial. He may do so and declare that he had taken another look at the history books and didn’t mean what he said about the Jews. It will change nothing. What could it change? Too many questions will remain unanswered. For example, why does the pope always hold out his hand of mercy in just one direction?…

“… the media covered ‘our pope’ with fondness, curiosity and empathy. That’s over… This scandal surrounding Bishop Williamson has robbed this pope of his magic. It’s a pity.”

But DID the scandal really rob “this pope of his magic”? The near future will show that it did NOT.

Human-Animal Clones Don’t Seem to Work…

Reuters reported on February 2:

“Researchers who tried to use mouse, cow and rabbit eggs to make human clones said on Monday the effort failed to produce workable embryos but added that they showed human cloning should work in principle…

“A mouse-human hybrid petered out after just one division. The cow and rabbit human hybrids went further, but stopped at the point when maternal DNA is supposed to kick in and turn the ball of cells into a proper embryo… It appears that using the egg of another species turns off the genes needed to make an embryo instead of turning them on… But the human-human clone did turn on the right genes, although it, too stopped dividing before it could produce stem cells…”

News Overview in Light of Bible Prophecy

The already strained relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community reached a new low over the Pope’s decision to welcome back an anti-Semitic Bishop who denied the Holocaust. The Catholic Church also sharply criticized President Obama for his recent decisions to allow stem-cell research and provide funds for abortion. In the USA, the Obama mania seems to have no end, but dark clouds are on the horizons of Afghanistan and Pakistan; as well as the ever-worsening economy in the USA and Great Britain [with frightening parallels being pointed out between the ever-increasing inflation of the US dollar and the German Reichsmark during the Weimar Republic]; the unresolved Guantanamo Bay situation; controversial comments by the Obama administration regarding white construction workers; and Mr. Obama’s failure to obtain bipartisan support for his unpopular $819 billion economic stimulus package [which has grown in the Senate to $888 billion] might soon bring idolizing supporters, as well as the entire country, back to the level of reality.

The situation surrounding the war in Gaza is still very volatile, as the fragile cease fire was broken this week. Lasting peace appears impossible to achieve. The EU continues to consider the possibility of getting involved militarily, while the world continues to condemn a seemingly indifferent Israel for its actions.

The Bible predicts that the USA and Great Britain will lose their status as influential world powers, facing destruction from the outside and within. Likewise, the state of Israel will be hated by all nations. Scripture is very clear that the EU will intervene in the Middle East, apparently motivated by a desire to bring peace to the region; to protect religious artifacts; and to guarantee unhindered access, religious and otherwise, to the city of Jerusalem. In support of Arab communities and to avoid a further escalation, the EU will prohibit sacrifices which the Jewish people will have begun in the city. However, that “confederation” between the EU and Arab nations will not last. Ultimately, outright war will thrust the region into utter chaos and devastation.

For more information, please read our free booklets, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America,” “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord” and “Europe in Prophecy”.

Catholic Church “Infuriates” Jews

The Guardian wrote on January 25:

“[Pope] Benedict yesterday welcomed back into the Roman Catholic Church Richard Williamson and three other men who were excommunicated in 1988 after being ordained without Vatican permission. The three had been appointed by breakaway French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The Vatican decree issued yesterday spoke of overcoming the ‘scandal of divisiveness’ and seeking reconciliation with Lefebvre’s conservative order, the Society of Saint Pius X, which opposes the modernisation of Catholic doctrine.

“But Jewish groups have warned the Pope that the decision could damage Catholic-Jewish relations after Williamson claimed in an interview, broadcast last week, that historical evidence ‘is hugely against six million having been deliberately gassed in gas chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler … I believe there were no gas chambers’… Williamson added he realised he could go to jail for Holocaust denial in Germany…

“Relations between the Vatican and Jewish groups are already strained by the row over Pope Pius XII, who was pontiff during the second world war, and is being considered by the Vatican for beatification. He is accused by some historians and Jewish leaders of failing to speak out against the Holocaust. Israeli officials recently protested when a senior cardinal said Israel’s offensive in Gaza had turned it into a ‘big concentration camp’.

“It is not the first controversy for Benedict. His decision to allow freer use of the old Latin mass, including a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews, caused widespread anger…”

The Time wrote on January 24:

“The bishop [Williamson]… has been accused of anti-Semitism in the past… The French Jewish organization CRIF called Williamson ‘a despicable liar whose only goal is to revive the centuries-old hatred against Jews.’..

“A senior Vatican official told TIME that the Pope is expected to make the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the name Lefebvre followers call their movement, into a personal prelature of the papacy, the same special status that conservative lay group Opus Dei was granted by John Paul II… Benedict’s decision marks a watershed. Following on the Pope’s 2007 decision to widen use of the old Latin rite mass, the rapprochement with the traditionalist faction appears to be a purely papal initiative…

“Some will hail Benedict as a bold defender of the rights of traditionalist Catholics and a man of conviction unbent by the winds of controversy; but others, both inside and outside the Church, will take his embrace of the Lefebvre followers as the final proof that Benedict, deep down, is determined to make the Church far more traditional than it is today.”

Welt On Line wrote on January 25:

“While lifting excommunications that had barred them from the Roman Catholic Church left many internal questions open, there was no doubt it has provoked what some are calling the biggest setback in Catholic-Jewish relations in half a century.

“Israel-based Rabbi David Rosen, head of inter-religious affairs for the American Jewish Committee and a leading figure in decades of dialogue with the Vatican, said:

“‘The late Pope John Paul II called anti-Semitism a sin against God and man. The denial of the overwhelmingly detailed documentation of the Shoah (Holocaust) is anti-Semitism at its most blatant…’ Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, spoke of ‘an act of moral debasement unworthy of a moral institution’…”

Outrageously Dangerous Opinions by Bishop Williamson

Arutz Daily Israel Report wrote on January 25:

“Williamson is a Holocaust denier, and has repeatedly said that the gas chambers did not exist and that no more than 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II, mostly of starvation. In addition, Williamson has declared that the Jews are plotting to take over the world, and that the U.S. and Israel were behind 9/11. In an interview with Swedish television conducted last November but broadcast last week, Williamson said that he believed that there were ‘no gas chambers. Between 200,000-300,000 perished in Nazi concentration camps, but not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber,’ he said…

“Williamson has had a long history of Holocaust denial. In a 1989 sermon in Sherbrooke, Canada, Williamson said that ‘there was not one Jew killed in the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies. The Jews created the Holocaust so we would prostrate ourselves on our knees before them and approve of their new State of Israel… Jews made up the Holocaust, Protestants get their orders from the devil, and the Vatican has sold its soul to liberalism.’ In dozens of sermons and letters, [Williamson] reiterated the same theme, adding that Hitler ‘liberated’ Germany from the Jews.

“[Williamson] advocates a return to the Middle Ages, with the Inquisition the preferred model of the Catholic relationship to Jews. ‘As Catholic faith goes up, so Jewish power goes down, while as Catholic faith goes down, so Jewish power goes up. In the Catholic Middle Ages, the Jews were relatively impotent to harm Christendom. But as Catholics have grown over the centuries weaker and weaker in the faith, especially since Vatican II, so the Jews have come closer and closer to fulfilling their substitute-Messianic drive towards world dominion… When Spanish Catholics were truly Catholic, God granted them by 1492 to reconquer Spain from the Arabs, and then granted them to create a Catholic empire in the Americas.'”

German Press’ Reactions

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 26 about the German press’ reaction to Bishop Williamson’s embrace by the Catholic Church:

“German papers on Monday argue that the pope is ruining decades of work aimed at improving relations between Jews and Catholics… Meanwhile in Germany, the vice president of the Central Council of Jews, Dieter Graumann, has accused the pope of an ‘incomprehensible act of provocation.’ Speaking to the Handelsblatt newspaper on Sunday, Graumann said: ‘The fact that it is of all things a German pope who conjured up this new ice age between Jews and the Catholic Church … that is something particularly painful, astonishing and deplorable’…

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘The pope’s reconciliation with an offensive anti-Semite is shocking… With the rehabilitation of the bishop, Benedict XVI is sabotaging the Christian-Jewish dialogue…’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… it remains a mystery why the pope is now making such concessions to the fanatical opponents of the Second Vatican Council, that he is making a mockery of his predecessor John Paul II’s insistence on obedience to the teachings of the church and to the pope…'”

Catholics Concerned About Pope’s Decision

Catholics are shocked, too, about the decision of the Pope to rehabilitate Bishop Williamson. NPR wrote on January 26:

“John Allen, a senior correspondent with the National Catholic Reporter, says, at least in the short term, the decision is a ‘catastrophe [and a ‘disaster’] in terms of Catholic-Jewish relations… a lot of even moderate and even some conservative Catholics would look at this as symbolic of a kind of course change in Catholicism.’

“The traditionalist Lefebvrites reject celebrating Mass in languages other than Latin, Allen says, and they oppose moves the church has made to recognize religious freedom and the separation of church and state, as well as to promote unity with other religions.”

German Jews Cut Contact with Catholic Church

Der Spiegel Online reported on January 29:

“Pope Benedict XVI these days is doing his best to calm waters roughened by his recent decision to bring Holocaust denier Bishop Richard Williamson back into the fold. At his Wednesday audience at the Vatican, Benedict went out of his way to express ‘full and indisputable solidarity’ with Jews and explicitly condemned those who would deny the Holocaust…

“Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said she was breaking off contact with the Catholic Church. ‘Under such conditions, there will be no further dialogue between myself and the church… I am not dealing here with people who don’t know what they are doing,’ she continued. ‘The pope is one of the most educated and most intelligent people in the Catholic Church. Every word that he says, he means.’…”

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Severs Vatican Ties

USA Today wrote on January 29:

“Israel’s chief rabbinate severed ties with the Vatican on Wednesday…

“The Jewish state’s highest religious authority sent a letter to the Holy See expressing ‘sorrow and pain’ at the papal decision. ‘It will be very difficult for the chief rabbinate of Israel to continue its dialogue with the Vatican as before,’ the letter said. Chief rabbis of both the Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews were parties to the letter…

“The rabbinate and the state of Israel have separate ties with the Vatican, and Wednesday’s move does not affect state relations.”

Catholic Church Disappointed with “Arrogant” President Obama

AFP reported on January 24:

“A senior Vatican official on Saturday attacked US President Barack Obama for ‘arrogance’ for overturning a ban on state funding for family-planning groups that carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.

“It is ‘the arrogance of someone who believes they are right, in signing a decree which will open the door to abortion and thus to the destruction of human life,’ Archbishop Rino Fisichella was quoted as saying… Fisichella is president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, one of a number of so-called pontifical academies which are formed by or under the direction of the Holy See…”

The Associated Press added on January 24:

“Fisichella said in an interview… that ‘if this is one of President Obama’s first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we’re heading quickly toward disappointment.’…

“‘This deals a harsh blow not only to us Catholics but to all the people across the world who fight against the slaughter of innocents that is carried out with the abortion,’ another top official with the Academy for Life, Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, [said]… ‘Among the many good things that he could have done, Barack Obama instead chose the worst,’ he was quoted as saying Saturday.”

Prior to Mr. Obama’s signing the controversial bill on abortion, the Catholic Church had warned him not to do so. As NPR wrote on January 18:

“Less than a week after the presidential election, the Vatican’s top health official, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, warned the President-elect that it’s unethical to give the green light to embryonic stem-cell research [which Mr. Obama did subsequently]. Even tougher words came from Cardinal James Francis Stafford, head of a Vatican court and one of the highest ranking Americans at the Vatican. The Cardinal said in a speech at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. that Obama’s statements on abortion reflect ‘an agenda and vision that are aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic.’

“Now, the Vatican’s number one concern is that Obama may sign a proposed Freedom of Choice Act [which he did, see article above] that would invalidate any state laws that place restrictions on abortions. A senior Vatican official told Time Magazine that ‘would be the equivalent of a war.’

“And this is not the only potential clash. Just last month, the Vatican issued a wide-ranging document on bioethics that forcefully condemned not only embryonic stem-cell research, but also artificial fertilization, and it declared that the morning-after pill falls within the ‘sin of abortion.’ A few days earlier, the Vatican opposed the United Nations declarations against discrimination of homosexuals and for the rights of the disabled on the grounds that they could be seen as sanctioning gay marriage and abortion.”

Attack on White Labor by Obama Administration?

Associated Content reported on January 22:

“Families of white, male construction workers may want to pay attention: Robert Reich [22nd secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton] has opined that the Obama stimulus funds allocated to businesses in the construction industry should be withheld specifically from white men… While it is comforting that in the audio clip Mr. Reich is quick to disclose that he has ‘nothing against while male construction workers,’ the fact that he does not want stimulus generated jobs to go to ‘white male construction workers’ is gravely disconcerting. Even more alarming is the fact that Barack Obama has remained mum about the opinions expressed by his economic adviser.

“Would there have been an outcry has Mr. Reich suggested keeping the stimulus funds from being spent on ‘black male construction workers’ or ‘undocumented alien construction workers?’ Maybe it would have made waves had he opined on ‘Jewish construction workers’ or ‘female construction workers?’ As it stands, it would appear that Robert Reich has declared open season on white males.”

President Obama’s Troubles with Afghanistan…

The Associated Press reported on January 25:

“President Hamid Karzai condemned a U.S. operation he said killed 16 Afghan civilians, while hundreds of villagers denounced the American military during an angry demonstration Sunday… Karzai’s latest criticism follows a Saturday raid in Laghman province that the U.S. says killed 15 armed militants, including a woman with an RPG, but that Afghan officials say killed civilians. Two women and three children were among the 16 dead civilians, Karzai said in a statement…

“Civilian deaths are an extremely complicated issue in Afghanistan. Afghan villagers have been known to exaggerate civilian death claims in order to receive more compensation from the U.S. military, and officials have said that insurgents sometimes force villagers to make false death claims. But the U.S. military has also been known to not fully acknowledge when it killed civilians.”

… and with Pakistan…

Welt on Line reported on January 25:

“U.S. drones fired missiles into Pakistan late on Friday killing 17 people, intelligence officials and residents said, in the first such strike since Barack Obama became U.S. president. These missile attacks on Islamist militants in Pakistan do not help its efforts in the U.S.-led campaign against militancy, a spokesman for President Asif Ali Zardari said on Sunday… There was no sign Friday’s strikes hit any of al Qaeda’s top leadership…

“Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it hoped the new U.S. administration would review the policy, although during his election campaign Obama had spoken of strikes into Pakistan if the Pakistani military was unwilling or unable to tackle militant targets… Pakistani authorities said the drone attacks, which sometimes kill villagers, enrage Pashtun tribesmen and drive them into the arms of the militants…”

Ordering to Close Guantanamo Bay Prison Just the “Easy Part”

AFP reported on January 24:

“Two men released from the US ‘war on terror’ prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website… One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man… has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen… The Defense Department has said as many as 61 former Guantanamo detainees — about 11 percent of 520 detainees transferred from the detention center and released — are believed to have returned to the fight.

“The latest case highlights the risk the new US administration faces as it moves to empty Guantanamo of its remaining 245 prisoners and close the controversial detention camp within a year.”

U.S. Economy in Deeper Trouble Than Realized

Bloomberg reported on January 24:

“First Centennial Bank of Redlands, California, was seized by a state regulator, the third U.S. bank to fail this year, as the recession deepens and the slump in the housing industry sends home foreclosures to records…

“Regulators closed 25 banks last year, the most since 1993, draining money from the FDIC deposit insurance fund… National Bank of Commerce in Berkeley, Illinois, and Bank of Clark County in Vancouver, Washington, were shuttered by regulators on Jan. 16…

“More than 2.3 million U.S. properties got a default or auction notice, or were seized by lenders… The FDIC classified 171 banks as ‘problem’ in the third quarter, a 46 percent jump from the second quarter, and said industry earnings fell 94 percent to $1.73 billion from the previous year. The agency doesn’t identify problem banks by name.

“The largest institution to fail in U.S. history, Washington Mutual, was sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sept. 25 after customers drained $16.7 billion in deposits in less than two weeks. Wachovia Corp. was near failure before being bought by Wells Fargo & Co. for $12.7 billion.”

2009–Another Miserable Year for U.S. Employees

The Associated Press reported on January 27:

“Rising unemployment spared no state last month, and 2009 is shaping up as another miserable year for workers from coast to coast. Jobless rates for December hit double digits in Michigan and Rhode Island… With tens of thousands of layoffs announced this week by well-known employers such as Pfizer Inc., Caterpillar Inc. and Home Depot Inc., the unemployment picture is bound to get worse in every region of the country, economists say. ‘We won’t see a light at the end of the tunnel until 2010,’ said Anthony Sabino, a professor of law and business at St. John’s University.

“The number of newly laid off Americans filing claims for state unemployment benefits has soared to 589,000, while people continuing to draw claims climbed to 4.6 million, the government said last week. There’s been such a crush that resources in New York, California and other states have run dry, forcing them to tap the federal government for money to keep paying unemployment benefits…

“In 2008, the country lost 2.6 million jobs, and in 2009 at least 2 million more jobs are forecast to disappear… The U.S. has been mired in a recession since December 2007. It is on track to be the longest downturn since World War II.”

Is California Being “Terminated”?

ABC News reported on January 27:

“… tax refunds are now on hold in California for the first time in state history… the controller’s office estimates that a combined 2.74 million California individuals and businesses will have their tax refund delayed [which is hoped to] free up $1.99 billion over the next month to pay for education, debt service, and other payments that legally have first claim to state funds.

“California has had no money in its general fund for the past 17 months, and has been paying its bills by borrowing from Wall Street and special internal funds. If the state’s legislators and governor do not reach a budget agreement that brings immediate funds into the state’s coffers, the state’s borrowed funds will be entirely exhausted at the end of February, according to the controller’s office.”

Even though Governor Schwarzenegger (“the Terminator”) came to power in California due to a recall procedure, based on the concept that he could restore a sound economy to the state, it is clear that his ambitions have failed miserably.

New $819 Billion Economic Recovery Plan Only Approved by Most Democrats

USA Today reported on January 28:

“The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives quickly approved President Obama’s $819 billion economic recovery plan Wednesday. The vote was 244-188, mostly along party lines… The vote sent the bill to the Senate [and according to press releases, has now reached a figure of $888 billion]… Democratic leaders have pledged to have legislation ready for Obama’s signature by mid-February… No Republicans supported the measure. Eleven Democrats opposed it. The vote was Obama’s first test of the bipartisanship he pledged in his campaign.”

Obviously, this test has failed!

Broken Bank Bailout–Are We in Trouble!!!!

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 29:

“New Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is exploring the creation of a government-funded ‘bad bank’ to buy up mortgage-backed securities and other troubled assets from banks in hopes of boosting their capital levels so they can begin lending again… Ultimately… Administration officials believe they could need up to $2 trillion.

“Fixing the banks will almost certainly require far more than $700 billion in TARP funds. Goldman Sachs analyst Andrew Tilton figures U.S. financial institutions will suffer more than $1 trillion in loan losses — about half of which have been recognized so far. The problem isn’t only with residential mortgages. Add in commercial real estate and other poorly performing loan categories, and the banks may hold some $5 trillion in ‘troubled assets’ on their books, he says.

“New York University’s bearish economics professor, Nouriel Roubini, estimates that additional private and public capital of $1 trillion to $1.4 trillion will be needed to recapitalize the banks…

“Prying more money out of Congress for expanded bank bailouts will be tough. Yet it’s hard to see the economy recovering without healthy banks. Getting there won’t come cheap.”

UK Economy Worse Than Great Depression in 1939?

The Telegraph wrote on January 25:

“Britain is heading for economic depression for the first time since the 1930s, economists have warned… They said the current crisis will be of a scale to rival the biggest peace-time crisis in modern history — the Great Depression… The news sent the pound sliding to its lowest level since 1985… Confirmation that the economy has entered recession capped a week in which Gordon Brown was forced to announce a new £350 billion bank rescue plan. Unemployment has almost reached two million…

“Britain is likely to suffer more than other economies due to its heavy reliance on the financial services sector, which has all but imploded in the wake of the economic crisis, experts said.

“Others raised the spectre of an outright economic depression, often defined by experts as a peak-to-trough economic contraction of 10 per cent. Aside from the demobilisation periods following the First and Second World Wars, this kind of contraction has never taken place — not even in the 1930s’ Great Depression.”

German Economy–How Bad Is It Really?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 22:

“The German economy may shrink by as much as 2.25 percent this year, warns Economics Minister Glos. But there is some cause for optimism. Despite the deepest recession since World War II, the country could see positive quarterly growth before the year is out…

“Germany, which makes up about a third of economic output among those countries belonging to the single currency, the euro, could see a return to positive growth as early as April and keep growing for the remainder of the year, the government said…”

A less optimistic picture was painted by Der Spiegel Online in an article, dated January 23, quoting from several German newspapers and magazines:

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

“‘The (German government’s) rescue operations have so far not brought the desired results. The banks have been plugging up their worst holes with billions of euros of taxpayers’ money, but their losses have been growing even faster. Meanwhile complaints from companies about increasingly restrictive lending practices are growing louder. Obviously the banks can not be helped just with money alone…

“The financial daily Handelsblatt writes:

“‘It is not easy to say this loudly and clearly: The German banks are on the edge of the abyss. This is the painful truth, and nothing but the truth…’

“The conservative Die Welt writes:

“‘Taken as a whole, (Germany’s) financial institutions have dead weight to the tune of hundreds — or even thousands — of billions on their balance sheets. This problem can not be solved simply by sitting it out — action needs to be taken now so that the economic crisis is not exacerbated…'”

European Troops in the Middle East?

The Associated Press reported on January 24:

“French troops, Turkish monitors, British ships, German tunnel detectors, European radar equipment — officials say all these options are being weighed as they try to cement the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas… Potential obstacles include divisions within Europe over how robust an international border control presence should be, Western discord over how to deal with Hamas, and Egypt’s resistance to a foreign military presence on its soil…

“France is pressing other European allies and Egypt to consider an armed border force, possibly under European Union or United Nations auspices… British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also offered Britain’s Royal Navy to help interdict arms shipments bound for Hamas.”

Smuggle of Arms for Hamas through Tunnels Still Ongoing

The JC.com added on January 22:

“The Egyptian regime is still enabling Bedouin smugglers to use the tunnels under their border with the Gaza Strip to transfer arms to Hamas… Despite announcements by senior Egyptian officials that they would clamp down on the smuggling, local Bedouin traders are still offering — even after the Gaza ceasefire — to smuggle goods and people under the border.

“These were the tunnels that enabled Hamas and the other Palestinian organisations to bring through materials to manufacture the missiles fired on Israel. Longer-range Grad and anti-aircraft missiles are also taken through the tunnels, as are regular consignments of marijuana grown in Sinai, destined for the Israeli market…  the smuggling never ceased during the past three weeks, despite the heavy bombardment by the Israeli Air Force of buildings on the Palestinian side of Rafah, suspected of hiding tunnel entrances.

“In one case, a group of German doctors who arrived to treat Palestinian wounded were smuggled through a tunnel, eyes blindfolded so they would not be able to reveal the location. ‘A lot of tunnels were destroyed,’ said one Bedouin active in the smuggling business, ‘but the deeper ones that are well shored up are still standing’…

“‘The only thing that will stop the tunnel business is a full opening of the crossings,’ said one Bedouin. ‘But even that won’t stop the arms smuggling. There will still be ways to put arms on the lorries going through the crossings and to bribe the guards.’”

Worldwide Anger Against Israel

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 22:

“Israelis do not understand a world that reproaches them for what they have done in the Gaza Strip. They brush aside concerns about civilian [casualties] and stories about Palestinian suffering are relegated to the back pages… The number of dead, wounded and homeless runs into the thousands — and all of this happened less than an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv. But no one in Israel seems to be talking much about the consequences of the war against Hamas. Thoughts about the upcoming elections on Feb. 10 push away those about the moral issues involved with military action. There is no public discourse about the ethical boundaries soldiers and officers should have observed. Nobody asks how many children it was acceptable to sacrifice in Gaza in order to save the life of one Israeli soldier. No one wants to know about the question of who is responsible for taking care of Gaza’s homeless and refugees.

“This silence worries Gadi Baltiansky, director general of the Geneva Initiative, a large Israeli peace organization advocating a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It troubles him that his country is so indifferent to the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza…

“During the war, Yedioth Ahronoth, the country’s most influential newspaper, reported each new expansion of the offensive in bold headlines, while at the same time relegating stories about the suffering of Palestinians to the back pages — as if the latter were somehow irrelevant. In any case, the Israeli media weighted the events in Gaza differently than Western newspapers and TV stations. For example, Israeli readers had to wait until page seven of Yedioth Ahronoth to find reports about the Israeli military’s shelling of a United Nations-run school. In the European and American media, on the other hand, reports about the incident were given far greater prominence.

“With Israel facing global condemnation and with the possibility of war crimes trials, the Israelis are concerned about the legal pitfalls that might lie ahead for its government ministers and military officers. Many people do not understand what the world wants them to do and dismiss the criticisms, saying: ‘As usual, everyone is turning against us again.’ A full 82 percent of Israeli citizens say they do not believe that Israel acted with disproportionate violence in Gaza. That might explain why they don’t understand how the images and reports coming out of Gaza could create a wave of empathy for Palestinians — and anger toward the Israelis — around the world…

“Palestinians are not completely blameless when it comes to rising indifference to Palestinian suffering among Israeli youths. Seeking to explain Israeli public sentiment, peace activist Baltiansky says: ‘The suicide bombers who brought insecurity to Israeli cities during the second intifada have hardened Israeli society. Why should we show restraint when Palestinians sacrifice their children for suicide attacks and send them against us?'”

Turkey Angry with Israel

Reuters reported on January 29:

“Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate on the Middle East at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, saying he might never return to the annual gathering of the rich and powerful. Israel’s President Shimon Peres had launched a fiery defense of his country’s assault on Gaza over the past month and, with a raised voice and pointed finger, questioned what Erdogan would do if rockets were fired at Istanbul every night.

“As the debate… was ending, Erdogan was cut short as he tried to respond. ‘I don’t think I will come back to Davos because you don’t let me speak,’ the Turkish prime minister said, as he stood up and walked out of the conference hall in the Swiss ski resort…

“Turkey’s state-run Anatolian news agency quoted Erdogan as saying to Peres: ‘When it comes to killing you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches.'”

And the War Goes On…

BBC reported on January 27:

“Israel has carried out an air attack in Gaza and sent tanks into the Strip, after Palestinian militants killed an Israeli soldier… It was the worst violence in Gaza since Israel’s offensive against Hamas ended with both sides declaring ceasefires… An Israeli soldier on patrol in a vehicle was killed by an explosive device deliberately planted on Israel’s side of the border near the Kissufim crossing, prompting troops to open fire into Gaza.

“The explosion was filmed by the militants, as was gun fire and a grenade blast. Three soldiers were injured in the attack. Israeli troops fired into the Gaza Strip in retaliation, as a result of which Palestinian officials said a farmer was killed. Heavy fighting was reported in Khan Younis, south of the Kissufim crossing, and many people had fled their homes.”

The Associated Press added on January 28:

“President Barack Obama’s new Mideast envoy sought Wednesday to boost a 10-day-old Gaza cease-fire that was thrown into turmoil, as Israeli warplanes pounded Gaza smuggling tunnels in retaliation for a Palestinian bombing that killed a soldier… U.S. envoy George Mitchell said it was ‘critical’ that the cease-fire be extended and consolidated… But the new violence cast a shadow over Mitchell’s arrival.

“The flare-up is the worst since Israel and Hamas separately declared cease-fires on Jan. 18 to end a three-week Israeli offensive against the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip. Since withdrawing its troops, Israel has threatened to retaliate hard for any violations of the informal truce. Reflecting the seriousness of the situation, Defense Minister Ehud Barak canceled a planned trip to Washington this week to stay home and deal with the crisis…”

UPI added on January 29:

“Eight Palestinians, including children, were wounded Thursday when an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle in Khan Yunis in Gaza, Palestinian officials said. The strike targeted Mahmoud Hamdan Samiri, a Khan Yunis resident Israeli authorities said was involved in the terror cell behind Tuesday’s attack at the Kissufim crossing in which an Israeli soldier was killed and three others were wounded, The Jerusalem Post reported.”

The Inauguration of the 44th President

On Tuesday, January 20, the world watched the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, with excitement and optimistic hope for a better future. ABC News reported on January 19 that even though the “country is in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, … this isn’t stopping rich donors and the government from spending $170 million, or more, on the inauguration of Barack Obama.”

The German paper, Die Welt, wrote on January 20: “Hundreds of thousands of people erupted in roars of approval on the broad National Mall grounds as they watched Obama stand with one hand raised, one hand on a Bible used to swear [in Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration] in 1861, and repeat the brief oath to become the 44th U.S. president and succeed George W. Bush.”

The paper added that “The inauguration of Obama, 47, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas, was steeped in symbolic meaning for African-Americans, who for generations suffered slavery and then racial segregation that made them second-class citizens.”

During the Benediction, Joseph Lowery uttered the following controversial lines which were somewhat offensive to white people: “Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around… when the red man can get ahead; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen’…”

Some moments during the inauguration, even though embarrassing, might have been deeply symbolic–from the limping President Bush Sen. to Vice President Dick Cheney sitting in a wheelchair, to Ted Kennedy’s collapse, to the moment when the oath was messed up by Chief Justice John Roberts (so that the oath was re-administered the next day in the White House, without the use of a Bible). Also, it might have been better, depending on taste, if the musical “performance” by Aretha Franklin and the recital of the somewhat disjointed “poem” by Elizabeth Alexander had been dispensed with. Neither did the musical instrumental presentation of a rather boring piece by four performers merit enthusiastic approval. 

A strange sight remained the traditional READING of the prayers at the beginning and the end of the inauguration–the Invocation and the Benediction. Are we to believe that King Solomon READ his inspired prayer when he dedicated the Temple?

In President Obama’s historic inauguration speech, hope for a better world and the reality of calamity painted a colorful picture which was accentuated by contrast.

In Mr. Obama’s own words, “we are in the midst of crisis… Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”

President Obama continued:  

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.  They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America –  they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.”

On Wednesday, January 21, 2008, President Obama took part in a prayer at the National Cathedral in northwest Washington. As one of the articles quoted in this Update points out, it seemed that representatives of virtually all religious belief systems participated, except perhaps for Atheists, Wiccans and Pagans. But wasn’t America built on the foundation and the faith of the Bible–and didn’t the Founding Fathers believe in the God of the Bible?

The fact that Mr. Obama became the 44th President exactly 220 years after the first President of the United States took office in 1789, might be deeply significant. In the Bible, the number 4 (in 44; i.e. 11 times 4) is associated with the revelation of God (compare the four gospel writers, for example). And the number 10 (in 220; i.e. 22 times 10) is associated with God’s judgment (compare the Ten Commandments which will be the basis for God’s judgment of man). Further, combinations of the numbers 4 and 10 signify God’s revelation IN judgment (compare Israel’s dwelling in the wilderness for 40 years because of disobedience and unbelief). Is it therefore possible that during the term of Mr. Obama’s office, God will reveal Himself more and more in judgment–showing that He will judge man severely, unless he repents?

In other news, we are reporting on the ongoing volatile situation in Gaza and the international reaction to the conflict; the attempts of certain Arab nations to unite; the desire of Iran to stay involved and of the EU to get involved in the Middle East; German fears of and hopes for the future; and Dresden’s incredible bestowal of honor on the former KGB officer Vladimir Putin.

After the Inauguration–Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral

USA Today reported on January 16:

“U.S. religious diversity will be on full display Wednesday (January 21) at the prayer service to be held at the Washington National Cathedral…

“Several folks invited to the pulpit are almost as controversial or nationally outspoken as… Rick Warren, who’ll give the invocation on Tuesday. There will be:…

“The presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, the denomination riven over whether to accept a gay bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori. She is a supporter of Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop who will give the invocation at Sunday’s We Are One concert… The official prayer service plan is to ’embody the themes of tolerance, unity and understanding (in) a worship service for all Americans’ (except the atheists who lost their suit to bloc events like this)…

“Leaders of the Washington National Cathedral, an Episcopal Church that’s huge and beautiful and frequently the location for great national moments of prayer, will host Baptists, non-denominational church leaders, Greek Orthodox, Hindu and more… Who’s missing? Wiccans? Pagans?…”

The Associated Press added on January 16:

“Roman Catholic Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington will deliver a prayer for the nation… Sharon Watkins, the first woman president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a Protestant group, will also be the first woman to deliver a sermon at the National Prayer Service. Several other women leaders will take part in the event.

“They include Ingrid Mattson, the first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America;… Cynthia Hale, senior pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Atlanta;… Suzan Johnson-Cook of the Bronx Christian Fellowship in New York; and Dr. Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America…

“The Jewish community will be represented in the service by Reform Rabbi David Saperstein, Conservative Rabbi Jerome Epstein and Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York. Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios and Auxiliary Catholic Bishop Francisco Gonzalez of Washington will also take part…”

Germans Worry About the Future and Welcome the EU

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 16:

“57 percent of German citizens believe the economic situation in their own country will get worse, compared to 51 percent of Europeans as a whole. Regarding the economic prospects for the European Union, 47 percent of Germans believe the situation will worsen. Forty-one percent of Europeans as a whole share their view…

“The survey also reveals that Germans are more likely to trust their own system than the average European: 38 percent of German respondents feel that things are moving in the right direction in Germany, compared to only 28 percent in Europe. Germans are also more likely to believe that the European Union is moving in the right direction (41 compared to 35 percent).

“… the EU enjoys high approval ratings in Germany, with 64 percent of Germans believing that membership of the bloc is a good thing, 11 percentage points more than the EU average of 53 percent. European Commissioner Verheugen [who is German himself] sees this as a positive sign. He feels that Germany has a special responsibility for Europe because of its history and because of its role as the largest and economically strongest member state.

“However, German enthusiasm for the European project does have its limits. The Germans are not so keen on EU enlargement, with only 26 percent supporting the admission of new member states, compared to 44 percent of Europeans.”

OPERA BALL SCANDAL– Dresden Medal of Honor for Ex-KGB Agent Putin

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 16:

“It’s a big night for Russian Prime Minister Putin. The former KGB officer will return to his old Dresden haunt for the Semper Opera Ball. There, [he] will receive a medal of honor… [The medal] is a stunning replica of the ‘Heilige Georg zu Pferde’… And it is a special symbol: St. George symbolizes the victory of good over evil…

“The award… is to be pinned to the breast of [Putin], a man who has just cut off natural gas supplies to half of Europe. It is hard to imagine such an event taking place anywhere other than in Saxony…

“Just why Putin was chosen for the award is not entirely clear… From 1985 to 1990, he was stationed in the city as a KGB officer and resided in a villa located just across the street from the Stasi’s district offices. The Stasi was the feared East German secret police. Under the codename ‘Adamov,’ his job was to recruit new spies for the Soviet intelligence apparatus…

“The Saxony governor, Stanislaw Tillich — who back in 1989 was himself a functionary in the local government and has been put under massive pressure recently for apparently trying to cover up his ties to the communist system — will hand the former Dresden KGB officer a thank you medal 20 years after the fall of the Wall.”

Deutsche Welle added on January 16:

“‘[Putin] doesn’t deserve to be honored,’ the German-based Society for Threatened Peoples said, blaming Putin for human rights violations by Russian troops in Chechnya. During his time as president, the Russian leader was responsible for the deaths of around 80,000 men, women and children in the breakaway republic, the society said in a statement…

“Werner Schulz [a former civil rights activist in East Germany] told the newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung that shortly before the fall of the wall [in 1989], Putin threatened to open fire on East German dissidents if they approached KGB headquarters in Dresden.”

Is German Pacifism Anti-Semitic?

Press TV wrote on January 16: “The German chancellor and British prime minister say they have been ‘shocked’ by the humanitarian tragedy created by Israel in the Gaza Strip…”

But on January 15, the German Netzeitung published an article about “German pacifism” by Ze’ev Avrahmi, a Berlin-based freelance correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Avrahmi is asking the question whether German pacifism is actually nothing else but German anti-Semitism. We are reproducing the following excerpts:

“During these times of war in the Middle East, there is nothing that bothers me more than German pacifism. Or, to put it more correctly, I look at the Germans’ pacifism with a mixture of anger and envy, because it is a luxury that we Israelis can’t afford. If I had a choice, I would also like to end the conflict without guns. I would also self-righteously like to point out that violence only creates more violence. I would like to be leftist, pacifist and completely unaware of the daily attacks from Gaza on Israel for the past eight years.

“And at the same time, here is something I want to ask these German pacifists: Would you still condemn the right to self-defence if Austria or Poland would attack Berlin and Munich with daily barrages of rockets? I also want to ask them: Where is the preaching against violence when there are daily attacks on foreigners in Germany? Why don’t you cry out loud when your fellow German citizens beat up and attack innocent refugees and immigrants on the outskirts of Berlin or in small towns in Bavaria or Saxony?

“And where is your outspoken pacifism when Jews, only 60 years after the Holocaust, have to wear baseball caps to hide their kippas when they walk in the streets of Berlin because they are, again, afraid to identify themselves as Jews in the former Nazi capital? And why do you keep silent when German police force their way into an apartment in Duisburg to tear down Israeli flags to placate Muslim protestors who were becoming violent?

“I would like to know why pacifism gains so much strength every time it is directed against Israel. How come the newspaper pictures of the war are so one-sided and pro-Palestinian? Could it be that anti-Semitism is again prevalent in Germany, only this time it conveniently disguises itself as being anti-Israel?…”

Ceasefire in Gaza

Haaretz reported on January 18:

“Trying to hide a smile and a sense of self-satisfaction Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced the cameras at the Defense Ministry and declared to the Israeli public, ‘We won.’ The Israel Defense Forces objectives for its operation in the Gaza Strip were ‘obtained in full.’ Hamas was ‘surprised and badly beaten,’ the government ‘made decisions responsibly and wisely,’ the IDF’s performance was excellent and the southern home front ‘displayed resilience’…

“The Gaza operation was undoubtedly intended to redeem Olmert, and will be used as a springboard for a comeback – if he avoids conviction on any of the charges pending against him…

“Israel succeeded in hurting Hamas and in creating an international awareness of the need to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, but not all the operation’s objectives were accomplished… Hamas’ gains cannot be ignored: It has won international legitimacy and sympathy, and its forces still control the Gaza Strip.”

Gaza–“The Situation Will Change Only for the Worse”

Welt-On-Line reported on January 18:

“In Gaza, families began emerging from their places of hiding, including U.N. school compounds where some 45,000 people sought refuge during the fighting, and returning to their homes — some only to find them damaged or destroyed… With no formal deal between the two sides, despite mediation efforts by Egypt, the situation looked much like that before the conflict…

“Israel’s leading newspapers put pictures of victorious Israeli troops on their front pages on Sunday, but behind the banner headlines some commentators wondered whether the conflict had not worsened the prospects for peace with Gaza. ‘This war was a just war,’ wrote one leading commentator in Ma’ariv, a right-of-centre tabloid. ‘But this was not a wise war. This war presumed to change the situation … But the situation, regrettably, will change only for the worse.'”

German Reactions to Ceasefire in Gaza

Der Spiegel Online commented on January 19 as follows on the cease fire in Gaza:

“German commentators ask what Israel actually achieved with its three-week offensive… Hamas for its part claimed that Israel had failed to achieve its war aims. ‘God has granted us a great victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people,’ said the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, in a televised speech… As the post-war analysis begins, many questions remain… Hamas… was adamant in its attention to re-arm…

“The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“‘What has Israel’s offensive actually achieved, apart from more than 1,300 people dead, more than 5,300 wounded, and some relatively unproductive crisis diplomacy? Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that the aim of the offensive had been achieved. But so far he still hasn’t spelled out what the objective of the war against Hamas actually was…

“… the majority of the 1.5 million people in the Gaza Strip see Israel as being responsible for the devastation and destruction. Israel’s supposed victory, which Olmert talks of, is in reality a defeat. The campaign has sown hatred and anger and brought Israel only insecurity in return.’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

“‘Israel has largely achieved what can be achieved militarily in terms of weakening Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Moreover, its tough — sometimes too tough — response to the rocket attacks against Israeli towns is a signal to the Lebanese group Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, who are equipped with missiles of ever-increasing range and who will therefore sooner or later have the capability to strike targets in the Israeli heartland. The offensive against the terrorist attacks from the Gaza Strip was also aimed at Tehran, home to the weapons suppliers and those who stir up the conflict’…

“The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

“‘Israel is certainly a big step closer to its aim of bringing weapons smuggling into Gaza under control… But did it really need a war to achieve this? Did the Europeans and the Americans really need a military operation and hundreds of dead children in order to be convinced that cooperating with Israel makes sense?… Hamas has survived the war. It exists, and it is here to stay…’

“The conservative Die Welt writes:

“‘… The main issue which needs to be addressed is the support that religious — in this case Islamic — fundamentalism and its representatives receive from both governments and, especially, religious leaders. The most important thing is the rhetoric of hate which originates in many mosques and is then spread by Arab TV and radio stations and the Internet. The fight — including the armed struggle — of Islam against all “infidels” is not only promoted but both encouraged and demanded. Potential suicide bombers are praised and promised glorious rewards in paradise…. Only when all imams stop glorifying murder can there be real peace in the Holy Land…'”

EU Gets Involved in Gaza

The EUObserver wrote on January 19:

“European Union states have engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity following the announcement of a ceasefire…, with the EU’s big three [France, Germany and the UK] pledging naval support to prevent the delivery of weapons into Gaza.”

Unhappy Lieberman

On January 20, Haaretz published an interview with Israeli Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“What was achieved here? Zip, nada. The strategic objective of the operation should have been the collapse of Hamas. This goal could have been reached not by capturing Gaza and Jabalya, but [simply] by taking over the crossing points and the Philadelphi route… if we had closed the Strip in a vice, we would have strangled Hamas.

“… after the cease-fire, everyone wants to know how it could be that the strongest army in the Middle East was unable to overcome 12,000 terrorists. The result is similar to that of the Second Lebanon War: damage to our deterrent capability. Instead of destroying Hamas, the operation upgraded it, turning it into an important regional player. It’s only a matter of time before the government in Ramallah collapses and falls into Hamas hands…

“Iran threatens us three ways. Once through Hamas and Hezbollah. A second time through preparing global public opinion for the possibility of doing without Israel. A third time with nuclear [weapons development] and ballistic missiles. If we were a normal country, we would stop quarreling over the Palestinian issue and the Golan Heights issue and we would deal with Iran… Only after the source of the problem – Iran – is resolved will it be possible to discuss the symptoms of the problem in Judea, Samaria and the Golan… To accept an Iranian nuclear bomb in 2010 is like accepting Hitler’s election in 1933. A nuclear Iran is like Hitler with nuclear weapons…”

“Hurray! We Lost!”

On January 20, Der Spiegel Online wrote the following:

“Israel’s war in Gaza is a military victory. But with 1,300 dead and thousands wounded, it is also moral defeat. The painful lesson: Israel can only defeat itself. Hamas leader Ismail Haniya only had to hide to emerge as the winner…

“Approximately 1,300 dead is no trifle and no collateral damage from an act of war even when many of the dead were militants who just happened to forget to put their uniforms on and who hid behind civilians. Approximately 1,300 dead is a tenth of a percent of the population of Gaza. If it were Germany, that figure would be 80,000…

“Thirteen hundred dead: That screams to the heavens. That is not an issue of ‘proportionality,’ which is impossible in any asymmetrical war. A pile of corpses like that is a nightmare, a catastrophe… That is a down payment on the Apocalypse — no matter who started it, who bears responsibility and who ultimately settles the score… Hamas cannot win against Israel, but Israel really can lose against Hamas.”

“Gaza War Utter Failure for Israel”

Haaretz reported on January 22:

“On the morrow of the return of the last Israeli soldier from Gaza, we can determine with certainty that they had all gone out there in vain. This war ended in utter failure for Israel. This goes beyond the profound moral failure, which is a grave matter in itself, but pertains to its inability to reach its stated goals. In other words, the grief is not complemented by failure. We have gained nothing in this war save hundreds of graves, some of them very small, thousands of maimed people, much destruction and the besmirching of Israel’s image…

“The initial objective of the war was to put an end to the firing of Qassam rockets. This did not cease until the war’s last day. It was only achieved after a cease-fire had already been arranged. Defense officials estimate that Hamas still has 1,000 rockets. The war’s second objective, the prevention of smuggling, was not met either. The head of the Shin Bet security service has estimated that smuggling will be renewed within two months… this war has served to prove that only poor quality, rudimentary weapons passed through the smuggling tunnels connecting the Gaza Strip to Egypt.

“Israel’s ability to achieve its third objective is also dubious… The deterrence we supposedly achieved in the Second Lebanon War has not had the slightest effect on Hamas, and the one supposedly achieved now isn’t working any better: The sporadic firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip has continued over the past few days.

“The fourth objective, which remained undeclared, was not met either. The IDF has not restored its capability… The heroic descriptions and victory poems written abut the ‘military triumph’ will not serve to change reality… The describing of the operation as a ‘military achievement’ by the various generals and analysts who offered their take on the operation is plain ridiculous.

“We have not weakened Hamas. The vast majority of its combatants were not harmed and popular support for the organization has in fact increased. Their war has intensified the ethos of resistance and determined endurance… The population in Gaza, which has sustained such a severe blow, will not become more moderate now. On the contrary, the national sentiment will now turn more than before against the party which inflicted that blow – the State of Israel…

“When it comes to assessing Israel’s international situation, we must not allow ourselves to be fooled by the support parade by Europe’s leaders, who came in for a photo-op with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert… The conclusion [of the world] is that Israel is a violent and dangerous country, devoid of all restraints and blatantly ignoring the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, while not giving a hoot about international law…”

“Hamas Use of Children During Gaza Operation Was Monstrous”

Haaretz reported on January 22:

“The Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division Commander on Thursday branded Hamas’ use of women and children during Israel’s recent offensive in the coastal strip as ‘monstrous’ and ‘inhumane.’ Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg said the civilians were sent by Hamas to transfer weapons to gunmen during the offensive. He also accused the Islamist militant group of booby-trapping many of the civilians’ homes…

“Israel has been heavily criticized for the high number of Palestinian civilian casualties in the operation. Eisenberg, however, asserted that Israel Defense Forces soldiers adhered to moral principles while fighting in Gaza. Palestinian civilians, meanwhile, have accused Hamas of forcing them to stay in homes from which gunmen shot at Israeli soldiers during the recent hostilities in Gaza, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Thursday.

“The Italian paper also quoted a doctor at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital as disputing the number of Palestinians said to have been killed in the campaign. ‘It’s possible that the death toll in Gaza was 500 or 600 at the most, mainly youths aged 17 to 23 who were enlisted by Hamas – who sent them to their deaths,’ he said… The Gaza doctor was further quoted as saying: ‘Perhaps it is like Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they spoke about 1,500 dead, and at the end it turned out to be only 54 – of whom 45 were militants.'”

Iran Gets Involved Again

The Jerusalem Post reported on January 20:

“Iran has renewed efforts to supply advanced weaponry to Hamas… On Monday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that renewed weapons smuggling would be legitimate grounds for Israel to renew attacks against Hamas.”

Iran–The Nuclear Clock Is Ticking…

Haaretz wrote on January 22:

“The policy Obama is formulating is one of engagement and negotiation. He hopes the Iranians will be tempted to respond to the generous proposals he intends to offer them, diplomatic relations, lifting sanctions, improved commercial ties, and in return a halt or at least suspend uranium enrichment.

“Iran… will ostensibly respond favorably to the American courtship and will even reciprocate with some gestures of its own, but in practice, Iran will accelerate its nuclear program and there are already signs of this. Even leading U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge that Iran is likely to produce its first nuclear bomb as early as this year. Remarks to this effect were made last week by CIA Director Michael Hayden, and the director of national intelligence, Michael McConnell, who said he is concerned Iran would continue along a path that will end with nuclear weapons…

“This is a race against the clock for all parties involved, Israel foremost among them, which may be obstructed by Obama’s policy, even though his intention to negotiate with Iran is good. It is clear to all the experts that Israel will be unable to attack without coordinating it on one way or another – probably tacitly with the American administration. And such coordination will be difficult, certainly a decision to let Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities so long as negotiations are underway between Washington and Tehran.

“The concern in Israel is that if the negotiations end in failure and even if Obama’s administration reaches the conclusion that Iran was toying with it and never intended to reach a compromise and suspend its uranium enrichment, it might already be too late. Iran might have nuclear weapons and then it will be too late and too dangerous to attack it.”

Will Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt Unite?

The New York Times wrote on January 19:

“At the talks in Kuwait, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion toward a $2 billion reconstruction fund [for Gaza] that Palestinians are seeking to establish… King Abdullah exhorted Arab nations to overcome their divisions and urged Israel to embrace an Arab peace plan put forward in 2002 or risk its being withdrawn… On the sidelines, leaders from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt met privately, apparently seeking to present a united front. Syria called for declaring Israel a terrorist state…”

The Los Angeles Times added on January 19:

“By offering cash and talking tough, Saudi King Abdullah sought to absorb popular anger directed at the so-called moderate Arab states, which have been accused of failing to do enough to halt the Israeli offensive. He also hopes to recapture Saudi Arabia’s diminished stature in the Arab world.

“The nation has been eclipsed by Syria and Iran, which support Hamas, and Qatar, which emerged as a diplomatic powerhouse in May after bypassing the Saudis in brokering a deal between competing Western-allied and Iranian-backed factions in Lebanon.”

Interview with Syria’s Bashar Assad

On January 19, Der Spiegel Online published a revealing interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad. We are bringing you the following excerpts:

“Basically, Hamas is not the problem in this conflict, but Israel… The fact is that for six months Hamas complied with the cease-fire that had been agreed upon… Hamas captured an absolute majority of votes in the internationally recognized parliamentary election three years ago, a landslide victory… During the most recent six-month ceasefire, Israel targeted and killed more than a dozen Palestinians, but no Israeli died. And yet Europe remained silent…

“We do not recognize Israel and Israel is still our enemy — it occupies part of our country, the Golan Heights. If the Israelis withdraw from Golan, we will recognize them. First comes peace, then recognition — not the other way around… Hamas must be included. Nothing will work without Hamas… Hamas today must be part of an agreement…

“Hamas will not disappear… Hamas has the trust of the people, and anyone who wishes to destroy it must destroy an entire people… we would welcome it if the Germans, in general, played a larger role… Peace without Syria is unthinkable.”

War in the Middle East

In this week’s Update, we are mainly reporting on the situation in the Middle East, and worldwide reactions to this crisis. All of these events ARE clearly in line with biblical prophecy.

While the war in Gaza continues, the overwhelming worldwide reaction has become one of CONDEMNATION of Israel. Demands for a cease fire get louder, but the warring parties don’t show any signs of listening. A report last week by the New York Times, stating that Israel was allegedly willing to attack IRAN directly last year, but did not get the green light from the USA, has raised concerns as to what Israel was and is willing to do. This is even more true specially in light of most recent news reports that Israel is preparing a strike against Iran within a few DAYS!!!

On the other hand, Iran is clearly involved in the present conflict between Israel and Hamas, and its destructive ambitions towards Israel must not be underestimated.

The Bible tells us that Israel will be hated by all nations. In addition, more and more voices are being heard now demanding a European intervention in the Middle East–again underscoring biblical prophecy announcing in advance that Europe will send TROOPS to the Middle East just prior to the return of Jesus Christ.

In light of all these worldwide crises, the EU is becoming more and more serious about the appointment of an EU President with REAL powers. And it is being considered that he should be selected from one of the BIGGER EU states! The Bible prophesies that such a powerful European leader being, of German descent, WILL ultimately manifest himself on the world scene. (See our free booklets, “Europe in Prophecy” and “The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord.”)

We conclude this section with articles on the terrible financial situation in the USA. And this, too, is in line with biblical prophecies which predict that the USA will lose its status as a world superpower. (See our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”)

We are observing how prophecy is being fulfilled. It is exciting and at the same time sobering how quickly these events are shaping up… and God’s Church has a duty, of course, to report these developments in no uncertain terms. Not everyone will agree with what we write–but we are not in a popularity contest. Rather, we are conscious of the commission which God has given His end-time Church to carry out.

Israel Losing Public Relations War

The Financial Times reported on January 10:

“As Israel’s offensive in Gaza enters its third week, the Jewish state appears to be rapidly losing the public relations war abroad as criticism from United Nations officials and humanitarian agencies has mounted amid the constant stream of pictures of dead and wounded women and children.

“Israeli strikes on UN convoys and schools sheltering hundreds of Palestinians who fled their homes, as well allegations that Israeli troops prevented medical workers from retrieving dead and injured Palestinians, have increasingly called into question Israel’s conduct of the war.

“A UN agency added to the increasing negative news flow with a report that cited witness testimony alleging that Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian civilians to a house in Gaza City and then repeatedly shelled the building 24 hours later, killing some 30 people inside.

“And from the outset, Israel has been under fire for preventing foreign journalists from entering the strip – restrictions that were in place weeks before the bombardment started.

“‘… all [of this has] been hugely detrimental to the Israeli cause,’ said Charlie Beckett, a media specialist at the London School of Economics. ‘The fact that the Israelis seem to be trying to blockade the media only hurts their argument that they are somehow more democratic, more open and not terrorists.’

“Israel officials have insisted they regret civilian deaths and have accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields. They have also sought to highlight the threat posed by rockets fired by Palestinian militants into southern Israel – which have killed three Israelis since the offensive started – saying some 950,000 Israelis are vulnerable to attacks. But analysts say the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza overwhelms the impact.

“Anthony Cordesman, at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says Israel has failed to talk to the world ‘in ways that the outside world finds relevant. We are now two weeks into the war and nobody has a clear idea what the Israelis are attempting to accomplish,’ he says…

“Still, an Israeli newspaper poll on Friday showed that 91 per cent of Israeli Jews were still in favour of the war… But for Israel losing the propaganda war could be costly.”

U.N. and France Condemn Israel

The Associated Press reported on January 15:

“Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, engulfing the compound and a warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees.”

It added in a related article:

“U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was in the area on a mission to end Israel’s devastating offensive against the territory’s Hamas rulers. Ban expressed ‘outrage’ over the bombing. He said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told him there had been a ‘grave mistake’ and promised to pay extra attention to protecting U.N. installations…”

Press TV reported on January 15:

“The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday issued strong condemnation of Tel Aviv over its targeting of several hospitals, a UN compound and a media building in the Gaza Strip… The comments come on the 20th day of the Tel Aviv offensive into the coastal sliver. So far at least 1,100 Palestinians have been killed and around 4,700 others have been wounded, according to medics.”

Most Germans Blame Israel at Least in Part for the War in Gaza

Deutsche Welle reported on January 14:

“Germany is split over its feelings towards Israel, according to a new survey. Of those questioned, 60 per cent thought the country no longer had a special duty towards the Jewish state… The figures… showed less engagement amongst young people, of whom 70 percent felt no special responsibility towards Israel…

“Questioned about the Gaza conflict, 30 percent held Hamas responsible for the current military offensive. Some 13 percent blamed Israel, while 35 percent said the causes lie on both sides in equal measure…

“More generally, 49 percent considered Israel to be an aggressive country. A further 10 percent said Israel was acting without regard for other countries. Only 30 percent of those surveyed thought Israel was respecting human rights.”

Israel Angers Bush Administration

The Jerusalem Post wrote on January 14:

“Ehud Olmert’s aides on Wednesday said that the prime minister stood by his claim that his intervention made the US abstain from last Thursday’s UN Security Council resolution vote on a Gaza cease-fire… Olmert had claimed that US President George W. Bush broke off a speech he was giving in Philadelphia to take his call, and that the abstention embarrassed Rice…

“Israel and the US engaged in a rare and uncharacteristic public spat Tuesday over events leading up to the UN vote… State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Olmert’s story of what happened in his conversation with Bush was ‘just 100 percent, totally, completely not true’…

“McCormack said that Rice had decided as early as Wednesday that she would not veto a resolution, after Arab ministers rejected an initial effort by the US to push for a weaker presidential statement from the Security Council. That left her with the option of either voting for the final text or abstaining…

“Middle East expert Steven Spiegel described the episode as ‘the worst faux pas by an Israeli prime minister in history.’

“‘You really do wonder what the prime minister was thinking – if it’s true, you’d really want to keep it as quiet as possible, and if it’s not true, why would you want to make up a story that would embarrass both the Bush administration and the Israeli government and draw criticism from those who are antagonistic to Israel?’ asked Spiegel, director of the Center for Middle East Development at UCLA. ‘No matter how you play it, exaggeration, falsehood, whole truth, the whole thing makes them all look bad,’ Spiegel told The Jerusalem Post.”

European Anti-Israel Demonstrations

The EUObserver wrote on January 12:

“Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across the [European] continent to protest Israel’s war on Gaza over the weekend in the biggest pan-European demonstrations the continent has seen since those against the launch of the Iraq war in 2003…

“Massive protests… took place in London, Brussels and throughout France. Sizeable demonstrations also took place in German and Italian cities, as well as Athens, Thessaloniki, Budapest, Bregenz, Oslo and Stockholm. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, the first European leader to take part in such rallies, addressed a protest in Ourense…

“In the UK, 100,000 filled Hyde Park in London… Around 123,000 people took part in protests throughout France… Germany, home to some of Israel’s strongest supporters in Europe, was not immune, with 40,000 taking part in protests across the country, despite temperatures below zero, although most German politicians and trade union leaders were noticeable by their absence…

“The weekend also saw a handful of rallies supporting the Jewish state’s assault on Gaza, with 3,000 in Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, 4,000 in Marseille, some 800 in Antwerp and a sizeable crowd of 200 in Prague.

“Two large pro-Israel rallies also took place in London and Manchester on Sunday. The estimated between 4,000 and 15,000 in Trafalgar Square raised a sea of Israeli and British flags and was addressed by Labour MPs. Another 2,000 showed their solidarity with Israel outside Manchester’s town hall.”

Articles like these show the growing anti-Israeli position around the world, a “handful” of some pro-Israeli voices notwithstanding–except, interestingly enough, for a larger pro-Israeli demo in Britain. But we also read in the Bible that Ephraim–Great Britain–will finally be taking a stance against Judah–the state of Israel.

The above-quoted article said that Germany was the “home to some of Israel’s strongest supporters in Europe.” This might be the official position of some governmental leaders and the politically accurate representations within the German main-stream press, but this is NOT the position of most German PEOPLE.

Holy See Advocates International Intervention in the Middle East

Zenit wrote on January 12:

“The warring parties in the Middle East cannot get out of the circle of violence on their own, and so they need international help, says the Holy See [adding that]… the international community… should therefore fulfill its responsibilities [and] intervene actively to stop the bloodshed, provide access for emergency humanitarian assistance, and end all forms of confrontation.”

In Need–A Real European President

The Financial Times wrote on January 11:

“Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, is re-emerging as a possible choice to be the European Union’s first full-time president after four momentous crises reinforced the argument for having a high-profile international personality in the job… the sheer scale of the challenges facing the EU – from last August’s Russia-Georgia war and the global financial meltdown to the Gaza conflict and the shutdown of Russian gas deliveries to Europe – is redefining the debate.

“Whereas last year Germany and other countries looked favorably on candidates such as Jean-Claude Juncker, the long-serving prime minister of Luxembourg, more policymakers now feel the EU presidency demands an occupant from a much bigger member-state.”

How Iran Directs Its “Spiritual Little Brothers” Hamas and Hezbollah

The Jerusalem Post wrote on January 12:

“Iran is exerting heavy pressure on Hamas not to accept the Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire with Israel, an Egyptian government official said on Sunday… As soon as the Iranians heard about the Egyptian cease-fire initiative, they dispatched… two officials to Damascus on an urgent mission to warn the Palestinians against accepting it,’ the Egyptian government official told the Post.

“‘The Iranians threatened to stop weapons supplies and funding to the Palestinian factions if they agreed to a cease-fire with Israel. The Iranians want to fight Israel and the US indirectly. They are doing this through Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon…’

“The Egyptian official accused Iran of ‘encouraging’ Hamas to continue firing rockets at Israel with the hope that this would trigger a war that would divert attention from Iran’s nuclear plans. ‘This conflict serves the interests of the Iranians,’ he said. ‘They are satisfied because the violence in the Gaza Strip has diverted attention from their nuclear ambitions.'”

In addition, The Associated Press reported about Hezbollah’s involvement on January 10:

“Nearly 20,000 people marched through the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh in a protest organized by the militant Hezbollah group, a strong ally of Hamas that fought its own war with Israel in the summer of 2006.”

CAN Israel Win Against Iran’s Proxy Hamas?

This week’s edition of Time Magazine published the following words on its cover: “Why Israel Can’t Win. The siege of Gaza may punish Hamas, but it won’t make Israel safe. Why it is in peril like never before.”

Inside the magazine, an article with this headline was published: “Can Israel Survive Its Assault on Gaza?” In the article, it was stated:

“Israeli politicians and generals know that the total elimination of Hamas’ entrenched military command could take weeks; it might be altogether impossible. The more realistic outcome is an unsatisfactory, brokered truce that leaves Hamas wounded but alive and able to regenerate — and Israel only temporarily safe from attack.

“Israel’s Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, has promised a ‘war to the bitter end.’ But after 60 years of struggle to defend their existence against foreign threats and enemies within, many Israelis may be wondering, Where does that end lie? The threat posed by Hamas is only the most immediate of the many interlocking challenges facing Israel, some of which cast dark shadows over the long-term viability of a democratic Jewish state. The offensive in Gaza may degrade Hamas’ ability to menace southern Israel with rocket fire, but, as with Israel’s 2006 war against Hizballah, the application of force won’t extinguish the militants’ ideological fervor.

“The anti-Israeli anger swelling in the region has made it more difficult for Arab governments to join Israel in its efforts to deal with Iran, the patron of both Hamas and Hizballah and a state whose leaders have sworn to eliminate Israel and appear determined to acquire nuclear weapons…

“But there’s something tragic, too, in Israel’s predicament: in any confrontation with its enemies, it is damned if it does and doomed if it doesn’t. Across Israel’s political spectrum there seems to be a consensus that Hamas’ provocative rocket barrages could not go unanswered — though whether Israel’s response has been proportional to the threat is, at the least, questionable…

“After weeks of global outrage over the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza, any mediator — France, the European Union, Turkey and Egypt are all auditioning for the role — will insist that Israel end its 18-month blockade. What then? Like Hizballah, Hamas will declare itself victorious…”

Israel to Strike Iran Within DAYS???

Newsmax.com wrote on January 12:

“Informed sources in Washington tell Newsmax that Israel indeed will launch a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities soon – possibly in just days as President George W. Bush prepares to leave office. The reason: The time clock has begun to run out. Iran is close to acquiring a nuclear device under the control of its radical president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in June that Iran would have a nuclear weapon in as little as six months. That six-month period has passed.

“Reports of Israel’s decision to imminently launch strikes, although unconfirmed, would seem to contradict the Bush stance outlined in a front-page New York Times story last week, which asserted that Bush rejected a plea from Israel last year to help it raid Iran’s main nuclear complex. The Times said Israel was rebuffed after it requested from the U.S. specialized bunker-busting bombs that it needs to attack Iran’s nuclear complex at Natanz. The U.S. also reportedly nixed permission to the Israeli warplanes to fly over Iraqi territory to reach Iran…

“Last year 100 Israeli jets took part in an exercise over the eastern Mediterranean that was interpreted as a dress rehearsal for a possible attack on Iran.  And on Sept. 6 Israel launched an air attack against a site in Syria believed to be a nuclear-related facility containing material delivered by North Korea.

“Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton predicted that Israel would stage a raid against Iran’s nuclear facilities if Barack Obama won the presidential election. Bolton stated that he believed the Israeli attack would take place sometime between the day after Obama’s win and his inauguration on January 20. In an interview with FOX News, Bolton reasoned that Israel wouldn’t be able to hold off a strike on Iran any longer than that given Obama’s more conciliatory approach to Iran…

“William Perry, U.S. Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton, said that Obama would face a major crisis in his first few months in office over Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Perry, speaking at a foreign policy conference on Jan. 8, said that Iran is ‘moving inexorably toward becoming a nuclear power’ and ‘it seems clear that Israel will not sit by idle while Iran takes the final steps toward becoming a nuclear power’…

“Iran, even without nuclear weapons, is a regional power. If attacked, they are likely to press proxy terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah to launch offensives against Israel and possibly the U.S. Iran has warned in the past that it would launch a ‘missile blitz’ against Gulf states if it is attacked. And last July a senior Iranian official said the Islamic Republic would destroy Israel and 32 U.S. military bases in the Middle East if Iran is attacked over its nuclear program… Even more ominously, Iran has reportedly carried out missile tests for what could be a plan for a nuclear strike on the U.S.”

“U.S. Economy on Brink of Disaster”

Newsmax reported on January 12:

“When ‘IOUSA’ made its documentary film debut last August, it soon earned the sobriquet ‘fiscal wake-up tour.’  Its unrelenting gloom toted up a $9 trillion federal debt, a $738.6 billion trade deficit, and the news that each U.S. citizen now owes $30,000.

“But all the stats are already hopelessly out of date… Fiscal irresponsibility is now a calamitous cycle that poses a bigger threat than al-Qaida and its plans to attack the United States with a weapon of mass destruction…

“Today, counting all those who have dropped off unemployment rolls for part-time work or no work, 21 million Americans are either jobless or underemployed. Average workweeks also are being cut back. Some employers now shorten workweeks as a way to keep some on the payroll. And as the baby boomer generation begins to retire, ‘IOUSA’ asks if there will even be any Social Security benefits left to collect.

“Overextended entitlement programs and debts to foreign countries are becoming impossible to honor… The United States has mortgaged its future to foreigners with promises to its own people it can’t possibly keep. China, with $1.3 trillion in U.S. paper, could decide its strategic interest is no longer compatible with America’s — and quit as America’s banker…

“Overspending still dominates the lives of U.S. citizens. The Chinese save 35 percent of what they earn; Americans save less than 1 percent, the lowest of any developed country… Americans are now shocked to see their 401(k) retirement savings accounts losing their allure, as many employers say they no longer can afford matching funds. The government, for its part, is taking in more than it can pay out.”

More Banks in Trouble and Stocks Take a Dive

Reuters reported on January 15:

“Shares of Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc plummeted Thursday on worries the banks may need more government help to handle soaring credit losses… Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank, is seeking billions of dollars of new aid after realizing that credit losses at Merrill Lynch & Co, which it bought on January 1, were much higher than expected… Citigroup, the No. 3 U.S. bank, is expected on Friday to report a fifth straight multibillion-dollar quarterly loss… Even Wells Fargo & Co, which just bought troubled Wachovia Corp and has long been considered among the best-managed large banks, was hit, falling $3.90, or 16.9 percent, to $19.17.”

The Associated Press wrote on January 15:

“On Wednesday, stocks took a dive reminiscent of the terrifying jumps and drops of last fall, with the Dow Jones industrials falling more than 300 points before closing down 248. It was the Dow’s biggest point drop since Dec. 1 and the first string of six straight down days since early October…

“Holiday sales turned out to have been worse than expected, the jobless rate exceeds 7 percent for the first time in 16 years, the global economy is eroding faster and corporations from Alcoa to Intel to Wal-Mart have disappointed investors. Apple was the latest company out with bad news Wednesday, with CEO Steve Jobs saying he is taking a medical leave of absence.

“‘Right now we just don’t have any evidence to show that that free fall is over,’ said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh.”

Europe Gets Involved in the Middle East…

The EUObserver wrote on January 2 that “Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told national TV on Thursday (1 January)… ‘It is up to the European Union to take over the initiative [on the Middle East]…'”

… But May Have Little Success–For Now!

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 5:

“Europe is trying to step into a diplomatic vacuum left by the US… because the government in Washington is in limbo for the coming two weeks until President George W. Bush formally hands power over to Barack Obama. But Europe’s many envoys are a hindrance to each other, German media say…

“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘… This chaos won’t result in any order, let alone lead to peace. In the Middle East, strength is what counts…’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… The chances of the EU [of] mediating successfully between the Israelis and Palestinians are already poor, but the chances of the Czech presidency doing so are virtually zero…'”

How divided, bumbling and INCONSISTENT the politics of certain European countries are–especially the Czech Republic and France–can be seen in the following article by the EUObserver, dated January 5:

“The Czech EU presidency this weekend retracted its support for Israel amid the ground attack on Gaza, while France switched its criticism from Israel to Hamas… ‘Even the undisputable right of the state to defend itself does not allow actions which largely affect civilians,’ [the Czech government said]… Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who last week complained about Israel’s disproportionate use of force, laid the lion’s share of blame on Hamas in an interview on Monday.”

The article continued to report about growing anger amongst “ordinary Europeans.” It stated:

“Pro-Palestinian marchers took to the streets of the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Greece and Cyprus, with reports of skirmishes outside Israeli embassies. In Paris, 20,000 people marched in support of the Palestinians on Saturday, while a crowd of 12,000 showed its solidarity with Israel on Sunday.

“Pro-Palestinian protests also took place in Turkey, Iran, Syria, India and Lebanon, with Israel tightening security on its northern border amid fears that Lebanese militants Hezbollah may fire rockets in the coming days.”

All of this shows Europe’s DESIRE to become the world’s policeman. However, Europe is still divided, and therefore, Europeans realize that a STRONG European leader with REAL powers would be necessary to fill the vacuum left by the USA. Bible prophecy reveals that such a STRONG European leader will arrive soon. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.”

Will America Stab Israel in the Back?

The New York Post wrote on January 1:

“As world leaders and international organizations rush to rescue Hamas, Israel faces complex battlefield challenges – while fearing a stab in the back from the incoming Obama administration…

“Even the timing of Israel’s strike at Hamas has been driven, at least in part, by the coming power transfer in Washington. The immediate trigger was the hundreds of Hamas rocket attacks on Israel after the terrorists refused to renew an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire, but Israel’s leaders also counted on steadfast support from the Bush administration in its final days.

“Obama’s an unknown quantity, though. While hysterical claims that he’ll be pro-Islamist from start to finish are absurd, even minor shifts away from supporting Israel’s struggle against terrorists could have catastrophic consequences. And Israel’s vaunted intelligence services can’t tell their superiors what Obama will do, since few (if any) of the president-elect’s supporters know what he intends to do.

“In fact, the president-elect may not know himself. He’s a babe in the woods, and the woods are full of wolves. Fighting political rivals doesn’t prepare you for fighting terrorist fanatics… his all-too-coy insistence that ‘we have only one president at a time’ has been selective from the start. Glad to pontificate on stimulus packages and union benefits, Obama has used the one-president mantra to avoid taking stands on difficult issues that bedevil or bewilder him.

“Our president-elect needed to make a clear, prompt statement in support of Israel. He didn’t. If I were an Israeli leader, I’d be worried, too. Obama [is] notorious for avoiding firm stands that might alienate any important constituency. But you can’t have it both ways in the Middle East. He needs to stand up in support of Israel. Now. Israeli soldiers should not have to go into battle worrying about an American bullet in the back.”

The Deafening Silence of Barack Obama

The Times wrote on January 2:

“As the new year begins to the depressingly familiar noise of war in the Middle East, a pregnant silence is all that can be heard from Barack Obama… The whole world is waiting impatiently for Mr Obama to start making good on his promise of change. Of all the issues that have separated the US from the rest of the world during the Bush presidency, the Israeli-Palestinian one might span the largest chasm.

“Europeans and Arabs have simply not been able to believe at times the virtually unyielding pro-Israel line that the US has taken since 2001, whether over Jewish settlements, Ariel Sharon’s security fence, the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 or the present fighting with Hamas, or on any number of lesser but pointed issues.

“There are lingering hopes in Europe and much of the Middle East (suspicions in some parts of America) that the new president will seek to rebalance US policy. No one really thinks that Mr Obama is about to ‘get tough’ with the Israelis… a sharp change in direction in the Middle East is not going to be high on the new President’s agenda.

“The challenges confronting him – put simply, rescuing the US economy from a possible depression and winning wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – won’t leave much time for eye-catching new initiatives on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. And that’s before he has to decide how to deal with the emerging Iranian nuclear threat.”

A Jewish Rabbi’s Grief for Gaza

On January 5, The Times published the following editorial by Rabbi Michael Lerner:

“Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but stupid. No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighbouring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialists bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for America to mobilise a counterattack. Israel has every right to respond.

“But the kind of response matters. Killing 500 Palestinians and wounding 2,000 others (at the time of writing) is disproportionate. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel. And just as Hamas’s indiscriminate bombing of population centres is a crime against humanity, so is Israel’s killing of civilians (at least 130 so far in Gaza, not to mention the thousands in the years of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza)…

“How do we get out of this destructive spiral? The first step is for the world to demand an immediate ceasefire. That ceasefire should be imposed by the United Nations and backed unequivocally by America…

“It breaks my heart to see the terrible suffering in Gaza and in Israel. As a religious Jew I find it all the worse, because it confirms to me how easy it is to pervert the loving message of Judaism into a message of hatred and domination. I remain in mourning for the Jewish people, for Israel and for the world.”

Civilians Suffer the Most in Israel’s Proxy War Against Iran

Der Spiegel Online wrote on January 5:

“Israel hopes to critically weaken Hamas with its attacks in the Gaza Strip. Governments in the West and even in the Arab world can understand Israel’s aims, but civilians are the ones suffering the most from the bombardment. How much bloody retribution is legitimate?…

“What happened in Lebanon two years ago and is happening in Gaza today can also be seen as a proxy war — as operations against Iran’s spiritual little brothers, who deny Israel’s right to exist…

“The Arab world is divided more than ever in its position toward the war between the Israelis and Hamas. Egyptian President Mubarak blames the Hamas leaders for the attacks… Most Arab governments feel antipathy toward the mullah regime in Iran, which seeks to develop itself into a hegemonial power in the region. But their populations are enthusiastic about Tehran’s aggressive rhetoric, such as the words of the Iranian revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: ‘Can there be a catastrophe greater than the behavior of the Muslim states who strengthen the Zionist regime?’

“The hero of the Arab street is Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.”

EU Warns Israel Is Destroying Its Image

The EUObserver wrote on January 7:

“Pressure to obtain a ceasefire in Gaza has been mounting, with the EU warning Israel it was ‘destroying’ its image, while Israeli forces on Tuesday (6 January) killed at least 40 people during an attack on a United Nations-run school in Gaza… The bombing has drawn international condemnation, with the EU calling it “completely unacceptable’… The Israeli military however argued Hamas fighters had fired mortar shells at their forces from the school and they had to return fire…

“‘We have come to Israel in order to advance the initiative for a humanitarian ceasefire and I will tell you, Mr President, that you have a serious problem with international advocacy, and that Israel’s image is being destroyed,’ EU foreign affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Israeli President Shimon Peres during the visit of an EU delegation in the region.

“But Mr Peres retorted that Israel was fighting other wars and a public image one was not among them. ‘Europe must open its eyes. We are not in the business of public relations or improving our image. We are fighting against terror, and we have every right to defend our citizens,’ he told an EU ministerial delegation…”

“EU Must Stop to Support Israel”

Deutsche Welle reported on January 7:

“The European Union must put all hopes of building a closer relationship with Israel on hold until the fighting in the Gaza Strip ends, a group of leading aid agencies said Wednesday… It would be ‘inconceivable’ for the EU to work for closer ties with Israel at a time when the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has been ‘pushed to crisis point’ by Israel’s assault on the salient, the statement by groups including Oxfam and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said…

“On June 16, the EU accepted an Israeli request to upgrade bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, environmental protection and research. However, in December the bloc stressed that that cooperation should include working towards a peaceful settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.

“Given Israel’s massive offensive against the Islamic group Hamas, which the EU lists as a terrorist organization, the 11 aid agencies who signed the statement demanded that the upgrade be put on hold. Instead, ‘the EU must now apply real pressure to convince Israeli and Hamas leaders to accept (a truce) and redouble its efforts to achieve sustainable peace in the region,’ Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International, said.”

Will Germany Send Troops to Gaza?

Deutsche Welle reported on January 7:

“There have also been calls by politicians for German peacekeepers to be sent to Gaza. Eckart von Klaeden, a foreign policy spokesman in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said the use of German troops was feasible but they must have ‘robust’ powers. However, government  spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said the discussion about sending German troops in blue UN helmets was premature.”

“Attack on Israel from Lebanon Threatens 2nd Front”

The Associated Press reported on January 8:

“Lebanese militants fired at least three rockets into Israel early Thursday, threatening to open a new front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with a bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed nearly 700 people. Two people were lightly injured, and the rockets that exploded in Israel’s north raised the specter of renewed hostilities with Hezbollah…”

Deutsche Welle added on January 8 that “Hezbollah has denied firing” these rockets.

Germany’s Interests in Iran May Necessitate U.S. Military Action

Deutsche Welle reported on January 2:

“A US think tank has warned that diplomacy would not stop Iran’s nuclear program and that harsher sanctions against Tehran should be adopted, a move that could drive a wedge between the White House and Germany.

“… a new round of sanctions risks magnifying the diverging interests between the US and its allies such as Germany, which still has firm financial connections with Iranian banks and which continues to do business with the Islamic republic of around 70 million inhabitants. In fact, some 75 percent of all medium and small businesses in Iran use German-made equipment… In November, the German-Iranian Chamber of Commerce met in Hamburg to discuss the UN sanctions and how they could affect German firms doing business in the Islamic country. Some of the advice included ways of obtaining German government guarantees for trade with Tehran… The reaction to this in the US has been one of growing anger, particularly in the conservative press.

“‘Germany loves Iran,’ the Wall Street Journal said in a commentary by editorial writer Dan Schwammenthal. He pointed out that German-Iranian trade had increased 14.1 percent in the first seven months of 2008. Germany, he said, was less worried about an Iranian nuclear bomb than it was about tighting [sic] sanctions that could negatively affect trade between the two countries.

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly emphasized Germany’s special responsibility to protect Israel. She insists that Germany is only obliged to obey the UN sanctions and will not undertake any further unilateral action against Iran at this time. Thus, Iranian banks such as the government-owned Melli and Saderat banks — which have been accused by Washington of funding terrorists and weapons research — do flourishing business in Germany…

“With such vested interests, it is a matter of debate among conservative thinkers as to whether a peaceful solution can be found to the Iranian question. Phillips, the Middle East expert, noted the years-long efforts by Europeans as part of talks involving Germany, Britain and France have showed [sic] that negotiations bring nothing. He added that the situation was not helped by the fact that, for example, the German government still undertook credit guarantees for Iranian business…

“As for the role of the Europeans in a new sanctions effort, many US analysts believe that they are more worried about keeping the US from invading Iran than they are about Iran’s development of nuclear weapons.”

War Between USA and Iran–“Sooner Than You Think”?

Newsmax.com reported on January 8 about Iran expert Kenneth R. Timmerman’s publication, “Six Days to War,” which lays out the scenario likely to unfold if the U.S. and Iran go to war. It was stated:

“In Timmerman’s report you’ll find out why ‘Six Days to War’ could happen sooner than you think — as many American assets are already ‘in position’ for an attack… As the Bush administration ratchets up the pressure, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs says the military option is still on the table and warns Iran that the U.S. can launch massive strikes using Navy and Air power.

“The new American commander in the region, Gen. David Petraeus, has also told Congress that Iran is supporting Iraqi insurgents killing Americans. President Bush said in a White House address that Iran, along with al-Qaida, are ‘two of the greatest threats to America.’

“Timmerman’s report on the looming war with Iran is based on sources including top Israeli intelligence officers, military and political leaders interviewed in Israel and Washington, D.C., and a key planning document… developed by the Iranian navy.”

The Success of the Euro

Welt-On-Line wrote on January 2:

“The introduction of the euro a decade ago may be the most successful product to date of European integration. Now used by sixteen countries -with the addition of Slovakia on Jan. 1- and 325 million people, the users and guardians of the euro have reason for optimism for a stable currency over the next ten years.

“The Eurozone, the sixteen-nation group of countries now using the common European currency, may be in recession, with the worst of the global financial crisis yet to come; but experts agree that without the euro, the financial situation of its users would be worse still.

“Introduced into world financial markets and for accounting purposes on Jan. 1, 1999, the euro and its caretaker, the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt, can now look back over ten years of contributing to the comparatively stable economic conditions prevailing in continental Europe.

“Perhaps the most significant flattery as the euro turns ten comes from that Euroskeptic nation par excellence, Great Britain, where some commentators are now wondering aloud whether adopting the euro (and ditching the age-old symbol of British financial prowess, the pound) would be a boon to the country’s economic future. But despite the pound’s nearing parity with the euro at the New Year, and a comment by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso that the UK is ‘closer than ever before’ to entering the Eurozone, such a move does not appear imminent.

“Not surprisingly, it was first British, then American observers who predicted the failure of the currency… Today, even those Britons most adamantly opposed to merging with ‘Euroland’, as it is derisively called there, would be hard pressed to argue that the euro has failed. On the contrary, adopting the euro has not only provided a stable currency for its users; it has also become the world’s second most popular currency reserve. Though the dollar remains king, representing two-thirds of all reserves compared to the euro’s one-quarter, some have suggested that this relationship might be reversed in the future.

“… it is hard to underestimate the importance of the stability provided by the single currency, especially in times of turmoil such as the present. The main strength of the euro is the solidity that comes with the vast size of the European economy standing behind it. This powerful economy strengthens the euro, while the prudent monetary policy of the ECB helps strengthen the economy in general.

“Thus it looks likely that the benefits of the currency will continue to attract European countries not yet members of the Eurozone. Denmark, which has already rejected the euro twice, is considering a third referendum which would likely pass. Eight eastern European countries and Sweden are required by the conditions of their membership in the EU to adopt the common currency sooner or later. The stalwart UK may hold on to its exemption negotiated into the Maastricht Treaty for now…”

The Euro–a Milestone of European Unification

Time Magazine wrote on January 1:

“Europe’s single currency has come of age early. The euro turns 10 on Jan. 1, a milestone for one of the most powerful symbols of European identity…

“It’s a remarkable achievement for a currency whose only global rival is the U.S. dollar. The greenback has more than two centuries of history behind it. But it wasn’t until Jan. 1, 1999 that 11 E.U. countries locked their national currencies together into a fixed exchange rate. Three years later, physical coins and notes became available, replacing national cash in a massive changeover operation.

“The euro zone is now 15 members large and has a combined population of about 320 million. However, many more people are directly affected by the currency, from would-be members whose money is already pegged to it, to countries like Montenegro and Kosovo, whose effective national currency is the euro. France’s former African colonies also peg their common currency to Europe’s. That means about 500 million people rely on the euro or euro-pegged currencies…”

Consider what might just be in our near future–the total collapse of the dollar. The US government is proposing spending at such an alarming level that it seems even the average Joe is beginning to question things (Compare our next article, “The Ever-Climbing American Debt”).

However, too many think that the things happening on such a wide front are just hic-ups and the normal ups and downs of a country’s fortunes. The truth is that events of the current moment are absolutely unprecedented! For more information, please read our free booklet, “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”

Russia Is At It Again…

The Independent wrote on January 7:

“Fears of a deep chill spread across Europe yesterday after a row between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices cut supplies to the rest of the continent on a day of plummeting temperatures and heavy snowfalls. The European Union said the situation was ‘completely unacceptable’ as thousands of businesses were urged to switch fuels, and households struggled to keep warm in sub-zero temperatures. But there was no sign of an end to the standoff between Russia’s energy monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine, locked in battle since New Year’s Day.

“Gazprom stopped pumping gas to Ukraine for domestic consumption on 1 January after the two countries failed to agree on a fixed price for 2009. The pipelines that cross Ukraine also carry gas to Europe but that continued to flow, until Moscow accused Ukraine of siphoning off Europe’s fuel and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin retaliated by ordering Gazprom to cut EU-bound exports by the amount being stolen.

“Yesterday Russia stopped gas supplies through Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia. The government of Slovakia declared a national emergency; Austria and Italy reported falls of 90 per cent; France said Russian supplies had tailed off 70 per cent, and Germany also reported a decline although did not quantify it.

“The Czech Republic, which took over the EU presidency this month, had sharp words for Moscow… In Bulgaria, the government has declared a ‘crisis situation’. The country not only has the lowest GDP per capita in the EU, but relies on Russia for all of its gas… Most European countries say they have enough gas in storage to cover at least a few weeks of disruption. The 27-nation EU gets about a quarter of its gas from Russia, of which 80 per cent is pumped through Ukraine.”

Deutsche Welle added on January 7:

“The EU warns Russia and Ukraine that they face long-term consequences unless they immediately resolve a dispute that has cut gas supplies to Europe…”

The Ever-Climbing American Debt

The Washington Post wrote on January 3:

“With President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats considering a massive spending package aimed at pulling the nation out of recession, the national debt is projected to jump by as much as $2 trillion this year, an unprecedented increase…[U.S.]

“As of yesterday, the debt stood at nearly $10.7 trillion, of which about $4.3 trillion is owed to other government institutions, such as the Social Security trust fund. Debt held by private investors totals nearly $6.4 trillion, or a little over 40 percent of gross domestic product.

“According to the most recent figures, foreign investors held about $3 trillion in U.S. debt at the end of October. China, which in October replaced Japan as the United States’ largest creditor, has increased its holdings by 42 percent over the past year; Britain and the Caribbean banking countries more than doubled their holdings.

“[U.S.] Economists from across the political spectrum have endorsed the idea of going deeper into debt to combat what many call the most dangerous economic conditions since the Great Depression.”

“Investors Dump $89B in U.S. Securities in Historic Fire Sale”

Even though foreign investors hold huge debts in the USA, many begin to manifest their concern about the faltering U.S. economy by dumping their U.S. investments. USA Today wrote on January 5:

“As the global financial crisis grew more severe this summer, foreigners sold almost $90 billion of U.S. securities — the greatest quarterly fire sale by overseas investors since the government began keeping track in 1960. U.S. investors also are retrenching; they unloaded about $85 billion worth of foreign holdings in the quarter…

“In the first quarter of 2008, foreigners deposited more than $79 billion with U.S. banks. That flow reversed in the second quarter, as foreigners withdrew a staggering $256 billion, and the outflow continued in the third quarter with an additional $147 billion… ‘Institutional investors, including banks, across the board are pulling their capital back home,’ says economist Eswar Prasad of the Brookings Institution.”

US Wants to Send 20,000 to 30,000 More Troops to Afghanistan

As if America’s experience with the ill-conceived Iraq war wasn’t bad enough, we are now advised that American troops are to be increased in Afghanistan. However, Afghanistan has also been a total failure for American endeavors, and nothing indicates that a huge increase of U.S. troops will bring any solutions. In fact, the opposite for American interests and its prestige around the world may be the result.

The Associated Press reported on January 2:

“The U.S. is preparing to pour at least 20,000 extra troops into southern Afghanistan to cope with a Taliban insurgency… Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month that Afghanistan could get up to 30,000 new U.S. troops in 2009… The infusion of U.S. power risks Americanizing a war that until now has been a shared mission of 41 coalition countries… In Canada and many European countries [including Germany], governments face low public support for keeping troops in Afghanistan combat zones.”

Violence in Mexico

The San Diego Union Tribune wrote on January 2:

“[Mexico’s border city with the USA] Tijuana marked its bloodiest year in 2008, with 843 killings, more than twice 2007’s total of 337… among the dead were children, spouses, co-workers and neighbors of suspected gang members who became caught in the [gangs’] crossfire. Also among the dead were 38 law enforcement agents from municipal, state and federal agencies. Authorities link some to organized crime, but say others were killed in the line of duty.

“Mexican authorities say that the killers are typically between 18 and 25, members of broken families lured by easy money into a life of crime, recruited in Tijuana and other parts of Mexico. They belong to a new generation of criminals…

“Drug-related violence has surged across Mexico, with 5,207 deaths in 2008 linked to organized crime, more than twice the 2007 total of 2,275… And while the violence is in Mexico, the problem is binational… It is the demand of U.S. consumers that drives the violence, and weapons from the United States that are used to carry it out…”

WAR in the Middle East

Deutsche Welle reported on December 28, 2008:

“Ruprecht Polenz, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) and the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament called on Barack Obama to place the Middle East high on his agenda when he takes office on Jan. 20. ‘Obama can’t allow himself to repeat the mistakes of his predecessors Bush and Clinton who both paid attention to Israel and Palestine only towards the end of their respective terms,’ Polenz told the Rheinische Post… But Obama gave no hint of future US policy on the Mideast conflict. His national security spokeswoman, Brooke Anderson told the Guardian newspaper Obama would make no comment, saying he was sticking to the formula that there should be ‘one president at a time’…

“The latest violence has stoked fears in the European Union, one of Israel’s most important foreign partners as well as the largest donor of aid to the Palestinian territories… EU High Representative Javier Solana on Saturday condemned as ‘unacceptable’ the death of Palestinian civilians in the Israeli air strikes and called for an immediate end to the violence…

“The deadly Israeli air strikes have triggered sharp condemnation around the world with bodies such as the United Nations and Amnesty International calling on armed Palestinians groups and Israeli forces to immediately end their fighting. The violence has also prompted rallies across the Middle East to protest Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip and to show support for Palestinians caught in the attacks.”

Welt-On-Line added on December 28 that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “blamed Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah in 2007, for triggering Israel’s raids by not extending the ceasefire that Egypt brokered in June…”

War in the Middle East–Iran Gets Officially Involved

Haaretz.com stated on December 28:

“Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree to Muslims around the world on Sunday, ordering them to defend Palestinians against Israel’s attacks on Gaza, state television said. ‘All Palestinian combatants and all the Islamic world’s pious people are obliged to defend the defenceless women, children and people in Gaza in any way possible. Whoever is killed in this legitimate defense is considered a martyr,’ state television quoted Khamenei as saying in a statement… Khamenei also criticized some Arab governments for their ‘encouraging silence’ towards the Israel’s raids on Gaza…

“In Damascus, Syria, Hamas’ top leader, Khaled Meshal, called on Palestinians to rekindle their fight against Israel and renew suicide bombings against Israeli targets. ‘This is the time for a third Intifada,’ he said…”

War in the Middle East–“Don’t Forget the Iranian Connection”

The Jerusalem Post wrote on December 29:

“Hizbullah is an Iranian creation. Hamas is not. But it has drawn itself increasingly into Iran’s orbit. Much of its imported weaponry, and the expertise with which it now produces and refines its own rockets, have been provided by Iran. Dozens of its commanders have been trained in Iran in recent years, coming home and disseminating that ‘education’ as Hamas has built an army in Gaza. And, increasingly too, Hamas has come to act in the service of Iran’s aims… Iran is inspiring, funding, arming and training Hamas. Iran is avowedly committed to Israel’s destruction, and regards Hamas as a tool toward this goal.

“The same Iran, via an emboldened Hizbullah, is now most of the way to achieving proxy control not merely of southern Lebanon, but all of Lebanon. The same Iran, already armed with missiles that can reach Israel, is extending its missile range to Europe and, it hopes, ultimately to North America… And that same Iran is moving ever closer to the nuclear capability it intends to use in the service of its goals.”

War in the Middle East–Hamas’ and Iran’s Fight Against Christianity

The Jerusalem Post wrote on December 25:

“Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed. On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari’a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion.

“Hamas’s endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn’t feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed a mortar shell at the Erez crossing point into Israel just as a group of Gazan Christians were standing on line waiting to travel to Bethlehem for Christmas.

“While Hamas joyously renewed its jihad against Jews and Christians, its overlords in Iran also basked in jihadist triumphalism. The source of Teheran’s sense of ascendancy this week was Britain’s Channel 4 network’s decision to request that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad give a special Christmas Day address to the British people. Ahmadinejad’s speech was supposed to be a response to Queen Elizabeth II’s traditional Christmas Day address to her subjects. That is, Channel 4 presented his message as a reasonable counterpoint to the Christmas greetings of the head of the Church of England…

“The reason that the West remains ignorant of the views and goals of the likes of Hamas and Iran is not that the latter have hidden their views and goals. It is because the leading political leaders and foreign policy practitioners in the West refuse to listen to them and deny the significance of their actions… The fact that Hamas itself is wholly dedicated to Israel’s destruction and Islamic global domination is irrelevant [to them]…

“MUSLIMS AREN’T the only ones whose views and actions are dismissed as irrelevant by these foreign policy wise men… Take Iran’s principal Asian ally, North Korea, for example. This week North Korea’s official news agency threatened to destroy South Korea in a ‘sea of fire,’ and ‘reduce everything treacherous and anti-reunification to debris and build an independent, reunified country on it,’ if any country dares to attack its nuclear installations. North Korea made its threat two weeks after Kim Jung Il’s regime disengaged from its fraudulent disarmament talks with the Bush administration.

“After Pyongyang agreed in February 2007 to eventually come clean on its plutonium installations (but not its uranium enrichment programs), and to account for its nuclear arsenal (but not for its proliferation activities), Rice convinced President Bush to remove North Korea from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terror and to end its subjection to the US’s Trading with the Enemy Act this past October. And then, after securing those massive US concessions, on December 11 Pyongyang renounced its commitments, walked away from the table and now threatens to destroy South Korea if anyone takes any action against it.”

War in the Middle East–Israel’s Big Gamble

The New York Times wrote on December 28:

“The risk to Israel in Gaza [seems to be] that if the operation fails or leaves Hamas in the position of scrappy survivor or even somehow perceived victor, it could then dominate Palestinian politics… Since Hamas, like Hezbollah, is committed to Israel’s destruction, that could pose a formidable strategic challenge. And despite unwavering expressions of support for Israel from President-elect Barack Obama during his campaign, Israel is also gambling that its aggressive military posture will not alienate the new administration…

“[On] the Jewish Sabbath and the first day of the Arab workweek, Israel struck… Few have focused on the fact that at this stage in the 2006 Lebanon war, there was the same satisfaction — before things turned disastrous.”

War in the Middle East–“‘The World’ Must Bring Peace!”

Deutsche Welle reported on December 28:

“Hamas and Israel are making the same old mistakes all over again because the latest attacks won’t solve anything… Unless there’s a miracle, this is the perfect situation for a further escalation which would have unforeseen consequences…

“Israel is committing a cardinal mistake by believing it can wipe out Hamas with a military operation. Just as it thought it could disarm Hezbollah two and a half years ago. The massive attack on Lebanon at the time instead bombed Hezbollah into the government and the same thing could happen with Hamas in Palestine…

“But the frustrated and battered Palestinians as well as Hamas are making a huge mistake too by hoping that Hamas’ uncompromising stance will lead to a solution or deliverance. Hamas’ vehement rejection of Israel’s right to exist cannot be a foundation for peace…

“The world can no longer afford to sit back and watch. If international troops can be mobilized for the fight against terrorists and pirates, then the world should be able to do more in Palestine than simply pay lip service. At least in order to prevent the worst if not to bring peace.”

War in the Middle East–European Reactions

Deutsche Welle reported on December 28:

“European newspapers criticized both Hamas and Israel for the eruption of violence… there was general agreement that the recent attacks will do nothing to further peace in the Middle East… The Salzburger Nachrichten doubted that Israel’s military action would provide some type of resolution to the conflict in the Middle East…  Luxembourg’s Wort newspaper… saw the swift attacks as sending a signal to Iran about Israel’s strength. ‘While both movements are politically and logistically supported by Teheran, Israel’s action on Sabbath was a clear signal to Iran. In less than three minutes, 200 Hamas installations had been damaged…'”

War in the Middle East–Germany Willing to Help Find Peace

Deutsche Welle reported on December 31:

“In her New Year’s address, Chancellor Angela Merkel blamed the radical Palestinian movement Hamas for the latest flare-up with Israel and said Germany would do all it could to promote peace in the Middle East… In her address, Merkel said that ‘the terror perpetrated by Hamas is unacceptable.'”

War in the Middle East… Continuing…

The Associated Press reported on December 31:

“Israel rejected international pressure to suspend its air offensive against Palestinian militants whose rocket barrages are striking close to the Israeli heartland, sending warplanes Wednesday to demolish smuggling tunnels that are the lifeline of Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers… Calls for an immediate cease-fire have also come from the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia… Underlying the Israeli decision to keep fighting are the mightier weapons that Hamas has smuggled into Gaza through underground tunnels along the border with Egypt.”

War in the Middle East–Escalating…

The Associated Press reported on January 1, 2009:

“Israel dropped a one-ton bomb on the home of a Hamas strongman Thursday, killing him along with two wives and four children in the first attack on the top leadership of Gaza’s rulers. As the aerial bombardment escalated, the army said it was also poised to launch a ground invasion…

“Israel has made clear that no one in Hamas is immune in this offensive… Israeli warplanes have carried out some 500 sorties against Hamas targets, and helicopters have flown hundreds more combat missions… More than 400 Gazans have been killed and some 1,700 have been wounded… The U.N. says the death toll includes more than 60 civilians, 34 of them children.

“Three Israeli civilians and one soldier have also died in rocket attacks that have reached deeper into Israel than ever before, bringing one-eighth of the population within rocket range.

“Throughout the day, huge blasts had rocked cities and towns across Gaza as Israeli warplanes went after Gaza’s parliament building, militant field operatives, police and cars… So far, the campaign to crush rocket fire on southern Israel has been conducted largely from the air. But military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said preparations for a ground operation were complete…

“Thousands of soldiers were massed along the border with Gaza, backed by tanks and artillery… Israeli Cabinet ministers have been unswayed by international calls to end the violence… Instead, they authorized the military to push ahead with its campaign against militants… Ordinary Israelis are not eager to see the operation expand beyond the air-based campaign, a poll Thursday showed…”

War in the Middle East–Has Israel Failed to Learn from History?

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 31:

“Israel has promised a ‘war to the bitter end.’ Yet history is full of examples showing that battling an organization like Hamas is almost futile…

“Planes have targeted mosques because Israel thinks they are being used to cache weapons; apartment blocks where high-ranking Hamas members live have been destroyed, almost guaranteeing civilian casualties. The university was destroyed because it espoused the Hamas ideology. Each one of these targets presents a dilemma — and the images they create are unhelpful to Israel…

“It is also unclear that the offensive brings Israel a single step closer to its ultimate goal of eliminating Hamas entirely. Indeed, the more intense the Israeli bombing campaign has become, the more Palestinian rockets have flown across the border into Israel. Hamas may be briefly weakened as its commanders are knocked off and its weapons depots destroyed. But, in the long run, it is difficult to see Hamas not benefiting the same way Hezbollah benefited from the 2006 war. Their aura as resistance fighters can only be strengthened.

“… in 2006, one of the primary criticisms was that Israel had not sufficiently defined its war aims before marching into southern Lebanon. ‘War to the bitter end,’ certainly doesn’t sound any more precise.”

War in the Middle East–“Israel Has Left the Peace Process in Ruins”

The Telegraph wrote on December 31:

“All… changed on Saturday when Israel launched Operation Cast Lead. The name refers to a lead spinning top played with by children during the Jewish winter festival of Hannukah, but there was nothing playful about the military assault… This was not a strike solely against the infrastructure of Hamas… Operation Cast Lead was intended to kill as many Hamas members as possible, which is why it was ordered in the middle of a working day…

“Why send in the bombers in December 2008, when rockets have been landing in Israel for eight years? It had been six months since the last Israeli fatality. What led the Israeli military-political elite to choose this month to order a sustained attack? The answer is quite simple. Israelis go to the polls in February and it is this that is driving this operation… Israeli voters like strong leaders…

“Talks between Syria and Israel, brokered by Turkey, have now been called off… It is hard to exaggerate how disappointing this is. Britain has long argued that the key to peace in the Holy Land lies on the road to Damascus. Syria is a key sponsor not just of Hamas but of Hizbollah…

“One of President Bush’s more clumsy foreign policy decisions was to isolate Syria for most of his presidency, but in the past two years he has given the green light for rapprochement. From that decision have flowed delicate talks and the hope that Damascus could be persuaded to deal a mortal blow to both Hizbollah and Hamas by turning off the funds, arms and support it has provided them with for years.

“As the smoke continues to rise over Gaza, the tragic truth is that the hopes of wider peace in the Middle East also now lie in ashes.”

War Between India and Pakistan “Cannot Be Ruled Out”

World-On-Line wrote on December 27:

“War between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over last month’s militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai is seen as highly unlikely. Nevertheless, with tension rising and troops moving to the border, conflict between the neighbours who have fought three wars since 1947 cannot be ruled out… Experts say millions of people would be killed on both sides in exchanges of nuclear weapons.”

For the First Time–Army Phone Hotline Between Russia and China

BBC News reported on December 29:

“A new military hotline between Beijing and Moscow has been used for the first time, according to reports in the Chinese state media… The phone link is designed for ‘timely communication on significant issues’. Efforts to set up a similar hotline, mainly for use during crises, between Beijing and Washington appear to have stalled, correspondents say…

“Put simply, the Chinese can now pick up the phone when there is a crisis and ask the Russians what is going on and what they are doing about it.”

2008–The Year We’d Like to Forget–But Won’t

The British paper, The Daily Mail, wrote on December 31:

“Some years are infinitely forgettable… no one will fail to remember 2008. It will be a year to tell your grandchildren about…

“The year began – and ended – with President Mugabe of Zimbabwe still in power, despite having lost an election. Ever since, he has achieved the apparently impossible feat of deepening his people’s misery, starvation and oppression…

“There is still no sign that Iraq’s own politicians are willing to make common cause. As the Westerners leave, it seems most likely that Kurds, Sunnis and Shi’ites will each govern their own areas in their own way. It will be a miracle if they set about doing so without fighting a civil war…

“The British in Afghanistan lost faith in President Hamid Karzai, and in American policy based on support for his regime. The British Army’s casualties in Helmand province rose steadily…

“In Russia… Putin continues to pull all the levers, and to direct his country for the advantage of a handful of gangster oligarchs, of whom he is the richest. Little Georgia, next door, paid a savage price for seeming to challenge Moscow’s hegemony over a vast region…

“Iran continued building its own nuclear weapons, and North Korea seems to have weaved its way to keep doing the same. China savagely suppressed anti-government demonstrations in Tibet a few weeks before the Olympics.

“… this [was] the year in which the world’s great Money Madness has been catastrophically exposed. Trillions of pounds of supposed global wealth disappeared into an abyss, as surely as if they had vanished into the Bermuda Triangle… Today, the entire British banking system is in crisis… The British economy has entered a recession which threatens to prove the worst of modern times… The pound has fallen in value by more than a quarter against almost every other currency and is virtually equal with the much derided Euro.”

More Economic Pain in 2009

Reuters reported on December 31:

“More pain is expected in the near-term as bleak economic reports roll in, flagging more bankruptcies, bad debts and layoffs through at least early 2009, and more sleepless nights for everyone from central bankers to consumers struggling to pay off mortgages and credit card bills.

“The biggest financial crisis in 80 years, sparked by a U.S. mortgage meltdown, made this year one of the worst ever for investors as recession stalked the global economy.”

The Strength of the Euro

Deutsche Welle reported on December 29:

“The European single currency has acted as a windbreaker against the global financial storm for euro zone businesses and citizens… Consensus is widespread that the strength of the currency has done for some European countries what would have been impossible had they kept their original monies.

“The assessment came a few days ahead of the 10th anniversary of the euro being used as a virtual currency in accounting and financial transactions in the euro zone. Euro banknotes and coins were not introduced until Jan. 1, 2002. Former German central bank president Hans Tietmeyer said the 16 euro zone member states had so far escaped foreign exchange turmoil because of the single currency…

“Tietmeyer said the euro zone’s stable position has been underpinned by the creation of the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) in 1998. ‘As a result, the single currency has without doubt benefited the people and the economy of Europe,’ he said…

“Having boosted trade among its members and created at least 16 million jobs since its inception, the euro has begun to firm as a premier globally reliable currency. The euro zone is responsible for 16.5 percent of global economic activity, while the euro currency accounts for over a quarter of the world’s official foreign reserves, up from 18 percent in 1998. This has led many Europeans to feel their currency will supplant the US dollar in global importance within the next five years…

“Tietmeyer said he expected the euro zone to weather the current storm… Euro zone membership is now obligatory for all new EU member states, while Britain, Denmark and Sweden have a right to maintain their traditional currencies… Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, the Baltic countries and Romania are all aiming to take up the euro within the next six years…”

Euro at New Record High Against British Pound

Reuters reported on December 31:

“The euro hit a fresh record high against sterling on Tuesday, extending a broad rally against most major currencies. The euro traded as high as 98.05 pence… up about 1.5 percent from late on Monday. Against the dollar, the euro was 1 percent higher at $1.4125.”

“EU to Take over US East Coast”

On December 31, the EUObserver reported:

“The east coast of the US – from South Carolina to Maine – will fall under EU influence as the US splits up in 2010 following an economic meltdown, Russian analyst Igor Panarin has predicted in a report. Canada, China and Mexico will take over the north, eastern and southern sections for their parts.”

Chicago–Politics, Politics… and More Politics…

On December 30, cbs2.chicago.com reported the following:

“A defiant Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday appointed a black political trailblazer in Illinois to Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat, a surprise move that put race front and center in the ongoing drama surrounding the scandal-tarred governor. The decision put his opponents in the uncomfortable position of vowing not to seat a veteran politician who would become the Senate’s only black member…”

cbs2chicago.com stated in a related article, on December 30:

“If Gov. Rod Blagojevich thought that he was regaining the political high ground, or at least a little credibility, with fellow Democrats by appointing former Attorney General Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate, he was apparently mistaken… Sources on Capitol Hill tell CBS 2 Tuesday night the Senate will refuse to seat Burris… Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who must formally approve the appointment, says he won’t do it…

“That alone prevents the Senate from swearing in Burris on January 5. But what if White changes his mind, or if Burris tries to force a vote on the floor of the U.S. Senate? More drama. A sergeant at arms would physically bar Burris from entering, sources say. This happened once before, for a week, back in the late 19th Century.

“What’s most likely to occur in the Senate is a vote to halt Burris’ seating ‘pending the outcome of an investigation into the propriety of his appointment’ by the Senate Rules Committee. That investigation will likely have a 60-day period limit…

“The coup de grace to this scheme may have come from President-elect Barack Obama. While praising Roland Burris, Obama also said he agreed with the Senate Democrats who are pledging to refuse to seat anybody appointed by the governor. Sources say leaders in Springfield have assured Senate leaders that Blagojevich will be impeached and out of office by Valentine’s Day. The Senate can then label the Burris pick null and void, leaving Illinois’ next governor, Lt. Gov. Quinn, to select Obama’s replacement. Sources say that person would be sworn in immediately.

“Constitutional law professor Dawn Clark Netsch tells CBS 2 this appointment could likely be the subject of many lawsuits, one arguing the governor had to appoint a senator thus mandating Jesse White certify the appointment, and others questioning the U.S. Senate’s grounds for refusing to seat Burris… What remains to be seen, however, is whether Blagojevich is ready to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Global Warming–Worse Than Assumed?

Deutsche Welle reported on December 29:

“Climate change is happening more rapidly than anyone thought possible, the German government’s expert, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, warned… Schellnhuber warns that previous predictions about climate change and its catastrophic effects were too cautious and optimistic. ‘In nearly all areas, the developments are occurring more quickly than it has been assumed up until now,’ Schellnhuber [said]…

“The Arctic sea ice is melting more quickly than expected. There are also signs that the entire climate pattern at the North Poll has been disrupted to the extent of causing irreversible change. For the Arctic, the global warming which has already occurred of 0.8 degrees Celsius has already stepped over the line, Schellnhuber said. If Greenland’s ice cap ice melts completely, water levels will rise by seven meters (23 feet). ‘The current coastline will no longer exist, and that includes in Germany,’ he said.”

Global Warming–Responsible for Natural Catastrophes in 2008…?

AFP wrote on December 29:

“Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record… Although the number of natural disasters was lower than in 2007, the catastrophes that occurred proved to be more destructive in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused, Germany-based Munich Re said in its annual assessment.

“‘This continues the long-term trend we have been observing. Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes,’ Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said. Most devastating in terms of human fatalities was Cyclone Nargis, which lashed Myanmar on May 2-3 to kill more than 135,000 people and leave more than one million homeless.

“Just days later an earthquake shook China’s Sichuan province, leaving 70,000 dead, 18,000 missing and almost five million homeless… Around 1,000 people died in a severe cold snap in January in Afghanistan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan, while 635 perished in August and September in floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Typhoon Fengshen killed 557 people in China and the Philippines in June, while earthquakes in Pakistan in October left 300 dead.

“Six tropical cyclones also slammed into the southern United States, including Ike which, with insured losses of 10 billion dollars, was the industry’s costliest catastrophe of the year. In Europe, an intense low-pressure system called Emma caused two billion dollars worth of damage in March, while a storm dubbed Hilal in late May and early June left 1.1 billion dollars’ worth.

“The earthquake in Sichuan province was the most expensive overall single catastrophe of 2008, causing around 85 billion dollars worth of damage, helping to make the year the third most expensive on record, Munich Re said.  With 200 billion dollars’ worth of damage, only 2005, when a large number of hurricanes slammed into the southern United States, and 1995, year of the Kobe earthquake in Japan, wreaked more destruction since records began in 1900.

“According to provisional estimates from the World Meteorological Organization, 2008 was the tenth warmest year since the beginning of routine temperature recording and the eighth warmest in the northern hemisphere. This means that the ten warmest years ever recorded have all occurred in the last 12 years, Munich Re said. ‘It is now very probable that the progressive warming of the atmosphere is due to the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity. The weather machine is running in top gear, bringing more intense severe weather events,’ it said.

“The number of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic in 2008 was much higher than the long-term average, and in terms of both the total number of storms and the number of major hurricanes, 2008 was the fourth most severe hurricane season since reliable data have been available, it said. The world needed ‘effective and binding rules on CO2 emissions, so that climate change is curbed and future generations do not have to live with weather scenarios that are difficult to control,’ board member Jeworrek said…”

Global Warming–Disproved?

The Telegraph wrote on December 29 that “2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved.”

It continued:

“Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

“First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century.

“Ever shriller and more frantic has become the insistence of the warmists… that the last 10 years have been the ‘hottest in history’ and that the North Pole would soon be ice-free – as the poles remain defiantly icebound and those polar bears fail to drown. All those hysterical predictions that we are seeing more droughts and hurricanes than ever before have infuriatingly failed to materialise.

“Even the more cautious scientific acolytes of the official orthodoxy now admit that, thanks to ‘natural factors’ such as ocean currents, temperatures have failed to rise as predicted…

“Secondly, 2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a ‘scientific consensus’ in favour of man-made global warming collapsed. At long last, as in the Manhattan Declaration last March, hundreds of proper scientists, including many of the world’s most eminent climate experts, have been rallying to pour scorn on that ‘consensus’ which was only a politically engineered artefact, based on ever more blatantly manipulated data and computer models programmed to produce no more than convenient fictions.

“Thirdly, as banks collapsed and the global economy plunged into its worst recession for decades, harsh reality at last began to break in on those self-deluding dreams which have for so long possessed almost every politician in the western world…

“Suddenly it has become rather less appealing that we should divert trillions of dollars, pounds and euros into the fantasy that we could reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 80 per cent. All those grandiose projects for ’emissions trading’, ‘carbon capture’, building tens of thousands more useless wind turbines, switching vast areas of farmland from producing food to ‘biofuels’, are being exposed as no more than enormously damaging and futile gestures, costing astronomic sums we no longer possess.

“As 2009 dawns, it is time we in Britain faced up to the genuine crisis now fast approaching from the fact that – unless we get on very soon with building enough proper power stations to fill our looming ‘energy gap’ – within a few years our lights will go out and what remains of our economy will judder to a halt…”

“Scientists Eye Swarm of Yellowstone Quakes”

The Associated Press reported on December 29:

“Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come. Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it’s very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. ‘They’re certainly not normal,’ Smith said. ‘We haven’t had earthquakes in this energy or extent in many years… This is an active volcanic and tectonic area, and these are the kinds of things we have to pay attention to,’ Smith said…

“He said Yellowstone remains very geologically active — and its famous geysers and hot springs are a reminder that a pool of magma still exists five to 10 miles underground. ‘That’s just the surface manifestation of the enormous amount of heat that’s being released through the system,’ he said. Yellowstone has had significant earthquakes as well as minor ones in recent decades. In 1959, a magnitude 7.5 quake near Hebgen Lake just west of the park triggered a landslide that killed 28 people.”

Incredible SCANDAL–How Bailed-Out Banks Pilfer Taxpayers’ Money

The Associated Press reported on December 21:

“Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year… The AP compiled total compensation based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 116 banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Among the findings:

“–The average paid to each of the banks’ top executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses and benefits.

“–Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company’s top five executives received a total of $242 million.

“–This year, Goldman will forgo cash and stock bonuses for its seven top-paid executives. They will work for their base salaries of $600,000, the company said… It received $10 billion in taxpayer money on Oct. 28.

“– Even where banks cut back on pay, some executives were left with seven- or eight-figure compensation that most people can only dream about. Richard D. Fairbank, the chairman of Capital One Financial Corp… took a $1 million hit in compensation after his company had a disappointing year, but still got $17 million in stock options. The McLean, Va.-based company received $3.56 billion in bailout money on Nov. 14.

“–John A. Thain, chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, topped all corporate bank bosses with $83 million in earnings last year… Like Goldman, Merrill got $10 billion from taxpayers on Oct. 28…”

Incredible SCANDAL–“Where’d the Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, It’s a Secret…”

The Associated Press reported on December 22:

“… after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what’s the plan for the rest? None of the banks provided specific answers…

“There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money… But there is no process in place to make sure that’s happening and there are no consequences for banks who don’t comply… Congress attached nearly no strings on the $700 billion bailout in October. And the Treasury Department, which doles out the money, never asked banks how it would be spent.”

Where Are Today’s Political Leaders with Convictions?

Welt On Line, a conservative German paper with friendly support of Germany’s conservative party, the CDU, published a remarkable article about former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who is a member of the center-left SPD party. The article is especially remarkable, as it contrasts Schmidt’s strong convictions–which were and are not always popular–with the faltering temporary political “preferences” of many present-day political leaders. We are quoting the following excerpts:

“Helmut Schmidt, a chain-smoking former German chancellor, celebrates his 90th birthday on Tuesday amid an improbable revival in popularity for a prickly man with no-nonsense views that contrast sharply to many current leaders. Schmidt may not have scaled the heights of popularity while Chancellor of West Germany for eight turbulent years. ‘Schmidt is the star of German politics, its icon. No one is admired as much as he is,’ Der Spiegel wrote…

“According to a survey by the Forsa polling institute, Schmidt ranks as the ‘coolest guy in Germany’ and he tops several other polls as the country’s most popular leader… Schmidt, married to his high school sweetheart for 66 years, made his mark as a local crisis manager in 1962 Hamburg floods. That reputation he burnished as chancellor with his handling of economic crises and his mastery of a 1970s leftwing urban guerrilla campaign of bombing and assassination — a test of fire for a still relatively young German democracy…

“ZDF television commented: ‘Schmidt is a completely different leader compared to this generation that knows firm convictions today will lead to certain electoral defeat tomorrow.’

“The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper marvelled at Schmidt’s popularity, saying his tenacity and crisis management makes current Chancellor Angela Merkel pale by comparison. ‘We’ve now got a chancellor whose greatest achievement is that she is Germany’s first woman chancellor,’ the paper wrote. ‘It seems this grumpy gentleman with the cane fulfills a deep yearning for strong and confident political leadership… None of today’s professional politicians accomplished anything in their lives, except perhaps graduating from university.’“

“Worst Financial Crisis Since Great Depression”

AFP reported on December 21:

“The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faced a ‘total’ financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression. ‘The lack of confidence is total,’ Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said…

“‘The inter-bank (lending) market is not functioning and this is generating vicious cycles: consumers are not consuming, businessmen are not taking on workers, investors are not investing and the banks are not lending. There is an almost total paralysis from which no-one is escaping,’ he said, adding that any recovery — pencilled in by optimists for the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 — could be delayed if confidence is not restored… ‘This is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression’ of 1929, he added.”

Reuters reported on December 24 that “The United States fell deeper into recession, data showed on Wednesday, as the number of people filing for jobless benefits hit a 26-year high last week and consumers cut spending for the fifth consecutive month… Nearly 2 million U.S. workers have lost jobs this year, driving the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent…”

The article continued:

“Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said, ‘Japan cannot avoid the tsunami of the world recession… The world economy is in a once-in-a-hundred-years recession. We need extraordinary measures to deal with an extraordinary situation,’ he said.”

AFP added on December 24:

“Russia and China issued stark warnings on Wednesday about the impact of the crisis on their recently booming economies in 2009, with Moscow saying the downturn could spark unrest in the streets. Japan also approved a record-high budget aimed at avoiding the worst effects of the crisis and Germany prepared to pump [40] billions of euros into the economy in a new rescue plan in a holiday season marred by a slew of economic bad news…

“Economists have warned that the global downturn could mean that China will end 2008 with its weakest economic growth for nearly two decades. China has not posted annual growth of less than 7.6 percent since 1991.”

Germany–“The Calm Before the Storm”

On December 18, 2008, Der Spiegel Online wrote the following:

“As the year draws to a close, and as the world faces recession, a credit crunch and job worries, the economic outlook is the bleakest it has been in postwar history. The next year is expected be a test of strength for the German economy…
“Economists are predicting new alarming scenarios for 2009 almost every day…

“Despite the crisis, the coalition government in Berlin has not shown much leadership strength. Officially, Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democrats continues to oppose additional large-scale government bailout programs. Merkel’s finance minister, Peer Steinbrück of the center-left Social Democrats, seems to prefer quarreling with the British and French who, he insists, are frittering away their money with their bailout packages. In doing so, he has also angered many…

“As Bavaria’s new governor, Seehofer is trying to demonstrate his strength in the run-up to next September’s federal election. Party politics, it seems, has distorted much of the government’s response to the crisis. In November, the chancellor warned the public to be prepared for ‘a year of bad news.’ Never in the 60-year history of the Federal Republic of Germany have citizens been this anxious as they enter a new year, plagued by worries of how much worse things can get and, most of all, how safe their jobs are…

“What is most astonishing is the incredible speed with which the crisis is spreading from one company to the next… The Americans, deeply in debt, can no longer afford products made in Germany…

“Over the course of the year, well-known German companies like retailer Hertie, watchmaker Junghans and fashion house Wehmeyer have become insolvent, and another wave of bankruptcies could follow in 2009… the government cannot set everything straight. In fact, it is probably far less capable of doing so than politicians believe.”

Germany’s Schizophrenic Role in the Iraq War

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 19:

“German lawmakers have been probing the schizophrenic role of the Schröder administration in resisting America’s invasion of Iraq. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was in the hot seat this week, and German commentators don’t believe everything he’s said. The grilling received on Thursday by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister and a candidate for chancellor in 2009, was intense. He was answering to a parliamentary committee investigating whether German intelligence provided meaningful assistance to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 [as has been claimed by former US military leaders, including Generals Tommy Franks and James Marks]. And his credibility is on the line…

“Steinmeier is under the gun because Berlin was so emphatic about being against the US-led invasion. His boss at the time, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, ran for re-election in 2002 on an anti-war platform. Were it proven that German agents had provided valuable intelligence that helped that invasion, it would cast a shadow on those who were part of that government, including Steinmeier, who at the time was Schröder’s chief of staff, and Joschka Fischer, who was Schröder’s foreign minister. Such a revelation certainly would do nothing to help Steinmeier’s 2009 campaign for the Chancellery as the Social Democratic candidate.

“Fischer also testified on Thursday, but the media spotlight was trained firmly on Steinmeier. And he stuck to his guns, calling the comments from the US military leaders ‘outlandish’ and ‘ludicrous.’…”

But–the question is: WHOSE comments are ludicrous and outlandish?

War Against Somali Pirates

The International Herald Tribune wrote on December 23:

“Germany called Tuesday for an international court to be set up to prosecute Somali pirates who have attacked scores of vessels this year, threatening global trade in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes… German lawmakers agreed last week to send up to 1,400 soldiers and a frigate… to the Gulf of Aden as part of the EU mission.

“Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung of Germany… said the German soldiers, who will provide protection to ships delivering food aid to Somalia would have a ‘robust’ mandate. ‘Obviously there will be combat situations,’ he said.”

In a related article, the paper stated on December 23:

“Chinese warships on a mission to protect their country’s vessels and crews from pirate attacks off Somalia will depart Friday, armed with special forces, helicopters and plans to share information with other countries working in the area.

“The operation, China’s first major naval mission abroad, will include the destroyers Haikou and Wuhan as well as a large supply ship… On board will be two helicopters and traditional weapons like missiles and cannons… China announced it was sending warships to the area after the United Nations Security Council authorized nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases.”

Belgium Again In Political and MORAL Crisis

Deutsche Welle reported on December 22:

“Belgium’s King Albert II accepted Leterme’s resignation following a Belgian Supreme Court report on allegations that his aides had sought to influence a court ruling connected with the break-up of Belgian bank Fortis. The collapse of the government was the country’s third political crisis in under a year, and leaves five coalition parties to fight over who should pick up where Leterme left off.

“The political crisis leaves Belgium facing a period of deep uncertainty at the worst possible time, with the economy sliding into recession and investors’ confidence at a low as a result of the global financial crisis.”

Russia Threatens the West

Mail-on-Line reported on December 23:

“Vladimir Putin has unveiled a triple whammy of threats and provocation for Britain and the West… In moves certain to further undermine diplomatic ties with London and Washington, Mr Putin… [w]arned that Britain faced winter gas shortages if supplies from Russia were disrupted because of his bitter dispute with Ukraine; [t]hreatened to supply surface-to-air missiles to Iran, despite Western concerns over its nuclear ambitions; and [l]ined himself up to be appointed president for a third term after Moscow’s parliament rubber stamped constitutional changes overturning a law that only allowed two four-year periods as leader…

“Russia also said last night it plans a massive increase in armaments. It will spend £100billion from 2009 to 2011 on 400 new types of weapons, including 300 tanks, 14 warships and almost 50 planes… Russia will continue to rely on its huge arsenal of nuclear weapons, commissioning 70 strategic nuclear missiles over the next three years.”

Anti-Semitic Internet Statements Against Madoff and Jewish Community

AFP reported on December 19, 2008:

“Anti-Jewish commentary is flooding the Internet in the wake of Bernard Madoff’s arrest on charges of masterminding one of the biggest Wall Street frauds in history… Madoff, 70, is Jewish and a prominent member of the powerful US Jewish community. He is alleged to have defrauded investors, including a number of Jewish-related charities, of some 50 billion dollars.
 
“‘Site users have posted comments ranging from deeply offensive stereotypical statements about Jews and money — with some suggesting that only Jews could perpetrate a fraud on such a scale — to conspiracy theories about Jews stealing money to benefit Israel,’ the [Anti-Defamation League] said in a statement.”

Worldwide Internet Services Not THAT Reliable

Deutsche Welle reported on December 20:

“Internet and phone connections between Europe, the Middle East and Asia have been severely disrupted after three underwater cables were severed and it may take until Dec 31 before normal service is re-established… It is thought that 65 percent of traffic to India was down, while services to Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Taiwan and Pakistan have also been severely affected…

“An afternoon toll [sic] released by France Telecom said that 100 percent of traffic was lost in the Maldives Indian Ocean islands, with the Gulf state of Qatar and Djibouti, on the Gulf of Aden, also losing over 70 percent of their traffic.

“The submarine cables are jointly owned by several dozen different countries… ‘If there was just one cable down we could have used the other two,’ said France Telecom spokesman Louis-Michel Aymard. ‘But all three are down so this puts us in a very difficult situation. This is a very rare situation,’ he said.”

The Pope Speaks Out Against Homosexual Conduct

The Herald International Tribune wrote on December 22:

“Pope Benedict said Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction…

“The Catholic Church teaches that… homosexual acts are [sinful]. It opposes gay marriage… The pope said humanity needed to ‘listen to the language of creation’ to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as ‘a destruction of God’s work.’

“He also defended the Church’s right to ‘speak of human nature as man and woman, and ask that this order of creation be respected.'”

The reaction of Europe’s gay community to the Pope’s speech was predictable and swift.

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 24:

“In Germany, Volker Beck, an out gay man with the Green Party, described the pope’s statements as ‘agitating words.’ And Uta Ranke-Heinemann, a prominent German critic of the pope, described Benedict’s words as ‘a threatening message to homosexuals.’ She said his views could not be left unchallenged, adding that the history of homosexuals in Christianity has been a ‘bitter one.’

“‘As soon as the Christians came to power, they immediately sought to eradicate homosexuals,’ the theologian told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Ranke-Heinemann was the world’s first woman to be given a professorship as a Catholic theologian. For one and a half millennia, she said, Christians ‘burned homosexuals on the pope’s orders.’

“Meanwhile, Rev. Sharon Ferguson of Britain’s Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement described his statements as ‘totally irresponsible.’ The head of the Inclusive Church in England, accused the pope of ‘spreading fear that gay people somehow threaten the planet.’ That, he said, ‘is just absurd.’

“Aurelio Mancuso, the head of the Italian gay rights organization Arcigay… said he was deeply disturbed by such church-directed discrimination. ‘Last year was a bad enough year for homosexuals in Italy, and we are very concerned.’ The number of violent attacks in the country against gays and their organizations has risen dramatically in Italy in the past year. ‘All signs are pointing towards a confrontation,’ said Mancuso. ‘People are really scared.'”

Frightening Greek Christmas Myths–“Twelve Days of Christmas or Hell”?

On December 19, Der Spiegel Online reported the following:

“Who says Santa Claus is the only one trying to come down your chimney during the festive season? According to Greek mythology, a gaggle of goblin-like spirits are trying to slide into homes — and instead of presents they are intent on leaving a trail of destruction.

“As the Greeks tell it, it wouldn’t be hard to confuse the Twelve Days of Christmas with the Twelve Days of Hell. That is if you believe in the Kallikantzaroi. These mythical, goblin-like spirits are said to pop up between Christ’s birthday and Epiphany on Jan. 6, days they devote to wreaking their unique brand of havoc…

“Opinions differ on what they look like… [Some] say the Kallikantzaroi resemble humans with dark complexions, ugly, very tall beings that sport iron clogs. Others say they’re short and swarthy, with red eyes, cleft hooves, monkeys’ arms, and hair-covered bodies…

“For most of the year the Kallikantzaroi live in the bowels of the earth, but they creep out during the Twelve Days of Christmas, venturing out under the cover of night…

“In recent years, the Christmas tree has grown in popularity throughout Greece. But some Greeks prefer the old ways, opting instead for a sprig of basil suspended over a water-filled bowl. Once a day someone in the home, usually the mother of the family, uses the sprig to sprinkle water throughout the house to ward off the creatures.

“The only reliable cure-all, however, is when village priests bless the waters on the eve of Epiphany, which marks the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas. They have been known to visit homes to sprinkle holy water fragranced with sweet basil to chase away the evil spirits for another year. On the eve of Epiphany in Cyprus, villagers scatter pancakes on the roof to give the Kallikantzaroi something sweet to eat as they prepare to head out of town, perhaps to show there are no hard feelings.”

Samuele Bacchiocchi Died at Age 70

On December 21, 2008, WorldNetDaily wrote:

“Biblical scholar [and theology professor] Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, best known for his teachings on how Sabbath observance shifted toward Sunday worship in much of Christendom, died yesterday [Saturday, December 20] at his Michigan home at the age of 70 after a two-year battle with fourth-stage liver cancer…

“Bacchiocchi earned his doctorate in Church History at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and was awarded a gold medal by Pope Paul VI for his summa cum laude class work and dissertation, ‘From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity.’ A Seventh-Day Adventist, Bacchiocchi believed there was no Scriptural mandate to change or eliminate Sabbath-keeping, and he singled out the Catholic Church for its role in changing the day.

“‘The Church of the capital of the empire, whose authority was already felt far and wide in the second century, appears to be the most likely birthplace of Sunday observance,’ he wrote. Bacchiocchi previously told WND: ‘Anti-Judaism caused the abandonment of the Sabbath, and pagan sun worship influenced the adoption of Sunday.’… Bacchiocchi also explained the influence of pagan sun worship provides a ‘plausible explanation for the Christian choice of Sunday’ over the day of Saturn. Its effect wasn’t just limited to Sunday. It apparently led to the placement of Jesus’ birth in late December.

“‘The adoption of the 25th of December for the celebration of Christmas is perhaps the most explicit example of sun worship’s influence on the Christian liturgical calendar,’ Bacchiocchi wrote. ‘It is a known fact that the pagan feast of the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birthday of the Invincible Sun, was held on that date.'”

The Demonic Origin of Christmas Traditions

As we reported in Update 371, the Austrian Krampus–the demonic “alter ego” of “St. Nicholas”–finds its counterpart in Germany in a demonic personage accompanying “St. Nicholas,” known as “Knecht Ruprecht.” He performs the same function as the Austrian Krampus, terrifying and punishing children.

But Austria and Germany are not the only European countries which manifest clear and obvious evidence of the demonic and pagan origins of our modern Christmas traditions and celebrations.

Der Spiegel Online reported on December 12, 2008, about the Italian “witch of Christmas,” as follows:

“Italy has its own Father Christmas. But it’s La Befana, the ugly, broom-flying and present-wielding witch who keeps children on their toes in many parts of the country. Like St. Nick, Befana knows who’s been naughty and nice.

“A strange post-Christmas pilgrimage takes place each year in the hills of northeastern Italy’s Le Marche, when thousands of kids flock to a small medieval town called Urbania to sit on the lap of an ugly old witch. On the eve of Jan. 6, La Befana flies down chimneys or through keyholes throughout Italy to have her say over who’s been naughty or nice…

“Like many Christian traditions, Befana has pagan roots, as a good witch who played the role of Mother Nature and was celebrated in December for providing life throughout the year.”

In addition to Italy’s “good” WITCH of Christmas, please take note of the “Black Pete” of Netherlands–another counterfeit of Krampus and Knecht Ruprecht. Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 5, 2008:

“Myths about Santa’s sinister helpers are as widespread in Europe as Grimm’s Fairy Tales. In parts of Germany, Knecht Ruprecht brings terror into the hearts of naughty children when the gift-giving season arrives. In Austria it’s Krampus, the horned devil who torments adolescents with asocial tendencies. In France, Pere Foutard does the proverbial whipping… But in no country is the tale of Santa’s diabolical sidekick as bizarre as in the Netherlands, home to Zwarte Piet (‘Black Pete’).

“The story of Black Pete is unique on the continent and it is also one of Europe’s oddest and most titilating Christmas traditions — one that tends to raise the eyebrows of foreign visitors and local immigrants. No small number of people see the yuletide character as a racist emblem of Holland’s colonial past… Many say it was Holland’s Sinterklaas who inspired America’s modern-day Santa… Unlike Santa, who lives at the North Pole, Sinterklaas resides in sunny Spain… With his gold crosier, red bishop’s dress and red mitre, he’s far more ecclesiastical looking than his portly American counterpart…

“Perpetually in tow is Sinterklaas’ slave, Black Pete. At least that’s what he was called from his 19th century origins up until the 1950s… In the new tale told to children each year, that pesky black face paint on Zwarte Piet’s face comes from soot collected as Santa’s helper wriggles down chimneys to deposit branches in the shoes of badly behaving kids or to help deliver presents from Sinterklaas for the good ones. Some whitewashers of this racist little tale also like to say he’s a chimney sweep. ‘It’s just an excuse used by people because they don’t like to be reminded of the dark nature of Black Pete’…”

However, the real origin of the “dark nature” of Black Pete has nothing to do with his color. Notice the following comments by the Wikipedia Encyclopedia, pointing at the REAL ORIGIN of the Black Peter of the Netherlands (“Schwarze Piet”):

“According to myths current before the beginning of the 19th century, Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) operated by himself or in the companionship of a devil… Some sources indicate that in Germanic Europe, Zwarte Piet originally was such an enslaved devil forced to assist his captor… The character is believed to have been derived from pagan traditions of evil spirits… The traditions of the Saint Nicholas feast are in part at least of medieval origin, if not much older. St. Nicholas himself, as described in the Dutch tradition shows some similarities to Wuotan/Odin, which suggests that the duo have a pre-Christian origin.”

Our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas,” explains in detail the relationship between Nordic pagan gods, such as Wotan or Odin, and the modern Santa Claus.

Obama Stimulus Could Reach $1 Trillion

Reuters reported on December 13:

“President-elect Barack Obama’s team is considering a plan to boost the recession-hit U.S. economy that could be far larger than previous estimates and might reach $1 trillion over two years…

“The administration of President George W. Bush has been given authority by Congress to spend up to $700 billion in taxpayer money to rescue the nation’s banking system…”

“Most of the Largest U.S. Banks Are Totally Bankrupt”

Reuters reported on December 11:

“Jim Rogers, one of the world’s most prominent international investors, on Thursday called most of the largest U.S. banks ‘totally bankrupt,’ and said government efforts to fix the sector are wrongheaded… [He] said the government’s $700 billion rescue package for the sector doesn’t address how banks manage their balance sheets, and instead rewards weaker lenders with new capital…

“‘What is outrageous economically and is outrageous morally is that normally in times like this, people who are competent and who saw it coming and who kept their powder dry go and take over the assets from the incompetent,’ he said. ‘What’s happening this time is that the government is taking the assets from the competent people and giving them to the incompetent people and saying, now you can compete with the competent people. It is horrible economics.’…

“Many analysts cite Lehman’s Sept 15 bankruptcy as a trigger for the recent cratering in the economy and stock markets. Rogers called that idea ‘laughable’… ‘Governments are making mistakes,’ he said. ‘They’re saying to all the banks, you don’t have to tell us your situation. You can continue to use your balance sheet that is phony…. All these guys are bankrupt, they’re still worrying about their bonuses, they’re still trying to pay their dividends, and the whole system is weakened.'”

Alleged Wall Street Investment Scam Affects Banks Worldwide

AFP reported on December 15:

“Top world financial groups on Monday revealed massive potential losses from an alleged scam run by Wall Street trader Bernard Madoff, admitting they were fooled by a classic pyramid investment fraud.

“British, French, Japanese and Spanish banks and funds said investments totalling billions of dollars (euros) could be wiped off their balance sheets by a scandal that is set to affect some of the richest people in the world.

“Royal Bank of Scotland said it could lose about 400 million pounds (598 million dollars, 444 million euros), joining a growing list of banks and investors in Europe, Asia and the United States struck by the scandal…

“Madoff, a 70-year-old Wall Street veteran, was arrested last Thursday. He is alleged by US prosecutors to have confessed to defrauding investors of 50 billion dollars in a long-running scam that collapsed after clients asked for their money back as a result of the global financial crisis… US authorities allege that Madoff delivered consistently strong returns to clients by secretly using the principal investment from new investors to pay out to other investors in the scheme, a version of what is known as ‘pyramid fraud’… This fraud is also known as a ‘Ponzi scheme’…”

U.S. Housing Market–How Bad Is It Really?

USA Today reported on December 12:

“As painful as the decline has been, history suggests home values still may have a long way to drop and may take decades to return to the heights of 2½ years ago… So far, home values nationally have tumbled an average of 19% from their peak. As bad as that is, prices would need to fall at least 17% more to reach their traditional relationship to household income… In that scenario, a $300,000 house in 2006 could be worth about $200,000 when real estate prices hit bottom.

“The price plunge has wiped out trillions of dollars in home equity and caused the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression… Wachovia economist Adam York expects home values to keep falling until 2010 but is optimistic they will recover… Consider a couple with $20,000 cash. In 2006, they easily could get a 5% down mortgage to buy a $400,000 house. Today, a 10% down payment would limit the couple to a $200,000 house.”

Depression in Canada Possible

AFP reported on December 16:

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a grim forecast for the Canadian economy, saying… a depression is possible. “‘The truth is, I’ve never seen such uncertainty in terms of looking forward to the future,’ Harper told CTV. ‘I’m very worried about the Canadian economy’… Harper also said his finance minister’s budget on January 27 would include billions of dollars in stimulus spending… ‘Obviously, we’re going to have to run a deficit,’ Harper said. ‘We’re talking about spending billions of dollars that was not planned.'”

Mr. Obama’s Race–and the American Melting Pot

On December 14, The Associated Press wrote the following:

“A perplexing new chapter is unfolding in Barack Obama’s racial saga: Many people insist that ‘the first black president’ is actually not black. Debate over whether to call this son of a white Kansan and a black Kenyan biracial, African-American, mixed-race, half-and-half, multiracial — or, in Obama’s own words, a ‘mutt’ — has reached a crescendo since Obama’s election shattered assumptions about race.

“Obama has said, ‘I identify as African-American — that’s how I’m treated and that’s how I’m viewed. I’m proud of it.’ In other words, the world gave Obama no choice but to be black, and he was happy to oblige. But the world has changed since the young Obama found his place in it.

“Intermarriage and the decline of racism are dissolving ancient definitions. The candidate Obama, in achieving what many thought impossible, was treated differently from previous black generations. And many white and mixed-race people now view President-elect Obama as something other than black…

“Rebecca Walker, a 38-year-old writer with light brown skin who is of Russian, African, Irish, Scottish and Native American descent, said she used to identify herself as ‘human,’ which upset people of all backgrounds… ‘Of course Obama is black. And he’s not black, too,’ Walker said. ‘He’s white, and he’s not white, too. Obama is whatever people project onto him … he’s a lot of things, and neither of them necessarily exclude the other.’

“But U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield, a black man who by all appearances is white, feels differently… ‘Obama has chosen the heritage he feels comfortable with,’ he said. ‘His physical appearance is black. I don’t know how he could have chosen to be any other race. Let’s just say he decided to be white — people would have laughed at him’…

“The entire issue balances precariously on the ‘one-drop’ rule, which sprang from the slaveowner habit of dropping by the slave quarters and producing brown babies. One drop of black blood meant that person, and his or her descendants, could never be a full citizen. Today, the spectrum of skin tones among African-Americans — even those with two black parents — is evidence of widespread white ancestry. Also, since blacks were often light enough to pass for white, unknown numbers of white Americans today have blacks hidden in their family trees. One book, ‘Black People and their Place in World History,’ by Dr. Leroy Vaughn, even claims that five past presidents — Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge — had black ancestors, which would make Obama the sixth of his kind…

“‘We do not have our first black president,’ the author Christopher Hitchens said on the BBC program ‘Newsnight.’ ‘He is not black. He is as black as he is white’…

“Latinos, whom the census identifies as an ethnic group and not a race, were not counted separately by the government until the 1970s. After the 1990 census, many people complained that the four racial categories — white, black, Asian, and American Indian/Alaska native — did not fit them. The government then allowed people to check more than one box. (It also added a fifth category, for Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders.)

“Six million people, or 2 percent of the population, now say they belong to more than one race, according to the most recent census figures. Another 19 million people, or 6 percent of the population, identify themselves as ‘some other race’ than the five available choices.”

Arab World Hails Shoe Attack on President Bush

AFP reported on December 15:

“Iraq faced mounting calls on Monday to release the journalist who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush [during Mr. Bush’s recent visit and press conference in Iraq], an action branded shameful by the government but hailed by many in the Arab world as an ideal parting gift to the unpopular US president… Soles of shoes are considered the ultimate insult in Arab culture. After Saddam’s statue was toppled in Baghdad in April 2003, many onlookers beat the statue’s face with their soles…
 
“‘The flying shoe speaks more for Arab public opinion than all the despots/puppets that Bush meets with during his travels in the Middle East,’ said Asad Abu Khalil, a popular Lebanese-American blogger and professor at Stanislaus University in California…”

Israel Warns the World Against Iran

Haaretz.com reported on December 18:

“Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Wednesday that if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, it could try to attack the United States… ‘If it built even a primitive nuclear weapon like the type that destroyed Hiroshima, Iran would not hesitate to load it on a ship, arm it with a detonator operated by GPS and sail it into a vital port on the east coast of North America,’ Barak told the audience.

“Indicating the possibility of a military strike, Barak said, ‘We are not taking any option off the table, and we recommend to the world not to take any option off the table, and we mean what we say.'”

German Right-Wing Extremism on the Rise

Der Spiegel Online wrote on December 15:

“Right-wing extremism is widely perceived as a problem confined to eastern Germany. Yet Saturday’s knife attack on the police chief of Passau [Alois Mannichl] shows it is well established in Bavaria too… Mannichl is regarded as a committed enemy of the violent far-right scene…

“Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said the assault showed that far-right violence had reached a new level… ‘We must take this escalation of violence very seriously.’

“Bavaria has a well-established neo-Nazi scene. The domestic intelligence service estimates that there are around 1,100 violent neo-Nazis in Bavaria and around 10,000 in Germany. In Passau alone, the number of far-right crimes doubled to 83 this year compared with 2007.”

“Germany’s Weakest Economic Performance Since World War II”

Deutsche Welle reported on December 13:

“German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have dampened expectations of a second economic rescue package, saying there won’t be any speedy decisions…

“Meanwhile, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that government experts expect Europe’s largest economy to contract by two percent next year. This would be Germany’s weakest economic performance since World War II.”

“Germany Against the Rest of the World”

Welt On Line wrote on December 13:

“German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck vilifies Britain’s financial stimulus plan in an interview with American magazine Newsweek, saying that making VAT cuts won’t solve the problem, but rather will build a national debt that will take at least a generation to pay off. The problem? Everyone seems to be against Germany’s solution. German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has angered some by openly criticizing European economic rescue packages. The tone seems to be getting bitter in the discussion about what is the correct reaction to the global economic downturn.

“After Britain invited French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso for talks ahead of the EU summit, and didn’t invite German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck hit back.

“’Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90?’ he asks, taking a gibe at British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in an interview with American magazine Newsweek. Brown has cut the interest rate from 17.5 percent to 15 percent to relieve the financial burden slightly for the British population in addition to stimulating the nation’s economy. Yet, in Steinbrueck’s opinion, all Brown’s plan can achieve ‘is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off’.

“Steinbrueck’s comments are the best proof for the differences in opinion between Germany and its partners. The French and the British want to stimulate the economy with public funds, but Germany refuses to abide. This causes irritation not only because Germany, as Europe’s leading economy, should lead the stimulus-movement, but also because the global export champion had made profits from the boom of the others.

“Paul Krugman, the recent recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, referred to Steinbrueck as dumb, saying that a refusal to cooperate with debt-financed stimulus packages can cause severe damage. Steinbrueck’s interview also left a sour taste in Britain, where the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) described it as an ‘unusual break of diplomatic customs’…”

Anglo-German Dispute Deepens

The Independent wrote on December 13:

“Britain has formally protested to the German government about the stinging attack on Gordon Brown by its Finance Minister, deepening the Anglo-German dispute over the Prime Minister’s economic strategy. Sir Michael Arthur, the British ambassador in Berlin, raised strong objections with the German Finance Ministry over the remarks by Peer Steinbrück, who branded Mr Brown’s £20bn fiscal stimulus ‘crass’ and ‘breathtaking’.

“David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, denied knowledge of the complaint. But the British embassy in Berlin confirmed that Mr Steinbrück’s criticism was raised by Sir Michael, a clear sign that the Brown Government was rattled by the attack. A spokesman said the ambassador had made it clear that, ‘we fundamentally disagreed with the comments made by Peer Steinbrück’.

“Yesterday, the pound fell to a record low against the euro for the fifth day running, dropping to €1.1191 amid fears that the British economy would be among the hardest hit by the recession…”

Pound and Dollar Drop Further Against the Euro

The Telegraph wrote on December 15:

“Sterling slumped further this morning, leaving the currency worth just 90p against the euro for the first time since the launch of Europe’s single currency, as concern about the depth of Britain’s recession dominates foreign-exchange markets…

“Steve Barrow, currency strategist at Standard Bank said he was ‘fearful’ for the pound which he believes could fall to parity against the euro in 2009.”

The Financial Times added on December 17:

“The US currency suffered its biggest one-day slide against the euro since the birth of the single European currency in January 1999 as the euro jumped from under $1.40 to above $1.44… Following the Fed meeting on Tuesday, which reduced interest rates to a range of zero per cent to 0.25 per cent, US rates are now lower than those in Japan for the first time since 1993…”

Bloomberg elaborated on December 17:

“The world’s biggest currency-trading firms say the dollar’s appeal as a haven amid the financial crisis all but evaporated… The dollar is likely to decline ‘longer term,’ analysts including New York-based Ashraf Laidi at CMC Markets wrote in a report… The Fed’s debt purchases will cause the dollar to weaken…, analysts led by Robert Sinche, New York-based head of global currency strategy at Bank of America Corp., wrote in a report yesterday… ‘Those temporary supports for the dollar appear to have eroded,’ Sinche wrote. ‘Aggressive quantitative easing by the Fed should add to U.S. dollar supply globally and undermine the value of the dollar’…

“The dollar’s decline against the euro compares with a similar move in the early 1990s, indicating the U.S. currency may weaken to a record low… next year, Citigroup Inc. strategists Tom Fitzpatrick in New York and Shyam Devani in London wrote in a research note… The U.S. currency’s drop is becoming ‘broader-based,’ Jens Nordvig a New York-based strategist for the U.S. securities firm, wrote today. ‘Temporary dollar demand from deleveraging and funding flows has come to an end.'”

Deadly Disease Affects Great Britain

The Daily Express wrote on December 15:

“Millions face being struck down by a deadly winter vomiting bug sweeping the country. Scores of hospitals have been forced to close wards to new patients as they struggle to cope with the influx of norovirus sufferers…

“As the crisis deepens, health campaigners are warning that hospitals face going into ‘complete meltdown’ over Christmas and New Year. Last year more than three million people were struck down by the bug as it reached epidemic levels. Now experts are warning that the virus could affect even more this year.

“It appears to be taking hold much earlier than usual… At its height last year the virus, which causes projectile vomiting, diarrhoea, mild fever and headaches, was striking down more than 200,000 a week. The illness can prove deadly for the vulnerable –  children and the elderly.”

Secret Talks on New EU President and EU Foreign Affairs Minister

The Telegraph wrote on December 12:

“EU leaders have agreed a ‘path’ offering Ireland concessions ‘with a view to enabling the Treaty to enter into force by the end of 2009’. Negotiations on the EU President and Foreign Affairs posts created under the Lisbon Treaty stopped in June when the Irish [voted] ‘No’.

“… with a new Ireland deal done, diplomats have confirmed secret talks on the job description of the EU President and the size of a new European diplomatic service, will now begin – months before the Irish vote again… Candidates for the two top EU jobs will be chosen at a summit in December 2009 after intense work is carried on throughout next year…

“EU leaders will promise that under the deal, Ireland will keep a permanent European Commissioner along with legal guarantees that Brussels will not interfere with the country’s military neutrality, taxation, social and ethical issues… The second Irish referendum is expected to take place next autumn once details of opt-outs and concession are concluded in June 2009.”

The Irish Government “Betrayed” Its People

The EUObserver wrote on December 11:

“The French president yesterday told the group leaders of the European parliament that he has made a deal with the Irish government to hold a second referendum in Ireland to ratify the Lisbon treaty first rejected on 12 June by 53 percent of Irish voters. None of the representatives of the Irish people who voted No to the Lisbon Treaty were consulted by the Irish government before they struck a deal with the French Presidency. The Irish government has simply ignored the result of the referendum and betrayed those people who voted No in the majority…”

Nuclear War in the Middle East–Soon?

Haaretz.com reported on December 12:

“U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s administration will offer Israel a ‘nuclear umbrella’ against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week. The source, who is close to the new administration, said the U.S. will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against Iran.

“But America’s nuclear guarantee to Israel could also be interpreted as a sign the U.S. believes Iran will eventually acquire nuclear arms. Secretary of state-designate Hillary Clinton had raised the idea of a nuclear guarantee to Israel during her campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency…

“Granting Israel a nuclear guarantee essentially suggests the U.S. is willing to come to terms with a nuclear Iran. For its part, Israel opposes any such development… ‘What is the significance of such guarantee when it comes from those who hesitated to deal with a non-nuclear Iran?’ asked a senior Israeli security source. ‘What kind of credibility would this [guarantee have] when Iran is nuclear-capable?’

“The same source noted that the fact that there is talk about the possibility of a nuclear Iran undermines efforts to prevent Tehran from acquiring such arms. A senior Bush administration source said that the proposal for an American nuclear umbrella for Israel was ridiculous and lacked credibility. ‘Who will convince the citizen in Kansas that the U.S. needs to get mixed up in a nuclear war because Haifa was bombed? And what is the point of an American response, after Israel’s cities are destroyed in an Iranian nuclear strike?’

“The current debate is taking place in light of the Military Intelligence assessment that Iran has passed beyond the point of no return, and has mastered the technology of uranium enrichment. The decision to proceed toward the development of nuclear arms is now purely a matter for Iran’s leaders to decide.”

On October 10, 2008, the paper had speculated what Iran’s next move might be, stating:

“French agencies are divided over what Iran is likely to do once it has this uranium. One view is that the Iranians will immediately make a nuclear bomb, in order to demonstrate their capability. The other is that Iran will continue enriching uranium without making a bomb – at least until it has enough enriched uranium for several bombs.”

“Now For a World Government”

The Financial Times wrote on December 8:

“I have never believed that there is a secret United Nations plot to take over the US. I have never seen black helicopters hovering in the sky above Montana. But, for the first time in my life, I think the formation of some sort of world government is plausible. A ‘world government’ would involve much more than co-operation between nations. It would be an entity with state-like characteristics, backed by a body of laws.

“The European Union has already set up a continental government for 27 countries, which could be a model. The EU has a supreme court, a currency, thousands of pages of law, a large civil service and the ability to deploy military force. So could the European model go global? There are three reasons for thinking that it might.

“First, it is increasingly clear that the most difficult issues facing national governments are international in nature: there is global warming, a global financial crisis and a ‘global war on terror’.

“Second, it could be done… Geoffrey Blainey, an eminent Australian historian, has written: ‘For the first time in human history, world government of some sort is now possible.’ Mr Blainey foresees an attempt to form a world government at some point in the next two centuries, which is an unusually long time horizon for the average newspaper column.

“But – the third point – a change in the political atmosphere suggests that ‘global governance’ could come much sooner than that. The financial crisis and climate change are pushing national governments towards global solutions, even in countries such as China and the US that are traditionally fierce guardians of national sovereignty.

“… it seems, everything is in place. For the first time… there is an argument, an opportunity and a means to make serious steps towards a world government…”

World government, in one form or another, will come. First, man will attempt to create it (Revelation 13:3-9; 17:1-2; 18:3), but his temporary success will end in war and total disaster, as well as terrible worldwide destruction (Matthew 24:21-22). The Bible does say, however, that Jesus Christ will intervene and set up a peaceful world government which will never be destroyed–and of His government and peace there will be no end (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Growing Fault Lines Between Europe and USA

On December 9, the Asia Times Online published a highly controversial article–in fact, much of what was written must be rejected as propaganda. However, the following comments are worth quoting:

“North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ministers in Brussels have decided to ignore the wishes of the United States and delay the admission of Georgia and the Ukraine, in effect indefinitely, in what the George W Bush administration is sheepishly trying to claim is a positive ‘compromise’. The decision follows the alarm which peaked among European Union member states last August over the prospect of having to go to war with Russia…

“The decision deepens growing fault lines across the Atlantic, and next year will be clearly more turbulent even than 2008 in terms of global geopolitics. The Brussels decision is even more remarkable if taken as indication of Washington’s diminishing power over European NATO members… Washington has undergone a stunning setback in its agenda of encircling Russia with NATO. Despite the fact that president-elect Obama retained Bush Administration Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and named a person to be Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who has strongly supported bringing Georgia and Ukraine into NATO, key European NATO members, led by Germany and France, blocked what must be a unanimous membership decision.”

“War of Words” Between Britain and Germany

Deutsche Welle reported on December 11:

“Angela Merkel may have shrugged off the apparent snub of not being invited to Monday’s mini-summit between Britain and France but it is unlikely that new comments from the British government will be dismissed as easily.

“The simmering war of words between Berlin and Downing Street heated up Thursday as both Merkel and Prime Minister Gordon Brown prepared to fly to Brussels for a crucial EU summit.

“Responding to claims by German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck that Britain’s conversion from economic and financial prudence to heavy state borrowing was… of ‘breathtaking’ proportions, representatives of Brown’s government said that Germany’s ability to respond effectively to the global economic downturn was being hampered by domestic politics…

“Steinbrueck criticized the 2.5 percent cut in Value Added Tax (VAT), to 15 percent, introduced by the British government from December 1 in an outspoken interview with US magazine Newsweek. ‘All this will do is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off,’ Steinbrueck said, echoing criticism leveled at Brown by the Conservative opposition in Britain…

“Speculation of a rift increased this week after Merkel — in charge of Europe’s biggest economy — was left out of the London summit on Monday involving Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.”

Welt On Line wrote on December 11:

“German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has criticised countries for rushing through what he called crass and untested economic rescue packages at a ‘breathtaking and depressing’ pace. Steinbrueck particularly singled out British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, accusing him of switching to economic policies that would saddle a generation with debt…”

Owner of Los Angeles Times and KTLA Channel 5 Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

The Los Angeles Times reported on December 9:

“Tribune Co., the owner of the Los Angeles Times, KTLA Channel 5 and dozens of other daily newspapers and television stations across the country, filed Monday for bankruptcy protection from creditors, in the latest indication of deteriorating economics for the news business…

“In recent weeks, the McClatchy newspaper chain put its Miami Herald up for sale, the Christian Science Monitor said it would abandon daily print publication in favor of Web operation, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Minneapolis Star-Tribune have flirted with or entered default, and the New York Times said it would mortgage its headquarters skyscraper in midtown Manhattan to help cover operating costs.”

Politics at Its Worst

The Chicago Tribune wrote on December 9:

“Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were arrested by FBI agents [but later released on bail] on federal corruption charges Tuesday morning… In one charge related to the appointment of a senator to replace Barack Obama, prosecutors allege that Blagojevich sought appointment for himself as secretary of Health and Human Services in the new Obama administration, or a lucrative job with a union, in exchange for appointing a union-preferred candidate.

“Another charge alleges Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of him in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co. Blagojevich and Harris, along with others, obtained and sought to gain financial benefits for the governor, members of his family and his campaign fund in exchange for appointments to state boards and commissions, state jobs and state contracts, according to the charges.

“‘The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,’ U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement…”

Corruption in US Politics–Nothing New

USA Today reported on December 11:

“Its largest city is legendary for machine-style politics and its elected leaders have been under investigation for years, but by one measure, Illinois is not even close to the nation’s most-corrupt state…

“On a per-capita basis… Illinois ranks 18th for the number of public corruption convictions the federal government has won from 1998 through 2007…

“Louisiana, Alaska and North Dakota all fared worse than the Land of Lincoln… The analysis does not include corruption cases handled by state law enforcement and it considers only convictions. Corruption may run more rampant in some states but go undetected…

“New York… is ranked just after Illinois for corruption convictions…”

Did Barack Obama Know?

ABC News wrote on December 9:

“‘Obviously like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the US attorney’s office today,’ said President-elect Obama this afternoon in Chicago, speaking of the criminal complaint against Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich for corruption… Asked what contact he’d had with the governor’s office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said ‘I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening.’

“But on November 23, 2008, his senior adviser David Axelrod appeared on Fox News Chicago and said something quite different. While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a ‘kingmaker,’ Axelrod said, ‘I know he’s talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them.’…

“Axelrod this evening issued a statement saying, ‘I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.’

“There are no allegations that President-elect Obama or anyone close to him had anything to do with any of the crimes Gov. Blagojevich is accused of having committed…

“But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat — with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor to the authorities? And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house…”

Consequences of Political Scandal in Illinois Widen

The Los Angeles Times wrote on December 11:

“Barack Obama and federal lawmakers maneuvered Wednesday to force Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to step down after his arrest in a payoff scandal and prevent him from naming the president-elect’s successor in the Senate… Majority Leader Harry Reid… and others said the Senate might block any Blagojevich appointee from taking office.

“A leading contender for the seat, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr…. said Wednesday that he would meet with prosecutors this week to share what he knew about the case. Jackson, who denied wrongdoing, has hired a Chicago lawyer to represent him.

“The congressman… has been widely reported to be the man named in an FBI affidavit as ‘Senate Candidate 5’… In wiretapped conversations, the governor said allies of ‘Senate Candidate 5’ had promised to raise as much as $1 million for him in a ‘pay-to-play’ trade for the appointment, the FBI said…

“Obama called on state lawmakers to ‘put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois.’ The Legislature plans to convene Monday to pass a bill calling for a special election to fill Obama’s Senate seat. In theory, Blagojevich could veto the measure, and lawmakers could enact it through an override.”

2008 Nobel Economics Prize Recipient Predicts End of Major U.S. Auto Companies

Welt On Line reported on December 8:

“Paul Krugman, [economics professor at Princeton University and columnist for The New York Times and] winner of the 2008 Nobel economics prize, said on Sunday policy makers would be unable to prevent the global economic crisis from inflicting serious damage… ‘The simple mechanics of producing a rescue for the world economy are very hard. The pace at which things are getting worse is so great that it’s difficult to see how rescue measures can come… Even with the best of understanding it can’t come fast enough to prevent a great deal of damage… I’m very worried what next year will look like.’…

“Krugman also said he doubted the U.S. auto sector would survive in the long run…  ‘It’s…the unwillingness, I believe a correct lack of willingness, to accept the failure of a large industrial sector — even if it’s an industrial sector in decline — in the midst of a very very severe recession. In the end these companies will probably disappear.’…”

Bailouts for the Auto Industry…

Newmax wrote on December 8:

“With congressional Democrats and the Bush administration agreeing in principle during the weekend to drop a few billion on General Motors and Chrysler, all signs point to a government-backed auto industry bailout [and] an unprecedented investment in private industry…

“Ford’s chief executive Alan Mulally earned $22 million in total compensation last year – a year that helped push the company toward oblivion…  Plenty other uniquely American industries are taking it on the chin, and no one is calling for a bailout of those sectors… the high end of the bailout range keeps them [the Big Three] in business for about a year. Then what? Without major changes in their business model, they’ll simply be coming back to Washington with their hands out again.

“… this current ‘bailout’ bears no resemblance to the rescue of Chrysler in 1980. In 1980, Congress passed, and President Carter signed, a law giving a U.S. government guarantee of a private $1.5 billion loan to Chrysler. Not one dollar of taxpayer funds was ever used in the deal…”

… Maybe Not…

The Associated Press reported on December 11:

“A House-passed bill to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit’s automakers stands on shaky ground in a bailout-weary Congress, undermined by Republican opposition that could derail the emergency aid in the Senate.

“Republicans are challenging lame-duck President George W. Bush on the proposal, arguing that any support for the domestic auto industry should carry significant concessions from autoworkers and creditors and reject tougher environmental rules imposed by House Democrats.

“The House approved the plan late Wednesday on a vote of 237-170. It would infuse money within days into cash-starved General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. Ford Motor Co., which has said it has enough cash to make it through 2009, would also be eligible for federal aid.

“Supporters cited dire warnings from GM and Chrysler executives, who have said they could run out of cash within weeks, and concerns that a carmaker collapse would erase tens of thousands of jobs and jolt an already bleak economy.

“Democrats and the Bush White House hoped the Senate would vote on the legislation as early as Thursday. But based on concerns raised by GOP senators – and a still-uncertain level of support even among Democrats – they had a lot of work to do.

“A leading Senate Republican opponent said Thursday that he cannot back spending $14 billion of taxpayer money on a plan that would call for a restructuring of the industry, but which fails to detail just how that would be accomplished…

“The measure’s murky outlook reflected the difficulty of approving another federal financial rescue on the heels of the deeply unpopular, $700 billion Wall Street bailout, as the clock ticks down on the current Congress and Bush’s influence is at a low ebb… Opposition wasn’t limited to Republicans… The automakers initially asked Congress for $25 billion, then returned two weeks later to plead for as much as $34 billion…”

Grim Outlook for US Economy

The following facts, as reported in the quoted article below, should serve as a wake-up call for those who didn’t or don’t expect the U.S. economy to face tough times ahead. Even the article’s use of words such as “unexpected” or “more than expected,” in relationship to bad developments within our economy, shows how little our financial experts are in touch with reality.

The Associated Press reported on December 11:

“New claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, exceeding even gloomy expectations for an economy stuck in a recession that seems to be deepening… New jobless claims last week reached their highest level since November 1982, though the labor force has grown by about half since then… Also Thursday, the U.S. trade deficit rose unexpectedly in October as a spreading global recession dampened sales of U.S. products overseas…

“In just the first two months of the budget year that started Oct. 1, the budget deficit totaled $401.6 billion, nearly matching the record gap of $455 billion posted for all of last year… Economists expect the deficit will top $1 trillion in the current budget year, which would be a post-World War II high when measured as a percentage of the economy…

“The Labor Department said last week that employers cut a net total of 533,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate reached 6.7 percent, a 15-year high. The rate would have been higher, except that more than 400,000 Americans gave up looking for a new job and weren’t counted in the labor force.

“Companies have eliminated a net total of 1.9 million jobs this year, and some economists project the total cuts could reach 3 million by the spring of 2010.”

Bleak Outlook for World Economy

The Telegraph wrote on December 9:

“Politicians must prepare themselves for the possibility that global economic growth shrinks for the first time since the Second World War, according to the World Bank. In comments which underline the scale of the international recession, the Washington-based institution said even as things stand growth next year will be the worst since comparable records began in 1970… The warning will be seen as a final blow for those who held out hope that some countries would be insulated from the recession…

“As the recession spreads far beyond the borders of the United States, both rich and poor countries will suffer a slump of unprecedented scale, the Bank said in its latest review of the world’s economic prospects. Global trade, the real engine of wealth generation, will contract for the first time since 1982. “

Cybersecurity One of Most Urgent National Security Problems

DailyTech wrote on December 9:

“A new report issued by the Center for Strategic and International Studies urges President-elect Barack Obama to create a new White House department aimed at protecting U.S. cyber interests from hackers and other foreign agents. ‘America’s failure to protect cyberspace is one of the most urgent national security problems facing the new administration that will take office in January 2009,’ the report states.  Cyber safety is ‘a battle fought mainly in the shadows.  It is a battle we are losing’…

“‘The United States must treat cybersecurity as one of the most important national security challenges it faces,’ according to the report… the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not been able to properly secure U.S. government computers from cyber attacks, and should no longer have the responsibility.  DHS isn’t suited to handle technology issues, as the agency uses ‘archaic’ methods that cannot keep up with new attacks.”

President Bush Confused About the Bible

The New York Times reported on December 8:

“President George W. Bush said his belief that God created the world is not incompatible with scientific proof of evolution… ‘I think you can have both… I think that God created the earth, created the world; I think the creation of the world is so mysterious it requires something as large as an [A]lmighty and I don’t think it’s incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution… I happen to believe that evolution doesn’t fully explain the mystery of life.’

“Interviewer Cynthia McFadden asked Bush if the Bible was literally true… ‘Probably not. … No, I’m not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it… the important lesson is “God sent a son”‘… The president also said that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs.”

Tensions Are Mounting Between India and Pakistan

AFP wrote on December 9:

“Pakistan said Tuesday it would not hand over suspects in the Mumbai [formerly Bombay] terror strikes to India and warned that while it wanted peace with its neighbour, it was ready for war if New Delhi decided to attack.

“The remarks came as Indian police on Tuesday released the names of nine suspected gunmen killed in the carnage, reiterating that all of them came from Pakistan.

“Tensions have been mounting between the nuclear-armed neighbours after India said it was keeping all options open following last month’s attacks on its financial capital, where 172 people were killed and more than 300 wounded…

“Indian officials say the hardline Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which is based in Pakistan despite being banned by the government, is behind the bloodshed, and Indian media have suggested there could be Indian strikes on militant camps…

“The minister said India’s demands for the extradition of suspects in the Mumbai attacks were out of the question and that Pakistan, which has arrested 16 people since Saturday, would keep them on home soil…

“India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain and nearly came to a fourth in 2001 after an attack on the Indian parliament that was blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba…”

Greece’s Worst Civil Unrest in Decades

Deutsche Welle reported on December 8:

“Rioting and protests over the shooting of a teenager by police continued to spread across Greece Monday, leaving authorities frustrated by their inability to stop the country’s worst civil unrest in decades…

“Hundreds of students, armed with fire bombs and stones, clashed with police and smashed storefronts in the northern port city of Thessaloniki on Monday while gangs of youths attacked police stations and government buildings in Athens. From the northern city of Veria to the central city of Trikala, students battled riot police who retaliated by firing tear gas. On Crete, gangs of high school students threw chairs, wood and rocks at security forces…

“Confrontations between protesters and police also broke out in Berlin, London and Cyprus as youths occupied Greek diplomatic missions… University professors [in Greece] meanwhile began a three-day walkout on Monday and tens of thousands of students refused… to attend classes, in protest.”

Der Spiegel Online described the situation in Greece on December 9 as the “Nightmare before Christmas.”

It added on December 11:

“As Greece entered its sixth day of unrest sparked by the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy, violence spread to other parts of Europe on Thursday. Solidarity protests in cities including Rome, Madrid and Copenhagen turned into skirmishes between demonstrators [mainly left-wing radicals] and police.”