Armada of British/US Naval Forces Mass in the Gulf as Israel Prepares for War with Iran

An armada of US and British naval power is massing in the Persian Gulf in the belief that Israel is considering a pre-emptive strike against Iran’s covert nuclear weapons programme.

Battleships, aircraft carriers, minesweepers and submarines from 25 nations are converging on the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in an unprecedented show of force as Israel and Iran move towards the brink of war.

Western leaders are convinced that Iran will retaliate to any attack by attempting to mine or blockade the shipping lane through which passes around 18 million barrels of oil every day, approximately 35 per cent of the world’s petroleum traded by sea.

A blockade would have a catastrophic effect on the fragile economies of Britain, Europe the United States and Japan, all of which rely heavily on oil and gas supplies from the Gulf…

Read on in The Telegraph.

… just last week Mr Netanyahu signalled that time for a negotiated settlement was running out when he said: “The world tells Israel ‘Wait, there’s still time.’ And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’

“Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.”

 

British Armed Forces: Chaplain Cuts Announced

The number of active duty chaplains serving in the Armed Forces will be reduced under the Government’s troop reduction programme proposed in its Strategic Defence and Security Review, the Under Secretary of State for Defence, Lord Astor told Parliament last week.

The former Archbishop of Armagh, Lord Eames, asked the government what  “impact planned reductions in the future strength of the Armed Forces will have on the number of chaplains serving in the Armed Forces?”

Lord Astor responded in a written statement released on 26 June 2012 the number of chaplains will be cut.  The “number of chaplains serving in the Armed Forces is dependent on the size and structure of the service which they support. Following the reductions to the Armed Forces that we announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review it is currently planned that the number of chaplains required by the Royal Navy will reduce from 68 to 62 by 2013 and the Royal Air Force chaplaincy requirement will reduce from 76 to 68 by 2018.”

The minister stated it was “not possible to comment on what the Army’s future requirement for chaplains will be” as troop levels for a reduced force had not yet been finalized. In recent years approximately 150 chaplains served in the Army, with additional chaplains assigned to the Territorial Army and the Army Cadet Force.

Source

But then I see that the British Army on the whole is about to shrink by a fifth - all ‘part of an economy drive’. Dangerous stuff, if you ask me. Her Majesty’s Armed Forces are a shadow of what they once were…

 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: Women Must Take Over

After the uprisings in the Arab world, Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu said on Wednesday it was now time for women to have their revolution and banish men to the margins.

Speaking at a gathering of the world’s political and financial elite in Davos, the vast majority of them men, Tutu said women had long been locked out of policy-making – and the world had paid the price.

“Let us re-align forces, let us ensure that women have a significant part in the decision-making process… we have been excluding women,” said the former archbishop of Cape Town.

Telling the event’s compere Klaus Schwab that he might need a security escort from the podium, Tutu said he was about to upset much of his audience.

“What we need is a revolution led by women. I think women ought to be saying to us men: ‘You have made a mess, just get out and let us in’,” he added…

Source

Liberal Anglicanism at its best.

 

A Record Number of Churches Face Foreclosure

World reports:

U.S. homes entering the foreclosure process hit a seven-month high in October. Some 77,733 properties received an initial default notice during the month, up 10 percent from September, according to foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc.

But homeowners aren’t the only ones being hit by foreclosure. Church foreclosures are at an all-time high. Since 2008 more than 200 churches and other religious organizations have faced foreclosure, according to real estate services firm CoStar Group. In the decade before 2008, church foreclosures were rare, averaging less than 10 per year.

Tim Trainor, a spokesman for CoStar, said 2011 is so far the worst yet, including the “highest dollar volume” ever in the second quarter of 2011, when 20 properties totaling more than $27 million went into foreclosure.

These foreclosures are likely just the tip of the iceberg. No one really knows how many churches not officially in foreclosure are on the brink. Take, for example, The Church at South Las Vegas. The church started in 2001 by Pastor Benny Perez now has more than 4,000 in regular Sunday morning attendance. But the church also has a $53,000 per month mortgage payment, and it can’t sell any of its real estate because that real estate is now worth at least $5 million less than what the church paid for it.

“Our back is against the wall,” Perez said in July. His answer: The church declared bankruptcy and stopped paying its mortgage. St. Louis-based First Bank has since sued the church. Mitch Fox, a spokesman for the church, would not answer WORLD’s questions except to say that the bank and the church were in “sensitive negotiations.”

The causes of these financial problems are not mysterious: Churches face many of the same economic realities as other property owners. Declining offerings from recession-plagued families, plunging property values, and less leeway from the banks when they get behind on their mortgages have contributed to the foreclosure crisis.

Of course, the number of foreclosures may seem small compared to the approximately 300,000 Christian churches in the United States, but they tend to take place with larger churches, larger sums of money, and greater attention by the media. California’s Crystal Cathedral made national headlines earlier this year when it declared bankruptcy with an estimated $50 million debt. “When a church doesn’t pay its bills, it’s a terrible witness,” said Dan Busby, president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

The church foreclosure crisis also has an impact on financial institutions that specialize in church financing…

Read on here.

HT:  Kendall Harmon

 

Archbishop of Canterbury Becomes a Victim of the Economic Crisis

Probably meaning he stands to lose some money. Yup!

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, faces losing most of the £15,000 that he is owed by his publisher.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has consistently argued that rich nations should forgive the debts of poorer ones. Now, he faces a costly dilemma of his own.

His publisher, Darton, Longman and Todd, is struggling to pay off its debts and is seeking a company voluntary arrangement, which could mean the archbishop being asked to write off 75 per cent of the £15,000 that he is owed.

“If this proposal is not accepted by 75 per cent of creditors who respond, then DLT will be wound up,” warned David Moloney, its editorial director, in a letter. The publisher has brought out several of Dr Williams’s books, including Resurrection, Why Study the Past? and Open to Judgement…

Read on here.

 

An Idiot’s Guide to the Greek Debt Crisis

ABC News has it (for people like me) :

The European Union is an economic and political institution forged over decades, sealed with a treaty in 1993  but only, truly made real in 2002, when most of the current member states dropped their currency in favor of the common  euro. For centuries a breeding ground for war and imperialism, Western Europe had bound itself together in peace and apparent prosperity, with a supranational government all its own to be quartered in Brussels.

Its anthem: “Ode to Joy.”

Things have changed. While most major banks remain multinational (with interests around the world) their errors — some would say crimes — have brought renewed focus on the sovereign state. Today, with Greece on the edge of default, the euro zone nations have a new catchphrase: “Exposure.” As in, how much “exposure” do our banks have to the bad debt held by yours.

It’s enough to make one’s head take an “Exorcist”-style lap around the neck. But here, below, is a simple guide to this latest and most important chapter in the crisis. The results in Greece will likely determine, and certainly predict, the fate of the European Union. This is the least you should know.

Why is Greece in debt?

Like any state (or person, for that matter) it spent more money than it took in. Traditionally, but especially after switching over to the euro, the Greek government paid out huge amounts of cash it simply did not have. To compound this, the retirement age there is low by modern Western standards, and benefits are generous. Public sector employees are well paid.

Sounds good, right?

The problem is that Greece is also infamous for mass tax evasion. That means severely limited revenue. So when the money ran out, Athens turned to European banks for loans. Soon, the government was borrowing billions and those debts, like subprime mortgages in the United States, were often repackaged and sold off around the Continent. Everyone, especially banks in France and Germany, wanted a piece. Now  they have it.

Why does Europe — indeed, the world — care so much about Greece’s debts?

One of the perceived perks when Europe got together on a single currency (Greeks, for instance, gave up the drachma for the euro) was that a strong Europe could prop up an individual state in a time of need. But what’s happened is that Europe itself has become too weak, in the aftermath of the global financial meltdown, to bite the bullet on a country like Greece. A default would shatter otherwise monetarily strong countries like Germany. The Germans, like the Americans, would be left with a host of “too big to fail” banks ready to do just that…

Do read on here.

 

Protestant vs Catholic: Which Countries are More Successful?

Could religion be playing a part in the relative success of Europe’s economies? One academic thinks so.

In Guardian (UK):

If maps were shaded like balance sheets, the bottom part of mainland Europe would be deepest red. Italy, Spain and Portugal are heavily in debt. They are also Catholic countries. Their predominantly Protestant neighbours to the north, including Germany and Scandinavia, are in comparatively good shape financially. Is that simply a coincidence, or is Max Weber’s theory about the Protestant ethic being intertwined with the spirit of capitalism still valid, over 100 years on?

There is more on Dr Sascha Becker belief that religion is a factor in economic differences here.

Interesting.

HT

 

Vatican Calls for Radical Economic Reform of World’s Financial Systems

In the Huffington Post:

The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world’s financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy.

A proposal by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace calls for a new world economic order based on ethics and the “achievement of a universal common good.” It follows Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 economic encyclical that denounced a profit-at-all-cost mentality as responsible for the global financial meltdown.

The proposal acknowledges, however, that a “long road still needs to be traveled before arriving at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction” and suggests the reform process begin with the United Nations as a point of reference.

Vatican pronouncements on the economy are meant to guide world leaders as well as the global church. United States Roman Catholic bishops, for example, have released a voter guide for the 2012 election that highlights social concerns such as ending poverty.

“It is an exercise of responsibility not only toward the current but above all toward future generations, so that hope for a better future and confidence in human dignity and capacity for good may never be extinguished,” the document said.

It highlights that reforms must assure that financial and monetary policies will not damage the weakest economies while also achieving fair distribution of the world’s wealth.

The proposal also called for a “minimum, shared body of rules to manage the global financial market,” lamenting the “overall abrogation of controls” on capital movements.

While past Vatican pronouncements have condemned unfettered capitalism, the latest criticized “an economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls.”

It also attacked “utilitarian thinking,” saying what is useful to the individual does not always favor the common good.

 

Occupy the Greek Orthodox Church

Having mentioned that the occupy movement is coming to South Africa [sigh], I see that there is another new idea out: Occupy the Greek Orthodox Church.

As the debate about IMF- and EU-imposed austerity measures and the possibility of a Greek government default continues, there is one important piece of the puzzle that has not been widely reported outside of Greece. And it involves the Orthodox Church.

What has been reported is important, to be sure. The IMF’s and EU’s motives to date have been limited to ensuring that the troubled European banks most heavily implicated in bad Greek debt get repaid. Their shocking austerity measures—pensions cut in half, retirement age increased, huge cuts in social programs, education and health care, and crushing unemployment as the inevitable result—have been designed to help Northern European banks, no matter the cost to the Greek people.

More recently, street protests, nationwide strikes organized by the unions, and targeted work slowdowns by air traffic controllers among others, have been designed to insist that the people are paying more than their fair share, whereas the banks are not paying anything at all. Whether you prefer the word ‘default’ or the phrase ‘debt restructuring,’ a more just outcome would be one in which the banks absorb some of this pain as well, by agreeing to be repaid fifty cents on the euro for all the bad loans that they made. That is what’s in the works this week.

But something new and unprecedented is in the works in Greece itself: for the first time, the Orthodox Church has been identified as the corporation it is, and the suggestion is that it should pay its fair share as well. The Greek Orthodox Church pays very low taxes on its vast real estate holdings and its clerics are paid by the state. That hand-in-glove relationship may be about to change.

In an amazing development, the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreiou, went to Mount Athos two days ago to meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomaios, to discuss the decidedly un-spiritual matter of the Orthodox Church’s responsibilities in this time of Greek crisis.

Even more interesting is that the Church seems to be moving toward a deal. It has already signaled its willingness to use its vast real estate holdings to help finance the government’s debt, though it insists on doing anything on its own timetable and in its own way.

This is remarkable, and we shall see what comes of it. Depending on what we see, it might signal a radical new strategy for recovering money from corporations that do not pay their fair share, and a radical new view of churches as corporations…

 

Global Meltdown as Markets Crash

There are fears of a new recession:

Gripped by  fear of a new recession, Wall Street suffered its worst day Thursday  since the financial crisis in the fall of 2008. The firestorm of selling  that erased more than 500 points off the Dow Jones industrial average  then spread overseas.

The sell-off wiped out the Dow’s remaining  gains for 2011. It put the Dow and broader stock indexes into what  investors call a correction — down 10 percent from their highs in the  spring.

Across the financial markets, the  day was reminiscent of the wild swings that defined the financial crisis  in September and October three years ago. Gold prices briefly hit a  record high. Oil fell even more than stocks — 6 percent, or $5.30 a  barrel. And frightened investors were so desperate to get into some  government bonds that they were willing accept almost no return on their  money.

It was the most alarming day yet in the almost  uninterrupted selling that has swept Wall Street for two weeks. The Dow  has lost more than 1,300 points, or 10.5 percent. By one broad measure  kept by Dow Jones, almost $1.9 trillion in market value has disappeared.

For  the day, the Dow closed down 512.76 points, at 11,383.68. It was the  steepest point decline since Dec. 1, 2008…

More here.

The Telegraph is covering the news live here.