Dear friends,
Some think that a huge prophetic sign of the End is the complete and utter annihilation of the city of Damascus. It is prophesied in the Bible in Isaiah 17. The city is one of the oldest “continuously inhabited cities in the world”, (Wikipedia), but God says to Isaiah that there will come a time when it will “no longer be a city, but will become a heap of ruin”. It will be in a time when the nations are “raging” but “sudden terror” will come upon them because of what they have done to Israel. This is a very serious prophecy. I don’t know 100% that it is a major prophetic sign, but, if you should see Damascus hit by an Israeli nuclear weapon and completely wiped away, take heart and remember Isaiah 17!!!!
What awaits Lebanon and the Lebanese if the opposition wins the coming parliamentary elections? The answer came in the form of a “notification” distributed by the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc to participants in this week’s national dialogue session. In it, the party warns of all-out military maneuvers that Israel will carry out at the end of next month, or a week before the elections, with the participation of all of its agencies, institutions and weapons. In addition, the Lebanese state is supposed to join up completely with the resistance in preparing for the outbreak of a “surprise” war with the Jewish state.
The “notification,” which was mostly devoted to stressing the massive Israeli maneuvers as well as their meaning, threat, background and dimensions, was clear in its conclusions: dialogue is a mere waste of time and effort; the only defense strategy that the party accepts, and strives for, is one that it lays down, according to its own thinking, in coordination with its external allies Syria and Iran, and in line with its conception of the role of the country, its institutions, its army and its citizens. In even more clearer terms, it is a consecration of Lebanon as a sole, permanent arena of confrontation with Israel. Hezbollah affirms that it is being targeted by these maneuvers and calls for a comprehensive Lebanese response at the civil, military and political level, covering hospitals, blood banks, water, telephone, electricity, the army, the security apparatuses, the media, embassies, diplomats… because it believes it necessary to confront Israel “in a way suitable to the nature of the challenge” that it represents and “be ready for the worst.”
In this sense, Hezbollah is portending an inevitable new war with Israel, one whose timing depends on factors connected to both it and the Jewish state. The Lebanese state can take no action except to prepare for this war, since anything else would have no point.
Hamas* warns Abbas not to form new government alone
After failing to reach agreement with Hamas over the formation of a Palestinian unity government, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to form a new government that would not include representatives of the Islamic movement, a PA official in Ramallah said Thursday.
In response, Hamas warned that such a move would be regarded as a “fatal blow” to Egyptian efforts to end the power struggle with Fatah.
Nabil Abu Rudaineh, a spokesman for Abbas, said that Abbas was expected to announce a new government soon. He did not give a date, but another PA official said the new government would most probably be established on the eve of Abbas’s visit to Washington, where he is expected to meet for the first time with US President Barack Obama.
“President Abbas still hasn’t begun negotiations over the formation of a new government,” Abu Rudaineh said. “But he does plan to form a government with a broad coalition in the near future.”
Hamas Army Preparing for New War*
The defacto Hamas government in Gaza is re-training its army and changing its tactics in preparation for what it believes will be another war with Israel, according to Staretegypage.com. Iran and Hizbullah are advising Hamas on how to overcome its failures against Israel in the IDFs Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign earlier this year.
Hamas tactics in the war backfired. It told its fighters to dress in civilian clothes as a ploy to raise civilian casualties, but the IDF surprised it by pinpointing its attacks and warning civilians to leave areas before they were bombed.
Hamas has used the ceasefire, which Israel declared on condition that international monitors would be positioned along the Egyptian border to stop smuggling, to bring in advanced weapons through new tunnels that have been built. Two Arab smugglers or workers were killed Thursday morning in a tunnel collapse underneath the border at Rafiah.
*The Hamas army now includes anti-aircraft missiles that have been provided by Iran.* Israel Air Force planes were equipped with devices to deflect anti-aircraft missiles during Operation Cast Lead, but the newly-smuggled weapons are more advanced.
During the next war, Hamas’s army will remain in uniform and will use hit-and-run tactics instead of directly engaging Israeli troops.
Hamas has dismissed 40 commanders of its forces, which it is re-building with more discipline. It also is developing improved communications systems to protect senior leaders, many of whom were targeted by Israel.
One tactic that worked to a certain extent was the deployment of its army in schools and hospitals, which also were used as weapons depots, forcing the IDF to delay attacking unless it could be proven beyond a doubt that the facilities no longer were functioning for civilian purposes.
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child stirs debate
U.S. and Somalia lone holdouts, but opponents see a threat to parents
NEW YORK — A global children’s rights treaty, ratified by every UN member except the U.S. and Somalia, has so alarmed its American critics that some are pushing to add a parental rights amendment to the Constitution as a buffer against it.
The result is a feisty new twist to a long-running saga over the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The nearly 20-year-old treaty has ardent supporters and opponents in the U.S., and both sides agree that its chances of ratification — while still uncertain — are better under the Obama administration than at any point in the past.
Opponents of the treaty contend it would enable government officials and a Geneva-based UN committee of experts to interfere with parental authority. Its supporters view the treaty as a valuable guidepost for children’s basic rights — including education, health care and protection from abuse.
“No UN treaty will ever usurp the national sovereignty of this country,” said Meg Gardinier, chair of a national coalition backing the treaty. “Ratification would boost our credibility globally.”
Gardinier says her coalition — with scores of partners including Amnesty International and the Girl Scouts of the USA — has learned to be patient, and hopes an all-out push for ratification will be mounted by the third year of Barack Obama’s presidency.
The treaty’s opponents say they will be ready to fight back, and the proposed parental rights amendment is a key part of their strategy.
Introduced this spring by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the amendment has 80 of his fellow Republicans as co-sponsors in the House. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says he plans to introduce it in the Senate.
Hoekstra acknowledges that they are far short of the needed two-thirds support in both chambers of Congress to forward the amendment to the states, but he says the dynamics could change.
Hoekstra’s brief amendment opens by declaring: “The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right.”
It says federal and state government cannot infringe on that right without clear justification, and then concludes: “No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.”
EUROPEAN NATIONS, TURKEY IGNORE UN SANCTIONS
AGAINST IRAN
Israel National News reports: “Five European nations, as well as Turkey, have ignored the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council in the past year, according to state-run Iranian media.
The head of the Iranian Trade Promotion Agency, Mehdi Ghazanfari, told the IRNA news agency that Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France and the United Kingdom have carried out some $15.4 billion in bilateral trade with Iran over the past year.
Ghazanfari said the European states were ‘keen on continuing bilateral economic cooperation with Iran,’ despite the U.N. sanctions.
Turkey has gone even farther, according to Bahman Hosseinpour, the Islamic Republic’s Ambassador to Ankara.
Hosseinpour told participants at a business seminar focusing on Iran-Turkey ties that trade volume between the two countries has reached a record $12 billion this year alone, according to the Fars news agency.
A delegation of 170 Iranian exporters and other business owners traveled to Ankara this week for talks aimed at expanding commercial ties between the two nations…”
In the next 3 stories, I want you to see that the connection between “peace” in the Middle East and the world’s obsession has more to do with oil and money than human rights. Continue to watch the “war” among the world’s powers for political, financial, and military influence in the middle east. Russia & EU relations will continue to conflict based on their international ENERGY interests in Georgia, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, and all of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean. It will be one of the main reasons that the Antichrist will have such overwhelming power over the world financially. He will control “peace” in the Middle East and will hold radical Islam in his right hand. He will overcome them by Satanic spiritual and military means and control the world’s OIL!! Keep watching the fight punch by punch and play by play and you will not be caught UNAWARE! NAT
“Azerbaijan is a reliable transit state and supplier, and this is mutually beneficial for the Azerbaijan-European relations,” said the President. Solana …
He entered prestigious Azerbaijan State Oil Academy at a busy hour and ‘was just shooting right and left,’ an official said. More than a dozen also were wounded before the shooter killed himself…
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The treaty allows Russia to extend its period of border control
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Russia has signed a five-year deal taking formal control of its de facto borders with two breakaway regions of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Nato said Russia was in “clear contravention” of the ceasefire ending last year’s conflict with Georgia.
The deal comes ahead of planned Nato exercises in Georgia next week, which Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev has described as “overt provocation”.
Russia and Nato only resumed formal contacts on Wednesday.
The two rivals have been gradually rebuilding ties after breaking off contacts over the war.
But relations remain difficult. Nato expelled two Russian diplomats on Thursday over a spy scandal, infuriating Russia…
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The militants have vowed to launch a new offensive against US and its allies, which are preparing to increase troop levels. By Anand Gopal • A daily summary of global reports on security issues…
Five car bombs and a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 48 people, the latest in a series of attacks that appear designed to discredit Iraq’s security forces as the …
Ethnic clashes in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi have left at least 34 people dead and added to security concerns, as the country battles Taliban militants in the northwest…
President Reflects on First 3 Months in Office
One hundred days into his term, President Obama used a pair of public events Wednesday to chart how far he has steered the country from the course set by the Bush administration, saying, “We are off to a good start, but it is just a start.”
Major developing countries like China are doing far more to address climate change than most Americans realize, the top climate change official at the United Nations said yesterday after a meeting in Washington of ministers from the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters.
The two-day meeting, requested by President Obama, brought together officials from 16 of the world’s major economic powers—the United States, the European Union, China, and India, among others—for a special, intimate round of negotiations as they work toward signing a new climate change treaty with the rest of the world by the end of the year.
