Using the Bible to Justify Abortions
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Planned Parenthood, not content to justify the killing of the unborn, is now issuing a “pastoral letter” to prospective abortion clients that suggests that the Bible has nothing to say about abortion – and that God “and is with you no matter what you decide” – suggesting that God doesn’t care whether you kill or keep your baby because it’s just you that He loves and cares about anyway.

Perhaps a comparison of the Planned Parenthood position as stated in the “pastoral letter” published in progressivestoday.com with God’s clearly stated position in the Bible would be pertinent:

PLANNED PARENTHOOD: The decision to have an abortion is personal… The beliefs of each person are deserving of respect, and each person deserves care and compassion.

THE BIBLE: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).

In God’s eyes, Planned Parenthood comments are the same as saying that the decision to murder someone else is personal and deserving of respect. Life starts at conception, and murder is still murder from the point of conception onwards – whether the child has been born or is waiting to be born. Planned Parenthood says that each person deserves care and compassion – obviously except the unborn, who in their view deserve the abuse and cruelty of the abortion process.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Though your reasons may be complicated and private, you’re not alone. As religious leaders from a number of religious traditions, we’re here to support you in your decision. Many people wrongly assume that all religious leaders disapprove of abortion… there are clergy and people of faith from all denominations who support women making this complex decision… No one should be allowed to force their faith teachings on anyone else. We believe this decision is yours, made with your doctor and anyone else you choose to bring into the conversation, such as a spouse, partner, parent, or clergy person.

THE BIBLE: 
• And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. (2 Corinthians 11:14, 15).
• But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13).

PLANNED PARENTHOOD: The truth is that abortion is not even mentioned in the Scriptures—Jewish or Christian.

THE BIBLE: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).
Abortion is just another politically and socially correct euphemism for killing, murder and bloodshed of the unborn, which are all strictly forbidden and condemned throughout the scriptures, especially in the shedding of innocent blood such as that of babies. The word obviously could not feature in the scriptures as the term “abortion” was only introduced in the mid 16th Century, derived from the Latin language. 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Our religious traditions have somewhat different opinions about abortion, but we share some basic understandings: No one knows the circumstances of your life as well as you know them; no one knows what‘s in your heart better than you. Allow yourself to be at peace with your decision.

THE BIBLE: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;
Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings (Jeremiah 17:9, 10).

PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Our religious traditions have somewhat different opinions about abortion, but we share some basic understandings: God loves you and is with you no matter what you decide. You can find strength, understanding, and comfort in that love.

THE BIBLE: God loves you - yes (John 3:16) – BUT “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:13-15).

PLANNED PARENTHOOD: If you’d like to speak with a clergyperson, your local Planned Parenthood health center can refer you to someone who will be supportive of you and your decision.

THE BIBLE: 
These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood…(Proverbs 6:16-17).

One would expect only secular, humanistic, atheistic, globalist and satanic groups to endorse abortion; however a shocking number of professing churches also endorse it. Stand for Life.net explains: What three organizations have backed abortion on demand? The answer that many might respond with is Planned Parenthood, the Democratic Party, NARAL or some women's group. How about three of the largest church organizations in America: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (10,500 congregations), the Presbyterian Church (10,000 congregations and 2.3 million members), and the United Methodist Church (8 million members).

The following is a sampling of other churches and religious organizations that believe in abortion. The group Religious Coalition For Reproductive Choice listed a wide variety of members (as at November 2009):

Conservative Judaism
Rabbinical Assembly
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
Women's League for Conservative Judaism

Episcopal Church
Ethical Culture
American Ethical Union National Service Conference

Humanist Judaism
Society for Humanistic Judaism

Presbyterian Church (USA)
Reconstructionist Judaism
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

Reform Judaism
Central Conference of American Rabbis
North American Federation of Temple Youth
Union for Reform Judaism
Women of Reform Judaism, The Federation of Temple Sisterhoods
Women's Rabbinic Network of Central Conference of American Rabbis

United Church of Christ
United Methodist Church
General Board of Church and Society, United Methodist Church
General Board of Global Ministries, Women's Division, United Methodist Church

Unitarian Universalist
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation
Young Religious Unitarian Universalists
Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network

Caucuses/Organizations
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Congress
Anti-Defamation League
Catholics for Choice
Christian Lesbians Out (CLOUT)
Church of the Brethren Women's Caucus
Disciples for Choice
Episcopal Urban Caucus
Episcopal Women's Caucus
Hadassah, WZOA
Jewish Women International
Lutheran Women's Caucus
Methodist Federation for Social Action
NA'AMAT USA
National Council of Jewish Women
Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options (PARO)
Women's American ORT
YWCA of the USA

The Stand for Life article concludes with the question: “How do we as a society give credence to all of the churches and related organizations that confess their belief in God and the Bible, but on the other hand think that it's perfectly fine to kill someone who was created in God's image?”

Part of the answer is that the Bible warns of a “falling away” in the last days before Jesus returns. The rapid rate of the apostasy of the Church is being seen in its widespread acceptance of abortion (among other abominations), which is also a satanic practice of human baby sacrifice as in the days of the worship of the demon god Molech (Leviticus 20:1-5), which attracted the judgments of God.

Jesus is Savior.com also reported that in 2004, hundreds of thousands of abortion rights supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., for the “March for Women’s Lives.” The gathering was chock full of professing Christians, and illustrates the ignorance and wickedness of those entrusted with protecting the rights of the unborn:

“Several religious bodies also offered their unqualified endorsement and financial support to the event, marching side-by-side with their secular counterparts in the abortion rights movement. Among the officially participating denominations were the Episcopal Church, Church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Methodist Church (through the General Board of Church and Society and the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries), the United Church of Christ (UCC), the American Friends Service Committee, and the Unitarian Universalist Association. 

Representatives of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church (U.S.A) marched with official banners from their respective denominations. A sign on the front door of the United Methodist Building on Capitol Hill that day declared that God was speaking through the UCC to support the march. Earlier that morning, the UCC’s political action branch (which is housed in the United Methodist Building) hosted a breakfast for the march participants. 

Another group active in supporting and participating in the march was the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), a pro-abortion political lobby supported by the aforementioned Protestant groups, among others. On the Friday before the main event, RCRC organized an effort to lobby members of Congress after a send-off luncheon in the United Methodist Building.”

So, no wonder at all that Planned Parenthood and similar “pro-choice” groups are able to obtain and circulate religious sounding God-loves-you-and-your-decision abortion scripts to tempt pregnant women with. Planned Parenthood certainly doesn’t lack for friends professing Christianity or Judaism. Leaders and adherents of such groups can however fully expect to hear Jesus’ words of eternal judgment in Matthew 7:23 one day if they do not repent: “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Make no mistake:

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” 
Revelation 21:8

Ukraine Regains Control of Border With Russia
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: ;Contemporary Issues

KIEV - Ukrainian forces have restored control of the border with Russia and can now prevent military equipment being brought across the frontier to support pro-Russian separatists, acting Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval said on Friday.

"Our forces have completed the encirclement of the problem region and restored the state border of Ukraine. Last week we fully closed off the possibility of any military equipment being brought in from the Russian Federation," Koval told parliament.

The Myth of Moderate Muslims
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsBarbwire
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

The Coming Conflict Between China and the U.S.
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Could China and the United States be heading towards a military confrontation? China’s aggression in the East and South China Seas, towards or close to U.S strategic interests and allies, suggests a deliberate Beijing engineered process of provocative military behavior towards the United States. 

The Huffington Post,in an article written by Hugh White, weighed in on the question of exactly what China is up to: “Many people find it hard to understand why China is acting the way it is in the East and South China Seas. What does Beijing hope to achieve by alienating its neighbors and undermining regional stability?”

A commentary given by The Council on Foreign Relations ,in a recent presentation titled ‘China’s Maritime Disputes’ states that The East and South China Seas are the scene of escalating territorial disputes between China and its neighbors, including Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The tensions, shaped by China's growing assertiveness, have fueled concerns over armed conflict and raised questions about Washington's security commitments in its strategic rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region.

White suggests in his analysis that China is trying to build what President Xi Jinping calls "a new model of great power relations" under which Xi wants China to wield much more power and influence in Asia than it has for the past few centuries. The core strategy is to acquire this power and influence at the expense of America. White continues to summarize his view of other components of the Chinese plan:

• Weakening the relationships between the U.S and her East and South China Seas allies by undermining the confidence America's Asian friends have that America is able and willing to protect them from China's power. Beijing plans to press those friends and allies hard on issues in which America's own interests are not immediately engaged -like a string of maritime disputes in which the U.S. has no direct stake.

• By using direct armed pressure in these disputes, China makes its neighbors more eager for U.S. military support, and at the same time makes America less willing to give it, because of the clear risk of a direct U.S.-China clash. This reaction by the U.S is likely to weaken America's alliances and partnerships, undermine U.S. power in Asia, and enhance China's power. White gives the examples of China’s attempts to test U.S. willingness to support its allies over the Scarborough Shoals and Senkaku/Daioyu disputes. 

• White argues that we can now expect China to further test U.S resolve by applying more pressure in the same places or elsewhere: "And that is what Beijing is doing today in the waters off Vietnam. It is calling Obama's bluff. Expect more pressure against Manila and Tokyo soon.”

According to White, China’s confidence reflects two key judgments by its leaders:

1.They believe that China's new anti-access/area denial capabilities can deny America a quick and easy victory in a maritime clash in the East Asian littoral waters, without provoking a full-scale war. This confidence is based on China's leader’s belief that their U.S. counterparts know that they can neither win nor limit such a war against China today.

2.Beijing believes the balance of resolve is on China's side and that Washington understands this imbalance of resolve. That makes the Chinese confident that U.S. leaders will not assume that China would back down first in a crisis.

On the other hand, Washington’s consensus is that Beijing is not really serious about challenging U.S. leadership in Asia because Beijing's leaders must know they would lose in a confrontation, and they do not care enough about expanding China's role in Asia to take that risk.

White concludes that both Washington and China are steadily upping the stakes in their rivalry as China's provocations of US friends and allies become more flagrant and America's commitments to support them become more categorical. Both nations believe they can do this with impunity because of the expectation that the other will back down to avoid a clash. White’s concern is simple but his conclusion stark: There is a disconcertingly high chance that they are both wrong.

So what outcome can be expected? Who will blink first in this game of “chicken” being played by two military mega powers? From a Bible Prophecy perspective, could it be that China will eventually come out on top? After all, many Bible scholars have concluded that the United States does not seem to feature as a major economic or military player in the end-time scenarios primarily described in the Books of Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation. 

China on the other hand, has a clear role to play as the leader of the “Kings of the East” referred to as coming against Israel in the last days – when the United States will apparently be either unable or unwilling to intervene.

It will be interesting to see how the developing U.S/China rivalries will eventually pan out in detail in the end, and to watch the ancient prophecies of the Bible being fulfilled.

Sudanese Cleric Calls for Attacks on American Targets
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Today's Headlines

A Sudanese cleric called last week for attacks on American targets, should the United States launch an airstrike on jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who have taken over several cities in Iraq.

In a Friday sermon, the cleric Muhammad Al-Jazouli said that all U.S. embassies and interests would become "legitimate targets" in the event of such an airstrike, adding that targets would also include tourist resorts, universities, coffee shops, restaurants, airplanes, ships, shops, and companies.

“Oh Americans, if your armed forces land in Iraq once again, this will mean a new phase in targeting you – your tourist resorts, your embassies in our Arab capitals, your diplomatic delegations, your universities and schools, your coffee shops and restaurants, your airplanes and ships, your shops and companies,” he threatened.

“Oh Americans, give the White House idiot a smack on the hand, so that he will not lead you once again into attrition, which will cause further deterioration and collapse of your economy,” said Al-Jazouli.

“If a single American plane flies over Iraq in order to strike at ISIS, it will be one of our most obligatory religious duties to support the nucleus of the righteous caliphate, by turning all the American embassies and interests into legitimate targets. Play a role in defending the nucleus of the caliphate!” he declared.

Obama so far has shown a highly inconsistent position on Iraq. Last Friday he committed to not sending troops to Iraq, only to send over 500 marines, dozens of helicopters, and the aircraft carrier George HW Bush into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, he ruled out American airstrikes on ISIS, while hinting this was a possibility in a speech on Thursday, in which he said, “We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it.”

Presbyterian Assembly: Gay Marriage is Christian
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsABC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted by large margins to recognize same-sex marriage as Christian in the church constitution, adding language that marriage can be the union of "two people," not just "a man and a woman."

The amendment approved Thursday by the Presbyterian General Assembly requires approval from a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries, which will vote on the change over the next year. But in a separate policy change that takes effect at the end of this week's meeting, delegates voted to allow ministers to preside at gay weddings in states where the unions are legal and local congregational leaders approve. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage.

The votes, during a national meeting in Detroit, were a sweeping victory for Presbyterian gay-rights advocates. The denomination in 2011 eliminated barriers to ordaining clergy with same-sex partners, but ministers were still barred from celebrating gay marriages and risked church penalties for doing so. Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a gay advocacy group, said the amendment was "an answer to many prayers."

The Rev. Krystin Granberg of the New York Presbytery — in a state that recognizes gay marriage — said she receives requests "all the time" from friends and parishioners to preside at their weddings.

"They want to be married in the church they love and they want me to do it," Granberg said during the debate. "I want pastoral relief."

But Bill Norton, of the Presbytery de Cristo, which covers parts of Arizona and New Mexico, urged the assembly to delay any changes. "We are laying hands on something that is holy, that God has given us, so we need to be sure any changes we make are in accord with God's will revealed in Scripture," Norton said.

Since the 2011 gay ordination vote, 428 of the denomination's more than 10,000 churches have left for other more conservative denominations or have dissolved, though some theological conservatives have remained within the denomination as they decide how to move forward. The church now has about 1.8 million members.

The conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee decried the votes in Detroit as an "abomination." The assembly voted 371-238 to allow ministers to celebrate same-sex marriages, and 429-175 in favor of amending the definition of marriage in the constitution.

"The General Assembly has committed an express repudiation of the Bible, the mutually agreed upon Confessions of the PCUSA, thousands of years of faithfulness to God's clear commands and the denominational ordination vows of each concurring commissioner," the Presbyterian Lay Committee said in a statement.

Of the mainline Protestant denominations, only the United Church of Christ supports gay marriage outright. The Episcopal Church has approved a prayer service for blessing same-sex unions. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has eliminated barriers for gay clergy but allows regional and local church officials to decide their own policies on ordination and blessings for same-sex couples.

The largest mainline group, the United Methodist Church, with about 7.8 million U.S. members, bars ordaining people in same-sex relationships. However, church members have been debating whether to split over their different views of the Bible and marriage. Gay marriage supporters have been recruiting clergy to openly officiate at same-sex ceremonies in protest of church policy.

PA Disappointed With Israeli Appointment At UN
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Palestinian Authority expressed disappointment, Thursday, from the appointment of an Israeli to the vice-chairmanship of the United Nations' special committee on political affairs.

A PA statement said the election of an Israeli representative to such a position would encourage the Jewish state "to violate the human rights of the Palestinians."

PA Asks China to Press Israel to Free Terrorists
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Rami Hamdallah

Flash 90

Rami Hamdallah, Prime Minister of the new Fatah-Hamas unity government, met with a representative of China on Thursday, and called on the Asian superpower to pressure Israel to release jailed terrorists.

Speaking with China's Special Envoy to the Middle East Wu Sike, Hamdallah called for international intervention against the IDF's "Operation Brother's Keeper," which aims to rescue the three Israeli teens who were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists last Thursday, and break the Hamas terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.

Hamdallah criticized the operation as "collective punishment," and called for the roughly 300 terrorists arrested in the operation thus far to be released along with the previously jailed terrorists, particularly those on hunger strike, reports the Arab news source Wafa.

The Knesset is considering a bill stipulating the force-feeding of 80 jailed terrorists who were hospitalized after refusing to eat for nearly two months. There has been stiff opposition to the bill, both from political figures on the left who call it "unethical," and from those on the right who say terrorists deserve the death penalty, not force-feeding.

Hamdallah's comments come despite statements by a PA official on Friday, admitting that "every time Israel is ready to release security prisoners with blood on their hands to release captives, it sends a clear message to kidnappers that (Israel) can be blackmailed."

For his part, the Arab news source reports that Sike expressed his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, noting the Chinese efforts to fund the PA. He added that Chinese experts have arrived in Ramallah to advance humanitarian projects, including solar electric generation projects.

Even according to the report's account, Sike did not condemn the Israeli operation, and indeed there has been a burgeoning alliance between Israel and China. 

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong visited Israel in May, where she signed a bilateral cooperation agreement with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and likewise a new landmark Israeli initiative to boost exports to China by five billion shekels (roughly $290 million) annually was approved.

While China has not made a clear statement on the kidnapping, the US for its part called for Israel to show "restraint" in attempting to rescue the teenagers. US President Barack Obama has come in for flak over still not commenting on the abduction, over a week later.

Obama Willing to Strike ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Open to Constructive Role from Iran
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Officials said that 30,000 US troops remain in the Gulf region and that the Pentagon has increased that presence in recent days.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is to travel to the region to lobby Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to take concrete political steps that might mitigate the crisis.

Obama met with his top national security advisers, including Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the heads of US intelligence agencies and his ambassador to the UN, Susan Power, before speaking to the press.

Meanwhile, Iraqi government forces battled Sunni rebels for control of the country’s biggest refinery on Thursday Maliki waited for a US response to an appeal for air strikes to beat back the threat to Baghdad.

Kerry said Obama still had “all options” open to him, but US regional allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia echoed concern in Washington about the risk of US action serving only to inflame the sectarian war.

Asked whether Washington would accede to that appeal, Kerry told NBC only that “nothing is off the table.”

Some politicians have urged Obama to insist that Maliki goes as a condition for further US help.

The head of Iran’s presidential office, Mohammad Nahavandian, speaking to reporters in Oslo on Wednesday, said that if nuclear talks prove successful, it could open the way for talks with the US to find a solution to the Iraq crisis, AFP reported.

However, on the same day, Iranian Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi ruled out any chance of cooperating with the US in Iraq.

“Cooperation between Iran and the US will never take place and is meaningless,” he said, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.

Firouzabadi also countered reports that Iranian forces were in Iraq, saying there was “no need” for them.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Iraq has asked for drone strikes and increased surveillance by US drones, which have been flying over Iraq. However, officials note, targets for air strikes could be hard to distinguish from civilians among whom ISIS’s men were operating.

Rob Caruso, a former special security officer for the United States Navy supporting strike operations, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Thursday that the president made some prudent choices, “but they are not muscular enough.”

“Drone strikes won’t be able to strike in Iraq until they have actionable intelligence and the advisers that are being sent to Iraq will allow them to pinpoint their location and capture or kill their leaders,” said Caruso, a former official with the Department of Defense and Department of State.

However, he added, “drones and unmanned aircraft are useless in this scenario. It is contested airspace and Iran has a variety of electronic warfare capabilities that can cripple our drones, so it will be necessary to use manned naval aircraft from the Persian Gulf and other aircraft from neighboring countries like Turkey or Jordan.”

A Saudi source said that Western powers agreed with Riyadh, the main Sunni state in the region, that what was needed was political change, not outside intervention, to heal sectarian division that has widened under Maliki.

The Saudi source told Reuters: “No outside interference will be of any benefit,” adding that Washington, France and Britain all agreed with Riyadh that “dialog and a political solution is the way forward in Iraq.”

The United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday that it was recalling its ambassador to Baghdad for consultations, saying it was worried that the Iraqi government’s “sectarian” policies could heighten political tensions and worsen security there.

In the meantime, the United States began flying F-18 attack aircraft from the carrier USS George H.W. Bush on missions over Iraq to conduct surveillance of the insurgents. The carrier was ordered into the Gulf several days ago.

The sprawling Baiji refinery, 200 km. north of the capital near Tikrit, was a battlefield as troops loyal to the Shi’ite-led government held off insurgents from ISIS and its allies who had stormed the perimeter a day earlier, threatening national energy supplies. A government spokesman said around noon that its forces were in “complete control.”

However, a witness in Baiji said fighting was continuing. Two Iraqi helicopters tried to land in the refinery but were unable to because of insurgent gunfire, and most of the refinery remained under rebel control.

A day after the government publicly appealed for US air power, there were indications Washington is skeptical of whether that would be effective, given the risk of civilian deaths that could further enrage Iraq’s once dominant Sunni minority.

Video aired by Al-Arabiya television showed smoke billowing from the Baiji plant and the black flag used by ISIS flying from a building. Workers who had been inside the complex, which spreads for miles close to the Tigris river, said Sunni fighters seemed to hold most of the compound in early morning and that security forces were concentrated around the refinery’s control room.

The 250-300 remaining staff were evacuated early on Thursday, one of those workers said by telephone. Military helicopters had attacked rebel positions overnight, he added.

Baiji, 40 km. north of Saddam Hussein’s home city of Tikrit, lies squarely in territory captured in the past week by an array of armed Sunni groups, spearheaded by ISIS. On Tuesday, staff shut down the plant, which makes much of the fuel Iraqis in the north need for both transport and generating electricity.

ISIS, which considers Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim majority as heretics in league with neighboring, Shi’ite Iran, has led a Sunni charge across northern Iraq after capturing the major city of Mosul last week as Maliki’s US-armed forces collapsed.

The group’s advance has only been slowed by a regrouped military, Shi’ite militias and other volunteers. The government announced on Thursday that those who joined up to fight in “hot areas” would be paid about $150 a week.

Sunni fighters took the small town of Mutasim, south of Samarra, giving them the prospect of encircling the city which houses a major Shi’ite shrine.

Competing with Iran for regional influence – a rivalry that echoes 13 centuries of Sunni- Shi’ite strife – Saudi Arabia hit back angrily at an accusation this week by Maliki’s government that Riyadh was promoting sectarian “genocide” by supporting ISIS. Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal called that “ludicrous” and said Saudis were fighting ISIS, an al-Qaida splinter group.

From Iran, which has pledged to intervene if necessary in Iraq to protect Shi’ite holy places, a tweet from an account linked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei noted that Western powers support the mostly Sunni revolt against Syria’s Iranian- backed leader. It called for Sunnis and Shi’ites to resist efforts by the terrorists and the West to divide Muslims.

Obama Admin. Cancels Regional Military Exercise Due to Uganda
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Obama admin. cancels regional military exercise due to Uganda’s gay sex laws

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Uganda Dismisses Obama Pressure On Anti-gay Law...

Uganda on Tuesday dismissed U.S. president Barack Obama's call to its leader Yoweri Museveni not to sign an anti-homosexuality law, saying the U.S. was trying to blackmail the east African country. On Sunday, two...

By Douglas Ernst

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The Washington Times

Thursday, June 19, 2014

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The Obama administration canceled a regional military exercise in Uganda on Thursday due to the country’s gay sex laws. The African nation implemented a bill in February that makes gay sex an offense that could land individuals a life sentence in prison.

“The idea is to send a signal to perpetrators and would-be perpetrators that we are indeed monitoring, that we are indeed prepared to take measures, and that there are consequences,” a senior administration official told Reuters Thursday. The White House specifically wants to target those responsible for abuses connected with the anti-gay laws’ implementation.

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When the bill was signed in February, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni blasted the United States for saying the law would complicate its relationship with the country.

“We Africans never seek to impose our view on others,” Mr. Museveni said, the Associated Press reported. “If only they could let us alone. We have been disappointed for a long time by the conduct of the West. There is now an attempt at social imperialism.”

In addition to the canceled military exercises, the U.S. also imposed visa restrictions on individuals and cut funding for a Ugandan police program, Retuers reported.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/19/obama-admin-cancels-regional-military-exercise-due/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS#ixzz35BYSdNPF
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Let the Headlines Speak
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

12 Shocking Proofs That Disaster Strikes America When It Mistreats Israel
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Iran says Obama lacks will to combat terrorism in Iraq
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India nuke enrichment plant expansion operational in 2015: IHS
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Iraq crisis: head of Saddam Hussein's tribe denounces ex-Ba'athists
The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe has denounced ex-Ba'athists for joining Iraq's jihadist-led uprising, saying the country's late dictator would not have approved. ..."The people taking part in this fight are not true to the beliefs of Saddam or his Ba'ath party, which was a movement with principles and ideology," he said. "We have nothing to do with al-Qaeda."  

Health experts: Diseases at border becoming 'crisis'
Health professionals are warning of a “humanitarian crisis” festering in Texas and Arizona... Cramped conditions and the spread of difficult-to-treat diseases has doctors worried in the wake of a massive influx of children coming across the Mexican-U.S. border...Outbreaks of scabies, lice, dengue fever, tuberculosis and other diseases...are already being documented among the children and in some border agents...  

Mysterious Lights In The Sky Spotted Above OC, Camp Pendleton
...KCAL9 Street Team mobilized Wednesday night after receiving several reports of orange lights appearing various parts of southern Orange County. Viewer “Marilyn” sent KCAL9 video footage that apparently showed two round and apparently parallel objects pulsing and hovering near Trabuco Canyon around 10:15 p.m. Several viewers reported spotting similar objects over Camp Pendleton.  

Ukraine crisis: Details of Poroshenko's peace plan emerge
Details have emerged of a 14-point peace plan to be unveiled by Ukraine's President Poroshenko later. The document, which is aimed at ending fighting in eastern Ukraine, appeared in Ukrainian media overnight. It comes after Mr Poroshenko held his second phone conversation this week with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.  

Support ballooning in Congress for harsher financial sanctions on Hezbollah
Support is widening in the US Congress for a bipartisan bill to block Hezbollah’s financing and to limit the group’s access to logistical support. ...US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act of 2014...The bill has quickly attained 280 co-sponsors...in the House of Representatives and 36 in the Senate.  

Israel Air Force strikes Gaza overnight in retaliation for rockets
The Israel Air Force struck five terror sites in Gaza overnight between Thursday and Friday for the second time in 24-hours in retaliation for rockets fired earlier in the evening by Palestinian terrorists in the Strip. ...The IDF Spokesperson's Office confirmed direct hits on the Gaza terror sites.  

75 CDC staff possibly exposed to anthrax, agency says
About 75 Atlanta-based workers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have been unintentionally exposed to anthrax, the agency said Thursday. They are being monitored or provided antibiotics.  

Ukraine rebels speak of heavy losses in battle against government troops
Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists were locked in fierce fighting in the east of Ukraine on Thursday and a rebel commander acknowledged big losses among separatists heavily outgunned by government forces.  

Gun battle flares as Israeli soldiers seek missing teens
Israeli forces traded gunfire with Palestinians on Thursday, the military said, in the fiercest street battles in the occupied West Bank since a search began for three Israeli teenagers missing for a week.  

Iraq crisis: US to send 'military advisers'
President Barack Obama says the US will send 300 military advisers to Iraq to help fight Islamist-led insurgents. Mr Obama said the US was prepared for "targeted and precise military action, if and when... the situation on the ground requires it", but added that US troops would not fight in Iraq.  

Iraq: al-Maliki's rivals jockey to replace him
With the country in turmoil, rivals of Iraq's Shiite prime minister are mounting a campaign to force him out of office, with some angling for support from Western backers and regional heavyweights.  

Bulgaria floods: At least 10 killed in port city of Varna
At least 10 people have died and several are missing after torrential rain and heavy floods hit eastern Bulgaria, officials say. Floodwaters in the Black Sea port city of Varna surged up to 1m (3.2ft). Many residents had to be rescued as cars were swept away. Hundreds have been left without electricity or food.

Judgment Upon America for Sins Against Israel?
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Is there an established pattern or relationship mainly between the natural and economic disasters that have been suffered by the United States over the years, and the times that the United States has attempted to divide Israel in favour of the Palestinians? Now the End Begins blog recently inferred as much, pointing to twelve examples (summarized below) that seem to clearly illustrate this point:

1. The Madrid Peace Conference: 31 October 1991. President George H. Bush promoted the Madrid Peace Conference, where he attempted to divide the land of Israel in exchange for “peace” with the Palestinians. The next day, a very rare huge storm starting in the north Atlantic, moving east to west, hit North America’s eastern seaboard in October 1991 and was called a “perfect storm” because of the rare combination of factors that created it. Interestingly, one of the first places The Perfect Storm hit was Kennebunkport, Maine. Waves over 30 foot demolished the home of President George H. Bush, the instigator of the Oslo Accord.

2. The Madrid Peace Conference Part II, 23 August 1992: The Madrid Conference was not successful the first time around, so a year later President Bush tried it again. On the very same day, Hurricane Andrew smashes and crashes into Florida. Andrew causes over $30 billion in damage while destroying over 180,000 homes. At that time, Andrew was the worst natural disaster ever to hit America.

3. The Oslo Peace Accord, 13 September 1993: President George H. Bush promoted and proudly signed the infamous Oslo Accord. The Oslo Accord was labeled a “Land for Peace” accord that demanded Israel award their land to the Palestinian murderers and terrorists in exchange for peace. On the very day that the Oslo Peace Accord was agreed upon, Hurricane Emily slammed into the Outer Banks with winds up to 115 miles per hour.

4. Talks To Give Up Golan Heights, 16 January 1994: President Bill Clinton meets with terrorist and Israel hater Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes Israel giving up the Golan Heights. In less than 24 hours, a powerful 6.9 earthquake rocks Southern California. This mysterious quake, centered in Northridge, is the second most destructive natural disaster to hit the United States, behind Hurricane Andrew.

5. Political Disaster: Impeachment, 21 January 1998: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Clinton at the White House and is coldly received. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refuse to have lunch with him. After Clinton’s rejection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, later the very same day, the Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks out, destroying the Clinton presidency and resulting in his impeachment.

6. Land For Peace, 28 September 1998: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright finishes the final details of an agreement which requires Israel to surrender 13 percent of Yesha (Judah and Samaria). President Bill Clinton meets with Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize another Israel “land for peace” hoodwink. Later, Arafat addresses the United Nations and declares an independent Palestinian state by May 1999. The same day Hurricane George blasts the Gulf Coast with 110 mph winds and gusts up to 175 mph. The hurricane hit the coast and stalled until the agreement was finalized and Arafat addressed the UN. Then it hit and caused $1 billion in damage. At the exact time that Arafat departs the U.S., the storm begins to dissipate.

7. Land For Peace, 15 October 1998:Arafat and Netanyahu meet at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland. The talks are scheduled to last five days with the focus on Israel giving up 13 percent of Yesha. Two days later, on October 17, heavy storms and tornadoes hit southern Texas. The San Antonio area is deluged with rain. The rain and flooding in Texas continue until October 22 and then subside. The floods ravage 25 percent of Texas and leave over one billion dollars in damage. On October 21, Clinton declares this section of Texas a major disaster area.

8. Negotiations To Give Away Jerusalem, 30 November 1998:Arafat arrives in Washington again to meet with President Clinton to raise money for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. A total of 42 other nations were represented in Washington. All the nations agreed to give Arafat $3 billion in aid. Clinton promised $400 million, and the European nations $1.7 billion. The same day, in a Financial disaster, the Dow Jones average drops 216 points, and on December 1, the European Market had its third worst day in history. Hundreds of billions of market capitalization were wiped out in the U.S. and Europe.

9. Land For Peace, 12 December 1998: President Clinton arrives in the Palestinian-controlled section of Israel to discuss another “land for peace” fiasco. The same day, the U.S. House of Representatives vote four articles of impeachment against President Clinton.

10. Negotiations To Give Away Jerusalem, 3 May, 1999:Yasser Arafat schedules a press conference to announce a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. The same day, the most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States whips through Oklahoma and Kansas. The winds are clocked at 316 mph, the fastest wind speed ever recorded. Arafat postpones his announcement to December 1999 at the request of buddy President Clinton. In his letter to Arafat, Clinton praises and encourages Arafat for his “aspirations for his own land.”

11. The Roadmap To Peace, 8 June 2001:President George W. Bush sends Secretary Tenet to Jerusalem to promote his “Roadmap to Peace,” the continuation of the failed Oslo Accord. The same day, Tropical storm Allison hits Texas the home state of President George W. Bush. Allison causes over $7 billion in damage and closes George Bush Airport for two days. Allison continues for five long days. When Tenet leaves Jerusalem, Allison settles down.

12. America Pressures Israel To Give Up The Gaza Strip, 23 August 2005: Gush Katif was paradise. And it was destroyed by those who took it over. Israel completed the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and gave it to the Palestinians. The Gaza Strip evacuation came directly from President Bush’s “Roadmap to Peace.” Hurricane Katrina formed on the same, exact day that the last settlers were evacuated: August 23. Defying the computer models, Katrina turned south-east, scraped the south tip of Florida and then with the vengeance of a runaway freight train Katrina took an unexpected turn into the warm Gulf Coast… When Katrina ended her deadly mission America suffered the worst disaster in her storied history. 

The reference scripture quoted in the blog is from Obadiah 1:15 which states: “For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.” The timing and force of these disasters seems to clearly indicate the hand of God upholding his promises to Abraham and his seed in Genesis 12:3, and other scriptures.

Others seem to believe that although these disasters reflect the judgment of God against the U.S, the position taken by Now the End Begins blog, and other similar sources, is narrow and does not consider other possibilities. Wild Olive.co.uk states: “Some disasters appear to be related to God's promise to bless those who bless Israel but curse those who slight Israel…But can we treat disasters in this way?... If we assert that God hit the USA with Katrina, we could be misrepresenting God. God may only have lifted His protecting hand. To interpret all these events only as judgment ignores Jesus teaching about persecution and disasters to come, the coming tribulation and the wrath of the Adversary against God's people in the end times.” 

Despite the diversity of views, it would be wisest to heed the voice of the One who plainly stated prophetically to Abram (later Abraham), from whom the “great nation” of the Jewish race descended: 
I will make you a great nation; 
I will bless you
And make your name great; 
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.(Genesis 12:2-3).

Also in the Book of Zechariah the warning is found: “Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.” For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:7-8).

Iraqi Forces Ready Push After Obama Offers Advisers
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

 Iraqi forces were massing north of Baghdad on Friday, aiming to strike back at Sunni Islamists whose drive toward the capital prompted the United States to send military advisers to stiffen government resistance.

President Barack Obama offered up to 300 Americans to help coordinate the fight. But he held off granting a request for air strikes from the Shi'ite-led government and renewed a call for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to do more to overcome sectarian divisions that have fueled resentment among the Sunni minority.

Hollywood - Style Surveillance Technology Inches Closer to Reality
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

In one city, law enforcement officials don’t need to see your identification: They just need your face. Police officers in Chula Vista, near San Diego, already have used mobile facial recognition technology to confirm the identities of people they suspect of crimes. After using a tablet to capture the person’s image, an answer is delivered in eight seconds. (About 1 percent of the time, the system retrieves the wrong name, according to the manufacturer, FaceFirst.)

Chula Vista is now part of a larger trend in law enforcement to use unique biological markers like faces, palm prints, skin abnormalities and the iris of eyes to identify people. 

“You can lie about your name, you can lie about your date of birth, you can lie about your address,” said Officer Rob Halverson. “But tattoos, birthmarks, scars don’t lie.”

The FBI, meanwhile, is finalizing plans this year to make 130 million fingerprints digital and searchable.

Many of the fingerprints belong to people who have not been arrested but simply submitted their prints for background checks while seeking jobs. Civil libertarians worry that facial images for these individuals could be next. The FBI already maintains a collection of some 17 million mug shots.

This personal information is now housed in a West Virginia-based storage facility the size of two football fields containing row after row of blinking and buzzing server stacks. These machines are the heart of the FBI’s Next Generation Identification program, which seeks to make it easier for police officers and investigators around the nation to distinguish one human being from another based on biological traits.

“What it potentially means is that we’re able to catch bad guys faster, and we’re able to get them off the streets a lot faster with the technologies we have so they don’t commit another crime,” said Jeremy Wiltz, acting assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division.

Such technology, he said, also could exonerate innocent people and keep them from being held in a jail cell for days or longer. Audits have been conducted to ensure Next Generation Identification isn’t accessed by local police for conducting inappropriate searches, Wiltz added. 

The potential for misuse nonetheless troubles civil libertarians.

Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said she’s concerned the government will eventually collect and store face images like it does now with the tens of millions of fingerprints submitted by people seeking certain jobs. She’s worried such data will be merged with criminal records that are currently kept separate – resulting in innocent people being placed under suspicion.

“Once the nation has a facial recognition database, and once facial recognition capabilities improve to the point that we can identify faces in a crowd, it will become possible for authorities to identify people as they move through society,” Lynch said.

Elsewhere in the Los Angeles area, police are facing similar challenges at a command center near downtown where law enforcement analysts observe a video surveillance feed aimed at the iconic Hollywood sign, which police say is sometimes targeted by vandals and is vulnerable to fires.

Policing the Hollywood sign is one of many tasks of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response Division – looking not unlike other high-tech law enforcement centers that have sprung up around the country as part of a post-9/11 trend known as predictive or intelligence-led policing. The goal: speed up reaction times or, better yet, intercede before new crimes, including potential precursors to terrorism, occur.

The center has access to 1,000 surveillance cameras spread across the city. Also available, through a feed to the center, are social media sites, news broadcasts and data captured by license-plate recognition devices.

There’s also a wall-mounted digital map of real-time reported crimes around Los Angeles that could provide analysts with valuable insight into when and where crimes are most likely to occur, where trends are emerging and where officers should be patrolling.

Like many cities around the country, Los Angeles is grappling with unease from residents over thousands of networked cameras that can peer into many corners of our lives, often without us being fully aware of it. 

The center’s commanding officer, Capt. John Romero, recognizes the concerns but equates them with public resistance to street lights in America’s earliest days.

“People thought that this is the government trying to see what we’re doing at night, to spy on us,” Romero said. “And so over time, things shifted, and now if you try to take down street lights in Los Angeles or Boston or anywhere else, people will say no.”

Google - the Hidden Superpower
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Remember back in the good old days, when Google was just a search engine? Those days are long gone now, and it doesn't look like they're ever coming back. 

It was always at least a little unnerving, realizing how good Google's search algorithms were. It was like they knew you. The search results have always been right on target, but they're improving all the time, and as they do, it's just scary. It's as if those giant server farms used by the search engine could anticipate exactly what you were looking for, based on your previous search history and preferences.

As it turns out, that's exactly why the search results are, and continue to be so good. Google has, from day one, collected an enormous amount of information about the people who use its search engine. They collected even more information about you and the people you talk to, and what you talk about if you use their email service, Gmail.

That's good in some ways. The more they know, the better their services get, so we lived with it. Then came Google+, Google's answer to FaceBook and Social Media. Still more information collected about you, your friends, your conversations, and your habits.

Google Earth was next, with a massive global mapping project, which was almost immediately followed by Google Street View, which not only gave Google a living database and high resolution photos of every street, home, and business on the planet, but also gave them street level views of everything and, you guessed it, yet more information about all of them.

After that, Google invaded your TV with a brilliant device called Chromecast that allowed you to watch shows on your hand held, your desktop and/or laptop, and your smart TV, all seamlessly, and all without a hitch. That gave them more information about your tastes and preferences.

Next came the wonders of Google Glass, and the possibility of beaming information straight into your eyeballs every waking hour of every day. Of course hand in hand with that means yet more information about you, your preferences, your friends, where you go, and what you do when you get there.

Now comes the automated vehicle controls that Google is currently road testing. They'll be in your car, driving it for you on auto pilot. And wait, there's more. Recently, Google was were given the authority by the government to become a reseller of electricity, and using the servers that drive their search engine, they can tell you exactly how your power is used. What appliances you've got, how efficiently they run, everything. That's all part of yet another project that you may not have even heard of yet, called Google NEST (the learning Thermostat), and all the things it will tell Google about you.

If that weren't enough, there are all the purchases of robotics factories, modular assembly technologies, and how they'll come to rely on “digital tattoo” technology. Balloons and solar powered drones flying overhead undetected as part of Project Loon, yet another Google initiative, and of course, that's not even mentioning the impressive, globe spanning plan to put a network of 180 low orbit satellites in orbit to bring the internet to the whole planet.

There are entire nations that don't have a hundred and eighty satellites in orbit. In fact, such a vast number of satellites in orbit is one of the hallmarks of a nation with Superpower status. Google has become the world's first corporate superpower.

Love our government or hate it, the one thing you can basically say is that the government tries, however ineptly, to look after the best interests of its citizens. And we can kick them out after four years.

Corporations don't do that, because they don't have citizens. They have shareholders. If you're not one of them, then Google isn't looking after your best interests, by definition, and yet, they have become more pervasive and more invasive than your worst government nightmare. And we have no real way of kicking them out.

Consider that next time you log on.

Flying Robocop is a Riot Control Octocopter With Guns and Lasers
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsARS Techniqua
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Meet the Skunk, a heavy-duty, semi-autonomous octocopter drone that can unleash pepper spray, plastic bullets, paintballs, strobe lights and "blinding" lasers, as well as a cacophony of audio in its mission to persuade unruly mobs to disperse. Unveiled at the IFSEC International trade show in London this week, the Skunk is now for sale—and its manufacturer says the orders have begun to roll in.

Envoys: Some Progress At Iran - 6-power Nuke Talks
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsABC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Diplomats familiar with the progress of Iran nuclear talks say some differences have been narrowed between Tehran and six world powers.

But they report little progress on the main dispute, with Iran resisting U.S.-led attempts to place strict constraints on its uranium enrichment program.

Enriched uranium can be used for reactor fuel or to arm nuclear weapons, depending on the level of enrichment. Iran says it does not want such arms and is pushing to keep its present enrichment capacity.

Washington and its allies seek deep cuts in the nearly 20,000 centrifuges Iran has operating or on standby, and other restrictions.

The two diplomats spoke Friday, the last planned day of the current negotiating round. They demanded anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the confidential talks.

Canadian FM Calls to Demilitarize Palestinian Authority, Gaza
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Today's Headlines

Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird

Reuters

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird called on Thursday for the Palestinian Authority (PA areas of Judea-Samaria) and Gaza to be demilitarized.

Writing in an op-ed in the Canadian The Globe and Mail, Baird noted that the day after the "shocking" kidnapping of three Israeli teens last week, Gaza terrorists fired rockets at Israel, hitting "an area of southern Israel no bigger than the Greater Toronto Area."

While lamenting that such attacks have become routine and ignored by the world at large, Baird commented "what should distinguish these latest attacks is that they have happened under the watch of a new Palestinian government that was announced two weeks ago."

In forming the new Fatah-Hamas unity government, Baird reminded that Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas insisted it would be controlled by him, and be based on what he called "the four Palestinian principles": recognizing Israel, recognizing the terms of international agreements, and the explicit rejection of violence and terrorism.

"With that reassertion of authority must come a reapplication of responsibility – responsibility to uphold the Quartet principles in Gaza," Baird said, saying Abbas must now prove his commitment to those principles by asserting authority over Gaza and stopping the attacks.

Baird remarked that as of now, "Hamas remains the only real authority in Gaza. Their police remain on its streets, and their bureaucrats and apparatchiks continue to control people’s lives." Unity government Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah admitted as much in an interview last Thursday, when he acknowledged his government has no authority in Gaza.

The Canadian foreign minister presented Abbas with three challenges to show he meant what he said about principles and control in forming the government.

First, Baird asserts Abbas must "complete the disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups operating in Gaza, including the Iranian proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad." This move must include freeing the three abducted youths, says Baird.

Next, Baird called for a "complete cessation of the production and smuggling of weapons and materials that enable terrorist groups to both acquire and make rockets."

In a final step, the "Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus must assume immediate and total control of Gaza and the Rafah border crossing." Indeed, Egypt has offered to give the unity government control over the crossing into Sinai if it can control Hamas.

Casting doubt as to whether Abbas intends to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by Baird are statements by Hamas officials, who revealed last Sunday that in private meetings with Hamas, Abbas said his public statements about the unity government "are meant to trick the Americans."

Can We Pray the Polyamory Away?
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsBarbwire
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Analysis: Obama Plan Leaves Iraq Mostly on Its Own
Jun 20th, 2014
Daily NewsABC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

For years, the U.S. has been clear about its intent to step back from Iraq. The restrained American military aid now being offered to defend Baghdad against a ferocious Sunni insurgency reaffirms the Obama administration's mantra that Iraq is still largely on its own.

What hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops, during more than eight years of war, apparently could not achieve in training Iraqi forces to defend the nation's vast deserts and dusty towns is now being tasked to a few dozen teams of Green Berets and other special forces and stepped-up surveillance.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama ordered 300 special forces soldiers to advise joint operations in and near Baghdad, marking the first return of a U.S. fighting force since the military left Iraq in 2011 after a war that killed nearly 4,500 American troops and more than 100,000 Iraqis.

The White House is not ruling out potential airstrikes against Sunni insurgents as well, but no time soon, and is deeply reluctant to do so.

And Obama, who has little desire to return to the battleground of what he once termed as a "dumb war," is holding fast to his pledge that American forces will not be sent into combat.

But faced with a costly and bloody U.S. investment in Iraq — combined with a growing regional threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — Obama could no longer ignore the distress signals from Baghdad. The first U.S. special forces soldiers are to land in Baghdad soon, and a Navy aircraft carrier and warships arrived in the Persian Gulf in the latest front of America's military intervention in Iraq since 1990.

"It is in our national security interests not to see an all-out civil war inside of Iraq, not just for humanitarian reasons, but because that ultimately can be destabilizing throughout the region," Obama told reporters in announcing the restrained military help.

"But that does not foreshadow a larger commitment of troops to actually fight in Iraq," Obama said. "That would not be effective in meeting the core interests that we have."

Officials said the small size of the new American military footprint in Iraq fits Obama's vision of what the U.S. can accomplish without sending in tens of thousands of conventional troops in a reprise of the war he campaigned to end.

Given the relative ease that the ISIL has defeated Iraqi troops over the past two weeks and overrun major cities in the nation's north and west, U.S. officials said there was no expectation that the American aid will quell — or even directly face — the Sunni insurgency.

Instead, Obama said protecting the mostly Shiite capital in Baghdad was a top priority, and, initially at least, that's where the U.S. special forces will be based. They will join about 275 U.S. troops that were deployed this week to protect the American Embassy in Baghdad, located a few blocks away from the Iraqi parliament and prime minister's office in the heavily fortified compound known as the Green Zone.

The special forces will be deployed in teams of 12 to advise Iraqi military command centers and brigade-level headquarters in and immediately around the capital. Much of their mission is to identify security gaps and assess whether more U.S. troops will be needed to help foster stability. They are not expected to fight in any battles directly.