Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
Attacks directed toward Benedict XVI have gone too far, and Catholics won't go along with it, says the president of Italy's episcopal conference.
"The harshest criticisms to our beloved Pope -- from Italy and above all from abroad -- have gone beyond good sense."
(Cartoons: B16 HATES CONDOMS)
Chancellor Merkel said Monday it will take Germany a decade to rebuild the country's distinctive economic system, a free-market checked by welfare protections and strong regulation.
Amid the economic crisis, the state has taken an unusually strong role in the economy. Merkel has referred to such steps — which mark a departure from Germany's so-called "social market economy" — as emergency measures that are temporary but necessary aberrations.
President Koehler called for the government to show unity in the face of the global economic crisis that currently has Germany in its grip.
Abu Dhabi's stake in Daimler may herald a wave of Arab investments in German companies that are now available at bargain prices in the economic crisis.
However, the new investors are likely to want a bigger say in corporate strategy than German executives have been used to.
Abu Dhabi's stake in Daimler is a resounding vote of confidence in German industry and is even fueling desperate hopes of an economic recovery, write German media commentators.
It is also being seen as a negative signal for ailing automaker Opel, which has yet to attract buyers.
Italy and Switzerland have decided to redraw their border after global warming dissolved Alpine glaciers that marked out the frontier between the two countries, according to reports.
The economic crisis sweeping Central and Eastern Europe has claimed a 3rd victim in a month after the Czech government lost a vote of no confidence on Tuesday night in a drama that risks setting off a fresh round of investor flight from the region.
The fate of premier Topolanek shows how fast the crisis is moving from finance into the core economy.
"This is the next leg of the crisis," said Neil Shearing from Capital Economics. "We're seeing the political backlash as this spreads into the labour market. The risk is that we will see a move to populist nationalism in some countries. That could prove dangerous."
(And: WHO'S RUNNING THE EU?)
Forget Ireland. The real obstacle to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is now the Czech Republic. MEP Elmar Brok says that this could mean the end of the Lisbon Treaty.
MEPs are expected to change their rule book to prevent French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen from becoming "father" of the European Parliament after elections.
The veteran French National Front leader, an MEP since 1984, will celebrate his 81st birthday following European elections in June making him the parliament's "oldest member."
The European Union's social, education and business systems need a complete shakedown if the bloc is to be a meaningful player in the 21st century, the head of a group looking at future challenges of Europe has said.
Felipe Gonzalez, a former Spanish prime minister, on Tuesday condemned what he called the current "sclerosis" on taking "necessary structural measures" in Europe and called for a new "social package" for the 21st century.
Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the nation formerly known as Yugoslavia – an act of aggression that prefigured America's post-9/11 rampage and set the stage for our endless "war on terrorism" in many more ways than are at first apparent.
Kosovo is riven with ethnic and religious warfare that threatens to break out at any moment into full-scale civil war, which could bring in Serbia and prompt action by NATO.
The Kosovo war was essentially the first shot fired in a new cold war against what is invariably described as "resurgent Russia" -- i.e., a Russia without the oligarchs and Yeltsin, who plundered and weakened the country to the point of complete collapse.
The Russophobes have been on the march for the last decade or so, urging in effect a war of civilizations – not against Islam, as in the neoconservative version, but a struggle pitting the West against the Slavic East, supporting wars of "liberation" from Georgia to Chechnya and beyond.
Right now, the odds are better than even that we'll allow ourselves to get dragged into yet another such righteous and harebrained crusade.
The expansion of NATO creates potential threats for Russia and simultaneously weakens the organization from within.
It gives the USA a good chance to deal with both Russian and European rivals especially under the conditions of the economic crisis.
As The Daily WAR reported from day 1...
An EU enquiry investigating the events of last summer's conflict between Russia and Georgia is shining an unfavorable light on Mikheil Saakashvili.
A secret document may prove that the Georgian president had planned a war of aggression in South Ossetia.
Under international law, underpinned by various UN Security Council resolutions, East Jerusalem is illegally occupied by Israel and belongs to the Palestinians.
One of the first telephone calls that Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu made on Tuesday after the votes at the Labor Party convention were counted was to Labor MK Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who is slated to be minister of industry, trade and labor in the new government.
They celebrated as they recalled their shared secret - the secret of how the 2nd Netanyahu government came into being.
(Analysis: ISRAEL'S NEW COALITION)
And the check is in the mail...
Israel's next prime minister, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has said his incoming government will be a "partner for peace" with the Palestinians.
Members of an Israeli right-wing faction have expressed their opposition to Obama's support for a 2-state solution.
Recent reports of atrocities committed by Israeli soldiers in the course of the intervention in Gaza have described the incitement of conscripts and reservists by military rabbis who characterized the battle as a holy war for the expulsion of non-Jews from Jewish land.
The zealot settlers and their clerical accomplices are establishing an army within the army so that one day, if it is ever decided to disband or evacuate the colonial settlements, there will be enough officers and soldiers, stiffened by enough rabbis and enough extremist sermons, to refuse to obey the order.
Torah verses will also be found that make it permissible to murder secular Jews as well as Arabs. Once considered highly extreme, such biblical exegeses are moving ever closer to the mainstream.
About 100 religious soldiers left a Paratroop Brigade assembly earlier this month to avoid being present at the performance of a female singer. Their departure stemmed from their belief that halakha, or Jewish religious law, prohibits them from hearing a woman sing.
The Egyptian parliament has agreed to extend for 3 years a law that grants President Mubarak the authority to issue presidential decrees with the force of law without seeking the approval of parliament.
Sudan's President Bashir plans to fly to Cairo today in a show of defiance after the International Criminal Court indicted him on accusations of war crimes in Darfur.
The Sudanese president's problems with the West are retribution for his expulsion of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden more then 10 years ago, al-Qaida's #2 said in a message issued Tuesday.
"The Bashir regime is reaping what it sowed. For many long years, it continued to back down and backtrack in front of American Crusader pressure," al-Zawahri said. "It expelled the mujahideen, who had taken refuge in the Sudan, foremost among them Sheik Osama bin Laden."
Sudan has confirmed reports that last January, the US Air Force conducted a strike against suspected arm smugglers killing scores of people on its soil.
US military leaders told the Congress that North Korea remains the greatest threat to peace in the Pacific region.
They said the US is ready to respond to any acts of provocation, including that country's planned launch of a communications satellite, which Washington and its allies in Asia say is a disguised long-range missile test.
KHAMENEI'S FACEBOOK FRIEND REQUEST (Cartoon)
The Supreme Court and the Justice Department today confirmed that documentation challenging Barack Obama's eligibility to be president has arrived and soon will be evaluated.
Confirmation came from DefendOurFreedoms.us, the foundation through which attorney Orly Taitz has been working on a number of cases that raise questions over Obama's birth location, and therefore his qualifications to be president under the Constitution's demand that the office be occupied only by a "natural born" citizen.
According to the blog, Taitz was informed by the DOJ that all of the case documents and filings have arrived and have been forwarded to the Office of Solicitor General, including 3 dossiers and the Quo Warranto case.
"Coincidently, after Dr. Taitz called me with that update, she received another call from Officer Giaccino at the Supreme Court. He stated both pleadings have been received and being analyzed now."
The report from the Supreme Court also said the documents that Taitz hand-delivered to Chief Justice John Roberts at his appearance at the University of Idaho a little over a week ago also were at the Supreme Court.
The state of Wyoming has adopted a resolution to inform Washington bureaucrats and bureaucracies of its opposition to any plans to hold a Constitutional Convention that would recommend changes or alterations to the nation's founding document.
Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks.He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war.
Today it's the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George's actions look mild in comparison.
Our constitutional ignorance – perhaps contempt, coupled with the fact that we've become a nation of wimps, sissies and supplicants – has made us easy prey for Washington's tyrannical forces.
But that might be changing a bit. There are rumblings of a long overdue re-emergence of Americans' characteristic spirit of rebellion.
(And: STATE OF REVOLUTION)
An elite assassination squad run out of the vice president's office? If true, these operations violate longstanding U.S. policy regarding covert actions and illegally bypass Congressional oversight.
Forget Afghanistan: America is waking up to the fact that it is about to become embroiled with its own neighbour's drugs war.
(Op-ed: DON'T CRY FOR US AMERICA)
US LOST IN "POLY-THEA" (Part 1)
America is lost in Poly-thea (many theatres), in a world of many theatres, too many theatres.
Millions do not know what "reality" is nor do they care, people are driven purely by "culture" - movies, reality shows, games, etc.
This entertainment myopia has contributed to financial collapse, war and environmental degradation as we ignore all the signs of crisis that are around us.
The Economist Intelligence Unit has produced a paper ("Manning the Barricades") which those committed to saving human civilization would do well to take note of.
As a mouthpiece for the London-based financial oligarchy, The Economist's "study" should be read as a statement of intent for ushering in a period of global chaos, in which that financial oligarchy maintains its power over a decimated planet.
The study warns that there is a 40% likelihood that the efforts to solve the financial crash, through the bailouts, will fail, and that it could lead to world war.
If protectionism and nationalism do fully erupt, the EIU warns, the world will face "armed rebellions, military coups, civil conflict and even wars between states."
Lyndon LaRouche today forcefully denounced the latest bailout swindle by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner as nothing more than a "continuation of the original bailout scheme put forward by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in November 2008."
LaRouche warned that, if this so-called Public Private Partnership Investment Program scheme is allowed to go forward, it will not only trigger Weimar-scale hyperinflation. "It could, ultimately, bring down the Obama Presidency."
The presidential press conference held Tuesday night, was a demonstration of the vast social gulf that separates the financial and political establishment of the US — including the highly-paid representatives of the corporate-controlled media — and the working people who constitute the vast majority of the population.
The US government plan to free beleaguered banks of up to $1 trillion of toxic assets will expose American taxpayers to too much risk, leading economist Joseph Stiglitz has cautioned.
The Nobel Prize-winning economist said that the plan is "very flawed" and "amounts to robbery of the American people."
Professor Stiglitz leads a list of well-known economists and high-profile industry figures who have said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's toxic asset plan may not be as successful as it first seems.
Barack Obama and Gordon Brown are making very public pleas for global cooperation ahead of a major economic summit.
The Governor of the Bank of England laid bare tensions between Gordon Brown and the Treasury by warning that Britain could not afford a second economic stimulus in the Budget.
(But: BROWN SHRUGS OFF WARNING)
Obama and Brown's plans to increase spending on economic recovery have been described as "a road to hell" by the European Union presidency.
He warned the European Parliament that the Obama administration's stimulus package and financial bail-out "will undermine the stability of the global financial market."
His comments reveal European disunity just 8 days ahead of the G20 summit of the world's industrialised countries in London next Thursday.
Big, US-style cash infusions wouldn't help many European countries, says the European Central Bank President -- but they could weaken fiscal discipline and revive inflation.
At the European Central Bank, being a maverick means holding steady as others bow to the prevailing winds.
With its peers in the US, UK and Japan cranking up monetary printing presses in a bid to prevent their economies from falling into deeper holes, the ECB is resisting the rush into the least orthodox central banking policies in contemporary history.
Beneath it all is an aversion to anything that smacks of "printing money," a phrase that evokes Europe's worst economic nightmares -- everything from kings debasing their currencies so they could fight endless battles to the hyperinflation and currency collapses in Germany after it lost 2 wars in the 20th century.
US and European policymakers are standing behind the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
Their comments followed a Chinese bid to see the currency replaced by International Monetary Fund coinage.
German President and former International Monetary Fund chief Horst Koehler urged countries on Tuesday to agree on a new financial order and to more than double their funding for the IMF.
"I stand by my suggestion of organising a Bretton Woods II under the auspices of the United Nations to push forward a fundamental reform of the international economic and financial system."
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned on Monday that the global economic situation is "dire" and could lead to social upheaval and war.
The statement is the latest in a series of worried pronouncements from leading international figures in the financial and political establishment.
The economic crisis, he said, would affect "dramatically unemployment for many countries. It will be at the roots of social unrest, some threats to democracy and maybe for some cases, it can also end in war."
While Strauss-Kahn did not specify what he meant by the danger of war, his remarks came in the midst of hardening conflicts between the major powers over economic policy in the run-up to the G-20 summit meeting of major economies in London next month.
As in 1933, world leaders are today proclaiming the need for international coordination, even as they fiercely defend the national interests of their respective financial and corporate elites.
Behind these policy differences are competing interests. The financial stakes are considerable.
Tens of trillions of dollars in paper wealth have been destroyed on world markets since the crisis began.
The economic crisis will exacerbate the struggle over resources between the major powers — a struggle that, within the capitalist system, can ultimately be resolved only through war.
ECONOMIC ARMAGEDDON BY 2012? (video)
Gerald Celente enlightens a CBS reporter as to the awful truth about the plight of the economy.
The financial crisis may have turned much of Wall Street's wealth into dross, but a select group of hedge fund managers has managed to maintain a golden touch that might make King Midas blush.
As major markets and economies careened downward last year, 25 top managers reaped a total of $11.6 billion in pay.
Production cuts from the OPEC oil cartel stabilized oil prices and put $60-per-barrel oil within reach despite falling demand, the Algerian oil minister has said.
Now is the best time to buy an RV. An RV could be a vital part of your plan to survive the economic catastrophe which the Federal Reserve, Wall Street, and the federal government have unleashed.
The cost is typically an order of magnitude cheaper than a home, and that's how you should think about it: an RV is an emergency back-up home.
People who think they don't need an emergency back-up home don't realize how bad the current crisis is.
We face economic collapse, and survival may soon depend on being prepared for a desperate world where food, clothing, and shelter are scarce commodities.
[CFR Opinion Roundup][Newseum][Global Incident Map][Earthweek][Day-Night Map][Tonight's Sky][Moon phase]
Reports circling in the Greek media have suggested that the location of this year's secretive Bilderberg meeting will be Athens, Greece.
A Greek based website reports that the Elefterios Tipos newspaper recently announced the location and date of the meeting as Athens from May 14th to 16th.
Japan has certified a man aged 93 as the only known survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Officials in Kazakhstan claim to have have a found the world's oldest person - a woman who will this week celebrate her 130th birthday.
The mother of 10, whose birth date is said to be March 27, 1879, attributes her longevity to staying away from sweets, and the doctor. However, she is a fan of cheese and yoghurt, and says her sense of humour has kept her young at heart.
Many atheists have very little understanding of science, DNA, and biology. They only have very superficial knowledge of these scientific subjects.
Their ignorance of how nature works allows them blissful freedom to believe all sorts of fairy tales.
As mankind has discovered and understood more about nature, particularly DNA, the more ridiculous and childish does atheism appear.
"In the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin from prison on the 27th day of the 12th month." (2 Kings 25:27 / Jeremiah 52:31)
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