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Why the Temple Mount Matters
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Prophecy;Commentary

Psalm 122:6 instructs us to “Pray that Jerusalem has peace.” Well, now would definitely be a good time to pray, because Jerusalem is currently at a boiling point. And it’s largely over what might be the most contested piece of real estate in history: the Temple Mount.

The Temple Mount is in the Old City of Jerusalem. It’s approximately 37 acres, and it’s the holiest site in Judaism. According to Jewish tradition, the site is where Abraham almost sacrificed his son. It’s also where Solomon constructed the first Jewish temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

The Second Temple was consecrated in 516 B.C., and was reconstructed on a grander scale by Herod the Great in 20 B.C. The Temple Mount underwent massive expansion at this time.

The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70 during the Siege of Jerusalem.

The Temple Mount is currently home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock, and the Dome of the Chain, all Islamic structures built in the late 7th century. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered to be the third holiest site in Islam (after Mecca and Medina.) Muslims believe that Mohammed was carried from Mecca to Al-Aqsa during his Night Journey. The Dome of the Rock is a shrine built where many Muslims believe Mohammed ascended into heaven and met all the prophets who had preceded him. The Dome of the Chain is a much smaller structure used for prayer.

When Israel first gained control of the site in 1967, all faiths were welcome, but after control was passed to an Islamic trust administration (due to international pressure), everything changed.

The Dome of the Rock

Under current rules, the Temple Mount is freely accessible to Muslims at most times from any of ten gates. Jews and tourists are required to use a separate gate, and prayers from Jews are not allowed at the site. Jews are also restricted to visiting during certain hours. (It should be pointed out that some rabbis believe that Jews should not visit the Temple Mount at all, because the Holy of Holies stood near the center of the site.)

In recent weeks, more Jews have been visiting the Temple Mount for the Jewish holidays. This has angered many Palestinians, who see this as a sign that Jews are trying to take back the holy site. Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has added fuel to the fire by saying that Jews should be barred from the Temple Mount “by any means.” He also referred to Jews as a “a herd of cattle.”

The Al-Aqsa Mosque

Early in October, during Sukkot (the Festival of Booths), some young Palestinians started a riot against Jews, other non-Muslim visitors, and police. They threw rocks, firebombs, metal pipes, and other objects. Police chased them into the Al-Aqsa mosque, where the rioters barricaded themselves. This allowed visitors to continue touring the Temple Mount for the remainder of the designated time window. Nine Palestinians were eventually arrested. 

Last week, Jewish activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot three times in Jerusalem by a gunman on a motorcycle. The suspected shooter, a Palestinian linked to the Islamic Jihad terror group, was shot dead by police when they attempted to arrest him and came under fire. Rabbi Glick has long advocated for Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount.

After the shooting, Israeli police closed off the Temple Mount to all visitors for the first time in years. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the action “a declaration of war.”

The site reopened last Friday (October 31) to everyone except men under 50, presumably to avoid potential conflict around the noon prayer.

Many Jews and Christians believe that there will be a Third Temple rebuilt on the Temple Mount site at some point in the future. But there is much disagreement about who will do the building and how it will take place. And the current religious structures on the site present no small obstacle to any rebuilding plans.

Some Orthodox Jewish groups want to rebuild the temple and reinstate the practice of animal sacrifice. One such group, the Temple Institute, has been preparing ritual objects and has even been searching for a red heifer for temple purification that meets the requirements found in Numbers 19.

Some Christians read and watch news about Jerusalem and the Temple Mount with much interest, because they interpret these events as possible signs of the end times. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, for example, predicts the rise of an antichrist figure who will “sit in God’s temple, displaying himself to show that he is God.” This will precede the return of Christ, and one could logically conclude that for such a figure to enter the temple, it has to be rebuilt first.

How everything falls into place to allow this to happen is anyone’s guess.

For now, we simply watch the headlines as we pray for peace.

Vladimir Putin: Oil Price Decline Has Been Engineered By Political Forces
Nov 8th, 2014
The Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Energy and energy-related production account “a substantial share of total economic output, half of the federal budget revenues and almost two-thirds of export revenues”, according to Deutsche Bank.

“Thus, lower oil prices lead to a downgrade to Russia’s growth profile for the next several years,” according to an investment note produced by the bank.

The price of the Russian flagship Urals crude blend has fallen to trade just over $80 a barrel, well below the $114 level that the state would require to balance its budget.

Forecasts released by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) imply that things could improve in long-term - as it predicts that oil prices will average $177 per barrel by 2040.

Top EU Diplomat Calls to Divide Jerusalem
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The top EU diplomat appealed Saturday for the establishment of a "Palestinian state" as the killing of an Arab-Israeli by police fanned tensions following violent clashes in Jerusalem.

Federica Mogherini, the European Union's new foreign affairs chief, said the world "cannot afford" another war in Gaza, after donor states once again poured billions of dollars into a reconstruction program following the summer's war with Israel.

"We need a Palestinian state - that is the ultimate goal and this is the position of all the European Union," Mogherini said during a trip to Gaza, devastated by its third conflict in six years.

Speaking later to journalists in Ramallah, the top EU diplomat called for dividing Jerusalem.

"I think Jerusalem can be and should be the capital of two states," Mogherini said, touching on a sensitive issue that has blocked peace efforts for decades.

"Jerusalem is not just a beautiful city, the challenge is to show that Jerusalem can be shared in peace and respect," said Mogherini.

"The message is not for the people who live here, the message is to the rest of the world," she said. "It is not a Palestinian-Israeli situation, it is a global issue."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that a draft resolution was on course to be submitted to the UN Security Council this month calling for an end date for "Israeli occupation."

The text is expected to be vetoed by permanent member the United States.

Mogherini's visit comes against a backdrop of surging Israeli-Palestinian tensions in Jerusalem where there have been near-daily clashes in flashpoint neighborhoods.

In the village of Kfar Kana in northern Israel, meanwhile, a 22-year-old was shot dead by security forces after intervening in the dawn arrest of one of his relatives, brandishing a knife, according to police.

Dozens of angry youths later erected barricades and set fire to tires on the outskirts of the village as police deployed reinforcements.

The shooting followed another night of clashes in east Jerusalem pitting youths throwing rocks, firebombs and firecrackers against police who used rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.

The violence was particularly intense in Shuafat, a hotbed of Arab extremism.

The spike in violence came after a Shuafat resident plowed a car into pedestrians in Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring a dozen others before he was shot dead in the second attack of its kind in two weeks.

Israel rejects 'fictitious claim'

Speaking on Friday during her first official visit to Jerusalem, Mogherini said there was a real "urgency" to pick up and advance the moribund peace process.

She rounded on Israeli building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, labeling it "an obstacle to peace."

Shortly afterwards, Mogherini met Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu who gave a terse statement dismissing criticism of his building policy. 

"I reject the fictitious claim that the root of the continuous conflict is this or that settlement," he said.

"Jerusalem is our capital and as such is not a settlement."

Netanyahu ordered the security forces to either seal or demolish the homes of any Palestinian terrorist involved in anti-Israeli attacks, an official said Friday.  

Mogherini had been scheduled to meet PA prime minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza but he cancelled his trip after a series of bombs there Friday hit the homes and cars of Fatah officials.

Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, laid the blame on the Islamist movement Hamas, the de facto rulers in Gaza, as a new row broke out between the rival Palestinian factions.

Hamas announced Friday it was forming a thousands-strong "popular army" in Gaza, in response to what it called "serious Israeli violations" at the Temple Mount.

Timing the Collapse: Ron Paul Says Watch the Petrodollar
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsInternational Man
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

"The chaos that one day will ensue from our 35-year experiment with worldwide fiat money will require a return to money of real value. We will know that day is approaching when oil-producing countries demand gold, or its equivalent, for their oil rather than dollars or euros. The sooner the better." (emphasis mine)

~ Ron Paul

What Ron Paul is referring to here is the petrodollar system. It's one of the main pillars that's been holding up the US dollar's status as the world's premier reserve currency since the breakdown of Bretton Woods.

Paul is essentially saying that, if we want to better understand the answer to the elusive question of "When will the fiat US dollar collapse?", we have to watch the petrodollar system and the factors affecting it.

At the recent Casey Research Summit, I had the chance to speak extensively with Dr. Paul on this subject, and he told me that he stands by his assessment.

I believe this is critically important, because once the dollar loses this coveted status, the window of opportunity to take preventative action will definitively shut for Americans.

At that moment, I believe the US government will become sufficiently desperate and implement the destructive measures that governments throughout the world and throughout history have all taken (overt capital controls, wealth confiscations, people controls, price and wage controls, pension nationalizations, etc.)

But it's not just the financial implications that need to be considered. The destruction of the dollar is going to wipe out the wealth of a lot people, and that will cause political and social consequences that will likely be worse than the financial consequences.

The three points to understand here are:

1. You absolutely must be internationalized before the US dollar loses its status as the premier reserve currency. Internationalization is your ultimate insurance policy.

1. The US dollar's status as the premier reserve currency is tied to the petrodollar system.

1. The sustainability of the petrodollar system is linked to Middle East geopolitics. Having lived and worked in the Middle East for a number of years, this is a topic I know a thing or two about.

From Bretton Woods to the Petrodollar

The dollar's role as the world's premier reserve currency was established in 1944 by the Allied powers in what was known as the Bretton Woods international monetary system.

Being victorious in WWII and possessing the overwhelmingly largest gold reserves in the world (around 20,000 tonnes) allowed the US to reconstruct the global monetary system with the dollar at its center.

Simply put, the Bretton Woods system was an arrangement whereby a country's currency was tied to the US dollar through a fixed exchange rate, and the US dollar itself was tied to gold at a fixed exchange rate.

Countries accumulated dollars in their reserves to engage in international trade or to exchange them with the US government at the official rate for gold ($35 an ounce).

By the late 1960s, exuberant spending from welfare and warfare, combined with the Federal Reserve monetizing the deficits, drastically increased the number of dollars in circulation in relation to the gold backing it.

Naturally, this caused countries to accelerate their exchange of dollars for gold at the official price.

The result was a serious drain in the US gold supply (20,000 tonnes at the end of WWII to around 8,100 tonnes in 1971, a figure supposedly held constant to this day).

Nixon officially ended convertibility of the dollar for gold to halt the gold outflow, thus ending the Bretton Woods system, on August 15, 1971.

The US had defaulted on its promise to back the dollar with gold.

The central justification that the gold–backed dollar had provided as to why countries held the dollar in their reserves and used it as a medium of international trade was now gone.

With the dollar no longer convertible into gold, demand for dollars by foreign nations was sure to fall and with it, its purchasing power.

OPEC passed numerous resolutions after the end of Bretton Woods, stating the need to retain the real value of its earnings (including discussions about accepting gold for oil), which resulted in the cartel significantly increasing the nominal dollar price of oil in the wake of August 15, 1971.

If the dollar was to sustain its status as the world's reserve currency, a new arrangement would have to be constructed to give foreign countries a compelling reason to hold and use dollars.

Nixon and Kissinger would end up succeeding in retaining the dollar's premier status by bridging the gap between the failed Bretton Woods system and the emerging petrodollar system.

The Petrodollar System

Between the years of 1972 to 1974 the US government completed a series of agreements with Saudi Arabia to create the petrodollar system.

Saudi Arabia was chosen because of its vast petroleum reserves, its dominant influence in OPEC, and the (correct) perception that the Saudi royal family was corruptible.

In essence, the petrodollar system was an agreement that, in exchange for the US guaranteeing the survival of the House of Saud regime by providing a total commitment to its political and security support, Saudi Arabia would:

1. Use its dominant influence in OPEC to ensure that all oil transactions would be conducted only in US dollars.

1. Invest a large amount of its dollars from oil revenue in US Treasury securities and use the interest payments from those securities to pay US companies to modernize the infrastructure of Saudi Arabia.

1. Guarantee the price of oil within limits acceptable to the US and act to prevent another oil embargo by other OPEC members.

The need to use dollars to transact in oil, the world's most traded and most strategic commodity, provides a very compelling reason for foreign countries to keep dollars in their reserves.

For example, if Italy wants to buy oil from Kuwait, it would have to first purchase US dollars on the foreign exchange market to pay for the oil, thus creating an artificial market for US dollars that would not have otherwise naturally existed.

This demand is artificial, since the US dollar is just a middleman in a transaction that has nothing to do with a US product or service. It ultimately translates into increased purchasing power and a deeper, more liquid market for the US dollar and Treasuries.

Additionally, the US has the unique privilege of not having to use foreign currency but rather using its own currency, which it can print, to purchase its imports, including oil.

The benefits of the petrodollar system to the US dollar are indeed difficult to overstate.

What to Watch For

The geopolitical sands of the Middle East have been rapidly shifting.

The faltering strategic regional position of Saudi Arabia, the rise of Iran (which is notably not part of the petrodollar system), failed US interventions, and the emergence of the BRICS countries providing potential future alternative economic/security arrangements all affect the sustainability of the petrodollar system.

In particular, you should watch the relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia, which has been deteriorating.

The Saudis are furious at what they perceive to be the US not holding up its part of the petrodollar deal. They believe that as part of the US commitment to keep the region safe for the monarchy, the US should have attacked their regional rivals, Syria and Iran, by now.

This would suggest that they may feel that they are no longer obliged to uphold their part of the deal, namely selling their oil only in US dollars.

The Saudis have even gone so far as to suggest a "major shift" is underway in their relations with the US. To date, though, they have yet to match actions to their words, which suggests it may just be a temper tantrum or a bluff. In any case, it is truly unprecedented language and merits further watching.

A turning point may really be reached when you start hearing US officials expounding on the need to transform the monarchy in Saudi Arabia into a "democracy." But don't count on that happening as long as their oil is flowing only for US dollars.

Conclusion

It was evident long before Nixon closed the gold window and ended the Bretton Woods system on August 15, 1971, that a paradigm shift in the global monetary system was inevitable.

Likewise today, a paradigm shift in the global monetary system also seems inevitable. By considering Ron Paul's words, we will know when the dollar collapse is imminent.

"We will know that day is approaching when oil-producing countries demand gold, or its equivalent, for their oil rather than dollars or euros."

There is no question that you want to be internationalized before that day arrives, which seems to be getting closer and closer. It is very possible that one day soon, Americans will wake up to a new reality, just as they did on August 15, 1971.

Your goal should be to remove as much political risk from as many aspects of your life as possible so that you are not caught flat-footed when the next August 15, 1971 moment arrives.

Suicide Terrorism Returns to Jerusalem, With a Difference
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Antisemitism;Commentary

Jerusalemites who lived through the Second Intifada remember those years, from 2000 to 2003, all too well. Simply being out on the streets was a gamble.

Almost every month, sometimes every week, suicide bombings hit the city, and destroyed any sense of security here. Jerusalem was worst hit, but it was not unique: The suicide bombers targeted almost every Israeli city.

The attacks of recent weeks have marked the return of the suicide terrorists. There are differences this time. These are not attackers wearing belts laden with explosives or driving cars carrying bombs. They are “merely” using their cars and tractors as weapons. And they are overwhelmingly concentrated in Jerusalem.

Another difference is that the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada were orchestrated in large part by a Hamas terror infrastructure. This time, it appears that general instructions from the Hamas leadership, without an organized military infrastructure, are sufficient to prompt a wave of attacks, and again to destroy Jerusalemites’ sense of security.

Israel’s security forces tried often during the Second Intifada to put together a profile of the “typical” suicide bomber, the better to thwart the attacks. And they couldn’t. Sometimes the bombers were young males. Sometimes they were youths. Sometimes they were married women, sometimes divorcees, sometimes widows. In short, there was no typical bomber. The notion that suicide bombings were overwhelmingly the work of young, single, impoverished men was disproved time and again.

The same is true now, as well. It is hard to point to common denominators among the perpetrators of the recent attacks, including the attempted assassination last Wednesday night of Yehudah Glick, except, that is, that they identify with Islamist organizations, especially Hamas.

Wednesday’s terrorist on Route One in Jerusalem, Ibrahim al-Akary, was a 48-year-old father of five, from a family closely identified with Hamas. Not your “typical” terrorist. Last Wednesday’s would-be assassin Mu’taz Hijazi was much younger, as were the perpetrators of the two previous attacks in which Jerusalem pedestrians were targeted by suicide drivers, in August and October.

What is common to the 2014 terrorists and those from the Second Intifada is that they set out expecting that they will not return; their motivation to kill Israelis prevails over their desire to live.

Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch may well be right to say that this is not a new intifada. Indeed, it does not resemble the widespread uprising of the First Intifada (from 1987-1993), and nor does it mirror the Second Intifada. But it cannot be denied that a new phenomenon is bloodying Jerusalem, which may require a new name. Perhaps not an Intifada. Perhaps not an “uprising,” or an “explosion of violence.” But, rather, a name that reflects the combination of suicide attackers driving cars and tractors, and relatively low-level street riots. At present, the riots in Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem are drawing dozens, sometimes hundreds, but not the masses that confronted Israeli security forces in Gaza and the West Bank in the early days of the two intifadas.

This new mix refuses to disappear. Weeks pass, and the violence in Jerusalem continues. Sometimes it ebbs for a few days, but then it returns.

Israel’s decision-makers tend, almost instinctively, to point the finger of blame at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and to assert that he is responsible for this violence. It is evidently more convenient for them to play down both the significant support among East Jerusalemites for the violence and Hamas’s central responsibility for it — ideologically if not always practically.

It is Hamas that is encouraging the terrorist attacks and the riots. And that means the Israeli government needs to deal with those who are responsible — that is, the Hamas leadership in Gaza. But nobody in Israel — or in Hamas’s Gaza leadership for that matter — wants another escalation of violence there.

In the absence of any substantive diplomatic process with Abbas, it is hard to imagine that the new form of Jerusalem violence is going to end anytime soon. Whether or not it is a third intifada, it shows every sign of continuing to batter Jerusalem.

Red Cross Dismisses Volunteer for Biblical Views on Marriage
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

A pensioner has had his "opportunity to volunteer" withdrawn by the British Red Cross because he spoke out against the redefinition of marriage.

Earlier this year, Bryan Barkley, 71, held up signs outside Wakefield Cathedral reading "No Same Sex Marriage" and "No Redefinition of Marriage." He did so on the day that the first same-sex marriages took place in England.

'Incompatible Views"

But he has since been told that his views on marriage are "incompatible" with the "fundamental principles and values" of the Red Cross and that his opportunity to volunteer was being withdrawn "permanently and with immediate effect."

Barkley, who has volunteered with the Red Cross for nearly 20 years, worked in the international family tracing service, helping to locate and reunite families in the UK with relatives in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and had been involved in 84 cases.

He joined the Red Cross after retiring from his job as a civil engineer. Earlier in the summer he attended a Buckingham Palace garden party with the charity.

'Freedom of Expression Being Stifled'

Responding to his dismissal, Barkley asked:

"What have I done wrong? I passionately believe that the institution of marriage is between a man and a woman and is the cornerstone of our society. Why is it wrong to say so in public?

"Freedom of expression is being stifled in this country.

"I have nothing against homosexuals. But I don't believe Parliament was representing the views of the people when it changed the definition of marriage."

Barkley, who is being supported by the Coalition for Marriage, is appealing the Red Cross' decision.

"Discrimination Against a Common Viewpoint'

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of Christian Concern, which is a member of the Coalition for Marriage, commented:

"The Red Cross does not seem to be able to extend its founding principles of impartiality and neutrality to Bryan Barkley. It has discriminated against him for holding common views on the natural family. Such discrimination will not serve the Red Cross well."

Putin Signs Secret Pact to Crush NATO
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsCasey Research
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Back on September 11 and 12, there was a summit meeting in a city that involved an organization that most Americans have never heard of. Mainstream media coverage was all but nonexistent.

The place was Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, a country few Westerners could correctly place on a map.

But you can bet your last ruble that Vladimir Putin knows exactly where Tajikistan is. Because the group that met there is the Russian president’s baby. It’s the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), consisting of six member states: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The SCO was founded in 2001, ostensibly to collectively oppose extremism and enhance border security. But its real reason for being is larger. Putin sees it in a broad context, as a counterweight to NATO (a position that the SCO doesn’t deny, by the way). Its official stance may be to pledge nonalignment, nonconfrontation, and noninterference in other countries’ affairs, but—pointedly—the members do conduct joint military exercises.

Why should we care about this meeting in the middle of nowhere? Well, obviously, anything that Russia and China propose to do together warrants our attention. But there’s a whole lot more to the story.

Since the SCO’s inception, Russia has been treading somewhat softly, not wanting the group to become a possible stalking horse for Chinese expansion into what it considers its own strategic backyard, Central Asia. But at the same time, Putin has been making new friends around the world as fast as he can. If he is to challenge US global hegemony—a proposition that I examine in detail in my new book, The Colder War—he will need as many alliances as he can forge.

Many observers had been predicting that the Dushanbe meeting would be historic. The expectation was that the organization would open up to new members. However, expansion was tabled in order to concentrate on the situation in Ukraine. Members predictably backed the Russian position and voiced support for continuing talks in the country. They hailed the Minsk cease-fire agreement and lauded the Russian president’s achievement of a peace initiative.

However, the idea of adding new members was hardly forgotten. There are other countries which have been actively seeking to join for years. Now, with the rotating chairmanship of the organization passing to Moscow—and with the next summit scheduled for July 2015 in Ufa, Russia—conditions could favor the organization’s expansion process truly taking shape by next summer, says Putin.

To that end, the participants in Dushanbe signed documents that addressed the relevant issues: a “Model Memorandum on the Obligations of Applicant States for Obtaining SCO Member State Status,” and “On the Procedure for Granting the Status of the SCO Member States.”

This is extremely important, both to Russia and the West, because two of the nations clamoring for inclusion loom large in geopolitics: India and Pakistan. And waiting in the wings is yet another major player—Iran.

In explaining the putting off of a vote on admittance for those countries, Putin’s presidential aide Yuri Ushakov was candid. He told Russian media that expansion at this moment is still premature, due to potential difficulties stemming from the well-known acrimony between India and China, and India and Pakistan, as well as the Western sanctions against Iran. These conflicts could serve to weaken the alliance, and that’s something Russia wants to avoid.

Bringing longtime antagonists to the same table is going to require some delicate diplomatic maneuvering, but that’s not something Putin has ever shied away from. (Who else has managed to maintain cordial relationships with both Iran and Israel?)

As always, Putin is not thinking small or short term here. Among the priorities he’s laid out for the Russian chairmanship are: beefing up the role of the SCO in providing regional security; launching major multilateral economic projects; enhancing cultural and humanitarian ties between member nations; and designing comprehensive approaches to current global problems. He is also preparing an SCO development strategy for the 2015-2025 period and believes it will be ready by the time of the next summit.

We should care what’s going on inside the SCO. Once India and Pakistan get in (and they will) and Iran follows shortly thereafter, it’ll be a geopolitical game changer.

Putin is taking a leadership role in the creation of an international alliance among four of the ten most populous countries on the planet—its combined population constitutes over 40% of the world’s total, just short of 3 billion people. It encompasses the two fastest-growing global economies. Adding Iran means its members would control over half of all natural gas reserves. Development of Asian pipeline networks would boost the nations of the region economically and tie them more closely together.

If Putin has his way, the SCO could not only rival NATO, it could fashion a new financial structure that directly competes with the IMF and World Bank. The New Development Bank (FKA the BRICS Bank), created this past summer in Brazil, was a first step in that direction. And that could lead to the dethroning of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency, with dire consequences for the American economy.

As I argue in The Colder War, I believe that this is Putin’s ultimate aim: to stage an assault on the dollar that brings the US down to the level of just one ordinary nation among many… and in the process, to elevate his motherland to the most exalted status possible.

What happened in Tajikistan this year and what will happen in Ufa next summer—these things matter. A lot.

Perhaps no one knows how dangerous Vladimir Putin is and how much he controls the flow of capital in the global energy trade than author of The Colder War, Marin Katusa.

Marin stakes millions on his deep knowledge of energy and politics. And as a result, his hedge funds have outperformed the TSXV index by 6-fold over the past 5 years. To discover everything Putin is planning and how it will directly affect you, click here to get a copy of Marin's brand new book, The Colder War.

Obama Sent Secret Letter to Iran Supreme Leader to Join Up Against ISIS
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Israel was not informed of a missive, which says that cooperation against terror group ISIS is contingent on reaching a nuclear deal by the November 24 deadline, the Wall Street Journal reports

US President Barack Obama reportedly sent a secret letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month offering to work together against the Islamic State terror group in exchange for a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The letter, reported on Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, was sent without informing Israel or other Middle Eastern allies, according to unnamed sources familiar with the correspondence cited by the paper.

In the missive, Obama describes a shared interest in working against the Islamic State group, which has seized wide swaths of Iraq and Syria, drawing a military response from a US-led coalition.

However, he said that joint operations against the group, which Iran views as a threat, could only take place after Tehran and six world powers came to a final agreement on curbing the country’s nuclear program.

Refusing to deny or confirm the report, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said: “I’m not in a position to discuss private correspondence between the president and any world leader.”

Earnest said that on the sidelines of the nuclear talks, being led by a group of powers known as the P5+1, Iran and the US had discussed the Islamic State threat.

But he reiterated the US stand that “the United States will not cooperate militarily with Iran in that effort, we won’t share intelligence with them.”

There was no immediate reaction from Jerusalem.

In September, Khamenei claimed he had rejected a private approach from the United States suggesting cooperation on the battlefield.

US officials have not confirmed or denied making a request in private, but US Secretary of State John Kerry said at the time that there was a role for Iran in the battle against the Islamic State.

The talks are set to expire on November 24. Israel has raised fears that a possible deal could leave Iran with the ability to create a nuclear weapon.

On Thursday, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz flew to Paris to meet with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to lobby against a deal.

The letter to Khamenei was the fourth from Obama since he took office in 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Obama has presided over something of a cold detente with Iran over the nuclear talks after decades of hostility, though ties between Washington and Tehran have remained chilly at best.

Khamenei, a religious leader who has control over all Iran’s functions, has been openly critical of the US and Israel, calling for their destruction on several occasions.

“They stop at nothing. This is the reality of the Zionist regime. The only solution is to destroy this regime,” Khamenei said at a rally in July.

On Wednesday, Obama said it was an “open question” as to whether international negotiators and Iran can reach a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program. With the deadline looming, Obama said the next three to four weeks will be key.

“There’s a sizable portion of the political elite that cut their teeth on anti-Americanism,” Obama said Wednesday about the Iranian leadership. “Whether they can manage to say ’Yes’…is an open question.”

Many Republican leaders have criticized the administration’s desire to ease sanctions on Iran while the talks are underway, or to embrace any agreement that would allow Tehran to continue generating nuclear power. The upcoming deadline, therefore, could represent the last chance the White House will get at reaching a comprehensive agreement that would prevent Iran from being able to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is for civilian applications.

“Whether we can actually get a deal done, we’re going to have to find out over the next three to four weeks,” Obama said.

In Paris on Wednesday, Kerry dismissed questions about whether the Republicans’ command of Congress would derail the nuclear deal. He said the same sticking points would remain no matter which US political party was in power. “I don’t believe that changes either side,” he said.

The United States and Iran broke off diplomatic ties in 1980, but the two sides have both engaged in the multilateral negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are due to meet in Oman over the weekend in talks hosted by European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton.

A final session of talks is then due to take place in Vienna from November 18-24, and Kerry has stressed that the deadline would not be extended.

The West accuses Iran of seeking to develop the nuclear weapons under the guise of a peaceful civilian energy program.

Israel in the past has raised the threat of military action to prevent Iran from getting the bomb, while Washington has left its options open.

On Thursday, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, dismissed said a military strike against Iran would be unwise.

“We do have the capability — were we asked to use it — to address an Iranian nuclear capability,” said Dempsey.

“But… as we look at using the military instrument if necessary to address the Iranian nuclear issue, that would delay it, it will not eliminate it,” he told a forum at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“What really makes the nuclear capability of Iran an issue, is not centrifuges and ballistic missiles but rather the human capital that has the expertise to regenerate it,” Dempsey explained.

“We do have the capability to delay their nuclear enterprise by some number of years, which I won’t obviously articulate here.”

NYC Ebola 'Active Monitoring': from 117 Cases to 357 in 1 Week
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

In a stunning press release, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), and the NYC Health and Hospital Corporation (HHC) announced that the number of individuals in New York City who are being “actively monitored” for the Ebola infection has jumped to 357 people from 117 people the prior week. 

That represents almost a 300% increase. 

This also does not represent people who have entered New York City from West Africa and lied on their entry forms, regarding the risk that they carry the virus. Those people wouldn’t even currently show up in the NYC Ebola watch list count.

The press release reported that the “vast majority” of the increased number of possible Ebola patients now in New York City represents people who have recently come to the United States from the Ebola-stricken West African countries by airplane. Had a “travel ban” been imposed these people would not have been able to enter the United States. 

President Barack Obama has actively resisted the imposition of any travel ban from the West African Ebola-affected countries. Were any of the 357 people to have actually contracted Ebola, it would be an extremely dramatic development. That’s because NYC health officials would have to go a massive “contact tracing” protocol and trace every contact the Ebola-infected had been for his entire stay in New York City. As the Ebola-watch number increases, the likelihood also increases for an actual New York City Ebola-infected person to surface.

Under the “active monitoring” regimen New York City “health officials have to check in with affected individuals daily, rather than just allowing people to monitor their own symptoms.” As more people arrive from West Africa the number is likely to dramatically increase. After the 21-day maximum incubation period for Ebola, though, if the patient hasn’t shown any symptoms, he can be taken off the monitoring.

More Than 600 Reported Chemical Exposure in Iraq, Pentagon Acknowledges
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsThe New York Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

More than 600 American service members since 2003 have reported to military medical staff members that they believe they were exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq, but the Pentagon failed to recognize the scope of the reported cases or offer adequate tracking and treatment to those who may have been injured, defense officials say.

The Pentagon’s disclosure abruptly changed the scale and potential costs of the United States’ encounters with abandoned chemical weapons during the occupation of Iraq, episodes the military had for more than a decade kept from view.

This previously untold chapter of the occupation became public after an investigation by The New York Times revealed last month that although troops did not find an active weapons of mass destruction program, they did encounter degraded chemical weapons from the 1980s that had been hidden in caches or used in makeshift bombs.

The Times initially disclosed 17 cases of American service members who were injured by sarin or a sulfur mustard agent. And since the report was published last month, more service members have come forward, pushing the number who were exposed to chemical agents to more than 25. But an internal review of Pentagon records ordered by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has now uncovered that hundreds of troops told the military they believe they were exposed, officials said.

The new and larger tally of potential cases suggests that there were more encounters with chemical weapons than the United States had acknowledged and that other people — including foreign soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi troops and civilians — may also have been at risk.

Having not acted for years on that data, the Pentagon says it will now expand outreach to veterans. One first step, officials said, includes a toll-free national telephone hotline for service members and veterans to report potential exposures and seek medical evaluation or care.

Phillip Carter, who leads veterans programs at the Center for a New American Security, called the Pentagon’s failure to organize and follow up on the information “a stunning oversight.” Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said the military must restore trust by sharing information.

“We need total transparency and absolute candor,” Mr. Rieckhoff said, and noted the military’s poor record in releasing information about its use in Vietnam of Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant linked to an array of health problems, and in sharing data about troops’ presumed chemical exposures and other medical and environmental risks during and soon after the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

Military officers said the previously unacknowledged data was discovered when, at Mr. Hagel’s prodding, the Army’s Public Health Command examined its collection of standardized medical-history surveys, known as post-deployment health assessments, which troops filled out as they completed combat tours.

Some of the chemical projectiles discovered in December 2006 in Iraq, awaiting disposal. Credit The New York Times

The assessments included the following question: “Do you think you were exposed to any chemical, biological and radiological warfare agents during this deployment?” For those who answered “yes,” the forms provided a block for a brief narrative explanation.

Col. Jerome Buller, a spokesman for the Army surgeon general, said Thursday that the review showed that 629 people answered “yes” to that question and also filled in the block with information indicating chemical agent exposure.

Those who answered the questionnaire would have received medical consultations at the end of their combat tours, Colonel Buller said.

Why the military did not take further steps — including compiling the data as it accumulated over more than a decade, tracking veterans with related medical complaints, or circulating warnings about risks to soldiers and to the Department of Veterans Affairs — remained unclear.

Before post-deployment assessments were reviewed, Colonel Buller said, the Public Health Command had already expanded its search for potential victims and intended to examine the medical records of all troops assigned to units that the Army has belatedly acknowledged handled chemical weapons or were attacked with them.

These include three Army explosive ordnance disposal companies and B Company, First Battalion, 14th Infantry, he said.

Veterans said this unit list was incomplete and would inevitably grow as the military accounted for other high-risk troops, including those on route-clearance duties in areas where chemical roadside bombs were repeatedly found, or chemical warfare troops who served in so-called technical escort units, which were assigned to collect and analyze the old chemical weapons.

Nonetheless, the new data has prompted the Public Health Command to take further steps, Colonel Buller said.

These will include identifying all veterans who reported a possible chemical exposure, gathering their medical records, contacting them for a structured interview and perhaps inviting them for a medical exam.

He said the Department of Defense had also revived a telephone line, 1-800-497-6261, for veterans to notify the Pentagon that they may have been exposed. The phone line, he said, had previously been used for veterans reporting Gulf War-related illnesses.

Immediate reactions among exposed service members and veterans’ advocates mixed cautious appreciation with skepticism.

“It’s too little, too late,” said Jordan Zoeller, a former Army sergeant who served in a platoon that was exposed to a sulfur mustard agent as soldiers destroyed buried chemical artillery shells near Taji in 2008.

Mr. Zoeller was medically retired after developing a series of health problems, including asthma and psoriasis. He said his breathing trouble began within weeks of the chemical episode, though he is not sure its onset was related to a mustard agent because the Army denied that he had been exposed and did not examine his claims.

“No one ever believed me,” he said. “They were like, ‘Oh, that never happened.’ ”

He said at one point after he returned to the States and coughed up blood and lost consciousness, a regimental surgeon agreed to look into the episode. Nothing came of it, he said.

Millions of Voiceprints Being Collected By Governments, Corporations
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Over the telephone, in jail and online, a new digital bounty is being harvested: the human voice.

Businesses and governments around the world increasingly are turning to voice biometrics, or voiceprints, to pay pensions, collect taxes, track criminals and replace passwords.

"We sometimes call it the invisible biometric," said Mike Goldgof, an executive at Madrid-based AGNITiO, one of about 10 leading companies in the field.

Those companies have helped enter more than 65 million voiceprints into corporate and government databases, according to Associated Press interviews with dozens of industry representatives and records requests in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

"There's a misconception that the technology we have today is only in the domain of the intelligence services, or the domain of 'Star Trek,'" said Paul Burmester, of London-based ValidSoft, a voice biometric vendor. "The technology is here today, well-proven and commonly available."

And in high demand.

Dan Miller, an analyst with Opus Research in San Francisco, estimates that the industry's revenue will roughly double from just under $400 million last year to between $730 million and $900 million next year.

Barclays PLC recently experimented with voiceprinting as an identification for its wealthiest clients. It was so successful that Barclays is rolling it out to the rest of its 12 million retail banking customers.

"The general feeling is that voice biometrics will be the de facto standard in the next two or three years," said Iain Hanlon, a Barclays executive.

Vendors say the timbre of a person's voice is unique in a way similar to the loops and whorls at the tips of someone's fingers.

Their technology measures the characteristics of a person's speech as air is expelled from the lungs, across the vocal folds of the larynx, up the pharynx, over the tongue, and out through the lips, nose, and teeth. Typical speaker recognition software compares those characteristics with data held on a server. If two voiceprints are similar enough, the system declares them a match.

The Vanguard Group Inc., a Pennsylvania-based mutual fund manager, is among the technology's many financial users. Tens of thousands of customers log in to their accounts by speaking the phrase: "At Vanguard, my voice is my password" into the phone.

"We've done a lot of testing, and looked at siblings, even twins," said executive John Buhl, whose voice was a bit hoarse during a telephone interview. "Even people with colds, like I have today, we looked at that."

The single largest implementation identified by the AP is in Turkey, where mobile phone company Turkcell has taken the voice biometric data of some 10 million customers using technology provided by market leader Nuance Communications Inc. But government agencies are catching up.

In the U.S., law enforcement officials use the technology to monitor inmates and track offenders who have been paroled.

In New Zealand, the Internal Revenue Department celebrated its 1 millionth voiceprint, leading the revenue minister to boast that his country had "the highest level of voice biometric enrollments per capita in the world."

In South Africa, roughly 7 million voiceprints have been collected by the country's Social Security Agency, in part to verify that those claiming pensions are still alive.

Activists worry that the popularity of voiceprinting has a downside.

"It's more mass surveillance," said Sadhbh McCarthy, an Irish privacy researcher. "The next thing you know, that will be given to border guards, and you'll need to speak into a microphone when you get back from vacation."

Let the Headlines Speak
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Ex-USSR leader Gorbachev: World on brink of new Cold War
The world is on the brink of a new Cold War, and trust should be restored by dialogue with Russia, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said. At an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Sunday, Mr Gorbachev said the West had "succumbed to triumphalism".  

EU calls for Palestinian state as tensions soar
Gaza City - The top EU diplomat appealed Saturday for the establishment of a Palestinian state as the killing of a young Arab-Israeli by police fanned tensions following violent clashes in Jerusalem.  

Jerusalem should be capital of two states: top EU diplomat
Ramallah - The European Union's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said on Saturday that Jerusalem "should be the capital of two states", as tensions gripped the holy city hit by Israeli-Palestinian violence.  

Caliphate In Europe: Sweden Cedes Control Of Muslim Areas
Political Correctness: The perils of multiculturalism and open borders have reached critical mass in Sweden. There are Muslim enclaves where postal, fire and other essential services — even police officers themselves —require police protection. A police report released last month identifies 55 of these "no-go zones" in Sweden.  

Ongoing Earthquake Swarm In Nevada Increasing Chances For A ‘Big One’  A swarm of earthquakes in a remote northwest area of Nevada that started in July this year has grown in intensity over the past several days, increasing the probability for a larger quake.  

Magnitude 5.2 quake jolts Davao Oriental
MANILA - A magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook Davao Oriental on Saturday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said. Phivolcs said the epicenter of the quake, which happened at 6:54 a.m., was located 67 kilometers southeast of Tarragona.  

Earth cracking Up: Just earthquakes or Something beyond?
Does this point towards a supernatural seismic activity threatening our planet? Or is this just a result of extreme drilling and fracking? Moreover, according to a new study there were more than twice the big earthquakes, worldwide in the first quarter of 2014 as compared with the average since 1979. So should we be worried?  

Major 6.9 magnitude quake strikes off PNG’s New Britain island
Sydney: A major earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 struck off Papua New Guinea’s New Britain island on Friday but there were no immediate reports of damage, said residents in nearby towns.  

Why the Temple Mount matters
Psalm 122:6 instructs us to “Pray that Jerusalem has peace.” Well, now would definitely be a good time to pray, because Jerusalem is currently at a boiling point. And it’s largely over what might be the most contested piece of real estate in history: the Temple Mount.  

China builds computer network impenetrable to hackers
China will soon have the world's most secure major computer network, making communications between Beijing and Shanghai impenetrable to hackers and giving it a decisive edge in its quiet cyberwar with the United States. In two years' time, a fibre-optic cable between the two cities will transmit quantum encryption keys that can completely secure government, financial and military information from eavesdroppers.  

Egyptians in Sinai border town complain of heavy-handed army crackdown after militant attack
Egyptian troops are pressing ahead with the demolition of hundreds of homes along the border with the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity and firing warning shots in the air...to evict thousands of residents ...The demolitions, meant to halt the smuggling of weapons and militants in and out of Gaza, have also put pressure on Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza and has long counted on smuggling tunnels as its lifeline.  

'Catastrophic' bushfire warning for South Australia
The state of South Australia is facing "catastrophic" fire conditions, with very high temperatures and dangerous hot dry winds. Water-bombing aircraft are on standby in preparation for possible bushfires. The South Australian Country Fire Service (CFS) has declared total fire bans for 12 out of 15 fire districts.  

Islamic State crisis: US to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq
The US is to send 1,500 more non-combat troops to Iraq to boost Iraqi forces fighting Islamic State (IS) militants, nearly doubling the US presence. The Pentagon said the troops would train and assist Iraqi forces. President Barack Obama authorised the deployment following a request from Iraq's government, the Pentagon added.  

Hamas: 'Popular army' formed for 'liberation of al-Aksa'
Hamas has declared the formation of a "popular army" at the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday, according to a report by the AFP. A spokesman for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades - Hamas's military branch - said the 2,500 recruits would form "the first section of the popular army for the liberation of al-Aksa and of Palestine," according the AFP report.  

Historic shift as Abu Dhabi looks to Asia for oil concession
Abu Dhabi - Gulf emirate Abu Dhabi seems likely to choose Asian firms when it renews a decades-old major oil concession, sources and analysts told AFP, in a historic shift for the global energy market.

Haim Saban Raises $34M to Support Israeli Defense Forces
Billionaire mogul and master fundraiser Haim Saban brought the A-lists of Hollywood and tech together Thursday at the Beverly Hilton to raise $34 million for the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces.

Kiev says tanks roll in from Russia
Kiev - Dozens of tanks and truckloads of soldiers have crossed from Russia into Kremlin-backed rebel territory, Ukraine said, though neither NATO nor the US were able to verify the claim. The allegations that Moscow is stepping up reinforcements for the insurgents stoked fears that both sides could slide into a return to all-out fighting.

Russia's Currency Tumbles as Investors Panic
MOSCOW - Russia's currency suffered its worst week since the financial crisis of the 1990s destroyed the country's economy, dropping over 10% in just the last couple days.

U.S. 'Trojan Horse' Bug Lurking in Vital US Computers Since 2011
A destructive “Trojan Horse” malware program has penetrated the software that runs much of the nation’s critical infrastructure and is poised to cause an economic catastrophe, according to the Department of Homeland Security. National Security sources told ABC News there is evidence that the malware was inserted by hackers believed to be sponsored by the Russian government, and is a very serious threat.

Israel to destroy homes of Palestinian Jerusalem attackers
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that the homes of Palestinians who have carried out attacks in Jerusalem be demolished. The decision, taken on Thursday, follows weeks of unrest in the city. Four people have now died in two separate attacks on pedestrians in Jerusalem in the past two weeks.

January in November: Arctic blast to hit USA
The onslaught will be fueled in part by remnants of Typhoon Nuri, which will wallop Alaska's Aleutian Islands with furious, hurricane-force winds and mammoth 50-foot waves over the weekend. The system is expected to push cold air into much of the continental USA next week,

Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, escalating crisis
KIEV/MOSCOW - Ukraine's military accused Russia on Friday of sending a column of 32 tanks and truckloads of troops into the country's east to support pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces.

Obama is playing with matches
The mid-term election should have been a resounding wake-up call to President Obama to change from his liberal agenda and start working with an emboldened Republican Party. On Tuesday, the GOP took over control of the U.S. Senate, expanded its majority in the House and gained governorships in such blue states as Maryland and Illinois.

Palestine - Obama Confronts Embarrassing About-Face
The Republican Party’s stunning victory in the American mid-term elections offers real hope that President Obama will now be held to honouring the written commitments made to Israel by President George W Bush in his exchange of letters with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on 12 April 2004—as overwhelmingly endorsed by the House of Representatives 407-9 on 23 June 2004 and the Senate 95-3 the next day.

Palestinians clash with Israeli troops again over holy site
JERUSALEM/GAZA - Palestinian protesters fought with Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Friday, the latest clashes in a fortnight of violence over access to Jerusalem's holiest site.

Israel clampdown at shrine fuels Muslim fears
JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Palestinians knelt on prayer carpets in a Jerusalem street Friday, faced by a cordon of Israeli riot police who blocked them from reaching Islam's third- holiest shrine in the nearby Old City

After Israel-Gaza Conflict, Growing Anti-Semitism On US College Campuses
The Israel-Gaza conflict that took place over the summer has had a ripple effect onto U.S. college campuses, with reported incidents of anti-Semitism there rising sharply after the war.

Let the Headlines Speak
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

China develops new rocket for manned moon mission
China is developing a huge rocket that will be used for its first manned mission to the moon, state media said Monday, underscoring Beijing's increasingly ambitious space programme. The first launch of the Long March-9 will take place around 2028, said the China Daily, which also cited experts saying the rocket's development is at the research stage.  

EU's Mogherini to press Turkey over IS militants
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is in Turkey to urge it to participate fully in the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria. Ms Mogherini and other top EU officials will urge Turkey to stop the flow of foreign fighters across its borders. In a tweet from the capital Ankara, she said her agenda also included Turkey's EU accession bid.  

Australian banks need more capital to avert crises, Murray report says
Australian banks need to hold more capital to be able to survive future financial crises, says a new report. There should also be minimum education standards for financial advisers, it said. The report, released on Sunday, also recommended superannuation (pension fund) fees be reduced.  

EU earns 'fail' grade over bank capital regime
New EU laws do not meet new global standards and would not be enough to ensure that the bloc's banks could survive a future financial crisis, according to a new report by the leading global bank regulator. The rebuke is contained in a report published on Friday (5 December) by the Basel committee at the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements, the body tasked with formulating the rules that govern the world's lenders.  

Top Putin aide: Mossad training ISIS terrorists in Iraq, Syria
A top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday accused Israel and the United States of training the Islamic State in order to undermine Moscow’s interests in the Middle East. In an interview with Iranian state television, Alexander Prokhanov said that Mossad agents were training ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq.  

Hezbollah drones, anti-aircraft missiles destroyed in alleged IAF attack, says Syrian opposition
Syrian opposition sources told Arab media on Monday that the airstrikes near Damascus that were alleged to have been carried out by Israeli warplanes destroyed a storage facility housing anti-aircraft missiles as well as drones belonging to Hezbollah.  

An Iran-Russia axis
What do two nations with a history of over 200 years of enmity and war do when they seek a change of discourse? Find a common enemy — real or imagined. For Russia and Iran, traditional foes since the 18th century, that common enemy is the United States, according to political circles in Moscow and Tehran.  

Watchdogs brace for surprises in massive $1.014T spending bill
Outside groups are bracing for surprises in the massive government-funding bill the Congress is expected to consider next week. The $1.014 trillion bill funding most of the government through September 2015 is one of the last trains out of the station, as the 113th Congress is set to close shop on Friday.  

Kerry: Israeli-Palestinian peace is not a pipe dream
The two-state solution is the only path to peace, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday in Washington, less than 24 hours after Economy Minister Naftali Bennett dismissed that as unrealistic.  

China Announces Record Trade Surplus, Helped by Weak Oil Price
China’s trade surplus soared in November to hit a record, as the steeply falling price of oil, iron ore and other commodities reduced the cost of imports even as China’s exports continued to capture a growing share of world markets.  

Jews rally in Paris suburb to protest rise in anti-Semitism
Jews rally in Paris suburb to protest rise in anti-Semitism • By JOSEPH STRICH and Reuters Hundreds of Jews gathered Sunday in Creteil, to protest a violent racially motivated attack last week in the Paris suburb, after the interior minister admitted that anti-Semitic threats and incidents have more than doubled so far this year in France.  

Leave Or Let Live? Arabs Move In To Jewish Settlements
JERUSALEM - Little noticed amid the furor over one of Israel's most contentious policies, a small but growing number of Arabs are moving into Jewish settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem, drawn by cheaper rent and better services.  

Iran: a Deal is Within Reach By November 24
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iran sees no alternative to a diplomatic settlement with six world powers on its nuclear program and believes both sides are resolved to reach a deal by a self-imposed November 24 deadline, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, was quoted by Reuters as having said Saturday.

"No middle solutions exist and all our thoughts are focused on how to reach a settlement," Araqchi, Iran's chief negotiator, told the state news agency IRNA.

"No one wants to return to the way things were before the Geneva Agreement. That would be too risky a scenario," he said, referring to the preliminary accord reached a year ago.

"Both sides are aware of this, which is why I think a deal is within reach. We are serious and I can see the same resolve on the other side," said Araqchi, according to Reuters.

Araqchi’s comments come ahead of Sunday talks in Oman between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and former EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Months of intense negotiations, including between Kerry and Zarif in mid-October in Vienna, have made some progress but appear deadlocked on the key issues of uranium enrichment and the pace of any sanctions relief.

Iran, meanwhile, has been toughening its stance in recent weeks. Araqchi recently said he sees no prospect for a deal unless the other side abandons its “illogical excessive demands”.

A senior Iranian official followed those comments by declaring that Iran will demand that all Western sanctions be lifted as part of a final deal, rejecting an American proposal of a gradual lifting of sanctions.

Kerry said Wednesday that the negotiations would get more difficult if the November 24 deadline were missed, and the powers were not - for now - weighing any extension to the talks.

Meanwhile, a report Friday by the UN’s atomic agency said that Iran is failing to answer questions about its nuclear program.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says Iran is complying with an agreement to curb uranium enrichment, but also notes it has made no progress in its investigation into possible military dimensions of the program.

Growing Number of Would - be ISIS Fighters Sailing to Turkey to Bypass Airport Security
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Vancouver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Federal Appeals Court Upholds 4 States' Gay Marriage Bans
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsLos Angeles Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A federal appeals court panel in Ohio upheld four states’ bans on gay marriage Thursday, setting the stage for the Supreme Court to rule finally on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.

The ruling by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals is the first by a federal appellate court to formally deny gay couples a right to marry. It follows a year in which federal judges across the nation repeatedly ruled that since marriage is a fundamental right, states had no justification for denying marriage to gays and lesbians.

Judge Jeffrey Sutton, writing for a 2-1 majority, said the issue should be decided in the political arena, not in the courts. The opinion upheld bans on gay marriage in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

“Better in this instance, we think, to allow changes through the customary political processes, in which the people, gay and straight alike … [meet] as fellow citizens seeking to resolve a new social issue in a fair-minded way,” he wrote.

“We must keep in mind that something can be fundamentally important without being a fundamental right under the Constitution. Otherwise, state regulations of many deeply important subjects — from education to healthcare to living conditions to decisions about when to die — would be subject to unforgiving review. They are not,” he added.

In dissent, Judge Martha Daughtrey retorted that Sutton’s opinion “would have made an engrossing TED talk, or possibly an introductory lecture in political philosophy,” but said it failed to address the legal question of whether a ban on same-sex marriage violated equal protection under the Constitution.

If judges can’t address perceived wrongs put in place by the voting majority, she wrote, “our whole intricate, constitutional system of checks and balances, as well as the oaths to which we swore, prove to be nothing but shams.”

Last month, the Supreme Court refused to rule in cases from five states where judges had struck down the bans on gay marriage. Justices commented that since all the lower courts agreed, there was no need for their intervention.

Since then, advocates for both sides were focused on the pending ruling from the 6th Circuit Court, and Thursday’s decision will probably lead to speedy appeals to the high court.

Under the Supreme Court’s calendar, appeals that are ready by late January can be granted a review in the spring and decided by the end of the term in June. Otherwise, they are pushed back to the fall.

If gay rights advocates and state lawyers agree to move quickly on the appeals, they could have their cases ready by January.

Gay rights groups denounced the decision and called it an outlier.

“While a tidal wave of courts around the nation have struck down marriage bans, this decision leaves 6th Circuit states in a backwater and, worst of all, injures same-sex couples and their children,” said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal.

Michigan Atty. Gen. Bill Schuette, whose office argued before the panel to uphold the state’s ban on gay marriage, welcomed the ruling and said he looked forward to a high court appeal.

“As I have stated repeatedly, the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final word on this issue. The sooner they rule, the better, for Michigan and the country,” Schuette said.

ECB Could PM 1tn Into Eurozone in Fresh Round of Quantitative Easing
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Guardian
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Earthquake Swarm Near Lakeview: 'Slight' Increase in Likelihood of Larger Quake, Scientists Say
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsOregon Live
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Seismologists in Nevada, Oregon and California continue to monitor an intense swarm of earthquakes about 40 miles southeast of Lakeview, Oregon, in the Nevada desert.

The magnitude 4.6 temblor late Tuesday night was followed by several quakes or magnitude 3 or greater, officials said. The area is so remote only four people reported feeling Tuesday's earthquake.

Scientists with the Oregon Department of Geology & Mineral Industries said there have been earthquakes of magnitude 4 or greater in the same area in the past week, and 42 quakes greater than magnitude 3 in the past three months.

Officials say all told, there have been 719 earthquakes in the area, mostly magnitude 2 to 3, since mid-July.

Does the swarm of earthquakes signal that a larger, more damaging quake is in the offing?

Using historic data as a model, DOGAMI scientists said the swarm of quakes does slightly increase the likelihood of a larger earthquake.

Earthquakes can happen anytime," Oregon state Geologist Vicki S. McConnell said. "Planning and preparing now helps you be ready."

The quakes are occurring in an area of north Washoe County in Nevada that's not only remote, but also contains a sparse network of automated monitors. Those add to the difficulty of tracking seismic activity, Dr. Ken Smith of the Nevada Seismology Laboratory told The Oregonian in August.

As a result of the monitors' remote locations, Smith said, seismologists must manually check computer data, which takes more time.

"We are locating as many as we can locate," Smith said, "and trying to get ahead of them."

Smith said the Great Basin area where the swarm is occurring is crisscrossed by fault lines. In 1968, a swarm of earthquakes near Adel, 30 miles east of Lakeview, included three earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.

Nevada quake specialists said the Adel quakes caused moderate damage. A similar swarm to Adel and the recent spate of temblors also resembles the  "Mogul-Somersett" swarm in west Reno in 2008. That swarm included a magnitude 5 quake that also caused moderate damage.

According to the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Nevada includes "one of the most seismically active regions in the United States. Along with California and Alaska, Nevada ranks in the top three states subject to the most large earthquakes over the last 150 years."

At 6:16 a.m. Feb. 21, 2008, a magnitude 6 quake near Wells, Nevada, injured three people, heavily damaged 20 buildings and damaged another 700 structures.

According to the USGS, Nevada experienced a significant round of major quakes between between 1915 and 1954, finishing with magnitude 6.6 and 7.1 earthquakes in 1954. The area where the sequence of earthquakes occurred was named the Central Nevada Seismic Belt.

Caliphate in Europe: Sweden Cedes Control of Muslim Areas
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

The perils of multiculturalism and open borders have reached critical mass in Sweden. There are Muslim enclaves where postal, fire and other essential services — even police officers themselves —require police protection.

A police report released last month identifies 55 of these "no-go zones" in Sweden. These zones are similar to others that have popped up in Europe in recent years. They formed as large Muslim populations emigrating to politically correct and tolerant European states refuse to assimilate and set up virtual states within a state where the authorities fear to tread.

Soeren Kern of the Hudson Institute has documented the proliferation of these zones. They are de facto Muslim micro-states under Shariah law that reject Western values, society and legal systems. In these districts non-Muslims are expected to conform to the dictates of fundamentalist Islam or face violent consequences.

"A more precise name for these zones," says Middle Eastern expert Daniel Pipes, "would be Dar al-Islam — the House of Islam or the place where Islam rules."

Muslim immigration to Sweden has been fostered by an open-border asylum policy. In the 1990s, the country welcomed 100,000 refugees fleeing the conflict in the Balkans.

Sweden has also been a haven for refugees from Iraq, and a recent estimate put the number of Iraqi refugees living there at 125,000. Since September 2012, asylum-seekers from the Arab world are emigrating to Sweden at the rate of some 1,250 per week, writes Kern.

According to a report in the Daily Caller, Swedish police officers in May pursued a suspect into one of these zones in the southern city of Landskrona. Their car was rammed, the officers forced out. They were quickly surrounded by roughly 50 "thugs" and called for backup while holding back the threatening mob with drawn weapons.

Other officers who responded were forced to stop a half mile away, just outside the zone. The police commander didn't press the issue fearing an escalation. Only with the help of a few residents whom the cornered police knew were the officers allowed to exit the restricted area.

Swedish police have not seriously tried to contest the zones since the 2013 Stockholm ghetto riots in which hundreds of cars and buildings were burned. The police report that there are now vehicle checkpoints operated by Muslim gangs on the borders of these zones. Instead of confrontation, Swedish authorities occasionally send special "dialogue officers" in a sort of Muslim outreach program.

A new curriculum at the Swedish Police Academy beginning next year will include course on cultural sensitivity designed to achieve "greater understanding of the intercultural perspective."
Needless to say, there will be no profiling in Sweden.

Nor will there be any profiling in the U.S., despite a not-too-dissimilar influx of Muslim immigrants to whom assimilation has its limits. In the Minneapolis neighborhood of Cedar-Riverside there is "Little Mogadishu," home to America's largest concentration of Somali immigrants. This neighborhood has become a bountiful recruiting ground for Islamic terrorists.

CBS News has reported that as many as 40 young men from Minnesota have joined Islamic fighters in Iraq and Syria. Among them was an American named Douglas MacArthur McCain, who died fighting for the Islamic State in Syria.

Fox affiliate KMSP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul has reported the case of Abdirahmaan Muhumed. Before going to Syria to fight and die for IS, he worked at Delta Global Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. His job was to clean aircraft, and he had a security clearance that gave him unfettered access to the tarmac and passenger jets.

There are no mini-caliphates in the U.S. quite yet. But perhaps we should keep the Swedish experience in mind as we remember the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/November07/075.html#l8QzcGflGvUhGeDK.99

Bill Nye Targets the Children of Bible Believers
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsFriday Church News Notes, www.wayoflife.org
Categories: Creation - Evolution;Warning

In his new book Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, Bill Nye again targets the children of Bible believers. He says, "We're all a product of the same evolutionary processes. Here's hoping we can work together to bring the children of the creationists' preachers' flocks to a more enlightened, boundless way of thinking about the world around us" (p. 18). Nye's book Undeniable is filled with undeniable myths and lies, and Nye's scoffing and willful ignorance proves that the Bible is true, for this was prophesied 2,000 years ago (2 Peter 3:3-7). Nye blithely ignores the fact that if we were indeed "the product of evolutionary process," life is without meaning and death is the end, so it would not matter what you believe, whether creationism or atheism. Nye's targeting of the children of Bible-believing families and churches instructs us about the necessity today of properly discipling our youth and preparing them to face the skepticism of our times. See the Way of Life online bookstore under the section "Materials for Discipling Youth" for suggestions. "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:3-7).

Arab Social Media Humming With Hate: 'Run Over the Jews'
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Antisemitism

Palestinian Arab social media is aflame with graphic violence laced tweets urging Palestinians to run over and/or kidnap Jews, directly referencing a “Car-Intifida” in Arabic.

The posts mix the messages that the Temple Mount is under attack by Jews and that Palestinians should attack Jews.

The posts were exposed by Mudar Zahran, who describes himself on his Tweeter feed as the “Secretary General of the Jordanian Coalition of Opposition.”

In another tweet, Zahran posted that “This hashtag is the most spread now on Palestinian social media... it means 'run over' which reads 'dais,' sounding like 'Daish,' (ISIS).”

In other words, by running over (“dais”) Israelis, the Palestinians are paying homage to “Daish,” or ISIS.

Early on the morning of November 5, the day an Israeli soldier was murdered by a Palestinian terrorist who ran him over, Zahran tweeted a poster claiming to have been photographed in Judea and Samaria, which Zahran translated as calling on Palestinians to "get angry" for "Jews have entered Al Aqsa & stomped on the Quran.”

Soon after, again on the 5th, Zahran posted another tweet that stated: “Media can kill: wife of Palestinian motorist who ran over Israelis today: 'He had been watching Al Aqsa news since the morning & got angry.'”

So, Zahran’s tweets directly connect Palestinian Authority's incitement to the Car-Intifada that has escalated violence in the recent months.

On Friday a pair of Palestinian musicians even released a music single called "run over the settlers," which has been going viral amid rave reviews by Arab extremists.

'In the End We'll Burn'
Nov 8th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Soldiers have released, again, a video that expresses their extreme frustration at the IDF's absurdly strict open-fire orders that have turned them into sitting ducks for Arab attacks in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.

In the latest short video, shot from inside an IDF pillbox, a soldier says plaintively: “Israel, the year 2014, firebombs.” Then, firebombs hurled from below burst into flames just outside the pillbox window. “Israel,” he continues, bitterly – “keep tying us down! Keep tying us down, in the end we'll burn!”

A video released by soldiers about two weeks earlier shows a similar situation in a guard position, with Arabs taunting the soldiers from up close.

Two years ago, a shocking video showed a helpless soldier inside a Border Police position at Shuafat, north of Jerusalem, who was under vicious attack by Arabs while other soldiers waited nearby and did nothing, under orders from above.

Soldiers who serve in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem consistently complain that extremely strict open-fire orders prevent them from shooting at attackers except for the most extreme situations. Even the use of nonlethal weapons involves approval from higher-ups, which is rarely forthcoming.

As a result, the Arab rioters grow ever more brazen in their attacks.

"Central Command and the Judea and Samaria theater have turned into a Russian roulette in the last few months, in which the lives, health and dignity of soldier and civilians hang in the balance, while Palestinian marauders enjoy near complete immunity in what can only be described a operational recklessness," wrote political activist and reservist soldier Erez Tadmor last year.

Soldiers' presence does not guarantee the safety of civilians, he said, "especially when they are afraid to exit their rock-proofed vehicle, for fear that they will have to open fire and will face the real threat: the possibility of being put on trial."