THE HOLY ROMAN ...
Radical Muslim clerics and scholars in Pakistan have demanded the removal of Pope Benedict XVI for what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam. "The Pope, and all infidels, should know that no Muslim, under any circumstances, can tolerate an insult to the Prophet [Muhammad]. If the West does not change its stance regarding Islam, it will face severe consequences."
Pope Benedict XVI has invited the ambassadors of Muslim countries as well as Muslim religious leaders to the Vatican for a Monday meeting at his residence.
Naturally, the Pope cannot undertake an offensive against Islam in the crude manner of a George W. Bush or along the lines of recent comments by the Bavarian prime minister. Following criticism of the Pope’s speech by leading Turkish politicians, the Bavarian Christian Social Union has demanded that the European Union break off membership talks with Turkey.
Those capable of following a rational argument understood the significance and purpose of Pope Benedict XVI's words. He did not misspeak; he was not quoted out of context; and his controversial historical reference vis-à-vis the irrationality of Islam was not randomly selected or incidental to his central thesis (faith and reason).
The Romans are worried. On the bus, in the cafes and standing in the interminable post office lines, people are weighing the possibility of a Muslim reprisal (and) have sent the Romans running for cover.
A 1938 diary written near the end of Pope Pius XI's papacy confirms his opposition to fascism was hardening as the outbreak of World War II grew closer, a historian said Tuesday after examining documents in the Vatican's just-opened secret archives. The diary also indicated that Pius XI was determined to oppose the 1938 anti-Jewish laws enacted by Mussolini's regime. Entries "showed the great firmness of Pius XI. He wasn't afraid" to oppose both fascism and Nazism.
[WAR: Just more evidence of what really happened during this time period - which conflicts with what we've been taught by the COG ministers and the "prophets" with their "visions".]
... EMPIRE OF THE GERMAN NATION
The former SS guard kept her secret buried, even from her Jewish husband. Now exposed, the Bay Area widow, 83, is back in Germany.
[WAR: Why?! Why are we still pursuing these matters? And why aren't we also trying to find other people from other countries and governments - and even from all the other wars that have taken place - for their "crimes"? Why are Germans the only ones singled-out for prosecution/persecution after all these years? WHY?!!]
Germany will on Thursday put a roadblock in front of moves to bolster cross-border crime fighting and control economic migration in Europe, in the latest sign of Berlin's increasingly awkward stance on the European stage. Germany's national interest now plays a bigger in European policy choices – regardless of political affiliation. Thus, the bulk of the hostility towards Brussels in recent months has tended to come from the economics ministry, now in the hands of Michael Glos of the Christian Social Union.
[WAR: Hmmm ... this goes against all the "prophets" and their "visions" about the EU being led/dominated by Germany and eventuallyy becoming the Beast - the revived Holy Roman Empire. The truth of the matter is that the EU (and the euro) will collapse - thus freeing Germany to pursue its own national interests and fulfill its prophetic destiny.]
EUROPE/RUSSIA
Edmund Stoiber the president of the German region of Bavaria and leader of the Christian Social Union Party, proposed today that deliberations on Turkey’s possible acceptance into the European Union be ended. According to Europa Press, Stoiber says the reaction of many of the ruling political leaders in Turkey to the words of the Pope was reckless and overly critical.
As Kosovo enters the final phase of U.N.-brokered talks that many believe will give it independence from Serbia, recurrent explosions are rattling nerves and raising troubling questions about what lies in store for a region trying to put atrocities and animosities behind it.
MIDEAST/AFRICA/ASIA
Syrian President Bashar Assad said Thursday that the possibility of a new war in the Middle East could not be ruled out. Assad said he believed Israel could decide to attack Syria, because it was "looking for a way out of the crisis it is in through a new [military] operation."
Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad broke away from events at the U.N. General Assembly to hold an informal question-and-answer session with high-powered members of America's most prestigious foreign policy think tank - despite objections from some Jewish groups and the Bush administration. The Council on Foreign Relations said afterward that Ahmadinejad had engaged in a "protracted punch and counter-punch" with 19 members for about 90 minutes in the conference room of a New York City hotel late Wednesday.
[WAR: This just goes to prove what I've been saying - that the "NWO" is divided against itself and will fall ... very soon. George II brought it to the open, and George III will bring it down.]
Iran's president, responding to Western criticism of his questioning of the Holocaust and a call for Israel to be "wiped off the map," said on Thursday his quarrel was with Zionists and not Jews. "Zionists are Zionists, period. They are not Jews, they are not Christians, and they are not Muslims. They are a power group, a power party, and we oppose the oppression and the aggression that any party that seeks pure raw power goes after."
Iran is prepared to negotiate a suspension of its most sensitive nuclear work if it receives fair guarantees in talks with major powers, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.
The Pentagon's top brass has moved into second-stage contingency planning for a potential military strike on Iran, one senior intelligence official familiar with the plans tells RAW STORY.
As reports circulate of a sharp debate within the White House over possible US military action against Iran and its nuclear enrichment facilities, The Nation has learned that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have issued orders for a major "strike group" of ships, including the nuclear aircraft carrier Eisenhower as well as a cruiser, destroyer, frigate, submarine escort and supply ship, to head for the Persian Gulf, just off Iran's western coast.
HOUSE OF ISRAEL
With the campaign season in full swing, a liberal church is locked in an escalating dispute with the IRS over an anti-war sermon that could cost the congregation its tax-exempt status.
[WAR: The IRS should take away every tax-exempt status from all organized churches, COGs included.]
ECONOMY
Susan Schwab, US trade representative, on Wednesday welcomed the news that Germany was considering reviving plans for a transatlantic single market.
MISC
Once again, the UN is entertaining – and that's not a good thing. Its ominous meaning is that the world crisis is deepening, but in the meantime we are in for quite a spectacle.
A tweaked version of Firefox that makes Web browsing anonymous has been released by a group of privacy-minded coders. Every few minutes, the Torpark browser causes a computer's IP address to appear to change.
Remember, you can view this at http://thedailyworldaffairsreport.blogspot.com.
