1. Where is the United States in
Prophecy?
Entering the Dragon’s Lair - analyzing Chinese war strategy with the U.S.
“China? There lies a sleeping giant. Let him sleep! For when he wakes, he will move the world.” Those are the words of Napoleon Bonaparte. In his time, China was an insular nation under pressure to open its ports to Western trade. Today, it is a restive giant, eager to expand its hegemony over its neighboring nations. In one scenario suggested by the Rand Corporation after reviewing Chinese military documents China targets the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet. Its objective in this wargame scenario is to launch a surprise attack, catching it in port so its big ships cannot maneuver to escape, evade and defend. The scenario is chillingly similar to that involving Japan’s Imperial Navy 67 years ago. But this scenario has a twist. In this attack, the Japanese host the American fleet at Yokosuka. It is a new era Asian power now seeking to inflict damage on America’s military might, diminishing any US counter-attack capability. The plan would be to hit quick, hard and in a way that literally knocks the wind out of our sails, leaving the American public reluctant to fight a protracted and costly conflict. This is no Hollywood movie script. Nor is it someone’s wild imagination. It is a frightening realistic war strategy gleaned by Rand Corporation through an analysis of numerous Chinese military doctrinal writings. Rand’s assessment, entitled “Entering the Dragon’s Lair,” is that China would employ an “antiaccess” strategy. Such actions seek “to impede the deployment of U.S. forces into the combat theater, limit the locations from which those forces could effectively operate, or force them to operate from locations farther from the locus of conflict than they would normally prefer.” And, as at Pearl Harbor, the success of China’s war strategy turns on achieving surprise....
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Majority of Americans expect a recession: poll
A majority of Americans expect a recession in the next year as the housing downturn deepens, inflation rises and credit conditions tighten, a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday showed. The survey of 1,105 likely voters found that 54 percent thought a recession was looming. It was the first time since the recession question was added to the monthly poll in September that more than half predicted such a downturn. As economic anxiety grows, nearly half of those surveyed said they planned to use their government rebate checks to pay down debt or pad savings. That would blunt the impact of the $168 billion stimulus plan that President George W. Bush signed into law last week in a bid to stave off a recession. "There are hard times ahead. It's a good time to get out of debt if you've got a freebie coming," pollster John Zogby
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Power shift as East and West struggle for energy resources
Each week seems to bring another hand-wringing report about the waning influence of America in the world and the steady rise of China, India and Russia. The issue is front and centre on Wall Street, Main Street – everywhere but on the campaign trail, where the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are ignoring the economic tigers in the bushes for problems that seem closer to home but are impacted directly by developments thousands of kilometres away. While Americans have been sleeping at the economic switch, their huge rivals are steaming ahead with eyes wide open and firmly focused on the bottom line. Polls show that about one-third of Americans think China will soon dominate the world, and almost half fear its rise as a threat to world peace – results that could have time-travelled from the Cold War. India, with its job-hungry, billion-strong population, and Russia, with an energy-fuelled economy and resurgent nationalist movement, also send shudders through the wealthy West as they gain influence. Meanwhile, some experts have announced that the sun is already setting on the West and is now rising in the
East..... read
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FBI warns of possible Hezbollah revenge in U.S.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have sent a bulletin to state and local law enforcement authorities advising them to watch for potential retaliatory strikes by Hezbollah, one day after the Lebanese militia group vowed to avenge the death of a top commander by attacking Israeli and Jewish targets around the world. "While retaliation in the U.S. homeland is unlikely, Hezbollah has demonstrated a capability to respond outside the Middle East to similar events in the past," said the intelligence bulletin sent to about 18,000 state and local law enforcement officials. The FBI also said it was intensifying its domestic intelligence-gathering efforts to identify any potential Hezbollah threats in the United States in the aftermath of Tuesday's car-bomb assassination of Imad Mughniyah in
Syria...... read
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2. Israel - God's Timepiece
Israel, US discuss deploying NATO troops in West Bank
The United States is reviewing the feasibility of deploying a NATO force in the West Bank as a way to ease IDF security concerns and facilitate an Israeli withdrawal from the area within the coming years, defense officials have told The Jerusalem Post. The plan, which is being spearheaded by US Special Envoy to the region Gen. James Jones, is being floated among European countries, which could be asked to contribute troops to a West Bank multinational force. Jones, a former commander of NATO, was sent to Israel in November to help the Israelis and Palestinians frame some of the security mechanics necessary for a broader peace
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Palestinian Christians live in constant fear of Radical Islam
Here with an item from last week's news that you might not have heard about: Unidentified gunmen blew up the YMCA library in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning. While no one was hurt, two guards were temporarily kidnapped while the offices were looted, a vehicle stolen and all 8,000 books destroyed. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, although Fatah accused Hamas of being behind it. Hamas, for its part, strongly denied any responsibility and condemned the attack. Meanwhile, confidential sources in Gaza told the Jerusalem Post that the attack was in response to the reprinting of the Muhammad cartoons in Danish newspapers last week. The supposed motivation for the attack, and the fact that it was not big news, illustrates the dire situation faced by many Christians living in the Palestinian territories. There are only some 3,500 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, in Gaza. Over the past two years, al-Qaeda-affiliated groups have claimed responsibility for attacks against Christian figures and institutions with the stated goal of driving Christians out of Gaza. If indeed the attack on the YMCA was motivated by the latest wave of violence in Denmark over the cartoon controversy, it shows how precarious the Christian position is. The Young Men's Christian Association in Gaza is open to Muslims and includes a school, sports club and community hall. It is not a centre of Christian proselytism. But if events in Denmark which have nothing to do with Christianity can produce anti-Christian violence in Gaza, then it is clear that there is nothing Christians can do to avoid such
violence...... read
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Palestinians threaten Kosovo-like independence if talks fail
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, responding to an aide's call on Wednesday for a unilateral declaration of statehood if peace talks with Israel continued to falter, ruled out taking any such step soon. "We will pursue negotiations in order to reach a peace agreement during 2008 that includes the settlement of all final status issues including Jerusalem," Abbas said in a statement. "But if we cannot achieve that, and we reach a deadlock, we will go back to our Arab nation to take the necessary decision at the highest level," he said, without mentioning any options. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestinian negotiating team with the Israelis, told Reuters that if they could not reach a deal with Israel, the Palestinians could consider declaring independence like Kosovo did on
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Syrian-Hizballah plan for retaliation on Israel could start unfolding this weekend
Syria is not waiting for its official investigation to wind up and expose the party responsible for killing Hizballah commander and Tehran’s terror tactician in Damascus on Feb. 13 - any more than Hizballah, when its leaders accuse Israel. Tehran, Syria and Hizballah have all threatened revenge against Israel within or outside its borders. It is feared in Washington and Jerusalem that, while plotting revenge on Israel, Hizballah, backed by the Syrian commando units, will launch attacks on Lebanese national intelligence and Druze targets in Beirut and Mt. Lebanon – they point a finger at Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. Their immediate goal would be to overthrow the pro-Western, anti-Syrian government headed by Fouad Siniora and stir up a new civil war. The door would then re-open for Syria to make a comeback to the troubled country and move troops in for the first time since they were thrown out in 2005, in contravention of UN Security Council resolutions. Syrian sources promise the results of their finished inquiry will cause an earthquake in the Arab world and Middle East when they are published Saturday, Feb. 22. Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah has scheduled another of his broadcast speeches for the same day - this one to mark the anniversary of his predecessor Abbas Musawi’s death in 1992, which was also attributed to Israel. The two events are feared by US and Israeli officials to have been coordinated on the same day to flash the signal for the Syrian-Hizballah plan to start
unfolding....... read
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Syria, Iran foresee large clash with Israel
Syrian and Iranian officials believe there will be a serious military confrontation with Israel in the near future, according to Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese daily affiliated with Hezbollah. Hezbollah's response to the assassination of Imad Mughniyah, the organization's operations chief, will force Israel to make a "difficult decision," the newspaper stated in an editorial. Hezbollah blames Israel for Mughniyah's assassination in Damascus last week. Ibrahim al-Amin, Al-Akhbar's editor, said in a televised interview that Hezbollah does not intend to accept Mughniyah's assassination quietly. Hezbollah's response "will force Israel to make a big decision," he said. However, he insisted that Hezbollah was not interested in a war with Israel. Meanwhile, the defense establishment is bracing for a response from Hezbollah. It is concerned the group may use an explosives-laden unmanned aerial vehicle to attack a civilian or military target in northern or central Israel. The Israel Air Force is on alert for this.
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3.
A Revived Roman Empire?
Targeting offenders before they strike - doctors and teachers to act as 'informers' in new 'Minority Report' plans for Britain
Doctors, teachers and social workers will be told to act as informers to identify potential violent offenders for monitoring by the police and other agencies. Ministers hope that by spotting binge-drinkers, drug addicts and young gang members early before they commit serious crimes they can be placed on a national database and steered away from offending behaviour. The plans have been dubbed the Minority Report powers, a reference to the 2002 Tom Cruise movie in which a futuristic "precrime" police unit uses psychics to arrest and imprison criminals just before they carry out attacks. But civil liberty campaigners and union bosses warned that such intrusive measures by the Home Office would destroy the relationship of trust between GPs and their patients or social workers and clients. They would also put professionals at risk of reprisals if they are seen as police
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4.
The Gog/Magog War
Ahmadinejad’s unbridled attack on Israel causes foreboding. Ashkenazi sees "tough ordeal" possible soon
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the increasingly belligerent statements issuing from top Iranian leaders since the death of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus earlier this month are seen as betokening serious intent. Israel's chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi told graduating officers Wednesday, Feb. 20, that he could not rule out a possible "tough ordeal" in the near future. Israel must aim for quick victory. President Ahmadinejad said earlier: “World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region.” He was addressing a rally in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, site of the Revolutionary Guards’ command center and main bases. His speech was broadcast in full by state television. DEBKAfile’s sources report that in Washington and Jerusalem, these unbridled speeches are taken as an orchestrated campaign to raise Middle East temperatures up to the climax of an Iranian attack on Israel. It is noted that Ahmadinejad’s speech was delivered on the last day of the Islamic month of Muharem, during which Muslims are prohibited from embarking on attacks. The month of Safar when it is permitted to strike enemies of Islam begins Thursday, Feb.
21......
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5.
Apostate Christianity
Wheaton Bible College to feature pro-homosexual speaker
Wheaton College is once again featuring a pro-homosexual activist as a featured speaker at its Center for Applied Christian Ethics. Wheaton first came under fire for inviting self-proclaimed "gay Christian" activist Harry Knox to participate in a panel discussion during which he repeated the claim that his sexual preference is a "gift from God." This evening Wheaton will feature Jim Wallis, editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine and author of the new book The Great Awakening, in which Wallis claims the effort to legitimize homosexual relationships in the law is "a justice issue." Peter LaBarbera, with Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, says the college is failing both its Bible-centered charter and its obligations to academic integrity. "We find it hard to believe that somebody who believes in the Bible -- and the Bible teaches that homosexuality is an abomination," states LaBarbera, "... could call support for so-called 'civil rights' based on egregiously sinful behavior -- how you can call that 'a justice
issue'?..... read
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Cardinals to petition Pope for Marian dogma making her
co-redemptrix with Jesus
Five cardinals have sent a letter inviting prelates worldwide to join them in petitioning Benedict XVI to declare a fifth Marian dogma they said would "proclaim the full Christian truth about Mary." The text, released last week, includes the petition that asks the Pope to proclaim Mary as "the Spiritual Mother of All Humanity, the co-redemptrix with Jesus the redeemer, mediatrix of all graces with Jesus the one mediator, and advocate with Jesus Christ on behalf of the human race." In a press statement released along with the letter, the cardinal co-sponsors reiterated the same ecumenical concern and said the proclamation of a fifth Marian dogma would be a "service of clarification to other religious traditions and to proclaim the full Christian truth about Mary." The statement added, "This initiative also intends to start an in-depth worldwide dialogue on Mary's role in salvation for our time. Should this effort prove successful, a proclamation would constitute a historical event for the Church as only the fifth Marian dogma defined in its 2,000-year history."......
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Preaching the miracle of money
Evangelical faith healer Pastor Benny Hinn claims he can cure the sick, make the crippled walk and rid terminally ill patients of cancer. But business comes before miracles when Pastor Hinn is in the building, it seems. After an hour of songs, Hinn preached a recurring topic. Gold and silver. Silver and gold. The flamboyant non-denominational preacher, who receives an estimated $A110 million in donations per annum, used scripture to encourage crowd members to give. "Do you know how much gold the children of Israel gave Moses to build a tabernacle?" he asked. "Fifty thousand ounces of gold, 150,000 ounces of silver. In today's prices that's over 40 million US dollars in gold alone. I don't know how much that is in Australian dollars, but that's a lot of gold . . . and God blessed them." Hinn, who owns a $36 million private jet, continued in the same "rich" vein. For 90 minutes he talked dollars. The term "wealth transfer" was uttered 20 times in 10 minutes. "Gold" and "silver" was said 35 times in six minutes alone. erth student Amy Andrews, 25, gave $1000 and pledged to donate more. "Pastor Hinn says the more you give, the more wealth and love you receive," she said.......
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6.
The Rise of Islam
Jihadi regime's could spread rapidly in Africa
As Americans debate which presidential candidate is best to confront the jihadists or at least preempt their offensives worldwide, the latter almost seized a key African country for the forthcoming Darfur peace missions. In one day, the so-called armed opposition of Chad reached the capital N'Djamena and almost surrounded the presidential palace. In a few hours, what would become the future Taliban of Chad have scored a strategic victory not only against that government but also against the efforts by the African and European Unions to contain the Sudanese regime and stop the genocide in Darfur. Surprising the West and Africans, those forces backing the "opposition" proved they are restless against human rights on the continent. More importantly, the events showed how unprepared are Europeans and Americans in front of jihadi regimes which seem weak on the surface but able to surprise and undermine international efforts. On Saturday Feb. 2, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was getting married in Paris and Americans were readying for the Super Bowl, jihadi-backed forces launched a blitzkrieg across Chad with 1,000 vehicles, declaring victory to the international media. This so-called opposition — to a nonseasoned observer — would appear as "rebels" and "insurgents." In fact these forces have been backed by the jihadi regime in Khartoum and some of its funding — according to the Chadian government — has been sent from Saudi Arabia....
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7. Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies
First order for pet dog cloning
A South Korean company says it has taken its first order for the cloning of a pet dog. A woman from the United States wants her dead pitbull terrier - called Booger - re-created. RNL Bio is charging the woman, from California, $150,000 (£76,000) to clone the pitbull using tissue extracted from its ear before it died. The work will be carried out by a team from Seoul National University, where the first dog was cloned in 2005. RNL Bio says this is the first time a dog will have been cloned commercially. "There are many people who want to clone their pet dogs in Western countries even at this high price," company chief executive, Ra Jeong-chan, told the Korea Times. The firm is expecting hundreds more orders for pets over the next few years and also plans to clone dogs trained to sniff out bombs or drugs. One out of every four surrogate mother dogs produces puppies, according to RNL Bio's marketing director, Cho Seong-ryul. "The cost of cloning a dog may come down to less than $50,000 as cloning is becoming an industry," he said......
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Futurist: Computer power will match the intelligence of human beings by 2030
Artificial intelligence portrayed in Hollywood movies like ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Blade Runner’ could be a reality in the next two decades. A leading scientific “futurologist” has predicted that computer power will match the intelligence of human beings by 2030 because of the accelerating speed at which technology is advancing worldwide, ‘The Independent’ reported today. According to computer guru Dr Ray Kurzweil, there will be 32 times more technical progress during the next half century than there was in the entire 20th century, and one of the outcomes is that artificial intelligence could be on a par with human intellect in the next 20 years. He said that machines will rapidly overtake humans in their intellectual abilities and will soon be able to solve some of the most intractable problems of the 21st century. Computers have so far been based on two-dimensional chips made from silicon, but there are developments already well advanced to make three-dimensional chips with vastly improved performances, and even to construct them out of biological molecules. Three-dimensional, molecular computing will provide the hardware for human-level ‘strong artificial intelligence’ by the 2020s. The more important software insights will be gained in part from the reverse engineering of the human brain, a process well under way. “Already, two dozen regions of the human brain have been modelled and simulated,” the British newspaper quoted Dr Kurzweil as saying.......
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Your Steak — Medium, Rare or Cloned?
Last month the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the sale of cloned meat in the U.S., having determined that products from cloned cattle, pigs and goats are as safe to eat as meat from their naturally reproduced brethren. That makes advocates happy: Cloning enables the livestock industry to do in a fraction of the time what breeders have been doing throughout history, narrowing the gene pool to its most desirable genes. Beyond that, say cloners, future benefits include production of genetically engineered animals that could offer a variety of benefits — more nutrient-rich milk, for example, for people without adequate access to food. Safe as it may be, there's another problem about cloned meat that the FDA approval hasn't taken into account: the unscientific "ick" factor. Though cattle are often reproduced artificially — using in vitro fertilization, for example — and though cloning is just another form of reproduction as far as scientists are concerned, the public is somewhat less phlegmatic about the technology. Cloned-animal products aren't on store shelves yet — the industry won't begin selling them for at least a few months, after a government-recommended "transition period" — but when they finally do appear in supermarkets you may not even notice, because they won't be
labeled.
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8. Christian Worldview/Issues
Where did all the men go?
According to the statistics cited by Murrow, male involvement now dwindles in American Christianity: "This is a major reason 61 percent of the adult worshippers in our churches are female. Why some 70 percent of the volunteers and midweek participants are women. Why up to 90 percent of the boys who are raised in church will abandon it by their 20th birthday, many never to return". Such numbers give everyone pause and cause for concern. Christians believe that they should marry in the faith. How is this possible if there is an ever-growing shortage of men? Those of us raised in the church are disinclined to notice this so-called feminization of worship. Yet, for those who were not raised in church and for those men who are outside the faith, it is not so easy to ignore. Could it be that modern worship is becoming a turn-off to men?....
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Chuck Colson: Muslims are 'Better Theologians' than American Christians
Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, says radical Muslims would make better theologians than most Christians in America. In his new book, The Faith, the prominent evangelical observes that radical Islamists have a better understanding of the Muslim faith than most Christians in America have of Christianity. A study by Barna Group shows that 60 percent of Americans fail to name five of the Ten Commandments, cites Colson in his book. His own interaction with those he deemed as mature Christians also confirmed that many believers are not sure what the biblical core beliefs are. "One of the problems in the churches today is that we don't know what we believe and why we believe it and why it matters," said Colson in a statement for his book. "The result of that is the culture defines us. We are put in a stereotypical pot by the media and, of course, mischaracterized totally by the aggressive atheists who are publishing their books.".....
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Study: Americans Say Non-Church Worship is Fully Biblical
The majority of Americans believe that alternatives to the conventional church experience are a fully biblical way for believers to practice their faith, a study revealed Monday. For decades, U.S. Christians, who make up more than four out of every five adults, assumed there was only one right way to practice their faith – through worship in a conventional church. But a new Barna study shows that a majority of American adults now believe there are various legitimate ways to practice their faith besides participation in a conventional church. “Often, people feel as if their worship and ministry are confined to what is routinely done because those patterns have a biblical basis or mandate," explained George Barna. "But when you research the origins of church practices, and study the practices of the early church, you discover that most of our current church practices have ancient cultural origins, with no biblical
basis".... read
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Wake up call - Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons Fastest-Growing Churches in U.S.
Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported the largest membership increases in a year, according to an annual yearbook of churches. The two groups are largely considered to be cults by evangelical Christians but they are currently the fastest-growing church bodies in the United States and Canada, the National Council of Churches' 2008 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches showed Although Jehovah's Witnesses currently rank 25th in size with over 1.06 million members, they reported a 2.25 percent increase in membership since the publication of the 2007 Yearbook. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – also known as Mormons – grew 1.56 percent and is the fourth largest church body. Other bodies in the top 25 largest churches list that reported membership increases include The Catholic Church with a 0.87 percent increase; the Southern Baptist Convention with a 0.22 percent increase; the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church with a 0.21 percent rise; and the Assemblies of God with a 0.19 percent growth....
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The battle to redefine what it means to be a conservative evangelical
The Religious Left is successfully redefining what it means to be a conservative evangelical by misrepresenting what it means to be a conservative evangelical. By convincing America that conservative evangelicals are concerned only with two issues, stopping abortion and preserving traditional marriage, these new voices of evangelicalism are effectively making the case that conservative evangelicals ignore poverty, HIV/AIDS, and the environment. The history of evangelicalism tells a different story. Evangelicals have set the standard throughout history for social action which continues into the present through numerous humanitarian relief organizations. The Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations claim 64 such organizations as members, including World Vision, Compassion International, Samaritan’s Purse, and Mercy Ships. One of the largest humanitarian relief organizations in the world is the Salvation Army. It defines its commitment to social services as "... an outward visible expression of the Army's strong religious principles." Those social services include disaster relief, services for the aging, AIDS education, medical facilities, and shelters for battered women. The Salvation Army impacts 30 million people a year in the United States alone. The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, was a Methodist minister. On its website the Salvation Army defines itself as an "evangelical group." What's really happening here is an attempt by the Left to define evangelicalism down by moving it away from its emphasis on the power of the gospel to change lives.....
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9. Other Events
To Watch
Get ready for the eclipse that saved Columbus
The Moon will turn an eerie shade of red for people in the western hemisphere late Wednesday and early Thursday, recreating the eclipse that saved Christopher Columbus more than five centuries ago. In a lunar eclipse, the Sun, Earth and Moon are directly aligned and the Moon swings into the cone of shadow cast by the Earth. But the Moon does not become invisible, as there is still residual light that is deflected towards it by our atmosphere. Most of this refracted light is in the red part of the spectrum and as a result the Moon, seen from Earth, turns a coppery, orange or even brownish hue. Lunar eclipses have long been associated with superstitions and signs of ill omen, especially in battle. The defeat of the Persian king Darius III by Alexander the Great in the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC was foretold by soothsayers when the Moon turned blood-red a few days earlier. And an eclipse is credited with saving the life of Christopher Columbus and his crew in 1504.....
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India ready to join elite nuclear strike club
India is now finally ready to gatecrash into the exclusive club of the Big Five - US, Russia, China, France and UK - which field submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), the most reliable and deadly nuclear strike weapon. India's SLBM, dubbed 'K-15' under the Sagarika project, is ready after 10 years of hits and misses, and four tests from "submersible pontoon launchers" over last year. "The final test of K-15, with a strike range of 700km, will be conducted any day now. Its development is complete. We are ready to integrate it with the mother ship," DRDO chief controller Dr Prahlada said. The first of the three 6,000-tonne advanced technology vessels (ATVs), each designed to carry 12 vertical-launched nuclear-tipped SLBMs, will be "ready to go to sea" for trials by early 2009. When it does happen, India will finally achieve its long-standing aim to have an operational nuclear weapon triad......
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One World Religion - Proposal to create a Religious UN in Rome
Iran suggested on Tuesday that a new Parliament be formed to group much of the Middle East and Southern Asia, operating much like the 27-nation European Parliament does today. The announcement, the first of its kind by a senior Iranian official, was made by the country’s Prosecutor-General Qorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi. His remarks were carried by the official news agency IRNA and other state media. Speaking at a conference dubbed 'Building a Confident Future for Southwest Asia', Dorri Najafabadi also urged states situated next to the Persian Gulf to draw up a joint defence plan. "If a powerful bloc was formed in the region, the foreigners would never dare to interfere in the region’s affairs, and we would not witness problems such as those currently existing in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine”, he said. He called for more judicial cooperation among states in the region – a controversial call given the Islamic Republic’s strict interpretation of Sharia Law. The radical Shiite cleric proposed that a “unified regional parliament” be formed to meet the interests of all countries in the region. Southwest Asia is generally considered to include Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. It stretches from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt to Afghanistan.....
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