June 1st ~ Asean, Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss partnership ...

May 31, 2010

Asean, Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss partnership

Asean member states will continue cooperating with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in areas of trade, investment, economic development, education, culture and databasing at an upcoming meeting in Singapore.

The discussion will be held during the second Asean and GCC forum from May 31.

The meeting will be co-chaired by delegates from Cambodia, which is the coordinating country between Asean and the State of Kuwait, the current holder of the GCC presidency.

The GCC consists of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

The meeting will be held amidst regional and international settings of increasing complexity, but the focus will remain on peace and cooperation for development.

According to a statement from the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministers from the two regions will review the cooperation of Asean and GCC over the past year. This includes the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Secretariat Unit of Asean and GCC.

In addition, the two organisations will continue discussions about the direction of future cooperation, and share ideas about regional and international issues including the world financial crisis, climate change, environmental integration and energy development.

In addition, the meeting will approve the implementation plan for Asean-GCC cooperation in 2010-12. The co-chairpersons will issue a joint statement, focusing on the importance of cooperation between the two organisations.

Asean and GCC have officially been in partnership since 1990, but at that time the relationship was lacking strength and solidarity. However, the cooperation between Asean and GCC has stepped into a new era and has improved gradually since the First Foreign Affairs Ministerial Meeting was held in Bahrain last year.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Thongloun Sisoulith will attend the upcoming meeting.

Source: Vientiane Times

Officials discuss ASEAN-GCC June 1st ministerial meeting agenda - Kuwaiti official

5/31/2010

Officials discuss ASEAN-GCC ministerial meeting agenda - Kuwaiti official

SINGAPORE, A Kuwaiti official said Monday the senior officials discussed the agenda of the upcoming ministerial meeting that will be held Tuesday between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Head of the GCC department of the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry Ambassador Jamal Al-Ghanim told KUNA that the secretariats' of the GCC and ASEAN were made responsible during the first ministerial meeting held in Manama of preparing a plan on cooperation in the fields of economy, media, health, culture, and the exchange of expertise.

He said that the meeting discussed the press release that will be issued about the second ministerial meeting.

The release will praised the relations between the two bodies and will call for stressing ties and implementing the plan that ends on 2010, he added.

Senior officials from the two bodies are keen on achieving an economic partnership through signing free trade agreements, he noted.

They called for the exchange of visits and forming teams to follow up the development plan, he said, ASEAN's members are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

KUNA 311406 May 10NNNN

World Economic Forum (WEF) vice-chair calls for overhaul of IMF ...

May 31, 2010

WEF vice-chair calls for overhaul of IMF

A report prepared by Malloch-Brown and other experts has focused on the need to increase the ‘legitimacy and effectiveness’ of global institutions such as the UN

Global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) need to be ‘upgraded, recalibrated and re-tooled’ with stronger developing country representation to tackle newer challenges, World Economic Forum vice-chair Lord Mark Malloch-Brown has said.

While some people have questioned the ‘relevance and existence’ of the IMF, the fact remains that it is a ‘hugely important institution’, which the global community relied on ‘tremendously’ last year, Malloch-Brown said.

“Last year, they provided around $1tn resources following the global economic turbulence. And now with the new eurozone crisis, it is once again at the heart of the rescue effort,” Malloch-Brown said in an interview with Gulf Times yesterday.

A report prepared by Malloch-Brown and other experts have called for a change in the ownership of these institutions so that they can have stronger representation of developing countries.

“But that’s already happening,” points out Malloch-Brown, who was the British government’s foreign office minister of state responsible for its relations with Africa, Asia and the United Nations between 2007 and 2009.

He said the report contains suggestions about the need to increase the ‘legitimacy and effectiveness’ of global institutions such as the UN.

“I think there is a big demand for improving these institutions. There is a feeling that these institutions are not operating as they can. But the mood is not to replace them and start yet again. These institutions have presided over the most important set of global changes in the history of human kind. In the decades since the Second World War, we have seen a more rapid advancement in human life expectancy, education, health and wealth than at any other point in human history,” said Malloch-Brown, formerly the UN’s deputy secretary-general under Kofi Annan.

He said IMF and global institutions need to be ‘legitimate as well as effective’.

“The G20 is very effective, because it is a much smaller group of countries. But it is not necessarily legitimate as it is not formed by any treaty. Nor is it a representative of the whole global community,” Malloch-Brown said.

Asked for his views on the global economy, Malloch-Brown, who once served the World Bank in a senior capacity, said, “I think these are very uncertain days. The market confidence is in short supply. And it has been so since the global events of 2008-09.

“And so while on paper, this is a manageable crisis and need not have a contagion effect to go wider across the zone, there is a real risk that markets doubt the ability of politicians to lead decisively on this issue. If we are not careful, this could turn a cold into pneumonia,” Malloch-Brown warned.

On the idea behind organising the World Economic Forum Global Redesign Summit in Doha, Lord Malloch-Brown said, “This meeting is like a market place, an intellectual souq. The intention is to allow the governments to shop among different ideas and take home things, which they think are interesting. We have people from all sectors – public and private - represented here.”

The World Economic Forum launched its Global Redesign Initiative earlier in 2009 as part of a global dialogue to develop proposals on reshaping the structures of worldwide cooperation.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=365146&version=1&template_id=48&parent_id=28

related articles ~
May 30-31 ~ Global Redesign Summit 2010 Doha, Qatar

LINKS - GLOBAL ECONOMY - GLOBAL CURRENCY ...

Iraq Ali al-Dabbagh the World Economic Forum and the Doha Forum ...

May 30-31 ~ Global Redesign Summit 2010 Doha, Qatar

http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldEconomicForum#p/p


أيار‏، 2010 May 31, 2010

Skinner attend the World Economic Forum and the Doha Forum

Secretary-General participated to combine skills independent Iraq Ali al-Dabbagh the World Economic Forum and the Forum for Doha, Qatar on Sunday and Monday, which discusses the initiative of the complete redesign of the international economic system and enrich the economic future for the Middle East Ivtaathama Emir of Qatar.

Skinner met with His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti Prime Minister Mr. Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, where he briefed them on the latest political developments in Iraq and the efforts of the various political blocs to form a national partnership.
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World Economic Forum report calls for major, post-crisis overhaul of the international system

Sunday, May 30 - 2010

PRESS RELEASE

The World Economic Forum today issued one of the most extensive sets of proposals to strengthen international cooperation and governance ever assembled. The product of a year-long dialogue and group of task forces involving over 1,500 academic, business, governmental and civil society experts and decision-makers from around the world, the Forum's Global Redesign Initiative report contains 58 specific proposals and nine thematic essays by some of the international community's leading authorities on international economic, environmental and security cooperation.

Entitled Everybody's Business: Strengthening International Cooperation in a More Interdependent World, the Forum's report warns that serious global risks and challenges are accumulating in many areas, and international institutions and arrangements are often ill-equipped to provide a proactive response. Reminding the international community that in the midst of the financial crisis in late 2008 and early 2009 it "was seized with the transformational nature of our times," the report calls on it to "hold on to that moment of possibility, consolidate its considerable accomplishment in containing the crisis and renew its earlier commitment to renovate the international system."

Drawing a parallel to the 1944 Dumbarton Oaks and Bretton Woods conferences that designed much of the post-war international security and economic architecture over a year before World War II ended, the report concludes that the time has come for governments, companies and other civil society institutions to "rise above their immediate, parochial interests and consider more seriously their long-term stake in a properly structured and resourced global cooperation system for the 21st century."

Writing in the report's overview chapter, Forum Managing Director Richard Samans, Executive Chairman and Founder Klaus Schwab and Vice-Chairman Lord Malloch-Brown conclude: "Even as governments develop their exit strategies from fiscal and monetary stimulus measures applied during the crisis, they should engage in an effort to absorb the larger meaning of the changes that have transformed the international community during the past generation and rendered much of its cooperative architecture not fully fit for purpose."

The Forum report proposes a "blueprint for renovating international cooperation in an era of increasingly complex interdependence, rendering it both more effective and legitimate" based on the many proposals that have emerged from the Global Redesign process.

In particular, it proposes a more results-oriented "multidimensional" approach to international governance and cooperation that encompasses but goes beyond multilateralism. Arguing that the international community's increasing interconnectedness and interdependence creates new modes and means of accelerating progress on many global challenges, it demonstrates how pragmatic strategies that take advantage of these additional tools and capacities can be combined to achieve breakthroughs on such issues as climate change, fisheries depletion, unemployment and poverty, public health, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and educational access and illiteracy, even when new multilateral agreements appear to be diplomatically beyond reach.

The report calls for the "state-based core of the international system to be adapted to our more complex, bottom-up world in which non-governmental actors have become a more significant force." To this end, it urges governments and international organizations to conceive of themselves more explicitly as constituting part of "a much wider global cooperation system that has the potential to overcome the limitations of scale, information and coherence from which they currently suffer by anchoring the preparation and implementation of their decisions more deeply in processes of interaction with interdisciplinary and multistakeholder networks of relevant experts and actors."

In parallel, the report calls for a stronger sense of ownership and responsibility - a shift in values - on the part of these non-governmental institutions and their leaders regarding the underlying health of the international system. Criticizing the "severe price the international community has paid for its complacency about systemic financial and macroeconomic risks that were well publicized but nevertheless allowed to accumulate for too long," it calls on "those who educate and select business, scientific, academic, religious, media as well as political leaders - particularly graduate education programmes and boards of directors and human resources departments - to redesign their curricula and senior talent development and promotion policies to reflect that they are cultivating not only leaders of functional organizations but also stewards of the international system and the contribution of their professional disciplines thereto."

In addition to making proposals to strengthen international cooperative structures on problems as diverse as financial stability, international trade, water scarcity, prevention of mass atrocities, Internet security, malnutrition, energy security and many others, the report of the Global Redesign Initiative includes a number of broader proposals for the international community. For example, it:

• Urges the Group of 20 Leaders' process to clarify soon its ongoing purpose and relationship with the United Nations and specialized international organizations, making a number of specific proposals in this regard. In addition, it challenges these leaders to reach a package deal on the currently deadlocked UN climate, WTO trade, Millennium Development Goal funding, IMF and World Bank reform, and global macroeconomic rebalancing negotiations, arguing that this kind of systemic leap forward in international cooperation would yield large net benefits for developing, emerging and advanced countries alike and could only be brokered by G20 leaders.

• Presents a vision for achieving major improvement in global environmental governance through pragmatic, multidimensional strategies to scale action on different environmental problems, whether or not multilateral treaties can be achieved on them any time soon. The report recommends that the 2012 United Nations Rio+20 process embrace the many practical ideas in the report to build public-private enabling mechanisms, install better information systems, mobilize major coalitions to tackle core problems, strengthen institutional capacities and, where possible, extend international law on challenges as diverse as marine life and coral conservation; energy efficiency; low-carbon technology development; deforestation; safe drinking water and sanitation; investor, corporate and consumer carbon metrics; sustainable consumption; and energy security.

The proposals will be discussed at a special World Economic Forum Global Redesign Summit in Doha, Qatar held 30-31 May 2010 at which more than 400 participants from over 60 countries will be present. The Summit will be an informal working laboratory or marketplace in which many of these policy ideas and partnership opportunities will be explored, refined and taken forward.

"If we do not want to be caught in a continuous vicious cycle of crisis fighting, we have to analyse the fundamental forces changing our world and formulate policies which take into account the manifold structural changes in geopolitics and geo-economics," said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.

"So many issues have become deadlocked in official government negotiations. The power in this approach is that people from many different backgrounds with shared expertise have been able to find smart solutions that escape the narrow box of conventional intergovernmental arrangements," said Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Vice-Chairman, World Economic Forum.

The governments of Qatar, Singapore, Switzerland and Tanzania are patrons of the Global Redesign Initiative.

The proposals were developed by the Forum's multistakeholder Global Agenda Councils of leading experts and decision-makers from academia, business, civil society, international organizations and government as well as its Industry Partner communities and Young Global Leader Task Forces.

The proposals were reviewed by the following distinguished rapporteurs, who have written nine thematic summary chapters that set them in broader context and provide additional proposals:

1. Creating a Values Framework - John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University, USA

2. Building Sustained Economic Growth - Robert Z. Lawrence, Albert L. Williams Professor of Trade and Investment, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA

3. Strengthening the International Monetary and Financial System - David Daokui Li, Director and Mansfield Freeman Professor of Economics, Center for China in the World Economy (CCWE), Tsinghua University, People's Republic of China; and Suzanne Nora Johnson, Trustee, Carnegie Institution for Science, USA

4. Creating Employment, Eradicating Poverty and Improving Social Welfare - John McArthur, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Promise, USA; and Dennis J. Snower, President, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany

5. Managing and Mitigating Global Risks - Ian Goldin, Director, James Martin 21st Century School, and Professorial Fellow, Balliol College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

6. Ensuring Health for All - Peter Piot, Professor and Director, Institute of Global Health, Imperial College London, United Kingdom; David E. Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography, Harvard School of Public Health, USA; and Peter C. Smith, Professor, Health Policy, Imperial College London, United Kingdom

7. Enhancing Global Security - Lilia Shevtsova, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Moscow Center, Russian Federation; and Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Senior Non-resident Fellow, Brookings Institution, USA

8. Ensuring Sustainability - Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Development Alternatives, India; and Caio Koch-Weser, Vice-Chairman, Deutsche Bank Group, Deutsche Bank, United Kingdom

9. Building Effective Institutions in an Empowered Society - Ngaire Woods, Professor of International Political Economy, University of Oxford, United Kingdom; and Kishore Mahbubani, Dean, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.

http://www.ameinfo.com/233869.html

G20 ministers to discuss Europe at Korea G20 meeting this coming weekend...

Monday, May 31, 2010

G20 ministers to discuss Europe at Korea G20 meeting

OTTAWA, There will be considerable discussion about the European economy at the G20 meeting of finance officials and central bankers in Busan, South Korea, this weekend, a senior Canadian finance official said on Monday.

The official told a briefing that the euro zone debt problems added new urgency to the need for countries to design credible plans to withdraw extraordinary stimulus from their economies next year.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty also plans to stress at the meeting that many countries are reaching their limits in terms of fiscal stimulus.

The Busan meeting will let finance officials prepare the groundwork for a leaders' summit in Toronto in June. It will focus on financial reform, including a proposed global bank levy, and start spelling out policies needed to rebalance the global economy as it starts to grow again, the official said.

For example in large surplus countries like China, a more flexible currency would help boost domestic consumption, the official said.

Canada has vocally opposed proposals for a global bank levy to ensure taxpayers don't bear the cost of future financial meltdowns.

But the official said Canada has received growing interest for its proposal for contingent capital, which would require banks to hold a substantial part of their capital in securities that could be converted to equity in a near-death experience.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will present more details of that alternative to his counterparts in Busan.

The official also said the G20 finance officials will seek progress on commitments that countries have made to eliminate inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

AP

Emergency evacuations plans have been drawn up for entire Gulf of Mexico region as secret financial negotiations head to climax

May 31, 2010

Emergency evacuations plans have been drawn up for entire Gulf of Mexico region as secret financial negotiations head to climax

Posted by benjamin [link to benjaminfulford.net]

The Pentagon and US government have drawn up emergency plans to evacuate much of the population surrounding the Gulf of Mexico in anticipation of toxic rain and severe environmental damage, a military intelligence source says. The extreme environmental destruction and the deliberate failure to put an end to the oil leaks are all part of the dark cabal’s bargaining strategy since all they have left to bargain with now is the threat of mayhem. At the same time, a senior oil industry source has approached the White Dragon Society with an offer of $60 billion a month to be spent on saving the planet so long as the money goes through the Vatican, the BIS and the Federal Reserve Board.

The moves by the Feds, the BIS, the Vatican and the oil people are a clear sign they are at last recognizing the handwriting on the wall. The situation is not looking very good for them at all right now.

First of all, the attack on the Euro is moving ahead via the weakest dominoes. After Greece, the next targets of speculative attack will be Spain (already happening), Italy and the five Baltic states, according to a senior member of the Rothschild family. After that, the next phase of the attack will proceed against France, then England and finally the United States. The result will eventually be revolution followed by banksters hanging from lampposts as famously predicted by George Bush Senior.

The attempt by Germany to ban naked short selling is healthy in the sense that naked short selling creates volatility but ultimately, it is just a case of shooting the messenger. The underlying reality cannot be regulated away. The fact of the matter is the Mediterranean, British and US people have been living beyond their means for a very long time and their international credit has dried up. Each of these regions either needs to issue a new, devalued currency or else watch their economies implode until wages fall to developing country levels. A debt write-off is also definitely a must for all of these regions because the alternative is the politically impossible scenario of hundreds of years of debt slavery for these peoples. The debt will be paid in gold and the White Dragon Society has enough for all.

In the US, meanwhile, white hats in the Pentagon are steadily making their preparations for a major move against the Washington D.C. Corporation. The mobilization of militias and military outfits around the country are not directed against the American people, Pentagon sources say. Although as little as a year ago about half the US military establishment was ready to support the Federal Reserve Board crime syndicate, that is no longer the case. The Pentagon has now told Washington they will not move against the US people. Furthermore, if necessary, the Chinese and the Russians will help the American patriotic forces defend themselves against Blackwater (Xe) S.S. stormtroopers should things come to a head.

The last source of Federal Reserve Board strength would seem to be their corporate propaganda media but that is just a paper tiger. All the Pentagon would need to do is occupy the main networks and newspapers and force them to do what they have long since stopped doing: tell the truth.

The Cabal that has secretly ruled the West for thousands of years is running out of time to reach a deal. What used to be a unified monolith is now splintering into increasingly small fragments.

As we have already seen England has split from the US, the Mediterranean countries are splitting from Northern Europe and the US is internally split too.

Furthermore, the Vatican is now split into three groups that are engaged in a vigorous internal struggle: Opus Dei, the Jesuits and the Vatican itself. Ultimately, the Pope will have to resign and the Vatican will have to reveal its secrets before this dispute can be settled by God-fearing average Catholics.

The situation in Israel is also coming to a head. The flotilla that is attempting to break the blockade of Gaza is backed by Turkey.

Turkey, once a strong ally of Israel, is now spearheading an Islamic movement against the Zionist state. This completely alters the balance of power in the region and makes Israel look increasingly like the Crusader state at the time of Saladin. Take a look at the amount of soldiers (including reserves) available to each side should things come to a head:

Israel 629,000
Turkey 1,075,000
Syria 536,000
Iran 3,675,000
Lebanon 85,000
Egypt 1,109,000

While it may seem premature to include Egypt in this list since they formally signed a peace treaty with Israel, Egypt is definitely headed for regime change. It should also be noted Turkey has a state-of-the-art NATO-equipped military Nor is the United States likely to intervene militarily on behalf of Israel given the current political situation in the US these days.

It should be noted that the offer of $60 billion a month to the White Dragon Society was made contingent on coming up with some sort of settlement of ancient disputes between the three main peoples of the book: the Jew/Protestants, the Vatican and the Muslims.

The solution is really quite simple to reach now that the nightmarish Satanic plan to enslave humanity is coming to an end: live and let live. If you look at the situation objectively you will see there is no reason for conflict between these groups, all the fighting and strife between them has been artificially engineered.

As usual, there is a lot we are being asked not to report at present in order to prevent ongoing, sensitive negotiations and preparations from being derailed. We do not expect any public announcements yet but we can say that this week’s Bilderberg meeting in Spain is being countered by a secret, extremely powerful non-Bilderberg meeting elsewhere. The secrecy is only temporary and is meant to protect people’s lives until the situation is ready for the long-awaited public announcements. Until that happens, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1083131/pg1

IRAQ JUNE 2010 SECURITY COUNCIL REPORT ...

IRAQ JUNE 2010 SECURITY COUNCIL REPORT ...

Expected Council Action

The Council is expecting a comprehensive progress report on Iraq and the Kuwaiti missing persons issue before 30 June. The activities of the high-level coordinator, who advises the Security Council on these matters, are currently funded through 30 June. The Council seems likely to extend the coordinator’s activities before the end of the month.

Key Recent Developments

Ad Melkert, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, briefed the Council on a range of issues relating to Iraq on 25 May.

With regard to Iraq/Kuwait issues Melkert expressed concern about Iraq’s level of commitment to make progress with Kuwait and said the demarcation of the Kuwaiti border by Iraq remains a necessary step for progress. Iraq’s Ambassador to the UN Hamid al-Bayati also spoke and stressed Iraq’s commitment to fulfilling its obligations and resolving all issues related to Kuwait. (An example of the kind of problems that are arising as a result of unresolved issues with Kuwait was evident on 26 May when Iraq dissolved its national airline, apparently in response to a UK court decision to freeze the airline’s assets in light of debts owed by it to Kuwait.)

An Iraqi court on 17 May overturned a ban on nine newly elected members of parliament who had been barred from holding office for alleged Baathist ties. The court decision followed a statement by Iraqi President Jalal Talibani the week before that action to bar electoral candidates on the basis of ties to the Baath Party had been halted. (The process of excluding such candidates from the electoral process, which began in the run-up to elections held on 7 March and continued in the following weeks, had the potential to alter the election outcome.)

Iraq’s Independent High Election Commission said on 16 May that a recount of votes cast in the Baghdad area had been completed. The recount confirmed earlier results that gave the Iraqiya list of candidates led by Ayad Allawi 91 seats in parliament, the State of Law list led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki 89 seats and the Iraqi National Alliance list, which includes followers of Moktada al-Sadr, 71 seats. Iraq’s Supreme Court must still certify final results.

The Secretary-General’s latest report on the activities of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was released on 14 May. On Iraq/Kuwait issues, the report noted that Iraq had now appointed its first ambassador to Kuwait since 1990. In addition, progress had continued towards implementing a project to increase Iraqi capacity to identify and exhume human remains. The project would be funded by a Kuwaiti grant and administered by UNAMI in support of the high-level coordinator.

The Secretary-General encouraged Iraq to fulfil its obligations related to Kuwait, which could in turn lead to action in the Council on the removal of other outstanding Chapter 7 measures. The report also noted that the formation of the next Iraqi government was expected to require a considerable amount of time, and that the coming months would be a critical time for Iraq.

Iraq and UNAMI launched a UN Development Assistance Framework for 2011-2014 on 11 May that is meant to support the country's five-year National Development Plan.

Over a hundred people were killed across Iraq in a series of bombings and shootings on 10 May. Iraqi officials said the attacks were carried out by the group Al Qaida in Iraq in response to the killing of two of the group's leaders in a recent joint Iraq-US military operation. The Secretary-General strongly condemned the attacks in a statement the following day.

Iraq's presidential council urged on 4 May that a new government be formed quickly and warned that delays could result in a resurgence of violence. The same day Maliki’s State of Law coalition and the Iraqi National Alliance coalition agreed to ally themselves in the Iraqi parliament. Both are predominately Shiite. Such an alliance would bring the two groupings close to the number of seats in parliament needed to form a government. However, some contentious issues, such as the selection of a prime minister, remain to be resolved.

The UN Compensation Commission, which settles damage claims resulting from Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, on 29 April dispensed $590 million to nine successful claimants, bringing the total amount disbursed by the commission to over $29 billion.

Human Rights-Related Developments

An Iraqi lawmaker called for a UN investigation into reported torture of detainees at Muthanna, an old airport in West Baghdad, prompted by a report published on 27 April by Human Rights Watch (HRW). In the report—based on interviews with 42 men detained by the Iraqi army between September and December 2009 after sweeps of a stronghold of Sunni Arab militants in and around Mosul—the organisation called on the Iraqi authorities to establish an independent and impartial inquiry to investigate the abuses. The detainees were interviewed in the Al Rusafa Detention Centre on 26 April following their transfer from Muthanna. HRW urged the authorities to determine who was responsible for the abuses and to prosecute them, including anyone in authority who had failed to prevent the torture.

Key Issues

The key issue before the Council is how much further progress is needed on resolving the question of missing Kuwaiti persons and property, and whether an extension of the mandate of the high-level coordinator’s activities is desirable. A related issue is Iraq's request that the Council remove measures imposed in resolutions adopted during the regime of Saddam Hussein.

This question remains as the backdrop when considering issues such as Kuwaiti missing persons and property. Progress made on the missing persons issue could aid in resolving other Iraq/Kuwait issues such as compensation and the maintenance of the boundary between Iraq and Kuwait. Similarly, the resolution of Iraq/Kuwait issues could potentially facilitate the lifting of other measures imposed on Iraq, such as those related to disarmament.

Forecast

Underlying ProblemsUnderlying problems are the relative fragility of Iraq as a new democracy and the danger that the delays in forming a government will hinder progress on the Kuwaiti missing persons issue and perhaps also prompt a resurgence of sectarian violence.

Options - Options include:

extending the activities of the high-level coordinator for an additional six months or longer;

seeking to hasten progress on Iraq/Kuwait issues by adopting a statement substantively addressing the issues and reaffirming the Council's commitment to resolving outstanding issues between Iraq and Kuwait; and allowing the high-level coordinator’s mandate to expire (an unlikely option).

Council and Wider Dynamics

Council members seem to hold differing views on how much progress has been made in resolving the question of missing persons and property. A number of members seem to be worried that work on the issue has advanced very little since the last briefing in October 2009.

Others including Russia and the UK hold a more positive view and perceive Iraq to be determined to resolve the issue to Kuwait’s satisfaction. It is unclear how much new information the coordinator’s comprehensive report will contain. Most members seem to accept that the activities of the high-level coordinator should continue. Some note that Kuwait encourages the continuation of the coordinator’s mandate.

For others the political situation in Iraq is a consideration, bearing in mind the possibility that it may take several months to form a new government.

Meaningful progress on Iraq/Kuwait issues is therefore seen as unlikely in the short term and therefore the continuation of the high-level coordinator’s role is viewed as prudent. Some members feel that the financing of the coordinator’s activities should be extended for more than six months so the issue does not come up during the busy December calendar.

The issue of government formation is also a consideration for members with regard to the broader issue of historical Council resolutions that date from the Saddam era. A number of members feel that additional action is required on Iraq’s part before Chapter 7 measures can be lifted, which will be more likely after a new government begins operating. For example, ratification by the Iraqi parliament of the Additional Protocol to the Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is viewed by some members as necessary before any action is taken on disarmament issues, is unlikely at present due to the post-election uncertainty in the country.

The US is the lead country on Iraq issues in general, and the UK is the lead on Iraq/Kuwait issues.

UN Documents

Selected Security Council Resolutions

S/RES/1905 (21 December 2009) extended the arrangements for the Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) and the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) until 31 December 2010 and requested the Secretary-General to report on strengthening oversight of the DFI, legal issues and options for a post-DFI mechanism, and Iraq's progress in preparing for such a mechanism.

S/RES/1883 (7 August 2009) extended UNAMI’s mandate for another 12 months.

S/RES/1859 (22 December 2008) requested the Secretary-General to report on all Council resolutions concerning Iraq since 1990; a letter from Iraq requesting the lifting of Saddam-era resolutions is included as an annex to the resolution.

S/RES/1483 (22 May 2003) established sanctions against the previous Iraqi government, created the DFI, provided immunity to Iraqi petroleum products and envisaged the termination of the oil-for-food programme.

S/RES/1284 (17 December 1999) appointed a high-level coordinator for Iraq/Kuwait missing persons and property.

Selected Press Statement

SC/9772 (22 October 2009) noted the Council agreed to extend the financing of the mandate of the high-level coordinator for eight months.

Selected Meeting Record

S/PV.6293 (6 April 2010) was a briefing on the DFI and the IAMB.

Selected Letters

S/2010/150 (22 March 2010) included an IAEA assessment of Iraq's cooperation with its safeguards activities.

S/2010/153 (18 March 2010) included Iraq's first quarterly report on the action plan and timeline for the transition to a post-DFI mechanism by 31 December 2010.

S/2010/72 (4 February 2010) informed the Secretary-General that the Council had earmarked funds to finance the mandate of the high-level coordinator until 30 June 2010 and requested a comprehensive progress report by 30 June 2010.

S/2010/37 (19 January 2010) was Iraq's letter to the Council arguing that Iraq had fulfilled its disarmament obligations and asking for the removal of related restrictions under existing resolutions.

Selected Secretary-General's Reports

S/2010/240 (14 May 2010) was the most recent report on UNAMI.

S/2010/166 (1 April 2010) was the most recent report on the DFI and the IAMB.

S/2009/539 (16 October 2009) was the latest report on Iraq/Kuwait missing persons and property.

S/2009/385 (27 July 2009) was the report on the review of Iraq resolutions.

February 28th ~ PM: Iraqi dinar re-evaluation has to do with economic conditions ...

remember this article?

February 28, 2010 - 04:36:11

PM: Iraqi dinar re-evaluation has to do with economic conditions

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on Sunday that the process to re-evaluate the Iraqi dinar has to do with economic conditions that have to be strengthened.

“The Iraqi dinar has all the reasons to grow stronger thanks to an increase in revenues and development of the economy,” Maliki said in response to some questions through the National Information Center.

“The government would not rush matters but would rather work on finding all the guarantees to render this measure a success. The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) is currently entrusted with drawing up a study on the whole issue and would give its decision soon,” said the Iraqi premier.

The Iraqi dinar’s exchange rate is suffering from low value against foreign currencies as a result of decades of wars and economic embargo that brought the local currency’s exchange rate to the rock bottom from three dinars per dollar in the late 1970s and 1980s to 3,000 dinars per dollar after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, followed by a 13-year crippling sanctions regime.

The exchange rate fell even more after 2003 to reach 1170 dinars per dollar due to the CBI’s policy of daily auction, in effect for more than five years now.

The policy was lambasted by several economists on the grounds that these auctions do not give the real value of the country’s local currency.

AmR (S)/SR
PM: Iraqi dinar re-evaluation has to do with economic conditions

Iraqi Finance emphasizes the importance of resolving the debt file on Baghdad, with Poland ...

31/05/2010

Iraqi Finance emphasizes the importance of resolving the debt file on Baghdad, the Polish

Erbil, The Ministry of Finance on Monday, on the importance of resolving the debt file on Iraq, where Poland that Poland is the only country in Europe did not extinguish the debt so far and the (850) million.

And the transfer of the official website of the Ministry of the Minister of Finance Baqir al-Zubaidi as saying during his meeting with Saad Qandeel, Iraq's new ambassador to Poland, confirmed, "the urge companies of Poland to contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq and implementation of strategic projects it, especially in the areas of new housing construction, hospitals, energy and water projects

He explained that "discussions with the Polish side is very important to Iraq's debt, to reinvest in the reconstruction process by the Polish companies" .. pointing out that "it will open prospects for economic and commercial relations between the two countries."

(آكانيوز) س ب 31/5/2010 (Akaniwz)

Iraqi PM in Kurdistan to discuss government's formation and Iranian-Turkish shelling of region's villages ...

31.5.2010

Iraqi PM in Kurdistan to discuss government's formation and Iranian-Turkish shelling of region's villages

ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — The objectives of the visit of the outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri Al-Maliki to Kurdistan Region is to discuss the file of forming the new government and the shelling of northern Iraq," a leader in Kurdistan Alliance list said on Monday.

"Al-Maliki's visit to Kurdistan Region today came to discuss the formation of a new government with the President of Kurdistan Region and Kurdish officials," Mahmoud Othman said.

"The two sides will discuss ways to accelerate the formation of the next government," pointing out that "Kurdistan Alliance will keep all doors open to all winning blocs to discuss with them the issue of forming the government."

The leaders of Kurdistan Alliance have announced that they would form a negotiating team, heading to Baghdad after the certification of the Federal Court on the election results. The negotiations between all political parties didn't witness any convergence of views and the crisis is still continuing without any progress after the certification of the Federal Court on the results of general elections.

Al-Maliki's visit to Kurdistan Region comes few days before the Federal Court ratify on the results and this is a pre-emptive move for the delegation for negotiations on the territory of the Region.

"The second objective of the visit is to discuss the Turkish-Iranian shelling on Kurdish villages," he added.

Falah Mustafa, an official at the Foreign Relations Department in Kurdistan Region said earlier that: "The visit aims to hold talks about the formationof the the new government to get out of the crisis which dominates the scene since the Iraqi elections held on March 7."

According to the interpretation of the Federal Court of the term "the largest parliamentary bloc," which will be assigned to form a government, as in Article 76 of the Iraqi Constitution, it is either the bloc that was formed after the elections by one electoral list and had participated in the elections in a certain name and number,www.ekurd.netand had earned the most number of seats, or the bloc that was made by allying two or more than two electoral lists, which participated in the elections with different names and numbers and then united in a single block with a single entity in the Parliament .

The debate now is over: who is authorized to form the next government, while Al-Iraqiya bloc confirms its right, based on Article 76 of the Constitution, while the two Shiite alliances insist on this right based on the interpretation of the Federal Court,

Under this interpretation, the alliance between the State of Law and the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), which was announced May 4th ultimo, has better opportunity to form the government.

State of Law and National coalitions allied formally on May 4 and after the alliance have 159 seats, four seats less than the majority needed to form the government, including 89 for the State of Law and 70 for the Iraqi National Alliance.

The Iraqi parliamentary elections were held on the 7th of March, and the results of the elections were announced on the 26th: they showed the progress of Iraqiya List led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, by gaining 91 seats, followed by the State of Law coalition led by outgoing Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki with 89 seats, while the Iraqi National List coalition won 70 seats and Kurdistan Alliance List came in the fourth place by obtaining 43 seats.

http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2010/5/state3903.htm

Niburu (Planet X)

Niburu (Planet X)

Nibiru, to the Babylonians, was the celestial body associated with the god Marduk. The name is Akkadian and means 'crossing place' or 'place of transition'. In most Babylonian texts it is identified with the planet Jupiter. In Tablet 5 of the Enuma Elish it may be the pole star, which at the time was Thuban or possibly Kochab (Ursa Minor). The term "Nibiru" comes from the Sumerian cuneiform tablets and writings dating 5,000 years old. The term Nibiru means "Planet of the crossing", and it's cuneiform sign was often a cross, or various winged disc. The Sumerian culture was located in the fertile lands between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, at the southern part of today's Iraq. Due to its use in opposition to the phrase itebbiru "who used to cross," Landsberger and Kinnier Wilson suggest that it refers to a stationary point in the heavens.1 In a reconstruction of Tablet V of the Enûma Elish by Landsberger and Kinnier Wilson, the word ni-bi-ri (variant: ni-bi-ru and ni-bi-a-na) is translated as "pole star."1 The authors add in the footnotes that "Applied to Marduk, there is no question that in the late periods neberu is a planet, whether Jupiter or Mercury" however for the referenced translation of Tablet V, "pole star" is used.

read much more @
http://afterthegoldrush.lefora.com/forum/category/2012/

Israeli commandos storm aid flotilla; 9 killed ...

May 31, 2010

JERUSALEM – Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing nine passengers in a botched raid that provoked international outrage and a diplomatic crisis.

Dozens of activists and six Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody predawn confrontation in international waters. The violent takeover dealt yet another blow to Israel's international image, already tarnished by war crimes accusations in Gaza and its 3-year-old blockade of the impoverished Palestinian territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu canceled a much-anticipated meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday in a sign of just how gravely Israel viewed the uproar. In Canada, Netanyahu announced he was rushing home but said he had called the American president and agreed to meet again.

The White House said in a written statement that the United States "deeply regrets" the loss of life and injuries and was working to understand the circumstances surrounding this "tragedy."

The activists were headed to Gaza to draw attention to the blockade, which Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant Hamas group seized the territory of 1.5 million Palestinians in 2007.

There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday, with activists claiming the Israelis opened fire without provocation and Israel insisting its forces fired in self defense.

Speaking alongside the Canadian prime minister, Netanyahu expressed "regret" for the loss of life but said the soldiers had no choice. "Our soldiers had to defend themselves, defend their lives, or they would have been killed," he said.

Israel said it opened fire after its commandos were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols wrested from soldiers after they rappelled from a helicopter at about 4 a.m. to board one of the vessels.

Late Monday, it released a grainy black-and-white video that it said supported its version of events, with activists swarming around commandos after they descended from a helicopter by rope onto the lead boat, the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, carrying 600 people. Activists scuffled with the commandos and are seen throwing an object the military identified as a firebomb.

A commando who spoke to reporters on a naval vessel off the coast, identified only as "A," said he and his comrades were taken off guard by a group of Arabic-speaking men when they landed on the deck.

Some soldiers were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and some had even jumped overboard to save themselves, the commando said. At one point one of the activists seized one of the soldiers' weapons and opened fire, the commando said.

Communications to the ships were cut shortly after the raid began, and activists were kept away from reporters after their boats were towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Helicopters evacuated the wounded to Israeli hospitals, officials said. Five ships had reached port by early evening and some 136 activists had been removed without serious incident, the military said.

Sixteen were jailed for refusing to identify themselves, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Israel had said activists would be given the choice to be deported or imprisoned.

Israeli officials said the death toll was nine with 30 wounded, after earlier saying 10 people were killed. It said the final tally was reached after bringing all six boats in the flotilla under control.

A high-ranking naval official displayed a box confiscated from the boat containing switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats. Most of the dead were Turkish, he said.

In a sign the soldiers didn't anticipate such fierce resistance, two commandos told The Associated Press that the primary weapons were guns that fired paintballs — a nonlethal weapon that can be used to subdue crowds. They said they resorted to lethal handgun fire after they were assaulted.

Turkey's NTV network showed activists beating one commando with sticks as he landed on one of the boats. Dr. Arnon Afek, deputy director of Chaim Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv, said two commandos were brought in with gunshot wounds. Another had serious head wounds from an unspecified blow, Afek added.

Activists, however, painted a completely different picture, saying the commandos stormed the ships after ordering them to stop in international waters, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) from Gaza's coast.

A reporter with the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera, who was sailing on the Turkish ship leading the flotilla, said the Israelis fired at the vessel before boarding it, wounding the captain.

"These savages are killing people here, please help," a Turkish television reporter said.

The broadcast ended with a voice shouting in Hebrew, "Everybody shut up!"

At Barzilai hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, a few activists trickled in under military escort. "They hit me," said a Greek man, whose right arm was in a sling, calling the Israelis "pirates." He did not give his name and later was escorted away with a neck brace.

At a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel's military chief of staff and navy commander said the violence was centered on the lead boat, which was carrying all but 100 of the activists. Troops took over the five other boats without incident, military chief Gabi Ashkenazi said.

Reaction was swift and harsh, with a massive protest in Turkey, Israel's longtime Muslim ally, which unofficially supported the mission. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of "state terrorism," and the government said it was recalling its ambassador and called off military exercises with the Jewish state.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting later Monday while the Arab League planned to meet Tuesday in Cairo.

Robin Churchill, a professor of international law at the University of Dundee in Scotland, said the Israeli commandos boarded the ship outside of Israel's territorial waters.

"As far as I can see, there is no legal basis for boarding these ships," Churchill said.

Many of the activists were from Europe.

The European Union deplored what it called excessive use of force and called for the Gaza blockade to be lifted immediately, calling it "politically unacceptable."

Israeli security forces were on alert across the country. Protesters gathered at two universities and burned tires and threw rocks in Israel's largest Arab city, but no injuries were reported.

Organizers said two prominent activists, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 85, did not join the flotilla as planned.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli "massacre," declared three days of mourning across the West Bank.

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the rival Hamas government in Gaza, condemned the "brutal" Israeli attack and called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene.

In Uganda, Ban condemned the deaths and called for a "thorough" investigation.

Before the ships set sail from waters off Cyprus on Sunday, Israel had urged the flotilla not to try to breach the blockade and offered to transfer some of the cargo to Gaza from an Israeli port, following a security inspection.

Organizers included the IHH, an Islamic humanitarian group that is based in Istanbul but operates in several other countries. Israel outlawed the group in 2008 because of its ties to Hamas.

The flotilla of three cargo ships and three passenger ships carrying 10,000 tons of aid and 700 activists was carrying items that Israel bars from reaching Gaza, like cement and other building materials.

Israel has allowed ships through five times, but has blocked them from entering Gaza waters since a three-week military offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers in January 2009.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100531/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians ___
related articles ~

Gaza Aid Ships Head for Israel to Challenge Blockade ...

Gaza aid flotilla 'leaves Cyprus' Sunday, May 30th ...

Gaza aid flotilla 'leaves Cyprus' Sunday, May 30th ...

Breaking News ... Hamas says Israeli navy has intercepted flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza - Monday, 31 May 2010 04:30 UK

Sunday, 30 May 2010

Gaza aid flotilla 'leaves Cyprus'

A flotilla of ships trying to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza has left the coast of Cyprus, according to organisers.

The boats, carrying around 10,000 tonnes of aid, will attempt to break Israel's three-year blockade of Gaza.

But Israel says it has authorised its navy to use limited force on the flotilla, and that it plans to deport those involved in the flotilla.

Jon Donnison reports from Gaza City.

Video ~
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10195312.stm

Gaza Aid Ships Head for Israel to Challenge Blockade ...

About the Freedom Flotilla, Huwaida Arraf, Free Gaza Chair



Friday May 28, 2010

Gaza Aid Ships Head for Israel to Challenge Blockade

Israel's p.r. machine has gone into overdrive this week to counter the impact of a nine-ship flotilla en route from Turkey that is carrying 10,000 tons of medicine and construction materials and 700 pro-Palestinian activists to the besieged Gaza Strip. Israel has vowed to stop the ships from reaching their destination, painting the flotilla - a civil society initiative that has the support of the Turkish government - as a "provocation." The humanitarian situation in Gaza "is good and stable," Colonel Moshe Levy, the Israeli military officer responsible for Gaza, said on Wednesday, who insisted that Israel allows in basic necessities. Israeli officials added that smugglers' tunnels keep the shelves of Gaza's stores full. Referring to those goods not allowed to pass through, Levy said, "There are some things that are not permitted because Hamas exploits the humanitarian situation to improve its military capabilities." The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) even sent news agencies a message recommending a "luxurious" restaurant in Gaza City.

In anticipation of foreign correspondents traveling to Gaza to cover reports of alleged humanitarian difficulties in the Hamas-run territory ... the Government Press Office is pleased to bring to your attention the attached menu and information for the Roots Club and Restaurant in Gaza," the GPO message said, according to AFP. "We have been told the beef Stroganoff and cream of spinach soup are highly recommended."
(See pictures of Israel's assault on Gaza.)

The problem facing the Israeli p.r. effort is that few neutrals are likely to accept Israel's bona fides as a champion of the welfare of ordinary Gazans. Not after a three-year siege whose goal has been to squeeze the civilian population in hopes that it would overthrow Hamas - and a January 2009 military operation in response to Palestinian rocket fire that left more than 1,200 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians. Then there's the fact that international humanitarian organizations tasked with sustaining Gaza's civilian population are saying that while Israel allows in humanitarian supplies, those fall far short of the needs. The U.N. welfare agency UNWRA reports that the number of Gazans dependent on food aid trebled in 2009 to 300,000 - 1 in every 5 people living in the territory. The World Health Organization reports that there are shortages of essential medicines and that chronic malnutrition has reached 10%.

Even Israeli human rights groups have challenged the blockade, forcing the government - through a court action - to reveal that under the rubric of preventing Hamas from improving its military capability, Gazans are prevented from importing such items as chocolate, jam, wood, fruit juice, plastic toys and notebooks. Cinnamon is allowed, but not coriander.

(The Israelis are right, of course, that the convoy en route from Turkey is not simply a humanitarian gesture but also a political protest against the siege and the principle that Israel gets to decide what spices Gaza's cooks are able to use. The convoy is stepping into the void left by the policies of Israel, Egypt and the U.S., none of which offer any prospect of ending Gaza's misery. U.S. President Barack Obama, in his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last June, warned that "just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel's security." But a year later, there has been little substantial movement on the siege. And while the settlement freeze that Obama demanded in his speech became the focal point of his Administration's troubled relations with the Netanyahu government in Israel, the siege of Gaza remains unmentioned. The territory, and its Hamas rulers, have become the elephant in the room of the U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinian Authority, each for their own political reasons, want to talk about Gaza, and the U.S. has, until now, appeared content to allow them to skirt the issue.

But the corrosive effect of the siege on Gazan society has prompted some governments and civil society groups to step in where the major players are failing. Two weeks ago, Israel turned down an offer from Qatar to reopen diplomatic ties with the Jewish state in exchange for Qatar's being allowed to undertake badly needed reconstruction projects in Gaza. And the diplomatic price Israel is paying for its Gaza policy is underscored by the actions of Turkey, previously one of Israel's key regional allies. The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly condemned the blockade of Gaza, and it urged Israel on Wednesday to refrain from stopping the aid convoy, which includes two civilian Turkish vessels.

The civil society movements that have contributed to this and previous relief protest efforts hark back, in style, to the grass-roots origins of the anti-apartheid movement that emerged in Europe, and eventually the U.S., in the 1980s - which started out with small citizen initiatives to pressure South Africa over the fate of its black population but evolved into mass public pressure, forcing Western governments to impose sanctions on Pretoria.

There's no imminent danger of Western governments' imposing sanctions on Israel - on the contrary, next week they will welcome it as a member of the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, the aid convoy is indicative of a growing protest movement, among citizens and some governments, over the situation in Gaza. Meanwhile, the long-suffering civilian population of Gaza is being offered little hope by anything the U.S. or Egypt, let alone Israel, is doing - or by the defiance of Hamas. The movement's popularity has certainly been eroded by the deprivation imposed under the siege, and there are more open challenges to its authority now than there were three years ago. The problem is that the most visible challenges to Hamas' authority often come in the form of attempted attacks on Israel in defiance of a Hamas cease-fire order, undertaken by even more radical, al-Qaeda-oriented groups.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100528/wl_time/08599199220500

Maliki today in Kurdistan ..Iraqi and coalition proposes to her with the national and Kurdistan ...

May 31, 2010

Maliki today in Kurdistan ..Iraqi and coalition proposes to her with the national and Kurdistan

Four conditions established by the new coalition to choose a candidate of Prime Minister

بغداد ـ الصباح Baghdad morning

Begins with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's visit to the Kurdistan region today for talks with Kurdish political leaders on the mechanics of forming the new government, amid this atmosphere develop new alliance 4 criteria to determine personal candidate for prime minister,

That will be discussed at the Joint Commission is approaching formed within the next few days, while it called on the Iraqi list the National Coalition and the Kurdistan Alliance to agree with it to form a partnership government that includes all components of the Iraqi people, according to the share of each block in the new parliament. In the framework of the political movement among the leaders of the country scheduled to start the prime minister and president of a coalition of law Nuri al-Maliki said on a visit to the Kurdistan region for talks with the Kurdish leadership on forming the next government and to participate in the Third Conference of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which will be held on Tuesday in Sulaymaniyah.

A member of the Kurdistan Alliance Faryad Raundozi in a press statement transfer site National Union address: "Al-Maliki will visit Arbil to hold talks on forming a government and we will go to Sulaymaniyah, to give a speech at the Third Conference of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan." For his part, member of the coalition, the rule of law, Sheikh Hussein al-Asadi, "The Kurdistan Alliance List is often compromise between the Iraqi forces different to that used by the leaders, politicians and heads of the lists. "In the context of efforts to form alliances parliamentary take it upon themselves to form the new government and Conditions choose the next prime minister, said a member of the National Coalition Ammar Tuma said extending the talks between the National Coalition and the rule of law for ten days comes for the purpose of resolving the name of the candidate to the presidency of the new government and determine the nature of the relationship between the presidential candidate and coalitions. The taste of that in a press statement, "it was the preparation of working papers on the conditions set for the candidate for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the nature of the relationship will be between the Prime Minister and coalitions," noting that " resolution of these papers under discussion have not been agreed upon a final. "

On the nature of the conditions required provided the candidate for prime minister said Tima "by abiding by the Constitution and be acceptable to other partners, and manage a balanced policy of internal and external, and is dominated by collective behavior away from the monopolization of decision," stressing that "the resolution of this issue will be through agreement to match these conditions on the candidate who will serve as the next prime minister "

In the same context, Bahaa al-in a press statement, "that" the ongoing dialogues between the coalition rule of law and the National Coalition resulted in a substantial convergence between them. "

To the Iraqi List said through counsel Hani Ashour in a press statement that "out of the current crisis in the country lies in the agreement the Iraqi National Coalition and the Kurdistan Alliance to form a national partnership that represents all Iraqi people in accordance with quotas bloc of the three," stressing that "there participants between the three lists, a desire to accelerate the formation of the government and its belief in dialogue through its response to the invitation of the President of the Supreme Islamic Council Ammar al-Hakim to hold round table. "

alsabah

HEAVEN #3474 Golden Light Shining in the Firmament Like Stars ...

May 30, 2010

HEAVEN #3474 Golden Light Shining in the Firmament Like Stars,

God said: Everyone's heart is connected to every other heart. Hearts hold hands as children hold hands in ring-around-the-rosie. There is not one heart that is not connected to every other heart. All hearts are connected to your heart. All hearts are interconnected. When you consider that there is no time nor space, you can better see how this is so. Connections are made. They are effortless. Hearts co-exist with every other heart. Life on Earth rises and falls according to the heartbeat of all, and now heartbeats beat high notes, and love prevails.

Without time and space, every heart is attuned. There is no possible separation on any scale. If hearts are One with Mine, then all hearts are golden light shining in the firmament like stars.

How wonderful to love in Oneness. There is nothing else but Oneness. There is nothing like it.

And, yet in the world of Earth, love shining is not always visible. In this case, come back to your heart of love and let it be outstanding.

What an outcry there is for love on Earth. Love is waiting for you to claim it. Long live love.

Without love, what is there but striving and even strife? Have a heart full of love, for love surpasses all understanding, and love skips over all misunderstanding. Love knows what is real. Without love, fear and travesty have a heyday.

Although love is natural and love is your birthright, love may have to be relearned again and again. The only lesson is love. Behold love, and fill your heart with it. In the world, imperfection exists a-plenty, and, yet, the perfection of the light of love shines. Perhaps your love needs polishing or maybe not. Perhaps your love just has to come out and let the light of day shine on it. Let the sunshine of love warm your heart.

In Reality, you are a dynamo of love. In Reality, love is ignited in your heart. Your heart is full of love, and yet you may be shy with your love. You may be inhibited with your love. You may resist love and keep it back, keep it yet to be born, keep it shackled by rules and regulations. Will you free your heart and let it love fulsomely?

Now is the dawn of your love. Now there is no dismissal of love, no sunset of love, no termination, for what is love dependent on? The world may have made love a payment due when love is not about accountability. Love is to be freely given without bookkeeping or charges made. Nor is love to be a secret hoard kept for later. Love is to be rampant. There is not to be a sieve for love. Love is meant to be out there full-center, so it is known, felt, seen, without response required, and yet love poured out voluminously. Long live love.

Love is a great white steed that gallops across the frontier. Love is the prow of a ship that furrows through the ocean. There are no gaps left in the ocean. Love splashes and splashes without further ado. Love is a hearth where hearts warm themselves. Love beholds itself wherever it is from. Let love take precedence and belong to all.

Let love come center stage. Let love take over the world and declare itself, declare itself peace, joy, and harmony, and run the world, make the world divine and hearty and heard and listened to everywhere. Love is ready to be heard in every heart. The signal has been given. The flag of love has been raised. One love, One love everywhere, and love for all, and all for One.

Permanent Link: http://www.heavenletters.org/golden-light-shining-in-the-firmament-like-stars.html

Monday ~ Official: Maliki's visit to Arbil was to study the formation of the government crisis ...

30/05/2010

Official: Maliki's visit to Arbil was to study the formation of the government crisis

Erbil, An official of the Department of External Relations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, on Sunday, that "it is due to arrive on Monday the Prime Minister's outgoing Nuri al-Maliki to Arbil to hold talks with the leaders of the Kurdistan Alliance to find a solution of forming a government .

"Falah Mustafa, the Kurdish news agency (Akaniwz) that" the visit aims at holding talks on forming a new government and try to get out of the crisis that prevails in the Iraqi elections since the end of the seventh of March last. "

The leaders of the Kurdistan Alliance, said they would form a negotiating team heading to Baghdad after the certification of the Federal Court on the election results did not witness the negotiations between all political parties to state a convergence of views is still a list of the crisis without any progress.

A source at the list of the rule of law earlier in the day that the list of Nuri al-Maliki, the prime rule of law, accompanied by a delegation from the list to visit the Kurdistan region, will meet the region's president Massoud Barzani, the Prime Minister Barham Saleh.

http://www.aknews.com/

POOF for MAY 30th: "10+ years After"

Sunday, 30 May 2010

POOF for MAY 30th: "10+ years After"

All Along The Watchtower lyrics

Songwriters: Dylan, Bob;

"There must be some kinda way out of here"
Said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief"

"Businessmen, they, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None will level on the line
Nobody of it is worth", hey

"No reason to get excited"
The thief, he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke"

"But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late", hey

Hey

All along the watchtower
Princes kept the view
While all the women came and went
Barefoot servants too

Outside in the cold distance
A wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching
And the wind began to howl, hey

All along the watchtower
All along the watchtower

Greetings and Salutations;

There are many across this planet that feel something, tho they can't express exactly what it is. It's like knowing there's a storm approaching without seeing the first storm cloud in the sky. I was walking down the street just the other day and started getting hit by cold drops of rain and finding no dark clouds when I looked into the sky. Things are happening in the big global machine that look like that right now. The talking heads are saying one thing but, the listener is feeling something different. The old folks, who've been 'right' all along, always trusted their gut, today very few do, way too much electronic stimuli, which dulls the senses. Something everyone will need now, as the world goes thru it's transition.

My 'encouragements' are ending now. While many thought 'nothing' was happening last week, if you have any sense left, watch the faces of people like geithner, who can barely keep the grin off his face. When a person's demeanor changes, you must consider, why. The country is broke and they can't print any more money, so what's got him in such a mood. He left china and a meeting with the president of china with a message for the west, and bloomberg kept saying it over and over, 'geithner has a message'. There's going to be some oscars handed out, when this is done. Well, I can say this much, a whole bunch of expatriots waiting to come home, know what time it is because the world court told them exactly, what time it is. While everyone is running around with their hair on fire around here, they know that mr obama did his job. Now think on that one. There's no money left to support communism or fascism, so guess what, we're going back to precious metal banking and yes, there's plenty, more than enough.

Folks, I've been trying to say something all these years but I could never say it all they way out because of restrictions on what could be said, publicly. People were working and it wasn't my place to drop all that stuff out here. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you know, you have to observe propriety. This was something explained to me many years ago, 'this is not about you and what you know' this is about the people. (sigh) People will know, and they will deal with it accordingly. My decisions were made years ago and they are still the same, this part is about you and what you do, with having your grey matter scrambled, for a future that remained in doubt until your saw the whites of the couriers eyes right at your front door. That moment breaks your paradigms, immediately, in the moment, and makes you Have to look at things in an entire different light. People reading this newsletter all around the planet, have to deal with themselves and how their grey matter works.

The president has been notified along with other us officials, time's up. All the goodies that were planned long ago, activate now. I think the other person who did his schooling in asia besides the president, mr geithner, is having a helluva time keeping a straight face as he's been moving from nation to nation with a message, 'it's over, you better have your house in order, here it comes now'. What, you thought timmy was dumb, just another shill out here because he was working at the new york fed? Au contrare mon ami, he speaks fluent mandarin and contonese so, what else could he say with ms hilary present, she couldn't understand? (as I butcher what french I at least know how to pronounce) Sometimes, they have placed people in positions, just to be 'observers' and watch. I have gained information that is going to explain much about britain and it's history and how that has tumbled down on the american people, despite the revolution. Informationwise this is not going to be pretty.

Ok, check, what I have offered all these years is what I saw coming, tho I couldn't just 'put it out here'. How these announcements sound like to people is, who knows? The us military got their marching orders long ago and if people just act like they have 2 cents in their head and listen, they will find a better world coming to their doors. It is known the bad guys are going to try and get the people emotionally tripping to try and cover what they have done...baiting them to hit the streets like in the 60's. The problem they will have is the fact that massive money has been moved into position to start changing the whole job outlook thing. 'Hmm, lemme see, do I go out and riot or do I take this job offer I just got?' There is no way these miscreants want to let a black man get props for bringing this county back from the crap they created. But they should have seen it coming! History and archives defeat them and left them with no legs to stand on. There's a 'check mate' going down here that I hope is explained so everyone knows where the inscrutable ones went, to end the problem.

Your time is upon you, what you do with it is up to you. You will have instructions that are written on a third grade level so all this nonsense thrown at you from various talking heads is going to get tossed on it's head. Nothing like reading stuff right in your hands. Oh don't use any debit cards, they'll shut down your accounts. and they'll steal your money!!!! Hello, do ya think the folks on top of the food chain here are stupid??? Yea apparently because I get emails in here all the time about how or what the people with no power other than 'run their mouth power' are doing. I would personally go kick old man bush right in his bad hip if that was what I was suppose to do. Oh, he knows me on a personal level and he tried something against all kinds of good advice, now he's for crappola as he fouled his nest. Perot said it enough, 'stupid is as stupid does'. When I heard a guy running for the congress over here say, 'my president george bush said...' it put the rest in perspective. Are ya just stupid? I don't have the tolerance to listen to people talk non sense out of their mouths and act like it's real and has substance, then want to be voted into positions of responsibility. Look at the numbers...

I'm done, no one reading this is stupid or bereft of their senses. Take the sense the good Lord gave you and use them, drop these talking heads like they are a bad habit and move on. Yea, poofy, truth warrior, sardu pendragon is giving you a message, last one, 'act like ya know' and go live a glorious future.

I know I have various people to catch up with and I will be on them on monday. So be where I can reach you, it's time to go and I'm busy.

Donations accepted at www.paypal.com account 2goforth@safemail.net

Love and Kisses,

'Poofness'
_______________

Bustin' Loose

Keep what you got Until you get what You need y'all

You got to give a lot Just to get what You need sometimes y'all

Gimme the bridge now

I feel like busting loose Busting loose Gimme the bridge now

I feel like busting loose Busting loose now Busting loose in the evening Busting loose can be pleasing Talking bout busting loose

Busting loose in the meantime Busting loose makes you feel fine Talking bout busting loose

Busting loose to my love jones Busting loose to each his own Talking bout busting loose y'all
Busting loose to my love jones Busting loose to each his own Gimme the bridge y'all

I feel like busting loose Busting loose now Gimme the bridge y'all
I feel like busting loose Gimme the bridge now Gimme the bridge now
I feel like busting loose Busting loose

I said sha la, come on Y'all said (put your money down) I said, sha la, get it

Y'all said (put your money down) I said sha la, come on Y'all said (put your money down)
I said sha la, hit it Y'all said (put your money down) Gimme the bridge now

Now I feel like busting loose Give me the bridge, y'all Give me the bridge, y'all now

Now I feel like busting loose Busting loose now Busting loose when you want to deal Busting loose doing what you feel Talking bout busting loose, girl

Busting loose when you want to deal Busting loose doingwhat you feel Talking bout busting loose now
Busting loose when you want to sing Busting loose, baby, do your thing
Talking bout busting loose, girl
Busting loose when you want to sing Busting loose, baby, do your thing Give me the bridge, y'all

Give me the bridge, y'all Give me the bridge now now
I feel like busting loose Busting loose now

Get, get, get, get, get, get on down
(Get, get, get, get, get, get on down)
Get, get, get, get, get, get on down
(Get, get, get, get, get, get on down)
Get, get, get, get, get, get on up, y'all
(Get, get, get, get, get, get on down)

Get, get, get, get, get, get on up, y'all
(Get, get, get, get, get, get on down)
Get, get, get, get, geton down, down, down
Get, get, get, get, get, get on down)

I feel like busting loose Give me the bridge now Give me the bridge now now I feel like busting loose Busting loose now
I feel like busting loose Busting loose, y'all

Freak, freak-a-deek (5x)
Ah, freak, y'all
Freak, freak-a-deek (2x)
Ah, freak now
Freak, freak-a-deek (3x)
Ah, freak now
Freak, freak-a-deek (6x)
Oh, I like that part there now

Freak, freak-a-deek (4x)
What's that new dance
Y'all doing there
Freak, freak-a-deek (10x)
God Almighty

Freak, freak-a-deek (4x)
Oh, go on now
Freak, freak-a-deek
Freak, freak-a-deek

Hey, Leroy, give me some Of that horn right here Sound a little horn
Well, well

Got to do it again So you got to do it again Hey, hey Give me some of that

Good Lord, hit it