Watchman Newsletter

Niger hunger ‘worse than 2005’

BBC News (Link) (August 14, 2010)

Niger is now facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, the UN’s World Food Programme says, with almost half the population - or 7.3 million people - in desperate need of food.

A WFP spokesman said villagers in Niger described the situation as worse than 2005, when thousands died of hunger.

After a prolonged drought, heavy rains have now hit parts of the country, killing at least six people.

The WFP says 17% of children, or one in five, are acutely malnourished.

The figure - based on national surveys in May and June - is well above the WFP’s normal 15% threshold for declaring an emergency.

It is appealing for $213m (£136m) in aid, but is still 40% short of its target, a spokesman said.

Federal workers earning double their private counterparts

USA Today (Link) - Dennis Cauchon (August 13, 2010)

At a time when workers’ pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees’ average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.

The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year.

Public employee unions say the compensation gap reflects the increasingly high level of skill and education required for most federal jobs and the government contracting out lower-paid jobs to the private sector in recent years.

Crisis boosts European military cooperation

Presseurop (Link) - Andrea Rizzi (August 12, 2010)

Blocked by national interests, European military cooperation is still at an embryonic stage. However, the economic crisis has encouraged member states to break new ground in their quest to take advantage of synergies and share common resources and defence infrastructure.

Defence budgets will be hard-hit by the wave of austerity sweeping across Europe. Germany is planning to put an end to obligatory military service and to cut military spending by one billion euros over the next four years. France aims to reduce its budget by 3.5 billion by 2013. In the United Kingdom, the government has announced that the cuts will be painful, and experts in the sector expect the budget will be diminished by close to 10%. The same trend prevails everywhere on the continent: defence is perceived as an easy target for cutbacks that are less socially explosive than they would be in other fields.

Now that they are forced to scale down spending, governments in the bigger EU member states are beginning to explore new avenues for cooperation that will optimise resources and preserve the operational capacity of their military forces. In July, the French Minister for Defence, Hervé Morin announced that France and Germany have recently established a working group to study “areas where resource sharing and pooling could be initiated” with a view to “budget reductions and economies of scale.” And Paris and London have also set up another bilateral commission. After years of stalling, it now appears that real progress is on the horizon.

“Reservations about the EU’s role have not suddenly vanished, but I believe that the current situation will lead to definite progress over the next few years,” explains former European Defence Agency director Nick Witney.

Powerful quake rattles Ecuador, Peru

Breitbart (Link) (August 12, 2010)

A strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked Ecuador and parts of Peru Thursday, but its epicenter was deep underground in a remote Amazonian region and only one injury and light damage was reported.

The quake, which experts from the US Geological Survey said hit at 6:54 am (1154 GMT), 110 miles (175 kilometers) southeast of Quito, lasted for about 40 seconds and was felt around the country and in neighboring Peru.

One person in a southwestern fishing port was injured by a crumbling wall, Ecuador Red Cross spokesman Jorge Arteaga told AFP.

“So far that is the only victim,” he said, adding that a handful of buildings including a firehouse had their walls crumble as a result of the quake.

The epicenter of the quake was deep, some 210 kilometers under the Amazonian jungle, which Ecuadoran officials said was the reason for the lack of damage above ground. No tsunami was generated.

The USGS said the nearest urban center was some 145 kilometers to the west -- Ambato -- an Ecuadoran city high in the Andes mountains which is home to a volcano of the same name and suffered a devastating quake back in 1949.

Turkey Cozies Up to Hizbullah with Iran

Israel National News (Link) - Chana Ya’ar (August 12, 2010)

Turkey has offered to join Iran in sending weapons to Hizbullah in Lebanon, with help from Syria, according to a report published in an Italian newspaper.

The daily Corriere Della Sera quoted sources Wednesday evening who said that Turkey will “send sophisticated weapons, rockets and guns to Syria that will end up in Lebanon.”

The sources went on to say that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards would “facilitate the transition, ensure safety, watch loads on the routes, and provide support to the border.” According to the report, Iran intends to build a network that will supply the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist organization with weapons as well, similar to the weapons network that operates in the Sudan.

The newspaper also reported that Turkish and Iranian intelligence heads Hakan Fidan and Hossein Taeb allegedly met to discuss logistics and relations between the two nations.

Arms from Turkey, Syria, Iran to Hezbollah

UPI (Link) (August 12, 2010)

A secret meeting of Iranian and Turkish intelligence officials has led to a new weapons supply route for Hezbollah, a report says.

Iranian and Turkish intelligence officials recently signed an agreement that establishes territorial continuity for Turkey, Iran, Syria and Lebanon, and guarantees a constant supply of weapons to Hezbollah, a report in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said.

Details of the agreement signed between Ankara and Tehran show a direct link between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, the Hebrew daily Yedioth Aharonoth quoted the Italian newspaper as saying Thursday.

Italian reporter and terror expert Guido Olimpio said the agreement was recently signed at a meeting between Hussein Saab, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards secret service, and the recently appointed Turkish intelligence chief Hakkan Fidan, and solves Hezbollah’s ongoing search for weapons suppliers.

Yedioth Aharonoth said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in closed meetings, expressed concern about Fidan’s appointment, fearing the secrets shared between the two countries would be leaked to Tehran.

Lebanon: We’ll reject U.S. military aid

Haaretz (Link) - AP & Natasha Mozgovaya (August 11, 2010)

Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said Wednesday he would reject any U.S. military assistance to Lebanon’s army if it comes with conditions that the weapons not be used against Israel.

Murr was commenting Wednesday on a decision by U.S. lawmakers to suspend $100 million in aid over concerns the weapons could be turned on Israel and that Hezbollah may have influence over the Lebanese army.

Murr said those who want to help the Lebanese army but place conditions on how their funds or weapons are used, should keep the money.

He also said a Lebanese soldier who opened fire across the border with Israel earlier in August was acting on orders. The clash killed two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and an Israel Defense Forces officer.

In response to the remarks, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley rejected the claim that the United States was halting military ties with Lebanon and said that the country is committed to its relationship with Lebanon, but has conditions for its assistance.

“We continue to believe that investing in Lebanon’s government and investing in Lebanon’s military serves as a stabilizing influence and expands and strengthens Lebanon’s sovereignty,” Crowley said during a press conference.

EU envoy to US flaunts new powers

EU Observer (Link) - Andrew Rettman (August 11, 2010)

The EU’s new ambassador to the US, Joao Vale de Almeida, has underlined the new powers conferred on EU envoys by the Lisbon Treaty while taking up his post in Washington.

In a series of interviews to US-based press on Tuesday (10 August), the ambassador noted that he is empowered to speak on behalf of EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and EU member states.

“I do not wish or will impose myself on the member states’ ambassadors ... Where we have a common position, I am the one leading the show. Bilateral matters are the mandate of the 27 [EU member state] ambassadors,” he told the Washington Post.

“In this area code, you call me,” he added, on the apocryphal tale of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger once asking whom he should telephone if he wants to speak to the EU.

“I’m the first new type of ambassador for the European Union anywhere in the world,” he told Agence France Presse.

“Our delegations now cover a wide spectrum of issues well beyond the economic dimension, trade dimension and regulatory dimension, to cover all policies in the union, including foreign policy and security policy.”

Housing crisis reaches full boil in East Point; 62 injured

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Link) - Craig Schneider & Tammy Joyner (August 11, 2010)

Thirty thousand people turned out in East Point on Wednesday seeking applications for government-subsidized housing, and their confusion and frustration, combined with the summer heat, led to a chaotic mob scene that left 62 people injured.

At the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center, emergency vehicles passed each other, transporting 20 people to hospitals. Medical and police command posts were set up on scene. East Point police wore riot gear. Officers from four other agencies supported them. Yet no arrests were made.

All of this resulted from people attempting to obtain Section 8 housing applications and, against long odds, later securing vouchers for affordable residences. Some waited in line for two days for the applications.

Renee Gray, a single mother holding her one-year-old daughter, Marion, came looking for a housing break and nearly got trampled, forcing her to run from the crowd and into the street.

U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It

Bloomberg (Link) - Laurence Kotlikoff (August 10, 2010)

Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.

What it can and must do is radically simplify its tax, health-care, retirement and financial systems, each of which is a complete mess. But this is the good news. It means they can each be redesigned to achieve their legitimate purposes at much lower cost and, in the process, revitalize the economy.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund released its annual review of U.S. economic policy. Its summary contained these bland words about U.S. fiscal policy: “Directors welcomed the authorities’ commitment to fiscal stabilization, but noted that a larger than budgeted adjustment would be required to stabilize debt-to-GDP.”

But delve deeper, and you will find that the IMF has effectively pronounced the U.S. bankrupt. Section 6 of the July 2010 Selected Issues Paper says: “The U.S. fiscal gap associated with today’s federal fiscal policy is huge for plausible discount rates.” It adds that “closing the fiscal gap requires a permanent annual fiscal adjustment equal to about 14 percent of U.S. GDP.”

The fiscal gap is the value today (the present value) of the difference between projected spending (including servicing official debt) and projected revenue in all future years.

Hiding in Plain Sight: The One-World System

Olive Tree Ministries (Link) - Heidi Swander (August 10, 2010)

“On April 2, 2009, the work of July 4, 1776 was nullified at the meeting of the G-20 in London.”  So begins an article written by author and commentator Dick Morris on April 7, 2009, titled, “European Socialism to Run Our Financial System.”  According to Morris, a communiqué from the meeting “essentially announces a global economic union with uniform regulations and by-laws for all nations, including the United States.” Please note: This took place last year.

This new financial state-of-being was confirmed in a statement made by Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, in a speech he made to the Council on Foreign Relations earlier this year.  He said, “For the good and appropriate functioning of global finance it is extremely important that we, in this new ownership of global governance, have -- particularly on both sides of the Atlantic -- the implementation of the same rules in the same fashion.”

Do not miss this. Do not tune me out.  This is vital information.  The global, one-world economy is being discussed by a top-level world banker as a done deal.  And notice that this statement is made in the context of global governance.  Sometimes when we hear words in the news like “economic,” “G-20,” “Council on Foreign Relations,” we tune it out thinking, “That’s way over my head,” or “This isn’t relevant to my life.”  We couldn’t be more wrong.

Brussels feels time is right to suggest EU tax

EU Observer (Link) - Honor Mahony (August 9, 2010)

As the economic downturn sees many member states seek ways of cutting back on public spending, the European Commission believes the time is right to put the thorny idea of the EU raising its own taxes back on the table.

EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski told German daily Financial Times Deutschland that the feelings on the idea of an EU tax had changed in national capitals.

“Many countries want to be unburdened. In this way, the door has been opened to think about revenues that are not claimed by finance ministers,” he said.

If the EU raised its own taxes, then member states could pay less to the EU from their national budgets is the thinking in Brussels. Member states currently pay towards the EU budget based on gross national income, as well as VAT and customs duties.

However, these sources only make up about 12 percent of EU revenue. “The national credit transfers in 1988 were only 11 percent, now they account for 76 percent of our revenue,” said Mr Lewandowski. “That was not the intention of the founding fathers.”

“If the EU had more of its own revenues, then transfers from national budgets could be reduced. I hear from several capitals, including important ones like Berlin, that they would like to reduce their contribution,” he added.

PM slams Hamas in flotilla probe

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Herb Keinon & JPOST.COM Staff (August 9, 2010)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, appearing Monday before the Turkel committee probing the flotilla incident of May 31, went on the offensive and said that in order to deal with the flotilla incident as a whole, it was necessary to clarify the government’s policy toward Hamas.

Over the last decade, Netanyahu said, Hamas has increasingly received aid from Iran “which also calls to erase Israel from the map,” and has essentially turned the area into ‘Hamastan.’ “Iran provided Hamas with thousands of rockets, missiles and other arms” which were used, and are still being used, against Israel, he said.

Netanyahu said that Hamas was responsible for last week’s attacks on Ashkelon and the missiles fired at Eilat. He quoted Supreme Court Justice Dorit Beinisch saying that Hamas was ruled by an organization that works tirelessly to attack Israel and completely violates international law in initiating indiscriminate violent actions against men, women and children.

“Since this committee is dealing with the question of international law, I want to point out that Hamas is in violation of at least four war crimes: The call for genocide, directed fire at civilians, the use of civilians as human shields, and preventing the Red Cross from visiting kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit.” Without mentioning the Goldstone Commission by name, Netanyahu said that “another committee, which claims that human rights and international law is important to it, for some reason almost completely ignored these central points.”

Egyptian minister calls on Muslims to flood J’lem

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - The Media Line - David E. Miller (August 9, 2010)

Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq has called on Muslims worldwide to visit Jerusalem and assert its Islamic identity.

In an interview with the London- based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Zaqzouq attacked the traditional Arab policy of tourism boycott against the Jewish state. He warned that Israel’s building in the city could smother Islamic sites.

“I say to those who insist on not visiting [Jerusalem] before its liberation: My worst fear is that you will have nothing to visit after Israel realizes its plans in Jerusalem and elsewhere,” Zaqzouq was quoted as saying.

Zaqzouq said his tactic of urging a worldwide convergence on Jerusalem could be used to expose any subsequent Israeli hypocrisy, should the government refuse to grant them entry permits. He said Muslims could then turn to the international community claiming religious discrimination.

“This would produce powerful leverage, in lieu of the current negative Islamic boycott,” he said. “We are wrong to define Jerusalem as a Palestinian issue. Rather, it is a purely Islamic issue concerning 1.5 billion Muslims.”

Turkey names new military head after dispute with government

Telegraph UK (Link) (August 9, 2010)

Chairing a promotion panel dominated by military top brass last week, Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister had reportedly blocked the general in line to become army chief as he had been summoned by a state prosecutor to give testimony in a probe into an Internet campaign to discredit the government and Islamic groups.

“We are not going to give the nod to everyone who comes our way,” Mr Erdogan said. “We used the authority at our disposal.”

After sweeping to power in 2002, the ruling AK Party which its roots in political Islam, has clashed frequently with the military.

This year’s round of promotions had led to fresh tensions until a compromise was reached over the weekend.

A statement said Gen Isik Kosaner will take over as chief of staff of the armed forces when Gen Ilker Basbug retires at the end of August.

Gen Kosaner will be succeeded by Gen Erdal Ceylanoglu as head of land forces.

The two top posts had been left vacant after an impasse over who would take over as army chief when Kosaner stepped up.