Netanyahu waiting in the wings. Will he be the next PM?
By Joel C. Rosenberg
 (Washington, D.C., January 23, 2008) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government is increasingly in danger of collapse. Last week, Deputy Prime Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman resigned the cabinet and pulled his Yisrael Beiteinu party out of Olmert's coalition. Another major coalition member, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, is now threatening to bolt as well. What's more, the final, official Winograd Commission Report will be released Wednesday, January 30th. It's expected to contain harsh criticism of Olmert's handling of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, criticism that will undoubtedly unleash an intensified new wave of calls for his resignation.
Lieberman's departure brought Olmert's coalition down from 78 to only 67 members of the 120 member parliament. If Shas leaves with its 12 members, Olmert won't have the 60 members sufficient to hold his government. Should that happen, buckle your seatbelts. The battle inside the Knesset for control will be fierce. Early elections could be triggered. Either way, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could wind up back on top as premier.
My Joshua Fund colleagues and I met with Lieberman at the Knesset last ...   more »

Following reports on Israel's January 17, 2008 test of the Jericho III missile, which has a range of 4,500 km, the Iranian website Tabnak, which is affiliated with Iranian Expediency Council secretary and former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Rezai, wrote that the missile's addition to Israel's arsenal does not change
The website stated that in the event of a conflict with Israel, Iran would use its strategic alliance with Syria to fire missiles at Israel from Syrian territory. [1] It also hinted that, in addition to assistance from Syria, any attack by Israel would also bring retaliation by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hizbullah.
Further, in an interview on Al-Jazeera TV, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the Israeli missile test, saying that "even before this missile test, the Zionist regime enjoyed this military technology, because of its support from several powers. But such measures will not improve its situation, and will not prevent its fall. The Zionist regime has lost the rationale on which its existence was based,and all nations identify it as criminal. Therefore, it will not achieve legitimacy for its existence through threats and sowing fear." [3]
"...The message to Iran from Israel's test of the ...   more »

by Gil Ronen(IsraelNN.com) Former American Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton hinted broadly Tuesday that Israel will have to strike Iran's nuclear program on its own, and soon. Speaking at the Eighth Herzliya Conference, Bolton said an Israeli strike could be the last resort against Iran. Former Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who also spoke at the conference, hinted that the military option is growing more likely with time.
Ambassador Bolton devoted the first part of his speech to an attempt to push the Israeli press into revealing details of the strike against the suspected Syrian nuclear facility four months ago. "There is a lot that we don't know about the facility because of the veil of secrecy that the Israel government and the American government have tried to throw over it," he said.
"We don't know for example exactly what the facility was – whether it was a clone of the Yongbyon reactor; whether it was a uranium enrichment facility; whether it was a storage location for North Korean plutonium or plutonium based weapons," he added, and explained that he could speak freely at the conference because the American Constitution's First Amendment applied to him even when he was ...   more »

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Wednesday that he would meet later in the day with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss Iran's nuclear programme.
"We arranged a meeting for tonight," Jalili said after a question-and-answer session in the European Parliament in Brussels.
There was no immediate confirmation of the meeting from the office of Solana, who carries out negotiations with Jalili on behalf of the major Western powers.
On Monday, Solana had said he was unsure whether the two men would meet.
The last time they did was in late November in London, a month after a meeting in Rome.
After the London talks the EU foreign policy chief said he was "disappointed" after failing to make a breakthrough in the negotiations.
Solana is seeking to convince Iran to agree to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, offering as an incentive huge cooperation with the West, amid fears the Islamic republic could try to produce an atomic bomb.
Jalili's visit came a day after the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany agreed on the text of a new resolution on Iran over its nuclear programme. ...   more »

RUSSIAN warships, including an aircraft carrier group, took part in military manoeuvres off the Atlantic coast of France and Spain yesterday in what Moscow billed as its biggest navy exercise in the area since Soviet times.
Russia sent two long-range "Blackjack" bombers to the Bay of Biscay to carry out a simulated electronic test-firing of cruise missiles, while anti-submarine aircraft patrolled the area.
The exercise, off the coast of two Nato alliance members, is the latest Kremlin demonstration of resurgent military muscle on the world stage and likely to appeal to voters choosing a successor to the president, Vladimir Putin, in March.
Mr Putin, expected to retain considerable influence in the country on stepping down after a maximum second term, has done much to rebuild military forces depleted after the collapse of communism.
For years, commanders had complained ships could not put to sea and warplanes could not fly because of fuel and parts shortages.
Russia's air force said British and Norwegian Tornado and F-16 jets shadowed the Russian aircraft. France said it had been informed about the exercises.
Original Source   more »

MOSCOW, January 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is concerned over NATO's expansion, which is aimed at building up its military potential around Russian borders rather than strengthening European security, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Russia has been unnerved by NATO's eastward expansion and recent U.S. plans to deploy missile defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic.
"We are certain that the geographical expansion of NATO cannot be justified by security concerns," Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.
"But it is clear that NATO is building up its military potential around our borders and its new members continue to increase their defense budgets," he said.
Lavrov said NATO's "open-door" policy has been inherited from the Cold War and can only antagonize relations with Russia.
"This policy cannot resolve any security problems," the minister said.
NATO has signaled its backing for the recent bids by Russia's former Soviet allies, Georgia and Ukraine, to join the alliance, a move that has infuriated Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the country would have to take "appropriate measures" if Ukraine were to join NATO.
An additional problem overshadowing cooperation between Russia and NATO is the bloc's refusal to ...   more »

Barack Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he's a Muslim now that the presidential campaign has hit the Bible Belt.
At a rally to kick off a weeklong campaign for the South Carolina primary, Obama tried to set the record straight from an attack circulating widely on the Internet that is designed to play into prejudices against Muslims and fears of terrorism.
"I've been to the same church -- the same Christian church -- for almost 20 years," Obama said, stressing the word Christian and drawing cheers from the faithful in reply. "I was sworn in with my hand on the family Bible. Whenever I'm in the United States Senate, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. So if you get some silly e-mail . . . send it back to whoever sent it and tell them this is all crazy. Educate."
Obama is referring to a debunked chain e-mail circulating widely on the Internet that suggests he is hiding his Islamic roots and may be a terrorist in disguise. It says he was sworn into the Senate on the Quran and turns his back on the flag during the ...   more »

The process developed by Somark involves a geometric array of micro-needles and an ink capsule, which is used to 'tattoo' an animal. The ink can be detected from 4 feet away.
By K.C. Jones
A startup company developing chipless RFID ink has tested its product on cattle and laboratory rats.
Somark Innovations announced this week that it successfully tested biocompatible RFID ink, which can be read through animal hairs. The passive RFID technology could be used to identify and track cows to reduce financial losses from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease) scares. Somark, which formed in 2005, is located at the Center for Emerging Technologies in St. Louis. The company is raising Series A equity financing and plans to license the technology to secondary markets, which could include laboratory animals, dogs, cats, prime cuts of meat, and military personnel. Chief scientist Ramos Mays said the tests provide a true proof-of-principle and mitigate most of the technological risks in terms of the product's performance. "This proves the ability to create a synthetic biometric or fake fingerprint with biocompatible, chipless RFID ink and read it through hair," he said.
Co-founder Mark Pydynowski said during an interview Wednesday that the ink doesn't ...   more »

By Shenandoah Sowash
STEVENS POINT -- As America continues to struggle with overseas outsourcing and increasing global competition, professors at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point are working to arm graduates with the skills needed to become global citizens.
Robert McGough, a senior education specialist, researcher and program manager with the World Bank, encourages professors to take seriously the need to give students a global education.
"Some see globalization as a destructive influence, as a bad thing ... at this time in history, globalization is here to stay, and we must learn to live with it," McGough told instructors Thursday during the 12th annual UWSP Teaching Conference, "Teaching with a Global Perspective: Preparing Students to be Global Citizens."
Globalization affects everyone, even the World Bank, which now outsources a majority of its accounting work to New Delhi, McGough said.
"Countries such as India and China are destined to be superpowers, or at least major players," McGough said.
Drawing on the need for sustainability, economic development and self-sufficiency, McGough offered a strong case for educating college students in the ways of the world.
"Over time, you'll find more college graduates going overseas for work. ... These other countries are going to be ...   more »

One of the most strategic locations in the Roman world was the isthmus of Corinth. This narrow neck of land between the Corinthian Gulf and the Saronic Gulf guaranteed its continued commercial prosperity. The transit across this isthmus avoided the long, risky voyage around the rocky, storm-tossed capes at the south of the Peloponnesus. It was literally the crossroad of the world where the north-south trade routes intersected the east-west traffic. It thus became one of the most dominant cultural centers of its day: materially prosperous, intellectually alert, and morally corrupt. Even in the pagan world the city was known for its moral corruption. "Corinth" came to imply licentiousness; korinthiazesthai, "Corinthianize," meant to live in debauchery. It was Hollywood, Las Vegas, and New York all rolled into one.
It is no wonder then that the letters to the church at Corinth embody so many of the concerns that plague us today. It is also impressive to discover how many basic Christian issues are addressed in these two (remaining) letters Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: the "foolishness" of God contrasted with the "wisdom" of man, the distinction between salvation and rewards, problems of church discipline, resorting to lawsuits, marriage ...   more »

Earlier this month, for the first time in history, the price of oil hit $100 a barrel. Oil prices have increased 5-fold in the last six years, starting from a low of less than $20 a barrel in early 2002. In 2007 alone, crude oil prices jumped nearly 60 percent. Analysts blame a weak dollar and rising demand for the spike in prices. Rising oil prices have brought into sharp focus the economic challenges facing our nation. In recent years the value of the US dollar has dropped, consumer debt has reached an all-time high, and we've entered into a nationwide housing crisis in which about one out of every 100 mortgages could end in foreclosure.
While some experts speculate that we may be headed for a recession, others say its already here. Top economists from two major Wall Street firms - Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs - recently predicted that the US economy would go into a recession this year. They cited a rise in unemployment and lower than expected retail sales as indicators. On Tuesday recession fears prompted the Federal Reserve to take emergency measures - reducing the federal funds rate from 4.25 percent down to 3.5 percent. ...   more »

Disappearing dirt rivals global warming as an environmental threat
By TOM PAULSON
The planet is getting skinned.
While many worry about the potential consequences of atmospheric warming, a few experts are trying to call attention to another global crisis quietly taking place under our feet.
- Sustainable farming not an easy sell
Call it the thin brown line. Dirt. On average, the planet is covered with little more than 3 feet of topsoil -- the shallow skin of nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food and appears to play a critical role in supporting life on Earth.
"We're losing more and more of it every day," said David Montgomery, a geologist at the University of Washington. "The estimate is that we are now losing about 1 percent of our topsoil every year to erosion, most of this caused by agriculture."
"It's just crazy," fumed John Aeschliman, a fifth-generation farmer who grows wheat and other grains on the Palouse near the tiny town of Almota, just west of Pullman.
"We're tearing up the soil and watching tons of it wash away every year," Aeschliman said. He's one of a growing number of farmers trying to persuade others to adopt "no-till" ...   more »