Dear KKIM/KARS Family,
May God be with you this day……….
As I start each NM News and Views newscast, I always say this is the World we live in………The World continues to self-destruct. On all the news shows they are looking for answerers, Oh my are they looking for answers…….I could do a whole 2 hour special on that, “The World looks for Answers”
We know the only answer is our LORD.
Some will hide their head under the covers and not want to face this world we live in…….
But we, the Church must be at the front and carry out the Great Commission and introduce others to our LORD.
You listen to all the “Nothing Noise” on the radio and TV and they are looking for man to come up with the solutions, or blaming so and so, but the TRUTH is, there is enough blame to go all around the world!
This reminds me of the leaking dike, you have one finger in one hole…and another place starts to leak…….that is the way the World is right now……..watch out for Iraq as it continues to be very unstable. A fmr Air Force man was in my office this week, he flew many missions over their and he says Syria and Iran are just chomping at the bit to enter Iraq. It is a plane joke that we tell the enemy when we are going to leave…….your in a war and you tell the world your plans?????
Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Tunisia, Iraq, Russia……..all unstable……..don’t let anyone tell you that Russia is stable!
America is unstable because we let our debt get out of hand and are no longer the Country we were. We are all messed up because we can’t get anything done in Washington, common sense is on a leave of absence.
We should not be surprised by the state of the World…….why do we think it would ever be a stable place?
I will say this America, itself has lost most of our “influence” in the world, to know ones fault but our own. The Democrats and Republicans are equal in this failure.
This may sound simple to some, but we must keep our eye’s on Jesus, we must tell HIS story, we must keep the faith.
Two very important news stories………..
US report says corruption, bad planning created gaps in Iraqi security as US prepares to leave
LARA JAKES, Associated Press
BAGHDAD – Without more help — and quickly — Iraqi security forces may not be able to protect the fragile nation from insurgents and invaders after American troops leave at the end of the year, according to a U.S. report released Sunday.
The semiannual report by the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction also cites data by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad showing that the nation’s government, economy, legal systems and basic services like electricity and water remain unstable.
The 156-page report forecasts a dim outlook at best for Iraq’s near future as the United States steps back after nearly eight years of war and billions of dollars in aid.
It largely blames corruption in Iraq’s military and police forces for wasted resources and bad planning in running its bases and maintaining its equipment. Congress is still weighing how much money to give Iraqi forces this year.
“Several U.S. observers noted real or potential gaps in Iraqi security forces capabilities that could affect its ability to lock in hard-won security gains,” the report concluded.
“The U.S. faces the choice of making additional investments to fill essential gaps in Iraqi security forces capabilities or accept the risk that they will fall short of being able to fully secure Iraq from internal and external threats by the time U.S. forces depart.”
Under the security agreement between Washington and Baghdad, U.S. troops will leave Iraq by the end of the year. The Obama administration would consider keeping some troops in Iraq beyond the Dec. 31 deadline, but only if Iraqi leaders ask for them.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said Iraqi security forces are able to protect the nation, and does not believe foreign forces will be needed after this year. But Iraq’s top military officer, Gen. Babaker Shawkat Zebari, last summer said U.S. troops should stay for up to another decade to help secure the country’s borders from invaders.
More than 200 Iraqis — mostly security forces and Shiites — have been killed in insurgent attacks over the last two weeks that underscore the country’s continuing instability. Still, the report warns that a lack of electricity, water and sewage pose one of the greatest threats to Iraq’s shaky peace.
“The lack of sufficient basic services will be the most likely cause of future instability in Iraq,” it said, adding that power demands likely won’t be met until 2014 at the earliest. “The lack of perceived improvements in Iraq’s water, sewage, and electricity systems could lead to popular unrest more so than political or sectarian disagreements.”
A two-month study of Iraq’s basic services, politics and government, economy and legal systems in each of the nation’s provinces found widespread instability in almost every area.
Additionally, the return of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to Iraq also poses “a major challenge for the new government,” the report found, noting that the firebrand populist controls a commanding chunk of parliament lawmakers.
“This significant political power places him in a position to demand policy concessions from Prime Minister al-Maliki,” it concluded.
UNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The leader of a long-outlawed Tunisian Islamist party was welcomed at the airport by thousands of cheering supporters on Sunday as he returned to his homeland after more than two decades in exile.
Rachid Ghanouchi and about 70 other exiled members of Ennahdha, or Renaissance, flew home from Britain two weeks after autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from power by violent protests. Ghanouchi took up a megaphone to address the crowd outside the airport, but his voice was drowned out by shrill ululating cries and shouts of “God is great!”
During 23 years in power, Ben Ali cracked down on opponents, including proponents of political Islam, jailing them, and sending many into exile. Amid protests over corruption and repression, Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14. Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for him, accusing him of taking money out of the country illegally.
Swiss prosecutors said Sunday they have launched a money laundering investigation into accounts belonging to Ben Ali and his family. The Federal Prosecutors Office said the accounts blocked two weeks ago contain tens of millions of Swiss francs. Prosecutors in Paris are also probing the family’s assets in France.
With Ben Ali gone, Ennahdha has moved quickly to carve out a place in the political scene, taking part in demonstrations and meeting with the prime minister. Though the ban on Ghanouchi’s party hasn’t officially been lifted, the new interim government has been tolerant of it.
Public expressions of support for Ennahdha, such as the one at the airport, were unthinkable under Ben Ali. Ben Ali banned the party, accusing it of conspiring to kill him and establish a Muslim fundamentalist state. While Ennahdha was branded an Islamic terrorist group by Ben Ali, it is considered moderate by scholars.
Ghanouchi, 69, left the country as Ben Ali came to power in 1987. In 1991, he was convicted in absentia to life in prison, as were most of the party’s leaders. They denied authorities’ accusation that they had tried to take power by force.
Ghanouchi has said he is not personally interested in running for the presidency or parliament in upcoming elections.
“All I want is to breathe the air of the country from which I was exiled for more than two decades” and to pray at a famous mosque in Tunis, Ghanouchi wrote in a message released on the eve of his return, adding that he wanted “in short, to be an ordinary citizen.”
The new activism by Islamists — who want a role for Islam in their country’s politics — is feeding jitters that extremism may be on the rise in Tunisia, long a Westward-looking nation proud of its modern identity: women enjoy widespread freedoms, Muslim headscarves are banned in public buildings and abortions, a deep taboo in most Muslim societies, are legal.
Ennahdha insists that fears of radicalism have no merit. Before leaving London, Ghanouchi tried to reassure the country’s women, saying he believed they deserve “the freedom to study, to work and to help build the country, whether they wear the veil or not.”
In the past, the Islamist movement was never given a chance in Tunisia, said Mohammed Gharbi, an Ennadha supporter, on the main street in the capital. “Let’s not criticize something that we have yet to try.”
The unrest that toppled Ben Ali in Tunisia has spread to Egypt, where protesters are calling for the departure of President Hosni Mubarak. In Tunisia, meanwhile, the interim government has been trying to stabilize the country after the weeks of unrest that preceded and followed Ben Ali’s ouster.
Some 33 members of the ex-president’s family have been taken into custody, along with the Senate president. Several top advisers have been placed under house arrest. Tunisia has issued an international arrest warrant for Ben Ali and six family members.
The Canadian government said this weekend that one of Ben Ali’s brothers-in-law has applied for refugee status in Canada, effectively blocking Tunisia’s efforts to extradite him. Belhassen Trabelsi, a billionaire Tunisian businessman and brother of former first lady Leila Trabelsi, reportedly arrived in Canada last week with his family.
What would you do if you were President of the United States?
I would call for a Day of Prayer today…….and everyday at Noon.
Let us be in constant prayer for the World and continue to spread the good news of Jesus Christ!