Watchman Newsletter

Chavez to restore ambassador in US

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (April 18, 2009)

Hugo Chavez said Saturday that he is restoring Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, voicing hopes for a "new era" in relations after exchanging greetings with US President Barack Obama at a regional summit.

Venezuela's socialist president told reporters at the Summit of the Americas that he will propose Roy Chaderton, his current ambassador to the Organization of American States, as the country's new representative in a move toward improving strained ties with Washington.

The announcement crowns a week in which Obama rejected two centuries of US "heavy-handedness" toward Latin America and raised hopes for a rapprochement with Cuba, with which it severed ties 48 years ago. Venezuela under Chavez has become a close ally of Cuba.

IMF warns over parallels to Great Depression

Telegraph UK (Link) - Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (April 17, 2009)

The International Monetary Fund has warned of "worrisome parallels" between the current global crisis and the Great Depression, despite the unprecedented steps already taken by central banks and governments worldwide.

This recession is likely to be "unusually long and severe, and the recovery sluggish," said the Fund, releasing two advance chapters from its World Economic Outlook. However, it warned there is a risk that it could spiral down into a full-blown slump unless further action is taken to stop "feedback effects" gathering force.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF, said millions of people risk being pushed back into poverty as the economic storm ravages the most vulnerable countries. "The human consequences could be absolutely devastating. This is a truly global crisis, and nobody is escaping," he said.

Drought drives 1500 to mass suicide

News.com.au (Link) (April 17, 2009)

DEBT related to crop failures has driven more than 1500 farmers in the Indian state of Chattisgarh to commit suicide. The Press Association reports that the farmers committed suicide because they had no way to pay crippling debts.

“(Money-lenders) lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death," Organic Farming Association of India spokesman Bharatendu Prakash told The Press Association.

Many people depend on seasonal crops in the agricultural state, but this year has seen Chattisgarh hit by falling water levels and droughts. “Only God can save the ones who do not have a bore well," one resident said.

The Indian Government recently waivered $15 billion worth of farmer loans, but it had no effect on those who were forced into private arrangements with local money-lenders. More than 10,000 of India’s farmers have killed themselves in the past decade.

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And who will replace these farmers I wonder? This seems like a spiral to further food problems in addition to the drought.

Afghan earthquakes kill 21, destroy homes

Yahoo! News (Link) - AP - Amir Shah (April 17, 2009)

Two earthquakes shook eastern Afghanistan early Friday, collapsing mud-brick homes on top of villagers while they slept and killing at least 21 people. The quakes hit four villages in the high mountains of the eastern province of Nangarhar, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the Pakistan border.

Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountain range is hit by dozens of minor earthquakes each year. Many Afghan homes are made of dried mud, so even moderate earthquakes can cause many deaths and major damage. The poverty-stricken nation is also battling a strengthened Taliban insurgency, and four people were killed in attacks Friday.

CNN reveals obvious bias in 'TEA party' report

One News Now (Link) - Chad Groening (April 17, 2009)

A conservative media watchdog organization says CNN has once again demonstrated its liberal bias in its coverage of a recent "TEA party" event in Chicago.

On Wednesday, CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen was interviewing a Chicago TEA party ("Taxed Enough Already") participant when she evidently did not approve of what he was saying about President Obama's tax policies, talked over him as he responded to her question, and began to editorialize.

Roesgen: "I think you get the general tenor of this [rally]. It's anti-government, anti-CNN -- since this is highly promoted by the right-wing conservative network Fox. And since I can't really hear much more -- and I think this is not really family viewing -- I'll toss it back to you, Kyra."

Kyra Phillips (studio anchor): "Alright. I know Susan Rosegen is having a hard time hearing me, but wow, that is the prime example of what we're following across the country."

EU Launches EuroMed News

Euractiv (Link) (April 16, 2009)

The European Commission yesterday (15 April) launched a new television channel to promote its neighbourhood policy and boost the visibility of EU-funded projects in the Mediterranean region.

The new channel seeks to "inform the public about the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, facilitate coverage and broadcasting, stimulate dialogue, and promote cultural diversity and gender equality".

Part-financed by the Commission to the tune of €2.16m, EuroMed News's joint production team of France Télévision and hundreds of local broadcasters in countries like Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Syria, Morocco and Lebanon will produce over 17 hours of programming between now and February 2010.

PA to label W. Bank, Gaza 'Occupied Palestine'

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (April 16, 2009)

The Palestinian Authority cabinet has decided to endorse the term "Occupied Palestine" when referring to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and has instructed its representatives and media to act accordingly.

The decision was taken during the weekly meeting of the government, which is headed by Prime Minister Salaam Fayad, in Ramallah on Tuesday. Until now, the PA used the terms Palestinian Territories and West Bank and Gaza Strip when referring to the two areas.

Hamas, Hizbullah, al-Qaida and other radical groups, on the other hand, have always called these areas (as well as Israel proper) Occupied Palestine.

Ministers renounce two-state solution

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (April 16, 2009)

As US emissary George Mitchell was making the rounds in Jerusalem Thursday and reaffirming President Barack Obama's commitment to Palestinian statehood, Israeli ministers were distancing themselves from a two-state solution.

"The preferable course of diplomatic action at this time is two economies for two peoples and not two states for two peoples," Interior Minister Eli Yishai said. "The American emissary also knows that forcing the region into virtual diplomatic discourse will only breed the opposite results."

Speaking to Army Radio, Yishai expounded on the "economic peace" propounded by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying, "It would be more correct to create trust through economic discourse which is essentially a Palestinian interest."

By "enlisting" to aid the recovery of the Palestinian economy, he said, the international community would also be helping the Palestinian public "relinquish terror."

Mitchell's Message: 'We Want a PA State'

Israel National News (Link) (April 16, 2009)

United States Middle East envoy George Mitchell warned Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday that America will not budge from its commitment to carving out a new Palestinian Authority state from within Israel's current borders.

Mitchell, who arrived in Israel Wednesday evening, made the comment after he met for the first time with Lieberman in his new role as foreign minister.

Lieberman raised eyebrows earlier in the month when he stated that the Netanyahu government would not be bound by decisions made in Annapolis in November 2007, noting they had never been ratified by the government, nor had they been approved by the Knesset.

"The U.S. policy favors a two-state solution, which would have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside with the Jewish State of Israel," Mitchell told reporters following the meeting.

Earthquake jolts Indonesia's West Sumatra at magnitude 6.4

Monsters & Critics (Link) (April 15, 2009)

An undersea earthquake registering 6.4 on the Richter scale struck the western coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra early Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage, the Indonesian seismologist agency said.

The quake struck at 3:01 am (2001 GMT Wednesday) and was centred in the Indian Ocean, 32 kilometres south-west of Mentawai Islands, off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia's National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said in a statement.

It occurred 50 kilometres beneath the seabed, but the statement did not say if the quake caused a tsunami threat.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago nation, sits along the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

The sun remains in a deep slumber

ICECAP (Link) - Joseph D’Aleo, CCM (April 15, 2009)

The sun remains in a deep slumber.

Today we are 15 days into April without a sunspot and with 603 sunspotless day this cycle minimum, 92 already this year.  2009 at this rate, is likely to enter the top 10 years the last century along with 2007 (9th) and 2008 (2nd) this summer.

If it stays quiet the rest of this month, the minimum can be no earlier than November 2008, at least a 12.5 year cycle length. I believe January 2009 is a better shot to be the solar minimum as sunspot number would have to be below 0.5 in June 2008 to prevent the running mean (13 month) from blipping up then. April needs only to stay below 3.2 and May 3.4 to get us to January. This would be very like cycles 1 to 4 in the late 1700s and early 1800s, preceding the Dalton Minimum. That was a cold era, the age of Dickens and the children playing in the snow in London, much like this past winter.

Gov't views opponents of abortion, illegal immigration as possible threats

One News Now (Link) - AP (April 15, 2009)

Department of Homeland Security officials have issued a report which links people with pro-life, anti-illegal immigration views, teachers of end-time prophecies, and veterans of war with "right-wing extremist" groups.

In an intelligence assessment issued to law enforcement last week, Homeland Security officials said there was no specific information about an attack in the works by right-wing extremists. But the agency warns that an extended economic downturn with real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit could foster an environment for extremists to recruit members who may not have been supportive of these causes in the past.

Israel's Air & Missile Forces Could Wipe out Iran's Nuclear Sites

DEBKAfile (Link) (April 15, 2009)

The detailed report compiled by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington last month, complete with graphs and diagrams, has been reprinted in thousands of copies in Tehran. It is compulsory reading for its intelligence and Revolutionary Guards personnel because the Study on a Possible Israeli Strike on Iran's Nuclear Development Facilities concludes that the Jewish state has all the resources necessary for a successful strike.

When asked recently, Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, agreed with this estimate. This week, president Shimon Peres and prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu both said that if diplomacy failed to halt Iran's nuclear activities, Israel would be left with no option other than the military one. And Tuesday, April 14, the New York Times quoted an Israeli official as saying that Jerusalem would give the Obama administration until late 2009 to stop Iran's uranium enrichment projects; after that, Israel will be forced to act.

Tehran responded with a complaint to the UN Security Council demanding that Israel be condemned for "its threats against a sovereign state."

Obama Agrees To Outsource Capitalism To European Socialists

Right Side News (Link) - Andrea Lafferty (April 14, 2009)

Most Americans are probably unaware that President Barack Hussein Obama has shockingly agreed to place America's free enterprise system under the control of a world financial government to be ruled from Brussels, Belgium.

Obama quietly agreed to this system while attending the G-20 Summit in England earlier this month. During the recent meetings of the G-20, the nations issued a proposal for a "Financial Stability Board" and an International Economic Union that would control all financial institutions around the globe. This includes the U.S.

Analyst Dick Morris spoke to Greta Van Susterern on April 3, to put this catastrophic sell-out of our system into context:

Literally from April 2nd of this year -- that is, today -- it's a whole new world of financial regulation in which, essentially, all of the U.S. regulatory bodies and all U.S. companies are put under international regulation, international supervision. It really amounts to a global economic governance.

Let me read you from the communiqué, Greta. "We agree to a framework of internationally agreed upon high standards. We will set up a financial stability board with a strengthened mandate to extend regulation and oversight to all systemically important financial institutions, instruments and markets" -- including hedge funds, all -- anything that they decide is important to the system -- "to endorse and implement tough new principles on paying (ph) compensation and to support sustainable compensation schemes and the corporate social responsibility of all firms."

Just when Obama is accused of socialism, he's essentially creating world economic governance. This means that the FSB, this newly created board, Financial Stability Board, patterned on the Financial Stability Forum that now exists, headed by an Italian banker, populated largely by the European bank executives, will make the decisions on what standards our own SEC and Federal Reserve board should apply to all firms in the United States of any significant size about executive compensation, market activities, and a whole range of issues that used to be under free enterprise reserved for private decision making.

10,000 aftershocks follow Italy quake

AFP (Link) (April 13, 2009)

Scientists have detected 10,000 aftershocks since last week's earthquake in Italy of which around 1,000 could be felt, a top expert said on Monday, warning that the tremors will probably get stronger.

"We do not exclude slightly stronger aftershocks, it's even probable" that there will be tremors above 3.0 on the Richter scale, Enzo Boschi, head of the National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology, told ANSA news agency.

He said around 1,000 aftershocks measuring 2.5 or more on the Richter scale had been felt in the central Italy region since last Monday's quake which killed 294 people.

The quake, which destroyed large parts of the Abruzzo region and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, measured 5.8 on the Richter scale.

Most U.S. Christians Don't Believe Satan, Holy Spirit Exist

The Christian Post (Link) - Jennifer Riley (April 13, 2009)

The majority of American Christians do not believe that Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a living entity, the latest Barna survey found. Nearly six out of ten Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement that Satan "is not a living being but is a symbol of evil," the survey found. Forty percent strongly agreed with the statement while 19 percent of American Christians somewhat agreed.

In contrast, about 35 percent of American Christians believe Satan is real. Twenty-six percent strongly disagreed with the statement that Satan is merely symbolic and about one-tenth (9 percent) somewhat disagreed. The remaining eight percent of American Christians responded they were unsure what to believe about the existence of Satan.

Volcano Erupts in Galapagos Islands

AOL News (Link) - AP (April 12, 2009)

Ecuador officials say a volcano is erupting in the Galapagos Islands and could harm unique wildlife. The Galapagos National Park says La Cumbre volcano began spewing lava, gas and smoke on uninhabited Fernandina Island on Saturday after four years of inactivity.

The park says in a statement the eruption is not a threat to people living on nearby Isabela Island. But it says lava flowing to the sea will likely affect marine and terrestrial iguanas, sea lions and other fauna.

The Galapagos are home to unique animal and plant species that became the basis for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Scientists say Fernandina is the island with the most volcanic activity in the archipelago. La Cumbre last erupted in May 2005.

Egyptian MPs calls for arrest warrant against Nasrallah

YNet News (Link) - Roee Nahmias (April 12, 2009)

Egyptian security sources suspect that another network of Palestinians is operating in the Sinai Peninsula and smuggling weapons into Gaza through the tunnels connecting Egypt and the Strip, the London-based Arabic-language al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Sunday.

According to the report, residents of the city of Sheikh Zuwayed in Sinai are helping the Palestinian network and producing rockets in lathe-shop they built.

The suspects' interrogation revealed that they had purchased an entire apartment building in Cairo and several villas and stores in the Dahab, Nuweiba, Rafah and Suez areas – including a villa overlooking the canal, from which they had planned to target boars.

The Egyptians have been stepping up their battle in recent days against terror-aiding activities inside the country and in the Gaza Strip. Cairo officially reported that dozens of activists suspected of being affiliated with the Hizbullah organization have been arrested, and is now looking into suspicions that the operatives had planned to carry out terror attacks in the country. Defense establishment officials estimate that the Hizbullah members were planning to carry out attacks against Israeli targets in Sinai as well.