Watchman Newsletter

Hezbollah Readies for War as UN Can Only Observe

Bloomberg (Link) - Daniel Williams (August 22, 2009)

In a Lebanese village 10 miles west of the Israeli border, black-capped Hezbollah militiamen stand guard in front of a suspected weapons cache.

Even though they are unarmed, their presence deters United Nations peacekeepers from approaching the house in Khirbet Silim, preventing the UN troops from fulfilling their mission, which is to stop Hezbollah from rearming.

“The UN can’t just come around here and go into people’s houses,” said Rassan Salim, a municipal official in the village and a Hezbollah militia member. “Our weapons are to defend Lebanon.”

Hezbollah’s efforts to stockpile arms became obvious on July 14 when weapons hidden in a house in the village blew up, according to officials from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. Four days later, peacekeepers looking for arms tried to raid the house the militiamen now guard, about a kilometer from the one that exploded. Villagers stoned the soldiers, injuring 14, and blocked the incursion.

Hezbollah, which has the backing of Iran and Syria, is rebuilding its force in the south, undaunted by its loss in Lebanon’s June elections, in which a pro-U.S. coalition won a parliamentary majority. The peacekeepers’ stay in south Lebanon expires on Aug. 31 and the UN Security Council must decide whether to extend it without change or authorize them to impose the weapons ban by force even without the support of the Lebanese army.

Artificial life will be created 'within months' as genome experts claim vital breakthrough

Daily Mail UK (Link) (August 22, 2009)

Scientists are only months away from creating artificial life, it was claimed yesterday. Dr Craig Venter – one of the world’s most famous and controversial biologists – said his U.S. researchers have overcome one of the last big hurdles to making a synthetic organism.

The first artificial lifeform is likely to be a simple man-made bacterium that proves that the technology can work. But it will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae that can soak up carbon dioxide and convert it into fuels. They could also be used to create new vaccines and antibiotics.

The prediction came after a breakthrough by the J Craig Venter Institute in Maryland. Researchers successfully transferred the DNA of one type of bacteria into a yeast cell, modified it and then transferred it into another bacterial cell. The pioneering 'gene swap' was performed on a simple species of bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides.

Carole Lartigue and colleagues removed the bacteria's entire genome and inserted it into the yeast - an organism that is distant from bacteria on the tree of life. Yeast is easier to manipulate in the lab and this process allowed the team to alter the genes - in this case, deleting one gene not necessary for bacteria to live. The cell went on to divide normally, producing a new healthy strain of the modified bacteria.

The Greatest Change in the History of Europe

Europe News (Link) - Ed West (August 21, 2009)

This mild-mannered, mainstream journalist's predictions for Europe's future are devastating, says Ed West.

You might not hear about this book much in the next month, nor even in the next year, but it will affect your life in some way, and that of our country and continent.

Christopher Caldwell is a mild-mannered Financial Times journalist who over the past decade has covered continental Europe (France especially) and its relationship with Islam in particular.

That Caldwell is so mainstream, well-respected and analytical makes his conclusion all the more devastating - that the mass migration of Africans and Asians into Europe since the Second World War was an unprecedented, economically unnecessary and ill-thought-out plan that has had a profoundly negative impact on our way of life.

Furthermore, he says, the mass importation of Muslims at a time when Europe has lost its own faith and Islam has developed a dangerous and powerful radicalism threatens the very freedom of Europe.

'Saudi Arabia planning nuclear plant'

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Herb Keinon & Yaakov Katz (August 20, 2009)

With the world seemingly unable to stop Iran's nuclear march, other countries in the region are now pushing forward with their own plans to build nuclear power plants.

The Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported on Thursday that the Saudi minister of water and electricity, Abdullah al-Hosain, said the kingdom was working on plans for its first nuclear power plant. The US inked civil nuclear power deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last year.

Israel had no official response to the Saudi minister's announcement.

Over the last two years, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, Yemen, Morocco, Libya, Jordan and Egypt have all indicated an interest in developing nuclear programs, with Israeli officials saying, off the record, that if these countries did not want the programs now for their military capabilities, they wanted the technology in place to keep "other options open" if Iran were to develop a bomb.

Most families outraged at Pan Am 103 bomber's release

CNN (Link) - Jim Kavanagh (August 20, 2009)

Victims' family members and advocates are grieving anew as the only man convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland -- which killed 270 people -- was released Thursday from a British prison.

"I feel sick. I feel depressed and outraged. I mean, I am just heartbroken," said Susan Cohen, whose daughter Theodora, a 20-year-old Syracuse University music student, was killed in the bombing.

Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, 57, sick with advanced prostate cancer, was released on compassionate grounds and sent home to Libya to die, Scottish authorities said. Megrahi, who prosecutors said was a Libyan intelligence agent, was convicted in 2001 of placing a bomb on the Boeing 747.

Libya has formally accepted responsibility for the bombing and has compensated the families, although longtime Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi denied any culpability in the attack.

Mideast missile mishap goes relatively unnoticed

One News Now (Link) - Chad Groening (August 20, 2009)

An Israeli author and Middle East expert cannot understand why the American news media completely ignored a recent failed missile test in the Middle East that should have made huge headlines in the United States.

Recently Israel's Haaretz news published a report from Japan's Kyodo News that 20 Syrian civilians were killed and more than 60 more were injured after a Scud missile test fired jointly by Syria, North Korea, and Iran in late May strayed off course. The launch was an attempt to test a new short-range ballistic Scud missile jointly developed by the three countries.

But a technical malfunction caused one of the two missiles test fired to land in a market located in a town on the Syria-Turkey border, inflicting more than 80 casualties.

Cracking the Code

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Shelley Neese (August 19, 2009)

"Shelley, I want you to meet the guy who has cracked the code on the Copper Scroll." With that intriguing introduction, I shook hands with Jim Barfield. We stood among the kiosks of Israeli goods during a lunch break at a Christian Zionist conference in Forth Worth, Texas.

"Congratulations," I replied, "but what's the Copper Scroll?"

"A treasure map," Barfield answered, "from the prophet Jeremiah."

I gave Barfield and his companion a quick once over, trying to determine whether they were the well-intentioned kind of crazy or scary crazy. A small-town Oklahoma man with impressive posture, Barfield sported long (really long) gray hair and a full goatee. His partner in "The Copper Scroll Project" is Chris Knight, another long-haired fellow who speaks softly and possesses a gentle demeanor. He shares the same look of confidence and conviction that Barfield exudes as they brief me on the Scroll.

The Copper Scroll was discovered in 1952 in one of the Qumran caves along the Dead Sea. Though part of the official Dead Sea Scrolls Collection, the Copper Scroll differs from the others in that it is written entirely on thin sheets of alloyed copper rather than papyrus or leather. Furthermore, the Copper Scroll is neither scriptural nor literary, but rather a detailed list of approximately sixty locations where vast amounts of gold, silver, coins, vessels, and other religious artifacts are hidden. Such Temple treasures might also include the Ark of the Covenant.

THE SCROLL was found rolled in two parts and badly oxidized. Fearing it would crumble like thin glass, experts debated for four years over the best way to open it. Finally the Scroll was sent to a lab in Manchester, England where they cut it into twenty-three strips with a high-speed saw. Photographs of the strips were taken, and then, since the scroll had been found during an expedition sponsored by the Jordan Department of Antiquities, the pieces were sent back to the country.

Brussels suggests EU-wide tax databases

EU Observer (Link) - Lucia Kubosova (August 19, 2009)

In a bid to use the momentum of the economic crisis which has strained EU public budgets, the European Commission has proposed a potentially controversial system to boost fight against tax fraud by allowing national authorities to directly access taxpayer data in other countries.

"In the current economic situation it is more important than ever to fight tax fraud efficiently and a fully functioning administrative cooperation between tax administrations is key in that respect," the EU's taxation commissioner Laszlo Kovacs said in a statement on Tuesday (18 August).

Introducing the proposed structure, the Hungarian commissioner said he wanted to provide national tax officers with "all technical and legal means to take action" and protect other states' tax revenue "as effectively as their own."

The key element of the blueprint is the creation of "Eurofisc" - a scheme for rapid exchange of targeted information to which the authorities from all 27 EU member states would have direct access, in order to "stop fraud and catch fraudsters," Mr Kovacs said.

German political parties agree Lisbon treaty law

EU Observer (Link) - Lisbeth Kirk (August 19, 2009)

Germany's ruling political parties on Tuesday (18 August) reached agreement on how to implement the Lisbon treaty after week's of negotiations.

The Bavarian CSU faction of the Christian Democrat party had wanted to bind the government more tightly to seek backing from the German parliament, the Bundestag, and federal council, the Bundesrat, before agreeing deals on new legislation in Brussels.

But in the end the CSU gave in to a softer position, under which the German government must hear parliament but is not bound by its opinion.

Under the new German agreement, the government must also inform parliament about the details of any EU-level international trade negotiations.

"We don't feel like the loser, as the position of the parliament has been been strengthened overall," CSU chief negotiator Hartmut Koschyk told Die Zeit.

Netanyahu to freeze Jewish construction, settlers furious

Israel Today (Link) (August 18, 2009)

Israel's largest daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, reported on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have reached an agreement to halt all Jewish construction in Judea, Samaria and the eastern half of Jerusalem in compliance with the demands of US President Barack Obama.

The freeze will last until 2010, and will be presented to the Americans as a gesture of goodwill and a test to see if the Palestinians are willing to live up to finally their peace obligations.

The decision sparked immediate outrage among right-wing Israelis, who said the move was reminiscent of Netanyahu's ideological collapse during his first term as prime minister in 1996. Then, just as during his current term, Netanyahu entered office vowing to never give up Israel's right to the land, and to not make any serious concessions until the Palestinians reciprocated previous concessions.

Months later, Netanyahu was strong-armed by then-US President Bill Clinton into surrendering nearly all of the ancient Judean city of Hebron.

The decision to halt Jewish construction on the eastern side of Jerusalem came as a particular surprise to those who believed Netanyahu was the only candidate that would preserve the capital's unity under Israeli control. Right-wing Israeli leaders said that if Netanyahu continues with the policies of his rival, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, there will be no reason to keep him in office, and he will find himself facing a no-confidence vote just as he did during his first term.

Carbon Dioxide irrelevant in climate debate says MIT Scientist

The Examiner (Link) - Dianna Cotter (August 18, 2009)

In a study sure to ruffle the feathers of the Global Warming cabal, Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT has published a paper which proves that IPCC models are overstating by 6 times, the relevance of CO₂ in Earth’s Atmosphere. Dr. Lindzen has found that heat is radiated out in to space at a far higher rate than any modeling system to date can account for.

Editorial: The science is in. the scare is out. Recent papers and data give a complete picture of why the UN is wrong.

The pdf file located at the link above from the Science and Public Policy Institute has absolutely, convincingly, and irrefutably proven the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming to be completely false.

Professor Richard Lindzen of MIT’s peer reviewed work states “we now know that the effect of CO₂ on temperature is small, we know why it is small, and we know that it is having very little effect on the climate.”

“The global surface temperature record, which we update and publish every month, has shown no statistically-significant “global warming” for almost 15 years. Statistically-significant global cooling has now persisted for very nearly eight years. Even a strong el Nino – expected in the coming months – will be unlikely to reverse the cooling trend.

More significantly, the ARGO bathythermographs deployed throughout the world’s oceans since 2003 show that the top 400 fathoms of the oceans, where it is agreed between all parties that at least 80% of all heat caused by manmade “global warming” must accumulate, have been cooling over the past six years. That now prolonged ocean cooling is fatal to the “official” theory that “global warming” will happen on anything other than a minute scale.” | SPPI Monthly CO₂ Report: July 2009

If for no other reason than this: the IPCC assumes that the concentration of CO₂ in 2100 will be 836 ppmv (parts per million volume). However, current graphs based on real data show that CO₂ concentrations will only be 570 ppmv in 2100, cutting the IPCC’s estimates in half right there.

Is Russia Turkey’s alternative to the EU?

Today's Zaman (Link) - Şahin Alpay (August 17, 2009)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to Ankara on Aug. 6 marked another major step in the growing relations between Turkey and Russia. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Putin signed some 20 agreements in the fields of energy and trade.

Ankara gave its approval to the proposed South Stream gas pipeline from Russia to the European Union under the Black Sea through Turkish territorial waters; Moscow committed Russian crude oil to the planned Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The agreements even included some concerning Russian participation in the construction of Turkish nuclear energy plants. Putin also signaled an end to restrictions at Russian customs on Turkish export goods.

Moscow attaches great importance to South Stream and Ankara to Nabucco, which will carry Caspian and Central Asian gas to the EU through Turkey, the agreement on which was signed just last month. It is uncertain as to how these two projects, regarded by many as rivals, will affect each other. Some Turkish experts maintain that South Stream is likely to either delay or rule out Nabucco, while others argue that the EU is likely to give priority to the latter. Putin has not, on the other hand, ruled out Russian interest in the Burgas-Alexandropoulos pipeline, regarded by many as a rival to Samsun-Ceyhan, while Russian authorities have expressed doubts about the feasibility of the latter. (Eurasia Daily Monitor, Aug. 7.)

Only time will tell which side will gain the most, but it is already clear that economic globalization and interdependence have brought together Turkey and Russia, traditional adversaries until the Cold War’s end. Since then, trade has grown quickly between the two countries. Russia supplies energy to Turkey, and Turkey supplies Russia with many of its required goods and services. Societal relations are also on the rise. Russian have the largest share among tourists visiting Turkey, and among foreigners marrying Turkish men and settling in the country.

Iranian Chief of Staff Firouzabadi Writes Letter to Hidden Imam

MEMRI (Link) (August 17, 2009)

On July 12, 2009, the Iranian news agency ISNA published a letter written by Iranian chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi to the Hidden Imam (the Shi'ite messiah, also called the Mahdi). In his letter, Firouzabadi depicts the post-election protests as a conspiracy against the Iranian regime by the West and the reformists in Iran. He also rejects accusations of Basij brutality, saying that the group did not act against the Iranian people in suppressing the protests, but rather tried to protect them. He concludes by urging the Hidden Imam to come speedily and launch a worldwide Islamic revolution.

Following are excerpts from the letter: (ISNA (Iran), July 12, 2009)

"O Lord of Time (One of the names of the Hidden Imam), peace be upon you... I wish to speak to you once again... [In 1979,] as the celebrations and rejoicing over the Islamic Revolution still reverberated [in the streets], America, the West, as well as the [Iranian] infidel parties on orders from their masters, [were already hastening] to turn every corner of Iran - including Kurdistan, Gonabad, Khuzestan, Amol and Tehran - into arenas of brutal psychological warfare and hotspots of secessionism, essentially striving to annihilate the Islamic Revolution and [its] regime...

"[Today] another round has begun in the cultural attack [on Iran]... In the current round, some of those involved [meaning Mousavi and his supporters] turned their backs on the glorious past of the [Islamic] Revolution, and wished to join Uncle Sam, thereby bringing shame upon the sacrifice and istishhad of our nation. They wished to launch a dialogue with those who attack the rights of the free [peoples] and condemn and assault the values of the [Islamic] Revolution, [i.e. those who attack] freedom, the Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini], the rule of the jurisprudent, and the clerics...

"Those [Iranians] who constantly spoke of tolerance towards the dissidents, chanting [pluralistic] slogans like 'long live those who oppose me,' [actually] wanted the Basij philosophy dead. The essence of the reforms that they wanted was to eliminate the Basij and its philosophy... They targeted the very foundations of the regime, viewing the Basij, and all the revolutionaries and believing [Muslims] in the nation, as an obstacle in their path. They brought about a catastrophe, harmed [the regime] and violated its sanctity, started fires, and fanned the enemy's hope. They blamed the Basij for crimes that they themselves had committed [a reference to allegations of Basij brutality during the suppression of the protests]...

"When the Arrogance [i.e. the U.S.] saw its hope of toppling the regime dwindle, it mobilized the anti-Basij front, composed of old anti-revolutionary [Iranian] forces and fragments of [groups] that had been disbanded, whose common denominator is hostility towards the Basij and its philosophy, and towards [Iran's] national awakening.

"This front began its war, orchestrated by [the West], under the guise of [participation in] the presidential elections. When it failed to win, thanks to the praiseworthy participation of 40 million voters, it became enraged, and instigated a bitter civil war. This civil war, which from the outside looked like a 'velvet revolution' but from the inside was harsh and brutal, targeted the culture and people of my homeland.

"[O Hidden Imam], you are my witness that [the members of] the armed forces and the Basij regarded all the [presidential] candidates as [honest] revolutionaries, and [some of them] voted for [these candidates]..., as did [other] Iranians, according to the dictates of their conscience. Despite this, you witnessed the curses and accusations that [these presidential candidates] hurled at us. They harmed the people's security, and when we stood up to defend the people, they called us dictators and tried to disgrace us...

"Dearest Mahdi, we have taught our children and our grandchildren to await your arrival, and to raise the banner of this holy regime until you do... O lord, please beseech God, as we do, that the Islamic Revolution take root alongside the worldwide revolution that you [will bring]...

"Awaiting your arrival,

Hassan Firouzabadi."

Ayatollah sees global Islamic 'Mahdi' army

WorldNet Daily (Link) (August 17, 2009)

Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei yesterday called on Muslim nations around the world to unite militarily in response to the imminent coming of Islam's messianic savior – the Mahdi.

Khamenei, through his spokesman Ali Saeedi, specifically beckoned the nations of Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan and Afghanistan to join together with Iran in preparation for the Mahdi's soon coming.

The purpose of uniting now, a report in Al Arabiya explained, is to fight Israel and the U.S. – seen as the two greatest obstacles to the coming of the Mahdi and the age of Islamic "justice" that would ensue.

"We have to train honest forces that can stop the obstacles that may hinder the coming of the Mahdi like the United States and Israel," Saeedi stated. Saeedi also emphasized that the Iranian revolutionary guard possessed a special religious authority to prepare the way for the Mahdi.

Iran also recently concluded its fifth Annual Conference on Mahdism doctrine in the Iranian city of Qom, from which Shi'a Muslims believe the Mahdi will emerge.

"While the belief in the Mahdi has been widely held by Shi'a Muslims, it has taken on a dramatically more political tone in recent years since the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," explains Joel Richardson, author of a new book called "The Islamic Antichrist," which hypothesizes that Islam's prophesied Mahdi is one and the same as the Bible's Antichrist.

Russia set to modernize Libya's Soviet-era tanks

RIA Novosti (Link) (August 17, 2009)

Russia and Libya have signed a contract to overhaul at least 145 T-72 Russian-made battle tanks in service with the Libyan Army, a senior government official said on Monday.

Moscow and Tripoli have been involved in talks on the modernization of the T-72 tanks since 2006 as part of renewed efforts to revive bilateral military-technical cooperation.

"Work has been conducted in the Libyan direction, and we have already made headway after signing a number of contracts with the country over the past year, including on the modernization of T-72 tanks," Konstantin Biryulin, deputy head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

The official said talks on Russian arms deliveries to Libya are underway, but refused to disclose any details of the future contracts due to their confidential nature.

"I do not want to help our competitors in their work [on the Libyan arms market]," Biryulin said.

UN chief warns of 'incalculable' suffering without climate deal

Yahoo! News (Link) - AFP (August 17, 2009)

UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday of "incalculable" human suffering if the world fails to reach a deal at crucial climate change talks this December.

The United Nations is orchestrating the talks in the Danish capital in hopes of securing an agreement to slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

"As we move toward Copenhagen in December, we must seal a climate change deal that secures our common future," Ban told an environmental forum in Incheon city west of Seoul.

The UN secretary general, who began a visit to his homeland Sunday, warned of catastrophes if the world fails to work out a deal.

Ban said unchecked climate change would intensify drought, floods and other natural disasters and bring water shortages and malnutrition -- aggravating tensions and social unrest and even sparking violence.

"The human suffering will be incalculable," Ban said.

Powerful Earthquake Rocks Western Indonesia

Fox News (Link) - AP (August 16, 2009)

A powerful underwater earthquake struck western Indonesia on Sunday, injuring four people as they tried to flee, officials said.

Indonesia's meteorological and geophysics agency said no tsunami warning was issued.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered magnitude 6.7, after initially measuring it at 7.0. It struck at 2:38 p.m. and was centered at a depth of 28 miles under the Indian Ocean seabed, about 70 miles west-southwest of the city of Padang on Sumatra island, it said.

Four people were injured as they fled in Padang and a house was damaged, said Ade Edward, a local government official.

Indonesia straddles a chain of fault lines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to seismic activity. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused a powerful tsunami in 2004 that killed around 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Auto Dealers Paid for Just 2 Percent of 'Clunkers' Claims, Congressman Says

Fox News (Link) (August 16, 2009)

The federal government has only reimbursed auto dealers for 2 percent of the claims they've submitted through the popular "cash for clunkers" program, a Pennsylvania congressman said, calling on the Obama administration to help speed up the process.

Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., called for "immediate action" to address the problem in a statement Sunday, after writing a letter to President Obama Saturday expressing his concerns.

In the letter, Sestak said only 2 percent of claims have been paid and that four of every five applications have been "rejected for minor oversight."

In recent days, auto dealers across the country have been complaining that the reimbursement payments are slow to process. And they said some of their applications were being rejected because of apparent procedural issues. The statistics Sestak cited suggest those complaints are not based on isolated incidents.