"The WAR on error"
Just as true today...
It is precisely that type of gathering that in Greek is called "ekklesìa" ... that means assembly, gathering. So, in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, the Church gets together. In this way we can see the very birth of the reality of the Church in the homes of the believers. Christians, in fact, until around the 3rd century, did not have their own places of worship - they gathered in the homes of Christians, which in this way become "Church." [So] here, in the first half of the 1st century as in the 2nd century, Christian houses become true and proper "church."
Here is the address given Jan. 30 by the Holy See's permanent observer to the UN at Geneva, at the Interreligious Service for Peace.
The German government has agreed to send 6 Tornado reconnaisance jets to Afghanistan to help hunt Taliban insurgents. But as expected, the jets will not be used in direct support of ground troops. Or will they?
Not a very "holy" "empire"...
A top EU official has threatened Nicaragua with suspension of economic aid if the government of Daniel Ortega does not reverse its decision of last October and legalize abortion in the country.
Just bring back the mark...
Christian Gelleri, with his straightforward manner of speech, rumpled suit and home office, hardly resembles the polished central bankers whose every breath captivates financial markets. But he runs an organization that issues an alternative currency that consumers in the region southeast of Munich use to buy everything from pizza to haircuts to rugs. While more than 300 million people in Europe use the euro to buy life's essentials, a small but growing number — concentrated in the German-speaking world — use a proliferating species of currencies with names like chiemgauer, urstromtaler, landmark, kirschblüte and kann was. According to the Bundesbank, these alternative currencies are legal, provided they do not resemble the euro.
Minsk is ready to swap its union friendship with Moscow for stable relationship with the West. Belarus' President Lukashenko is apparently willing to make the Western countries acknowledge the legitimacy of his own regime, both in present and future. The fuel conflict which took place between Russia and Belarus in the beginning of the current year has changed Belarus' attitude to Russia in an instant.
The AJC's view is that criticism of Israel is tantamount to denying Israel's right to exist, and that makes you an anti-Semite. A voice here, an article there, by an American Jew criticizing Israel, and the AJC trembles. Its present political leadership, along with AIPAC, now have bankrolled vigorous support for the Bush administration's Middle Eastern policies. They do not have the only microphone to speak for American Jewry. Opinion and voting polls show them at odds with the majority of American Jews who remain "progressive" on an array of social issues, including Israeli policies — and, more to the point, of US behavior in the Middle East. Meanwhile to hold Israel's Jewish critics accountable for growing anti-Semitism is irresponsible, if not ridiculous.
The Israeli government is "doing nothing" while the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount discard Jewish artifacts and attempt to turn Judaism's holiest site into an exclusive prayer zone for Islam, a leading Israeli archeologist charged. Hebrew University's Eilat Mazor said the Waqf, the site's Muslim custodians, "want to turn the whole of the Temple Mount into a mosque for Muslims only. They don't care about the artifacts or heritage on the site."
Israel pressed on with public works near Jerusalem's ultra-sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound under heavy police guard, ignoring protests from Muslim leaders around the world. "If the Zionist enemy and the settlers continue the Al-Aqsa work, we will target synagogues and other sites in the Jewish faith," announced the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
Israeli and Lebanese forces have exchanged fire on their border. Israel says its troops returned fire after being fired on while searching an area where explosives had been found. Lebanese officials confirmed the clash. No casualties were reported. The UN force in southern Lebanon described the incident as serious.
According to Bibi...
Syria is waging an indirect war against Israel , Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said yesterday. "Syria is connected to the axis of evil and Iran . Planes in Syria supply Hizbullah , as do Syrian-made weapons. They are waging war against us actively, and giving refuge to twelve terror groups," he told a Tel Aviv conference. The opposition leader said that if Damascus were serious about peace with Israel, it would "first stop attacking us, throw out (Khaled) Mashaal, and disconnect from Iran."
But in reality...
It emerged recently that Israel and Syria had held peace talks - and there are strong suggestions that they failed because of US hostility.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal discusses Iran's power grab, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nuclear ambitions in the Middle East and a Saudi peace plan proposed 2 years ago that has received no response from Jerusalem.
Iran is not the problem!...
Fears that Iraqi insurgents may be using either improved missiles or better tactics mounted after the 5th helicopter in just over 2 weeks was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile north-west of Baghdad. A claim of responsibility was made by the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of insurgents including al-Qa'ida in Iraq, who have said they shot down 2 other helicopters recently. Almost all US casualties have been suffered in fighting the Sunni insurgents.
A major consequence of the installation of a Shiite majority government in Iraq, a first in the Arab world, is the rise of Shiite power in other countries of the Middle East. Although the Shiites represents only 15% of Muslims worldwide, the centuries-old animosity between Shiites and the dominant Sunnis has only increased. A number of Sunni governments fear this historical event could lead to an important realignment of the balance of power in the region, and they are struggling to develop a strategic option to counter this trend. Meanwhile, as Iraq slowly descends into civil war, the US finds itself at the center of this power struggle between Sunni and Shiite Islam.
The US has announced plans to set up a new military command headquarters for Africa, reflecting the continent's increasing strategic importance in the war against terror. The HQ will initially be based in Stuttgart, according to media reports.
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday sought to reassure Africans that his country's aggressive investments in oil, copper and other natural resources do not amount to a new wave of colonialism, saying China would "not do anything harmful to the interests of Africa and its people. China has never imposed its will or unequal practices on other countries and will never do so in the future."
China check-mating US (part 1)
Britain and France fought over the Seychelles Islands in the 19th century because of the strategic location on the important trading route to the East Indies. Today, more than ever before, the Seychelles archipelago is caught in the web of global politics. On Feb. 9 and 10 President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China will pay an official state visit to the islands after a tour of 8 African countries. For China, each country Hu visits will be to reaffirm negotiations for raw materials, energy supplies, aid assistance, debts forgiveness and negotiations, which is aimed to secure China's quest for global positioning. Put it another way, to add another piece to the puzzle of replacing the US as the only superpower in the world. China needs a military base in the Indian Ocean. It is considered that the Seychelles has the best global position for China's needs in Africa and the Indian Ocean region.
Iran and the EU appear ready to use a security conference in Munich to try and defuse tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions. But the US continued to push for tough European action.
In this month's issue of Vanity Fair, Craig Unger writes that the same neoconservative advisers who advocated for the Iraq war are now recycling the same tactics to push for the bombing of Iran. He reports that not all of Bush's key conservative allies are pleased with the administration's course on Iran.
London Telegraph political cartoon
If putting one's foot in one's mouth were a lucrative enterprise, George Soros would be worth far more than his current $8.5 billion. While bashing the Iraq war for the benefit of reporters at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Hungarian-born Soros unburdened himself of the view that the Nazis were once more in charge. Only now they were running the US. "America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany," Soros explained. "We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process."
The fact is, with E-bombs you don't really have to kill your enemy to defeat him. Hitting such facilities as telephone switching centers and electronic funds-transfer exchanges could render a city technologically, it not literally, helpless. "Knock out electric power, computers, and telecommunication and you've destroyed the foundation of modern society. In the age of Third World-sponsored terrorism, the E-bomb is the great equalizer."
[WAR: I've speculated about a German pilot taking off from Holloman AF base in New Mexico and detonating an EMP high-above OKC. But maybe they could pull it off with a rogue satellite? Are they thinking ahead - not about using it on the US, of course, but on other potential threats?]
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke became the latest member of the US establishment to issue a caution about the growth of social inequality. His remarks possess a certain political significance. A growing nervousness exists within the ruling elite about the consequences of a quarter century of its own policies, which have created extraordinary levels of social polarization. Sooner or later, such prominent figures recognize, this will have explosive consequences.
Two weeks after world economic powers pledged to re-energize global free trade talks, the 150 members of the WTO began meeting yesterday to assess the degree of progress — or lack thereof — toward an agreement that could liberalize the world economy. But a positive outcome to the meetings hinges on two major decisions pending in the United States, where Congress will debate whether to extend the authority of President Bush to agree on trade deals and whether to adopt a new farm bill that has received a lukewarm response from major trading partners like Brazil and the EU.
The old natural religions continue to thrive in Africa. While Christianity and Islam vie for supremacy in many countries, they have failed to banish the rain gods and spirits south of the Sahara. Frequently the pagan rites have fused with a faith in Jesus Christ.
The world is deeply divided.The main fault line is where the tectonic plates of religion and of reason/secularism/modernity/science/Enlightenment meet and grind against each other,making an absolutely unbearable noise. It's sort of like ... forget it, I can't describe it.
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