Benedict's Kabbalistic Two-Step

After Pius move, Pope Benedict practices delicate Jewish dance

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

December 31, 2009

ROME (JTA) -- For at least the third time in his papacy, Pope Benedict's XVI is doing the Jewish dance that takes him one step back, one step forward.

The step back came when Benedict made a move in mid-December to bring Holocaust-era Pope Pius XII a bit closer to sainthood. The step forward will come in mid-January, when Benedict visits Rome's main synagogue -- a trip planned long before Benedict's move on Pius.

The question is what impact the visit will have on ruffled Catholic-Jewish relations.

"It is an important event, a milestone in the dialogue," Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, told Vatican Radio about the planned synagogue visit. "We have great expectations for what it can mean in terms of the general climate."

... Analysts said Benedict's move on Pius is part of the pope's effort to shore up conservative forces within the church.

"The pope apparently has chosen to balance his unquestionable commitment to the Catholic Church's good relations with world Judaism with his commitment to recuperating the religious right wing of Catholicism," said Lisa Palmieri Billig, the American Jewish Committee's liaison to the Vatican. "Obviously his path is strewn with warring obstacles."

Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, an expert in interfaith relations and the vice president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, said, "The great struggle of this moment is shoring up the most traditional elements of his church as he fights the growing secularization and Islamification of the European stage, which is right before his eyes."

Bretton-Granatoor said that the visit to the synagogue in Rome is "far more telling about the state of Catholic-Jewish relations" than the move to elevate Pius ...

Full article:

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/12/31/1009976/pope-dances-with-the-jews

Also see:

More on Benedict's Easter Baptism Spectacle

Benedict's Zionist Easter "Convert" Attempts Resuscitation of "Islamofascist Threat" for U.S. Presidential Election

Vatican Warns Against Islamic Sharia Law While Embracing Rabbinic Noahide Law

Rabbi Eugene Korn Creating a "Catholic" Golem

The "Church Militant" With Rabbis in Command

Benedict XVI, Hexagram Hat Make Cover of Foreign Policy Magazine

Primary Consideration for Sainthood: Were They Good For "The Jews"

Let's Apply Standards Fairly

Chief Rabbis' Race War Tract Repackaged for Judeo-Churchgoers as "Pro-Life" Message

The Chief Rabbis of Counterfeit Israel have recently distributed a tract to all Israeli rabbis instructing them to teach Israeli Judaic couples to have more children and less abortions. The Jerusalem Post:

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Metzger told The Jerusalem Post that it was important to encourage fertility and discourage abortions, in part, to fight a demographic war. "I am sorry to say that our enemies are multiplying ... Rabbis have a role in encouraging their communities to have children and to discourage abortions. It is the best weapon against our enemies," Metzger said. ("Rabbis: Abortion will delay the redemption," Jerusalem Post, Matthew Wagner, Dec 29, 2009)

This story was repackaged for "righteous Gentile" consumption--with the above quoted key to understanding the essence of the matter wiped from the record--and distributed to Judeo-Churchgoer outfits, for example, HERE, and HERE.

The poor souls who read the "righteous Gentile" version of the story will likely come away believing that the rabbis are against abortion, which is false (see Judaism Discovered pp. 878-885), and that the rabbis champion the rights of all unborn babies, whether they be of Israeli or, say, Palestinian parentage, which is delusional.

This is a case of rabbinic situation ethics. The rabbis are faced with the stark reality that Israeli death-culture produces far fewer children than Palestinian culture (which we are supposed to believe is the death culture). The Palestinian birth rate is greatly outpacing the Israeli birth rate in "the only Democracy in the Middle East." Once there is a Palestinian majority in the Zionist state, even the pretense of Democracy will be disposed of. There is no chance of true democratic representation for Palestinians in "The 'Jewish' State." So, given the Israeli demographics reality, the rabbis, who in 'the diaspora' are at-the-ready with their halakhic loopholes for abortion, suddenly must rule against abortion--Judaic abortion, that is. There is no principle that the rabbis won't circumvented when "the times require it" HERE, and HERE. Such is the fluid nature of rabbinic Judaism.

The reality of how "enemy" babies are regarded in the Israeli state:

Dead Palestinian babies and bombed mosques - IDF fashion 2009

Israeli government funding rabbi whose book endorses killing babies

There is nothing pro-life about the rabbis of Counterfeit Israel.

Single-Loyalty Senator Chuck Schumer Addresses Single-Loyalty Constituents at FL Synagogue

This is from the 2008 presidential campaign. Mr. Schumer explains: "You know who got him [Obama] started in politics? ... it was the two leading Jewish families of Chicago."



Thanks to American Journey.

Hodie Christus Natus Est

Elder Brothers Traditional Christmas Hate

Read a traditional Judaic children's Christmas Eve ("Nitel Night") story and consider how this dreary, paranoid, hate-filled, tribal tradition can account for the relentless Judaic attack on Christmas. The "elder brothers" have traditionally taught their children to not only to fear and hate Jesus, but to believe that He is the cause of all their problems, through tales that long predate Stephen King and upstage him immeasurably in ponderous gloom:

" ... Up to the end of the Jews' street he walked at ease, but at the corner, where began the enemy's world, he stopped like a frightened hare, scenting the hunter's hounds ... He passed the cemetery without a tremor; on that night [Christmas Eve] it was but the living he feared. The next turning brought him to the church. He remembered his mother's warning not to pass it ... Just as he came opposite the church door, it opened, and forth came a laughing group of men and girls who hurried away, the last one leaving the door ajar. From the shadow into which he had crept, Hirshl could look within, down to the shining altar where hung a half-naked, blood-stained effigy of Jesus of Nazareth.

"It is their God," he thought, and gazed with fear and loathing at the ghastly figure. In his mind there loomed mystically, vaguely, but fearfully, the consciousness that the source of all their troubles lay in that horrible figure.

How spectral the gloom of those shadowy knaves! What harrowing mysteries hid behind those dark chancel doors! Was it there they kept that awful host, on account of which the Jews had to stay in their houses during Passion week,* and which bled--so the Christians said--when a Jew looked upon it? Then a chancel door began slowly and silently to slide ajar, and Hershl turned and fled in terror ..." ("Nittel Nacht," A Renegade and Other Tales, edited by Martha Wolfenstein, Kessinger Publishing)

http://books.google.com/books?id=Aw1sXSZ5niQC&lpg=PA6&dq=wolfenstein%20nittel-nacht&pg=PA133#v=onepage&q=&f=false

The canon of Judaic fables of total goy evil contrasted against total "Jew" saintly victimhood, which functions as a virtual wall between the tribe and 'the goyim,' extends far beyond this collection. This and other collections, such as Lilith's Cave, contain many such tales, but they are only adaptations for children of the tribal paranoia and hate of Talmud and Kabbalah.

* see: Reckless Rites, Elliot Horowitz, pp.172-174, Princeton University Press

Also see:

How Benedict's Elder Brothers Observe Christmas Eve

What Does Christmas Have To Do With The Hanging Of Saddam Hussein?

Amalek, Haman, and Christians

Moldovan Orthodox Christians DID NOT Smash or Dump a Menorah

Recent establishment news reports of Moldovan Christians "smashing" and "dumping" a menorah are lies in keeping with the 'Holocaust' legend which blackens all East European Christians as frothing-at-the-mouth 'Jew'-haters. Watch video of the event and decide for yourself if the menorah was "smashed with hammers and iron bars," as the Associated Press claimed HERE, or "dumped" as the European Jewish Press claims HERE and the ADL claims HERE, or whether it was gently moved to another location, disassembled and replaced by a cross stood in a pipe that was driven into the ground.



I think that the objective viewer will see that this was a symbolic event, not at all the violent mob scene that the establishment press and Judaic power organizations want us to believe it to be.

Meanwhile, during the same week in Jerusalem, the Cenacle at the site of the Last Supper was urinated on and sprayed with graffiti saying "death to Christians" and "we killed Jesus," HERE and HERE and an Orthodox cathedral was vandalized and sprayed with Hebrew graffiti HERE. None of these acts were reported in the American press or by the ADL.

Let this be yet another reference point for all claims of "anti-semitism" which come to us from the same establishment media and Judaic power organizations. Their word is no good.

Pope Marks 4th Week of Advent, 51st Week of Holocaustolatry

This is the fourth week of Advent, the week of the feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, the second most important feast of Christian calendar, which is celebrated once each year. The most important feast of the Noahide calendar is the feast of 'The Holocaust' which is celebrated through January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December.

This bizarre address from 'the holy father' so close to the feast of the Nativity is scandalous and treacherous. There is nothing about Yad Vashem that even hints of forgiveness--for crimes real or imagined. Yad Vashem emanates tyranny by guilt--guilt with no end. Yad Vashem itself represents tribal hate which "without justification has sent millions of human beings to their death and continues to kill," even as the Pope exalts it. It's a monument to the primacy of one tribe's suffering and the negation of the suffering of all others; to one tribe's memory and the eradication of the memory of all others.

The pope has made himself an accomplice to Judaic tribal savagery. Not even during the week of the Nativity of the Lord who he presumes to represent will he pause from this evil. As far as I am concerned, the pope can put his Advent Yad Vashem sermon in his hexagram hat and burn it.

Holy Father Recalls Yad Vashem Visit

Calls Experience "Overwhelming"

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 21, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is describing his visit in May to Israel's Yad Vashem memorial as an "overwhelming" encounter with hatred.

The Pope stated this today in a traditional meeting with the Roman Curia and other officials for the exchange of Christmas greetings. In his address, the Holy Father recalled some of the major events of 2009, including his visit to Jordan and the Holy Land.

The Pontiff made a special mention of his closeness to the people of Israel, the victims of Nazi cruelty, and his visit to the memorial where he placed a wreath in honor of the dead and met with survivors of the Holocaust.

The visit to Yad Vashem was an "overwhelming encounter with the cruelty of human sin and the hatred of a blind ideology that, without justification, sent millions of human beings to their death," he said.

In this, the Holy Father continued, there was an attempt "to chase God himself from the world, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, and the God of Jesus Christ."

"Thus," he said, "Yad Vashem is first of all a commemorative monument against hatred, a heartfelt call for purification and forgiveness, a plea for love."

Benedict XVI added, "This very monument against human sin lent greater significance to my visits to the places of the faith and made their unaltered relevance today even more perceptible."

He thanked the king of Jordan for working in an "exemplary manner" for the peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims.

The Pope expressed gratitude toward the Israeli authorities for their work "to ensure my visit could take place peacefully and securely."

He also thanked the Palestinian Authority for the opportunity to celebrate a public liturgy in Bethlehem, and to observe the "suffering and the hopes present in their territory."

http://www.zenit.org/article-27908?l=english

Archbishop Dolan and Rabbi Wechsler Radio Dialogue

U.S. archbishop and rabbi to hold religious dialogue on satellite radio

New York City, N.Y., Dec 18, 2009 / 03:02 pm (CNA).- SIRIUS XM Radio announced on Thursday that Archbishop Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York and Rabbi Harlan J. Wechsler, who both host their own radio shows, will co-host a live radio special on Sunday, Dec. 20.

“We are honored to bring together Archbishop Dolan and Rabbi Wechsler for an insightful discussion that will appeal to people of many backgrounds,” said Scott Greenstein, President and Chief Content Officer of SIRIUS XM Radio. “This thought-provoking and timely dialogue about tradition and faith demonstrates the unique power of radio.”

Archbishop Dolan and Rabbi Wechsler, hosts of “A Conversation with the Archbishop” and “Rabbi Wechsler Teaches” respectively, will hold an interfaith dialogue on Sunday and address topics such as Catholic and Jewish holy days and the importance of preserving traditions in an increasingly secularized world.

The program will be broadcast simultaneously on The Catholic Channel and SIRIUS XM Stars on Sunday Dec. 20 from 3:00-4:00 ET.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/u.s._archbishop_and_rabbi_to_hold_religious_dialogue_on_satellite_radio/

Arid lands ecosystem and climate change: Livelihoods of more than one billion people are at stake

How can the impact of climate change on arid lands and on the poor people living in such areas be minimized and their sustainable livelihoods protected?

This was the subject of a UNFCCC COP15 side event organized by IFAD on 11 December, within the framework of the IIED Development and Climate Days.

The Dr Byen University setting, only two metro stops from the Bella centre where the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations were taking place, provided a perfect setting for bringing together a large number of participants, observers from the negotiations and academicians from the University, and foster a constructive discussion on the implications of climate change in arid lands.

The panel consisted of members from International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Mechanism (GM). The session was chaired by Rodney Cooke, Director of IFAD's Technical Advisory Division.

The event provided a unique opportunity to share IFAD’s own experience in integrating climate change issues in project portfolio through Country Strategic Opportunities Papers (COSOPs) such as that in Viet Nam and Chad as well as environmental screening of IFAD projects and the development of IFAD’s corporate strategy towards the mainstreaming of the climate change dimension in its project activities. The event also highlighted the relevance of drylands ecosystems with regards to rural development, and addressed the specific impact of climate change on these particularly fragile environments. Panelists discussed how climate change resilience can be promoted in arid lands ecosystems, through investments or otherwise.

Atiqur Rahman, Policy Coordinator, opened the session by providing a detailed overview of the magnitude of the problem, and addressed the adverse impact of climate change on the more than one billion people whose livelihoods largely or totally depend on arid lands ecosystems. He outlined four sets of issues which were then discussed in details by the other four panelists.

Peter Holmgren, Director, Environment Climate Change and Bioenergy Division , FAO, discussed the potential for mitigation in arid areas, notably through sustainable land management, afforestation, and agroforestry.

Ced Hesse, Principal Researcher, Climate Change, IIED, gave a vivid account of the crucial social and economic role played by pastoralists in Africa’s drylands. He emphasized their importance in ensuring economic development, sustainable land management and peace in a changing, increasingly unstable and variable environment.

Nadim Khouri, Director of IFAD’s Near East and North Africa Division, emphasized the need to build on vulnerable people’s own livelihoods strategies to devise efficient investments under harsh climatic conditions. He stressed the urgent need for better models to be developed in order to be able to predict the impact of climate change, specifically for arid areas, and for countries and rural communities to internalize such models in their development strategies.

In the concluding intervention, Alejandro Kilpatrick, GM’s Programme Coordinator for Latin America and for the Climate Change Programme, highlighted the value of drylands, to be seen in its economic, social , and financial dimensions. He gave a detailed overview of the current and anticipated sources of funding available to arid land ecosystems, and their relevance in addressing the adverse impact of climate change in these areas.

The presentations were followed by an interesting discussion with members of the audience. Issues were raised on the possibility of using local and indigenous knowledge and whether large scale investments could crowd out local initiatives which provided the backbone of autonomous adaptation for centuries, the need to adjust to increasing variability of climate both in terms of institutional development as well as using flexible project designs, the use of land rights and access to resources in innovative ways to overcome the ‘tragedy of the commons’, the developing early warning systems, and the reuse of wastes through anaerobic systems.

Most of the populations living in drylands are, in fact, amongst the poorest of the poor: investing in drylands is therefore crucial, and so is the recognition of the value of drylands ecosystems and traditional activities such as pastoralism.

The chairman concluded the session pointing out towards the opportunities to harness financing for climate change in support to drylands, both from the carbon market and from the funding for adaptation to climate change, but there is a need to better position the issues at stake into the development agendas of donors and governments. The UNFCCC COP might identify more opportunities that are emerging, such as REDD, REDD+ and adaptation funding.

Atiqur Rahman

Pope Gives Human Rights Prize to 'Shoah' Sophist

Pope Gives Human Rights Prize to Frenchman

Award Named for John Paul II

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI bestowed the John Paul II Prize of the Auschwitz Institute for Human Rights to the French philosopher and author André Glucksmann.

The brief ceremony took place in the Vatican on Wednesday, immediately following the conclusion of the general audience in Paul VI Hall.

The award is given to those who have distinguished themselves in the promotion and defense of human rights in line with the teachings and witness of John Paul II.

André Glucksmann was born in 1937, in a suburb of Paris. His parents were Austrian Jews. In his book "A Child's Rage" (2006), Glucksmann recounts his experience growing up as a Jew in occupied France, and the effect it had on his philosophy.

He is known as one of the leading "New Philosophers." The term refers to those thinkers in France who criticized Marxism in the 1970s, as well as the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger.

full article:

http://www.zenit.org/article-27806?l=english

COP15 film festival

It’s not often that I get a chance to sit in a theatre with an audience while they’re watching one of the documentaries I produce at IFAD. On Friday 12 December, during COP15 in Copenhagen, I had that chance.

“The President’s Dilemma” – a television documentary we originally created for BBC World News in September – was screened at a film festival organized by International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) as part of it’s “Development and Climate Days” side event.



The President’s Dilemma tells the story of Anote Tong, the President of Kiribati – a nation made up of 33 low-lying atoll islands in the middle of the Pacific Oceans. Climate scientists predict that much of Kiribati could be under water in as little as 30 years due to rising sea levels caused by climate change. Tong’s “dilemma” is to decide what to do with the country’s 108,000 residents and how quickly to act. He resists the idea of mass migration which he says would turn his people into “climate change refugees” but, at the same time, he realizes time is not on his side and that he needs to address immediate problems, like growing poverty and shrinking food supplies, as evironmental conditions worsen.

Programmed during a session that featured five films exploring the impact of rising sea levels on island states, my role was to introduce the film and then answer questions from the audience. The film was the last one in the session, following stories from Samoa and Tuvalu. The reaction was extremely positive and gratifying with more requests for DVD copies of the longer version of the film (the screening was of a shorten 10 minute version) than I had anticipated. The audience was made up of development practitioners, NGO and UN staff so the questions and discussion that followed was well informed and largely focused on issues around adaptation. In the case of Kiribati, that means introducing crops that can tolerate temperature increases and salt water intrusion, which is part of the work of an IFAD-supported agricultural research centre on the island Tarawa mentioned in the film.

The film festival runs over four days and provides delegates and media with respite from the chaos and crowds at the Bella Centre, the main COP15 venue a short metro ride away. For me personally, it was a great opportunity to get some feedback on IFAD films as well as to see first hand how powerful they can be in sharing experiences from remote regions, shaping ideas and provoking good discussion.

James Heer

Impact of climate change on Eritrean agriculture sector

As world leaders gather in Copenhagen to seal the deal on climate change, while collecting testimonials for a series of human stories, I saw, first hand, the devastating consequences of climate change on Eritrea’s agriculture and livestock sector.

Crop cultivation and animal husbandry account for 60 per cent of rural incomes in Eritrea. Recent models and estimates show that the effects of climate change will have an adverse impact on the country’s agriculture and livestock sector. Decreases in rainfall and a rise in temperature has resulted in increased dry spells and decreased soil moisture.

Water scarcity is one of the many challenges that farmers and pastoralist s face in Eritrea. The country has two perennial river systems, the Setit River, which forms the country’s border with Ethiopia and drains into the Nile basin, and the Gash Barka system, which collects the run-off water from the highlands. All other rivers in the country are seasonal and carry water only after rainfall, which means that they are dry most of the year. The country has limited sources of fresh surface water, and although groundwater can be tapped, quantity and quality may be poor.

Official estimates show average annual rainfall at 400-500mm. However, for the last two years, rainfall has been erratic and less than above average.

Investing in blue gold improves livelihoods of smallholder farmers

To counter the devastating impact of climate change and to ensure food security for its people, the government of Eritrea is investing in the agriculture sector by:

• creating small-scale irrigation schemes
• building ponds, reservoirs and dams
• installing solar panels for water pumps
• installing drip, pump and sprinkler irrigation systems

For example in Zoba Debub the livelihoods of 82% of the 750,000 people living in this zoba depend on agriculture and related activities. Farmers in Debub and in Ma’ekel and other areas of Eritrea plant cereals such as wheat, barley, sorghum, taf, millet, maize and also vegetables – tomato, onion, carrot, potato, cabbage, lettuce and pepper.

In drought-prone Eritrea, livestock are a farmer’s most valuable asset. Animal husbandry is not only one of the main sources of livelihood for farmers, but it is also a form of insurance that enables poor rural people to cope with drought and other disasters.

One of the many challenges facing Eritrean farmers and pastoralists is to find grazing land and water for their livestock. The reservoirs and the surroundings provide an invaluable source of water and grazing land for livestock.

If you’ve ever visited Eritrea, you will be familiar with its arid landscape. You can imagine my surprise when driving through Zoba Ma’ekel and - Zoba Debub, against an arid and dry landscape, literally out of the blue I saw a beautiful body of water surrounded by hectares of emerald green and lush vegetation. These mini-oas e s which are the result of Eritrean government’s investment in agriculture are THE source of livelihoods and food security for poor rural Eritreans.

The reservoirs can hold anywhere between 50,000 to 350,000 m3 of water and serve 200 to 350 poor rural households who are now able to irrigate a total of 35 hectares of agricultural land. Furthermore, the reservoirs and dams provide a secure source of grazing and water for livestock and also source of water for domestic/washing purposes.

These secure source of blue gold allow farmers to complement their rain-fed crops - cereals, sorghum and barely - with vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, carrots, onions and pepper.

Eritrean farmers use a variety of irrigation methods ranging from drip to pipe and sprinkler and religiously adhere to the agreed irrigation schedule. Thanks to a favourable government policy, they have the luxury of not paying for water for the time being. However, they pay an average of 10,000-15,000 nakfa for a pump and those who have a fuel-run pump benefit from subsidized fuel.

The farmers are cognizant that their livelihoods depends not only on water, high yielding seeds and high-value crops but also on making sure that their pumps are well maintained. To this end they’ve established a revolving fund which is used exclusively for this purpose.

“Thanks to the reservoir now I have a secure source of water and can irrigate my 0.25 hectare”, says Woldo a farmer living in the Shmangus-laalay village. “Now I have three crops instead of one.” Woldo uses a combination of sprinkler and water pump. “When my crop was germinating, I used water pump, because sprinklers can damage the crop”, says Woldo. Woldo’s water pump is run by electricity for which he pays 24 nakfa per hour.

The 350 households living in the vicinity of this reservoir use this body of water not only to irrigate their plots, but also for their livestock and for domestic purposes such as for washing.

Before the reservoir was built, Elsa a mother of three, used to wake up at crack of dawn to go fetch water for washing purposes. Today, in tow with her donkey and her youngest son, she goes to the lake to collect water. While the water collecting technique may be rudimentary, it has saved Elsa hours of walking, allowing her to spend more time at home and to get involved in agricultural activities.

In the nearby village of Tesazege village, Athaneta and her brother are cultivating 0.5 hectare of land using the nearby reservoir. “I practice crop rotation and for this crop cycle I’ve replaced barley with tomatoes, because I have a secure source of water”, says Athaneta with a smile. “I’ve already harvested 100kg and expect to harvest another 200kg which I sell for 2 nakfa per kilo”.

“Thanks to this secure source of water, my brother and I can be sure to have one cereal crop and two vegetable crops”, says Athaneta.

Habtemariam is a model farmer who has fully taken advantage of the nearby reservoir and exploited the potential of his 0.75 hectare land, managing to secure himself and his family a total 5,000 nakfa by planting cabbage, lettuce and carrot.

Eritrea has the potential of having many more lush, green-emerald mini-oasis allowing more farmers to systematically cultivate agricultural land, ensure their food security and earn a secure income.

The government of Eritrea and IFAD are currently designing a national agricultural water management framework to allow for sustainable and reliable accesss to water especially in times of drought which unfortunately due to climate change will be affecting the country more frequently in the future. This framework will ensure that many Eritrean farmers will have a better crop to harvest,thus ensuring their food security.

Hopefully the world leaders gathered in Copenhagen will seal the climate change deal, so that Eritrean women, children, men, farmers and pastoralists can have a bright future and never again suffer from famine.

Rahm Emanuel to Light National Menorah

This is interesting. JTA puts national in brackets. I don't see why they should. I believe that ugly 30' steel menorah does actually represent this nation, in its present depraved state.

Emanuel to light ‘national’ menorah

December 9, 2009

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will light the Chanukah menorah on the Ellipse in front of the White House.

Emanuel will participate in the lighting of what has come to be known as the “national menorah” on Sunday evening, the third night of Chanukah. The U.S. Air Force Band will provide musical accompaniment.

The event is organized by American Friends of Lubavitch and will be recorded for later broadcast on the Web. Information is available at http://nationalmenorah.org.

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/12/09/1009629/emanuel-to-light-national-menorah

The Utterly Shameful State of U.S. Politics

A Senator’s Gift to the Jews, Nonreturnable

Orrin G. Hatch, Board of Directors, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Senate letter aims to block any Goldstone-related actions against Israel

Issues & Legislation: F-22A Raptor

Israel makes another bid for F-22 jets

Netanyahu's 'Justice' Minister: Talmudic Law Should Be Binding In Israeli State

Israel's Justice Minister: Jewish Law Should be Binding

By Yair Ettinger - Haaretz

December 8, 2009

Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman on Monday said he believes Jewish law (Halakha) should be the binding law in Israel, Army Radio reported.

“Step by step, we will bestow upon the citizens of Israel the laws of the Torah and we will turn Halakha into the binding law of the nation,” said Neeman at a Jewish law convention at the Regency hotel in Jerusalem, in the presence of many rabbis and rabbinical judges.

“We must bring back the heritage of our fathers to the nation of Israel,” Neeman said. “The Torah has the complete solution to all of the questions we are dealing with,” he added.

However, Neeman’s statements during the conference were received with applauds from participants, among them Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Other guests at the event included Likud MK Yisrael Katz, Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger.

full article:

http://www.forward.com/articles/120475/

Also see:

The World's Most Kosher Army

Philojudaic, Homosexual Archbishop Confesses to Shredding Sex Abuse Reports

On Nov. 7, 1999, in a Milwaukee synagogue, homosexual Archbishop Weakland issued a disgraceful, sack cloth and ashes mea culpa, presumed to be on behalf of Catholics and Catholicism, stating that both were direct causes of "The Holocaust" and that even a decade of repentance would not be enough HERE.

Will Archbishop Weakland now beg forgiveness on behalf of homosexuality and philojudaism for the sex abuse holocaust of Catholic children which homosexual philojudaic bishops such as himself facilitated? Are not organized homosexuality and Judaism both openly anti-Catholic in ideology and practice? Is this fact not enough evidence to indict, nay, convict homosexuality and Judaism as paving the road to the sex abuse holocaust of Catholic children, just as the verdict has been handed down that Catholicism is responsible for "The Holocaust"? Apparently, intolerance and hatred towards Catholics is an impossibility today, according to the establishment's arbiters of such matters, as much as both appear to exist. Always the double standard.

Yes, homosexual philojudaic Archbishop Weakland covered up the sex abuse of Catholic children that took place in the diocese he was responsible for, but fear not, those sex abused children were well catechized in the dangers of intolerance toward homosexuality and Judaism.

Weakland shredded copies of sex abuse reports, documents say

Dec. 3, 2009

Bruce Vielmetti - Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel

Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests, according to formerly sealed testimony turned over to Milwaukee County's district attorney on Thursday.

In a 1993 deposition, Weakland admitted destroying copies of the reports in his office, according to a partial transcript of the deposition released by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Peter Isely, SNAP's Midwest director, turned over the partial transcript, as well as portions of the logs to which Weakland was referring, to Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and asked him to review them for any possible criminal violations. Chisholm accepted the records and promised a thorough review.

The 16-year-old deposition documents have come to light during the discovery process in more than a dozen civil fraud lawsuits filed against the Milwaukee archdiocese.

SNAP made the announcements at a news conference Thursday morning outside Chisholm's office at the Milwaukee County courts complex.

Julie Wolf, communications director for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, said Thursday she had not seen the documents SNAP released and could make no comment on them for the archdiocese.

In the deposition, Weakland explains that he got copies of the weekly logs made by vicars in the archdiocese about ongoing problem priests. He said he would read them, then shred them because he didn't want to keep them in his office. He would "try to remember anything that is quite serious and important," and later discuss the matters with the vicar.

SNAP also released portions of logs kept on two abusive priests, Siegfried Widera and Franklyn Becker. Widera killed himself in 2003 after police cornered him in Mexico; Becker has been removed from the priesthood. Isely said not all portions of all vicar logs have been released yet as part of the civil litigation.

Isely said SNAP also will ask Archbishop-designate Jerome Listecki to censure and discipline Weakland and anyone else who may have been involved in covering up sex abuse by clergy. He said Listecki has refused to say whether he would review why the Diocese of La Crosse, where he is bishop, has cleared more clergy accused of abuse than most dioceses.

Listecki told Wisconsin Public Radio that he did not have enough time left in his term as bishop in La Crosse and that, besides, it was the holiday season.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/78431087.html

Breaking News in the case of Bishop Richard Williamson...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 7, 2009 - The German State Prosecutor has excluded the possibility of a pre-trial, out-of-court settlement in the case of Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson's alleged "Holocaust denial" statements which were filmed in Germany in 2008 and broadcast on Swedish television earlier this year. A possible trial date is said to be considered for late February or early March. The 28-year-old female judge in the case desires Bishop Williamson to be personally present at the trial, so that "he can explain what were his motives in saying what he said on Swedish television." She "wishes to judge his answers in person."

Bishop Williamson, an English native, currently resides in London, after being fired from his position as rector of his seminary in Argentina. He was then expelled from the country by the government under pressure from Zionist groups.

http://revisionistreview.blogspot.com/2009/12/breaking-news-in-case-of-bishop-richard.html

Benedict XVI, Hexagram Hat Make Cover of Foreign Policy Magazine

Benedict and his 11/22 hexagram hat are featured in Foreign Policy magazine's December "Top 100 Global Thinkers" edition.



Also see:

Benedict's Magick Zionist Crusader Hat

In Japan, meetings with JICA and the new government representatives

On his first visit to Tokyo since taking office, the President met key policy-makers at Foreign Affairs, Finance and Agriculture within the new administration, as well as a high profile politician and senior officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Nwanze is not an unknown figure in Japan, having visited and negotiated at high levels in his previous capacities. NERICA is still widely discussed in the development circles in Tokyo.

The President’s visit to the capital falls between the recent World Summit on Food Security in Rome and the upcoming Copenhagen COP 15 meeting. The delegation comprised Munehiko Joya and ourselves.

On his first day, IFAD President held a high-level meeting at JICA, with the Vice President, Ambassador Kenzo Oshima in a new building, hosting the new JICA that merged with JBIC. In the discussions, Ambassador Oshima commented on the CARD (Coalition for African Rice Development) exercise being on track and now the need for a major push for early results. IFAD's active involvement has been much appreciated in JICA.

CARD is a comprehensive initiative to support the efforts of African countries to double African rice production within ten years. It also forms a consultative group of donors, research institutions and other relevant organizations to work with rice producing African countries.

The President emphasized the relevance of the initiative, stating that the JICA approach fits very well with that of IFAD, aiming to increase food production for local consumption, access to markets, increased capacity, empowerment of women as fundamental elements for successful long-term rural and agricultural development.

The CARD initiative is the first step toward a broader partnership The President and Oshima agreed that the two task teams will work over the next months to identify 3 to 5 projects or programmes for collaboration including co-financing. On assessment of the outcomes, the two institutions will decide on the collaboration framework. He added that we don’t want partnership just for the sake of it but to bring real added value to the poor people we serve. South–South cooperation and JICA's experience with Brazil and Mozambique also featured in the discussions.

An extraordinary meeting took place between former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and IFAD President at the Diet (parliament) building. Fukuda oversaw the Hokkaido G8 Summit and hosted TICAD IV (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) during his time as Prime Minister. He remains an active voice in parliament and an influential member of the Liberal Democratic Party that held power for five decades. The President and Fukuda discussed aid trends, including the urgency of greater attention to climate issues that particularly affect smallholder farmers. He commended the President for taking up leadership of IFAD and highlighted the need to increase the fund's profile in Japan.

Fukuda chairs an advocacy group of parliamentarians with a strong commitment to development issues. He invited the President to the 2010 meeting of the Inter Action Council, which brings together a group of former heads of state or government from various parts of the world. Members include, among others, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Jean Chrétien.

Journalists from leading Japanese media - including, among others, Nikkei, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi newspapers, Japan Times, Agricultural Development News and Jiji news agency - met with the President for a briefing. Most of them raised issues around the upcoming Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, the implications for agricultural development and how the smallholders would adapt. Questions revolved around land issues, food security and IFAD’s work. NHK Television conducted an exclusive interview with the President.

The Director General, International Cooperation Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Masato Kitera welcomed the President and assured him of the Ministry’s confidence in IFAD’s work. Despite the fiscal problems faced by the country, they would like to continue their support.

For the first time in several decades the country has faced a major political shift. Politicians are currently assessing and reviewing public expenditure including ODA. Kitera said he was confident that Japan would continue to play a major role in the international arena.

During the meeting, President thanked the Government of Japan for its leadership, citing the TICAD process as a fine example of the country's engagement in Africa's development. He gave an overview of his discussions with Ambassador Oshima and expressed optimism about showing concrete results through collaboration with JICA under CARD. The President shared his perspectives on food security and land issues.

In closing, Kitera pointed out that in the current financial situation yen loans would remain one of the major aid instruments which can be very attractive because of the low level of interest rates on the Japanese currency.

On the second day in Tokyo, a meeting held with the Vice Minister for International Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Shuji Yamada focused on land investments. Yamada said that the food crisis and persisting price volatility are fostering interest within the private sector and governments to secure food availability through land lease/acquisition. Japan is very keen to see the development of appropriate rules for dealing with this growing phenomenon.

The President recalled the current effort by IFAD, FAO and the World Bank to frame guidelines for responsible investments, in order to achieve win-win solutions. During the meeting, climate change implications for agriculture and trade-related issues were also discussed.

Nobumitsu Hayashi, Deputy Director General International Bureau, Ministry of Finance and IFAD Alternate Governor, expressed great appreciation for the work taken forward by the President since taking office and expressed confidence in his leadership. Hayashi enquired about the comparative advantage of IFAD within the international aid architecture. The President highlighted the IFAD specificities and briefed Hayashi on accountability. The result-based management system allows IFAD to clearly report to its members about the outcomes achieved through the use of financial resources paid in by taxpayers in donor countries.

Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shuji Kira stressed the confidence of his administration in IFAD and in the new leadership. Despite severe budgetary constraints, Japan decided to increase the pledge to the 8th replenishment by more than 80 per cent. The new administration is committed to food security and poverty reduction. The two men discussed in details the outcomes of the visit and about strengthening of the partnership with JICA. They agreed on the relevance for IFAD and Japan to further develop partnership through the APOs programme.

By Farhana Haque-Rahman and Gesolmina Vigliotti

On The Contrary: Rome's dictatorship of relativism amid the crisis of child molestation

Rome's dictatorship of relativism amid the crisis of child molestation

Benedict's Magick Zionist Crusader Hat

Updated with comments, Dec. 6.

Benedict XVI at a canonization ceremony (of five) in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009 wearing a hexagram mitre

... with 11 stones on each side. Note the Templar crosses.

Credit to http://sedevacante-pax.blogspot.com/ for this find.

Original photo sources:

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0fT6gzRefX2vT

http://www.catholicpressphoto.com/servizi/2009-10-11%20canonizzazione/page4.htm



At a canonization of five saints, Oct, 11, 2009, Benedict wore a mitre bearing large hexagrams and 11 stones on each side. The hexagram 11, and 22 are highly significant in Kabbalah. They have no strong significance in Catholicism that I am aware of. Also, his pallium has 6 Templar crosses on it.

This taken by itself is interesting to me at most. If Benedict was an orthodox pope I might overlook this suspicious almalgam of symbols. But let's look at Benedict's fruits.

On his watch, the rightly blackened legacy of the Templars--a violent group of Zionist international bankers with occult religious practices--was rehabilitated HERE and HERE.

Benedict was the major player in the rehabilitation of the rightly blackened image of the Zionist state shortly after its despicable 22 day-long rampage on Gaza HERE, HERE, HERE.

Benedict is, I think it's fair to say, a compulsive proponent of so-called 'dialogue,' a Kabbalistic kind of sorcery utterly foreign to Catholicism also promoted by Kabbalists such as Rabbi Abraham Heschel and Martin Buber by which rabbanism has exalted itself over Christianity. Benedict has gone so far as to make 'dialogue' with 'the elder brothers' a religious mandate HERE.

His acts of approval of Kabbalist rabbis and their traditions are too many to list. He even gave a text written by the Kabbalist Jacob ben Asher the "Ba'al ha-Turim" (Master of the Pillars) as a gift during his NYC Passover Eve synagogue visit HERE.

These and the many, many other rotten fruits of Benedict XVI are far more troubling to me than some symbols on his vestments. But the fact that he does these things and also displays the relevant symbols is rather brazen. He's apparently attempting to sanctify these symbols by placing them in such a prominent place as a papal mitre during a canonization liturgy.

Also see:

Occultists to Absolve Themselves

Benedict's Hasbara Mission

Will Benedict's Pilgrimage Boost "Israel's" Image or Destroy His Own?

Pope's Speech to American Zionist Leaders, Feb. 12

Benedict Praises "Noahide Law" Commission

Benedict's Zionist Easter "Convert" Attempts Resuscitation of "Islamofascist Threat" for U.S. Presidential Election

Pope Benedict and Synod Rabbi: Like Yin and Yang

Scalia "Traditionalism"

IFAD Western and Central Africa workshop adopts knowledge sharing methods

Day two of the Western and Central Africa regional implementation workshop started with three parallel chat shows focusing on the following three themes:

• Agricultural value chain development
• Rural and agricultural finance and rural enterprises
• Support to capacity building

During the chat show participants shared their insights, experience and knowledge about the various challenges and opportunities of the above themes. For many, this was the first time they had participated in a chat show and most of them thorougly enjoyed it.

At the end of chat show the hosts (Carlo Bravi and Chrisitiane, Perin Saint-Ange and Coumba Fall, Mohamed Manssouri and Stefania Dina) quickly formulated three questions based on the insight that emerged from the chat show. These questions were then addressed during the World Cafe.

Your reporter had the daunting task of acting as cafe host for all three parallel world cafes. I must admit this was quite challenging also because I had to set up the cafe tables for Carlo's group. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of the participants, I started with Carlo and Christiane's group outlining the process. 5 minutes later I went to Perin and Comba's group and did the same. I then rushed upstairs to Mohamed and Stefania's group.

Stefania and Mohamed were great cafe hosts and had explained the process to the participants. Drenched, I headed back to the secretariat for a sip of water.

The cafe host is also the time keeper. So 20 minutes into the first round of questions, I did my rounds to ask colleagues to move table and get on with their second question. I must admit that everyone collaborated and they moved orderly to the next table, trying their utmost to keep 5 to table.

Mohamed and Stefania had done their maths right and had managed to have 5 francophone and 5 anglophone tables!!! The participants in all three cafes were completely engaged. I heard comments such as: "This cafe thing is really good". Martin Raine said: "You know, I was a skeptic, but this structured chaos is really great!". Steven reflecting on the process said "I wish we had started by asking the participants to talk about their successes, because when we did that at the last round, the energy level changed." And Steven is right, the question is one the important ingredients of a world cafe, it can make it or break it.

I am currently immersed in a series appreciative leadership courses, so his comment resonated completely with my changed mindset. He was right on: we always need to start looking at strengths and build on these, rather than falling in the trap of looking at weakness.

After lunch, participants regrouped in their original table to do the summary of their discussions. These were then used for the speed geeking. An hour later, a total of 30 table hosts descended to the open area, carrying flipcharts or their flipchart papers. They created their stands waiting eagerly to present their table's work to other participants.

I think the speed geeking could have gone a bit better, if before the participants made their way downstairs, we would have reminded them what was expected from the table hosts and from the other participants. This said, the outputs were remarkable. I walked to three stands and must say I was quite impressed.
Kudos to the Western and Central Africa for having fully embracing using knowledge sharing methods at their events. This is now the second time. Early this year, they used the same knowledge sharing methods at their community-driven development workshop.

For your reporter, it was an absolutely rewarding day. I hope colleagues back home get a flavour of the richness of this day. Hope I've done justice to the great work that went on today.

Now, we are all getting ready for a well deserverd dinner somewhere near the beach. We'll talk tomorrow. If you feel inspired, please comment on these blogposts.

A domani.

Knowledge sharing methods

View more presentations from IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The World's Most Kosher Army

Witness the piety of the 'Israel' 'Defense' Force command: pious in their enforcement of Talmudic Sabbath laws and pious in their Talmudic slaughter of non-Judaic civilians.

"The laws of Shabbat are like mountains suspended by a hair."

Soldier sent to detention for cooking on Shabbat after cat ate his meal

Kfir brigade soldier about to eat Shabbat meal finds out a cat has 'tasted' their meal. Soldier offers to cook new meal, gets caught, sentenced to 20 days in detention for violating IDF rules

Hanan Greenberg
Published: 12.02.09 / Israel News

A combat soldier from the Nahshon battalion was sentenced to 20 days in detention, after he found out a stray cat "tasted" his Shabbat meal and decided to cook a new meal, despite IDF's strict orders that forbid cooking on the holy day.

Last weekend, the soldier and his friends, who serve with the Kfir division, entered the base's dining room, and intended to eat from a pot of cholent (meat stew) that was cooked according to the Shabbat regulations.

However, before they managed to dig in, the soldiers were surprised to discover that a cat ate out of the pot. The soldier, who refused to eat from the tainted pot, offered instead to make a light meal for him and his friends.

As his luck would have it, during the meal preparations, one of the kitchen's staff arrived and instructed the soldier to stop cooking immediately.

Details of the incident were handed over to the battalion commander, who decided to put the soldier on trial and sentenced him to 20 days in detention for violating IDF orders.

"There are clear orders about observing the Shabbat, and even if the food was inedible there are other options to get food without desecration of the Sabbath," said IDF sources.

The soldier's battalion friends, who expressed discontent with the harsh punishment, claimed the soldier "did not mean to disrespect anyone; he only wanted to make a meal – a symbolic punishment would have been sufficient."

IDF's Spokesperson office said in response: "This is a case of a soldier which was sentenced to detention due to disorderly conduct and violation of IDF rules. The soldier has been known to have disciplinary problems in the past."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3814139,00.html

also see:

Benedict Cites Talmud Approvingly, Suggests Jesus Acted in Accordance with it

Robert Sungenis Writes ...

ICRISAT – A Homecoming

We all knew it was going to be a big moment in the India mission. The President’s visit to ICRISAT at Pantacheru, near the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, was more than just a homecoming to a site where he had spent a decade of his professional career.

ICRISAT’s Director-General, William Dar, told him it was an honour and a pleasure to have a key player in agriculture and development – and a staunch supporter of ICRISAT and the whole CGIAR system – as chief guest at their Annual Day on December 1.

For the President, it was a precious opportunity for catching up with colleagues from his time as a scientist. As he toured the institute, various white-coated colleagues emerged from their labs to recall the working time together. When he arrived at the entomology lab, where he had worked, it was an emotional moment.

It was also the chance for a belated farewell party. When the President was called to take over his post as Director-General of the Africa Rice Centre (then WARDA), there was little time for all the farewells to be fitted in prior to his departure.

The President was keen to visit the large test plantations that surround the research site. And he identified a few plots that he had actually worked on himself, more than a decade ago. The expansion in test plots that has taken place in the meantime was significant.

The institute has dedicated to President, the Kanayo F Nwanze Crop Protection Laboratory and his visit was used to inaugurate the lab centre. Another facility was named after former chair of ICRISAT’s governing body, Dr Ragnhild Sohlberg from Norway.

The ICRISAT senior management met with the President where, among other issues, a grant proposal for research on understanding economic opportunities in semi-arid agriculture in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa was discussed.

The President pointed out that there had been excellent collaboration between ICRISAT and IFAD well before he took office and that this was the result of the high quality work that ICRISAT produces. He also told the Director-General that it was good to see them reaching out to the private sector for partnerships.

The President delivered the keynote address to the Annual Meeting on the role of agricultural research in the face of global challenges, including food security and climate change.

On the first day at Pantacheru an animated press conference was held attended by some 25 journalists.

“Agriculture, even smallholder agriculture in remote areas, must be treated as a business, that provides a livelihood and an income" , the President told the reporters, who were well-versed in agricultural and rural poverty issues.

“This business attitude is already happening in many parts of India” he said, noting that supporting smallholders with the right government policies was vital, policies that would link them to vibrant local competitive markets.

While in Hyderabad, the President also met the Chief Minister of Andra Pradesh, K. Rosaiah, who requested him on the possibility of IFAD supporting a major food security project covering seed development, mechanisation, farmer training and water conservation techniques. Media coverage in Hyderabad was extensive, as it was throughout the India visit.

By Farhana Haque-Rahman

Ghana Minister of Food and Agriculture pledges to double rice production in Ghana

Day one of the Western and Central Africa workshop is coming to a close. This morning we had the honor and privilege of having the Honorable minister of agriculture at the opening session of the workshop.

The minister reminded the gathering that the workshop coincides with the celebration of Farmers' Day which is an important day for Ghana, a day that the country honours farmers for their untiring and relentless efforts of feeding the nation.

"The food crisis experienced recently was a loud awakening to the world, particularly for those of us in developing countries as we now need to redouble our efforts and better plan for our nation's food security", said the minister.

In his speech, the minister reminded the audience that by 2050 world population would reach 9.1 billion, and that nearly half of the additional 2.3 billion people in the next 40 years will reside in developing countries.

The minister then proceeded to say: "Feeding these extra people is a challenge we need to recognize and plan for. The 'business as usual' approach will be catastrophic."

"The time is ripe for us to rethink our agricultural development efforts, recognizing that agriculture is no longer just a production tool for industry but a tool for satisfying objectives of growth, poverty reduction, food security and sustainable rural development in a complex setting influenced by globalization and climate change."

The minister shared Ghana's strategy for reviving and strengthening the agriculture sector. "I are planning to revolutionize agriculture. I have promised to double rice production in two years", pledged the minister.

He concluded by sharing the key principles behind Ghana's Food and Agriculture Development Policy:

• value chain approach
• focus on selected commodities for greater impact
• diversification for income generation and stability
• enhanced productivity
• transforming smallholders through improved organization of farmer-based organizations
• public-private partnership
• improved coordination and harmonization in the agriculture sector

After the official opening, the minister and Mr Beavogui hosted a joint press briefing which lasted 40 minutes and attended by 40 journalists.

The afternoon sessions were dedicated to country team meetings, where the participants reviewed the Douala action plan and reported on progress, opportunities and challenges.

We'll end the day with promises to be a fun evening of Ghanaian hospitality. I see the musicians setting up in the atrium. Make sure you tune in to learn about the Ghanaian hospitality.

IFAD and the Netherlands take on climate change in Bangladesh

With Copenhagen in mind, I am writing this post from a remote island in the Bay of Bengal, in the middle of the major cyclone corridor off southern Bangladesh. This is the extreme frontline in the battle Bangladesh faces against climate change. Islands (called "chars" in Bengali) such as these could be the first casualties from sea level rise. Some of these chars are already largely submerged at high tide. Others, as shown in this photo, are barely above sea level.

Who on earth would choose to live in a place like this? And yet, unbelievably, thousands of the poorest Bangladeshi's live on these coastal chars. Most have nowhere else to live. Many of their ramshackle homes get flooded on a daily basis. The number one cause of death of children in these areas is drowning. There is no government presence, no health care, no schools. The land is saline, so crops barely survive. People have no legal title to the land, and are prone to robbery and extortion by powerful gangs that control these areas. Women are particularly vulnerable and rape is common. Its really got to be the most challenging place I have worked in my 13 years at IFAD.

This desperate area is the location of IFAD's newest project in Bangladesh, a project that will be jointly funded by IFAD and the Netherlands. It will be the biggest ever IFAD initiated project in Bangladesh and has been a massive challenge to design. The Netherlands contributed USD 380,000 to the design process while IFAD contributed USD 100,000. This large design budget enabled complex engineering feasibility studies to be funded, as well as the usual formulation and appraisal missions. IFAD was given the responsibility to lead the entire design process and to identify and manage the design consultants.

So what is going to be funded? Firstly, large areas of land will be protected from sea level rise and flooding by high embankments. Cyclone shelters will be built to protect the local populations from extreme storm surges. The land will be surveyed and each landless settler household will be given secure land title to a 1.5 acre plot of land. Finally, to enable agriculture, salt will be removed from the soil by flushing, and adaptive research on salt tolerant varieties will be funded.

Tomorrow i'm off back to Dhaka to write the aide memoire for the wrap-up meeting next week. Then back to Rome on the 18th.

Nigel Brett, CPM Bangladesh.