“For, behold, I am he that strengthens the thunder, and creates the wind, and proclaims to men his Christ, forming the morning and the darkness, and mounting on the high places of the earth, The Lord God Almighty is his name.
Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name [was] Simeon; and the same man [was] just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
(Amos 4:12 John 7:26 Luke 2:25-32)
Yeshua is a name which means ‘Salvation’ in Hebrew.
Mine Eyes Have Seen Thy Salvation

YESHUA IN THE TANAKH
(The Name of JESUS in the Old Testament)

Arthur E. Glass

In dealing with my Jewish brethren for the past many years in Canada, the United States,Argentina and Uruguay. I had one great difficulty, and it was this: My Jewish people would always fling at me this challenging question,"If Jesus is our Messiah, and the whole Old Testament is about Him, how come His name is never mentioned in It even once?"

I could never answer it satisfactorily to their way of thinking, and I admit I often wondered why His name was not actually written in the Old Bible. Oh, yes, I could show them His divine titles inIsaiah 7:14-9:6 and Jeremiah 23:5-6, and even the word MESSIAH in several places; but the Hebrew name that would be equal to Jesus, that I could not show. Then one day the Holy Spirit opened my eyes, and I just shouted. There was the very NAME, Jesus, found in the Old Testament about 100 times all the way from GENESIS to HABAKKUK! Yes, the very word - the very NAME - that the angel Gabriel used in Luke 1:31 when he told Mary about the Son she was to have. "Where do we find that NAME?" you ask. Here it is, friend: Every time the Old Testament uses the word SALVATION (especially with the Hebrew suffix meaning "my," thy," or "his"), with very few exceptions (when the word is impersonal), it is the very same word, YESHUA (Jesus), used in Matthew 1:21. Let us remember that the angel who spoke to Mary and the angel who spoke to Joseph in his dream did not speak in English, Latin, or Greek, but in Hebrew; and neither were Mary or Joseph slow to grasp the meaning and significance of the NAME of this divine Son and its relation to His character and His work of salvation. For in the Old Testament all great characters were given names with a specific and significant meaning.

For example, in Genesis 5:29, Lamech called his son Noah [Comfort], saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and tell of our hands. In Genesis 10:25, Eber calls his firstborn son, Peleg [Division]; for in his days was the earth divided. The same is true of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob (changed to Israel-God's Prince), and all of Jacob's sons (see Genesis, chapters 29-32). In Exodus 2:10, Pharaoh's daughter called the baby rescued from the Nile, Moses [Drawn-Forth]: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. And so we can go on and on to show the deep significance of Hebrew names.

Now then, when the angel spoke to Joseph, husband of Mary, the mother of our Lord, this is what he really said and what Joseph actually understood: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus [YESHUA (SALVATION)]: for he shall save [or salvage] his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21). This text was so forcibly brought home to my soul soon after I was converted over 24 years ago, that I saw the whole plan of the Old Testament in that one ineffable and blessed NAME.

So let us proceed to show clearly the Hebrew name YESHUA
(Greek = Iesus English = Jesus) in the Old Testament.

When the great Patriarch Jacob was ready to depart from this world, he by the Holy Spirit was blessing his sons and prophetically foretelling their future experiences in those blessings. In verse 18 of Genesis 49 he exclaims, I have waited for thy salvation, 0 Lord! What he really did say and mean was, "To thy YESHUA (Jesus) I am looking, 0 Lord"; or, "In thy YESHUA (Jesus) I am hoping (trusting), Lord!" That makes much better sense.

Of course YESHUA (Jesus) was the One in Whom Jacob was trusting to carry him safely over the chilly waters of the river of death. Jacob was a saved man, and did not wait until his dying moments to start trusting in the Lord. He just reminded God that he was at the same time comforting his own soul.

In Psalms 9:14, David bursts forth, I will rejoice in thy salvation.
What he actually did say and mean was, "I will rejoice in (with) thy YESHUA (Jesus)."

In Psalm 91:14-16 God says, Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high [raise him above circumstances], because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life [eternal life] will I satisfy him, and show him my [YESHUA (Jesus)] salvation. Of course. That promise is realized in Revelation 22:3-4: And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it: and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see HIS face.

In Isaiah 12:2- 3 we have something wonderful. Here SALVATION is mentioned three times. The reader will be much blessed by reading these glorious verses in his Bible, but let me give them as they actually read in the original Hebrew with Jesus as the embodiment and personification of the word SALVATION: Behold, might (or, God the mighty One) is my YESHUA (Jesus-in His pre-incarnation and eternal existence); I will trust and not be afraid:, for JAH-JAHOVAH is my strength and my song; He also is become my YESHUA (Jesus).... And the WORD (Jesus incarnate) became flesh, and dwelt among us. (John 1: 14). … Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of YESHUA [Jesus - waters of salvation flowing forth from Golgotha]."

Something very interesting occurred one spring in St. Louis: I was visiting in the home of our friends, Brother and Mrs. Charles Siegelman, and another Jew was present there. He claimed Jewish orthodoxy for his creed. Of course the conversation centered around Him Who is the Center of all things -- Jesus. This good Jewish brother opposed the claims of Yeshua in the Old Testament verbally, and in a friendly fashion, most violently. His best offensive weapon, he thought, was to fling at me and at all of us there the well-known challenge: "You can't find the name of 'Jesus' in the Old Testament;" and this he did.

I did not answer him directly, but asked him to translate for us from my Hebrew Bible, Isaiah 62:11. Being a Hebrew scholar, he did so with utmost ease, rapidly, and correctly; and here is what and how he translated that text verbatim: Behold, Jehovah has proclaimed unto the end of the world. Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy YESHUA[ Jesus] cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. Just then he crimsoned as he realized what he had done and how he had played into my hands, and he just fairly screamed out, "No! no! You made me read it 'thy YESHUA' Jesus], Mr. Glass!  You tricked me!" I said, "No, I did not trick you, I just had you read the Word of God for yourself. Can't you see that here SALVATION is a Person and not a thing or an event? HE Comes, 'HIS reward is with HIM, and His work before him.' Then he rushed at his own Old Testament, talking away frantically saying, "I'm sure mine is different from yours." And when he found the passage, he just dropped like a deflated balloon. His Old Testament was, of course, identical. All he could use as an escape from admitting defeat was to deny the divine inspiration of the book of Isaiah.

Then skipping on to Habakkuk, we have the greatest demonstration of the NAME "Jesus" in the Old Testament; for here we have both the name as well as the title of the Savior. In Habakkuk 3:13 we read literally from the original Hebrew: Thou wentest forth with the YESHA [variant of ESHUA-Jesus] of [or for] thy people; with YESHUA thy MESSIAH [thine Anointed One: i.e., with Jesus thy Anointed] thou woundest the head of the house of the wicked one [Satan]. Here you have it! The very NAME given to our Lord in the New Testament - JESUS CHRIST! So don't let anyone - Jew or Gentile - tell you that the Name JESUS is not found in the Old Testament. And so when the aged Simeon came to the Temple, led there by the Holy Spirit, and took the baby Yeshua in his arms, he said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation [YESHUA (Jesus)] (Luke 2:29-30). Certainly! Not only did his eyes see God's Salvation - God's YESHUA (Jesus) - but he felt Him and touched Him. His believing heart beat with joy and assurance as he felt the loving heart of God throbbing in the heart of the holy infant YESHUA.

And thou shalt call his name Jesus (SALVATION = YESHUA);
for he shall save [salvage] his people from their sins!

***

***

theblaze

Superstar Justin Bieber details to 95M Instagram followers how Jesus changes him daily

December 19, 2017

Pop singer Justin Bieber witnessed to his 95 million Instagram followers on Friday, sharing an image of a whiteboard on which a powerful message of faith was scrawled.

The photo, which has amassed over 2 million likes, featured a whiteboard that read, “Do you feel you have exausted [sic] all options? Do you feel helpless? Do you feel like you’re never good enough? What if I told you that there’s a god that’s willing to meet you WHEREVER you’re at! What if I told you he could take away your pain, shame, guit [sic] and fears #Jesus.”

“Jesus is changing me from the inside out everyday! AND I MISSPELLED GUILT and exhausted,” Bieber captioned the photo.

Is this the first time Bieber has spoken out about his faith?

It is not.

Bieber in August posted an Instagram video of himself and fellow worshippers singing and dancing together during the Hillsong Conference in Australia.

He captioned the video, “[N]othing more fun/cool than praising our God.”

Bieber in July shared another Instagram video of himself mouthing the words to Hillsong’s “Not Today,” and captioned the video, “Let the devil know NOT TODAY! The devil has no power when you know the LIVING God! His name is JESUS!! Why worry when you can worship.”

Bieber in June appeared at the One Love Manchester concert, which was held to honor the victims of the 2017 terror attacks on London Bridge and at an Ariana Grande concert.

“God is good in the midst of the darkness. God is good in the midst of the evil,” Bieber told the audience.

“God is in the midst no matter what’s happening in the world, God is in the midst, and He loves you and He’s here for you,” he added.

He’s come pretty far, right?

He has.

Bieber has had a spotty past that includes several accusations of vandalism in 2013 and 2014.

The performer was arrested in 2014 on suspicion of driving under the influence, driving with an expired license, and resisting arrest.

A leaked video reportedly recorded when Bieber was 14 years old also feature the performer using the N-word and making jokes about blacks. In another video, he sang about killing black people and joining the Ku Klux Klan.

***

MailOnline

UN votes 128-9 to declare US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital 'null and void' - as Britain jeopardises its special relationship with America by voting AGAINST Trump

• UN voted 128-9 in favour of a resolution declaring Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Isreal 'void'

• The UK was among those supporting the non-binding measure, putting strain on the 'special relationship'

• Guatemala, Honduras, Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands joined the US and Israel in opposing the motion, with 35 abstentions and a further 21 countries absent

• Donald Trump said he would be 'watching' who voted against him and threatened to withdraw aid payments

By CHRIS PLEASANCE and JULIAN ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 14:24, 21 December 2017 | UPDATED: 22:16, 21 December 2017

The UN General Assembly has voted 128 to 9 in favour of a non-binding resolution rejecting the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

That is despite the US President threatening to cut billions of dollars in aid to countries that dared to defy him.

The UK was among those countries to vote against Trump, putting further pressure on the 'special relationship' after the pair got into a war of words when Trump retweeted several Britain First videos earlier this month.

May and Trump did speak on the phone about the Jerusalem issue on Wednesday after Britain opposed America in a similar vote at the Security Council. Downing Street acknowledged after the call that the leaders had taken 'different positions'.

The United Nations General Assembly has voted 128-9 to reject Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite threats from the President to withdraw aid

No mention was made of the Britain First videos during the call, according to a transcript released by Number 10.

Trump had said ahead of the vote that 'we're watching' the outcome, while Nikki Haley, his representative, had warned that the US would be 'taking names'.

The resolution, sponsored by Yemen and Turkey, reaffirmed what has been the United Nations' stand on the divided holy city since 1967 - that Jerusalem's final status must be decided in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said afterwards that he totally rejects the "preposterous" resolution.

The United States and Israel had waged an intensive lobbying campaign against the resolution, with US Ambassador Nikki Haley sending letters to over 180 countries warning that Washington would be taking names of those who voted against the US.

But when it came to the vote, major US aid recipients including Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania and South Africa supported the resolution.

Seven countries - Guatemala, Honduras, Togo, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands - joined Israel and the United States in opposing the measure.

Among the 35 countries that abstained were Argentina, Australia, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Mexico, the Philippines, Romania and Rwanda.

Among the notable abstentions were Australia, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic and Mexico.

The absent countries included Kenya, which was the fifth-largest recipient of US aid last year, Georgia and Ukraine, all of which have close US ties.

The measure was sent to the General Assembly after it was vetoed by the United States at the Security Council on Monday, although all other 14 council members voted in favor.

'The United States will remember this day,' Haley told the assembly after the vote.

'America will put our embassy in Jerusalem,' Haley said. 'No vote in the United Nations will make any difference on that.

'But this vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN,' she said.

'When we make generous contributions to the UN we also have a legitimate expectation that our goodwill is recognized and respected.'

While resolutions by the General Assembly are non-binding, a strong vote in support carries political weight.

The vote, while a victory for the Palestinians, was significantly lower than its supporters had hoped for, with many forecasting at least 150 'yes' votes.

Earlier in the day Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged countries not to sell out their 'democratic will in return for petty dollars'.

Erdogan called on members not to be swayed by Trump's warning and said in a televised speech: 'I am calling on the whole world: never sell your democratic will in return for petty dollars.'

The US decision on December 6 to recognise the city as Israel's capital broke with international consensus and unleashed protests across the Muslim world, prompting a flurry of appeals to the United Nations.

Trump warned that Washington would closely watch how nations voted, suggesting there could even be reprisals for countries that back the motion which was put forward by Yemen and Turkey on behalf of Arab and Muslim countries.

'They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars and then they vote against us,' Trump said at the White House.

'Well, we're watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care.'

The draft resolution mirrors the text that was vetoed on Monday, and although it does not mention Trump's decision, it expresses 'deep regret at recent decisions' concerning the city's status.

Ahead of the vote, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the UN as a 'house of lies,' saying Israel 'rejects outright this vote, even before it passes.'

'The attitude to Israel of many nations in the world, in all the continents, is changing outside of the UN walls, and will eventually filter into the UN as well - the house of lies,' he said.

On Tuesday, US Ambassador Nikki Haley sent an email to fellow UN envoys to put them on notice that 'the president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those countries who voted against us.'

'We will take note of each and every vote on this issue,' she wrote in the message seen by AFP.

And on Twitter she said 'the US will be taking names' when ambassadors of the 193-nation assembly cast their votes.

'Nikki, that was the right message,' Trump said.

Erdogan accused Trump of making 'threats'.

'How do they call America? The cradle of democracy. The cradle of democracy is seeking to find will in the world that can be bought with dollars,' he said.

'Mr Trump you cannot buy with dollars Turkey's democratic will. Our decision is clear,' he said.

Erdogan said he believed that 'the world will teach a very good lesson to America today (Thursday).'

A council diplomat said Canada, Hungary and the Czech Republic might bow to US pressure, but the motion is all but certain to be approved.

No country has veto powers in the General Assembly, unlike in the 15-member Security Council where the United States, along with Britain, China, France and Russia, can block any resolution.

Among the 14 countries voting in favor on Monday were Britain, France, Italy, Japan and Ukraine who were expected to do the same at the assembly.

Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki accused Washington of 'threatening' member-states, saying the UN session would show 'how many countries will opt to vote with their conscience.'

While resolutions by the General Assembly are non-binding, a strong vote in support of the resolution would carry political weight.

Israel seized the largely-Arab eastern sector of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, claiming both sides of the city as its 'eternal and undivided capital.'

But the Palestinians want the eastern sector as capital of their future state and fiercely oppose any Israeli attempt to extend sovereignty there.

Several UN resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from territory seized in 1967 and the draft resolution contains the same language as past motions adopted by the assembly.

***

RT

‘Degree of safety in numbers: US is in complete isolation over Jerusalem’

21 December 2017

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley © Brendan McDermid / Reuters

UN members should not be unduly intimidated by what the US says and its “bullying” tactics over the vote on a Jerusalem resolution, says former UN Director of Communications Edward Mortimer.

The UN General Assembly gathers today to vote on a draft resolution rejecting Washington's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has warned the American president will have his eyes on anyone who votes against the US position, while President Trump has threatened to cut funding to any countries who won't support America's Jerusalem position.

RT asked a former Director of Communications for the United Nations Secretary-General, Edward Mortimer, what he thinks of such diplomacy.

“It is a slightly familiar pattern. I remember that in 1990 when the resolution authorizing member-states to use all necessary means to reverse the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was going through the Security Council, Yemen - which was on the Council at the time - voted against. And the US ambassador Thomas Pickering, as he went past the desk of the Yemeni ambassador after the vote, said “That is the most expensive vote that your country will ever cast,” Mortimer recalled.

In his opinion, “this idea that the US uses its power and wealth and the dependence of some other countries on its assistance as an argument when trying to get votes at the UN, normally in the Security Council, but in this case obviously also in the General Assembly, this is not something entirely new.”

But, he went on to say, what is new is that “the US starts from a situation of complete isolation.”

Earlier this week, the UN Security Council voted 14-1 on a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“Even countries that are normally very closely allied with the US, such as the UK, spoke very strongly in favor of the resolution,” said Mortimer.

He added that most countries in the General Assembly “will feel that there is a degree of safety in numbers and not be unduly intimidated by what Ms. Haley has said. Let’s hope so, anyway.”

Characterizing the American style of diplomacy as “bullying,” he went on to say that “great powers tend to behave like bullies. At least, that is how their remarks very often are received by smaller countries.”

Mortimer said that this is a particularly crude example, “as many of Mr. Trump’s actions and words are rather crude. But it is a version of the phenomenon which is not in itself unusual in international affairs.”

According to Mortimer, “other countries are afraid of the US, probably more than they are of any other power. It is not very surprising that the US is the country best placed to use these “bullying” tactics. But the way they are used is not very subtle, and it may well backfire.”

He also said that “the American influence in the world has been declining now for 20 years or so. I think this kind of behavior is likely to accelerate that decline.”

***

RT

‘I will report to Trump who votes against US Jerusalem decision’ – Haley in letter to UN members

20 December 2017

The US ambassador to the UN has warned member states that Donald Trump will take a vote on his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “personally,” and she will report back to him on nay-sayers at the UN General Assembly.

The warning was contained in an apparently threatening letter ahead of the General Assembly’s emergency session on the status of Jerusalem, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday.

The US continues to defend its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. The day before the emergency session, US envoy Nikki Haley sent a letter informing other countries’ representatives that all those objecting to the US position will be reported to President Donald Trump. Haley said the US leader will be “carefully” following the vote, according to Haaretz newspaper.

“As you consider your vote, I encourage you to know the president and the US take this vote personally,” the letter stated, according to the newspaper. “The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those who voted against us," she added.

Earlier, the ambassador said in a tweet that Washington “will be taking names” of those “criticizing our choice” during Thursday’s symbolic vote, as resolutions passed by the General Assembly are not legally binding.

On Monday, the US was the only state out of the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council to use its veto power to block a resolution that called on all states to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in Jerusalem. The US mission then called the move “an insult,” saying that the organization is “doing more harm than good in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

RUSSIA INSIDER

America Is Beaten - and the World Knows It

"Saudi Arabia and Israel, it seems, had been cooperating, not since the 1980s but as early as 1970."

"Thus, when Saudi Arabia coordinated the OPEC oil embargo on the US, pushing oil price to stratospheric levels, all based on US aid to Israel during the 1973 War, might this well have been coordinated too?"

Gorden Duff

20 December 2017

The cancer has been eating away at America since WW1 ... now we are in terminal stages ...

The world knows America is done for.

Trump isn’t making America great, he is dancing on the corpse. We could give dates, 9/11 or back in 1913 when America took on an illegal Rothschild central bank. Perhaps it really is 1913 and the America of today, is the result of bleeding that began then.

It is always about debt. When nations take on a central bank, and all central banks are foreign owned, all controlled by the Rothschild family, their institutions crumble, the family, religion, their government, the courts, their media, all are targeted.

We have seen this time and time again. The reason 9/11 is critical has nothing to do with the endless war sweeping the world it began, proxy armies, phony terror groups and teeming millions of refugees.

For America it announced the largest robbery in history, $10 trillion in assets, enough to buy the entirety of Europe, simply “disappeared.” Only days before 9/11 it was learned that $2.4 trillion was missing from the US military budget alone, according to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. What few know is that the group investigating, in their entirety, were killed on 9/11 during the incident at the Pentagon.

We call it an incident because calling it a terror attack or even an airline crash is unsupportable without throwing away any reason whatsoever.

Then we ask, who does such a thing, who would take down America, destroy their government, collapse their economy as in 2008, and allow a nation to be led by a leader known to be clinically insane? Why do we never name the culprits, who are the “usual suspects?”

Let’s look at what happened in America while the world watched the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, two wars America has technically lost, beyond lost, each alone makes the debacle of Vietnam stand out as a beacon of reason.

By the end of 2007, America’s 5 leading investment banks were bankrupt, having “misplaced” trillions in assets. Most major corporations were the same, broke, hopelessly, to the extent that the Down Jones Industrial Average had to be reconfigured as the leading companies in America were no longer viable.

If you track such things as credit card debt or home values, you see a different story. Between 2008 and 2010, unemployment in America rose to over 10%. Personal savings collapsed and personal debt rose to unimaginable levels while key industries like arms, oil and pharmaceuticals, informally known to have immense power over government, made record profits.

With interest rates dropped to almost nothing by Bush 43, millions of America families sought to protect assets through buying homes that would otherwise be unwise, overlarge, unaffordable, sold on the idea of a ballooning real estate market by media pundits.

By 2008 those homes stood empty. Many million dollar homes had the walls and wiring torn out, plumbing destroyed as angry homeowners packed up and moved in with relatives or simply joined the millions of homeless.

Most homes lost 60% of value across America and those forced to sell took on a lifetime of debt. Similarly, retirement savings typically lost 72%. A million dollar 401k that would return $5000 a month for life based on Clinton era rates and market performance was now only worth a little over $200,000 with an income potential of $200 a month. America’s middle class would work into their mid to late 70’s, with skilled and management retirees sentenced to a decade of menial labor on behalf of the banks that organized the crash.

This, of course pushed the younger generation into military service. With available jobs, and there were few of those, paying well under poverty level, military pay was the highest around with a guarantee of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan year after year.

Was this a plan? Was it known that America’s military would exhaust itself, losing its NCO corps, it best officers, it equipment failings exposed to the Cold War era Soviet weapons America herself spent billions on that now are in the hands of terrorists around the world?

Worse still, is the idea of betrayal. When the Syrian War came into focus, something amazing happened. Washington was forced to accept that not only were the terror groups al Qaeda and ISIS being supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but that Israel may have been behind it all.

Worse still, the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel, assumed to be a “hate/hate” confrontation, now came into focus as well. Saudi Arabia and Israel, it seems, had been cooperating, not since the 1980s but as early as 1970.

Thus, when Saudi Arabia coordinated the OPEC oil embargo on the US, pushing oil price to stratospheric levels, all based on US aid to Israel during the 1973 War, might this well have been coordinated too?

More recently, it has become known that Saudi Arabia had a major role in 9/11. If they have been close to Israel all along, and were one to review issues of 9/11, such as who benefits, it become clear that everything since that day has not only benefitted Saudi Arabia but Israel as well.

In fact it has become clear that almost all world terrorism, the Paris attacks, Boko Haram in Africa, certainly ISIS, all of it, has benefited Israel and Saudi Arabia as well.

Then might well a hypothesis that interests attributed to the Israeli state more benefit the Rothschild family than Israel itself?

If results are an indicator, Israel faces a unified Syria, Iraq and Iran with powerful Pakistan, Turkey and near-Superpower again, Russia, moving rapidly toward forming a regional power alliance?

Israel is far from secure, everything but, however what does exist is endless trillions in debt, the promise of war for another decade or more, chaos, distrust, balkanization around the world, poverty and disease, the signs are clear. This is the business model of the world’s banking system. This is what is meant by “globalism.”

KWN

Rothschilds 1988 Prediction For New World Currency In 2018 Set To Rock Global Markets

December 17, 2017

Is this Rothschilds led prediction from 30 years ago for a new world currency about to rock global markets in 2018?

December 18 (King World News) – Egon von Greyerz: “In 1988, the UK magazine, The Economist forecast that 2018 would be the year of a new currency which they named the Phoenix. Quite a mind boggling prediction 30 years ago, especially since 2018 looks like a year when a major currency upheaval could take place…

“For conspiracy theorists, the Economist’s owners consist of a number of elite families and bankers including the Rothschilds. Was this a plan which has been in the making for a very long time? Or is it sheer fluke that a major currency event might take place in the year that the Economist predicted?

So what could be the events that will lead to a major disruption in currency markets and in the world economy in 2018?

DOLLAR COLLAPSE
The demise of the dollar as the reserve currency of the world is a certainty. It is only a question of when it will take place. The dollar does not qualify as the rock of the world currency system. Since the gold backing of the dollar ceased in 1971, it has lost 98% in real terms when measured against gold. But also against most currencies, the dollar has lost greatly. In Swiss francs for example, the dollar is down 77% since 1971.

The dollar is backed by massive debts and deficits. The US has not had a real budget surplus since 1960 and has been running Trade deficits since 1975. The dollar is backed by nothing but debts and a strong military. It is living on borrowed time.

FALL OF PETRODOLLAR AND RISE OF PETROYUAN
In 1974, the US agreed to support Saudi Arabia financially and militarily on the condition that the Saudis priced oil in dollars. Since most of the world bought oil from Saudi Arabia at that time, it led to a major demand for dollars, which is still the case today. That was the beginning of the Petrodollar which has enabled the US to live above its means for 44 years. But from 2018 the Petrodollar will gradually be replaced by the Petroyuan and also the Petroruble.

China, the world’s largest oil importer, will, together with Russia and Iran, switch from trading oil in dollars. Trading will be backed by a futures contract in Petroyuan with a potential convertibility to gold. Except for further military intervention in the Middle East, the US now has little chance of stopping this major strike against the dollar. The US is currently virtually self-sufficient in oil production and is no longer a major trading partner of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the US neither can nor will stop Saudi Arabia moving its sphere of activity from West to East.

The CRYPTO BUBBLE AND THE CRYPTODOLLAR
The major event this year that has convinced many that we have a new currency system which is controlled by no country and no central bank is of course the Cryptocurrencies led by Bitcoin. In 2017, we have seen a mania in cryptos of massive proportions. At the beginning of the year, the market cap of all cryptos was $17 billion. As of today, there are 1,360 cryptos with a total value of $588 billion. That is a 34-fold or 3,300% increase in the value of cryptocurrencies in just one year. There are 589 cryptos over $1 million with Bitcoin being the biggest at $312 billion.

How can anyone believe that the world can function with a payment system that has 1,360 currencies which is continuing to grow exponentially with a new ICO (Initial Coin Offering) virtually every day. Cryptos in their present form will never be accepted as currencies. Bitcoin is up 20X in 2017. If that were a currency, it would indicate a 1,900% inflation or more precisely hyperinflation. But Bitcoin is not a currency. Also, it could never be used as a payment system due to the very slow speed of transaction. Bitcoin and other cryptos are just an electronic form of tulip bulbs. Like the tulip bulbs, the Bitcoin bubble can get bigger although the Bitcoin mania is now bigger than Tulipomania as the chart Indicates.

CRYPTODOLLAR
So if there will be a new currency in 2018 as the Economist forecast, it is unlikely to be Bitcoin or any of the 1,360 cryptos. It is possible that Bitcoin was constructed by a government in order to experiment with how a cryptocurrency would work. Or it could be as Catherine Austin-Fitts believes that governments are closely watching the crypto mania and letting private enterprise develop the market before they step in and ban all cryptos in order to install their own.

I would not be surprised to see the US government introducing a Cryptodollar in 2018 or later to replace the current dollar which they know will soon collapse. All existing debt would remain in the Old Dollar. The US government would then encourage and assist a fast appreciation of the Cryptodollar, just like Bitcoin. This would enable repayment of the Old Dollar with the new inflated Crypto$. Obviously, this scheme would not work but for a while a euphoric crypto world might buy it, hook line and sinker.

CHINA – RUSSIA AND GOLD
Neither China, nor Russia would fall for this trick. China would lose massively on their US Treasury holdings. This would drive these two countries to introduce some form of gold backing of their currencies or payment system. If the paper gold trading and exchanges are still standing a that point, China and Russia will use all their resources to break the gold and silver paper market. This would drive up the price of gold and silver into a mania that the world has not seen before.

WILL WE SEE A NEW PHOENIX CURRENCY IN 2018
So will the Phoenix currency, (which the Economist forecast in 1988 would rise in 2018), be a Crypto$? Or will it be gold backed trading in Yuan and Ruble? Or will it be the Bitcoin mania going to $1million? We don’t know of course. But what we do know is that 2018 is likely to contain many surprises on the currency front with massive volatility not only in currencies but also in most other markets.

What we also know is that although cryptos can go a lot higher before they collapse, they offer no protection for investors seeking wealth preservation. Very few of the holders of the current $588 billion in cryptos will be able to get out before these reach zero. Greed is one of the 7 deadly sins and it always punishes mania investors.

Gold will continue to be the only currency to survive in history just as it has for almost 5,000 years. Physical gold and silver are the ultimate form of wealth preservation as well as insurance against the economic and financial calamities that the world will experience in coming years.”

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Zero Hedge

Iran Joins EAEU - 45 Years Of US Foreign Policy Down The Drain

by Tyler Durden

Dec 15, 2017 10:05 PM

Authored by Tom Luongo,

Iran is joining the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). By early next year, February by

this account, Iran will join the five founding members of the Union and open the door for Turkey to do so later in 2018.

Between this and the end of the war in Syria, it’s not hard to declare the Brzezinski Doctrine of U.S.-led Central Asian chaos as gasping its last breaths.

Iran finally joining the EAEU is a response to a number of factors, the most important of which is the continued belligerence by the U.S. Expanded economic sanctions on Iran and the EAEU’s leader Russia has created the need for greater coordination of economic and foreign policy objectives between them.

And it is creating the new realities in the region that will reshape the word for the next hundred years.

The Nuclear Gambit

In the dying days of the Obama administration it looked like the goal was to placate Iran to stop its pivot towards Russia and China. I believe that was the driving force behind Obama’s negotiating the controversial nuclear deal.

In effect, Obama tried to trade unfreezing Iran’s hundreds of billions in assets held in Western banks for Iran to ignore our atomization of Syria and the creation of a complete mess there.

When you stop to think about it like that how venal are we? After putting Iran under economic lockdown, having frozen its accounts, barring them from interbank communication with customers (SWIFT removal), inducing hyperinflation to sow regime change they would agree to allowing its ally, Syria, to be handed over to Wahabist animals.

In exchange they would repudiate Russisa and be thankful for the opportunity to get their money back by signing a deal which forbade them from obtaining nuclear weapons?

Such is the ‘logic’ of the mental midgets running our foreign policy under Obama.

So, now, having assisted Russia and the Syrian army in defeating ISIS Iran is making the smart move by further integrating its economy in need of diversification and investment by joining an economic union which should align all of Central Asia’s interests along a similar path.

Chaos no longer. Zbigniew Brzezinski isn’t just dead, his strategy is as well.

Left to the likes of Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and the dimbulbs of the Bush the Lesser administration before them, these buffoons were outplayed at every turn by Vladimir Putin, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

And the world will soon be a better place for it.

The Status Whoa!

Everything about the status quo of the last thirty years is changing. Syria has made it clear to everyone that the U.S. is no longer infallible. In fact, it is close to incompetent in both military and diplomatic efficacy.

The Russian intervention exposed the real roots of the conflict as well as the lengths to which our leadership would lie, cheat and steal to achieve its chaotic regional goals. President Trump is changing the direction of this ship of state, but it is a slow process being fought at every level by those embedded in departments up and down the bureaucracy.

That said, Iran’s entry into the EAEU as a full member will break open the floodgates of new members into it. Russia has been courting everyone around the region as the EAEU members work on the rules and build the organization.

Adding Iran should see the union grow quickly and help facilitate China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects get completed.

Taking that one-step further, the bigger picture comes into focus with the establishment of the New Development Bank to challenge the U.S.-led Asian Development Bank, to fund infrastructure projects.

With the flurry of big projects announced recently, including the new version of the IPI – Iran/Pakistan/India – gas pipeline this announcement isn’t so much a diplomatic coup for Putin and Russia but rather a fait accompli.

It was always a matter of when not if Iran would join the EAEU. And with it on board, countries like India, Pakistan and Turkey can join and know that they have a level playing field on which to trade which will dampen down animosities and lingering disputes.

Peak U.S.

As Federico Pieraccini points out this morning at Strategic Culture Foundation, even the tensions between India and China have calmed down as it becomes obvious to all and sundry that the U.S. is simply neither willing under Trump nor able to maintain its dominance over central Asia anymore.

In this sense, the lack of interest from the Trump administration in certain areas of the globe is emblematic. While the chemistry between Trump and Modi appears to be good, the tensions between India and China, heightened by border disputes, seems to have nevertheless dissolved. Following on from the failure of the neocons to divide Russia and China, even the border tensions between India and China seem to be now dissipating. In addition, in Ukraine, even the decision to send lethal weapons to Kiev has been downplayed, and the country now faces a counter-coup led by Saakashvili (yes, him again). Ukraine is a country in a mess, experiencing first-hand the consequences of an evil Atlanticist posture with its vicious anti-Russia policies.

Pieraccini’s argument is the Trump is a mix of ineptitude and pragmatism when it comes to foreign policy. And that mix has led to the current state of affairs, where the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia are flailing about trying to remain relevant.

I won’t go nearly that far, as those countries all still have a powerful hand of cards to play, if only to stabilize most of what they currently have. And they will play those cards to the hilt in the creation of something approaching peace.

But, Iran is charting a new path, turning away from the open wounds in the West and towards the opportunities that lie all about them in every other direction. As I’ve been saying recently, the framework for a Grand Bargain in the Middle East is possible. And Iran joining the EAEU is a strong indicator that it wants to join the larger world economy as a trustworthy actor.

Putin has become the de facto negotiator for those allied against Israel and Trump is stepping up to do so for Israel. Once that deal is in place and Trump agrees to remove U.S. military presence in most of the region, then we’ll begin to see what the world can look like without manufactured conflict.

CNN

Separatist parties in Spain's Catalonia win majority in election

Angela Dewan

December 22, 2017

(CNN)Voters in the Spanish region of Catalonia have backed pro-independence parties in elections, dealing a major blow to Madrid, which has been desperate to quell the separatist movement.

The Spanish government had called the early vote in the hope of having a more moderate Catalan administration to deal with. The previous one held an illegal referendum to secede from Spain and its MPs then declared unilateral independence, triggering the country's worst political crisis in decades.

But Madrid's hopes were clearly dashed. With more than 99% of the vote counted, no single party gained an outright majority but the three separatist parties together took 70 seats. They needed 68 to keep their grip on the 135-seat Parliament.

To govern they will need to join in a coalition. Such a scenario pushes the Madrid-Barcelona relationship back to where this all began three months ago, with a provocative separatist government in Barcelona rattling Madrid.

Carles Puigdemont reacts to the results of the Catalan regional elections on December 21, 2017.

'The Catalan republic has won'

Carles Puigdemont -- whose Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party won 34 seats -- celebrated the results in Brussels, where he has been in hiding since Spanish authorities announced they were seeking his arrest over the referendum. He was the Catalan president before Madrid fired him for leading his government through the independence drive.

"The Catalan Republic has won," he announced in Brussels. "The Spanish government was defeated."

He said the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, had "received a hit, a blow by the Catalans."

"They lost their coup d'etat," he said.

Marta Rovira, from the other main separatist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Republican Left of Catalonia) party, also declared victory after her party won 32 seats. She shouted "Freedom" in concert with party supporters after the results emerged.

The result was also a clear rejection of Madrid's response to the turbulence. The Spanish government sent in thousands of police to shut down the October 1 referendum, and officers were seen pulling elderly voters by the hair from polling stations and firing rubber bullets at relatively clam protesters.

Madrid seized control of the region after it dismissed the entire Catalan government and Parliament.

Rise of the center-right Citizens party

Despite the clear support for the pro-independence side, it was actually the anti-independence Ciutadans (Citizens) party that came away with the most seats, winning 37 -- a sweeping gain compared to the 25 the party won in the last vote, and a sign of just how divisive the independence issue has been. The party benefited from a record turnout of more than 81%.

The party candidate, Inés Arrimadas, was likely hoping to win and form a coalition of other anti-independence parties, but the numbers do not stack up in her favor.

Nonetheless, she gave a victory speech of her own.

"We are all Catalonia and the first political force in the Catalan parliament is called Ciutadans," she said.

"The 10 most-populated cities in Catalonia are right now orange, so thank you to all the people who have made that possible," she said, referring to the party's color.

Political negotiations to come

The results, however, do not necessarily mean easy sailing for the independence movement. There will likely be intense negotiations, particularly over the issue of who would become Catalonia's next president.

The question is further complicated by the fact that Puigdemont is in self-imposed exile in Brussels. He said last week that he would come back if he won, but he is likely be arrested by Spanish authorities over the illegal referendum if he does.

The other separatist leader -- Oriol Junqueras of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya -- is detained in a Madrid prison over the referendum, on charges of sedition and rebellion. Both leaders face 30-year jail terms.

The two parties told CNN last week that they would join in a coalition in this scenario, but the movement has shown signs of fracture and is not as united as it was in the 2015 vote.

The two parties will also have to please the marginal Candidatura d'Unitat Popular (Popular Unity Candidacy), as they would not pass the 68-seat threshold without it. The party was kingmaker in 2015 as well, propelling Puigdemont to the presidency in an 11th-hour deal.

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Ancient pages

Ancient World’s Second Largest Library Of Codices, Manuscripts Reopened In Sinai

December17, 2017

AncientPages.com – During the inauguration ceremony, Egypt officially reopened the 6th century Library and Mosaic in St. Catherine Monastery in Sinai.

The famed monastery, located in southern Sinai, has an ancient priceless library that contains thousands of unique historical and religious manuscripts. It is said that some of the works are the oldest in Christianity.

The monastery has the world’s second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts. Image: wikipedia

Founded most probably about 548-565 AD, the monastery was probably constructed on the orders of Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.

Some ancient accounts say that it was constructed so as to enclose the older Chapel of the Burning Bush, a structure originally patronized by the mother of Constantine the Great, Empress Consort Helena.

According to the monastery’s archbishop, Monk Damyanos, the monastery has the world’s second largest collection of early codices and manuscripts. This collection is only outnumbered by the Vatican Library.

Most of these literary treasures (mainly Christian texts) are written in Greek. Others are in Arabic, Syriac, Georgian, Hebrew, Armenian and Polish.

Transfiguration, Monastery at Saint Catherine’s, Sinai, Egypt. Christ stands against a golden background surrounded by a mandorla, or almond-shaped ring of bright colors and rays of light. The vivid rays illustrate the emphasis in the synoptic gospels on the brightness and whiteness of Christ. As the Gospel of Mark says in 9:2–4 (English Standard Version): Image credit: MET

Thousands of scrolls and books dated to the 4^th century are also included in the collection.

According to AP’s report, during the renovation of the library, archaeologists found some of Hippocrates’ centuries-old medical recipes. The ancient Greek physician is widely regarded as the “father of western medicine.”

“At least 160 of the manuscripts include faint scratches and ink tints beneath more recent writing, according to Kazamias, who believes the palimpsests were likely scraped out by the monastery’s monks and reused sometime between the 8th- 12th centuries.

The officials also inaugurated the Mosaic of the Transfiguration in the basilica of the monastery. The mosaic features a rich chromatic range of glass paste, glass, stone, gold and silver tesserae. It was created in the 6th century at the behest of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, who also requested building the monastery.

St. Catherine’s, where the monastery is located, is an area revered by followers of the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

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Until next week...keep on believing.
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