News items that look towards Ezekiel 38 & 39

[Def]

This is for my Brother Keifer.
Peace be with you.
    If we believe not, yet He abieth faithful:
    He cannot deny Himself.( 2 Timothy 2:13 KJV)
Good night Keifer.
   I will miss you.
 Divine Intervention .
Love in Jesus (+¸+) Def
Hidden with Christ in God.( Col 3:3 NKJ)

[nChrist]

This is for my Brother Keifer.
Peace be with you.
    If we believe not, yet He abieth faithful:
    He cannot deny Himself.( 2 Timothy 2:13 KJV)
Good night Keifer.
   I will miss you.
 Divine Intervention .
Love in Jesus (+¸+) Def
Hidden with Christ in God.( Col 3:3 NKJ)

Hello Sister Def,

I don't think that Brother Keifer is going anywhere. As far as I know, he's about to start a third thread of Scripture. If you'll notice, there are two threads now of about the same size. They got very large and he asked that they be locked to start a new one. We "stickied" the threads to keep them near the top of the page.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Romans 4:1-6 NASB
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

[Shammu]

Putin warns NATO against border build-up

11 hours ago

MOSCOW (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin warned NATO against "muscle-flexing" on Russia's border Tuesday and ordered top generals to raise the combat readiness of the country's nuclear missiles.

Meanwhile, the armed forces chief of staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, also confirmed that Russia would suspend adherence to a key Cold War arms treaty on December 12, news agencies reported.

"In violation of previous agreements, certain member countries of the NATO alliance are increasing their resources next to our borders," Putin told a meeting of defence chiefs in Moscow in comments broadcast on state television.

"Russia cannot remain indifferent to the clear muscle-flexing," he said.

The Kremlin leader, who earlier this year threatened to target nuclear missiles at Europe, said he wanted the atomic arsenal put on a higher level of readiness.

"One of the most important tasks remains raising the combat readiness of the strategic nuclear forces. They should be ready to deliver a quick and adequate reply to any aggressor," Interfax quoted him as saying.

Baluyevsky told the meeting of top brass that Russia would "certainly" suspend its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty on December 12.

"We will certainly fulfil this ruling exactly on time," Baluyevsky was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying, following a vote in parliament to suspend application of the CFE.

However, Putin left the door open to Russia resuming participation, saying Moscow will "re-examine the possibility of renewing its obligations after our partners join the adapted treaty and, more importantly, implement it."

The 1990 CFE treaty places strict limitations on the deployment of tanks and other military hardware across Europe.

Russia says it cannot stick to the CFE rules until members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) ratify an updated version of the accord.

NATO has said it will do so only when Russia pulls its forces out of two ex-Soviet republics -- Georgia and Moldova.

The treaty's demise highlights deteriorating relations between Moscow and countries of the Atlantic alliance as Putin's administration pushes to reassert Russia on the international stage.

Putin ordered the CFE moratorium on July 13 amid a row over US plans to install an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. Last Friday, the senate voted unanimous approval of the decree.

NATO criticised the decision as "regrettable."

Earlier this month, Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Kolmakov said that plans were being considered for boosting troop deployments on Russia's western flank, something impossible under the CFE.

Russia has also this year renewed long-distance strategic bomber patrols and to withdraw from other bedrock disarmament treaties dating from the Cold War.

Adding to the tension is the growing unease in the West with wide-ranging limitations imposed by Putin on democratic reforms and what critics call Russia's aggressive use of massive energy resources.

Moscow accuses Washington of interfering in Russia's backyard and attempting to rule the world as the sole superpower.

Putin warns NATO against border build-up

[Shammu]

These have been posted in here already. I figure it's time to answer some of them.

The Kremlin leader, who earlier this year threatened to target nuclear missiles at Europe, said he wanted the atomic arsenal put on a higher level of readiness.

"One of the most important tasks remains raising the combat readiness of the strategic nuclear forces. They should be ready to deliver a quick and adequate reply to any aggressor," Interfax quoted him as saying.

And they've been testing nerves by, taunting other nations with their planes, butting in over Iran.

Earlier this month, Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Kolmakov said that plans were being considered for boosting troop deployments on Russia's western flank, something impossible under the CFE.

Then they turn around and accuse the US.

Moscow accuses Washington of interfering in Russia's backyard and attempting to rule the world as the sole superpower

Moscow needs to look in the mirror first.

[HisDaughter]

It's seems every country right now has their feathers ruffled over something.    Bring it on already! 

[Shammu]

Russian Pilot Strays into IAF Airspace

(IsraelNN.com) A Russian pilot strayed into Israel Air Force airspace by accident Tuesday after taking off from Ben Gurion International Airport.

It is unclear why the Russian cargo plane flew into the airspace around the Tel Nof Air Force Base. The incident is under investigation by the Transportation Ministry.

Russian Pilot Strays into IAF Airspace
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I expect that they will start becoming more bold, because they are already showing their KGB colors again by their very speech and continued weapons deals with the rogue nations and by defending them. So am I surprised..... nope I'm not.

Just imagine if Israel had blown the plane out of the sky.

[Shammu]

Russia to provide Egypt with nuclear expertise
By Reuters

Russia has agreed to provide nuclear know-how and technical expertise to Egypt to help Cairo with plans to build civilian nuclear power stations to meet growing energy needs, Egyptian state media said on Tuesday.

State news agency MENA said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak had told Egypt that Moscow welcomed the planned resumption of Egypt's nuclear program.

"Moscow is ready to give nuclear knowledge and its technical expertise to the Egyptian side in light of Russia's large experience in building nuclear power stations," MENA said, quoting a foreign ministry spokesman.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said last month Egypt would build several nuclear power stations, a year after his politician son Gamal floated the idea of a civilian nuclear program, but did not indicate when the project would get under way.

Cairo suspended a peaceful nuclear program after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies said the first 1,000-megawatt reactor could be built at Dabaa on the Mediterranean in eight to 10 years if foreign investment was secured.

Washington has said it supports Egypt's plans to develop peaceful nuclear energy. In addition to Russia, China and Kazakhstan have offered cooperation.

Officials put Egypt's oil and gas reserves at 15.5 billion barrels of oil
equivalent, enough for 34 years at current production rates.

The elder Mubarak has said rising oil prices would nudge the government's energy subsidies to around 50 billion Egyptian pounds ($9 billion) in the current fiscal year starting in July from 43.8 billion pounds in the previous year.

Egypt ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1981 and has two research reactors. The UN International Atomic Energy Agency probed Egyptian "failures" in reporting nuclear research in 2004, but concluded that the experiments were not weapons-related.

Gamal Mubarak's initial proposal had been greeted with skepticism by opposition groups, which dismissed his announcement as a media stunt designed to bolster his credentials. The 79-year-old president, in power since 1981, is widely believed to be preparing Gamal, a senior ruling party official, to succeed him. Both father and son deny this.

Russia to provide Egypt with nuclear expertise

[Shammu]

Fatah Charter Calls to 'Eradicate' Israel
 
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is deliberating a proposed statement calling on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to change the Fatah charter, which calls to "eradicate" Israel. US Congressmen have submitted a similar resolution in the House of Representatives.

The proposed statement details those clauses of the Fatah charter, drafted in 1964 and never repealed, that call for the "demolition" of the State of Israel, as well as "the eradication of the Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence.”

Towards that goal, the charter endorses "armed struggle" as "a strategy and not a tactic, to uproot the Zionist existence." The Fatah organization, headed by Abbas, also calls on the world community "to prevent Jewish immigration" to Israel. Fatah, according to its charter, "opposes any political solution."

The statement on the Fatah charter, drafted and presented to the President's Conference by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), calls on Abbas to rescind the anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and pro-terrorism clauses of the Fatah charter. "Rescinding these clauses," the statement reads, "would be an important confidence-building measure which would help to create a better environment to achieve progress in the peace talks."

Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice Chairman of the Presidents Conference, said there has been very limited opposition to the ZOA proposal. Approval by at least two-thirds of the Conference's 50 member organizations is needed in order to issue the statement.

Palestinian Authority officials identified with Abbas claim that Fatah decisions from 1989 allegedly recognizing Israel superseded the Fatah charter's call for Israel's violent demise. However, current Fatah websites carry the charter in its full, original and unaltered form, including the offending clauses. In addition, Abbas's chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, recently rejected recognition of any Jewish State whatsoever when pressed on the issue by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Call for Fatah Charter Revisions in US Congress
US House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and US Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) introduced a resolution (H. Res.758) earlier this month that urges Abbas to officially abrogate 10 articles in the Fatah charter that call for Israel's destruction and for the continuation of terrorism.

Introducing the resolution, Blunt said, "There can be no reasonable expectation of a broad-based, long-term reconciliation between the Israelis and Palestinians while one side's constituting document calls for the complete destruction of the other. I believe it's absolutely critical that the insidious nature of [this] be brought to light - and that those with a genuine interest in working toward peace insist its most unconstructive provisions be abrogated from the text.... As long as Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah Party continue to promote the wholesale destruction of Israel, there can be no possibility for peace – whether in our time, or any other."

In a joint letter to their colleagues, Berkley and Blunt wrote, "Since the electoral victory of Hamas, and its subsequent takeover of Gaza, the Fatah Party headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has gone out of its way to convince the international community that it represents the best hope for reconciliation and should be given additional resources to carry out its goals.... But what most people don't know is that the Fatah Party's constitution, or party platform, still contains no fewer than 10 clauses calling for the destruction of Israel and terrorism against Israel, as well as expressing opposition to any political solution...."

The Ten Clauses
The ten clauses of the Fatah charter singled out in the proposed House resolution and in the President's Conference proposed statement include:

Article 22: "Opposing any political solution offered as an alternative to demolishing the Zionist occupation in Palestine, as well as any project intended to liquidate the Palestinian cause or impose any international mandate on its people."

Article 12: "Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military, and cultural existence.

Article 19: "Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated."

Article 17: "Armed public revolution is the inevitable method to liberating Palestine."

Article 23: "Maintaining relations with Arab countries … with the provision that the armed struggle is not negatively affected."

Article 8: "The Israeli existence in Palestine is a Zionist invasion with a colonial expansive base, and it is a natural ally to colonialism and international imperialism."

Article 7: "The Zionist Movement is racial, colonial, and aggressive in ideology, goals, organization, and method."

Article 24: "Maintaining relations with all liberal forces supporting our just struggle in order to resist together Zionism and imperialism."

Article 4: "The Palestinian struggle is part and parcel of the world-wide struggle against Zionism, colonialism, and international imperialism."

Article 25: "Convincing concerned countries in the world to prevent Jewish immigration to Palestine as a method of solving the problem."

Fatah Charter Calls to 'Eradicate' Israel

[Shammu]

Putin promises 'total renewal' of Russian leadership
11.21.07, 8:25 AM ET

 MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russian President Vladimir Putin promised on Wednesday a 'total renewal' of the country's leadership over the course of forthcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

'In the months to come we will have a total renewal of the top leadership of the state,' he told a rally of several thousand supporters in Moscow, less than two weeks before parliamentary polls.

Recent weeks have seen growing calls by supporters for Putin to stay on in a leadership role, despite a constitutional bar on him holding the presidency more than twice in a row.

Putin is due to step down after a presidential poll in March, but is standing as the lead candidate of the United Russia party in parliamentary elections on Dec 2.

In his speech at a Western-style election rally at a Moscow sports stadium, Putin urged his supporters to work for victory in the parliamentary elections in order to ensure a smooth transition.

He also took a swipe at opponents who he likened to 'jackals', accusing them of seeking foreign funding to help undermine the country, and said Russia's tycoons were planning to regain power.

'Unfortunately in our country there are people who are like jackals outside the foreign embassies... They count on the support of foreign funds,' he said to cheers from the crowd.

Putin said that such people wanted 'a Russia that is weak and sick, a society that is disoriented and divided'.

'They want to go out into the streets, they've learnt from Western specialists. They've trained in neighbouring republics. Now they want to cause provocations,' he added.

Popular uprisings in neighbouring Ukraine and Georgia have brought down governments that have been replaced with more Western-friendly administrations.

The Kremlin leader hit out at powerful tycoons and their allies who held sway under former president Boris Yeltsin, warning: 'They want revenge, a return to power, a return to the spheres of influence and the restoration of an oligarchical regime based on corruption and lies.'

The event was organised by United Russia and the For Putin movement, formed one week ago to push for the president to remain as national leader.

Some analysts have speculated that he could step down for a brief period before coming back as president for another term or could take on some other role as a national father figure.

'It's painful to imagine life without Putin. We fear that without him it will be chaos,' said Kristina Rastvorova, a member of the youth group Nashi (Ours) who was among activists waving placards with names of their home towns.

Polls show Putin's United Russia party will pick up some 67 pct of votes in the parliamentary poll, making it by far the dominant force in the State Duma lower house.

Ten opposition parties are trying to mount a challenge to United Russia in the election campaign and have complained of unfair election rules that favour Putin's party.

Opposition leader Grigory Yavlinsky, whose liberal reform party Yabloko is not expected to win seats in the vote, lamented that Russia was heading toward Soviet-style single-party rule.

'The elections are the prologue of a transition from an authoritarian and totalitarian state to a semi-dictatorial state that aspires to become a system in which Putin becomes president for life,' he told a news conference.

Putin promises 'total renewal' of Russian leadership

[Shammu]

Putin urges support for Kremlin-backed party, slams opponents
16:44    |    21/ 11/ 2007
   

MOSCOW, November 21 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that victory for the ruling United Russia party in December 2 parliamentary elections was crucial for the country's further development.

Speaking to thousands of supporters gathered in the stadium used for the 1980 Moscow Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, Vladimir Putin, who tops the party's election list, said: "In order for the future parliament and president to work efficiently, cooperating with each other for the benefit of people, we need victory."

Putin said it was vital to ensure the continuity of current policy through the parliamentary and presidential polls in December and March respectively.

"The current stability, economic growth, peace, and rising, albeit moderately, living standards are the result of the continuous political struggle at home and on the world scene," Putin said, warning that the West would prefer to see "a weak, ill Russia with a disorganized and split society."

He also said some political forces inside the country were seeking support from foreign governments and funds, rather than their own people. Criticizing Western-leaning opposition groups, he said they were attempting to restore an "oligarchic regime based on corruption and lies," referring to the turbulent 1990s which brought fortunes to a handful of Kremlin-connected tycoons while impoverishing millions of ordinary Russians.

"They are planning to take to the streets. They have been trained by Western experts, have gained some experience in neighboring [ex-Soviet] republics, and will now try their hand here," the president said, without specifying names or organizations.

While Putin heads the United Party candidate list, he is not a party member and may choose not to take a seat in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. He has so far declined supporters' appeals to amend the Constitution and run for a third consecutive term, at the same time refusing to be drawn on his future plans.

Putin's move to head United Russia's candidate list has been seen as designed to secure a large parliamentary majority for the party and help the Kremlin further tighten its grip on the political system.

The latest opinion surveys put United Russia in the lead with a little under 60% of popular support, slightly down on previous weeks. The Communists and the nationalist Liberal Democrats are the only two other forces likely to overcome the 7% threshold for the State Duma.

Other parties, including the liberal Yabloko and Union of Right Forces - champions of western-style democracy and free market reforms in the 1990s - are likely to receive 1% of the vote in December's polls.

A number of opposition parties in the coalition The Other Russia movement, including chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov's United Civic Front, have been denied registration for the upcoming elections.

Putin urges support for Kremlin-backed party, slams opponents

[Shammu]

Russian opposition election candidate shot

Reuters
Wednesday, November 21, 2007; 3:56 PM

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An opposition politician running in Russian parliamentary elections was shot and seriously wounded on Wednesday as he entered his house in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, Russian media reported.

Farid Babayev, who will lead the regional list for the liberal anti-Kremlin Yabloko party was in a serious condition in hospital, RIA novosti news agency reported after an unidentified gunman fired on him in the regional capital Makhachkala.

"The incident occurred at about 10 p.m., not far from his home. Farid Babayev is now in hospital in a serious condition," said his party colleague and fellow electoral candidate, Ruslan Salahbekov, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

Dagestan is in the North Caucasus, next to Chechnya, and has been hit by an upsurge in separatist attacks in recent months and crime.

Babayev was not expected to win a seat in the December 2 parliamentary elections, since Yabloko is only receiving 1-2 percent in opinion polls, well below the 7 percent national threshold required to enter the lower house of parliament.

[Shammu]

Iran warns of domino effect of nuclear attack

By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:18pm GMT 22/11/2007

Iran warned today that an attack on its nuclear facilities would trigger a "domino" effect across the Middle East as deeply divided world powers met to review Teheran's co-operation with United Nations resolutions.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has endorsed Iranian promises that access to suspected nuclear facilities will increase in the months ahead.

At a meeting of the body's 35-country board of governors in Vienna today, battle lines were drawn both over Mr ElBaradei's faith in an Iranian blueprint and the text of the IAEA's latest report which said Iran had cleared up several key questions about its past research.

America and Britain are pushing for the UN to quickly impose a third round of sanctions on Iran to reinforce the drive to close the Islamic Republic's secret programme of atomic research, which appears to be slowly yielding the capability to make a nuclear weapon.

China and Russia, which have not yet swung behind new sanctions, appear poised to back Mr ElBaradei's calls for negotiators to be given more time.

"ElBaradei wants to get across that Iran has shown real willingness to co-operate and we are making important progress, so let's stick with it," said a Vienna-based diplomat.

His argument is unlikely to impress those nations alarmed by a line in his nine-page report - released last week - conceding the IAEA's knowledge of Teheran's current atomic activities was "diminishing".

The UN Security Council has adopted two rounds of sanctions resolutions against Teheran since last December.

Teheran has responded with a mixture of bluster and apparent readiness to negotiate.

Negotiations with the European Union's chief foreign policy official, Javier Solana, over a compensation package in return for Iran suspending all its efforts to enrich uranium are scheduled to take place in London next week.

Iran's newly installed chief negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said today that a slide to war would lead to a backlash against the West across the region, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, where American leads an international military coalition.

"Playing with security of Iran is like dominos," he said. "We believe the world powers are aware about Iran's effective role in the global security. Our role in Afghanistan and Iraq is in direction with peace, stability and improving governments there."

Iran warns of domino effect of nuclear attack

[Shammu]

The reason I'm posting this here is because of Hugo's support of Iran.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venezuelans struggle to find food

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 20, 4:09 PM ET

CARACAS, Venezuela - The lines formed at dawn and remained long throughout the day — hundreds upon hundreds of Venezuelans waiting to buy scarce milk, chicken and sugar at state-run outdoor markets staffed by soldiers in fatigues.

President Hugo Chavez's government is trying to cope with shortages of some foods, and the lines at state-run "Megamercal" street markets show many Venezuelans are willing to wait for hours to snap up a handful of products they seldom find in supermarkets.

"You have to get in line and you have to be lucky," said Maria Fernandez, a 64-year-old housewife who was trying to buy milk and chicken on Sunday.

The lines for basic foods at subsidized prices are paradoxical for an oil-rich nation that in many ways is a land of plenty. Shopping malls are bustling, new car sales are booming and privately owned supermarkets are stocked with American potato chips, French wines and Swiss Gruyere cheese.

Yet other foods covered by price controls — eggs, chicken — periodically are hard to find in supermarkets. Fresh milk has become a luxury, and even baby formula is scarcer nowadays.

The shortages are prompting some Venezuelans to question Chavez's economic policies while he campaigns for constitutional changes that, if approved in a Dec. 2 referendum, would let him run for re-election indefinitely.

Some government officials accuse producers of keeping basic goods off the market to profiteer or to sow discontent among Venezuela's poor, Chavez's core supporters.

Economists say the factors behind the shortages are numerous, including surging demand due to economic growth.

The government's price controls are also "totally divorced" from reality — in some cases below production costs — making it unprofitable for suppliers to sell their products at official prices, said economist Pedro Palma of the Caracas consulting firm MetroEconomica.

More investment is needed in agriculture, but the government's agrarian reform effort — assuming control of vast farmlands and offering them to poor farmers — has made traditional producers reluctant to invest, he said.

Importers also face hurdles. Currency exchange controls imposed in 2003 require state approval to obtain dollars at the official rate. Those without it turn to the black market, buying dollars for about three times the fixed rate.

To compound the problem, Palma said, some of the products Venezuela looks to import, such as milk and sugar, are scarce internationally.

Many Venezuelans in line at the Megamercal said they were grateful to Chavez for subsidized markets offering prices far cheaper than commercial supermarkets. But they also complained of struggling to find milk, chicken, sugar and cooking oil elsewhere at prices set by the government.

"I arrived at 6 in the morning to get in line," said Doris Bastida, 32, a mother of four who wheeled an infant son in a stroller. She had been waiting for about four hours when she reached the entrance.

"What am I going to do? I don't have anywhere else to go," she said. Powdered milk is sold by black market street vendors at $4.50 or more for a 16-ounce container — about twice the regulated price and four times the price offered by the state markets.

Bastida said she still believes in Chavez and plans to vote in favor of his reforms "so that things will get better." Plus, she said, if "everyone votes 'No,' they're going to take the Megamercal away from us."

Others, speaking in hushed tones, said they see Chavez's government as a failure and do not want him to run again in 2012.

"We have to vote 'No,'" said 50-year-old Fatima Rodriguez. "Do you think it's good to be here waiting in line?"

Chavez says he is aiming to boost agriculture with projects including state-supported sugar harvesting and a milk processing plant started with help from Iran. For now, Venezuela imports most of its food, and imports overall have more than doubled in the past three years.

Chavez's food minister, Gen. Rafael Oropeza, said the open-air markets were fully stocked across the country over the weekend, with a record 6,557 tons of food delivered for sale nationwide on Sunday. He said leg of pork was imported because local suppliers declined to participate.

"I'm putting out a call to businesses for them to raise production and respond to the demand," Oropeza said, according to the newspaper El Nacional. He suggested there were political motives behind the shortages.

"That's the objective, that the people reach the point of desperation," Oropeza said.

The Venezuelan Food Industry Chamber denied its members are to blame, saying they are working to satisfy rapidly growing consumer demand.

At one state market in Caracas, the line snaked around a block Sunday, while soldiers manned barricades at the entrance. A banner read, "Continue on with Chavez." Red campaign signs plastered on walls urged: "Yes, with Chavez."

Factory worker Eugenio Ruiz praised Chavez for the subsidized food and said he plans to vote "Yes."

"Look at all he's done for us," Ruiz said, explaining he thinks the situation would be worse without Chavez. "We have to stay with him, not abandon him."

Venezuelans struggle to find food

[Shammu]

U.S. gives Russia new missile proposals
Thu Nov 22, 2007 1:14pm EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States has formally made new proposals to Russia aimed at easing tension over its missile defense plans in Europe, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Russia has denounced U.S. plans to deploy a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland as a threat to its security. It offered building up a joint missile defense system instead but this idea has aroused little interest in Washington.

Washington promised to set out its latest proposals to Moscow in writing following talks between foreign and defense ministers last month.

"... the American side has finally, and late at night, passed to Russia written proposals regarding anti-missile defense systems. We are studying them," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsov said.

He gave no details of the substance of the proposals.

Following discussions on October 11-12, U.S. officials said the suggestions included stationing Russian and American liaison officers at each other's missile defense facilities as part of a broader joint effort to protect against missile attacks.

In a bid to ease Russian concerns, Washington also said last month it had offered to delay activation of parts of its missile shield in Europe if Russia cooperated on the project.

Washington says it needs the European installations to avert potential missile attacks from Iran. Russia, which doubts Iran will have intercontinental missiles in the foreseeable future, has offered to share Qabala radar station it leases in Azerbaijan.

While Washington has made clear it was ready to cooperate with Russia, it said the Russian offer was an addition rather than a replacement for its missile shield plan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also proposed setting up a joint missile defense system, which would include European countries.

Earlier this week Putin said Moscow would not remain indifferent to NATO's "muscle-flexing" and said Russia's nuclear forces would be ready for an adequate response to any aggressor.

U.S. gives Russia new missile proposals

[Shammu]

Rival factions return to arms as Lebanon stares into the abyss
November 23, 2007

Nicholas Blanford in Beirut

The centre of Beirut will be a sealed-off military zone today as MPs gather to elect a new president in a last-ditch attempt to prevent Lebanon from plunging into chaos and violence.

Émile Lahoud, the pro-Syrian head of state, leaves office at midnight today, but despite intense international mediation, no agreement appears to have been reached on a new president acceptable to the bitterly divided political camps.

The US-backed March 14 block, which holds a slim majority, has said that it will attend today’s session of parliament and threatened to elect a president from their own ranks if a consensus candidate is not found.

But the pro-Syrian Opposition, led by the powerful Shia Hezbollah party, says that it will boycott the election and has hinted it will respond by forming a rival government, a move that many Lebanese fear will lead to violence between heavily armed rival factions and tear the country apart.

That grim outlook appeared to draw closer last night with political sources saying that the continued lack of agreement could lead to the election being postponed, plunging Lebanon into constitutional limbo.

“Last day before zero hour: either a miracle or vacuum,” the An-Nahar daily headline said yesterday.

The foreign ministers of France, Spain and Italy are in Beirut shuttling between political leaders to push for agreement over the choice of president. In a further sign of international concern, President Sarkozy of France spoke by phone on Wednesday to Saad Hariri, head of the antiSyrian block, and Michel Aoun, the opposition candidate for president.

All three European countries contribute to a 13,300-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon and are aware that their soldiers would be at even greater risk if Lebanon fell apart.

Also at risk are MPs belonging to the March 14 block, more than 40 of whom have spent the past two months holed up in an annex of the five-star Phoenicia hotel in central Beirut. Four of their colleagues have been murdered since the June 2005 general election. Visitors pass through metal detectors and are escorted by bodyguards to meeting rooms.

The curtains are kept closed to avoid sniper fire. On the rare occasions MPs travel, they go in small unmarked cars and remove the chips from their mobile phones so that they cannot be tracked.

“The guys are all depressed staying here. It’s like a prison,” said Mosbah Ahdab, an MP from Tripoli, who moved into the hotel on Monday.

In an attempt to break the impasse last week, France persuaded Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, the patriarch of the Maronite church, to submit a list of candidates from which the rival factions could select a president. Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system decrees that the president must be a Maronite. But neither camp is showing any sign of flexibility.

With Lebanon’s political woes inextricably linked to broader tensions in the Middle East, few expect an imminent solution, further complicating international efforts to secure a peace agreement at a summit in Annapolis next week.

The Lebanese Government is supported by the United States, France and Saudi Arabia, which seek to disarm Hezbollah and keep Lebanon within a pro-Western orbit – free from Syrian influence and an obstacle to Iran’s regional ambitions.

The Lebanese Opposition prefers to keep Lebanon aligned with Iran and Syria, distrusting Washington’s interest in Lebanon, which it believes seeks only to weaken Hezbollah and protect Israel.

“Everyone in Lebanon is waiting for the balance of power in the region to clarify itself,” Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Middle East Centre in Beirut, said.

The worsening crisis has resulted in a surge in black market arms sales as worried Lebanese protect themselves from an uncertain future. The weapon of choice is the AK47 assault rifle. A year ago the most popular version of this classic weapon, the 1977-vintage “circle 11” (named after the markings stamped into the rifle’s metal work), cost £250. Today it is worth about £450. “People are buying guns more than ever. They are expecting a war,” said Abu Jamil, an arms dealer.

The rise in arms sales has led to an increase in shooting practice in the Lebanese mountains, where the distant crackle of rifle fire is becoming common at weekends. The unrelenting political crisis and speculation that militias are being formed has left many Lebanese aghast at the thought that the country could be sliding into civil war once more.

“How can we even be thinking of war again? Have we learnt nothing?” Hadi Sfeir, 42, a shopkeeper, asked.

A civil rights group called Khalass – Arabic for Enough! - began a series of actions this week to highlight the disgust it feels toward the political class. “We are extremely frustrated. I don’t think the politicians care about what ordinary Lebanese care about like the economy and being able to live in peace with each other,” Carmen Jeha, an activist with Khalass, said.

Rival factions return to arms as Lebanon stares into the abyss