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Venezuela's Death Spiral - A Dozen Eggs Cost $150 As Hyperinflation Horrors Hit Socialist Utopia
Sep 15th, 2016
CommentaryTyler Durden - Zero Hedge
Categories: Commentary

• The question of whether Socialism can be an effective economic system was famously raised when Margaret Thatcher said of the British Labor Party, "I think they've made the biggest financial mess that any government's ever made in this country for a very long time, and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic of them. They then start to nationalise everything."
• There are dire reports of people waiting in supermarket lines all day, only to discover that expected food deliveries never arrived and the shelves are empty.
• There are horrific tales of desperate people slaughtering zoo animals to provide their only meal of the day. Even household pets are targeted as a much-needed source for food.
• President Maduro is doubling down on the proven failed policies and philosophies of "Bolivarian Socialism," while diverting attention away from the crisis -- pointing fingers at so-called "enemies" of Venezuela such as the United States, Saudi Arabia and others.
• A dozen eggs was last reported to cost $150, and the International Monetary Fund "predicts that inflation in Venezuela will hit 720% this year.

For many Venezuelans, by every economic, social and political measure, their nation is unravelling at breakneck speed.

Severe shortages of food, clean water, electricity, medicines and hospital supplies punctuate a dire scenario of crime-ridden streets in the impoverished neighborhoods of this nearly failed OPEC state, which at one time claimed to be the most prosperous nation in Latin America.

Today, a once comfortable middle-class Venezuelan father is scrambling desperately to find his family's next meal -- sometimes hunting through garbage for salvageable food. The unfortunate 75% majority of Venezuelans already suffering extreme poverty are reportedly verging on starvation.

Darkness is falling on Hugo Chavez's once-famous "Bolivarian revolution" that some policy experts, only a short time ago, thought would never end.

In a 2007 study on the Chavez years for the Washington, DC-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, Mark Weisbrot and Luis Sandoval wrote:

"[a]t present it does not appear that the current economic expansion is about to end any time in the near future. The gains in poverty reduction, employment, education and health care that have occurred in the last few years are likely to continue along with the expansion."

While it was not so long ago that many people heralded Venezuela as Latin America's successful utopian Socialist experiment, something has gone dreadfully wrong as the revolution's Marxist founder, Hugo Chavez, turned his Chavismo dream into an economic nightmare of unimaginable proportions.

The question of whether Socialism can be an effective economic system was famously raised when Margaret Thatcher said of the British Labor Party:

"I think they've made the biggest financial mess that any government's ever made in this country for a very long time, and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic of them. They then start to nationalise everything, and people just do not like more and more nationalisation, and they're now trying to control everything by other means."

In short: "The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

When President Nicolas Maduro inherited the Venezuelan Socialist "dream", in April of 2013, just one month after Chavez died, he was facing a mere 53% inflation rate. Today the Venezuelan bolivar is virtually worthless, and inflation is creeping to 500% with expectations of much more. A recent Washington Post report stated:

"[a]t present it does not appear that the current economic expansion is about to end any time in the near future. The gains in poverty reduction, employment, education and health care that have occurred in the last few years are likely to continue along with the expansion."

" ...markets expect Venezuela to default on its debt in the very near future. The country is basically bankrupt. It is not easy for a nation to go bankrupt with the largest oil reserves in the world, but Venezuela has managed it. How? Well, a combination of bad luck and worse policies. The first step was when Hugo Chávez's socialist government started spending more money on the poor, with everything from two-cent gasoline to free housing. That may all seem like it's a good idea in general — but only as long as there's money to spend. And by 2005 or so, Venezuela didn't have any."

Chavez had the good fortune to die just before the grim reaper showed up on Venezuela's doorstep. According to policy specialist Jose Cardenas:

"What began as a war against the 'squalid' oligarchy in order to build what he called '21st-century socialism' -- cheered on as he was by many leftists from abroad -- has collapsed into an unprecedented heap of misery and conflict."

Maduro is doubling down on the failed Chavismo economic and social policies that have contributed to an inflationarycrisis not seen since the days of the 1920's Weimar Republic in Germany, when the cost of a loaf of bread was a wheelbarrow full of cash.

Demonstrations and public cries for food are the unpleasant evidence of a once-prosperous society being torn apart by the very largess that marked its utopian ideals less than a decade ago.

There are dire reports of people waiting in supermarket lines all day, only to discover that expected food deliveries never arrived and the shelves are empty.

In desperation, some middle class families have organized online barter clubs as helpless citizens seek to trade anything for diapers and baby food, powdered milk, medicines, toilet paper and other essentials missing from store shelves or available only on the black market for double and triple already impossibly inflated prices..

There are horrific tales of desperate people slaughtering zoo animals to provide their only meal of the day. Even household pets are targeted as a much-needed source for food. This is a desperate time for a desperate people.

As things continue to worsen, President Maduro, unfortunately, is doubling down on the proven failed policies and philosophies of "Bolivarian Socialism," while diverting attention away from the crisis -- pointing fingers at so-called "enemies" of Venezuela such as the United States, Saudi Arabia and others.

Efforts to convince Maduro to enlist help from outside have failed, according to a report in the Catholic magazine, Crux:

Maduro has refused to accept help from international charitable organizations, including the Vatican-sponsored Caritas Internationalis, which through different affiliates has tried to send medicine and food.

"Denying that there's a crisis and refusing to let the world send medicine and food is not possible," said Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas.

The prelate believes that Maduro is refusing to accept help in an attempt to hide the "very grave situation of total shortage," which far from improving, he said, continues to deteriorate.

According to Breitbart:

"The Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, the organization of the nation's Catholic bishops, issued a scathing statement condemning president Maduro for giving the military full control of the nation's food supply, accusing him of being at the helm of a devastating "moral crisis" and crippling every aspect of life in Venezuela."

In what some economists have been calling a "death spiral", the government's failed economic policies are at the same time causing and trying to stem a runaway inflation with price-fixing policies which, in turn, are triggering shortages. Maduro is strongly urging businesses and farmers to sell their goods at severe losses, forcing shut-downs when the cost of doing business becomes prohibitive.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, the black market is thriving because goods are unavailable at prices fixed by the government. There are reports of ordinary people quitting inadequate-paying jobs to set up black market operations, hoping to be able to make enough to sustain life.

A dozen eggs was last reported to cost $150, and the International Monetary Fund "predicts that inflation in Venezuela will hit 720% this year. That might be an optimistic assessment, according to some local economic analysts, who expect the rate to reach as high as 1,200%."

According to a Bloomberg report from April:

"In a tale that highlights the chaos of unbridled inflation, Venezuela is scrambling to print new bills fast enough to keep up with the torrid pace of price increases. Most of the cash, like nearly everything else in the oil-exporting country, is imported. And with hard currency reserves sinking to critically low levels, the central bank is doling out payments so slowly to foreign providers that they are foregoing further business.

"Venezuela, in other words, is now so broke that it may not have enough money to pay for its money."

In the midst of this galloping cataclysm, there is no shortage of pundits who simplistically assert that the catastrophe is caused solely by the international collapse of oil prices. However, according to Justin Fox at Bloomberg:

"The divergence between Venezuela's revenue and spending started long before (the 2014) oil-price collapse. When oil prices hit their all-time high in July 2008, government revenue -- 40 percent of which comes directly from oil -- was already falling. The main problem was Venezuelan oil production, which dropped from 3.3 million barrels a day in 2006 to 2.7 million in 2011. It was still at 2.7 million in 2014, according to the latest BP Statistical Review of World Energy."

"Venezuela isn't running out of oil. Its proven reserves have skyrocketed since 2000 as geologists have learned more about the heavy crude of the Orinoco Belt. But getting at that oil will take a lot of resources and expertise, both things that Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA, best known in the U.S. for its Citgo subsidiary), has been lacking in since Chavez initiated a sort of hostile takeover starting in the early 2000s. First he kicked out 18,000 workers and executives, 40 percent of the company's workforce, after a strike. Then he started demanding control of PDVSA's joint ventures with foreign oil companies. One could interpret this in the most Chavez-friendly way possible -- he was aiming for a more just allocation of his nation's resources -- and still conclude that he made it harder for PDVSA to deliver the necessary tax revenue."

Cronyism and corruption prevailed under Chavez when oil was selling at almost $200 a barrel -- at a time when Venezuela could have put some money away for the inevitable rainy day. But President Hugo Chavez and successor president Maduro, were busy buying votes and consolidating power with free giveaways, according to Michael Klare inThe Nation.

Behind the doom and gloom Venezuela's collapse is the continuing specter of street crime and murder, according to Time.com in a May 2016 report:

"The country's runaway murder rate is just one of the factors driving opposition to President Nicolas Maduro in a country where shortages of food and basic goods are chronic, inflation is running rampant and the government is jailing political prisoners. But it serves as a bloody illustration of just how close to outright societal collapse Venezuela has come since the end of the 20th century, as gangs, guerrillas and militia defend their turfs and traditional authority structures fall by the wayside."

Venezuela's crime rate is one of the highest in the world. Called the world's most homicidal nation, Venezuela has more than street crime, thuggery and murder. Drug cartels, black marketeers, narcoterrorists, white collar criminals and money launderers are unfortunate hallmarks of the Chavez/Maduro legacy.

The ruin of this once prosperous, oil-rich nation might be a harbinger for other nations, such as the United States, which may be tempted into believing that Socialist giveaway policies actually can provide the promise of a free lunch for longer than the next election cycle. Or might that be all many politicians need or want?

Pro - Abortion Advocates Step Up Campaign for Abortion on Demand
Sep 15th, 2016
CommentaryPNW STAFF
Categories: Contemporary Issues

The Pro-abortion group 'All Access' held their first annual concert for abortion rights in Cleveland last weekend with controversial music sensation Sia headlining the event. 

The stated aim of the group, which is actually an alliance of several pro-abortion organizations including NARAL and Planned Parenthood, is to 'expand access to abortion'  and repeal pro-life legislation.

The collaboration is just one of many initiatives that the pro-abortion lobby has attempted to get off the ground in response to a string of pro-life victories in state legislatures. 

The abortion movement has been set back in recent years and initiatives like 'All Access' are an attempt to regain lost ground.    

They have had particular problems recruiting young people and the hope is that concerts like the one held in Cleveland will help motivate the next generation of abortion advocates to become more active. 

Unfortunately for them, however, it appears that their attempts to attract young people back to their movement may not be working.  

A group of students from Students for Life America infiltrated the event and took photos which appear to show a half empty auditorium. 

It seems that despite the fact that tickets were being given away for free, 'All Access' still wasn't able to attract the sort of numbers they were hoping for.

Pro-life advocates shouldnt celebrate too hard, however because recently Gallop released polling which showed that 52% of women who have an abortion identify as Christians. 

Even more troubling is the fact that Lifeway research found last year that 76% of church-going women who had abortions said that their church had no influence over their decision to have an abortion.

Polling from the Institute for Prolife Advancement also showed that despite abortion being explicitly denounced by most Christian denominations, only 5.5 percent of churches have active Pro-life ministries. 

There is clearly a disconnect between what the Bible teaches about the sanctity of life and what is being taught in churches and Christian schools across the country. 

It would appear that many Christian women are not receiving proper information from their pastors nor are they being told about the wealth of pro-life resources that exist to assist women with unexpected pregnancies. 

What the above figures show is that while the pro-abortion movement may be struggling to attract younger people, it's the pro-life movement which has bigger problems on the ground. 

If it can't effectively communicate its message to those in the pews, then it has little hope of convincing the rest of America.  

If the pro-life movement wants to be more successful, then it needs to start actively encouraging the churches to become more involved.  

More in-church ministries need to be set up, pastors need to receive better training on how to preach about abortion and the churches themselves need to become more vocal about what they believe.

If just half of those Christian women who had abortions had chosen life instead, the abortion industry would be crippled. Whats more, a more united church would be better able to advocate for life to a wider society. 

So long as abortion remains common amongst Christians, the pro-life movement will continue to struggle.

Palestinians Race to Get UN Security Resolution Before Obama Leaves Office
Sep 15th, 2016
CommentaryMichael Snyder/End Of The American Dream Blog
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

A little more than four months from now Barack Obama's time in the White House is scheduled to end, and the Palestinians know that their best chance of getting a UN Security Council resolution addressing their conflict with Israel is rapidly slipping away. 

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are both greatly wooing the Jewish vote, and they both are making very strong pro-Israel statements these days. 

To many of you it probably isn't a surprise that the Palestinians are not exactly thrilled with the prospect of a Trump presidency, but the truth is that they are very leery of Clinton as well.  

At this point the Palestinians are pretty much convinced that any action at the UN Security Council must happen while Barack Obama still holds the reigns of power, and so they are in a race against time.

At a minimum, the Palestinians would like a UN Security Council resolution condemning any new Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank. And that is precisely what they are pushing very hard for right now...

The Palestinian Authority intends to accelerate its attempt to pass a United Nations Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, according to WAFA, the Palestinian News and Information Agency.

"The Palestinian leadership and in cooperation with the Arab League and the Arab ministerial group will hold contacts at the international level to speed up convening a Security Council session that should pass a resolution to stop settlements, which pose unprecedented and serious threat and creates a situation that would result in grave consequences," said Nabil Abu Rude, who is a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Needless to say, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is steadfastly against such a resolution, and he is alarmed by statements made by Palestinian leaders that seem to indicate that they want to remove every single Jewish person from territories under their control...

The Israeli leader also addressed the longstanding Palestinian Authority demand for a Jew-free Palestinian state; a requirement famously expressed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas when he exclaimed, "In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli -- civilian or soldier -- on our lands."

"I think what makes peace impossible is intolerance of others. Societies that respect all people are the ones that pursue peace. Societies that demand ethnic cleansing don't pursue peace," Netanyahu stated in the video.

If we see a UN Security Council resolution on Israeli settlement in the West Bank that would be significant, but there is another possibility that would be absolutely earth-shattering if Barack Obama chose to go that direction. 

Up until now, the U.S. government has always used their UN Security Council veto power to block any resolution that would formally establish the parameters for a Palestinian state and grant them East Jerusalem as the capital of that state.

But earlier this year the Obama administration signaled that such a resolution was now on the table, and at this point Obama has just four months left to make a decision one way or the other.

If Obama decides to pull the trigger, such a resolution would be legally binding on the Israelis and the Palestinians, and neither Trump nor Clinton would be able to go back and change it once it is done...

This leaves only one option that isn't seen as unrealistic, unpalatable, or insignificant: to set down the guidelines or "parameters" of a peace agreement--on the four core issues of borders, security, refugees, and Jerusalem--in a US-supported UN Security Council resolution. 

Once passed, with US support, these Security Council-endorsed parameters would become international law, binding, in theory, on all future presidents and peace brokers.

Top US officials see a parameters resolution as Obama's only chance at a lasting, positive legacy, one that history might even one day show to have been more important to peace than the achievements of his predecessors.

Back in March, 388 members of Congress from both parties (including Nancy Pelosi) sent Barack Obama a letter urging him not to support such a resolution. So there is a considerable amount of political pressure on him not to do this.

But at this point he is a lame duck with nothing to lose. He always said that a Palestinian state was high on his list of priorities, and this is his final chance to do something about it.

If we do see a UN Security Council resolution, it is likely that it will upset both the Israelis and the Palestinians...

Any resolution the US supports will contain clauses that are difficult for each side to accept. The most troublesome issues for Israel are that the borders will be based on the pre-1967 lines and that the Palestinian capital will be in Jerusalem. 

The most onerous clauses for the Palestinians relate to recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, the absence of a timeline for Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank, and a resolution of the refugee problem that would rule out anything but symbolic return to Israel.

And instead of promoting peace, it would actually just set the stage for a major war, but Obama doesn't really understand the dynamics of the Middle East. He just wants to "leave a legacy", and at this point negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are completely dead.

The only way that Obama is going to get something done before the end of his second term is at the United Nations.

There are five countries that have veto power on the UN Security Council, and the United States is the only one that has been standing in the way of a Palestinian state.

Obama has hinted that next time the U.S. may not use the veto power, and nobody is quite sure precisely what would happen if a resolution was put for a vote during the coming months.

Of course supporting a UN Security Council resolution formally dividing the land of Israel would be the worst move that Obama would make in his entire presidency.

Netanyahu Says the World Seeks a State Free of Jews
Sep 15th, 2016
Daily NewsNetanyahu
Categories: Anti-Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the Palestinians and the international community for insisting on a Palestinian state that would be ethnically cleansed of Jews. US officials responded, saying his remarks were “inappropriate and unhelpful.”

Israel’s prime minister rejected international criticism of Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria on Friday, equating it to “ethnic cleansing” of Jews and insisting the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are not an obstacle to peace, in a video that drew a rare rebuke from the United States.

Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video posted online that he has “always been perplexed” by claims that Israeli building in Judea and Samaria is “an obstacle to peace.”

He pointed to Israel’s Arab minority, which enjoys citizenship and voting rights.

“No one would seriously claim that the nearly 2 million Arabs living inside Israel, that they’re an obstacle to peace,” Netanyahu said. “Yet the Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one precondition: No Jews. There’s a phrase for that: It’s called ethnic cleansing.”

“It’s even more outrageous that the world doesn’t find this outrageous,” he added. “Since when is bigotry a foundation for peace?”

Minority Report? Police are Already Using AI to Stop Crimes Before They Happen
Sep 15th, 2016
CommentaryCLAIRE BERNISH/THE DAILY SHEEPLE
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Pre-crime, a term coined by science fiction author Philip K. Dick and loosely described as the use of artificial intelligence to detect and stop crime before it happens, has become a terrifying reality -- and will likely be business-as-usual for police in just 15 years.

"Cities have already begun to deploy AI technologies for public safety and security," a team of academic researchers wrote in a new report titled Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030. 

"By 2030, the typical North American city will rely heavily upon them. These include cameras for surveillance that can detect anomalies pointing to a possible crime, drones, and predictive policing applications."

First in an ongoing series for the Stanford University-hosted One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI 100), the report is intended to spark debate on the benefits and detriments of AI's growing presence in society -- and, as in the area of law enforcement, the removal of the human factor won't necessarily end well.

As the academics point out, for example, AI already scans and analyzes Twitter and other social media platforms to identify individuals prone to radicalization with the Islamic State -- but even that seemingly well-intentioned use expanded drastically.

"Law enforcement agencies are increasingly interested in trying to detect plans for disruptive events from social media, and also to monitor activity at large gatherings of people to analyze security," the report notes. 

"There is significant work on crowd simulations to determine how crowds can be controlled. At the same time, legitimate concerns have been raised about the potential for law enforcement agencies to overreach and use such tools to violate people's privacy."

Police predicting crimes before they're committed presents obvious risks to more than just people's privacy. Indeed, the report warns of the possibility artificial intelligence could cause law enforcement to become "overbearing and pervasive in some contexts," particularly as technology advances and is applied in different fields.

While "AI techniques -- vision, speech analysis, and gait analysis -- can aid interviewers, interrogators, and security guards in detecting possible deception and criminal behavior," its possible application in law enforcement monitoring by surveillance camera, for instance, presents a remarkable capacity for abuse.

Imagine police CCTV cameras zeroing in on an individual who appears out of place in a certain neighborhood -- AI might conclude they intend to burglarize a business or residence and trigger the deployment of officers to the scene -- even if that person simply lost their way or just went for a walk in a new area. 

Were we not currently in the midst of an epidemic of violence perpetrated by law enforcement, that error wouldn't be life-threatening -- but the police brutality aspect must be considered in the removal of the human element in pre-crime.

Besides restricting freedom of movement and potentially escalating a non-criminal situation into a deadly one, the assumptions made about a person's presence in an area can have potentially deleterious effects on both the person and the neighborhood.

As police anti-militarization advocate and author Radley Balko reported for the Washington Post in December, several cities have begun sending letters to people simply for having visited neighborhoods known to police -- but not established in a court of law -- as high-prostitution areas. 

Such assumptions embarrassingly alienate the innocent and legally-guilty alike, but also further stereotype whole neighborhoods -- as well as residents -- rather than addressing the issue of prostitution, itself.

"Machine learning significantly enhances the ability to predict where and when crimes are likely to happen and who may commit them," the report states. "As dramatized in the movie Minority Report, predictive policing tools raise the specter of innocent people being unjustifiably targeted. 

But well-deployed AI prediction tools have the potential to actually remove or reduce human bias, rather than enforcing it, and research and resources should be directed toward ensuring this effect."

As positive as that sounds, the removal of human bias and judgment is a rather pronounced double-edged sword. While that element undoubtedly stands at the core of increasing police violence, machine-assisted preconception sends officers to address a situation under the assumption a criminal act is imminent -- regardless of that assumption's veracity.

However sunny a picture the academics paint about artificial intelligence in law enforcement, one of the largest experiments in AI-assisted policing in the United States already proved to be an astonishing failure.

Beginning in 2013, the Chicago Police Department partnered with the Illinois Institute of Technology to implement the Strategic Subjects List, which "uses an algorithm to rank and identify people most likely to be perpetrators or victims of gun violence based on data points like prior narcotics arrests, gang affiliation, and age at the time of last arrest," Mic reported in December 2015. 

"An experiment in what is known as 'predictive policing,' the algorithm initially identified 426 people whom police say they've targeted with preventative social services."

But rather than proving efficacy in preventing violent crime, the experiment failed miserably.

As the American Civil Liberties Union criticized, Chicago Police have been less than transparent about who ends up on the list and how the list is actually being used. And despite the claim social services would be deployed to address underlying issues thought to predict future criminal activity, that has not been the case.

Indeed, RAND Corporation's study of the Strategic Subjects List found those unfortunate enough to be identified by the algorithm were simply arrested more often. Although study authors couldn't conclude precisely why this happened, it appears human bias -- as mentioned above -- plays a predictably major role.

"It sounded, at least in some cases, that when there was a shooting and investigators went out to understand it, they would look at list subjects in the area and start from there," lead author Jessica Saunders told Mic.

"It is not at all evident that contacting people at greater risk of being involved in violence -- especially without further guidance on what to say to them or otherwise how to follow up -- is the relevant strategy to reduce violence," the study stated, as cited by Mic.

But issues with AI prediction aren't held to just the government's executive branch -- criminal courts across the country have been using an algorithm called Northpointe, "designed to predict an offender's likelihood to commit another crime in the future" -- but its application, like Chicago's, hasn't gone smoothly.

Gawker reported in May this year [emphasis added]:

"ProPublica published an investigation into Northpointe's effectiveness in predicting recidivism ... and found that, after controlling for variables such as gender and criminal history, black people were 77 percent more likely to be predicted to commit a future violent crime and 45 percent more likely to be predicted to commit a crime of any kind. 

The study, which looked at 7,000 so-called risk scores issued in Florida's Broward County, also found that Northpointe isn't a particularly effective predictor in general, regardless of race: only 20 percent of people it predicted to commit a violent crime in the future ended up doing so."

Whatever hopes the Stanford report glowingly offers for the potential uses of artificial intelligence, policing -- and the criminal justice system, in general -- would benefit from further advances and research prior to more widespread active implementation. 

Hastily applied science, when not thoroughly tested or possible repercussions exhaustively debated, has a penchant for egregious unintentional consequences down the line.

Although the report notes "the technologies emerging from the field could profoundly transform society for the better in the coming decades" -- it's imperative to realize the likelihood that transformation could as easily be for the worse.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 15th, 2016
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

Obama, Clinton Guilty of ‘Christophobia’ Amid Refugee Crisis
Johnnie Moore, a Christian author and humanitarian, is slamming President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for their action — or inaction — when it comes to the Christians currently facing “genocide” in the Middle East. “If you’re anti-Christian, henceforth, you are guilty of Christophobia,” Moore said. “You are a Christophobe. You are exhibiting Christophobic behavior, and we’re going to shame you with it.”  

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin says bloodshed may be needed to protect conservatism
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said conservatives may need to turn to physical violence in order to protect the United States against contemporary liberalism. I want us to be able to fight ideologically, mentally, spiritually, economically, so that we don’t have to do it physically. But that may, in fact, be the case,” he told the crowd.  

Democratic Senator: Old (And Sick) Hillary Can Barely Climb The Podium Steps
one exchange between him and Democratic donor Jeffrey Leeds from March of 2015 showed how Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) told Leeds that Clinton was having trouble getting up the steps of the podium for speeches.  

Saudi official warns Iran: Attack us at your own risk
"If they are preparing an army to invade us, we are not easily taken by someone who would make war on us," Prince Khaled al-Faisal warns.  

Earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Andaman islands
The Andaman islands on Thursday were hit by a mild-intensity earthquake measuring 5.1 on Richter scale. The quake hit at around 2:00 am in the night. As per National Centre for Seismology, the depth of the quake was 10 km and hit the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago known as high seismic zone.  

5.8 Earthquake Hits Near Nicaragua's Momotombo Volcano
The National Preventive System for Disasters, or SINAPRED, have activated operatives in the affected areas including the capital city of Managua. A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck 12 kilometers from the municipality of Laz Paz Centro and in close proximity to the active Volcano Momotombo in Nicaragua late Wednesday, sparking a 4.4 magnitude aftershock shortly afterwards and fears among locals.  

Russian military: U.S. not implementing its part of Syria ceasefire plan
Russia's Defense Ministry said on Thursday the United States was using "a verbal smokescreen" to hide its reluctance to fulfill its part of a ceasefire agreement on Syria, including separation of moderate opposition units from terrorist groups. After the third day of the ceasefire which came into force on Monday evening, only Syria's government forces are observing the truce, the ministry said in a statement.  

China set to launch second trial space station
China is set to launch a second experimental space station, as it looks to have a manned station by 2022, state media said. The Tiangong 2 is scheduled to launch just after 22:00 local time on Thursday from the Gobi desert. Next month two astronauts will go to the station to conduct research.  

Germany migrants: Far right battle asylum-seekers in Bautzen
Far-right residents have clashed with asylum-seekers in a town in eastern Germany that has become a flashpoint for anti-refugee sentiment. Some 80 men and women fought with 20 migrants and refugees in Bautzen, to the east of Dresden, late on Wednesday. The asylum-seekers were chased to their hostel and put under police guard.  

Typhoon Meranti slams southern China after battering Taiwan
Typhoon Meranti has landed in mainland China after battering Taiwan with its strongest storm in 21 years. The super typhoon, with gusts of up to 227km/h (141 mph), killed one person and left half a million homes without power in Taiwan. It made landfall near China's south-eastern city of Xiamen on Thursday morning, having lost some power.  

Israel strikes Gaza terror sites in response to rocket
The Israel Air Force struck three Hamas terror infrastructure sites in the Gaza Strip in response to an earlier rocket fired at Israel, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Thursday morning. The northern Gaza sites reportedly belonged to the Hamas terror group.  

Saudi official warns Iran: Attack us at your own risk
A senior Saudi official...urged Iran to end what he called wrong attitudes towards Arabs and warned it against any use of force in its rivalry with the kingdom. Mecca province governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal, in remarks likely to be seen as a reference to Iran, added that the orderly conduct of the pilgrimage this year "is a response to all the lies and slanders made against the kingdom."  

Evolution Just Got Harder to Defend
A new fossil discovery makes it even tougher for Darwinists to explain the origin of life.  

Juncker proposes EU military headquarters
The European Union needs a military headquarters to work towards a common military force, the Commission president has told MEPs in Strasbourg. Jean-Claude Juncker said the lack of a "permanent structure" resulted in money being wasted on missions.  

Security official: Hamas refused several prisoner exchange offers
"In an unprecedented manner, Hamas responded in the negative to this offer, and in an unprecedented manner, set a precondition for continued dialogue," says Israeli envoy • Parents of fallen captive soldier Hadar Goldin accompany Netanyahu to U.N.  

Survey: Less Than Third of American Millennials Able to Identify Israel on Map
Less than one-third of US-educated millennials are able to identify Israel on a map, a new survey has found.  

Cardinal tipped to be pope warns of 'Islamic conquest of Europe'
A senior Austrian Cardinal who has been widely tipped in the media to be pope has warned of an "Islamic conquest of Europe" and said that the Continent is in danger of "forfeiting" its Christian heritage.  

Venezuela's "Death Spiral" - A Dozen Eggs Cost $150 As Hyperinflation Horrors Hit Socialist Utopia
While it was not so long ago that many people heralded Venezuela as Latin America's successful utopian Socialist experiment, something has gone dreadfully wrong as the revolution's Marxist founder, Hugo Chavez, turned his Chavismo dream into an economic nightmare of unimaginable proportions.  

Likelihood of 6.7 Earthquake or Larger Striking Bay Area Jumps to 72 Percent
The big one may be just around the corner. There is now a 72 percent chance that a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or greater will strike along one of the Bay Area's fault lines within the next 30 years, representing a nine percent jump from last year's reported numbers, according to SFGate.

Israel's Duplicitous Temple Mount Policy
Sep 15th, 2016
CommentaryIsrael Today - Tsvi Sadan
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

There is a ring of truth to what Rabbi Israel Eichler, an Orthodox member of Israel's Knesset, once said about anti-Semites. Jew haters, he told fellow parliamentarians, are only echoing what Jews themselves are saying. 

Every conceivable anti-Semitic libel was hatched in a Jewish mind, the rabbi explained. There are many examples of this disturbing phenomenon, the latest being a Palestinian news agency spreading yet another water-poisoning libel that was fed to it by the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence

Several months ago, Israelis were outraged over aUNESCO resolution referring to the Temple Mount area only as al-Aksa Mosque or al-Haram al Sharif. Prime Minister Netanyahu even went so far as rebuking France for being among the 33 countries that supported the resolution. "While we have no illusions as to the UN’s commitment to truth or decency," he wrote to French President Francois Hollande, "we were honestly astounded to see our French friends raise their hands in favor of this shameful resolution."

Outrageous as the UNESCO resolution may be, is it at all possible that it is yet another example of this vile self-accusing phenomenon? 

Freshman MK Yehuda Glick has repeatedly stated that "the [policy of] discrimination [against Jews] on the Temple Mount is obvious." Glick can no longer be brushed aside as a fanatic. In its September 9 issue, the weekly Makor Rishon ran an article exposing Israel's de facto policy against Jews on the Temple Mount.

For a long time now Israelis have been complaining bitterly about official discrimination evident in the severe restrictions on Jewish entrance and behavior on the Mount. Such was the case when two Jewish teenagers were recently charged with disturbing the peace by "bowing down" at Judaism's holiest site. Thankfully, the court acquitted the two, but the trial revealed how Israeli policemen have been trained to view the Temple Mount, which is worryingly similar to UNESCO's description.

Of the three policemen who testified against the teenagers, two were Arabs and one Jewish. Nevertheless, what they said in court reflects what they have been trained to say in police classrooms. In fact, it was the Jewish policeman who presented the most extreme view concerning the Temple Mount. When asked if he thinks that Jewish prayers on the Mount are the equivalent of terror attacks, the Jewish policeman answered: "Yes." When asked if his job is to disturb Jews in the middle of their prayers, this policeman said: "It is saving lives more than disturbing prayer. They could have prayed outside the Temple Mount."

The Arab policemen also did not express their own personal beliefs, but that of the Israel Police. When asked whether the whole of the Temple Mount is a mosque, one of the two Arab policemen answered: "It is a mosque from every possible perspective." When asked "and you say this as a representative of the Israel Police," the Arab policeman's answer was: "Of course." 

If this is the official Israeli stance regarding the Temple Mount, why should UNESCO be expected to contradict it?

European Leaders Discuss Plan for European Army
Sep 15th, 2016
CommentarySOEREN KERN/GATESTONE INSTITUTE
Categories: Revived Roman Empire

European leaders are discussing "far-reaching proposals" to build a pan-European military, according to a French defense ministry document leaked to the German newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

The efforts are part of plans to relaunch the European Union at celebrations in Rome next March marking the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Community.

The document confirms rumors that European officials are rushing ahead with defense integration now that Britain - the leading military power in Europe - will be exiting the 28-member European Union.

British leaders have repeatedly blocked efforts to create a European army because of concerns that it would undermine the NATO alliance, the primary defense structure in Europe since 1949.

Proponents of European defense integration argue that it is needed to counter growing security threats and would save billions of euros in duplication between countries.

Critics say that the creation of a European army, a long-held goal (see Appendix below) of European federalists, would entail an unprecedented transfer of sovereignty from European nation states to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, the de facto capital of the EU.

Others say that efforts to move forward on European defense integration show that European leaders have learned little from Brexit  the June 23 decision by British voters to leave the EU  and are determined to continue their quest to build a European superstate regardless of opposition from large segments of the European public.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that it had obtained a copy of a six-page position paper, jointly written by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his German counterpart, Ursula von der Leyen. The document calls for the establishment of a "common and permanent" European military headquarters, as well as the creation of EU military structures, including an EU Logistics Command and an EU Medical Command.

The document calls on EU member states to integrate logistics and procurement, coordinate military R&D and synchronize policies in matters of financing and military planning. EU intelligence gathering would be improved through the use of European satellites; a common EU military academy would "promote a common esprit de corps."

According to the newspaper, the document will be distributed to European leaders at an informal summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, on September 16. France and Germany will ask the leaders of the other EU member states not only to approve the measures, but also to "discuss a fast implementation."

Specifically, France and Germany will for the first time activate Article 44 of the Lisbon Treaty (also known as the European Constitution). This clause allows certain EU member states "which are willing and have the necessary capability" to proceed with the "task" of defense integration, even if other EU member states disapprove.

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung:

"In the wake of the British referendum to leave the European Union, Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande have decided to demonstrate the EU's strength and to push the remaining member states to show more unity. Especially in defense policy, many projects were put on hold because Britain vetoed them. Without London, the two EU founding states, France and Germany, hope for swift decisions."

On September 8, Defense News reported that the creation of a European army was the central focus of an August 22 meeting between the leaders of France, Germany and Italy in Naples, where the three declared "the beginning of a new Europe." That meeting was followed by a meeting of defense ministers from the three countries in Paris on September 5.

According to Defense News, Italy is lobbying France and Germany to "back a plan for European tax breaks and financing for joint European defense procurement and development programs, as part of a bid to build a European army."

A confidential draft document circulated by Italy calls for "fiscal and financial incentives to support new EU cooperative programs for development and joint purchases of equipment and infrastructure supporting the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy."

In a September 8 interview with La Repubblica, the EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called for the establishment of a permanent EU military headquarters in Brussels that would manage all current and future EU military operations. "This could become the nucleus around which a common European defense structure could be built," she said.

Mogherini insisted that "we are not talking about a European army but about European defense: something we can really do, concretely, starting now." She also stressed that EU defense policy would remain under the control of European governments rather than the European Commission, the powerful executive arm of the EU.

On September 7, however, The Times reported that Mogherini will present EU leaders attending the summit in Bratislava with a "road map" and a "timetable" for creating EU military structures, which are "the foundation of a European army." According to newspaper, her plans for military structures able "to act autonomously" from NATO have led to fears that "the EU is seeking to rival the transatlantic alliance."

The Times quoted Mogherini as saying she was taking advantage of the "political space" opened by the Brexit vote:

"It might sound a bit dramatic but we are at this turning point. We could relaunch our European project and make it more functional and powerful for our citizens and the rest of the world. Or we could diminish its intensity and power. We have the political space today to do things that were not really doable in previous years."

On May 27, the Sunday Times reported that steps towards creating a European army were being kept secret from British voters until the day after the June 23 referendum:

"In an effort to avoid derailing the Prime Minister's 'Remain' campaign, the policy plans will not be sent to national governments until the day after Britons vote. Until then, only a small group of EU political and security committee ambassadors, who must leave their electronic devices outside a sealed room, can read the proposal."

On June 28, just days after the British referendum, Mogherini presented European leaders attending an EU summit in Brussels with the "EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy." The document explicitly calls for European defense integration, and implicitly calls for the creation of a European army.

According to the document, the EU strategy "nurtures the ambition of strategic autonomy for the European Union." It adds: "Gradual synchronization and mutual adaptation of national defense planning cycles and capability development can enhance strategic convergence between member states."

In an interview with The Telegraph, Liam Fox, a former defense secretary who served under former Prime Minister David Cameron, said:

"Those of us who have always warned about Europe's defense ambitions have always been told not to worry, but step-by-step that ever closer union is becoming a reality. We cannot afford to be conned in this referendum as we were conned in 1975.

"The best way to protect ourselves is to stay close to the US. The US defense budget is bigger than the next 11 countries in the world put together. Europe's defense intentions are a dangerous fantasy and risk cutting us off from our closest and most powerful ally.

"We're always told not to worry about the next integration and then it happens. We've been too often conned before and we must not be conned again."

The Conservative Party's defense spokesman, Geoffrey Van Orden, said the implications of the EU's defense ambitions are worrying:

"We can all see that the EU might play a useful role in conflict prevention and in some civil aspects of crisis management. But its ambitions go beyond that. The EU motive is not to create additional military capability but to achieve defense integration as a key step on the road to a federal EU state.

"The US and indeed the UK are being misled if they imagine that such moves will enhance NATO  the key guarantor of our collective defense. On the contrary, creation of EU defense structures, separate from NATO, will only lead to division between transatlantic partners at a time when solidarity is needed in the face of many difficult and dangerous threats to the democracies."

Mike Hookem, the defense spokesman of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), said his party had been warning about the dangers posed by the EU army concept for years:

"I'm pleased to see people are finally waking up. An EU army is not some Eurosceptic fantasy, there are many in Brussels hell-bent on making it happen."

Soldiers from the Eurocorps on parade in Strasbourg, France, on January 31, 2013. Eurocorps is an intergovernmental military unit of approximately 1,000 soldiers from Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain, stationed in Strasbourg. (Image: Claude Truong-Ngoc/Wikimedia Commons)

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

Appendix

Select quotes regarding a European army

European federalists have been calling for the creation of a European army in one form or another since 1950. Although a European army is still a long way away from becoming reality, the ultimate goal of European federalists is full defense integration leading to a European military under supranational control.

Since the Lisbon Treaty, which forms the constitutional basis of the European Union, entered into force in December 2009, the political momentum toward European defense integration has picked up steam. The drive toward European defense integration has accelerated during the Obama administration, which has often appeared indifferent to Europe and transatlantic relations. Another important obstacle to European defense integration was removed when Britons voted in June 2016 to exit the European Union.

What follows is a collection of quotes from senior European officials regarding a European army and integrated defense.

September 9. The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said:

"I believe a window of opportunity has been opened to give life to a European defense. I wanted to send the message that, despite the British exit, Europe can and must move forward with the process of integration. The prospect of Brexit offered an opportunity not to be slowed by the country that was always most determinedly opposed to the idea of pooling the instruments of defense."

August 26. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a staunch critic of the EU's migration policies, said a joint European army was needed to keep migrants out. At a news conference after a meeting between Central European member states and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Warsaw, Orbán said: "We should list the issue of security as a priority, and we should start setting up a common European army."

August 22. Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka called for greater European military integration:

"Our experiences with the last migration wave have shown the importance of Europe's internal borders. In the face of uncontrolled mass migration, even states in the center of Europe have realized that internal borders must be better controlled. Aside from better coordinated foreign and security policy, I also believe that in the long term, we will be unable to do without a joint European army."

July 23. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said:

"The withdrawal of the British from the EU has led to a significant reduction in the continent's military strength, and from a military policy perspective we must not remain in this defenseless position... A European army must protect the continent from two sides, from the East and from the South, in terms of protecting against terrorism and migration. Europe cannot even continue to exist without an alliance  a joint EU army."

July 13. The German Defense Ministry released a white paper outlining the country's future defense and security policies. The document calls for steps leading to the creation of an EU army, such as the integration of military capabilities and defense industries. "We are aiming to establish a permanent European civil-military operational headquarters in the medium term," it says. The white paper also says that citizens of other EU countries could be allowed to serve in the German army. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said:

"Britain has paralyzed the European Union on the issues of foreign and security policy. This cannot mean that the rest of Europe remain inactive, but rather we need to move forward on these big issues."

June 28. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier released a joint document titled "A Strong Europe in a World of Uncertainties." It states:

"The security of EU member states is deeply interconnected, as these threats now affect the continent as a whole: any threat to one member state is also a threat to others. We therefore regard our security as one and indivisible. We consider the European Union and the European security order to be part of our core interests and will safeguard them in any circumstances.

"In this context, France and Germany recommit to a shared vision of Europe as a security union, based on solidarity and mutual assistance between member states in support of common security and defense policy. Providing security for Europe as well as contributing to peace and stability globally is at the heart of the European project.

"France and Germany will promote the EU as an independent and global actor able to leverage its unique array of expertise and tools, civilian and military, in order to defend and promote the interests of its citizens. France and Germany will promote integrated EU foreign and security policy bringing together all EU policy instruments.

"The EU should be able to plan and conduct civil and military operations more effectively, with the support of a permanent civil-military chain of command. The EU should be able to rely on employable high-readiness forces and provide common financing for its operations. Within the framework of the EU, member states willing to establish permanent structured cooperation in the field of defense or to push ahead to launch operations should be able to do so in a flexible manner. If needed, EU member states should consider establishing standing maritime forces or acquiring EU-owned capabilities in other key areas."

June 26. In an interview with Welt am Sonntag, the Chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Elmar Brok, called for the immediate creation of a joint military headquarters and for the eventual establishment of an EU army:

"We need a common military headquarters and a coalition of the willing in accordance with the permanent structural cooperation of the EU Treaty. An EU army could eventually arise from such a group. This could help to strengthen the role of Europeans in the security and defense policy, together better fulfill the responsibility of Europe in the world and also to achieve more synergies in defense spending."

June 24. French President François Hollande said:

"Europe needs to be a sovereign power deciding its own future and promoting its model. France will therefore be leading efforts to ensure Europe focuses on the most important issues: the security and defense of our continent, to protect our borders and preserve peace in the face of threats."

May 29. British Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt said: "A centrally controlled army would be a massive step to the EU's goal of full political integration, but it would be a very dangerous move."

February 4. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen confirmed an agreement to integrate some 800 German soldiers into the Dutch navy. While in Amsterdam, where she met with the Dutch Defense Minister, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, von der Leyen called the plan a "prime example for the building of a European defense union."

December 15, 2015. The European Commission proposed creating a European Border and Coast Guard. The proposal, which was put forward in response to the ongoing European migrant crisis, called for a rapid reaction force of 1,500 officers who would be able to deploy even if a member state did not ask for its help.

October 15, 2015. The president of the European People's Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, said: "We are going to move towards an EU army much faster than people believe."

September 12, 2015. An unpublished position paper drawn up by Europe and Defence policy committees of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Party (CDU) was leaked to The Telegraph. The document sets out a detailed 10-point plan for military co-operation in Europe. It calls for "a permanent structured and coordinated cooperation of national armed forces in the medium term." It adds:

"In the long run, this process should according to the present German coalition agreement lead also to a European Army subject to Parliamentarian control.

"In the framework of NATO, a uniform European pillar will be more valuable and efficient for the USA than with the present rag-rug characterized by a lack of joint European planning, procurement, and interoperability."

June 15, 2015. Michel Barnier, Special Adviser on European Defence and Security Policy to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, wrote:

"Member States are slow to accept that they need to go beyond a model where defense is a matter of strict national sovereignty.... It is time for a reckoning: traditional methods of cooperation have reached their limits and proved insufficient. European defense needs a paradigm change in line with the exponential increase in global threats and the volatility of our neighborhood. The past has shown that European defense does move ahead if and when there is political will."

March 9, 2015. In an interview with Die Welt, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU should establish its own army to show Russia it is serious about defending European values:

"Europe has lost a huge amount of respect. In foreign policy too, we are not taken seriously. A common European army would show the world that there will never again be war between EU countries. Such an army would help us to build a common foreign and security policy and allow Europe to meet its responsibilities in the world. With its own army, Europe could respond credibly to a threat to peace in a member country or in a neighboring country of the European Union."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said they support Juncker's proposal for a European army. In an interview with Tagesspiegel, Steinmeier added:

"The long-term goal of a European army is a major policy objective and has been part of the Social Democratic Party's (SPD) party program for many years. Given the new risks and threats to peace in Europe we now need, as a first step, a rapid adaptation and updating of the common European security strategy."

March 8, 2015. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said:

"I think that the German army is ready, under certain circumstances, to be subordinated to the control of another nation. That is the goal, that in the European Union we step by step more firmly establish our cooperation, especially in security policy. This intertwining of armies with a view to having a European army is the future."

May 15, 2014. Jean-Claude Juncker, the European People's Party lead candidate for president of the next European Commission, wrote:

"I believe that we need to work on a stronger Europe when it comes to security and defense matters. Yes, Europe is chiefly a 'soft power.' But even the strongest soft powers cannot make do in the long run without at least some integrated defense capacities. The Treaty of Lisbon provides for the possibility, for those Member States who want to do so, to pool their defense capabilities in the form of a permanent structured cooperation."

December 19, 2013. The speaker of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called for the creation of a European army: "If we wish to defend our values and interests, if we wish to maintain the security of our citizens, then a majority of MEPs consider that we need a headquarters for civil and military missions in Brussels and deployable troops."

November 15, 2009. In an interview with The Times, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said it is a "necessary objective to have a European army." He added:

"Every country duplicates its forces, each of us puts armored cars, men, tanks, planes, into Afghanistan. If there were a European army, Italy could send planes, France could send tanks, Britain could send armored cars, and in this way we would optimize the use of our resources. Perhaps we won't get there immediately, but that is the idea of a European army."

May 6, 2008. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for the establishment of the European army "as soon as possible." He said he had been in talks with his French counterpart to discuss "future structures" of a European army.

December 10-11, 1999. European officials meeting in Helsinki agreed to develop a European Rapid Reaction Force. Also known as the Helsinki Headline Goal, EU member states pledged that by 2003 they would be able to deploy a European military force of 60,000 troops within 60 days and for a period of potentially one year. This goal has never been met.

December 3-4, 1988. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac met at the French port city of Saint-Malo to discuss future EU defense integration. The summit declaration, which laid the political foundation for a common European defense policy, stated:

"The European Union needs to be in a position to play its full role on the international stage... The Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed up by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and a readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises."

October 24, 1950. The Pleven Plan, named after French Prime Minister René Pleven, was the first plan to create a unified European army. It proposed the "immediate creation of a European army tied to the political institutions of a united Europe." It stated:

"A European army cannot be created simply by placing national military units side by side, since, in practice, this would merely mask a coalition of the old sort. Tasks that can be tackled only in common must be matched by common institutions. A united European army, made up of forces from the various European nations must, as far as possible, pool all of its human and material components under a single political and military European authority."

The Pleven Plan was rejected by the French Parliament because it infringed on France's national sovereignty.

Education Minister: Bible Most Important School Subject
Sep 15th, 2016
CommentaryIsrael Today
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

Bennett, himself a religious Jew, previously led a campaign to force religious Jewish schools to teach core subjects like math and science if they wanted to receive government funding.

That demand was dropped several months ago as a result of pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

Speaking at an education event on Monday, Bennett clarified that his desire to see religious children learn core subjects was in no way meant to diminish the importance of biblical studies.

“Learning about Judaism and excellence in the subject is more important in my eyes than mathematics and the sciences,” he said. “Even though [Israel] is a high-tech superpower, an exporter of knowledge and innovation to the world, we must [also] be a spiritual superpower and export spiritual knowledge to the world.”

Bennett reminded Israelis that their primary mandate was “to be a light to the nations. ‘For out of Zion shall go forth Torah and the word of God from Jerusalem.’”

Defending his remarks a day later, Bennett was adamant that “it is not enough to be solely the nation of the startup. We must also be the people of the Bible.”

At the start of the current school year two weeks ago, Netanyahu similarly called on young students across Israel to study the Bible.

“Study of the Bible,” Netanyahu admonished. “This is the basis for why we are here, why we have returned here, why we stay here.”