After the Christmas holidays I would like to turn to the meditations on the Fathers of the Church and speak today of the greatest Father of the Latin Church, St. Augustine: a man of passion and faith, of high intelligence and untiring pastoral zeal. This great saint and doctor of the Church is often well-known, at least by name, even by those who ignore Christianity, or who are little acquainted with it, because he made a deep impression on the cultural life of the Western world, and the world in general.
John Paul was interested in wielding the social capital of Catholicism to change the history of his day; Benedict is more an "insider's pope," looking to solidify the spiritual foundations of Catholicism to weather what he considers the long-term storm of secularism and a "dictatorship of relativism." Such an approach is not well-suited to capturing headlines.
#1 Christ at the core: For Benedict XVI, 2007 was clearly a Christological year. In his book Jesus of Nazareth, in his speeches in Brazil, in the Vatican's notice on Jesuit theologian Jon Sobrino, in Spe Salvi, and in countless other venues, Benedict hammered home his core message to the modern world: A just society cannot be built without reference to God, and only in Christ is the full reality of God made clear.
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* Quote from article in yesterday's WAR: "Attali concluded by returning to the situation in Euroland, predicting that the very future of the single European currency is in jeopardy, 'with an Italy going financially adrift, to such an extent that the very existence of the euro could be put into question by speculators attacking the Rome Treasury.'" (EIR)
Balkan blood-bath brewing...
A former rebel leader was elected Kosovo's prime minister Wednesday, vowing that the province is only weeks away from independence and calling on Serbia to give up its claim to the territory. "It's an issue of weeks and Kosovo will be an independent, sovereign and democratic country. Independence is everything for us. We have sacrificed — we deserve it. Our aim is to make Kosovo independent in the first part of this year. We will make our dream and our right come true soon. ... Kosovo will be independent."
Germany fears a dangerous vacuum if the EU does not move quickly in recognising an expected declaration of independence from the Serbian province of Kosovo in February, Germany's deputy foreign minister said. "There are also those who want to start the EU mission immediately while taking more time to react to the declaration of independence. We believe this would create a problematic vacuum." Some EU countries, notably Greece and Cyprus, are known to oppose recognition of Kosovo.
Over Germany's dead body...
President Bush gave Turkey's bid to join the EU a glowing endorsement on Tuesday and called the Islamic nation a "constructive bridge" between the West and the Muslim world. "I think Turkey sets a fantastic example for nations around the world to see where it's possible to have a democracy coexist with a great religion like Islam and that's important."
Nothin' wrong with that...
President Putin has appointed nationalist politician and firebrand Dmitry Rogozin to represent Russia at NATO. He is the former head of the Motherland party, for which he has served as a Duma Deputy. Experts say the move means that the Kremlin is seeking to observe Russian interests carefully in talks with NATO.
Israel will not accept the American demand to stop building in east Jerusalem's Jewish neighborhoods and in the settlement blocs, Prime Minister Olmert told President Bush. "Not everyone likes what we have to say about this, but we made it clear that Jerusalem's status was different than that of the settlements."
Brandishing placards showing President Bush as a vampire swigging Muslim blood, thousands of Hamas supporters protested in Gaza on Wednesday against his visit to Israel and the West Bank. Some 20,000 members of the Islamist group set US and Israeli flags alight. Bush was a "butcher" whose first presidential visit to the Holy Land was skewed towards helping Israel, they said.
Syria is not seeking a military solution for its conflict with Israel and is ready to resume peace talks, Syria's foreign minister said Wednesday. "We are not looking for a military solution (with Israel) at all. ... (And) The U.S.A., under the Bush Administration, has a black and white foreign policy and this is unrealistic. The world has lost patience with Bush's policies."
It was only a matter of time. A suicide bomber struck in the Pakistani city of Lahore today, ending a 2-week lull since the spate of spontaneous violence that followed the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. At least 23 riot police were killed and another 58 police and passers-by were injured when a man detonated his vest packed with ball bearings outside Lahore's High Court.
The suicide bombing in the Pakistani city of Lahore today comes a day before the start of Muharram, the 1st month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It also comes just a day after the government finalised security arrangements for the holy month, which is often marred by sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
The month of Muharram marks the events leading to the 7th Century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussain, at the hands of the then Muslim ruler, Yezid bin Muawiyah. Traditionally, the Shia Muslims observe these days as a period of mourning, with ceremonies depicting the day-by-day build-up to the ultimate martyrdom at Karbala, Iraq.
Since the 1980s, these days in Pakistan have also meant attacks on Shia ceremonies and processions by hardline groups within the Sunni Wahhabi sect. Originally imported from the Middle East, the purist Wahhabi ideology as espoused by some extremist clerics considers Shias as heretics who deserve to die.
The Bush administration is preparing a new push to end the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region and keep a fragile north-south peace deal from unraveling in the vast African state. With international attention increasingly focused on other world trouble spots, the US is boosting its profile on Sudan with the appointment of a new special envoy for the country, a former senior diplomat with links to President Bush, the GOP and a firm grasp of the UN system.
(Also: Sweden and Norway opt out)
Iran's goods exports to Germany have gained momentum as the trade volume between the countries indicates a 50% growth in 2007. The EU is Iran's key trade partner. EU exports to Iran during the first 8 months of 2007 surpassed 6 billion euros. On the other hand Iran's exports to the EU reached 9 billion euros in the same period.
We see no aggressive manoeuvres, no weapons. The speedboats have no visible mounted cannons or machine guns. All we see is a number of speedboats that clearly have no radar, that are coming out, probably to carry out a visual identification of the US Navy ships. What the US Navy was clearly concerned about from such tiny boats could only be a suicide attack. We know how often Iranians have carried out suicide attacks right? Never.
On the audio tape, a voice is heard that says: "We will explore a few minutes." It is the US Navy radio operator who replies "We will explode in a few minutes?" The US prefers the "explode" version, which suits them better. It falls in line with the White House Foreign policy whose goal is to attack Iran.
What we know of the incident so far comes from official and mostly unnamed sources who were nowhere in the vicinity of the Strait, and comes filtered through journalists who often don't seem to know what they're talking about. Much of the reportage is also conspicuously contradictory.
Iran today aired its own video of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz with US warships, in a bid to counter Pentagon accusations that the Iranians warned they could blow up the American vessels. The video broadcast by Iran's English-language channel Press-TV showed an Iranian commander in a speedboat contacting an American sailor via radio, asking him to identify the US vessels and state their purpose.
As the US government continues to demonstrate its inability to learn from history, an alarming report from the Strait of Hormuz was broadcast to the world on Monday. Now we have an "incident." Obviously, we are told, like in the Gulf of Tonkin 44 years ago, the US has been the victim of "aggression." One waits in anxious impatience to see how Congress will react.
With a lame duck president seeking to salvage his disgraced reputation, one wonders if this reported incident from Iran will have the same effect as the non-incident in the Gulf of Tonkin 44 years ago. Bush & Co. have never been particularly interested in facts.
Whether or not this current situation leads Congress to justify an invasion of Iran, or other actions that will lead to an invasion, remains to be seen. But the U.S. has not learned from its own history, and another repeat of an unneeded and catastrophic war is not, unfortunately, unthinkable. That the president will not stop it is not surprising; that Congress will be complicit once again is unspeakable.
Here we go!...
"Iran was a threat, Iran is a threat and Iran will be threat to world peace if the international community does not come together and prevent that nation from the development of the know-how to build a nuclear weapon. A country that once had a secret programme can easily restart a secret programme. A country which can enrich (uranium) for civilian purposes can easily transfer that knowledge to a military programme."
(Also: Iran warned of consequences)
(Also: Saudi FM urges restraint)
It is by now almost routine. With recurring frequency, US leaders tour the Middle East depicting Iran as the region's greatest threat. But while the message often fell on receptive ears in the past, regional players today have misgivings about Washington's ability - and perhaps more importantly - its competence in handling Iran's rise.
So while President Bush beats an old drum during his Mideast tour, regional actors are hearing a different tune. Regardless of Bush's message, the writing many see on the wall reads that Washington's Iran strategy is bound to fail.
There were several major vote fraud issues to arise out of the New Hampshire primary revolving mainly around Ron Paul and Barack Obama, who were both seemingly cheated out of 3rd and 1st places respectively as a result of rigged Diebold voting machines and deliberate malfeasance in the counting of hand-written paper ballots.
The gasps have echoed around the world. The extraordinary upset victories of the 2 "comeback kids" in New Hampshire have not only galvanised the American election campaign; they have impressed and intrigued millions of people beyond America's shores. This election is proving to be as robust and searching as any democratic contest anywhere in the world.
To some extent, global interest in the race for the White House is guaranteed. Almost no issue determining global peace and prosperity is unaffected by the American voters' choice. European statesmen, Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Chinese manufacturers are all watching to see how their world will be changed.
The mother of an 11-year-old boy abducted by SWAT team members and taken to a hospital after he was bruised while horsing around is warning members of her community of the "Nazi" tactics she endured, including a statement from the officers that her "rights" were "only in the movies." "I asked if I could make a phone call and was told, 'no.' My daughter asked if that wasn't one of our rights. The reply was made, 'That's only in the movies.'"
The US Federal Emergency Management Agency has numerous detainment camps throughout the US. Some camps have been recently constructed and / or renovated and are fully staffed. The existence of the camps coupled with Presidential Executive Orders giving the President and Department of Homeland Security (of which FEMA is now part) control over 'national essential functions' in the event of 'catastrophic emergency' have resulted in concerns that the camps will be used to forcefully detain American citizens for unconstitutional purposes.
A federal document obtained and released by Judicial Watch reveals that there were dozens of armed incursions by Mexican soldiers and police into the US during Fiscal Year 2007. The report was obtained by the Washington-based organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and it documents 29 confirmed incidents along the US-Mexican border involving Mexican military and/or law enforcement personnel during that time.
"These documents not only show the dangerous and chaotic situation at the Mexican border, but also the complicity of some Mexican government agents in violating US law. The US government must begin to take these incidents more seriously, publicize them and take measures to bring the crisis at our border under control."
Too bad!...
President Sarkozy has announced that the English-language news network France 24 is to be axed. The channel, which was set up to provide a French perspective on world events, will be replaced by a purely French-language network.
Gold futures approached $900 an ounce for the first time before retreating Wednesday as high oil prices and nervousness about the US economy pushed the precious metal to a record high for a 2nd straight day. An ounce of gold for February delivery rose $1.40 to settle at $881.80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, just beating Tuesday's record closing price. Earlier Wednesday, gold soared as high as $894.40 an ounce — the highest ever — before retreating as investors cashed in profits.
Cash-strapped Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are reportedly ready to again tap foreign government-run funds to shore up their balance sheets. The firms already have reaped billions in investments from so-called sovereign wealth funds. Now Merrill is expected to pick up as much as another $4 billion from a Middle Eastern government investment fund and Citi could get as much as $10 billion from foreign sources in the Middle East and Asia.
Many people are finally saying the R word: Recession. The fundamentals don't look good. The externals are even scarier. What government cannot do without causing even more problems is take positive action against symptoms, such as falling stocks or housing prices, rising unemployment, business failures, and falling incomes. This is precisely what caused the Great Depression to get its name instead of being called what it might have been called: the recession of 1929–1931.
(Also: KB Home reports grim results)
(Also: UN: US could spark global fall)
Former French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur this week proposed in a long essay "a true union of the West" between Europe and North America, which received a warm response from President Sarkozy. Protectionism is a real threat, but much more to the trade between the US and China than to the far more balanced and mutually dependent economic ties between the US and Europe. And that puts into an interesting and rather different context Balladur's proposal for a "union of the West." Follow the money, and it is already under way.
Tonight's sky
Tonight is a great chance to see a very young moon and a star that stands out on its own. The moon and the star Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus will be low in the southwest just after sunset tonight. Look in the southwest tonight. The moon is almost 2 days into its cycle this month. So you can only see about 5% of its illuminated surface.
[WAR: Tonight's moon (the "first crescent" to rule with the stars) is the "new moon" - which ipso facto indicates that tomorrow is the 1st day of the 10th month.]
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