NOTE: Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Things have been a little hectic lately. I have decided to try to post here weekly from now on instead of daily. Hopefully, that will be a little more manageable. Thanks for understanding, and may Jesus bless you!
Values Voters Summit Kicks Off
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/443116.aspx
CBNNews.com - Thousands will gather in the nation's capitol this weekend for what has been named one of the most influential events to the 2008 presidential election.
The Family Research Council's annual Values Voters Summit began Friday in Washington, D.C., a conference where Christian conservatives discuss values they consider important as a voter.
LAST YEAR'S SUMMIT:
GOP Candidates Court Values Voters
The addition of Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket has stirred an even greater interest this year, FRC president Tony Perkins said.
"There is a lot of enthusiasm among social conservatives now, while just a month ago there was almost none," he said. "But a lot of work has to be done because there has not been the operations on the ground or grass roots enthusiasm until now that was there for Bush in 2004."
The three-day event will feature various speakers, including former Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, CNN reporter Lou Dobbs and Christian actor and evangelist Stephen Baldwin. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who addressed the group last year, will be seen via video on Saturday.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain will not attend the event, though the FRC says a spot is still open in case he changes his mind. It is unclear whether Sen. Barack Obama accepted his invitation to attend.
A recent Cox News Service list named the Values Voters Summit on of the top 20 events "most crucial in determining the next president."
WMD report: US remains 'dangerously vulnerable'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080909/ap_on_go_ot/wmd_report
The United States remains "dangerously vulnerable" to chemical, biological and nuclear attacks seven years after the 9/11 attacks, a forthcoming independent study concludes.
And a House Democrats' report says the Bush administration has repeatedly missed opportunities to improve the nation's security.
The recent political rupture between Russia and the U.S. only makes matters worse, said former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., who helped lead the 9/11 Commission and now chairs the independent group's latest study.
Efforts to reduce access to nuclear technology and bomb-making materials have slowed, thousands of U.S. chemical plants remain unprotected, and the Bush administration continues to oppose strengthening an international treaty to prevent bioterrorism, according to the report by the bipartisan Partnership for a Secure America.
The group includes leaders of the disbanded 9/11 Commission, the bipartisan panel that investigated government missteps before the 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
"The threat of a new, major terrorist attack on the United States is still very real," says the report to be released Wednesday, the same day a congressional commission will hold a hearing in New York on nuclear and biological terrorism threats.
"A nuclear, chemical or biological weapon in the hands of terrorists remains the single greatest threat to our nation," the report said. "While progress has been made in securing these weapons and materials, we are still dangerously vulnerable."
Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, had harsher criticism of the Bush administration's efforts. Their report, written by the staffs of the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, found little or no progress across the board on national security initiatives.
"The Bush administration has not delivered on a myriad of critical homeland and national security mandates," said the Democrats' report that was released Tuesday.
"The administration has just failed to act in so many ways," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. "Let's say that we've been fortunate that we have not been attacked" since 2001, said Thompson, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke called the House report "egregiously political and insulting." He said committee staffs did not consult the department during their research and put partisanship above national security.
The independent report focuses narrowly on weapons of mass destruction.
The report and supporting studies describe a failure of international cooperation to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, which they call a major problem. Many countries continue to ignore a United Nations mandate to prevent the spread of weapons; the ability of many countries to monitor potential bioterrorism is "essentially nonexistent," and dangerous chemical weapons stockpiles remain in some countries, including Russia and Libya, the report said.
Russia has been a significant player in U.S. efforts to secure nuclear weapons and to eliminate inventories of chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union. That cooperation could be jeopardized as the two countries face off over the Russian invasion of Georgia and concerns about a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, Hamilton said.
The independent report, however, doesn't tell the whole story either, said Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
"By any objective standard — ranging from the security of Russian nuclear weapons material, to the installation of radiation detectors, to conversions of nuclear reactors — we are much safer than we were 10 years ago," he said.
Bush on Monday canceled a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Russia.
"The things we do to penalize Russia will make it more difficult for us to deal with Russia on other matters," Hamilton said.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood said he hasn't seen the independent report. But he said there have been a number of successes in recent years, including negotiations to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program and Libya's agreement to end its nuclear and chemical weapons program.
"We have been engaged multilaterally with a number of countries to deal with this issue of weapons of mass destruction," Wood said.
Wood said he also has not seen the Democrats' report. "I fundamentally reject the charge that the administration has made the world less safe from terrorism," he said.
House Democrats also blasted Bush policy in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia as damaging to national security. U.S. efforts to combat terrorists in Pakistan have suffered because of "unyielding support for a military dictator"; Iraq has drained resources from the fight in Afghanistan, and Saudi Arabia continues to serve "as a major source of terrorist activity," the Democrats' report states.
The independent study, however, did credit the Bush administration with progress in a number of areas. It cited improved U.S. port security, reduction of military chemical stockpiles, increased U.S. funding for securing nuclear weapons sites in Russia and new international programs aimed at preventing crimes involving biological weapons.
Homeland Security goes on special alert for homegrown jihadists
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74865
As the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks nears, Homeland Security agents are on heightened alert for young Turkish Muslims who may be trying to enter the U.S. as part of an al-Qaida terrorist operation, WND has learned from counterterrorism officials and internal agency documents.
Meanwhile, agents are monitoring more than 20,000 suspected homegrown terrorists on the FBI's watchlist to prevent them from boarding commercial aircraft.
All of the individuals are American citizens or permanent legal residents "who have some relationship with terrorist activity," said Leonard Boyle, who heads the FBI's terrorism screening center in McLean, Va.
Homeland Security has programmed a computer system that screens inbound passengers for signs of terrorist activity to flag Turkish and other individuals whose passports show travel to Pakistan.
U.S. intelligence officials say jihadist websites indicate that hundreds of Turks have recently trained in al-Qaida camps in Pakistan, and may have sworn to carry out suicide operations against the West.
One website recently showed a martyrdom video of German-born Turk Saad Abu Furqan, who blew himself up outside a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan have been creating cells with the mission of attacking Western targets, including the U.S., officials say. Osama bin Laden's deputy appeared in a video this week with a rifle propped up behind him. Officials are analyzing the tape for possible coded messages.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has warned that al-Qaida is trying to exploit a security loophole created by the Visa Waiver Program to sneak terrorist muscle into the country.
Germans, Brits and other European passport holders are exempt from U.S. visa security checks under the program. Such travelers, who are entered into the system as "WT" or "WB," do not require a visa to enter the U.S.
At the same time, counterterrorism officials in New York are running down leads produced by last month's arrest and interrogation of al-Qaida operative Aafia Siddiqui, an MIT-educated microbiologist who fled to Pakistan after 9/11.
Siddiqui was found with a list of New York targets including the Empire State Building, Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty and the subway system. Notes in her possession also included information about a mass attack and referred to construction of dirty bombs.
In addition, a computer flash drive found on Siddiqui referred to "attacks" by certain "cells."
Siddiqui is close to a Saudi-American considered by the FBI to be "the next Mohamed Atta." Adnan al-Shukrijumah, aka "Jafar the Pilot," allegedly conspired with al-Qaida dirty bomber Jose Padilla. Al-Shukrijumah is still at large.
WND has learned that customs and border agents are also taking a closer look at female Muslim travelers, and handicapped Muslim travelers and their aides.
Officials say the internal heightened alert extends through at least October and the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and likely will continue on through Election Day.
The nation's public threat level remains at yellow, or "elevated." Officials say they have no specific credible information of a terrorist attack that would lead them to raise the threat level to orange, or "high," at this time.
Next US terror attack 'could be by white Americans or Europeans'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2778261/Next-US-terror-attack-could-be-by-white-Americans-or-Europeans.html
As Barack Obama and John McCain head to New York's Ground Zero seven years after 19 Middle-Eastern hijackers brought devastation to the US mainland, counter-terrorism experts believe that any future attack will be made by terrorists with an "American face".
They point to reports of white faces in terrorism training camps in Pakistan - the so-called "white men of Waziristan", a reference to the remote tribal area where both al-Qaeda and the Taliban have bases.
Experts believe that dozens of westerners have undergone such training as their leaders try to recruit non-Middle Eastern Asians, particularly ethnic Caucasians, who are less likely to attract the attention of security and law enforcement agencies.
Al-Qaeda's recent decision to put out videos in English and a similar change on extremist "jihadi" websites have also been cited of evidence of a new strategy to find recruits who are less likely to attract the attention of security and law enforcement agencies.
Such concerns were sharpened last week after the arrest of three Germans over an alleged plot to destroy a club used by US servicemen.
Two of the three were white, ethnic Germans and all had allegedly been trained in camps in Waziristan.
"There is no bigger worry for the US counter-terrorism community than young Caucasian men who have turned to al-Qaeda," Roger Cressey, a former National Security Council official in the Clinton and Bush administrations, told the US news network MSNBC.
Terrorism experts say such a threat has been known about even before the arrest of Richard Reid, the British shoe bomber. However, it was not until three weeks ago that a US official explicitly admitted that the government knew of such people being trained in significant numbers.
In a little reported speech, Ted Gistaro, the US national intelligence officer for transnational threats, said that al-Qaeda was training and "positioning" its operatives for attacks in the West, probably including the US.
He added: "These operatives include North American and European citizens, and legal residents with passports that allow them to travel to the United States without a US visa."
Mr Cressey, the council's director for transnational threats at the time of 9/11, said that President Bush last month hosted a joint meeting of the NSC and the Homeland Security Council to discuss current threats.
The training of the type of people identified by Mr Gistaro was "the single biggest concern" at the meeting because "they can't be tracked and they're not in anyone's database," said Mr Cressey.
Prof Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, said that the Western al-Qaeda recruits probably "run into the dozens" and did not need to be white to be useful to the terrorist group.
"Europe provides a potentially large pool from which al-Qaeda can draw. It's hard to put a figure on them but it's certainly beyond the ones and twos," he said.
"The group's having to find new ways to penetrate our defences. So, in a sense, this is a consequence of our own success."
Last month, the Homeland Security Department announced a plan to require visitors from 27 friendly countries, including Britain, to register online at least three days before flying to the US to allow more time for terrorism checks.
In Manhattan today, Mr McCain and Mr Obama have agreed to help keep the focus on remembering 9/11 rather than the election when they attend the ceremonial reading of victims' names.
Detailed designs for a 47,500-sq ft pavilion for a Sept 11 museum at the World Trade Centre site were unveiled yesterday. The three-storey glass and steel building was inspired by the Twin Towers.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, said there should be "no more excuses, no more delays" on completing a memorial by the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
Progress on redeveloping the WTC site had been "frustratingly slow", in large part because of administrative bureaucracy, he said.
Al Qaeda Targets Leading Arab Evangelist Operating In The U.S. For Preaching The Gospel To Muslims
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/
You have probably never heard of Father Zakaria Botros.
But you need to know his story. He is far and away the most-watched and most-effective Arab-American evangelist focused on reaching the Muslim world, and by far the most controversial. The Rush Limbaugh of the Revivalists, he is funny, feisty, brilliant, opinionated, and provocative. But rather than preaching the gospel of conservatism, he is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And his enemies do not simply want to silence him. They want to assassinate him.
Last week, I had the honor of interviewing Botros by phone from a secure, undisclosed location in the United States, where he now resides. He told me that he had just learned that an al Qaeda website had posted his photograph and named him one of the "most wanted" infidels in the world. The Radicals have even put a bounty on his head. The Christian Broadcasting Network reported the figure was as high as $60 million. Botros does not know for certain. But just to put that in context, the U.S. bounty on Osama bin Laden's head is "only" $25 million.
Why are the Radicals so enraged by an elderly Coptic priest from Egypt who is in his 70s? Because Botros is waging an air war against them, and he is winning.
Using state-of-the art satellite technology to bypass the efforts of Islamic governments to keep the gospel out of their countries, Botros is directly challenging the claims of Muhammad to be a prophet, and the claims of the Qu'ran to be God's word. He systematically deconstructs Muhammad's life, story by story, pointing out character flaws and sinful behavior. He carefully deconstructs the Qu'ran, verse by verse, citing contradictions and inconsistencies. And not only does he explain without apology what he believes is wrong with Islam, he goes on to teach Muslims from the Bible why Jesus loves them and why is so ready to forgive them and adopt them into His family, no matter who they are or what they have done.
If Botros was doing this in a corner, or on some cable access channel where no one saw him or cared, that would be one thing. But his ninety-minute program - a combination of preaching, teaching and answering questions from (often irate) callers all over the world - has become "must see TV" throughout the Muslim world. It is replayed four times a week in Arabic, his native language, on a satellite television network called Al Hayat ("Life TV.") It can be seen in every country in North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, as well as all throughout North America,Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. And not only can it be seen in so many places, it is seen - by an estimated fifty million Muslims a day.
At the same time, Botros is getting millions of hits on his multiple web sites in multiple languages. There, Muslims can read his sermons and study through an archive of answers to frequently asked questions. They can also enter a live chat room called "Pal Chat" where they are not only permitted but encouraged to ask their toughest questions to trained on-line counselors, many of whom are Muslim converts to Christianity who understand exactly where the questioners are coming from and the struggles they are having.
As a result, Botros - on the air only since 2003 - has practically become a household word in the Muslim world. An Arabic newspaper has named him Islam's "Public Enemy #1." Millions hate him, to be sure, but they are watching. They are listening. They are processing what he is saying and they are talking about him with their friends and family. When Botros challenges Radical clerics to answer his many refutations of Islam and defend the Qu'ran, millions wait to see what how the fundamentalists will respond. But they rarely do. They prefer to attack Botros than answer him. Yet, the more the Radicals attack him, the more well-known he becomes. The more well-known he becomes, the more Muslims feel compelled to tune in. And as more Muslims tune in, more are coming to the conclusion that Botros is right and in turn are choosing to become followers of Jesus Christ. Botros estimates at least 1,000 Muslims a month pray to receive Christ with his telephone counselors. Some of them pray to receive Christ live on their air with Botros. And this surely is only the tip of the iceberg, as it represents only those who are able to get through on the jammed phone lines. There simply are not currently enough trained counselors to handle each call.
Many leading Arab evangelists I have interviewed for Inside The Revolution say God is using Botros to help bring in the greatest harvest of Muslim converts to Christianity in the history of Christendom. Botros refuses to take any credit, saying is just one voice in a movement of millions. But he is certainly excited by the trend lines. He does see more Muslims turning to Christ than ever before, and he told me he has cited my book Epicenter at least three times as evidence of the enormous numbers of conversions taking place. What's more, he vows to keep preaching the gospel so long as the Lord Jesus gives him breath. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." That verse - John 3:16 - is the verse that drives Botros. He believes passionately God loves the whole world, including each and every Muslim. He believes that "whosoever" believes in the Lordship of Jesus Christ - Jew or Muslim - will, in fact, receive eternal life. He does not believe all Muslims are Radicals, but he does believe all Muslims are spiritually lost, and he wants desperately to help them find their way to forgiveness and reconciliation with the God who made them and loves them.
"I believe this is the hand of God," Botros told me. "He is directing me. He shows me what to say. He shows me what to write on…the web sites. He is showing me more and more how to use the technology to reach people with his message of redemption."
27 million Bibles distributed during 2007 by Bible Societies worldwide
http://au.christiantoday.com/article/27-million-bibles-distributed-during-2007-by-bible-societies-worldwide/4231.htm
Bible Society announced this week that there had been a world-wide growth of five percent in Bible and scripture portion distribution in 2007.
Maintaining a consistent trend from the previous year, the number of Bibles distributed by Bible Societies rose by around five per cent to almost 27 million (26,996,323). Bible Societies also distributed vast numbers of Testaments, Portions and Selections (the latter designed to convey the essence of the Gospel succinctly or tailored for people in a particular situation). Altogether, the number of Scripture items distributed totalled 391 million.
According to the statistical tables of the 2007 Scripture Distribution Report, issued by the United Bible Societies (UBS) Scripture distribution rose most sharply in the southern hemisphere, responding to the rapid growth of the Church there.
What the Scripture Distribution Report does not reveal, however, is the very varied contexts in which Scripture distribution takes place. While some Bible Societies have an extensive network of warehouses, shops and other outlets and can make regular visits to places such as hospitals and children's homes, others venture into the unknown every time they load their vehicle with a precious cargo of Scriptures. Poor infrastructure and hazards of all kinds can turn a distribution trip into a test of commitment and determination for Bible Society staff.
Furthermore, in some countries, civil conflict makes some areas completely inaccessible for years.
Bible Society NSW has develop an innovative way of distributing scripture with the production of a special edition of Luke's Gospel with a picture of a V8 Racing Ute on the cover. This 'V8 edition' was developed to support the Jesus Racing ministry of Andrew Fisher, driver of the 'Jesus. All about life' Ute in the Yokahama V8 Ute series around Australia.
When he's not racing, Andrew works with Bible Society's schools team conducting seminars and speaking about his racing and why he's got Jesus on the side of his Ute. To date, over 6,000 copies of the Gospel have been distributed. The Gospel includes Andrew's testimony, some background on the racing series and steps to coming to faith.
"After I speak, we simply let the students know that they can come and get a free copy of the V8 Ute Gospel," said Andrew. "We don't just hand them out – but in most of the schools we have visited throughout Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales, more than half the students come and request a copy," he said. "We don't force the students to take one, so the number of Gospels we hand out is reflective of the number of students who have actually lined up to request one," Andrew said.
When Hollywood Attacks - New Batch Of Films Strike At Christian Beliefs and Values
http://www.cbn.com/entertainment/screen/carey_hollywood_attacks.aspx?option=print
Just when you thought the Da Vinci Code controversy was wearing off, several more high-profile Hollywood projects are reportedly in the works that will once again challenge some basic Christian precepts.
Johnny Depp is said to be producing and starring in a big-screen adaption of the graphic novel Rex Mundi, which tells the story of "descendants of Jesus" searching for the Holy Grail. Like Dan Brown's best-selling novel and the Da Vinici Code film, the basic plot point revolves around Jesus having children. According to Christianity Today, the movie is an "alternate history" set in the 1930s in a world where Martin Luther was assassinated, and as a result, the reformation never happened and the inquisition was still highly active. Also like Dan Brown's novels, secret societies (in this case the Templar Knights) are said to have a key roll in the film.
In another upcoming graphic novel-turned-action movie, Jenna Dewan is set to play a holy warrior who fights supernatural enemies. In Magdalena, Dewan's character is a descendant of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and is also part of a secret society charged with fighting evil. This is no kid's story though—the Magdalena comics are dark stories.
Along with similarities in plot (secret societies, fighting evil, the supernatural), both of these films also suggest a proposition that most Christians find incredibility offensive—that Jesus fathered children.
And if that's not enough controversy for you, Variety is reporting that Mark Ruffalo is set to direct a film about a faith healer called Sympathy for Delicious. Unlike the other two religious-based films, Delicious takes aim at the contemporary Church. The movie tells the story of a paralyzed man who discovers a mysterious ability to heal the sick, a Jesuit priest who tries to help him maintain a balanced perspective of his gift and a rock star who begins to exploit him.
And finally, there's Religulous, the most blatantly ant-faith film in the mix. Hosted by the Politically Incorrect HBO personality Bill Maher, the documentary picks up where New Atheism best-sellers like God Is Not Great, The God Delusion and Letter to a Christian Nation left off—not only trying dispel the logic of believing in a higher power, but showcasing what they say is its detriment to humanity itself.
The movie isn't just anti-Christian (though because of Christianity's popularity it has become a center-point in the marketing materials for the film); it's anti-faith—a direct challenge to everything Christians, and anyone who believes in God, thinks.
Unlike films that showcase values that are often contrary to Christian teachings, some of the releases in this new batch of movies coming out of Hollywood are in direct opposition to the foundations of what Christians believe. Recently, movies like The Da Vinci Code and Brokeback Mountain, have drawn protests from Christians for what has been perceived as their anti-Christian themes.
But should that be our reaction?
Do we view these types of films—which, ultimately are meant for entertainment (however unpleasant they may or may not be)—as attacks on our faith or opportunities to talk to people about what we really believe?
Whether the movies are more subversive fantasy stories that twist Christian history for the sake of an intriguing sub-plot or are abrasive and direct challenges to our faith like Religulous, they inevitability elicit a reaction from believers and non-believers alike. What exactly do we/they believe about that? Who is right about God? What does this mean for Christianity?
When it comes to actually choosing to spend money on seeing a movie, everyone has a choice. But, as the recent Hollywood line-up shows, in most cases these kinds of films are being made regardless of how they are received by Christians. So what should Christians' reaction be when they are made?
Though many will view films that take on Christian values as an attacks on our faith, these types of movies also present an opportunity to engage in a dialogue about what we think about religion. After all, if there's one thing that these types of films do, it's getting people talking.
The book of James was written during a time when the early Church was facing intense persecution—and not just from culture resistance to the message of Christ. James opens his letter to the persecuted church with this passage:
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (James 1:2-4, NIV).
James literally guarantees that our faith will be challenged. So why is it always a surprise when it happens?
It's interesting how James follows up his statement. How should we react to trials and challenges to our faith? With wisdom. James continues in verse 5:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" (James 1:5-6).
James makes it clear that we should ask for wisdom so that our faith is not shaken by the trials of the world.
If we seek true wisdom from the Lord, our reactions to movies (or even real-life situations for that matter) that challenge our faith won't be raw emotional responses to the combative nature of their content; it'll be genuine responses in love and wisdom. When moviegoers have questions after watching anti-religious films, we can answer them with the truth, not condemnation for asking.
It's easy to get emotional in response to films that challenge what we believe; but in most cases, they are based in genuine questions and misunderstandings. If we become blinded by our anger at the "attacks" on our faith, we risk not understanding what those questions are really about, and we can miss a true opportunity to engage in a life-changing conversation about what Jesus is really about.
In those cases, we should all adhere to the advice of James. "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires" (James 1:19-20).
Russia aims to corner energy market: U.S. official
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL827483820080908
Russia aims to extend its control over energy deliveries to the West and it is important that European countries push forward on efforts to diversify routes for oil and gas supplies, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.
As Vice President Dick Cheney visited Italy to seek support for Georgia after its brief war with Russia, the official, said: "The fact is Russia has worked hard to try to corner the market, so to speak, and is working to foreclose options to transit for those energy products across Russia.
"They want everything to come out through Russia and a lot of us think it's more important that there be diverse means of gaining access to those resources," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"No one country ought to be able to totally dominate those deliveries."
Italy was the last stop on a weeklong trip for Cheney that began with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine to reinforce U.S. support for the former Soviet states after the conflict between Tbilisi and Moscow.
The crisis erupted in early August when Georgia tried to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia and Russia responded with overwhelming force. Cheney, in a weekend speech in Cernobbio, Italy, called Moscow's actions "brutality against a neighbor".
In those remarks, he also accused Russia, the world's second largest oil producer, of using "energy as a tool of force and manipulation" in Central Asia, the Caucasus and elsewhere by threatening to interrupt the flow of oil or natural gas.
Europe and the United States are concerned about transit routes for oil and gas through eastern European countries which are seen as alternatives to Russian supplies.
"We think diversity of supply is important," the U.S. official told reporters traveling with Cheney.
Azerbaijan and Georgia are links in a Western-backed energy corridor that bypasses Russia, which the West fears could be in jeopardy following Moscow's military actions on Georgia.
In discussions with private sector representatives and public officials, "there were concerns expressed that one of the things that happened as a result of the Russian military operations in Georgia was to raise questions about the security of that trans-Georgian corridor for moving Caspian energy resources out to the West," the U.S. official said.
Europe is interested in finding ways to move forward with projects like the Nabucco pipeline project, the official said of a U.S.- and EU-backed project that would take Azeri gas to Europe through Georgia and Turkey. But concern about instability in the Caucasus has been scaring off investors.
Europe also wants to ensure that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which ships 850,000 barrels per day of high quality Azeri crude from the Caspian to the Mediterranean, remains open and functioning, the U.S. official said.
Russia to establish long term presence in Georgia with close to 8,000 troops
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-09-russia-georgia_N.htm
Russia will station nearly 8,000 troops in two breakaway Georgian provinces, officials said Tuesday, announcing an imposing long-term presence less than a day after agreeing to pull forces back from areas surrounding the provinces.
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Dmitry Medvedev about 3,800 troops will each be based in South Ossetia and in Abkhazia — a far larger presence than before last month's war with Georgia.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that level of military staffing was needed to prevent Georgia from trying to regain control of the two regions, which Russia has recognized as independent.
In a goodwill gesture, Russia pulled troops back from a Georgian town outside Abkhazia on Tuesday, one of 24 positions in Georgia that officials say are still held by the Russians.
It was the first sign of Russia's promised pullback from posts outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgian television showed residents of Ganmukhuri rejoicing.
Georgian security council chief Alexander Lomaia said the Russians had maintained three or four armored personnel carriers and a few dozen troops at Ganmukhuri.
On Monday, Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy revised the European Union-brokered deal to end the fighting between Russia and Georgia, whose European and American allies have struggled to respond to Moscow's assertion of regional military clout.
"Russian troops will remain on the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on request of their leaders in parliament," Lavrov said at a briefing. "They will remain there for a long time. Their presence there will be needed at least for the foreseeable future to prevent any relapses of aggressive actions."
Russia has established diplomatic relations with the two regions.
Lavrov said he and his counterparts in the two regions also worked out treaties that envisaged close military and other links.
"Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia will take all the necessary measures to avert threats to peace," Lavrov said. "They will provide all kinds of assistance to each other, including in the military field."
The deal with Sarkozy envisaged the deployment of at least 200 EU monitors in the area surrounding the two breakaway regions by next month. The deal obliges Russia to pull out of those regions in 10 days following the deployment of EU monitors.
Lavrov cast the deal, accompanied by the EU guarantees that Georgia would not use force against the two provinces, as a victory for Russia.
He said Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be represented at an international conference on security in the region in Geneva next month.
War erupted between Georgia and Russia erupted on Aug. 7 when Georgia launched an attack to regain control over South Ossetia. Russia sent in troops who quickly routed the Georgian forces and pushed deep into Georgia.
Efforts to become part of the Western system are over - Russia to be major player in new multipolar world
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0908/p01s06-woeu.html
Russia is groping for fresh ways to engage with the world after its lightning-fast summer war with Georgia chilled relations with the West and dismayed even some of its closest regional allies.
"We are facing the beginning of a complete review of Russian foreign policy," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a leading Moscow foreign-policy journal. "Things have changed and, based on what Russian leaders are saying, our long effort to integrate with Western institutions, to become part of the Western system, is over. The aim now is to be an independent power in a multipolar world in which Russia is a major player."
Analysts here are divided over whether a "new cold war" between Russia and the West is in the offing, but a growing sense of isolation is leading Moscow to circle the wagons closer to home and to revive alliances with former Soviet allies such as Syria and Cuba, and new partners such as Venezuela.
At a State Council meeting with Russian regional leaders Saturday, President Dmitry Medvedev announced that national security will have to be bolstered to counteract unnamed forces "who are trying to exert political pressure on Russia."
In a series of statements over the past week Mr. Medvedev has spelled out what amounts to a Russian version of the Monroe Doctrine, warning that Moscow will intervene to protect its citizens and business interests, particularly in the "near abroad," meaning the former Soviet Union. "The events in [Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia] showed that Russia will not allow anyone to infringe upon the lives and dignity of its citizens, that Russia is a state to be, from now on, reckoned with," he told the regional leaders.
The basic message to the West is "don't even think of parking here," says Natalya Narochnitskaya, former deputy chair of the State Duma's foreign relations commission and now an executive of the Moscow-based Institute for Democracy and Cooperation, which is funded by Russian business interests.
After a decade that has seen NATO – a 26-nation Western military alliance – absorb all the former USSR's allies and move to the borders of Russia itself, and the US move to install strategic antimissile weapons in Poland and the Czech Republic, Moscow has had enough. "There is a red line, where Russia cannot accept further pressure on its borders in its traditional geopolitical arena," Ms. Narochnitskaya says.
Multipolar era emerging?Russian policy-makers say the world order has shifted from the bipolar arrangement of the four-decade-long standoff between the US and the USSR, to a brief period of American preeminence, to an emerging multi-polar era in which many powerful players will have to learn to work out their differences.
"We need new mechanisms for strategic security cooperation, because the old ones are not working," says Andrei Klimov, a member of the State Duma's international affairs committee. "There is a new reality in the world, and we need to discuss it openly."
At the center of the current storm are Georgia and Ukraine, both NATO aspirants that Vice President Dick Cheney visited last week with a message of support that is bound to further antagonize Moscow.
Ukraine, a nation deeply divided between pro-Western and Russified parts that is currently sliding into a renewed political crisis, could face intense Russian pressure if it presses on with its bid for NATO membership. "In many Western countries there are already protests against this crazy idea of getting Georgia and Ukraine into NATO," says Mr. Klimov. "It's a formula for crisis inside NATO."
Narochnitskaya, like many other Russian experts, insists that Moscow probably wouldn't attempt to break up or annex Ukraine if it declared neutrality and became a kind of buffer state between East and West, akin to Finland's unique status during the cold war. They insist that Moscow's objection is to Ukraine joining a military alliance and not to its economic or political cooperation with the West in general. "The majority of Ukrainians identify themselves as an independent Slavic nation," Narochnitskaya says. "But they don't need to build their national identity on hostility to Russia."
Moscow has been putting out feelers to former Soviet allies, such as Syria and Cuba, as well as emerging partners like Venezuela. A Russian delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin visited Havana in early July to explore rebuilding Soviet-era economic and security ties. Medvedev discussed sophisticated arms sales and the possibility of the Russian Navy using former Soviet port facilities at Tartus, on the Mediterranean, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Moscow in late August. The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed "deep satisfaction" last week when another old Soviet crony, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, became the first foreign leader to extend diplomatic recognition to South Ossetia and the other breakaway Georgian territory, Abkhazia.
But even in its own backyard, Moscow is finding its tough new stance a hard sell. On Friday, at a summit of the Moscow-led, seven-member Collective Security Treaty Organization (which includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan), Medvedev won backing for Russia's crushing military rebuff of Georgia's attempt to retake South Ossetia, but found not one ally willing to follow Moscow's lead in establishing diplomatic ties with the tiny pro-Moscow enclave.
Experts say Medvedev has received an even cooler response from Russia's traditional Asian friends, China and India. Both nations generously supported Moscow's decade-long effort to suppress its own separatist challenge in Chechnya and backed its angry opposition to Western recognition of Kosovo's self-declared independence earlier this year. At a summit of the influential Shanghai Cooperation Organization last week, where China is a leading member and India an observer, participants would only agree to a tepid statement that expressed "support for Russia's active role in facilitating peace and cooperation" in the Caucasus region.
But being a neighbor of Russia has just gotten harder, say experts.
"Russia has demonstrated that it's ready to use force outside its own borders, and this means countries of the region are going to have to take note and choose whom they listen to," on big geopolitical issues, says Mr. Lukyanov.
"The space for maneuvering between East and West [for Russia's neighbors] is definitely shrinking," he says.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy travels to Moscow on Monday with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Union foreign-policy chief Javier Solana to encourage Medvedev to comply with a month-old peace plan for Georgia. Meanwhile, Georgia seeks a ruling from The Hague over its claims of human rights abuses against ethnic Georgians in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Terror groups developing 'dirty bomb', say security chiefs
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/2700195/Terror-groups-developing-dirty-bomb-say-security-chiefs.html
Islamist terrorists have stepped up their efforts to develop a "dirty" bomb for use against Western targets, senior Western security sources have told The Daily Telegraph.
They are exploiting the political chaos in Pakistan in a bid to acquire nuclear material for a 'spectacular' attack.
At least one plot has been uncovered involving Pakistani-based terrorists planning to use nuclear material against a major European target.
Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror group, whose terrorist infrastructure is based in the province of Waziristan in northwest Pakistan, is known to be trying to acquire nuclear technology to use in terror attacks against the West.
Other militant Islamist groups in Pakistan, such as the newly formed Pakistani Taliban, have also shown an interest in developing weapons with a nuclear capability, according to Western security officials.
Security chiefs fear the mounting political instability in Pakistan will make it easier for militant Islamist groups to develop a primitive nuclear device.
Pakistan is the world's only Muslim country with a nuclear weapons arsenal, which was developed during the 1990s by the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadir (AQ) Khan.
Dr Khan was placed under house arrest after he was accused of selling the blueprint for Pakistan's atom bomb to rogue states such as Libya, North Korea and Iran. But the restrictions on Dr Khan's detention have been eased since President Pervez Musharraf was forced from power.
Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is subject to stringent security safeguards put in place with the help of the American military when Mr Musharraf was in office. But there is mounting concern within Western security circles that Islamic terror groups will gain access to Pakistan's expertise in developing terrorist weapons containing nuclear material.
"Islamist militant groups want to carry out terror attacks on a massive scale, and there is no better way for them to achieve that objective than to develop some form of primitive nuclear device," said a senior U.S. security official.
The most likely terror device using nuclear material is a "dirty bomb", where conventional explosives are fitted with radioactive material.
Security experts believe the detonation of such a device in a city like London would provoke widespread panic and chaos, even though the area of contamination would be relatively small.
Western security officials say they have uncovered evidence that a Pakistani based group was planning to attack a European target with such a device, although details of the planned attack have not been made public.
The sweeping victory of Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of murdered Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto, in the presidential election at the weekend, has done little to reassure Western diplomats that the security situation in Pakistan is about to improve. Mr Zardari was jailed for nine years on corruption charges, and Western diplomats have little confidence in his ability to provide strong leadership.
"Pakistan is in danger of becoming a failed state, and Mr Zardari's election victory is unlikely to improve the situation," said a Western diplomat.
Tensions grew last week when American special forces staged a cross-border incursion from Afghanistan into Pakistan's lawless tribal regions.
They were targeting suspected al-Qaeda operatives, signalling a possible intensification of US efforts to disrupt militant safe havens in Pakistan.
Despite fury in Pakistan, US defence officials have said that the number of cross-border missions might grow in coming months in response to the growing militancy.
But there are fears this could but this could provoke an Islamist backlash throughout Pakistam that could play into the terrorists' hands.
Most of the recent Islamist terror plots against Britain – including the July 7 attacks in London in 2005 – had links with Pakistan, and British security officials say groups based in Pakistan continue to pose the greatest terrorist threat to Britain.
British security officials recently confirmed that they were investigating at least 30 terror plots that originated in Pakistan. "In the past many of the plots have been fairly primitive, but we are seeing a growing level of sophistication. We fear it is only a question of time before the groups based in Pakistan develop some form of nuclear capability."
Is This The End Of Credit Cards? Chips without plastic
http://news.sky.com
Plastic cards could become a thing of the past after Barclaycard announced it was investing a seven-figure sum in new ways to make payments.
Is this the future of payment?
Contactless payment technology allows people to pay for items with the things they have with them, such as mobile phones, key fobs and even their eyes or fingerprints.
Barclaycard's OnePulse was launched in London last year with some 10,000 customers.
It enables people to buy items for less than £10 by touching their card against a sensor, without even having to take it out of their wallet.
It can also be used as an Oyster card on London public transport.
Barclaycard aims to have one million customers upgraded to OnePulse by the end of the year, with payment terminals introduced in 9,000 shops across the UK.
The group also carried out a recent trial with mobile phone operator O2 in which customers paid for items with their mobiles.
Payment via your mobile phone?
Barclaycard said in the future people could be alerted to special offers in nearby shops through their mobiles.
Other ideas include enabling people to hover their mobile over the price label of an item in a shop and then add it to a virtual basket.
People would then be able to confirm their purchase and take it away without having to go to a checkout or get a receipt.
Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclaycard, said: ""The chips on credit cards now have incredible untapped capability, but the plastic around the chip limits its potential.
"Take the plastic away and the possibilities are endless.
"In time you won't have to carry a plastic credit card around with you if you don't want to, although some people will choose to for nostalgic reasons."
Global economy faces tough test, says IMF's Lipsky
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSL939255520080909?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&rpc=23&sp=true
The global economy faces its most difficult test in many years with growth slowing sharply as high commodity prices put pressure on inflation, a senior International Monetary Fund official said on Tuesday.
IMF first deputy managing director John Lipsky said global growth was set to slow further in the second half of 2008, and continued financial sector strains were a major risk to the chances of recovery in 2009, on top of high oil prices.
Commodity prices remained high and volatile, bringing risks of knock-on inflation effects, but recent sharp falls in oil prices should lessen short-term inflation pressures in the developed world, he told a conference.
Central banks in advanced economies could afford to keep interest rates on hold. In regions with high real rates, they could look out for easing price pressures which would allow them to loosen policy later, he said.
"Against the backdrop of protracted financial strains and dramatic surges in commodity prices, the global economy is confronted with its most difficult set of circumstances in many years," he said. "The good news is, we are only three to six months from the bottom, when the upturn begins."
Speaking at the same conference, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the European Union needs to take urgent action to avoid a prolonged economic downturn and return to stronger growth.
Lipsky said the IMF was still reviewing its forecasts, which are due to be updated in its World Economic Outlook next month. But the fund saw global growth slowing from 5 percent in 2007 to about 3 percent late in 2008, reaccelerating towards 4 percent in 2009.
The IMF's last forecasts in mid-July were for global growth of 4.1 percent in 2008 and 3.9 percent in 2009. A G20 source told Reuters last month that these would be downgraded to 3.9 percent this year and 3.7 percent in 2009.
Lipsky said the 2009 pickup would be driven by an unwinding of the effects of the past 50 percent increase in oil prices and a bottoming in the U.S. housing sector. Oil traded at a five-month low below $105 per barrel on Tuesday.
GROWTH FORECASTS
In the United States, the IMF expected growth of about 1 percent in 2008 on a fourth-quarter-on-fourth-quarter basis, recovering gradually to about 1.5 percent in 2009, Lipsky said. This calculation was different from the annual growth rates forecast in its headline projections, he stressed.
In mid-July, the IMF forecast U.S. growth of 0.3 percent in 2008 and 1.9 percent in 2009 on a Q4/Q4 basis, with full-year growth seen at 1.3 percent in 2008 and 0.7 percent in 2009.
In the euro area, the IMF projected growth on a Q4/Q4 basis at about 0.75 percent in 2008 and about 1.5 percent in 2009, from 1.3 percent and 1.7 percent respectively in mid-July.
Lipsky said that although the IMF expected commodity prices to remain high in real terms, slower growth and cheaper oil should help to contain inflation pressure in advanced economies.
"Thus, policymakers can afford to keep rates on hold in the face of elevated headline inflation, while watching closely for signs of easing price pressure that would permit a more accommodative stance in economies with relatively high real interest rates," he said.
The European Central Bank held rates at 4.25 percent last week but is expected to cut them in mid-2009 and the Bank of England's next move is also likely to be a cut. The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to stay on hold for now, after cutting rates in the past year.
Lipsky said that in emerging markets inflation pressures were growing while real interest rates remained low and some central banks may be "behind the curve" with their monetary policy.
"Policies in these instances need to be tightened, lest central banks run the risk that hard-won policy credibility could be eroded. In some cases, allowing greater exchange rate flexibility would provide room for operating a more independent monetary policy."
The IMF saw growth in emerging and developing economies of just over 6 percent in 2008 on a Q4/Q4 basis, broadly in line with the IMF's mid-July outlook.
Man in the Gap
http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/commentary/man-in-the-gap-what-holly-thinks/
The United States won't be able to continue leading the talks until the new administration gets its footing. Until then, the only person capable of filling the void is EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, according to an article published in the International Herald Tribune, Aug. 26, titled "Europe Into the Breach. (Read it here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/26/opinion/edperthes.php?page=2)
Solana is eager to take up the role. Right now he's in the Middle East meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and then he's off to New York for a series of meetings on the Middle East. In an address to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament on Wednesday, he said the EU must take responsibility for continuing the negotiations:
I think it is important that we take advantage of what are probably the last days left in the calendar if we want to achieve something from the agreements reached in Annapolis. I will be going to New York soon for over a week, where we will have an important series of meetings on the Middle East. We will have a meeting of the Quartet, and the Quartet plus the Arabs, and other meetings in other formats, with both sides present. I think it is very important that we Europeans try to analyse the situation after the General Assembly in New York and see how to go from then until the end of the year and until the new American Administration is fully operational. It is important to try and ensure that what has been achieved in the way of negotiations up until then is not lost and that we can continue to move on from the beginning of 2009. It will be an important responsibility for us to keep up the momentum. (Read his full address here: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/discours/102660.pdf)
And, in an interview published in Reuters today (Read it here: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LC618890.htm), Solana admitted that achieving peace by the end of 2008 is unlikely, but said his goal is to "get something that will maintain the momentum and (so) we will not start at the beginning of the year 2009 in a more complicated situation."
What is the "something" Solana is hoping to get? According to the Reuters interview, he didn't clarify what he meant, "but Israeli officials have suggested a joint statement could be issued, committing both sides to continue final status talks in 2009 from wherever they leave off."
Why is Solana's entrance into the talks important for Bible prophecy? If you've been following FP, then you know of his sudden appearance among a 10-nation military alliance in 1999. You also know that, back in 1995, Solana negotiated the Euro-Mediterranean free-trade zone (the covenant with many?) and later brokered the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The purpose of his ENP is to make firm, or confirm, his 1995 Euro-Med. And, beginning on Jan. 1, 2007, his new ENP went into force for a seven-year time frame.
These, of course, are all things the Antichrist is prophesied to do. To top it off, his office of EU high representative and emergency powers in the Western European Union were both created with documents numbered 666. (Learn more here: http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/page/overview/)
Now we'll see if Solana can reach a breakthrough where so many others have failed.
Is the era of mass immigration to Israel over?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080906/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_dwindling_immigration;_ylt=ApSdk6m8qrwb9LuqkXRWE64LewgF
Melissa Schwab is no Zionist zealot. She's not an Orthodox Jew seeking to be nearer to God. She didn't flee anti-Semitism.
So why move nearly 9,000 miles from her home in Hawaii and settle in life-on-the-edge Israel? Because, she says, she likes a lifestyle that is "secular and normal" while offering something "a bit more meaningful."
The 26-year-old American student's decision to make "aliyah" — the Hebrew term for "going up" — makes her part of the Jewish state's vast immigration enterprise, the bedrock of its very existence. But the influx that brought together more than 3 million Jews from more than 100 countries following Israel's creation in 1948 has dwindled to a trickle.
The last great immigration wave — Ethiopian Christians of Jewish ancestry who convert back to Judaism for resettlement in Israel — has just ended, and with it an iconic chapter in Israeli history.
The persecuted and the poor of world Jewry are for the most part already here. So most future immigrants will be people like Schwab, making a private, individual choice.
Israel's appeal to the Jewish Diaspora used to be as a small feisty nation fighting for its survival, or as a socialist alternative to the capitalist rat race. There were kibbutzim to farm and deserts to make bloom.
But today the Jewish state is in many ways a normal industrialized democracy. Its immigrants today are as likely to be job-hunting non-Jews from Africa and Asia, many of them here illegally, as Zionists in search of spiritual fulfillment.
Diaspora Jews are also less likely to leave everything behind for Israel. It's much easier today to be a dual national, living part-time in both worlds. Meanwhile, Israelis have also become frequent fliers. The tech-savvy nouveaux-riches of Tel Aviv joke that a visit to New York is more common than a 40-mile pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Schwab arrived a year ago from Maui, where she practiced Judaism in an informal "Aloha-style kind of way." She is fluent in Hebrew and studies at an Israeli university. Her boyfriend is a "Sabra" — a native-born Israeli. She lives in Tel Aviv, which next year celebrates its centennial as the world's first purpose-built Jewish city.
She's part of an old ideal, "the ingathering of the exiles" — the raison d'etre of the Zionist movement from its beginnings more than a century ago.
Even before Israel became a state, the Jewish population grew to 600,000 in five great waves of immigration as European Jews beset by pogroms and then the Holocaust realized an age-old Jewish dream of returning to Zion after 2,000 years in exile.
More than 3 million more have followed, and Israel's Jewish population now stands at 5.5 million, plus 1.4 million Arab citizens. Of the world's population of just over 13 million Jews, Israel's is the biggest portion, having surpassed America's in 2006.
"There is no place in the world where the number of immigrants is five times the number of the people who were there. It is unprecedented," said Sergio DellaPergola, a prominent demographer at the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.
The 1950s, according to the Jewish Agency which handles immigration, saw the arrival of 765,000 Jews from North Africa and the Middle East, driven out by the Arab backlash that followed Israel's creation. Next came tens of thousands from the European communist bloc, and then another million from the collapsing Soviet Union.
Starting in the early 1980s, Israel clandestinely airlifted 80,000 members of Ethiopia's ancient Jewish community, nearly 15,000 of them in just two days in 1991.
Today, with no immediate threat to world Jewry, and with the most endangered communities already in Israel, such drama is a thing of the past.
Jews in America and other prosperous Western countries have no pressing motivation to leave everything for Israel, a country founded to provide a safe haven for Jews but which has become one of the most dangerous places for a Jew to live, because of war and terrorism.
Indeed, while the U.S. Jewish community is one of Israel's most important backers, only 120,000 American Jews have immigrated here.
"I am going to destroy a myth here," said Ori Konforti, the Ethiopia envoy for the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency. "Waves of immigration have never been because of the pulling power of Israel but rather because of the pushing power of where those people came from."
Most Jews in poor countries have already left, and for the first time, Israel is nearing zero growth from immigration, with the number of those leaving closing in on the number of those coming, DellaPergola said.
"We have brought all the needy and the situation of the rest of the Jews is pretty well off," he said. "There is not a lot of distress in the Diaspora today so the question is what kind of quality of life Israel can offer these people."
For Israelis, "aliyah," is a revered term symbolizing the hope of a persecuted nation returning to its ancient homeland. Conversely, leaving the country is known as "yeridah," meaning "going down."
But these distinctions have lost their emotional charge. Israelis who leave to further their education or to earn more money are no longer pariahs.
The end of mass immigration comes as Israelis have lost some of their self-confidence, bogged down in their 41-year occupation of the Palestinian territories, perceiving their country to be under weak, corrupt leadership, nostalgic for the frugal socialist era.
But Israel isn't giving up. Ingrained in Israelis' consciousness is the conviction that their country is the world's only guaranteed escape hatch for Jews in peril. They are steeped in the memory of boatloads of Jews fleeing the Nazis, only to be turned away at every port and ending up in gas chambers.
Since France suffered a wave of anti-Semitic violence a few years ago, widely attributed to rising passions over Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Israeli real estate agents have reported a sharp increase in house-buying by French Jews.
Last month, when war broke out in the Caucasus, some 40 Georgian Jews fled to Israel, and another 120 have applied to immigrate, according to the Jewish Agency.
So while it may no longer dream of mass immigration, Israel feels an imperative to keep in touch with the Diaspora.
Birthright Israel offers a free trip to Israel for young Diaspora Jews who have never been here. Another nonprofit, Nefesh B'Nefesh, offers economic incentives and helps immigrants navigate Israel's notorious bureaucracy.
Birthright estimates that some 8 percent of its participants return to Israel within two years, and 5 percent eventually immigrate.
Schwab came with Nefesh B'Nefesh, sensed an idealism she needed in her life, and decided to make it permanent.
"Israel is a lot like the U.S. but there is something a bit more meaningful," Schwab said. "There is a kind of mission for some higher ideal."
Due in part to such projects, immigration from North America has picked up in recent years, with 3,200 arriving in 2006 — a tiny number by past standards, but the highest in 23 years.
Natan Sharansky, the Soviet Jewish dissident who spent more than a decade in prison, immigrated to Israel and become a Cabinet minister, said people like Schwab are proof that Israel's ideology is still alive and well.
"These people decided that Israel is a place that they want to live their life," he said. "That is a victory of Zionism."
Facebook - the new spying ground for Middle East conflict?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127494
According to the intelligence community in Israel, Hizbullah terrorists are becoming increasingly computer savvy, using Facebook to learn more about IDF soldiers, potential targets for kidnappings.
Yeshiva World News reported that IDF intelligence officials are concerned that soldiers may unwittingly give the enemy information through social networking sites or even arrange to meet an internet companion who is in fact a terrorist. The IDF has undertaken an aggressive awareness campaign for soldiers, instructing them to be careful regarding what information they may reveal, cautioning and instructing them not to reveal the name of the branch of the service in which they serve, unit details et cetera. This is especially true of soldiers serving in the air force, intelligence, and elite combat units.
Dangerous liaisons
One military intelligence official explained that Facebook has become a major resource for terrorists seeking to gather information on soldiers and IDF units.
Other concerns including meetings arranged via Facebook in which soldiers remain unaware of the true identity of terrorists, befriending them and then revealing classified information that will be used to harm soldiers in the future.
A soldier who serves in an intelligence unit was recently sentenced to 19 days in a military jail for posting a photo of his base on Facebook.
War room photo
Israeli civilians have taken up the matter as well. A recently created users' group is dedicated to stopping intelligence leaks through the social networks. The group numbers more than 800 members who report any security violations they encounter.
The group's founder said that he decided to act when he was travelling abroad. While surfing the internet he ran into a picture of two female soldiers inside a war room with a classified map including clearly visible sensitive code names in the background.
Israel military sees world of threats
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7598587.stm
Israelis sometimes say they can lose only one war. They worry that defeat could mean the destruction of their state.
That's why this tiny nation has, reputedly, the world's sixth largest nuclear arsenal. It is a reason to think the Israelis aren't bluffing when they talk of attacking Iran to stop the Iranians getting their own nuclear weapons.
The Israeli military and intelligence community are haunted by their failure to predict the 1973 war with the Arab states. They are determined that such a failure will not be repeated.
Today, the view from the Israeli defense establishment is of a nation still surrounded by numerous threats to its survival.
Listing Israel's enemies, or potential enemies, a senior security source told me: "They are building their forces and are not yet ready to strike."
We were in a government building in Tel Aviv. The man speaking at the head of a large conference table wore the badges of senior military rank on his epaulettes.
He had carried out dangerous, covert missions abroad for his country. He is listened to by the prime minister and the chief of staff.
When he talked to them, he said, their simple question was always: "Will there be war?" For 2008, the answer was no. "But I am more cautious about 2009."
With self-deprecating humor, the official described the emergency hotline to his home.
Since it often rang in the middle of the night, his wife refused to allow the phone in the bedroom.
It was 10 meters away in the hall and in walking those ten meters, he said, he always asked himself which of five things the call would be about: Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas or al-Qaeda.
Iran, said the official, was Israel's "most problematic enemy".
"They think history is with them. They think the US is weakening. They believe this is a generational struggle."
He went on: "Iran has a high priority to develop a nuclear weapon but the strategy is not to have the bomb as soon as possible. It is to advance the program with the minimum cost from the international community."
Iran denies that it is doing anything other than developing a peaceful, civil nuclear industry. But warnings that an Israeli attack might be "unavoidable" have been made by senior figures such as Shaul Mofaz, a government minister and former head of the Israeli army.
There has been speculation that Israel might strike after the November presidential election in the US, but before January when the winner takes office.
The official I spoke to seemed to imply that Israel felt it had more time than that, saying Iran would not have a nuclear weapon until at least 2010.
"The worst case scenario is by the end of the decade and that may be pessimistic."
If it did come to war, the official said, the Iranians had a "terror network" in Iraq which was working at only 10-20% of its capabilities.
They could also close the Straits of Hormuz that links the Gulf to the Arabian Sea and make use of Hezbollah in Lebanon. They had North Korean missiles with a range of 3,500km.
Perhaps all the talk of war with Iran is designed to frighten the Iranians but this official, and other senior politicians and generals I've spoken to over the past few months, all seemed deadly serious about military action if the diplomacy failed.
However, the official said Syria was a bigger threat than Iran if measured by the tonnage of conventional explosive that could be launched at Israel.
He did not view the Syrians as sincere in the indirect negotiations they were conducting through Turkey. "They speak about peace from time to time, while sending weapons to Hezbollah."
Hezbollah itself was for the time being concentrating on building its strength within Lebanon rather than threatening Israel, the official said.
He accused them of stockpiling weapons in central and northern Lebanon for use in a future internal conflict there.
If there was another war with Israel, he went on, the Israeli military had learned the lessons of 2006.
Rather chillingly, perhaps, he said the next war would see far more bombing and far more damage to Lebanese infrastructure.
"The damage to Lebanon wasn't enough to deter them last time," he said. Next time, Hezbollah would not enjoy air-conditioning in their bunkers because there would be no electricity.
Hezbollah's presence in the Lebanese government now was actually helpful from an Israeli military point of view, he explained.
"When the terrorists become the government, the list of targets is longer," a point he said also applied to Hamas in Gaza.
Both military intelligence and the Shabak - as the domestic intelligence agency is sometimes called here - had been against Israel's truce with Hamas, the official revealed. But the politicians had ignored them both, as sometimes happens in a democracy.
The ceasefire was very important to Hamas in Gaza, he said, because it gave them a breathing space from Israeli military operations to smuggle in far more powerful explosives.
They had been relying on homemade explosives, which deteriorated after a month or two.
Now Hamas had stockpiled rockets numbering "in the low thousands" with the more potent explosives.
Hamas would of course say that the truce helped ease the crippling economic blockade of Gaza.
In the West Bank, it would be at least six years before the Palestinian security forces were ready to assume their responsibilities fully, the official said.
The Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, were "chiefs without Indians."
He added: "Hamas will take over the West Bank if Israel leaves now."
He said Israel had had to wait almost 25 years for Yasser Arafat to recognize their right to exist. It might take a similar time before Hamas would do the same. Since that was Israel's pre-condition for talks with Hamas, it could expect a long war.
It was a pessimistic view of the world, all the more so for the fact that the official's list of potential future enemies included countries like Jordan and Egypt, now officially at peace with Israel.
The official did not believe there would be an all-out attack, as in 1973: Israeli capabilities, especially air superiority, would ensure that.
But the danger was of an event which did not reach the bar of all-out attack but which could easily escalate into a war between Israel and an Arab state or states.
That was the basis of his warning that the likelihood of a war in the Middle East would grow in 2009.
Russia lines up with Syria, Iran against America and the West
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5577
Friday, Sept. 12, Moscow announced renovation had begun on the Syrian port of Tartus to provide Russia with its first long-term naval presence on the Mediterranean.
As the two naval chiefs talked in Moscow, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki in the Russian capital for talks on the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant by the end of the year.
DEBKAfile's military sources report that the commander of the Russian, Navy Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, and his Syrian counterpart, Gen. Taleb al Barri, spent all Friday working on details for the outfitting of Tartus port to accommodated increased Russian fleet Mediterranean missions not far from Israel's shores.
Mottaki's unannounced visit to the Russian capital focused on the timetable for Atomstroiexport to finish work on the Bushehr reactor after five years of delays.
Moscow has sharpened its tone in comments aimed at the West and the US in particular. President Dmitiry Medvedev said Friday that Georgia's attack on South Ossetia was the equivalent for Russia of the 9/11 attack on America. Even if Georgia had become a NATO member, he said, he would not have thought twice about ordering the Russian army to go in.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin, after putting Moscow's case on Georgia to the Western media, warned the US that stationing a missile defense shield near Russia's borders would start an arms race in Europe. There was no basis for a new Cold War, he said.
DEBKAfile's sources interpret Friday's events as indicating that Russia's leaders have determined not to declare a Cold War in Europe but to open a second anti-Western front in the Middle East.
In the second half of August, DEBKA file and DEBKA-Net-Weekly's analysts discussed this re-orientation at length (Russia's Second Front: Iran-Syria), disclosing that Moscow had decided to use its ties with Tehran and Damascus to challenge the United State and the West in the Middle East as well as the Caucasian, the Black Sea and the Caspian region.
The traumatic impact of the Georgia conflict on Russia's rulers came through in the remarks of an unnamed Kremlin official quoted by the Russian media this week: "Everything has changed since the war with Georgia. What seemed impossible before is more than possible now when our friends become our enemies and our enemies our friends. Russia will respond. A number of possibilities are being considered, including hitting America where it hurts most – Iran and Syria."
In aligning with Tehran and Damascus, Moscow stands not only against America but also Israel. This volatile world region is undergoing cataclysmic changes at a time when Israel is virtually without a fully competent prime minister and key political and military decision-making by the rest of the government is at a standstill.
Iran diverts UF6 uranium from Isfahan to boost covert military nuclear project
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5575
Nuclear watchdog experts have found 50-60 tons of uranium, enough to produce five or six nuclear bombs, missing from Iran's main nuclear production facility at Isfahan. The disappearance was discovered at the final stage of the production process, where UF6, uranium in gas form is stored, by the only CCTV Iran allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to install at Isfahan.
US satellites have also identified a number of suspicious sites, not declared to UN inspectors. The UN inspectors and US intelligence suspect that the missing gas is being used to boost covert production of weapons-grade uranium at these secret sites.
Some of the hidden facilities are situated near the main nuclear production center at Isfahan. One was discovered in the Amir Abid residential district of Tehran. There, it is believed that the advanced P2 centrifuges operating in the covert production of enriched uranium.
DEBKAfile's sources add that Isfahan produces low-grade 4-5 percent uranium, whereas weapons grade is enriched up to 90 percent. The upgrading process is not too complicated.
Tehran has been asked to account for the missing enriched uranium before the next IAEA board meeting later this month.
Iran solidifies grip on Hizbullah fearing possible Israeli/Syrian peace
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1220802279314&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Iran is consolidating its grip on Hizbullah and has instituted a number of structural changes to the Lebanese group, under which Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah no longer enjoys exclusive command over its military wing, top Israeli defense officials have revealed.
According to the officials, following the Second Lebanon War, Iran decided to step up its involvement in the Hizbullah decision-making process and has instituted a number of changes to the terror group's hierarchy, under which Nasrallah has to receive Iranian permission prior to certain operations.
"There is real Iranian command now over Hizbullah," a top IDF officer said. "This doesn't mean that Nasrallah is a puppet, but it does mean that whenever he pops his head out of his bunker he sees an Iranian official standing over him."
Reports of Iranian discontent with Nasrallah had begun to surface following the 2006 war, which Teheran reportedly was not interested in at the time. Several reports in the Arab press claimed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had ousted Nasrallah from his post as Hizbullah secretary-general and replaced him with Naim Qassem, Hizbullah's second in command. Iran has denied the reports.
"Iranian supervision grew tremendously following the war," the top officer explained. "Nasrallah is still in a decision-making position but Iran's influence has dramatically increased."
A report in a Syrian opposition paper claimed Sunday that a high-level delegation of Iranian Revolutionary Guards visited Beirut last week to coordinate the integration of some Hizbullah branches into the Guards' Al-Quds Force, which is in charge of Iran's terror activities in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere.
According to the Reform Party of Syria, parts of the Hizbullah operation structure will now be under the command of Brig.-Gen. Faramaz Ghasem Suleimani, commander of the Al-Quds Force. Suleimani is listed by the US as a terrorist and the Guards was declared a terror group in 2007.
The paper claimed that Iran's ultimate plan was to dilute Syrian influence over Hizbullah in case Damascus strikes a peace deal with Israel.
Iran's solidification of its control over Hizbullah is seen as an attempt to direct its military forces in the event of a conflict in the Middle East. If Iran is attacked by the US or Israel, it may now be able to order Hizbullah to retaliate on its behalf.
In the past, IDF Military Intelligence has speculated about what Nasrallah would do in such a situation, raising the possibility that Hizbullah would not immediately attack Israel if Iran was attacked.
In another development, Hizbullah's Al-Manar satellite television station has begun using an Indonesian satellite to broadcast across Asia and Australia. Hizbullah asked Indonesia for permission to use the satellite after Thailand kicked Al-Manar TV broadcasts off its satellite in January.
Israel expressed its disappointment with Indonesia's decision, since Al-Manar is full of anti-Israel and anti-US propaganda.
Indonesia's decision to allow the Al-Manar hookup undermines US and European efforts to limit the reach of Hizbullah's broadcasts, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center said.
Iran to hold three-day war games involving anti-aircraft defense systems
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSDAH72079920080907?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Iran's armed forces will begin three days of war games on Monday involving anti-aircraft defense systems, according to Iranian media.
The exercises will be held amid persistent speculation about a possible U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, which the West and Israel say are part of a clandestine bid to build atomic bombs, despite Tehran's denials.
The ISNA news agency said both Iran's Revolutionary Guards and its regular army would take part in the drills.
"Maneuvers with the participation of anti-aircraft defense systems will be held for three days starting Monday," it said, without giving further details.
The English-language Iran Daily said the aim was to maintain and upgrade the combat readiness of relevant units as well as to "test new weapons and defense plans."
Speculation about a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities has risen since Israel staged an air force exercise in June which was reported to be a simulation of a strike against Iran. Iran says it would hit back if attacked.
An Iranian commander last week said the Iranian air force would hold exercises during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began in Iran on September 2, but it was not immediately clear whether he was referring to the same drills as the ISNA report.
Alongside the regular army, Iran has a Revolutionary Guards force viewed as guardians of the Islamic ruling system. The Guards have a separate command and their own air, sea and land units, but often work with the regular military.
Iran has dismissed reports of possible U.S. or Israeli plans to strike Iran, but says it would respond by attacking U.S. interests and Israel if any such assault was made.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman last week denied reports, based on comments from Israeli defense sources, that Iran had bought Russia's advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile system and would get it this year.
There have been conflicting reports about whether Iran was buying the S-300 system. Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said last year Russia had agreed to deliver the missiles to Iran under a signed contract. Russia denied such plans.
Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, says its nuclear program is aimed at making electricity, not bombs. The United States says it wants diplomacy to end the row but has not ruled out military action if that fails.
How An Iranian War Might Lead To WW3 - One Analysts Worst Case Scenario
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Iran-War--How-It-Will-Unf-by-Lord-Stirling-080905-143.html
I have served as a consultant to three very high tech aerospace firms. My specialty is conceptualizing advanced warfare especially as it relates to new cutting edge advanced weapon systems. What I see unfolding with a war on Iran is the most frightening set of circumstances I have ever seen; and I have been involved in advanced theoretical weaponry strategy and design for over 20 years.
Sometime in the weeks to months ahead, there will be a war launched against Iran. The war may be started by Israel, or by the United States, or by a NATO/EU/US embargo, or by some 'false flag' attack. What matters is that it will begin; and where it will take the world.
Regardless if the war begins with a limited number of air strikes against Iranian military and nuclear targets, or if an all-out several thousand target attack begins from day one, the probabilities of the war becoming a major regional war within 48 hours are 90% or higher.
The Iranians will simply not allow Israeli and/or American military forces to attack its territory without a major response. Any significant counter-attack on Israel and/or American regional bases will trigger a much greater counter-response.
The Iranians have equipped, paid for, and trained a massive unguided rocket and guided missile force in Lebanon (the largest such force in human history). These missiles are in place as a MAD force (a MAD ~ mutually assured destruction ~ force is one that is a doomsday force; established to prevent the use of overwhelming military force by allowing a return "punch" of overwhelming military destructive force upon one's enemy). The total number of missiles and rockets in Lebanon are variously estimated at between 40,000 and 110,000. While many are unguided Katyusha rockets, many are longer ranged guided missiles. All are operated by Hezbollah Special Forces launch teams.
The Hezbollah Special Forces are in effect a highly trained and well-equipped Iranian commando force of at least a Brigade in size. They man and protect a large number of mostly unguided and rather crude rockets, generally Katyusha 122mm artillery rockets with a 19 mile/30km range and capable of delivering approximately 66 pounds/30kg of warheads. Additionally, Hezbollah are known to possess a considerable number of more advanced and longer range missiles. During the 2006 war Hezbollah fired approximately 4,000 rockets (95% of which were Katyushas) all utilizing only "dumb" high explosive warheads. Some Iranian-built and supplied Fajr-3 and Ra'ad 1 liquid-fueled missiles were also fired. It is believed that the larger and longer range missiles are directly under the control of Syrian and Iranian officers.
The combination of short to medium range rockets and guided missiles in Lebanon, and the longer range guided missiles in Syria, the smaller number of rockets and missiles in the West Bank and Gaza, and the longer range guided missiles in Iran present a massive throw weight of warheads aimed at Israel.
The 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War (called the Second Lebanon War in Israel) was an attempt by Israel at eliminating the MAD counter-force in Lebanon. It was an attempt that failed. The Syrians had purchased (and supplied to Hezbollah) a large number of very nasty, relatively low cost Russian AT-14 Kornet solid fuel anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), and the Iranian-trained Hezbollah commandos dug in massive numbers of concrete bunkers and firing positions. After over 50 Merkava main battle tanks were hit, and the high tech American-made warplanes and pinpoint weapons proved ineffective, the handwriting was on the wall. Either use neutron bombs or lose a large number of Israeli soldiers to remove the Hezbollah threat; or declare peace and walk away for the time being ~ the Israelis chose the latter.
It now appears that Israel has given up on the idea of a ground assault to remove the many rocket and missile launchers in Lebanon. A senior Israeli general has resigned with the complaint that the Army is not training sufficiently to fight in Lebanon. The alternative is the use of FAE (fuel air explosive) technology weapons and neutron bombs (a type of nuclear weapon that produces a higher short-term radiological output and less blast output than normal nuclear weapons).
Any use of such WMD by the Israeli Army on the Hezbollah forces in Lebanon will likely automatically trigger the use of WMD warheads on whatever rockets/missiles remain operational (if their use has not already been authorized due to the nature and scope of Israeli and/or American attacks on Iran).
The bottom line of this is that Israel will face a truly massive number of rockets and missiles from Lebanon with radiological, chemical, biological and FAE "weapons of mass destruction" warheads. Additionally, a sizable number of such weapons/warheads will be fired from Gaza and the West Bank. The Syrians will be using larger, more accurate guided missiles to shower WMD upon Israel as will the Iranians. To counter this, the Israelis will be using their Green Pine Radar system and a combination of Israeli and American anti-missile missiles. They will have good success in knocking down many incoming missiles but the sheer number of incoming weapons will totally overload all defensive measures.
Large parts of Israel will be contaminated with radiation with extremely long half-lives (many tens of thousands of years in some cases), with a mix of chemical, FAE, and biological nightmares thrown in for good measure. Total deaths will amount to one-third to one-half of the Israeli population with a large additional number being injured.
The Israeli response will be the nuclear annihilation of Syria, Iran, and parts of Lebanon with many tens of millions killed. Expect to see every city of any size destroyed. There will be insufficient people left in Syria, Iran, and large parts of Lebanon to even bury the dead. Radiation will spread around the world from the nuclear bombs.
Iranian sleeper teams in North America and western Europe will begin to "seed" the populations of these areas with a number (perhaps in the several dozens) of different man made killer viruses. People in movie theaters, churches, synagogues, shopping malls, subway stations, airports, etc., will be exposed without anyone knowing it at the time, to these advanced biowar viruses. About nine to ten days later the computer reporting systems in the western countries will begin to report back strange illnesses. That will trigger a host of measures to contain the advanced biowar viruses but it will simply be too late to prevent a massive outbreak of horrific illnesses. International travel and trade will effectively stop. People will be ordered to stay home from work and school with only critical job holders being allowed on the streets. Hospitals will be overcome with sick and dying people of all ages. The medical community will be among the first to die off. Where temporary hospitals are established in school gyms and other areas, the cross infection of several different genetically engineered viruses will ensure 100% mortality of everyone in the temporary hospitals.
In the event that other nations have sought to expand the Georgia war by new attacks on Russian forces or by creating some naval incident in the Black Sea, the probabilities of an quick expansion into a all-out Third World War involving Russian and NATO nuclear weapons will be at approximately 50%. Even without a global total war being initiated, Russia is apt to "sweep" the Black Sea of NATO ships with considerable loss of life on both sides.
The world will be in the worst economic depression in history as global trade will be halted for at least several months due to fears of the spread of the various advanced biowar viruses. If Israel releases the Arab-specific designer advanced biowar viruses that many claim she has, the Saudis are apt to fire their Chinese IRBMs (intermediate range ballistic missiles) and send their very well-equipped air force against Israel with the small number of nuclear weapons that they possess (they have funded the Pakistani nuclear weapons program and have several Pakistani made nuclear devices). Of course, what is left of the Israeli forces will respond with additional nuclear attacks, this time on Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations for good measure.
In North America and western Europe the total number of civilians, after two months of advanced biowar illnesses, is apt to be at least a third of the population - a total death count of well over 200 million persons. Despite the best efforts of all nations, the man-engineered super killer mutant viruses will spread throughout the world causing total numbers of perhaps a billion or more to die.
The after effect of all of this may well lead to even more war as some nations will be so incensed at the massive loss of life of their citizens that total global war may be unstoppable.
Muslims continue to drive Christians from Islamic countries
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2008/09/08/2008-09-08_war_on_christians_in_the_middle_east_mus.html
An Islamic court in Shiraz, Iran has just convicted two men of being infidels. Their crime? Converting to Christianity. The possible sentence? Death.
Not too far away in Saudi Arabia an outraged father recently hacked his own daughter to death for the same "abomination."
In the daily drumbeat of Mideast news, there is one story of historic proportion that goes nearly unreported: the persecution and systematic destruction in the Islamic world of some of the world's oldest Christian communities.
Sure, we hear when a Catholic bishop is murdered in Iraq, when machete-armed fanatics attack Egyptian Copt worshipers, or when churches are torched in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
But what about the jailing in Saudi Arabia of foreign workers for holding forbidden Christian prayers? Or the arrest in Pakistan of a Christian man for marrying a Muslim woman? Or the continuing problem of an Islamic educational system that teaches the young that Christians and Jews are "the descendants of apes and pigs"?
The pattern is nearly the same wherever extremist Islam holds sway. From Bangladesh to Darfur, Christians have become regular targets for Islamic thugs and the governments that back them. Just this month, a Pakistani court upheld the kidnapping, conversion and "marriage" to older Muslim men of two Christian sisters, aged 10 and 13.
Even in lands that are not under orthodox Sharia law, Christian communities feel the pressure of persecution. In constitutionally secular Turkey, a legally recognized Protestant church in the capital of Ankara is under threat of closure by local police.
Many Christians in Islamic lands have become subject to such terror that they are fleeing the homelands their ancestors have known almost since the time of Jesus. Iraq's Christian sects now feel forced to pray in secret. Others simply leave. Although they comprise less than 4% of Iraq's population, Iraqi Christians now account for 40% of its refugees.
Lebanon's once politically powerful Christian community has already shrunk almost beyond recognition. Thirty years ago, Lebanon was 60% Christian; today it is barely 25%. And the growing political power of Iran-backed Hezbollah is encouraging further departures.
Even in the Holy Land, where Jesus walked, there is an increasing Christian exodus from both the West Bank and Gaza. Part of it surely stems from the continuing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But much of it results from a growing Islamic campaign to force Christians to sell their property and leave.
The only place in the Mideast where Christian communities continue to grow is in the Jewish State of Israel. Israel's tolerance is logical. What people of faith know the dangers of religious persecution better than the people of Israel - especially those whose families originated in the Islamic world? Between 1948 and 1956 more than 850,000 Jews were forced to flee the Arab lands where their families had lived for centuries.
When, in 2001, Afghan fanatics destroyed two ancient statues of Buddha, the world was shocked. But between 1948 and 1967, when Islamic forces controlled the Holy City of Jerusalem, there was a systematic campaign to erase the historic Jewish presence. Synagogues were destroyed and ancient Jewish gravestones carted away. Even today, the Palestinian Authority denies Israel's right to consider itself a Jewish state and denies the historic Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
If there is hope for true peace in the Middle East, it won't simply come from Israeli and Palestinian leaders shaking hands at a formal ceremony. It hinges on extremist Islam reforming its view of others. People of commitment and tolerance all around the world - Christians, Jews, Muslims and others - must speak out loudly and forcefully to prevent the Islamic world's Christians from suffering the same fate as its now all-but-nonexistent Jewish communities.
World ignores persecution of Christians in India's Orissa state
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=74744
Despite brutal and horrifying persecution that has left countless dead and an estimated 50,000 homeless, Christians in India's Orissa state are determined that God will have the victory in their violence-torn homeland.
Since the assassination of anti-Christian Hindu leader Swami Laxamanananda Saraswat on Aug. 22, mobs of Hindu fanatics that blame Christians for the leader's death have been roving the Orissa state on the eastern shore of India, torching churches and homes, brutalizing Christians and burning the bodies of those they kill.
Reports from missions organization Gospel for Asia (GFA), however, tell of courage and determination in the face of violence.
One story reported on Christian Newswire told of a missionary beaten multiple times by a Hindu mob demanding he leave a village where he had been working.
"Even if you kill me, I will not make a vow that I will never come back," the missionary is reported to have answered. "That depends not on me but on the Lord. If he wants to send me here, then I will come," he told his attackers.
Simon John, a GFA regional leader in India, said, "Christians will stand together in this nation, in love and to lift up the people, even if persecution or death comes. We will not stop doing good for the people."
Persecution and death, however, have come, and they have come by horrifying means.
United Kingdom newspaper The Times reports several cases of brutality over the last two weeks alone: a nun was gang-raped; a worker at a church-run orphanage was burned alive; and a woman seven months pregnant was cut to pieces along with her one-year-old son when she refused to denounce Christianity and convert to Hinduism.
Ravindra Nath Prahan, 45, told the Times he and 113 others, warned by a text message, fled to the jungle, living off rainwater and foraging food for a week. His paralyzed brother, however, couldn't take to flight.
"They doused him with petrol and taunted him; we could hear him screaming," Prahan told The Times. His brother was burned alive.
"I could have tried to save him. But we had to save ourselves," Prahan said.
An estimated 50,000 Christians have been forced to run for their lives, while the Hindu radicals have torched more than 3,000 homes and over 100 churches. The Vatican records 36 deaths, but warns an accurate account is impossible since the mobs are burning their victims.
Orissa made headlines last Christmas when 95 churches were razed and at least five people were murdered, The Times reports, but the current massacre reflects the country's worst persecution of Christians since gaining its independence in 1947.
"It's a national shame," India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has reportedly said.
As WND reported earlier, the Indian Supreme Court last week ordered additional police forces into the Kandhamal district, the worst region of violence, and also ordered state officials in Orissa to do more to protect Christians. Reports had come from the region that the police were permitting the attacks.
Citizens have petitioned India's president and rallied in the country's capital city to seek a stop to the violence.
GFA reports, however, that even though 24 of their missionaries have been attacked and 27 GFA-related churches have been destroyed, the Indian Christians still believe God will have victory.
"The encouraging thing is that the attackers themselves acknowledge that Orissa used to be only 2 percent Christian, and now it's 28 percent Christian," reports Juria Bardhan, GFA's state leader in Orissa. Pointing to Christianity's historical growth during times of persecution and the dramatic rise of Christianity among India's lowest, despised caste of people, Juria added, "They don't understand that by doing this, the church will grow by leaps and bounds, and this will cause thousands to come to Christ."
Robot Suit To Enter Mass Production
http://web-japan.org/trends/07_sci-tech/sci080822.html
Japan is a world leader in robotics, and in October 2008 a Japanese company will become the first in the world to begin mass-producing a robot that assists humans in moving their limbs. A research team led by University of Tsukuba Professor Sankai Yoshiyuki has developed the device, which is called Robot Suit HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) TM. Sankai is the CEO of Cyberdyne Inc., the company that plans to begin making this robot suit available for rental through sales outlets.
How the Robot Suit Works
Manufacturing robots and realistic humanoid robots are just two of the numerous kinds of robots that are already in use. A robot suit is a wearable device that dramatically increases the strength of the wearer. Robot Suit HAL is worn over the arms and legs and assists body movement through eight electric motors attached to shoulders, elbows, knees, and the waist.
As it supports the wearer's own limb movements, the robot suit must detect how the wearer is trying to move his or her arms and legs and quickly respond. Most of the robots that have been developed so far in this field rely on sensors to detect motion and then activate motors.
This method, however, has some drawbacks. First, there is a slight time lag from when the wearer moves a muscle to when the robot responds. Second, people who are unable to move their arms and legs can't use such a robot at all. These issues had been viewed as obstacles to a wide commercialization of robot suits. Robot Suit HAL, however, has overcome these limitations using a unique method that senses bioelectric signals sent from brain, rather than detecting muscle movements.
When you want to move your body, your brain sends out an electric signal that is received by your muscles, which then contract, thus producing motion. This electric signal travels to the muscles via the body's nerves, generating a slight voltage of electricity on the surface of the skin. This is known as a bioelectric signal, and Robot Suit HAL detects them using the sensors placed around the wearer's body. Depending on the voltage running the surface of the skin, the computer inside Robot Suit HAL analyzes the signal and sets the appropriate motors in motion.
A Variety of Potential Uses
This unique method of operation means that a person can control Robot Suit HAL by his or her own will, even if he or she is unable to actually move. And as the suit detects the signal sent from the brain even before it gets to the muscle, it can move an instant before the muscle does.
When a person wearing Robot Suit HAL picks up an object that weighs 40 kg, he/she feels as if it weighed only a few kilograms. Robot Suit HAL is therefore expected to have a wide range of applications, such as assisting carers, helping people with physical disabilities to move, and assisting people performing jobs that require a great deal of physical strength. In order to facilitate the commercialization process, Professor Sankai and others formed Cyberdyne Inc. in 2004. In October 2008, the company plans to move into a factory currently under construction that will allow them to manufacture up to 500 suits a year.
Several other types of robot suits are also under development in Japan. Toyama Shigeki, a Professor of Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, leads a team that is currently developing a power-assist suit, which will be used to help agricultural work. Their goal is to place the product on the market within the next few years.
Christians under fire from authorities in Laos
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07590.shtml
(christiansunite.com) - The family members of three men detained for "believing in Jesus and worshipping God" in the village of Boukham, Savannakhet province on August 3 were pressured by police to renounce their faith, according to an August 28 report from Compass Direct.
On August 24, the three detained men -- Pastor Sompong, Boot and Khamsavan -- received a visit from their families. When they arrived, officers tightened the handcuffs and wooden stocks restraining the detained believers, causing them severe pain. They told the visitors, "This is the consequence of not signing documents to renounce your faith. We have already given you three opportunities to do this, but you have refused." A few days later, the village chief ordered the families of the men to sign documents renouncing their faith. The believers refused to do so.
In other regions of the country, authorities are cracking down on churches. In mid-August, twenty-two families were reprimanded by authorities for holding worship services in a private home after their church building was torn down by officials in January. At last report, however, they were continuing to meet together in a church member's home and their requests to rebuild have been denied. On August 25, the chief of Donphai village, Attapue province fined local Christians for holding a worship service during local animistic ceremonies. The Christians refused to pay the fine and are continuing their weekly worship services.
Pray for the release of Pastor Sompong, Boot, and Khamsavan. Pray that Christians in Laos will be emboldened to obey God regardless of what man says (Acts 5:29).
For more information on the situation facing Christians in Laos, go to www.persecution.net/laos.htm.
Church burned down by Muslims in Kwara, Nigeria
http://news.christiansunite.com/Religion_News/religion07589.shtml
(christiansunite.com) - Muslim militants burned down a Christ Apostolic Church building on August 31 in the capital city of Baboko, Kwara state complaining that it was too close to a mosque, according to a September 2 report from Compass Direct.
At the time of the attack, the Christians were worshipping together at another location because of a relocation order issued by the government in response to complaints. The church building, which is 500 metres from the local mosque, was previously attacked by militants on June 16 when Muslims broke into the sanctuary and destroyed property.
Pray that these believers will stand firm and grow in faith as they face opposition. Pray that the passion of God's people in Nigeria will be a light that draws others to Christ.
To learn more about how Christians are persecuted in Nigeria, go to www.persecution.net/nigeria.htm.
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