Sunday

The Daily WAR (09-08)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    The members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre were received in audience Friday morning by Pope Benedict XVI.
    The Equestrian Order has been meeting in Rome for the occasion of its "world consultation", a five-yearly meeting of lieutenants, delegates and members to assess the situation of the Catholic community in the Holy Land, study the activities of the Order and establish guidelines for the future.
 
    Friday morning, Pope Benedict XVI received the Letters of Credence of the new ambassador of Argentina to the Holy See.
    "In exercising her mission the Church always seeks to promote the dignity of human beings and to elevate them for the good of everyone. Without seeking to become a political player she aspires, with the independence of her moral authority, to co-operate faithfully and openly with all leaders of the temporal world in the noble goal of achieving a civilisation of justice, peace, reconciliation, solidarity, and of those other ideals that can never be rescinded or left at the mercy of party consensus, as they are engraved in the human heart and correspond to truth."
 
    Pope Benedict XVI said that he was "profoundly saddened to receive news of the death of His Holiness Alexy II" and that he wished to convey to all the members of the Russian Orthodox Church "my most sincere condolences, assuring you of my spiritual closeness at this very sad time."
 
Hard-hitting Vatican report lays blame for the global financial crisis at door of "offshore centres"
    It is a message sent from on high to the world's financial and political elite. The Roman Catholic Church is calling for the effective closure of secretive tax havens as a 'necessary first step' to restore the global economy to health.
    In a policy paper from the Holy See, Pope Benedict pins the blame for the international financial crisis largely on 'offshore centres', many of which, such as the Channel Islands, are British dependencies.
    Intriguingly, the Vatican Bank, officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, is one of few financial institutions to have emerged unscathed from the global bank crisis.
 
 
 
    Andrea Riccardi, the Catholic layman who founded the Sant'Egidio Community in Rome, was picked Saturday as winner of the prestigious Charlemagne Prize in Germany.
    The prize, founded in 1950, is managed by the city of Aachen, once the capital of the Emperor Charlemagne's European medieval empire.
    [WAR: Charlemagne's Empire (800-888) was a completely separate/different entity from the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806). To confuse these 2 historical entities is to confuse one's contemporary and prophetic outlook.]
 
    Under fire at home as well as abroad, Angela Merkel fortifies her political base inside the CDU.
    To counter the SPD's argument that it knows best how to curb the excesses of the market, the CDU is burnishing the effigy of Ludwig Erhard, the architect of Germany's "social-market economy" during the 1950s.
    Merkel, who nearly lost the 2005 election by campaigning as an avowed economic liberal, now talks more of "order" than "freedom" (while still promising to simplify taxes and labour rules).
    Her most visionary idea is also her oddest: an "economic United Nations" that would spread German values worldwide.
    Merkel has come far by steering clear of extremes. She hopes to hold this course to next September's election and beyond.
    But even she is starting to realise that the skills she honed in fairer weather may not equip her for the coming storm.
 
    Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, has admitted covert surveillance of a German relief group's communications in the Afghan capital Kabul, according to a report published by newsmagazine Der Spiegel.
 
 
 
    People protesting against the death of a teenager shot by Greek police have attacked banks and shops in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki.
 
    France's multi-billion pound business ties with China are under threat after President Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama in Poland in the face of severe opposition from Beijing.
 
    Monday and Tuesday will see EU foreign ministers and the bloc's chief diplomat, Javier Solana, consider a wide range of issues, including an update of the 2003 European Security Strategy, a potential upgrade of Israel relations and the situation in the western Balkans, Congo and Pakistan.
    The foreign ministers will also discuss the future of the Lisbon treaty and adopt, as is customary in December, conclusions on EU enlargement.
 
    It is wrong of other EU countries to dump on the Czechs' EU presidency.
 
 
 
    A series of recent Israeli actions in the mainly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem have raised tensions there, with Palestinian and Israeli critics contending that they are part of a wider plan to "Judaize" historically charged areas around the Old City.
    And they come as a new Jerusalem mayor who has vocally supported expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem takes office.
 
    Saudi security services have formed a military militia loyal to Saudi Arabia comprised of al-Qaeda members, according to opposition sources.
    The militants are being used to support Saudi Arabia against domestic revolts and foreign threats, according to the sources.
 
    Hordes of Pakistani militants set on fire 96 trucks carrying Humvees and military vehicles for Western forces in Afghanistan in a raid in the northwestern city of Peshawar today.
    Most supplies, including fuel, for US and NATO forces in landlocked Afghanistan are trucked through Pakistan.
 
    A powerful explosion struck a crowded central bazaar in the chaotic city of Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest Friday, killing at least 22 people and wounding more than 90.
    The explosion, which took place at 7:20 p.m. local time, struck near a Shiite mosque.
 
    The United States is dusting off a long-discarded proposal to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.
 
    Tribesmen of Mohmand Agency on Saturday warned India against attacking Pakistan.
    The elders vowed that 7 million tribesmen would fight shoulder-to-shoulder with the Pakistan armed forces to foil nefarious designs of the enemies.
 
    A hoax phone call from someone claiming to be India's foreign minister put Pakistan on high alert last weekend as relations between the 2 nuclear powers deteriorated, a report said Saturday.
    The caller told Pakistan's President Zardari that India would take military action if Islamabad did not hand over the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, the Dawn newspaper said, quoting diplomatic and security sources.
    Pakistan responded by putting its air force on high alert and the incident triggered a flurry of intense diplomatic activity, as some world leaders feared the row over the attacks could lead to war.
 
    First-ever joint exercise between Indian and Chinese armies on Indian soil started on Saturday with an objective to share experience in anti-terrorism operations.
 
    The recent attacks in Mumbai, while largely blamed on Pakistan's state-sponsored militant groups, represent  the latest phase in a far more complex and long-term "strategy of tension" in the region; being employed by the Anglo-American-Israeli Axis to ultimately divide and conquer the Middle East and Central Asia.
    The aim is destabilization of the region, subversion and acquiescence of the region's countries, and control of its economies, all in the name of preserving the West's hegemony over the "Arc of Crisis."
    The attacks in India are not an isolated event, unrelated to growing tensions in the region.
    They are part of a processof unfolding chaos that threatens to engulf an entire region, stretching from the Horn of Africa to India: the "Arc of Crisis," as it has been known in the past.
    The motives and modus operandi of the attackers must be examined and questioned, and before quickly asserting blame to Pakistan, it is necessary to step back and review: Who benefits? Who had the means? Who had to motive? In whose interest is it to destabilize the region?
    Ultimately, the roles of the UK, US, & Israel must be submitted to closer scrutiny.
 
    Sudan's government on Sunday confirmed it had moved troops to a volatile energy-rich central region, telling state media it wanted to halt "feverish attempts" to attack the area by Darfur rebels.
    The deployment into South Kordofan raised tension in the province that contains key oil fields and borders some of Sudan's most sensitive areas, including the western Darfur region, southern Sudan and the contested town of Abyei.
 
 
 
    The Leader of the Islamic Revolution has honored the advent of the Hajj in a message to millions of devout Muslims gathering in Mecca to perform the rituals. Here is the full text of Ayatollah Khamenei's message.
 
    Iran's military test-fired a new surface-to-surface missile from a warship as part of exercises along a strategic shipping route, state media reported today.
 
    A new long-term natural gas deal by Turkey with its eastern neighbour Iran could create problems between Ankara and Washington, but observers say there is little the US can do to prevent closer energy ties involving Tehran in the region.
    "The United States will have to recognise the reality of the geography."
    Turkey has already become a hub for oil supplies from Central Asia to world markets with the help of a major pipeline that brings crude from Azerbaijan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.
 
    Israeli Defence Minister Barak spoke on Saturday to incoming US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, asking them to cooperate in facing up to Iran.
 
    A unilateral US withdrawal from Iraq will leave Washington with virtually nothing of substance to offer Iran.
 
 
 
    Did US naval cryptographers crack the Japanese naval codes before the attack?
    Did Japanese warships and their commanding admirals break radio silence at sea before the attack?
    If the answer is "yes," then hundreds of books, articles, movies, and TV documentaries based on the "no" answer – and the integrity of the federal government – go down the drain.
 
    With protesters gathering and praying on the front steps, the US Supreme Court met in conference Friday to discuss whether or not to hear a case challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to be president.
    "Obama was born a dual citizen," protester Roger Bredow said. "British, and a citizen of the United States, at birth." According to Bredow, dual citizenship makes Obama ineligible to take the oath of office.
    The case of Leo C. Donofrio v. New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells was initially denied a hearing by Supreme Court Justice Souter, but Justice Thomas agreed to bring it back for review.
    Unlike many of the lawsuits regarding Obama's "natural-born citizen" status, the Donofrio case makes no allegation that Obama was born on foreign soil. Instead, it contends Obama was a British citizen at birth, because of citizenship in a British colony, Kenya.
    "Don't be distracted by the birth certificate and Indonesia issues," Donofrio writes on his Natural Born Citizen blog.
    "They are irrelevant to Obama's ineligibility to be president. Since Obama's father was a citizen of Kenya and therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of Senator Obama's birth, then Senator Obama was a British citizen 'at birth.'"
 
    The Supreme Court held off Friday on deciding whether to grant a hearing. A spokesman for the court said the decision on whether to hear the suit is likely to be announced next week.
 
    The system of governance created by the US Constitution is unique in the world. It was created expressly to recognize that the government is limited by the Constitution and is empowered only by the consent of the people.
    This government created by the Constitution no longer exists.
    The America that would ignore the Constitution in order to welcome Obama into the White House now dominates the political machinery of both the executive and legislative branches of government.
    So thorough is this domination that the very sovereignty of the United States is in jeopardy.
 
    On its face, the team Barack Obama has appointed for national security policy violates some maxims of conventional wisdom.
    It took courage for the president-elect to choose this constellation and no little inner assurance - both qualities essential for dealing with the challenge of distilling order out of a fragmenting international system.
 
    When Hillary Clinton was offered the job of America's top diplomat, she made one non-negotiable demand: she must be allowed to take her own team of loyalists with her to the State Department.
    A new "Hillaryland", the word coined for devotees of the first lady in the 1990s, is being assembled for Foggy Bottom, where the State Department is based, in sharp contrast to the bold example set by Barack Obama's cabinet "team of rivals.
 
    Dictatorship is unlimited rule. Collective dictatorship is unlimited rule by an assembly.
    National government in the US has tended toward collective dictatorship over its entire history.
    No new alarm bell is rung when I say that the US collective dictatorship is now enlarging, for that is its usual tendency.
    We recognize this tendency at the grass-roots level by the increasing control that government has over our personal lives.
    There is almost nothing that we do that is not touched by government rules and power.
 
    It's time we brought more balance to our lives.
 
 
 
    OPEC's president says oil markets should prepare for a "surprise" output cut after the organization's Algeria meeting.
    "A consensus has formed for a significant reduction of production levels." He said that it could be "severe," suggesting cuts of as much as 2 million barrels per day.
 
    Debt deflation is tightening its grip over the entire global system. Interest rates are creeping towards 0% in Japan, America, and now across most of Europe.
    The frontiers of monetary policy are being pushed to limits that may now test viability of paper currencies and modern central banking.
    This time we are all going down together. There is no deus ex machina to lift us out.
    Once the killer virus becomes lodged in the system, it leads to a self-reinforcing debt trap.
    The noose tightens until you choke. Subtly, it shifts wealth from workers to bondholders. It is reactionary poison.
    Ultimately, it leads to civic revolt. Democracies do not tolerate such social upheaval for long.
    Nobel Laureate Robert Mundell warned last week that America faces disaster unless the Bernanke policy is reversed immediately.
 
    Over the past few months, Americans have been hearing the word "depression" with unfamiliar and alarming regularity.
    The financial crisis tearing through Wall Street is routinely described as the worst since the Great Depression, and the recession into which we are sinking looks deep enough, financial commentators warn, that a few poor policy decisions could put us in a depression of our own.
    It's a frightening possibility, but also in many ways an abstraction. The country has gone so long without a depression that it's hard to know what it would be like to live through one.
 
    Key business stories from the Sunday Telegraph and other UK newspapers.
 
     Rich working to Bankrupt the Middle Class, world economic system now infected with toxic waste, golden parachutes for some and hyperinflation for others, a better plan would be to give a cheque to everybody, plans to help people wont really be implemented, credit problems thicken...
 
    Shipping benefits from globalization more than almost any other sector. But this has also made it more vulnerable to the global economic crisis.
    Freight and charter rates have plunged, jobs at shipping companies are being cut and many ships are being parked for months at a time.
 
    China's response to the current global financial crisis is predicated on the reality of the international situation and the separate responses of other major economies around the world.
    The credit turmoil turned out to be a catastrophic, global, financial perfect storm of unprecedented dimension that will cause serious structural damage to all market economies around the world.
    It may even spell the end of the cowboy finance capitalism of the past 2 decades in which risks are socialized and gains privatized.
 
    For Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the 2 days of economic dialogue with Chinese officials that ended Friday produced a modest stream of achievements.
    But the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue also left many large issues unresolved and served to highlight tensions between the world's biggest economy and the world's largest developing one.
 
    Unemployment likely to accelerate in December and into 2009 as economic outlook worsens amid a deep recession.
    "The economy is now deteriorating with frightening speed and ferocity - it's truly horrific," said the chief economist at the Economic Outlook Group. "We'll see significant declines going forward."
 
    The US economy may be headed for its deepest and longest recession since WW2 as mounting job losses take their toll on consumer confidence and spending.
    "Almost all businesses are in survival mode, and they're slashing payrolls and investments just to conserve cash. We're in store for some big job losses."
 
    Barack Obama has promised to invest in infrastructure on a scale not seen since the 1950s, when the US highway system was established.
(Cartoons: SANTA CAN'T HELP)
 
    They may be talking funny money, but it's not funny business.
    Residents from the Milwaukee neighborhoods of Riverwest and East Side are scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss printing their own money.
    The idea is that the local cash could be used at neighborhood stores and businesses, thus encouraging local spending.
    The result, supporters hope, would be a bustling local economy, even as the rest of the nation deals with a recession.
    It's not a new concept — experts estimate there are at least 2,000 local currencies all over the world — but it is a practice that tends to burgeon during economic downturns.
    During the Great Depression, scores of communities relied on their own currencies. And it's completely legal.
 
 
 
No, no, no!...
    As we face the most frugal Christmas for years, churches are witnessing a steady rise in attendance.
    Nigel Farndale reports on how the revival of religious beliefs and community spirit is helping a recession-hit population to find new comfort and joy.
    [WAR: They're running in the wrong direction! People need to flee the churches/Christianity, and return to the faith of our ancient fathers (A-I-J) and the truths of the Scripture.]
 
    Eliezer Sobel bowed, chanted, nude wrestled, meditated, and overdosed on 'shrooms in a 40-year search to find God. But he still feels empty inside.
 
    These customs were established hundreds, even thousands of years before Jesus, as pagan worshippers celebrated the winter solstice or the birthday of the "invincible sun" god.
 
    Several years ago I began work on my Ph.D. at the London School of Economics, part of the University of London.
    My doctoral thesis is a study of what happened in the Worldwide Church of God after the death of Herbert W. Armstrong: the changes in doctrine, the first splits into Philadelphia, Global and United, and the subsequent history of many further churches being founded.
    For various reasons, I had to stop work on my thesis for more than 3 years. I'm now returning to work on it and have to complete it within the next 12 months.
 
 
WAR groups: GOOGLE / YAHOO!
WAR for military: YAHOO! WARriors
WAR fund: PayPal (payable to thedailywarrior@gmail.com)
 
 
 
 
Posted by at