Pope Benedict XVI continued his reflections on the work of St. Gregory of Nyssa during his regular public audience on Wednesday. He resumed his discussion of the 4th-century bishop whose theological writings he had discussed at his previous weekly audience. St. Gregory of Nyssa, he observed, saw the ultimate goal of man's life as a drive "to make himself like God."
(Zenit: Full text of address)
Pope Benedict XVI will meet in separate audiences with the Chancellor of Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud Al-Faisal Bin Adbul Aziz Al-Said and with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
In an interview for the popular Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, the Vatican Secretary of State has denounced the "devious intentions" of some Church critics in Europe. Cardinal Bertone took aim particularly at EU officials who have called for an investigation of the tax breaks given to Catholic institutions in Italy. He charged that the real intention of some European foes of Catholicism is to break down the credibility of Church-run institutions. That drive, he said, endangers the welfare of European society. The cardinal issued an "invitation to all, to reflect seriously on what the Catholic Church has done and is doing for society today."
A sharp increase has been registered in the number of Israelis who choose to give up their Israeli citizenship in order to be granted German nationality. A significant part of the Israelis who have give up their citizenship are immigrants from the former Soviet Union who moved to Germany.
Once again, we are expected to believe a handful of patsies—excuse me, "terrorists"—were capable of taking out a US military base. But thanks to the diligent work of Germany's "special police officers," these America-hating miscreants were apprehended before they attacked.
Germany fears its peacekeepers and aid workers in Afghanistan have become targets of the Taliban and other insurgents who want to force Berlin to pull its soldiers and citizens out of the country. German police, soldiers and aid workers have been killed and civilians kidnapped, intensifying debate in Germany on whether it is time for Germany to call it quits in Afghanistan where a resurgent Taliban is making strong gains.
With the objective of better structuring its Asia policy, the German foreign ministry convened a 4-day conference of all the heads of German missions abroad. With this conference of ambassadors, German foreign policy makers are seeking to consolidate their forces in Eastern and Southeastern Asia.
France should work for a "much more offensive policy of protection, solidarity and regulation" at an EU level in order to better face globalisation, according to a report by former French foreign affairs minister Hubert Vedrine.
Serbia is ready to use force to prevent Western nations from recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, a senior Serbian official warned.
The Dead Sea is rapidly shrinking. Its coastlines are crumbling and its water is becoming too salty. Now Israel and Jordan plan to build a huge canal to divert water from the Red Sea in a bid to save the ailing sea.
Well-informed Israeli government sources told Time that a debate is raging inside Olmert's cabinet over how fiercely Israel should strike Gaza. According to these sources, the hawks, including Deputy Premier Avigdor Lieberman and top military brass heading the South Command, are pressing for an all-out assault on Gaza.
Syria accused Israel of bombing its territory today and warned it could respond, but Israel Radio carried a denial there had been an air strike.
Israeli intelligence about Palestinian groups that a US-based Muslim charity aided was often unreliable, a former senior US diplomat testified at the organization's trial on terrorism-support charges. Edward Abingdon, who served as US consul-general in Jerusalem during the 1990s, said the Israelis had an "agenda" and provided "selective information to try to influence US thinking."
To the extent that there is any Muslim threat, it is one created by the US and Israel. Israel has no diplomacy toward Muslims and relies on violence and coercion. The US has interfered in the internal affairs of Muslim countries during the entire post WW2 period. There is no such thing as Islamofascism. This is a coined propaganda word used to inflame the ignorant. There is no factual basis for the hatred that neoconservative Islamophobes instill in Americans.
Pakistan's besieged President Musharraf was under pressure last night to assume emergency or even martial law powers as the full impact was revealed of Islamist suicide bomb blasts directed at his military regime. The terrorist success has sent shockwaves through the power elite.
Italian Prime Minister Prodi has praised Iran's cooperation with the IAEA and described it as Iran's "goodwill." Prodi welcomed the advances made in Iran's nuclear case and negotiations with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. He also underscored Iran's fundamental position and right to access peaceful nuclear energy.
In case of any attack on Iran by the US military, Washington should expect a crushing response, a senior Iranian official says. He said the US will not be able to predict the catastrophic consequences of an attack on Iran. "The US will face 3 major problems if it decides to invade Iran. First, given the fact that 200,000 US troops in Iraq are vulnerable and that Iran has identified all their locations, the US cannot predict Iran's devastating reaction. Second, the US would be unable to predict what would happen to the Zionist regime and, 3rd, the oil markets would be negatively affected as well."
As diplomats prepare for meetings at the IAEA in Vienna next week, new pledges by Iran to answer unresolved questions about its once clandestine nuclear program are complicating the Bush administration's strategy of ratcheting up pressure on Tehran.
[WAR: With Bush's UN "Plan A" not going well, then his hand could be forced by a neocon "Plan B" - a "terrorist" attack (or "attempted" one) that will be blamed on Iran. With that in mind ...
The celebrated Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders will soon journey to the Persian Gulf region as part of a USO/MNC-I entertainment tour. Best known for their trend-setting dance routines, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are regarded as "America's Sweethearts."
If there were a threat level on the possibility of war with Iran, it might have just gone up to orange. The President's rhetoric on Iran has been nothing short of bellicose lately, warning of "the shadow of a nuclear holocaust." And the Iranian government's behavior seems intentionally provocative. When tensions are this high between 2 countries and powerful factions in both act as if hostilities are in their interest, war is likely to follow.
Following yesterday's revelation that Dick Cheney has ordered top Neo-Con media outlets to unleash a PR blitz to sell a war with Iran, Fox News has already responded with 2 prime time slots devoted to all out warmongering propaganda in favour of a strike on Iran's facilities.
Keith Olbermann offered a special comment on Tuesday's Countdown concerning President Bush's recent visit to a military base in Iraq. "Everything you said about Iraq yesterday, and everything you will say, is a deception for the purpose of this one cynical, unacceptable brutal goal -- perpetuating this war indefinitely. War today! War tomorrow! War forever! ... A man with any self-respect, having inadvertently revealed such an evil secret, would have already resigned and fled the country."
Timed to coincide with the reconvening of Congress and the renewal of the fraudulent official "debate" on the Iraq war, Time magazine has published an edition with a cover story entitled "The Case for National Service." The coincidence is hardly accidental. It underscores the political fact that behind the squabbling between the Bush administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the best means for ensuring "success' in Iraq, there is a growing consensus within the American ruling elite and both of its parties in favor of reinstituting a military draft.
NYT book review...
"The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" arrives carrying heavy baggage. John J. Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, and Stephen M. Walt, a professor of international affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, set off a furor last year by arguing, in an article that appeared in The London Review of Books, that uncritical American support for Israel, shaped by powerful lobbying organizations like AIPAC, does grave harm to both American and Israeli interests. "The Israel Lobby," an extended, more fully argued version of the London Review article, has done nothing to calm the waters. If they were looking for a fight, they have found it.
The sad fact is that the US is bogged down on the wrong playing field, leaving a vacuum in the rest of the world. Others are moving in to fill that void, to the long-term geopolitical disadvantage of the US. The time has come to disentangle ourselves from the misadventure in Iraq and reassert America's leadership and global engagement.
The rich are giving more to charity than ever. For every $3 wealthy individuals give away, the US government typically gives up a $1 or more in tax revenue, because of the charitable tax deduction and by not collecting estate taxes. The charitable deduction cost the government $40 billion in lost tax revenue last year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, more than the government spends altogether on managing public lands, protecting the environment and developing new energy sources.
[WAR: Donations to charity should be from the heart and based on the benefits, not scheming and tax breaks. And for goodness sakes, NO donations to ANY church (or anything churches or ministers purchase) - including all the incorporated COGs - should be tax exempt! Tax it all!]
The European Central Bank said Wednesday that volatility in credit markets appeared to be returning after a brief period of stability, and a leading group of advanced economic nations warned of "ominous" new risks to the global economic outlook.
The European Central Bank has moved again to boost liquidity in the banking system, after warning of fresh volatility in financial markets. The ECB is lending billions at its minimum rate of 4% in its latest effort to counter the global credit squeeze.
The European Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates on hold on today, as jitters continue to unsettle markets worldwide. Until the global turmoil, prompted by woes in the US housing market, rates had been tipped to rise from 4% to 4.25% for countries using the euro. However analysts are expecting the ECB to adopt a wait-and-see policy as witnessed elsewhere around the world.
The Bank of England has kept interest rates at 5.75% amid uncertainty over the impact the turmoil in financial markets will have on the UK economy.
(LX op-ed: King's ransom)
In Europe, August is a cherished vacation month on the financial calendar, leading to erratic trading and volatile markets. So when markets entered an exceptionally rocky period, many investors and bankers just stepped back to monitor the markets and wait until September, when the extent of companies' exposure to the crisis was clearer. But now that the summer vacations are over, the only thing that seems certain is that insecurity over where possible credit losses may lie persists.
The thousands of mortgage defaults and foreclosures in the "subprime" housing market is the direct result of 30 years of government policy that has forced banks to make bad loans to un-creditworthy borrowers. Consequently, banks in every community in America have been forced to hold a portfolio of bad loans, euphemistically referred to as "subprime" loans.
He went looking for God and ended up an angry agnostic – unable to believe but enraged by the arrogance of militant atheists. It's hard to see the purpose of the world, he says, but don't blame its evils on religion.
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