Tuesday

The Daily WAR (#02-18)

 
 
Bavarian blah, blah, blah...
A homily given by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the Cathedral of Bayeux on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, June 6, 2004.
 
Benedict XVI told future Holy See diplomats that their main priority is forming an intimate relationship with Christ. The Pope said this on Saturday when he received in audience students and educators from the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy - (which) was founded in 1701 and trains the priests who will serve as diplomats for the Holy See.
 
 
 
The Jewish Claims Conference is investigating whether the Heiligendamm resort that will be the site of this week's G-8 conference was stolen from its rightful owners during the Third Reich. Plus, German police complain about excessive security measures to protect George W. Bush.
 
It was supposed to be a peaceful demonstration. But suddenly, it turned into a war with anarchists battling it out with police. Almost 1,000 people were injured. But what went wrong?
 
 
 
Ain't gonna happen!...
Germany has promised Africa that it will use its current G8 presidency to lobby for the abolition of agricultural subsidies given to farmers in Europe and America.
 
A small group of politicians from around the EU have published a repackaged treaty for the bloc, hoping to feed into the emerging consensus among member states that a "simplified treaty" has to be extracted from the ashes of the rejected EU constitution.
 
Tony Blair may be preparing to abandon Britain's veto over law and order policy in Europe on the eve of his departure from Downing Street this month, MPs fear.
 
President Putin discusses the missile dispute with the United States, the risks of cooperating with Western companies in the production of Russian natural gas and what he describes as democratic deficiencies in the US and Europe.
 
 
 
Beleaguered Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who could be days away from losing US support and with it his job, is seeking renewed Kurdish support, even expressing his full backing for the Kurds in a potentially disastrous confrontation with Turkey.
 
If the Jewish state doesn't vacate the Golan Heights in the near future, Golan residents living under Israeli administration will launch "resistance operations" aimed at prompting an Israeli retreat from the territory, an official from Syrian President Assad's Baath party told WND in an exclusive interview yesterday.
 
The Six-Day War in 1967, 40 years ago this week, was a spectacular victory for Israel - and a humiliating defeat for 3 Arab countries. It changed the geopolitical map of the Middle East and its impact is felt to this day.
 
China echoed concerns raised by Russia over a US plan for a missile defense system in Europe, saying that such a system could trigger an arms race. China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the plan had "aroused great concern and attention." "China believes that the impact of a missile defense system on strategic defense and stability is not conducive to mutual trust of major nations and regional security. It may also give rise to a proliferation problem."
 
 
 
The Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the US claim that their missile shield project in Europe is intended to safeguard Europe against Iranian missiles should be called the "Joke of the year" since Iranian missiles cannot reach Europe. "Europe is the most important commercial partner of Iran. So, why should we ever target them?"
 
President Ahmadinejad said that it was "too late" to stop Iran's nuclear program and warned the US and its allies not to push for new UN sanctions on Iran, which he compared to a lion sitting quietly in a corner. "We advise them not to play with the lion's tail."
 
World peace is now at risk because of "new crazies who say, 'Let's go and bomb Iran.'" So spoke Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the IAEA. He didn't mention names. But the latest "bombs away" clarion call came from no less a neocon giant than Norman Podhoretz, the original godfather of the movement that played a critical role in bringing down the Soviet empire.
 
The CIA has received approval at least twice in the last several years to conduct an "information war" against several countries in the Middle East. In addition, the Bush Administration has been running operations out of the DOD that are not subject to Congressional oversight. Raw Story has also learned that the Pentagon is continuing to conduct more aggressive "black" operations, approved by the National Security Council and the Office of the Vice President. Current and former intelligence officials would not identify new specific covert programs running out of the Pentagon, though sources stressed these are far riskier and more truly covert operational activities against Iran than the activities of the CIA.
 
 
 
Under the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, the military of the US and Canada are advancing NORTHCOM into a domestic military command structure, with authority extending to Mexico, even though Mexico has not formally joined with the current US-Canadian NORTHCOM command structure. Connecting a number of recent developments, President Bush appears to have positioned the US military and the National Guard acting under presidential authority to intervene in a wide range of domestic incidents that could occur anywhere in North America.
 
Southern Sodom & GAYmorrah...
This conservative metropolis could become the nation's largest city to elect an openly gay mayor if a longtime city council member wins a runoff election later this month. Ed Oakley's candidacy is the latest indication that Dallas' reputation as a conservative stronghold is giving way to more diversity. The city is already home to several gay elected officials, including the sheriff. "Dallas is less and less the Dallas that people think it is. And Dallas is less and less the Dallas that it used to be."
 
 
 
Oil futures jumped more than $1 a barrel yesterday as a cyclone bore down on the Persian Gulf, even as gasoline futures and retail gasoline prices in the US continued a slow retreat from recent highs. Unrest, meanwhile, simmered in major oil exporter Nigeria, where petroleum-tanker drivers began an indefinite strike.
 
China stocks tumbled 8.3% on Monday in their 2nd biggest drop this decade, erasing $340 billion in market value and extending big losses from last week after the government hiked the share trading tax to cool a feverish bull run. The key index has now lost 15.3% from last Tuesday's record intra-day high. "This is obviously panic selling, and the sentiment is quickly spreading across the market. It won't be surprising if the index falls to about 3,000 points - which would mean a 30% correction from the top."
 
A truth only now acknowledged in the international economic debate is that globalization has done a great deal of damage since that fateful day when Bill Clinton, lacking a dramatic economic proposal to make in his first presidential campaign, listened to his Wall Street friends and decided to promise deregulation of the international economy. The free-market position is that fully opened international markets must eventually benefit everyone. This ignores certain arguments of the classical 18th-century creators of modern capitalism. Nearly everyone knows that Adam Smith asserted the need for state moral authority over the economy, and David Ricardo warned that a completely free market for labor would, in conditions of labor abundance, depress wages.
 
 
 
An Indian tribe that has had no formal contact with Western civilization has been located in a remote Amazon region. Indians were pushed deeper into the jungle by settlers and it is relatively uncommon for the Indian Bureau to come across previously uncontacted native groups. The bureau said that it has learned from other Indians of a few uncontacted tribes in the western Amazon state, where the region's jungle is thickest.
 
Today in Scripture
"(On the 3rd) morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away..." (Exo 16:21)
 
 
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