Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
[WAR: I didn't plan on doing a WAR today, but I woke up really early and decided to get most of it done before dawn -- the beginning of Trumpets.]
The more Catholics, the merrier...
Pope Benedict XVI today reaffirmed the Catholic Church's condemnation of artificial birth control. Contraception "means negating the intimate truth of conjugal love, with which the divine gift (of life) is communicated."
Pope Benedict XVI cautioned Roman Catholic bishops in former Soviet republics on Thursday against aggressive means of gaining converts, an issue that has complicated attempts to reconcile his church with Orthodox Christians.
Opus Dei, the ultra-conservative Catholic organisation portrayed as a secretive and sinister sect in The Da Vinci Code, is looking to improve its image by sponsoring a television mini-series and a children's animated cartoon.
Here is the address Archbishop Mamberti, Vatican secretary for relations with states, delivered at the 52nd session of the general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
According to German law, one comes of age at 18. Now, 18 years after Germany's reunification, DW's Felix Steiner asks whether the country is all grown up?
The leader of the German Social Democratic Party has lashed out at Deutsche Bank's CEO for suggesting Germany come up with a bailout plan for struggling banks.
President Medvedev and Chancellor Merkel on Thursday were at odds over the Caucasus in opening statements delivered at an annual bilateral forum in St. Petersburg.
President Medvedev believes that relations between Russia and Germany are a factor of stability in the Euro-Atlantic region. "Despite arising differences we understand each other's interests and take them into consideration."
Common wisdom says that Europe and Russia are bound by an umbilical cord - energy. EU members are dependent on Russia's oil and gas, while Russia depends on the enormous export revenues that the European market generates.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused Ukraine of having sent weapons and military personnel to assist Georgia during its war with Russia.
"When people and military systems are used to kill Russian soldiers, it's a crime. Only a few years ago, it could not even come to mind, even in a nightmare, that Russians and Ukrainians would be fighting each other. But that happened, and it is a crime."
The Israel Defense Forces GOC Northern Command has warned against believing that Israel's peaceful northern border means the country is no longer under threat from Lebanon and Syria.
A senior Israeli military commander has threatened Lebanon with harsh destruction despite a crushing defeat the regime faced last summer.
"We will use disproportionate force against these villages (in southern Lebanon) and cause enormous destruction because from our point of view these are not villages but military bases. (And) what applies to Hezbollah applies even more to Syria."
Just when you thought that the Middle East couldn't support yet another crisis, the Syria-Lebanon front is heating up. This is serious stuff. Breathless neocons are issuing alarmist warnings about a possible Syrian invasion of northern Lebanon.
The US establishment certainly doesn't want a war with Syria. But more radical elements, from the neocons to Israeli hardliners to Saudi backers of anti-Syria Islamists, might be pushing the crisis.
A few weeks back, the US Army's European Command set up an early-warning radar system in Israel. It's ostensible purpose is to boost defenses against Iranian missiles. But Entropic Memes wonders whether there isn't something more to this radar than meets the eye.
President Zardari says Islamabad bombings are an unfortunate step to malign the religion which preaches humanity and harmony. "Some enemies of humanity, Islam and the country tried to damage the rising image of state by carrying out a terrible suicide blast in Islamabad."
Sarah Palin has said that nuclear Pakistan poses a grave threat to the Zionist regime.
War has come to Pakistan, not just as terrorist bombings, but as full-scale battles. After years of relative passivity, the army is now engaged in heavy fighting with the militants on at least 3 fronts.
As the world focuses on the world economic crisis and a resurgent Russia, India is being subjected to increased radical Islamist attacks, spawned by neighboring Pakistan's intelligence service.
A senior Russian official has warned that Georgia's involvement in a probable US war against Iran will pose a threat to Moscow's national security.
"If it decides to carry out rocket and bomb attacks against Iran, the US will need loyal allies. And if Georgia is involved in this war, this will pose additional threats to Russia's national security."
In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview, Chomsky discusses the global politics of Iran's and India's attempts to become nuclear powers.
Barack Obama is a "decidedly liberal" senator "who was finding his feet, and then got diverted by his presidential ambitions", according to a frank verdict delivered to Gordon Brown by the British ambassador to the US.
(And: Full text of letter)
Palin go home! On the wild roller coaster that is the US election campaign, some conservative columnists are urging Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to call it a day. But a Spiegel Online blogger warns that it's too soon to write off the supermom from Alaska.
Who cares if Palin can't pronounce "nuclear" or get the name of the Commander General in Afghanistan right when tonight she single-handedly introduced a new political lexicon. Expressions like "doggone" "Joe Sixpack" and "betcha" wove their way deliberately into her phrases.
In taking America on her knee and explaining things in layman's terms without those confusing things called facts, she will have made herself a hot ticket to many.
The FBI has blocked 2 of its veteran counterterrorism agents from going public with accusations that the CIA deliberately withheld crucial intelligence before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Proudly surveying our kingdom from atop the capitalist pyramid, we Americans have deluded ourselves into believing we are at the pinnacle of cultural, social, political, and economic evolution. We fancy ourselves to be so exceptional that we are entitled to a perpetual blessing from "our" Christian God.
The US is no longer in the ascendant in the global economy, says President Medvedev, urging the formation of a new system.
"The time of domination by one economy and one currency has been consigned to the past once and for all." He also urged cooperation aimed at creation of a new system which hinged on "multipolarity, supremacy of the law and taking account of mutual interests."
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, alarmed by the ongoing national financial crisis, warned Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson on Thursday that the state might need an emergency loan of as much as $7 billion from the federal government within weeks.
The warning comes as California is close to running out of cash to fund day-to-day government operations and is unable to access routine short-term loans that it typically relies on to remain solvent.
The Los Angeles Times, in an article on the Senate passage of the bailout measure, noted in passing a statement by Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California which underscores the authoritarian atmosphere surrounding the proceedings in Congress.
Sherman, who voted against the bailout bill on Monday, said, "The one thing that's been proven is the absolute fear-mongering that's being used to drive us is false. I've seen members turn to each other and say if we don't pass this bill, we're going to have martial law in the United States."
Bunkers, not bankers!?...
Precautionary measures are no longer the domain of survivalists
Some are hunkering down for the economic apocalypse. Others say they are merely stocking up on essentials for a worst-case scenario.
Across the country, September's financial disasters have been driving Americans into survival supply stores for Meals Ready-to-Eat, and other emergency goods for long-term storage.
"In the last 2 weeks we've sold 200% above normal levels in just about everything."
Real or rumor?...
THERE IS STRONG INDICATION THAT A "BANK HOLIDAY" UNDER A DECLARATION OF AN ECONOMIC EMERGENCY MAY BE DECLARED IN THE U.S. SOMETIME WITHIN THE NEXT 2 WEEKS AND POSSIBLY AS EARLY AS SATURDAY.
THE INFORMATION INDICATES THAT IT MAY BE ANNOUNCED TO LAST A WEEK OR TWO AND THAT ALL BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WILL CLOSE DURING THAT PERIOD.
NO ACCESS TO YOUR DEPOSITS WILL BE POSSIBLE, ATMS WILL NOT WORK, CREDIT CARDS WILL NOT WORK, AND BROKERAGE ACCOUNTS WILL NOT BE ACCESSIBLE EITHER.
REPORTS FROM NUMEROUS SOURCES ABOUT THE "BANK HOLIDAY" CONTAIN SOME SPECIFIC BUT NOT OFFICIALLY VERIFIED REPORTS THAT ONE OF THE LARGEST BANKS IN AMERICA HAS ALREADY INFORMED THEIR BRANCH MANAGERS THAT A "BANK HOLIDAY" MAY TAKE PLACE AND THAT SIGNS FOR BRANCH WINDOWS MAY ALREADY BE MADE TELLING BANK CUSTOMERS THAT THE BANKS WILL BE CLOSED FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME AND THAT NO DEPOSITS OR TRANSACTIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE TIL THEN.
More money market meltdown (scroll down)
And by the way, the stock market almost crashed Thursday, with the S&P down 4% despite expectations that the latest version of the bailout package is going to succeed.
European markets were also down. Germany remains closed today.
But the real horrors are in the money markets, where the crisis become a lot worse Thursday.
As the International Monetary Fund gave its bleakest warning yet about the US economy, the House of Representatives appeared last night to be edging towards approval of the Bush administration's bank bailout. But the vote, expected today, is likely to be close, with no certainty about the outcome.
French Prime Minister Fillon said today the world stood on the "edge of the abyss," gripped by a global financial crisis now threatening industry, trade and jobs worldwide. "The world is on the edge of the abyss because of an irresponsible system."
The Greek government has issued a blanket guarantee of all bank deposits after panic withdrawals by customers in Athens and Thessaloniki, creating an unstoppable stampede across Europe for an EU-wide bail of the financial system.
The EU is divided about whether a bailout plan for European banks is needed. France allegedly proposed such an idea, but Germany isn't biting. Meanwhile, more and more banks are parking their money at the European Central Bank.
The ECB Thursday came a lot closer to a rate cut than Jean-Claude Trichet's statement suggests. We hear that it was not the most harmonious governing council meeting that has ever taken place. Trichet gave a clear signal that rate cuts are ahead.
(We will argue in a forthcoming ECB Watch that rate cuts are going to happen earlier than markets currently expect, and that they will be steeper. The ECB is clearly frightened at the prospect of large European bank failures, and their impact on the economy.)
Ireland's decision to guarantee all bank deposits will contribute to the demise of the single European currency, because it will erode the euro's credibility if it's allowed to go ahead.
"The decision, if left to stand … my prophecy is it will bring down the currency. The euro is not a tenable currency if you have politicians making such decisions. If I was German, I would say give me back my Deutschmarks."
Fed officials are considering yet another reduction in the central bank's benchmark interest rate. The matter is by no means settled, in part because some officials are skeptical that a reduction in the overnight federal funds rate would make much difference.
The biggest obstacle to economic activity right now is not the shortage of cash but the unwillingness of financial institutions to lend it out, even to each other.
The Greenspan bubble benefited the banks, the real estate moguls, and, most of all, the war profiteers.
We somehow came to believe Wall Street's success was ours too, and that the bills we owed were never going to come due. Well, they are now.
The revised Wall Street bailout bill passed by the US Senate on Wednesday goes substantially beyond the version voted down Monday by the House of Representatives in committing taxpayer money to prop up the banks. It also adds $150.5 billion in tax breaks, mainly for corporate interests.
The Democratic Party leadership has thus responded to the defeat of the original House bill by refashioning the measure in advance of Friday's revote in the House to provide an even bigger windfall for the American financial elite. How is this to be explained?
Wells Fargo, the biggest US bank on the west coast, agreed to buy Wachovia in a deal valued at about $15.1 billion. The deal requires no federal assistance.
UBS will reorganize its troubled investment bank, closing most of its commodities business and cut a further 2,000 jobs, the bank said today, responding to the continuing crisis in financial markets.
Worried about their nest eggs in the global financial crisis, a growing number of investors are swapping cash for gold. Dealers of coins and gold bars are having trouble keeping up with demand.
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
[Latest edition of The Religion WAR]
America is no longer up to shouldering the world's crises. But who is going to take its place? Russia, Brazil, China and India are all rising, but they are also competing with Europe and the US for finite natural resources. Only a common future -- a "change through rapprochement" and not a "clash of futures" can carry us forward.
A team of scientists recently announced that they have found a bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that is engraved with what they believe could be the world's first known reference to Christ.
If the word "Christ" refers to the Biblical Jesus Christ, as is speculated, then the discovery may provide evidence that Christianity and paganism at times intertwined in the ancient world.
The full engraving on the bowl reads, "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS," which has been interpreted by the excavation team to mean either, "by Christ the magician" or, "the magician by Christ."
[WAR: I would bet my life that this is referring to the "first pope" Simon the Pater: "Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, 'This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.' They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his MAGIC." (Acts 8:9-11)]
* "Say to the Israelites: 'On the 1st day of the 7th month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work...'" (Lev 23:24,25)
* "On the 1st day of the 7th month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets." (Num 29:1)
* "On the 1st day of the 7th month they began to offer burnt offerings to YAHWEH, though the foundation of YAHWEH's temple had not yet been laid." (Ezra 3:6/Ne 8:2)
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