Japan and the Vatican have a lot of reasons to intensify relations in the coming years, especially regarding cooperation in Africa, says the new Japanese ambassador to the Holy See. In this interview, he offers a Japanese perspective of the Vatican, and some thoughts on why Catholics only comprise 0.5% of Japan's population.
As Chancellor Merkel heads to Asia this weekend, her standing at home could not be better — she enjoys unprecedented support and the first economic surplus since the 1990 reunification. Even though critics charge she is reaping the benefits ushered in by a series of painful reforms implemented by her predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, her ratings are the highest for any German leader since WW2.
Due to its successful stewardship of the EU and the G8 this year, Germany felt ready to take a seat at the top table of global politics. Now, however, it believes it is being relegated to the sidelines.
Gordon Brown faces a growing Labour insurrection over his refusal to allow a referendum on the controversial EU treaty. A "hard core" of at least 40 Labour MPs is poised to issue the Prime Minister with an ultimatum to re-open talks on the treaty or concede a referendum.
The EU is working on a draft law which will break up Europe's energy giants into production and distribution companies, according to media reports. The idea is to stimulate competition in the energy sector.
As Turkey emerges from its current political crisis, democratically strengthened and most likely with a dynamic new president in Abdullah Gul, one rapid consequence will be to put the EU's foreign policy on the spot. Will the Union move rapidly to back Turkey's democratic modernization or will it continue to squander its political capital in internal disputes over how to deal with Turkey?
(UPI analysis: Turkish power struggle not over)
A new 'super-weapon' being supplied to British soldiers in Afghanistan employs technology based on the "thermobaric" principle which uses heat and pressure to kill people targeted across a wide air by sucking the air out of lungs and rupturing internal organs.
The government in Khartoum has told the EU and Canadian envoys to leave the country. They are accused of "interfering" in the war-torn country's affairs.
In an overarching way, however, the massive shift in the templates of great-power politics in recent years also has provided impetus for the SCO's growing clout.
The United States risks elevating tensions and is not likely to achieve much by declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guards a "terrorist" group, a prominent Iranian dissident who co-founded the Guards said. "The relationship between Iran and the United States will go one more step ahead toward military confrontation and the situation will become more dangerous, because the Revolutionary Guards is now one of the most powerful organizations in the politics of Iran."
Hardly a week passes in which I don't get a message from someone within the great bureaucratic wasteland on the Potomac about the Bush Administration's latest schemes relating to war against Iran. Now we're going through another one of those periods in which the pace is quickening and the pitch is becoming more intense.
(AW: More war on the horizon)
Yesterday, Raw Story pointed out that former CIA operative Bob Baer told Fox News that the Bush administration will likely attack Iran in the coming months. Today, former UN ambassador John Bolton appeared on Fox News and responded. He said that while he couldn't confirm Baer's statements, he "absolutely" hoped they were true.
We all deserve a history lesson about the Napoleonic beginnings of our present catastrophe. Some of the parallels are enough to make you jump out of your chair (if not your skin). It is no accident that many of the rhetorical strategies employed by George W. Bush originated with Napoleon Bonaparte, a notorious spinmeister and confidence man.
(WSWS: Bush's history lesson)
After several events were called off where Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer were due to discuss their upcoming book, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, their backers said this week the cancellations were proof of their contention that American policy toward Israel can't be discussed openly.
Chatter picked up by WMR's sources in the nation's capital and in California point to unusual events that could be a prelude to a 9/11-like false flag "incident" during the Labor Day weekend, possibly one focused on the San Francisco Bay Area.
For the first time in history, announced researchers this May, a majority of the world's population is living in urban environments. Cities – efficient hubs connecting international flows of people, energy, communications and capital – are thriving in our global economy as never before. However, the same factors that make cities hubs of globalization also make them vulnerable to small-group terror and violence.
The commandments certainly are regarded as hazardous by the Irritable-American community, which successfully petitions the courts to banish them from public life. At least these stalwart secularists give the Decalogue its due; most of us admire the Ten Commandments just enough to avoid taking them seriously.
While stock markets have stabilised—at least for the time being—the effects of the credit crunch sparked by the crisis in the US subprime mortgage market are now working their way through the banks and financial institutions and the economy as a whole.
The problem facing the Federal Reserve System today is that an increase of money to lower the federal funds rate will be seen as inflationary. This would be a major reversal of policy. Why would the FED reverse policy? Because of panic at the FED regarding the capital markets. Expect to see continuing stock market volatility.
The liquidity crunch is not yet over: the insolvency crunch has hardly begun. "There will be large bankruptcies, and liquidity is not going to help because too many people bet the farm at the top of the cycle, and they're now insolvent. A lot more bodies are going to be floating to the surface before this is over."
Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience in volunteers. The experiments, described in the Science journal, offer a scientific explanation for a phenomenon experienced by 1 in 10 people.
Astronomers are scratching their heads over a puzzling non-discovery, an enormous hole in the universe measuring nearly a billion light-years across. There really is nothing to the void, which is empty of both normal matter such as stars, galaxies, and gas, and the mysterious, unseen "dark matter" that astronomers detect by its gravitational pull.
My title is not intended to be at all humorous. It is meant to convey a critically important truth, one that most Americans, almost all politicians, and the overwhelming majority of political commentators (bloggers and otherwise) still do not understand to this day.
Warning from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
"Warning: In light of the rising frequency of human/grizzly bear conflicts, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is advising hikers, hunters and fishermen to take extra precautions and keep alert of bears while in the field.
We advise outdoorsmen to wear noisy little bells on their clothing, so as not to startle bears that aren't expecting them. We also advise outdoorsmen to carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear.
It is also a good idea to watch out for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear manure: Black bear manure is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur. Grizzly bear manure has little bells in it and smells like pepper." :-)
Tomorrow in Scripture
* "On the 10th day of the 5th month, in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of YAHWEH, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down." (Jer 52:12,13)
* "In the 7th year, in the 5th month on the 10th day, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of YAHWEH, and they sat down in front of me." (Ezekiel 20:1)
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