10,000 hugs for Sderot
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2346
Thousands of Israelis from all over the country drove into Sderot Friday to do their Sabbath shopping and extend support to the citizens of the rocket-terrorized town.
Two Kassam rockets that slammed into the ground near Sderot earlier in the morning were unable to deter the well-wishers, who arrived in long convoys from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ra'anana, filling the these-days-normally deserted streets.
Businesses boomed for the first time in recent memory, with both Sderotian storekeepers and other civilians expressing near bewilderment at the unexpected demonstration of love from their fellow countrymen.
They came to give us a hug, one said.
The massive shopping spree comes after days of demonstrations in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv by Sderot residents and supporters demanding effective government action to stop the daily Kassam attacks.
More than 7000 missiles have been fired at the town over the past years, killing people, wounding hundreds, and traumatizing tens of thousands.
Ever-mindful of the civilian Arab population in the Gaza Strip - even though they largely support the efforts to kill and maim Jews, Israel's response has been restricted and careful, but has failed to temper the rocket attacks in any way.
Angry Israelis accuse the Olmert government of caring more for the "Palestinian" civilians than for its own citizens.
But down in Sderot today the "common" Israelis were telling their leaders "enough is enough. We are not going to let you get away with failing your people. It's time to act."
A Sderot supermarket owner told Ynetnews it would be hard for him to forget the sights he saw on Friday.
"This is Sderot, which I am definitely unfamiliar with and can't remember," said Danny Dahan.
"The hustle and bustle in the streets, the playing children and of course the economic aid they gave us. This hug they embraced us with was worth everything. We met each one at the entrance to the city with a flower and some refreshments. What happened here today was beautiful."
"It's simply astounding to see that's happening here," said another. "The feeling is that the government may not be with us, but the people certainly are. This initiative is really helping the local businesses, and seeing the many buses sent by other municipalities really warms the heart."
Town mayor Eli Moyal said he was certain "that the government can no longer take its time in the face of these sights, and this will slowly penetrate, because the people are saying, 'Enough, something has to be done with Sderot's residents.'
"Today we saw the best of the Israeli people. People with smiles, with so much love."
Hezbollah Warns of Israel's 'Disappearance'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332034,00.html
Hezbollah accused Israel Friday of trying to start a war with the militant Islamic group by assassinating a top commander, and warned that the Jewish state's "disappearance" is an inevitable fact.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said last week's killing of Imad Mughniyeh in a car bombing in Syria was a "pre-emptive" strike meant to set the stage for more assassinations of the Lebanon-based group's top officials.
"The Israelis are definitely threatening a war," Nasrallah told tens of thousands gathered Friday in southern Beirut for a memorial for Mughniyeh and two other Hezbollah leaders killed in the 1980s and 1990s.
"The disappearance of Israel is an inevitable fact. It is an historical process in the region which will come to an end in several years," he told the Jerusalem Post.
Israel has denied involvement in the Feb. 12 car bombing. But Nasrallah said Hezbollah's investigation into the killing has "increased our conviction of Israeli responsibility."
Nasrallah repeated earlier threats to retaliate for Mughniyeh's death, and also said Hezbollah would strike Israel with dozens of rockets if it attacked the guerrilla group in Lebanon as it did in 2006. Hezbollah is "ready for a confrontation," he said.
"We will not allow the enemy to persist in killing our commanders. We will choose the place and time to retaliate," Nasrallah said by video link to his supporters, who responded with cheers and bursts of gunfire.
Israel's "army and its tanks will be destroyed in the south, and Israel will be without an army and then it will be no more," he said.
Nasrallah threatened Israel after last week's bombing with an "open war," sparking criticism and fears at home and abroad. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait issued travel advisories to their citizens in Lebanon, and two French cultural centers were closed in the country this week.
Hezbollah's leader assured foreigners in Lebanon, however, that they were not a target. "Our enemy is Israel, and our revenge is against Israel," he said.
Israel already increased security at Israeli diplomatic offices and Jewish institutions abroad.
It also ordered all incoming airline passengers to be seated half an hour before landing -- to give flight crews more time to spot suspicious passengers and to make it harder for hijackers to take over a plane, Transport Ministry spokeswoman Ora Salomon said Friday.
"The directive to all airlines is to be more alert and more careful," Salomon said.
Mughniyeh gained notoriety during Lebanon's civil war in the 1980s for attacks on American interests and for kidnapping foreigners in Lebanon.
Nasrallah disclosed Friday that Mughniyeh also led a 2000 operation on the border with Israel that resulted in the capture of two Israeli soldiers. The soldiers were killed in the attack, and their bodies were later exchanged for Lebanese and Arab guerrillas held by Israel.
Israel goes on trial in new Belgian 'court'
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2348
As Shabbat begins in the Middle East, the Jewish State of Israel is being hauled before a new so-called civil court to be charged with war crimes against Arabs.
Founded in Belgium by self-appointed "human rights" organizations, Israel is to be the first party tried by the "court."
The charges are war crimes Israel has allegedly committed in the Gaza Strip. A second docket accuses Israel of war crimes in its prosecution of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
Israeli Arab Knesset members are reportedly already in Brussels to join with and add their "testimonies" to, those leveling the charges against Israel.
According to Ynetnews, the "court" was established after a year of cooperation between Arabs, human rights groups and European intellectuals.
Israel - which will in any case not recognize this institution or respect its rulings, has no chance of receiving any kind of a fair "trial" at the hands of the antisemitic individuals and groups involved.
Europe slams Israel on Gaza
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2347
Israel may have unilaterally ended what the world called its occupation of the Gaza Strip, tearing its own citizens out of their homes and communities there and giving the territory to the Palestinian Arabs so that they could begin to build their Arab state;
And Israel may have endured, since leaving Gaza, thousands of terrorist rocket attacks on its people in Sderot and in other parts of the western Negev;
The Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority, elected in Jimmy Carter certified "free and fair elections" by a sweeping majority of the Palestinian Arabs, may have self-destructed and wrested control of Gaza in a vicious and bloody coup;
Hamas may have vowed to continue doing everything possible to kill the Jews and destroy the Jewish state adjacent to it;
The Arab terrorists may have built and hid their rockets in civilian populated areas and fired them from civilian built-up areas;
Israel may have restricted itself, in the face of relentless, daily terrorizing of its citizens, to carrying out targeted killings of terrorist individuals and cells, instead of sending its tanks and soldiers into Gaza en masse, or carpet bombing Gaza city neighborhoods into the ground;
Israel may have, despite the havoc being wreaked by the Kassam rockets and mortar shells, continued to allow electricity and fuel to flow into Gaza, providing its sworn enemies there with power, light and heating during this past winter;
In order to spare the lives of thousands of Israel-hating Arabs, the Olmert government may have responded in a more restrained, humane and responsible way to terrorism than any other country on earth has ever done:
But as far as the European Union is concerned, Israel has "failed" the people of Gaza and is guilty of collectively punishing them.
The invariably pro-Arab EU hauled Israel over the coals in an adopted resolution Thursday, saying the "policy of isolation of the Gaza Strip has failed at both the political and humanitarian level" and ruling that "the civilian population should be exempt from any military action and any collective punishment."
"The European Parliament calls on Israel to cease military actions killing and endangering civilians, and extrajudicial targeted killings."
IAEA: Iran disputes atomic arms evidence
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080222/ap_on_re_eu/nuclear_iran;_ylt=AsAjTN3Cm7zWi20zDkhjDEis0NUE
The U.N. nuclear watchdog said Friday that Iran is defying a U.N. Security Council ban on uranium enrichment and accusing the U.S. and its allies of fabricating information to back up claims that Tehran is making nuclear weapons.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there was a "very strong case" for moving forward with a third round of sanctions against Tehran, while Iran said the report's findings confirmed that its nuclear program is a peaceful one.
"There is very good reason after this report to proceed to the third Security Council resolution," Rice said, adding that the report "demonstrates that whatever the Iranians may be doing to try to clean up some elements of the past, it is inadequate."
The 11-page report obtained by The Associated Press said Iran "has not suspended its enrichment-related activities," despite two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions over fears the program might be used to make weapons-grade uranium instead of the nuclear fuel Iran says it is interested in.
Instead, said the report, Iran "started the development of new-generation centrifuges" — an expansion of enrichment — and continued working on heavy water nuclear facilities. When finished, Iran could cull them for plutonium, a possible fissile payload in nuclear warheads.
At the same time, the International Atomic Energy Agency report said that Tehran has cooperated in other areas of an IAEA probe, leading the agency to put to rest for now suspicions that several past experiments and activities were linked to a weapons program.
Specifically, the report suggested the agency was satisfied with answers provided by Iran on the origin of traces of enriched uranium in a military facility; on experiments with polonium, which can also be used in a weapons program; and on purchases on the nuclear black market.
It said that in those areas information given by Tehran is either "consistent with its findings (or) ... not inconsistent with its findings," suggesting it was content for now with explanations that these activities were not weapons-related.
Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazee said the report "clearly attests to the exclusively peaceful nature of the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran, both in the past and at present."
The report "also serves to strongly and unambiguously support my country's long-standing position that the allegations raised by few powers against the peaceful nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran have been entirely groundless," Khazee said in written response to the AP.
But the American U.N. ambassador said Friday that report should pave the way for passage next week of a new U.N. Security Council resolution tightening sanctions on Tehran.
"They're increasing their capabilities," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said. "Not only have the number of centrifuges increased, but they're working on a second-generation, if you like, a more capable centrifuge.
"Things are getting worse in terms of the enrichment part."
Britain and France introduced a council resolution on Thursday — with support from the United States, Russia, China and Germany — to expand and toughen travel bans and the freezing of assets for more Iranian officials linked to the nuclear effort.
A declassified U.S. intelligence report last December judged that the Iranians had put a nuclear weapons program on hold in 2003. But the U.S., Israel and others contend Iran's continued advances in the crucial centrifuge work will eventually give it a capability to quickly build a bomb.
Much of the information purportedly linking Iran to attempts to make nuclear arms came from the United States, with allies providing lesser amounts and the IAEA passing on selected material to Tehran, after approval by the nations that gave the agency the information.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who drew up the report, said his team had "made quite good progress in clarifying the outstanding issues that had to do with Iran's past nuclear activities, with the exception of one issue, and that is the alleged weaponization studies that supposedly Iran has conducted in the past."
Ahead of the confidential report's release to the 35-nation IAEA board and the U.N. Security Council, U.S. officials had repeatedly insisted that the IAEA probe would be incomplete unless Iran acknowledged trying to make nuclear arms in the past. That stance is shared by Canada, Japan, Australia and U.S. allies in Europe.
A senior IAEA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report was confidential, said that if the material provided by the U.S. and other agency members on the alleged activities was genuine, most of Iran's work was "most likely for nuclear weapons."
But he said the agency was not reaching any conclusion until the Iranians went beyond rejection of the purported evidence and concretely addressed the issues it raised.
When confronted with some of the documentation from the U.S. and other on its alleged weapons experiments, Tehran "stated that the allegations were baseless and that the information ... was fabricated," the report said.
Iran explained some of its activities linked by the Americans to a weapons program as work on "air bags and for the design of safety belts," according to the report.
The report will be the focus of discussions at an IAEA board report starting March 3. At that meeting, the U.S. and its allies are weighing whether to ask the board to approve a resolution declaring that the agency was unable to shed light on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program, according to diplomats.
Radical Shiite Cleric al-Sadr Announces Cease-Fire Extension
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331828,00.html
Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced Friday that he has extended a cease-fire order to his Shiite Mahdi Army by another six months, giving Iraq a chance to continue its fragile recovery from brutal sectarian violence.
His message was delivered by Shiite clerics during prayer services in mosques dominated by followers of the black-turbaned cleric.
"According to an order by Sayyid Muqtada, activities of the Mahdi Army will be suspended ... for another six month period," al-Sadr's aide Hazim al-Aaraji said, using an honorific for al-Sadr during his sermon at the Kazimiyah mosque in Baghdad.
Al-Sadr's decision to halt the activities of his powerful militia for up to six months last August was one of three critical steps widely credited with bringing the Iraqi death toll down more than 60 percent in recent months.
The other pieces of the puzzle are the surge of U.S. troops and the move by U.S.-backed Sunni fighters to switch allegiances and start working against Al Qaeda in Iraq.
The U.S. military welcomed initial word of the decision, but pledged to continue cracking down on what it calls breakaway factions that persist in violence.
"This extension of his August 2007 pledge of honor to halt attacks is an important commitment that can broadly contribute to further improvements in security for all Iraqi citizens," the military said in a statement. "It will also foster a better opportunity for national reconciliation and allow the coalition and Iraqi security forces to focus more intensively on Al Qaeda terrorists."
"Those who continue to honor al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr's pledge will be treated with respect and restraint," it said. "Coalition and Iraqi security forces will continue to work closely with the Iraqi people to protect them from these criminals who violate the law and dishonor the commitment made by al-Sayyid Muqtada."
The military also said it was open to dialogue with the Sadrists and "all groups who seek to bring about reconciliation in building the new Iraq."
The American military has continued to raid Shiite groups it says are supported and trained by Iran and have splintered off from al-Sadr's militia. That's angered some followers of al-Sadr, who also are frustrated with the Iraqi government, and they had argued for an end to the cease-fire.
According to an Associated Press count, at least 609 Iraqi civilians and security forces died in Iraq last month, compared to 1,920 killed in January 2007.
Al-Sadr issued his order to his fighters to stand down on Aug. 29, days after deadly clashes in the holy city of Karbala between his Mahdi Army and the rival Badr militia of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, the country's largest Shiite party and a U.S. partner.
Involvement in fighting among Shiites was chipping away at the young cleric's reputation as an uncompromising nationalist leader seeking to restore Iraq's full sovereignty and undermining his bid to become a national leader.
Aides at the time said the cease-fire was designed to stop a Shiite-Shiite rift from spiraling out of control and to weed out infiltrators in his militia's ranks.
Turkish Troops Launch Big Ground Offensive in Northern Iraq Against Kurd Rebels
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331825,00.html
Supported by air power, Turkish troops crossed into northern Iraq on Friday in their first major ground incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in nearly a decade. But Turkey sought to avoid confrontation with U.S.-backed Iraq, saying the guerrillas were its only target.
The offensive, which started late Thursday after aircraft and artillery blasted suspected rebel targets, marked a dramatic escalation in Turkey's fight with the PKK rebel group even though Turkish officials described the operation as limited.
A military officer of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq said on condition of anonymity that several hundred Turkish soldiers had crossed the border. The coalition has satellites as well as drones and other surveillance aircraft at its disposal.
Sky-Turk television said about 2,000 Turkish soldiers were in Iraq, operating against rebel camps about two miles in from the border. NTV television said a total of 10,000 soldiers were inside Iraq in an operation that had extended six miles past the frontier. The activity was reportedly occurring about 60 miles east of Cizre, a major city near the border with Iraq.
It was not possible to independently confirm the size or scope of the attack on the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. CNN-Turk television, citing Turkish security officials, said the operation could last two weeks.
The advance was the first confirmed Turkish military ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003. Turkey's army is believed to have carried out unacknowledged "hot pursuits" in recent years, with small groups of troops staying in Iraq for as little as a few hours or a day.
Turkey staged about two-dozen attacks in Iraq during the rule of Saddam, who conducted brutal campaigns against Iraqi Kurds. Some Turkish offensives, including several in the late 1990s, involved tens of thousands of soldiers. Results were mixed, however, with rebels suffering combat losses but regrouping after Turkish forces withdrew.
The PKK militants are fighting for autonomy in predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey and have carried out attacks on Turkish targets from bases in the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The conflict started in 1984 and has claimed as many as 40,000 lives.
Turkey's government has complained that Iraqi and U.S. authorities weren't doing enough to stop guerrilla operations. The Turkish air force has been staging air raids on PKK forces in the north since December with the help of intelligence provided by the U.S., a NATO ally.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he called his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki, on Thursday night to give him advance warning of the operation. Erdogan said he later briefed President Bush in a telephone call.
"The Turkish armed forces will return after they finish their job," Erdogan said in a televised speech. "The goal of the operation and of operations that will be conducted is just, and only, PKK camps located in the north of Iraq."
Confirming the advance notice, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the Bush administration was urging Turkey to show restraint.
"We were notified and we urged the Turkish government to limit their operations to precise targeting of the PKK — to limit the scope and duration of their operations — and we urged them to work, directly, with Iraqis, including Kurdish government officials, on how best to address the threat," Stanzel told reporters.
Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, issued a statement saying the military would be careful in attacking the guerrillas in tough terrain and weather. "Utmost care is being taken so that innocent civilians living in the region are not negatively affected," he added.
Nihat Ali Ozcan, a terrorism expert with at the TEPAV research center in Ankara, said the operation was likely launched to hit at guerrillas before the traditional start of the fighting season in the spring.
"I think it is aimed to keep the PKK under pressure before the group starts entering Turkey," he said on CNN-Turk television.
The operation was reportedly concentrated in the Hakurk region, south of the Turkish border town of Cukurca.
The Turkish military posted photographs on its Web site that it said were images of the operation. In one photograph, five soldiers in white suits walk up a snowy hill in the dark. Others show a soldier walking with a land mine detector and three military helicopters on the ground.
PKK spokesman Ahmad Danas said two Turkish soldiers were killed and eight wounded in clashes along the 240-mile border, but there was no comment from the Turkish military and no way to confirm the claim independently.
Matthew Bryza, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for southeastern Europe, said Bush promised Turkey's prime minister at a Nov. 5 meeting that Washington would share intelligence on the PKK.
"The land operation is a whole new level," Bryza said in Belgium. "What I can say is that what we've been doing until now has been working quite well."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern about the escalation. He said he recognized Turkey's need for security, but appealed to Turkey and Iraq to work together to promote peace.
"The protection of civilian life on both sides of the border remains the paramount concern," Ban said, repeating calls for the PKK guerrillas to end their attacks inside Turkey.
The European Commission, the administrative body of the European Union, appealed to Turkey to act with restraint.
"Turkey should refrain from taking any disproportionate military action and respect human rights and the rule of law," commission spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy said.
"The EU understands Turkey's need to protect its population from terrorism," she added. "We encourage Turkey to continue to pursue dialogue with international partners."
Kosovo Serb protesters attack UN police
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080223/ap_on_re_eu/serbia_kosovo;_ylt=AqLZbxIR_fuhZejzNlDTmNys0NUE
Violent protests rocked Serb-dominated northern Kosovo on Friday, as mobs chanting "Kosovo is ours!" hurled stones, bottles and firecrackers at U.N. police guarding a bridge that divides Serbs from ethnic Albanians.
The scenes evoked memories of the carnage unleashed by former Serb autocrat Slobodan Milosevic the last time Kosovo tried to break away from Serbia, which considers the territory its ancestral homeland.
There were disturbing signs the riots in Belgrade, Serbia, and in Mitrovica have the blessing of nationalists in the Serbian government. The government hopes somehow to undo the loss of the beloved province, the site of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389.
Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's authorities have repeatedly vowed to reclaim the land, despite U.S. and other Western recognition of Kosovo's statehood. Some hard-line government ministers have praised the violent protests as "legitimate" — and in line with government policies of retaining control over Serb-populated areas.
In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was time for Serbs to accept that Kosovo is no longer theirs. She also suggested it was time to drop centuries of grievance and sentimentality in the Balkans.
"We believe that the resolution of Kosovo's status will really, finally, let the Balkans begin to put its terrible history behind it," Rice said Friday. "I mean, after all, we're talking about something from 1389 — 1389! It's time to move forward."
Serbian President Boris Tadic called an emergency meeting of the national security council and said the rioting that engulfed the capital must "never happen again."
"I most sharply condemn the violence, looting and arson," Tadic said in a statement. "There is no excuse for the violence. Nobody can justify what happened yesterday."
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders declared independence from Serbia on Sunday. The province, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Serbia's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since.
The U.S. ambassador to Serbia demanded that authorities do more to guarantee the safety of foreign diplomatic missions after nationalists in Belgrade set fire to the U.S. Embassy in riots Thursday that left one dead and more than 150 injured.
The State Department ordered nonessential diplomats and the families of all American personnel at the embassy to leave Serbia after the attack.
In his first post-independence interview, Kosovo's prime minister told The Associated Press that the violence is reminiscent of the Milosevic era.
"The pictures of yesterday in Belgrade were pictures of Milosevic's time," said Hasim Thaci, a former guerrilla leader of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, said at his office in Pristina, the capital. "What we saw were terrible things."
He said the violence was reminiscent of Milosevic's bloody 1998-99 crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo — which was only halted by NATO airstrikes on Serbia.
In Kosovska Mitrovica, some 5,000 Serbs rallied in the tense town, waving Serbian flags and chanting "Kosovo is ours!" in a fifth day of protests since the independence declaration. Protesters lobbed firecrackers in a skirmish with police.
The clashes took place on the Kosovska Mitrovica bridge over the Ibar River — dividing Kosovo Serbs from ethnic Albanians — long a flashpoint of tensions in Kosovo's restive north.
"Kosovo is Serbia and we will never surrender, despite blackmail by the European Union," Serbian government official Dragan Deletic told the crowd, which responded by chanting: "Kosovo is Serbia."
He was referring to the several EU countries, including Britain, Germany, France and Italy, that have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence.
The EU warned Serbia that the embassy attacks risked harming efforts to bring the Balkan nation closer to the EU.
"These acts of violence lead nowhere and they cannot help anybody," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. He told reporters that negotiations on an agreement designed to prepare Serbia for eventual EU membership would have to wait until things "calm down."
Tensions were higher than usual Friday after French NATO peacekeepers on Kosovo's border refused to allow in several busloads of Serbs who wanted to join the rally.
There were fears that Serbian soccer hooligans, the same ones who attacked the U.S. and other embassies in Belgrade, were among those on the buses. Some of the hooligans apparently managed to evade the blockade, leading the clashes at the bridge.
Kosovo Serbs have been venting their anger over Kosovo's statehood by destroying U.N. and NATO property, setting off hand grenades and staging noisy rallies.
Even so, some Serbs seeing the violence can't help thinking the spasm of outrage will set back their cause. Pictures of women returning repeatedly for armfuls of clothes at trashed boutiques drew particular note.
"It is sending the picture of Serbia as bandits," said Miobor Stosic, 67, a retired airline official. "We are so ashamed."
Toma Rajcic, 40-year-old lawyer from Belgrade, was depressed over what happened.
"It is disgusting. It is all coming back, the fighting, darkness," he said. "It is disgusting. It's time to leave this country."
Pro-Western politicians in Serbia accused hard-line nationalists in the Kostunica's government of inciting the violence.
Parties of Tadic and Kostunica are united in a coalition government that has ruled Serbia since mid-2007. But the two differ sharply on Kosovo, with Tadic saying Belgrade must press on with efforts to join the EU regardless of Kosovo, and Kostunica seeking to drop the bid because most EU countries plan to recognize the province's independence.
Kostunica appealed for an end to the violence.
"This directly damages our ... national interests. All those who support the fake state of Kosovo are rejoicing at the sight of violence in Belgrade," he said. He made no mention of the damaged embassies.
Police said that in addition to the U.S. and Croatian embassies, the missions of Turkey, Bosnia, Belgium and Canada also were targeted.
The U.S. ambassador to Bosnia said he had closed the consulate in the northwestern city of Banja Luka a day after protesters burned the U.S. flag and tried to storm the building.
Bosnia consists of two ministates, one run by Bosnian Serbs, the other by Bosniaks and Croats. The Bosnian Serb parliament has condemned Kosovo's move and said it will consider a referendum to secede from Bosnia if more countries recognize Pristina's government.
U.S. Orders Diplomats to Leave Serbia After Embassy Attack
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331951,00.html
The State Department on Friday ordered nonessential diplomats and the families of all American personnel at the U.S. embassy in Belgrade to leave Serbia, following an attack on the compound.
The move, made at the request of U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Cameron Munter, came as U.S. diplomats across the Balkans went on alert, girding for more anti-American violence after Serb rioters stormed and torched the Belgrade embassy Thursday, causing as-yet undetermined damage and drawing fierce condemnation from Washington.
"We are not sufficiently confident that they are safe here," Munter said in an interview in Belgrade.
A State Department official said 14 embassy employees were on the site when a mob attacked but that all American and local staff are safe. The charred body of one person found in the compound is believed to be that of a protester, spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Protests over the declaration of independence by the former Serbian province of Kosovo have increased tensions across the region. And new mass demonstrations are expected following recognition of Kosovo by the United States and other Western countries.
At the same time, third-ranking U.S. diplomat Nicholas Burns called on Serbia's main ally Russia to repudiate a suggestion by one of its officials that it may need to use military force to earn respect after the U.S. and other countries recognized the independence of Kosovo, which is mainly ethnic Albanian, over strong Serb and Russian protests.
"We strongly advise Russia to be more responsible in its public comments toward Kosovo," Burns said, responding to questions in an online written discussion. "Russia is isolated this week — very few countries are supporting its position."
Earlier, Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said the move to recognize was Kosovo a "strategic mistake" and suggested that Moscow might "have to use brute military force" if the alliance expands its current peacekeeping operation in the territory.
The decision to implement what is known as an "ordered departure" at the Belgrade embassy will affect some of the between 80 and 100 Americans who work at the embassy, but it was not clear how many of them or how many family members would be affected by the order.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said that the Bush administration believes the attack on the embassy in Belgrade was "conducted by hooligans and thugs."
"We don't believe that this is the face that Serbia wants to present to the world, and we quite frankly don't believe that this is the face of Serbia," Stanzel said. "We want to continue to work to integrate Serbia into European institutions."
Serbian President Calls for Calm in Wake of Kosovo Protests
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331831,00.html
Serbia's pro-Western president on Friday demanded an end to nationalist rioting over Kosovo's independence after attacks on U.S. and other embassies.
One person died and more than 150 people were injured in the unrest in central Belgrade on Thursday night, police said. Nearly 200 people were arrested and 90 shops ransacked, officials said.
The U.S. ambassador to Serbia has asked the State Department to evacuate nonessential personnel and the families of all American staff at the embassy.
"I most sharply condemn the violence, looting and arson," President Boris Tadic said in a statement. "There is no excuse for the violence. Nobody can justify what happened yesterday."
Tadic said he called an emergency meeting of Serbia's National Security Council, the country's top security body, which comprises the president, prime minister, and army and police chiefs.
"Order and peace must prevail in the state," he said. "The violence that took place in Belgrade must never happen again."
In Kosovo, about 5,000 protesters in the Kosovo Serb stronghold of Kosovska Mitrovica threw bottles and stones at U.N. and NATO peacekeepers.
"Kosovo is Serbia and we will never surrender, despite blackmail by the European Union," Serbian government official Dragan Deletic told the crowd.
Earlier Friday, Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica appealed for calm, saying the violence had damaged Serbia's national interests.
The European Union told Serbia it must protect foreign embassies, and warned that the attacks risked harming efforts to bring the Balkan nation closer to the EU.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the embassy's request to evacuate nonessential staff and dependents would likely be approved on Friday.
Rian Harris, spokeswoman for the U.S. mission in Belgrade, said the State Department had authorized the evacuation of dependents. She said the mission would remain closed for repairs, but would reopen on Tuesday.
The unrest by Serbs angry over international recognition of Kosovo's declaration was the first major outburst of anti-Western sentiment in Serbia since former strongman Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in 2000.
It exposed a rift within the country's shaky coalition government and raised fears that nationalist anger over Kosovo is bolstering hard-liners who want Serbia to move away from the European Union and closer to its traditional ally Russia.
Kosovo's prime minister denounced the violence as "terrible," and said the rioting harkened back to Milosevic's bloody 1998-99 crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
On Thursday night, rioters broke into the U.S. mission and set fire to offices and to police posts outside before attacking other foreign embassies. A body was found inside the American embassy.
After a state-sponsored demonstration that drew 200,000 people, riot police fought bands of vandals who looted dozens of shops in downtown Belgrade.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said negotiations on an agreement to prepare Serbia for eventual EU membership would have to wait until things "calm down."
The White House also criticized the Serbian government, saying the U.S. Embassy "was attacked by thugs" and police did not do enough to stop it. The U.N. Security Council, too, condemned the attacks on embassies.
"The pictures of yesterday in Belgrade were pictures of Milosevic's time. What we saw were terrible things," Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Pro-Western politicians in Serbia have accused hard-line nationalists in Kostunica's government of inciting the violence.
Tadic's and Kostunica's parties are united in a coalition government — but the two differ sharply on how to handle Kosovo's declaration of independence, with Tadic saying Belgrade must press on with efforts to join the EU regardless and Kostunica seeking to drop the bid over EU nations' recognition of Kosovo.
Rioters also targeted the missions of Croatia, Turkey, Bosnia, Belgium and Canada, officials said. Germany said its mission suffered damage.
In Croatia, dozens of anti-Serbia protesters rallied in Zagreb's main square. More than 40 were briefly detained, authorities said Friday.
Moscow also condemned the violence but said Western nations made a major mistake in recognizing Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.
Belgrade said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told his Serbian counterpart in a phone conversation that the rioting will "have a negative effect on diplomatic efforts by Serbia and Russia in all international organizations."
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration but Serbia's government — backed by Russia, China and Spain, among others — has rejected it as illegal.
Kosovo, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian, has not been under Belgrade's control since 1999, when NATO launched airstrikes to halt a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
A U.N. mission has governed Kosovo since, with more than 16,000 NATO troops and a multiethnic force policing the province.
Kosovo's declaration had been expected after talks broke down last year over the ethnic Albanian leadership's insistence on full statehood and Belgrade's refusal to relinquish a land Serbs consider the ancient cradle of their state and religion.
Russian Envoy Warns NATO Over Kosovo
http://www.newsmax.com/international/russia_kosovo/2008/02/22/74770.html
MOSCOW -- Russia's envoy to NATO warned the alliance Friday against overstepping its mandate in Kosovo and said Moscow might be forced to use "brute military force" to maintain respect on the world scene.
Dmitry Rogozin said the Russian military also might get involved if all European Union nations recognize Kosovo's independence without United Nations agreement and despite strong objections from Russia and Serbia.
The comments were the latest harsh rhetoric from Moscow protesting Kosovo's declaration of independence, which has sparked violent protests in Serbia and international disagreement over whether to recognize the fledgling nation.
The comments also sparked quick reaction from the U.S. State Department, which urged Russia to repudiate them.
Rogozin couched his threat, however, assuring that Russia was not currently making plans for a military confrontation.
"If the European Union works out a single position or NATO goes beyond its current mandate in Kosovo, these organizations will conflict with the United Nations," Rogozin said in a televised hookup from NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
If that happens, Russia "will proceed from the assumption that to be respected, we have to use brute military force," he said.
The U.S. ambassador to NATO, meanwhile, said Washington was "very disappointed" by Russia's hostility over Kosovo, and Nicholas Burns, the U.S. State Dept.'s third-ranking official, called Rogozin's statement "highly irresponsible."
"This cynical and ahistorical comment by the Russian ambassador should be repudiated by his own government," Burns said responding to questions in an online discussion.
Later, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, Russia's envoy to the European Union, used a more conciliatory tone, saying the Kosovo problem should be resolved exclusively by political means.
Rogozin _ an outspoken nationalist known for his tough rhetoric _ told NATO that its 16,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo must "remain neutral" over the contentious declaration.
"Under no circumstances should the alliance get involved in politics," Rogozin said. However, Moscow already was alarmed by reports that authorities in Kosovo had closed the border with Serbia.
Local authorities patrol Kosovo's borders, but the main responsibility for security lies with NATO peacekeepers. On Friday, they sent back several busloads of Serbs seeking to join a rally in the Kosovo Serb stronghold of Kosovska Mitrovica.
Russia has staunchly supported Serbia's to Kosovo's secession, and has vowed to block any efforts in the United Nations to recognize its independence.
In what appeared to be a contradictory comment, Rogozin assured that "Russia was not planning to get involved in any armed confrontation over Kosovo."
"There will be no war between Russia and NATO over Kosovo," he said, though the Kosovo issue "will certainly hamper our dialogue."
Nations that recognized Kosovo's statehood had made "a strategic mistake, similar to the invasion of Iraq," he said.
Other Russian officials have called the recognition illegal and said it could effectively split Kosovo in half. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Kosovo's secession could lead to regional instability.
More than a dozen nations have recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany. Russia has been joined in its opposition by China and others, including EU member Spain.
Rogozin called the violent protests that took place Thursday in the Serbian capital "national wrath that will be hard to curb," and criticized the West for making "a step toward a very cruel and emotional ethnic conflict" in the Balkans.
Predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo _ which has been governed by a U.N. mission and patrolled by NATO peacekeepers since 1999 _ had been widely expected to declare independence from Serbia after internationally mediated talks on its future fell apart last year.
Kosovo Recognition a Tricky Question
http://www.newsmax.com/international/kosovo_the_recognition_game/2008/02/22/74804.html
MADRID, Spain -- Afghanistan was among the first to recognize Kosovo's independence, leaping at the chance to acknowledge a majority Muslim nation in Europe.
Taiwan did too, hoping Kosovo would reciprocate and poke a thumb in the eye of archrival China.
But Spain, with a worried eye on its own breakaway movements, said it would never affirm Kosovo's sovereignty.
The response to Kosovo's declaration of independence has as much to do with history and local politics as it does with heartfelt feelings for Kosovo and its people.
Rising violence and Russia's fierce opposition could push fence-sitters to shy away. The question is: Will the turbulence compel supporters to roll back timetables for naming ambassadors and opening consulates in the new state?
"It's understandable that some nations will want to wait and see how things develop before appointing an ambassador, or opening an embassy," said Alan Boyle, an international lawyer and academic at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland.
"Recognizing a state is a policy decision, but establishing diplomatic ties is a separate _ and often political _ decision," Boyle said. "One doesn't always follow the other: the U.S. recognizes Cuba, but doesn't have diplomatic links."
Some were adamant that a rollback on recognition was impossible, regardless of pressure from Serbia or Russia.
In Germany, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said rescinding recognition of Kosovo was "unimaginable."
Five days after unilaterally declaring independence from Serbia, nearly two dozen countries have recognized Kosovo _ including major powers like the United States, Britain and France _ and many more say they are planning to do so in the future.
On Friday, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci brushed aside concerns that his nation's statehood might not stand the test of time.
"Everything is clear. We have massive recognition," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Kosovo is an independent state _ sovereign and democratic."
But with Moscow firmly opposed to what it sees as a slap from the West, and violence erupting in Serbia and in Kosovo's ethnic Serb enclave, it is too early to say who will ultimately win the recognition game.
On Thursday, rioters set the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade ablaze, and Moscow has said it would block U.N. recognition of the breakaway region. Russia's envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said Friday that Western nations made "a strategic mistake, similar to the invasion of Iraq," by backing Kosovo's independence.
Some nations have already mentioned the violence to support their position.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico _ an opponent of independence _ said the unrest was evidence that the West's support for Kosovo's move was a mistake.
"We can already see that the unilateral declaration of independence didn't help anybody," he said earlier this week.
But the main reason for opposition _ both in Slovakia and elsewhere _ still appears to be homegrown. Slovakia, which until 1993 was a part of Czechoslovakia, has a sizable Hungarian minority, and it fears Kosovo's move could encourage ethnic tensions at home.
Spain, one of the biggest Western European countries opposed to the move, has dealt for decades with the violent Basque separatist group ETA, which would like to carve out a homeland between Spain and France. Other Spanish regions _ most notably economic powerhouse Catalonia _ have been pressing for more autonomy in moves some say could lead to the country's eventual breakup.
"It's a sensitive issue," said Carlos Taibo, a political science professor at Madrid's Autonomous University.
Many nations are taking a wait-and-see approach. Jordan, the first Arab country to support NATO's military operations against Serbia in 1999, is not so eager to be out front this time. Officials in the kingdom say they will wait for the United Nations to pass judgment before taking sides. Many other Arab nations, such as Syria and Egypt, have also declined to commit, and no Arab country has formally recognized the would-be state.
"Our Arab region in particular is full of groups of many religions, faiths, identities and nationalities," read a Wednesday editorial in state-owned Egyptian paper Al-Akhbar by columnist Ibrahim Saada. "What if Iraq should split into four or five countries, and Lebanon into six regions?"
Similar fears have held back many nations in Africa, where only Senegal has so far recognized Kosovo's independence.
Tom Wheeler, a research fellow at the Johannesburg-based South African Institute of International Affairs, said there was also a concern among African countries not to look as if they were following the West in a "knee-jerk reaction."
"There is this fixed idea in Africa that colonial boundaries should not be changed," he said. "South Africa has been cautious about jumping too fast in any direction. They are going to watch from a distance for a little while."
Even among those that have recognized the new country, reasons have varied and often have had little to do with any burning camaraderie toward the people of Kosovo.
Taiwan has been locked in a diplomatic faceoff with China for decades, with each trying to establish diplomatic ties with as many countries as possible. China does not recognize Taiwan, which split the mainland in 1949.
George Tsai of Taipei's Chinese Cultural University said the Taiwanese move to recognize Kosovo was an attempt to score points against Beijing, which is a staunch supporter of the Serbs and has said it is "gravely concerned" about the independence declaration.
In Afghanistan, the government of President Hamid Karzai moved quickly to get behind Kosovo, a tiny region of 2 million people nearly 3,000 miles away.
In its declaration of recognition of Kosovo, Afghanistan voiced support for Kosovo's overwhelming Muslim population. But some in the war-ravaged Central Asian country said the decision was as much about maintaining strong relations with Washington.
Dr. Mehdi, a spokesman for the National Unity Council, a group that represents intellectuals in Kabul, said the move was purely political.
Afghanistan has "no economic or commercial links with Kosovo whatsoever. The reason for the recognition was just to keep America happy," said Mehdi, who like many Afghans uses only one name. "Since America wanted Kosovo independent, they put this on the Afghans' shoulders."
Hafiz Mansoor, a newspaper editor and Kabul-based analyst, said Afghanistan rushed the decision without even discussing it in the Cabinet or parliament.
"Some of the lawmakers do not even know where Kosovo is on the map," he said.
Kenya's Long Road to Recovery
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/326832.aspx
The peace talks in Kenya have hit a snag. The main opposition leader has suddenly left the country during the most critical day of the negotiations.
No one seems to know why Raila Odinga chose today to make a quick trip to Nigeria.
Kenya exploded in tribal violence about two months ago following the latest presidential election. Odinga lost and claimed the election had been "stolen" from him.
About a thousand people were killed in the post-election violence.
While the peace deal looks promising, experts say Kenya will have a long road of healing ahead.
Ashes to Ashes…
At a cemetery in Nairobi, a two and a half year old girl named Mary is being laid to rest.
She is a victim of the violence that is sweeping Kenya and sending the nation into turmoil.
When violent mobs from a rival tribe swept through her neighborhood, the toddler's mother was forced to flee for her life.
In her haste she could only grab her youngest child. When she returned to her shack she found Mary murdered in her bed.
The violence has driven many people, like Mary's mother, from their homes as they sought safety in numbers. Others had their homes destroyed.
The victims converged in the bigger cities, sheltering in stadiums, police stations, and churches.
Some camps are still full of children; some have been separated from their families; some will never see their families again.
Despite the horrific conditions, these people are the fortunate ones who were able to escape with some of their belongings.
Operation Blessing Steps In
Operation blessing is in Kenya serving victims in the remote countryside area. These people have lost everything. They can't even afford to run from the danger.
With crops and livelihoods destroyed, food is a priority need for the victims.
Operation blessing plans to provide food for thousands of people for two months.
O-b is also working with the German relief group Humedica to provide desperately needed medical services.
With so much deep rooted division in Kenya, operation blessing has teamed up with a Danish organization called International Aid Services to bring counseling.
The program is being run through local churches.
"Counseling really helped kenya to help recover from crisis, because many people have gone through traumatic situation. They have seen people being killed. They have experienced, maybe children have seen their parents killed," trauma counselor Ann Mbuga said.
Teams of Christian counselors are listening to the often horrific stories of the victims and offering hope in return through a biblical based counseling scheme.
"The church has to be equipped with the tools for trauma counseling to really bring healing to this nation. Otherwise we're going to see it fall apart, because the bitterness, the hurt is so deep," Anders Jakobsen, and IAS Denmark coordinator, said.
Kenya will need a long time to recover.
In the meantime operation blessing is ministering to the victims of this crisis, so the church can take the lead in helping Kenya and little Mary's family heal.
Alaska Fights Effort to Protect Polar Bears
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332020,00.html
The polar bear can be found in just one place in United States — Alaska — and is perhaps as much a symbol of the state as alligators are of Florida. So you might think Alaska's politicians would be pounding on doors in Washington to protect it.
You would be wrong.
As the U.S. government decides whether to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Gov. Sarah Palin and the state's Republican congressional delegation are solidly opposed to the idea.
Listing the polar bear would trigger a plan to protect the shrinking Arctic sea ice. And that, Alaskans fear, could dim chances for a proposed project that could bring the state's next big boom: a natural gas pipeline that would tap the North Slope's vast reserves.
"This is yet another example of how a law with the best of intentions has been subverted by the lawyers for the extreme environmental organizations and the liberal Democratic leadership," Rep. Don Young said.
Alaska's elected officials reject climate models that predict a complete summer meltdown of the polar ice cap by 2030 or sooner. They also dispute a U.S. Geological Survey study that predicts polar bears in Alaska could be wiped out by 2050.
Listing polar bears as threatened "would establish a dangerous precedent based on mathematical models instead of biological observations," Sen. Ted Stevens said Tuesday.
Similarly, Alaska political leaders have ardently supported the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, despite strong opposition from environmentalists and politicians in the continental U.S. The issue is still before Congress.
Andrew Wetzler of Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the groups that sued to protect polar bears, said the state's position, scientifically speaking, is "mostly gibberish" and "motivated by economic concerns and political concerns."
He said that there is considerable evidence of a decline in polar bears in Canada and Alaska — with some of the animals starving, turning to cannibalism and drowning — and that most scientists believe the drop-off is directly related to the loss of sea ice.
Listing a species as "threatened" means it is likely to become endangered. "Endangered" is even more dire and means a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or much of its range.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service missed its Jan. 9 deadline for a decision on the polar bear. Director Dale Hall said that the agency had never declared a species threatened or endangered because of climate change and that it needed more time to "do it right and have it explained properly to the public."
Alaska was built on booms — fur, gold, military expansion, oil — and the state is in need of another one.
Nearly 90 percent of Alaska's unrestricted revenue for next year is projected to come from the oil industry, and state leaders fear the not-so-distant future when oil earnings fall dramatically with a drop in production.
The mighty trans-Alaska pipeline has been running at less than half its capacity since 2000, and only high oil prices have prevented a dive in state income.
The proposed $26 billion (euro17.51 billion) natural gas pipeline would be the largest private-sector project ever undertaken in North America. It would tap 35 trillion cubic feet (1 trillion cubic meters) of proven natural gas reserves on Alaska's North Slope.
Summer sea ice in Alaska dropped last year to its lowest level in 38 years of satellite record-keeping, falling to 1.65 million square miles (4.27 million square kilometers), or about 1.15 million square miles (2.98 million square kilometers) less than the average from 1970 to 2000. The loss is bigger than the combined area of Alaska, Texas, California and Georgia.
A 2006 USGS study put the number of polar bears in the Beaufort Sea at 1,526, compared with 1,800 in 1986. But USGS researchers said the studies used different counting methods and the numbers cannot be directly compared.
China loans Venezuela $4 bln, payable in fuel oil
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7328086
Venezuela has received $4 billion in financing from China, completing a loan announced last year that the South American OPEC nation will repay in shipments of fuel oil, President Hugo Chavez said on Thursday.
State oil company PDVSA has vastly expanded the practice of borrowing money and repaying it through in-kind oil and fuel sales, and has increased shipments to China to reduce Venezuela's traditional reliance on U.S. energy markets.
The money will be deposited into a $6 billion investment fund for domestic development projects, with Venezuela contributing the remaining $2 billion, according to the original announcement in November.
"From Beijing they deposited $4 billion," Chavez said during a televised speech. "This is the first time that the People's Republic of China, in its half century of existence, has signed an agreement like this one."
The accord could worsen the glut of fuel oil in East Asian markets, already inundated with 10-month high fuel oil inflows from Europe and the Caribbean of near 3 million tonnes each month in February and March.
It would also push PDVSA's total debt to around $20 billion compared to close to $3 billion in 2006, if the company itself takes on the loan.
PDVSA's refineries have suffered repeated accidents and outages over the last year which may leave them producing large quantities of fuel oil, because converting fuel oil to higher-grade fuels requires complex refining processes.
Traders said this has given Venezuela, the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the United States, a surplus of fuel oil that ends up in Asian markets.
Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez has said Venezuela's fuel oil exports to China help prop up prices by reducing supply of the product in the Caribbean basin.
PDVSA recently asked potential buyers to pay $1 billion upfront for eight VLCC cargoes of 270,000-280,000 tonnes each, but later scrapped the offer.
In 2007 the company took on a $3.5 billion loan from a group of Japanese banks and trading houses that was repayable in fuel.
Egyptian Court Recognizes Faith of 12 Converts to Christianity
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06902.shtml
An Egyptian court has ruled that 12 Christians who converted to Islam and then reconverted to Christianity can have their faith officially recognized. The decision overturns a lower court ruling which said the state need not recognize conversions from Islam because it constituted "apostasy," an act often treated as a capital crime in the Muslim world.
A lawyer for the 12 Coptic Christians described the case as a victory for human rights and freedom of religion that will open the door for hundreds of other Copts who want to return to their original faith from Islam. There is concern, however, over the ruling's mandate that the converts' former religion must be noted in their official documents, as this could leave them vulnerable to discrimination.
Thank the Lord for this victory. Pray that these individuals will not be subject to further discrimination. Pray that those who were born into Muslim families and convert to Christianity will also have their conversions recognized by the Egyptian government.
For more information on the difficulties facing Egypt's Christians, go to www.persecution.net/country/egypt.htm.
'A Common Word' -- Inter-Faith Dialogue or Propaganda Tool?
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06900.shtml
SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Last November, many of America's top Christian leaders and scholars signed onto a response of support to "A Common Word Between Us and You." "A Common Word," as it has come to be called, was a letter sent to Christian leaders and signed by 138 Muslim scholars and clerics calling for "Inter-Faith" cooperation to help achieve world peace. This past week some of these Christians, like the officials of Wheaton College, are retracting their support of "A Common Word."
"A Common Word between Us and You," was developed out of a September, 2007 meeting in Amman, Jordan, and was penned by some of the world's most Anti-Israel Christians and Muslims. It was presented to the world as a Muslim Letter to Christians, though both Christians and Muslims crafted it. It was followed up by a conference organized by the writers of the document in January, 2008, also held in Jordan, which was billed as a meeting for Inter- Faith dialogue.
Reports published about the meeting by Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research Center said that,
"... as people who believe in the One God, and as people of the same legacy of coexistence in this region, Muslim and Christian, they seek in this difficult era, to build together their present and future society in a spirit of mutual responsibility so that comprehensive peace and real justice prevails in the region and in the world as a whole."
The primary outcome of the "Inter-faith" discussions this past January was the development of a list of things that these Muslim and Christian leaders agree about. The only problem is that the list is more about pushing forward a strategy for their long-standing radical anti-Israel agenda than it is about peace in any sense of the word.
As it turns out, Jews were the only people not present at this "Inter-Faith" dialogue so focused on the future of Israel and Jerusalem.
The intent of these religious leaders is clear- evidenced by their own words: as Muslims and Christians they seek to build together their present and future society in the region (and the world).
Their sense of "real" justice is a justice that does not include the Jew. The Jew is just not a part of their vision for the future.
This "Common Word Between You and Us", complete with its own website and heavy hitting endorsements from the misguided likes of Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Leith Anderson, and Jim Wallis of the religious left, has proven to be more of a sophisticated anti-Israel propaganda tool than legitimate Inter-Faith dialogue.
After all, how can it be a dialogue when the people you are coming together to talk about are not invited to the table?
And if the world peace that is to be led by this coalition of Muslims and Christians is to be built on love of the "Other," you would imagine that they would start by loving the Jew.
And I'm no relationship expert, but I'm not sure how you can love somebody if you won't talk with them. I'm not certain how you can have peace in a household if your plan for the future doesn't include those you have lived your whole life with. I am at a loss as to what you contribute to peace and security as a religious leader if you can't unequivocally reject terrorism and homicide bombing against the "Other" with no qualifiers.
And this is why Christian leaders in America should take a moment or two to think twice next time before jumping on a bandwagon of this sort, with Christian leaders in the Middle East of whom they know nothing about.
It is also why more of those Christian Leaders who have signed on to support this movement should follow in the footsteps of the fine men of Wheaton College- who seem to have finally done their homework.
Of course, one can only pray that they would be as brave to retract their support of "A Common Word" as they thought themselves when they first signed on.
Rev. C.J. Conner is the Author of "Jesus and the Culture Wars: Reclaiming the Lord's Prayer"
AG Becomes Abortion Collaborator: Asks KS Supreme Court to Block Grand Jury Abortion Records Subpoena
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06901.shtml
TOPEKA, Kansas -- New Kansas Attorney General Stephen Six filed a motion with the State Supreme Court late Friday asking it to quash a subpoena for 60 abortion records issued by a citizen-called grand jury investigating late-term abortionist George R. Tiller.
"This is an overt attempt by Six to deny evidence to a legally convened grand jury, and an effort to protect an abortionist from further prosecution. Six is acting more like a member of Tiller's criminal defense team, than the state's chief law enforcement officer. This action has earned him the status of an 'abortion collaborator,'" said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman who helped with efforts to convene the grand jury and testified before it.
In what is being construed as a stealth effort to undermine the grand jury, Six filed his motion at the eleventh hour on the Friday before a three-day holiday weekend while the media was focused on a hearing held in another abortion investigation focusing on Planned Parenthood in another county. All this occurred the day after the Associated Press published an article indicating that Six would be taking a low profile as Attorney General.
"There is no doubt that Six used the attention on the Planned Parenthood hearing, the AP article, and the holiday weekend as smokescreens to conceal is efforts to derail the grand jury subpoena," said Newman. "This leads us to believe that Six is as corrupt as disgraced former Attorney General Paul Morrison."
Morrison resigned last month after news broke of his illicit sexual affair with an employee and his attempts to use that relationship to illegally influence ongoing criminal cases against both Tiller and Planned Parenthood.
The Kansas Supreme Court earlier stayed three grand jury subpoenas for 2,000 late-term abortion records in Tiller's custody. Those subpoenas specifically requested that all patient identifying information be redacted before the records were produced. The Court has yet to rule if the grand jury will have access to those records.
"Six is attempting to play the tired old 'privacy' card to justify his non-compliance with the subpoenas. The 60 abortion records that are requested from Six have already had all identifying information redacted, making privacy a non-issue," said Newman. "Comparing the records in Six's custody with the records in Tiller's custody are like comparing apples and oranges."
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation. Operation Rescue recently made headlines when it bought and closed an abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas and has become the voice of the pro-life activist movement in America. Its activities are on the cutting edge of the abortion issue, taking direct action to restore legal personhood to the pre-born and stop abortion in obedience to biblical mandates.
World Congress of Families Responds to the Nation's Polemic on the International Pro-Family Movement
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06899.shtml
The Nation - the oldest and largest circulation leftwing periodical in the U.S. - has just published an extraordinarily inept attack on World Congress of Families and those concerned about plummeting birthrates worldwide ("Missing: The 'Right' Babies" by Kathryn Joyce, which will appear in the March 3 issue and is currently available online at www.thenation.com).
The article attempts to paint the Congress and others sounding the alarm about the coming demographic winter as concerned only with preserving the white majority of Europe and the United States.
This is ironic, in that the population-control movement (to which The Nation subscribes) was started by Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood), who saw birth control and abortion as ways to depress the non-white population (whom Sanger described as the "genetically unfit").
Joyce dismissingly refers to World Congress of Families as an "interdenominational alliance of Mormon, Catholic and evangelical 'pro-family' advocates as well as the token link between this pan- Christian front and a handful of Orthodox Jewish and Muslim representatives."
That "token link" includes Don Feder (who is Jewish and, besides serving as World Congress of Families Communications Director, was a speaker at three of four Congresses), Dr. Farooq Hassan (a barrister and visiting lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School), a number of distinguished rabbis (including Rabbi Daniel Lapin), Kay Hymowitz (a Manhattan Institute scholar who addressed the Warsaw Congress), and Madame Jehan Sadat (widow of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat) who spoke at the Geneva Congress (1999).
Allan C. Carlson, International Secretary of World Congress of Families, observed: "Speakers and delegates at our four Congresses to date have come from Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas. They represent all of the world's races and religions. We are united not by doctrine or ancestry, but by our common concern for the fate of the natural family, the cornerstone of civilization."
World Congress of Families III was in Mexico City in 2004. A coalition of African pro-family groups has put in a bid to hold World Congress of Families V in Nigeria.
Carlson continued: "Tellingly, there isn't a single statistic in Joyce's ad hominem attack - which leaves the impression that demographic winter is a manufactured crisis, used to play on fears of the Western world to build support for the natural family."
In fact, worldwide, birthrates have declined by 50% in the last half-century. With a birthrate of 1.3 (versus 2.1 to replace current population), clearly, Europe is in serious trouble. But so are Africa, Asia and the Middle East - a phenomenon to which we regularly refer. While still at above replacement level, one of the greatest declines in fertility has been in Iran.
Carlson concluded: "The anti-family left, of which The Nation is an integral part, simply seems to be terrified of our success at building a multi-racial, multi- denominational pro-family alliance."
For more information about World Congress of Families, go to www.worldcongress.org. To schedule an interview with Allan Carlson, contact Larry Jacobs at 1-800-461-3113.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60 countries that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society. The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois (www.profam.org). To date, there have been four World Congresses of Families - Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004) and Warsaw, Poland (2007).
Study Confirms the 'Obvious Link' Between Abortion and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Say 'Silent No More' Women
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion06898.shtml
STATEN ISLAND -- Leaders of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, the nation's largest network of individuals harmed by abortion, say a new study linking post-traumatic stress disorder with abortion only reinforces what its members have been saying for years.
"It's always good when a peer reviewed psychiatric study validates what you already know in your heart to be true," said Georgette Forney, co-founder of the SNMAC. "It's really only common sense, though, that a mother who undergoes the trauma of losing her child, whether voluntarily or under coercion from a boyfriend or parent, would suffer consequences from that trauma."
The study, published in the journal BMC Psychiatry, evaluated women one month and then three months after their abortions. It found that 20 percent experienced post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms after one month; 61 percent did after three months.
"This is more evidence that abortion hurts women," added Janet Morana, another co-founder of SNMAC. "The cause and effect link between abortion and mental health problems is obvious, painfully obvious. It's far beyond time for the abortion industry to stop disrespecting women and tell them the truth about what abortion will do to them."
Since the launching of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign in 2003, 2,326 women and men have shared their testimonies publicly at over 200 gatherings in 44 states and six countries where more than 15,000 spectators have heard the truth about abortion's negative aftereffects. More than 4,100 people are registered to be Silent No More. Raising awareness about the hurtful aftermath of abortion and the help that is available to cope with the pain are two of the Campaign's goals.
The Silent No More Awareness Campaign is a joint project of Anglicans for Life and Priests for Life. For more information, please visit their website: www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org
Rick Warren: Three tools Saddleback uses to help people grow
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/rick.warren.three.tools.saddleback.uses.to.help.people.grow/17015.htm
All living things grow. Growth is evidence of life. If a child doesn’t grow up, that’s a tragedy. If a believer never grows to spiritual maturity, that’s a tragedy.
God wants your congregation to grow as well, not just numerically but spiritually. And for the people of your church to grow, you’ve got to be intentional.
As a pastor, I think about the spiritual maturity of my congregation all of the time. I grew up in church as a pastor’s son. I knew people who had been in church all of their lives and were still spiritually immature. They were self-righteous, critical, unloving, and jealous. They had been taught the Bible all of their lives, and it hadn’t changed their lives.
It bothers me to see that in my church today. I am accountable to God for leading the spiritual growth of my church. I don’t take that responsibility lightly. Peter tells pastors, “Just as shepherds watch over their sheep, you must watch over everyone God has placed in your care. Do it willingly in order to please God, and not simply because you think you must. Let it be something you want to do, instead of something you do merely to make money” (1 Peter 5:2 CEV). The spiritual growth of your congregation should matter greatly to you.
Many people think that the Purpose Driven paradigm is all about church growth. But really it’s about personal growth. It’s a paradigm we designed to help people grow spiritually. It’s not about building attendance; it’s about building an army of people serving God. It’s not just about building hearers of the Word; it’s about building doers of the Word.
If you want to build doers of the Word in your church, you’ve got to be intentional about growing people spiritually. Your people will grow spiritually when they make commitments to spiritual maturity.
Saddleback Church is built on people who have made deeper and deeper commitments to Jesus Christ. We encourage people to make these commitments in three ways.
First, we encourage people to move through six levels of spiritual commitment.
We put everybody in our community in one of these levels of spiritual commitment. The first level actually takes no commitment at all. Called the Community, it’s everyone within driving distance of our church.
We expect nothing from the people in this group – although we hope they will come to our weekend worship services. That’s the first step of commitment a person makes at Saddleback. When they do that, they move into the Crowd.
Once someone starts attending Saddleback, we encourage them to come to our membership class, C.L.A.S.S. 101. That’s where they learn what it means to be a member and get a chance to make a commitment to church membership by signing a covenant. When they do that, they become part of the Congregation, a part of our church family.
To be honest, we don’t care if a person joins our church or another church. We just want people to make a commitment to a local church.
Then, once they join the church, we encourage them to take C.L.A.S.S. 201, where they learn about how to grow as a Christian. We focus on the great habits of the Christian life – prayer, quiet time, giving, and attending a small group. Then, just like we did in C.L.A.S.S. 101, we ask people to sign a covenant committing to practice these disciplines. Once they make that decision, they move into the circle we call the Committed.
Once they’ve made a commitment to grow spiritually, we ask them to take C.L.A.S.S. 301 and learn more about how God has shaped them for ministry. They learn a lot about themselves during this class. They also get a chance to meet with a guide who helps them find ministries that fit their unique spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences (S.H.A.P.E.).
At the end of the class, everyone is encouraged to sign a ministry covenant committing to use their S.H.A.P.E. in ministry. That moves the person from the Committed to the Core. Saddleback is built on thousands of lay leaders who’ve made a commitment to ministry. They really do form the core of our church!
If you’ve read The Purpose Driven Church or attended one of our conferences at Saddleback, you’ve already heard about the first five levels of commitment. Now we’ve added a new one – the Commissioned. These people are committed to being a part of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. We’ve had more than 7,700 people at Saddleback participate in either local or global P.E.A.C.E. trips. These are people who take the Great Commission seriously.
Another way we spur commitment at Saddleback is the weekly commitment card.
Each week we encourage attendees to fill out a simple card, and thousands of lives have been changed through it. Why? Writing down a commitment makes it real. We encourage people to write down how God has spoken to them during the service, to write down prayer requests, and often we’ll ask for specific commitments in relation to the message – like a commitment to take a particular class or help out in a project. You won’t see your congregation make spiritual commitments unless you ask them for commitments. And you have to offer them an opportunity to make their commitments real by writing them down.
A third tool we use is our weekend message notes.
We provide fill-ins for weekend messages each week. Why? People forget 95 percent of everything they hear within 72 hours, according to the U.S. Air Force. That’s a statistic that’ll depress a pastor!
How will your people grow if they forget everything you teach them? You need to encourage them to write it down. The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory.
Think about it. You’re studying all week to prepare a message that speaks to your people. You’re throwing out spiritual gems. But if they aren’t writing those gems down, they’re just bouncing off the heads of your congregation. The only way they catch those gems is if they write them down.
These three tools have played a crucial part in Saddleback becoming a more spiritually mature congregation. I encourage you to try them in your church as well. It’s a goal with eternal implications.
One day everybody in your church is going to die. They’ll stand before God and have to give an account for what they’ve done with what God has given them. Part of our job is to help get them ready for that test.
How will your church do?
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