Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Will the Gaza Truce be Shorter Than the Gaza War?
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Commentary

Day by day, the prospect recedes of the Israel-Hamas Cairo negotiations actually taking place on schedule, one month after Aug. 26, the date the last Gaza ceasefire went into force. And even if they do, it will only be a pointless formality achieving nothing. The discussions, actions, disclosures and statements filling the air at present all point to the violence resuming on the Jewish New Year festival later this month.

Clearly aware of the dates, Hamas’ Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh warned in a sermon Friday, Sept. 6, that rocket fire would start up against Israel on Sept. 25, the first day of the festival, unless the blockade of the Gaza Strip was lifted by then.

This eventuality would sorely embarrass Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, to say the least – after their extreme efforts to demonstrate to critics that Hamas would never dare shoot another rocket after the punishment it took in 50 days of relentless Israeli warfare and air strikes.

This was the rationale they used for halting hostilities, prematurely according to their critics, without delivering the final crushing blow against the Palestinian extremists.

It now seems that the truce may be shorter-lived than the conflict itself, because it rested on misconceptions. Egyptian President Abdel Fatteh El-Sisi and Prime Minister Netanyahu designated Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to oversee and take charge of the slow strangling of Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip. That was one misconception. For one thing, Abbas never dances to any tune but his own, and, for another, Hamas’s popularity has soared at his expense – especially in his own domain, the West Bank, where a recent Palestinian poll showed 80 percent support for Hamas’s rocket war on Israel.

Knowing which way the wind was blowing, Abbas made it clear in his remarks Saturday that he had no intention of disarming Hamas, but would take charge of the Gaza Strip only if he was assured by Egypt as well as Hamas that the Palestinians would have one ruling body and “one gun.”

This was Abbas’s way of telling Israel to forget about its demand to demilitarize Gaza, because he had accepted the Hamas formula for a unity government: The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority would rule the territory and Hamas would continue to be the sole military force, enjoying a status akin to the autonomous Hizballah militia in Lebanon.

Israel knew about these understandings in the last week of August, when the Shin Bet Direct Yoram Cohen traveled to Jordan for a meeting with Abbas. That meeting was widely misrepresented as a rendezvous between Abbas and Netanyahu for launching the latter’s vision of a “new political horizon” arising from the successful Gaza campaign.

Cohen’s mission was quite different: He was to hand the Palestinian leader a clear warning about how Israel views the future of Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip and lay down red lines.
But for now, the second week of September, Hamas and Israel are back to the mid-war situation of impermanent truces, with Hamas still calling the shots and even setting the date for resuming its rocket war on Israel.

Hence the comments by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman Sunday, Sept. 7, that it was “unrealistic at this time” to demand Gaza’s demilitarization, although the issue “must stay on the table.”

Clearly Netanyahu has given up on his main condition for ceasing hostilities, which was the demilitarization of the terror-ridden strip of coastal land adjoining southwestern Israel. He and the defense minister seem to have resigned themselves to Hamas being left with the capacity to manufacture and shoot rockets at will.

This acceptance roused into action the critics, who were vocally opposed to the way the war was handled and pointed out, above all, how little was achieved before a truce was accepted. An unnamed “senior political figurel” caused a rumpus Sunday, when he reported in a leak to the media that, two weeks into the latest ceasefire, Hamas had begun rebuilding the attack tunnels, which IDF ground forces so painstakingly destroyed, and was again smuggling arms through Sinai tunnels, despite Egypt’s efforts to run interference.

Furthermore, the Gaza terrorists were again manufacturing M-75 rockets capable of reaching Tel Aviv. Even after Israel’s massive aerial strikes, they were left with one-third of their rocket arsenal. 

Unnamed sources in the defense ministry questioned the official’s sources for this information, which landed with the same suddenness as the revelation that the government had begun discussing the choice of Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz’s successor as the next chief of staff.

This issue tends to be highly charged as different contenders vie to make the running. If Netanyahu and Ya’alon wanted to delay the decision, they could have extended Gen. Gantz term, which ends Feb. 15, 2015, or got it out of the way by promoting his deputy, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkott.

But both are reported to prefer to draw a line on the Gaza conflict and the performance of the two generals and start afresh. They therefore find themselves caught uncomfortably in crossfire from two conflicts – the possible resumption of Palestinian attacks from Gaza, and the contest in the top ranks of the IDF for the top job as chief of staff.

States Await Word on Whether They Have Cases of Rare Respiratory Virus
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Will Cornejo, 13, recovers at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver. (Cyrus McCrimmon/Denver Post)

As hospitals across the country see an increase in children dealing with respiratory illnesses, public health officials in several states say they are awaiting test results to see if they are indeed facing a rare virus strain that has been confirmed in six states.

After a surge in children with severe respiratory illnesses were treated at hospitals in Missouri and Illinois, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ran tests and determined that dozens of the children tested positive for a rare enterovirus strain. It is possible that just one hospital in Kansas City, Mo., has seen hundreds of cases, which hints at a potentially large number nationwide.

Enteroviruses are very common, causing between 10 and 15 million infections a year; many people who are infected with such a virus don’t get sick, or only develop a cold, the CDC says. But this uncommon strain, known as enterovirus 68, can cause severe breathing problems and has not appeared very often since it was first isolated in California in 1962.

“Severe respiratory illness is always a concern to us, especially when children are affected,” Anne Schuchat, head of the CDC’s National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, said Monday.

The suspected cases are scattered in clusters around the country, and authorities have said they are ultimately not sure how many infections this strain could cause or how widely it could spread. Only children have been confirmed to have been infected so far, as adults are unlikely to get diagnosed with this type of virus, Schuchat said during a conference call with reporters. (Children lack the immunity that comes from being exposed to a disease.)

“We’re in a stage where it’s difficult to say just how big this is, how long it will go on for and how widespread it will be,” she said.

No vaccination is available for this strain.

The CDC said Monday that a dozen states had suspected cases of the strain. Half of those states had confirmed cases of the rare enterovirus, according to the CDC and state health officials: Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Colorado and Kansas. In addition, there are suspected cases in Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ohio and Utah, the CDC said Monday.

For states with suspected clusters but no confirmation, and for public health officials wondering about the breadth of the situation, they must now wait for the CDC’s test results. (While hospitals are able to test for enteroviruses, most are not able to check which particular strain they are facing, so states are sending samples from children to the CDC.)

Utah has no confirmed cases yet, but authorities suspect that the virus is likely there, said Tom Hudachko, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Health. Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City said it has seen an increase in children admitted with symptoms of serious respiratory diseases. Samples from this hospital will be sent to the CDC for testing, Hudachko said.

There are also no confirmed cases in Ohio, but health officials are working with children’s hospitals in Cleveland and Cincinnati to send samples to the CDC. Similarly, authorities expect that some of the test could come back positive, said Melanie Amato, a Health Department spokeswoman.

The Michigan Department of Community Health reported an increase in children with respiratory illnesses across the state and is sending samples for testing. In Alabama, the state Department of Public Health has received multiple reports of suspected cases of this strain, but nobody has tested positive for it yet. The state is looking into two clusters of respiratory illnesses — one centered in Mobile, the other in the northern part of the state — and half a dozen samples have been sent for testing. They don’t expect test results for between one and two weeks.

Officials in other states said they had already heard back from the CDC that they had children stricken with this strain. Children’s Hospital Colorado sent 25 samples to the CDC, and 19 of them tested positive, according to the state Department of Public Health and Environment. Specimens sent to the CDC from central Iowa tested positive, and reports of respiratory illnesses elsewhere in the state suggested “some activity statewide,” said Ann Garvey, the deputy state epidemiologist.

There were 11 positive tests from 14 samples sent by a Chicago hospital, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health said. And there are more reports of respiratory illnesses around the state, she said. Kentucky sent 10 samples to the CDC after a surge in respiratory illnesses in the central part of the state and half of them tested positive, the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services said.

Last month, 141 children from Kansas were treated at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Some of these children were found to have the rare strain, said a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Children’s Mercy saw nearly 500 children for respiratory problems, said Mary Anne Jackson, director of the hospital’s infectious diseases division. These children ranged in age from six weeks to old to 16 years.

The CDC said that 19 of the 22 samples sent from Children’s Mercy tested positive for the rare virus strain. But Jackson said that she thinks between 70 and 90 percent of the children they are treating will be confirmed for this strain, which would mean hundreds of infections.

“We definitely feel like we have an outbreak in our community in region,” she said in a telephone interview Monday. “Certainly I think we’ll be calling this an outbreak if all these other states have it.”

Russian Strategic Bombers Near Canada Practice Cruise Missile Strikes on U.S.
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Two Russian strategic bombers conducted practice cruise missile attacks on the United States during a training mission last week that defense officials say appeared timed to the NATO summit in Wales.

The Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers were tracked flying a route across the northern Atlantic near Iceland, Greenland, and Canada’s northeast.

Analysis of the flight indicated the aircraft were conducting practice runs to a pre-determined “launch box”—an optimum point for firing nuclear-armed cruise missiles at U.S. targets, said defense officials familiar with intelligence reports.

Disclosure of the nuclear bombing practice comes as a Russian general last week called for Moscow to change its doctrine to include preemptive nuclear strikes on the United States and NATO.

Gen. Yuri Yakubov, a senior Defense Ministry official, was quoted by the state-run Interfax news agency as saying that Russia’s 2010 military doctrine should be revised to identify the United States and the NATO alliance as enemies, and clearly outline the conditions for a preemptive nuclear strike against them.

Yakubov said among other needed doctrinal changes, “it is necessary to hash out the conditions under which Russia could carry out a preemptive strike with the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces”—Moscow’s nuclear forces.

The practice bombing runs are the latest in a series of incidents involving threatening Russian bomber flights near the United States. Analysts say the bomber flights are nuclear saber-rattling by Moscow as a result of heightened tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.

A spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command declined to comment on the bomber flights in the North Atlantic.

No U.S. or Canadian fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the Bear-H bombers since the aircraft stayed outside the North American Air Defense Identification Zone.

Additional details of the incident that took place over the Labrador Sea, the stretch of the Atlantic between Greenland and Canada’s Labrador Peninsula, could not be learned.

However, officials said it took place during the NATO summit in Wales that was held Thursday and Friday.

The summit statement criticized “Russia’s aggressive actions against Ukraine [which] have fundamentally challenged our vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace.”

In response to Russia’s actions, the alliance agreed to create a new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in Eastern Europe that can deploy military forces in days.

“If required, they will also facilitate reinforcement of allies located at NATO’s periphery for deterrence and collective defense,” the NATO statement said.

U.S. Army troops will lead an international military exercise inside western Ukraine later this month. The exercises, known as “Rapid Trident 2014,” will begin Sept. 15 and include troops from several NATO and NATO-partner states, including Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the United States.

Russian nuclear forces will conduct a large-scale exercise in mid-September, state news agencies reported.

The Tu-95 is a nuclear-capable bomber that is outfitted with six AS-15 nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The missiles have a range of over 1,800 miles.

Google Earth analysis reveals that a Tu-95 launch box located in the Labrador Sea and firing AS-15 missiles would be in range of Ottawa, New York, Washington, and Chicago, and could reach as far south as the Norfolk Naval base.

However, air-launched cruise missiles fired from that location and outside the air defense identification zone would be unable to reach Kings Bay, Georgia—the homeport for U.S. ballistic missile submarines and a key strategic nuclear target.

Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon strategic policymaker and currently senior analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy, said Russian leaders frequently issue public nuclear threats because they regard their nuclear arsenal as the main element of their great power status.

“Putin began what he called bomber ‘combat patrols’ in 2007 and they continue,” Schneider said. “They are designed to intimidate as well as practice nuclear bomber attacks.”

Schneider said that since the Ukraine crisis triggered by Moscow’s military annexation of Crimea, “there have been substantial numbers of all types of standard Russian nuclear threats.”

He said the threats have included nuclear exercises, bomber flights, and public statements, including Putin’s suggestion that NATO ‘not mess with us’ because Moscow remains a nuclear power.

Northern Command has confirmed that Russian strategic bomber flights increased sharply over the past six months.

Last month, at least 16 bomber incursions by the Russians took place within the northwestern U.S. and Canadian air defense zones over a period 10 days. It was the largest number of incursions since the end of the Cold War. U.S. fighter jets intercepted the Russian aircraft and followed them until they exited the defense zone.

In June, Russian bombers flew over the arctic prompting intercepts by Canadian fighters on two occasions. The Canadian government called the stepped up bomber flights a “strategic message” from Moscow amid heightened tensions.

And on June 20, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the test launch of six AS-15 missiles from a Bear bomber during military exercises.

That same month, on June 9, two Russian Bear bombers flew within 50 miles of the California coast in the closest strategic bomber flights near a U.S. coast since the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Admiral Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of nuclear forces, said last month that he is concerned both by large-scale Russian nuclear exercises and by increased bomber flights near the United States.

“Clearly, we at the U.S. Strategic Command do monitor the strategic environment,” Haney said noting large-scale nuclear exercises during the Ukraine crisis.

“Any nation state has the right to train,” he added. “It’s just interesting how that information [on nuclear forces exercises] is readily available on YouTube. Clearly, the actions associated with Ukraine are problematic.”

On long-range strategic aircraft flights, Haney said: “I will say that the business of them coming close to the United States of America, we take very seriously.”

Russian Nuclear Submarine to Test Launch Bulava Icbm Within Two Days: Source
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsRia Novosti
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Russia’s nuclear submarine Vladimir Monomakh has departed its port to hold a test launch of the intercontinental ballistic Bulava (SS-NX-32) missile in the North Sea.

Russia’s nuclear submarine Vladimir Monomakh has departed its port to hold a test launch of the intercontinental ballistic Bulava (SS-NX-32) missile in the North Sea, a source in the Sevmash Shipyard told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

“The nuclear-powered submarine, the Vladimir Monomakh, has left Sevmash, the ship has been preliminarily prepared, and it should return before September 11,” the source said.

Earlier, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov said that two launches would take place in 2014. The first would be from the Vladimir Monomakh in September, and the second would be in November.

Bulava is Russia's cutting-edge intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Equipped with 10 warheads with a 9,000-kilometer range, it is even capable of withstanding nuclear attack.

Test launches of the Bulava have been experiencing some problems. Last September during state trials of the Aleksander Nevsky nuclear-powered submarine a Bulava rocket experienced a malfunction. Following this incident Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered to hold five additional launches of Bulava missiles.

Intercontinental ballistic missile R-30 Bulava should become primary weapon for ballistic missile submarines of the Borei class (Project 955), which is intended to replace the Delta III, Delta IV and Typhoon classes now in Russian Navy service.

The main submarine of this project is Yury Dolgoruky. By now there have been 19 test launches, with 8 of them successful, 4 partially successful and the rest unsuccessful. The last test took place last September in the White Sea.

Russia and China Gang Up on U.S. Dollar As Economic Ties Deepen
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Moscow Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

BEIJING — Russia and China pledged on Tuesday to settle more bilateral trade in ruble and yuan and to enhance cooperation between banks, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said, as Moscow seeks to cushion the effects of Western economic sanctions.

Shuvalov told reporters in Beijing that he had agreed an economic cooperation pact with Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli that included boosting use of the ruble and yuan for trade transactions.

The pact also lets Russian banks set up accounts with Chinese banks, and makes provisions for Russian companies to seek loans from Chinese firms.

"We are not going to break old contracts, most of which were denominated in dollars," Shuvalov said. "But, we're going to encourage companies from the two countries to settle more in local currencies, to avoid using a currency from a third country."

Spurred on by their often fraught relations with the U.S., Russia and China have long advocated reducing the role of the dollar in international trade.

The quest to limit the dollar's dominance became more urgent for Moscow this year when U.S. and European governments slapped sanctions on Russia to penalize the country for supporting separatist rebels in Ukraine.

Washington and Brussels have excluded Russia's state banks and top energy firms from capital markets, applying measures that mean even companies not blacklisted will struggle to raise large loans outside their domestic market.

For China, curtailing dollar's influence fits well with its ambitions to increase the clout of the yuan and turn it into a global reserve currency one day. With 32 percent of its $4 trillion foreign exchange reserves invested in U.S. government debt, Beijing wants to curb investment risks in dollars.

Chinese firms' proposals to invest in more than 30 projects in Russia were also discussed, Shuvalov said. The projects, some of which were valued at several hundred million dollars, included building roads and bridges, resource development, agricultural production and transportation facilities, he added.

Alexander Misharin, first deputy head of state-owned monopoly Russian Railways, was quoted by Prime news agency on Tuesday as saying Chinese investors were ready to stump up 400 billion rubles ($10.7 billion) for the construction of a high-speed rail link between Moscow and Kazan, a city 800 kilometers east of the capital.

Also on Tuesday, Rusnano head Anatoly Chubais said the state-backed technology investment firm had invited Chinese partners to create a joint fund for investment in nanotechnology.

Zhang will visit Moscow in October for further talks on bilateral cooperation, particularly in the traditional energy sector, Shuvalov said.

China and Russia signed a $400 billion gas supply deal in May, securing the world's top energy user a major source of cleaner fuel and opening a new market for Moscow as it risks losing European clients over the Ukraine crisis.

Pope Francis Stirs Controversy With Role of Mary in Faith
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Pope Francis has been a breath of fresh air for many Catholics seeking greater liberty and a growing concern for conservative Christians who take issue with his comments about homosexuality and other cultural issues.

But the pontiff's latest statement is sparking an uproar from believers around the world. Pope Francis sent a tweet Tuesday that absolutely violates the truth of Scripture:

"The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan," Pope Francis tweeted. As of the time I wrote this column it had been retweeted about 4,000 times and many of the responses were in appropriately unkind. It's not appropriate to attack the pope for his beliefs. It's more appropriate to share the truth.

Mary the Mother to the World?

First, let's explore how the pope expanded on his exaltation of Mary. During his weekly address in Rome, the pope positioned the Roman Catholic Church as a "mother" to the world and encouraged Catholics to follow Mary as an example of godly motherhood.

"In our catecheses, we have often noted that we do not become a Christian on our own, but by being born and nurtured in the faith in the midst of the people of God, that is the church. She is a true mother who gives us life in Christ, and in the communion of the Holy Spirit, brings us into a common life with our brothers and sisters," the pope said.

"The model of motherhood for the church is the Blessed Virgin Mary, who in the fullness of time conceived through the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the Son of God. Her motherhood continues through the church, who brings forth sons and daughters through baptism, whom she nourishes through the Word of God."

What About Romans 8:14-15?

Mary was a humble willing servant and a good example of godly motherhood, but she does not bring forth sons and daughters through baptism or nourish us through the Word of God beyond her example of humble servanthood in the Bible. What concerns me more, though, is the notion of people being orphans if they don't consider Mary their mother. Let's consider this statement in the light of Scripture. Romans 8:14-17 shines light on the issue of orphans in Christ—there are no orphans in Christ:

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."

Nowhere in these verses does it make mention of Mary. Rather, we see the Father, the Christ and the Holy Spirit at work in a believer's life. That's Bible. If that's not enough, Jesus Himself stated plainly: "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18). I don't mean this in a sarcastic manner at all, but please note that Jesus did not say Mary would come to them, or that He would bring Mary with them, or that Mary is praying for them, or that they should pray to Mary.

There are other issues in the Catholic religion that don't line up with Scripture, but suggesting that "The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan" contradicts the simplicity of the gospel and excludes the millions of Protestants around the world who honor Mary as the mother of Jesus but do not ask for her help from heaven. Christians are justified by faith (Rom. 5:1)—the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Mary was a blessed vessel God chose to bring the Messiah into the world, but Jesus did not exalt her, and neither should we. Let's stand with the simplicity of the gospel.

Overnight Defense: Obama Says He Doesn
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Hill
Categories: Today's Headlines

President Obama told congressional leaders Tuesday that he has the authority he needs to take his planned action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The president on Tuesday afternoon met with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at the White House.

The president is set to address the nation Wednesday night, laying out his strategy to combat ISIS

The White House meeting came as lawmakers, including Democrats, remain sharply divided over whether to vote on authorizing the use of military force against the militant group.

Some GOP House members said a vote would be unnecessary so long as Obama rolls out a detailed strategy Wednesday night.

Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, became the third lawmaker in two days to introduce a resolution giving the president legal authority to go after ISIS.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) took to the Senate floor to give a fiery speech stressing the need for a vote on the use of force.

“I don’t believe he has the authority to go on offense,” he said. “It is the job of Congress not the president to declare war.”

Yet despite the growing number of proposals, Reid said he was “inclined to not rush in to anything.”

Obama’s announcement makes it unlikely that lawmakers will vote on authorizing force before they adjourn in two weeks.

Obama to Congress: I Am Authorized to Act Against IS
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

American President, Barack Obama, announced to members of the Congress that he has the authority needed in order to take action in an attempt to eradicate the “Islamic State” (IS) terrorist organization.

In this way, Obama hinted that he will not ask the American Congress to approve of his plans to wage war against the IS.

Obama Says He Has 'Legal Authority' to Strike Syria
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Barack Obama

Flash 90

US President Barack Obama says he has the "legal authority" to order US airstrikes on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) forces in Syria, according to sources present at a dinner with foreign policy experts at the White House on Monday.

Obama "thinks he has the legal authority he needs” to expand action in Iraq and Syria under the War Powers Act, according to Jane Harman, the president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, who told the Washington Post about the dinner.

Another attendee of the dinner, former undersecretary of defense for policy Michèle Flournoy, told the paper Obama said he is committed to striking IS "wherever their strategic targets are."

It is worth noting that members of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime have warned America not to conduct strikes in their territory without permission, a condition the US has said it will not agree to.

A move to approve airstrikes in Syria would be a significant escalation for Obama, who critics say has generally followed a policy of disengagement in the Middle East; just last Thursday Obama let slip that he has "no strategy" to combat IS in Syria.

Along those lines, Senator Robert Portman (R-OH) recently reproached Obama by saying "we are ‘leading from behind,’ to use the president’s words. By not leading, we are making it more difficult and more costly."

Apparently the murder of a second US journalist by IS in Syria - Steven Sotloff, whose family has blamed the US government for letting him down - has been enough to spur Obama into trying to formulate a more active policy approach, which he is to announce in a Wednesday night address.

That speech will come on the day in which US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Baghdad for an unannounced visit which he will use to build a regional coalition against IS.

If Obama gives the green light to an increased military campaign in Iraq and Syria, such a move would take several years and come at a great financial cost to America in training Iraqi military forces and regional fighters, according to participants at the Monday dinner.

While Obama has authorized numerous airstrikes against IS in Iraq over the last month, he has also vowed not to send in US soldiers on the ground.

Americans increasingly view IS as a threat and support airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, according to a Washington Post and ABC joint poll this week. That poll found 71% support for strikes in Iraq, and 65% support for strikes in Syria; it also found rising disapproval with Obama's management.

Obama May Approve Expanded U.S. Air Strikes Into Syria - Reports
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Netanyahu Convenes Faction Meeting to Discuss Islamic State
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is at present (Wednesday) convening a faction meeting on the the security situation vis-a-vis the Islamic State (IS).

Expected to participate in the discussion are Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonvitch, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein, and a representative of the Israel Security Agency (Shin-Bet), according to the Walla! news site.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

3.2 Magnitude Quake 40 Miles West of Anchorage
The U. S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 3.2 earthquake occurred at 2:43 a.m. Wednesday about 40 miles west of Anchorage. A dispatcher for Alaska State Troopers in Wasilla says there are no reports of damage.  

Earthquake detected in north Alabama, no damage reported
RUSSELLVILLE, Alabama – A small earthquake occurred in northwest Alabama late Tuesday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  

Pope Francis, Mary Is Not My Mother, and I Am Not an Orphan
"The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan," Pope Francis tweeted.  

Remnants of Hurricane "Norbert" produced record breaking rainfall in U.S. Southwest
Record breaking rainfall produced by the remnants of former Hurricane "Norbert" drenched much of the U.S. Southwest on September 8, 2014. Flash flooding in southern Arizona resulted in deaths of two people. Massive rainfall and flash flooding was also seen in parts of Nevada and southern California.  

Teenage jihad: 2 Austrian girls stopped en route to join ISIS
A 14-year-old girl and her friend, 15, both from Vienna, were earlier reported missing, said Interior Ministry official Alexander Marakovits. The third girl, who is 17 years old, was planning to join them in Graz, the second-largest city in Austria. However, her mother became suspicious of the large suitcase she was taking and stopped her from going.  

Merkel urges EU to go ahead with Russia sanctions
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Wednesday for the European Union to move quickly on new sanctions against Russia, saying they could always be lifted if a Ukraine ceasefire holds, AFP reported.  

‘I Stand by My Point:’ Joel Osteen’s Wife Unrepentant over Remarks of Worshiping God ‘for Self’
Victoria Osteen, wife of megachurch speaker and author Joel Osteen, is standing by her controversial remarks that called upon congregants at Lakewood Church to “do good for your own self” because obedience, the church and worship are not for God as much as for self-happiness.  

No More Places To Put Ebola Patients In Liberia But Cases Are Growing Exponentially
There is not a single empty bed available for an Ebola patient in Liberia right now, but thousands more cases are expected in the coming weeks. Entire families have been driving around in taxis looking for some place that will take their sick family members, but every treatment facility is already full. According to the World Health Organization, many of those potential Ebola patients end up returning to their homes where there will inevitably spread the virus to even more people.  

Issa Letter: DOJ Tried To Coordinate IRS Scandal Response With Democrats
A press official at the Department of Justice attempted to coordinate the leak of documents concerning the IRS targeting scandal with Democratic staffers, but accidentally called the wrong office, according to House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa.  

Why Egypt offered to solve the 'Palestinian Problem'
On August 31, PLO chief and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told an audience of Fatah members that Egypt had offered to give the PA some 1,600 kilometers of land in Sinai adjacent to Gaza, thus quintupling the size of the Gaza Strip. Egypt even offered to allow all the so-called "Palestinian refugees" to settle in the expanded Gaza Strip. Then Abbas told his Fatah followers that he rejected the Egyptian offer.  

China tells Dalai Lama again to respect reincarnation
China repeated a call on the Dalai Lama on Wednesday to respect what it said was the historic practice of reincarnation, after the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader implied in a newspaper interview he may be the last to hold the position.  

The Structure of the Islamic State (ISIS)
According to the maps published by the Islamic State, the Islamic State will include Andalus in the West (Spain) and stretch from North Africa — the Maghreb — (and the whole of West Africa  

'Solid' light could compute previously unsolvable problems
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LONG DURATION FLARE AND EARTH-DIRECTED CME
sunspot AR2158 erupted, producing an explosion that lasted more than 6 hours. The flare peaked on Sept. 9th at 00:30 UT with a classification of M4 on the Richter Scale of Solar Flares.  

UPDATED STORM FORECAST
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World Health Organisation says Ebola will claim 20,000 lives in next six months
THE World Health Organisation has issued a terrifying warning: Ebola will claim 20,000 lives within the next six months. The virus, which is spiralling out of control in Western Africa, has already claimed 2300 lives, the international health body reports. More than half of that figure have died in the past 21 days alone.  

Ebola death toll rises to at least 2,296 : WHO
The death toll from the worst Ebola outbreak in history has jumped by almost 200 in a single day to at least 2,296 and is already likely to be higher than that, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. The WHO said it had recorded 4,293 cases in five West African countries as of Sept. 6, a day after its previous update.  

Enterovirus Likely to Spread Through Schools, Experts Say
A rare virus is marching through the Midwest just in time for back-to-school, the time of year when viruses start to spread rapidly between students before infecting the rest of the population.  

Magnitude 4.4 earthquake strikes eastern Taiwan
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake jolted eastern Taiwan at 1:12 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Central Weather Bureau. The earthquake's epicenter was located at sea about 47.7 kilometers southeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 8.8 km, bureau officials said.  

Raging Floods Kill Over 440 in Pakistan, India
Raging monsoon floods sweeping across India and Pakistan have killed more than 440 people, authorities said Tuesday, warning hundreds of thousands more to be prepared to flee their homes as helicopters and boats raced to save marooned victims.  

Home> International Strong Earthquake Hits off Eastern Indonesia
The magnitude-6.5 quake struck at a depth of 22.5 kilometers (13 miles) and was centered about 122 kilometers (76 miles) southeast of Mondayang, a town in northern Sulawesi, according to the U.S. Geological Surve

Atheist must swear to God -- or leave US Air Force
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Strong earthquake hits off eastern Indonesia
A strong earthquake hit off the coast of Sulawesi island in eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and authorities said there was no threat of a tsunami. The magnitude-6.5 quake struck at a depth of 22.5 kilometers (13 miles) and was centered about 122 kilometers (76 miles) southeast of Mondayang, a town in northern Sulawesi, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  

Syria crisis: Blast kills leader of Ahrar al-Sham group
Hassan Abboud, the leader of the Syrian Islamist insurgents Ahrar al-Sham has been killed with other top commanders in a bomb blast at a meeting. Activists say a suicide bomber detonated a vest in the attack in the north-western town of Ram Hamdan.  

Scottish independence: UK party leaders campaigning in Scotland to keep the Union
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Iran says IAEA nuclear inquiry not stalled, will address concerns
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As Europe braces for Russian gas cuts, some traders bet on peace
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Saudi anti-Christian sweep prompts calls for US involvement
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China May Have Undergone Some Kind of Coup
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Lavrov: West May Use ISIS As Pretext to Bomb Syrian Govt Forces
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsRT
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov adresses to his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop (not pictured) during their meeting in Moscow, September 9, 2014. (Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)

If the West bombs Islamic State militants in Syria without consulting Damascus, the anti-ISIS alliance may use the occasion to launch airstrikes against President Bashar Assad’s forces, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“There are reasons to suspect that air strikes on Syrian territory may target not only areas controlled by Islamic State militants, but the government troops may also be attacked on the quiet to weaken the positions of Bashar Assad’s army,” Lavrov said Tuesday.

Such a development would lead to a huge escalation of conflict in the Middle East and North Africa, Lavrov told reporters in Moscow after a meeting with the foreign minister of Mali.

Moscow is urging the West to respect international law and undertake such acts only with the approval of the legitimate government of a state, Lavrov said.

“Not a single country should have its own plans on such issues. There can be only combined, collective, univocal actions. Only this way can a result be achieved,” he said.

His comments came shortly after Washington announced plans to go on the offensive against the Islamic State jihadist group. The US military has already launched over 100 airstrikes against militant targets in Iraq, including a new series that the military said killed an unusually large number of Islamic State fighters, AP reported.

Following the beheading of two American journalists, President Barack Obama is considering a military strike against Islamic State in Syria. The plans are expected to be announced in a speech Wednesday.

Moscow has repeatedly voiced its readiness to cooperate with Washington in countering terrorism, Lavrov said. Secretary of State John Kerry, in response, has proposed that the US, Russia and countries in the region cooperate to work out “a balance of interests so that they could eliminate terrorism threat,” he added.

“However, this hasn’t got beyond words,” Lavrov said.

Militant Islamist fighters parade on military vehicles along the streets of Syria's Raqqa province June 30, 2014. (Reuters/Stringer)

Russia has long warned its western partners about the threat posed by Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other groups that later merged into the Islamic Front, Lavrov said.

“We have repeatedly suggested to the US, the EU and leading European states to realize the extent of this threat. We have called on the UN to resolutely condemn terrorist attacks staged by Islamists in Syria. But we were told that it was Bashar Assad’s politics that gave rise to terrorism, and that denouncing such acts was possible only alongside with the demand for his resignation,” Lavrov said.

In Moscow’s view, this represents “a double standard” and an attempt to justify terrorism.

Up until the Syrian conflict, Russia and the West were unanimous that terrorism cannot be justified “no matter what motive was behind them,” Lavrov said. But in case with Syria the West had a “different, two-faced stance.” It was only when the terrorism threat which originated in Libya crept to Lebanon and then Iraq that Western countries realized it was time to deal with that, Lavrov said.

“Having admitted it with a huge delay, western partners for some reason think that this threat should be eliminated on the territory of Iraq, while on the territory of Syria it might be left to the consideration of those who conduct the operation,” Lavrov said.

The US agreed its airstrikes against Islamic State militants on Iraqi territory with Baghdad, Lavrov said. However, “it was rumored… no such permission was required from the government of Syria because they claim ‘Assad should resign and his regime should be overthrown’.”

Lavrov said that there could be no different interpretation when it comes to the common interests of the West, Russia and other states: “Terrorist threats must be eliminated and terrorists liquidated,” he said.

Earlier in August, when the US State Department’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked to comment on whether it would be possible for the US to launch airstrikes inside Syria without coordinating it with the government, she said: “I think when American lives are at stake, when we’re talking about defending our own interests, we’re not looking for the approval of the Syrian regime.” She added, though, that it was for the US president to make such a decision.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman: 'I Met Last Night With Leaders of the Free Syrian Army'
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he supports President Obama's anticipated plan to confront ISIS in both Syria and Iraq, and he believes U.S. support for the Free Syrian Army will be part of the strategy.

"I met last night with leaders here from the Free Syrian Army -- we had a late conversation. You know, we forget that there's a third faction in that struggle," Royce told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday.

"For the last three years, the Free Syrian Army has been fighting ISIS on the ground, and they've been asking us for support, for weapons. And I think that probably will be part of the president's plan.

"We should have been supporting the (Iraqi) Kurds with the anti-tank missiles that they needed; we should have been supporting the Free Syrian Army. They've both been asking for this. I think we'll hear rolled-out a plan to do that, probably, from the president."

President Obama is outlining his plan to confront ISIS this week -- to Congress on Tuesday and to the nation on Wednesday.

Royce said Obama has had the "authority" to order air strikes, but he "deferred on this," especially over the last seven months as ISIS advanced into Iraq, taking city after city:

"In each case...there was a request by our embassy in Iraq, from us on the (Foreign Affairs) Committee -- be decisive, hit these targets, you know, you have the authority to do it as president of the United States, and we haven't done it.

"So now we're to the point where there is a consensus, but it's a little late in the game because they've taken a lot of territory, and they've got this feeling now that they're sort of invincible. They need to be knocked back hard in order to send the message to the insurgents -- far from invincible, the war is now going to be taken back to them. They're not going to kill Americans with impunity."

Royce said it's particularly important to knock out the camps in Syria where foreign fighters are training with ISIS so they can take the fight back to their home countries:

"I think what I want to hear ( is that the focus is going to be on the training base...where ISIS brings in these foreign fighters and gives them this capability, because it's that safe haven, it's that sanctuary, that is used to prepare the ISIS fighters from all over the world now, most of them are not from the Middle East, to attack not just these targets, but also to go back and attack Britain, or potentially Australia or the United States, you know, you hear these threats. And I think getting at that base is most important, knocking out those camps."

In hindsight, Royce says the Obama administration should have acted sooner.

"One of the missed opportunities here is had we used air power when these (ISIS) columns were on the march, out in the open desert, you could have obliterated, you know, these columns. And let's get back to that point, they have a base of operation, they have munitions depots there, they're doing their training there -- hit that target."

Royce said the Foreign Affairs Committee will "bore into the details" of Obama's plan next week.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday that the U.S. has been "providing both nonmilitary and military support" to the Free Syrian Army for more than year, "after we had established some relationships and had the opportunity to vet these individuals and get a better sense about what their intentions actually were."

Earnest said the administration also has "sought to increase or ramp up that assistance," without providing weapons to the very terrorists it wants to crush.

"So there was a question of who exactly was included in the Syrian opposition and which of those elements were interested in putting in place a government that actually reflected the will and diversity of the Syrian people and which of those were members of the opposition who were actually extremists who were hoping to use the power vacuum that's been created by this civil war in Syria to try to carry out their own vision of an Islamic caliphate in this region."

Hindu Nationalist Group Seeking to Cleanse Christian Presence from India is not Unlike ISIS
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

International Christian Concern has warned that Sangh Parivar, an umbrella Hindu nationalist group, is inflicting suffering and looking to cleanse the minority Christian population in India, much like terror group ISIS is doing in Iraq and Syria.

The watchdog group said in a press release that the nationalist group and its associate organizations have been directing hate speech toward Christians and leading attacks on pastors and churches in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Believers are reportedly worried that radical Hindu nationalism and persecution of minorities will escalate.

John Dayal, a member of the Indian government's National Integration Council, said: "There has been a sharp rise in hate campaigns against Christians by political organizations. This threat of purging Christians from villages extends from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to now Uttar Pradesh, and to the borders of the national capital of New Delhi."

There have been reports of churches being turned into Hindu temples, and entire mobs attacking Christian houses — ICC shared of one incident in July where a church in Sahakarinagar village was rampaged by a group of 25 Hindu radicals, led by Hemanth Singh, a leader in the local Bajrangdal group. Rev. R. C. Paul, who was leading a Bible study at the church at the time, was beaten along with several other members.

"We were shaken and are very scared of the situation in the area. We are concerned of our safety, even going alone outside looks very dangerous at the moment," Paul said.

ICC noted in its press release that news headlines will continue to focus on Christian persecution at the hands of terror group ISIS in Iraq, but argued that the international community "must take notice of the issues of Christian persecution globally."

"Like Christians facing ISIS in Iraq, millions of Christians across India are facing persecution at the hands of radical Hindu nationalist groups," the watchdog group added.

"Without drastic change, this difficult situation will likely only get worse, as radical Hindu nationalist groups popping up across India have been given almost complete impunity under the new Hindu nationalist government led by BJP and Narendra Modi."

Following May's election of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, several Indian church leaders had said that they were not concerned that extremist groups would rise up against minorities.

"Minorities, such as Christians and Muslims, are an integral part of the nation and of the social fabric of Indian society. Minorities are protected by the Constitution, I believe that the new government cannot and will not want to go against the Constitution. As Christians we are confident," His Exc. Mgr. Stanley Roman, bishop of Quilon, in the state of Kerala, had said at the time.

His Exc. Mgr. Albert D'Souza, archbishop of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and general secretary of the Indian Bishops' Conference, added that sometimes "small groups of fanatics can give us concern," but argued that the Church "will continue in its mission to pray for the new government and contribute to the common good of the nation, supporting democracy, respect for pluralism, the rights of all and a secular concept in the political agenda."

New Delhi Archbishop Anil J. Couto has now also raised concern, however, at the rising attacks on Christians and churches in India in recent months.

"It is very disturbing, and we request local authorities to take adequate measures to book the miscreants threatening to weaken the social fabric of this great nation," Couto said.

"The Sangh Parivar plan is to carry out shuddhikaran — attempts to re-convert Christians to Hinduism," the Archbishop continued." This move by fundamentalist groups is a grave assault on the fundamental rights of individuals and people and groups."

Other persecution watchdog ministries, like Open Doors, have also noted a rise in Hindu extremism targeting Christians. The group ranks India as number 28 on its list of countries where Christians face the most persecution.

Hamas: Cairo Talks to Resume in September
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Palestinians at Cairo talks

Reuters

Hamas's exiled deputy leader said Wednesday that indirect talks with Israel to consolidate a Gaza ceasefire are to resume in Cairo in mid-September.

Fifty days of deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists ended on August 26 with an open-ended truce agreement.

Under terms of the deal, the parties agreed to resume Egyptian-brokered negotiations within a month to discuss key issues, including Hamas's unprecedented demand for a port and an airport and for terrorist releases, as well as Israel's demands for the area's demilitarization. 

Speaking to reporters in Gaza City during a visit from his base in Cairo, Mussa Abu Marzuq said it was "expected that the talks would resume in mid-September."

Israel agreed as part of the initial ceasefire to immediately ease restrictions on the entry of goods, humanitarian aid and construction materials into Gaza, and to expand the fishing zone off Gaza to six nautical miles.

All other issues would be delayed until the negotiators returned to Cairo, although there has been no official word on when that would happen.

"The Egyptians still have to give us the exact date," Abu Marzuq said.

In a bid to pin down a date, Egyptian negotiators visited Jerusalem and Ramallah last week, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization told Voice of Palestine radio Wednesday.

"This was the aim of the Egyptian delegation's visit to Ramallah and Israel. They spoke of resuming the negotiations in two weeks, between September 20-25," said Bassem al-Salhi, who was part of the Palestinian team involved in truce talks.

A senior Egyptian official told AFP in Cairo that no date had been set for the negotiations to resume, but confirmed a "security delegation" had visited Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority (PA) political headquarters of Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Abu Marzuq said the Palestinians Arabs were "determined to resume the talks" and that he expected the same from Israel.

There was no official comment from Israel on when the Cairo talks would resume.

Concerns on the Israeli side are high that Hamas is using the talks to stall time - possibly to re-arm for an even bigger war against Israel, and this time from Judea and Samaria.

On Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied reports that the terror group would resume rockets on Israeli civilians as soon as the month-long ceasefire ended on September 25, as well as its assurance that it is eyeing a takeover in Abbas's PA. 

Last month, as Operation Protective Edge was still underway, Israeli security forces say they broke up a major Hamas cell planning a coup against the PA.

If the latest reports are indeed true, it would indicate that Hamas's leadership has not given up its ambitions in Judea and Samaria despite the setback.

Moreover, Hamas's set of demands include lifting all of the restrictions which prevent the terror organization from re-arming - including some or all export and import restrictions and releasing top terrorists back into the field.

Deputy Minister: We'll Continue to Build in Our Land
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Ofir Akunis

Flash 90

Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) sharply criticized the European Union (EU) and the U.S. State Department on Tuesday, after both issued condemnations of Israel’s plans  to declare 4,000 dunams of land in Judea, mostly in Gush Etzion, as state land.

"Israel will continue to work to promote settlement on its land - just as every other country in the world does," declared Akunis.

“It is strange at this time, when terrorist groups of Islamic extremists slaughter innocents, behad journalists in front of the cameras and continue their journey of madness targeting the free world, what concerns foreign ministries around the world is the decision to build and develop the Gush Etzion region, which was and will remain the homeland of the Jewish people,” he added.

In its statement earlier Tuesday, the EU said that “settlements are illegal under international law, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to render the two-state solution impossible.”

“The EU reiterates that it will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties,” the statement continued.

In Washington, meanwhile, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned the decision as well and urged Israel to reverse it.

"We are deeply concerned about the declaration of a large area as 'state land' to be used for expanded settlement building," she said in a statement quoted by Reuters, echoing comments by an unnamed U.S. official on Sunday.

"We call on the Government of Israel to reverse this decision," she added.

Sunday’s decision by Israel, which opens the possibility of further construction in the region, is one of Israel's responses to the kidnapping and murder of Israeli teens Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Frenkel, and Gilad Sha'ar. The three were kidnapped in Gush Etzion and their bodies were found several weeks later in a field near Hevron.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued a condemnation of Israel’s decision, with his spokesman Nabil Abu-Rudeineh saying that the decision would “bring about a further deterioration” in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

On Monday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the decision as well, saying he is "alarmed" by it.

Currency Wars to Return in 2015?
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsCNBC
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

With the European Central Bank (ECB) recently announcing new stimulus policies, some economists have highlighted that other central banks could be ready to counteract any foreign exchange fluctuations, thus increasing the possibility of a return to "currency wars."

Last week, ECB President Mario Draghi unveiled a promise to buy purchase asset-backed securities (ABS) and covered bonds which will effectively add 1 trillion euros ($1.29 trillion) into the euro zone's flagging economy, according to some analysts.

With more liquidity in the system and Draghi still pondering whether to launch a Federal Reserve-style government bond purchase program, the euro is expected to continue to depreciate against its peers. And this is where the problem lies, according to economists.

"(We expect) talk of currency wars to resume as some central banks will ponder the effect on capital flows and their currencies," Claus Vistesen, the chief euro zone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in research note after the latest meeting by the ECB's Governing Council.

Japan to ease?

The unwanted consequences of the ECB's asset purchases could be that euro zone banks start lending more to emerging markets (EMs) to earn higher yields, according to Diana Choyleva, the head of macroeconomic research at Lombard Street Research. European bank lending - excluding the U.K. and Switzerland - to EM countries is currently close to its all-time high and is likely to rise further, she notes in her new research released on Monday.

"EU banks have ramped up their lending to developing Asia, a trend that is set to intensify. This will push the euro down," she said.

"But Japan is also likely to redouble its QE (quantitative easing) efforts if it is to achieve its 2 percent inflation target. If both Japan and the euro area go for extensive QE, emerging markets in Asia would suffer as their currencies appreciate.

Pier Marco Tacca | Getty Images

ECB President Mario Draghi

China to enter?

This, she believes, will mean the Chinese central bank will enter the fray, adding that there would be no way it could restart its "sputtering" growth engine without major yuan devaluation.

"This in turn, together with likely higher U.S. interest rates, would be a lethal combination for the euro area. Ultimately, serial competitive devaluation is not a solution for a global economy that still lacks genuine consumer demand," she said in her note.

Manipulating reserve levels can be one way that a country's central bank can intervene against currency fluctuations along with altering benchmark interest rates and QE. Central banks often iterate that exchange rates are not a primary policy goal and can be seen more as a positive by-product of monetary easing. There have been ongoing discussions in the last few years that countries are purposefully debasing their own currencies to improve competitiveness - a concern that was given the moniker "currency wars," by Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega in September 2010.

That debate came to a head in early 2013 with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan all undertaking QE programs, but has since cooled significantly with two of the three now looking to normalize interest rates once again.

Christian Group Derecognized At States Colleges: It Requires Leaders to Hold Christian Beliefs
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

After an international Christian group for college students, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, was “derecognized” by all 23 California State University schools because IVCF wouldn’t stop requiring its leaders to hold Christian beliefs, a writer for Christianity Today wondered what might be coming next.

“It’s not just InterVarsity that will be impacted,” Ed Stetzer wrote. “Following the same logic, any group that insists on requiring its leaders to follow an agreed upon set of guiding beliefs is no longer kosher (irony intended) at California’s state universities. This will impact many other faith-based organizations with actual, well, faith-based beliefs. Presumably, even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals would have to allow Oscar Meyer to lead their campus chapters.”

Stetzer then offered, “Only in a modern American university would this make any sense.”

More from his analysis:

Now, it’s not persecution. Christians are not banned. People can share their faith. But, now, what we once called “equal access” has taken another hit — people of faith do not have equal access to the university community, like the environmentalist club, the LGBT organization, or the chess club.

The university system has decided that speech with beliefs that undergird it — and shape how it is organized — has to be derecognized.

Stetzer asked IVCF’s national field director & campus access coordinator to explain how the IVCF chapters in California state schools are affected. Here’s what Greg Jao told him:

Loss of recognition means we lose 3 things: free access to rooms (this will cost our chapters $13k-30k/year to reserve room). We also lose access to student activities programs, including the new student fairs where we meet most students. We also lose standing when we engage faculty, students and administrators.

Stetzer tore into what he sees as universities’ “continual sanitization of unacceptable religious voices” and then noted a very big irony, writing that “those who champion nondiscrimination, in the name of nondiscrimination, are creating rules that push out those who ‘discriminate’ based on biblical belief statements.”

Jao sees another irony, telling Stetzer that “the university is using a rule intended to protect and to include religious groups to exclude religious groups because they want their leaders to be representatives of that religion. It’s an imposition of a civil religion (democratic process) on a religious leadership selection issue.”

Stetzer concluded by noting it appears this trend will continue.

“But, the question remains, how will Christians react? I hope they won’t call themselves persecuted, since that lessens the persecution in, for example, Iran. However, I also hope they will speak up graciously. And, that even people who are not religious will see the danger of stripping faith from the organized conversation at the university.”

China May Have Undergone Some Kind of Coup
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsEpoch Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Soldiers perform military exercises in Beijing on July 22, 2014. Massive military exercises extending from July to September may have been directed at keeping a lid on the domestic political situation, argues Chen Pokong. (ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images)

An unusual and massive military exercise has been going on in China, and it seems to have had purposes that are more political than military.

“Firepower-2014″ kicked off on July 15, and 10 consecutive live ammunition drills across military regions were launched by the Chinese People’ Liberation Army. In the meantime, the Navy and the Air Force also mobilized to participate in the exercises in the Beibu Gulf, Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea.

With the participation of the three armed forces and the troops from the six military regions, the exercise was dubbed as an unprecedented “Massive Military Exercise of the Three Armed Forces in Four Seas.”

In terms of the time period, it is also unprecedented, as it started in July and will continue until the end of September. In addition, part of the exercise, such as the drills in the waters of northeast Jiangsu Province, will continue until Nov. 20.

This series of military exercises began during a time of a relative relaxation of tensions in East Asia. Compared to some recent periods, the South China Sea and East China Sea were relatively calm. China’s drilling platform 981 retreated from off Vietnam’s shore. Since last December, the activities conducted by Chinese ships and military planes in the waters off Diaoyu Islands (called Senkaku Islands by Japan) were substantially reduced.

Following the two incidents in which Chinese fighter jets flew “unusually close” to Japanese Self-Defense Force airplanes in May and June this year, the conflict between China and Japan has not escalated.

In late July, China invited Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese prime minister and former president of the Liberal Democratic Party, to secretly visit China. Fukuda also met with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) head Xi Jinping to discuss how to improve Sino-Japanese relations, aiming to achieve the goal of holding a summit attended by the heads of China and Japan. (It is expected that they can meet as early as November this year when the APEC summit is held in Beijing.)

Investigations

Under these circumstances, China’s massive military exercise doesn’t seem to target any foreign enemies, or it doesn’t seem solely to target foreign enemies.

On July 29, during the large-scale military exercises, the Xi Jinping regime unexpectedly made public the long-pending case against Zhou Yongkang, the former domestic security czar and diehard loyalist to former CCP head Jiang Zemin. After obtaining relatively safe reactions from society, the well-wrought, ruthless exposure and denunciation of Zhou Yongkang were then published on Chinese mass media one after another.

On July 30, the day after the Zhou Yongkang case was announced, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection sent a high-profile inspection team to station in Shanghai until the end of September.

On Aug. 11, the chairman of the Shanghai Bright Food Group, Wang Zongnan, was arrested. The Group’s predecessor was the Shanghai Yimin Food Factory, and Jiang Zemin was the first deputy director of the factory.

In 2006, the Shanghai Yimin Food Factory, Shanghai NGS Group, Shanghai Sugar, Cigarette & Wine Group, and the Jinjiang International Group were merged into Shanghai Bright Food Group. Wang Zongnan served as chairman and Party secretary of the group. He declared that Jiang Zemin was the one who created the Bright Food brand.

The arrest of Wang Zongnan has interesting precedents. Through the investigation of the businessman Zhou Zhengyi, the head of the Shanghai CCP Chen Liangyu was prosecuted in 2006. Through the investigation of the businessman Xu Ming, the former Chongqing Party head and Politburo member Bo Xilai was sentenced in 2013. Through the cases regarding businessmen Liu Hang and Wu Bing, Zhou Yongkang was investigated.

Now that the businessman Wang Zongnan has been investigated, who will be targeted next? The answer seems to be self-evident.

Domestic Unrest

The “Massive Military Exercise of Three Armed Forces in Four Seas” is more like a struggle against domestic enemies. Those domestic enemies are by no means the Muslim Uyghurs. Despite the fact that tension between Uyghurs and the Chinese authorities has escalated recently, there’s no need to launch such a massive national military mobilization.

In other words, the military exercise, while on the surface aiming at foreign enemies, in fact aims at domestic enemies. The large-scale military exercise was launched to prevent the revolt of domestic forces. With support from the high-profile inspection team from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP and the three armed forces, Xi Jinping is planning to do something extraordinary.

During the massive military exercise, commentaries marking the 120th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese War reached a climax. Among them, some are exaggerated. For example, the Global Times reported that if a Sino-Japanese war occurred again and Japan defeated China, there might be a Beijing massacre.

According to the Global Times, the international community would then happily say Japan’s victory was a “victory of democracy over tyranny” and another “progress of human civilization.”

The heated commentaries marking the 120th anniversary of Sino-Japanese War have served like a smokescreen for the Chinese public covering up some of the actions launched by Xi Jinping’s camp.

In July, many domestic flights were cancelled with no advance notice or very short notice, and the authorities initially said the cancellations were due to military exercises. Later, the excuse changed to weather conditions. The inconsistency indicated that someone was hiding something.

The majority of the cancelled flights were on the route between Beijing and Shanghai. Beijing is the capital of China, and Shanghai is China’s largest city. The large number of cancellations on several occasions caused significant losses, both economically and socially.

Excuses such as weather conditions and military exercises are not justifiable. People cannot help but wonder what the real reasons were.

Considering the current political environment in China, Beijing and Shanghai are the two centers of the two opposite political forces in China. The former is the group in power headed by Xi Jinping, which represents some legitimacy and legality. The latter, nicknamed the “Shanghai Gang,” is headed by Jiang Zemin. Jiang’s gang has been criticized as practicing the “Old Man Politics” that is haunting China.

Soon after the coup planned by Bo Xilai and Xu Caihou was discovered in February 2012, Zhou Yongkang was reported to be under control. But the formal investigation of Zhou’s case was only announced July 29, which ended long speculation about how he would be dealt with.

It is reasonable to deduce the delay was caused by obstruction from the “old man.” Now, Xi had to announce the arrest of Zhou Yongkang to consolidate his camp, while the “old man,” worrying Zhou’s fall would be the prelude to his end, exerted force to block it. Now, it is time for a face-off.

In addition to the cancelled flights, in July, subway security measures in Beijing were stepped up on the pretext of increased travel during the summer season. The measures are so strict that all trash bins must be cleared every 15 minutes.

People wondered if the cancellation of flights and the subway security were pre-emptive moves meant to stop the fast mobilization of people intent on launching a terrorist attack.

Failed Coup

This series of events suggests China may have experienced some form of coup involving Beijing and Shanghai. It could have been a failed attempt to overthrow Xi that has been put down or a move from Xi’s camp to get rid of Jiang’s political force.

Xi’s move might be faster than people expected, but these moves may not have been his original intention. Circumstances may have pushed him to move faster, or someone may have forced him to do so. Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan should know well that in a power struggle, pre-emptive moves have advantages. It can be expected that more exciting plays are coming up for Chinese politics.

Australia Warns of Danger from Homegrown Islamists
Sep 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Jihadists

AFP photo

The head of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO) warned on Tuesday of the threat to the country from Islamic extremists and homegrown fighters returning from Syria and Iraq.

Speaking to Australia’s ABC network, director-general David Irvine warned he is considering raising Australia’s terror alert level to high, which indicates an attack on home soil is likely.

Irvine said the growing menace posed by Islamic extremists and homegrown fighters returning from Syria and Iraq means he must consider the move.

“The threat has actually been building here in Australia over the last year or so... I have an elevated level of concern,” he said.

“The notion of a threat level at medium is that an attack is possible or could occur... if we raise it to high it means an attack is likely,” added Irvine.

“I am certainly contemplating very seriously the notion of lifting it higher... because of the influence of Syria and Iraq and the numbers of people going there to fight,” he continued.

According to the Australian-based Financial Review, it is believed up to 100 Australians are supporting terrorism through financing or recruiting jihadists for the Islamic State.

Another 60 Australians are believed to be fighting in either Syria or Iraq, some in leadership positions.

This issue of Islamists from Western countries joining the jihadists in the Middle East has been a problem not just for Australia.

There are also Russians, Germans, Canadians and French citizens taking part in the fighting in Syria.

As well, in February it was estimated that at least 50 U.S. citizens are fighting in Syria, and are liable to bring terrorism back to their home country once the war is over.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said last week that Washington is hoping for unanimous approval of a UN resolution calling for global action against the growing phenomenon of foreigners traveling to fight for terrorist groups.