Watchman Newsletter

World cooperation on economy 'unprecedented': US

Yahoo! News (Link) - AFP (March 14, 2009)

The world is working together in a way "without precedent in modern times" to tackle the credit crisis, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Saturday after a G20 finance ministers' meeting.

"We are seeing the world move together at a speed and on a scale without precedent in modern times," he said. "We have a very broad basis consensus globally now on the need to act aggressively to restore growth and a commitment to move together to address this evolving crisis."

Obama's Embryonic Stem Cell OK Can Kill

GOP USA (Link) - Michael Reagan (March 14, 2009)

What President Obama did when he reversed President Bush's executive order banning embryonic stem cell research was based not on solid science, but his desire to cater to the anti-life, pro-abortion forces and their media allies who helped elect him. In doing this, he created the potential for an outbreak of potentially fatal cancerous tumors caused by the therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells. Moreover, he killed another Bush presidential order that funded some of the most promising research on the creation of embryonic-like stem cells from harmless but potent adult stem cells.

What President Obama did when he rescinded President Bush's federal ban on certain lines of embryonic stem cell research ultimately could cost American lives. Obama and his subservient mainstream media allies ignored science in favor of politics, and the results will prove to be disastrous.

1925 Supreme Moslem Council: Temple Mount is Jewish

The Temple Institute (Link) (March 14, 2009) [Temple Mount News ]

The Temple Institute has acquired a copy of the Official 1925 Supreme Moslem Council (Wakf) Guide Book to the Temple Mount. Of particular interest is page four, paragraph two, in which the booklet admits proudly to the Temple Mount’s inexorable connection to the Holy Temple built by King Solomon on land purchased by King David, complete with a reference to 2 Samuel 24:25.

In recent years the Moslem Wakf has come to deny the historic existence of the Holy Temple, claiming that the Temple Mount belongs solely to the Moslem nation, and that there exists no connection between the Jewish nation and the Temple Mount. It is clear from this pamphlet that the revised Wakf position strays from traditional Moslem acknowledgment of the Mount’s Jewish antecedents. The current denial of historical reality is merely one tool in the war being waged by Moslems against the G-d of Israel and the entire “infidel” world.

Catholics Join Emerging Church Conversation

The Christian Post (Link) - Lillian Kwon (March 13, 2009)

A group of Roman Catholics are dipping their feet in the Emerging Church pool, joining a conversation that has long drawn the interest of mainline Protestants and Evangelicals.

While the Emerging Church has been hotly debated among Evangelicals, some of whom are staunch critics, the term “emerging” is far less known within Catholicism. Equally as unknown and confusing even among Evangelicals is the term “emergent,” which some use interchangeably with “emerging” and others have distinguished as a segment of a wider Emerging Church movement.

With that, there is "no natural resistance" to the Emerging Church, according to Fr. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico province. "It is just an intriguing concept to many Catholics," he noted.

Obama to attend İstanbul Forum

TRT World (Link) (March 13, 2009)

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has confirmed that US President Barack Obama will attend the 2nd Alliance of Civilizations Forum to be organized in İstanbul on April 6-7, 2009.

Ban Ki-Moon had a brief meeting with President Obama at the White House on Thursday, where he pointed to the importance of his participation in the İstanbul leg of Alliance of Civilizations Forum.

UN Secretary General said following the first Forum held last year in Spain’s Madrid, the Alliance of Civilizations process will take a huge stride forward with The President attending the İstanbul Forum.

According to Ban Ki-Moon, the second Forum will constitute a favourable opportunity to talk over the differing opinions on world matters and to enhance mutual understanding between religions and traditions of the world.

In the meantime circles in Ankara are speculating about a possible speech by Barack Obama at the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA).

Speaker of the TGNA, Köksal Toptan said that nothing has been confirmed so far, and that technical details are being discussed with officials. When asked how he would feel about Barack Obama delivering a speech at the assemply, Toptan said he would welcome such an occasion.

World Bank urges divided G20 to fix banks

Reuters (Link) - Axel Bugge and Sebastian Tong (March 13, 2009)

More spending will give only a brief "sugar high" if G20 nations fail to clean up their banks, the World Bank said on Friday as economic powers struggled to agree a response to the worst downturn in decades.

The comments went to the heart of a rift between Washington, which is pushing for governments to spend more, and European capitals, which want rapid moves to tougher market regulation in addition to massive public expenditure.

G20 finance ministers and central bankers were meeting in the south of England under pressure to resolve differences and pave the way for concrete advances when world leaders meet on the economic crisis in London on April 2.

Some progress is being made though. Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg offered on Friday to relax strict bank secrecy in some tax evasion cases.

G20 leaders are also expected to back a call to as much as double the money the International Monetary Fund has at its disposal to help emerging economies hit by a plunge in global demand for exports and a severing of credit lines.

China "worried" about US Treasury holdings

My Way (Link) - Joe McDonald [AP] (March 13, 2009)

China's premier expressed concern Friday about its massive holdings of Treasuries and other U.S. debt, appealing to Washington to safeguard their value, and said Beijing is ready to expand its stimulus if the economy worsens.

Premier Wen Jiabao noted that Beijing is the biggest foreign creditor to the United States and called on Washington to see that its response to the global slowdown does not damage the value of Chinese holdings. "We have made a huge amount of loans to the United States. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little bit worried," Wen said at a news conference following the closing of China's annual legislative session. "I would like to call on the United States to honor its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets."

Wen's comments foreshadowed possible appeals to President Barack Obama, who will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao at a London summit of leaders of the G-20 group of major economies on April 2 to discuss the global financial crisis.

Analysts estimate that nearly half of China's $2 trillion in currency reserves are in U.S. Treasuries and notes issued by other government-affiliated agencies.

Washington is counting on China to continue buying Treasuries to fund its $787 billion stimulus package. Last month, visiting Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to reassure Beijing that government debt would remain a reliable investment.

China condemns US warship deployment as tensions mount

Times Online (Link) (March 13, 2009)

Chinese Navy officers reacted with annoyance today when it emerged that the United States had sent a destroyer to back up a surveillance vessel in the South China Sea after it was harassed by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sailors.

The decision by President Obama to send an armed escort for US surveillance ships in the area follows the aggressive and co-ordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. The vessels harassed and nearly collided with the unarmed USNS Impecccable.

One unidentified officer quoted in the China Daily newspaper said that the decision was disproportionate. While China’s Foreign Ministry has so far kept tight-lipped on the latest development, the decision to run such a comment so swiftly in the state-run English-language newspaper was a signal of Beijing’s concerns.

Islamic states: Criminalize defamation of Islam

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Maya Spitzer (March 13, 2009)

The Islamic states circulated a new resolution at the current session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday that would criminalize defamation of Islam as a human rights violation and encourage the imposition of Shari'a.

According to the nonbinding governmental resolution, titled "Combating Defamation of Religions," anything deemed insulting to Islamic sensitivities would be banned as a "serious affront to human dignity" and a blatant violation of religious freedom.

The resolution would attempt to influence "local, national, regional and international levels" to incorporate such guarantees of this perceived freedom in their "legal and constitutional systems."

Obama urges global unity to jolt economy

UPI (Link) (March 11, 2009)

The United States will ask its allies to help jolt the international economy during the Group of 20 economic summit, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. "We've got two goals in the G20," Obama said during a media availability with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. "The first is to make sure that there is concerted action around the globe to jump start the economy. The second goal is to make sure that we are moving forward on a regulatory reform agenda that ensures that we don't see these kinds of systemic risks and the potential for this kind of crisis again in the future."

The United States can't just think about what's happening within its borders, "we also have to be mindful of what's happening overseas," he said. "We can do a really good job here at home with a whole host of policies," Obama said, adding that some discussions have been conducted already, "but if you continue to see deterioration in the world economy, that's going to set us back."

AIG's Demise Speaks to Mark-to-Market's Importance

Real Clear Markets (Link) - James Keller (March 11, 2009) Audio

Blaming mark-to-market accounting for the banking sector’s woes is like blaming a polar bear stranded on an ice floe for global warming. The stranded bear points to the problem; though he didn’t cause it.

The AIG debacle demonstrates the risk of ignoring market values. Congress is balking at being asked to approve yet another heap of money for AIG. There’s a growing sense that if we knew in September how big the hole in this bucket was, we might not have started filling it. But we did know in September.

Or at least somebody knew. And the way they knew was by marking-to-market the assets AIG Financial Products had insured. AIG is now turning into a scandal of the highest order. Consider the fact pattern: the Treasury Secretary convinces Congress to spend $150 billion to bail out one of the largest trading partners of his former firm. If something similar happened in a third world plutocracy, we’d shrug.

As details emerge, we now know a bit more about what happened. We know AIG Financial Products sold insurance protection to banks and brokers on over $440 billion of mortgage CDOs and other fixed income assets. We know the protection did not require AIG to collateralize its trades unless they were downgraded. And we know that the Fed’s first $85 billion loan facility was necessary to prevent the AIG FP default that an unmet margin call would have triggered.

MEPs agree 'top secret' category for EU documents

EU Observer (Link) (March 11, 2009)

MEPs have called on the European Commission to be more ambitious in its transparency proposals while at the same time introducing an 'EU classifed' category protecting top secret documents for up to 30 years.

A vote on Wednesday (11 March) saw the European Parliament agree a series of amendments to the EU law governing citizens' access to documents, but the final vote on the reformed legislation was postponed in a bid to put pressure on the commission to make the law more user-friendly.

The parliament's overhaul of the 2001 transparency law, drawn up by UK Labour MEP Michael Cashman, extends the legislation to cover electronic data. It also says documents must be processed within two weeks - the commission had suggested a month - and suggests all documents should be placed on one website shared by EU institutions.

45 percent of world's wealth destroyed

Reuters (Link) - Megan Davies and Walden Siew (March 11, 2009)

Private equity company Blackstone Group LP CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Tuesday that up to 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed by the global credit crisis.

"Between 40 and 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half," Schwarzman told an audience at the Japan Society. "This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetime."

But the U.S. government is committed to the preservation of financial institutions, he said, and will do whatever it takes to restart the economy.

At Least 16 Dead Following School Shooting "Bloodbath" In Germany

City News (Link) (March 11, 2009)

A man identified as a former student is believed responsible for a massacre at a German high school Wednesday that left 16 people dead. Nine of those killed were students, three were teachers and a passer-by was also caught in his initial rampage of rage in the city of Winnedden, near Stuttgart.

The gunman walked into two classrooms clad in black and opened fire. He managed to flee after carjacking an escape vehicle but for some reason he let those passengers go. He made it about 40 kilometres from the scene before authorities caught up to him.

Revenge Hit List Found After Man Goes On Shooting Rampage In Small Alabama Town

City News (Link) (March 11, 2009)

As authorities in Germany struggle to cope with a senseless slaying at a local school, officials in the U.S. are dealing with the aftermath of a mass murder of their own.

It now appears a long simmering anger and need for revenge may have triggered a deadly shooting that left ten people dead in a small Alabama town.

Investigators hunting for clues into the actions of Michael McLendon have come across a "revenge list" the killer kept, outlining who he planned to murder.

The deadly drama happened Tuesday in and around the small town of Samson, Alabama near the Florida border, when the 28-year-old went on a rampage, starting a fire at his mother's home while she was still inside, gunning down four relatives in cold blood as they stood on a porch and picking off a number of strangers at random, leaving ten victims behind.

UN Confirms Iran Caught Red-Handed in Ship Loaded with Weapons

Israel National News (Link) - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (March 11, 2009)

A United Nations Security Council committee confirmed on Tuesday that Iran violated U.N. sanctions by trying to send a ship with weapons to Syria. The high-explosive shells, including those than can pierce armor, and anti-tank explosives may have been destined for Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Hizbullah in Iran or Syrian-backed Iraqis, Council diplomats told the Associated Press. The U.N. has banned Iran from exporting weapons or materials for the manufacture of arms.

The ship, chartered by the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been docked in Cyprus since January 29, when Cypriot authorities unloaded it and said there were no weapons aboard, although it found material that could be used to make ammunition.

However, United States military inspectors found artillery shells on the ship when it stopped in the Red Sea and said it was destined for Syria.

Nobel-prize winner backs world currency

The Australian (Link) - AFP (March 11, 2009)

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has won backing for his plan for a single world currency from an intellectual architect of the euro currency, Nobel-prize winner Professor Robert Mundell. Nazarbayev, speaking at an economic forum in the glitzy new capital he has built on the Kazakh steppe, defended his proposal for the "acmetal'' world currency saying it might "look kind of funny'' but was not.

And he received intellectual support from the Canadian economist Prof Mundell, who helped lay the intellectual groundwork for Europe's single currency. "I must say that I agree with President Nazarbayev on his statement and many of the things he said in his plan, the project he made for the world currency, and I believe I'm right on track with what he's saying,'' Prof Mundell said, adding the idea held "great promise''.

Russia, Libya sign warship contract worth up to $200 mln

RIA Novosti (Link) (March 10, 2009)

Libya has signed with Russia a contract worth up to an estimated $200 million to buy three missile boats, a Russian military journal reported on Tuesday.

A contract with Vietnam for the Project 12418 Molniya missile attack boats valued the vessels at $45 million apiece without weapons, so the Libyan contract could be worth a minimum $150 million, and as much as $200 million with arms and spare parts, said Mikhail Barabanov, science editor of the Eksport Vooruzheny (Arms Export) journal.

The Coming War

Northeast Intelligence Network (Link) (March 10, 2009)

Part II in a series based on an interview with a former, highly-placed U.S. intelligence official who breaks his silence on the increasing probability of abandonment of Israel by the U.S. and other Western countries based on what he termed “malicious intelligence.” (Click here for Part I).

The Middle East will be the site of “the coming war,” and Israel will be at it’s epicenter. If we survive as a nation, the U.S. will not be on the side of righteousness in this war, instead turning our back to - or our guns against - our only true friend in the Middle East: Israel.

“Remember the phrase malicious intelligence?” asked the source during our latest interview. Well, Charles Freeman, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama to chair the National Intelligence Council can be presented as “exhibit 1.” Freeman, a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf war and an obvious benefactor of Saudi money in his position as head of the Middle East Policy Council, has shifted his public position on the “reasons” behind the attack of 9/11 and Israel as a U.S. ally as quickly as former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter shifted his public position on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Netanyahu will focus first on PA, not Syria, senior adviser says

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Herb Keinon (March 10, 2009)

Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu has no intention of sidelining the Palestinian track in favor of a Syrian one, Dore Gold, one of Netanyahu's top foreign policy advisers, said Monday.

Gold's comments came the same day that Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published in the United Arab Emirates daily Al-Khaleej that while a peace deal with Israel was possible, normal relations would only come about if Israel ended its conflict with the Palestinians.

"There will perhaps be an embassy and formalities, but if you want peace, then it has to be comprehensive. We give them the choice between comprehensive peace and a peace agreement which does not have any real value on the ground," Assad said in the interview, according to a Reuters report.

Canada joins Transatlantic Union effort

WorldNet Daily (Link) - Jerome R. Corsi (March 10, 2009)

Canada has decided to join the United States in negotiating a transatlantic free trade agreement with the European Union. According to Canada's daily Financial Post, Canada and the EU have come to an agreement on the areas they would like to negotiate in a free trade deal that Canadian government officials believe could expand Canada's economy by approximately $12 billion.

The agreement announced last Thursday concluded "scoping exercises" between Canada and the EU that began Oct. 17. The exercises determined 14 areas to be placed on the negotiating table, including trade in goods and services, investment, trade facilitation, customs regulation, technical barriers to trade, competition policy and sustainable development.

The coming evangelical collapse

Christian Science Monitor (Link) - Michael Spencer (March 10, 2009)

We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Why is this going to happen?

Obama to overturn Bush policy on stem cells

Associated Press (Link) - Seth Borenstein and Ben Feller (March 9, 2009)

From tiny embryonic cells to the large-scale physics of global warming, President Barack Obama urged researchers on Monday to follow science and not ideology as he abolished contentious Bush-era restraints on stem-cell research. "Our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values," Obama declared as he signed documents changing U.S. science policy and removing what some researchers have said were shackles on their work.

"It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda — and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology," Obama said. Researchers said the new president's message was clear: Science, which once propelled men to the moon, again matters in American life.

Opponents saw it differently: a defeat for morality in the most basic questions of life and death. "The action by the president today will, in effect, allow scientists to create their own guidelines without proper moral restraints," Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said.

24 million go from 'thriving' to 'struggling'

USA Today (Link) (March 9, 2009)

Casualties of the economic downturn include easy credit, rising home values, stable retirement investment accounts and 4.4 million jobs. Some fear that the American dream may be in peril as well.

The aspirations that have defined the American experience — that those who work hard and play by the rules can get ahead, and that the next generation will have a better life than this one — have been battered by a devastating recession that shows few signs of having hit bottom.

"Maybe we were dreaming the American dream, you know what I mean?" says David McLimans, a steelworker. The mill he works for in suburban Philadelphia temporarily shut down last week amid the credit crunch. "I'm 63, so I'm not dreaming it anymore. I have what I have and I hope I can keep what I have, but my kids, I worry about. They're struggling."

U.S. dollar replaced by ... digital gold?

WorldNet Daily (Link) (March 9, 2009)

When the dollar collapses, digital gold as a private bank-managed currency may replace it for international transactions, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports. Digital gold is a form of electronic market backed by gold storage. Private clients deposit gold or buy gold reserves from the digital gold bank.

Private clients then utilize digital gold accounts to make or receive international payments. Payment values are determined by the price of gold backing transactions.

Globalists are now promoting digital gold as a private-bank solution to the potential devaluation of fiat currencies. "Ironically, the digital gold market reflects increasing concern in international foreign currency markets about whether major currencies, including the dollar and the euro, will survive the current global financial meltdown," Corsi wrote.

Javier Solana Interview on EU Defense

Agence Europe (Link) (March 9, 2009)

Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for CFSP, agreed to answer our questions ahead of the European Defence Agency’s annual conference 2009. He answered as follows:

EDD: During the 2007 conference you launched the catchphrase: spend more, spend better, spend more together. Is this still valid in these times of crisis or should one be resigned to see further cuts in defence spending?

Javier Solana: Now defence budgets may come under increasing pressure due to the financial-economic crisis it will be even more important to do more together. Within Europe there is too much fragmentation and duplication, from Research & Technology to industrial supply. More and better capabilities can be realised with the same amount of money when Member States collaborate more, which is exactly what the Agency is aiming at.

EDD: Given the vital shortage of helicopters

,

are the projects entrusted to EDA sufficient?

J.S.:

The Agency has promising activities to improve the availability of helicopters for crisis management operations, focusing on training pilots in the short-term, on upgrading helicopters in the medium-term and on the development of the Future Transport Helicopter in the long-term. All these activities will contribute to increased availability of helicopter capabilities, which are essential for our operations.

Anti-Christian: a "Socially Acceptable Prejudice"

Zenit (Link) (March 9, 2009)

One does not have to live in Africa or Asia to be the victim of anti-Christian discrimination; according to an intergovernmental security group, there are plenty of victims in Europe and America.

This was the conclusion from a meeting sponsored by the U.N. ad hoc Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, an international group that has 56 member states spread across Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America.

Congress being dishonest with Omnibus, earmarks

One News Now (Link) - Jim Brown (March 9, 2009)

The nation's largest taxpayer group says both political parties in Washington are engaged in a "conspiracy of silence" over what they're actually doing to the Omnibus budget bill.  Meantime, the spending spree is continuing in Washington.

Senate Democrats were forced to stall action on a massive $410 billion Omnibus spending bill for the 2009 fiscal year, which began in October. The bill was blocked by critics who said it contained too much wasteful government spending, notably more than 8,500 earmarks.

There have been attempts to allow the government to get originally planned increases in spending rather than boosting it even more through the Omnibus bill, but all of those efforts have been defeated.

Solana: "No peace without implementing Arab Peace Initiative"

IMEMC (Link) - Saed Bannoura (March 8, 2009)

EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, stated on Saturday that there can be no peace in the Middle East without implementing the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. In an interview with the al-Ahram Egyptian weekly, Solana said that Israel must understand that without peace with its Arab neighbors it can’t have peace and security.

Commenting on the Sharm al-Sheikh Summit for rebuilding Gaza, Solana stated that this summit was a message of hope to the Palestinians and the Israelis. This message, he said, reaffirms the importance of resuming peace talks in order to achieve a two-state solution.

World Bank offers dire forecast for world economy

International Herald Tribune (Link) (March 8, 2009)

In a bleaker assessment than those of most private forecasters, the World Bank predicted Sunday that the global economy would shrink in 2009 for the first time since World War II. The bank did not provide a specific estimate, but bank officials said its economists would be publishing one in the next several weeks.

Until now, even extremely pessimistic forecasters have predicted that the global economy would eke out a tiny expansion but had warned that even a growth rate of 5 percent in China would be a disastrous slowdown, given the enormous pressure there to create jobs for the country's rural population.

The World Bank also warned that global trade would contract for the first time since 1982, and that the decline would be the biggest since the 1930s.

In a report prepared for a meeting next week of finance ministers from the 20 industrialized and large developing countries, the World Bank said the economic crisis that started with junk mortgages in the United States was causing havoc for poorer countries around the world, not only stifling their growth but also choking off their access to credit as well.