War is madness’: Pope Francis says WWIII is happening already (Source RT) Pope Francis has compared the current situation internationally to a third World War “fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres and destruction.” Calling wars irrational, the Pontiff lamented conflicts are often “justified by an ideology.” In the past few months, Francis has repeatedly called for the end of military conflicts in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, Gaza and throughout Africa. In July, he also made an emotional appeal to the world, calling to stop war, especially in the Middle East and Ukraine, saying that the children who live in conflict zones are suffering most and are deprived of hope and a future. During his visit to Korea in August, the Pope said that humanity was in the midst of a Third World War.
Iran: We Turned Down US’ ISIS Offer (Source Newser) Iran wants the world to know that the United States came knocking—and it didn’t answer the door. Though it was previously reported that John Kerry had barred the country from joining a coalition formed to combat the self-proclaimed Islamic State, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today said that it was Iran who turned America down. “They are lying,” he said, per Reuters. As for how it went down, Khamenei says the American ambassador in Iraq asked the Iranian ambassador in Iraq “for a session to discuss coordinating a fight against” ISIS. And while some Iranian officials were receptive to the idea, “I was opposed,” Khamenei said. “I saw no point in cooperating with a country whose hands are dirty and intentions murky.”
OOPS, NEW SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA HIT EXXON (Source oilprice.com) The United States and the European Union imposed a new round of sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow’s intervention in eastern Ukraine and following its annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March. The goal is to clamp down further on the Russian economy, but it will significantly affect the drilling plans of western oil giants ExxonMobil and BP. In fact, this closes a loophole that allowed Exxon to begin drilling Russia’s first exploratory well in the arctic Kara Sea last month — a well that could have to shut down in less than two weeks. Exxon’s lawyers were reportedly reviewing the sanctions to determine if they would have to alter operations in the Kara Sea and in another consortium-led oil and gas operation on Sakhalin Island. Prior rounds of sanctions have primarily targeted the Russian banking and defense sectors, but in late July, the U.S. and E.U. agreed to crack down on Russia’s access to Western fossil fuel technology for future development of deepwater, Arctic offshore, and shale oil and gas deposits. Russia has the largest combined oil and gas reserves in the world but lacks the oil and gas technology needed to access complex and dangerous deposits like those deep under the waters under Russia’s Arctic coast. So it enters into deals with the Western oil giants — most prominently Exxon — to exploit those resources. Exxon and Russia agreed to a $3.2 billion deal that gives the company access to a Texas-sized chunk of the Arctic. To kick off the Exxon offshore well in August, President Vladimir Putin got on a video conference call with the CEO of Rosneft — Russian state-owned oil giant — and Glenn Waller, Exxon’s top man in Russia, to laud the promise of international cooperation on display. “I am convinced that the joint projects between Rosneft, Exxon Mobil and other companies will benefit our national economies, will contribute to strengthening the global energy situation,” Putin said. Waller responded that “our cooperation is a long-term one,” and that Exxon was excited to keep working in Russia because “we see big benefits here and are ready to work here with your agreement.”
WASHINGTON’S WAR AGAINST RUSSIA (Source blacklistednews.com) The new sanctions against Russia announced by Washington and Europe do not make sense as merely economic measures. Washington will continue to push sanctions against Russia until Russia shows Europe that there is a heavy cost of serving as Washington’s tool. Russia needs to break up this process of ever more sanctions in order to derail the drive toward war. In my opinion this is easy for Russia to do. Russia can tell Europe that since you do not like our oil companies, you must not like our gas company, so we are turning off the gas. Or Russia can tell Europe, we don’t sell natural gas to NATO members, or Russia can say we will continue to sell you gas, but you must pay in rubles, not in dollars. This would have the additional benefit of increasing the demand for rubles in exchange markets, thus making it harder for speculators and the US government to drive down the ruble.
Troops in Russia’s Eastern Military District are moved to the highest state of combat readiness as surprise drills begin in the region, the Russian Ministry of Defense informed on Friday. “As part of a surprise check of the Eastern Military District troops’ combat readiness, military formations and units located in the Eastern region of the Russian Federation have completed the implementation of measures to enter the highest degree of combat readiness,” the ministry wrote in a statement. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to hold snap combat readiness drills in Russia’s Eastern Military District starting Thursday. Air defense forces and military units would be put on full combat alert starting 10:00 a.m. Moscow time , Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday. The Eastern Military District includes military units in Transbaikal and the Far East. The headquarters are located in the city of Khabarovsk.
Ukraine gives rebels ‘special status’, ratifies EU treaty (Source euobserver.com) Ukraine has granted semi-autonomy and amnesty to pro-Russia rebels, the same day as ratifying a strategic EU treaty. Its parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed the rebel laws in a closed session on Tuesday (16 September) by 277 and 287 votes out of 450, respectively, a pro-Western MP, Andriy Shevchenko, said on Twitter. They give the rebel strongholds in Donetsk and Luhansk, east Ukraine, limited self-rule, or “special status”, for the next three years, with local elections in December to cement the new leadership. They also say rebels who did not commit heinous crimes, such as shooting down MH17, and who give up their arms will not be prosecuted. The measures are in line with the “Minsk protocol” – a Russia-Ukraine peace deal signed after Russia sent troops into east Ukraine in late August. The laws were passed with more than 3,000 Russian troops still on Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s defence ministry says…
The Incredible Shrinking Planet (Source thetrumpet.com) What happens when we bridge the geographic and linguistic gaps that have separated us for centuries? The world today is tiny. Before 1850, transmitting a message from Kansas City to Tokyo would have taken almost two months. Today it takes a few seconds. Before 1900, a journey from Philadelphia to Madrid would have taken 10 days. Today it takes eight hours. Before 2000, translating a 10-page document would have taken hours of tedious labor. Today, you can use software to crudely render it almost instantly. Planet Earth, always so vast and unknowable, has effectively been shrunk. Globalization, technological advancement, knowledge explosion and language trends are homogenizing it, blending its inhabitants into an ever more interconnected community. The integration between nations and cultures is utterly unprecedented. Man is learning to surmount language barriers. He is overcoming geographic segregation. The segregation of humanity that YHWH caused at the Tower of Babel is essentially being undone. Is this against YHWH’s will? Does it mean we have finally outfoxed our Creator? No. YHWH knew we would eventually integrate and collaborate. In fact, He specifically prophesied the dawning of this interconnected, knowledge-saturated age we now live in. Through the Prophet Daniel, YHWH said that at “the time of the end,” knowledge would “be increased.” He forecast through the Apostle Paul that “in the last days, perilous times shall come,” in part because people would be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:1, 7). He condemns those who become “vain in their imaginations … professing themselves to be wise,” though they are “inventors of evil things” (Romans 1:21-22, 30). The modern world—interconnected and knowledge-drenched—is a fulfillment of these prophecies. It has come to be as it is in perfect accordance with YHWH’s timetable.
How Apple Is Invading Our Bodies (Source Time) With the unveiling of the Apple Watch Tuesday in Cupertino, California, Apple is attempting to put technology somewhere where it’s never been particularly welcome. Like a pushy date, the Apple Watch wants to get intimate with us in a way we’re not entirely used to or prepared for. This isn’t just a new product, this is technology attempting to colonize our bodies. The Apple Watch is very personal—“personal” and “intimate” were words that Apple CEO Tim Cook and his colleagues used over and over again when presenting it to the public for the first time. That’s where the watch is likely to change things, because it does something computers aren’t generally supposed to: it lives on your body. It perches on your wrist, like one of Cinderella’s helpful bluebirds. It gets closer than we’re used technology getting. It gets inside your personal bubble. We’re used to technology being safely Other, but the Apple Watch wants to snuggle up and become part of your Self. This is new, and slightly unnerving. When technologies get adopted as fast as we tend to adopt Apple’s products, there are always unintended consequences. When the iPhone came out it was praised to the skies as a design and engineering marvel, because it is one, but no one really understood what it would be like to have it in our lives. Nobody anticipated the way iPhones exert a constant gravitational tug on our attention. Do I have e-mail? What’s happening on Twitter? Could I get away with playing Tiny Wings at this meeting? When you’re carrying a smartphone, your attention is never entirely undivided. The reality of living with an iPhone, or any smart, connected device, is that it makes reality feel just that little bit less real. One gets over-connected, to the point where the thoughts and opinions of distant anonymous strangers start to feel more urgent than those of your loved ones who are in the same room as you. One forgets how to be alone and undistracted. Ironically enough experiences don’t feel fully real till you’ve used your phone to make them virtual—tweeted them or tumbled them or Instagrammed them or YouTubed them, and the world has congratulated you for doing so.
CHINA DEPLOYS TROOPS IN SOUTH SUDAN TO DEFEND OIL FIELDS, WORKERS (Source The Australian) China began deploying 700 soldiers to a United Nations peacekeeping force in South Sudan to help guard the country’s embattled oil fields and protect Chinese workers and installations, a spokesman for the African nation’s president said Tuesday. The airlift of the Chinese infantry battalion to the South Sudanese states of Unity and Upper Nile, the site of the only operating oil fields still under control of the central government in Juba, was expected to take several days. While Beijing’s troops will operate under U.N. command, their posting to South Sudan marks a sharp escalation of China’s efforts to ensure the safety of its workers and assets in Africa, and guarantee a steady flow of energy for domestic consumption. The deployment marks the first time Beijing has contributed a battalion to a U.N. peacekeeping force, U.N. officials said. In March 2013, China sent some 300 peacekeepers to Mali to protect Chinese engineers building a U.N. camp in the town of Gao.
Russia tests ICBM as Putin says nuclear deterrent must be maintained (Source Reuters) President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia must maintain its nuclear deterrence to counter what he called growing security threats, after Moscow test-launched an intercontinental nuclear missile. With ties between Moscow and the West frayed by the crisis in Ukraine, Putin also took greater control of a commission that oversees the defense industry and made a new call for Russia to become less reliant on imported Western equipment. He said NATO was using rhetoric over the Ukraine crisis to “resuscitate itself” and noted that Russia had warned repeatedly that it would have to respond to such moves. Shortly before he spoke, Russia successfully tested its new submarine-launched Bulava intercontinental missile, a 12-metre- long weapon that can deliver a nuclear strike with up to 100 times the force of the atomic blast that devastated Hiroshima in 1945. “We need a reliable and complete assessment of the potential threats to Russia’s military security. For each of these threats, a sufficient, adequate response should be found,” Putin told a Kremlin meeting of government defense officials. Naval Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov said the Bulava’s test launch had been carried out from the White Sea and that the missile had hit its target in Russia’s far east.