Syria in the news:

Now we see Syria moving into the spotlight (again), seemingly not to be outdone by Turkey and Iran:

"Assad: No chance for peace after flotilla raid"

The deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla has increased the chances of war in the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Wednesday in an interview to the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The Syrian president rejected claims that his country was arming the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon and noted that the Middle East was going through a period of momentous change which would affect the region's future.

He said the flotilla raid, which left nine Turkish activists killed, had "destroyed any chance for peace in the near future, mainly because it proved that this government is another pyromaniac government, and you cannot achieve peace with such a government."

And this from Haaretz:

"Syria: Israel raid on Gaza flotilla raises risk of Mideast war"

Assad said that even before the raid, he had not viewed the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "partner for peace" in the region.

"No, we definitely don't have a partner, we know this," he said...With this government it's something different from any previous Israeli government."

Asked if the attack on the aid convoy had increased the risk of war in the region, Assad said: "Definitely, definitely."

The next brief article reveals that Syria and Lebanon are working together in order to "meet the Israeli threat":

"Syria, Lebanon to Coordinate Moves"

In a joint statement, the heads of Syria and Lebanon sad they would coordinate moves between the two countries in order to meet the “Israeli threat.” After a meeting in Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called on Arab and Muslim nations to take a stronger stance against Israel.

Unrelated to Syria - the following article is interesting because it makes one wonder if the sun's activity could cause some of the disruption that will occur during the Tribulation:


"As the Sun awakens, NASA Keeps a Wary Eye on Space Weather"

Earth and space are about to come into contact in a way that's new to human history. To make preparations, authorities in Washington, DC recently held a meeting: The Space Weather Enterprise Forum at the National Press Club on June 8th.

Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division, explains what it's all about: "The Sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we're getting together to discuss."

The National Academy of Sciences framed the problem two years ago in a landmark report entitled "Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts." It noted how people of the 21st-century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. Smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity. A century-class solar storm, the Academy warned, could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina.

Who knows if this will ever present a problem or not - but it seems worth watching. Anytime I see something potentially of such magnitude and devastation like this - something that would affect the entire planet, then it is definitely worth watching.