Ahmadinejad, at UN, calls for the coming of the Mahdi

I've been out of town on vacation in Mexico. I should be posting more regularly now.

Apparently, while I was away, President Ahmadinejad of Iran had something to say to the world about the return of his Hidden Imam.

From Jihad Watch, citing WND:

WASHINGTON – While most of the reporting and analysis of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the U.N. focused on what he had to say about the West and specifically the U.S., his chilling closing remarks were lost on most listeners – and apparently all reporters.

The last two paragraphs of his remarks revealed his steadfast and driving conviction, as previously reported in WND ,that a messianic figure, known as the "Mahdi" to Muslims, is poised to reveal himself after an apocalyptic holocaust on Earth that leaves most of the world's population dead.

"I emphatically declare that today's world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet," Ahmadinejad said. "Oh, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause."

With Iran on the verge of producing nuclear weapons and already in possession of sophisticated medium-range missiles, mystical pre-occupation with the coming of a Shiite Islamic messiah is of particular concern because of Iran's potential for triggering the kind of global conflagration Ahmadinejad envisions will set the stage for the end of the world.

Ahmadinejad is on record as stating he believes he is to have a personal role in ushering in the age of the Mahdi. In a Nov. 16, 2005, speech in Tehran, he said he sees his main mission in life as to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance."

According to Shiites, the 12th imam disappeared as a child in the year 941. When he returns, they believe, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world....

Ahmadinejad and others in Iran are deadly serious about the imminent return of the 12th imam, who will prompt a global battle between good and evil (with striking parallels to biblical accounts of "Armageddon"). Some interpretations of the events that precede his coming include a war that wipes out most of the world's population....

Ahmadinejad made reference to the Mahdi in his first speech to the U.N., too. He called on the "mighty Lord" to hasten the emergence of "the promised one," the one who "will fill this world with justice and peace."

Russia Going Cold Again?

Cold War II Alert. This is a scary scenario. GSN reports:

Russia Could Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons to Defeat U.S. Missile Defenses in Europe, Experts Say

Moscow reserves the right to use tactical nuclear weapons to thwart potential U.S. missile defense sites in Eastern Europe that could threaten Russia’s strategic missile force, Russian defense analysts warned recently.

“According to our military doctrine, Russia reserves the right to deliver preventive strikes at any targets that pose a threat to us, with tactical nuclear weapons being an option in such strikes,” said Alexander Pikayev, a department head at the Russian Institute for World Economy and International Affairs (IMEMO).

The United States has said it is seeking to erect missile defense sites in Eastern Europe — possibly in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland — to defend against ballistic missiles launched from Iran.

Institute analysts, however, have argued that the systems are actually intended to shoot down Russian long-range missiles and to undermine Russia’s nuclear deterrent, Izvestiya reported.

“By approaching Russia’s borders, the Americans are seeking to achieve their main objective: intercepting our strategic missiles at the early stage of their trajectory, when they are most vulnerable,” said retired Maj. Gen. Vladimir Belous, a senior research fellow at the Institute.

Russia would probably seek other measures to protect its missiles as well, Izvestiya reported, including moving their silos farther east and arming them with multiple warheads to make them more difficult to intercept.

Wildfire-Burned Acres Sets 45-Year High

Lest we think that the Signs of the Times limit themselves to hurricanes and flooding, here is another piece of sobering news that shows us how the world is being increasingly beset with large-scale disasters.

From the AP:

Wildfires across the country have scorched more land in 2006 than in any year since at least 1960, burning an area twice the size of New Jersey.

[...]

As of Wednesday, blazes had torched 8.69 million acres, or 13,584 square miles, just above last year's total of 13,573 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. Reliable records were not kept before 1960, officials said. The annual average over the past 10 years is 4.9 million acres.

Read entire article

Administration Reveals Foiled Terror Plots

AP Reports - Foiled terrorist plots, according to the Director of National Intelligence and President Bush's speech on Wednesday:

• In 2002, officials disrupted a plot by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to crash hijacked airplanes into targets on the U.S. West Coast.

• In mid-2004, officials discovered a plan to bomb urban targets in the United Kingdom.

• Terrorists involved in a well-advanced plot to attack targets in Karachi, Pakistan, were detained in the spring of 2003.

• A plan to use hijacked commercial airplanes to attack London's Heathrow Airport was disrupted in 2003.

• A plot to attack ships in the Persian Gulf was foiled in late 2002 and early 2003.

• One of the plotters involved in the plan to attack ships in the Gulf was also part of a foiled plot to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

• After a plan to blow up tall buildings in the U.S. was disrupted, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said he directed his operatives to attack the buildings because they were too tall for victims to jump out of, ensuring they would die by smoke inhalation.

• In early 2004, a captured al-Qaida facilitator revealed a plan to send suicide truck bombers into Camp Lemonier, a Marine Corps base in the African nation of Djibouti. This information caused security at the base to be enhanced.

• In his speech, Bush said Mohammed and a terrorist named Yazid provided vital information on al-Qaida's efforts to obtain biological weapons that allowed officials to capture two other terrorists involved in producing anthrax for al-Qaida.

Problems South of the Border

Our friend and ally to the south, Mexico, is in the grip of a major ideological division that may threaten the country's democracy itself.

The leftists, led by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, contested the recent results to Mexico's presidential elections where they lost. Mr. Obrador has been using every dirty trick imaginable to steal the Presidency away from the rightful winner. He's been organizing violent protests, organized mobs and manipulation of the judicial system to get his way. And now that those attempts have failed (and in the case of the Mexican Supreme Court, proved that he was indeed the loser), the leftists have resorted to more drastic measures.

For the first time in modern Mexican history, the President's State of the Union address was canceled due to the leftist legislators storming the Congressional stage. This is a maneuver right out of the Marxist handbook. It threatens the peaceful transition of power, and puts democracy in jeopardy. More any more, politicians are flouting rules of decency and fair conduct to grab power at any cost. We saw it here in the US during the 2000 election dispute, and now we're seeing it in Mexico on a much larger scale.

Things are coming to a boil in Latin America. Mexico may fall prey to the socialist wave that is sweeping South America, under the hand of Dictator Hugo Chavez. Surely, as respect, law and order break down in this part of the world, and indeed, democracy itself, we will see more and more of this type of behavior. It will roll right onto our doorsteps.

And when Latin American countries fall to a mass leftist dictatorship one by one, the disgruntled immigrants in this country will be in a prime position to bring this nation to it's knees. The stage is set. Watch and be ready.

AP Reports:

Mexican Lawmakers Block Fox's Speech

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Vicente Fox was forced to forego the last state-of-the-nation address of his presidency Friday after leftist lawmakers stormed the stage of Congress to protest disputed July 2 elections.

It was the first time in modern Mexican history a president hasn't given the annual address to Congress. Instead, Fox handed in a written copy of his report, and his office said he would address the nation in a televised speech later Friday.

A text of the speech Fox had planned to deliver to Congress called on Mexico to mend deep divisions that he said threatened the country's newfound democracy.

"Whoever attacks our laws and institutions also attacks our history and Mexico," he said, a thinly veiled reference to leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Continue article HERE.