Shenandoah 4

I like trees. I don’t know why exactly, but all my life long I’ve liked trees. Especially winter-time bare pecan trees with all their “bones” showing – years ago I did pencil sketches and concentrated on pecan trees. Some were pretty good. I wish I’d saved them.

Anyway, on our Shenandoah trip I took a number of photos of trees that I liked. Here are a few of them. In the first row below, there was a couple taking photos and I snapped one of the lady posing… I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get another one, but they left immediately so I got one of just the tree itself. I like both shots, actually.

The gingko grove at the Virginia Arboretum was beautiful, especially one tree that was more golden yellow than the others. On the road leading to the grove was the Cedars of Lebanon Allee, so naturally I got a shot of that too.

Shenandoah 3

I re-checked all the photos I took and did find a couple from the “deer strolling down the road” incident… most of his photos were quite fuzzy and unusable but these are recognizable, if not perfect.

I had forgotten that after we drove around the curve, there was a doe, presumably following the buck.

Shenandoah 2

Skyline Drive runs throughout the length of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, with visitor centers, campgrounds, hiking trails and overlooks spaced out along the way. Looking for a good spot for photographs, we drove into one of the campgrounds that also had cabins overlooking Shenandoah Valley.

We pulled up in front of one cabin and Harold got out of the car to take a few photos. Suddenly a doe walked out of the woods, right up to the car. I softly called to Harold to turn around and look behind him, and there she stood. He tossed a small piece of a cracker to her which she patiently nibbled away, then looked up and waited for more.

Despite the fact that signs are posted throughout the park, “Please don’t feed the deer,” it’s pretty obvious that people do. This was just one of many deer we saw in the parks along Skyline Drive and all of them seemed very tame. They are protected by federal law from hunters.

One afternoon we came up on a string of cars stopped in the road, both directions. A deer (with antlers) was strolling slowly right down the center of the white line, crossing the road at a long angle. People in nearly every car were hanging out of their windows snapping photographs. He wasn’t fazed in the least, just slowly made his way on across to our side a few cars ahead of us. By the time we got close enough for a photo, he had turned his back to the cars and was making his way on into the woods.

Shenandoah

Shenandoah Morning, from one of the Skyline overlooks.

We left Florence bright and early Monday morning, October 19th, headed for the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Skyline Drive begins where the Blue Ridge Parkway ends, and traverses the Shenandoah National Park through the most beautiful mountains and valleys on the East Coast. For four days my photographer brother Harold Motte and I visited and viewed scenery, parks, historical sites, wildlife, and the colors of the changing season. Even snow!

Deemed the “Bridge of God” by the Monacan Indians, the Natural Bridge was surveyed by a young George Washington for Lord Fairfax and deeded by King George III to Thomas Jefferson two years before the Revolution. The site is only a few hours from Washington, DC or Richmond, VA, and just five minutes off I-81. It is well worth the trip.

Jefferson established a visitor’s lodge, opening the door to visitors and artists from around the world. On the day we visited, a small multinational crowd accompanied us as we walked along the path, through the bridge, and on along the trail that led to an Indian Village. Time constraints prevented us from visiting the village, although we did browse through the large gift shop.

Smokescreen

Caspian Sea and littoral states

The troubling headlines in major media recently, I begin to wonder, could they be something of a smokescreen? Like a magician’s sleight of hand designed to guide our eyes away from something else going on? It’s just a thought.

Here’s what brought on that thought – Qom. Not the holy mountain in Iran and not the nuclear facility supposedly beneath it. No, the big lake north of it. The Caspian Sea.

Recently I came across a news reference to the Caspian Sea and looked it up on a world map. As I stared at the size and location of it, I felt my innate curiosity stirring. I decided to look for other online news references to it.

I found next to nothing on western news sites. However, three separate articles about the Caspian Sea appeared in the Fars News online yesterday. I found several more published there in recent months.

The more I read, the more I wanted to read about the Caspian Sea and its littoral states (the five countries that share its coastline – Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan). Before the breakup of the USSR, only two of those states were included, Russia and Iran, and they had an agreement that spelled out who could do what and where on the Caspian Sea.

Since then, however, with three more countries added, that initial agreement has been dismantled or ignored, and the five countries involved have failed to agree on a new one. (That is not to say they haven’t been busy doing their own thing in the sea. They have.)

Why should anyone on this side of the world care? Energy. Gas and Oil. Money. Power. Vast gas and oil reserves lie under the Caspian Sea, and many countries want it. Top of the list are Iran, Russia, the United States – and China.

Below are some of the Fars News articles I’ve read today and links to them. You won’t find China mentioned in those, but I found quite a few references to China’s interest in the Caspian Sea energy development in other sources. I’ve included links to a couple of those as well.

Central Asian Pipelines

It seems that China has been buying up major percentage interests in some oil companies, whether owned or operated in those littoral states.

From a September 29th article titled “New Player in Caspian Sea Power Corridor:”

“It was reported on the 16th of April 2009 that amid the world economic crisis Kazakhstan borrowed from China 10 billion dollars during N. Nazarbayev’s visit to Beijing. The Chinese CNPC Company bought a 50% stake of “Mangistaumunaigaz” for 1.4 billion dollars… Chinese companies already own a third of Kazakhstan-produced oil…”

“China’s policy of advancing towards the Caspian Sea region resources is seen also in Turkmenistan. (A pipeline is being constructed from Turkmenistan to China and should be operational in 2010.)”

http://arirusila.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/new-player-in-caspian-sea-power-corridor/

You can read more about this in “SCO Yekaterinburg summit and China’s energy offensive towards the Caspian Sea (II),” http://en.fondsk.ru/article.php?id=2240

Proposed pipeline

The United States government has a decided political and military interest in a different pipeline, one that will lead from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Here’s a quote from the September 29 blog article mentioned above: “There is some base to claim that U.S. military’s involvement in Afghanistan is directly related to the large reserves of natural gas in Turkmenistan… demand to increase troop levels in Afghanistan jumped a bit along with the recently publicized discovery of the very large natural gas reserves in the Yoloten-Osman gas fields in southern Turkmenistan.”

http://arirusila.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/new-player-in-caspian-sea-power-corridor/

Here are the several articles I read on Fars News online today:

Fars News 2009-07-24:

Iran Discovers 46 Oil Fields in Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea semi-submersible oil rig, Iran-Alborz

TEHRAN (FNA)- Forty-six oil exploration fields have been identified in the Caspian Sea, Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said. According to Nozari, eight of the fields are presently ready for exploitation.

The comment came as Iran launched its domestically-built 14,000-ton offshore platform in its territorial Caspian waters to increase its oil output. Iran says the semi-submersible drilling rig called Iran-Alborz is the largest in the Middle East, press tv reported.

The platform can operate at water depths up to 1,030 meters and can drill down to 6,000 meters under the seabed. Nozari went on to add that Iran plans to build a new oil pipeline linking the northern port of Neka in the Caspian Sea to the southern port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman.

Earlier Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Noureddin Shahnazizadeh said that initial studies for the $2 billion pipeline had been concluded and that the ministry would move to sign a contract soon.

Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, has given priority to exploring its northern territorial waters in the Caspian Sea. The largest enclosed body of water on the planet is estimated to have oil reserves of 17 billion to 44 billion barrels.

The maritime and seabed boundaries of the Caspian have yet to be demarcate among Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Turkmenistan — the five countries bordering the Sea.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8805020617

Fars News Agency 11 Oct 2009

Iran against Presence of 3rd Parties in Caspian Sea

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced that Iran is against the presence of “a third state or organization” in the Caspian Sea.

[Bette: I'm not sure who they mean by third state or organization; China?]

Based on deals reached between Iran and the former Soviet Union, no other country can launch shipping or conduct fishing in the sea except its littoral states, Mottaki told a one-day summit on the Caspian Sea’s legal regime in Tehran.

Mottaki also called on the Caspian states to avoid an arms race in the region, saying Tehran believes the largest lake in the world should remain ‘the sea of peace, friendship, and stability’, press tv reported.

He emphasized that establishing a balance, between the number of military forces and equipment and the ‘joint potential threats’ in the region, is essential.

The Iranian foreign minister underlined that there is an urgent need for an appropriate security mechanism to monitor joint measures in the sea.

The Iranian top diplomat added that the Islamic Republic believes any decision on the legal regime of the sea should be taken by a consensus among the five littoral states.

He also noted that any decision outside such a structure for the Caspian Sea ‘lacks legitimacy and will not be put into practice’.

The legal status of the Caspian Sea has been blurred since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Prior to that, Iran and the Soviet Union equally shared the resources of the lake.

After the breakup of the USSR, three newly independent states-Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan-bordering the Caspian Sea appeared on the scene, with their own demands.

Despite extensive negotiations, no agreement has been signed for the final legal status of what is in fact not a ’sea’, but the largest lake in the world.

Mottaki went on to say that the Islamic Republic will not allow any country to carry out excavation activities for energy resources in Iran’s 20 percent share of the sea, until its legal status is finalized. He reiterated that Iran desires a “fair” share of the sea’s resources.

The maritime and seabed boundaries of the Caspian Sea have yet to be demarcated among Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, the five countries bordering the Sea.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8807170892

MP: Caspian States Should Focus on Compilation of Legal Regime

TEHRAN (FNA)- Spokesman of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali on Thursday encouraged the Caspian states to focus on compilation of a legal regime for the Caspian Sea. Addressing a conference on the Caspian Sea, Jalali added that the sea faces greater challenges to the same degree it is important.

“One of the most important tests of the Islamic Republic which will be judged by the coming generations is the Caspian Sea legal regime,” the Islamic republic news agency quoted Jalali as saying.

Littoral states have reached the conclusion to share out the sea which was also accepted by Iran, he said. But there are still disagreements over the division of the sea-bed, he noted.

Jalali further contended that Iran has laid essential structures for the issue in proportionate with its significance and the challenges faced by it. Of course, this cannot negate the efforts of the Foreign Ministry and presidential representative in the Caspian Sea affairs, the lawmaker said.

The Caspian Sea the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers.

It was perceived as an ocean by its ancient coastal inhabitants, presumably because of its saltiness and seeming boundlessness. It has a salinity of approximately 1.2%, about a third the salinity of most seawater.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8807170845

Fars News 2009-09-12:

Berdimuhamedow: Turkmenistan Ready to Join Nabucco Pipeline

TEHRAN (FNA)- Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow announced on Saturday that his country has the necessary resources to join the Nabucco gas pipeline.

(See more about Nabucco and map below.)

The Nabucco gas pipeline project worth €7.9 billion envisages gas supply from the Caspian region to the EU countries. Construction of the gas pipeline was scheduled for 2011. The first supplies will be launched in 2014. Maximal capacity of the pipeline will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year.

The proposed 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline aims to carry natural gas from Central Asia via Turkey and the Balkan states to Austria, bypassing Russia and Ukraine.

The Turkmen president pointed to the newly discovered gas fields, Yolatan and Othman, in the southern parts of his country, and said that huge gas reserves of the two fields have made it possible for Turkmenistan to join major international gas pipeline projects.

Reminding that the Nabucco pipeline is at the center of the international community’s attention, he added that development of gas and oil fields, construction of new facilities for refining oil and gas, construction of gas terminals, employment of modern technologies in his country’s oil and gas sectors are among Ashgabat’s priorities.

The gas discovery has made Turkmenistan much hopeful about picking up a bigger share of the international market. Following the discovery of the two huge gas fields, Ashgabat made a deal with Tehran to build a new pipeline to transfer Turkmen gas to its southern neighbor.

“Given the closeness of Turkmenistan’s gas resources to Iran’s border, a new gas pipeline is to be constructed in near future for transferring Turkmen gas to Iran in addition to the existing Korpeje-Kurt Kui pipeline,” Iranian Ambassador to the country Mohammad Reza Forqani told FNA in July.

Turkmenistan has agreed to boost the volume of its natural gas exports to Iran to 14 billion cubic meters (bcm) from the current 8 bcm following the start of operation of the new gas pipeline between the two countries.

The new pipeline from the eastern Turkmen town of Dauletabad to Iran will have a capacity of 12.5 bcm of gas per year. Turkmenistan has also undertaken to increase the quantity of its gas exports to Iran to 20 bcm in the future.

Meantime, analysts and international observers underlined that materialization of the Nabucco gas pipeline project depends on supplying the needed gas for the pipeline.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8806211403

Fars News 2009-08-29:

Iran, Russia Ready to Boost Ties

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia here on Friday called for further expansion of all-out ties between the two states. During their meeting, Iran’s Ambassador to Moscow Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Borodavkin underlined the need for promotion of bilateral political, economic, trade and banking cooperation.

The two countries decided to hold a session of Iran-Russia Joint Economic Commission in Tehran soon. The two officials voiced readiness to carry out joint projects in the areas of energy and transportation, the Islamic republic news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the Iranian envoy called for transportation of Russian goods to Iran by Iran’s shipping at the Caspian Sea. They also underscored the need for exchange of political and economic delegations between the two states.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8806070681

Fars News 2009-08-14:

Russia to Hold North-South Transport Corridor Rally

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Republic of Kalmykia of the Russian Federation is slated to hold the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) rally. A multi-modal transportation established by Iran, Russia and India in St. Petersburg in September 2000, the INSTC connects the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via Iran, which is then connected to St. Petersburg and North Europe via the Russian Federation, press tv reported.

The event, which is said to be a rival for the famous Paris-Dakar rally, will start next year with the aim of introducing and promoting the North-South Transport Corridor.

The INSTC was expanded to include eleven new members, namely Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Oman, Syria and Bulgaria.

Introducing the Iran path as a safe transportation route from Asia to Europe and introducing the economical and commercial potentials of the countries along INSTC are among the other aims of the project.

Fars News 2009-06-05:

US Pressing Nabucco Scheme without Iran

Nabucco Gas Pipeline

TEHRAN (FNA)- The US announced that it does not support Iran’s involvement in the Nabucco gas pipeline until Tehran ‘changes its policies’. The US special envoy for Eurasian energy issues Richard Morningstar said that Iran can only join the gas pipeline undertaking after the normalization of ties between Tehran and Washington, press tv reported.

He told a group of reporters in Ankara on Thursday that inviting Iran to the project without a resolution to the standoff over its nuclear program could “have a negative effect.” “We don’t want to change our policy unless Iran changes its policy,” AP quoted Morningstar as saying.

The pipeline is to link the Caspian Sea region, the Middle East and Egypt to the European Union via Turkey. The Nabucco consortium, which aims at decreasing Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas, has been unable to find sufficient gas supplies necessary for the feasibility of the project.

Turkey, which is a member of the consortium, has repeatedly voiced its support for Iran’s involvement in the project.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8803150550

So. That’s some of what I’ve read about this subject today, all from non-western news media sources. Maybe natural disasters, economic worries and Iranian uranium-enrichment facilities aren’t deliberate smokescreens. But the absence of western news about these multi-faceted, multi-nation Caspian Sea developments makes me curious.

Peace for our time… wishful thinking?

President Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, not for any actual accomplishments, but for wishful thinking on the part of the Nobel community.

Yesterday I read a multitude of not-so-congratulatory comments about the award. Myself, I wonder if he was given the award because of his apparent mind-set about appeasement. He seems to be in favor of it.

That made me think about Neville Chamberlain’s same mind-set, and his “peace for our time” statement in 1938. Not being alive at that time, I researched the subject online.

From Wikipedia:

The phrase “peace for our time” was spoken on 30 September 1938 by British prime minister Neville Chamberlain in his speech concerning the Munich Agreement. It is primarily remembered for its ironic value. In this photo, he is holding the paper containing the resolution to commit to peaceful methods signed by both Hitler and himself on his return from Munich. He is showing the paper to a crowd at Heston Aerodrome on 30 September 1938.

The agreement was negotiated and signed by Germany, France, Britain, and Italy, at a conference held in Munich, Germany, without the presence of Czechoslovakia. It was an act of appeasement. *(see section about appeasement below)

The Munich Agreement gave the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in an attempt to satisfy his desire for “living space” for Germany. The German occupation of the Sudetenland began on the next day, 1 October. Less than a year after the agreement, following continued aggression from Germany and its invasion of Poland, Europe was plunged into World War II.

The Munich Agreement permitted German annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, areas along borders of Czechoslovakia, mainly inhabited by Czech Germans. The Sudetenland was of immense strategic importance to Czechoslovakia as most of its border defenses were situated there, and many of its banks were located there as well.

In Chamberlain’s speech of September 30 he said, “My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street, peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time.” (emphasis added)

In another speech regarding the agreement, he said “The real triumph is that it has shown that representatives of four great Powers can find it possible to agree on a way of carrying out a difficult and delicate operation by discussion instead of by force of arms (emphasis added), and thereby they have averted a catastrophe which would have ended civilisation as we have known it.”

He was wrong.

Chamberlain was forced to resign the premiership on 10 May 1940, after Germany invaded the Netherlands, Belgium and France. He was succeeded by Winston Churchill but remained very well regarded in Parliament. Before ill health forced him to resign, he was an important member of Churchill’s War Cabinet. He had a key role in the formation of the Special Operations Executive. Chamberlain died of cancer six months after leaving the premiership.

* Appeasement: “the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and compromise, thereby avoiding the resort to an armed conflict which would be expensive, bloody, and possibly dangerous.” The term is most often applied to the foreign policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain towards Nazi Germany between 1937 and 1939.

Appeasement has been the subject of debate for eighty years among academics and politicians. The historian’s assessment of Chamberlain has ranged from condemnation to the judgment that he had no alternative and acted in Britain’s best interests. At the time, these concessions were widely seen as positive, and the Munich Pact among Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy prompted Chamberlain to announce that he had secured “peace for our time”. The word “appeasement” has been used as a synonym for cowardice since the 1930s and it is still used in that sense today, as a justification for firm, often armed, action in international relations.

In recent years, a revisionist school of history has emerged to challenge many assumptions about appeasement, arguing that it was a reasonable policy given the limitations of British arms available, the scattering of British forces across the world, and the reluctance of Dominion governments to go to war…

The production of aircraft was greatly increased at the time of the Munich agreement. Had war begun (at that time) instead, the Battle of Britain might have had a much different dynamic, with biplanes instead of Spitfires meeting the Germans.

A generally unrecognised aspect of Chamberlain is his role in the inception of and drawing up of a remit for the Special Operations Executive. His eagerness to avoid another Great War was, once war was a fact, matched by the ferocity of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) charter, which he drew up. (emphasis added)

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) (sometimes referred to as “the Baker Street Irregulars”) was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was initiated by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on July 22, 1940, to conduct warfare by means other than direct military engagement. Its mission was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines.

The organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments… (1) a Foreign Office propaganda organisation known as Department EH (after Electra House, its headquarters), (2) the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) Section D, which investigated the use of sabotage, propaganda and other irregular means to weaken an enemy… and (3) the War Office department that researched guerrilla warfare, known initially as GS (R) and renamed MI R in early 1939.

It was also known as “Churchill’s Secret Army” or “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and was charged by Churchill to “set Europe ablaze.” The SOE directly employed or controlled just over 13,000 people. It is estimated that SOE supported or supplied about 1,000,000 operatives worldwide.

SOE was dissolved officially on 15 January, 1946. Most of its personnel reverted to their peacetime occupations (or regular service in the armed forces), but 280 personnel were taken into the “Special Operations Branch” of MI6. Some of these had served as agents in the field, but MI6 was most interested in SOE’s training and research staff.

For details about the creation, operation, success and failures of this remarkable organization, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Operations_Executive.

———–

It seems that in the end, Chamberlain learned a hard lesson about appeasement: it doesn’t work when you’re dealing with a madman like Hitler – and it won’t work with current madmen (and religious fanatics) like Ahmadinejad and his allies.

I hope President Obama doesn’t have to learn this hard lesson the same way Chamberlain did.

Black and blue

Colors define eras in some artists’ work. For instance, Picasso’s Blue Period (1900-1904) when he painted mostly in shades of blue and blue-green. He went from painting in mood-reflecting shades of blue, to rose, to black, depending on events in his life, so art historians claim.

Jazz musician Miles Davis had a blue period, too – he even recorded an album titled “Blue Period.” His own musical mood was reflective of happenings in his own life, broken relationships, drug addiction, emotional depression.

The last couple of months I’ve felt blue-green myself. I’m even wearing more black and blue clothing than usual, for me. I’ve felt unsettled. A bit quiet, but not a restful quiet. As if I’m listening for the other shoe to fall…

I find myself reading more of a particular fiction genre, more of a particular kind of non-fiction and more of a specific kind of news. And I’m praying a more determined type of prayer. More directed. More intentional. More specific.

As I read assorted scripture passages these days, I seek out those that describe today. Happenings. Relationships between nations, between national personalities. Cause and effect events, some political, some social, some natural, and some supernatural.

As I read and think about Jesus’ description of disasters in Matthew 24, some political, some social, some natural and some supernatural, I listen to the internal voice of the Author. Sort of a running commentary.

I personally believe every one of those predictions have already come true. Yes, I know some Bible scholars say “this gospel of the kingdom” has not yet been preached to all the world. We still have some ethnic groups left to find, still have some preaching to do, right?

Maybe. But the witness to all nations has certainly been accomplished. When the book of Matthew was written, how many nations were there? How many have risen and fallen since then? How many more are being created as we speak? How many ethnic groups have splintered and split, how many become extinct?

It’s true that Jesus said it would be after all that, that the end (of the age) would come. He didn’t say it would be immediately afterward, though, so maybe we have a few years yet to go…

I don’t count on it. Why? Because of what I am NOT reading in the major secular media headlines. Jesus has become less dependent on mankind to preach “this gospel of the kingdom” in some places. Visions and dreams of Jesus are driving people by the dozens, even hundreds, to find someone to talk to them about Jesus. This is happening with increasing frequency in the African – Middle Eastern regions of the world, and probably other places too.

As I read and pray and listen and read, I’ve started keeping a running blog (www.tapister.wordpress.com) with news articles that fit one or more of the descriptions in Matthew 24 and elsewhere. Some days there are so many that I just settle for one.

Disastrous fires have become almost commonplace in California. Unseasonable snow storms are occurring in western states, and it’s just early October. Multiple typhoons just days apart have washed away whole communities. Six major earthquakes in ten days, so far, have killed or buried thousands of people. Maniacal dictators threaten the civilized world.

And people keep on buying and selling, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. It’s only logical to be in the midst of a blue period, seems to me.

“Iran, Lebanon Destiny Interlinked”

Fars News: Iran, Lebanon Destiny, Interests Interlinked

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday underlined that Iranian and Lebanese destinies and interests are intertwined. Speaking to Lebanese president Michel Suleiman on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, President Ahmadinejad urged expansion of Tehran-Beirut relations.

“…Iran and Lebanon have common enemies…”

To read the entire article, click here: http://bit.ly/Iran-Lebanon

With all the news this week – the UN General Assembly in New York, the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, next week’s 5+1 meeting in Europe, (the five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany), the announcement about Iran’s “new” uranium enrichment facility located beneath a mountain near Qom, Friday’s Muslim Prayer Rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, the arrests in three cities of terrorist suspects – why did I pick this one to highlight today?

I read online newspapers and blogs from around the world and today I began reading a new one, Fars News Agency, one of the online Iranian newspapers. I found this short article and immediately took notice.

For years people have complained that Syria and/or Hizbollah really controls Lebanon. There have been multiple and repeated attacks on Israel from Lebanon, just as there have been from both ends of Gaza.

Now we have Iran declaring that Lebanon and Iran have common enemies, and that their destinies are interlinked. I find that – in light of Iran’s nuclear ambitions – fascinating and troubling indeed.

Consider also who the current President of Lebanon is: The following is from the Lebanon online news site yalibnan.com, May 2008 when Suleiman became President of Lebanon:

“Here is a brief Bio of Army chief General Michel Suleiman:
Age and date of Birth – 59; Nov. 21, 1948.
Education — Graduated from Lebanon’s military academy as second lieutenant, 1970; holds bachelor of arts degree in political and administrative sciences from Lebanese University. He masters English and French languages.
Experience — Commander of armed forces, December 21, 1998-present; commander of 6th Infantry Brigade, 1996-98; commander of 11th Infantry Brigade, 1993-96; army staff secretary-general, 1991-93; chief of intelligence branch, 1990-91.”

Military through and through, as well as intelligence branch.

Netanyahu at UN: “Have you no shame?”

“What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations! Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You’re wrong.”

Link to video and full transcript of Israeli Prime Minister’s speech to United Nations.
http://bit.ly/lJVr7

From speech: “Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years-old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland.

I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people. The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events.

Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth. Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants. Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie.

Last month, I went to a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee. There, on January 20, 1942, after a hearty meal, senior Nazi officials met and decided how to exterminate the Jewish people. The detailed minutes of that meeting have been preserved by successive German governments. Here is a copy of those minutes, in which the Nazis issued precise instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews. Is this a lie?

A day before I was in Wannsee, I was given in Berlin the original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Those plans are signed by Hitler’s deputy, Heinrich Himmler himself. Here is a copy of the plans for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were murdered. Is this too a lie?

This June, President Obama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp. Did President Obama pay tribute to a lie?

And what of the Auschwitz survivors whose arms still bear the tattooed numbers branded on them by the Nazis? Are those tattoos a lie? One-third of all Jews perished in the conflagration. Nearly every Jewish family was affected, including my own. My wife’s grandparents, her father’s two sisters and three brothers, and all the aunts, uncles and cousins were all murdered by the Nazis. Is that also a lie?

Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries.

But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?

A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state.

What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations! Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You’re wrong.”

Muslim Prayer Day on Capitol Hill, Friday Sept 25

From TheFirearmsForum.com:

Washington, D.C. – On September 25th there will be a national prayer gathering of Muslims on the west front of the U.S. Capitol Building. They are expecting at least 50,000 to attend from mosques all across America. They will gather to pray from 4:00 AM until 7:00 PM. The gathering will take place by the site where U.S. Presidents have been inaugurated since 1981. The organizers say that it was Obama’s inauguration speech in January and his speech broadcast from Egypt in June that gave them the idea for this prayer gathering on Capitol Hill. They have a website set up for this event. If you never look at another website, look at this one, especially the final words:

ISLAM ON CAPITOL HILL 2 0 0 9

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH….

The objective of this gathering is to invite the Muslim Communities and friends of Islam to express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam. We intend to manifest Islam’s majestic spiritual principals as revealed by Allah to our beloved prophet Muhammad (PEACE BE UPON HIM) of Arabia. Likewise; we intend to inspire a new generation of Muslim to work for the greater good of all people. We shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin.

ON THIS DAY….

* The Athan will be chanted on Capitol Hill, echoing off of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and other great edifices that surround Capitol Hill
* Thousands of Muslims from all races, creeds, colors and ethnicities will gather for the sole purpose of prayer
* Bonds of friendship will be formed between those in attendance, both Muslims and Non-Muslims
* Muslim youth will experience tours of the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.
* The peace, beauty and solidarity of Islam will shine through America’s capitol.

A DAY OF ISLAMIC UNITY…
Jummah prayer Capitol Hill September 25, 2009

OUR TIME HAS COME

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=66672