News, Prophecy and other

[nChrist]

Pastor Roger Said:

'Ranger' who boasted of murdering
Iraqi civilians debunked by Army
Man claiming soldiers 'plow[ed] down entire families'
also kicked out of anti-war vet group for being fraud

Brother, I find this very interesting. I remember this story, and the damage has already been done. I would hope there are some sort of charges that can be filed against this faker. I would really be more interested to find out who paid him to make the wild accusations designed obviously to defame the elite of our Armed Forces.

The accusations made big news, but one can be almost certain that the retractions will be buried and barely mentioned.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Proverbs 22:6 NASB  Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

[Soldier4Christ]

Photo 

This one is not your own opinion?   

The above 2 postings are not my own opinion, yet are cut and pasted from a non-english communication channel.
Quit further hostilities, i'm your friend in Christ.

Any hostilities that you sense are of your own imagination and not intended by me. I was simply refuting the claim of the information that you posted as being at least partially false.

[Soldier4Christ]

Brother, I find this very interesting. I remember this story, and the damage has already been done. I would hope there are some sort of charges that can be filed against this faker. I would really be more interested to find out who paid him to make the wild accusations designed obviously to defame the elite of our Armed Forces.

The accusations made big news, but one can be almost certain that the retractions will be buried and barely mentioned.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Proverbs 22:6 NASB  Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Some states do have such laws that a person can be prosecuted under. The only federal law that applies that I am aware of is if he tried to falsify information in order to obtain benefits or gain access to restricted areas.

[Shammu]

Top Russian officials hold nuclear talks in Iran
May 28 6:22 AM US/Eastern
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Top Russian officials were holding high-level talks in Iran over the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme amid a fresh drive to find a diplomatic solution to the worsening crisis.

Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak were meeting with top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, an AFP correspondent said.

They were also lined up for talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh.

No details from the talks were immediately available, but the mission follows up on a meeting of senior officials from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- the five permanent UN Security Council members -- as well as Germany that failed to break an impasse on how to deal with Iran although progress was reported.

A follow-up meeting at the foreign ministers' level is expected to take place in the coming week. US officials said it would probably take place in a European capital.

At their meeting in London last Wednesday, the major powers discussed a European proposal aimed at breaking Iran's determination to enrich uranium, a process which can be extended from making reactor fuel to nuclear weapons.

The EU proposal would combine technology, economic and other incentives for Iran, but also the threat of an arms embargo and other sanctions if the Islamic republic defied a UN injunction to halt enrichment.

Tehran has rebuffed the EU proposal, repeating that its right to enrich uranium was not negotiable.

Both Russia and China oppose talk of sanctions against Iran, which has consistently denied US claims that its nuclear programme is a cover for the development of atomic weapons.

Last year Russia offered to produce nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf in order to ease fears Tehran would divert uranium into warheads. Talks broke down when Iran insisted uranium enrichment had to be carried out on its soil.

As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment and has vowed not to back down on nuclear research and development.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran remains firm in its position, to use nuclear technology in a peaceful and legal framework," Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in newspapers on Sunday.

"The position of Iran concerning the nuclear issue is totally legal and in the framework of the NPT," he said.

But there have been signs of compromise in the stand-off.

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, said Friday that Tehran was willing to accept a cap on its uranium enrichment capability to ensure the fuel produced is not used to develop nuclear weapons.

And the New York Times reported Saturday that President George W. Bush's administration was beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding boycott of Iran and open direct talks to try to resolve the crisis.

The United States severed relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages, and Bush in 2002 famously described Tehran as part of an "axis of evil".

Top Russian officials hold nuclear talks in Iran

My note; As we come closer, we will see more of Gog and Magog getting closer.

[Shammu]

Pope asks God why he 'tolerated' Holocaust

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 19 minutes ago

OSWIECIM, Poland - Pope Benedict XVI visited the Auschwitz concentration camp as "a son of the German people" Sunday and asked God why he remained silent during the "unprecedented mass crimes" of the Holocaust.

Benedict walked along the row of plaques at the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex's memorial, one in the language of each nationality whose members died there. As he stopped to pray, a light rain stopped and a brilliant rainbow appeared over the camp.

"To speak in this place of horror, in this place where unprecedented mass crimes were committed against God and man, is almost impossible — and it is particularly difficult and troubling for a Christian, for a pope from Germany," he said later.

"In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can be only a dread silence, a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?"

Benedict said that just as his predecessor, John Paul II visited the camp as a Pole in 1979, he came as "a son of the German people."

"The rulers of the Third Reich wanted to crush the entire Jewish people, to cancel it from the register of the peoples of the Earth," he said, standing near the demolished crematoriums where the Nazis burned the bodies of their victims.

"By destroying Israel with the Shoah, they ultimately wanted to tear up the taproot of the Christian faith and to replace it with a faith of their own invention."

Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust, during which the Nazis killed 6 million Jews.

As many as 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, died at Auschwitz and Birkenau, neighboring camps built by the German occupiers near the Polish town of Oswiecim — Auschwitz in German. Others who died there included Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma — or Gypsies, and political opponents of the Nazis.

Benedict did not refer to collective guilt by the German people but instead focused on the Nazi regime. He said he was "a son of that people over which a ring of criminals rose to power by false promises of future greatness."

He also did not mention the controversy over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII, who some say did not do all in his power to prevent Jews from being deported to concentration camps. The
Vatican rejects that accusation.

Typically, Benedict did not mention his own personal experiences during the war. Raised by his anti-Nazi father, Benedict was enrolled in the Hitler Youth as a teenager against his will and then was drafted into the German army in the last months of the war.

He wrote in his memoirs that he decided to desert in the war's last days in 1945 and returned to his home in Traunstein in Bavaria, risking summary execution if caught. In the book, he recounted his terror at being briefly stopped by two soldiers.

He was then held for several weeks as a prisoner of war by U.S. forces who occupied his hometown.

Earlier, the white-clad Benedict walked alone under the camp gate containing the notorious words: "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Sets You Free."

He stopped for a full minute before the Wall of Death, where the Nazis killed thousands of prisoners. He was handed a lighted candle, which he placed before the wall.

At the Wall of Death, a line of 32 elderly camp survivors awaited Benedict, most of them Catholic. He moved slowly down the line, stopping to talk with each, taking one woman's face in his hands and kissing one of the men on both cheeks.

Benedict then visited the dark cell in the basement of one of the buildings, the place where St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan friar, was executed after voluntarily taking the place of a condemned prisoner with a large family in 1941. Kolbe was canonized by John Paul II in 1982.

Benedict stopped to pray again in the cell, standing before a candle placed there by John Paul during his 1979 visit.

The visit is heavy with significance for Roman Catholic-Jewish relations, a favorite theme for Benedict and John Paul.

This was the third time Benedict has visited Auschwitz and the neighboring camp at Birkenau. The first was in 1979, when he accompanied John Paul, and in 1980, when he came with a group of German bishops while he was archbishop of Munich.

The visit to Auschwitz was the last stop on a four-day trip to Poland, during which Benedict has urged Poles to serve as a beacon of faith in a mostly secular Europe.

Earlier, he urged 900,000 singing, clapping Poles gathered in a rain-soaked field to share their faith with other countries, saying it was the best way to honor their beloved John Paul.

The enormous, exuberant crowd chanted "Benedetto! Benedetto!" and sang "Sto Lat," or "A Hundred Years," wishing him a long life.

"I ask you, finally, to share with the other peoples of Europe and the world the treasure of your faith, not least as a way of honoring the memory of your countryman, who, as the successor of St. Peter, did this with extraordinary power and effectiveness," Benedict said as he concluded his homily during the Mass in the Blonia meadow.

"I ask you to stand firm in your faith! Stand firm in your hope! Stand firm in your love! Amen!" he concluded, speaking in Polish on the last day of his trip.

Predominantly Roman Catholic Poland joined the European Union only two years ago, 15 years after the collapse of communist rule.

"He told us that we should remain ourselves, that we should stay as we were before, attached to our traditions and Christian values," said Jacek Radon, 37, a Krakow businessman. "We should carry into the European Union our attachment to faith and to Christ."

A shadow was cast over the papal visit by Saturday's attack on Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, who was to say Kaddish, or the Jewish prayer for the dead, during the ceremony led by the pope.

Schudrich told The Associated Press he was attacked in central Warsaw after confronting a man who shouted at him, "Poland for Poles!" The rabbi said the unidentified man punched him in the chest and sprayed him with what appeared to be pepper spray, but he was uninjured.

Police said they were treating the incident as a possible anti-Semitic attack.

Benedict, 79, has reached out to Poles by delivering parts of his speeches and homilies in Polish and by retracing beloved native son John Paul II's steps. He visited John Paul's birthplace, Wadowice, and Sunday's Mass was held on the same spot where John Paul also drew large crowds on his return trips to Krakow, where he served as archbishop.

Benedict has been applauded during his visit to Poland for encouraging prayers for John Paul's canonization as a saint and for saying he hopes it will happen "in the near future."

Kamila Wrobel, 16, rode four hours with her Catholic youth group from Debica, spent the night in the meadow and got soaking wet, but said it was worth it.

"The pope is probably in Poland for the first and last time," she said. "This is a great, great experience filled with emotion."

Pope asks God why he 'tolerated' Holocaust

[Shammu]

Thousands flee burning East Timor capital

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer 52 minutes ago

DILI, East Timor - Tens of thousands of East Timorese fled their burning capital or sought refuge in churches, embassies and the airport Sunday as gangs terrorized neighborhoods virtually at will. The United Nations evacuated hundreds of employees.

Foreign peacekeepers dispersed some militants but they quickly regrouped. The U.N. special representative in Dili said more international peacekeepers may be needed to restore order in the capital.

A week of bloodshed has killed at least 27 people, raising concerns that one of the world's youngest nations is plunging into a civil war.

A Cabinet meeting was scheduled Monday amid speculation the government may soon collapse or that parliament will be dissolved. Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has called the violence a plot to overthrow him.

On Sunday, rival gangs torched homes and battled with machetes for a third straight day, as burning fires filled the sky with dark clouds of smoke.

About 27,000 East Timorese have sought refuge at Dili's airport, seaport, religious buildings and U.N. shelters, said Robert Ashe, regional representative for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

But conditions at the tent camps were dire, with almost no sanitation. Children splashed in puddles polluted by human waste and many people had no access to food and drinking water.

Four people were killed Sunday. One was burned while trying to defend his home and the others were shot, witnesses and hospital officials said.

A mob severely beat a man they accused of hiding guns. Foreign reporters intervened and he was rushed bleeding to the hospital.

The United States, Japan, Australia and other nations pulled non-emergency staff out of
East Timor. More than 60 Filipinos were evacuated on a Philippine air force plane, and China on Monday planned to fly out nearly 200 of its citizens who had sought safety at its embassy.

The U.N. special representative to East Timor, Sukehiro Hasegawa, said goodbye to about 300 staff members being evacuated to Australia. He said more peacekeepers may be needed to end the lawlessness, and he appealed to local politicians not to fan the flames of hatred.

"They have a difference of views in how to manage the country and the (situation) is very, very fragile," he said.

Australian troops rumbled toward the sound of gunfire in armored personnel carriers Sunday but seemed to scatter combatants only briefly.

About 2,000 Australian troops were either on the ground or in transit to East Timor, the defense department said. Another 50 Australian police were promised to help contain marauding gangs.

Aquilino Soares Torres, 34, who fled to the airport with his wife, relatives and eight children, complained that the foreign troops were failing to end the conflict.

"They don't move into the neighborhoods where the violence is taking place," he said, holding a baby. "I think the situation will get worse. I am ready to leave the country with just the shirt on my back."

The unrest was triggered by the March firing of 600 disgruntled soldiers — nearly half the 1,400-member army. After staging deadly riots last month, the sacked troops fled into the hills surrounding the seaside capital. On Tuesday, they attacked troops, setting off the latest violence.

East Timor proudly declared itself independent from Indonesia in 2002, three years after a U.N.-supported referendum that triggered an orgy of violence by militias linked to the Indonesian military.

What began this year as a dispute within the country's armed forces has now spilled over to the general population, which is divided into pro-Indonesian and pro-independance camps.

Thousands flee burning East Timor capital

[Shammu]

 Turkey, Iran act to rein in Kurds
Both countries send message to U.S.-backed Iraqis: clamp down on Kurdish guerrillas or they will
By Louis Meixler
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.28.2006

ANKARA, Turkey — Hundreds of Kurds had to flee their homes in the mountain village of Razqa, Iraq, when artillery shells came whistling down from Iran early this month, blowing apart their homes and livestock.

In Turkey, meanwhile, armored personnel carriers and tanks rumble along its remote border with Iraq's Kurdish zone. Turkey has sent tens of thousands of fresh soldiers in the last few weeks to beef up an already formidable force there.

The Kurdish provinces of northern Iraq are the country's most stable and prosperous area. But to neighboring Iran and Turkey, both with large Kurdish minorities, they are something else: an inspiration and a support base for the Kurdish militants in their own countries.

So Iran and Turkey are sending troops, tanks and artillery to the frontier to seal off the borders and send a message: If the U.S.-backed Iraqi government doesn't clamp down on Kurdish guerrillas who use Iraq as a base, they could do it themselves.

That has left the United States in a quandary. If U.S. forces take action, they risk alienating Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-American group in the region. And if they don't, they risk increased tensions — and possibly worse — with two powerful rivals.

Just listen to Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

"We would not hesitate to take every kind of measures when our security is at stake," Gul said when asked whether Turkish troops might cross into Iraq. "The United States best understands Turkey's position. Everybody knows what they can do when they feel their security is threatened."

Iran's artillery barrages could be warning shots, a crackdown on Kurdish guerrillas now as a factor in the wrangling with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.

Kurds, who make up 14 percent of Iran's population, have long complained of discrimination in Iran. Iraq's Kurds backed the U.S. invasion of their country. Would the Kurds of Iran take the American side if tensions escalated there?

"The Iranians are clearly very concerned over the mobilization of their own Kurdish minority," said Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at Queen Mary College, University of London.

And Tehran may also be flexing its muscles to remind the United States that it shares a long border with Iraq and could cause serious problems there for the United States.

The Iranians' policy is to warn that "we have the potential to run you out of Iraq if you don't give us some slack over the nuclear issue," Dodge said.

The traditional Kurdish region spans Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, and the guerrillas are based in a mountain range of northern Iraq that stretches into Turkey and Iran. They seem determined to keep up their decades-long struggle.

Kurdish guerrillas of the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PEJAK, have called on Kurds in western Iran to begin a campaign of civil disobedience. In clashes with Iranian security forces last year, dozens of PEJAK fighters and about a dozen Iranian soldiers were killed, according to official Iranian reports.
This year, more than a dozen members of Turkish security forces in southern Turkey have been killed fighting Kurdish guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is closely allied with PEJAK.
After Iran shelled a village used by Kurdish guerrillas, the PKK warned that it was "capable of responding to these attacks with more strength then ever."

The attacks, which heat up in the spring when snow-covered mountain passes clear, have led to the military buildups along the borders. Turkey and Iran have both rushed tens of thousands of troops to the area.

Iran has twice shelled Iraqi Kurdish villages believed to be harboring PKK militants.

As the Iranians bombarded Razqa on May 1, hundreds of people fled. The shelling killed some farm animals but there were no reports of human casualties. Several homes could be seen severely damaged and holes from shells cratered the streets.

Olla Hamad, a villager, said most of the guerrillas are hiding in the mountains.

"PKK militants do not care about the bombings," he said, pointing toward the heights near the village. "They hide in safe rocky places in the mountains."

Turkish officials have hinted to the United States that they are considering a large-scale military operation across the border.

In a visit to Turkey in late April, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned against any major strike.
"We want anything we do to contribute to stability in Iraq and not to threaten that stability or to make a difficult situation worse," Rice said at a news conference with Gul.

Some analysts say that besides sealing off their borders to the guerrillas, both Iran and Turkey may be trying to intimidate Iraqi Kurds. The Iranians and Turks fear Kurdish success in creating an autonomous region in northern Iraq, and that the prosperity of their enclave could encourage their own Kurdish minorities.

"The Iranians and the Turks do not want a free Kurdistan there," said Nazmi Gur, vice president of Turkey's pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party. "They are saying to the Kurds, 'We are here.' "

Turkey, Iran act to rein in Kurds

[Shammu]

Concerns Increase Over Da Vinci's Impact in Arab World
The Da Vinci Code is hitting box office records around the world, and while Christians worry over believers changing their religious views by the film's alleged facts, some place major concerns on the film reinforcing widely held misconceptions.

Posted: Saturday, May 27 , 2006, 10:29 (GMT)
The Da Vinci Code is hitting box office records around the world, and while Christians worry over believers changing their religious views by the film's alleged facts, some place major concerns on the film reinforcing widely held misconceptions in the Arab world.

"Many non-Christians in the region have been told that the Bible is unreliable, but they have never had a chance to examine the evidence or even read a Bible themselves," said David Harder, SAT-7's Communications Manager, in a released statement.

"This creates a great deal of misunderstanding and false propaganda in the Arab world, such as the commonly held notion that Christ never claimed to be God, and that only in later years did his followers upgrade him to deity.

“This is despite the fact that in the Gospels Jesus clearly claimed to be God and also the historical fact that the very first Christians were worshiping Christ as God. Additionally, because the majority of non-Christians in the Middle East have never had a chance to look at the historical documentation, many believe that Christians are hiding the 'true teachings' of Jesus and have instead given the world a false and corrupted Bible."

Over the past decades, the number of people who profess belief in the literal Bible has dropped by 10 percent with only 3 out of 10 believing in the Bible, word for word, according to a recent Gallup poll.

As much 17 percent of Hispanics who have read The Da Vinci Code have altered their views on Christianity and an estimated 2 million Americans said they changed any of their religious beliefs because of the book's content, according to sample survey conducted by The Barna Group.

Such numbers were reported in a country that is overwhelmingly Christian. Christians only make up a minor part of Arab populations and a majority of non-Christians in the Middle East have not been exposed to historical Christian teachings or already have doubts of the Bible as truth. Christians, therefore, fear The Da Vinci Code could further add to those doubts.

SAT-7, an Arabic Christian Television Service soon to celebrate its 10th anniversary, announced that it will broadcast in Arabic two films – Jesus: Divine or DaVinci? A Biblical Response to The DaVinci Code by Crown Video, and The DaVinci Code Deception by Grizzly Adams Productions – refuting the theological questions posed by Dan Brown's bestselling novel.

"One of SAT-7's primary goals is to give an accurate presentation of the gospel, including the absolute truth of the Bible," said Debbie Brink, SAT-7's USA Executive Director. "We hope our channel will help to dispel the myth that Christians are trying to hide the truth, and instead want everyone to know the truth and that truth lies in the person of Jesus Christ.

The broadcasts will run beginning late May through June.

SAT-7's popular issues program Hot Topics will also devote a full episode to discuss The Da Vinci Code with guests including Arabic Christian scholars.

"We hope these programs will give Arab Christians living in the region tools they need to discuss with their friends and neighbours what the Bible actually teaches, and help them demonstrate the historical reliability of the New Testament and the beliefs of the early Church," said Terence Ascott, SAT-7 CEO.

"In addition to pointing out the many factual errors in The Da Vinci Code these films can start a dialogue which will help the majority population better understand what Arab Christians truly believe."

The Arabic Christian organisation noted the book's ban from many Arab nations along with the film. The movie will, however, be shown in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Although banned in many countries, SAT-7 pointed out that censoring the film could increase interest in the content and encourage them to purchase black market DVDs that become quickly available in most Arab nations after a Hollywood premier.

Concerns Increase Over Da Vinci's Impact in Arab World

[Shammu]

Top Russian official due in Iran
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    May. 26, 2006

A top Russian diplomat is to visit Teheran on Saturday to discuss incentives to be offered to Iran as a reward if it suspends uranium enrichment, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak will accompany a delegation led by the chief of Russia's Security Council, Igor Ivanov, ITAR-Tass quoted a Russian diplomat as saying. They will holds talks with officials including Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.

"The Teheran meeting will focus on the proposals for incentives which Iran will enjoy if it stops uranium enrichment." said the diplomat. The Russian Foreign Ministry could not be contacted for confirmation.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov reiterated Moscow's commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, local news agencies reported.

"If there are no extraordinary circumstances, it (the contract) will without doubt be fulfilled," Ivanov was quoted as saying.

Defense Ministry officials have previously said Moscow will supply 29 sophisticated Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran under a $700 million (565 million Euros) contract, according to Russian media reports.

The move was likely to upset the United States which last month called on all countries to stop all arms exports to Iran and to end all nuclear cooperation with it to put pressure on Tehran to halt uranium enrichment activities.

Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the United States and some of its allies suspect Iran is trying to develop weapons.

Ivanov sought to dispel possible criticism of Russia's moves, stressing that Moscow was following international weapons regulations.

"As far as Russia's position is concerned, we strictly abide by all nonproliferation regimes, and when we hear reproaches that Russia is secretly helping Iran - it is just propaganda," the Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying. He did not specify what the reproaches were.

Top Russian official due in Iran

[twobombs]

Ok, no offense taken. The problem with typing messages over the internet is that one cannot perceive the non-verbal signals that come with the message. Smilies are perhaps a poor substitute for the lack of it.
Kind regards,
2B

[Shammu]

Iran says won't move all atomic work to Russia
Mon May 29, 2006 8:26am ET16
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TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had no intention of moving all of its uranium enrichment work to Russia to allay the international community's fears that it could use nuclear fuel technology to make atomic bombs.

Western countries say the only way Iran can prove it is not seeking a bomb is for it to stop enriching uranium. But the Islamic Republic insists it has every right to turn the uranium ore mined in its central deserts into nuclear reactor fuel.

"There is no discussion about plans to give up enrichment on our soil and it is a wrong argument that the enrichment should be done in Russia," said government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham.

"Enrichment in Iran ... will continue," he told a weekly news conference.

A Russian offer to enrich uranium on Iran's behalf has made little progress with Tehran saying it would be willing to pass some but not all of its fuel work over to Moscow.

Igor Ivanov, Secretary of Russia's Security Council, held talks with senior Iranian officials in Tehran on Sunday.

But there was no sign of a breakthrough with Iran's Supreme National Security Council issuing a statement to say that the two sides had agreed to continue talking.

"The general approach is that Iran's case should remain in the (International Atomic Energy) Agency and if it does so all international and legal supervisions will continue and that is in everyone's interest," Elham added.

Iran's case has been referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Tehran says it is developing a nuclear program that will produce electricity, not bombs.

Angered by its referral to the world body, Tehran stopped allowing snap U.N. checks of its atomic facilities.

Russia, a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, has criticized Iran for enriching uranium in defiance of the world body. However, it has some important energy ties with Iran and opposes the use of sanctions against Tehran.

Russia is helping Iran build its first atomic power station at the Gulf port of Bushehr and is interested in further nuclear co-operation. Russia's LUKOIL is exploring the Anaran oilfield in the world's fourth biggest crude producer.

Iran says won't move all atomic work to Russia

[Shammu]

World powers ready to guarantee Iran's right to nuclear energy: Russia
May 29 5:00 AM US/Eastern
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The world's major powers are ready to guarantee Iran's right to develop nuclear energy provided Tehran cooperates fully with the UN nuclear safety agency, Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying here.

"We are prepared to guarantee Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy on the condition that it answers the questions that the IAEA has raised," Interfax and ITAR-TASS news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying, referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Lavrov said representatives of the five permanent UN Security Council countries along with Germany were talking this week about formulating a basis for resumption of negotiation with Iran over controls on its nuclear activities.

The United States accuses Iran of pursuing plans to build nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program which is being developed with Russia's help.

Iran denies this, while Moscow has stressed that Tehran's nuclear work must remain strictly for energy.

"We are ready and mutually interested in drawing Iran into full economic cooperation as well as in cooperation in regional security," Lavrov said as he met in Moscow with the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Any guarantees to Iran would be contingent on Tehran's full compliance with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and within the guidelines of the IAEA, the Russian minister said.

His comments came at the start of a crucial week of international diplomacy among senior diplomats of the world's leading powers.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia -- will join Germany on Tuesday in a teleconference among political directors of their respective foreign ministries.

They will try work out a package of incentives and dissuasive measures aimed at persuading Iran to renounce some of its most sensitive nuclear work. The six nations' foreign ministers would then meet to finalize that proposal, possibly somewhere in Europe by the end of the week.

As Lavrov spoke, Iran again vowed to press on with uranium enrichment despite international community calls to stop the sensitive nuclear work.

"Enrichment will continue on Iranian territory within the framework of Iran's peaceful nuclear programme and the IAEA," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters in Tehran.

"The information that Iran would quit uranium enrichment on its soil and transfer it to Russia is not correct," he said.

On Sunday Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak held a series of meetings with top Iranian officials led by Ali Larijani, Tehran's top negotiator.

Russia has been offering to produce nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf in order to ease fears Tehran would divert its enrichment programme to making warheads.

World powers ready to guarantee Iran's right to nuclear energy: Russia

My note; Is anyone else seeing a pattern here?

[Shammu]

China, India pledge to deepen military exchanges

Mon May 29, 9:27 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - China and India pledged on Monday to deepen military exchanges during a visit by Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the latest sign of warming relations between the neighbors and one-time foes.

China's Defense Minister Cao Guangchuan said China supported greater cooperation with India, the official Xinhua news agency reported, following talks between the two. It did not give any details.

The world's most populous nations, China and India fought a border war in 1962, and Delhi has been suspicious of China's traditionally close ties with its South Asian rival, Pakistan.

But last year they agreed on a roadmap to settle the dispute over their 3,500-km (2,200-mile) border politically and relations have been warming as economic ties grow, with trade between the two more than $13 billion annually.

Since arriving in China on Sunday, Mukherjee has also met Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, who said the two sides would "push forward the all-around deeper development of the two countries' strategic and cooperative relations," in a statement on the Foreign Ministry's Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).

Mukherjee would also meet Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman Guo Boxiong, as well as travel to Shanghai and the northwestern city of Lanzhou before leaving on Friday.

China, India pledge to deepen military exchanges

[Shammu]

The Muslim voice gets stronger

Prakash Patra

May 29, 2006
         
Muslim politics in India is at a crossroads. The clerics (ulema), whose writ was supposed to be confined within the social structure, are becoming increasingly more assertive in the political arena.

In Assam, a Mumbai-based perfume trader with no political background but who had the backing of the clergy, plunged into politics and managed to corner 10 seats. His successful foray into politics denied the Congress a simple majority in the state. Thus, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, better known for the style in which he wears his turban, has suddenly become a key character in Assam politics.

In Kerala, even the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front was blatant in playing to the Muslim community’s sentiments. It didn’t hesitate to espouse the cause of Abdul Nasser Madani — languishing in jail for his involvement in the Coimbatore blasts that left more than 50 persons dead. The Congress too did not lag behind in appealing to minority sentiments. The most literate state saw poll posters in Arabic.

Uttar Pradesh will witness the mother of all electoral battles early next year. Here, a section of powerful clerics has floated its own political outfit — the the People’s Democratic Front (PDF). “If the 7 per cent of Yadavs can rule UP, why can’t 23 per cent Muslims?” asks Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad who heads the PDF, essentially an umbrella organisation of a number of Islamic outfits. This is a genuine question and is being asked in a state where backward caste leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, often described as Maulana Mulayam by Hindu fundamentalists, is ruling the state. Yadav sustains his political clout by way of the formidable electoral combination of Muslims and Yadavs in UP. His concession to fundamentalists is evident in the fact that he has a minister in his Cabinet, Yaqoob Qureishi, who made it to the headlines with his blatant offer of Rs 51 crore for the ‘head of the man’ who drew the Prophet’s cartoon.

Maulana Kalbe Jawad’s confidence in floating the PDF stems from the perception that there is a underlying deep resentment in the minority community. Considering the huge response that the anti-Bush rally had in Delhi and the anger expressed by the community over the cartoon issue, Kalbe Jawad feels that his PDF would be able to translate these sentiments into votes and be in a position to determine future electoral politics in the Hindi heartland.

What we are witnessing is the fragmentation of political movements across the country on the lines of caste, region and religion. People are losing faith in the ability, or willingness, of the major political parties to provide a platform where people with diverse aspirations can resolve their grievances. After the growth of a string of regional parties and the political assertiveness of a section of the Hindu community through the BJP, it is now the turn of the Muslim community to throw up some leaders who will strike out on a separate political course.

For a long time after Independence , the Muslim community remained content to allow the Congress to represent and in fact, appropriate, its political voice. Given the fact that there was a virtual single-party dominance on the political scene, there was hardly any scope or space for a splintering of the Muslim (or virtually any other) political identity. Organisations like the Muslim League remained largely marginal players in the political arena. The Congress too was adept in embracing the moderate Muslim persona into its character, even while taking care not to offend the more hardline clerics who held tight sway among the larger Muslim populace.

But, in the last decade or so, the world has changed. The rise of the BJP and the growing clout of the Sangh parivar and its loony fringe has raised the apprehensions of the Muslim community. The Islamophobia that besieged the global scene post-9/11 has had a definite effect in bringing the Muslim ummah, worldwide, into a tighter bind. Indian Muslims have traditionally never been part of the overt global pan-Islamic expression. But at a time when the war of ideologies is being fought on the basis of religious symbols to an extent, Indian Muslims can’t be expected to remain emotionally untouched by what is obviously perceived as the near-persecution of their co-religionists elsewhere in the world.

It is at this juncture that Indian Muslims feel the need for a voice that will articulate their concerns and needs. The issue is not only about the under-development of large sections of Muslims in India or their under-representation in jobs or anything as tangible or obvious as that. The issue is simply about an assertion of identity, about having a bearing and being significant. A group of clerics calling on the Prime Minister, seeking job reservation for backward Muslims, shows not only the attempt to adopt what is seen as the advantages of asserting a group identity. It also shows that they’ll use traditional bargaining tactics to claim advantage.

Now, for a variety of reasons, the Congress is no longer seen as a party that can effectively do this. Just as the regional parties were born — and prospered thereafter — as a result of   the Congress’ failure to adequately capture and represent the disparate needs of different groups, the yet-nascent Muslim political formations too are growing and are likely to flower in what is a political vacuum as far as the interests of the Muslim community is concerned.

It is certainly not at all a healthy sign to witness clerics entering politics. At the same time, we did see mahants and sadhus entering Parliament and assemblies to espouse the Hindutva cause? If caste is a reality, as we have been led to accept by successive political establishments, religion is a bigger and far more basic reality.

It remains to be seen what electoral impact the PDF will have in UP. But it will certainly be good news for the BJP. Hindu communalism and Muslim communalism are two sides of the same coin. The developments in UP will certainly give a boost to the BJP which is groping in the dark for issues. And the more assertive the clerics get, the more the BJP  stands to benefit. After all, there’s no denying the fact that the emergence of one Badruddin in Assam could help the party retain its tally in Assam!

Whether the national parties have at all woken up to the implications of the emergence of a distinct Muslim political voice is unclear. Clearly, the old strategy of assimilation is not going to work this time. Badruddin’s remarkable debut in Assam is but a wake-up call.

The Muslim voice gets stronger

[Soldier4Christ]

Iran missile transfer puts most Israelis in range
Move against major population centers follows report of nuke-sites hit 'within year'


JERUSALEM – Iran has equipped the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terror group with missiles capable of striking all of Israel's major population centers, doubling the terror group's firing range, it was revealed yesterday.

The move coincides with a WND report last week quoting top Lebanese political sources stating Iran estimates Israel will strike Tehran's nuclear facilities within a year. The sources said Iran has been planning retaliatory attacks against American, British and Israeli regional interests, including shipping arms to Hezbollah.

Israeli defense officials said Iran recently provided Hezbollah with the long-range rockets, which are capable of hitting targets up to 125 miles away, putting Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Be'er Sheva, the capital of the Israeli Negev, within range of Hezbollah's outposts at Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

The new missiles, reportedly produced inside Iran, are propelled by solid-fuel, making them more mobile then their liquid fuel counterparts. At launch, they weigh about 3.5 tons. The missiles lack a guidance system, but military officials said they can cause considerable damage.

The projectiles have been referred to by Iranian military leaders and Hezbollah members by different names, including "Zelzal" and "Nazeat" rockets. They were originally seen publicly at a military parade in Tehran in September, 2005, the first such event following the election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad one month prior.

The latest Iranian rocket transfer more than doubles Hezbollah's missile capabilities. According to Israeli security officials, Iran has in the past supplied the Lebanese group with various versions of the Fajr rocket, the most advanced of which can travel about 45 miles. Syria reportedly gave Hezbollah rockets of their own make, with a range believed to be about 20 miles. Hezbollah has not fired either rocket.

Hezbollah also is known to maintain a large arsenal of Katyusha rockets, shorter-range missiles it has fired at Israel several times, including this past weekend.

Israeli defense officials see the rocket transfer as an Iranian attempt to boost its strategic options against the Jewish state, particularly in light of Tehran's growing nuclear ambitions and fears the international community will try to halt its nuclear program. They said the rockets are meant to be aimed by Hezbollah at non-specific areas, including possibly major Israeli population centers.

"Hezbollah is a wing of the Iranian effort to create a frontline against the West," Israeli Defense Forces Colonel Gal Hirsch said yesterday. Hirsch has been stationed along Israel's northern border with Lebanon. He said in recent weeks he has seen a strong presence of Iranian Revolutionary Guard units at Hezbollah positions.

Sources: Iran believes Israel to strike within year

Last week WND reported Iran estimates Israel will strike Tehran's nuclear facilities within a year, according to senior Lebanese political sources.

The sources, speaking to WorldNetDaily on condition of anonymity, said Iran believes Israel has been practicing raids in Kurdish regions of Iraq, a report Israel denies. They said Tehran has held a series of meetings with leaders of Hezbollah about attacking the Jewish state in the event of any Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear sites.

The Lebanese political sources said while Iran is expecting lone Israeli military action, Iranian intelligence estimates the Jewish state is coordinating a planned attack with the U.S.

"The Iranians currently are operating under the working assumption that Israel is going to strike in less than a year and that this strike is highly coordinated with America," said a senior Lebanese politician.

Officially, Israel denies it is planning military action against Iran. Israeli leaders regularly call Iran a "world problem" and urge the international community to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions through diplomacy and the threat of economic sanctions.