Dallas Morning News Endorses Huckabee
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/dallas_endorses_huckabee/2008/03/02/77121.html
The influential Dallas Morning News endorsed Mike Huckabee for Texas' upcoming primary.
Headlining that as "a vote for Huckabee is a vote for GOP's future," the paper added that "John McCain is all but guaranteed to be the party's presidential nominee. It is mathematically impossible for Mike Huckabee, the last remaining major GOP contender, to capture the nomination."
The paper praised McCain for "long experience and personal courage, he has a solid record of fiscal responsibility and has been on the right side of campaign finance reform and environmental issues. And he was correct and principled to lead the fight for comprehensive immigration reform last summer."
But the News noted McCain's advanced age and his notorious temper have given them pause.
"Win or lose in November, the GOP is destined to spend the next few years redefining itself. For many reasons, Reaganism, which made the GOP the dominant political party of the last generation, no longer resonates as it once did with the American public. The world has changed since Ronald Reagan's election nearly 30 years ago, and the great man's political heirs will have to adjust the GOP's strategy and tactics to new realities.
"To that end, Mr. Huckabee, 52, should be a top leader in tomorrow's Republican Party. His good-natured approach to politics – "I'm a conservative; I'm just not mad about it," as he likes to say – is quite appealing after years of scorched-earth tactics from both parties. He's a pragmatist more concerned with effective government than with bowing to ideological litmus tests. For example, he has proven himself willing to violate anti-tax dogma to undertake investment in infrastructure for the sake of long-term prosperity."
Huckabee says no rush to end White House bid
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8V5N3RO0.html
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee indicated Sunday he was in no hurry to shelve his long-shot bid for the White House.
Huckabee, lagging far behind Republican rival John McCain in the delegate count, hopes that by winning the Texas primary Tuesday, he will keep McCain from getting the delegates required to become the GOP presidential candidate. Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island also have primaries Tuesday.
Huckabee suggested it is far too early to quit.
"I'm not understanding why some people are in such a rush to get this settled when I don't know there is a bomb sitting under anybody's chair that's going to go off if we don't have the nominee all settled," he said during a Houston news conference.
He later attended a fundraiser in the Dallas suburb of Plano. The Baptist minister also attended church services on Sunday.
In Texas, Huckabee hopes to appeal to social conservatives, who make up the bulk of the Republican primary voters. Huckabee opposes abortion, gay marriage, an assault-weapons ban and an immediate removal of troops from Iraq.
Overall, McCain has 939 delegates to Huckabee's 245.
Obama Defends His Christian Religion
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama/2008/03/02/77127.html
NELSONVILLE, Ohio -- Democrat Barack Obama says he's tired of questions about his religion. The Democratic presidential candidate told a town hall meeting Sunday in Nelsonvile, Ohio, in the state's rural southeast, that he is a devout Christian who prays to Jesus every night. He told audience members they would feel right at home at his church in Chicago.
Obama said misinformation _ including long-standing suggestions that he is a Muslim _ is being spread by his opponents.
A voter questioned the Illinois senator about his religion as he and rival Hillary Rodham Clinton crossed paths heading into Tuesday's primaries in Ohio and Texas.
U.S. kids taught Islamic 'jihad' means doing good works
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59707
An Islamic "jihad" is an effort by Muslims to convince "others to take up worthy causes, such as funding medical research," according to a middle school textbook used in California and other states.
And even at its most violent, "jihad" simply is Muslims fighting "to protect themselves from those who would do them harm," says the "History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond" book published by Teachers' Curriculum Institute.
But a parent whose child has been handed the text in a Sacramento district is accusing the publisher of a pro-Muslim bias to the point that Islamic theology has been incorporated into the public school teachings.
"It makes an attempt to seem like an egalitarian world history book, but on closer inspection you find that seven (not all are titled so) of the chapters deal with Islam or Muslim subjects," wrote the parent, whose name was being withheld, in a letter to WND.
Sacramento's students are being taught "jihad" is an effort to convince "others to take up worthy causes."
"The upsetting part is not only do they go into the history (which would be acceptable) but also the teaching of Islam," she said. "This book does not really go into Christianity or the teachings of Christ, nor does it address religious doctrine elsewhere to the degree it does Islam."
She said the book's one page referencing Jews "is only to convey that they were tortured by Crusaders to get them to convert to 'Christianity.' (It fails to mention that the biggest persecutors of Jews throughout history and still today are Arab Muslims). It gives four other one-liner references to the Jews being blamed for the plagues and problems in the land. It does not talk about the Jews as making a significant impact on the culture at large."
"How can the writers of this text get away with this?" she asked.
Bert Bower, founder of TCI, said not only did his company have experts review the book, but the state of California also reviewed it, and has approved it for use in public schools.
He said the company tries to move history out from between the covers of a textbook and into students' minds, and that is how the book was developed.
"Keep in mind when looking at this particular book scholars from all over California reviewed it," he said. "We have our own scholars who created the program, California scholars look at the program and makes sure it is accurate."
One of those experts who contributed to the text, according to the American Textbook Council, which released a scathing indictment of the project, is Ayad Al-Qazzaz.
"Al-Qazzaz is a Muslim apologist, a frequent speaker in Northern California school districts promoting Islam and Arab causes," the ATC review said. "Al-Qazzaz also co-wrote AWAIR's 'Arab World Notebook.' AWAIR stands for Arab World and Islamic Resources, an opaque, proselytizing 'non-profit organization' that conducts teacher workshops and sells supplementary materials to schools."
The textbook council, an independent national research group set up in 1989 to review history and social studies texts in public schools, quoted directly from the book to provide evidence of its bias.
The word jihad means "to strive." Jihad represents the human struggle to overcome difficulties and do things that would be pleasing to God. Muslims strive to respond positively to personal difficulties as well as worldly challenges. For instance, they might work to become better people, reform society, or correct injustice.
Jihad has always been an important Islamic concept. One hadith, or account of Muhammad, tells about the prophet's return from a battle. He declared that he and his men had carried out the "lesser jihad," the external struggle against oppression. The "greater jihad," he said, was the fight against evil within oneself. Examples of the greater jihad include working hard for a goal, giving up a bad habit, getting an education, or obeying your parents when you may not want to.
Another hadith says that Muslims should fulfill jihad with the heart, tongue, and hand. Muslims use the heart in their struggle to resist evil. The tongue may convince others to take up worthy causes, such as funding medical research. Hands may perform good works and correct wrongs.
Sometimes, however, jihad becomes a physical struggle. The Quran tells Muslims to fight to protect themselves from those who would do them harm or to right a terrible wrong. Early Muslims considered their efforts to protect their territory and extend their rule over other regions to be a form of jihad. However, the Quran forbade Muslims to force others to convert to Islam. So, non-Muslims who came under Muslim rule were allowed to practice their faiths."
The council, in describing the text as a book written by "dictation from Islamic sources," said such passages "should put speculation to rest about what California's seventh-grade students may learn about Islam. At the very least, the passages are incomplete. More precisely, they are dishonest."
Such passages fail to explain "the essentially religious nature of the subject," the council said. "It ignores any challenge to international security and western-style law. The treatment is lyrical and loaded, echoing the language recommended by Islamist consultants."
The Sacramento parent said she became suspicious because of the school's decision to send a copy of the book home with her son and he started describing how it would teach students to write in Arabic.
A review left her even more worried. "I was disturbed probably the greatest portion of this book is about Islam. It goes into the doctrine of Islam in detail," she said. "There are 35 chapters. Out of those, I counted at least seven that focus on Islam."
She said she looked at the publication's list of contributors, and found the name of Ayad Al-Qazzaz, whom she'd had herself for a class on Middle Eastern studies.
"That was a big flag for me," she said.
WND previously has reported on the influence of Islamic "consultants" on public school texts in the United States, as well as how other schools have included the "Five Pillars of Islam" among their required courses.
The parent said she just wanted people to know of the agenda being taught.
"After seeing Al-Qazzaz as one of the main contributors I began to put two and two together … about the extra book coming home only in this class and I questioned where this book's money source came from – I still do not know," she said.
"I am very troubled that in the name of tolerance and educating American children about the Muslim empire in history they get away with giving beginning Islamic teaching which may cause many to perhaps one day become Muslims," she said. "My son tells me that the students will even be using calligraphy to copy parts of the Quran in Arabic as an enrichment activity."
The ATC's second excerpt from the book dealt with the definition of sharia law.
"For example, the Quran tells women to 'not display their beauty.' For this reason, Muslim women usually wear different forms of modest dress. Most women cover their arms and legs. Many also wear scarves over the hair," the book said.
Bower said Christianity is addressed in chapters 3, 6, 31 and 32 of the book, including descriptions of the Crusades, while the company's website shows an entire unit called, "The Rise of Islam," including chapters on the Arabian peninsula, "The Prophet Muhammad," "The Teachings of Islam," "Contributions of Muslims to World Civilizations," and "From the Crusades to the Rise of New Muslim Empires."
The recommendations included that "students learn about the beliefs and practices of Islam" and "learn about the life of Muhammad and the rise and expansion of Muslim rule."
Bower said the textbook is the answer to the demands in today's society for a "multicultural" education, and he said whenever some historical subjects are taught, there's always controversy. He cited the internment of Japanese people in the United States during World War II as an example.
His company's book, he said, "really gives students multiple perspectives."
But he also said he wasn't aware of any agenda held by any contributors to the book, including Al-Qazzaz. "I'll have to look into that," he said.
He said about one-third of California's districts use the book, and so do thousands of other districts across the country.
If a parent objects to the agenda in the book, he said, "it's up to them to make a decision, do they want to have the kids opt out of this part. It's their local decision to do so. But in this age isn't it important for us, for our students to know as much about as many different religions as possible?"
Others may agree that students need to know about the world in which they live, but the TCI book is not the right one to teach them.
According to a report from William J. Bennetta at the Textbook League, officials in Scottsdale, Ariz., tested the book, and ultimately rejected it after parents rallied to complain.
"Students who took a 7th-grade social students course … were subject to gross, prolonged indoctrination in Islam," he wrote.
"Much of the indoctrination was delivered in a corrupt school book titled 'History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond,' produced by [TCI]," he said. "The writers of [the book], by relentlessly presenting Muslim religious tales and religious beliefs as matters of historical fact, have striven hard to induce students to embrace Islam."
He wrote that the indoctrination is "concentrated in chapters 8 and 9. This material consists overwhelmingly of Islamic religious propaganda. It includes blatant preaching as well as deceptive claims and extensive fraudulent narratives dealing with the beginnings of Islam, the life of Muhammad, and the inception of the Quran. These claims and narratives are disguised as accounts of history. They actually are restatements of Muslim fables and superstitions."
Bennetta also noted that the book exhibits contempt for Judaism and Christianity. "For example, In a passage in chapter 9, the TCI writers convey the lesson that a religious view held by Muslims is important, but views held by Jews and Christians are unworthy of consideration."
Even the level of scholarly work is deficient, he continued. "They teach, in chapter 9, that if someone encounters some antiquated hearsay and jots it down, the hearsay becomes 'written evidence' of historical happenings."
In an Internet posting about the Scottsdale use of the text, Janie White, a parent in the district, reported the book included "fake history" along with "Islamic religious proselytizing and indoctrination techniques."
Officials with the Sacramento school district declined to respond to WND requests for comment about the book and its use.
Al-Qazzaz, who teaches at Cal State-Sacramento, has explained in other Internet postings "greater jihad" is to become better Muslims and "lesser jihad" is to fight against Islam's enemies.
Secret talks to reform UN Security Council to New World Order of 10 Kingmakers
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10488031
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has begun secret talks with other world leaders on far-reaching reform of the United Nations Security Council as part of a drive to create a "new world order" and "global society".
Brown is drawing up plans to expand the number of permanent members in a move that will provoke fears in his country that the veto enjoyed by Britain could be diluted eventually.
The United States, France, Russia and China also have a veto but the number of members could be doubled to include India, Germany, Japan, Brazil and one or two African nations.
Brown has discussed a shake-up of a structure created in 1945 to reflect the world's new challenges and power bases during his four-day trip to China and India. British sources revealed "intense discussions" on UN reform were under way and Brown raised it whenever he met another world leader.
The Prime Minister believes the UN is punching below its weight. In 2003, it failed to agree on a fresh resolution giving explicit approval for military action in Iraq. US President George W. Bush then acted unilaterally, winning the support of then British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
His aides are adamant that the British veto will not be negotiated away. One option is for the nations who join not to have a veto, at least initially. In a speech in New Delhi, the Prime Minister was to say: "I support India's bid for a permanent place - with others - on an expanded UN Security Council." However, he is not backing Pakistan's demand for a seat if India wins one.
Brown will unveil a proposal for the UN to spend £100 million ($257 million) a year on setting up a "rapid reaction force" to stop "failed states" sliding back into chaos after a peace deal has been reached.
"There is limited value in military action to end fighting if law and order does not follow," he will say. "So we must do more to ensure rapid reconstruction on the ground once conflicts are over and combine traditional humanitarian aid and peace-keeping with stabilisation, recovery and development."
THE UNITED NATIONS: EYE ON THE WORLD
* The UN Security Council's membership has remained virtually unchanged since it first met in 1946.
* Great Britain, the United States, the then Soviet Union, China and France were designated permanent members of the powerful body.
* Initially, six other countries were elected to serve two-year spells on the council in 1946. They were Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands and Poland.
* The number of elected members, who are chosen to cover all parts of the globe, was increased to 10 in 1965. They are currently Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Indonesia, Italy, Libya, Panama, South Africa and Vietnam.
* Decisions made by the council require nine "yes" votes out of 15. Each permanent member has a veto over resolutions.
* The issue of UN reform has long been on the agenda. One suggestion is that permanent membership could be expanded to 10 with India, Japan, Germany, Brazil and South Africa taking places. Any reform requires 128 nations, two-thirds, to back it in the assembly.
Asian Markets React to Wall Street Drop
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/331985.aspx
SEOUL, South Korea - Most Asian markets tumbled Monday as investors reacted nervously to a steep decline on Wall Street Friday after disappointing economic and corporate news reawakened worries about a U.S. recession.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged 4.5 percent to close at 12,992.18. Markets in Hong Kong, South Korea, India and Australia also fell sharply. However, shares in mainland China advanced.
Investors across much of the region dumped shares after a series of depressing economic and corporate reports Friday out of the United States -- a vital export market for Asia -- sent the Dow Jones industrial average falling 315.79, or 2.51 percent, to 12,266.39.
The bad news included poor quarterly results from American International Group Inc. and Dell Inc. and weaker-than-expected results on the Chicago purchasing managers index, which painted a dreary picture of the manufacturing sector.
"It's all due to fears of a recession in the U.S.," said Craig James, chief equities economist at CommSec in Sydney, Australia.
The dollar's drop to a three-year low against the yen also weighed on sentiment in Tokyo as dollar weakness erodes overseas earnings at Japan's exporters.
The greenback fell as low as 102.92 yen, its lowest point since January 2005. By mid-afternoon in Tokyo, the dollar bought 103.17 yen, down from 103.96 yen late Friday in New York. The euro also rose to $1.5215 from $1.5194.
Asian markets, which have fallen much of the year so far, had staged a modest recovery through the middle of last week, with Tokyo's Nikkei climbing to a seven-week high last Wednesday.
But pessimism returned Monday, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index down 3 percent at 23,614.50 in afternoon trading.
In Seoul, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 2.3 percent to 1,671.73, Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 index slid 3 percent to 5,405.8. India's Sensex fell 3.3 percent to 16,992.57.
Markets in mainland China bucked the trend. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 2.3 percent at 4,446.25.
The Tokyo market, Asia's largest, would likely to remain volatile for the rest of the weeksaid Koji Takeuchi, senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute.
President of Iran - Global government based on Islam, mankind's gravest need
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0801225293002918.htm
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday evening at the inauguration ceremony of new head of National Center for Globalization Studies, "mankind's gravest need today is a global government."
Appreciating the services rendered by the former head of that center (formerly called the International Center for Dialogue among Civilizations), Dr. Mohammad Nahavandian, the President said that choosing Esfandiar Rahim-Masha'ie was "based on precise calculations, and in accordance with a plan for the center."
The president added, "The Center for Globalization Studies must be a very dynamic center, able to take long studies forward, thanks to the presence of thinkers and intellectuals from various academic fields, able to pursue globalization discussions throughout the world."
Pointing out that God has definitely been pursuing objectives in creation of man, he stressed, "Almighty Allah has drawn the horizons of man's blessed life in this world and how to achieve that objective, based on man's innate desires and in the framework of his social relations with the others."
The President emphasized, "Man is created to be a global creature, as all divine religions are global, and if he would be deprived of this aspect of his personality, neither anything would remain of his humanity, nor any of his potentials and talents would find a proper ground for manifestation."
Proposing that the rule of single law in the entire world is a bare necessity for the mankind, he said, "The existence of a thousand laws in the world, and then expecting that the global society would reach a status of equilibrium, justice, and tranquility is wishing for the impossible."
He added, "It is not possible to observe global justice under such conditions that each country is ruled based on a different set of laws."
Ahmadinejad said, "The entire monotheist Arch-Prophets (PBUT) were leaders for the whole mankind, and accordingly, so long as a single law would not be put to effect globally, and a single perfect, and noble human being would not take the charge of a global government, the God given talents of the people would not be materialized, and there would be no sign of divine justice in the world."
He considered mankind's progress throughout history "a constant move towards perfection", reiterating, "Today, globalization has become an issue for daily talk of even ordinary folks, under such conditions that signs for accelerating move of the mankind towards the peaks of perfection are countless, and ever increasing."
The IRI President stressed that pure Mohamedan Islam has answers to modern man's entire questions, adding, "World nations would accept Islam in large groups if pure Islam would one day be presented to them free from all non-Islamic attachments."
Ahmadinejad said, "The entire developments in the world are pieces of a puzzle, being fit in their place in order to complete God's general scheme for a perfect world for the mankind, but in the process of this completion some people achieve perfection, while others fall in the abbeys of annihilation, and nowhere is ever devoid of God's will and Divine Rule, nor of his Caliph on earth." He said that the era for drawing border lines between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism is now over, reiterating, "Unadulterated Christianity and Judaism are the same as they are entirely manifestations of the same Divine Truth."
The President stressed, "The single and solid plan and order that we should present for the lives of the world people should be in a way to be acceptable by the pure innate nature of the entire mankind, and such laws need to be based on divine teachings."
Putin's Puppet Wins Russian Presidency
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/russia_presidential_elect/2008/03/02/77171.html
MOSCOW -- Vladimir Putin congratulated his hand-picked successor on his apparent presidential election victory Sunday and said the win would guarantee the continuity of the course Putin set for Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev, who had about 65 percent of the vote in early results, appeared alongside his mentor in Red Square and vowed to pursue Putin's policies.
"Such a victory carries a lot of obligations," Putin said from the open-air concert stage outside the Kremlin. "This victory will serve as a guarantee that the course we have chosen, the successful course we have been following over the past eight years, will be continued."
Medvedev is expected to formally take over as president in May, and Putin has agreed to be his prime minister, the second highest post in Russia.
"We will be able to preserve the course of President Putin," Medvedev said.
The Central Election Commission said that returns from 15 percent of Russia's electoral districts showed Medvedev with about 65 percent.
Some voters complained of pressure to cast ballots for Medvedev, and critics called the election a cynical stage show to ensure unbroken rule by Putin and his allies.
Sunday's vote came after a tightly controlled campaign and months of political maneuvering by Putin, who appeared determined to keep a strong hand on Russia's reins while maintaining while maintaining the basic trappings of electoral democracy and leaving the constitution intact.
Some in the West have welcomed Medvedev's reputation as a moderate after years of tense ties with Putin over his crackdown on domestic dissent, U.S. plans for a missile defense and Kosovo's independence, among other things.
Few international observers monitored the election, in which accounts of pressure will reinforce Western concerns of backtracking on democracy under Putin.
"The result doesn't matter as this is an illegitimate transfer of power," said former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, a Putin foe who was barred from the ballot.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said; "These are free and democratic elections after a free and democratic campaign."
Some 450,000 police and troops deployed nationwide to ensure the voting proceeded calmly, although two bomb explosions targeted a police convoy near Chechnya, wounding several people.
Though he has never held elected office, Medvedev has had an easy ride toward the presidency. Polls predicted he would take a solid majority of votes against the three other candidates: Communist Gennady Zyuganov, flamboyant ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the little-known Andrei Bogdanov of the Democratic Party.
Zyuganov has nearly 20 percent, early results showed.
Liberal opposition leaders Kasyanov and Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion and one of the Kremlin's most prominent critics, were both squeezed off the ballot on technicalities.
The ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies quoted Zyuganov saying he has a list of 200 alleged vote violations and Zhirinovsky as saying he will challenge official vote results in court.
Escorted by a dozen riot police as he spoke to journalists near Red Square, Kasparov carried a plastic shopping bag that read, "I am not participating in this farce."
Zyuganov claimed widespread irregularities but provided no evidence.
Only 300 international election observers were monitoring the 96,000 voting stations across Russia's 11 time zones. The influential Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe refused to send observers, saying Russia imposed such tight restrictions that its mission would be meaningless.
With Medvedev hoping for a powerful mandate, turnout was the only electoral uncertainty. It stood above 60 percent nationwide two hours before the last polls were to close, the Central Election Commission said.
"All of my friends voted for Medvedev, they say he's been elected already and want to be part of majority." said Renata Mukhammetshina, 21, a student in the southern city of Volgograd.
Polling stations offered enticements to voters: discounted food, office supplies, concerts and flowers. That echoed Soviet times, when hard-to-get items were available during carefully staged elections. In a post-Soviet touch apparently aimed to boost turnout, some polling stations were set up in shopping malls.
Moscow street cleaners swept away grime for voting day. In the southern Russian city of Stavropol, public transport was free for the day. In Krasnodar, a local group staged a lottery open only to voters _ with a car as the top prize.
In Medvedev's native St. Petersburg, some voters quaffed bargain beer at their polling place. Others showed up for the goods but didn't bother to vote.
Government-paid teachers and doctors across the country complained that they were being pressured to vote at their workplace under the gaze of their superiors to ensure a convincing win and a high turnout for Medvedev.
The head of an independent Russian election monitoring group, Golos, said her organization was receiving a steady stream of complaints and reports of irregularities, including blatant attempts to influence voters and voters being "bought off."
"Most of problems appear to be occurring at the local level" in the provinces, where there is little scrutiny, Liliya Shabanova said.
Observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe complained to the election commission about disproportionate campaign airtime given to Medvedev.
Some cast protest ballots, including Alexander Petrov, a 28-year-old trader in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok who voted for Zyuganov because he wanted to "take away votes from the candidate of the ruling powers."
Sofia, 25, a history teacher in a school in southwestern Moscow, said the principal required her and her colleagues to cast ballots at a polling station at the school.
"This is terrible; they are not leaving us any choice," said Sofia, who declined to give her last name out of fear of losing her job. She said she destroyed her ballot in protest.
The new president's major domestic tasks are economic. Russia got rich from skyrocketing world oil prices, but the economy is hugely dependent on natural resources and needs to diversify to ensure long-term prosperity. Inflation _ more than 11 percent last year _ is undermining the nascent middle class.
Timofei Ryumin, 38, a doctor who lives in Russia's westernmost region, the Baltic city of Kaliningrad, said Medvedev's campaign seems "planned and coherent" and voted for him despite disappointment in the Kremlin's unfulfilled promises to provide cheaper housing for families like his.
"I don't see alternative leaders who could hold a firm grip on power," he said.
China will back US-India nuke deal: Burns
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/China_will_back_US-India_nuke_deal_Burns/rssarticleshow/2832099.cms
NEW DELHI: China will back India's US-sponsored promotion to the international nuclear elite, breaking New Delhi's three-decade long isolation from the world nuclear trade, Nicholas Burns, the American pointman for the nuclear deal, promised on Friday shortly before he bowed out of office with the issue still up in air.
In an interview from Washington in his last hours as the US Undersecretary of State, Burns, who is leaving the Bush administration to join the private sector, told TOI that the deal would go forward at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting "with a great deal of support" once the Indian government clinched the safeguards agreement with the IAEA.
Central to Washington's optimism is the backing for the deal from Russia, UK, France and China, who Burns described as votaries of the US-India nuclear agreement. Asked if this meant that Beijing had come around and firmly committed support to the deal, Burns said he would rather let the Chinese government speak for itself but he didn't think China would block the deal. "It is our firm impression that China will support..." he said.
The US public iteration of Beijing's support, which follows visits to China by the top Indian leadership, is clearly aimed at the Left, which shows no sign of relenting in its opposition to the deal. In a separate press briefing on Friday, Burns called on the UPA government to take a bold and courageous decision on the nuclear deal.
Asked if he was egging the government to defy its limited mandate and risk precipitating an early election by pushing ahead with the deal, Burns said the last thing he wished was to get into the internal political process in India and the US was keen to let it resolve matters itself, as they usually happened in sophisticated democracies.
"But there is a calendar, and there is a clock ticking. There is no escaping that," he added.
Although February 29 was his last day with the State Department, ending a stellar diplomatic career, Burns said he would continue to the Bush administration's point person for nuclear deal till April 30 on a request from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The arrangement offers a broad timeline of how long Washington is willing to wait for New Delhi to clinch the safeguards agreement with the IAEA.
Burns said in his view the IAEA safeguards process is "relatively simple and short...and it can be concluded rapidly should the Indian government wishes to." However, his sense was that the hold-up was related to the domestic political situation.
Both US lawmakers and the State Department have concluded that India will have to get the deal past the IAEA and the NSG by May or June so that it can be voted one last time in the Congress no later than July.
Asked what would happen if the deal did not go through given the largely karmic attitude prevalent in India, Burns said it will be a "great missed opportunity...probably the single biggest opportunity in the last 35 years."
"It will be a great loss for both countries because it is an important moment when the world has recognized India as a major rising world power - the US more than others. We have defied 30 years of conventional wisdom and overturned the way we work with India and this must not be wasted," he said.
Burns, who has been the US lead negotiator and pointperson for the deal, described the talks that accompanied it as a marathon that was one of the most complex diplomatic assignments of his career. The negotiations lasted near three years, took him to India eight times, and involved talks with Indian officials in Washington DC, New Delhi, New York, London, Madrid, and Paris among other cities.
"It has been quite an odyssey," he sighed, hoping that he could bow out knowing the deal would be concluded.
Burns is a career foreign service official frequently described as one of the most brilliant diplomats to come out of the State Department cadre. While it is not unusual for such officials to return to the diplomatic corps post-retirement (as it happened with Tom Pickering) Burns indicated he expected to be with the private sector for some length of time, given his family commitments.
Ecuador Follows Chavez in Deploying Troops to Colombia Border
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334409,00.html
President Hugo Chavez ordered tanks and thousands of troops on Sunday to the border with Colombia, accusing it of pushing South America to the brink of war by killing a top rebel leader on Ecuadorean soil.
Denouncing Colombia's slaying of the rebel commander in a cross-border raid into Ecuador, Chavez said Venezuela will respond militarily if Colombia violates its border. He ordered Venezuela's embassy in Bogota closed.
"Mr. Defense Minister, move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately — tank battalions. Deploy the air force," Chavez said during his weekly TV and radio program. "We don't want war, but we aren't going to permit the U.S. empire, which is the master (of Colombia) ... to come divide us."
Chavez called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe "a criminal" and branded his government a "terrorist state," likening it to Israel for its U.S.-backed attacks on militants.
In protest, Ecuador withdrew its ambassador from Bogota, ordered Colombia's top diplomat expelled and ordered the mobilization of troops to the border with Colombia.
Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, said Colombia deliberately carried out the strike beyond its borders. "There is no justification," Correa said Sunday night, snubbing an earlier announcement from Colombia that it would apologize for the incursion.
Colombian officials have long complained that Ecuador's military does not control its sparsely populated border, allowing rebels to take refuge.
The same holds true for Venezuela, where rebel deserters say the guerrillas routinely rest, train, obtain medical care and smuggle drugs. Chavez denies that his country provides refuge to the FARC.
In a statement, Colombia said FARC "terrorists" including Reyes "have had the custom of killing in Colombia and taking refuge in the territory of neighboring countries."
Correa said the rebels were "bombed and massacred as they slept, using precision technology." He said Colombia violated Ecuador's airspace when it bombed the rebel camp, which the Colombian military said was located 1.1 miles from the border.
Ecuadorean soldiers recovered the semi-nude bodies of 15 rebels in their jungle camp. Soldiers stood guard at the site, saying they also found three wounded women, who were evacuated by helicopter to be treated. One was a Mexican philosophy student injured by shrapnel, while the other two wounded guerrillas were Colombians, an Ecuadorean army officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.
Ecuadorean officials found that there were two bomb attacks on the camp early Saturday, Lt. Col. Jose Nunez told reporters in the remote village of Angostura, where the bodies were found.
Colombian commandos removed the cadavers of Reyes and one other rebel.
Chavez called the raid "cowardly murder, all of it coldly calculated."
"This could be the start of a war in South America," Chavez said. He warned Uribe: "If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I'll send some Sukhois" — Russian warplanes recently bought by Venezuela.
The situation tested already tense relations between Venezuela and Colombia, though cross-border trade has not yet been seriously affected.
Chavez did not specify how many troops was sending to the border. A Venezuelan battalion traditionally has roughly 600 soldiers.
"Undoutedly the recent actions on the part of Colombia and Venezuela's response raise the risk for armed conflict," said Miguel Tinker Salas, a Latin American studies professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California. "Although it is unlikely we will see military confrontations, what is clear is that Colombia has been pursuing a military solution to its own internal problem, ... drawing in Ecuador and Venezuela."
Chavez has increasingly revealed his sympathies for the FARC, and in January asked that it be struck from lists of terrorist groups internationally. But he has denied
The leftist FARC has been fighting Colombia's government for more than four decades, and funds itself largely through the cocaine trade and kidnaps for ransom and political ends.
Reyes was the FARC's key interlocutor with journalists and with foreign governments trying to mediate in the conflict, and thus the member of its leadership most vulnerable to being located, though eavesdropping or other intelligence.
Chavez said that with U.S. support, Colombian troops "invaded Ecuador, flagrantly violating Ecuador's sovereignty."
U.S Embassy spokeswoman Suzanne Hall, in Bogota, declined comment on the possibility of U.S. involvement, saying it was a Colombian government operation.
In Texas, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said of Chavez's latest moves: "This is an odd reaction by Venezuela to Colombia's efforts against the FARC, a terrorist organization that continues to hold Colombians, Americans and others hostage."
How exactly Reyes was killed was not immediately clear.
Colombia's defense minister, Juan Manuel Santos, said Colombian commandos, tracking Reyes through an informant, first bombed a camp on the Colombian side of the Ecuadorean border. He said the troops came under fire from across the border in Ecuador and encountered Reyes' body when they overran that camp.
Colombia and Venezuela have been locked in a diplomatic crisis since Uribe sought in November to halt Chavez's efforts to mediate a prisoner swap. The FARC has since freed six hostages to delegates of Chavez, including four released last week.
The FARC has demanded that a safe zone be created in Colombia to negotiate a swap of some 40 high-value captives, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors, for hundreds of imprisoned guerrillas.
Psalm 83 or Ezekiel 38, "Which is the Next Middle East News Headline?"
http://www.raidersnewsnetwork.com/full.php?news=12280
These days there is much talk centered upon the future timing of the Russian and Iranian led invasion of Israel, foretold in the Bible prophecies of Ezekiel 38 and 39. Due to the newsworthy events that are presently occurring, whereby Russian and Iranian relationships are ever strengthening, prophecy buffs are appropriately attempting with god-speed, to connect the prophetic dots.
For those of you who are not familiar with today’s most prevalent prophetic news pervading the Christian and Jewish scholarly communities, you should study Ezekiel 38 and 39, with the understanding that it alludes to a nuclear equipped Russian – Iranian led confederacy, which forms to invade the nation of Israel in the end times. Although scholars are somewhat split as to who all the other enjoining coalition member nations are, they all tend to agree that no explicit reference is made to the inclusion of Palestinians, Syrians, Egyptians, Lebanese, or Jordanians. Furthermore Saudi Arabians apparently abstain from enlisting themselves in the fight alongside Russia, Iran, Turkey, and the additional consortia of nations. The absence of these above listed predominately Arab populations tends to perplex the scholars, often causing them to postulate, rather than promulgate as to the reasons why.
Bless their souls, but in their zeal have the prophecy buffs managed to put the colloquial cart before the proverbial horse? Certainly the events described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 are slated to arrive soon, but are they indeed scheduled next? There exists a litany of questions that should be appropriately answered before any scholar dare flip the pages of the prophetic calendar forward to the date of this Goliath Ezekiel event. Newspaper exegesis makes for sensational reporting, but has no inherent ability to accelerate the final fulfillment of a Bible prophecy.
Before we list the flurry of questions, let’s ponder the most obvious one, which is; why are the Palestinians, and their Arab neighbors from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan, not declared by Ezekiel to be enlisted members in the Russian – Iranian led coalition? These are the nations that have proven to be the most observable opponents of the Jewish State, since its inception in 1948. It is through much of their Arab soil, that Russia, Iran, and their cohorts intend to travel in order to invade Israel. This question will be answered further on in this article, but for now let’s explore the following additional questions.
Is Israel:
1. A people dwelling securely, yashab betach in the Hebrew language? (Ezek. 38:8)
2. A people dwelling without walls? (Ezek. 38:11)
3. A nation at peace in the Middle East? (Ezek. 38:11)
4. One of the wealthiest nations in the world? (Ezek. 38:13)
5. A people who have acquired "great plunder"? (Ezek. 38:13)
6. Recognized as a Sovereign Nation, by the international community? (Ezek. 38:8)
These questions address some of the prerequisite conditions required for the stage to be appropriately set for the Russian – Iranian led nuclear equipped invasion of Israel. Furthermore Ezekiel 38:8 describes the Jewish people, as being regathered from the nations of the world, and returning to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. Though the Jewish people are being restored back to their ancient promised land, the honest answers to the above questions are, in each case No!
Israel is not dwelling securely; they presently have rockets being launched daily, almost hourly, into the town of Sderot, from the Hamas in the Gaza area. In the summer of 2006, they had over 4000 rockets fired upon Haifa and other northern locations out of Lebanon from the Hezbollah. Then of course there were the wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973. Likewise Israel is not a people dwelling without walls; to the contrary, they have constructed a huge 25 foot high, soon to be 403 miles long, wall in the midst of their land, intended to partition Palestinian terrorists away from Israel proper.
No it does not appear as though Israel is presently a nation at peace in the Middle East, whose sovereignty is officially recognized by all their Arab neighbors. Neither has Israel become one of the wealthiest nations in the world, as a result of acquiring "great plunder", which Biblically alludes to the spoils obtained as the result of a war. In fact Israel continues to forfeit land, their most valuable asset, in an attempt to obtain peace with their Arab neighbors.
So then if the prerequisite conditions are not yet come into alignment for the final fulfillment of the Ezekiel 38 and 39 prophecies, what is the next major ground shaking prophetic event foretold to unfold in the Middle East? What dare the Bible say will happen in the most perplexing region on planet Earth? Will it be an event that serves to bring Israel into appropriate - alignment with the stage - setting requirements that facilitate the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s Russian – Iranian led invasion?
Yes, now we have some Yes answers to introduce. Yes something else of epic proportion is foretold in the Bible to occur in the Middle East! Yes its conclusion will bring forth the announcement that the world theater is now readied for the nuclear equipped advance of the Russian – Iranian led invasion. Yes, it does adequately answer the fundamental question of why the Arab populations listed above are nowhere to be found in the Russian – Iranian coalition. Are you ready?
There is destined to be an Arab – Israeli war as per Psalm 83. An Arab confederacy consisting of Palestinians, Syrians, Saudi Arabians, Lebanese, Egyptians, Jordanians, and all their associated terrorist bedfellows, is destined to form with the explicit mandate of, and I quote; "They have said, Come, and let us [Arabs] cut them [Jews] off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more." (Psalm 83:4, NKJV; emphasis added)
These Arab peoples referred to by their ancient territorial names in Psalm 83, come together in one last crazed attempt to destroy the Jewish State of Israel. This will prove to be a fatal mistake for these Arab confederates. They will meet up with the technologically advanced arsenal of weapons possessed by the powerful army of Israel. It will be a matter of Israel’s survival, and their army will prevail. In victory, Israel finds itself fulfilling numerous prophecies such as:
1. They have become an "exceedingly great army" (Ezek. 37:10)
2. The execution of judgments on those who despise them (Ezek. 28:25)
3. They will then dwell securely (yashab betach) (Ezek. 28:26)
4. They will acquire Arab lands and great plunder (Obadiah 1:19, Jeremiah 49:2)
5. Sovereign International acclaim as "My People Israel" (Ezek. 25:14, 38:14,16)
6. They will become one of the wealthiest nations on earth (Zephaniah 2:7,9 NRSV)
These and many more prophecies find there fulfillment as a result of the Arab – Israeli war, which is certain to come, and is most likely the next major Middle East headline event according to scripture. A more exhaustive understanding of this major event can be found in the soon to be released book entitled "The Missing Peace of the Middle East Puzzle". This book is being published by Anomalos Publishing, authored by Bill Salhus, and is scheduled for national release July 1, 2008.
Why are the Palestinians and their Arab cohorts not enjoined in the Ezekiel 38 and 39 prophecies? Today’s most observable Arab opponents to the restoration of the nation Israel collectively abstain due to the fact, that they are soon to be decimated by the might of the Israeli Defense Force. How does Israel achieve peace in the Middle East and obtain international recognition as the sovereign Jewish State? It is through military means rather than politically brokered Real Estate deals, such as "The Roadmap Plan". When will the partition wall in Israel come down, and the Jews dwell securely in the Middle East? This will occur when the Jewish State expands territorially, acquires great plunder, and becomes regionally superior.
Digesting the above, Russia and Iran become threatened by what will then be, the new and improved, enlarged and in-charged future Israel. As a result of the Israeli Conquest over the inner circle of the core Arab nations that most closely border Israel today, the Russians and Iranians will promptly invite an outer circle of nations to enjoin their coalition in an attempt to destroy the Jewish State, and capture Israel’s newfound fortunes. It is then, and not before, that the prophecy buffs can safely turn the next page of the prophetic calendar forward and warn the world, that the events of Ezekiel 38 and 39 are about to reveal themselves.
Bill Salhus is the author of a groundbreaking new book due out later this year, "The Missing Peace of the Middle East Puzzle"
'Palestinian state temporary ruse to destroy Israel'
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59933
The Palestinian goal of a Palestinian state is just a temporary ruse until "all of Palestine" can be "liberated," declared a leader speaking yesterday on the official television network of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization.
Saleh Raafat, a member of the executive committee of Abbas' Palestine Liberation Organization, was interviewed on PA television about the death last weekend of infamous terrorist leader George Habash, who strongly opposed signing peace agreements with Israel.
In comments screened by WND, Raafat told his interviewer: "Habash was a very positive Palestinian leader who used democratic tools to express opinions. He disagreed with [late PLO leader Yasser] Arafat regarding the present temporary vision of a Palestinian state, but he never used weapons to express his disagreement."
Raafat said the Palestinians would accept "22 percent of Palestine" as a "temporary and not permanent" state until "all of Palestine" can be liberated.
While Raafat described Habash as "democratic" and as "never" using weapons, Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has carried out scores of notorious deadly terrorist attacks. Raafat was speaking as part of a mourning series on PA television for Habash, the PFLP leader who died in Jordan at the age of 81.
Habash's PFLP gained notoriety in 1970 for hijacking four Western airliners over the U.S., Europe, the Far East and the Persian Gulf. The aircraft were blown up in the Middle East after passengers and crews disembarked. The PFLP in 1972 then gunned down 27 people at Israel's Lod airport.
The PFLP continues operating from Syria, Jordan and the West Bank. More recent attacks include scores of deadly shootings against Israelis, the 2001 assassination of Israeli tourism minister Rechavam Zeevi and suicide bombings on an Israeli highway and in Tel Aviv's well-known Karmel Market.
According to Israeli security officials, the PFLP is the Palestinian terror group most proficient in carrying out successful drive-by shooting attacks.
Habash also led the second-largest faction of the PLO, next to Yasser Arafat's. Habash strongly opposed interim agreements with Israel and throughout his life advocated terror attacks against the Jewish state. Arafat numerous times said peace accords signed by Israel were part of a "phased plan" for the ultimate destruction of the Jewish state.
The children schooled by Arafat
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59632
President Bush made the first trip of his presidency to the Holy Land this past week to, as he put it, push for a peace treaty and an independent Palestinian state by the end of his term in office. That leaves just over a year to solve one of the most complex problems in modern history.
In order to accomplish this goal, the president said, ''Israeli and Palestinian negotiation teams will begin discussing 'core issues' such as Jerusalem, the Palestinian demand for a 'right of return' for alleged Palestinian 'refugees' from the 1948 War of Independence, and firm borders for an eventual Palestinian state.''
In 1993, the Palestinian Authority took control of its own educational system as part of the terms of the Oslo Accords. Since that time, Palestinian schoolchildren have been systematically brainwashed into believing that the only possible solution to the ''Jewish Question'' in what they believe is their land is the same conclusion reached by the Nazis at the Wannsee Conference. (This was a conference where the so called ''Final Solution to the Jewish Problem'' was produced – the annihilation of the Jewish race.)
Arafat had a Pavlovian-type curriculum created that would out-do the Nazis. He educated a self-perpetuating generation of Palestinian children that see the only solution to regaining 'their land' is to destroy the State of Israel and annihilate the Jews.
Part of this plan was to set up summer camps run by the PA that teach children (some as young as six) how to use lethal weapons against the Jews.
Only a month ago, Palestinian TV rebroadcast a video made during the 1990's (while the PA was ostensibly still in good-faith negotiations with Israel.) It is a children's play that begins when Israeli soldiers shoot a Palestinian woman in the back.
She then ascends into Islamic paradise where she becomes one of the 72 virgins awaiting the next Palestinian martyr to die in the cause of Allah. The scene cuts to a young Palestinian who is murdered by the Israelis and arrives in Paradise to claim his reward.
Palestinian textbooks deny both the historic and present existence of an Israeli state. Maps of Palestine include all of Israel. Teachers who encourage students to follow in their footsteps continually glorify suicide bombers.
Virtually all PA schools educate their students to believe there is no higher calling in life than to give it up willingly, taking as many Jews with them as possible in the process. And they do this while signing countless documents promising to 'end incitement' against Israel in the Palestinian school system.
In the Bible, Proverbs 22:6 says, ''train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.'' This works for evil as well as for good.
Each of us can attest to the truth of that passage from our own lives. What we learned as children stays with us for life. The fact that racial prejudice still exists in some places in America, even after decades of anti-racial deprogramming, is a testament to that truth.
Now imagine that you had been educated your entire life by Ku Klux Klansmen. All you ever knew were Klansmen, and all you were ever taught through your entire educational experience was KKK ideology.
Then one day, somebody tells you to ignore (not forget) everything you ever learned about racism and embrace the goals of the NAACP.
I chose that example because it is approximately the education experience of a typical white Southerner of late 19th and early 20th century America. Decades of affirmative action and racial deprogramming have revealed racism for what it is, yet it still remains firmly entrenched within the mindset of some Americans to this day.
One of the most commonly offered observations about Barak Obama is that his viability as a black presidential candidate means ''racism is dead in America.'' (If that were true, why would we feel the need to point it out?)
Decades after Martin Luther King, decades after school integration, decades after school systems were sanitized of racial references, racism – while nothing like it was in the fifties – still remains alive and well in America.
It is also important to point out that the kind of prejudice Muslim's have against the Jews far exceeds anything we understand in America. Their Holiest book, the Koran, backs their prejudice against Jews, and their mentors promise lavish rewards from Allah for killing them.
Palestinian children who have been continually shown false images in ''training films'' of Israeli soldiers shooting Palestinian women and children in the back will never forget them, nor overcome the hatred it inculcated in them.
A Palestinian child who started in a PA school in 1993 is now in his mid-teens. Based on the American experience with prejudice, if the PA stopped anti-Israeli incitement today, it would take at least until about 2050 for the Palestinians, as a people, to achieve a minimum level of racial tolerance. And as I said, their kind of prejudice exceeds anything we understand. Yet President Bush is demanding that this happen by the end of this year.
No matter whether his time table is being pushed by a lust for a legacy, Saudi backroom threats of OPEC restricting U.S. oil allotments, or both – It ain't gonna happen!
Olmert to hypocritical world - no one has right to preach morals to Israel
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2358
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Sunday slapped down international condemnation of his country's self-defense action against Gaza's terrorists, saying no-one has the right to tell Israel how to fight a moral war.
Olmert was speaking at the weekly meeting of his cabinet in Jerusalem, after the United Nations Security Council and the European Union leveled harsh criticism at the Jewish state.
He also slammed the blatant bias revealed by the criticism: "I don't remember those who are criticizing saying how unbearable the situation is in southern Israel when Israeli citizens are hurt" by terrorists who have for months rained rockets on Jewish civilians, he said.
"It needs to be kept in mind that the State of Israel is defending its civilians in the south. No one has the right to preach morals to Israel, which must take the fundamental action of defending its residents against the rocket fire."
The UN Security Council has condemned the violence, as has the European Union.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon messaged the Arab side saying the rocket attacks "serve no purpose, endanger civilians and bring misery to the Palestinian people."
But while recognizing Israel's "right to self defense," he nonetheless condemned the IDF’s pinpoint operations against the terrorists as "excessive and disproportionate." [One wonders what vocabulary he would employ if Israel carpet-bombed Gaza – as other countries would certainly have done long ago–Ed.]
"Israel must fully comply with international law and exercise restraint," he added.
Meanwhile, Olmert has vowed to "step up attacks on militants, in defiance of warnings from the UN" as Sky News reported it. Sky's news staff betrayed their own bias, with reporter Dominic Waghorn describing Israel as extremely defiant while the news anchor described the terrorism as "what Israel calls militant rocket strikes into its territory." [What, one wonders, does Sky News call it? A Sunday-afternoon picnic?-Ed.]
Two soldiers killed as Israel defends itself
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2356
After years of enduring daily rocket attacks that killed and injured its civilians, restricting its responses and repeatedly warning Gaza's Arabs to stop the terrorism, Israel Saturday increased its effort at self-defense, hammering Hamas hard.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven were wounded as IDF forces moved into northern Gaza and clashed with Hamas and other terrorists operating from there.
The Gaza Strip, abandoned by Israel 18 months ago and given to the "Palestinians" for a state "start-up," was instead successfully turned into a base for training and dispatching terrorists to kill Jews.
February saw a massive increase in the rocket attacks from Gaza that resulted in the maiming of Israeli children and the killing of father of four. As many as fifty rockets were fired daily on Thursday and Friday last week.
After the IDF moved in on Saturday, Arabs fired salvo after salvo of rockets towards the Negev towns of Sderot and Ashkelon, wounding six more civilians and destroying at least one home.
By Sunday morning, at least 70 Palestinians had been killed in the action, among them reportedly civilians, from among whom the terrorists frequently fire Kassam and - more recently Katyusha - rockets.
U.N. Condemns Israel's Strike on Hamas Office
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334378,00.html
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The U.N. Security Council condemned the escalation of violence following Israel's attack on the office of the prime minister of Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The Council adjourned its emergency session early Sunday and issued a statement that calls for all parties to respect their obligations under international law.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he recognized Israel's right to defend itself but accused Israel of "disproportionate and excessive use of force."
Israeli aircraft sent missiles slamming into Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's office in Gaza before dawn on Sunday, pressing forward with an offensive that has killed nearly 70 Palestinians in two days of fighting. A 21-month-old girl was among the dead in new violence.
Haniyeh's office was empty at the time of Sunday's airstrike, but the raid was seen as a tough message to the Hamas leadership, which Israel holds responsible for repeated rocket barrages launched from Gaza.
A total of 54 Palestinians, roughly half of them civilians, were killed in fighting Saturday, the highest single-day death toll in more than seven years of violence. Two Israeli soldiers also were killed.
Responding to the bloodletting, the moderate Palestinian leadership based in the West Bank suspended U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to arrive this week, but instead of promoting peace talks, she likely will try to put out the latest fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday rejected the international criticism and vowed to continue the Gaza offensive. "With all due respect, nothing will prevent us from continuing operations to protect our citizens," he told his Cabinet.
Olmert's defense minister, Ehud Barak, said an even broader Gaza operation was in the cards, aimed at crushing militant rocket squads but also to "weaken the Hamas rule, in the right circumstances, even to bring it down."
Israel regularly clashes with Gaza rocket squads, but intensified its operations after militants fired salvos last week into Ashkelon, a city of 120,000. By targeting Ashkelon, some 11 miles north of Gaza, Hamas added pressure on Israeli leaders to exact a high price for the increasing sense of insecurity felt in southern Israel.
Haniyeh's office was just one of about a dozen targets Israeli aircraft and ground troops struck before dawn.
Overnight, a 14-year-old Palestinian girl and five militants died of their wounds, and four Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids, including the baby girl, who died from shrapnel wounds.
The bodies of two women also were unearthed from the rubble of an earlier Israeli airstrike, bringing the total death toll from the operation to 66 since late Friday.
At least half were militants. Gaza health officials said about 200 people were wounded, 14 critically.
The normally bustling streets of Gaza City, the coastal strip's largest town, were eerily empty Sunday.
Schools and universities were closed. The sound of verses from the Muslim holy book, the Quran, pouring forth from mosque loudspeakers mingled with the roar of Israeli warplanes and unmanned drones in the sky. Hamas blocked off roads to government buildings and security installations to protect civilians from possible Israeli strikes.
Hundreds gathered outside hospitals in Gaza City and northern Gaza waiting for bodies to be brought forth from morgues for burial. Many, like schoolteacher Tawfek Shaban, a 44-year-old father of five, were holding small radios, listening to the news.
"Shame on the Arabs, shame on the Muslims, shame on humanity ... When they will act to stop Israel?" Shaban asked. "There is no safe place in Gaza."
The Israeli onslaught failed to stop rockets from battering southern Israel. Nine were fired at southern Israel by midday Sunday, including one that struck a house in the rocket-scarred town of Sderot, the military said. No one was injured. About 50 rockets and mortars were fired Saturday, wounding six Israelis.
"The Zionists will not enjoy security in ... all the colonies around Gaza as long as their crimes continue," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing.
The Saturday toll was by far the highest since the second Palestinian uprising erupted in late 2000. The highest previous Palestinian death toll was 38 in March 2002.
The moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, which is locked in a fierce rivalry with Hamas, called Israel's assault a "holocaust" and "genocide" and suspended peace talks.
"For the time being, the negotiations are suspended because we have so many funerals," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday. It was unclear when the talks, relaunched last November at a U.S.-hosted summit, would resume.
But Olmert said "attacking Hamas strengthens the chance for peace."
"I'm sure that beyond certain statements, the Palestinian leadership, the one with whom we want to achieve peace, also understands that," he said.
Olmert and the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, have set a year-end target for reaching an accord.
Abbas has ruled from the West Bank since his Hamas rivals violently seized control of Gaza last June. But the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza has threatened to unleash a backlash against him in the West Bank.
In Ramallah, home to Abbas' government, thousands of schoolchildren demonstrated against Israel. Some accused Abbas of being an Israeli agent, and protesters threw stones and cars, burned tires and forced shopkeepers to close their stores.
And in the West Bank city of Hebron, several hundred Palestinian youths threw stones and bottles at an Israeli checkpoint in the city center. Israeli troops responded with rubber bullets and gas, slightly wounding two people.
'Palestinians' to blame for their own civilian casualties
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2357
Gaza's terrorists are responsible for the harm they bring to their own people because they insist on shielding themselves behind civilians who get hurt or killed when Israel is forced to retaliate.
This is the position of the Israeli government, as spelled out to international journalists and diplomats Saturday evening, a few hours after the IDF mounted a series of pin point self-defense operations against Hamas and other terrorists in response to escalated rocket attacks from Gaza.
Photographs made available top journalists last week showed Kassam rockets being launched from the heart of densely-populated civilian areas in Gaza towns.
But despite Israel's long history of practicing unprecedented self-restraint in the face of the most brazen and cruel acts of violence perpetrated by the “Palestinians," Jerusalem does not really expect to be given a sympathetic hearing in the press.
The international community has already condemned the IDF response as excessive and disproportionate
Abbas grabs chance - freezes 'peace' talks
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2359
PLO chief terrorist and Palestinian Authority "President" Mahmoud Abbas wasted no time Saturday responding to the IDF's accelerated action against rocket-launching Arabs in Gaza by announcing the freezing of "peace" talks with Israel.
Abbas-watchers believe the wily, veteran terrorist plans to use the increased violence to get what he can out of the Israelis, who are under intense international pressure to end their self-defense effort and return to the talks table.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due back in the region this week, and Abbas apparently believes she will turn the screws on Israel to back off and "pay" for its "aggression."
While Abbas didn't wait a moment to announce his freeze, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has weathered months of bitter criticism from his own people - including members of his Kadima Party - for insisting on pursuing the land-for-peace process despite the death and injury of Israelis at the hands of the Kassam killers.
U.S. Military Kills Al Qaeda Leader in Iraq
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334392,00.html
BAGHDAD — A U.S. military helicopter fired a guided missile to kill a wanted Al Qaeda in Iraq leader from Saudi Arabia who was responsible for the bombing deaths of five American soldiers, a spokesman said Sunday.
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said Jar Allah, also known as Abu Yasir al-Saudi, and another Saudi known only as Hamdan, were both killed Wednesday in Mosul.
According to the military, al-Saudi conducted numerous attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces, including a Jan. 28 bomb attack that killed the five U.S. soldiers.
In that attack, insurgents blasted a U.S. patrol with a roadside bomb and showered survivors with gunfire from a mosque. The soldiers died in the explosion, the deadliest on American forces since six soldiers perished Jan. 9 in a booby-trapped house north of Baghdad.
Intelligence gathered in the Mosul area led the U.S. military to al-Saudi, who was in a car with Hamdan. A precision helicopter strike killed both and destroyed their vehicle. U.S. forces then confirmed the men's identities.
Smith said their deaths brought to 142 the number of Al Qaeda insurgents killed or captured in Mosul since the beginning of the year.
Al-Saudi was the man who headed up the Al Qaeda network in southeast Mosul, an insurgent hotbed where U.S. forces wage daily battles against the group.
"Mosul is the center of Al Qaeda's terrorist activities today. Mosul is a critical crossroads for Al Qaeda in Iraq. Baghdad has always been Al Qaeda's operational center of gravity, but Mosul remains their strategic center of gravity as it provides access to the flow of foreign fighters," Smith said.
Mosul is located at the locus of roads that connect Iraq with Syria to the west, Turkey to the north and Iran to the east. Many fighters smuggled in from Syria make their way through Mosul, where they can easily blend in with city's ethnically and religiously diverse population.
"It is their strategic center of gravity. One-half to two-thirds of attacks in Iraq today are in and around Mosul," Smith said.
A successful program to recruit and fund Sunni tribesmen has also slashed Al Qaeda's influence in Baghdad and western Anbar province, pushing the group into Diyala province and up toward Mosul — fighting as they retreat north.
In one incident Sunday, 13 gunmen were killed and eight were injured in clashes with American and Iraqi forces in the town of Tal Afar — on the road from Syria to Mosul. Tal Afar Mayor Maj. Gen. Najim Abdullah said that two police officers were also killed and four were injured.
In two other separate attacks in Diyala, police reported that five people were killed when a roadside bomb hit a bus, while another assault killed a patrolling police officer.
It remains unclear if Al Qaeda was responsible for Friday's kidnapping of Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho and the killing of three people who were with him. Smith said that Iraqi and U.S. forces were searching for those who abducted the cleric as he left Mass in the northern city of Mosul. The European Union also appealed for his release and condemned the kidnapping in an announcement.
Smith said there was no way to predict when Mosul would be rid of Al Qaeda, adding that "there is no timetable per se to turn over security in any particular area of Iraq, including Baghdad" to Iraqi forces.
According to the military, al-Saudi planned and conducted numerous attacks against Iraqi and U.S. forces, including a reported attempt with a 5,000-lb vehicle bomb that would have killed hundreds of people if it had exploded.
Al-Saudi was a close associate of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri and arrived in Mosul with a group of foreign fighters last August after spending time fighting in Afghanistan.
"After fighting and training in Afghanistan, he was brought to Iraq by Abu Ayyub al-Masri in November 2007, one of four Saudi Arabians appointed to supervise Al Qaeda activities in Mosul. He was quickly moved up to run all of the terror network's operations in southeast Mosul, becoming the most visible and active Al Qaeda operative in the area," Smith said.
In another incident, the military expressed regret over the killing of a teenager Friday by a helicopter gunship that thought it was firing on suspected roadside bombers planting a device, the military said.
It added that residents later told troops that a group of boys had been digging up roots for firewood.
Ahmadinejad welcomed in US-built Iraq
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2360
Muslim megalomaniac and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - who foretells Israel's destruction in almost every one of his public speeches - received a hero's welcome when he arrived in Iraq on a state visit Sunday.
Ahmadinejad - the first Iranian leader to visit Iraq since the 1980s - is scheduled to meet with the country's US-planted president and prime minister during his tour of the country his predecessors waged war against for eight years.
The leaders of the two former enemy states were reportedly to hold their meetings behind closed doors.
Some of the issues to be discussed included deals of Iranian electricity supplies to Iraqi cities and Tehran's offer to build a powerplant for Iraq. Iran has already given Iraq $ 1 billion in aid.
While it is not difficult to assess what this strengthening of ties and Iraq's growing debt to Iran portends for the future of the region, we are left to speculate about what Ahmadinejad and fellow-Shiite, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, will say in their meetings about Israel.
Ahmadinejad's hatred for the Jewish state is often in the news, but Al-Maliki's feelings are less well known.
The Iraqi did earn the ire of American lawmakers in the 2006 Second Lebanon War when he one-sidedly condemned Israel.
In a letter to Al-Maliki, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York described the Iraqi leader's comments as troubling.
"Your failure to condemn Hezbollah's aggression and recognize Israel's right to defend itself raise serious questions about whether Iraq under your leadership can play a constructive role in resolving the current crisis and bringing stability to the Middle East," their letter said.
In December of that year US President George W. Bush endorsed Al-Maliki as "the right guy for the job" of leading Iraq
Last August, the Iraqi flew to Syria for meetings with top officials in a country Iran has also been working hard to cement relations with.
Ahmadinejad: U.S. Brought Terrorism to Mideast
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/Ahmadinejad_terrorism/2008/03/02/77200.html
BAGHDAD -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the US on Sunday of bringing terrorism to the Middle East as he made a historic trip to Iraq which he said opened "a new page" in ties between the neighbours.
Hitting back at charges by US President George W. Bush that it was Iran that was destablising its western neighbour, Ahmadinejad blamed what it regards as a continuing US occupation and stressed Shiite Iran's good relations with Iraq's Shiite majority which leads the post-invasion government.
"Six years ago there was no terrorism in our region. As soon as strangers (the Americans) put their foot in the region, the terrorists came here," Ahmadinejad said.
"The Americans should change their viewpoint concerning these issues," he added in response to the accusations from the White House.
Speaking at his Texas ranch on Saturday Bush, had called on Iran to "quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing our citizens."
But the Iranian president insisted in a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that anti-American sentiment in Iraq was not Iran's fault as Iraq "does not want the US."
Ahmadinejad was on the first visit by an Iranian president to Iraq since the two neighbours lost an estimated one million people in a devastating 1980-1988 war during the iron-fisted regime of Saddam Hussein.
At a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani, he hailed a "new page" in relations.
"We have the same understanding of things and the two parties are determined to strengthen their political, economic and cultural cooperation," he said.
Ahmadinejad acknowledged that Iraqis were going through "tough" times -- "but as we know, the Iraqi people will overcome the situation and the Iraq of tomorrow will be a powerful, developed and unique Iraq."
After seeing Talabani, Ahmadinejad drove to Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone to meet Maliki in his office, located just two kilometres (one mile) from the US embassy.
Maliki said the visit of Ahmadinejad was a "positive" signal to other regional states that they should develop ties with the new Iraq.
"There was a high level of trust and I frankly say that the recent Iranian position towards Iraq is extremely helpful," Maliki said in the news conference with Ahmadinejad.
"The visit will encourage and motivate neighbouring countries to visit Iraq."
Ahmadinejad said he understood the concerns about Kurdish rebels that had motivated Iraq's most populous neighbour Turkey to send troops across the border last month but added that Iraq's sovereignty needed to be respected.
"Terrorism is presently damaging everybody," said the Iranian president whose own country is facing an insurgency by a rebel group with close links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has been fighting the Turkish army for the past 24 years.
"Everybody should fight terrorism. We have to have coordination between the governments of Turkey, Iran and Iraq," he said.
But he stressed that any action taken had to be in a way "that the sovereignty of Iraq is respected".
Iran's relations with Iraq have drastically improved under the new Shiite-led government installed after the US-led invasion of 2003 with many leading politicians being former rebels who found sanctuary in Iran under the old regime.
Trade between the two neighbours is brisk. Iran is also building a major airport to service the millions of pilgrims who visit the Shiite shrines of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq.
But not all Iraqis expressed happiness at Ahmadinejad's visit. "No! No, to Iranian intervention!" chanted a crowd of around 250 in the northern oil city of Kirkuk.
"As Iraqis, we can't let the Iranians and US settle their scores on Iraqi soil," one protester said.
Iran's relations with the United States remain frosty, 28 years after the two countries broke off diplomatic relations in the wake of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
The US military has 14 Iranians in its custody in Iraq and says it has proof that Tehran supplies insurgents with armour-piercing explosives and rockets.
The two countries are also at odds over Iran's nuclear programme, which the United States suspects is a cover for an atomic weapons drive, something Iran denies.
Ahmadinejad was welcomed by Talabani with the traditional pomp and ceremony of a red-carpet greeting and honour guard as a military band played their national anthems.
Outside the Talabani compound, US troops who normally man key crossroads near the residence were nowhere to be seen. Kurdish peshmerga militiamen from the Iraqi presidential guard provided security instead.
Al Qaeda Deputy Leader Al Zawahiri Pens Book Condemning Militants Who Rejected Violence
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334509,00.html
CAIRO, Egypt — Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader wrote a book published Sunday on militant Islamic Web sites in which he slams radical militants who have disavowed armed struggle and turned their backs on violence.
The 215-page book by Aymen Al Zawahiri is the latest salvo in an intellectual war between the founders of the terror group and the other Islamic militants, many of whom have become disillusioned with homicide bombings and attacks on civilians.
"This message that I present to the reader today is the most difficult, if not the hardest I have written in my life," al-Zawahri wrote in the introduction to "Exonerations," published by al-Sahab, Al Qaeda's media wing.
In it, al-Zawahri rejects a series of "revisions" published by prominent jailed Islamist thinkers that renounce violence.
"It serves the interests of the Crusader-Zionist alliance with the Arab leaders to drug the mujahideen and drag them away from the confrontation," he writes.
The most recent renunciation came in 2007 from Sayed Imam, once a top leader in Egypt's Islamic Jihad group and an associate of Al Zawahiri.
Imam's writings in the 1980s laying an Islamic legal basis for violent action against "infidel" regimes, were highly influential among Al Qaeda militants. But his "revisions" argue that such violence is banned under Islamic law.
Al Zawahiri -- seen by many counterterrorism experts to be Al Qaeda's operational chief, rather than Usama bin Laden -- is believed to play a large role in directing Al Qaeda's strategy on the ground and issues frequent videos an audiotapes, often laying out the network's doctrinal line.
Meanwhile, Al Qaeda released a new video eulogy Sunday of its top Afghanistan strategist on militant Web sites. The video marks the second for Abu Laith al-Libi, showing the slain commander's importance to Al Qaeda.
"Nation of Islam, we pay tribute today to a courageous hero of Islam, an unmatched commander, one of Islam's greatest," eulogized fellow Al Qaeda militant Abu Yahya al-Libi, appearing in front of an image of Abu Laith's battered corpse.
Abu Laith was viewed as a top Al Qaeda strategist in Afghanistan and was one of its highest-profile figures after Usama bin Laden and al Zawahri. He was killed in late January by a missile from a U.S. Predator drone that struck his safe house in Pakistan.
Police: 8 Killed, 33 Injured in Armenian Clashes Over Election Results
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334376,00.html
YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenian police say eight people were killed and 33 officers injured in clashes between police and protesters angry over alleged election fraud.
Police spokesman Sayat Shirinian announced the deaths in a statement Sunday. He did not say whether the eight killed were protesters or police, or give other details.
The president declared a 20-day state of emergency late Saturday night following a day of violence between police and some 15,000 demonstrators.
Troops and armored vehicles patrolled the main streets of Armenia's capital Sunday. The opposition leader also has appealed for calm.
Christian Aid, Islamic Relief team up for global volunteering scheme
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian.aid.islamic.relief.team.up.for.global.volunteering.scheme/17110.htm
A new Government-backed global volunteering scheme for 18 to 25-year-olds will offer young adults from less advantaged backgrounds the opportunity to live, work and learn about life in poorer countries while making a real difference to people’s lives, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander announced today.
Over the next three years 2,500 young adults will be sponsored to do voluntary work in a developing country and raise awareness of development issues in the UK.
The £10 million scheme is backed by the Department for International Development (DFID) and will be run in partnership by Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and BUNAC.
Announcing the scheme in Birmingham today at South Birmingham College, Mr Alexander said: "This scheme aims to give young British adults who wouldn’t normally have an opportunity the chance to make a valuable contribution to the lives of people overseas who are blighted by poverty.
“By living and working with people from very different backgrounds, facing very different challenges, they will learn new skills and help unlock the potential within them to become better global citizens. And on return they’ll be applying what they’ve learned to activities in their own local communities.
“It is important that young people understand the issues that shape the world they live in. All round this should prove to be a very rewarding life experience for the young adults involved.
Starting in summer 2008 with placements to Ghana and South Africa, the volunteers will spend 10 weeks in a developing country working on local community development projects such as environmental conservation or HIV / Aids awareness.
They will then design personal activity plans with other volunteers during a residential weekend on their return to the UK and build understanding about the world back home through road shows and activities in their local communities and encouraging their peers to join the fight against global poverty.
Christian Aid’s Director Daleep Mukarji said: “We are delighted to take a lead in this venture, which is the first of its kind. Christian Aid’s mission is to expose the scandal of poverty and together with Islamic Relief and BUNAC we will be able to directly engage young adults with the issues surrounding poverty, and give them an opportunity to make a real difference.”
Dr Hany El Banna, President of Islamic Relief said of the project: “It will be a continuous journey of discovery; of how and why different people across the globe face different levels of poverty and development, and of how all our actions and destinies are so intertwined.
“Sharing these stories upon their return will potentially have life-changing consequences, not just for the young travelers themselves, but also for their families, friends and possibly whole communities, both here in the UK and beyond.”
New Bible reveals God's heart towards poverty and injustice
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/new.bible.reveals.gods.heart.towards.poverty.and.injustice/17136.htm
A new Bible which connects Scriptures with some of the biggest issues of our day has been launched by Bible Society.
The Poverty and Justice Bible, the latest release from Bible Society, has broken new ground as the first ever to literally highlight the more than 2,000 passages that reveal God’s sorrow over poverty and injustice, and His command to believers to act to eradicate them.
The new edition challenges the notion that the Bible is a dusty, outdated rulebook, and shows that God – through the Bible - was already speaking out on poverty long before anyone else.
The Rt Rev Dr Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham and Bible Society’s President, said, “Poverty and injustice are two of the biggest issues of our day, challenging the minds of politicians and social activists around the world.
“The imbalance of global wealth, famine, water shortages, exploitation and corruption are all issues that invoke outrage – and demand attention. But The Poverty and Justice Bible shows that, in speaking out on these issues, God got there first.”
Far from being irrelevant, the Poverty and Injustice Bible demonstrates that God’s Word has “something to say about issues that resonate today”, the bishop added.
“This Bible connects with the very fabric of today’s world, with all its problems and messiness – and has something powerful to say,” he said.
Bible Society was inspired to develop the new Bible after Pastor Rick Warren, of Purpose Driven fame, admitted that had missed more than 2,000 verses that speak of God’s heart for the poor despite studying theology and being a pastor for decades. He claimed that Christians risked losing their credibility if they failed to speak out against poverty and injustice.
Christian leader and commentator Tony Campolo added, “Here’s proof that faith without committment to justice for the poor is a sham, because it ignores the most explicit of all the social concerns of Scripture.”
Bible Society staff and experts spent months debating and sifting through the Contemporary English Version (CEV) Bible to pull out the verses that say something about God’s attitude to poverty and justice. The result was more than 2,000 sections, with almost every page from Genesis to Revelation emphasising just and fair behaviour.
The organisation hopes that the Poverty and Justice Bible will also act as a springboard for Christians to take action on these issues by helping them link social action with Scripture.
The new Bible, produced with support from aid agency World Vision, includes a 32-page study guide written by bestselling authors Nick and Claire Page, and covering a wide range of timely issues from equality to education, farming to Fairtrade.
The studies highlight that concern for the oppressed is foundational to faith, and encourage action – from giving, to praying, to living responsibly.
Bible Society’s Chief Executive James Catford said, “For us in this country, issues of poverty and justice have increasingly become front and centre. What this Bible shows is that on the topics that challenge us every day, God got there first. The Bible has something to say about life and, in fact, there’s nothing on earth that we can experience that the Bible doesn’t tackle.
“The Poverty and Justice Bible helps the Church engage with the Bible more effectively by linking Scripture with issues that are rooted in today’s world. For Bible Society, this is just as important as our work to make the Bible available. It’s all part of the fight against Bible poverty.”
The Poverty and Justice Bible is available at the special introductory price of £9.99. Visit www.povertyandjusticebible.org to find out more.
Japanese to Live Among Robots?
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/331640.aspx
TOKYO - At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust.
Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot - dubbed Kansei, or "sensibility" - responds to the word "war" by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears "love," and its pink lips smile.
"To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks," said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University. "Robots will need to work with emotions, to understand and eventually feel them.
While robots are a long way from matching human emotional complexity, the country is perhaps the closest to a future - once the stuff of science fiction - where humans and intelligent robots routinely live side by side and interact socially.
Robots are already taken for granted in Japanese factories, so much so that they are sometimes welcomed on their first day at work with Shinto religious ceremonies. Robots make sushi. Robots plant rice and tend paddies.
There are robots serving as receptionists, vacuuming office corridors, spoon-feeding the elderly. They serve tea, greet company guests and chatter away at public technology displays. Now startups are marching out robotic home helpers.
They aren't all humanoid. The Paro is a furry robot seal fitted with sensors beneath its fur and whiskers, designed to comfort the lonely, opening and closing its eyes and moving its flippers.
For Japan, the robotics revolution is an imperative. With more than a fifth of the population 65 or older, the country is banking on robots to replenish the work force and care for the elderly.
In the past several years, the government has funded a plethora of robotics-related efforts, including some $42 million for the first phase of a humanoid robotics project, and $10 million a year between 2006 and 2010 to develop key robot technologies.
The government estimates the industry could surge from about $5.2 billion in 2006 to $26 billion in 2010 and nearly $70 billion by 2025.
Besides financial and technological power, the robot wave is favored by the Japanese mind-set as well.
Robots have long been portrayed as friendly helpers in Japanese popular culture, a far cry from the often rebellious and violent machines that often inhabit Western science fiction.
This is, after all, the country that invented Tamagotchi, the hand-held mechanical pets that captivated the children of the world.
Japanese are also more accepting of robots because the native Shinto religion often blurs boundaries between the animate and inanimate, experts say. To the Japanese psyche, the idea of a humanoid robot with feelings doesn't feel as creepy - or as threatening - as it might do in other cultures.
Still, Japan faces a vast challenge in making the leap - commercially and culturally - from toys, gimmicks and the experimental robots churned out by labs like Takeno's to full-blown human replacements that ordinary people can afford and use safely.
"People are still asking whether people really want robots running around their homes, and folding their clothes," said Damian Thong, senior technology analyst at Macquarie Bank in Tokyo.
"But then again, Japan's the only country in the world where everyone has an electric toilet," he said. "We could be looking at a robotics revolution."
That revolution has been going on quietly for some time.
Japan is already an industrial robot powerhouse. Over 370,000 robots worked at factories across Japan in 2005, about 40 percent of the global total and 32 robots for every 1,000 Japanese manufacturing employees, according to a recent report by Macquarie, which had no numbers from subsequent years.
And they won't be claiming overtime or drawing pensions when they're retired.
"The cost of machinery is going down, while labor costs are rising," said Eimei Onaga, CEO of Innovation Matrix Inc., a company that distributes Japanese robotics technology in the U.S. "Soon, robots could even replace low-cost workers at small firms, greatly boosting productivity."
That's just what the Japanese government has been counting on. A 2007 national technology roadmap by the Trade Ministry calls for 1 million industrial robots to be installed throughout the country by 2025.
A single robot can replace about 10 employees, the roadmap assumes - meaning Japan's future million-robot army of workers could take the place of 10 million humans. That's about 15 percent of the current work force.
"Robots are the cornerstone of Japan's international competitiveness," Shunichi Uchiyama, the Trade Ministry's chief of manufacturing industry policy, said at a recent seminar. "We expect robotics technology to enter even more sectors going forward."
Meanwhile, localities looking to boost regional industry clusters have seized on robotics technology as a way to spur advances in other fields.
Robotic technology is used to build more complex cars, for instance, and surgical equipment.
The logical next step is robots in everyday life.
At a hospital in Aizu Wakamatsu, 190 miles north of Tokyo, a child-sized white and blue robot wheels across the floor, guiding patients to and from the outpatients' surgery area.
The robot, made by startup Tmsk, sports perky catlike ears, recites simple greetings, and uses sensors to detect and warn people in the way. It helpfully prints out maps of the hospital, and even checks the state of patients' arteries.
The Aizu Chuo Hospital spent about some $557,000 installing three of the robots in its waiting rooms to test patients' reactions. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, said spokesman Naoya Narita.
"We feel this is a good division of labor. Robots won't ever become doctors, but they can be guides and receptionists," Narita said.
Still, the wheeled machines hadn't won over all seniors crowding the hospital waiting room on a weekday morning.
"It just told us to get out of the way!" huffed wheelchair-bound Hiroshi Asami, 81. "It's a robot. It's the one who should get out my way."
"I prefer dealing with real people," he said.
Another roadblock is money.
For all its research, Japan has yet to come up with a commercially successful consumer robot. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. failed to sell even one of its pricey toddler-sized Wakamaru robots, launched in 2003 as domestic helpers.
Though initially popular, Sony Corp. pulled the plug on its robot dog, Aibo, in 2006, just seven years after its launch. With a price tag of a whopping $2,000, Aibo never managed to break into the mass market.
One of the only commercially successful consumer robots so far is made by an American company, iRobot Corp. The Roomba vacuum cleaner robot is self-propelled and can clean rooms without supervision.
"We can pretty much make anything, but we have to ask, what are people actually going to buy?" said iRobot CEO Helen Greiner. The company has sold 2.5 million Roombas - which retail for as little as $120 - since the line was launched in 2002.
Still, with the correct approach, robots could provide a wealth of consumer goods, Greiner stressed at a recent convention.
Sure enough, Japanese makers are catching on, launching low-cost robots like Tomy's $300 i-Sobot, a toy-like hobby robot that comes with 17 motors, can recognize spoken words and can be remote-controlled.
Sony is also trying to learn from past mistakes, launching a much cheaper $350 rolling speaker robot last year that built on its robotics technology.
"What we need now isn't the ultimate humanoid robot," said Kyoji Takenaka, the head of the industry-wide Robot Business Promotion Council.
"Engineers need to remember that the key to developing robots isn't in the lab, but in everyday life."
Still, some of the most eye-catching developments in robotics are coming out of Japan's labs.
Researchers at Osaka University, for instance, are developing a robot to better understand child development.
The "Child-Robot with Biomimetic Body" is designed to mimic the motions of a toddler. It responds to sounds, and sensors in its eyes can see and react to people. It wiggles, changes facial expressions, and makes gurgling sounds.
The team leader, Minoru Asada, is working on artificial intelligence software that would allow the child to "learn" as it progresses.
"Right now, it only goes, 'Ah, ah.' But as we develop its learning function, we hope it can start saying more complex sentences and moving on its own will," Asada said. "Next-generation robots need to be able to learn and develop themselves."
For Hiroshi Ishiguro, also at Osaka University, the key is to make robots that look like human beings. His Geminoid robot looks uncannily like himself - down to the black, wiry hair and slight tan.
"In the end, we don't want to interact with machines or computers. We want to interact with technology in a human way so it's natural and valid to try to make robots look like us," he said.
"One day, they will live among us," Ishiguro said. "Then you'd have to ask me: 'Are you human? Or a robot?"'
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