Sunday

The Daily WAR (11-26)

Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
 
 
 
    The Pope's daily routine, as described by Vatican insiders, is being blamed for a series of blunders that have prompted a rare show of dissent from exasperated cardinals.
    Critics claim he is leading the church and its 1.2 billion faithful like a monarch cut off from the world outside his palace windows, helped only by loyal but inept advisers.
    For many inside the Vatican, the issue is the Pope's style of leadership.
    "People feel that the Pope is governing in a very monarchical way. He fails to consult bishops and he has isolated himself by ignoring advice which could stop him making mistakes."
 
    Archbishop Chaput of Denver is in complete agreement with the message that Pope Benedict XVI delivered to Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday.
    Chaput also went so far as to say that since Pelosi disagrees with the Church on the "black and white issue" of abortion, she should not present herself for Communion.
 
    Much has been made of the statement on abortion that Pope Benedict XVI issued earlier this week after meeting with Nancy Pelosi.
    What was quite surprising, and overlooked, had to do with a different branch of the US government.
    If you read it carefully, the statement is actually quite radical — perhaps unintentionally so.
    The brief message — just 2 short paragraphs — draws no distinction between the moral duties of Catholic policymakers and Catholic judges to work against abortion.
    As written, the Pope's statement has the potential, at least theoretically, to empty the US Supreme Court of all 5 of its Catholic jurists and perhaps all other Catholics who sit on the bench in the lower federal and state courts.
 
    Recently uncovered documents show gestures of friendship and protection that Pius XII showed to Jews before, during and after WW2.
    The discoveries were made by the German historian. He found a number of documents in the Vatican Secret Archives that certified Pope Pacelli's numerous interventions in favor of Jews.
 
    The Vatican has lodged a formal complaint with the Israeli government over a TV programme that "ridiculed and blasphemed" Jesus and Mary.
    In the programme, the host denied Christian traditions - that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus walked on water - saying he would do so as a "lesson" to Christians who deny the Holocaust.
 
    Vietnam and the Holy See are showing their mutual commitment to paving the way for the establishment of bilateral relations.
    A first meeting of the Vietnam-Holy See Joint Working Group was held this week in Hanoi. Vietnam is about 7% Catholic.
 
    One subtle but important difference between the Christian west and the Christian east concerns the way in which the Virgin Mary is conceived (in more than one sense) and depicted.
    The faith's official theology, after wrestling with the different senses in which Christ was human and divine, had crystallised with the pronouncement in the early 5th century that Mary was Theotokos, the Mother of God: the person whose body was the miraculous locus of a unique cosmic event, the coming together of the Creator and the created, physical world.
    Once this principle had been established, every deviation from it, every current of thought that called into question the double nature — divine and human — of Christ, could be presented as a direct insult to his mother; and theological arguments duly became more personal.
    [WAR: Mary was not the "mother of God". She was the mother of a man called Yahshua -- who had been God, and now is God. But for those 33 1/2 years, he was 100% man and 0% God.]
 
 
 
    Berlin and Warsaw are locked in a political row over plans to appoint a German conservative MP accused of playing down Nazi war crimes to run a new museum dedicated to the plight of Germans forced out of eastern Europe after WW2.
 
    Germany is exploring bailout options if weaker euro zone countries plunge into bankruptcy. Commentators at German papers say the country has no choice but to help if worse comes to worst. Most add that such scenarios are a long way off.
 
 
 
    The president is spooked as a new extremism hits France.
    The French are known for a culture of protest but on this occasion the government has cause for concern.
    As the global financial crisis deepens, the flirtation with political extremes is intensifying to the extent that the most popular critic of President Sarkozy is a firebrand Trotskyist committed to revolutionary upheaval.
 
    Most attention this week will be on next Sunday's informal summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
    The Czechs are looking for a joint declaration from EU leaders renouncing protectionist measures.
    The summit will also be used however to discuss how the EU is coping with the financial crisis and economic downturn in preparation for the formal summit on 19-20 March.
 
    Europe wants more non-Europeans at the top table. But who should make way?
 
    Latvia's center-right coalition government collapsed Friday, a victim of the country's growing economic and political turmoil and the 2nd European government to disintegrate because of the international financial crisis.
 
    Georgian leaders say Russia has been orchestrating a series of escalating border incidents in an attempt to provoke a new conflict and create an atmosphere of instability in the country that would undermine its pro-Western government and frighten off investors.
 
 
 
    Draft resolutions for the United Nations Durban 2 summit on racism brand Israel as an occupying state that carries out racist policies.
    The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that under debate at the session was whether to include a line that the Holocaust "resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people."
 
    If the Israeli Zionists believe their present occupation of Arab Palestine is the fulfillment of predictions made by their Jewish prophets, then they also religiously believe that Israel must fulfill its "divine" mission to rule all other nations with a rod of iron.
    In short the Zionist argument to justify Israel's present occupation of Arab Palestine has no intelligent or legal basis in history ... not even in their own religion. Where is their Messiah?
 
    The essential Zionist identity is inviolable. The law works only for Jews. Israeli Arabs have no rights. They're denied equal treatment and justice, even those elected to public office.
    Israel calls this democracy. South Africa called it apartheid. Nazi Germany called it fascism.
 
    It's official: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu has been formally chosen to cobble together a right-wing cabinet of settlers, ultra-Zionists, racists and warmongers.
    Netanyahu and his new partners will face no internal obstacles in trying to implement their wildest plans.
    If he and his partners get their way, Israel, long incorrectly praised in the West as the region's "only democracy," will soon begin to show the world an uglier face.
 
    False flag operations and provocations have been a trademark of Israeli operations and Mossad interventions.
    Infiltrating the alleged enemy camp and using double agents to launch attacks against Israel, in order to justify incursions against neighboring countries, have historically dominated the Israeli military and political stage.
 
    Guerrillas in southern Lebanon launched an unexpected missile attack against Israel, raising the prospect of renewed Arab-Israeli tensions.
 
    After several denials and conflicting news media reports, it has been confirmed that Hamas gave Senator John Kerry a letter to pass on to Obama in hopes of changing US policy toward the terrorist organization.
 
    One of al-Qaeda's founding leaders has begun an ideological revolt against Osama bin Laden, blaming him for "every drop" of blood spilt in Afghanistan and Iraq.
    "Every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq is the responsibility of bin Laden and Zawahiri and their followers."
 
    Afghanistan isn't the "good war." It's wrong not only for Afghanistan but for US soldiers.
 
    With 2 missile strikes over the past week, the Obama administration has expanded the covert war run by the CIA inside Pakistan.
    The strikes are another sign that Obama is continuing, and in some cases extending, Bush administration policy in using American spy agencies against terrorism suspects in Pakistan.
 
    The Black Sea region connects Europe with Asia and the Eurasian land mass to the Middle East through Turkey on its southern rim.
    Given its central location, the Black Sea has been coveted for millennia by major powers.
 
    Forty years into the revolution he unleashed on Libya, Muammar Gaddafi has announced plans to dismantle the Government, hand the riches from Africa's biggest oil reserves to the people and nationalise foreign oil operations that have recently been allowed back into the country.
    "The administration has failed and the state economy has failed. Enough is enough. The solution is, we Libyans take directly the oil money and decide what to do with the money."
 
    The United States and Great Britain's implication is becoming very clear.
    These powers consider Rwanda and Uganda their staunch allies and, some would argue, client states. These two countries have received millions of dollars of military aid, which, in turn, they use in Congo to cause destruction and death.
 
 
 
    Beaming smiles, gel and a joke about lavatory brushes and weapons of mass destruction - Iran overturns all expectations.
    The ordinary Iranian people are by far the friendliest and most welcoming I've met in more than 20 years of travelling.
 
    Visiting former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder criticized President Ahmadinejad for casting doubt over the Holocaust.
    "The Holocaust is a historic fact and there is no sense in denying this unparalleled crime. Iran needs to take responsibility and respect international rules, if it wants to be taken seriously as a regional power."
    [WAR: Schroeder let slip a truth: One of the international rules that must never be broken is to doubt/deny the Holocaust -- one of the main pillars of the post-WW2 order. So the illusion must be perpetuated to keep the game going.]
 
    Iran offered to halt attacks on British soldiers deployed in Iraq in return for a secret pact that would enable it to continue its nuclear programme, a senior British diplomat has said.
 
    Iran's parliamentary speaker told former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that it is impossible to deprive Tehran of nuclear technology for peaceful uses.
    "Iran has observed international regulations and depriving Iran of nuclear technology and energy for peaceful purposes is impossible."
 
    Iran's official news agency says the country's first nuclear power plant will begin preliminary phase operation on Wednesday after a series of delays.
 
    Immediately after Netanyahu was invited to become the next prime minister, he lost no time in restating his warnings about a nuclear-armed Iran, calling it the greatest existential threat faced by Israel since its creation.
 
    Now that the paranoid Likudniks have once again come to power in Israel, they may require us to "remove" that existential threat. Or else.
    Of course, if Israel destroyed Iran's IAEA Safeguarded facilities with nukes, that would probably precipitate WW3.
    Bibi is going to Bomb-Bomb-Iran. And if he doesn't use nukes, maybe your primary security concern will continue to be how to endure a decade-long depression with sky-high food and oil prices.
 
 
 
    The controversy over the validity of Barack Obama's birth certificate is back on a burner with firebrand conservative Alan Keyes making serious new charges.
    In a video released Friday, Keyes calls Obama a communist and usurper and says he refuses to acknowledge the validity of Obama's inauguration over lingering questions in the minds of many conspiracists about Obama's birth place.
 
    The Barack Obama administration is continuing the neo-conservative agenda of US military domination of the world — albeit with perhaps a kinder-gentler face.
    A unilateral military dominance policy, expanding military budget, and wars of occupation and aggression will likely continue unabated.
 
    The greatest threat to the Republic comes from the Oval Office.
    After conceding the president virtually his every whim during the Bush years, conservatives have begun to rediscover the virtues of checks upon executive power.
 
    Barack Obama has been embroiled in a cronyism row after reports that he intends to make Louis Susman, one of his biggest fundraisers, the new US ambassador in London.
    The selection of Susman, a lawyer and banker from the president's hometown of Chicago, rather than an experienced diplomat, raises new questions about Obama's commitment to the special relationship with Britain.
    American commentators denounced the selection of a rich friend to the plumb post, regarded as one of the most prestigious in the president's gift, as worthy of a "banana republic."
    They said it was proof that Obama has turned his back on his campaign pledge to end politics as usual.
 
    Following publicized reports that the Army National Guard was planning a military training exercise on the streets of a rural Iowa town, the commanding officers have called off the mock "invasion."
    The Guard had planned a 4-day urban military operation in tiny Arcadia, Iowa, sending troops to take over the town and search door-to-door for a suspected weapons dealer.
 
 
 
    The financial crisis has created an industrial crisis. Half-empty freighters are just one sign of a worldwide collapse in manufacturing.
    The immensity of the manufacturing crisis is still sinking in, largely because it is seen in national terms — indeed, often nationalistic ones. In fact manufacturing is also caught up in a global whirlwind.
 
    The integration of the world economy is in retreat on almost every front, and the economic meltdown has popularised a new term: deglobalisation.
 
    We're in the midst of a crisis that bears an eerie resemblance to the onset of the Depression. How and when will it all end?
 
    Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.
    He said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.
    "We witnessed the collapse of the financial system. It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."
 
    Former Federal Reserve chair and current presidential adviser Paul Volcker says that the global economy may be deteriorating even more precipitously than it did during the Great Depression.
    "I don't remember any time, maybe even in the Great Depression, when things went down quite so fast, quite so uniformly around the world."
 
    Insights on debt, derivatives, government guarantees, the retirement system, and the economic unraveling.
 
    Gold now represents a flight to quality; banks being nationalizied; financial system in a tailspin; the depression we are now in is stage 2; inflation is a hidden tax; dollar stability being debauched; China wants out of the dollar; stability of EU at risk; Dow hiding its worst stocks from its index; Housing bubble burst puts prices back in line with incomes...
 
    So where will it end? Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas says he has at least part of the answer: abolish the Federal Reserve.
    The congressman has once again introduced a bill that would get rid of the private organization that sets interest rates and establishes monetary priorities.
    "Abolishing the Federal Reserve will allow Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over monetary policy."
 
    As Americans come to realise the full scope of the now global economic crisis, the instability it causes is being seen as a bigger security threat than terrorism.
    Every sector of the US economy has been negatively impacted and layoffs are being announced almost daily.
    The roots of this crisis can be traced back to the economic policies of the 1980s.
 
    The financial crisis has moved from Wall Street to all streets, as the economic shock causes strains and suffering in every part of the world economy.
 
    Germany's Finance Ministry is currently looking into ways to help struggling euro zone member states. Its ultimate aim is to save Europe's common currency from collapse. Will Germany have to bail out other EU states the way it is rescuing its banks and industry?
 
    The leaders of Germany and France have called for an ambitious overhaul of world financial rules ahead of a summit where European nations hope to forge a common response to the global crisis.
    Chancellor Merkel will host the leaders of Europe's big economies on Sunday in Berlin. Merkel said that a stronger regulation of hedge funds remained a top priority.
    She also said there was broad support for her idea for a new global economic charter, which would seek to enshrine common principles on corporate governance, fiscal cooperation, social protections and fighting corruption.
 
    European leaders have agreed in Berlin on the need to regulate all financial markets including hedge funds, according to Reuters.
    "All financial markets, products and participants must be subject to appropriate oversight." This is especially true of private pools of capital, such as hedge funds that "may present a systemic risk".
 
    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday urged China to keep buying US debt as she wrapped up her first overseas trip, during which she agreed to work closely with Beijing on the financial crisis.
 
    With the world suffering through a major credit crunch, China has suddenly gone shopping. Call it the new China play.
    Flush with cash and eager to take advantage of weak commodity prices, China is once again on the hunt for global energy and resources to power its growing economy.
    But this time, Chinese companies are being welcomed overseas.
 
    Global stock markets tumbled on Friday as concerns mounted about the depth of the recession and for the future of the banking sector.
 
    Gold prices rose to a record high above $1,007 an ounce Friday as stocks continued to fall and investors flocked to the metal to preserve capital.
 
    The financial and economic turmoil the world is currently experiencing will certainly have many serious consequences beyond those fields.
    Indeed, its geopolitical fallout could be far more serious than commonly acknowledged and it is an element that cannot be neglected by neither statesmen nor analysts.
    Therefore, it is fairly reasonable to assert that this financial crisis will have a major impact on the international system's balance of power.
 
 
 
    Our government thinks it needs to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Why would it be crazy for you to want the same thing?
    You have a right to prepare yourselves. We're entering a time where you need to listen to your gut, ask reasonable questions and calmly and logically prepare yourselves for what's possible.
    Remember: The impossible sometimes turns into the reality quicker than you can imagine.
 
    The little stickers on fruits and vegetables have digits that let you know whether they're conventionally grown or organic, and if they're genetically modified (GM).
    * 4-digit #: conventionally grown
    * 5-digit #: beginning with 9 means it's organic
    * 5-digit #: beginning with 8 means it's GM
 
    Hopes that a 'grid of streets' of the lost city of Atlantis had been found on Google Ocean have been shattered.
    The criss-crossing lines, located 600 miles west of the Canary Islands, were today explained by Google as sonar data collected as boats mapped the ocean floor.
    "The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world's oceans."
 
    A really good pic of Comet Lulin photographed from Portal, Arizona. Comet Lulin's vivid green atmosphere is about 3 times as wide as the planet Jupiter, and its dusty tail stretches more than 1.5 million km into space.
    (And: On Tuesday morning before dawn, Saturn and Comet Lulin will converge in the constellation Leo only 2o apart.)
 
Paranoid Protestants Ponder Prophecy...
    Thousands are expected to attend a prophecy conference in Southern California Friday that will examine what the Bible has to say about the End Times and the current economic crisis.
    "Unless we experience a moral revival and shake off the domination of the secular humanists who control our government, media, and public education, we will be a 5th-grade power in 20-30 years," writes Hitchcock, who notes in the book that he believes a revival is soon approaching.
    [WAR: "20-30 years"? "The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.'" (Eze 12:27)
    And "a revival is soon approaching"? The word "revival" does not occur anywhere in the Bible. Why? Because we don't need to revive the same ol' "traditions of men" (Mark 7:8) in pagan Christianity -- like a dog returning to its vomit or a fool repeating his folly (Prov 26:11).
    "They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. ... (and) 'have forsaken me and sworn by gods that are not gods ("God/LORD/Jesus") (and) committed adultery and thronged to the houses of prostitutes.'" (Jer 5:3,7)
    Even Jeremiah prophesied about Protestant revivals where the people would return the Protestant churches -- the protesting daughters of the Roman Catholic Church (aka Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Prostitutes - Rev 17:5).]
 
WAR groups: GOOGLE / YAHOO!
WAR for military: YAHOO! WARriors
WAR fund: PayPal (payable to thedailywarrior@gmail.com)
          The Daily World Affairs Report / PO Box 1059 / Pearce, AZ 85625
 
 
 
 
 
Posted by at