December 12, 2006

Who Are You To Judge? (December 6, 2006) - It would be a sad state of affairs if the judge was more worried about being nice than he was about rehabilitating lawbreakers and protecting the innocent. “Darlin’, please don’t go into that building,” my friend pleaded as we stood outside the abortion clinic. “That is a place of death. You are going to walk in there a mother of a beautiful child, but when you leave you will still be a mother but, the mother of a dead child. You will never forget this day…you will regret it for the rest of your life. Please let us help you, avoid this terrible decision. We will help you keep your child. Jesus loves the little children.” Sheepishly and forlornly, the teenage mother turned to my friend and whimpered, “I have Jesus in my heart. He understands the position I am in and He will forgive me for my sins. I am a Christian who made a mistake.” “Sweetheart,” my gentle, loving friend begged the young mother, “if you have Jesus in your heart please don’t take him in to that place of death. He came to bring life. He gave you that child. It is a gift from God….let your baby live.” Spinning like a weathervane in a gale wind, the young girl’s assumed-to-be mother who was joining the teenager in her sin directed her hateful stare towards my faithful friend. “We’re Christians too, but we actually follow what Jesus told us…JUDGE NOT,” she spit the words through her clenched teeth, “You would better represent Christianity if you followed that command as well. Young lady, who are you to judge?” Sadly, most Christians think “judge not” is the eleventh commandment. more...

Syrian guerrillas ‘to launch resistance within months’ (December 11, 2006) - Baath official tells WND new militant organization ready to attack if Israel doesn’t vacate strategic land. If Israel does not vacate the Golan Heights within months, a guerrilla organization allegedly formed in Syria will soon launch "resistance operations" against Israeli positions and Jewish communities in the Golan, an official from Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Baath party told WND in an exclusive interview. "If in the coming months an agreement is not forged between Israel and Syria [for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan], the Committees will begin attacks," said the official, who spoke on condition his name be withheld during an in-person interview with WND and with the G. Gordon Liddy national radio show. The official was referring to the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, a Hezbollah-like guerrilla organization Baath party sources claim was formed in Syria to attack Israeli positions in the Golan. The Baath official told WND Syria learned from Hezbollah’s military campaign against Israel that "fighting" is more effective than peace negotiations with regard to gaining territory. Hezbollah claims its goal is to liberate the Shebaa Farms, a small, 12-square-mile bloc situated between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The cease-fire resolution accepted by Israel to end its military campaign in Lebanon this past summer calls for negotiations leading to Israel’s relinquishing of the Shebaa Farms. The Baath official told WND Syria’s new Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights was formed this past June and that the group consists of Syrian volunteers, many from the Syrian border with Turkey and from Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus. He said Syria held registration for volunteers to join the Committees in June. The official said attacks by the Committees may include the infiltration of Jewish communities in the Golan, rocket attacks against Israeli positions or raids of Golan-based Israeli military installations. He said all attacks would be launched from the Syrian side of the border. The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria used the terrain to attack Israel in 1967 and again in 1973. The Heights looks down on major Syrian and Israeli population centers, but there are a few areas where the Israeli and Syrian sides are level. Military officials here long have maintained returning the Golan Heights to Syria would grant Damascus the ability to mount an effective ground invasion of the Jewish state. The Heights has a population of about 35,000 – approximately 18,000 Jewish residents and 17,000 Arabs, mostly Druze. The Arab residents retain their Syrian citizenship, but under Israeli law they can also sue for Israeli citizenship. About a dozen officials from Assad’s Baath party live and operate in the Golan. WND first reported in June on the alleged formation of the Front for the Liberation of the Golan. One month later, a man identified as the leader of the Front gave an interview to state-run Iranian television. Israel is taking the information seriously. Amos Yadlin, head of the IDF’s intelligence branch, told the Knesset in October that Syria is indeed in the early stages of forming a Hezbollah-like group. more...
| Iran | Gog/Magog | Israel | Islam |

Modern day Gog and Magog (December 10, 2006) - Similarities between Ezekiel’s prophecies, today’s Mideast reality uncanny. Current world events are beginning to increasingly resemble the 2,500 year old bible prophecy made by Ezekiel in chapters 38-39. Ezekiel foresaw the rise of Russia (or Turkey, depending on the interpretation) in a coalition with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries (Sudan, Ethiopia and Libya). The coalition is foretold to attack Israel from the north in a bid to destroy it during the earth’s "last days," commonly known as the "war of Gog and Magog." Throughout history it was thought that the prophecy had been put on hold, until perhaps today when it seems frighteningly more feasible. In Joel C. Rosenberg’s book "The Ezekiel Option," the author points to Ezekiel’s prophecies in chapters 36-37, which have largely come true. Rosenberg then asks the obvious question: If prophecies such as "the rebirth of the State of Israel, the return of the Jews to the Holy Land after centuries in exile, the re-blossoming of desolate desert land to produce abundant food, fruit and foliage, and the creation of an exceedingly great army" materialized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, then why shouldn’t the next prophecies come true in our lifetime? more...
| Iran | Gog/Magog | Israel | Islam |

The Frankish Empire Strikes Back (December 8, 2006) - The European Union would have you believe it's the latest sign of progressive humanity, a peaceful and prosperous socialist union where previously only war and discord used to reign. Skeptics might point out that the EU is basically a revived Frankish Empire (5th-10th century CE), an attempt to unify Germany and France in an effort to control all of Europe. With the return of the dark side of the European psyche after fifty years, the biggest rationale for the EU is fear of its own people, who are thought to be closet Nazis by the leftist elites. When an Israeli soccer team won a game against a French team several weeks ago, Israeli fans were chased through the streets by a more than a hundred French football hooligans. Yet the Leftist elites of Europe might be inviting a self-fulfilling prophecy; suppress the democratic Right long enough, and in the face of Islamofascist waves of immigrants the voters might look for a strong man again. Daniel Hannan is a Euroskeptic conservative who is a Member of the (powerless) European Parliament. Hannan argues for actual elections to determine the future of Europe, as if the voters have any say over the matter. When the European Constitution was defeated two years ago by referenda in France and Holland, he predicted that the vote would make no real difference. The Eurobureaucracy is on the march and will force through the EU Constitution by decree. Hannan now writes:

"...the EU will continue to adopt as many of the Constitution's proposals as it can ... . It has, after all, already enacted the document's chief provisions: a European criminal justice system, a diplomatic corps (the "European External Action Service") the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Some 85 per cent of the clauses can be pushed through this way. Then, at some stage in the next 18 months, there will be a perfunctory Inter-Governmental Conference to tie up the loose ends: ... . There will be no disagreement in principle about these things, which the 25 - now, with Romania and Bulgaria, 27 - governments have accepted in principle all along. The national leaders will then tell their electorates that it would be absurd to hold referendums on such detailed and technical proposals. The result? We will end up with virtually the entire text of the constitution, but with no more referendums."

Europe is desperately trying to escape its past. Poland has just vetoed an outreach to Russia for fear of newly aggressive moves from the Bear to the East. l Eastern Europe doesn't trust the German Wolf either, as benign as it looks today. Europeans are still neurotically entangled in the past, no matter how glorious the EU proclaims itself to be. For them, the EU is a desperate effort to make the future work. more...
| EU/UN | Solana | NewWorldOrder |

Sunspot 930 (December 8, 2006) - I just liked this picture and wanted to share it with everyone. The sun is truly an amazing place!

U.S. And U.K. Leaders Agree On Two-State Solution (December 8, 2006) - United States President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters in a joint news conference Thursday that they are both committed to a Palestinian state next to Israel. Both leaders agreed that the two-state solution is in the best interests of both Israelis and PA Arabs, they said. One obstacle to that goal, said Bush, is achieving a PA unity government that would be willing to meet the Quartet (U.S., Russia, European Union and United Nations) demands. Those demands include official recognition of the State of Israel, renouncing violence and agreeing to uphold peace agreements with Israel signed by the prior PA administration. Hamas, which now leads the Palestinian Authority, rejects these points. The second obstacle, said Bush, is reaching a successful conclusion to the negotiations over a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas in order to free IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The soldier was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists or their allies in a cross-border raid in June.
| Israel | Islam | America |

Haniyeh Vows To Never Recognize Israel (December 8, 2006) - Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh vowed on Friday that his Hamas-led government will never recognize Israel and will continue to fight for the liberation of Jerusalem. "The world arrogance (US) and Zionists... want us to recognize the usurpation of the Palestinian lands and stop jihad and resistance and accept the agreements reached with the Zionist enemies in the past," Haniyeh told thousands of Friday prayer worshippers in a speech at Tehran University. The United States is pressing the Hamas-led Palestinian government to recognize Israel, renounce violence and form a national unity government with the moderate Fatah party in a bid to revive the peace process with Israel. "I'm insisting from this podium that these issues won't materialize. We will never recognize the usurper Zionist government and will continue our jihad-like movement until the liberation of Jerusalem," he said. Haniyeh arrived in the Iranian capital on Thursday for a four-day visit for talks with Iranian leaders including hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The Palestinian prime minister is on his first tour abroad since his Hamas-led government took office in March. more...
| Israel | Islam |

Philippines Braces Itself For New Typhoon as World Vision Continues to Provide Essential Aid (December 8, 2006) - A new typhoon warning has been issued by forecasters to the central Philippines, barely days after the worst storms and mudslides to hit Bicol region in forty years, saw more than one thousand killed and the lives of over one and a half million people affected. The second typhoon in 10 days, this time it is heading for provinces in Visayas and Mindanao regions. This warning comes at a period when international aid and development agency World Vision continues to provide essential relief assistance to the already devastated communities, including a number of Child-Friendly Spaces. Protected areas providing children with a safe place where they can play and re-establish a normal routine. At 11:00am today, Friday 8 December, tropical storm "Seniang" is gaining strength and speed as it approaches the Samar-Leyte provinces, increasing the threat to these areas. Seniang has a maximum sustained wind speed of 85kph near the center and gusting up to 100kph. World Vision Philippines Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs Coordinator, Jose Bersales, has promptly alerted ADP (Area Development Programmes) regional coordinators in Visayas and Mindanao about the approaching typhoon. more...
| Earth Changes |

Nasrallah: Weapons Aimed At Israel Only (December 8, 2006) - Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday said that his organization's weapons would be used against Israel, and Israel only. In a speech made to thousands of supporters in central Beirut - his strongest-ever attack on the government - Nasrallah vowed to bring down the Lebanese government led by Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. "We will not lift our weapons in the face of anyone. We don't need weapons to defeat you," Nasrallah said, adding that Hizbullah would use its arms only against Israelis. "We will defeat you with our voices," he said. He accused Saniora of conniving with Israel during the recent war, alleging he ordered Lebanese soldiers to seize weapons being delivered to Hizbullah guerrillas. "Didn't the prime minister of Lebanon work to cut off the supply lines?" Nasrallah said. He said members of the government, whom he would not name, had asked American envoys to get Israel to destroy Hizbullah. "Those are the ones responsible for the war, not the resistance," Nasrallah said. more...
| Israel | Islam |

Dore Gold: Israel must prepare for different reality (December 7, 2006) - Will Baker-Hamilton report change US view of Israel? Former UN ambassador says 'willingness of report's author to talk to Iran, Syria is a very alarming development'. Maj. Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan: Israel shouldn't worry about report but rather lack of leadership and vision. The Baker-Hamilton report handed over to US President George W. Bush on Wednesday is being considered with the utmost severity in America. The majority of the report deals with Iraq, but a significant portion addresses the Israel-Arab conflict, which the report sees as the heart of the Mideast unrest. So how will the report affect Israel? Former UN Ambassador Dore Gold says, "Israel will have to prepare for completely different reality." Maj. Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan states that "the report shouldn't worry Israel. What should worry Israel is a lack of leadership and vision." "The Baker-Hamilton report is indicative of a growing trend in both American parties," said Gold. "This approach sides with a US withdrawal from Iraq . Within two years American presence in Iraq will be minimal. "Another thing, and this is more important, the very willingness of the reports' author to start a dialogue both Iran and with Syria , is an alarming development. It's alarming because the United States isn't requiring any preliminary conditions for this dialogue, and there is no mention of the Iranian nuclear program which continues to advance. "The recommendation in this report, to talk to Syria and Iran despite the fact that they're responsible for the growing instability in Iraq, will only encourage them to continue employing their policies." Gold says that "the report proves that Israel has been unsuccessful in conveying a clear message to the US elite regarding the Iranian threat. How can the United Stated see Iran as a stabilizing force in Iraq when Iran is funding and supplying arms to terror factions, both in Iraq and in Lebanon." Gold said that things will change both in short and long terms. more...
| Iran | Israel | Islam | America |

No Winter for Europe (December 7, 2006) - Central Europe is experiencing its warmest winter in 500 years and the Alps haven't been this warm in over a millenneum. Ski resorts are suffering, as are the bears. Only two weeks before the official start of winter, Europe is sweating. An unusually warm autumn -- which was last week credited for Germany's fourth quarter economic surge -- is forcing ski resorts to market hiking holidays, and bears to seek out places cold enough to hibernate. Indeed, Germany is experiencing its warmest autumn in 500 years. Germany's average temperature from September to November this year was 12 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit), a full 3.2 Celsius degrees higher than the median temperature from 1961 to 1990. Scientists are basing the claim on temperature records -- collected as far back as 1659 -- and information derived from other sources like monks' journals in old monasteries. "Weather historians have assembled all the available information for each given month," Jürg Luterbacher, a climate researcher with the University of Bern climate researcher, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. More importantly, Germany's not alone. "An exceptionally warm autumn in a region proves very little," Luterbacher told the online magazine Nature. "But the data are consistent for the whole of Europe -- from Iceland to Greece." more...
| Earth Changes |

U.S. Uneasy About Biotech Food (December 7, 2006) - Ten years after genetically engineered crops were first planted commercially in the United States, Americans remain ill-informed about and uncomfortable with biotech food, according to the fifth annual survey on the topic, released yesterday. People vastly underestimate how much gene-altered food they are already consuming, lean toward wanting greater regulation of such crops and have less faith than ever that the Food and Drug Administration will provide accurate information, the survey found. The poll also confirmed that most Americans, particularly women, do not like the idea of consuming meat or milk from cloned animals -- a view that stands in contrast to scientific evidence that cloned food is safe. The FDA recently said it is close to allowing such food on the market. Michael Fernandez, executive director of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology, which sponsored the survey, said that overall, Americans are "still generally uncertain" about genetically modified and cloned foods. "How the next generation of biotech products is introduced -- and consumers' trust in the regulation of GM foods -- will be critical in shaping U.S. attitudes in the long term." In the five years since Pew began plumbing American views of genetically engineered food, U.S. acreage in such crops has grown substantially. Today, 89 percent of soybeans, 83 percent of cotton and 61 percent of corn is genetically engineered to resist weed-killing chemicals or to help the plants make their own insecticides. Because most processed foods contain at least small amounts of soy lecithin, corn syrup or related ingredients, almost everyone in the United States has consumed some amount of gene-altered food. more...

Universities Trash 1st Amendment (December 7, 2006) - Hundreds of major private and public universities across the United States routinely trash the First Amendment and violate their students' rights to free speech, a new study has discovered. The assessment by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education spotlights the speech codes and gave the bad news to the nation "on just how pervasive and how onerous restrictions on speech are at America's colleges and universities." It found, for example, at Jacksonville State University in Alabama, students can be punished if they "offend" anyone while they are on university land, and at the University of Mississippi, "offensive language is not to be used." At Missouri State University, as WND has reported, one student had her degree threatened and she was grilled in a closed session with faculty members on her personal religious beliefs for several hours because she refused to sign a school-dictated letter supporting "gay" adoptions, a position that violated her religious beliefs. Greg Lukianoff, the president of FIRE, said the "Spotlight on Speech Codes 2006: The State of Free Sppech on Our Nation's Campuses," showed the overwhelming majority of universities "explicitly prohibit speech" that outside the borders of the campus is protected by the First Amendment. Virtually all of those 229 universities that are public are subject to court challenges to the constitutionality of their policies, and those schools that are private generally would be found to be violating their own stated free speech perspectives because of their limits, FIRE said. more...
| America |

Chinese have ownership in U.S. cargo monitors (December 7, 2006) - A Chinese company with close ties to the communist government owns 49 percent of the Lockheed Martin subsidiary that is negotiating a contract with the North American SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc. – the Dallas-based trade association – to place cargo monitoring sensors along as superhighway stretching from Mexico to Canada. China's Hutchinson Port Holdings entered into a $50 million joint venture in 2005 with Savi Technology, a Lockheed Martin wholly-owned subsidiary, to form a new company called Savi Networks LLC. Savi Technology owns 51 percent and Hutchinson Port Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese holding company Hutchinson Whampoa Limited, holds the rest. Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Leslie Holoweiko confirmed to WND that Savi Networks LLC is the company named in the contract currently being negotiated with NASCO to provide cargo sensors all along the NASCO I-35 super-corridor. If successfully negotiated, the contract would appear to give Hutchinson Holdings operational involvement all along the emerging I-35 NAFTA superhighway. Hutchinson Holdings also operates the port at Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Hutchinson, Whampoa, Ltd. is the holding company of billionaire Li Ka-shing, a well-known businessman, whose companies make up 15 percent of the market capitalization of the Hong Kong Stock Market. According to the Washington, D.C., government watchdog Judicial Watch, a declassified U.S. government intelligence report that Judicial Watch obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request indicates Li is "directly connected to Beijing and is willing to use his business influence to further the aims of the Chinese Government." more...
| America |

Olmert: No negotiations with Syria any time soon (December 7, 2006) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert referred Thursday to the Baker-Hamilton report, which called for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, and said, "We have a different opinion, and to the best of my knowledge President Bush also has a different opinion on the matter." Olmert said he objected to its attempt to create a connection between the Iraqi issue and the issue of the Middle East. According to him, as far as he knew, Bush also did not agree with the committees report. Speaking at the Editors' Conference in Tel Aviv, Olmert added: "I don't know what the president decides to do with the report, I can only say that the views I've heard from the president and senior administration officials on the Syrian issue were that they did not see a possibility for an American-Syrian negotiation or an Israeli-Syrian negotiation. I count on his judgment and responsibility." The PM mentioned that at least two Israeli prime ministers had advocated partial or complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights in the past. However, he said that "in my view, Syria's subversive operations, its support for Hamas – which may be what's preventing real negotiations with the Palestinians – do not give nuch hope for negotiations with Syria any time soon." "The question what we'll give to the Syrians interests me less than the question what they'll give to us," he stated. In response to whether he agreed with estimates that there would be a war with Syria in the coming summer, Olmert said that he did not think Syria was interested in any military action, and added that Israel felt the same way. more...
| Israel | Islam |

Initiative – Middle East Peace Conference without Israel (December 7, 2006) - According to Thursday's issue of the conservative Washington Times' Insight magazine, the White House was looking into proposal by former Secretary of State James Baker to hold a Middle East peace conference without Israel. According to the report, the United States government was going to consider the possibility of having a second Madrid Conference in which Arab states would participate, including Syria and Iran , but with without Israel being invited to participate. As reported by the magazine, officials said the conference would be promoted as a forum to discuss Iraq's future, but actually focus on Arab demands for Israel to withdraw from territories captured in the 1967 war. A source in the US government was quoted in the report as saying, "As Baker sees this, the conference would provide a unique opportunity for the US to strike a deal without Jewish pressure. This has become the hottest proposal examined by the foreign policy people over the last month." Other sources in the government told the magazine that the proposal was supported by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Under Secretary of Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. Also, government sources were quoted as saying Baker's proposal to exclude Israel from a regional peace conference was receiving a lot of support due to Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Saudi Arabia last November, during which sources in the country made it clear that Israel, and not Iran, was the cause of instability in the Middle East. A US government source claimed that Cheney's original goal of the trip – to enlist Saudi Arabia's support in Iraq - was never even discussed. In addition, the source said that instead, the Saudi's demanding an initiative to end Israel's attacks on Gaza and Cheney merely agreed. more...
| Israel | Islam | America |

Top-Level Insiders Selling Their Stock (December 7, 2006) - America's corporate chiefs are unloading their own stocks at one of the boldest paces in 20 years. In cases of the very rich, such as Microsoft's Bill Gates and Google's top brass, the executives are selling a whopping $63 for each $1 of stock they bought, says a report by Bloomberg. In November alone, leaders of public companies dumped $8.4 billion worth of stock they owned as insiders, most of it awarded as compensation, bonuses or other management incentives. But the vast majority of the executives put their windfall cash to work elsewhere, with just $133 million being plowed back into purchases of more company stock. Analysts say a take-the-money-and-run flight from their own companies signals a growing lack of confidence in the economy's future course, as well as fears of a possible global meltdown if the Iraq crisis escalates across borders. It's also a good time to take profits, with the Dow Jones industrial average up nearly 15 percent this year, the S&P 500 ahead 13 percent, and the Nasdaq 11 percent higher. more...
| America |

Baker Report Demands Israel Give Away Golan Heights (December 7, 2006) - The comprehensive report, which primarily addresses the situation in Iraq, was prepared by Baker and a former Democratic congressman, Lee Hamilton. It states that if the United States does not take a more leading role in the Mideast Israel-Arab conflict, there is no hope of America achieving its goals in the region. According to former Israeli UN Ambassador Dr. Dore Gold, the report indicates that American involvement in Iraq will diminish in the coming two years. He called the American demand that Israel retreat from the Golan Heights "worrisome." Speaking with reporters today, Olmert implied that he would be willing to withdraw from the Golan - but that Syria is not interested in peace. He said that previous Prime Ministers - he mentioned Barak, Netanyahu, and Sharon - were willing to consider such withdrawals, but that the question "is not whether Israel would be willing to withdraw, but what Syria would give in return when and if we enter into negotiations with them." Olmert said that negotiations with Syria are currently not on the agenda because of "Syria's undercutting behavior and its support for Hamas." Asked specifically about the Baker-Hamilton report, Olmert said that Israel objects to any linkage between the Iraqi problem and Israel. Appearing unruffled by the report, Olmert said that he believes that President Bush does not agree with its conclusions. The Baker-Hamilton report calls for a peace conference mimicking the Madrid model - a regional summit that would be aimed at solving the conflict between Israel, the PA (Palestinian Authority), Syria and Lebanon. In addition to an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan, the report calls upon Israel to recognize the establishment of a Palestinian state. The report demands that Syria halt its interference in Lebanon’s affairs, as well as cease its pro-terrorist policies on behalf of ongoing Hizbullah anti-Israel operations in southern Lebanon. It calls on Israel to withdraw from the Golan in exchange for a comprehensive peace treaty with Damascus that would enjoy American backing. The authors say that the U.S. would provide security guarantees and an offer of troops in the Golan to help compensate Israel for the loss of the strategically vital area. more...
| Israel | Islam | America |

Warmed-up oceans reduce key food link (December 6, 2006) - In a "sneak peak" revealing a grim side effect of future warmer seas, new NASA satellite data find that the vital base of the ocean food web shrinks when the world's seas get hotter. And that discovery has scientists worried about how much food marine life will have as global warming progresses. The data show a significant link between warmer water — either from the El Nino weather phenomenon or global warming — and reduced production of phytoplankton of the world's oceans, according to a study in Thursday's journal Nature. Phytoplankton are the microscopic plant life that zooplankton and other marine animals eat, essentially the grain crop of the world's oceans. Study lead author Michael Behrenfeld, a biological oceanographer at Oregon State University, said Wednesday that the recent dramatic drop in phytoplankton production in much of the world's oceans is a "sneak peak of how ocean biology" will respond later in the century with global warming. "Everything else up the food web is going to be impacted," said oceanographer Scott Doney of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. He was not involved in the study. more...
| Earth Changes |

EU constitution talks likely to sideline Brussels (December 6, 2006) - EU member states are likely to deal with reviving the EU constitution alone, without involving "Brussels machinery", or else a solution will not be found in time for a 2009 deadline, according to Germany's ambassador to the EU, Wilhelm Schönfelder. Mr Schönfelder said that Germany, which takes over the six-month EU presidency in January, will try and avoid involving the council, commission and parliament in Brussels to speed up negotiations on the constitution, currently in limbo after being rejected by French and Dutch voters last year. "We will keep it out of the Brussels machinery," said the ambassador at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre on Wednesday (6 December) adding that otherwise "you will never come to a solution." He also said that there will not be another European convention - the body of over hundred politcians including MEPs, MPs, ministers and observers which over a two-year period drew up the EU constitution. Mid-2009 has been set as a deadline for ratification of the new constitution - mainly because the current Nice Treaty anyway requires certain institutional changes from 2009. Mr Schönfelder said that this means member states need to know what they have to ratify "by the end of 2007" as it takes "at least one year to ratify." He said he believed this would mean having a short "technical" intergovernmental conference to agree a new-look constitution during the Portuguese presidency in the second half of 2007 and suggested that all member states would probably have to ratify the text - also those who have already approved the current text. Currently, this would mean 16 countries going through ratification for a second time. "That's what I imagine could be the outcome," said the ambassador stressing that it was his personal opinion. Mr Schönfelder said he hoped the fact that 2008 and 2009 will bring about further difficult issues – such as reducing the number of commissioners as required under the Nice Treaty, or a review of the bloc's farm policy – would spur member states to reach a consensus on the EU constitution in 2007. "If we do not succeed then this thing will be dead", he said of the charter adding that the EU would then be in a "very deep crisis" and not just a "crisis." more...
| EU/UN |

Hizbullah and Hamas Beating the War Drums (December 4, 2006) - By most accounts, the difficulties encountered during the Second Lebanon War will dwarf the next battlefield scenario, with the IDF’s General Staff and Shin Bet warning that Gaza-based terrorists have prepared themselves by importing tons of military grade explosives into Gaza, along with millions of rounds of ammunition, automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets and much more. The right-wing “doomsday prophets” as they were dubbed by the “peace camp” politicians are now sadly sitting back trying to understand how the obvious was and is still ignored. Since the IDF’s unilateral retreat from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Hizbullah has turned itself into a formidable army, backed by Iran and Syria, supplied with many Russian-made advanced weapons. On the southern front, the government’s insistence on carrying out the Disengagement Plan of August 2005 has created a similar scenario. With IDF forces out of Gaza, the Rafiah border crossing to Egypt has served as a conduit for advanced weaponry, permitting Gaza to become a miniature Lebanon. Even after the increase in Kassam rocket fire into the Sderot and western Negev areas, the government refuses to order a major military operation into northern Gaza, giving terrorists even more time to prepare for the next war. Displacing some 10,000 Gazan Jews in the Disengagement, while morally apprehensible to some, was not the worst of the government’s fears with Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin warning Gazan realities vis-א-vis weapons stockpiles is cause for true concern. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by intelligence community accounts is permitting terrorists additional time to stockpile arms and prepare for a war by insisting the ceasefire be honored despite the firing of Kassam rockets from Gaza. Olmert is overruling the IDF’s General Staff and the most senior intelligence community officials by insisting the ceasefire be honored while terrorists continue setting up in Gaza. more...
| Israel | Islam |

Stroke rehab in a glove (December 3, 2006) - Every year, over 700,000 people in the US suffer strokes - that's one person every 45 seconds. It is the single most common cause of severe disability, with 25 percent of stroke victims recovering with minor impairments and 40 percent experiencing moderate to severe impairments requiring special care. An Israeli company has developed an innovative new exercise device that can help rehabilitate stroke patients suffering from impaired hand functions, and for children born with motor or developmental disorders that impact hand functionality. The HandTutor, created by MediTouch, actively involves the patient in the rehabilitation process. It is made up of two components - a specially designed glove that includes embedded sensors that monitor the location and movement of the fingers, and proprietary software. In the first step, the HandTutor gathers a precise picture of the patient's current hand performance, and in the second, uses this information to create a personal training program specially tailored to improve his sensory-motor performance. Unlike existing products on the market, MediTouch's glove, which is expected to go on sale in the US in the first quarter of next year, is designed for home use enabling patients to carry out vital rehabilitation work every day, rather than just on visits to their physiotherapist. more...
| Israel | Technology |

Plans to rescue and revitalise a dormant EU (November 20, 2006) - If Europe seems to be on extended vacation, it’s because the ’pause’ envisaged by Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, has lost its way even as he struggles to sort out the institutional reforms that the EU has been crying out for ever since the EU constitutional treaty was blocked by French and Dutch ’No’ votes in the referendums. The deadlock between the member states has now extended to a ’pause’ to enlargement as well. There will be no more admission of new members after Rumania and Bulgaria. ’Enlargement’ has now become a jittery word. It brings forth equally jittery responses such as ’absorption capacity’, implying that new members will be sucked into the system and vanish, or at least need to be painfully digested. The member states know that there is a backlash against the inexorable enlargement process, an “enlargement fatigue”, especially in founder member states such as France. Croatia is waiting her turn in the enlargement queue while Turkey is on the way to becoming a test case of clashing civilizations on the banks of the Bosphorus. Barroso has argued that no new members — including Croatia and Turkey — can enter the club until its creaking institutions and rules have been updated through a new treaty. All 25 EU member states must agree to let Turkey in. The most recent Eurobarometer polls reveal that 15 of 25 current EU members were opposed to the idea. EU’s unfinished business is further aggravated by last December’s unloved compromise that left the 2007-13 budget largely unreformed. Does the EU have a game plan? Yes, only by default. As Germany takes over the EU presidency in January, it is expected that the EU will roll out a grand declaration that will spell out — in case you have forgotten its hazy contours — the values and ambitions of the Union, to be proclaimed in time to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome in March next year. Germany argues that pressure to revive most of the text will be irresistible, including innovations such as a EU foreign minister [Javier Solana] and diplomatic service, a full-time president representing member states instead of the present musical chairs, and a new voting system. A tall order, indeed! The next step would be to persuade the rest of the member states to agree, at their summit next June, on a timetable and plan of action for renegotiating the institutional reforms package. Taken to its logical conclusion, this could be an arrangement to pave the way for the appointment of a new Commission and European Parliament elections, in June 2009. more...
| EU/UN | Solana |

News for December 12, 2006