---

The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

 

U.S. files two trade protests against China

Source: Associated Press

 

April 10, 2007 -- The Bush administration announced Monday that it is filing two new trade cases against China over copyright piracy and restrictions on the sale of U.S. movies, music and books there. The action, announced by U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, represents the latest move by the administration to respond to growing political pressure at home to do something about soaring U.S. trade deficits.

 

Schwab said the United States is filing with the World Trade Organization a case that will challenge Beijing's lax enforcement of violations of copyrights and trademarks on a wide range of products. American companies contend they are losing billions of dollars in sales because of rampant copyright piracy.

 

The second case will challenge China's barriers to the sale of U.S.-produced movies, music and books.

 

"Piracy and counterfeiting levels in China remain unacceptably high," Schwab said in announcing the cases. "Inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in China costs U.S. firms and workers billions of dollars each year."

 

The two cases represent the latest effort by the administration to increase pressure on China after Democrats, many highly critical of China's trade practices, won control of the House and the Senate.

 

The U.S. trade deficit set a record for a fifth consecutive year in 2006 — at $765.3 billion. The imbalance with China climbed to $232.5 billion, highest ever with a single country.

 

In late March, the administration announced it was imposing penalty tariffs on Chinese glossy paper imports in a case that broke a 23-year precedent that had barred U.S. companies from seeking protection from unfair subsidies provided by the Chinese government.

 

In February, Schwab announced the administration was bringing a WTO case against China on the government subsidy issue.

 

The decision to go to the WTO with the two new trade cases will trigger a 60-day consultation period during which trade negotiators from both countries will try to resolve the two disputes.

 

If that fails, WTO hearing panels would be convened. If the U.S. wins the cases, it would be allowed to impose penalty economic sanctions on Chinese products. 

 

Comments:  China is surely bringing the U.S. down to its knees grovelling about the unfair trade imbalance.  Americans are buying cheap Chinese goods like crazy while the Chinese population (numbering 1 billion) spurns stuff Made in the USA.  When you import more than you export, that’s not good.  So, why not ban goods and materials coming from China?  Oh, that would be retaliatory and the Chinese will cry ‘foul’.  Well, the slapping of trade tariffs will accomplish the same thing which will make Chinese stuff more expensive to purchase.

 

China dumps all this cheap stuff onto the Western world which gobbles them up like loose money fallen from a Wells Fargo security truck.  China’s intention is to dominate the world economically and then after it has done that, she will enslave her debtors.  No need to take over the U.S. militarily for now.  Buy up all available American properties, infiltrate the political system with her cronies, and control multinational corporations to bleed the American economy dry.  China will one day be confronted by the Antichrist.  The two immovable objects will agree to co‑exist, but toward the end of the Tribulation Period, China will openly defy the Antichrist’s authority. Revelation 16:[12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

EU says Iran taking a step in 'wrong' direction

Source: EUObserver

 

April 10, 2007 -- The European Union has reacted to Iran's announcement that the country will radically expand its uranium enrichment by nearly 10 times the previously known amount by saying it is a step in the "wrong" direction.

 

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced on Monday (9 April) that Iran is now producing enriched uranium on an industrial scale, risking a deepening of the crisis with world powers over its nuclear drive.

 

Germany, as current holder of the EU presidency, denounced the move.

 

The announcement showed Iran was "definitively going in the wrong direction," said a statement from the foreign ministry, according to AP news agency.

 

The European Commission said "This does nothing to change our position — Iran must cooperate fully with the [International Atomic Energy Agency] and follow the United Nations resolutions," according to AFP.

 

Comments:  Going against the traffic flow on a one way street will draw everyone’s attention for sure.  The world’s nuclear club is about to grow by one more member (Iran) and the New World Order movers and shakers are not amused.  With a country like Iran fast-tracking to become fully nuclear, that disturbs the power brokers of the world to no end.  Nuclear nations such as Pakistan, India and soon to become Iran will be next to impossible reign in for the globalists whose plan is to implement a worldwide disengagement of nukes, not proliferation.  If a One World Government under Satan’s man of sin is to utterly control mankind, there can’t be any mavericks possessing nukes to defy the global dictator.  That’s why there is growing pressure for Israel to give up her nukes in exchange for guaranteed peace and security.  The EU, especially, wants all nations (including China, Russia, the U.S., France, Britain, India, Pakistan, etc.) to disarm and have all nukes in its possession.  Of course, no one will agree to this, not without a fight at least.

 

The 7-year Tribulation Period seems to indicate a nuclear exchange of some sort among nations.  If the Ezekiel 38/39 War were to occur after the Rapture event, that book speaks about fire (either from God or a nuclear exchange) raining down on Magog (Russian Federation) and all those that live carelessly in the isles (Britain, the U.S., India, Pakistan, Iran, China?).  Ezekiel 39:[6] And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.  Revelation 6:[3] And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.  [4] And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Tai Chi helps older people ward off shingles: study

Source: Associated Press

 

April 10, 2007 -- Tai Chi is already known as a good low-impact exercise for older people. Now a recent study suggests it offers benefits beyond improving fitness and balance: It may help prevent shingles, a painful skin condition.

 

Researchers found older people who performed the slow, graceful movements of Tai Chi had a better immune response against the virus that causes shingles than those who only got health education, according to the most rigorous test to date.

 

It's unclear how Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art that has become increasingly popular in the West, affects the immune system. But health experts were encouraged by the positive results.

 

"The message is that older people need to maintain healthy behaviour," said Andrew Monjan of the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the research. "It's nothing that our mothers haven't told us, but we're seeing it certainly holds up to scientific inquiry."

 

The study appears in the April issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and was led by Dr. Michael Irwin of the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

The UCLA study involved 112 healthy adults, ages 59 to 86, who have had chickenpox.

 

Half of them took Tai Chi classes three times a week for three months and the rest attended health education classes where they were taught good diet habits and stress management. Then both groups were vaccinated with a chickenpox vaccine. Researchers took periodic blood tests before and after vaccination to determine their level of immunity against shingles.

 

After six months, the Tai Chi group had nearly twice the level of immunity against shingles as the education group.

 

Comments:  It’s a travesty that the Devil is targeting senior citizens who are nearing the end of their earthly lives.  Not only have many hardened their hearts toward the Gospel of God through the repeated rejection of Jesus as Savior and their works based self righteous that many liberal mainline churches extol, they’re now being exposed to another of the Devil’s tools that binds his subjects to his servitude.  Notice that this article said that Tai Chi ‘may’ prevent shingles.

 

From: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/what.html

The Chinese characters for Tai Chi Chuan can be translated as the 'Supreme Ultimate Force'. The notion of 'supreme ultimate' is often associated with the Chinese concept of yin-yang, the notion that one can see a dynamic duality (male/female, active/passive, dark/light, forceful/yielding, etc.) in all things. 'Force' (or, more literally, 'fist') can be thought of here as the means or way of achieving this ying-yang, or 'supreme-ultimate' discipline.

 

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so-called forms (sometimes also called 'sets') which consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are originally derived from the martial arts (and perhaps even more ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds) although the way they are performed in Tai Chi is slowly, softly and gracefully with smooth and even transitions between them.

 

For many practitioners the focus in doing them is not, first and foremost, martial, but as a meditative exercise for the body.

 

Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art that is not of God.  Like many martial arts that originated from the Orient, Tai Chi is about conditioning one’s mind to control one’s body so as to attain self discipline.  Sounds very much like George Lucas’s Star Wars and the Jedi Knight Order where Yoda mediated and his mind and body were in total sync with each other.  The Jedi Knights tapped into the Force which in Tai Chi is the ‘supreme force’, an entity that’s not God, but demonic.  With this strong demonic control of the mind that’s already blind, how can such darken souls ever get saved?

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Cuss Cards bring people together: Profanity 'great ice-breaker'

Source: CanWest News Service

 

April 10, 2007 -- It may be that the shortest distance between two people is traversed by trading insults, profanity and the nastiest curse words their native tongues have to offer.

 

Appealing to a basic human fascination with vulgarity, an unusual travel manual called Cuss Cards offers 52 nasty words and expressions translated from English into German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish on a handy deck of cards. The cards also have the usual numbers and suits, in case a game of Poker becomes more entertaining than an international festival of swearing.

 

But the creator of the cards -- the European edition will soon be joined by Asian and Latin American versions -- doesn't expect tourists to start flinging invectives they can barely pronounce on the sidewalks of the Champs-Elysees. Rather, he noticed that the first words people want to learn in a foreign language are usually the bad ones, and profanity is an easy way to make friends.

 

"They're a great ice-breaker," says Brian Setzer, the CEO of Know Questions Asked, the Los Angeles-based company that produces the cards. "Once you curse with somebody, you're much closer than you would be after a half-hour conversation talking about the weather."

 

"Regardless of whether these are negative or bad words, to really learn a language you have to learn these words as well," he says. "I don't think you're truly fluent in a language until you know the way people really speak, and slang and curse words are a huge part of that."

 

Comments:  2 Timothy 3:[2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.  2 Timothy 2:[16] But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.  Public profanity is on the rise.  Even workplaces that have Respectful Workplace Guidelines mean nothing to workers who have a potty mouth.  If the employer were to enforce the guidelines, it will have to suspend over 50% of its work force.  TV these days have pretty well tossed out all censorship.  It’s everything goes!  Young people including children as young as 8 years old can be heard cursing, swearing, taking the Lord’s name in vain, and even making shock jock Howard Stern blush with their cussing.  It used to be against city by-laws to curse in public, but now everyone is doing it.  Police officers have been caught on video uttering profanities while they were beating a suspect to a bloody pulp.  Politicians, wrestling promoters, comedians, etc.  No profession is cuss free.  Does swearing vex your spirit and make you cringe?  It did with the believer named Lot who made his living working with the godless (2 Peter 2:[7] And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.)  Mark 7:[20] And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

 

What has gone wrong with society?  Is it because of a growing population of the unsaved?  Or it could be a sign we’re living in the last days as foretold by the Apostle Paul to Timothy.  Gutter lingo defiles the person and all those around him/her.  Women ever hardly swear, but they can hold their own with any longshoreman.  Men, women and children all with vile mouths.  It makes you suspect that demons within them are directing their mouths to rail against God’s authority.  Even Christians can fall prey if they’re not careful using such words as ‘oh shoot”, ‘geez’, ‘oh my God’.

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

The Region: The talking process goes on and on

Source: Barry Rubin for the Jerusalem Post

          

April 10, 2007 -- The Middle East. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship International Affairs, its mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no diplomat/journalist/politician has gone before.

 

Let's say you are captain of a starship. You arrive on a newly-discovered planet to deal with the local aliens who are "strange" and "new" to you. It makes sense to start by saying, "We come in peace. Take me to your leader!"

 

This should not, however, be how one deals with the Middle East. After all, it has governments, movements, and ideologies with a long track record. And by this point we should understand something about them.

 

Lately, it has become commonplace to claim that the Bush administration didn't try hard enough to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict or get along with Syria or Iran. This is nonsense. It was the situation and the countries themselves that created this problem. We learned all this when Bill Clinton was president. And if he was still in the White House - whatever one can say about Iraq - the other three problems would be just as big and unsolvable.

 

Comments:  Israelis and Arabs alike are frustrated with the lack of action by the international players.  In Israel’s case, who’s going to guarantee her safety and security and prevent further suicide bombers?  For the Arabs, when will the Palestinians get their statehood with its capital in East Jerusalem and when will the Yanks get out of Iraq?  Talk, talk, talk… That’s CNN’s Larry King’s forte, but in the Middle East cafes, there’s nothing to do but talk about the elusive dream that Middle East peace is.  When will some powerful leader come onto the world’s stage and walk the walk?  The crooners can be heard singing “To Dream the Impossible Dream” in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Gaza City.  Yes, it does seem like Utopia, in someone’s fertile imagination.

 

This writer was expressing what many Israelis are thinking.  Shuttle diplomacy between Ms. Condi Rice, Ehud Olmert and Abbas could fill up one section of America’s Library of Congress with their volumes of transcripts.  Everyone seems to talk about peace prospects, but so far, no one knows how to implement them.  Even President Bush doesn’t have the answers.  (Maybe he does, but his New World Order bosses have a gag order on him.)  We know that there will soon be a man who will have all the answers to this world’s seemingly unsolvable problems.  He will be Satan’s incarnate, the Antichrist, the savior for this sin drenched world.  The world will marvel at his miracles and will worship him in place of Jesus and will reap their reward in the Lake of Fire.

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

Watchmen Watching HOME PAGE

Millennium Weekend Ministries Home Page