Middle East Update

by Graham Bacon

Your bank balance down? Your retirement funds disappearing? Having trouble paying for food, housing, ordinary, everyday things? The financial crash is happening again. The world will never learn. Lending and borrowing irresponsible amounts of money has broken the system again.
The wisest situation is advised in Psalm 15:5 “He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent: he who does these things shall never be moved.” Romans goes further, “Owe no man any thing” [Romans 13:8]. But the Bible does not ban altogether lending money for interest, provided it is done prudently and honestly. The current financial crash was brought about by rash borrowing and hiding risk from investors. It seems every generation never learns the previous generation’s lessons when they crashed.
Money is not the problem. Being rich is not a Bible crime, but debt is a big problem. Being wealthy is not against the teachings of Jesus Christ but lending for interest income can lead to evil outcomes. It is attitudes associated with riches that are the problem. Greed and the love of money are sources of distress and evil, as true in 2008 as it was in the time of Christ.

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Why the World’s Financial Markets Will Recover
The world’s financial markets will recover in order to crash again many years from now. That future crash is foretold in Revelation chapter 18. And the market that crashes in that future will be entirely different, and be in entirely different circumstances, from the present day.
Revelation chapter 18 is about, among other things, the collapse of world trade many years in our future. For future strong, luxurious trade to develop, as is described in that chapter, is required a recovery of the present day level of trade and finance, for there cannot be healthy luxury trading without healthy financial circumstances. No matter how weak and bankrupt the present financial crisis will become, it has to recover to reach the high levels that is described in Revelation 18. “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more…” [18:11-13] and there follows 23 items of trade. “The merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury” [v.3]. The question is, “How long before our stricken market will recover to this level”? The discouraging answer is “We cannot tell but it might be a very long time”.

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GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . OCT 5 NO … 137

DISPROPORTINATE FORCE TO BE USED AGAINST TARGET S IN LEBANON :
Reports surfacing in France and Israel indicate that disproportionate (overwhelming) force will be used by Israel in any future war against Hizbullah and indeed, all of Lebanon. Israel makes it plain than any area launching strikes against Israel will be totally destroyed.

OLMERT HEADS FOR MOSCOW FOR TALKS ON IRAN THREAT :
Israel to hand over Jerusalem’s Russian Compound
Still acting as Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert landed in Moscow on Monday afternoon October 6, to discuss Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Russia’s weapon sales to the Islamic Republic as well as to Syria.

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GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . SEPT 29 NO … 136

U.S.: IDF CAN’T MAN NEGEV RADAR SYSTEM:
An IDF request to permit Israeli soldiers to control the new high-powered radar that the US has deployed in the Negev has been declined, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday September 28. The high-powered radar, known as FBX-T, will be hooked up to the US military’s Joint Tactical Ground Station and, assisted by satellites, will be capable of picking up a ballistic missile shortly after launch at which point it can estimate the time and location of its impact. According to the current plan, American soldiers will control the radar, which will be connected to the Israeli Air Force’s Arrow control room in Palmahim. The Arrow’s current radar, known as Green Pine, can pick up incoming missiles at a range of 800 to 960 km. The new system has a range of around 1,900 km., giving Israel vital minutes to respond by launching interceptors.

OLMERT OFFERED PRE-67 LAND : by Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel
Olmert nearly signed a final agreement in which whole blocks of Jewish settlements inside the pre-1967 borders would be surrendered to the Arabs in exchange for Jewish areas in Judea and Samaria, IDF Army Radio reported. The report said that the deal foundered over disagreements over the status of Jerusalem and the so-called “right of return” of Arabs who left Israel in 1948 and 1967..

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GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . SEPT 23 NO … 135

PROBE INTO9 KADIMA PRIMARY : by Ze’ev Ben-Yechiel
Responding to complaints of “irregularities” in Wednesday’s Kadima party primary, workers from the office of State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss will meet with several Kadima members and activists to decide whether to launch an official probe into the election. Kadima MKs Ze’ev Elkin and Ronit Tirosh are among the supporters of Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz’s bid for the leadership of the ruling party, and they represent a growing faction within Kadima that believes that Tzipi Livni’s victory at the polls was fraudulent. “At this point, we have not found a reason to disqualify any voting station except for Rahat,” said Dan Arbel, Electoral Committee, admitting to the disqualification of that station, which, along with the 430 ballots cast in Rahat, narrows Livni’s victory margin from 431 votes to a single vote.

OLMERT QUITS BUT REMAINS PRIME MINISTER :
Prme Minister Ehud Olmert now is officially a lame duck head of government after he resigned Sunday night September 21. He remains in power until newly-elected Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni forms a coalition or is forced to go to the polls. His legal position has changed in that he cannot be suspended from office, but he still can fire Cabinet ministers.

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GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . SEPT 18 NO … 134

TERRORIST STABS IDF SOLDIER NEAR THE DEAD SEA :
A Palestinian terrorist stabbed an IDF soldier on Monday afternoon September 15, at a junction near Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea. The soldier was light-to-moderately wounded in the back. The terrorist managed to steal the soldier’s firearm and escaped into the bathroom of a nearby gas station. A security team then located the terrorist, overpowered him, and retrieved the weapon.

OLMERT OFFERS ABBAS 98.1 % OF WEST BANK :
Details of negotiation leak before summit
Israel TV Channel 2 reported on Sunday September 14, that outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered Palestinain Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas some 98.1% of the West Bank for a future Palestinian state in their secret negotiating track. That of course would have to be ratified by the Knesset!

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GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . SEPT 9 NO … 133

RUSSIA PREPARING TO LAUNCH IRAN’S BUSHEHR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT :
The Russian state-run company building Iran’s first nuclear plant at Bushehr said on Monday September 1, that preparations for the reactor’s launch had entered their final stage. Atomic export chief Leonid Reznikov said that by year’s end the company will take steps that will make the launch of the Bushehr plant “irreversible,” likely meaning that fuel rods will be inserted in the reactor core. Iran is paying Russia more than $1 billion to build the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor.

NASRALLAH NO LONGER TOP COMMANDER OF HIZBULLAH :
Iran asserts greater control over proxy militia
Senior Israeli defense officials have assessed that Iran is tightening its control over Hizbullah, wresting control over the terror militia’s ranks from top Hizbullah cleric, sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

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GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . SEPT 3 NO 132

DUTCH SUSPEND INTEL OPERATION IN IRAN FEARING IMMINENT US ATTACK :
According to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf on Monday August 1, Holland has suspended a covert military operation to sabotage Iran’s weapons industry after assessing that Washington intends to strike Iran in upcoming weeks. The Netherlands recalled its agent secretly working in an area it now suspects the US will target in air strikes soon using unmanned aircraft.

OLMERT PUSHING TO SIGN SUMMARY DOCUMENT WITH PA :
Cabinet ministers lash out at strategy; Abbas also rejects it
The Israeli media is buzzing with reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accelerated his efforts to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians before leaving office after the Kadima primary later this month, even trying to come to terms with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the thorny issue of Jerusalem.

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GPL M/ EAST UPDATES FROM . AUG 28 NO 131
IRANIAN GENERAL CLAIMS ISRAEL TOO AFRAID TO ATTACK:
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said on Wednesday August 27, that Israel would not dare launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear program for fear of the Islamic Republic’s missile arsenal and its proxy militias in the region. “In the event of an attack against Iran, the Israelis know that with the capabilities that the Islamic world and the Shiite world have in the region, they will suffer deadly strikes.”

IAF PURCHASES QUICK FIX FOR BOMBED-OUT RUNWAYS :
According to Israeli defense officials on Tuesday August 26, the Israeli Air Force has bought a special material that can be placed on bombed runaways so fighter jets can quickly depart without delay. The IAF has relied on asphalt companies to repair runways until now, but the new material will help air bases continue takeoffs within minutes. The F-15I fighter jets have also been equipped with a superior avionics program that allows pilots to launch many smart bombs at the same time.

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The West Talks to Syria - Graham Bacon

During most of 2008 attempts have been made to establish better relationships with Syria, firstly by Israel using Turkey as intermediary, and then by France through a state visit to France by Syria’s president and his wife. Israel is interested in preventing a Syrian takeover of Lebanon and restricting Hizb’Allah activities in southwest Syria which threaten Israel. Syria hopes to regain the Golan Heights.

France is interested in bringing some influence to bear on Iran and its nuclear developments through Syria’s close connections with Iran. Syria is a popular diplomatic destination that the west is hoping to make a halfway house.

Syria’s orientation has always been Islamic by religion, pro-Russian militarily, anti-Israel and anti-western in world affairs. The Bible shows that this will only change, as it will, by catastrophic events after the return of Jesus Christ. The present diplomatic niceties are only in pursuit of short term self-interested aims by the west, by Syria and by Israel.

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