"The WAR on error"
Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome's second largest basilica. The sarcophagus, which dates back to at least 390 A.D., has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and was completed last month. The findings of the project will be officially presented during a news conference at the Vatican on Monday.
Benedict XVI says that the Pope's ministry takes place in three "concentric circles": the innermost comprises Catholics; the intermediate, other Christians; and the third, non-Christians.
"As is already customary after every apostolic journey, in this general audience I would like to review the different stages of the pilgrimage I made to Turkey from Tuesday to Friday of last week. A visit that, as you know, did not seem easy from several points of view, but which God supported from the start and that in this way was able to unfold happily. Therefore, just as I had asked that it be prepared and supported with prayer, now I ask you to join me in thanking the Lord for its development and conclusion."
Benedict XVI's historic trip to Turkey brought better results than many people expected, says a Vatican spokesman. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, evaluated the four-day visit on Vatican Radio last Friday, the last day of the trip. This is an adapted translation of that interview.
Has the pope gone wobbly? The question might matter less if he weren't the man he is - and if the images of his facing Mecca in prayer on his trip to Turkey weren't fresh. With his big brain and the heft of Roman Catholic tradition behind him, Benedict has stood for a remarkably clear idea: There is truth, and we won't retreat from it. But in his visit to Turkey last week, the face of confrontation, and perhaps the hold on certainty, seemed to soften.
Benedict XVI has been in keeping with those who thought he might be a "Pope of surprise" - and has done so, most surprisingly, on both sides of the aisle. Let's take this first from a "worldly" perspective, then with a twist of the mystical.
Catholic Social Teaching has been called the best-kept secret in the Church. It’s in the Catechism, there have been many papal encyclicals and bishops’ statements, and activists pattern their ministries on it. The Catholic Church in America has always stood unequivocally for workers’ rights and has always supported the Union movement. But when a union went corrupt, the Church always supported the workers, rather than the powers.
Last but not least, it must be noted that the extensive federal reforms were presided over not by Chancellor Merkel, but by Müntefering and Bavarian Chief Minister Edmund Stoiber (CSU), while Koch and Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück led the financial reforms. Hence, Merkel must quickly find a field of activity for herself, where she can demonstrate her strength and willingness to victory. If she fails to do so, I see a shapeless Chancellor being ousted by her own party after a miserable election campaign 2009. Her enemies within the CDU have been lined up for years waiting to put her neck in the noose.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will travel to Washington, where he will meet his counterpart Condoleezza Rice for talks on Berlin's upcoming presidencies of the EU and the G8. The visit today and Friday will cover the Middle East conflict, Iran's nuclear program, peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan and the Balkans, energy security and relations with Central Asia. Talks will also focus on preparations for Germany's holding the rotating presidencies of both the European Union and the Group of Eight industrial nations next year.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to launch a Europe-wide campaign against Turkey's EU membership ahead of the European Parliament elections in 2009 and will force Turkey to give up its membership bid and accept a "privileged partnership" using the deepening Cyprus problem as a pretext, an EU official in Brussels said yesterday.
German press on...
Turkish accession talks seem to be going nowhere in a hurry. Now, ahead of its European Union presidency, Germany is trying to send a strong message without completely derailing the talks.
In a new Middle East initiative, an Israeli businessman is offering the Palestinian prime minister $1 billion if he and his Israeli counterpart can sit down and reach a peace agreement. Billionaire businessman Avi Shaked, who made his fortune running Internet gambling sites, says he has lined up a consortium of international financiers who are ready to inject the money immediately if a deal is struck.
Right-wing Israeli governments suffer the same delusion as neoconservatives about limitless U.S. power. They believe that the power of their lobby can ensure that American power will be used to destroy all of Israel's enemies. The U.S. is likely to remain mired in Iraq until Israelis cast out this delusion. No amount of U.S. power can make it possible for Israel to both steal Palestine from Palestinians and have peace. No number of U.S. invasions of Islamic countries can win "the war on terror." As long as right-wing extremism prevails in Israel and as long as the U.S. interferes in the internal affairs of Muslin countries, the formula for calamity remains in place.
A proposed conference that stirred ire in Germany earlier this year is now slated to take place next week. Iran is behind the meeting, which is expected to be a platform for Holocaust deniers.
Iran categorically denied a report that it was holding clandestine talks in Europe to settle an old Israeli debt, The Associated Press reported. The report is "unfounded and totally false," Iran's mission to the United Nations in Geneva said in a faxed statement.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Western leaders to follow the path of God or "vanish from the face of the earth". "These oppressive countries are angry with us ... a nation that on the other side of the globe has risen up and proved the shallowness of their power. They are angry with our nation. But we tell them 'so be it and die from this anger'. Rest assured that if you do not respond to the divine call, you will die soon and vanish from the face of the earth."
Iran has decided to replace dollar with euro in its foreign trade given the continual impediments and hostile policies directed by U.S. toward the country, Iranian finance minister said on Monday.
A spokesperson for the European Commission declined yesterday to comment on media reports that Iran has started replacing the dollar with the euro in the majority of its crude oil exchanges in the last several months. "I have no comment. This would be a free decision for a government or company to use a particular currency than its own for invoicing the products that it sells."
Open mind...
The German government offered today its help to initiate talks between the US and Iran and Syria. Berlin's representative for German-US ties, Karsten Voigt, told the daily Berliner Zeitung that his government was supporting direct talks between Washington and Tehran and Damascus. "Germans and Europeans can assist here and mediate. However, they can never replace direct talks between the US and Iran and Syria."
Hardened heart...
The White House said it has ruled out one-on-one talks with Iran about Iraq unless Tehran suspends nuclear activities.
Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked secret Pentagon documents during the Vietnam war, said on Wednesday that he believed the US would attack Iran before 2008 and urged Washington insiders to make new disclosures to prevent a new war. He also said European allies and other governments should put pressure on the Bush administration by pledging to withdraw from NATO if the United States or Israel uses nuclear weapons against Iran. “They should say right now that there will be no NATO if it’s a NATO member that commits a nuclear aggression against Iran.”
ISG REPORT
Israel's prime minister today said it was wrong to link the Arab-Israeli conflict with woes in the Middle East and ruled out any immediate talks with Syria despite a U.S. report urging negotiations. Ehud Olmert said he expected little pressure from Washington in the wake of the high profile report by the Iraq Study Group, which called on President Bush to push for Arab-Israeli peace as part of efforts to ease regional tensions.
Only a number of days after the UN passed a resolution calling Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem illegal, former US Secretary of State James Baker says Israel must leave the Golan Heights.
The White House has been examining a proposal by James Baker to launch a Middle East peace effort without Israel. The peace effort would begin with a U.S.-organized conference, dubbed Madrid-2, and contain such U.S. adversaries as Iran and Syria. Officials said Madrid-2 would be promoted as a forum to discuss Iraq's future, but actually focus on Arab demands for Israel to withdraw from territories captured in the 1967 war. They said Israel would not be invited to the conference.
Amid signs of deepening difficulty and waning American influence in Iraq, the congressionally mandated Iraq Study Group unveiled a set of recommendations Wednesday ranging from a broader regional diplomatic effort to more emphasis on training Iraqi security forces.
The Iraq Study Group (ISG) report underscores the immensity of the crisis not only of the Bush administration, but the American political establishment as a whole. Both the content of the report and the extraordinary attention given to it by the media demonstrate that the US debacle in Iraq has produced a crisis of historic dimensions within the United States itself.
A gauntlet was thrown at George Bush's feet yesterday when a long-awaited report on Iraq recommended that he seek the help of Iran and Syria, significantly bolster Iraqi forces and prepare to withdraw most US troops within 14 months.
A high level U.S. commission's recommendations for an eventual withdrawal from Iraq and for dialogue with Iran and Syria proves "Islamic resistance" works and America will ultimately be defeated, according to senior terrorist leaders interviewed by WND. The militants, from the largest Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, welcomed the policies outlined by the Iraq Study Group, which they claim recognizes Islam is the "new giant of the world." "The report proves that this is the era of Islam and of jihad."
German opinion...
The era of American unilateralism is over. The Iraq Study Group's report has arrived with a plan of action for Iraq. The Bush Administration will soon change course, but what can it really do?
The London Times political cartoon of the day.
WND poll...
At a lecture in Washington recently, Kendall Myers, a veteran State Department analyst and expert on U.S.-British relations, asked this question: "How special is the United States-United Kingdom relationship after Iraq?" By a nice irony, the final and public recognition that the special relationship is a myth that itself needs to be parked will be the true legacy of Tony Blair's prime ministership.
Watch out Big Apple, Big Ben may be ringing in a new age of dominance for the British capital. In the same way immigrants flooded to the bright lights of New York last century, they are now drawn to London's galloping financial markets, inviting job market and high-octane lifestyle. Financially, London dominates global foreign exchange trading, leads New York in new stock market listings and is pulling ahead on hedge fund management.
Damage Down-unda...
Drought and flood have been a familiar feature of Australia's vast cattle and sheep ranches and shimmering grain fields ever since the first Europeans settled here more than 200 years ago. But this "big dry" is the worst and widest, officials say, and poses a massive economic challenge.
When European Central Bank policy makers meet today, the central bank's president will face a most delicate task: making a convincing case that it will act decisively to head off higher inflation without roiling currency markets. More than ever, the intentions of central banks in the United States and Europe have become the chief driver of expectations in currency markets.
Talking up the dollar is a tradition among government officials, who always want to prevent an exchange-rate swing from accelerating into a dollar plunge - an economic nightmare that would be marked by spikes in prices and interest rates. But as of Tuesday, the dollar hadn't moved up much from its recent lows against other major currencies. Investors remain largely focused on economic weakness in the United States and gathering strength in Europe - which portend a weaker dollar, no matter what anyone says.
America's stock markets typically start crumbling 4 months before each recession, anticipating the crunch in profits. Shares then grind relentlessly down for 10 months or so until they have on average knocked 26% off the S&P 500 index, Wall Street's listing of top companies. So if you think the US property slump is looking scary after October's 9.7% drop in new home prices, it may be time to take a little money off the table. It has been a lucrative autumn rally, but the 4-year bull market is long in the tooth by any standards. So batten down the hatches for a long storm.
We've been here before:
For someone like myself who is interested in the relationship between economics and politics, especially as they affect global affairs, the current weakness that the U.S. currency seems to be experiencing hasn't come as a total shock. Hence while economic analysts have been examining the volatility of the dollar and searching for explanations by focusing mainly on U.S. economic indicators, including the restless housing market and the weakening confidence of consumers, or the structural differences between the U.S. and European economies, it seems to me there is a need to integrate the discussion into the larger domestic and global political context. The problems of America's mighty currency need to be viewed from the perspective of the U.S. capital.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of seeing a pre-screening of Mel Gibson’s new film, Apocalypto. The movie has left me in complete shock and awe. So, what’s this flick about? The previews are quite misleading. The intensity and uncompromising nature of the movie left me in complete disbelief. It was Apocalytpo then, and it is no less Apocalytpo now.
Borat, featuring British actor Sacha Baron Cohen, is both a powerful piece of ethno-political propaganda and one of the stupidest films I’ve ever seen. Cohen suggests that the non-Jewish nations of the world are, as the Talmud teaches, little more than animals. Cohen himself gleefully demonstrates that the lives of the goyim focus on sexual excess and aberration, violence, bodily functions, and ignorance.
While Germany's children are looking into the shoes they put out before going to bed and spent the night hoping to find them filled with candy in the morning, kids in other countries might be scared they'll get the whip.
Be a WARrior and support the WAR effort by:
* Clicking on the ever-changing and news-related ads at the top.
