Al Qaeda's venomous message for Obama
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5722
In an audio message released Wednesday, Nov. 19, Ayman al-Zahari, al Qaeda's No. 2, said US president-elect Barack Obama was not an "honorable black American" like Malcolm X but a "house negro" like Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. He urged Muslims to keep up attacks on the "criminal" US and criticized Obama for "promising to back Israel."
Obama's plan to shift troops to Afghanistan would fail, said Zawahri, in a message appearing on Islamist websites. He added: "A heavy legacy of failure and crimes awaits you." The Islamist leader criticized Obama, born to a Muslim Kenyan farther, for what he described as turning his back on his Muslim roots.
Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1108/tobin111808.php3
If Likud wins in Israel, how badly will the two new leaders of the alliance clash?
Barack Obama spent the first week after being elected president of the United States planning the next four years. Yet, even though the office is occupied by somebody else until January, the pundits are already predicting the next administration's trouble spots.
At the top of the list is the outcome of the Israeli elections scheduled for this winter. If Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu is sent back to the prime minister's office, we are told, a major conflict with the Obama White House is inevitable.
The assumption is that an Obama administration will regard "Bibi" Netanyahu as an obstacle to peace and that he will personally blow up the U.S.-Israel alliance.
HISTORY OF CONFLICT
The Israeli left has promoted the myth that Netanyahu destroyed the peace process after the murder of Yitzhak Rabin. But the true story is that the Oslo Accords were doomed from the start because of Yasser Arafat's insincerity and the continuation of Palestinian terror after the peace was signed.
Though Clinton did just about everything to prevent the Likud leader from winning the 1996 Israeli election except moving to Israel and voting himself, the two managed to co-exist warily for three years. Despite his "hard-line" reputation, Netanyahu wound up signing supplements to the Oslo treaties: the 1996 Hebron agreement and the 1998 Wye Plantation accord. He also sent an emissary to Damascus to discuss Syria's willingness to make peace in exchange for the Golan Heights.
However, his bellicose rhetoric is remembered more than his diplomacy. Contrary to Theodore Roosevelt's advice, Netanyahu always spoke loudly while carrying a very small stick. But there was no mistaking the fact that the Clinton administration despised the Israeli. Bibi's warm relations with Clinton antagonist, Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Christian Evangelical supporters of Israel deepened the distrust between the two governments. When Netanyahu was bounced out of office by Labor's Ehud Barak in 1999, the White House did little to disguise its jubilation.
Now, almost a decade later, Netanyahu is on the verge of a remarkable comeback. A combination of Likud and other right-wing parties has a better chance of putting together a governing coalition next year than does current foreign minister Tzipi Livni of Kadima and its potential allies.
With the Obama foreign-policy team likely to be comprised of either retreads from the last Democratic administration or others equally committed to pushing hard for Israeli-Palestinian peace, trouble with the Likudniks is on the horizon.
But, despite predictions of doom and gloom, is an Obama-Bibi blowup inevitable?
Not necessarily.
Though the idea that the new president will prioritize the comatose peace process and seek to bludgeon Netanyahu into submission may be a fantasy of some of Obama's fans on the Jewish left, it disregards his innate pragmatism.
Clinton committed himself, without reservation, to the concept that Yasser Arafat was a peacemaker rather than a two-faced terrorist. On the other hand, Obama arrives in the Oval Office with no such loyalty to the powerless Palestinian Authority head Mahmoud Abbas. To suggest that rather than concentrate on more-urgent issues, Obama would risk any of his hard-won political capital on such a slender reed as Abbas is absurd.
Even if we assume, for the sake of argument, that Obama and his people are inherently hostile to Netanyahu, why would it make sense for the next president to try to force Israel into a corner when the prospects for peace are so bleak? With the Palestinians hopelessly split between the weak Abbas and his Hamas rivals who control Gaza, there is no way that any Israeli government, even the current Kadima-led coalition that is desperate to achieve an agreement, could do so.
After all, the reason why Bibi may be headed back to the prime ministership is the failure, not only of the Oslo process, but also of Kadima's unilateral withdrawal concept.
Ariel Sharon left the Likud and formed the centrist Kadima Party in 2005 because Netanyahu and his followers wouldn't support the withdrawal from Gaza. His attempt to end the old left-right split in Israeli politics was initially successful, but the the pullout was a disaster. It led directly to the creation of a Hamasistan that bombarded Israeli towns like Sederot. A similar retreat in the West Bank under the current circumstances is unthinkable. This failure of unilateralism has left many Israelis looking back to Likud for leadership.
There may be disagreements between Obama and Netanyahu, but the top foreign-policy item in the Middle East, outside of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is not the dead-in-the-water talks with the Palestinians, but something on which Obama and Netanyahu may well agree: the threat from Iran's nuclear weapons program.
While the Republicans made much of candidate Obama's ill-considered offer of talks with Iran, Obama also pledged never to allow the Iranians to achieve nuclear capability. If Obama doesn't keep that promise, he will have far-bigger problems in the region than not liking Netanyahu.
A chastened Bibi — who won't want a repeat of his difficulties with Clinton — and Obama will both have good domestic political reasons to avoid unnecessary conflicts with each other.
EAGER FOR CONFRONTATION
Rather than the White House being the one spoiling for a fight with Israel, the trouble may instead come from those American Jews who despise Netanyahu and are eager for a confrontation.
The left-wing J Street lobby is committed to pushing Israel hard to revive negotiations, even though anybody who's paying attention to the facts on the ground there knows that both Fatah and Hamas are uninterested in peace. But the lobby's agenda has little to do with the realities of the Middle East and everything to do with American Jewish politics.
J Street's real goal is to undercut the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and, if possible, to supplant it as the voice of American Jewry on Israel. J Street's financial backers were strong supporters of Obama and hope to have a voice in the administration.
A Netanyahu victory in Israel will give them an opening, since they will seek to deprive a Likud government of the sort of support Israelis expect here. Since AIPAC will have to stand up for Netanyahu — an Israeli who has been routinely and wrongly depicted in the American press as an extremist — as it has for every past prime minister, J Street hopes to profit from the comparison.
The test for Obama may not be so much whether he and Bibi disagree on policy, but whether the president allows some of his Jewish supporters to maneuver him into a superfluous dispute that has nothing to do with the vital interests of either country.
The fate of the U.S.-Israel relationship in the next four years may rest on the question of whether Obama will let the gadflies of J Street start a battle that serves neither the cause of peace nor that of his administration's political agenda.
Al Qaeda Posts Wish List for American and Canadian Targets
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/20081109RT
On November 5, 2008, the day after the US Presidential Elections, the following text was posted in a secondary al Qai'da forum. Obviously with the closures of the primary forums many of the members have started appearing on lesser known forums yet using the same names or forum identities.
Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar - Osama has made a worthy promise (America will not live in safety).
Analysis: The person wrote extensively about the blackout across the northeast US and Canada some years back and indicates this will happen again. They claim that they indeed caused the outage and will do it again.
Below are excerpts from the text.
In implementing the orders of the Emir of the mujahedeen Osama bin Laden (may God keep him) to strike the key U.S. economy, the Brigades of Abu Hafs al-Masri find it important to strike a second time (facilities supplying) electricity in the eastern U.S., including the most important economic cities of America and Canada as America's ally in the war against Islam (the city of Toronto and New York) and (areas) around them. (In their first strike) they caused the strike to prevent electricity for more than fifty million people. (OSPB* and security cannot explain how they had been sabotaged the signatories of that, God willing, the mujahedeen will use the same creative ways soon, God willing).
Further text indicates possible things that these people have on their terror "Wish- List" for the USA and Canada.
Among the benefits of the strike – and the media will say:
1. That the U.S. does not live in safety in order to achieve the conditions mentioned in the statement I and II, including the disengagement of prisoners of all the world, including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, get out of Muslim land, including Jerusalem and Al-Jazeera and Kashmir.
2. The introduction of terror in their hearts, as they do with Muslims.
3. (We will) disrupt electricity to fifty million Americans and Canadians, which caused moral and material losses. It is not only our brother and sisters in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan ... etc.. Only who, it must taste the same suffering American people.
4. (We will) hit the main stronghold of the American economy (international exchange).
5. Notice to the United Nations (which is) against Islam, which is based in New York City.
6. Notice to all investors that America has become a country not safe for business, banking or investing. For your information, the American economy depends entirely on investor confidence.
7. The arrest (takeover) of seven major airports, a blow to the airlines.
8. Disable nine nuclear reactors and this has not happened before is a strong economic, as the reactors, nine are in the states of New York and New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan.
9. Disruption of transportation: trains, cars and trucks .... etc., causing heavy casualties.
10. Disruption of the Internet, which depend upon (Internet data transfer) in commercial transactions.
11. Disruption of global banks based in New York.
12. And (thus causing) heavy losses to insurance companies.
13. Losses (financial due to) to a massive deployment of police and security forces.
14. The economy that will lose electricity in the United States and Canada will cost the U.S. Treasury at least ten billion U.S. dollars. And even burn the hearts of American officials, the cost of the mujahedeen to sabotage the lines feeding electricity will cost less than seven thousand dollars.
15. Deterioration of the U.S. dollar against other currencies.
We say to Muslims that this strike is not expected**, but these are called war skirmishes (to drain the enemy economically), and the huge snake America will find great need to overstretch and by the dispersal of such, will be easily destroyed.
"We say to the people of Afghanistan and Kashmir that the gift that Sheikh Osama bin Laden sends is on its way to the White House, then the maximum gift, a gift so that everybody knows what the ceiling is, when and where??? The answer is you!!
(The day believers will rejoice in Allah's victory, which supports the wishes of the Almighty, the Most Merciful)
Allah is great and the largest ........ Islam is coming .....
(signed)
Brigades of Abu Hafs al-Masri (al Qaeda)
Geothermal: Energy Right Under Our Feet
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/481228.aspx
CBNNews.com - YELLOWSTONE - The world's first national park -- Yellowstone -- is a place of stunning beauty and awesome animals.
But some of its most interesting sites are those holes into the earth reeking of sulfer where great geysers suddenly burst into the air.
That's why the first white men to stumble upon this Yellowstone region thought they'd found the place where hell meets earth. Actually it's just where geothermal power bubbles up from the earth.
Park geologist Hank Heasler stated it's the largest concentration of geysers and such anywhere. He said, "We have over 10,000 geothermal features in the park."
Hottest Hot Spot
Responsible for all that energy is America's biggest, hottest magma chamber right below Yellowstone.
One of the country's foremost geothermal authorities, David Blackwell of Southern Methodist University's Geothermal Lab, explained, "It's actually so big, it shows up on the maps we make of the United States as this big bullseye of heat."
This magma chamber generates so much energy, it could power tens of millions of American homes. Blackwell said, "It's potentially equivalent to something on the order of 10 to a hundred nuclear power plants."
Federal law forbids drilling to ever use Yellowstone's geothermal power. IF drilling were allowed, it could wipe out the beautiful geyser fields.
That's what Heasler said has happened in some locations like in Iceland where the country gets much of its power from geothermal. But he warned in some future extreme energy crunch, the U.S.could change its mind about preserving Yellowstone's geysers. He said Americans, the true owners of the park, might say, ".the power we can get from here is more important than the beauty and the wilderness aspect of Yellowstone."
But SMU's Blackwell said new technologies can prevent that day from ever coming because they can turn every region of the U.S. into geothermal energy producers.
Most of the country isn't blessed like Yellowstone or the area in California known as "The Geysers" where magma chambers are right below the surface. Blackwell said of The Geysers, "You drill a well there and just pure steam comes pouring out of the ground and you don't have to do anything except run it through a turbine."
Could Provide One-Fifth of America's Power
But now new technologies can use cooler water from closer to the surface and more easily fracture the rock to get to it and even enhance it, meaning geothermal power can be retrieved from all over the country. Blackwell stated if these new technologies are fully developed and deployed, "We can apply geothermal energy essentially anywhere in the United States."
Which also means it could someday make up as much as one-fifth of America's power, according to a recent M.I.T. study.
Some of the most fascinating research goes on in Texas, home to thousands of oil and gas wells.
Drilling's always been a risky business. You never know when you'll actually strike it rich -- and if you do -- how long the oil or gas will flow.
But one thing's true: you always hit lots of hot water on the way down, and new technologies can now turn that underground hot water -- or geo-fluid -- into geothermal power. Loy Sneary of Gulf Coast Green Energy explained, "When that gas well plays out, and they all will eventually, or you hit a dry hole, you can take the geo-fluid out of that and generate electricity for the next 30 to 40 years."
Would oil and gas companies go along? Sneary said they certainly would because, "It'll actually make the investment in those oil and gas wells much less risky, because they know at the end of the line, they'll be able to generate electricity."
CBN News ran into Sneary at Southern Methodist University where he was demonstrating a new hi-tech device called the Green Machine. "It can use the hot geo-fluid that comes up out of the ground, run it through our equipment and turn it into electricity that's emission-free, without utilizing any fuel. It's actually utilizing the heat that normally would have been wasted."
Green Power and a Green Machine
The Geothermal Lab at SMU wants the university to drill a well on campus and then pump the geo-fluids they hit through the Green Machine in a bid to supply about a twelfth of SMU's power. Or, as Maria Richards of the Geothermal Lab, put it, "To tap into the energy that's below us, and it's right there."
She explained geothermal energy is green and clean with no carbon footprint, and it's really secure. "Because a well in the ground really doesn't care if there's a hurricane over it or a tornado."
Richards pointed out geothermal power plants are also smaller than those using fossil fuels, and they're quieter.
Her SMU colleague, David Blackwell, praised just how green these plants are. "The power plants don't emit any kind of waste products." And he pointed out the hot water shot through those plants goes right back down into the ground to be used over and over in an endless geothermal loop.
John Dwyer of Koll Development Company has much the same dream of energy independence as SMU, but for a huge business park near Dallas called CentrePort.
He wants to use the geo-fluids that oil and gas drillers run into below Koll's property to eventually provide all the power for the businesses in the park. "Try to use that waste product instead of just throwing it away and disposing of it somewhere."
Saving 75% on Your Energy Bill?
Already the technology exists to use the geo-warmth of the earth to turn your home into a user of clean, green energy that'll slash your utility bills by as much as 75 percent.
That's what John Blackall of Blackall Mechanical says.
He installs geothermal systems at homes around the Dallas area.
His crews drill wells all around a property and then run pipes through them to carry water used to heat and cool the home down to a loopfield far inside the earth and back up again, using the ground's constant temperature to make the water cooler in the summer and hotter in the winter.
He showed CBN News a complicated unit he was installing in a millionaire's home outside Dallas. He said, "The earth being 60 to 65 degrees at 250 feet deep in north Texas, this unit -- no matter how hot it is outside -- is tricked into thinking it's a cool spring day."
But because the system costs so much up front, it takes customers several years to re-coup those costs in energy savings. Blackall said, "Currently there's up to a $1,500 tax credit, but that's not much."
Blackall is a Christian believer who started to work with geothermal because he both wanted to help the environment and lower people's energy costs. But he's frustrated that pretty much only the well-to-do can afford these geothermal systems.
It's his dream that government will get really serious about giving such enormous tax breaks for geothermal, even the poorest Americans in the poorest apartment clusters can afford the systems. With such big tax breaks for a poor apartment complex, Blackall said, "We could put a community loop-field in. Those are the people who really need this. They're the people who can't afford high electric bills."
Relieving the Grid
He pointed out not only could geothermal save money, but if enough systems are eventually installed in a region, "Geothermal will drastically reduce the kilowatt demand on the grid."
That matters in a region like north Texas that has only one nuclear plant, because all the rest of the power has to come from burning fossil fuels. So extensive use of geothermal could both cut pollution and the emissions that environmentalists worry add to global warming. It could also be another major step towards America becoming energy self-sufficient.
There's another big reason to develop geothermal, according to its advocates. It's reliably constant, unlike solar and wind power. SMU's Blackwell explained, "It's not like the wind or the sun which blow or shine occasionally or some of the time. Geothermal goes all the time."
Maria Richards, Blackwell's colleague in SMU's Geothermal Lab, pointed out one way a particular area could make geothermal reliably constant over hundreds of years: "If you were to develop it on a quadrant basis.say a square mile.and then you first developed one-fourth of it: you could have a power plant extracting the heat from that first one-fourth for about 25 years, move it to the next quadrant for the next 25 years and so on, then come back a hundred years later, that first quadrant will have reheated naturally."
The Forever Power Source
Which is why Blackwell said, "You could potentially make geothermal last essentially forever if you set up the systems correctly."
And mankind can never use it all up. Blackwell pointed out the earth's interior is constantly generating an amazingly huge amount of heat. "Two percent of it is still several thousand times the annual use of energy in the United States."
This geothermal advocate dreams of a day when "it can actually replace natural gas and fuel oil as the heating component of society, and other forms of generating electricity."
His goal is that the U.S. will work in the decades ahead towards exploiting enough geothermal power to supply the energy needs of 20 to 30 million Americans. "That would be the equivalent of replacing 20 or 30 large power plants.coal-fired power plants or nuclear power plants."
In fact, Blackwell said if all the nations of the earth worked full-bore to develop geothermal resources, this earthy source of energy could eventually meet the power needs of 75 to 90 percent of all the people on the planet.
Global Trends 2025 - Future is nuclear war and famine - US intelligence
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24684836-12377,00.html
The use of nuclear weapons will grow increasingly likely by 2025, US intelligence warned in a report on global trends that forecasts a tense, unstable world shadowed by war.
"The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," said the report.
"Widening gaps in birth rates and wealth-to-poverty ratios, and the uneven impact of climate change, could further exacerbate tensions."
Called Global Trends 2025 - a Transformed World, the 121-page report was produced by the National Intelligence Council, a body of analysts from across the US intelligence community.
Officials said it was being briefed to the incoming administration of president-elect Barack Obama. A year in the making, the report does not take into account the recent global financial crisis.
"In one sense, a bad sense, the pace of change that we are looking at in 2025 occurred more rapidly than we had anticipated," said Thomas Fingar, deputy director of National Intelligence.
One overarching conclusion of the report is that "the unipolar world is over, (or) certainly will be by 2025," Mr Fingar said.
But with the "rise of the rest," managing crises and avoiding conflicts will be more difficult, particularly with an antiquated post-World War II international system.
"The potential for conflict will be different then and in some ways greater than it has been for a very long time," Mr Fingar said.
The report has good news for some countries:
- A technology to replace oil may be underway or in place by 2025;
- Multiple financial centres will serve as ``shock absorbers'' of the world financial system;
- India, China and Brazil will rise, the Korean peninsula will be unified in some form, and new powers are likely to emerge from the Muslim non-Arab world.
Risk of nuclear war
But the report also says some African and South Asian states may wither away altogether, organised crime could take over at least one state in central Europe; and the spread of nuclear weapons will heighten the risk they will be used.
"The likelihood that nuclear weapons will be used will increase with expanded access to technology and a widening range of options for limited strikes," it said.
The report highlighted the risk of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East where a number of countries are thinking about developing or acquiring technologies that would be useful to make nuclear weapons.
"Over the next 15-20 years, reactions to the decisions Iran makes about its nuclear program could cause a number of regional states to intensify these efforts and consider actively pursuing nuclear weapons," the report said.
"This will add a new and more dangerous dimension to what is likely to be increasing competition for influence within the region," it said.
The report said it was not certain that the kind of deterrent relationships that existed for most of the Cold War would emerge in a nuclear armed Middle East. Instead, the possession of nuclear weapons may be perceived as "making it safe" to engage in low intensity conflicts, terrorism or even larger conventional attacks, the report said.
The report said terrorism would likely be a factor in 2025 but suggested that al-Qaeda's "terrorist wave" might be breaking up.
"Al-Qaeda's weaknesses - unachievable strategic objectives, inability to attract broad-based support and self-destructive actions - might cause it to decay sooner than many people think," it said.
"Because history suggests that the global Islamic terrorist movement will outlast al-Qaeda as a group, strategic counterterrorism efforts will need to focus on how and why a successor terrorist group might evolve during the remaining years of the 'Islamic terrorist wave'."
The report was vague about the outcome of current conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and nuclear armed Pakistan.
In 2025, the government in Baghdad could still be "an object of competition" among various factions seeking foreign aid or pride of place.
Afghanistan "may still evince significant patterns of tribal competition and conflict".
"The future of Pakistan is a wildcard in considering the trajectory of neighbouring Afghanistan," it said.
Government warns of "catastrophic" U.S. quake
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AJ9EV20081120
People in a vast seismic zone in the southern and midwestern United States would face catastrophic damage if a major earthquake struck there and should ensure that builders keep that risk in mind, a government report said on Thursday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said if earthquakes strike in what geologists define as the New Madrid Seismic Zone, they would cause "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States."
FEMA predicted a large earthquake would cause "widespread and catastrophic physical damage" across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee -- home to some 44 million people.
Tennessee is likely to be hardest hit, according to the study that sought to gauge the impact of a 7.7 magnitude earthquake in order to guide the government's response.
In Tennessee alone, it forecast hundreds of collapsed bridges, tens of thousands of severely damaged buildings and a half a million households without water.
Transportation systems and hospitals would be wrecked, and police and fire departments impaired, the study said.
The zone, named for the town of New Madrid in Missouri's southeast corner, is subject to frequent mild earthquakes.
Experts have long tried to predict the likelihood of a major quake like those that struck in 1811 and 1812. These shifted the course of the Mississippi River and rang church bells on the East Coast but caused few deaths amid a sparse population.
"People who live in these areas and the people who build in these areas certainly need to take into better account that at some time there is ... expected to be a catastrophic earthquake in that area, and they'd better be prepared for it," said FEMA spokesperson Mary Margaret Walker.
Americans teetering on $14 trillion debt pile
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AD3A620081114
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Free-spending U.S. consumers who bought everything from homes to groceries on borrowed money are running out of credit, and paying the bills will cost the world's biggest economy and its trading partners dearly.
The housing bust has exposed just how much Americans were relying on rising home values to pad spending and replace traditional savings. During the five-year real estate boom that ended in late 2006, household wealth expanded, retail sales grew faster than income, and savings dwindled.
But as banks restrict access to mortgages, auto loans and credit cards, consumers are altering their spending behavior so rapidly that companies cannot adjust fast enough.
Banks that eagerly handed out credit cards during the good times are reducing credit limits and setting asides billions of dollars to cover losses as customers miss payments.
U.S. automakers are warning of a near collapse in demand because would-be buyers are unable or unwilling to get loans.
Stores are bracing for the worst holiday season sales performance in at least 18 years.
Meredith Whitney, the Oppenheimer & Co analyst who was among the first to warn that banks needed to raise huge amounts of money to offset mortgage losses, worries that cuts to credit limits will constrain already cautious consumers, reinforcing a vicious cycle of bank losses and economic decline.
"If you lose your job, if you get sick, if any unforeseen event happens, that's your slush fund," Whitney said at the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York.
"If all of a sudden you lose your slush fund (or it) gets cut dramatically -- and it will -- everything about you changes, and you become more guarded as a consumer. You could be absolutely fine in every other area of your life, but getting your credit line cut changes your whole outlook."
Over the past decade, American households have piled on $8 trillion in debt, an increase of 137 percent, twice the gain seen in the size of the economy. At $14 trillion, the debt load is now roughly equal to the entire economy's annual output.
Much of the increase comes from home mortgages, which have expanded by $6 trillion since 1998, but it also reflects higher balances on credit cards and auto loans.
Despite the expanding debt burden, investors around the world poured money into securities backed by mortgages and credit card receivables for much of this decade, keeping borrowing costs low.
Thanks to the easy credit, U.S. consumers kept increasing their spending throughout the housing run-up, easily exceeding wage growth. Retailers opened hundreds of new stores to fill newly constructed shopping centers. Imports soared, swelling the reserves of exporters such as China. U.S. household savings dwindled to almost nothing.
All of that is changing as the world grows wary of offering more credit to overextended Americans. As defaults jump, banks are now having trouble finding buyers for any investments tied to U.S. household borrowing.
RESTORING FAITH
The Treasury's decision, announced on Wednesday, to use some of its $700 billion rescue package to back consumer lending is likely to fall short until investors have faith that Americans are good credit risks.
That means paring the $14 trillion of debt, but there is no consensus on exactly how much households ought to borrow.
This much is clear: the portion of income that consumers save has steadily declined over the past 30 years from around 10 percent to near zero, and that trend will be reversed.
Economists think the saving rate will rise to somewhere around 5.0 percent in the next couple of years. Based on current household income, that would work out to around $500 billion less for consumers to spend, or about six weeks worth of U.S. retail sales on average.
What is most worrisome for the economy is that the reversal is occurring so quickly. Anxious households have already slashed spending, and banks worried that savers will yank deposits are clamping down even harder on credit.
Whether it is declining demand for cars from Japan, Chinese furniture or clothes from Central America, the slowdown in U.S. spending is casting a shadow over the world economy.
China has pledged a $586 billion stimulus to support growth as exports slide. Europe appears headed for a recession. Even emerging economies that had little exposure to the banking crisis are struggling with slower growth.
WORSE TO COME
Next year may be worse. Credit agency Fitch Ratings expects deeper credit card losses in 2009, and they could reach record highs. Card issuers are trying to cut losses while they can.
"You're seeing a lot of pre-emptive strikes from banks," said Joseph Beaulieu, an retail sector analyst at Morningstar in Chicago.
"You're seeing banks cut credit card limits and home equity lines of credit across the board. You're seeing credit card companies close unused accounts because they don't want someone to max out a card they haven't used in two years."
Credit card debt grew at a modest 1.2 percent annual rate in September to $971.4 billion, well below the 7.4 percent increase recorded in 2007, according to data from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed's survey of loan officers showed that banks tightened lending standards in the last three months.
"It used to be that if you had a heartbeat and applied for a card, you'd get a $10,000 credit line," said Curtis Arnold, a consumer advocate and founder of CardRatings.com. "Those days are long gone."
It is a difficult cycle to break. As credit dries up, consumer spending slows, which forces companies to cut more jobs and more people to default.
How bad it gets depends on how many more jobs are lost as the U.S. economy slumps into a recession that could be the deepest since the mid-1970s. If unemployment climbs another two percentage points to 8.5 percent, as many economists expect, that would mean about three million more people out of work -- and likely struggling to pay credit card bills and mortgages.
Retailers have already suffered plenty of pain.
Several large chains have filed for bankruptcy protection, including the second largest electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. Construction of new retail space is on a pace to decline by 37 percent this year.
Even companies that appear to be survivors haven't gone unscathed. Brad Anderson, the chief executive of Circuit City's biggest competitor, Best Buy Co Inc, said his company simply could not react fast enough to the "rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior" in the past couple of months.
Preparing for a Charismatic Meltdown
http://fireinmybones.com/
Foreclosure. Eviction. Bailouts. We're hearing those terms a lot these days, and not just in the newspaper's business section. In the last two weeks three charismatic churches that once enjoyed huge popularity have fallen on hard times.
In Tampa, Florida, Without Walls International Church is facing foreclosure. The megachurch, which once attracted 23,000 worshipers and was heralded as one of the nation's fastest-growing congregations, shrunk drastically after co-pastors Randy and Paula White announced in 2007 that they were divorcing. On Nov. 4 their bank filed foreclosure proceedings and demanded immediate repayment of a $12 million loan on the property.
In Duluth, Georgia—northeast of Atlanta—sheriff's deputies arrived at Global Destiny Ministries and ordered Bishop Thomas Weeks II to leave the property. According to documents filed in state court, Weeks—who divorced popular preacher Juanita Bynum in June—owed more than $511,000 in back rent to the building's owners. He was escorted out of the building on Nov. 14 while a church service was in progress.
In the case of the Cathedral at Chapel Hill, many parishioners walked out 16 years ago when it became known that Earl Paulk and other staff members were involved in wife-swapping. Paulk created a bizarre culture of secrecy to cover the immorality, which included his affair with a sister-in-law—and resulted in the birth of Donnie Earl (who thought he was Earl Paulk's nephew until last year). The church has only had a few hundred members in recent years.
Today, Donnie Earl has embraced the inclusionist doctrines of Oklahoma pastor Carlton Pearson, who left the faith in 2003 and was labeled a heretic by a group of African-American bishops the following year. The younger Paulk now preaches that all people, not just Christians, are saved. He told Charisma last week that the Cathedral "has expanded to include all of God's creation—Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, gay, straight, etc." And this distorted message is broadcast from a pulpit that hosted the premier leaders of the charismatic movement during the 1970s and 1980s.
Even before Weeks was charged with assaulting Bynum in a hotel parking lot in August 2007, the pastor of Global Destiny Ministries defiled his pulpit during a "Teach Me to Love You" marriage conference. He told married men they should use profanity during sex to heighten their experience, and he brought couples on stage to play a game in which men were asked to name their favorite female body parts.
Lord, help us.
Was it supposed to end like this? How did a movement that was at one time focused on winning people to Christ and introducing them to the power of the Holy Spirit end in such disgrace?
I hear the sound of bricks and steel beams crashing to the ground. The wrecking ball of heaven is swinging. It has come to demolish any work that has not been built on the integrity of God's Word.
All of us should be trembling. God requires holiness in His house and truth in the mouths of His servants. He is loving and patient with our mistakes and weaknesses, but eventually, if there is no repentance after continual correction, His discipline is severe. He will not be mocked.
Romans 11:22 says: "Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off" (NASB).
God is not married to our buildings. If He allowed foreign armies to burn Jerusalem and its glorious temple, He will also write "Ichabod" on the doors of churches where there is no repentance for compromise.
I pray the fear of God will grip our hearts until we cleanse our defiled pulpits. Let's examine our hearts and our ministries. Let's throw out the wood, hay and stubble and build on a sure and tested foundation. It is the only way to survive the meltdown.
Survey: Most Youth Worldwide Spiritual, Say Religion is Good
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081117/survey-most-youth-worldwide-spiritual-say-religion-is-good.htm
The majority of youths in the world say they are spiritual and think religion and spirituality are both positive, according to an extensive, first-of-its-kind survey.
Fifty-seven percent of young people (ages 12-25) see themselves as being spiritual, reported the survey by Search Institute's Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence that was sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation.
The research surveyed more than 7,000 young people from a wide range of cultural and religious backgrounds, spanning 17 countries and six continents. It took two years to complete the study that offers one of the first snapshots of spiritual development across multiple countries and traditions.
"We have spent two years listening to youth ages 12 to 25 from many countries and traditions talk about spiritual development and its role in their lives," reflected Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, co-director of the Center for Spiritual Development, in a statement. "Many young people are keenly interested in these issues, but relatively few have opportunities to talk with others about the things that really matter to them."
The survey found that about one in three youths consider themselves "very" or "pretty" spiritual, but this varied vastly across countries. The high was in the United States where 52 percent of the youth self-described themselves as "very" or "pretty" spiritual, and in Thailand where 50 percent gave this same response.
In contrast, Australia had the low of 23 percent youth who said they were highly spiritual. Almost half of the youth surveyed in Australia (47 percent) indicated that they are not spiritual, compared to only 12 percent in Thailand and about 20 percent in Canada, India, Ukraine, and the United States.
Religion and being spiritual are related but different, according to the world's youth. Respondents are still most likely to say they are both spiritual and religious (34 percent). Nearly a quarter (23 percent) say they are spiritual, but not religious.
One in five of the youths indicated they don't know.
American youths' response was slightly different. They were more likely to say they are both spiritual and religious (43 percent) than the world's youth in general (34 percent). A comparable number to international youths said they are just spiritual (27 percent).
Being spiritual, for this young generation, most often is associated with believing in God (36 percent), followed by believing there is a purpose to life (32 percent), and then being true to one's inner self (26 percent).
But the most popular definition for being spiritual differed across countries and culture.
Indian youths were more likely to say being true to one's inner self (38 percent) is being spiritual more so than believing in God (33 percent).
Whereas in Canada, the youths said being spiritual is believing in God (52 percent) and then believing there is a purpose to life (48 percent). Also, more than a quarter of the participants from Canada (28 percent) said spirituality involves having a deep sense of inner peace or happiness, which was unique to Canadian youths.
Meanwhile young people in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States all defined spirituality first and foremost as believing there is a purpose to life. Believing in God was ranked second at 33 percent for youths in the United States.
In focus groups, some young people expressed the differences they see between spirituality, religion, and religious institutions.
"Spiritual is something one experiences in your own being. Religion is, well, your religion," said a 15-year-old girl from South Africa. "Most of our religion is forced - the do's and don'ts. Being spiritual means standing on a mountain with the wind blowing through your hair, and the feeling of being free."
Another 15-year-old girl from Australia said, "'Religious' is kind of knowing the things in your head, but 'spiritual' is knowing them in your heart."
Most of those surveyed perceived being spiritual is good (72 percent) as well as being religious (67 percent). About one in four youths around the world see being spiritual or religious as neither good nor bad.
When it comes to spiritual help, most young people said they turn to their family (44 percent) and friends (15 percent). Only 14 percent of youth indicated that their religious institution helps them the most.
Nearly one in five youth (18 percent) said they have no one to help them regarding their spiritual lives.
The proportion of youth who said no one helps them increases to 38 percent in the United Kingdom and 37 percent in Australia. Only 4 percent of youth in Cameroon said no one helps them spiritually.
Don Ratcliff, Wheaton College's Price-LeBar Professor of Christian Education and an advisor to the Center for Spiritual Development, reflected on the research study: "I am impressed that while church attendance decreased for most teenagers, a large majority still affirm belief in God and a spiritual dimension to life, as well as believing in life after death," in a statement released Friday.
Ratcliff hopes that this study will lead to additional research related to the reasons for the decline in church attendance that may have roots in childhood as well as adolescent years.
UFOs, aliens and ghosts are believed in more than God
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3510825/UFOs-aliens-and-ghosts-are-believed-in-more-than-God.html
While 54 per cent of people believe in God, 58 per cent believe in the supernatural.
Researchers found women were more likely to believe in the supernatural than men, and were more likely to visit a medium.
Nearly a quarter of the 3,000 questioned by researchers claimed they had an encounter with the paranormal.
Some 37 per cent said aliens and ghosts were the basis of their belief system.
The study, to mark the DVD release of X Files: I Want to Believe, conflicts with another report that showed 68.5 per cent of the general UK population described themselves as believers .
Files released in October revealed cases of passenger jets nearly colliding with UFOs and reports of alien abduction which have been logged by the Ministry of Defence.
The 19 files, disclosed by the National Archives which date from 1986 to 1992, show the extensive records of strange sightings by members of the public and unexplained radar images from air traffic control.
In the files, the military admitted the sighting in April 1991 could not be explained, having ruled out a British or American missile.
It concluded: "In the absence of any clear evidence which could be used to identify the object, it is our intention to treat this sighting like that of any other Unidentified Flying Object."
Atheist Billboards To Debut During Holidays
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17977308/detail.html#-
A controversial billboard will likely be popping up in a neighborhood near you, just in time for the holidays.
The billboard is paid for by a Colorado atheist group. The message sits against a blue sky backdrop and says, "Don't believe in God? You're not alone."
Ten billboards will pepper metro Denver, while one will be put up in Colorado Springs.
"And we're putting them up in November and December because of the holidays, when church and state issues tend to come up a lot," said Joel Guttormson, with Metro State Atheists. "To let non-believers, free-thinkers and atheists know that they are not alone, especially in a country like ours that is predominantly Christian."
Pastor Willard Johnson of Denver's Macedonia Baptist Church called the billboards a desperate effort to discredit Christianity.
"The Bible is being fulfilled. It says that in latter days, you have all these kinds of things coming up, trying to disrupt the validity of Christianity," Johnson said. "If they don't believe in God, how do they believe they came about? We denounce what they are doing. But we do it with love, with gentleness, with decency and with compassion."
Bob Enyart, a Christian radio host and spokesman for American Right to Life, said it's hard to ignore the evidence.
"The Bible says that faith is the evidence of things not seen. Evidence. If we ignore the evidence for gravity or the Creator, that's really dangerous," said Enyart. "Income tax doesn't not exist because somebody doesn't believe in it. And the same is true with our Creator."
The billboards will go up Nov. 17. The atheist group, called Colorado Coalition of Reason or COCORE, also wanted to put up signs in Fort Collins and Greeley, but a billboard company there refused to carry the message.
Johnson said atheism is a rebellion against Biblical principals and the billboard will likely offend many Christians.
COCORE said this is about First Amendment rights.
"And I've read the First Amendment up and down and nowhere does it say that I have to care about your feelings. We're either 10 to 16 percent of the population, and the reason we don't really know is because people are scared to come out because they're ostracized by the people around them," said Guttormson.
Michael Jackson announces intention to convert to Islam
http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3174956,00.html
American pop star Michael Jackson has officially announced that he has been following the five tenets of Islam and intends to convert to Islam, according to a report on the website of Arab-Israeli newspaper Panorama.
According to the report, Jackson's announcement noted he is moving to Bahrain and has purchased some real-estate on an artificial island there. The singer said he decided to convert to Islam because he is convinced it is the closest religion to his personal beliefs.
Jackson also noted he intends to soon move all his assets and his studio from the U.S. to Bahrain, and expressed his hope to be rid of various legal troubles and enjoy the kind of freedom he says he does not have in America.
Notably, if the reports are correct Jackson would not be the first member of his family to make the move to Islam. His brother, Jermaine, who moved to the Gulf nation of Dubai, is also a convert.
According to the sources, Jermaine was the one to provide his famous brother with books about Islam and encouraged him to convert. The report says the pop star read the books and even added his comments on some pages.
Jackson was the center of recent controversy after it was reported that he referred to Jews as "leeches" in a phone message to a former business partner.
Referring to Jews, Jackson was heard saying that "they're like leeches…I'm so tired of it…They start out the most popular person in the world, make a lot of money, big house, cars and everything. End up penniless. It is a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose."
PBS to Air 'Bible's Buried Secrets'
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081118/pbs-to-air-bible-s-buried-secrets.htm
A two-hour program set to air Tuesday night claims to have "new discoveries that shake the foundation of biblical archaeology," echoing claims by other contested documentaries such as "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," which aired last year on The Discovery Channel.
"The Bible's Buried Secrets," produced by Rhode Island-based Providence Pictures for PBS's science series Nova, attempts to uncover who wrote the Hebrew Bible and whether it's history or parable, delving into the origins of the Israelites to explore their gradual transformation into a monotheistic people.
The show also poses provocative ideas – including the "revelation" that many Israelites believed that God had a wife – and disputes literal readings of the text.
It is "a shocking film in many ways, but it's truth, revolutionary, and it's as fresh as yesterday," said Bible scholar William G. Dever during the presentation for the program during the Summer 2008 Television Critics Association (TCA) Tour.
Dever, who specializes in the history of Israel in biblical times, says most of the two dozen biblical archaeology films he was involved in prior to "The Bible's Buried Secrets" turned out to be "outrageously" dishonest.
"They either pander to the public's misunderstanding that the role of archaeology is to prove the Bible to be true or, at best, they're simply dishonest, outrageously so," he said at a session for the program during the Summer TCA Tour.
"The Bible's Buried Secrets," however, is different, he claims.
"I vowed not to make any more such films until 'Nova' came along. I knew their reputation, and I knew this one would be good," he said.
For the documentary, Providence Pictures scouted and filmed at archaeological sites throughout the Middle East – including Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria – and interviewed biblical scholars from around the world.
Producers say the interviews – along with historic works of art, ancient artifacts, animations of biblical passages and scenes, and dramatic recreations – provide the latest account of the ancient Israelites and how they found their one God – the God not only of modern Judaism, but also of Christianity and Islam.
"To this day, the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, is a sacred text for more than three billion people throughout the world," says Gary Glassman, the program's writer, producer, and director. "The film's international team of archeologists and scholars researches biblical texts and examines artifacts and ancient manuscripts to illuminate how the concept of one God emerged to later form the foundation of the three great monotheistic religions."
According to NOVA Senior Executive Producer Paula S. Apsell, the program is both a scientific detective story and dramatic adventure that digs deeply into the Bible and the history of the ancient Israelites through the archeological artifacts they left behind.
"In addition to exploring the historical authenticity of the biblical narrative, this powerful intersection of science, scholarship, and scripture also provides a unique insight into the deeper meaning of biblical texts and their continuing resonance through the centuries," she stated.
Producers say they are "confident that our film will be the definitive documentary on biblical archaeology for years to come."
Many, however, are very skeptical of the film and one group is even taking their protest over the film to Congress.
"PBS is knowingly choosing to insult and attack Christianity by airing a program that declares the Bible 'isn't true and a bunch of stories that never happened,'" states a petition being circulated by the conservative American Family Association, which is urging Congress to stop using tax dollars to fund PBS.
"I have often said that PBS should not receive tax dollars," says AFA founder and chairman Donald E. Wildmon, noting that Congress gives PBS hundreds of millions of tax dollars to help support the network.
"'The Bible's Buried Secrets' is simply one more reason Congress should stop supporting PBS with our tax dollars."
Aspell, however, argues that Nova is not out to disprove the Bible or to denigrate anyone's religious convictions.
"Our approach is simply to present the results of mainstream, peer-reviewed biblical archeology and let viewers draw their own conclusions," she said in an interview.
Among the claims reportedly presented through "The Bible's Buried Secrets," as highlighted by the AFA, are:
• The Old Testament was written in the sixth century BC and hundreds of authors contributed.
• Abraham, Sarah and their offspring didn't exist.
• There is no archaeological evidence of the Exodus.
• Monotheism was a process that took hundreds of years.
• The Israelites were actually Canaanites.
China 'using cyberwarfare to challenge US power'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/3495181/China-using-cyberwarfare-to-challenge-US-power.html
China is using cyberwarfare to challenge American power and distorting economic policy to exert political influence over other countries, according to a hostile congressional report.
The report accuses China of using its foreign exchange reserves, built up through "heavy-handed government control" to buy influence.
In one recent example, a government sovereign wealth fund agreed to use the reserves to loan money to Costa Rica in return for its dropping diplomatic recognition of China's rival, Taiwan.
Meanwhile, it has built up its army of cyber-spies to such an extent that it can launch attacks "anywhere in the world at any time".
The number of attacks on US government, defence companies and businesses rose by a third in 2007, to 43,880 incidents affecting five million computers, according to the claims by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Some were so sophisticated that they might be impossible to counteract, or even detect. Meanwhile, its space programme, targeted at what one Chinese military strategist called "America's soft ribs", was steadily increasing the vulnerability of US assets.
"China is intent on expanding its sphere of control even at the expense of its Asian neighbours and the United States," it said.
Pentagon and other Washington studies have accused China of using computer hacking to steal information and threaten disruption to both civil and defence services before, and particularly since an alleged co-ordinated attack in 2002, code-named by the US "Titan Rain", downloaded huge quantities of information.
The Chinese government vociferously denies being involved in such attacks.
But the current report comes at a time of great American unease that China will benefit from the global financial crisis to cut into its economic, political and even military dominance.
A separate US study published yesterday said that by 2025 America would probably have to share world leadership with India and China.
The increased attention given in the report to China's economic policy is another sign of that unease.
China has been accused of keeping its exchange rate too low, boosting its exports artificially and using the dollars it is forced to buy as a result of the policy to lend back to the United States, exacerbating the recent credit bubble.
"Rather than use this money for the benefit of its citizens – by funding pensions and erecting hospitals and schools, for example – China has been using the funds to seek political and economic influence over other nations," Larry Wortzel, the Commission chairman, said at the report's launch.
The regular publication of such reports over the last six years with cross-party backing – the committee consists of six Democrats and six Republicans – has not deterred President George W Bush from pursuing ever closer business and diplomatic relations with China, a policy set in place by his father, the first President Bush.
China is waiting anxiously to see whether an Obama presidency brings less hawkishness on international relations, or a more protectionist trade policy, which Beijing fears.
The commission called for legislation pressuring China to raise the value of its currency and to demand its main sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, disclose investments it is making in the United States.
"China appears far less likely than other nations to manage its sovereign wealth funds without regard to political influence that it can gain by offering such sizeable investments," the report said.
US rolls out 'Vicinity RFID' to check IDs in moving vehicles
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/24/dhs_vicinity_rfid/
RFID technology that allows the remote identification of travellers in moving vehicles is being rolled out at US land border crossings this month. Crossing points with Canada at Blaine, and with Mexico at Nogales, came online last week, with Buffalo, Detroit and San Ysidro to follow, and a total of 39 planned.
The system uses the US PASSport (People, Access Security Service) card, which is intended to operate within the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) for US citizens entering the US via land and sea ports. Using "Vicinity RFID" it can read the cards from a healthy skimming distance of 20-30 feet, but according to the Department of Homeland Security this isn't a problem. The RFID chip on the card doesn't contain any personal information, only a unique identification number, and skimmers wouldn't have access to the data the number matches up with.
The system is intended to work like this. As a vehicle approaches the border post, the numbers of the cards inside it are read, and pictures and data on the holders are called up from a database. Then, presumably, the immigration officers check the faces of the passengers to make sure they match, and bust any who happen to be flagged as terrorists or loose criminals.
In addition to the PASSport card, some US states are beginning to issue Enhanced Driver's Licence/ID cards (EDL/ID), which have the PASSport RFID functionality added to a standard driver's license. These can also be used for land or sea entry to the US, but neither variety of card is valid elsewhere, or for WHTI air travel into the US. Obviously, they'd only be of any use at anybody else's border post if there were compatible readers there, and if the US had kindly shared its ID database with the relevant country.
So it's an internal passport system, one that's entirely incompatible with the biometric ID system that the US has gone to such pains to get the world to adopt. Were they only kidding, then?
IBM to build brain-like computers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7740484.stm
IBM has announced it will lead a US government-funded collaboration to make electronic circuits that mimic brains.
Part of a field called "cognitive computing", the research will bring together neurobiologists, computer and materials scientists and psychologists.
As a first step in its research the project has been granted $4.9m (£3.27m) from US defence agency Darpa.
The resulting technology could be used for large-scale data analysis, decision making or even image recognition.
"The mind has an amazing ability to integrate ambiguous information across the senses, and it can effortlessly create the categories of time, space, object, and interrelationship from the sensory data," says Dharmendra Modha, the IBM scientist who is heading the collaboration.
"There are no computers that can even remotely approach the remarkable feats the mind performs," he said.
"The key idea of cognitive computing is to engineer mind-like intelligent machines by reverse engineering the structure, dynamics, function and behaviour of the brain."
'Perfect storm'
IBM will join five US universities in an ambitious effort to integrate what is known from real biological systems with the results of supercomputer simulations of neurons. The team will then aim to produce for the first time an electronic system that behaves as the simulations do.
The longer-term goal is to create a system with the level of complexity of a cat's brain.
Prof Modha says that the time is right for such a cross-disciplinary project because three disparate pursuits are coming together in what he calls a "perfect storm".
Neuroscientists working with simple animals have learned much about the inner workings of neurons and the synapses that connect them, resulting in "wiring diagrams" for simple brains.
Supercomputing, in turn, can simulate brains up to the complexity of small mammals, using the knowledge from the biological research. Modha led a team that last year used the BlueGene supercomputer to simulate a mouse's brain, comprising 55m neurons and some half a trillion synapses.
"But the real challenge is then to manifest what will be learned from future simulations into real electronic devices - nanotechnology," Prof Modha said.
Technology has only recently reached a stage in which structures can be produced that match the density of neurons and synapses from real brains - around 10 billion in each square centimetre.
Networking
Researchers have been using bits of computer code called neural networks that seek to represent connections of neurons. They can be programmed to solve a particular problem - behaviour that appears to be the same as learning.
But this approach is fundamentally different.
"The issue with neural networks and artificial intelligence is that they seek to engineer limited cognitive functionalities one at a time. They start with an objective and devise an algorithm to achieve it," Prof Modha says.
"We are attempting a 180 degree shift in perspective: seeking an algorithm first, problems second. We are investigating core micro- and macro-circuits of the brain that can be used for a wide variety of functionalities."
The problem is not in the organisation of existing neuron-like circuitry, however; the adaptability of brains lies in their ability to tune synapses, the connections between the neurons.
Synaptic connections form, break, and are strengthened or weakened depending on the signals that pass through them. Making a nano-scale material that can fit that description is one of the major goals of the project.
"The brain is much less a neural network than a synaptic network," Modha says.
First thought
The fundamental shift toward putting the problem-solving before the problem makes the potential applications for such devices practically limitless.
Free from the constraints of explicitly programmed function, computers could gather together disparate information, weigh it based on experience, form memory independently and arguably begin to solve problems in a way that has so far been the preserve of what we call "thinking".
"It's an interesting effort, and modelling computers after the human brain is promising," says Christian Keysers, director of the neuroimaging centre at University Medical Centre Groningen. However, he warns that the funding so far is likely to be inadequate for such an large-scale project.
That the effort requires the expertise of such a variety of disciplines means that the project is unprecedented in its scope, and Dr Modha admits that the goals are more than ambitious.
"We are going not just for a homerun, but for a homerun with the bases loaded," he says.
Bug-Sized Spies: U.S. Develops Tiny Flying Robots
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456384,00.html
DAYTON, Ohio — If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if that fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons?
That kind of James Bond-style fantasy is actually on the drawing board.
U.S. military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives.
"The way we envision it is, there would be a bunch of these sent out in a swarm," said Greg Parker, who helps lead the research project at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. "If we know there's a possibility of bad guys in a certain building, how do we find out? We think this would fill that void."
In essence, the research seeks to miniaturize the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan for surveillance and reconnaissance.
The next generation of drones, called Micro Aerial Vehicles, or MAVs, could be as tiny as bumblebees and capable of flying undetected into buildings, where they could photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.
By identifying and assaulting adversaries more precisely, the robots would also help reduce or avoid civilian casualties, the military says.
Parker and his colleagues plan to start by developing a bird-sized robot as soon as 2015, followed by the insect-sized models by 2030.
The vehicles could be useful on battlefields where the biggest challenge is collecting reliable intelligence about enemies.
"If we could get inside the buildings and inside the rooms where their activities are unfolding, we would be able to get the kind of intelligence we need to shut them down," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.
Philip Coyle, senior adviser with the Center for Defense Information in Washington D.C., said a major hurdle would be enabling the vehicles to carry the weight of cameras and microphones.
"If you make the robot so small that it's like a bumblebee and then you ask the bumblebee to carry a video camera and everything else, it may not be able to get off the ground," Coyle said.
Parker envisions the bird-sized vehicles as being able to spy on adversaries by flying into cities and perching on building ledges or power lines.
The vehicles would have flappable wings as a disguise but use a separate propulsion system to fly.
"We think the flapping is more so people don't notice it," he said. "They think it's a bird."
Unlike the bird-sized vehicles, the insect-sized ones would actually use flappable wings to fly, Parker said.
He said engineers want to build a vehicle with a 1-inch wingspan, possibly made of an elastic material. The vehicle would have sensors to help avoid slamming into buildings or other objects.
Existing airborne robots are flown by a ground-based pilot, but the smaller versions would fly independently, relying on preprogrammed instructions.
Parker said the tiny vehicles should also be able to withstand bumps.
"If you look at insects, they can bounce off of walls and keep flying," he said. "You can't do that with a big airplane, but I don't see any reason we can't do that with a small one."
An Air Force video describing the vehicles said they could possibly carry chemicals or explosives for use in attacks.
Once prototypes are developed, they will be flight-tested in a new building at Wright-Patterson dubbed the "micro aviary" for Micro Air Vehicle Integration Application Research Institute.
"This type of technology is really the wave of the future," Thompson said. "More and more military research is going into things that are small, that are precise and that are extremely focused on particular types of missions or activities."
Regenerating a Mammoth for $10 Million
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/science/20mammoth.html?_r=2&oref=slogin
Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of science fiction is a realistic possibility, saying that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million.
A woolly mammoth hair ball. Hairs like these were used to sequence the mammoth genome.
The same technology could be applied to any other extinct species from which one can obtain hair, horn, hooves, fur or feathers, and which went extinct within the last 60,000 years, the effective age limit for DNA.
Though the stuffed animals in natural history museums are not likely to burst into life again, these old collections are full of items that may contain ancient DNA that can be decoded by the new generation of DNA sequencing machines.
If the genome of an extinct species can be reconstructed, biologists can work out the exact DNA differences with the genome of its nearest living relative. There are talks on how to modify the DNA in an elephant's egg so that after each round of changes it would progressively resemble the DNA in a mammoth egg. The final-stage egg could then be brought to term in an elephant mother, and mammoths might once again roam the Siberian steppes.
The same would be technically possible with Neanderthals, whose full genome is expected to be recovered shortly, but there would be several ethical issues in modifying modern human DNA to that of another human species.
A scientific team headed by Stephan C. Schuster and Webb Miller at Pennsylvania State University reports in Thursday's issue of Nature that it has recovered a large fraction of the mammoth genome from clumps of mammoth hair. Mammoths, ice-age relatives of the elephant, were hunted by the modern humans who first learned to inhabit Siberia some 22,000 years ago. The mammoths fell extinct in both their Siberian and North American homelands toward the end of the last ice age, some 10,000 years ago.
Dr. Schuster and Dr. Miller said there was no technical obstacle to decoding the full mammoth genome, which they believe could be achieved for a further $2 million. They have already been able to calculate that the mammoth's genes differ at some 400,000 sites on its genome from that of the African elephant.
There is no present way to synthesize a genome-size chunk of mammoth DNA, let alone to develop it into a whole animal. But Dr. Schuster said a shortcut would be to modify the genome of an elephant's cell at the 400,000 or more sites necessary to make it resemble a mammoth's genome. The cell could be converted into an embryo and brought to term by an elephant, a project he estimated would cost some $10 million. "This is something that could work, though it will be tedious and expensive," he said.
There have been several Russian attempts to cultivate eggs from frozen mammoths that look so perfectly preserved in ice. But the perfection is deceiving since the DNA is always degraded and no viable cells remain. Even a genome-based approach would have been judged entirely impossible a few years ago and is far from reality even now.
Still, several technical barriers have fallen in surprising ways. One barrier was that ancient DNA is always shredded into tiny pieces, seemingly impossible to analyze. But a new generation of DNA decoding machines use tiny pieces as their starting point. Dr. Schuster's laboratory has two, known as 454 machines, each of which costs $500,000.
Another problem has been that ancient DNA in bone, the usual source, is heavily contaminated with bacterial DNA. Dr. Schuster has found that hair is a much purer source of the host's DNA, with the keratin serving to seal it in and largely exclude bacteria.
A third issue is that the DNA of living cells can be modified only very laboriously and usually at one site at a time. Dr. Schuster said he had been in discussion with George Church, a well-known genome technologist at Harvard Medical School, about a new method Dr. Church has invented for modifying some 50,000 genomic sites at a time.
The method has not yet been published, and until other scientists can assess it they are likely to view genome engineering on such a scale as being implausible. Rudolph Jaenisch, a biologist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, said the proposal to resurrect a mammoth was "a wishful-thinking experiment with no realistic chance for success."
Dr. Church, however, said that there had recently been enormous technical improvements in decoding genomes and that he expected similar improvements in genome engineering. In his new method, some 50,000 corrective DNA sequences are injected into a cell at one time. In the laboratory, the cell would then be grown and tested and its descendants subjected to further rounds of DNA modification until judged close enough to that of the ancient species. In the case of resurrecting the mammoth, Dr. Church said, the process would begin by taking a skin cell from an elephant and converting it to the embryonic state with a method developed last year by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka for reprogramming cells.
Asked if the mammoth project might indeed happen, Dr. Church said that "there is some enthusiasm for it," although making zoos better did not outrank fixing the energy crisis on his priority list.
Dr. Schuster believes that museums could prove gold mines of ancient DNA because any animal remains containing keratin, from hooves to feathers, could hold enough DNA for the full genome to be recovered by the new sequencing machines.
The full genome of the Neanderthal, an ancient human species probably driven to extinction by the first modern humans that entered Europe some 45,000 years ago, is expected to be recovered shortly. If the mammoth can be resurrected, the same would be technically possible for Neanderthals.
But the process of genetically engineering a human genome into the Neanderthal version would probably raise many objections, as would several other aspects of such a project. "Catholic teaching opposes all human cloning, and all production of human beings in the laboratory, so I do not see how any of this could be ethically acceptable in humans," said Richard Doerflinger, an official with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Dr. Church said there might be an alternative approach that would "alarm a minimal number of people." The workaround would be to modify not a human genome but that of the chimpanzee, which is some 98 percent similar to that of people. The chimp's genome would be progressively modified until close enough to that of Neanderthals, and the embryo brought to term in a chimpanzee.
"The big issue would be whether enough people felt that a chimp-Neanderthal hybrid would be acceptable, and that would be broadly discussed before anyone started to work on it," Dr. Church said.
Genetically Modified Humans With "Immortal Cells"? Scientists Step Closer To Elixir Of Youth
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3489881/Scientists-take-a-step-closer-to-an-elixir-of-youth.html
A naturally occuring substance that can create "immortal cells" could be the key to finding a real elixir of youth, scientists claim.
Researchers believe boosting the amount of a naturally forming enzyme in the body could prevent cells dying and so lead to extended, healthier, lifespans.
The protein telomerase helps maintain the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes which act like the ends of shoelaces and stop them unravelling.
As we age, and our cells divide, these caps become frayed and shorter and eventually are so damaged that the cell dies. Scientists believe boosting our natural levels of telomerase could rejuvenate them.
A team at the Spanish National Cancer Centre in Madrid tested the theory on mice and found that those genetically engineered to produce 10 times the normal levels of telomerase lived 50 per cent longer than normal.
Maria Blasco, who led the research, told the New Scientist said that the enzyme was capable of turning "a normal, mortal cell into an immortal cell".
She added that she was optimistic that a similar approach may eventually lead to extended human lifespans - though she urged caution.
"You can delay the ageing of mice and increase their lifespan," she said.
"But I think it is very hard to extrapolate data from mouse ageing to human ageing."
One of the problems with boosting telomerase is that it can increase the risk of cancer.
Dr Blasco said this could be overcome by also issuing cancer drugs that could offset the negative affects.
She said that the mice with the boosted enzyme also saw other health benefits – often associated with youth such as less subcutaneous fat and better glucose tolerance.
Why stop here on our evolution from the ape?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5191817.ece
There was a time when the use of animal organs in medicine gave many of us an attack of the moral heebie-jeebies. It was considered bestial, degrading and, well, rather yucky. No longer. Even the conservative Senator Jesse Helms, suffering from a coronary condition in the 1990s, gratefully consented to having a pig's heart valve, and I suspect most of us, offered a choice of a synthetic or animal part for transplantation, would plump for whatever works best, without giving the ethics a second thought.
It is curious, then, that controversy continues to swirl around other types of animal-human fusion. Last week the Human Embryology and Fertilisation Act, which permits the creation of animal-human embryos, received Royal Assent. The legislation forbids scientists from developing these embryos beyond 14 days (when they are about the size of a full stop) but that has not stopped opponents banging on about "the crossing of an ethical Rubicon".
The creation of admixed embryos is primarily about boosting the supply of stem cells, and a jolly good thing too - only yesterday it was announced that adult stem cells had been successfully used in a pioneering trachea transplant.
But the possibilities of biotechnology extend way farther. Suppose that scientists discovered an animal species with a genetic resistance to a killer virus. It might be possible to transfer these sequences into the human genome to confer resistance. If this sounds like science fiction, consider that many gene-transfer therapies have completed clinical trials and that human genes have been transferred to animals for medical research for years.
We tend to mythologise genes, taking them to contain magical ethical properties when they are really nothing more than molecular sequences coding for protein synthesis. The "magic" only emerges when genes fuse in their thousands to create such wonders as people and animals. If a chap can benefit from an animal gene without negative side-effects, where's the objection? Surely, a choice between a synthetic and animal gene is just like the choice between a synthetic and animal body part: which works best?
Of course, many - and not just religious types - rage about how the possible use of animal genes assaults human dignity by blurring the distinction between humans and animals, but this is not so much an objection as a positive blessing. Any reminder of our continuity with the animal kingdom - we share 98 per cent of our DNA with chimps - might wake us up to some of the more inhumane ways with which we treat our evolutionary cousins. That is not to deny that animals and humans are importantly different; it is merely to warn against turning our backs on technologies just because they assault our preposterously overblown sense of species pride. It is not degrading to save lives, even when using "yucky" animal genes.
But ultimately gene transfer - synthetic or animal - is about far more than medicine. It may be possible to enhance capacities such as perception, intelligence, even lifespan. Ageing, for example, is related to decay at the ends of our chromosomes. If we could delay this decay genetically, it might dramatically extend life. (Some believe that the first 500-year-old human is alive. To which I say, bring it on!)
The problem is that many regard genetic enhancement as a kind of cheating. Indeed, the President's Council on Bioethics argued in its report Beyond Therapy that enhancement technologies are morally comparable to drugs in sport. It is an entirely spurious comparison, even by the council's standards. To see why, imagine that you are a 100-metre runner with access to a drug that helps you to run faster. Given that your objective is to win, you benefit from this enhancement only if it is denied to others. If everyone takes the drug and gains a 10 per cent advantage, the result is the same as if no one takes it.
Now consider an enhancement such as a technique that engineered resistance to flu. In this case, you would want the enhancement not only for yourself, you would want the rest of society to benefit, too. The technology is not about gaining an advantage at the expense of others; it is about improving everyone's life. If a politician tweaked the education system so that every child achieved better exam results, he would be a hero. How is this morally different to achieving the same outcome with genetic engineering? The only doubt consists in forbidding the technology on the basis of a flawed comparison.
The deeper objection to gene enhancement derives from the same confusion that surrounds the use of animal DNA - that the human genome is ethically special. But how can it be when it resulted from natural selection, an arbitrary process? This is not to deny that humans are precious, but to emphasise that it is because of our capacities, not our genes. If we can enhance our capacities - including that of enjoying life free from disease - why get an attack of the moral jitters?
In his essay Gaps in the Mind, Richard Dawkins invites you to imagine holding hands with your mother, who is holding hands with her mother, and so on. This ancestral chain would extend less than 300 miles before reaching the common ancestor that we share with the chimpanzee. Now imagine that common ancestor holding by her other hand another daughter, she hers, and so on. This chain runs parallel to the first, so that first cousin is facing first cousin, second cousin is facing second cousin, and so on. By the time that the chain has wound its way back, you find yourself face to face with a modern day chimpanzee.
This neatly dramatises the absurdity of the belief that humanity is the ultimate expression of moral worth and should be preserved, inviolate, against genetic modification. As the ethicist John Harris puts it: "If our ape ancestor had thought about it, she might have taken the view that there is something special about herself and that her sort of being was worth preserving in perpetuity."
Why freeze evolution at any point on that chain, at the beginning, the middle or where we happen to be now? There are no moral reasons, only anthropocentric ones.
Where, then, should we draw the boundaries for biotechnology? This is tough to answer in the abstract, but we can have no principled objection to even radical genetic modifications providing that they improve lives or reduce suffering. Our deepest concern should be not to preserve the precise sequence of human DNA (it will continue to mutate and drift, regardless) but to embrace anything that protects us and our descendants from the terrible vulnerability we face in this world.
21st century plague discovered by scientists
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3514217/21st-century-plague-discovered-by-scientists.html
The bacteria can cause serious heart disease in humans are being spread by rat fleas, sparking concern that the infections could become a bigger problem in humans.
Research published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology suggests that brown rats, the biggest and most common rats in Europe, may now be carrying the bacteria.
Since the early 1990s, more than 20 species of Bartonella bacteria have been discovered. They are considered to be emerging pathogens, because they can cause serious illness in humans worldwide from heart disease to infection of the spleen and nervous system.
"A new species called Bartonella rochalimae was recently discovered in a patient with an enlarged spleen who had travelled to South America," said Professor Chao-Chin Chang from the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan.
"This event raised concern that it could be a newly emerged pathogens. Therefore, we decided to investigate further to understand if rodents living close to human environment could carry this bacteria."
Scientists have found that rodents carry several pathogenic species of Bartonella, such as B. elizabethae, which can cause endocarditis and B. grahamii, which was found to cause neuroretinitis in humans. Although scientists are unsure about the main route of transmission, these infections are most likely to be spread by fleas.
Ctenophthalmus nobilis, a flea that lives on bank voles, was shown to transmit different species of Bartonella bacteria. These pathogens have also been found in fleas that live on gerbils, cotton rats and brown rats.
The researchers took samples from 58 rodents, including 53 brown rats, two mice (Mus musculus) and three black rats (Rattus rattus).
Six of the rodents were found to be carrying Bartonella bacteria; 5 of these were brown rats. Four of the rodents were carrying B. elizabethae, which can cause heart disease in humans, and one of the black rats was found to be harbouring B. tribocorum.
The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis, or Bubonic plague.
It was spread by rodents in the 14th century and centuries after that, killing an estimated 75 million people worldwide.
Apocalypse now: the end of Earth brought forward
http://www.russiatoday.com/scitech/news/33500
You may not need to write your last will and testament after all. Now a group of pessimistic scientists from the U.S., the UK and France say humanity has reached the point of no return and has little hope of continuing life on Earth.
A new study published by The Open Atmospheric Science Journal says the concentration of CO2 in the planet's atmosphere has reached the point at which irreversible changes to climate start. Even if the concentration of carbon dioxide is lowered from its current level in record time, the catastrophic effects will still occur. The scientists give us about 30 years till the end of the planet to which humans are adapted.
The scientists predict spread of deserts, bad crop harvests, stronger hurricanes, the eventual dying out of coral reefs and complete disappearance of mountain glaciers that are the source of drinking water for hundreds of millions of people.
The paper notes that a large part of all CO2 emissions stay in the atmosphere for a long time. About a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions remain airborne for several centuries. So simply cutting down on fossil fuel is not going to affect climate change in the long term. Saving the planet means that no carbon dioxide can be emitted to the atmosphere, in the sense that no coal or other fossil fuel can ever be used again. At the same time agricultural and forestry policy need a drastic change: rapid reforestation could absorb a significant part of the emissions already left in the air, but realistically – what are the chances humans will stop driving, flying, or heating their homes tomorrow?
Currently the carbon dioxide levels are measured at 385 ppm (parts per million), and to have a chance for survival the scientists predict that humanity needs to lower this figure to 350 ppm – the level it was before the industrial revolution.
The research contradicts earlier reports that the critical levels of CO2 will only be reached by the end of this century. The authors, though, insist that all the latest data proves them right. Now climatologists know that some processes like melting permafrost do not take millennia, but can happen in just a few decades.
The most important point of the research, however, is not the horrifying figures or the apocalyptic promises. It's the fact that our own industrial advances have ended up as the main factor of Earth's downfall. And the worst hazard that comes with it is ignoring the danger.
Helicopter in dramatic near-miss with 'sinister' UFO 1,500ft above Birmingham
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088307/Helicopter-dramatic-near-miss-sinister-UFO-1-500ft-Birmingham.html
It was a cloudless night and the police helicopter was carrying out surveillance over Birmingham when the attention suddenly switched from ground to sky.
Beside it was a small aircraft beaming out continuous blue-green lights.
It came within almost 300ft, forcing the pilot to swerve out of its path, and appeared to circle the helicopter in a cheeky gesture before flying off.
Initially the pilot and two police observers dismissed the near miss at 1,500ft as a close encounter with a model plane.
But despite searching the area with a thermal camera, the pilot was unable to find any signs of radio-controlled activity.
The British Model Flying Association also dismissed this possibility, saying the mystery object was flying too high to be a miniature craft, while gliders, kites, balloons and a laser light show were further excluded from the possibilities.
All of which leads UFO experts to believe that alien forces were at work.
Details of the incident, which happened at about 9.50pm on May 2, were revealed yesterday in a document compiled by experts from the Airprox Board, which records near misses and reports them to the military and air traffic control units.
The report describes the strange other aircraft only as 'small and probably non-metallic' and its intent as possibly ' sinister'.
It adds that the pilot informed radar operators but they saw nothing on their equipment.
He told the Airprox Board that he thought 'the intent may either have been sinister or just someone messing around'.
Yesterday a West Midlands Police spokesman attempted to play down the incident, saying: 'As far as the pilot and the crew were concerned, nothing was picked up on Birmingham Airport radar and the object was probably a radio-controlled model aircraft.
'The helicopter was conducting a search at the time and was flying slowly at low level.'
But Nick Pope, who worked for the Ministry of Defence's UFO desk and is nicknamed the British Fox Mulder after the science-fiction character in The X-Files, favours a less complacent approach.
'A helicopter was nearly blown out of the sky,' he said. 'This is a very disturbing incident which needs to be thoroughly investigated by the MoD and the Civil Aviation Authority as well as other near misses.
'The conclusion on the report is unsatisfactory especially when this aircraft came within seconds of a collision.
'It is a very interesting case especially when you look at the eyewitnesses. They are credible and reliable sources who have experience in night-time flying.
'This sighting clearly illustrates that whatever one believes about UFOs, this incident raises important air safety issues and should be taken seriously.'
2025 to bring a new world order: report
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081121/FOREIGN/262043275/-1/NEWS
Last Updated: November 21. 2008 6:13PM UAE / GMT The global order will shift dramatically over the next two decades as US hegemony wanes and eastern powers emerge as key players in a world that will be increasingly torn by conflicts over land, water and food.
By the year 2025, a "massive shift of wealth", will see China, India and Russia join the United States as major economic powers, according to a report released by the US-based National Intelligence Council. It will also provide opportunities for Gulf countries, such as the UAE, to play a pivotal role in world politics.
The 121 page report, entitled Global Trends 2025 — A Transformed World, is intended to provide a basis for policy assessment for the White House and intelligence community.
"The unprecedented shift in relative wealth and economic power roughly from West to East now under way will continue," the report said. "The United States will remain the single most powerful country but will be less dominant."
It also warned of a rise in organised crime, a growing likelihood of nuclear conflict and resource grab as countries try to shore up supplies of scarce commodities.
In a world where the US will no longer be able to act unilaterally, the Gulf could see itself in an important position, acting as a bridge between East and West, according to Mark Allworthy, a Dubai-based research analyst for the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"The Gulf countries will become increasingly influential, with India and China and the West almost battling to strengthen relationships with the region," he said. "I think they will be in a strong brokering position."
The global financial crisis may further cement the importance of states on the Arabian peninsula who have benefited from "windfall profits" after high oil prices, the report said.
"If China, Russia, and Mideast oil exporters can avoid internal crises, they will be in a position to leverage their likely still sizeable reserves, buying foreign assets and providing direct financial assistance to still-struggling countries for political favours or to seed new regional initiative."
By 2025, an alternative and viable energy source to oil and gas is likely to have been discovered, the report said.
It highlighted Saudi Arabia as the biggest loser in a "post-petroleum world" as it will be forced to tighten up on costs of the royal establishment and could face tension from some factions if it tries to implement economic reforms such as encouraging women into the workforce. The smaller Gulf states, which have been diversifying their economies, are likely to manage the transition well, it added.
Heavy investment in renewable energy programmes may also mean that the Gulf is more cushioned than one might expect from a shift away from oil, Mr Allworthy said.
"The Gulf is one of the regions in the world taking the lead on alternative energy," he said. "For example, Abu Dhabi has invested huge amounts of wealth around the world; they are prepared for this."
The scarcity of resources such as food, water and energy poses a major challenge for all of the GCC countries, as their total population is set to double to nearly 60 million by 2030 from 30 million in 2000. The UAE currently imports nearly 85 per cent of its food and is already looking overseas to boost its reserves. The Government of Abu Dhabi is now looking to agricultural investment projects in countries such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Egypt and has agreed to buy farmland in Sudan.
"The Gulf will be one of the worst hit by growing food shortages and there's a need for strategic planning of food security," said Eckart Woertz, an economic programme manager at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai.
The report predicts a world where there is a higher risk of nuclear conflict and non-Arab Muslim states such as Iran, Turkey and Indonesia may be central players. It said that although Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is not inevitable, worries about a nuclear Iran may spark an arms-race in the region.
"It is not clear that the type of stable deterrent relationship that existed between the great powers for most of the Cold War would emerge naturally in the Middle East with a nuclear-weapons capable Iran," it said.
Theodore Karasik, director of research and development at the Institute for Near Eastern and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai agreed that Iran could be a "robust competitor" on the global scene.
Anwar Gargash, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, on Thursday night urged a high-powered audience at the annual conference of the Middle East Institute in Washington, to include the UAE in what may become the biggest foreign policy shift of Barack Obama's administration: resuming diplomatic relations with Iran. Mr Gargash said he sees a chance for the UAE to play a vital role in any future talks.
"We are neighbours, we share a waterway, communication has been easy."
Properties of the ideal global citizen
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24677165-25658,00.html?from=public_rss
I WAS in Washington DC to release a new report on global skills at a human resources industry conference in September.
At the end of the conference I ran a workshop on recruitment and placement issues with 30 global HR directors of multinational corporations.
Initially we canvassed matters associated with managing a global workforce. The merits of concepts such as developing "tailored careers", cultivating a "culture of innovation" and providing "constructive feedback" were popular themes.
However, I felt we were dancing around an issue. One term that kept popping up was "global mindset". Another was "global thinking". Yet another was "cultural sensitivity".
Nobody explained what they meant by these terms and yet they littered the discussion.
I wanted the group to describe their idea of "the perfect global corporate citizen". They each had specific ideas of what they were looking for when placing a candidate in a senior role. Indeed it was almost as if they were independently describing different aspects of the same being.
I put it to them that I wanted to create a "corporate Lara Croft", a virtual being that would perfectly fit into a management role. How old would this person be? What would their CV look like? What would be their skills, experience, attitude and personal situation? The group was immediately energised by the challenge.
To the question about age, the group quickly converged on 38-42 years. In order to take up a senior role, with a view to making it to C-level management (for example CEO, CFO), the candidate must have at least 15 years' experience. This criterion immediately places candidates at late 30s or early 40s.
The group then talked about the need to have a "moveable spouse". If the candidate is married to, say, a doctor, it can be difficult to relocate because patients cannot be moved. Helpful hint: if you are thinking of becoming a global corporate citizen, make sure you hook up with someone who is moveable.
They wanted someone with a basic degree plus an MBA or a law degree. These were seen as providing the technical basis for decision-making later in life. They also wanted a second language.
Others chimed in with "may have lived abroad in their youth".
At this point, attendees had to think harder. They wanted someone who had run a division or a program overseas. And there were extra points if this was in another field altogether.
They thought someone who ran a program for, say, World Vision while at university and picking up a second language along the way, would be ideal.
They don't want someone who has never worked outside their field of expertise; they were looking for broad experience.
Then came a jaw-dropper. One person put up his hand and suggested "may have spent time in the military". The room erupted. "Why?" He calmly responded. Someone who has spent time in the military is used to delegating, to taking orders, and to moving, and is more likely to have a "global perspective". They all agreed with this view.
The final attributes they wanted were technical excellence, experience and relationships.
I can understand the technical bit and the need for experience, but what did they mean by relationships? Relationships with whom? The group responded: relationships within industry, with suppliers, with clients, with government, with everybody.
And there you have the perfect global corporate citizen, according to a bunch of HR directors for multinational corporations.
For some days I reflected on this mythical person and started to align the attributes of Generation Y with what it is that these global HR directors were looking for.
Today's Generation Ys are in their 20s and so have plenty of time to reach the height of their careers late next decade. Generation Ys often have double degrees and have travelled widely. Many completed student exchanges, or gap years, and so have exposure to other cultures and languages. Ys are also known for their esprit d'corps in working with causes abroad.
I realised that what my Washington workshop had done was describe the attributes of Generation Y. Here is a generation that is being groomed for roles as global corporate citizens.
But then the perfect alignment started to unravel.
The global HR directors want people who, by the age of 38-42, have experience and relationships. Experience is gained by sticking at a job, with a company, and within an industry, over time.
This attribute doesn't sit well with Gen Y's predisposition to move on if they are bored, unfulfilled or uninspired by the person to whom they report. And without experience gained over time, robust time-tempered relationships are unlikely to blossom.
The key issue was encapsulated by the HR director of a Paris-based financial institution who lamented the flightiness of Generation Y. He said he wished that Generation Y "would sometimes trust the organisation".
I nearly choked at his suggestion. Yeah, right, like Gen Y is going to trust the big bad corporation?
He politely (but firmly) asked to be heard. He said that sometimes professional and personal development is best advanced not by doing what individuals want but by doing what the organisation needs them to do.
Instead of insisting on a transfer to a sophisticated city such as London or New York but instead going to, say, Kiev, the individual is presented with real challenges.
He continued: "Personal growth isn't always about doing what you want, or doing what is easy. It's sometimes about doing what is hard, by enduring, by overcoming, and by persisting. This is how true management expertise is gained."
I thought his perspective was brilliant.
And I think this is precisely why Generation Y should not always flit and float about between jobs.
There comes a point where professional development is best advanced by staying put and working through difficult situations and relationships rather than cutting and running at the first obstacle.
Indeed I would like to suggest to Generation Y, and anyone else contemplating the highest levels of corporate life by their 40s, that there is no better time to follow this philosophy than during a recession.
Prince Charles to be known as Defender of Faith
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/3454271/Prince-Charles-to-be-known-as-Defender-of-Faith.html
The Prince of Wales, who is 60 today, is planning a symbolic change when he becomes King by taking the title Defender of Faith to reflect Britain's multicultural society.
The move would mean the monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, would no longer be known as Defender of the Faith for the first time since the reign of Henry VIII.
The Prince caused controversy within the Anglican church when he floated the idea several years ago of becoming Defender of the Faiths in an attempt to embrace the other religions in Britain.
In a compromise he has now opted for Defender of Faith which he hopes will unite the different strands of society, and their beliefs, at his Coronation.
However, there would be huge obstacles to overcome before the Prince can fulfil his wish which he has discussed with some of his closest advisers. It would require Parliament to agree to amend the 1953 Royal Titles Act which came into law after changes were made for the Queen's Coronation in the same year. A senior source told The Daily Telegraph: "There have been lots of discussions. He would like to be known as the Defender of Faith which is a subtle but hugely symbolic shift."
The Monarch has been known by the title Defender of the Faith ever since the title was bestowed on Henry VIII by the Pope in 1521 for his early support for Roman Catholicism
A Clarence House spokesman said: "There has been work done on the accession planning as you would expect however there has been no planning of the Coronation or its contents." The Prince has been advised on the accession by Sir Stephen Lamport, his former Private Secretary, who was a senior civil servant.
Vernon Bogdanor, the constitutionalist who is Professor of Government at Oxford University, said: "In 1952, when the Queen came to the throne, it was very much an Anglican society. The Prince of Wales will become head of a nation which is multi-denominational.
"The Prince has said that he wants to be seen as a defender of all religious faiths and not just the Anglican church but the Coronation is an Anglican ceremony. Any change would require legislation."
Professor Bogdanor said that after the Coronation, which will take place at Westminster Abbey, it was plausible that a second service would be held for other denominations and faiths, such as the Muslims and Hindus. "It would be a way of the new King showing their importance in the country," said Prof Bogdanor.
UN General Assembly adopts six resolutions on Middle East
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2008/ga10791.doc.htm
Also Adopts Texts Addressing 'Protection of Global Climate';
Global Health; Cooperation with Caribbean, South-East Asian States
Following two days of sometimes contentious debate on the conflict in the Middle East and the plight of the Palestinian people, the General Assembly today adopted by recorded vote six resolutions meant to promote the Palestinian people's rights and limit Israel's actions in Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan. The votes came on a day that saw action on a total of 10 texts, with the other consensus texts addressing climate change, global health, and global and regional cooperation.
The first three Assembly resolutions zeroed in directly on the Palestinian people's needs, by backing the work of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and supporting the Secretariat's efforts to raise awareness of their difficulties through conferences, training programmes, links with civil society and other activities. A fourth affirmed the illegality of Israeli actions to change the status of Jerusalem.
Two additional resolutions on the Middle East region expressed the Assembly's unhappiness with Israeli moves to control Jerusalem, as well as Israel's activities in the Syrian Golan, including what it views as Israel's illegal occupation of the Syrian Golan since 1967.
Turning to other issues, the Assembly adopted resolutions that pushed for immediate action on climate change, and urged Member States to consider health issues when shaping foreign policy and stressed the importance of achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Two other texts aimed to reinforce cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean, and the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A fifth resolution, meant to strengthen ties between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization, was introduced and postponed for consideration at a later date.
Regarding the question of Palestine, the Assembly adopted by a recorded vote of 107 in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 57 in abstentions, its draft resolution on the "Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People" (for voting details see Annex I). With that text, the Assembly requested the Committee to keep promoting the Palestinians' realization of their inalienable rights, including their right to self-determination, as it mobilized assistance for them.
By a recorded vote of 106 in favour to 8 against ( Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 57 abstentions (Annex II), the Assembly adopted the resolution on the "Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat". By this draft, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to continue providing the Division with the resources needed to carry out its work, which included monitoring developments, organizing international meetings and working with civil society.
By a recorded vote of 162 in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 4 abstentions (Cameroon, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga) (Annex III), the Assembly next adopted the resolution on the "Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat", by which it requested the Department to continue its programme for the 2009-2010 biennium.
This request included the dissemination of information on all United Nations activities relating to the question and the peace process; putting out publications on the various aspects of the question; and organizing fact-finding missions for journalists to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
The Assembly also adopted by a recorded vote of 164 in favour to 7 against ( Australia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 3 abstentions ( Cameroon, Canada, Tonga) (Annex IV), the resolution on the "Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine".
By that text, the Assembly reaffirmed the illegality of Israeli actions meant to change the status of Jerusalem, including the so-called E-1 plan, which aimed to connect Jerusalem to the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim. It also reaffirmed the illegality of other unilateral measures that tried to alter the character, status and demographic composition of the city and the Territory as a whole. This included Israel's construction of a wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem.
Speaking before the votes, the representative of the United States said her country could not support the four resolutions since the texts, in combination with 15 other resolutions that came before the Assembly this year, created a clear pattern of institutional bias. The United States had clearly stated its policy that there should be two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, and backed that policy with support for both sides.
She was distressed that each year the Assembly devoted a disproportionate number of resolutions to the Middle East, with disproportionate criticism of Israel. Those resolutions, along with others on the Middle East, were repetitive and unbalanced, and at odds with the Assembly's action on any other State. They placed demands on the Israeli side, while failing to see that both sides must take steps towards peace.
Turning next to the situation in the Middle East, the Assembly adopted two resolutions.
By a recorded vote of 163 in favour to 6 against ( Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 6 abstentions ( Australia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Fiji, Haiti, Tonga) (Annex V), the Assembly adopted the draft resolution on Jerusalem. In that text, it stressed that a comprehensive and just solution to the question of the city should incorporate Palestinian and Israeli concerns.
By a recorded vote of 116 in favour to 6 against ( Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, United States), with 52 abstentions (Annex VI), the Assembly adopted the draft resolution on the Syrian Golan. In this text, it expressed concern at the illegal occupation, settlement, construction, and other activities of Israel in the Syrian Golan since 1967. It also requested that all parties concerned, the co-sponsors of the peace process and the entire international community work to resume the peace process by implementing Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973).
Speaking after the vote, the observer for Palestine said he looked forward to not having to bother with discussions or resolutions, on what was balanced or not balanced. He wanted to relieve the United Nations of all those resolutions. He hoped that next year, if all the parties moved towards peace, the Palestinian flag would join the other 192 flags at the United Nations. The Palestinian people wanted to live with all their neighbours, including Israel, in peace and security.
In other action, the Assembly adopted by consensus a draft resolution entitled "Protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind", contained in a report by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial). With that text, the Assembly stressed the seriousness of climate change and called on States to implement the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It also strongly urged those States that had not yet done so to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention in a timely way.
As part of an agenda item that focused on integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, the Assembly adopted by consensus a draft resolution on "Global health and foreign policy". This stressed the importance of achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals.
In final action, the Assembly adopted by consensus two draft resolutions under its agenda item on cooperation between the United Nations and other organizations.
Introducing the draft resolution on "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community", the representative of Guyana, speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said the most important elements of the text involved sensitive issues in which the need for cooperation was greatest. This included illicit narcotic drugs and weapons and the region's vulnerability to natural disasters.
With its resolution on "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations", introduced by the representative of Thailand, the Assembly encouraged the United Nations and the Association to regularly convene summits and cooperate in the delivery of operational development activities.
Also speaking after the vote on the resolutions related to Palestine were the representatives of Iran, France (on behalf of the European Union), and Belize.
Speaking before adoption of the resolutions on the situation in the Middle East was the representative of Iran.
Speaking after adoption of the resolution on the Middle East were the representatives of Brazil (also on behalf of Argentina), Iran and Syria.
Speaking before adoption of the resolution on "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community" was the representative of Venezuela.
The representative of Afghanistan introduced a resolution on "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization". The resolution will be considered at a later date.
Speaking after the adoption of the resolution on "Cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations" was the representative of the United States.
The General Assembly will reconvene at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 2 December, to take up the reports of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security).
Background
The General Assembly met today to take action on draft resolutions relating to the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East (Please see Press Releases GA/10789 and GA/10790). It is also expected to take action on several draft texts under agenda items 44 and 114.
Under its agenda item 44 on the "integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields", the Assembly is to take action on a draft resolution entitled Global health and foreign policy (document A/63/L.28).
By that text, the Assembly would urge Member States to consider health issues in the formulation of foreign policy and stress the importance of achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals. It would request the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), to submit to the Assembly, at its sixty-fourth session, a report on the challenges and activities related to foreign policy and global health. Further by the text, the Assembly would decide to include in its provisional agenda of that session an item entitled "Global health and foreign policy".
For its consideration of "cooperation between the United Nations and regional and other organizations" (agenda item 114), the Assembly had before it a draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (document A/63/L.40), by which it would continue to encourage the United Nations and the Association to convene summits regularly, and recognize the value of partnership in providing timely responses to global issues of mutual concern.
Further by the text, the Assembly would encourage cooperation between Association member countries and United Nations organizations in the delivery of operational development activities, and request the Secretary-General to submit to the Assembly, at its sixty-fifth session, a report on the implementation of the present resolution. It would also decide to include, in the provisional agenda of that session, a sub-item on cooperation between the two entities.
A draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (document A/63/L.38) would note the Assembly's grave concern at the current international environment, characterized, in part, by crises in food and energy security, and call on the Secretary-General, in association with the Secretary-General of CARICOM, to assist in furthering the maintenance of peace and security in the region. The Assembly would call for vastly increased efforts by developed countries to strengthen the multilateral development framework to respond more effectively to programme country needs.
Also by the text, the Assembly would urge specialized agencies, among others, to step up cooperation with the Secretaries-General, invite United Nations organizations to increase financial assistance to Caribbean countries for implementing the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS, and stress the urgent need for reopening the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in the region.
Further, the Assembly would reaffirm the goal of strengthening the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, including through mobilizing financial and technological resources, and request the Secretary-General to submit a report, at the sixty-fifth session, on the implementation of the present resolution.
By a draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization (document A/63/L.39), the Assembly would call for increasing the technical assistance of the World Trade Organization, among others, to Economic Cooperation Organization States that are at various levels of development, with some pursuing accession to the world trade body. Welcoming the trilateral agreement among the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) for projects under the Asian Highway and Trans-Asian Railway network, the Assembly would also appreciate Economic Cooperation Organization efforts to develop energy trade in the region.
Further by the text, the Assembly would call for strengthening technical assistance provided by United Nations bodies, especially the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and call for increased cooperation between the Economic Cooperation Organization and United Nations bodies to combat the production and trafficking of narcotic drugs. Finally, the Assembly would request the Secretary-General to submit a report on the implementation of the present resolution at the sixty-fifth session.
The Assembly also had before it the report of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on the protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind (document A/63/414/Add.4), which contained a draft resolution on that topic, by which the General Assembly would stress the seriousness of climate change and call on States to work towards achieving the ultimate goal of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It would also invite parties to the Kyoto Protocol to continue to make use of the information contained in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Further by the text, the Assembly would recognize the need to provide financial, technical and capacity-building resources to developing countries adversely affected by climate change, and call on the international community to fulfil commitments made during the fourth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund. Finally, it would invite the Secretariat of the Framework Convention to report, through the Secretary-General, at its sixty-fourth session on the work of the Conference of Parties, and include on the provisional agenda of that session a sub-item on the "protection of global climate change for present and future generations".
Action on Draft Resolutions under Agenda Item 16 on Question of Palestine
Speaking before the vote, the representative of the United States said that the four resolutions, in combination with 15 other resolutions to come before the Assembly this year, form a clear pattern of institutional bias. The United States had clearly stated its policy that there should be two States, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace. The United States backed that policy with support for both sides, consistent with agreements made at the Annapolis, Maryland conference, and contributed financial support to both the Palestinian Authority and refugees. There was no contradiction between support for Palestinians and that for Israel, as both sides needed support to achieve a just and lasting peace.
She was distressed that, each year, the General Assembly devoted a disproportionate number of resolutions on the Middle East, with disproportionate criticism of Israel. These resolutions, along with others on the Middle East, were repetitive and unbalanced, at odds with the General Assembly's action regarding any other State, and placed demands on the Israeli side, failing to see that both sides must take steps towards peace. The United States accepted that the General Assembly may look into practices of States but, last year, adopted 14 resolutions criticising Israel. In that same year, it adopted only six critical of other States. She supported some and opposed others. The 21 resolutions on alleged Israeli violations stretched to 61 pages. The Assembly was on course to repeat that pattern, which represented an unjustified focus on one Member State. The situation in the Middle East did not merit three quarters of all the time the Assembly devoted to review of its 192 Member States.
Of notable concern were drafts on the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat and the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, as well as the work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices. They perpetuated the perception of an inherent United Nations bias and failed to properly demand action from both sides. The millions of dollars spent could be better utilized towards direct aid, including that to needy Palestinians.
The international Quartet must be seen as an honest broker, she continued, and she expressed concern that those resolutions could not only have a corrosive effect on negotiations, but also added nothing to the Security Council's monthly discussions. They presupposed the outcome of permanent status issues that belonged to bilateral negotiations. In the 9 November briefings to the Quartet, both sides attested that the negotiating structure was effective, and noted that third parties should not intervene in the joint negotiations [absent their request].
The United States would continue to be at the forefront of addressing the underlying causes of the conflict. For such reasons, the United States could not support the resolutions.
The General Assembly then adopted by a recorded vote of 107 in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 57 abstentions, its draft resolution on the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (document A/63/L.32). (For details on voting, see Annex I.)
The Assembly then adopted by a recorded vote of 106 in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 57 abstentions (Annex II), the resolution on the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat (document A/63/L.33).
The resolution on the Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat (document A/63/L.34) was adopted by a recorded vote of 162 in favour to 8 against (Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 4 abstentions (Cameroon, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga) (Annex III).
The Assembly then adopted by a vote of 164 in favour to 7 against ( Australia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 3 abstentions ( Cameroon, Canada, Tonga) (Annex IV), the resolution on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine (document A/63/L.35).
Speaking after the vote was the representative of Iran, who stated its votes in favour of the resolutions were in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The representative of France, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said he had voted in favour of A/63/L.34. The European Union welcomed the new elements introduced in the resolution, in the spirit of cooperation on the Palestinian mission. These improvements would encourage the parties involved to improve the programme between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The European Union was prepared to work with the Department of Public Information and all parties involved to meet the objectives of the resolution.
The representative of Belize requested that their vote in favour of those resolutions be on record.
Action on Draft Resolutions under Agenda Item 15 on Situation in Middle East
Speaking before the vote, the representative of Iran referred to the unfounded allegations by Australia against Iran and rejected the distortions that were made under agenda item 15. Iran had condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Iran was a victim of terrorism. With its history and unqualified support of Israel, Australia should be the last judge of others in that area. Iran had fully cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and its nuclear programme was absolutely peaceful. If Australia was concerned about the Middle East, it should cease its complicity with the Israeli regime in war crimes and join with the international community in stability on the question of Palestine.
The General Assembly then adopted by a recorded vote of 163 in favour to 6 against (Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, United States), with 6 abstentions (Australia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Fiji, Haiti, Tonga) (Annex V), the draft resolution on Jerusalem (document A/63/L.36).
The General Assembly then adopted by a recorded vote of 116 in favour to 6 against (Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, United States), with 52 abstentions, the draft resolution on the Syrian Golan (document A/63/L.37).
Speaking after the vote, on behalf of Brazil and Argentina, the representative of Brazil said he had voted in favour of the draft resolution on Jerusalem, and the two countries had understood that the central aspect of the resolution was linked to the illegal acquisition of land by force. That use of force violated international law. He urged Israel and Syria to renew negotiations and find a definite solution under the principal of land for peace.
The representative of Iran said he voted in favour of all the resolutions just adopted in a spirit of solidarity with the Palestinian people and Arab people under occupation.
The representative of Syria thanked the Assembly for its adoption, once again, with no interruption since 1981, of the resolution contained in document A/63/L.37 and other resolutions related to Palestine and the Middle East. He supported the international community's continued positive response to upholding those objectives of the United Nations Charter and the backing of its right to restore its land, occupied by Israel and supported by a superpower for more than 40 years. There was no doubt that voting for those resolutions sent an international message to Israel and those who supported it. The policies of aggression and annexation of land were practices that were rejected and repudiated by the entire international community.
He thanked all States that sponsored and voted for the resolution, and urged those whom abstained to lend their ears to the voice of international law that should govern their actions. Syria wanted to achieve comprehensive and durable peace, and to liberate the Syrian Golan from Israeli occupation. He urged the international community to help prevent the eruption of war by pressuring the party that impeded peace, Israel, and those who protected it.
The observer for Palestine expressed gratitude and appreciation to all the countries that played a very important role in introducing the draft resolutions and to all the countries who voted in favour. He also thanked all the political blocs, specifically the Arab Group, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Non-Aligned Movement and the European Union, that collaborated to ensure the resolutions were drafted in responsible and balanced language that reflected the sentiment of the international community.
Bringing Israel into compliance with international law, and to uphold international law so that peace and justice could be achieved was a challenge to the international community. It was essential to end the occupation that started in 1967, and giving Israel preferential treatment was not in service of the United Nations or the international community, as it did not move the process forward to a peaceful solution. Those resolutions were balanced, and the majority votes in favour reflected their just and balanced approach, he stated.
"It has been too long… and it's been too long because Israel has not been compliant," he said. He recalled the 50 countries and organizations that convened in Annapolis to help the parties towards a solution. He had hoped that there would be a peace treaty by now that would allow for the birth of the Palestinian State. But, until that peace treaty was accomplished, it was "the duty of the international community to remain engaged in this issue until it was resolved in all its aspects," and to that end, he pledged that he would continue to work until it was resolved.
He then offered hope that next year, if all parties involved moved towards peace, the Palestinian flag would join the other 192 flags at the United Nations, and he pledged that the Palestinian people would "reflect the essence of that peace treaty that will be the birth of our state." He concluded by saying that he looked forward to not having to bother in discussion or resolutions of what was balanced or not balanced. He wanted to relieve the United Nations of all these resolutions. What the Palestinian people wanted was to live with all their neighbours in peace and security, including Israel.
The Assembly then took up the report of the Second Committee on the protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind, issued as document A/63/414/Add.4. There was no discussion of the report.
The Assembly adopted by consensus a draft resolution, entitled protection of global climate for present and future generations of mankind, recommended by the Second Committee in paragraph 8 of the report.
Turning to agenda item 44, Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, the Committee then adopted by consensus draft resolution Global health and foreign policy (document A/63/L.28).
In other business, the Assembly then resumed its consideration of sub-items (c), (e) and (i) of agenda item 114, Cooperation between the United Nations and other organizations.
Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), George Talbot (Guyana) introduced the draft resolution, entitled cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community, (document A/63/L.38). He said the preambular section of the draft would have the Assembly recall previous United Nations commitments to cooperate with CARICOM. After that, the draft would have the Assembly give due recognition to what the Community considered particular landmarks in the development of that cooperation.
The most important items related to very sensitive areas or issues in which the need for cooperation was greatest, he said. That included illicit narcotic drugs and weapons; the challenges of sustainable development for small island developing States, as highlighted in the World Summit on Sustainable Development; the region's vulnerability to natural disasters; and the ravaging effects of HIV/AIDS on their societies.
Threats to the region's security led the group to stress the urgent need to reopen the office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in the region, in order to reinforce its efforts to combat drugs, violent crimes and the illicit trade in small arms and weapons.
Speaking before the vote, on the draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community, the representative of Venezuela said he supported CARICOM in its efforts to lift the region out of poverty and its social difficulties. He reiterated its position for sustainable development and support for the small island developing States.
MOHAMMAD ERFANI AYOOB ( Afghanistan), introducing the resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization (document A/63/L.39), pointed out that, despite its young age and the lack of appropriate infrastructure and institutions in its region, the Economic Cooperation Organization had developed into a successful regional organization. Today, it sought to develop its infrastructure and institutions, on a prioritized basis, that made full use of the available resources in the region.
Specifically, the Economic Cooperation Organization had embarked on several projects in priority sectors, including energy, trade, transportation, agriculture and drug control, he said. Additionally, the Economic Cooperation Organization had established relations, and signed a memoranda of understanding, with regional and international organizations, including the United Nations specialized agencies and international financial institutions. Consequently, the Economic Cooperation Organization's international stature had continued to grow.
He said the draft resolution he was introducing stressed the importance of continuation and the expansion of the areas of cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization; expressed appreciation for the technical and financial assistance the United Nations and its specialized agencies had extended; and called for a further increase of that assistance to the Member States of the Economic Cooperation Organization.
DON PRAMUDWINAI (Thailand), introducing the resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (document A/63/L.40), said it was the aim of ASEAN leaders that the regional grouping's Charter provided a legal and institutional framework to make it more rules-based, people-centred, effective and efficient.
He said all ASEAN members aspired to move ahead towards closer integration, with a goal of transforming South-East Asia into a single market and production base, with free movement of goods, services, skilled labour and freer movement of capital. Through that process of community-building and integration, ASEAN would emerge as a stronger partner for the United Nations in the pursuit of the shared purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter. At the same time, partnership between ASEAN and the United Nations had also been undergoing what he said was an exciting period during the past two years. ASEAN had also worked closely with the Organization in responding to humanitarian needs in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis in May this year.
Continuing, he noted that, next month, the third ASEAN-United Nations Summit is slated for Thailand. That Summit was expected to provide ASEAN leaders and the United Nations Secretary-General an opportunity to exchange views about issues of common interest and to develop effective partnership in response to those critical issues.
The Assembly postponed a vote on its draft resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization (document A/63/L.39).
The Assembly then adopted by consensus its draft resolution on Cooperation between the United Nations and the Caribbean Community (document A/63/L.38).
The Assembly also adopted by consensus its draft resolution on Cooperation between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (document A/63/L.40).
Speaking in explanation after the vote, the representative of the United States said he was pleased to join in favour of the adoption, and welcomed cooperation between the United States and CARICOM. The need of Member States in the region to fight illicit trafficking of drugs was very important, and to that end, he recognized the work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. He said, however, that, in light of budgetary concerns, any field office should be sustainable, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime should consider those concerns in decisions to reopen any offices in the field.
ANNEX I
Vote on Palestinian Rights Committee
The draft resolution on the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (document A/63/L.32) was adopted by a recorded vote of 107 in favour to 8 against, with 57 abstentions, as follows:
In favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Against: Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Palau, United States.
Abstain: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay.
Absent: Belize, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Mongolia, Niger, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu.
ANNEX II
Vote on Palestinian Rights Division
The draft resolution on the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat (document A/63/L.33) was adopted by a recorded vote of 106 in favour to 8 against, with 57 abstentions, as follows:
In favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Against: Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Palau, United States.
Abstain: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
Absent: Belize, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Mongolia, Niger, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu.
ANNEX III
Vote on Special Information Programme
The draft resolution on the Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information (document A/63/L.34) was adopted by a recorded vote of 162 in favour to 8 against, with 4 abstentions, as follows:
In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Against: Australia, Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Palau, United States.
Abstain: Cameroon, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga.
Absent: Belize, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu.
ANNEX IV
Vote on Peaceful Settlement of Palestine Question
The draft resolution on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine (document A/63/L.35) was adopted by a recorded vote of 164 in favour to 7 against, with 3 abstentions, as follows:
In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Against: Australia, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Palau, United States.
Abstain: Cameroon, Canada, Tonga.
Absent: Belize, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu.
ANNEX V
Vote on Jerusalem
The draft resolution on Jerusalem (document A/63/L.36) was adopted by a recorded vote of 163 in favour to 6 against, with 6 abstentions, as follows:
In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Against: Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Palau, United States.
Abstain: Australia, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Fiji, Haiti, Tonga.
Absent: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu.
ANNEX VI
Vote on Syrian Golan
The draft resolution on the Syrian Golan (document A/63/L.37) was adopted by a recorded vote of 116 in favour to 6 against, with 52 abstentions, as follows:
In favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Against: Canada, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Palau, United States.
Abstain: Albania, Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tonga, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
Absent: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu.
Catholic UN President: Israel "crucifying the Palestinians"
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2581
United Nations General Assembly President, Nicaraguan national and Roman Catholic Priest Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann leveled a broadside laced with antisemitism at the State of Israel, Monday, accusing the Jews of "crucifying" the Palestinian Arabs, libeling Israel as an "apartheid" state, and calling for global trade and economic sanctions to be imposed on Israel.
Brockmann's tirade was delivered on the UNs' "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People."
It is held annually to mark the United Nations vote, in 1947, to partition the ancient Jewish national home - then known as Palestine - between Arabs and Jews
Instead of applauding the outcome of its vote, the UN gathering condemns the Jews - who accepted that dividing up of THEIR land - and supports the Arabs - who through war at the time, and terrorism in the ensuing decades, rejected the partition even though it offered them a homeland for the first time in history.
During the two day-event, a variety of anti-Israel exhibits were posted to showcase the "suffering of the Palestinian people" at the hands of the Jews. Films attempting to parallel Israeli actions with Nazi practices were screened, and speaker after speaker stood to denounce Israel.
Speaking from the podium, Brockmann said Israel was responsible for "crucifying the Palestinians."
His choice of phrase echoed that employed by such enemies of Israel as the Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, a Palestinian Christian and former Anglican canon who founded and heads up the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
Ateek has compared Israel's "abuse" of the Palestinian Arabs to Herod's mass-murder of Bethlehem's baby boys in an effort to kill Jesus Christ.
And in a 2001 Easter sermon Ateek said:
"Here in Palestine Jesus is again walking the via dolorosa. Jesus is the powerless Palestinian humiliated at a checkpoint, the woman trying to get through to the hospital for treatment, the young man whose dignity is trampled, the young student who cannot get to the university to study, the unemployed father who needs to find bread to feed his family; the list is tragically getting longer, and Jesus is there in their midst suffering with them. He is with them when their homes are shelled by tanks and helicopter gunships. He is with them in their towns and villages, in their pains and sorrows. In this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around him. It only takes people of insight to see the hundreds of thousands of crosses throughout the land, Palestinian men, women, and children being crucified. Palestine has become one huge golgotha. The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily. Palestine has become the place of the skull."
Brockmann, not willing to make do with just this antisemitic accusation, went on to wield the most recent libelous charge against Israel.
"It has been 60 years since some 800,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes," Brockmann said, perpetuating the myth that the Jews were responsible for the "Palestinian refugee problem."
The fact that these Arabs did not yet have their State of Palestine was the UN's "single greatest failure."
Israel was perpetrating "a version of the highest policy of apartheid" against the Palestinian Arabs.
As the world had forced South Africa to abandon apartheid, the UNGA president said, it must rally to boycott Israel and sever its financial ties to the world, imposing sanctions against Jerusalem until the Jewish state likewise buckles under the pressure.
The Anti-Defamation League Tuesday reacted angrily to Brockmann's speech in a letter calling on UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon to denounce the rhetoric.
"It is outrageous that the president of the General Assembly could accuse Israel of 'crucifying' Palestinians, knowing full well that this is a term loaded with symbolism and history
"For centuries, the charge that the Jewish people were responsible for crucifying Jesus was used as an excuse for pogroms and other violence against Jews. It is irresponsible, indeed unconscionable for a world leader to stand up and to charge Israel with, in essence, 'doing it again.'"
Israel supporters argue that the message to Israel should be clear by now:
The ancient Jewish people, in their multi-milennia-old homeland today called the State of Israel, have recognized the historically non-people now known universally as the Palestinians; have offered them a state of their own for the first time in history comprised of the most sacred parts of the Jewish homeland; have handed control of great swathes of that territory to those people, helping them to establish security forces and administrative institutions, facilitated and given their blessing to the Arabs' holding of elections for self-governing bodies, and uprooted their own Jewish countrymen in order to hand more land to them. And all this has been done in the face of unrelenting hatred, violence, terror and murder.
And despite it all, the hatred persists. Persists and grows only stronger. Not only from the Palestinian Arabs or their other Arab brethren. Not only from the Islamic nations. Not only from Near Eastern and Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries. But also from many in Scandinavia, Europe and Africa. And it's also manifesting in the Americas, north and south; in Australia and in New Zealand.
As Israel's new ambassador to the UN, Professor Gabriela Shalev has quickly learned (Ynetnews November 21, 2008) double language is the order of the day: One language at the corridors, in private talks backstage, with a lot of appreciation for the Zionist state, and poisonous remarks against Israel in the official speeches.
[Ed note: If antisemitism continues despite Israel's unprecedented and repeated gestures proving the sincerity of its quest for peace; despite Israel's efforts to ingratiate itself with the world - then it will without question erupt once again with full force when the Jews reach the place where they have nothing more to give sacrifice but themselves.]
Will U.S. push Israel to concede biblical heartland?
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81845
JAFFA, Israel – The Palestinian Authority has asked the U.S. to impose sanctions on Israel if the Jewish state continues building any new housing structures in the strategic and historic West Bank, a top PA source told WND.
The source, who works from PA President Mahmoud Abbas' office, said the threat of sanctions would be part a series of Israeli-Palestinian understandings to be guaranteed by the U.S. that both sides are trying to reach before January.
The understandings, the source said, would result in an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the vast majority of the West Bank, an area rich in biblical history and significance.
Last week, informed Israeli and Palestinian sources told WND that despite media reports painting a dismal picture of negotiation prospects, Israel and the PA are still quietly working to conclude a major agreement before President Bush leaves office at the end of the year.
Aside from a major West Bank withdrawal, the agreement would also grant the PA permission to open official institutions in Jerusalem but would postpone talks on the future status of the capital city until new Israeli and U.S. governments are installed next year.
A top source said the PA requested that as part of the understandings, the U.S. would threaten sanctions for any new Jewish construction in the West Bank.
Israel recaptured the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War. The territory, in which about 200,000 Jews live, is tied to Judaism throughout the Torah and is often referred to as the biblical heartland of Israel.
The book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at the West Bank city of Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring.
He was later buried with the rest of the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, except for Rachel, in Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs. The West Bank's Hebron was site of the first Jewish capital.
The nearby West Bank town of Beit El – anciently called Bethel, meaning "house of God" – is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory. Earlier, God had promised the land of Israel to Abraham at Beit El. In Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested just north of Beit El in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.
The understandings both sides are trying to reach before January are part of an original plan initiated at last November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit, which sought to create a Palestinian state, at least on paper, by January. The summit launched talks aimed at concluding a final status agreement on all core issues: borders, the status of Jerusalem and the future of so-called Palestinian refugees.
But a final agreement has been hampered by several recent events here, most notably Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to resign amid corruption charges, leading to general elections scheduled for February that will see a new prime minister elected.
The candidate for office from Olmert's Kadima party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, is said to oppose reaching a deal on Jerusalem or refugees ahead of elections, fearing it will harm her prospects among center-right voters. Livni is Olmert's chief negotiator with the Palestinians.
In spite of the upcoming elections and the Israeli government's subsequent political instability, teams of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been quietly meeting regularly the past few weeks in hope of concluding a series of understandings on key issues. Informed sources said any understandings reached will be backed up by Bush in an official letter. It is unclear how much weight such a letter will carry under a new U.S. administration.
According to the sources, neither side expects to conclude any deal on the status of Jerusalem or Palestinian "refugees" before January, putting aside those issues for future talks. Instead, negotiations are focused on reaching an agreement emphasizing borders, particularly a pledged Israeli evacuation of the vast majority of the strategic West Bank, which borders central Israeli population centers.
A Palestinian source told WND the U.S. is said to favor Israel withdrawing from nearly the entire West Bank. The source said the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has been closely monitoring Israeli activities in the territory, which the source said has led to the Jewish state clamping down on what are termed "illegal outposts," or Jewish structures built in the West Bank without government permission. Israel has recently announced a series of small West Bank evacuations, including the threatened forced removal of Jews who legally purchased a house in the ancient city of Hebron.
Also being heavily negotiated is an agreement that would allow the PA to officially open institutions in Jerusalem. WND previously reported the PA already has been quietly operating in Jerusalem, apparently with tacit approval from the Israeli government. But the expected agreement to be concluded before January would give the PA official operational status in the city, likely leading to the opening of scores of Palestinian institutions there.
According to Israeli law, the PA cannot officially hold court in Jerusalem. The PA previously maintained a de facto headquarters in Jerusalem, called Orient House, but the building was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem. Israel said it had information indicating the House was used to plan and fund terrorism.
Thousands of documents and copies of bank certificates and checks captured by Israel from Orient House – including many documents obtained by WND – showed the offices were used to finance terrorism, including direct payments to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.
In parallel with an understanding on the West Bank and Jerusalem institutions, the PA is pushing for a massive prisoner release to be pledged before January. A senior Palestinian negotiator told WND the PA requested that all Palestinian prisoners – meaning even convicted terrorists responsible for murdering Israelis as well as members of the rival Hamas terror group – be freed as part of the deal.
While the negotiator conceded such a massive release is unlikely, he said the PA's hope is that Israel will grant a large release, possibly including the freedom of convicted murderer Marwan Barghouti.
Barghouti is a founder of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, the most active Palestinian terror organization. He has boasted of planning the intifada, or Palestinian terror war, launched in September 2000, after then-PA President Yasser Arafat turned down an Israeli offer of a Palestinian state and instead attempted to "liberate" Palestine by force. Barghouti is serving five life sentences for his direct role in murdering Israelis.
Other understandings that Israel and the PA are attempting to reach before January surround water and natural resources.
While it wasn't clear whether any understanding would actually be reached, the timing apparently favors all involved leaders.
With Bush set to depart office in January, sealing a deal between Israel and the Palestinians would bode well for his legacy, which some analysts say is hampered by what is described as an unpopular war in Iraq, an economic meltdown and a growing crisis with Russia.
Olmert is Israel's most unpopular prime minister. Tainted by corruption charges and a heavily mismanaged war in Lebanon in 2006, Olmert would also like to depart office with a deal in hand. There is also some concern in Jerusalem that President-elect Barack Obama may push Israel into further concessions during future negotiations, so some argue a deal on key issues while Bush is in office may be in Israel's interests.
Further, PA President Mahmoud Abbas' term in office expires Jan. 10. His future leadership is sure to be contested by Hamas and by some in Fatah's young guard who want him to be replaced by Barghouti. Abbas' ability to tout an agreement in which Israel is compelled to retreat from the West Bank and release Palestinian prisoners could help his fading street popularity.
Abbas is also said to be greatly concerned by the prospects of February's Israeli elections resulting in opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu coming to power. Netanyahu has announced repeatedly, including as recently as last week, he would suspend negotiations with the PA.
Secret 'peace talks' exposed - Israel, Palestinians still attempting major pact before January
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81486
Despite media reports painting a dismal picture of negotiation prospects, Israel and the Palestinian Authority are still quietly working to conclude a major agreement before President Bush leaves office in January, informed Israeli and Palestinian sources told WND.
The sources, including a senior Palestinian negotiator, said the aim is to reach a series of understandings to be guaranteed by the U.S. that would result in an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the vast majority of the West Bank.
The understandings would also grant the PA permission to open official institutions in Jerusalem but would postpone talks on the future status of the capital city until new Israeli and U.S. governments are installed next year.
The original plan, initiated at last November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit, was to create a Palestinian state, at least on paper, by January. The summit launched talks aimed at concluding a final status agreement on all core issues – borders, the status of Jerusalem and the future of so-called Palestinian refugees.
But a final agreement has been hampered by several recent events here, most notably Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's decision to resign amid corruption charges, leading to general elections scheduled for February that will see a new prime minister elected. The candidate for office from Olmert's Kadima party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, is said to oppose reaching a deal on Jerusalem or refugees ahead of elections, fearing it will harm her prospects among center-right voters. Livni is Olmert's chief negotiator with the Palestinians.
In spite of the upcoming elections and the Israeli government's subsequent political instability, teams of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been quietly meeting regularly the past few weeks in hope of concluding a series of understandings on key issues. Informed sources said any understandings reached will be backed up by Bush in an official letter. It is unclear how much weight such a letter will carry under a new U.S. administration.
According to the sources, neither side expects to conclude any deal on the status of Jerusalem or Palestinian "refugees" before January, putting aside those issues for future talks. Instead, negotiations are focused on reaching an agreement emphasizing borders, particularly a pledged Israeli evacuation of the vast majority of the strategic West Bank, which borders central Israeli population centers.
A Palestinian source told WND the U.S. is said to favor Israel withdrawing from nearly the entire West Bank. The source said the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has been closely monitoring Israeli activities in the territory, which the source said has led to the Jewish state clamping down on what are termed "illegal outposts," or Jewish structures built in the West Bank without government permission. Israel has recently announced a series of small West Bank evacuations, including the threatened forced removal of Jews who legally purchased a house in the ancient city of Hebron.
Also being heavily negotiated is an agreement that would allow the PA to official open institutions in Jerusalem. WND previously reported the PA already has been quietly operating in Jerusalem, apparently with tacit approval from the Israeli government. But the expected agreement to be concluded before January would give the PA official operational status in the city, likely leading to the opening of scores of Palestinian institutions there.
According to Israeli law, the PA cannot officially hold court in Jerusalem. The PA previously maintained a de facto headquarters in Jerusalem, called Orient House, but the building was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem. Israel said it had information indicating the House was used to plan and fund terrorism.
Thousands of documents and copies of bank certificates and checks captured by Israel from Orient House – including many documents obtained by WND – showed the offices were used to finance terrorism, including direct payments to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.
In parallel with an understanding on the West Bank and Jerusalem institutions, the PA is pushing for a massive prisoner release to be pledged before January. A senior Palestinian negotiator told WND the PA requested that all Palestinian prisoners – meaning even convicted terrorists responsible for murdering Israelis as well as members of the rival Hamas terror group – be freed as part of the deal.
While the negotiator conceded such a massive release is unlikely, he said the PA's hope is that Israel will grant a large release, possibly including the freedom of convicted murderer Marwan Barghouti.
Barghouti is a founder of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, the most active Palestinian terror organization. He has boasted of planning the intifada, or Palestinian terror war, launched in September 2000, after then-PA President Yasser Arafat turned down an Israeli offer of a Palestinian state and instead attempted to "liberate" Palestine by force. Barghouti is serving five life sentences for his direct role in murdering Israelis.
Other understandings that Israel and the PA are attempting to reach before January surround water and natural resources.
While it wasn't clear whether any understanding would actually be reached, the timing apparently favors all involved leaders.
With Bush set to depart office in January, sealing a deal between Israel and the Palestinians would bode well for his legacy, which some analysts say is hampered by what is described as an unpopular war in Iraq, an economic meltdown and a growing crisis with Russia.
Olmert is Israel's most unpopular prime minister. Tainted by corruption charges and a heavily mismanaged war in Lebanon in 2006, Olmert would also like to depart office with a deal in hand. Also there is some concern in Jerusalem that President-elect Barack Obama may push Israel into further concessions during future negotiations, so some argue a deal on key issues while Bush is in office may be in Israel's interests.
Abbas' term in office expires Jan. 10. His future leadership is sure to be contested by Hamas and by some in Fatah's young guard who want him to be replaced by Barghouti. Abbas' ability to tout an agreement in which Israel is compelled to retreat from the West Bank and release Palestinian prisoners could help his fading street popularity. Also, Abbas is said to be greatly concerned by the prospects of February's Israeli elections resulting in opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu coming to power. Netanyahu has announced repeatedly, including as recently as yesterday, he would suspend negotiations with the PA.
Election 2009 - Latest polls
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2582
With its collective eye on the February 10 general election, the Israeli electorate continues to move right, according to the most recently published results of nationwide surveys.
On November 25, Israel's Channel 1 reported that if elections were held today the outcome would be as follows:
The center-right Likud Party, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (June 1996 to July 1999), would win 37 seats.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist-liberal Kadima Party, founded by Ariel Sharon in 2005 and now led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who would become prime minister if Kadima wins, would get 25 seats.
The once center-left but today more leftist social democratic Labor Party, led by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak (July 1999 to March 2001), and which at the pinnacle of its political life in 1968 commanded 63 seats, would win just seven.
Most of the smaller parties would lose some of the seats they currently hold, among them the ultra-orthodox Shas Party that is traditionally a king maker - wooed by both sides, it would drop from 12 to 11 - and the rightist "Israel our Home" (from 11 to eight) and National Religious/National Union parties (from nine to four). The latter is being disbanded to form a new party: "Jewish Home.")
The leftist Meretz Party would gain three seats (it now has five); the Green Party would get three seats (it currently has none); the religious Yahadut Hatorah Party would go from six to eight.
Israel's three Arab parties - whose members are blatantly pro-Palestinian and antisemitic - would increase their seats from nine to 10.
The world watches, Israel waits, we pray
http://www.stangoodenough.com/?p=169
Repeatedly described by both Democrats and Republicans as the most critical US elections ever, the Obama-McCain race swept hundreds of millions of people around the world into the vortex that resolved on November 4 into the beginnings of what will soon be a new administration.
Since that date, the media has portrayed the president-elect as an FDR (Time Magazine) and as a leader who should take a leaf out of Abraham Lincoln's book (Newsweek); impressing this truth upon America's citizenry and much of non-American mankind: That having won an extraordinary contest, the world's new most powerful man is now expected to impact this planet in an extraordinary way.
We are all watching him. We are all counting the days until his inauguration. And we are all wondering about how Obama will approach and engage the issues closest to our hearts. For a majority, it is the economy. For a great many, it is the war on terror. For a relative handful - the remnant of the Jewish people and a few concerned Christians - it is the security and survival of Israel.
Obama is carefully pulling his team together, with each announced appointment giving rise to reams of analyses and conjecture. So far we know that the following people are on board or are being considered: Defense Secretary - Robert Gates, a Republican moderate; National Security Adviser - James Jones, former commander of NATO and US forces in Europe and popular among both Democrats and Republicans; Treasury Secretary - Timothy Geithner, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Head of National Economic Council - Lawrence Summers, a member of the Clinton administration; Health Secretary - Tom Daschle, former Democrat Senate Majority Leader; Attorney General - Eric Holder, a senior member of the Clinton administration; Secretary of State - Hillary Clinton; Homeland Security Secretary - Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano.
Much, probably most, of the focus thus far has been on those appointments that will work in the economic realm. While the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were a major issue for most of the presidential campaign, the financial meltdown that took place just a few weeks prior to election day, followed by the ongoing market instability, made and maintained this as the number one point of interest and concern.
As far as the question of Israel is concerned, Obama is being advised and encouraged to move early and quickly to try and implement a policy that will see the Israeli-Arab conflict grappled with and finally settled.
Who Obama's Secretary of State will be is of course particularly significant in this regard. Clinton's appointment to the powerful post has not yet been confirmed, but looks increasingly likely. Diplomats who may surround the secretary appear set to include members of the Clinton administration's Middle East Team like Martin Indyk, Dennis Ross, Dan Kurtzer and Aaron Miller.
Whoever they are, they will surely be committed to the "two state solution" - the euphemism coined by the Bush administration for stealing land from the Jews to give to the Arabs.
The question is, what level hardball will they play - just how hard will they be prepared to press Israel?
And when Obama's team comes to push, who will they be pushing against?
The answer, according to the latest polls, will be Bibi's team.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu is on course to return to power on February 10 - just three weeks after Obama moves into the White House.
Around him, depending on how they do in the Likud primaries, will be men like Benny Begin, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Moshe Ya'alon, Dan Meridor, Assaf Hefetz, and Uzi Dayan.
Some of these men are more hawkishly Zionist than others. Begin, the son of former Prime Minister Menachem Begin, is known as a man of unbending principles. His father was one of the only Israeli leaders courageous enough to stand up to an American president, and Benny Begin himself resigned from the Likud in opposition to the "Disengagement" from Gaza. He should help to strengthen the backbone of a Netanyahu government against Obama and Clinton.
Other good men are in the wings. People of the stature of Natan Sharansky and Effie Eitam. The former has reportedly indicated that he will not enter the Likud. The latter would like to but faces opposition to his membership.
Things will change in the coming weeks - everything is in flux really until January 20 on the American side and February 10 on the Israeli.
As we count down the days to the inauguration of the man it seems almost every nation on earth rejoiced to see win, and to the prospective election in Israel of a man virtually no-one on earth wants to see win, we should certainly pray that God's will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven.
Obama pledges state to Palestinian leader
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=81373
President-elect Barack Obama today phoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and pledged to work to establish a Palestinian state as soon as possible, a senior PA negotiator told WND.
"Obama expressed his full support for a Palestinian state. He told the president (Abbas) he will continue to promote the peace process, which will end with a two-state solution," said the PA's second most senior negotiator, Saeb Erekat.
"Obama said he will keep working in collaboration with the Israeli government and PA to reach a final solution. He said he'll do everything in his power to help create a Palestinian state as soon as we can," Erekat told WND.
It was the first phone call between Abbas and Obama, Erekat added.
The call comes two weeks after a reported flair-up on Election Day in which a senior Palestinian official told WND the Obama campaign urged Palestinian officials to deny an Arab media report that the then-Democratic nominee confided to Palestinian leadership that he supports their right to a capital in eastern Jerusalem.
The episode began after a Lebanese newspaper story Nov. 3 quoted sources in Ramallah who claimed that in a meeting in July with Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the two heard from Obama "the best things they ever heard from an American presidential candidate."
The report in the Al-Akhbar daily, known to have close contacts to Palestinian leaders in Lebanon, claimed Obama told Abbas and Fayyad he "supports the rights of the Palestinians to east Jerusalem, as well as their right to a stable, sovereign state," but he petitioned them to keep the remarks confidential.
Asked for comment by WND, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat at the time would neither confirm nor deny knowledge of Obama's purported remarks. Abbas political adviser Namer Hamad subsequently issued a denial to reporters.
But a senior official confirmed to WND that Obama said in a July trip to the region he favored a "negotiated settlement" that may grant the PA control over sections of Jerusalem.
The official, a longtime reliable source, claimed to WND that Obama advisers on Election Day engaged in a series of intense conversations asking that Abbas' office issue a denial.
The Lebanese report echoed a similar exclusive WND article immediately following Obama's meeting with Abbas and Fayyad in which a senior Palestinian source said Obama informed the Palestinians he supports a "negotiated settlement" that may grant the PA control over sections of Jerusalem.
"He assured us there was a misunderstanding when he said in [June] he supports the Israelis' rights to hold on to Jerusalem," the PA official, who took part in the meeting with Obama, told WND at the time. "He told us he corrected this right away and that he supports a negotiated settlement that will give the Palestinians territory."
The official was referring to a speech Obama delivered in June to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in which he stated if he is elected president, "Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided."
Immediately following the speech, Obama reversed himself during a CNN appearance, explaining he meant Jerusalem shouldn't be physically divided with a partition.
"Well, obviously, it's going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be part of those negotiations," he said in response to a question about whether Palestinians have a legitimate claim to the city.
Judge slams police, cites Bible; says Jew can't be banned from living in "significant portion of Land of Israel"
http://www.jnewswire.com/article/2580
A Jerusalem District Court judge ruled Tuesday that an Israeli police effort to prevent a Jewish settler from living near Hebron, in what Israel's enemies call the West Bank, was unconstitutional.
What was described as a mob of policemen, acting under court orders of some kind, raided the family home of Noam Federman and his wife in the early hours of the morning on October 25, reportedly smashing windows and doors, then pulling nine sleeping children out of their beds, hitting some of them, forcing them to get out, and then bulldozing their home, with all the family's possessions still inside.
Federman was arrested for allegedly using violence against the police. They then petitioned the courts to uphold a ban against him entering Judea and Samaria.
Judge Moshe Drori said the police request to have Noam Federman banned from entering Samaria and Judea was disproportionate " inasmuch as they sought to prevent Federman from living in a significant portion of the land of Israel."
The judge also noted, cynically, that whereas the police were wanting to charge Federman with using violence against them "the one who came out of the violence totally bruised on his entire body because of that 'violence' was actually [Federman] and not the police."
Israel's police, who have the unenviable task of working 24/7 to combat both crime and terrorism, have not been averse to working with the left side of the country's political establishment and acting against the so-called settlers - the strongly Zionist Jews many of who live in Samaria and Judea precisely because they believe God has commanded them to settle that land.
The police, in turn, are acting on the orders of an Israeli government too weak or too cowardly to stand up against the world's demand that they vacate the land of their forefathers and surrender it to the Arabs.
Drori, a kippa-wearing judge, referenced the Bible in his ruling in Federman's favor.
"I would like to note," he wrote: "that the State's representative apparently did not take notice of the Weekly Torah Portion that was read aloud around the time he made his claims. It is written there that G-d decided to overturn Sodom and Gomorra because of their heavy sins. Yet even there, where the sins were 77 times worse than we could imagine, the Creator enabled the Patriarch Abraham to plead for them before He delivered any punishment."
While not condoning any alleged acts of violence on Federman's part, Drori asked:
"Let every person decide for himself how he would act if a police officer turns to him at 1:30 in the night and wants to give him papers ordering him out of his house, with his wife and nine young children sleeping in their beds, and their father sees himself responsible for their welfare and safety… The State did not bother to explain why it needed a force of 100 policemen to remove a person from a military zone that had been closed for ten months, with no prior warning or attempt at dialogue… The eviction was not balanced, not reasonable, not right and not appropriate."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has reportedly decided to appeal the court's decision.
Israeli Air Force 'Ready for Iran's Nuclear Sites'
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,455005,00.html
The Israeli Air Force is ready to attack Iran's suspected nuclear weapons project if diplomacy fails to persuade the Islamic Republic to halt uranium enrichment, said Commander Ido Nehushtan in an interview published Tuesday.
The news comes as the U.N. watchdog agency reports Iran is probably at the point of being capable of making a nuclear bomb.
"We are prepared and ready to do whatever Israel needs us to do and if this is the mission we're given then we are ready," Nehushtan told German magazine Der Spiegel.
A strike against Iran's nuclear facilities "is a political decision," the IAF commander said, "but if I understand it correctly, all options are on the table ... The Air Force is a very robust and flexible force. We are ready to do whatever is demanded of us."
Asked if the Israeli military would be able to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, which are spread around the country, with some built underground, Nehushtan said, "Please understand that I do not want to get into details. I can only say this: It is not a technical or logistical question."
While Israel has fought all its immediate Arab neighbors, its pilots have had limited capabilities to carry out missions as far away as Iran. A strike on Iraq's sole nuclear reactor in 1981 was an extraordinary exception at the time but analysts say the F-16I has made long-distance strikes more possible.
"Air power has been a major player in every war we've fought since 1948," Colonel Amon, who in line with Israeli military rules did not give his surname, told Reuters during the unusual opening of the Ramon desert base to the foreign media.
"This is the most capable aircraft in the Middle East," said Captain Grisha, a fighter pilot in his early 20s.
The Jewish state, widely believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, has said it will not tolerate an Iranian nuclear bomb and has refused to rule out a military option.
Speculation of a U.S.-approved Israeli strike on Iran, fueled by an Israeli attack in Syria last year and by reports of long-range bombing exercises this summer, has faded as the Bush administration prepares to hand over power to President-elect Barack Obama.
Iran, which has repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, said on Tuesday it aimed to commission its first nuclear power plant in 2009. Tehran insists the program has only civilian aims.
Bush warns Israel off attacks on Iran, Hamas, Hizballah - report
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5735
DEBKAfile's Washington sources add that prime minister Ehud Olmert accused the Bush administration of establishing relations with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas when he met US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of in Washington Monday, Nov. 23.
Over this issue, Olmert's meeting with president George W. Bush at the White House, intended to be a farewell between friends, turned into a stormy encounter.
The president again warned the prime minister against resorting to any Israeli military action in the Middle East in the period between the two US presidencies. Olmert for his part accused the administration of using the Jordanian king Abdullah and the Gaza missile crisis to open the door for an approach to the Palestinian Hamas, which Washington lists as a terrorist organization.
The king was asked to relay the Bush administration's request to Syria and the Damascus-based Hamas leader Khalad Meshaal to make Hamas-Gaza stop firing the scores of missiles then flying over southwestern Israel.
The king complied by sending two high-ranking emissaries to Damascus with the US request.
They returned with Meshaal's affirmative response. Washington's next step for averting an Israeli counter-assault in Gaza was to have the king to invite Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak to Amman. They were astonished to be presented with an accomplished fact: The US, Syria and Jordan had cooked up between them a new "Gaza ceasefire".
According to our sources, Olmert told Bush that the American initiative had placed his government in an untenable position. It was seen to be failing to fight Hamas' missile offensive while on the quiet, Washington was using Israeli quiescence to lay the foundations of a negotiating track with Palestinian extremists in Damascus and Gaza.
All the opinion polls agree that Olmert's Kadima party and its coalition partner, Barak's Labor, are fighting for their lives in the run-up to Israel's Feb. 10, 2009 general election, while the right-of-center opposition bloc led by Likud is rising fast, making hay from the government's weak-kneed military posture in obedience to US pressure.
DEBKAfile's Middle East sources add that without being explicit, the US request intimated to Hamas leaders that by playing ball they would enhance the prospect of future contacts with Washington – whether with the Bush or Obama administrations was not spelled out. Meshaal took the hint.
Iranian general leads Hizballah war exercise integrated with Tehran, Damascus
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5731
Hizballah's military maneuver Saturday, Nov. 22, in an area south of the Litani River barred by the UN gave Iran's Al Qods chief, Gen. Qassem Suleimani, a chance to personally check on its Lebanese proxy's ability to draw up battle lines at speed against a potential Israeli tank incursion of the Beqaa Valley.
DEBKAfile's military sources also disclose exclusively that the exercise provided Tehran's first opportunity to test the functioning of the senior staff quarters in Khoramshahr near the Iranian-Iraqi border, which have taken over direct command of the Lebanese terrorist group.
Its maneuver was fully integrated with the military exercises staged across Iran over the week-end and coordinated with Syrian army headquarters in Damascus.
For the first time, all the pro-Iranian military elements on Israel's borders have now been pulled together for a joint maneuver by a high-ranking Iranian general. As of Nov. 22, therefore, Iran, Syria and Lebanon are tightly meshed into a Tehran-led combined front against any war contingency.
This development seriously upgrades the peril Iran poses to Israel's security and brings it right up to its back door.
On the ground, Hizballah's field commanders practiced interchanges - and tested their communications links - with Syria's 10th and 14th divisions deployed opposite South Lebanon and the Israeli border positions on Mount Hermon, Mount Dov and the Chebaa Farms.
Formally, the al Qods Brigades is a unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, but Gen. Suleimani, whose mandate covers Iran's extraterritorial surrogates and sponsored terrorist movement, enjoys broad autonomy and answers directly only to supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Engrossed in a tough election campaign, Israel's leaders responded feebly to this development, merely commenting on Hizballah's "brazen" violation of UN Security Council ceasefire resolution 1701 of 2006, which closed Lebanon south of the Litani to Hizballah gunmen. One defense ministry official affirmed that Hizballah had been armed with "tens of thousands of Iranian rockets," without indicating what Israel intended to do about this menacing arsenal.
Hizballah manipulated from Tehran and Damascus is going full steam ahead with its war preparations without apparent fear of Israeli interference.
Iran, Syria tauten grip on Lebanon, Tehran woos Christian president
http://www2.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5719
Tehran and Damascus are going all out to get their hooks into Lebanon's Christian politicians and wean them away from their' traditional ties with the West. President Michel Suleiman this week accepted an Iranian invitation to visit Tehran this month, while another Lebanese Christian leader, Hizballah's ally Gen. Michel Aoun, arranged to visit Damascus.
DEBKAfile's Middle East sources report that the Iranians are forging ahead with a campaign to bind the region's Christian minorities to their Shiite wagon for challenging Sunni domination. Their first quarry is Lebanon's powerful community.
Arrangements were finalized Monday with the Iranian ambassador in Beirut Reza Shibani for president Suleiman to spend two days in Tehran on Nov. 24-25. Aoun will visit Damascus at the same time. Their country is meanwhile encircled by Syrian military forces, a factual pointer to Bashar Assad's real intentions regarding peace.
Although these developments bode ill for Israel too, they was left out of the sweeping 2009 prognosis which the Israeli Military Intelligence chief Maj. Amos Yadlin delivered in Tel Aviv Monday, Nov. 17. Neither did he look ahead to the likelihood that Iran would be able to assemble a nuclear weapon next year, notwithstanding more than a decade of international diplomacy and sanctions.
Senior Israeli intelligence circles commented that the evaluations heard from Yadlin Monday were less attuned to reality than to the estimated positions of the incoming US president Barack Obama's Middle East team and Olmert-Livni policies. Like them, he omitted to address the agendas which Tehran and Damascus are actively pursuing.
Tehran launched its pursuit of Christian minorities by inviting the Lebanese Maronite leader Aoun to Tehran on Oct. 13, through Hizballah's good offices.
The gambit worked: The Lebanese leader returned home proclaiming Iran the strongest world power between the Persian Gulf and China and predicting that his trip would bear fruit in six months. In the first week of November, Tehran heaped full honors on the Lebanon's ex-president, the pro-Syrian Christian Emil Lahoud, when he arrived with a 60-man retinue.
Michel Sleiman can expect no less.
The assumption in Israeli ruling circles that Syria as peace partner will deliver a "Lebanese dowry" is therefore fallacious. Assad plans to squeeze whatever he can from Israel and the new US administration in the coin of territory and backing for his regime, while not giving up an iota of his schemes with Tehran. For now, no one is paying attention to the Syrian-Iranian jaws snapping shut on Lebanon.
Iran announces more than 5,000 centrifuges working, launches Kavosh-2 (Explorer-2) rocket into space
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5737
Minutes after launching a three-stage rocket carrying a research lab, Wednesday, Nov. 26, Iran's nuclear chief announced Iran now has more than 5,000 centrifuges operating at its uranium enrichment plant, flatly defying UN resolutions.
Explorer-2, a three-stage rocket, spent 40 minutes in space; the space lab aboard was parachuted to land. DEBKAfile's military sources report that this was the first time Iran had launched a three-stage rocket like the Israeli Shavit.
It followed a test-fire earlier this month of a new surface missile, the 2,000-km Sejili.> The special features of this ballistic missile, as first disclosed in DEBKA-Net-Weekly 373 of Nov. 21, point to significant advances in Iran's solid-propellant, two-stage missile development. Our military experts note that the same long-range ballistic technology applies equally to putting satellites in space and launching weapons capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
After the Sejil's launch, Tehran will no doubt start converting its arsenal of surface missiles from liquid to solid fuel and go on to develop a capability for launching space satellites both for military use and civilian research.
Two missile launches in a month indicate that Tehran has put its ballistic missile development into top gear, an extremely troubling development for Washington, Jerusalem and the European nations within range.
Last February, Iran launched Explorer-1 which almost certainly failed to reach orbit, at the same time unveiling its first space center and promising to put its first satellite in space next year. Then too analysts pointed out that the Explorer series could serve doubly for telecommunications and guiding intercontinental missiles.
Unfortunately, say DEBKAfile's military sources, Israeli leaders appear to have fallen behind the alarming events rushing forward in Iran: In a single week, the UN nuclear watchdog reported Tehran had stocked enough enriched uranium to make its first A-Bomb, while US analysts expect the Iranian to be able to make three bombs by the end of 2009. The Kavosh-2 launch shows Iran may have already perfected the missile technology to deliver warheads. However, instead of addressing this peril, defense minister Ehad Barak is mired in a huge effort to hold back a military operation in the Gaza Strip, keep his Labor party from crumbling and battling the Hebron Jewish community.
Iran Now Capable of One Nuclear Bomb
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,455024,00.html
To date, Iran had enriched about 1,400 pounds of low-enriched uranium suitable for nuclear fuel, according to two confidential reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency that were obtained by The Associated Press.
Several experts told The Times the milestone was enough for a bomb, but Iran would have to further purify the uranium fuel and put it into a warhead design — a technical advance that experts in the West are unsure Iran has been able to achieve.
"They clearly have enough material for a bomb," Richard L. Garwin, a top nuclear physicist who helped invent the hydrogen bomb and has advised Washington for decades, told the newspaper. "They know how to do the enrichment. Whether they know how to design a bomb, well, that's another matter."
The report found the Islamic Republic was installing, or preparing to install, thousands more of the machines that spin uranium gas to enrich it — with the target of 9,000 centrifuges by next year.
The report on Iran — which also went to the U.N. Security Council — cautioned that Tehran's stonewalling meant the IAEA could not "provide credible assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities." And it noted that the Islamic Republic continued to expand uranium enrichment, an activity that can make both nuclear fuel or fissile warhead material.
While that conclusion was expected, it was a formal confirmation of Iran's refusal to heed Security Council demands to freeze such activities, despite three sets of sanctions meant to force an enrichment stop.
Iran denies weapons ambitions, and Syria asserts the site hit more than a year ago by Israeli warplanes had no nuclear functions. But the two reports did little to dispel suspicions about either country.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency also said Wednesday that a Syrian site bombed by Israel in 2007 had the characteristics of a nuclear reactor.
The documents were being shared with the 35 nations on the IAEA's board.
On Syria, the agency also said that soil samples taken from the bombed site had a "significant number" of chemically processed natural uranium particles. A senior U.N official, who demanded anonymity because the information was restricted, said the findings were unusual for a facility that Syria alleges had no nuclear purpose.
The same official characterized U.N. attempts to elicit answers from Tehran on allegations that it had drafted plans for nuclear weapons programs as at a standstill.
The Syrian report said "it cannot be excluded" that the building destroyed in a remote stretch of the Syrian desert on Sept. 6, 2007, was "intended for non-nuclear use."
Still, "the features of the building ... are similar to what may be found in connection with a reactor site," it said, suggesting facility's size also fits that picture.
The report took note of Syrian assertions that any uranium particles found at the site must have come from Israeli missiles that hit the building, near the town of Al Kibar. And it cited Damascus officials as saying the IAEA samples contained only a "very limited number" of such particles.
But the report spoke of a "significant number of ... particles" found in the samples.
The senior U.N. official said "the onus of this investigation is on Syria" and noted that the traces were not of depleted uranium — the most commonly used variety of the metal in ammunition, meant to harden ordnance for increased penetration.
Satellite imagery made public in the wake of the Israeli attack noted that the Syrians subsequently removed substantial amounts of topsoil and entombed the building in concrete. But the report also suggested similar activities at three other Syrian sites of IAEA interest.
"Analysis of satellite imagery taken of these locations indicates that landscaping activities and the removal of large containers took place shortly after the agency's request for access," it said.
Beyond one visit in June to the Al Kibar site, Syria has refused IAEA requests to return to that location and examine the three other sites, citing the need to protect its military secrets.
In addition, said the report, "Syria has not yet provided the requested documentation" to back up its assertions that the bombed building was a non-nuclear military facility.
Iran denies such plans, saying it wants to enrich for a future large-scale civilian nuclear program. But suspicions have been compounded by its monthslong refusal to answer IAEA questions based on U.S., Israeli and other intelligence.
U.S. tracking multiple signs of Iran-North Korea missile ties
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/ea_nkorea0742_11_25.asp
U.S. intelligence agencies have numerous indications of close cooperation between Iran and North Korea on developing ballistic missiles, the director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said last week.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering told reporters that a recent Iranian missile test was one sign of Teheran-Pyongyang missile cooperation.
"I don't know that this particular flight [test] would be a validation in and of itself," Obering said of the Iranian missile test. "But I will tell you that we have many other parameters that we can see that collaboration between those two countries."
North Korea provided Iran its Nodong medium-range missile technology, which was adapted into Iran's Shihab-3 missiles, a mainstay of the Iranian missile forces that is based on Scud short-range missile know-how.
Officials suspect that Iran has also acquired technology from North Korea related to the intercontinental Taepodong-2, which North Korea unsuccessfully flight tested in July 2006.
Iranian officials have said Iran is developing both space-launchers and long-range missiles.
US spies see stronger, Islamic Turkey in 2025
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/10417052.asp?scr=1
The National Intelligence Council, which brings together all 16 US intelligence agencies, argues in its recent report titled Global Trends 2025 that Turkey's most likely course in the next 15 years involves a blending of Islamic and nationalist strains, which could serve as a model for other rapidly modernizing countries in the Middle East
Turkey is likely to have a more prominent political and economic role internationally and economically in 2025, but it will also become more Islamic and more nationalist, the U.S. intelligence community predicted in a report released late Thursday.
The National Intelligence Council, or NIC, which brings together all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, said in its report "Global Trends 2025" that the United States' clout was likely to decline over the next 15 to 20 years, while China and India would have a strengthened position. Russia, it predicted, could go up or down.
Muslim power
Among Muslim countries, the NIC expected "to see the political and economic power of Indonesia, Iran, and Turkey increase. "Over the next 15 years, Turkey's most likely course involves a blending of Islamic and nationalist strains, which could serve as a model for other rapidly modernizing countries in the Middle East," it said.
The NIC said it expected secularism in the Middle East to decline in line with the Turkish example. "In the Middle East, secularism, which also has been considered an integral part of the Western model, increasingly may be seen as out of place as Islamic parties come into prominence and possibly begin to run governments," it said. "As in today's Turkey, we could see both increased Islamization and greater emphasis on economic growth and modernization." But a more Middle Eastern and Islamic Turkey is a candidate for more important roles, the NIC said.
"Indonesia, Turkey and a post-clerically run Iran states that are predominantly Islamic, but which fall outside the Arab core appear well-situated for growing international roles," it said.
"Turkey's recent economic track record of increased growth, the vitality of Turkey's emerging middle class and its geo-strategic locale raise the prospect of a growing regional role in the Middle East," the NIC reported. Turkey's increasing concerns over its chances of becoming an EU member one day will likely hit planned political reforms, the agencies said. "The question of Turkey's EU membership will be a test of Europe's outward focus between now and 2025. Increasing doubts about Turkey's chances are likely to slow its implementation of political and human rights reforms," the NIC said.
"Any outright rejection risks wider repercussions, reinforcing arguments in the Muslim world including among Europe's Muslim minorities about the incompatibility of the West and Islam," it said.
Report: Hindu Groups in India Offering Rewards to Kill Christians
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,455066,00.html
Extremist Hindu groups offered money, food and alcohol to mobs to kill Christians and destroy their homes, according to Christian aid workers in the eastern India state of Orissa.
The U.S.-based head of Good News India, a Christian organization that runs several orphanages in Orissa — one of India's poorest regions — claims that Christian leaders are being targeted by Hindu militants and carry a price on their heads. "The going price to kill a pastor is $250," said Faiz Rahman, the chairman of Good News India.
A spokesman for the All-India Christian Council said: "People are being offered rewards to kill, and to destroy churches and Christian properties. They are being offered foreign liquor, chicken, mutton and weapons. They are given petrol and kerosene."
Ram Madhav, a spokesman for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the largest hardline Hindu group, denied the claims. "The accusation is absolutely false," he said.
Orissa has suffered a series of murders and arson attacks in recent months, with at least 67 Christians killed, according to the Roman Catholic Church. Several thousand homes have been razed and hundreds of places of worship destroyed, and crops are now wasting in the fields.
In recent weeks, the violence has subsided but at least 11,000 Christian refugees remain in camps in Kandhamal, the district worst affected. "They are too scared to go home. They know that if they return to their villages they will be forced to convert to Hinduism," Father Manoj, who is based at the Archbishop's office in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa's capital, said.
Indonesian proposes to track AIDS patients by microchip
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008428757_apasindonesiaaidstagging.html?syndication=rss
Lawmakers in Indonesia's remote province of Papua have thrown their support behind a controversial bill requiring some HIV/AIDS patients to be implanted with microchips - part of extreme efforts to monitor the disease.
Local health workers and AIDS activists called the plan "abhorrent."
"People with AIDS aren't animals; we have to respect their rights," said Tahi Ganyang Butarbutar, a prominent Papuan activist.
But legislator John Manangsang said by implanting small computer chips beneath the skin of "sexually aggressive" patients, authorities would be in a better position to identify, track and ultimately punish those who deliberately infect others with up to six months in jail or a $5,000 fine.
The technical and practical details still need to be hammered out, but if the proposed legislation gets a majority vote as expected, it will be enacted next month, he and others said.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country and has one of Asia's fastest growing HIV rates, with up to 290,000 infections out of 235 million people, fueled mainly by intravenous drug users and prostitution.
But Papua, the country's easternmost and poorest province with a population of about 2 million, has been hardest hit. Its case rate of almost 61 per 100,000 is 15 times the national average, according to internationally funded research, which blames lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases.
"The health situation is extraordinary, so we have to take extraordinary action," said another lawmaker, Weynand Watari, who envisions radio frequency identification tags like those used to track everything from cattle to luggage.
A committee would be created to decide who should be fitted with chips and to monitor patients' behavior, but it remains unclear who would be on it and how they would carry out their work, lawmakers said Monday.
Since the plan was initially proposed, the government has narrowed its scope, saying the chips would only be implanted in those who are "sexually aggressive," but it has not said how it would determine who fits that group. It also was not clear how many people it might include.
Nancy Fee, the UNAIDS country coordinator, said the global body was not aware of any laws or initiatives elsewhere involving HIV/AIDS patients and microchips.
Though she has yet to see a copy of the bill, she said she had "grave concerns" about the effect it would have on human rights and public health.
"No one should be subject to unlawful or unnecessary interference of privacy," Fee said, adding that while other countries have been known to be oppressive in trying to tackle AIDS, such policies don't work.
They make people afraid and push the problem further underground, she said.
Tahi Ganyang, the Papuan activist, said the best way to tackle the epidemic was through increased spending on sexual education and condom use.
President of Indonesia calls for one single global currency
http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2008/11/05/brk,20081105-144210,uk.html
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has proposed the use of one single global currency to prevent pressures on currencies, in particularly the rupiah, when economic crisis hits. This can at least maintain the stability of currency rates in each country and protect it against pressures of other currencies.
The president maintains that with a single global currency rate, there would no longer be a currency exchange crisis and money would not be commercialized. With a single currency, the function of money as a trading value will not change. "It could be done in stages, starting with the dollar, euro, or Asian currency," said the president at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) yesterday. He has once submitted this idea at an international forum.
The root of the global financial crisis, he said, was an imbalance between advanced and developing countries in their capital, technology and natural resources. This is caused by a bubble economy which does not reflect the real sectors, but instead only reflects vast distribution of money, resulting in gaps.
On the other hand, Yudhoyono said Indonesia must strengthen its domestic source of funding system and reduce its foreign debts. One of the measures taken was by not joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as an effort to avoid a much bigger crisis. "Capital can come easily, but they can fly away as easily," said Yudhoyono.
But according to Fauzi Ikhsan, Standard Chartered Bank senior economist, the chances for the single global currency to be implemented are slim, although it is theoretically applicable. "It is difficult to unify the countries of the world. It is just unrealistic for the time being," Fauzi argued.
As example, he cited the euro, the single currency in Europe, which took more than 10 years to be applied. Even now, not all countries in the continent use it. One of them is the United Kingdom, which maintains its pound sterling because its value is far above the euro and the US dollar.
Sudan buys Russian MiG fighter jets
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/science/20mammoth.html?_r=2&oref=slogin
According to AFP and Russian news agencies, Moscow has sold 12 MiG-29 fighter jets to Khartoum, Sudanese Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein said.
"The planes have been bought," the defence minister said to reporters confirming the contract for the purchase of the 12 planes. He added that Sudan is very satisfied with its military relations with Russia.
The United States criticized the aircraft deal with Sudan on Friday: "Sudan is a poor country and to go out and buy MiGs, obviously that's something we don't think is a positive step," U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.
First limited US, Russian steps to combat Somali piracy
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5725
The seizure of the Saudi supertanker has driven the world navies to take first steps to combat the increasingly brazen Somali pirates. The US and multinational naval force patrolling the coast off Somali urged merchant vessels Thursday, Nov. 20, to sail with armed guards on board and only on lanes patrolled by warships.
DEBKAfile's sources report that the second measure is not practical for most merchant shipping when some 20,000 ships a year use the Gulf of Aden en route to the Suez Canal.
The Russian Navy commander Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky announced more warships would be sent to the danger zone as back-up for the Fearless frigate posted there since September. US Vice Adm. William Gortney said merchant ships crews were being taught non-violent measures to prevent pirates boarding their vessels, such sharp rudder movements and speed adjustments to throw their speed boats off course.
The Saudi tanker, the biggest ship every hijacked, is being held off the Somali coast with 2 million barrels of crude and a crew of 25, for a $25 million ransom.
A NATO fleet of US, French, British and Danish warships along with Indian, Malaysian and Russian naval vessels are patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters. They were unable to prevent the seizure of three other merchant vessels this week.
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