Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Putin Launches New Russia Oil Route to Asia
Dec 28th, 2009
RussiaRapture Ready
Categories: Today's Headlines

MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin launched Russia's long-awaited Siberian oil export route Monday, giving energy-hungry Asia a new supply source from the world's largest crude exporter seeking to diversify its client base away from Europe.

Putin, clad in a heavy winter parka, pushed a button that initiated the first filling of an oil tanker bound for Hong Kong at a new oil terminal near the Russian Pacific port of Nakhodka, the projected terminus of the new Siberian oil pipeline.

"For Russia this is truly a serious event," Putin said during the terminal inauguration ceremony at the port of Kozmino near Nakhodka, in comments broadcast on state television.

"This is a strategic project because it allows us to enter completely new, growing, promising markets of the Asian Pacific region," Putin said.

"This is the completion of one of the largest projects in modern Russia. And not only modern Russia. It would be a grandiose project for the former Soviet Union too."

Earlier this year, Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft completed the construction of the first 2,694-kilometre (1,600-mile) section of the oil pipeline known by the acronym ESPO (Eastern Siberian Pacific Ocean) linking Taishet in eastern Siberia with Skovorodino in the Amur region.

This portion of the project also included the construction of the Kozmino oil port inaugurated by Putin.

The second portion, a 2,100-kilometre (1,300-mile) stretch of pipeline, will run from Skovorodino to the Kozmino port.

For now, oil is being delivered by rail from Skovorodino to the Kozmino port where it is then to be pumped into tankers for shipment to markets in Asia.

Putin said the state-of-the-art terminal, which he praised as "eye candy," had cost 60 billion rubles (two billion dollars) to build.

The first tanker, The Moscow University, was set to deliver the ESPO crude -- named after the pipeline and belonging to state oil company Rosneft -- to Hong Kong, said Transneft president Nikolai Tokarev.

Russia has surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world's top world oil exporter due to output quota cuts by the oil cartel OPEC and to new oil fields in Siberia coming on line.

Transneft and the Chinese oil group CNPC in October 2008 signed an agreement on the construction of a 67-kilometre (40-mile) branch line to China which will initially carry 15 million tonnes of oil a year when it becomes operational.

Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Uralsib Bank in Moscow, said the opening of the new route would give Russia new export outlets and ease "the threat to export growth... poised by the congested Bosphorus."

Russia has been keen to diversify its client base beyond its traditional European consumers, who have in turn in recent years been looking for ways to reduce their heavy dependence on Russian energy.

Denis Borisov, an oil and gas analyst with Bank of Moscow, said the launch of the new route would also signal important consequences at home.

The new route "could inspire companies to invest in geological exploration" in eastern Siberia where "multibillion-ruble investments are needed," he said.

Netanyahu: No More Excuses - Time is Ripe for Mideast Peace
Dec 28th, 2009
Barak Ravid / www.haaretz.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the "conditions are ripe" for renewing peace negotiations with the Palestinians, adding that he planned to raise the issue with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during his visit to Cairo this week.

"I hope we have reached the time to renew the peace process," Netanyahu told diplomats gathered at the foreign ministry in Jerusalem. "The time for excuses is over. Now is the time for action."

Former justice minister Yossi Beilin told the Meretz party leadership on Sunday that Netanyahu was close to finalizing an agreement with the administration of United States President Barack

Obama for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The process would last two years, according to Beilin, and would discuss the Palestinian demand for borders based on the 1967 lines and will include an exchange of territory and suitable security arrangements.

These are the terms of the agreement being hammered out between Netanyahu and the U.S. government on Israeli negotiations with the Palestinian Authority - that Netanyahu is willing to agree that the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will last for two years, Beilin said.

The Prime Minister's Office said Beilin's comments were "unfounded," adding that discussions were ongoing but no agreement has been reached.

However, when asked about Beilin's statements, a senior U.S. administration official said: "Things are moving in this direction, but the deal isn't done yet. There are several issues still outstanding."

Netanyahu leaves tomorrow for talks in Cairo and appears set to present the agreements to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Beilin, who revealed Netanyahu's plan to declare a 10-month freeze on settlement construction a week before the prime minister made the announcement, based his statement on information he received from talks with Israeli and foreign officials. He said at a closed meeting of the Meretz leadership that Netanyahu and his special envoy for negotiations with the Palestinians, Yitzhak Molcho, had completed most of the work on the terms of reference for negotiations with the Palestinians during meetings with U.S. envoy George Mitchell.

At the meeting, Beilin described what he said were the agreements Netanyahu has reached with the Obama administration:

• Timetable: Netanyahu is willing to accept the U.S. proposal to allot 24 months to talks, but doesn't want to announce that the goal is to reach a deal by the end of that period.
• Borders: Netanyahu has agreed that the goal of the talks is to end the conflict and reconcile the Palestinian position of establishing an independent state on the basis of the 1967 borders, with the exchange of agreed-upon territory, and the Israeli position of a Jewish state with recognized and secure borders that will meet Israel's security needs.
• Jerusalem: Netanyahu has agreed that the status of Jerusalem will be discussed in the negotiations, but has not agreed to any preconditions on the issue.
• Refugees: Netanyahu said he was willing to discuss the refugee issue only in a multilateral framework.
• Previous agreements: Netanyahu is willing to commit to all previously signed agreements.
• Arab peace initiative: Netanyahu is not willing to support the plan, but is willing to say both sides are taking into consideration international initiatives that contribute to the advancement of the peace process, such as the Arab peace initiative.

Mitchell is expected to visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the second week of January to complete talks on the terms of reference for negotiations, Beilin said.

He warned Meretz leaders that Netanyahu may try to counteract the agreement by appeasing the right, which could undermine peace talks.

"If Netanyahu acts as he did with the freeze, when he approved hundreds of new housing units, it will wreck any chance of renewing negotiations," Beilin said.

Beilin said Netanyahu's position has encouraged the United States about the possibility of renewing negotiations soon.

"Their primary effort is to convince the Palestinians to accept it," said Beilin. "The American feeling is that Abu Mazen [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] will agree to this formulation."

In One Decade, China Reshapes the World
Dec 28th, 2009
Chinamsmbc
Categories: Today's Headlines

GUANGZHOU, China - China's bold rise this decade took many forms. The Beijing Olympics. The billions of dollars loaned to the U.S. The rip-roaring economic growth.

And then there were the missing manhole covers.

Hundreds of them were stolen from streets around the world. The first reports came from Taiwan in 2003 and later London, where it was dubbed the "Great Drain Robbery." Chicago had to replace at least 150 manhole lids or grates in 2005.

Thieves were selling them to shady scrap metal dealers, who were cashing in on China's ravenous demand for steel for skyscrapers in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities. China's construction boom was literally being felt on the streets around the world.

For China, that's what made this decade different from the others. It was a time when the massive nation began to reshape the world in both basic and big ways. After spending much of the '80s and '90s with their heads down, retooling their shattered economy, the Chinese started peering beyond the horizon and striding out far beyond their borders.

Investment in Africa
China became one of the biggest investors in Africa. The Chinese craving for tofu caused Brazilian farmers to chop down more acres of trees in the Amazon for soybean fields. Their soaring demand for iron ore caused a housing bubble in the rugged Australian Outback, where men flocked to work in mines. Their factories, powered by cheap labor, sucked away millions of jobs, hollowing out industrial zones in the U.S. and Europe.

Thus China began engaging and reshaping the globe like never before, inspiring awe and respect as well as stoking fear and suspicion.

When China first started to open its economy in the 1980s, many enterprises hoped to hook up with Western companies in joint ventures. But in the last decade, major Chinese firms were more interested in buying potential partners. A prime example: the high-tech behemoth Lenovo Group, which in 2005 snapped up the personal computer unit from IBM Corp.

The country's growing influence has been a huge source of pride for the Chinese, who feel that foreigners spent much of the past century kicking them around.

Many take pleasure in pointing out that the world's most powerful nation, America, is now deep into debt with China.

Marxists become bankers
China holds nearly $800 billion in Treasury securities. Never before has the U.S. owed so much money to one country. The self-styled Marxists have actually become bankers who can throw global markets into a tizzy with slight hints they might dump their U.S. holdings.

Despite the newfound wealth, millions of Chinese are still dirt poor. Living conditions in the hinterlands can be medieval. While the country consistently reports eye-popping economic growth each year, the income gap continues to grow. Although annual income has jumped 74 percent since 2003 for city dwellers, those living in the countryside only got an income bump of 31 percent.

But in many ways, the Chinese masses can point to head-spinning improvements in their daily lives. In the 1990s, it was rare for people to have private telephones. But now, China Mobile Ltd. — the world's biggest phone company — says it has 508 million customers.

China now has 338 million Internet uses — a figure higher than the entire U.S. population of just under 307 million, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, a government-sanctioned research group.

Bicycles used to rule the roads in China, but few dare to pedal them now in major cities, where streets are clogged with new cars. In the southern city of Guangzhou — the capital of China's most important manufacturing base — 180,000 new vehicles hit the roads last year.

Good news for the U.S.?
This is terrific news for the beleaguered U.S. carmakers like Ford and General Motors, who are hoping Chinese consumers can keep their companies from collapsing.

But the exploding consumption and the industrial boom has taken a severe toll on China's environment. Many believe that China's rise will be halted by pollution and a severe water shortage.

China dethroned the U.S. this decade for the dubious title of being the largest emitter of carbon dioxide. A World Bank study said the country is home to 16 of the 20 worst cities for air quality. Three-quarters of the water flowing through urban areas is unsuitable for drinking or fishing, the study said.

Cleaning up the mess is a huge, expensive challenge for the Communist Party's leaders. But they seem to believe they're up for it, and there's little talk in public about political reforms that would make China more democratic.

For many despots in the world, China has become an attractive model: an authoritarian system that delivers stupendous economic growth. Why bother listening to American sermons about democracy when autocratic China seems to be thriving?

But China's political system remains brittle. Even things like Facebook and YouTube are perceived as threats and blocked by China's Internet censors. The leadership seems to know that although the surface can appear calm and orderly in an authoritarian society, a small problem can quickly develop into a big one.

End of An Era As Sweden Hands Over EU Presidency (news Feature)
Dec 28th, 2009
SwedenRapture Ready
Categories: Today's Headlines

Brussels - Fifty-two years of European Union history are set to come to an end on Friday as Sweden hands over the bloc's last full national presidency to its new full-time chairman and to Spain.

Since it was founded in 1957, the EU has been steered by a different member state every six months. But on December 1 the bloc's Lisbon Treaty came into force, creating the position of full-time president of the council of EU member states.

From January 1, Belgium's former premier, Herman Van Rompuy, is set to chair summits and steer the EU's agenda, while Spain, the next holder of the rotating presidency, is to head lower-level meetings.

'This has been an intense six months - I wish Herman Van Rompuy and the Spanish presidency luck,' Swedish premier Fredrik Reinfeldt told the German Press Agency dpa on Tuesday.

Curiously, Belgium, which provided the EU with its first ever president, also provided its first ever rotating presidency, in the first half of 1958.

EU member states created the post of full-time president in order to make the bloc's policies more coherent in the long term, and to get away from a situation in which problems in the presiding member state could stall EU decisions - as happened this March, when the Czech government fell during its term at the EU's helm.

Ironically, the Swedish presidency has been widely hailed as the most effective in years, brokering deals on issues such as climate-change funding, EU-wide financial supervision, the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty and Van Rompuy's appointment.

'The presidency has been exceptionally and extraordinarily successful - well done the Swedes,' a top diplomat from one of the EU's biggest states summed up the situation in early December.

A poll of European correspondents organized by Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet in mid-December gave the presidency in general, and Reinfeldt in particular, top marks in five out of six categories, and a 'good' mark in the sixth.

EU diplomats are now waiting to see how Van Rompuy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will manage to cooperate over the next six months, since the Spanish government will play a key role in preparing EU meetings.

On December 18, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos laid out the presidency's priorities for the next six months, a period during which Van Rompuy is expected to feel his way into his new job.

Madrid wants to focus on reinforcing the EU's economic recovery, boosting its prestige overseas, expanding its citizens' rights and overseeing the implementation of the Lisbon treaty, Moratinos said.

The presidency is also due to launch talks on the EU's economic strategy up to 2020 and on the outline for its seven-year budget up to the same year. Diplomats expect both debates to be heated.

According to early draft calendars, Spain is expected to push for better relations with Latin American countries in general and Cuba in particular, with a summit expected in Madrid in spring.

Moratinos' speech also foreshadowed a possible row with Israel and with the EU's new foreign-policy supremo, Catherine Ashton, by calling for the foundation of a Palestinian state in 2010.

Ashton is meant to steer and coordinate the foreign policy of the EU's 27 member states. The Middle East conflict is one of the bloc's most contentious foreign-policy issues.

Apollyon Rising 2012 by Tom Horn: A Book Review by Terry James
Dec 28th, 2009
www.Rapture Ready.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Prophecy

"Something this way wicked comes," writes the author in describing the future for America and the world. The line is from Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which a witch pronounces Macbeth a traitor and a murderer. But Shakespeare's darkest literary revelation can't begin to rival the ominous unveiling Tom Horn performs in Apollyon Rising 2012: The Lost Symbol Found and the Final Mystery of the Great Seal Revealed.

This is no play dreamed up by the Bard. There is, in reality, indeed something wicked headed in this direction. Apollyon Rising forewarns of its approach in a way totally unique in my experience as a writer/researcher of matters involving eschatology—the study of end times. I sense that Horn's book is destined to garner great interest from all quarters of the halls of intellectual curiosity, not just from those fascinated with Bible prophecy or prophecy in general.

The author tells of awakening one night in a swirl of epiphany, his hours of research congealing into the realization that specific, controlled versions of American history had kept him "in the dark, blinded from the actual course that a frightening network of hidden powers had set our nation upon years before."

Suddenly, Horn relates, "pieces of the puzzle began rapidly falling into place. Things were making sense now—world affairs, changes to U.S. domestic and foreign policy, a renewed focus on the Middle East, Israel, Iran, Iraq, [and] Babylon…"

The preface to Horn's book states the end to his long-time skepticism of conspiratorial claims of the dark forces shaping and molding America’s and the world's geopolitical configuration for the future course of history. He then writes:

"As outlined in this book, the startling truths behind the clandestine society that helped frame the United States and placed within the Great Seal a prophetic secret doctrine can finally be understood. What even the best researchers of the Illuminati and veiled fraternities such as the Freemasons were never able to fully decipher is spelled out herein for the first time. The power at work behind global affairs and why current planetary powers are hurriedly aligning for a new order from chaos is exposed. Perhaps most incredibly, one learns how ancient prophets actually foresaw and forewarned of this time."

My reading confirms for me the truth of this declaration. Like Horn, I have always been leery of conspiratorial thought with regard to caliginous cabals shaping the destiny of man. The author's truly unprecedented look into the spiritual influences upon the world—and particularly on America's founding and course since—points to the truth in God's Word, the Bible, that the struggle is against supernatural wickedness in high places.

The author's in-depth treatment brilliantly illuminates the evil involved in a devilish master plan rooted in ancient times and becoming ever more manifest in this troubled hour. Reading Apollyon Rising exposes the supernatural as well as humanistic blueprint intended to corrupt mankind as was done in antediluvian times.

Tom Horn's book is not a casual read, but one that is an absolute must for understanding what is going on in this perplexing, even frightening, time in history. Each reading unfolds new layers of enlightenment on where it is all leading, and what to do about it from a personal perspective.

This book is nothing short of essential, in my view.
Author: Thomas HornPublisher: Defender Publishing House