People of the Keys!

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”
(Jude 24)
Present [you] Faultless

Legendary entertainer Pat Boone, in an interview with WND, reflects on his acting career, his part in the launch of contemporary Christian music and his role in “God’s Not Dead 2,” which has been released in a box set of the entire three-film series.

WND: Not everybody realizes that in addition to being a music superstar, you were also an accomplished actor. How did you balance acting and singing?

Pat Boone: Well, I actually did acting and singing at the same time, so I don’t see it as separate things as much as all being a part of my career as an entertainer. And my career was never about me anyways, so movies were just another outlet through which I was able to use some God-given talents. I was as much amazed as anybody at the doors God opened for me!

WND: You are widely credited with being one of the founders of contemporary Christian music not only because you started a record label, Lamb & Lion Records, which released DeGarmo & Key’s first record, but you lent some money and strongly encouraged the early careers of people like Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill and other significant performers. Why was that important to you?

Pat Boone: I was so excited to see the Jesus Movement happen in the late ’60s, early ’70s, and I wanted to be a part of it in whatever way I could. The expressions of faith at that time were so genuine, so real, that when I met these young men and women I supported them in every way I could. Sometimes it meant signing them to my label and at other times it meant helping them with what they needed. Larry and Randy came and sat in my backyard and told me what they wanted to do, and I wrote them a check for $5,000 on the spot!

WND: Before there was ever Pureflix or “God’s Not Dead,” or “The Passion” or “The Chronicles of Narnia” there was you starring in “The Cross & The Switchblade.” How did that come about?

Pat Boone: Yes I was. First, I saw a pocket book by that title on a news stand at the airport, while I was waiting to catch my plane to Mexico City for 10 days of performances. I was puzzled how they could mix those two words, “The Cross and the Switchblade.” I read the whole book on the way to Mexico City and was shaken by it. It described a minister named David Wilkerson experiencing miracles and supernatural things today – and I had been taught in my church background that were no longer possible. When I got back to L.A., I called David Wilkerson, who I hadn’t met, and convinced him that some Christians and I could make a worthy film of his story and help a lot of other young people which was his sole purpose in ministry. (I didn’t realize I was talking to someone who grew up thinking that going to the movies was a sin in itself). But I knew that as our society was getting more coarse and violent that this true story that could be substantiated in our day could make a difference and perhaps head a lot of other young people out of gangs and into more meaningful lives. It wasn’t meant to be an “overt Christian film,” but you couldn’t tell the story without demonstrating the changes in the lives of people who met Jesus and gave their lives to him. Of course, Erik Estrada played Nicky Cruz while I played David Wilkerson himself, and Erik will tell you, that that experience, knowing that we were telling something that was true and real, changed his life as well as mine. And I will say that the success of that film, independently produced and distributed, convinced a lot of people in the movie business that Christian entertainment could be marketed – if it was well done and real.

Pat Boone: I had some misgivings about playing a minister and telling the true story of Christian confrontation with gang violence and immorality seeping into other areas of American life – I thought it might end my movie career. To my amazement and delight, though, the film was successful, I know that countless lives were changed, the movie was translated into 15 foreign languages, including Farsi, because my portrayal of David Wilkerson in that movie was considered by the Iranians “an anti-drug film.” And though they weren’t averse to producing drugs to export them to other countries, they didn’t want their own children to be drug addicts. And that film, complete with its Christian message, played all other the Middle East, with large Arab attendance.

WND: So you went on to make other kinds of films, including family films and musicals, right?

Pat Boone: Yes – but I also experienced the most exciting moment of my whole career, and perhaps of my life. George Stevens, when he was casting “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” chose me, out of all of Hollywood, to play “the angel at the tomb,” when Mary came to the tomb to tend to the dead body of Jesus, she thought she heard the angel pronounce the most important words ever spoken, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not dead; he is risen just as he said!” I’m telling you – nothing I have done or ever will do in this life tops the honor I felt at being able to pronounce those words in that film, voicing that proclamation. I’ll never get over it.

WND: Now you were more recently involved in “God’s Not Dead 2,” which is now being released as a box set with all three in the series. How did your experience compare between one of the first Christian movies (“The Cross and the Switchblade”) and one of the most well-known Christian movies (“God’s Not Dead 2”)?

Pat Boone: Well in one of them I was the star and in the other I wasn’t. Seriously though, both movies were about a character who was persecuted for what he believed in and the impact of a film like that in a culture whose trademark is passivity. “God’s Not Dead” showcased young and old people who were willing to stand up for what they believed in no matter the cost. In popular culture, we are surrounded by people who are passive about what they believe or don’t believe anything. I believe that movies like “God’s Not Dead” will inspire people of this generation, especially the young who are looking for something to believe in and commit to, to not focus on worldly things but keep heaven as their eternal perspective. I’m so proud of David AR White and what the others accomplished and I was glad to be a part of the series. Here’s hoping and praying for more films like it – we need them!

The sponsor of a California bill that would have regarded as consumer fraud any financial transaction involving counseling against same-sex attractions – such as a conference fee or a book purchase – has pulled his proposal.

AB2943 was just one vote short of the governor’s desk, and it had virtually unanimous support from Democrats who are in the majority in the state Assembly and Senate.

But it had been condemned by faith leaders as a virtual ban on the sales of the Bible, which condemns homosexual behavior.

The Sacramento Bee reported Friday Assemblyman Evan Low said after meeting with faith leaders, he dropped his bill.

“I left those productive conversations feeling hopeful. I believe every person who attended these meetings left with a greater understanding for the underlying reason and intention of this bill to create a loving and inclusive environment for all,” the Democrat said in a statement. “However, I believe there is still more to learn.”

Assembly Bill 2943 would have made it a “consumer fraud” to sell any service intended to change an individual’s sexuality or gender identity.

Such counseling, which studies show is effective, is anathema to homosexuals and lesbians, because it challenges their argument that they were born that way and cannot change.

That claim also was made just this week by Chelsea Clinton, who erupted when ads promoting the therapy found their way on the pages of Facebook.

“Child abuse. ‘Conversion therapy’ is child abuse. There are not two sides to this question and these ads – and the practices they promote – should be illegal everywhere. Full stop,” she wrote.

The London Daily Mail reported a Facebook user named Alystair Ryder had complained of an ad for a book titled “Help for Men with Same-Sex Attraction.”

According to the British paper, users said that when they clicked on an option to find out why they were being shown the ads, they were informed it was because they showed interest in “gender” issues.

Opponents of the California bill had promised an immediate challenge in court because of the free-speech implications.

The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund expressed gratitude that it was gone for now.

“If passed, AB 2943 would have criminalized even ordinary religious speech on same-sex attraction, and it also would have forbidden LGBT persons from making a deeply personal choice to explore conversion therapy,” the group said.

“We applaud Assemblymember Low for understanding he represents all his California constituents, regardless of political ideology or sexual orientation. His choice to at least listen to the millions of Californians who opposed AB2943 should be a model example for all elected politicians.”

National Center for Law and Policy spokesman Dean Broyles said, “I am grateful to Evan Low for listening to pastors and religious leaders who were legitimately concerned about how AB 2943 targeted, chilled, and censored religious beliefs and speech.

“Tolerance is a two-way street. As recently confirmed in the NIFLA v. Becerra and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission rulings at the U.S. Supreme Court, we still have a First Amendment that protects conscience and religious beliefs, even unpopular beliefs not approved by the state. Change is possible and we need to preserve freedom of choice here. Citizens struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria must remain free to choose to seek the counseling assistance they desire and need.”

Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute said, “This should be a great encouragement to the faith community in California that active engagement with lawmakers can still make a difference.”

The legislation had been underway amid the release of a Liberty Counsel study showing that such therapies overwhelmingly are effective.

The study, titled “Effects of Therapy on Religious Men Who Have Unwanted Same-Sex Attraction,” authored by Paul Santero, Neil Whitehead and Dolores Ballesteros, all PhDs, introduces its findings by noting that the American Psychological Association and other organizations “have formally claimed that sexual orientation change therapies should not be used because they are probably ineffective and may cause harm.”

However, the authors reported a survey “asking for negative and positive experiences of 125 men with active lay religious belief who went through sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) strongly conflict with those claims.”

“In our study, most of those who participated in group or professional help had heterosexual shifts in sexual attraction, sexual identity and behavior with large statistical effect sizes, similarly moderate-to-marked decreases in suicidality, depression, substance abuse, and increases in social functioning and self -esteem. Almost all harmful effects were none to slight.”

This result, Liberty Counsel explains, “strongly refutes claims the American Psychological Association and other organizations have made aimed at discouraging counsel to change unwanted same-sex attractions, behavior, and identity.”

WND reported when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, now a news commentator, warned of “a terrible storm that’s brewing on the horizon.”

“You may have heard the news or seen the reports, but people of faith in California are bracing for one of the most dramatic ideological shifts away from the First Amendment in our nation’s history,” Huckabee said. “It’s the kind of storm that destroys the foundations of liberty and a free society.”

Huckabee said it “prevents faith-led counselors from assisting clients with same-sex attraction or gender confusion. It prohibits churches from holding any ticketed events addressing topics of sexuality.”

“But it’s FAR more reaching than that,” he added. “This means the sale of ANY book that states the practice of homosexuality or transgender identification as immoral actions would be illegal in California. … This could include the Bible!”

Although the legislation’s sponsors deny it, he said, “legal experts agree that AB 2943 is so broadly worded in its description of prohibited activities that it can easily be interpreted to stop the sale of goods and services that promote a biblical worldview!”

WND has reported a lawmaker and an LGBT activist have admitted that the bill targets “pastors” and members of the “faith community.” A video showed California state Assembly member Al Muratsuchi admitting he wants to target people of faith.

After all, the lawmaker argued, the First Amendment “does not prohibit banning fraudulent conduct.”

“The faith community, like anyone else, needs to evolve with the times,” he declared.

Meanwhile, in a speech at Google headquarters, LGBT activist Samuel Brinton promised to “figure out” how to stop “pastors” and churches from offering such counseling.

“I may not be able to find every little camp … every pastor, but I can make it something that is culturally unacceptable,” he said. “Yes, it’s directly affecting mental health professionals, but by proxy, it’s affecting everyone else.”

Thousands of Catholic Women Sign Letter Pleading with Pope to Break Silence on Sex Scandal

The Madonna and Sleeping Child with the Infant St John the Baptist ('Il Silenzio') c.1599-1600 (Getty Images)

In a stunning and beautiful letter, thousands of Catholic women are pleading with Pope Francis to break his silence on the charges leveled by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who alleged that the pope knew of Cardinal McCarrick's abuses and predatory nature, but elevated him instead of sanctioning him or turning him over to authorities.

The letter, originally signed by 53 seminary professors, consecrated women, theologians, missionaries, and mothers of the Church, implores:

Our hearts are broken, our faith tested, by the escalating crisis engulfing our beloved Church. We are angry, betrayed and disillusioned. The pain and suffering of the victims never ends, as each news cycle brings more horrific revelations of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, cover-ups, and deceit—even at the Church’s highest levels.

The letter goes on to state very clearly the most pressing matter for most Catholics right now:

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s recent statement impels us to reach out to you directly for answers. His testimony accuses you, Holy Father, and highly placed cardinals of turning a blind eye to former Cardinal McCarrick’s egregious behavior, and promoting this predator as a global spokesman and spiritual leader. Is this true?

Pope Francis refused to comment on Viganò's charge, saying only, “I read the statement this morning, and I must tell you sincerely that, I must say this, to you and all those who are interested: Read the statement carefully and make your own judgment. I will not say a single word on this.”

This non-response bewildered faithful Catholics everywhere who feel it's far past time to break the silence surrounding the sexual abuse and cover-ups plaguing the Church. The Catholic women go on to chastise the pope for so flippantly ignoring their sincere desire to understand the truth:

To your hurting flock, Pope Francis, your words are inadequate. They sting, reminiscent of the clericalism you so recently condemned. We need leadership, truth, and transparency. We, your flock, deserve your answers now.

The women go on to agree with Cardinal DiNardo, who called for an investigation into Viganò's claims. The letter pulls no punches in detailing what needs to be answered, and quickly.

Specifically, we humbly implore you to answer the following questions, as the answers are surely known to you. Archbishop Viganò says that in June 2013 he conveyed to you this message (in essence) about then-Cardinal McCarrick:

“He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.”

Kathryn Jean Lopez, senior fellow at the National Review Institute and editor-at-large of National Review magazine, is one of the original signers of the letter. "The desire was to write to the Holy Father as women who love the Church and her doctrine -- and love him, too," she told PJM. "As someone who tries to read all of his sermons and everything else as best as I can, he frequently talks about the importance of acknowledging sin, bringing darkness to light. It's all part of the Christian journey."

Lopez left room for misunderstanding of the pope's non-response. "His non-answer answer on the plane back from Ireland the other day was consistent with his style: I think he sees himself as the father who is insisting on all of the fights in the Church happening in daylight for all to see, rather than theological silos," she explained. "But people are confused and that letter is [written by] daughters of the Church -- and many of them seminary professors and women who work in the care and spiritual, intellectual, human formation, [and the] feeding of seminarians and priests -- begging the pope for help here."

When Lopez was interviewed on CBSN this morning, only the original 52 women had signed the letter. A few hours later that number has grown to over 4,000 — and it continues to climb. Lopez says the letter is being sent to the pope and the "women who love the Church and her teachings and seek and live to serve Christ with love who are walking with a lot of devastated Catholics on the sacramental journey and really long for answers."

Pope Francis Likens Child Abuse Victims to a 'Pack of Wild Dogs' Says Jesus would 'remain silent' on Catholic pedophile scandal

Pope Francis arrives to pose for pictures with participants of the Mexico state of Quintana Roo. (REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi)

Editor's Note: As controversy brews over the Catholic Church with new sexual abuse allegations, author and eschatologist Tom Horn shares an excerpt from his book, Saboteurs.

As I am writing this chapter, Reuters News Agency just reported a "major shake-up of the Vatican's administration" in which Pope Francis replaced Catholicism's top theologian, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, who was the head of the department charged with defending Catholic doctrine—the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

"The position is the most important one that a pope fills in the Vatican hierarchy after the secretary of state. Most incumbents keep it until they retire, which in Mueller's case would have been in six years," reporter Philip Pullella writes.

Mueller, 69, was appointed by emeritus Pope Benedict in 2012 and is replaced by Pope Francis' confederate, Jesuit Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer.

Another influential Catholic television network director named Jose Galat is even publicly claiming that Pope Francis is the "false prophet" who, he says, is "paving the way for the Antichrist." He claims the "real pope" is Benedict XVI, who was somehow forced to resign in 2013. Francis "was elected by a mafia of cardinals," he argues, agreeing with those other Catholics who see a conspiracy behind this first ever Jesuit pope.

And then there is Benedict himself who recently said the Catholic Church is "on the verge of capsizing."

Perhaps strangest of all is a current inquiry in which the Vatican has launched an investigation into a Catholic group of exorcists (the Heralds) who, after having discussions with Satan, have determined Petrus Romanus "is the Devil's man."

But what if Francis is not Petrus Romanus, the final pope of Malachy's prophecy? What if that dark Superforce (Catholic Freemasons) that Malachi Martin warned about is using Francis and his left-leaning theology to play a complex end-times game aimed at manipulating and reconfiguring Rome into a Socialist-Marxist instrument for the real final pope's arrival? What if the same George Soros globalist one-worlders who have teamed up against Trump are working with Francis to lay the groundwork for Antichrist's global order as in the Book of Revelation?

Most astonishingly, the Vatican itself seems involved as Pope Francis, the German bishops and others around him have openly developed close relationships with many leading One-Worlders, inviting them to the Vatican to give talks and advice. This has been a radical change from all past popes. Reports suggest George Soros favored Bergoglio [Pope Francis] during the Conclave that elected him pope. For the first time ever, the New World Order movement has gained powerful public backing for many of their agendas from the head of the Roman Catholic Church, who has aggressively insisted that climate change, open borders, anti-capitalism and more are now issues of moral and religious obligation for a new, worldly Catholic Church. It also appears that some in the Vatican may be laying the groundwork for a moral and religious case in favor of population control. ... Many signs point to this.

And what if I told you the rabbit hole of evidence to support this global conspiracy does not stop there and actually ties the resignation of Pope Benedict, the election of Pope Francis, George Soros, Obama, Hillary, John Podesta, the possible arrival of the false prophet, Antichrist, final pope, discussions of a Messiah and the years 2012 and 2016 to the Saboteurs now at work to overthrow the Trump administration's agenda?

Are you aware that a group of respected Catholic leaders recently sent a letter to President Trump asking him to launch an official investigation into activities connected to the people mentioned above? It appears Team Obama was involved in a different coup similar to the one currently focused on Trump, but this time against the Vatican and which the authors of the letter believe forced the aging Pope Benedict to step down for sinister reasons.

In a top-notch piece of investigative journalism, William F. Jasper at the New American asks:

Did billionaire speculator George Soros, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and Obama/Clinton adviser John Podesta conspire to overthrow the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and replace him with a radical, Pope Francis? Did they use America's intelligence agencies, and our nation's diplomatic machinery, political muscle, and financial power to coerce and blackmail "regime change" in the Roman Catholic Church?

Far from being some wild conspiracy theory, there is sound prima facie evidence to indicate that this is a serious effort to expose a political scandal of the highest order, involving flagrant, criminal abuse of power at the top levels of the U.S. government.

Here is the letter that Jasper refers to in its entirety that was written and sent by Catholic leaders from The Remnant Newspaper:

The campaign slogan "Make America Great Again," resonated with millions of common Americans and your tenacity in pushing back against many of the most harmful recent trends has been most inspiring. We all look forward to seeing a continued reversal of the collectivist trends of recent decades.

Reversing recent collectivist trends will, by necessity, require a reversal of many of the actions taken by the previous administration. Among those actions we believe that there is one that remains cloaked in secrecy. Specifically, we have reason to believe that a Vatican "regime change" was engineered by the Obama administration.

We were alarmed to discover that, during the third year of the first term of the Obama administration your previous opponent, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other government officials with whom she associated proposed a Catholic "revolution" in which the final demise of what was left of the Catholic Church in America would be realized. Approximately a year after this e-mail discussion, which was never intended to be made public, we find that Pope Benedict XVI abdicated under highly unusual circumstances and was replaced by a pope whose apparent mission is to provide a spiritual component to the radical ideological agenda of the international left. The Pontificate of Pope Francis has subsequently called into question its own legitimacy on a multitude of occasions.

During the 2016 presidential campaign we were astonished to witness Pope Francis actively campaigning against your proposed policies concerning the securing of our borders, and even going so far as to suggest that you are not a Christian. We appreciated your prompt and pointed response to this disgraceful accusation.

We remain puzzled by the behavior of this ideologically charged Pope, whose mission seems to be one of advancing secular agendas of the left rather than guiding the Catholic Church in Her sacred mission. It is simply not the proper role of a Pope to be involved in politics to the point that he is considered to be the leader of the international left.

While we share your stated goal for America, we believe that the path to "greatness" is for America to be "good" again, to paraphrase de Tocqueville. We understand that good character cannot be forced on people, but the opportunity to live our lives as good Catholics has been made increasingly difficult by what appears to be a collusion between a hostile United States government and a pope who seems to hold as much ill will towards followers of perennial Catholic teachings as he seems to hold toward yourself.

With all of this in mind, and wishing the best for our country as well as for Catholics worldwide, we believe it to be the responsibility of loyal and informed United States Catholics to petition you to authorize an investigation into the following questions:

- To what end was the National Security Agency monitoring the conclave that elected Pope Francis?

- What other covert operations were carried out by US government operatives concerning the resignation of Pope Benedict or the conclave that elected Pope Francis?

- International monetary transactions with the Vatican were suspended during the last few days prior to the resignation of Pope Benedict. Were any U.S. Government agencies involved in this?

- Why were international monetary transactions resumed on Feb. 12, 2013, the day after Benedict XVI announced his resignation? Was this pure coincidence?

- What actions, if any, were actually taken by John Podesta, Hillary Clinton and others tied to the Obama administration who were involved in the discussion proposing the fomenting of a "Catholic Spring"?

- What was the purpose and nature of the secret meeting between Vice President Joseph Biden and Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on or about June 3, 2011?

- What roles were played by George Soros and other international financiers who may be currently residing in United States territory?

We believe that the very existence of these unanswered questions provides sufficient evidence to warrant this request for an investigation.

Should such an investigation reveal that the U.S. government interfered inappropriately into the affairs of the Catholic Church, we further request the release of the results so that Catholics may request appropriate action from those elements of our hierarchy who remain loyal to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Please understand that we are not requesting an investigation into the Catholic Church; we are simply asking for an investigation into recent activities of the U.S. Government, of which you are now the chief executive.

Christopher A. Ferrara (President of The American Catholic Lawyers Association, Inc.)

At the end of the letter above on the Remnant's official website, they provide links to documents and articles that support their charges including some released by WikiLeaks, which caught Soros, Clinton and Podesta conferring on how to bring the "middle ages dictatorship" at the Vatican to an end.

In another New American report from last October, the emails in question were investigated involving the Clinton Campaign's secret anti-Catholic agenda. They noted:

Podesta, a longtime Clinton adviser/confidante and hand-picked top activist for left-wing funder George Soros, revealed in a 2011 e-mail that he and other activists were working to effect a "Catholic Spring" revolution within the Catholic Church, an obvious reference to the disastrous "Arab Spring" coups organized that same year by the Obama-Clinton-Soros team that destabilized the Middle East and brought radical Islamist regimes and terrorist groups to power in the region. The Podesta e-mail is a response to another Soros-funded radical — Sandy Newman, founder of the "progressive" Voices for Progress. Newman had written to Podesta seeking advice on the best way to "plant the seeds of the revolution" in the Catholic Church, which he described as a "middle ages [sic] dictatorship."

Of special interest to me in the letter to Trump from the concerned Catholics is where they specifically note how: "Approximately a year after this e-mail discussion, which was never intended to be made public, we find that Pope Benedict XVI abdicated under highly unusual circumstances and was replaced by a pope whose apparent mission is to provide a spiritual component to the radical ideological agenda of the international left" and how they "remain puzzled by the behavior of this ideologically charged pope, whose mission seems to be one of advancing secular agendas of the left rather than guiding the Catholic Church in Her sacred mission ... It is simply not the proper role of a pope to be involved in politics to the point that he is considered to be the leader of the international left."

With all this in mind and given my personal exhaustive investigation into the Vatican, my extensive research into the Prophecy of the Popes, the correct predictions we made regarding the resignation of Benedict before the fact, and our follow-up probe into the conclave that elected Francis, I have a bombshell announcement to make. I have come to believe Pope Francis will either retire soon or be taken out of the way, and that this really is tied to something strange that unfolded in bringing him temporarily to the pontificate.

In other words, I believe Francis was not "canonically elected" as his namesake originally predicted. And the Catholics already cited above are only the tip of the iceberg from those who will eventually voice how "illegitimate" activity went on behind closed doors during the last papal election and that, for reasons we do not yet understand, Francis was put in as a temporary "placeholder" until the real Pope #112 (Petrus Romanus) could be installed.

The mysterious reasons surrounding this "placeholder" false pope may never fully be known, but was foresaw by such mystics as Father Herman Bernard Kramer in his work, The Book of Destiny.

During an unusual interpretation he made of the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation concerning "the great wonder" mentioned in verse one, Father Kramer wrote:

The 'sign' in heaven is that of a woman with child crying out in her travail and anguish of delivery. In that travail, she gives birth to some definite 'person' who is to RULE the Church with a rod of iron (verse 5). It then points to a conflict waged within the Church to elect one who was to 'rule all nations' in the manner clearly stated. In accord with the text this is unmistakably a PAPAL ELECTION, for only Christ and his Vicar have the divine right to rule ALL NATIONS... But at this time the great powers may take a menacing attitude to hinder the election of the logical and expected candidate by threats of a general apostasy, assassination or imprisonment of this candidate if elected." [capitalized emphasis in original]

Although I disagree with Kramer's interpretation of the book of Revelation, his fear that "great powers may take a menacing attitude to hinder the election of the logical and expected candidate" echoes the sentiment of priests mentioned elsewhere in Petrus Romanus, who saw a crisis for the church coming, and the false prophet and Antichrist rising as a result.

This too was in the news recently when a report was published by Sebastien Maillard, Vatican correspondent for La Croix, in Rome. He noted how a large array of conservative bishops fear that Francis is bypassing critical church doctrine and fear he has already gone too far. Even those cardinals who voted for Francis now want him to step down so that the Holy See's secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, can be elected the real pope. And these electors understand something else, too. Parolin's name means "Peter the Roman" from the final line of the prophecy of the popes.

Affiliation to national religion hits record low, with biggest drop seen in 45 to 54 age group

The parish church no longer plays a key role in British life, according to the latest findings. Photograph: Alamy

The Church of England is facing a generational catastrophe with only 2% of young adults identifying with it, while seven out of 10 under-24s say they have no religion, research reveals.

C of E affiliation is at a record low among all age groups, and has halved since 2002, according to the British Social Attitudes survey. Far fewer actually attend church services on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, the trend towards a secular society has increased over recent years. The BSA survey found that 52% of people had no religion in 2017 compared with 41% in 2002. However, the proportion last year was slightly down on 2016, when 53% said they had no religious affiliation.

The demographic breakdown in the new data is particularly unwelcome news for the church. Younger people are significantly less likely to identify with the C of E than older age groups, and evidence suggests that people rarely join organised religion in later life. The trend indicates that affiliation with the C of E could become negligible with successive generations.

People over the age of 65 are most likely to say they belong to the C of E. But at 30% it is still a minority, and the proportion has fallen from 52% in 2002. This older demographic also saw the biggest increase in those saying they had no religion, up from 18% in 2002 to 34% last year.

The proportion of people of all ages identifying with the C of E has fallen from 31% in 2002 to 14% last year. The sharpest decline was among 45- to 54-year-olds, from 35% to 11%.

Overall, 8% of people identify with the Roman Catholic church, 10% with other Christian denominations and 8% with non-Christian faiths.

Researchers found a significant gap between people identifying with a church and those attending church services. Of those who say they belong to the C of E, only one in five attends church at least once a month, apart from weddings and funerals. Among Roman Catholic adherents, two in five attend church at least once a month.

Roger Harding of the National Centre for Social Research, which conducts the BSA survey, said the figures showed “an unrelenting decline in Church of England and Church of Scotland numbers. This is especially true for young people where less than one in 20 now belong to their established church. While the figures are starkest among younger people, in every age group the biggest single group are those identifying with no religion.

“We know from the British Social Attitudes survey that people’s views are becoming more socially liberal on issues like same-sex relationships and abortion. With growing numbers belonging to no religion, faith leaders will no doubt be considering how to better connect to a changing society.”

Dave Male, the C of E’s director of evangelism and discipleship, said: “It has been clear for some time that we have moved from an era of people automatically, and perhaps unthinkingly, classifying themselves as Church of England or Anglican to one in which identifying with a faith is an active choice.

“Yet research, especially among young people, shows an increase in willingness to engage in faith. Our experience is that people of all ages haven’t stopped searching for meaning and answers in their life.

“Ultimately the church exists to share the good news of Jesus Christ. That was never meant to be easy and that work goes on whatever the figures may say.”

Richy Thompson of Humanists UK said: “With just 2% of young adults now saying they belong to the C of E, it is simply untenable that the church continues to run a third of all our state schools, that Christian worship is enforced in all the other state schools, and that the church continues to have other privileges of establishment, including 26 bishops sitting as of right in the House of Lords.

“These figures must surely act as an urgent wake-up call for the need to have a renewed conversation about the place of religion or belief in British public life.”

Netflix ‘Insatiable’ TV series mocks Christianity with young girls pleading for sex with Jesus and Holy Spirit

The latest: Netflix is airing a new series, Insatiable, which mocks Christians and Christianity.

Dawn Slusher reports for LifeNews, Aug. 31, 2018, that released on August 10, Netflix’s newest teen dramedy Insatiable portrays Southerners as shallow, ostentatious Jesus freaks.

Insatiable’s main character Patty Bladell goes from being bullied at school for being overweight (taunted with nicknames like “Fatty Patty”) to becoming a vengeful beauty queen once she loses weight after having her jaw wired shut from an injury she received after punching a homeless man who called her fat.

In one scene, Patty undergoes baptism. She comes out of the baptismal pool in slow motion, her wet, see-through white gown revealing a red bikini underneath as everyone in the pews stare at her in awe.

The Miss Magic Jesus Pageant begins with the contestants singing a very lurid and sexually charged “worship” song, pleading with Jesus and the Holy Spirit to have sex with them, asking the Holy Spirit to “please ride me…deep, deep, deep in my Hooool…ly Father” while making sexual motions and gyrations.

Chorus: We’ll journey together, your hand on my heart. Whatever the weather, a love so strong. So long. So hard. O, Jesus, You fill me in every single way. Sweet, sweet Jesus inside me, I got You deep in my soul. Deep, deep, deep in my soul. Yeah! Oh, Spirit, please ride me. Please, please, please, please ride me. Deep, deep, deep in my soul.

Dee: Time to break it down, y’all. Stone cold chillin’, JC, JC, just You and me. Chill, chill, chillin’, You see, by the Sea of Galilee. I got a notion that this motion by the ocean is the potion I need. I think You get the gist. You the top of my list. State of bliss. Eucharist. Swear to God I need a fix. State of bliss. Crucifix. Thank You, Jesus, that’s my mix.

Chorus: Sweet, sweet Jesus inside me, I got You deep in my soul. Deep, deep, deep in my soul. Yeah! Oh, Spirit, please ride me. Please, please, please, please ride me. Deep, deep, deep in my Hoooool…ly Father. I think I love You.

Nearly a year ago, I terminated my subscription to Netflix. If you still are a subscriber, please stop because your subscription is enabling Netflix in its evil.

Abortion Activist Sarah Silverman Slams “Motherfer’ Christians.” “Don’t Tell Me How I’m Disrespecting God”

A Jewish comedian is poking fun at “Allah” now, thanks to those Christian “motherf***ers.”

On Wednesday, Sarah Silverman’s Hulu show, I Love You, America, released a trailer for its upcoming second season, which begins Sept. 6. In the clip, Silverman addressed her Christian critics by courting Islamic critics. At least one person found it funny: herself.

“New episodes coming soon to @hulu, with even bigger guests than God,” the show advertised on Twitter. That guest, it turned out, was “Allah.”

The trailer opened with a deep man’s voice coming from a TV – a voice presumably from God.

“I will send you to hell for eternity if you murder, steal, do guy-on-guy butt sex,” he told Silverman, as video of galaxies played on the television screen.

“That’s true?” Silverman questioned him, latching onto the “butt sex” remark. “You really put people in hell for eternity if they put their penis in an anus?”

The voice said no: “Sarah, take a chill pill, I’m kidding. I created gay people.”

A relieved Silverman responded, “Oh phew! You got me. You’re a real son of a gun, God.” Except for that he wasn’t God.

That’s when Silverman turned her attention to viewers – particularly Christians.

“Hey everyone frantically typing emails about how I’m once again disrespecting the Christian God,” she prodded. “Guess what, motherfuckers?”

Silverman was presumably making a jab at her many Christian critics. That’s because she has done things like list Jesus as her “favorite hero of fiction.” She has poked fun at Christians at every turn, from her SNL “Jesus was a woman” song to hanging out with “Jesus Fing Christ” in an abortion PSA. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. In one of her critiques of conservative Christians, she also made fun of Media Research Center and NewsBusters.

Researchers at the University of Exeter in the U.K. are studying the casting of spells from collections of literature from the 15th to 17th centuries to summon demons and “fairies” to uncover their secrets.

This period, starting in the late medieval times, saw the writing of many books giving instructions on how to perform sorcery and necromancy, and fairies played an important role.

Ph.D. candidate Samuel Gillis Hogan, 26, will begin trawling through ancient manuscripts in many of England’s libraries to find evidence and records of how people thought they could harness the power of “fairies” over the 300-year period, and what influence this had on people’s lives and culture.

“Fairies were thought of as wondrous and beautiful, but mostly dangerous,” he said. “But people wanted to summon them and harness that power for their own gain. For example, fairies were often asked to teach how to heal people.”

Hogan is relocating from Canada to join a team of historians at the University of Exeter who are already investigating the history of magic, sorcery and witchcraft.

“It shows much about beliefs at the time,” Hogan added. “By fully understanding these practices, we can often reconstruct how it was perfectly rational given contemporary beliefs. It’s easy to look down our noses at past or present cultures and dismiss them as ‘backwards’ or ‘primitive’, but intimately understanding these very different worldviews emphasizes that our own is simply one among many.”

Among the common theories about “fairies,” says Hogan, are that they were demoted angels, spirits of the dead, prehistoric human precursors and minor deities in pagan beliefs. He emphasizes that they were not always considered as virtuous, particularly as Puritanism grew after the Reformation in the 16th century. The spell books that will be studied to conjure fairies, demons and other spirits were used, he says, for both for noble and nefarious purposes.

Hogan’s work will be supervised by two historians, professors Catherine Rider and Jonathan Barry. His Ph.D. work will be funded by a Rothermere fellowship which supports students who have previously studied at the Memorial University of Newfoundland to study in the U.K.

“I specialize in the history of magic,” Hogan says. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. I decided that I wanted to become someday a professor of the history of magic in grade 11.”

Hogan thought initially he would be one of the first scholars to do this, but he learned the study of magic is exploding on college campuses. There is already is an international society of scholars dedicated to the subject, the Societas Magica, established in 1994 in the US. Hogan studied under Frank Klaassen, once the president of SM.

Pastor Karl Payne, an expert on demonology and the author of the highly acclaimed book, “Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization, and Deliverance,” suggests these secular academics are treading in explosively dangerous territory in their research.

“I am not excited about anyone for any reason attempting to legitimize delving into the world of demonism, spell casting, talking with the dead or walking with the dead through mainstream academia, even if that journey is promoted as a graduate college level historical examination of the subject,” the former chaplain of the Seattle Seahawks told WND. “My guess is that Aleister Crowley would be just as proud of Samuel Gillis Hogan, as Margaret Sanger must be of Kermit Gosnell, Karl Marx of Joseph Stalin, Charles Darwin of Adolf Hitler, John Dewey of Richard Dawkins, or William H. Masters of Ted Bundy. Is it a surprise to find out that the death and carnage from many of the ideas promoted by these men, women and organizations were originally sold to the public as academic progress in a modern world?”

He added: “When college classes are used as promotional pulpits for experimenting with demons, many students, and more than a few teachers, are going to end up in over their heads, dying to get out, and with no one to ultimately blame but themselves. I suspect that those of us who deal with the realities of demonization are going to get busier as students and teachers find out too late that they did not get out of experimenting and playing with demons what they thought they were going to get going into their curiosities. Casual sex has promoted and produced death mills. In the same manner, casual experimentation with spiritism is going to ultimately promote and produce destruction and death, regardless of how it is sold. You can put a beautiful bow around the neck of a skunk, call it a cat and name it ‘Princess.’ But it is still a skunk! If there is any doubt about this, just wait until ‘Princess’ becomes agitated.”

Hogan’s previous writing include “Cheating Death: An Exploration of the Relationship Between Medieval Concepts of Death and the Alchemical Aspiration for Immortality.” It focused on the use of alchemy in the attempt to achieve immortality and how this conflicted with the Christian approach to the afterlife. The paper won Hogan the university’s Pro Vice-Chancellor’s Prize. He said it was at that moment that he realized he could make a career in the history of magic and have it recognized in academic circles.

Hogan wrote his master’s thesis on the 27 surviving manuscripts written between 1160 and 1500 relating to the performance of chiromancy, a form of divination.

The University of Exeter is well known among the esoteric and pagan community in the U.K. and has a long track record of research into the history of magic.

A Black Mass is a satanic ritual — the inversion of the traditional Latin Mass.

On Friday night, October 12, 2018, the Philadelphia Museum of Contemporary Art will host two satanic Black Masses.

As of this morning, the 8 PM Black Mass is sold out. The museum is still hawking tickets for the 10:30 PM Black Mass.

According to the web site of the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art (PhilaMOCA), they will host a Satanic Black Mass Ritual on Friday, October 12.

It will be performed by one of the founders of the Satanic group known as The Satanic Temple, which has rented the mausoleum’s venue to perform the ritual.

I pray you will join me in asking Our Lady, St. Michael the Archangel, and all the Angels and Saints to bless our defense of the precious remnants of Christian Civilization in America – so threatened by these black mass rituals.

As a loving member of God’s Church Militant, pray for Heaven’s help, and take action now.

Efforts at mainstreaming satanic worship in America have been going on for a long time.

Apart from private or unadvertised hidden, late-night, impure ‘festivals’ and ‘gatherings’, America Needs Fatima has publicly protested the mainstreaming of Satanism over the years, including:

And so a copy of your protest will be sent to Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney and Mr. Eric Bresler, Director/Curator, PhilaMOCA, asking them to cancel this event.

You and I and all God fearing people cannot allow this latest Satanic assault to go by unopposed.

Russia's latest warning to the US: "Do not support the Islamists, we will hit your base in Al-Tanf"

A clear warning to Washington sent to Moscow two times last week that its forces, along with Syrian government forces, are ready to attack the US base at At Tanf, which is on the border of Syria, Iraq and Jordan, but on Syrian territory and there are hundreds of US soldiers and other personnel.

Moscow has said there are terrorist forces in the region, and US forces will be at great risk if the Russian and Syrian forces are attacked.

In response, the US said they have every right to defend themselves if Russians attack the base.

Of course, the base is illegal as it is in possession of the territory of the Syrian territory, but the US is trying to justify its presence there as a "de-escalation zone" in the fight against terrorism, an area of about 55 km.

As CNN says, the United States has issued a new message in response to Russia not to trigger US military presence in the region.

Pentagon officials said the American "guard" in the region is strategic in an area where Russia and Iran are trying to maximize their influence.

According to the same officials, there is a lot of concern as they fear that Russian warships in the eastern Mediterranean will launch cruise missiles against positions claiming to be Islamic terrorists in the same area where US troops are stationed, which will cause a straight showdown of American and Russian forces if Russian strikes are not apt ...

So far, as noted, no concentration of Russian forces has been observed, while officials do not disclose through which "concert" channel the warning was made.

As noted both by US Defense Secretary James Matisse and US Chief of Staff General Danford, he is aware of Russian warnings, suggesting that US troops have every right to defend themselves in the event of an attack by making sense:

"We warned them to stay out of At Tanf. We are ready to answer, " officials said to add:

"The US does not want to wage war with the Syrian government, or with organizations it supports.However, if we are attacked, the US will not hesitate to use the necessary and necessary power to defend itself. "

The American base at Al-Tanf was set up in 2016 on the grounds of training of FSA guerrillas in the war against ISIS. In fact, and as Russia accuses the United States, the region has become a nursery for rebel terrorists trained and protected by US forces. The area occupied by this semi-autonomous area with what has become known has a radius of 55 km around the base

Idlib final push: Damascus has the high ground, terrorists to surrender or be destroyed – analyst

Syria’s terror-infested Idlib province is a thorn that needs removing, a military expert told RT, adding that the Syrian Army is capable of both freeing the area from terrorists and keeping civilians safe.

The Idlib de-escalation zone has “served its purpose and has to be cleared out as soon as possible”, as it’s become a “source of destabilization and threats” that impedes further peace process in Syria, Mikhail Khodarenok, a retired colonel, who worked at the main operational directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, told RT.

The region is controlled by various warring militant groups, including such terrorist organizations as the former Al Nusra Front (now known as Tahrir al-Sham). It poses considerable danger both to local civilians and other Syrian territories, as well as to the Russian forces stationed at the Khmeimim Air Base. The terrorists seek to derail the separation of extremist forces from other armed groups “in every possible way.”

At the same time, they also launch attacks against other Syrian regions using the Idlib facilities. In early August, Russian forces downed almost a dozen drones near Khmeimim, launched from the militant-held areas in Idlib within just a few days.

Earlier, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred to the province that is mostly controlled by an Al-Qaeda affiliate, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, as a “nest of terrorism” that remains an issue of “special concern” for Russia, Syria, and Turkey. He added that a “large group of terrorists had entrenched there,” undermining any attempts of diplomatic and political settlement.

Russia has also repeatedly warned about militants preparing a false-flag chemical weapons attack in the province. Moscow even providedthe proof of the planned provocation to the UN and Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

“Idlib is a thorn that needs to be removed as soon as possible, otherwise advancing the peace process in Syria simply won’t work,” Khodarenok said.

Idlib is a fairly large and densely populated province, with a significant number of civilians living there, Khodarenok warned, while the number of various militants there, including their family members, might amount to some 50,000-60,000. The provincial capital of Idlib alone hosts up to 3 million people. Still, the Syrian Army supported by the Russian Air Forces could avoid significant civilian casualties as it already has a vast experience of fighting in the cities, the expert added.

“Generally, all the fighting in Syria has taken place either in urban areas or close by; almost no one fought in the desert parts of the country, which take up most of Syria’s territory,” the retired colonel said, adding that the Syrian Army and the Russian forces “will surely take all the necessary steps to prevent civilian deaths, so we can rule out disproportional use of force during such an operation.”

One of the possible tactics that Damascus and Moscow might use in this operation is the one they first used during the liberation of another big Syrian city – Aleppo – and was then used in Deir-ez-Zor and other heavily populated areas held by militants. It involves creating humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee the active combat zone.

The Syrian Army is also likely to rely on highly trained and experienced assault groups that have gone through years of fighting and took part in many major battles of the Syrian conflict. As circumstances require, such groups may include motorized infantry, tanks, armored fighting vehicles and engineer troops such as de-mining specialists, Khodarenok said.

If necessary, ground troops can be supported by artillery and Air Forces, which are expected to use precision-guided munitions such as guided bombs and missiles, thus drastically reducing the possibility of collateral damage, the expert said.

The battle for Idlib is the final push in the prolonged Syrian conflict, which might eventually bring it to an end. That means that the armed groups, which are currently entrenched in the province would have only two options: to “lay down their arms” or to “be destroyed in battle,” Khodarenok told RT.

Any other option like the creation of another ‘de-escalation zone’ on the Syrian territory is not possible any more, the military expert said. He, however, admitted that some of the militants might be eventually transported from Syria to Turkey or Saudi Arabia if the governments of these countries agreed to accept them and reach relevant agreements with Damascus.

“If Turkey and Saudi Arabia refuse to take part in determining the militants’ fate, they will have no other choice but to be crushed on the battlefield” or “lay down their arms and surrender to the Syrian Army,” the retired colonel said. Ultimately, the eventual defeat of the militants in the Idlib province“ would be only a matter of time.”

Iran Stuns Enemies By Moving Ballistic Missiles To Iraq - Within Easy Striking Distance of Tel Aviv

In what is sure to be a realization of one of Netanyahu's worst nightmares, and deeply awkward for US advisers to Baghdad, Iran has transferred ballistic missiles to Shia proxy forces in Iraq, according to Western and Iraqi intelligence sources cited in a new Reuters report.

The revelation comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran are already at their highest point in years as aggressive sanctions continue crippling Iran's economy, and after threats and counter-threats over Tehran laying claim to the vital Strait of Hormuz oil waterway over the past weeks, through which some one-third of the world's oil passes.

The Reuters report cites multiple officials and intelligence sources, including Iranian officials who seem willing to inform the world of the provocative move:

According to three Iranian officials, two Iraqi intelligence sources and two Western intelligence sources, Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to allies in Iraq over the last few months. Five of the officials said it was helping those groups to start making their own.

“The logic was to have a backup plan if Iran was attacked,” one senior Iranian official told Reuters. “The number of missiles is not high, just a couple of dozen, but it can be increased if necessary.”

The news is sure to cause a stir for European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) like Germany, the UK, and France, who are still trying to salvage it, as it is a clear sign that the deal which the Trump White House pulled out of is in tatters.

Reuters identifies the Zelzal, Fateh-110 and Zolfaqar missile systems as among those transferred — with ranges of between 200 and 700km, which puts "Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh or the Israeli city of Tel Aviv within striking distance if the weapons were deployed in southern or western Iraq".

And notably the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds force head, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, is overseeing the missile transfers and their operation in what regional foes Saudi Arabia and Israel are sure to interpret as the most provocative and escalatory move by its archenemy in recent years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently lobbied the White House for more aggressive action against Iran, and speaking last week along side US National Security Advisor John Bolton, affirmed Bolton's call for both to weaken Iran's regional presence in places like Syria.

Bolton had praised Israel's repeat attacks on Iranian targets inside Syria, saying “every time Iran has brought missiles or other threatening weapons” into the country, Israel hasn't hesitated to act. Bolton hailed those strikes as “a legitimate act of self-defense”.

However, the case of Iraq is clearly a more delicate situation, as the pro-Shia government in Baghdad is propped up by the United States, and Baghdad in turn facilitates the operation of Tehran-aligned militias who act in concert with Iraqi military forces. Of course, in an irony that won't be lost on future historians, it was the United States and its allies that installed a Shia government in Baghdad in the first place by toppling Saddam Hussein in its 2003 invasion, which Netanyahu had given loud and consistent support for.

One Western source cited by Reuters says the missile transfer is clearly intended as a "warning" to both the US and Israel. "It seems Iran has been turning Iraq into its forward missile base," the source said.

The so-called "Shia land bridge" extends from Iran to allies Iraq, Syria, and to Lebanese Hezbollah.

The sources also pointed out that elite Iranian IRGC forces have already trained Iraqi personnel to operate its sophisticated missiles, and that Iran has already long established forward bases in parts of Iraq.

One senior IRGC commander confirmed this to Reuters, saying: “We have bases like that in many places and Iraq is one of them. If America attacks us, our friends will attack America’s interests and its allies in the region.”

Western and Iraqi sources identified that missile producing factories overseen by Iranians are present in al-Zafaraniya, east of Baghdad, and Jurf al-Sakhar, north of Kerbala. And further there is said to be a site under the operation of Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is considered one of Iran's closest proxy paramilitary forces.

Though the Iraqi government didn't comment on an official level, Reuters cites the following alarming words from an Iraqi government source:

The Iraqi source said it was difficult for the Iraqi government to stop or persuade the groups to go against Tehran.

“We can’t restrain militias from firing Iranian rockets because simply the firing button is not in our hands, it’s with Iranians who control the push button,” he said.

The Iraqi official continued, “Iran will definitely use the missiles it handed over to Iraqi militia it supports to send a strong message to its foes in the region and the United States that it has the ability to use Iraqi territories as a launch pad for its missiles to strike anywhere and anytime it decides.”

And meanwhile, hours after the Reuters story broke early Friday, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported the country's domestically produced long-range ballistic missiles will be ready for use by the Spring of 2019, according to a commander that oversees Iran's Air Defense.

Surely, Israel will respond at some point to what Netanyahu has long ago identified as a "red line" concerning Israel's security interests in the region. The only question is how and when, and how awkward will in be for US officials in Baghdad?

African leaders leave Beijing forum hailing ‘new world order’ as China offers $60bn investment

China's Xi Jinping says investment comes with 'no political strings attached'

Representatives from almost every country in Africa dined with Xi Jinping on Monday night as they attended what is believed to be the largest gathering of African heads of state ever staged outside the continent.

They had plenty to toast, after China’s President Xi pledged new infrastructure investments in their countries of $60bn (£46bn) spanning the next three years.

The latest investment is in addition to the $60bn pledged back in 2015, and promises to continue the remarkable growth of China-backed building projects across the African segment, known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

China now far outstrips the economic clout and engagement in Africa of either the US or Europe, and its involvement has inevitably sparked criticism.

Malaysia’s prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, warned against what he called a “new version of colonialism” last month when he cancelled a $20bn Chinese-backed rail project.

And in his speech addressing leaders at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Mr Xi appeared to acknowledge these concerns, saying Chinese investment came with “no political strings attached”.

“China does not interfere in Africa’s internal affairs and does not impose its own will on Africa,” he said. “More than 1.3 billion Chinese people and more than 1.2 million African people have always pursued a shared future.

Since Mr Xi’s announcement, African heads of state have similarly sought to play down any suggestion that China’s interests are in anything other than mutual economic growth.

Zimbabwe’s newly elected president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, hit out at critics of China in an interview on state TV.

“There is now a transition to a new world order and those who don’t see it are blind,” he said.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, said the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing was working towards “a vision that has been crafted in Africa, by Africans… of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa”.

“FOCAC refutes the view that a new colonialism is taking hold in Africa, as our detractors would have us believe,” he added.

Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, the current African Union chairman and a fierce critic in the past of foreign aid, said he considered China to be a “more respectful partner” than either Europe or America.

“The relationship between Africa and China is based on equality, mutual respect and a commitment to a shared well-being,” he said. “Our growing ties with China do not come at anyone’s expense.”

Some experts are not so sure. The International Monetary Fund warned in April that at least 40 per cent of low-income countries in Africa are either in debt distress or at high risk. Since the last FOCAC forum in South Africa in 2015, a number of countries have attempted to restructure their debt.

But Chinese officials have previously denied taking part in so-called “debt trap” diplomacy, and on Monday Mr Xi said government debt from China’s interest free loans due by the end of 2018 will be written off for indebted poor African countries.

“Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise,” Mr Xi warned, an apparent reference to an ongoing trade war between his country and Donald Trump’s America.

“China-Africa cooperation under the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) is a way to common prosperity that brings benefits to both our peoples.”

The only African country not represented in Beijing at the summit, which continued on Tuesday with meetings between business leaders and entrepreneurs, was newly-renamed eSwatini, formerly Swaziland.

That’s because it is now the only nation left in Africa still conducting diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-ruled territory claimed by China. Beijing refuses to do business with any country that maintains ties to Taipei – business which the rest of the African continent has decided it cannot afford to lose

Breaking News: Chinese Military Enters So. Africa and Afghanistan-Is WW III Imminent?

I have been very outspoken about the presence of Chinese troops inside the United States. Around the world, the Chinese are the most aggressive nation on the face of the earth.

China lacks sufficient natural resources needed to complete their country’s transformation from a Second World country (ie developing nation) to a First World country. The Chinese are in a very similar position to 1929 Japan before Japan began to invade its neighbors for oil and other resources. It appears that history is about to repeat itself.

My assertion that Chinese threat within America is becoming more dangerous is being demonstrated on a daily basis. Now we see the threat from China greatly expanding around the world. China is getting ready for World War III.

The solar energy farm workers are front men for the Chinese army. The port of Ling Beach contains a multitude of Chinese and we will not know precisely how many because the Chinese control the port. Chinese soldiers, in civilian attire can be found in and about the inland ports in America established by various free trade agreements. I have published eyewitness reports regarding Chinese troops being brought in as restaurant workers and then they disappear into the night.

When the last edition of the movie, Red Dawn, was made, the original invading force was Chinese. However, the Obama administration strongly protested and the Chinese invading army was changed to the North Korean army.

The Chinese once enjoyed an $800 billion trade surplus with the United States. President Trump has greatly reduced the trade gap. The Chinese are left scrambling to make up the deficit. In order to compensate, the Chinese have become the world’s biggest hording nation when it comes to gold supplies. The Chinese joined the BRICS which forsakes the Petrodollar in favor of gold backed purchases of oil from Iran. The US attempting to cause a revolution in IRan and this threatens Chinese oil supplies. The US did the same thing to pre-World War II Japan when it came to oil and scrap metal sales and we know this culminated in Pearl Harbor.

The Chinese have increasingly become militarily aggressive in recent months and have engaged in the following actions:

Recently, the Chinese have positioned their military in position which allows them to directly confront US military forces.

I have been in contact with a former South African pastor, Abri Bracken, who relocated to New Zealand in order to escape the persecution of whites in South Africa.

Dave FYI, President Trump needs to move on the South African issue. China is taking Southern Africa and it is linked to the land grab from farmers in South Africa. China has reportedly deployed and installed a dreaded new generation of surface-to- air missiles (SAM) in Zimbabwe, in what is seen as direct preparation for defending her vast economic interests in the country. The story broke today on South African Radio stations as well.

(Editor’s Note: The link for the story connected to the missiles is listed below. Certainly, the Chinese do not need SAM missiles to defend against any African military. These missiles intended for the United States should they intervene in South Africa in order to stop the genocide against whites which is in the early stages of unfolding. The South African ANC ruling party would surely welcome Chinese military support against a potential US intervention force.).

https://www.thezimbabwean.co/2018/08/china-places-strategic-ground-to-air-missiles-in-zimbabwe/

For at least 6 months, the US government has known that the Chinese have established a base of operations in Afghanistan.

There is mounting evidence that Chinese ground troops are operating inside Afghanistan, conducting joint counter-terror patrols with Afghan forces along a 50-mile stretch of their shared border and fueling speculation that Beijing is preparing to play a significantly greater role in the country’s security once the U.S. and NATO leave.

The full scope of China’s involvement remains unclear, and the Pentagon is unwilling to discuss it. “We know that they are there, that they are present,” a Pentagon spokesman said. Yet beyond a subtle acknowledgement, U.S. military officials in Washington and in Kabul would not respond to several detailed questions submitted by Military Times.

China’s emergence as an economic superpower will not be denied. The Chinese appear to be willing to use their military and risk military confrontation, even resulting in World War III, to make good on their threats and their economic goals.

The ball is in President Trump’s court and war could be at hand. Trump’s “Art of the Deal” is about to be severely tested.

Finally, you have not seen any of these stories in the MSM. This is why America needs a MSM and this is why the public needs to back down the social media tech giants from their illegal position of censorship. The liberals want World War III. Out of order comes chaos. It will be YOUR sons who die in an upcoming war, not the liberals children.

Around 200,000 US troops are stationed in 177 countries throughout the world. Those forces utilize several hundred military installations. Africa is no exception. On August 2, Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier took command of US Army Africa, promising to “hit the ground running.”

The US is not waging any wars in Africa but it has a significant presence on the continent. Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other special ops are currently conducting nearly 100 missions across 20 African countries at any given time, waging secret, limited-scale operations. According to the magazine Vice, US troops are now conducting 3,500 exercises and military engagements throughout Africa per year, an average of 10 per day — an astounding 1,900% increase since the command rolled out 10 years ago. Many activities described as “advise and assist” are actually indistinguishable from combat by any basic definition.

There are currently roughly 7,500 US military personnel, including 1,000 contractors, deployed in Africa. For comparison, that figure was only 6,000 just a year ago. The troops are strung throughout the continent spread across 53 countries. There are 54 countries on the “Dark Continent.” More than 4,000 service members have converged on East Africa. The US troop count in Somalia doubled last year.

When AFRICOM was created there were no plans to establish bases or put boots on the ground. Today, a network of small staging bases or stations have cropped up. According to investigative journalist Nick Turse, “US military bases (including forward operating sites, cooperative security locations, and contingency locations) in Africa number around fifty, at least.” US troops in harm’s way in Algeria, Burundi, Chad, Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan Tunisia, and Uganda qualify for extra pay.

The US African Command (AFRICOM) runs drone surveillance programs, cross-border raids, and intelligence. AFRICOM has claimed responsibility for development, public health, professional and security training, and other humanitarian tasks. Officials from the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Agriculture, Energy, Commerce, and Justice, among other agencies, are involved in AFRICOM activities. Military attachés outnumber diplomats at many embassies across Africa.

Last October, four US soldiers lost their lives in Niger. The vast majority of Americans probably had no idea that the US even had troops participating in combat missions in Africa before the incident took place. One serviceman was reported dead in Somalia in June. The Defense Department is mulling plans to “right-size” special operations missions in Africa and reassign troops to other regions, aligning the efforts with the security priorities defined by the 2018 National Defense Strategy. That document prioritizes great power competition over defeating terrorist groups in remote corners of the globe. Roughly 1,200 special ops troops on missions in Africa are looking at a drawdown. But it has nothing to do with leaving or significantly cutting back. And the right to unilaterally return will be reserved. The infrastructure is being expanded enough to make it capable of accommodating substantial reinforcements. The construction work is in progress. The bases will remain operational and their numbers keep on rising.

A large drone base in Agadez, the largest city in central Niger, is reported to be under construction. The facility will host armed MQ-9 Reaper drones which will finally take flight in 2019. The MQ-9 Reaper has a range of 1,150 miles, allowing it to provide strike support and intelligence-gathering capabilities across West and North Africa from this new base outside of Agadez. It can carry GBU-12 Paveway II bombs. The aircraft features synthetic aperture radar for integrating GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions. The armament suite can include four Hellfire air-to-ground anti-armor and anti-personnel missiles. There are an estimated 800 US troops on the ground in Niger, along with one drone base and the base in Agadez that is being built. The Hill called it “the largest US Air Force-led construction project of all time.”

According to Business Insider, “The US military presence here is the second largest in Africa behind the sole permanent US base on the continent, in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti.” Four thousand American servicemen are stationed at Camp Lemonnier (the US base located near Djibouti City) — a critical strategic base for the American military because of its port and its proximity to the Middle East.

Officially, the camp is the only US base on the continent or, as AFRICOM calls it, “a forward operating site,” — the others are “cooperative security locations” or “non-enduring contingency locations.” Camp Lemonnier is the hub of a network of American drone bases in Africa that are used for aerial attacks against insurgents in Yemen, Nigeria, and Somalia, as well as for exercising control over the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. In 2014, the US signed a new 20-year lease on the base with the Djiboutian government, and committed over $1.4 billion to modernize and expand the facility in the years to come.

In March, the US and Ghana signed a military agreement outlining the conditions of the US military presence in that nation, including its construction activities. The news was met with protests inside the country.

It should be noted that the drone attacks that are regularly launched in Africa are in violation of US law. The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), adopted after Sept. 11, 2001, states that the president is authorized to use force against the planners of those attacks and those who harbor them. But that act does not apply to the rebel groups operating in Africa.

It’s hard to believe that the US presence will be really diminished, and there is no way to know, as too many aspects of it are shrouded in secrecy with nothing but “leaks” emerging from time to time. It should be noted that the documents obtained by TomDispatch under the United States Freedom of Information Act contradict AFRICOM's official statements about the scale of US military bases around the world, including 36 AFRICOM bases in 24 African countries that have not been previously disclosed in official reports.

The US foothold in Africa is strong. It’s almost ubiquitous. Some large sites under construction will provide the US with the ability to host large aircraft and accommodate substantial forces and their hardware. This all prompts the still-unanswered question — “Where does the US have troops in Africa, and why?” One thing is certain — while waging an intensive drone war, the US is building a vast military infrastructure for a large-scale ground war on the continent.

Hitler is “The Torchbearer of Democracy” according to Chairman of Ukraine’s Parliament

On September 4, the Chairman of Ukraine’s Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) Andriy Parubiy’s intimated that Adolf Hitler was “the torchbearer of democracy”.

His statement was broadcast on Ukraine’s ICTV channel. Parubiy described Adolf Hitler as a true proponent of democracy claiming that the Führer “practiced direct democracy in the 1930s.” (Tass, September 5, 2018).

“I’m a major supporter of direct democracy,… By the way, I tell you that the biggest man, who practised a direct democracy, was Adolf Aloizovich [Hitler]”. (quoted by South Front)

This controversial statement was not picked up by the Western press. Lies by omission.

Why? Because the Kiev regime which is integrated by Nazi elements is supported by the US and its allies. Parubiy has been given red carpet treatment by Western governments. He is casually portrayed as a right wing politician rather than an avowed neo-Nazi.

Embarrassment or Denial? The US Congress, Canada’s Parliament, the British Parliament, European Parliament, have invited and praised M. Parubiy.

The Opposition Bloc faction in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has demanded public condemnation as well as the resignation of the Chairman of the Rada Andriy Parubiy..

Parubiy founded in 1991 the Social-National Party of Ukraine (subsequently renamed Svoboda[Freedom], together with Oleh Tyahnybok (image below), who currently heads the Svoboda party. The name Social-National Party was chosen with a view to replicating the name of Hitler’s Nazi (National Socialist) party

Parubiy was ‘Commandant’ of the volunteer rebel forces together with Dmytro Yarosh (head of the Right Sector) and Oleh Tyanhnybok. These Neo-Nazi insurgent forces were involved in the ‘Euromaidan’ coup d’Etat in early 2014, which led to the overthrow of president Viktor Yanukovych. All three Neo-Nazi leaders are followers of Ukraine’s Nazi Stepan Bandera, who collaborated in the mass murder of Jews and Poles during World War II.

Confirmed by [former] Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, key organizations in the Ukraine including the Neo-Nazi party Svoboda were generously supported by Washington: “We have invested more than 5 billion dollars to help Ukraine to achieve these and other goals. … We will continue to promote Ukraine to the future it deserves.”

The Western media has casually avoided to analyze the composition and ideological underpinnings of the government coalition. The word “Neo-Nazi” is a taboo. It has been excluded from the dictionary of mainstream media commentary. It will not appear in the pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post or The Independent. Journalists have been instructed not to use the term “Neo-Nazi” to designate Svoboda and the Right Sector. (see Michel Chossudovsky, March 7 2014)

In 2014 Andriy Parubiy was appointed (by the Kiev government) Secretary of the National Security and National Defense Committee (RNBOU). (Рада національної безпеки і оборони України), a key position which overseas the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement, National Security and Intelligence. While he was dismissed a few months later (August 2014), Parubiy together with Dmytro Yarosh played a key role in shaping Ukraine’s National Guard as a Nazi Force using Nazi insignia. Despite his dismissal by Poroshenko he continues to exert influence in military and intelligence affairs. As Chairman of the Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) Parubiy is entitled (ex officio) to attend all meetings of the RNBOU.

While the media failed to cover Parubiy’s statement concerning Adolph Hitler’s commitment to democracy, they nonetheless have expressed concern regarding the influx of US, Canadian military aid, which might fall in the wrong hands, according to Canada’s National Post. (2015 report)

What is left roaming our wilderness of mirrors depends on the mood swings of the Goddess of the Market. No wonder an effect of Eurasia integration will be a death blow to Bretton Woods and “democratic” neoliberalism...

Get ready for a major geopolitical chessboard rumble: from now on, every butterfly fluttering its wings and setting off a tornado directly connects to the battle between Eurasia integration and Western sanctions as foreign policy.

It is the paradigm shift of China’s New Silk Roads versus America’s Our Way or the Highway. We used to be under the illusion that history had ended. How did it come to this?

Hop in for some essential time travel. For centuries the Ancient Silk Road, run by mobile nomads, established the competitiveness standard for land-based trade connectivity; a web of trade routes linking Eurasia to the – dominant – Chinese market.

In the early 15^th century, based on the tributary system, China had already established a Maritime Silk Road along the Indian Ocean all the way to the east coast of Africa, led by the legendary Admiral Zheng He. Yet it didn’t take much for imperial Beijing to conclude that China was self-sufficient enough – and that emphasis should be placed on land-based operations.

Deprived of a trade connection via a land corridor between Europe and China, Europeans went all-out for their own maritime silk roads. We are all familiar with the spectacular result: half a millennium of Western dominance.

Until quite recently the latest chapters of this Brave New World were conceptualized by the Mahan, Mackinder and Spykman trio.

The Heartland of the World
Halford Mackinder’s 1904 Heartland Theory – a product of the imperial Russia-Britain New Great Game – codified the supreme Anglo, and then Anglo-American, fear of a new emerging land power able to reconnect Eurasia to the detriment of maritime powers.

Nicholas Spykman’s 1942 Rimland Theory advocated that mobile maritime powers, such as the UK and the U.S., should aim for strategic offshore balancing. The key was to control the maritime edges of Eurasia—that is, Western Europe, the Middle East and East Asia—against any possible Eurasia unifier. When you don’t need to maintain a large Eurasia land-based army, you exercise control by dominating trade routes along the Eurasian periphery.

Even before Mackinder and Spykman, U.S. Navy Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan had come up in the 1890s with his Influence of Sea Power Upon History – whereby the “island” U.S. should establish itself as a seaworthy giant, modeled on the British empire, to maintain a balance of power in Europe and Asia.

In fact, we lived in a mix of Heartland and Rimland. In 1952, then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles adopted the concept of an “island chain” (then expanded to three chains) alongside Japan, Australia and the Philippines to encircle and contain both China and the USSR in the Pacific. (Note the Trump administration’s attempt at revival via the Quad–U.S., Japan, Australia and India).

George Kennan, the architect of containing the USSR, was drunk on Spykman, while, in a parallel track, as late as 1988, President Ronald Reagan’s speechwriters were still drunk on Mackinder. Referring to U.S. competitors as having a shot at dominating the Eurasian landmass, Reagan gave away the plot: “We fought two world wars to prevent this from occurring,” he said.

Eurasia integration and connectivity is taking on many forms. The China-driven New Silk Roads, also known as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); the Russia-driven Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU); the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC), and myriad other mechanisms, are now leading us to a whole new game.

How delightful that the very concept of Eurasian “connectivity” actually comes from a 2007 World Bank report about competitiveness in global supply chains.

Also delightful is how the late Zbigniew “Grand Chessboard” Brzezinski was “inspired” by Mackinder after the fall of the USSR – advocating the partition of a then weak Russia into three separate regions; European, Siberian and Far Eastern.

At the height of the unipolar moment, history did seem to have “ended.” Both the western and eastern peripheries of Eurasia were under tight Western control – in Germany and Japan, the two critical nodes in Europe and East Asia. There was also that extra node in the southern periphery of Eurasia, namely the energy-wealthy Middle East.

Washington had encouraged the development of a multilateral European Union that might eventually rival the U.S. in some tech domains, but most of all would enable the U.S. to contain Russia by proxy.

China was only a delocalized, low-cost manufacture base for the expansion of Western capitalism. Japan was not only for all practical purposes still occupied, but also instrumentalized via the Asian Development Bank (ADB), whose message was: We fund your projects only if you are politically correct.

The primary aim, once again, was to prevent any possible convergence of European and East Asian powers as rivals to the US.

The confluence between communism and the Cold War had been essential to prevent Eurasia integration. Washington configured a sort of benign tributary system – borrowing from imperial China – designed to ensure perpetual unipolarity. It was duly maintained by a formidable military, diplomatic, economic, and covert apparatus, with a star role for theChalmers Johnson-defined Empire of Bases encircling, containing and dominating Eurasia.

Compare this recent idyllic past with Brzezinski’s – and Henry Kissinger’s – worst nightmare: what could be defined today as the “revenge of history”.

That features the Russia-China strategic partnership, from energy to trade: interpolating Russia-China geo-economics; the concerted drive to bypass the U.S. dollar; the AIIB and the BRICS’s New Development Bank involved in infrastructure financing; the tech upgrade inbuilt in Made in China 2025; the push towards an alternative banking clearance mechanism (a new SWIFT); massive stockpiling of gold reserves; and the expanded politico-economic role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

As Glenn Diesen formulates in his brilliant book, Russia’s Geo-economic Strategy for a Greater Eurasia, “the foundations of an Eurasian core can create a gravitational pull to draw the rimland towards the centre.”

If the complex, long-term, multi-vector process of Eurasia integration could be resumed by just one formula, it would be something like this: the heartland progressively integrating; the rimlands mired in myriad battlefields and the power of the hegemon irretrievably dissolving. Mahan, Mackinder and Spykman to the rescue? It’s not enough.

The same applies for the preeminent post-mod Delphic Oracle, also known as Henry Kissinger, simultaneously adorned by hagiography gold and despised as a war criminal.

Before the Trump inauguration, there was much debate in Washington about how Kissinger might engineer – for Trump – a “pivot to Russia” that he had envisioned 45 years ago. This is how I framed the shadow playat the time.

In the end, it’s always about variations of Divide and Rule – as in splitting Russia from China and vice-versa. In theory, Kissinger advised Trump to “rebalance” towards Russia to oppose the irresistible Chinese ascension. It won’t happen, not only because of the strength of the Russia-China strategic partnership, but because across the Beltway, neocons and humanitarian imperialists ganged up to veto it.

Brzezinski’s perpetual Cold War mindset still lords over a fuzzy mix of the Wolfowitz Doctrine and the Clash of Civilizations. The Russophobic Wolfowitz Doctrine – still fully classified – is code for Russia as the perennial top existential threat to the U.S. The Clash, for its part, codifies another variant of Cold War 2.0: East (as in China) vs. West.

Kissinger is trying some rebalancing/hedging himself, noting that the mistake the West (and NATO) is making “is to think that there is a sort of historic evolution that will march across Eurasia – and not to understand that somewhere on that march it will encounter something very different to a Westphalian entity.”

Both Eurasianist Russia and civilization-state China are already on post-Westphalian mode. The redesign goes deep. It includes a key treaty signed in 2001, only a few weeks before 9/11, stressing that both nations renounce any territorial designs on one another’s territory. This happens to concern, crucially, the Primorsky Territory in the Russian Far East along the Amur River, which was ruled by the Ming and Qing empires.

Moreover, Russia and China commit never to do deals with any third party, or allow a third country to use its territory to harm the other’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.

So much for turning Russia against China. Instead, what will develop 24/7 are variations of U.S. military and economic containment against Russia, China and Iran – the key nodes of Eurasia integration – in a geo-strategic spectrum. It will include intersections of heartland and rimland across Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and the South China Sea. That will proceed in parallel to the Fed weaponizing the U.S. dollar at will.

Alastair Crooke took a great shot at deconstructing why Western global elites are terrified of the Russian conceptualization of Eurasia.

It’s because “they ‘scent’…a stealth reversion to the old, pre-Socratic values: for the Ancients … the very notion of ‘man’, in that way, did not exist. There were only men: Greeks, Romans, barbarians, Syrians, and so on. This stands in obvious opposition to universal, cosmopolitan ‘man’.”

So it’s Heraclitus versus Voltaire – even as “humanism” as we inherited it from the Enlightenment, is de facto over. Whatever is left roaming our wilderness of mirrors depends on the irascible mood swings of the Goddess of the Market. No wonder one of the side effects of progressive Eurasia integration will be not only a death blow to Bretton Woods but also to “democratic” neoliberalism.

What we have now is also a remastered version of sea power versus land powers. Relentless Russophobia is paired with supreme fear of a Russia-Germany rapprochement – as Bismarck wanted, and as Putin and Merkel recently hinted at. The supreme nightmare for the U.S. is in fact a truly Eurasian Beijing-Berlin-Moscow partnership.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has not even begun; according to the official Beijing timetable, we’re still in the planning phase. Implementation starts next year. The horizon is 2039.

This is China playing a long-distance game of go on steroids, incrementally making the best strategic decisions (allowing for margins of error, of course) to render the opponent powerless as he does not even realize he is under attack.

The New Silk Roads were launched by Xi Jinping five years ago, in Astana (the Silk Road Economic Belt) and Jakarta (the Maritime Silk Road). It took Washington almost half a decade to come up with a response. And that amounts to an avalanche of sanctions and tariffs. Not good enough.

Russia for its part was forced to publicly announce a show of mesmerizing weaponryto dissuade the proverbial War Party adventurers probably for good – while heralding Moscow’s role as co-driver of a brand new game.

On sprawling, superimposed levels, the Russia-China partnership is on a roll; recent examples include summits in Singapore, Astana and St. Petersburg; the SCO summit in Qingdao; and the BRICS Plus summit.

Were the European peninsula of Asia to fully integrate before mid-century – via high-speed rail, fiber optics, pipelines – into the heart of massive, sprawling Eurasia, it’s game over. No wonder Exceptionalistan elites are starting to get the feeling of a silk rope drawn ever so softly, squeezing their gentle throats.

Following Iran and Iraq’s decision to no longer use the US dollar in bilateral trade, RT looks at world leaders who have called for a move away from dependance on the currency.

“Regarding our American partners placing limitations, including those on dollar transactions, I believe is a big strategic mistake. By doing so, they are undermining the trust in the dollar as a reserve currency,” he said.

The US dollar is no longer used by Tehran and Baghdad in bilateral trade, giving way to the euro and local currencies, as well as direct barter of goods, head of the Iran-Iraq Chamber of Commerce Yahya Ale-Eshagh has revealed.

Apart from switching from the US dollar to alternative currencies, Iranian and Iraqi merchants have been engaging in barter operations, according to the official. The banking system, however, still needs improvements, since only a fraction of trade between the two countries actually goes through banks.

The renewed US sanctions have already sent the country’s national currency into a downward spiral, as well as forcing many European businesses to leave Iran. Tehran has repeatedly criticized the inability of the European signees of the 2015 deal to stand up to the US, threatening to abandon the agreement. While the EU countries have said they would still stick to the deal, renewed US restrictions forced such major companies as Germany’s Daimler and Siemens, as well as France’s Total, Peugeot, and Renault, to suspend their operations in Iran.

Buildings collapse, dozens injured & missing after 6.7 quake triggers landslides in Japan

A large-scale rescue operation is underway on the Japanese island of Hokkaido after a powerful 6.7 earthquake triggered several landslides that swallowed a number of houses, injuring and trapping people inside.

The rural town of Atsumi has been partially devastated after a chunk of a mountain ridge slid and covered several houses, aerial footage by NHK broadcaster showed. At least 10 people were airlifted to the hospital while others remain missing potentially trapped in collapsed structures.

Besides Atsumi, a number of mudslides occurred along the Route 235, according to local media. So far, one person has died while at least 126 others have been injured in the quake, NHK reports. At least 39 people remain missing.

Damage from the 6.7 earthquake which struck Japan just after 3am local time was also reported in Tomakomai city, where according to police more than a dozen households were affected.

A number of houses collapsed on the island, but there were no immediate reports of casualties directly caused by the earthquake. However, a man in his 80s has suffered a cardiac arrest in Tomakomai city, local media reports.

Addressing the nation, Prime Minister Abe said that a crisis management center has been set up, and reassured the public that first responders are doing everything to save human lives. To help deal with the crisis, an additional 21,000 SDF soldiers will be deployed, the Prime Minister said. Right now the disaster relief is being handled by 4,000 Self Defense Forced personnel.

The quake triggered widespread power outages that affected nearly three million houses. Hokkaido Electric Power Co. said its thermal power plants shut down, and that it was urgently working to resolve the issue.

The quake also paralyzed air and rail traffic on the island. New Chitose Airport is to remain closed all day Thursday after experiencing blackouts, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said. The Hokkaido Electric Railway and the Donan Isasiri Railway also stopped service on all lines due to the power outage.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini have pledged to create an "anti-immigration axis" aimed at countering the pro-migration policies of the European Union.

Meeting in Milan on August 28, Orbán and Salvini, vowed to work together with Austria and the Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — to oppose a pro-migration group of EU countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Orbán and Salvini are seeking a coordinated strategy ahead of the March 2019 European Parliament elections to defeat the pro-immigration Party of European Socialists (PES), a pan-European party representing national-level socialist parties from all EU member states. The objective is to change the political composition of European institutions, including the European Parliament and the European Commission, to reverse the EU's open-door migration policies.

"Today begins a journey that will continue in the coming months for a different Europe, for a change of the European Commission, of European policies, which puts at the center the right to life, work, health, safety, all that the European elites, financed by [billionaire Hungarian philanthropist George] Soros and represented by Macron, deny.

"We are close to a historic turning point at the continental level. I am astonished at the stupor of a political left that now exists only to challenge others and believes that Milan should not host the president of a European country, as if the left has the authority to decide who has the right to speak and who does not — and then they wonder why no one votes for them anymore.

"This is the first of a long series of meetings to change destinies, not only of Italy and of Hungary, but of the whole European continent."

"European elections will be held soon, and many things must change. At the moment there are two sides in Europe: One is led by Macron, who supports mass migration. The other side is led by countries that want to protect their borders. Hungary and Italy belong to the latter.

"Hungary has shown that we can stop migrants on land. Salvini has shown that migrants can be stopped at sea. We thank him for protecting Europe's borders.

"Migrants must be sent back to their countries. Brussels says we cannot do it. They also said it was impossible to stop migrants on land, but we did it.

"If they wanted to see me as their main opponent, they were right to do so. It is clear that today a strong opposition is building up between nationalists and progressives and I will yield nothing to nationalists and those who advocate hate speech."

"From the beginning of 2017 to the present day, the France of 'do-good Macron' has rejected more than 48,000 immigrants at the Italian border, including women and children. Is this the 'welcoming and supportive' Europe that Macron and the do-gooders are talking about?

"Instead of giving lessons to others, I would invite the hypocritical French president to reopen his borders and welcome the thousands of refugees he promised to take in.

"Italy is no longer the refugee camp of Europe. The party for smugglers and do-gooders is over!"

In July, Salvini said that he wanted to create a pan-European network of like-minded, nationalist parties:

"To win [the Italian elections] we had to unite Italy, now we have to unite Europe. I am thinking about a 'League of the Leagues of Europe,' bringing together all the free and sovereign movements that want to defend their people and their borders."

Salvini proposed that the network include Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen, and Hungary's Orbán, among others. He also said that the European Parliament elections in 2019 should be a referendum on "a Europe without borders" versus "a Europe that protects its citizens."

Salvini has repeatedly criticized the European Union over mass migration, accusing the bloc of having abandoned Italy as it struggles to deal with the more than 600,000 migrants who have arrived in the country since 2014. The problem has been exacerbated by EU regulations.

Under an EU rule — known as the Dublin Regulation — migrants must seek asylum in the country where they first enter the European Union. This has placed an inordinate burden on Italy, given its geographical proximity to Africa.

Italy has long sought to overhaul the Dublin Regulation, but other EU member states, most notably Hungary, have opposed changing the agreement. The dispute highlights the challenges of forming a united anti-immigration axis at the EU level: the interests of many EU member states are diametrically opposed.

Although Italy and Hungary, for example, agree that mass migration should be completely stopped, they disagree on how to deal with the migrants who already are in the EU. While Italy wants the migrants redistributed to other EU countries, Hungary and the Visegrad states are adamantly opposed to accepting any migrants at all.

In an interview with the Czech newspaper DNES, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, ahead of his August 28 visit in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said:

"I insist that we will not take any illegal migrants from Italy or elsewhere. This is nothing against Italy, to which we are sympathetic; it is a crucial strategy. It is, in my view, a key signal, a symbol and a message to migrants and smugglers that it makes no sense to sail to Europe....

Babiš added that the European Union must overcome its differences and agree on a common pan-European migration policy:

"If Italy does not accept migrants, if Malta does not accept them, then Spain will. We are sending a message that it is possible to get to Europe from Morocco through Spain. We must stop the migration stream. I want to talk about it with my partners in Italy, Malta, and, of course, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has now acted with Spain. We have to work very hard to work on the solution because we have needlessly lost three years with the absurd debate about quotas...

"We must protect what our ancestors built for more than a thousand years. It is not a slogan, it is a fact."

Salvini's embrace of Orbán has also exposed differences in Italy's ruling coalition, comprised of Salvini's League and the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) led by Luigi Di Maio.

On August 23, Di Maio threatened to withhold Italian payments to the European Union if a top-level EU meeting in Brussels scheduled for August 24 failed to produce pledges from other EU countries to accept migrants from Italy. In an interview on Italian TV, which he also posted on his Facebook account, Di Maio said:

"If tomorrow nothing comes out of the European Commission meeting, if they decide nothing regarding the ... redistribution of the migrants, the whole Five Star Movement and I will no longer be prepared to give €20 billion euros ($23 billion) to the European Union every year."

After the EU meeting failed to produce a solution, the leaders of M5S in Italy's chamber of deputies and senate, Francesco D'Uva and Stefano Patuanelli, respectively, issued a statement:

"Countries that do not participate in relocation and which do not even deign to respond to Italy's request for help, should no longer receive European funds from us, and among these at the moment, is Hungary."

In an August 27 interview with the newspaper La Stampa, Di Maio again lashed out at Orbán:

"Orbán's Hungary raises barbed-wire walls and refuses migrant allocations. For those who do not accept the allocation, they should not be entitled to European funding."

Salvini defended Orbán: "I respect Hungary's absolute right to defend the borders and the security of its people. The shared objective is the defense of external borders."

Orbán replied: "We need a new European Commission that is committed to the defense of Europe's borders. We need a Commission after the European elections that does not punish those countries — like Hungary — that protect their borders."

Over-the-counter pharma product associated with 50% hike in heart risk compared to non-users. Geetanjali Rangnekar reports.

Diclofenac, a common painkiller, has been linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

The most commonly used anti-inflammatory drug in the world has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, new research has found.

Diclofenac, as it is known in the US, is also marketed under several brand names. In Australia, it is present in several pharmacy products, the best known being Voltaren. It is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), and works to reduce inflammation, pain, and fever.

The study is published in the British Medical Journal and was carried out by a team of researchers led by Morten Schmidt from Aarhus University, Denmark.

Data accumulated over a decade from the Danish National Prescription and Patient Registries was used to track and observe the drug habits and health outcomes of 6.3 million individuals.

The researchers compared the outcomes between patients using diclofenac; those taking two other common NSAIDs, ibuprofen and naproxen; non-users of NSAIDs; and patients on paracetamol, which is not an NSAID.

After just 30 days of follow-up, diclofenac patients suffered cardiac events – including abnormal rhythms, heart attacks, heart failure and stroke – at a significantly higher rate than those in all other groups.

Individual group comparisons showed that diclofenac initiators were 50% more likely to have cardiac events compared to non-users, 30% more likely compared to naproxen users, and 20% more likely compared to paracetamol or ibuprofen users.

This effect persisted when the researchers examined the relationship between diclofenac and cardiovascular disease by stratifying the study population according to low, moderate or high baseline cardiovascular risk.

They found an increased risk of cardiac events and death in people on both low and high doses of the drug (defined as less than 100 milligram and 100 milligram tablets), males and females, and across all age groups.

Diclofenac takers also had a two-fold risk of gastrointestinal bleeds compared to those on ibuprofen and paracetamol, and a four-fold risk compared to non-users.

A 2013 study raised concerns about the cardiovascular risk elicited by other NSAIDs, knows as “coxibs”, compared to non-use of NSAIDs, and led to calls to rethink prescribing them.

Schmidt and colleagues acknowledge that in the latest study, the mechanisms linking diclofenac and adverse cardiac are not explored, and the results are observational only.

However, they caution that the ease of its availability — over the counter in most countries — could prove to be a major public health concern.

They hope that the results of this study provide pause and make clinicians consider the use of other safer NSAIDs and non-NSAIDs in patients over diclofenac.

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
(Romans 4:4-5)

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