Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
The Church is not an organization or a corporation, but an entity of an entirely different class, says Benedict XVI: It is the body of Christ, present in the Eucharist.
Globalization can build peace, but it must be founded on global solidarity and a common code of ethics, says Benedict XVI.
Cardinal Renato Martino presented Benedict XVI's message for the World Day of Peace as a sneak preview of an upcoming encyclical on social doctrine.
The president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace suggested that the Pope's 3rd encyclical could be published as early as the beginning of next year, implying it will be released in the midst of the ongoing global economic crisis.
The RWI, one of Germany's semi-official economic forecasting institutes, yesterday slashed its own forecast to predict an economic growth rate of -2% for next year, combined with a huge increase in unemployment.
The reason for this pessimistic forecast is the rapidly deteriorating economic situation, and a further negative interaction between financial crisis and real economy.
Germany has lambasted Gordon Brown's response to the economic crisis as "crass" and "depressing" in an astonishing attack as EU leaders prepare to debate how to recover from the recession in Brussels.
(And: BROWN HITS BACK)
(Cartoon: KICKIN' GERMANY)
(But now: GERMANY BACKS BROWN)
Rarely have the words of a German politician of whom few in this country have heard caused quite such a stir.
Angela Merkel arrived in Brussels last night a lonely figure.
For years, German chancellors have been consensual participants at EU summits, drawing on Germany's formidable status as the paymaster of Europe and the powerhouse of its economy.
Not any more. The pastor's daughter from east Germany suddenly finds herself isolated on the biggest issues of the times.
After decades of self-effacing, low-profile projection of German national interests, Merkel appears to be putting Germany first.
Berlin has shown an increased willingness in recent weeks to go it alone when it comes to questions facing Berlin and its partners in the European Union.
Now, though, the dissent threatens to turn into outright hostility.
Belgian police say they have thwarted an imminent al-Qaeda suicide bomb attack as Prime Minister Brown and other European Union leaders arrived for a summit in Brussels.
Greece, part of the soft underbelly of Europe, is facing a political and economic crisis to which there appears no early outcome.
In 5 days, the country has slid from outward calm to seeming ungovernability.
The sight of a NATO and EU member hopelessly adrift is indeed cause for alarm.
Anger over the fatal shooting of a Greek schoolboy by a policeman has spread across Europe with protests as far afield as Moscow and Madrid.
Demonstrations against the killing were seen in cities across the continent with left-wing radicals and other sympathisers taking to the streets.
Ireland will hold a 2nd referendum on the Lisbon Treaty next year, the country's government has confirmed.
The Irish Foreign Minister stressed that Ireland would get concessions in return for bowing to EU pressure hold a re-run referendum after Irish rejected the treaty in June.
The leader of the Irish No campaign will launch a new political party to challenge the Lisbon Treaty in European elections next year.
"This is a betrayal of the Irish people. That Cowen would do a deal with the French president to disregard our vote just beggars belief.
(Op-ed: NO STILL MEANS NO)
Secret talks to create a European Union President and Foreign Minister will begin in the New Year.
Candidates for the 2 top EU jobs will be chosen at a summit in December 2009 after intense work is carried on throughout next year.
The man who organised the "No" vote to the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland is setting up the first pan-European political party to fight next year's parliamentary elections.
He says that it will be a single issue party, campaigning solely against the Lisbon treaty and what he believes is the anti-democratic nature of the European Union.
Switzerland is looking a little less like a mountain fortress in the middle of Europe. The country officially joined the Schengen agreement today, opening its borders to much of Europe.
Kick 'em all out...
Dozens of Christian organizations that have been providing social services ministry and other help inside Russia are being targeted for "liquidation" by the nation's Ministry of Justice, according to a new report.
Israel's right-wing Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu thinks Middle East peace talks should focus on improving Palestinian daily life and not on core issues, his spokeswoman said Thursday.
The hawkish former premier, who polls say is likely to return to power after February elections, has been a staunch critic of the US-backed peace talks with the Palestinians that were relaunched in November 2007.
Compared with its neighbours and many other countries in the Middle East in recent years, Syria is a place where the modern scourge of terrorism has scarcely been felt.
Armed militants launched a fresh attack Thursday on a terminal in northwest Pakistan, destroying trucks and containers destined for US forces in Afghanistan, police said.
It was the 3rd such attack in a week, coming days after hundreds of NATO vehicles were destroyed in twin raids on terminals in the same area on the outskirts of Peshawar.
Pakistan came under renewed US pressure overnight to deal with militants on its soil, as India's Prime Minister called it the "epicentre of terrorism."
Pakistani F-16s were seen flying over the capital of Islamabad as the air forces of both Pakistan and neighboring India were reportedly placed on high alert.
And the navies of both nations are also aggressively patrolling in the Arabian Sea.
Indian media reported earlier that the leaves of all key personnel near Pakistan have been canceled and the level of readiness raised in response to rumors of an upcoming air attack.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Air Force has said they are also on alert in the event of "aggression" from India.
The war on terror has weakened the liberation movement for Kashmir. The Mumbai massacre is a sad reminder, however, that the unresolved Kashmir dispute is the tinderbox of South Asia.
India and Pakistan's nuclear arsenals are secure despite tensions over the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
"We see no reason at this point to have any concern with regards to the security of either country's arsenal."
Groups across Iran walked the streets in protest of "crimes of the Zionist regime", calling "death to Israel" and "death to America" on Friday.
Protesters also held pictures of President Ahmadinejad, supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Ahmadinejad took part in one of the mass rallies, in Tehran, and announced that "the Zionist regime will soon be erased from the earth."
Iran's Vice President believes the destruction of Israel should become an international goal and a global demand, the state-owned IRNA reported Tuesday.
"The corrupt and criminal Zionist regime is harming not only the Arab and Islamic world, but humanity in its entirety. In order to save humanity from its different crises, there is no other way other than the limiting of Zionist influence on human society, because the root and origin of most of the world's current crises are related to Zionism."
(And: OBAMA NO DIFFERENT FROM BUSH)
Egyptian President Mubarak spoke out against Iran during a meeting with members of the Egyptian ruling party, according to a report in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida.
He accused the Islamic Republic of trying to subsume its Muslim neighbors, telling the forum that "the Persians are trying to devour the Arab states."
IAEA Director General ElBaradei in a telephone interview with Al Hayat newspaper has reaffirmed that Iran's nuclear activities are "legal".
"Iranians are working under a legal framework. They have permitted the international (atomic energy) agency to monitor their imported materials."
Iran's conservative parliamentary speaker has branded Barack Obama's comments on Tehran's nuclear activities as "cowboy" talk.
"These comments resemble those of old American cowboys. If you have something to say about (Iran's) nuclear issue, just say so. Why wave a stick."
Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a "nuclear umbrella" against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week.
The source, who is close to the new administration, said the US will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating US nuclear response against Iran.
[WAR: Would it be possible to pull-off a fake nuke attack -- blow something up in the Mediterranean and say that the missile over-shot -- in order to provoke a US response?]
Russian Foreign Ministry sources are reporting today that the US Council on Foreign Relations has presented to its Western allies attending this weeks contentious European Climate Summit a secret report that summarizes that the American Nation, indeed all of North America, will 'totally collapse' by the Summer of 2009.
According to the CFR 'master plan' American citizens' destruction has already begun and the summer of 2009 will be more horrible than any of them can realize.
A public policy organization has issued an urgent alert stating affirmative votes are needed from only 2 more states before a Constitutional Convention could be assembled in which "today's corrupt politicians and judges" could formally change the US Constitution's "'problematic' provisions to reflect the philosophical and social mores of our contemporary society."
The warning comes at a time when Barack Obama, who is to be voted the next president by the Electoral College Monday, has expressed his belief the US Constitution needs to be interpreted through the lens of current events.
(And: THE LIBERALS ARE COMING...)
The US Supreme Court has turned aside a request to stop the Electoral College from selecting the 44th president, in a vote scheduled for Monday, until Barack Obama documents his eligibility for the office under the Constitution's requirement that presidents must be "natural born" citizens.
The action came in a case brought to the high court by Philip J. Berg, who alleges Obama is ineligible to be president.
The controversy, however, remains far from over.
The latest ruling was sandwiched between Monday's decision not to review arguments against Obama's candidacy in the Donofrio v. Wells case from New Jersey and a conference that is scheduled by the justices today on another case raising virtually the same concerns.
Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama "advisor" named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama's friend Valerie Jarrett to replace him in the US Senate.
Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obama's news conference this morning...
(Cartoons: SENATE SEAT FOR SALE)
Drought has returned to the United States, and some warn that more tough days are ahead. At least 36 states expect to face water shortages within the next 5 years.
The value of water is starting to become apparent in America. Over the past 3 years a drought has affected large swaths of the country, and conflicts over water usage may become commonplace in the future, climatologists say.
(Map: US DROUGHT MONITOR)
Oh, puh-leaze!...
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., warned that the perception that some industries are being bailed out and some aren't could lead to violence.
A $14-billion emergency bailout for American carmakers has collapsed in the Senate after the United Auto Workers refused to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts.
(And: NEXT CRISIS ON HORIZON)
[WAR: Oh, they'll demand auto worker wage cuts, but not demand banking salary cuts?!]
Asia investors are fearful that the market will become flooded with cheap US cars if America's "Big Three" go bust. And pain was felt across Europe where stocks tanked.
To the rescue?...
Facing the potential bankruptcy of iconic American firms, President Bush today abandoned his longstanding objection to using the Wall Street bailout fund to help save GM, Ford and Chrysler.
The state of California, 1 of the top 10 largest economies in the world, will run out of money by February, causing "financial Armageddon", according to dire new budget projections.
The de facto insolvency of America's most populous state would represent a new scale of catastrophe in a year in which financial markets and economies have imploded globally.
Pension funds did not expect at all that stock and housing assets would collapse the way they have in the past few months throughout the world.
These categories of assets are losing 30-70% of their value from 2007 to 2009.
US foreclosure filings climbed 28% in November from a year earlier and a brewing "storm" of new defaults and job losses may force 1 million homeowners from their properties next year, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
"We're going to see a pretty significant storm next year. There are 2 or 3 clouds that suggest a pretty heavy downpour."
Bank of America Corp. said it expects to cut 30,000 to 35,000 jobs over the next 3 years, as it faces a deteriorating economic environment and tries to absorb Merrill Lynch & Co. The final number could be even higher, analysts say.
Jim Rogers, one of the world's most prominent international investors, on called most of the largest US banks "totally bankrupt," and said government efforts to fix the sector are wrongheaded.
"Without giving specific names, most of the significant American banks, the larger banks, are bankrupt, totally bankrupt."
"We're settling in for nuclear winter in the first half of 2009," says the operating chief for a company which hauls everything from paper products to electronics.
He's not alone. Some industry executives and analysts predict that 2009 could be the worst year for freight-transportation volume in 3 decades or more.
As a result, companies in industries ranging from trucking to railroads to ocean shipping are scaling back sharply.
The economic chaos in the world today is a direct result of policies set in motion to foster a New International Economic Order.
The NIEO was the explicit creation of the Trilateral Commission.
Since 1973, this writer has made inquiry as to the location and ownership of the vast stores of monetary gold in the world.
There has not been a formal audit on Fort Knox, for instance, since the Eisenhower administration. Official statistics on gold holdings are often contradictory.
Getting plain answers from any Central Bank in the world, including the Fed, is virtually impossible.
There is mounting evidence that there has been a larger plan underway to corner the global supply of gold, thus laying the groundwork for a global currency exclusively controlled by Trilaterals and their friends.
By extension, economic and political mechanisms would be controlled to the same extent.
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
Revelations about a shadowy right-wing group called Ergenekon participating with Turkish military and intelligence elements in "false flag" terrorist attacks in order to bring down the Turkish government are nothing new and are, in fact, a normal tactic used by intelligence services.
However, the term "false flag" has been irresponsibly relegated to the arena of "conspiracy theories" by a corporate media answering to their own hidden agendas.
Getting to the truth of the matter...
The international nonprofit scientific organization Rethinking AIDS gave its full support today to 37 senior researchers, medical doctors and legal professionals who are requesting that the medical journal Science withdraw 4 seminal papers on HIV authored by Dr. Robert Gallo — papers widely touted as proof that HIV is the "probable cause of AIDS."
"With new findings that undermine the scientific integrity and veracity of Gallo's 4 papers, the entire basis of the theory that HIV causes AIDS may now be questioned," says Rethinking AIDS' president.
The 4 papers were originally published on May 4, 1984, a few days after a press conference by Gallo announcing he had discovered the "probable cause of AIDS."
Now, a British investigative journalist has shown that Gallo's claim was based on last-minute alterations to documents that make false claims about the results of his lab work and research experiments.
(And: RETHINKING AIDS)
Well, duh!...
Science is verifying what many overeaters have suspected for a long time: sugar can be addictive.
In fact, the sweetener seems to prompt the same chemical changes in the brain seen in people who abuse drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
A "sugar addiction" may even act as a "gateway" to later abuse of drugs such as alcohol.
(And: SUGAR IS THE NEW HEROIN)
[WAR: Yes, sugar (a crystallized acid) is the gateway drug -- not tobacco (which itself has a high sugar content).
But where does the process really begin? In the womb, via the mother's diet -- but especially being bottle-fed formula instead of breast-fed! Gee, thanks Mom!]
The full moon falls today at 16:37 Universal Time. Nonetheless, tonight's Long Night Moon will look mighty large and bright as it beams from dusk till dawn. This will be largest, closest moon since March 8, 1993.
(And: 14% BIGGER, 30% BRIGHTER)
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