News items that look towards Ezekiel 38 & 39

[nChrist]

Hello GrammyLuv,

Sister Yvette, if we are seeing the times, and I think we are, one thought for many Christians might be that we shouldn't get in the way of what GOD has promised. In other words, I think that many Christians try to rationalize stopping the things they know they are supposed to do as Christians. The thinking is that things are going downhill anyway. Well, the Bible didn't tell us to stop, and our duties remain the same. That's also part of GOD'S Plan and will remain to be so. We can't rationalize anything away and are supposed to continue to march until JESUS takes us home. Some know that we aren't going to win the battles, but that's no hint that we should give up. CHRIST will win the battles and the war. In the meantime, GOD can continue to work in and through us for HIS Will and purpose. Nothing relieves us of our responsibilities until we have run a good race, fought a good fight, and finished our course. GOD will handle everything else. NOW, more than ever, we should be keeping our eyes on JESUS and KEEP LOOKING UP! Things may become increasingly harder for us, but we can do all things in CHRIST because HE strengthens us. This old sinful world is going to become more and more confusing, but our HOPES are sure and secure in ONE who never changes and never forsakes us. HE will keep every single one of HIS Promises to us, and whatever happens in this crazy world won't change a thing for us. JUST THINK - GOD could even use us to give HIS GOOD NEWS that HE will use for HIS Purposes long after we are home in Glory. SO, again, all we have to do is KEEP OUR EYES ON THE MASTER AND FOLLOW HIM!

Love In Christ,
Tom

 

[Shammu]

You're right!  And it is fasinating to be alive now.  I get so irritated and frustrated with what is going on but again, as you say, this was all foretold.  The frustrating part for me I guess is that so many are blind to it.  But that was told also.  I am so grateful that I was one of God's chosen.  "To have and to hold" as it were. 

Right now sister I believe the wheat is being separated from the shaft. Those that are "wanna be's" (for the lack of a better expression) are showing their true colors.

I certainly didn't always walk with the Lord however, and it took a lot of "Life" to get me where I am now as it did with most others I'm sure.  But Praise God.  I'm here!  And I'm here to stay!
So bring it on "World."  I've got places to go and things to see!  Amen!

AMEN!!

[Shammu]

Election Officials Bar Putin's Ex-Premier From Presidential Race

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, January 28, 2008; A18

MOSCOW, Jan. 27 -- Former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, a political opponent of President Vladimir Putin, was barred Sunday from running for president after the Central Election Commission said it had found tens of thousands of forged signatures among the 2 million gathered by his campaign to get his name on the ballot.

Opinion polls indicated that Kasyanov posed no political threat to Putin's chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, the overwhelming favorite in the March 2 vote, and his disqualification will immediately raise questions about the Kremlin's willingness to face any competition or debate. As a candidate, Kasyanov would have enjoyed some access to state-controlled national television stations, which rarely mention him and then only to attack him as corrupt or declare him irrelevant.

Kasyanov alleged that the commission's decision was "made personally by Vladimir Putin," who fired him in 2004.

"The hopes that the political process will develop within the constitutional field have not been justified," Kasyanov said Sunday. "Those who think we are losers are wrong. In spite of all circumstances, we have won because we have held our honor and dignity, and we have done all we could in the current situation. Those who think our campaign is over are mistaken. Our campaign is just beginning."

The Central Election Commission said an examination of two large samples of the signatures gathered in behalf of Kasyanov found that more than 13 percent had been forged. If more than 5 percent of two samples are false, a candidate is automatically disqualified under Russia's electoral law.

"We made this decision based on the norms of law," said Elvira Yermakova, a commission member.

At a news conference Sunday, Kasyanov said that "there has been no forgery.

"The authorities are afraid of the people's will. They are denying us a chance for an honest political fight," he said.

Campaign officials said they had not decided whether to appeal Kasyanov's exclusion in the courts, which have no record of restraining the central authorities in politically charged cases.

Kasyanov was one of two candidates who needed to gather 2 million signatures to get on the ballot because they were not nominated by political parties with representation in the lower house of parliament.

The other such candidate, Andrei Bogdanov, head of the tiny Democratic Party, was officially registered last week after the Central Election Commission verified the signatures he had collected. Three other candidates -- Medvedev, communist Gennady Zyuganov and nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky -- were automatically put on the ballot as the nominees of parties in parliament.

Political analysts said Bogdanov, whose party received only about 90,000 votes in the recent parliamentary elections, benefited from the quiet backing of the Kremlin, which wants to create the appearance of competition while ensuring that no one can effectively challenge Medvedev or even criticize him too severely.

Zhirinovsky said he was suspicious of how Bogdanov had amassed 2 million signatures -- vastly more than the number of votes that opinion polls suggest he will get in the election. A recent poll gave him 0.2 percent support.

"This could have made Kasyanov jealous, reasonably jealous in a way," Zhirinovsky said.

But Kasyanov received little sympathy among other candidates. Zyuganov told reporters Sunday that Kasyanov's disqualification "does not mean anything."

"Kasyanov had no chance at all," Zyuganov said. "The Orange leprosy, as in Ukraine, will not pass here."

Zyuganov was referring to the Orange Revolution in neighboring Ukraine in 2004, which led to the election of a pro-Western president, Viktor Yushchenko. Some in the Communist Party here echo the Kremlin's sentiment that the street protests that swept Yushchenko to power resulted from Western machinations, not popular will. And Kasyanov, along with other opponents of the Kremlin, is routinely described as a puppet of the West.

Despite his indifference to Kasyanov's fate, Zyuganov has also complained of an unfair playing field, in particular state television's trumpeting of Medvedev and the difficulty of other candidates in getting coverage. Within the Communist Party, there has been debate about whether Zyuganov should withdraw his candidacy, but he has insisted he will fight on.

Election Officials Bar Putin's Ex-Premier From Presidential Race

[Shammu]

To anybody who is still wondering, a Dictatorship leaping toward Communist control is alive and well in Russia. Mr. Putin will not stop until he has total and complete control of the government. The sad thing is most people in Russia would love to have Putin serve another term!

[Shammu]

Russia: Gazprom's Advance Into Europe Continues



Advantage, Russia.
Moscow has taken a giant leap toward solidifying its role as Europe's dominant energy supplier by securing two key pipeline deals over the past two weeks.

On January 18, Bulgaria signed a deal with Russia's state-controlled natural-gas monopoly Gazprom to join its South Stream pipeline project. which would transport gas from Russia deep into the heart of Europe. And now, in an ornate Kremlin signing ceremony a week later, Serbia joined the project as well.

"With the signing of these agreements Serbia becomes a key transit junction in the emerging system providing energy supplies from Russia...to the whole European continent," Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the signing ceremony.

At one level, the South Stream pipeline project is designed to get Russian gas to Europe while bypassing former Soviet transit countries like Ukraine and Belarus.

But more importantly, analysts say it is part of an ongoing Russian effort to stifle the European Union's efforts to diversify its energy supplies and lessen dependence on Moscow. In the process, the Kremlin and Gazprom are using Russia's energy might to establish a strategic foothold in Europe and expand Moscow's influence on the continent.

"This is part of a larger strategy," says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor in chief of the Moscow-based journal "Russia in Global Affairs." "Wherever possible, it is necessary to increase Russia's presence in Europe, either inside the EU or in countries that have a chance to join."

The fear is that this could leave Europe vulnerable to energy blackmail.

"There is the possibility that Russia could start using energy as a political tool in parts of Central Europe, like it has done in the East with Ukraine," says Mark Hester, editor of the U.K.-based journal "Oil and Energy Trends."

Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Ukraine for several days in January 2006 after a price dispute. The cutoff followed Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, which brought a pro-Western government to power, causing many to suspect Russia of using energy as a political weapon.

So does this mean that Russia -- which has been in an increasingly anti-Western mood -- will soon be in position to halt Europe's heating supply in the dead of some future winter?

Hester says it's "not quite that scary yet" but that such a "worst-case scenario...is the way we ought to look at it."

Requiem For Nabucco?

Gazprom's South Stream project, which officials say would begin deliveries in 2013, would pump 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year under the Black Sea to Bulgaria. The pipeline would then branch off in two directions: north to Austria and south to Italy.

Energy analysts say it is aimed at undermining the Nabucco pipeline, an EU-backed project that would circumvent Russia by transporting gas from the Caspian and Central Asian regions to Europe via Turkey and the Balkans.

In May, Moscow dealt a major blow to Nabucco when it signed an agreement with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to build a pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast to transport their natural gas to Europe -- via Russia. In June, Gazprom and Italy's Eni further undermined Nabucco by signing the initial deal to build South Stream.

Now, many observers fear that with Bulgaria and Serbia joining South Stream, Nabucco could be on its death bed.

"Nabucco is not dead, but it is a patient that risks dying," says Federico Bordonaro, a Rome-based energy analyst with the "Power and Interest News Report." "The simple fact that the South Stream is the project that everyone is discussing and it is the project that has been successfully approved, is not per se a reason to say that Nabucco is dead. But the economic viability of Nabucco now comes into question."

 Russia is pushing hard to assure that gas from Turkmenistan will be delivered to Europe via Russia and South Stream -- not via Nabucco. Analysts say it is doubtful that there is enough gas in the Caspian region for both pipelines.

Gasprom's foray into Europe is not confined to pipelines. The company is also busily acquiring energy infrastructure throughout the continent. As part of the South Stream deal with Serbia, for example, it also acquired the country's largest oil company, NIS.

Austro-Hungarian Waltz

Gazprom also made a deal last year with Austrian energy major OMV to buy a 50 percent stake in the company's Baumgarten gas-storage and -distribution center near Vienna. Gazprom is negotiating agreements to build other gas-storage facilities in Belgium, Hungary, and Austria.

But the Baumgarten deal with OMV is particularly important: the Baumgarten facility was the planned termination point for the Nabucco pipeline.

Under the Nabucco plan, it was to have its storage capacity expanded and would be fitted with pipeline links to carry Caspian gas to other European countries. Since Gazprom itself wants to supply these countries, its control of the facility would throw the plans for Nabucco into disarray.

According to media reports, Gazprom has also been enticing OMV with a pledge to make it the leading distributor of natural gas in Europe.

Moreover, OMV has been buying up shares in Hungary's energy major MOL in an attempt at a hostile takeover. Media reports and energy analysts say the move has Gazprom's tacit support.

"Austria's gas-transit and -storage network will be more integrated with Gazprom's network," Bordonaro says. "If Austria enters Gazprom's orbit, and then if the Austrian major [OMV] takes over the Hungarian major [MOL], then it is like you scored two goals with only one strike. Then, via Austria, you also control Hungary."

European Disunion

Gazprom has very skillfully exploited divisions among EU member states by striking bilateral deals that undermine Brussels' efforts to forge a common energy policy.

"Russia knows very well that Europe lacks real political unity. It is always possible to use bilateral agreements in order to advance Gazprom's interests," Bordonaro says. "The Europeans need the gas, the Russians can provide this gas, and because of the political and economic decision-making structure, Russia is much faster than the European Union in making key decisions."

In an interview with RFE/RL in Brussels, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said legislation is in the works to prevent Gazprom from gaining control of strategic energy assets within the European Union. Most importantly, he is proposing "unbundling" -- or separating -- energy suppliers from distribution networks.

"I believe strongly that network infrastructure should be separated from upstream activities [and] downstream activities. It think that is the crucial issue," Piebalgs said. "It's not only [important] from the security point of view, but also from the normal market point of view."

Piebalgs said he hoped the legislation would be passed before 2009. Will that be enough to stop the Gazprom juggernaut from dominating the continent's energy market? Hestert, for one, thinks the EU needs to come up with a comprehensive strategy before it is too late.

"In terms of reaching the worst-case scenario, it really depends on how the U.S., the European governments, and the EU actually react," Hestert said. "If they haven't got a strategy in place, an expectation that this is going to happen, then they really need to start thinking of one."

Russia: Gazprom's Advance Into Europe Continues

[Shammu]

Japan, U.S. building anti-missile shield
Focus is on North Korea, and on plan to expand system to Europe
The Associated Press
updated 4:02 p.m. MT, Mon., Jan. 28, 2008

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan - One of only four in the world, the Joint Tactical Ground Station sits in a field of snow behind the high fences of this remote base in northern Japan like a windowless trailer home with a few good satellite dishes out back.

It's not impressive. But this is the front line.

In a multibillion-dollar experiment, Japan and the United States are erecting the world's most complex ballistic missile defense shield, a project that is changing the security balance in Asia and has deep implications for Washington's efforts to pursue a similar strategy in Europe, where the idea has been stalled by the lack of willing partners.

The station here is the newest piece in the shield.

"Japan is one of our strongest allies in the ballistic missile defense arena," said Brig. Gen. John E. Seward, the deputy commanding general of operations for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.

In a recent mock-up of how it would work, U.S. military satellites detect a flash of heat from a missile range in North Korea, and within seconds computers plot a rough trajectory across the Sea of Japan that ends in an oval splash-zone outlined in red near Japan's main island.

In a real-world crisis, the next 10 or 15 minutes could be the beginning of an all-out shooting war. Millions could die. Or, two missiles could collide in mid-air over the ocean.

$8 billion sought this year
Washington and Tokyo are banking on the idea that early warning of the kind provided by the Joint Tactical Ground Station, or JTAG, and another state-of-the-art "X-band" radar station recently deployed nearby will lead to the latter. They are pouring a huge amount of resources — the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is seeking an $8 billion budget this year — into establishing a credible warning and response network.

Though Washington's focus, and world attention, has shifted toward Iran, North Korea has over the past several years made major strides in its development of both nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to the shores of other countries.

In October 2006, it conducted its first nuclear test — a step that Iran has not taken — and more than a decade ago shot a multistage ballistic missile over Japan's main island and well into the Pacific, almost reaching Alaska.

Japan's concerns are obvious: Its islands arc around the Korean Peninsula, and relations between the communist North and its former colonial ruler have never been good.

But the threat to the United States is also pressing.

Under a mutual security pact, the United States has about 50,000 troops deployed around Japan — all within reach of North Korea's missiles.

The U.S. military last year deployed a Patriot missile battalion to Kadena Air Base, on the southern island of Okinawa. The U.S. and Japanese navies have also increased their ability to intercept ballistic missiles from sea-based launchers.

Japan shoots missile out of air
In a test off Hawaii in December, Japan became the first country after the United States to shoot a missile out of the air with a ship-launched SM-3 interceptor. Japan hopes to equip its ships with such interceptor missiles over next several years.

The sea-based interceptors, which have a longer range than land-based Patriots, are Japan's first line of defense.

Seward said he hopes the alliance with Tokyo on ballistic missile defense will serve as a model for the world.

The U.S. operates its three other JTAGs in Germany, Qatar and South Korea.

But Washington's efforts to deploy missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic have deeply frayed ties between NATO and Moscow, which dismisses U.S. arguments that the installations are meant to counter a potential threat from Iran, saying they believe the intent is to weaken Russia.

Japanese officials admit that they have signed on to Washington's BMD alliance because the urgency of the Asian situation — which may not apply to Europe.

"Around Japan there are countries that could launch ballistic missiles against us," said Ro Manabe, the Ministry of Defense press secretary. "But in Europe, they do not have an imminent threat like that. In the near future, it may be possible that some countries, like Iran, may get that capability. But there are such states currently in this region. That is a basic and significant difference."

Manabe said the dense population of Tokyo makes the establishment of permanent bases inside the city unlikely.

Seward, meanwhile, said that while U.S. missile detection capabilities have vastly improved, it will largely fall to Japan to defend itself in an attack.

"Most assets in Japan are Japanese," he said. "The Japanese would have to defend themselves."

Japan, U.S. rush to build anti-missile shield

[Shammu]

NATO Chief: Military Alone Can’t Solve Afghanistan’s Problems
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2008 – The military cannot solve the problems of Afghanistan by itself, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe said today.

Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock spoke on National Public Radio’s Diane Rehm Show. NATO is responsible for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Craddock, who has held his post since December 2006, said he had just returned from a trip to Afghanistan, and though he sees progress every time he goes to the country, it is uneven. Even where security progress has been good, more needs to be done to bring good governance to the people and to create jobs, he said.

“The fact is the military can’t solve the problem,” Craddock said. “The military will set the conditions to allow the people of Afghanistan and the local, provincial and national governments to provide better governance, and create jobs.”

The idea, he said, is to drive a wedge between the Taliban and the people. He said he wants to break the “day fighters” -- Afghans who fight for the Taliban or al Qaeda as a way to earn money and put food on their families’ tables -- away from the group.

“If they could get an honest wage, they would do it,” Craddock said. “That’s the job creation that needs to happen throughout the country. And it has to happen in the south and east, as well as the more stable areas in the north and west.”

Most of Afghanistan’s 396 districts are peaceful, the general said, with 40 districts in the southern and eastern parts of the country causing 70 percent of Afghanistan’s security problems. “That is Taliban country,” Craddock said.

The United States is sending an additional 3,200 Marines into Afghanistan beginning in March. Part of the force will go to reinforce NATO forces in Regional Command South, and the rest will be trainers for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.

NATO has 47,000 troops in Afghanistan, 18,000 of them American. Another 10,000 American servicemembers are part of Operation Enduring Freedom and are not under NATO command. This includes trainers with Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan.

The Marines will be a short-term fix. Once they leave Afghanistan after a seven-month stint, NATO nations must pony up their replacements. The need for the troops is undisputed; NATO nations determined the numbers, and the alliance members agreed.

“We have a requirement that has not been met,” Craddock said. “We have a troop list, and we continue to work with the NATO nations to get them to contribute to meet all of our military requirements.”

Some of the requirements are in the “high-demand, low-density” category. These include helicopters and complex intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets. In some cases, the general said, political issues preclude nations from contributing.

The NATO effort must be a long-term commitment, Craddock said, because NATO forces will be needed until Afghan security forces can take responsibility. Meanwhile, he said, the Afghan government must work with the international community and nongovernmental organizations to put aid and job programs in place. These programs “must be integrated, coordinated and focused on the delivery of the effects: the jobs, the infrastructure, the roads,” he said.

“The key here is the development of a competent Afghan National Army and police force,” he said.

The Afghan National Army is moving along very well. The army could be ready to take over total responsibility in four to five years, he said, with the police two years behind.

NATO Chief: Military Alone Can’t Solve Afghanistan’s Problems

[Shammu]

Russian bomber cuts into Japanese airspace: official

11 hours ago

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan scrambled two dozen military aircraft and lodged a protest, accusing a Russian strategic bomber of entering its airspace over the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo Saturday.

Russia denied the incursion, but the Japanese foreign ministry said it lodged a strong protest with the Russian embassy in Tokyo over the incident, which followed stepped up Russian long-range air patrols over the Atlantic.

"We have asked the Russian government to make a thorough investigation into the matter," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The Tupolev Tu-95 bomber, which dates to the Soviet era, flew over the rocky isle of Sofugan, 650 kilometres (406 miles) south of Tokyo, for about three minutes from 7:30 am (2230 GMT Friday), the defence ministry said.

The air force scrambled 24 planes, including F-15 fighters and an E-767 radar plane, the defence ministry said.

They gave "a notice, then a warning and another a notice and a warning," a defence ministry statement said. "There was no response."

The Russian bomber then flew back north towards the Russian island of Sakhalin, it said.

Moscow said four Tupolev Tu-95 bombers completed a 10-hour mission over the Pacific on Saturday without violating Japanese airspace and that US fighters were also scrambled during the incident.

"Our strategic aviation planes did not violate Japanese airspace," deputy Russian air force commander Igor Sadofyev told the Russian Interfax news agency.

Alexander Drobyshevsky, a spokesman for the Russian air force, told Russia's ITAR-TASS agency the flights were carried out "in strict accordance with international rules on flying over neutral waters."

"The strategic bombers were accompanied by F-15 fighter jets from the Japanese air force and F-18 fighter jets from the US carrier Nimitz," Drobyshevsky said.

Japan said it was the first Russian violation of its airspace since January 2006.

Russia's Tupolev design bureau said last October it had begun a "serious modernisation" of the Tu-95 strategic bomber, a workhorse of the Soviet and Russian air forces for over 50 years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in August the resumption of long-range flights in international air space which were abandoned in 1992 amid financial difficulties that followed the Soviet collapse.

The Tu-95 MS was among the planes included in the patrols, which were seen aimed at another attempt by Putin to boost Russian prestige as his presidential term draws to a close.

In the lead-up to Putin's announcement, Russian bombers made increasingly frequent flights near US territory. Britain and Norway were scrambled last summer after Tu-95 bombers were spotted close to Norwegian airspace.

Last week, 14 Russian long-range bombers flew over the north Atlantic in the last of a series of military manoeuvres held off Europe's coasts since December, Russian media reported.

Russia and Japan have had uneasy ties. Last month, Japan also lodged a protest with the Russian embassy after saying that Russian embassy officials wined, dined and gave cash to a Japanese intelligence officer who handed over research information.

Japan and Russia have never signed a peace treaty to formally end World War II due to a dispute over four islands off Japan's northern coast seized by Soviet troops in 1945.

The Japanese government said Wednesday that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda hoped to visit Moscow early this year and believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was serious about resolving the island dispute.

Japan, which has been officially pacifist since World War II, is a close US ally and home to more than 40,000 US troops.

Russian bomber cuts into Japanese airspace: official

[Shammu]

This seems to be happening more and more. Russia wants to see what they can and can not get away with. I think the leaders of these nations need to let Russia know, that any more illegal entries into their airspace and there will be no questions asked. The bombers will be blown out of the sky. If Russia is not shown strength in response to its actions, their actions will only be more AGGRESSIVE.

[nChrist]

This seems to be happening more and more. Russia wants to see what they can and can not get away with. I think the leaders of these nations need to let Russia know, that any more illegal entries into their airspace and there will be no questions asked. The bombers will be blown out of the sky. If Russia is not shown strength in response to its actions, their actions will only be more AGGRESSIVE.

The times are getting more and more perilous, and it's obvious there are some insane things happening around the world. I firmly believe this is the devil at work, and it's becoming apparent that the "GREAT RESTRAINER" - THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD - MIGHT be being withdrawn. It's not clear that the GREAT RESTRAINER will be removed all at once, so it's possible it might be a little bit at a time. Regardless, the time for Bible Prophecy to unfold MIGHT be drawing near.

[Shammu]

Putin Criticizes West in Farewell Speech, Lays Out Successor's Agenda

Saturday , February 09, 2008

MOSCOW —
President Vladimir Putin accused the West of military expansion and laid out an ambitious agenda for his successor to restore Russia's economic and military clout in a farewell address Friday.

With less than a month before the presidential election, the speech signaled that Putin's doctrine of assertive economic and military policies and unwavering centralized power would continue under his chosen successor, First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Medvedev is expected to win the March 2 vote easily, and he has indicated he will name Putin as his prime minister.

The West is skeptical of how free and fair the vote will be, and the election monitoring body of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Thursday it would not send observers because of "severe restrictions" imposed by the Kremlin.

In his televised speech to government officials, cultural figures and religious leaders, Putin dismissed those concerns, saying that "attempts of foreign interference in the course of the political battles within Russia are not only immoral, but also illegal."

Putin spoke strongly against NATO's expansion into former Soviet bloc states of eastern Europe and said Moscow would respond by modernizing its military and weapons systems.

He said the West has failed to respond to Russia's security concerns about U.S. plans to deploy missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic and new military bases in Romania and Bulgaria.

"We haven't seen any real steps toward compromise," Putin said.

He warned that a new arms race is under way. "It is not our fault because we did not start it," he said.

NATO defense ministers, meeting Friday in Vilnius, Lithuania, said there was no need for such heated rhetoric.

"I don't think it's fair to say we don't hear Russian concerns, and I might add that NATO countries want as much as possible to meet those concerns, but we have to, of course, take into account the interest and security of NATO countries as well," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.

Washington says its plan to place 10 missile defense interceptors in Poland and a radar station in the neighboring Czech Republic is not aimed at Russia, but is part of a global system to protect against any missile attacks by Iran.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said he had not seen Putin's comments. But he said the U.S. missile defense would be "a small and limited system, defensive in nature, and poses absolutely no threat to Russia's strategic interests."

Listing the domestic successes of his tenure, Putin noted the country's rising birth rate and growth of the middle class. He said the rule of law had been restored after what he described as the chaotic years of the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"One can say with confidence now that political lawlessness for the people of Russia has ended," he said.

And he returned to the issue that helped propel him to the presidency — terrorism in the North Caucasus and his decision in 1999, as prime minister, to order federal troops back into Chechnya, starting the second war to ravage the region in less than a decade.

He said Chechnya is on the road to recovery, and he warned of the danger of allowing separatist movements to develop.

"If we were to ever allow ourselves in the future to fall into this sort of partition, it would be endless and it would destroy the country," he said.

Putin also laid out a plan for the development of the country over the next 12 years.

He said Russia's economy is "extremely inefficient" and had harsh words for the government's bloated bureaucracy, which "significantly blocks and unmotivates the development of the country."

Russia should do more to encourage innovation and develop value-added manufacturing instead of relying solely on exports of its abundant natural resources, he said.

Putin Criticizes West in Farewell Speech, Lays Out Successor's Agenda

[Shammu]

Russia Wants Multinational Arms Control

By DAVID RISING – 9 hours ago

MUNICH, Germany (AP) — The United States and Russia should set aside Cold War arms control treaties and replace them with new, multilateral agreements to combat nuclear proliferation, a senior Russian official said Sunday.

Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defense minister until promoted to first deputy prime minister last year, said the time has come "to open this framework for all leading states interested in cooperation in order to ensure overall security."

But "Russia-U.S. ties will certainly retain their significance," he said.

Ivanov also told a gathering of the world's top defense officials that Russia's burgeoning economic power does not represent a threat to other countries, but the West has to get used to Moscow's growing influence in world affairs.

He said Russia expects to be among the world's five biggest economies by 2020, but "we do not aim to buy the entire Old World with our petrodollars."

"Getting richer, Russia will not pose a threat to the security of other countries. Yet our influence on global processes will continue to grow," he said.

"More than half of Russian foreign trade is with the EU, so the Russians have already come — not with tanks, not with missiles, but with joint trade."

However, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, criticized Russia's increased assertiveness in world affairs, saying Russia has not been constructive in efforts to secure an international agreement on Kosovo's independence from Serbia.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has said it will declare independence unilaterally from Serbia "in a matter of days."

The United States and most EU nations support statehood for the U.N.-run province where 90 percent of the population of 2 million is ethnic Albanian.

Ivanov said Russia believes that recognizing an independent Kosovo would set a dangerous precedent.

"We want to stay within the international law framework, and we don't want to create a precedent, and we think if it comes to unilateral recognition of Kosovo that will be a precedent ... and that will be something close to opening a Pandora's Box," he said.

Solana rejected fears that other breakaway regions would follow Kosovo's example.

"I'm not concerned at all," he told reporters. "No conflict is equal, no history is equal ... this domino theory is completely wrong."

Ivanov said that Russia's revival "objectively combines our ambition to occupy an appropriate place in world politics and commitment to maintaining our national interests."

But, he stressed, "we do not intend to meet this challenge by establishing military blocs or engaging in open confrontation with our opponents."

Though Moscow and Washington have been at odds recently over an American plan to position parts of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, Ivanov said Russia and the U.S. needed to work closely together to combat nuclear proliferation.

He suggested that old bilateral treaties between the U.S. and Russia on nuclear arms — like the Salt 1 agreement — should be replaced by multilateral agreements.

"It is imperative to ensure that the provisions of such a regime should be legally binding so that, in due course, it would really become possible to shift to the control over nuclear weapons and the process of their gradual reduction on a multilateral basis," he said.

Involvement of all major nuclear nations, he said, "is the essence of our proposals related to the anti-missile defense and to the intermediate and short-range missiles."

Russia Wants Multinational Arms Control

[Shammu]

The truth is Russia wants to control the multi-nations' arms. This is reading more like the book, "The Ezekiel Option", as time goes by.....

[Shammu]

Libyans increase al-Qaida terror role
Leaders in Pakistan have rewarded Libyans with increased power and media presence.
Sebastian Rotella / Los Angeles Times

MADRID, Spain -- The death of Abu Laith al Libi, a Libyan al-Qaida chief, has cast a spotlight on the rise of Libyan militants in a network dominated by Egyptians and Saudis, Western anti-terrorism investigators say.

Al Libi was killed last week in an American missile strike on a hide-out in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan, officials say. In addition to overseeing a paramilitary campaign in Afghanistan, Al Libi had become a top figure in a propaganda barrage on the Internet, according to experts.

The emergence of the Libyans, traditionally a strong but low-profile group, is a result of developments on three fronts: Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. While al-Qaida has suffered setbacks in Iraq, Libyan militants there have proven resilient and adept at moving fighters into combat, experts say. Libyans have become the second-biggest foreign contingent in Iraq, according to a U.S. military analysis of seized documents.

Al-Qaida's leaders in Pakistan have rewarded the Libyans with increased power and media presence, experts say.

"There is a rising leadership cadre of Libyans in al-Qaida," said J. Vahid Brown, an analyst at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. "Egyptians have really dominated strategic and military operations. The Egyptians are good at keeping control of that, because many of them have military training. Now you have Libyan faces appearing in videos."

The group's chief, Osama bin Laden, is a Saudi, and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, is Egyptian. Their dominance has made Gulf Arabs and Egyptians especially the organization's most powerful players.

Western investigators say al-Qaida's structure is paradoxically fluid and bureaucratic at the same time. The multiethnic alliance survives by evolving on the run, but it also has a penchant for titles, budgets and paperwork.

"What is curious about al-Qaida is the contradictory nature of the organization," said a senior British anti-terrorism official. "It is curiously bureaucratic."

And the network has its share of infighting.

Some rifts have been ideological, such as a debate over bin Laden's decision to launch the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the crushing retaliation it provoked. In addition, conflicts have resulted from resentment of the Egyptians as well as tensions between Arabs and Central Asians, experts said.

The network has an ethnic pecking order of sorts. In the late 1990s, Libyans were quiet but influential. They played the role of mentors for fellow North Africans, particularly Moroccans who were seen as "little foot soldiers," according to a Spanish law enforcement chief.

The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which has waged a longtime campaign against Moammar Gadhafi's regime, ran a camp in Afghanistan that groomed the founders of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, according to Spanish court documents. Al Libi became a revered figure among the Moroccans.

A captured Moroccan extremist named Nourredine Nafia told interrogators about meetings in Turkey in 1998 at which Libyans provided expertise about communications and organizing cells, according to Italian court documents.

After the U.S.-led military strikes in Afghanistan in retaliation for the Sept. 11 attacks, the damaged al-Qaida leadership scattered to refuges in northwest Pakistan and elsewhere.

Libyans increase al-Qaida terror role
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Ezekiel 38:5 Persia, Cush, and Put or Libya with them, all of them with shield and helmet,

Nuft said............

[Shammu]

Pakistan nuclear staff go missing
12 February 2008

Two employees of Pakistan's atomic energy agency have been abducted in the country's restive north-western region abutting the Afghan border, police say.

The technicians went missing on the same day as Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, was reportedly abducted in the same region.

Mr Azizuddin had been going overland from the city of Peshawar to Kabul.

Pakistan's north-west has witnessed fierce fighting between Islamist militants and government troops.

The pro-Taleban guerrillas declared a unilateral ceasefire last week after months of clashes with troops garrisoned there.

The workers from Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission were on a mission to map mineral deposits in the mountains when they were kidnapped, police say.

"The technicians were going for some geological survey in the area when they were kidnapped at gunpoint along with their driver," Romail Akram, a senior police official, told Reuters news agency.

Their vehicle was intercepted by masked gunmen in the Dera Ismail Khan district, a stronghold of local militants.

"We don't know if the abductors were militants or members of some criminal gang," a local police chief, Akbar Nasir, told the AFP news agency.

He said efforts to locate the missing men had yet to yield any results.

Karzai concerned

Efforts are also continuing to locate the missing Pakistani envoy, Tariq Azizuddin.

Mr Azizuddin went missing on Monday as he was travelling overland from the Pakistani city of Peshawar to the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he was certain the envoy had been abducted, adding: "I hope he is safe and I hope he will be released soon."

The Khyber region has long been a base for bandits and smugglers but has seen little of the unrest linked to an uprising by Islamist militants in adjoining areas.

Pro-Taleban militants recently kidnapped more than 200 Pakistani troops in the South Waziristan region.

The soldiers were reportedly released in a prisoner exchange with Pakistani authorities.

'Protected road'

Pakistan's government has refused to confirm Mr Azizuddin has been kidnapped, saying only that he was missing.

The Pakistani embassy in Kabul said contact was lost with Mr Azizuddin at around 1045 local time (0645 GMT) on Monday.

There were reports on Pakistani television of his car going through a checkpoint without stopping.

An official of the Khyber agency tribal administration told the BBC that the ambassador went through the Khyber agency without taking a security escort that was waiting for him at the start of the tribal territory.

Correspondents say that such escorts are routinely sent with dignitaries and officials when they travel through tribal areas.

But some travellers dispense with them because they think it makes their movements more noticeable.

Mr Azizuddin is said to have previously travelled to Kabul by road, often without the tribal security escort.

The route through the agency is believed to be the shortest and quickest way between Peshawar and Kabul.

Being the main trade route, the Khyber agency road is busy in daylight hours, supplying reinforcements and to the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.

It is also one of the most protected of all the tribal roads, with a contingent of tribal police posted every 100m. The paramilitary Frontier Corps have a fort along the road.

Pakistan nuclear staff go missing