Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Continuing a worldwide tour to present the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Cardinal Renato Martino will head to Korea this week. According to a communiqué from that Vatican dicastery, the objective of the trip will be "to offer the contribution of Christian social teaching to the solution for the grave problems of the Asian world."
The Protestant Rome
Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation in the German city of Wittenberg 500 years ago. But, today, only 10% of its population is Protestant. Church leaders have launched a major drive to change that -- but have come up against the city's communist past.
In a decision criticized by Austria's Jewish community and other organizations, far-right politician Martin Graf was voted into one of the top posts in Austria's parliament on Tuesday.
As tremors shake markets around the world, European partners Germany and France have gone separate ways in fighting the crisis. Sarkozy wants to bring banks and threatened industries under the government's protection, but Merkel is opposing such state intervention.
European leaders are looking to Germany's Chancellor Merkel to head opposition to French President Sarkozy's hands-on attempts to confront the financial crisis, over fears they could drive a wedge through Europe.
Germany, the world's 3rd largest economy, has sought to block much of Sarkozy's plan.
News weekly Der Spiegel said Germany viewed France's proposal for an economic government as part of a struggle over which model should dominate in Europe -- the social market economy or the state-controlled economy.
Prime Minister Brown was to meet President Sarkozy for the 3rd time this month, in a sign of increased cooperation between London and Paris on the economic crisis.
France's traditionally close bond with Germany has been tested by sniping between the offices of Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel, while Brown has become a regular visitor to Paris since the credit crunch hit.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has prepared a program which gave evidence of Georgia's crimes committed against the people of South Ossetia.
The program features eyewitnesses' statements, who said that Georgian tanks were shelling their homes while Georgian soldiers were shooting civilians who were trying to escape from the battlefield in their cars.
A spokeswoman for Israel's Parliament says national elections will be held in mid-February. That leaves 3 1/2 months for what is expected to be a tough election campaign with significant ramifications for Mideast peace talks.
The Egyptian foreign ministry Tuesday confirmed that it will host an international conference at the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El Sheikh in November, aimed at bringing peace to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
According to the ministry, Egyptian President Mubarak has invited the quartet (Russia, EU, US, UN) to the conference. The exact dates for the meeting have yet to be announced.
German press review
The US says its cross-border raid into Syria killed a top terrorist. Still, international reaction has been intense and critical. While the German government has kept silent, media commentators haven't been shy about lambasting the US.
(And: CIA LED MYSTERY SYRIA RAID)
(And: SYRIA'S FURY IS JUSTIFIED)
US military planners now think they may need to send more than double the number of extra troops initially believed necessary for the war in Afghanistan.
At least 160 people have been killed after an earthquake of 6.4 magnitude hit Balochistan province in south-western Pakistan.
Iranian military officials have warned against a unilateral strike on the Islamic Republic in the wake of a US raid against Syria. "Recognition of Iran's naval mastery has traveled beyond the country's southern waters, and has reached the far ends of the Indian Ocean," said Brig. Gen. Mousavi.
Iran announced Tuesday that it had opened a naval base in the Gulf of Oman to counter any hostile forces, in what was clearly an allusion to American Navy vessels patrolling nearby.
"We have created a new defense front in the region. We are capable of preventing the entry of any enemy naval forces into the strategic Persian Gulf."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman ruled out media report that President Bush has sent a letter to Iran to normalize relations. "We have received no secret letter and the US continues its hostile measures against the Iranian nation."
President Sarkozy fears that a Barak Obama victory in the upcoming US presidential election could irrevocably damage the West's already-feeble stance against a nuclear Iran.
In remarks made behind closed doors, Sarkozy is said to have referred to Obama's stance on Iran as "utterly immature" and "empty of all content."
On the bus with Willie
Willie Nelson invites Alex Jones and Jesse Ventura onto his world famous tour bus, where they discuss a number of topics including the family farm, the banker's consolidation, and the 2008 election.
But much of the conversation turns to the lingering questions about 9/11 – still unanswered, in part, due to a government that refuses to answer and a public that is unwilling to question.
The chairman of a key Pentagon advisory panel has echoed recent claims by both Joe Biden and Colin Powell, warning that the next administration will face an international crisis within months of taking office.
Given that the Iranian revolution and the Bay of Pigs were both engineered by the CIA, and that the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the '93 WTC bombing and 9/11 have all been exposed as false flag events, one wonders whether the coming crisis will constitute more of the same.
Even in the midst of a final bombardment in the battle for the White House the sound of gunfire can be heard coming from behind Republican lines, presaging a protracted and bitter civil war.
President Bush's legacy has shaken loose the ideological cement that once bound the Republican party together.
Paranoid Protestants...
Quietly spoken, religiously and politically conservative, and living in the heartland of evangelical Christianity in the US, Daniel Lopez pondered the end of time that could come if Barack Obama becomes president.
Excluding the sneaking suspicion that the American electorate has collectively lied to the opinion pollsters for fear of appearing to be racists, it seems that only one thing can now prevent Barack Obama's date with destiny: an assassin's bullet.
Is an audacious attack really expected? Given that Obama has an unprecedented level of protection for a Presidential candidate, it is clear the authorities believe his life is in danger.
Americans will decide next week whether the next president will be a socialist or a national socialist.
A defining characteristic of fascism was that all profits were private, but losses were socialized. And oh yes, military imperialism and a dictatorial executive were also key features of European fascism.
So here's your choice on election day: McMussolini or ObaMarx. Take your pick.
Or do the patriotic thing and stay home. Don't vote. It only gives them a reason to claim that "the people have spoken" and that they have a "mandate" to ruin our country.
Naturally everyone from evangelicals to environmentalists sees themselves as being "pro-American" in some sense. In that we are all trying to do, or hoping for what is best for America whether that is cleaning up the moral sewers or the actual sewers. So how should "American" be defined?
There has prevailed in some circles since the beginning of the war in Iraq the idea that a conservative should support war and militarism. This idea that a conservative should support war and militarism is, unfortunately, held by a good number of conservative Christians as well.
The defense of war and militarism by many Evangelicals and other conservative Christians is a recent aberration. Christian history is filled with many individuals from a variety of denominations who denounced war and militarism.
There is nothing "liberal" about opposition to war. There is nothing "anti-American" about opposition to militarism. And what could be more Christian than standing firmly against aggression, violence, and bloodshed?
[WAR: Faith of our fathers? Yes! But which fathers?
"O YAHWEH, ELOWAH of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you." (1Chr 29:18).
"You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with YAHWEH your ELOWAH, a covenant YAHWEH is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your ELOWAH as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." (Deu 29:12,13).
"Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of YAHWEH comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." (Mal 4:4-6).]
Stocks were mostly higher today in Europe and Asia as investors focused on the prospect of interest rate cuts in the United States and possibly Japan.
Some analysts now predict a fed funds rate of 0%, as the global authorities now appear to mobilise their entire arsenal of policy options to contain a global depression.
But judging by past experience, bull runs on the back of interest rate euphoria tend to be short-lived. An exception was Germany, which yesterday saw probably the most extraordinary day in its financial market history.
First came the mortgage crisis. Now comes the credit card crunch. After years of flooding Americans with credit card offers and sky-high credit lines, lenders are sharply curtailing both just as an eroding economy squeezes consumers.
The pullback is affecting even credit-worthy consumers and threatens an already beleaguered banking industry with another wave of unprecedented losses. Lenders are shunning consumers already in debt and cutting credit limits for existing cardholders.
In an internal bank conference call last week, a JP Morgan Chase executive, unaware that his conversation would be heard and published by a reporter, confirmed exactly what Lyndon LaRouche has said about the Hank Paulson bail-out:
It has nothing remotely to do with extending lending to the US economy, but is concerned with the Mussolini-like corporatist restructuring of the US banking system, turning over the "smaller banks" to the totally bankrupt big banks, so that they can digest the smaller banks' assets, and survive perhaps a few more weeks.
Senator Christopher Dodd has shockingly predicted that public anger at banks' refusal to disperse credit could lead to a "revolution."
"If it turns out that they are hoarding, you'll have a revolution on your hands. People will be so livid and furious that their tax money is going to line their pockets instead of doing the right thing. There will be hell to pay."
(Cartoons: GREENSPAN'S GOOF)
Paulson and Bernanke's "rescue" have only begun to do their full long-term damage.
Day by day, the dreams of hundreds of millions of people around the world are being smashed. It is a terrible thing to see from the sidelines. It is far worse to be a participant.
This dream has yet to play itself out in a wave of bankruptcies. It will.
The dream was always naïve. The Reagan revolution was based on monetary inflation and massive Federal deficits.
Freight rates for shipping are crashing at the fastest pace ever recorded as banks shut off credit lines to the industry, precipitating a sudden crunch in world trade.
"It is extremely serious. Freight rates have never fallen this steeply before. It is telling us that world trade in raw materials has slowed dramatically. Shippers are having genuine difficulty obtaining letters of credit from banks."
Ominously for Greece, this is the first time its debt has broken its tight linkage with Italian bonds. The markets are now clearly singling out the country as the most vulnerable of the EMU members.
China will want a bigger say in any new global financial order emerging from the current economic crisis, but will likely move cautiously in contributing to a proposed bailout fund for economic reeling countries, economists said today.
Beijing's leaders have said they are willing to cooperate internationallly, but have said China's responsibility lies in keeping its economy going by boosting domestic demand.
Russian Prime Minister Putin proposed on Tuesday that Russia and China gradually switch over to national currency payments in bilateral trade.
"We should consider improving the payment system for bilateral trade, including by gradually adopting a broader use of national currencies."
An agreement between China and Russia on a pipeline from Siberia to supply oil to China's northeast has raised expectations that the long-delayed project will finally go ahead.
Details of the agreement were not disclosed, but Russian media reports said Moscow's agreement to move ahead on the long-delayed project likely was won with pledges of financial support from Beijing.
Russia and China were rivals during much of the Cold War but have forged closer political and military ties since the Soviet collapse, seeking to counter US geopolitical power.
After surging to record levels this summer, oil prices have suffered a dizzying collapse in recent months, echoing the darkening prospects of the global economy.
As oil gets caught in the wild gyrations of the financial meltdown, 3 major questions loom over the oil markets for next year.
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[Latest edition of The Religion WAR]
The Holy Grail is an expansion of the legend surrounding the Holy Chalice, the vessel used by Christ during the Last Supper.
According to grail legend, Joseph of Arimathea used the cup to collect Jesus's blood and sweat as he was dying on the cross, giving the vessel magical, life-sustaining properties.
Although heavily based on medieval Christian ideals, most academic opinion today views the grail legends as a hybrid mix of Christian and Celtic mythology.
[WAR: As I've stated before, I believe there's a kernel of truth in the grail legend: Someway, somehow, Yahshua's blood was transported to Ethiopia so that it could be sprinkled before/on the Ark of the Covenant on the Day of Atonement -- for the forgiveness of sins, which the Passover sacrifice did not do.]
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