Watchman Newsletter

Iran official holds talks in Syria on Gaza operation

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Associated Press (January 3, 2009)

Syria's official news agency says a senior Iranian official visiting Damascus has held talks on Israel's weeklong offensive in Gaza with President Bashar Assad and leaders of radical Palestinian factions.

It says chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, also secretary of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council, met Assad Saturday after he conferred late Friday with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Abdullah Shallah.

The agency gave no details on Jalili's talks here.

Israeli Ground Forces Move into Gaza Strip

Monsters & Critics (Link) - Deutsche Presse-Agentur (January 3, 2009)

Israeli ground forces moved in the northern Gaza Strip Saturday evening, on the eighth day of a massive Israeli offensive against militants in the salient.

The ground operation was preceded by an artillery barrage which lasted for hours, and reports said the troops were backed by air support.

There was no immediate indication how far into the salient the troops had penetrated, or what type of resistance they were meeting. An Israeli Army spokeswoman declined to discuss the operation.

EU sending two Middle East peace missions

EU Observer (Link) - Philippa Runner (January 2, 2009)

The new Czech EU presidency and France will next week send two overlapping peace missions to the Middle East, amid sensitivities on Prague's capability to lead Europe.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told national TV on Thursday (1 January) that an EU delegation will visit Egypt, Israel, Palestine's West Bank and Jordan early next week to try to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war. Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg will lead the team, comprising French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, EU top diplomat Javier Solana and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

The trip comes at the same time as French President and outgoing EU chairman Nicolas Sarkozy's mission to Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, with the Schwarzenberg and Sarkozy delegations to hold a joint meeting with Palestine President Mahmud Abbas in the West Bank on Monday.

U.S. could be facing debt 'time bomb' this year

MSNBC (Link) - Lori Montgomery The Washington Post (January 2, 2009)

With President-elect Barack Obama and congressional Democrats considering a massive spending package aimed at pulling the nation out of recession, the national debt is projected to jump by as much as $2 trillion this year, an unprecedented increase that could test the world's appetite for financing U.S. government spending.

For now, investors are frantically stuffing money into the relative safety of the U.S. Treasury, which has come to serve as the world's mattress in troubled times. Interest rates on Treasury bills have plummeted to historic lows, with some short-term investors literally giving the government money for free.

But about 40 percent of the debt held by private investors will mature in a year or less, according to Treasury officials. When those loans come due, the Treasury will have to borrow more money to repay them, even as it launches perhaps the most aggressive expansion of U.S. debt in modern history.

With the government planning to roll over its short-term loans into more stable, long-term securities, experts say investors are likely to demand a greater return on their money, saddling taxpayers with huge new interest payments for years to come. Some analysts also worry that foreign investors, the largest U.S. creditors, may prove unable to absorb the skyrocketing debt, undermining confidence in the United States as the bedrock of the global financial system.

A new international agenda

International Herald Tribune (Link) - Mikhail Gorbachev (January 1, 2009)

The year 2008 has been indelibly marked by the global financial crisis. No one predicted its outbreak or its scale; I don't think anyone knows when and how it might end. It is already clear that initial reassuring statements about it were irresponsible. In the coming months, the world, and world politics, will be severely tested. Searching for ways out of the crisis will be a difficult, agonizing process. Not all early efforts were effective. This first failure in the functioning of our fully globalized world caught us by surprise, largely unprepared.

As I read the reports from the July Group of 8 summit meeting in Japan, it is amazing that just a couple months before the crisis erupted, world leaders seemed unaware of warning tremors. The summit was a routine gathering. Its very format - the way it was prepared and conducted - seems outdated. We need a new vision of global political leadership, a new willingness to work together in this globalized world. Politicians are lagging behind the events.

The crisis in the Caucasus in early August was a bolt from the blue. Any war, even a short one, is always a failure of politics and policy. The Georgian leadership's military misadventure spelled disaster for thousands of Ossetians, Georgians and Russians; it also highlighted the absence of an effective security system in Europe for preventing and resolving conflicts.

Useless T.A.-T.A.’s?

Shenandoah (Link) - John Galt (January 1, 2009)

The question that is the title of this piece has been bothering me since the “mysterious” rally on August 15-17 of 2007. It took me the entire month of December of 2008, that’s right through yesterday, to figure out why the traditional methodologies may no longer apply, at least in my opinion. Are technical analysts and traditional technical analysis useless in a market subject to persistent illegal trading activities and government intervention?

What I propose to lay out is a theory or two as to why you can not use long term, intermediate term or even short term technical analysis to forecast the commodity, currency or equity markets of 2009. The bond markets are not even worth the time to speculate nor theorize about as they are now wards of the state with our central bank openly purchasing securitized and non-securitized assets from financial and manufacturing institutions. That is why the most dangerous period in our history is about to set forth, and I hope all of my readers have been paying attention.

U.S. Intelligence Official about Israel: “This is just the beginning”

Northeast Intelligence Network (Link) (December 31, 2008)

Northeast Intelligence Network director Doug Hagmann interviewed a highly-placed U.S. intelligence official late yesterday who not only confirmed rumors about escalated and more intensive Israeli military operations against the Muslim terrorists in Gaza, warned of the increasing probability of abandonment of Israel by the U.S. and other Western countries based on what he termed “malicious intelligence.”

“Remember that term,” advised this well-placed intelligence official, “you’ll be hearing it again.”

“This is just the beginning,” stated this intelligence official, who wished to remain anonymous. This official stated that the possibility for a much more protracted ground war is more likely today than at any other time in the past, adding that Israel is exercising her right to protect herself from her enemies in Gaza. But there is a catch, noted this official, and a big one at that: Israel could be about to lose the support of the United States.

Analysis: While Israel fights in Gaza, Egypt and Saudi Arabia take on Iran

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Jonathan Spyer (December 31, 2008)

Israel's campaign in Gaza is serving to expose the strategic fault lines in the Arab and Muslim world. The essential divide is between, on the one hand, states aligned with the West - chief among them Egypt and Saudi Arabia - and on the other an alliance led by Iran, of which Hamas forms a part. Israel's action in Gaza has led to unprecedented tensions between representatives of these rival blocs. Because of the strategic importance of Egyptian control of the Rafah Crossing, this divide also has immediate practical implications for the direction and likely outcome of the current battle.

Israel rejects Gaza truce calls

BBC News (Link) (December 31, 2008)

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rejected international calls for a 48-hour truce in the Gaza Strip to allow in more humanitarian aid. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to stop peace talks with the Israelis if the strikes continued. The UN Security Council is to meet shortly to discuss the crisis as calls grow for an end to the violence.

Israeli air strikes on Gaza have continued for a fifth day, while more Hamas rockets have landed in Israel. The town of Beersheba was hit, the deepest penetration by rockets so far. In the last five days, Israeli jets and attack helicopters have hit Hamas targets, including security compounds, government buildings, smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt and homes belonging to militant leaders.

Palestinian officials say 391 Palestinians have died in the Israeli air strikes; four Israelis have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza, which is under Hamas control.

After meeting his cabinet, Prime Minister Olmert said conditions were not right for a ceasefire, but he did not rule one out in the future. "If conditions will ripen, and we think there can be a diplomatic solution that will ensure a better security reality in the south, we will consider it. But at the moment, it's not there," he was quoted by aides as telling the cabinet.

Any ceasefire with Hamas had to be permanent, he said, adding that there was international consensus that Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel had to stop.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, said he "would not hesitate to stop" peace talks with the Israelis "if they go against our interests and offer a support to aggression". He called the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip "barbaric and criminal aggression".

Iran tells Arabs now time to act over Gaza attacks

Yahoo! News (Link) - Reuters Zahra Hosseinian (December 31, 2008)

Iran's president told the Arab League, which began a meeting on Wednesday, it must act quickly to end Israeli attacks on Gaza Palestinians adding that setting up a committee or making speeches was not enough. But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not suggest specific action by Arab states, some of which non-Arab Iran has criticised for not doing enough to protect Palestinians after more than 380 deaths.

Israel's attacks have prompted protests by Iran's hardline students, particularly targeting Egypt's mission. Cairo has been singled out mainly for not opening a border crossing with Gaza. Students have threatened to storm the mission. Students broke into a British diplomatic compound on Tuesday. Iran has accused Western states of bias towards Israel.

"If the Arab League does not want to do anything today, when does it want to act?" the president told a rally in Zahedan in southeast Iran. "Aren't these oppressed Palestinians Arabs? So when should the capacity of the Arab League be used? The Arab League should act quickly," he said in a speech broadcast on state television. He added that setting up a committee and making speeches were not adequate and would let Israel to continue its actions.

Magnitude 5.9 quake hits off Sumatra - USGS

The Star Online (Link) - Reuters (December 31, 2008)

A magnitude 5.9 quake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island, the U.S. Geological Survey reported on Tuesday. The shallow quake, only 6.2 miles (10 km) deep, was centered 85 miles (135 km) west of Bengkulu on Sumatra and hit at 2:49 a.m. on Wednesday (1949 GMT on Tuesday).

There was no immediate tsunami warning and the quake was unlikely to trigger one at that magnitude. The earthquake was initially reported at magnitude 6.2 and later verified at 5.9.

Northern Sumatra was devastated by a tsunami in December 2004 following a massive 8.4 quake in the Indian Ocean. It killed more than 230,000 in the region.

Hamas, Jihad Leaders in Syria Fear Assassination

The Media Line (Link) (December 31, 2008)

Exiled leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad residing in Damascus have beefed up security around them since Saturday, fearing that Israel will try to assassinate them, “reliable Palestinians sources” told the London-based Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi.

 

Hamas and Islamic Jihad both have influential leaders living in exile in Damascus, where they have set up headquarters and enjoy the protection of the Syrian regime. Israel designates Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terror organizations.

 

Sources told the paper that the new security measures were taken in light of recent threats made by Israel to target Hamas leaders, whether inside the Palestinians territories or elsewhere. Israel is especially eyeing Khalid Mash’al, known as the head of Hamas’ politburo, and secretary general of Islamic Jihad, Rama’dan ‘Abdallah Shalah. Both are taking extra security precautions, especially when moving from one place to the other, the sources said.

 

Report From Fort Lauderdale

Right Wing News (Link) - Tom Trento (December 30, 2008)

You don't have to travel to the Middle East to witness the rise of Islamofascist insanity. This was the scene in downtown Fort Lauderdale Tuesday:

Watch Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West

Russian volcano erupts

Reuters (Link) (December 30, 2008) Video report at link

The Koryakski volcano to the far east of Russia has started to erupt emitting ash which could threaten local populations. The Kamchatka Koryakski volcano's last major eruption occurred 3.5 thousand years ago. Scientists now predict an even more damaging and far-reaching eruption. Penny Tweedie reports.

2008: A Year in Review — What Holly Thinks

Fulfilled Prophecy (Link) - Holly Pivec (December 30, 2008)

A financial crisis led to calls for a new global order — an order that seemed unachievable given the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. The Annapolis process attempted to calm the turmoil and failed, but found new life as it won the backing of the international community. The key to peace in our time? Religions working together. History may dub 2008 the year of the interfaith movement — not realizing that good intentions will pave the path for the False Prophet.

New Global Order

• G-20 leaders launched an action plan to create a “new world economic order.” See more
• The UK’s prime minister, Gordon Brown, said now is the time to build a global society, led by the European Union and the United States. See more
• The Center for Strategic & International Studies issued a report calling for a new global order with the EU and NATO at the core. See more
• The World Council of Churches called for a new international financial structure. See more
• Barack Obama planned to strengthen the relationship between the United States and the United Nations. See more

Middle East Peace

• The UN adopted a measure backing the Annapolis process. See more
• Informal talks between Syria and Israel were relaunched after eight years. (This week, Syria suspended the talks due to the Israeli attacks on Gaza.) See more
• The EU’s Javier Solana positioned himself to take the diplomatic lead in the Middle East during the transition in the U.S. administration. See more, and here, here, and here.
• Evangelical leaders urged Obama to make Mideast peace a priority. See more
• The Union of the Mediterranean was launched under the umbrella of Javier Solana’s Barcelona Process. See more

Rise of the Interfaith Movement

• The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was launched. See more
• Rick Warren was appointed an adviser to the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. See more
• The United Nations held an interfaith conference attended by representative of 80 countries, including President Bush. See more
• The Vatican launched a Muslim-Christian dialogue. See more
• National Association of Evangelicals board member Joel Hunter attended the Alliance of Civilizations’ first annual forum. See more
• E.U. high representative Javier Solana and Alliance of Civilizations’ head Jorge Sampaio met to see how the E.U. and Alliance of Civilizations can work together. See more
• The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) issued a declaration to support the Alliance of Civilizations. See more
• A poll revealed that most American Christians say Christianity isn’t the only way to heaven. See more

Holly’s Top Pick for 2008

One of the biggest stories of the year in Europe was the failure of the Lisbon Treaty. Yet the part most people missed is that, without the treaty, Javier Solana and the 10 Brussels Treaty Powers remain in control of the E.U. military. Learn why these 10 nations may be significant to Bible prophecy here.

What did we miss? Let us know what you think. E-mail fulfilledprophecy@sbcglobal.net

Related Article 2007: A Prophetic Year in Review

Ten years on, eurozone takes on 16th member

EU Observer (Link) (December 30, 2008)

Ten years after the original 11 countries in western Europe set up a common currency, the monetary union is due to enlarge to Slovakia, as its 16th member state and the first in central Europe to switch to the euro. "I'm sure this event will trigger a lot of positive expectations and positive results for the Slovak economy and citizens," EU economy and monetary affairs Joaquin Almunia told journalists ahead of 1 January.

"The Slovak economy was able to fulfil al the conditions required to join the euro less than five years after the country entered the EU and this had required a political will and a very dynamic economy. Now it's the time to reap the benefits of sharing the same currency," with 325 million Europeans in the 15-strong eurozone.

Some diplomats and officials described Bratislava's path to the euro as quite "bumpy," with the country's ambassador to the EU Maros Sefcovic claiming Slovakia had to convince colleagues about its readiness "at least twice as hard" as previous euro newcomers.

Are Americans safe from U.S. mosques?

 WorldNet Daily (Link) - Art Moore (December 29, 2008)

When the five Muslims convicted this month of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were charged, the New Jersey mosque where four of the men worshipped reacted to negative publicity by holding an "emergency town hall meeting" to calm neighbors and persuade Americans that Islam poses no threat. But having investigated the Islamic Center of South Jersey one year ago, Middle East expert and former Air Force special agent Dave Gaubatz insists not only is the mosque a threat to national security, it represents a pattern that has prompted him to launch a massive project to systematically classify every known mosque in the U.S.

Mapping Shariah in America: Knowing the Enemy seeks by the end of next year to document in a rigorous, scientific fashion the controversial premise that the more a mosque or community of Muslims adheres to Shariah, or Islamic law, the greater its threat to U.S. national security. "That's exactly, that's what the data are showing," Gaubatz told WND, who has charted about 100 of the estimated 2,300 mosques his team has identified across the country. "The more adherent you are to Shariah, the more likely you are going to find the material to back that up at the mosque."

For the observant Muslim, Islamic law is an all-encompassing system that dictates every aspect of life, from food and clothing to the duty to participate in making the religion dominant over the entire world. At the Islamic Center of South Jersey in Palmyra, where three of the Muslims in the Fort Dix case regularly worshipped and a fourth prayed a few times, Gaubatz found a strict, Shariah-adherent leadership that eagerly distributed jihadist materials supportive of seminal Shariah proponents such as Sayid Abul Maududi, the founder of the radical Pakistani party Jamaat-e-Islami, and Syed Qutb, whose ideas shaped al-Qaida.

"What is being overlooked in the Fort Dix case is where the suspects worshipped," he said. "Were they Shariah adherent? Who is the imam, what materials were at the mosque? They came up with the idea to attack Fort Dix for some reason. How and why?"

Holiday Sales Drop to Force Bankruptcies, Closings

Bloomberg (Link) - Heather Burke (December 29, 2008)

U.S. retailers face a wave of store closings, bankruptcies and takeovers starting next month as holiday sales are shaping up to be the worst in 40 years. Retailers may close 73,000 stores in the first half of 2009, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. Talbots Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp. are among chains shuttering underperforming locations.

More than a dozen retailers, including Circuit City Stores Inc., Linens ‘n Things Inc., Sharper Image Corp. and Steve & Barry’s LLC, have sought bankruptcy protection this year as the credit squeeze and recession drained sales. Investors will start seeing a wide variety of chains seeking bankruptcy protection in February when they file financial reports, said Burt Flickinger. “You’ll see department stores, specialty stores, discount stores, grocery stores, drugstores, major chains either multi- regionally or nationally go out,” Flickinger, managing director of Strategic Resource Group, a retail-industry consulting firm in New York, said today in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “There are a number that are real causes for concern.”

Sales at stores open at least a year probably dropped as much as 2 percent in November and December, the ICSC said last week, more than the previously projected 1 percent decline. That would be the largest drop since at least 1969, when the New York-based trade group started tracking data. Gap Inc. and Macy’s Inc. are among retailers that will report December results on Jan. 8.

Scientists eye swarm of Yellowstone quakes

MSNBC (Link) - AP Mead Gruver (December 29, 2008)

Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come.

Swarms of small earthquakes happen frequently in Yellowstone, but it's very unusual for so many earthquakes to happen over several days, said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah. "They're certainly not normal," Smith said. "We haven't had earthquakes in this energy or extent in many years."

Israel faces threat of Gaza conflict spreading to northern frontier with Lebanon

Telegraph UK (Link) - Andrew Wander (December 29, 2008)

Palestinian fighters based in southern Lebanon may be preparing to retaliate for the assault on Gaza by striking across the border and opening a second front against Israel. This would mark a major escalation, possibly provoking an Israeli invasion of Lebanon and a regional war.

The UN peacekeeping force in the country, UNIFIL, and the Lebanese Army have stepped up their patrols amid rising tension along the frontier. "The usual measures have been fortified along the border," said a senior Lebanese military official.

At least five Israeli warplanes have already conducted "mock air raids" over towns in southern Lebanon, according to the national news agency. Unmanned reconnaissance drones carried out extensive surveillance of the area on Saturday night. The Israeli Air Force flies regular reconnaissance missions over Lebanon, in violation of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah, the radical Shia movement, in 2006.

Hizbollah, which controls most of southern Lebanon, has amassed perhaps as many as 40,000 missiles for use against Israel. But this arsenal, largely supplied by Iran, is probably being held in reserve to retaliate for any future Israeli or American assault on Tehran.

Palestinian fighters could, however, open a second front against Israel without Hizbollah's direct involvement. The question is whether this would reignite the war between Hizbollah and Israel.

7,000 students register in Iran's Isfahan to fight Israel

China View (Link) (December 30, 2008)

Seven thousand university students from Iran's central city of Isfahan registered on Monday to fight Israel, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. "On the first day of registration to fight Zionist regime and to help Palestinians, 7,000 students from the universities of Isfahan have claimed readiness," Mohammad Zarifi, member of Iran's Students Islamic Association, was quoted as saying by Fars.

Also in the day, another Iranian students group, Basij Students (Volunteers) of Tehran Universities, announced it is registering volunteers to fight Israel. The registration came a day after Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious decree saying whoever dies in fight with Israel and in defense of Gaza would be a martyr.

"In response to the supreme leader's decree of Jihad (holy war), Basij students from all the universities of Iran have registered and the registration will be kept tomorrow," said Alireza Zahedi, a member of Basij Students of Tehran Universities, without disclosing how many students have already registered. "In the near future, the registered students will hold a meeting to claim their readiness to the supreme leader to go to fight in the occupied (Palestinian) territories," he added.

Thousands of Iranians, including university students, staged a rally in Tehran on Monday morning to condemn the Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip, carrying banners on which anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans were written. Israel on Saturday morning launched massive air raids which it said were targeted at Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 300 and wounding over 900 people. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is strongly backed by Iran, which does not recognize Israel as a state of the international community.

Natural disasters 'killed over 220,000' in 2008

Breitbart (Link) - AFP (December 29, 2008) Commented

Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record and underlining the need for a global climate deal, the world's number two reinsurer said Monday.

Although the number of natural disasters was lower than in 2007, the catastrophes that occurred proved to be more destructive in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused, Germany-based Munich Re said in its annual assessment. "This continues the long-term trend we have been observing. Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes," Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said.

PA 'ready' to take Gaza if Hamas ousted

The Jerusalem Post (Link) Khaled Abu Toameh (December 28, 2008)

Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah said Saturday that they were prepared to assume control over the Gaza Strip if Israel succeeds in overthrowing the Hamas government. "Yes, we are fully prepared to return to the Gaza Strip," a top PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "We believe the people there are fed up with Hamas and want to see a new government."

Another PA official said Fatah had instructed all its members in the Gaza Strip to be prepared for the possibility of returning to power. "We have enough men in the Gaza Strip who are ready to fill the vacuum," he said. "But of course all this depends on whether Israel manages to get rid of the Hamas regime."

The two officials voiced hope that the current IDF operation would end Hamas rule in Gaza. They said that the PA was also prepared to dispatch security forces from the West Bank to replace the Hamas militiamen. However, they denied Hamas allegations that the PA had urged Israel to launch a massive attack to overthrow the Hamas government.

Also Saturday, Fatah called on its supporters in the Strip to storm Hamas-controlled prisons to release Fatah detainees. The call came as most of Hamas's security installations were demolished by IAF planes. Fatah representatives in the West Bank said that Hamas was holding more than 250 Fatah men in its various prisons throughout the Gaza Strip. They expressed fear that Hamas would use the detainees as human shields against the Israeli air strikes.

Israel launches well-coordinated PR blitz to garner support for Gaza action

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Herb Keinon (December 28, 2008)

The Foreign Ministry launched a public relations blitz Saturday to counter the pictures coming out of Gaza, stressing that the goal of the operation was to strike a major blow to Hamas‚ terror infrastructure and protect Israeli citizens. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and spokespeople from the Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office and the IDF Spokesman's Office took to the airwaves - including the Arab satellite stations - with the message that Israel has been patient up until now, but could not tolerate the unending attacks, and that Hamas was the party responsible for the suffering that would incur.

In the afternoon, Livni read a statement to foreign television outlets saying that Israel had been under daily attack from Gaza for years, and that this week, "hundreds of missiles and mortars shells were fired at Israeli civilian communities, including 80 missiles fired on a single day. "Until now, we have shown restraint," she said. "But today there is no other option than a military operation. "We need to protect our citizens from attack through a military response against the terror infrastructure in Gaza. This is the translation of our basic right to self-defense."

UK's Brown defiant on economy, sees new U.S. alliance

Reuters (Link) - Jodie Ginsberg (December 28, 2008)

Britain's Gordon Brown will use his New Year address to call for a "coalition for change" with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in a speech intended as a rallying call to Britons. Brown, who frequently uses the comparison of the Second World war to describe the current global financial crisis, will tell Britons they have the strength of resolve to tackle a recession.

"Today the issues may be different, more complex, more global. And yet the qualities we need to meet them the British people have demonstrated in abundance before," Brown says in excerpts of the speech released by his office on Sunday. "So that we will eventually look back on the winter of 2008 as an other great challenge that was thrown Britain's way, and that Britain met. Because we had the right values, the right policies, the right character to meet it."

Brown identifies the economy, climate change, and security as the main challenges facing the world in 2009 and pledges to work with the United States to tackle them, positioning the U.S. alliance beyond a traditional focus on military cooperation. "I look forward to working with President-elect Obama in creating a transatlantic, and then a global coalition for change," Brown will say. "We can demonstrate this in 2009 not just in how we address global economic challenges but in how we tackle climate change at the Copenhagen summit."

GCC summit eyes common currency

Breitbart (Link) - AP (December 28, 2008)

In a gathering marred by Israeli attacks on Gaza and pressured by the ailing world economy, leaders of the six Gulf Arab nations are gearing up for a summit in which they are expected to tackle head-on a long-elusive monetary union agreement. The two-day meeting, beginning Monday in the Omani capital, Muscat, has been touted as a key step in helping the Gulf Cooperation Council's six member states realize a goal of a common currency and broader economic unity. The push is made all the more relevant by the global economic crisis that has hit hard even these oil rich nations.

Officials on Sunday said Israeli air strikes on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, which have left over 280 Palestinians dead and sparked outrage throughout the Arab world, would not derail the meeting. But the violence would clearly factor into the summit agenda, as well as in the GCC foreign ministers meeting which precedes the main gathering. Omani Information Minister Hamed al-Rashid said the Palestinian issue is always on the minds of the GCC leaders and "without doubt, the events in Gaza will be at the forefront of the upcoming meetings."

Syria, Turkey Break Off Talks with Israel Because of Gaza Op.

Israel National News (Link) - Gil Ronen (December 28, 2008)

Syria notified Turkey on Sunday that it was ceasing all indirect negotiations with Israel following the Air Force operation against Hamas installations in Gaza, according to Turkish sources cited by the Syrian Cham Press news agency. Last week, Syria said it was suspending the talks pending elections in Israel and the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

Cham Press added that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also suspending his contacts with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. In confirming Sunday's report, Erdogan called the Israeli air strikes "a blow to the peace initiative at a time when we're making significant efforts on its behalf." Erdogan called the attack on Gaza "a crime against humanity" and called for it to end immediately. He called the Gaza operation "a sign of disrespect towards Turkey." Hundreds demonstrated in front of the Israel embassy in Turkey Sunday and burned a wooden Star of David.

IDF mobilizes tanks, reinforces troops along Gaza border

Haaretz (Link) (December 28, 2008)

The Israel Defense Forces on early Sunday began mobilizing tanks and reinforcing ground troops near the Gaza border, in preparation for a possible ground incursion. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Sky News that he would not rule out widening the offensive in the Gaza Strip to include a ground invasion.

Barak on Saturday also said Israel "cannot really accept" a cease-fire with Hamas, rejecting calls by the United Nations and the European Union for a truce after Israel Air Force strikes killed at least 230 people in Gaza. "For us to be asked to have a cease-fire with Hamas is like asking you to have a cease-fire with Al-Qaida," Barak said in an interview with Fox News. "It's something we cannot really accept."

Asked whether Israel would follow up the air strikes with a ground offensive, Barak said, "If boots on the ground will be needed, they will be there." "Our intention is to totally change the rules of the game," he said. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier on Saturday said no country in the world would put up with the rocket and missile strikes Israel suffers from and that the time had come to react.