“I
have come to inform thee of all that shall befall thy people in the
last days.”
(Daniel 10:14)
Inform
Thee
Dear Friends,
Greetings! This week once again we are featuring a number of articles dealing with the worlds reaction to the US recognition that Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel.
Whether one agrees, or disagrees with the pronouncement by the United States, we think most would agree that recent events have ratched up End Time events to a higher gear.
Many
of the articles below could almost be used as a precursor to Ezekiel
38 and Revelation 13.
World events are now changing very rapidly.
Lord bless and keep us in the days ahead.
***
BREAKINGISRAELNEWS
Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration ‘Enormous Step Towards Bringing Third Temple’
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
December 7, 2017
President Donald Trump’s epic proclamation on Wednesday acknowledging Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the Jewish people was a major step towards establishing the Third Temple and bringing the Messianic era, said a number of Jewish activists working to rebuild the Holy Temple.
“What he did last night was an enormous step in bringing the Temple,” Asaf Fried, official spokesman for the United Temple Movement, an association of organizations working towards making the Third Temple a reality, told Breaking Israel News.
He added, “This necessarily had to come from a non-Jew in order to bring them into the process, so they will be able to take their part in the Temple.”
Fried compared Trump’s role to that of Cyrus, the Persian King who ended the Babylonian exile and helped build the Second Jewish Temple. Fried cited Proverbs to emphasize this point.
Like channeled water is the mind of the king in Hashem’s hand; He directs it to whatever He wishes. Proverbs 21:1
“There have been amazing advances towards bringing the Temple this year. It was clear that Trump was part of that process, guided by Hashem (God),” Fried declared.
Yakov Hayman, the United Temple Movement chairman, saw Trump’s statement as part of a historical progression joining a number of major shifts in modern history for Israel and the Jewish people.
“1917 was the Balfour Declaration establishing Israel for the nations,” Hayman told Breaking Israel News. “2017 was Trump’s declaration.”
He said it was now only a matter of time until non-Jews made a similar declaration recognizing the Temple Mount as the site of the Jewish Temples, but noted that to move forward, it was necessary for foot soldiers in the cause to take the first steps. “When Jews and non-Jews go up en masse, the Temple is inevitable.”
Hayman emphasized that all of the stages in this process required a multifaith effort, with Jews and non-Jews performing different roles while moving towards a mutual goal.
“The people of Israel are returning to their roots while simultaneously the non-Jews of the world are realizing the authenticity of our claim to the Temple Mount and our right to build a Jewish Temple as a House of Prayer for All Nations,” Hayman explained.
“These processes are codependent. It depends on the Jews, our actions, but the non-Jews are an essential part of the process.”
“Our task is to act as priests to make the whole world holy,” Hayman said, citing Exodus.
“You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:6
“That will only happen in a Temple in Jerusalem,” he emphasized. “The next step, the most important step, must be taken by the Jews. We need to begin going up to the Temple Mount is massive numbers. Once we do that, the Temple is the next inevitable step.”
He noted that Trump’s personality is uniquely suited for the role of the non-Jewish leader who begins the Messianic process.
“There is something very special and holy in Trump,” Hayman said. “Sometimes, he appears coarse and not connected to religion, but every time he addresses the nation he speaks about God. Last night, he said his motivation for recognizing was Jerusalem was because it was the right thing to do. That is precisely how a leader guided by God should speak.”
Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the nascent Sanhedrin, was cautiously optimistic.
“One year ago, the Sanhedrin called on Trump to build the Temple as Cyrus did 2,000 years ago,” Rabbi Weiss told Breaking Israel News. “He has clearly moved in this direction but there is still a long way to go and many pitfalls that could prevent that from happening.”
“Trump is facing enormous political pressures,” Rabbi Weiss noted. “The borders of Jerusalem are still open to negotiation. The Temple Mount is still not a settled issue and the United Nations is working hard at trying to convince the world the Jews have no place there. If Trump is to succeed, the Jews have to come together in unity in order for him to remain strong.”
***
WND
TRUMP'S JERUSALEM DECLARATION SPARKS TALK OF 3RD TEMPLE
Israeli activist: 'Words of prophecy are coming forth from the Bible and becoming facts'
December 10, 2017
The future Third Temple … as it might appear
WASHINGTON – While Muslims jeer, Israelis cheer President Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, prompting Jewish religious activists to suggest building the Third Temple is closer to reality than ever before.
“What he did … was an enormous step in bringing the Temple,” said Asaf Fried, official spokesman for the United Temple Movement, an association of organizations working towards making the Third Temple a reality.
He added, “This necessarily had to come from a non-Jew in order to bring them into the process, so they will be able to take their part in the Temple.”
Fried sees Trump’s role similar to the one played by Cyrus, the Persian king who ended the Babylonian exile and helped build the Second Jewish Temple.
“There have been amazing advances towards bringing the Temple this year. It was clear that Trump was part of that process, guided by Hashem (God),” Fried declared.
He is hardly alone in his jubilation about the possibilities of rebuilding a Temple last destroyed in A.D. 70 – 1,948 years ago.
“The prophets’ words of prophecy are coming forth from the Bible and becoming facts right before our eyes,” said Likud lawmaker and prominent Temple Mount movement figure Yehuda Glick.
Quoting from the opening words of the book of Lamentations, in a reference to Jerusalem, Glick noted that once Jeremiah had wept, crying “How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations!”
***
BREAKINGISRAELNEWS
250 Major Israeli Rabbis Bless Trump in Manner of Biblical Joshua
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz
The Israeli and the American flags are screened on the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, on December 6, 2017 in celebration of President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city. (Yontan Sindel/Flash90)
Over two hundred prominent Israeli rabbis sent a letter of gratitude to President Donald Trump, blessing him in the manner that God blessed Joshua as he led the Jews into Israel and stating that Trump’s acknowledgement of Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital assures him a permanent place in the annals of Jewish history.
Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan sent a letter of blessings to the White House expressing gratitude from approximately 250 prominent Israeli rabbis after President Donald Trump’s speech.
“You have a rare privilege now to be the first president to spearhead the recognition of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the State of Israel,” the rabbis wrote.
“We merit living in a generation in which prophecies are being fulfilled, one after the other,” the letter continued, emphasizing that Trump is playing his role in that process.
“The presidents of America merited standing by Israel in actualizing the prophecy of the return to Zion and the building of the State of Israel. “
It concluded, “We are sure that you will be remembered in the history of the Jewish people forever as one who stood at the fore and was not afraid. May God’s promise to Joshua be fulfilled upon you.”
The letter ended significantly by quoting the Book of Joshua.
“I charge you: Be strong and resolute; do not be terrified or dismayed, for Hashem your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
This verse was the blessing that God gave to Joshua when he took over from Moses in leading the Jewish people to take possession of the Promised land.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of Tzfat and the initiator of the letter, said in a statement to the media, “We see this recognition as yet another stage in the implementation of Isaiah’s prophecy for the non-Jews.” The rabbi quoted the Book of Isaiah.
“For the sake of Tzion I will not be silent, For the sake of Yerushalayim I will not be still, Till her victory emerge resplendent And her triumph like a flaming torch.” Isaiah 62:1
Among the signatories were Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, and leading Religious Zionist Yeshiva Dean, Rabbi Chaim Druckman.
ANTI MEDIA
“I absolutely refuse to officially welcome the American Vice President Mr. Mike Pence at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I will not be physically in church during his visit.”
Julia Conley
December 13, 2017
(COMMONDREAMS) — Vice President Mike Pence will not be permitted to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem when he visits the Middle East next month, as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capitol, according to the man who holds the keys to the building.
“I absolutely refuse to officially welcome the American Vice President Mr. Mike Pence at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I will not be physically in church during his visit,” wrote Adeep Joudeh, the custodian of the church—one of the world’s most sacred Christian sites—in a letter to Israel’s Channel 2 News on Wednesday. “This is an expression of my condemnation of President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”
Trump’s decision, announced last week, set off protests not just in Gaza and the West Bank, where Palestinians view East Jerusalem as their future capitol city, but throughout the Middle East. Demonstrators in Turkey declared that the Israeli occupation of land that Palestinians view as theirs is a fundamental issue for all Muslims.
Joudeh is not the only Christian in the region to denounce Trump’s move. Egypt’s Coptic Christian Church has also said it would not meet with Pence, citing the United States’ decisison “at an unsuitable time and without consideration for the feelings of millions of people.”
Prior to Trump’s announcement, several Christian churches in Jerusalem joined the international community in urging the president not to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to the city. Opponents warned him not to inflame tensions by appearing to side with Israel over the status of the city after decades of U.S. policy that urged peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians to resolve their conflict.
The action, the churches said, would “yield increased hatred, conflict, violence, and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land…and cause irreparable harm.”
Since the announcement, several Trump administration officials have told the Washington Post that Trump didn’t have a full understanding of the implications of moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
PRESSTV
100 Jewish studies scholars sign petition condemning Trump's declaration
December 8, 2017
More than 100 Jewish studies scholars have condemned President Donald Trump’s announcement of the US recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital.
In a petition released on Thursday, at least 110 signatories from universities and colleges across the United States called on Trump to cancel the controversial decision.
"We write as Jewish Studies scholars to express our dismay at the Trump administration's decision to reverse decades of bipartisan US policy by declaring Jerusalem [al-Quds] the capital of Israel, and authorizing the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv," the petition read.
"A declaration from the United States government that appears to endorse sole Jewish proprietorship over Jerusalem [al-Quds] adds insult to ongoing injury and is practically guaranteed to fan the flames of violence,” it added.
The petition said the Israeli regime is perpetrating "systematic inequalities" against the Palestinian people.
"Palestinian residents of Jerusalem [al-Quds] endure systematic inequalities, including an inequitable distribution of the city's budget and municipal services, routine denial of building permits that are granted to Jewish residents, home demolitions, and legal confiscation of property for Jewish settlement," the petition argued.
"In addition, Palestinians in the West Bank, unlike Jewish Israelis resident in that territory, require a special permit to visit Jerusalem [al-Quds]’s holy sites," it continued.
In a speech at the White House on Wednesday, Trump officially declared Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's capital, saying his administration would also begin a process of moving the American embassy in Tel Aviv to the holy city, which is expected to take years.
"I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," Trump said. "While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering."
The US leader also said that Vice President Mike Pence will travel to the Middle East in the coming days “to reaffirm our commitment to work with partners throughout the Middle East to defeat radicalism.”
The announcement was a major shift by Washington that overturns decades of US foreign policy. Trump's decision was mostly aimed at pleasing his main supporters - Republican conservatives and evangelical Christian Zionists who comprise an important share of his voter base.
***
PRESSTV
OIC recognizes East Jerusalem al-Quds as Palestine's capital
December 13, 2017
Leaders and representatives of member states pose for a group photo during an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the US' recognition of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel's capital, in the Turkish city of Istanbul, December 13, 2017. (Photo by AFP)
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has invited all nations to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of Palestine, blasting the United States for disregarding Middle East peace by moving its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city.
The 57-member organization issued a communique at the end of an emergency summit on Wednesday, declaring that it would recognize "East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine and invite all countries to recognize the State of Palestine and East Jerusalem as its occupied capital."
The declaration was a direct response to US President Donald Trump days after he referred to the city as the "eternal capital" of Israel.
The OIC rejected and condemned "in the strongest terms the unilateral decision by the president of the United States of America in recognizing Jerusalem al-Quds as the so-called capital of Israel, the occupying power."
Renouncing Trump's move as "null and void legally," the OIC members said the decision was tantamount to "an attack on the historical, legal, natural and national rights of the Palestinian people, a deliberate undermining of all peace efforts, an impetus to extremism and terrorism, and a threat to international peace and security."
The OIC reaffirmed its continued commitment to the so-called two-state solution for ending the years-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some speakers, however, said the US was no longer deemed reliable to mediate any peace deal.
OIC members also said they would hold the US responsible for the consequences of the decision.
The communique also denounced Israel's actions and policies against the people of Palestine as “colonial” and “racist.”
Trump has tasked the US State Department with making preparations for the relocation of Washington’s embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied Palestinian city.
The dramatic shift in Washington’s Jerusalem al-Quds policy has drawn fierce criticism from the international community, including Washington's own allies, while triggering demonstrations against the US and Israel worldwide.
As the second-largest inter-governmental body after the United Nations, the OIC was established during a summit in Rabat, Morocco, in 1969, following an arson attack on the al-Aqsa Mosque in the occupied city.
Iran commends 'high level of participation'
Shortly after the OIC declaration, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif hailed Islamic leaders for attending the summit in high capacities, taking an indirect jab at countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which only sent low-level officials.
Saudi Arabia only sent its minister for OIC affairs, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry represented Cairo.
***
INDEPENDENT
Jerusalme latest: Palestinians will not accept any US role in peace process 'from now on', says Mahmoud Abbas
Palestinian leader denounces US' allyship after decision to recognise holy city as Israeli capital and months of mounting pressure to accept terms of an unfavourable peace deal
Bethan McKernaneirut
13 December 2017
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Palestinians will no longer accept any American role in the Middle East peace process after US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Mr Trump's announcement was a "crime" that threatens world peace, the Palestinian Authority leader said on Wednesday, calling on the United Nations to revamp the stalled mechanism now that the US is "unfit" for leading peace efforts.
While Palestinians remain committed to peace, Washington can no longer be accepted as a "fair negotiator", he said, having provoked Muslim and Christian sentiments over the future of the holy city.
He added that new measures are needed to protect the identity of the divided city, which is claimed by both the Israelis and the Palestinians, and that in the light of the US' move in Israel's favour, the world must accept the legitimacy of a Palestinian state.
Mr Abbas spoke at an extraordinary Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul, a 57-member strong conference expected to hammer out a unified response from the Muslim world to the US' unprecedented move.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day war, an action that was never internationally recognised. Control of it remains one of the core stumbling blocks to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Like many presidential hopefuls before him, on the campaign trail Mr Trump promised to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Over the last year, the new administration has delayed a decision on the issue.
Mr Trump's announcement last week, however, upends decades of US policy: the previous US position had been to clarify the status of Jerusalem in a final peace agreement as per the terms of the 1993 Oslo accords.
The move was met with condemnation from the international community and outrage in the wider Muslim world: in the West Bank and Gaza four Palestinians were killed in ensuing clashes and protests have smouldered worldwide for days.
The president, who has proved unpredictable on foreign policy matters, has repeatedly conveyed a desire to broker peace in the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, a goal he has described as "the ultimate deal".
The US has been seeking to resurrect talks between Israel and the Palestinians since Mr Trump took office, with the help of ally Saudi Arabia.
In recent months there has been mounting pressure on the Palestinian leadership from Riyadh and Washington to accept the terms of a less than favourable peace deal. The blueprint is understood to contain steps leading to a two state solution, but without the right to return for Palestinian refugees or full sovereignty.
The US has reiterated it is committed to the peace process despite the decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israeli.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said last week it is still be up to the Israelis and Palestinians to hammer out all other issues surrounding the city in future talks.
***
RT
Hezbollah chief says fight for Jerusalem is now top priority
11 December 2017
Supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah protest in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon December 11, 2017. © Aziz Taher / Reuters
Lebanese Hezbollah will work with its allies to create a strategy “in the field” to confront Israel, the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said, calling again for a third Palestinian intifada (uprising), during a rally in Beirut on Monday.
“Today the axis of resistance, including Hezbollah, will return as its most important priority ... Jerusalem and Palestine and the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance in all its factions,” Nasrallah said, as cited by Reuters.
Speaking by video-link at a rally attended by tens of thousands in Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut, Nasrallah vowed that the struggle for Jerusalem and an independent Palestine is now Hezbollah’s top priority.
According to Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s regional victories – the Iran-backed group played a key role in ground operations against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in Syria – will allow it to renew its focus on Palestine.
He also called on Hezbollah and its allies to form a united strategy "in the field" to confront Israel, and advocated for third Palestinian intifada to overturn US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Demonstrators marched through the group’s Beirut stronghold carrying banners reading "Jerusalem, Eternal Capital of Palestine"and "Jerusalem is Ours".
Last week, President Donald Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said he would move the US embassy there, sparking fury and condemnation from Arab states as well as from Washington’s European allies.
The Beirut rally took place on the day after a violent protest outside the Lebanon’s US Embassy.
Last week, Nasrallah called for an “Islamic summit that would declare Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Palestine.”
"We support the call for a new Palestinian intifada and escalating the resistance which is the biggest, most important and gravest response to the American decision," he added, as quoted by Lebanon’s Naharnet TV.
Israel has waged two wars against Hezbollah, with the most recent conflict, in 2006, killing more than a thousand Lebanese civilians. Hezbollah convoys inside Syria have also been frequent targets of Israeli airstrikes.
***
Zero Hedge
Revolutionary Guard Commander Says Iran Will Support Palestinian Forces In Fight Against Israel
By Tyler Durden
December 12, 2017
IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani
With US forces in the middle-east in chaos and disarray, with Saudi Arabia unsure if it wants to side with Israel or other Arab nations, and with its ally Russia increasingly more influential in the region, Iran is not only increasingly flexing its muscles, but is hardly ashamed to show it off.
Over the weekend, we reported that according to source information, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp, Brigadier General Qassem Soleimani sent a formal verbal message, via Russia, to the head of the US forces command in Syria, advising him to pull out all US forces to the last soldier “or the doors of hell will open up”.
“My message to the US military command: when the battle against ISIS will end, no American soldier will be tolerated in Syria. I advise you to leave by your own will or you will be forced to it,” said Soleimani to a Russian officer. Soleimani asked the Russian officer to make known the Iranian intentions towards the US: that they will be considered as forces of occupation if these decide to stay in northeast Syria where Kurds and Arab tribes cohabit together.
Soleimani’s message to the US clearly indicated the promise of ‘surprise measures’ against the US: "You shall face soldiers and forces you have not experienced before in Syria and you will leave the country sooner or later." Furthermore, Russia conveyed to the US that Iran will stay in Syria as long as President Assad desires, and he insists on liberating the entire territory from all forces without exception (although Russia confirmed to the US its intention to refrain from offering any air support to Iran and its allies in the case of attacks on US forces).
The exchange took place days after CIA Director Mike Pompeo said last week that he had sent a letter to Soleimani expressing his concern about Iran’s intention to attack American interests and “will hold Soleimani and Iran accountable for any attack in Iraq.”
If the threat was meant to spook the veteran Iranian general, it failed to do that, and on Tuesday, Soleimani expanded his preemptive war message, saying his nation is ready to support Palestinian forces in the Gaza Strip, days after the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital unleashed anti-Israel and anti-US violence uniformly around the world. As a reminder, Palestinians claim Jerusalem’s eastern sector, where the mosque stands, as the capital of a future state, and they oppose the U.S. move. As we reproted last week, Hamas has repeatedly called for another Intifada against Israel in response, though so far protests have been limited.
According to Bloomberg, Soleimani made the offer in a phone call late Monday with leaders of groups in Gaza, according to the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ website, Sepah News, which didn’t give details of the assistance proffered. Other forces in the region are ready to defend the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Soleimani also told the Gaza faction leaders, without identifying them. The mosque is Islam’s third-holiest shrine and a frequent flashpoint for tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.
Soleimani spoke a day after the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, called on all “resistance” groups in the region to come up with a unified strategy to take back Jerusalem. Iran’s Quds force operates beyond the country’s borders and has fought Islamic State in Iraq and backed President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Iran also supports proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas that have warred with Israel.
Meanwhile, Robert Gates, the former U.S. defense secretary in the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, sided with Iran, noting that Trump’s decision is “counter-productive to the administration’s own objectives,” Gates told Bloomberg News. “There was a sense this administration really thought it had a shot at making some real progress,” he said in an interview in Dubai. This announcement “makes it much tougher to try and get any kind of political progress” between Israel and the Palestinians. Gates concurred with European and Arab leaders who say it is liable to fuel more conflict in the Middle East. The international community doesn’t recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, whose eastern sector Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
***
WND
TURKEY'S ERDOGAN THREATENS TO WIPE OUT JEWS
Invokes Islamic text in response to Trump's Jerusalem move
December 13, 2017
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
President Obama praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “a man of action” and one of the five world leaders with whom he had the strongest bond. President Trump met with him at the White House last spring.
And certainly Erdogan has tried to portray himself to Western leaders as a pragmatist with whom they can work.
But at a convention of his ruling party Sunday, Erdogan invoked a Muslim hadith — a collection of the accounts and sayings of Muhammad — that made clear his view of Jews and the state of Israel, according to dissident Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported.
“Those who think they own Jerusalem better know that tomorrow they won’t be able to hide behind trees,” Erdogan said, according to Bozkurt.
That statement essentially is an affirmation of a prophecy that all Jews will one day be destroyed, the journalist said.
Bozkurt explained Erdogan was making “a veiled threat of killing each and every Jew with a shocking reference to apocalyptic prophecy of tree story.”
The Turkish leader was responding to President Trump’s decision last week to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to begin the process of moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Bozkurt said anti-Semitism has always been in the background in Turkish society, but this marks the first time Turkey’s head of state has publicly fueled it.
Last year, Erdogan shut down Bozkurt’s former newspaper, Today’s Zaman, which had Turkey’s largest circulation, IPT noted.
The full hadith that Erdogan referenced says:
The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
Erdogan invoked the hadith during a Justice and Development Party gathering Sunday in which he also accused Israel of being a terrorist state.
Turkey, under Erdogan, has harbored and funded Hamas terrorists, provided covert support to ISIS and other jihadists in Syria, and bombed civilians belonging to his own Kurdish minority, IPT said.
IPT pointed out that the Turkish Youth Foundation, run by Erdogan’s son, Bilal, participated in anti-Israel and anti-U.S. rallies calling on Muslims to unite against Trump’s Jerusalem announcement.
On Friday, protesters in Istanbul chanted “Jerusalem is ours and will remain so!” along with “Down with America” and “Down with Israel.”
‘An approach typical of the Russians or Chinese’
In May, as WND reported, Erdogan watching his security officials beat protesters outside Turkey’s embassy in Washington. Members of his security team also clashed with demonstrators in 2016 outside the Brookings Institution in Washington, where he was giving a speech.
Brookings issued a statement at the time saying the security team “behaved unacceptably — they roughed up protesters outside the building and tried to drag away ‘undesired’ journalists, an approach typical of the Russians or Chinese.”
WND reported many geopolitical analysts are concerned the NATO nation, once regarded as a potential member of the European Union, is being systematically transformed into an anti-Western power. Fifteen years into his rule, Erdogan is abandoning the secular tradition of the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in favor of Islamic nationalism.
In April, Erdogan declared victory in a referendum to grant him sweeping powers in a vote opponents charged was marred by irregularities.
The measure, with 51.5 percent of the vote, replaced Turkey’s parliamentary system with an all-powerful presidency and abolished the office of prime minister.
A week before his visit to the U.S., Erdogan urged Muslims to swarm the Temple Mount to act as a counter to the “insult” of “occupied Jerusalem.”
He called Israel a “racist and discriminatory” state that is reminiscent of apartheid in South Africa.
Erdogan also met with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to work on “unifying efforts to protect Jerusalem against attempts of Judaization,” the independent Palestinian Maan news agency reported.
In December 2016, as WND reported, hacked emails released by WikiLeaks showed Erdogan’s son-in-law was tied to the company accused of importing oil from ISIS. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov previously told journalists in Moscow that Erdogan and his family were “involved” in ISIS’ illegal oil trade and personally benefiting from it.
Turkey also has been accused of training ISIS fighters and of providing direct support to ISIS.
‘Strong’ relationship
At the White House in May, President Trump and Erdogan described the relationship between the two countries as strong but avoided the differences over strategies for confronting ISIS in northern Syria.
The previous week, the Trump administration decided to supply heavy weapons to Syrian Kurdish rebel militias, the YPG, fighting ISIS. Turkey is in an ongoing battle with Kurdish separatists in its southeast.
The Turkish embassy claims the protesters at the embassy Tuesday were affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the leading Kurdish separatist group, which has been banned in Turkey.
The case of Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been imprisoned in Turkey without formal charges since October 2016, was brought up three times during Trump’s meeting with Erdogan, twice by Trump and once by Vice President Mike Pence, CBN reported.
A former member of Turkey’s Parliament who has advocated for Brunson’s release, Aykan Erdemir, told CBN that Brunson, improbably accused of “membership in an armed terrorist organization,” is now “a pawn, kind of a trump card in Erdogan’s hand.”
“There’s absolutely no rule of law, no due process in that case, it’s a completely bogus case. Anyone who has looked at the case knows that these are trumped up charges,” he said.
***
WND
U.S., ISRAEL, SAUDIS WORKING 'HAND IN HAND' ON NEW PEACE DEAL
'Do not be fooled by phony statements coming from Arab leaders'
Leo Hohmann
December 10, 2017
A much-overlooked motive for President Trump’s historic recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is to jump-start the Middle East peace process, and do it on terms more favorable to Israel, experts on the Middle East tell WND.
As the world will soon find out, Arab leaders in Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan who would have normally balked at such a deal, are now eager to see it consummated.
A key line in President Trump’s speech announcing his change of longstanding U.S. policy toward Jerusalem was this:
“It is time for young and moderate voices all across the Middle East to claim for themselves a bright and beautiful future.”
The call for younger voices to be heard was a direct jab at Mahmoud Abbas, the entrenched, corrupt 82-year-old Palestinian leader.
Abbas’s days may be numbered, says Dr. Mark Christian, a former Islamic imam who converted to Christianity and founded the Omaha, Nebraska-based Global Faith Institute. He says back channel peace negotiations have been going on for months.
“The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is working closely with Trump and [Jared] Kushner on this, with Netanyahu working hand in hand with them. It is amazing, because we never had a leader in America like this before who is open minded, who’s not coming in with an agenda other than what’s good for America,” says Christian. “His critics say he is an idiot, but he sits down, he listens and he goes on with doing things that were unthinkable before. He just says ‘I don’t care. I’m making a deal with all those leaders.'”
Frank Gaffney, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan, agrees that Abbas is on the way out and that the Saudis are toying with a new policy that could lead to a “sea change” in the Middle East.
“They have in the past played a double game. There are those who think under in Crown Prince bin Salman that will end and they will become responsible players,” Gaffney said. “I’m skeptical, but in think the immediate question is, do the Saudis throw in with the Palestinians and a new violent intifada? I don’t think they intend to do that as they seem to have come to the conclusion that Israel is a shared ally in their concerns about the growing threat from Iran, so I don’t think it’s in their interest to do that. They could flip, but the jury is still out on that.”
Trump critics, and even some of his supporters, claim the move of recognizing Jerusalem’s status as the undivided capital is too risky and could provoke violence among Muslims who see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
But Dr. Christian says Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there is brilliant because it is so provocative.
“Yeah, Trump is provoking but it is also a very strategic decision aimed to stir things up, to reset the deck. Do not be taken in by all the phony statements the Arab leaders are putting out,” says Christian, who was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, where he was raised by a father steeped in the Muslim Brotherhood. “They had to do that.”
Those “phony” statements denouncing Trump’s decision came from President el-Sisi in Egypt, King Abdullah in Jordan and King Salman in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi royal court issued a statement Thursday saying it warned against this move and “continues to express its deep regret at the U.S. administration’s decision,” describing it as “unjustified and irresponsible.”
Don’t be fooled says Dr. Christian, whose given name was Mohamed Abdullah until he converted to Christianity in his late 20s.
“The bottom line is this move was run past the Egyptians, the Jordanians and the Saudis ahead of time and they all approved of it,” said Christian. “It’s aimed at [Palestinian leader Mahmoud] Abbas. He has been told, ‘either you accept this deal or you’re out. It is time to solve this problem once and for all.'”
An article in the New York Times Monday seems to back up Christian’s theory. It said Abbas had a difficult meeting in Saudi Arabia last month with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which the prince basically told the Palestinian leader that he will have to get on board with a new peace deal with Israel or he will be “replaced.”
While details of the plan remain unknown, it would be a “two state solution” tilted toward Israel to the extent that “no Palestinian leader could ever accept it” and remain in power, according to the New York Times. Under the plan, the Palestinians would receive limited sovereignty, Israel would remain in the vast majority of its settlements, and Egypt would deliver to the Palestinians a slice of the northern Sinai to go along with Gaza. The new capital of “Palestine” would be in Abu Dis, a suburb of East Jerusalem.
Christian said the Arab countries, supported by the Europeans, Americans and the United Nations have been living in denial since 1967, when Israel repelled an attack by a host of Arab countries and captured the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
“The United Nations and all the complicit world leaders have been feeding into the deceit and the same lie,” Christian said. “It is as if the United States won the War of Independence but the British still continued to say ‘no you have not and we get to tell you exactly what to do.’ No, the fact is we won the war and we will do exactly as we want.
“They want to force the delusion on everyone else that this war in 1967 never took place and they never lost the war, and the U.N. is helping them because they issue resolutions that the land is still occupied and not a definitive Jewish land. Trump said this is the reality, if you want to live in reality, good for you, but it’s not good for us. And he exposed the complicity and feint heartedness of all of those European leaders and all those liberal American Jews filling up Twitter and Facebook, saying Jerusalem is for all. What does that mean, ‘for all’? They are now exposed for trying to push a message of fake peace, so what happened yesterday is a reality check.”
By pushing for a return to the pre-1967 borders, which Israel considers indefensible, Western leaders are essentially saying Israel has no right to exist.
“All the peace talks that have been ongoing for years have failed because it’s fake and it doesn’t’ mean anything,” Christian said.
What has changed is the leadership in key Arab states.
For 70 years the Arab- Israel conflict was an important tool that Arab leaders used to keep their hold on power. The Israeli bogie man was a convenient distraction for their people, but now that same conflict has become a liability.
“They need to get rid of that conflict, because pouring gas on that conflict is not defining their crown anymore but becoming an impediment to it,” Christian said.
Gaffney also believes Trump’s strategy is bold and worth the gamble. It’s largely based on the advice of Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes, who has been holding meetings on Capitol Hill that included input from members of the Israeli parliament.
“I think there’s an opportunity here to try something different. It’s a radical concept but it’s been brilliantly annunciated by Daniel Pipes, who some months ago started a caucus on Capitol Hill and encouraged them to think in terms of a different paradigm for the region,” Gaffney said.
That new paradigm is based on historical reality and facts, not the fictions being perpetrated by the European Union and the United Nations, Gaffney said.
“First among those facts is that Israel has actually enjoyed a victory over the Palestinians, that they defeated the Palestinians,” Gaffney said. “And the unification of Jerusalem and establishment of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the whole area is evidence of that victory and yet in the decades since the 1967 War we’ve indulged in this counter-factual but quite insidious notion that this didn’t happen, and so now we will see what Israel can be induced to do to give it back, and so what Trump is doing is trying to acknowledge Israel’s sovereignty over the land, although not as fast as I would like, but it is a re-characterization of the facts on the ground, and so it’s not the peace process as we have known it so far but it’s essentially an arrangement between the victor and the defeated that would actually reflect what’s happened on the ground.”
Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are seizing upon this changing dynamic among Arab leaders.
“It’s a historical moment that has to be taken advantage of, they want to see this conflict go away, but they can’t do it on their own, they want the U.S. to do it and they will act like they had no part in it,” Dr. Christian said. “They want to build a strong relationship with Israel to benefit from its advancement and doing business with them.”
And the benefits will not just be economic. They also are looking at military-strategic realities on the ground with regard to Iran.
“One of the benefits the Arabs need from Israel and the United States is to defeat their ultimate enemy which is Iran. And nobody can do that for them except Israel and the United States, mutual benefits and mutual goals,” he said.
This is the new reality.
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PRINCE CHARLES: THIS CHRISTMAS… LET’S NOT FORGET TO REMEMBER PROPHET MUHAMMAD
By Justin Holcomb, Town Hall, December 5, 2017
While speaking on the British radio show “Thought For The Day,” the future king of Britain, Prince Charles, said that Christians should be more mindful of Islam and Muhammad during the holidays.
“normally at Christmas we think of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder though if this year we might remember how the story of the nativity unfolds, with the fleeing of the holy family to escape violent persecution. and we might also remember that when the prophet Muhammad migrated from Mecca to Medina he was seeking the freedom for himself and his followers to worship.
Whichever religious path we follow, the destination is the same – to value and respect the other person, accepting their right to live out their peaceful response to the love of God,” he said.
The Prince also compared Brexit and other pro-border movements to European Fascism in the 1930s:
“We are now seeing the rise of many populist groups across the world that are increasingly aggressive towards those who adhere to a minority faith. All of this has deeply disturbing echoes of the dark days of the 1930s,” he said.
“I was born in 1948, just after the end of World War Two, in which my parents’ generation had fought and died in a battle against intolerance, monstrous extremism and an inhuman attempt to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe. That nearly 70 years later we should still be seeing such evil persecution is, to me, beyond all belief. We owe it to those who suffered and died so horribly not to repeat the horrors of the past.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
Cells with DNA made in lab lead to ‘Holy Grail’ of synthetic biology
A new microbe can create proteins with the potential to change how cells work or even to improve medicine.
BY SARAH KAPLAN
Updated November 30, 2017
Scientists in San Diego have achieved a major milestone in the effort to craft artificial organisms: A microbe whose genetic material included some lab-made instructions was able to live, reproduce and synthesize proteins that included molecules never before used by life.
The development, described Wednesday in a paper in the journal Nature, is a step toward a world in which scientists can engineer organisms capable of producing highly specialized proteins that may be used to improve medicines, construct new materials and perhaps change the functions of cells.
“This is the edge of science,” said Andrew Ellington, a biochemist at the University of Texas at Austin who was not involved in the research. “We are better learning how to engineer living systems.”
In 2014, the San Diego scientists, led by chemist Floyd Romesberg of the Scripps Research Institute, rewrote the genetic material for a strain of E. coli to include a new pair of bases, dubbed dNaM and dTPT3 but informally known as X and Y.
Though the resulting microbe population wasn’t stable (they usually lost their X and Y bases after a few days) these were the first organisms in the history of life to include a new base pair in their DNA.
In their latest experiment, Romesberg’s team instructed the cells to synthesize proteins from “noncanonical” amino acids – hundreds of molecules that can be found in nature or the lab but are not naturally used by organisms. The semi-synthetic cells were able to produce artificial proteins almost as efficiently as their unmodified parents.
“This last step of the adding an unnatural base pair to add an unnatural amino acid into a protein is sort of the Holy Grail of what we’ve been trying to do the whole time,” said Yorke Zhang, a graduate student in Romesberg’s lab who designed, performed and analyzed the experiment.
QUARTZ
AI is now so complex its creators can’t trust why it makes decisions
Artificial intelligence is seeping into every nook and cranny of modern life. AI might tag your friends in photos on Facebook or choose what you see on Instagram, but materials scientists and NASA researchersare also beginning to use the technology for scientific discovery and space exploration.
But there’s a core problem with this technology, whether it’s being used in social media or for the Mars rover: The programmers that built it don’t know why AI makes one decision over another.
Modern artificial intelligence is still new. Big tech companies have only ramped up investment and research in the last five years, after a decades-old theory was shown to finally work in 2012. Inspired by the human brain, an artificial neural network relied on layers of thousands to millions of tiny connections between “neurons” or little clusters of mathematic computation, like the connections of neurons in the brain. But that software architecture came with a trade-off: Since the changes throughout those millions of connections were so complex and minute, researchers aren’t able to exactly determine what is happening. They just get an output that works.
At the Neural Information Processing Systems conference in Long Beach, California, the most influential and highest-attended annual AI conference, hundreds of researchers from academia and tech industry will meet today (Dec. 7) at a workshop to talk about the issue. While the problem exists today, researchers who spoke to Quartz say the time is now to act on making the decisions of machines understandable, before the technology is even more pervasive.
“We don’t want to accept arbitrary decisions by entities, people or AIs, that we don’t understand,” said Uber AI researcher Jason Yosinkski, co-organizer of the Interpretable AI workshop. “In order for machine learning models to be accepted by society, we’re going to need to know why they’re making the decisions they’re making.”
As these artificial neural networks are starting to be used in law enforcement, health care, scientific research, and determining which news you see on Facebook, researchers are saying there’s a problem with what some have called AI’s “black box.” Previous research has shown that algorithms amplify biases in the data from which they learn, and make inadvertent connections between ideas.
For example, when Google made an AI generate the idea of “dumbbells” from images it had seen, the dumbbells all had small, disembodied arms sticking out from the handles. That bias is relatively harmless; when race, gender, or sexual orientation is involved, it becomes less benign.
“As machine learning becomes more prevalent in society—and the stakes keep getting higher and higher—people are beginning to realize that we can’t treat these systems as infallible and impartial black boxes,” Hanna Wallach, a senior researcher at Microsoft and speaker at the conference, tells Quartz in an email. “We need to understand what’s going on inside them and how they are being used.”
Mission-critical AI
In NASA’s Jet Propolusion Lab, artificial intelligence allows the Mars rover to operate semi-autonomously when exploring the surface of an unexplored planet. AI is also used to comb through the thousands of pictures taken by the rover when they’re transmitted back to Earth.
But Kiri Wagstaff, a JPL AI researcher and speaker at the workshop, says AI needs to be understood before it’s used, due to the high risks every decision brings in space.
“If you have a spacecraft in orbit around Mars, it’s 200 million miles away, it costs hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially even a billion dollars, to send there. If anything goes wrong, you’re done. There’s no way to repair, visit, replace that thing without spending an immense amount of money,” Wagstaff says. “So if we want to put machine learning in play, then the people running these missions need to understand what it’s doing and why, because why would they trust it to control their Mars rover or orbiter if they don’t know why it’s making the choices it’s making?”
Wagstaff works on building the AI that sorts through images captured in space by NASA’s various spacecraft. Since those images can number in the millions, having an AI pick out the interesting photos could be a big timesaver—but only if the AI knows what an “interesting” image looks like.
To Wagstaff, being able to understand what the AI is looking for is crucial to implementing the algorithm. If there was a mistake in how it learned to go through images, that could mean passing over data worth the millions of dollars the mission cost.
“Just being presented with an image that a computer said ‘Oh this is interesting, take a look’ leaves you in this sort of limbo, because you haven’t looked at all million images yourself, you don’t know why that’s interesting, what ticked,” Wagstaff says. “Is it because of its color, because of its shape, because of the spacial arrangement of objects in the scene?”
Hidden knowledge
In 2007, Andrew Gordon Wilson, an AI professor at Cornell University and co-organizer of the Interpretable AI workshop, was working with a team to build a new kind of PET scanning machine. Since certain particles didn’t behave in the machine as they did in the rest of the physical world, he was tasked with tracking how a certain particle moved through a tank of xenon.
His adviser suggested trying to use neural networks, which were still relatively obscure at the time. Using the technology, Wilson was able to use the light emitted by the particle to locate it in the xenon chamber.
While he got the answer he was looking for, Wilson says that understanding the internal rules the algorithm had built to understand how light indicated the position of the particle could have opened a new avenue of research.
“In a way, a model is a theory for our observation, and we can use the model not just to make predictions but also to better understand why the predictions are good and how these natural processes are working,” Wilson said.
Up for interpretation
But to make new ground on interpretability, one of the biggest challenges is simply defining it, says Wallach, the Microsoft researcher.
Does interpretability mean that AI experts know why Facebook’s algorithm is showing you a specific post, or that you understand yourself? Does a doctor using an AI-powered treatment recommendation system need to know why a specific regimen was suggested, or is that another role— like an AI overseer— that needs to be created in a hospital?
Wallach calls interpretability a latent construct: Something unobservable, but instead augured by testing how real people use and misunderstand AI systems. It’s not just a matter of lifting the hood of an algorithm and watching how the engine runs.
Understanding an algorithm isn’t just to fend against bias or make sure your rover won’t fall off a Martian cliff; knowing how a system fails can help AI researchers build more accurate systems.
“If your system doesn’t work and you don’t know why, it’s quite hard to improve it,” Uber’s Yosinski say. “If you do know why it’s failing, oftentimes the solution is a foregone conclusion.”
To figure out how one of its algorithms thinks, Google is trying to sift through the millions of computations made every time the algorithm processes an image. In a paper presented at the NIPS conference, Google researcher Maithra Raghu showed that she was able to fix the unwanted association between dumbbells and arms, only this time with tree bark and birds.
By looking at which neurons in the network were activated when the AI looked at images of birds, Raghu was able to determine which were focusing on the bird and which were focusing on the bark, and then turn the bark neurons off. The success is a sign that, for all its complexity, translating a neural network’s work into something a human understands isn’t impossible.
“In school we ask students to put it in their own words to prove that they’ve understood something, to show their work, justify their conclusion,” Wagstaff says. “And now we’re expecting that machines will be able to do the same thing.”
***
MailOnline
Why humans will happily follow a ROBOT messiah: Religions based on AI will succeed because we tend to 'worship supreme understanding', claim experts
Same drive that compels people to believe in religions will also work for AI
People will eventually rely on a 'robot messiah' to solve society's problems
This is because we 'have a tendency to worship supreme understanding'
Last month a former Google engineer formed the world's first church to follow an artificially intelligent being
By HARRY PETTIT FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 15:45, 11 December 2017 | UPDATED: 15:47, 11 December 2017
A religion based around a robot god will succeed because humans tend to 'worship supreme understanding', experts have claimed.
One researcher has said the same drive that compels people to believe in higher beings and follow religions will also work for so-called AI 'Godheads'.
Others have commented that, like religion, people will eventually rely on a 'robot messiah' to solve society's problems.
Last month, former Uber and Google engineer Anthony Levandowski formed the first church to follow an artificially intelligent being.
A religion based around a robot god will attract followers because humans tend to 'worship supreme understanding', experts have claimed. Others have commented that, like religion, people will eventually rely on AI to solve society's problems (stock image)
The religion, known as 'Way of the Future', claims our species can better itself by following the instructions of a robot that is 'a billion times smarter than humans'.
Now AI expert and lawyer John Mitchell has said humans have a tendency to 'worship supreme understanding', and that this also applies to AI.
'We [believe] there must be some higher power that causes lightning, sunsets, and crashing waves - or at least speaks to the bottom of our beings, rather than ignore them as ho-hum background,' he told Fox News.
Mr Mitchell said the same thing could happen with AI, adding that robots could help us better understand religion.
Dr Stephen Thaler, President and CEO of Imagination Engines and an AI and consciousness expert, said people will rely on AI to solve society's problems.
'An AI would provide the equivalent of a "messiah" - having many orders of magnitude more processing elements than the brain, enabling it to gift us with solutions to the most daunting social, political, economic, and environmental challenges,' he said.
But if AI develops this level of intelligence, it might choose not to be worshipped, said author and consultant Peter Scott.
'I would expect the AIs that evolve in the next 50 years to be very rational and, if conscious, not want to be worshipped,' he said.
'If they have the human race's best interests at heart (and God help us if they don't) then they would want us to have as much right of self determination as possible.'
The new comments come just a month after Way Of The Future (WOTF) was officially registered as a religion by Anthony Levandowski.
The ex-Google engineer, who first announced plans for the creed in May, says he is 'raising a god' that will that charge of humans.
WOTF will eventually have a gospel called 'The Manual', as well as rituals and even a physical place of worship.
Levandowski named himself as 'dean' of WOTF, giving him complete control until his death or resignation.
He said his robot god, which will be a 'billion times smarter than humans' will take charge of its subjects, who will relinquish power to a being of higher intelligence.
The filed documents for WOTF give its purpose is to 'develop and promote the realisation of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence'.
Workshops and educational programs have already begun in the San Francisco area.
Levandowski says everything in the church will be open source and members of the church would have special social media accounts.
He has appointed four other people to the Council of Advisers and the listing says each week they will spend a few hours organising workshops and meetings.
In 2017, the Internal Revenue Service listed the religion as having received $20,000 (£15,000) in gifts, $1,500 (£1,100) in membership fees and $20,000 (£15,000) in other revenue.
WOTF has $7,500 (£5,700) put aside for wages, although Levandowski, who earned $120 million (£91 million) from Google, says he will not receive any money.
***
CO.DESIGN
The Ink In This Tattoo Is Made Out Of Living Cells
A.K.A. bacteria.
BY KATHARINE SCHWAB
December 6, 2017
The latest? A tattoo made of living ink–genetically programmed cells that activate when exposed to different types of stimuli. While right now that means they light up when they come in contact with particular molecular compounds, there are exciting potential applications: the tattoos could be designed so that they respond to environmental pollutants or changes in temperature. That means that sometime in the future, we could all be walking around with living, responsive tattoos that tell us when it’s not safe to go outside because air pollution levels are dangerous, or even just act as a temperature gauge right on your body.
MIT researchers in mechanical engineering and bioengineering recently published a paper on their work in Advanced Materials, where they demonstrate a method to 3D print living cells–combined with a gelatinous material called hydrogel, which keeps the bacteria alive–on top of each other. This layering allowed them to build up the cell “ink” into patterns. Their prototype tattoo looks like a branching tree graph, where different parts of the graphic respond to different types of external stimuli. The next step is to create more patches designed to light up when they come in contact with particular chemicals.
The researchers also programmed some of the living bacterial cells to communicate, so that they light up in response to messages from other cells. “This is very future work, but we expect to be able to print living computational platforms that could be wearable,” graduate student and co-author Hyunwoo Yuk tells MIT News. Using this technique, scientists might be able to build a “living computer,” where layers of cells talk to each other like transistors do in electronics today.
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WND
ANCIENT PAGAN 'GODS' REAPPEARING AROUND U.S., WORLD
1st Baal, now war goddess Athena as 'occult is soaring in popularity'
December 10, 2017
Temple of Baal, Palmyra, Syria, prior to its destruction by ISIS
They’re doing it again!
The same group that recreated the Roman triumphal arch that once welcomed travelers to the Temple of Baal is now honoring another pagan deity.
The United Arab Emirates, the Italian mission to the United Nations and the Institute for Digital Archeology have re-created a statue of the goddess Athena which once stood in Palmyra, according to Breaking Israel News.
Though Athena was venerated as a goddess of reason, she was also known as “Athena Promachos,” a war goddess, and the re-created statue features her holding a spear. The exhibit, titled “The Spirit In the Stone,” is being hosted at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
It’s another move by globalist organizations to honor pagan deities, months after the reconstructed “Arch of Baal” went on a world tour, including being placed outside the G7 meeting of the world’s industrialized nations.
“Most people today don’t realize how much of a hold ancient pagan beliefs, practices and images still have on their lives,” said Joseph Farah, author of “The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians and the End of the Age.” “In fact, pagan values and traditions have never left us. Even Jews and Christians are impacted by them. And they are not innocent because the gods of paganism are actually demons, according to the Bible. It’s not something to be played with.
“The question confronting us right now is: Why would the United Nations be involved in resurrecting these occult images and icons of the past? Do they not understand what this represents – the false gods of child sacrifice and all kinds of abominations and perversions?”
“The promotion of pagan gods is certainly nothing new, and it again shows we’re all living in what I call ‘Opposite World,'” he explained. “It’s a world where most people do the very opposite action of what God has instructed. Our Creator tells us to have no other gods but Him, but folks do the opposite, honoring false gods.
“The Bible says Solomon, one of the wisest men who ever lived, built shrines to pagan gods such as Molech, a pagan god to whom people would burn their children alive in fires. It’s just sickening. Even God-fearing Christians today don’t realize they’re doing the very opposite of God’s instructions when they decorate trees with silver and gold and stand them up in their homes and churches every December. God personally says in the tenth chapter of Jeremiah not to do that precise heathen custom, and yet people have been tricked into decorating trees with all sorts of silver tinsel, gold garland and hanging ornaments, and they have no scriptural basis for it. For those interested in eternal life, we need to wake up and start obeying the instructions of our Maker, and stop all this pagan worthlessness.”
Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn, best known for his New York Times bestseller “The Harbinger,”believes this strange revival in the promotion of pagan gods has deep theological significance.
He noted Athena was associated with the Semitic mother goddess Asherah, whose shrines God commands to be destroyed in Deuteronomy 12. Cahn also claimed the goddess was sometimes merged with Ashtoreth, the consort of Baal in some traditions. Thus, there is a relationship between the new statue being displayed at the U.N. and the sinister arch which was displayed all over the world
“The reappearance of the gods is an amazing phenomenon,” he said. “Not long ago, the image of the Hindu god of destruction, Kali, appeared on the Empire State building. Then the Arch of the Temple of the god Baal was built in New York City. Recently, a massive idol of the god Shiva was displayed on the Washington Mall along with that of a seven-headed dragon. And now the idol of Athena appears in the United Nations.
“The mystery of ‘The Paradigm’ and ‘The Harbinger’ is that what transpired in the last days of ancient Israel before its judgment is now manifesting before our eyes. We are replaying an ancient judgment cycle. One of the manifestations that took place in ancient Israel before its destruction was the appearance throughout the land of the gods, their idols, their altars, their images. That the images of the gods are now manifesting throughout America is an ominous sign. We are replaying the judgment drama.
“When Israel turned away from God, it turned to false gods and idols. So when a nation that has once known God turns away from Him, it always turns to other gods. It may not call them gods or idols, but the reality is the same. America was founded on the word of God. And inasmuch as it followed the ways of God, it has been blessed above any other nation in the modern world. But inasmuch as it has turned from its God and His ways, it has turned to other gods and idols. And unless it turns back, unless it sees revival, it will progress to judgment.”
***
***
Bloomberg
Poland’s Incoming Prime Minister: ‘My Dream Is to Re-Christianize the EU’
By Dorota Bartyzel and Marek Strzelecki
Updated on December 8, 2017
Supreme Court building in Warsaw, Poland. Photographer: NurPhoto/NurPhoto
Poland’s incoming prime minister threw down the gauntlet with the European Union, offering to "help the West with proper values" after his allies advanced a judicial overhaul that the bloc has criticized as democratic backsliding.
Premier-designate Mateusz Morawiecki, tapped to replace Beata Szydlo halfway through the government’s term, rejected threats by EU leaders who have warned that Poland may lose out on the aid that drives its economic growth if it didn’t uphold the rule of law. His comments followed a heated parliamentary debate in which the ruling Law & Justice party approved draft laws to revamp the Supreme Court and overhaul a panel that appoints judges despite warnings from EU officials that the measures may trigger sanctions.
While Morawiecki a western-educated finance minister, has impressed foreign investors as the steward of the EU’s largest eastern economy, he made clear his allegiance is with his conservative party and its vision of returning Poland -- and the rest of Europe -- to its traditional Christian roots. In his first interview since being named prime minister on Friday, he lauded his "great, proud nation" and said it would not submit to "blackmail" from other European leaders.
“My dream is to re-Christianize the EU," Morawiecki told Catholic channel TV Trwam in an interview conducted by a journalist who was also a priest. When asked about the risk that the EU may cut Polish aid, he recalled former French President Francois Hollande saying “I do remember one former president telling us earlier this year ‘you have values, we have funds.’ Well, I would love to help the West with proper values."
Morawiecki spoke hours after the lower house approved legislation that would force two fifths of the Supreme Court’s justices into retirement and give politicians more power in selecting judges and the heads of courts. The votes, which send the bills to the Senate, followed an animated session in parliament in which opposition lawmakers chanted “dictatorship, dictatorship” and compared the measures to actions taken by Nazis in the 1930s to cement their grip on power.
Judicial Battle
The draft laws bring closer to conclusion a months-long battle by Law & Justice party to take control over a system that it says is run by a “self-serving clique of judges.” At the same time, the legislative push -- a do-over after an earlier attempt triggered national protests and a presidential veto -- ignores warnings from the EU that it may impose sanctions on member states who fail to uphold its values.
The cumulative effect of the reforms “puts at serious risk the independence of all parts of the Polish judiciary,” the Venice Commission, a democracy watchdog for the Council of Europe human rights group, said in a statement on Friday.
Because of the court overhaul, the EU’s executive, the European Commission, is conducting the first-ever probe into whether a member is upholding the bloc’s democratic values. And while Law & Justice has portrayed the government reshuffle as a way to improve communication with Brussels, the passage of the draft laws on Friday will undermine any chances of quickly repairing frayed ties.
“Any hope for a reset in Poland’s relations with the EU will probably be dashed by the passage of the judiciary reforms,” said James Sawyer, an analyst at the consultancy Eurasia Group.
Under Law & Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who holds the power behind the government and was decisive in replacing Szydlo, the party has followed in the footsteps of regional peer Hungary. It’s there that Prime Minister Viktor Orban pledged earlier this decade to transform his country, which is also an EU member, into an “illiberal state” modeled on Russia and Turkey.
Economic Steward
As part of that, Morawiecki, 49, has sought to carve out a bigger role for the government in business. This is crucial to his party’s drive to centralize power and steer Poland away from a model based on foreign investment and EU integration that dominated its post-Communist transformation. He has also helped find funding for new welfare spending on families with children, boosting Law & Justice’s support among voters in the country of 38 million people.
At the same time, he’s narrowed the budget deficit, an important benchmark for foreign institutional investors who hold 202 billion zloty ($57 billion) of the government’s local-currency bonds. The government didn’t immediately make clear whether he would be replaced or keep the finance portfolio.
"The assessment of the economic policy by Morawiecki remains generally positive among foreign investors," ING Bank Slaski analysts, led by Rafal Benecki, said in a note.
The zloty gained 0.3 percent to 4.197 per euro as of 8:28 p.m. in Warsaw, extending this year’s advance at 4.9 percent, the best performance among emerging-market currencies following the Czech koruna.
President Andrzej Duda formally nominated Morawiecki as prime minister on Friday and said he
hoped the new government can be sworn and win a vote of confidence in parliament next week.
— With assistance by Piotr Bujnicki
***
Satan’s Five Servants On the Planet Earth
Dave Hodges The Common Sense Show
Google’s banner phrase “”Don’t be evil” no longer applies. Google is the personfication of evilas are Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and Apple.
The planet is being taken over by some very evil and nefarious forces. The takeover of the planet is the not the final end game by these forces. The end game is to reduce the population to a more manageable level and to destroy the soul of every human being on the planet.
The conflict humanity finds itself embroiled in is cleverly disguised. The forces of evil that are taking over this planet are by using our greed and avariciousness against us.
NSA Training Protocols Frame the Presnt War On Humanity
My friend for over two decades, a former NSA operative, Vance Davis, has told my listening audience that as part of his NSA training, he learned the following:
There has been a war going on in the cosmos between good and evil for a very long time.
The goal of the war is the control of every person’s soul for all of eternity.
The dark side, as we can call them, I call them the Satan’s followers, cannot crack the code of the soul. Therefore, they have turned their attention to destroying the bassic concept of a human being. So if Satan’s forces cannot control the soul, they will morph the vessel carrying the soul. This entails the embodiment of every perversion of a human being to our gender identify to our combining humans with artificial intelligence, transgenderism, etc. Vance told me these facts in 1993. When transhumanism came on the scene, I quickly recognized these perversions of creation for what they were, the work of the Devil.
Anything Christian must be outlawed. The DHS manifestation of this philosophy can be found in the creation of The Clergy Response Team in which pastors have been trained, according to trainees such Pastor Walter Mansfield, to calm the masses as millions are sent to FEMA camps for final disposition.
It is generally agreed upon that the Mark of the Beast (666) will be the final tool of enslavement where one cannot buy, sell or conduct business of any type with the mark.
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16-17
For the first time in human history, the technology exists that will enable John’s warning to come to fruition.
The Match Game
Let’s play the match game. The following will test your basic knowledge of the monopolies that are quickly engulfing the planet. These are monopolies that have no competition, and as a result, you will soon have no choices related to the procurement of your basic resources, more on that later. In the following paragraph of quotes, read the self-described claims for each enumerated item and then identify which mega-corporation that quote belongs to your answer bank for these monolithic corporate choices are as follows: (A) Twitter; (B) Facebook; (C) Google; (D) Amazon; and, (E) Apple
To comment on this story you have seen on The Common Sense Show, please head over to our _____ page
Send us a quick message on ____. From breaking news and entertainment to sports and politics, get the full story from ____ with all the live commentary.
Online shopping from _____ brings the earth’s biggest selection of books, magazines, music, DVDs, videos, electronics, computers, software, apparel & accessories, shoes, jewelry, tools & hardware, housewares, furniture, sporting goods, beauty & personal care, broadband & dsl, gourmet food & just about anything else ncluding food and original TV shows.
Search the world’s information, including webpages, images, videos and more. _____ has many special features to help you find exactly what you’re looking for. Don’t Be (ironically) EVIL!
Discover the innovative world of ___ we have any kind of communication device you could need or want ranging from phonese to TV’s and everything in between.
Here are the answers
B. Facebook
A. Twitter
D. Amazon
C. Google
E. Apple
Ho did you do? Do you know the faces of your oppressors? Any business or politician that opposes these monolithic corporations is absorbed or crushed.
What These Corporations Have In Common
If one goes to a mining town, even in the 21st century, one can find evidence of the company mining town, The town controls all commerce from the housing market to the grocery store. They are the primary employer. They know just how much they can pay in salaries and allow the people to just get by but never get ahead. This is the era that humanity entering into. Instead of a comany store, we are headed towards a company planet. However, the name controlling families will not have names like Rockefeller, Carnegie, Gates, Zuckerberg, etc. Oh, they may be the faces of these organizations, but please mark my words, these entities all serve Satan at the end of the day.
Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and Google all comprise the emerging ruling class and from my dealings with them as an Independent Media journalist, they all have certain things in common:
They despise the right to self protection and all favor gun confiscation. That is because they will one day participate in humanity’s darkest days.
Google and Amazon are moving to control basic resources like food and water.
They universally despise free speech, practice extreme censorship, stifle religious freedom, squelch due process, or any other basic civil liberties which restricts the power of the ruling elite.
They are all 100% decidedly anti-Christian.
They will one day make hunting Christians a blood sport.
They are all pagan in their world views.
They force their world view down the throats of humanity with exxtreme censorship.
These are modern day book burners. They alone will decide what you watch, see and hear.
They are a hop, skip and a jump from the mark of beast where if you do not subscribe to their world view you will not be able to buy, sell, eat, or work.
Anyone who does not know Jesus is totally unarmed in the face of this planetary takeover by these despots.
***
Zero Hedge
"I Feel Tremendous Guilt": Former Facebook Exec Says Company Is "Ripping Apart The Social Fabric Of Society"
by Tyler Durden
Dec 11, 2017 5:15 PM
In the most ironic story of the day, and perhaps of 2017, a former Facebook executive whose job it was to literally get the world hooked on the "internet crack" that is social media, is now calling on people to take a "hard break" from a service which he believes is "ripping apart the social fabric of how society works." Speaking to a group of students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Chamath Palihapitiya, who joined Facebook in 2007 and became its vice president for user growth, said that he feels "tremendous guilt" for his role in building the social media giant and warned that "if you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you..." (you can view the relevant portion of the interview here).
"I feel tremendous guilt."
"I think we have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. That is truly where we are."
"I would encourage all of you, as the future leaders of the world, to really internalize how important this is. If you feed the beast, that beast will destroy you. If you push back on it you have a chance to control it and reign it in."
"There is a point in time when people need a hard break from some of these tools."
"The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we've created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it's not an American problem — this is not about Russians ads. This is a global problem."
"So, we're in a really bad state of affairs right now, in my opinion. It is eroding the core foundations of how people behave by and between each other."
"And, I don't have a good solution. You know, my solution is I just don't use these tools anymore. I ahven't for years. It's created huge tension with my friends. Huge tensions in my social circles."
As CNBC notes, Palihapitiya went on to describe an incident in India where hoax messages about kidnappings shared on WhatsApp led to the lynching of seven innocent people. "That's what we're dealing with," said Palihapitiya. "And imagine taking that to the extreme, where bad actors can now manipulate large swathes of people to do anything you want. It's just a really, really bad state of affairs."As noted above, Palihapitiya went on to say that he's only posted to Facebook a handful of times in the past 7 years and said that his children "aren't allowed to use that st."
Palihapitiya went on to criticize not only Facebook, but Silicon Valley's entire system of venture capital funding saying that investors pump money into "stty, useless, idiotic companies," rather than addressing real problems. Palihapitiya currently runs his own VC firm, Social Capital, which focuses on funding companies in sectors like healthcare and education.
Finally, proving that he's just the gift that keeps on giving, Palihapitiya also took a shot at individual tech investors saying they've achieved their power more through luck than skill. "Everybody's bullstting," he said. "If you're in a seat, and you have good deal flow, and you have precious capital, and there's a massive tailwind of technological change ... Over time you get one of the 20 [companies that become successful] and you look like a genius. And nobody wants to admit that but that's the fking truth."
Of course, not everyone is buying Palihapitiya's holier-than-thou speech and has called on the tech billionaire to put his money where his mouth is...
***
Zero Hedge
Gold Will Soar... As China Kneecaps The Dollar
By Tyler Durden
December 13, 2017
Authored by Nick Giambruno via InternationalMan.com,
I recently spoke with my friend and colleague Chris Lowe about China’s new alternative financial system - and how it could mortally wound the US dollar. It was such an important discussion that I had to pass it along.
Chris is the editor of Bonner & Partners’ Inner Circle. His publication shares insights from Bill Bonner’s personal global network of analysts and investment experts.
Using force to compel people to accept money without real value can only work in the short run. It ultimately leads to economic dislocation, both domestic and international, and always ends with a price to be paid.
– Former U.S. Congressman Ron Paul
He who holds the gold makes the rules.
– Old saying
Chris Lowe: Why did you start researching the petrodollar system and its potential unraveling?
Nick Giambruno: This has been on my radar since 2006. That’s when Ron Paul, then a Republican congressman, spoke to Congress about the collapse of the dollar-based global monetary system.
As I recently told my Crisis Investing readers, I think it’s his most important speech ever. It’s called “The End of Dollar Hegemony.”
During the speech, Dr. Paul lays out why a global monetary order built around a fiat currency is doomed to fail.
Crucially, he pointed out the one thing that would precipitate the US dollar’s collapse—the end of the petrodollar system.
But this is the most important part:
The economic law that honest exchange demands only things of real value as currency cannot be repealed. The chaos that one day will ensue from our 35-year experiment with worldwide fiat money will require a return to money of real value. We will know that day is approaching when oil-producing countries demand gold, or its equivalent, for their oil rather than dollars or Euros.
I discussed this with Dr. Paul at a past Casey Research conference. He told me he stood by his assessment.
In a nutshell, he’s saying we’ll know the dollar-centric monetary system is on its way out when countries start trading oil for gold instead of dollars.
That’s already starting to happen.
Chris Lowe: To catch up real quick, why is the petrodollar at risk?
Nick Giambruno: Under the current petrodollar system, all global oil sales are made in dollars. However, the Chinese government recently announced a new mechanism that will allow oil producers anywhere in the world to trade oil for gold.
China’s new mechanism will totally bypass the US dollar and the US financial system… along with any restrictions, regulations, or sanctions from Washington. So for many oil producers, it will be much more attractive than the petrodollar system.
I call it China’s “golden alternative” to the petrodollar. Whatever you call it, though, it will allow for the large-scale trade of oil for gold, instead of dollars.
Here’s how it will work. The Shanghai International Energy Exchange is launching a crude-oil futures contract denominated in yuan, China’s currency. This will allow oil producers around the world to sell their oil for yuan.
Of course, the yuan is a fiat currency, just like the dollar. And most oil producers don’t want large stashes of yuan. The Chinese government knows this. That’s why it’s linked the crude-oil futures contract with the option to efficiently convert yuan into physical gold through gold exchanges in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
Chris Lowe: How soon will this new system be up and running?
Nick Giambruno: I spoke with officials at the Shanghai International Energy Exchange. They told me they plan to go live with it before the end of the year, or shortly thereafter.
Chris Lowe: But isn’t that a good thing? Isn’t gold, as a currency, more reliable than the dollar?
Nick Giambruno: I think it’s high time gold played a more central role in the global monetary system. The problem is ditching the petrodollar would negatively affect the US economy.
Think about it. If Italy wants to buy oil from Kuwait… or Argentina wants to buy oil from Brazil… they have to buy dollars on the foreign exchange market first.
This creates a huge artificial market for dollars.
It means the US can simply print dollars and exchange them for real things like French wine, Italian cars, Korean electronics, or Chinese manufactured goods.
It also helps create a deeper, more liquid market for US Treasury bonds. This pushes up prices… and pushes down yields… which allows the US federal government to finance enormous and permanent deficits.
The petrodollar has allowed Washington to spend astronomical amounts of money on welfare and other benefits for over half the population. This gives Americans a much higher standard of living than they would have otherwise. Most of them don’t know this or understand how it affects their everyday lives.
Thanks to the petrodollar, Washington can also sanction or exclude virtually any country from the dollar-based global financial system at the flip of a switch. By extension, it can also cut off any country from the vast majority of international trade.
Chris Lowe: Others have argued that this has led the US Deep State into military actions against anyone who threatens the petrodollar system. Is the Deep State that scared about the effects this could have on the economy and on its position as the world’s top power?
Nick Giambruno: Let’s put it this way, world leaders who have challenged the petrodollar system have ended up dead. Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi are prime examples.
In October 2000, Saddam started to sell Iraqi oil in euro only. He said Iraq would no longer accept dollars for oil because it did not want to deal in the “currency of the enemy.”
A little over two years later, the US invaded Iraq. After Baghdad fell to US forces, all Iraqi oil sales were switched back to dollars.
And thanks to WikiLeaks’ release of Hillary Clinton’s emails, we know that protecting the petrodollar—not humanitarian concerns—was the main reason for America’s involvement in the ousting and killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
According to the leaked emails, the US—along with France—feared Gaddafi would use Libya’s vast gold reserves to back a pan-African currency. This gold-backed currency would have been used to buy and sell oil in global markets. It would have likely displaced the CFA franc—a version of the euro used in 14 central and west African nations.
As I’m sure you recall, the US and France backed a rebellion that overthrew Gaddafi in 2011. After his death, plans for the gold-backed currency—along with Libya’s 4.6 million ounces of gold—vanished.
Chris Lowe: What’s Russia’s role in all of this?
Nick Giambruno: The dollar is not just a currency. It’s a political weapon… and Washington is not shy about using it.
Most recently, it tried to punish Russia for its actions in Ukraine by imposing economic sanctions. This made it harder for Russia to access the dollar-based financial system. So it’s no surprise that Russia struck a deal to sell oil and gas to China for yuan afterward.
Chris Lowe: How big a deal is it that Russia is working with China on bypassing the dollar?
Nick Giambruno: Russia is one of the world’s largest energy producers. And China is the world’s largest energy importer. Historically, they would trade with each other exclusively in US dollars.
But the Shanghai International Energy Exchange futures contract will streamline and solidify the process of selling oil to China for yuan—or effectively for gold.
When two of the biggest players in the global energy market totally bypass the petrodollar system, it’s a very big deal.
And it’s not just Russia and China. Other countries want to sidestep the US financial system and US economic sanctions, too. China’s “golden alternative” will give them the option to do just that. This will make the US dollar a much less effective political weapon.
Take Iran, for example. It’s the world’s fifth-largest oil producer. And it’s now accepting yuan as payment for its oil. So is Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. I think others will soon follow.
This all makes perfect economic sense. Oil-producing nations can continue with the petrodollar system and sell their oil for dollars. But there’s not much financial incentive to do that anymore. The Fed has deliberately pushed down US Treasury yields to “stimulate” economic growth. Plus, the system exposes US rivals to the whims of Washington.
Now oil producers have a second option. Through China’s “golden alternative,” they can sell their oil for yuan, then quickly and easily convert it to gold.
Unlike the dollar, gold is an international form of money with no political risk. From the perspective of an overseas oil producer—especially one with a poor relationship with the US—this is a no-brainer.
Chris Lowe: Russia may be one of the world’s largest oil producers. But Saudi Arabia is still the world’s largest oil exporter. And a lot of that oil goes to China, the world’s largest oil importer. The Saudis were also America’s partner in the petrodollar agreement back in 1974. Can’t the House of Saud use this influence to protect the petrodollar system?
Nick Giambruno: For now, the Saudis are refusing to participate in China’s “golden alternative.” That’s because selling oil for anything but dollars would break the petrodollar deal they made with the US back in 1974. Remember, the Saudis agreed to sell their oil exclusively in dollars in return for US arms and military protection.
Last year, on the campaign trail, Donald Trump said, “If Saudi Arabia was without the cloak of American protection, I don’t think it would be around.” He’s absolutely correct. If the Saudis started selling oil for yuan, they would immediately lose American diplomatic and military protection.
But Saudi Arabia is already looking for alternatives to American protection.
Chris Lowe: Who is it turning to?
Nick Giambruno: This is where the story gets really interesting. Russia and Saudi Arabia have been enemies for decades. The Saudis, along with the US, supported the Afghan mujahideen that drove the Soviet Army out of Afghanistan. The Saudis also supported a number of Chechen rebellions against Russia. And more recently, the Saudis and Russians have been on opposite sides of the Syrian Civil War.
But recently, the Saudi king—along with 1,500 members of his royal entourage—visited Moscow. It was the first official visit by a Saudi king to Russia. The trip coincided with a $10 billion Saudi investment in Russian energy projects and a $3 billion arms deal.
As part of that deal, the Saudis will buy Russia’s S-400 missile system. It’s arguably the most capable air defense system in the world. It’s a powerful deterrent to even US fighter jets.
Chris Lowe: I didn’t know the Saudis bought Russian weapons systems.
Nick Giambruno: They didn’t… up until now. Ever since the birth of the petrodollar, the Saudis have depended on American military protection. After all, it’s what they get in return for pricing their oil in dollars.
Chris Lowe: So why would the Saudis enter into an arms deal with Russia?
Nick Giambruno: The Saudis are hedging their bets. First, they’re not buying an American-made air-defense system. Second, they’re buying a Russian air-defense system that’s capable of deterring an American attack. The House of Saud is making significant moves, in other words, to give itself alternatives to American protection.
Chris Lowe: Is there any other evidence that Saudi Arabia is moving away from the US?
Nick Giambruno: Last August, Saudi Arabia announced it was willing to issue “Panda bonds” to finance its government spending deficit. These are yuan-denominated bonds from non-Chinese issuers that are sold in China.
This is remarkable. The Saudi currency, the riyal, is pegged to the dollar. Up until this point, Saudi Arabia has exclusively used US dollars for all of its major financial initiatives. Issuing debt in yuan is a significant move. It means that financially, Saudi Arabia is drifting closer to China.
Chris Lowe: Why does Saudi Arabia need to hedge its bets like this?
Nick Giambruno: A few years ago, Saudi oil made up over 25% of Chinese oil imports. They were Beijing’s No. 1 supplier. Today, the Saudis’ market share has dropped below 15%.
The Saudis are losing massive market share and getting pushed out of the biggest oil market in the world—mainly because they refuse to sell oil to China in yuan.
China has made itself clear. It’s willing to expand business with anyone who will accept yuan as payment.
Chris Lowe: If the Saudis bow to Chinese pressure, where does all that leave the petrodollar system?
Nick Giambruno: The Saudis haven’t made a clean break with the US and the petrodollar—yet. But they are drifting toward China financially and Russia militarily. These moves are already sidelining the petrodollar. The Saudis are clearly setting up the option to dump the petrodollar.
If the Saudis start to sell oil to China in yuan, it would kill the petrodollar overnight.
Short of that, things still look very dire for the petrodollar. What is baked into the cake—thanks, in large part, to China’s “golden alternative”—is the petrodollar’s significant erosion.
Chris Lowe: What specific advice do you have based on this prognosis?
Nick Giambruno: The increased demand for gold from China’s “golden alternative” to the petrodollar is going to shock the gold market. And this demand shock clearly hasn’t been priced into the gold market yet. As many of your readers will be aware, gold is still down significantly from its 2011 peak.
That’s why I am so bullish on gold right now. As the petrodollar dies, gold is going to replace it as the go-to currency for the oil trade. That makes the yellow metal the single best way to profit from this major shift in our monetary order.
I started warning about the end of the petrodollar late last year. That’s when I told Crisis Investing readers that the death of the petrodollar would be the No. 1 black swan event of 2017.
Eventually, people will look back and see China’s “golden alternative” as the catalyst that made it happen.
* * *
Few people appreciate how unstable America’s monetary system is. Our colleague and financial world legend Bill Bonner has an unparalleled track record for making spot-on political and economic predictions... and he says we’re teetering on the edge of a full-fledged economic shutdown.
***
Zero Hedge
It's Official: Bitcoin Surpasses "Tulip Mania", Is Now The Biggest Bubble In World History
By Tyler Durden
Dec 12, 2017 9:16 AM
One month ago, a chart from Convoy Investments went viral for showing that among all of the world's most famous asset bubbles, bitcoin was only lagging the infamous 17th century "Tulip Mania."
One month later, the price of bitcoin has exploded even higher, and so it is time to refresh where in the global bubble race bitcoin now stands, and also whether it has finally surpassed "Tulips."
Conveniently, overnight the former Bridgewater analysts Howard Wang and Robert Wu who make up Convoy, released the answer in the form of an updated version of their asset bubble chart. In the new commentary, Wang writes that the Bitcoin prices have again more than doubled since the last update, and. "its price has now gone up over 17 times this year, 64 times over the last three years and superseded that of the Dutch Tulip’s climb over the same time frame."
That's right: as of this moment it is official that bitcoin is now the biggest bubble in history, having surpassed the Tulip Mania of 1634-1637.
And with that we can say that crypto pioneer Mike Novogratz was right once again when he said that "This is going to be the biggest bubble of our lifetimes." Which, of course, does not stop him from investing hundreds of millions in the space: when conceding that cryptos are the biggest bubble ever, "Novo" also said he expects bitcoin to hit $40,000 and ethereum to triple to $1,500.
"Bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could," Novogratz said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "Ethereum, which I think just touched $500 or is getting close, could be triple where it is as well."
As for Wang, here are some additional observations:
I continue this topic and discuss a main driver of bubbles. When we see a dramatic rise in asset prices, there is often an internal struggle between the two types of investors within us. The first is the value investor, “is this investment getting too expensive?” The second is the momentum investor, “am I missing out on a trend?” I believe the balance of these two approaches, both within ourselves and across a market, ultimately determines the propensity for bubble-like behavior. When there is a new or rapidly evolving market, our conviction in the value investor can weaken and the momentum investor can take over. Other markets that structurally lack a basis for valuation are even more susceptible to momentum swings because the main indicator of future value is the market’s perception of recent value.
***
Natural News
Evidence points to Bitcoin being an NSA-engineered psyop to roll out one-world digital currency
Sunday, December 10, 2017 by: Mike Adams
(Natural News) I’m going to assume the readers who make it to this article are well informed enough that I don’t have to go into the history of the global money changers and their desire for a one world currency. (If you don’t yet understand the goal of the globalist banking empire and the coming engineered collapse of the fiat currency system, you’re already about 5,000 posts behind the curve.)
With that as a starting point, it’s now becoming increasingly evident that Bitcoin may be a creation of the NSA and was rolled out as a “normalization” experiment to get the public familiar with digital currency. Once this is established, the world’s fiat currencies will be obliterated in an engineered debt collapse (see below for the sequence of events), then replaced with a government approved cryptocurrency with tracking of all transactions and digital wallets by the world’s western governments.
NSA mathematicians detailed “digital cash” two decades ago
What evidence supports this notion? First, take a look at this document entitled, “How to make a mint: The cryptography of anonymous electronic cash.” This document, released in 1997 — yes, twenty years ago — detailed the overall structure and function of Bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Who authored the document? Try not to be shocked when you learn it was authored by “mathematical cryptographers at the National Security Agency’s Office of Information Security Research and Technology.”
The NSA, in other words, detailed key elements of Bitcoin long before Bitcoin ever came into existence. Much of the Bitcoin protocol is detailed in this document, including signature authentication techniques, eliminating cryptocoin counterfeits through transaction authentication and several features that support anonymity and untraceability of transactions. The document even outlines the heightened risk of money launderingthat’s easily accomplished with cryptocurrencies. It also describes “secure hashing” to be “both one-way and collision-free.”
Although Bitcoin adds mining and a shared, peer-to-peer blockchain transaction authentication system to this structure, it’s clear that the NSA was researching cryptocurrencies long before everyday users had ever heard of the term. Note, too, that the name of the person credited with founding Bitcoin is Satoshi Nakamoto, who is reputed to have reserved one million Bitcoins for himself. Millions of posts and online threads discuss the possible identity of Satishi Nakamoto, and some posts even claim the NSA has identified Satoshi. However, another likely explanation is that Satoshi Nakamoto is the NSA, which means he is either working for the NSA is is a sock puppet character created by the NSA for the purpose of this whole grand experiment.
The NSA also wrote the crypto hash used by Bitcoin to secure all transactions
On top of the fact that the NSA authored a technical paper on cryptocurrency long before the arrival of Bitcoin, the agency is also the creator of the SHA-256 hash upon which every Bitcoin transaction in the world depends. As The Hacker News explains. “The integrity of Bitcoin depends on a hash function called SHA-256, which was designed by the NSA and published by the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).” THN also adds:
“If you assume that the NSA did something to SHA-256, which no outside researcher has detected, what you get is the ability, with credible and detectable action, they would be able to forge transactions. The really scary thing is somebody finds a way to find collisions in SHA-256 really fast without brute-forcing it or using lots of hardware and then they take control of the network.” Cryptography researcher Matthew D. Green of Johns Hopkins University said.
In other words, if the SHA-256 hash, which was created by the NSA, actually has a backdoor method for cracking the encryption, it would mean the NSA could steal everybody’s Bitcoins whenever it wants. (Call it “Zero Day.”) That same article, written by Mohit Kumar, mysteriously concludes, “Even today it’s too early to come to conclusions about Bitcoin. Possibly it was designed from day one as a tool to help maintain control of the money supplies of the world.”
And with that statement, Kumar has indeed stumbled upon the bigger goal in all this: To seize control over the world money supply as the fiat currency system crumbles and is replaced with a one-world digital currency controlled by globalists.
Think cryptography is bulletproof? Think again…
Lest you think that the cryptography of cryptocurrency is secure and bulletproof, consider this article from The Hacker News: Researchers Crack 1024-bit RSA Encryption in GnuPG Crypto Library, which states, “The attack allows an attacker to extract the secret crypto key from a system by analyzing the pattern of memory utilization or the electromagnetic outputs of the device that are emitted during the decryption process.”
Note, importantly, that this is a 1024-bit encryption system. The same technique is also said to be able to crack 2048-bit encryption. In fact, encryption layers are cracked on a daily basis by clever hackers. Some of those encryption layers are powering various cryptocurrencies right now. Unless you are an extremely high-level mathematician, there’s no way you can know for sure whether any crypto currency is truly non-hackable.
In fact, every cryptocurrency becomes obsolete with the invention of large-scale quantum computing. Once China manages to build a working 256-bit quantum computer, it can effectively steal all the Bitcoins in the world (plus steal most national secrets and commit other global mayhem at will).
Ten steps to crypto-tyranny: The “big plan” by the globalists (and how it involves Bitcoin)
In summary, here’s one possible plan by the globalists to seize total control over the world’s money supply, savings, taxation and financial transactions while enslaving humanity. (And it all starts with Bitcoin.)
1) Roll out the NSA-created Bitcoin to get the public excited about a digital currency.
2) Quietly prepare a globalist-controlled cryptocurrency to take its place. (JP Morgan, anyone?)
3) Initiate a massive, global-scale false flag operation that crashes the global debt markets and sends fiat currencies down in flames. (Hoax alien invasion, hoax North Korean EMP attack, mass distributed power grid terrorism network, etc.)
4) Blame whatever convenient enemy is politically acceptable (North Korea, “the Russians,” Little Green Men or whatever it takes…).
5) Allow the fiat currency debt pyramid to collapse and smolder until the sheeple get desperate (i.e. Venezuela-style desperation with people eating out of dumpsters).
6) With great fanfare, announce a government-backed cryptocurrency replacement for all fiat currencies, and position world governments as the SAVIOR of humanity. Allow the desperate public to trade in their fiat currencies for official crypto currencies.
7) Outlaw cash and criminalize gold and silver ownership by private citizens. All in the name of “security,” of course.
8) Criminalize all non-official cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, crashing their value virtually overnight and funneling everyone into the one world government crypto, where the NSA controls the blockchain. This can easily be achieved by blaming the false flag event (see above) on some nation or group that is said to have been “funded by Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency used by terrorists.”
9) Require embedded RFID or biometric identifiers for all transactions in order to “authenticate” the one-world digital crypto currency activities. Mark of the Beast becomes reality. No one is allowed to eat, travel or earn a wage without being marked.
10) Once absolute control over the new one-world digital currency is achieved, weaponize the government-tracked blockchain to track all transactions, investments and commercial activities. Confiscate a portion of all crypto under the guise of “automated taxation.” In an emergency, the government can even announce negative interest rates where your holdings automatically decrease each day.
With all this accomplished, globalists can now roll out absolute totalitarian control over every aspect of private lives by enforcing financial “blackouts” for those individuals who criticize the government. They can put in place automatic deductions for traffic violations, vehicle license plate taxes, internet taxes and a thousand other oppressive taxes invented by the bureaucracy. With automatic deductions run by the government, citizens have no means to halt the endless confiscation of their “money” by totalitarian bureaucrats and their deep state lackeys.
How do you feel about your Bitcoin now?
***
DW
EU sues Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland over low refugee intake
7 December 2017
The European Commission is suing eastern member states for failing to fulfill their legal obligations in accepting a share of asylum seekers. The defendants claim that the EU is interfering with their sovereignty.
The European Commission took the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Thursday over their failure to accept their required quotas for refugees.
The contentious scheme, which was adopted at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, was focused on "burden-sharing," meaning that 160,000 refugees should be relocated across most of the bloc's 28 member-states to ease the burden on Greece and Italy.
It means that the three eastern nations would have to settle around 8,000 migrants between them as part of the quota. However, so far Hungary and Poland have taken in none at all, while the Czech Republic has accepted just 12.
By pursuing these countries at the ECJ, Brussels is showing its determination to see this scheme carried out. It is also fueling a new clash between the EU body and important eastern member states.
"The European Commission has today decided to refer the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU for non-compliance with their legal obligations on relocation," the Commission said in a statement. "This is why the Commission has decided to move to the next stage of the infringement procedure and refer the three member states to the Court of Justice of the EU."
The three countries, however, claim that Brussels is attempting to interfere with their national sovereignty. They could face heavy fines if they do not comply with any court ruling on their duty to accept refugees.
The refugee relocation scheme has been mostly unsuccessful in the two-and-a-half years since it was adopted. As of last week, only around 32,000 refugees had been relocated as part of the program.
The continued disagreement over the refugee quota scheme has hampered attempts to reform the EU's asylum policy, with EU leaders set to address the issue at a summit in Brussels on December 14-15.
Poland says it's ready to defend position
Following the European Commission's declaration Thursday, Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said his government was ready to defend its decision to refuse migrants before the ECJ.
Poland's ruling populist Law and Justice (PiS) party has long insisted that it will not admit migrants from Africa and the Middle East, citing security concerns following a spate deadly Islamist attacks in western Europe, as well as problems associated with determining the identify of migrants.
"No one will lift the duty of providing public safety from the Polish government," Szymanski told state news agency PAP.
Hungary also in the dock for NGO, education reforms
The European Commission on Thursday also announced that it was also taking Hungary to court for additional breaches of EU laws.
Recent reforms concerning foreign-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and universities have drawn major ire from Brussels. Thursday's announcement came after the ECJ said Hungary's conservative government, led by Viktor Orban, had failed to satisfy the Commission's concerns on the two issues.
Under the new NGO reforms, organizations receiving over €24,000 ($28,293) of foreign financing have to register as "civic organizations funded from abroad." The new education law, meanwhile, changes the requirements for foreign universities, forcing them to have run operations in their home country to also run in Hungary. The Commission found that the act "disproportionately restricts" an institution's operations and runs counter to the right to academic freedom.
The new laws are widely seen as a government bid to curtail the influence of Hungarian-born financier George Soros, who founded the Central European University in Budapest and whose Open Society Foundations includes a number NGOs.
cl, dm/msh (AFP, Reuters)
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MailOnline
'Get up off your knees!' Lord Lawson demands PM ends 'demeaning' Brexit negotiations with Brussels
Tory grandee Lord Lawson delivered scathing assessment of PM's Brexit talks
Accused Mrs May of 'losing nerve' and putting Britain in an 'humiliating position'
The PM defended her divorce deal with the EU in the Commons yesterday
By JAMES TAPSFIELD, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 10:00, 12 December 2017 | UPDATED: 01:27, 13 December 2017
Theresa May has been accused of 'losing her nerve' and 'demeaning' Britain by bowing to Brussels' demands in Brexit negotiations.
Tory grandee Lord Lawson launched a furious attack on the PM saying she had put the country in an 'humiliating' position by begging the EU for a trade deal.
Urging a drastic change in tactics after Mrs May made a slew of concessions to secure a divorce deal last week, the former chancellor said: 'We must get up off our knees. Enough is enough.'
The scathing assessment came after the premier defended her controversial agreement in the Commons yesterday.
Tory grandee Lord Lawson launched a furious attack on the PM saying she had put the country in a 'humiliating' position by begging the EU for a trade deal (file picture)
Tory Eurosceptics have been generally keeping their powder dry until the shape of the government's proposed trade deal becomes clearer.
But there are fears that Mrs May has already committed the UK to 'soft' Brexit with a vow to mirror some EU rules in order to prevent a hard Irish border.
Some MPs also voiced alarm at the prospect of paying a divorce bill to the EU of around £39billion, although Mrs May has insisted no money will be paid if there is no deal.
The government is desperate to paper over the cracks at least until after the crucial EU summit, when the bloc's leaders will decide whether to approve the start of trade talks.
But delivering the annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture at London's Carlton Club last night, Lord Lawson smashed the fragile truce.
The peer, who has been urging the PM to leave the bloc with 'no deal' and revert to World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms, said the divorce deal was 'just about acceptable so far as it goes'.
But he added: 'We find ourselves today quite unnecessarily as a supplicant, in a humiliating state of cringe, begging for what is both unnecessary and unattainable – a posture which would have been anathema to Margaret Thatcher.
'The time has come to call an end to this demeaning process. We must get up off our knees. Enough is enough.'
Lord Lawson, who was Chancellor under Thatcher, said the government had 'allowed ourselves to become bogged down in the fruitless quest for a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, wasting precious time and making concession after concession to try and achieve one'.
'It is fruitless essentially because the EU is determined that we should not get anything that can be presented as a good deal, as that might, either now or in the future, encourage other members to follow suit.
'The provisional agreement that Mrs May secured last Friday is just about acceptable so far as it goes.
'But let us be quite clear. The UK's regulatory autonomy, post-Brexit, must be unfettered. It is an essential attribute of national sovereignty, which is what Brexit is all about.'
Lord Lawson said Mrs May seemed to have 'lost her nerve' and 'allowed herself to be manoeuvred into imagining that no trade deal would be a disaster'.
'This is manifest nonsense. It is also the cause of most of her current difficulties,' he said.
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Natural.News
Omega-3 benefits for brain health are well documented; now researchers have determined they help prevent Alzheimer’s
Monday, December 11, 2017 by Ethan Huff
As mainstream science continues to pour endless money into trying to find that ever elusive “cure” for Alzheimer’s disease, researchers from Texas have been busy identifying more of the ways that natural omega-3 fatty acids can help to protect the brain against this horrible degenerative disease.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, a team of scientists laid out how omega-3s possess unique anti-amyloid, anti-tau, and anti-inflammatory properties, and that are known to help increase blood flow to the brain
They compared images taken using single photo emission computed tomography, also known as SPECT, showing how blood moves to and fro within a person’s brain depending on what he or she is doing or thinking about, to the Omega-3 Index, a measure of the blood concentration of two specific types of omega-3s: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).
For the purposes of this study, SPECT imagery was compared to Omega-3 Index data, revealing that both EPA and DHA are directly associated with increased blood flow to areas of the brain associated with memory and learning. EPA and DHA were similarly found to help directly counteract the degenerative effects of dementia.
Drawing from a random sample of 166 participants in a psychiatric referral clinic for which Omega-3 Index results were available, study participants were divided into two groups: One with higher concentrations of EPA and DHA in the greater than 50th percentile, and the other with lower concentrations of EPA and DHA in a lower than 50th percentile. The quantitative brain SPECT was then conducted on 128 regions of the participants’ brains, each one completing a computerized testing of their neurocognitive status.
At the completion of the study, the results showed a strong relationship between the Omega-3 Index and regional perfusion on brain SPECT in areas associated with memory and neurocognitive testing. In other words, EPA and DHA (and likely many other omega-3s that are lesser studied) are key contributors to anti-Alzheimer’s brain health.
“This is very important research because it shows a correlation between lower omega-3 fatty acid levels and reduced brain blood flow to regions important for learning, memory, depression and dementia,” stated lead author Daniel G. Amen, M.D., from Amen Clinics Inc. of Costa Mesa, California.
Don’t forget your coconut oil: Another of nature’s amazing brain foods
Omega-3s are just one piece of a much greater anti-aging nutritional puzzle, particularly as it pertains to brain health. Studies show that coconut oil, for instance, is another powerful brain food that counteracts the damaging effects of neurodegeneration. After the body metabolizes it, coconut oil is transformed by the liver into what are known as ketones, which the body recognizes as an alternate fuel source. And this fuel source just so happens to be preferred by the brain, meaning that ketones are converted into energy that the brain uses to keep itself in tip-top shape.
This just goes to show that nature already has plenty to offer when it comes to maintaining one’s brain health, and that we don’t have to turn to the pharmaceutical industry for answers when we already have affordable, all-natural options at our disposal. Even this latest study helps to confirm this, illustrating that nutrition is what the human body needs to stay healthy – not more chemical drugs.
“This study is a major advance in demonstrating the value of nutritional intervention for brain health by using the latest brain imaging,” stated George Perry, Ph.D., Dean and Professor of Biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
To keep up with the latest news on brain health and cognitive decline, be sure to visit Dementia.news.
Sources for this article include:
IOSPress.nl
NaturalNews.com
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