Thursday, October 4, 2012
APOCALYPTIC PREDICTIONS OF ISRAEL, IRAN AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE OF MANKIND
By Paul McGuire
October 3, 2012
NewsWithViews.com
We have now reached one of the most critical points in the history of mankind and it revolves around Israel, Iran and the Middle East. This crisis point was predicted over 2,500 years ago, by the ancient Biblical prophets. In addition, the general nature and date of this crisis was predicted by the Mayan Calendar, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce and the Fatima prophecies. Although, 2012 is the general time period predicted by some of these prophets, 2012 is basically is a convergence for many point apocalyptic events.
Some people are quick to say that the world thought the apocalypse was at hand during the Black Plague, World War I and World War II. That may be true, but there are a number of reasons why this crisis is different than any other crisis in human history. The primary reason is advanced technology. For example, the crisis between Israel and Iran, could involve nuclear weapons, which could be used in a conflict that would set off a regional thermonuclear war. Strategic military analysis tells us that a regional thermonuclear war can become a global thermonuclear war in about one hour and a half. At this point, you are talking about the potential loss of hundreds of millions of lives. Using today’s technology, one single U.S. Or Russian nuclear submarine has the nuclear fire power to destroy the entire world!
Secondly, unlike previous conflicts with nations like Nazi, Germany and the former Soviet Union, we are dealing with an apocalyptic sect known as the "Twelvers," a radical Shiite Muslim sect that believes an Islamic new world order will come with the return of their Messiah, the Mahdi. This Islamic new world order would be ushered in by the destruction of Israel and a global apocalypse ignited by Iran. Iranian analysts believe that, Ahmadinejab is building up its nuclear-weapon capabilities in order to attack Israel, which will be the key apocalyptic event that will cause the Mahdi to return. The key factor here is that Iran will soon have the nuclear weapons to cause an apocalypse.
Ahmadinejab is a "Twelver," and at his recent speech at the United Nations, on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Ahmadinejab gave a fiery apocalyptic speech in which he reiterated his total commitment to this apocalyptic belief system. Ahmadinejab believes he is on a mission from God to destroy Israel and start a global apocalypse that will bring in the Mahdi.
Also speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a "clear red line" to be drawn on Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. Netanyahu, also explained that Iran’s belief in destroying Israel and starting an apocalypse was their ultimate game plan. This is an entirely different enemy than the former Soviet Union and Nazi, Germany, who at the end of the day wanted to live and enjoy their lives.
Never before in the history of mankind have we had the technology to destroy the population of Earth in a matter of hours or weeks with nuclear and biological weapons. In the U.S. Alone there could be nuclear strikes in many U.S. Cities which would include military installations and all areas of economic, political and military importance. The sophistication of computer guided nuclear missiles is so accurate, that our enemies have pre-programmed nuclear missiles capable of hitting specific highway intersections in major cities. This will block the citizen’s from exiting a targeted city. Just looking at Google Earth Search will give you a minor hint of how accurately a nuclear missile strike could be. In fact, a missile can be launched from outer space to detonate a specific house! Through biological warfare, the CDC is preparing for a "Zombie Apocalypse" which could involve a biological agent that attacks the central nervous system and turns people into flesh eating zombies, like in the movies, "I Am Legend," and "28 Days Later." This is not science fiction; this is cutting edge of biological warfare. This also fits in with the prediction of the, "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," predicted in the book of Revelation.
The fact of the matter is that the human race has now entered the time that many prophets have predicted. It is not an accident that word Revelation, in the Book of Revelation, is from the Greek word, apokaplypsis, which is an unveiling or disclosing of reality that has not been previously perceived, especially events in the future.
Never before has mankind had to face the prospect of an Extinction Level Event with the push of a button. In addition to global thermonuclear and biological war, mankind must now face the potential of cataclysmic events like an asteroid, or comet hitting the earth. Many military experts speculate that one of the secondary reasons that the Mars rover, "Curiosity," is on Mars, is to be able to give us a better view of comets and asteroids that may be moving dangerously close to earth. Added to that, large numbers of people have heard strange groaning coming from under the earth and huge piles of dead fish are washing onto the shore in places like Finland.
I have had the privilege of being asked by several notable Hollywood producers, to be the writer and on-screen prophecy expert, for a cutting edge film called, "Chaos Reaction Basic Extinction." This film will be viewed by millions of people across the world and uncover information about coming prophetic events from a diverse spectrum of sources. After over 30 years of intensive research into this field, I believe the human race is entering a convergence point of predicted and apocalyptic events. However, the purpose of some of these ancient prophecies was to warn us so that we could make the changes necessary in order to give mankind hope for the future. Many people in America and the world are in great despair over the statistical facts regarding the U.S. debt of over $16 trillion dollars and a global economic system which is on the verge of collapse.
Through our technology we have essentially created a cashless society that is global. As we uncover the hidden meaning of these prophecies that we will expose in the film, it is evident that there has been a secret plan since ancient Babylon to build a new world order. This plan was at work through Sir Francis Bacon, who planned for America to be the head of the new world order and the New Atlantis.
Many of the evidences for the fulfillment of these ancient prophecies are hidden out in the open with occult symbolism that goes back to Nimrod and his wife Semiramis at the Tower of Babel, which was the world’s first one world government, one world economic system and one world religion. While doing research on this film, I was able to uncover research that shows why U.S. troops are guarding ancient Babylon in Iraq and why there are secret plans to rebuild a high-tech Babylon. When you begin to put these cosmic puzzle pieces together, with the help of the latest scientific research, you begin to see a digital and holographic map of the future of mankind. But, what is the most amazing thing of all, is that this map of the future of mankind was predicted in precise detail over 3,500 years ago.
Fingerprints the new ATM PINs
ANZ bank is investigating the potential for fingerprint scans at ATMs to fight card skimmers and other crime.
The bank has revealed it will explore introducing controversial technology that stores biometric data, replacing the need for PINs, after research suggested customers were willing to embrace it.
ANZ will today announce a mass upgrade to establish "intelligent" ATMs at 800 locations nationwide over the next two years.
The ATMs quickly credit cash and cheque deposits but the bank has pledged the changes would not result in branch closures or staff cuts.
Newspoll research commissioned by ANZ suggests 79 per cent of people would be comfortable using fingerprint scans to verify identity.
ANZ CEO Philip Chronican told The Daily Telegraph the apparent support for fingerprint scans was surprising.
The Telegraph Australia
Dragon Flood The Committee on Public Information
Joseph Herrin (10-01-2012)
Gettysburg Dead
The reasons for war are seldom what the history books declare. The American Civil War was not entered into as a struggle to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln is frequently touted as “the Great Emancipator,” yet his own words reveal that abolishing slavery was not upon his mind when he set the Union on a course for war with the South. Although numerous statements by Lincoln reveal that he considered slavery to be a moral evil, at the same time he stated that he believed it outside of his rights, or power, to abolish it.
I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that ‘I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.’
[Source: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861]
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.
[Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, "Letter to Horace Greeley" (August 22, 1862), p. 388]
Why was Lincoln so driven to preserve the Union? Even without the Southern states, the North was far larger in territory and population than the original thirteen colonies of the founding fathers of America. At the time the war was fought there were thirty-four states, and the nation had expanded ever westward toward the Pacific Ocean. There were vast swaths of land that had not yet been settled.
The authors of Lincoln’s Wrath suggest that Lincoln was inspired by a vision of America as a mighty nation that would rival Great Britain. Standing in the way of this national vision was the very form of America’s union as a voluntary confederation of independent states. Lincoln saw a need for a powerful federal government to not only bind the country together, but to bring a unanimity to her policies and to the projection of her power in the world. The Civil War was largely a struggle between states’ rights and a powerful federal government that exercised dominion over the states. Lincoln was ultimately successful in his aim of creating a powerful federal government that would dictate its will to the states. In the process he greatly expanded the powers of the president. Such actions would have elicited the anger of men like Thomas Jefferson who believed in a limited federal government.
From the perspective of one who is a disciple of Christ, struggles over federal power versus states’ rights seem inconsequential. The kingdom of God is not helped, nor hindered, by the nationalistic ambitions of men. The church was born when the Roman Empire held sway over much of the world. The church has experienced periods of peace where it was unmolested, and ages of great persecution. Christianity has flourished under kingdoms, dictatorships, democracies, and communism. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy the following words:
II Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Partisan politics, and national ambitions certainly belong to “the affairs of everyday life.” It was not the Spirit of Christ that inspired men like Abraham Lincoln to engage in a war that would ultimately result in the violent deaths of more than 600,000 men, and the maiming of a great many more. Men of baser motives, who are focused on earthly kingdoms, have often found profit in warfare. Whatever Lincoln’s motives were, he would have been unable to execute his war apart from the support and complicity of bankers, munitions manufacturers, railroad tycoons, and an array of other merchants and industrialists.
In the writing Robber Barons, Revolution, and Social Control, Andrew Gavin Marshall shares the following:
The Civil War (1861-1865) served several purposes. First of all, the immediate economic considerations: the Civil War sought to create a single economic system for America, driven by the Eastern capitalists in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, uniting with the West against the slave-labour South. The aim was not freedom for black slaves, but rather to end a system which had become antiquated and unprofitable. With the Industrial Revolution driving people into cities and mechanizing production, the notion of slavery lost its appeal: it was simply too expensive and time consuming to raise, feed, house, clothe and maintain slaves; it was thought more logical and profitable (in an era obsessed with efficiency) to simply pay people for the time they engage in labour. The Industrial Revolution brought with it the clock, and thus time itself became a commodity. As slavery was indicative of human beings being treated as commodities to be bought and sold, owned and used, the Industrial Revolution did not liberate people from servitude and slavery, it simply updated the notions and made more efficient the system of slavery: instead of purchasing people, they would lease them for the time they can be ‘productive.’
[Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/robber-barons-revolution-and-social-control/]
I believe there is much truth in these words. America has always been ruled by a moneyed aristocracy. If the robber barons, the bankers, and financial powers of the nation had not found it in their interests to engage in a bloody civil war, Lincoln could not have engaged in such a conflict. If the money interests, the great corporate trusts, had not found Lincoln’s aims to be in harmony with their own, the war would never have taken place.
As we saw in a previous chapter, this has ever been the state of things. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and who met to hammer out a national Constitution, derived great personal profit from the Revolution. Out of necessity the profit takers must induce the masses to join with them. Deception and violence are two of the chief methods of assuring the compliance of the masses. The reason a particular war is fought is pitched to the public as if all is being done in their own interests. The benefit to accrue to a moneyed elite is glossed over, and if possible, completely hidden.
As America has aged the government’s methods for securing the compliance of the public have become much more sophisticated. The year 1917 saw war looming once more for America. World War I in Europe was taking place, and the majority of Americans strongly opposed entry into the war. There were corporate and political interests, however, who favored entry. Among them were the House of Morgan (J.P. Morgan), and weapons manufacturers who saw the potential to profit should America enter the war.
The pro-war advocates realized that American opinion needed to change to effect entry into the war, and this required the control of free speech so that only opinions in favor of war would be heard. The Espionage Act was passed by Congress in 1917. It prescribed a $10,000 fine, and twenty years in prison, for interfering with military operations, or the recruitment of troops. If a citizen, or newspaper, publicly criticized American involvement in the war they faced severe penalties.
President Woodrow Wilson in his State of the Union address delivered on December 7, 1915, asked Congress for the legislation. He stated:
There are citizens of the United States ... who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life; who have sought to ring the authority and good name of our Government into contempt... to destroy our industries... and to debase our politics to the uses of foreign intrigue.... We are without adequate federal laws.... I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out.
Wilson asked Congress to pass a law that would provide for censorship of the press. He submitted legislation for their consideration that incorporated such censorship, stating, "Authority to exercise censorship over the press ... is absolutely necessary to the public safety."
I am confident that it was not “the public safety” that President Wilson was actually concerned with. Rather, it was the interests of the money trusts, such as the Rockefeller’s, Morgan, Carnegie, and others. These are the ones who were being criticized in the press, and who stood to benefit the most by entry into the war.
Congress voted down censorship of the press by only one vote, 39 to 38. Nevertheless, when entry into the war was secured in 1917, Congress passed the Espionage Act which effectively gave the government power to censor the press and imprison citizens who spoke in opposition to the policies of the government. The Espionage Act of 1917 made it a crime:
To convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. This was punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than 30 years or both.
To convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies when the United States is at war, to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. This was punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 20 years or both.
The Act also gave the Postmaster General authority to impound or to refuse to mail publications that he determined to be in violation of its prohibitions.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917]
The restrictions to speech were extended in the Sedition Act of 1918. Among the prohibitions added were "any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States... or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy."
The Espionage Act was no idle threat. In a period of months more than 900 people were sent to prison. Additionally, a number of newspapers and magazines were forced out of business as the government forbade them to use the postal service to distribute their anti-war writings.
An example of the governmental intolerance of any contrary opinion to America’s involvement in the war in Europe is seen in the experience of Eugene Debs. Debs was a union organizer and a political candidate for the Socialist Party in America. Although the majority of Americans have come to equate Socialism with Communism, Debs was not a communist supporter, and was very critical of the actions of the Communist Party in Russia which utilized violent and destructive methods to secure their aims. On June 12th, 1918, Debs gave a speech in Canton, Ohio, after which he was arrested and charged with violating the Espionage Act. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Following is the speech he gave. Debs clearly understood that there was an American aristocracy of the moneyed classes who exploited the poor by fomenting wars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuGp-0G1p4M
One website provides the following information on the suppression of free speech in America by the government through use of the Espionage Act.
A teenage girl was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for criticizing the war. A Californian was sentenced to jail for laughing at rookies drilling on San Francisco's Presidio. A New Yorker received ninety days for spitting on the sidewalk near some Italian officers. Numerous ministers and college professors were dismissed because of their opposition to American entrance into the war. Frederick C. Howe, Commissioner of Immigration at the Port of New York, related how thousands of Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians were taken without trial from their homes and brought to Ellis Island. When he tried to secure decent treatment for the aliens, he was branded as pro-German...
Besides the congressional actions which curbed civil rights, A. R. Burleson, the Postmaster General, instituted a censorship which denied mailing privileges to "subversive" publications. A magazine The Masses was denied mailing privileges on the grounds that it contained treasonable passages. But when the publisher offered to delete the passages, Burleson refused to identify them. Judge Learned Hand of the federal court overruled Burleson whereupon the Postmaster General banned the magazine on the grounds that because it had missed an issue during the dispute, it was no longer eligible for second class mailing privileges.
[Source:http://home.comcast.net/~mruland/APUS/UnitNotes/unit10/CivilLiberties.htm]
In these actions we see evidence of the unseen hand that guides the government. The citizens of the nation are ruled by an elite that seeks to remain hidden, and to use the powers of the government to accomplish their desires. By controlling the media, and limiting speech, they found a means to move the masses in the direction they desired.
Shaping the minds of the American populace rose to new and staggering heights during World War I. In 1917 President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information. The CPI was created to mold the opinions of American citizens who were opposed to entry to World War I.
Poster Created by the CPI
Following is a summary of the activities of the CPI.
The absence of public unity was a primary concern when America entered the war on April 6, 1917. In Washington, unwavering public support was considered to be crucial to the entire wartime effort. On April 13, 1917, Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to promote the war domestically while publicizing American war aims abroad. Under the leadership of a muckraking journalist named George Creel, the CPI recruited heavily from business, media, academia, and the art world. The CPI blended advertising techniques with a sophisticated understanding of human psychology, and its efforts represent the first time that a modern government disseminated propaganda on such a large scale. It is fascinating that this phenomenon, often linked with totalitarian regimes, emerged in a democratic state.
Although George Creel was an outspoken critic of censorship at the hands of public servants, the CPI took immediate steps to limit damaging information. Invoking the threat of German propaganda, the CPI implemented "voluntary guidelines" for the news media and helped to pass the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. The CPI did not have explicit enforcement power, but it nevertheless "enjoyed censorship power which was tantamount to direct legal force..."
Censorship was only one element of the CPI's efforts. With all the sophistication of a modern advertising agency, the CPI examined the different ways that information flowed to the population and flooded these channels with pro-war material. The CPI's domestic division was composed of 19 sub-divisions, and each focused on a particular type of propaganda...
One of the most important elements of the CPI was the Division of News... According to Creel, on any given week, more than 20,000 newspaper columns were filled with material gleaned from CPI handouts. Realizing that many Americans glided right past the front page and headed straight for the features section, the CPI also created the Division of Syndicated Features and recruited the help of leading novelists, short story writers, and essayists. These popular American writers presented the official line in an easily digestible form, and their work was said to have reached twelve million people every month...
The CPI did not limit its promotional efforts to the written word. The Division of Pictorial Publicity "had at its disposal many of the most talented advertising illustrators and cartoonists of the time," and these artists worked closely with publicity experts in the Advertising Division. Newspapers and magazines eagerly donated advertising space, and it was almost impossible to pick up a periodical without encountering CPI material. Powerful posters, painted in patriotic colors, were plastered on billboards across the country...
Moving images were even more popular than still ones, and the Division of Films ensured that the war was promoted in the cinema.
[Source: http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ww1.cpi.html]
CPI propaganda typically appealed to the heart, not to the mind. Emotional agitation is a favorite technique of the propagandist, because "any emotion may be 'drained off' into any activity by skillful manipulation." An article which appeared in Scientific Monthly shortly after the war argued that "the detailed suffering of a little girl and her kitten can motivate our hatred against the Germans, arouse our sympathy for Armenians, make us enthusiastic for the Red Cross, or lead us to give money for a home for cats." Wartime slogans such as "Bleeding Belgium," "The Criminal Kaiser," and "Make the World Safe For Democracy," suggest that the CPI was no stranger to this idea. Evidence of this technique can be seen in a typical propaganda poster that portrayed an aggressive, bayonet-wielding German soldier above the caption "Beat Back The Hun With Liberty Bonds." In this example, the emotions of hate and fear were redirected toward giving money to the war effort...
A second propaganda technique used by the CPI was demonization of the enemy. "So great are the psychological resistances to war in modern nations," wrote Lasswell "that every war must appear to be a war of defense against a menacing, murderous aggressor. There must be no ambiguity about who the public is to hate..."
A particularly effective strategy for demonizing Germans was the use of atrocity stories. "A handy rule for arousing hate," said Lasswell "is, if at first they do not enrage, use an atrocity. It has been employed with unvarying success in every conflict known to man." Unlike the pacifist, who argues that all wars are brutal, the atrocity story implies that war is only brutal when practiced by the enemy. Certain members of the CPI were relatively cautious about repeating unsubstantiated allegations, but the committee's publications often relied on dubious material. After the war, Edward Bernays, who directed CPI propaganda efforts in Latin America, openly admitted that his colleagues used alleged atrocities to provoke a public outcry against Germany. Some of the atrocity stories which were circulated during the war, such as the one about a tub full of eyeballs, or the story of the seven-year old boy who confronted German soldiers with a wooden gun, were actually recycled from previous conflicts. In his seminal work on wartime propaganda, Lasswell speculated that atrocity stories will always be popular because the audience is able to feel self-righteous indignation toward the enemy, and, at some level, identify with the perpetrators of the crimes. "A young woman, ravished by the enemy," he wrote "yields secret satisfaction to a host of vicarious ravishers on the other side of the border..."
CPI Poster
Emotional appeals and simplistic caricatures of the enemy influenced many Americans, but the CPI recognized that certain social groups had more complex propaganda needs. In order to reach intellectuals and pacifists, the CPI claimed that military intervention would bring about a democratic League of Nations and end warfare forever. With other social groups, the CPI modified its arguments, and interpreted the war as "a conflict to destroy the threat of German industrial competition (business group), to protect the American standard of living (labor), to remove certain baneful German influences in our education (teachers), to destroy German music - itself a subtle propaganda (musicians), to preserve civilization, 'we' and `civilization' being synonymous (nationalists), to make the world safe for democracy, crush militarism, [and] establish the rights of small nations et al. (religious and idealistic groups)..."
Finally, like most propagandists, the CPI was frequently dishonest. Despite George Creel's claim that the CPI strived for unflinching accuracy, many of his employees later admitted that they were quite willing to lie. Will Irwin, an ex-CPI member who published several confessional pieces after the war, felt that the CPI was more honest than other propaganda ministries, but made it clear that "we never told the whole truth - not by any manner of means." Citing an intelligence officer who bluntly said "you can't tell them the truth," G.S Viereck argued that, as on all fronts, victories were routinely manufactured by American military authorities. The professional propagandist realizes that, when a single lie is exposed, the entire campaign is jeopardized. Dishonesty is discouraged, but on strategic, not moral, grounds.
[Source: http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ww1.demons.html]
It should be obvious to perceptive Christians that the government is operating by Satanic principles when it creates an agency to mold public opinion through the deliberate use of lies and deception. The end justifies the means in the minds of the unscrupulous.
Consider what is revealed in the formation of the Committee for Public Information. There exists an elite group that perceives the need to manipulate the masses in order to gain their support. During World War I a vast amount of resources were enlisted for the sole purpose of shaping public opinion to a form that the money powers found to be harmonious to their own aims. By lies, half-truths, deliberate deception, biased reporting, and emotion stirring images, the unseen hand guiding the government was able to secure the cooperation and support of the American public.
CPI Poster
Although I have frequently made mention of the acts and words of those who are disciples of Satan, what I would stress in this series is that there is a spiritual hand behind even these human agents of both the visible and invisible governments. Satan is the ruler of this world, and he deceives the nations. As one looks at the history of America’s wars one can see a plan being advanced to bring the entire world under a single government.
One of the deceits used to sell involvement in the Great War to Americans was that a “League of Nations” would arise out of this conflict, and the combined might of these nations would prevent other countries from inciting conflicts in the future. The League of Nations, however, proved to be weak and ineffectual, as just two decades later the world again descended into war. Out of World War II the United Nations was formed. This body was granted more power than the insipid League of Nations, but it still has no dominant authority over sovereign nations. The U.N.’s power is not unlike that of the United States government over the individual states prior to the Civil War.
With each conflict a stronger central power has been put in place. The stage is being set for a global government where Satan will be the head. There remains yet one more global war. Then we will see that which was birthed in the League of Nations, and brought to adolescence in the United Nations, come to maturity in the New World Order. It is amazing to consider how effective Satan has been in selling these wars to Christians. Multitudes have embraced and supported these conflicts, little understanding how their support was furthering the plans of the great deceiver. Few have ever discerned the true reasons that wars have been fought, nor have they identified those who have truly profited from such violence and bloodshed.
League of Nations Cartoon from World War I
As a parable, the above image reveals a lot. Satan, the serpent of old, foments international strife in order to advance his plans of bringing all the nations of the world under one government. Babylon will rise again as all men are united in common purpose under a single leader.
The cunning of Satan has sold this plan even to the churches of Christ. He has through cunning and deception induced myriads of the sons and daughters of God to entangle themselves in the affairs of this world. A rampant patriotism has infected the churches even as it did during the Civil War when ministers from North and South all proclaimed that they were fighting God’s war, and God was on their side. Christians went forth to slaughter their brothers in Christ, being blinded by the god of this world.
As another great conflict now lies at the doorstep of the nations, Satan will once more deceive the masses. Included among the deceived will be the majority of Christians who have little spiritual discernment.
II Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Are you even at this moment drinking of the flood of propaganda that Satan is steadily pouring forth? Do you have a divine perspective of the conflict of the ages, or are you blinded by terrestrial views?
Gettysburg Dead
The reasons for war are seldom what the history books declare. The American Civil War was not entered into as a struggle to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln is frequently touted as “the Great Emancipator,” yet his own words reveal that abolishing slavery was not upon his mind when he set the Union on a course for war with the South. Although numerous statements by Lincoln reveal that he considered slavery to be a moral evil, at the same time he stated that he believed it outside of his rights, or power, to abolish it.
I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that ‘I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.’
[Source: Lincoln's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861]
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.
[Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, "Letter to Horace Greeley" (August 22, 1862), p. 388]
Why was Lincoln so driven to preserve the Union? Even without the Southern states, the North was far larger in territory and population than the original thirteen colonies of the founding fathers of America. At the time the war was fought there were thirty-four states, and the nation had expanded ever westward toward the Pacific Ocean. There were vast swaths of land that had not yet been settled.
The authors of Lincoln’s Wrath suggest that Lincoln was inspired by a vision of America as a mighty nation that would rival Great Britain. Standing in the way of this national vision was the very form of America’s union as a voluntary confederation of independent states. Lincoln saw a need for a powerful federal government to not only bind the country together, but to bring a unanimity to her policies and to the projection of her power in the world. The Civil War was largely a struggle between states’ rights and a powerful federal government that exercised dominion over the states. Lincoln was ultimately successful in his aim of creating a powerful federal government that would dictate its will to the states. In the process he greatly expanded the powers of the president. Such actions would have elicited the anger of men like Thomas Jefferson who believed in a limited federal government.
From the perspective of one who is a disciple of Christ, struggles over federal power versus states’ rights seem inconsequential. The kingdom of God is not helped, nor hindered, by the nationalistic ambitions of men. The church was born when the Roman Empire held sway over much of the world. The church has experienced periods of peace where it was unmolested, and ages of great persecution. Christianity has flourished under kingdoms, dictatorships, democracies, and communism. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy the following words:
II Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Partisan politics, and national ambitions certainly belong to “the affairs of everyday life.” It was not the Spirit of Christ that inspired men like Abraham Lincoln to engage in a war that would ultimately result in the violent deaths of more than 600,000 men, and the maiming of a great many more. Men of baser motives, who are focused on earthly kingdoms, have often found profit in warfare. Whatever Lincoln’s motives were, he would have been unable to execute his war apart from the support and complicity of bankers, munitions manufacturers, railroad tycoons, and an array of other merchants and industrialists.
In the writing Robber Barons, Revolution, and Social Control, Andrew Gavin Marshall shares the following:
The Civil War (1861-1865) served several purposes. First of all, the immediate economic considerations: the Civil War sought to create a single economic system for America, driven by the Eastern capitalists in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, uniting with the West against the slave-labour South. The aim was not freedom for black slaves, but rather to end a system which had become antiquated and unprofitable. With the Industrial Revolution driving people into cities and mechanizing production, the notion of slavery lost its appeal: it was simply too expensive and time consuming to raise, feed, house, clothe and maintain slaves; it was thought more logical and profitable (in an era obsessed with efficiency) to simply pay people for the time they engage in labour. The Industrial Revolution brought with it the clock, and thus time itself became a commodity. As slavery was indicative of human beings being treated as commodities to be bought and sold, owned and used, the Industrial Revolution did not liberate people from servitude and slavery, it simply updated the notions and made more efficient the system of slavery: instead of purchasing people, they would lease them for the time they can be ‘productive.’
[Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/robber-barons-revolution-and-social-control/]
I believe there is much truth in these words. America has always been ruled by a moneyed aristocracy. If the robber barons, the bankers, and financial powers of the nation had not found it in their interests to engage in a bloody civil war, Lincoln could not have engaged in such a conflict. If the money interests, the great corporate trusts, had not found Lincoln’s aims to be in harmony with their own, the war would never have taken place.
As we saw in a previous chapter, this has ever been the state of things. The men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and who met to hammer out a national Constitution, derived great personal profit from the Revolution. Out of necessity the profit takers must induce the masses to join with them. Deception and violence are two of the chief methods of assuring the compliance of the masses. The reason a particular war is fought is pitched to the public as if all is being done in their own interests. The benefit to accrue to a moneyed elite is glossed over, and if possible, completely hidden.
As America has aged the government’s methods for securing the compliance of the public have become much more sophisticated. The year 1917 saw war looming once more for America. World War I in Europe was taking place, and the majority of Americans strongly opposed entry into the war. There were corporate and political interests, however, who favored entry. Among them were the House of Morgan (J.P. Morgan), and weapons manufacturers who saw the potential to profit should America enter the war.
The pro-war advocates realized that American opinion needed to change to effect entry into the war, and this required the control of free speech so that only opinions in favor of war would be heard. The Espionage Act was passed by Congress in 1917. It prescribed a $10,000 fine, and twenty years in prison, for interfering with military operations, or the recruitment of troops. If a citizen, or newspaper, publicly criticized American involvement in the war they faced severe penalties.
President Woodrow Wilson in his State of the Union address delivered on December 7, 1915, asked Congress for the legislation. He stated:
There are citizens of the United States ... who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life; who have sought to ring the authority and good name of our Government into contempt... to destroy our industries... and to debase our politics to the uses of foreign intrigue.... We are without adequate federal laws.... I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out.
Wilson asked Congress to pass a law that would provide for censorship of the press. He submitted legislation for their consideration that incorporated such censorship, stating, "Authority to exercise censorship over the press ... is absolutely necessary to the public safety."
I am confident that it was not “the public safety” that President Wilson was actually concerned with. Rather, it was the interests of the money trusts, such as the Rockefeller’s, Morgan, Carnegie, and others. These are the ones who were being criticized in the press, and who stood to benefit the most by entry into the war.
Congress voted down censorship of the press by only one vote, 39 to 38. Nevertheless, when entry into the war was secured in 1917, Congress passed the Espionage Act which effectively gave the government power to censor the press and imprison citizens who spoke in opposition to the policies of the government. The Espionage Act of 1917 made it a crime:
To convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies. This was punishable by death or by imprisonment for not more than 30 years or both.
To convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies when the United States is at war, to cause or attempt to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or to willfully obstruct the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States. This was punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 20 years or both.
The Act also gave the Postmaster General authority to impound or to refuse to mail publications that he determined to be in violation of its prohibitions.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Espionage_Act_of_1917]
The restrictions to speech were extended in the Sedition Act of 1918. Among the prohibitions added were "any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States... or the flag of the United States, or the uniform of the Army or Navy."
The Espionage Act was no idle threat. In a period of months more than 900 people were sent to prison. Additionally, a number of newspapers and magazines were forced out of business as the government forbade them to use the postal service to distribute their anti-war writings.
An example of the governmental intolerance of any contrary opinion to America’s involvement in the war in Europe is seen in the experience of Eugene Debs. Debs was a union organizer and a political candidate for the Socialist Party in America. Although the majority of Americans have come to equate Socialism with Communism, Debs was not a communist supporter, and was very critical of the actions of the Communist Party in Russia which utilized violent and destructive methods to secure their aims. On June 12th, 1918, Debs gave a speech in Canton, Ohio, after which he was arrested and charged with violating the Espionage Act. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Following is the speech he gave. Debs clearly understood that there was an American aristocracy of the moneyed classes who exploited the poor by fomenting wars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuGp-0G1p4M
One website provides the following information on the suppression of free speech in America by the government through use of the Espionage Act.
A teenage girl was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment for criticizing the war. A Californian was sentenced to jail for laughing at rookies drilling on San Francisco's Presidio. A New Yorker received ninety days for spitting on the sidewalk near some Italian officers. Numerous ministers and college professors were dismissed because of their opposition to American entrance into the war. Frederick C. Howe, Commissioner of Immigration at the Port of New York, related how thousands of Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians were taken without trial from their homes and brought to Ellis Island. When he tried to secure decent treatment for the aliens, he was branded as pro-German...
Besides the congressional actions which curbed civil rights, A. R. Burleson, the Postmaster General, instituted a censorship which denied mailing privileges to "subversive" publications. A magazine The Masses was denied mailing privileges on the grounds that it contained treasonable passages. But when the publisher offered to delete the passages, Burleson refused to identify them. Judge Learned Hand of the federal court overruled Burleson whereupon the Postmaster General banned the magazine on the grounds that because it had missed an issue during the dispute, it was no longer eligible for second class mailing privileges.
[Source:http://home.comcast.net/~mruland/APUS/UnitNotes/unit10/CivilLiberties.htm]
In these actions we see evidence of the unseen hand that guides the government. The citizens of the nation are ruled by an elite that seeks to remain hidden, and to use the powers of the government to accomplish their desires. By controlling the media, and limiting speech, they found a means to move the masses in the direction they desired.
Shaping the minds of the American populace rose to new and staggering heights during World War I. In 1917 President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information. The CPI was created to mold the opinions of American citizens who were opposed to entry to World War I.
Poster Created by the CPI
Following is a summary of the activities of the CPI.
The absence of public unity was a primary concern when America entered the war on April 6, 1917. In Washington, unwavering public support was considered to be crucial to the entire wartime effort. On April 13, 1917, Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to promote the war domestically while publicizing American war aims abroad. Under the leadership of a muckraking journalist named George Creel, the CPI recruited heavily from business, media, academia, and the art world. The CPI blended advertising techniques with a sophisticated understanding of human psychology, and its efforts represent the first time that a modern government disseminated propaganda on such a large scale. It is fascinating that this phenomenon, often linked with totalitarian regimes, emerged in a democratic state.
Although George Creel was an outspoken critic of censorship at the hands of public servants, the CPI took immediate steps to limit damaging information. Invoking the threat of German propaganda, the CPI implemented "voluntary guidelines" for the news media and helped to pass the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918. The CPI did not have explicit enforcement power, but it nevertheless "enjoyed censorship power which was tantamount to direct legal force..."
Censorship was only one element of the CPI's efforts. With all the sophistication of a modern advertising agency, the CPI examined the different ways that information flowed to the population and flooded these channels with pro-war material. The CPI's domestic division was composed of 19 sub-divisions, and each focused on a particular type of propaganda...
One of the most important elements of the CPI was the Division of News... According to Creel, on any given week, more than 20,000 newspaper columns were filled with material gleaned from CPI handouts. Realizing that many Americans glided right past the front page and headed straight for the features section, the CPI also created the Division of Syndicated Features and recruited the help of leading novelists, short story writers, and essayists. These popular American writers presented the official line in an easily digestible form, and their work was said to have reached twelve million people every month...
The CPI did not limit its promotional efforts to the written word. The Division of Pictorial Publicity "had at its disposal many of the most talented advertising illustrators and cartoonists of the time," and these artists worked closely with publicity experts in the Advertising Division. Newspapers and magazines eagerly donated advertising space, and it was almost impossible to pick up a periodical without encountering CPI material. Powerful posters, painted in patriotic colors, were plastered on billboards across the country...
Moving images were even more popular than still ones, and the Division of Films ensured that the war was promoted in the cinema.
[Source: http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ww1.cpi.html]
CPI propaganda typically appealed to the heart, not to the mind. Emotional agitation is a favorite technique of the propagandist, because "any emotion may be 'drained off' into any activity by skillful manipulation." An article which appeared in Scientific Monthly shortly after the war argued that "the detailed suffering of a little girl and her kitten can motivate our hatred against the Germans, arouse our sympathy for Armenians, make us enthusiastic for the Red Cross, or lead us to give money for a home for cats." Wartime slogans such as "Bleeding Belgium," "The Criminal Kaiser," and "Make the World Safe For Democracy," suggest that the CPI was no stranger to this idea. Evidence of this technique can be seen in a typical propaganda poster that portrayed an aggressive, bayonet-wielding German soldier above the caption "Beat Back The Hun With Liberty Bonds." In this example, the emotions of hate and fear were redirected toward giving money to the war effort...
A second propaganda technique used by the CPI was demonization of the enemy. "So great are the psychological resistances to war in modern nations," wrote Lasswell "that every war must appear to be a war of defense against a menacing, murderous aggressor. There must be no ambiguity about who the public is to hate..."
A particularly effective strategy for demonizing Germans was the use of atrocity stories. "A handy rule for arousing hate," said Lasswell "is, if at first they do not enrage, use an atrocity. It has been employed with unvarying success in every conflict known to man." Unlike the pacifist, who argues that all wars are brutal, the atrocity story implies that war is only brutal when practiced by the enemy. Certain members of the CPI were relatively cautious about repeating unsubstantiated allegations, but the committee's publications often relied on dubious material. After the war, Edward Bernays, who directed CPI propaganda efforts in Latin America, openly admitted that his colleagues used alleged atrocities to provoke a public outcry against Germany. Some of the atrocity stories which were circulated during the war, such as the one about a tub full of eyeballs, or the story of the seven-year old boy who confronted German soldiers with a wooden gun, were actually recycled from previous conflicts. In his seminal work on wartime propaganda, Lasswell speculated that atrocity stories will always be popular because the audience is able to feel self-righteous indignation toward the enemy, and, at some level, identify with the perpetrators of the crimes. "A young woman, ravished by the enemy," he wrote "yields secret satisfaction to a host of vicarious ravishers on the other side of the border..."
CPI Poster
Emotional appeals and simplistic caricatures of the enemy influenced many Americans, but the CPI recognized that certain social groups had more complex propaganda needs. In order to reach intellectuals and pacifists, the CPI claimed that military intervention would bring about a democratic League of Nations and end warfare forever. With other social groups, the CPI modified its arguments, and interpreted the war as "a conflict to destroy the threat of German industrial competition (business group), to protect the American standard of living (labor), to remove certain baneful German influences in our education (teachers), to destroy German music - itself a subtle propaganda (musicians), to preserve civilization, 'we' and `civilization' being synonymous (nationalists), to make the world safe for democracy, crush militarism, [and] establish the rights of small nations et al. (religious and idealistic groups)..."
Finally, like most propagandists, the CPI was frequently dishonest. Despite George Creel's claim that the CPI strived for unflinching accuracy, many of his employees later admitted that they were quite willing to lie. Will Irwin, an ex-CPI member who published several confessional pieces after the war, felt that the CPI was more honest than other propaganda ministries, but made it clear that "we never told the whole truth - not by any manner of means." Citing an intelligence officer who bluntly said "you can't tell them the truth," G.S Viereck argued that, as on all fronts, victories were routinely manufactured by American military authorities. The professional propagandist realizes that, when a single lie is exposed, the entire campaign is jeopardized. Dishonesty is discouraged, but on strategic, not moral, grounds.
[Source: http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ww1.demons.html]
It should be obvious to perceptive Christians that the government is operating by Satanic principles when it creates an agency to mold public opinion through the deliberate use of lies and deception. The end justifies the means in the minds of the unscrupulous.
Consider what is revealed in the formation of the Committee for Public Information. There exists an elite group that perceives the need to manipulate the masses in order to gain their support. During World War I a vast amount of resources were enlisted for the sole purpose of shaping public opinion to a form that the money powers found to be harmonious to their own aims. By lies, half-truths, deliberate deception, biased reporting, and emotion stirring images, the unseen hand guiding the government was able to secure the cooperation and support of the American public.
CPI Poster
Although I have frequently made mention of the acts and words of those who are disciples of Satan, what I would stress in this series is that there is a spiritual hand behind even these human agents of both the visible and invisible governments. Satan is the ruler of this world, and he deceives the nations. As one looks at the history of America’s wars one can see a plan being advanced to bring the entire world under a single government.
One of the deceits used to sell involvement in the Great War to Americans was that a “League of Nations” would arise out of this conflict, and the combined might of these nations would prevent other countries from inciting conflicts in the future. The League of Nations, however, proved to be weak and ineffectual, as just two decades later the world again descended into war. Out of World War II the United Nations was formed. This body was granted more power than the insipid League of Nations, but it still has no dominant authority over sovereign nations. The U.N.’s power is not unlike that of the United States government over the individual states prior to the Civil War.
With each conflict a stronger central power has been put in place. The stage is being set for a global government where Satan will be the head. There remains yet one more global war. Then we will see that which was birthed in the League of Nations, and brought to adolescence in the United Nations, come to maturity in the New World Order. It is amazing to consider how effective Satan has been in selling these wars to Christians. Multitudes have embraced and supported these conflicts, little understanding how their support was furthering the plans of the great deceiver. Few have ever discerned the true reasons that wars have been fought, nor have they identified those who have truly profited from such violence and bloodshed.
League of Nations Cartoon from World War I
As a parable, the above image reveals a lot. Satan, the serpent of old, foments international strife in order to advance his plans of bringing all the nations of the world under one government. Babylon will rise again as all men are united in common purpose under a single leader.
The cunning of Satan has sold this plan even to the churches of Christ. He has through cunning and deception induced myriads of the sons and daughters of God to entangle themselves in the affairs of this world. A rampant patriotism has infected the churches even as it did during the Civil War when ministers from North and South all proclaimed that they were fighting God’s war, and God was on their side. Christians went forth to slaughter their brothers in Christ, being blinded by the god of this world.
As another great conflict now lies at the doorstep of the nations, Satan will once more deceive the masses. Included among the deceived will be the majority of Christians who have little spiritual discernment.
II Corinthians 11:3
I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Are you even at this moment drinking of the flood of propaganda that Satan is steadily pouring forth? Do you have a divine perspective of the conflict of the ages, or are you blinded by terrestrial views?
Joseph Herrin
The Saudi Currency Market Tells You That Trouble Is Brewing In The Middle East
An important shift is developing in Saudi Arabian currency derivatives markets as Iran becomes engulfed in populist protests amid hyperinflationary pressures and armed conflict breaks out between Turkey and Syria, heightening concerns about tensions in the Middle East.
The 12-month forward rate on the Saudi Arabian riyal – or the difference between how many riyals traders think a dollar will be able to buy a year from now and how many riyals a dollar can buy today – has been hovering just above zero for the past two weeks.
In other words, as pointed out by BNP's Bartosz Pawlowski, traders are expecting the riyal to depreciate against the dollar. Or to think about it another way, people are betting that in a year, people expect that the dollar will be able to buy more riyals than that dollar is able to buy right now.
And that is something that almost never happens – unless markets are getting really worried about Saudi Arabia, one of the most stable countries in the region.
Here is a chart that shows the latest move above the zero level (that tiny blip at the far right) and also puts into perspective how rare of an occurrence it is for the rate to do so:
Bloomberg, Business Insider
The reason the SAR 12m forward rate is usually way below zero, as most of the chart shows, is because Saudi Arabia runs a massive trade surplus due to its central role as oil exporter in the global economy. In other words, one would usually always expect the riyal to appreciate against the dollar.
But Saudi Arabia's currency is pegged to that of the U.S. – at a rate of 3.75 riyals per dollar.
Because the exchange rate is fixed, the value of the riyal isn't such a great way to read the market's views on Saudi Arabia, because the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency stands ready to support the peg at the 3.75 level on a daily basis.
The currency forwards market, on the other hand, gives some insight into market views that, on account of the peg, can't be gleaned from the price of the currency.
Credit Suisse strategists explained the importance of the 12-month forward rate on the Saudi riyal as an indicator of stress in the region in an early 2011 note to clients – the last time everyone was concerned about Saudi Arabia, when popular uprisings were sweeping across the Middle East.
In early 2011, they wrote:
Given the importance of Saudi Arabia to global oil output, we look specifically at the level of the SAR 12m forward in Exhibit 8. Since the recent unrest began, the market has priced out the possibility of an appreciation of the currency over the next year. Given the currency peg, a significant move upward in the forwards would portend greater risks to the oil supply and foreshadow further rallies in US rates.
As the accompanying chart shows, traders in the forwards market were seriously concerned about a riyal devaluation against the dollar back then, as the SAR 12m forward inched above zero:
Credit Suisse
And look what happened right after, when the spectre of populist protests and Shia/Sunni conflict in neighboring Bahrain spilling over into Saudi Arabia made the SAR 12m forward rate go wild:
Bloomberg, Business Insider
The SAR 12m forward rate has moved against zero once again in recent weeks.
That doesn't necessarily mean traders are going to start pricing in a big devaluation of the riyal just yet – the chart at the top shows that the rate has briefly crossed above zero a handful of times since early 2011 – but the most recent developments in the forward rate show that for now, Saudi Arabia is a concern that is at least on traders' minds. And it implies that there's some worry that Saudi authorities will take the rare step of depreciating their currency, something it would only do in a severe situation.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/middle-east-tensions-and-the-sar-12m-forward-rate-2012-10#ixzz28L72QEOr
The 12-month forward rate on the Saudi Arabian riyal – or the difference between how many riyals traders think a dollar will be able to buy a year from now and how many riyals a dollar can buy today – has been hovering just above zero for the past two weeks.
In other words, as pointed out by BNP's Bartosz Pawlowski, traders are expecting the riyal to depreciate against the dollar. Or to think about it another way, people are betting that in a year, people expect that the dollar will be able to buy more riyals than that dollar is able to buy right now.
And that is something that almost never happens – unless markets are getting really worried about Saudi Arabia, one of the most stable countries in the region.
Here is a chart that shows the latest move above the zero level (that tiny blip at the far right) and also puts into perspective how rare of an occurrence it is for the rate to do so:
Bloomberg, Business Insider
The reason the SAR 12m forward rate is usually way below zero, as most of the chart shows, is because Saudi Arabia runs a massive trade surplus due to its central role as oil exporter in the global economy. In other words, one would usually always expect the riyal to appreciate against the dollar.
But Saudi Arabia's currency is pegged to that of the U.S. – at a rate of 3.75 riyals per dollar.
Because the exchange rate is fixed, the value of the riyal isn't such a great way to read the market's views on Saudi Arabia, because the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency stands ready to support the peg at the 3.75 level on a daily basis.
The currency forwards market, on the other hand, gives some insight into market views that, on account of the peg, can't be gleaned from the price of the currency.
Credit Suisse strategists explained the importance of the 12-month forward rate on the Saudi riyal as an indicator of stress in the region in an early 2011 note to clients – the last time everyone was concerned about Saudi Arabia, when popular uprisings were sweeping across the Middle East.
In early 2011, they wrote:
Given the importance of Saudi Arabia to global oil output, we look specifically at the level of the SAR 12m forward in Exhibit 8. Since the recent unrest began, the market has priced out the possibility of an appreciation of the currency over the next year. Given the currency peg, a significant move upward in the forwards would portend greater risks to the oil supply and foreshadow further rallies in US rates.
As the accompanying chart shows, traders in the forwards market were seriously concerned about a riyal devaluation against the dollar back then, as the SAR 12m forward inched above zero:
Credit Suisse
And look what happened right after, when the spectre of populist protests and Shia/Sunni conflict in neighboring Bahrain spilling over into Saudi Arabia made the SAR 12m forward rate go wild:
Bloomberg, Business Insider
The SAR 12m forward rate has moved against zero once again in recent weeks.
That doesn't necessarily mean traders are going to start pricing in a big devaluation of the riyal just yet – the chart at the top shows that the rate has briefly crossed above zero a handful of times since early 2011 – but the most recent developments in the forward rate show that for now, Saudi Arabia is a concern that is at least on traders' minds. And it implies that there's some worry that Saudi authorities will take the rare step of depreciating their currency, something it would only do in a severe situation.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/middle-east-tensions-and-the-sar-12m-forward-rate-2012-10#ixzz28L72QEOr
Arabs Riot for Third Day on Temple Mount
For the third morning in a row, Arabs rioted on the Temple Mount, attempting to attack groups of Jews who sought to visit the holiest site in Judaism during the Sukkot holiday. Police again Thursday deployed large numbers of officers to keep the Arabs from attacking the Jews.
Police have reported that there were mild protests during recent days, but video footage showed dozens of young Arabs actively trying to attack Jews who were visiting the Mount. In one video, a Wakf official is seen threatening to break the camera of a Jew filming footage of the Arab rioters.
Earlier in the week, Arutz Sheva reported on a large Arab riot that greeted Jews who attempted to visit the Temple Mount on the first day of Chol Hamo'ed, the intermediate days of Sukkot. “When we went up on the Temple Mount, we were greeted with cries of ‘Allah is Great,’” said Asaf Fried, one of the members of a group that visited the Mount Tuesday. “The police again did nothing, even towards the end of the visit when the Arabs really came close to us and blocked our exit, shouting, 'We will expel the Jews in blood and fire and will butcher Jews.' The police still did nothing,” and the group of Jews escaped without harm, Fried said.
During the rioting, police arrested five Arabs for attacking a police officer. One Jewish worshipper was detained as well, police said, for failing to listen to their instructions.On Tuesday, police arrested Likud activist Moshe Feiglin, along with another Israeli, for attempting to pray at the site. On Wednesday, Rabbi Yehuda Leibman, director of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva was taken into custody for allegedly praying at Judaism's holiest site. Later in the day, 87-year-old Dr. Menachem Ben-Yashar, a long-time activist for Jewish rights on the Mount was arrested. Also detained was Elyashiv Sherlo, son of Rabbi Yuval Sherlo, head of the Petach Tikva yeshiva.
Jewish activists once again called on police to learn how to respond more effectively to Arab riots, and to establish a procedure at the Temple Mount similar to that at the Machpelah Cave – allowing Jews access to the site, at least on Jewish holidays.
Israel National News
Egypt’s Christians Fear Violence, Flee
Fearing sectarian violence at hands of the Muslim extremists, Christian Copts in the Egypt’s North Sinai town of Rafah are being forced to flee their homes.
At least a dozen Coptic families have already left the town bordering Gaza and Israel, seeking safety in the nearby town of Al Arish, a local priest told state-owned Al Ahram newspaper. The latest Coptic exodus was triggered by an armed attack on a shop owned by a Christian town-dweller, he said.
Two days earlier, fliers had been found outside Christian homes warning residents to "leave or face death." While the attack by masked gunmen did not cause any injuries, it has succeeded in terrorizing the town's small Christian community.
Christian families who met last week with the newly appointed North Sinai governor Sayed Harhour to express their grievances said the governor had promised to increase security in the town but stopped short of offering the Copts direct protection.
The violence is not the first of its kind in Rafah. The town's only church, "The Holy Family Church," has come under several attacks from militants since it was torched and looted in February 2011, as mass protests were taking place in Tahrir Square.
The Sinai Peninsula has witnessed a surge in violence since the January, 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak .
The subsequent rise of Islamists to power in Egypt has fuelled Christian concerns that their safety may be compromised and their freedom restricted under Islamist rule. Rights activists say the latest attack on Copts is a litmus test for Islamist President Mohamed Morsi who has promised an "inclusive Egypt" where all citizens enjoy equal rights.
Copts have experienced some of the worst violence since the January 2011 uprising, including the torching of churches, the violent military assault on Coptic protesters at Maspero last October and forced evacuations of Copts from the towns of Dahshur and Amreya. Tens of thousands of Copts have left Egypt to settle abroad since March 2011 out of concern for their safety, according to a report by the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights.
The recent anti-Islam video on Youtube has escalated fears of further attacks on Egypt's Christians after the clip - reportedly produced by Egyptian Christians living in the United States - provoked angry protests in Cairo and other Muslim capitals.
Despite Coptic Christians joining the Cairo demonstrations to express their solidarity with the Muslim protesters, many Christians are fearful of a backlash from radical Muslims.
The recent arrest and detention of Alber Saber, a young Christian -turned-atheist, on a charge of insulting religion after he posted the inflammatory video on Facebook has only fuelled such fears. Rights activists have decried Saber’s arrest, questioning why a Salafist TV presenter who showed parts of the video on his show (sparking the violent protests in Cairo and Alexandria ) had not been detained despite several lawsuits filed against him.
Another Christian, Michel Bishoy, was sentenced to six years in prison last week for blasphemy after posting pictures on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam's revered Prophet Muhammad.
President Morsi has condemned the latest violence in Rafah saying he "categorically rejects the displacement of any citizen from any part of the country."
Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali affirmed that "forced evacuations are unacceptable and all Egyptians are entitled to protection." He repeated earlier statements by the President that there would be no discrimination of any kind -"neither against women nor Copts," he said.
Prime Minister Hisham Qandil has meanwhile denied that Copts have been forcibly evacuated from Rafah, saying that only one Coptic family had decided to relocate. In statements to the state-run Middle East News Agency, he affirmed that President Morsi had given directives to the North Sinai governor to provide protection for Coptic residents in the town.
Despite such assurances, many Copts remain skeptical. Rights groups have said they are closely monitoring the situation in Sinai. The National Council for Human Rights has warned of "dire consequences if Christians' lives are at risk," adding that it would be "a dangerous precedent in Egypt, taking the country back to the dark ages."
In the meantime, Egypt's Coptic Christians who were subjected to discrimination and marginalization under Mubarak's rule now face an uncertain future.
"It is up to the new Islamist government to show it is serious about ending the discriminatory policies of the past. We have heard a lot of promises, " said Bassant Moussa of the "Copts United" public group. "Only action will allay our fears."
Shahira Amin is an Egyptian journalist, the former deputy head of Egyptian state-owned Nile TV and one of its senior anchors.
RIA Novosti
National 'virtual ID card' scheme set for launch
The Government will announce details this month of a controversial national identity scheme which will allow people to use their mobile phones and social media profiles as official identification documents for accessing public services.
People wishing to apply for services ranging from tax credits to fishing licences and passports will be asked to choose from a list of familiar online log-ins, including those they already use on social media sites, banks, and large retailers such as supermarkets, to prove their identity.
Once they have logged in correctly by computer or mobile phone, the site will send a message to the government agency authenticating that user’s identity.
The Cabinet Office is understood to have held discussions with the Post Office, high street banks, mobile phone companies and technology giants ranging from Facebook and Microsoft to Google, PayPal and BT.
Ministers are anxious that the identity programme is not denounced as a “Big Brother” national ID card by the back door, which is why data will not be kept centrally by any government department. Indeed, it is hoped the Identity Assurance Programme, which is being led by the Cabinet Office, will mean the end to any prospect of a physical national ID card being introduced in the UK.
The identification systems used by the private companies have been subjected to security testing before being awarded their “Identity Provider” (IDP) kitemark, meaning that they have made the list of between five and 20 approved organisations that will be announced on 22 October.
The public will be able to use their log-ins from a set list of “trusted” private organisations to access Government services, which are being grouped together on a single website called Gov.uk, which will be accessible by mobile.
A cross-section of social media companies, high street banks, mobile phone businesses and major retailers has been chosen in order to appeal to as wide a demographic as possible.
The system will be trialled when the Department of Work & Pensions starts the early roll out of the Universal Credit scheme, a radical overhaul of the benefits system, in April.
Users who access the Government’s online one-stop-shop of public services will be asked to identify themselves by choosing one organisation from a selection of logos. (This feature is called a “Nascar screen”, in reference to the logo-filled livery of the famous American racing cars.)
Major web sites are able to recognise individuals by their patterns of use, the device they are accessing from and its location. Facebook, for example, asks users who sign on from an unusual location to take a series of security questions including identifying friends in photographs.
Privacy campaigners are not wholly convinced by the programme. “Although this is a fine scheme in principle and is backed by ministers the danger is that it could be side-lined and used as a fig leaf by the data-hungry government departments,” said Guy Herbert, general secretary of No2ID, which has been consulted by the Cabinet Office.
Details of the “identity assurance” scheme are being finalised amid growing concerns over identity theft and other forms of cybercrime. Foreign Secretary William Hague and Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, who is at the head of the Identity Assurance Programme, will today (Thurs) meet international experts at the Budapest Conference on Cyberspace. Mr Maude will give a keynote speech.
The Cabinet Office believes its new identity model will “prevent ‘login fatigue’ [from] having too many usernames and passwords” and save public money by increasing trust in online services. The system is likely to be adopted by local authorities nationwide. The Government hopes the identity system will form the basis of a universally-recognised online authentication process for commercial transactions on the Internet, boosting the economy and strengthening Britain’s position as a leader in e-commerce.
In recent weeks, the Cabinet Office’s Government Digital Service has backed a UK working group of the Open Identity Exchange, which was set up in America to bring organisations including Google, AOL, PayPal and Experian together to find a simple method of online verification that doesn’t require multiple passwords.
Members of the Cabinet Office team travelled to the White House in May to exchange ideas with American counterparts working on the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC). The heads of the British and American identity assurance programmes will debate the subject next week in London at the RSA cyber security conference.
The first law passed by the Coalition Government was to scrap the national ID scheme, a move said to have saved taxpayers £1 billion over ten years. But ministers want to use the Internet to cut the cost of public services.
In order to limit concerns over Government snooping, the Cabinet Office has been working closely with a range of privacy campaign groups and consumer organisations including No2ID, Big Brother Watch and Which? The programme’s Privacy and Consumer Group drew up a list of nine Privacy Principles which underpin the framework of the scheme.
As part of the attempt to reassure privacy campaigners, a private identity partner (IDP) which authorises a user of a public service will not know which Government department is seeking authentication.
The Post Office’s involvement in the Identity Assurance Programmes was revealed by a notice placed in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Royal Mail subsidiary sought a third party provider to help in assembling consumer data including name, date of birth, address, gender, passport and driving licence numbers, financial history, electoral roll status and telephone numbers.
Some commercial organisations have been concerned that their consumers will react negatively to their involvement with government. But commercial partners will benefit from marketing opportunities and the trust that comes with IDP status.
Without the identity assurance scheme there are fears that high levels of online fraud will cause the public to lose confidence in digital channels, undermining the amount of business done online.
Civil servants acknowledge that some people will still wish to access public services in person. They argue that the online scheme will release additional resources to assist people who lack confidence in making digital transactions.
Q&A: What the scheme involves
Q. Is this just an ID card scheme by the back door?
A. No, it's a way of combating the menace of identity theft.
Q. Will the Government be able to use it to follow our movements online?
A. Authentication is done by trusted third parties and data will not be held centrally by the Government.
Q. But won't the private companies find out personal information that is none of their business?
A. The identity providers (IdPs) don't know for which government agency they are authenticating.
Q. Is a social media log-in sufficiently secure for a major financial transaction?
A. Individual IdPs will need to convince the Cabinet Office that their security checks are enough to meet the Level of Assurance (LOA) needed for the public service being requested. For example, a passport application is a high-security LOA3.
Q. Will it be possible to apply for a passport on your phone?
A. It is anticipated that part of the process will be offered online but some physical ID will still need to be presented in person to achieve LOA3.
Q. Is this just about public services?
A. No, the Government is helping to bring together online companies and create an icon that would enable online payments to be done securely.
Q. What would be the advantages?
A. It would also reduce the need to memorise multiple passwords.
Q. Will it work?
A. That depends partly on the efficiency of the chosen IdPs.
The Independent
Could your phone be secretly taking pictures right now?
A new app can 'virtually steal' from your home - by turning on your phone's camera and beaming images back to thieves.
The software can even build up a 3D model of your home, from which the hackers can inspect your rooms, potentially gleaning information about valuables in your home, calendar entries as well as spying on you.
The app was created by US military experts at Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana,to show how cybercriminals could operate in the future.
New methods: Hackers can build up a virtual image of a room (left), and then inspect details at close-up - picking up details such as cheque numbers (bottom right)
The PlaiceRaider creators even demonstrated how they could read the numbers of a cheque book when they tested the Android software on 20 volunteers.
As long as the app could be installed on the users phone, it can instantly begin beaming back images from the phone when it senses the right conditions, and software on the other end can then re-construct maps of the visited room.
The team gave their infected phone to 20 individuals, who did not know about the malicious app, and asked them to continue operating in their normal office environment.
The team said they could glean vital information from all 20 users, and that the 3D reconstruction made it much easier to steal information than by just using the images alone.
Researcher Robert Templeman said their app can run in the background of any smartphone using the Android 2.3 operating system.
The research team said: 'Through completely opportunistic use of the phone's camera and other sensors, PlaceRaider constructs rich, three dimensional models of indoor environments.
'Remote burglars can thus "download" the physical space, study the environment carefully, and steal virtual objects from the environment (such as financial documents, information on computer monitors, and personally identi fiable information).'
Surreptitious: The phone camera can take pictures and then 'piece' a room back together as a 3D model
The image quality is good enough to create a map of a room, allowing the viewer to inspect objects in sight
Images taken at (left-to-right) six megapixels, 4MP, 1MP and 0.3MP: The researchers say that, while the higher resolution is better, even low-res can provide adequate details
PlaiceRaider will silently take photographs, recording the time, location and orientation due to the sensors within most modern smartphones.
It will then delete any blurred or dark shots, before sending the rest back to a central server, which can reconstruct the user's room, based on information such as phone orientation.
Then the hacker can explore the user's property at will - for instance, scanning the room for calendars, private details on computer screens, and cheque-books or card details.
Templeman said: 'We implemented on Android for practical reasons, but we expect such malware to generalize to other platforms such as iOS and Windows Phone.'
The team offered various ways in which phone manufacturers could secure their systems, for instance making it impossible to disable the shutter sound on phones, so that a user will know if a picture is being taken.
Some manufacturers have done this previously, after many cases of mobiles being used surreptitiously for illegal or immoral purposes, but the sound can be disabled on many models.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2211108/Could-phones-camera-secretly-taking-pictures-right-Hackers-use-lens-steal-private-data--build-3D-model-home.html#ixzz28FH77FmJ
The software can even build up a 3D model of your home, from which the hackers can inspect your rooms, potentially gleaning information about valuables in your home, calendar entries as well as spying on you.
The app was created by US military experts at Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana,to show how cybercriminals could operate in the future.
New methods: Hackers can build up a virtual image of a room (left), and then inspect details at close-up - picking up details such as cheque numbers (bottom right)
The PlaiceRaider creators even demonstrated how they could read the numbers of a cheque book when they tested the Android software on 20 volunteers.
As long as the app could be installed on the users phone, it can instantly begin beaming back images from the phone when it senses the right conditions, and software on the other end can then re-construct maps of the visited room.
The team gave their infected phone to 20 individuals, who did not know about the malicious app, and asked them to continue operating in their normal office environment.
The team said they could glean vital information from all 20 users, and that the 3D reconstruction made it much easier to steal information than by just using the images alone.
Researcher Robert Templeman said their app can run in the background of any smartphone using the Android 2.3 operating system.
The research team said: 'Through completely opportunistic use of the phone's camera and other sensors, PlaceRaider constructs rich, three dimensional models of indoor environments.
'Remote burglars can thus "download" the physical space, study the environment carefully, and steal virtual objects from the environment (such as financial documents, information on computer monitors, and personally identi fiable information).'
Surreptitious: The phone camera can take pictures and then 'piece' a room back together as a 3D model
The image quality is good enough to create a map of a room, allowing the viewer to inspect objects in sight
Images taken at (left-to-right) six megapixels, 4MP, 1MP and 0.3MP: The researchers say that, while the higher resolution is better, even low-res can provide adequate details
PlaiceRaider will silently take photographs, recording the time, location and orientation due to the sensors within most modern smartphones.
It will then delete any blurred or dark shots, before sending the rest back to a central server, which can reconstruct the user's room, based on information such as phone orientation.
Then the hacker can explore the user's property at will - for instance, scanning the room for calendars, private details on computer screens, and cheque-books or card details.
Templeman said: 'We implemented on Android for practical reasons, but we expect such malware to generalize to other platforms such as iOS and Windows Phone.'
The team offered various ways in which phone manufacturers could secure their systems, for instance making it impossible to disable the shutter sound on phones, so that a user will know if a picture is being taken.
Some manufacturers have done this previously, after many cases of mobiles being used surreptitiously for illegal or immoral purposes, but the sound can be disabled on many models.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2211108/Could-phones-camera-secretly-taking-pictures-right-Hackers-use-lens-steal-private-data--build-3D-model-home.html#ixzz28FH77FmJ
Israel says armed Syrians approach Golan Heights, tourist site closed
JERUSALEM — Dozens of armed men gathered on the Syrian side of the cease-fire line in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights Wednesday, prompting authorities to close a tourist site as a precaution, the Israeli military said.
An Israeli spokesman said it was unclear what the armed Syrians were doing. He said there was no violence or attempts to cross the border. He spoke on condition of anonymity under military rules.
Israeli forces there were on alert.
The armed men were not wearing uniforms. It was not clear if they were soldiers from the Syrian army or rebel forces battling President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Israelis are concerned that fighting from Syria’s civil war could spill across the border. Last month, several mortar shells exploded in Israeli-controlled territory. Nobody was hurt. Israel said the shells were misfired.
Israeli officials have also expressed concern that the frontier region could turn into a lawless area like Egypt’s Sinai desert, where Islamic militants have gained strength since the ouster last year of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Israel and Syria have been bitter enemies for decades, but there is concern in Israel that if the Assad regime is toppled, the country could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists or descend into sectarian warfare, destabilizing the region.
An Israeli tour group visiting Mount Hermon, the Golan site closest to the border spot, left without incident, and the site was temporarily closed Wednesday as a precaution. “It happened far away from the site, but to be on the safe side, the tourists were told to go down from the mountain to the lower part of the resort,” said Shaul Ohana, who manages the site.
Last year in a demonstration, thousands of people stormed the border fence from Syria, and hundreds burst through. At least 15 infiltrators were killed that day in clashes on the Syrian and Lebanese borders.
Israeli officials accused Damascus of promoting the clash to try to divert attention from the violence within Syria.
Since then Israel has beefed up security in the area.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. It later annexed the strategic territory overlooking northern Israel in a move that is not recognized internationally.
Washington Post
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