Can You Pay $10 a gallon at the pump?
Posted by jim on June 22nd, 2008 filed in Top News | Comment now »Those of us living in the United States undoubtedly have had to deal with what has become popularly known in the media as “pain at the pump”. The increasing prices of gasoline are now wreaking havoc in the lives of the middle class not to mention the world economy. With the price per barrel now at standing at $140.00, many Western nations and even the Third World states are reeling from the effects of high food prices and inflation not to mention stagnant or falling wages. A recent trip to Saudi Arabia by US President George Bush failed to yield the anticipated results when the Saudis declined to increase the production of gasoline, a move that would have translated into a decrease of gas prices at the pump. The US Congress has also declined to continue the sending approximately 10,000 barrels of oil a day into the strategic reserves.
Things may get worse with the impending military attack on Iran by either the United States or Israel (or both). The Israeli Airforce has been busy conducting military exercises close to Greece in preparation for a confrontation with Iran.
For those who do not know what this is all about, Iran has been censored by Israel and the United States for building a nuclear weapons program and failing to be truthful about it, a charge that Iran categorically denies. In the meantime, the statements of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad do not help the Iranian side. By claiming that the Holocaust did not exist, that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth and that Iran would share its “nuclear experiences” with Syria (another pariah nation according to the West) and then developing a nuclear program with Russia’s technology, Iran has successfully managed to ruffle a few feathers, including those of its major ally, Russia itself.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has also made alaming statements to the effect that in the event of a Middle East nuclear war, Israel would be decimated due to its diminitive size while the Arabic world would tactically “survive” due to its land size and larger population. To Israel, these statements are an indication of a clear and present danger and must be decisively dealt with. In 1981, Israel launched an attack on Iraq’s nuclear reactor in Osirak and consequently, the Gulf War of 1991 was fought with no nuclear weapons being present in Saddam Hussein’s arsenal. Israel feels compelled to do the same thing again and many observers now feel that a preemptive military strike against Iran is inevitable. The US is also in support of this move, with top US Presidential candidate Barack Obama stating that Israel has the right to defend herself against Iranian threats.
One of the most overlooked reasons for the rise in gasoline prices is the rapid industrialization of the Third World oil producers such as China, Russia, Nigeria and Venezuela. This means that these nations are using more of the same oil they are producing and therefore exporting less.
Or could it be what none of us wants to believe; that the world is finally running out of oil?
Iran Attack By Israel Unavoidable?
Posted by independent on June 9th, 2008 filed in Top News | Comment now »Jerusalem An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks “unavoidable” given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bombmaking potential, a deputy to Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister, said yesterday.
“If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective,” the Transport Minister and former army chief, Shaul Mofaz, told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. “Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable.” It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of the Olmert Government. A spokesman for the Prime Minister did not address Mr Mofaz’s comments directly but said that “all options must remain on the table” and that more could be done to pressure Iran.
Mr Mofaz, who is designated as a deputy prime minister, is a former Defence Minister who remains privy to Israeli defence planning. He is a member of Mr Olmert’s security Cabinet and leads regular strategic coordination talks with the US State Department. (Reuters)
News courtesy of Times Online
Iran Begins Crackdown On Christianity
Posted by independent on May 31st, 2008 filed in Top News | Comment now »Fox News-Amid a growing crackdown on religious freedom, Iranian police reportedly have been rounding up people they suspect have converted to Christianity.
On May 11, police arrested eight people in the southern city of Shiraz, according to Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, a Christian organization that fights religious persecution.
Converting from Islam is a crime in Iran; converts can face jail and other penalties.
Most of those detained have been released, but at least one of them, 21-year-old Mojtaba Hussein, is still behind bars and is not cooperating with his captors, according to Moeller.
“He may not be willing to give up the names of other Muslim converts. He may not be willing to recant his faith himself,” Moeller said.
Numerous calls to Iranian government representatives in the U.S. have not been returned.
Though they are protected under the Iranian constitution, Christians are not given the same freedoms as other citizens in Iran. Christians can’t worship freely or hold public office, and they can be arrested for even speaking to Muslims about Christianity.
“Such people are persecuted, and particularly in the 1990s such converts were killed — it’s thought by government agents,” said Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.
Under the watchful eye of the Iranian government, many have been forced to worship in secret and are moving underground into what are called house churches —although some sects, such as Armenians and Syrians, have been allowed to worship in churches.
“With [Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad as president, the Iranians are intensifying the religious dimension of their rule,” Marshall said. “The concern about the religious purity of the regime has become stronger in the last two or three years.”
Earlier this year, Ahmadinejad proposed a law that would impose a death sentence for any Muslim who converts to another religion. Under current laws, those charged with converting can be prosecuted and face jail time for vague crimes like “blasphemy” and “insulting Islam.”
Marshall said these restrictive policies may be creating a backlash among Muslims. “There are indications that with the deep unpopularity of the regime that people are turning away from Islam,” he said.
“Seeing Muslims converting to Christianity is directly threatening to an Islamic regime,” said Moeller.
He compared these small groups of converts to early Christians living under the yoke of the Roman Empire, who met in secret and whose beliefs were “dependent on dreams, visions, signs and wonders.”
Because Bibles are rare in Iran and teachings are not “as dependent on the Bible as Evangelical Christianity in America is,” said Moeller, there is a “real lack of scriptural foundation.”
But despite the growing pressure from the state, worshippers continue to practice, and Moeller said the house church system seems to be growing.
“We’ve got confirmed reports of groups of Muslim convert believers doubling in size in the last six months,” he said.