Russia FM: Iran doesn't intend to attack Israel with nuclear weapons

Great joke Sergei !!!!!!

Russia does not believe that Iran intends to attack Israel with nuclear weapons, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a top Israeli official on Thursday, adding that there wasn't any proof that the Islamic Republic was developing nuclear arms.

Lavrov's comments came after, on Monday, Foreign Policy reported David Rothkopf claimed that the United States and Israel are considering the possibility of a joint "surgical strike" against Iran's nuclear facilities.

While Israel and the U.S. still don’t entirely agree on the "red line" which would trigger a military response, the report said that the Israelis are now suggesting a more limited attack than was previously debated.

Rothkopf, a former Clinton administration official and international relations expert, quoted a source said to be close to the discussions, which claimed that a small-scale attack is currently viewed as the most likely military option. Such strike, the source said, is likely to only take a few hours and would be conducted by air, using bombers and supported by drones.

During a meeting with the Russian foreign minister in Moscow on Thursday, Knesset Speaker Rivlin, who headed a delegation of MKs, said that "the friendship between Russia and Iran allows Russia the opportunity and obligation to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons."

"Russia may be the only [nation] able to stop the Iranian nuclear program, without necessitating sanctions or military moves," the Knesset speaker added.    

Lavrov, however, dismissed Israel's suspicions concerning Iran's nuclear aspirations, saying that "until now, it had not been clearly proven that Iran intends to develop nuclear weapons."

"Russia believes that Iran doesn't intend to attack Israel with nuclear weapons, especially when taking into account the makeup of Israel's population, which includes millions of Arabs and Muslims," the Russian FM added.

On Wednesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the West was lying when it claims that harsh economic sanctions imposed on Iran will be lifted if the Islamic Republic halts its nuclear progress, said on Wednesday, adding that the "enemies" were exaggerating the extent of the sanctions' damage.

Cited by Iranian media, Khamenei said that embargoes and sanctions were imposed on Iran even before the world began protesting against its nuclear program, saying that the West says that if Iran "desists from its nuclear energy right, they will remove sanctions, but they lie."

"[The existence of] a relationship between the sanctions and Iran's nuclear issue is a lie, and it is the pride and rise and persistence of the Iranian nation which has angered them (the enemies)," Ayatollah Khamenei was cited by both the Fars news agency and Press TV as saying.

Haaretz

Gerald Celente - Russell Scott Show

DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA BY A.C VALDEZ

By A.C. Valdez

In 1929 I was preaching in Vancouver, British Colombia. I had gone to the 6th Avenue Church that seats 1,000 people. The old building is gone. I sat down on the platform and looked down at the congregation for the Sunday morning service. There were 18 people. I had crossed the continent from Los Angeles to get to that meeting--18 people in my first service. My first thought was, My Lord and my God, the nerve, asking me to come across the country to stand here in front of 18 people.

Now, that was my first thought. Now, I no sooner thought that when God spoke to my heart and said, "Son, I want you to comfort these people."

They needed comfort, Brother. He gave me the capacity to comfort them. I started preaching comforting words. If I had given way to the human, Brother, I would have skinned them alive and tacked their hides up on the wall. People in a condition like that don't need a skinning; they need comfort. God helped me. He poured in the oil and the wine. He helped me to comfort those people.

They began to cry all over the place, as they needed comfort. The tears began to stream down their cheeks. They had gone through a terrible trial in that city, and the name of "Pentecost" was in the newspapers of that city, and it wasn't very good. The things that they had put into the newspapers were enough to keep most anybody away. I had 18 people in the inside and thousands on the outside.

God began to work, and the Spirit began to come forth. By the following Sunday the place was well filled. The Holy Ghost began to bring them in. By the end of the third week they had to take down the partition that separated the coat room from the main auditorium to put more seats in that auditorium that seated a thousand. It packed out. They packed the place, standing up and down the winding stairs and outside of the church building and out into the street. The glory of God came down. Souls began to get saved, and the sick were healed.

We had a glorious victory over the world of flesh and the devil. The ministers were so happy. They said, "Lord, in spite of that death, you've given us victory."

Right in the middle of that victory, I stood in 6th Avenue Church one day with the power of God on me. All of a sudden the ceiling just disappeared.

Now, when I say "vision," my friends, I know that some visions are what the Bible calls "night visions," like in a dream. You will find that in the Bible. Dreams are also called "visions." Generally speaking, a vision is differentiated by what you see with your eyes open, that which you see when you are not asleep.

In this particular case I was standing on my feet, when all of a sudden the walls and the ceiling just faded right out. I began to see this vision, and the Lord showed me. I looked up and saw what answers to the description of an ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile), just as real as any picture that you would see--or the real thing if you've ever seen one of those missiles. It was just as real as you would look upon one if it were right in front of you, two or three feet away!

I saw it. It was passing over a skim of clouds, not heavy clouds, but a thin skim of clouds. I was standing on the side of this mountain, a residential district. I was looking over into a bay area. It would appear like I was in Berkeley, if you've ever been to Berkeley, and the Berkeley hills. I was looking into the bay area toward San Francisco, the San Francisco Bay region, that direction.

I saw the freeway. I don't say that it was the Oakland freeway that is there today. I don't know where it was, my friends. I do know this, that I was standing on the side of this mountain, overlooking a huge metropolis, when I saw this missile directed toward the city; and suddenly, being electronically controlled, no doubt, it plummeted right down into the city and then exploded. Then I saw the fireball, which answers to the description of what I have seen in a civil defense film release of the first hydrogen bomb explosion.

This happened in 1929! The atom was not split until 1932! Yet I saw it as clear as I see you here tonight. There was a purpose in it. I have been warning people ever since that this thing is coming!

As the day approaches, my friends, I feel more vibrant than ever before! I have got to bear testimony to what I saw with my eyes! I have got to warn God's people that they must live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit if they want God's protection in these last days!

I saw this thing blossom out in all of its beautiful colors. Did you ever see a picture of it? It is a beautiful sight, but it is a horrible sight. All of the colors of the rainbow you can see in that big ball as it swells out. Then the pressure that it creates following the explosion, it demolishes everything before it. It leaves a crater over 300 feet deep and over 2 miles across. It is capable of destroying a huge metropolis the size of New York City in one blast.

Even though there were no freeways in 1929, I saw freeways. I saw them run and jump in their cars to escape, but there was no escape! I saw the aftermath of this explosion. I saw all of the details.

The Spirit of the Lord picked me up. Like St. Paul, whether in the body or out of the body, I don't know! All I know is, my friends, that God took me and whisked me across that area where the bomb hit in the midst of that huge metropolis. There was nothing left. The center where it struck was molten, like molten glass. It wasn't, my friends, until I was carried way beyond the residential area that I began to see any sign of debris.

Finally, I came to what looked similar to snow or sand drifts piled up against the fences and buildings. I saw piles or iron, like broom straw, only much finer than broom straw. It was in piles and in patterns--everything completely destroyed!

Finally, way, way out, beyond what I felt was the residential area, I began to find signs of human beings, only in pieces--torsos, heads, hands, arms, and legs. They were scattered around everywhere!

The Spirit of the Lord carried me out farther. I began to find signs of life. People were running. Everybody was blind. (I didn't know in 1929 that if you are 35 miles away from the explosion and you happened to be looking in that direction, you would never see again. I didn't know that at that time.) Everybody was blind, my friends. They were running and screaming and bumping up against this and that and the other, bouncing back, children blind and screaming and crying out for their parents and parents for their children. The farther I went, the more the confusion, and the cries increased.

My friends, even tonight, while I am speaking to you, I can hear those cries! I can hear those cries, children and parents screaming out for one another! It was a terrible sight to behold! If I were to live 10,000 years, I know I could just close my eyes and hear those screams and see the terror that was written all over the faces of parents and children! A terrible sight, indeed.

Then, my friends, the Spirit of the Lord took me. Oh, I wonder how fast I was going. I could see the mountains and the hills just passing before me. I came sweeping down over a large valley. In the distance I could see, as I began to approach, a body of people that looked like tens of thousands. I don't know how many were there. It was a sea of people. Long before I got there, I could see. As I came down closer, I could discern them. They had their handkerchiefs. They were wiping their tears from their eyes.

Then for the first time I began to hear heavenly anthems. I could hear the Hallelujahs, in bass and tenor and soprano and alto, voices blending together. That mass of humanity was lifted together by the heavenly music. I came right down in the midst of them. There they were, God's people. This is what I saw, friends. They were all dressed up like they were ready for the Sunday service. Their hair was parted. Nothing was disturbed. There was no soil on their shirts. They were cared for so perfectly that everything was in order, my friends. Their faces were clean. Their clothing was clean. Everything was in order!

The only word you could use to describe them would be "meticulous" Meticulous! Glory to God! What a wonderful thing to be in the hands of God! I say that God is going to protect his people in these last days IF. . .they live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit and keep filled with the Spirit!

Noah's Ark - Chuck Missler

IMF fears 'credit shock' in Spain if Rajoy blocks rescue

The fund said sovereign debt woes were spilling into the broader Spanish economy, risking a “pernicious feedback loop” for private companies. The danger is another bout of capital flight combined with a “credit shock” as banks deleverage drastically to meet higher capital ratios.

Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s chief economist, said Madrid was courting fate by trying to muddle through without a bail-out – and without the tough terms it would bring – now that borrowing costs had fallen on hopes of bond purchases by the European Central Bank.

Mr Blanchard said investors had most likely anticipated a rescue by the ECB and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). “If so, we can’t be sure that yields will stay low for much longer,” he said.

The IMF said capital flight from Spain reached €296bn (£238bn) in the 12 months to June, or 27pc of GDP. It matches the intensity of “sudden stop” crises seen in emerging markets.

Banks in Spain, Italy, and the EMU fringe cannot easily make up the shortfall by turning to the ECB because they are short of usable collateral.

The biggest risk is that Europe’s banks will have to slash balance sheets by €4.5 trillion by the end of 2013, largely concentrated in the Club Med bloc.

The fund said Europe’s failure to flesh out promises for a banking union – needed to break the “vicious circle” between banks and states – risked a violent credit crunch, slashing an extra 4pc off output in southern Europe next year. Most economists say a shock of this magnitude would push Spain into a death spiral.

The IMF said asset shrinkage could be limited to €2.3 trillion but only if the eurozone showed “unflinching commitment to implement already adopted measures”. This means sticking to its June summit deal to clean up legacy debts from banking crises in Spain and Ireland, preferably with a pan-EMU deposit insurance scheme .

Mr Rajoy and French president Francois Hollande seized on the warning , demanding the AAA core stands behind its pledge to let the ESM recapitalise Spain’s banks directly. “We have to show we’re serious people and that we do what we say we are going to do,” said Mr Rajoy . Germany, Austria, Finland, and Holland reneged on the accord two weeks ago .

The Franco-Spanish tete-a-tete comes two days before leaders of a newly-dubbed “Mediterranean Front” gather in Malta to thrash out a Latin strategy and plot ways to break the German lockhold on policy. Portugal’s prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, will join France, Spain, and Italy for the first time, suggesting that the free-market advocate may have lost its enthusiasm for the German austerity view. Diplomats say the meeting marks a break with EU tradition. For decades, France and Germany pre-cooked agendas before EU summits.

The Latin revolt has been made easier by the IMF’s admission that the fiscal tightening is doing more damage than expected, and may be self-defeating in some countries if not offset by monetary stimulus.

Vitor Constancio, the ECB’s vice-president, said the EU must be careful not to push austerity beyond the therapeutic dose. “The whole balance has to be continuously under observation,” he said, marking a shift in ECB thinking.

Telegraph

US Navy funds 'MacGyver' robot that can create tools

A US team aims to build a robot that can work out how to use nearby objects to solve problems or escape threats.

The machine has been dubbed a MacGyver Bot, after the TV character who cobbled together devices to escape life-threatening situations.

The challenge is to develop software that "understands" what objects are in order to deduce how they can be used.

The US Navy is funding the project and says the machines might ultimately be deployed alongside humans.

It is providing $900,000 (£562,000) to robotics researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology to carry out the work.

"Our goal is to develop a robot that behaves like MacGyver, the television character from the 1980s who solved complex problems and escaped dangerous situations by using everyday objects and materials he found at hand," said project leader Prof Mike Stilman.

"Researchers in the robot motion planning field have traditionally used computerised vision systems to locate objects in a cluttered environment to plan collision-free paths, but these systems have not provided any information about the objects' functions."Rescue bot

Mr Stilman said he planned to create software that first identified an object, then determined potential things that could be done with it, before turning it into "a simple machine" that could be used to complete an action.

Examples given include stacking boxes to climb over something, building a bridge out of debris or climbing on a chair to grab an object out of reach.

By the project's end, the software should be able to combine such tasks when necessary.

To test whether this is the case, the researchers hope to load the code onto Golem Krang - a robot already developed by Mr Stillman's laboratory - to see if it works in action.

The researchers ultimately envisage a situation in which the machine might be deployed to rescue trapped officers without needing to risk anyone else's life.Perception problem

One UK-based artificial intelligence (AI) researcher said the challenge was harder that it sounded.

"For example, vision alone is not enough to tell you if an object can support your weight or be used as a lever - you need to interact with it physically to understand its physical possibilities," Prof Barbara Webb, from the University of Edinburgh's School of Informatics, told the BBC.

"This is probably a harder problem for current robotics than making a plan to solve the task."

Another AI expert suggested the project might like to draw on existing research into how animals use tools.

"A monkey will use a stick to reach a longer stick to reach an out-of-reach banana," said Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield.

"A crow will bend a piece of wire to get a trapped food.

"I have seen this kind of work with robots, but it is a very difficult project and like all research may not work as planned, but it is well worth the effort and will advance the field."

BBC

According to The Scriptures with Doug Hamp

Majority of 'gluten-free' foods found to contain GMOs

(NaturalNews) In the wake of all the recent revelations about the dangers of GMOs, a special warning needs to go out to all those health-conscious consumers buying "gluten-free" foods. As it turns out, most "gluten-free" foods sold in the USA contain genetically modified organisms.

Why is this so? Because the primary ingredient in most gluten-free foods is corn. And most corn-based foods are made with genetically modified corn. Around 85% of the conventional corn grown in the USA is genetically modified corn, and that corn is engineered to produce its own deadly insecticide right inside every grain.

When GM corn is harvested and made into gluten-free foods, the insecticide stays with it and resides in the gluten-free food. As a result, people who are buying gluten-free are often exposing themselves to the risk of toxicity from GM corn.

What are those risks, exactly? No one knows for sure, as GMOs are still a radical agricultural experiment being conducted on the population at large. But French researchers recently found that feeding a lifetime of GM corn to rats caused a huge increase in the risk of developing horrifying, massive tumors and premature death. The rats who were fed GM corn also suffered widespread organ damage.

How to avoid GM corn in gluten-free foodsThe only gluten-free foods that don't contain GM corn are those foods that either don't use corn as an ingredient or ones that use certified organic corn. GMOs are not allowed under an organic label.

Sadly, there are very few gluten-free foods that are also USDA organic. So gluten-free shoppers have very few choices if they wish to avoid both gluten as well as GMOs.

Even worse, the fact that GMOs are still not labeled on foods turns the act of gluten-free shopping into a mystery minefield of dangerous guesswork. The upcoming ballot measure Proposition 37 would, of course, mandate the labeling of genetically engineered ingredients in all foods sold in California, and that is expected to cause sweeping changes across the entire food industry if it passes.

In the mean time, my advice is to avoid all gluten-free foods unless they are USDA organic. If you don't, you may be avoiding gluten but ingesting GMO instead, effectively trading one toxin for another. And that's not what you bargained for, is it?

Check the labels of all gluten-free foodsDo the ingredients include corn? Corn syrup? Maltodextrin? These are all corn derivatives, and if they're not USDA organic, they're likely to be genetically modified.

Of course, this is NOT true outside the USA. GMOs are already banned in many countries, and GMO labeling laws exist in prominent nations around the world. This article is written solely for American consumers who remain inundated with genetically modified corn grown from the evil seed of Monsanto and other biotech seed suppliers.

Beware of gluten-free. Do your homework before taking another bite. While avoiding gluten is a wonderful strategy for many people, you don't want to trade one possible toxin for another possible toxin.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/037494_gluten-free_GMOs_GM_corn.html#ixzz2902ckrxM

CLEANING UP THE WRONG HOUSE

By Coach Dave Daubenmire
October 11, 2012
NewsWithViews.com

Babylon--any society or group in a society considered as corrupt or as a place of exile by another society or group.

America has become a modern-day Babylon. What was once “the land of the free and the home of the brave” has fallen into captivity. We have been conquered, not by a foreign army, but by a foreign ideology.

“Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.” Isaiah 1.

America is no longer a Christian nation. The sooner we admit this obvious truth, the more clearly we will be able to see the way out. Although many of us fight to restore the Christian values upon which this nation was founded, our headaches would diminish if we would come to the realization that America is under judgment.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to fight, but we must face the fact that America is becoming an ever-pagan nation ruled by ever-more pagan leaders. Other than a sprinkling of salt here and there can you name even one strong Christian in a position of power in the United States government? I fear you can’t.

Our nation has been “overthrown by strangers.” How else can you explain the choice for the leader of this once Christian nation being a battle between a Mormon and a pseudo Muslim-liberal Christian-humanistic-communist-witch’s brew of an American/Indonesian dual citizen?

Yes, my friends. Christians have been led captive into Babylon and because of the judgment that is upon us the only choices we have are evil. Evil is evil. There is no “lesser” evil. Evil men will do evil things.

But how did we get in Babylon?

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon.” Jeremiah 29:4. The Lord is the one who put us here. It is another sign of judgment on America. A Babylonian nation will select Babylonian leaders.

As much as my heart breaks to say it, America today cannot be ruled by Christian leaders. The pagans have us outnumbered. America is awash in sin.

Sin has flooded the nation because it has flooded the church. Even though nearly 80% of Americans identify as “Christians” we know that they really aren’t Christians. It is merely their religion of preference when filling out the census report. Calling oneself a Christian today is meaningless.
And that includes those sitting in the pews. If they were really Christians they would hate sin, flee idolatry, immorality, and hate that which is evil and cling to that which is good.

Pastors are money driven, and they won’t speak against sin, Guys like me love to rail about how un-Christian Romney and Obama are, while looking the other way at the hireling in the pulpit selling the sheep for a few silver coins.

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude (I suggest you read Jude. It will explain the condition of the church.)

I am always amazed that every four years, and especially so this time, Christian’s get all in a huff over evil. We use our vote for President of the United States as if we were selecting a Theologian-in-Chief. Suddenly our choices become sacred, and a “matter of conscience”. While all of the time we ignore the real problem in America.

The problems in America can be pin-pointed at the pulpit. Why is it that we demand “Godly leaders” for America, while ignoring the un-Godly leadership in the pulpit?

We get ticked when Romney and Obama support gay marriage while thousands of pastors, and their flocks, openly embrace what God calls an abomination.

Whole denominations of Christianity have turned to pagan beliefs, rituals, and apostasy, while we “good Christians” scream about the spiritual condition of the men vying for Commander-in-Chief. We expect from our politicians what we do not expect from our Christian leaders.

Romney and Obama have made their positions on the moral issues of the day clear. Sadly, many standing in the pulpit have not.

I wonder how most pastors would square if they had to publicly state and defend their positions in front of a congregation they were endeavoring to be elected to lead.

Heck, many pastors are leading congregations and are afraid to clearly state their positions on issues for fear of dividing the flock. That isn’t leadership. That is pandering in much the same way as Romney and Obama.

We want a “Christian President” to rule over a nation where the majority of the citizens are only Christians according to the census form.

America is modern day Babylon. True-Believers are in captivity in this pagan land.

Can we be honest here? We are selecting pagan leaders to rule over a pagan nation. We murder unborn children, we dishonor the marriage bed, we covet, we lie, we steal, and vote for candidates who do the same. Pagan nations have pagan leadership. America’s answers are not political…“strangers devour it in your presence.”

Before we demand theological purity from our Presidential candidates perhaps it might be appropriate to look at our own dirty laundry. Let’s start with the man in the mirror.

Are Obama and Romney forcing you to put your children in the pagan schools? Do you know anything about the spiritual beliefs of the teachers who indoctrinate your children every day? Do you demand that your children’s’ teachers share the same values that are taught in your home? Do you apply the same standards to your child’s teacher as you do the Presidential candidates? A child becomes like his teacher. Which will be most destructive to your child…the man in the school house or the man in the White House?

Do you sit silently in your church while apostasy runs rampant merely because your family has been members there for generations? Do you sit in an apostate denomination because you were baptized there? Do you attend a church, despite the doctrine, because you enjoy the “worship,” or they have a “great youth group,” or “so many of your friends” attend as well? Do you sit silently in the pew as the leadership takes the congregation farther and farther from the truth because you don’t want to make waves? Are you more Biblically literate today than you were five years ago? Which will have a greater impact on America’s spiritual life…the man in the church house or the man in the White House?

Do you lead family devotions with your children? Do you regularly pray and read the Bible with your spouse? Have you discussed spiritual issues with your children or do you leave that to the “youth leader?” Have you removed the influence of TV from your impressionable children? Have you checked their i-pods to see what they are listening to? Have you checked out their Facebook page? What do you know about their friends? What do you know about their teachers? Have you checked out the textbooks that are framing their worldview? Which will have a greater impact on your children’s spiritual life…the man in your house or the man in the White House?

Come Jan. 2013 a non-Christian will be in the White House. No matter whom you vote for that reality will not change. Obamney or Oramney, pagans will rule in Babylon.

In Jeremiah 29:10-14 the Lord tells us that it will be a long captivity…70 years…but that He will not forget His people who remain faithful during the captivity. We need to be in this for the long haul…for the sake of our children and the sake of the Gospel.

Are you preparing yourself and your family? Are you training them in the ways of the Lord? Will your family be among those who “endure to the end?” The White House is a reflection of the school house, the church house, and your house.

Judgment begins first in the house of God.



Dave Daubenmire

Church leaders urge members of Congress to reconsider US aid to Israel

Leaders of several major US Christian denominations — including Protestants, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans and Methodists — have asked members of Congress to reconsider US aid to Israel in light of “widespread Israeli human rights violations.”

In a letter dated October 5, the signatories say “unconditional US military assistance” to Israel is a factor in “deteriorating conditions in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories” that threaten the “realization of a just peace.”

The letter was criticized by US Jewish groups and, in protest, the Anti-Defamation League pulled out of a scheduled interfaith conference set for later this month and urged other Jewish organizations to do likewise.

The Church leaders missive asks for “an immediate investigation into possible violations by Israel of the US Foreign Assistance Act and the US Arms Export Control Act, which respectively prohibit assistance to any country which engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations and limit the use of US weapons to ‘internal security’ or ‘legitimate self-defense.’”

The letter continues: “We urge Congress to undertake careful scrutiny to ensure that our aid is not supporting actions by the government of Israel that undermine prospects for peace. We urge Congress to hold hearings to examine Israel’s compliance, and we request regular reporting on compliance and the withholding of military aid for non-compliance.”

The three-page document, which includes examples of “specific, systematic human rights violations related to US military support,” was signed by high-ranking officials from 16 denominations.

“As Christian leaders in the United States,” they write, “it is our moral responsibility to question the continuation of unconditional US financial assistance to the government of Israel. Realizing a just and lasting peace will require this accountability, as continued US military assistance to Israel — offered without conditions or accountability — will only serve to sustain the status quo and Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian territories.”

The letter also decried what it called “a troubling and consistent pattern of disregard by the government of Israel” for US policies that support peace in the region, citing Israel’s failure to halt settlement activity, despite repeated US government requests.

“We write to you as Christian leaders representing US churches and religious organizations committed to seeking a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians,” the letter said, adding that the organizations have “worked alongside our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers to help build a peaceful and resilient Palestinian civil society.”

In response to the letter, the Anti-Defamation League has withdrawn its participation in an upcoming Jewish-Christian national interfaith dialogue, scheduled for October 22.

The ADL said in a press release that the “outrageous and biased” letter was sent by scheduled participants in the dialogue, and that by not alerting Jewish dialogue participants to the letter ahead of time, which the ADL called a “serious breach of trust,” the church leaders “seriously damaged the foundation for mutual respect.”

ADL director Abraham Foxman wrote that “it is outrageous that mere days after the Iranian president repeated his call for Israel’s elimination, these American Protestant leaders would launch a biased attack against the Jewish state by calling on Congress to investigate Israel’s use of foreign aid. In its clear bias against Israel, it is striking that their letter fails to also call for an investigation of Palestinian use of US foreign aid, thus once again placing the blame entirely on Israel.”

Foxman added that in light of the incident, other Jewish organizations should consider a withdrawal from the interfaith event.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs rejected the call to reevaluate foreign aid to Israel. “US aid to Israel is not ‘unconditional,’ as the letter claims. It reflects the shared values of America and Israel and furthers our shared goals for peace and security and is vital to advance the security of both peoples,” said JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow.

The Rabbinical Assembly, the international umbrella organization of Conservative rabbis, called for a reevaluation of the interfaith partnerships between the assembly and the denominations represented in the letter.

“The letter calling for hearings and reassessment was issued without outreach to longtime partners in public advocacy within the Jewish community. It was released on the eve of Shabbat, just before a long weekend of Jewish and American holidays. And it was distributed at a time when Congress is out of session, in the midst of the general election campaign,” the Rabbinical Assembly said in a statement.

“We find these tactics to be disrespectful of channels of communication that have been constructed over decades, and an essential declaration of separation from the endeavor of interfaith consultation on matters of deep concern to the Jewish community,” it added. “Indeed, we find this breach of trust to be so egregious that we wonder if it may not warrant an examination on the part of the Jewish community at large of these partnerships and relationships that we understood ourselves to be working diligently to preserve and protect.”

The American Jewish Committee said it was outraged by the Christian leaders’ call. “When the world currently is focused on the Iranian nuclear threat to the entire Middle East and the world, Christian leaders have chosen to mount another political attack on Israel,” said Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations. “When religious liberty and safety of Christians across the Middle East are threatened by the repercussions of the Arab Spring, these Christian leaders have chosen to initiate a polemic against Israel, a country that protects religious freedom and expression for Christians, Muslims and others.”

Times of Israel

Turkey has suggested that it would invade Syria to end the regime of Assad.

ANKARA — Turkey has suggested that it would invade Syria to end the
regime of President Bashar Assad.

For the first time, Turkey has warned of what its president termed a
“worst-case scenario” in Syria. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Ankara
would continue to attack Syria to protect against shelling and other
operations against Turkey.

“The worst-case scenarios are taking place right now in Syria,” Gul said on Oct. 8. “Our government is in constant consultation with the Turkish military. Whatever is needed is being done immediately as you see, and it will continue to be done.”

The Turkish warning came as its military sustained artillery and mortar strikes on Syrian Army positions along the 900-kilometer border. Gul said the civil war in Syria could not be maintained indefinitely and expressed determination that Assad must leave.

“There will be a change, a transition sooner or later,” Gul said. “It is
a must for the international community to take effective action before Syria turns into a bigger wreck and further blood is shed, that is our main wish.”

Ankara has been shelling Syrian Army positions as Assad
forces attacked Sunni rebels along the northeastern border with Turkey.
Officials said the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has ordered
the Turkish military to retaliate for any shell fired from Syria.

On late Oct. 8, the Turkish Air Force was said to have deployed at least
25 additional F-16 fighter-jets at a base near Syria. Turkey’s Dogan News
Agency said the U.S.-origin F-16s arrived at the Diyarbakir air base as the
Turkish Army reinforced troops along the Syrian border.

Officials said Turkey has been urging NATO and the United States to
topple the Assad regime. They said Ankara, which hosts the Syrian
opposition, has already proposed former Syrian Vice President Farouq
A-Shaara as an interim successor to Assad.

“Farouq A-Shaara has the ability to understand the system of the last
20-30 years,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “Farouq
A-Shaara did not get involved in the recent incidents, the massacre, in a
very wise and conscientious attitude. But perhaps there is nobody who knows
the system better than A-Shaara.”

So far, NATO has rejected Turkish appeals for help against Syria. On
Oct. 9, NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen disclosed a plan to
help Ankara in any war against the Assad regime.

“We have all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if
necessary,” Rasmussen said before an emergency meeting of NATO defense
ministers.

World Tribune

Nigel Farage on the Rise of UKIP, the Fall of Europe, and the Parallels for the US

Russia Won’t Renew Pact on Weapons With U.S.

MOSCOW — The Russian government said Wednesday that it would not renew a hugely successful 20-year partnership with the United States to safeguard and dismantle nuclear and chemical weapons in the former Soviet Union when the program expires next spring, a potentially grave setback in the already fraying relationship between the former cold war enemies.

President Vladimir V. Putin, speaking in Moscow on Oct. 2.

The Kremlin’s refusal to renew the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program would put an end to a multibillion-dollar effort, financed largely by American taxpayers, that is widely credited with removing all nuclear weapons from the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus; deactivating more than 7,600 strategic nuclear warheads; and eliminating huge stockpiles of nuclear missiles and chemical weapons, as well as launchers and other equipment and military sites that supported unconventional weapons.

“The American side knows that we would not want a new extension,” a deputy foreign minister, Sergey Ryabkov, told the news agency Interfax. “This is not news.”

In a statement on its Web site, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Obama administration had proposed renewing the arrangement but that Washington was well aware of Russia’s opposition. “American partners know that their proposal is not consistent with our ideas about what forms and on what basis further cooperation should be built,” the statement said.

Russian officials, meanwhile, noted that their country’s financial situation is far improved from the days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, raising the possibility that Russia would be willing to continue initiatives started under the Nunn-Lugar agreement, but with its own financing and supervision. The Foreign Ministry, in its statement, noted that Russia has increased its budget allocation “in the field of disarmament.”

American officials, including one of the original architects of the program, Senator Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, have said they still have hope of reaching some form of new agreement with Russia.

But the prospects seem bleak.

President Vladimir V. Putin, while expressing a willingness to cooperate on nonproliferation issues, has said that a more pressing priority is to address Russia’s opposition to United States plans for a missile defense system based in Europe. President Obama has shown little willingness to make any concessions, other than to offer repeated reassurance that the system is not intended for use against Russia. And the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, seems even less likely to compromise on the missile defense issue.

The plan to end the Nunn-Lugar program appears to be the latest step by the Russian government in an expanding effort to curtail American-led initiatives, and especially the influence of American money, in various spheres of Russian public policy.

Last month, the Kremlin directed the United States Agency for International Development to halt all of its operations in Russia, which similarly entailed two decades of work, but in support of nonprofit groups like human rights advocates and civil society and public health programs.

The Russian government had made no secret of its unhappiness with some programs financed by the Agency for International Development, like Golos, the country’s only independent election-monitoring group, which helped expose fraud in disputed parliamentary voting last December.

Mr. Lugar, who is leaving the Senate at the end of this year, visited Moscow in August to begin pressing for renewal of the program and found Russian officials resistant. “The Russian government indicated a desire to make changes to the Nunn-Lugar Umbrella Agreement as opposed to simply extending it,” he said Wednesday. “At no time did officials indicate that, at this stage of negotiation, they were intent on ending it, only amending it.”

But Mr. Lugar, the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, lost a primary election this year in his bid for a seventh term, and he has acknowledged that there are few lawmakers who seem willing to carry on his efforts, which began in partnership with Senator Sam Nunn, Democrat of Georgia.

During his August visit to Moscow, Mr. Lugar said he hoped that the United States and Russia could use their past successes as a basis for expanding their efforts to reduce the threat of unconventional weapons in other countries. He raised the idea of trying to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria.

Russian officials, however, seem increasingly unwilling to let the United States set the agenda in global diplomacy — blocking demands, for example, for more aggressive intervention in Syria.

NY Times

Turkish F16s force Syrian flight from Moscow to land. Ankara: Syrian air space no longer safe

Turkish air force jets forced a Syrian 35-passenger Airbus A320 bound from Moscow to Damascus to land in Ankara Wednesday night, Oct. 10, on suspicion it was carrying arms. Its cargo compartment was subjected to checks by Turkish officials. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke of information that it may be carrying "certain equipment in breach of civil aviation rules."

At the same time, the Turkish foreign ministry released this statement: "All civilian flights in Syrian airspace have been stopped since it is not safe.” TRT television said a Turkish plane that had already taken off for Saudi Arabia made a detour and landed at a Turkish airport.

DEBKAfile’s military sources: By forcing down the Syrian airbus, Ankara has signaled Damascus that it will henceforth stop civilian air traffic flying through Syrian air space. There is still a question about whether Turkey will extend this aerial blockade to Syrian military air traffic. Furthermore, Iranian civilian aircraft have been running an almost daily airlift of military and logistical equipment from Tehran to Damascus. The new Turkish step, to which Damascus has not yet responded, may portend a clash between Turkey and Iran in the skies over Syria.

Our sources add: The Erdogan government, in defiance of the Obama administration’s wishes, looks like moving towards imposing its own unilateral protected no-fly zone over Syria to break out of the stalemate of the 18-month civil war.

They do not rule out the possibility that more anti-Assad governments, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Persian Gulf emirates may send air strength to back up Turkey’s opening move.

To discuss this, Saudi Intelligence Chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan paid an unannounced visit to Doha and went straight into a meeting with the Qatari ruler, Emir al-Thani.

Stopping a Syrian plane from Moscow was also a Turkish message to the Russians to stay out of the conflict now in full spate between Ankara and Damascus and not interfere in any no-fly zone. The Russians have not so far commented on the incident.

For the past two days, Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ozel Necdet, has been touring his forces along the Syrian border to inspect their readiness for a full-scale clash with Syria. Military sources in Ankara also disclosed that at least 25 F16 fighter jets had been transferred to the Diyarbakir air base near the Syrian border.

It now transpires that this transfer was planned as part of the operation to close Syrian air space.

Earlier, Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that American troops are helping build a headquarters in Jordan to bolster its military capabilities in case violence spills over from Syria.


DEBKAfile

Spain credit rating cut by S&P to BBB-

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded Spain's credit rating, highlighting a deepening recession and mounting pressure on Madrid's finances.

S&P cut Spanish debt by two notches, to BBB- from BBB+, and warned of possible further downgrades.

Spain is struggling with high debt levels and the highest rate of unemployment in the eurozone.

Madrid has introduced drastic spending cuts and tax rises, but many think it will have no option but seek a bailout.

"The downgrade reflects our view of mounting risk to Spain's public finances, due to rising economic and political pressures," S&P said.

"The deepening economic recession is limiting the Spanish government's policy options."

Last month, the government unveiled its latest budget designed to make savings of around 13bn euros ($16.7bn; £10.4bn) next year, by cutting public sector wages, education, health and social services.

The cuts were the latest in a series of austerity measures that have sparked angry protests across Spain.

Despite the cuts, tax rises, labour market and pension reforms, the Spanish government has said the country's overall debt levels will rise next year to more than 90% of total economic output.

BBC

Pentagon deploys military forces to Jordan-Syria border