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sábado, 31 de agosto de 2013

The US$4 billion global reproductive technology industry - 5 million IVF babies born since 1978

Examining the hidden stories of infertility


With more than 5 million IVF babies born since 1978, most people think that infertility is easily fixed. The media highlight the success stories of miracle babies and delighted parents. However, the stories of the 77% of women who access IVF but fail to have a child are normally ignored.

A forum will present this side of the story in New York on September 27 in "The Cycle: Living A Taboo". The organisers describe it as the first independent public forum to explore the hidden ramifications and bioethical considerations of infertility, assisted reproductive technologies and childlessness on individuals and society.

"Every year, more than two-thirds of patients undergoing advanced fertility treatments contend with failed cycles, which include IVF, donor eggs and surrogacy," said Irina Vodar, co-producer of The Cycle. "Yet the vast majority of these outcomes, and the women and men affected by them, remain invisible in popular media, relegated instead to online communities or anonymous blog sites where any potential social impact and public education dissipates."

Vodar adds, "For 35 years the US$4 billion global reproductive technology industry has benefited from misleading coverage from mainstream media that suggests that technological advancements more often than not results in 'successful' endings that include delivery of a healthy baby. When treatments fail, you fall off the charts, you disappear, you don't exist."


Readmore: www.bioedge.org

École nationale d’administration: « gender studies »

L’ÉNA promeut la théorie du genre


Le concours de recrutement des élèves-fonctionnaires de l’ÉNA [1]vient d’enfoncer un clou de plus au cercueil de la « république irréprochable » du Président Hollande.


Alors que l’École, dont sort chaque année une centaine de hauts fonctionnaires, s’enorgueillit depuis ses origines de former des cadres supérieurs au service d’une fonction publique française impartiale, l’édition 2013 du concours externe a demandé aux candidats de produire une note — fictive, à ce stade — proposant des « mesures nouvelles plus ambitieuses » pour la promotion de l’égalité des hommes et des femmes dans l’accès aux postes d’encadrement.

S’il appartient à chacun de juger de cet objectif, relevant du plus pur affichage politique, il est notable en revanche que le dossier à l’appui de l’épreuve invitait les candidats à intégrer les « gender studies » (en anglais dans le texte...), c’est-à-dire l’étude des théories du genre, dans leur production, en s’inspirant des conclusions d’un colloque de l’Association des administrateurs territoriaux de France.



Rappelons que les théories du genre, sous apparence de science, restent une arme idéologique aux ordres des tenants d’une certaine société. Il est à souhaiter que quelque candidat intègre ait pris la peine de le rappeler... sa liberté de conscience dût-elle lui coûter une place de choix dans leur république.

NOTES


[1] École nationale d’administration

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the oldest member of the Supreme Court, to officiate "same-sex marriage"

Ginsburg to Officiate Same-Sex Marriage


Radicals often moderate their stance as they get older and wiser. 
But not Ruth Ginsburg.


Ruth Bader Ginsburg maybe the oldest member of the Supreme Court, but she’s still a trend setter. The octogenarian Justice will officiate the wedding of Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser and economist John Roberts today, making her the first on the nation’s highest court to preside over a same–sex wedding. “I think it will be one more statement that people who love each other and want to live together should be able to enjoy the blessings and the strife in the marriage relationship,” Ginsburg said. 

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Read more here: www.washingtonpost.com

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Radical feminist on the U.S. Supreme Court


File:Ginsburgandclinton.jpg

Just five short days after President Bill Clinton's nomination, Ruth Bader Ginsburg had been confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as Justice to the U.S. Supreme Court. That was during the Dog Days of August 1993. Obviously, the Clinton Administration wanted to fast-track the process so no one would have time to ask any embarrassing questions.

Because of her low-key manner, people believed Ginsburg was a moderate. But if the Senate had bothered to look into Ginsburg's background, they would have been troubled, indeed.

Ruth Ginsburg received her law degree from Columbia Law School. In 1971 she established the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. Throughout the 1970s Ginsburg acquired a first-hand knowledge of the workings of the Supreme Court as she argued six cases — all feminist issues — to the Justices.

Ruth Ginsburg made the same assumption as the rest of the feminist movement. She accepted without question the Marxist claim that women's role as mothers and wives is inherently oppressive (www.ifeminists.net/introduction/editorials/2004/0106roberts.html). And she believed that equality of opportunity should always translate into identical social roles.

In 1977, Ginsburg wrote a report for the Commission on Civil Rights titled "Sex Bias in the U.S. Code" (http://dl.jctc.kctcs.edu/users/anne.kearney/Doc5.htm). This report demanded 800 changes to federal laws in order to eliminate any and all distinctions between men and women.

For starters, the report claims that the Boy Scouts perpetuate stereotyped sex roles, so they must be gender-integrated or abolished. You can't help but wonder if the current Leftist hostility to the Boy Scouts stems from this recommendation.
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Read more here: www.renewamerica.com

Barack Obama criticized George W. Bush for launching a “unilateral” military attack

The Obama-Kerry flip-flop on unilateralism

by 

Barack Obama criticized George W. Bush for launching a “unilateral” military attack against a Baathist dictator who used chemical weapons on his people.

Now it seems, Obama is preparing to — wait for it — launch a unilateral military attack against a Baathist dictator who used chemical weapons on his people.

In a story entitled “U.S. Prepares for Solo Strike On Syria After Britain Balks,” The Wall Street Journal reports:

The Obama administration laid the groundwork for unilateral military action in Syria, a shift officials said reflected the U.K.’s abrupt decision not to participate ….

But President Barack Obama is prepared to act without Britain, officials said, noting that unlike U.S. involvement in the 2011 military operation in Libya, the options under consideration in Syria are smaller-scale and wouldn’t require a coalition to be effective.
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Think about this: The president seeks to turn American air power into al Qaeda’s de facto air force.

Obama’s flimsy red line


Our government is now providing weapons, assistance and training to some members of the very terrorist group responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. Mr. Obama’s bombing campaign inevitably would help al Qaeda capture Syria, thereby possibly transforming it into a jihadist safe haven.


U.S. military intervention in Syria would be immoral, illegal and treasonous. It would benefit our mortal enemy, al Qaeda, and possibly trigger a wider Mideast war. President Obama is playing with fire. He is dangerously putting his ego above the national interest. Bombing Syria threatens to leave his presidency in tatters.

In August 2012, Mr. Obama publicly drew a “red line” in Syria’s bloody civil war. He vowed that the use of chemical weapons would trigger a muscular U.S. response. Mr. Obama — along with the leaders of Britain and France — claims that Syrian strongman Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against rebel forces outside the capital of Damascus, murdering hundreds of civilians, including women and children. Mr. Obama’s “red line” has supposedly been crossed.

  • The administration is engaging in war propaganda eerily similar to Iraq. 
  • The costs could eventually be as disastrous — or worse. 
  • The evidence is flimsy that Mr. Assad’s forces used nerve gas in rebel-held territory. The United Nations inspection team so far has been unable to irrefutably confirm it. 
  • According to Associated Press reports, even U.S. intelligence officials are conceding that the links between the chemical weapons attack and the Assad regime are tenuous at best. 
  • The reason is obvious: The Syrian dictator has no rational motive to use weapons of mass destruction. 
  • Mr. Assad’s forces are winning and the Islamist rebels are on the run.
  • Their supply lines are cut off. 
  • They have been fragmented into several isolated pockets of resistance. 
  • The rebels cannot win — and they know it. 
  • Why would Mr. Assad use chemical weapons knowing that it would trigger widespread international anger and furor? 
  • Using conventional weapons, his military has been winning battle after battle. 

Mr. Assad may be brutal, ruthless and cunning, but he is not stupid.

USA -Catholics did not understand very well the absolutist claims that a society based upon a Lockean understanding of religion made with regard to behavior


by Thomas Storck

The harmony' between the goals and practices of American culture and those of the Catholic Church was superficial. Now the worth of secular principles is becoming visible, and we must face them for what they are.

Now that several states in the United States have declared that a man may legally marry another man and a woman another woman, anyone whose occupation is concerned in some way with weddings and who is in principle opposed to such unions has reason to fear. As many know, already a florist in Washington State is in legal trouble for refusing to provide floral services to a same-sex ceremony, and florists, caterers, musicians and others—perhaps eventually even clergymen—have reason to fear the same eventuality, since the probability is that more and more jurisdictions will enact similar laws and become more and more intolerant in enforcing them.

Along the same lines of interference with freedom of conscience, not only institutions sponsored by the Church, but individual Catholic employers are facing the HHS mandate, regulations based on President Obama’s health care legislation which mandate insurance coverage for contraception. And just since I began writing this article, in Columbus, Ohio, a Catholic high school, and possibly the Diocese of Columbus, is in legal trouble for firing a long-time physical education teacher whose status as a partnered lesbian recently came to light.

What is the Church, what are individual Catholics, to do in the face of all this? The answer is obvious, or so it seems. Simply protect our freedom of religion. Enact at the federal level strong protections for freedom of conscience and then, even if we deplore the oxymoron of same-sex marriage or the use of contraceptives, at least Catholics and other objectors will not be required to cooperate with or facilitate such practices.

But, unfortunately, I fear that this is not the simple solution that many imagine.

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Read more here: ethikapolitika.org

Serious discussion of gender-identity disorder is becoming increasingly politically incorrect.



Serious discussion of gender-identity disorder is becoming increasingly politically incorrect. Soon it will disappear altogether.


A few weeks ago, readers of the New York Post were confronted with a story whose sensational title was characteristic of the tabloid: “I’m a Guy Again! ABC newsman who switched genders wants to switch back.” Replete with pictures of Don Ennis both as a woman and a man, the article informed readers that the ABC news editor “strolled into the newsroom last May wearing a little black dress and an auburn wig and announced he was transgender and splitting from his wife. He wanted to be called Dawn.”

By August, Ennis said that he had suffered a bout of amnesia, which led to the realization that he wants to live his life again as Don. The newsman is now asking his co-workers and “all who accepted me as a transgender to now understand that I was misdiagnosed…I am already using the men’s room and dressing accordingly.” He also has reassured the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community that “even though I will not wear the wig or the makeup or the skirts again, I promise to remain a strong straight ally, a supporter of diversity and an advocate for equality and other LGBT issues including same-sex marriage.”

It is no surprise that Ennis would feel compelled to continue his support of the LGBT community—even though he is no longer participating in the transgender lifestyle. It is likely that if he were viewed as unsupportive of those who experience gender-identity disorder, he would be quickly ostracized in his newsroom community—and beyond.

Transgender issues have been prominent in the news all summer. Most recently, on August 22 Army Pvt. Bradley Manning, sentenced to 35 years in military prison for leaking classified documents, announced that he intends to begin hormone treatments so he can live the rest of his life as a woman named Chelsea. Claiming that the Army’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy contributed to psychological problems and to his gender-identity disorder, Manning has stated that he wants to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. The Army has said that it does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery, but Manning’s lawyers have said they hope the military “does the right thing” and pays for the treatment, so that the soldier does not have to sue in military or civilian court.

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Read more: www.catholicworldreport.com


Egypt and Syria: "Too often, there is an ideological tendency to treat Christians as if they can only be persecutors, and never the persecuted. "


By John Burger

" The radical Islamist forces now are a too big a part of the rebellion, and one of the all-too-likely possibilities is that the Baathist regime will, in the end, be replaced by an equally bad regime tied to Iran. "

Robert P. George is the new chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a panel on which he has served as a commissioner since 2012. Though he has a personal interest in religious freedom—his father’s family is Syrian Orthodox, and some of his relatives have fled Syria due to religious persecution—his outlook is global, overseeing research and reports on limitations on religion worldwide, involving Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others.

The longtime McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, George is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School this year. He is the author ofConscience and Its Enemies (ISI, 2013) among other works. He spoke with CWR August 26, as the Obama administration weighed options on a military response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government against rebels and civilians.

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Read more: www.catholicworldreport.com

viernes, 30 de agosto de 2013

The Obama administration has decided to arm the Syrian rebels

Arms and Influence in Syria: 
The Pitfalls of Greater U.S. Involvement

By Erica D. Borghard


In the midst of growing public wariness about large-scale foreign interventions, the Obama administration has decided to arm the Syrian rebels. 

Those who call for increasing the scope of U.S. aid to the Syrian rebels argue that 

(1) arming the rebels is the cheapest way to halt a humanitarian catastrophe, hasten the fall of the Assad regime through a rebel military victory or a negotiated settlement, and allow the Obama administration to influence the broader direction of Syrian politics in a post-Assad world; 
(2) failure to step up U.S. involvement will damage America’s credibility and reputation in the eyes of our allies and adversaries; and 
(3) U.S. objective scan be accomplished with a relatively small level of U.S. commitment in Syria.

These arguments are wrong on all counts. There is a high risk that the decision to arm the Syrian rebels will drag the United States into a more extensive involvement later, the very scenario that the advocates for intervention claim they are trying to avoid. The unique characteristics of alliances between states and armed non state groups, in particular their informal nature and secrecy about the existence of the alliance or its specific provisions, create conditions for states to become locked into unpalatable obligations. That seems especially likely in this case.

The specific way the administration has chosen to increase the scope of its support to the rebels sets the stage for even greater U.S. commitment in Syria in the future. The Obama administration, therefore, should not have decided to arm the Syrian rebels.

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Read more: www.cato.org/s-greater-us-involvement?

The danger of making things worse makes military inaction prudent

Credibility over ‘Red Lines’ 
No Reason for War



SSupport is gathering in Washington for military action in Syria. The rationale is as follows: Evidence that Bashar al-Assad’s forces used chemical weapons means President Obama’s “red line” has been crossed, and the U.S. must prove its credibility on the international stage by responding. In addition, we’re told, humanitarianism compels us to defend the rebels and their supporters from the Syrian government’s forces.

Neither argument is a good reason to launch cruise missiles, airstrikes or any other sort of war.

U.S. leaders obsess over credibility because of our many commitments to defend places where our interests are few. Because our forces are not infinite, the U.S. is like a bank vulnerable to a run. One failure can launch a self-fulfilling prophecy of doubt. Therefore the U.S. must always show resolve, otherwise the dominos might fall: allies will lose faith and enemies will be emboldened.

One problem with this logic is that it lacks limits. No conflict is so remote that no foreign policy pundit has called it a vital test of U.S. resolve.

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Read more: www.ocregister.com

France - Certains opposants à la loi Taubira ont crié « Hollande dictateur ! » : la clameur a pu paraître excessive

France: la dictature pépère 


par Jean-Yves Le Gallou 


A y regarder de plus près, ce qui se met en place c’est une dictature pépère à base de monopole idéologique, de confusion des pouvoirs, de médias univoques, de société de surveillance, de prise de contrôle de l’enfance, de viol des consciences et de persécutions des dissidents.

1-Une idéologie unique : la recherche d’un monde indifférencié


2-La collusion des pouvoirs : politique, économique, médiatique

3-Des médias univoques : le canal unique

4-La société de surveillance : Big Brother partout

5-La prise de contrôle de l’enfance

6-La persécution des dissidents

8-Un arsenal répressif considérable

8-Un arsenal répressif considérable


Face à la dictature pépère une seule attitude possible : unité, solidarité !

¡Porque en Siria hay dos millones de cristianos, ¿qué no lo sabían?!-, el terror, el sudor, las lágrimas, la sangre, el hedor, la postración, la miseria, la desolación, la muerte, la nada…


por Luis Antequera



Cuando uno contempla algunas de las cosas que hace el Régimen sirio de Bachar Al Assad de un tiempo a esta parte, no puede por menos que preguntarse si efectivamente las hace el Régimen o las hacen los que quieren acabar con él, que por mucho que entrenaran, no lo harían mejor: aquel ataque violando el territorio turco, este ataque con armas químicas… A veces, parece que los bacharistas hicieran oposiciones para que las potencias occidentales les zumben, si quieren como si no quieren… ¿o no?

Más allá de ello y de todo el sistema de alianzas imperante en la zona que convierte a un país suní como Siria en el gran aliado de la gran potencia chiíta del mundo, Irán, que a su vez sostiene la guerrilla islamista en un país mayoritariamente cristiano como Líbano, que es el enemigo número 1 de la gran potencia judía del mundo (Israel), y está apoyado por la gran potencia ortodoxa del orbe (Rusia) y la gran potencia taoísta del planeta (China), mientras las grandes potencias protestante (Estados Unidos), anglicana(Reino Unido), y católica (Francia) de la tierra, no ven el momento de entrar a pegar petardazos en el país... -¡¡¡ufff, ya lo dije!!!-
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Syrie : 5 bonnes raisons de ne pas faire la guerre, le risque et les alliés dont on a besoin


L'indignation ne peut tenir lieu de politique étrangère. La France a tout à perdre à se lancer dans une aventure hasardeuse à la remorque des États-Unis.

Lire la suite: www.lepoint.fr




Les alliés de Bachar el-Assad promettent à l'Occident et à Israël les pires représailles en cas de riposte en Syrie. Pure rhétorique ou réel danger ?

Lire la suite: www.lepoint.fr



La Chambre des communes a rejeté jeudi le principe d'une intervention de Londres en Syrie. Un sérieux revers pour la diplomatie occidentale.


Lire la suite: www.lepoint.fr


Democrat Candidates "praying" for abortion rights

Democrat gubernatorial candidates joined activists in an prayer that celebrated abortion rights.



Iowa Democrat gubernatorial candidates Jack Hatch and Tyler Olson joined 50 pro-abortion activists in an extended prayer for abortion rights during a rally at the State Capitol on Wednesday. The noon event was meant to fire-up liberals prior to an afternoon hearing across the street conducted by the Iowa Board of Medicine regarding tele-med abortions.


Read more: theiowarepublican.com

Syrie - "Rebelles" - Tirs de roquettes contre le quartier chrétien

Syrie : le quartier chrétien de Damas
 pris pour cible par les rebelles 


Article (extraits) et vidéo mis en ligne par France 24 le 25 août sur des tirs de roquettes contre le quartier chrétien de la Vieille ville de Damas, pourtant repris par l’Armée arabe syrienne.



Lire la suite: www.christianophobie.fr

jueves, 29 de agosto de 2013

« Comment pouvons-nous savoir à ce jour, qui étaient les auteurs de ces attaques chimiques ? »

Haro sur la guerre en Syrie


Impuissant face aux problèmes des Français, le président François Hollande chercherait-il à redorer son blason sur la scène internationale ? 

Ou voudrait-il simplement se donner bonne conscience en engageant la responsabilité de la France dans une intervention militaire en Syrie ? 

Et qu’importe s’il est dans l’illégalité internationale en intervenant sans l’autorisation du Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU, car les occidentaux partent faire régner l’ordre en Syrie. 

La France veut « punir » le régime de Bachar al-Assad qu’elle suspecte d’avoir utilisé des armes chimiques contre les rebelles syriens. 

Alors même que les experts de l’ONU ne sont pour l’heure parvenus à aucune conclusion. 

« Comment pouvons-nous savoir à ce jour, qui étaient les auteurs de ces attaques chimiques ? » s’interrogeait le 27 août Grégoire III Laham, patriarche d’Antioche de l’Église catholique melkite. 

D’autant plus que l’experte onusienne Carla Del Ponte, ex-présidente de la Cour pénale internationale pour l’ex-Yougoslavie, affirmait il y a quelques mois que les rebelles utilisaient des armes chimiques.

« On ne peut pas accuser à tour de rôle le gouvernement et l’opposition. Il n’y a rien de tel pour attiser la violence et la haine », déplore encore le patriarche melkite dans une interview accordée à l’Aide à l’Eglise en Détresse.

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Las potencias occidentales… ¡a favor de Al-Qaida y contra Siria!


POR FERNANDO SÁNCHEZ DRAGÓ


¿Podrían tener la bondad de decirnos por qué se lo cargaron...
para acabar apoyando a los suyos? Muchas gracias, muy amables.


Otra vez tambores de guerra, y son siempre los mismos quienes los percuten. Decía Roger Garaudy que "Occidente es un accidente mortal para la humanidad".

Llamo Occidente a la totalidad del territorio sometido a las tres religiones monoteístas. La línea divisoria entre el Este y el Oeste es la frontera de Paquistán con la India. Lo que aquí llamamos Oriente Próximo y Oriente Medio es en realidad Extremo Occidente.

Hurguen en las hemerotecas... 

Todas las guerras mayores de los últimos veinte años han sido desencadenadas por la OTAN, la Unión Europea y el Pentágono con o sin la anuencia de la ONU. A saber: las dos de Iraq, la de la extinta Yugoslavia, la de Afganistán, la de Libia y ahora, si el sentido común no lo impide, la de Siria.

Las de Chechenia y Georgia fueron escaramuzas de corta duración. La del Líbano, que ya cesó, pero cuyo rescoldo se reaviva ahora, es secuela de la que desde hace casi mil años incendia los campos de Palestina.
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Leer más aquí:www.elmanifiesto.com


La guerre en Syrie est en train de remettre la Russie au centre du jeu diplomatique international.


Syrie : la France disparaît, la Russie renaît…

par Jean-Baptiste Jusot

Depuis l’annonce d’une opération militaire américaine, et devant un unanimisme bêlant de chefs d’États occidentaux sans envergure, le président Vladimir Poutine fait désormais figure de sage. Aujourd’hui, il est le seul à vouloir privilégier la voie diplomatique, et il est surtout le seul à remettre en cause la version livrée par Washington sur l’utilisation de gaz sarin par l’armée syrienne.

En fait, cette « affaire syrienne » n’est que l’ultime étape d’une opération stratégique d’envergure menée dans la région. En effet, les États-Unis sont à la manœuvre (comme ils avaient fait en Ukraine ou en Géorgie) pour organiser et soutenir les révolutions du grand « Printemps arabe ». Washington désigne les bons démocrates, fustige les méchants dictateurs, et les anciens alliés d’hier deviennent les parias du jour. L’administration Obama fait et défait les marionnettes arabes au gré de ses intérêts immédiats dans la région : pétrole, gaz, armement… et Israël.

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Lirela suite: www.bvoltaire.fr

Syrie: Quels risques, pour quels bénéfices ? C'est la question que se posent tous les responsables politiques et militaires avant le déclenchement d'une intervention militaire.

Syrie : une intervention «punitive» à hauts risques


La menace d'une action armée brandie par Washington, Paris et Londres pour «punir» le régime syrien et le dissuader d'utiliser à nouveau ses armes chimiques, est-elle périlleuse? À Paris, à Londres et à Washington, les états-majors et les cabinets examinent à la loupe les éventuelles conséquences de l'opération qu'ils s'apprêtent à mener. Premier risque, une éventuelle riposte du régime syrien, des Iraniens ou de leur allié chiite dans la région, le Hezbollah libanais. Menaçant, le premier ministre syrien a promis que son pays deviendrait «le cimetière des envahisseurs». L'Iran pourrait être tenté d'utiliser le champ de bataille syrien pour tester la détermination des États-Unis, qui ont juré de s'opposer par tous les moyens à leur programme nucléaire militaire.

Certains redoutent des représailles contre la Finul, la Force des Nations unies au Liban, qui compte 670 soldats français. D'autres redoutent des attaques de roquettes contre Israël, ou des attentats contre les intérêts des pays membres de la coalition dans la région. Les forces deBachar el-Assad possèdent de grandes quantités d'armes chimiques qu'elles pourraient en outre utiliser. Pour se prémunir, Israël a déployé sa défense antimissile à la frontière syrienne.
Scénario à la libyenne

La plupart des spécialistes estiment cependant ces éventualités peu probables, si l'intervention contre le régime est limitée dans le temps. Si l'opération, en revanche, se prolonge et que l'objectif vise à faire tomber Bachar el-Assad, le remède utilisé pourrait faire plus de mal que de bien. «Il faut se garder d'aller trop loin. Si Bachar disparaît, il y aura un risque de massacres intercommunautaires», prévient le général Vincent Desportes, spécialiste des affaires stratégiques.
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The situation in Syria now is very bad, very evil, but how can we be sure that an intervention will result in something better?

Syria and Egypt 

by EDWARD PENTIN


Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir says all involved parties need to heed Pope Francis’ advice and come together to work out the peace process.

Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir is a professor of philosophy, theology and Islamic studies based at St. Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon. He also teaches at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.

In an Aug. 27 interview, Father Samir, a native of Cairo, discussed the precarious situations in Egypt — where sympathizers with the Muslim Brotherhood have targeted the Coptic Catholic and Christian churches for retribution for the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi — and Syria — where the civil war and the use of chemical weapons on civilians has escalated the conflict to the point that the United States is considering military engagement in the Middle-Eastern country.

What are your main concerns about the current situation in Syria?

The situation is really very bad. We don’t see any solution, and there is none as far as I can see, because both sides have decided to take this as far as they can.

Why? For [President Bashar] Assad, defeat could mean defeat not only for him or the regime, but for the Alawite community.

Today, the problem is not simply internal to Syria. The Syrian people began by reacting against dictatorship and calling for democracy and liberty. In the meantime, and quickly, elements came from outside, from all over the world, and these elements are essentially fundamentalist Sunnis.

The problem became a confrontation between the Sunni on the one side and the Shia on the other, represented by Alawites.

So we have two groups: the army, which is geared to fighting and is often brutal, and the other — many groups who have decided to fight in the name of Islam — Sunni Islam. It’s no more a question of democracy and liberty, so that’s the general situation of Syria as we see it.

What do we know about the bigger problem of proxy powers?
Syria is at the center of a larger strategy in the Middle East, involving Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan a little bit and the West. As the conflict has evolved, Iran has been supporting Assad, as has Hezbollah.

This is one side.
The Arab peninsula is supporting the opposition, as is Turkey and other individuals from abroad. Israel is observing the situation, but I suppose if Iran enters the conflict, Israel will react. If the West enters the conflict, then we have a conflict between Russia on one side and the United States on the other. Europe is not unified, thank goodness.

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REad more here: www.ncregister.com

Singulier destin que celui d’Hélie Denoix de Saint-Marc.


par Christian Vanneste

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Singulier destin que celui d’Hélie Denoix de Saint-Marc. Premier refus, à 19 ans, il est résistant, se fait arrêter et déporter à Buchenwald. Il est l’un des 30 survivants d’un convoi de 1000 déportés. Après Saint-Cyr, c’est l’Indochine et le refus demeuré impuissant d’abandonner aux mains du viet-minh les villageois qui ont aidé les Français. Lorsque le Général de Gaulle dévoile ses véritables intentions sur l’Algérie, cet officier pense aux harkis, à la promesse qui leur a été faite, et c’est un nouveau refus. Il participe au putsch d’Alger en 1961. Deux fois dissident, d’un patriotisme animé par le sens de l’honneur, cet homme est lui aussi un « individu » qui s’identifie à la Nation dont il est le soldat, mais il le fait en moraliste, non en politique : son opposition au pays légal procède d’une sorte d’adhésion maximale au pays réel ou peut-être idéal au service duquel sa personnalité s’est forgée et dont il refuse les faiblesses. On ne peut qu’approuver le geste de Sarkozy en faveur de cet homme, putschiste, par exigence morale, au nom de l’idée qu’il se faisait de son pays.

Lorsqu’on évoque la dissidence, on pense immédiatement à Soljénitsyne, à son refus du totalitarisme communiste, à son internement dans l’archipel du goulag, à son exil. Voilà cette fois un homme qui a été traité comme un renégat par le système soviétique, mais qui était passionnément russe et qui souffrait, en fait, de voir un régime défigurer le visage de sa Nation, lui arracher son âme. Patriote, croyant et même réactionnaire, Soljénitsyne a beaucoup déçu nos gauchistes de salon, mais il appartient lui aussi à cette catégorie de caractères dont la singularité confère à l’engagement patriotique une dimension exceptionnelle.
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If we could recognize patterns that lead to these bubbles, we could see them coming and adjust policy to protect wealth accumulation and the economy as a whole

The global financial crisis and American wealth accumulation: The Fed needs a bubble watch



The global financial crisis destroyed over one-fifth of accumulated American wealth (real net worth of households and nonprofit organizations) in just one year: 2008. That huge loss was on top of a far more modest but still significant 1.62 percent wealth loss in 2007. Both the US stock market bubble burst in 2000 and the housing bubble implosion of 2008 contributed to the current situation, reinforcing the need for a Federal Reserve “bubble watch” program. If we could recognize patterns that lead to these bubbles, we could see them coming and adjust policy to protect wealth accumulation and the economy as a whole.

download .pdf here


Read more: www.aei.org

When the human rights of others, such as Christian minorities, are being grossly violated — specifically by the Islamists and jihadis that Obama has enabled and empowered

Obama Crosses ‘Red Line’ 
by Supporting Jihadi Terrorism

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By now it should be obvious that whenever the U.S. interferes in another nation’s politics in the name of “human rights,” that that is only a pretext. So it is in Syria, as Obama prepares to plunge America in a war with that nation, and, inevitably, its allies. The United States’ stated reason for intervention, as articulated by John Kerry, is that Syrian President Assad used chemical weapons on the rebels, many of whom are jihadis — including terrorists, rapists, and cannibals – and thus violated their human rights.

Kerry is certainly consistent. Earlier he worried about the “human rights” of Nigeria’s genocidal Islamic terrorists, Boko Haram, while ignoring their victims — thousands of slaughtered Christians and destroyed churches.

And this is the point: when the human rights of others, such as Christian minorities, are being grossly violated — specifically by the Islamists and jihadis that Obama has enabled and empowered, in Libya, Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere — then there is no U.S. talk of intervention.
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Read more: frontpagemag.com


Syria - the people have to sift through media leaks to learn whether they are about to be involved in a war or a slap fight.

Obama Leaks His Own War

Why leak a limited strike to the public? It may be to reassure Iran and Russia that Obama isn’t really serious about picking a fight with them; he’s just trying to avoid being mocked by the mean lads in the locker rooms of the New York Times and the Washington Post. Or it may be to dissuade the American people from treating yet another unilateral and undeclared war seriously by calling it the W word.

Considering all the Clinton people at the helm, Libya may have been Obama’s Yugoslavia, but Syria could be his Iraq. A few cruise missiles, a few targets that won’t be there by the time the missiles are launched and then everyone goes out for drinks at Lounge 201 with a few Media Matters staffers.

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In an administration that lies reflexively about everything while maintaining an incestuous relationship with the media, it’s hard to know whether we’re hearing deliberately planted lies or truths that leaked inappropriately.

This state of confusion exists because instead of being told directly by the man they elected to represent their interests in the foreign affairs of the nation what he intends, the people have to sift through media leaks to learn whether they are about to be involved in a war or a slap fight. And there are now signals that unlike Libya, Obama will not even bother to address the nation. Apparently telling the people of the country why you began military operations on their behalf is passé in our blindingly modern digit.

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Read more: frontpagemag.com


Une intervention en Syrie par l'armée Américaine et Française se dessine de plus en plus à l'horizon

Les américains ont tout à gagner d’une intervention militaire
 en Syrie, France y a tout à perdre

ParJean-Bernard Pinatel, Général (2S), expert en géopolitique et animateur du blog www.geopolitique-geostrategie.fr

Les bénéfices pour les américains
  • Ils répondent à des demandes pressantes de l'Arabie Saoudite 
  • Ils renforcent le clivage entre l'Europe et la Russie 
  • Ils vont, sous couvert de sauver les populations syriennes, pouvoir frapper les bases du Hesbollah, 
  • ils justifient ainsi vis à vis de leur l'opinion la sanctuarisation des dépenses militaires 
  • le complexe militaro-américain a besoin d'un ennemi de relais
Les conséquences négatives pour la France
  • La nature de la guerre en Syrie n'est pas une révolution mais une guerre civile confessionnelle 
  • Le renchérissement du pétrole et l'affolement des Bourses est de nature à étouffer dans l'œuf les faibles perspectives de renforcement de la croissance 
  • nous nous fermons l'immense marché potentiel de Irak et de l'Iran pour nos entreprises 
  • Notre pays est toujours intervenu dans le cadre d'un mandat de l'ONU 
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Syrie - Opération militaire - Doute, hésitation, incertitude.

Syrie : une intervention qui divise

Plus d’une semaine après l’usage d’armes chimiques tuant près de 1300 personnes en Syrie, la décision d’une intervention militaire n’a pas encore été prise.

« Je n’ai pas encore pris de décision. » Le président américain, Barack Obama a indiqué mercredi 28 août, ne pas avoir encore pris la décision concernant une frappe militaire en Syrie. Il a néanmoins repoussé un engagement direct militaire.

Lire aussi


Syrie - Washington, Londres et Paris semblent désormais décidés à ne pas se précipiter




Washington, Londres et Paris semblent désormais décidés à ne pas se précipiter pour lancer d'éventuelles frappes punitives sur le régime de Damas.
On comprend qu'il n'est guère possible, sans se déconsidérer, de parler depuis un an de "ligne rouge" si une attaque chimique est lancée sur des populations civiles, et de ne rien faire lorsque plus de mille personnes sont tuées, en une nuit, par des gaz, dans les environs de Damas. Ce serait, en outre, donner un blanc-seing, non seulement aux auteurs de ce massacre, pour recommencer, mais à d'autres dictateurs ailleurs dans le monde. 

Pour autant, mieux vaut avoir les preuves formelles que le régime deBachar el-Assad est bien le seul responsable de ce massacre. Les capitales occidentales en sont quasiment certaines. Si certains groupes rebelles disposent de gaz sarin, ils n'auraient pas les lanceurs nécessaires pour les utiliser. Le choix de l'intervention est néanmoins difficile.

La situation semble, dans l'immédiat, bloquée

D'une part, des bombardements ponctuels sur des casernes, des aéroports militaires... tenus par les forces de sécurité de Bachar el-Assad ne seront probablement pas suffisants pour obliger le régime à la négociation. En fait, seuls Moscou et Téhéran pourraient y parvenir en le privant d'armes et d'hommes. Il ne semble pas qu'ils y soient prêts. Et le pouvoir syrien, qui a le dos au mur, semble préférer le suicide à la négociation.

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Lire la suite: www.lepoint.fr

El canon católico que tiene siete libros que faltan en el protestante


por Luis Antequera


A pesar de que el debate sobre el canon comience muchísimo antes de que se produzca el cisma protestante a mediados del s. XVI, lo cierto es que el canon católico y el canon protestante observan algunas diferencias. Unas diferencias que, por lo que hace a sus títulos, no afectan al Nuevo Testamento, cuyos componentes tuvimos ocasión ya de conocer hace unos días (pinche aquí para verlo), y sí al Antiguo.

En resumidas cuentas, el Canon del Antiguo Testamento de la Iglesia Católica queda consagrado en el Concilio de Trento, acontecido entre los años 1545 y 1563. Y más concretamente en el Decreto sobre las Escrituras Canónicas, emitido el 8 de abril de 1546, que reza así por lo que al tema se refiere:

“Del antiguo Testamento, cinco de Moisés: es a saber, el Génesis, el Exodo, el Levítico, los Números, y el Deuteronomio; el de Josué; el de los Jueces; el de Ruth; los cuatro de los Reyes; dos del Paralipómenon; el primero de Esdras, y el segundo que llaman Nehemías; el de Tobías; Judith; Esther; Job; el Salterio de David de 150 salmos; los Proverbios; el Eclesiastés; el Cántico de los cánticos; el de la Sabiduría; el Eclesiástico; Isaías; Jeremías con Baruch; Ezequiel; Daniel; los doce Profetas menores, que son; Oseas; Joel; Amos; Abdías; Jonás; Micheas; Nahum; Habacuc; Sofonías; Aggeo; Zacharías, y Malachías, y los dos de los Macabeos, que son primero y segundo”.

Pues bien, el decreto consagra un canon católico que tiene siete libros que faltan en el protestante, a saber, Baruc, Eclesiástico o Sabiduría de Jesús ben Sirá, Sabiduría, Judit, Tobías, Macabeos I, y Macabeos II.

No es la única diferencia existente, ya que amén de los siete libros completos, el canon católico realiza unos añadidos en otros dos libros aceptados en el canon protestante: en el Libro de Esther del versículo 4 del capítulo 10 al final; y en el Libro de Daniel, el Cántico de los Tres Jóvenes y las historias de Susana y los ancianos y de Bel y el dragón.

Al hacerlo así, los cristianos no hacemos otra cosa que “importar” el debate existente en el seno del mismísimo judaísmo, donde mientras los judíos palestinos observan el canon “corto” que hacen suyo los protestantes, los judíos “alejandrinos” observan el canon “largo” que hacen suyo los católicos. Un canon “largo” transmitido a través de lo que se da en llamar la Biblia de los Setenta compilada por éstos últimos, que recoge los textos llamados deuterocanónicos, (de deuteros=nuevos), que son precisamente los que añade la Biblia de los Setenta al canon palestino.

Resta preguntarse si son los católicos los que añaden los siete libros deuterocanónicos o los protestantes los que los eliminan. Como quiera que sea, en esos textos deuterocanónicos se hallan, como por casualidad, muchos de los argumentos relacionados con las cuestiones, -notablemente la del purgatorio-, que diferencian a una y otra adscripción cristianas.


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Aleksandr Filonenko, físico y filósofo, explica como encontró la fe en el testimonio del matemático y sacerdote padre Florenskiy


Físico nuclear y filósofo, veía la fe «aburrida» y «de débiles», hasta que leyó a un cura del gulag



"Físico nuclear por formación, teólogo por pasión y filósofo por profesión". Así presentó el profesor Franco Nembrini a Aleksandr Filonenko, profesor de filosofía ucraniano, que despreciaba el cristianismo en su juventud, porque lo consideraba "aburrido" y "para débiles".

Esto cambió cuando empezó a leer al matemático, filósofo y sacerdote ortodoxo ruso en el gulag Pavel Florenskiy, autor de Pilar y Fundamento de la Verdad, una de las grandes figuras del llamado "Siglo de Plata" de la cultura rusa, el de los grandes filósofos y literatos cristianos herederos de Dostoyevskiy, una generación truncada por la Revolución bolchevique. Filonenko dio su testimonio en el Meeting de Rímini, el encuentro anual de verano del movimiento Comunión y Liberación. Así lo recogió Tempi.it

Un "muchacho soviético modelo"


»Nacido en «1968 en el mismo hospital que Gorbachov» y crecido como «un muchacho soviético modelo siguiendo todas las fases de la educación comunista», Filonenko, desde el principio, rechazó el cristianismo, considerado muy aburrido. «Nos habían enseñado que la religión sólo era una forma de compensación. Si estabas enfermo y débil, tenías necesidad de la muleta de la religión para caminar; si eras ateo, en cambio, no la necesitabas. Y yo me sentía fuerte».

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Leer aquí: www.religionenlibertad.com


Brazil - Without renewed economic growth, the fiscal situation is unsustainable.

Drift and Decline in Brazil's Economy

by Juan deOnis


The economy of Brazil, once held up as a model of what a BRIC emerging market can do, has begun to set off alarm bells in the populist government of President Dilma Rousseff as the ruling party tries to halt its current decline. In Brazil, political economy means putting the economy at the service of political goals, mainly through measures that improve the electoral prospects of those already in power. With annual growth at a measly 2 percent, foreign balance of payments $50 billion in the red, and the exchange rate for Brazil’s currency, the real, down more than 30 percent since the start of the year, Rousseff’s Workers Party is already worried about the October 2014 election. This decline comes after Rousseff and her finance minister, Guido Mantega, both proponents of state intervention in economic affairs, have thrown billions of dollars in public investments, credit stimuli, and consumer subsidies into a failed attempt to produce vigorous growth.

This is not yet a full-blown crisis. Employment remains high, mainly through low-paying service jobs. The informal economy, which pays no taxes, is thriving. Consumer spending remains high, stimulated by easy credit, but family debt has reached a limit for many borrowers. The most ominous sign of economic malaise is inflation, which is increasing prices of goods and services at a rising pace, now over 6.8 percent a year by the official index and 10 percent by private calculations. Tax collections are declining and the budget deficits of state governments are increasing beyond legal limits. Without renewed economic growth, the fiscal situation is unsustainable.
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miércoles, 28 de agosto de 2013

Argentina: cambio de tono y postergación de los problemas

Anunciando el default


La presidente habló por la cadena nacional y – oh, sorpresa – no se le salió la cadena. El tema central fue el revés judicial sufrido en los Estados Unidos con la querella iniciada por los "hold outs" respecto al pago de la deuda. Así, pausadamente, con dejos de placidez, la presidente Cristina fernández se refirió a ellos de esa manera: "hold outs" dejaron de ser los "fondos buitres" de no hace mucho tiempo atrás. Por allí, algún memorioso se pregunta dónde quedó aquello de: No le vamos a pagar ni un centavo a los fondos buitres. La presidente explicó su idea de solución al tema, la misma que negó tantas veces ante la requisitoria del Juez Griesa. Una solución que se desdibujó en el tiempo y que hoy difícilmente será viable. El cambio de tono ha sido singular. Ya no hay diatribas ni amenazas y expresa estar rogando a Dios que ilumine a la Corte Suprema de Justicia de USA. Pónganse a rezar… En el fondo lo suyo es un intento de escape de la realidad ante las cada vez más inminentes elecciones. Esta forma de patear la pelota delante de muestra claramente que el tema no está arreglado, que las posibilidades de arreglo son demasiado lejanas y que sabiendo que el arreglo no llegará con este gobierno se quiere dar largas al asunto en la medida de lo posible. La ambición es que explote después de 2015.
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Leer más aquí: www.diariocastellanos.net

Argentina: Dos meses antes de las legislativas parece aumentar la confirmación de un resultado desfavorable al gobierno nacional

Cristina, más atenta al poder que a los votos

por Rosendo Fraga
A dos meses de las elecciones legislativas, se afianza la idea de que se confirmará la derrota anticipada en las PASO. Las cuatro encuestas que se han hecho públicas desde el 11 de agosto sobre la provincia de Buenos Aires muestran que la diferencia a favor de Massa se amplía y estaría entre los 7 y 11 puntos. Como antecedente, el resultado de las primarias en 2011 evidenció que por lo general quien las gana aumenta su ventaja en las elecciones que se realizan dos meses y medio después. Además, Massa puede crecer sobre los votantes de Narváez y eventualmente a costa de los de Stolbizer, mientras que Insaurralde, el candidato del oficialismo nacional, no tiene otras fuerzas sobre las cuales crecer. Los gobernadores justicialistas ven con preocupación el costo que pagarán en octubre por su alineamiento con el gobierno nacional y comienzan a elaborar estrategias para “provincializar” sus campañas. Es posible que alguno de ellos logre revertir el resultado desfavorable, pero frente a un aumento de la ventaja de Massa en la provincia de Buenos Aires, ello no será eficaz para revertir el efecto de derrota sobre el Kirchnerismo. Para la Casa Rosada, si el resultado del FPV el próximo 27 de octubre en lugar de ser 26% es dos o tres puntos más o menos, no es lo fundamental.

La prioridad política de la Presidenta está en frenar la fuga de gobernadores, intendentes, legisladores y sindicalistas hacia la oposición y en particular en dirección a Massa.


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Leer aquí: www.nuevamayoria.com

France - 98 % des condamnés pour des délits, même graves, pourraient échapper à l'incarcération

Probation : pas de prison 
pour la majorité des délinquants

98 % des condamnés pour des délits, même graves, pourraient échapper à l'incarcération avec la nouvelle « peine de probation » dessinée par la garde des Sceaux.
Proxénète, trafiquant de drogue international, récidiviste, casseur de flics, des métiers d'avenir? Si le projet de loi sur la probation épouse la version maximaliste évoquée, ces derniers jours, par la garde des Sceaux, Christiane Taubira, une bonne partie de la voyoucratie n'aura peut-être plus grand-chose à craindre de la loi. C'est, en tout cas, ce qui ressort des premières évaluations du dispositif par des experts du système pénal, comme le Pr Alain Bauer, qui tire le signal d'alarme dans Le Figaro .

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Lire la suite: www.lefigaro.fr