Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
"Despite secularisation the Catholic Church remains, for many Hungarians, the religious community of choice or, at least, an important point of reference. It is therefore to be hoped that relations with State authorities remain characterised by respectful collaboration, thanks also to bilateral agreements."
This morning in the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI received the Letters of Credence of Mordechay Lewy, the new ambassador of Israel to the Holy See. He highlighted areas of mutual interest shared by the Holy See and the Sate of Israel, highlighting how "Judeo-Christian heritage should inspire us to take a lead in promoting many forms of social and humanitarian action throughout the world, not least by combating all forms of racial discrimination."
"The holy cities of Rome and Jerusalem represent a source of faith and wisdom of central importance for Western civilization, and in consequence, the links between Israel and the Holy See have deeper resonances than those which arise formally from the juridical dimension of our relations."
He also mentioned negotiations on economic and fiscal matters between the Holy See and Israel. "I know that I speak on behalf of many when I express the hope that these agreements may soon be integrated into the Israeli internal legal system and so provide a lasting basis for fruitful co-operation."
"Over recent days I have followed events in Lebanon with great concern. There the stalled political initiative was followed first by verbal violence then by armed clashes which have left many dead and injured. ... May Lebanon, by the intercession of Our Lady of Lebanon, respond courageously to its vocation to be, for the Middle East and for the entire world, a sign of the real possibility of peaceful and constructive coexistence among mankind."
Benedict XVI's secretary of state was given the dignity of cardinal-bishop, a role held by only a few cardinals. Cardinal Bertone was assigned the historical dignity with the titular see of Frascati.
Cardinal-bishops are members of the highest order within the College of Cardinals. The dean of the college is elected from among their number. The dignity is a historical reference to the roles formerly played by cardinals in certain major ecclesiastical offices associated with the See of Rome.
Today, cardinal-bishops are associated with 1 of the 7 suburbicarian dioceses that make up the ecclesiastical province of Rome. In addition to these cardinal bishops, certain patriarchs of Eastern Churches hold the rank.
Venezuelan President Chavez on Sunday almost told Chancellor Merkel to go to hell, but stopped short of insulting the woman leader on Mother's Day. Instead he called her a political descendant of Adolf Hitler and German fascism.
"Ms. Chancellor, you can go to ...," he said, pausing for effect and eliciting giggles from the audience, a group of military officers, cabinet ministers and government officials. "Because she's a woman I won't say anything else."
The German government on Monday brushed off a verbal attack from President Chavez. Merkel sets off for her first trip to Latin America on Tuesday, part of which she will spend at a summit of heads of state from Europe and Latin America in Peru. As well as attending the Peru summit, Merkel will visit Brazil, Mexico and Columbia.
Bavarian Prime Minister Guenther Beckstein called Sunday for a dialogue with the Czech government to resolve outstanding issues related to the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia at the end of WW2.
[Europress] [Russopress]
Italy's new interior minister wants to re-impose border controls for travellers from Europe's passport-free Schengen zone as part of security measures to crack down on crime and immigration.
A pro-Western party declared victory on Sunday night in closely contested parliamentary elections. With 85% of the vote counted, the Center for Free Elections and Democracy, an independent monitoring group, said that the party of Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, which wants the nation to join the EU, had received nearly 39% of the vote. In a distant 2nd place was Tomislav Nikolic's far-right Radical Party, which advocates closer ties with Moscow, with about 29% of the ballots.
(And: Tough talks loom after polls)
(And: Vote exposes deep rift)
Overwhelmingly, the tests that face the new duopoly of power in the Kremlin are internal and obvious. But Russia's future course may well be determined by an international dispute that has seemed relatively small and distant except for those most involved. Suddenly, both the dispute and the wider implications are getting serious.
Last month's NATO summit pointedly decided not to offer Georgia and Ukraine membership in the alliance. Russia seems to have taken this as a signal that NATO will not directly oppose its assertion of a sphere of influence in the oil-rich Caucasus region, where Georgia offers the only oil pipeline to the West that is not under Moscow's direct control.
NATO planes regularly undertake "dangerous" practice attacks against Russian bombers patrolling the Arctic Ocean, the head of the Russian air force was quoted as saying Saturday.
"Regularly as our flights are fulfilling combat patrols, we are tracked by planes from the patrol forces of both NATO and other countries. Over the waters of the Arctic Ocean we are regularly attacked by F-15, F-16 and F-22 aircraft. I did not use the word 'attack' lightly, as our partners, so to speak, practice combat manoeuvres, up to the threshold of an attack. I can tell you this is not very pleasant, even dangerous. Naturally we practice counter-manoeuvres."
Prime Minister Putin reshuffled the Russian government today in his first major action since leaving the Kremlin, bringing in some high-profile figures from his presidency but leaving prominent ministries unchanged.
The hawkish Sergei Ivanov, once seen as a possible successor to Putin as president, was named deputy prime minister — a step down from his previous position as first deputy premier. And Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov retained his post.
In today's Russia, the line separating big business and the state is becoming so fine that it's almost nonexistent.
The Shas party today significantly broadened its threat to bolt Prime Minister Olmert's government, stating that it would bring down the coalition if a draft agreement is reached with the Palestinians, or if the government offered to cede any land.
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar claims that the US has given Israel a green light for a massive operation in Gaza. It quoted several unnamed diplomats who stated that Defence Minister Ehud Barak had presented American officials with overwhelming evidence of the increasing armament of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations in the Gaza strip.
Syrian official daily Al-Baath said on Sunday that Hizbullah had foiled a US-planned coup to seize control of Lebanon during the deadly gun battles which have recently rocked the country. The Lebanese opposition aimed to "remove foreign interference and stop the plots to transform Lebanon ... into an Israeli protectorate and new focal point of US links in the region."
There is every possibility of US and Israeli intervention in Lebanon. Washington and Jerusalem have suffered setbacks in Iraq and now Lebanon. US efforts to set up a series of proxy regimes, the Maliki government in Iraq, Siniora's in Lebanon and that of Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian Authority, were meant to secure its control of the region's strategic resources.
Instead, they have served to strengthen the opposition of the Arab working class and peasant masses and increase support for the Islamic parties which are seen as resisting the US and Israel.
Instead, they have served to strengthen the opposition of the Arab working class and peasant masses and increase support for the Islamic parties which are seen as resisting the US and Israel.
Is it possible that the US sponsored bloody "civil war" situation in Iraq could spread to other countries in the Middle East and Central Asia for the purpose of creating a new map for the whole region, that would behoove the economic needs of the super powers and the multinational corporations?
Arab foreign ministers, holding crisis talks in Cairo, were divided Sunday over a draft resolution implicitly condemning Hizbullah for deadly clashes in Lebanon.
"Selling Iraq to the US" is what best describes a secret security accord between the Bush administration and the government of Iraq. The negotiation, set to conclude in late July, will not only establish the basis for a long-term US occupation of Iraq, but will also turn the country into a US colony and yet another military base for Washington in the Middle East.
The future of Pakistan's fledgling coalition government hung in the balance today after failed talks on how to restore judges sacked by President Musharraf. It remained unclear if the rift could break up the government or force fresh elections.
Getting on the wrong side of the US involves great risks, but being its friend is no less dangerous. No country proves this better than Pakistan. Since its creation, successive Pakistani regimes have attempted to cultivate close links with Washington.
The result has been an unmitigated disaster: today Pakistan is on the verge of disintegration, thanks to the stifling embrace of the US, especially since 9/11, and to Washington's deliberate attempts to undermine the country.
The day after the Sudanese government quickly dispensed with an attack by Darfurian rebels on the capital, Khartoum, the question that many people are asking is, "What were the rebels thinking?" Khartoum is heavily fortified.
"We're seeing in part a continuation of the internal battle between Islamist factions" -- referring to the fact that both the Darfurian rebels of the Justice and Equality Movement and Sudanese government officials, though sworn enemies, share an Islamist agenda.
Hassan Turabi, a flamboyant Islamist leader who used to be friends with Osama bin Laden, was arrested today in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, on suspicion of fomenting a rebellion, Sudanese officials said.
Sudanese officials accused Turabi of working with a Darfurian rebel force that staged a bold, unprecedented attack on Khartoum. A high-ranking Sudanese police official said that Turabi's contacts may have helped the rebels get as far as they got.
The police official said Turabi and several of his colleagues had been taken in for questioning and were being held at an undisclosed location.
(And: In an interview with The Times before his arrest Turabi said that he supported the rebels' cause and had long advocated a federal structure for Sudan.)
A powerful earthquake hit central China on Monday, killing and injuring thousands. The 7.8 magnitude temblor was responsible for the deaths of between 3,000 and 5,000 people in one county in Sichuan province alone.
The Iranians, though no military powerhouse, have the ability to cause real damage to American forces and interests. What does the world look like from Tehran? Here are 5 ways to think about Iran under the gun and to better decode the Iranian chessboard.
US war plans targeting Iran are all about "protecting" Israel
It looks like the War Party is victorious, at least according to Philip Giraldi writing on The American Conservative blog:
"There is considerable speculation and buzz in Washington today suggesting that the National Security Council has agreed in principle to proceed with plans to attack an Iranian al-Quds-run camp that is believed to be training Iraqi militants. The camp that will be targeted is one of several located near Tehran."
Alarm bells ought to be going off across the nation. The presidential candidates ought to be debating whether or not this is the right course. Obama, the "antiwar" candidate, ought to be speaking out. Instead, what we hear is… silence. If ever there was a scoop, then this is a major one. Yet not a word is being spoken about it in the "mainstream" media.
Of course, the reason could be because it's not true, but my sources are telling me that this isn't just "speculation and buzz" – it's for real. War is imminent.
Quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in St. Paul at the beginning of September.
Paul's candidacy as a reflection of a powerful lingering dissatisfaction with the Arizona senator among the party's most conservative conservatives.
Today is the release date for the short documentary film "The Red Pill." The film, less than 20 minutes in length, is not meant for "the choir" and is instead meant as an introduction to the world of the shadow government, 9/11 truth and the importance of a new 9/11 investigation.
Australian Prime Minister Rudd warned Australia faces "waking up with the mother of all hangovers" in its failure to address "a multitude of economic weaknesses" hidden by the mining boom.
The costs of weaning the US from its credit habit would ripple far and wide. But what are the chances that a day of reckoning is coming, when the dollar would be so weak that America would have to play by the rules that apply to every other country?
Recent signs do suggest some fraying in the American relationship with its many foreign creditors. The balance of trade has gotten so lopsided and the question marks hovering over the American economy so thick that some foreign governments are beginning to hedge their bets on the dollar.
The avalanche of bankruptcies has begun. Six US companies of substance have defaulted on bonds over the past fortnight. As a "non-believer" in the instant rebound story, I am not easily shocked by gloomy reports. But the latest note by Standard & Poor's - The Bust After The Boom - gave me a fright.
As the Fed's latest loan survey makes clear, lenders have dropped the guillotine. With the usual delay, the poison is spreading from banks to the real world. S&P's credit chief says defaults are rising at almost twice the rate of past downturns. "Companies are heading into this recession with a much more toxic mix. Their margin for error is razor-thin."
The California city of Vallejo (117,000 inhabitants) has just made history by opting for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Half Moon Bay may be next. "This is the tip of the iceberg: everybody is going to line up for Chapter 9 in California," said John Moorlach, Orange County board chief.
And US consumers are juggling plastic to put off their day of reckoning. "My guess is that many Americans continue to run up massive credit card debt because they have little intention of paying it off," said Peter Schiff at Euro Pacific Capital.
"Nowhere and nothing will be immune. We are on the cusp of an equity meltdown that will slash and shred portfolios," said SG's global strategist. "We see a global recession unfolding. Liquidity will drain away and crush the twin emerging market and commodity bubbles. The recent hope that 'the worst might be over' is truly staggering. Profits are disintegrating."
Lehman Brothers' Sun Mingchun says China will tip over in the 2nd half of this year. "With so much latent overcapacity, an export-led slowdown could trigger a chain reaction which, in the worst case, could threaten the stability of [its] financial and economic system."
Britain, Europe, Japan, and China will go down before America comes back up. This is turning into a synchronised bust, after all. The Global Slump of 2008-09 is under way.
Capitalism, agribusiness and the FSA
To truly address the problem of world hunger, we must understand and then change the system that causes it. The fact that there is already enough food to feed the world shows that the food crisis is not a technical problem — it is a social and political problem.
The answer can be stated in one sentence. The global food industry is not organized to feed the hungry; it is organized to generate profits for corporate agribusiness. Today's food crisis doesn't stand alone: it is a manifestation of a farm crisis that has been building for decades.
MISC
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
Venezuelan President Chavez Sunday accused Colombia of seeking to provoke war, renewing regional tensions after a Colombian attack on Ecuador sparked the worst Andes diplomatic crisis in a decade.
"The government of Colombia is capable of provoking a war with Venezuela to justify the intervention of the United States," said Chavez, lambasting Uribe as "liar" and leader of a "narco-government."
We live in our heads
There is only one physical world, but unfortunately, we all live in different worlds created by our minds.
Increasingly large numbers of computer users look to alternative sources of news and views
Few people dig deeply into views of what's going on that the Western mainstream media ignores or refuses to cover. But increasingly, large numbers of computer users look to alternative sources of news and views.
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