Tipping Points: Inching Closer To Chemical Warfare In Syria

Failed Syria Envoy Brahimi's Mission Brings Chemical War Closer

This stalemate is compounded by escalation in the use of two extreme weapons of war. Since Dec. 12, the Syrian army has been firing home-made Scud missiles at rebel centers. The US and NATO have responded by stationing six Patriot batteries manned by 1,000 American, German and Dutch servicemen, on the Turkish-Syrian border to protect Turkey from Syrian attack. The inference here is that so long as the Scuds are confined to targets inside Syria, Western intervention will stop at the border. 

Dec. 26, The Syrian army, under the command of Iranian officers, began shootingFateh A-110 high-precision, short-range surface missiles made in Iran. They were sent to Syria at top speed by an Iranian airlift flying over Iraq. Syria in fact manufactures a local version of the Fateh A-110, called M600.  But Tehran decided to deliver the originals to show the world that Assad is not fighting alone and that Iran’s military support for his regime is solid – not just against the uprising, but also against NATO, its missiles and the units which have taken  up position in Turkey.

In effect, both sides to the conflict appear to have resorted to a form of chemical warfare. Western and Middle East military sources report that, last week, Syrian forces loyal to Assad are thought to have used in the Homs battle of Dec. 23 grenades containing a gas that paralyzes lungs and causes extreme infirmity, or even death...these gas grenades were especially developed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps for use against the masses which demonstrated against the 2009 presidential elections. The grenades have now been distributed to pro-Assad Shabiha militias, the Syrian equivalent of Iran’s brutal al Qods Brigades.

Be that as may, both sides appear to be preparing the ground for chemical warfare. Yet no Western, or any other external power, including Russia, appears ready to intervene to put a stop to the latest horror raising its head in the Syrian conflict, the escalation to chemical warfare - any more than they prevented its descent to the bombardment of civilians by missiles.

 Given the Syrian conflict’s sequential plunge into unspeakable atrocities, Israel cannot count on being exempt from a poison weapons attack - even before its Jan. 22 general election.

Syrian War Is Worsening By The Day

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned Sunday the Syrian war was worsening "by the day", AFP reports.
The comments were made as Brahimi announced a peace plan
The situation in Syria "is very bad and getting worse by the day," Brahimi told reporters in Cairo, a day after warning in Moscow that Damascus faced a choice between "hell or the political process."

Meanwhile, reported AFP, Moscow dispatched a third naval vessel to the eastern Mediterranean on Sunday in readiness for a possible evacuation of Russian nationals, many of them women who married Syrian men during the Cold War years of close relations.

The Tartus base is Russia's only remaining naval station outside the former Soviet Union and is seen as a major strategic asset for Moscow.

Russia has been accused of using the base to supply Assad's government with secret military shipments supplementing the official weapons sales that Moscow has made to Damascus since Soviet times.

Fear The Russia/China Alliance

If Americans think of national security at all, its usually of Islamic terrorism or Iran, maybe North Korea.

Few are saying this, but what they should really be fearing is the growing Russia/China alliance.

From the Communist Party of China, International Department website:

Xi, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, expressed congratulations for the successful holding of the meeting, which also took place Wednesday.

Xi said new CPC leaders will adhere to a friendly policy towards Russia and prioritize the development of China-Russia ties.

Stating that China considers Russia to be its most important strategic coordination partner, Xi said China would like to work with Russia to develop bilateral coordination and boost party-to-party exchanges and cooperation.

The dialogue mechanism between the CPC and the United Russia party was launched in June 2009. Its second meeting was held in Moscow in March 2010.

With the anti-Western Communist Party running China and the anti-Western “former” KGB effectively running Russia, who do you think this alliance is targeted at?

Radical Islam, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, are not separate threats. They are all controlled and influenced to some degree by the Russia/China alliance.

We need to focus on the head of the octopus… not its many arms.

British Textbook Erases Israel

A popular textbook used by institutions and teachers to teach English as a second language to students in the UK has been found to have a serious anti-Israel bias.

"I teach English as a foreign language in a further education college in Nottingham, England. I came across the attached map and couldn't believe my eyes!" Liz Wiseman told Israel Today.

The textbook in question is "Skills in English Writing Level 1", which includes a map of the Middle East on which Israel is nowhere to be found.

While Wiseman acknowledges she was not obligated to use this particular textbook, it is one of the more popular and mainstream English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks published by one of the more popular and mainstream ELT publishers, Garnet Education.

This is far from an isolated incident, which is motivation for drawing attention to this particular case. It is not only in the Middle East where students, both adults and children, are being taught that Israel has no right to exist. The more students around the world are fed this brand of propaganda, the more remote prospects for true peace become.

And below we see yet more on the rapid decline of America:

The 2nd Amendment: Where's The Line?

Happy New Year Middle Class: The Fiscal Cliff Is Going To Rip You To Shreds

On Modern Musketry

When The Lights go Out In America

Darkness Descends As Tribulation Approaches

We can feel it. We can sense it. Perhaps it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that sounds alarm bells. We can see it in the news every day. As the world unwittingly approaches the Tribulation in every possible way (legislative, decline in morality, violence, rising totalitarianism, economic collapse, loss of freedom, etc., etc.), to a believer, we have a palpable sense of dread as this last seven year period approaches. That seven year period which is detailed in Revelation 6-18, Daniel 2, 7 and 9 and so many other passages scattered throughout biblical prophecy. 

We see it in the news every day and it certainly represents the main theme in today's news:

U.S. Administration : We Can And Will Force Christians To Act Against Their Faith

In a legal argument formally presented in federal court in the case of Hobby Lobby v. Kathleen Sebelius, the Obama administration is claiming that the First Amendment—which expressly denies the government the authority to prohibit the “free exercise” of religion—nonetheless allows it to force Christians to directly violate their religious beliefs even on a matter that involves the life and death of innocent human beings.

Because federal judges—including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor—have refused to grant an injunction protecting the owners of Hobby Lobby from being forced to act against their Christian faith, those owners will be subject to federal fines of up to $1.3 million per day starting Tuesday for refusing to include abortion-inducing drugs in their employee health plan.

Hobby Lobby is a family business. David Green created it in his garage in Oklahoma City in 1972. He and his wife, Barbara, and their three children—Steve, Mart and Darsee Green Lett-- have grown the business to where it now operates 500 stores in 41 states.

The Greens, who are Evangelical Christians, do not suspend their religious beliefs while running their businesses. Instead, they strive to run them fully in accordance with their Christian beliefs. They are unanimous in stating that they have always “sought to run Hobby Lobby in harmony with God’s laws and in a manner which brings glory to God.” They do not have two sets of morals—one for when they are at church or at home and another for when they are working on their businesses. They have only one set of morals—that they strive to follow at work or any other activity. For example, they close their business on Sundays, so their employees can spend that day with their families, and they pay their full-time workers a minimum hourly wage of $13, which is far exceeds the federal minimum wage.

 They also provide their employees with a generous self-insured health care plan, and they even operate an on-site, cost-free health clinic at their corporate headquarters. But, guided by their Christian faith, the Greens believe that human life begins at conception and that aborting on unborn life is wrong. In keeping with this, they do not cover in their employee health plan abortions, abortion-inducing drugs or IUDs that prevent implantation of an embryo.

Sounds good so far. But not in the presence of our current government:

The Obama administration is making a two-fold argument for why it can force Christians to act against their faith in complying with the regulation it has issued under the Obamacare law that requires virtually all health care plans to cover, without co-pay, sterilizations, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs.

The first argument the administration makes against the owners of Hobby Lobby is that Americans lose their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion when they form a corporation and engage in commerce. A person’s Christianity, the administration argues, cannot be carried out through activities he engages in through an incorporated business.

The second argument the administration makes to justify forcing Christians to act against their faith is more sweeping. Here the administration argues it can force a person to act against his religion so long as the coercion is done under the authority of a law that is neutral and generally applicable—in other words, as long as the law was not written specifically to persecute Christians as Christians, the government can use that law to persecute Christians.

In September, the Greens, Hobby Lobby and Mardel bookstores sued Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the departments of Health Human Service, Labor and Treasury. Their complaint said that the Obamacare contraception mandate violates their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion because supporting abortion or counseling for abortion is contrary to their religious faith.

As the mandate now stands, the Greens must begin complying with it on Jan. 1. On Nov. 11, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton refused to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the mandate from being enforced on the Greens while the court decided their case on its merits. In his ruling on the injunction, Judge Heaton determined that the Greens were not likely to establish they had a right to “free exercise” of religion while operating Hobby Lobby.

The Greens appealed their request for an injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. A panel of two appeals court judges refused their plea. They then appealed to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who sits over that circuit, and she declined to reverse the lower courts and issue an injunction.

“Hobby Lobby will continue their appeal before the Tenth Circuit,” said Becket Fund General Counsel Kyle Duncan. “The Supreme Court merely decided not to get involved in the case at this time. It left open the possibility of review after their appeal is completed in the Tenth Circuit. The company will continue to provide health insurance to all qualified employees. To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention, as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.”

As the nation approaches the much publicized fiscal cliff, it also approaches a moral cliff: Will the Obama administration compel Christians to act against their faith? As of now, the answer seems plain: Starting Tuesday, it will.

This article from American Thinker further characterizes this situation which is highly symbolic of where we are headed as a nation (and the world for that matter):

Hobby Lobby And The Loss Of America's Soul

In America, established rights such as religious liberty and the right to bear arms are currently under attack. Liberals are in charge and they seem to feel that straightforward Constitutional precepts require alteration or eradication.

Currently, Obamacare is ushering in a new definition of "religious liberty." So far, the Catholic Church has already received fair warning that when it comes to providing insurance that covers birth control and abortion, there are limits on "religious liberty." Moreover, they are also finding out that refusal to conform to progressive edicts could result in the federal government raining down fire and brimstone on the defiant.

So, in conjunction with the updated version of the "right to bear arms," right about now liberals should provide a lexicon that defines religious liberty in the following way: The right for the government to demand, by law, that religious institutions be forced to support policies that contradict their core beliefs.

Hobby Lobby maintains that the "morning-after pill is tantamount to abortion because it can prevent a fertilized egg from becoming implanted in a woman's womb." Therefore, "defy[ing] a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill" is the company's way of staying true to its core convictions.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied a request for an injunction while the Hobby Lobby lawsuit is pending. If the injunction were granted that would have prevented the birth control mandate from beginning on January 1st.

Because it was denied, until the lawsuit reaches the lower courts, Hobby Lobby had better submit to the HHS mandate or, starting January 1, 2013, figure out a way to come up with $1.3 million a day in IRS excise taxes.

Despite facing millions in fines, the noncompliant Hobby Lobby and Mardel Inc. CEO and founder David Green refuses to surrender the companies' religious convictions. Green has said he'd rather abandon the business. A $2.2 billion-a-year company that is willing to close itsdoors rather than compromise its core principles? Now that's impressive.

Green maintains that Hobby Lobby, "[b]y being required to make a choice between sacrificing our faith, or paying millions of dollars in fines, we essentially must choose which poison pill to swallow. We simply cannot abandon our religious beliefs to comply with this mandate." Sounds like Hobby Lobby's David Green believes verbatim the Scripture verse that asks "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?"

In the end it is clear that Hobby Lobby's CEO is more concerned about his standing before God than his standing in the business world, hence proving that in their effort to gain the world, liberals' redefinition of "religious liberty" forfeits our nation's soul.

Further spreading darkness:

Council On Foreign Relations Plan For Global Governance

It is incredible that mention of a one-world government in many circles is still considered to be conspiracy talk.

Fortunately, the global political awakening that arch-globalist, Zbigniew Brzezinski has referred to as a significant challenge to those in power is forcing ever-increasing justifications for their use of globalist language.

One would hope that a relatively new Council on Foreign Relations initiative that is expanding can lay to rest any debate about the desire to form a global government in the name of supposedly solving global problems.

The initiative called The Council of Councils was featured in a recent round table discussion of the central problems facing the world that they believe require multilateral cooperation.

The discussions and recommendations released from this convention of experts is important to keep available the next time you hear the label conspiracy theorist hurled in your direction.

The title of the round table was Challenges for Global Governance in 2013.

This is a fascinating article and it offers a glimpse into what is really going on with the CFR and their agenda - it is definitely a worthwhile read. Jumping to the conclusion we see this:

Conclusion

The agenda of global governance exits, and the move toward a one world government is being executed. The solutions being discussed at think tank conferences in a wide range of disciplines from geopolitics, to science, to health, to economics and communications are all beginning to coalesce into an overall agenda of centralized control.

This fusion is manifesting at an accelerated pace in tandem with the rapid awakening of humanity to its condition of increasing servitude. We are, as Brzezinski titled his 1970 book, Between Two Ages.  It is the age of power mad control mechanisms locked in a battle of the ages with the spirit of that which refuses to be fully controlled.

2013 seems to be the threshold where we will discover which force has the momentum to decide the unwritten future beyond.

Just How Awful Will 2013 be?

There’s a reason thousands of Americans have been purchasing guns of all description and laying up stores of ammunition and it may go beyond concerns of gun bans. A lot of patriots think that 2013 could turn very ugly, very fast, with fears of martial law, Homeland Security goons, mass arrests, secret incarcerations, and worse. I have doubts about these scenarios, but they have long been a part of the arsenal of oppressive governments.

The trigger, however, for such scenarios would be the collapse of the U.S. dollar and there are signs—the massive national debt, the continued government borrowing and spending—that suggest this is a very real possibility. If and when that occurs, all bets are off.

What stands between most Americans and those who might wish to engineer the end to the Constitution is the fact that America is home to hundreds of thousands of hunters who comprise, by virtue of being armed, the largest army in the world. A goodly portion of our law enforcement community and our military are going to refuse orders to turn their guns on their fellow Americans and doing so would prove to be unhealthy.

Revolution is never pretty, but Americans did it once and can do it again to protect the Constitution and our rights. In a sharply divided nation, however, the level of resistance is unknown when so many now depend on the government for support. Many will prefer their chains.

Saudi Wahhabi Preacher Issues Fatwa Allowing Jihadis To Rape Syrian Women

A Wahhabi religious cleric in Saudi Arabia, Muhammed al-Arifi, who is very influential in Jihadi circles, has recently issued a fatwa (religious edict) that permits all Jihadist militants in Syria to engage in short-lived marriages with Syrian women that each lasts for a few hours in order to satisfy their sexual desires and boost their determination in killing Syrians. He called the marriage as ‘intercourse marriage’. It requires that the Syrian female be at least 14 years old, widowed, or divorced.

Is this the Western-promoted “freedom and democracy” that Syrians want?

Pastor Jailed On Christmas Day

Reports coming out of Iran say that the Iranian government again has arrested and jailed Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the Iranian government used a previous criminal charge to put Nadarkhani back in Lakan Prison in Rasht, Iran.

Nadarkhani’s arrest comes only days after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard arrested and detained Iranian-born American pastor Saeed Abedini.

WND reported last week that the American pastor was being held in the “brutal” Evin Prison.

The pastor, who holds dual Iranian-American citizenship, was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Abedini was arrested shortly after arriving in Iran in September to visit his parents. Reports of his arrest didn’t become known until this past week.

Syrian Rebels 'Beheaded Christian And Fed Him To The Dogs'

HE HAD just got married and his wife was about to give birth but this did not save Andrei Arbashe, a young Christian, from a horrific fate at the hands of rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime earlier this month.

"They beheaded him, cut him into pieces and fed him to the dogs," said Agnes-Mariam de la Croix, mother superior of the Monastery of St James the Mutilated between Damascus and Homs.

Other news continuing this theme:

In Dramatic Shift, Egypt To Embrace Hezbollah

North Korea EMP Could Destroy U.S.

Earthquakes Everywhere

Ron Paul: We Have Passed The Point Of No Return

How Chicago And Obama Globalized Voter Fraud

Mark Steyn: Laws Are For Little People

Israel's Enemies Continue To Unite - With A Central Target In Mind

Right on schedule: 

We've seen Hamas and the PA/Fatah uniting with a common goal in mind (the destruction of Israel) - which involves a gathering of forces in the West Bank and Gaza. We've seen the early stages of Jordan meeting with the these same groups due to internal pressure from radical Islam, and now this. The prophetic significance of these alliances are profound, as we continue to watch Israel's enemies - those same enemies who will gather together in order to participate in the coming wars which are intended to destroy Israel:

Egypt To Pursue Relationship With Hezbollah

In a dramatic policy shift, Egypt will seek to forge "tight" relations with Hezbollah, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Hamdy revealed in a candid interview published Saturday in Lebanon's Daily Star.

“You cannot discuss politics in Lebanon without having a relationship with Hezbollah," Hamdy was quoting as saying, before describing the terror group as a "real force on the ground" with "big political and military influence."

In this respect, Hamdy announced that Muslim-Brotherhood-dominated Egypt would begin “stretching [its] hand out in the proper, balanced way to all regional powers," including Hezbollah, in order to forge "tight" contacts with Lebanon's rulers.

"Resistance in the sense of defending Lebanese territory...[is] their primary role. We...think that as a resistance movement they have done a good job to keep on defending Lebanese territory and trying to regain land occupied by Israel is legal and legitimate,” he continued.

Egypt's Envoy To Lebanon: Cairo Will Work With Hezbollah, 'A Real Political And Military Force'

Egypt’s ambassador to Lebanon said his country will pursue a relationship with Hezbollah, a “real political and military force,” The Daily Star reported Saturday. If implemented, the decision would constitute a dramatic policy shift from that of the former Hosni Mubarak administration.

Egypt’s relations with Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Islamic group that is considered a terror organization by the United States, have been strained, in large part, by Cairo’s 1979 peace accord with Israel. The ambassador’s comments on the possible Hezbollah-Egyptian rapprochement came on the heels of the passage of the controversial Muslim Brotherhood-backed constitution by President Mohammed Morsi.

“In discussions we said we want Hezbollah to remain as a political force in Lebanon acting in the interests of the Lebanese first and not others,” Hamdy continued. “Resistance in the sense of defending Lebanese territory … That’s their primary role. We … think that as a resistance movement they have done a good job defending Lebanese territory, and trying to regain land occupied by Israel is legal and legitimate.”

Also see:

Yaalon: U.S. Preparing To Intervene In Syria

In an interview with Israel Radio, government minister Moshe Yaalon said that the U.S. was preparing to intervene in Syria. A final decision on intervention will come if and when the Syrian army begins using chemical weapons against its own citizens, Yaalon said.

Despite appearances, Yaalon said, the U.S. was aware of everything going on in Syria and was “very concerned” about the implications for the Syrian civil war on the region. Israeli officials were in close touch with American officials about the latest events in the country, he said. 

The Fiscal Cliff Is Just A Diversion

"Global Governance" Now Acceptable Terminology

It's interesting how the news seems to be concentrated on certain themes on certain days and today is no exception. More and more publications are becoming aware of what seems to be a big push towards a global form of "governance" (more on this term later) from the EU, the U.S., the UN and now Russia. 

Just a few years ago, such talk would have been considered as "conspiracy theory" - and that is a term that deserves some discussion. Be very very careful of falling into that trap. One thing I find interesting is the idea that many of the individuals and web-sites who have been calling attention to this movement towards "global governance" should be dismissed and considered as "wacko conspiracy people" - to be completely ignored. If you go back and look at what such people have been saying for decades now - those who were labeled as such (who is passing out these "labels" anyway?) - they have been uncannily accurate as we watch the evolution of the movement to a world government transpire before our very eyes. 

Labeling those who closely follow the news - especially the "stories behind the MSM version" - as "conspiracy nuts" is actually a form of censorship. Obviously there are some crazy people and sites out there, but we must be very careful to lump a large group into the conspiracy category and then dismiss what they are drawing attention to. 

Having said that - consider the news today in light of biblical prophecy and the coming Tribulation (the quotes from these articles are extensive, but this information is important):

EU Leader Van Rompuy Calls For 'Global Governance'

While much of the Christian and post-Christian worlds were busy rushing about in last-minute preparations for Christmas celebrations, an important event took place in Brussels, Belgium, that went largely unnoticed and unreported. Leaders of the European Union and Russia met in Brussels on December 20 and 21 for the 30th EU-Russia Summit, continuing a process of convergence and interdependence that is leading toward political, economic, and social merger.

In his remarks at the conclusion of the summit, Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, made repeated reference to progress toward the goal of “global governance,” which has always been code in globalist circles for world government. Van Rompuy stated: 

By working together, the EU and Russia can make a decisive contribution to global governance and regional conflict resolution, to global economic governance in the G 8 and G 20, and to a broad range of international and regional issues. I would like to congratulate President Putin for taking over the presidency of G 20. 

As we have reported in this magazine many times, the term “global governance” is an intentionally deceptive term, used by political ruling elites because it is more vague and mushy and sounds less threatening than “global government” or “world government.”  Hence, there will be less political opposition mounted to “global governance” than “world government.”

“Global governance” came into vogue in the late 1990s, following the publication in 1995 of Our Global Neighborhood, a report of the UN-appointed Commission on Global Governance. That report attempted emphatically to assure readers that they had nothing to fear; they were not proposing world government. It claimed: 

Global governance is not global government. No misunderstanding should arise from the similarity of the terms. We are not proposing movement towards world government.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan practiced the same semantic sleight-of-hand and false assurance at the UN Millennium Summit in New York City in 2000. In his report We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century, Annan called for “new forms of global governance,” “a new ethic of global stewardship,” “global norms,” and “global rules” — all of which assume a role for the UN as global legislator.

Many of the political elites who formerly dismissed concerns that “global governance” is a ruse for “global government,” now matter-of-factly admit that they are one and the same. Jacques Attali, an ardent globalist and an adviser to former President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, for instance, has said: “Global governance is just a euphemism for global government.”

This is how Denis Healey described a Bilderberg person to me: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."

He said, "Bilderberg is a way of bringing together politicians, industrialists, financiers and journalists. Politics should involve people who aren't politicians. We make a point of getting along younger politicians who are obviously rising, to bring them together with financiers and industrialists who offer them wise words.

 It increases the chance of having a sensible global policy." 

David Rockefeller, a longtime leader at Bilderberg conclaves, was even more explicit when addressing the 1991 meeting of the Bilderberg group. Rockefeller stated: 

We are grateful to the Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost 40 years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. 

But the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.

 What seemed outlandish to many people at the time, and was frequently dismissed as kooky "conspiracy theory," is being confirmed daily in unfolding events — and admissions from those who are causing the events to happen.

New World Order

The world is changing dramatically, and the 'world order' is therefore changing too. The western powers of the United States and Europe are in decline, whilst China and Asia in general are on the rise. Many 'developing' countries, such as the BRIC nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China, are becoming more wealthy and more powerful than the established 'developed' economies of the west. Whereas the old international order saw the vast majority of power wielded by western powers, with America as the undisputed global superpower, a new multi-polar world is now emerging, with Asia as its power centre. This new order will indeed see the importance of international organisations increase. The imposition of Western rules and systems will be replaced by negotiated solutions reflecting the needs and desires of a much wider range of countries. Led by countries such as China, which has always opposed western interventionism, this new way is likely to emphasise national sovereignty and non-interference in other country's affairs. There is one group who has the most to lose from this change – the corporate and banking elite. – World News Curator

There is, from our perspective, an effort to create global governance and the only sensible conclusion to reach is that those who control central banks are behind it. Creating such a scenario demands not just consensus but the manufacturing of consensus on a worldwide level. That takes unfathomable financial resources.

The methodology is what we call directed history and like you we have been successful at predicting certain evolutions because we apply our understanding of current events to the evolution of power elite trends.

The development and application of such insights is useful in terms of understanding the world around us and also for practical purposes such as investment. Once one understands the central banking economy all sorts of possibilities emerge

Another prediction we made for a long time was that the Muslim Brotherhood was being deliberately empowered in the Middle East in order to create religious tension between East and West. This then allows for the further implementation of anti-terrorist legislation that is extremely invasive and drains freedom from the West. That's happening, too.

The idea is to generate increasing levels of control throughout society. The mechanism is mercantilism, which allows those at the very top to gain and keep virtually unlimited power, as they are exempt from the laws and regulations being inflicted on everyone else.

Another meme that the article promotes is that China and the BRICs generally are rising up and diminishing Western power. But this is by design, in our view.

Europe and the US, from what we can tell, are being brought down while Asia and certain developing countries like Brazil are being raised up. The tool in use is the central bank that can create both booms and busts almost at will.

The West's topmost elites, the ones that control central banking, are as firmly entrenched as ever, in our view. Those who will be inconvenienced by the efflorescence of global government will be a secondary tier of political, banking, military and industrial types – those who may believe they are among the "untouchables" but actually are not. They may find this out over time to their dismay.

As for the emergence of China and other powers to challenge Western "dominance" ... well, this also seems perfectly predictable and we don't believe that such an emergence is in any way an unforeseen or untoward development.

It is all part of what may be called directed history. 

The creation of global governance demands all sorts of stresses and strains. Only from fear and chaos can a new global society emerge. Enemies are necessary. The Soviet Union is no more, so new enemies have to be identified.

Terrorists are one such enemy. The war on terror is very useful because it is an amorphous one that can be used in any of a number of ways.

A terrorist, after all, is someone who has been branded as such by government officials. In the 21st century, many people who believe in freer, smaller societies will be labeled (ironically) as terrorists. And many bankers and industrialists will be labeled as part of the world's controlling "elite."

The Day Freedom Died In America

Gun Confiscation: Part Of The Plan

The link above is actually a long video/audio clip from Infowars/Prison Planet and it is worth listening to. It is highly consistent with everything we are reading from other wide-spread sources. 

Congressman Blasts U.S. Decision To "Arm" Extremists

Why is our administration arming Israel's enemies? 

Congressman Ted Poe, R-Texas, says it is irresponsible for Barack Obama to be “arming” a country that may be aiming for the destruction of Israel with a shipment of 20 F-16 fighter jets.

“It is reckless and unwise for the U.S. to give F-16s to Egypt and its new president/dictator, controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood,” he told WND. “This extremist group is notoriously anti-American and anti-Israel. The United States should not be arming a country ruled by a group that has the destruction of Israel in its charter.”

Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan said, “American tax dollars must not be used to aid and abet any dictatorial regime that stands with terrorists,” and Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said, “We should also be cautious about the arms we provide.”

Obama is proceeding with his plan to gift Egypt with 20 brand new F-16 fighter jets as part of a $450 million aid package promised to Egypt in 2010 when it was led by the U.S.-friendly Hosni Mubarak regime.

Now Egypt is governed by the openly hostile Muslim Brotherhood, which has called for the destruction of America and Israel. The new President Mohammed Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, recently joined in a public prayer to the effect of “Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder.”

There are also the more philosophical issues that are thought by some to represent an inherent anti-American default position on the part of the president. The Muslim Prayer Day in 2009 is one such example.

Imams were permitted by Obama to hold a Muslim Prayer Day near White House premises in 2009, the same year Obama prohibited a similar Christian “Day of Prayer” despite the longstanding precedent for such gatherings. One of the speakers at the event is on record saying, “We are going to the White House, so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will become … Muslim house.”

The Hypocrisy Of Government Gun Confiscation Schemes

The hypocrisy of it all is stunning. While screaming, “GUNS ARE BAD!” to American farmers, ranchers and citizens, the government is buying up billions of dollars worth of guns and ammo itself. This isn’t ammo to be used in a foreign theater of war, by the way, it’s ammo that can only be used domestically, against the American people. (The hollow point ammo violates international war treaties and so cannot be used in international war actions.)

To help us all visualize the hypocrisy in the government’s gun control schemes, I came up with our latest Counterthink cartoon.

In addition to purchasing 450 million rounds of hollow point .40 caliber ammo, the U.S. government has also purchased:

• Over one million rounds of hollow-point .223 rifle ammo
• Over half a million rounds of non-hollow-point .223 rifle ammo
• 220,000 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun #7 ammo (target ammo)
• Over 200,000 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun #00 buckshot ammo (tactical anti-personnel ammo)
• 66,000 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun slugs (tactical anti-personnel, anti-vehicle rounds)
• Over two million rounds of hollow-point .357 Sig JPH (hollow-point) pistol ammo (anti-personnel)
• Over four million rounds of .40 S&W JPH (hollow-point) pistol ammo (anti-personnel)
• Over 60,000 rounds of .308 match grade anti-personnel sniper rounds (BTHP)
• Plus, hundreds of thousands of additional rounds of .38 special, .45 auto, 9mm, 7.62×39 (AK rifle) ammo, and others.

Proposed Legislation On Guns In The U.S.

'Fiscal Cliff' Distracts As 'Fiscal Abyss' In Japan, UK and U.S. Cometh

The political and media side show that is the so-called “fiscal cliff” will soon be overshadowed by the appalling and rapidly deteriorating situation regarding the U.S. national debt. 

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has alerted Congress that the nation will once again hit the debt ceiling on Monday, but that his department can take “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the bills for another few months.

Incredibly, the debt ceiling was raised from $14.294 trillion in August 2011, to its current level of $16.394 trillion. Thus in the span of only sixteen months, the Obama administration has added a whopping $2.1 trillion to the national debt.

U.S. unfunded liabilities are now estimated at between $50 trillion and $100 trillion and by the end of the decade (in less than just 7 years), runaway entitlement spending will require shutting down the military or crippling many other vital domestic spending programs to head off massive deficits that will likely lead to a dollar crisis and significant inflation.

No matter what deal is eventually agreed, whether before or after the new year, it will at best nibble at the edges of the trillion dollar annual deficits that are being piled up.

After The Disaster: American Rebirth Or Interment

The question we face in this era is: Will America be a nation essentially organized around traditional families, largely free of government restraint, where individuals generally seek to order their lives according to the inalterable moral norms of the Judeo-Christian tradition? Or will it be a nation where the traditional family is essentially extinct, where people are largely dependent on government for some of their most basic needs and where the inalterable moral norms of the Judeo-Christian tradition are generally flouted and sometimes even criminalized?

Whether that crisis results in America descending deeper into socialism and moral decay or a rebirth of traditional morality and limited government will depend greatly on whether there now emerge national leaders who understand what has happened to us and have the moral courage to speak it plainly.

We have to end today's news on a positive note:

A Light In Dark Times

Here it is, in full - couldn't have said it better myself:

Every year the week before Christmas, St. Peter's Church in Purcellville, VA hosts a "Blue Christmas" service.  The aim is to offer a message of hope and comfort to those who might not be feeling so holly jolly during the holidays.

Heaven knows, there are many reasons to feel blue this Christmas.  From the senseless, tragic loss of innocent life in New Town, CT, to the seemingly intractable political divide paralyzing our nation's capital, to the escalating tensions in the Middle East.  It would be easy to give in to feelings of hopelessness, to let the long and dark December nights lull us into a mood of depression and despair.

Joseph and Mary no doubt felt this way as they found themselves preparing for the birth of their son in a cold barn on the road to Jerusalem.  Those were dark days.  But with the birth of one tiny child, hope was restored to a broken world.

Fr. Tom Simmons, rector of St. Peter's, explained why the birth of Jesus changed everything on a cold winter's night two millennia ago, and why it changes everything for us today:

"Jesus was in Isaiah's words, 'despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.'  We cannot gather at the manger with the grimy shepherds and see this tiny baby without acknowledging that over Jesus' manger lies the shadow of the cross.

It's NOT the most wonderful time of the year in all the ways we measure wonderful, and yet in a strange way it is!  It is the most wonderful time of the year not because you have to be cheery and happy and merry, but because you don't.

You can have heavy hearts, and shattered dreams, broken spirits and deep wounds.  And that's right where God comes to meet you.  To comfort you, to restore you, to strengthen you, to give you peace.  To die for you.  To walk out of the grave for you, to hold you in the communion of the saints with those you have loved and lost.  To offer you life that lasts forever.  It's the most wonderful time of the year, for Christ is born!  Light and love have come.  God is with us!"

Immanuel, the Lord is with us indeed.  No matter what life throws at us, God's love is unfailing and never-changing.  So to all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble this Christmas season, to the sick, the friendless, and the needy, may the peace of the Lord be always with you.  Amen.