Saturday

The Daily WAR (07-09)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    In an editorial, the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano, reaffirmed on Wednesday the heroic and decisive work of Pope Pius XII to save Jews during WW2, rejected the accusations that the Pontiff ignored the Holocaust, and called such claims "black legends" unsupported by history.
 
 
 
    Joerg Haider, the veteran leader of Austria's far right, was killed in a car crash today, police said.
    Haider, who earned worldwide notoriety for making statements sympathetic to Hitler's Nazi regime, suffered fatal head and chest injuries after the car he was driving plunged down an embankment near his home town of Klagenfurt.
    Detectives are still investigating the cause of the crash, but said he was driving alone at the time in a government-owned vehicle.
    The death of Haider, who was governor of Carinthia province in southern Austria, comes less than a fortnight after a major resurgence in the far right's political support in the country, riding on a wave of anti-immigrant and anti-EU sentiment.
    Haider's death may prompt concerns that political support will pass from him to the current Freedom Party leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, who is seen as a much more hardline figure. Haider was originally Strache's political mentor, but they fell out as Haider chose to pursue more moderate policies in recent years.
 
 
 
    EU officials, Euro-MPs and high-level diplomatic contacts are stepping up the pressure on an increasingly isolated Ireland to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
 
    This week will be dominated by the summit of heads of state and governments in Brussels, set to focus on the ongoing financial turbulence as well as Ireland's analysis of the key factors behind the rejection of the EU's Lisbon Treaty.
 
 
 
    NATO troops have been given a new mandate to attack Afghan heroin drug barons. The new strategy represents a change in operations for the 50,000 international troops serving in Afghanistan, which produces 90% of the world's heroin.
    A NATO spokesman said that individual governments would have to authorise any action by their troops to pursue "facilities and facilitators" of the drugs trade.
 
 
 
    Amidst the financial wreckage around the world, one government is celebrating. Watching the global gnashing of teeth, the Islamic Republic of Iran is enjoying the ride.
    "We are very happy that America's economy is in jeopardy and they are paying the price for their misdeeds. God is punishing them," said Ayatollah Jannati, one of the most senior clerics in Iran.
    President Ahmadinejad has pronounced on the collapse of global capitalism, and announced that Iranians should stand ready to manage the world.
    Iran, of course, is proud of going against the global trend. This is the only economy in the world - indeed possibly in world history - in which you can borrow money from the bank and then receive a higher rate of interest by depositing it in the same bank.
 
    "It strikes me often while I am in Iran, that were Christian evangelicals to take a tour of Iran today, they might find it the model for an ideal society they seek in America. Replace Allah with God, Muhammad with Jesus, keep the same public and private notions of chastity, sin, salvation and God's will, and a Christian Republic is born."
 
    Iran is evading United Nations sanctions by running a global network of merchants prepared to supply equipment that could be of military use. Dubai, the home of the Gulf's largest port and Iran's crucial economic outlet, is central to this effort.
 
 
 
    Bratwurst and lederhosen are yesterday's news, as are clashes over Iraq. According to a new poll, the image of "modern Germany" is positive again in the United States. Diplomatic clashes over the Washington-led invasion of Iraq are a thing of the past, but Afghanistan could create new problems.
    The deployment of German Bundeswehr troops in Afghanistan remains highly controversial. The country's parliament is currently debating an extension of the armed forces' mandate there. Even some conservative politicians, like Peter Ramsauer of Bavaria's Christian Social Union, are calling for a debate over possible scenarios for withdrawing German troops.
    [WAR: "(Israel) engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians ... Therefore I (will hand) her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted." (Eze 23:5-9)
    "You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors." Eze 16:32,33)
    "But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers-- would you now return to me?" declares YAHWEH." (Jer 3:1)]
 
    Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as Alaska's governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, according to an ethics investigation. It deals a significant blow to an already embattled Republican ticket just over three weeks until Election Day.
 
    The centerpiece of Barack Obama's campaign is "change." His primary qualification for the office he seeks is his experience as a "community organizer," a state senator for 8 years, and a US senator since 2004.
    To see just what changes Obama wants to bring to the country it is reasonable to look at the values he has demonstrated and the causes he has pursued during his professional career.
 
    The linguist and public intellectual Noam Chomsky has long been a critic of American consumerism and imperialism. Spiegel spoke to him about the current crisis of capitalism, Barack Obama's rhetoric and the compliance of the intellectual class.
 
    House Democratic leaders are putting together a 2nd economic stimulus package that could cost as much as $150 billion. The details are still in flux, but one aide said the price tag would be "somewhat north of $100 billion" and would include "a heavy emphasis on help to state and local governments."
 
 
 
    Oil prices fell Friday to their lowest level in more than a year, as the slowing global economy led the International Energy Agency to cut its forecast for global demand.
 
    US stock prices suffered their worst weekly loss in history on Friday.
 
    This crisis may have begun with US sub-prime mortgages but they are no longer the issue. The issue is that THE ENTIRE BANKING SYSTEM HAS EFFECTIVELY COLLAPSED. When you consider that almost every business transaction relies in some way on banks this is a mortifying prospect.
    Whereas initially the problem was that banks were facing serious balance sheet issues, now it is that the financial system has become so locked in fear and paranoia that it has ground to a halt. The frenzy has reached such a pitch that traders are selling almost everything. Economists call it a shift in equilibrium – a euphemism for a switch from fear to sheer terrified panic.
 
    Lehman Brothers, the bust investment bank, triggered one of the biggest corporate debt defaults in history Friday as it emerged that the US Federal Reserve is harbouring grave concerns about whether Washington's $700 billion bailout fund will avert a financial meltdown.
    An auction of Lehman's bonds determined that the bank's borrowings were worth only 8.625 cents on the dollar. The valuation leaves the insurers of the debt a bill of about $365 billion.
    It is not clear whether the insurers, which are required to settle the bill in the next 2 weeks, will be able to pay – a development that could further undermine increasingly stressed capital markets.
    Amid the mayhem across the world's stock markets, senior Fed officials now doubt whether Washington's bailout fund will work unless it is launched in some form in the next 2 weeks.
    The Times has learnt that central bankers in America are anxious that if the Treasury is not able to accelerate the speed at which it launches its rescue scheme, it will have no effect.
    The Times has also learnt that the US Treasury has been overwhelmed with requests from executives of other beleaguered sectors who are seeking a similar bailout scheme for themselves.
 
    Once again, questions are swirling about the fate of Morgan Stanley, despite the bank's efforts to quiet them. Its share price plummeted nearly 26% Thursday.
    On Friday, Moody's, the ratings agency, warned that it might cut the long-term debt ratings of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, which would make any borrowing more expensive for the banks.
 
    A string of countries face the risk of "going bust" as financial panic sweeps Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, raising the spectre of a strategic crisis in some of the world's most dangerous spots.
 
    Global finance chiefs gathered in Washington for crisis talks Friday in search of a solution to a growing financial firestorm as panic spread in global markets.
    A meeting of the finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven was being held amid a stunning loss of confidence in the global financial system that has sent markets into a freefall.
    Germany called for a set of global rules to help tackle the global financial crisis, saying it was time to put an end to ad hoc solutions. "We need global rules for the markets," Germany's Finance Minister said.
 
    World leaders have pledged to part-nationalise swathes of the global banking system as part of a drastic international plan to halt the panic gripping financial markets and prevent the crisis from descending into a global depression.
 
    They'd better do something soon - in fact, they'd better announce a coordinated rescue plan this weekend - or the world economy may experience its worst slump since the Great Depression.
    Europe, lacking a common government, has literally been unable to get its act together; each country has been making up its own policy, with little coordination, and proposals for a unified response have gone nowhere.
 
    So is there a Plan B? It has become apparent that action by one government alone is not enough in a globalised market to make any marked difference. Plan B must be devised at an international level and it must be done soon.
    Time is running out for the politicians to put the brakes on what could become a runaway crisis as in 1929 when events moved beyond the ability of governments to control them.
 
    President Bush has said the serious global financial crisis demands a serious global response. He spoke after talks with heads of the Group of Seven and International Monetary Fund in Washington.
    Meanwhile, President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel said there would be no common financial rescue fund for Europe, like the US bail-out of Wall Street. They spoke on Saturday in eastern France where they were commemorating the 50th anniversary of Franco-German reconciliation after WW2.
    Merkel said "there is no question of a European fund", while Sarkozy said such a move would pose "gigantic problems" in terms of co-ordination between European nations. Merkel also said governments must "redirect the markets so they serve the people, and not ruin them."
 
German press review
    Markets seemed slightly more stable on Thursday, a day after central banks around the world lowered interest rates in a concerted effort. But will the rate cut ultimately have the desired effect? Many German commentators are pessimistic.
 
    Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus says that greed has destroyed the world's financial system. Spiegel spoke with him about the profit motive, social consciousness and what should be done to end the financial crisis.   
 
    While Chinese companies are in line to benefit directly from US taxpayers' $700 billion-plus bailout of Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other financial institutions, Beijing is stiffing the US for $100 billion or more in unpaid debt.
    The status of the Chinese economy, including its repudiated debt, has prompted one analyst to warn of an "ominous threat" involving China's finances and suggest the possibility of "a dramatic reversal" for the "so-called Chinese Miracle."
    One problem that should be addressed is the $260 billion in sovereign debt owed US and other investors which China has said it simply won't repay. China is in negotiations with France on defaulted bonds but "continues to ignore the United States."
 
    General Motors is in preliminary talks about a possible merger with Chrysler, a deal that could drastically remake the landscape of the auto industry by reducing the Big 3 of Detroit automakers to the Big 2.
    A merger would be a historic event, with 2 of the most iconic names in US industry coming together to survive in an increasingly difficult environment.
 
 
[Latest edition of The Religion WAR]
 
    * "The 10th day of this 7th month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to YAHWEH by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before YAHWEH your ELOWAH.
    Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people. I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on that day. You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.
    It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the 9th day of the month until the following evening you are to observe this sabbath." (Lev 23:27-32)
    * "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the 10th day of the 7th month you must deny yourselves and not do any work -- whether native-born or an alien living among you -- because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before YAHWEH, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance." (Lev 16:29-31 / Num 29:7)
    * "Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the 10th day of the 7th month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land." (Lev 25:9)
    [WAR: The appointed/holy time of the day/yowm of Atonement is on the 10th day, but the denying/fasting starts at the previous evening - which is the end of the previous day, right before night begins.
    But why deny/fast? "Remember how YAHWEH your ELOWAH led you all the way in the desert these 40 years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of YAHWEH." (Deu 8:2,3)
    And as I've mentioned before, it is my speculation that it was on the Day of Atonement that Yahshua's blood was sprinkled before/on the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia -- just 6 months after his Passover sacrifice, which has nothing to do with the atoning of sin (Heb 11:28). And this is where the myth/legend of the Holy Grail with Christ's blood comes from, but the kernel of truth was lost through time.
    Yahshua's Passover blood is only for the protection of the firstborn, and his Atonement blood is only for the forgiveness of sins.
    All the following verses are about the Day of Atonement, and not the Passover sacrifice:
    * "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Mat 26:28)
    * "The Father presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood." (Rom 3:25)
    * "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins..." (Eph 1:7)
    * "Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. ... But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. ... Messiah did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood ... In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. ... For Messiah has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Messiah was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Heb 9:1-28)
    * "The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Yahshua also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood." (Heb 13:11,12)
    * "The blood of Yahshua, his Son, purifies us from all sin." (1John 1:7)
    * "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood..." (Rev 1:5)]
 
 

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