News items that look towards Ezekiel 38 & 39

[nChrist]

It's breathtaking to realize how ACCURATE AND TRUE THE HOLY BIBLE IS! It has proven itself countless times in past history, so what more is required for mankind to believe that IT IS THE WORD OF GOD!

We can count the staggering number of Bible Prophecies that have already been fulfilled PERFECTLY AND ON TIME - GOD'S TIME! There are many Bible Prophecies yet to be fulfilled because it isn't GOD'S TIME YET, but those times appear to be growing near. We can read about what is DEFINITELY GOING TO HAPPEN in the future from the HOLY PAGES OF GOD'S WORD! Almost countless things have already been proven to be 100 PERCENT ACCURATE, so why doesn't mankind pay attention to the rest that is SURE TO HAPPEN AT GOD'S APPOINTED TIME?

For many men, I somewhat understand why they reject the Holy Bible. They don't want to acknowledge ALMIGHTY GOD - THE CREATOR! However, they will bow before HIM one day to hear their punishment pronounced. It will be too late, and the consequences are ETERNAL!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable GIFT, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour Forever!

[Shammu]

Ban Ki-moon slams Katyusha attack on Shlomi
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 12, 2008

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned the firing of rockets from southern Lebanon toward the northern village of Shlomi.

"If the rockets were launched from Lebanese territory as is likely, the incident would constitute a serious violation of UNSC Resolution 1701. UNIFIL is continuing its investigation to determine the launch site," Ban said in a statement issued in New York.

Palestinian terror groups affiliated with al-Qaida are the prime suspects in the firing of two Katyusha rockets into the northern neighborhood early Tuesday morning.

Also Friday, Israel spoke out against the conclusions drawn by the UN force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, that said it was unable to prove the attack emanated from Lebanon.

The statement also criticized a roadside bombing which wounded two UNIFIL soldiers on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council condemned the rocket attack, according to Army Radio.

Ban Ki-moon slams Katyusha attack on Shlomi

[Shammu]

Turkey firm on boosting ties with Iran

Thursday, January 10, 2008
 
Archived Picture - Despite the US pressure, Turkey is firm on bolstering relationship with Iran since the neighbors have not fought since 17th century, PressTV reported. "Turkey and Iran have neither fought nor changed border since the 1639 Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin (also known as the Treaty of Zuhab)," Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said to remind that Ankara-Tehran relations is older than US history.

LONDON, January 10 (IranMania) - Despite the US pressure, Turkey is firm on bolstering relationship with Iran since the neighbors have not fought since 17th century, PressTV reported.

"Turkey and Iran have neither fought nor changed border since the 1639 Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin (also known as the Treaty of Zuhab)," Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said to remind that Ankara-Tehran relations is older than US history.

Gul's remarks at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars came as Ankara is under mounting US pressure to refrain from investing billions in Iranian energy projects, Today's Zaman reported.

Turkey, the only NATO country bordering Iran, has not buckled under US pressures to cut doing businesses with Tehran.

Earlier in November, Iran and Turkey signed an energy deal including building power plants and improving electricity transport infrastructure.

The Turkish prime minister also reiterated in September that his country would continue collaboration with Iran in the oil and gas sectors.

"Iran is an important trade partner for Turkey and Turkey cannot ignore this fact," Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

Turkey firm on boosting ties with Iran

[Shammu]

Gül: Turkey has will to improve ties with Iran

President Abdullah Gül has made it clear that Ankara has a firm will to improve its bilateral relations with its long-standing neighbor Iran. Gül's remarks in Washington came as a veiled response to ongoing debates on whether US criticism would have an impact on Turkey's plans for investing billions in Iranian energy projects.

Gül, speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, referred to the fact that Turkey and Iran have neither fought nor altered their mutual border since the 1639 Treaty of Kasri Sirin (also called the Treaty of Zuhab) when he was asked how Turkey could deal with US pressure to not improve its economic relations with Iran. Turkey's relationship with Iran is older than US history Gül said and added that Turkey has the understanding of improving relations with Iran by also taking UN resolutions into consideration.

The president, meanwhile, also said that a long-awaited hydrocarbon law that would determine how oil and gas revenues are distributed in neighboring Iraq should be adopted at once by the Iraqi Parliament. Following adoption of the law, Turkey can help Iraq not only in marketing its oil, but also in drilling oil, Gül said.

Gül: Turkey has will to improve ties with Iran
~~~~~~~~~~

EU snubs Turkey (done)
Turkey elects Islamic government (done)
Turkey turns toward Islamic world (in process)

Done deal. May be a few about faces along the way but I don't think they will be long lasting. Somebody will find a way to push'um back toward their destination.

Makes the hair stand up on your neck doesn't it?

[Shammu]

US, Israel on 'same page' on Iran
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST    Jan. 13, 2008

Israel and the US are "on the same page" regarding the gravity of the Iranian nuclear threat and their commitment to thwart it, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said Saturday night.

Regev's comments come amid Israeli concern that last month's US National Intelligence Estimate, which stated that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003, had placed Jerusalem and Washington at odds over the threat.

US officials have said repeatedly that one of the main purposes of President George W. Bush's current visit to the region was to assure the US's Sunni allies of Washington's commitment to their security in light of the NIE estimate, which seemed to take a military option against Iran off the table.

Bush left Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday afternoon, after a 48-hour visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and went to Kuwait and then Bahrain. He will also visit the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before returning to Washington on Wednesday.

Olmert is expected to brief the cabinet Sunday on the Bush visit.

While the Israeli-Palestinian track dominated the public aspect of Bush's visit here, the Iranian issue played a dominant role in the private conversations between Olmert and the US president.

"We have no doubt that the US and Israel are on the same page," Regev said. "Both countries see the gravity of the threat that a nuclear armed Iran poses - and both are committed to preventing Iranian proliferation."

Regev, without confirming that Israel presented Bush with any new intelligence information, said the discussions "enhanced" the two countries understanding of the situation.

In Kuwait, meanwhile, Bush blasted Teheran for its destabilizing role in Iraq.

"Iran's role in fomenting violence has been exposed," he said. "Iranian agents are in our custody, and we are learning more about how Iran has supported extremist groups with training and lethal aid."

Regev said Iran was one of three main issues that Bush and Olmert discussed, the others being the US-Israeli bilateral relationship, and the Israeli-Palestinian track.

Regarding the US-Israel relationship, Regev said it was clear from the discussions that Bush "is committed to Israel's qualitative [military] edge."

Regev said he did not know whether the US's proposed $20 billion weapons deal to Saudi Arabia came up in the talks.

Bush is expected to notify the Saudis when he visits Riyadh on Tuesday that he is pushing through with the deal, which includes Joint Direct Attack Munitions, commonly referred to as "smart bombs."

In recent months the US and Israel have held discussions about Israel purchasing a more advanced smart bomb model than the one being provided the Saudis.

On the Israeli-Palestinian track, Regev said that Bush's statement Thursday in which he laid out the basic parameters of an Israeli-Palestinian settlement were acceptable to Israel and "in accordance with the understandings between us and the US."

Regev said Israel believed the statement formed a "positive conceptual framework for our ongoing discussions with the Palestinians."

Bush called for a "viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent" Palestinian state alongside an Israel with "secure, recognized and defensible borders."

He specified the need for modifications of the 1967 lines and indicated a rejection of the Palestinian demand for a "right of return" to Israel for Palestinian refugees.

Bilateral negotiations on the core issues - refugees, settlements and borders - are expected to begin early this week between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and PA negotiator Ahmed Qurei. The decision to start these negotiations was made a day before Bush arrived in Israel on Wednesday.

The fact that the two sides decided that Livni and Qurei would begin core issue negotiations just prior to Bush's arrival was not lost on the administration, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telling reporters on the way to Kuwait Friday that not only would Bush be coming back to Israel in May to participate in the 60th Independence Day celebrations, but also because this would "be another opportunity to do what he did here, which was to really give momentum to the process that Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas are engaged in."

"It's always good to have the parties know that the president is coming; that really gives them an incentive to move forward," she said. "I think you saw that this time, because when it was clear that he was coming, they met, they got their committees started, they had a very good discussion, they agreed to the biweekly meetings [between Abbas and Olmert] that they're going to have."

Rice characterized Bush's statement Thursday as "essentially a summary. Many of these positions have been taken by the United States before, but I think it's the first time the president has put it together in this codified, coherent way."

She said that as the bilateral process moved forward, the US wanted to see the Arab states do more and more to be supportive of the process, which is something that Bush will be discussing with the Arab states he is now visiting.

But she cautioned against expecting any dramatic progress in this area.

"Some of this will happen over time," she said. "You know, there isn't going to be a blinding flash in any of this - not on this trip, not on the next trip. But this is a process that's moving forward."

US, Israel on 'same page' on Iran

[Shammu]

Being on the same page means that the Israelis and Bush probably agree that Iran has not stopped its weapons program, or started it again shortly after the 2003 date, something the NIE report didn't mention.

The Israelis need to be very vigilant and not rely on anyone other than themselves, in case they have to act against Iran alone. The only one they should rely on right now is GOD!! Unfortunately I don't think they are ready to do that, as that happens later in Tribulation.

[nChrist]

Being on the same page means that the Israelis and Bush probably agree that Iran has not stopped its weapons program, or started it again shortly after the 2003 date, something the NIE report didn't mention.

The Israelis need to be very vigilant and not rely on anyone other than themselves, in case they have to act against Iran alone. The only one they should rely on right now is GOD!! Unfortunately I don't think they are ready to do that, as that happens later in Tribulation.

Brother, you are 100% correct. Israel will NOT cry out to GOD and turn toward HIM until they feel they are about to be annihilated from the face of the earth. That time will come, and the fear will be an actual reality. CHRIST HIMSELF will, in FACT, be the Literal MESSIAH of Israel! HE will rescue them from the jaws of extinction and Restore Israel, exactly as HE has promised. CHRIST will NOT be denied HIS Crown and Throne!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Ezekiel 7:25-27 NASB
'When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. 'Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders. 'The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the LORD.'"

Isaiah 65:17-25 NASB
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. "But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. "I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. "No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. "They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. "They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. "They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. "The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain," says the LORD.

[Shammu]

90 dead in Pakistan gunbattles

From CNN's Thomas Evans

(CNN) -- Pakistani military forces clashed Friday with Islamic militants in mountainous northwest Pakistan, in battles that left at least 90 militants dead and four military personnel wounded, a military spokesman told CNN.

 The militants gathered around the Ladha Fort in South Waziristan -- a tribal territory in Pakistan -- early Friday morning, and fired rockets into the fort, according to military spokesman Lt. Col. Baseer Haider Malik.

Malik said the military used artillery and small arms fire to disperse them, killing 20 to 30 militants.

In a separate incident elsewhere in South Waziristan, militants attacked a convoy of security forces with rockets and small arms fire, Malik said. The Pakistani forces retaliated with rockets and small arms fire, killing 50 to 60 militants, Malik said.

Four security personnel were wounded in the hour-long fight, Malik said, and two army vehicles were damaged.

South Waziristan is said to be a stronghold of Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud -- the man the Pakistani government has named a prime suspect in the December 27 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

 Pakistan has attempted to crack down on the largely lawless tribal areas along the Afghan border under U.S. pressure. A U.S.-led invasion overthrew the Taliban after al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, but American and allied troops are now battling a resurgence of the fundamentalist Islamic militia in Afghanistan's south.

Earlier this week, militants abandoned another fort in South Waziristan they overran during a pitched battle Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, said. The militants left later that day without another firefight with Pakistani forces, Abbas told CNN.

The battle for the control of the border fort killed at least seven of 40 Pakistani troops stationed there. Fifteen others fled and 18 border guards were initially reported missing.

Abbas said five of the missing guards were apparently located in a nearby village, but his men had not yet confirmed the report.

The militants breached the walls of the colonial-era outpost along the Afghan border with explosives and seized the fort after a firefight that lasted about 12 hours, Malik said.

An estimated 250 to 300 or more fighters armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades took part in the Wednesday assault against a garrison of 40 members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps, Malik said.

90 dead in Pakistan gunbattles
~~~~~~~~

As the wheels of time turn, the mid-east is coming to Prophecy as the Bible says. Also lets not forget the Mad Hatter of Iran and his latest threats of a mid-east volcano......

[Shammu]

Russia Delivers Third Consignment Of Nuclear Fuel For Iran

Foreign affairs minister meets with Russia's Lavrov in Moscow, slams shipments of fuel to Bushehr nuclear plant despite Tehran's refusal to stop enriching uranium. Livni also defends Israel's response to Qassam rocket attacks: 'Unlike terrorists, the IDF does not aim its weapons towards women, the elderly and children'

Roni Sofer
Published: 01.17.08, 19:42
Israel News

Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni met with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Thursday in Moscow, the two discussed the tightening of sanctions on Iran and the incessant Qassam rocket fire towards Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The three-hour meeting was held ahead of an upcoming round of talks between the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany, scheduled for late January.

Speaking at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Academy, Livni said, ''I would like to see the translation of the understanding that the world cannot afford an Iran with nuclear weapons into more-effective sanctions at the United Nations Security Council.''

But though Lavrov assured that Moscow was partaking in the effort to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, Livni told her colleague that it is inconceivable for Russia to be shipping nuclear fuel to Iran while Tehran continued to enrich uranium.

Livni told the audience that with the shipment of Russian nuclear fuel ''the resumption of enrichment could serve only military purposes.''

''Iran's ideology borders on madness,'' she said. ''It could have a domino effect on other states in the region that would strive to get nuclear technologies.''

She later told reporters that Israel and the international community stood for resolving the issue through sanctions and cooperation: ''We have discussed this issue at our talks today.''

Lavrov said that Moscow continues to believe the International Atomic Energy Agency should play the primary role in resolving the standoff and that punitive UN sanctions were a bad idea. He said Russia was committed to a ''political-diplomatic settlement'' of the dispute.

Lavrov condemned the continuing rocket attacks against Israel's south: "Women, children and the elderly should not be living under the threat of missiles. This must stop."

Livni said in response that while terrorists "seek out women, the elderly and children," the IDF "only aims its weapons towards terrorists."

Russia Delivers Third Consignment Of Nuclear Fuel For Iran

[Shammu]

Putin Warns Against Unilateral Declaration of Kosovo Independence
18 January 2008
   
Russian President Vladimir Putin has again expressed opposition to a unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence.

The Russian leader told reporters in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, international recognition of such a move would be illegal and immoral.

Mr. Putin repeated his call for further talks in pursuit of a compromise between Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders.

Before his trip to Bulgaria, Mr. Putin said any solution to the problem of Kosovo will set a precedent for international practice.

Earlier this week, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, told the Security Council Kosovo will never become a U.N. member or join any other international political organization if it unilaterally declares independence.

Months of internationally-mediated talks between Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians on the issue ended in November with no agreement.

Serbia, backed by Russia, offered Kosovo broad autonomy with many characteristics of statehood, but insisted on maintaining sovereignty over the area. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority insists on independence

The U.S., Britain, and many European Union countries support independence for Kosovo.

The United Nations has administered Serbia's southern province since 1999, when NATO airstrikes stopped a Serbian offensive against ethnic Albanian separatists.

Putin Warns Against Unilateral Declaration of Kosovo Independence

[Shammu]

Russia revives military boast of Soviet days


January 18, 2008

By David R. Sands - Reviving yet another iconic image from Soviet days, Russia's military announced plans to stage a parade of ballistic missiles, tanks and platoons of soldiers this May through the Kremlin's Red Square.

The display of military hardware, the first of its kind since 1990, will be held May 9, the day Russians mark the victory over Germany in World War II, and could coincide with the inauguration of Dmitry Medvedev, close aide to outgoing President Vladimir Putin, as Russia's new leader.

Similar displays, typically held May 1, were a high point of the old Soviet calendar, with leaders such as Josef Stalin and other top Communist Party figures perched on the reviewing stand above Lenin's Tomb to witness the country's military prowess and send a message to the Soviet Union's Cold War adversaries.

The announcement comes at a time of rising tension between Russia and the West, on issues ranging from a planned U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe, to human rights to the future of Serbia's Kosovo province. Mr. Putin also has struggled to rebuild Russia's military forces, which deteriorated badly in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse.

"You can't teach an old imperial bear new tricks," said Ariel Cohen, a Russian specialist at the Heritage Foundation. "The current regime's craving for international prestige is as high as the insecurity of its rulers."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband yesterday accused Moscow of following the old, hostile Soviet pattern in an escalating dispute over Russia's order that two British cultural outreach offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg be shut down. Russia claims the centers are operating illegally, but Mr. Miliband said Russian authorities were trying to intimidate the British employees.

"We saw similar actions during the Cold War, but frankly thought they had been put behind us," Mr. Miliband told the House of Commons.

According to Russia's Interfax news agency, the May 9 parade lineup will include the newest version of the Topol-M SS-27 intercontinental ballistic missile, armored personnel carriers, tanks, and 6,000 troops decked out in a newly designed uniform.

Mr. Putin has made restoring Russian national pride and reclaiming some of its lost international influence central to his presidency.

He revived a reworked version of the old Soviet anthem as Russia's new national anthem and once called the collapse of the old Soviet empire "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century."

With Mr. Putin's endorsement, Mr. Medvedev is expected to win the March 2 presidential vote handily. He already asked Mr. Putin to serve as his prime minister.

The official May Day parades were discontinued after 1990. In recent years, the day has been marked in Moscow and other cities primarily by protest marches by the declining Communist Party and by right-wing nationalist parties.

President Boris Yeltsin began staging military parades — without the weaponry — through Red Square in 1995, the first one marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian military analyst for the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, said the revived display is one of a number of recent symbolic moves by the country's military. They include the resumption of strategic bomber patrol flights over the Atlantic and Pacific in August and plans for major naval exercises in the Mediterranean for the first time since 1991.

Mr. Felgenhauer noted that the traditional route for the May parade must now be altered in part because of the construction of a new shopping mall.

"One can only hope that ... no ancient building will collapse as tanks and ICBMs roll into central Moscow to serve the vanity of Russia's leaders," he said.

Russia revives military boast of Soviet days

[Shammu]

It seems like that some days not much happens while scanning headlines, looking for connections to the Lord's Return.

And then there are days like these.............

[Shammu]

Nasrallah tells Beirut crowd Hezbollah has the body parts of IDF soldiers
By Fadi Eyadat and Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondents, News Agencies and Haaretz Service
19/01/2008

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday his group possessed body parts of Israel Defense Forces soldiers left on southern Lebanon's battlefields during the Second Lebanon War.

Nasrallah addressed a crowd of followers in southern Beirut during a rally to mark the Shi'ite Ashoura festival.

"Oh Zionists, your army is lying to you... your army has left the body parts of your soldiers in our villages and fields," Nasrallah said.

"Our mujahideen used to fight these Zionists, killing them and collecting their body parts. I am not talking about regular body parts. I tell the Israelis, we have the heads of your soldiers, we have hands, we have legs," he added.

The last time Nasrallah appeared in public was in September 2006 at a victory rally marking the end of the month-long war between Israel and the militant Shi'ite group. Since then, he has only addressed his supporters through video-links or on television.

Karnit Goldwasser, whose husband Ehud was kidnapped by Hezbollah militants in the cross-border raid that sparked last summer's war, said Nasrallah's speech constituted nothing new. "From our perspective, he hasn't said anything," she said.

Ayal Regev, whose brother Eldad was kidnapped along with Goldwasser, said that "by our estimation, Nasrallah did not address the abducted soldiers... It's all part of the psychological war he is carrying out."

In his speech Saturday, Nasrallah vowed that Lebanon would not accept a "surrenderist" peace plan with Israel, declaring the only way was "resistance."

"I announce that our forces are on full alert to confront any possible war against Lebanon," he said.

"If Israel carries out any new aggression against us, we promise to retaliate in a war that will change the whole map of the region," Nasrallah warned.

Referring to recent violence in the Gaza Strip, Nasrallah said: "We will not accept this oppression against the people of Palestine. I call on the Arab nation to stand and back their resistance movement's military, and financially to confront [U.S. President George W.] Bush's massacre of the people of Gaza."

Footage broadcast on Hezbollah's al-Manar television and other stations carried pictures of the black-turbaned Nasrallah surrounded by a sea of people.

Hezbollah supporters marched in procession with banners proclaiming: "We will not be humiliated". They also blocked suburban roads, chanting "death to America, death to Israel."

"Oh God protect Nasrallah," the huge crowd chanted. Veiled women wept as the Hezbollah leader walked among them, while men raised their fists chanting, "Nasrallah is our leader."

The Ashoura festival marks the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, who died in a battle in 680 against the leader of what became the Sunni branch of Islam. The battle took place in Karbala, which is located in present-day Iraq.

Nasrallah further denounced Bush's tour to the Middle East last week as "devilish."

In remarks on Lebanon's political crisis, Nasrallah reiterated that the opposition, which is led by his movement, backs the Arab Legaue plan.

The three-point plan is for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law.

Although the ruling coalition has given the plan its full backing, Hezbollah insists that the opposition be granted one-third of the seats in a new government so it can have veto power.

Everyone - the majority and the opposition - should have a fair share in ruling the country, Nasrallah said, adding: "If someone in Lebanon is looking to internationalize the Lebanese crisis, we tell them 'you are dreaming.' We will not accept an American-Zionist solution for our political crisis."

Lebanese lawmakers are scheduled to meet again on Monday to try and elect a president, but there is expectaion the parliamentary session will meet the same fate as the 12 previous ones, and be postponed.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa, who arrived in the Syrian capital from Beirut on Friday, reported progress in negotiations between the pro- and anti-Syrian factions over the deadlock.

Nasrallah tells Beirut crowd Hezbollah has the body parts of IDF soldiers

[Shammu]

This is so sick, twisted, demented and downright evil!! They're beyond animals and these such behaviors come to them straight from the pits of hell. As if these people weren't evil enough, they had to send out an AP wire letting the world know they keep body parts..........

For a group who hates pigs they sure do seem to act just like pigs.

[Shammu]

Russia Could Use Nuclear Weapons as Preventive Measure to Thwart Major Threat, Official Says

Saturday , January 19, 2008

AP
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MOSCOW —
Russia's military chief of staff said Saturday that Moscow could use nuclear weapons in preventive strikes in case of a major threat, the latest aggressive remarks from increasingly assertive Russian authorities.

"We have no plans to attack anyone, but we consider it necessary for all our partners in the world community to clearly understand ... that to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia and its allies, military forces will be used, including preventively, including with the use of nuclear weapons," Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky said.

The comments from the hawkish Baluyevsky did not appear to mark a policy shift for Russia, whose leaders have stressed the need to maintain a powerful nuclear deterrent and reserved the right to carry out preventive strikes to counter existential threats. But in most of their public remarks about preventive strikes, President Vladimir Putin and other officials have not specifically mentioned the use of nuclear weapons.

Baluyevsky's remarks came at a time of increasingly strained relations between Moscow and the West, which are at odds over a range of issues and are embroiled in persistent disputes over U.S. plans for missile defense facilities in former Soviet satellite states that have joined NATO as well as alliance members' refusal to ratify an updated European conventional arms treaty.

Like most saber-rattling by Putin and other Russian officials, the chief of staff's remarks appeared aimed at least in part at the United States, which Moscow accuses of endangering global security through aggressive actions such as the invasion of Iraq.

Putin, who has sought to boost his popularity at home and win support abroad with his vocal criticism of U.S. foreign policy, has said that Russia opposes the use of preventive military attacks but reserves the right to carry them out because other countries do so.

Baluyevsky identified no specific nations or forces that threaten Russia. According to the ITAR-Tass news agency, however, he said threats to global security include "the striving by a number of countries for hegemony on a regional and global level" — a clear reference to the United States — and terrorism.

With Russian officials jockeying for position ahead of the March 2 presidential election, Baluyevsky's remarks at a military conference in Moscow may also have been aimed in part at a domestic audience.

Putin is barred from seeking a third term but has endorsed protege Dmitry Medvedev as his favored successor and has said he will become prime minister in the event of Medvedev's election, which is virtually assured given Putin's support and the Kremlin's control over electoral politics.

Russia Could Use Nuclear Weapons as Preventive Measure to Thwart Major Threat, Official Says
~~~~~~~~

Other sourses:

Russia: We may use nukes if threatened