"The WAR on error"
The top Catholic official on Chinese soil has lashed out at Beijing, saying the ordinations last year of three bishops without Vatican approval were illegitimate and "acts of war". "These three illegitimate ordinations ... are acts of war against the church. So how can you say that we opt for confrontation? They are waging a war, they want to destroy the church."
The leader of Germany's biggest opposition party argued in an interview published today that Chancellor Merkel's conservatives have moved too far left in the governing "grand coalition," charging that they have undergone "brainwashing."
The CSU is represented only in Bavaria, where the CDU does not compete in elections. The CDU and the CSU form a joint faction in the Bundestag. The CSU takes a more conservative stance than the CDU on social issues such as abortion and immigration. Traditionally, it has also been more reluctant to back liberal positions on economic policy questions. The CSU vehemently defends the powers of the states vis-a-vis the federal government and is more sceptical about European integration than either the CDU or the SPD.
The Minister-President, Free State of Bavari,Dr. Edmund Stoiber during his speech in the munich Residence.
Germany wants a new foreign policy to build closer ties between the EU and the countries of Central Asia. But dealing with dictatorships in the region poses major challenges.
The afternoon program on the first day of the Munich conference first addressed the issue as to why the "European Model" had become such a success and what impetus this could give to current global challenges.
There is no excuse for the failure of NATO and the EU to talk to each other. Europeans and Americans profess to believe that when they act together, good things happen. Yet they cannot make the EU and NATO work properly even though 80% of EU members belong to NATO—and vice versa. What then are the chances that in future conflicts, in which a wider range of international organisations could be involved, even broader alliances of alliances will be any more successful?
"This conference's structure allows me to avoid excessive politeness and the need to speak in roundabout, pleasant but empty diplomatic terms. This conference's format will allow me to say what I really think about international security problems. And if my comments seem unduly polemical, pointed or inexact to our colleagues, then I would ask you not to get angry with me..."
Israeli security forces are on high alert this morning around the Temple Mount as excavation works resume at the Mughrabi Gate near the Muslim holy shrine.
Using maps created in 1866 by a British explorer and passages from the Jewish Mishnah, an Israeli archaeologist and professor at Hebrew University says he has pinpointed the location of the sacred Jewish Temple. According to Patrich, the Temple, its corresponding courtyards, chambers and gates were oriented in a more southeasterly direction, sitting diagonally on what is the modern Temple Mount. The difference in orientation and the placement further eastward varies from the east-facing orientation of other scholars who believe the Temple was closer to today's Western Wall.
President Ahmadinejad has insisted on Iran's right to develop nuclear fuel while staying within international rules. He accused the West of making false offers - calling for talks and then insisting that Tehran first halts its uranium enrichment work.
Iran's nuclear program is not a threat to Israel and the country is prepared to settle all outstanding issues with the International Atomic Energy Agency within 3 weeks, its top nuclear negotiator said today.
(MCOSP: Full text of speech)
(Economist: Israel & Iran: How MAD can they be?)
The US is trying to fabricate Iran's involvement in attacks on US troops in Iraq, Iran's ambassador to the UN said in a radio interview aired on Friday. He told NPR's "All Things Considered" program that Iran has "no interest" in providing weapons to any insurgent group in Iraq.
For the moment, everything Iran does is drawing America in closer, and the risks of an Iranian miscalculation are growing by the day.
Why George Bush should resist a Wagnerian exit from the White House. With a weak and isolated president, and an army bogged down in the misery of Iraq, the American Congress and people are hardly in fighting mood. Nonetheless, and despite Mr Gates's calming words, Iran and America are heading for a collision. Although the risk is hard to quantify, there exists a real possibility that George Bush will order a military strike on Iran some time before he leaves the White House two years from now.
Politically, Mr Bush has nothing to lose. And militarily he can be sure that the American air force will take out at least some of the Iranian nuclear installations in spectacular fashion. Yet the risks of such an attack by the United States are sobering. The backlash on the ground in Iraq - and elsewhere - could indeed be ferocious. There is, in short, a real danger that a pre-emptive strike against Iran could turn Goliath into Samson, bringing the temple of Dagon crashing down on everyone in the Middle East, including Samson himself. The new symmetrical warfare that is now being waged in Iraq cannot be won by Top Gun pilots, nor by trucks full of cash. Only knowledge - not least a knowledge of the other side's language - can now save the American Colossus from a denouement of truly Biblical proportions.
There is something deadly wrong with a society and a political system that permits a regime capable of such insane and criminal "leadership" to remain in power. The American people and their representatives in Congress must face the fact that criminal and dictatorial persons control executive power in the US and immediately rectify this highly dangerous situation.
And his finger's on "the button"...
The president's persistence in the face of reality represents a disturbing state of mind. But denial is just the tip of the Freudian iceberg. Psychologically, Bush has been in a more serious state: dissociation from reality. Dissociation is a more complicated defense mechanism than denial. It doesn't just pretend that reality isn't there. It replaces reality with a fantasy world.
I recently spent 6 months living in a small village outside Nice, while keeping my principal residence at our Texas ranch, and I feel that I have been living in two different worlds. One interesting difference between Texans and Frenchmen is that while the French are genuinely interested in Texas and the US, most Texans I have met are strangely incurious about the outside world.
[WAR: Yes, the world revolves around us!...;-) And this article actually brings up a thought I've had for years: Is Texas where the "Half-tribe of Manasseh" - that was linked to Reuben and Gad - ended-up settling? Because they were part of Manasseh (US), yet seperate (like Texas was/is). And they were at the forefront of Israel's army to obtain the land ... "remember the Alamo!"]
Speculators and low interest rates have helped cheapen the yen, putting the world economy at risk.
Planned inflation steals your money, and implies a future in gold, but can suggest something you can do about it. Billions on a secret offensive bio weapons program, gulf oil producers mess with pact.
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