Dec. 14….(FOJ) Working in the engineering field, I often come across engineering related magazines. This month I came across the December issue of Homeland Security. In it was several items detailing the networking of security ideas between Israel and America. I was drawn to an article from the US Coast Guard about their efforts to interrupt shipping containers to the US. It detailed how Homeland Security is attempting to “push out” our borders by preempting suspicious cargo abroad before it arrives at American ports. The article conveyed that 75% of the US population lives within 100 miles of a coast. (219,250,000 Americans live near coastal areas) The word “coasts” is mentioned quite often in Bible Prophecy, and it usually refers to an end-times nation of people that lives luxuriously and without fear near coastal areas. Ironically, Ezekiel conveys that in the days when Magog leads a coalition of nations against Israel, that a fire will also fall up on the nation that dwells securely in the isles. The word isles in also translated as meaning, “those who dwell near coasts”. (Ezekiel 39:6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord.) Jeremiah 25:22 defines these coastal people as also being a nation that is beyond the sea. (the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea) Could this be a prophecy concerning the United States? I believe there is a connection, and soon (January-February, 05) FOJ will post its expose on Ezekiel 38 and 39 (Expose on Ezekiel 38/39) detailing this coastal connection and the timing of the Magog invasion of the Middle East. The following article also reveals that the great Russian coalition against Israel may well have its coordination plotted in timing with the invasion of the Kings from the East. (China) If so, it shows you how close we may well be to the Tribulation era. Given the fact that Iran (Persia) is already flaunting its venom towards Israel and developing nuclear weapons, can Russia be far behind on the Ezekiel stage?

Dec. 14….(FOJ) China and Russia will hold their first joint military exercise next year, the Chinese government said Monday, as President Hu Jintao called for an expansion of the rapidly growing alliance between the former Cold War rivals. The announcement came during a visit to Beijing by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was expected to discuss expanding the Kremlin's multibillion-dollar annual arms sales to China. The exercises are to take place on Chinese territory, the official China News Service said. But that report and other government statements didn't say when they would take place or what forces would be involved. "We want to promote the development of the two countries' strategic collaborative relationship (FOJ Note: The Russia-China relationship is a counter strategy to US preeminence in the Middle East and will become a significant factor in the Armageddon scenario to counter the movements of the empire of the Antichrist) in order to safeguard and promote regional and world peace," CNS quoted Hu as telling Ivanov. Beijing and Moscow have built up military and political ties since the Soviet collapse in 1991, driven in part by joint desire to counterbalance US global dominance. They are partners of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, formed to combat what they consider the common threat of Islamic extremism and separatism. The other members are the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (FOJ Note: these nations represent Togarmah of Ezekeil 38:6) The announcement of military exercises comes two months after Beijing and Moscow settled the last of their decades-old border disputes that led to violent clashes in the 1960s and '70s. The agreement was signed during an October trip to Beijing by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said relations had reached "unparalleled heights." That visit also produced a pact to jointly develop Russian energy resources, an urgent issue for Beijing, which is trying to avert fuel shortages in its booming economy. The frontier where at one point 700,000 Soviet troops faced 1 million Chinese soldiers is now a bustling cross-border market. China has become the Russian arms industry's No. 1 customer, and is expected to buy $2 billion in weapons this year. Russia is a key supplier for the Chinese military's effort to modernize its arsenal and back up frequent threats to invade Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory. The United States and the European Union have banned weapons sales to China since its bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. But Moscow has supplied Beijing with high-performance Su-27 fighters and other top-of-the-line arms.

Dec. 13….(MENL) The US Defense Department was said to have completed simulated war games to determine the feasibility of destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program. The Atlantic Monthly magazine reported in its latest issue that the Pentagon held simulations of a US military strike on Iranian bases and nuclear facilities. The magazine said the recent war games also included a ground invasion of Iran. The simulation envisioned a three-phase war against the Islamic republic. The first phase was composed of air strikes against bases of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, believed to control Iran's nuclear and missile programs. US intelligence sources were quoted as saying that such a strike would require one day and comprised the easiest part of any military campaign.

Dec. 13….(Ha Aretz) Former US president Bill Clinton has called on the world to help the Palestinian leaders who will be chosen in elections next month make peace with Israel, build their economy and fight crime and terrorism. There are many extraordinary leaders among the Palestinians. But they are beginning a long journey and they need our support," Clinton said as regional and international leaders met to discuss the challenges facing the Middle East. Yasser Arafat's death last month has been seized on by many observers as an opportunity to advance the long stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process. The Americans, who along with the United Nations, the European Union and Russia are the main sponsors of the roadmap to Middle East peace, had argued they could not trust Arafat as a negotiating partner. Israel had also refused to deal with Arafat. Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United Kingdom, was pessimistic, saying that he believed any opportunity Arafat's death may have created for progress in Middle East peace talks was offset by America's pro-Israeli stance. "As long as the world remains passive and America remains a strong supporter of Israel that offers any form of support requested, and accepts anything from any prime minister of Israel regardless of his or her extremism, then Israel will never seek to compromise or to reach a settlement," the prince said in what appeared to be the first official Saudi assessment of post-Arafat prospects for peace. The Saudis can lend important weight to any possible settlement because of both their wealth and their status as guardians of Islam's holiest sites. Clinton has close experience with the difficulties of Middle East peacemaking. He has said Arafat "missed an opportunity" for a settlement at Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that the former president convened at Camp David in 2000. Clinton siad he believed America "has to balance our spending on security with investment and economic and human development, especially in Gaza and the West Bank, to facilitate not only the peace process but in order to secure the success of a Palestinian State.

FOJ Note: Have you ever noticed how hard it is to get rid of some people? Usually, former Presidents fade with dignity into the sunset of life, and leave the complexity of current world issues to the successors of the US Presidency. But for whatever reason, Bill Clinton, and his fellow globalist ideologues just won’t shutup and let the current President be President. This weekend alone, I watched CNN parade Jimmy Carter on camera to voice his displeasure with President Bush. Then, another network had Brent Scowcroft and Zibigniev Brezinski on and they each lent their voices to discrediting the Bush Administration, even going so far as to label him as a mere puppet of Ariel Sharon. Mr. Scrowcroft even said the Israeli Prime Minister had the President tied around his thumb. Later, Carter added that Ariel Sharon had no intention of relinquishing area in the West Bank, and that President Bush was nothing more than Sharon’s little lapdog.

Dec. 13….(International Herald tribune) Despite a renewed American effort to repair relations with Europe, a disagreement between the Bush Administration and European leaders over how best to persuade Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program has deepened in recent weeks, diplomats on both sides say. The diplomats said the disagreement focused on what Europeans maintained was the crucial next step in their drive to persuade Iran to move beyond its recently agreed upon voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment activities to the point of abandoning them outright. Envoys from Britain, France and Germany gained Iran's agreement to suspend a vital part of its nuclear program last month. The accord was later endorsed by the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear monitoring agency. Both the European and Iranian officials who negotiated the accord said it was voluntary and temporary. Permanent cessation is subject to further talks in which economic and political benefits for Iran are to be discussed. But in recent interviews, European diplomats said that to gain a permanent cessation, the Bush Administration must participate in talks with Iran and signal a willingness to be a part of an eventual final accord involving economic incentives and a discussion of security guarantees for Iran.
"We have a deal with Iran that is not perfect," said a European diplomat. "We have to develop it into a permanent suspension. We will not obtain a comprehensive deal on Iran without the United States." A diplomat from a different European country said the "biggest carrot" that could be offered Iran would be a discussion about an eventual normalization of relations with the United States, including possible guarantees that Iran would not be attacked or subverted. A senior US official said the administration was "deeply worried" about the entire European approach because it could lull the United States into a false sense of security. Any such deal, he said, could easily be subverted or circumvented, much as North Korea did after it agreed in 1994 to freeze its production of weapons-grade fuel at one reactor, only to renege on the accord and embark on what the United States charges is a plan to produce weapons-grade fuel at another, clandestine location. Another senior administration official said there was also no confidence within the administration in the ability of the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor Iran's compliance even with the accord hammered out by the Europeans. European diplomats, responding to these criticisms, said that while their deal with Iran was flawed, it represented the best hope for reaching an accord that would be accepted by the rest of the world, particularly Russia and China, two players with economic ties to Iran.
To some US officials, the European attitude may be well intentioned but also naive and based on a fundamental misreading of Iran's intentions. What is needed, they contend, is a unified willingness to demand action and to threaten sanctions against Iran. Bush administration officials add that while bombing Iranian nuclear sites or taking other sorts of military action are not being contemplated now, they are not ruled out for the future.
"What is needed," he said, "is for the entire international community, the Europeans, the Chinese, and the Russians to join the United States, to tell the Iranians to make a deal on this or face the consequences. US officials say, however, they are suspicious of any partial deals that do not encompass an end to Iran's support of insurgents in Iraq and to groups that carry out attacks on Israeli citizens, including Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and militant factions within the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Dec. 13….(My Way) The Bush Administration has stepped up pressure on International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei to leave his post, amid reports that US officials were scrutinizing his telephone calls with Iranian diplomats. The White House reiterated its support for a term-limit for UN organization chiefs that would require the 62-year-old Egyptian diplomat to step down as head the IAEA when his second term expires next year. "The United States government has always supported the policy that heads of UN organizations should stay no more than two terms," said White House spokeswoman Suzy DeFrancis. She was responding to a Washington Post report that US officials were combing through intercepted phone conversations between ElBaradei and Iranian diplomats for evidence of missteps that could be used to force his ouster. DeFrancis declined to respond to accusations of eavesdropping, saying she could not comment on intelligence matters. ElBaradei, who has run the UN watchdog agency since 1997, angered members of the Bush administration by questioning US intelligence on Iraq and later by adopting a cautious approach to Iran's nuclear program. Some Administration insiders believe the telephone conversations show ElBaradei lacks impartiality because he tried to help Iran to navigate a diplomatic crisis over its nuclear programs. The United States accuses Tehran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons under cover of its atomic energy program.

Dec. 13….(Jerusalem Post) The US hopes that Iran will follow Libya's lead in abandoning its nuclear program, but nobody should rule out the possibility of military action against Teheran's nuclear sites if it does not, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview. Feith stated that the US is now concentrating on "a process to try to get the existing international legal mechanisms, the nonproliferation treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency, to work, to bring the kind of pressure to bear on Iran that would induce the Iranians to follow the path that Libya took in deciding that they were actually better off in abandoning their WMD [weapons of mass destruction] programs." Feith stressed that the Americans are interested in seeing whether the suspension of uranium-enrichment activities that the Iranians agreed to last month in a deal with France, Germany and Britain "can get turned into a permanent abandonment." But strikingly, whereas British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw last month ruled out any possibility of military action against Iranian nuclear sites should the diplomatic path lead to failure, Feith said that "I don't think that anybody should be ruling in or ruling out anything while we are conducting diplomacy." In the wide-ranging interview conducted on Friday, Feith, told the Post that democratic reform of the Arab world, including in US-allied Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, will be the linchpin of Bush's foreign policy in the next four years. He was speaking a day before outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell told a conference of Islamic leaders in Morocco that the Arab world had to implement political and economic reform and stop "pointing to the deadlocked Middle East peace process as a pretext for delay." Feith recalled that "the president has said over and over again that he believes that the world will be a better place, there will be a better treatment of people and there will be a more secure international environment if there is a development of representative, democratic-type institutions in the Middle East." The undersecretary said he saw signs that Bush's democratization platform was having an effect on the public discussion now taking place in countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan about democracy, dialogue that barely existed before Bush began discussing the issue in 2002. As a principal architect of the US war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan, Feith is one of the most controversial members of the Bush administration. Disliked in liberal circles in the US and internationally, Feith, a staunch supporter of Israel, began his government career in 1981 as an assistant to Soviet expert Richard Pipes at the US National Security Council in the Reagan administration. In that position, as he does today for the Middle East, Feith advocated the advancement of the cause of democracy and human rights in the former Soviet bloc as a means of bringing about the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Dec. 13….(FOJ) The UN is broke, ineffective and corrupt. It is nothing but an international stage for stabbing America in the back, and does so with America’s own money. Such exasperation with the UN, while a recurring theme, is on the rise in Congress again, where a growing chorus has been calling for Mr. Annan's resignation. Last week 19 members of Congress sponsored a resolution calling for Mr. Annan's departure over the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq. That followed on the heels of another resignation demand from Sen. Norm Coleman (R) of Minnesota, who heads a separate congressional investigation into growing evidence of fraud and corruption in the multibillion-dollar program. The program was designed to supervise what were supposed to be limited sales of oil by Saddam Hussein's Iraq in exchange for food and medicine. Some Republicans are even calling for the US to withhold its UN dues, a favored tactic of anti-UN forces, unless the international body provides proof of full cooperation with oil-for-food investigations. So far estimates indicate that Anan overlooked a UN fraud scheme of Iraqi oil sales reaching up to $20 billion, what the conservative National Review calls "the largest corruption scandal in the history of the world." That alone, critics say, is sufficient cause for Annan to resign as the UN Secretary General. While Anan maintains that he was ignorant of the Iraqi oil for food scandal, it seems ironic that his policy regarding Iraq was that Saddam should have remained in power, and that America’s war-on-terror into Iraq is by UN definition an illegal action. Last week, the nations of the world (many of whom profiteered under the UN oil-for-food scandal) clapped their hands in support of Mr. Anan in a show of support against the United States. It was an obvious display of anti-Americanism!

WEEK OF DECEMBER 6 THROUGH DECEMBER 12

 

Alabama’s Judge Moore Calls America Back to God’s Law

FOJ Note: Former Alabama Chief Justice, Roy Moore is absolutely right in his treatise on the Ten Commandments, and his call for America to regain its sensitivity to God’s Natural Law is a fundamental stepping stone to returning America back to the one true God. If America’s judicial war is lost, the hope for the American cultural war is also lost. Barring another miraculous move of the Holy Spirit on the scope of the Great American Awakening during the 1700’s, America will continue down the slippery slope of hedonism.

Dec. 10….(Times Daily) Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has weighed in on a Ten Commandments case before the US Supreme Court, urging the justices in a legal brief to acknowledge God as the source of all laws. Justices are expected to hear arguments early next year from two Kentucky counties that contend they should be able to display the Ten Commandments in their courthouses as a way to educate the public about history and celebrate the country's heritage. In his brief, Judge Moore said the request doesn't go far enough and that critics of the Ten Commandments have undercut the First Amendment through "ad hoc judicial gerrymandering." Judge Moore argues that God is the intrinsic source of all laws, dating back to the nation's founding documents, and that no further explanations or excuses for displaying the Commandments are needed. "You can't reach the right result if you base it on the wrong premise," Moore said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. "If the premise is you can do something as long as you surround it with enough premise that it's meaningless, then you've defeated the whole purpose of the Ten Commandments."

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said he expected the court would largely ignore Moore's brief regardless of which way it rules. "Roy Moore's legal arguments are so far out that they will have absolutely no effect on this case," Lynn said. "His view has already been rejected on multiple occasions." On Wednesday, the Bush Administration also announced its support for the two Kentucky counties to be able to display the Ten Commandments on government property. The American Civil Liberties Union won its lawsuit against McCreary and Pulaski counties in lower court, claiming the displays represented an unconstitutional promotion of religion. The counties added other documents, such as the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence, after the ACLU challenged the courthouse displays. The Supreme Court has banned the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, but the Bush Administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Paul Clement, argued that courthouses should be different because they are "historic symbols of law." Moore says both sides in the case are missing the point. "They want to keep the Ten Commandments as a historic symbol, but they're willing to sacrifice the fact that our nation was based on belief in God, and in his law." "The acknowledgment of God is not foreign or forbidden by the US Constitution. That's the whole point."

 

Nobel Peace Prize Judges Stand by Arafat

Dec. 10….(Jerusalem Post) Exactly 10 years after Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, members of the Norwegian awards committee are adamant that they made the right choice, and that the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, rather than Palestinian terrorism, was the prime factor in the collapse of the Oslo process. On the eve of today's 2004 award ceremony, four of the five Norwegian Nobel Committee members, including the chairman and his deputy, as well as the committee's permanent secretary, contacted by the Post, said they still consider Arafat to have been a worthy peace-prize winner. The other committee member, whom The Jerusalem Post was unable to reach, has previously expressed disappointment in Shimon Peres's post-1994 support for the policies of Ariel Sharon and issued no reported criticisms of Arafat. By contrast, Kaare Kristiansen, who resigned from the committee in protest against the award to Arafat, told the Post he is "more convinced than ever that I did the right thing," and that "in their hearts" his former colleagues must recognize that they did not. He also claimed that the committee broke its own statutes in pressing ahead with the award despite his resignation, asserting that Alfred Nobel "laid down a rule saying that the decision must be unanimous." The committee's secretary, Geir Lundestad, denied this, and said that no committee member has a right of veto. Prime Minister Rabin considered the whole Nobel process to be premature.

Man Will Live Forevermore

Dec. 8….(FOJ) (www.focusonjerusalem.com) Christmas is a great time of year. What a pleasure it is at this time of year to listen to the many great Christmas songs, and to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ. Truly the birth of Jesus was a historic event, and it is great to commemorate His birth, (albeit his birth was not on December 25) because it was an event long anticipated by virtue of the promise made by the Heavenly Father to send the world a Savior and to send a King unto Israel.
  As I was writing and editing an article to soon be published on the FOJ web-site about the resurrection, I was listening to Christmas music on my computer. As I was intently listening to a wonderful Christmas song, sang so masterfully by Harry Belafonte, I was struck by some of the lyrics. The song, “Mary’s Boy Child,” contains the following line; “trumpets sound and angels sing, listen what they say, that man will live forever more because of Christmas Day.”
  In truth, man only has an opportunity to live forevermore, not because of Jesus birth, but because of His Resurrection. Prior to that wonderful Sabbath morning 2000 years ago when the massive grave-stone rolled away from the entryway into the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, death and the grave had proven to be invincible. But thanks be to God who raised his Son Jesus Christ from the dead man may live forever more.
  But to live forevermore, a person must by “faith alone” (see Charles Strong’s web-site: www.bibleone.net) accept the atoning work of Christ’s life and death, before he can ever know the power of Christ’s Resurrection! Then after accepting God’s Christmas gift, you too can confidently look forward to your own orderly victory over death in His resurrection and enter into the Heavenly domain of eternal life. Merry Christmas

 

US: Iraqi Rebels Aided by Sources in Syria

Dec. 8….(Washington Post) US military intelligence officials have concluded that the Iraqi insurgency is being directed to a greater degree than previously recognized from Syria, where they said former Saddam Hussein loyalists have found sanctuary and are channeling money and other support to those fighting the established government. (this is old, old news—FOJ reported Syrian complicity even before the war began) Based on information gathered during the recent fighting in Fallujah, Baghdad and elsewhere in the Sunni Triangle, the officials said that a handful of senior Iraqi Baathists operating in Syria are collecting money from private sources in Saudi Arabia and Europe and turning it over to the insurgency. In some cases, evidence suggests that these Baathists are managing operations in Iraq from a distance, the officials said. A US military summary of operations in Fallujah noted recently that troops discovered a global positioning signal receiver in a bomb factory in the western part of the city that "contained way-points originating in western Syria." Concerns about Syria's role in Iraq were also expressed in interviews The Washington Post conducted yesterday with Jordan's King Abdullah and Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar. "There are people in Syria who are bad guys, who are fugitives of the law and who are Saddam remnants who are trying to bring the vicious dictatorship of Saddam back," Yawar said. King Abdullah noted that the governments of both the United States and Iraq believe that "foreign fighters are coming across the Syrian border that have been trained in Syria." Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other US officials have previously complained about Syria's covert role in Iraq, (as in Lebanon) but officials said the latest intelligence has given impetus to new efforts aimed at curbing the activities of Syrian backed Hussein loyalists there. The Syrian ambassador to the United States emphatically rejected the accusations as unfounded. "There is a sinister campaign to create an atmosphere of hostility against Syria," said Imad Moustapha, the envoy. He said his government "categorically" denies that Iraqi Baathists are taking refuge in his country.

FOJ Note: Recent reports also indicate that Iran is mobilizing hundreds of thousands of Iranian resident Shia members to cross the Iran-Iraq border and participate in Iraq’s scheduled January elections. Iran is hoping to use the “democratic process” to win the war for Iraq. So, as you can see, democracy is not the great panacea for the world’s problems. Oh yes, democracy is a much better political system than dictatorship, but it is the light of the Gospel of Christ that brings liberty, and creates the underlying framework for freedom to be prevalent. The US enjoys liberty and freedom because of the Great Awakening that took place within its shores in the early 1700’s, and not because America discovered the enlightenment of democratic idealism.

 

Is Palestinian Democracy Key to Middle East Peace?

Dec. 8….(CBN) The death of Yasser Arafat is triggering possible US re-engagement in the quest for Middle East peace, by the first American president to call for a Palestinian state. But for the past two years, George W. Bush has refused to meet with Arafat because of his failure to take on terrorism. It is a stark US policy shift that Israeli cabinet member Natan Sharansky noted during a Bush press conference in April 2002. President Bush said, "The Palestinian people deserve peace and an opportunity to better their lives. They deserve a government that respects human rights and a government that focuses on their needs, education and health care, rather than feeding their resentments." Sharansky said, "Finally, a leader, the leader of the free world, said that peace must be connected to the question of democracy among Palestinians, and that's a huge change." Sharansky, a champion of linking foreign policy to the human rights issue, is a former Soviet dissident, imprisoned for nine years in a KGB gulag. His latest book, “The Case for Democracy,” argues that a democratic Palestinian government is the only hope for Mideast peace, and for Palestinians, he says, who suffer under a repressive regime. President Bush has been reading Sharansky's book and has recommended it to his staff. Bush also recently invited Sharansky to the White House. Sharansky commented, "We had a long conversation, about an hour; I could see how deep is the conviction of the President, is the determination of the President, to strengthen peace by promoting and broadening democracy." Sharanksy's views seem to be peppered throughout the President's speeches, like his premise that the desire for freedom is universal. Bush has said that, "freedom is not the gift of America to the world, but of God to mankind." And that free societies help make the world safer. Another time, Bush said, "The reason why I'm so strong on democracy is democracies don't go to war with each other." Sharansky says Bush's stand is unpopular with those skeptical of freedom's power to transform authoritarian regimes. Sharansky said, "I told him then, you know, Mr. President, you're the real dissident because politicians think about the polls and what is more popular, and what is less popular. You believe in this idea, and you go ahead with it." Bush dismisses critics who say Arabs are unsuited for democracy. The same was said about Russia, Germany and Japan. Sharansky remarked, "I believe, as they are wrong about all these people, they will be wrong about Arabs, because given a choice between living in a free society or in a fear society, or living in society where you can freely express your opinions and defend opinions and not go to prison, people always choose to live in freedom." The pressure is rising as Palestinian elections, slated for January 9th, offer the first test of the President's doctrine. Bush has said, "Two states living side by side in peace and security can be reached by only one path, the path of democracy, reform, and the rule of law." Sharansky says Bush is making it clear that the new leadership must embrace reform or lose American support. "That's a very important line,” Sharansky said, “different than the line of many leaders of Europe today." Sharansky contends that the same Western influence that helped liberate Russia can bring reform to the Middle East. Sharansky also warns against past failures in the peace process, blaming the West's coddling of Arafat as a "moderate" who promised to fend off Hamas. He remarked, "And the free world supported Yasser Arafat, supported corrupt dictatorship, transferred public money belonging to the Palestinians, to the personal account of Yasser Arafat, hoping Arafat would fight terror. How much was that? Tens of millions, about $25 to 30 million every month. Can you imagine?" With Arafat now out of the picture, Sharansky says the West should follow the example of President Ronald Reagan, who challenged the Soviet regime, branding it the "Evil Empire." Finally a Western leader called a spade a spade." And Sharansky says that Reagan brought moral clarity back to international policy. He believes President Bush shares Reagan's instincts and his willingness to speak the truth about corrupt regimes. "And he is willing to support, not dictators who bring us stability,“ said Sharansky, “but the dissidents who want to bring freedom to their people. And I believe if he will stay with this course, the world has a real chance to become free from dictatorship."

 

Approaching Horsemen

Dec. 7….(By David Dolan) (www.ddolan.com) I was privileged to attend portions of the second annual “Jerusalem Summit” held last week at the elegant King David Hotel, which sits regally perched above the biblical Hinnon Valley across from the walled Old City. The setting was appropriate since the international gathering of prominent conservative shakers and movers was designed to generate “New Ideas from the Old City,” as a banner hanging above the summit podium proclaimed.
Featured speakers at this year’s conclave included American talk radio host Dennis Prager and Colorado Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez, who brought greetings from President Bush. Many renowned experts on radical Islam were seated around the solid oak summit table, including US Institute of Peace director Daniel Pipes and noted British author David Pryce Jones. Several Muslims, aptly termed brave by summit organizers, delivered lectures at the conservative think-fest. They included Jordanian Professor Mohanna Yousuf Haddad, who called for “increased Islamic tolerance” of the non-Muslim world. San Diego State University Professor Khaleel Mohammad explained that the Quran actually foretold an end-time Jewish return to the Holy Land. As enlightening as they were, neither speaker adequately dealt with the dreadful contemporary situation in the mainly Muslim Middle East, where popular Islamic loathing and rejection of Israel and its American ally continues to metastasize. That was left to a bold Egyptian-American woman, Nonie Darwish, who spelled out how the 9/11 Al Qaida attacks propelled her out of the kitchen and into the public spotlight. The intriguing title of her stirring message said it all: “The Daughter of a Shahid Speaks Out For Change.” And speak out she did, resulting in the summit’s only standing ovation. Nonie Darwish recalled that she had lived as a young girl with her Muslim parents in the pre-1967 Gaza Strip. It was there that her father, serving in the Egyptian Army, was killed during a clash with Israeli soldiers. Despite her tragic personal loss, Darwish testified that today she is “full of love for the Jewish people and this beautiful holy land.” She went on to castigate the sustained hostility toward Israel from many in her native Egypt, despite the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between the neighboring countries. Darwish also lashed out at the Islamic world’s general refusal to examine its own sins before throwing stones (or worse) at others, especially at her “beloved adopted homeland,” the USA. She bluntly added that “terrorism is never honorable, and should be abandoned as a so-called political tool” in the bitter Arab/Israeli conflict. Several relatively optimistic assessments of the current regional situation were proffered at the Jerusalem Summit, all tied to Yasser Arafat’s overdue exit from the blood-stained Mideast stage. But these were more than countered by examinations of the grim situation in post-Saddam Iraq, and of Iran’s determined quest for nuclear weapons. Daniel Pipes was among several experts who doubted that Iraq was ready to hold successful national elections, given the ongoing flood of insurgent violence washing over the land. The most chilling words at the august gathering came from Yossef Bodansky, the former director of the US Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. He warned that Islamic terrorists are currently “tying up the knots” for another massive assault upon America, this time deploying devastating non-conventional weapons. Bodansky explained that Al Qaida has not carried out a second major attack on US soil until now for “internal psychological and ideological reasons.” However he warned that the President’s lopsided reelection victory prompted a “green light from Islamic elites” for such an atrocity to proceed. American voters are now widely judged as “deserving of death” because a majority of them chose to endorse Bush’s detested war on terror. With Bodansky’s ominous warning still ticking like a time bomb in my brain, it was interesting to read in Sunday’s New York Times “Weekly Review” section that the world “does not share America’s obsession” with its ongoing struggle against the death-dealing forces of evil. Not that this was actually news to me: I have traveled to many countries since 9/11 and realize that the chattering classes at least tend to see George W’s response as a long march beyond the brutal pale. I was hardly convinced that a ground invasion of Iraq was the best way to deal with the vile Butcher of Baghdad, given the widespread Arab-Islamic propensity to view American and British “crusaders” as scheming, oil gobbling infidels. It was therefore predictable that coalition forces would receive a lukewarm reception at best, and a downright hostile greeting from Saddam’s Sunni surrogates, supported by a plethora of Islamic regimes and terror groups who regard American-style democracy as far worse than the plague. But I still found it rather ironic to read that world opinion considers the number one contemporary problem to be struggling national economies, not destructive terrorism. According to the NY Times report, most people regard the United States as a terror-obsessed Big Bully that lobs its hefty weight around the globe like a drunken marine, flattening anyone who gets in its way. True, high unemployment, deepening debt and spreading poverty are perennial issues in Africa, South America and much of Asia, as they increasingly are in Europe and North America. Despite this fact, it should be apparent to anyone with a primary education that a terrorist nuclear strike on Manhattan, even one involving a small device, would unleash a swift and devastating financial panic upon the entire planet, if not the four horsemen of the biblical apocalypse. If anyone thinks the conductors of the world’s main economic engine are being overly paranoid in reaction to Bin Laden’s videotaped annihilation harangues, they should think again. The United (Against America) Nations will not celebrate for long if Yossef Bodansky’s predictive eight ball turns out to have been crystal clear.

 

House Republicans Call for Annan to Resign

Dec. 7….(World Net Daily) House Republicans yesterday called for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to resign in light of the oil-for-food scandal and threatened to withhold funding from the United Nations unless it fully cooperates with investigators. "The UN oil-for-food program is a scandal of enormous proportions, and it may reach into the highest levels of leadership at the UN," said Rep. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who introduced a resolution yesterday calling for Mr. Annan to resign. "I don't think we'll get all the facts as long as Mr. Annan is remaining at the helm," Mr. Wicker said. Nineteen Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi had signed the resolution, as of late yesterday. Calls for Mr. Annan to step down already have come from Sen. Norm Coleman, the Minnesota Republican who is heading the main congressional inquiry into accusations of fraud, bribery and corruption in the United Nations' administration of the Iraq oil-for-food program. Mr. Coleman's Senate inquiry already has determined that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime skimmed billions of dollars from the program, which allowed Iraq to sell small amounts of oil to pay for food and humanitarian assistance while it was under UN sanctions. A separate group of Republicans led by Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican and member of the House International Relations Committee, yesterday pushed legislation that would tie the United States' UN funding to the organization's cooperation with investigators. The corruption accusations have prompted numerous investigations, including several congressional inquiries, a US Treasury Department investigation and a UN commissioned inquiry conducted by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. But Mr. Flake and other Republicans say the United Nations is not cooperating with investigators, is withholding information, and has denied Mr. Volcker's investigation any subpoena power to get information. "I'm convinced that the only way we can ensure the UN's full cooperation is with the threat of withholding our funding," Mr. Flake said. "We want to shine the light of day on the UN," said Rep. Scott Garrett, New Jersey Republican. Under Mr. Flake's bill, which has 77 co-sponsors, Congress would withhold 10 percent of its UN funding in fiscal 2005 and 20 percent in fiscal 2006, until President Bush certifies that the United Nations has agreed to certain standards laid out in the bill. "Kofi Annan must go," said Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican. "I think its time we get someone up there that's responsible, who we can trust." Mr. Garrett added, "The larger question is whether he should be in jail." Mr. Burton added that some of the billions of dollars Saddam skimmed from the program was given to terrorists and, as a result, "people were killed." He said it is high time that Congress stop complaining about the United Nations and do something.
"I hope the Congress of the United States will finally act on this issue," he said. President Bush has demanded "full disclosure" from the United Nations on the oil-for-food scandal but so far has stopped short of calling for Mr. Annan's resignation.

 

Most Palestinians Would Leave West Bank for Money

Dec. 7….(World Net Daily) In a scientific survey conducted face-to-face with Palestinians in the West Bank, 71 percent specified one or more material factors that would induce them to emigrate permanently. The poll, which queried a random sample of 528 people Nov. 15-21, showed about half would consider leaving permanently for life in another land if they had the wherewithal and ability. The survey asked, "If today you had the wherewithal and ability to leave and live permanently in another country would you?" A total of 50 percent would consider it, with 33 percent saying "maybe" and 17 percent yes. Forty-one percent said no. The poll indicated 42 percent have considered leaving permanently. The Arabic-language survey was conducted by Maagar Mohot Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting Institute in Israel in collaboration with the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, reported Independent Media Review. The Palestinian center carried out the sampling and interviews while the questionaire design, data input, statistical processing and formulation of the final report were done by the Israeli firm. Asked what would make you permanently move to another country, the respondents answered:

15 percent – Nothing would make me leave 16 percent – Guarantee of a good job overseas 12 percent – Situation here gets worse 10 percent – Generous financial assistance 9 percent – Financial guarantee equal to average wages in the West Bank today for life 8 percent – Guarantee of good housing 6 percent – Guarantee of good education for the children 5 percent – On condition that the entire family goes with me 2 percent – Supportive community in the new place 17 percent – Other.

Asked whether they believe the Palestinian Authority is doing enough today to improve their lives, 53 percent said no, 33 percent yes, and 14 percent "other." A plurality of 46 percent said they believe the PA is corrupt, while 35 percent said it was not, and 14 percent had another response.

 

CIA: 33 Groups Preparing for WMD Terror

Dec. 7….(Geo-Strategy Direct) According to a new CIA report, the threat that terrorists will use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons "remains high," says Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. "Many of the 33 designated foreign terrorist organizations and other non-state actors worldwide have expressed interest in using CBRN," the semi-annual report on arms proliferation stated. "However, most attacks probably will be small-scale, incorporating improvised delivery means and easily produced or obtained chemicals, toxins or radiological substances." Most groups will continue to use proven attack methods such as bombings and shootings. However, the discovery in January 2003 of a plot by Islamist terrorists to use ricin toxin show active plotting for chemical and biological attacks, according to the report which was made public last week. "Al-Qaida is interested in radiological dispersal devices [RDDs] or dirty bombs," the report said. "Construction of an RDD is well within its capabilities as radiological materials are relatively easy to acquire from industrial or medical sources." The report said al-Qaida documents found in Afghanistan show that the group is focusing on biological weapons such as anthrax for "mass casualty attacks." Regarding nuclear arms, the report said that outside experts, including Pakistani nuclear engineer Bashir al-Din Mahmoud, have helped al-Qaida. Bashir met with Bin Laden and discussed information concerning nuclear weapons, the report said. "We are alert to the very real possibility that al-Qaida or other terrorist groups might also try to launch conventional attacks against the chemical or nuclear industrial infrastructure of the United States to cause panic and economic disruption," the report said. A video aired by al Jazeera in September 2002 stated that senior al-Qaida terrorists considered striking nuclear power plants in the United States in selecting targets for what became the September 11 attacks.

 

December 7th, 1941, “A Day of Infamy”

Dec. 7….(FOJ) In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt called the surprise attack by the Empire of Japan on Pearl Harbor a day that will live in infamy. The word infamy refers to an event that is so evil that it requires a designation relegating its act into the pit of infamous deeds, a designation so hideous that it must be kept separated from the famous category. That exactly where the event of September 11, 2001 also belongs.

On the morning of September 11th, I received a phone call from a local news director informing me of the first plane hitting the WTC. He was well aware of my interests in terrorism, and Bible prophecy. He thought I would have some insights into the event. I immediately informed him that the plane was a terrorist attack on the proportions of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Being a meticulous newsman, he wanted more verification. Then, while we continued to talk on the phone about the aspect of terrorism, and Middle East hatred for America primarily because of American support for Israel, a second plane hit the other WTC tower. (He had his confirmation) Indeed, this time, on this day, there was no way for governmental agencies to deny, or cover up the fact that America had been attacked. It was an infamous act of evil!

Today, many Americans will commemorate the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, and the loss of so many lives that perished in a sneak attack. I salute the brave men and women of my parents generation that stood tall in the 40’s and beat back the forces of evil. Today, Japan is a good friend of America, and in defeating the evil influences upon Japan in 1945, America did not simply become Japan's occupying master, but rather we helped Japan become a nation that enjoys its freedom. Today, Japan is a partner with the US in trying to make liberty available to the people of Iraq. I salute the good people of Japan, and thank them for their friendship!

But, today as I reflect on 1941, I also realize that America is now facing the darkest forces of evil that it has ever encountered. Today, I am praying for my country as never before, but I am also praying for many other countries, because the war-on-terror that America is fighting today cannot be won alone. Unless more countries around the world come to terms with the fact that Middle East Islamic terrorism is demonic in its nature, America will not win this war. And if America does not repent and return to its God, (the God of Holy scripture) then America will not be spared from the onslaughts of more infamous evil days.

Iran's Nuclear Smoking Gun

Dec. 6….(World Net Daily) While Iran continues to deny its nuclear program is for anything other than peaceful purposes, Tehran has bought massive amounts of beryllium, a metal vital to the process of initiating the chain reactions needed to create nuclear weapon, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Intelligence Bulletin. While beryllium has civilian uses, G2 Bulletin's intelligence sources say, because of the amounts secured by Iran and what they know about Iran's civilian research needs, there is absolute certainty this metal is being used in a nuclear weapons development program. Beryllium can also be combined with polonium-210, a substance Iran is known to have, to initiate the chain reaction needed to detonate a nuclear weapon. Diplomatic sources, meanwhile, say they were aware of Iran's purchases of beryllium. They also said the United Nations nuclear chief Mohamed El-Baradei knew about the acquisition but had withheld the information from his own board of governors. US intelligence and military sources tell G2 Bulletin this is more evidence El-Baradei is covering up for Iran, soft-pedaling the country's abuses. There is a growing clamor, they say, to oust El-Baradei from this sensitive post. Beryllium has a long list of innocent uses, such as in spark plugs and X-ray equipment. However, the amounts obtained, which were undisclosed by G2 Bulletin sources, were said to be far in excess of possible civilian uses by Iran. Furthermore, Iranian officials have claimed in the past that they have never worked with beryllium. Meanwhile, the powerful former president of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani reaffirmed Iran will resume enriching uranium after a maximum of six months, emphasizing in the clearest terms possible Tehran's freeze on nuclear fuel cycle work is only temporary. "The last word is after this period, which I do not assume will exceed six months, we must seriously and firmly follow enrichment programs and use the very important advantages of nuclear technology," he said. "So far, we have reached the point that we accept to suspend parts of our activities for a period that was not necessary at all. Earlier this week El-Baradei's International Atomic Energy Agency spared Iran the fate of being referred to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions after Tehran agreed in a deal with Britain, France and Germany to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

 

Religion: The Birth of Jesus

Dec. 6….(Newsweek Magazine) Roughly 2,000 years ago, according to the Gospel of Luke, in Nazareth of Galilee, a young woman found herself in the presence of Gabriel, the angelic messenger of the Lord whose name was known to Jews of the day as the mysterious figure who had granted Daniel his prophetic visions. The woman, Luke writes, was "a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David," and her name was Mary, Luke's Greek form of the Hebrew Miriam, the sister of Moses and the first great prophetess of Israel. "Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee," Gabriel said, "blessed art thou amongst women," terrifying Mary, who "was troubled at his saying." Stunned and confused, Mary made no reply, her face apparently betraying anxiety and awe. Sensing her confusion and fear, Gabriel was reassuring: "Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God." Then the angel said: "And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." In other words, Mary was to bear the Messiah, the fabled and long-promised figure who, in the words of the prophet Jeremiah, would "reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." Mary was silent, then finally found her voice: "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Gabriel's reply, that "the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee," raised more questions than it answered, not only for Mary but for Joseph, for the early Christians and, two millennia later, for us. In Luke's account, Mary absorbed the tidings of her child's miraculous origin and mission and "pondered them in her heart," still puzzled and still overwhelmed. In the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph, knowing nothing about Gabriel's appearance, is humiliated by the news that his future wife is pregnant, and "was minded to put her away privily." In later years Christians had to contend with charges that their Lord was illegitimate, perhaps the illicit offspring of Mary and a Roman soldier. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, some scholars treat the Christmas narratives as first-century inventions designed to strengthen the seemingly tenuous claim that Jesus was the Messiah. And so the story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth is, fittingly, as riven with complexity and controversy as Christianity itself. This month more than a billion Christians will commemorate their Lord's Nativity. Amid candlelight, carols and the commingled smells of cedar and incense, the old tale will unfold again: Gabriel's visitation, the journey to Bethlehem, the arrival of the baby in a stable, the glorious announcement to the shepherds in the night, the star in the East, the mission of the Magi. Yet, as with so many other elements of faith, the Nativity narratives are the subject of ongoing scholarly debate over their historical accuracy, their theological meaning and whether some of the central images and words of the Christian religion owe as much to the pagan culture of the Roman Empire as they do to apostolic revelation. The clash between literalism and a more historical view of faith is also playing out in theaters and bookstores. This year Mel Gibson's hugely successful movie "The Passion of the Christ" provoked a national conversation about Jesus' last days. With 9 million hardcover copies in print, Dan Brown's thriller "The Da Vinci Code," one of the most widely read books of our time, is partly built around the assertion that the early church covered up important facts about Jesus in order to manufacture Christian creeds. Like the Victorians, we live in an age of great belief and great doubt, and sometimes it seems as though we must choose between two extremes, the evangelical and the secular. "I don't want to be too simplistic, but our faith is somewhat childlike," says the Rev. H. B. London, a vice president of James Dobson's conservative Focus on the Family organization in Colorado Springs. "Though other people may question the historical validity of the virgin birth, and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we don't." London's view has vast public support. A Newsweek Poll found that 84 percent of American adults consider themselves Christians, and 82 percent see Jesus as God or the Son of God. Seventy-nine percent say they believe in the virgin birth, and 67 percent think the Christmas story, from the angels' appearance to the Star of Bethlehem is historically accurate.

FOJ Note: This article by Newsweek raises good questions. What do you think? Was Jesus born of a virgin, as the Bible indicates? Was Jesus the Son of God, as he himself claimed? Was he the Messiah? Everyone must determine an answer for themselves to these questions about Jesus. According to the Newsweek poll, apparently 1/3 of American adults have determined in their minds that the Biblical account of Jesus birth is a delusion. When Jesus states, “no one comes to the Father but by me,” then accounting for one’s estimation of the truth of his birth is a serious matter! No where in the Bible does it instruct the Christian to commemorate Jesus birth, but rather it points to the gift of salvation that is given to mankind because of his death, and resurrection. Jesus was God’s gift to mankind. What will you decide about with him? (If you find it difficult to accept that Jesus was born of a virgin, you will likely find it difficult that rose from the dead also.) Merry Christmas!

 

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