A mother of 9 has lifted the lid on Opus Dei, the controversial Catholic organisation featured in Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, which portrayed it as a mysterious and cult-like institution. Véronique Duborgel re-counts in a new book, Inside the Hell of Opus Dei, the 13 years she spent as a member of the group, which she describes as rigid, insensitive, sectarian and misogynistic.
The 44-year-old kindergarten teacher describes techniques of psychological isolation similar to those sometimes used by sects, and claims that Opus Dei intrudes into the most intimate areas of members' private lives, encourages them to inform on each other and drains their financial resources. "Dan Brown's novel is not very accurate about the organisation of Opus Dei, but where he got it exactly right is in his portrayal of a group who are prepared to do anything to maintain their power." The last straw came at an Opus Dei conference at which a senior member said women were the equals of dogs. "He was not joking," she said.
Chancellor Merkel will hold a crisis meeting with members of her coalition Sunday night to try to end a bitter rift within the government over attempts to roll back economic and social policy changes. Officials said the outcome of the meeting would indicate whether the coalition partners would be able to patch up their differences for their remaining 2 years in power, or continue a confrontation that could lead to early elections.
(Economist: The odd couple)
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah will visit Germany next week and meet with Chancellor Merkel. Future developments in the Middle East will be on the agenda. The king's visit is part of a European tour that already has taken him to Britain.
Not surprised!...
As if his marital challenges were not enough cause for concern, "Sarco the Sayan" has suddenly emerged as the most infamous accolade of French President Sarkozy. The influential French daily Le Figaro last week revealed that the French leader once worked for - and perhaps still does, it hinted - Israeli intelligence as a sayan (Hebrew for helper), one of the thousands of Jewish citizens of countries other than Israel who cooperate with the katsas (Mossad case-officers).
A letter dispatched to French police officials late last winter - long before the presidential election but somehow kept secret - revealed that Sarkozy was recruited as an Israeli spy. The French police is currently investigating documents concerning Sarkozy's alleged espionage activities on behalf of Mossad, which Le Figaro claims dated as far back as 1983.
Sarkozy's own maternal grandfather Aron Mallah, hailed from Salonika, Greece, and is said to have exercised considerable influence on his grandson. Even though raised as a Roman Catholic, "Sarkozy played a critical role in moving the French government to do what is necessary to address the ill winds that threaten the largest Jewish community in Western Europe," noted the executive director of the American Jewish Committee. Sarkozy, after all, was a political product of the predominantly Jewish elite neighbourhood of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where he long served as mayor.
A key cabinet ally of Prime Minister Olmert said that Israel wants a peace deal with the Palestinians before President Bush leaves office in early 2009. "We hope to agree a final settlement before the end of President Bush's term of office, or between now and the end of 2008."
The retired general who served as President Bush's special envoy to deal with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) said the US has failed to keep its promises to Turkey to confront the Kurdish terrorist group, and Turkey may feel that it has no choice but to attack the PKK's sanctuary in northern Iraq. Retired Air Force Gen. Ralston, in a brief interview, declined to say why he stepped down several weeks ago. But published reports have said that he was frustrated by the Bush administration's failure to act against the PKK.
In his first extended comments since his departure, Ralston told McClatchy Newspapers that the US is unwittingly "driving, strategically, the Turks and the Iranians together" because both nations share concerns about violent Kurdish separatist groups. "The US government should make good on the commitments they have made to the Turks."
Pakistan's President Musharraf has declared emergency rule, state-run TV has said, amid reports that police have surrounded the Supreme Court. Judges are believed to be inside the building in Islamabad, reports say. Troops have been deployed inside state-run TV and radio stations, while independent channels have gone off air. Gen Musharraf is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether he was eligible to run for re-election last month while remaining army chief.
(LX: Pakistan in turmoil)
(Reuters: US "deeply disturbed" by move)
The KoN & The KoS...
Berlin's foreign policy front organizations are supporting Darfur rebel militias and expanding their aid to the secessionist government in South Sudan. The activities of the state owned German Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) are an accompaniment to the secessionist movement in Sudan. The GTZ is helping the secessionist government in South Sudan to "build a state". A peace agreement between this secessionist government and Khartoum is doomed to failure. The Sudanese rebels are launching attacks against the West's most important competitor: A few days ago, Darfur militias attacked Chinese oil fields in Sudan.
The oil rich Abyei district, in the center of the country, is also at the center of attention. This region was already in dispute between Khartoum and Juba during the civil war. A local referendum scheduled for 2011 will decide if it will be allocated to the North or the South. The oil field, attacked by the JEM militia a few days ago, is in that region. If the Darfur rebels can take more control of that region, new escalations in combat, even with the South Sudanese secessionists, cannot be excluded. Both enjoy Berlin's sympathy and active support.
US threats to launch a military attack against Iran will "inflate tensions in the world" and create a "new quagmire" for Washington with "unimaginable consequences," Rafsanjani said. "The world is struggling with arrogant powers. The powers which have everything, yet they are not satisfied and are seeking to exploit other countries' resources. Today the Middle East has attracted their attentions and their greedy eyes are stared at this important region. I am sure that if the Americans seek adventurism the world will soon realize that they have made a grave mistake. They are mistaken if they think that they can control the power of Islam in the region through force and psychological warfare."
The US Navy began a series of exercises in the Gulf and wider Gulf waters on Friday involving an aircraft carrier and 2 expeditionary assault ships. The 5-day crisis response exercise involved amphibious, air and medical forces, the US Navy's 5th Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain. Iran has dismissed the US naval war games near its waters as a morale boosting exercise for American forces.
Taking Bush literally, all it will take for the Israelis or the United States to attack Iran, risking WW3 – with the US and Israel on one side and Russia and China on the other – is some indication that some Iranians know how to make a nuke.
With one leg firmly planted at the American Enterprise Institute and the other even more firmly planted in the jelly-like mass we know as the US Congress, neocons in Washington are in serious need of something constructive to do. Like so many mortals, the neocons have confused what they think they need with what they really need. They firmly believe they need war, war, and more war. To get the right kind of Muslim carnage in the Middle East, neocons hope to instigate an act of war against Iran that will – in one fell swoop – merge 4 other conflicts into one burning pulsating endless bloodfest.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) announced he would move to force a vote next week on his resolution calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney. "The momentum is building for impeachment. Millions of citizens across the nation are demanding Congress rein in the Vice President's abuse of power." Kucinich said he plans to introduce a privileged resolution, which would have priority for a House floor vote, on Nov. 6. A vote on the measure would be required within two days.
With a year to go before voters across the US go to the polls to elect their 44th president, The Daily Telegraph unveils its list of the 100 most influential conservatives and 100 most influential liberals in America. We have chosen political candidates, pollsters, campaign operatives, members of think tanks, journalists, bloggers, fundraisers, big-money donors and the occasional celebrity.
Fears of more turmoil hitting global stock markets grew last night after it emerged that Citigroup, the world's biggest bank, has called an emergency board meeting for this weekend amid fears of escalating bad debts. There were concerns that the meeting had been called to discuss the possibility of the bank writing off an increasing amount of bad debt. This could seriously hit its profits.
Citigroup is seen as a bellwether for the health of the financial system but has been rocked in recent days over concerns that its exposure to America's sub-prime mortgage crisis is bigger than previously thought. News of the board meeting came after the US stock market closed so investors could not react immediately.
Why did the Federal Open Market Committee drop its official target rate for overnight bank loans on October 31? If it was a plan to head off a stock market sell-off, it went awry. The Dow fell by 362 points on November 1. The obvious answer is that the FOMC feared a turndown in the economy. But minor decreases in the federal funds rate will not head off the recession. Greenspan's boom is turning into Bernanke's bust. A fraction of a percentage point's decline will not alter the economic fundamentals.
The FED follows the stock market. Why should the FED care? Because the FED is the front for the banking cartel. The banks have loaned money by the hundreds of billions to borrowers who then put the money into arcane debt instruments that are now visibly unraveling. The bankers have no clue as to how they can get their money back if these debt instruments become insolvent.
Investors are now asking about the exit strategy. There isn't one. There is no phone call from the New York FED over the weekend to put together a bailout plan for a single overextended firm. There are too many overextended firms. The FED is now learning that fooling around with the FedFunds rate is not going to solve the solvency problem.
"While prices for gold, oil, and staple commodities continue to rise, the purchasing power of the dollar for all Americans continues to fall. Inflationary monetary policies created the problems in the economy we are seeing, and these problems will be made worse, not better, by more inflation. Today's action by the Fed is very bad news for American workers and retirees, who are about to get hit with yet another jump in prices.
Make no mistake, the problems faced by the American people are not caused by unscrupulous mortgage brokers or the rising price of oil. These are symptoms of an economic disease caused by a spendthrift Congress enabled by loose monetary policy. Too many pundits praise the weak dollar as benefiting exporters, but they fail to see the harm done to thrifty, hard-working Americans. Rather than continuing to pursue a policy of easy credit and increasing debt, we need to return to a sound monetary system."
As expected, the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates. But the Fed then pulled a surprise, stressing that with America's inflation risk "on the upside", rates wouldn't be lowered again. Having bailed out Wall Street to the tune of tens of billions of dollars – again – the Fed wanted to rebuild the façade of independent central banking. But no one was convinced. Of course the Fed will cut rates again. Financial stocks are the backbone of America's main share indices. So the real question isn't if the Fed will cut rates again, but how quickly rates will fall to 4% and how low they will go after that.
The stock market has been full of ghoulish tales this week of major problems still to hit the world's biggest banks. As Halloween passed on Wednesday, some analysts are warning the nightmare on Wall Street is far from over.
A comet that has unexpectedly brightened in the past couple of weeks and now is visible to the naked eye is attracting professional and amateur interest."This is a once-in-a-lifetime event to witness, along the lines of when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into Jupiter back in 1994." Experts aren't sure how long the comet's show will last, but estimate it could be weeks — if not months.
(S&T: See Comet Holmes tonight)
(SW: Cool pic of Comet Holmes)
Puh-leaze!...
The US welcomed passage by The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Conference of a resolution to promote remembrance of the Holocaust. The resolution, sponsored by the United States, Israel, Russia, Australia and Canada, asks UNESCO's Director-General to work out with the UN Secretary-General how UNESCO could promote Holocaust awareness and combat all forms of Holocaust denial.
This Economist special report is an attempt to tease out these conflicts. It comes with 3 health warnings. First, many numbers in religion are dodgy: most churches inflate their support and many governments do not record religion in their censuses. Second, in a field where many believers claim to know all the answers, it poses mainly questions. And lastly, given the emotion the subject arouses, the chances are that some of what follows will offend you.
(Op-ed: The new wars of religion)
Today in Scripture
* On the 21st day of the 7th month, the word of YAHWEH came through the prophet Haggai..." (Hag 2:1-9)
Tomorrow in Scripture
* "...Celebrate the festival to YAHWEH for 7 days; the 1st day is a day of rest, and the 8th day also is a day of rest." (Lev 23:39)
* "On the 8th day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for 7 days and the festival for 7 days more." (2Chr 7:9)
* "Day after day, from the 1st day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of ELOHIM. They celebrated the feast for 7 days, and on the 8th day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly. (Neh 8:18)
* "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, YAHSHUA stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.'" (John 7:37,38)
* "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, YAHSHUA stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.'" (John 7:37,38)
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