The Daily WAR (08-11)

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(Still testing/tweaking...)


THE HOLY ROMAN ...

B16's 2nd encyclical out next week
Pope Benedict's second encyclical will be released next week, the Vatican said on Friday. The encyclical, called "Spe Salvi" (Latin for "Saved by Hope"), is expected to be a largely philosophical and theological work but also touch on themes such as the role of political systems in building a better world. The Pope is believed to be working on a third encyclical on the theme of social justice.

B16 to purge Vatican of modern music
The Pope is considering a dramatic overhaul of the Vatican in order to force a return to traditional sacred music. After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music.
(Op-ed: Why B16 is right to purge)

B16 makes new cardinals, calls for end to Iraq war
Pope Benedict, elevating 23 prelates from around the world to the elite rank of cardinal, made a pressing appeal on Saturday for an end to the war in Iraq and decried the plight of the country's Christian minority.
One of the new cardinals is Emmanuel III Delly, the Baghdad-based Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, and the Pope used the solemn occasion, known as a consistory, to express his concern for Iraq. He said Christians in Iraq were "feeling with their own flesh the dramatic consequences of an enduring conflict ... "
The Chaldeans are Iraq's biggest Christian group and the Chaldean rite is one of the most ancient of the Catholic Church.

B16 offers prayers for Mideast summit
Pope Benedict XVI today offered prayers for this week's Middle East summit at Annapolis, saying he hoped the participants would find the "wisdom and courage" needed to bring peace to the Holy Land. He said he hoped the meeting would relaunch negotiations "to find a just and definitive solution to the conflict which for 60 years has bloodied the Holy Land and provoked so many tears and suffering among two peoples".

Social doctrine seen as aid to ecumenism
The Church's social doctrine has become one of the most promising areas for ecumenical progress, say the cardinals who met with Benedict XVI today. The cardinals, in Rome in preparation for Saturday's consistory, gathered during a day of prayer and reflection to consider the current state of ecumenism and its possibilities.


... EMPIRE OF THE GERMAN NATION

Tough Iran sanctions to hit Germany hard
The adoption of tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could cost the German budget 2 billion euros, according to Finance Ministry estimates cited in Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday. Over the medium term, finance ministry experts believed tougher sanctions could cost Berlin 2 billion euros, according to the magazine. Germany is one of Iran's largest trading partners in the EU.

NO it's not!...
Final resurrection of the HRE is here
The Vatican and Germany already have a disturbing level of control over the European Union. The religious and political sides of the resurrection of an ancient empire are forming fast.
[WAR: Concerning this Philadelphia Prophet's Prophecy Propaganda Poop:
* "The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them." (Jer 5:13)
* "The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority..." (Jer 5:31)
* "From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit." (Jer 6:13)
* "Then YAHWEH said to me, 'The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds." (Jer 14:14)
* "Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray." (Jer 23:13)
* "I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied." (Jer 23:21)
* "Therefore, I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes, I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The LORD declares.'" (Jer 23:30-31)


EUROPE

How Brussels regulates our daily lives
The European Commission in Brussels wants to protect European citizens even more effectively against danger and disease. Soon there will be a well-intended - but mostly completely unnecessary - regulation for every aspect of life.


MIDDLE EAST/ASIA/AFRICA

Saudis calling shots at peace conference?
In exchange for Saudi Arabia attending this week's US-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian conference in Annapolis, the Israeli government agreed to recognize the importance of a Saudi-sponsored "peace initiative" in which the Jewish state is called upon to evacuate the strategic Golan Heights, the entire West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, WND has learned.
WND obtained a draft Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be presented at the Annapolis conference and to serve as an official outline of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
The wording is still being negotiated by both sides, but according to Israeli diplomatic sources, Israel agreed to a Saudi request that the declaration document include reference to a Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative, first presented in 2002 and reissued earlier this year at a meeting of the Arab League, an umbrella association of Mideast Arab states.

State of emergency declared in Lebanon
Lebanon is bracing itself for violence after the pro-Syrian president declared a state of emergency to stop power passing to rivals loyal to the prime minister. Just hours before his presidential term expired at midnight, President Lahoud said he was handing power to the army to "preserve security all over the Lebanese territory".
Politicians in Beirut had earlier failed to elect a new president, leaving the small but volatile Middle Eastern nation without a head of state for the first time in more than a decade. Fears also spread that groups loyal to Syria, including the powerful and militant Shia group Hizbollah, may move to set up a parallel government.


PROVOKING PERSIA

Split widens over Iran's nuclear plans
International divisions over Iran's nuclear ambitions deepened yesterday after the world's nuclear watchdog pleaded for more time for its inspections regime despite admitting international knowledge of Teheran's nuclear programme had diminished. The mixed picture left battlelines drawn between those countries willing to test the recent progress reported by ElBaradei and delegates alarmed by his report's admission that Iran continues to fall short of steps demanded in UN Security Council resolutions.

Iranian navy to carry out February war games
Iran's navy commander said on Saturday that his forces will launch military maneuvers in Hormuz Strait and Gulf of Oman in February to exercise their naval capabilities, the official IRNA news agency reported. Rear Admiral Sayyari told reporters that the military exercises, code named, "Ettehad 86," or "Unity 86," will continue for a week. The war games aim to exercise technical tactics, test the navy's equipment and promote power of the naval forces in the field of different surface-to-surface and air-to-sea operations, he said. The navy personnel will also launch different missiles during the military exercises, the Iranian rear admiral added.

US Navy steps up fuel deliveries to Gulf forces
The U.S. military has stepped up chartering of tankers and requests for extra fuel in the U.S. Central Command area, which includes the Gulf, shipping and oil industry sources say. A Gulf oil industry source said the charters suggested there would be high naval activity.
The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) has tendered for 4 tankers in November to move at least 1,000,000 barrels of jet and ship fuel between Gulf ports, from Asia to the Gulf and to the Diego Garcia base, tenders seen by Reuters show. It usually tenders for 1 or 2 tankers a month to supply Gulf operations, which include missions in Iraq.

Preventing the impending war on Iran
Rhetoric flowing out of the White House indicates the Bush administration is planning a military attack on Iran . Officials in Saudi Arabia , a close Bush ally, think the handwriting is on the wall: "George Bush's tone makes us think he has decided what he is going to do." "We are getting closer and closer to a confrontation."

Hands off Iran
An attack on Iran - which appears increasingly likely before the coming presidential election--will unleash a regional conflict of catastrophic proportions. This war, and especially Iranian retaliatory strikes on American targets, will be used to silence domestic dissent and abolish what is left of our civil liberties. It will solidify the slow-motion coup d'état that has been under way since the 9/11 attacks. It could mean the death of the Republic.
But more ominous, an attack on Iran will ignite the Middle East. The loss of Iranian oil, coupled with possible Silkworm missile attacks by Iran against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, could send the price of oil soaring to somewhere around $200 a barrel. The effect on the domestic and world economy will be devastating, very possibly triggering a global depression.


HOUSE OF ISRAEL

From our brother over yonder...
Archbishop: US is "worst" imperialist
The Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the US wields its power in a way that is worse than Britain during its imperial heyday. Rowan Williams claimed that America’s attempt to intervene overseas by “clearing the decks” with a “quick burst of violent action” had led to “the worst of all worlds”. In a wide-ranging interview with a British Muslim magazine, the Anglican leader linked criticism of the US to one of his most pessimistic declarations about the state of western civilisation.

From our brother down yonder...
New Australian PM signals Iraq pullout
Australia's new prime minister Kevin Rudd will mark his arrival on the international stage by announcing the withdrawal of his country’s combat troops from Iraq and signing the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Rudd, a republican and former diplomat, swept to power as his Labor party stormed to a landslide victory in yesterday’s elections.
Rudd, 50, who has been called a “Tone Clone” for his similarities to Tony Blair on policy, told cheering supporters that the electorate had decided to “write a new page in our nation’s history”.
(IHT: New leader a study in contradictions)

Blair: Mention God and you're a "nutter"
Tony Blair has sparked controversy by claiming that people who speak about their religious faith can be viewed by society as "nutters". The former prime minister's comments came as he admitted for the first time that his faith was "hugely important" in influencing his decisions during his decade in power at Number 10, including going to war with Iraq in 2003.
"It's difficult if you talk about religious faith in our political system. If you are in the American political system or others then you can talk about religious faith and people say 'yes, that's fair enough' and it is something they respond to quite naturally. You talk about it in our system and, frankly, people do think you're a nutter. I mean … you may go off and sit in the corner and … commune with the man upstairs and then come back and say 'right, I've been told the answer and that's it'."
(Op-ed: We prefer politicians w/o a hotline to God)

US becoming conspiracy nation
If you believe the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon came without any specific warning, a new poll says the person on your left and the person on your right think you're wrong. Researchers found more than one-third of Americans subscribe to a range of conspiracy theories, including the 9/11 attacks, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, soaring oil prices and UFOs.


ECONOMY

Oil closes over $98
Crude oil futures rose in New York, reaching a record closing price above $98 a barrel, on concern fuel stockpiles will drop as the heating season gets under way. "Most of the issues that brought us here are still around so I think at some point, maybe next week, we will hit $100."

Economic expert says global crash imminent
A leading economic expert has warned that a global crash and recession is imminent on the back of record highs in real estate, stocks and energy, combined with a devaluation of the dollar and continued "speculative bubble thinking". Robert Shiller, the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics at Yale University told an audience that a sharp downward correction is due in the global markets.
"Perhaps we have gotten a little too confident in the global economic growth. The problem is high oil, stock and real estate prices. I believe that a substantial part is speculative bubble thinking. We have gotten too confident of the prices in these markets. The unwinding of these markets is the most serious risk facing these markets today."

An economy on the brink of snapping
It has been said that the road to every recession is signposted "soft landing". The end of this economic cycle looks like being no exception, even if the terminology is slightly different. This year's wishful thinking is dressed up as Goldman Sachs's "happy handover" or the ubiquitous "decoupling".
They are new tags, but the principle is the same. America's economy may be going to hell in a handcart - manufacturing slipped into recession again, new data showed on Friday - but the rest of the world will muddle through.

German press on...
Follow the falling dollar
With the dollar at its weakest ever, the CEO of Airbus shared grim visions of cuts to come with employees this week. German commentators, meanwhile, searched for meaning in the mess.

Credit "heart attack" engulfs China and Korea
The global credit crisis has hit Asia with a vengeance for the first time, triggering a massive flight to safety as investors across the region pull out of risky assets. Yields on three-month deposits in China and Korea have plummeted to near 1pc in a spectacular fall over recent days, caused by panic withdrawls from money market funds and credit derivatives.
"This is a severe warning sign," said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas. "Asia ignored the credit crunch in August but now we're seeing the poison beginning to paralyse the whole global economy

Euro is becoming the "it" currency
Despite squeals of pain from European exporters, the strength of the euro is fast propelling Europe's single currency into a juggernaut. Currency traders from Egyptian street hawkers to Asian central banks are looking to the euro as a better store of value as the U.S. dollar erodes. While these trends are unlikely to perturb currency markets, concern is growing that foreign investors may start dumping their dollar-holdings. In particular, traders are watching China's central bank for changes in its portfolio.

Will Europe impose exchange controls to head off disaster?
The die is now cast. As the euro brushes $1.50 against the dollar, it is already too late to stop the eurozone hurtling into a full-fledged economic and political crisis. We now have to start asking whether the EU itself will survive in its current form.

"Market fundamentalism" and the tyranny of money
In the midst of the most productive economy in history, the U.S. and much of the world today are in crisis, with stagnant or falling incomes, rising prices, and skyrocketing debt. Many experts are predicting an economic collapse, and people with money are scrambling for safe places to protect it. No one in an official capacity has provided a convincing explanation; few have even tried.
We are taught that economics is a “science” and that it operates under unchangeable laws that are understandable only to specialists. People speak with reverence of “market forces” as existing beyond the reach of human intelligence and will. None of this is true. There is no such thing as “laws” in economics.

The day we left the gold standard
It all started in 1971, the fiat currency we have now, the state of the reign of (King) George III, stagnation instead of change on Wall Street, denial of problems and poor quality information will lead to more of the same in the future, but only worse.
Over half of Americans are living in a state of denial. They want to believe tripe on the nightly news, and the pronouncements by Treasury Secretary Paulson that the real estate collapse and the credit crisis are contained. The still low interest rates have allowed Americans to continue to function albeit buried in debt. They are terrified about falling house prices and the fear that their credit card lines will be cut back. They are concerned that we may be in recession and that their job may be outsourced overseas. They say nothing, they watch and hope. They are fearful of our government and our system. They are afraid to speak out.
Some are beginning to realize that the Fed forced trillions of dollars into the financial system so that the economy wouldn’t collapse 5 years ago. The result was a housing bubble that kept the economy from collapse and the elitists away from exposure of what they were doing.
We are headed toward another great depression and Americans are occupied with sports, movies and DVD’s, as well as totally managed news.

Apocalyptic vision of a post-fossil fuel world
An apocalyptic vision of how the world will look after the oil runs out has been given by a top scientist. Richard Heinberg, one of the world's leading experts on oil reserves, warned that the lives of billions of people were threatened by a food crisis caused by our dependence on dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.
Higher oil prices, the loss of farmland to biofuel crops, climate change and the loss of natural resources would combine with population growth to create an unprecedented food shortage. The only way to avoid a world food crisis was a planned and rapid reduction of fossil fuel use - oil, coal and gas - and a switch to more organic methods in the growing and delivery of food. It would mean a return to living off the land not seen for 150 years.
[WAR: No sweat for the Amish!]


MISC

Theoretical physics: Geometry is all
One of the mysteries of the universe is why it should speak the language of mathematics. Numbers and the relationships between them are, after all, just abstract reasoning. Yet mathematics has shown itself to be particularly adept at describing both the contents of the universe and the forces that act on them. Now comes a paper which argues that one branch of the subject—geometry—could form the basis of all the laws of physics.

Parallel universe proof boosts time travel hopes
Parallel universes really do exist, according to a mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists that sweeps away one of the key objections to the mind boggling and controversial idea. The work has wider implications since the idea of parallel universes sidesteps one of the key problems with time travel.
Every since it was given serious lab cred in 1949 by the great logician Kurt Godel, many eminent physicists have argued against time travel because it undermines ideas of cause and effect to create paradoxes: a time traveller could go back to kill his grandfather so that he is never born in the first place.

Who was Beowulf?
It took twice through, but I’m finally convinced; Beowulf is a wonderful film. There is plenty to recommend it, even if it had stuck to the original plot line. There is a profoundly moral story here, much like Faustus. What we see are the dreadful consequences of sin visiting themselves on many more than just the sinner. The family is destroyed. The community is destroyed. The path of history is distorted from its rightful journey toward justice and truth onto another path of betrayal, hurt, suffering, violence, degradation, and ruin.

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