"The WAR on error"
Benedict XVI appealed to politicians in favor of the family and warned them that recognition of de facto unions is dangerous and counterproductive.
Benedict XVI believes that civil and Church institutions must cooperate to alleviate poverty, whether it is economic, human or relational. At the same time, he said that "the suffering man belongs to us."
Lithuanian Catholics are not amused by "Popetown." The Catholic Church in the country is planning to sue MTV over the irreverent cartoon satire.
Why are we asking this question now? Because the Swiss-Jewish director Dani Levy's film Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler, which opened yesterday in Berlin, is the first attempt by a group of German film-makers to produce a comedy about Hitler. No German has dared to make a comedy film about the Nazi leader before.
Incaseyamissedit...
I know that a lot of British Euro-sceptics [and COG "prophets"] think that German politicians use the EU as a cover for their national interests. Some [like the PCG] even make the unlovely assumption that Germany is seeking to secure through the EU what it could not achieve through war, and circulate lurid pamphlets showing that the Kaiser wanted a European customs union, or that Hitler had a plan for a single currency. Quite apart from being terrifically rude, this could not be further from the truth. Germany gets less out of the EU than any other member, making a larger contribution to the budget and getting fewer votes per head of population.
The German parliament has clashed with Chancellor Merkel over control of Berlin's EU policy, with parliamentarians threatening to place "tougher" scrutiny on positions taken by German ministers in Brussels if they continue to ignore the parliament's concerns. And the parliament recently opened its own office in Brussels in order to more closely monitor EU legislation, following other national parliaments which have a stronger tradition of keeping a close eye on Brussels' dealings.
The chancellor has emerged as the leading political actor in Europe — not to mention the go-to person in Europe for Washington.
The German interior minister came out strongly against the burka yesterday, saying the body-covering garment worn by some religious Muslims impeded communication and obstructed integration. Calling on German and European Muslims to embrace European laws and norms, the minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said he generally accepted the rights of Muslims to wear the head covering of their choice but that the burka was a step too far.
The German EU presidency has suggested Europe should train its Imams to improve the integration of the continent's Muslim population, calm tensions and fight "home-grown terrorism".
Next week will see a changing of the guard at the European Parliament likely to put the 785-strong assembly into the hands of a German conservative, who has been a part of the Brussels machine for almost 30 years. Hans-Gert Poettering's massive experience contrasts strongly with out-going socialist president.
A motley association of extreme-right wing members of the European Parliament (MEPs) announced they will form a parliamentary group, enabling them to qualify for EU funding and support. The group, to be called "Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty" (ITS), will broadly oppose immigration, Turkish accession to the EU, and the European constitution. It will focus on "defending Christian values, the family, and European civilization."
The first reactions by the European press to Bush’s proposal to send an additional 20,000 soldiers to Iraq range from scepticism to outright rejection. If one takes these commentaries as a whole, a picture is sketched of a rapidly approaching catastrophe. Bush has chosen to ignore any rational considerations, political advice and even his own generals and in so doing is preparing to plunge Iraq, the Middle East, the US and a large part of the globe into disaster. There can be no doubt that many of the doubts and fears articulated in the European press are shared by officials and ministers in European governments and foreign ministries.
UPI analysis
Analysts and politicians in Europe are unhappy about President Bush's new Iraq strategy, which they say will fail as a last-ditch effort to bring stability to the restive country.
Turf wars between the Christian groups who run the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are endangering the lives of worshippers by impeding an agreement on the creation of an emergency exit. After years coaxing and cajoling the 6 Christian traditions who share the holy shrine towards agreeing the opening of a second door, Israeli patience seems to have worn out.
A campaign to convince Iran's 25,000 Jews to flee the country has stalled, with most opting to stay in their native homeland.
(Persian Journal: Leave our beloved Iranian Jews alone)
Could it be true that President Bush may have started a new secret, informal war against Syria and Iran without the consent of Congress?
American forces stormed Iranian government offices in northern Iraq, hours after President Bush issued a warning to Tehran that was described as a "declaration of war".
US forces raided the Iranian consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, detaining at least 5 employees. The arrests were clearly aimed at reinforcing the bellicose message contained in President Bush’s speech, just hours before, that the American military would “interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria” and “seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.” The operation demonstrates that there will be more such provocations in the coming months as the Bush administration attempts to create new pretexts for a reckless, military adventure against Iran.
An EU diplomat said that the raid by US occupation forces on the Iranian consulate "is a clear signal of a tougher US strategy." "It is a tightening of the strategy. We are very, very worried over this new dramatic development in northern Iraq."
The leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the European Parliament condemned the raid by US occupation forces on the Iranian consulate. "The US attack on the Iranian consulate is an unjustifiable provocation in an increasingly tense region."
Marching to Persia...
"Isn't it a definitive act of war for one country to storm the consulate of another, threaten to kill them if they do not surrender, and then detain six consulate officers?" Yes, it is a definitive act of war. The raid is just one more in a series of recent actions transparently designed to provoke the Iranians into some violent response that can be used as a "justification" for the Bush Regime's long-desired strike on Iran.
Iran's deputy interior minister for security affairs here Friday said all US plots and policies have reached an impasse.
Delivered in a near monotone, and written by someone with a tin ear, the president's much-anticipated speech on the "new way forward" in Iraq has succeeded only in reinforcing the impression that he is deaf, dumb, and blind to reason when it comes to Iraq. The longer we stay in Iraq, the likelier we are to get sucked into an Iranian quagmire that will dwarf our present predicament by several orders of magnitude. I would bank on a Cambodia-style incursion, a la Richard Nixon – a maneuver that, executed in the volatile Middle East, is likely to cause a seismic explosion that would reverberate across the globe with tremendous force. That's why we don't need a "surge" – and every moment we delay in getting out of Iraq takes us closer to the edge of the abyss.
Despite multifarious efforts to contain and control nuclear weapons through a variety of treaties, the promise of a mushroom cloud looms ominously on the horizon. Must the 21st century be scorched by a nuclear war? I see little chance of stopping it. A tactical U.S. nuclear strike would serve as a firm warning to the rest of the world that The Will of Bush must be served. Or would it? In the twilight of his second term, Bush is desperate to do something glorious. Is Bush crazy enough to consider nuclear war a crowning glory? Are any of the involved parties rational enough to back away from Armageddon?
While people are concerned with Iraq and the gathering armada in the Persian Gulf, the US has been quietly carrying out a not so covert economic war against Iran.
China warned the United States not to meddle in its trade relations with Iran after Washington expressed concern about a planned investment by a Chinese oil company in an Iranian gas field.
In the petrodollar wars, stage one was Iraq and stage two is Iran. Both dared to propose to use the euro instead of the U.S. dollar to buy Middle East oil. That was a big mistake because it jeopardized the solvency of the USD, a fiat currency; and, therefore, the very heart of the US economy itself. Big business will not stand for that.
Pretending you didn't know...
Iraq, Iran, and "weapons of mass destruction"...
Premier Paranoid Protestant Preaching Prophecy Propaganda Poop...
What the Iranian president has failed to calculate is that Israel would readily use tactical nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's otherwise invulnerable nuclear facilities. And the plot thickens.
UN peacekeeping boss...
UN peacekeeping forces have never been so thinly stretched as today. Every 6 months on average, peacekeepers are sent on a new mission. Spiegel spoke with Jean-Marie Guehenno about the world's short attention span, finding troops for UN missions, and what might be done in Darfur.
It seems to me, observing the young in coffee shops, that something is missing from their lives: the fine art of holding a newspaper.
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