BPR Mailing List Digest: 08/15/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
August 15, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | August, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Top Gore adviser wants global environmental agency
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:33:20 -0400

Top Gore adviser wants global
environmental agency

Monday, 14 August 2000 17:39 (ET)

Top Gore adviser wants global environmental agency
By MARTIN SIEFF

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 (UPI) - Vice President Al Gore is likely to push
hard
to create a Global Environmental Agency with the same sweeping powers
over
the environment that the World Trade Organization already has over
international trade, Gore's top economic adviser said Monday.

Laura Tyson, former head of President Clinton's Council of Economic
Advisers, said Monday at a news conference at the Staples Center - site
of this week's Democratic National Convention - that a Gore
administration would consider setting up such a GEA to deal with
international environmental and labor issues.

"One possible way to go is to imagine the creation of a Global
Environmental Organization,": she said at the sparsely attended briefing.

Afterwards, speaking to a handful of reporters, Tyson elaborated on her
comments and made clear that such an organization had been seriously
discussed and was supported by an inner circle of top Gore environmental
and
economic advisers.

"In all honesty, I have proposed this," she said.

There is no reference in the Democratic National Platform published July
29 to any such body.

The platform merely notes the controversial 1997 Kyodo Protocols to
reduce
emissions of greenhouse gases around the world and then says, "We are
working to develop a broad international effort to take action to meet
this threat."

However, Tyson's proposal for a Global Environmental Agency was floated
earlier this year in the January-February issue of the prestigious
journal Foreign Affairs by herself and several other Gore advisers, said
Tyson, who has also served as the dean of the Haas Business School at the
University
of
California, Berkeley.

Tyson said she and other Gore advisers believed the creation of a
separate
global environmental super-agency was preferable to handling
international environmental issues through the WTO.

The WTO isn't really prepared to do that," she said.

There was a danger that raising major international environmental
concerns
through the existing machinery of the WTO would dissipate or dilute the
impact of such initiatives since the WTO's primary concern was with
straightforward trade matters, Tyson said.

She said such an organization would function as a "sister",
"counterpart"
or "complementary organization" to the 135-nation WTO.

Tyson said Gore had not yet taken any decision ion whether or not to
push
for a separate GEA.

When asked what Gore thought of the proposal, she answered, "I don't
know."

"It's a little bit of a prediction," she added.

But Tyson then said she was convinced the idea of a GEA which could
serve
as an international Environmental Protection Agency was likely to be a
major and priority issue for Gore to consider if he won the presidential
election in November and indicated that she expected him to strongly
support should
a
proposal.

"Clearly this is going to be a major issue for him (Gore)"as he moves
into
the presidency if he wins the election, Tyson said.

She then added, "The vice president .. front and center" on
environmental
issues Think of the vice president as absolutely committed to working on
multilateral basis on the (environmental) issues," Tyson said.

Tyson said she believed there would be widespread support for such an
international environmental policing organization in the United States
and other advanced industrial nations.

"I think that there is a great concern about the environment in the
United
States and in Germany, Japan (and other nations)," Tyson said.

However, she did not suggest that India, China or any of the more than
100
other countries in the developing world favored the idea.

At the WTO 135-nation summit in Seattle last November, these nations
opposed U.S. and European global environmental and labor rights
initiatives as likely to hold back their own efforts at industrialization
and building prosperity.

Tyson said she was speaking her own opinions and not those of Gore or
any
formal body of his advisers.

"You can take this as my idea," she said.

But she added that it was not her idea alone.

"It is an idea which has come up among economists who think (a great
deal)
about the international system," she said.

Lori Wallach, director of Global Trade Watch, a project of the
grassroots
group Public Citizen, told UPI Monday that Tyson's idea has merit, but it
would not resolve the underlying problems of the WTO.

"There has been a push to find a way to move the environmental issues
out
of the WTO, but you've got to fix the WTO first," Wallach said.

Wallach agreed that an international environmental organization could
help
resolve major environmental concerns. But she warned, "It's of no use
unless the WTO is revised," because the WTO rules would still allow
economic or trade rules to overrule environmental regulations.

Wallach added, "Some members of the European Union put forward a
proposal
like this about a year ago, and the U.S. rejected it."

--
Copyright 2000 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=109491

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Japan Textbook Draft Glosses Over Wartime Past
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:36:29 -0400

Japan Textbook Draft Glosses Over Wartime Past

Updated 8:27 AM ET August 14, 2000

  TOKYO (Reuters) - A draft of a Japanese junior high school
  history textbook glossing over Japan's World War Two invasion
  of Asia has been submitted for screening and possible use, a
  move likely to provoke fierce opposition from Asia.

  In what could become the latest flashpoint in periodic battles
  over how Japan's wartime actions should be taught, the draft,
  one of eight submitted to Japan's Education Ministry, says that
  actions committed during wartime cannot be judged, Kyodo
  news agency reported Monday.

  Quoting ministry sources, Kyodo also said the draft barely
  touches on Japan's 1910-1945 colonization of Korea and fails to
  mention thousands of people, mostly Chinese and Korean, who
  were brought to Japan as forced laborers before and during the
  war.

"War is a tragedy," Kyodo quoted the text as saying. "But it is
hard to judge good or evil."

  "It is not about which (side) is right and which is wrong. War is
  the last resort when countries clash over national interests and
  political solutions have failed," Kyodo quoted the sources as
  saying.

  An Education Ministry official declined to comment, saying that
  the contents of the draft had not yet been published and they
  were still under consideration.

"We can say nothing about the contents while they are still being
judged," he said.

The books would go into use from April 2002. The Japanese
school year begins in April.

Japanese history textbooks have roused fierce debates in the
past.

  In 1982, a huge row was touched off in Asia when textbooks
  described Japan's World War Two invasion of the region as an
  "advance."

  According to Kyodo, the current draft says that Japan's victories
  over Western powers in Asia helped colonized nations there gain
  independence by giving them courage and dreams.

The draft also says the term "war of aggression" has come to be
used emotionally and without being defined.

  Current Japanese textbooks give fuller accounts of Japanese
  actions in the war but have been slammed by the right for going
  too far in depicting the past.

In the view of conservatives and nationalists, Japan has become a
country where patriotism is a dirty word.

  Liberals and leftists counter that without a forthright examination
  of its history, Japan -- if not doomed to repeat tragedy -- will be
  unable to coexist with its neighbors.

http://news.excite.com/news/r/000814/08/odd-textbook-dc

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Embryo Stem Cell Work Could Get Public Funding
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:46:26 -0400

Embryo Stem Cell Work Could Get Public Funding

Medicine: Controversial National Institutes of Health plan could land in
Congress just before the fall elections.

By AARON ZITNER, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON--Reviving a debate over how society should treat the earliest
stages of human life, the National Institutes of Health is close to authorizing
a plan to fund medical research that relies on the destruction of human
embryos. The NIH plan, in the works for more than a year, would clear the
way for the first public funding of potentially groundbreaking research on
embryo "stem cells," which scientists first isolated only 21 months ago.
These cells have the remarkable ability to grow into nearly every component
of the body. Scientists hope to learn how to guide them to become new brain
tissue for Parkinson's patients, new pancreas cells for diabetics, nerve cells
for spinal injury victims and cures for many other diseases. Under NIH's draft
rules, scientists could obtain the cells from embryos created by couples
during fertility treatments but not used. Lobbyists who follow the NIH's work
say that the plan will be released by the end of August, assuming it wins
final approval from the Clinton administration, which so far has been
supportive. But once it is released, the plan will face a host of political and
legal uncertainties and it will raise difficult ethical issues that could ricochet
through Congress and the presidential election. "This issue pits two very
important moral considerations against each other: the effort to cure disease
and the effort to respect the sanctity of human life," said Ronald Green, an
ethics professor at Dartmouth College. "It's going to be a political hot
potato." Abortion opponents say that the research is immoral because
embryos are destroyed in the course of culling their stem cells, sacrificing
one form of human life to benefit another. Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the
Republican presidential nominee and an abortion rights foe, has said through
surrogates that he opposes the research. If elected president, he could block
the NIH plan with an executive order. Patients' groups, who have an ally in
Vice President Al Gore, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, say
that stem cell research is ethical because it uses embryos donated by
fertility patients who would have destroyed them anyway. Couples commonly
create more embryos than they need in trying to produce a child. The extras
are usually frozen until the potential parents attempt another pregnancy or
decide that they are no longer needed and have them destroyed. "Is it more
ethical for a woman to donate unused embryos that will never become
human beings or to let them be tossed away as so much garbage when they
could help save thousands of lives?" actor Christopher Reeve, a victim of
spinal cord injury, asked during congressional testimony earlier this year.
The issue could land in Congress just before the fall elections. In the House,
lawmakers led by Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) say that the NIH plan violates a
1996 congressional ban on federal funding for research in which embryos are
destroyed. The NIH insists that its plan is legal, but Dickey has vowed to
block the agency, either through legislation or in the courts. "Dismembering
a cell is like dismembering a person . . . , pulling the legs and arms and
body parts off," Dickey said in an interview. "We don't think our country is
going to be better off having that sort of thing done with federal funds." In the
Senate, supporters of stem cell research plan to press for passage of
legislation that would give the NIH explicit authority to proceed. Lobbyists on
both sides of the issue say that the measure likely would win a majority but
not necessarily the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural maneuvers that
could block the bill. If they take up the issue, lawmakers and candidates
could find themselves on tricky political terrain, a place where public views
are nuanced and not always readily apparent. Some people who might
benefit from stem cell research believe that it should nonetheless be
stopped. A stem cell treatment "would be derived by evil means. I wouldn't
accept it," said Mary Jane Owen, the 71-year-old director of a Roman
Catholic disabilities group who is blind and a victim of spinal cord injury. "My
life is no more valuable than any other human life on the planet . . . and an
embryo is human life." Other groups support a woman's right to abortion but
are wary of destroying embryos during research. They include the United
Methodist Church, with 8.5 million members. Stem cell research could be "a
step toward the commercialization of human life," said Jaydee Hanson, a
social policy official of the church. At the same time, advocates of the
research have won over several prominent lawmakers who hold traditional
anti-abortion views. Among them are Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who
has said that he backs stem cell research in part because it might help his
daughter, who has juvenile diabetes. In the stem cell debate, research
advocates have worked to replace the image of the embryo in lawmakers'
minds with the image of a patient desperate for a cure. That effort received a
big boost when actors Reeve and Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's
disease, agreed to lobby lawmakers. The political environment has been
made even more complex because of the NIH's own legal position. In 1996,
lawmakers led by Dickey won a ban on federal funding for "research in which
a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded or knowingly
subjected to risk of injury or death." That was more than two years before
scientists at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, using private funds, first
isolated and cultured stem cells from human embryos. The Wisconsin work
caused a sensation, and Dr. Harold Varmus, then director of the NIH, said
that it could "revolutionize" medicine. "We want to pursue every possibility
for a cure, and this is the most promising," said Dr. Robert Goldstein, chief
scientific officer for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. The NIH, the largest
single financial backer of medical research in the United States, said that the
1996 ban merely bars scientists from using federal money to derive stem
cells from embryos and that researchers can use tax dollars for experiments
once the cells have been harvested. But even some advocates of the
research say that reasoning is flawed. The National Bioethics Advisory
Commission, created by President Clinton, said that the NIH is operating
under a "mistaken notion" that scientists can use stem cells while
distancing themselves from how the cells are obtained. It argued that the
1996 ban should be overturned. The NIH legal reasoning also angers
antiabortion groups, who said it is a clear evasion of the law. "If we had a law
that barred research in which porpoises were killed, no one would entertain
for five seconds that a federal agency could arrange for someone else to kill
the porpoises and then proceed to use them in research," said Douglas
Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee. Anti-
abortion groups point to recent research suggesting that other types of stem
cells, found in adults, could yield cures for disease without raising the ethical
quandaries of using cells from embryos. Scientists have been able to turn
skeletal muscle cells from mice into blood cells, and mouse brain cells into
blood cells. This suggests that adult stem cells are more versatile than had
been known. But patient groups say that embryo cells are probably the most
versatile and that no research avenue should be foreclosed. The NIH plan is
essentially a set of ethical guidelines that scientists must follow if they apply
for federal money for stem cell work. In addition to barring the use of tax
money to derive the cells, the rules seek to make sure fertility patients are
not coerced into donating embryos. Under a draft version of the rules,
patients may not be paid for their embryos and a researcher using the stem
cells also may not act as the doctor supervising the donors' fertility
treatment. News Politics Entertainment music, movies, art, TV, restaurants

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/updates/lat_embryo000813.htm

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Vatican: Palestinians are not J'lem's keepers
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:52:57 -0400

Tuesday, August 15, 2000

Vatican: Palestinians are not J'lem's keepers

By Amnon Barzilai and Amira Hass
Ha'aretz Correspondents

The Vatican disagrees with the Palestinians' belief that they are the
keepers of Jerusalem's holy sites, Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop
Jean-Louis Tauran yesterday told acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami,
who was visiting the papal state.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has meanwhile told Regional
Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres that he is prepared to help the peace
process between Israel and the Palestinians. Both Ben-Ami and Peres have
been dispatched by Prime Minister Ehud Barak to explain Israel's positions
at the recent failed Camp David summit to world leaders.

Sources in Jerusalem believe that the objection by European leaders to the
Palestinian Authority's unilateral declaration of independence will cause
the Palestinians to be more flexible in their positions.

PA Chairman Yasser Arafat was yesterday advised by yet another world
leader not to declare statehood on September 13. Chinese President Jiang
Zemin told the Palestinian leader that China expects that the PA, "under
the leadership of Yasser Arafat, will reflect and declare a Palestinian
state at the right time, when the best results may be obtained," the
French news agency AFP reported.

Arafat was in Beijing for 24 hours, after a lightning visit to Pakistan.
From there he continued to Vietnam. Peres is expected in Beijing tomorrow.

Zemin, who has supported the Palestinian position for many years, did
however promise that any decision taken by the PA will gain China's
support "as long as it serves the interests of the Palestinian people."
Arafat has now visited 20 countries in the last two weeks in an attempt to
drum up support for the Palestinian position on a deal with Israel.

Attorney Gilad Sher, Ben-Ami's partner to the peace talks with the
Palestinians and a member of the Israeli team at last month's Thurmont
summit, was very optimistic yesterday about the chances of finalizing a
peace deal with the Palestinians within a short time during a briefing of
foreign diplomats and ambassadors.

Barak, who today returns from his holiday in the North, will tomorrow meet
with King Abdullah of Jordan. Barak and Ben-Ami are expected to formulate
Israeli positions on key issues ahead of U.S. special envoy to the Middle
East Dennis Ross at the end of this week. Ross was meant to spend his
first days in the country holidaying, but at the request of Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright, he has now postponed his vacation.

Ben-Ami will return tonight from his tour of Europe. European leaders are
transmitting three central messages, both to Israel and the Palestinians:
Europe is behind U.S. President Bill Clinton and his efforts until a peace
is signed between Israel and the PA, it is opposed to a unilateral
declaration of independence by the PA, while it recognizes their right to
an independent state.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=08/15/00&
id=89 227

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Moscow Bombing Could Lead to Dictatorship
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:54:44 -0400

Moscow Bombing Could Lead to Dictatorship

Col. Stanislav Lunev
Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2000

The deadly bomb explosion in Moscow, which tore through the underpass
during last Tuesday�s evening rush hour and killed 11 and wounded more
than 90, has shocked Russia.

Moscow, which has witnessed a long year of bloody war in Chechnya, was ill
prepared to handle the blast. Authorities simply would not or could not
aid helpless victims.

According to reports from the Russian media, President Vladimir Putin
called on other key ministers in an effort to step up an investigation
into the bombing. Putin met Saturday with the heads of the interior,
defense and foreign ministers, and the intelligence services at the
Kremlin to discuss a strategy for determining responsibility in the
explosion.

Russian government-run ORT television interviewed officials close to the
investigation who said that law enforcement had several different leads
and were not focusing on any one suspect or any link to Chechen
separatists. Investigators are not sure whether the attack was politically
motivated or an unrelated gang-style strike between Mafia-type organized
crime groups.

While the investigation into the bombing remains ongoing many pro-
government politicians are openly discussing the need for more
sophisticated Russian special services such as the Federal Security
Service, which succeeded the KGB in domestic spying and the Ministry for
Internal Affairs, among others.

The Russian ORT said last Thursday that it has demanded that Moscow be
granted wartime status, so that order can be restored to the capital. This
includes traveling, relocation and movement restrictions.

Boris Gryzlov, a pro-government party leader, expects the State Duma,
Lower House of the Parliament to consider special legislation which will
detail some of the rights of law enforcement entities and try to
strengthen law and order in the country.

According to the Russian press, the new legislation about to be introduced
will bring about changes in the law by spelling out the specific use of
power that can be executed by agencies like the FSB. It will give the
special service the ability to use "special” investigative methods when
dealing with terrorism and organized crime.

Unfortunately, the events of both the present and past year, mirror each
other. Russian pro-government politicians have rallied around this same
rhetoric used in the past to blame Chechen terrorists. The same rhetoric
that was used to launch an open war against the people of Chechnya.

Russian authorities have not been able to provide any proof of Chechen
involvement during bomb explosions last year. Although this has proved to
be useful in Putin�s crusade to consolidate state power in his hands and
to extend rights and privileges of Russian special services.

This inhumane method has worked to Putin�s political advantage. He
successfully used Chechnya�s bloody war during his presidential election.
After he was inaugurated, Putin effectively consolidated all state powers
in steering Russia back towards a totalitarian state.

Putin is not without critics who resist his policies and are justifiably
concerned about the future of Russia. These critics don't want to see a
return to the "old glorious days” of an authoritarian regime.

The bloody war in Chechnya is loosing popularity in Russia, largely due to
the numbers of people killed last year.

As a result of last week�s bomb explosion the situation is once again
playing into the hands of Putin and his supporters, who would like to
restore totalitarian rule in the country. What else but terrorist attacks
could help Mr.Putin to finalize consolidation of all powers in his hands
and reestablish totalitarian control over the country and its people? Some
Russian politicians believe that the bombings in Russian cities last year
were organized and orchestrated by Russian special services especially to
justify invasion in Chechnya. They now fear that last week�s blast in
Moscow in combination with statements of pro-government politicians will
be put to similar use, but this time to justify a return to the old
practice of totalitarian control.

Its difficult to say whether Russian government officials were involved in
last weeks bombing and to what degree. But a special services operation of
this magnitude with enormous risks would probably have been authorized by
top- level Kremlin officials, perhaps by Putin, himself.

People, if its possible to say so about organizers of such terrorist
attacks, who last year didn�t stop before murdering of hundreds of
innocent civilians, of course, didn�t stop before killing dozens this
year. If, of course, last weeks blast is not only beginning of serial bomb
explosions, which could be very profitable for supporters of dictatorship
in Russia.

Its impossible to say who was behind terrorist acts last year. These acts
left hundreds of innocent civilians dead. If current speculation is
correct, last weeks bomb blast could be the beginning, or possibly the
continuation of a return to Russian totalitarianism.

All this is against humanity, but this is the nature of totalitarian
states, whose leaders never care about the lives of their own people.
History repeats itself. Fire of Reihstag brought Adolph Hitler to power in
Germany. Bomb explosions in Russian cities last year brought Vladimir
Putin to power in Russia. Last week's blast in the heart of Moscow could
bring Russia to dictatorship.

http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/14/185616

via: Third_Watch@egroups.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Scientists Try to Breed Superbees
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:56:38 -0400

Scientists Try to Breed Superbees

Updated 8:26 AM ET August 14, 2000

  TORONTO (Reuters) - French and Canadian bees are getting
  busy on a remote island in Canada to produce what scientists
  hope will be a new superbee, resistant to deadly varroa mites
  that have crippled the global honey market.

  French queen bees, which have shown signs of resistance to the
  bug, were flown over to mate with Canadian bees, who have not
  proved as hardy against the mites.

  In hopes of passing on the French genetic secret to survival,
  Gard Otis, an environmental biology professor at the University
  of Guelph, brought 29 queen bees from France to a quarantine
  island in Ontario.

  But the French queens didn't get a warm welcome. The scientists
  put them in bug-infected hives filled with Canadian bees. Now
  the Europeans have to survive the mites.

  Although only about the size of a pinhead, the varroa mite can
  destroy tens of thousands of bees in only six months by feeding
  and reproducing off the blood of larvae. Over the past 20 years
  the parasite has devastated honeybee colonies all over the world.

The mites came to Canada in the early nineties and beekeepers
initially slowed the invasion with the use of chemical insecticides.

  But now a mutant mite strain from the U.S. is threatening
  Canada's C$100-million honey industry. South of the border
  some bugs have become resistant to the pesticide Atistan, which
  is used all over Canada."

  "Those mites will come over one day and then the chemical
  treatment we are using right now might not be good any more,"
  Otis said.

  Otis is optimistic the new superbees will do the job and expects
  first results by next summer. "Once we have a good indication
  that genetic differences make them impervious we can start to do
  crosses with different stocks of Canadian honeybees."

http://news.excite.com/news/r/000814/08/odd-bees-dc

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Surprise Twist Sinks Mystery Writers' Conference
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:58:20 -0400

Surprise Twist Sinks Mystery Writers' Conference

Updated 8:27 AM ET August 14, 2000

  BOGOTA (Reuters) - A former security agent in Colombia has
  come up with the perfect plot -- exploit the country's rampant
  crime by offering it to mystery writers as inspiration for novels or
  screenplays.

  There's just one problem. The violence is so scary that most of
  the foreign authors invited to a three-day writers conference due
  to have begun on Thursday refused to come, forcing its
  cancellation.

  Undaunted, Carlos Arbelaez, president of Colombia's
  association of former state security police (DAS) agents, told
  Reuters on Friday he was rescheduling the conference for
  October.

"Colombia has had some of the most hideous crimes in the world
... it is raw material for writers of this genre," Arbelaez said.

  "It (crime writing) could become an export, it might not be as
  important as coffee, but it could play a very important role," he
  said.

  Last year, Colombian authorities reported 23,172 homicides and
  3,000 kidnappings. The country also has a bloody history of
  scandal and crime rooted in politics or the murky world of drugs.

For the conference in October, Arbelaez's association has also
invited spies from the former Soviet Union to share their stories.

http://news.excite.com/news/r/000814/08/odd-writers-dc

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - King Juan Carlos of Spain Top Candidate for Antichrist
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 08:59:18 -0400

King Juan Carlos of Spain Top Candidate for Antichrist
--And the Reasons Why

by Douglas James Bender

In these times, like others before, many are claiming that they have identified
the Antichrist. Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Gorbachev, and even Reagan are
some who have been "identified" as the Antichrist. Now, however, with the
apparent decrease of U.S. influence in the Middle East peace process, due
to the negative relations currently between President Clinton and Yasser
Arafat, a leader of the "Revived Roman Empire" (the European Union, it
would seem) appears ready to fulfill the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 regarding the
"'prince who is to come'" who shall "'confirm a treaty with many for one
week'" (where "one week" means "7 years").

The Bible indicates, in Daniel 7:23-25, that this "'prince who is to come'" will
be the leader of, apparently, the 11th nation to join what is referred to as the
"Revived Roman Empire". The European Union, given its form as a "union" of
nations from the Old Roman Empire, and given its "arising" during the same
generation that witnessed both Israel becoming a nation in 1948 A.D. and
Israel regaining control of the holiest sites of Jerusalem in 1967 A.D., is quite
likely the fulfillment of the prophecy of the "beast with 10 horns" described in
Daniel 7. The "'prince who is to come'", the Antichrist, will apparently be the
ruler of the 11th nation to join this "Beast".

If the European Union is the fulfillment of the "beast with 10 horns" of Daniel
7:7, then the Antichrist will be the ruler of the 11th nation to have joined that
Union. Spain was the 11th nation to join the European Union, and the current
ruler of Spain is King Juan Carlos. It appears to be quite likely that King Juan
Carlos of Spain is the Antichrist.

King Juan Carlos was born in Rome, Italy on January 5, 1938 A.D.. His full
name is, "Juan Carlos Alfonso Victor Maria de Borbon y Borbon". His father's
full name was, "Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso de Borbon y Borbon".
His father was in exile from Spain while Francisco Franco ruled Spain
following Franco's overthrow of the Spanish monarchy. Juan Carlos (the son),
from the age of 10, was personally trained under Franco's direction, and
graduated from all three of Spain's military academies.

In 1962 A.D., Juan Carlos married Princess Sophia of Greece, and they had
two daughters, and a son (Felipe). Juan Carlos was appointed Franco's
successor as ruler of Spain, against the wishes of Juan Carlos' father, who
still laid claim to the throne of Spain. In November of 1975 A.D., Juan Carlos
became king of Spain after Franco's death. Juan Carlos is a highly respected
and honored king and "statesman", having led Spain through a crisis in 1981
A.D. when some of the military sought to wrest control of Spain from the
monarchy.

According to Daniel 9:27, the "'prince who is to come'" (the Antichrist) shall
"'confirm a treaty with many for one week'". A recent news report (Reuters -
August 12, 2000 A.D.) stated that Israel is requesting that King Juan Carlos
help "mediate" the current Middle East peace process between Israel and
several of Israel's Arab enemies, primarily the PLO. The news report stated
that those involved were hoping the planned meeting in Spain in early 2001
A.D. (or perhaps before) would "consolidate" the peace process. The term,
"consolidate", is a synonym for "confirm", and means to "strengthen". What
is also interesting in regard to Spain and the Middle East peace process is
that the peace process began in Madrid, Spain in 1991 A.D..

Spain is not only deeply involved in the Middle East peace process directly,
but also in several significant "indirect" ways. The Secretary-General of
NATO since 1995 A.D., the person who makes the military decisions for
NATO, has been Javier Solana, the former Spanish foreign minister. NATO
would likely be the "military force", under the United Nations, and
representing the European Union, which would "oversee" any kind of peace
agreement between Israel and the Arabs.

Also, the European Union appointed a special representative to the Middle
East peace process, having the title, "European Union Special Envoy to the
Middle East peace process". This "EU Special Envoy" is Miguel Moratinos,
the former Spanish ambassador to Israel.

Interestingly, a former ambassador to Spain, Shlomo Ben-Ami, is Israel's
representative in seeking King Juan Carlos' "mediation" in the peace talks.
So, there are at least three separate ways Spain is "indirectly" involved in the
Middle East peace process.

Thus, King Juan Carlos, as the leader of Spain, is quite "involved", actually,
in the Middle East peace process. As mentioned before, one of the primary
descriptions of the Antichrist in the Bible is as the "'prince who is to come'"
who shall "'confirm a treaty with many for one week'" in Daniel 9:27. King
Juan Carlos, based on the evidence presented, could quite likely fulfill this
prophecy by "consolidating" the Middle East peace process.

Another prophecy in the Bible regarding the Antichrist is found in Revelation
13:18, where the "Beast" is the Antichrist. Revelation 13:18 (New King
James Version) says, "Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding
calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number
is 666." Revelation 13:17 identifies this "number of the beast" as the "number
of his name". King Juan Carlos has versions of his name in 10 languages,
each using the same numbering system (except for Latin, which uses the
Roman numeral system), which each add to 666.

The languages in which King Juan Carlos has versions of his name which
add to 666 are the following: Hebrew, Greek (two ways), Latin, English,
Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Russian. Except for
Latin, each of these versions uses the Hebrew/Greek numbering system,
which is as follows: 1,2,3,...,9;10,20,30,...,90;100,200,300,...,900. The
spelling in at least two or three of the versions is questionable, though not
unreasonable; and the French version is perhaps unlikely, though possible.

The English version of King Juan Carlos' name which adds to 666 is: "(John)
Charles V of Spain". "John" is placed in parentheses in order to be able to
"identify" him as "Charles V", the fifth king of Spain with the name,
"Charles".

The version which is most likely the fulfillment of Revelation 13:18, based on
several indications, is the "Scriptural" Greek version (which uses no
"obsolete" Greek letters for numbers). That version is, in Spanish: "Juan
Carlos de Borbon II". In "Scriptural" Greek, this becomes: "Ioann Karlos de
Borbon B".

(One interesting side note: King Juan Carlos' son, Felipe, has a version of his
name which adds to 666 in "Scriptural" Greek. That version is, in Spanish:
"Felipe de Borbon II" [he would be, should he become king, the second
Bourbon king of Spain with the name, "Philip" {"Felipe"}]. In "Scriptural"
Greek, this becomes: "Feliph de Borbon B". [Prince Felipe was born in 1968
A.D..])

So, several prophecies of the Bible appear to indicate that the Antichrist will
be the ruler of Spain; and Spain is rather involved in the Middle East peace
process. These facts, combined with the versions of King Juan Carlos' name
in 10 languages, particularly in "Scriptural" Greek, which each add to 666
using the same numbering system (except for Latin, which uses the Roman
numeral system), strongly suggest that King Juan Carlos is the Antichrist. I,
personally, believe that he is.

http://www.newsviewtoday.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - IBM Unveils Fastest Quantum Computer
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 13:20:24 -0400

IBM Unveils Fastest Quantum Computer

Nicole Volpe
08/14/00

NEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp.
(IBM.N) said on Tuesday it had developed the world's most advanced
quantum computer, a device based on the mysterious quantum physics
properties of atoms that allow them to work together as a computer's
processor and memory.

IBM said the computer, which uses five atoms to work as its processor and
memory, demonstrates for the first time the potential of such devices to solve
certain problems at a rate remarkably faster than conventional computers.
The experimental machine is considered the next step towards a new class
of devices capable of superfast calculations.

``A quantum computer could eventually be used for practical purposes such
as database searches -- for example searching the Web could be sped up a
great deal -- but probably not for more mundane tasks such as word
processing,'' said Isaac Chuang, the IBM researcher who led the team of
scientists from IBM, Stanford University and the University of Calgary.

Cracking codes

A quantum computer could also be used for cryptography, or the making and
breaking of codes. This has drawn the interest of the U.S. National Security
Administration and the Department of Defence, which are funding Stanford's
efforts to build the quantum computer.

The current method of creating processors, which are becoming increasingly
smaller and more powerful as described by an axiom known as Moore's Law,
is expected to reach a barrier sometime in the next decade or so. This
process, lithography, will not allow for the creation of microchips the size of
molecules, prompting researchers to try to build computers by using genetic
strands or developing other tiny technologies.

``Quantum computing begins where Moore's Law ends -- about the year
2020, when circuit features are predicted to be the size of atoms and
molecules,'' said Chuang. ``Indeed, the basic elements of quantum
computers are atoms and molecules.''

Chuang said in an interview that his team used the test quantum computer to
solve a typical mathematical problem used in cryptography -- finding the
period of a function. The computer was able to solve any example of the
problem in one step, while a conventional computer would require repeated
cycles to solve the problem.

Chuang said the experiment showed the viability of the quantum computer.

'Useful someday'

``I think this experiment shows we are on a pathway which is predictable and
understandable, that quantum computers will be useful someday,'' he said.

The quantum computer is based on the spin of an electron or atomic
nucleus, and the strange properties of quantum particles in which they can
spin simultaneously in different directions if they are not observed.

When the spin of a particle is up, the atom can be read as a one, and the
spin down can be read as a zero, corresponding to the digital ones and
zeros that form the binary language of traditional computers. Such devices
use transistors, which are turned on and off to represent the ones and zeros.

What makes quantum computers unique, however, is that quantum particles
can also be in a state of ``superposition'' -- spinning simultaneously up and
down.

``Due to their small size and if they are very well isolated, they can be
spinning up and down at the same time,'' said Chuang.

This state would represent both zero and one and everything in between.
Instead of solving the problem by adding all the numbers in order, a quantum
computer would add all the numbers at the same time.

When will we have one?

This phenomenon permits a quantum computer to have enormous power,
Chuang said. For certain types of calculations, like complex algorithms for
cryptography or searches -- a quantum computer using several hundred more
atoms in tandem would be able to perform billions of calculations at the
same time.

However, it is unclear when such a computer would be commercially
available. Chuang said it is expected that between seven and 10 atoms will
be used in tandem in more advanced quantum computers within the next two
years.

http://live.altavista.com/scripts/editorial.dll?ei=2087325&ern=y&jsd=1

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (8/15/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 13:28:54 -0400

BARAK TO CEDE JOSEPH'S TOMB

Prime Minister Ehud Barak is reportedly poised to give away more Jewish
historic sites to Yasser Arafat. This time it's Joseph's Tomb in Shechem and
the Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue in Jericho. According to the Council of
Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha), Barak has told
security officials to prepare to transfer the sites in question to full Palestinian
Authority control. In response to the plans, the Council said today: "The
transfer of these structures to the Palestinians makes a mockery of Prime
Minister Barak's post-Camp David pledge 'to protect Jewish holy sites.'"

U.S. SENATOR: CAMP DAVID NOT THE PATH TO PEACE

Senator Jesse Helms, Chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, has sent a letter to "Americans for a Safe Israel" that reflects
great reservations about the Israel-PLO negotiations. "I will never support a
peace between Israel and any of its neighbors that is not a real peace, made
without inducements or threats," Helms wrote. Hinting on what he views is
excessive US intervention in the process, the Senator observed: "A peace
that is made under the thumb of any third party cannot be genuine or
lasting..."

The letter is also critical of the security arrangements discussed in the Camp
David talks: "Israel must have an agreement that leaves a defensible state;
the borders contemplated at Camp David leave Israel vulnerable.. Despite
[these] concessions ...Yasser Arafat would not accept peace...There will be
no peace until the Palestinian leadership recognizes that Israel will not be
defeated around a negotiating table."

In reference to possible US funding for an Israel-PA deal - estimated at
anywhere between $40 to $100 billion - Helms stated: "It will be vital for the
American people to be kept fully informed of any commitments made by this
Administration to finance a peace agreement.... Any agreement that requires
substantial U.S. funds will undergo serious scrutiny by the Congress. Finally,
neither I, nor the majority of my colleagues in the U.S. Congress, will be
prepared to provide the Palestinian Authority with U.S. aid if the Palestinian
leadership goes forward with a unilateral declaration of statehood. ... Peace
does not come at any price - not for Israel, and not for the United States."

WORLD TOUR CONTINUES

The marathon diplomacy of both Israel and the Palestinians plods along.
Regional Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres will meet today with the
Japanese Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, with the aim of explaining
Israel's Camp David positions. Meanwhile, world leaders continue to convey
to Yasser Arafat their displeasure with his plan to unilaterally declare a
Palestinian state this fall. Chinese President Jiang Zemin, for instance,
yesterday proposed to Arafat that he "carefully choose" the proper moment
to make the announcement; the response was interpreted as a definitive
Chinese "nay" to such a declaration. An Associated Press report today,
however, quotes an Arafat spokesman as confidently asserting that Arafat
has won clear Chinese support for such a move. Today, Arafat made stops in
Vietnam and Malaysia - where he told reporters that Israel-PA talks may
resume after this week's Democratic party Convention in Los Angeles.

Unveiled yesterday, the Democratic party's platform declares that "Jerusalem
is the capital of Israel and should remain an undivided city accessible to
people of all faiths," and warns against the unilateral declaration of a
Palestinian state. The Democratic pledge not to divide Jerusalem stands in
sharp contrast to US President Clinton's statement this past Friday to the
London-based Al-Hayat newspaper in which he indicated that he would
support the establishment of an American Embassy in the "Palestinian" part
of Jerusalem. Clinton said, "I greatly hope that the Israeli and Palestinian
parties will have reached solutions by [the end of the year], and, with our
help, an agreement on Jerusalem that satisfies their demands. I will then be
able to open a US embassy in the Palestinian state's capital. I strongly
believe that the Jerusalem issue can be solved in a way that achieves the
two parties' national aspirations." Yasser Arafat has repeatedly declared that
the capital of his future state will be "al-Quds" - or Jerusalem.

OF APPOINTMENTS, FIRINGS AND RESIGNATIONS

The Knesset conducted a special mid-recess session today to deal with the
government's diplomatic contacts with the Palestinians. The Likud proposed
that Prime Minister Barak not continue his diplomacy given the resistance to
such initiatives in the Knesset. MK Ruby Rivlin said that he supported
legislation that, given the lack of Knesset support, would prevent the Prime
Minister from signing even an outline of a final-status deal with Yasser Arafat.
No votes took place today. At the start of the session, the Knesset paid
tribute to Israel's late Ambassador to France, and former Knesset member,
Dr. Eliyahu Ben Elissar, who died suddenly this past weekend.

Another item on today's agenda was Prime Minister Barak's appointment of
government ministers. New ministers require Knesset approval, but Barak
circumvented such approval by making only temporary appointments.
Members of his coalition defended him, saying that Barak was following
protocol. Opposition MKs insisted that the appointments be put up for a
Knesset vote. In the end, no vote took place, and Labor party Secretary-
General Ra'anan Cohen was sworn in as acting Labor and Welfare Minister,
while Centrist MK Ronni Milo was sworn in as acting Health Minister. Milo
said today that he will focus on the overcrowding in hospitals and the lack of
funding available to the country's health system. Atty.-Gen. Elyakim
Rubenstein today released a legal opinion labeling the new Barak
appointments "problematic." He said that they were "legal, but undesirable."

The deputy director of the Prime Minister's office, Shimon Batat, has
resigned. Ehud Barak says he is pained by the resignation, but that he will
accept it. Batat offered no official reason for his decision.

Ma'ariv today discussed the repercussions of Barak's recent "house-
cleaning" in the Foreign Ministry. Over the past week, Prime Minister Barak
has fired many ambassadors and other Foreign Ministry officials close to
former Foreign Minister David Levy, who resigned after Camp David.
"Whereas some people collect all sorts of things such as stamps, our Prime
Minister collects slaps in the face," Ma'ariv wrote. "Who hasn't slapped him
in the face? Rabbi Ovadiah and Shas, Sharon, the Likud, other parties, [MK
Uzi] Baram, [Knesset Speaker Avraham] Burg and now the High Court of
Justice which, yesterday, prevented the dismissal of Foreign Ministry
Director-General Eitan Bentzur and demanded an explanation from Barak."
The editors speculated that "nobody would have objected if Barak had
replaced the Foreign Ministry Director-General in an orderly and respectable
fashion...Human feelings and a friendly manner, even to those whom he no
longer owes anything, are not in the Prime Minister's conceptual lexicon."

LEBANON PULLOUT SENDS KIBBUTZ "UNDERGROUND"

Following the lead of Jerusalem and Gush Etzion regions, the northern
community of Kibbutz Manara will be accessible only by a tunnel, stretching
700 meters in length. So decided the Israeli security establishment, in
response to this spring's withdrawal from Lebanon, and the consequent
proximity between the present road to the kibbutz and the Israel-Lebanon
border.

TU B'AV TONIGHT

"Tu B'Av" - the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Av - starts tonight. A host
of reasons have been proposed as to why Jewish custom commemorates
the day. One explanation refers to the 40 years of the Children of Israel's
desert travels: Moses would command the people to dig mass graves on the
eve of the Ninth of Av, the day on which the spies returned to the Jewish
camp with a negative report about the Land of Israel. Each year, on the Ninth
of Av, the Jews would sleep in these mass graves overnight; the next
morning, a number of them would be discovered to have died and the
survivors would return to the camp for another year. Jewish tradition records
that on the Ninth of Av, in the fortieth year of the wanderings of the Children
of Israel, nobody died. Thinking that they may have incorrectly calculated the
date, the people slept in their graves on successive nights, until the fifteenth
of Av. At that point, they realized that the decree had come to an end, and
thus declared that day - one of celebration.

Rabbi David Stav, Dean of the Hesder Yeshiva of Petach Tikvah, says that
the Jewish sages therefore view Tu B'Av as a day of atonement for the sin of
the spies. "In this respect, Tu B'Av is the stepping stone to Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur, and may be seen as a period for reconciliation within the
Jewish nation, and between the nation and its G-d. Tu B'Av is best
commemorated by strengthening our ties to Eretz Yisrael through touring the
land, and by activities that highlight the bonds between family members."

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2000 / Av 14, 5760

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Re: Moscow Bombing Could Lead to Dictatorship
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 13:28:27 -0500

> The bloody war in Chechnya is loosing popularity in Russia, largely
> due to the numbers of people killed last year.
>
> As a result of last week�s bomb explosion the situation is once again
> playing into the hands of Putin and his supporters, who would like to
> restore totalitarian rule in the country. What else but terrorist
> attacks could help Mr.Putin to finalize consolidation of all powers in
> his hands and reestablish totalitarian control over the country and
> its people? Some Russian politicians believe that the bombings in
> Russian cities last year were organized and orchestrated by Russian
> special services especially to justify invasion in Chechnya. They now
> fear that last week�s blast in Moscow in combination with statements
> of pro-government politicians will be put to similar use, but this
> time to justify a return to the old practice of totalitarian control.

"The events in Chechnya, like the events of August 1991 and October 1993,
have been deliberately staged largely for Western consumption by the
Kremlin strategists in the pursuit of their objectives....

"FOOTNOTE: During the period of Lenin's 'Trust' scam in the 1920s, the Soviets
timed the blowing up of police stations to coincide with prearranged visits by
anti-Bolshevik emigre opposition leaders, in order to convince them that
opposition to the Communists continued on the ground. The staging of
spectacular destructive spectacles is therefore nothing new. Today, though,
they are televised for global consumption."

-- Anatoliy Golitsyn, "The Perestroika Deception," Memoradum to the CIA,
February 1, 1995.
owner-bpr@philologos.org

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Real World News - 08/15/00
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 13:49:45 -0500

Selected items from:

REAL WORLD NEWS 08/15/2000

Visit Real World News online at http://www.realworldnews.net

DRINKING WATER SOURCE OF DEATH IN MEXICO
Water may be the source of life. But in Mexico, it is also a cause of
death. Frequently contaminated with fecal matter, pumped through
aquifers that date back to Aztec times, and fouled by industrial and
domestic waste, Mexico's drinking water is an environmental
catastrophe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) said in a report. "In most regions (of Mexico),
the water is qualified as contaminated, either strongly or
excessively," the OECD said in its study released Thursday.
http://news.excite.com/news/r/000812/13/environment-mexico-water

WEST NILE VIRUS DETECTED IN RHODE ISLAND
A two-mile radius was slated to sprayed with insecticide after
researchers found a dead crow with West Nile virus - the first time
the virus was detected in Rhode Island, environmental officials said
Monday.
http://www2.nando.net/nation/story/0,1038,500239532-500352030-50204290
0 -0,00.html

ARAFAT RECONSIDERS UNILATERAL DECLARATION OF STATE
Despite his non-stop international lobbying campaign, Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat admitted over the weekend that he had failed to
convince Arab states to unite behind his negotiating stand on
Jerusalem and European leaders to fully support a unilateral
declaration of statehood on September 13. Both Arafat and Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak are now reassessing the possibility of a
second summit next month, but Barak remains politically weak at home,
while Arafat has yet to show flexibility on Jerusalem.
http://www.lifelinenews.net/jonline/j-online1/j-online1.html

SHAATH: PALESTINIAN STATE TO BE DECLARED NEXT MONTH
Palestinian peace negotiator Nabil Shaath said on Monday plans to
declare an independent Palestinian state on September 13 remained
intact. Despite reports that leaders of many states have advised
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat not to go ahead with a unilateral
declaration, Shaath said the Palestinian position had not changed.
"Our decision is to declare the state on the 13th of September,"
Shaath told Reuters after talks with Danish Foreign Minister Niels
Helveg Petersen.
http://news.excite.com/news/r/000814/07/mideast-europe-shaath

ISRAEL SIGNALS CONCESSIONS ON JERUSALEM
Prime Minister Ehud Barak is signalling that it is exploring
additional concessions on the status of Jerusalem in an effort to
reach agreement with the Palestinians in a summit planned for early
October. Officials said aides of Barak have been drafting proposals
to allow Palestinians sovereignty in parts of eastern Jerusalem as
well as the Old City. The proposals would also grant the Palestinians
partial custodianship of the Temple Mount.
http://www.menewsline.com/headline10.html

ISRAEL DEBATES CAUSES OF HOLOCAUST
Israel's founding fathers didn't lift a finger to help religious Jews
in Eastern Europe escape the Holocaust, said a prominent
ultra-Orthodox politician Monday, triggering a bitter debate - the
second in a week - about assigning blame in the Nazi genocide. Some
said the finger-pointing shows the Holocaust is increasingly being
used to settle scores in Israel's divisive political climate. Others
said the controversy may be a result of a belated attempt by devout
Jews to explain the Holocaust.
http://www.nandotimes.com/global/story/0,1024,500239483-500351949-5020
42 227-0,00.html

ENGLAND WRESTLES WITH CRIME AND ITS NATIONAL IDENTITY
With violent crime on the rise and fears that drunken soccer
hooligans outnumber bowler-hatted bankers, England seems to be on the
verge of an identity crisis - a confusion that has caused debate on
what it means to be English. CBS news reported that the chance of
being robbed or beaten was greater on British streets than in the
United States. Many questioned those figures, but statistics reported
a 16 percent increase in violent crime over the past year.
http://www.nandotimes.com/global/story/0,1024,500239715-500352427-5020
46 820-0,00.html

E.U. UNLIKELY TO RECOGNIZE DECLARED PALESTINIAN STATE
If Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat ignores advice he is
hearing in various capitals and unilaterally declares a state on
September 13, the European Union is likely not to recognize the
state, a Western diplomat told The Jerusalem Post yesterday. "It
seems the common EU position is that if Arafat should declare a state
on the 13th, and by doing so derail the peace process and provoke an
Israeli reaction, I can't imagine that the EU would recognize such a
state," said the diplomat, who declined to be identified.
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/08/15/News/News.10915.html

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM CALLS JERUSALEM ISRAEL'S CAPITAL
With Vice President Al Gore cutting deeply into Republican candidate
George W. Bush's lead, Democrats kicked off their national convention
in Los Angeles yesterday, following the release of a party platform
that recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital and calls for it to
remain an undivided city.
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/08/15/News/News.10916.html

BUSH ADVISER: WE'LL STAND BY ISRAEL
The senior foreign policy adviser to Republican presidential
candidate George W. Bush, Professor Condoleezza Rice, said Monday the
United States should be with Israel even if the peace talks fail, and
a Bush administration would upgrade security ties with it especially
in the field of ballistic missile defense.
http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=109493

PASTOR FINED FOR QUOTING SCRIPTURE TO NUDE BEACHGOERS
A Wisconsin preacher has been ordered to either pay a $209 fine or
lose his driver's license for five years because he led a
demonstration on an access road to a nude beach frequented by
homosexuals and pedophiles. Pastor Ralph Ovadal was charged with
disorderly conduct in connection with the demonstration last August
by Wisconsin Christians United. During the demonstration, Ovadal
quoted scripture to beachgoers, and told many of them who were known
pedophiles and homosexuals that they needed to repent from their sin
and turn to God. http://www.newsminute.com/wisconsinpreacher.htm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 18:28:23 -0400

Heat-plagued Iran invaded by poisonous snakes

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: faith
                         Source: Discovery Earth Alert

Tue Aug 15,2000 -- Homes in the heat-plagued southwest of Iran are being
invaded by snakes, many of them poisonous, looking for a place to cool
themselves. At least 28 of Iran's provinces have been affected by the second
consecutive year of drought and high temperatures, in which 800,000 head of
livestock have perished.

Palestinians begin construction of new Gaza seaport

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Reuters

Tue Aug 15,2000 -- Palestinians took another step toward future statehood
Tuesday when bulldozers began turning the sand dunes of the southern
Gaza coastline into a seaport. "I am pleased to announce to the Palestinian
people, Arabs and international community the beginning of the construction
of the harbour," said Palestinian Finance Minister Mohammad al-Nashashibi.
Nashashibi said the $70 million project, about half funded by France and
Holland, would take 18 months to complete.

Both Lebanon and UN don't want border responsibilities

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Middle East Newsline

Tue Aug 15,2000 -- The United Nations and Lebanon are saying that the
other is responsible for maintaining order along the border with Israel. UN
officials said the Beirut government, is responsible for border security.
Lebanese officials have said the job is up to UN peacekeepers, who have
ensured that Israel withdrew in accordance with Security Council resolution
425. The dispute leaves Lebanon's border with Israel in the hands of
Hizbullah, which organizes violent protests daily. Hizbullah said it will
resume its offensive against Israel.

Hizbullah still unofficially controls former Lebanese security zone

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Jerusalem Post

Tue Aug 15,2000 -- Hizbullah is still very much in control in the former
security zone. Their activists continue to throw stones at the Fatma
Crossing, particularly on weekends. Plain-clothed Hizbullah guerrillas have
set up outposts near, and often next to, UN positions. No one has yet moved
to disarm them, or even to prevent them orchestrating the stonings.
Meanwhile, top IDF commanders in the North said yesterday they are
preparing for an outbreak of violence along the border and a severe
deterioration in the situation, particularly if bloody unrest breaks out with
Palestinians in the territories.

Highlighting the uncertainty over who's really in charge in south Lebanon,
Hizbullah guerrillas yesterday prevented a UNIFIL patrol from investigating a
Lebanese government complaint that Israeli troops have encroached on the
international border. With Lebanese soldiers refusing to deploy along the
border, Lebanese authorities complained to the UNIFIL command about an
alleged Israeli violation in the area of Sheik Abbad hill, across from the
Lebanese village of Houla near the border, a UN officer said.

15 Muslim countries to meet on fate of Jerusalem

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Reuters

Mon Aug 14,2000 -- Foreign ministers from 15 Muslim countries and the
Palestinian Authority will meet in Morocco Aug. 28 to discuss the fate of
Jerusalem, the official MAP news agency reported Monday. The meeting of
the Organization of Islamic Conference's (OIC) Jerusalem Committee was
requested by its chairman, King Mohammed of Morocco, to "discuss
developments concerning the final status of Holy al-Qods (Jerusalem)" after
the Camp David summit. The Jerusalem committee members are
Bangladesh, Egypt, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon,
Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria and
the Palestinian Authority.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Ben-Gurion: Jerusalem must be divided
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 20:48:23 -0400

Wednesday, August 16, 2000

Ben-Gurion: Jerusalem must be divided

On holiday last week, Ehud Barak read 'Zion in Zionism' - which describes
how Ben-Gurion openly strove for the partition of Jerusalem.

By Aryeh Dayan

On a rainy winter's day in January 1937, a few members of the Peel
Commission visited Moshav Nahalal in the Jezreel Valley. The British
government had commissioned the panel, headed by Lord William Peel, to
draw up a diplomatic solution to the problem of Eretz Yisrael. Its members
toured the country, meeting with Jewish and Arab leaders and examining
potential options. One commission member sought to take advantage of the
visit at Nahalal to examine the response of his host there, Prof. Chaim
Weizmann, to an idea gathering momentum among the Peel Commission
members.The conversation at Nahalal between the president of the World
Zionist Organization and the member of the British royal commission took
place in a small hut used as the moshav's secretariat. At the center of the
idea proposed to Weizmann was the partition of Eretz Yisrael into a Jewish
state and an Arab one, with Jerusalem to remain under British rule. The
commission's members believed the Zionist leadership would welcome the
idea of establishing a Jewish state on part of the territory, but oppose
keeping Jerusalem outside of its borders. But Weizmann, apparently to the
surprise of his British interlocutor, responded warmly to both parts of the
plan. When he left the hut, according to one of those present, "his face
radiated happiness."

The story of this meeting, the first time in Zionist history that the future of
Jerusalem was debated seriously, may have been read last Shabbat by
Prime Minister Ehud Barak while resting at the swimming pool at Kibbutz
Kfar Giladi's guest house. In any event, the meeting was described in Dr.
Motti Golani's "Tziyun Be'tziunut" ("Zion in Zionism"), the book that Barak
was holding when he and his wife were photographed during their weekend
retreat. Even David Ben-Gurion "responded with excitement," according to
the book, to the idea of establishing a Jewish state whose borders would not
include Jerusalem.

The main argument of the book, which describes the policy of the Zionist
leadership over the question of Jerusalem between 1937 and 1949, is that
during most of this period Ben-Gurion openly strove toward the partition of
Jerusalem. Ben-Gurion's desire for the partition of Jerusalem, writes Dr.
Golani in the book that Barak read, stemmed mainly from his firm opposition
to the inclusion of the Old City, including its holy sites, within the borders of
the future Jewish state. Ben-Gurion, who nevertheless tried to prevent the
inclusion of the Old City in the Arab state, preferred to transfer it to
international control. He wanted to include the Jewish neighborhoods in the
west of the city into the Jewish state. In 1947, with the start of the partition
deliberations by the United Nations General Assembly, he found himself
having to decide between handing over the eastern part of the city to Arab
rule and handing over the entire city, including the Jewish areas in the west,
to international rule. Barak read in Golani's book that Ben-Gurion chose the
second option.

In summarizing the attitude of the leader that Barak loves to compare himself
to, Golani wrote that Ben-Gurion emphasized over and over that if the holy
sites were in Jewish hands the Zionist movement had no chance of shaping
Jerusalem in its own image. Ben-Gurion thus sought to get rid of the burden
of the holy places and to remain with Jewish West Jerusalem, free of the
historical, religious and political weight of the eastern part of the city. His
desire to be free of the burden of controlling East Jerusalem even led him to
concede any claims to Jewish sovereignty over the Western Wall or the
Jewish Quarter of the Old City. With regard to the Wall, he settled for an
agreement that the international body that would govern East Jerusalem
would guarantee freedom of worship there. Ben-Gurion felt no connection to
the Jewish Quarter, with its synagogues and yeshivas. In his eyes, the
quarter and its inhabitants symbolized the old, anti-Zionist Yishuv. It was the
Hebrew University, not the yeshivas and synagogues, that symbolized
Jerusalem's Jewish spirit in his mind.

"In his enthusiastic response to the partition idea," Barak could have read,
"Ben-Gurion gave up Jerusalem even before anyone asked him to do so." In
January 1937, after the meeting at Nahalal and six months before the Peel
Commission published its recommendations, he was already telling his
Mapai party colleagues that he would be willing to accept a Jewish state
even without Jerusalem. "It is clear that the city of Jerusalem and Bethlehem
must be out of the equation, and it must be international territory under the
supreme rule of the English and local Jewish-Arab management," Golani
quotes Ben-Gurion.

In the months that followed he changed his mind and stopped speaking
about a "Jewish state without Jerusalem." His fear of the response of the
Revisionist right ("We are in for a Spanish action," he commented, against
the background of the civil war there) caused him to create a new position: in
support of a partition of the city instead of giving up on the inclusion of
Jerusalem in the Jewish state; the Jewish neighborhoods in the west of the
city would be part of the Jewish state, while the rest of the city would be
under international rule. He continued to maintain this position even after the
royal commission published its recommendations, which left all of Jerusalem
under British control. Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion repeated again and again during
this period, must be divided.

In a letter that he sent from London in June 1937, most of which can still be
read today as a relevant document, he wrote the following words. "I see a big
disaster in the failure to divide Jerusalem into two separate municipalities,
Arab and Jewish. Our situation in Jerusalem, if we were to do so, would be
completely different and perhaps our entire political future would change
fundamentally had we realized and dared then, even before the partition
deliberations, to divide Jerusalem and establish an autonomous Jewish
municipality ... In Jerusalem, the patriotic rhetoric, the impotent rhetoric, the
empty, stupid rhetoric overcame the fertile creation of statehood. Jerusalem
is now 'united' under the rule of the Nashashibis and the Khaldis because
some Jerusalemite needed to rule over the Temple Mount ... A Jewish
Jerusalem free of the rapacious and emasculated partnership of the Arab
effendi and the English clerk, disconnected from the Old City which has no
remedy except to be turned into a museum and stripped of all the Arab
neighborhoods that swallow our forces, [such a situation] would have spurred
our municipal creative talents, focused our capital and powers on building
and expansion and improvement, and turn Jewish Jerusalem into a central
magnet for the Jewish nation, in order to increase, expand and adorn our
independent Jewish capital."

The ten difficult years between the writing of this letter and the start of the
UN deliberations over the partition plan reinforced Ben-Gurion's position and
the official position of the Zionist leadership with regard to the need to divide
Jerusalem. At the United Nation's commission of inquiry that visited Israel in
the summer of 1947, Ben-Gurion again spoke in favor of including West
Jerusalem in the Jewish state and finding a "special arrangement" for the Old
City, the holy places and Arab neighborhoods around the walls.

The partition plan, as published by the commission of inquiry, disappointed
Ben-Gurion and the members of the Zionist leadership because it excluded
West Jerusalem from the Jewish state in order to turn it, together with the
rest of the city, into an "international complex." The borders of this
compound, as set out in the commission's recommendations, recall a few of
the ideas regarding the expansion of Jerusalem's border that have been
mentioned in recent months: from Abu Dis and Al Azariyya in the east to Ein
Karem, Deir Yassin and Motza in the west and from Shuafat in the north to
Bethlehem in the south.

Golani writes in his book that the heads of the Jewish Agency did not
conceal their disappointment with this idea, but they realized that they must
accept it. They understood that they could not miss the opportunity for an
independent state, even at the price of leaving Jerusalem outside its borders.

Ben-Gurion announced that he would fight for changes to the Peel
Commission's recommendations on Jerusalem, but Golani writes that "in
contrast to all the known rules of negotiations, in which you do not put all
your cards on the table at the start, he added without hesitation that if there
was no choice, he would accept the recommendations of the commission
even without corrections." According to the book that Barak read in order to
delve further into solutions proposed in the past to the question of Jerusalem,
the Zionist delegation to the UN General Assembly continued to demand that
Jerusalem be included in the borders of the Jewish state, but everyone
including Ben-Gurion and the delegates knew that it was just "lip service."

"The Jewish Agency conceded Jerusalem," Golani writes. "The Jewish
Agency delegation was careful to pass a clear message, with no room for
assessments or guesses, to the representatives of the states that supported
partition, that is the establishment of a Jewish state ... It was a great
national-spiritual sacrifice in favor of what was then thought to be necessary:
a majority in the General Assembly for a Jewish state even if in only part of
Eretz Yisrael."

Of course there is no way of knowing what Ehud Barak learned from reading
Motti Golani's book and what his opinion is, after reading it, of the positions
that Ben-Gurion took over Jerusalem on the eve of the establishment of the
state. A reading of the book nevertheless clearly shows that on this matter
Barak can come much further toward Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser
Arafat without coming close to what the first prime minister of Israel was
willing to sacrifice in order to obtain an independent state for the Jewish
people

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=5&datee=08/16/00&i
d=89241
From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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