Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Benedict XVI encouraged Jesuits to continue their God-given mission "in full fidelity to the original charism," within the ecclesial and social context of today.
"In the attempt to build bridges of understanding and dialogue with those who do not belong to the Church or who have difficulty in accepting its positions and messages, you must loyally take charge of the Church's fundamental right to remain faithful to its mandate and adhere completely to the Word of God as well as to the magisterium's charge of conserving the truth and unity of Catholic doctrine in its entirety."
(And: Jesuit Superior's greeting to B16)
(And: Jesuit Superior's greeting to B16)
Benedict XVI is urging all interested parties in the Kosovo crisis to act with "prudence and moderation." The Pope made that appeal today when he received the credential letters of Vladeta Jankovic, Serbia's new ambassador to the Holy See.
In his speech to the diplomat, the Pontiff affirmed that the Holy See "greatly values its diplomatic links with Serbia, and hopes thereby to offer encouragement to the continuing efforts to build a future of peace, prosperity, reconciliation and peaceful coexistence throughout the region, as Serbia and its neighbors seek to take their proper place within Europe."
Benedict XVI said that the loss of Christian unity has resulted in some of the divisions between the peoples of Europe. He thus expressed joy for the progress in relations between Catholic and Orthodox Christians in Serbia in recent years and for the beneficial collaboration made in various areas. "I earnestly hope that these positive developments will continue to bear fruit," the Pope said, "in particular through joint exploration of Christian social doctrine."
(And: Full text of B16 address)
Despite the fact that the Church in Cuba has few material and human resources, a great evangelization is ready to take place there as many hearts are open to the Gospel, says Benedict XVI. Of Cuba's more than 11 million inhabitants, some 59% are Catholic. It is one of the nations in the world with the largest number of Catholics per priest.
(And: B16 address to Cuban bishops)
From stem cells to nuclear power to NATO operations -- whenever the going gets tough, Germany passes on the pain to other countries. But politicians are wrong to think they can keep systematically outsourcing socially controversial solutions to its problems -- voters are losing faith in democracy as a result. Germany is .
[Europress] [Russopress]
Europe has never been unified, and its history is littered with the failed ambitions of those who would wear the crown
Europe has never tolerated being led. It is a continent of cats, not dogs. Diversity is its glory, cantankerousness its defence. It is not a family or a community but a marketplace, a cultural entrepôt. Those who have sought its unity, even as a political metaphor, have come to grief.
Not until Charlemagne in the 9th century did something like a European empire re-emerge, corresponding to a remarkable extent to the original 6 nations of the common market. But half a century of dynastic wars and Viking raids soon destroyed it, a point glossed over by the Eurocrats [and COG "prophets"] who cite Charlemagne as their forebear.
The key to the much-underrated Viking expansion was that it was colonial rather than imperial. Not so the Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to impose central order on Europe under the joint aegis of its most powerful kings and popes. Its rulers rarely found peace, whether at home or overseas.
Attempts to unify the core nations of Europe read like a catalogue of dyspeptic Euro-summits. All ended in conflict and war. The paradox of the EU remains that of diplomacy down the ages, of how to discipline trade between nations without putting an intolerable strain on their sovereignty.
Four European regions that see themselves as the economic powerhouses of their nations sealed a pact Friday jointly to lobby the European Union for their interests. Lombardy in Italy and Catalonia in Spain entered the alliance, along with the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the French region of Rhone-Alpes.
The 4 regions, which share a total population of 33 million people, say an alliance in this form is unprecedented in the EU. Officials said they would also rent joint stands to boast their exports at major trade fairs in Asia, North America and Africa.
An earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale struck southern Greece today, officials said, the 5th significant tremor to hit the country in just over a week.
Hungary and Croatia are to wait before acknowledging Kosovo's independence, the foreign ministers said on Thursday after meeting in Budapest. Hungary has a large ethnic minority in neighbouring Serbia, and said this made recognising Kosovo a delicate question. Croatia's Foreign Minister said Croatia would only recognise Kosovo after "the majority of EU member states" took the plunge.
Around 200,000 demonstrated in central Belgrade Thursday night. Following the peaceful protest, several hundred demonstrators broke into the US embassy, starting a blaze in one of its rooms. The embassy was closed at the time and no one was injured. The Croatian and British embassies were also attacked.
The EU has been employed as a means of bypassing the UN Security Council and legitimizing Kosovo's unilateral declaration. The EU is, however, deeply split.
In an effort to legally square its provocative actions, the EU has argued that Kosovo is a unique case and that Serbia lost its right to govern the province because of its earlier repression of the Albanian majority.
But such justifications for independence can equally be employed regarding who should control the Serb-dominated areas in northern Kosovo. And they are already being utilized by separatist and nationalist movements in Europe and internationally.
(And: Germany condemns rioting)
(And: EU cuts talks with Serbia)
(Analysis: Serbian gov't behind violence)
Serbs protesting Kosovo's independence for a 5th straight day today attacked UN police guarding a key bridge in northern Kosovo with stones, glass bottles and firecrackers.
The unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo has produced destabilising shockwaves beyond the Balkans. There is a widespread recognition in Asia and elsewhere that carving out a nation-state by recognising a small group of people on ethnic or religious lines could apply to any country.
A specter is haunting capitals around the world. It is the fear that Kosovo's independence may prove infectious. From Moscow to Beijing, Baghdad, New Delhi, Lagos, Ankara, Manila and other seats of power, leaders express fear that Pristina's birthday may create a domino effect encouraging disgruntled groups within their boundaries to follow suit.
President Putin warned his Georgian counterpart on Thrusday of potential damage to bilateral relations if the South Caucasus country joins NATO, the Russian foreign minister said.
The Jewish community of Russia is worried over a rumor campaign by nationalist parties claiming that Dmitri Medvedev, President Putin's handpicked successor, is Jewish.
Russian Jewish leaders declined to comment on the rumors officially, fearing to lend them credibility. Off the record, however, one said: "I pray it isn't true, because it would only make trouble, for him and for us."
Medvedev, who recently told a Russian weekly that he was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church at age 23, has not commented on these rumors. But Russian Internet sites are full of reports about his alleged Jewish roots.
The rumors are based in part on the fact that his maternal grandfather's first name was Veniamin - similar to the Hebrew Binyamin (Benjamin) - while his family name, Shaposhnikov, is sometimes a Jewish name.
Defense Minister Barak has warned Syria through Turkish mediation that the Israel Defense Forces is planning to escalate its military operations against Hezbollah and Hamas. He reportedly informed Turkey of Israel's intentions to widen its operation in Gaza and asked the Turkish leader to consider sending troops on an international mission to Gaza geared toward ending Qassam rocket fire and protecting the border.
Washington is sending up a trial balloon about stationing NATO troops as peacekeepers on the West Bank. It is a spectacularly bad idea. The proposal is fraught with serious problems. It would place NATO troops in the midst of perhaps the most volatile portion of the congenitally turbulent Middle East.
Our foreign policy in the Middle East has traveled a long consistent trajectory, and it is suicidal, and it will lead us to a national suicide preceded by a total loss of honor and dignity.
What is going on here?!...
Thousands of Turkish troops have crossed into northern Iraq in their hunt for Kurdish PKK guerrillas, a senior military source said today, in an escalation of a conflict that could destabilize the region. Turkish TV said up to 10,000 troops had entered Iraq.
(But: Iraq gov't unaware)
(But: Turkey denies)
(But: Kurds deny)
President Ahmadinejad warned the world powers against a "new game" in their nuclear dispute with Iran. "Put an end to this game, but if you want to start a new game, you should know that if our nation decides something, then it will definitely be put into practice without the slightest concession."
"The world powers violaton of Iranian rights through intimidation and deception is definitely over," he said, adding that regardless of how strong the world powers' pressure would be, his "nation's will" to proceed with its nuclear activities would be stronger.
The UN Secretary General promised yesterday to respond "firmly" to President Ahmadinejad's verbal attacks on Israel, which he called "intolerable."
A senior Iranian cleric has termed an expected IAEA positive report on Iran nuclear program as an important victory for the country. Ayatollah Kashani reiterated today that Iran will defend its nuclear rights. "Iran's nuclear activities are aimed at peaceful, industrial and scientific purposes."
New simulations carried out by EU experts come to an alarming conclusion: Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium to build an atomic bomb by the end of this year.
[WAR: Just because they'll have enough, doesn't mean they're going to make a bomb with it!]
Anonymous diplomats have said Washington has given the UN nuclear watchdog questionable information on Iran's nuclear activities.
Israel will seek to call a session of the United Nations Security Council to demand the tightening of sanctions against Iran. The request to convene the council will be made after the release of an additional report on Tehran's nuclear program authored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The UN Security Council received Thursday a draft resolution spelling out additional sanctions against Iran for defying international demands to abandon its nuclear programmes.
To fully understand the present manifestation of the Bush family and its excesses, one must consider its history over several generations, a difficult and painful undertaking since it reveals so much about the self-destructive apathy of the American people.
Discussions of federal concentration camps are no longer the rhetoric of paranoid Internet conspiracy theorists, they are mainstream news
An article co-written by a former Congressman and carried by the San Francisco Chronicle has gained much attention recently as it shines light on a coordinated federal government program to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States.
"Since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, arrest a wide swath of dissidents (citizen and noncitizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants in the US, or to support the rapid development of new programs." write Lewis Seiler and former Congressman Dan Hamburg.
Thursday's televised debate in Texas betweenBarack Obama and Hillary Clinton, like all such events, was directed at 2 basic audiences -- the voting public and the corporate-financial elite that controls both major US parties. The debates are part of the process by which the ruling elite sizes up and vets the top personnel who are to administer its affairs for the next 4 or 8 years.
(Israeli Cartoon: Obama's Black House)
If history is any indication, we may already be on the road to violent revolution. Conservatives finally created enough misery to make it possible.
With the establishment of a military command responsible for Africa, the US was hoping to promote peace and stability on the continent. The problem is, the Africans want no part of the American military.
The decision by the US to shoot a missile at a dysfunctional spy satellite has provoked sharp protests from Russia and China and threatens to escalate competition over the control of space.
In an indication of the importance the US government attributed to the missile launch, Defense Secretary Robert Gates personally gave the final order and closely monitored the progress of the missile.
Both Russia and China denounced the US missile strike, seeing it as a provocative act. The decision to destroy the satellite was made only a few days after Russia and China issued a statement calling for an international ban on space weapons.
(And: Why? Testing or provoking?)
(Video: Shootdown)
Hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface, satellites are the silent jewels of America's global power. The Pentagon's growing reliance on space technology is arguably the most significant military development of the past decade. Today, every level of America's military machine relies on satellites.
America's senior commanders, from the president downwards, rely on satellites for the information and data on which they base their decisions. Put simply, America's command and control system - and by extension its entire military machine - now depends on a relative handful of satellites.
Washington's potential adversaries are well aware of this crucial vulnerability. China, in particular, has identified this reliance on space technology as America's Achilles heel. If China [or Germany!] could disable or destroy those satellites, it could paralyse America's armed forces.
Capital is being sucked out of the system faster than it can be replaced, which is apparent by the sudden cramping in the financial system and a more generalized slowdown in consumer spending.
The prospect of a global run on the dollar has never been greater. Still, Bernanke will do whatever he can to resuscitate the faltering banking system, even if he destroys the currency in the process.
There is no chance that the economy will rebound until housing prices stabilize and the rate of foreclosures returns to normal. But that could be a long way off. With housing inventory at historic highs and mortgage applications at new lows, the economy could keep somersaulting down the stairwell for a full 2 years or more. Only then, will we hit rock-bottom.
The country is now headed into a deep and protracted recession. Public confidence in the nations' financial institutions has never been lower. Monetary policy and deregulation have failed. The system is self-destructing.
Now that the credit crunch has rendered the markets dysfunctional, spokesmen for the investor class are speaking out and confirming what many have suspected from the very beginning; that the present troubles originated at the Federal Reserve and, ultimately, they are the ones who are responsible for the meltdown.
The Fed refused to perform its oversight duties because its friends in the banking industry were raking in obscene profits selling sketchy, subprime junk to gullible investors around the world. They knew about the "massive off balance-sheet positions" which allowed the banks' to create mortgage-backed securities and CDOs without sufficient capital reserves.
They knew it all; every last bit of it, which simply proves that the Federal Reserve is an organization which serves the exclusive interests of the banking establishment and their corporate brethren in the financial industry.
The European Commission has indicated that a negative outlook for the EU economy due to global market turbulence and the US economic slow-down is becoming a reality. Germany, as the economic heavyweight, is facing a significantly greater economic slow-down than previously predicted.
"The global situation and the outlook remain unusually uncertain. This follows from the financial turmoil still ongoing. This slowdown in growth is in particular explained by the situation in the financial markets with increased uncertainty and tightened credit conditions, a cooling global economy - especially in the US and higher oil and commodity prices."
The mainstream media did not sound an alarm on this ongoing international crisis.
This week, Great Britain's fifth largest bank went bust. Northern Rock was nationalized on Sunday. What brought it down? America's subprime loans. This action on a Sunday indicates just how scared the regulators are. Bureaucrats do not work on Sunday unless it's a national emergency.
The press is not saying, "This is the first major banking domino to fall. There will be more." The event is being treated as if it were an anomaly. It isn't. The mainstream media will not sound an alarm.
That is why people who do not trust the mainstream media read obscure newsletters and visit obscure web sites.
A trip to the future, the most sacred dream of people around the world, will become reality this spring. The doors to the past will be opened by a unique installation that is about to be done in Switzerland. The project, that is going to erase the boundaries between countries, costs $10 billion.
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