Pope Benedict XVI is to meet King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia next week in the first talks between a Saudi monarch and a Pope. The Vatican said the uprecedented meeting would take place at the Vatican on Tuesday. King Abdullah has been paying a visit to Britain as part of a European tour. The Vatican does not have formal diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, and relations have been strained, with the Holy See demanding "reciprocity" in religious observance. Last month the Pope met the Saudi Foreign Minister at Castalgandolfo, his summer residence outside Rome, to discuss the Middle East and the "defence of religious and moral values".
Pope Benedict XVI is to hold an extraordinary consistory of cardinals later this month to promote ecumenical dialogue with non-Catholic Christians. The gathering of 202 cardinals from 67 countries will take place on the eve of the consistory on November 24, convened by the Pope to create 23 new cardinals. The debate on ecumenism will be led by Cardinal Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. The Pope's choice of new cardinals has reinforced the European and American presence among voting-age members of the College of Cardinals.
Human rights are grounded in the objective requirements of nature bestowed on man. In this context, laws contrary to human dignity may never be passed and progress in every field cannot be measured by what is possible, but by its compatibility with human dignity. On their part, religions are called to work for peace and to foster reconciliation among peoples. Faced with a world lacerated by conflict, religions must never become a vehicle of hatred, and never can they justify evil and violence invoking the name of God.
Following the change here in the Catholic leadership in Moscow, relations between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches are growing warmer, officials say.
The small town of Gräfenberg in Bavaria feels terrorized by the far-right National Democratic Party which has held more than a dozen rallies there this year. The inhabitants are fighting back with a campaign of demonstrations involving sausages, samba music and deafening wood saws.
Germans are beginning to wonder what happened to their chancellor. Angela Merkel seemed decisive and resolute earlier in her term. Now, though, the silence from Berlin has become deafening.
Chancellor Merkel meets Social Democrat leader Kurt Beck on Sunday to hammer out a solution to policy disputes, ranging from tax breaks to selling shares in the state-owned railway, that risk the ruling coalition's unity. Rifts in the 3-way coalition between Beck's SPD, Merkel's CDU and the Christian Social Union, are emerging midway through the government's 4-year term.
A Russian rocket sent a German spy satellite into orbit early Thursday, news agencies reported. The rocket blasted off from north Russia's Arkhangelsk region, putting the German SAR-Lupe satellite into target orbit. It was the 3rd launch of 5 SAR-Lupe satellites.
[WAR: So ... who are the Germans spying on?...]
Exactly!...
Belgium has now gone for 144 days without a government and you know what?… everything seems normal. Why am I troubling you with my thoughts on Belgium? Three reasons. First, to quote an unintentionally hilarious line from Harold Evans's memoir of his days as editor of the Times, "It's been too long since we had an opinion piece on Belgium". Second, because Belgium was largely our (UK) fault. But the 3rd reason is the most important. Belgium functions – or malfunctions – on the same basis as the EU. There is no Belgian language, no Belgian culture, precious little Belgian history. Belgium, in short, became a microcosm of what the EU is becoming: a mechanism for the arbitrary reallocation of money.
But what of Brussels, the largely French-speaking city that is also the capital of Flanders? Well, here the Euro-enthusiasts have plans. If Belgium falls into its 2 constituent halves, they aim to lift its ugly grey capital out of the state altogether and place it under direct EU administration as a kind of Washington DC: only then would the EU finally and visibly transcend the nation-state. The trouble is that this will only happen following a resounding reaffirmation of the national principle. Belgium is failing because there are no real Belgians, just as there are no real Europeans.
What makes Vladimir Putin a great leader, Russian loyalists and western investors will tell you, is that he brought stability to the world's largest country. Given Russia 's preponderance for messiness and the abject chaos Putin inherited from Boris Yeltsin in 2000, this is no mean feat and western leaders have reluctantly been prepared to forgive his authoritarian tendencies for it. But as the Putin era officially draws to a close, there are worrying signs that this much vaunted stability is visibly starting to unravel. For the past 3 weeks, Russians have watched aghast as war has broken out in the Kremlin.
Something unexpected happened here in Russia. It happened on Tuesday, October 30. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, the man who is today the most popular politician in Russia, the man who famously once said that the collapse of the officially atheist Soviet Union was a "catastrophe," yesterday made a quiet pilgrimage to a field on the edge of Moscow where thousands of people were shot to death and buried in common graves under the Soviet regime. It was an historic moment. A moment of memory. And, perhaps, a moment we all should remember, as perhaps it marks a turning point in Russia's history - and the world's.
Patriarch Alexi II conducted a brief ceremony, which Putin attended. Then Putin lit a candle in the Church of Christ's Resurrection and New Martyrs and Confessors, which stands at the edge of the Butovo field. And then, as he looked at a collection of photographs of the victims of the Soviet regime, of the suffering of thousands of men and women who were executed at Butovo, he said, almost as if he was at a loss for words, "Why?"
No one should be surprised by this crisis. Critics long warned the US invasion of Iraq would inevitably release the genie of Kurdish nationalism. Creation of a virtually independent, US-backed Kurdish state in northern Iraq was certain to provoke a violent reaction by Turkey. Ankara has warned for a decade it would never tolerate creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq which it fears would quickly spark demands by Turkey's restive Kurds for their own state. This crisis is a huge mess for all concerned.
Israel, which has its eye on Mesopotamia's oil, is secretly backing Iraq's Kurdish mini-state and hopes one day to build an oil pipeline from Iraqi Kurdistan to Haifa, either via Jordan or through a splintered Syria – which is also high on Israel's hit list. But Israel is also a close ally of Turkey's right-wing generals who hate Kurds as much as their own democratic government. The Israelis are thus caught in the middle of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, just as they were recently during the bitter dispute between Turkey and the Armenians.
If Iraq slides further into the abyss, Turkey and Iran may partition Iraq. Today, Turkey has no oil. Its fragile economy is hammered by having to earn US dollars to buy oil. But if Turkey repossessed Iraq's northern oil fields, it would become an important power that would reassert traditional Turkish influence in the Mideast, Balkans, Caucasus, and Central Asia. After all, if the US can invade Iraq for oil, why not neighboring, ex-owner Turkey?
This Kurdish fracas comes just as Cheney and Bush are fanning hysteria over Iran and threatening war. Their latest claim: Iran "might" have nuclear knowledge, so is a world danger. Throw in the growing crisis in key US ally Pakistan, and we face one unholy mess.
Germany's Foreign Minister discussed the European action plan on the Middle East with the Acting Palestinian Prime Minister. The GFM himself devised the plan, which would see the EU try to strengthen small and mid-sized Palestinian businesses, universities in the West bank, the police and other institutions in a bid to stabilize the region. The concept, which has already been approved at an EU foreign ministers' meeting, would be implemented following a Middle East peace conference slated to take place in Annapolis, Maryland in November.
Ahead of his 5-day tour of the Middle East, the GFM reiterated that Germany continues to believe in a 2-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian territories, stressing security for Israel and a viable Palestinian state in accordance with the ideas being put forward by the Middle East Quartet. He also said stability in the Middle East was of central importance for European security.
(Ha'aretz: German FM reiterates loyalty to Israel)
The September 6 raid over Syria was carried out by the US Air Force, the Al-Jazeera Web site reported Friday. The Web site quoted Israeli and Arab sources as saying that 2 strategic US jets armed with tactical nuclear weapons carried out an attack on a nuclear site under construction. The sources were quoted as saying that Israeli F-15 and F-16 jets provided cover for the US planes. The sources added that each US plane carried one tactical nuclear weapon and that the site was hit by one bomb and was totally destroyed.
For all its vaunted power, the Israel lobby could not dominate America's Mideast policies without cover and active support from other powerful groups. Although AIPAC promotes the lobby's image in Congress as being all powerful, it isn't. The book does specify Christian Zionists as an integral part of the lobby, but it neglects many others. The first major ally is the military-industrial complex, now funded by the new system of hidden congressional earmarks.
Next come the religious fundamentalists' dominant minority of Armageddonites, those who see Israel's expansion as expediting the return of Christ. They see Bush as God's agent. They saw, in the words of Tom DeLay, that the war in Iraq was a prelude to the chaos necessary to bring about the "end times." Then there's Big Oil. Although long ago it opposed the Israel lobby for antagonizing the Muslim world, more recently it has cast its lot with imperialism.
Then come many leading American conservatives. Mostly ignorant of the outside world and still fighting the Cold War against the UN, they see the world as allied against America. They strongly sympathized with Bush's go-it-alone agenda. Many have a knee-jerk response to military spending, that more is always better. Others feel hostility toward Arabs and Muslims and see Israelis as being "like us."
Finally there are the neoconservatives, the brains of the War Party, the influential think-tankers and lifetime Washington policy wonks. Though many are Jewish, their support for belligerence is motivated mainly by the desire of some intellectuals for excitement, relevance, and power.
Germany's Foreign Minister, visiting Israel on Thursday, raised the possibility of EU sanctions against Iran after Israel called for Berlin's backing over its enemy's nuclear drive. "Germany's position does not differ from that of the United States or some other European countries. If Iran refuses to provide answers, we should think about the possibility of European sanctions." Prime Minister Olmert called for German support for further sanctions against archfoe Iran's nuclear programme earlier on Thursday.
Iran's hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Europe that he will retaliate if it follows the US's lead in imposing sanctions against his country. "If they plan to cooperate with the enemy of the Iranian nation, we cannot interpret this as a friendly behavior. We will show reaction. You, Europeans, know well what will happen in the economic sphere if Iran takes a serious move in this matter."
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei on Wednesday dismissed as a "sheer lie" US charges that the Islamic republic was supplying arms and training to insurgents killing American troops in Iraq. "The idiotic policies of the United States in Iraq have led to the killing of its troops. The US administration is faced with criticism from its own people over its wrong policies. It wrongly accuses Iran as it has no answers."
The head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps warned the US Wednesday against attacking the Islamic Republic, saying if it did, Washington would be "stuck in a quagmire" worse than Iraq or Afghanistan. He said his forces were prepared to strike back with a "crushing response" if attacked. "If enemies prove to be naive enough to invade Iran, they will be slapped hard. The enemy knows that if it attacks Iran, it will certainly get stuck in a quagmire deeper than Iraq and Afghanistan and will be defeated."
Influential former president Rafsanjani warned Iran to be alert in the face of "unprecedented" actions by its arch-foe the United States. "Since the (1979 Islamic) revolution, the enemies have plotted a lot but the current situation is unprecedented. Therefore everybody must be alert. The movements and the presence of US forces and their supporters in the region is unprecedented, as is the creation of a menacing climate of fear."
If the US and Russia continue a course of mutual belligerency - albeit gloved - the road to Armageddon will be short. The West must understand that Russia newly flushed with energy wealth is no longer an underdog but a major world player. Russia, in its turn, must quit sending its bombers to tease Western countries. The US should come to terms with the fact it's no longer the only policeman on the block.
People are generally given to shrugging off mentions of a 3rd world war. This is mainly because the next one could be mankind's last. Those who sprinkle their speeches or articles with dire warnings of a massive nuclear conflagration are often written off as scaremongers. Was Bush's statement about "avoiding WW3" a warning? Was this a threat, or was it merely overblown rhetoric intended to be a global wake-up call? Whatever the intent behind the statement, it brought the ugly specter of another world war back into the public conscious as a potential reality.
Thirty US senators wrote to President Bush Thursday, warning he had no authority to launch military action against Iran, and expressing concern about the administration's "provocative" rhetoric. The senators, 29 Democrats and 1 independent, urged the resolution of disputes with the Islamic Republic through diplomacy. "We wish to emphasize that no congressional authority exists for unilateral military action against Iran." It hit out at "provocative statements and actions" by the administration on Iran.
It's getting harder and harder to stay - let alone join - America's crumbling middle class. Today's minimum wage is worth 30% less than it was in 1968. According to Draut, "if wages had kept pace with rising productivity between 1968 and 2000, the average hourly wage would have been $24.56 in 2000, rather than $13.74." Instead - and particularly in fields with a social service component - salaries have failed to keep pace with inflation and benefits, like health insurance or retirement funds, are elusive rarities. Meanwhile the cost of living has skyrocketed.
Oil traders increased bets that December futures will reach $125 a barrel because of possible disruptions to Middle East supplies and rising demand. Purchases of options to buy December oil at $125 a barrel have risen 46% in the week ended Oct. 30.
US markets were mixed in early Friday trading as fears remained about the full impact of the sub-prime crisis on the economy. The Dow Jones index, which lost 2.6% on Thursday, slipped a further 0.4%, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.5%. Earlier, Asian shares took a hammering.
Have gold, silver, oil, the euro, the pound and the Canadian dollar all suddenly soared in value in just a few years? Nope. The dollar has plummeted in value, more so in Bush's term than during any comparable period of US history. Indeed, Bush is presiding over a worldwide abandonment of the American dollar. The dollar is plunging because America has been living beyond her means, borrowing $2 billion a day from foreign nations to maintain her standard of living and to sustain the American Imperium.
The Federal Reserve pumped $41 billion into the US financial system Thursday, the largest cash infusion since September 2001, to help companies get through a credit crunch. It was the 2nd time in 6 weeks that policymakers acted to protect the economy from the effects of the housing downturn and credit troubles.
The Federal Reserve Board, the nominally independent US central bank, bowed to pressure from Wall Street banks and major investors by lowering short-term interest rates for the second time in 2 months. Just 6 weeks ago, following a freeze in credit markets and stock market plunge resulting from the meltdown in the housing market and the collapse of securities linked to subprime mortgages, the Fed took the unusual step of cutting the federal funds rate by half a percentage point. Since then, the crisis in the housing and banking sectors has intensified, with home sales and prices plunging, foreclosures soaring and Wall Street banks announcing tens of billions of dollars in write-downs of speculative mortgage-based investments.
By cutting interest rates again, the Fed added further fuel to both the dollar decline and the related rise in oil and other commodity prices. The US government and the Fed are pursuing a highly risky policy of allowing the dollar to plummet in order to gain short-term advantage over America's trading rivals—in effect, conducting a trade war by dint of the dollar's devaluation. This has potentially disastrous longer-term implications for American capitalism, which is ultimately dependent on the strength of its currency. It also encourages overseas investors and governments to disinvest from dollar-denominated holdings and shift to regions with higher interest rates and stronger currencies.
There are no suggestions from the government, the Fed or either of the 2 big business parties that the banks and investment houses should be reined in and held accountable for the hundreds of billions squandered in various forms of speculation and financial swindles—or that small investors, pensioners and workers hit by wage cuts and layoffs should be recompensed for the social impact of this orgy of self-enrichment on the part of the financial elite. Rather, the Fed's open subordination to those layers of the corporate-financial elite most directly involved in such financial manipulations underscores the degree to which the operations of American capitalism have become wedded to the most parasitic and socially-destructive forms of profit-making.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates by a quarter point. But what may be good for the US economy, could be disastrous in Europe. The battle against inflation could send the euro through the roof. The flow of capital in Europe's direction could soon become even greater. The European Central Bank will also be facing an interest-rate decision soon. But observers expect Europeans to go in the opposite direction. A rate rise may be in the offing. The reason is simple. Whereas the Fed always has one eye on economic growth, the ECB's raison d'être is controlling inflation. And inflation in Europe has recently increased dramatically. The ECB will likely steer against that trend, making an interest rate hike the logical conclusion. The euro, as a result, will likely continue to rise against the dollar. For Germany - Europe's largest economy - the consequences could be horrendous. Much of the country's economy, after all, is based on exports.
Energy sinkholes are situations that repeatedly drain your energy and stress you out. There are plenty of good reasons to invest your energy, so don't waste your attention on a sinkhole. Unfortunately, it is often hard to see sinkholes since they rarely cause a drain all at once. Instead they slowly leech away at your lifeforce until your stressed, depressed and apathetic.
Comet Holmes has been relentlessly expanding since its explosion on Oct 23rd and now it spans an angle in the sky almost half as wide as the full Moon. Actually, the comet is even bigger than it looks. While the Moon is a mere 240,000 miles away, Comet Holmes is 150 million miles from Earth. The comet's physical diameter is thus 7 times wider than the planet Jupiter - and it is still expanding.
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