Pope Benedict XVI held his traditional meeting with cardinals, archbishops, bishops and members of the Roman Curia, for the exchange of Christmas greetings. "The Curia is a 'working community' held together by bonds of fraternal love which the Christmas festivities serve to reinforce." He then went on to recall one of the significant events of the year that is drawing to a close.
Former prime minister Tony Blair has left the Anglican Church to become a Roman Catholic. He was received into full communion with the Catholic Church during Mass at Archbishop's House, Westminster, on Friday. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, who is the head of Catholics in England and Wales, said: "I am very glad to welcome Tony Blair into the Catholic Church."
In a global slowdown, Germany's 3-year-old economic recovery is likely to continue, but at a slower pace. In a way this is a pity, for only the prospect of more serious meltdown could goad Germany's political leaders to make further reforms.
At first sight Germany looks well placed to cope with adversity. It is one of few countries to "reindustrialise." This is largely built on its prowess as an exporter, especially of capital goods. Less than 9% of Germany's exports go to the US, so its direct exposure to an American slowdown is modest.
Nervous Germans make me nervous...
The economy has grown and unemployment has fallen during 2007, but Germans are going into 2008 in a mood of increasing anxiety about their economic future, a new survey has shown.
Germany kept a restricted operation regime at the local border crossing Tillyschanz-Zelezna on Friday in spite of Czech's entry into the Schengen Zone at midnight Thursday.
The Germans still allow the crossing to be used only by drivers with car number plates of the Bavarian districts Weiden, Neustadt and Schwandorf. Germans from other districts are not allowed to cross the border.
The Lisbon bash on December 13th was both interesting and revealing; it was the summit in Brussels that was dull and largely devoid of substance. Lisbon's revelations included the fact that EU leaders are unsure how to treat their union's almost-anthem, the "Ode to Joy".
In Brussels, there is much talk of the awful personal chemistry between Chancellor Merkel, and President Sarkozy, even if the machinery of Franco-German co-operation remains.
The conclusion is clear. EU leaders disagree profoundly about what Europe is: a political project, or just an exercise in international economic governance. A summit that debated these differences would be worth holding. But this summit was not. A more rational EU would have simply scrapped it.
"If Israel decides for peace, we will have peace." Those were the words of Latin-rite Catholic Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem, in presenting his annual Christmas message. Ultimately, he said, the prospects for peace will be determined by Israel's willingness to meet the demands of Palestinians for a genuinely autonomous independent state.
"The entire region, because of the conflict in the Holy Land, is in turmoil (and) the forces of evil ... have been unleashed." Israel must make a decision to allow for Palestinian autonomy, the patriarch said, in order to defuse the conflict. "This land cannot be exclusive for anyone."
Israel plans to build 740 new homes in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, a minister said, despite its commitment to freeze all settlement activity. He said Israel had never promised to stop building within Jerusalem and had a duty to house its citizens.
Israel's Home Front Command is preparing the public for possible war scenarios. Today it launched a public information campaign, during which every Israeli household will receive a manual titled "Being Protected and Prepared."
Despite recent tensions with Syria and Iran, Israeli officials have denied that the HFC's actions have anything to do with concerns that a conflict could be imminent. They say the state is implementing one of the lessons of last year's Lebanon war, during which many residents of northern Israel were caught unprepared for Hezbollah rocket salvoes.
A Syrian member of parliament thought to be familiar with the thinking of President al-Assad is quoted in a London-based pan-Arab daily newspaper as saying that Syria could strike Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona as retaliation for any future violations of Syrian sovereignty.
In an interview with the paper, he noted that Dimona is well within range of Syrian missiles, and that Damascus does not rule out the possibility of additional Israeli attacks against it.
Turkey's military said it attacked Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq Saturday for the 3rd time in less than a week, bombing and shelling positions and warning more will follow.
American soldiers in Iraq have been issued with thousands of packs of playing cards urging them to protect and respect the country's archaeological sites, in an effort to curb the destruction and plunder of Iraq's antiquities.
The effort to induce greater cultural awareness among US troops comes amid dire warnings from international archaeologists that Iraq's ancient heritage is in greater peril than ever. But some experts say that the well-meaning effort to instil cultural sensitivity in the troops comes far too late.
In one of the most notorious incidents, US troops constructed a helicopter pad on the ruins of ancient Babylon, filling sandbags with remains from what was once the holy city of Mesopotamia. The US military base built 5 years ago on the site of the ancient city of Ur, believed to have been the home of the prophet Abraham, is also causing irreparable damage.
Not smelling the coffee...
Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix says the NIE report on Tehran's nuclear program may preclude a US military strike against Iran. He said Washington is apparently attempting to take a closer look before accusing other countries of possessing weapons of mass destruction, due to the past blunders which led to the Iraq war.
"There are many indications that the White House was in fact planning an attack. The United States traditionally justifies its attacks with its doctrine of pre-emptive self-defense. But now that the official word is out that Iran neither has nor is developing weapons of mass destruction, this is no longer an option."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said bombing Iran's nuclear sites would be a catastrophic strategic blunder for the White House. He also noted that while the prospect of White House waging war on Iran was presumably off the table, Israel dissented from the US stance on Tehran.
In case you thought that Bonkers Bolton was finally right about something – that the US Intelligence Community had finally staged a "quasi-putsch," had finally stood up to the Likudniks and assorted neo-crazies hell-bent on launching a "pre-emptive" attack on Iran, had properly assessed the voluminous information the Iranians have made available (voluntarily or upon special request) to the IAEA about Iran's nuclear programs, and had finally produced a thoroughly professional National Intelligence Estimate on Iran – think again.
Kissinger, Schlesinger and the Likudniks argue that the principal reason the Iranians "halted" their alleged nuclear weapons program in the fall of 2003 – if they, indeed, did – was that Bush launched his war of aggression on Iraq and they were afraid they would be next.
In other words, the 2007 NIE on Iran justifies Bush's war of aggression against Iraq. Of course, if Scott Ritter is right, the Iranians never had a nuclear weapons program to halt. And, the Likudniks and the neocrazies have known that all along.
What would be the consequences of a US military attack against Iran's nuclear program? Likely one of the first would be another blow to the international credibility of the US. Absent authorization from the UN Security Council, such an attack would not only be a violation of international law, it would run counter to the Algiers Accords.
The conflict could also reduce or cut off the flow of Iranian oil to the global economy. Any reduction in that supply would likely propel prices steeply upward. And experts speak of up to $200 a barrel - if the US and Iran move toward open conflict.
Investigative reporter Daniel Estulin has gone further with his bombshell revelation first voiced last week that political insiders are considering a plot to assassinate Ron Paul, today identifying the Neo-Con camp as being behind the potential hit.
Appearing on The Alex Jones Show, Estulin said that his sources for the information were real patriots who love America and are desperate to see the truth get out.
With members of the House gaining support for Cheney's impeachment, a convenient fire erases critical records.
The world is passing through a very critical phase in human history. In the name of globalization the capitalist class has brought down most murderous attacks, vicious persecution, and ruthless exploitation on the working masses.
Globalization is a desperate attempt of capitalism-imperialism to come out of the crisis in the capitalist economic system. To meet its own economic crisis US imperialism finds it a compulsion to control as many economic, political and military-strategic levers as it can.
The Bush administration openly proclaimed in its 'National Security strategy of the United States of America' that the US has the right to use military force anywhere in the world, at any time it chooses, against any country that it believes to be a threat to American interests.
US imperialism refuses to respect as a matter of international law the sovereignty of any other country, and reserves the right to get rid of any regime, in any part of the world, that is at the moment, or may in future become, hostile to what US considers to be its vital interests.
It will not hesitate to act alone if its attempt to enlist the support of the international community does not succeed. The US will not be restrained by the convention of international law.
America's next President [?] faces the daunting task of countering Russia and China as they aggressively challenge struggling Western liberal democracies.
Americans are in a funk. They should cheer up a bit. The past 5 years have produced a dramatic souring in the country's mood.
London has topped the most exhaustive comparison ever compiled of the world's great cities in a finding that sees Britain's capital outstrip global rivals as a centre of economic performance and cultural significance.
Following months of research of population figures, financial markets, tourism trends, transport facilities and data relating to sports and arts events and transport, the study comes to a dramatic conclusion: London is the world's capital city.
The "money" power of the Federal Reserve – our own monetary Frankenstein monster which reflects us yet inevitably, viciously turns on us – is both profound and seemingly limitless, but yet somehow still mundane and weak. It is the heart of a wretched and lawless system that nevertheless has a few fundamental rules.
Such as this one: the banks are all insolvent, but the insolvency has to be manageable. The subprime problem illustrates the same thing that Fed Chairman Bernanke would telegraph if he ever sent those oft remarked money laden helicopters aloft to drop their load: the situation has become utterly unmanageable.
Somebody is going to be left holding the bag, they all know it, and they're all scrambling around, pointing fingers, trying to make sure it isn't them. And it's too late. And it's coming soon. I now think there is a real and substantial possibility that a major worldwide economic event will occur in a matter of months, maybe even weeks.
As central banks continue to splash their cash over the system, so far to little effect, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard argues things are rapidly spiralling out of their control.
Twenty billion dollars here, $20bn there, and a lush half-trillion from the European Central Bank at give-away rates for Christmas. Buckets of liquidity are being splashed over the North Atlantic banking system, so far with meagre or fleeting effects.
As the credit paralysis stretches through its 5th month, a chorus of economists has begun to warn that the world's central banks are fighting the wrong war, and perhaps risk a policy error of epochal proportions.
A Treasury-backed plan to stabilize a vital segment of the credit markets has been shelved, the banks involved said yesterday. The strategy called for banks across the globe to create a $100 billion fund aimed at jump-starting the troubled market for short-term loans, acting like a credit card for companies.
But the architects of the plan, which was developed by Citigroup and other leading financial institutions at series of meetings convened by Treasury officials this fall, struggled to recruit other banks and called it quits this week.
The plan aimed to help the market for short-term loans, or asset-backed commercial paper, which is a major driver of economic activity. Without these loans, companies struggle to issue mortgages and credit cards, and borrow to build automobile plants or hotels.
A credit crunch, a liquidity squeeze, a subprime meltdown—the shape-shifting menace that has vexed the world in 2007 has been all these things. But now it looks like becoming a banking crisis as well.
The grievous experience of 2 centuries of financial busts is that when the banking system is in difficulties the mess spreads. Straitened banks lend less, sucking money out of the economy.
A soaring ollar, rising interest rates, a global credit crunch, record oil prices and a volatile sharemarket all helped to define 2007. But what about the next 12 months? To answer this question, The Sunday Age asked several experts for their tips on what will be the big economic issues to shape 2008.
The sight of powerful bankers from the world's financial capitals going cap in hand to access the vast pools of wealth in China and the Middle East is one big sign of how the global game is changing.
Over the past few months, investors from China, the Middle East and other emerging market economies have poured an estimated $60 billion into the world's big banks and other financial institutions.
This new role of emerging market economies as a major source of capital flows "is a watershed in the balance of world economic power," says the chief currency economist at Morgan Stanley.
(Also: China to the rescue)
(Also: Saudis plan huge SWF)
(Also: SWF: Cavalry or Calvary?)
Despite being the world's 8th petroleum exporter and sitting on huge gas reserves, Nigeria will not have it easy over the next 2 years, between peristent unrest in the Niger Delta and strained relations with the major oil companies.
This absence of security means that Nigeria, which ranks 5th among suppliers of crude oil to the US, lost 25% of its production in 2006 and 2007.
Worldwide food prices have risen sharply and supplies have dropped this year, according to the latest food outlook of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The agency warned that the changes represent an "unforeseen and unprecedented" shift in the global food system, threatening billions with hunger and decreased access to food.
Those most affected live in countries dependent on imports. The poorest people, whose diets consist heavily of cereal grains, are most vulnerable. The food crisis is intensifying social discontent and raising the likelihood of social upheavals.
Behind the inflation are the complex inter-linkages of global markets and the fundamental incompatibility of the capitalist system with the needs of billions of poor and working people. The volatility of the financial markets, driven by speculation and trading in equity and debt, intersects with the futures and options markets that have a direct bearing on agricultural commodity markets.
As the housing market in the US collapsed, compounding problems in the credit market and threatening recession, speculation shifted to the commodities markets, exacerbating inflation in basic goods and materials. The international food market is particularly prone to volatility because current prices are greatly influenced by speculation over future commodity prices. This speculation can then trigger more volatility, encouraging more speculation.
Uh-oh...
Just as the festive season gets going, drinkers in America are finding their favourite beer suddenly more expensive or even—horrors!—not available at all. Hit by price increases and shortages, many breweries, particularly the small "craft brewers" and the even smaller microbreweries, are being forced to raise prices, make do with modified recipes or shut off the spigots altogether.
The humble hop, the plant that gives beer its distinctive flavour, is the main problem. Many farmers in the Pacific north-west, where America's hop production is concentrated, have turned to more profitable lines.
Things are no better for barley, used to make the malt that yeast turns into alcohol. It too has been ploughed under in favour of corn. Crop failures in Australia and Europe, combined with the weak dollar, have made it harder to replace the shortage with imports. Other price increases, of fuel, glass and metal, add to the pressure.
Our world ruled by manipulation, we are told by the media what to wear, how to eat, what pills to take, what is truth and what is illusion and when we disagree and apply critical thinking, then we are the outcast or just strange.
Several months ago, after writing an article on Project BLUEBEAM, a conspiracy theory of mind-blowing proportions, I received a handful of emails, from different people, all referring me to the same book. The book is called A Course in Miracles and many refer to it as the "New Age Bible".
A Course in Miracles has an interesting history and it all started when Dr. Helen Schucman, a non-religious Jew began working with Dr. William Thetford in 1958. It seems Dr. Thetford had ties with the CIA and was working on Project BLUEBIRD, which was later rolled over into the MK ULTRA Project.
Christians and Muslims have one striking thing in common: they are both "people of the book". And they both have an obligation to spread the Word—to get those Holy Books into the hands and hearts of as many people as they can.
Why are today's Christians and Muslims proving so successful at getting the Word out? And who is winning the battle of the books? Is either of the world's two great missionary religions gaining an edge when it comes to getting their Holy Books into people's hands and hearts?
Nothing better measures the retreat of religion in our postmodern society than the diminished intensity of the war over Christmas. Christmas closes another year that has been pretty brutal on the God squadders, a year in which the swelling tide of unbelief crashed further through the structures of our cultural architecture.
The church where the tradition of celebrating Christmas on Dec. 25 may have begun was built near a pagan shrine as part of an effort to spread Christianity, a leading Italian scholar says.
Italian archaeologists last month unveiled an underground grotto that they believe ancient Romans revered as the place where a wolf nursed Rome's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.
A few feet from the grotto, or "Lupercale," the Emperor Constantine built the Basilica of St. Anastasia, where some believe Christmas was first celebrated on Dec. 25.
Constantine ended the frequent waves of anti-Christian persecutions in the Roman empire by making Christianity a lawful religion in 313. He played a key role in unifying the beliefs and practices of the early followers of Jesus.
In 325, he convened the Council of Nicaea, which fixed the dates of important Christian festivals. It opted to mark Christmas, then celebrated at varying dates, on Dec. 25 to coincide with the Roman festival celebrating the birth of the sun god, a professor of archaeology at Rome's La Sapienza University told reporters Friday.
Fallible Falwell...
With Christmas in America becoming heedlessly commercialized, secularized or even outright banned, I want to share 5 key facts about Christmas and the One whose very name is incorporated in this blessed day. ... Jesus was the God-Man. He could not have retained His heavenly claim if he had been born of man, or born into sin with the nature of a mere man.
[WAR: What utter nonsense! But yet what a great example of the spirit of antichrist that John warned us about - which is the key doctrine that Christianity is based on. Reject this satanic doctrine and you'll ipso facto be rejecting the satanic religion called Christianity.]
Leaders representing 4 distinct religious traditions confront differences over the meaning of Jesus' life. While Jews definitely do not see Yeshua, the original Aramaic name for Jesus, as their saviour, some see him as a Jewish sage, or rabbi, whose followers mistakenly came to believe he was divine.
"The fact Jesus is God who has become man is startling," said Miller, who worked in the highest echelons of the Vatican before Pope Benedict XVI assigned him to the Vancouver archdiocese in September. The Christmas birth story is about the "incarnation" of God, he said. "The eternal Son of God who became flesh is truly God and truly man. It is a mystery we cannot plumb."
[WAR: Yes, the "incarnation" and Yahshua being "truly God and truly man" is a mystery ... a Babylonian/pagan mystery!!]
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