March 18, 2008

J.P. Morgan Buys Bear in Fire Sale, As Fed Widens Credit to Avert Crisis The Wall Street Journal (March 17, 2008) - Pushed to the brink of collapse by the mortgage crisis, Bear Stearns Cos. agreed -- after prodding by the federal government -- to be sold to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. for the fire-sale price of $2 a share in stock, or about $236 million. Bear Stearns had a stock-market value of about $3.5 billion as of Friday -- and was worth $20 billion in January 2007. But the crisis of confidence that swept the firm and fueled a customer exodus in recent days left Bear Stearns with a horrible choice: sell the firm -- at any price -- to a big bank willing to assume its trading obligations or file for bankruptcy. "At the end of the day, what Bear Stearns was looking at was either taking $2 a share or going bust," said one person involved in the negotiations. "Those were the only options." To help facilitate the deal, the Federal Reserve is taking the extraordinary step of providing as much as $30 billion in financing for Bear Stearns's less-liquid assets, such as mortgage securities that the firm has been unable to sell, in what is believed to be the largest Fed advance on record to a single company. Fed officials wouldn't describe the exact financing terms or assets involved. But if those assets decline in value, the Fed would bear any loss, not J.P. Morgan. The sale of Bear Stearns and Sunday night's move by the Fed to offer loans to other securities dealers mark the latest historic turns in what has become the most pervasive financial crisis in a generation. The issue is no longer whether it will yield a recession -- that seems almost certain -- but whether the concerted efforts of Wall Street and Washington can head off a recession much deeper and more prolonged than the past two, relatively mild ones.

'Uncharted Waters'

Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin last week described the situation as "uncharted waters," a view echoed privately by top government officials. Those officials have been scrambling to come up with new tools because the old ones aren't suited for this 21st-century crisis, in which financial innovation has rendered many institutions not "too big too fail," but "too interconnected to be allowed to fail suddenly." Bear Stearns's sudden meltdown forced the federal government to come to grips with the potential collapse of a major Wall Street institution for the first time in a decade. In 1998, about a dozen firms, with encouragement from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, provided a $3.6 billion bailout of Long-Term Capital Management that kept the big hedge fund alive long enough to liquidate its positions. Bear Stearns famously refused to participate in that rescue. The scale of the financial system's troubles are even bigger this time around. Since last summer, the Fed has lowered its target for the federal-funds rate, charged on low-risk overnight loans between banks, to 3% from 5.25%, and it is expected to cut the rate again this week. Last week, the Fed said it would lend Wall Street as much as $200 billion in exchange for a roughly equivalent amount of mortgage-backed securities. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

'Israel threatened Syria with strike if Hizbullah attacks' The Jerusalem Post (March 15, 2008) - Israel has secretly warned Syria that it may strike the country if Hizbullah attacks the Jewish state, Reuters reported on Friday. In early February Hizbullah threatened Israel with revenge following the assassination of the group's chief of operations, Imad Mughniyeh. Israel has denied involvement in his death. According to senior Israeli and European officials quoted by the news agency, later that month Israel secretly conveyed a message to Damascus through a third party that it would hold it accountable for any Hizbullah assault. "The message was passed around late February, before the last round of fighting in Gaza," an Israeli official said. "It has become clear to us [that] Syria has to understand there is a price for its use of proxy terrorism, especially as Damascus is itself a proxy - the long-arm of Iran." A European source said the message made it clear that Syria could be targeted, even if Hizbullah attacked from Lebanese soil. The sources said Israel was mainly concerned that the terror organization would barrage the north with rockets in the event of a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile an unnamed British official told the news agency that any flare-up in the north would be "a disaster." "The death of Mughniyeh [and] the threatened Hizbullah retaliation does leave a specter of a wider regional conflict," he said, adding that Israeli-Syrian peace talks under the circumstances were unlikely. "There's an interest on both sides but I think it's very difficult to move forward on it."
| Israel | Islam | Isaiah 17 |

No One Can Separate Iran, Turkey - Ahmadinejad Islamic Republic News Agency (March 14, 2008) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here on Thursday that Iran and Turkey are two brotherly countries which no one can separate them. He made the remarks in a meeting with his Turkish counterpart President Abdullah Gul on the sidelines of the 11th Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference which opened in the Senegalese capital on Thursday. "We consider Development of Turkey as our own development," the Iranian president noted. On danger of terrorism in the region, he called for all-out cooperation among the regional states to eradicate this menace. Referring to great potentials in both states, he called for further expansion of economic ties between the two neighboring states. President Ahmadinejad also urged removal of obstacles in the way of joint investments by the two states. As to the latest developments in the region, he said great developments have been taken place in the region recently which necessitate regional cooperation to turn them to the benefit of the regional nations. For his part, the Turkish president, said campaign against terrorism would continue in his country. Referring to Iran-Turkey good economic relations, he expressed his satisfaction with the recent visit to Tehran of Turkish tradesmen and start of economic discussions between the two sides. The Iranian president wound up his visit to Senegal and departed for Tehran Friday morning to take part in the nationwide parliamentary election which started a few hours ago in Iran.
| Iran | Islam | Gog/Magog |

Summit approves 'Union for the Mediterranean' Euractiv.com (March 14, 2008) - EU leaders have given the green light to a compromise, struck by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to create a 'Union for the Mediterranean', an initiative aimed at upgrading the EU's relations with its neighbours from North Africa and the Middle East. The main focus of the new union will be on the following areas:

Sarkozy had originally envisioned the new Union as an exclusive club, involving only the EU's Mediterranean countries and its neighbours but not the EU as a whole. But this proposal attracted strong criticism, particularly from Germany, which feared the plan could split the EU down the middle, with the new union becoming a rival to the EU itself. In the end, Sarkozy was forced to back down and agree to allow all 27 EU member states to participate in this initiative (EurActiv 05/03/08). He also agreed to change the original title of "Mediterranean Union" to "Union of the Mediterranean" to counter fears that the new body would become a rival to the bloc. Germany also prevailed by holding to its position that no new EU money beyond the funds allocated for the Barcelona Process should be given to the new union, countering Franco-Italian demands that the financing for the new body be multiplied. Sarkozy announced his intention to seek additional funding from the private sector, hoping for up to 14 billion euro. Another element of the compromise relates to the Union's management structure, which will consist of two directors coordinating cooperation between the EU and the partner countries. One director is to come from the EU member states and the other from a non-European Mediterranean country. Both will be appointed for two years, supported by a 20-strong secretariat, to be located in a yet-to-be-determined southern EU city. Barcelona and Marseille have been mentioned as potential candidates, claimed Sarkozy, who denied having endorsed the French city. The agreement also foresees bi-annual summit meetings between the EU and its partner countries. Seen as a partial victory for Paris, the southern EU nations will hold the first presidencies. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | 1st Seal |

"It is important that a Mediterranean Union, whatever form it takes, should strengthen and further the Barcelona Process. There can be no question of establishing a Union which is in competition with the Barcelona Process or which even has its own institutional structure." He added that "all the member states and all the institutions of the European Union must be involved in this process, naturally this includes the European Parliament".

"EU foreign policy Javier Solana told a press conference that the union was a "natural evolution of what was created in 1995." He was referring to the Barcelona Process which was launched in 1995 to promote economic, cultural and security cooperation and dialogue between EU member states and countries around the Mediterranean. ...The EU leaders in a statement said the Union will include the member states of the EU and the non-EU Mediterranean coastal states and be an upgrade of the Barcelona Process."

Over 20 Kassams pound western Negev, shattering calm The Jerusalem Post (March 13, 2008) - Approximately 25 Kassam rockets hit the western Negev on Thursday, shattering a period of relative calm during which the IDF refrained from conducting operations in the Gaza Strip and Palestinian gunmen largely kept from launching attacks against Israel. Three of the rockets landed in Sderot, one hitting a warehouse and sending a woman into shock. The other rockets landed in open areas nearby. After the start of the rocket barrage, the IAF launched pinpoint air strikes against Kassam rocket launchers in northern Gaza. It was not immediately known if anybody was wounded in the attacks. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the latest round of attacks, saying that it was in retaliation for IDF operations in the West Bank Wednesday which killed the senior-most Islamic Jihad commander in Bethlehem, as well as four other Jihad operatives. Meanwhile, following the operations, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades also declared that it would no longer abide by an unofficial truce with Israel.
| Israel | Islam |

Israel to Hizbullah: Revenge Attack Could Mean War Israel National News (March 12, 2008) - Israel has recently warned Hizbullah that it will not hesitate to retaliate with war for a large scale attack on its citizens, Channel 10 – Nana news reported Wednesday. The Hizbullah attack is expected in revenge for the killing of its operations officer Imad Mughniyeh. Iranian TV vowed that Israel would face its "third destruction" on the 40th day after Mughniyeh's death, which will occur next Saturday. Israeli intelligence is picking up extensive "chatter" between Hizbullah and Iran but still has not located specific intentions to carry out a terror attack. Israeli military attachés worldwide have been instructed to change their routine movements and retired military persons were warned to exercise caution in their travels.
| Iran | Israel | Islam | Isaiah 17 | Gog/Magog |

Keeping Europe safe Euro News (March 12, 2008) - Video at link: As the EU continues to expand, openness and greater security are the key subjects for European ministers meeting in Slovenia. They are focusing on possible new measures including fingerprinting, and collecting information on anyone crossing Europe's borders, regardless of whether they are entering or leaving. A vast and profitable single market fulfilling every investor's dreams: that is the optimist's view of an enlarged Europe. But its critics say with no internal borders, any terrorist can move around at will, from country to country, and never be caught. EU Commissioner Franco Frattini says this is about tighter internal security, offset against the problems of the visa waiver agreements with the United States. This meeting builds on the existing European Security Strategy which is a mirror image of a similar arrangement in America. Both Europe and the US believe the world is full of new dangers, and multilateral co-operation is the only way to keep both continents as safe as possible.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | 1st Seal | America |

Syrian Defense Minister receives a Russian Military delegation Syrian Arab News Agency (March 11, 2008) - Defense Minister L.t. Gen. Hassan Turkmani has received Gen.-Col. Aleksandr Nikolaevich Zelin, deputy chief of the Russian Federation Air Forces and an accompanying delegation. Talks during the meeting Monday dealt with the latest developments in the region and means of enhancing cooperation between the two countries.
| Islam | Isaiah 17 | Gog/Magog |

Allies of Syria and Iran Ready to Confront Israel Naharet (March 10, 2008) - Political factions backed by Syria and Iran on Monday said they are prepared to confront any Israeli attack on Lebanon and declared support for the killing of eight students at a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem. The self-labeled Lebanese Parties issued a statement after their regular meeting at the offices in Sidon of Ousama Saad's Popular Nasserite Organization claiming the United States has dispatched naval vessels to the Mediterranean to "support the ruling majority." The statement said the groups are "fully prepared and perfectly ready to confront any Zionist aggression that leaders of the Zionist entity's criminal terror could launch." It praised as "heroic" the killing of Jewish religious students in Jerusalem, saying it was the "real and factual response to Fascist-Zionist practices carried out by the enemy's army in Gaza."
| Israel | Islam | Isaiah 17 | Gog/Magog |

EU must boost military capabilities in face of climate change EU Observer (March 10, 2008) - The European Union should boost its civil and military capacities to respond to "serious security risks" resulting from catastrophic climate change expected this century, according to a joint report from the EU's two top foreign policy officials. The EU and member states should further build up their capabilities with regards to civil protection, and civil and military crisis management and disaster response instruments to react to the security risks posed by climate change, reads a paper by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The seven-page paper, to be submitted to EU leaders at a summit in Brussels later this week, warns of a range of stark scenarios, in particular the threat of an intensified "scramble for resources" – both energy and mineral – in the Arctic "as previously inaccessible regions open up." The rapid melting of the polar ice caps is seen as a great opportunity for far-northern economies, as the "increased accessibility of the enormous hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic region" mean new waterways and international trade routes open for business where once there was only ice. But this does not come without certain hazards. The report highlights the threat to Europe from Russia. "The resulting new strategic interests are illustrated by the recent planting of the Russian flag under the North Pole." Eco-migration: Additionally, the report suggests that Europe will come under increasing pressure from so-called eco-migration. "Europe must expect substantially increased migratory pressure," says the report. "Populations that already suffer from poor health conditions, unemployment or social exclusion are rendered more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, which could amplify or trigger migration within and between countries." The document notes that the UN has predicted that there will be millions of environmental migrants by 2020, and warns that the pressure will not only come from beyond Europe's borders, but that climate change "is also likely to exacerbate internal migration with significant security consequences." Other worries include water shortages and the consequent food price increases that result from lower crop yields, all of which could lead to civil unrest, particularly in the Middle East. This in turn puts pressure on energy security. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder |

Keeping the peace International Herald Tribune (March 10, 2008) - For months, for years, we have been deeply distressed, yet powerless, with respect to the tragedy in Darfur. Two weeks ago, despite the troubles in Chad, Europe gave itself the means to protect the victims and to rebuild their villages in eastern Chad. At the behest of France, and thanks to the efforts of our European partners, the European Union - implementing a unanimous UN Security Council resolution - launched its Eufor operation. There will finally be help and comfort for women - who up to now were raped or killed as soon as they left their camps - and for hungry children. This is no small achievement. I've just returned from Goz Beida in eastern Chad, and I will never forget the enthusiastic welcome the European soldiers received from displaced persons and refugees. The launch of an autonomous EU operation in Africa, led by an Irish general with a Polish deputy and bringing together troops from some 15 countries, illustrates how far we have come in building a European defense. It is now desired and supported by nations that until very recently remained skeptical. We have been working to build a European defense since the 1990s. The Europeans needed military means commensurate with their political ambitions. How could we hope to influence a crisis or negotiations without the means to back up our words? "The Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises," concluded the Franco-British Saint-Malo Summit in 1998. The European Security and Defense Policy inscribed in the Lisbon Treaty is finally allowing us to meet this need. In the future, if we wish to do so, the EU will be able to fully assume its role on the international scene. No one can deny that this is a major asset for peace in the world. The approximately 15 civilian and military operations that Europe has already conducted since 2003 in the Balkans, in Africa, in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and as far away as Indonesia, largely attest to this. In each of them, the EU was guided by a single ideal: to save lives, to avert war, and to work for reconstruction and reconciliation when the international community had been unable to prevent conflict. Each time we did so with a concern for effectiveness and pragmatism, with or without direct support from the Americans. Our vision of relations between the EU and NATO is that they should be founded on this same pragmatism. In some cases, the EU has used its own military means, as it did in Congo in the past and is doing in Chad and the Central African Republic today. In other situations - Bosnia, for example - the EU benefited from NATO support. Now, in a growing number of crises, the EU and NATO are deployed together on the ground. That is sufficient to show that there is not competition but rather complementarity between the two organizations. How could it be otherwise when 21 of the 26 NATO allies are members of the EU, and 21 of the 27 EU partners are members of NATO? Moreover, it is these individual nations that decide on a case-by-case basis what is the most appropriate framework for their actions. And it is they who supply troops and equipment - there is no EU army, just as there is no NATO army. And all the parties remain free. This very simple truth means that European defense relies on the commitment of each state and that all may do their share. It presumes that all European countries make the effort to ensure that the security of all is no longer guaranteed or financed by only a few. As France is one of the largest contributors to both EU and NATO operations, it is in our interest, even more than in that of others, for the two organizations to work more effectively together. The positions expressed by President Nicolas Sarkozy last fall are clear: A tireless promoter of European defense, France is at the same time a key member of NATO, whose forces it has commanded on several occasions, particularly in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Our new approach to NATO is not an alignment but rather a strengthened European dynamic. Some claim that the United States remains opposed to a European defense, as it would weaken NATO. This claim no longer appears to be true. Recent statements by high-ranking U.S. officials in Paris and London indicate that Washington - aware of the challenges we must face together - acknowledges the necessary complementarity of the two organizations. Trust is built over time and through reciprocity: Our openness to the United States and American support for the EU autonomously assuming its responsibilities shall advance hand in hand. European defense and Europe's anchorage in the Atlantic alliance are two facets of the same defense and security policy, pursued in the name of the values we share. The EU presidency, which France will assume on July 1, must allow us to open new perspectives in the field of security and defense, to fight against terrorism and proliferation more effectively, to reinforce our energy security, and to prepare the implementation of permanent structured cooperation open to all 27 member states, as made possible by the new treaty. We will resolutely strive toward that aim. We are already preparing ourselves under the presidency of our Slovenian friends. This progress will give full meaning to the renewal of our relationship with NATO.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder | 1st Seal | America |

The final report of the United Nations’ Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) initiative was released last month. In addition to its usual goal of combating exclusivist ideology, the report contains some interesting elements:

1) Exclusivist ideology is defined as "those who feed on exclusion and claim sole ownership of the truth." (Christians, read John 14:6 as you consider this statement.)

President or foreign minister - who should talk to Medvedev? EU Observer (March 7, 2008) - Listening to an analysis of the Russian presidential election, I heard the interviewer ask who would now be handling Russian foreign policy? Would it be the President - the newly elected ex-Chairman of the Russian state energy giant, Gazprom, whose name was lost to Hillary Clinton the other day - Mr Dmitry Medvedev? Or would it be that prime ministerial power behind, under, over, around, and beside the President's throne - Mr Vladimir Putin? The government spokesman muttered something safe, as spokesmen are wont to do. Under our constitution, he said, the President deals with foreign policy while the Prime Minister (that is Mr Putin) deals with domestic matters. We shall have to wait to see what happens in practice but only the bright and naively optimistic can surely imagine that the Putin finger will, not only be in every domestic pie, but on every foreign policy trigger as well. ...But before we Europeans shake our heads and tut-tut (and after all the congratulations to Mr Mevedev and the hoping that his election will usher in a new, warm period in EU-Russian relations, there is a very great deal to tut-tut at in Russian politics and not only Mr Putin's flagrant warping of the Constitution and suppression of all viable opposition) we could well turn the question back on ourselves and ponder who, in practice, will actually be responsible for foreign policy, on our side of the fence so to speak, in the post-Lisbon Treaty World of 2009? Who will have the job of dealing face to face with Mr Putin and Mr Mevedev over energy security, border control, trade, missile sites, nuclear installations, climate change, extradition matters, exploitation of the Arctic, the Caucasus, Serbia, the United Nations, and so on? Who will handle the relations between democratic Europe and despotic Russia; between two nuclear armed continents that share a long border? Will it be Europe's Foreign Minister designate under the Lisbon Treaty, Or will it be the President of the European Council? ...In the absence of a coherent European foreign policy (look how split Europe is over Kosovo, over US missile defence bases, over gas pipelines) Russia naturally finds it easy to play one country off against another. Nothing unites us quite so well as our disunity. But a strong European foreign policy will require leadership and diplomatic skills of the highest order, both to secure the policy at home and then to put it across abroad. As the Constitutional Convention of 2003 foresaw, Europe does need someone to speak with both personal and constitutional authority on Foreign Affairs. Should this person be the (so-not-called) Foreign Minister - or should it be Europe's President, the man or woman whose task it will be to coral the member states, pushing the agenda along in the manner of someone first among equals? At present, of course, there is no EU President as such. The Lisbon Treaty creates a new and, as yet, undefined post. Foreign Policy is split between the High Representative (Mr Solana) who works for the member states, and the External Relations Commissioner, Mrs Ferrero-Waldner. These two posts will be combined into something which, in practice, will be a quasi-Secretary of State role. Mr Solana (for he is the favourite) will then have a foot in both camps. But a Secretary of State is a Secretary of State. He or she acts on behalf of the head of state. Now the European Union is not a state; it is a partnership of states that wish, ostensibly, to align their foreign policies to achieve goals and influence which they could not expect to achieve, in this global world, by acting alone. But if the partnership is to find a voice and then speak with authority, it needs a strong President. ...Vladimir Putin may have been prepared to bend the constitution and engage in practices so anti-democratic that election observers feel they cannot operate in Russia, so great are the restrictions placed upon them. But Europeans beware! Our own democratic credentials at the Continental level are wafer thin; some would say non-existent. Europe's President will be appointed; not even indirectly elected. As will be the Foreign Minister. Are their democratic credentials, therefore, any better than those of Mr Medvedev and Mr Putin? If our enlarged Europe is to pursue a united and successful foreign policy, she must not fall into the Russian trap of becoming another ‘sovereign democracy.' Criticising Russia here may be another case of pots and kettles. more...
| Gog/Magog | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder |

AIM Says Media Cover-Up Obama’s Socialist-Oriented Global Tax Bill Accuracy In Media (February 13, 2008) - Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid disclosed today that a hugely expensive bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic Senator Barack Obama, was quickly passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. Kincaid said that the major media's cover-up of the bill, which makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations, demonstrates the media's desire to see Senator Obama elected to the presidency. In a column posted on the AIM web site, Kincaid noted that Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was trying to rush Obama's "Global Poverty Act" (S. 2433) through his committee without hearings. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends. It was scheduled for a Thursday vote but was moved up a day, to Wednesday, and rushed through by voice vote. Kincaid learned, however, that conservative Senators have now put a "hold" on the legislation, in order to prevent it from being rushed to the floor for a full Senate vote. The House version (H.R. 1302) was suddenly brought up on the House floor last September 25 and was passed by voice vote. House Republicans were caught off-guard, unaware that the pro-U.N. measure committed the U.S. to spending hundreds of billions of dollars. Kincaid's column notes that the official in charge of making nations comply with the U.N. Millennium Goals, which are prominently highlighted in the Obama bill, says a global tax will be necessary to force American taxpayers to provide the money.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Report launch for "Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World" Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) (January 10, 2008) - The CSIS Europe and International Security Programs, in partnership with the Noaber Foundation, hosted the launch of "Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World: Renewing the Transatlantic Partnership," a new report authored by Gen. Dr. Klaus Naumann (Germany), Gen. John Shalikashvili (United States), Field Marshal The Lord Inge (United Kingdom), Adm. Jacques Lanxade (France), and Gen. Henk van den Breemen (the Netherlands), with Benjamin Bilski and Douglas Murray. The event also featured commentary by Robert E. Hunter, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO. In the report, these five distinguished military leaders consider the complexity of emerging global security challenges and the capabilities of existing institutions to address them. They conclude that dealing with these challenges requires a new transatlantic grand strategy that ensures a better integration of military and non-military capabilities. They argue that a transformed NATO, working closely with the European Union, should serve as the core element of a future security architecture. The group advances a number of near- and longer-term proposals to enhance NATO and transatlantic unity of effort. They advocate replacing the two-pillar concept of U.S.-European relations with an alliance of democracies ranging from Finland to Alaska. AUDIO (02:12:47 mp3) | REPORT (pdf)
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America |

News for March 18, 2008

'Uncharted Waters'