Lakeland Revival Miracle Healings Continue
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/370291.aspx
CBNNews.com - LAKELAND, Fla. -- Since April 2, what appears to be a powerful move of God is shaking Lakeland, Fla.
And maybe the most interesting thing about what's happening in Lakeland is that it isn't just happening here, but all over the earth simultaneously. Revivalist Todd Bentley, 32, of Canada has been the leading figure when it comes to the thousands of healings.
Available Online around the World
"We're in 214 nations a night. Potential audience of 400 million. And 10 hours a day we're literally around the world, people are seeing what's happening here in Florida," Bentley said.
That's because God TV made the unprecedented -- and extremely expensive -- decision to pre-empt all their primetime programming and broadcast the Lakeland meetings every night. Thousands more are watching on the website for the church where the revival ignited. It's called, appropriately enough, Ignited Church.
"550,000 different computers have logged into the webcast. That's incredible," said Ignited's senior pastor Stephen Strader.
And those watching get to see some pretty special miracles.
Leaving Wheelchairs Behind
The first night CBN News was here, eight handicapped people were healed and left their wheelchairs behind.
Cancer had put Dara Erickson in a wheelchair. "I had tumors going up and down my spinal column. And it wrapped around my spine and cracked my backbone," she said.
Her healing came progressively during four days and nights of meetings. "I guess it was the fourth day, I was out of the wheelchair. And I could walk. I felt my legs get stronger and stronger and stronger."
Caroline Tollefsen-Gonzales can't stop moving and flexing her right hand. Before the revival, it was shriveled up like a pain-dispensing claw because of a rare syndrome.
Rare Syndrome Healed
"It attacked the joints, the muscles, the bones, the skin. And it was unbearable," she said.
Caroline sent CBN News a medical report a neurologist wrote last year about Caroline's right hand, labeling its condition "Permanent Impairment" and writing there was "nearly no range of motion of the fingers with claw-like deformity, and pain from the fingers to the elbow."
But the first night Caroline came to the meetings, she received a total healing. Flexing her hand by her face, she said, "I have never been able to do this since it started."
Kathryn Condesa was in so much pain from a degenerative condition that had hit all around her spine, she was taking nearly killer doses of four highly-addictive narcotics.
Doctors had also filled her with some formidable metal. Pastor Strader said, "They put two metal rods six inches long with four bolts that were three inches long into her back to hold her in place. It was literally impossible for her to bend."
Moving Without Pain
Kathryn came for a healing to the morning meetings still going on at Ignited Church. When Pastor Strader asked for those in pain to stand, he saw Kathryn stand first.
"I just prayed a simple prayer: 'Jesus, heal the lady,'" Strader said.
Kathryn then remembers Strader blowing towards her. "And he blew and said, 'you're healed.'"
Strader then watched Kathryn nearly collapse over the chair in front of her. "And she had totally bent over the chair, just like a jackknife. Totally bent over, for 20 minutes."
Kathryn recalled, "He said 'can you touch the ground?' And I said, 'I don't think so. But let me try.' And I bent over and I touched the floor and I was shocked."
Strader became extremely excited. "And we said 'go to the doctors and see if the rods have disappeared because it's impossible for you to bend over.' She has the x-rays. The rods are still there. How can she bend over with rods? That is unbelievable."
Not only is Kathryn healed, but she tossed away the addictive drugs and hasn't had one withdrawal symptom.
Ruptured Discs, Cerebral Palsy -- Healed
One miracle had a comedic touch: a man with two ruptured discs hobbled up to the stage. He had to use a cane to walk. But then his back was healed and he started jumping all over the stage. so much so, that the ushers couldn't even catch him.
Teresa Pemberton had had 22 leg surgeries. Suffering from spinal stenosis and cerebral palsy, she could hardly walk much less jump before coming all the way from Tualatin, Oregon, to get a healing in Lakeland.
And she did.
Teresa recalled, "The Lord said 'jump' and I jumped and I could jump."
CBN News asked her if that had been impossible before. She said it had and explained, "My left knee was bone-on-bone and I needed a knee replacement."
Michelle Latham's leg was crushed in an ATV accident, her hip broken. Eight surgeries and multiple pins and plates later, her doctor told her, as Latham recalled, "You're just going to have to use a cane for the rest of your life."
Joints, Muscles Restored
But when she came to the revival, Michelle heard Todd Bentley talking about her.
"He called out 'there's a girl who's broken her hip and it's gone into her lower back,' and I felt God completely touching my hip. And as I was feeling it, I felt the muscle grow back, and a second later he says, 'and muscles will grow back.'"
But in this particular revival being beamed all around the world, much of the healing is going on not here, but out across the nations.
"We get hundreds of stories a day of people that are around the world getting healed watching the broadcast. It's contagious through media," Todd Bentley told CBN News.
There's a silver lining here for all believers who want a piece of this action. It appears the anointing on Bentley, Strader and all those others God's using in Lakeland is highly transferable, and they're hearing back from Lakeland visitors who've returned home.
Revival of Impartation
"We hear stories everyday of just normal ordinary people. businessmen, businesswomen. praying for people in the Walmart, praying for people in Starbucks, in the mall. Many young people. Stories of people getting out of wheelchairs, healed of back conditions, healed of deaf ears," Bentley said.
Pastor Strader said enthusiastically, "This thing is just explosive. It's going around the world."
A visiting pastor prophesied the anointing to heal isn't just infectious, but it will be stronger on Christians back home than it's been in Lakeland.
Lakeland leaders have made imparting the anointing to heal as important a part of the revival as the healings themselves.
Look at what happened with Michelle Latham the day after her healing when she, family and friends visited Disney World, and God told them to speak to a fellow the Lord revealed to them was named Frank.
"And we said, 'is your name Frank?' And he said, 'that's what my father calls me.' And we said 'can we pray for you,' and God tells us to pray for his knee," Latham said. "We didn't even know he had a knee problem. And I tell him the testimony about my knee. And he lifts up his leg and he has one of the similar scars. He said 'I had knee surgery and I need healing.' I said 'can we pray for it?' And God healed his knee right there in the parking lot," she said.
Not Somebody, THE Body
All the leadership says the same thing: this anointing to heal is for everyone in the Body of Christ who wants it.
"And our focus here in Florida every night is I lay hands on every single person who comes -- whether it's 5,000, 10,000 -- And I'm praying every night, 'God, give it away, give it away, give it away.' And that's the focus here: impartation," Bentley said.
Some are saying this is the most contagious anointing the world has ever seen. Because, as one visiting pastor said, the touch for healing isn't just on somebody, but on the Body.
My Lesser Calling
http://www.fulfilledprophecy.com/commentary/adams-angle-my-lesser-calling/
Do you think your dead-end job is holding you back from ministry? Do you longingly look at the ministries of other Christians and feel that somehow your work as a cashier or as a police sergeant or as a parent is somehow a lesser calling?
If so, you need to hear the message of the apostle Paul to some of the believers in the Colossian church: full-time ministry doesn’t come from a job title; it comes from doing all things wholeheartedly for God.
If you think delivering pizzas is a rough way to make a living, just be glad you didn’t live in the apostle Paul’s day. There wasn’t much social mobility. In fact, many people were slaves. Not all slaves were sweaty oarsmen like in the movie Ben Hur. Many of them were household servants. Still, they didn’t have much hope to move up the social ladder. But does that mean that Paul, and God, just intended to write them off as useless in the body of Christ?
Not at all. In fact, Paul urges the enslaved Christians who lived in the city of Colossae to make Christ the focus of all of their “meaningless” labor: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:22-23).
It’s the last part of this that comforts us: whatever you do. The task in itself is not so important in Paul’s eyes. But it is important that we do our work wholeheartedly. And it is important that we’re doing it for the Lord.
And the good news is not only that any job can be full-time ministry, but also that there is great reward: “You know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:24).
Easy for You to Say, Mr. Super Apostle
But the skeptic of the day could say, “Yeah right, Paul. It’s easy for you to say. You studied for years under the famous teacher, Gamaliel. You’re a full-fledged Roman citizen. You’re a world traveler. You’re the one God chose to bring the gospel to the Gentile world. What do you know about feeling boxed in? The world is at your feet.”
Well, that’s true. But for a season during Paul’s missionary journeys he had to work as a tent maker. And, more importantly, at the time that Paul was writing these words to the Christian slaves, he was in jail.
Paul asked these Christian brothers and sisters for prayer. He wanted an open door. Strangely enough, he wasn’t asking for an open door to his jail cell so that he could get back into full-time ministry. He wanted something else: “Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should” (Colossians 4:3-4).
Apparently, Paul didn’t see his stint in the pokey as hindering him from doing the work of Christ. He saw it as another opportunity to tell people about Jesus.
Ministry for All of Us
If Paul can do full-time ministry from behind bars, then what are some things we can do to live a life of ministry — whether we’re on or off the clock?
We can study the Word of God and fellowship with other believers: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another” (Colossians 3:16).
We can all worship God: “Sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).
We can all pray: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Colossians 4:2).
We can tell others about Jesus: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:5-6).
As for the rest — the way you fill your 40-hour work week, don’t sweat it. Just do whatever it is you do for God and for His glory: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
But, c’mon. . . Pizza delivery for God? Data entry for God? Wal-Mart greeter for God?
Why not? It’s not what you do, but how you do it — and whom you do it for.
Washington's Fiscal Wake-Up
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/372398.aspx
CBNNews.com - It's the dirty little secret politicians don't like to discuss. The federal government is spending more than it collects, running up the nation's credit card, and leaving a legacy of debt to the next generation.
"Whether you're a liberal, conservative, Democrat or Republican, the numbers just don't add up over the long term," Robert Bixby, head of the Concord Coalition, said.
Bixby is one of a group of economic analysts from think tanks including the Concord Coalition, The Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institution, and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, who launched a nationwide "Fiscal Wake-Up Tour."
The Tour that began in 2005 has visited more than 30 cities across the country to sound the alarm about the nation's long-term fiscal outlook that threatens to scuttle the nation's economy.
"We may not be a national power anymore because we're in hock to the rest of the world for so much money," Bixby said.
Some describe it as the perfect storm. A tidal wave of 75-million baby boomers now beginning to retire are expecting government Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits.
"The unprecedented nature of what we're facing now," Bixby said. "The cost of these entitlement programs combined with the growing percentage of the population which is 65 or over. "
Add in additional expenses like skyrocketing health care costs and interest to foreign lenders and fewer workers to pay for it, and America could drown in a sea of debt.
Bixby says instead of fixing the growing financial problems, Washington made things worse. It approved another program -- a pricey prescription drug benefit for seniors.
"The prescription drug benefit was one of the most fiscally irresponsible things congress and the president have done in a while. Its unfunded cost is larger than the total unfunded costs of social security," he said.
Economists are calling on presidential candidates and Congress to act to prevent a future fiscal crisis before it's too late and Americans face higher taxes and rationing of government benefits.
Bixby said, "The longer we wait, the more drastic the changes will have to be, and the more disruptive to peoples lives."
Documents Indicate That Chavez Helped Colombia Rebels
http://www.newsmax.com/international/colombia_chavez_and_rebels/2008/05/11/95139.html
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Documents that Colombia says it recovered from a slain guerrilla leader give the clearest indication yet that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sought to arm and finance insurgents across the border.
The documents _ more than a dozen internal rebel messages _ detail several years of close cooperation between top officials in Venezuela's government and military and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, including the construction of rebel training facilities on Venezuelan soil.
They also suggest Venezuela was preparing to loan the rebels at least US$250 million (euro190 million), provide them with Russian weapons and possibly even help them obtain surface-to-air missiles for use against Colombian military aircraft.
Most importantly, they outline a joint strategic project between Venezuela and the Colombian rebels, with Venezuela even seeking rebel training in "asymmetrical warfare" in preparation for a feared U.S. invasion.
The documents were shown to The Associated Press on Friday, days before Interpol is to issue a report that Colombia's conservative government hopes will dispel any doubts about the documents' authenticity.
A U.S. intelligence official in Washington vouched for the documents' authenticity, telling the AP that the Bush administration received them in March. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.
But the leftist Chavez calls the documents fakes. He denies arming or funding the FARC, though he openly sympathizes with Latin America's most powerful rebel army. He calls Colombia's government, Washington's closest ally in the region, a U.S. pawn.
"They can get whatever they want out of there," Chavez said Sunday during his weekly television and radio program, referring to the slain rebel's computers and suggesting that U.S. officials are fabricating documents to support their accusations. "It's an imperialist plan."
The newly disclosed files are among 11,000 that Colombian officials say they found in three laptops, two external drives and three memory sticks during in a March 1 cross-border raid into Ecuador that killed FARC foreign minister Raul Reyes and 24 others.
Immediately after the raid, Colombia released documents that suggested surprisingly cozy ties between the FARC and the leftist governments of both Venezuela and Ecuador. It has since disclosed more files piecemeal, drawing criticism that its handling of the cache has been political.
The senior Colombian official who showed the new documents to the AP said legal considerations _ and a desire not to embarrass friendly governments _ was behind the partial releases. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the documents' politically explosive nature.
The documents consist of messages to the FARC's seven-member ruling Secretariat penned by various of its members, and many discuss efforts by top Venezuelan officials to help the FARC obtain weapons.
In a January 2007 message, the rebels' main go-between with the Chavez government says Venezuelan military intelligence chief Gen. Hugo Carvajal and another Venezuelan general "are going to get us 20 bazookas next week."
The author, Ivan Marquez, also mentions "the possibility of taking advantage of Venezuela's purchase of arms from Russia to include some containers destined for the FARC." Among Russian arms Chavez has contracted to buy are Dragunov sniper rifles and Kalashnikov assault rifles.
A Venezuelan Defense Ministry spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment from Carvajal.
FARC use of anti-aircraft missiles would seriously escalate a mostly low-intensity 44-year-old conflict. In a March 2007 letter, alias "Timochenko" writes that "intelligence officials from our neighboring navy" say it's very difficult to obtain "rockets" but that "they're disposed to help us get all the parts to build them."
And FARC leader Manual Marulanda suggests in a Jan. 11 letter that the rebels may have decided to begin using anti-aircraft missiles. He describes a "major action" being planned in eastern jungles against Colombia's military "where with one single blow we could down some 10 aircraft."
On that date, the FARC handed over in those jungles two hostages to Venezuela's interior minister, Ramon Rodriguez Chacin.
A Marquez message from the previous November describes a request by Rodriguez Chacin for rebel help in training Venezuelans in "asymmetrical warfare" in preparation for a feared U.S. invasion.
Rodriguez Chacin is also mentioned in discussions of an open-ended loan to the FARC. Rebel field marshal Jorge Briceno proposes asking Chavez "to help us get the weapons mentioned in the strategic plan and a loan of US$250 million to be paid when we take power."
A subsequent document indicates that when Reyes was killed, Chavez was preparing to deliver a first US$50 million (euro38 million).
A spokesman said Rodriguez Chacin was unavailable for comment.
Timochenko also describes strengthening ties with Venezuela's military, saying he visited a FARC firing range and "training halls" in Venezuela, and "now we have a sewing shop and one for making grenades and we're building various installations for hospitals."
He describes "operations where our guys go out with Venezuelan arms and uniforms" and says the Venezuelan local military commander has put guerrillas in helicopters for reconnaissance.
Some U.S. lawmakers have cited the documents recovered in the raid to argue that the White House should add Venezuela to a list of state terror sponsors that includes North Korea, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba, and which means economic sanctions. Analysts believe that's unlikely, however.
"That would be self-defeating," said Michael Shifter of the Washington think tank Inter-American Dialogue. "It might give Chavez a boost when he is in serious political trouble at home _ and it would risk a further jump in oil prices in the U.S. in an election year."
Millions pray ‘Your Kingdom come’ on Global Day of Prayer
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/millions.pray.your.kingdom.come.on.global.day.of.prayer/18711.htm
Millions of Christians around the world raised their hands up in united prayer and worship on Pentecost Sunday as part of the fourth annual Global Day of Prayer.
The UK was among at least 201 nations registered to take part, with major prayer and cathedral events taking place across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland under the common theme of “Your Kingdom come … on Earth as in Heaven”.
In London, thousands of Christians gathered at Millwall football stadium in central London to pray for God’s love and Holy Spirit to fall upon London, particularly communities blighted by gun and knife crime.
The message on the day was overwhelmingly one of hope and unity. “When the church unites in prayer there is no stopping it,” said Jonathan Oloyede, senior Associate Pastor of Glory House and visionary of Global Day of Prayer London. “Prayer changes things,” he added.
Last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown hosted a reception at 10 Downing Street in honour of Global Day of Prayer in which he praised the contribution of faith groups to the United Kingdom.
“When our government leaders begin to value what the church is doing in this country, we are in for revival,” continued Pastor Oloyede.
Newly elected London Mayor Boris Johnson took to the stage to ask that Christians pray for young victims of gun and knife attacks as well as their families. A total of thirteen young people have been shot or stabbed to death in the capital so far this year.
Johnson pledged to work with faith groups in combating gun and knife crime, saying, “Together we can do something, together we must do something, and together we will do something.”
The father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor, Richard Taylor, also joined the event to ask that Christians pray for every family affected by gun and knife crime across London, before the entire stadium fell silent for two minutes in memory of victims.
The Rt Rev Tom Butler, whose Southwark Diocese encompasses Millwall, welcomed Global Day of Prayer to South London. “I am very happy that Global Day of Prayer has come south of the river,” he said, admitting that the diocese was all too familiar with gun and knife crime. “My hope is that this will encourage Christians from all over London to first of all praise God and then to work together and pray together for the good of all the citizens of London for the months and years ahead.”
The Global Day of Prayer movement was founded nearly 10 years ago by South African Christian businessman Graham Power to start the world praying for revival after he was inspired by 2 Chronicles 7.14.
The verse reads, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Global Day of Prayer London also forms part of the Hope08 movement uniting UK churches in practically demonstrating the Gospel’s message of love in their communities. Christians taking part in Global Day of Prayer events across the UK are being encouraged to follow up their 11 May events with 90 days of blessings that will help achieve Hope08’s goal of giving one million hours of kindness to the nation.
A number of popular Christian musicians and artists lead worship on the day, including All Souls Orchestra, Godfrey Birtill, Geraldine Latty, Noel Robinson, Dave Bilbrough, Muyiwa and Graham Kendrick.
Global Day of Prayer London pulled together Christians of all denominations and traditions. Jane Holloway, UK Co-ordinator of the Global Day of Prayer, said, “It’s just so exciting to see us celebrating the diversity of the body of Christ.”
Global Day of Prayer London organisers are aiming to bring the event to Wembley Stadium in 2010.
Serbia's President Declares Election Victory
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/373308.aspx
CBNNews.com - BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbia's pro-Western president declared victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections - a stunning upset over ultranationalists who tried to exploit anger over Kosovo's independence. But his rivals vowed to fight on, and it was unclear if he could stave off their challenge.
"This is a great day for Serbia," Boris Tadic proclaimed after an independent monitoring group that carried out a parallel vote count nationwide said his bloc won 39 percent - about 10 percent more than the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party.
"The citizens of Serbia have confirmed Serbia's European path," he said. "Serbia will be in the European Union. We have promised that, and we will fulfill that."
Tadic, however, acknowledged his nationalist rivals could still team up against his Coalition for a European Serbia and try to form Serbia's next government. Any alliance that can muster a simple 126-seat majority in the 250-seat parliament can govern, and nationalists indicated they would mount a challenge.
Although Tadic's coalition appeared assured of 103 seats, the Radicals were poised to get 76 seats. If they joined forces with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's conservative coalition, with 30 seats, and the Socialist Party of the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, with 21, the combined strength would be 127 seats.
Radical leader Tomislav Nikolic urged his allies to pull together, and said he would meet Monday with Kostunica and the Socialists to form a government, "because ideologically we are very close."
Nikolic also accused Tadic of inciting violence by proclaiming victory. But Tadic made clear he saw Sunday's outcome as a mandate to take the divided country into the EU.
"I'm sure that those who wanted to return Serbia to the 1990s will try to overturn the electoral will of the people, but I will not allow it," Tadic told supporters, adding that he would propose a new prime minister from his own bloc.
Tadic's opponents said their own vote tabulations confirmed the pro-Western forces' victory - an astonishing turnabout after weeks of speculation that the Radicals and Kostunica together would sweep to victory. The results instead left Kostunica fighting for his political future.
Kostunica said Sunday evening his differences with Tadic's coaliition were "insurmountable," and that he was open to talks with the Radicals.
Official results were not expected until Monday, but the state electoral commission issued partial results that corresponded to the projections of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy and the tabulations of the main parties.
The respected center, whose representatives observed vote tallying at polling stations across Serbia, said the Radicals were running a distant second with 28.6 percent, and that Kostunica's bloc had about 11.6 percent. It said the Socialists had about 8.2 percent - their best result since Milosevic's ouster in 2000.
The pro-Western coalition's surprisingly strong showing came just three months after protesters outraged by Kosovo's Feb. 17 independence declaration set fire to part of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade.
That anger had stoked expectations of an electoral backlash and a Radical victory that would have squelched Serbia's efforts to prepare for eventual EU membership. The Radicals had vowed to steer the country away from the West and toward Russia, and openly defy international demands for the arrest of Gen. Ratko Mladic and other fugitive war crimes suspects.
The European Union called the success of Tadic's coalition a "clear victory" by pro-European forces.
Sunday's elections were the first in Serbia since Kosovo declared independence. Many had expected widespread anger to propel the Radicals to victory, and warned that it could plunge the country into fresh isolation.
Officials said turnout was about 60 percent - lower than in January's presidential elections, but strong for a parliamentary vote.
Voters also cast ballots Sunday in Kosovo, where Serb leaders organized parallel local elections in defiance of international authorities. The U.N. branded the local elections illegal, but did not stop people from voting, and NATO peacekeepers stepped up patrols as a precaution. No incidents were reported.
Kostunica and Nikolic had tried to capitalize on an acute sense of betrayal after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February and gained formal recognition from the U.S., Canada, Japan and key European powers.
Serbs consider Kosovo the heart of their ancient homeland and Serbian Orthodox faith, and their bitterness has nudged the country toward ultranationalists promising to restore bruised national pride.
The nationalists also sought to exploit disenchantment with 30 percent unemployment, rising prices and corruption.
Tadic, who also opposes Kosovo's independence and reiterated Sunday that he would never recognize its statehood, claimed last week that he had received death threats.
He also has been publicly denounced as a traitor for signing a pre-entry aid and trade pact with the EU - a deal that Kostunica and Nikolic contend amounts to blood money in exchange for giving up Kosovo.
Yet many Serbs responded to Tadic's message that the country's future lies with the EU.
Milosevic was ousted by a pro-democracy movement in 2000, and the former leader - who presided over the bloody 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia - died in March 2006 in a prison cell in The Hague, Netherlands, where a U.N. tribunal was trying him for atrocities in the Balkans.
Nuclear missiles parade across Red Square
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080509113625.2fytcrew&show_article=1
Nuclear missiles and tanks paraded Friday across Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era but new President Dmitry Medvedev warned other nations against "irresponsible ambitions" that he said could start wars.
Marching bands and 8,000 troops goose-stepped across the square, followed by a huge display of heavy weapons including Topol-M ballistic missiles and T-90 tanks, and a fly-by of warplanes.
Reviewing his first parade as commander in chief, Medvedev warned against "irresponsible ambitions" that he said could spark war across entire continents.
In an apparent attack on US foreign policy and Western backing for Kosovo's independence, Medvedev also criticised "intentions to intrude in the affairs of other states and especially redraw borders."
Alongside the new president was his mentor and now prime minister, Vladimir Putin, standing under bright sunshine in a tribune in front of Lenin's Mausoleum, the Soviet holy of holies that was screened off by a giant hoarding inscribed with May 9, 1945.
The show of strength on the 63rd anniversary of victory against Nazi Germany symbolised Moscow's growing boldness following eight years of rule by Putin, whose hawkish policies have set Russia at loggerheads with Western capitals.
Medvedev, who was inaugurated Wednesday, is a close ally of Putin and had been his aide for much of the last two decades.
Many analysts believe that Medvedev, 42, will be a weak president reliant on the support of Putin, 55, who on Thursday became prime minister.
Other observers say the untested Medvedev will grow into the presidency, which carries huge powers in Russia -- as symbolised by the Red Square parade.
Earlier Putin said the parade was not "sabre-rattling" but "a demonstration of our growing defence capability."
The commemoration came after Washington on Thursday said Moscow had expelled two of its diplomats.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday dismissed the move as "just the usual tit for tat" in response to Washington's expulsion of a Russian spy.
Tensions with the United States have been particularly high over Russia's pro-Western neighbour Georgia, which has received US backing for its bid to join the NATO military alliance.
On Thursday Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said his country and Russia had come close to war "several days ago" after Russia ramped up support for separatists controlling Georgia's Abkhazia region.
Medvedev told veterans invited to a Kremlin reception after the parade that "we must unite the international community so as not to allow the spread of new, very frightening threats," ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
On the streets of Moscow, the atmosphere was festive for one of the country's best-loved holidays.
Amid re-runs of World War II films, television stations showed soldiers parading through cities across the country.
Veterans were shown with chests loaded down with medals, while some young soldiers were dressed in World War II uniforms, complete with old-fashioned rifles and red stars on their helmets.
The occasion reflects the trauma of World War II in which millions of Soviet citizens died before driving back the Nazis, but also a large measure of Soviet-style propaganda which airbrushed dark aspects of the story -- not least Stalin's massive wartime repressions.
The reappearance of massive weapons in the capital after a break of 18 years required extraordinary preparations.
Ahead of the parade, the cobbles of Red Square were specially reinforced to cope with tanks and other heavy weaponry, while the Kommersant newspaper said nearby subway tunnels had been reinforced to prevent them collapsing.
Twelve air force planes were to ensure clear skies over Moscow with the use of cloud-seeding technology.
Exclusive: Israel’s diplomatic positions eroded by PM Olmert’s police probe
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5259
DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources report that the police investigations hanging over prime minister Olmert’s head are beginning to undermine his government’s ability to engage in Middle East diplomacy. Most political circles have begun the countdown to his political demise in the short term.
Sunday night, Cairo had not finally confirmed that Egyptian intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman would keep his Monday, May 12, date in Jerusalem to hand over the truce offer from the Palestinian fundamentalist Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Damascus has turned its back on the feelers for peace talks relayed to Israel by Turkish mediators.
Olmert is tied up in long conferences with his lawyers on his legal strategy in the grave allegations against him of accepting large sums of money from an American financier. He has not been able to prepare a definitive answer for the Egyptian minister’s proposal on Gaza.
Our sources report that Israeli officials are expected to hear him out and put off their reply for a later date - even though Hamas has made it clear that without an agreed truce, its attacks will be intensified.
Any ceasefire is opposed by sections of the Israeli military who argue that it will give Hamas the chance to regroup and acquire more powerful arms for its next round of violence. In his present state, the prime minister’s strength to assert his authority in this or any other Middle East diplomatic issue is gravely diminished.
Rice: Israel, Palestinians Need to Show Progress
http://www.newsmax.com/international/us_mideast/2008/05/11/95103.html
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has told Israeli and Palestinian leaders they will need to show progress in their secret talks soon, or risk a potentially fatal erosion in public support for a process now in its sixth month without any obvious successes.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice passed that message during meetings with both sides a little more than a week ago, Arab, U.S. and other Western diplomats said. Rice was reacting mainly to the increasingly pessimistic Palestinian assessments of the talks, but she warned that confidence was fragile among Israelis, too.
"We talked some about the perception that they're just having endless talks," Rice told reporters later, without mentioning the warnings she had raised in private. "They simply don't see it that way."
Rice did not present the Israeli and Palestinian leaders any specific U.S. proposal to show momentum, but several ideas are in play.
President Bush will visit Israel and Arab states this week, adding to public pressure to demonstrate that U.S.-sponsored peace talks are bearing fruit. Diplomats said, however, that Rice's warning was not tied to Bush's visit and that she left it to both sides to determine what to do next.
One possibility is for negotiators to issue an interim statement describing progress on their talks. Any such update would ideally include a few specifics about the future borders of a Palestinian state, one of the difficult questions that Rice and others have said the two sides are discussing.
A Palestinian adviser said Rice raised the possibility of a statement outlining progress during her latest visit to Israel and the West Bank, but was shot down by both sides. The negotiations should continue but then timing is wrong for any announcement, both sides said, diplomats said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private session Rice held with the top negotiators on both sides, among other meetings.
Rice said the closed-door meetings were progressing in good faith and that she understood the negotiators' desire to keep their dealings out of the press.
"I've had extensive discussions with them and it has helped to build my confidence in what they're doing," Rice said as she left Israel last Monday. "I would be the last to say that, you know, an agreement is going to pop forward tomorrow," she added. "They've got a lot of hard issues."
One of those issues is the question of, as Rice put it, what land will end up in Palestine and what will remain in Israeli hands when negotiators agree on the borders of a future independent Palestinian state.
Although difficult, the border question is considered perhaps the most soluble of the major questions that divide Israel and the Palestinians.
Rice mentioned borders prominently, suggesting she thinks it is the best chance for progress in the near term. Twice during her most recent trip, Rice urged that the sides draw a final map soon, in part because it would help settle other disputes.
In unusually blunt language, Rice acknowledged that the map won't give Palestinians every inch they claim while Israel cannot expect to keep all the Jewish housing it has built on disputed ground.
"There are realities for both sides, which is why they need to draw a map and get it done," Rice said as she left the region last Monday.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are meeting nearly daily in the first substantive peace discussions in more than seven years. The United States is not a party to the talks but is serving as proctor. It is the most direct U.S. intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during Bush's presidency.
Bush inaugurated the push with lofty hopes last fall, with a stated goal of outlining a future independent Palestinian state before Bush leaves office in January 2009.
All sides sound far less optimistic now. Palestinians are angry over what they say are provocative Israeli moves to expand Jewish housing in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Israelis are unimpressed with Palestinian efforts to improve security services. The talks are now overshadowed by a political scandal investigation in Israel that threatens to force Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from office.
Both Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are perceived as weak leaders, and both must manage large political factions that distrust the peace initiative. For Abbas in particular, the longer the talks stretch without result the worse his political footing becomes at home.
"The conflict-ending agreement is not feasible, not realistic, to expect," in the waning months of Bush's term, said Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine.
"However some progress is still possible," unless the entire process is swamped by such outside events as Olmert's political problems or a possible escalation of the confrontation between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Bush and Olmert are expected to address the goal of an outline for a Palestinian state during public addresses while Bush is visiting Israel to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.
One diplomat suggested that Olmert could use the opportunity to give a glimpse into the talks.
Abbas is to see Bush in Egypt, at the close of the U.S. leader's Mideast tour.
There is no joint meeting planned among the three leaders. That is an indication that there is no great progress to crow about, but also arises from the sensitivity of asking either Olmert to go to an Arab state or Abbas to travel to Israel during the 60th anniversary celebration.
"This did not seem the time for a big high-level, three-way event with the President and the Prime Minister and President Abbas," White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley said last week. "It just doesn't feel right as the best way to advance the negotiations."
Palestinians call the creation of Israel in 1948 the "naqba," or catastrophe, because of the eviction of Arabs from land the United Nations carved for the Jewish state. Bush will address the parliament in Israel on May 15, the date Palestinians mark the event.
Lebanon Violence Goes Outside Capital
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/373177.aspx
CBNNews.com -BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Lebanon hung between fears of all-out war and hopes of political compromise Sunday as government supporters and opponents battled with rockets and machine guns in the mountains overlooking the capital.
The fighting saw the collapse of pro-government forces in the Aley region, a stronghold of anti-Syrian Druse leader Walid Jumblatt.
Beirut was quiet a day after Hezbollah gunmen left the streets, heeding an army call for the Shiite fighters to clear out. The city was the focus of four days of Sunni-Shiite clashes that culminated with Hezbollah seizing large swaths of Muslim West Beirut - demonstrating its military might in a showdown with the government.
Thirty-eight people have been killed since Wednesday, when a power struggle between the Hezbollah-led opposition and the U.S.-backed government began erupting into the worst sectarian violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
Across the country, there were fears of another slide into civil war.
"I don't believe this is the end," said Hala, a 32-year-old employee of an insurance company who lives in a posh area of the Muslim sector that saw fighting three days ago. She declined to give her name for fear of retaliation.
"They haven't solved the problem yet," she added. "There will be another round."
But some analysts saw Hezbollah's demonstration of its power as paving the way for a solution to end the political crisis. Analysts said the opposition now appears to have the upper hand, which could force the government to compromise.
"The opposition is in control now. These military victories have to be translated politically," said Amal Saad Ghorayeb, a political science professor who is an expert on Hezbollah.
"You can't have a civil war when there is one group that is militarily superior to the others," she said, referring to Hezbollah.
The violence was sparked when the government confronted Hezbollah with decisions to sack the chief of airport security for alleged ties to the militant group and to declare Hezbollah's private telephone network illegal. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the decisions amounted to a declaration of war.
Ghorayeb said nobody expected Hezbollah to go as far as it did. She expects the group's achievements on the ground to force the government into a compromise.
"Hezbollah crossed the threshold and gained its own momentum," she said. "Given that Beirut fell so quickly, the opposition saw that this was a golden opportunity to force the government into a compromise that would be tilted in its favor."
Overnight, there were fierce clashes in the north, particularly in the city of Tripoli. One woman was killed.
Heavy fighting between government supporters and opponents broke out Sunday in the central mountain town of Aytat and surrounding areas, about 9 miles from Beirut. The sounds of heavy machine-gun fire and explosions rolled across the capital.
Pro-government supporters of Jumblatt and Shiite gunmen and their allies exchanged rockets and machine-gun fire, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Paramedics said 12 people were injured.
As the fighting raged in the mountain region, black smoke could be seen billowing from Druse villages. The violence spread to the nearby towns of Kayfoun, Qamatiyeh, Bchamoun and Chouweifat, they said.
The area had been controlled mostly by Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party and its militia. Hezbollah on Saturday accused Jumblatt's followers of killing two of their supporters and kidnapping a third.
Lebanon has 17 different religious sects and at least a dozen armed groups that exert some degree of military control over various parts of the country and the capital. Among those armed groups are Hezbollah, Amal, Jumblatt's PSP and the Christian community's Phalange Party, who were all involved in the civil war.
After the civil war ended in 1990, all of the militias surrendered their weapons and transformed into political parties, keeping only small arms. Only Hezbollah was allowed to keep its arms because it was considered a resistance movement battling Israel.
Over the years, the groups have built up their arms and reasserted control in different areas.
Jumblatt, speaking to private LBC television and sounding subdued, implicitly called on his militiamen to give up their positions in the Aytat area and hand them over to the army.
"I say to my followers that civil peace and stopping the war and destruction is above any other consideration," he said.
Fighting subsided by the evening and the army began deploying in the region. Jumblatt's supporters were handing over their weapons to the army.
The Hezbollah-led opposition quit the Cabinet 18 months ago, demanding larger representation that would give them veto power over government decisions. The deadlock has kept parliament from electing a new president since November.
Army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman is the consensus candidate for president and the army's success in calming Beirut could enhance his chances of being elected.
Saniora said Sunday the Cabinet would meet in the next days to decide what to do about the two decisions against Hezbollah that sparked the violence.
In Cairo, Arab foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on the Lebanon crisis and issued a statement urging an immediate end to all fighting. They criticized Hezbollah for using military force to achieve political goals and said they were sending a delegation to Lebanon to try to broker a political settlement.
Hezbollah's show of force in Beirut was a blow to Washington. The U.S. has long considered Hezbollah a terrorist group and condemned its ties to Syria and Iran. The Bush administration has been a strong supporter of Saniora's government and its army for the last three years.
The conflict has heightened concerns in the Middle East and the West over Iran's growing influence and its intentions in the region.
Beirut's streets were largely deserted Sunday, a day off in Lebanon. The opposition continued to block many roads including the one to the airport in protest against the government. There have been no incoming flights to Lebanon for four days and no outgoing flights for three days.
In the West Beirut neighborhood of Karakol Druse, which saw heavy fighting Thursday, a man swept glass outside his shop. A gaping hole from a rocket propelled grenade and bullet holes marked the facade of a normally busy bakery, now closed.
There were few signs of gunmen openly carrying weapons, save for small knots of Hezbollah allies from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party sitting outside the Economy Ministry in one seaside district.
On Beirut's normally bustling seaside corniche, workers outside five-star hotels cleaned blackened streets scarred by burning tires.
Nabil Silisty, a 60-year-old lawyer, said he did not foresee another sectarian conflict in Lebanon.
"There will be no civil war. The Lebanese tried it before and it was a catastrophe," said the Greek Orthodox Christian, a resident of West Beirut since birth. He spoke as he took laundry to wash at a relative's house because he has not had electricity since Friday morning.
Iran, IAEA to Resume Nuclear Talks: Envoy
http://www.newsmax.com/international/iran_iaea_nuclear/2008/05/11/95168.html
TEHRAN — Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency will on Monday resume their latest round of talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, Iran's envoy to the UN watchdog told the Fars news agency on Sunday.
"The IAEA delegation headed by Herman Nackaerts, the director for safeguards operations, starts its technical and specialist talks with Iranian experts on Monday," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Tehran's ambassador to the IAEA, said.
Soltanieh will head the talks in Tehran "which are likely to last three days," Fars added.
Iran and the IAEA held two rounds of talks in April focused on allegations that the Islamic republic conducted studies on how to design a nuclear bomb.
The so called "weaponisation studies" stem from intelligence provided to the IAEA by some member states.
But Iran insists that the talks are merely routine cooperation between the authorities and the agency.
Next month IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is due to provide a report on Iran's nuclear programme to the IAEA board of governors and the UN Security Council, which has imposed three sets of sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear defiance.
Iran has refused to heed international demands to halt uranium enrichment, insisting that it has a right to the process to make nuclear fuel to meet its increasing energy needs as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Uranium enrichment can also make the fissile core of an atom bomb in high purifications, but Tehran has vehemently denied allegations that it seeks to acquire nuclear weapons.
Turkey's Military: Warplanes, Artillery Strike Kurdish Rebels in Iraq
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354935,00.html
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish warplanes and artillery units have hit Kurdish rebel positions in northern Iraq, following a rebel raid on a military outpost in Turkey, the military said Sunday.
Targets in Saturday's raids included an area just across the border where rebels had allegedly gathered after attacking the military station in Hakkari province, near the Iraq border, the military said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Six soldiers and 19 rebels were killed in that attack and military airstrikes that followed, the military said. The rebels denied suffering any losses.
In its statement, the military said artillery units and attack aircraft "intensely and effectively" struck rebel targets in the Avasin-Basyan area in northern Iraq on Saturday.
"All targets have been hit with accuracy and terrorists in the targeted facilities have been rendered ineffective," the military statement said. "Studies and evaluations are under way to determine final results."
It stressed that maximum sensitivity was observed in the strikes to avoid affecting civilians or local Iraqi Kurdish forces.
"The Turkish Armed Forces will continue its struggle against terrorism with increasing power and determination," the military said. "Any heinous act against the Turkish Republic will be responded to immediately and heavily."
In a separate statement released a few hours later, the military said a rebel "media and propaganda" center was also struck in the raids. It gave no other details.
There was no immediate rebel response to the claims.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's southeast since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have died since then.
The PKK maintains bases in the north of neighboring Iraq that serve as a launch pad for attacks on targets inside Turkey.
Turkey has launched several aerial attacks and one major ground operation against rebel bases across the border with Iraq this year.
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