'Alternative Nobel Prize' awarded for fight against chemical weapons

Deutsche Welle, 26 sep 2013

The 2013 winners of the Right Livelihood Awards come from the US, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Palestinian territories and Switzerland for fighting chemical weapons, human rights abuses and world hunger.

Denis Mukwege

The 2013 Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award come from the US, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Palestinian territories and Switzerland. Their achievements range from fighting chemical weapons to helping female victims of war-time violence.

Paul Walker from the US was honored for his fight against chemical weapons. The 67-year-old was described by the Right Livelihood Organization on Thursday as having been key to "leveraging over one billion dollars annually in programs for disarmament“ leading to the safe elimination of "more than 55,000 metric tons of chemical weapons from six declared national arsenals."

Raji Sourani is the first Right Livelihood Award winner from the Palestinian territories. The human rights lawyer based in the Gaza strip was honored for 35 years of promoting human rights and documenting violations committed in the territories occupied by Israel. Sourani has been imprisoned several times both by the Israelis and the Palestinian authorities.

Denis Mukwege (pictured above) from the Democratic Republic of Congo receives the award for his work with women survivors of war-time sexual violence. The chief surgeon of a hospital in Congo's eastern region of Kivu and his colleagues have treated 40,000 rape victims and raised awareness on the Congolese war, despite threats on their own lives.

The fourth laureate, Hans Herren, is one of the world's leading experts on biological pest control, helping African farmers increase their yield in a sustainable way.

“This year's group of Laureates secure the fundamentals of human life. They show that we have the knowledge and the tools to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, to secure respect for human rights, to end the war on women in eastern Congo, and to feed the world with organic agriculture," said Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation on Thursday.

The awards will be presented in a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on December 2, 2013.

Founded in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, the Right Livelihood Awards are presented annually in the Swedish Parliament and are often referred to as ‘Alternative Nobel Prizes'. This year, there were 94 proposals from 48 countries.

rg/jpj

Iran hails Obama's UN speech

Google – AFP, 25 Sep 2013

US President Barack Obama addresses delegates of the UN General

Assembly in New York on September 24, 2013 (AFP, Timothy Clary)

Tehran (AFP) - A senior Iranian official welcomed the "moderate and respectful tone" of US President Barack Obama's speech to the UN General Assembly, as newspapers hailed a new path for the Islamic republic.

"It seems a new climate has been created with the rise to power of a new Iranian government, and all international parties are trying to react to this new climate,"said Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi.

"For example, Barack Obama has tried to use a more moderate and respectful tone," he said, quoted by ISNA news agency.

"But no doubt what's important in foreign policy are actions," he said. If the world's major powers "respect Iran's nuclear rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, I think reaching a solution is imaginable."

Meanwhile, the press welcomed Obama's speech for having recognised Washington's “past mistakes."

In remarks before the General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, the US president pushed for a “diplomatic path” with the new Iranian government.

"I don’t believe this difficult history can be overcome overnight -- the suspicion runs too deep," Obama said.

"But I do believe that if we can resolve the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme, that can serve as a major step down a long road towards a different relationship -- one based on mutual interests and mutual respect."

The Unites States, other Western powers and Israel suspect that Tehran is using its nuclear programme as a cover to develop an atomic bomb, something Iran has always denied.

The moderate Donya-e-Eqtesad daily greeted Obama's “different tone," while the conservative Jomhouri Eslami revelled in a declaration that “the United States does not seek regime change” in Iran.

The reformist Shargh newspaper hailed the US leader's speech for opening up “a new path” for the relationship between the two arch-foes, which have had no diplomatic ties since 1980.

“Even those most pessimistic to an opening in relations have accepted that the time for change has arrived,” its editorial said.

It added that the international situation has “significantly changed in Iran’s favour," and argued that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be “isolated” as a "warmonger."

Engaging in negotiations with Washington and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear drive, Shargh said, would culminate in the recognition of Iran’s “rights."

Etemad, another reformist daily, quoting ex-deputy foreign minister Mehdi Mohtashami, said Obama acknowledging “past mistakes” was a sign that the two sides “have the will to fight against mistrust."

Several newspapers, including the government-run Iran daily, revelled in Obama’s declaration in recognising a religious decree by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on a ban against weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms.

However, optimism was not shared by all the Islamic republic's media.

The hardline Kayhan daily mocked Obama’s “jabbering against Iran," while saying his declared respect for Tehran to operate a peaceful nuclear programme was “a sign of Iran’s power."

Political analyst Saeed Leylaz, writing in Shargh, was critical of “the illusion of a magic wand” that possible rapprochement with the United States would solve all of Iran's problems.

“Negotiations cannot solve the economic and political problems of Iran,” he said. “The solution must come from within.”

Related Articles:

Rouhani's visit to UN is unique chance for west and Iran, says Khatami

Women in 15 nations need spouse's okay to work

Google – AFP, 25 Sep 2013

Women sell llama meat at a stall in a public market in La Paz, Bolivia

(AFP/File, Aizar Raldes)

WASHINGTON — At least 15 countries give husbands the power to prevent their wives from working, the World Bank said in a report on gender equality in business.

"Many societies have made progress, gradually moving to dismantle ingrained forms of discrimination against women. Yet a great deal remains to be done," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in the preface to the report.

Among 143 countries covered in the report "Women, Business and the Law 2014", 15 -- including Iran, Syria, Bolivia and Gabon -- give men the right to object to and prevent their wives from taking jobs.

In 79 countries, laws restrict the kind of work women can do, the report said.

Fifteen countries, including Iran, give

 men the right to object to and prevent

 their wives from taking jobs (AFP/File,

Atta Kenare)

"The most extensive restrictions on women's employment are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," the report said.

In the Republic of Guinea, it said, a wife can fight her husband's decision in court, but she must prove that it is unjustified to have his decision overturned.

Such rules remain in part due to history.

"Vestiges of history remain codified in certain economies simply because legislation such as the Code Napoleon was adopted wholesale and not regularly reviewed or updated.

"The notion of head of household, for example, was removed from France's Civil Code in 1970 but persists in many civil codes throughout West Africa."

In Russia, women are banned from 456 professions, including drivers of farm trucks, conducting freight trains and woodworking.

Many of those rules were inherited from the former communist regime of the Soviet Union and were left unchang ed.

One result, the report said, was that the Russian Federation had a high earnings difference between genders during the transition to a market economy.

A woman merchant in Libreville, Gabon

(AFP/File, Wils Yanick Maniengui)

But at least 29 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Honduras and Senegal, have laws that systematically establish men has family heads giving them powers over crucial decisions such as where to live, obtaining important documents like passports, or opening bank accounts.

But the report notes that developed Western countries have also been slow to change their rules. Permission for women to launch their own court cases without their husbands' permission came in Spain only in 1981 and, in Switzerland, in 1984.

Progress continues, according to the report. In two years, 48 legal changes increased gender parity in 44 countries, including Ivory Coast's 2013 decision to allow women to work without their husband's permission.

On the other hand, Egypt recently moved the other way: in the wake of the country's revolution, and the political rise of Islamic forces, the country removed constitutional guarantees against gender discrimination.

US to sign global treaty on conventional arms trade

Google – AFP, Jo Biddle (AFP), 24 Sep 2013

Two Russian made Mi-24 or Hind Ukraine army helicopters perform an

attack on September 27, 2012 (AFP/File, Sergei Supinsky)

UNITED NATIONS, United States — US Secretary of State John Kerry will sign the first global treaty to regulate the $80 billion annual trade in conventional arms, a US official said Tuesday.

Kerry on Wednesday is to sign the Arms Trade Treaty, in a bid to stem the flow of weapons used in brutal uprisings and genocide.

"Following congressional notifications today, tomorrow Secretary Kerry will sign the treaty on behalf of President (Barack) Obama and the United States of America," a senior State Department official said.

The agreement was adopted earlier this year by the United Nations to regulate trade in tanks, armored combat vehicles, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, missiles as well as small arms.

The treaty, which has been years in the making, was only adopted after tough negotiations at the United Nations. Talks had deadlocked last year after the United States asked for more time to work on the draft text.

"The treaty builds on decades of cooperative efforts to stem the international, illegal, and illicit trade in conventional weapons that benefits terrorists and rogue agents," the State Department official said.

It "will help reduce the risk that international transfers of conventional arms will be used to carry out the world's worst crimes."

Kerry praised the adoption of the treaty, saying it was "strong, effective and implementable" and insisted it would not infringe on the US Constitution and the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

The pact "can strengthen global security while protecting the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade," he added in his statement in April.

It is the first major arms accord since the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and covers all conventional weapons.

It has no automatic enforcement. However, it seeks to force the weapons industry within accepted boundaries.

Though the United States -- which is the world's biggest arms producer -- has endorsed the treaty, the US Congress must still ratify it.

The powerful arms lobby in the United States has already voiced objections, fearful that it could infringe on individual gun rights within US borders.

"The treaty recognizes and protects the freedom of both individuals and states to obtain, possess, and use arms for legitimate purposes," the State Department official insisted.

And the official added that the treaty "merely helps other countries create and enforce the kind of strict national export controls the United States has had in place for decades, which haven't diminished one iota the ability of Americans to enjoy their rights under our constitution."

Kerry also stressed in April that the pact only referred to "international trade, and reaffirms the sovereign right of any state to regulate arms within its territory."

The United States is meanwhile embroiled in a heated domestic gun control debate, following a series of high-profile shootings.

Related Articles:

The OPCW: trying to rid the world of chemical weapons

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Rouhani's visit to UN is unique chance for west and Iran, says Khatami

Exclusive: former Iranian president says opportunity to engage is unprecedented but consequences of failure could be global

The Guardian, Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Monday 23 September 2013

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. He has the authority to resolve problems
 with the west diplomatically, says Mohammad Khatami. Photograph:
Vahid Salemi/AP

The leader of Iran's reformist movement, Mohammad Khatami, has urged the west to show courage and work with President Hassan Rouhani or risk losing an unprecedented opportunity to end the current standoff.

In an article published in the Guardian today, Khatami, a former president of Iran, said on the eve of Rouhani's eagerly anticipated visit to the UN that the moderate cleric had "the necessary authority" for a diplomatic resolution to the longstanding differences between Tehran and the west, not least on the nuclear issue. He warned that failure would strengthen extremists on both sides.

Speaking before leaving Tehran for New York , Rouhani pledged to revamp Iran's image, which he said had been distorted. But he fell short of blaming his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who delivered anti-western tirades each time he spoke at the UN.

Rouhani is scheduled to deliver his speech a few hours after Barack Obama's welcoming statement on Tuesday, amid speculation that the first face-to-face encounter between leaders of the two countries since the 1970s will take place. Rouhani will also be accompanied on his visit by Iran's only Jewish MP.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, who met Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Monday in New York to talk about the country's nuclear programme, described her discussions as constructive. According to Ashton, Zarif and the US secretary of state, John Kerry, will meet on Thursday in what will become the first ministerial talks between Tehran and Washington since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, met Zarif for the first time on Monday night and discussed the nuclear issue and Syria. They also talked about the prospect of gradually restoring full diplomatic relations between the UK and Iran, which were severely damaged when the British embassy in Tehran was over-run by a mob in November 2011. Hague made clear Britain required solid guarantees from Tehran that its diplomats could operate in safety.

"We don't want a confrontational relationship with Iran," Hague said after the meeting with Zarif.

"We have discussed how to improve our bilateral relations but it will have to take place on a step-by-step basis. I think we are agreed on this. So we have asked our officials to some work on this. Ultimately for Britain to be able to operate an embassy in Tehran again, we would have to know that the embassy could perform all the normal functions of an embassy without harassment and difficulties that it had to face before."

British officials said that no further meetings had been scheduled but that British and Iranian diplomats would be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss how to re-establish confidence in Tehran's intentions..

Khatami, meanwhile, is throwing his weight behind Rouhani in the hope that lessons are learned from missed opportunities under his own presidency.

"For the first time there is an opportunity to create a national consensus above and beyond partisan factionalism, which may address the political predicaments of the country with an emphasis on dialogue and mutual understanding globally," Khatami writes in his first article published in a foreign newspaper.

According to Khatami, Rouhani enjoys backing from all segments of Iranian society in his bid to pursue "constructive engagement" with the west, including from the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who has shown some softening in his views about diplomacy recently.

In a further move to boost Rouhani's credibility at the UN, Khamenei on Monday declared an amnesty for 80 political prisoners, including many arrested in the aftermath of the disputed 2009 election.

Khatami's intervention comes as 500 prominent Iranian intellectuals and activists wrote to Obama, telling the American president that it is now his turn to reciprocate.

Signatories to the letter – also published exclusively by the Guardian – include the Oscar-winning film director Asghar Farhadi, the imprisoned reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh and the prominent intellectual Saeed Hajjarian.

"The people of Iran seized the opportunity to elect Hassan Rouhani … as a result, we have witnessed the release of several political prisoners and relative progress in the country's public and political atmosphere," the letter says.

"It is now your turn, and that of the international community, to reciprocate Iran's measures of goodwill and pursue a win-win strategy that encompasses the lifting of the unjust economic sanctions on Iran."

At least 88 of the signatories are former or current political prisoners, some still serving lengthy prison terms. Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, a former political prisoner who was behind the letter, said if Rouhani meets Obama, it will pave the way for a positive change in Iran's internal political atmosphere.

He said: "This letter … says with a loud voice that Rouhani has the support of reformists and those seeking for democracy in Iran."

Hajjarian, who was the target of an assassination attempt in March 2000, echoed Jalaeipour, saying sanctions have hurt the quality of ordinary people's lives in Iran. "The US has not yet realised the changes that have been taking place after people's vote [for Rouhani]," he told the Guardian.

Under Khatami's administration between 1997 and 2005, Iran opened up towards the west, even helping American forces in Afghanistan, but was nevertheless labelled a part of the "axis of evil", along with Iraq and North Korea, by George Bush. Khatami's support was crucial in Rouhani's sensational victory in the June election.

In his article, the ex-president warns that diplomatic mistakes now will have consequences beyond Iran's borders later. "Failure now to create an atmosphere of trust and meaningful dialogue will only further boost extremist forces on all sides. The consequences of such a failure will not only be regional but global," Khatami writes. "For a better world, not only for the Iranian people but for the next generation across the globe, I earnestly hope that President Rouhani will receive a warm welcome and meaningful responses during his visit to the UN."

Sadeq Zibakalam, a Tehran University professor and one of the signatories of the letter, said different factions within the Iranian establishment, including fundamentalists, had come to the conclusion that Iran needed a rapprochement with the US: "They have realised that without this, they can't bring changes to Iran's current dire situation, especially its economy."

Zibakalam warned that if Rouhani fails to engage with the US, "his position in Iran will be significantly weakened" and he will have a hard time in the next four years.

Iran's currency significantly recovered against the dollar on Monday, rising to its strongest value in several months. Expectations of a Rouhani-Obama meeting come as a poll commissioned by the international civic organisation Avaaz, was released showing strong support both in the US and in Iran for an improvement in bilateral relations. It showed that, of those who expressed an opinion, 74% of Americans and 80% of Iranians support direct talks.

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Iran hails Obama's UN speech

Hassan Rouhani tells UN: Iran poses no threat to the world

China bans several weapon-related North Korea exports

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)  

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

"The Way Synchronicity Works" – Aug 24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Obama uses navy shooting memorial to call for tighter gun control

Deutsche Welle, 23 Sep 2013

US President Barack Obama has attended a memorial service for the victims of a deadly mass shooting at a military facility last week. He also took the opportunity to make the case for tighter gun-control laws.

Speaking at the memorial service to honor the victims of the shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, US President Barack Obama on Sunday called on Americans to overcome what he termed their "creeping resignation" about gun violence in the country.

"I'm here today to say there's nothing routine about this tragedy. There's nothing routine about your loss," the president said, directly addressing the families of the 12 victims who were gunned down at the navy facility last Monday.

He also noted that the rate of the deadly use of guns was much higher in the United States than in many of its other developed nations such as Britain or Australia. Then he made an impassioned plea for tougher US gun control legislation.

"If we really want to honor these 12 men and women, we really want to be a country where we can go do work and go to school and walk our streets free from senseless violence without so many lives being stolen by a bullet from a gun, we are going to have to change," the president said.

President Obama had proposed tighter gun control legislation earlier this year, in light of a mass shooting that killed 26 people at an elementary school in the eastern state of Connecticut last December. However, the US Congress rejected the proposals, which among other things would have seen sales of certain types of guns restricted and background checks required for the sale of more types of weapons.

The measures were also strongly opposed by the powerful lobby group, the US National Rifle Association.

Monday's shootings have been blamed on Aaron Alexis, a 34-year-old former Navy reservist and information technology contractor who had a record of mental illness and previous run-ins with police. Monday's rampage ended after he was shot dead in a gun battle with police.

pfd/lw (AP, Reuters, AFP)

Pope condemns idolatry of cash in capitalism

Head of Catholic church condemns economic system and calls for society with people, not money, at its heart

The Guardian, Lizzy Davies in Rome, Sunday 22 September 2013

Pope Francis: 'Where there is no work, there is no dignity.' Photograph:
Ciro Fusco/EPA

Pope Francis has called for a global economic system that puts people and not "an idol called money" at its heart, drawing on the hardship of his immigrant family as he sympathised with unemployed workers in a part of Italy that has suffered greatly from the recession.

Addressing about 20,000 people in the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, the Argentinian pontiff said that his parents had "lost everything" after they emigrated from Italy and that he understood the suffering that came from joblessness.

"Where there is no work, there is no dignity," he said, in ad-libbed remarks after listening to three locals, including an unemployed worker who spoke of how joblessness "weakens the spirit". But the problem went far beyond the Italian island, said Francis, who has called for wholesale reform of the financial system.

"This is not just a problem of Sardinia; it is not just a problem of Italy or of some countries in Europe," he said. "It is the consequence of a global choice, an economic system which leads to this tragedy; an economic system which has at its centre an idol called money."

The 76-year-old said that God had wanted men and women to be at the heart of the world. "But now, in this ethics-less system, there is an idol at the centre and the world has become the idolater of this 'money-god'," he added.

Sardinia, one of Italy's autonomous regions with a population of 1.6 million, has suffered particularly badly during the economic crisis, with an unemployment rate of 20%, eight points higher than the national average, and youth unemployment of 51%.

Last summer the island's hardship became national news when Stefano Meletti, a 49-year-old miner, slashed his wrists on television during a protest aimed at keeping the Carbosulcis coal mine open.

Urging people not to give up hope even in the harsh economic climate, Francis also called on them to fight back against the "throwaway culture" he said was a by-product of a global economic system that cared only about profit. It was, he said, a culture that saw the most vulnerable society become marginalised.

"Grandparents are thrown away and young people are thrown away," he said. "And we must say no to this throwaway culture. We must say: 'We want a fair system; a system that allows everyone to move forward.' We must say: 'We do not want this globalised economic system that does so much harm.' At the centre has to be man and woman, as God wants – not money."

His own father, he recalled, had suffered great hardship after moving from northern Italy to Argentina in the 1920s. He went "a young man … full of illusions" of making it in the new world, but soon found there was no work to be had. "I didn't see it; I had not yet been born. But I heard of this hardship at home … I know it well," said Francis.

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"The Time Capsule of Gaia" – Feb 9, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Tesla the Man

There was a point in time when humanity almost stumbled, by the way. You were having a hard time with electricity. So a man came along who was way ahead of his time and was available and his name was Nikola Tesla. He gave you a principle that today you call alternating current. Dear ones, I challenge you to understand this principle. Most of you can't, because it is not in 3D. The attributes are still considered "genius-level thinking" to this day. The whole idea of the kind of electricity you use today comes from this man's quantum mind.

That was all he was allowed to do. Tesla himself was a kind of time capsule, delivered at the right time. He had more, but alternating current was all that was allowed to be given to the planet at that time. Oh, he tried to give you more. He knew there were other things, but nothing was able to be developed. If I told you what else he had discovered, you might not be aware of it at all, since it was never allowed to get out of the box. Earth was not ready for it.

Tesla discovered massless objects. He could alter the mass of atomic structure using designer magnetics, but he never could control it. He had objects fly off his workbench and hit the ceiling, but he couldn't duplicate or control it. It just wasn't time yet. Do you know what else he was known for? It was seemingly the failure of the transmission of electricity. However, he didn't fail at all.

There are pictures of his tower, but every time a Human Being sees a tower, there is a biased assumption that something is going to be broadcast through the air. But in the case of Tesla, he had figured out how to broadcast electricity through the ground. You need towers for that because they have to pick up the magnetics within the ground in a certain way to broadcast them and then collect them again from the nodes of the planet's magnetic grid system. We talked about this before. He was utilizing the grid of the planet that is in the earth itself! He was on the edge of showing that you could use the whole grid of the planet magnetically to broadcast electricity and pick it up where you need it, safely, with no wires. But the earth was not ready for it.

Tesla died a broken man, filled with ideas that would have brought peace to planet Earth, but he was simply not allowed to give any of them to you.

Now I'll tell you why he was stopped, dear ones, and it's the first time we have ever told you – because these inventions were too easy to weaponize. Humanity just isn't ready for it. You're not ready for massless objects, either, for the principles are too easy to weaponize.

"So," you might say, "when will we be ready for it?" I think you already know the answer, don't you? At the time when Human consciousness reaches a point where that which is most important is unification and not separation, it will happen. A point where conquering and power are not desirable ideas or assets. A point where humanity will measure the strength of its population by how healthy they are and not by economic growth. A point where coming together with your neighbor is the main objective to social consciousness, and not conquering them or eliminating them. That's coming, dear ones. It's a ways away, but it's coming. Look around the planet at the moment. The old energy leaders are obvious, are they not? It's like they are relics in a world of thinking that is passing them by.  ….”

Syrian National Coalition to attend Geneva 2 if transitional govt on table

RT, September 22, 2013

The newly elected chief of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) Ahmad Jarba
 attends a meeting of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition
forces on September 13, 2013, in Istanbul. (AFP Photo / Ozan Kose)

The Syrian National Coalition would attend the Geneva 2 peace conference if it aims to set up a transitional government with full powers, the coalition's president Ahmad Jarba said in a letter to the UN Security Council.

In the September 19 letter obtained by Reuters, Jarba said the coalition "reaffirms its willingness to engage in a future Geneva Conference" but "all parties must...agree that the purpose of the conference will be the establishment of a transitional government with full executive powers" as stipulated by an agreement hammered out by international powers last year.

The letter represented the first clear commitment from the coalition, which has been viewed by several Western and Arab states as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, to attend the proposed conference sponsored by the United States and Russia.

Jarba had earlier appeared less amenable towards a diplomatic solution, having urged the Security Council earlier this week to adopt a resolution under Chapter VII of the UN charter allowing the use of force to cripple the Syrian government’s "war machine."

In a speech delivered from Istanbul and broadcast by Al-Arabiya, Jarba said "ending the killing of Syrian people is only possible by stopping the regime's war machine and barring it from using its aviation, missiles and artillery, and depriving it of its chemical weapons."

Jarba continued that a resolution under Chapter VII "paves the way to a solution to the Syrian crisis... that would lead to a democratic regime that will rebuild Syria."

He further accused the international community of "keeping silent on the crimes of the regime", saying this attitude had emboldened Damascus to deploy chemical weapons.

On July 26, the Syrian National Coalition said it would refuse to partake in the ‘Geneva II’ peace conference as long as Assad did not vow beforehand to stay out of the envisioned transitional government.

The August 21 chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb which killed hundreds appeared to derail chances for the Middle East Peace conference.Washington blamed the attack on Damascus, while the Assad government said opposition fighters were behind the strike. 

However, following three days of negotiations between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry last Saturday in Geneva, the diplomats hammered out a plan to put Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles under international control.

The so-called Geneva accord appeared to neutralize the threat of outside intervention in the conflict, which Lavrov had previously said would kill the chances of the proposed peace conference going forward.

 After speaking with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday, Lavrov reiterated that a UN Security Council resolution intended to compel Syria to follow through with the Russia-US plan would not refer to Chapter VII.

“The [opposition] National Coalition vocally opposed the Russian-American plan to destroy Syrian chemical weapons… because they were expecting that the problem would be solved through a military intervention. And they were disappointed after the intervention failed to materialize and the issue went to the strictly diplomatically-legal framework,” Lavrov said.

He asked the Western backers of the Syrian opposition to use their leverage to force them to participate in the peace conference.

New FBI director defends Obama's surveillance program

Google – AFP, Chantal Valery (AFP), 21 Sep 2013

FBI director James Comey, who says he supports Obama's surveillance

program, pictured in Washington on July 9, 2013 (Getty Images/AFP,

Mark Wilson)

WASHINGTON — The FBI's new director says he supports the government's electronic surveillance program as a useful, "legal" tool, even though he opposed eavesdropping activities under ex-president George W. Bush.

Two weeks after taking over at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey said in an interview with AFP and several other news outlets that President Barack Obama's controversial spying policies were needed to counter a "metastasizing" threat from Al-Qaeda.

With the network's core leadership weakened in Pakistan, the threat posed by Al-Qaeda had evolved, he said, with affiliate groups cropping up around the world and "self-radicalized lonewolves" -- homegrown extremists feeding off internet propaganda -- posing a threat within the United States.

The former federal prosecutor and Republican, who towers at six feet eight inches (two meters) tall, comes to the job amid a firestorm over far-reaching surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and concerns over privacy rights, following dramatic leaks by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

"It is both a useful tool and a tool that is circumscribed by all kinds of checks and balances," Comey said.

Former FBI director Robert Mueller 

after a farewell ceremony in his

 honor at the Department of Justice

 on August 1, 2013 (AFP/File, Saul

Loeb)

"Its challenge is to find a space in the American public life to talk about how those things work."

He called for public discussion to address the role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews the spying, and "all the fences that are around this, why this is lawful and appropriate" under the US Constitution.

During his time in the Justice Department under the Bush administration, Comey clashed with the White House in a now famous showdown over the legality of a domestic eavesdropping program.

According to Comey's account to lawmakers and The New York Times, White House officials tried to persuade the then attorney general, John Ashcroft, to approve the program while he was ill and undergoing treatment in a hospital, even though he had already decided to reject it.

Comey got word and raced to the hospital, and managed to prevent White House officials from pressuring the attorney general into approval.

The program, created in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, authorized the NSA to eavesdrop -- without a court warrant -- on telephone and online communications outside America even if the other end of the communication was located inside the United States.

The program was suspended in 2007 after a public outcry and oversight by the surveillance court was restored. Revelations from Snowden have shown the NSA has since overstepped its authority for domestic spying in numerous cases, but the agency insists those were unintentional mistakes.

"I'm comfortable with it," Comey said.

"It's important to find the right balance when the government needs to collect information when it's lawful and appropriate, with public concern about privacy."

It was vital to have a public debate on the issue, said Comey, adding "I think that's healthy."

He predicted the issue will inevitably makes its way to the Supreme Court, but Comey said he believes the surveillance and data collection does not violate the privacy rights enshrined in the Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

Comey said recent moves to declassify NSA documents on data collection were useful as "people can actually see" and understand what the government is doing.

But, agreeing with statements from US intelligence chief James Clapper, he said there was also the danger that it could cause extremists to change the way they communicate.

"I share those concerns, it's a very big deal," he said.

Sitting in the office of his predecessor Robert Mueller, who served for 12 years as head of the vast law enforcement agency, Comey said without a doubt his "top priority" was tackling terrorist threats.

"I wake up every morning with it. I go to bed at night with it," he said, adding that he would continue Mueller's work transforming the bureau into an "intelligence" agency to detect terror plots.

Not long after starting as director, Comey was in the spotlight as his agency carries out an investigation into Monday's shooting rampage at the Navy Yard in the heart of Washington, which left 13 dead.

Gunman Aaron Alexis, a former Navy sailor turned defense contractor, died in an exchange of fire with police and so far authorities have found no link to terrorism or extremist groups.

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Archangel Michael: Expect Miracles - Part 3 The Reval, NESARA, President Obama and Containment (An Hour with an Angel with Archangel Michael)

goldenageofgaia.com, Steve Beckow,  August 7, 2013

“… SB:  Okay. Thank you for that.

Now, we have about four minutes before we run out of time, and this is a bit of a complex topic. But Matthew Ward told us in I think his June message that Obama is working with the galactics; that there are galactics in the National Security Agency; that the National Security Agency was gathering evidence on the Illuminati, and that explains why Obama was supporting the… well, if not supporting, then not doing something about the spying of the NSA. It’s really directed at the Illuminati.

Can you talk a little bit more generally about Obama’s working with the galactics? And if you can — I mean, you may not be able to, but if you can — on the galactics in the other agencies and what they’re doing to bring forward a cleansing of those agencies, please?

AAM:  Let me say that your star brothers and sisters, the galactics and the inter-galactics are everywhere. And yes, they are certainly very deep within the administration not only of the United States but might we say most powerful nations, and those that you would not even deign as powerful.

So yes, of course Obama is working with the galactics, and he has been for some time. And that partnership has been important. Now, there have been some very rough patches, and we would be remiss if we did not mention them. But it is not yet time to discuss the fullness of those rough patches. They will come to light.

The purpose of what you think of as spying has been, yes, targeted to Illuminati or those who are not acting in the best interests of the collective, whether it is the United States, Israel, Botswana, Switzerland, Germany, Russia — it does not matter.

There are more of your star beings, your brothers and sisters on the ground than you can fathom. And one of the reasons why this approach… not only has the approach been taken to assist in this shift, it has also been taken to anchor that energy fully and completely on Gaia.

So, the vision of a fleet of starships arising, or coming across the horizon and causing fear has been circumvented. Look to the person standing next to you and look in their eyes. There is a very good chance that you are looking at one of your star brothers or sisters.

SB:  Wonderful. Thank you very much, Lord. …”