we have a week to save the eurozone

Italy's prime minister, Mario Monti, has warned of the apocalyptic consequences of failure at next week's summit of EU leaders, outlining a potential death spiral that could threaten the political and economic future of Europe.

The Italian leader is to hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the French president, François Hollande, and Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, in the hope that the single currency's big four countries can pave the way for a breakthrough at next week's meeting.

Speaking to the Guardian and a group of leading European newspapers, Monti said that, without a successful outcome at the summit, "there would be progressively greater speculative attacks on individual countries, with harassment of the weaker countries". The attacks would be focused not only on those who had failed to respect EU guidelines, but also on those like Italy, which he said had abided by the rules "but which carry with them from the past a high debt".

Monti warned: "A large part of Europe would find itself having to continue to put up with very high interest rates that would then impact on the states and also indirectly on firms. This is the direct opposite of what is needed for economic growth."

Outlining the result of a failure at the talks, Monti said that, faced with creeping economic paralysis, "the frustration of the public towards Europe would grow", creating a vicious circle. "To emerge in good shape from this crisis of the eurozone and the European economy, ever more integration is needed," said Monti. Yet, if the summit failed to resolve the problems quickly, "public opinion, but also that of the governments and parliament… will turn against that greater integration".

Monti said he could see the beginnings of the process "even in the Italian parliament, which has traditionally been pro-European and no longer is".

He made his remarks hours after his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, acknowledged that his party had bled support because of its backing for the Monti government's unpopular budgetary measures and spoke openly for the first time of the electoral advantage it could derive from torpedoing Monti's non-party cabinet of technocrats.

Monti signalled that the key eurozone leaders were working on a plan designed to halt the spread of debt contagion while satisfying Germany's refusal to sanction financial irresponsibility. The plan, he said, was one of the "absolutely necessary" outcomes of next week's summit.

The first outcome, he said, would be a clear sign of the eurozone's willingness to integrate further "in such a way that Europeans know where they're going… [and] the markets are convinced that, having given birth to the euro, the will [of the member states] to make it indissoluble and irrevocable is there and will be strengthened by other steps towards integration".

He warned: "There may not be – indeed, there will not be – a fully-fledged, detailed blueprint, but there will some strong elements and a short road – I hope short, a few months – to get from there to the overall project."

Other minimum requirements were "a fuller banking union, with advances in terms of integrated, and if possible unified, supervision"; "a European deposit guarantee" system; and the plan that will be on the table on Friday for "new market-friendly policy mechanisms" to help out countries under attack – provided they had complied with EU demands for fiscal discipline.

On Thursday figures indicating that the eurozone is slipping into recession heightened fears that Italy will follow Spain in asking Brussels for rescue funds. Only a strong performance from Germany stopped the currency union from contracting in the first quarter. But separate data showed the German private sector suffered a severe downturn in May, made worse by a slump in manufacturing.

The German services sector continued to expand, but this solitary piece of good news is unlikely to keep the eurozone from recession in the second quarter, especially after both manufacturing and services contracted in France.

Elsewhere, the US suffered a slowdown in growth across the manufacturing sector and China registered its eighth consecutive contraction in production.

Without recourse to strongly growing export markets, Italy can expect to see its growth hit for another year, analysts said.

Monti said the proposed new mechanism would kick in "when there is a recognition by the European authorities of respect for the rules on public finance and structural reforms". Making intervention conditional on good behaviour could offer a way of providing relief for countries like Italy and Spain, while meeting German demands for fiscal discipline.

Monti avoided giving details but said he was "very favourable" to the purchase of the bonds of countries under attack. The present system, of assistance to the banking sector by way of the state, led to an increase in public debt that raised the yields – and cut the value – of government bonds, which in turn weakened the finances of the banks, creating "a disagreeable spiral… That is why measures to de-couple this are being studied", he said.

The Guardian

'Checkpoint of the future' takes shape at Texas airport

DALLAS – At a terminal being renovated here at Love Field, contractors are installing 500 high-definition security cameras sharp enough to read an auto license plate or a logo on a shirt.

The cameras, capable of tracking passengers from the parking garage to gates to the tarmac, are a key first step in creating what the airline industry would like to see at airports worldwide: a security apparatus that would scrutinize passengers more thoroughly, but less intrusively, and in faster fashion than now.

It's part of what the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, which represents airlines globally, calls "the checkpoint of the future."

The goal is for fliers to move almost non-stop through security from the curb to the gate, in contrast to repeated security stops and logjams at checkpoints.

After checking their luggage, passengers would identify themselves not with driver's licenses and paper boarding passes, but by scanning fingerprints or irises to prove they have an electronic ticket.

Passengers would walk with their carry-ons through a screening tunnel, where they'd undergo electronic scrutiny — replacing what now happens at as many as three different stops as they're scanned for metal objects, non-metallic items and explosives.

Passengers would no longer have to empty carry-ons of liquids and laptops before putting them on conveyor belts for X-ray scans. They could keep their belts and shoes on. They could avoid a backlog at full-body scanners and a finger swab for explosive residue.

If screeners notice anything suspicious, a passenger would still be pulled aside and possibly patted down. But otherwise, passengers are supposed to reach their gates faster. And machines that accomplish each part of this transformation already exist or are in development.

The changing technology, combined with new screening tactics and changes at airports like the ones under construction here at Love Field, could make the checkpoint of the future a reality in a decade, the airlines say.

"This isn't really science fiction that we're talking about," says Ken Dunlap, IATA's global director of security.

Need to speed security

The push for faster security is prompted by necessity.

The Federal Aviation Administration projects the number of passengers flying inside the USA will nearly double in the next 20 years, to 1.2 billion. Security has slowed since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Before then, about 350 people passed through checkpoints each hour, the IATA says. A November survey at 142 airports found processing times fell to 149 an hour, with the worst at 60, Dunlap says.

"All of this confirms downward trends that we've been seeing since 2005, that show, regardless of the market, regardless of the region, the processing numbers are going down," Dunlap says.

The key to speeding up checkpoints and making security less intrusive will be to identify and assess travelers according to the risks they pose to safety in the skies. The so-called riskiest or unknown passengers would face the toughest scrutiny, including questioning and more sensitive electronic screening. Those who voluntarily provide more information about themselves to the government would be rewarded with faster passage.

"It's not a single piece of technology, a single system," says John Halinski, theTransportation Security Administration's assistant administrator for global strategies. "There is no silver bullet."

But being known to the government is the closest to one, and the TSA already is experimenting with it. Its PreCheck program is designed to give expedited screening to travelers who tell TSA about themselves as frequent fliers at specific airlines. One million passengers have participated since it began testing in October 2011. TSA plans to expand it to 35 airports this year.

For $100, Customs and Border Protection has a similar program for foreign travelers called Global Entry, which also qualifies fliers for PreCheck.

Identifying fliers

The airlines say they could eliminate paper from ticketing if passengers provided information as they do for PreCheck, by linking an electronic ticket to a person's fingerprint or iris scan.

Iris scans, which measure the colored part of the eye, are gaining visibility worldwide. Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam began the Privium program in October 2001. It offers fliers with European passports a border passage of 10 to 15 seconds with iris scans.

In the USA, about 200,000 fliers have enrolled in the CLEAR program for expedited screening in Denver, Orlando and San Francisco since November 2010. Members, who answer TSA questions and provide either a fingerprint or iris scan, pay $179 a year to breeze past ID kiosks with a special card.

Caryn Seidman-Becker, CLEAR's chief executive, says the program brings "much-needed speed and predictability" to traveling.

SRI International of Menlo Park, Calif., developed two kinds of iris scanners for airports. One is a turnstile called N-Glance and the other is a portal called PassPort, which looks like a metal detector.

"Instead of using a card or a pass, you would simply glance at a spot on the turnstile and it would open the gate if you were qualified to go through," Mark Clifton, vice president of products and services, says of the prospects for airline passengers. "It's very fast."

Screening could also speed up. Peter Kant, executive vice president of Rapiscan, which makes full-body scanners, says several companies are developing machines fashioned like tunnels that allow travelers to walk through.

Rapiscan has a prototype that would let people keep moving, although it can't scan carry-on bags at the same time yet, Kant says.

"It's out of the lab, but it's still a prototype. It allows people to walk through without stopping or posing," Kant says. "You wouldn't have to be there doing all this unpacking and repacking."

As equipment is developed, the checkpoint ideally would require three tunnels for passengers. Each would be based on the potential threat that a passenger represents. Travelers who provide information like PreCheck would receive the least scrutiny. Unknown passengers or those with liquids would face the most sensitive tunnel.

Dunlap of IATA says initial studies show that breaking down lines into different security risks in programs such as PreCheck already speeds the lines 30%. Having three tunnels should speed the process more, he says. Passengers would be diverted for secondary screening, such as swabbing for explosives residue or pausing for a full-body screening, Dunlap says.

Obstacles remain

Security analysts acknowledge that checkpoints with three security tunnels could be confusing. Dunlap of IATA says passengers typically take two or three visits to become familiar with a new security routine such as taking off shoes. So, it could take leisure travelers three years to adapt to the changes because they travel less frequently.

Two other hurdles to widespread use: extra costs to passengers and the additional airport space needed to set up the machines.

"To do it right, what you'd want to do is bring somebody in, get all their biographic information, get their biometric information, and run them through a couple of databases to make sure they're not a bad guy," says James Albers, senior vice president at MorphoTrust USA, which developed software for iris scans. "Do they travel enough to make that worthwhile or cost-effective?"

Kant of Rapiscan says another challenge is how to pull aside a suspicious character if a group of people is moving through the tunnel.

Tight space at airports could pose a problem. "It's about the size of a three-car garage," Kant says of the tunnels.

Hints of the future now

What's going on at Love Field represents the changes that need to occur to attain the faster and secure checkpoints of the future. It's undergoing a $519 million renovation because it's projected to triple its passenger load to 12 million a year within four years, according to Karl Martin, senior information technology manger.

The project is increasing the space for security checkpoints, with room for new checkpoint tunnels as they are developed, Martin says. "It is quite a transformation," he says.

As the walk shortens from parking to the airport's 20 renovated gates, security officials need to better gauge the potential risk that each passenger poses. The project includes about $6 million for high-def cameras from Avigilon, which are already in place at Boston's Logan and Saudi Arabia's King Abdulaziz airports.

The difference between previous cameras and new ones, with up to 16 megapixels, is similar to comparing a 1970s rerun with the crispness of a high-def sports telecast.

"You're able to actually cover a wider area and zoom into an area to see a face, read a license plate or read a tail number on a plane," says Bryan Schmode, executive vice president of global sales at Avigilon.

The focus is clear enough from a camera above the Southwest checkpoint to pinpoint the red-and-white JetSuite logo on the polo shirt of a man in line on a recent Thursday.

Another advantage is the ability to send the video to smartphones or tablets. By spring, Martin says, Love Field's police officers or airport workers will get the video of a suspicious person on a hand-held device rather than having to race back to a central monitor to see what happened.

"It begins to make all this information real time," Martin says.

Security officials are reluctant to describe what sorts of behavior would trigger a response. But Chris Cole, Love's security manager, says the cameras could help with something as simple — and potentially dangerous — as finding the driver of an unattended car in front of the terminal.

"Now I can start tracing where that person went," Cole says.

USA Today

Spanish Banks Need Up to $79 Billion in Capital

Independent auditors have calculated that Spain's troubled banks could need as much as 62 billion euros ($78.76 billion) in new capital.

Deputy Bank of Spain governor Fernando Restoy noted that this worst-case scenario was far below the 100 billion euro that the 17 countries that use the euro have made available to rescue Spain's banking sector, which is struggling under toxic loans and assets.

Spain will use the figures from the two outside auditors to decide how much to ask the eurozone for.

The bailout estimate came just hours after Spain's medium-term borrowing costs soared to euro-era record levels at an auction.

Euro zone finance ministers were due to discuss later in the day how to channel up to 100 billion euros ($126 billion) in rescue loans to Spanish lenders weighed down by bad loans from a burst property bubble.

But many in the markets see the package as a mere prelude to a full bailout of the Spanish state.

Spain's financial weakness is in focus a week before a European Union summit discusses plans for closer fiscal and banking union in an effort to strengthen the euro's foundations, after bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal failed to end a 2-1/2 year old sovereign debt crisis.

Madrid sold 2.2 billion euros in medium-term bonds, with demand stronger than at last month's auction, but yields on 5-year paper rose to a 15-year high of 6.07 percent, a level regarded by analysts as unaffordable for any prolonged period.

The runaway Spanish yields contrasted with a French medium-term debt auction in which the yield on 5-year benchmark paper hit an all-time low of 1.43 percent as investors sought the relative safety of a core euro zone country seen as backed by Germany.

"The first worry is can they (Spain) fund from the markets? So they raised 2.2 billion versus a 2 billion target, so they can raise the money," said Achilleas Georgolopoulos, a strategist at Lloyds in London.

"Then the (question is), are the yields threatening for the medium term? And yes, clearly they are much higher than the previous auction, which was widely expected. But still they can continue for a few months to fund at these levels."

A formal request for European assistance may only come on Friday when Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome to discuss the future of the 17-nation euro zone.

"No Debt Mutualisation"

The finance ministers will discuss which of the euro zone's rescue funds—the temporary European Financial Stability Fund or the permanent European Stability Mechanism—will lend Spain the money.

This matters to investors because ESM loans would be senior to other Spanish borrowing, meaning private bondholders would face first losses in any debt writedown.

In Berlin, Germany's government and opposition parties reached an agreement on a financial transaction tax and measures to boost growth that will enable parliament to ratify a European fiscal discipline treaty on June 29.

CNBC

Moody's downgrades 15 major banks

The credit ratings agency Moody's has downgraded 15 global banks and financial institutions.

The UK banks downgraded were Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC. Lloyds also had its rating cut by Moody's in a separate announcement.

In the US, Bank of America and Citigroup were among those marked down.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said that banks were concerned as the downgrades may make it harder for them to borrow money commercially.

However, John Raymond, senior banking analyst at research firm Credit Sights, questioned whether this would be the case, adding that there should be little impact on bank customers.

"The downgrades from Moody's have been expected for some time, and therefore had already been factored in," he told the BBC.

"So I don't think Moody's move will mean the banks end up having to increase the interest rates or charges that their customers face."

Explaining the decision for the downgrade, Moody's global banking managing director Greg Bauer highlighted the banks' exposure to volatility in the world's financial markets.

He said that all of the banks affected by the downgrades had "significant exposure to the volatility and risk of outsized losses".

The other institutions that have been downgraded are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse, UBS, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Canada.

Moody's added that it was putting some of the banks on a negative outlook, which is a warning that they could be downgraded again in the future.

Explaining this, it said governments around the world had shown a "clear intent" to reduce their support for banks going forward.

In Friday trading, shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) were up 0.8%, HSBC had gained 0.6%, and Barclays had risen 0.5%. Lloyds was 1.6% higher.

In France and Germany, Societe Generale was up 2.1%, while shares in Deutsche Bank were flat.

Jonathan Newman, banking analyst at investment firm Brewin Dolphin, also said Moody's move should have little impact on the affected banks because it was so widely expected ever since the rating agency first announced the start of its review in February.

"Moody's has sought to avoid creating a shock event and has kept the market well-informed as the process has gone along," he said.

Yet Peter Hahn, a former executive at Citigroup and now a lecturer at Cass Business School in London, said the downgrades could limit the banks' activities.

"Banks are going to have to put up collateral in their transactions with other banks," he said.

"As they get downgraded, other banks and system players don't want exposure.

"It's a constraint on capital, it's a constraint on business, so it's obviously not welcome for us, trying to get more money into the economy."

In a statement, RBS responded to its downgrade saying: "The group disagrees with Moody's ratings change, which the group feels is backward-looking and does not give adequate credit for the substantial improvements the group has made to its balance sheet, funding and risk profile."

RBS estimated that the downgrade could mean it would need to find an extra £9bn in collateral for its debts.
Lloyds said it believed that the change would have "limited impact on our funding costs and market capacity".

In the US, Citigroup said it "strongly disagrees" with Moody's decision.
Of the banks downgraded, four were cut by one notch on Moody's ranking scale, including HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, and also Lloyds.

A further 10 banks had their rating reduced by two notches, including Barclays. Credit Suisse was lowered by three notches.

"The biggest surprise is the three-notch downgrade of Credit Suisse, which no one was looking for," said Mark Grant, managing director of Southwest Securities.Group breakdowns

Moody's separates the 15 banks into three groupings, relative to its assessment of their resilience to any global financial market turmoil.

Louise Oliver, financial adviser: Says savers with these banks need not worry

It puts HSBC in its strongest "first group", together with Royal Bank of Canada and JP Morgan.

Moody's says these banks have "stronger buffers" than many of their peers, and "generally more stable businesses".

Barclays is in its "second group" of banks which Moody's says face "sometimes adverse factors". Other banks at this level are BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs.
RBS is in the bottom "third group", which comprises banks which "have been affected by problems in risk management, or have a history of high volatility". Other banks in this grouping include Bank of America and Citigroup.



BBC

President 'Fulfills' ISAIAH 9:10 Prophecy again

WASHINGTON – The handwritten message Barack Obama scrawled on a new building site at Ground Zero last night sounds optimistic, upbeat, non-controversial – at first glance.

However, the message continues a pattern of American leaders fulfilling an ancient biblical prophecy and a curse of judgment on the U.S., according to the best-selling Christian book of 2012 and the No. 1 faith movie.

While Obama was creating a stir in Manhattan with star-studded celebrity fundraisers, he also took a side trip that got less publicity. His official presidential business was a visit to the new World Trade Center building site where he signed a steel girder with a message of interest to the hundreds of thousands who have read “The Harbinger” or seen the video documentary “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment.”

“We remember,” he wrote. “We rebuild. We come back stronger!”

The book and the video have shocked readers and viewers around the country and the world by showing the eerie and striking parallels between the vows of the leaders of ancient Israel before its judgment and fall and those of American leaders since Sept. 11, 2001.

“What was foreshadowed in ‘The Harbinger’ and ‘The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment’ film is now being fulfilled by the president of the United States,” said Jonathan Cahn, the messianic rabbi-pastor and author.

The book and film specifically connect Obama’s words from his first State of the Union message in January 2009 with the ancient vow that brought judgment to ancient Israel.

“The ancient vow begins with these words: ‘The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with hewn stone,’ explains Cahn. “The vow declares Israel’s defiance of God, in the face of a devastating strike on the land. The hewn stone, which begins the rebuilding, symbolizes the nation’s intention to come back stronger than before. The book then reveals the parallel a proclamation given by Obama:

“Tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild. And the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,” he said.

However, that comment, which represented the theme of his first major speech upon taking office, was not addressing the attack of 9/11. It was addressing the economy and the state of the country generally. Yesterday, Cahn points out, Obama returned to the location of the attack – bringing the message full circle.

He points out how Obama’s words even parallel a Bible commentary on the verse Isaiah 9:10: “They boasted that they would rebuild their devastated country and make it stronger than ever before.”

In “The Harbinger” and “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment,” the focal point of this vow of judgment is the tower rising up out of the ruins of Ground Zero. It comprises the fourth harbinger – and remains the one harbinger that is still under construction.

“On June 14, two of the mysteries of ‘The Harbinger,’ foreshadowed in the book came true,” explained Cahn. “Obama went to Ground Zero to see the still rising tower. He was given a beam which will constitute the tower’s final and highest beam. On the beam, the president wrote eight words – which were, in effect, a summation of the ancient vow of judgment: ‘We Remember, We Rebuild, We Come Back Stronger!’”

Cahn continued: “So now the now the tower will be crowned and finished with words paralleling Isaiah 9:10, the ancient vow of national judgment. The tower was begun with the laying down of a hewn stone, the very same object mentioned in Isaiah 9:10 which begins the rebuilding.”

“Now the words and the tower have been joined together in reality – and the one who did it was the president of the United States,” he told WND. “One subtle difference in the words, is that the vow is spoken in the future tense. But now the words inscribed on the towers are in the present tense. In other words, they not only speak of the defiant vow, but of the fact that the vow is being fulfilled. This,” says Cahn, “constitutes another ominous sign.”



The last time the tower at Ground Zero became the focus of media attention was April 30, 2012, the day it became the tallest building in New York City. In the chapter titled The Mystery Ground, “The Harbinger” provides the reader with a date that holds the key to the mystery behind Ground Zero – the same date – April 30.

In January, “The Harbinger,” by Cahn, a messianic rabbi from New Jersey, exploded onto the publishing scene, immediately becoming a surprise New York Times bestseller.

“A number of years ago, as I was standing at the edge of Ground Zero in New York City, I came across the first puzzle piece of an ancient biblical mystery and a prophetic message known as ‘The Harbinger’ that concerns the future of America,” explains Cahn, who helped write the two-hour documentary “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment.”

Cahn say he has since found nine harbingers that tie the problems America has experienced beginning Sept. 11, 2001, with parallels that led to the destruction of ancient Israel.

“Before God judges a nation, He sends warning,” explains Cahn. “He sent warning to ancient Israel. He even allowed its enemies to breach its borders in a devastating strike that would traumatize the nation. It was a wake-up call, the call to return to God. But the nation responded with defiance. God then gave nine harbingers of judgment, nine prophetic signs, alarms and foreshadows of what was to come. Now America is the nation in rapid departure from God’s will. And God likewise allowed an enemy to breach its borders in a devastating strike – the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It was, likewise, a wake-up call. But America, like Israel, has not responded with repentance, but with defiance. And now the nine harbingers of judgment have reappeared and have done so on American soil.”

Isaiah 9:10 is a verse in which Israel’s national leaders utter a vow of defiance following an attack by Assyria. It declared that the nation would not repent before God, but would defy Him instead. Cahn reveals in “The Harbinger” – and in even more dramatic fashion in the video – that beginning the day after Sept. 11, 2001, American leaders began repeating that 2,500-year-old vow, word for word.

He continues: “According to the ancient mystery revealed in the Book of Isaiah, if after that first calamity and warning, the nation doesn’t return to God but responds in defiance, it will end up triggering a second calamity. It was because of this ancient key, that, seven years after 9/11, the American economy collapsed. In the days after 9/11, the Federal Reserve slashed the base interest rate in an attempt to defy the consequences of the attacks. That action put us on the path leading to the collapse of the American economy seven years later. In 2008, the government made a second fatal mistake, another ill-fated financial decision, that would trigger the collapse of the American economy. Amazingly, it took place on the seventh anniversary of the uttering of the ancient vow on Capitol Hill.”

Cahn also reveals in “The Harbinger” and “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment” something that readers and viewers universally find astonishing – that New York’s Ground Zero actually represents more than the former financial center of the country. It represents the exact place at which America was first consecrated to God in prayer by the country’s new leaders.

“When judgment came to Israel, the calamity returned the people’s attention to the place where the nation had been consecrated to God – the Temple Mount,” says Cahn. “God was calling the nation back to Himself. What about 9/11? Could there be, in the American calamity, as well, a mystery of return? Could there be a prophetic message hidden in the place where it happened? There is a place where America was consecrated to God in prayer. It is also a place linked to a prophetic warning given on that same day – uttered by the nation’s first president – now coming to pass.”



In 1789, newly inaugurated President George Washington gave a prophetic warning at Federal Hall in New York City. He declared that America’s prosperity and protection were dependent upon its adherence to God. Later, the political leaders of the young nation gathered at St. Paul’s Chapel to commit the nation’s future to God’s purposes. That chapel is located at Ground Zero and miraculously survived 9/11 virtually unscathed.

Cahn, the pastor of the Jerusalem Center-Beth Israel Congregation in Wayne, N.J., says America is uncannily re-enacting ancient Israel’s behavior prior to its judgment and eventual fall. He found a sympathetic ear for his message in WND founder Joseph Farah, who produced “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment,” as a follow-up to “The Harbinger.”

“I had a chance to hear Jonathan Cahn’s message last fall,” said Farah. “Then I had an opportunity to read an early manuscript of ‘The Harbinger’ before it was released in January. I was determined to produce this video documentary, ‘The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment,’ because I believe its message is the most important one for Americans at this moment in history. In fact, I believe this project may be the most important one of my life. That’s how strongly I feel about it.”

The key to decoding the harbingers, Cahn says, is found in understanding the seemingly innocuous words of Isaiah 9:10 (King James Version) what it meant to Israel and how the history seems to be repeating itself in America today: “The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.”

These words were first uttered by leaders in Israel and in response to a limited strike by Assyria on the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali – an attack the prophet makes clear is actually part of a limited judgment by God against apostasy. It wasn’t meant to destroy the nation, but to awaken it, according to most commentaries.

But, says Cahn, Israel didn’t take the cue. Instead, the response from the people in Isaiah 9:10 is one of defiance. The brick buildings were toppled, but they vowed to build bigger and better. The little sycamore trees may have been uprooted, but they vowed to plant bigger and better cedars in their place.

God, speaking through Isaiah explains what will happen as a result of their pride and arrogance and failure to heed the harbinger: Bigger and more potent attacks will follow. Because neither the northern kingdom of Israel nor the southern kingdom of Judah truly repents, the first is eventually swept away by Assyrian invaders and the latter is carried off into captivity by the Babylonians for 70 years.

But what does this have to do with the United States of America – particularly what the U.S. experienced on 9/11 and since? Cahn has found some eerie parallels.

“In the aftermath of the attack, the nation was stunned,” said Cahn. “Everyone was trying to make sense of what had happened – this unprecedented attack on America. The very next day, Sept. 12, then Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle presented America’s response to the world. And what did he say?”

Daschle said: “America will emerge from this tragedy as we have emerged from all adversity – united and strong. Nothing … nothing can replace the losses of those who have suffered. I know there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation. But there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that speaks to all of us at times like this.”

He then went on to read Isaiah 9:10.

“Daschle has no idea what he is doing here,” explains Cahn. “He thinks he’s offering comforting words to a grief-stricken people, but he is actually embracing the spiritually defiant and arrogant words of the children of Israel, proclaiming the ancient and ominous vow of the leaders of that nation. He doesn’t realize it, but he is actually inviting more judgment on the nation.”

It might be of some significance that Daschle, one of the most powerful men in the nation when he spoke those words, later fell into disgrace – to the point where he couldn’t even serve in Barack Obama’s Cabinet.

That might have been the end of the story – if no other top leader in the nation uttered those strange and obscure words after 9/11. But that’s not the case.

On the third anniversary of the attack, Sept. 11, 2004, another powerful U.S. senator running for vice president that year and who would famously run for the presidency four years later, gave a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus.

This time, John Edwards’ entire speech was built on a foundation of Isaiah 9:10:

“Today, on this day of remembrance and mourning, we have the Lord’s Word to get us through,” he said. He then read Isaiah 9:10. He went on to talk about how America was doing just that – rebuilding with hewn stone and planting cedars.

In “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment,” viewers get to see these remarkable, largely forgotten or overlooked speeches, which directly link the events of 9/11 and the events referred to in Isaiah 9:10.

“Like Daschle, Edwards thinks he’s invoking inspirational and comforting words from the Bible, but he’s actually inviting judgment on America,” says Cahn. “He’s repeating the vow that provoked God to bring calamity on ancient Israel.”

Even more astonishing, Daschle and Edwards were not alone among U.S. leaders in making similar statements, as “The Isaiah 9:10 Judgment” shows.

But aside from such statements, which could be chalked up to political talk and coincidences, is there anything else linking Isaiah 9:10 to 9/11?

The video documentary, like the book, is full of shocking parallels. There was actually a very famous sycamore tree felled in the attack on the World Trade Center. It was replaced by trees in the same genus as the cedar. There have been many plans made to rebuild the twin towers bigger and better and a large “hewn stone” was actually quarried out of the Adirondack Mountains in New York and brought to Ground Zero as a cornerstone.

“The parallels are truly stunning,” says Farah, founder of WND, who produced the documentary for WND Videos. “In fact, they are overwhelming in their number and their exactitude. I am persuaded God is trying to tell America something and Rabbi Cahn has found the key to unlocking the message.”


WND

The Beginning Of A Global Army?

Not long ago the very idea of American military men and women cross-training soldiers from other nations and engaging in multinational military units was treated as a more covert affair. Yes, it has occurred many times, especially since the formation of the UN and the Korean War, in which American soldiers had to endure the dreadful leadership of foreign UN personnel. However, what was once a state secret, like the School of the Americas, is now widely and openly admitted policy. At this very moment, thousands of Russian troops are stationed within U.S. borders and are being trained using American facilities and American tax dollars. The Department of Defense admits to it without even blinking an eye, despite the fact that our two countries are at extreme odds over the crisis in Syria. And now, NATO holds operational showcases hyping the unification of spec-ops units to fight "terrorism", or the "war on drugs", while ignorant American tourists eat popcorn and hotdogs like they are watching a football game.

The bottom line? We are witnessing the median stages of what will one day become a homogenized brand of "global army", centralized at the hands of an elite minority under the guise of multilateral cooperation. Globalists don't just want to dissolve economic borders; they want to dissolve ALL borders, including those between national armed forces. The problem with this Utopian project is that when the armies of the world answer to a singular transnational authority, who is left to fight if that authority turns out ugly? I suppose the average citizens would be the last remaining force on Earth that could affect honest change, but perhaps that is the point. Why else would our own military and the armed forces of governments everywhere be training to quell dissent, and to treat the public itself as the enemy?

Alt-market

Jewish Visitor to Temple Mount Told to Remove Kippah

During a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, a Jewish student was told by Islamic Waqf officials to take off his kippah. The 20-year-old from London, England, was in Israel as part of a student mission. He said he was told by three separate Waqf monitors to take off the Jewish head-covering because it was offensive to them.

The student told Israeli media, "I have experienced anti-Semitism in England, but I never thought that in Judaism's holiest site I would be subjugated to such discrimination." Other members of the group were instructed that if they wanted to continue to visit the area, they would have to cover their bare knees by purchasing Arab style keffieyeh scarves.

Group participants said they had already entered the site and were checked by Israeli guards and Muslim monitors without receiving any official briefings on dress-code.

The British visitor, who asked to remain anonymous, said he chose to leave the scene rather than take off his kippah. "I think this time the Waqf thought they could single me out because we looked like a group of foreign tourists and I was the only one wearing a kippah," he stated.

Another member of the group briefly removed his baseball cap to uncover a kippah and was also told by Waqf monitors to remove it.

Rabbi Chaim Richman, international director of The Temple Institute and the host ofIsrael National Radio's Temple Talk podcast, called the incident an act of discrimination.

"Today's event demonstrates the opening of a new front at the hands of the Islamic Waqf who are committed to eradicating all Jewish connection to the site. The Temple Institute encourages all Jewish people to proudly visit the Temple Mount in accordance with Jewish law," he said.

Wednesday's incident was in marked contrast to Jerusalem Day, held a month ago, in which visitors prayed in Hebrew, sang and danced on the Temple Mount.


Israel National News