News, Prophecy and other

[Shammu]

Iran gave al-Qaeda in Iraq SAM-7 missiles – report
Sat. 13 May 2006

Iran Focus

London, May 13 – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had provided the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq heavy weapons including anti-aircraft missiles, it emerged on Friday.

The Iraqi daily az-Zaman which is published in London and Baghdad quoted credible Iraqi sources as revealing that the IRGC had given al-Qaeda in Iraq, Strela-type SAM-7 surface-to-air missiles, modern explosives, and a large number of personnel arms including Kalashnikovs and BKC machineguns.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is believed to be led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is on the United States’ wanted list.

The report said that representatives of al-Zarqawi’s group met in Beirut with members of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and through them established channels with Tehran.

Three close aides to al-Zarqawi travelled to Iran via a security checkpoint in the Iraqi border province of al-Amara from where they met with Iranian officials, the report added.

The United States and Iraqi officials have accused Iran’s radical Islamic government of sending agents and arms into Iraq to assist the insurgency.

The IRGC was founded in the early days of the Islamic revolution in 1979 as an armed force loyal to Iran’s clerical rulers. Its commanders directly report to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and their mission is to “protect and propagate” the Islamic revolution.

Iran gave al-Qaeda in Iraq SAM-7 missiles

[Shammu]

VATICAN AND WCC TO PURSUE COMMON CODE OF CONDUCT ON RELIGIOUS CONVERSION

The Vatican and the World Council of Churches (WCC) are launching a three-year joint study project aimed at developing a shared code of conduct on the controversial issue of religious conversion.

The study project, named "Interreligious reflection on conversion: from controversy to a shared code of conduct", is being launched with a meeting in Velletri, Rome, from 12-16 May 2006. Gathering some 30 participants representing different religious traditions and regions, the meeting will focus on assessing the current reality of religious conversion from an interreligious point of view.

The next stages of the project will be, first, a discussion of religious conversion from a Christian perspective and, second, the establishment of a shared code of conduct. This is expected to distinguish between witness and proselytism, making respect for freedom of thought, conscience and the religion of others a primary concern in any encounter between people of different faiths.

The study project is being jointly undertaken by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the WCC's Office on Interreligious Relations and Dialogue. In addition to Christians, dialogue partners from Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Indigenous religious traditions are also expected to participate.

"The issue of religious conversion remains a controversial dimension in many interconfessional and interreligious relations", says Rev. Dr Hans Ucko, head of the WCC's interreligious relations office. "We hope that at the end of this study project, we will be able to propose a code of conduct that will affirm that commitment to our faith never translates into denigration of the other", he says.

[Shammu]

Video calls for 'sea of blood'
From: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Paris

May 12, 2006

A VIDEO by an al-Qaeda member posted on the Internet overnight calls on Muslims to attack Denmark, Norway and France for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
"Muslims avenge your Prophet .... We deeply desire that the small state of Denmark, Norway and France ... are struck hard and destroyed," said Libyan Mohammed Hassan, who escaped from US custody at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan last July.

"Destroy their buildings, make their ground shake and transform them into a sea of blood," said Hassan, dressed in military fatigues and a black turban, and holding an assault rifle.

Hassan, also known as Sheikh Abu Yahia al-Libi, was one of four Arab terror suspects who broke out of the high-security detention facility at Bagram, the main US military base in Afghanistan.

It was unclear when the 35-minute video, produced by al-Sahab, a media organisation close to Al-Qaeda, was recorded.

The posting of the video comes three week's after al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's call in a video to boycott products from the US and European countries which supported Denmark over the publication of the cartoons.

Earlier this year, the cartoons, including one showing the prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, sparked violent protests by Muslims worldwide after they appeared in Danish and other European newspapers.

Muslims consider any image of the prophet to be blasphemous.

Video calls for 'sea of blood'

[Shammu]

Iran nuclear row looms over Bali summit
Sat. 13 May 2006

By Jerry Norton

NUA DUSA, Indonesia (Reuters) - The presidents of Iran and Indonesia began a summit of eight developing nations on Saturday overshadowed by fears about Tehran's nuclear program.

The Developing Eight (D-8) groups some of the world's most populous Muslim-majority nations and is aimed primarily at developing economic and trade ties.

But focus on those goals has been diverted by worries that nuclear projects Iran, the D-8's outgoing chairman, says are for peaceful purposes might actually have military aims.

The United States has vowed to curb the programs it fears could lead to atomic weapons and has asked the U.N. Security Council to pressure Iran.

Adding to concerns, U.N. inspectors have found traces of near bomb-grade enriched uranium on nuclear equipment in Iran, diplomats said on Friday, as the EU prepared a declaration that will insist Tehran shelve all enrichment work.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not touch on the dispute in his opening remarks at the summit on the resort island of Bali, although nuclear energy is one of the topics the leaders will discuss later in the day.

He urged more effort by members to increase their ties and further development "in the service of international peace and society".

"We can offer a good model for peace and justice," he said of the D-8, which in addition to Indonesia and Iran includes Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, nuclear-armed Pakistan, Nigeria and Malaysia.

The latter two include substantial numbers of non-Muslims although Ahmadinejad, considered a hard-line Islamist, referred to the group as part of the "Muslim ummah (community)".

Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a Muslim moderate, pointed out the meeting was being held on an island with a Hindu majority, underscoring the group's "commitment to promote tolerance as a bedrock of world peace".

He also praised the resilience of the Balinese in dealing with the aftermath of terrorist attacks.

Blasts in 2002 and 2005 killed more than 220 people and were blamed on a militant Islamic group with links to al Qaeda.

INCENTIVES

The leaders were also scheduled to hold talks on reducing trade barriers and alternative energy, including nuclear power, ahead of news conferences by the group as a whole and Iran individually.

The United States has pushed for a Security Council resolution on Iran's nuclear program. That step is now on hold while European Union officials shape a "carrots and sticks" offer to Tehran on the issue.

The package of incentives will insist Iran shelve uranium enrichment work, according to an EU draft leaked on Friday, even though Tehran has ruled this out in advance.

President Ahmadinejad on Friday, in a visit to Jakarta before coming to the summit, called Western pressure "psychological propaganda".

The United States and its allies suspect Iran's professed ambition to purify uranium to generate electricity is a smokescreen, a concern stoked by Tehran's 18-year concealment of sensitive enrichment research.

But Russia and China have resisted any U.N. Security Council resolution that could spawn sanctions.

Iran nuclear row looms over Bali summit

[Shammu]

Trains to link north and south after 56 years
by Theresa Kim Hwa-young

Official sources said the first “trials” will take place on 25 May. As yet, there is no specific date for the inauguration of the cross border lines.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – Trials to resume train links between North and South Korea will start on 25 May, for the first time since war on the peninsula 56 years ago, the South Korean Reunification Minister said today. He said they will be the last trials before the official inauguration. However, representatives of the two parties have yet to fix a date for the historic event.

The security of train and road links between the two Koreas will be at the heart of the fourth round of talks between military representatives of Seoul and Pyongynang, announced yesterday by the South Korean Defence Minister. The meetings, which will be held from 16 to 18 May in Panmunjom – the South Korean village where the 1953 truce was signed – aim to diminish new incidents in the maritime zone along the western coast and to reduce tension along the border.

The issue of cross-border links assumes particular importance in the lead-up to a trip to the north, scheduled for next month, by the former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung. Kim Dae Jung has expressed hopes of being able to travel on board the inter-Korean train line.

According to a provisional agreement reached in 2003, both Koreas guarantee security of road traffic through the demilitarized zone (DMZ), but the pact did not cover travel by rail.

The 27.3km Tonghae line across the frontier on the eastern side of the country, and the 25.5km Kongui line will link two border cities: Munsan in the south and Kaesong in the north.

The Panmunjom talks will also discuss the definition of borders in contested waters of the western sea. According to Seoul, the Northern Limit Line represents a de facto border but Pyongyang does not accept this, claiming it is an imposition of the United Nations, spearheaded by the USA, established in a unilateral manner at the end of the Korean war (1950-1953).

A series of naval incidents in these fishing rich waters, have caused several deaths on both sides over the years.

The delegation from the south to the Panmunjom talks will be led by Major General Han Min-gu, while that of the north will have Major General Kim Yong-chul at the helm.

At the moment, it seems as if a new South Korean policy is being implemented, intent on distancing itself from the decided policy of the United States to make Pyongyang return to the negotiating table of the six-party talks about nuclear disarmament.

Trains to link north and south after 56 years

[Shammu]

 Iran's nuclear issue not mentioned in D8 summit
Bali, May 13, IRNA

Indonesia-D8-Iran
A member of Indonesian delegation attending the heads of state summit of the eight developing Islamic states (D8) in Indonesia's Bali Island said here Saturday that at the meetings no reference was made to Iran's nuclear issue by the attending delegations.

Talking to IRNA on the condition of anonymity, the official strongly dismissed the report of Reuters News Agency that the summit in Bali Island was overshadowed by the so-called anxieties over Iran's nuclear programs.

"During the speeches of the heads of delegations representing the D8 member states, Iran's nuclear issue was not mentioned and the summit merely pursued its normal planned procedure.

"There was no sign of concern over Iran's nuclear case or the threats of some world powers either in formal or informal remarks made by the officials representing the group's member states," he added.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad passed on the rotating term of D8 presidency to his Indonesian counterpart, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Saturday morning.

The Indonesian official underlined that Iran's nuclear issue was not on the agenda of the summit, adding that the attending delegations merely discussed trade, economic and customs issues as well as issuing business visas to tradesmen and making optimum use of the potentials available in the member countries.

"The Iranian president is currently considered as one of the most important figures in the world of Islam and his participation in the fifth D8 summit has made it a special occasion," he concluded.

Prior to the D8 summit, Ahmadinejad arrived in Jakarta on a three-day visit. During his stay in Indonesia, the president was warmly welcomed by the countries officials, while Indonesia's government and Muslim people declared their support for Iran's right to access nuclear energy.

Iran's nuclear issue not mentioned in D8 summit

[Shammu]

May 13, 2006
[ From the Lansing State Journal ]
Teens rally to spread faith: Christian youth group says TV needs less violence, sex

By Nicole Geary
Lansing State Journal

Local teens crowded on the Capitol steps in cold, drizzly rain Friday to pray, sing and hope for their generation's future.

They joined Christians in at least 50 cities across the country holding BattleCry rallies against today's negative influences.

"The media today just stuffs us with all these lies, teaching us terrible, immoral things," said Heather Lantz, 18, of Lansing's New Covenant Christian Church. "They don't care what happens to us ... so many of us are going down the drain."
Advertisement
   

The teens want adults, lawmakers and popular television channels such as MTV and BET to change a culture of apathy toward youth violence, sex, substance abuse, suicide and more.

"We look at the statistics, shake our heads and say that's too bad," said Jessie Still, youth pastor at Spirit of Christ Church in Haslett.

"But we don't leave ourselves any room to say it's wrong."

Kids at Friday's rally hoped to spread their guide for making choices: God.

"Our generation has been losing faith," said 16-year-old Ed Raby, who came with a youth group from Perry.

"It's just a matter of us standing up for what we believe in."

Among teens' top 20 TV shows, 70 percent include sexual content and 45 percent include sexual behavior, according to a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study.

Unfortanlly I can't post the link.

[airIam2worship]

May 13, 2006
[ From the Lansing State Journal ]
Teens rally to spread faith: Christian youth group says TV needs less violence, sex

By Nicole Geary
Lansing State Journal

Local teens crowded on the Capitol steps in cold, drizzly rain Friday to pray, sing and hope for their generation's future.

They joined Christians in at least 50 cities across the country holding BattleCry rallies against today's negative influences.

"The media today just stuffs us with all these lies, teaching us terrible, immoral things," said Heather Lantz, 18, of Lansing's New Covenant Christian Church. "They don't care what happens to us ... so many of us are going down the drain."
Advertisement
   

The teens want adults, lawmakers and popular television channels such as MTV and BET to change a culture of apathy toward youth violence, sex, substance abuse, suicide and more.

"We look at the statistics, shake our heads and say that's too bad," said Jessie Still, youth pastor at Spirit of Christ Church in Haslett.

"But we don't leave ourselves any room to say it's wrong."

Kids at Friday's rally hoped to spread their guide for making choices: God.

"Our generation has been losing faith," said 16-year-old Ed Raby, who came with a youth group from Perry.

"It's just a matter of us standing up for what we believe in."

Among teens' top 20 TV shows, 70 percent include sexual content and 45 percent include sexual behavior, according to a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study.

Unfortanlly I can't post the link.

Hey DW, my daughter called me from Colorado yesterday, she had just returned from a youth rally with my grandchildren. They were rallying for the rights of Christians, these teens, children and even toddlers were there to do what they could to preserve the Christian rights for future generations, if the Lord doesn't return first.
These children were so pumped up for Jesus even my 3 year old granddaughter was shouting Hallelujah so loud I could hear her over the phone.   

[Soldier4Christ]

Hey DW, my daughter called me from Colorado yesterday, she had just returned from a youth rally with my grandchildren. They were rallying for the rights of Christians, these teens, children and even toddlers were there to do what they could to preserve the Christian rights for future generations, if the Lord doesn't return first.
These children were so pumped up for Jesus even my 3 year old granddaughter was shouting Hallelujah so loud I could hear her over the phone.   

Amen and Hallelujah. It warms my heart to see and hear children praising the Lord.

[Shammu]

Hey DW, my daughter called me from Colorado yesterday, she had just returned from a youth rally with my grandchildren. They were rallying for the rights of Christians, these teens, children and even toddlers were there to do what they could to preserve the Christian rights for future generations, if the Lord doesn't return first.
These children were so pumped up for Jesus even my 3 year old granddaughter was shouting Hallelujah so loud I could hear her over the phone.   

AMEN sister, my heart is warmed by your g-daughter.

[Shammu]

Belarusian Opposition Leader Released

Created: 13.05.2006 17:07 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:07 MSK, 9 hours 6 minutes ago

MosNews

The Belarusian opposition leader sentenced to 15 days in jail for taking part in an unsanctioned rally was released on Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Police delivered Alexander Milinkevich to his home several hours before his scheduled release _ apparently in an effort to prevent him from meeting with supporters who gathered outside the jail around the time they expected him to be freed.

Milinkevich, 58, returned to the jail later and spoke to about 100 supporters outside, ignoring police warnings that their gathering was not sanctioned. “Even jail cannot deprive a truly free person of liberty,” Milinkevich said.

Milinkevich, who ran unsuccessfully against authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in March, has been a unifying figure for an opposition that incorporates widely diverse forces ranging from democrats to Communists. “We are fighting not against Lukashenko but for a new Belarus,” Milinkevich said outside the jail.

The election, which the opposition and Western governments condemned as fraudulent, sparked unprecedented mass protests in this tightly controlled nation of 10 million. The protests in turn resulted in a wave of opposition detentions.

About 30 opposition activists still remain in custody, according to the Vyasna human rights group.

Lukashenko, often described by Western countries as “Europe’s last dictator,” has been in power since 1994.

Belarusian Opposition Leader Released

[Shammu]

Russia’s Putin Backs Uzbek Leader Amid Massacre Protests

Created: 13.05.2006 14:21 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 19:18 MSK, 6 hours 52 minutes ago

MosNews

Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered rare diplomatic support to Uzbek President Islam Karimov by hosting him at a Black Sea resort on the eve of the first anniversary of the Andijan massacre, AFP reported. Russia’s backing came on Friday amid Western criticism of Karimov’s leadership over massive bloodshed in the eastern Uzbek province of Andijan on May 13 last year.

A protest marking the anniversary in the Uzbek capital Tashkent was nipped in the bud Friday, but demonstrations took place or were planned in other capitals by opponents of Karimov’s regime. Uzbekistan’s government claims 187 people died, nearly all of them servicemen or “Islamist terrorists” behind disturbances which saw armed men free inmates from a jail and large crowds gather in the provincial capital.

Journalists and local witnesses, backed by human rights organisations, say hundreds died when security forces rampaged through the city, firing without warning on a crowd of 10,000 people. The United Nations later described the attack as a slaughter.

Meeting Karimov at the Russian leader’s Sochi residence, Putin hailed a recently concluded symbolic agreement on “allied relations” between Russia and the energy-rich Central Asian nation. The accord marked progress towards “the formation of a qualitatively new level of cooperation between our two countries,” Putin said in televised comments.

Karimov emphasised his desire for closer economic ties between his ex-Soviet nation and Russia, saying that Tashkent was “open to the privatisation of major enterprises,” the RIA news agency said. The effort to renew ties with what was the Soviet Union’s second-largest natural gas producer comes after Karimov halted a short-lived flirtation with the United States, following Western criticism over the Andijan bloodshed.

Uzbekistan last November closed a U.S. air base that supported the international coalition in neighbouring Afghanistan and caused unease in Russian military circles.

The Kommersant daily described the Sochi talks as a “visit of self-preservation” by Karimov, saying the Uzbek leader had “serious reasons to worry about the viability of his regime, due to ever more pressure from the West”. Human rights groups have voiced alarm at Russia’s support for Karimov, who was Uzbekistan’s last Soviet-era leader and has clung to power ever since.

A tiny demonstration bloodshed occurred on Friday in central Tashkent, where activists placed flowers at a Soviet-era monument to victims of a 1966 earthquake, saying the gesture was intended to honour the Andijan dead. Eight of them then tried to mount a demonstration, but had their placards ripped from their hands by unidentified security men.

In Kiev, about 50 Uzbek and Ukrainian nationals demonstrated outside the Uzbek embassy, chanting “Freedom for political prisoners!” and “Uzbekistan without Karimov!” Rallies were planned on Saturday in London, Belgium, Egypt and Moscow, Uzbek activist ubgone19a Iakoub told AFP. He said the London protest was designed to persuade the British government to support a petition drawn up by Uzbek organisations that calls on the European Union to give a stronger response to the uprising.

In Brussels EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Friday, “It is with great regret that I note the continuing refusal of the Uzbek authorities to heed the calls of the EU and others for a credible investigation into those events.” “I urge the Uzbek authorities to engage positively with the EU and others, and in adhering to the principles of respect for human rights, rule of law and fundamental freedoms,” he added in a statement.

EU foreign ministers were also expected to deplore what they call the increasingly serious harassment of human rights defenders and the persecution, prosecution and jailing of leading opposition figures. Despite Russian worries about Western pressure on Karimov, however, human rights groups say it has been inadequate, particularly from the United States.

On Thursday, the head of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch, Allison Gill, urged the EU to strengthen existing sanctions against Uzbekistan, which include a visa ban on some top officials but not on Karimov. She urged the United States, which imposed no sanctions at all on Uzbekistan, to follow Europe’s lead.

Russia’s Putin Backs Uzbek Leader Amid Massacre Protests

[Shammu]

Russian Church in Exile Calls for Unity With Moscow

Created: 12.05.2006 10:19 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:29 MSK

MosNews

The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad adopted a resolution on Thursday at a historic synod that would accept the Moscow Patriarch as its head after more than 80 years of bitter separation following the Communist revolution, Reuters news agency reported.

The 135 delegates and top church officials at only the fourth All-Diaspora Council since 1920 adopted a recommendation calling for spiritual unity with the Moscow Patriarchate, but administrative autonomy, church officials told Reuters. “We as a church have to do this to be in communion with the mass of the faithful in Russia,” Archbishop Mark, who has led the church’s negotiations with Moscow, said. “We can help the church in Russia to develop along a new path.”

The 12 bishops of the Church Abroad will meet next week without the clergy and laymen who have participated in this week’s council in San Francisco to have the final say on healing a divide that grew out of the Russia’s 1917 atheist Communist revolution.

Throughout Soviet rule the exiled church has considered the Moscow Patriarchate a tool of the state and the secret police. Feelings were so strong that it has taken 15 years since the fall of Communism for the spiritual embrace to take place. Some exiled church officials are still suspicious of Moscow church head, Patriarch Alexiy II, saying he once had links to the KGB. Any spiritual reunion with Moscow may prompt some hardliners to leave the church, some clergy predict.

For his part, Alexiy has worked to heal the rift in recent years, apologizing for past transgressions and resolving some theological differences. For example, Moscow canonized the last tsar, who was shot by the Bolsheviks, — a sainthood long demanded by the Church Abroad. Alexiy has also expressed hope that the San Francisco council could finally end the long rift.

“The more time passes, the less Russian the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad will be,” he said last month. “This could be the last opportunity to bring together within one church two parts of the Russian people who were divided for political reasons as a result of the 1917 tragedy.”

The spiritual embrace of Moscow by the Church Abroad still leaves some thorny issues unresolved, including what to do about cities in which both have churches. Dueling churches exist in quite a number of European and American cities as well as in Jerusalem. In New York City, for example, the Church Abroad has its worldwide headquarters just five blocks from an Orthodox Cathedral of the Moscow Patriarchate.

“These are questions that will gradually be solved,” Archbishop Mark, who oversees his church in Germany and Britain, said in an interview. “In the church we do not like to push things, but to let things grow organically.” The archbishop said the Church Abroad would retain the right to appoint its own bishops although the patriarch would bless their choice. The Church Abroad serves 350 communities worldwide, church officials said.

Russian Church in Exile Calls for Unity With Moscow

[Soldier4Christ]

Ex-mistress accuses Hugo Chavez
of 'imposing a fascist dictatorship'
Warns: 'A totalitarian regime is coming ...
he doesn't believe in democratic institutions'


Herma Marksman, who spent nearly 10 years of her life as "the other woman" at the side of Hugo Chavez, as the military man plotted his way to power in the '80s and 90's, still recalls her ex-lover as "sweet" and "kind," but when it comes to his current rule over Venezuela, the ex-mistress uses words like "totalitarian" and "fascist dictatorship."

The professor of history, who's written two books about Chavez's politics, told the London Times: "He is imposing a fascist dictatorship. A totalitarian regime is coming because he doesn't believe in democratic institutions. Hugo controls all the powers."

Marksman, whose home was used by Chavez to plan his coup against the Venezuelan government, says the two once shared a dream of "a prosperous Venezuela where justice would reign".

"We were preparing for the time when we would be in government," Marksman has written. "We wanted to establish a state in which the law was respected, to abolish corruption, to develop our basic industries and to do a real restructuring of the education system. None of that has happened.

"If anything, there has been a turning for the worse. Today there is more injustice, and no sign of that group of democrats who voiced, and accepted, different opinions. We live under an autocrat who does not respect the separation of powers. There is a chief justice who does not act, a financial comptroller who does not control, an ombudsman who only defends government interests. So where is the Bolivarian project?”

Chavez' populist "Bolivarian revolution" has propelled the Venezuelan president into the spotlight and made him one of the leading voices of anti-Americanism around the world. It is a voice backed up by billions of dollars from Venezuela's vast oil riches.

"Is Chavez another Fidel Castro?" asked Alberto Garrido, a Caracas political scientist. "Is he a 19th-century caudillo? Or is he a Peron with oil? Venezuelans debate this continuously, and all we know for certain is that the Chavez phenomenon is different from everything that has gone before."

Opposition leaders argue that Chavez's championing of the poor and his much-publicized welfare program are a facade and that little has been done to improve the nation's infrastructure or to root out fraud and ineptitude in government. Venezuela's police force has been blamed by human rights groups for much of the nation's violence and Caracas, the capital, has the world's highest murder rate per capita.

"In Venezuela they say we have no good presidents or bad presidents," said Julio Borges, an opposition candidate in December's election. "We have presidents who either benefit from high oil prices or suffer from low oil prices. Chavez had the luck to be a president with high oil revenues, but he's like a man who wins the lottery and at the end he spends it all and turns out more broke than before."

Chavez has been using his luck to buy influence domestically and internationally.

During a recent visit to Cuba, Chavez told Castro, "Capitalism leads us straight to hell, Fidel, I think you were always right: It's socialism or death."

Earlier this year, Chavez embraced U.S. antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan on national television and announced his plot to bring the U.S. to its knees. "Enough of imperialist aggression," Chavez said. "We must tell the world: Down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century. Cindy, we are with you in your fight."

Chavez's plan for burying imperialism includes attempting to build a 2-million-man army in a country not threatened by any external forces.

Increasingly, Chavez's Bolivarian revolution is being viewed negatively by Venezuela's neighbors. The candidate endorsed by Chavez in Peru's upcoming presidential election has plummeted in the polls. In Mexico, the presidential candidate identified with Chavez has fallen behind a pro-business, U.S. educated opponent. Brazilian officials have complained of Venezuela's oil policies and criticized Chavez ally, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, for his nation's plans to nationalize it's natural gas industry.

Marksman, now a member of the opposition, understands why those once attracted to Chavez might be having second thoughts.

"I keep the best memories of him close to me," Marksman said. "He's the kind of man that showers you with flowers and chocolates, serenades you with romantic songs and never forgets your birthday. People say he is a violent man, but he never raised a hand or his voice to me."

But now, she says, Chavez is a man who "disguised himself as little Red Riding Hood and turned out to be the wolf."

[Soldier4Christ]

 Venezuela supports Islamic Republic of Iran - Chavez


Chavez-Iran-Support
Venezuela's visiting President Hugo Chavez said here Friday Caracas supports the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Speaking to IRNA on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America Summit, Chavez said, "We pray to `Allah' that no war would be launched against Iran!"
The Venezuelan President added, "We believe the Iranian nation's campaign is our own nation's, and we ask the world countries to respect Iran's independence."
He concluded stressing, "We are on the side of the Iranian nation and pray for President Ahmadinejad."
The EU-Latin America-Caribbean region Countries Summit began its activities on Thursday at ministerial level in Vienna.

The invited leaders to the conference are scheduled to attend the Summit meeting on Friday evening.