Watchman Newsletter

64% of Israelis want Temple rebuilt

WorldNet Daily (Link) (August 1, 2009)

Nearly two-thirds of Israelis say the time is right to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple, according to a Ynet-Gesher survey.

Even half of non-religious Jews favor rebuilding the Holy Temple – an idea politically unthinkable in Israel just 10 or 20 years ago.

The poll was release on the saddest day on the Jewish calendar – the fasting day of Tisha B'Av, or the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av. It commemorates a series of tragedies that befell the Jewish people all on the same day, most significantly the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, which occurred about 656 years apart on the same day. Jewish tradition calls for the reading of Lamentations.

Aside from the destruction of the Jewish Temples, a remarkably large number of massive calamities befell the Jewish people on Tisha B'Av. Jewish rebellion leader Bar Kokhba's famous revolt against Rome failed in A.D. 136. Following the Roman siege of Jerusalem, the razing of Jerusalem occurred the next year. The first crusade pogrom against Jews in Palestine began on that date in A.D. 1096.

The Jews were expelled from Britain on Tisha B'Av in 1290 and were expelled from Spain that same day in 1492. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was crushed by the Nazis on that day in May 1943, resulting in the slaughter of about 50,000 Jews.

Nationalists in Israel also mourn the removal of Jews from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which began the day after Tisha B'av.

The book of Lamentations, written in poetic verse, mourns the desolations brought on Jerusalem and the Holy Land by the Chaldeans.

The rebuilding of the Temple is an extremely controversial idea in Israel because currently Jewish access to the Temple Mount is restricted by the Muslim Waqf, which was granted administrative authority over the Jews' holiest sites, which are occupied by Muslim shrines.

World's Largest Science Group Rejecting Man-Made Climate Fears

News With Views (Link) - Marc Morano (July 31, 2009)

An outpouring of skeptical scientists who are members of the American Chemical Society (ACS) are revolting against the group's editor-in-chief -- with some demanding he be removed -- after an editorial appeared claiming “the science of anthropogenic climate change is becoming increasingly well established.”

The editorial claimed the "consensus" view was growing "increasingly difficult to challenge, despite the efforts of diehard climate-change deniers.” The editor now admits he is "startled" by the negative reaction from the group's scientific members. The American Chemical Society bills itself as the "world's largest scientific society."

The June 22, 2009 editorial in Chemical and Engineering News by editor in chief Rudy Baum, is facing widespread blowback and condemnation from American Chemical Society member scientists. Baum concluded his editorial by stating that “deniers” are attempting to “derail meaningful efforts to respond to global climate change.”

Dozens of letters were published on July 27, 2009 castigating Baum, with some scientists calling for his replacement as editor-in-chief.

The editorial was met with a swift, passionate and scientific rebuke from Baum's colleagues. Virtually all of the letters published on July 27 in castigated Baum's climate science views. Scientists rebuked Baum's use of the word “deniers” because of the terms “association with Holocaust deniers.” In addition, the scientists called Baum's editorial: “disgusting”; “a disgrace”; “filled with misinformation”; “unworthy of a scientific periodical” and “pap.”

One outraged ACS member wrote to Baum: "When all is said and done, and you and your kind are proven wrong (again), you will have moved on to be an unthinking urn for another rat pleading catastrophe. You will be removed. I promise."

Liberals could aim high

European Voice (Link) (July 30, 2009)

There are remarkably few names being put forward to be the next high representative for foreign policy, a role that could go to the Liberals.

With the next European Commission president likely to come from the centre-right political family, and the first full-time president of the European Council expected to be from the centre-left, the third major institutional job, the new double-hatted high representative for foreign policy, may well go to the Liberals.

The Liberal political family has a good candidate – current European commissioner for enlargement Olli Rehn, from Finland.

Rehn is widely regarded as having done a solid job as commissioner, keeping the enlargement process ticking over amid increasing opposition in French and German political circles to admitting Turkey.

Javier Solana, the current high representative, has been successful in low-key diplomatic negotiations away from the public spotlight.

Rehn has proved he would be able to operate in the same way. But Finland not being a member of NATO could count against him, as could the fact that a Danish Liberal, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is secretary-general of NATO.

Decline and Fall of the American Empire

The Burning Platform (Link) - Casey Research (July 30, 2009)

"The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight." | Edward Gibbon – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

After ruling much of the known world for centuries, Rome fell due to a number of factors that, historians believe, would not have been fatal in isolation, but that proved terminal in combination. Military overspending and overreach, an untenable economic system, and currency debasement all played a role. As has been well documented, the Roman emperors attempted to distract the populace from the increasingly dire reality of their situation by providing bread and circuses. But entertainments could not stop the nation-state from yielding to the pressure of its own weight.

There are numerous parallels between the end of the Roman Empire and the path the 226-year-old American republic is now on. One difference in these fast-moving times is that empires can rise more rapidly, but are also likely to decline more rapidly.

Temple Institute to Build Sacrificial Altar on Tisha B'av

Israel National News (Link) (July 29, 2009)

The Temple Institute will begin building the sacrificial altar on Thursday, Tisha B’av, a fast day when Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple some 2,000 years ago. Please click here to view the video report.

The sacrificial altar was located in the center of the Temple, and upon it the Kohanim (priests) offered the numerous voluntary and obligatory sacrifices commanded in the Bible.

The Temple Institute, which has already built many of the vessels for the Holy Temple, such as the ark and the menorah, has now embarked on a project to build the altar. Construction begins Thursday in Mitzpe Yericho (east of Jerusalem) at 5:30 p.m.

“Unfortunately, we cannot currently build the altar in its proper place, on the Temple Mount,” Temple Institute director Yehudah Glick said. “We are building an altar of the minimum possible size so that we will be able to transport it to the Temple when it is rebuilt."

'Russia, Iran to hold naval maneuver'

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (July 29, 2009)

For the first time, Russia and Iran will hold a joint naval maneuver in the Caspian Sea, The Iranian Mehr News Agency reported Wednesday. According to the report, the maneuver will include 30 Russian and Iranian ships, as well as helicopters.

A senior official in the Iranian ports authority was quoted by the report as saying that the maneuver would increase the coordination between the two countries, and focus on search and rescue operations and the prevention of pollution. The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

Russia enjoys extensive trade ties with Teheran and has been opposed to imposing further sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment program.

Moscow is building Iran's first nuclear power plant in Bushehr, has provided Teheran with weapons and needs Iranian assistance on the Caspian Sea and other regional issues.

In April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that Iran is "our neighbor, it's a country which can play a very important role in solving a number of acute international issues, such as the situation in Afghanistan, Iraq and different aspects of Mideast peace settlement."

In June, a Russian news agency reported that the completion of Iran's first nuclear plant was being delayed by Russian banks refusing to work with Iran.

Iran is paying Russia more than $1 billion (€630 million) to build the light-water reactor and has already received several shipments of enriched uranium for its operation.

Analysis: Hizbullah turns up the temperature in the North

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Jonathan Spyer (July 29, 2009)

Israel's border with Lebanon is currently at its most tense since the cease-fire which ended the war of 2006. This tension has been brought on by the combination of a number of factors.

Ongoing internal political frictions in Lebanon and a series of recent setbacks suffered by the Iran-led regional bloc are both key elements contributing to the situation. Inflammatory rhetoric and orchestrated provocations by Hizbullah supporters in the south, against the ominous background of the movement's ongoing rearmament, are helping to ratchet up the uncertainty.

Coalition negotiations have been deadlocked in Lebanon in recent weeks. Hizbullah has conceded to the opposition's demand that its bloc receive only 15 ministerial portfolios (one less than the number required for a veto). This does not settle the matter, however. The focus now turns to efforts to ensure that at least one of the 'independent' ministers linked to President Suleiman is of a pro-Hizbullah orientation, ensuring the de facto continuation of the movement's power to block government decisions not to its liking.

Feeling itself under internal pressure, Hizbullah has sought once again to cast itself as the force of 'resistance' in Lebanon.

ESDP@10: What lessons for the future?

Council of the European Union (Link) - Javier Solana (July 28, 2009)

The European Security and Defence Policy has reached an important milestone in its development. This year marks its tenth anniversary. I am grateful to the Presidency, the EU Institute for Strategic Studies and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs for organising this conference. I am delighted to be opening it with Carl.

Drawing the lessons from our experience of the last decade is a valuable exercise. It should include the range of key issues that we need to consider in taking ESDP forward into its second decade – policy, analysis of challenges, strategy, partnerships, structures and capabilities.

I will say a few words on these. But I would first like to reflect on how far we have come. Where I think we are now and where I think ESDP should go in the coming years.

SPIN METER: 'Help Wanted' counting stimulus jobs

Google News (Link) - AP (July 28, 2009)

How much are politicians straining to convince people that the government is stimulating the economy? In Oregon, where lawmakers are spending $176 million to supplement the federal stimulus, Democrats are taking credit for a remarkable feat: creating 3,236 new jobs in the program's first three months.

But those jobs lasted on average only 35 hours, or about one work week. After that, those workers were effectively back unemployed, according to an Associated Press analysis of state spending and hiring data. By the state's accounting, a job is a job, whether it lasts three hours, three days, three months, or a lifetime.

"Sometimes some work for an individual is better than no work," said Oregon's Senate president, Peter Courtney.

With the economy in tatters and unemployment rising, Oregon's inventive math underscores the urgency for politicians across the country to show that spending programs designed to stimulate the economy are working — even if that means stretching the facts.

At the federal level, President Barack Obama has said the federal stimulus has created 150,000 jobs, a number based on a misused formula and which is so murky it can't be verified.