Thursday, August 27, 2009

Israel and Prophetic Proof Part I


Israel and Prophetic Proof Part I
"And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them....And they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." Amos 9:14-15

About 250 years ago, the King of Sweden had troubling doubts about whether the Bible was really true in every word. He asked Count von Zinzendorf, bishop of the Moravian Church, to give him proof that the Bible was truly inspired of God. The King had set aside 10 hours to hear what might be said. To his majesty's surprise, Zinzendorf informed him that the time allotted was far too much. He only needed to say one word. Astonished, the King asked what that could be. The Count replied, "Jews."

Today we would add one more word, "Israel." In Zinzendorf's day, that tiny and beleaguered nation, born on May 14, 1948, did not exist except in the hearts of Zionists who had never given up awaiting the fulfillment of the "God of Israel's" solemn promises. The continued existence of Israel today, surrounded by more than a billion Muslims who have sworn to exterminate her and who continually plot and repeatedly attack her in the attempt to do so, is one of the most astonishing miracles of modern times.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has blessed the Jewish people with a brilliance that generally far exceeds their cousins the Arabs and the rest of the Gentile world.

The Arabs have the oil, but the Jews have the brains. Lest I be accused of racism, one need only compare the numbers of Nobel prize winners among them. In the Arab/Muslim world of 1.4 billion there are 6 Nobelists: 3 for Peace, and 1 each for Chemistry, Physics, and Literature.

In the Jewish population of 14 million (one hundredth of the Arab world) there are 165 Nobelists: 51 for Medicine, 45 for Physics, 27 for chemistry, 22 for Economics, 11 for Literature, and 9 for Peace. This is astonishing!

Supporting the amazing facts surrounding Israel, there are literally dozens of biblical prophecies foretelling her sudden rise to become the world's premiere military power, the persistent attacks upon her from Muslim nations, and the fear of Israel that grips hostile Arab neighbors today. Yes, well might they fear her. Israel could wipe them out very quickly if she chose to do so. Instead, she has all too patiently endured their outspoken hatred, insults, repeated open threats of extermination, persistent rocket and terrorist attacks, and their continued feverish efforts to build the nuclear capability to destroy her.

Israel's patience ends when the threat becomes too dangerous. As it was with Syria, that may soon be the case with Iran, which is hoping one day to launch a nuclear attack on Israel. Iran would then become the hero of the Islamic world. If such an attack became possible, it would force Israel to preemptively destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, as it did after Syria's attempt to develop nuclear capabilities.

For months, by satellite, Israel followed ship after ship from North Korea as they landed in Syria and watched the convoys of trucks as they discharged their cargo in a "secret" desert destination. She patiently watched the construction of a nuclear facility disguised as a "cement plant" and ridiculously surrounded by the latest Russian radar and surface-to-air missiles. The evidence was shown to President George W. Bush, including photos taken inside the facility and missiles and radar protecting the unusual "cement."1 (Condoleezza Rice, whose "Replacement Theology" prevents her from being a true friend of Israel, was not consulted. The State Department has long been the enemy of Israel.)

With Bush's tacit approval, Israeli planes went in and destroyed the nuclear facility along with the latest Russian protection surrounding it. How did Israeli planes pierce these sophisticated defenses? They are not sharing that secret with anyone, least of all with our "friends" in the State Department.

These current events, like so many others, have been foretold in the Bible. In spite of their accuracy, critics deny their relevance. Some claim to be former Christians. One can only wonder what kind of "Christians" they were to remain in such complete ignorance of the Bible while pretending to know it so well. Gary Lenaire, for example, says that he "spent 15 years in the church...released nine contemporary Christian music albums, was nominated for six Gospel Music Awards...preached the gospel...around the world [and] served as a voluntary Chaplain for the Military Department."2 He writes in An Infidel Manifesto:

Biblical prophecy is perhaps the most powerful tool for religious delusion....Look at any so-called prophesies [sic] in scripture: the wording is so general that you could attach almost any event and say, "Look, this is a fulfilled prophecy!" That is exactly why there are thousands of people today saying that they are witnessing prophecies being fulfilled in our generation....Most of the so-called prophecies were never intended...as prophetical in the first place...the words are so general you could make them to mean almost anything. Take a look at them without the dogma of your local preacher.3


This is so pitiful that it is embarrassing. This "expert on Bible prophecy" offers little more than inexcusable ignorance and prejudice. He says, "anyso-called prophecies." While some prophecies are difficult to understand, there are hundreds that clearly have been fulfilled to the letter and some are still in the process of being fulfilled.

"So general you could make them to mean almost anything"? In fact, they are so specific that Lenaire's statements would be laughable were they not influencing so many to turn from God.

Here is one of numerous prophecies (circa 600 BC), of which the specificity cannot be denied. "Therefore behold the days are coming, says the Lord, that they shall no longer say 'As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but 'As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I have driven them'" (See Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8).

Notice the detailed prophetic elements. As the deliverance from "the land of Egypt," spoken of in the book of Exodus, was what Jews looked back to each year in the Passover as a reminder of God's love and power, that event would fade from its prominence in their minds to be replaced by something more recent. The prophecy has two distinct parts: 1) a confirmation of many previous prophecies that the Jews were going to be led captive into "every nation" (Lk 21:24), and 2) their eventual deliverance and return to Israel would almost eclipse from the national memory their deliverance from Egypt. And so it has happened.

The great proof that the Bible repeatedly offers of its veracity is the fact that God, through His prophets, tells what will happen centuries and even thousands of years in advance. There is no arguing with the precise detail and accuracy of any of the Bible's hundreds of prophecies. Yet, Lenaire, in typical atheist fashion, declared that most prophecies were so general that one could make them mean almost anything. Not so!

Lenaire is either deliberately attempting to mislead his readers, or he is displaying an abysmal ignorance. Most prophecies are, in fact, so specific that no one could argue with their meaning.

In Joel 3:2 (circa 800 BC), God declared that the day was coming when all nations would join to divide the land of Israel: "I will also gather all nations...and will plead with them [punish them] for my people and [for] my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, andparted my land."

This is remarkable! Throughout its entire 3,000-plus-year history, the land of Israel had never been divided. It had been conquered by various nations, but even when the Turks held it as part of their Ottoman Empire for 400 years, they did not divide the land. A conqueror keeps the land he has conquered intact for himself. Why divide it?

This division of Israel has occurred only in our day. Britain, which had been placed in charge of "Palestine" by the allied forces who had conquered it in World War I, had been given the mandate by the League of Nations to see that this land should remain as a refuge for the Jews, who had been scattered everywhere.

Instead of fulfilling this mandate, Britain gave about 75 percent of the land to the Arab Muslims in exchange for oil. In 1947, the United Nations, through Resolution 181 and in fulfillment of Joel 3:2, formalized this breach of trust. Israel finally received a mere 13 percent of what they had been promised. This is now history. Britain and the UN infamously fulfilled Joel 3:2 and parted God's land.

The God of Israel, knowing all that would happen, had warned in advance that He would avenge Himself for this brazen robbery of His people. After being attacked by Muslim nations, who were following Allah's edict through Muhammad that all Jews must be destroyed, Israel, in self-defense recaptured some of this land.

Christ himself made a number of prophecies before His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Like many other Hebrew prophets, Christ foretold the scattering of Jews all over the earth and the coming Great Tribulation (Luke 21:24-26). Also in Luke 21:24, there is a remarkable and very specific prophecy concerning Jerusalem itself: Jesus declared "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

When did this "treading down" of Jerusalem by Gentiles begin? In fact, it has been going on for centuries, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 24:10-11), dated 587-586 BC. This prophecy tells us of what Christ called "the times of the Gentiles." As it has so often, the existence of the United Nations played a key role. In partial fulfillment of Christ's prophecy, a vital part of UN Resolution 181 was the declaration that Jerusalem would be a corpus separatum, never part of Israel and never under the control of Jews.

Consider how specific the following is from the prophet Zechariah:

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zec 12:2-3)


Two groups are distinguished by the prophet: "all the people round about Judah and Jerusalem" and "all the people of the earth." These groups are identified by two separate prophecies. To the first group, Jerusalem will be "a cup of trembling" and to the second group, "a burdensome stone." The first group is further identified as being united together "in a siege" against Judah and Jerusalem, the second group as "gathered together" against her.

Why will Israel be a "cup of trembling" to her neighbors? As we have just pointed out, Israel is the premier military power in the world, and she could wipe out her Arab neighbors very quickly but refrains from doing so. As for being a "burdensome stone," how better to show the fulfillment of this specific prophecy than by the fact that.from 1967-1989 out of 865 resolutions in the Security Council and General Assembly of the UN, 526 were against Israel.

As we have pointed out, that was the first time that Israel had ever been divided. Now we also see the first time that all nations surrounding it have been united in a common goal. Traditionally, these nations had been enemies. What unites them now? They are all Muslims, and it is Islam (which did not even exist at the time of the prophecy) that joins them in the common desire to destroy Israel.

For all nations to be united against Israel, there would have to be an organization of "all nations." The United Nations came into existence in 1945, just in time to be the means of fulfilling this prophecy.

This 2,500-year-old prophecy is both specific in its details and flawless in its accuracy.

Another amazing prophecy concerns anti-Semitism. There is no rational explanation for this implacable hatred that has continued over several thousand years. What fuels this insane obsession is the determination to exterminate the Jews. No other national people have been the long-term targets of such a goal. In The Secret War Against the Jews, Mark Aarons and John Loftus write:

For more than twenty centuries [Jews] have...been persecuted, uprooted, and annihilated. [Yes] many [other] groups have suffered grievously at the hands of tyrants, but there is a crucial difference....


In each of these cases, the genocide was intended to serve a deeper purpose-the conquest of territory, the acquisition of wealth, the enlargement of political power....In contrast, the genocide of the Jewish people was not...attempted in order to achieve a more fundamental purpose. It was the fundamental purpose. This is what makes the Nazi Holocaust unique.4 [Emphasis added]


Yes, many groups of people have suffered greatly. The Muslims wiped out more than a million Armenians as well as millions of other peoples throughout history. Thousands of blacks were transported from Africa to the American colonies to become slaves in a trade begun by Arabs and assisted by Africans. However, the quote above indicates that the intent was not to exterminate these people, as has been (and still is) the Muslims' goal with the Jews.

Incredibly, the obvious lie persists by religious and political leaders such as recent popes, former leaders President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and now President Obama, that Islam is a religion of peace and has been maligned by critics. In fact, Muslims have murdered millions in their long-standing goal to take over the world, and there is an ongoing slaughter that continues to this day in Indonesia, Sudan, Nigeria, and elsewhere.

In contrast to the persistent praise of Islam as a force for peace in the world, Israel, which has never voiced unprovoked threats against other nations and has acted only in self-defense, has been accused repeatedly in the United Nations of aggression against innocent neighbors.

Fulfilled biblical prophecy stands as undeniable proof that the God of the Bible exists. Furthermore, these many prophecies, of which we will, God willing, have more to say next month, stand as a warning to the world of coming judgment. We will also review the many promises of blessing for those who will heed God's Word concerning Israel. TBC

Endnotes


1.http://www.nysun.com/foreign/israel-north-korea-helped-syria-build-nuclear/64545/;also http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092002701.html.

2. Gary Lenaire, An Infidel Manifesto: why sincere believers lose faith(Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2006), back cover.

3. Lenaire, Infidel,120-21.

4. John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994).

Iran may form part of Obama 'breakthrough' deal~Chris Perver


Iran may form part of Obama 'breakthrough' dealPrint
Written by Chris Perver
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
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Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with US Senator George Mitchell shortly following his visit to 10 Downing Street yesterday, increasing speculation that the peace plan being prepared by US President Obama is now nearing completion. Mitchell, who was involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland under the Clinton administration, was appointed as Special Envoy to the Middle East by Obama shortly after he took office. Although the talks have been held in private, some are speculating that the Israeli government may be willing to halt settlement construction in the territories in return for the US taking a much tougher line on Iran. Following his election, Netanyahu said that Obama had two jobs to do during his presidency - to fix the global economy and prevent Iran from gainingnuclear weapons. He said at the time, "You don't want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran". Shimon Peres, who met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, also likened a nuclear weapon in Iranian hands to a"flying death camp". The US has been pressuring Arab states to do their part to help kick-start the peace process, although it is not certain whether any gestures of goodwill toward Israel will be forthcoming.

Quote: "The president, who plans to make his announcement flanked by Netanyahu and the Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas – plus the leaders of as many Arab states as he can muster – hopes that a final peace agreement can be negotiated within two years, a timetable viewed as unrealistic by Middle East analysts. Obama had hoped to unveil his plans before the start of Ramadan last weekend but failed to complete the deal with the Israelis or the Arab states in time. As well as a tougher US approach to Iran, which the Israelis see as their top priority, the deal would see Israel offering a temporary and partial moratorium on the expansion of settlements on the West Bank in return for moves by Arab states towards normalisation of relations. This would allow Obama to announce talks on the bigger Israeli-Palestinian issues – borders, the future of Jerusalem and the future of Palestinian refugees – with the US sitting in as a mediator.

Obama hopes that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians could be realized within two years, a timeframe that has also been adopted by the Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced yesterday that he would seek to establishment of a de facto Palestinian state within two years time, despite the breakdown of peace talks with the Israelis. Fayyad hopes that by establishing governmental institutions in the 'West Bank', and by training security forces and developing the region, the Palestinian people will become a force to be reckoned with.

Quote: ""We call upon all our people to work together on the basis of full partnership in the process of completing and building the institutions of a free, democratic and stable state of Palestine," the plan states. "The world should hear the clear and united position from all walks of Palestinian society ... that the Israeli occupation is the only obstacle that hinders the stability, prosperity and the progress of our people and their right to freedom, independence and a decent life."

But Hamas has ridiculed the plans, which seem to make no mention of them or the Gaza Strip. The document is also unlikely to find much support among the Arab states either, which are reluctant to get actively involved in the peace process and hold Israel solely responsible for redressing the Palestinian issue.

It's hard to know what will happen. On the one hand I feel we are getting very close to the time of the end, and I wonder how many more peace plans there can be before we get to the one the Antichrist will enforce. I don't know whether I am subconsciously thinking about this 2012 theory, and wondering how much more time there can be, or whether there is anything more to it than that. On the other hand I can't really see Obama making much headway on Middle East peace. Perhaps it is possible that the next prophecy to be fulfilled will be a war between Israel and the Gog alliance. If that is the case then we can expect the situation with Iran to worsen. Perhaps the US and international community will cripple Iran economically, and that will be what drives the Islamic nations to invade Israel? In any case we can be certain that it will happen exactly the way the Bible says it will. What if it were September 2011? What if we only had two years left before the tribulation would begin? How would that affect your priorities in life? What will you live for? For the present, which will only last a fleeting moment? Or for eternity, which will last forever? Will you live for yourself, or will you live for Jesus Christ? That is what it comes down to. To me there is no comparison. But you must make that decision for yourself.

Matthew 16:25-26
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Source Guardian, Atlantic, Jerusalem Post, Haaretz

The Coming Commercial Real Estate Collaspe~Gerals Celente


The Coming Commercial Real Estate Collaspe Gerald Celente is right

(Bloomberg) -- The collapse in commercial real estate is preventing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke from declaring the economy and financial markets are healed.

Property values have fallen 35 percent since October 2007, according to Moodys Investors Service.

Fed Focusing on Real-Estate Recession as FOMC Meets (Update1)

By Scott Lanman

Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The collapse in commercial real estate is preventing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke from declaring the economy and financial markets are healed.

Property values have fallen 35 percent since October 2007, according to Moody’s Investors Service. That’s making it tough for owners to refinance almost $165 billion of mortgages for skyscrapers, shopping malls and hotels this year, pressuring companies such as Maguire Properties Inc., the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, to put buildings up for sale.

The industry is likely to be high on the agenda when Bernanke and his colleagues sit down in Washington tomorrow for the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on monetary policy. Lawmakers including Barney Frankand Carolyn Maloney are pushing the central bank to extend an aid program designed to restore the flow of credit.

If nonresidential real estate remains in the doldrums, the Fed may be forced to leave emergency-lending programs in place and keep its benchmark interest rate close to zero for longer than some investors expect, given positive signs elsewhere in the economy.

Commercial property is “certainly going to be a significant drag” on growth, said Dean Maki, a former Fed researcher who is now chief U.S. economist in New York at Barclays Capital Inc., the investment-banking division of London-based Barclays Plc. “The bigger risk from it would be if it causes unexpected losses to financial firms that lead to another financial crisis.”

‘Close Attention’

The Fed is “paying very close attention,” Bernanke, 55, told the Senate Banking Committee on July 22, the second of two days of semiannual monetary-policy testimony before the House and Senate. “As the recession’s gotten worse in the last six months or so, we’re seeing increased vacancy, declining rents, falling prices, and so, more pressure on commercial real estate.”

The pressure may be easing in other areas of the economy. Gross domestic product shrank at a better-than-forecast 1 percent annual pace in the second quarter after a 6.4 percent drop the prior three months, and residential housing starts rose unexpectedly by 3.6 percent in June as construction of single- family dwellings jumped by the most since 2004, according to data from the Commerce Department.

Employers cut fewer workers than anticipated last month as the jobless rate fell to 9.4 percent from 9.5 percent in June -- the first decline since April 2008, based on Labor Department figures.

‘Danger Zone’

Amid such glimmers of improvement, commercial real estate is a “particular danger zone,” said Janet Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, in a July 28 speech in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The market may be “under stress for some considerable period of time,” William Dudley, chief of the New York Fed bank, said the following day in New York.

Nonresidential construction may decline as much as 9 percent this year and another 5 percent in 2010, predicts Kenneth Simonson, chief economist atAssociated General Contractors of America, an Arlington, Virginia, trade group whose members include Essen, Germany-based Hochtief AG’s Turner Construction Co. in New York, one of the largest U.S. builders. In the second quarter, it accounted for 3.6 percent, or $509 billion, of U.S. gross domestic product on an annual basis, down from 4.3 percent in the final three months of 2008.

A dozen lawmakers questioned Bernanke on the topic during his July testimony. Some asked about extending the Term Asset- Backed Securities Loan Facility, the emergency program the Fed began in March to restart the market for securities backed by auto, credit-card and education loans. The central bank expanded the facility in June to cover as much as $100 billion in loans to support commercial mortgage-backed securities.

One-Year Extension

Forty-one House members -- including Frank, 69, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the Financial Services Committee, and Maloney, 61, a New York Democrat who heads the Joint Economic Committee -- signed a July 31 letterseeking a one-year extension through December 2010 and asking for a decision by mid-August.

Fed policy makers will prolong the program if they judge financial markets are still “some distance from normal operation,” Bernanke said during his July 22 testimony. “We will certainly be monitoring the situation.”

The Fed likely will change the end date -- just not right away, said former central-bank Governor Lyle Gramley.

Market Developments

“They’re probably going to want to wait a while to see how markets develop,” said Gramley, 82, now senior economic adviser with Soleil Securities Corp., a New York-based investment- research firm.

A six-month continuance is more likely than the one year industry officials want, said former Fed Governor Laurence Meyer, Washington-based vice chairman with consultant Macroeconomic Advisers LLC of St. Louis.

That would still be useful and “provide more of a runway” for the TALF to be effective, said Jeffrey DeBoer, president of the Real Estate Roundtable, a Washington group representing 16 trade associations and property owners including New York-based Vornado Realty Trust, the third-largest U.S. real-estate- investment trust by market value.

Any sales of mortgage-backed bonds would be the first new issues in the $700 billion U.S. market for commercial-mortgage- backed securities since it was shut down by the credit freeze in 2008.

About $3 billion are in the pipeline, and the success of these sales may foster as much as $25 billion in total deals in the next six months, said Kenneth Rosen, who runs a $310 million hedge fund in real-estate securities and heads the University of California’s Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics in Berkeley.

Signs of Improvement

The market is showing some signs of life: The Bloomberg REIT Office Property Index of 14 companies, while down 56 percent from its February 2007 peak, has gained 41 percent in the past six months. Also, the yield gap, or spread, on top- ranked commercial mortgage-backed bonds relative to U.S. Treasuries is about 4.49 percentage points compared with 8 percentage points at the start of May, according to Barclays data.

The Fed’s efforts to revive credit may be overpowered by continuing job losses, even as the pace of those losses slows. U.S. employers eliminated 247,000 workers from payrolls last month, according to an Aug. 7 Labor Department report, bringing the cumulative reduction to about 6.7 million since the start in December 2007 of the worst contraction since the Great Depression.

‘Negative Fundamental’

“Demand for commercial space comes from employment and the income generated by that employment,” said University of Pennsylvania ProfessorJoseph Gyourko, director of the Wharton School’s Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center in Philadelphia. Mounting job losses are a “really significant negative fundamental,” signaling that “conditions are going to be tough for the industry for a while,” he said.

That may spill over into mounting losses at some banks. Forty-seven percent of loans at the 7,000-plus smaller U.S. lenders are in commercial real estate, compared with 17 percent for the biggest banks, according to New York-basedGoldman Sachs Group Inc.

Regions Financial Corp., the Birmingham, Alabama, lender that accepted $3.5 billion in U.S. rescue funds, had $36.9 billion in nonresidential real-estate and construction loans at the end of the second quarter, 38 percent of its overall total. Regions posted a net loss for the period of $188 million compared with a profit of $206.3 million a year earlier as more developers and home builders fell behind on payments.

Third Straight Loss

Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorporation, which operates in 10 Western states, reported its third straight quarterly loss July 20 on a surge in commercial-property defaults. Thirty-five percent of its loans for the period were in nonresidential real estate and construction, and its provision for loan losses rose to $762.7 million from $297.6 million in the first quarter.

One developer based in U.S. Representative Walt Minnick’s district is in a bind because a lower appraisal means he can’t renew the full amount of a $10 million, three-year loan he took out for a recent project, the first-term Democrat from Idaho said in an interview last week. The person may be forced into bankruptcy, said Minnick, 66, without identifying the developer.

“That is a microcosm of what is happening to commercial property” everywhere, he said. “It’s the next shoe to drop.”

Relinquish Control

Maguire bought 24 properties and 11 development sites for $2.88 billion in 2007 from New York-based Blackstone Group LP, the world’s largest private-equity company. Later that year, credit markets froze, blocking the Los Angeles-based company’s efforts to refinance its mortgages. Now Maguire may relinquish control of seven Southern California buildings with $1.06 billion of debt, the company said today, adding it’s not planning on filing for bankruptcy.

New York-based Brookfield Properties Corp. faces a $1.8 billion debt maturity in October 2011 arising from the 2006 purchase of Trizec Properties Inc., which made it the second- biggest owner of U.S. office buildings by square footage. Brookfield has said it expects to refinance some of its obligations and sell buildings to cover the rest.

Commercial real estate remains “an important downside risk,” said Gramley, a Fed governor from 1980 to 1985. “I don’t think it’s going to be a blockbuster negative, but it’s one additional reason why this recovery is going to be of modest dimensions.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Lanman in Washington atslanman@bloomberg.net.

Corruption or Genetic Engineering: You Decide (The Genoman Project Report)


The Sorcerer’s New Apprentice?

by Chuck Missler

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Who does not remember the old castle, Mickey clad in the sorcerer’s robe and hat, the psychedelic armies of brooms, and the relentless march of the Dukas symphony? Only when the castle was flooded did the sorcerer wake up and dry it with a spell. Mickey got off lightly with a swat of the broom. We may not be so fortunate.

Science often appears as a close cousin of sorcery. Science brings to life the tales of old: flying through the air at the speed of sound; communicating with images at the speed of light; traveling even to the moon; and, even the power of healing.

The explosive advances in science and technology have already gone far beyond what even science fiction writers once thought possible. Biotechnologists may well prove to be the ''Sorcerer’s Apprentices'' of the 21stcentury. And these advances raise challenging issues of ethics, morals, and even our theological perspectives.

Genetic Engineering

Of all the many scientific discoveries, the field which clearly has become the most controversial is the study of genetics. Farmers have been genetically manipulating plants long before they knew about genes. Selective breeding, however, can enhance or suppress only those traits already present in a population. Modern genetic engineering (including such techniques as gene deletion, gene doubling, introducing a foreign gene, and changing the positions of genes) has freed the process of genetic modification from limitations imposed by the existing characteristics of a species, creating something that could not exist in nature.

Commercial applications of this technology thus far have concentrated on bioengineering pest resistance and herbicide tolerance into widely planted crops like corn, soy, cotton, and potatoes. Growers adopting these ''first generation'' genetically modified crops have been able to increase yields while significantly reducing costly inputs like chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

The StarLink Debacle

StarLink corn was a corn hybrid genetically modified to make it more profitable to grow. It contained two added genes - one for herbicide tolerance and one for insect resistance. The herbicide tolerance gene was the product of an earlier approval process. It was the addition of a gene derived from the bacterial species Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), coding for an insecticidal protein called Cry9C, that triggered the StarLink crisis. This controversial Cry9C variety, 50 to 100 times more potent than other Bt-spliced insecticides, caused critics to warn of dangerous food allergies in humans, with symptoms ranging from fever, rashes, and diarrhea to anaphylactic shock and sudden death. The FDA approved it only for animal feed.

On September 18, 2000, a coalition of consumer and environmental groups detected DNA fragments from StarLink corn in Taco Bell taco shells sold in grocery stores. Days later, Kraft Foods recalled all Taco Belltaco shells. Kraft’s action started a frenzy of recalls as other manufacturers discovered StarLink corn in their products, too.

By November 2000, the FDA recalled nearly three hundred types of adulterated snack chips, corn flour, and other corn foods. The cost of these recalls ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Complaints began pouring into the FDA and the CDC about allergic reactions to corn products attributable to StarLink contamination. Overnight, StarLink became a ''Frankenfood'' poster child - the incarnation of critics’ worst nightmares. International corn exports plummeted. The ensuing crisis paralyzed an entire sector of American agriculture and food production and badly shook consumer confidence. Even two years later, StarLink corn was still popping up in corn shipments.

Implications

It is certainly a ''brave new world'' in which science will obviously continue to outrun the lawmakers. The last time man pursued knowledge to such an extent, God intervened and scattered the people and confounded their languages. As the Bible says in Genesis 11:6, ''...now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.'' How long will it be before His patience is once again exhausted?


Russia's Ties with South Korea Deepen (Russian Investments will lead to War)


Russia's Ties with South Korea Deepen

Despite the failure of South Korea's first rocket, developed with Russia, there's a growing industrial partnership between the old Cold War foes

It was a day of disappointment in South Korea. On Aug. 25, the country made its long-awaited debut, launching its first rocket from the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. Initially the two-stage rocket, called the Naro, seemed to take off flawlessly, but soon the bad news came: The Naro had failed to put the satellite it was carrying into its intended orbit. Now the Korean government is pledging an investigation along with Russia's Khrunichev State Space Science & Production Center, which had developed the rocket's lower stage and the vehicle's design.

The setback is a blow to the growing ties between the Koreans and the Russians, who have played a key role in the development of South Korea's overall space program. Russian rockets have in the past carried Korean satellites, including a small high-resolution surveillance satellite known as KOMPSAT-2 in 2006. Last year Seoul sent its first astronaut into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket after completing training in Russia. The astronaut, Yi So Yeon, spent 11 days on the International Space Station, carrying out experiments for the government and industry.

The space cooperation is emblematic of a growing industrial partnership between Korea and Russia. Giant Korean conglomerates such as Samsung and LG hire between 100 and 200 engineers and scientists at their research centers in Russia, which are responsible for registering scores of international patents annually. "Probably more important for us is technology outsourcing," says spokeswoman Judy Pae at LG, which employs some 150 engineers and scientists in its lab at St. Petersburg and a further 50 people in its Moscow office who are devoting themselves to arranging technology outsourcing in Russia.

TWO-WAY STREET

Tieups thrive as each country complements the other's weakness. Korea, home to leading makers of TVs, mobile phones, flat-panel screens, cars, and ships, is helping its Russian partners to commercialize technologies and apply them in mass production while tapping Russia's excellent research on basic sciences and original technologies. Both Samsung and LG, for example, develop in Russia software platforms for their mobile phones, chips used in digital products, and optical solutions.

Reluctance by Japanese and Western companies to share technologies with Korean rivals is also prompting the Koreans to forge partnerships with the Russians. "The Japanese, Germans, and Americans either deny access to their state-of-the-art technologies or charge exorbitant license fees to Korean rivals," says senior researcher Cho Joong Hoon at the state-funded Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology. "Russians are also more accommodative in negotiating terms for sharing intellectual properties after joint R&D."

The trend began early this decade when Korea's magnates tried to start leapfrogging their Japanese mentors with innovation. At the time there was no shortage of access to Russia'sunderemployed educated class because of economic difficulties in their nation. Many Russian engineers worked in Korea for years at labs run by companies and the government to help iron out problems in the course of rolling out leading-edge products.

Examples of Russian achievements abound in the lineup of popular Korean products. Russian brains helped Samsung develop the image-processing chips in its digital TVs and refine its frequency-filtering technology that significantly reduced noise on its now-ubiquitous handsets.

Russian scientists from Moscow State University also helped develop LG's efficient cooling pipes that bolster its air conditioners, while the technology that was once used to cool Soviet tanks was applied for a multicompartment appliance that chills, ferments, and stores kimchi, the spicy, pickled cabbage served on virtually every Korean dining table.

WIDER COOPERATION

Now with the Russian economy back on its feet, many Russians have returned home. But big Korean companies have already firmly established their research centers in Russia. So the Seoul government's current focus is on maintaining technological cooperation with Russia for Korea's small and midsize companies. "The government is running a pilot project this year to help smaller companies find Russian partners with original technologies," says Kim Gwang Seok, a deputy director at the Knowledge Economy Ministry, which is doling out up to $320,000 to each select startup seeking a technological breakthrough together with a respectable Russian engineering partner.

There are early signs the government project could prompt startups to seek innovation. "Partnership with the Russians allows us to tackle ambitious tasks that would be too complex and costly otherwise," says Chief Executive Ahn Saeng Youl of Wookwang Tech, a beneficiary of the government aid. Wookwang, an electronics components maker, plans to sell a power cable monitoring system that combines a chip-based sensor technology developed by Russia's St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University with wireless communications to quickly detect abnormal power distribution. "Government involvement also provides credibility when we seek ventures with Russian partners," adds Ahn.

The Seoul government plans to expand the aid project if the pilot project proves successful. "There are good business potentials for a win-win in this project," says ministry official Kim. "Both parties will benefit if the Koreans' production and application technologies could be married to advanced research results in Russia that have not been put into commercial use."

Moon is BusinessWeek's Seoul bureau chief.