'Dr Doom' predicts further shocks in the market

Stock market bulls have got it wrong, warns Nouriel Roubini
By Nick Clark
Tuesday, 21 April 2009

Nouriel Roubini, the so-called "arch bear" economist who predicted the current financial crisis in 2006, added further gloom yesterday after he wrote off recent rises in global stock markets as no more than a dead cat bounce.

While an increasing number of analysts have in recent weeks urged investors to go back into equities, Mr Roubini, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business who has emerged as one of the most respected economic voices in the wake of the credit crunch, warned yesterday that he didn't yet see a buying opportunity.

He holds little faith in the recent market rallies, which prompted some to suggest a recovery was underway. "I'm still cautious and bearish," he said. "I believe we are closer to a bottom in the stock market than a year ago, but this is a bear market rally."

Anthony Bolton, fund manager at Fidelity International, said last month that a bull phase had started, while analysts at Goldman Sachs have argued in recent weeks that "we are past the low point in the economic cycle".

However, Mr Roubini, dubbed "Dr Doom" for his warnings about financial meltdown, said there would be more bad news in the next few quarters.

In particular, the economist warned of further dangers ahead for the financial services industry in the US. "I see financial shocks in the months ahead. Some financial institutions are in so much trouble we may have to take them over," he said, before adding that losses in the industry could rise from $1 trillion to as high as $3.6 trillion.

Firms from across financial services will go out of business or be taken over, he said, particularly focusing on the bleak future for hedge funds.

Mr Roubini also disagrees with more optimistic forecasts for the US economy. In an interview published on Forbes.com yesterday, he said that the prediction of a 2 per cent growth rate next year was far too bullish...

He blamed weak recovery, deflation which would dog the US for the next two years, and financial shocks for the lower-than-expected growth...

Read entire post: Roubini - Market Bulls Have It All Wrong

NATO Doddering at Sixty

Doddering at Sixty
By George H. Wittman
The American Spectator on 4.17.09 @ 6:07AM

The core element in the American relationship with Europe is membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. After President Barack Obama's recent trip to Europe it is not unreasonable to inquire as to the relevance of that organization to U.S. military and political interests.

Often quoted has been the justification for NATO in Europe given by its first Secretary General, Lord Ismay: "to keep the Russians out, to keep the Americans in, and the Germans down." It doesn't appear to be working anymore.

The Russians have thoroughly penetrated West Europe as their major supplier (controller) of energy. The Germans are calling the tune when it comes to both European economic and military matters. And the United States has proven itself to have little in common with continental Europe other than near total failure of memories of past glories and obligations therein. The concept of "an attack on one is an attack on all" has aged to the point of atrophy.

The European Union's new defense structure already has intimated what the future will be as it now has an established claim on the NATO military organization's assets if the latter doesn't want to use them. All that NATO has now is a so-called "right of first refusal." If that isn't a planned redundancy, it will have to do until the new De Gaulle or perhaps Bismarck comes along. NATO's 28 member countries, 22 partner countries, 43 different agencies and organizations plus 9 logistics bodies and 5 production bodies appear formidable in theory. In practice it is little more than an expensive bureaucracy.

The original purpose of NATO in 1949, with apologies to the brilliantly cynical General Lord Ismay, was to convert the WWII alliance of Western European nations into a similar grouping to check the post-war Soviet expansion to the west. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has been the center of American relations with Western Europe ever since. President Obama's recent trip to Europe has clearly shown exactly how little that relationship is now worth.

In simple terms, the arithmetic of American relations with West Europe -- conspicuously excluding the United Kingdom -- is as follows: Taking serious additional steps to stimulate the EU economy so that it might increase its capability to assist the rest of the world economy -- Zero! Acceptance of a fair portion of NATO's obligation in Afghanistan -- Zero! Support for strengthening of economic sanctions on Iran condemning their nuclear weapon development -- Zero!

In fact, the entire basis for continued American participation in NATO may have been undercut. Attempts to broaden NATO's role have failed or simply been subsumed in the ambitions of the European Union that instead of wanting the United States as an ally views its onetime champion as a competitor.

In spite of U.S./UK efforts to drag NATO along with them in Bosnia, Iraq, and now Afghanistan, the results have been either negative or marginal at best. NATO may have some basing advantages for U.S. forward defense posture, but in terms of being an active military participant alongside US/UK forces, the major powers in the European Union no longer see a profit.

NATO came under attack during the Clinton years and was strongly defended by high profile generals. The thesis of the American defenders of NATO was based on the perception of both the need for and ability of the United States to maintain a special role in Europe in the newly post-Soviet period. There was a logic to that argument then, but that logic is now strained.

An oft-repeated defense of American continued military participation has been to suggest the value to the U.S. of the political leverage afforded by maintaining its physical presence in Europe. This certainly has not turned out to be the case with Germany, where the American military long has had its largest continuing presence.

The current situation is as follows: There is no doubt the Russians would love the suspension of NATO; that in itself could be reason enough to keep it going. The reality, however, is that the ineffectuality of NATO negates its value as an instrument of American policy and severely diminishes its military worth to the United States.

The solidarity of NATO has been severely weakened and its viability as an effective military alliance has been endangered by European popular political indifference. The United States soon must ask what is in it for the American people.

For a better understanding of the role of Europe in future events, read: Europa, the Beast, and Revelation by COGwriter

Obama’s stance worries Israelis

Jason Koutsoukis, The Age
April 18, 2009

CAN Israel still call the United States its best international friend?

Apparently not, if you believe the tone of the local media.Watching the drama unfold inside Israel, the increasingly tense dialogue between US President Barack Obama and new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is taking on all the trappings of a duel.

Almost every day brings news of another sore point between the two countries, a source of yet further inflammation of their once warm relations.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the more immediate threat to Israel’s national security lay across the Atlantic rather than from closer to home.It is bad enough that President Obama uses almost every opportunity he can to set the parameters of a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Now US officials are openly using Israeli anxiety over Iran’s fledging nuclear program as a bargaining chip to force Israel’s hand on giving up control of the West Bank Palestinian territory.

No less a figure than White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel — whose father fought with the militant Zionist group the Irgun, and whose appointment had provided such reassurance to Israeli officials — was quoted this week laying down the law to Israel.

If Israel wants US help to defuse the Iranian threat, Mr Emanuel was reported to have told Jewish leaders in Washington, then get ready to start evacuating settlements in the West Bank.
Talkback radio blazed with fury across the country the same day, as Israelis protested that no US official had the right to tell them where to live.

Then on Thursday came the news that Mr Netanyahu’s planned first meeting with President Obama in Washington next month had been called off.

Mr Netanyahu had hoped to capitalise on his attendance at the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in Washington to visit the White House.
But Administration officials informed Mr Netanyahu’s office that the President would not be “in town”.

Washington sources added that the Obama Administration would not be continuing the tradition that had developed during the Bush years of hosting Israeli prime ministers whenever they showed up in town, sometimes with just a phone call’s notice.

It might have been no more than coincidence, but yesterday Israeli defence officials told the liberal daily Haaretz that Israel’s $US15 billion ($A21 billion) purchase of 75 US-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets was now under review due to “the unexpected high cost and disagreements with the manufacturer”.

Contrary to initial expectations, President Obama has wasted no time becoming fully engaged in the Middle East peace process, despite the magnitude of his domestic political agenda. While Mr Netanyahu has refused to endorse a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict agreed to by his predecessor, President Obama has made it abundantly clear that the US will accept nothing less than Israel living side by side with a sovereign Palestinian state.

Mr Obama is also demanding a freeze on Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank, and has dropped the Bush administration’s opposition to Hamas being part of a future Palestinian Authority government.

Read more:
Obama's stance worries Israelis

Read also: Prophecy Obama: Prophecies of Barack Obama?

The Columbine High School shooting: ten years later

By William Bowmer Saturday, April 18, 2009

In less than an hour on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, twelve students and a teacher were dead, 23 others had been injured, and the shooters had killed themselves in the school library. The Columbine High School shooting came and went quickly, but the question, “What really happened at Columbine—and why?” has remained ever since.

Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had been in trouble with the law even before the Columbine school shootings. For breaking into a parked van in January 1998, they had been sentenced to a juvenile diversion program. Harris impressed program administrators, but boasted in his diary that he enjoyed faking emotions of regret and remorse.

Investigative reporter Dave Cullen, one of the first to write extensively on the Columbine massacre, points out in his book Columbine that psychologists labeled Harris a textbook psychopath, able to mimic emotions but unable to feel genuine empathy for those around him. Klebold’s profile pictures him as a depressed teen, who looked to Harris to fill a void in his life.


Surveillance video of Eric Harris, left, and Eric Klebold in the Columbine High School cafeteria during the shooting. Dec. 16, 1999 Littleton, Colo (SHNS photo courtesy The Denver Rocky Mountain News)

Cullen’s information-filled book documents some surprising facts and dispels a number of common myths about the tragic Columbine murders:

• Cassie Bernall’s affirmation of faith at gunpoint never took place.
• Harris and Klebold were never members of Columbine’s “Trench Coat Mafia” and were neither bullies nor particularly bullied by classmates.
• The Columbine killers did not go bowling on the morning of the shootings (just one of the many factual errors promoted by filmmaker Michael Moore in his flawed movie Bowling for Columbine).

The Columbine murderers kept journals expressing the hope that their plan would take more lives than the 168 lost in the Oklahoma City bombing four years earlier (in which Timothy McVeigh destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Building on April 19, 1995). Thankfully, they failed.

Ten years later, Columbine is not even America’s worst school shooting; 33 were slaughtered in the tragic Virginia Tech killings on April 16, 2007, and both of these massacres are dwarfed by the September 2004 Beslan school siege in the former Soviet Union, in which 380 died.

What causes such violence? We might expect the families of Columbine victims to turn inward, focusing on the tragedy of their personal loss. But notice these perceptive words from Brian Rohrbough, whose son Dan was killed in the Columbine shootings:

“This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing Him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value. We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children.”

Rohrbough is right. We live in a society that has diminished the value of children. Abortion of our littlest children has become commonplace. Children who survive the womb grow up in a world that is too-often bereft of true Christian values and true Christian love. Ten years ago, the Columbine story felt like a rare and troubling event. But as we approach the tenth anniversary of the shootings, such violence now seems almost routine, as we watch the sad pattern continue with this year’s March 11 school shooting in Winnenden, Germany and the April 10 shooting in Dearborn, Michigan.

Shortly after the Columbine massacre, Tomorrow’s World presenter Richard Ames offered a spiritual perspective on the horrible event. We must face the reality of the evil that can in time turn bright-eyed toddlers into psychopaths and depressives, and recognize that the ultimate remedy for such violence will not come through human efforts alone. Certainly, parents should do all they can to protect their children from the “seeds of violence” all around them. But it is not realistic to think that every parent can protect every child from every potentially bad influence.

Ultimately, the only solution is God’s love. Parents, despite their own stresses, burdens and imperfections, can expose their children to the reality of God’s love (please read “Youth Violence: What Difference Can Parents Make?”). The love of God can penetrate even the bitterest hate. It can bring peace and joy even to those feeling deep despair. A time is soon coming when God’s Kingdom will be established on this earth, and the whole world will know that love. Yes, there is hope!

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A single nuke could destroy America?

By James W. Sweat

The coalescence of science fiction and politics together is no longer such a dubious lineup. Take for instance the March 29 Newsmax piece written by former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and science fiction author William Forstchen: “Newt Gingrich: A Single Nuke Could Destroy America.”

Unfortunately this is NOT science fiction – it is far too real. The authors explain in this article that in the hands of nations such as Iran or North Korea, “…one small nuclear weapon, delivered by an ICBM can destroy the United States by maximizing the effect of the resultant electromagnetic pulse upon detonation.”

This electromagnetic pulse (EMP) emitted from gamma rays is a side-effect of detonating an atomic weapon at high altitude in space. Strategically positioned explosions of one or more atomic weapons over the continental United States would ravage the power grid, transportation and communication networks, and all things electric, hurling our modern technological culture back to the Stone Age.

Possession of nuclear warheads and the capability to launch a communications satellite are the basic technology needed to deliver an EMP anywhere on the planet within minutes. Russia and China already have this capacity while other nations such as Iran and North Korea are suspected of developing it. ...Read more »

A single nuke could destroy America?

What Obama MUST DO, He is Doing Quickly

Farewell to Zion. Forever
"Next Year in Jerusalem" may be heard no more, because Hussein Obama will use the US Air Force to keep Israel from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities.
The nightmare scenario for Israel is troubling me more and more. The end of the Jewish state is all too thinkable. More

Obama set to betray Israel, big time

Imagine if you will.... A Zionist Bow

Imagine if we woke up tomorrow with a president named Solomon Goldstein. A President, who for sure lived in and maybe was even born in Israel. A President, who as a boy went to a very conservative Jewish religious school in Israel. A President who as soon as he was elected calls the Israeli PM and promises that a peace the Jews can live with will soon be implemented. Then in his first interview as President he sits down with the Jewish Television Network and apologizes for Americans' past arrogant behavior. More

O'S AMATEUR HOUR
On every stage, Obama draped Lady Liberty in sackcloth and ashes, drawing plentiful applause but no serious economic or security cooperation in return. Then, in Turkey, he surrendered our national pride, undercut our interests and interfered in matters that aren't his business. More

Obama to host Seder Thursday night
US President Barack Obama will celebrate Passover Thursday night with staff and friends in what is believed to be the first White House Seder attended by an American president.
Though Passover starts on Wednesday evening, Obama will be hosting the second Seder, on Thursday night, apparently so that those in attendance can celebrate with their families on the first night.

April 07, 2009
Obama: Islam Has Shaped the U.S.A. as he kisses the Kings hand
Undeniably the Islamic faith has done a great deal to shape the world – a statement that makes no value judgment about exactly how it has shaped the world. It has formed the dominant culture in what is known as the Islamic world for centuries. But what on earth could Obama mean when he says that Islam has also “done so much” to shape his own country? More

The Bible says:

Then Jesus said to him (Judas Iscariot, the Betrayer), What you do, do quickly.

Send for you free booklets:
The Middle East in Prophecy
The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy

Obama, The EU, Jerusalem and the House of Israel

NEWS
Obama favors stronger EU defense capacity

EU eyes bigger role in global financial reform

Sarkozy and Merkel Try to Shape European Unity

Netanyahu government could face EU sanctions over two-state stance

BIBLICAL PERPECTIVE
Read:
Babel’s last hurrah!
A global currency?

And:
Understanding End-Time Prophecies
Five Prophetic Signs for the Middle East
The Beast of Revelation: Myth, Metaphor or Soon-Coming Reality?

Being queer is a sexual disorder

The sexual liberation movement now controls the White House
By David R. Usher
March 29, 2009NewsWithViews.com

There is no finer metaphor for “pretzel logic” than the issue of “gay rights”. The contemporary addiction to “gay” liberation is no less dangerous or mind-altering than being addicted to heroine.

Being gay is a sexual disorder the American Psychological Association does not recognize because it drove out Division leaders and members who recognized sexual addiction for what it is. Gay men have eight times more sexual partners than heterosexual men do, and are the prevalent reason why 3% of individuals living in Washington D.C. are infected with H.I.V – on par with AIDS crisis countries such as Kenya

Read more: The sexual liberation movement now controls the White House

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"Vile Passions"
Sodom Rises Again!

Justices 'mainstream'homosexual 'marriage'

Posted: April 04, 200912:10 am Eastern
By Drew Zahn© 2009 WorldNetDaily
IowaSupremeCourt
DES MOINES, Iowa –

In the Midwest, a region of the country widely considered to be a bedrock of traditional American values, many people are in shock following an Iowa Supreme Court decision this morning overturning the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

Read full article: 'I don't think Iowans imaginedthis could be foisted on the state'

Read also: The Plain Truth About Homosexuality!
Does God accept the “gay lifestyle”? Though the mass media are pushing to make homosexuality seem healthy and normal, your Bible reveals the whole truth of the matter

And:
From Closet to Mainstream: The Homosexual Agenda
Homosexual activists have won wide acceptance for practices considered deviant just decades ago. What does the Bible say will happen to a society that abandons God’s standard of morality? Can homosexuals find true happiness beyond the false promises

World Bank President Admits Agenda For Global Government

World Bank President and Bilderberg elitist Robert Zoellick openly admitted the plan to eliminate national sovereignty and impose a global government during a speech on the eve of the G20 summit.

Speaking about the agenda to increase not just funding but power for international organizations on the back of the financial crisis, Zoellick stated,

“If leaders are serious about creating new global responsibilities or governance, let them start by modernising multilateralism to empower the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank Group to monitor national policies.”

In other words, give global institutions the power to regulate national policy as part of the creation of global government.

What Zoellick is outlining is essentially the end of national sovereignty and the reclassification of national governments as mere subordinates to a global authority that is completely unaccountable to the voting public of any country.

The more cynical amongst us would call this a global dictatorship. Zoellick couches the plan in flowery rhetoric of helping the poor and alleviating poverty, but as we have documented for years, the global elite’s goal of world government has little to do with saving the planet and everything to do with creating a global fascist state.

Read more: World Bank President Admits Agenda For Global Government

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